Thursday, September 27, 2012

Testing the Freedom of Information Act

Access to information is important for all citizens, and anything that prohibits such access concerns us all. In an effort to determine the efficacy of the Freedom of Information Act, Newspapers Canada audited all three levels of government in Canada and looked at the speed and accuracy of various governments' responses to FOI requests. A Global Edmonton news article published on September 24, 2012 describes the results of the audit and offers insight from interested stakeholders on the implications of the audit results.

A link to the audit is included in the article, or it can be reached directly here.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Welcome Back!

With the new school year comes another great year for FLIF! We are hoping for another successful year with many familiar and new faces. Thanks to everyone who was able to make it out to our first meeting.

Here is a summary of some of the projects and events that we are looking forward to working on this year:

Edmonton Women's Prison Project
– We are in a partnership with GELA for this project. FLIF is mainly involved in the Storybook Project (though volunteer opportunities exist for writing groups and book clubs). Inmates are recorded while reading a book as a part of this project. These recordings are sent, along with a copy of the book read, to the reader’s child, grandchild, niece, or nephew. 

Community Bookshelf
– We drop off donated books to a variety of shelters and organizations in Edmonton. Deliveries typically take place once a month on a weekday afternoon. 

Homeless Connect
- The Homeless Connect event is hosted twice a year at the Shaw Conference Centre. Various services are provided on this day for homeless and low income individuals. FLIF provides one such service by setting up a “library” to give away free books. The next Homeless Connect will be on October 21st. If you are interested in volunteering for this event, a sign-up sheet will be posted in the lounge.

If you have any questions or comments, or if you want to get involved, please email us at flifblog @ gmail.com. Email is also a great way of letting us know of any articles or announcements that you would like to see posted on this blog!