Blacklock's Reporter

Immigrant families held at a federal detention centre were put in lockdown so managers could parade schoolchildren through the facility on Take Your Kids To Work Day. Staff protested the incident was "demeaning", according to minutes of a board meeting obtained through Access To Information. The disclosure comes as the Senate prepares to pass a bill for first-ever independent oversight of the Canada Border Services Agency: "People are watching".

Delay in passage of a Liberal labour bill has prompted unions to put new membership drives on hold, says the Canadian Labour Congress. A Conservative law on certification remains on the books though cabinet vowed to repeal it last January: "It would be best to hold off".

Cabinet should phase out farm marketing boards to boost national productivity, says an industry department report. The research obtained through Access To Information hailed Australia’s 2000 deregulation of its dairy industry as an example for Parliament: "Regulation appears to be less friendly in Canada".

The Canada Revenue Agency for the second time three months is suing a bank to retrieve unpaid taxes from a delinquent borrower. Tax collectors complain they’ve been repeatedly stung by foreclosures in which banks auction debtors’ assets without settling tax liabilities: "It's a nice way to get off scot-free".

Government swag for Syrian refugees includes toques, a copy of the Charter of Rights and a Buster Keaton film. The Department of Heritage said the freebies were intended to “provide all refugees with a physical culture kit to introduce them to Canada.”

CBC-TV ad sales fell 69 percent last year with the loss of lucrative NHL licensing rights, according to Access To Information records. “Its view is that the business model for TV is broken,” said a confidential briefing paper for Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly.

A $351 million federal museum is hiring private marketing consultants after in-house research showed fewer than a quarter of Canadians have heard of it. The Canadian Museum for Human Rights seeks help to boost receipts after skipping tax payments to the City of Winnipeg: "It's not the same as selling dish soap".

A gun owners’ group that successfully campaigned to overturn Canada’s federal shotgun registry has dissolved into “mayhem”, according to Court documents. An Alberta judge voided the election of three directors of the National Firearms Association: "Both sides kind of got slapped around".

A secret finance department memo admits cabinet’s attempt to promote “long-term stability” in soaring urban home prices was expected to have only minimal impact. Average prices in the nation’s costliest housing markets continue to rise at more than 10 times the rate of inflation: "We're not fearing anything in particular".

Environment Canada continues to use tonnes of road salt in national parks more than a decade after the department proposed regulating the substance. Advocates criticized the practice as harmful: 'They can spread as much as they damn well want'.

A federal agency paid Bay Street rates to conduct phone interviews with bankers. The survey of a few executives cost the equivalent of more than $1,500 an hour. The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions issued the contract to research firm headed by a former Liberal campaign chair: 'Satisfaction is widespread'.

Federal police and tax collectors have no immunity from a lawsuit by a First Nations tobacco distributor, a judge has ruled. The Federal Court said an Indigenous-owned Québec company is entitled to take the RCMP and Canada Revenue Agency to trial over the seizure of untaxed cigarettes: "The appeal should be allowed".

Poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday: “He who drove his truck into the crowd did not spread fear…”

A federal consumer commissioner has gone more than a year without issuing a single decision on lenders’ compliance with the Bank Act. An advocate said the lapse points to unfocused mandate and diminished responsibility: "We don't even know what they're doing".

Canada’s monopoly on polar bear exports is costing taxpayers nearly $6,000 for every skin sold abroad, according to Access To Information records. Cabinet will oppose renewed U.S. attempts this fall to ban the trade: 'Polar bear monitoring is costly'.