Professor: David McKie

Office: 1-613-290-7380
E-Mail: david.mckie@cbc.ca

Week one | Week two | Week three | Week four | Week five |   Assignment One |  Assignment Two | Assignment Three | Assignment Four | Tutorials |  Programs to download | Datasets | Readings | Additional Resources |

Tuesday and Thursday mornings: 9:35-12:35 in lab two from July 9 to August 8. My office space is room 127 on the main floor.

COURSE DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES

This course will teach students how to locate, obtain and read public records with an investigative and data mindset. Students will learn to probe public records to uncover connections and patterns of information that might be invisible from reviewing one record in isolation. Students will learn how public records fit into a complete research strategy with the aim of telling, investigative, original and breaking stories, or simply adding context to ongoing stories.

The course will cover tools such as federal access-to-information and provincial/municipal freedom-of-information requests, as well as journalists’ legal rights to specific types of information and key repositories of public records. We will focus on public records,  including documents and databases that can be downloaded and analyzed in spreadsheeets like Excel, mapping and visualization programs such as Qgis.

The course will encourage students to think laterally about these records, finding information that can help to find original stories, or stories that provide value-added context to the large issues of the day.

As such, each assignment will build upon the previous one.

To aid our analysis of how these records can be used, the material will be classified into general themes such as government, the courts, business with an investigative frame of mind. For instance, learning how to follow money: how it’s made, lost and hidden.

Such classifications will aid in our ability to cross-reference the information and think strategically about records, which will include, but not be limited to, the following categories:

GOVERNMENT

Hansard, Canada Gazette (and its provincial cousins); bills; statutes; regulations; policies; evaluations and audits; Orders in Council; budgets; estimates; public accounts; public sector salary disclosure; disclosure of contracts and travel in various jurisdictions; polls conducted for departments; formal and informal answers to questions from members of Parliament; discussion papers; municipal reports; minutes of meetings; Statistics Canada; and news releases.

LEGAL

Court decisions; informations (charges); exhibits; transcripts; civil filings;
bankruptcy records; search warrants; divorce documents; Judge Advocate General reports (the military); crime; statistics; records of professional disciplinary bodies and quasi-­judicial tribunals.

WHAT PEOPLE OWN

Land titles, mortgages, assessments, liens; shares in companies; and assets such as boats and cars.

FOLLOWING THE MONEY

Public securities filings (SEDAR, EDGAR); financial statements; management information circulars; annual reports; political campaign contributions; contracts and tenders at the federal, provincial, municipal levels and lobbyist registries.

SPECIALIZED RECORDS

Transport Canada’s online database of vehicle recalls; Health Canada’s drug, medical and consumer product safety data; Workplace safety data; Revenue Canada’s listings of revoked charities; federal and municipal lobbyist registries, environmental records such as the National Pollutant Release Inventory; Industry Canada’s trade data, Statistics Canada’s 2016 census data, etc.

STORYTELLING

This isn’t a storytelling course, per se. However, evocative narrative is essential, especially for original stories. If no one reads your story, then all the effort to obtain the records we’ve discussed thus far is practically meaningless. So, stories must also possess an essential element — people. That is, strong central characters who can help drive the narrative.

Since our focus is digital, stories will be posted to specific categories on this WordPress site, and they will be multi-media, using the tools you’ve already learned and some new ones that we’ll discover in this course.

ASSESSMENT

The normal journalistic standards will apply to the assignments. The work must be submitted on time. Generally, you will be graded on factors such as the precision and clarity of the writing, the thoroughness of the research that we’ve discussed in class, and the creativity needed to take your research and interviews beyond the regular suspects that populate too many stories, namely, spokespeople and oft-quoted officials. Specifically, you will be graded on the criteria established for each assignment. Grammatical mistakes and errors due to a lack of proofreading will all lead to a loss of marks. Factual errors may result in a failing grade. Written stories should be written in accordance with Canadian Press style.

Given that stories online lend themselves to a multi-media treatment to a greater degree than print, television or radio,  you’ll be graded on those elements and the extent to which they are seamlessly blended into the story. Whether it be a photo, timeline, map, chart, graph, the element must not only be a natural part of the narrative, but add value.

Multi-media elements such as photos, maps and graphs must be clear, contain value-added content, proper citation of the source, cut lines and titles. Failure to include these elements will result in lost marks.

The assignments will be comprised of two parts: an explanation of the steps taken to locate the record(s), the reason the methodology was employed and how the material was employed as a source, or major component of the story; and the story itself. Each part will be marked equally because it is important to reward the process ( as opposed to effort ) of finding the story. That means 50 percent for methodology and 50 percent for the story.

Assignments will be graded for both their journalistic and production values. Marks for the journalistic values will be based on the strength or newsworthiness of the story idea; originality of research; the depth of your research and the ability to overcome obstacles in gathering research, interviews, photos and other elements critical to the assignment.

The stories we produce each week will be posted on the class website and students will be encouraged to use social media such as Twitter and Facebook to publicize their stories and solicit tips that could lead to more stories or follow-ups. In short, the class will be run like a newsroom. If you prefer not to make your work public, you can simply designate the story as private.  The instructor will also do the same if the story contains information that could be considered libellous, for instance.

And, finally,  10% of your final grade will be based on your professionalism: showing up on time, participating in class, buying the textbooks,  reading the assigned textbook chapters, doing the assigned Excel skills (pivot tables and functions, for instance), responding to emailed queries promptly.

Students must achieve at least a B-.

A BREAKDOWN OF THE MARKING SCHEME

Research Component 50%

Depth of research 10%

Originality 20%

Creative use of material 20%

Total 50%

Storytelling 50%

Precision and clarity 20%

Originality 30%

Total 50%

*Marks will be deducted for errors of spelling, grammar and CP style.

See detailed rubric at the end of the outline.

Assignments are to be uploaded to our website on time, and unless there are unusual circumstances such as a medical emergency, no extensions will be granted. If an assignment cannot be completed for a medical reason, you will be required to provide a doctor’s note.

The assignments — the stories, public records and explanation of research methodology — will be submitted as emailed attachments. The assignments will be graded promptly.

Assignment one 15%

Assignment two 15%

Assignment three 15%

Assignment four 30%

Excel Quizzes: 15%

Professionalism 10%

Total 100%

Assignment one: A story that follows the money reading financial statements of a public institution.

Assignment two: A story based on legal records.

Assignment three: A story that backgrounds a newsworthy figure.

Assignment four: A data-driven story based on the 2016 Statistics Canada census release.

Grading Scale:

A+: 90-­100

A: 85-89

A-: 80-84

B+: 77-79

B: 73-76

B-: 70-72

F: <70

Students must achieve a B- in all classes. Disputes over academic performance and assessment will be dealt with according to the Academic Regulations of the School of Journalism. Students may appeal decisions of the Journalism Studies Committee to the Faculty of Graduate Studies.

For more information, see the King’s calendar and the Dalhousie University Graduate Calendar.

PROFESSIONALISM

The professionalism you exhibit in your conduct, work habits and assignments are emphasized because they will matter in your career.

Because we’ll conduct ourselves as professional journalists, you will be expected to exhibit the appropriate behaviour. That means attending class, showing up on time; being prepared and ready to make a meaningful contribution based the readings and work you’ve been assigned; paying attention to your instructor and colleagues and ignoring cell phones, email correspondence, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feeds, and text messages while in class; and promptly responding to the instructor’s emailed correspondence. You’ll also be expected to stay on top of current events, which is part of your obligation as a journalist. If you must miss class, you will be expected to communicate with the instructor via email beforehand. You will also be expected to exhibit the conduct of a professional journalist when working on assignments in the field.

You will also be expected to complete the readings, as they, too, will form the basis for our discussions.

If you find an in-class exercise or assignment is confusing, it is your responsibility to seek clarity.

READING MATERIAL

The course textbook will be Digging Deeper: A Canadian Reporter’s Research Guide Third Edition, and The Data Journalist, which is augmented with online tutorials, outlining ways to use Excel, PDF-cracking software, Tableau Public and other programs that visualize data.

COMMUNICATION WITH STUDENTS

In addition to regular office hours, communication will also take place through emailed correspondence and phone calls. The protocol will dictate that emailed queries be answered as promptly as possible because that is how it is done in newsrooms.

As such, it will be important for students to regularly check their email accounts for communications such as revisions to instructions for assignments or readings, additions to the syllabus, or notes about a particular news story that you may be required to read, watch or listen to.  For the most part, my lessons will be based on events making news. The excuse that I forgot to check my email is unprofessional and will not be accepted!

COURSE DETAILS

The class will meet every week for a total of six hours that will be broken
up into two sessions on separate days, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:35 to 12:35.

Since Excel is crucial to a lot of the work we’ll be doing, each class will begin with a 30-minute exercise designed to advance your skills. Between classes you’ll be able to practice, using tutorials based on downloadable datasets in the online tutorials that accompany specific chapters in The Data Journalist.

These exercises will be followed by a general discussion about a news item that relates to the lesson of the day. From there, we will learn the research methods that we’ll need for the next assignment. In short, the classes will be designed to prepare you for each assignment. For instance, in the first week, you’ll be given ample time to choose a public institution such as the most recent budget and finances of the City of Halifax,  and study the financial numbers you’ll be using for the story.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

The School of Journalism vigorously enforces the highest standards of academic integrity.

Plagiarism is the duplication in whole or in part of work created for another purpose. This can be work done by another student, published work or even a student’s own work that has been re-purposed for a class. Plagiarism can be reflected in actual language, or in the duplication of an idea or a sequence.

Do not cut and paste information from the Internet. If you have any doubts about what constitutes plagiarism, consult your instructor. All cases of suspected plagiarism will be dealt with according to the policy.

Academic integrity issues will be dealt with by the Academic Integrity Officer of the University of King’s College, the Faculty of Graduate Studies and the Dalhousie Senate, as outlined in the King’s calendar and the Dalhousie University Graduate Calendar.

As well, the School of Journalism has a statement of ethics and professional standards that must be followed. It can be found at: http://ethics.kingsjournalism.com.

Please read this material carefully.

ACCOMMODATION

Statement on Accommodation:

Students may request accommodation as a result of barriers related to disability, religious obligation, or any characteristic under the Nova Scotia Human Rights Act. Students who require academic accommodation for either classroom participation or the writing of tests, quizzes and exams should make their request to the Office of Student Accessibility & Accommodation (OSAA) prior to, or at the outset of, each academic term.

Please see http://studentaccessibility.dal.ca/for more information and to obtain Form A – Request for Accommodation.

A note taker may be required to assist a classmate. There is an honourarium of $75/course/term. If you are interested, please contact OSAA at 494-2836 for more information.

Please note that your classroom may contain specialized accessible furniture and equipment. It is important that these items remain in the classroom so that students who require their usage will be able to participate in the class.

Data Driven Stories

CAJ Award Finalists

Data Journalism

Crying Out For Care
CBC Marketplace
https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/long-term-care-marketplace-1.4501795

Fatal Fun: How Atlantic Canadians are dying on recreational
CBC News – Atlantic
vehicleshttps://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform/fatal-fun

Racial Profiling at Canada Border Services
CTV National News
https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/air-travellers-from-middle-east-africa-caribbean-more-likely-to-face-secondary-inspection-cbsa-data-1.3952908

Federal Liberals violated own fundraising rules
The Globe and Mail
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-lobbyists-still-attending-liberal-fundraisers-despite-promised-reform/

Medical Disorder
The Toronto Star
http://projects.thestar.com/doctor-discipline/

CAJ Open Media finalist

Deadly force
Fatal encounters with police in Canada: 2000-2017
https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform-custom/deadly-force

2019 Michener Finalist

International investigative projects

CBC News’s joint investigation into the sometimes murky world of medical devices
https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/implant-files-investigation-medical-devices-1.4924384

2018 Philip Meyer Award winners

General write-ups for the winners
https://www.ire.org/awards/philip-meyer-awards/2018-philip-meyer-award-winners

Hurricane Maria’s Dead
Centro de Periodismo Investigativo, Quartz and The Associated Press
https://hurricanemariasdead.com/

Toxic City: Sick Schools
The Philadelphia Inquirer
http://media.philly.com/storage/special_projects/lead-paint-poison-children-asbestos-mold-schools-philadelphia-toxic-city.html

Uncharitable Giving
The Wall Street Journal
https://www.wsj.com/articles/hundreds-of-people-made-gifts-of-stock-with-great-timing-1513881239

In The Dark: Jury Selection Analysis
APM Reports
https://www.apmreports.org/story/2018/06/12/in-the-dark-s2e8

Data Journalism Awards — 2019 Winners
https://datajournalismawards.org/2019-winners/

Citizens Police Data Project
https://cpdp.co/

Epstein story shows investigative journalism is thriving
https://www.apnews.com/dd975858dfc04737b7d7d9cbb8fd0420?fbclid=IwAR1TepN775lVPtTZbwpXsf5YOsdjdg1fibWASJOfaSYnwoSjg-waUjl38-8

COURSE OUTLINE

Week One: July 9, 11: (TOP)

What you will learn

How to glean the key information a financial statement

How to calculate percent change

How to follow the money

How to use Acrobat Pro (or a version) to pull expenditure tables out of  Nova Scotia’s public accounts, upload them to Cometdocs, which then converts the PDFs to Excel files

How to clean and verify numbers

How to upload and use DocumentCloud

Links

Bruce Linton’s firing signals it is time for the cannabis industry to start delivering
https://business.financialpost.com/cannabis/cannabis-business/lintons-firing-signals-it-is-time-for-cannabis-industry-to-start-delivering

Canopy Growth
https://www.canopygrowth.com/

Canopy Growth Corporation – TradingView
https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/TSX-WEED/

Canopy Financial Growth uploaded to DocumentCloud
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6183198-CanopyGrowth-Q4-FY2019-Statements.html

Federal Budget 2019
https://www.budget.gc.ca/2019/home-accueil-en.html

Federal Budget 2019 uploaded to DocumentCloud
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5989845-Budget-2019-En.html

Publications and Reports
https://www.fin.gc.ca/pub/index-eng.asp

Public Accounts of Canada
https://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/recgen/cpc-pac/index-eng.html

Consolidated Statement of Revenues and Expenses as per the Public Accounts
https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/dff11e4c-c258-46cf-94e4-e4cc4b8a04e9

BlackBerrys, a boat and a $40 clock: Here’s what people are stealing from the government
https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/ottawa-recorded-6-8-million-in-stolen-property-4-3-billion-in-debt-write-offs-last-year

2016-17 federal public accounts
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4114038-2017-vol3-Eng.html#document/p143/a474223

Nova Scotia Budget 2019
https://beta.novascotia.ca/documents/budget-documents-2019-2020

Nova Scotia Budget 2019 Uploaded to DocumentCloud
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6172555-Nova-Scotia-Budget-2019-2020.html

Nova Scotia Public Accounts 2018
https://www.novascotia.ca/finance/en/home/publications/publicaccounts.aspx

Nova Scotia Public Accounts 2018 uploaded to DocumentCloud
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6165574-Nova-Scotia-Public-Accounts-2018.html

Doug Ford, federal Liberals trade blame over Bombardier layoffs in Thunder Bay
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/doug-ford-federal-government-bombardier-1.5206537

Bombardier
https://www.bombardier.com/en/home.html

SEDAR (Canada)
http://www.sedar.com/search/search_en.htm

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
https://www.sec.gov/

Bombardier Execs Get 50% Raise Amid Layoffs, Government Aid
https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/03/29/bombardier-compensation-layoffs-government-aid_n_15691128.html?utm_hp_ref=ca-bombardier-layoffs

Cometdocs
https://www.cometdocs.com/

Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer
http://www.pbo-dpb.gc.ca/en/

Auditor General of Canada
http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/admin_e_41.html

Office of the Auditor General Nova Scotia
https://oag-ns.ca/

Auditor General Halifax Regional Authority
https://hrmauditorgeneral.ca/about/history-of-office

Hansard Search Nova Scotia Legislature
https://nslegislature.ca/legislative-business/hansard-debates

The Bank of Canada
https://www.bankofcanada.ca/

Population by year, by province
http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/cansim/a26?lang=eng&retrLang=eng&id=0510056&pattern=051-0056..051-0064&tabMode=dataTable&srchLan=-1&p1=-1&p2=31

Population by census metropolitan area
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1710013501

Budget and Finances (City of Halifax)
https://www.halifax.ca/city-hall/budget-finances/budget

City of Halifax 2018 budget_expenditure details.pdf

Registry of Joint Stock Companies
https://rjsc.gov.ns.ca/rjsc/

Nova Scotia Security Commission
http://nssc.novascotia.ca/

Statistics Canada
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/dai-quo/index-eng.htm

BusinessDictionary.com
http://www.businessdictionary.com/

Campbell R. Harvey’s Hypertextual Finance Glossary
http://www.duke.edu/~charvey/Classes/wpg/glossary.htm

Week two:July 16, 18:(TOP)

What you will learn

Begin our exploration of the wonderful world of pivot tables

Using Excel to construct timelines

An introduction to court records (affidavits, search warrants, bankruptcy records, etc)

How to mine stories from those documents

Links

Ontario health minister says ending ‘hallway health care’ will take longer than Ford promised last week
https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/2019/07/15/health-minister-says-ending-hallway-health-care-will-take-longer-than-a-year.html

RCMP deleted documents in wrongful conviction case, federal report finds
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/glen-assoun-wrongful-conviction-records-unsealed-1.5207994

Recent Decisions of The Courts of Nova Scotia – the order to unseal
http://www.courts.ns.ca/Decisions_Of_Courts/decisions_recent.htm

R. v. Assoun, 2014 NSSC 381 (CanLII) – the initial order so seal
https://www.canlii.org/en/ns/nssc/doc/2014/2014nssc381/2014nssc381.html?autocompleteStr=CRH149825&autocompletePos=1#document

Federal Department Assessment in the Assoun Case – uploaded to DocumentCloud
https://www.documentcloud.org/search/Project:%20%22Court%20Documents%22

Second $100M settlement announced in RCMP sexual harassment case
https://globalnews.ca/news/5295110/rcmp-sexual-harassment-settlement/

RCMP Sexual Harassment Suit on CANLII
https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/fct/doc/2019/2019fc749/2019fc749.html#document

RCMP Sexual Harassment Suit Uploaded to DocumentCloud
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6188482-RCMP-Sexual-Harassment-Class-Action-Suit-T-1673-17.html

Claimant’s Lawyer Instagram Post
https://www.instagram.com/p/BzuEe6np5gW/

Class-action suit launched against doctor charged with sexual assault and the University of Ottawa
https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/class-action-suit-launched-against-doctor-charged-with-sexual-assault-and-the-university-of-ottawa

Suspended doctor Vincent Nadon sentenced to 8 years on sex assault, voyeurism charges
https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/former-doctor-vincent-nadon-pleads-guilty-to-14-sex-assault-and-voyeurism-charges

Statement of claim against Dr. Nadon uploaded to DocumentCloud
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4577465-Statement-of-Claim-Issued-Against-Dr-Nadon.html

Suspended doctor Vincent Nadon sentenced to 8 years on sex assault, voyeurism charges
https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/former-doctor-vincent-nadon-pleads-guilty-to-14-sex-assault-and-voyeurism-charges

Former Halifax taxi driver wants one sexual assault charge quashed
https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/former-halifax-taxi-driver-wants-one-sexual-assault-charge-quashed-1.4016558

Guidelines for Press, Media, and Public Access to the Courts of Nova Scotia
http://www.courts.ns.ca/documents/FINAL_MediaAccessGuidelines_interactive_06_01_17.pdf

Guidelines for Press, Media and Public Access to the Courts of Nova Scotia (Uploaded and partially annotated in DocumentCloud)
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2995331-Guidelines-for-Press-Media-and-Public-Access-to.html

The Canadian Legal Information Institute  (a voluntary initiative and is not a comprehensive listing of all class action lawsuits currently underway in Canada)
http://canlii.org/en/index.php

Judging Sexual Assault Trials: Systemic Failure in the Case of Regina v Bassam Al-Rawi, 2017 95-1, 2017 CanLIIDocs 102

Kim – Spencer – McPhee Barristers
http://www.kimorr.ca/index.html

Federal Court of Canada
https://www.fct-cf.gc.ca/en/home

The Criminal Code
http://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/

Supreme Court of Canada
https://www.scc-csc.ca/home-accueil/index-eng.aspx

Tax Court of Canada
http://www.tcc-cci.gc.ca/

Canadian Law List
http://www.canadianlawlist.com/

The scope of CANLII’s databases
http://canlii.org/en/databases.html

The Courts of Nova Scotia – Registry of Class Actions
http://www.courts.ns.ca/Supreme_Court/NSSC_class_action_registry.htm

National Class Action Database
http://cbaapp.org/ClassAction/Search.aspx

Recent Courts Martial results
https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/corporate/reports-publications/military-law/recent-courts-martial-results.html

Class Proceedings Act
https://www.canlii.org/en/ns/laws/stat/sns-2007-c-28/latest/sns-2007-c-28.html

List of Class Action Lawsuits (U.S)
http://www.classaction.org/list-of-lawsuits

Find out how to request a decision by the Parole Board of Canada
https://www.canada.ca/en/parole-board/services/decision-registry.html

‘Life after shame’: Hidden camera victim lifts publication ban to empower other women
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/shameless-circle-group-1.5212808

Supreme Court grants hold of documents in ‘conquered people’ case
https://globalnews.ca/news/5510129/supreme-court-hold-order-conquered-people/?utm_medium=Twitter&utm_source=%40globalhalifax

Dow breast implant case spotlights Elizabeth Warren’s work helping big corporations navigate bankruptcies
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/dow-breast-implant-case-spotlights-elizabeth-warrens-work-helping-big-corporations-navigate-bankruptcies/2019/07/15/06b0d676-82fc-11e9-95a9-e2c830afe24f_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.5f5953e0cbca

RCMP investigation triggered audit of national Métis organization
https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/metis-national-council-audit-1.5208611

National Métis group gave IT contracts to 2 companies linked to policy adviser
https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/metis-national-council-it-contracts-1.5208907

Record number of Canada-bound visitors barred from flights on advice of Canada border agents
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2019/07/17/record-number-of-canada-bound-visitors-barred-from-flights-on-advice-of-canada-border-agents.html

Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada
http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/bsf-osb.nsf/eng/home

Bankruptcydata.com
http://bankruptcydata.com/

Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada
http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/bsf-osb.nsf/eng/br02049.html

Quebec Human Rights Tribunal
http://www.tribunaux.qc.ca/mjq_en/TDP/index-tdp.html

Statistics Canada Data Tables
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/type/data?MM=1

Incident-based crime statistics, by detailed violations, Canada, provinces, territories and Census Metropolitan Areas
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3510017701

Incident-based crime statistics, by detailed violations, police services in the Atlantic provinces
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3510017801

Court Record Examples

1)Statement of claim against the RCMP
2) Omar Khadr 2010 Supreme Court of Canada decision uploaded to DocumentCloud
3) Factum containing demands that Khadr’s settlement be given to victim uploaded to DocumentCloud
4) Parole Board Decision
5) Bankruptcy Filing
6) The bishop’s search warrant uploaded to DocumentCloud
7) Divorce Proceeding
8) National Parole Board Statistics
9) Notice of proposed Armed Forces Settlement

Week Three: July 23, 25:(TOP)

What you will learn

A continuation of pivot tables using 2018 Nova Scotia political donations

Digging into records we’ve used so far (financial statements and court documents), in addition to new ones we’ll learn this week, to background individuals

Methods used to background people such as advanced Internet searches, databases including political donations, land title searches and social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn

Links

Police-reported crime in Canada up slightly in 2018, hate crime down, StatsCan reports
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/police-reported-crime-statistics-canada-1.5219995

Canada’s crime rate rose in 2018 but country still safer than a decade ago: StatCan
https://globalnews.ca/news/5667325/canada-crime-rate-2018-statistics-canada/

Ottawa had Canada’s 3rd-highest hate crime rate in 2018
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-hate-crimes-statistics-canada-third-worst-1.5220219

Statistics Canada: Police-reported crime statistics, 2018
https://www.statcan.gc.ca/eng/start

Equifax breach provokes frustration for Canadians
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/equifax-breach-1.4280682

Privacy Commissioner finds Equifax safeguards “unacceptable” and will monitor company for six years following major data breach
https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/opc-news/news-and-announcements/2019/nr-c_190409/

Equifax Announces Cybersecurity Incident Involving Consumer Information
https://investor.equifax.com/news-and-events/news/2017/09-07-2017-213000628

Equifax to pay up to $700M in U.S. to settle data breach, but Canada is not included
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/equifax-fine-1.5219957

Equifax: Investor Relations
https://investor.equifax.com/

Ottawa fighting another class-action lawsuit against RCMP alleging bullying, intimidation
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-ottawa-fighting-another-class-action-lawsuit-against-rcmp-alleging/

Ottawa sets aside $900M to settle sexual misconduct lawsuits against Canadian Armed Forces
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/military-sexual-misconduct-settlement-1.5216307

Notice of Proposed Settlement for the Armed Forces uploaded to DocumentCloud
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6207149-Notice-of-Proposed-Armed-Forces-Settlement.html

Substitute B.C. Conservative also had money woes
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/substitute-b-c-conservative-also-had-money-woes-1.1027393

Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada
http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/bsf-osb.nsf/eng/home

Toronto doctor surrenders licence amid investigation into improper billing, ending his 30-year medical career in Canada
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/07/08/toronto-doctor-surrenders-licence-amid-investigation-into-improper-billing-ending-his-30-year-medical-career-in-canada.html

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario
https://www.cpso.on.ca/

Discipline Committee Schedule
(The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario)
https://www.cpso.on.ca/News/Discipline-Hearings

Disciplinary Decisions & Interim Licence Sanctions (College of Physicians & Surgeons of Nova Scotia)
https://cpsns.ns.ca/category/disciplinary-decisions/

DALHOUSIE RELEASES PUBLIC SECTOR COMPENSATION REPORT FOR 2017‑18
https://www.dal.ca/news/2018/07/27/dalhousie-releases-public-sector-compensation-report-for-2017-18.html

Public sector compensation: disclosure reports
https://beta.novascotia.ca/public-sector-compensation-disclosure-reports

933 Halifax municipal employees earn more than $100K
https://globalnews.ca/news/4367450/halifax-sunshine-list/

Halifax Regional Municipality Statement of Compensation
https://www.halifax.ca/sites/default/files/documents/city-hall/accountability-transparency/Statement%20of%20Compensation%202018.pdf

Nova Scotia Employee Contact Directory Search
https://novascotia.ca/psc/geds/

The Government Electronic Directory Services
https://geds-sage.gc.ca/en/GEDS?pgid=002

DomainTools
http://whois.domaintools.com/dal.ca

Geektools
http://www.geektools.com/

Carson was in financial trouble before becoming Harper adviser
https://ipolitics.ca/2011/03/23/carson-was-deep-in-money-woes-before-joining-pmo/

Law Society of Upper Canada (list of disbarred lawyers)
http://www.lsuc.on.ca/with.aspx?id=2147486087

Law Society Tribunal
https://lawsocietytribunal.ca/Pages/Mainpage.aspx#132

National Métis group gave IT contracts to 2 companies linked to policy adviser
https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/metis-national-council-it-contracts-1.5208907

The Wayback Machine
https://archive.org/web/

International buyers eye N.S. vacation properties — especially in Cape Breton
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/foreign-property-statistics-canada-cape-breton-properties-1.5213540

Residency ownership of residential properties by property type and period of construction, provinces of Nova Scotia, Ontario and British Columbia
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/cv.action?pid=4610001801

Nova Scotia’s Property Online
http://www.novascotia.ca/sns/access/land/property-online.asp

Nova Scotia
https://electionsnovascotia.ca/Electoral-Finance-Reports

Elections Canada
http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=fin&&document=index&lang=e

Who backs Canada’s Politicians (National Post)
http://www.postmedia.com/2018/03/20/political-donations-database-allows-canadians-to-follow-the-money/

Privy Council Orders In Council database
http://www.pco-bcp.gc.ca/oic-ddc.asp?page=secretariats&lang=eng

Orders in Council Database (Nova Scotia)
https://novascotia.ca/exec_council/oic/

Halifax Regional Municipality Building Permits
http://catalogue.hrm.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/1ae0b449678241b3b6d17f1b832ab7a8_0

A deal denied: How SNC-Lavalin spent years fighting for a deferred prosecution law, but then lost the battle to use it
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-a-deal-denied-how-snc-lavalin-spent-years-fighting-for-a-deferred/

SNC Lavelin government correspondence uploaded to DocumentCloud
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5759310-SNC-Lavalin-Communication-Re-Integrity-Review.html#document/p21/a514452

Federal lobbyists search
https://lobbycanada.gc.ca/eic/site/012.nsf/eng/00035.html

Lobbyists (Nova Scotia)
https://novascotia.ca/sns/lobbyist/

ACOA Project Information
https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/ad1f4897-3298-4d15-8e5e-094958be7388

Substitute B.C. Conservative also had money woes
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/substitute-b-c-conservative-also-had-money-woes-1.1027393

Harper adds 8 new faces in major cabinet shakeup
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/harper-adds-8-new-faces-in-major-cabinet-shakeup-1.1307385

Have you been bankrupt? You could become Minister of National Revenue
http://www.davidmckie.com/have-you-been-bankrupt-you-could-become-minister-of-national-revenue/

Accused spy Jeffrey Delisle’s personal life ‘fell apart’ around time of alleged crimes
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/accused-spy-jeffrey-delisles-personal-life-fell-apart-around-time-of-alleged-crimes

Halifax mom calls for tougher child-violence laws
http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/1586505-halifax-mom-calls-for-tougher-child-violence-laws

Week Four: July 30, August 1:(TOP)

What we will learn

Continuation of pivot tables using Nova Scotia political donation data

An introduction to Statistics Canada and the 2016 Census

Pivot table test using the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency data (Thursday)

How to create an account for ArcGIS Online following the tutorial

How to map and interpret the census results, using Qgis

Links:

Mapping of Canadian coasts showing where climate change to hit hardest this century
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-mapping-of-canadian-coasts-showing-where-climate-change-to-hit-hardest-2/

Geological Survey of Canada — Open File 8551

Report reveals alarming — and growing — racialized income divide in GTA
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/05/06/report-reveals-alarming-and-growing-racialized-income-divide-in-gta.html

Trump backs away from census citizenship question, orders agencies to hand over citizenship information to Commerce
https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/11/politics/trump-census-executive-action/index.html

A majority of Torontonians now identify themselves as visible minorities
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2017/10/25/a-majority-of-torontonians-now-identify-themselves-as-visible-minorities-census-shows.html

The house is sold, but nobody’s home
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-estate/toronto/vancouvers-vacant-home-surge-comes-to-thegta/article34639829/ 

Toronto Has Over 99,000 Unoccupied Homes, Here’s Where They Are [Interactive]
https://betterdwelling.com/city/toronto/toronto-has-over-99000-unoccupied-homes-heres-where-they-are-interactive/#_

More Canadians than ever are living alone and without children, census finds
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/08/02/more-canadians-than-ever-are-living-alone-and-without-children-census-finds.html

Census Program
https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/index-eng.cfm

2016 Census Program release schedule
https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/ref/release-dates-diffusion-eng.cfm

Census Program
https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/index-eng.cfm

Census Reference Materials
https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/ref/index-eng.cfm

Dictionary, Census of Population, 2016: Complete A to Z index
https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/ref/dict/az1-eng.cfm#C

Census Profile, 2016 Census
https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/prof/index.cfm?Lang=E

National Householder Survey Profile, 2011
https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/dp-pd/prof/index.cfm?Lang=E

Census 2016 Census Tracts — Halifax
https://catalogue-hrm.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/d0bf3cb280154fefa938e4ca42127331_0

Examples of census maps
http://www.davidmckie.com/category/digi-1examples/

Is it on the map? Liberals face hurdles with infrastructure transparency tool
https://windsor.ctvnews.ca/is-it-on-the-map-liberals-face-hurdles-with-infrastructure-transparency-tool-1.4033824

Investing in Canada Plan Project Map
http://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/gmap-gcarte/index-eng.html#fnb1

Infrastructure Canada Projects
https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/beee0771-dab9-4be8-9b80-f8e8b3fdfd9d

ACOA Project Information
https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/ad1f4897-3298-4d15-8e5e-094958be7388

Tories best Liberals with record $8.5-million in second-quarter fundraising
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-tories-best-liberals-with-record-85-million-in-second-quarter/

Week Five: August 6, 8: (TOP)

A continuation of the mapping session from the previous week

A review of ArcGIS Online

A visit by Toronto Star investigative journalist Rob Cribb

Continued review of open-data sites

Final spreadsheet quiz

A discussion of workflows and good habits to ensure success

Links

Allergan breast implants linked to rare cancer pulled in global recall
https://www.thestar.com/news/investigations/2019/07/24/allergan-breast-implants-linked-to-rare-cancer-pulled-in-global-recall.html

Biocell breast implants at centre of ‘biggest controversy in plastic surgery’
https://www.thestar.com/news/investigations/2018/11/26/biocell-breast-implants-at-centre-of-biggest-controversy-in-plastic-surgery.html

CBC News’s joint investigation into the sometimes murky world of medical devices
https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/implant-files-investigation-medical-devices-1.4924384

Festivals de musique québécois : où sont les femmes?
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/info/2019/08/festivals-musique-femmes-programmation-artistes-quebec-osheaga/

July was world’s hottest month on record, WMO says
https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/july-hottest-month-1.5233368

Railway bicycle theft hotspots revealed
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-49154673

Dozens of hate-fueled attacks reported at Walmart stores nationwide
https://www.univision.com/univision-news/united-states/dozens-of-hate-fueled-attacks-reported-at-walmart-stores-nationwide

Steeltown or Hatetown? Hamilton tops country in hate crime reports
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/statistics-canada-2017-hate-crime-numbers-1.4925399

Police-reported hate crime, by type of motivation, Canada (selected police services)
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3510006601

CBSA looks for stunt actors to play smugglers, be struck for recruit training program
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-cbsa-looks-for-stunt-actors-to-play-smugglers-be-struck-for-recruit/

The provision of professional stunt-actors in use of force scenario based training for the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA)
https://buyandsell.gc.ca/procurement-data/tender-notice/PW-19-00882831

I’m a data scientist who is skeptical about data
https://qz.com/1664575/is-data-science-legit/

Open Data 101
https://open.canada.ca/en/open-data-principles

Federal Open Data Portal
https://open.canada.ca/en/open-data

2016 Census topic: Immigration and ethnocultural diversity
https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/index-eng.cfm

Search Briefing Note Titles and Numbers
https://search.open.canada.ca/en/bn/?sort=score%20desc&page=&search_text=

Crime Stats From Halifax Open Data Site
http://catalogue-hrm.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/f6921c5b12e64d17b5cd173cafb23677_0

Halifax Open Data Portal
https://www.halifax.ca/home/open-data

Nova Scotia Open Data
https://data.novascotia.ca/

Kentville police step up crosswalk safety efforts in wake of collisions
https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/news/regional/kentville-police-step-up-crosswalk-safety-efforts-in-wake-of-collisions-339543/

Open Data Portals
http://www.davidmckie.com/open-data-portals/

Liberals, Tories claim record-breaking Q2 fundraising figures
https://ipolitics.ca/2019/07/30/liberals-tories-claim-record-breaking-q2-fundraising-figures/

Elections Canada
https://www.elections.ca/home.aspx

Cost of a Standard Hospital Stay – Canadian Institute for Health Information
https://yourhealthsystem.cihi.ca/hsp/inbrief?lang=en#!/indicators/015/cost-of-a-standard-hospital-stay-cshs/;mapC1;mapLevel2;overview;/

Canadian Institute for Health Information
https://www.cihi.ca/en