Leanne Robinson, Dwayne Wohlgemuth and their 2 young sons just spent 90 days in the bush You could call it the canoe trip of a lifetime, but for Leanne Robinson, Dwayne Wohlgemuth and their two young boys, it came to feel less like a trip and more like … just life. “We didn’t have an A-to-B [route] that we had to finish. It was kind of pick and choose where we wanted to go while we were on the tundra,” Wohlgemuth recalled this week. “It just felt a lot more like we were just living somewhere onRead more

Chiefs say Truth and Reconciliation Day deserves to be a holiday as well Indigenous leaders in New Brunswick are criticizing the province’s decision to hold a holiday for Queen Elizabeth’s funeral while Truth and Reconciliation Day hasn’t received the same treatment. On Sept. 19, schools and government offices will be closed for a national day of mourning, although the holiday is optional for the private sector. Chief Ross Perley of Neqotkuk (Tobique First Nation) said there are many Indigenous people who deserve mourning. “When it comes to honouring, you know,Read more

Investigators appealing for information about suspect Sean Petrie A 28-year-old international student injured in Monday’s shootings across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area remains on life support and is not expected to survive, Halton Police Chief Steve Tanner told reporters on Thursday. The man was working at an auto body shop in Milton when he was shot. The owner of the shop, Shakeel Ashraf, 38, was killed, while Toronto police Const. Andrew Hong, 48, was fatally shot about half an hour earlier in Mississauga. Two other victims were also shot overRead more

The magnitude of the trauma is just being felt, says FSIN vice-chief Heather Bear It’s been 11 days since a deadly stabbing spree terrorized James Smith Cree Nation in Saskatchewan, but some Indigenous leaders say the process of healing is just getting started. “The magnitude of the trauma and the disbelief, I guess — it’s only just begun,” said Heather Bear, fourth vice-chief with the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations. “I don’t think we’ve fully realized the full impact of what this tragedy has caused,” she told The Current guest host Nahlah Ayed. There were 10Read more

New report says denturist’s provincial subsidies instilled trust in clients The man responsible for the April 2020 mass killings in Nova Scotia preyed on vulnerable and Black women through his work as a denturist and exchanged dental work for sex, according to a new report submitted to the Mass Casualty Commission on Thursday. The commission is investigating the circumstances and systemic failures that contributed to the events of April 18 and 19, 2020, when the gunman, Gabriel Wortman, killed 22 neighbours and strangers — including a pregnant woman — and destroyed homes while driving a mock policeRead more

Movie pulled after premiere in festival’s Midnight Madness program The People’s Joker, an unauthorized reimagining of Batman’s universe through the eyes of a transgender woman, has been pulled from the Toronto International Film Festival over rights issues after a single screening. TIFF says on its website that the filmmaker pulled the Gotham City-set independent movie over the concerns, and the customer relations team will get in touch with ticketholders. Neither representatives for The People’s Joker nor Warner Bros. Discovery, which holds the film rights to the DC Comics universe, immediately responded to aRead more

Warning: This story contains graphic details The man behind an incel-inspired attack at a Toronto massage parlour two years ago has pleaded guilty to charges of murder and attempted murder — citing the man responsible for the city’s deadly van attack as “inspiration.” The accused, who was 17 at the time of the killing, cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Now 20, he made his plea at Ontario Superior Court before Justice Suhail Akhtar on Wednesday morning, where court heard he had been thinking of carrying out his violent actions for months. SlumpedRead more

Call comes from diverse groups including Canadian Chamber of Commerce, local governments and researchers A broad coalition on climate adaptation and disaster resilience says air conditioning should become a human right on par with winter heating — one of a series of hard targets it says Canada needs to meet in the next few years as climate change impacts increase. “We’re focusing on the immediate term,” said Blair Feltmate, head of the University of Waterloo’s Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation. “What is still missing with the federal government is aRead more

Comments arose during a panel discussion of police accountability The chairman of Nova Scotia’s mass shooting inquiry has raised concerns that budget constraints could tether investigations by the watchdog agency that oversees complaints against the RCMP. Michael MacDonald asked participants in an online roundtable discussion in Dartmouth, N.S., Wednesday whether funding concerns are a “blatant affront” to the independence of the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP. While the oversight agency has the power to start its own inquiries, agency chairperson and panel member Michelaine Lahaie confirmed she must send aRead more

Number of veterans seeking reimbursement for medical pot grew from 100 in 2014 to more than 18,000 last year An internal audit by Veterans Affairs Canada suggests the federal government has all but lost control as it shells out hundreds of millions of dollars for veterans’ medical marijuana each year without proper oversight, direction or evidence of health benefits. Quietly published this week, the audit’s results come amid an explosion in the number of veterans seeking reimbursement for their medical pot, from around 100 in 2014 to more than 18,000Read more