Duncan’s First Nation using arguments similar to those used successfully last year by B.C. group A northern Alberta First Nation has filed what experts say is the province’s first lawsuit claiming cumulative effects from industry, agriculture and settlement are so pervasive, they violate the band’s treaty rights. Duncan’s First Nation, southwest of Peace River, a town located about 500 kilometres north of Edmonton, alleges the province has permitted so much activity and sold off so much Crown land that band members can only live their constitutionally guaranteed way of life withRead more

Eight schools have officially joined the board. Students of any background can attend Lauren Wallingham and her daughter Leah walk on a wooded path from their home in Whitehorse to Takhini Elementary School, where Leah is beginning Grade 2. Leah says she’s nervous to meet her new teacher — but something else is new at the school this year, as well. Eight schools in the Yukon, including Leah’s, have officially joined the First Nation School Board — the first of its kind in Canada — after a historic referendum vote last January. NowRead more

Myles Sanderson was ordered to stay away from alcohol, drugs Long before he became the main suspect in a mass killing and the subject of a multi-province alert, Myles Sanderson had a history of explosive violence, according to Parole Board of Canada documents from February of this year. Sanderson’s contacts with the criminal justice system span more than two decades. As an adult, he racked up 59 convictions for assault, assault with a weapon, uttering threats, assaulting a police officer and robbery. Roughly half of the offences were for breaches or failure toRead more

Female undercover officers befriended protesters acting as ‘security’ for Coutts border blockade Newly released records show police believed the Alberta men now accused of plotting to murder RCMP officers debated having two women smuggle a hockey bag filled with guns into a protest against pandemic-related restrictions, suggesting they would go unnoticed by police because they were “girls.” However, those two women were actually undercover police officers. The next day, RCMP launched a rare “imminent harm” wiretap, which is permitted to be executed without a judge’s sign-off when there is an immediateRead more

Critics also worried domestic abuse survivors with new names are at risk Some teachers initially included in a new provincial registry say the government’s publication of all their legal names could lead to discrimination, harassment and safety issues. When the government’s new teacher registry went live last week, Calgary teacher, consultant and PhD student Jamie Anderson found an unwelcome surprise — his birth name, listed underneath his legal name. Anderson is trans. His former name is a legal identity he no longer uses. “Being outed and people having access to thatRead more

‘Whole cities, beautiful, one-of-a-kind cities are under water,’ B.C. businessman says Hours after returning to Canada from Pakistan, a Calgary businessman said he got word floodwaters hit the same area where he had been helping people with disabilities move out of the way of the impending deluge. Mohammad Farhan operates multiple charities and orphanages across Pakistan through his organization, House of Dreams. He said his team on the ground in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa called to tell him they had just watched a nearby hotel get inundated. “ARead more

Restoring Hidden Lake is a feat of conservation that Parks Canada worked on for more than a decade For the first time in 50 years, westslope cutthroat trout are swimming in Hidden Lake again — a feat of conservation that Parks Canada experts have worked on for more than a decade to achieve. Nestled high up in the Skoki Valley of Banff National park, specialists laboured through trial and error to restore habitat ideal for Alberta’s native, and at-risk, westslope cutthroat trout. This summer, thousands of fishlings strong enough to survive in theRead more

Hockey Canada’s new third-party complaint process hired the investigator Hockey Canada is covering the cost of a third-party investigator hired to look into allegations that a group of men on the 2003 World Junior hockey team sexually assaulted a woman in Halifax during a tournament nearly two decades ago. As part of Hockey Canada’s stated plan to address “toxic” behaviour on and off the ice, it created a new “independent third-party” system to respond to complaints of sexual violence. That new system hired Ottawa-based lawyer and sport investigator Jennifer White to findRead more

‘If farmers are under threat, then so are the rest of us,’ researcher Janos Botschner says Cathy Lennon can’t recall the last time she met a farmer who didn’t have a cellphone. “Whether that is sort of your modern-day farmer or your traditional even Mennonite farmer, they have cellphones and smartphones in their pocket,” Lennon, the general manager of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA), said in a phone interview from her office in Guelph, Ont. She said there’s an increasing amount of technology and data on farms and in theRead more