Breweries, water bottlers and non-medical cannabis growers included in businesses ordered to stop using water A state of local emergency declared on the Sunshine Coast because of drought includes an order for breweries, water bottlers and non-medical cannabis growers to shut down water use starting at 11:59 p.m. PT on Tuesday. According to the order, the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) has secured the water supply through early November but is using the emergency order “to further secure and expand water supply should there be no significant rainfall on the SunshineRead more

Missed opportunity for reconciliation with First Nations, critics say Helmets, gloves and sticks littered the turf as the final buzzer sounded at Canada Games Park this past August in Niagara, Ont. More than a dozen teenage boys from B.C. had hung on for a thrilling 8-7 win over Team Ontario in the gold medal final of box lacrosse. Soon, the boys would have shiny medals around their necks. Lacrosse, it seemed, was in a good spot. After years of being excluded at the Canada Games — since 1985, to be exact — lacrosse was finallyRead more

Suit says fishermen intimidated band members who launched self-regulated lobster fishery Members of the Sipekne’katik First Nation, including Chief Mike Sack, have started a lawsuit against the RCMP and some fishermen in southwestern Nova Scotia over a dispute that erupted into violence two years ago. The suit filed Oct. 13 in Nova Scotia Supreme Court says the fishermen resorted to intimidation, damage to property and assault against Sipekne’katik band members who had launched a self-regulated lobster fishery in September 2020. There were confrontations on the wharfs, on the water, and atRead more

Hospitalizations, new cases and active cases continue to rise, weekly figures show COVID-19 has killed four more New Brunswickers, the number of sick health-care workers has jumped 44 per cent, and hospitalizations and new cases continue to rise, figures released Tuesday show. A new Omicron subvariant with mutations shown to allow it to better evade immunity from vaccination and prior infection has also been confirmed in the province. A single case of BA.2.75.2 was detected in September, confirmed Department of Health spokesperson Adam Bowie, although it was not listed separately in any of the weekly COVIDWatchRead more

More than 300,000 Canadians have already retired in 2022, Statistics Canada says Lee Valley Tools put up a recruitment sign outside its headquarters in Ottawa a few months ago with a line reflecting a corporate shift: “No Experience Needed.” The company, which has retail stores across Canada, as well as an Ottawa-based manufacturing arm that builds its tools, desperately needed staff. Known for attracting older workers on the retail side, Lee Valley had seen a wave of retirements during COVID-19. But with demand up for its products as people embracedRead more

Russell Tessier guilty of 1st-degree murder in 2007 death of Allan Gerald Berdahl The Supreme Court of Canada has restored a Calgary man’s first-degree murder conviction, ruling his statements to police were admissible as evidence against him at trial. Russell Tessier was originally found guilty by a jury in 2018, 11 years after the body of his friend Allan Gerald Berdahl, 36, was discovered in a ditch north of Calgary, on March 16, 2007. The conviction came after the trial judge allowed the panel to hear evidence of what Tessier disclosed to police before investigators told him of his right toRead more

Methamphetamine back in spotlight after stabbing massacre in James Smith Cree Nation Elaine Fox knows everyone in Onion Lake Cree Nation. That means the elder knows how methamphetamine is altering the fabric of her community like never before. “It’s broken family relationships,” she said. The 66-year-old said meth and gangs control the lives of many young people in Onion Lake, a First Nation that straddles the Alberta-Saskatchewan border. “Most of them come from dysfunctional families — families that have never dealt with residential school traumas,” said Fox. “I know theRead more

Dutch man tormented B.C. teen online for more than two years The 44-year-old Dutch man convicted of sexually extorting a B.C. teenager who died by suicide a decade ago was sentenced to 13 years in prison Friday. B.C. Supreme Court Justice Martha Devlin asked Aydin Coban to stand as she read out her final decision, after detailing the arguments presented by the Crown and the defence and explaining her deliberation process. The sentence is longer than the 12 years suggested by the Crown, but Devlin said Coban’s conduct and the pleasure he took inRead more

Excellence in education is an ‘important part of advancing society,’ prof says When it comes to the coming school board trustee elections, Kate Belair of Wellesley, Ont., hopes people do their homework on the candidates. “We have somebody running for school board trustee who doesn’t seem to be very inclusive,” she said in an interview in the village ahead of Ontario’s Monday, Oct. 24, municipal election. “He’s going to be in a situation where he could impact our children’s education, and that’s scary because we want our community to be inclusiveRead more

The Public Order Emergency Commission is meeting for its second day in Ottawa Two Ottawa city councillors have told the public inquiry probing the federal government’s use of emergency powers to end last winter’s protest convoy occupation of downtown Ottawa that they struggled to convince city police to deploy resources to residential neighbourhoods. “It was a general sense of fear, terror and dismay, that they felt abandoned by their city and by their police,” Catherine McKenney, a councillor for a core downtown ward, told the inquiry on Friday. The Public Order Emergency Commission isRead more