P.E.I. oil painting from 1890s being restored to its former lustre
‘I knew that we would be able to really bring it back to life,’ says restoration expert The Canadian Conservation Institute is restoring a P.E.I. painting from the 1890s, by a “bosom friend” of Lucy Maud Montgomery, that was donated to the Bideford Parsonage Museum. The artist, Edith England, met the Anne of Green Gables author in the late 1800s when Montgomery began teaching at the Bideford school in western Prince Edward Island. The two remained close friends for many years, as documented in Montgomery’s journals. A few years ago, England’s family offered herRead more
From soul to soreness, the Island Walk will make you question everything
As challenging as it is serene, the 700-kilometre P.E.I walk is an emotional, exploratory journey As gentle-sounding as it is, the Island Walk is a test. The roughly 700-kilometre roundtrip walk around P.E.I., which takes many people more than 30 days to accomplish, will weigh on the joints and muscles as much as it does the mind. The journey will make you question just about everything. The answers are found somewhere along the way. Half the trek takes place on the Island’s hard-packed Confederation Trail, the other half takes walkersRead more
‘They just don’t care’: Palestinian-Canadians plead with Ottawa to help them get families out of Gaza
It’s hard for Shouq Alnajjar to hold her anger in check when she talks about the the family she left behind in Gaza. “They’re living in hell,” she said. “It’s so dangerous there.” Alnajjar, a Palestinian-Canadian, was living in Gaza City with her Palestinian husband when Israel declared war on Hamas following Hamas’s brutal Oct. 7 attack on Israeli civilians. After weeks of waiting and anxious phone calls to Global Affairs Canada, Alnajjar was able to get herself, her husband and her mother on the approved list to leave Gaza through theRead more
MPs pass 24-hour mark of marathon voting session
MPs have been voting for more than 24 hours straight as the Opposition Conservatives fulfil a promise to stall the Liberal government’s legislation with an avalanche of votes unless it agrees to scrap parts of its carbon tax. The Tories are forcing delays by prompting 135 votes in the House, most of them on the government’s budgetary estimates. The party said this will result in round-the-clock voting that likely will last until late Friday night and stall the Liberal agenda. As proceedings moved into Friday evening, Deputy Speaker Chris d’Entremont hinted at how MPsRead more
It’s not just COVID anymore, or a triple-demic. Welcome to the ‘new norm’ of seasonal illnesses
It’s another busy fall in Canadian hospitals, with emergency department closures, long wait times, and ongoing staff shortages all making headlines. The situation can turn deadly: Two people died while waiting for care at the Anna-Laberge hospital in Châteauguay, Que., just last week. And as health-care teams remain dangerously overstretched, they’re also grappling with the pressure of what some physicians are calling a “new norm” for seasonal illnesses — a range of viral and bacterial infections all back in circulation, with COVID-19 still chief among them. “This is probably the first year since COVID started where weRead more
Former Afghan interpreter for Canadian Armed Forces arrested by the Taliban, family says
Bashir Ahmad Azizi’s family in hiding while awaiting immigration paperwork for trip to Canada A former Canadian Armed Forces military interpreter has been arrested by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, CBC News has learned. “One morning I went to the [gym] with my father,” said Basir Ahmad Azizi, the son of Bashir Ahmad Azizi, who worked as a CAF interpreter until at least 2007 at Kandahar Airfield when the Canadian military was posted there with other western coalition forces. Azizi says Taliban gunmen showed up while his father was taking a breakRead more
With anti-Muslim occurrences on the rise, schools in Canada urged to address Islamophobia
Just a handful of school boards, all in Ontario, have developed a classroom strategy As tensions from the Israel-Hamas war continue to ripple through Canada, and officials across the country report an alarming rise in anti-Muslim occurrences, some experts say Islamophobia must become a classroom priority addressed now, in practical ways and on multiple fronts. Although there have long been calls for more attention on combating Islamophobia in Canadian schools, it’s been an infrequent topic of discussion, with just a handful of Ontario school boards beginning work in recent years on developing an anti-Islamophobia strategy.Read more
Cree elder has been playing fiddle for 70 years — and opened his grandson’s wedding with 1st tune he learned
Malcolm House, 82, played ‘Soldier’s Joy’ at wedding last month in Chisasibi Malcolm House was 12 years old when he first started playing the fiddle in northern Quebec Cree territory, back in 1953. At the time, he had to go visit a friend and play his fiddle, because House didn’t have one of his own. Seventy years later, House is still fiddling — and last month, he played the first fiddle tune of the evening at an important family event in Chisasibi, in northern Quebec. Playing the first tune, before the dancing starts,Read more
KPMG wants CRA affidavit in tax ‘sham’ case struck from public record
CBC/Radio-Canada granted standing to oppose motion to strike In a court hearing last April, a judge agreed to restrict public access to documents in a $37-million tax “sham” case. KPMG Law requested the temporary sealing order in the case regarding its client Gold Line Telemanagement, which the Canada Revenue Agency alleges was involved in a “carousel scheme.” Now, The Fifth Estate has learned that KPMG has applied to the court to have the affidavit at issue struck from the record completely — preventing the public from ever knowing what was in that CRARead more
B.C. welcomes federal housing dollars, but co-ops disappointed by timeline
$1 billion in funding has been promised for affordable housing across Canada. How much will B.C. get? B.C. leaders say although they welcome Ottawa’s affordable housing funding pledge, they worry it will amount to few projects over the next four years, while co-op housing advocates say they’re disappointed by the plan’s lack of urgency. On Tuesday, Ottawa pledged $1 billion for non-profit, co-op, and public housing providers to build more than 7,000 new homes by 2028. “The billion dollars they’ve said that’s going to be additional for building affordable housing isRead more