Average detached home in Edmonton costs $490K, compared to $1.4M in Toronto If you’ve been priced out of Toronto’s real estate market, Alberta hopes its latest ploy will have you looking west to achieve your white-picket-fence dreams. In a move to lure fed-up prospective home buyers, the province has unveiled the second phase of its campaign dubbed “Alberta is Calling.” “We’ve got Canada’s lowest taxes and the lowest cost of living, plus the highest wages and incomes and lots of big opportunity,” Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said in a video on Twitter. The campaign toutsRead more

3 partners sign declaration to eliminate Indigenous-specific racism, commit to biannual progress reports The head of northern Manitoba’s health-care system is apologizing for historic and continuing racism against Indigenous people seeking medical care, and promising change. “Let me begin by acknowledging that Indigenous-specific racism has existed and continues to be present within the Northern Health Region,” Helga Bryant, CEO of the health authority, said at a news conference in Thompson. “On behalf of our staff, I offer our humble, heartfelt apology. We’re truly sorry for the harm this has caused. We collectivelyRead more

These two appointments reduce the number of vacancies in the Senate from 17 to 15 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has appointed a high-profile surgeon and the former head of Canada’s public service to the Senate. “I am pleased to welcome Flordeliz Osler and Ian Shugart as Parliament’s newest independent senators,” Trudeau said in a statement issued Monday. “I am confident that their dedication, unique perspectives and stellar careers will help them best serve Canadians from all walks of life.” Osler is an assistant professor at the University of Manitoba and aRead more

Andrian Maknachov is settling into his new home in Regina with help from his followers Since moving to Canada in May, Andrian Maknachov has been on a quest to discover and try the most Canadian treats and activities. A few short months ago, Maknachov was studying international relations and communications in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv when Russia attacked his country. The 19-year-old made the difficult decision to leave his father, who was staying to protect Ukraine, and move to Regina to be with his brother, who had been livingRead more

Sarah Inam’s killing is ‘painful and unbelievable,’ former classmate at Ontario university says The friends of Sarah Inam are in mourning after the alumnus of the University of Waterloo in Ontario was killed in Pakistan and her husband was arrested. Inam, 37, had been married for four months to Shahnawaz Amir, the son of Ayaz Amir, a columnist and TV political analyst in Pakistan, The Associated Press reports. Police in Pakistan said Shahnawaz was arrested after Inam was allegedly killed Friday at the couple’s home following a row over a family issue. His father hasRead more

The collection of proof of vaccine is how the vaccination policy is implemented, judge rules A court injunction filed by five Western University students to block the London, Ont., institution’s COVID-19 booster shot mandate has been rejected by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, according to court documents. In a written decision, Justice Kelly Tranquilli stated that as an independent, autonomous, and self-governing institution, Western can govern its affairs separate from the province, and collecting personal health data from staff and students is its way of implementing the vaccination policy. “The collectionRead more

Complaint sparks discussion over whether organizations can be held liable for virus spread in buildings A Vancouver mother has filed a regulatory complaint against the Vancouver School Board (VSB), asking for a professional engineer’s assurance that her children are protected against COVID-19. Tracy Casavant, who has two children attending elementary school, filed the complaint with Engineers and Geoscientists B.C. (EGBC) last week. Casavant says she reached out to the school board asking for an authenticated document by a registered engineer — something required as part of regulatory codes — underpinning the school board’s decisions around ventilationRead more

Training sparked by Joyce Echaquan’s death called ‘superficial’ and ‘cringe-worthy’ As the second anniversary of Joyce Echaquan’s death approaches this week, Indigenous health professionals say the measures taken by the Quebec government to address racism and discrimination in medical facilities have been inadequate. Echaquan, a 37-year-old Atikamekw mother of seven, died in a Joliette, Que., hospital in 2020 after filming herself being subjected to insulting comments from staff. Quebec’s ministry of health and social services (MSSS) developed compulsory training for all its health-care workers after a coroner’s report found racismRead more

The giant planet can be seen from anywhere, including in light-polluted cities You may have noticed a bright “star” in the eastern sky after sunset, but that’s no star: it’s the mighty planet Jupiter, and it’s almost at its peak brightness. Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, is reaching opposition, an event that occurs when a celestial object rises in the east as the sun sets in the west, putting both the sun and the object on opposite sides of Earth. But what also makes this special isRead more

At the West Island hospital, a pandemic flashpoint, doctors and nurses say help is long overdue On its busiest days, the Lakeshore General Hospital emergency room is so stretched for space that patients on gurneys line not just every hallway, but even the narrow passageway in front of the nursing station. “You can imagine that’s not a great place for a sick patient,” said Tim Heely-Ray, the hospital’s chief ER co-ordinator, on a rare tour of the ward at the only hospital in Montreal’s West Island. It’s unusually quiet on thisRead more