People cannot live without power because it helps them stay connected and makes things easier in circumstances like blackouts. Portable power stations have become pretty common and popular because they are quite an affordable and quieter option than traditional fuel generators. These portable power stations have compact energy hubs that make them useful for various situations like camping or off-grid living. 

Many brands have portable power stations, and some provide the best high-capacity devices that can charge fast and are solar-compatible. However, there is a big question: Do you need it? And is it worth buying?

What Is a Portable Power Station?

A portable power station is a rechargeable battery pack with many sockets and ports, like AC sockets and USB ports or DC carports, that help you acquire stored energy when you run out of electricity. There are many traditional power banks, but you cannot carry them around and use them whenever or wherever you need them. With a portable power station, everything becomes easy, and you can use it for laptops and even mini-fridges.

The Benefits: What Do You Get for the Price?

Portable power stations may seem like a big upfront investment, but the long-term value they bring makes them totally worth it. From everyday convenience to emergency backup, here’s what you really get when you bring one home:

1. Multi-Use Versatility

Some brands have the best portable power stations that you can use in different situations, like when you are out camping, working from your van, or dealing with a power outage at home. Whatever it is, you can use it as your backup power. These portable power stations can charge your phone, laptop, and small appliances like coolers or kitchen gadgets.

2. Emergency Readiness

Power outages could be frequent and inconvenient. They can be an obstacle in your work, but with portable power stations, especially the Delta series, you don’t have to compromise on your important work and chores because appliances can run for hours. Wi-Fi routers, LED lights, fans, and even refrigerators—everything can run easily for several hours on power stations. They are becoming an essential tool for creative freedom. Artists and musicians can power amps, lights, projectors, or recording gear on the go with no outlets required. 

3. Solar Charging = True Independence

If you are going to buy from a good brand, then you can get one of its best features, which is solar compatibility. These power stations can be charged by using the sun, and they are perfect for travellers and tiny home dwellers.

4. Eco-Friendly Operation

Generally, power stations don’t make noise. They are eco-friendly and reduce noise pollution. Power stations are much better than traditional gas generators because they don’t release harmful smoke.

Are They Worth It?

Well, it totally depends on your needs—whether you have a purpose for its use—but for most people, it’s a yes.

For Frequent Power Cuts

Some areas have heavier power outages than others, and in such situations, a power station could be really helpful and a total game changer. Some of the brands have many portable power stations that are quieter and come in handy as a rechargeable backup option.

For Campers and Travelers

People who live in vans or work while travelling can really benefit from a portable power source. A portable power station can charge anything, such as a drone or lights, and it will make your trip easier and more convenient.

For Remote Workers

Blackouts can be really stressful if you are stuck somewhere and can’t connect to people. In such situations and remote work, a power station would help maintain connectivity by charging your laptop, phone, and modem so that you stay productive and do not end up in isolation.

For Occasional Users

Sometimes, people who don’t travel often or have a stable power grid don’t need a high-end portable station. They can opt for a smaller, entry-level model like the River series, which would be perfect for short trips or minor blackouts.

On a Tight Budget?

There are many options that can fit into your budget. You can start with small and expand later by adding solar panels or other options. If you want, you can buy a portable power station from EcoFlow.

Conclusion

Portable power stations are great for most people because nowadays, people want convenience when using chargers, and they work through laptops and phones. So its power stations work best for areas where power outages are frequent and for people who love travelling.

The post Are Portable Power Stations Worth It? A Cost vs. Benefit Analysis appeared first on Cult MTL.

United States President Donald Trump has been loud and clear. America’s liberal democratic allies cannot rely on the U.S. to protect them.

Trump has also suggested using illegal force to achieve his own imperialist ambitions, even against former allies.

Message received.

Canadians and Europeans understand the American partnership is over.

They’re now processing the implications of America’s apparent democratic collapse for global security.

Does Trump’s stance mean that liberal democracies are now vulnerable to invasions, annexations and theft of natural resources? Yes, it does.

Read more: An American military invasion of Canada? No longer unthinkable, but highly unlikely

International security scholarship shows that, unless they are deterred, predatory superpowers use force to seize territory and natural resources for the purpose of aggrandizement.

While an invasion of Canada is not imminent, the threats to democratic nations are now fully detectable and predictable.

The responsible time to deter these threats is right now.

Asymmetric deterrence

Deterrence works when the imposed cost of an action is higher than its expected benefit. That means a hostile power won’t attack Canada if the risks of invasion are higher than the value of seizing our natural resources.

Given that Canada is extremely resource-rich, that’s a challenge.

While the Canadian government can make smart choices on military procurement, there is little any Canadian leader can do to transform the Canadian Armed Forces into a superpower army.

Even if Canada redirected every penny of its budget to defence spending, it could not catch up with American, Russian or Chinese military power. Given this asymmetry, is deterrence possible?

Absolutely.

To get there, Canada must take two big steps: first, adopt a “whole-of-society” defence system to protect the homeland; and second, contribute to a democratic nuclear umbrella.

Read more: Amid U.S. threats, Canada's national security plans must include training in non-violent resistance

Whole-of-society defence

In “whole-of-society” defence, all citizens play a role in national security and emergency response. This approach requires mandatory military service and nationwide civil defence preparations.

Whole-of-society defence not only improves societal resilience, but it also scares away potential invaders.

Ordinary citizens can in fact defeat superpowers using nothing more than small arms and light weapons. The U.S. and Russia have both been trounced in the past by well-armed resistance movements.

For a power-drunk dictator, whole-of-society defence is a sobering reality check.

The presence of a large, well-armed and well-trained domestic population promises invaders a bloody, expensive and protracted ground war. That means high risks, low rewards, skyrocketing costs and decades-long timelines.

That’s enough to deter a predatory superpower.

Read more: Why annexing Canada would destroy the United States

Many of Canada’s democratic allies have already embraced whole-of-society defence. Norway, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland all have mandatory military service and civil defence, and sensible gun regulations that allow law-abiding citizens to contribute to national security.

Canada has every reason to adopt the Scandinavian approach to national defence, including mandatory military and civil service and the removal of some restrictions on Canadian firearms. An excellent model to consider is Sweden’s brand new “Total Defence” system.

Norwegians, Finns and Swedes are peaceful people who have learned to survive next to a dangerous superpower. Canadians must look at their own vulnerabilities and see the logic and wisdom behind the Scandinavian approach.

A democratic nuclear umbrella

Although the 1968 Non-Proliferation Treaty prohibits nuclear weapons development, the Trump administration’s utter disdain for democratic allies has prompted a global rethink. Trump has demanded NATO countries stop relying on the U.S. military and spend more on their own defence.

Nuclear weapons acquisition complies with his demand.

Germany and Poland have reopened the nuclear debate, but most European democracies lack the materials to develop their own weapons. Instead, they are looking to France and the United Kingdom to create a new European nuclear umbrella.

Some Canadians hope the U.K. and French umbrellas could protect Canada, too.

That’s the wrong mentality.

The U.K. and France have a combined 515 nuclear weapons. Russia has 5,580.

Instead of asking the U.K. and France to further stretch their limited arsenals, Canada could step up and contribute to the solution.

Canada is already a nuclear-threshold state with both the know-how and raw materials to develop a nuclear weapon. It would take time and money, but Canada is in a better position to help than most other European countries.

Once across the nuclear threshold, Canada would have a bulletproof defence of its homeland. It could then work with the U.K. and France as an equal and reliable partner, contributing to a democratic nuclear umbrella to protect vulnerable allies.

This would require formal withdrawal from the Non-Proliferation Treaty, but that action doesn’t need to be provocative or unilateral. Canada could co-ordinate its withdrawal with European allies as part of a collective defence of liberal democracies.

In the face of rising tyranny and superpower conquest, Canada can either choose to be a burden on its overstretched French and British allies or a source of renewed safety for its democratic friends.

Defending democracy

Deterrence is hard work, but it is infinitely better than the horrors of invasion.

Mandatory military service and nuclear weapons may be new ideas for Canadians, but other friendly democracies have been using these strategies for decades.

The good news is that successful deterrence means stability and peace, so citizens can relax and carry on with their lives. Canadians want this safety for themselves, and for their allies, too.

The time for Canada to act is now, when threats are foreseeable but not imminent. Waiting until an army amasses at the border is too late.

To deter aggression, Canadians need to step up and be a little more like their Scandinavian, British and French allies. That is the price of continued freedom.

Aisha Ahmad receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

The westbound bound Gardiner Expressway was reduced from four lanes to three on Wednesday in a closure that will continue until May 2026.

Sitting in a waiting room at the hospital for eye problems, I listened to two strangers waiting behind me. I can’t see anything and so listening is all I can do that is stimulating. Within a volley of a few sentences, the strangers lament the state of the United States and notably, it’s unhinged, fascist, freakshow leader Donald Trump.

This isn’t bizarre. Donald Trump is on the lips of most people who I eavesdrop on these days (yes, even when I can see and I have no excuse to do this). Quebecers are Trump obsessed. Le Devoir’s weekend edition is a non-stop stream of Trump news. People here have Trump on their minds and he is overwhelmingly worrying them.

Even at the Facebook group for Quebecer snowbirds who stay in Florida, Trump seems to be on everyone’s mind. It takes no time to fall into a debate about the right-ward virage of that country. Under the first post I see, a man is selling a trailer for $95,000 and the comments explode with debates about how impossible it will be to sell it: “Unfortunately, it’s in Florida, Trump’s chateau fort and nothing there is selling right now” is perhaps the kindest comment there.

This should all be good news for the Bloc Québécois. My sense is that there is less support for Trump in Quebec than anywhere else in Canada, and with Canada’s sovereignty threatened by the Trump administration, it should be the Bloc’s moment to shine. Now is the time to assert our culture, identity and language against the Americans, right?

That isn’t how Quebecers have reacted. Polling has shown that the Liberals are the primary winner of Trump-driven fear. Quebecers are not running to the warm embrace of imagining an independent Quebec nation; they’re hoping to be saved by a guy who barely speaks French and seems like he’s never set foot off the Island of Montreal in all his previous trips to the province.

This trend was nearly immediate after Trump was sworn in. At the start of February, a poll from Leger clocked support for Quebec independence at its lowest in five years. This was a surprise, given that the over those past five years, the Parti Québécois rose from the ashes and had been riding the top of the polls. They were so confident that their leader, PSPP (we talk in acronyms here), threw around their promise to hold a referendum within the first 100 days of being elected. The talk was serious enough to create an internal debate near-crisis within Québec solidaire over what to do if that happens.

But Trump changed all that. His policies moved Quebecers to be more nationalistic, as in Canadian nationalistic, rather than Quebec nationalistic, and while the election hadn’t been called yet, support for both the provincial and federal liberals had bounded. This was especially surprising, given that the Liberals have been a non-entity in Quebec politics since their loss in 2018.

Now, with just two weeks left in the election, the Bloc is polling only slightly ahead of the Conservatives. Of the four federal parties with seats in Quebec, the Bloc has experienced the biggest drop in support.

Their support cannot be blamed on their campaign. They're doing everything right. Blanchet is a likable, personable leader (admittedly, the only one I’ve sat down with, though also the only federal leader who ever blocked me on Twitter). Before Carneymania, Blanchet was poised to snatch most of Quebec away from the other parties. They even stood be the official opposition again. Until things got hot and Quebecers got cold feet. The polls show that they ran back to the Liberal Party.

Quebecers are people who love to dream. It’s built into their DNA. As I joked with Blanchet when we met, if you sell Quebecers (and in particular, Quebecers where I live) a dream, it can carry your political fortunes for a long time. The Nordiques will come back. One day, we’ll have a world-class tramway in Quebec City. Whether via catapult, cable car or 10-kilometre tube (that looks more like a gerbil run than a highway) we will get our 3e lien to save us 10 minutes driving from the south shore to the north shore. We love to dream. Promise us a dream and we will give you our support. And there is no bigger dream than a Québec independent.

That is, until, reality hits and the dream evaporates. No, the Nordiques are never coming back (the market was absorbed by the Canadiens, there’s no reason for the NHL to expand here). No, we will never get that tramway (you will have to settle for even more busses). No, the 3e lien will never happen because it’s engineeringly impossible (it’s actually a hilarious joke orchestrated by our local trash radio community). No, an independent Quebec will never happen because it cannot only be dreams that build it.

The reality, and perhaps for some the irony, is that Quebecers do want a united Canada in the face of a hostile and aggressive United States. They do want an English speaking Prime Minister who can go toe-to-toe with Trump, pick up on his Anglo-Saxon humour, effortlessly kibitz. Even if they say they don’t, that’s what the polls show them saying. Only a fool would deny reality.

This is a disaster for the sovereignty movement (which I support). If sovereignty isn’t desired during a moment of difficulty, then it isn’t serious.

I’m writing this in English. If I were writing this in French, I would now pivot to what the left-wing sovereignty movement needs to do to build people’s confidence to support the project. This trend isn’t unmoveable. For all the negative outcomes of dreaming, there are even more positives. Just like, if I were writing this in French, I would explain why we will win a world-class tramway in Quebec, someday, as long as we do this, this and this.

But I’m not. I’m writing this in English, for an audience that mostly, likely, looks upon Quebec confounded and confused. It’s possible that the Bloc’s fortunes change between now and April 28. Indeed, among my friends, the vast majority are voting Bloc. But as it stands, for Quebecers to face an existential threat and not instinctively choose to fight it by asserting their own sovereignty, is an existential threat in and of itself to the movement for a Québec independent.

The Bank of Canada is hitting pause after seven straight interest rate cuts as it grapples with global trade uncertainty.  The central bank held its benchmark interest rate steady at 2.75 per cent on Wednesday, the first time it has foregone a cut since last June.  Governor Tiff Macklem says the Bank of Canada kept the key rate unchanged to give the central bank more time to see how the U.S. tariff situation will impact the economy.

The following is a capsule review of the Montreal restaurant Candide. To read the 2025 Montreal Restaurant Guide, please click here.

Candide

“Love and precision, warmth and refinement, but in the end, Candide is an excuse to make people smile.” John Winter Russell’s celebrated restaurant is always carefully considered and thoughtfully executed. It’s got all the makings of a Michelin-Star restaurant. (551 St-Martin)

For more on Candide and to make a reservation, please visit their website.

For more on the food and drink scene in Montreal, please visit the Food & Drink section.

The post Montreal Restaurant Guide: Candide appeared first on Cult MTL.

This year's cohort is Allison Graves, Zilla Jones, Dilan Qadir, Liz Stewart and Isabella Wang.

Bank of Canada is hitting pause after seven straight interest rate cuts as it grapples with global trade uncertainty.

The central bank held its benchmark interest rate steady at 2.75 per cent today, the first time it has foregone a cut since last June.

Governor Tiff Macklem says the Bank of Canada kept the key rate unchanged to give the central bank more time to see how the U.S. tariff situation will impact the economy.

The Bank of Canada is also laying out a pair of economic scenarios for how that uncertainty could evolve.

One sees the tariffs negotiated away quickly and the economy stall but escape with limited damage, while the other envisions a lengthy global trade war that sends Canada into a recession for a year.

Macklem says the Bank of Canada is committed to keeping inflation under control and will proceed carefully with future rate decisions.

Perla Javate moved to Winnipeg, Canada, in 1976, when it only had several thousand Filipinos, according to the Manitoba Historical Society.

But 2021 data from Statistics Canada shows that Filipinos make up 11.11 per cent of the city’s population, making Winnipeg the city with the highest concentration of Filipinos in Canada.

Javate, the president of the Philippine Heritage Council of Manitoba, says many Filipinos come in through various immigration pathways, but reconnecting with loved ones remains the primary motivator for the move.

“Family reunification is the first and foremost reason for it. Our population has grown through that avenue,” Javate says. “We’re now probably having our fourth, if not fifth generation of Filipino Canadians.”

Manitoba also has the highest proportion of Filipinos compared to its total population among all the provinces and territories in Canada, according to the Philippine Embassy in Ottawa.

Experts say the Filipino community engagement is undeniable, a reason why their vote should not be ignored.

“The Filipino-Canadian community in Winnipeg, in all parts of Winnipeg, is very engaged in the community. They don’t stand away from the community,” says Christopher Adams, adjunct professor of political studies at the University of Manitoba. “They’re very involved at the community level, so a politician really has to pay attention to this special population.”

‘The one that stands out at all times is immigration.’

Javate says the challenges faced by the community in the 80s remain the top issues for newcomers today, mainly immigration and credential recognition.

“We are very particular about bringing our support system over,” she says. “So all other issues surrounding immigration are very important for our community.”

Kris Ontong, a community worker and co-founder of the online media initiative Barangay Canada, says he experienced some of the immigration issues faced by the Filipino community in Manitoba first-hand.

“Being a professional engineer [in the Philippines], I now work as a community worker here because it’s very difficult to have your credential recognized,” he says. “You have to go through a process and in some cases, people have to go back to school just to have your credentials recognized.”

Beyond immigration and foreign credentials, key issues affecting Winnipeg are also at the top of Filipino voters’ minds during this election.

“They’ll tell you affordable housing, homelessness will be a problem,” Ontong says. “Public safety is one of their concerns. Then related would be policing. The third would be infrastructure.”

However, according to Adams, understanding how Filipinos vote in Winnipeg is not as simple as identifying the issues they care about.

“A lot of new Canadians have been more oriented to the Liberal Party of Canada, in large part because the governing party that facilitates new Canadians or immigrants into Canada, often there’s a connection between the government and its party and the new Canadians,” he says. “But just because you’re Filipino-Canadian doesn’t necessarily mean you vote Liberal. You might have a conservative view about the world and traditional values and attitudes.”

Community engagement vs. voting engagement

In a 2022 Statistics Canada report based on data from 2020, Filipinos are among those least likely to vote in the elections in the prior elections of any level of government.

However, community leaders are seeing a change in the upcoming federal election on April 28.

“If you conduct a man-on-the-street interview and ask them what are the issues right now in your riding and who are the candidates you’re considering,” Ontong says. “You would find that they’re very aware of the various candidates and the platforms of the parties they represent.”

For example, he cites the riding of Winnipeg North, where Filipino Canadians are now participating in candidates’ door-to-door campaigns.

Filipino-Canadians can have an impact on close-race ridings: analyst

Adams says some communities with “heavy Filipino-Canadian voting” can affect a close election, especially regarding individual candidates in ridings.

“I’m thinking Winnipeg North is one of those, but also other areas,” he says. “I was looking at Winnipeg Centre, Leah Gazan is fighting to protect her NDP seat. They have about a third of that riding is Filipino-Canadian or Southeast Asian.”

Adams also highlights that Filipino Canadians have a presence across Winnipeg and may be able to turn the tide regarding close races.

“Winnipeg West might be really close. Winnipeg South might be close, and St. Boniface-St. Vital might be close,” he adds. 

“There are close seats where the Filipino-Canadian community can influence those tight races as to who wins that election in the local level.”

The post Understanding the Filipino Vote in Manitoba appeared first on CityNews Winnipeg.

This is the first pause after 7 consecutive monthly cuts

Saskatchewan’s health minister has rejected accusations from a nurses union and the Opposition NDP that some babies from Regina’s neonatal intensive care unit were sent to North Dakota for care.

“No child has had to be moved out of the province for capacity issues,” Jeremy Cockrill told reporters Tuesday.

“No patient has been moved out of the country for capacity issues since 2008.”

The Saskatchewan Union of Nurses said this week the neonatal intensive care unit at the Regina General Hospital is overcapacity, short-staffed and running out of ventilators.

Union president Tracy Zambory told Global News that the situation has led to families being sent to North Dakota, but did not offer specifics.

Cockrill said he has not spoken with Zambory but plans to reach out to see if he’s unaware of a specific case.

“We work very hard to provide the highest level of care right here in the province,” he said.

“To spread fear, to sow fear among expectant mothers that they’re going to have to go to North Dakota because of capacity issues … it’s irresponsible.”

The union did not provide a comment Tuesday.

The Opposition NDP also raised the allegation in a news conference earlier in the day.

“If I laboured through birth here in Regina and then I was told my baby is not well and you have to go to North Dakota, that’s an F for the Sask. Party, that’s a failing grade,” rural health critic Meara Conway, who is pregnant, had said.

She later told reporters she doesn’t regret bringing up the claim.

“(Media) is one of the main ways that we get access to information, especially under this government,” Conway said. “(The province) is exceptionally untransparent, especially when it comes to many of the challenges that we’re seeing in our health-care system.”

Conway said there are still issues at the intensive care unit that require scrutiny, including the 44 complaints lodged this year about staff shortages and a low supply of ventilators.

“(The minister) needs to put himself in the position of these expectant mothers, these families and these front-line health-care workers and address this crisis, instead of pointing fingers,” she said.

Cockrill said overcapacity in the unit is a result of a surge in births and that the hospital is not low on ventilators.

He said the province has brought in extra staff to support the unit and that there is capacity in other Saskatchewan hospitals.

The NDP had introduced an emergency motion urging the province to address the crisis in the intensive care unit, but it was rejected by government members.

Saskatchewan has also been sending breast care patients to a private clinic in Calgary because of a lack of capacity. Cockrill has said the province is working to no longer send patients to Alberta’s largest city but will continue to review its contract with the company, which ends next year.

Conway questioned the costs of sending patients out of province.

“It’s part of a trend of not building our health-care system here at home,” she said.

On April 15, 2025, at approximately 4:00 a.m., uniform officers from the 8 District (Grimsby/Lincoln/West Lincoln) office of the Niagara Regional Police Service (NRPS) responded to a report of a violent residential robbery/break and enter in Grimsby.

Officers attended a home in the area of Winston Road and Kelson Avenue North. The initial investigation determined that five masked, unidentified males—armed with weapons—assaulted an adult male before forcing their way into the home. The suspects searched the residence for valuables and fled the area westbound in a black SUV shortly before police arrived. The black SUV may have entered the QEW at Fifty Road.  The primary items stolen were jewellery and electronics.

The male victim sustained minor injuries as a result of the robbery.

A search of the area did not locate the suspects.

Suspect Descriptions:

Suspect #1:

Male, wearing dark gloves, a black hooded sweatshirt with black face covering, black pants with a grey stripe down the side, and black shoes with white soles.

Suspect #2:

Male, wearing dark gloves, a brown and black puffer jacket with a white logo on the left chest, black face covering, red pants with black trim near the knee area, and black shoes with a white logo on the tongue.

Suspect #3:

Male, wearing a black jacket with a white logo on the left chest area, black face covering, red glove on the left hand, black glove on the right hand, black pants, and white shoes with grey accents.

Suspect #4:

Male, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt with a white logo on the left chest, black face covering, white gloves, and black pants.

Suspect #5:

Male, wearing a black jacket, black hooded sweatshirt, black face covering, black gloves, black pants, and black shoes.

Anyone (residents or business owners) who may have been in the area with a cell phone, closed-circuit video system, or dash camera between 2:00 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. on April 15, 2025, are asked to review their footage and contact police if they observe anything suspicious.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact the investigating officers by calling 905-688-4111, option 3, extension 1009341.

Members of the public who wish to provide information anonymously can contact Crime Stoppers of Niagara online or by calling 1-800-222-8477.

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An Oromocto man accused of sexually assaulting and touching a teenager last summer denied the allegations Wednesday, and his trial will be held in a year’s time.

Clarke Kenneth Scott Ramage, 48, of MacLaren Drive, appeared in Fredericton provincial court Wednesday to enter pleas to two summary charges alleging sexual offences against a minor.

Read more

Illustrator Lili Chin became fascinated with dog behavior in 2008 after her Boston terrier, Boogie, bit their landlord and they almost got evicted.

Ordered by her landlord to get training for Boogie or else, Chin sought out animal behaviorists. Soon, she was using her drawing skills to collaborate with them on posters and pamphlets aimed at helping pet parents better understand their dogs and cats by reading their body language.

That ultimately led Chin to write the books “Doggie Language” (2020) and “Kitty Language” (2023). With whimsical illustrations that drew on her animation experience, she interpreted signs of distress, irritation, content or excitement in body movements such as a wagging tail or flattened ears.

The books have proved so popular that some pet trainers recommend them to clients to help make sense of a pet’s difficult behavior. Chin offers free downloads of certain infographics for noncommercial use.

Coming out this week, Chin’s third book, “Dogs of the World: A Gallery of Pups from Purebreds to Mutts,” is an ambitious attempt to introduce and illustrate every type of dog around the globe — more than 600 by her count.

It is one in a slew of new books about pets, many with charming illustrations that make them especially accessible. The recent “Medieval Cats,” for instance, by Catherine Nappington, features funny cat poems, sayings and drawings from the Middle Ages. “Ursula K. Le Guin’s Book of Cats,” due out this fall, pulls together poems, musings and sketches by the science fiction writer, who died in 2018.

Speaking by phone from Los Angeles, where she lives with her husband and two cats, Mambo and Shimmy, Chin said “Dogs of the World” was her most daunting project yet.

“I’m counting on pet owners to be interested and would be happy to get non-pet owners interested as well,” she said. “Even if we don’t have a dog, we are in contact with them all the time. People looking to adopt can also learn a lot.”

A survey of the world’s pups

Chin starts with drawings of nearly 400 officially recognized breeds, including better-known ones like golden retrievers, border collies, German shepherds, various terriers and poodles.

She also introduces readers to more obscure breeds: Venezuela’s official dog, the large, rugged Mucuchies; Lapponian herders; muscular white Rajapalayam, or ghost hounds, from southern India; Thai ridgebacks that are hard to find outside of Thailand; hairless Peruvian Inca orchids.

And she describes other groupings of dogs, such as those that live in communities without a specific person caring for them. She argues that these dogs are not strays because the communities watch over them, often feeding them and even giving them names.

Those community animals include so-called “rez dogs” that roam the tribal reservations in the U.S., free-ranging street dogs that live inside the Moscow metro and have learned to ride the trains, and various kinds of Asian, North African and European village dogs.

Chin mentions the dogs of Chernobyl that barely survived after the 1986 disaster because they were fed by workers visiting the exclusion zone. She even illustrates dingos from her native Australia, and the New Guinea singing dog from Papua New Guinea, a primitive local breed that lives in nearly feral conditions in highland forests.

Communication between humans and their companions

Animal behavior consultant Emily Strong, who Chin consulted on “Dogs of the World,” praised “her ability to pack an impressive amount of information into a few succinct words and simple but beautiful illustrations — making complex topics easily digestible.”

“She has such an incredible way of clearly communicating body language signals through illustration,” said Strong.

One of Chin’s earliest illustration clients was the late Dr. Sophia Yin, a veterinarian and renowned animal behaviorist who developed a training method known as “low stress handling” to reduce fear, anxiety and stress in pet patients.

Through Yin and other behaviorists, Chin said, she came to embrace training methods that focus on food rewards and reject ideas around dominance, correction and punitive methods.

“There is so much misinformation and so many enduring myths around dog behavior and dog breeds,” Chin said. “What I hope my work does is help offer clarity on these topics.”

___

Anita Snow, a former Associated Press staff writer and editor, lives in Tucson, Arizona, and has a German shepherd-husky mix, Shelby. Her work can be seen at anitasnow.com.

___

For more AP stories about pets, go to https://apnews.com/hub/pets.

Anita Snow, The Associated Press

The post 600 kinds of dogs? Pet illustrator Lili Chin aims to capture them all in whimsical drawings appeared first on CityNews Winnipeg.

The City of Vancouver is expected to approve its 2024 Statement of Financial Information on Wednesday, a 165-page document that outlines exactly how money was spent in the city last year and how much money virtually every politician and employee made.

Shelter and frontline workers across Canada say their capacities are stretched to record levels.

Kelowna is shaping up to be a potential bellwether as the campaign coalesces around two parties.

Years after the bodies of three young Indigenous women were discovered across Metro Vancouver in disturbing circumstances, investigations into how local police forces handled all three cases have been launched, CBC News has learned. 

Higher prices are showing up on some items that are being counter-tariffed by Canada. But levies were left off many food items from the U.S., which has moderated the overall impact on grocery budgets.

Patrick Osborne is frustrated by the federal Liberals’ gun control measures, arguing they unfairly target law-abiding Canadians like himself while doing little to reduce gun violence in the country. As a gun owner, he’s looking for a party that understands his perspective.