The sister of the man at the centre of one of Canada’s most high-profile wrongful conviction cases says she was “absolutely quite amazed” to learn last week that an independent commission being set up to examine similar cases across the country will be headquartered in her home city of Winnipeg.

A Manitoba farmer says China's announcement of retaliatory 100 per cent tariffs on canola oil and oil cakes are causing uncertainty in the agriculture industry in addition to the potential impact of U.S. tariffs on canola products.

Data released by Statistics Canada on Monday shows that the number of return trips among Canadians travelling by car to the U.S. declined significantly in February, down 23 per cent compared with a year earlier.

British Columbia’s recently released 2025 budget overlooks survivors and victims of violence, leaving support services to tackle increasing threats to women’s safety with no new funding, says an advocacy group focused on violence against women. 

While BC’s 2025 budget boasts “new investments to keep people safe and communities strong,” Angela Marie MacDougall, Executive Director of Battered Women’s Support Services, says she was disappointed there were no new funds announced to specifically address violence against women and intimate partner violence. 

“They’re just reporting on things they’re already doing,” MacDougall told PressProgress.

Prior to the budget being announced, MacDougall said violence against women and intimate partner violence are still viewed  as “private issues” rather than as a public safety issue the same way that other crimes are. 

“Because they’re happening against women and they’re happening in the home, they’re not necessarily considered public safety issues and the public safety aspect then becomes policing,” MacDougall said.

“It’s a problem with the framing of this social problem. There’s a relative invisibility of this issue. There continues to be an enduring belief and stereotype that these are one-off instances that are between two people and that those people are then disconnected from the broader community.”

MacDougall suggests this framing makes it harder to meaningfully tackle the issue, especially when funds are being diverted away from community based organizations and towards policing. 

“A lot of the funds are going to the system and not necessarily to community-based organizations, which are totally the ones that are going to have the most impact in responding to victims and survivors,” MacDougall said. 

“The spending ends up being more in terms of police and police interventions, when most victim survivors don’t access the police, they’re accessing or reaching out to community based organizations who are the least funded out of all of the system players but who have the biggest impact on the long-term safety and protection for victims.”

Canada currently has a national action plan to tackle gender-based violence with input and commitments from federal, provincial and territorial governments – including British Columbia. 

In Canada, 44% of women report having experienced some form of intimate partner violence (IPV) in their lifetime.

As part of the action plan, MacDougall says BC is supposed to receive $62 million and match that funding, but organizations in BC are not privy to how the funding will be used. 

“The province is likely not matching those funds in the way that we would expect in terms of new money,” MacDougall said.

“Rather they’re taking the existing projects and programs that they’re funding and calling that a match. So what we don’t have is an actual plan.”

MacDougall also notes that in times of economic and political uncertainty, social problems escalate and with misogyny being normalized in online spaces, there is an adverse impact on women and girls. 

“We’re in a really scary moment, frankly, and we’re going to have to put our heads together as an organization right now to you know to to examine our next steps in light of the fact that there’s no new money in the budget because we have to respond to the things that are on the ground,” MacDougall said.

“It’s not optional for us.”

The office of Public Safety and Solicitor General did not reply to PressProgress’ request for comment prior to publication.

The post No New Funding: BC Budget Leaves Victim Support Services Struggling To Address Intimate Partner Violence appeared first on PressProgress.

The only daily TV news package to focus on Nova Scotians and their stories

When Emily Powell-Heaton reached out to Ben Stiller on social media, her goal was to knock another item off her bucket list.

A fire early Sunday destroyed Baker Lake’s municipal maintenance garage, the second garage fire in the community in recent years.

RCMP officers noticed the fire at around 5:25 a.m. and alerted the volunteer fire department, the RCMP said in a news release Monday. Firefighters responded, but the building couldn’t be saved.

No injuries or missing persons were reported.

The cause of the fire remains unknown. The Nunavut Fire Marshal’s office is investigating, with assistance from the RCMP.

Sheldon Dorey, Baker Lake’s senior administrative officer, issued a statement at 2:30 p.m. Sunday advising residents municipal water services were delayed. They resumed later that afternoon.

“We encourage residents to conserve water for the next day or two due to the pending weather and staff needing to rework schedules,” Dorey said in his statement.

He asked residents to avoid 7th Street, where crews might still be working, and to drive with caution on 1st Avenue, which has since reopened.

Authorities are asking anyone with information on the fire to contact Baker Lake RCMP.

Sunday’s fire comes just over six years after a blaze destroyed another municipal garage in Baker Lake on Jan. 29, 2019.

That fire, which also broke out in the early morning. It consumed the municipality’s six-bay garage and destroyed much of its fleet, including six of its seven sewage trucks, two front-end loaders, a dump truck and a garbage truck.

While the fire marshal investigated that incident, no criminal activity was suspected.

The post QCT Online Print Edition – March 12, 2025 appeared first on The Quebec Chronicle Telegraph.

Meindert de Boer from Dresden, Ont. broke the record for most Jenga blocks stacked on a single vertical Jenga block, using 3,132 pieces to create a structure measuring more than 100cm tall. 

Dans un reportage de Kim Sullivan, la boxeuse Anishinaabe Sophie Le Grand évoque son parcours et les obstacles qu’elle a dû surmonter pour compétitionner au niveau professionnel.

The post Rencontrez Sophie Le Grand : boxeuse professionnelle Anishinaabe appeared first on APTN News.

The Atlantic Veterinary College in Charlottetown has a new Foreign Animal Disease Testing Laboratory. It was built to create a level of biocontainment — to allow for safe testing of samples for diseases such as the avian flu. Come along with CBC News as we get a tour of the facility.

By William Crooks

Local Journalism Initiative

Advocates gathered at Église Ste-Famille on Mar. 10 to demand more social housing for women facing violence and exploitation in the rental market. The event, organized by the Centre d’aide et de lutte contre les agressions à caractère sexuel (CALACS) Agression Estrie, highlighted the dire need for affordable and safe housing options for vulnerable women.

Mélodie, an intervention worker at CALACS, addressed the crowd, emphasizing how the housing crisis leaves women trapped in unsafe situations. “If there is one place where women should feel safe, it is in their own home,” she said, pointing to the alarming rate of sexual violence occurring in rental properties.

Speakers detailed how women facing economic hardship, racial discrimination, or physical disabilities are often forced to endure unsafe living conditions. Some landlords exploit this vulnerability. “We also meet women who have to exchange sexual services with their landlords in exchange for a rent reduction,” Mélodie stated, describing a reality that many women in Estrie face.

Kelly, another speaker at the event, reinforced the severity of the situation with data from CALACS. “In 2023, 28 per cent of the sexual assault victims we assisted reported being attacked in their own homes. This makes no sense. Women should never have to choose between enduring violence and becoming homeless.”

She also spoke about the difficulty of escaping dangerous situations due to a lack of available housing. “Not only are women no longer safe in their homes, but the lack of social housing and space in shelters makes it almost impossible for victims of sexual violence to leave.”

The pamphlet distributed at the event painted a grim picture of the systemic nature of the crisis, criticizing both landlords and government inaction. “The lack of social housing for women is the government’s responsibility,” it read, calling on officials to prioritize housing solutions for those in need.

Advocates insisted that only a large-scale investment in social housing can address the crisis. “Ending the commodification of rental housing is the only solution to resolve these crises,” the pamphlet stated.

The event concluded with a call to action for local and provincial governments to implement policies ensuring that women in distress have safe alternatives. Attendees were encouraged to contact their elected officials and demand immediate investment in social housing.

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L’article Call for social housing to protect women est apparu en premier sur Sherbrooke Record.

By William Crooks

Local Journalism Initiative

The Association étudiante du Cégep de Sherbrooke (AÉCS) is strongly condemning the Quebec government’s recent decision to end the Perspectives scholarships, a financial aid program that provided up to $20,000 to students pursuing studies in education, health, engineering, and technology. The move, announced abruptly, has sparked concerns over accessibility to higher education and financial stability for students.

“This decision is a direct attack on accessibility,” said Abdoullah Hajji, AÉCS spokesperson. “These bursaries were meant to support students in crucial fields where the province already faces labour shortages. Removing them makes no sense.”

Hajji noted that the government justified the decision as a budgetary measure but argued that it contradicts the province’s long-term workforce planning. “We want to address labour shortages, yet we remove an incentive for students to enter these fields,” he said. “It shows a complete lack of consistency.” He also pointed to broader funding cuts in higher education, noting that some universities have seen budget reductions of 50–70 per cent.

The Perspectives program provided financial relief to students struggling with the rising cost of living. Hajji said that its elimination will increase financial precarity, forcing more students to take on debt or juggle additional work hours, which could impact their academic success. “We are talking about $20,000 per student over their studies—that is a significant amount that helped cover essential costs,” he said. “Even if the bursary had remained, the rising cost of living would still be a challenge. Its removal only worsens the situation.”

The AÉCS is calling on student associations, unions, and the general public to mobilize against the decision. Hajji mentioned that a national petition is already in circulation, urging the government to reconsider. “We are uniting with other associations across Quebec to push back,” he said. “Students deserve support, not additional barriers to success.” The association is also working with student organizations to organize protests and other actions to pressure policymakers.

The elimination of the bursaries follows previous cuts to CEGEP and university funding, further straining the higher education system. “This is part of a broader pattern of austerity measures in education,” Hajji said. “We need investment, not more cutbacks.” He also noted that he personally benefited from the bursary program and understands firsthand the impact its loss will have on students.

The AÉCS is encouraging students to participate in upcoming demonstrations and voice their concerns to elected officials. “Education should not be a privilege for those who can afford it. It is a right, and we will continue to fight for it,” Hajji affirmed.

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L’article Students decry end of bursary program, warn of increased financial strain est apparu en premier sur Sherbrooke Record.

By William Crooks

Local Journalism Initative

Mark Carney’s decisive win in the Liberal leadership race has reshaped the political landscape, according to Bishop’s University Political Studies Professor Jacob Robbins-Kanter. Carney, a former Bank of Canada and Bank of England governor, won with 85 per cent of the vote, making him the first Canadian prime minister without previous elected experience.

“It’s the first time we have a prime minister who has never held any other elected office,” Robbins-Kanter noted. “But he has a lot of other experience that you could say is relevant.”

Carney’s victory has already tightened the race between the Liberals and the Conservatives, with recent polling showing his party regaining ground by drawing support from the Bloc Québécois and the NDP rather than significantly weakening Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative base. “The Conservative support is pretty flat, maybe a few points down,” Robbins-Kanter observed. “But the Bloc and the NDP have really suffered.”

One of Carney’s early moves has been to distance himself from unpopular policies of the Trudeau government, including a major shift on the carbon tax. “He’s going to drop the consumer carbon pricing scheme,” Robbins-Kanter explained, though corporate emissions pricing will remain. The policy shift puts Poilievre in a difficult position after years of attacking the tax as a central campaign issue. “The Conservatives are now trying to claim Carney has a hidden carbon tax,” Robbins-Kanter said. “I don’t know if voters will buy that.”

The election strategy for both major parties is also being shaped by the looming presence of Donald Trump in the U.S. “The Trump issue really dominated the leadership race,” Robbins-Kanter said, with Carney presenting himself as the strongest leader to stand up to the U.S. president’s policies. That contrasts with Poilievre, who has been publicly praised by figures in Trump’s orbit, including Elon Musk and J.D. Vance. “If the ballot box question is about handling Trump, I would be pretty nervous if I were the Conservatives,” he added.

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L’article Carney’s leadership shakes up Canadian politics est apparu en premier sur Sherbrooke Record.

Mark Carney’s decisive showing in winning the federal Liberal party leadership Sunday included support from the Nunavut and Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou ridings.

Overall, 151,899 Liberal party members across Canada participated in the vote to choose a new leader to succeed Justin Trudeau.

In Nunavut, 33 Liberal members voted. Carney received 25 votes, Chrystia Freeland got four, former Liberal MP Frank Baylis had three, and former house leader Karina Gould received one.

In the Nunavik riding of Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, 16 Liberal members participated. Carney secured 12 votes, Freeland got three, and Gould received one vote, while Baylis did not receive any support.

In total, 49 Liberal members cast ballots across both ridings.

Carney won the Liberal leadership by a landslide and now is set to take the stage as prime minister after he is sworn in.

A former Bank of Canada governor, Carney earned 85.9 per cent of the vote nationwide, far outpacing his closest rival former finance Freeland, a former finance minister, at eight per cent.

Nunavut NDP MP Lori Idlout responded to Carney’s win with congratulations, but pointed out the relatively low number of Liberal members in the North is a sign of her own party’s strength in Nunavut.

“Within even the context of the North, the numbers that I’m seeing — there were 258 [votes for Carney] in Yukon, 181 from the N.W.T — I think it means that Nunavut is an NDP stronghold,” Idlout said in an interview Monday.

“To me, it means that Nunavummiut are impressed with my work.”

Idlout also expressed disappointment in Carney’s victory speech in Ottawa, saying it lacked attention to Indigenous and northern issues.

While Carney highlighted his connection to Northwest Territories, as he was born in Fort Smith, she said he failed to address pressing concerns in Nunavut such as overcrowded housing and the high cost of living.

Nunatsiaq News attempted to contact Sylvie Bérubé, the Bloc Québécois MP for Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, for her reaction but did not receive a response Monday.

During question period at the legislature in Iqaluit on Monday, Premier P.J. Akeeagok congratulated Carney on his victory.

He later elaborated in an emailed statement to Nunatsiaq News, saying, he is “looking forward to working with him as part of Team Canada’s efforts towards strengthening Arctic sovereignty and security” through investments in “nation-building infrastructure.”

The extension of the Inuit Child First Initiative came as a “relief” to Taya Tootoo, the Arctic Children and Youth Foundation executive director, who 10 days ago warned of a “humanitarian crisis” if the program’s funding expired.

“It was just so good to hear that the communities will have some interim support while we figure out long-term proactive plans,” Tootoo said in an interview Monday.

“Hearing from the front lines, the fear from the community of what was going to happen with their ability to support their children was quite traumatic” if the funding wasn’t extended, Tootoo said.

The program’s funding had been set to expire on March 31, the end of the government’s current fiscal year.

The federal government previously allocated $167.5 million over two years, starting in the 2023-24 fiscal year.

But Saturday at Nunavut Sivuniksavut college in Ottawa, Crown-Inidgenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree announced a one-year extension of ICFI on behalf of Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu, whose department funds the program.

The initiative supports a food voucher program, which provides a $500 voucher a month to families for each child under 18 and an additional $250 for each child under four.

It also offers specialized medical and educational services for Inuit children.

“To hear that there’s at least one year to provide that stopgap funding while the [Government of Nunavut, Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami] and the feds look at a way to make it a full, inclusive, long-term program and initiative was really nice to hear.”

Nunavut NDP MP Lori Idlout also welcomed the extension. She praised the Arctic Children and Youth Foundation, as well as the territory’s mayors and municipal councillors for their advocacy.

“The Liberals and Ministers Patty Hajdu and Gary Anandasangaree left the community hanging for months by refusing to answer, instead pointing fingers and politicizing childhood poverty,” Idlout said in a news release.

Previously, Hajdu and Anandasangaree had said the program couldn’t be renewed until Parliament went back into session on March 24.

Jeremy Tunraluk, the president of NTI, said in a news release he welcomes the extension but called for a “longer-term commitment” from the federal government.

Jennifer Kozelj, Hajdu’s press secretary, said in an email that the program’s extension is a “short-term solution.” Her department is working on “making sure Inuit children have the supports and resources they need.”

She didn’t say how much the government will spend on the one-year extension, only that funding requests “are approved on a case-by-case basis.”

Tootoo said a “shared responsibility” model for the program is needed long-term, where the GN would take on responsibility for some of the services the Inuit Child First Initiative provides. She said she hopes the program will be on more secure footing when a year from now the funding extension expiration approaches.

“I really do hope that with the advocacy that we’ve seen, the voices we’ve heard from the community members on the impact of it, that a shared responsibility model will go ahead and allow the Inuit Child First Initiative to flourish into something that addresses the specific needs,” Tootoo said.

Formalizing another withdrawal from both climate and foreign aid programs, the Trump administration has told world financial institutions that the U.S is pulling out of the landmark international climate Loss and Damage Fund.

Climate analysts Monday were critical of the Treasury Department’s decision to formally pull out from the fund designed as compensation for damage by polluting nations to poor countries especially hurt by the extreme storms, heat and drought caused by the burning of coal, oil and gas. A Treasury official said in a letter last week that the U. S. board members of the fund were resigning but gave no reason for the withdrawal.

“It’s a great shame to see the U.S. going back on its promises,” said Mohamed Adow, founder of Power Shift Africa and a veteran of United Nations climate negotiations. “This decision will result in great suffering for some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world. These people have contributed the least to the climate emergency they are now living through.”

The Treasury did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

When the fund was agreed upon in 2022, then-President Joe Biden pledged that the U.S., the world’s biggest historic carbon dioxide emitter, would contribute $17.5 million. A dozen countries that have polluted less — Australia, Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom — and the European Union have pledged more than the U.S.

The two biggest pledges — $104 million — came from Italy and France. As of January, the Loss and Damage Fund had $741.42 million in pledges, according to the United Nations.

“The Trump administration’s withdrawal from the Loss and Damage Fund is yet another cruel action that will hurt climate vulnerable lower income nations the most,” said Rachel Cleetus, policy director of the climate and energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. “The richest nation and the world’s biggest contributor to global heat-trapping emissions is choosing to punch down and walk away from its responsibility toward nations that have contributed the least to the climate crisis and yet are bearing an unjust burden from it.”

Poorer nations, often in the global south, had long framed the fund as one of environmental justice. It was an idea that the U.S. and many rich nations blocked until 2022, when they accepted the creation but insisted it was not reparations.

“Three long decades and we have finally delivered climate justice,” Seve Paeniu, the finance minister of Tuvalu, said when the UN climate negotiations established the fund. “We have finally responded to the call of hundreds of millions of people across the world to help them address loss and damage.”

In its first 50 days, the Trump administration has eliminated or cut funding for environmental justice domestically, foreign aid, climate change and diversity, equity and inclusion. The president also started the one-year process to once again pull out of the historic 2015 Paris climate agreement.

Earlier this month, the U.S. withdrew from a a special climate agreement in which rich nations help small poor nations switch to cleaner energy.

___

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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Yukon NDP Leader Kate White says she woke Saturday morning to find three of her tires were slashed, and someone had also spray-painted threats on the hood and driver's side door.

L’article Brome County News, March 11, 2025 est apparu en premier sur Sherbrooke Record.

MADISON COUNTY, Miss. (AP) — A medical transport helicopter with a pilot and two hospital workers on board crashed in Mississippi on Monday, officials said.

The AirCare copter was not carrying any patients when it crashed in Madison County north of the capital of Jackson, according to a statement from the University of Mississippi Medical Center. The statement did not say if there were any injuries or deaths.

Television station WAPT reported that at least one person was killed. Authorities from the Federal Aviation Administration were en route, the station said.

The Associated Press