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Emergency Crews responded to a collision on Friday just before 5pm.

All traffic was stopped for a brief moment after two vehicles collided at the intersection of Brandt St. and Main St. in Steinbach.

Most lanes reopened by 5:02pm. Some southbound lanes remain closed.

More details are not available.

Two Alberta men in their late teens were charged by RCMP after police said they were found with cocaine in an abandoned Fort Smith home.

The person was found dead near Lalonde Street at around 3 p.m. Friday, Ontario Provincial Police told Radio-Canada.

U.S. President Donald Trump imposed a new 25 per cent auto tariff on Canada. Dominic LeBlanc is concerned about the reliability of the U.S. as a trading partner. One economic consultant says that Canada "dodged a bullet" as other countries face steeper tariffs.

Unemployment in Saskatchewan fell by half a percentage point to 4.9 per cent in March, the lowest among all provinces.

The Conservative Party of Canada has dropped a Quebec candidate after he harshly criticized Liberal candidate and Polytechnique shooting survivor Nathalie Provost online.

Many boxes of military artifacts donated by Island families are sitting in the basement of the Royal Canadian Air Force Association 200 Wing in Summerside. Veteran advocates say it’s tough to see the once-revered items collecting dust. Now, the P.E.I. Regiment Museum plans to go through the boxes of uniforms and photos, catalogue everything, and possibly put some of it on display. CBC's Connor Lamont reports.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says he remains concerned with U.S. tariffs on Canadian products but thinks talking with American officials helped Canada avoid a worse outcome.

Yellowknife Co-op said it is acquiring Hay River's Super A Foods, a major move in the NWT grocery sector that also explains the Co-op's move to change its name.

British Columbia’s New Democrat premier is throwing his support behind NDP incumbents seeking re-election, despite calls for strategic voting by a former party leader.

David Eby appears alongside federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh in a video posted on Singh’s X social media account, asking voters in B.C. to “re-elect NDP MPs to make sure they’re out there advocating for Canadians every day.”

There were more questions in the P.E.I. legislature Friday about the costs associated with the province’s deal with the NHL, with Opposition Leader Hal Perry tabling receipts for what he called 'incredibly expensive parties.' 

Bridget Tolley, an Algonquin woman from Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg in Quebec, walked to the front of the room to receive the King Charles III Coronation Medal.

In her hands was a long cloth banner, handmade, worn at the edges and deeply personal.

It was the same one she had carried for nearly 15 years, stitched by her friend Kristen Catnip in 2011, the year Tolley founded Families of Sisters in Spirit, a grassroots group that advocates for Indigenous families whose loved ones have been a victim of violence.

“ I love to bring that banner with me because Kristen’s been with me for almost two decades now and because she doesn’t always make it with me to events,” Tolley said. “I bring it because that way I know she’s with me. It’s a part of both of us.”

Tolley was one 30 Indigenous women and 2SLGBTQQIA+ individuals chosen by Les Femmes Michif Otipemisiwak (LFMO), a national Métis women’s organization, to receive the medal in recognition of lifetime service.

The organization’s president, Melanie Omeniho, herself a recipient, had been approached by the governor general’s office with an invitation to distribute 20 medals.

She asked for more.

They gave her 30.

“We selected people who don’t often get acknowledged for the work that they do,” Omeniho said.

One of those recipients was Brenda White, a Métis woman from Prince Albert, Sask.  who has spent her life working in housing.

She helped design Miakoda, a transitional home for women and children escaping violence. The building is still under construction, but the plan is in place. Families will have 18 months of secure housing, cultural programs, and community connections.

“Brenda gives of herself selflessly,” Omeniho said. “She supports people who are hard to house, and she’s been a key part of this project from the beginning.”

Other recipients included Sylvia McAdam, co-founder of Idle No More; Lisa Monchalin, the first Indigenous woman in Canada to earn a Ph.D. in criminology;  Jennifer Adese, a Canada Research Chair focused on Métis women and politics; Elder Veda Weselake, a long-time advocate in Indigenous governance and education and Sheila Andrews, known for her advocacy for 2SLGBTQQIA+ rights in Prince Albert.

And then there was Tolley.

Omeniho had marched beside her, shared ceremony, watched her bring food to strangers, gifts to Elders, and ensured protocol was respected at every gathering.

“ She doesn’t have an organization behind her, she has no funding of any kind at all. And, as we continued, similar programming and advocacy, we got to know Bridget better,” Omeniho said.

“ She puts these things together with little or no resources whatsoever. And if there’s anybody that I’ve ever seen that puts her heart and soul into something, even in spite of all the pain that she suffers, it’s her.”

Tolley’s journey to that stage in Ottawa began on a night in October 2001, when her mother, Gladys Tolley, was struck and killed by a Sûreté du Québec police cruiser while crossing Hwy 105 in Kitigan Zibi.

The family never received the answers they sought. Tolley has always maintained that the investigation was mishandled.

In the years that followed, as other families across the country began organizing, marching in Vancouver, releasing reports through Amnesty International and documenting disappearances through the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC), Tolley focused on visibility.

It was her idea to bring families together to hold vigils that would maintain public pressure and political attention. When the federal government declined to renew funding for NWAC’s Sisters in Spirit program in 2010, families were left to carry the work themselves.

Tolley stepped in. She re-organized the network into Families of Sisters in Spirit and continued, even as the infrastructure around her collapsed.

At one point, she tried to build a regional network in eastern Canada but found it impossible to sustain without financial support. Still, she kept going.

Her granddaughter Ava, ten years old at the time, spoke at a recent vigil. Tolley invited her to the medal ceremony and later handed her the medal.

“Just to see what happens when you do work,” she said.

In 2019, the government, under former prime minister Justin Trudeau, set up the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. The inquiry released an action plan in 2021.

The last progress report was released two years ago, although meetings continue. One was held in January in Ottawa.

In 2022, three Quebec ministers issued a formal apology to Tolley’s family for how they were treated the night her mother died. The Kitigan Zibi Police did not attend.

“They took off to a graduation instead of coming,” Tolley said.

Despite those events, Tolley emphasized that not much has changed. The national group working on the action plan is not in touch with her or the families she supports.

“We’re still where we were at the beginning,” she said. “Families are still doing their own investigations. Nobody wants to listen to us.”

Tolley, who just turned 65, has now been involved with the movement for 24 years.

She intends to return to Parliament Hill and hold another vigil—scheduled for May 5, after the federal election.

“This is very important to me,” she said. “It is hard some days to do this. But I can’t give up.

“ I’m just so very thankful to be here, and I’m gonna do everything I can, everything I possibly can to try and help other families, and we just gotta get this right now. It’s time for true justice accountability all the way around, let’s go do this in a circle.”

A full list of recipients of the medal is here: King Charless III Medals

The post Bridget Tolley among those honoured by Métis org after contributions often overlooked appeared first on APTN News.

Imperial Oil has asked the Mackenzie Valley Review Board to initiate a third environmental assessment related to its oilfield in Norman Wells, N.W.T. – this time, for its nearing closure.

British Columbia’s government celebrated the first anniversary of one of its cornerstone housing programs at the groundbreaking of a 179-unit rental building in North Vancouver, which it says went from concept to construction in 14 months.

Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon said during a news conference Friday that 1,400 homes are underway since the start of the BC Builds program with nearly 2,500 more in various stages of early development.

In one of his first acts as prime minister, Mark Carney initiated a review of Canada’s purchase of fifth-generation, F-35 jets. These jets would replace Canada’s aging, Cold War-era fleet of fourth-generation, CF-18 aircraft.

A Department of National Defence spokesperson confirmed to Canadian Affairs that the government is “currently in the early stages of scoping the [F-35 purchase] in a way that is both efficient and thorough.”

Defence experts say revisiting the F-35 purchase now risks further delaying a critical purchase, and underscores the need for long-term vision in a rapidly shifting global security environment.

“We’re out of runway,” said Philippe Lagassé, a professor of international affairs at Carleton University. “There’s no more flexibility here.”

The review also occurs at a time when the U.S. and other allies and adversaries are moving forward on developing and procuring sixth-generation fighters, such as the F-47.

Political football

Carney ordered the review of Canada’s procurement of the F-35 jets as one of his first acts as prime minister. 

The F-35 is widely regarded as the most advanced fighter jet in the world. Its stealth capabilities, avionics and imaging sensors give pilots an exceptionally broad range of combat capabilities.

In 2023, the Trudeau government pledged to procure 88 jets from American aerospace company Lockheed Martin at a cost of $19 billion. Contractually, though, Ottawa is so far only committed to purchasing 16 of the 88 planes, with the first jets slated for delivery in 2026.

Ottawa’s procurement decision followed decades of political football, passed back and forth between Liberal and Conservative governments, beginning with Prime Minister Jean Chretien’s 1997 decision to support the aircraft’s early development program.

“It stands out as one of these hallmarks of an acquisition that gets deeply politicized and becomes a lightning rod for all sorts of conspiratorial thinking,” said Lagassé.

Carney’s move to revisit the F-35 purchase reflects escalating concerns — in Ottawa and more broadly — that the U.S. is no longer a reliable security partner. A Nanos poll released March 31 indicates six in 10 Canadians oppose the F-35 purchase, with respondents aged 55 and older showing the highest opposition to American procurement. 

A key concern with the F-35 purchase is that it would require ongoing U.S. support to service, maintain and use the jets.

But Justin Bronk, a senior research fellow at the U.K.-based Royal United Services Institute think tank, says this outlook misunderstands Canada’s overall reliance on the U.S. in defence matters.

“[T]here’s a whole host of things that the Canadian military relies on the U.S. for, as with most NATO allies. And so the idea that having supply chain and mission data file dependencies on the U.S. through the F-35 would be the reason why the [Canadian] military was not able to function … [is] missing the main point.”

Lagassé echoed these observations. “ This isn’t an F-35 issue,” he said. “This is an American capability issue at large.”

American Lt. Gen. (Ret’d) David Deptula, a senior scholar at the U.S. Air Force Academy’s Institute for Future Conflict, says Canada would not meaningfully bolster its independence by procuring a fighter from an alternative supplier, such as Sweden’s Saab Gripen or France’s Dassault Rafale.

“Every weapon system, if it’s not indigenously produced … is going to be dependent on the producing nation,” he said.

Targeting alternatives

Some Canadian pundits have suggested Canada should scale back its purchase of F-35s and instead acquire some non-U.S. aircraft, such as Saab’s Gripen. This fighter jet was the runner-up to the F-35 in the Trudeau government’s procurement competition.

But experts say a mixed fleet would be both financially and operationally inefficient.

“ At that point, the cost you are paying per aircraft for the F-35 will be astronomical, because you’ll still have to pay for all these massive infrastructure investments,” said Bronk. “ The economics of it really don’t stack up.”

Deptula further notes that the F-35’s technological features are far superior to the alternatives. “It’s the sensors, processing power and integration that the F-35 possesses that no other aircraft does.”

The return on investment must also be considered, Deptula says.

“ [The F-35s] can accomplish … what it would take 15, 20 or 30 other non-stealthy, less-capable, but less-expensive aircraft.

“When you tally up the cost to achieve a particular outcome, what you’ll find is the F-35 is an extraordinarily valuable platform for the money.”

A widening gap

While Canada agonizes over fifth-generation procurement, its allies and adversaries are focused on sixth-generation aircraft.

On March 21, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the government had awarded U.S. aerospace giant Boeing a contract to develop the F-47.

“[The F-47 is] something the likes of which nobody has seen before,” Trump told reporters, noting an experimental version of the plane has been secretly flying for nearly five years. “The F-47 will be the most advanced, most capable, most lethal aircraft ever built.”

The U.K., Japan and Italy are collaborating on the Global Combat Air Programme to acquire sixth-generation fighter jets that would be shared by the three countries. France, Germany and Spain, likewise, are developing the Future Combat Air System fighter acquisition program.

Russia and China, too, are both well on their way toward sixth-generation capabilities.

Deptula says the capabilities of the F-47 may be an order of magnitude greater than those of the F-35 — just as the F-35’s capabilities are an order of magnitude greater than fourth-generation planes like Canada’s CF-18s.

But sixth-generation fighters like the F-47 are still years away from combat readiness, and Canada’s CF-18s are running on fumes. Skipping a generation is not feasible.

“The CF-18s are at the very end of their life,” said Lagassé. “There is no sixth-generation [aircraft] that’s going to be coming on the line in time for us to replace the CF-18.”

Deptula agrees that filling Canada’s fighter gap is urgent.

“You need something now,” he said. “[There is no] value in waiting on procuring fifth-generation aircraft like the F-35 for the promise of something more capable.”

A U.S. State Department spokesperson confirmed in an April 1 statement to Canadian Affairs that Canada’s contract to purchase the remaining F-35s from Lockheed Martin “remains in place and is an important step towards increasing Canadian defence spending in line with its NATO commitments.”

“Integrating the F-35 will allow Canada interchangeability with U.S. forces for the NORAD mission, essential at a time when we are pressing Canada to meet its pledge and obligation to NORAD modernization, and while we are considering Canadian participation in the Golden Dome to further enhance the safety of America,” the spokesperson said, referring to Trump’s proposed aerial defence shield over the U.S.

Moving forward, Bronk says there is clear value to Canada remaining steadfast in its decision-making.

“ A sub-optimal decision that is at least made and stuck to is much better than continually attempting to second guess and just watching time slip away.”

The post Carney’s F-35 review widens defence capability gap between Canada and allies appeared first on CANADIAN AFFAIRS.

On Dec. 8, 2022, Neng Jia Jin fatally stabbed 31-year-old Vanessa Kurpiewska on a subway near High Park, and injured another woman in the attack. Jin will automatically receive a life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years for murder, with additional sentencing set for next month.

Key pieces of evidence in the trial of a man who shot and killed an Ontario Provincial Police sergeant in May 2023 were played in court Friday — audio and video of Alain Bellefeuille's arrest by a constable not long after shots rang out.

Two-time Vezina Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck is not only on course to secure another nod as the NHL's top goaltender  — the Winnipeg Jets star is also firmly entrenched in the league's MVP conversation with less than two weeks remaining in the regular season.

The woman who was killed on Stoney Trail as Good Samaritans tried to save her life has been identified as Heather Brent, 57, a registered nurse from Calgary.