A Quebec heritage site on the Island of Montreal that was the former home of a renowned artist has been destroyed in a fire.

A Montreal fire department spokesperson says it took some 40 firefighters about five hours to extinguish the blaze that began Sunday night at the vacant residence in the on-island suburb of Kirkland.

As officials look for ways to lower soaring flight costs for people in Labrador, one airport executive hopes a massive new energy deal with Quebec will help out.

The northern region is served by PAL Airlines and its partner, Air Borealis, and Rex Goudie of the Goose Bay Airport Corporation says an increased need for more rotational workers could attract a competing carrier.

Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador signed a tentative agreement earlier this month to build new hydroelectric facilities along the Churchill River that promise thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in revenue.

Canada’s largest indoor farm show will kick off the three-day event on Tuesday January 21st, 2025.

Media Release

This year’s show will include over 550 exhibitors with both indoor and outdoor displays at the Keystone Centre, in Brandon Manitoba.

These are the Top Ten things you need to know:

1. This year’s theme is Produced on the Prairies.

The theme will be evident throughout the show as patrons enjoy the Produced on the Prairies Market and hear from prairie entrepreneurs and farmers such as Steve Langston, Aaron Nerbas and Chris and Lindsay Raupers. For a full listing of vendors and speakers check out www.agdays.com/produced-on-the-prairies-market/ and www.agdays.com/schedule

2. The Food and Beverage Tasting Event is back and it will be bigger and better!

Please join us on Monday, January 20th at 7pm at the Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba Dome Building, to sample local beer, gin, cider, non-alcoholic options and snacks that are Produced on the Prairies! Enjoy a great atmosphere, including live music, as you chat with friends and support local entrepreneurs. Tickets are available for $40 at www.agdays.com/craft-beer-event

3. 50/50 ticket sales have already started, and the funds raised will benefit our Ag Days Gives Back Community Giving Program.

Last year’s winner took home almost $67,000! Tickets can be purchased at www.agdays.com/buy5050 or at the show through our mobile sellers or at the top of the ramp. Tickets are 1 for $10, 4 for $20, 20 for $50 or buy a bundle of 100 for $100. LGCA 4206-RF-44642. This year tickets are on sale right until draw time, so remember to check the total on Friday morning! The winner will be drawn on Friday, January 24th at 9am and the draw can be viewed on Facebook Live.

4. Manitoba Ag Days Gives Back will announce this years’ recipients at the show.

Over $55,000 will be awarded to support community grants and ag education. This year fifteen not-for-profit organizations will be receiving a $2000 grant, three $2000 scholarships will be awarded and Ag in the Classroom - Manitoba will receive the Education and Leadership Grant in the amount of $15 000 to carry out AgVENTURE with hundreds of students at Manitoba Ag Days. Since the program started, we have awarded well over $465,000 to support youth ag education and rural community development in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. This years’ funds will push us over the 1/2 million dollars of ag days giving back.

5. The Innovation Showcase features seven categories and 34 contenders.

Patrons can read about the innovations at https://www.agdays.com/innovations/ and can visit the exhibitors at the show to ask questions, check out products first hand and see how these innovations might fit in their operations. The Winners of each category will be announced on Wednesday, January 22nd at 10AM LIVE at the show.

6. Our complimentary speaking program has something for everyone, with over 60 speakers.

Topic experts will speak about maximizing yields, global markets and animal care. The program also includes several panel discussions with topics like selecting the right canola variety and carbon credits . We have been approved for 32.5 continuing education units for Certified Crop Agronomists.

7. Bull Congress includes 15 farms showcasing their latest genetics.

Sale Dates are all published on page 33 in our official publication, which can be found at www.agdays.com/publication/ Be sure to come to talk to the families showcasing their animals. The best of the best are at our show!

8. You can purchase your tickets now at www.agdays.com/tickets

Early Bird tickets are $15 per day or $20 at the door. There is also a three day pass available for $40. Youth 17 and under do not need a ticket.

We are a not-for-profit show and any profits made on the show are paid forward to community projects and services through our Ag Days Gives Back Fund.

9. Keynote Speakers for 2025!!!!

This is a line up you cannot miss! For all the details head to www.agdays.com/schedule

• ● David Milke - Price Outlook for Oils & Fats: Implications for Canadian Canola
• ● Graeme Crosbie - Economic Outlook: Risks and Opportunities for Canadian Agriculture in 2025
• ● Quick Dick McDick - A Bearded Perspective
• ● Brian Hefty - Pushing the Limits: More Bushels per Acre
• ● Patti Durand - Farm Transition - Start Where You Are
• ● Steve Langston - Small Town, Big Dream
• ● John Heard - ROI and Balancing Your Nutrient Profile in Soils
• ● Jacob Shopiro - Geopolitics: What Lies Ahead?
• ● Kristjan Hebert - Farming Roots to Corporate Suits: The Rise of the Farm CE)

10. January can be cold, but we are sending out a warm welcome.

The Kickoff Breakfast will take place in the historic Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba Dome Building, on Tuesday, January 21st from 7:30-8:45AM and is presented by Heritage Co-Op. The Murray Chevrolet Cadillac Buick GMC shuttle bus will pick you up at your vehicle and deliver you to the doors of the Keystone Centre and Scotiabank has provided a safe and secure, complimentary coat check 500 meters from Entrance B; right outside the Flynn Arena.

We look forward to welcoming you to the show! For the most current information please visit https://www.agdays.com/know-before-you-go/

Manitoba Ag Days show is an annual three-day exposition of agriculture production, expertise, technology and equipment that attracts exhibitors and visitors from across Canada and the United States of America held at the Keystone Centre in Brandon Manitoba.

The 2025 show dates are Tuesday, January 21 to Thursday, January 23.

For more information or the latest updates please visit https://www.agdays.com/ or follow us on Facebook, X, Instagram or TikTok @mbagdays.

Nunavut hit the quarter-century mark this year. For all those years, culture has been the ambassador of Nunavut Inuit on the world stage: carvings, prints, jewelry — all of them representing the Canadian Arctic.

But there is one medium that has flourished more than any other, and according to cultural historian Mark David Turner, will flourish even more in the next 25 years. It’s filmmaking.

As this anniversary year in Nunavut history winds down, Nunatsiaq News asked some experts to list the best Inuit movies and TV shows of the past 25 years. They all mark years of activism, language and cultural preservation and Inuit sovereignty.

All of them are available for streaming online, sure to make a good holiday watch.

Best feature films: Mark David Turner

Turner is the author of On Inuit Cinema | Inuit TakugatsaliuKatiget, a collection of interviews and writing on Inuit filmmaking.

He underlined that he has an “outsider” perspective on Inuit filmmaking as he is an academic who was “lucky” to get to know Inuit cinema through research and writing.

Atanarjuat – The Fast Runner (2001) Creators of the movie called it the “first feature-length fiction film written, produced, directed, and acted by Inuit.”

“It’s hard to overstate the importance,” Turner said, adding the film introduced Inuit cinema to Canadian and international audiences.

Directed by Zacharias Kunuk, Atanarjuat – The Fast Runner, set in Igloolik, is an adaptation of an ancient Inuit legend about evil disguised as a shaman and two brothers emerging from that evil order 20 years later.

A 2015 Toronto International Film Festival poll named Atanarjuat – The Fast Runner the greatest Canadian film ever made.

Atanarjuat – The Fast Runner can be streamed on Netflix and CBC Gem.

Iqaluit-based lawyer and activist Aaju Peter, centre, during a celebration of the launch of Air Greenland’s Iqaluit-Nuuk route at the Iqaluit airport on June 26. (File photo by Arty Sarkisian)

Angry Inuk (2016) Directed by Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, the documentary followed 2009 European Union seal ban legislation and was part of a pushback against what many Indigenous nations consider an unfair policy.

In the film, Arnaquq-Baril, along with Inuk lawyer and activist Aaju Peter, lobby the EU and “spearhead the #sealfie campaign,” Turner said.

“It’s a rare case where the film and the actions it documents propel each other.”

Angry Inuk can be streamed on Amazon Prime.

Twice Colonized (2023) The award-winning documentary by Lin Alluna follows Aaju Peter over several years of her life. It includes her activism, personal tragedy, and life as a Greenlandic Inuk in Nunavut.

“It’s a really vivid portrait of her life,” Turner said.

Twice Colonized can be streamed on CBC Gem.

Tia and Piujuq (2018) This “Narnia-like” story directed by Lucy Tulugarjuk is film for a broader Canadian audience, Turner said. It’s a story of a 10-year-old Syrian refugee in Montreal who finds a magic portal and travels to Inuit Nunangat where she befriends an Inuk girl.

“Most films from Inuit Nunangat understandably focus on Inuit experiences, but this expands the frame,” Turner said.

Best of short films:  National Film Board of Canada

The National Film Board’s collection curator, Camilo Martín-Flórez, chose some of his personal favourites of the short Inuit films, all of which can be found on the NFB’s website.

Three Thousand follows an imaginary universe exploring the Inuit way of life. It was listed as one of the best Inuit short films by the National Film Board’s collection curator. (Image courtesy of National Film Board of Canada)

Three Thousand (2017) Directed by Asinnajaq, also known as Isabella Weetaluktuk, this is set in an “archive-inspired” imaginary universe that explores Inuit present, past and future.

Arctic Song (2021) This short film is an animation that through a song tells how the world came to be, according to traditional Inuit tales from the Igloolik region. It was created by Germaine Arnattaujuq, Neil Christopher and Louise Flaherty.

Nalujuk Night (2021) An annual tradition of Labrador Inuit is showcased in this short film. On every old Christmas Day, Jan. 6, people dress up as Nalujuit, two-legged creatures with otherworldly faces. The film is directed by Jennie Williams, showing that sometimes “it can be fun to be scared,” the NFB website says.

Lumaajuuq (2010) Another creation of Arnaquq-Baril, this animated story is based on an Inuit legend The Blind Boy and the Loon. It’s a story of a young boy’s revenge against his cruel mother.

Best of TV: Inuit Broadcasting Corporation

The Inuit Broadcasting Corp. currently has three shows on APTN. All of them are resources for Inuit who want to preserve their culture and language, said Manitok Thompson, the corporation’s executive director.

All these shows can be streamed on APTN lumi in Inuktitut.

Ajungi! (2024) The show gives youth an opportunity to learn essential survival skills and practices from Inuit elders. Anything from skinning a goose to tending a qulliq.

Nunavummi Mamarijavut (2018) This is a show about Nunavut food — how it’s retrieved, gathered and preserved in a traditional Inuit way.

Uakallanga! (2019) The show travels around Nunavut showing a variety of Inuit materials, products and activities and making traditional Inuit crafts.

This was a big year for Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew — his first full 12 months in charge.

Now, as the busy year comes to an end, the premier spoke with CityNews’ Kurt Black to reflect on the year gone by, and also to talk about his plans for Manitoba’s future in 2025. 

Kurt Black (KB): I’ve always been fascinated with politics and this has been a big curiosity for me, and I think you’re at the point where you can answer it really well. A year-and-a-half in, has anything really shocked you?

Premier Wab Kinew (WK): On the day to day, you learn so much on the job, there are always these little surprises along the way. But for me, the big one has been the really positive, open-minded response from Manitobans. We’ve been in government for a year and change now and people are still stepping up to work with us. They’re still encouraging us. It’s very positive. And it’s a surprise on a personal level, because I was never the popular kid in school or my friend group, but the fact that people are willing to say: ‘Hey, your government is something I’m willing to engage with, or keep an open mind about’ — it’s awesome. I just feel that we’re at a really exciting time in Manitoba right now. People are feeling good about our province, so it’s just a huge honour to have that chance to work with people here right now. 

KB: We’ve seen the approval rates and behind Santa Claus, you might be the most popular person in the province with 68 per cent. It’s been a hot start to the first year-and-a-half. From the progress made at the landfills, to Orange Shirt Day, to the progress within health care. A lot of things to look at, but for yourself personally, when you look at all of that, what are you most proud of? 

WK: I’m most proud of Manitobans’ optimism right now. But on a personal level, one of the things that really stood out to me during the year was the provincial gas tax. 

At the start of the year, I wasn’t sure how it wasn’t going to work, but when gas prices went down to $0.99 and then, over the course of the year, we had the lowest gas prices across Canada, for me, that was a big way to help the average person. Whether you’re going to work, or you’re doing stuff with the family, the fact you can buy the kids a McDonald’s lunch with the money you saved gassing up, that’s a real help for people. 

Especially coming off the inflation and the high interest rates, so to me, that was a big moment. A lot of things we can say have been great in the province, but on a personal level, that’s one that I responded to. 

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KB: I can attest to the gas tax because when I’m home in Ontario, there’s a very stark difference as to what you pay at the pump. On the turn side, of course, balancing the budget and you’ve been very forthcoming that you’re not going to correct health care in one day, it’s an impossible task. What are you hoping to even grow and improve into 2025?

WK: Health care is an area I hope people see that we’ve turned the corner. 

After years of losing staff, cuts, and emergency rooms closing, we’ve now turned the corner where we’re adding staff. Net, new staff. So even if you account for people retiring and things like that, we got more than 870 additional nurses, doctors, health-care support workers, health-care professionals. We brought one of the emergency rooms back in rural Manitoba in Carberry, so we’ve turned the corner, but it’s not the goal level that people want to see yet. 

READ: Minister Asagwara vows to improve Manitoba’s health care in CityNews year-end interview

So, 2025, we want those ER waits to come down. We want to add more staff beyond what we’ve already done. And I think it’s such a big part of life, but it’s also such a big system, it’s going to take a lot of that continued effort to show progress. 

KB: Another big topic looking ahead to 2025 is the evolving political landscape, both here in our country and south of the border. A big emphasis from your government, both during the campaign and since, has been standing up against division. How integral, how crucial is that message, heading into 2025 with Trump 2.0, and Trudeau and Poilievre? 

WK: It’s huge. There’s so much uncertainty right now. Politics often can seem really negative, especially as you head toward an election, it becomes like that even more and more. So we know that Trump won a free and fair election and now we have to get ready for Jan. 20, his first day on the job, although he’s already setting the global conversation. At the same time, there’s going to be a federal election in 2025, there has to be according to the law, so we’ll keep a close eye on that. 

The big thing I’ve noticed, far and away, regardless of what your political stripe is — how you identify in terms of politics — I think people want positivity. They want a message of unity, especially after COVID, and how that ended. It was so divisive, people are sick of that. People want a message that’s going to bring people together. So for us, as a government at the provincial level, again, we can’t control everything — there’s these ways bigger forces out there, federal, American, things like that — but here in Manitoba we’re just trying to have that common-sense approach that will allow people to say: ’Yeah. Let’s focus on health care. Let’s focus on some affordability measures to bring down the cost of living’ and if we can do that and tell a good story, that Manitobans are feeling optimistic and positive, to me, that’s a really important part of the job. 

KB: Any last message for the people of Manitoba heading into Christmas? 

WK: It’s been an amazing 2024 here in Manitoba. There’s lots of reasons to be positive and optimistic, so let’s just keep that optimism going in 2025. I want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. Happy holidays to everybody. Be safe and let’s make sure that positivity continues.

The post Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew emphasizes positivity, ‘message of unity’ in CityNews year-end interview appeared first on CityNews Winnipeg.

The Chair of Hospitality NL expects to see a lot more European visitors to the province with three direct routes between St. John’s and Europe starting in the new year.

WestJet will resume its St. John’s to London-Gatwick route in the spring, will a direct flight between St. John’s and Dublin Ireland will be brought back.

New this year will be a one day a week direct flight between St. John’s and Paris, France…the first direct air route between the province and continental Europe in recent history.

Deborah Bouden says it’s good news and should open the door to more European visitors to the province.

“With those routes opening up, people have more access to us,” says Bourden “we’re just a short, four and a half hour to five hour flight away from these destinations.” She’s hopeful it will result in more visitors. “It’s really, really good for us.”

With one day left to donate, CBC Toronto's Make the Season Kind has raised nearly $1 million for food banks in the Greater Toronto Area in 2024.

Police say an unknown amount of cash was stolen from a TD bank near Bathurst Street and Lawrence Avenue W. Tuesday morning.

Finally coming to a halt on Tuesday — the last day of 2024 — Belgian ultra runner Hilde Dosogne felt she had done all to take the world record to become the first woman to run a marathon every single day of the year.

Every year at Christmas time, The Line runs a series of articles about things we should be thankful for — just like we’re thankful for you. Happy holidays from your friends at The Line.

By: Peter Menzies

There are times these days when I wonder where the country might be without independent online media.

The government, for instance, has been forced to dismantle the Online Harms Act. Although still horrible, the legislation is at least being broken apart so that the really authoritarian parts have been separated into segments that, with luck, will just die after being starved of attention and ambition. While mainstream media attention played some role in that decision, opposition was driven by independent and social media.

The Online Streaming Act, which granted the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) authority over all audio and video content on the global internet, is steadily sludging its way through that regulator’s processes. The bill gave the CRTC the power to regulate podcasts — an emerging and increasingly influential medium. The government persistently misled the public by denying that was the case, disinformation that was reported as legitimate. In the end, Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge admitted the truth and instructed the CRTC not to use that power. This would not have happened without the persistence of those making their arguments, primarily through independent online media.

Then there’s the Online News Act, created along with hundreds of millions in tax credits and direct subsidies for a legacy newspaper industry in palliative care. Morally flexible enough to rely for their survival upon those the public expects them to scrutinize, they unashamedly refused (with the exception of Andrew Coyne in the Globe) to carry commentary critical of the legislation. The act also led to, as The Line pointed out a year before the bill passed, a conflict so profound that Canadians can no longer post news links on Facebook and Instagram.

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These have been matters of particular interest to me and, I believe, the public, since November 2020 when the first version of the streaming act — Bill C-10 — was tabled in Parliament. Back then, even the Conservatives, motivated by its perceived popularity in Quebec, were backing the legislation that interpreted the internet as a cable network. Even though the bill was poised to have a massive impact on Canadians’ freedom to create and communicate, legacy media initially showed little interest. Matters that aren’t contentious on Parliament Hill don’t often catch their eye, which is why online independent media are so important.

For months, trying to bring attention to the perils of a government determined to end the era of a free and open internet was a Sisyphean task reserved for the likes of Dr. Michael Geist and myself. Frequently gas-lit, the only “safe space” for we dissidents was the internet and independent media operated by curious people with the courage to think for themselves and challenge convention. Thanks to them, pieces like this appeared in The Line.

Lest I be accused of sucking up only to Jen Gerson and Matt Gurney, they are not alone. Other independent operators have stepped up to give space to contrarian views that legacy media, while lobbying for government favours, actively suppressed. Without the independent thinkers, the public would be significantly less well informed about illiberal legislation that threatens two of democracy’s foundational liberties — freedom of the press and freedom of expression.

My friends at The Hub, Western Standard, Blacklock’s Reporter, The Broken Typewriter, Lean Out and a few more have stood fast in their view that media that depend on government are undermining the public’s trust in not only their organizations but the craft of journalism. They have been supported by non-news organizations such as the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and the Internet Society of Canada.

It isn’t easy to make money in media these days and the long, frustrating days involved trying to do so have led to plenty of burnout and despair. It used to be easy. I remember when I first went to the Calgary Herald from the Calgary Sun, a colleague explained how, once he’d passed probation as a reporter in the Business department, an old hand took him aside and explained that he could now calm down and that “three bylines a week” is plenty good enough. True story. So while there were a great many hardworking, honest people within it, it’s little wonder that when the easy money that once poured in through classified ads disappeared, the newspaper industry was defenceless in the face of technological change.

It has been sad to watch that decline and the moral flexibility it inspired. But with decline comes renewal and it has been encouraging to keep company with principled, independent online media people who represent the future.

The news business won’t be saved by subsidies or the subsidized. The speed with which they are replaced will be up to a future government that hopefully understands the internet has and will continue to change the manner in which people create and consume media.

No one knows exactly what that will look like but only those who retain the public’s trust will still be around to enjoy it.

And that’s why, when I count my blessings and sing my tone-deaf heart out at Christmas services this year, I’ll say a little prayer for independent online media and be grateful for those within it who have kept the faith.

Peter Menzies is a senior fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, past vice-chair of the CRTC and a former newspaper publisher.

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The Line is Canada’s last, best hope for irreverent commentary. We reject bullshit. We love lively writing. Please consider supporting us by subscribing. Follow us on Twitter @the_lineca. Fight with us on Facebook. Pitch us something: [email protected]

Outdoor rinks have long been a staple of Canadian winters, but each season is shrinking and becoming more unpredictable with more warm spells making it difficult to maintain the ice and keep it open.

John Rustad has led his party from two MLAs to B.C.'s Official Opposition in a remarkable rise. He sat down with the CBC's Katie DeRosa to speak about how he'll oppose the ruling B.C. NDP — and how he'll manage emerging divisions among social conservatives and centrists in his party.

Another year! Come and gone!

We’ll keep this short, as we hope this message finds you surrounded by loved ones and good cheer.

Thank you for your continued support of rabble.ca throughout 2024.

It has been a year of challenges – on an international scale, and here at home – but as we approach 2025, our newsroom does so with renewed hope, determination, and a commitment to sharing the news and views you need to know. 

With the strength of our community behind us, we are inspired by the unwavering support of our readers, our ‘rabble rousers’ who make our work possible. This bond fuels our dedication to providing accessible, high-quality, people-first journalism throughout the year ahead.

As we work toward these goals, we kindly ask for your support during our winter fundraising campaign. Your contribution, whether as a monthly donor or through a one-time gift, will directly help us continue our mission. 

Every donation, no matter the size, makes a meaningful difference.

We couldn’t do the work we do without the support of folks like you. 

So thank you. And Happy New Year! 

Breanne Doyle, Nick Seebruch 
And the entire rabble staff 

The post Happy New Year from rabble.ca! appeared first on rabble.ca.

Actors Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have reached a divorce settlement after eight years, according to her lawyer, bringing an end to one of Hollywood's most contentious and closely followed celebrity splits.

As part of the IJF’s commitment to public interest journalism, we’re proud to collaborate with news partners across the country. 

This year, we published more than 15 collaborative series with outlets such as CBC News, The Tyee, The Canadian Press, Postmedia and CTV News. We partnered with both national-level outlets as well as a number of regional publications in B.C., Saskatchewan and Ontario.

John Kershaw, Chairman of the Board for the Van Horne Estate on Ministers Island, sits down with host Jay Remer at the CHCO studio to talk about the role of the organization, a look back at the 2024 tourism season, and a look ahead to what visitors to the Island can expect in 2025.

Original broadcast date: December 30, 2024

Fundy Tidings with Jay Remer is an original CHCO Television production taped on location at the CHCO-TV studio in Saint Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada.

New rules governing the sales of machetes and other long-blade weapons in Manitoba come into effect Tuesday.

The chair of the Van Horne Estate on Ministers Island says the number of visitors is returning to pre-pandemic levels. 

“During COVID and after COVID, our numbers dropped quite a bit,” said John Kershaw. “But we’re starting to climb back to that historic high, we had just over 26,000. So, we’re back to 24,000 now. We had an excellent year.” 

Ministers Island is a national historic site and was designated as such in 1996. The estate was built by Sir William Van Horne, who served as president of the Canadian Pacific Railway. 

The island had several successful events throughout the season, according to Kershaw. 

“I would like to give a shout-out to Jamie Steel, our longtime partner in that regard,” he said in an interview. “He does wonders for us and puts those concerts together.” 

It had two signature events, RAILFest and EarthFest.  It also held a Lego-based event. 

“(The) kids could come and build things with the Lego blocks and the winners that built the best got to have their display added to a display that the local user group takes around the county,” Kershaw said. “So, that brought in a lot of families, a lot of young people, and that’s the sort of thing we want to see for the future.” 

EarthFest drew about 700 people in a single day, Kershaw explained. 

A new business plan

The island is also undertaking a six-year business plan. It will create a path forward for the island to preserve the history but make it more accessible. 

“It’s identifying and protecting the artifacts on the island, curating them properly, protecting the Indigenous middens and other artifacts that are on the island,” he said. “The second area is tourism itself and identifying what things we should be doing on the island could be doing on the island to bring more visitors in.” 

Kershaw said another component is education. 

“We think there is an opportunity for us to do more education-related workshops and things of that nature,” he said. “Maybe camps for young people, maybe for adults as well, and also to develop resources that can be used in the classroom to showcase the history of Ministers Island, and also the innovative spirit of the people that were there.” 

Finally, the island will look at “governance and just the basic management and administration of the island,” he said.

Collaboration with Indigenous communities 

It has also identified the urgent and priority need to work with the Indigenous community. 

“As Chief Hugh Akagi once mentioned to me, you know, you’re celebrating Van Horne, who was there 400 years ago. We were there thousands of years ago, and we do have an Indigenous exhibit, but I think we’ve identified, and we recognize, the fact that we could do a lot more,” Kershaw said. “We need to do a lot more to improve the narrative around the history of the Indigenous people on the island. We need to partner more effectively with the local band and with Chief Akagi himself.” 

Overall, the board of directors hopes to increase the number of annual visitors to about 35,000 through the new goals in the plan. He said the future is dependent on adequate funding. 

Further funding needed 

Kershaw said he is hopeful the new government will come to the table to help create a funding model that is sustainable. The island only receives $100,000 a year to operate. 

“By way of comparison, I mentioned before that Kings Landing gets $2.8 million a year to operate,” he said. “They have roughly the same number of visitors as us. So, I remind you, that they get $2.8 million (and) we get $100,000. We have the same number of visitors comparatively. That’s not fair … We are not sustainable with that kind of money.” 

Kershaw said the organization isn’t seeking $2.8 million, but enough to hire the people it needs to operate and invest to make the plan it has developed to make it a reality. 

The board has hoped the community engagement in the business plan will be an encouragement for the new government to see the value in investing in Ministers Island. 

“I’m hopeful the new government will see that we are a value-added proposition for them,” he said. “We have a tremendous number of volunteers that work both on the board and on the island itself. So, what we offer them is a very cost-effective and efficient model of governance, and we’re just calling on them to invest in a sustainable way.” 

Membership for Ministers Island is available for purchase here and costs $65 for individuals and $105 for families consisting of two adults and four children.

When an invitation to visit Pingualuit National Park is handed to you, you take it.

In August, I was sent on a four-day adventure like none other, trekking in a mountainous region called Qingngua, near Kangiqsujuaq.

It was the first time Pingualuit park staff sent people down this trail, which is intended to be offered as a self-guided package for seasoned hikers.

In typical Nunavik fashion, the trip did not go as planned.

On day one, the weather prevented us from going out onto the tundra. The park director at the time, Mary Pilurtuut Arngak, welcomed our group to her cabin, where we spent the night.

She told us the story of Pilurtuut, a powerful shaman who lived in the region in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

On the second day, we were brought to Qingngua by boat and began our long trek through the mountains.

Upon reaching the spot where the bay turns into a meandering river, we set up a tupiq, or traditional tent. The night was wet and windy, and the rain followed us the next day as we hiked up the rolling hills.

Our destination was a chalet, set up next to a large lake atop the mountain.

On day three, the sun finally cut through the thick grey clouds. Our objective was to hike the Qulusuttalik canyon to witness its stunning view and distinct Y shape.

We woke up on day four to the whistle of fast-blowing winds and the feeling of the chalet trembling. The winds were upwards of 100 km/h, and remained that way for the entire day.

Our objective that day would be our most challenging, because we had to walk back to where we were dropped off by the boat back on the second day, about 20 kilometres away in Qingngua.

Thankfully, the wind was at our backs, which improved our walking speed significantly.

Upon arriving at the destination, the bleak realization set in that the boat might never come to pick us up due to high winds and chaotic waters.

Qingngua’s geography is unique in that during low tide the beach at the foot of the hills reveals itself, making it walkable. We had to walk that beach to reach our destination, knowing the beach would disappear as the tide rose.

When we arrived, there were 30 minutes left before the tide came in.

As the thought that we might have to spend the night there set in, a team of ATVs pierced the horizon, driving down the beach that was now being eaten away by the tide.

A rescue team picked us up and immediately drove us back to the mainland, barely avoiding the rising sea.

The team had been called two hours prior by Arngak, who knew the boat would never leave town in those conditions.

We were brought back to town over a rough two-hour ATV trail, which did a number on my hips.

This adventure resulted in a series of stories on the history of Nunavik Parks, its conservation efforts, the history behind the trail I travelled, and the Qingngua region.

It also became one of my most intense, meaningful and exciting assignments as a journalist.

The Ottawa Charge and Toronto Sceptres, tied for fifth in the six-team league with identical two-win, three-loss and one overtime loss records, pulled off a four-player swap on Monday.

Mayor Brad Henderson is reflecting on a positive year in Saint Andrews amid an increase in new construction and the tax base, but also the challenges that come with operating a municipality. 

This year’s budget was a significant point of contention, Henderson said, due to the ongoing issues of amalgamation – and the diversity of communities forged together. 

“This one, again, we did get to a micro level, which is what every council should do,” he said. “But there was also some friction, and I think it’s important to acknowledge that. There were some heated debates. At times, I think it seemed almost a little bit personal, (we were) able to (reel) it back in and concentrate on what the true purpose was, and it was the budget.” 

Despite the fact that Charlotte County was left out of the last round of the federal Housing Acceleration Fund, the assessment base rose by 9.9 per cent. 

In the end, the council approved its budget with two dissenting votes. It lowered the property tax rate for both Saint Andrews and the two new rural areas of Bayside and Chamcook. 

The town saw about a three per cent increase in new construction this year, increasing its tax base. He said that is what allowed the council to maintain and, in some cases, lower the tax rate. 

Henderson explained the final tax base calculations are made by the province — council only decides what the tax rates will be.

“For the most part, existing homeowners, we did not grow the tax base on them,” he said. “We held it the same as we did last year, which is a big win for a municipality.” 

However, Henderson said he feels like the municipality is not healthier or in a better place since municipal reform – something on full display during the budget process. 

“I think we’re seeing that after a couple of budgets, the frustration is coming forward,” Henderson said. “And at the end of the day, no one wants to pay more in taxes. The bills are going up everywhere, whether it be NB Power, whether it be even your internet at home.” 

But while paying more taxes was a point of contention, so too was a fee paid by taxpayers outside Saint Andrews proper. 

“The other source of friction that I find, that is jumping out, is DTI (the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure) still manages the roads in Chamcook and Bayside,” Henderson explained. 

Those residents are charged an additional 41 cents on their tax rate, which many said at a meeting held by the town was not equitable for the service they receive. 

“The other thing is there’s no communication,” Henderson said. “They call town hall. Town hall rightfully says, ‘Well, the province manages them,’ but then they don’t find any way to communicate with the province to get their issues looked at.” 

Henderson said he’s hopeful about the change in government, but added he needs to see progress quickly. 

“I’m a big believer, personally, of my values that if you do a good job, I’ll support you. If you don’t, I’ll vote for someone else. And really, my door is open to anyone,” Henderson said. 

Premier Susan Holt, according to Henderson, has made several visits to Saint Andrews, discussing several important issues including communication about transportation and infrastructure plans. 

Henderson said a big commitment he is seeking for next year is doctor recruitment. 

“The reality is, as a region, the amount of family doctors we have has declined significantly, and that doesn’t just limit within community walls.” 

St. Stephen and Blacks Harbour have been promised a collaborative care clinic, with St. Stephen expected to have its clinic up and running within 18 months. 

Nothing was slated for Saint Andrews. 

“I don’t think that we are part of that plan,” Henderson explained. “However, I am excited to say that, although I can’t get into specifics of it right now, I am excited to say that I am working with Coun. Annette Harland and our wellness center to find a way in which we improve health care in Saint Andrews.” 

He said he has plans to ask for another meeting with Holt in January to continue discussing priorities for 2025.

— with files from Vicki Hogarth

GHENT, Belgium (AP) — Finally coming to a halt on Tuesday — the last day of 2024 — Belgian ultra runner Hilde Dosogne felt she had done all to take the world record to become the first woman to run a marathon every single day of the year.

Weary but seemingly far from exhausted from the weight of relentless marathon running, Dosogne emerged from the cold, grey light to cross the line amid a throng of fellow runners all celebrating an extraordinary feat.

“I’m glad it’s over,” she said after crossing the line on the last day, leaving the last crash of many behind her when she collided with a spectator during her final run.

On top of the reward for her perseverance in running at least 15,444 kilometers in a single year, the 55-year-old also raised some 60,000 euros ($62, 438) in funds for breast cancer research.

Now comes the filing of GPS data, photo and video evidence and independent witness reports she had to collect daily to meet the requirements of the Guinness World Records organization. If approved, the record should be officially hers in about three months.

The 55-year-old would join Hugo Farias, the Brazilian who holds the male record of 366 days, which he achieved in São Paulo, Brazil, on 28 August 2023.

In the female category, Dosogne would be in a league all her own, since the current record, achieved by Erchana Murray-Bartlett of Australia, stands at 150 days since 16 January 2023.

One thing is sure: she doesn’t want her feat to become a shining example of healthy living — more one of personal persistence, as she had to fight off the flu, COVID, a dozen-plus crashes, blisters and even bursitis. Overall though, the brain took the toughest beating.

“The mental strain is harder than the physical. Of course, physically, everything has to be okay. Otherwise, you can’t run for four hours every day. But it was more mental to be to be there at the start-line every day,” she told The Associated Press.

And as marathon races go, Dosogne was able to do the majority of her marathons on a flat loop around a stretch of water, just outside the university town of Ghent, where, apart from sometimes dreary Belgian weather, a strong headwind could be her toughest competitor.

Even there, she said, she would not take any statistical risks and instead of the 42.195 kilometers (26.2 miles) a day, she made sure her run stood at 42.5 km — just for safe measure with the Guinness administrators.

Dosogne wishes she could have stretched her days the same way though.

As a bio-engineer at a chemical firm, she had to start her days especially early so she could squeeze in a marathon every afternoon. And because she could not run at top speed every single day, she stuck to an easy (for her) 10 kilometers per hour, which also allowed friends and witnesses to run along.

Her husband is a marathon runner and their four kids, in their teens and twenties, are into sports too, making the single-minded obsession easier to deal with.

The only time when her daughter Lucie felt she might not make was the day she crashed after 27 kilometers, had to be taken to the emergency ward with a dislocated finger, and spent far too much time there to be allowed to finish the marathon by the regulation. The solution? “She started from scratch again,” said Lucie.

“It’s still a little bit crooked,” said Dosogne.

It is another reason she would never advise anyone to try this. “To do it? No, I wouldn’t. Definitely not. It’s yeah, it’s not for everybody.”

During Dosagne’s relentless quest, she is also collecting money for the Breast International Group, an international not-for-profit organization that seeks to sponsor breast cancer research. She knows several friends and fellow runners who had cancer, recovered or went into remission — all stories that had a big impact on her.

So, now, she will take it easy for a few weeks in the new year. Not too long though.

In September, she has the Spartathlon planned, a 246-kilometer (153-mile) race in Greece.

A small challenge to what she has done this year.

“I don’t think I will do anything more crazy than this,” she said.

Raf Casert, The Associated Press

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A Fredericton woman accused of fraud and forgery offences didn’t appear in court as required Monday to enter pleas to the charges.

Amanda Jayne Martin, 41, of Biggs Street, faces charges of knowingly using a forged cheque belonging to Amal Bensaleh and defrauding the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) of less than $5,000.

The counts allege events in Fredericton on Dec. 31, 2023.

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Designating 2024 as The Year of the Arts in Newfoundland and Labrador helped spur investment and activity in the music industry, a welcomed turn of events coming out of the lean years of the pandemic.

Tamara Kater, who recently took over as Executive Director of MusicNL, says they plan to return to their roots with their annual awards show.

She says the event will return to its former name, MusicNL Week. Kater says they want to promote the Newfoundland and Labrador brand. She expects to announce more details in January.

Auckland has become the first major city to welcome 2025, with thousands of revellers counting down to the new year and cheering at colourful fireworks launched from New Zealand's tallest structure, Sky Tower, and a spectacular downtown light show.

Yellowknife's latest Little Free Library is in position – and being checked out by the local ptarmigans – after a 1,600-km journey north.

"He put us on the map." "He was a giant softie." "To watch her grow up was something else." Reflect on the lives of some people the NWT lost in 2024.

Art by Erin Taniguchi

Labourers in canada’s migrant worker scheme have finally decided to take the government to court for the institutional abuses they face within their industries. Three Toronto-based law firms have filed a class-action lawsuit against the Canadi an federal government for $500 million on behalf of migrant workers. If the suit is successful, it could be the first step in radically transforming Canada’s exploitative migrant worker system to enfranchise migrant workers into Canada’s political and economic communities.

The $500 million the lawsuit claims was stolen from migrant workers is based on the amount of employment insur ance deductibles that migrants in the system and their employers have collectively paid since 2008.

“You see a different dichotomy in the 50s and the 60s … with Black and brown workers from Trinidad, Jamaica, and Mexico in the 70s,” Ramsaroop says. “[Canadian farmers] could never hold a threat of deportation [over migrant workers’ heads] for working on a farm in the 60s.”

“Workers are paying into the system, and they are not receiving benefits,” says Chris Ramsaroop, a migrant rights activist and instructor at the University of Toronto. Beyond just financial loss, experts, including a UN special rapporteur, have called out the slavery-like abuses migrants face in Canada’s migrant scheme. Embracing a radical movement in the country to politically empower migrants will not only allow Black and brown farm workers to represent their interests; it could also lead to the beginnings of a decolonized and more sustainable agriculture system based on Indigenous principles.

Agricultural exploitation

Tied employment is a form of labour contracting that links an employee’s residency status to their employment contract. Throughout history, tied employment has been used to control and lower labour costs and work land. Most famously, Europe an feudalism was a top-down societal hierarchy where agricultural labourers, or serfs, also had tied employment contracts known as feudal contracts. By the 1600s, serfdom slowly faded in western Europe as chattel enslavement of African and Indigenous peoples increased.

By the 1960s, Canada’s steady influx of European immigrants began to run dry, and the federal government looked to racialized communities in the Global South to fill labour gaps. This increase in available racialized labour coincided with the institutionalization of tied employment. In 1966, the office of Minister of Citizenship and Immigration was abolished and on October 1, the office of Minister of Manpower and Immigration was launched. That year, Canada’s Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP) was also introduced. The following decade saw a continued shift in migrants to Canada, with more coming from the Global South than from Europe.

“You see a different dichotomy in the 50s and the 60s … with Black and brown workers from Trinidad, Jamaica, and Mexico in the 70s,” Ramsaroop says. “[Canadian farmers] could never hold a threat of deportation [over migrant workers’ heads] for working on a farm in the 60s.”

The SAWP has worked with officials in Mexico and the Caribbean to hire farm workers. In most situations, contracts last for a maximum period of eight months, from January 1, and migrants are forced to leave by December 15. Over the years, the program has grown to include more countries in the Caribbean, South America, and Mexico.

The shift in ministerial oversight in 1966, at the same time the SAWP was introduced, is not simply coincidental. The name change seems to highlight the government’s changing focus from citizenship to labour just as more racialized groups were entering the country.

Tomoya Obokata, a UN special rapporteur, declared in September 2023 that employer-specific work permit regimes like tied employment create conditions for contemporary forms of slavery, as they make migrants reluctant to report abuses for fear of deportation. This is especially dangerous considering that many migrants take out loans to work in Canada. The imbalance of power created by the country’s migrant worker permit system reduces workers’ ability to bargain wages and conditions with employers.

Migrant worker resistance

Justice/Justicia for Migrant Workers (J4MW) is one of the main activist groups working to empower migrants in Canada. They call for an end to tied employment, along with residency status for all workers, and increased health and safety regulations. They, along with many other activists and migrants, are not calling for an end to the SAWP, but a change.

“We’re not calling for the abolition of workers paying into the EI system. What we’re trying to say is workers should be getting EI access when they return to their home country,” says Ramsaroop. In an open letter to the Ontario government, J4MW called for further regulation of the migrant workers program, including increased water breaks and shade. As former members of the SAWP and activists fighting on the ground, acknowledging that opportunities that SAWP can provide is a genuine attempt at pragmatism. However, while policy and regulatory changes would immediately improve migrant working conditions in Canada, they do little to address the power imbalances that the SAWP has institutionalized. Ending tied employment would allow migrants to find other work in Canada within the agricultural industry. While this reform could prevent specific employers’ abuse of workers, it would not end overall labour exploitation by the industries that employ migrants, nor substantially rectify the power imbalances between workers and employers. Like many Canadian sectors, the agriculture industry is highly centralized.

Manufactured competition between migrant groups suppresses not only wages but also any regulation of industries that employ such workers. As national economic actors, migrant workers need the political power to effect change in their economic position. For example, giving migrant workers the right to vote in elections is a solution advocated by revolutionary socialists and anti-capitalists. This goes beyond seeking status for all, which would give migrants the right to work anywhere in Canada. Providing migrants with the right to vote could revolutionize our whole system, giving many intersections of disenfranchised individuals and groups access to political action.

By elevating the agricultural practices of Indigenous nations across Canada and Turtle Island, we can grow a democratic confederated alternative agriculture, linked with the global community of racialized labourers who want to work in Canada.

The solutions advocated by J4MW and other activists would end tied employment and increase labour protections. This approach requires the government to properly regulate and punish companies that oppress migrant workers. As a non-voting population, migrants cannot expect accountability from the Canadian federal government, which gains little by advocating for them. However migrants can gain political power without direct political enfranchisement by engaging in collective action. When they can’t vote with their ballot, they vote with their feet. If tied employment ended, migrants could better organize with one another against their conglomerate employers. Through collective action, migrants in Canada can use political actions like protests, strikes, and work stoppages as a unified group to dramatically rewrite power in their favour.

Indigenous farming practices

Collective action can be undertaken from the bottom up as individual workers build their movements. In northern Syria, communities, including displaced migrants from Lebanon, are experimenting with Indigenous forms of co-operation and agriculture to establish their own economic, political, and nutritional sustainability. Rojava, in northwestern Syria, is an in dependent postmodern state based on Kurdish communalism, also known as democratic confederalism. Rojava’s agricultural production supplies food based on the needs of the communi ties rather than profit. Prior to the Syrian civil war, the Ba’ath regime built massive dams to introduce large-scale irrigated monocropping to an area that traditionally used arid-land agricultural methods. Irrigated agriculture best served the mass production of crops like wheat, cotton and barley, which have high export prices but damage local ecologies. When the central state administration in the region disintegrated in 2012, hundreds of initiatives at the local level worked to increase crop diversity to sustainably manage Rojavan markets, ecosystems, and diets, and communities confederated to become Rojava. Since that time, production of export crops like cotton has fallen and vegetable, lentil, and spice production have increased.

Canada’s agricultural industry can learn from Rojava. By elevating the agricultural practices of Indigenous nations across Canada and Turtle Island, we can grow a democratic confederated alternative agriculture, linked with the global community of racialized labourers who want to work in Canada. Before European colonization, the region now known as southern Ontario was dominated by the Iroquois Confederacy, a political union of five separate polities frameworked on pacts that supported community sufficiency, crop diversification, and environmental stewardship at the time. Indigenous treaties and lifeways like the Dish with One Spoon and the Three Sisters planting tradition have long engaged communities to manage the land as the Rojavans are doing. The reestablishment of Indigenous principles in the context of migrant em powerment is a radical project that would unite global labour with local social responsibility. Whereas democratic councils grew out of Syria’s administrative failure, abolishing the SAWP could see a similar proliferation of confederalized migrant guilds and unions, adhering to Indigenous principles of sustainability and responsibility complemented regional academic and activist expertise. Collectively, these migrants and their allies could work to provide legal services, mutual aid, and social bonds to build political power through collective action.

Connected to migrants by the same history of dislocation and colonization, enfranchised Canadians can work with migrant unions to envision a new food system that is fair to producers and consumers alike. The only way migrants can en joy the fruits of their labour – and that Canadians can ethically consume these fruits – is to end the oppression built into the Canadian agricultural industry.

Artist Alisa Blake says stories are woven into each bead in her work. Check out her fireworks-inspired earrings as you ring in 2025.

There are roughly 733,000 people in Canada living with some form of Alzheimer’s, according to the Canadian Alzheimer’s Society. 

This is why the New Brunswick Alzheimer’s Society is hoping to raise awareness about the risk factors and early warning signs of the disease. January is Alzheimer’s Awareness Month. 

“There are ways that we can reduce our risk for developing dementia,” said Ben McLaughlin. “Right now, there is no surefire way to completely prevent it, but there are lots of different ways that you can reduce your risk.” 

There are several risk factors for Alzheimer’s including diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease, among several others. The two said it is never too late to start the process of taking better care of your physical health. 

“Managing your numbers, like your blood pressure, weight, and blood sugars,” said NBAS executive director Chandra McBean. “If you have diabetes, all of those things have a higher impact than any potential treatment that can be available now and even in the future.” 

According to the National Alzheimer’s Society, about 350 people in Canada develop dementia per day, almost 15 per hour. 

By 2030, the organization says, the number of people living with dementia could increase by 65 per cent. 

McLaughlin said there are ways to notice whether someone could be dealing with some form of Alzheimer’s – with the main one being shifts in their personality and memory. 

“Memory is one of the first kinds of tell-tale signs that we tend to notice,” he said. “Oftentimes the first kind of changes that we notice aren’t just memory. It could be a change in personality.”

He said some who might have always been warm and friendly might become more defensive or closed off. 

“I would add one of the earliest changes that families share with us is changes in managing finances,” McBean said. “So, anything that requires abstract thinking.” 

There is currently no known cure for Alzheimer’s. 

The NBAS has created a program called First Link to help people living with dementia or their caregivers. 

“It’s about accompanying the individual living with dementia and the family and care partners and whoever’s involved in that circle of care,” McBean said. 

The program connects individuals and families with resources like education and support services specific to their needs. This happens both at the time of diagnosis and throughout the progression of the disease. 

Both McLaughlin and McBean said someone does not have to be diagnosed to reach out to the society, even with just questions. 

All the information about the New Brunswick Alzheimer’s Society is available here.

In a year-end interview, Jasper Mayor Richard Ireland tackles questions about his community's wildfire response, coming to terms with personal loss and rebuilding Jasper back up to be more resistant to future fires.

Dana Belcourt

My foray into labour organizing for sex workers began in 2002 when the co-founder of the International Union of Sex Workers (IUSW) visited the outreach project I worked with in London, U.K. The IUSW was looking for support to mobilize members for the U.K.’s first sex workers’ union. I was pumped! The energy around the table on voting day was palpable. People who worked on the street, in porn, in brothels, sex phone businesses, strip clubs, and other parts of the industry voted in the first sex workers’ local of the U.K.’s third-largest union, the GMB. Despite this very important recognition of sex workers’ right to self-organize and to join a trade union, it was unfortunately a symbolic gesture at best. Although the GMB would later help registered sex work businesses like strip clubs negotiate labour conditions, they were unable to provide avenues to address labour abuses for the great majority of sex workers who laboured under sex work criminalization in the U.K. Since at least the early 2000s, many unions across the globe, in addition to the GMB, have vocalized their support for sex workers, but these statements have not improved actual working conditions in criminalized sex industries.

Over the past few decades in Canada, sex work has been a hot topic at union conventions and union local meetings. Some unions have even passed resolutions to support legal reform that would allow for the protection of sex workers’ human rights, including employment and labour rights. But labour organizations and unions have failed to step up to help dismantle the legal barriers that make it impossible for people who sell sexual services to legally access employment and labour protections. 

Criminalization of sex work

Under Canadian law, sex work is a crime. In December 2014, the purchase, advertising, and procuring of sexual services were all made criminal offences under the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (PCEPA) née Bill C-36. Some limited forms of sex work, such as stripping, pornography, and certain erotic massage work may function within registered businesses regulated under provincial and municipal laws, and in these contexts workers could theoretically attempt to access employment and labour standards. However, for most sex workers, accessing such protections is legally impossible as long as their labour activities and relationships constitute criminal offences. Under PCEPA, sex workers and third parties work in a context of illegality and the surveillance and punitive framework that comes with it. Because the sale of sexual services and majority of third-party roles in the sex industry are illegal, exchanges and negotiations between employees and employers are criminalized, and sex workers cannot seek entitlements or redress through provincial or federal employment and labour protections, which are essential mechanisms for advancing workers’ rights in any industry. The illegality of sex work requires third-party owners, managers, and other workers to avoid police and immigration detection at all costs. Incentives to improve working conditions don’t exist and labour exploitation is able to flourish in a criminalized environment: sex workers have little to no legal leverage and negotiating power, and they are unlikely to report incidents of violence, discrimination, harassment, or unsafe and unfair working conditions. Additionally, the harms that arise from sex work–specific criminal offences are intensified by other punitive regulations, like those in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations that prohibit migrant sex work, as well as municipal bylaws that dictate working conditions in massage parlours and those regulating public spaces and the movement of the often Indigenous, Black, and racialized sex workers who occupy them. This criminalization exacerbates poor working conditions and limits the capacity of sex workers to improve them.

Sex workers cannot access formal mechanisms to uphold employment protections, collectively bargain, or otherwise improve working conditions as long as sex work remains illegal and its poor working conditions are not recognized as labour issues. When sex work itself is enshrined in legislation and social discourse as exploitation, all working conditions (even good ones) are seen as exploitative. Criminalization prevents access to employment and labour standards and unionization – it prevents sex workers from establishing legal and explicit contracts with employers, from collectively negotiating with third parties, and generating collective representation. This requires the decriminalization of sex work – that is the removal of all criminal and punitive laws specific to sex work. 

Trying to build political power

Like many, I came into sex workers’ rights activism with very high hopes for the ways that labour frameworks, movements and organizations could help sex workers, despite the barrier of criminalization. But over the 50 years since the sex worker rights movement established the recognition of “sex work as work” as one of its many demands, Canadian labour organizations and unions have not moved beyond basic messages of support and affirmation.      

When I returned to Canada in 2004 after working in the U.K., I tried to start a Canadian branch of the IUSW to see how labour organizing could improve working conditions for sex workers in Canada. With a group of sex workers, I worked to mobilize local workers and researched dental and health insurance companies and other labour benefits. Our group also approached the Montreal Conseil Central at the Con fédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) to create a branch for sex workers and to build political support to fight for the recognition of sex work. We were told that benefits for communities considered “risky,” like sex workers, were untenable and were rejected by the CSN, which was wedded to the view of sex work itself as a form of exploitation – something put into writing years later and since used to shut sex workers out of advocacy efforts to improve living and working conditions.

Parallel to this effort, in 2003, sex worker rights advocate and mentor Kara Gillies and I launched a collective called the Canadian Guild for Erotic Labour. Part of this work continued on from Gillies’ efforts in Toronto to support migrant sex workers to negotiate better working conditions. With the Guild, we also advocated for unions to take visible and strong positions to end the criminalization of sex work, in the hopes that sex workers could one day have legal access to employment and labour rights. We recognized that unions in Canada were in a powerful place to shift public policy. Much of our efforts included attempting to move the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), the country’s largest union, forward on their 2001 call to members to pass a resolution to support the decriminalization of sex work. While divisions such as CUPE Ontario have demonstrated support for sex workers’ labour rights, such as when staff at Maggie’s Toronto Sex Workers Action Project unionized in 2021, the larger CUPE National organization remains unpositioned and absent from sex work advocacy to this day.

Despite the barriers criminalization poses to formal labour organizing, sex workers navigate, resist, and mitigate exploitative working conditions without the support of employment protections, labour boards, and other institutions – they’re creative in finding ways to address exploitation. Part of this includes the creation of sex worker collectives and self-directed organizations with the aim of improving working conditions, accessing employment protections, or unionizing. This allows for workers to envision labour standards, research patterns of exploitation in the industry and attempt to alter the ways that exploitative labour conditions manifest.

Navigating this organizing without the institutional support available to many other workers is exhausting for sex workers and makes organizing efforts easy to abandon in favour of simply finding less exploitative bosses or locations with better working conditions, where possible. Should sex workers collectively organize in sex work spaces, too many workers risk drawing the attention of law enforcement. This has consequences for increased surveillance and detection, and can result in losing children, homes, and income or being detained and deported, because their activities and relationships are illegal – not to mention the risk of arrest for third parties, which include those who are sex workers. 

Bedford v. Canada – the first Canadian constitutional challenge to sex work laws, brought forward by Terri-Jean Bedford, Amy Lebovitch, and Valerie Scott struck down three major sex work-specific offences and was a catalyst to many unions writing resolutions. The years that followed the 2013 Supreme Court decision were filled with a flurry of resolutions passed in unions across the country, thanks to the tireless work of so many sex worker activists. Countless unions and union locals made calls for the decriminalization of sex work, attended or organized activities on International Day to End Violence against Sex Workers (December 17), and passed resolutions in support of sex workers’ rights. These include the Provincial Women’s Committee at Ontario Public Service Employees Union (2014), Syndicat des travailleuses et travailleurs en intervention communautaire (STTIC, 2016), MoveUP (2019), and Canadian Office and Professional Employees Union-Syndicat professionnel du Québec (2022). Still silent and absent from public support are major labour organizations like CUPE National, as mentioned, and the Canadian Labour Congress. 

Beyond resolutions

But why do unions stop at resolutions and solidarity days? Unions need to meaningfully partake in the labour of sex work law reform. This means engaging with law and policy-makers and the courts, and unions have failed colossally on this level.

After the 2013 Bedford v. Canada Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) decision, there were countless opportunities for unions to take more active roles in the struggle for improved working conditions for sex workers. Between the SCC decision and the introduction of Bill C-36 in June 2014, there were multiple lobbying efforts and meetings with MPs. In June 2014, when the Conservative government introduced Bill C-36, there were extensive government consultations and parliamentary committee hearings that provided key opportunities for migrant, Indigenous, 2SLGBTQ+, women’s organizations, and other rights groups to get more deeply involved in the fight for decriminalization. Where were Canada’s labour organizations and unions during these times? 

Since 2014, sex workers’ rights groups have spent countless hours advocating, lobbying, and educating members of Parliament and other policy-makers. Special committees were formed to study the PCEPA, and conversations about coercion and trafficking occupied parliamentary committee discussion and studies. Sex workers and our allies submitted briefs and made presentations to parliamentarians about the violence and labour exploitation that sex workers experience in a context of criminalization, immigration provisions that target migrant sex work, and exclusion from employment and labour protections. No labour organizations or unions submitted parliamentary briefs to lay out how decriminalization could forge a path to employment and labour protections, including occupational health and safety and employment standards. 

In 2021, 25 sex workers’ rights groups, under the banner of the Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform, launched a constitutional challenge to the majority of the sex work specific criminal offences. Many rights groups – including the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change – intervened in the case. However, no other labour organization or union intervened or contacted us at the Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform to inquire about the ways they could use their power to engage lawmakers. 

Despite some resolutions to support sex workers’ rights, most labour organizations and unions are still hesitant to be on the front lines with us. Part of this might be because some are rooted in antiquated ideas about sex work and sex workers: they continue to refuse to recognize sex work as labour rather than a “social” issue. They are trapped within prohibitionist anti–sex work rhetoric that frames sex work itself as exploitation and sex workers as victims rather than workers, and they lack organizational and political cohesion around sex workers’ rights. Some organizations and unions that have passed resolutions to “support sex workers’ rights” may also still not grasp that sex workers need help achieving the decriminalization of their labour activities and relationships in order for those resolutions to be realized.

A call to unions

There are numerous ways that unions and organizations can join sex workers on the front lines to be involved in the fight for law and policy reform that would pave the way for sex workers to gain access to mechanisms to address exploitative working conditions. Unions and labour organizations are exceptionally well placed for this – organized labour in Canada has a solid history of advancing a social justice agenda and supporting the rights of communities and individuals facing multiple inequalities and oppressions. They occupy and can share their privileged seats at the tables of politicians and policy-makers, along with influencing discourse around labour and employment issues across the country. They have institutional power and more resources than sex workers, and they can organize at the intersections of our communities to help create solidarities between sex workers and other workers who so often dismiss sex work as exploitation.

Labour organizations can make the connections and create opportunities for sex workers to connect with other workers, voicing how intersections of race, gender, disability, immigration status, and class impact labour conditions for the most marginalized of workers, including sex workers. This can build stronger movements and get us closer to our goals, faster.

Additionally, labour organizations and unions can in formally support sex workers with organizing and lobbying, including with financial and other resources.

None of us can wait for decriminalization to happen to continue our organizing for institutional change and respect for sex workers’ rights. The fight for decriminalization is only one step toward realizing sex workers’ rights – removing punitive sex work laws will not resolve the systemic barriers, racism, colonialism, and impacts of other laws that target sex workers and members of our community. Decriminalization of sex work is not the end goal for sex workers’ rights, but rather the beginning. We won’t get there with resolutions and words of solidarity, but as we edge closer to equal treatment, we need labour organizations and unions to exercise more solidarity by engaging law and policy-makers to change the legislation that prevents the legal recognition of sex work as labour.