The most immediate risk after next week's U.S. presidential transition isn't to residents of those nations Donald Trump has mused about invading. It's to the millions of undocumented migrants he vows to deport, including young people who don't remember life anywhere else.

There are a number of important initiatives underway to build CBC News service and connection in small communities — including a significant expansion of local journalism in underserved markets.

Canadian groups who study and advocate for free expression have mixed feelings on Meta's changes to what is automatically considered "hateful" conduct on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, as advocates for 2SLGBTQ+ people and women voice concerns over terms like "whore" being allowed on the platform.

Furious at the prospect of a US government ban on social media platform TikTok, American users have flocked to another Chinese-owned app in droves, many with a defiant message: “Take my data!”

TikTok has become another battleground showcasing China-US tensions, with President Joe Biden’s administration accusing the app of allowing Beijing to collect data and spy on users — claims denied by China and TikTok’s owner ByteDance.

The United States passed a law last year forcing ByteDance to either sell the platform or shut it down by Jan. 19.

With that deadline looming, Xiaohongshu — a lifestyle-focused Instagram-meets-Pinterest alternative — surged to the top of the Apple App Store downloads on Monday.

The hashtag “tiktokrefugee” had more than 100 million views by Tuesday evening.

“They are trying to ban TikTok because they said China is stealing information. They don’t ban any American company from stealing our information,” user penguinpepperpia, who has more than 264,000 TikTok followers, said.

The content creator downloaded Xiaohongshu rather than return to US platforms such as Meta’s Instagram and Facebook, which they characterised as apps for “older people” that also “steal your personal information and sell it to other companies.”

“That is why many Americans don’t care anymore and we would rather let China have our information,” said the user.

Other “refugees” shared similar sentiments.

New Xiaohongshu user Adham said in a video posted on Monday: “I know our government is a little bit racist, but Chinese people, I love you guys. I don’t care if you take my data. Take it.”

‘Deliciously ironical’

The phenomenon showed how “foolish” the TikTok ban was, Milton Mueller, a professor at the Georgia Tech School of Public Policy who filed a brief in opposition to the ban to the US Supreme Court, said.

“It is deliciously ironical that the threat of a ban is backfiring so quickly, even before it is put into place,” he said.

“It does seem as if the TikTok ban is pushing users towards other apps that have a much less clear division between the Chinese Communist Party and the app itself,” Duke University’s Robyn Caplan said.

Neither Xiaohongshu nor ByteDance commented on the situation when asked.

What the phenomenon showed was that the Biden administration’s strategy towards Chinese technology of “small yard, high fence” was not effective, said the London School of Economics’ Meng Bingchun.

“The yard keeps getting bigger, and the fence is leaky,” Meng said.

“Worse still, in this case, those living within the fence can be migratory in the digital space.”

Short-term reaction?

Until Monday, Xiaohongshu — or RedNote in English — was popular primarily among Chinese-speaking users.

It boasted 300 million monthly active users at the end of 2023.

Unlike TikTok’s sister app Douyin or the micro-blogging site Weibo, Xiaohongshu skews heavily towards lifestyle content.

It is seen as facing relatively less censorship than other platforms: users can be found posting LGBTQ content and discussing the merits of women remaining single, topics often considered sensitive in China.

For “native” Xiaohongshu users on Monday, the influx of Americans was a head-scratcher but also provided an unexpected opportunity for cultural exchange.

Some even asked for help with English homework.

In public group chats on the platform, new users asked for translations of slang terms, as well as keywords to search for content they wanted.

“It’s funny and ironic that the Americans and the Chinese are meeting online under the circumstance that the US government is banning TikTok … similar to what the Chinese government has been doing for ages to American apps,” 26-year-old Amanda Zhang said.

The part-time pet content creator, who studies in the United States, said she was worried the US government might move to ban Xiaohongshu too if it gained enough traction.

It remains unclear what the long-term implications of the shift will be.

Xiaohongshu’s main challenge to retaining these new users is translation, Caplan said.

LSE’s Meng added: “My hunch is that what we are witnessing now is more of a short-term reaction than a long-term trend.”

“The question now is whether there will be a critical mass of these refugees to achieve the desired network effect for the platform, and whether Xiaohongshu will respond quickly enough to harness the new users.”

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A survey published on Tuesday by the Anti-Defamation League showed 46 per cent of adults worldwide — about 2.2 billion people — hold antisemitic views.

The ADL survey found “anti-Jewish sentiments are at an all-time high globally” and noted antisemitism had more than doubled since the Jewish advocacy group’s first such study in 2014.

Jonathan Greenblatt, the head of the New York-based organization, called the findings “deeply troubling,” describing antisemitism as a “global emergency.”

“We are seeing these trends play out from the Middle East to Asia, from Europe to North and South America,” he said during a press call.

Conducted with global market research firm Ipsos, the survey questioned over 58,000 adults in 103 countries, using representative sampling.

Respondents were asked about stereotypes regarding Jews, their attitudes toward Israel, and their engagement with Israeli businesses and individuals.

Among the antisemitic tropes were claims that “Jews are responsible for most of the world’s wars” or “Jews are more loyal to Israel than to the home country they live in.”

Younger respondents showed higher prevalence of antisemitic attitudes, with 40 per cent of those under 35 believing Jews were responsible for most wars.

Released ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27, the survey also explored awareness of the Holocaust — Nazi Germany’s genocide of six million Jews in Europe.

It found 20 per cent of respondents had not heard of the Holocaust, while only 48 per cent recognized its historical accuracy.

In the Middle East and North Africa, 76 per cent of respondents believed most of the tropes about Jews to be true.

In Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe, half harboured high levels of antisemitic views, compared with less than a quarter in the Americas and Western Europe.

The highest levels of antisemitic attitudes were found in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip at 97 per cent.

Israel has been waging a war against Hamas since the Palestinian militant group’s Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel.

The index score was also 97 per cent for Kuwait, while it was 96 per cent for Indonesia.

Greenblatt attributed the rise to factors like global politics, social media and what he called “the Al Jazeera effect.”

Of the Qatari-owned news channel, Greenblatt said “Al Jazeera is a non-stop fountain of antisemitism and a 24-hour faucet of anti-Israel reports.”

“Antisemitic tropes and beliefs are becoming alarmingly normalized across societies worldwide,” said Marina Rosenberg, the ADL’s senior vice president for international affairs.

“This dangerous trend is not just a threat to Jewish communities — it’s a warning to us all,” she said, adding that even in countries with lower levels of antisemitism, incidents still occurred.

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The United States finalized a rule Tuesday effectively barring Chinese technology from cars in the American market, taking aim at software and hardware from the world’s second biggest economy over national security risks.

The announcement, which also pertains to Russian technology, comes as outgoing President Joe Biden wraps up efforts to step up curbs on China, and after a months-long regulatory process.

The rule follows an announcement this month that Washington is mulling new restrictions to address risks posed by drones with tech from adversaries like China and Russia.

“Cars today aren’t just steel on wheels — they’re computers,” said Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

She noted that modern vehicles contain cameras, microphones, GPS tracking and other technologies connected to the internet.

“This is a targeted approach to ensure we keep PRC and Russian-manufactured technologies off American roads,” she added, referring to the People’s Republic of China.

The final rule currently applies just to passenger vehicles under 10,001 pounds, said the US Commerce Department.

It plans, however, to issue separate rulemaking aimed at tech in commercial vehicles like trucks and buses “in the near future.”

For now, Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD, for example, has a facility in California producing buses and other vehicles.

National Economic Advisor Lael Brainard added that “China is trying to dominate the future of the auto industry.”

But she said connected vehicles containing software and hardware systems linked to foreign rivals could result in misuse of sensitive data or interference.

‘Nexus’ to China

Under the latest rule, even if a passenger car were US-made, manufacturers with “a sufficient nexus” to China or Russia will not be allowed to sell such new vehicles incorporating hardware and software for external connectivity and autonomous driving.

This prohibition on sales takes effect for model year 2027.

The restriction also bans the import of the hardware and software if they are linked to Beijing or Moscow.

The software curbs take effect for model year 2027 while the hardware controls come into play for model year 2030.

Just a day earlier, Washington announced fresh export rules on chips used for AI, furthering efforts to make it hard for China and other rivals to access the technology.

The restrictions also tightened rules surrounding the sharing of cutting-edge AI models.

Washington has expanded efforts in recent years to curb exports of state-of-the-art chips to China, which can be used in AI and weapons systems, as Beijing’s tech advancements spark concern among US policymakers.

But the rollout of many plans will fall to incoming President-elect Donald Trump, whose return to the White House early next week promises a raft of changes to government policies.

On Monday, Biden urged the Trump administration not to cede AI dominance to China.

“We must not offshore artificial intelligence, as we once did with computer chips and other critical technologies,” Biden said in an address at the State Department.

“We are in the lead, and we must stay in the lead,” he added, saying it should be Washington and its closest allies at the frontier of this technology.

US efforts to restrict Chinese tech come as American officials work to boost its domestic industries as well.

On Tuesday, Biden issued an executive order to accelerate the pace at which infrastructure for artificial intelligence development can be built in the country.

“We will not let America be out-built when it comes to the technology that will define the future,” said Biden in a statement.

But the US actions could attract Beijing’s retaliation, with the Chinese Commerce Ministry already calling Monday’s AI-related export curbs “a flagrant violation” of international trade rules.

“China will take necessary measures to firmly safeguard its legitimate rights and interests,” the ministry said.

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Births in France fell last year to their lowest annual number since the end of World War II in 1945, the national statistics bureau said on Tuesday.

In 2024, 663,000 babies were born in France, INSEE said, a drop of 2.2 per cent from the previous year.

The total fertility rate stood at 1.59 children per woman in metropolitan France, its lowest level for more than a century.

INSEE said 646,000 people died in France in 2024, an increase of 1.1 per cent from the previous year, because of baby boomers reaching old age.

France had a population of 68.6 million as of Jan. 1, 2025, an increase of 0.25 per cent over one year.

Migration flows added a net 152,000 people to the overall population last year, INSEE said.

Life expectancy for people in France has stabilised at a “historically high level,” at 85.6 years for women and 80 years for men.

The latest figures were released as the French government seeks to clamp down on irregular immigration and limit regular immigration.

Last year, President Emmanuel Macron said he wanted to revive France’s sluggish birth rate, pledging to offer better parental leave and combat infertility.

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Damage from extreme weather in Canada last year pushed the bill facing insurers to an unprecedented CAN$8.5 billion, the Insurance Bureau of Canada said Monday.

Events that cause significant destruction “are escalating at a shocking rate and Canada is simply not prepared,” said Celyeste Power, president of the IBC, an industry association representing Canadian insurers.

The IBC said the insured damage estimate for 2024 was 12 times higher than the annual average of $701 million recorded from 2001 to 2010.

“The summer of 2024 stands out as the most destructive season in Canadian history for insured losses due to wildfires, floods and hailstorms,” the group said in a statement.

In July and August alone, “four catastrophic weather events” caused more than CAN$7 billion in losses, it said.

Those included a wildfire in Jasper National Park in the Canadian Rockies and flash flooding in Toronto.

Previously, the most costly year for Canadian insurers was 2016, when a massive wildfire in an Alberta oil region contributed to insured damage costs of $6.2 billion.

Across the world, excess heat caused by climate change is increasing the severity of extreme weather events.

The US city of Los Angeles is currently battling deadly wildfires that have destroyed thousands of buildings and forced tens of thousands to flee their homes.

“As we watch the devastating wildfires in California where insurability of homes is at real risk, Canada’s property insurers are raising the alarm that regions of Canada could potentially face similar challenges,” the IBC said.

Insurance covering wildfires remains widely available in Canada, but the cost of that coverage could continue to rise, according to the insurance bureau.

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The wildfires have upended life for many Canadians living in the L.A. area and, for some, their ties to Canada are evident in what they chose to save from the flames.

Alberta’s premier came away from a meeting with the US president-elect this weekend saying a 25-per cent tariff on Canadian goods looks likely. 

“I think we need to be prepared that tariffs are coming,” Premier Danielle Smith told reporters Monday. 

But that is not stopping the province from working to address the border security concerns Donald Trump has said Canada must tackle if it wants to avoid crippling tariffs.    

Since December, Alberta has been preparing to establish a new sheriffs’ patrol team to police its 300-kilometre border with Montana. The Interdiction Patrol Team will cost the province $15 million a year and consist of 51 armed officers, 10 surveillance drones, four drug-sniffing dogs and four narcotics analyzers. 

The initiative adds to the debate over whether Alberta is right to be unilaterally trying to appease Trump’s demands — and whether its response addresses a real security need.

“While there is no doubt the Alberta government announced their ‘border protection’ plan in direct response to Trump’s tariff threat … this plan seemingly is more about the Alberta government yet again highlighting Ottawa’s shortcomings,” Kelly Sundberg, a professor of criminology and justice at Calgary’s Mount Royal University, told Canadian Affairs in an emailed statement.

Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi criticized Smith for its border security plan, arguing it encroaches on Ottawa’s jurisdiction and undercuts a Team Canada approach to responding to Trump. 

“For a premier who is forever telling Ottawa to stay in its lane, to spend Alberta taxpayer money on border control using Alberta sheriffs makes no sense and is out of step with the work being done by other provinces and the federal government,” Nenshi told Canadian Affairs in an emailed statement.

In its 2024 Fall Economic Statement, Ottawa proposed a $1.3-billion investment in border security, with enhanced funding for the Canada Border Services Agency and RCMP. But with Parliament prorogued until March 24, and an election likely to be called thereafter, it is unclear when or whether this investment will materialize.

Scott MacCumber, mayor of Coutts, Alta., says the extra resources for Alberta’s border security will address a real security gap. Coutts, a 250-person village on the Alberta-Montana boundary, is the main border crossing in the province.

“The Milk River [RCMP] detachment is 20 kilometres north of [Coutts],” said MacCumber. That detachment is only notified when residents notice illegal crossings in the Coutts area, he says. 

“We have houses in Coutts that face the border. When residents notice people crossing illegally, they call the RCMP detachment in Milk River, who then respond by dispatching officers to the area,” MacCumber said.

The Alberta border security plan includes the creation of a two-kilometre deep “critical border zone” along the entirety of its 300-kilometre international border. The province says that, within this zone, law enforcement will be authorized to conduct warrantless arrests of individuals suspected of weapons or drug smuggling or unauthorized border crossings. 

Firearms seizures by the Canada Border Services Agency’s prairie division have been increasing in recent years. In 2024, the division seized 94 firearms, up from 77 in 2023 and 58 firearms in 2022. 

Narcotics seizures have remained relatively stable over the same period. The prairie division seized 1,594 illegal narcotics in 2024, compared to 1,767 in 2023 and 1,536 in 2022.

Unauthorized border crossings are up, but remain very modest. The RCMP intercepted seven asylum seekers between Alberta points of entry in 2024, none in 2023 and four people in 2022.

Sundberg, of Mount Royal University, says Alberta’s plan is more focused on addressing drug and weapons trafficking than illegal border crossings.

“After all, immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility, and any arrests of an ‘illegal’ require the provincial authority to hand the non-citizen over to the CBSA,” said Sundberg. By contrast, the provinces have jurisdiction to address criminal matters such as guns or drugs. 

If a non-citizen is convicted of drug or gun smuggling in an Alberta court, they serve their sentence and are then transferred to the Canada Border Services Agency for removal.

Other sources suggested Alberta’s investment in its border security has been well-received — regardless of the politics driving the decision.

“The RCMP and CBSA are both supportive of our efforts to collaborate on the matter of border security, and we’ll continue to engage with them regularly as we build this team out and collectively work toward our shared objectives,” Mike Ellis, Alberta’s public safety minister, told Canadian Affairs in an emailed statement.

Robert Cyrenne, a RCMP director of communications, seconded this view. 

“The RCMP … is looking forward to working in collaboration and in partnership with the newly announced Alberta Sheriffs’ Interdiction Patrol Team,” Cyrenne said.

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South Korea's anti-corruption agency says impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol has been detained hours after the hundreds of the agency's investigators and police officers arrived at his presidential compound to apprehend him. 

Provincial premiers eager to respond to U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s complaints about lax Canadian border security have committed extra police reinforcements to address the issue.

But observers say these provincial forces – which include conservation officers redeployed by Saskatchewan, sheriffs dispatched in Alberta and police officers moved around in Ontario – are legally limited in the laws they can enforce, compared with federal agencies such as the RCMP and Canada Border Services Agency.

Canadians flying water-bombing runs over the raging Los Angeles wildfires are facing conditions they haven’t experienced before as near hurricane-force winds and fast-moving flames make their dangerous missions even more hazardous, says one of the firefighting pilots sent from Quebec.

Pascal Duclos, one of a handful of Canadian pilots fighting the deadly fires, said Tuesday that his team is encountering challenges more dire than he has ever witnessed in his 14 seasons deployed to California.

In Tuesday's issue of The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, dozens of international medical experts and people with lived experience are proposing a major change to how obesity is diagnosed because they say current medical approaches don't reliably assess an individual's health.

Ontario’s Doug Ford issued a dire warning on the eve of a meeting between the country’s premiers and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Canada’s response to Donald Trump’s tariff threat, estimating the U.S. president-elect’s plan could cost as many as 500,000 jobs in his province alone.

The premiers’ Council of the Federation, of which Mr. Ford is currently the rotating chair, will sit down with Mr. Trudeau in Ottawa on Wednesday to hash out what the country will do to counter Mr. Trump’s vow to impose economically crippling tariffs on Canadian goods – with less than a week to go before he takes office.

Canada’s possible responses include imposing its own retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products. The federal government is also not ruling out restricting the flow of energy to the south – despite objections from Western premiers and a warning from Alberta’s Danielle Smith that this would cause a national unity crisis.

U.S. President Joe Biden notified Congress of his intent to lift the designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism, the White House announced Tuesday, as part of a deal facilitated by the Catholic Church to free political prisoners on the island.

Writer Neil Gaiman has responded to serious allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation made against him this week, admitting that he recognized some events but claiming that he has never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity. Numerous women have accused the writer of rape, sexual assault and sexual coercion.

Joanne William’s living room is stacked tall with wooden boxes – dozens of them.

The Tlingit artist from Atlin in northern British Columbia is a knowledge holder for bentwood box making, a traditional artform dating back thousands of years.

“I haven’t had the living room for quite a while now, and I don’t mind it,” she told APTN News, “because I know that it’s our gold.”

Bentwood boxes were traditionally used for cooking, storage, gifts and burial.

Typically made out of cedar, they often display family crests or cultural imagery.

Williams learned the artform from her grandmother, respected Atlin resident, Elizabeth Nyman, as a child.

Williams said bentwood box making was traditionally a male dominated craft, though her grandmother likely learned the art by watching elders in the community.

She said her grandmother felt it was important she learn to make bentwood boxes as she was struggling with health issues at the time and didn’t want the artform to be forgotten.

“I was the one that she focused on for the boxes,” Williams said. “She really wanted us to teach and she wanted us to bring the boxes back to Atlin.”

Don’t be fooled by the box’s simple design

Williams said bentwood box making entails a lot of skill and craftmanship.

The process entails carefully sawing a plank of wood in such a way that it can be folded. The wood is then steamed until pliable and bent into a square. The two ends are temporarily screwed together as the wood dries and then doweled.

While bentwood box making is labor intensive work, Williams doesn’t mind. She said she feels its her duty to pass down Tlingit traditions to the next generation.

That duty has led her, and her husband Maurice, to make thousands of bentwood boxes over the years, a passion they share together.

The pair teach the craft at schools and to anyone interested in learning.

“If I teach one person, they teach five people. That’s a lot of people. I’ve got more than 2,000 people that I’ve taught already. So I’m pretty proud of that,” Williams said.

That includes teaching the couple’s grandchildren, just as Williams’ grandmother taught her.

“I think of my grandmother all the time and I am very proud of what I’m doing for her,” she said.

Williams hopes that by teaching bentwood box making she can pass the feeling of achievement on to others.

“Accomplishments are great to have, so I’d really like more people to experience that accomplishment. And making the bentwood box is a big accomplishment.”

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When the Supreme Court is in session, you’ll find Justice Michelle O’Bonsawin behind her desk in a small wood-panelled office at the court on Wellington St. just west of Parliament Hill by 7 a.m.

The day consists of several meetings. It may start with a consult with her three clerks who help disseminate thousands of pages of documents and then a gathering with other justices who sit on the high court. At noon, a lunch meeting with a clerk working on a particular file.

In the afternoon, more meetings. Likely a working dinner and then home by 10 p.m.

“I found in the first year it was more difficult because I felt the weight of it on my shoulders,” said O’Bonsawin, adding that she understands how much adversity First Nations, Inuit, and Métis have faced throughout history.

“As time moved forward, I find it’s easier. I could do just the best that I can always give 100 per cent, trying to be mindful of my role in the court, how I interact with my colleagues, how we work together on files.”

O’Bonsawin grew up in a French-speaking family in northern Ontario but her roots are Abenaki from the Odanak First Nation in Quebec.

Since her appointment to the high court in September 2022, she said her goal has always been to “be the best judge that I can be and to hopefully contribute to Canada by writing good solid decisions,” O’Bonsawin told Face to Face guest host Tiar Wheatle.

“I think having a different perspective. It’s something that’s unique through lived experience as an Indigenous person,” she said. “I think a lot of people want to see themselves reflected when they’re looking at the bench and who’s sitting there.

“So, if an Indigenous person or any other, not typical white Anglo-Sax, and person appears in front of the court, they know that there is someone up there that has a perspective that is not your typical colonized perspective, I guess is how I would put it.”

O’Bonsawin joined the Canadian Bar Association and the Ontario Bar Association in 2000. She is also a long-standing member of the Indigenous Bar Association.

In 2017, former justice minister and attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould appointed her to the Ontario Superior Court. She said while on the bench, there was a moment that “really stood out.”

“Then president Trump had made a comment with regard to a [U.S.] senator [Elizabeth Warren] who he had referred to as Pocahontas. And the next day when I was sitting in court, I had a series of different lawyers appearing in front of me on motions. At one point, in the crowd that are sitting there waiting to be heard, I hear one lawyer say to another, ‘oh yes, she is Native Indian, she is our Pocahontas of the North,’” O’Bonsawin said.

“And she said it loud enough for me sitting over 20 feet away to be able to hear what she had said. When it came time for those two lawyers to come and appear in front of me, I actually said for the record, I’ve just been referred to as Pocahontas of the North and it’s not appropriate.”

O’Bonsawin said she raised her concerns with the lawyer’s law firm and later, received a letter of apology, “It basically said ‘I apologize for your perception of what I said in a private conversation to a colleague which was highly inappropriate.’ I didn’t accept the letter of apology,” she said.

While the comment was made by a senior lawyer, a junior lawyer who was present came in person to apologize which she said “took guts.”

“The day in question when I got home I took the time to talk to my kids about this, who are much younger, because I wanted them to realize that it doesn’t matter what level you are in society, discrimination it could happen to anybody and no one is shielded from that situation and what’s important is how you respond to it. You have to say something and speak up because just having remain silent, it just perpetuates the problem.”

History of Gladue Reports within The Criminal Code of Canada

In 1993, the federal government, recognizing the First Nation, Inuit and Métis Peoples were being sentenced to prison time in high numbers, introduced an amendment to the Criminal Code. Section 718. 2(e) calls for judges to consider “all available sanctions, other than imprisonment, that are reasonable in the circumstances and consistent with the harm done to victims or to the community should be considered for all offenders, with particular attention to the circumstances of Aboriginal offenders.”

Most say the provision has not worked in the three decades since it was introduced. According to the Office of the Correctional Investigator, First Nation, Inuit and Métis women make up nearly 50 per cent of the prison population, on the men’s side, it’s 32 per cent.

Former Supreme Court justice Beverly McLachlin asked O’Bonsawin to write an article on Gladue. The high court has called the overincarceration of Indigenous Peoples a “crisis” and a “sad and pressing social problem.”

“We must also take judicial notice of the history of colonialism, displacement, and residential schools in Canada, and how that history translates into lower educational attainment, lower incomes, higher unemployment, higher rates of substance abuse and suicide, and higher levels of incarceration for Indigenous persons,” O’Bonsawin wrote in her 2020 article, We All Have a Role to Play: Gladue Reports.

“A Gladue report is not just a sentencing report: it is often the first step in an Indigenous person’s healing.”

The term Gladue report comes from a 1999 Supreme Court ruling involving a woman by the name of Jamie Tannis Gladue who was convicted of manslaughter.

The high court ruled that the trial judge did not take into consideration her Indigenous heritage and experience when sentencing her. From then, the phrase Gladue Principles was born – a set of guidelines that lawyers and the judges need to abide by when dealing with Indigenous offenders.

Part of the process includes what is called a Gladue report – a detailed history of the offender’s past. The goal is the inform the court on a person’s past throughout the trial. The problem, these Gladue principles are used in a haphazard way across the country.

“It’s really hard because what happens is there is no general certification across Canada for Gladue writers so, at times, you will have those that are writing cookie cutter reports, you will have those that have had more training, have gone into the communities, met with community workers, Elders, family members to really get that individualized information with regard to the Indigenous accused,” O’Bonsawin told Wheatle in the F2F interview.

“So because there is no uniformity it is really difficult. The consistency of report writing varies in regions. For Ontario for example, in Toronto, there is Aboriginal Legal Services. They do the majority of all the reports here [Ontario] so there is consistency on that front. And unfortunately some courts are not really referring to 718.2(e) of the criminal code which is that mandatory provision for sentencing the Indigenous accused and looking at the Gladue principles.”

Supreme court cases, the Abenaki language, and the legacy of the O’Bonsawin name 

While Wilson-Raybould appointed O’Bonsawin to the Ontario Superior Court, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who gave her the nod to sit on the high court.

On Nov. 28, 2022, O’Bonsawin, with family and members of the Odanak community on hand, was sworn in.

“My journey to this court hasn’t been an easy one but it has been meaningful and rewarding,” O’Bonsawin said at her swearing-in ceremony. “I hope that my journey to this court will inspire young women to pursue their dreams. I am a big believer that if you have a goal, work hard and never give up you can make things happen and achieve those dreams. Our actions are reflections of ourselves. We must be proud of who we are and of our uniqueness,” she said.

“I’m grateful to my ancestors for giving me wisdom today.”

There’s been no shortage of cases involving Indigenous issues before the court since her swearing-in.

“I’ve been really fortunate because there has been a variety of interesting cases since I arrived. As many are aware, we have really big Indigenous law cases with C-92 child protection, with Restoule, we have had really interesting criminal law cases, some civil cases out of Quebec, so it’s been an amazing two plus years. The amount of work is, it’s big, it’s continual. A lot of reading, a lot of writing,” O’Bonsawin said to Wheatle.

The court also heard the residency case involving Cindy Dickson while O’Bonsawin has been on the bench.

“I always say I am in a pre-arranged marriage with eight other people that I haven’t chosen so it’s been a good experience,” said O’Bonsawin. “We all have different lived backgrounds, we have different personalities, we are fortunate we get along because sometimes that may not always be the case when you look at a big composition of a court.”

After 28 months of working together, O’Bonsawin said in a jokingly tone, the nine justices have become like their own little family.

“But you know there is give and take, and sometimes like every family, we don’t always see eye to eye but generally I think that it’s a well meshed group of nine judges,” she said. As for her own family lineage, O’Bonsawin says they moved from Abenaki home in the mid-1800s to farm in northern Ontario.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, she said she started to learn the Abenaki language – and is writing a chapter on her family’s history for a book about Odanak.

In the Abenaki language, O’Bonsawin translates to ‘pathfinder’ in English.

While O’Bonsawin has paved a path for herself in the legal system, she’s never forgot about the struggle of her father and his family. So when she was asked in the spring of 2023 if she would be willing to have a school named after her in Toronto, she found herself a bit overwhelmed.

“When I was first approached by the school board they asked me if they could put my name forward and I remember telling my family I couldn’t believe it. I said can you believe they want to possibly put my name on a school which was a huge surprise to me because that is normally for someone who is deceased in my mind,” O’Bonsawin said.

After about a six-month process, O’Bonsawin said she learned they chose her name. In September 2023, École secondaire Michelle-O’Bonsawinin opened its doors.

“It’s a really proud moment for, especially my father, because when he was young, they were called the little savages of Sunnybrae, a lot of discrimination,” she said.

“His name, it was difficult to pronounce, people didn’t know how to do so and for him to see his name on a high school last year was a very proud moment for him but also for me and my relatives.”

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The woman who was supposed to be caring for Florence Girard before she died of starvation in 2018 says Girard would go into a “meltdown” every time she was supposed to go to the doctor or receive medical care.

Astrid Dahl told a coroner’s inquest into the death of the 54-year-old woman that she reported Girard’s behaviour to managers at the Kinsight Community Society but no one provided any solutions.

Girard, who had Down syndrome, weighed less than 50 pounds when she died while under Dahl’s care, and the caretaker was convicted in 2022 for failing to provide the necessities of life.

After months of planning, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew unveiled the province’s plan to end chronic homelessness on Tuesday.

“People who have been living in tents, people who have been out on the streets, struggling with addictions or mental health issues, or that intergenerational trauma—we are committed to working with you to help you find your way home,” Kinew said.

The strategy called, Your Way Home: Manitoba’s Plan to End Chronic Homelessness, includes a 30-day encampment outreach plan.

After identifying a suitable site, community workers will help people living in encampments transition into housing.

Outreach workers will identify their needs and connect them to resources such as social housing, rental assistance and mental health services.

Once everyone in the encampment is housed, the City of Winnipeg will clean and decommission the site.

Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham said the city is working to align their homelessness strategy with the province’s new plan.

“It takes a systematic but compassionate approach to help people who are right now homeless, moving them out of encampments into safe housing with the supports that they need,” Gillingham said. “It aims to restore public space as a safe, clean, welcoming area for everyone to use and to enjoy.”

Province hires former Siloam Mission CEO

Tessa Blaikie Whitecloud, the former CEO of Siloam Mission, has been hired as the premier’s senior advisor on ending chronic homelessness.

She agreed that transitioning people from encampments has been challenging, but argued the housing gap is to blame.

“We’re asking folks to move from encampments without having any housing options for them to move into, and without those housing options being planned with their specific needs in mind,” Blaikie Whitecloud said. “We have been crying as a sector to say the solution to homelessness is housing units.”

Impact on Indigenous Peoples

Kinew also acknowledged the complexities of homelessness and its disproportionate impact on Indigenous peoples.

More than 75 per cent of unhoused people surveyed in the 2022 Winnipeg Street Census were Indigenous.

“Some of the people that we see…are products of the child welfare system because of their parents’ experience in the 60s scoop and their grandparents’ experience in the residential schools,” Kinew said.

In the long run, the province plans to increase the social housing supply, adopt a housing first approach, boost frontline staff, and invest in wraparound mental health and addiction support.

Housing, Addictions and Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith said they’re also adding 300 social housing units.

“These will be coming with supports in the next coming months,” Smith said. “We will be working with organizations to support folks based on their needs. Some of those will be in Manitoba Housing, some of those will be in the community.”

The province said they’ve housed over 1,200 Manitobans in the past year.

The Manitoba NDP government has vowed to end chronic homelessness in two terms – by 2031.

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