Liberals target affordability to meet era of uncertainty in spring fiscal update
By Craig Lord The federal Liberals say they’re getting a windfall from better-than-expected fiscal revenues and are largely putting that money back into circulation to support households and build up the economy. But Ottawa’s spring economic update also sees some darker clouds on the horizon as uncertainty over the Iran war and U.S. tariffs threatens growth in the years ahead. Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne on Tuesday tabled Canada Strong For All, a mid-year fiscal update that includes $54.5 billion in new costs and spending since Budget 2025. Improved revenues and reduced expenses elsewhere mean the spring economic update includes $37.5 billion in net new spending. The Liberals now estimate last year’s federal deficit came in at $66.9 billion, more than $11 billion short of the $78.3 billion forecast in the...
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Liberals target affordability to meet era of uncertainty in spring fiscal update
By Craig Lord The federal Liberals say they’re putting the windfall from an unexpected boost in revenues into measures to make life more affordable, build up the economy and promote the skilled trades. But Ottawa’s spring economic update also sees some darker clouds on the horizon as uncertainty over the Iran war and U.S. tariffs threatens growth in the years ahead. Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne on Tuesday tabled Canada Strong For All, a mid-year fiscal update that includes $54.5 billion in new costs and spending since Budget 2025. Improved revenues and reduced expenses elsewhere allowed the government to include $37.5 billion in net new spending in the spring economic update without pushing up the annual deficit. The Liberals now estimate last year’s federal deficit came in at $66.9 billion, more...
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Health Canada approves 1st generic version of Ozempic in the country
By Nicole Ireland Health Canada has approved the first generic version of brand-name Ozempic. The department says Canada is the first G7 country to authorize generic semaglutide. The injectable medication is manufactured by Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories in India and is approved for the once-weekly treatment of Type 2 diabetes in adults. In a news release, Health Canada says many generic medications are 45 to 90 per cent cheaper than brand-name versions. Many people without drug coverage have been eagerly waiting for generic semaglutide because Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic can cost hundreds of dollars a month. Although the medication is approved for diabetes treatment, it is often prescribed off-label for weight loss. Health Canada says it continues to review eight other generic semaglutide submissions from other companies. How much cheaper generic semaglutide...
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Sandbags available at Nipissing First Nation as flood warning persists
By David Briggs, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, BayToday.ca Nipissing First Nation (NFN) has sandbags available to residents at two locations. Beaucage residents can pick up sandbags at the end of Margaret Drive. Jocko Point residents can pick them up from the Jocko Point Fire Hall at 1082 Jocko Point Road. “Sand and sandbags will be available to other NFN community residents only when required,” NFN staff emphasized in a release. Also, staff remind residents that NFN only provides sandbags to protect houses, driveways, and wellheads, not to stop shoreline erosion or waves. The decision to sandbag is in response to an announcement from last Tuesday. On April 21, the Ministry of Natural Resources issued a flood warning for Lake Nipissing and other areas within the region. See: Sandbag stations operating...
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Lockdown for Manitoba First Nation as RCMP search for suspect in bar shooting
NORWAY HOUSE, MANITOBA-CP-Residents of a First Nation in northern Manitoba were urged to lock their doors late Tuesday as Mounties used police dogs and other specialized units to search for a man suspected in a bar shooting. RCMP were called around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday to a disturbance just south of Lagoon Road in Norway House, a roughly 800-kilometre drive from Winnipeg. “Upon arrival, officers located two males with gunshot injuries,” police said in a news release. The conditions of the two men were not immediately available. The Norway House Cree Nation said in an emergency alert that the shooting took place at the Playgreen Inn bar. The alert said the suspected shooter was seen running into the bush of nearby Fort Island and that RCMP were searching for him. As...
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Allen Maghagak remembered as ‘diplomatic but firm’ negotiator for Inuit rights
By Arty Sarkisian, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunatsiaq News Allen Maghagak is being remembered as a strong leader for Kitikmeot, a diplomat for Inuit rights and a lover of music. Maghagak, 73, died last week in Ottawa. “He was a determined man, so that Inuit can define their own future for their children, their grandchildren and their grandchildren’s children,” said Piita Irniq, a former commissioner of Nunavut. “It’s very sad. I think he was getting very sick in the end.” Maghagak and Irniq worked together negotiating the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement between 1982 and 1987, which eventually led to the creation of Nunavut in 1999. Maghagak was chief negotiator for Tunngavik Federation of Nunavut, which later became Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., the legal representative for Inuit in Nunavut. “This has been...
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Feds inject $660 million in new funding for national sports groups facing shortfalls
By Nick Murray The federal government is setting aside $660 million over the next five years for national sport organizations that have faced mounting deficits for years. Today’s spring economic update promises $110 million annually after that to boost to funding for national sport organizations that had remained largely static for two decades. Following this year’s Olympics in Milano-Cortina, which saw Canada’s weakest Winter Games medal count since 2002, the Canadian Olympic Committee issued an urgent plea for increased funding. The Canadian Olympic and Paralympic committees lobbied unsuccessfully for a $144-million increase in annual core funding for national sport organizations in the 2025 budget. Ottawa has indicated it wants national sport organizations to spread the new money across all levels of sport and not to reserve it just for high-level...
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Liberals target affordability to meet era of uncertainty in spring fiscal update
By Craig Lord The federal Liberals say they’re getting a windfall from better-than-expected fiscal revenues and are largely putting that money back into circulation to support households and build up the economy. But Ottawa’s spring economic update also sees some darker clouds on the horizon as uncertainty over the Iran war and U.S. tariffs threatens growth in the years ahead. Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne on Tuesday tabled Canada Strong For All, a mid-year fiscal update that includes $54.5 billion in new costs and spending since Budget 2025. Improved revenues and reduced expenses elsewhere mean the spring economic update includes $37.5 billion in net new spending. The Liberals now estimate last year’s federal deficit came in at $66.9 billion, more than $11 billion short of the $78.3 billion forecast in the...
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Wet’suwet’en chief loses contempt appeal after citing Indigenous law
The B.C. Court of Appeal says a Wet’suwet’en chief found guilty of criminal contempt for violating an injunction can’t use a “novel” claim that he was following Indigenous law when he violated a court order. Chief Dsta’hyl, also known as Adam Bernard Gagnon, appealed his criminal contempt conviction after he was found in violation of an injunction to prevent protesters impeding work on the Coastal GasLink pipeline in 2021. The Appeal Court’s ruling says Gagnon raised an “uncomplicated” defence, claiming he shouldn’t be convicted of disobeying the injunction because he was “compelled” to do so under the Wet’suwet’en law of trespass. The ruling says the chief wasn’t asking the court to condone his conduct, but sought to be “excused from liability” based on evidence heard about the Wet’suwet’en trespass law...
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Feds outline $4.3B for Indigenous education, health in spring economic update
By Alessia Passafiume The federal government is promising $4.3 billion for First Nations education, Inuit food security and Indigenous child welfare in its spring economic update. Much of the funding cited in the statement has been announced already, while funding to build more homes in Indigenous communities is being reallocated from other areas of government. The document says the funding will help “empower healthy, thriving Indigenous communities.” The federal government is setting aside $601 million this year for on-reserve elementary and secondary education “that meets the needs of students so that First Nations youth can participate fully in Canada’s skilled workforce.” Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak has long called for more supports to help First Nations youth enter the skilled trades and says Canada relies too...
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Lac La Ronge Indian Band may take legal action over rejected annuity claim increase
By Nicole Goldsworthy SaskToday Local Journalism Initiative Reporter LAC LA RONGE INDIAN BAND — The Lac La Ronge Indian Band (LLRIB) says it is prepared to pursue legal action after the federal government rejected its claim to increase the $5 annual treaty annuity paid to its members. Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada’s Specific Claims Branch informed the band of its decision March 24, 2026, stating it does not have a lawful obligation to raise the payment, which has remained unchanged despite inflation since Treaty 6 was signed in 1876. The LLRIB filed the claim in February 2025, arguing Ottawa has failed to adjust the annuity to maintain its purchasing power over time. As of March 24, 2026, the claim had not been accepted for negotiation. Chief Tammy Cook-Searson said...
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‘I want to go home’: Forced relocation impacts Sanikiluaq more than 50 years later
By Arty Sarkisian, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunatsiaq News Sometime in the spring of 1970, eight-year-old Jonasie Emikotailuk along with a dozen other kids was taken on a trip from one end of the Belcher Islands to the other. The group, accompanied by several adults, didn’t have enough food or drinking water for the 70-kilometre journey. “One of my buddies, he was so dehydrated his tongue turned black,” Emikotailuk said. The Belcher Islands are an archipelago in the southeast of Hudson Bay. There used to be two main Inuit hubs on the islands — South Camp (Emikotailuk’s home) and North Camp (modern-day Sanikiluaq). In the late 1960s, the federal government decided to shut down the South Camp and relocate its roughly 50 residents, including Emikotailuk, to the north. Sanikiluaq was...
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First Nations being warned fraudsters are targeting Indigenous organizations
By Alex Murray Writer The Treaty Three Police Service (TTPS) warned fraudsters are targeting First Nations governments, Indigenous health organizations, and Indigenous social services agencies in Northwestern Ontario in a Business Email Compromise scheme. The TTPS April 20th, 2026 warning called it an “active and serious fraud” that has already impacted two Indigenous organizations in Northwestern Ontario. The same method was used in both cases resulting in the two organizations being defrauded of over $470,000 combined TTPS said in a safety bulletin.The TTPS is a self-administered policing entity under Canada’s First Nations Policing Program that is responsible for all policing in Treaty #3 territory in northwestern Ontario and southeastern Manitoba. TTPS said they were currently investigating both cases and have engaged RCMP Cyber, the FBI Legal Attache in Ottawa, and...
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LNG pipeline project through ‘pristine wilderness’ faces B.C. court challenges
By Darryl Greer A Gitxsan Nation hereditary chief is challenging the B.C. government’s decision to allow a pipeline to go through what he calls “pristine wilderness,” on the strength of a 12-year-old environmental review, while disregarding traditional Gitxsan governance by declining to attend feast hall meetings. The B.C. Supreme Court is set to weigh in on two petitions filed over the provincial government’s decision last year to deem the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline “substantially started,” meaning it wouldn’t need a new environmental assessment. The liquefied natural gas pipeline’s construction, which was authorized in 2014, and a deadline to start it was extended to 2024, spurring the court challenges from Gitxsan Hereditary Chief Charlie Wright and environmentalist groups opposed to the project. The 900-kilometre pipeline, which was given the green-light...
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Intimate partner-related deaths in B.C. ‘overwhelmingly preventable,’ report says
By Brieanna Charlebois A death review panel convened by British Columbia’s chief coroner says 135 deaths they studied in relation to intimate partner violence were “overwhelmingly preventable.” The deaths occurred between 2016 and 2024 over 107 attacks and included current and former intimate partners, family members, friends and the killers themselves. Dr. Jatinder Baidwan, the chief coroner, told a news conference Monday that the report highlights the action required to prevent future deaths and improve safety for those experiencing intimate partner violence. “It was found that in the months and the years leading to their deaths, individuals had contact with health care, police, community support services and other public systems,” he said of the report. “The warning signs were present, yet response systems were unco-ordinated, overburdened or unable to respond...
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‘Dances With Wolves’ actor Nathan Chasing Horse sentenced to life in prison for sexual assault
By Jessica Hill LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Nevada judge sentenced “Dances With Wolves” actor Nathan Chasing Horse on Monday to life in prison for sexually assaulting Indigenous women and girls. A jury had previously convicted him of 13 charges, mostly related to sexual assault of three women. Accusers and their families told Judge Jessica Peterson they continue to suffer from the trauma caused by Chasing Horse, 49, and struggle with their faith after he exploited his position as a spiritual leader. “There is no way to get back the youth, the childhood loss, my first time, my first kiss, the graduation I never got to have,” said Corena Leone-LaCroix, who was 14 when Chasing Horse assaulted her. “The life that little girl could have lived has been taken from...
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Royal Canadian Mint reviewing allegations about gold from tainted Colombian mines
By The Canadian Press The Royal Canadian Mint says it has initiated a full review in response to allegations some of its gold comes from a region of Colombia where drug cartels control mines. Mint spokesperson Deneen Perrin says as soon as the mint learned of the allegations raised by the New York Times newspaper, it “immediately and fully” suspended the refining of any material from the supply chain in question. In a report published Monday, the newspaper suggests some of the mint’s gold comes from Colombian mines controlled by the Clan del Golfo drug cartel. The report says that before the Colombian gold arrives in Canada, a Texas intermediary mixes it with American gold and that the mint considers the resulting mix to be entirely North American. Perrin says...
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Prime Minister Mark Carney promises ‘good news’ in spring economic update
By Craig Lord Prime Minister Mark Carney says the Liberals are “good fiscal managers” — and he’ll have the chance to prove it when the federal government tables its spring economic update Tuesday afternoon. The federal government typically tables mid-year updates between annual budgets to revise its economic and fiscal projections. These updates can include new spending and are sometimes referred to as “mini-budgets.” The Liberals’ fall budget — the first under Carney’s leadership — projected a deficit of $78.3 billion for the last fiscal year, with deficits declining and averaging around $64 billion annually over the five-year horizon. The federal fiscal monitor for April 2025 to February 2026 shows the deficit came in at $25.5 billion over the first 11 months of the last fiscal year. March typically sees...
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Prime Minister Mark Carney announces Canada’s 1st sovereign wealth fund
By Craig Lord Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the country’s first national sovereign wealth fund on Monday, pitching it as a way for Canadians to invest in nation-building projects. Carney said the Canada Strong Fund will invest in major Canadian industrial projects in areas such as energy, infrastructure, mining, agriculture and technology. The prime minister said the federal government will put up funds starting at $25 billion to invest alongside private investors. He said individual Canadians can also put money into the fund and suggested it would be similar to purchasing a government bond, where the initial investment is protected. Returns from those investments are to be put back into the fund to expand its capacity and build out capital projects in Canada. Speaking to reporters Monday, Carney compared the...
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City of Toronto unveils plans for ‘World in a City’ FIFA fan festival
By Abdulhamid Ibrahim It will be a one-and-done festival, but one the City of Toronto has great expectations for. Toronto’s FIFA fan festival plans were unveiled Monday, with Mayor Olivia Chow, Ontario sports minister Neil Lumsden, Toronto’s Executive Director for the FIFA World Cup Sharon Bollenbach and others on hand at the Fort York National Historic Site. The event, which organizers say will showcase Toronto as “The World in a City,” will run for the duration of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, from June 11 to July 19. The festival space will be shared by the Bentway, a public space underneath the Gardiner Expressway. “When you talk about this phenomenal event and all the work that the city and the province and the government of Ontario’s time is putting in...
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