Growing B.C. wildfire closes Highway 1, more evacuation alerts issued
By Wolfgang Depner A growing wildfire in British Columbia’s Fraser Canyon has forced further evacuation alerts and the closure of a stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway. The province’s transportation website, Drive BC, says the Brunswick Creek fire has forced the closure of Highway 1 between Boston Bar Station Road and Ainslie Road North. The closure comes after new figures from the BC Wildfire Service show that the fire burning near Boston Bar, B.C., has grown to 18 square kilometres as of Tuesday afternoon. The closure coincides with an evacuation alert from the Fraser Valley Regional District covering 48 properties north of Boston Bar, along both sides of the Fraser River. B.C.’s Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness says about 150 properties are now under evacuation order and about 255...
Register
Growing B.C. wildfire closes Highway 1, more evacuation alerts issued
By Wolfgang Depner A growing wildfire in British Columbia’s Fraser Canyon has forced further evacuation alerts and the closures of a stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway. The province’s transportation website, Drive BC, says the Brunswick Creek fire has forced the closure of Highway 1 between Boston Bar Station Road and Ainslie Road North. The closure comes after new figures from the BC Wildfire Service show that the fire burning near Boston Bar, B.C., has grown to 18-square kilometres as of Tuesday afternoon. The closure coincides with a new evacuation alert from the Fraser Valley Regional District covering 48 properties north of Boston Bar, along both sides of the Fraser River. B.C.’s Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness says about 150 properties are now under evacuation order and about 255...
Register
Canadian North Airlines cancels flights in Fort Simpson, N.W.T., due to wildfire
Canadian North Airlines says it’s cancelling all flights in and out of Fort Simpson, N.W.T., until July 18 due to a wildfire that forced residents from their homes last month. The airline, which connects remote communities in the territories to hubs in the south, including Edmonton and Ottawa, says it will assess its schedule and make adjustments when it’s safe to do so. An evacuation order was issued for the village of about 1,300 people on June 28. Most residents have been staying at a gymnasium-turned-evacuation-centre in Yellowknife, nearly 700 kilometres east of Fort Simpson. The wildfire is estimated to be about 150 square kilometres in size. Kele Antoine, chief of Liidlii Kue First Nation, says one home in the community burned down on Saturday. “The homeowner has been notified,”...
Register
New Brunswick starts process to revive key mine producing key antimony mineral
By Eli Ridder The New Brunswick government is taking a step towards restarting extraction of a mineral the federal government says is essential for national security. The province says it selected Avenir Minerals, a subsidiary of Canadian firm Agnico Eagle Mines, to work on an agreement that would allow exploration of the former Lake George antimony mine site. The Natural Resources Department says the site was once North America’s largest mine that primarily produced antimony, a mineral used in the production of flame retardants and lead-acid batteries. The province says Canada, the United States and the European Union all consider antimony a critical mineral, as the global supply is heavily concentrated in China. Today’s announcement comes as New Brunswick aims to revive its mining sector amid renewed interest from Western...
Register
Resident forced out by wildfire worries his village could become another Lytton, B.C.
By Wolfgang Depner A wildfire evacuee in British Columbia says a fire burning in the Fraser Canyon near his home has stoked fears that the community could be wiped out, much like Lytton five years ago. New figures show that the Brunswick Creek fire near Boston Bar, B.C., has grown to 18-square kilometres from 12- square kilometres measured on Monday. Attila Banhegyi was ordered to leave his home in North Bend with the Brunswick Creek fire burning nearby, and he says residents are concerned of a forecast that calls for blowing northeast winds toward their community. The fire comes just days after the fifth anniversary of the blaze that killed two people and burned much of the Village of Lytton, about 45 kilometres north of North Bend in the Fraser...
Register
Niagara Falls, Ont., mayor apologizes for comments about Kashechewan evacuees
NIAGARA FALLS ONT-The mayor of Niagara Falls, Ont., has apologized for comments about Kashechewan First Nation evacuees made during a recent council meeting that discussed homelessness in the city. The city has been hosting in hotels hundreds of evacuees from the First Nation for almost six months after a water crisis in the northern Ontario community forced them to leave their homes. Niagara Falls’ former chief administrative officer Ken Todd said in a presentation to city council on June 23 that many residents think Indigenous people staying in the community are homeless when they see them congregating or walking on the street. Kashechewan First Nation Chief Hosea Wesley said the comments left many evacuees feeling unwelcome in their host community. Wesley said the evacuees have been living through “one of...
Register
Regina exhibition ‘Love Medicine’ celebrates Two Spirit and Indigiqueer artists
By Brittany Boschman, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews A new art exhibition in Oskana kâ-asastêki (Regina) gathers Indigenous 2SLGBTQIA+ artists around a tender and political belief that love, in all its forms, can be medicine. Love Medicine brings together the work of 22 artists at the MacKenzie Art Gallery, whose collective work asks what love can hold for Two Spirit and Indigiqueer people across generations, communities and forms of making. The exhibition was curated by Michelle McGeough, a Métis art historian and assistant professor at Concordia University, and opened on June 12. It will be on display until Nov. 1. “I wanted to create a space where we could talk about these types of things, and talk about what it means to love,” McGeough tells IndigiNews. “Love is in itself...
Register
Wasauksing First Nation secures $1.2M boost: Inside the maple and playground upgrades
By Shania Tabobondung is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter At the newly renovated Wasauksing Maple Products facility, Parry Sound—Muskoka MPP Graydon Smith was joined by Chief Shane Tabobondung, Coun. Pazhe Rice and sugar bush manager Chris Chomyshyn to announce a $1.2-million investment from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC) for three local projects. “These investments reflect our government’s commitment to strengthening small businesses and community spaces in rural and northern Ontario,” said Smith. “This funding has helped establish a strong foundation and a modern, functional maple facility that positions Wasauksing Maple Products for continued growth while supporting the sustainable harvesting of one of our traditional springtime resources,” said Chomyshyn. Of the total investment, $848,074 will support Wasauksing Maple Products, a local maple syrup operation. Newly installed processing equipment is...
Register
New Brunswick needs to better protect clean drinking water, residents say
By Eli Ridder Citizens, community organizations and First Nations say the New Brunswick government must better protect the drinking water supply. They say they also want the province to create an online portal featuring interactive maps and dashboards showing water safety conditions and historical water quality information. Those suggestions came out of public consultations last year on the province’s Clean Water Act, summarized in a report released today. The consultations took place between June to November 2025 and included six public engagement sessions, an online public survey and 26 written submissions. New Brunswick’s Environment Department says it will use the feedback as it considers proposing improvements to the Clean Water Act. Meanwhile, witnesses at related legislative hearings in May pushed lawmakers to enshrine into law the legal right to clean...
Register
Seven years in jail for man convicted of sexually assaulting siblings
By Bob Mackin, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Prince George Citizen More than a year after he was found guilty of sexually assaulting his sisters, a man has been sentenced to seven years in prison. On June 19 in BC Supreme Court in Prince George, Justice Palbinder Kaur Shergill sentenced the man to six years for offences against one victim and four years for offences against another. However, Shergill reduced those sentences to five years and two years, respectively, and ordered them served consecutively because the combined sentence must not be unduly long or harsh. “Ultimately, the sentence reflects the serious and harmful nature of the offences, the significant harm caused to two vulnerable victims and the need to protect the public, while remaining consistent with the applicable principles of sentencing...
Register
Premiers Smith, Ford unveil proposed west-east oil pipeline route
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Ontario Premier Doug Ford unveiled Monday a route for a proposed west-east oil pipeline. The two premiers say it would stretch 3,300 kilometres from Hardisty, Alta., to refineries in Sarnia, Ont., without crossing the U.S. border. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Ontario Premier Doug Ford have unveiled a route for a proposed west-east oil pipeline. Following Smith’s pancake breakfast the two premiers say it would stretch 3,300 kilometres from Hardisty, Alta., to refineries in Sarnia, Ont., without crossing the U.S. border. (July 6, 2026) They made the announcement at the Calgary Stampede after the two leaders were up bright and early flipping pancakes at Smith’s annual premier’s breakfast. An Ontario government brochure says the line, referred to as the Northern Shield Energy Corridor, would move...
Register
B.C. wildfire prompts evacuations and heavy smoke warnings in Fraser Canyon
Thick smoke from a wildfire burning out of control near Boston Bar, B.C., has led to air-quality warnings and forced crews fighting the flames to restrict the use of helicopters. An update Monday from the province’s wildfire service said poor visibility meant aircraft had to be restricted while fighting the 12-square-kilometre Brunswick Creek wildfire that has forced multiple evacuation orders and alerts after it grew by more than 10 times over the weekend. “High winds continue to pose a risk for both responder safety, due to the increase in fire behaviour as well as potentially carrying embers farther north which can cause spot fires,” the update said. “Poor visibility and steep terrain will limit the use of aviation resources. The safety of our crews, pilots and the public is our...
Register
Indigenous Treaties feeling threatened once again
By Alexandra Noad, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Lethbridge Herald Due to colonialism, many Indigenous people have a complicated relationship with Canada Day, but this year it was amplified with the separatist movement. A few weeks ago, chiefs from Treaty 6,7 and 8, gathered in Calgary to hold a rally, during which many of them stated their concern over the lack of respect for the treaties. Indigenous people value the treaties their ancestors signed with the Crown as a sacred promise to their lands and ancestors who wrote them. Despite the treaties being signed over 100 years ago, Samuel Crowfoot, chief of the Siksika Nation says they are still in effect today. “The sad part is that people forget about that Treaty, they forget what it means,...
Register
‘No safe levels’: Former federal scientist warns Bill C-30 opens door for more pesticides in already broken regulatory system
By Anushka Yadav, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Pointer Four months after resigning as co-chair of the science advisory committee to Canada’s national pesticide regulator in 2023, Bruce Lanphear went to a Warrior Monk Retreat on Bainbridge Island, where after a predawn meditation session, a monk asked participants to write down what they were feeling. What emerged on the paper was a poem he titled ‘Confessions of a Toxicologist’. The monk then asked Lanphear to read it aloud: “I am guilty. I believed, as many of us did, that a little poison would be safe— like an aspirin, or a glass of wine with dinner. I stood by as it seeped quietly into the soil, the womb, the breath of morning. I waited for proof, as if the...
Register
Astronaut Jeremy Hansen leaving Canadian Space Agency
By Catherine Morrison Astronaut Jeremy Hansen, who made a historic trip around the moon aboard NASA’s Artemis 2 mission in April, is leaving the Canadian Space Agency. A statement released by the agency said Hansen will pursue “new professional opportunities” as of September. He will continue to serve as a reservist with the Royal Canadian Air Force. “This unique position is a deliberate launch pad designed to leave the door open for creative, ongoing ways to support and enable the vital work happening in Canada with respect to space, and I’m excited for the new challenges it will bring,” Hansen said in a social media post on Monday. Astronaut Jeremy Hansen, who made a historic trip around the moon aboard NASA’s Artemis 2 mission in April, is leaving the Canadian...
Register
Federal government says self-identified Inuit group is fishing illegally in Labrador
By Sarah Smellie A group that says it represents about 6,000 Inuit in southern Labrador has launched its own fishery outside of the oversight and authorization of the federal Fisheries Department. The NunatuKavut Community Council, or NCC, has been encouraging its members to fish together if they are worried about enforcement by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, which says any fishing under the council’s unauthorized harvesting plan is illegal. The dispute is the latest source of friction involving the NCC as it pushes for federally mandated rights as an Inuit group, despite lacking recognition by any federally recognized, rights-holding Inuit collective. “We do this work … so that our people can have food forever, their own foods, their traditional foods, doing it in a way that passes along our traditions and...
Register
Environmentalists have mixed reactions to Quebec-Ottawa caribou funding deal
By Morgan Lowrie Environmentalists are divided on whether a new funding deal reached between Quebec and the federal government is a meaningful first step to saving the province’s dwindling caribou herds or a “smokescreen” that does little to protect the threatened species. The agreement announced Tuesday will see Ottawa send Quebec $25 million over five years to spend on caribou conservation initiatives, as well as another $15 million to Indigenous communities who are implementing their own programs. The deal signals an end to the years-long federal-provincial battle over caribou that began in 2022, when then-federal environment minister Steven Guilbeault threatened to act unilaterally to protect the threatened herds if the province failed to submit a concrete plan to save them. Retired biology professor Marco Festa-Bianchet describes $25 million Quebec-Ottawa caribou...
Register
Out-of-control wildfire near Boston Bar, B.C. exceeds 12 square kilometres
By Wolfgang Depner An out-of-control fire near Boston Bar, B.C., has grown more than 10 times its estimated size a day earlier, and responders have requested additional resources to deal with it. BC Wildfire Service says in its latest update posted on Sunday afternoon that the Brunswick Creek fire has now reached a size of more than 12 square kilometres, up from an early report of one square kilometre. The update came after the Boothroyd Indian Band issued an evacuation order Sunday morning, which followed the Fraser Valley Regional District ordering residents living in the North Bend area to leave. Officials first detected the Brunswick Creek fire on July 2 and it is believed to have been sparked by human activity. BC Wildfire say three initial attack crews, two unit...
Register
NDP’s Nenshi supportive of public cash for Alberta pipeline, wants honesty from Smith
By Jack Farrell Alberta’s Opposition NDP leader says Premier Danielle Smith’s plan for a new pipeline has his support, but he’s calling on her to be honest about how much taxpayers could be on the hook for it. Naheed Nenshi also says public financing for the pipeline shouldn’t be a deal-breaker. “There sometimes is space for public dollars, and the big pipelines that have been built over many years in Canada certainly had public participation in different ways,” Nenshi said in an interview Friday. “What we really need is transparency and honesty from the premier and from the (United Conservative) government on precisely what they’re putting in, and if they’re doing it for good economic reasons.” Smith announced Thursday that her United Conservative Party government has submitted to Ottawa a...
Register
‘The light at the end of the tunnel is very far away:’ mayor of flooded Manitoba town
Residents in a western Manitoba town are stuck waiting for waters to recede before they can begin cleaning up from a second historic flood in a month. Swan River Mayor Lance Jacobson said that while water levels looked to have dropped by about 30 centimetres since Wednesday’s flood, there’s still a couple of metres to go in places. He said there’s little the upwards of 200 households that were forced to flee their homes can do now but wait. “People that are flooded, they’re just sitting coiled up like a spring, waiting to get what they need to get done, and dealing with the grief of all that, and that’s very difficult,” Jacobson said. He said he wishes there’s more he could do. “It’s very heart-wrenching, you know, when you...
Register
