Ottawa extends amnesty for owners of banned firearms while Supreme Court case unfolds
By Jim Bronskill The federal government is extending an amnesty for owners of banned firearms while a legal battle plays out at the Supreme Court of Canada. Over the last six years, Ottawa has outlawed about 2,500 types of firearms, including the AR-15 and Ruger Mini-14, on the basis they belong only on the battlefield. The government previously said prohibited firearms must be disposed of or deactivated by the end of an amnesty period on Oct. 30. In March, the Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal challenging the initial federal firearm prohibitions, announced in May 2020. The government now says the amnesty has been extended until 90 days after the Supreme Court delivers its decision, which is expected next year. Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said in an interview...
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Manitoba premier says “Mine, baby, mine” as he signals regulation pullback
By Ian Bickis Manitoba’s premier says he aims to streamline mining regulations to help the industry drive the economy. “Mine, baby, mine. I think that needs to be our motto here in Manitoba,” Wab Kinew said Tuesday at a Manitoba Chambers of Commerce event in Winnipeg. While the Port of Churchill expansion is still his flagship project, Kinew said Manitoba should also be following the resource-based growth model of Saskatchewan. “There’s a lot of interest in advancing mining activity in Manitoba, and I’d just like us to be able to make the most of the resources we have.” He said the NDP government, elected in late 2023, has been focused on health care but that it’s now ready to look at regulations in the resource sector. “We’re now at the...
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Ksi Lisims LNG signs benefit agreements with First Nations, challenges withdrawn
By Lauren Krugel The lead developer of the Ksi Lisims liquefied natural gas project planned for the West Coast has announced benefit agreements with three First Nations in northern British Columbia, two of which it says have withdrawn legal challenges against the $10-billion plant and export terminal. Houston-based Western LNG distributed three separate press releases Tuesday announcing agreements with the Metlakatla First Nation, Lax Kw’alaams Band and Gitxaala Nation. The Metlakatla and Lax Kw’alaams filed separate judicial review applications in Federal Court last fall, alleging Ottawa ignored their concerns about the adverse impacts from the $10-billion project planned for Pearse Island, by the border with Alaska. The Lax Kw’alaams news release said as part of the benefit agreement, which includes procurement opportunities, it has withdrawn its challenge. A spokeswoman for...
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New Tŝilhqot’in Radio app brings community voices to listeners everywhere
By Dionne Phillips, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews A Tŝilhqot’in grandmother listening to the radio in her language. Youth interviewing Elders and aunties for community podcasts. Tŝilhqot’in people living away from home staying connected on the airwaves through stories, music and language. Those are some of the possibilities Jenny Philbrick sees with the release of Tŝilhqot’in Radio’s new app. Launched by the Tŝilhqot’in National Government (TNG) in April, the app expands access to Tŝilhqot’in Radio, a language and culture-based program that gives listeners around the world access to stories, music, podcasts, community updates and opportunities to hear and learn the Tŝilhqot’in language. Philbrick, executive director of the Tŝilhqot’in National Government, says the app has already generated excitement among community members eager to access language and cultural programming from members both...
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Inuit group calls for overhaul of Nutrition North, poverty reduction frameworks
By Alessia Passafiume The organization representing Inuit in Canada says the federal government program meant to subsidize the high cost of food in the North isn’t working and should be scrapped. The call to shut down Nutrition North is part of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami’s new poverty reduction strategy, released Tuesday. The report says the program has failed to improve food security in Inuit Nunangat, the Inuit homelands, and that its fragmented approach is not fully aligned with Inuit priorities. “It’s a scattershot approach in a policy environment that is begging for specific intervention,” ITK president Natan Obed told The Canadian Press. “We want to take back control more of this space and say, ‘If the government of Canada is going to spend a dollar on poverty reduction, on food security,...
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Inuit organization seeks to replace ‘ineffective’ Nutrition North with Inuit-owned co-ops, shipping subsidy
By William Koblensky Varela, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunavut News Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) announced several recommendations on June 9 outlining how it wants to replace the Nutrition North federal food subsidy program. Transitioning from grocery stores owned by corporations to Inuit-owned co-ops, regulating the price of groceries and supporting harvesting are among the recommendations. “NNC (Nutrition North Canada) was conceived as an economic development program and has proven ineffective in either improving earnings in the region or making food more affordable,” the ITK report reads. The organization highlighted the Nunavik Federation des cooperatives du Nouveau-Quebec as an example of Inuit communities exercising greater control over their food supply chain. Other models, such as country food stores, could also be part of what replaces Nutrition North, ITK argued. Local reinvestment,...
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Manitoba premier says “Mine, baby, mine” as he signals regulation pullback
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew says he plans to streamline mining regulations to attract investment. He says the province had been focusing on health care, but that it’s time to make it easier to get resource projects going. Using the slogan “Mine, baby, mine,” he says there is nothing stopping Manitoba from following the growth plan of Saskatchewan. He says there are ways to build faster to match global competitors like China and Russia. The premier’s comments come less than a week after he rejected a proposal for a large data centre south of Winnipeg that the Opposition says would have meant billions of dollars in investment. Kinew says the massive drain on power from that facility would not have come close to balancing the environmental impact or the number of...
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Coalition to oppose N.B. mine project being considered for fast-track approval
By Eli Ridder A dozen organizations say they’ve formed a group to oppose a key New Brunswick mining project. The Stop Sisson Mine Coalition says the proposed tungsten and molybdenum mine will create environmental waste and degrade water quality. Last November, the $580-million Sisson Mine was added to a list of projects for fast-track approval by the federal government because of their importance to the economy and national security. In 2013 Northcliff Resources first proposed the mine in Sisson Brook, N.B., but progress stalled after a drop in global mineral prices. China’s dominance in global tungsten supply has revived North American interest in the project. Last year, the project received more than $20 million from the U.S. government and $8.2 million from the province for a feasibility study. Environmental groups...
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Ksi Lisims LNG signs benefit agreements with FirstNations
By Lauren Krugel The lead developer of the Ksi Lisims liquefied natural gas project planned for the West Coast has announced benefit agreements with three First Nations in northern British Columbia. Houston-based Western LNG says two of those communities — the Metlakatla First Nation and Lax Kw’alaams Band — have in turn withdrawn their legal challenge to the federal approval of the $10-billion project. The third agreement is with the Gitxaala Nation. The benefit agreements cover aspects like economic development opportunities and climate initiatives for the affected communities. The other Ksi Lisims partners are Rockies LNG, a consortium of Canadian natural gas producers, and the Nisga’a Nation, on whose land the project would be built. Ksi Lisims has recently announced preliminary supply deals with German utilities and the partners aim...
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SaskPower reschedules major outage affecting northern region
By Nicole Goldsworthy, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, SaskToday.ca, SASKTODAY.ca NORTH — SaskPower has rescheduled a planned power outage that will affect communities across a large portion of northern Saskatchewan, including La Ronge, Candle Lake, Stanley Mission and several First Nations. The outage is now scheduled for June 14 from 5 a.m. to 1 p.m. and will impact customers in Spruce Home, Meath Park, Weirdale, Paddockwood, Christopher Lake, Emma Lake, Candle Lake, Montreal Lake, La Ronge, Stanley Mission, Grandmothers Bay and Narrow Hills Provincial Park. The outage will also affect residents of Little Red River Cree Nation, Wahpeton Dakota Nation and Hall Lake First Nation, along with rural customers in communities north and northeast of Prince Albert extending to Anglin Lake, Little Bear Lake and north to La Ronge. According to...
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Killer of Niagara winemaker still deemed a threat, board says
By J.P. Antonacci, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Hamilton Spectator Four years after he killed renowned Niagara winemaker Paul Pender while in the grips of a psychotic episode, Bradley House of Six Nations remains “a significant threat to public safety.” So says the Ontario Review Board, which monitors violent offenders deemed “not criminally responsible” for their actions due to underlying mental disorders. But the board recently granted House permission to attend a 90-day residential substance abuse treatment program outside the forensic psychiatry wing of St. Joseph’s Healthcare in Hamilton, where the 35-year-old has been held in secure custody since the end of his trial for second-degree murder in 2024. House pleaded not guilty, though both sides agreed he killed Pender outside the winemaker’s cottage near Selkirk in Haldimand County in...
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‘Our culture being represented’: Tsleil-Waututh and Squamish Nations gear up for FIFA World Cup
By Abby Luciano, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, North Shore News It’s hard for Chris Overes not to get excited about soccer. He practically grew up on the soccer field, starting to play in Lynn Valley at age five and continuing on through high school. “Soccer was what one could afford over hockey, and I’m glad I did because I loved it,” he said. Now 58, Overes still loves the sport, watching the FIFA World Cup when it comes every four years. So when he saw the opportunity to design a jersey for the səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh Nation) with his daughter Tamia Overes, he couldn’t resist. “Being able to create a jersey is exciting because it’s the world’s biggest sport, so how can one not be overly stoked?” he said. Designing the...
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Beaver sculptures welcome tourists in downtown Toronto ahead of World Cup
By Ritika Dubey Four-foot-tall rodents have taken over downtown Toronto. Some lurk under trees, while others peer through office tower windows or stand guard near busy intersections. It’s hard to miss these colourful beaver statues with wide grins and a soccer ball clutched under their right paw if you happen to stroll through the eastern downtown neighbourhood of Old Town Toronto. The installations are a part of an artistic scavenger hunt running as Canada’s largest city prepares to host World Cup soccer matches this week. And no two beavers look the same. One wears the Brazilian flag. Another is painted with a view of the Toronto skyline. And yet another sports the classic red-and-black Canadian plaid. Visitors sit around the Canada beaver sculpture in a park in Toronto, Friday,...
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Inuit group calls for overhaul of Nutrition North, poverty reduction frameworks
By Alessia Passafiume The organization representing Inuit in Canada says the federal government program meant to subsidize the high cost of food in the region, isn’t working and should be scrapped. The call to shut down Nutrition North is part of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami’s new poverty reduction strategy, set to be released Tuesday. The report says the program has failed to improve food security in Inuit Nunangat, the Inuit homelands, and that its fragmented approach is not fully aligned with Inuit priorities. “It’s a scattershot approach in a policy environment that is begging for specific intervention,” ITK president Natan Obed told The Canadian Press. “We want to take back control more of this space and say, ‘If the government of Canada is going to spend a dollar on poverty reduction,...
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Brantford Police Arrest Man After Suspicious Incident Involving Teenage Girl
By Alex Murray Writer Brantford Police Service (BPS) arrested and charged a man on June 6 following a suspicious incident involving a teenaged girl on the morning of Friday, June 5, 2026. After the incident was reported on Friday, BPS sought assistance in identifying their suspect from anyone who might have witnessed the incident. Around 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., a teenage girl was walking near Brock Street and Colborne Street East when she was accosted by an adult male who engaged her in conversation. The youth did not enter the adult male’s vehicle and was able to leave the area safely. A later report said the man also grabbed the girl’s shoulder during the interaction. On June 6, BPS said they arrested a 28-year-old man from Paris and charged...
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House of Commons passes bill criminalizing forced sterilization
By Canadian Press Staff The House of Commons has passed a long-awaited law criminalizing forced or coerced sterilization. The law states that sterilization without legal consent constitutes aggravated assault, which carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison. Survivors and advocates have been pushing for a change to the Criminal Code since 2015. The Survivors Circle for Reproductive Justice estimates as many as 15,000 Indigenous people have been sterilized without their consent since the 1890s, some as recently as last year. Some physician groups, including the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada, warned earlier this spring that the bill could cause doctors to worry about how they treat patients in an emergency. The bill was put forward in the Senate last year by Sen. Yvonne Boyer and now...
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The Key First Nation to elect new chief and council
By Bastien MacLean, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Kamsack Times There are four candidates for chief and 24 candidates running for five council spots for The Key First Nation. All of the incumbent councillors are running again. Current Chief Clinton Key is also running for a council spot. Election day is June 12. Advance polls were held on June 2 in Vancouver at the Indian and Métis Friendship Center, June 4 at the Radisson Hotel in Edmonton and June 6 at the Ramada Downtown Hotel in Regina. There is one ballot for the position of chief, and a separate ballot where electors may vote for up to five council candidates. Candidates for chief are: Dustin Dayan Brass, Percy O’Soup, Clarence Papequash and Ron Papequash. Candidates for council are: Ferlyn Brass, Jay-Cee...
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Fort Pelly-Livingstone Museum unveils Red River Cart pavilion
By Bastien MacLean, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Kamsack Times A model Red River cart built by Kelly and Armand Jerome of St. Northbert, Man. is now on permanent display at the museum. “The Red River Cart was a simple conveyance developed by the Métis people for use in their settlement of [the] Red River area”, per an informative signboard at the display. “The Red River cart was constructed using basic materials, oversized wheels, [it was] small but could carry heavy loads” said Donald Budz, president of the Fort Pelly-Livingstone Museum board. The settlers followed several trails, some which dipped south “into Pembina, North Dakota, then onto St. Paul, Minnesota”, while others followed a northern trail that went to Fort Pelly through Fort Qu’Appelle. This is “how the settlers moved around...
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What happens when the world’s breadbaskets start failing simultaneously?
By Ekamjot Dhillon, Phd Student, Global Governance, University of Waterloo Agriculture today is a massive, globally interconnected industry. That interconnectivity has brought jobs and varied foods to people who might not otherwise be able to access them. However, like many other industries today, agriculture is dependent on a small number of key regions that support a vast network. What made the modern food system seem resilient was never abundance alone. It was geography. Regions like the North American Prairies, Ukrainian Steppe and northern India grow much of the crops that feed humans and livestock. The system works because crop failures are expected to be local, not simultaneous. If one breadbasket region fails to produce one year, another could cover the shortfall. The Earth itself provides a kind of buffer, but...
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Feds planning evacuation centres in advance of wildfire season
By Nick Murray The federal government says it’s helping to set up evacuation centres across the country for people fleeing wildfires. At a recent news conference in Ottawa, Emergency Preparedness Minister Eleanor Olszewski said Ottawa would work with the provinces and territories to choose locations for the evacuation centres. “That’s something that we’re working on in conjunction with a number of provinces, is a plan for where some set evacuation centres could be so that they are ready, that they’re an appropriate size,” she said on May 28. Last year’s wildfire season was the second-worst on record, with nearly nine million hectares consumed — larger than the area of New Brunswick and P.E.I. combined and more than double the 10-year average. Olszewski said having evacuation centres in place would help...
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