B.C. First Nation meets with Alberta minister to oppose changing tanker ban
Leaders of a First Nation on British Columbia’s northern coast say they met Friday with Alberta’s minister of Indigenous relations to express opposition to any changes to Canada’s tanker ban to service a potential new pipeline. The Gitga’at First Nation says in a statement that they presented Rajan Sawhney with scientific and historical evidence affirming there is no proven method for recovering bitumen spills on B.C.’s north coast, which it says has some of the highest tidal ranges on Earth. Chief councillor of the Gitga’at First Nation Bruce Reece says in the statement that the nation remains opposed to any removal or weakening of the oil tanker moratorium that has been in place for more than 50 years and that the nation will uphold its responsibility to safeguard marine ecosystems....
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Nunavut murders reached five-year high in 2024
Four murders in Nunavut last year marked the highest number of homicides for the territory since 2019, when there were seven, according to Statistics Canada data released on Dec. 2. The statistics agency includes first-degree murder, second-degree murder, manslaughter and infanticidee in its definition of homicide. Homicides in Nunavut had only numbered one or two since 2020, until 2024. In 2024, the murder victims in Nunavut were Tracy Oqaituq, Tracey Netser, Jimmy “Sam” Kownirk, and Zipporah Kalluk. The number of murders in Nunavut last year is tied for the third-lowest in the country, with no homicides in Yukon, two in PEI, and four in Newfoundland and Labrador, which has a population more than 10 times that of Nunavut. From a per capita perspective, Nunavut had the second-highest murder rate in...
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Former national chief’s $5M lawsuit against AFN to go before court
By Carly McHugh Writer After more than a year of delays in reaching a settlement, a legal case filed against the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) by former national chief RoseAnne Archibald will be heading to court. Naming the AFN, then-members of its Executive Committee and the National Indian Brotherhood (NIB), the civil lawsuit will soon enter its discovery stage, where both parties will formally exchange and examine information, documents and evidence. This process is designed to encourage settlement before the case goes to trial. Archibald seeks to claim at least $5 million in damages from the defendants for “defamation of character, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and negligence,” as well as the legal indemnities she has incurred as a result of what she believes was a “campaign...
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Ontario’s Bill 5 erodes good governance in the province
By Kristen Lowitt Associate Professor Ontario passed Bill 5, the Protect Ontario by Unleashing Our Economy Act, in June 2025. The omnibus bill amended environmental laws and proposes “special economic zones” where the government can decide what laws will or won’t apply. The bill eliminates key environmental protections and grants the provincial government sweeping powers to fast-track development with little to no oversight. This risks undermining the rights of Indigenous communities, the public and nature. As stated by Michel Koostachin, founder of the Indigenous grassroots group the Friends of the Attawapiskat River: “The government is using the ‘tariff war’ as an excuse for greed, to advance personal and private gain.” Bill 5 is an affront to Indigenous rights and natural law because it authorizes the government to potentially cause irreparable...
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Quebec announces plan to cut environmental assessment times in half
Quebec’s environment minister says the province will reduce the amount of time it takes to complete an environmental assessment by about half. Bernard Drainville says the time savings will come from simplifying the process for industry and government, without compromising standards. He says the time to complete an environmental assessment will drop to nine months, down from the current 13 to 18. The new rules are expected to accelerate major projects in the energy, industrial, mining and transportation sector. Drainville says his plan would also allow affected members of the public and Indigenous communities to get involved in reviews, earlier in the process. There will be a consultation on the new rules that begins later this week, after they are published in the province’s official Gazette. This report by The...
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Carney says back-to-office plan for federal civil servants coming soon
By David Baxter Prime Minister Mark Carney said Monday his government’s plan to get public servants to spend more time in the office will come into “sharper view” over the next several weeks. The issue came up when Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe asked Carney about the prospect of public sector job cuts during the mayor’s monthly breakfast event with the Ottawa Board of Trade and the Ottawa Business Journal. Carney said his government will be “engaging with the public sector unions on the modalities” of the back-to-office policy. “We will come to a much sharper view on it over the course of the next several weeks,” he said. “There will likely be different levels of return depending on seniority, depending on the role and obviously, depending on capacity.” Carney said...
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‘It’s not safe to live here.’ Colombia is deadliest country for environmental defenders
By Steven Grattan PUERTO ASIS, Colombia (AP) — Jani Silva sits inside the wooden house she built on the banks of Colombia’s Putumayo River — a home she hasn’t slept in for more than eight years. The longtime environmental activist has been threatened for work that includes protecting part of the Amazon from oil and mining exploitation. She describes a tense escape one night through a back window after community members tipped her that armed men were outside. “Since leaving because of the threats, I’m afraid … it’s not safe to live here,” she told The Associated Press. She only comes now for brief daytime visits when accompanied by others. “The two times I’ve tried to come back and stay, I’ve had to run away.” Activists like Silva face steep...
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Interim leader Halford says Conservatives will “work co-operatively” to repeal DRIPA
By Wolfgang Depner The interim leader of the Conservative Party of B.C. says Premier David Eby must immediately recall the legislature to repeal the province’s Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples Act and related legislation. Trevor Halford says his party is “prepared to work co-operatively” after a court ruling found that the provincial mineral claims regime is “inconsistent” with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The appeal ruling says that the provincial declaration should be “properly interpreted” to incorporate UNDRIP into provincial laws with immediate effect. Halford says that this decision opens up the door for judges, instead of MLAs, to decide whether provincial laws are inconsistent with UNDRIP, and only a full repeal of DRIPA can restore what he calls “legislative supremacy and...
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Writer and photographer Stephen Thorne remembered as dogged, keen-eyed storyteller Slugline: Obit-Stephen-Thorne Source: The Canadian Press Published: 07/12/2025 09:59 New item for followed topic: Mining Category: National Word count: 1070 View this item in your account: https://cpnewspro.com/wire?item=3040f637-7867-4435-be4f-a3412b34ebd7 By Jim Bronskill Journalist Stephen Thorne, who movingly chronicled some of the most difficult episodes in recent Canadian history, died Friday after being ill with prostate cancer. Thorne spent much of his career at The Canadian Press and later worked as a freelance writer, photographer and communications consultant before joining Legion Magazine. He toiled for CP for almost three decades, covering everything from major crime and federal politics to offshore fishing disputes and professional baseball. But he was most drawn to events that tested the human spirit. Thorne served as the eyes and ears of the public on stories including the 1992 Westray coal-mine explosion, the 1998 Swissair Flight 111 disaster and the Canadian military’s foray into Afghanistan following the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. His incisive writing style let the facts, punctuated by telling details, propel the story’s narrative. Thorne was also an accomplished photographer who captured moments of tense drama, unspeakable sorrow and joyful camaraderie. He garnered many accolades for his journalism. Among other honours, Thorne received National Newspaper Awards for spot news and international reporting, the Ross Munro Media Award for defence reporting and four RTNDA national radio awards. Former CP editor-in-chief Scott White said he once told Thorne he was the best breaking news reporter he ever worked with. Thorne was often competing with many other news outlets chasing the same spot story. “But he told it differently and better,” White said. “The guy was a beautiful writer.” Thorne was the lone reporter with 3rd Battalion of Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry during its assault on the Whale’s Back in eastern Afghanistan in March 2002, Canada’s first wartime combat operation in half a century. In words and photos, he also portrayed the rhythm of the daily lives of Canadian soldiers and Afghans in the war zone. White spoke to Thorne frequently by phone during his time in Afghanistan. “He was completely in his element — pissing off the brass, telling good, human stories, breaking some stories,” White recalled. Thorne was raised in Halifax, where he attended Queen Elizabeth High School before studying political science at Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S. He worked at the Halifax Chronicle Herald as a reporter and photographer in the early 1980s, and joined CP in 1984. “I interviewed political leaders, Nobel laureates, grieving families, wounded soldiers, disaster survivors, artists, heroes, villains, celebrities, entertainers and sports icons,” Thorne wrote on his website. “I have walked the windswept sands of Sable Island, chased the dancing northern lights in Canada’s High Arctic, and ascended the lofty peaks of the Rocky Mountains — and the Hindu Kush.” Former CP journalist Dean Beeby, who supervised Thorne in Halifax and Ottawa, described him as a dogged and independent-minded reporter who grabbed a story and wouldn’t let go. “He had that very rare combination of somebody who chased a story hard, and when he had it, he was able to sit down and write it so that you felt like you were there,” Beeby said. “His charm gave him an ability to get people to talk to him. People felt at ease around him, and he they would open up to him.” Beeby remembered Thorne using those abilities to elicit exclusive details from the rescue workers who clambered through the wrecked Westray mine in search of survivors and bodies. Six years later, Thorne talked his way on to a small fishing boat to survey the aftermath of the Swissair crash off Peggy’s Cove, N.S. “On the windswept sea 10 kilometres southwest of this postcard place, the acrid smell of jet fuel is almost overpowering; the blunt, visceral reality of death is all about, washed clean by the constantly rolling ocean,” he wrote. “And always there are the reminders. Purses. Suitcases. A shaving kit. Documents with names and Swiss addresses.” White remembers Thorne’s dispatch well. “That is the only story I ever edited that made me cry at CP,” White said before pausing. “It still breaks me up when I think about it.” Thorne wrote of that day years later in a piece for Legion Magazine about his father, who was a Canadian Air Force doctor in Europe during the Second World War. Thorne was driving back to the CP office when he saw his dad crossing the street. He pulled over, opened the passenger-side window and told him he had spent the day on the water at the crash site. “I didn’t need to tell him what we found there. He knew. He nodded, pursed his lips and studied my face: ‘I know, son,’ he said. ‘I know where you’ve been.’ There was a silence and then I headed off. “It was probably the most poignant moment we’d ever had. I returned to the newsroom and wrote the words: ‘The lives of the 229 passengers and crew who died aboard Swissair Flight 111 float by in 100,000 tiny pieces.’ “My life would never be the same again.” Thorne delivered an incredible story, Beeby said. “But I think it stayed with him and haunted him.” White acknowledges that decades ago media outlets, including CP, were not as aware as they are now of the mental toll that covering grim tragedies can take on a journalist. Thorne spent much of his later career telling the stories of those who went to war. He mounted several photographic exhibitions across North America, including one on Afghanistan that featured his stories and pictures as well as video from documentary filmmaker Garth Pritchard. Another exhibition featured images of wounded soldiers. Thorne served for a time as editor of The CWCA Newsletter, the Canadian War Correspondents Association journal. In 2018, he joined Legion Magazine, focusing on military history as a staff writer, photographer and copy editor. Thorne also wove his own experiences and the tales of veterans into his book “On War: Exploring Why and How We Fight.” Valour in the Presence of the Enemy, a non-profit organization dedicated to honouring and supporting Canadian soldiers, published a salute to Thorne on social media after learning of his illness. “He didn’t just report our stories — he carried them with him, protected them, and made damn sure they were told right. His tireless work at Legion Magazine has preserved countless stories that might have been forgotten,” the message said. “He’s given voice to the fallen, honour to the veterans, and visibility to causes that desperately needed a champion.” This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 7, 2025. Regards, The Canadian Press Team Contact us at 1-800-268-8149 or help-aide@mycpnewspro.com Visit https://www.thecanadianpress.com/ for more services from Canada’s trusted news leader.
By Jim Bronskill Journalist Stephen Thorne, who movingly chronicled some of the most difficult episodes in recent Canadian history, died Friday after being ill with prostate cancer. Thorne spent much of his career at The Canadian Press and later worked as a freelance writer, photographer and communications consultant before joining Legion Magazine. He toiled for CP for almost three decades, covering everything from major crime and federal politics to offshore fishing disputes and professional baseball. But he was most drawn to events that tested the human spirit. Thorne served as the eyes and ears of the public on stories including the 1992 Westray coal-mine explosion, the 1998 Swissair Flight 111 disaster and the Canadian military’s foray into Afghanistan following the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. His incisive writing...
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Document reveals approval to harvest remnant old-growth in B.C.’s northwest
By Brenna Owen British Columbia’s logging agency has changed a policy that conserved remnant old-growth forest in the province’s northwest, with a government briefing note showing a plan to open those areas for harvesting has been approved. The note, obtained by The Canadian Press and written by a BC Timber Sales manager in the Babine region, acknowledged the shift “may invoke scrutiny” from conservationist environmental groups. It says First Nations in the Bulkley, Morice and Lakes timber supply areas do not support old-growth logging deferrals recommended by a provincially appointed panel in 2021, and continuing to conserve remnant stands “does not demonstrate respect of the First Nations’ responses” to that process. Photographs of the document show the word “approved” marked with yellow highlighter, just below the recommendation to stop sparing...
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Alberta’s Smith says courts should not be gatekeepers on constitutional questions
By Lisa Johnson Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says anyone seeking an independence referendum should not have “gatekeepers,” like the courts, standing in their way. Smith was asked about the independence question Saturday on her radio call-in show, weighing in for the first time after her government proposed legislation that ground to a halt an ongoing court case over a proposed provincial vote to leave Canada. She said giving Justice Minister Mickey Amery the power to be “permissive” about referendum questions, which is included in the new legislation, upholds democracy. “Whether it’s the chief electoral officer or the court, they seem to want to approve the ones they like and hold up the ones they don’t like, and that’s not democracy,” Smith said. Her comments came a day after Alberta Justice...
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No further jail time for man who caused $14,000 damage to jail
By Bob Mackin, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Prince George Citizen A 27-year-old man who caused almost $14,000 in damage to the Prince George Regional Correctional Centre was sentenced Nov. 24 to time served in Provincial Court. Smitty Ralph Bent pleaded guilty to mischief over $5,000, resisting a peace officer and breaching probation conditions. Judge David Simpkin agreed to the joint Crown and defence proposal for a 285-day sentence. Since Bent had spent 194 days in custody, he qualified for a time-and-a-half credit of 291 days. The most-serious offence accounted for 150 days of the sentence. On Aug. 7, 2024, the day he was scheduled to be moved from a regular unit to segregation, Bent lit a fire with a rice cooker in a sink. Despite thick smoke, he refused to...
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Zacharias Kunuk is making Inuit stories for the future with TIFF-winning ‘Wrong Husband’
By Alex Nino Gheciu Inuk filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk says his new fantasy feature is as much about the future as it is about a 4,000-year-old tale. “We’re thinking a hundred years from now, when we’re down in the ground, people will study these films,” says the 68-year-old. “So we have to try to do it right.” Set in 2000 BCE in Igloolik, Nunavut, “Uiksaringitara” (“Wrong Husband”) opens with two young lovers, Kaujak and Sapa — played by Theresia Kappianaq and Haiden Angutimarik — who were pledged to each other at birth. Their bond is tested when Kaujak’s mother remarries after her husband’s death, sending her to a different camp. Guided by spirit helpers — and stalked by a lumbering, child-thieving troll — they set out on separate paths in hopes...
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Louisiana is shrinking. Some tribes are fighting to protect what’s left of their communities
By Dorany Pineda POINTE-AU-CHIEN, La. (AP) — Cherie Matherne looked out into Bayou Pointe au Chien, wide enough for several boats to pass through. In the distance, a stand of dead trees marked where saltwater comes and goes during storm-driven flooding. It wasn’t always this way. The bayou was once shallower and just wide enough for a small boat to pass. Land that cattle once roamed is submerged now, and elders tell stories of tree canopies once so lush they nearly shut out the day. The delicate lattice of Louisiana’s coastline has been steadily retreating for generations. As it does, the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe and other Indigenous people are fighting to protect what’s left and to adapt to their changing environment. That includes a painstaking effort to build makeshift reefs...
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Indigenous initiatives get $4.8M in help from FedNor
By Mike Stimpson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Thunder Bay Source THUNDER BAY — Jobs and Families Minister Patty Hajdu on Friday announced $2 million in federal money for Indigenous-led economic development initiatives across Northwestern Ontario. The funding from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario, or FedNor, includes about $2 million for projects specifically for First Nations in the Northwest: $500,000 to Pemiijiwan Support Services to support the hiring of a CEO and a finance manager to help First Nations near the Ring of Fire in development and partnership opportunities. $459,800 for Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek, also known as Sandpoint First Nation, to support installation of a district biomass heating system in the community. $400,000 to the Sioux Lookout-based Shibogami First Nations Council for completion of a two-phase business analysis...
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Mexican composer turns fire and ritual into a musical journey of renewal
By María Teresa Hernández MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican composer María Leonora prepares for each concert as if she’s gearing up for battle. Her makeup has a tribal edge. Her clothes are arranged in layers she sheds as the show unfolds. An amulet over her belly button serves as protection. “I look into the mirror and I sort of go to war,” she said prior to a recent presentation in Mexico City. “I brace myself to walk through the fire and whatever happens happens.” Her 2025 performances were conceived as chapters connected by a common thread. She called the series “Through All the Fire,” believing that both music and flames carry a powerful renewal quality. “A fire can burn and destroy,” she said. “But if you make it through, you...
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Ottawa moving to reissue fishing licences to Mi’kmaq group despite Inuit objections
By Nick Murray The federal government says it is proposing to reissue fishing licences to a coalition of Mi’kmaq First Nations in Atlantic Canada, despite objections from Inuit in Nunavut who successfully sued to have the original licences quashed. In 2021, Inuit asked the Federal Court to set aside a decision by the minister of fisheries to transfer the licences for Greenland halibut and shrimp from seafood company Clearwater Foods to the coalition, after the Mi’kmaq group partnered to buy the company in January of that year. The licences are for zones off the coast of Baffin Island. They were originally held by Clearwater Foods but were reissued as part of the sale of the company to a coalition of seven Mi’kmaq First Nations. The suit was launched by Nunavut...
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Hundreds of federal public servants warned this week of job cuts
By Catherine Morrison Hundreds of workers have been warned they may lose their jobs as the government moves to shrink the size of the public service. The Public Service Alliance of Canada said Friday that 219 of its members at Natural Resources Canada received notices this week saying their jobs might be cut. In addition to those, the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada said Friday about 200 of its own members at Natural Resources Canada received notices. Another 109 people at the Public Service Commission of Canada, 92 people at Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada and 74 staffers at the Department of Finance received similar notices, the union said. Ottawa is looking to cut program spending and administration costs by about $60 billion over the next...
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Yukon Energy ordered to come up with risk plan for deteriorating dam spillway
The Yukon government says it will need to spend more than $150 million to replace an aging dam spillway. A statement from the government says engineers have confirmed that temporary repairs are no longer an option to extend the life of the Wareham Dam Spillway in Mayo. An order issued last month by Environment Yukon’s manager of environmental compliance and inspections says there is a “reasonable and credible risk of failure” of the spillway “with potential danger to persons, property, and the environment.” It says the Yukon Energy Corp. must develop and implement a risk management plan by the end of the year that lays out measures to reduce risk and prepare for emergencies. The corporation did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but an undated post on...
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Manitoba informs residents of revised location for supervised drug consumption site
By Steve Lambert The Manitoba government announced a new location Friday for the province’s first supervised drug consumption site, months after its initial proposed location ran into public opposition. The government is eyeing a single-story building at 366 Henry Ave. in inner-city Winnipeg, west of Main St. It is several blocks away from the former site east of Main St. that many area residents opposed due to its proximity to homes and a high school. “The proposed supervised consumption site … is located where people need the services and sits well beyond 250 metres from any school or registered child care facility,” Bernadette Smith, the minister for housing, addictions and homelessness said in a statement. The NDP government has planned to have the site up and running in January, and...
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