Vast marine conservation reserve, bigger than P.E.I., to protect B.C. central coast

An enormous national marine conservation reserve is being established on British Columbia's central coast, spanning an area larger than Prince Edward Island.

The protected area, named Mia-yaltwa Ha’lidzogm hoon, is the result of an agreement between six coastal First Nations and the provincial and federal governments.

An official says the area is around 6700 sq. km and will be operated by Parks Canada along with its Indigenous and federal partners.

The reserve is within the Great Bear Sea, a diverse marine ecosystem that covers more than half of B.C.'s coast and includes glass sponge reefs, salmon, killer whales and migrating humpbacks.

Alberta is to vote on whether to hold a separation referendum. Here’s how we got here

Premier Danielle Smith announced Thursday that Albertans will be going to the polls Oct. 19 to vote on whether there should be a future binding referendum on the province quitting Canada.

Here's a timeline of pivotal moments in Alberta's separatism debate:

Oct. 28, 1980 — The federal government ignites widespread alienation in Alberta with the National Energy Program, which seeks to cushion the shock of high oil prices through a system that artificially depresses prices for the oil-dependent province. Albertans view it as a federal money grab.

Feb. 17, 1982 — Gordon Kesler of the Western Canada Concept Party of Alberta wins a provincial byelection in the riding of Olds-Didsbury on a platform of Alberta separating from Canada. Later that year, he loses his seat in the general election, even though the party receives nearly 12 per cent of the popular vote.

CRTC triples streamers’ financial contributions to Canadian content

OTTAWA - Large TV streaming services like Netflix must contribute 15 per cent of their Canadian revenues to Canadian content, the federal broadcast regulator said Thursday.

That’s three times the five-per-cent initial contribution requirement the CRTC set out in 2024, which is being challenged in court by major streamers, including Apple and Amazon.

Contribution requirements for traditional broadcasters, which currently pay between 30 and 45 per cent, will be lowered to 25 per cent.

"The total contributions are expected to stabilize the funding at more than $2 billion in support of Canadian and Indigenous content, such as French-language content and news," the regulator said in a press release.

Alberta legislature committee eyes separation vote as meeting hits bizarre roadblock

EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA - Alberta’s journey toward holding a fall referendum on separation took a bizarre turn Wednesday — straight into another roadblock.

It occurred when the governing United Conservative members on a bipartisan legislature committee introduced a motion to formally ask Premier Danielle Smith and her cabinet to initiate a provincewide vote on Alberta's status in Confederation this October.

The motion was expected to pass, given the UCP members on the committee outnumber the Opposition NDP members on it three to two.

But while the motion was still being debated, the UCP caucus published a news release announcing the vote had taken place and that the motion had passed.

Winnipeg police get behind Ottawa’s ‘lawful access’ bill

Winnipeg Police Service Deputy Chief Cam Mackid said Wednesday the force fully supports the federal government’s proposed lawful access bill.

The legislation would give law enforcement and the national spy agency broader access to digital data following judicial authorization.

Part of the bill would require social media, internet service providers and telecommunication companies to adapt systems to allow for officials to more easily access data, after a warrant is obtained, and order certain providers to retain metadata for up to a year.

The bill has received significant pushback from advocates and technology companies who say it will erode privacy and civil rights and enable excessive surveillance.

Time for change? Province launches survey to review clock changes

The provincial government has asked Manitobans to weigh in on whether to end the seasonal time change.

Premier has everyone’s attention on and about social media; now it’s time for some careful thought

Using social media to condemn social media may seem hypocritical. But when you look at the audience Premier Wab Kinew commands across his social media accounts, there is a certain logic. An admittedly perverse logic, but logic all the same.

This not just in: treaty rights carry legal force and are protected in the Constitution

More than a century after the numbered treaties were signed across Western Canada, the courts delivered a blunt reminder last week that those agreements are not ancient historical footnotes.

They still carry legal force and governments cannot ignore them.

Two major court rulings — one in Manitoba and one in Alberta — reinforced a reality many Canadians still do not fully understand: treaties between First Nations and the Crown remain constitutionally protected agreements that continue to shape Canadian law, public policy and governments’ obligations today.

The decisions also underscored something else: Canadians would benefit greatly from learning more about treaties, why they were negotiated as Canada expanded westward and why courts continue to uphold Indigenous and treaty rights.

Americans are looking back centuries to find Canadian ancestors — and citizenship

Cody Sibley was born and raised in Louisiana, but he always felt his family shared strong ties to Canada thanks to his Acadian ancestors from Nova Scotia.

Sibley said that as an eighth-generation descendant of Acadians, his family's roots could be traced back to "generation zero," Agathe Doucet, who was baptized on Jan. 19, 1710, in Nova Scotia.

He said Doucet married to Pierre Pitre in 1727, but the couple's lives were turned upside down in 1755 when British soldiers arrived at their doors and ordered their expulsion; like many Acadians, they ended up in Louisiana, where the community went on to become known as Cajuns.

Sibley is now among a surge of Americans combing through genealogical records in the hopes of finding a Canadian ancestor — some, like Sibley's, dating back hundreds of years, long before Canada officially existed. They plan to use the information to claim Canadian citizenship, under recently introduced legal changes that remove the so-called "first-generation limit" on citizenship for people born or adopted outside Canada to a Canadian citizen.

Snowbirds aerobatic team grounded until early 2030s while new planes purchased

MOOSE JAW -

Canada’s famous military aerial ambassadors – the Snowbirds – will soon be grounded.

Defence Minister David McGuinty announced Tuesday that after this upcoming season, the nine-jet aerobatic team will be mothballed until the early 2030s.

The pause is to allow the team’s signature but aging CT-114 Tutor jets to be replaced by the CT-157 Siskin II.

U.S. says it’s pausing long-standing military board with Canada

WASHINGTON - The U.S. undersecretary of defence for policy said Monday that the United States is pausing a long-standing military board, claiming "Canada has failed to make credible progress on its defense commitments."

In a post on social media, Elbridge Colby said his department is pausing the Permanent Joint Board on Defense "to reassess how this forum benefits shared North American defense."

The board was established in 1940 and is an advisory forum for U.S.-Canada bilateral defence co-operation.

Colby said the United States "can no longer avoid the gaps between rhetoric and reality" in the post, where he shared a link to a transcript of Prime Minister Mark Carney's January speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

$61-M investment in high-speed Internet planned for northern First Nations

More homes on remote Manitoba First Nations will have access to high-speed Internet that most Canadians take for granted thanks to $61 million in new federal funding.

“Your communities have been living way too long without internet,” federal Northern and Arctic Affairs Minister Rebecca Chartrand told a gathering at Wasagamack Anisininew Nation Thursday. The MP for northern Manitoba said the four projects will deliver modern, reliable internet to 2,309 households.

“This really is a public safety issue and an equity issue,” Chartrand said in the community 600 kilometres north of Winnipeg that’s accessible by air, water and winter road.

“The lack of broadband has been a public safety failure. When families can’t call for help or nurses can’t access files or lives are at risk when you’re travelling roads without phone service, without internet,” she said.

AFN chief warns against changes to major projects development rules, calls for debate

OTTAWA - The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations says proposed changes to major project development rules are "not acceptable" and risk trampling on the rights of First Nations.

The federal government is proposing to grant authority to review interprovincial pipelines and transmission lines, and offshore renewable energy projects, to the Canada Energy Regulator instead of the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada.

The proposal, which will undergo a 30-day consultation process, would undo the move the Liberals made eight years ago to create the Impact Assessment Agency as a one-stop shop for all national project reviews.

National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak told The Canadian Press the proposed changes "demonstrate a pattern of exclusion" and she rejects the compressed timeline to submit feedback.

Supreme Court recognizes intimate partner violence as a legal basis for civil damages

OTTAWA - The Supreme Court of Canada has recognized intimate partner violence as a distinct legal basis for pursuing civil damages.

The top court's ruling Friday came in the case of a woman who was subjected to physical and emotional abuse by her husband during a 16-year marriage.

"Intimate partner violence is a social ill and a deep affront to one's dignity," Justice Nicholas Kasirer wrote on behalf of a majority of the court.

The court said the torts of assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress — existing legal avenues for seeking financial damages — fail to remedy the specific harms to dignity, autonomy and equality caused by intimate partner violence.

Tories question CBC funding of spoof-style Indigenous show on residential schools

OTTAWA - Conservatives are questioning why CBC is funding a spoof program that used false pretences to lure high-profile people accused of downplaying the damage caused by residential schools into sitting for interviews.

Several current and former Conservative politicians have gone on social media to denounce the production “Northland Tales." The show is being produced for CBC and APTN.

The show is described by the Indigenous Screen Office — which works to increase Indigenous media representation using federal funding — as a satire program meant to “flip the script” on modern and historical injustices against Indigenous Peoples.

Frances Widdowson, who has described herself as a “known controversial figure” and has publicly questioned the history of residential schools and unmarked graves of children at the site of a former school in Kamloops, described her interview for the show in a video posted to social media this week.

Discussion paper floats ways Ottawa can help fund giant electrical grid buildout

Ottawa's electricity strategy will consider ways government can shoulder some of the cost of doubling the country's grid by 2050 and ensure equipment and workers are available to make it happen.

The federal government released a discussion paper Thursday laying out the broad strokes of its plan and opening it up to feedback.

"The scale is huge, the timeline is short, and the task of getting the right mix of power is complex," Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters in Ottawa.

Building Canada's electricity system is a "shared responsibility," the government said in the document.

Churchill project not worth the risk

Premier Wab Kinew is banking on the redevelopment of the Port of Churchill as the game-changing project that will put Manitoba back in the black. That’s a risky bet for several reasons.

Economic growth now tops environment as priority in energy policy, poll suggests

OTTAWA - More Canadians now say economic growth should be a bigger priority in Canada's energy policy than protecting the environment, a new Angus Reid Institute report suggests.

The pollster released a report Monday indicating 61 per cent of Canadians now see economic growth as the biggest priority in energy policy. The question offered two options on the top priority shaping federal energy policy: economic growth or environmental protection.

That's a shift in public opinion since seven years ago, when the same question had 55 per cent of Canadians saying the environment should be the top priority in energy policy.

Shachi Kurl, Angus Reid Institute president, said climate change was a top issue for voters in both the 2019 and 2021 elections, but opinion research shows the sense of urgency surrounding it has been declining in recent years.

Infrastructure, military spending, economy dominate talk in federal finance minister’s visit

Federal Minister of Finance François-Philippe Champagne was in Winnipeg, but at a gathering of local business community members on Monday afternoon, he had another Manitoba locale on his mind.

“I love Churchill,” Champagne said when asked at a Manitoba Chambers of Commerce event what Canadian trade diversification opportunity he’s most optimistic about.

Ottawa has identified the Port of Churchill as central to its vision to build a stronger, more resilient Canadian economy that is better connected to global markets.

“I had no hesitation to mention Churchill — that came to mind immediately,” Champagne told a reporter after the event. “It is probably one of the most consequential infrastructure (projects) that we can imagine for the Prairies.”

Feds, province urge court to toss ’60s Scoop lawsuits

Lawyers for the provincial and federal governments argue two lawsuits filed by the Manitoba Métis Federation over the apprehension of Métis children during the ’60s Scoop should be rejected.

In its first claim, filed in the Court of King’s Bench in November, the federation says the federal and provincial governments owe it damages for the harm caused by the ’60s Scoop to the Red River Métis as a whole.

In separate statements of defence filed in April, the two governments argue that lawsuit should be dismissed.

The Manitoba government, in its response, said it acknowledges children’s aid societies apprehended Indigenous children, including Métis, at a disproportionate rate and that many were placed for adoption in non-Indigenous homes across Canada and in the United States, which contributed to a loss in culture.

Alberta oil pipeline is ‘more likely than not’ Carney says

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Mark Carney says a new oil pipeline out of Alberta is "more likely than not."

In his first sit-down interview with The Canadian Press since becoming prime minister more than a year ago, Carney said Friday that given the increased global demand for secure new sources of energy due to the war in Iran, and Canada's need to diversify to Asian markets, a new pipeline is "more probable than possible."

"It's all part of a bigger package. We're making progress on that bigger package," Carney said, referring to the memorandum of understanding his government signed with Alberta late last year.

"Part of our job is to figure out ways to make that work, to make it work that's combined with reducing the emissions associated with oil.