Alberta separatists gain partial court win, referendum petition to be verified

EDMONTON - The group behind a petition for a separation referendum in Alberta has won a partial victory in court.

An Alberta Court of Appeal judge ruled on Monday that the signatures on the petition can be counted and verified and that the results can be shared publicly.

Justice Alice Woolley, in a written decision, said not verifying the signatures now could create more problems later on should things change with larger issues that have yet to be decided in court.

"People who signed the petition may move or die. They may change addresses or phone numbers. Trust and confidence in the security and integrity of the collected sheets will begin to erode (if they're not verified now),” Woolley wrote.

Indigenous artifacts also deserve legal protection

The trafficking of items of civilizational, cultural and historical significance is a global issue.

Saigon Centre residents fear loss of Vietnamese cultural space after Manitoba Housing takeover

Longtime tenants of a social housing project built in Winnipeg for Vietnamese refugees nearly 40 years ago fear its takeover by Manitoba Housing will ruin their main-floor cultural centre.

Saigon Centre at 458 Balmoral St., which was run by the Vietnamese Non-Profit Housing Corp. since opening in 1989, was put up for sale in March because it was $3 million in arrears on its mortgage.

Manitoba Housing and Renewal Corp. is taking over the 54-unit building and the government department is working on integrating it into the provincial housing portfolio, a spokesperson confirmed recently.

While rent levels are protected under a caveat that was enacted when the building opened, residents say they’re about to lose access to their cultural centre. The large room on the main floor is used for community gatherings, health and wellness activities for seniors, festivals, language-learning classes and other events over the last four decades.

Le pari water-polo de Jayden Del Campo

Le water-polo est arrivé naturellement dans la vie de Jayden Del Campo. Issu d’une famille de sportifs, son père et son grand-père pratiquaient aussi ce sport, une passion qui s’est transmise dans la lignée familiale.

“Mon grand-père a joué dans l’équipe nationale de Cuba et mon père jouait aussi. J’avais comme quatre ans quand mes parents m’ont poussé dans l’eau pour que je commence à jouer.”

Bien que les débuts aient été difficiles — il n’aimait pas être dans l’eau et nager avec un ballon était un vrai défi il a fini par tomber en amour avec ce sport. C’est un chemin qu’il a suivi jusqu’au bout, en devenant entraîneur au Club Vortex, et en acceptant une bourse d’admission à l’Université McKendree aux États-Unis, où il a rejoint l’équipe de water-polo.

Pourtant, malgré une certaine popularité au sud de la frontière et en Europe, la communauté de water-polo reste très petite au Canada. “C’est une communauté qui est vraiment petite au Manitoba. Un de mes buts, c’est de faire grandir ce sport. Pas seulement au Manitoba, mais partout au pays.”

Rituals of ceremonies the cornerstone of Hindu weddings

Taking place over three to five days, a Hindu wedding is steeped in timeless traditions and curated customs.

While the grandeur of Hindu weddings strikes stunning notes, the rituals of the ceremonies remain the cornerstone of the celebration. The rituals are sacred offerings to seek blessings from the Divine and family and friends for the bride and groom to have a healthy and happy life.

Deeply anchored to the wedding rituals, called shaadi ki rasmein, is the role of family members. In Indian culture, it is believed that a wedding is an alliance of two families, not only an alliance of two people. Dates for the wedding ceremonies are sought by a Hindu priest who reads the bride and groom’s horoscope, or kundali to determine the auspicious time, or muhurat for the celebrations. Parents of both sides are consulted in this special first step.

While some wedding rituals are common across different regions of India, others are unique to a particular region. Among Indo- Caribbeans of the Hindu faith, wedding rituals vary. One of these cherished rituals is the Maticoor, or Matkor ceremony, which symbolizes that by expressing gratitude to Mother Earth, the lives of the new couple will be happy and harmonious.

Protesters denounce controversial exhibition at rights museum

More than 200 people demonstrated outside the Canadian Museum for Human Rights Friday evening to protest the exhibition about the mass displacement of Palestinians in the 1940s during the Arab-Israeli war.

Outside the museum at The Forks, the sidewalk was lined with people wearing white and blue clothing while waving Israeli flags and holding placards that denounced the display.

Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present focuses on the Nakba, in which an estimated 750,000 Palestinians were displaced between 1947 and 1949. The exhibition documents Palestinian Canadians’ experiences through art, photos and text.

One protester said she worries students and other groups who visit the exhibition will get a one-sided version.

Director brings Métis identity, language to silver screen

TORONTO — Métis culture has been around for centuries, but films set in the Métis world remain rare.

The new movie Blood Lines is intended to help fill that gap. Written and directed by Métis actor Gail Maurice (best known in these parts for playing the fiery title character of the locally lensed 2024 drama Aberdeen), it is set in an Ontario Métis community.

Maurice stars as Léonore, a mother who seeks to reconnect with her grown daughter Beatrice (Dana Solomon) after years of alcohol-fuelled neglect.

Beatrice is unforgiving, and is soon distracted by the presence of a new woman in the community. Chani (Derica Lafrance) has come to town searching for her biological family. Clearly enamoured, Beatrice offers to help.

Winnipeg Habitat home brings tears to the eye of single dad from Africa

Suleman Gado’s eyes filled with tears when the keys to his first house in Canada were placed in his hands Friday morning.

Beside him, his two sons, Gado and Mohammed, watched quietly as years of sacrifice and perseverance paid off.

“Very exciting day to me,” Suleman said. “And very emotional because I do not believe what I’m seeing today. A lot of amazing people who came out.”

Originally from Ghana, Suleman left his home country in 2015 to seek safety and a brighter future.

Palestinian Canadians share keepsakes, memories in CMHR’s Nakba exhibition

Fouad Sahyoun was four years old when his family fled their home in Haifa amid bombardment from encroaching Israeli paramilitary forces in 1948.

“We took a few suitcases and (some) money and we went to Alexandria. We were never allowed to go back,” said Sahyoun, a Palestinian Canadian living in Montreal. “When the money ran out, we became real refugees.”

The 82-year-old is one of an estimated 750,000 Palestinians forcibly displaced in 1948 following the partitioning of Palestine and during the creation of the State of Israel. This event is known as the Nakba, which means “catastrophe” in Arabic.

Sahyoun’s story and the deeds to his family’s seized property in Haifa are included in Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present, a new exhibition open to the public Saturday at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

Exhibit on displaced Palestinians set to open at human rights museum amid criticism

WINNIPEG - The head of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights says it's unfortunate a trustee resigned over an exhibit about displaced Palestinians but she stands by the decision for it to open to the public Saturday.

The exhibit, titled "Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present," focuses on people affected by the Nakba, Arabic for catastrophe. About 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced in 1948 during fighting over control of what is now Israel.

The exhibit has been in the works for four years, though Palestinian Canadians have been calling for their stories to be told at the Winnipeg museum since it opened in 2014.

Jewish groups have raised concerns that the exhibit could fuel antisemitism by not providing more historical context and that it was created without sufficient consultation and transparency.

World Cup a mosaic of the human experience

On June 13, the third day of the ongoing World Cup, Morocco played more than a quarter of its Group C match against Brazil without a single Moroccan-born footballer on the pitch.

Instead, the starting eleven deployed by manager Mohamed Ouahbi between the 64th and 89th minutes included players from Belgium, France, Spain, the Netherlands and Canada. (Goalkeeper Yassine Bounou was born in Montreal.) Ouahbi, himself, hails from metropolitan Brussels.

According to the BBC, nearly 25 per cent of the players at this tournament were born in countries other than the ones they’re representing.

One of the more prominent examples of this experience is Luca Zidane.

Michael J. Fox and father of Nickelodeon slime among Order of Canada appointments

Michael J. Fox wears his Order of Canada pin everywhere.

He wears the little white pin on talk shows; he wears it to meet up with friends — his fellow Canadian New Yorkers Martin Short and Lorne Michaels make sure of it, he quips. And he wore it when he accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom in the final days of Joe Biden's presidency.

"My intrinsic Canadianism is a bigger part of me than my relationship with the States," he says on a video call from New York, Emmy Awards lined up on the shelf behind him.

The actor and Parkinson's advocate has worn the white pin for 16 years, since he was first named an officer of the Order of Canada. But he'll soon be able to upgrade to the red version of the snowflake-shaped insignia as he's promoted to companion, a higher rank within the order, whose living membership is capped at 180.

Bruce Oake Recovery Centre staff lead participants from darkness, despair of addiction

The Bruce Oake Recovery Centre is awash in summer light. Sun streams through the tall windows at the end of each hallway; through the glass walls of the group rooms, where the men here to recover from addiction are meeting; and through the entry atrium, where an urn holding the ashes of the centre’s namesake rests inside a glass case.

Winnipeg co-ops among models examined in film

We see theatre artist Debbie Patterson making her way toward the Old Grace Housing Co-operative’s entrance in her wheelchair, then settling inside for a steaming cup of tea. The co-op is her home.

“Well, I’ve always loved this neighbourhood and wanted to stay in this neighbourhood. I lived in a big, three-storey Wolseley house and then got MS and couldn’t do the stairs,” she says in a voiceover.

“Having a place I could move into that was completely accessible was just a godsend at a perfect time when I needed to stop living in my house, so I could stay in my neighbourhood and continue to be in a safe place.”

It’s one of the opening scenes of Meeting a Moment: The Art of Social Architecture, directed by Danielle Sturk and produced by Leslie Stafford, which appears on CBC Gem today and airs on CBC TV Saturday.

Indigenous Chamber of Commerce working to engage with members, increase membership

Shelly Bulycz is good at many things, but retirement is not one of them.

Last August, Bulycz retired from her job as manager of community based programming at University College of the North and moved from The Pas to Winnipeg. She soon grew restless and by the end of October, she’d landed a job as the executive assistant at the Indigenous Chamber of Commerce.

In April, the chamber appointed her to be its second-ever chief executive officer.

“I enjoyed retirement for a month and a half, two months, and then decided I needed a job,” Bulycz said. “The rest is kind of history.”

St. Bernard dogs still roam the Swiss Alps as part of this ‘living museum’ and its breeding program

At the Great St. Bernard Pass high in the Swiss Alps, the eponymous dogs still walk the same mountain paths their ancestors patrolled for hundreds of years to find travelers buried beneath the snow.

Bible stories are approved as required reading in Texas public schools

DALLAS (AP) — Texas' education board on Friday approved a required reading list for more than 5 million public school students that includes Bible stories, widening conservative efforts to bring Christian teachings into U.S. classrooms.

The state-mandated list of assigned reading — which includes Charles Dickens’ “Great Expectations” and excerpts from the New Testament — appeared to be among the first of its kind of the nation and will take effect starting in 2030.

The State Board of Education, which is controlled by Republicans, approved the list on a 9-5 vote following weeks of contentious debate that again put Texas at the center of wrangling over the role of religion in public schools. Last year, Texas became the largest state to require teachers to hang the Ten Commandments in every classroom.

The board this week was also considering new social studies curriculum that draws lines between Bible stories and American history.

Province’s security enhancement fund allocated to targeted cultural centres, places of worship, justice minister says

A $1-million security enhancement fund for places of worship and cultural centres announced in January has been fully allocated but the funds have not yet flowed, Justice Minister Matt Wiebe said this week.

Judge rules against effort to create majority-Black DeSoto County districts

U.S. District Judge Glen H. Davidson ruled Wednesday that the plaintiffs in Harris v. DeSoto County did not provide enough evidence that DeSoto County district maps were drawn to intentionally dilute Black voting power.

In ruling for DeSoto County, Davidson wrote, “plaintiffs cannot prove their claims for vote dilution pursuant to Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, and judgment must be awarded to defendants.”

Davidson’s ruling comes after hearing arguments in the case in March.

The federal lawsuit, filed in September of 2024, alleged that the 2022 DeSoto County electoral map diluted Black voting power in county office elections. The plaintiffs sought a new redistricting plan and special elections for positions on the boards of supervisors and education and for the election commission, plus the offices of constable and justice court judge.

B.C. government marks 5 years since heat dome killed hundreds

VANCOUVER - A stifling heat dome that sat over much of British Columbia five years ago is being remembered by the provincial health officer as traumatic for people who lost loved ones and overwhelming for those trying to care for those affected. 

More than 600 people died during the first provincewide heat dome in 2021, but Dr. Bonnie Henry says it will not be the last such event. 

Henry says in a statement issued Thursday that most of the people who died during the period between June 25 and July 1 lived alone and weren't able to keep cool inside their homes. 

She says her thoughts are with those who live with trauma from the event and she knows of the "tremendous effect" on people who lost loved ones and on the first responders and health-care workers who were overwhelmed with people needing help. 

Montreal shooting leads to national security investigation on ideological violence

MONTREAL - A specialized national security unit within the RCMP has opened an investigation into ideologically motivated violent extremism after Monday's midday shooting in Montreal that left three people dead, including a police officer and a bystander.

In an email Thursday, the RCMP said branches of its Integrated National Security Enforcement Team in Eastern Canada and in the northwest region are working together on a case that is separate from the murder investigation led by Quebec provincial police.

These RCMP enforcement teams target terrorist groups or people who threaten national security. “As this is an ongoing investigation, for now we do not have any more information to share,” RCMP Const. Marie-Pierre Guertin said.

While neither the RCMP nor Quebec's provincial police have publicly released details about the suspected motive behind Monday's shooting, The Canadian Press has reviewed a manifesto written by the alleged gunman that expresses hatred toward women and calls for violence.

Saskatchewan NDP urges province to repeal pronoun law affecting LGBTQ+ youth

REGINA - Nearly three years after Saskatchewan's pronoun law came into effect, LGBTQ+ groups and the province's Opposition are warning of its consequences.

"We see concerns about incidents of discrimination going up," NDP Leader Carla Beck said at a news conference Thursday. "People (are) scared to talk about issues that would make students feel loved and seen and accepted."

In August 2023, Premier Scott Moe's Saskatchewan Party government imposed rules that require parental consent for children under 16 to change their names or pronouns at school.

The rules were challenged in court, but months later Moe's government invoked the notwithstanding clause and put them into legislation.

Winnipeg police offer eagle feather as option for sworn statements

The Winnipeg Police Service said Wednesday citizens and police officers have the option of swearing a legal oath by using an eagle feather.

Before the change, the options were to swear an oath on the Bible or make an affirmation.

Eagle feathers are regarded as sacred items by Indigenous Peoples, and when a person holds them, they’re expected to speak honestly, truthfully and with integrity. The feathers will be available at all division offices.

Sheila North, the external Indigenous relations adviser for the police service, said not everyone is comfortable with swearing on the Bible.