Canada is under increasing pressure to declare a moratorium on seabed mining just as federal leaders are set to host an international marine conservation summit. More than 700 international scientists and a multitude of environmental organizations are calling on Canada to ban the search for deep-sea minerals in its own waters and show global leadership […]

A trio of Supreme Court decisions Friday overturned one rule on mandatory minimum sentencing but upheld two others, highlighting Canada’s ongoing debate on how to approach the contentious topic. The four-year mandatory minimum sentence for firing a gun at a house was deemed unconstitutional, with the court ruling it amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. […]

The same Brampton Council members who passed a motion that bans outdoor election signs are responsible for 1,083 election sign violations during the recent municipal campaign — about a third had Mayor Patrick Brown’s name on them. When the motion was brought forward on November 23 by Rowena Santos, who had pushed to ban election […]

The assault style firearms ban that came into effect in Canada on May 1, 2020, has been highly controversial since its inception and implementation. Proponents of the ban say that it is a necessary step in protecting Canadians from gun violence, whereas those opposed to the ban insist that it has been an overly heavy-handed […]

A second port on Canada’s West Coast is proposing a ban on cruise ships dumping contaminated and acidic wastewater while docked to protect the marine environment. The Port of Prince Rupert on B.C.’s north coast is taking public feedback until Feb. 5 on changes slated for 2023, including forbidding the open-loop scrubber systems that cruise […]

An online relationship left a Norfolk County resident in tears — and out a lot of money — in what police are calling a “romance scam.” Police said the victim met the alleged scammer online in November 2021. Over the course of several emails and phone calls, their relationship deepened to the point that the […]

More than $3 million set aside to improve air quality in schools during the COVID-19 pandemic has been spent on duct cleaning — a measure not backed by research as an effective way to limit infectious-disease transmission. Manitoba earmarked nearly $11.3 million, including provincial and federal pots of about $6.8 million and $4.5 million, respectively, […]

As the year’s climate-related gains and catastrophes wrap, Canada’s National Observer is reviewing the top five stories to make waves in B.C.’s coastal and island communities in 2022. First Nations, forests and fish-related news surfaced as some top issues from CNO’s Island Insider beat, and are likely to dominate headlines in the new year as […]

“In selfishly protecting their incumbent positions with this by-law by banning outdoor election signs outdoors on private property, Brampton politicians have trampled on the rights of residents to express their political opinions in the most crucial time — during an election.” That was the stinging statement by Christine Van Geyn, the Canadian Constitution Foundation’s litigation director, who […]

Provincial health officials haven’t done enough to protect British Columbians’ personal health information from abuse and hacking despite knowing about vulnerabilities for years, a new investigation from the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner has found. A 2019 internal risk assessment found the Provincial Public Health Information System, run by the Provincial Health Services Authority, lacked […]

Msit No’kmaq, Wahkohtawin, Nindinawemaganidog — all loosely translate into the phrase “all my relations,” which is defined by a kinship between beings in the natural world and Mother Earth. It’s a phrase that asserts the symbiotic relationship between Indigenous nations and their lands. Now, as the world prepares to converge on Montreal for the United […]

MPs recently moved to delay proposed changes to the Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct that include reduced cooling-off periods for lobbyists doing political work and more stringent rules for gift-giving. “I felt that the process was unnecessarily rushed by the commissioner… the two weeks’ notice that we were given in the kind of dying weeks of […]