On a summer morning beside a flowing stream on Christian Island in southern Georgian Bay, Ontario, high school students bend low to scoop water and peer into its depths.  Equipped with scientific tools and curiosity, their tasks are prosaic: they test the water’s quality, search for aquatic insects and map their local watershed. But their […]

Canada’s auditor general wants to know whether the federal government is doing a good job protecting its assets — including dams, buildings, vehicles and more — from the increasingly severe impacts of climate change. The Department of National Defence received a notification letter — obtained by Canada’s National Observer through an access to information request […]

Underwater noise is a serious threat to endangered Southern Resident killer whales, as ship and ferry traffic intensifies through some of the busiest waters off Vancouver Island. With ship traffic surging following the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline — and set to grow even more following a port expansion at Roberts Bank, south of […]

Canada wants to leverage its G7 presidency to shape international objectives on the use of artificial intelligence to understand oceans, documents obtained under the Access to Information Act show.  Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) hoped to host meetings in the fall to develop shared priorities and a global blueprint for action in advancing AI to […]

During the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, James Frank Palmater faced relentless, crushing pain. A massive heart attack had reduced his heart function to only 15 per cent. The isolation of social distancing in his palliative care ward deepened his suffering. Two and a half weeks after the infarction, he sought Medical Assistance in […]

Internal documents reveal Ottawa is bracing for major industry players to walk as it phases out open-net pens, leaving closed containment ventures scrambling for salmon eggs. The federal government is preparing for the possible exit of international salmon farm operations on the BC coast following the government’s promise last summer to phase out open-net pen […]

Several of Canada’s federal departments didn’t meet the mandated target for Indigenous procurement in 2023-2024, according to government documents obtained by Canada’s National Observer through an Access to Information request. The policy, introduced in 2021, requires that at least five per cent of all federal spending must go to Indigenous businesses to address economic gaps […]

BC Ferries has launched a bid to build up to seven green flagship vessels but climate groups are urging the company to abandon liquified natural gas to fuel ships and speed electrification of its fleet to reach its emissions targets.  The ferry service recently revealed it has teamed up with a naval architectural firm to […]

EDMONTON _ The governments of Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec are joining the federal privacy commissioner in investigating the company behind the artificial intelligence-powered chatbot, ChatGPT. Alberta’s privacy authority says the joint investigation would see if OpenAI, which is the parent company of ChatGPT, obtained valid consent from Canadians to collect, use and disclose their personal information via its chatbot. ChatGPT, which […]

All but one MP on the federal ethics committee has agreed with a proposal to reduce cooling-off periods for lobbyists doing political work. Feedback from the committee on the proposed change was sent to lobbying commissioner Nancy Belanger on March 20. Belanger is in the process of updating the Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct, which governs […]

Blake Desjarlais laboured to steady his voice. On Thursday, the NDP MP for Edmonton Griesbach spoke at a public accounts committee meeting after the release of an auditor general’s report on systemic barriers facing prisoners in federal jails. “(Correctional Service Canada) acknowledged in November 2020 that systemic racism is present in the correctional system; it’s […]

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 […]