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Nova Scotia’s approach to sepsis treatment offers life-saving lessons, advocates say

Dr. Vanessa Sweet is co-lead of the sepsis action improvement team in Nova Scotia Health’s central zone. By the end of October, nurses in emergency rooms across the province will be able to deliver treatment to anyone suspected of having sepsis.

At a small hospital in rural Nova Scotia, registered nurse Terri-Anne McGregor checks the vitals of patients who trickle into the emergency room. She scans for signs of sepsis – fever, a racing heart and complaints that they feel so ill they think they’re going to die.

Sepsis is a life-threatening race against time. The body kicks into overdrive in response to an infection, which left untreated can destroy organs. Fatalities, pegged at around 18,000 a year in Canada, are considered preventable. The key is to detect it and act right away, which is what Ms. McGregor is now empowered to do.

© Darren Calabrese

Dr. Vanessa Sweet, a co-lead of a sepsis program in Nova Scotia’s central zone that equips frontline healthcare workers with potentially life-saving tools to detect and treat sepsis early, in an operating room at the Dartmouth General Hospital in Dartmouth, N.S. on Tuesday, September 9, 2025.

Darren Calabrese/The Globe and Mail
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RCMP arrive on ostrich farm ahead of expected cull

Police tape surrounds an area where ostriches are penned in at the Universal Ostrich Farms property in Edgewood, B.C., on Monday.

More than a dozen RCMP cruisers converged on a B.C. ostrich farm just before dawn on Monday to execute search warrants, as the owners made a last-ditch effort to prevent the cull of hundreds of birds whose fate has attracted international attention.

Staff Sergeant Kris Clark, a spokesperson for the Mounties in B.C. who was on the scene at the farm in the Kootenay town of Edgewood, told The Globe that officers were there to assist the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, which had obtained a warrant to enter the farm beginning at 6 a.m. that day.

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The Globe and Mail nominated for five Jack Webster Awards

The Globe and Mail has been nominated for five Jack Webster Awards, including for coverage of British Columbia’s mental health system in the wake of a deadly attack on a street festival and an investigation into the culture within Canada Soccer before the drone spying scandal at the Paris Olympics.

Nancy Macdonald is a finalist for Best News Reporting of the Year – Print/Digital for her in-depth feature about the impact of fentanyl on Victoria’s Pandora Avenue.

Pandora Avenue has seen an especially stark transformation from a leafy, green gateway boulevard into the city’s downtown to a street of desperation. Ms. Macdonald spent several days in the neighbourhood to measure the toll of the crisis.

© Fred Lum

Exteriors of the Globe and Mail Centre at 351 King St. East, are pictured on June 26 2017. (Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail)
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B.C. Conservative leader John Rustad fires highest-profile MLA ahead of caucus meeting

B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad at the legislature in Victoria, on Feb. 18. He has won a 70 per cent show of support after a months-long review marked by low turnout.

B.C. Conservative leader John Rustad abruptly fired his highest-profile MLA ahead of a caucus meeting on Monday where his leadership was on the table, removing a prominent moderate voice of the party.

The MLA, Elenore Sturko, emerged from her legislature office with a box of personal items in hand, saying she had been blindsided by the decision to turf her from caucus and the party.

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How a suspect’s truck upgrade nearly exposed an RCMP terrorism probe

Aerial surveillance photos from court documents show members of an alleged ring of extremists during shooting drills in a forested area near Quebec City.

Two years ago, RCMP officers spying on an alleged ring of extremists in Quebec took notice when one suspect warned on a gun culture podcast about “another Waco.” But another part of his online chat raised more immediate concerns.

Besides talking about the deadly 1993 clash between law enforcement and cult members in Waco, Tex., the suspect had mentioned that he wanted to change the tires and suspension of his Toyota Tacoma pickup.

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NHL player Mark Kirton devoted himself to advocating for people with ALS

From left to right, former NHL players Wayne Gretzky, Darryl Sittler, Mark Kirton and Glenn Healy; and Lisa Kirton, Mr. Kirton’s wife.

In 2015, Mark Kirton was on a beach in the Bahamas and reading a book about the National Hockey League, in which he had competed as a journeyman centre with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings and Vancouver Canucks.

Suddenly, his right biceps muscle started to twitch uncontrollably. The episode marked the beginning of Mr. Kirton’s lengthy battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), an incurable neurodegenerative disease. More commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, ALS ultimately makes breathing, eating, talking and walking impossible without medical devices and drugs, leading to paralysis before death.

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AI tool by Yukon-based startup aims to improve health care referrals, expedite paperwork

Chirag Jadhwani says he was inspired to start PeerSupport.io when his family was having trouble navigating Mumbai's health care system and he realized that Canada's system had similar issues.

A Whitehorse-based tech startup is working to simplify medical forms and optimize appointment times to improve the efficiency of the health care system in Yukon and across Canada.

The company, PeerSupport.io, is part of a growing trend of technology companies trying to use artificial intelligence to tackle paperwork, one of the top complaints of health care workers.

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Ontario appeal court upholds decision not to certify class action against CHL over alleged abuse

Former NHL player Daniel Carcillo and two co-plaintiffs filed the class-action lawsuit in 2020.

The claims of elite junior hockey players who blame the Canadian Hockey League for enabling a widespread hazing culture of assault and abuse are too complex to proceed as a single class action lawsuit, the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled on Monday.

However, Ontario’s highest court left the door open for the players to pursue compensation through a series of smaller class actions, and said “there is evidence that serious abuse has long plagued major junior hockey.”

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Sarah McLachlan cancels performance at Lilith Fair premiere, citing support for free speech

The music documentary 'Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery' premiered on CBC and CBC Gem.

Sarah McLachlan cancelled musical performances planned for the Sunday premiere of her Lilith Fair documentary in Los Angeles, saying it was a gesture of solidarity to support free speech.

The Halifax-born singer-songwriter took the stage before the screening of Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery, telling the crowd that she and her fellow musicians had “collectively decided not to perform.”

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Globe Climate: PFAS in the water

If you’re reading this on the web or someone forwarded this e-mail newsletter to you, you can sign up for Globe Climate and all Globe newsletters here.

Good afternoon, and welcome to Globe Climate, a newsletter about climate change, environment and resources in Canada.

Court records show that some Canadians residents unknowingly drank contaminated water for years while Ottawa sat on test results. Now, they’re demanding to know how long they were exposed and when their tap water will be safe to drink again.

© Greg Locke

The view of Torbay Bightr from the northside meadows. Torbay, Newfoundland. July 26,2025, Greg Locke / Globe and Mail
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Montreal faces transit disruptions as 2,400 workers go on strike

The labour disruption follows an earlier strike in June, which also reduced bus and subway service outside peak hours.

A transit strike kicked off Monday morning that could disrupt bus and subway service in Montreal for the next two weeks, as Quebec’s labour minister accused the workers of holding public transit users hostage.

The strike by the Montreal transit agency’s maintenance workers will limit service to morning and evening rush hours and late at night on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The 2,400 maintenance workers are also refusing to work overtime.

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