Vue lecture

Police investigating after Toronto shooting kills a child

Toronto police say an eight-year-old boy was killed by a stray bullet while he was sleeping in bed with his family in the city’s North York neighbourhood early Saturday morning.

The city’s homicide unit says a stray bullet from a shooting outside a building in the Martha Eaton Way and Trethewey Drive area entered the boy’s room at around 12:30 a.m.

The boy was rushed to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

© Spencer Colby

A Toronto Police Service logo patch is shown in Toronto, on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby
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Vancouver’s land development plan could help pay for city budget, chief of staff says

The City of Vancouver is the largest single landowner in the city, with more than 700 properties in its portfolio.

Vancouver’s ambitious plan to develop thousands of market-rate apartments on city land could eventually bring in enough money to cover almost half of the municipal operating budget, Mayor Ken Sim’s chief of staff says.

That’s the long-term goal, said Trevor Ford, who enthusiastically described the plan as the equivalent of what Vienna, Singapore or the University of British Columbia have done by developing their own land. Vancouver’s current operating budget is $2.34-billion.

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N.B. professor aims to broaden tick research after battling Lyme disease

Vett Lloyd, a professor at the biology department at New Brunswick's Mount Allison University, says about 40 tick species have been documented in Canada.

When Vett Lloyd was bitten by a tick in 2011, it marked the beginning of a painful, years-long battle with Lyme disease. It also abruptly altered the trajectory of her career.

At the time, Dr. Lloyd’s research at New Brunswick’s Mount Allison University was focused on cancer biology but she wondered why people weren’t paying more attention to ticks. So, she converted her cancer lab into a tick lab and reoriented her life’s work around the tiny bloodsucker that nearly ruined her.

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Court ruling on Indigenous claim creates uncertainty around land ownership

A property in Richmond, B.C., that appears to fall within the boundaries of an Aboriginal title claim successfully established by the Cowichan Nation.

On a stretch of the south arm of the Fraser River, in the Vancouver area, the Cowichan Tribes in centuries past had an annual summer fishing village, a place they defended with a warrior ethos against other Indigenous groups.

But in the mid-1800s, the Cowichan – whose home territory is on Vancouver Island – were displaced from that village as the British took control and, after British Columbia joined Canada, the land was sold over the years.

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What Canadian schools can learn from the U.K.

Canadian schools have a lot to learn from the success of Laurel Park, a public secondary school in North London.

My friend Tom Mautner is the chair of the board of governors at a school in North London. This week, with students out for the summer, he took me for a tour. For a visitor from Toronto, where schools are run from the top down by a vast bureaucracy – a.k.a. the Toronto District School Board – it was an eye-opener.

Laurel Park is a public secondary school with around 600 students. It was built in the 1960s in what is now an area of mixed incomes and backgrounds. Until just a couple of years ago, it was faring poorly. School inspectors gave it low ratings. Ambitious families shunned it. Disciplinary problems were rife.

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Families of Canadian veterans gather in Ottawa to mark 80 years since the end of the Second World War

Chief of the Defence Staff Jennie Carignan, centre, salutes after placing a wreath during a ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of the Victory of the Pacific and the end of the Second World War at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on Friday.

Relatives of war veterans gathered at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on Friday to mark the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender and the official end of the Second World War.

Sweat poured down the faces of those assembled in the August midday heat as the Canadian Armed Forces bugler performed the Last Post.

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B.C. allocates $2.5-million to reduce avian flu risk on Fraser Valley poultry farms

There have been about 200 outbreaks in the Fraser Valley and Lower Mainland since 2022 despite increased measures, the Agriculture Ministry says.

British Columbia says it will be providing $2.5-million in funding that will allow about 75 poultry farms in the Fraser Valley to upgrade their barns to reduce the risk of avian flu.

The Agriculture Ministry says in a news release that the flu can enter barns through airflow, water sources and other means and, despite increased measures, there have been about 200 outbreaks in the Fraser Valley and Lower Mainland since 2022.

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Helicopter fighting Nova Scotia wildfires crashes; pilot rescued

Smoke billows from a wildfire near the Susies Lake Area of Halifax is seen, Tuesday, Aug. 12.

A pilot was rescued Friday after a helicopter with Nova Scotia’s Department of Natural Resources crashed in shallow water while helping with firefighting efforts.

Other firefighters in the area quickly reached the downed aircraft in Annapolis County, N.S., and found the pilot conscious, said a news release from the department.

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Forty-one more graves found by penetrating radar at B.C. residential school site, First Nation says

Children from the shishalh First Nation as well as 53 other nations from as far away as Saskatchewan were at the St. Augustine’s Residential School, the shishalh First Nation said in a statement.

A First Nation in British Columbia says 41 “additional unmarked graves” have been found as a result of a search with ground-penetrating radar on the site of a former residential school.

The shishalh First Nation, on B.C.’s Sunshine Coast, said in a release Friday that a team has been scanning the area around St. Augustine’s Residential School site for the last 18 months, at locations identified through interviews with survivors.

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With Poilievre on the ballot, voters in an overlooked corner of Alberta look for a brighter future

Some voters fear Battle River—Crowfoot would be poorly represented by Pierre Poilievre as he has no connection to the riding and will be busy with his duties as Conservative Leader.

Long tables line the community hall in Round Hill, weighed down by hundreds of items of baking, flowers, crops, crafts and canned goods, all entered by locals hoping to snag a coveted prize ribbon at the Agricultural Society’s annual Bench Show.

But standing by the woodwork he was judging, self-confessed politics junkie Mathew Banack has the area’s imminent federal by-election on his mind. He’s sure Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre will win the Battle River—Crowfoot by-race when he and other voters head to the polls on Monday in Alberta.

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Family of Ashlee Shingoose delivers tearful victim-impact statement

Albert Shingoose, father of Ashlee Shingoose, who was murdered by Jeremy Skibicki, is comforted outside the Manitoba Law Courts before they entered to present victim impact statements to the court in Winnipeg on Friday.

The voice of Ashlee Shingoose, discussing her determination to start a new life, echoed in a Manitoba Superior Court Friday, as her family addressed a judge for the first time to express the devastation caused by her murder at the hands of a serial killer.

Ms. Shingoose, then 30, had sent the voice clip to her mother, Theresa, shortly before she went missing in March of 2022. She moved to Winnipeg from her Northern Manitoba home in St. Theresa Point First Nation, hoping for better work, but began to struggle with homelessness and was seeking help for addiction issues.

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Montreal police open investigation after reports multiple people were allegedly poisoned at music fest 

Montreal police say they are working closely with security teams from the îLESONIQ music festival, which was held on Aug. 9-10.

Montreal police have opened a criminal investigation into reports that people at a music festival last weekend were allegedly poisoned without their knowledge.

Police say six people have reported feeling a “sharp prick” in the back of their body while they were in the crowd at the îLESONIQ music festival at Parc Jean-Drapeau.

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Canada has the most measles cases on the continent, Pan American Health Organization says

The Pan American Health Organization says Canada has the highest number of measles cases on the continent and more action is needed to address low vaccination rates.

The regional agency within the World Health Organization, which covers North and South America, says there has been an exponential rise in measles this year.

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Longest ballot protest in Alberta federal by-election is ‘abuse of process,’ says former chief electoral officer

There are 214 candidates running in Monday’s Battle River-Crowfoot by-election, where Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is hoping to win a seat.

Former chief electoral officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley says an electoral reform protest known as the Longest Ballot Committee is unwarranted and unjustified, and is reiterating his long-standing call for politicians to change election laws to address it.

There are a record 214 candidates running in Monday’s Battle River-Crowfoot by-election, where Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is hoping to win a seat. Of those names, 201 are linked to the committee.

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Wildfire evacuation alert in place as residents return to St. John’s suburb

A water bomber provides a steady steam of water to assist crews on the ground at the Paddy's Pond wildfire.

There was a very happy chicken in a suburb of St. John’s, N.L., on Friday after residents who had been forced to leave their homes because of a wildfire were finally cleared to return.

Hazel, a four-year-old red sex-link chicken, belongs to Susan Barrett, who was evacuated from her Paradise, N.L., home on Tuesday. Barrett was staying at her parents with her husband and their two German shepherds; Hazel had to spend her days sequestered in a garage.

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Smith met with anger, criticism at Alberta Next Panel in Edmonton

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith speaks during a news conference in October, 2024. Despite vocal critics at Thursday evening's town hall, most attendees registered their support in polls.

A travelling panel collecting public feedback on Alberta’s grievances with Ottawa struggled to keep an emotionally charged crowd on topic at its third summer town hall on Thursday night.

Premier Danielle Smith and members of her Alberta Next panel drew its biggest crowd yet – nearly 750 people – in Edmonton to brainstorm about possible future referendum questions.

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Concordia University student rocket makes history but falls short of reaching space

See the launch of Concordia University's student rocket Starsailor on Friday.

For the first time this century, a rocket built and launched in Canada has reached for outer space – an attempt made not by a private company or government agency, but by a group of engineering students at Concordia University in Montreal who spent seven years turning their homegrown dreams of space flight into reality.

The rocket, dubbed Starsailor, lifted off on Friday at 5:34 a.m. from an isolated launch site in the Mistissini region of Northern Quebec.

© Space Concordia

Concordia University engineering student's spacecraft Starsailor launched at 5:34 a.m. in the Mistissini region of northern Quebec on Aug. 15, 2025.
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Morning Update: This ballet brings blindness to the stage

Good morning. If you had to describe a dance to someone who couldn’t see it, what would you say? That idea is the jumping-off point of a new ballet production that explores vision loss, offering a different perspective on performance. More on that below, plus Air Canada interruptions and detained Canadian questions. But first:

Today’s headlines

  • In a rare move, a Manitoba judge will hold a special hearing for the family of a serial-killer victim, Ashlee Shingoose, to speak about the impact of the crimes
  • The province of Ontario orders public servants back to the office five days a week starting in 2026
  • Russian President Vladimir Putin praised U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to end the war in Ukraine, as the two leaders prepared for the U.S.–Russia summit in Alaska

© Melissa Tait

Playwright and performer Devon Healey with Robert Binet, choreographer, during rehearsal. Rainbow on Mars is a National Ballet of Canada and Outside the March multidisciplinary performance.
July 18, 2025
(Melissa Tait/The Globe and Mail)
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Rare post-trial hearing will give family of Winnipeg serial killer’s once-unidentified victim a chance to speak

St. Theresa Point Anisininew Nation Chief Raymond Flett speaks at a press conference confirming the identity of Ashlee Shingoose as Buffalo Woman at the Carol Shields Auditorium in the Millennium Library in Winnipeg in March.

When a serial killer was convicted last year of murdering four First Nations women in Winnipeg, the family of one of his victims, Ashlee Shingoose, never got the chance to speak about the impact of his crimes because her identity wasn’t known then.

A Manitoba judge is giving them that opportunity Friday in a special hearing, where members of Ms. Shingoose’s family and community will provide statements for the first time in court.

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Vancouver Island fishing hot spot Bamfield grapples with prolonged power outage as wildfire burns

The Mount Underwood wildfire southwest of Port Alberni, B.C., on Monday.  A transmission line into the town of Bamfield was blown Monday night by the wildfire.

The 300 or so year-round residents of Bamfield, B.C., are no strangers to power outages, often forced to go a day or so in the winter without electricity in their craggy hamlet on southwestern Vancouver Island.

But, on Thursday, many locals were on edge during their third day without power, as they sought out gas for generators to keep upward of a thousand tourists comfortable and hundreds of kilograms of salmon they had just caught from rotting.

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Canadian-led patrol finds alleged shark finning, killing of dolphins in North Pacific

A Canadian Coast Guard vessel conducted 41 high-seas inspections between May and July, finding 39 potential violations of international fisheries rules, an official says.

A Canadian-led patrol of the North Pacific earlier this year uncovered dozens of alleged fisheries violations, including illegal shark finning and killing of dolphins.

Sean Wheeler, international enforcement chief for the Fisheries Department, said the two-month surveillance mission was the first to include crews from other countries, including the United States, Japan and South Korea, on a single vessel.

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Ottawa has duty to ensure welfare of Canadians in ICE custody, advocates say

Analysis shows that as of the end of July, 56 Canadians arrested this year were still in ICE detention.

The growing number of Canadian citizens detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is disturbing and raises questions about whether Ottawa is doing enough to ensure the well-being of Canadians in custody, experts say, after revelations that Canadian children as young as two years old have been held for weeks in immigration detention this year.

The Globe and Mail on Thursday published extensive analysis of American enforcement data revealing that 149 Canadian citizens have been held at some point in ICE custody since January, when President Donald Trump took office and ordered an expansive immigration crackdown.

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Wildfire in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley forces evacuations

A water bomber makes a pass over the Susies Lake wildfire in Halifax on Tuesday.

An evacuation order in the West Dalhousie area of Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley was expanded late Thursday after a lightning strike ignited nearby woodlands the night before and triggered an intense, out-of-control wildfire.

The County of Annapolis expanded the area covered by an evacuation order that was first issued on Thursday morning and covered about 40 homes.

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