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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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Weir relishing the chance to play in Canada again at Rogers Charity Classic in Calgary

Mike Weir takes a swing during the RBC Canadian Open Golf Pro Am in Alton, Ont., Wednesday, June 4, 2025.

Playing golf in Canada never gets old for Mike Weir.

The Canadian Golf Hall of Famer will tee it up once again in Calgary in the Rogers Charity Classic at Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club. It’s the fifth straight year that the 55-year-old golfer from Brights Grove, Ont., will play in front of enthusiastic fans from his home country at the three-day PGA Tour Champions event, which runs from Friday to Sunday.

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U.S. State Department report depicts Online News Act as undermining press freedom in Canada

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is determined to eliminate both the Online News Act and the Online Streaming Act, one expert says.

The U.S. State Department is taking aim at Canada’s Online News Act in a human rights report that criticizes press freedom in Canada – which experts characterized Thursday as Orwellian.

The Online News Act, which requires Meta and Google to compensate news publishers for the use of their content, is cited in a section of the report covering freedom of the press.

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Conservatives plan national campaign to scrap zero-emission vehicle mandate

Conservative voters were the most likely to be opposed to the EV mandate, with only 11 per cent saying they felt the target is necessary, according to a poll.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has set his sights on Canada’s electric vehicle mandate, pledging Thursday that his party will embark on a national campaign to push the Liberal government to scrap the policy he’s dubbed the “Carney tax.”

Poilievre led the charge as the Conservatives relentlessly attacked the consumer carbon price over the last two years, with the Liberals admitting the Tory tactics swayed public opinion and forced them to end the so-called carbon tax earlier this year.

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Vancouver Island wildfire near Port Alberni grows by more than half, moving away from urban areas

Smoke from the Mount Underwood wildfire, southwest of Port Alberni, B.C., prompted Environment Canada to expand an air quality advisory.

The wildfire that has triggered evacuation orders and alerts on south-central Vancouver Island measured more than 34 square kilometres on Thursday, about 58 per cent larger than what it was the day before.

The Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District’s emergency operations centre confirmed the growth of the fire, saying it was “in line with expectations.”

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Saskatchewan lifts fire ban as evacuees from some Manitoba communities return home

The South Saskatchewan River is enveloped in wildfire smoke in Sept., 2023. Several areas in Saskatchewan and Manitoba have spent the summer under wildfire-induced fire bans.

Wildfire officials in Saskatchewan have lifted a provincial fire ban because the weather has improved, while thousands from displaced communities in Manitoba have begun to return home.

The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency says the ban was lifted late Wednesday for all Crown lands north of the provincial forest boundary up to the Churchill River.

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Thomas Muller focused on titles with Vancouver Whitecaps

German soccer star Thomas Muller says he's far from retirement and remains focused on chasing titles as he joins the Vancouver Whitecaps. The 35-year-old attacking midfielder is the biggest signing in the Major League Soccer club's history. (Aug. 14, 2025)

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Nova Scotian lawyer Sir Graham Day became Margaret Thatcher’s favourite fixer

Sir Graham Day left Nova Scotia as a young man and made his mark in Central Canada before crossing the Atlantic to become a power in British public life.

More than two decades ago, when Lydia Bugden was a rising young lawyer in a Halifax legal firm, an older colleague offered a suggestion: It was time for her to meet Sir Graham Day.

Ms. Bugden was initially puzzled by this proposal. Inside her law firm, Stewart McKelvey, Sir Graham was this towering figure with a huge reputation – legendary corporate director, trusted adviser to Atlantic Canada’s business dynasties, and most famously, Margaret Thatcher’s favourite fixer, who in the 1980s engineered the privatization of British industrial megaliths in the shipbuilding and auto industries.

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Three heat-related deaths in Montreal since Sunday, city’s public health agency says

Miguel Roque finds respite from the heat by reading in the shade of Montreal's Lafontaine Park.

Health officials in Montreal are still working to tally the total number of people who died from heat-related causes since Sunday, when sweltering temperatures took over the city.

The city’s public health department has so far confirmed three reports of heat-related deaths since then, up from one earlier this week. The agency says it has also received reports of at least two cases of heat stroke.

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Versatile actor Joseph Ziegler was endlessly watchable in roles at Stratford and elsewhere

Joseph Ziegler's deep reserves of humanity made him captivating in whatever role he played.

Two of the late actor Joseph Ziegler’s biggest fans were the eminent theatre critic Robert Cushman and his wife, Arlene Gould. Mr. Cushman deemed Mr. Ziegler the kind of actor with so much depth and skill that he could elevate even a less-than-fabulous production. In a tribute, published on his website, Cushman Collected, Mr. Cushman writes of the time when he and Ms. Gould were watching just such a show – a “dismal” revival of Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband. When Mr. Ziegler exited the stage after his first brief scene, Mr. Cushman overheard his wife murmuring, “please come back.”

That was a sentiment shared by many theatregoers. Mr. Ziegler, who died on July 28 at the age of 71, was an endlessly watchable actor, whose deep reserves of humanity made him captivating in whatever role he played. They ran the gamut from the monumental part of Willy Loman, the tragically deluded anti-hero of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, to that of the blind, wheelchair-confined Hamm in Samuel Beckett’s bleak masterpiece Endgame. Mr. Ziegler could have you roaring with laughter at his gum-chewing prowess in the William Saroyan comedy The Time of Your Life, or quietly squeeze your heart as an all-too-real and pitiable miser in his inimitable take on Charles Dickens’s Ebenezer Scrooge.

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Montreal police officers, sanctioned for lying to watchdog, have suspension reduced

Quebec’s police ethics board suspended two officers after it was found they had lied about the medical conditions of a man who died in custody.

A Quebec court judge has overturned the majority of the sanctions against two Montreal police officers who were suspended for lying about their interactions with an inmate who died in custody in 2017.

Judge Alexandre Henri ruled that police watchdog investigators had not informed the officers of their right to remain silent when questioning them on the circumstances surrounding the death of David Tshiteya Kalubi.

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As Newfoundland wildfires rage, misinformation is fanning the flames

Newfoundland and Labrador Premier John Hogan speaks at a news conference. Out-of-control wildfires have threatened St. John's this week and forced thousands from their homes.

Frustrated fire officials in Newfoundland and Labrador battling multiple blazes are also having to contend with online misinformation and people angry at government-imposed precautions.

The out-of-control fires, which have threatened the provincial capital this week and forced thousands from their homes, are among 214 wildfires in the province so far this season, a more than 100-per-cent increase over last year.

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Judge will proceed with review of Alberta separation question

The matter was referred to court last month so a judge could decide if it violates the Constitution.

A judicial review of a proposed Alberta separation referendum question will go ahead, after an application to quash the proceeding and have the question approved without scrutiny was denied.

Court of King’s Bench Justice Colin Feasby said in his ruling Thursday that a judicial review and full hearing on the constitutionality of the question would benefit democracy.

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U.S. Republicans demand that Canada deal with wildfires – but won’t acknowledge climate change

The Statue of Liberty is visible through haze due to Canadian wildfire smoke during sunset in August 2025.

The sternly worded statements and letters are filled with indignation and outrage: Republican U.S. lawmakers say Canada has done too little to contain wildfires and smoke that have fouled the air in several states this summer.

“Instead of enjoying family vacations at Michigan’s beautiful lakes and campgrounds, for the third summer in a row, Michiganders are forced to breathe hazardous air as a result of Canada’s failure to prevent and control wildfires,” read a statement last week from the state’s GOP congressional delegation, echoing similar missives from Republicans in Iowa, New York, North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

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Ontario orders public servants back to office five days a week starting in 2026

Ontario public servants will be required to return to the office full time, with employees going in-person five days a week by January, 2026. Premier Doug Ford says he believes employees are more productive when they work in-person.

The Ontario government is ordering public servants back to the office five days a week starting in 2026, one of the most aggressive moves by a public-sector employer in Canada to curb remote work since it became commonplace during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Oct. 20 of this year, workers who had previously attended the office for a minimum of three days a week will be required to attend four days. And starting Jan. 5, 2026, workers will be expected to be in the office full-time.

© Frank Gunn

Queen’s Park in Toronto, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn
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Evacuation alert extended for Newfoundland fire that may have destroyed up to 100 structures

The fire along the northwestern shore of Conception Bay began on Aug. 3.

Officials in Newfoundland and Labrador extended an evacuation alert Thursday evening, asking residents of a small coastal community to be ready to flee a wildfire that may have already destroyed up to 100 homes and structures.

As a precaution, the province asked residents of Job’s Cove, on Newfoundland’s Bay de Verde Peninsula, to be prepared to leave as a wildfire measuring more than 80 square kilometres roared nearby. The fire near Kingston, N.L., is the largest in the province and has forced about 3,000 others in the area out of their homes.

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Nearly 150 Canadians held in ICE custody this year, including two toddlers, data show

At least two Canadian toddlers have been held in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody this year, including one who was detained for 51 days, more than double the legal detention period for migrant children in the United States, a Globe and Mail analysis of American enforcement data show.

The children, who are under the age of four, were both detained at a remote Texas facility that has been the subject of a legal complaint alleging inadequate access to safe drinking water, medical care and legal assistance. At the time of detention, they appear to have been accompanied by adults who were also apprehended.

© Eric Gay

FILE - Immigrants seeking asylum walk through the ICE South Texas Family Residential Center on Aug. 23, 2019, in Dilley, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
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Toronto man races streetcars on foot – and wins – to highlight transit issues

Mac Bauer calls his races against Toronto streetcars ‘man versus machine.’

A year ago, Mac Bauer and his wife, Jungmin Chang, boarded a streetcar in Toronto’s Leslieville neighbourhood to visit a friend in High Park.

The journey from east to west took more than an hour and felt sluggish to the two runners.

© Cassidy McMackon

This summer, Toronto runner Mac Bauer has been racing Toronto's streetcar routes to see if he can beat transit to the end of its line. Bauer is seen running in Toronto, on Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cassidy McMackon
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