A surge in the number of orca sightings in Vancouver's waters is helping create a community of urban wildlife aficionados, who go online to track the whales and share their experiences. Experts say the long-term recovery of seals and sea lions after the end of widespread culls around 1970 is behind the rise in orca sightings.
Good morning. A new park that will be unveiled tomorrow in Toronto is an ambitious example of moving rivers to bring civic imagination to public spaces. More on that below, plus catching up on First Nation leaders meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney on Bill C-5 and Ukraine’s cabinet shuffle. But first:
First Nations leaders have opposed both the federal government’s Bill C-5 and Ontario’s Bill 5, pieces of legislation that would allow the two governments extraordinary powers to ignore existing laws – including environmental regulations – to fast-track megaprojects such as mines or pipelines.
They say the two bills run roughshod over the constitutional requirement that governments consult First Nations about development on their traditional territories. A group of nine First Nations in Ontario launched a constitutional challenge this week of both Ontario’s and Canada’s bills.
On a sunny July afternoon, the Don River flowed into Toronto Harbour. Its banks were lined with lake sedge, switchgrass and Canada anemone. Paths and bridges laced through the landscape, which looked as if they had always been there.
In fact, this stretch of river and its surrounding lands − now known as Biidaasige Park − are entirely manufactured. They are not a work of nature but a feat of civic imagination.
They are the product of a $1.5-billion effort known as the Port Lands Flood Protection Project, which has redrawn the mouth of the Don and conjured vast new public spaces from what had long been a civic afterthought.
Part of Biidaasige Park nears completion on July 17, 2025, as preparations remain underway ahead of its public opening in Toronto’s Port Lands. (Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail)
Funding for a nine-year-old girl who has an extremely rare neurodegenerative disease has been restored by the British Columbia government.
Health Minister Josie Osborne said Thursday that she has reinstated the funding for Charleigh Pollock for the drug Brineura, which costs about $1 million a year.
The commanding officer of the Cameron Highlanders, an Ottawa reservist unit, has been temporarily removed from his position in the aftermath of a controversy involving soldiers who are alleged to have posted racist comments and sexual images in a private Facebook group.
Army commander Lieutenant-General Michael Wright said in a statement released to media Thursday that he was taking steps to address the “inappropriate behaviour” of Canadian Army members involved in the “Blue Hackle Mafia” Facebook group.
The report was commissioned by the town and surveyed participants and firefighters who battled the wind-whipped blaze that destroyed a third of buildings in the community located in Jasper National Park.
Alberta’s Auditor-General says the provincial government has not done the work to ensure daycares getting public funds use them to lower fees for parents or top up staff wages.
Doug Wylie, in a report released Thursday, says without proper verification, Alberta could be overcompensating operators with federal and provincial funds meant to lower the average cost of daycare to $10 per day.
“There is a risk that public funds may not be used as intended – leading to parents overpaying for child-care and educators being under-compensated,” the report says.
Canada and New Zealand have reached a “mutually satisfactory” resolution to a long-running dispute over access for dairy products, the federal government said in a statement on Thursday.
“This agreement, negotiated in close consultation with Canadian dairy stakeholders, will result in certain minor policy changes to Canada’s TRQ (tariff rate quotas) administration, and does not amend Canada’s market access commitments,” International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu and Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald said in a statement.
Ontario’s police watchdog says it found no grounds to lay a criminal charge against a Thunder Bay officer who approved the cancellation of a domestic disturbance call hours before a woman was found dead in a home.
The Special Investigations Unit has released a report on its investigation into the death of 21-year-old Jenna Ostberg, who the agency said was found without vital signs in a closet in her boyfriend’s bedroom on Dec. 30, 2023.
The number of confirmed measles cases in New Brunswick’s south-central region has more than doubled over the past 24 hours.
Public health officials say there are 13 confirmed cases of the contagious infection in Sussex, N.B., up from five on Wednesday.
Dr. Kimberley Barker, regional medical officer of health for Sussex, said earlier in the week she suspected there could be more cases because some infected people could simply stay home and not seek medical attention.
A health worker prepares a dose of the measles vaccine at a health centre in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, Mexico, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez)
Canada forward Olivia Smith has become the most expensive player in women's soccer history. Arsenal has signed her from Liverpool at a reported £1-million ($1.85-million). The 20-year-old from Whitby, Ont., has rapidly risen since developing in the U.S. college system.
The 17-year-old accused of the attack in Quadeville, Ont., of an eight-year-old girl, whose injuries were initially believed to have been caused by an animal, made a brief appearance in a Pembroke court on Thursday.
The accused, whose identityis protected under Ontario’s Youth Criminal Justice Act, has been charged with attempted murder and sexual assault with a weapon on a person under 16 years old.
The search of a Winnipeg-area landfill for the remains of two slain First Nations women has concluded with a new search soon set to begin at a different site for another victim.
The Manitoba government announced Thursday that crews finished looking last week through the Prairie Green landfill, just north of Winnipeg, for remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran. They were among four First Nations women murdered by serial killer Jeremy Skibicki in 2022.
The Bank of Canada and most other federal Crown corporations will be looking to trim their budgets over the coming years alongside a wider government effort to cut costs.
A spokesperson said in a statement on Thursday that the central bank “intends to align with the spirit and objectives” of the Liberal government’s cost-cutting plans.
The day before the suspected hijacking of a light aircraft triggered a security scare at Vancouver’s airport this week, former commercial pilot Shaheer Cassim posted on social media that he was a “messenger of Allah” sent to save humanity from climate change.
A 39-year-old man with the same name has now been charged with hijacking, constituting terrorism, over the incident on Tuesday that saw Norad scramble F-15 fighter jets before the light plane safely landed.
British Columbia’s cabinet has been reworked in what Premier David Eby says is a strategic shift in order to focus on jobs and the economy.
Former housing minister Ravi Kahlon takes over as minister responsible for jobs from Diana Gibson, who moves into the citizens’ services role previously held by George Chow.
A new analysis by the national housing agency estimates Canada could add 30,000 more housing starts annually by eliminating interprovincial trade barriers.
That would push the total number of annual housing starts close to 280,000 over time, which would represent a “meaningful step towards fixing Canada’s housing supply gap,” Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation said in a report Thursday.
A landmark meeting between Mark Carney and First Nations leaders ended the way it began Thursday, with a divergence of views on display that signalled a long road ahead for the Prime Minister’s plan to fast-track major projects.
Some leaders emerged with a sense that Mr. Carney had listened thoughtfully to their points of view.
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