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Yukon First Nation to oppose all new mining claims as regional land-use planning process gets started

A Yukon First Nation says it will oppose any new mining claims on its traditional territory as it begins a regional land-use planning process with the territory’s government.

The First Nation of Na-Cho Nyak Dun says in a post on Facebook that it is issuing a notice to the mining industry that it will oppose any claim “through all available legal and political avenues.”

The Nation says any such claim staked during the land-use planning process are “unwelcome” and “unlawful,” citing past court decisions that it says “strongly discourages staking claims in the areas” undergoing such a process.

© Adrian Wyld

The Yukon territorial flag flies in Ottawa, Monday July 6, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
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Ottawa upholds CRTC’s wholesale internet rules, says they will foster competition

Industry Minister Mélanie Joly says in a statement the CRTC’s ruling 'will immediately allow for more competition on existing networks for high-speed internet services across the country.'

Ottawa says it will uphold a ruling by Canada’s telecommunications regulator allowing the country’s largest internet companies to provide service to customers using fibre networks built by their rivals – as long as they do so outside their core regions.

Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said in a statement Wednesday evening that the CRTC’s policy “will immediately allow for more competition on existing networks for high-speed internet services across the country.”

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RFK Jr.’s cuts to vaccine funding threaten pandemic preparedness, Canadian health experts warn

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in Washington on July 31. Mr. Kennedy has announced plans to terminate nearly US$500-million in funding for mRNA vaccine development.

Canadian experts in vaccines and infectious diseases say the decision by the U.S. government to terminate nearly US$500-million in funding for mRNA vaccine development is not just illogical but threatens pandemic preparedness.

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Tuesday that 22 mRNA-based projects will be halted and no new projects will be green lit. He claimed data show these vaccines “fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like COVID and flu.”

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Ontario labour group urges more worker protections amid rising air quality concerns

The Ontario Federation of Labour is advocating for better worker protections amid increasing extreme weather events.

An Ontario labour group says it is advocating for more robust worker protections amid growing health concerns over poor air quality as wildfire smoke blankets the province with increasing frequency.

The Ontario Federation of Labour, which represents more than 55 unions across the province, says the push is part of a broader heat stress strategy looking at how climate change is impacting working conditions.

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Some low-income renters struggle during heat waves. They’re calling on governments to help them stay cool

Sandra Walsh sits next to an open window as a fan circulates air throughout her rental apartment in New Glasgow, N.S.

Sandra Walsh was struggling to breathe in her apartment when temperatures across Nova Scotia soared in July, but the woman on social assistance says her pleas for a government-funded air conditioner have been ignored.

“With the high humidity, it effects my breathing and I have to gasp for air,” says the 46-year-old woman, recently diagnosed with a progressive lung disease. “Even taking frequent, cold showers isn’t really helping.”

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Premier Ford objects to court finding Ontario bike-lane law unconstitutional

Ontario's Superior Court ruled removing the bike lanes would put people at an 'increased risk of harm and death' and violate their Charter rights.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford teed off Wednesday on a court decision declaring his law to remove three Toronto bike lanes unconstitutional, calling it the “most ridiculous” ruling he has ever seen.

Ford has already said his government plans to appeal, even as it works on a compromise with the city to both keep the bike lanes and add extra lanes for vehicle traffic.

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Ford proposes three-level tunnel under Highway 401, feasibility study not started

'We’re building that tunnel as sure as I’m talking to you,' Ontario Premier Doug Ford said.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford revealed more details Wednesday about his planned tunnel under Highway 401, even as a feasibility study he’s commissioning has yet to get underway.

Speaking at an unrelated transit announcement in Thornhill, Ont., north of Toronto, Ford said his plan is to have a 19.5-metre-wide, three-level tunnel, with one level going eastbound, one for westbound traffic and a bottom level for transit.

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Nova Scotia releases plan on future transport needs for Halifax and surrounding area

Nova Scotia Public Works Minister Fred Tilley, left to right, Peter Hackett, deputy minister of Link Nova Scotia and Connie Roney, project executive with the Department of Public Works, hold a news conference in Halifax, on Wednesday.

The Nova Scotia government has released its long-awaited plan to address the future transportation needs of Atlantic Canada’s largest city and the surrounding area.

Public Works Minister Fred Tilley told reporters Wednesday that the goal of the Regional Transportation Plan is to transform the transportation system for Halifax and those areas within an hour’s drive of the port city – a region that is home to 63 per cent of the province’s population.

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B.C. wildfire conditions briefly improve, giving reprieve to fire crews

Crews battle the Wesley Ridge wildfire near Coombs, B.C., on Sunday.

Light rain and higher humidity in British Columbia have briefly tempered wildfire activity, but hotter temperatures in the forecast appear poised to create new challenges.

Cliff Chapman, director of wildfire operations with the BC Wildfire Service, said a drying trend starting this weekend is expected to cause the southern half of the province to “heat up again,” raising the wildfire risk.

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Why are fentanyl deaths in Europe a fraction of those seen in North America?

When police in England raided a fentanyl lab outside the northern city of Leeds in early 2017, the bust sent shockwaves across the country.

The raid and subsequent conviction of three men – who made and sold around £164,000 worth of the opioid in five months – was the first major fentanyl case in Britain and it prompted dire warnings from law enforcement officers, health officials and the media that the U.K. was headed for a U.S.-style fentanyl crisis.

© Chad Hipolito

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Three men denied bail in alleged militia plot in Quebec

The three each face one count of facilitating terrorism and are also charged with illegal possession of different quantities of guns and military gear.

Three men who face terrorism charges over allegations that they plotted to take over land near Quebec City were denied bail at a court hearing on Wednesday.

Corporal Marc-Aurèle Chabot and Raphaël Lagacé of Quebec City, along with Simon Angers-Audet from nearby Neuville, Que., were arrested last month. Each face one count of facilitating terrorism.

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Manitoba Métis Federation won’t attend Carney’s major projects meeting over inclusion of Ontario group

President of the Manitoba Metis Federation David Chartrand says that Ottawa’s push to approve major projects is at risk if Ottawa negotiates with 'illegitimate bodies.'

The Manitoba Métis Federation is turning down Prime Minister Mark Carney’s invitation to discuss his government’s controversial major projects legislation, saying it won’t attend the meeting alongside another Métis group it claims has no reason to exist.

The federation, which represents Red River Métis, said Wednesday Carney’s decision to invite the Métis Nation of Ontario to Thursday’s meeting undermines the integrity of the gathering and puts the government’s plans for major projects at risk.

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Air Canada hopes to avoid flight disruptions after attendants vote in favour of strike mandate

The Air Canada component of the Canadian Union of Public Employees says negotiations with the airline are set to resume Friday.

Around 10,000 Air Canada AC-T flight attendants will be in a legal position to strike in less than two weeks, but the airline says it’s confident there is enough runway left to reach a deal that avoids grounding numerous flights.

The Air Canada component of the Canadian Union of Public Employees says negotiations with the airline are set to resume Friday after its members voted 99.7 per cent in favour of a strike mandate.

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Advocates fear Haitian nationals intercepted in Quebec could face deportation if they are returned to U.S.

The Canada Border Services Agency says it arrested and charged three alleged smugglers after police intercepted a truck carrying 44 Haitian nationals in Stanstead, Que.

Canadian authorities intercepted a 16-foot U-Haul truck at the U.S.-Canada border near Stanstead, Que., just minutes after alleged smugglers loaded in 44 people, the RCMP say.

The people found in the sweltering cargo area, most of whom were Haitian nationals, included a pregnant woman and young children, police said. They allegedly told officers they had crossed the border on foot, walking for two hours before the truck picked them up.

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Morning Update: Trump trades tariffs for ‘gifts’

Good morning. Canada is laying the groundwork for USMCA talks while Trump rewrites trade policy one hazy deal at a time – more on that below, along with Victoria Mboko’s Cinderella run at the National Bank Open and a potential Air Canada strike. But first:

Today’s headlines

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Ontario’s private-clinic plan doesn’t add up, prospective applicants warn

Ontario is investing $125-million to add orthopedic surgeries at community surgical centres over the next two years.

The Ontario government, poised to allow private clinics to do publicly funded hip- and knee-replacement surgeries, is facing behind-the-scenes criticism from some of the people who hope to build the new facilities.

The long-delayed move is part of the Progressive Conservative government’s push to boost the involvement of the private sector in the public health care system, in an effort to move more procedures out of hospitals and reduce waiting times.

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Afghan family seeking entry into Canada detained by ICE

An Afghan woman walks along the York Beltline Trail in Toronto, Ont. on July 23. Her family was detained by ICE in the U.S. after fleeing the Taliban.

An Afghan family fleeing the Taliban and seeking to join relatives near Toronto are stuck in a “legal trap” after being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, their lawyers say.

The family was eligible to cross into Canada by land from the U.S. to claim asylum because a close relative – a 32-year-old woman who previously worked for a Western aid organization in Afghanistan – was granted refugee status in Canada last year.

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Wildfires push thousands from homes in Manitoba, Newfoundland, while areas of Nova Scotia on high alert

Trees burned by wildfires in northern Manitoba on June 12. Manitoba has borne the brunt of this year’s damage from wildfires and is under its second 30-day provincewide state of emergency.

Rapidly growing wildfires in several provinces forced thousands of people from their homes and prompted air-quality warnings in cities thousands of kilometres away, while hot and dry conditions had other areas on high alert, including Nova Scotia, where the government banned most summertime activities in wooded areas.

The deteriorating conditions have added up to a wildfire season that is on track to be one of Canada’s worst on record in terms of area burned, second only to 2023.

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Structures destroyed in fast-growing Newfoundland wildfire, Premier Hogan says

Newfoundland and Labrador Premier John Hogan confirmed some structures were destroyed by one of several wildfires burning in the province overnight.

Multiple wildfires are burning in Newfoundland, prompting more evacuation orders and destroying structures in a community in the eastern part of the province.

Newfoundland and Labrador’s premier said during a media briefing Tuesday the out-of-control wildfire near Small Point–Adam’s Cove–Blackhead–Broad Cove and Kingston grew significantly overnight.

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