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What survivors learned from Canada’s worst wildfires

When fires burned near towns or villages in the past, they were stamped out, and fast. “Redshirts,” as Canada’s wildland firefighters are still known – although they wear banana yellow now – reliably came to the rescue.

Those days are over.

© DARREN HULL

Residents watch the McDougall Creek wildfire in West Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, on August 17, 2023, from Kelowna. Evacuation orders were put in place for areas near Kelowna, as the fire threatened the city of around 150,000. Canada is experiencing a record-setting wildfire season, with official estimates of over 13.7 million hectares (33.9 million acres) already scorched. Four people have died so far. (Photo by Darren HULL / AFP) (Photo by DARREN HULL/AFP via Getty Images)
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RCMP recover $56-million from cryptocurrency platform called TradeOgre

 In this image supplied by the RCMP, officers are seen working. The RCMP said their money-laundering team began an investigation last year after a tip from European authorities

The RCMP say they have taken down a cryptocurrency platform that was being used mainly for criminal transactions, what the force claims is the largest crypto bust in Canadian history.

In a statement Thursday, the force’s federal policing wing in Quebec said it had recovered $56-million from a platform known as TradeOgre, “the first time that a cryptocurrency exchange platform has been dismantled by Canadian law enforcement.”

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Number of asylum seekers turned back by Canada grows despite U.S. threat of third-country deportation

Asylum seekers cross into Canada from the U.S. border near a checkpoint on Roxham Road near Hemmingford, Que., in 2022. Canada turned back 3,282 people under the Safe Third Country Agreement in the first eight months of 2025.

Canada’s government is sending more asylum-seekers hoping to file claims in Canada back to the U.S. under a bilateral pact, even as the U.S. says it may deport them to third countries.

Some of the people Canada is turning back should be eligible to file refugee claims in Canada, lawyers say, under exemptions to the Safe Third Country Agreement. The agreement broadly requires asylum-seekers at the Canada-U.S. border to be sent back to the first of the two countries they entered but allows some people - for example those with close family in Canada or stateless persons - to file claims.

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Premier Smith’s Alberta Next panel met with praise, pushed to act in Grande Prairie

The Alberta Next panel will host a final in-person town hall in Calgary at the end of the month.

Premier Danielle Smith’s Alberta Next panel, aimed at wrenching more political control from Ottawa, was spurred to take action in Grande Prairie Wednesday.

The panel is expected to eventually pick six ideas that could become potential referendum questions, and the naysayers were again outnumbered in a packed house of more than 500 attendees.

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Progressive groups plan protests this weekend to challenge elements of Carney agenda

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s support for new fossil fuel projects and expected public service cuts are among some of the concerns motivating Saturday’s protests.

Canada-wide protests are planned this weekend, a coalition of progressive civil society groups say, in what organizers call an emerging “common front” to elements of the new Liberal government’s agenda.

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s support for new fossil fuel projects, expected public service cuts, expanded military support and new border measures are some of the concerns motivating Saturday’s co-ordinated day of action, organizers of the Draw The Line protests say.

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Sarah McLachlan considers if Lilith Fair could ever be revived

Vancouver-based musician Sarah McLachlan says working on the new documentary Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery kicked up old emotions tied to her memories of the influential all-female tour. But she says if it were ever to be revived for another iteration it would have to be done by a younger artists. The film is streaming on CBC Gem and premieres on Hulu in the United States on Sept. 21.

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Telus partners with Samsung on software platform to drive AI-powered networks

Samsung Canada's head of networks says the partnership will allow Telus to run a more robust, high-performing network, reduce energy consumption and automate certain tasks.

Telus Corp. T-T is partnering with Samsung to deploy what it calls Canada’s first commercial radio access network intelligent controller, a software platform that will help eventually deliver networks fully powered by artificial intelligence.

Samsung said its technology will enable automation, enhanced energy efficiency and optimized performance across Telus’s wireless network.

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Patron of the arts Dr. Janusz Dukszta was famous for his Toronto soirées

A psychiatrist, politician and patron of the arts, Janusz Dukszta was a man of many faces – literally. His two-bedroom apartment, on the edge of Toronto’s exclusive Rosedale neighbourhood, was filled with paintings, many of them portraits of himself, sometimes alone, sometimes with friends and family. They were hung everywhere, higgledy-piggledy, on walls, suspended from the ceiling, or mounted three-deep over packed bookshelves.

Toronto psychiatrist Janusz Dukszta threw parties at his home where guests who might not otherwise meet would gather.

It was not narcissism that prompted Dr. Dukszta to commission such portraits, but rather a desire to support artists who were starting their careers, and a deep-seated curiosity about the process of transformation and transcendence. How would others see him? Serious and natty in one of his many Savile Row-tailored suits, or posing in the nude, it did not matter. As he told this newspaper in 2010, “I am much more interesting than a vase or a mandolin.”

© Vincenzo Pietropaolo

Toronto psychiatrist Janusz Dukszta
credit: Vincenzo Pietropaolo
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Morning Update: Plant-based meat has lost its sizzle

Good morning. Meatballs built IKEA’s food empire but its plant balls failed to make a dent in the MAGA era – more on that below, along with Jimmy Kimmel’s indefinite suspension and Donald Trump’s state visit. But first:

Today’s headlines

© Kyle Berger

Comedian and actress, Sarah Hillier at the IKEA store in Etobicoke on September 12, 2025.
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CRTC begins hearing on Cancon requirements for music streamers

Music streamers Spotify, Apple and Amazon, as well as radio broadcasters Rogers, Bell and Corus, filed submissions ahead of the CRTC hearing.

The federal broadcast regulator begins a hearing today to look at which Canadian content obligations should apply to music streamers like Spotify.

Streaming services argue their current efforts to promote Canadian culture – and the royalties they pay – are good enough. Radio broadcasters, meanwhile, say their sector is in serious decline and they want the CRTC to take a lighter regulatory touch for traditional players.

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Alberta schools are overcrowded as province struggles to keep up with population growth

Kira Schulz and her daughter Skyelar Schmidt walk through the grounds of École Edwards Elementary School in Airdrie, Alta., on July 4. Ms. Schulz is concerned about overcrowding in schools after learning that her daughter Skyelar's school will convert its library and music room into classrooms to accommodate rising enrolment.

Kira Schulz is standing in the field behind her daughter’s elementary school in the Alberta city of Airdrie and trying to make sense of space.

If the school adds modular classrooms to accommodate new students – the local school division has asked the government for several – where will the children play, Ms. Schulz wonders.

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