Tag: canada

$5.5-million taxpayer-funded Manitoba daycare sits empty, flooded, and stripped by thieves

A $5.5-million daycare built with provincial funding has never cared for a single child and is now flooded, vandalized and stripped of valuable equipment.

The 74-space facility in East St. Paul was completed in 2024 for the Peguis First Nation Real Estate Trust. It was one of 22 daycares commissioned under Manitoba’s former Progressive Conservative government.

The province paid $3.3 million toward the project before cutting off funding in November 2024 amid uncertainty over who owns the land.

A CBC News investigation found broken windows, shattered glass, a damaged security system and extensive water damage. Two commercial refrigerators and a dishwasher have disappeared, copper wiring has been stripped, and rooftop air-conditioning units have been partially dismantled.

After the building went months without electricity, its sump pump stopped operating and approximately half a metre of water accumulated in the basement.

Patrick Ryan, volunteer board chair of Created 4 Me Early Learning Centre, estimated the damage now exceeds $1 million. The organization, which has 800 children on its waiting list, hired staff for the facility but later had to let them go.

The dispute began after the Peguis trust sold 75 percent of the company controlling the property to a numbered company owned by Andrew Marquess, a former trust adviser. The province says the ownership change may violate its operating agreement.

Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Tracy Schmidt said the government still has not received documentation confirming ownership and cannot provide a timeline for opening the daycare.

A former deputy minister also warned that the project may not have followed normal provincial or municipal procurement practices.

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Justice Watch: Justice Gethin Edward gives house arrest to driver who killed 12-year-old girl

An Ontario judge sentenced a man convicted of dangerous driving causing death and bodily harm to two years of house arrest after he killed a 12-year-old girl and left her mother requiring around-the-clock care.

Justice Gethin Edward rejected the Crown’s request for a four-year penitentiary sentence for 31-year-old Darris James Wilson.

Wilson was driving approximately 90 km/h in a 50 km/h zone when his Dodge Ram crossed the centre line and struck a Mitsubishi head-on near Oakland, Ont., in February 2022. Investigators found no evidence that Wilson braked before the collision.

The crash killed Sierra Beverly, who was being driven to a sleepover, and caused her mother, Naomi Beverly, multiple fractures and an acquired brain injury. Beverly now requires 24-hour supervision.

Police found open and unopened beer cans around Wilson’s seat, although responding officers said they observed no signs of impairment.

Edward acknowledged more than a dozen victim impact statements describing the family’s grief but placed significant weight on Wilson’s Indigenous background and the effects of colonialism on his connection to Six Nations culture.

The judge heard from a sentencing circle of Wilson’s relatives and supporters and credited his efforts to reconnect with traditional practices following the crash.

Edward said sending Wilson to prison would once again allow the state to take away the culture that had been “systematically” taken from his family by the Canadian government.

“I’m left with this simple refrain: ‘If not now, when. If not this case, what case?’” Edward said. “Now, and this case.”

Wilson will serve two years of house arrest at a Brant County residence while wearing a GPS ankle monitor. He may leave for work, school, church and medical appointments. He is prohibited from driving, consuming alcohol or using non-prescription drugs.

Sierra’s parents called the sentence deeply disappointing and said it felt inadequate after four-and-a-half years of waiting for justice.

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Justice Watch: Justice Indra Maharaj scolds Crown for allowing too many victim statements after nine-year-old’s killing

An Alberta judge criticized prosecutors for permitting too many relatives and family friends to address the court after a carjacker high on meth killed a nine-year-old Calgary girl, according to a story first reported by the National Post.

Justice Indra Maharaj made the remarks while sentencing Duane Nepoose to 10 years in prison for the Boxing Day 2024 death of Victoria Desjardins.

Nepoose had violently stolen a Dodge Caravan and was fleeing police when he drove through a red light at approximately 170 km/h. The resulting collision killed Victoria and seriously injured her mother, sister and another woman.

He pleaded guilty to robbery, fleeing police, dangerous driving causing death and three counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm.

Twenty-two victim impact statements were submitted, with 18 presented to the court. Maharaj described their number, scope and content as “unusual.”

The judge said statements from Victoria’s immediate family and other direct victims were useful but questioned submissions from aunts, uncles, cousins and family friends. Some portions were disregarded because they described the hospital scene or memorialized the child.

Maharaj also admonished the Crown for allowing three of Victoria’s young cousins to present individual statements about losing her. She suggested their experiences could have been condensed into a single community impact statement delivered by an adult.

“While I accept that these young relatives were genuinely affected, their statements largely addressed the broader family and community impact of the death,” Maharaj wrote.

The judge similarly said a heartfelt statement from Victoria’s babysitter “tended toward a memorial” and could have been included in a collective family statement.

Under the Criminal Code, victim impact statements may describe the physical, emotional and financial consequences of a crime. Courts may exclude irrelevant, inflammatory or prejudicial material, but the law does not require extended families to consolidate their grief into a single statement.

Victoria was remembered as an outgoing and creative girl who loved nature and the outdoors.

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Police show up at Tanya Gaw’s door over ‘hate speech’

Tanya Gaw, co-founder of Action4Canada, says two police officers arrived at her home to inform her she was under investigation for the “willful promotion of hate” under Section 319 of the Criminal Code, with no evidence to support the complaint.

The exchange, captured on video, was discussed at length on Friday’s Rebel Roundup livestream by Sheila Gunn Reid and Drea Humphrey, who said the encounter was both alarming and emblematic of a double standard in how hate-related complaints are pursued by police.

In the recording, an officer identifying himself as Constable Mason told Gaw the complaint concerns material posted to her website and social media accounts that he said specifically target Muslims and Islam. Gaw pushed back, telling the officer everything on her site is factual and carefully researched, and asked for a letter detailing the specific posts in question before agreeing to speak further.

Drea said Gaw has a track record of choosing her words carefully, noting she is currently facing an unrelated lawsuit from a drag queen and, in that case too, was measured in what she actually said publicly.

“She really didn’t even say the things. Like she was very careful in her wording,” Drea said.

The hosts also noted the officer’s appearance and manner during the exchange, joking that he did not initially strike them as a credible authority figure.

“Why does that cop look like during the pandemic when Justin Trudeau was giving press conferences on the steps of Rideau Cottage?” Sheila said.

Beyond the tone of the encounter, the hosts questioned why police would investigate Gaw’s website while, in their view, taking no similar action against other public figures who have made inflammatory comments. They pointed to remarks made by Harsha Walia, former executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, after a string of church fires several years ago.

“And when the churches first started burning, she said, burn it all down. Did any police go to her door? No, of course not,” Sheila said.

Drea said the pattern raises broader concerns about who is targeted for scrutiny and who is not.

“I wonder how many police are going to the doors of people posting hateful things against Christians. That’s happening all the time,” Drea said.

Rebel News intends to follow up directly with Gaw for more detail on the investigation.

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Mortality Data Reveal ‘Screaming Safety Signals’ Following COVID Vaccine Rollout

Excess mortality researcher Denis Rancourt, Ph.D., on Tuesday told Canadian lawmakers that national mortality statistics show “screaming safety signals” following the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines — including increases in deaths among infants and children and increases in turbo cancers.

Testifying at Canada’s Allison Inquiry, Rancourt also argued that COVID-19-era government interventions — including lockdowns, isolating the elderly, closing businesses and withdrawing government support programs — also drove excess mortality during the pandemic.

Rancourt based his arguments on his analysis of official mortality data from Statistics Canada and in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He described how COVID-19 vaccines directly harmed individuals, and how specific pandemic policies caused broader societal harm.

His presentation came on the opening day of the Allison Inquiry, a four-day hearing chaired by Canadian Member of Parliament Dean Allison. The inquiry collected testimony from 50 Canadians injured by COVID-19 vaccines, along with testimony from physicians, scientists and other witnesses.

4,000 excess infant deaths in the U.S. alone

Infant mortality had been declining in the U.S. before the pandemic. That trend reversed during the pandemic, according to Rancourt’s data — but not until 2022, nine months after COVID-19 vaccination was recommended for pregnant women.

Rancourt estimated the change represented approximately 4,000 excess infant deaths in the U.S. from 2022 to 2024.

He presented a similar case for Canada, although the raw numbers were much lower due to the smaller population. After Canada issued its vaccine guidance for pregnant women on May 28, 2021, he said mortality rose among infants, with a marked increase nine months after the recommendations.

He estimated there were 200 excess infant deaths in Canada during that time, with 10 excess pregnancy-related deaths.

Data show 2,000+ excess deaths among 1- to 4-year-olds in U.S.

Rancourt identified more than 2,000 excess deaths among children ages 1-4 in the U.S. between 2021 and 2024.

He attributed an initial increase in 2021 partly to the abrupt withdrawal of federal financial assistance in some states.

But Rancourt said the largest increase coincided with the June 17, 2022, authorization of COVID-19 vaccines for young children. Excess deaths peaked precisely with the vaccine rollout.

Canadian mortality data showed a similar age-specific pattern. Rancourt shared mortality trends for Canadian children ages 1-4, 5-9 and 10-14, showing each group experienced a pronounced increase during the year COVID-19 vaccines became available for that particular age group.

The spikes in excess mortality were “very sudden,” he said. The increases did not occur during the first two years of the pandemic, he emphasized.

“As soon as you vaccinated these age groups and not before, not when there was COVID, not in the first two years of the pandemic. But when you started vaccinating them, that is the signature that you see in the mortality [data],” Rancourt said. “It’s absolutely stunning.”

He estimated 410 excess deaths among Canadian children ages 1-14.

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Alberta woman hauled before human rights tribunal for opposing rainbow crosswalk

George Orwell wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four nearly 80 years ago as a warning about totalitarianism. The novel’s true horror isn’t censorship — it’s compelled speech. In the book’s climax, the rebellious Winston Smith is sent to the Ministry of Love, where torture is used to force him to agree that an obvious falsehood is the truth. Asked how many fingers his tormentor is holding up, the correct answer isn’t four or five — it’s whatever the party says it is.

Nineteen Eighty-Four was fiction. But in 2026, examples of compelled speech in Canada are not hard to find.

Take the claim that a mass grave of Indigenous children sits at a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C. — a claim unsupported by any forensic evidence to date. Simply asking questions about it, or declining to wear an orange shirt on September 30, is enough to be branded a denier and an enemy of reconciliation. Merely questioning the official Kamloops narrative could one day be treated as a criminal matter.

Then there’s gender identity, where a person born with a penis is a man and a person born with a vagina is a woman — a statement now considered controversial enough to invite official sanction. A U.S. Supreme Court justice, asked to define the word “woman,” could not do it. And in Canadian institutions, a man who says he identifies as a woman is now entitled to compete against women in sports, shower in women’s changerooms, and be housed in women’s prisons. Object, and expect to be labelled a hater, a bigot, and a transphobe.

Canada has no Ministry of Love, and no torture chambers. But there is more than one way to enforce conformity, and a case headed to the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal on September 14 shows how it’s done.

Westlock, Alberta, resident Benita Pedersen — a DJ, children’s entertainer, and event coordinator — is facing a human rights complaint over a flyer she handed out three years ago opposing a proposed rainbow crosswalk incorporating the colours of the transgender pride flag. According to the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedom, Pedersen’s flyer stated facts, including the potential for infertility following gender transition, and encouraged residents to contact their elected representatives if they shared her concerns.

On June 19, 2023, local resident Laurie Hodge filed a complaint against Pedersen under the Alberta Human Rights Act, alleging the flyer constituted discrimination based on gender, gender expression, and gender identity. Hodge was not on Westlock town council at the time. Both women ran in a January 2024 by-election; Pedersen finished second, Hodge third — though Hodge was later elected to council in a subsequent vote. Whether the complaint was ever really about a crosswalk, or about eliminating a political rival, is a fair question.

The Director of the Alberta Human Rights Commission has since taken carriage of the complaint on Hodge’s behalf and referred it to the Tribunal under Section 3 of the Act, which bars publications likely to expose people to hatred based on protected characteristics. The Director is expected to call an expert witness to testify that failing to paint the crosswalk could cause physical and mental harm to transgender and marginalized youth. Pedersen, in turn, must rely on evidence from an endocrinologist and a psychiatrist specializing in gender dysphoria simply to defend a flyer about a paint scheme. In May, the Director moved to exclude most of Pedersen’s witnesses as irrelevant; the Tribunal denied that motion in July.

“Albertans should be free to express their opinions on controversial topics without being accused of hatred and discrimination,” said constitutional lawyer Allison Pejovic of the Justice Centre.

Pedersen’s case is not isolated. The Supreme Court of British Columbia has granted four organizations intervenor status in nurse Amy Hamm’s appeal of a March 2025 disciplinary ruling by the British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives, which found her guilty of unprofessional conduct over online statements she made about sex, gender, and sex-based rights between 2018 and 2021. In a decision released September 8, Justice J. Hughes granted standing to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C., West Coast LEAF, Egale Canada, and the Association for Reformed Political Action Canada (ARPA), while dismissing an application from the Vancouver Lesbian Collective. ARPA is expected to argue that criticizing gender identity theory does not amount to discrimination or hatred. Hamm’s appeal is scheduled to be heard in Vancouver this November.

The reach of compelled speech isn’t limited to tribunals and regulators. In 2024, David was covering a story on Ash Davis, a biological male competing on the Fergus Highlanders women’s rugby team, when Ontario Provincial Police officers threatened him with arrest simply for asking questions on a public sports field. Later that same day, while conducting consensual interviews with spectators in the stands — not on the field, not interfering with play — police made good on the threat and arrested him. 

All of this unfolds while southern Ontario endures a record crime wave, raising the obvious question of what, exactly, police resources are being prioritized for.

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Ottawa builds ‘trusted news’ directory as Miller warns of ‘illegitimate’ media

The Carney government is funding a directory designed to help Canadians find local news they can trust, as Ottawa increasingly casts state-funded media as a defence against disinformation and threats to “social cohesion.”

According to Access to Information records obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter, the Department of Canadian Heritage is funding researchers to build a “comprehensive, regularly updated Canadian local news directory.”

“The information will help policymakers and others make more data-informed decisions about where interventions are needed and will help people struggling to find local news they can trust,” said an April 26 departmental memo.

The three-year project is being compiled by researchers at Toronto Metropolitan, Laval and Concordia universities. Canadian Heritage had spent $100,000 on the initiative at the time of the records, while the total budget was redacted.

The memo said the directory would reflect “qualified journalism organizations,” a Canada Revenue Agency designation used in determining eligibility for federal journalism tax measures.

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Federal prosecutors defend job posting that placed white, heterosexual applicants last

The Public Prosecution Service of Canada is defending an internal hiring process that gave priority to applicants from selected racial, disability, Indigenous and LGBTQ groups.

According to reporting by Blacklock’s Reporter, an internal call letter for an $81,000-a-year recordkeeping position at the Nunavut Regional Office said candidates who self-identified as members of specified groups would be considered “before others.”

The position involved supporting complex and high-priority cases, including homicide prosecutions and dangerous-offender applications within Nunavut’s circuit court system.

“We will consider employees who self-declare as being a Black person, a racialized person, a person living with a disability, a First Nation, an Inuit, a Métis or a member of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community for this opportunity before others,” the notice reportedly stated.

Applicants were instructed to include their self-declared identity in their résumés.

Prosecution Service spokesperson Alessia Bongiovanni denied that the preferential process violated anti-discrimination provisions in federal collective agreements.

Bongiovanni said the Employment Equity Act permits measures intended to address historical disadvantage and under-representation. She argued that workplace equality may require proactive hiring measures in addition to equal treatment.

The policy effectively placed white, heterosexual applicants without disabilities behind candidates belonging to one or more of the preferred groups.

The Treasury Board reported in July that representation of all federally designated employment-equity groups increased between 2010 and 2025.

Women now account for 59 percent of employees in the federal government’s core administration. Visible minorities comprise 24 percent, employees with disabilities nine percent and Indigenous employees 5.5 percent.

Ottawa maintains that preferential employment measures are necessary to create what it calls a “diverse and representative public service.”

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Agriculture Canada admits researchers breached scientific integrity rules

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has acknowledged cases of potential scientific misconduct involving improper publication practices and unauthorized animal research, but the department is refusing to identify the employees or studies involved.

The admission was uncovered by Blacklock’s Reporter in the department’s annual report, Addressing Misconduct and Wrongdoing at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

“Concerns were raised regarding non-compliance with the department’s policy on science and technology publications related to the publication of scientific articles and book chapters,” the report said.

Officials also received complaints involving the unauthorized use of animals for research. The department said the allegations were reviewed under its science-integrity policy but provided no details about the findings, consequences or affected research.

The policy applies to federal employees and affiliated researchers involved in conducting, managing, reviewing or communicating scientific work.

Possible breaches include fabricating or misrepresenting data, improper authorship, failing to acknowledge scientific contributions, interfering with the release of findings and violating ethical or legal research requirements.

Despite the admission, no federal agency has attempted to document the full extent of plagiarism across the federal government.

A 2015 case involving an open-book Transport Canada employment examination found that six of 114 applicants had plagiarized material. The Public Service Commission concluded the applicants knowingly presented someone else’s work as their own to improve their chances of being hired.

Records released in 2017 revealed the commission had received 67 allegations involving plagiarism and résumé fraud over two years. At least seven cases were referred to the RCMP.

Agriculture Canada did not disclose whether the latest cases resulted in disciplinary action or whether any compromised publications were withdrawn or corrected.

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Regina University union files grievance over dumpster for wrong-think

The University of Regina Faculty Association has filed a formal policy grievance over the presence of a Just Bins dumpster on campus after reportedly failing to have it removed from university property.

Just Bins, a Regina-based waste disposal company known for its irreverent social media presence and outspoken political commentary, revealed the dispute Monday on X.

“After failing to have a Just Bins dumpster removed from university property, the University of Regina Faculty Association has officially filed a policy grievance over the presence of a Just Bins dumpster on the campus,” the company wrote.

A photograph posted alongside the announcement shows one of the company’s bins positioned outside a university building. The union’s complaint reportedly centres on Just Bins’ public messaging rather than the dumpster’s condition or the service being provided.

The garbage container appears to work just fine. The union simply objects to the opinions associated with the company whose logo is painted on it.

Universities routinely present themselves as defenders of academic freedom, ideological diversity and open debate. Attempting to banish a dumpster because its owner expresses unfashionable views would seem to demonstrate precisely the opposite.

For now, the bin remains on campus, stubbornly performing its intended function while committing the apparent offence of belonging to the wrong company.

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