Tag: canada

Inside Canada’s hidden dog cruelty crisis on First Nations reserves

Canada has a worldwide reputation as a ‘progressive’ nation that champions not only human rights, but also animal rights, which is reflected in provincial and federal laws as well as our cultural attitudes. So usually, when we think of rampant animal cruelty, we think of other societies — not our own. Because surely, if that were occurring on Canadian soil, citizens would hear about it regularly, right?

Sadly, there IS a rampant animal cruelty crisis in Canada; a dirty little secret, happening right under our noses. There is a disproportionate amount of neglect, starvation and abuse of dogs going on in First Nations reservations nationwide, including frequent ‘culls’. This is well known among the dog rescue community, so why is this issue not being urgently addressed by most law enforcement officials, politicians or mainstream media?

While animal abuse occurs at the hands of people from all races, there is a glaring disparity in accountability and transparency when it is done by Canada’s First Nations population; conversations are generally shut down quickly with excuses or accusations of racism, a common pattern when discussing sensitive societal issues in modern, liberal Canada.

A few bold, compassionate Canadian dog rescuers are sounding the alarm about this prevalent issue, perhaps none so loudly as Reed Salmon, an Albertan musician and outspoken, controversial animal rights activist who refuses to be silenced when raising awareness for suffering rez dogs.

Reed is the founder of the Reed Salmon Foundation and is also working on a new, nationwide organization to carry out this work.

With his blunt posts about the tragedies occurring on reserves, Reed has made serious waves online. He’s been accused of every label in the book, but he refuses to be silenced and aims to be a voice for the voiceless dogs who cannot speak up for — or defend — themselves. He also does on-the-ground rescue work, including delivering straw bales and dog food to reserves, emancipating dogs who are emaciated or freezing while tied up on short chains, and fundraising for rescues in the prairie provinces.

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Ottawa says use VPNs but kindly leave a backdoor for us

Public Safety Canada recently posted advice encouraging Canadians to use VPNs online to better protect their privacy.

It was sensible advice when taken out of political context.

I use a VPN and you should too. But it ultimately didn’t play well with the general public and backfired.

That’s because Ottawa is simultaneously telling Canadians to shield themselves online while major VPN and other encryption-based platforms are threatening to pull out of the country, all because of Bill C-22.

This contradiction has become typical of Ottawa. One arm of the federal government reminds citizens to lock their doors, while another is drafting legislation designed to make it easier to kick those doors down. The attitude extends beyond tech and into the real world, where lax bail laws are emboldening criminals.

Bill C-22, the Lawful Access Act, introduces sweeping powers that would compel digital service providers to retain highly sensitive user data and location history for up to 365 days without any evidence of a crime. More alarming still, it aims to force companies to build technical “backdoors”, so state agencies can easily extract user data.

Signal, NordVPN and Canadian-headquartered Windscribe have already issued an ultimatum threatening to pull out of Canada entirely rather than play a role in spying on Canadians.

Tech companies understand something politicians refuse to acknowledge: there is no such thing as a secure backdoor.

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Ottawa spent more than $1 million on Yukon ‘Indigenous food systems’ project

A federal agency handed more than $1 million to a small Yukon school board to promote “Indigenous food systems,” according to records tabled before the Senate agriculture committee.

According to a story broken by Blacklock’s, the funding came through the federal government’s Northern Isolated Community Initiatives Fund, a program that costs taxpayers roughly $6 million annually and is set to run until 2027.

According to the records, the Yukon First Nation Education Directorate received a total of $1,015,646 from the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency.

The largest portion of the funding, $845,000, went toward planning a “traditional processing kitchen” in Whitehorse.

“This one-year project focused on completing architectural and detailed design plans for a centralized traditional and local foods commercial kitchen,” the agency told senators.

According to the agency, the proposed facility would support the processing and storage of wild game in an urban setting and help promote traditional food-processing knowledge in First Nations curriculum.

Another $170,646 was spent on the Directorate’s urban nutrition program, including the purchase of a temperature-controlled delivery van.

Federal officials defended the spending as part of Ottawa’s broader push to address food security in remote northern communities.

“The fund plays a targeted role in advancing food initiatives that build local capacity,” agency managers wrote.

The Northern Isolated Community Initiatives Fund was launched in 2019 and bankrolls projects ranging from greenhouse operations and farming initiatives to traditional harvesting, food distribution systems and “food innovation” programs.

Records show taxpayers also funded:

  • $800,000 for an egg farmer in Hay River;
  • $600,000 for a grocery store in Wekweeti, Northwest Territories, population roughly 130;
  • $250,000 for a grocer in Arctic Bay;
  • $710,000 for fish freezers in Cumberland Sound.

“These examples show how the Agency supports food security, infrastructure and economic growth across the North in line with community needs and regional priorities,” managers wrote.

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Fact check: An independence party is NOT required for Alberta’s sovereignty movement

Liberal Member of Parliament Corey Hogan implied the Alberta independence movement has no legitimate mandate unless it takes a partisan approach, as Quebec does.

The statements came when Hogan was speaking at an event held at the University of Calgary alongside former Premier Jason Kenney. Hogan stated, “This is separatism by subterfuge,” because no independence party is running competitively in a general election.

Hogan reiterated the sentiment during an interview on CBC’s Power and Politics, saying, “There’s not an electoral mandate, say what you will about Quebec’s separatism, but there are people that elect governments to be separatists to have questions like that. No such thing in Alberta.”

There are no requirements for partisan involvement in an independence referendum under the Clarity Act nor within the 1998 Supreme Court reference case that laid out the process for a province to seek independence from the federation.

Both Alberta and Quebec have strong sovereigntist movements, but they have taken different paths in pursuing independence. Quebec has established federal and provincial parties with independence mandates, while Alberta’s independence movement has revolved around non-partisan advocacy groups.

Neither approach is more or less valid than the other. The Clarity Act doesn’t demand that a referendum must be invoked by a party or a citizens’ initiative. It only states that the referendum must have a clear question.

If a clear majority of citizens choose independence in a referendum, it represents a clear mandate based on the will of the people, whether a party promoting independence was elected in a general election or not.

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FACT CHECK: Sorry, Randy, no public evidence has linked Alberta’s referendum petition to foreign interference

Former Liberal cabinet minister Randy Boissonnault claimed during a CTV panel discussion that Alberta separatism is being fueled by “forces outside our country” and misinformation.

However, no public evidence has been presented showing foreign governments or foreign actors directed or controlled Alberta’s citizen initiative referendum petition campaign.

The RCMP has publicly stated it found no evidence of foreign interference connected to Alberta’s separatist movement.

At the same time, Elections Alberta has not yet verified the signatures collected for the proposed referendum petition.

That means claims about widespread fraud, manipulation, or foreign-directed activity tied to the petition itself have not been publicly established.

The ongoing debate surrounding Alberta independence has included accusations involving misinformation, foreign influence, and improper conduct. 

But many of those claims remain political assertions from federalists, rather than verified findings from law enforcement or Elections Alberta.

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CBC spends $59,000 fighting to keep Gem subscriber numbers secret

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has spent nearly $60,000 in legal fees fighting an order to disclose how many people actually subscribe to its Gem streaming service, according to access-to-information records obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

The legal battle stems from an access-to-information request filed by transparency advocate Matt Malone, founder of Open By Default, seeking subscriber data for the CBC’s streaming platform, CBC Gem.

According to the records, the CBC has already spent $59,000 on lawyers in an effort to block the release of the numbers.

“The CBC bragged about its Gem subscription service and pointed to Gem as proof it’s providing value, so why is the CBC trying so hard to keep these numbers hidden?” said Franco Terrazzano.

The dispute escalated after Information Commissioner Caroline Maynard ordered the CBC to release the records. The state broadcaster instead took the matter to Federal Court, arguing the information should remain confidential because it constitutes “sensitive commercial information.”

CBC CEO Marie-Philippe Bouchard defended the secrecy, saying subscriber totals are kept private for “competitive reasons.”

Major streaming competitors such as Netflix, Amazon and YouTube routinely disclose subscriber metrics or revenue figures in public financial filings.

Maynard rejected CBC’s argument, ruling the broadcaster failed to show any realistic competitive harm from releasing the numbers.

“[While the] CBC did identify possible harms to its competitive position or to ongoing negotiations, it did not demonstrate that there was a reasonable expectation that these harms could occur, well beyond a mere possibility,” Maynard wrote in her decision.

Former CBC president Catherine Tait repeatedly claimed before parliamentary committees that “millions” of Canadians were using Gem, including testimony in January and October 2024.

Terrazzano argued taxpayers deserve transparency from a publicly funded broadcaster that receives more than $1 billion annually from the federal government.

“The CBC should be more transparent than Netflix or Amazon,” he said. “If the CBC doesn’t want to release the information and be transparent with taxpayers, then it shouldn’t get one cent from taxpayers.”

The current court fight is not the first transparency dispute involving the CBC. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation previously launched legal action after the broadcaster resisted releasing details about executive bonus compensation. Records later showed seven senior executives collectively received nearly $3.8 million in compensation.

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Fact check: Canadian law does allow provinces to hold sovereignty referendums

Commentary circulating online following the Alberta referendum court ruling is incorrectly claiming that provinces cannot legally hold referendums on separation or sovereignty.

That is not what Canadian constitutional law says.

Columnist Andrew Coyne claimed Canadians “can’t lawfully hold a referendum” on “the sovereign territory of Canada.”

But Canada has already held two provincial sovereignty referendums in Quebec, in 1980 and 1995.

Neither referendum was declared illegal.

In fact, the federal government responded to the 1995 referendum by asking the Supreme Court of Canada to clarify the legal framework surrounding secession in the 1998 Secession Reference decision.

The court concluded that a province cannot unilaterally separate from Canada under existing constitutional law. However, it also held that a clear vote on a clear question in favour of secession would create a constitutional obligation for governments to negotiate.

That framework later formed the basis of the Clarity Act.

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Did Doug Ford just sell his private jet for a massive taxpayer loss?

Well, we finally have an answer in terms of how much Air Ford One cost Ontario taxpayers: almost $200,000.

That’s what Ontario taxpayers are on the hook for after Doug Ford experienced buyer’s remorse, big time, and returned his infamous $28.9 million “Gravy Plane” to Bombardier.

That’s a steep fee for a plane that apparently never got off the runway in the brief 13-day time span that the province owned that swank Challenger 650.

In other words, Ford’s would-be flight of fancy cost the Ontario taxpayer about $15,585 per day just to sit in a hangar collecting dust.

Little wonder people across the political spectrum screamed blue murder about the province’s chief cherry cheesecake enthusiast purchasing a private jet.

And really, how tone-deaf was Doug Ford to purchase something like this during a time of soaring unemployment, inflation, homelessness, and food bank usage?

Talk about not reading the room.

However, despite attempts at damage control, within 48 hours Team Ford flip-flopped on the Challenger. They said they learned their lesson and that the government would seek a refund.

But apparently, it’s a buyer’s market these days when it comes to luxury jets. That’s because Bombardier only agreed to buy back the Challenger after the government agreed to a surcharge of almost $200,000.

That includes almost $18,000 for “acquisition support” – whatever that means. The taxpayer was also dinged for almost $34,000 for outside legal advice. But the lion’s share of charges was in the form of nearly $140,000 for maintenance, storage, training, and preparation.

Perhaps we need to contact the fine folks at the Guinness Book of World Records? Could this $200,000 haircut work out to be the largest fee for a flight that was never taken?

Looks that way to us.

Hard to believe that Doug Ford used to run on the slogan, “Respect for Taxpayers.” Hard to believe this guy was all about derailing the gravy train before falling in lust for a gravy plane.

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Smith pledges to appeal judge’s “anti-democratic” decision to quash independence petition

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her government will appeal a court ruling that blocked a citizen-led effort to force an Alberta independence referendum, calling the decision “incorrect in law and anti-democratic.”

The ruling, issued Tuesday by Liberal-appointed Alberta Court of King’s Bench Justice S. Leonard, quashed the approval of a proposed referendum question asking Albertans whether the province should become independent.

In the decision, the judge claimed Alberta failed to fulfil its duty to consult affected First Nations before allowing the citizen initiative process to move forward.

Justice Leonard also ruled the referendum proposal could not legally proceed under transitional provisions added to Alberta’s Citizen Initiative Act.

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Vancouver spends $182K on ‘gender safety’ bureaucracy for FIFA World Cup

The City of Vancouver is preparing to spend more than $182,000 on so-called “gender safety” and “vulnerable resident initiatives” tied to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, according to a newly posted contracting notice.

Under a Notice of Intent to Contract posted to the procurement site MERX, the city says it plans to award multiple vendors funding for “additional community organizations event time capacity” connected to the city’s “Host City Human Rights Action Plan.”

The contract runs from May 26 to July 19, 2026, with a listed value of $182,184.

According to the notice, the money is specifically earmarked to “implement gender safety, accessibility and vulnerable resident initiatives” during the World Cup festivities.

The timing is raising eyebrows, especially in a city that has spent years aggressively promoting gender ideology policies while downplaying public concerns about women’s spaces, public disorder, and safety issues tied to addiction and homelessness.

Now, with the eyes of the world arriving for the FIFA tournament, city hall suddenly appears eager to showcase its commitment to “gender safety” — and is paying outside organizations to help manage the optics.

The procurement notice does not clearly define what “gender safety” initiatives will involve, which organizations are expected to receive funding, or how success will be measured.

Nor does it explain why existing city staff and public safety infrastructure are insufficient to handle these responsibilities during a six-week international sporting event.

The spending falls under Vancouver’s broader Human Rights Action Plan tied to its role as a FIFA host city, a framework that has increasingly blended public event management with activist-driven social programming.

Why does a soccer tournament now require taxpayer-funded “gender safety” consultants and advocacy programming, particularly at a time when Vancouver residents continue to grapple with rising living costs, public safety concerns, drug crises, and strained city services.

The original procurement notice can be viewed on MERX procurement listing.

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