Canada

Years after 17-year-old Ben Teague died during an overnight “team building” event hosted by his Oakville Rangers minor hockey team, four York Regional Police Service officers involved in investigating his death have been found negligent by the Ontario Provincial Police.

Jennifer Ross, a detective sergeant in the OPP's professional standards unit, concluded in an Oct. 23, 2023, report that allegations of “neglect of duty” had been substantiated against detective sergeants Heather Bentham and Kenneth Golding, Det. John Loughry, and Sgt. Robert Worthman. Ontario’s police watchdog, the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, commissioned the OPP to investigate York Regional Police.

Two years after Ben’s death, police still had not interviewed all of the Rangers players and coaches. In September 2021, Dr. Chris Veenama, a coroner involved with the case, issued a warrant for police to obtain the roster of players and personnel in attendance at the camp, the report says.

(Even today, several of the players still have not been interviewed.)

It's unclear whether York Regional Police disciplined any of the officers who were found negligent.

Even as federal Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre was publicly denouncing lobbyists, he and his staff were being lobbied dozens of times by oil and gas interests, according to an analysis by The Narwhal.

For the 12-month period that ended June 2024, the Narwhal found 46 records on the federal lobbying commissioner’s online registry that showed either Poilievre or staff in his offices communicating with oil and gas interests. One company confirmed that in April, Poilievre’s staff participated in a Hill Day, a type of Parliament Hill lobbying event their boss criticized just days later. Another told The Narwhal Poilievre’s office proactively reached out to set up what would become a lobbying session.

Notably, Poilievre’s anti-lobbying sentiment hasn’t stopped the former Harper government minister from communicating with lobbyists dozens of times over the last year, as well as allowing federal lobbyists to pay to attend his fundraisers in tony neighbourhoods and clubs.

The Narwhal’s review of federal lobbying records shows staff members in Poilievre’s parliamentary office have communicated with a parade of lobbyists, including those representing oil and gas interests. So have staff in another office that falls under Poilievre’s oversight and operates closely with his own, called the Conservative Research Bureau.

"Flair says it cancelled the flight because the airplane for the flight experienced bird strikes while landing in Vancouver," tribunal member Jeffrey Drozdiak's decision said.

But the airline argued that it should not have to pay.

But Donner and Broadhurst did their own research, consulting the Civil Aviation Daily Occurrence Reporting System – a federal database that tracks incidents including medical emergencies, navigation errors and flight diversions.

"The results show that Flair did not experience any reported bird strikes during that time. In its dispute response, Flair says the tower sends any occurrences to Transport Canada for input into CADORS," Drozdiak wrote.

The Canadian government says it decided to pull its diplomats' children and their guardians out of Israel, amid fears over an expanded Mideast war.

Global Affairs Canada says it has approved the temporary relocation of the children and their guardians to a safe third country.

Embassy staff are expected to remain in Israel.

Diplomats stationed in nearby Ramallah in the West Bank and in Beirut, Lebanon, do not have dependents living with them.

Israel supporters have become a leading fascist force in Canada. As this author has detailed repeatedly in recent months, they’ve pushed to restrict civil liberties, dismantle democratic organizations and increase policing to suppress the movement against Israel’s holocaust in Gaza.

The mayor of one of the wealthiest municipalities in Québec has been another of the most vocal prominent Zionist fascists in recent months. Hampstead mayor Jeremy Levi has repeatedly called for arresting and deporting peaceful protesters and in a troubling escalation was recently granted the power to build a sort of municipal militia.

Openly okay with Israel hypothetically killing 100,000 Palestinian children, Levi repeatedly demanded the police violently suppress student divestment encampments. After hundreds of police and private security dismantled the McGill university encampment on July 10, the mayor of one of Quebec’s wealthiest municipalities posted: “Months ago, I unequivocally advocated for the necessary use of force to dismantle the antisemitic, pro-Hamas ‘Little-Gazas’ at McGill. Today, it has finally been forcefully dismantled, highlighting a critical delay that should alarm us all.”

In what could turn out to be a major step along the Zionist fascism pathway, Hampstead’s council unanimously approved a proposal to grant Levi the power to appoint special constables. Under Quebec law, municipal councils can confer on the mayor the power to “appoint special constables in emergencies for a period not exceeding seven days. The special constables shall be empowered, under the authority of the director of the police force or the officer in charge of the Sûreté du Québec police station, as the case may be, to prevent and repress offences under the municipal by-laws in all or part of the territory of the municipality.”

Toronto police say an internal investigation is underway after a video circulating on social media appeared to show an officer giving a citizen the middle finger over an argument about alleged illegal parking last week.

In the video, which has been viewed more than 425,000 times on TikTok, two Toronto police officers are seen ordering Starbucks in the area of Front and Berkeley streets near the city’s Distillery District on Friday afternoon.

The exchange continues for several minutes and the officers eventually get back in their cruiser. The video then shows one of them giving the citizen the middle finger from the passenger seat of the cruiser.

The individual who took the video later told CP24 that he doesn’t believe the officer knew they were being filmed as by that point he had put away the body camera he was using previously. The footage, he said, came from a pair of glasses with a built-in camera.

The Service de police de la ville de Gatineau (SVPG) is making changes following an investigation into a 2020 decision to cancel an ambulance for a man who later died.

A Quebec coroner's report is recommending police have better directives on when they are able to cancel ambulance services and more education on head trauma.

According to coroner Pascale Boulay's French-language report, emergency services were called to a Gatineau apartment on Aug. 21, 2020 around 8:30 p.m. after a neighbour became concerned the man in question was in the "grip of great confusion."

An SPVG member arrived and noted the man was confused, but an ambulance on its way to the scene was cancelled because the officer felt the man's condition was a result of his age and not a medical emergency.

Two of the five former Team Canada world junior hockey team players awaiting trial on charges in connection with an alleged group sexual assault from 2018 have signed contracts to play in the Russia-based Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).

Astana Barys, a team based in Kazakhstan, announced Friday on Twitter the signing of former New Jersey Devils player Micheal McLeod to a deal that expires at the end of May 2025.

The Belarus-based KHL team Dinamo Minsk also has listed on its roster Dillon Dubé, a former Calgary Flames player who, like McLeod, is among the five Canadian junior players facing sexual assault charges. McLeod is also charged with one count of being party to the offence.

Professor Laura Misener of Western University is a sports scholar who focuses on safe sport and good governance. She said the seriousness of the charges would open the NHL to a firestorm of criticism if the players were allowed to play in Canada or the United States while the court process plays out. However, the bosses of Russia's top pro league don't appear to have the same concerns.

Saskatoon police say they have found Mackenzie Lee Trottier's remains at the Saskatoon landfill after months of searching.

Trottier, then 22, went missing in December 2020. The search for her body at the landfill began on May 1 and extended well beyond the initial 33-day timeframe.

Police Chief Cameron McBride said at a news conference Tuesday that searchers recovered partial remains on July 30 and then made the full recovery on Aug. 1.

He said an autopsy was performed and the cause of death is still undetermined, but the coroner will continue investigating.

Just immediately reminded me of this gem from a while ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3BtmeUhOHU

The Trans Mountain oil pipeline expansion (TMX) was meant to shrink the discount on Canadian oil versus U.S. crude but three months in the differential is wider than when commercial operations on the project started.

The Calcite Creek fire, burning near the eastern edge of Manning Park, produced a pyrocumulonimbus cloud Sunday afternoon which generated thunder and lightning strikes.

According to the BC Wildfire Service, the phenomenon is not uncommon on large, intense wildfires.

"It is something that we see. That fire was burning rank four, so a crowning fire through the canopy, and when a fire burns that hot, one of the things that we can see is that it starts to generate its own weather," said Taylor Shantz, a fire information officer.

The fire is officially listed as 4,100 hectares in size, but Shantz said that is likely an underestimate because the weather being generated by the fire made it difficult for aircraft crews to clearly see the perimeter.

Raining like crazy here in Grande Prairie. I'm waiting for the flood pictures to hit facebook.