Beyond Local

"It is time for Canada to put down its legal sword," said Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada. "The courts have already ruled, academics have studied, and First Nations have presented solutions to end discriminatory public services for their children," she wrote in a statement Wednesday to The Canadian Press.

The Vatican said in a statement Wednesday that the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops invited the Pope to travel to Canada in the "context of the long-standing pastoral process of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples." 

Three years after her son’s body was found in a creek near Billings, Montana, Marion Collin is still searching for answers surrounding her son’s death.

"A lot of people, I think, have seen that mental health has become a parallel pandemic and that we actually need to really dive in and make sure there is a mental-health strategy across all government departments, but also with the provinces and the territories," Bennett said at a news conference Tuesday. 

“One of the things people will be learning about Anita Anand in the coming months is that she is a world-class expert in governance, with decades of professional experience that she will bring to bear to make sure the Canadian Armed Forces … are worthy of the extraordinary women and men who choose to serve,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Concerns of western alienation growing amid series of moves

Steven Guilbeault's appointment to environment wasn't greeted warmly in Alberta. Known as an opponent to pipelines and expanding oil production, Guilbeault was also just recently named half a dozen times in the inquiry report on whether foreign money was used to target Alberta's industry. That included a reference to a 2008 op-ed he wrote referring to Alberta's crude as "dirty oil."

The economy, however, didn't seem to be front and centre as the new cabinet was rolled out Tuesday, said Robert Asselin, senior vice-president of policy at the Business Council of Canada. “Given all the short-term challenges on the economy, rising inflation, lot of pressure points on the supply side, it didn’t come through as something that was top of mind.”

"I think one of the things we saw very clearly in this election was that Canadians are expecting big things to be done by Parliament and this government," said Trudeau, citing accelerated action on climate change, reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and rebuilding a greener, more equitable and inclusive pandemic-battered economy.

Here are the COVID-19 protocols at local ski resorts.