The Calgary Zoo's new polar bear only speaks French; Air Canada's chief executive apologizes for being unable to speak French

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Meanwhile:

Air Canada’s chief executive [] apologized on Thursday for expressing condolences only in English in a country that is officially bilingual after two of his airline’s pilots were killed on Sunday in a collision at LaGuardia Airport.

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“Despite many lessons over several years, unfortunately, I am still unable to express myself adequately in French,” he said in his statement. “I sincerely apologize for this, but I am continuing my efforts to improve.”

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the Quebec legislature voted in favor of a motion calling for [his] resignation 

"7 Toronto police officers facing charges related to tow-truck violence" in Canada

CBC:

Towing-related violence has been a major issue in Toronto. In 2024, there were 63 shooting and firearm discharge incidents related to tow-truck disputes

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The officers are accused of trafficking, leaking addresses to hitmen, and leaking police officer addresses 

A Toronto Life article by Simon Lewsen that includes a profile of lawyers investigating tow truck fraud:

Tow truck drivers are eager to be first on the scene—some are even willing to risk death or injury—because a single vehicle can yield a massive payout. If you’re an unscrupulous driver, the tow fee is only the beginning. Somebody has to fix the battered vehicle, after all. Maybe you refer that job to one of your buddies with an auto-body shop. Maybe, in return, he gives you a cut of the profits. In some cases, you and your friend might even exaggerate the extent of the damage or deliberately wreck the vehicle further.

As for the passengers of the damaged car, they’re going to need a taxi ride home, a rental car for the next few days, maybe even some physiotherapy. You can award these contracts to your cronies in exchange for a piece of the action. Before and after repairs, the car itself has to go somewhere. Perhaps you send it to a lot far outside of town, a trip with a hefty price tag. For every day it sits there, the car racks up storage fees.

Apparent arsonist threatens to keep burning houses if not paid blackmail in crypto

Edmonton:

A central Edmonton community is on edge after a home was destroyed in an apparent arson — with notes left on neighbouring properties demanding money.

The fire is one of two in central Edmonton in the past month that police have deemed suspicious.

Related, last night in Los Angeles:

Several vehicles and a business in the San Fernando Valley were severely damaged by flames in what investigators believe may be arson. 

The fires occurred between 10 p.m. Sunday and 2 a.m. Monday along Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks. 

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Last year around this time, an arsonist was arrested in the same area. Investigators do not believe the same person is responsible for these fires. 

"Indian government employee charged in foiled murder-for-hire plot in New York City"

AP:

The Justice Department announced criminal charges Thursday against an Indian government employee who specialized in intelligence in connection with a foiled plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader living in New York City.

[The planned murder allegedly] was meant to precede a string of other politically motivated murders in the United States and Canada.

[He] remains at large, but in charging him and releasing his name, the Biden administration sought to call out the Indian government for criminal activity that has emerged as a significant point of tension between India and the West over the last year — culminating this week with a diplomatic flare-up with Canada and the expulsion of diplomats.

BBC a few days ago:

There are some 770,000 Sikhs living in Canada

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“Delhi now levels the same allegations against Canada that it has regularly levelled against Pakistan. It accuses Ottawa of sheltering and sponsoring anti-India terrorists. But of late, the language making these allegations against Canada has been stronger than it has been against Pakistan. And that's saying something" 

A look at the anti-vaxxers who fueled Montreal's smallpox epidemic in 1885

MIT:

Vaccination, in Ross’s mind, was poisonous. He wanted everyone to know it too. Besides papering the city of Montreal with antivaccination posters and pamphlets, writing letters to newspapers and professional journals, and founding a magazine called the Anti-Vaccinator, he formed the Canadian Anti-Vaccination League as part of an international antivaccination crusade.

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Some of the holdouts were surely persuaded by Ross and his English-only propaganda. But most of the unvaccinated population and therefore the bulk of the cases consisted of French Canadians. To convince them of the evils of vaccination, French Canadian physician Joseph Emery Coderre formed the first Canadian antivaccination society in Montreal and published numerous antivaccination pamphlets in French in the 1870s. His ardent antivaccination views fed the fervor of protesters who attacked the city council in 1875, halting efforts to enact mandatory smallpox vaccination in Montreal and leaving the city vulnerable to devastating disease 10 years later. When compulsory vaccination was attempted again in 1885, the riot was even bigger. Shortly thereafter, Coderre and colleagues created an antivaccination journal

(The article features one flyer)

An investigation into why trucks keep hitting British Columbia overpasses

Vancouver Sun:

“It’s pretty simple. The biggest thing is the pay right now for oversized loads,” says [one driver], who has been hauling large loads for 18 years. “Nobody wants to pay the professional companies who have been doing this for a long time.”

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There is a flashing-light warning system that detects eastbound overheight trucks on Highway 1 in Langley before one overpass, but it is in the wrong place because it comes after a turnoff that would allow a trucker to exit

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Six trucks have struck the 264 Street overpass on Highway 1 since Jan. 2022

Guests helicoptered off Sulphur Mountain after gondola shut down by lightning storm

@ctvnews As many as 300 people were stranded at the top of Sulphur Mountain after a technical issue on Monday disabled the Banff Gondola. Police say Parks Canada and independent contractors are working together to bring people down from the mountain along a 5.5-kilometre hiking trail. No injuries have been reported. #banff #gondola #travel #news #canada #alberta #breakingnews #police #parkscanada ♬ original sound - CTVNews

@mony6862 #calgary_yyc #banff #breakdown #gondola#lovecanada#punjabitiktok ♬ original sound - mony6862

Some people hiked down:

That is what occurred 😂 pic.twitter.com/i4AB3UuuXr

— Emily Crook (@em_crook10) August 8, 2023

Haha yes unfortunately, but we made it 😂

— Emily Crook (@em_crook10) August 8, 2023

"Canada Soccer has spiralled into a financial crisis"

TSN:

Canada Soccer officials have also been in talks with the private company Canadian Soccer Business (CSB) in recent months to renegotiate a controversial media and sponsorship agreement that was signed in 2018.

According to that contract, which will be in place through 2037 if CSB decides to extend an initial 10-year deal, CSB pays Canada Soccer an annual fee of between $3-$4 million.

In exchange, the private company, which is owned and controlled by Canadian Premier League (CPL) team owners, receives all of the revenue from the national teams' media rights and sponsorships.

The contract, first publicly detailed by TSN in July 2022, has come under withering criticism during a series of Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage hearings in Ottawa over the past year.

Members of Parliament have repeatedly pressed Canada Soccer for answers about why the organization handed away such valuable rights for 20 years at a time, particularly after Canada had agreed in April 2017 to join the U.S. and Mexico in a joint bid to host the 2026 World Cup.

Canadian tribes contemplating plan to build "more homes than currently exist in most of Vancouver’s 22 neighbourhoods"

Vancouver Sun:

The neighbourhood groups that opposed the earlier vision are unlikely to welcome the new, bigger, denser, taller version. But there are also many in Vancouver who support the vision of a new city centre on the west side, a dense, transit-oriented, mixed-use community that will provide public amenities and also support the economic health of the Host Nations.

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As massive as Jericho is, it is only one piece of the MST Nations’ development plans. The First Nations, both jointly and independently, are planning to build tens of thousands of homes on sites in Vancouver, Burnaby and the North Shore. Their portfolio of prime urban real estate has been estimated at around $5 billion, and the MST Development Corporation CEO has estimated that portfolio could be worth closer to $30 billion by the time those properties are developed.

A justice of the Supreme Court of Canada resigned to end an investigation into his alleged misconduct

CBC:

[His] decision to step down from Canada's top court means the CJC's investigation of an alleged alcohol-fuelled incident in Arizona will come to an end without any sort of public report on the matter.

The allegations are that he drunkenly pursued women at a resort until one of their companions punched him out.

People seeking government services in Quebec must now prove they have the right to be spoken to in English

quebec passed a new language law so govt websites now ask that you meet certain criteria to use the english version pic.twitter.com/yusLZGRZqC

— triste 🛷 (@tamphopho) June 3, 2023

CBC:

The abrupt application of new provisions in Quebec's Bill 96, which forces provincial and municipal bodies to limit English services, has been a rocky transition, but the minister responsible for French says an adjustment period will be necessary.

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These provisions mean that, since Thursday in Montreal, citizens who call 311, the city's information hotline, are directed to a voice message explaining the city's new communication obligations — and listing those who are entitled to English services.

*Previously: Automatic translator produces delightful turn of phrase 

A five square-foot container containing nearly $15 million of gold and valuables was stolen from a warehouse at Toronto's Pearson Airport

So far, no details about the owner or suspects

Canada's women's national team say they called off their strike because Canada Soccer threatened to sue them

To be clear. We are being forced back to work for the short term. This is not over. We will continue to fight for everything we deserve and we will win. The She Believes is being played in protest. https://t.co/1CmXU3CiYp

— Christine Sinclair (@sincy12) February 12, 2023

Toronto Star:

As with the men, it’s both astonishing and entirely predictable that Canada Soccer let matter reach this point. Canada Soccer issued its own statement, in which it said it had issued a retroactively payment to the players; The Canadian Press reported it was $1.7 million, which the players were asking for. Presumably, that covers off the part about immense uncertainty about compensation, though the players said late Saturday they had not been paid for any of their work in 2022.

But player compensation doesn’t address the budget cuts. The women are coming off Olympic gold in Tokyo, and the men are coming off their first World Cup appearance since 1986. And the cuts to both programs are so significant that sources familiar with the program say some staff are considering their futures with the organization. 

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Even if the budget gap were filled, the men’s program funded a significant amount of its World Cup preparation with fundraising from private donors and those same donors are not connected to the women’s program. 

Ontario, Canada government revealed plan to open protected land to development weeks after developers bought the land

Globe and Mail:

Since Ontario Premier Doug Ford was first elected four years ago, developers have paid tens of millions of dollars for a number of properties that include protected lands the province is now proposing to carve out of the Greenbelt.

Among those properties is a substantial piece of land lying largely in the Greenbelt that sold for $80-million in September, just weeks before the government revealed its new plan.

During the 2018 election campaign, Mr. Ford promised not to touch the Greenbelt – a vast arc of farmland, forests and wetlands across Southern Ontario. The pledge followed public uproar over a video that showed him saying he would allow housing development on a “big chunk” of the protected area. Again, in late 2020, he made a similar promise.

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a former provincial land-use expert considered the main architect of the Greenbelt, questioned why developers would have paid so much for land that was considered off-limits for development.

CBC:

[The Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister] was asked multiple times Tuesday, including in question period, whether he tipped off any developers that parcels of Greenbelt land would soon become much more valuable. When asked for a yes or no response, he refused to deny the allegation.

Report concludes that last year's Canadian military propaganda exercise to frighten people about wolves in the area was a series of misunderstandings

Back in October, the reports indicated the official-looking warning letter was never supposed to be sent to the public. This is reportedly what happened:

at the last minute, an officer in the influence activities unit came up with the idea of forging a document using the letterhead of the Wildlife Division of Nova Scotia’s Department of Lands and Forestry. The letter was a warning to local residents, claiming wolves had been reintroduced into the area by the provincial and federal governments and were now roaming the Annapolis Valley.

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But unknown to the unit, a military member not involved in the training exercise took a photo of the letter and, thinking it was real, sent it to his wife. The military spouse then distributed the letter to neighbours to warn them about the wolves, according to the investigation.

As a result, the Nova Scotia government started receiving phone calls from concerned residents.

"Vacant lot in Ontario could be a steal at $99K — if only it wasn't under water"

"There are currently at least three entirely 'underwater' properties listed on Canada's multiple listing services."

"Protesters" brutally beat an activist in Canada after months of harassment

A situation so bizarre and frightening that attempting to summarize it makes you sound crazy.  Here's the Star and Globe and Mail from a month ago describing months of harassment the Canadian police said they were powerless to stop.  And today, a brutal beating.

"A letter from the Nova Scotia government sent out to residents to warn about a pack of wolves on the loose in the province was forged by Canadian military personnel as part of a propaganda training mission that went off the rails"

National Post:

The training also involved using a loudspeaker to generate wolf sounds, the Canadian Forces confirmed to this newspaper.  

The fake letter was part of new skills being tested by the military as it hones its expertise for launching propaganda missions at home and abroad. The letter was developed by information warfare specialists with the Halifax Rifles, a reserve unit.  

They not only forged the logo of the Wildlife Division of Nova Scotia’s Department of Lands and Forestry but they also attributed the letter to a real Nova Scotia government employee, even though they didn’t have permission to do so. A phone number on the letter, which residents were to call if they had concerns about the wolves, was traced by this newspaper to the work number of an Environment Canada employee, who also appears to be a Canadian Forces reservist.  

The Canadian Forces revealed its role behind the fake letter last week to the Nova Scotia government and then on the weekend to local news media. Media outlets reported military staff had written the letter but didn’t know why.  

...  

Department of National Defence spokesman Dan Le Bouthillier said the fake letter wasn’t meant to be released to the public and an investigation is underway to determine how that happened. The letter was an aid for the propaganda training. Le Bouthillier said he didn’t know why the loudspeaker was set up to transmit wolf sounds and that will be investigated as well.

CBC:

The letter is signed by a real person living in Nova Scotia, but Petrie said the man has nothing to do with the letter.

CBC News reached out to the person whose name is on the letter, but has not heard back.

"Notorious Hamilton mobster Pat Musitano gunned down" in Canada

CBC:

The Musitano family is linked to convictions for bombings and extortion in the 1970s, as well as the hit on mobster Domenic Racco in the 1980s, and the murders of Johnny "Pops" Papalia and one of his lieutenants, Carmen Barillaro, in 1997.

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The Musitanos were once protected by an alliance with the famed Rizzuto crime family, based out of Montreal.

The 2013 death of reputed Mafia boss Vito Rizzuto created a power vacuum within the organization, and now warring factions have weakened the once mighty Montreal Mafia. That left the Musitanos to fend for themselves.

The Musitano crime family Wikipedia entry is lengthy.

"Disappearance at Clifton Hill" is on Hulu

Film School Rejects:

Disappearance at Clifton Hill is a wonderfully moody puzzle box of a film, and Middleton is fantastic as the fascinatingly unreliable protagonist searching for the truth behind a child abduction. Director/co-writer Albert Shin (along with co-writer James Schultz) crafts a surprising, grim, heartfelt, and morbidly humorous little film that beats to its own waterlogged drum.

Part of its twisted charm comes in the motley crew assembled around Abby starting with a SCUBA certified David Cronenberg (playing a conspiracy nut named Walter) who spends half his screen time pimping his podcast.

It's semi-autobiographical:

Shin’s parents owned the Niagara Gateway Motel near Clifton Hill when they first immigrated to Canada from South Korea.

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On one weekend trip, when the family was fishing at their regular spot on the Niagara River, Shin witnessed what might have been a kidnapping. He was around five or six. The director says the memory is repressed, resurfacing every so often, perhaps with a little more colour than when he originally remembered it. That memory is recreated in Clifton Hill’s prologue, where a little girl named Abby spots a wounded boy hiding in the woods.

“What I did see for sure was a guy take a boy, throw him in the trunk and beat him with a tire iron,” says Shin. “To this day it’s seared in my head. He was saying something like, ‘Shut the fuck up or I’ll beat you again.’ He slammed the trunk and then drove off.”

Shin’s not entirely sure what to make of what he saw. It could have been a horrifyingly abusive domestic situation. But throughout his childhood and teen years, he recounted it as a kidnapping, the story becoming more elaborate as the years went by. Nobody believed him.

“So much time has passed, I don’t even know if I just made that story up. I have all these vivid memories of this thing. I could trace it back to a place. But I don’t know if I actually saw anything, which made it more interesting for me to write about it and craft a whole story about a pathological liar.”

“Albert pitched it to me as Chinatown in Niagara Falls,” says Middleton, who plays the liar.