The B.C. government won't be tabling controversial amendments that would suspend key portions of the province’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA) during this legislative session.

The Premier's Office provided the update on Sunday evening, hours after a coalition of First Nations leaders published an open letter to B.C. lawmakers stating the changes would be introduced this week, and urged MLAs to reject them.

Premier David Eby is instead slated to hold a press conference on Monday outlining his government's next steps.

In its letter, the First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC), said Eby had signalled plans to “suspend critical provisions” of the act, “despite overwhelming opposition from First Nations.”

Ford 'felt the heat' after purchase publicized, now 'scrambling' to sell, says interim Ontario Liberal leader

Montreal’s largest school board has lost more than 100 support staff because they refused to remove religious symbols to comply with the province’s new secularism law.

The law, known as Bill 94, expanded a ban on wearing religious symbols, like crosses and hijabs, to include support staff workers in schools — lunchroom monitors and special education technicians, for example.

Several school service centres told Radio-Canada in February that dozens of staff had already been fired, suspended or decided to resign because of Bill 94.

Now, the Centre de services scolaire de Montréal (CSSDM), says it, too, has had to let staff go.

Nearly 200 people gathered at the provincial legislature in Regina Saturday to protest Bell Canada's planned AI data centre and the lack of community consultation for the project.

"If this is truly a wonderful opportunity for our area, then there's nothing to lose by slowing things down," said Regina Ward 8 Coun. Shanon Zachidniak.

Zachidniak said she attended the rally because it was her opportunity to share her concerns around the planned 300MW facility on the outskirts of Regina, in the rural municipality of Sherwood.

The development agreement for the project, which is set to be Canada's largest AI data centre, will be considered by the RM of Sherwood's seven-member council on Monday.

Mari Justo just can't make a mistake in the morning.

If she misses the 7 a.m. GO train from St. Catharines, she'll miss an hour of work at her job in Toronto.

The next train she can take leaves from the Burlington GO Station, a long drive from her home in Port Colborne, Ont.

When Metrolinx announced it suspended GO train services between Niagara Falls GO and Confederation GO for a little over a week due to the March 30th freight train derailment in St. Catharines, her commute was a long and arduous journey every day.

Her next option isn't any better: the Fairview Mall GO bus in St. Catharines takes about three hours, arriving after 10 a.m. She's says she’s even worried about leaving her car at the mall where, according to the GO website, “free customer parking is not available.”

And the last weekday trains home leave Toronto at 5 p.m. or 10 p.m., either too early to work a full eight-hour shift or way too late.

A non-profit organization says the province’s recent increase in social assistance rates is far from adequate, and some Nova Scotia municipalities are echoing the need for more support for the most vulnerable people in their communities.

The Antigonish Coalition to End Poverty sent a letter to Premier Tim Houston earlier this year expressing concerns that financial support for those living in poverty has fallen well below inflation.

“We're seeing more and more people being left to live in poverty,” said Lucille Harper, a long-standing member of the coalition.

Harper said the 1.6 per cent increase in the province’s 2026-27 budget, and 3.1 per cent in last year’s fiscal plan, aren’t anywhere close to what’s needed to help people climb out of poverty.

The rate should be increased by 10 per cent every year; otherwise the province isn’t making any difference, she said.

https://archive.ph/dfIe9

There’s nothing quite like getting on the back of a bucking bull in front of tens of thousands of onlookers.

Just ask Jake Gardner.

The B.C. cowboy with Fort St. John roots is at the top of his game, coming off a big championship win at RodeoHouston that kicked him to the top of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association standings for bull riding.

Houston's the biggest rodeo in the world. The Top 40 in the world standings get to go there. I originally didn't get in, so I called them and just asked, ‘Hey, where am I at on an alternate spot?’ because if people get injured, they will replace them.

They said I was 10th. I didn't really think that they would have went down 10 spots, but unfortunately some guys must have got hurt and some other guys might have not been able to make it. They called me and said, "Hey, can you be in Houston? We got a spot for you."

I was in Arizona at the time, found one flight that was getting there about an hour before it started. We made it work, got to the rodeo about 15 minutes before it started. I didn't have much time to think about things. I went and rode five bulls later, and three weeks later ended up winning the title.

Danielle Smith is working hand-in-glove with private insurers to push health privatization in Alberta—and it could spread across Canada

Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government is planning to skip public hearings to pass its omnibus budget bill that contains a retroactive clampdown on access to his cellphone records.

The retroactive FOI law would shield Ford and cabinet members — along with their offices — from public access to documents, with Ford admitting that part of the rationale is to kill a request from Global News to obtain his cellphone records.

This isn't just an Ontario story. Rumors are that Yazdani was fired for her reporting. Rogers isn't known for standing with their journalists, so a firing due to political pressure seems possible.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/58729139

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/58741108