First Nations chiefs are gathering in Calgary today as they prepare to vote on a landmark $47.8-billion child welfare reform agreement with Ottawa. The deal was struck in July between Canada, the Chiefs of Ontario, Nishnawbe Aski Nation and the Assembly of First Nations after a nearly two-decade legal fight over Canada's underfunding of on-reserve child welfare services. The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal said that was discriminatory, and tasked Canada with coming to an agreement with First Nations to reform the system, along with compensating children who were torn from their families and put

Alberta's government has launched a national ad campaign targeting the federal government's incoming emissions cap for the oil and gas sector.Premier Danielle Smith says it's a de facto production cap that would kill jobs and stifle the economy. The province's $7-million ``Scrap the Cap'' campaign also says the federal regulations expected later this year would make groceries, gas and all of life's necessities even more expensive. University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe says he believes the emissions cap is bad policy, but the argument that it would drive up gas, and therefore grocery,

In a significant turn of events, the Jathedar of Takht Sri Damdama Sahib, Giani Harpreet Singh, has stepped down from his position, under the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) he has sent this resignation to the Shiromani Committee and appealed to accept it. Citing threats from former Shiromani Akali Dal leader Virsa Singh Valtoha, who was ordered by Sri Akal Takht Sahib to be expelled from the party. Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh got emotional and said that Valtoha has crossed all boundaries of privacy and is threatening them. He also said that Shiromani Akali Dal's social media

A former Alberta justice minister is to be sanctioned after the provincial law society determined he undermined respect for the administration of justice'' when he phoned Edmonton's police chief after receiving a traffic ticket. The Law Society of Alberta cited Kaycee Madu for the 2021 Call last year, and a hearing took place in June. In a hearing report, committee members say Madu's conduct is worthy of sanction, although a punishment has yet to be determined. The report says the committee is to reconvene to determine a proper sanction, which could amount to a suspension or even disbarment.

The founders of a Vancouver "compassion club" that sold heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine bought on the dark web and tested for contaminants, have filed a court challenge arguing their Charter rights and the rights of users were violated when the club was shut and they were arrested. Eris Nyx and Jeremy Kalicum, the co-founders of the Drug User Liberation Front, say denying compassion club members access to a predictable supply of drugs they depend on, while exposing them to the severe risks of the street supply is "grossly disproportionate" to any benefits of shutting down the club. They sa

Alberta's health minister says a new agency responsible for primary health care should be up and running by next month. Adriana LaGrange says Primary Care Alberta will work to improve Albertans' access to primary care providers like family doctors or nurse practitioners, create new models of primary care and increase access to after-hours care through virtual means. Her announcement comes as the provincial government continues to divide Alberta Health Services into four new agencies. LaGrange says Alberta Health Services hasn't been able to focus on primary health care, and has b

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met in Islamabad on Tuesday. The leaders shook hands and exchanged greetings during an informal dinner hosted by Sharif. Jaishankar is in Islamabad for the 23rd meeting of the Council of Heads of Government (CHG) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). It is for the first time in nearly nine years that an Indian foreign minister has visited Pakistan, even as the ties between the two neighbours remain frosty over cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan. The last Indian Foreign Minister to visit Pak

The operator of a pulp mill in northwestern Alberta has been fined $1 million for letting almost 31 million litres of toxic wastewater flow into the Peace River. Environment and Climate Change Canada says the effluent released in April 2021 was ``acutely lethal'' to fish. Mercer Peace River Pulp Ltd. pleaded guilty last month to asection of the Fisheries Act. The conviction means the company's name will be added to the Environmental Offenders Registry. The federal government says the pulp mill was shut down for maintenance and waste was directed to a spill pond, where it was to

Canada is listing the pro-Palestinian group Samidoun as a terrorist group, while the U.S. has added a Canadian citizen affiliated with the organization to its counter-terrorism list. Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc says Samidoun will now be listed under Criminal Code offences that ban people from donating or providing property to the group. Samidoun is also known as the Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, and Ottawa says it "has close links with and advances the interests of" another group that Canada already lists as a terrorist entity, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Pale