Alberta recently directed schools to purge library books from shelves that fit its definition of “explicit sexual content” by 1 October. If the policy is applied precisely as outlined, a host of books face being purged, including George Orwell’s 1984 due to passages in the text that discuss sexual intercourse and rape.

Academics and researchers who examine censorship say the policy specifically targets books that affirm LGBTQ+ identities – which they say is the goal of rightwing parents’ groups.

Turk says he and his colleagues are following more than 25 socially conservative groups across Canada that have similar mandates.

Many of these groups emerged as anti-vax groups during the Covid-19 pandemic, and then used social media to widen their scope of causes, including strict parental oversight.

“It’s a major initiative right now that grows out of this notion that ‘our kids are our property’,” he said. “It’s a very backward-looking, reactionary way of understanding how children learn.”

Lobbying by some parents’ groups has also prompted Alberta to institute “opt-in” sex education in fall 2024, instead of “opt-out”, which means parents must now actively sign their children up for those classes.

In June, following advocating from the Alberta Parents’ Union, Alberta also introduced new rules that require all presentations focussing on gender identity and sexuality to be vetted by the provincial government.

A Burlington homeowner is fighting charges over her “naturalized garden” of native plants in her front and back yards. The city is taking Karen Barnes to Provincial Offences Court, seeking up to $400,000 in fines for violating a bylaw order to cut it down.

Barnes is challenging the case on constitutional grounds, arguing her right to freedom of expression through gardening is protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

She says her garden supports pollinators, biodiversity and wildlife, reflecting her environmental and spiritual beliefs. She appeared for a pre-trial hearing on Wednesday and is scheduled for a two-day trial in November, according to her lawyer, Vilko Zbogar.

Zbogar says the case is about more than the fine. “Courts have recognized since at least 1996 that freedom of expression under the Charter protects natural gardens as expressions of profound environmental values,” he said. “For Karen, it’s also a spiritual exercise — tied to her creed and beliefs. This falls under Sections 2(a) and 2(b) of the Charter: freedom of conscience and religion and freedom of expression.”

Experts say naturalized gardens and meadows can attract far more pollinators than regularly mown lawns, while also using less water and improving soil health.

“The transport was so good,” said streetcar enthusiast Jay Miller. “I learned from the people I talked to about how very different the city used to be.”

Local entrepreneurs Thomas Ahearn and Warren Soper started the Ottawa Electric Railway Company in 1891, which was later purchased by the city. At its peak, the streetcar lines covered over 90 kilometres.

Not only did Ottawa have a robust streetcar network, but the capital became known for manufacturing them.

“Ottawa built streetcars for Vancouver, the prairie provinces, and some were even built for Toronto,” Dong said. “But now people don’t even know that history.”

Some media outlets are also reporting this as a 1.6% annualized decrease in real GDP (which is the quarterly rate multiplied by 4). While that's technically true, it may seem rather sensationalist since this is the first quarter we've contracted in recent history (since mid 2023) and assumes GDP will continue decreasing by this rate for the next 3 quarters.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/45036971

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is calling on the federal government to amend the Criminal Code so that use of force is presumed reasonable against a person who illegally enters a house and poses a threat to those inside.

"After 10 years of Liberals, the system treats victims like criminals and criminals like victims," Poilievre said during a news conference outside a home in Brampton, Ont.

Under current law, Canadians are not guilty of an offence if they believe on reasonable grounds that force (or the threat of force) is being used against them or another person.

Their act of defence must also be for the purpose of defending or protecting themselves and must be reasonable in the circumstances.

In determining whether the act of defence is "reasonable," courts consider nine factors — including the nature of the threat, the physical capabilities of the parties to the incident, the history of the parties to the incident and whether any party used or threatened weapons.

The Conservative leader said Canadians who are defending their homes "don't have time to think about nine conditions" and it's wrong for the law to apply "a complicated, indecipherable legal doctrine when you were only doing what is right."

Poilievre also said the federal government can implement his "stand on guard" principle or else a Conservative MP will push the idea forward in a private member's bill.

'Your home is your castle'

said "your home is your castle" — a reference to a legal principle called the castle doctrine, which says homeowners have the right to protect themselves from an intruder.

The Conservatives' press release highlighted Cameron Gardiner, a man from Collingwood, Ont., who shot and killed two masked men who zip-tied and held him at gunpoint in a chaotic home invasion in 2019.

The Crown charged Gardiner with manslaughter, but then withdrew the charges in 2021.

"This was yet another case of the Liberals' two-tier justice system: where monsters get sympathy and endless second chances, while Canadians defending their families are treated like criminals," the Conservatives' press release said in reference to Gardiner.

A more recent case in Lindsay, Ont., has sparked widespread reaction and debate over Canada's self-defence laws. Jeremy David McDonald, 44, has been charged with aggravated assault and assault with a weapon after a man allegedly broke into his home wielding a crossbow.

A fight ensued after the break-in. Police said the alleged intruder, Michael Kyle Breen, 41, was so badly injured that he had to be airlifted to a Toronto hospital, located about 100 kilometres away.

Legal experts have clarified that self-defence is legal in Canada, and some have expressed concern about misinformation over the case in Ontario.

The Canadian economy contracted for the first time in nearly two years as the trade war with the US pinched exports and business investment. Canada’s gross domestic product shrank at a 1.6% annualized pace in the second quarter, Statistics Canada reported Friday from Ottawa. That’s the biggest decline since the Covid-19 pandemic and the first contraction in nearly two years.

Web Archive: https://archive.is/Ku8H0#selection-1467.0-1575.306

Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada (LRWC) is deeply troubled by Canada’s conspicuous silence about unlawful sanctions by the United States (US) against jurists of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council’s Special Procedures. Canada has made no public statements since February 2025 even in the face of the most recent US sanctions on 20 August 2025 which target a Canadian ICC Judge, Kimberly Prost.[1]

The alarming pattern of accelerating sanctions by the US indicates a systematic effort to obstruct the work of the ICC so as to secure impunity for officials of the US, Israel, and other US allies, from accountability for suspected war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide

When Prime Minister Mark Carney met with oil and gas executives in June, he touted “partnerships” to make Canada an “energy superpower,” but disclosure reports show industry leaders had something else in their crosshairs: the federal climate plan.

On that day, and throughout the two months on either side of it, the oil and gas industry lobbied Carney and his ministers not only on economic issues, like U.S. tariffs — but also on several of former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s climate policies in the Emissions Reduction Plan, according to The Narwhal’s review of lobbying activity disclosures.

These include: the clean fuel regulations, passed in 2022, which require oil and gas companies to slash the amount of carbon pollution they generate as a byproduct of producing fuel; the clean electricity regulations, put in place at the end of 2024 to achieve a net-zero power grid; the 2018 rules for methane, the main component of natural gas and a potent heat-trapping compound; and the proposed oil and gas emissions cap, the draft rules for which were released last year.