Over the weekend, the Western Standard published an op-ed titled “What is a Canadian?” authored by Daniel Tyrie, the former executive director of Maxime Bernier’s far-right People’s Party of Canada, who now heads a white nationalist group called the Dominion Society.

The Dominion Society, which extremism experts describe as the “political arm” of Canada’s white nationalist movement, maintains a website that explicitly promotes the “Great Replacement,” the idea that immigration policies are designed to replace white populations.

The group’s main focus is on mainstreaming an idea it calls “remigration.” Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the US-based Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, has noted the Dominion Society’s “remigration” message is effectively advocating the “ethnic cleansing of people of colour.”

Evan Balgord, executive director of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, echoed that view, observing that the Dominion Society seeks to “push the Overton window” and normalize the idea of “remigration.”

This is how our media covers blatant interference by Israel in Canadian politics

The collaboration centres on Australia’s advanced Over-the-Horizon Radar (OTHR) technology, which will enhance Canada’s Arctic security capabilities amid growing global tensions.

Australian Minister for Defence Industry, Pat Conroy, announced the agreement, highlighting its role in bolstering bilateral ties. The OTHR system, renowned for its long-range detection abilities, will support Canada’s efforts to upgrade its northern defences, including radar systems and drone acquisitions for the Royal Canadian Navy.

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This deal not only represents a milestone in defence trade but also creates opportunities for job growth and technological exchange between the two CANZUK partners. With shared values in security and innovation, Australia and Canada are positioning themselves as key players in addressing Indo-Pacific and Arctic challenges.

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Canada's Minister of National Defence David J. McGuinty, and the Minister of Defence of Norway, Tore O. Sandvik, signed a Letter of Intent to deepen bilateral cooperation in the space domain. This agreement builds on Canada and Norway’s long-standing collaboration and reinforces both countries’ commitment to national and collective defence.

The signing took place during Minister McGuinty’s visit to Norway with Prime Minister Mark Carney, where they participated in bilateral discussions and meetings to strengthen Canada’s Arctic and space security partnerships.

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It builds on existing collaboration through the Combined Space Operations Initiative, a partnership of ten like-minded spacefaring nations working together to enhance collective resilience, interoperability, and freedom of action in space in support of military operations.

Canada and Norway are long-standing Allies through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and share important national interests as Arctic nations. Both countries recognize that space capabilities are critical to national defence and security, particularly in remote regions such as the Arctic.

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Beyond defence and economic security, the new partnership also expands co-operation into areas that have received less attention in previous Canada–Japan initiatives.

One notable example is food security. The roadmap highlights Canada’s role as a reliable supplier of agricultural products to Japan, a country that imports a large share of its food supply. Strengthening agricultural trade and supply-chain resilience has therefore become an important component of Japan’s broader economic security strategy.

The partnership also emphasizes areas of collaboration in the Arctic. Canada and Japan agreed to deepen co-operation in Arctic scientific research, environmental monitoring, and climate-related policy discussions. Although Japan is not an Arctic state, it has long maintained an interest in Arctic governance and research through its observer status in the Arctic Council.

In addition, the partnership reinforces collaboration on energy security and resource supply chains, climate change mitigation, and clean energy technologies, including hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, and small modular reactors. These areas reflect both countries’ efforts to advance energy transition strategies while maintaining energy security.

Finally, the roadmap places renewed emphasis on people-to-people ties, including academic exchanges, research collaboration, and cultural programs. The two governments also referenced the upcoming 100th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2028, which may provide additional opportunities to strengthen institutional links between universities, research institutes, and policy communities.

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To the average Canadian, the moral lines of the war in Ukraine remain clear. But behind the closed parliament doors, a different picture is emerging. National Security Advisor Nathalie Drouin warned parliament in February that more Canadians are beginning to believe the Kremlin's narrative: that Kyiv, not Moscow, provoked the 2022 invasion.

On the surface, this shift isn't visible. Public polling commissioned by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) shows that nine in 10 Canadians still blame Russia for the war, with 87% agreeing that Moscow is acting in bad faith and is "responsible for starting and continuing the war."

Canada, however, is not an isolated laboratory for Russian tactics.

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In the United States, the Department of Justice in 2024 dismantled a Russian-backed "AI content farm" designed to "groom" the digital ecosystem by flooding it with millions of AI-generated personas. Since the 2024 election cycle, U.S. Intelligence officials have warned that these narratives have successfully jumped into the political mainstream.

In 2025, some of those talking points were echoed by President Donald Trump, calling President Volodymyr Zelensky a "dictator without elections."

Across the Atlantic, Germany and the U.K. have faced similar "Doppelganger" operations, where cloned news sites mimic mainstream outlets like Der Spiegel and The Guardian to stoke domestic "war fatigue." According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) data, Russian sabotage and subversion attempts in Europe nearly tripled between 2023 and 2024, proving that while public support remains high on paper, the "grey zone" pressure on Western democracies is reaching a fever pitch.

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Marcus Kolga, a leading analyst on foreign disinformation, notes that Drouin's access to classified intelligence suggests that a dangerous erosion is occurring beneath the surface.

"The fact that (Nathalie Drouin) is concerned that there may be a shift (in public opinion) should concern all of us," Kolga told the Kyiv Independent.

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Russia's targeting Canada isn't new. According to Kolga, Russia has targeted Canadians with influence operations since the Cold War, with well-documented evidence of escalated targeting over the last 15 years. The danger, experts say, lies in Canadian complacency.

"Canadians have traditionally always underestimated the threat that Russia is to Canada and to our democracy," Senator Stan Kutcher told the Kyiv Independent. "We may not think we're at war with Russia, but Russia is at war with us."

Kutcher said he initiated a Senate study on Russian disinformation and its impact on Canadian civil society. The report —which is expected for release by the end of April — will include recommendations on how Canada can better counter Russian influence campaigns.

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Russian disinformation in Canada generally falls into three buckets: fiscal resentment, false pacifism, and targeted personal attacks, according to experts interviewed by the Kyiv Independent.

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The first narrative often questions the use of taxpayer dollars for Ukraine, alleging that diaspora fundraising is being embezzled. In 2024, an online campaign alleged that first lady Olena Zelenska bought a $4.8 million Bugatti — claims Bugatti itself had to refute.

The second frames Canada's support as a betrayal of its "peaceful nation" identity.

Personal attacks, however, are the most pressing sticking points.

"The narrative about Ukrainians, Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians being somehow fascists or neo-Nazis has been around since the end of the Second World War," Kolga explains. "It was used to discredit and dehumanize anyone who fled Soviet occupation."

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To counter these "surgical strikes" on diaspora communities, Kutcher is spearheading a Senate study that will provide a roadmap for countering Russian influence.

But he isn't waiting for a report to act. Kutcher has begun holding "awareness-raising sessions" for the Ukrainian diaspora in cities like Edmonton and Ottawa, urging community organizations to move beyond a defensive crouch.

"We have to stop playing defense and start playing offense," Kutcher said. "The Ukrainian diaspora is going to have to step up and be part of the civil society response."

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"We have to coordinate enforcement with the Europeans so that when we see violations or a failure to comply by these tech companies, we act together," Kolga says. By aligning with Europe's stricter standards, like the Digital Services Act to combat illegal content, Canada could force social media giants to abandon the "hands-off" approach that has allowed foreign narratives to flourish.

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By supporting and collaborating with these exiled voices, Kolga believes Canadian media and government can get a more accurate look at what is happening inside Russia and Belarus — ensuring Canadians are informed by facts, not manufactured narratives.

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A senior officer of China’s Public Security Bureau who spent more than three decades supervising interrogations and detentions in Hebei Province has been barred from Canadian permanent residency — along with his wife and child — after a federal immigration officer found reasonable grounds to believe he was complicit in the systematic torture of criminal suspects.

Justice Shirzad Ahmed upheld that finding on judicial review, in a ruling that carries indirect ramifications for Prime Minister Mark Carney’s controversial decision to deepen cooperation with Chinese police.

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Carney’s government signed the memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Public Security — the same national apparatus that oversees the provincial bureaus whose conduct the court condemned — without releasing the agreement’s text or explaining what protections exist for diaspora communities. As The Bureau has reported, critics from Hong Kong diaspora organizations have raised “deep fear and anxiety” over the deal.

The Chinese officer, referred to in the ruling only as the spouse of applicant Li Li, built a 30-year career inside the Shijiazhuang Municipal Public Security Bureau in Hebei Province, rising from criminal brigade investigator to vice director of one of its branches in 2013.

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The ruling appears to add weight to systemic concerns ... including classified Canadian Security Intelligence Service warnings that Ministry of Public Security officers have run covert and unauthorized operations on Canadian soil, including surveillance of diaspora members, coercion of family members in China, and payments to Chinese-language journalists in Canada to locate and track targets.

Those warnings are consistent with a body of international documentation stretching back decades.

A landmark 2015 Human Rights Watch report found that physical and psychological abuse during Public Security Bureau interrogations was pervasive — so much so that even Chinese officials had characterized torture in custody as "common," "serious," and "nationwide."

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Former detainees described being hung by the wrists, beaten with batons, and subjected to prolonged sleep deprivation; some were held for days in tiger chairs designed to immobilize suspects, or bound in handcuffs and leg irons. One prisoner awaiting review of a death sentence had been handcuffed and shackled continuously for eight years. An analysis of 432 court verdicts found that judges rarely investigated torture allegations in any meaningful way.

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Drawing on reports from international non-governmental organizations, academic literature, and contemporaneous statements from the Chinese government itself, the officer concluded that torture during interrogations and detentions was systematic and policy-driven within the Public Security Bureau — not merely in pockets of the country, but nationwide, and specifically documented in Hebei Province.

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From affordable housing in Alberta to high taxes in Quebec, there are many widely accepted claims about the cost of living in different parts of the country. But are these preconceptions accurate?

A year after the “Buy Canadian” movement started sweeping the country, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is cracking down on grocery stores that promote imported food as Canadian.

So far this year, the federal food regulator has issued two fines to Loblaw-owned grocery stores for this type of violation. The CFIA is also investigating Canadian labelling and advertising practices at grocer Sobeys’ head office, CBC News has learned.

“Canadians have been clear that they want to support Canadian businesses and buy Canadian products,” said the agency in an email. “The CFIA will take the appropriate action to protect Canadians from misleading claims.”

National homes sales edged down in February from the previous month, and the benchmark home price fell 4.8 per cent compared to the same time last year, the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) said on Tuesday.

CREA chief economist Shaun Cathcart said February's data showed a "continuation of the quieter levels of activity" seen in January, but he said the association expects "pent-up" demand to boil over during the spring season.

New listings were down 3.9 per cent in February compared to January, and the sales-to-new-listings ratio also narrowed. CREA said price declines in British Columbia, Ontario and Alberta offset gains made in other provinces.

The MLS Home Price Index showed that the national benchmark home price was $661,100 last month, close to the prices seen in the spring of 2021.

The race to lead the New Democrat Party is officially underway.

Voting opened on March 9 and ends March 29, when the party will gather in Winnipeg for the NDP convention.

Five leadership contestants are in the race to replace former NDP leader Jagmeet Singh: Edmonton Strathcona MP Heather McPherson, labour leader Rob Ashton, activist and documentary filmmaker Avi Lewis, social worker and Campbell River Coun. Tanille Johnston and organic farmer Tony McQuail.

Sanjay Jeram, a political science lecturer at Simon Fraser University, said Ashton, McPherson and Lewis have emerged as the race’s three front-runners.

Lewis has been able to fundraise more than twice as much money as the next candidate, with nearly three times as many people contributing to his campaign.

When he was 22 years old, he moved from Japan to Toronto to study English, but he says he wound up in rural Nova Scotia working excessive hours at a campground for a total of $300 for nearly a year’s work.

“It's really, really sad. And I was crying sometimes because I don't know who I can trust,” the man, now 24, said in an interview.

CBC News is not revealing the man's name or showing his face to protect his privacy.

The RCMP say he is a victim of labour trafficking, a form of human trafficking that they say is of growing concern across Canada. Labour trafficking calls to the Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline held steady for an average of 24 cases a year from 2020 to 2022, jumping to 57 calls in 2023, and 100 in 2024, according to a report produced by the Canadian Association to End Human Trafficking.

Police and experts agree the number of cases is likely much higher than the data suggests, because labour trafficking is a significantly underreported crime.

In relation to the latest case, Nova Scotia RCMP have charged Trevor Annon, 65, of southern Ontario with trafficking in persons, receiving financial or material benefit, false pretense and extortion. He’s also facing a fraud charge in relation to another victim.

Generally avoid posting idiotic things this guy says, but as most people know as offensive as this guy is he's been sure not to offend anyone powerful and it seems like he's finally picked a side. Hopefully this will the straw that break the camel back for the Conservatives.

The Conservative leader called for a ban on Chinese software, matching the US.

“We will protect the North American supply chains by keeping the 75% rule in place, harmonise the North American cybersecurity rules by banning Chinese software, and align with our partners on the tariff against China to counter unfair trade and increase our negotiating leverage,” he stated.

19% would be the complacent middle class 🤮

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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has reaffirmed that Canada will continue its sanctions against Russia, including restrictions on Russian oil, even as the United States temporarily eases part of its sanction regime amid rising global oil prices.

Carney made the statement on March 13 during a visit to Norway, where he met with NATO troops participating in a cold-weather military exercise. Speaking alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, the Canadian leader stressed that Ottawa has no intention of relaxing its pressure on Moscow.

The issue was also discussed during a virtual meeting of the Group of Seven (G7) leaders on March 11. According to Chancellor Merz, most of the member countries opposed the U.S. decision to allow limited transactions involving Russian oil for a short period.

“Six out of seven countries believed sanctions on Russia should remain firmly in place,” Merz said, adding that several leaders were surprised to learn that Washington had chosen a different approach.

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Weeks after it was delivered, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Davos speech is still generating ripples—quoted in think tanks, parsed in Ottawa, and invoked as shorthand for a world tilting away from frictionless globalization.

“We knew,” Carney told that room of elites, high in the Alps in January, “the story of the international rules-based order was partially false.” Just because Canada benefited from it, Carney said, didn’t hide the fact that it was unfair. The rules didn’t apply equally to everyone. “The strongest would exempt themselves when convenient,” he said. Power, not principle, set the terms.

Carney’s argument rested on two ideas that sat—still sit—uneasily together. On the one hand, he spoke of sovereignty, of the need for Canada to secure its supply chains, deepen its industrial capacity, and reduce its exposure to geopolitical shock. On the other, he reaffirmed a faith in the very global systems whose unravelling has made sovereignty newly urgent: open capital flows, integrated markets, and rules-based co-operation led by familiar powers.

The contradiction was not rhetorical; it was structural. Davos itself is built on the promise that global integration can be managed, even as the world that gathers there is busily preparing for its limits. Carney’s speech captured that paradox perfectly. He offered a vision of Canadian independence that still depends, in many ways, on a global system stable enough to respect independence—the very thing he said is eroding.

Archive link: https://archive.is/dgZYL

A pair of Ontario family doctors say they'll have to go back to sending patient prescriptions to pharmacies by fax because a federally funded agency is doing away with an efficient electronic system, with no clear plans for its replacement.

The software allows doctors to instantly send drug prescriptions to pharmacies and approve prescription renewal requests with a click of a mouse. The system brings up the renewal request in an electronic prompt attached to each patient's health record.

It's a crucial tool because Bolzon said he receives up to 35 prescription renewal requests in a typical day while also handling about 30 daily in-person appointments.

So if PrescribeIT is helping doctors manage their patient loads and there's no clear replacement in place, why pull the plug?

In a statement to CBC News, Canada Health Infoway said they worked with governments and system providers to keep PrescribeIT operating. However, the statement said there was no shared funding model and "no viable model emerged that would support the continued operation of a single national service over the long term."

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An Ontario judge has thrown out a lawsuit launched against The Globe and Mail by a former Ontario provincial Liberal cabinet minister, ruling there is an important public interest in protecting an investigative journalist’s use of confidential sources.

Michael Chan was claiming $10-million in punitive and personal damages after Globe journalist Robert Fife and Sam Cooper, a former investigative journalist with Global News who now publishes independently, reported extensively on China’s alleged foreign interference efforts in the 2021 federal election.

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Justice Loretta Merritt of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on Wednesday found Mr. Chan failed to provide evidence of a conspiracy and concluded that his lawsuit didn’t seriously challenge The Globe or others’ reporting.

She also found the suit was an effort to obtain the identities of the reporters’ confidential sources.

“Mr. Chan’s lawsuit is what the Supreme Court has recognized as a SLAPP lawsuit: a tactical action that seeks to suppress expression on matters of public interest,” Justice Merritt wrote.

SLAPP stands for strategic lawsuit against public participation.

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Mr. Chan complained in his suit that The Globe was provided “unfounded and inaccurate” information by the confidential sources when they said segments of CSIS were of the view that he was improperly associating with people who might be intelligence actors on behalf of the Chinese government on matters that were election-related.

In February, 2023, The Globe reported that then prime minister Justin Trudeau and senior aides had been warned that government MPs should be cautious in their dealings with Mr. Chan because of alleged ties to China’s consulate in Toronto. The Globe cited confidential sources who risked prosecution under the Security of Information Act.

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Mr. Chan has been of interest to CSIS before. The Globe reported in 2015 that Mr. Chan had been the subject of CSIS security briefings in Ontario over fears he was too close to the Chinese consulate. He was a cabinet minister for former Ontario Liberal premiers Dalton McGuinty and Kathleen Wynne from 2007 to 2018.

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