As the expiry date nears for two of Thomson Reuters’ contracts with the United States Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, one B.C. union is sounding the alarm over human rights concerns.

Thomson Reuters is a Toronto-based technology company that owns Reuters News Agency and the legal research tool Westlaw. It has several contracts providing the U.S. agencies access to its investigative research tools.

One US$5.9-million contract, which gives the Department of Homeland Security access to Thomson Reuters’ criminal investigation database CLEAR, is set to expire this month.

A second, US$22.8-million contract, which gives Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, access to a “law enforcement investigative database,” is set to expire at the end of May.

With a market cap of US$39 billion, Thomson Reuters is majority-controlled by Woodbridge Co. Ltd.

The BC General Employees’ Union holds a small share of the company. The union has been raising concerns about the potential of Thomson Reuters’ investigative tools to surveil and track people.

In his speech, Avi Lewis vowed “to bring our party back from the wilderness.” What map, then, will he follow to inspire a fractured party and attract new voters to its retooled agenda?

Lewis pledged to be laser focused on the affordability crisis. He called out the genocide in Gaza, declaring, “We are at a high-stakes moment in human history.”

Lewis’s policies include creating public grocery stores and banks, building public housing and expanding health-care access. He also wants a moratorium on building AI data centres. He has vowed to make proportional representation the NDP’s “one demand” if the party holds the balance of power in Parliament. And not surprisingly, Lewis has floated the idea of a wealth tax.

Lewis and other activists wrote the Leap Manifesto in 2015 — a radical response to climate change, income inequality and racism. He continues to propose an end to new oil production.

In the past, such ideas have not necessarily gone over well with voters. Lewis ran in federal elections in 2015 and 2021, losing both times.

Paul Andrew considered himself a small cog in the wheel of the Dene Nation in the 1970s, when he was also chief of Tulı́t'a.

He didn’t work with other levels of government or even international organizations — just with communities. He did not think he would be one of the people spied on by the RCMP.

So, he was surprised that his name came up several times in the RCMP’s files. The files show police monitored him, from his stance on divisive issues to his comings and goings at workshops.

Now, he wants access to the unredacted documents.

"For me, an apology would not be enough," he said.

A Ukrainian refugee says Manitoba's rejection of her requests to help her remove her deadname from official documents leaves her exposed to transphobia and infringes on her right to express her gender.

Martha Hozha, 25, says she's been trying to change her legal name since she arrived in Canada about two years ago, but the provincial government will not accept the documents she has proving her identity.

"This misrepresentation creates a loop for harassment and transphobia," Hozha said.

"Using [the] right pronouns and right names, legally, is [a] pretty important thing.… It basically affects [the] majority of your life."

Go DONATE plasma (or whole blood) at Canadian Blood Services. The tainted blood scandal of the early 80s had a couple of underlying causes, but at the core was that not enough Canadians were donating which led to two major problems.

1. We started buying blood - and who did we buy blood from? The Americans - who sent us blood that was collected from prison inmates as a way for them to earn credit at the commissary, among other high risk sources. This blood was deemed too risky for domestic use, but just fine to sell to Canada, the UK, etc.

2. For profit collection in general - this disproportionately preys on marginalized groups AND it incentivizes EVERYONE to lie. The first question on the donor questionnaire is 'Are you feeling well today'. If you are dependent on the $50 or whatever you will get from that donation, then you are way more likely to rationalize that the way you have been feeling lately is just allergies.

The recommendations of Tainted Blood Inquiry were:

1. blood is a public resource;
2. no one should be paid to donate blood or plasma;
3. Canada should collect enough blood and components to satisfy its own needs;
4. citizens should have free and universal access to blood components and products; and
5. safety of the blood supply is paramount.

Grifols (the paid plasma company) permits plasma collection at double the maximum frequency of Canadian Blood Services, they sell resulting blood products overseas without donor consent, and they seem to be getting repeatedly cited for failure to follow standards for collection. MAKE THESE TURDS UNNECESSARY BY DONATING.

If you are healthy, eligible, and can, go donate plasma (or whole blood). If you are in Calgary, and nervous, you are welcome to join me on my next donation (Thursday) to see what's involved.

Rocky Neufeld had settled into his seat on a WestJet flight from Edmonton to Fort McMurray, Alta., in February 2025 when a gate agent boarded the plane with unexpected news.

"The person said, 'This flight's cancelled,'" recalled the Winnipeg resident. "'We need the tail [aircraft] for another flight.'"

Neufeld and about 10 other passengers were told to get off the plane.

Then came the email.

WestJet told passengers the cancellation was due to "unplanned aircraft maintenance" required for safety.

That did not match what he had just been told on the plane. And it meant WestJet didn’t have to pay compensation.

Health-care partners in Sioux Lookout, Ont., are celebrating the arrival of the town’s first-ever magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine.

The town of about 5,800 people serves as a health-care hub for several surrounding communities. This includes 33 First Nations, 28 of which are only accessible by plane or winter road.

That means the Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Health Centre (SLMHC) supports about 30,000 patients in the region across 385,000 square kilometres.

Some health-care workers who either directly provide medical assistance in dying or work in that field say they are strongly opposed to Bill 18 — which, if passed, would prevent doctors or nurse practitioners from administering MAID to patients if they are unlikely to die within the next 12 months.

In a letter published in the Edmonton Journal on Friday and shared with CBC News, 25 health-care workers signed their names to make their opposition known.

"The proposed mandates and sanctions place clinicians in ethically untenable positions, undermining professional judgment and eroding trust within the therapeutic relationship," the letter reads, in part.

Doctors and nurse practitioners would be barred from referring a patient out-of-province to be assessed for MAID eligibility. They would be prohibited from suggesting MAID to any patients as an option — the patient would have to request information on MAID first.

Archived link

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Under this arrangement [a public-private resource partnerships], Canada commits to purchasing 30,000 tonnes per annum of flake graphite concentrate through a take-or-pay structure spanning seven years, with pricing anchored to fixed North American benchmarks adjusted annually for inflation.

This framework addresses several strategic objectives simultaneously. Supply security assurance through guaranteed domestic production capacity provides Canada with reliable access to battery-grade materials. Furthermore, price stability mechanisms protect against market volatility while maintaining commercial flexibility for both parties.

The revenue-sharing mechanism creates a unique risk-reward balance where Canada participates in commodity price upside above the fixed baseline, while Nouveau Monde Graphite retains full resale rights and commercial agility.

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Traditional procurement models typically rely on market-linked benchmarks for pricing, best efforts delivery commitments, and restricted resale flexibility. However, the government framework employs fixed pricing with inflation adjustment to reduce volatility exposure. Additionally, take-or-pay guarantees provide predictable cash flow streams essential for project financing.

This hybrid approach recognises that critical mineral markets operate under different constraints than traditional commodity sectors, where geopolitical considerations and supply concentration risks justify more sophisticated contractual structures. For instance, the seven-year strategic commitment provides extended planning certainty compared to standard three-to-five year offtake agreements.

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The labour movement can be the base for a more just and humane Canadian immigration system

The New Brunswick government is looking for a company to reopen a mine that used to be one of North America’s largest producers of the critical mineral antimony.

The former Lake George mine, about 30 kilometres southwest of Fredericton, operated intermittently from 1876 to 1996, according to a government website.

The shiny grey metal is mainly used as a flame retardant, but it is also used in solar panels, lead-acid batteries and more recently in infrared missiles, nuclear weapons and night vision goggles.

“With global supply heavily concentrated in China, there is growing demand for secure and reliable sources (for critical minerals),” the government said in a statement.

“The project represents an opportunity to support domestic supply chains while advancing economic development in the province.”

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The proposed Sisson open-pit mine is a partnership between Vancouver-based Northcliff Resources and its majority owner, New Zealand’s Todd Corp.

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$3 billion dollar funding gap drives privatization and downloads costs onto Ontarians