Canadian Liberals let in nearly 25k unvetted asylum seekers from world’s most dangerous countries: report

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/canadian-liberals-let-in-nearly-25k-unvetted-asylum-seekers-from-worlds-most-dangerous-countries-report/

The Trudeau government allowed some 24,599 people from countries such as Afghanistan and Yemen into Canada between 2019 and 2023 without even an interview, according to a former Immigration policy director.

An insider report authored by a former director of policy at Immigration with the Canadian government has shown that, for nearly a decade, Canada let in 25,000 asylum seekers without any of them ever being properly vetted.

The report, by the Toronto-based C.D. Howe Institute, and authored by James Yousif, who is the former director of policy at Immigration, noted how the federal government “slashed all its usual controls to weed out fraudsters, human traffickers and terrorists” in letting these people into the nation.

When looked at in detail, some 24,599 people were allowed into Canada between 2019 and 2023, with none of them ever having an interview done by immigration officials at the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRB).

“A person from a country on the IRB’s Country List can enter Canada, make a claim for asylum, and receive a positive determination in the mail, without being asked a single question,” noted the report.

The report shows some 24 countries, mostly nations rife with crime and terrorism, as being places where the new so-called asylum seekers come from, including North Korea, Yemen, Venezuela, Eritrea, and Afghanistan.

In his report, Yousif noted how government officials cannot, and should not, take asylum seekers at their word, which is why in-person interviews are vital. Continue…

Canadian newspaper calls Team USA Olympic hockey team 'monkeys'

https://thepostmillennial.com/canadian-newspaper-calls-team-usa-olympic-hockey-team-monkeys

The Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail referred to members of the Team USA Olympic hockey squad as “monkeys” in a column published after their gold medal victory over Canada and appearance at President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address.

“It was only as they filed into the chamber inside Washington’s Capitol building on Tuesday night – surrounded by hooting politicians – that it seemed to occur to Team USA what they had gotten themselves into,” the piece began. “This was a zoo. They were the monkeys.”

The article went on to argue that the hockey players were used as “props” during Trump’s address. It also singled out Connor Hellebuyck and Auston Matthews, both of whom play for Canadian teams in the NHL, claiming they will “never live it down.” Continue…

Liberals give $17 million to Afghan women's education — problem is, Taliban have banned it

https://www.westernstandard.news/news/liberals-give-17-million-to-afghan-womens-education-problem-is-taliban-have-banned-it/71431

Afghanistan receives a fair amount of money from Canada in attempts to improve women's rights— although, it is questionable whether Afghan women can even use the money for its intended purpose.

The Taliban, which has taken over Afghanistan's government since back in 2021, has created multiple laws restricting the rights of women.

Reported by the Times of India, the Taliban banned all education for girls past Grade six, as of 2022.

This includes universities, including options for education, nursing, and midwifery all being banned to teach women.

According to United Nations Development Program (UNDP), only 7% of women worked outside of the household in 2024, with Taliban work restrictions projected to cost the Afghan economy $920 million between 2024 and 2026.

One grant Canada has offered to Afghanistan — totaling $17 million — is supposed to increase female employment.

The grant is expected to be dispersed between 2025 to 2029, and is called the "Resilient and Strong: Empowering Women through TVET in Afghanistan."

The feds claim the money will go to "improv[ing] the economic resilience of Afghan women by facilitating employment and livelihoods opportunities in the health and early childhood development sectors."

To be specific, they plan to do the following: Continue…

Australia Is Shipping LNG to Canada’s East Coast via 25,000 km Journey: Report

https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/australia-is-shipping-lng-to-canadas-east-coast-via-25000-km-journey-report-5990797?ea_src=ca-frontpage&ea_med=section-1

Canadian-produced natural gas doesn’t reach all the way to the East Coast, due to a lack of infrastructure, but Australian gas soon will.

A tanker carrying Australian liquified natural gas (LNG), the Maran Gas Hector, has made a journey of around 25,750 kilometres and will soon reach the Port of Saint John, N.B., Bloomberg News has reported.

This will be the first time Australian LNG makes it to Canada, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Kpler, a global trade analytics firm.

Saint John LNG operates a terminal in New Brunswick which receives LNG and converts it to natural gas for distribution via the Brunswick Pipeline linking to Canadian and U.S. markets. The terminal is fully owned by Spanish multinational energy and petrochemical company Repsol.

The Epoch Times reached to Saint John LNG for comment but didn’t immediately hear back.

The shipment of Australian LNG to Canada points to softening demand for the fuel in Asia, as Australia looks for new buyers for its uncontracted fuel. A cargo was also sent to Turkey, the first since at least 2017, and another went to Chile earlier this year, Bloomberg says. Continue…

US Natural Gas Output to Hit Record Highs in 2026, 2027, EIA Says

https://www.theepochtimes.com/business/us-natural-gas-output-to-hit-record-highs-in-2026-2027-eia-says-5986621?ea_src=ca-frontpage&ea_med=section-1

Natural gas production in the United States is expected to hit new highs this year and in 2027, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a Feb. 13 statement.

“We forecast that U.S. natural gas marketed production will increase by 2 percent to average 120.8 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2026 and then further increase to a record-high 122.3 Bcf/d in 2027,” the EIA said.

“U.S. natural gas production growth will primarily come from the Appalachia region in the Northeast, the Permian region in western Texas and southeastern New Mexico, and the Haynesville region in eastern Texas and Louisiana.”

The EIA said that “around 69 percent of forecast production over the next two years” will come from these regions.

The Appalachian region accounts for the largest share of domestic natural gas output. Since 2016, the region has made up about 32 percent of production in the Lower 48 annually.

In recent years, production growth has slowed in the region because of pipeline capacity constraints, the agency said. In June 2024, the Mountain Valley Pipeline was authorized to begin operations. It is expected to boost Appalachia’s natural gas output by 0.3 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2026 and by 0.5 Bcf/d in 2027. Continue…

Ontario Premier Ford Announces US Travel Plans to Combat Tariffs

https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/ontario-premier-ford-announces-us-travel-plans-to-combat-tariffs-5990616?ea_src=ca-frontpage&ea_med=section-1

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is embarking on a campaign in the coming months that will see him travel to the United States to oppose tariffs placed on Canada by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Ford will head across the border this spring for a meeting with Texas Governor Greg Abbott and other political connections ahead of the July review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

Ford told a press conference this week that his message to his U.S. counterparts is that neither country ultimately benefits from tariffs.

“I’ve always said a tariff on Canada is a tax on the U.S., and I’m going to be spreading that message,” he said while speaking with reporters at Queen’s Park.

The meetings are taking place as Canada prepares for the review of the USMCA. Ford said the country needs to be prepared for the possibility that Trump could opt to “blow up” the deal.

“We have to have plans for everything,” said Ford, who has met several times with Prime Minister Mark Carney and other premiers to discuss tariffs and the upcoming negotiations of the trade deal. Continue…

Number of Assaults Reported in Montreal Metro Rises 15 Percent in One Year, to 726

https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/number-of-assaults-reported-in-montreal-metro-rises-15-percent-in-one-year-to-726-post-5990870?ea_src=ca-frontpage&ea_med=section-1

The number of assaults reported in Montreal’s metro system rose by 15 percent in 2025 compared to the year prior, according to newly released police data.

Montreal police say there were 726 cases of assault in 2025, up from 631 in 2024 and 652 in 2023. The rise in cases was driven by a spike in reported assaults in January 2025 for reasons that are not totally clear, Cmdr. Angélique Beaudet said in an interview Wednesday.

“I don’t have a very precise explanation for the increase, other than it was really concentrated in January,” Beaudet said, adding that the rest of the year was largely stable.

The number of assaults in 2025 was higher than at any point since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, which led to a major drop in ridership. Police say the data before 2020 was collected in a different way and therefore not comparable to later years. Continue…

Freedom Convoy Lawyers Seek Stay in $290M Lawsuit Against Protesters, Donors

https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/freedom-convoy-lawyers-request-stay-in-290m-lawsuit-targeting-protesters-and-donors-5990729?ea_src=ca-frontpage&ea_med=section-1

Lawyers representing Freedom Convoy protestors and donors have filed a motion for a permanent stay of proceedings in the $290 million class-action lawsuit against them, after a plaintiff failed to disclose a settlement agreement reached in 2024.

The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) said in a Feb. 24 press release that defence counsel recently advised the court that the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Paul Champ, entered into a settlement agreement with one of the defendants in April 2024.

Ontario law requires such settlement agreements to be disclosed immediately to other parties in the litigation, but counsel said this agreement was not disclosed to other defence counsel until last month.

The settlement required the defendant to provide documents to the plaintiffs for use against other defendants, give an affidavit in support of the plaintiffs, make himself available for cross-examination, and pay $60,000 in exchange for his release from the lawsuit.

The counsel for the remaining defendants previously asked for disclosure of any such agreements, but were told it was “not an appropriate time,” according to the JCCF.

Lawyer James Manson, who is representing several defendants that include protesters and donors, said the integrity of Canada’s justice system depends on “transparency” between all parties. Continue…

NATO's Arctic drills aimed at Russian subs and convincing Trump that Europe is serious about defence

https://nationalpost.com/news/world/nato-arctic-defence-drill-russia-trump

Each year in February, NATO allies gather on the west coast of Norway to practice hunting enemy submarines. While principally directed at Russia, this year’s exercise had an additional audience: Donald Trump.

The Norwegian sea is the gateway to the Arctic — a region of growing strategic importance even before the president renewed his claim for U.S. control of Greenland while questioning the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s relevance.

Each year in February, NATO allies gather on the west coast of Norway to practice hunting enemy submarines. While principally directed at Russia, this year’s exercise had an additional audience: Donald Trump.

The Norwegian sea is the gateway to the Arctic — a region of growing strategic importance even before the president renewed his claim for U.S. control of Greenland while questioning the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s relevance.

In frigid temperatures, around 1000 armed forces personnel from Spain, Norway, Poland, the Netherlands, the U.K. and Germany joined a collection of frigates, helicopters and patrol aircraft to scour the Norwegian Sea in pursuit of two submarines posing as adversaries.

The aim of the exercise is to stop the threat before it enters “the main heart of the Euro-Atlantic area,” explained Commodore Kyrre Haugen, chief of Norway’s naval fleet.

“That is very important for Europe, for the Euro-Atlantic relationship, and for the homeland security of the U.S.,” he said.

What followed was a game of cat and mouse, with the two conventional submarines — from Norway and Germany — weaving between the Norwegian fjords, attempting to vanish undetected beneath the surface.

To catch them, NATO sets off a series of sonars which use sound waves to detect the boats, either connected to the hull of the warships or lowered into the sea by helicopters. P-8 surveillance planes assist by using their own radars and deploying sonars known as sonobuoys. These allow NATO to determine the submarine’s distance from the vessel and the speed at which it’s travelling. Continue…

Family of 8-year-old Alberta girl found slain in hockey bag give victim impact statements

https://nationalpost.com/news/local-news/girl-8-slain-edmonton-controversial-sentencing/wcm/e30bc0a7-cd69-474d-a247-e0be7b1a47bd

Warning: This story contains details some readers may find disturbing.

Family of an eight-year-old girl found slain more than two years ago has finally been granted permission by court to tell the public her name — Nina Napope Dumais.

A publication ban on the little girl’s name and the name of her killer — Ashley Rattlesnake, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the case — was revoked in Edmonton court at a Wednesday morning sentencing hearing.

The hearing will play out over three days and during that time, Justice Jody Fraser will hear arguments from the Crown and defence on what punishment they believe fits the crime.

Prosecutor Terry Hoffman said the Crown is seeking a nine-year sentence, while the defence wants seven years.

Members of Nina’s family, including her aunts, grandmother and father, sat in the courtroom Wednesday morning and wept as the court heard impact statements.

Starr Dumais, the child’s grandmother, recalled cherished memories.

“My baby girl Nina amazed me,” she said.

Reading the statement from Nina’s father, Dumais shared with court how her granddaughter loved to dance and sing, and had a close connection to her siblings and other family members.

She said she is now broken, devastated she will never be able to see Nina grow into a woman.

Rose Dumais, Nina’s aunt, told the court of her own trauma, endured in the wake of Napope’s killing.

“I fell into an addiction and started closing myself up, even to my children. That survivor guilt started to kick in,” she said.

Rattlesnake sat in the prisoner’s box facing away from the family. She wiped tears from her face as the victim impact statements were shared.

Rattlesnake was arrested after Nina’s body was reported to be found in a hockey bag in the back of a truck south of Edmonton, on Samson Cree Nation at Maskwacis. Two men were also charged with accessory to murder and indignity to a body.

When Rattlesnake pleaded guilty in September, prosecutors told the court that it was unknown how exactly the girl’s fatal injury occurred. Continue…