No answers, no silence: The protests aren’t over for Michael Ma
https://www.rebelnews.com/no_answers_no_silence_the_protests_aren_t_over_for_michael_ma
Still seeking accountability, Markham–Unionville voters gathered outside a Lunar New Year celebration reportedly attended by Michael Ma. Continue…
WARNING: Don't get railroaded by Carney's Quebec-Toronto train
https://www.rebelnews.com/warning_dont_get_railroaded_by_carneys_quebec_toronto_train
The Liberals proposed plan for a high-speed rail connection linking Toronto to Quebec City is fraught with potentially disastrous financial, environmental and personal costs. Continue…
During Day 2 of Adam Skelly’s constitutional challenge of the COVID lockdown mandates, lawyers for the Province of Ontario and the City of Toronto deny the government did anything wrong
https://www.rebelnews.com/during_day_2_of_adam_skelly_s_constitutional_challenge_of_the_covid_lockdown_mandates_lawyers_for_the_province_of_ontario_and_the_city_of_toronto_deny_the_government_did_anything_wrong
Day 2 of the constitutional challenge of the COVID-19 lockdown mandates took place at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Toronto on Thursday. Continue…
DAY 3: Live updates from final day of Adamson BBQ COVID lockdown constitutional challenge
https://www.rebelnews.com/day_3_live_updates_from_final_day_of_adamson_bbq_covid_lockdown_constitutional_challenge
Nearly six years after he made a defiant stand against Ontario's punitive COVID-19 lockdown, Adamson Barbecue owner Adam Skelly is in court challenging the constitutionality of the pandemic-era restriction.
In November 2020, Skelly reopened his Etobicoke restaurant in defiance of the Reopening Ontario Act. The act became known as the “Barbecue Rebellion” as a large number of supporters were on hand as Toronto police forcefully shut the business.
Speaking to Rebel News ahead of this week's court hearing, Skelly said his legal team is claiming “a bunch of Charter violations” occurred in the process.
“Freedom of expression, life and liberty, peaceful protest — even cruel and unusual punishment. If a breach is found, the government will argue it was justified under Section 1,” he told Rebel News' Tamara Ugolini.
The is being heard by Justice Janet Leiper of the Ontario Superior Court in Toronto over February 25–27. Rebel News reporter David Menzies, who closely covered the Barbecue Rebellion as it unfolded, is providing live updates from the courtroom.
Follow along with his posts on X directly or below on this page. Continue…
Anti-Trump protesters claim Cuba is a democracy!
https://www.rebelnews.com/anti_trump_protesters_claim_cuba_is_a_democracy
Despite Quebec’s sizeable Cuban community, none appeared to be protesting alongside the Marxists and socialists in Montreal. Continue…
Hong Kong Court Overturns Jimmy Lai’s Fraud Conviction
https://www.theepochtimes.com/china/hong-kong-court-overturns-jimmy-lais-fraud-conviction-5991308?ea_src=ca-frontpage&ea_med=section-1
A Hong Kong appeals court has overturned fraud convictions against Jimmy Lai, handing the former media mogul a rare legal victory even as he faces 20 years in prison on a separate national security charge that could keep him incarcerated for life.
Lai, 78, an outspoken critic of China’s communist regime and founder of the now-defunct newspaper Apple Daily, has been widely seen as a symbol of Hong Kong’s diminishing press freedom and civil liberties. He has now spent more than 1,800 days in prison since his 2020 arrest.
A lower court judge in December 2022 sentenced Lai to five years and nine months in prison and fined him HK$2 million (about $257,000 at the time), saying that the defendant had breached a lease contract for his newspaper’s headquarters by concealing the operations of a private company, Dico Consultants, in the building. Lai’s codefendant, Wong Wai-keung, was sentenced to 21 months in prison.
On Feb. 26, Hong Kong Judges Jeremy Poon, Anthea Pang, and Derek Pang stated in the judgment that they allowed the appeal from Lai and Wong to proceed, as the lower court judge had “erred.”
“In conclusion, we hold that Apple Daily Printing did not owe a duty to the Corporation to disclose its breach of the user restrictions or the non-alienation clauses occasioned by Dico’s occupation and use of the said Premises,“ the judgment reads. ”With respect, the Judge erred.
“His reasoning in concluding that the applicants were liable for the concealment as the prosecution contended is unsupportable. He erred in making those findings.” Continue…
BC School Trustee Quits After Tribunal Fines Former Trustee Critical of Gender Ideology $750,000
https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/bc-school-trustee-quits-after-tribunal-fines-former-trustee-critical-of-gender-ideology-750000-post-5991480?ea_src=ca-frontpage&ea_med=section-1
Chilliwack, B.C., school board member Laurie Throness said he is stepping down from his position due to a recent B.C. Human Rights Tribunal judgment against former trustee Barry Neufeld.
The tribunal fined Neufeld $750,000 plus interest on Feb. 18 for comments he has made criticizing gender ideology and Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) curriculum in schools between 2017 and 2022 while serving on Chilliwack’s school board.
In his resignation statement, Throness said the ruling against Neufeld has made him “no longer feel safe” in expressing views on the board.
“I can longer do my job,” Throness wrote in his Feb. 26 resignation statement posted on Facebook.
“All democratically-elected officials must feel comfortable to speak their mind without worrying about accusations of workplace discrimination. Since I no longer feel safe in expressing myself on the Board in legitimate ways, the only proper course is to resign.” Continue…
Police Bust Alleged Dark Web Ring Exporting Opioids from Montreal to United States
https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/police-bust-alleged-dark-web-ring-exporting-opioids-from-montreal-to-united-states-5991789?ea_src=ca-frontpage&ea_med=section-1
Four people are facing charges in connection with an investigation into a carfentanil trafficking network that operates from the greater Montreal area to export the highly potent synthetic opioid to the United States, mainly via the dark web, police say.
An investigation started in January 2025 culminated in four arrests on Feb. 25, the Quebec Provincial Police, known as Sûreté du Québec, said in a press release this week.
Sûreté du Québec’s anti-organized crime squad arrested two men and two women on the morning of Feb. 25 following a joint investigation between the police force’s cybercrime unit, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Wanya Nathan Ellis and Cheyanne Buchanan-Dennis, who are both from Sainte-Catherine, Que., Darren McAlpine of Delson, Que., and Geneva Fournier of Châteauguay, Que., are facing possession for the purpose of trafficking, drug trafficking, and possession of a prohibited weapon charges.
The arrests stemmed from a series of searches last December that resulted in the confiscation of a cache of drugs and weapons, police said.
Officers seized more than 600,000 tablets, which included methamphetamines, metonitazenes, MDMA, and benzodiazepines, along with cannabis, cocaine, tools facilitating trafficking through the dark web, brass knuckles, a loaded nine-milimetre handgun, and multiple rounds of ammunition. Continue…
China Drops Some Agricultural Tariffs on Canada, but Not on Canola Seeds
https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/china-drops-some-agricultural-tariffs-on-canada-but-not-on-canola-seeds-5991776?ea_src=ca-frontpage&ea_med=section-1
Beijing says several tariffs on Canadian agricultural products will be lifted effective March 1, following an agreement reached during Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit to China.
The Chinese ministry of commerce said on Feb. 27 that the 100 percent tariffs on Canadian canola meal and pea imports, and the 25 percent tariffs on lobster and crab will be suspended until the end of 2026.
However, Beijing did not announce a change to the combined tariff levels on Canadian canola seed, which hovers at around 85 percent.
Following the meeting between Carney and Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Jan. 16, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had outlined the deal reached with Beijing to resolve a trade conflict.
The PMO had said Canada expected China would lower its tariffs on canola seed to a combined rate of around 15 percent, noting China is a $4 billion canola seed market for Canadian producers.
The Epoch Times reached out to the Prime Minister’s Office for comment but didn’t hear back. Continue…
Minister says security issues remain with India after federal official says interference has stopped
https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/minister-says-security-issues-remain-with-india-after-federal-official-says-interference-stopped
Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said there are still “outstanding” security issues with India, the day after a senior government official stated that Indian agents are no longer linked to violent threats in Canada.
On Thursday morning, Anandasangaree refused to repeat the statement by the senior government official, instead noting there is still “a lot more work to do” on the file of transnational repression linked to India.
The minister noted that while Canada and India are working on increasing bilateral economic and diplomatic ties, there are also at times “difficult conversations around safety and security of Canadians.” Continue…
Tumbler Ridge shooter had second ChatGPT account that OpenAI missed
https://nationalpost.com/news/tumbler-ridge-shooter-had-second-chatgpt-account-that-openai-missed/wcm/86fede84-74fa-412c-b7ba-29e548f7d58e
OpenAI banned the Tumbler Ridge shooter from its ChatGPT platform last June, but the company says it missed her second account.
The revelation that Jesse Van Rootselaar had opened a second ChatGPT account, circumventing OpenAI’s own mechanisms for preventing it, was part of a statement from Ann M. O’Leary, OpenAI’s vice president of global policy, released on Thursday, in which the company promised to improve its procedures.
Van Rootselaar’s first account was suspended after she was found to have violated OpenAI policies around violence.
“OpenAI has a system in place that seeks to identify repeat policy violators, including those who have had their ChatGPT accounts shut down for violating our violent activities policy, and then seek to create a new account,” she wrote.
“Despite this detection system, after the name of the Tumbler Ridge perpetrator was released publicly, we discovered that the perpetrator had used a second ChatGPT account. We shared the second account with law enforcement upon its discovery.” Continue…
Judge reserves attempted murder sentencing for Saskatoon girl who lit former friend on fire at school
https://nationalpost.com/news/crime/sentencing-in-saskatoon-court-for-teen-who-lit-evan-hardy-classmate-on-fire/wcm/95eda1ee-a0ba-40fc-a890-8a6c0de0581b
The mother of a girl severely burned in an attack at a Saskatoon high school says they had never known “horror” until Sept. 5, 2024.
On a lunch break during the first week of school at Evan Hardy Collegiate, a 14-year-old girl poured flammable liquid from a water bottle on her then 15-year-old daughter and set her on fire using a lighter.
Witnesses saw flames spread from the victim’s face to the rest of her body. Firefighters and paramedics arrived within minutes. A school resource officer was able to arrest the teen shortly after.
The victim, whose name cannot be published under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, was hospitalized in Edmonton and treated in a specialized burn unit for approximately three months.
On Thursday in Saskatoon Court of King’s Bench, the girl’s mother read her victim impact statement during the sentencing hearing for the offender, now 16, whose identity is also banned from publication.
She pleaded guilty last December to attempted murder and unlawfully causing bodily harm for injuring a teacher who came to the victims’ aid.
In an agreed statement of facts, court previously heard that the summer before the attack, the offender obsessively texted the victim and a friend of the victim, who the offender blamed for breaking up their friendship.
Police reports were filed after the messages became threatening.
In court, the victim’s mother expressed frustration that her daughter was attacked after they had alerted the school and police about the ongoing harassment.
“We did everything we thought we could to keep our daughter safe,” she said.” 'Continue…''
Pakistani refugee who returned to his homeland six times wins chance to keep Canadian status
https://nationalpost.com/news/pakistani-refugee-status
A Federal Court judge set aside a ruling by Canada’s Refugee Protection Division (RPD), saying it failed “to engage with a critical piece of evidence” when it revoked a Pakistani man’s refugee status after he returned to the country on multiple occasions.
Irfan Ahmad arrived in Canada under the “convention refugee abroad” program in 2014, citing his status as a member of the Ahmadi community, a persecuted Muslim minority group in Pakistan.
However, since attaining refugee status, immigration authorities found that Ahmad twice visited the Pakistani consulate in Toronto, both times to receive a passport. Between January 2016 and March 2022, Ahmad returned to Pakistan six times, spending 336 days in the country, the ruling notes.
The RPD, a division of the Immigration Refugee Board of Canada, found Ahmad “voluntarily re-availed himself of the protection of Pakistan” and “had not provided sufficient evidence to rebut the presumption,” the judgment reads. The tribunal found Ahmad’s description “of the agents of persecution ‘evolved depending on his audience,’” shifting between fear of religious extremists and government authorities on different occasions. The RPD found his statements to be inconsistent.
On February 18, Justice Avvy Yao-Yao Go ruled in favour of Ahmad, arguing that the RPD found inconsistencies “where none existed.” The judge added that the tribunal “compounded this error by failing to consider a key precautionary measure that the applicant took against the religious extremists while in Pakistan,” when Ahmad avoided going to a mosque. Continue…