Waterloo parent challenges mandatory land acknowledgements in court battle over school board policy

https://www.westernstandard.news/news/waterloo-parent-challenges-mandatory-land-acknowledgements-in-court-battle-over-school-board-policy/72165

A Waterloo parent is taking a school board to court over its policy requiring mandatory land acknowledgements at council meetings, arguing the rule violates freedom of conscience and silences debate.

The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms is backing Geoffrey Horsman in a judicial review against the Waterloo Region District School Board, with cross-examinations scheduled for Wednesday.

Horsman, a biochemistry professor and father of three, is challenging a directive that requires land acknowledgements at school council meetings while barring any discussion of the practice.

The dispute began when a local school council in Waterloo began opening meetings with land acknowledgements without a formal vote.

When Horsman asked to have the issue placed on a future agenda in 2025, the request was denied, and he was directed to school administration instead.

He was later informed the acknowledgements were mandatory across the board and not open to debate, a position reinforced by senior staff overseeing equity and inclusive education.

Horsman’s legal challenge argues the policy forces him to participate in what he views as an ideological statement, violating Charter protections that guarantee freedom of conscience and belief.

In correspondence filed with the court, he objected to claims from board officials that even discussing the practice could risk violating human rights obligations.

“Most people are not committed to either side of the debate, but acquiesce out of fear, conformity, or compliance,” Horsman wrote in an exchange with the board.

Constitutional lawyer Hatim Kheir said the case raises broader concerns about compelled speech in public institutions.

“School councils exist to give a voice to parents. It is unconstitutional for the board to mandate ideological recitations and prohibit any debate,” he said.

BC Company Sanctioned by US for Alleged Hezbollah Link

https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/bc-company-sanctioned-by-us-for-alleged-hezbollah-link-6003021?ea_src=ca-frontpage&ea_med=section-1

A company in British Columbia has been sanctioned by the United States due to an alleged link to fundraising activities for the Iran-supported terrorist organization Hezbollah.

Seven Seas for International Trading and Logistics is one of 16 companies and individuals being sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department, according to a March 20 government press release.

The agency has accused the firm of being under the leadership of a Hezbollah financier named Alaa Hassan Hamieh who is alleged to oversee a network of companies controlled through family members and trusted associates. That network has raised more than $100 million for Hezbollah since 2020, the statement said.

These individuals and companies represent a “critical source of funding” for Hezbollah, which continues to “embrace violence despite calls to disarm,” the U.S. government said.

The other companies named by the treasury department are located in Poland, Slovenia, Lebanon, Syria, and Qatar.

The department has also identified Qatar-based Raoof Fadel as the founder of Seven Seas, and accused him of participating in multiple projects with Hamieh and the Hezbollah finance team. Continue…

Air Canada flight attendant ejected from plane and found strapped in jump seat, survives crash: daughter confirms

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/air-canada-crash-flight-attendant-ejected-jump-seat

Solange Tremblay was thrown 'more than a hundred meters from the plane' when it collided with a fire truck on a LaGuardia airport runway, according to Sarah Lépine, her daughter

A flight attendant aboard the Air Canada plane that collided with a fire truck on the runway of New York’s LaGuardia airport Sunday night was found alive on the tarmac still strapped into a jump seat.

The woman was later identified by her daughter as Solange Tremblay of Lachute, about 80 kilometres outside Montreal.

“It’s a miracle she is even alive,” Sarah Lépine told National Post in a Facebook message.

“I haven’t spoken to her since this morning. She was being transferred to a different hospital for surgery on her leg.”

On Tremblay’s Facebook page were dozens of messages, mostly in French, from friends expressing concern and wishing her a speedy recovery.

Citing unnamed law enforcement sources, both WNBC and CNN reported that Tremblay was thrown from the wreckage of the CRJ -900 jet after its collision with the Port Authority aircraft rescue and firefighting vehicle that had been given clearance to cross a runway to respond to an emergency at another aircraft.

In an interview with Quebec’s TVA Nouvelles, Lépine said her mother’s “seat was ejected more than a hundred meters from the plane” upon impact with the fire truck.

“She had a guardian angel watching over her,” she told the outlet in French. “It could have been much worse.”

Denis Jr. Nicol, Tremblay’s husband, said in a late-night Facebook post that she was “doing miraculously well with multiple fractures in her leg.”

“I’m waiting impatiently to hear from her,” he wrote in French, promising to share news when he receives it and thanking people for their support. Continue…

Canada’s Military Drill in the Arctic Flops in Extreme Cold Temperatures

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/03/canadas-military-drill-arctic-flops-extreme-cold-temperatures/

Canada, the hangar door that would not open, and the drill that didn’t happen.

After US President Donald J. Trump threatened to seize Greenland and floated turning Canada into the 51st state, the government in the great white north held its biggest-ever Arctic military exercises.

But Canada’s military ambitions in the Arctic were defeated by a frozen hangar door that wouldn’t open, showing just how far behind Canada is compared with the Arctic powers at the top of the globe.

The New York Times reported: Continue…