Federal court orders release of locomotive recorder data after fatal B.C. derailment

https://www.westernstandard.news/news/federal-court-orders-release-of-locomotive-recorder-data-after-fatal-bc-derailment/71732

A federal judge has ruled that data from locomotive event recorders must be publicly disclosed, marking the first time information from the devices will be released since Parliament mandated their use in 2022.

Blacklock's Reporter says the decision follows a deadly 2019 derailment in a B.C. mountain pass that claimed the lives of three crew members, including a trainee.

Justice Richard Southcott of the Federal Court dismissed a bid by Canadian Pacific Railway to block access under the Access to Information Act, noting the railway had “not established a reasonable expectation” of confidentiality.

Investigators found a 15,000-tonne grain train bound for the Port of Vancouver had lost its air brakes near Field, B.C., before hurtling down a mountain pass at 85 kilometres an hour — three times the speed limit — and jackknifing on a sharp curve near the Kicking Horse River.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada determined mechanical failure contributed to the crash and agreed in 2023 to release the recorder data to an anonymous requester.

“This application will be dismissed,” Justice Southcott wrote.

“The Transportation Safety Board emphasizes railway companies are statutorily obliged to record this information and provide it to the Board when requested.” Continue…

NS First Nation Tells Government and RCMP to Stay out of Cannabis and Tobacco Sales

https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/ns-first-nation-tells-government-and-rcmp-to-stay-out-of-cannabis-and-tobacco-sales-5998910?ea_src=ca-frontpage&ea_med=section-1

An indigenous government in Nova Scotia has passed a new resolution saying the province and RCMP have no right to carry out enforcement on its lands, as police and provincial officials step up raids on what they claim are illegal cannabis operations.

The council of Cape Breton’s Membertou First Nation, led by Chief Terry Paul, released the resolution Friday saying it has a treaty right to self-governance, recognized by the Constitution. It says that includes the right to regulate sales of cannabis and tobacco.

“Enforcement bodies used by the Province of Nova Scotia to assert their unlawful authority, including the RCMP, and Service Nova Scotia—Alcohol, Gaming, Fuel and Tobacco Division, are not permitted to carry out enforcement activities on Membertou lands,” says the document.

It’s the latest in an ongoing dispute between Nova Scotia’s Mi’kmaw governments and the province that ratcheted up when Attorney General Scott Armstrong issued a directive to police agencies in December to increase illegal cannabis enforcement. Armstrong wrote to 13 Mi'kmaq chiefs at the time, requesting their co-operation.

The provincial government and Mi’kmaq leaders have also had disputes over grant funding, resource extraction policies and protests on Crown land.

Armstrong has claimed unregulated cannabis benefits organized crime, with profits used to fund other crimes, such as human trafficking. Police have followed orders with a series of raids across the province, including on March 3 when they seized cannabis from five dispensaries in Eskasoni First Nation, Potlotek First Nation, Paq’tnkek First Nation, Waycobah First Nation and near Digby, N.S. Continue…

Nova Scotia braces for wildfire season: $6.8 million committed to water bomber contract, burn restrictions start Sunday

https://nationalpost.com/nova-scotia/nova-scotia-braces-for-wildfire-season-6-8-million-committed-to-water-bomber-contract-burn-restrictions-start-sunday/wcm/3c80b1c4-288d-4262-ae84-4e2b4610b4f3

It might be wet and slushy across Nova Scotia at the moment, but it’s never too early to brace for wildfire season.

Provincewide seasonal burning restrictions go into effect on Sunday, and the provincial government just announced a $6.8-million commitment to contract four fixed-wing water bombers.

“It’s a one-year contract and they’ll be stationed in the province,” Jim Rudderham, the director of Nova Scotia fleet and forest protection, said. “They will be our resources exclusively and we’ll have them from May 1st to September 30th.”

“We’re contracting them because you can’t just go out and buy them off the shelf,” he added. “You have to get on the waiting list to get them, then they have to be built and delivered, so you’re looking at three to five years for one of these planes. You can’t just go out and get one tomorrow, so by contracting them, we can have them tomorrow.” Continue…

Five people a day still dying from toxic drugs in B.C.: Coroner

https://nationalpost.com/news/bc-many-still-dying-toxic-drugs-coroner/wcm/3a837f3f-f894-4ba0-acb3-dabfe28eb2c0

Next month will mark a decade since B.C. declared a public health emergency over the tainted illicit drug supply causing an alarming number of overdose deaths.

Since then, more than 16,000 British Columbians have died from unregulated drugs and the number continues to climb.

On Friday, the B.C. Coroners Service said nearly five people a day lose their lives, with 150 deaths reported in January.

The coroner says that although this number represents a decrease of 10 per cent from the number of deaths in January 2025, it still equates to 4.8 deaths daily and is consistent with the number of deaths reported monthly throughout 2025. Continue…

Canada to put 24 million barrels of oil toward IEA effort

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/canada-to-put-24-million-barrels-of-oil-toward-iea-effort

Canada will supply 23.6 million barrels of oil and ramp up natural gas exports in the coming months as part of an international effort to help stabilize energy markets being upended by the Iran war, Energy Minister Tim Hodgson said.

The move will support a wider action of 400 million barrels being released by 32 member countries of the International Energy Agency, Hodgson said on Friday in a statement on X.

Canada, the world’s fourth-biggest oil supplier and second-largest within the IEA, does not hold a strategic petroleum reserve like the US. The country’s support will come from planned production, according to a government official familiar with the matter. Continue…

Toronto police make two arrests on Saturday after court denies injunction to stop Al-Quds rally in Toronto

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/al-quds-rally-can-go-forward-rules-ontario-judge-after-denying-ontario-request-for-injunction

Ontario Premier Doug Ford wrote in an X post on Saturday afternoon that he expects “the police to immediately intervene at the first sign of hate, violence or glorification of terrorist organizations” at the Saturday afternoon Al-Quds rally in downtown Toronto.

Toronto police say they “are on the ground today to uphold the right to demonstrate lawfully while holding those who engage in criminal activity accountable.”

Tensions between protesters and counter-protesters erupted early, with the police moving in to make an arrest for a demonstration-related offence shortly before 3 p.m., and a second arrest an hour later.

More information about the arrests was promised in Toronto police X posts. Continue…