Wilfred Fraser is an indigenous multimedia journalist and a graduate from St. Thomas University with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism. He is based in Fredericton. Contact Wilfred at FraserW@radioabl.ca.
The Fredericton Police recently arrested a man after seizing one kilogram of cocaine during a traffic stop on the city’s North side.
Police say on March 11, 2026, members of the Fredericton Police Force stopped a car after reports of drug trafficking in the greater Fredericton area.
One kilogram of cocaine and a small amount of cash was seized, which led to an arrest.
Following the stop, the man who was arrested faces charges of possession of proceeds of crime under $5000 and possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.
He has since been released and awaits a future court date of May 22, 2026.
The individual may not be identified until the charges are laid in court, per the Fredericton Police Force’s release.
The provincial government’s Department of Post-Secondary Education Training and Labour has released its goals to reduce barriers and improve accessibility over a three-year span.
The news follows a release from the Government of New Brunswick last fall, which showcased a broader five-year accessibility plan to increase inclusivity.
Post-Secondary Education and Training Minister Jean-Claude D’Amours said the plan is another first for them in making New Brunswick more accessible.
“This is not something we can do alone, and this plan shows how we are going to work with other departments to make this happen,” said D’Amours. “Accessibility benefits everyone; removing barriers helps create a New Brunswick where all people can fully take part in daily life.”
He concluded that progress will take time, but that they are committed to meaningful change.
The government’s plan was built with input from people who have experienced barriers.
Here are the five goals:
Make government spaces more accessible
Ensure New Brunswickers can receive information and communicate with government in accessible ways
Build capacity for government to identify, prevent and remove barriers
Make it easier for people to apply for and interact with government services
Introduce changes to reduce barriers people have experienced
The release says an interdepartmental committee will implement this plan and monitor its progress. Updates can be expected annually from each department.
A new kindergarten-to-Grade 5 school will be built in Moncton to replace École Saint-Henri.
Mid-life upgrades for École Saint-Henri were approved in the 2024-25 capital budget for $50.1 million and were expected to take six years. An assessment by the province found that renovations and an addition would have been more complex, expensive, and disruptive.
$18.6 million has been allocated in the 2026-27 capital budget for a new school.
École Saint-Henri was built in 1965 and currently hosts 497 students, as of Oct. 1, 2025. The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development says this level of enrolment is a 58 percent increase from 2021.
Minister Clair Johnson said the new school makes more sense.
“As Moncton continues to grow rapidly, we must continue to expand our education infrastructure to accommodate that growth. [The new school] can be a modern, energy-efficient building that reflects the last six decades of changes in teaching and learning, and provides a comfortable, reliable place for children to learn, play, and thrive,” said Johnson.
The new school will be larger than École Saint-Henri to accommodate increases in student enrolment and will meet school planning standards. There will be space on the property for a gymnasium, multi-purpose rooms, a music room, a performing arts space, resource rooms and support spaces, according to the release.
Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Chuck Chiasson said he is pleased that children in the area will have a brand new school.
“Retrofitting was going to cost more and take longer than building a new structure on the same property, so I look forward to making sure the design and construction phases now proceed smoothly,” said Chiasson.
The news release did not state when construction will begin or when the new facility will open.
The provincial government is extending the tuition bursary program for paramedic and emergency medical technician students past its initial program end date.
The program, which provides a bursary to cover eligible tuition costs, is open to graduates from six approved training programs who sign a return-of-service agreement with Ambulance New Brunswick.
This extension will now include students who are to begin studies after March 31, 2026. The program at first was only available to those beginning studies or graduating between June 11, 2025, and March 31, 2026.
Those studying to become primary care paramedics or emergency medical technicians at Collège communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick, Medavie HealthEd, Omni Life Support Training and Consulting, and Oulton College are eligible, as well as those in advanced care paramedics programs at Holland College and Medavie HealthEd.
Graduates also have to gain a license from the Paramedic Association of New Brunswick.
According to the Department of Health, the bursary is paid in two instalments, the first half when employment begins and the other upon completion of the return-of-service agreement.
Those studying to become a primary care paramedic and/or advanced care paramedic must sign a two-year return-of-service agreement, whereas emergency medical technicians must sign a one-year term.
Premier Susan Holt said the extension will make it easier for people to choose a career in paramedicine in New Brunswick.
“We need more trained professionals to join Ambulance New Brunswick so that they are available to care for New Brunswickers when an emergency arises,” said the Premier.
Health Minister John Dornan said 49 graduates have received their first bursary payment since the program’s launch.
“We are committed to ensuring our health-care professionals are supported within a well-staffed system and that New Brunswickers can access care when they need it,” said Dornan. “We are encouraged by this strong uptake and look forward to welcoming even more paramedics and emergency medical technicians into the system.”
CEO of Extra-Mural/Ambulance New Brunswick Craig Dalton said it is good to see the extension of the program.
“It is an important tool in our efforts to recruit paramedics in what remains a very competitive environment,” said Dalton. “One of our key priorities is to build and maintain a full staffing complement of paramedics, helping us to provide better work-life balance for our teams who do such excellent work caring for their fellow New Brunswickers each and every day.”
Treasurer of the Paramedic Association of New Brunswick, Courtney Croucher-Fillmore, called the announcement a call to action.
“To anyone considering a career in paramedicine, and those already in the profession who are thinking about furthering their education, this is your moment to step forward and take on that challenge. New Brunswick needs you,” said Croucher-Fillmore.
For more information about your eligibility for the bursary program, please refer to the related links at the bottom of the Government of New Brunswick’s recent release.
Canada Post is moving forward with preliminary work to convert addresses that receive door-to-door mail delivery to using community mailboxes.
According to the mail company, nearly three out of four Canadian addresses already receive their mail via some form of centralized delivery.
Converting the remaining four million addresses is expected to take five years.
The first wave will start in 13 communities, as Canada Post prepares to begin converting 136,000 addresses, 19,000 of which are in Moncton or Riverview.
Addresses with postal codes beginning with E1B, E1C, E1E, and E1G will soon use community mailboxes.
In a release, Canada Post said that converting an address from door-to-door delivery to a community mailbox typically takes months, and that the company will be engaged with communities to find suitable locations for centralized delivery.
They go on to say that a majority of the addresses selected in this first phase of conversion are already adjacent to existing communities that utilize community mailboxes.
Those with accessibility issues should not be concerned, as Canada Post’s Delivery Accommodation Program provides free support to help those with functional limitations access their mail and parcels.
A man from Sussex qualified for the Boston Marathon after a successful performance in the 2025 Fredericton Marathon and has since been filming the process of preparing for the race, which is on April 20.
Colin Swift started running in 2019 after he found himself looking for another hobby.
“I never enjoyed running, it was just something to do. When I first started, I decided to sign up for the Toronto Marathon, which is not a great idea for your first race, but I knew it would keep me accountable to keep running,” said Swift. “I just started training and ran my first marathon in 2019, and I’ve just been addicted to it ever since.”
Training for and running different races led to qualifying for Boston, which Swift has never run before.
He ran a 2:54:36 in the 2025 Fredericton Marathon, a time that beat the minimum qualifying time for Swift’s age group (35-39) of three hours, but Swift explained that runners typically have to go a bit faster than their given qualifying time to stand out in an application for the Boston Marathon.
“Qualifying for Boston is kind of funny, because you have to find a marathon that’s a Boston qualifying race, because not every marathon is. Fredericton is a Boston qualifying race, and a lot of people like running it because it’s flat, which gives you more of a chance to go a bit faster,” Swift said.
Colin Swift (left) and Thomas Van Steeg (right) training together for the Boston Marathon / Image: Colin Swift – YouTube (with permission)
He and a fellow runner, Thomas Van Steeg, who ran a 2:49:50 in his first marathon experience, both posted qualifying times and applied for Boston. They have been training together for two years since Van Steeg moved to Sussex.
A couple of weeks later, good news landed in their inboxes.
“Once you run your qualifying run, you go to the Boston website on a certain date, you put your name in and just hope for the best. They usually email you if you get in or not, and luckily, my first time I tried to get in, I got in,” said Swift.
However, he might have had the opportunity had he applied two years ago.
“Post-Toronto Marathon, I’ve run Fredericton every spring, so four or five times. I did run a qualifying time two years ago, but I didn’t end up applying for Boston, so I ran it again last year and finally decided to go for it,” said Swift.
He is hoping to run a time under three hours if he has a good day, but a hilly marathon route has reduced Swift’s expectations.
“Originally, I would have wanted to beat my qualifying time [in Fredericton] because every marathon I’ve gone a little bit quicker. Anything sub three hours is considered a pretty solid race, but my training block probably wasn’t sufficient to do that because Boston’s a tough course, so anywhere from a 2:55:00 to a 3:15:00 is what I’m aiming for,” said Swift.
The self-proclaimed YouTube junkie has been documenting the training process leading up to Boston, which he says began after realizing there were not too many running content creators from the Maritimes.
“I watch a lot of running content on YouTube, and I always kind of wished there were more New Brunswick, even maritime running-specific channels. There’s one guy in Fredericton who does good content, What Matters to Matt. The only reason I started doing it was that I wished there was more local content for running,” Swift elaborated.
Colin Swift’s YouTube channel / Image: Colin Swift (with permission)
He documented his training for the 2025 Fredericton marathon as he was trying to get into Boston, and this year has done more filming for Boston training.
Swift and Van Steeg will join more than 30,000 runners on the Massachusetts capitol’s crowded streets, among sports fans attending the Celtics’ playoff games and visiting the Red Sox at Fenway.
“We’ll be popping around different parts of the city and there’s lots of events and stuff going on, and I’m kind of excited to see if I can spot any of the YouTube people that I like to watch, so we’ll see,” said Swift.
Following Boston, Swift will be training for trail runs, like the Quebec Mega Trail, a 50k race in July, and the Capes 100, a Cape Breton race with different distances, of which Swift wants to run the 87k.
A police operation in Charlotte County appears to have ended.
RCMP were on the scene at Fundy High School in St. George earlier Thursday.
St. George RCMP says they received a report of threats made to the school and individuals at the school at 9:40 a.m.
The school went into hold and secure status while RCMP from various detachments responded to the scene in an attempt to locate the individual making the threats.
Police located the individual, a youth, at 12:30 p.m., who was not on school property. They say initial reports indicated that the youth was on school property, but not inside the school. The 15-year-old male was arrested without incident and is currently in custody.
Further detail about the manner of the threats or who they were directed to is not available at this time, per RCMP media relations.
Sixteen-year-old Sergeant Austin Perry is a fourth-year air cadet from 161 C.K. Beveridge Squadron who recently had the opportunity to attend Canadian Forces Base Goose Bay in Labrador, including experiencing a tri-service exercise.
Sgt. Perry says he and others were taught valuable lessons on how to survive in Canada’s colder climates.
“One of the things that I learned was you have to be willing to endure that type of weather to survive and also to just grow as a person,” said Perry. “We learned how to go ice fishing, how to skin rabbits and how to start the Coleman stoves.”
The tenth grader used the opportunity to grow his skillset, even as a mentor.
“When I was in Goose Bay, I took advantage of being at the expedition to further my experiences, to bring back to my squadron and teach my younger cadets what [the experience] was like and how to endure on field-training exercises and not to quit,” he said.
Perry says it’s a good feeling to have younger cadets looking up to senior members like himself because they have unlived experiences and want to learn from those who have had similar opportunities.
“They want to see what happens at those, because sometimes misconceptions happen, and you learn all these new things that you wouldn’t learn outside of cadets,” explained Perry.
The young cadet says he has known for a long time that he wanted to be in the military. Following attendance at an open house at the armouries, his father says he has been all in ever since.
His next step, following the experience in Goose Bay, was an application for a staff position at camp, which he hopes to land.
“I am hoping I get in so I can learn how to experience staffing, I want to learn how to teach more experienced classes and how to be prepared for those,” said Perry.
Captain Leigh Cameron, Sgt. Perry’s commanding officer has known him since he joined the cadet program four years ago.
“I’ve seen him come from the shy 12-year-old with the big bright eyes just excited to see the program, to going through some of the summer training, he’s done the introduction to survival, and I think that’s really got his drive going. He’s also done the introduction of fitness and sports, so he’s very active,” said Cameron.
Capt. Cameron says Perry loves to teach, having volunteered since his second year.
“He just wanted to pass on the information to the younger kids, and it’s good to see the growth of someone, especially in cadets like Sgt. Perry; he just has a drive to go and learn.”
Perry’s mother says she likes to see the confidence that he has built over the years.
“It’s the support, a lot of out in the community, town cleanups and such. It’s a great thing for all the youth,” she said.
Sgt. Perry has aspirations following cadets, having put initial thought into joining the armed forces and doing the trades. However, he has one more interest he might explore.
“I kind of want to do mostly air stuff, and possibly become a pilot,” he said.
Capt. Cameron says the 161 C.K. Beveridge Air Cadet Squadron is a youth organization located in Saint John within the Barrack Green Armouries. He adds that it is a great program for youth, no matter what element of interest.
Prime Minister Mark Carney recently made an announcement that the federal fuel excise tax will be temporarily suspended from April 20 to Labour Day.
The price of gas has skyrocketed in recent weeks due to the war in Iran, so this announcement should provide relief during higher fuel costs.
As of April 15, gas prices are at $1.84 a litre for regular self-serve gas, while diesel prices sit at $2.33 a litre. The anticipated savings from the pause are 10 cents and four cents, respectively.
“I think it is a good thing that the Carney government also recognizes that New Brunswickers and Canadians are challenged with the cost of living and has taken a similar step to the ones that we have put in place,” said Premier Susan Holt.
According to Holt, New Brunswickers have recently been challenged with the rising cost of living, especially the price of gas.
“[Gas prices] are something our government has been extremely aware of. We campaigned to remove the cost of the carbon adjuster, and then we did [remove it],” said Holt. “We took 10 cents off the price of gas by switching to the E10 model. We did that in December.”
She claimed that her government might be the only one across Canada to have produced savings on the price of gas to residents.
The Town of Riverview will begin water main flushing on April 20th, every Monday to Friday for the next five weeks.
The flushing is routine maintenance that is necessary to maintain satisfactory water quality, according to the town.
During flushing operations, water may become discolored and water pressure might be lower. The discoloration should clear within a short time, but the town says citizens should minimize consumption if a change in water appearance is noted.
Those in the area should turn on the cold water tap until it runs clear to prevent staining and to clear water lines.
The town encourages anyone with questions to contact Riverview’s Department of Engineering and Public Works at (506) 387-2030.
For more information about the flush, refer to the Town’s release. For a flushing schedule map, refer to the release or here.
