The most dangerous part of the mission for Artemis ll will take place today.
The Orion capsule is scheduled to splashdown at 5:07 local time in the Pacific Ocean just off San Diego.
The capsule is expected to reach temperatures of 2,700 Celsius as it enters the Earth’s atmosphere.
Artemis ll went around the moon and on Monday, took the crew of four astronauts, including Canadian Jeremy Hanson, the furthest any human has gone from Earth.
Confederation College is announcing a new plumbing apprenticeship program starting this fall.
It’s the first plumbing course offered by any school in Thunder Bay.
The first 20 technical training notices are expected to be issued to trainees in June. Apprentices registered in the trade must select Thunder Bay as one of their training delivery locations through the Skilled Trades Ontario portal in order to receive a technical training notice for Confederation College.
“Plumbers play a vital role in building and maintaining our homes, businesses and infrastructure,” said Michelle Salo, President of Confederation College. “We continue to hear from employers in Thunder Bay and throughout our regional communities about the challenges of finding certified tradespeople. Offering Plumbing apprenticeship training allows us to respond directly to workforce needs while supporting apprentices who want to train closer to home.”
The program will run from October 19 to December 11 at Confederation’s Thunder Bay campus. Click here for more information on how to register as an apprentice and complete your training.
“The addition of plumbing strengthens our growing apprenticeship and skilled trades offerings,” said Andrew Phillips, Associate Dean of Trades and Apprenticeships at Confederation. “By providing technical training locally, we are helping apprentices progress in their certification while giving employers access to the skilled workforce they need to meet the demands within our region.”
The long-discussed future of Centre School in the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg has been decided, with council moving forward on plans to demolish the building.
Funding has now been approved in the municipality’s latest budget, with about $4.5 million set aside for the project.
Mayor Elspeth MacLean Wile says the decision comes after years of trying to find a new use for the site.
“There’s been much work done on finding options for the building… and what to do with it,” she said.
Past councils explored a number of redevelopment ideas, including the possibility of converting the property into housing. However, those plans never moved forward.
Wile says the condition of the building made those options difficult to pursue.
“The building has a number of issues related to asbestos and issues that would require major investment to make it a viable location for housing,” she said.
The school has also become a growing concern for the municipality due to vandalism and ongoing maintenance costs.
“In the end… none of those [options] were feasible,” Wile said, noting council ultimately determined demolition was the best course of action.
The municipality had previously delayed a final decision in hopes of securing provincial or federal funding to help offset the cost, but that support did not materialize.
With funding now in place, the project is expected to move ahead this year, with demolition planned for the fall.
Wile says timing will be coordinated to avoid disrupting activity at the nearby soccer field.
“The plan is to work with the soccer groups to make sure we’re not going to interfere with any of their activities,” she said.
Once the building is removed, the site will remain under municipal ownership.
Wile says the focus for now is moving ahead with a project that has been under discussion for years.
“We had the resources to do it, and we just decided we need to get this done,” she said.
A 21-year old man has been charged with manslaughter after an incident on Sunday.
On Monday, a local hospital contacted the Thunder Bay Police Service to report an individual who died after arriving with injuries consistent with assault.
After an investigation by the Major Crime Unit and Forensic Identification Unit, police determined the victim was transported to hospital after an altercation at a local hotel the day before.
Officers identified a suspect, and the accused was located and arrested on Thursday. He has been remanded into custody with a future court date.
On March 26, Bill C-12 received royal assent and became law. The bill brought major changes to Canada’s immigration and asylum systems.
According to the Newcomer Legal Clinic in Thunder Bay, these changes carry serious risks to immigrants. Specifically, any immigrant who arrived in Canada after June 24, 2020 and lived the country for a year or more will no longer be able to claim refugee status.
“Because of this bill, a number of our clients have been put in a very difficult situation where maybe they came to Canada three or four years ago, and now something has changed in their home country,” said Robert St. Aubin, a Thunder Bay Newcomer Legal Clinic refugee and immigration lawyer.
“We have clients who face real, real, risk if they go home, and the refugee process is something that is completely not open to them.”
A refugee claim is a formal request for protection made by individuals who cannot return to their home country due to a well-founded fear of persecution or serious harm. These fears could be due to factors such as race, religion, nationality, sexuality, or political activism.
Wars, coups, or regime changes can drastically alter living conditions in a person’s home country, and St. Aubin says that at‑risk immigrants who have lived in Canada for more than a year should be allowed to claim refugee status to avoid being sent back to an increasingly dangerous political environment.
St. Aubin also shared a hypothetical example of an LGBTQ+ Lakehead student who came to Thunder Bay from a country that criminalizes homosexuality. After completing their studies, word travels back to their home country that they have found a partner of the same sex and they face persecution. Because they have lived in Canada for over a year after June 2020, they now cannot claim refugee status and face significant risk of being sent back against their will.
“The fact that this person would be barred from making a refugee claim because they’ve been in Canada for more than one year is, I think, a little silly.” he said.
These individuals can apply for a Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA) as a last‑resort attempt to avoid deportation, but approval rates are low and the process is only available once removal from Canada is imminent.
“A Pre-Removal Risk Assessment is sort of like a refugee claim done exclusively on paper, where essentially you’re allowed to make one last claim for protection,” St. Aubin said. “If you have only access to a PRRA, not only are the timelines really tight for that, you have less time to prepare the type of application, and it’s done exclusively on paper and there’s usually no obligation for an immigration officer to flag any concerns to you. So they usually have a much higher refusal rate than a refugee claim.”
The primary goal for St. Aubin and most newcomer advocates across Canada is to repeal this law and allow at-risk migrants to apply for refugee status even when they have been in Canada longer than a year. A short-term fix that St. Aubin presents are “carve-outs” (exceptions) for particularly dangerous situations.
“We would prefer to see the bill change or get removed entirely, but if that’s not going to happen, carve-outs for certain groups and countries would be preferable to what we have right now, which is just a blanket ban on everybody,” St. Aubin said.
“You can make a nonsense claim about fearing persecution from a place like Spain, and maybe that’s made-up because you just want to stay in Canada. But if you’re a woman from Afghanistan, you’re going to face persecution if you go back to Afghanistan, right? Both of these people are treated exactly the same.”
St. Aubin says he’s heard rumors that lobbyists will succeed in granting these exceptions to Bill C-12, but nothing has been passed yet.
“I’m not involved with that, and I don’t know what’s going to happen with that, but I would be very surprised if that litigation isn’t filed soon.”
The provincial government looks to receive more public input on rental conditions from both tenant and landlord perspectives as its review of the Residential Tenancies Act continues.
The release from Housing New Brunswick says the corporation’s Tenant and Landlord Relations Office began holding engagement sessions last year to see which sections of the act are working and if any improvements could be made.
According to David Hickey, the minister responsible for the housing corporation, said many inconsistencies and outdated provisions have been found in the act, which has been left unchanged since its passing in 1975.
The minister says it is clear that the Residential Tenancies Act needs to be updated following these consultations.
“We’ll keep listening in the months ahead to make sure we get this right for tenants, landlords, and communities,” said Hickey.
A new online survey has been opened as of April 7 and will close to new input on May 8, according to the Government of New Brunswick’s Modernizing the Residential Tenancies Act page. Meetings with stakeholders will continue as well.
The survey will meet key discussion topics such as fair rent, affordability, tenant and landlord protections, rules, various processes, and enforcement options.
The online survey is available here, or people can share feedback by sending an email to YourVoiceHNB-VotreVoixHNB@gnb.ca.
The province announced the tentative agreement with employees from Part I of the public service on April 9. The workers are represented by the New Brunswick Union.
The Department of Finance and Treasury Board says the first master agreement combines 11 bargaining units into one. The employees fall under classifications such as administrative support, enforcement officers, highway supervisors, laboratory technologists, forest rangers, conservation officers, inspectors, instructors, and engineering and field classifications.
The release says parties have agreed to withhold details of this agreement pending its ratification.
For more information about collective agreements, refer here.
A recent update on Saint John’s community safety team shows the pilot project is easing pressure on police resources.
At Tuesday’s council meeting, the team provided a two‑month update on its work.
During the presentation, Benn Purinton, the city’s manager of community standards compliance, said data collected so far suggests the pilot is proving successful.
“We’re still very much in the early phase of this pilot program,” Purinton said. “But in the first seven weeks we are reporting on, the service is functioning as intended and is providing practical value within the service area.”
In December, the city announced the launch of a community safety team pilot program and a community resilience fund in response to concerns about safety and disorder in Waterloo Village, uptown Saint John and the Thorne Avenue–Rothesay Avenue corridor.
GardaWorld was awarded a $780,000 annual contract to provide a 24/7, non‑police presence to patrol those areas and respond to non‑emergency issues. The team began work on Feb. 2.
During that period, Purinton said the team responded to 69 service calls, completed 93 public assists, conducted 109 wellness checks in public spaces, returned 39 shopping carts and collected 216 sharps.
He said the team maintained an average response time of under five minutes for service calls.
Of the 69 service calls and 109 wellness checks, only nine incidents were escalated to police and 911, Purinton said.
He said the low escalation rate shows most situations are being handled without police involvement, fulfilling one of the team’s “core objectives.”
“It indicates that a visible presence and a voluntary‑compliance‑first approach can resolve many lower‑level concerns effectively, while supporting police capacity to focus on higher‑priority issues,” Purinton said.
Beyond the numbers, he added the team has received positive feedback from the community.
“We consistently hear that people are happy with the service and glad to have the team around,” he said.
Team looking to increase awareness of the service
Purinton said winter conditions posed some challenges, as extended periods of snow, cold and freezing rain reduced foot traffic and activity in public spaces. Despite that, he said the team has demonstrated “steady use and visible value.”
As the weather improves, Purinton expects demand for the service to increase, adding that early signs of that trend have already appeared in recent weeks.
He said the next step is to increase awareness of the service within the pilot area through targeted mail‑outs to residents, businesses and institutions.
The goal is to help the public better understand what the service provides, when to use it and how to contact the team, he said.
Purinton added the city is also looking to improve data collection to provide more detailed service information, including heat mapping, activity trends and call‑time types.
Possible expansion of patrol areas
During the question period, Coun. Paula Radwan asked whether there were plans to expand the pilot to include Saint John’s North End, citing a recent uptick in activity in that area.
Mayor Donna Reardon said an expansion is not off the table but added it would be best to complete the pilot before making any decisions.
She said the next council will decide whether to continue or expand the program and whether there are opportunities to work with other security providers operating in the city.
“There’s all kinds of possibilities with this, but first we need to understand if we’re getting value for the taxpayers’ money,” Reardon said.
More in‑depth report coming
During the meeting, the motion by Coun. Greg Norton to have the team report at all public safety committee meetings passed without objection.
Norton proposed the notice of motion in March 23 council meeting.
In an interview with Acadia Broadcasting on March 25, Norton said to justify the use of taxpayer dollars, it was necessary for council to receive regular reports of the services provided by the team.
Purinton said the team is going to present a more in-depth 90-day update at the next public safety committee meeting at the end of April.
Provincewide rallies as long-term care workers prepare to go on strike.
CUPE workers have been without a contract since 2023, and plan to be on the picket lines Monday at 21 care homes.
In Yarmouth, dozens from ‘The Meadows’ and ‘Villa St. Joseph-du-Lac’ rallied outside MLA Nick Hilton’s office on Main Street Friday.
The union is asking for a five dollar flat rate increase, on top of economic adjustments.
Greg Williams is the head of CUPE workers at ‘The Meadows’, and says the province needs to come back to the bargaining table.
“We haven’t bargained yet, it’s a take it or leave it style so far. We need to have a meaningful conversation, or else we’ll be out on the street. Residents won’t have the essential care that they need, they’ll be reduced to, in some cases, 60 percent of the staff,” said Williams.
He says we’re in an economic crisis, as the cost of living continues to climb.
Long-term care workers represented by CUPE rallied outside Yarmouth MLA Nick Hilton’s office Friday. They’re set to go on strike Monday morning. pic.twitter.com/mMhnZHbxWh
He’s said he’s hopeful the bargaining process will work for everyone.
“These are the community members that I’m here to represent. I want them to feel like they’re getting a good deal at the end of the day, and we also know where we stand as a government. Hopefully together, we’ll find a resolution,” said Hilton.
We’ve reached out to Seniors and Long-Term Care minister Barbara Adams’ office for comment.
Halifax Long-Term Care workers ready for strike action
Staff at St. Vincent’s in Halifax gathered outside the care home today, joined by CUPE union representatives, calling for change. According to members, Nova Scotians remain the lowest-paid long-term care workers in Atlantic Canada.
The chair for LTC and community committee tells our newsroom that their concerns have gone unanswered by Seniors and Long-Term Care Minister Barb Adams.
Christa Sweeney says, “We’re tired of not being paid what we deserve, and we are tired of having to fight for what should be rightfully ours. We know that we deserve a living wage, and we know that we’re ready to make that happen. They don’t think that we’re serious. They block us on Facebook, try and block us now.”
CUPE LTC rally at St. Vincent’s in Halifax. PHOTO: NATALIE CHIASSON/ACADIA BROADCASTING
One longtime employee, Tracy Eyslaunwhite, says after decades of service, she’s still making pennies.
“I did the math. I started off at $8.50 an hour,” Tracy explains. “37 years. I am now making $18.77 an hour that equals 27 and a half cents a year.”
During recent legislative talks, Minister Barb Adams said she doesn’t believe there is a problem and urged CUPE members to accept the current deal, noting that other unions and sectors in healthcare have already done so.
The NDP’s Minister Rod Wilson raised concerns about staff shortages impacting things like laundry and meal service, stating that the risk of infection will go up if quality of care goes down.
CUPE LTC rally at St. Vincent’s in Halifax. PHOTO: NATALIE CHIASSON/ACADIA BROADCASTING
CUPE representative, Wanda Marriot, says, “before we can go on strike, we needed an essential service agreement so our seniors are taking care of. That’s our number one priority. We need to be respected for the work that we do. We need to be fairly paid for the work that we do.
“We’re basically in a recession right now, and people are finding it hard to make ends meet. And eventually, what’s gonna happen? You’re not gonna get people coming for these jobs anymore, and then what happens to our seniors?”
Minister Adams assures that those living in LTC will be taken care of by law, even if strike action happens.
John Hutton, the grandson of a woman currently living at St. Vincent’s, showed up to support staff. He says after visiting for years he saw that, “people couldn’t get their vacations approved, and they were just burning out, and they were feeling disrespected, and the pay was not up to par for the work they were doing.”
He adds, “Everybody gets old. Everybody wants to make sure that when we reach that end of life, not only can we receive the care we need, but the people who are providing that have a good experience. It’s all connected and important that we stand together.”
