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Ottawa to indefinitely extend MAID exclusion for people solely suffering from mental illness
Source: CBC Politics
Date: 2026-10-07 16:45:05.0
Tags: [National, Healthcare, Justice, Social Services]Federal Justice Minister Sean Fraser announced that the Government of Canada will introduce legislation this fall to indefinitely extend the Criminal Code exclusion of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) for individuals whose sole underlying condition is a mental illness. The upcoming government bill will also introduce provisions allowing for advance consent for MAID in cases where an incurable illness will eventually eliminate a person's decision-making capacity, while the government simultaneously opposes Conservative private member's bill C-218 for failing to address advance consent and using overly broad terminology regarding mental disorders.
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New federal petition calls for permanent health funding for residential school survivors
Source: Territories - Northern Affairs (Yukon, NWT, Nunavut)
Date: 2026-10-01 21:42:25.0
Tags: [National, Indigenous, Social Services, Healthcare, Justice]Winnipeg Centre Member of Parliament Leah Gazan submitted a House of Commons petition containing 930 signatures calling on the federal government to make health resource funding permanent for Indian Residential School survivors. The petition specifically targets the Indian Residential Schools Resolution Health Support Program—established in 2006 under the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement—which provides cultural, emotional, and mental health counseling and is currently scheduled to sunset in March 2028. Additionally, the petition demands permanent federal funding for the Residential Schools Missing Children Community Support Fund, which assists Indigenous communities in conducting archival research and locating unmarked graves. The initiative also renews legislative calls to criminalize residential school denialism via a private member's bill initially re-tabled in October 2025.
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Advocates plea for feds to call inquiry into Alberta, Sask. trans laws
Source: Global News Politics
Date: 2026-09-28 21:01:30.0
Tags: [Alberta, Saskatchewan, National, Education, Healthcare, Social Services, Justice]LGBTQ+ advocates are petitioning the federal government in Ottawa to call a formal national inquiry into provincial legislation enacted in Alberta and Saskatchewan. The contested laws include parental consent mandates for students under 16 altering their names or pronouns at school, bans on transgender athletes aged 12 and older participating in competitive female sports, and restrictions on gender-affirming medical care for youth. Both Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe utilized the notwithstanding clause to protect these legislative measures from judicial review.
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Communities share feedback on Yukon’s MMIWG2S+ strategy
Source: Territories - Northern Affairs (Yukon, NWT, Nunavut)
Date: 2026-09-27 13:00:00.0
Tags: [National, Indigenous, Social Services, Justice, Public Safety]The Whitehorse Aboriginal Women’s Circle visited 14 communities across the Yukon and northern British Columbia earlier this year to gather feedback on the territory's Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit strategy, which was released in 2020 with an implementation plan following in 2023. The findings will be compiled into a 'What We Heard' report to guide the implementation phase of the broader strategy led by partners including the Yukon's Women and Gender Equity Directorate. Key issues identified include a disconnect between colonial infrastructure and Indigenous oral traditions, resource disparities across northern British Columbia and Yukon communities, and a widespread public misconception regarding reporting a missing person to the RCMP.
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'Father of Nunavut' has one more fight left: to live in the territory he helped create
Source: Territories - Northern Affairs (Yukon, NWT, Nunavut)
Date: 2026-09-22 08:00:00.0
Tags: [National, Healthcare, Seniors, Social Services, Indigenous, Justice]Supporters of John Amagoalik, known as the 'Father of Nunavut,' filed two notices of application for judicial review in the Nunavut Court of Justice against the territorial government after it declined a request for $16,000 per month to cover his accessible housing and daily personal support worker care in Iqaluit. Amagoalik, who requires complex medical care following a partial leg amputation, was previously sent by the Department of Health to Embassy West Senior Living in Ottawa, where 73 Nunavut elders are currently housed due to a lack of territorial facilities. Friends and supporters formed the John A. Committee, raising $30,000 to temporarily bring him home, and are now seeking a court order to compel the government to adequately fund his long-term care needs within the territory.
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Most human rights complaints in N.W.T. based on disability, commission says
Source: Territories - Northern Affairs (Yukon, NWT, Nunavut)
Date: 2026-09-18 11:00:00.0
Tags: [National, Social Services, Justice, Governance]The Northwest Territories Human Rights Commission announced in its 2025-2026 annual report that 51 per cent of all new discrimination complaints were based on disability, prompting commission chair Charles Dent to urge the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories to enact dedicated accessibility legislation. The commission highlighted that the territory currently relies on National Building Code standards rather than proactive laws, while the Department of Infrastructure lacks a mandate to set rules for private or municipal buildings. Additionally, a commission study of 88 residents in the North Slave region revealed systemic barriers, with 90 per cent of Indigenous respondents and 78 per cent of newcomers reporting discrimination over a five-year period, alongside widespread public distrust of government and fear of immigration status retaliation. The commission is also pressing to expand the N.W.T. Human Rights Act to include protections against discrimination based on unrelated criminal convictions and genetic information.
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Ottawa invests $2.2 million to give Edmonton youths a literal fighting chance
Source: Alberta - Edmonton Journal (Legislature & Capital)
Date: 2026-09-09 23:22:54.0
Tags: [National, Alberta, Municipal, Justice, Public Safety, Social Services]The federal government, through Justice Minister Sean Fraser, announced a $2.2 million investment from the Crime Prevention Action Fund to support the Empire Fighting Chance program in Edmonton. Administered locally through REACH Edmonton and operated out of Brave MMA and Fitness, the program adapts a model from Bristol, England, utilizing non-contact boxing, martial arts discipline, and psychologically informed mentoring to redirect at-risk youth away from crime and gang activity. Local municipal leaders, including Edmonton Mayor Andrew Knack, alongside organizations like Native Counselling Services of Alberta, collaborated on the initiative to provide barrier-free early intervention and mental health resources.
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Denying EI to women laid off after maternity leave a Charter violation: Court of Appeal
Source: Global News Politics
Date: 2026-09-04 20:06:59.0
Tags: [National, Quebec, Labour, Justice, Social Services]The Federal Court of Appeal ruled in favour of six Quebec women, represented by the advocacy group Mouvement Action Chômage, finding that denying employment insurance (EI) benefits to women laid off shortly before, during, or after maternity leave violates Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The court determined that withholding benefits and limiting the ability to stack EI with maternal or parental benefits constitutes sex-based discrimination under the law, which disproportionately impacts women. The three-judge panel struck down the discriminatory provisions of the Employment Insurance Act but suspended the declaration for 12 months, giving the federal government one year to rewrite the legislation.
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Strengthening supports for survivors of intimate-partner violence
Source: British Columbia - Government News
Date: 2026-09-03 18:00:00.0
Tags: [British Columbia, National, Justice, Social Services, Indigenous, Public Safety]The British Columbia Ministry of Attorney General is receiving more than $3 million in funding for the 2026-27 fiscal year under the federal National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence to advance recommendations from the 2025 Stanton Report. The funding will expand the Safe Supports Project in rural and northern communities, add up to three family court support workers, develop public-awareness strategies, review behaviour-change programs for men and boys, and advance the B.C. First Nations Justice Strategy by funding the Indigenous Justice Centres' Aunties Program. These investments complement B.C.'s broader Safe and Supported Gender-Based Violence Action Plan, which includes over $60 million annually provided by the Province to support approximately 475 victim-service and violence-against-women programs.
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Denmark passes compensation bill for thousands of Inuit in Greenland forced to get IUDs
Source: Territories - Northern Affairs (Yukon, NWT, Nunavut)
Date: 2026-09-03 14:28:17.0
Tags: [National, Indigenous, Justice, Healthcare, Social Services]Following a 2025 joint Greenlandic-Danish inquiry revealing that approximately 4,000 Greenlandic women and girls were subjected to forced intrauterine device (IUD) implantations and sterilizations between 1966 and 1991, the Danish government passed a bill awarding eligible victims a one-time compensation of roughly $64,000 CAD. This legislative action has prompted Inuit women and advocates in Canada—where historical and ongoing forced and coerced sterilizations of Indigenous women have been documented into the 2010s, including 22 documented cases in Quebec between 1980 and 2019—to renew calls for a formal federal apology and financial restitution. While the Canadian federal government has not issued an apology or compensation program, it recently amended the Criminal Code in June to criminalize forced and coerced sterilization, alongside facing at least four active class-action lawsuits.
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