Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW)

"The record demonstrates that Mr. McCook's life trajectory has been shaped by systemic and intergenerational forces, including early removal from his family, family disruption associated with the legacy of residential schools, and the normalization of alcohol misuse within his social environment."

"These factors provide important context for understanding his background and inform the Court's assessment of proportionality and the appropriate balance between denunciation, deterrence, rehabilitation, and restraint."

Supreme Court of B.C. Justice Sandra Sukstorf

A person walks up the stairs of the Law Courts building, which is home to B.C. Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, is seen in Vancouver, on Monday, January 12, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns

 

Once again, as has been the case since 2014 when the Supreme Court of Canada instituted the Gladue principles to direct judges to take into account specific backgrounds and systemic factors contributing to over-representation of Indigenous men and women in Canada's courts and prisons, a man who was originally charged with second-degree murder in the killing of his wife has received a beneficent reduced sentence for that murder, of significant proportions in terms of time behind bars. 

 

As a result, needless to say, the mother, the woman whose husband murdered her, received no benefit from the Gladue principles, leaving their two young children motherless in their remote Tsek'ehne First Nations community in northern B.C. The community where the couple, their two boys and their extended family live, is a dry community, which prohibits the transportation and possession of alcohol on its territory.  

 

That did not stop the couple from embarking on a long drive of 425 kilometres south to Mackenzie where they bought liquor to the tune of $600. On their drive home they began consuming the alcohol.  Once they arrived back in Kwadacha, the drinking continued. They drank all night and into the morning that followed, during which time McCook, 28, "consumed extreme quantities of alcohol over many hours and became profoundly intoxicated", stated Judge Sukstorf.  

"[When a police officer opened the passenger door to check on her], he observed that Ms. Poole had a visible facial wound, and upon closer examination, he concluded that she was deceased."

"[A post-mortem toxicology report measured her blood alcohol concentration at 0.281 grams per 100 millimetres], a level consistent with severe intoxication and significant cognitive and motor impairment."

Justice Sandra Sukstorf

Brent Angus McCook was “profoundly intoxicated” in the shooting of his wife, Rochelle Poole. (Tingey Injury Law Firm/Unsplash)

 

The binge was a 17-hour marathon for the two young parents, Brent McCook and Rochelle Poole, on January 24, 2023. Neighbours, witness to the unfolding event, testified that although it was noticed that McCook's state of inebriation was affecting his mood, added that the couple's relationship, in their opinion was without friction and "described their interactions as calm and affectionate". Those neighbours, it seems, were relatives on McCook's side.

 

Mid-morning of the day the killing occurred, the couple had embarked on a drive around town with two of McCook's cousins. Some time later, Jason McCook, hearing gunfire from his home two doors away from the couple's house, looked out and saw his cousin standing next to his truck, a rifle in his hands. Jason McCook approached his cousin Brent  until his cousin fired in his direction, causing him to retreat, another bullet following him. Jason called local the emergency response centre, then managed to subdue his cousin and take possession of the gun. 

 

"It was like no one was home, like the lights were on but no one was there", Jason testified in court. A number of officers and witnesses at the scene described the drunk man as "incoherent, erratic, confused, and severely impaired immediately before and after the event". Rochelle Poole, seated in the truck's front seat was thought to be in deep sleep following her heavy drinking bout. Her death was apparent only after the RCMP arrived.

 

It was determined by police that McCook was inside the family home when he first fired his rifle at the vehicle, the bullet hitting Pool's head. No evidence was found by police that McCook knew his wife was in the vehicle when he shot at it. Nor were they able to establish whether from standing inside the house he could see that his wife was seated in it. Defence counsel sought a sentence of five years. The Crown felt 16 years appropriate, arguing the fatal incident occurred within "a broader pattern of intimate partner violence ... rather than as an isolated event".

 

Supporting that contention was testimony from two witnesses, two of Poole's cousins who testified that she had made remarks of her husband's abuse. Poole once said, according to one of the cousins, something to the "effect that if she ever died, Mr. McCook would be the one who killed her". And though the judge thought this credible, she ruled Crown counsel failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that this was an issue of intimate partner violence. A sentence of 7 years was appropriate, in her judgement.

 

Giving McCook a sentence of six years and nine months last month at the sentencing hearing in Prince George, McCook now has two years less six days to serve on his sentence, given credit for time served in custody awaiting trial and sentencing. Three years of probation and a lifetime ban on gun ownership.

 

 

"On the evidence before me, I am satisfied that the relationship between Ms. Poole and Mr. McCook was marked by alcohol-fuelled instability."

"The fact that the offence was committed against an intimate partner remains highly relevant to the sentencing analysis. However, the Crown has not established that the offence itself was the culmination of a pattern of intimate partner violence."

Justice Sandra Sukstorf 

Economist Extraordinaire : Mark Carney for PM to Solve Canada's Economic Woes

"Canada’s federal government has experienced significant fiscal challenges in recent years. The COVID-19 pandemic saw revenues decline and expenditures rise dramatically. Prior to that, the 2009 financial crisis had brought similar shifts, albeit on a smaller scale. But even outside of these extraordinary events, expenditures have consistently exceeded revenues, with the federal government running a budget deficit in each of the past 18 years."

"One might naturally wonder what potential paths lie ahead for returning to balance. The present study describes the current state of the federal budget and explores possible paths to balance by 2035. If the budget is balanced at that point, then the string of deficits that began in 2008 would be tied for the longest stretch of deficits ever recorded since 1867."

"The scale of the challenge is beyond what many Canadians may appreciate. Returning to balance over this relatively prudent time horizon, while fulfilling Canada’s new international commitments to increase military spending, requires large and fundamentally new approaches to major areas of federal finances that have been mostly absent from public debate. Considering available options sooner rather than later is important, as the longer that fiscal adjustments are delayed, the larger and more difficult they will need to be to ensure the long-run sustainability of federal finances."

"Together, these pressures will cause overall federal spending to grow faster than revenues in the years ahead unless policy adjustments are made."

"On its current course, Canada's finances run the] looming risk of a 1990s rerun, [falling back to a fiscal position where] debt-servicing costs consumed roughly one-third of federal revenues, and overall public net debt ... was both high and rising, at  roughly two-thirds of GDP."

"Even if we hold the amount of direct defence spending at two percent of GDP, we still end up with a deficit in 2035 roughly as large as what we're seeing over the next five years." 

Economists Trevor Tombe/Gabriel Giguere, University of Calgary

 

 

A new study produced for the Montreal Economic Institute reports that, should current fiscal policy hold, by 2035 the baseline federal deficit will balloon to $227 billion. The liberal largess over the past decade has lofted Canada's deficit year over year, impacting the federal debt to a point of staggering proportions. Under the leadership of a man whose formidable reputation as a highly experienced central banker, serving as governor of both the Bank of Canada and that of the U.K., his decision to enter politics at the elite level as new leader of the governing Liberal Party of Canada, resurrected that party from its doldrums at the prospective polls, with the unmasking of the inadequacy, profligacy, and errant ideology of Justin Trudeau.

 

Prime Minister Mark Carney holds up a copy of the budget as he and Minister of Finance and National Revenue François-Philippe Champagne make their way to the House of Commons for the tabling of the federal budget on Nov. 4, 2025. Photo by Justin Tang/The Canadian Press/File

 

In the 2025-26 federal budget, a $78.3-billion deficit was projected, representing the largest such deficit in the history of Canada, COVID-19 pandemic-era aside. The  authors of the newly-published study, economists Trevor Tombe and Gabriel Giguere, forecasted federal finances would be impacted hugely in pressure exerted as a reflection of new international commitments to significantly raise military spending, to reflect NATO's latest target of 3.5 percent to be spent by member-states on core defence spending by 2035. That rise in military spending was targeted at 10 percent annually, some $100 billion.

 

Within the next decade it is anticipated that federal spending will rise by 50 percent for elderly benefits, as Canadians continue to grey and a larger proportion of the population will be above 65 years of age at a time in medical history when people are living longer and more healthily. Add to that health transfers, equalization and debt interest payments where the federal revenue stream will not be expected to match those onerous expenditures (elderly benefits alone projected to rise to $45 B), and more.  

 

"Trimming" elderly benefits to match the rate of economic growth might be considered as one measure to help bring some balance back to the deficit, suggested Mr. Tombe. "It wouldn't be an outright cut. We'd still see elderly benefits grow every single year, but they wouldn't grow more quickly than the GDP". Back when Paul Martin was Canada's Finance Minister under Prime Minister Jean Chretien, and together they embarked on a hugely successful mission to bring the deficit under control in 1998, while musing about senior benefit cutbacks, there was a public outcry from seniors that forced a rethink of that solution.

 

Reducing regulatory burdens on businesses, Economist Tombe offered, as another deficit-reducing initiative as an exercise in spending restraint to promote economic growth. A 0.5 percent annual increase would result in  additional revenue of some $20 billion by 2035, he stated. The last 18 years saw Canada run budget deficits, but it's fairly safe to say that it was only in the last decade, beginning in 2015, when Justin Trudeau became prime minister and the Liberals played fast and loose with government treasury that deficits really began to bloom and boom. And under this new economics-guru prime minister they continue to soar...

 

On the first day of a new sitting of Parliament, Prime Minister Mark Carney faced questions about how the fall budget will cover the cost of recent government spending, which has created a ‘substantial’ deficit. Still from video, CBC

"There are no easy options for balancing the federal budget by 2035. Tax increases alone are certainly not a credible option. To balance by 2035 with no changes in federal spending, and assuming currently planned spending restraint ended in 2029, the GST would need to gradually rise to 12.5% from its current rate of 5%. That is far beyond a reasonable policy option."

"Some combination of faster economic growth, revenue changes, substantial reforms to major transfers to persons, and reductions in non-defence direct expenditures will therefore need to be considered in order to correct the current, unsustainable trajectory of the federal debt. The sooner these difficult conversations begin, and the sooner the public understands the challenge and buys into potential options, the lower the cost of those adjustments will be."

Paths to Balancing the Federal Budget by 2035, Montreal Economic Institute

The Lopsided Scales of Justice in Canada

"[Al Jalmoud] did not at this time have a valid driver's licence nor had he ever driven a vehicle in Canada since his arrival in 2018." 

"[Police observed the Ford Escape] swerving in and out of lanes and repeatedly increasing/decreasing the rate of speed [prior to the deadly crash]"

"The police officers at this time got out of their unmarked [white minivan] in uniform, to check on the driver based on their concerns that he might be distracted or impaired. As the police officers stepped out of their vehicle Mr. Al Jalmoud took off in the Escape." 

Ontario Review Board 

John William Wignall, 57, (left) and Ryan Valentim, 38, were killed in the crash on Sept. 25, 2022. Photo by Hamilton Police // Family handout

 

 Mouhamad Al Jalmoud, a 20-year-old Syrian refugee, drove a black Ford Escape in September 2022 that collided with a Hyundai Sonata, in Hamilton. That collision resulted in the death of two passengers of the Hyundai, while seriously injuring its driver. This lethal accident derived from a chain of events when two police officers stopped a driver who was steering his vehicle erratically, ignoring traffic rules including driving above the speed limit and as such, posing a danger both to himself and other drivers.

 

When Al Jalmoud was stopped by the police, he veered away and sped off, failing to stop for a red light and then collided with the Hyundai, when hit, was caused "to spin out of control". One man in the Hyundai was ejected from the rear window into a building, perishing at the scene. Another passenger was taken by paramedics to hospital where he was shortly afterward pronounced dead. "Very serious" injuries were suffered by the Hyundai driver.

 

Following the crash, Al Jalmoud "took off on foot leaving he scene", returning some time later when he collapsed and was taken to hospital. He was found by a jury in 2024 not criminally responsible by reason of mental disorder, on three counts of failing to stop after the crash. Al Jalmoud was found guilty by the same jury on two counts of  dangerous driving causing death and one count of dangerous driving causing bodily harm. In March of 2025 he was sentenced by a judge to three years and three months in prison.

 

A Hamilton man has been arrested for impaired operation causing death after a collision where two people died late on Sunday night.  The Hammer

 

Al Jalmoud filed an appeal of both his conviction and the sentence, and after six months in custody he was released in September of 2025. "Those matters are before the court and outside our jurisdiction", stated the review board. During his release, Al Jalmoud is subject to several conditions, one of which permits him to leave home with his father in attendance. 

 

During Al Jalmoud's criminal trial, the jury heard that as a child he had "witnessed the horrors of the Syrian civil war, including bombings, airstrikes, killings in the street, mass and arbitrary arrests, and torture. He witnessed the effects of these horrors on his friends, neighbours and family. He was tortured himself. He developed a fear of police and military figures. The family fled to refugee camps in Lebanon, where they were mistreated." The Al Jalmoud family arrived in Canada as refugees, when Mouhamad was 16 years old. 

 

At his trial, two psychiatrists testified that Al Jalmoud "suffered from (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) on the evening of September 25, 2022, that the PTD led to a dissociative state triggered by Mr. Al Jalmoud's encounter with the police officers in the white minivan, and that Mr. Al Jalmoud was in a dissociative state  until he woke up in the hospital hours later." Both psychiatrists were in agreement and testified that "While he was capable of performing motor functions, he was not conscious or aware of what he was doing, either while driving away from the police or after the collision."

 

Both experts were "of the view that Mr. Al Jalmoud was not criminally responsible by reason of mental disorder" for failing to stop at the crash scene. On the other hand, a psychiatrist who had earlier conducted a risk assessment on Al Jalmoud, testified before the Ontario Review Board that Al Jalmoud "does not have risk factors including having a major mental illness, anti-social traits or antisocial personality disorder or substance use that would enhance risk." 

 

The Special Investigations Unit is investigating after a crash killed two men on Sunday night. A 20-year-old man has been charged with impaired causing death. (David Ritchie)

 

The Review Board in interviewing the psychiatrist who assessed Al Jalmoud last year "was asked whether he agreed with the evidence at trial that the sound of the collision could have triggered PTSD. His response was that while anything was possible, the sound alone would not lead to a PTSD response to lead Mr. Al Jalmoud to flee the scene."

 

The decision from the Ontario Review Board was to find the Syrian refugee not criminally responsible for failing to stop at the accident he caused that killed two men, severely injuring a third, and has granted  him an absolute discharge.  Now 24, the Board was of the opinion that Al Jalmoud "exhibits pro-social values of family connection, no substance use and pro-social future goals". 

 

Free to go. 

 

As an adult, one who is capable of practicing free will, who is responsible for the untimely deaths of two innocent people and a life-changing injury of a third, if not this man? 

Do the crime, serve the time...

 

Surveillance footage of Al Jalmoud exiting the SUV after collision: Court exhibit

"He [initial psychiatric assessor] expressed that he would have come to a different conclusion than the two psychiatric assessors at trial; that this was a young man who made an unbelievably unwise decision to drive, given his skill set, and panicked when he saw the police, knowing he was driving without a licence and possibly without knowing how to drive."

"He accelerated, colliding with another vehicle, panicked, took off and  came back."

"[However, he] gave clear evidence that Mr. Al Jalmoud ... does not at this time pose a significant threat to the safety of the public."

Ontario Review Board 

Canadian Justice Strains Credulity

A memorial to Paul Prestbakmo (inset) grew quickly on the median adjacent to where he died, after suffering stab wounds in the early hours of Aug. 16, 2019. The two teens convicted of killing him were in Vancouver law courts March 27, 2026 to appeal their life sentence. (Facebook/Peace Arch News files)

"I have no doubt that the brutality and senselessness of the crime in this case will cause some members of the public to view the overturning of the sentences as an injustice...the appellants committed a brutal murder, using knives to stab Mr. Prestbakmo forty-two times in the space of only 26 seconds."

"The wounds were scattered over Mr. Prestbakmo's upper body. The appellants stabbed him in the chest, abdomen, back, neck, left forearm, and elbow.

"The wounds were deep and unsurvivable. They included serious damage to Mr. Prestbakmo's pericardium, heart, both lungs, diaphragm and liver." 

"[But a court of law is] bound to adhere to the dictates of statutes and the interpretations of them by a higher court."

"]After the Supreme Court of Canada’s ruling in 2025], it is clear that it was not open to the trial judge to impose an adult sentence."

British Columbia Appeal Court Justice Harvey Groberman

Surrey RCMP Cpl. Elenore Sturko speaks at a news conference in Surrey on Sept. 19, 2019, to announce that second-degree murder charges have been laid against two teens in the Aug. 16, 2019, stabbing death of Paul Prestbakmo. At right, Sgt. Frank Jang of IHIT is next to a photograph of Prestbakmo. PNG

 

Pauly Prestbakmo was well known and liked in his community of White Rock, in Surrey, British Columbia.. The 45-year-old auto mechanic had a habit of taking out his household waste for regular municipal garbage pick-up in the early morning hours of the night and that's what he did the night of August 15, 2019. He wandered over to a nearby mall parking lot to smoke a cigarette before returning home. He failed to complete his intention, and his family never saw him alive again. Two youths, 15 and 16 named T.T. and H.B. respectively, for following court procedure, had just left a late-night party and when they came across this perfect stranger, they both pounced to attack him mercilessly.

 

The youths were tried and sentenced as adults by a Surrey provincial court judge in 2022. Given adult standing even  under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, in view of the  extreme violence and savage brutality of the  attack. Their identities, protected by court order reflecting their ages, appealed their sentences after being convicted of the second-degree murder of Paul Prestbakmo.  That appeal was based on the Supreme Court of Canada in 2025, issuing an edict that a "high standard of proof" respecting maturity and responsibility of youths must be adhered to in sentencing for serious criminal activities. Based on whether youthful criminals exhibited maturity and responsibility for their actions.

 

Only when evidence demonstrates beyond a reasonable doubt that youthful criminals are possessed of a "level of mature thought and independence" demonstrating an "adult level of blameworthiness and responsibility" can youth be viewed as sufficiently adult in development and temperament to be tried as adults. Youth committing serious crimes that take place impulsively and without obvious planning, are to be continued to be tried under the youth act, in addition to which the conditions of their early childhood and teen-age experiences must be taken into consideration, should they have been socially deprived.

 

In the original sentencing, Surrey Provincial Judge Robert Hamilton took into account "resistance to rehabilitation and their apparent failure to genuinely accept responsibility for the senseless killing" by the teens to sentence them as adults. They had, he stated, set out with "a lethal intent to kill" ,when he sentenced them as adults. And while Justice Groberman said he is "not convinced" the trial judge erred, he also said: "That cannot, of course, justify imposing a sentence longer or more severe than authorized by law."

Delphin Paul Prestbakmo, known as Pauly, was found dying near Semiahmoo Shopping Centre in South Surrey on Aug. 16, 2019. Homicide investigators believe he was stabbed in an unprovoked attack. (IHIT)

"It must be definitively established that the level of maturity of a young person is so advanced that they should no longer benefit from the presumption that they are less blameworthy or culpable than adults", he wrote. However, at the time of the the 2022 trial, Justice Hamilton invoked the Youth Criminal Justice Act whose text allows for such heinous acts as the savage murder the two youths indulged in, to be treated and tried as adults, convicting them of second-degree murder, sentenced to life with eligibility of early parole.

Under the Act, minors can receive adult sentences should the presiding judge be "satisfied" that "the presumption of diminished moral blameworthiness of culpability of the young person is rebutted", and a youth sentence could not be regarded as sufficiently lengthy to hold the young person -- given the severity of the offence committed -- accountable. Reasonable in the extreme under such circumstances. But obviously not reasonable enough for the Supreme Court of Canada bitten by the bug of DEI and Critical Race Theory. 

Under these new constrictions to meting out justice to fit the crime, the two youths' new sentence represents the maximum permitted under the Youth Act: seven years, the first four in prison. Since their November 2022 incarceration, the new sentence will see them released from prison by year's end. Free to go on with their criminal career, their absent consciences remaining a tabula rasa. 

 

Angela Prestbakmo speaks to reporters about her brother, Paul Prestbakmo, in Surrey, B.C. (Maggie MacPherson/CBC)

 

"Our brother, Pauly, had a lot of different sayings. One, in particular, sticks out for our family here today that I would like to share."

"When things were not going so good or working out, he would say, 'hey, let's make it right. Do the right thing."

"On behalf of my family and our friends, we speak for our brother Pauly one last time ... make it right. Do the right thing."

Angela Prestbakmo  

From the Sublime to the Mundane ... Moon Mission 2026

(Image credit: Space.com / Josh Dinner)

 

"That's one of the big, big events in the mission. Really leaving Earth's orbit ... to conduct the rest of the mission ... I think that will definitely make a number of people both up on the Orion and here on Earth breathe a little easier."

"Depending on the precise timing when they get there [dark side of the moon], they will probably see some parts of the lunar surface on the far side sunlit that the Apollo astronauts did not have an opportunity to see." 

Jake Bleacher, chief exploration scientist, NASA

 

"Humanity has once again shown what we are capable of, and it's your hopes for the future that carry us now on this journey around the moon."

Jeremy Hansen, Astronaut, Artemis II 

 

"With this burn to the moon, we do not leave Earth, we choose it."

"[I] was proud to call myself the 'space plumber' after fixing Orion's toilet."

"I like to say that it is probably the most important piece of equipment on board, so we were all breathing a sigh of relief when it turned out to be just fine." 

Christina Koch, Astronaut, Artemis II 

NASA's Artemis 2 Orion space toilet is taking a starring role on the historic astronaut mission to the moon. (Image credit: NASA/Canadian Space Agency)

 

Orion's mission to the moon, around the moon, taking the four astronauts aboard -- Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hanson -- to the furthest, highest point that humans have ever soared to beyond Earth, is to take ten days in total, from blast-off Thursday to eventual return the following Friday. On the mission, astronauts are to test scientific operations while on the far side in a bid to assist NASA in comprehending how human crews at the site can collaborate with Earth-bound science teams. 

 

It will be the gravitational pull of the moon and the Earth that will facilitate the return trajectory, without the requirement of mechanical propulsion, when Orion slingshots around the moon in a figure eight. The crew on its return will then experience one of the most tense-expectancy moments of the mission with re-entry into Earth's atmosphere, when splashdown in the Pacific Ocean brings their precedent-setting mission to a conclusion next Friday.

 

On Thursday evening, before sendoff, the Orion took six minutes to burn its engine for liftoff. In the general excitement of the mission proceeding, thoughts may have momentarily drifted to the sheer isolation the crew would be experiencing in outer space beyond Earth's orbit; a distance so vast that the crew would be totally dependent on their own resourcefulness should anything go awry, when no outside source could be depended on for reaction. 

 

Jeremy Hansen, Christina Koch, (mission commander) Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover   NASA

 

However, the minds within the spacecraft no doubt disciplined to focus on the minutiae of the mission, would not linger on exposure to deep-space radiation from solar activity or cosmic rays once they reached beyond the protection of Earth's magnetic field, and how that experience might affect the state of their health. They are themselves a living experiment.

 

Following meticulous checks of life-support systems sufficed for confidence the Orion spacecraft was prepared and ready to leave, the order NASA officials gave to the "translunar injection" manoeuvre was finalized and Integrity fled the surly bonds of Earth, taking four courageous, prepared souls with it.  "When the engine ignites, you embark on humanity's lunar homecoming arc and set the course to return Integrity and her crew safely home", Chris Birch, a NASA astronaut, said to the crew from mission control in Houston. 

 

Four days to reach the moon and each day of the 10 aboard the Orion capsule has its roles to be played out by each of those aboard. It took speed of 1,275 feet per second in liftoff to initiate the spacecraft's sojourn to the moon. Once on the far side, which they reached on Monday they will witness the effects of an eclipse. When the moon blocks the sun they will have the opportunity to observe the outermost layer of the sun's atmosphere, the corona in a brilliant display of jetting gases.

 

Earth as seen from the Orion capsule in a new image taken last week   Reid Wiseman/NASA

 

"On the far side of the Moon, 252,756 miles away, Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy have now traveled farther from Earth than any humans in history and now begin their journey home."

"Before they left, they said they hoped this mission would be forgotten, but it will be remembered as the moment people started to believe that America can once again do the near-impossible and change the world."

"[The mission] isn't over until they're under safe parachutes, splashing down into the Pacific."

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman

NASA

 

Shen Yun: China Before Communism

An advertisement for Shen Yun's Toronto run from March 28 to April 5.

"This action [cancellation] was taken out of an abundance of caution, following the receipt of an escalating series of threatening messages that were swiftly reported to Toronto Police Service."

"The well-being of staff, crews, artists, and audiences remain our highest priority, and the difficult decision was made entirely in the interest of public safety."

"We appreciate the understanding and cooperation of our community as we continue to prioritize the safety of all those who work in and visit the Four Seasons Centre." 

Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts 

 

"Many explosive devices have been placed at the Four Seasons Theatre and Parliament Hill in Canada."

"If the Shen Yun performance is not cancelled and continues to be shown, explosions are planned at Parliament Hill and the Four Seasons Theatre."

Police reported threat

 

"Cancelling the show under such circumstances sets a concerning precedent that foreign actors can disrupt Canadian business operation and society at will."

"However [additional received threats leading to show cancellation] those threats were never shared with the presenter and police confirmed to the presenter that no other threats have been reported." 

"[This is] Beijing’s systematic global campaign to stop Shen Yun -- a show that presents the beauty of ‘China before communism’ and brings light to modern day human rights abuses happening in China."

"10,000 Canadians [ticket-holders] were threatened by the Chinese Communist Party [CCP]. We are all victims."

Joel Chipkar, spokesman, Falun Dafa Association of Toronto (FDAT)  

The March 29, 2 p.m. performance of Shen Yun at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in downtown Toronto was abruptly cancelled due to a reported bomb threat.  CTV News

 

The Falun Dafa Association of Toronto castigated the Four Seasons Centre for its fearful response to a series of 'non-credible' threats to the venue, leading to its cancellation of scheduled performances, five in all, scheduled for April 1st to the 5th, over what the venue characterized as 'escalating threats'. The Canadian Opera Company whose home is the Four Seasons Centre stated that the unfortunate decision "Was taken out of an abundance of caution following the receipt of an escalating series of threatening messages that were swiftly reported to Toronto Police Service".

 

The New York-based performing arts company Shen Yun was founded by Falun Dafa, a faith movement known more familiarly as Falun Gong. Those faithful to the spiritual movement have experienced decades of persecution from the Chinese Communist Party. Through its spectacularly colourful and graceful professional performances the troupe showcases Chinese human rights abuses through highlighting the Middle Kingdom's cultural history "before communism". It was explained by a Shen Yun spokesperson that many of the show's artists fled persecution in China.

 

Just prior to the Sunday matinee, the Falun Dafa Association of Toronto was advised that individuals with the opera company and employees of the Four Seasons Centre had received an alarming email threat of an imminent bombing should the performances take place as scheduled. Police were notified and deemed the threat 'unfounded' leaving the theatre free to re-open despite that a performance was called off in the immediate wake of the email's message. A day later both venue and presenter agreed the remaining performances would proceed. 

 

A photo of a Shen Yun show. (Courtesy Shen Yun)

 

With the agreement the Four Seasons Centre would increase security measures, the matter seemed settled. Then the following day more threats were received, and the venue firmly stated the rest of the run would be cancelled. A steady stream of threats has been received during Shen Yun performances, assessed by law enforcement agencies as non-credible. In these previous instances performances continued, following bomb sweeps and added security. Which made the Four Seasons' decision an unexpected precedent.

 

According to the Falun Dafa Association, over 150 similar threats were received, yet nothing amiss was ever seen to occur. Shen Yun and Falun Dala groups accuse Beijing of attempting to disrupt the touring schedule of the show. This would be the same Beijing that has interfered in Canada's politics. That has opened secret 'police stations' in Canadian cities. And whose operatives in Canada have penetrated the government. Beijing's United Front Works Department harasses Chinese-Canadians who oppose the CCP.

 

A Liberal government that has been busy making trade and economic cooperation agreements with Beijing, overlooking its human rights abuse record that includes forced labour, persecution of minorities and in Canada itself cyber warfare, threats against Chinese-Canadians, theft of Canadian trade secrets and hostage diplomacy where Canadian citizens have been incarcerated in China on trumped-up charges of espionage to force an outcome in China's favour from Canada. 

 

A photo of a Shen Yun performance. (Courtesy Shen Yun)

"[The] cowardly attack on artistic expression and our freedom [this week, is bigger than one single stage production]."

"It raises serious concerns about allowing foreign interference -- or any threats -- to dictate what Canadians can see and who can express themselves."

"This is a risk to all Canadians, not just Shen Yun."

Joel Chipkar 

Advocating for Better Patient Care in Canada

"Advocating for better patient care, health system reform, and physician rights is a core physician competency and professional responsibility."

"[The organization] unequivocally condemns all forms of workplace harassment, bullying and intimidation of emergency physicians by organizational and system-level administrators, colleagues, medical leadership, health system officials and politicians."

"[Harassment creates] toxic work environments [while undermining patient safety and contributing to physician burnout]."

Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians

 

"It was the perfect storm of overcrowding in the hospital and the emergency department, staff shortages, too many sick patients and too few available ER [emergency room] beds."

"We talk about cracks in the system. But this is when the roof has fallen in. It truly has failed when we can't treat the sickest patients in our emergency department in a timely manner."

Kaitlin Stockton, British Columbia emergency physician

 

"The bullying and harassment, unfortunately, is done by all levels -- by managers, by anybody in admin; it's been done by very senior physicians who hold administrative positions, as well as administrators who hold positions of power."

"Basically, they set up the conditions for constructive dismissal using everything they can. It's the slow bleed out of a care provider. They make it impossible to work. And we've seen that: You ask any physician who's been around for a while. We've seen that."

"The  ORs [operating rooms] can shut down at four o'clock, five o'clock, unless there's an emergency. The [wards upstairs] can say, 'No, we're full', because they have safety concerns, and rightly so."

"The emergency, we never close our doors."

Dr. Trevor Jain, emergency physician, Prince Edward Island 

Across Canada, emergency rooms are routinely operating beyond 100 per cent capacity. Photo by John Mahoney/Postmedia

 

Emergency doctors in Canada have struck a position, demanding protection against harassment and bullying by administration when they speak out about their experiences as responsible physicians struggling with an increasingly impossible situation in trying to treat people who show up at hospital emergency rooms hoping for medical attention, but finding hugely extended wait times because there are too few doctors available, nurses run off their feet, and an increasing population making more demands than ever on the country's universal health care system.

 

Physicians (and nursing staff) witnessing people in agony of pain, uncertainty and fear and feeling themselves unable to respond adequately as they are meant to do, under the weight of their belief in the Hippocratic Oath, do their utmost and frustratingly find it is never enough to stem the rising tide of  health service inadequacy in Canada. When doctors facing situations of pending death should attention not immediately be shifted to those suffering and waiting, raise their voices about unreported deaths resulting from dangerous ER overcrowding, they become themselves victimized by hospital administrators who want to hush up any pending controversy. 

 

"The plethora and huge amount of harassment and bullying emergency physicians are experiencing across the country for shedding light on dangerous overcrowding conditions, lack of [patient] flow and a pandemic of  unreported deaths in our waiting rooms" has led the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians to launch a demand for "effective and enforced" whistleblower protection for physicians who risk personal and professional persecution when they are driven by compassion and caring for the patients under medical duress whose lives are put at risk by such medical inadequacies.  

 

A new report finds that deaths while waiting for medical procedures is up 64 per cent over the last five years in Canada. Photo by Getty Images

 

The Fraser Health Authority, as an example, was sued by B.C. emergency doctor Kaitlin Stockton after she was essentially fired following the posting of a sign in a Port Moody, B.C. ER in 2024, to alert patients of unacceptable the pending wait times they faced. Although Dr. Stockton was one among a handful of colleagues who posted the warning, she was singled out, bullied and threatened once the story of the sign became fodder for area news outlets. Dr. Stockton stated she was threatened and harassed for speaking out and for asking the hospital to transfer admitted patients to various areas of the hospital and call "Code orange" to respond to incoming patients. 

 

Dr. Paul Parks, an Alberta  emergency physician, reported a "near-miss" with  a patient having chest pain, examined while standing in a hallway, no empty stretchers available. The patient was found to have a life-threatening blood clot. In another instance, a woman in her 50s in a "confused/altered" state, unable to walk, arrived at an Alberta ER. "She was flagged for MD assessment still confused after 4 hours waiting in a wheelchair. It became clear something was terribly wrong when she was in a proper treatment space; a CT scan showed a  bad bleed in her brain, requiring emergency intubation and transfer for neurosurgery. She could have easily died waiting for care", stated Dr. Parks.  

 

"There is still a tonne of fear around physicians being retaliated against, losing their job, losing their licence. You lose your licence, you're done. Your career is over."

"But if people can't rely on health-care providers to be their voices, especially those who can't advocate for themselves, who is going to advocate for them?"

"[Whistleblower legislation isn't enough]; It needs to be visible, and it needs to be enforced."

Dr. Kaitlin Stockton 

 

"So, when you walk into the waiting room and there's people lying on the floor, people leaning against the walls, people in distress, people who don't have a family doctor, people with post-op complications, 84-year-olds waiting 12 hours -- that should be a huge red flag that multiple canaries have died and the system is in distress."
"You can't access primary care? 'Go to emerg'. Postop problems from the operation yesterday? Go to emerg. 'I can't look after my loved one anymore'? Go to emerg. A nursing home says, 'This patient has become too difficult for us to manage'? Go to emerg."

"We've become the 'easy button' for the Canadian healthcare system."

Dr. Trevor Jain  

Patients left in the hallway due to an at capacity emergency room at the Humber River Hospital in Toronto. Photo by Nathan Denette /The Canadian Press