In Their Wisdom...

"[On March 14, 2016], Ali entered the Canadian forces Recruiting Centre in Toronto and immediately attacked the corporal who was seated at the entrance. Mr. Ali repeatedly punched the corporal in the head, and then took a large kitchen knife from a folder he was carrying and lunged at the corporal, slashing and stabbing at him with the knife, causing a three-inch gash to the corporal's arm."

"[A petty officer armed with a chair forced Ali away from the corporal. Ali then began chasing a sergeant] swinging his knife at her on more than one occasion, barely missing the back of her neck."

"[He] encountered another sergeant who had slipped and fallen in the chaos. Mr. Ali was observed to slash and stab the sergeant several times in the upper torso and head while he was on the ground. [Numerous military personnel eventually pinned him to the ground and got control of his knife]." 

Background addressed to a tribunal at the Ontario Review Board

Toronto police say a man walked into the federal building Monday and stabbed two members of the Canadian Armed Forces. (Natalie Kalata/CBC)

 

"Ali continued to pose a significant threat to the safety of the public and that the necessary and appropriate disposition was a continuation of the existing conditional discharge save and except for the addition of a discretionary travel pass for up to three weeks on an itinerary approved by the [person in charge] to allow for travel to Saudi Arabia and/or Somalia, accompanied by an approved person."

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto  

Born in Montreal, the now-38-year-old grew up in Toronto. Despite having attended the University of Toronto and University of Calgary, he came away from his academic experiences without a degree. The Ontario Review Board heard in a deposition from Ali's family that he had been symptomatic for a while before the attack at the recruiting centre. He was found not criminally responsible for the attack on the three counts of attempted murder at the Canadian Forces Recruiting Centre.

 

Ayanle Hassan Ali, 27, a Montreal-born suspect charged in a double stabbing at a Canadian Armed Forces recruiting centre in north Toronto, appeared in a Toronto court. (Pam Davies/CBC)

 

Ayanle Hassan Ali, of Somalian heritage, Muslim, had appealed to the board to allow him to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca with his father. The ultimate goal of the hajj for this man evidently is to meet a potential bride his father arranged for him in Somalia. According to Ali's doctor, his patient's "faith and religious beliefs continue to be very important to him, and he attends mosque weekly, and he prays five times daily" (likely the inspirational source of his jihadi violence) in the words of the independent tribunal that reviews the status of individuals found not criminally responsible as a result of mental disorder.

 

Diagnosed with schizophrenia, like his mother, his terrorist actions in March of 2016 found him not criminally responsible, citing his mental disorder that led to the three attempted murder attempts for which he was charged, along with two counts of assault with a weapon, and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose. 

Ayanle Hassan Ali, shown in a police handout photo, was ordered to remain in custody following a court appearance - Toronto Police Service handout

 

"According to the hospital report, it appeared that as a teenager, he experienced obsessions and compulsions and had difficulty concentrating in school. He began to hear voices, had ideas of reference, and was consistently concerned about the government watching him. He no longer spent time with friends, did not leave the house, and spent long periods of time alone in his room staring at the wall. He threw out almost everything from his room including his mattress and spent hours copying books." 

Detained at St. Joseph's Health Care Hamilton from 2018 to 2023 as a result of the diagnosis of 'not criminally responsible', he was found to be compliant with his medications, and was described as a 'model patient'. Ali was ordered by the Ontario Review Board to be transferred in March 2023 to Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. He was later discharged into the community to live with his father. "At that time, he was treated with a long-acting injectable of antipsychotic medication." More recently, in 2025 he moved again, to live with his mother and one of his sisters.

 

"Mr. Ali has advised that this [a parent arranging for a marriage partner from abroad] is not uncommon in his culture, and the marriage would only proceed if both parties were agreeable. He is hopeful he will be able to travel to Somalia over the upcoming reporting year for an introductory meeting with the woman." The Review Board agreed to grant Ayanle Hassan Ali's request to travel to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, giving him a three-week travel pass, their decision bypassing the reality that he "continues to pose a significant threat to public safety".

 

Ayanle Hassan Ali arrives in a police car at a Toronto court house on Tuesday, March 15, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

 

"The final risk judgement is of a low risk of violence under the continuation of a conditional discharge." "Risk would rise to moderate to high if he were granted an absolute discharge, given uncertainty with change to oral medication and the final steps to occupational and social reintegration hurdles which are of great importance to him."

"Although frequency of violent behavior is likely low, re-emergence of psychotic symptoms could result in an increasing risk of serious violence."

Hospital Patient Report 

Opioid Chemical Compound Papers Online Fuelling Drug Trade

"It is ten times more potent than fentanyl. We are just seeing this for the first time [on the streets]." 

"The reality is, yes, there's always a possibility [that scientists publishing their findings for easy accessibility for other scientists, enabled a trend]."

"Nobody knows what's really coming next. So you can make the argument that having that information is more beneficial to us than not having the information."

Alex J. Krotulski, forensic toxicologist Center for Forensic Science Research & Education, Pennsylvania laboratory

 

"If I can access the literature [then] they [amateur chemists and illicit drug suppliers anywhere in the world] can access the literature."

"[The challenge, was to be] not one step behind but one step ahead." 

Istvan Ujvary, Hungarian medicinal and pharmaceutical chemist 

Alex J. Krotulski runs a lab tasked with identifying a growing assortment of new synthetic drugs.

 

Illegal drugs today are produced in unregulated laboratories around the world, from Chinese and Indian enterprises to single-individual operations operated out of apartments. Fentanyl is just one of hundreds of synthetic compounds, growing steadily more potent, that are known as novel psychoactive substances. There are now 1,446 new psychoactive substances listed by the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime, whereas a decade earlier there were 643. 

 

Any combination of chemicals or molecular structure published online becomes immediately available to those lurking in the wings waiting to see what has more recently been synthesized in a reputable scientific laboratory as a strictly scientific endeavour, perhaps for the purpose of finding new chemical combinations that might be useful for medical prescriptions addressing the kind of pain suffered by individuals who fail to respond to existing treatment protocols. 

 

According to Dr. Laura Bohn, associate dean of research at Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, the internet has become the 'cookbook' for the drug trade. She is herself engaged in the study and development of new opiate molecules in medical research, and  her work like all others, published in online medical journals, is open to scrutiny for anyone within the scientific community, but also to those whose keen interest in new opiate potentials has a malevolent purpose.

 

Kettering Health

 

That purpose is to synthesize new combinations of chemicals, derived from shadowing legitimate research to appropriate findings deemed useful to be mixed, substituted and adulterated on a continuous search for new street drugs to fuel the profits of drug cartels as well as individual illicit drug entrepreneurs. Some 42 percent of samples that contain fentanyl include five or more psychoactive compounds, an increase from the 23 percent found three years ago, through a recent study from the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

 

Compounds can be identified by having samples of finished products run through a high-resolution mass spectrometer to finely measure the molecular weights of compounds, which are then compared against a database of 1,200 known drug molecules. N-desethyl etonitazene is among them, from a family of synthetic opiates named nitazenes. Dr. Alex J. Krotulski became aware of this chemical group in 2019 when he and other scientists in forensic toxicology heard of a fatality in Alberta.

 

Kettering Health

The Alberta fatality was caused by a nitazene variant, isotonitazene. Not long after, that very drug was implicated in deaths in Minnesota, Iowa and a few other states. These nitazene opiates were developed 70 years ago by a Swiss pharmaceutical company in the hope that scientists working there had discovered a new drug for pain. The drugs were found in fact, to dangerously suppress breathing and the old patents were shelved. 

 

Their resurgence, it was hypothesized, related to the U.S. and China outlawing fentanyl, forcing illicit drugmakers to look elsewhere for a replacement. Istvan Ujvary is considered to be an influential prophetic scientist, capable of modelling the future of drug compounds appearing suddenly and recognizable by new deaths from street drugs. Tasked by the EU's Drug Agency for a paper to explore which nitazene substances might make a dangerous new appearance, his research was ultimately published in two journals, even while he was congnizant of the risk of street chemists making use of the research. 

 

One of the papers written in tandem with other scholars, examined existing nitazene compounds modelled by hypothetical new compounds, exploring their interaction with the brain's opioid receptor. Some of the drugs the papers mentioned soon after began to appear on the street. One of them was N-desethyl etonitazene, found to have contributed to new deaths of unsuspecting drug users.  

Kettering Health

Nitazenes: The Emergence of a Potent Synthetic Opioid Threat The global unregulated drug supply faces a critical challenge with the emergence of nitazenes, a class of novel synthetic opioids (NSOs) structurally distinct from fentanyl and associated with extreme potency and high risk of fatal overdose. First synthesised in the late 1950s, etonitazene was a target of preclinical research in rats and rhesus monkeys, but it never reached clinical trials due to an unfavourable balance between therapeutic and toxic effects. Nitazenes’ consistent reappearance began in 2019 with isotonitazene, followed by a rapid proliferation of analogues worldwide, many reported to be hundreds to thousands of times more potent than morphine and, in some cases, stronger than fentanyl. This rise is fuelled by their ease of synthesis, low production costs, and evasion of regulatory controls. Nitazenes are frequently mis-sold as counterfeit medications or adulterated into other drugs, resulting in unintentional exposure and overdose, particularly among opioid-naïve users. The primary cause of death is severe and prolonged respiratory depression. Analytical challenges are significant, as traditional screening methods are ineffective, and the low concentration in biological samples requires expensive and highly sensitive liquid chromatography mass spectrometry techniques. This perspective paper highlights critical gaps in detection, clinical management, and regulatory readiness for nitazenes. Urgent efforts are needed to improve surveillance, develop robust analytical methodologies, provide clinical guidance to nitazene intoxications, and strengthen international policy to curb their proliferation.

MDPI  Advancing Open Science 

The Paris Catacombs

Descend beneath the streets of Paris to discover one of the city's most unique attractions. The final resting place of six million Parisians, the catacombs are not for the faint of heart!   Paris Perfect

 

"The goal isn't to turn it into Disneyland."

"[The setting was never meant to be sensationalist], it was meant to emphasize solemnity and create an atmosphere of respect."

"The first priority is, above all, to preserve the site and maintain a balance between the visit and the conservation of the remains." 

Isabelle Knafou, administrator, Paris Catacombs 

Alan Harvey/SNS Group via Getty Images  

 

First excavated during the Roman era, the tunnels, converted into 'galleries' that lie as a vast labyrinth beneath Paris, were meant for the purpose of mining. In the 18th century they were converted to a catchbasin, not for aquatic sewage purposes, but to receive the remains of the dead, at a time when Paris cemeteries were overflowing, and sanitation became a serious issue. As a result, city authorities initiated the storage of bones of people who had lived from the 10th to the 18th centuries, into areas of the tunnels, turning those areas into an ossuary.

 

An official whose position was to oversee the quarries, Louis-Etienne Hericart de Thury, in the 1800s thought of turning those areas housing the tomb's bones into a museum. Workers then proceeded to use the bones to construct walls and pillars. Finally the catacombs were officially opened as a 'museum', welcoming its first visitors in 1809. 

 

It has been two centuries during which tourists and locals have made their way below ground to pay a visit to the catacombs where an estimated six million individuals who once lived in Paris are entombed. Floor to ceiling the passageways are lined with bones. The dimly lit tunnels see 600,000 visitors annually. Work has been underway over the past five months where architects, designers, technicians and masons have been busy in the renovation of the passageways. 

 

Ossuaries at the Catacombs of Paris, with a sign describing how the bones depicted above were exhumed from the Cimetière des Innocents Cemetery in 1809. Many others were transferred much earlier. Mustang Joe/CC0 1.0

 

Areas too dimly lit for people to access will now be accessible. Obviously such visits by the curious bespeak for many a macabre fascination with the dead on full display. Curators emphasize that the work  undertaken has a primary purpose of preserving the site, while making it more accessible; appealing to those who wish to view its contents, the work maintaining a spooky, sombre appeal. Humidity and carbon dioxide intensified by visitors have occasioned moulding bones and crumbling walls along with a dilapidated electrical system. Hence the renovations.

 

Of the hundreds of kilometers of labyrinthine tunnelling, a 1.5-kilometer segment reopened recently. According to the lead architect, finding workers willing to work 18 meters underground, constantly ascending and descent long stairways, working in cramped spaces, surrounded by bones, has been a challenge. "At the start of the project, some people said, 'We're leaving'", she reported.

 

Stonemasons, working with buckets of bones have been restoring the walls, wedging bones back into place, in the creation of rows of femurs and tibias, alternating with lines of skulls. Florent Bastaroli, one of the stonemasons commented "it puts us back in our place as mortals".  

 

Abandoned railroad tunnel we entered and walked for 1/2 a mile before entering the catacombs  Venture the Planet

 

 

 

Much Ado About Nothing : Canada's Shakespearean Farce

"I told her: 'I wish our people could grab you, drag you over to the Kamloops residential school, put you into the basement, speak our language to you, rape you, hurt you."

"And maybe you'd understand what our people went through."

Charlene Belleau, elder, Esk'etemc First Nation, British Columbia 

 

"I don't think they're a threat I think there's a lot of comments about how she should be charged and punished in various ways, and I'm opposed to that, because I think people should e able to speak freely about everything, as long as they don't incite violence or engage in threats."

"I think they're deplorable comments, and it reflects the fact that Aboriginal leaders are pandered to constantly and never challenged, so they become more and more unhinged as time goes on."

Frances Widdowson, academic; Economics and Indigenous Policy 

 

"I'm not sure what the member [MLA Tara Armstrong] is referring to, but I do know what she's tried to do in the past, insisting that the bodies of children who died at residential schools should be dug up."

"Something that you would never insist at any other place in t he world where  holocausts or genocides occurred."

"That's not how we do these things. [She is] trying to further divide us over an issue that is very emotional, troubling and challenging."

B.C. Indigenous Relations Minister Spencer Chandra Herbert

The main administrative building of the former school is pictured in 1970. (Department of Citizenship and Immigration- Information Division / Library and Archives Canada)

 

In 2021 at the former Kamloops Residential School, the chief of the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc Kukpi7 (Chief) Rosanne Casimir made a riveting public statement that sent shock waves through the country, a statement picked up by international news media, and which prompted then-PM Justice Trudeau to order Canadian flags at half-mast and held them that way for six months, in honour of the 215 Indigenous children Chief Casimir claimed lay in unmarked graves at the school site. Her band had hired a specialist in ground-penetrating radar, the results of which led her to make these remarks to the media: 

"To our knowledge, these missing children are undocumented deaths."

"Some were as young as three years old. We sought out a way to confirm that knowing out of deepest respect and love for those lost children and their families, understanding that Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc is the final resting place of these children."  

That shocking declaration galvanized Canada into a state of mourning, of self-blame, of acceptance of the charges that a 'genocide' took place. Government at every level genuflected in shame and remorse, pledged that this horrible sin against humanity and Indigenous children who attended Indian Residential Schools, who had suffered loneliness and misery, neglect and humiliation, condemned if they spoke their native language, were exposed to life-changing, long-lasting trauma that affected following generations.

 

On the rare occasion, some individuals who had attended these schools denied those charges, countered that their exposure to educational opportunities aided them in their later lives to make a life for themselves outside of aboriginal communities, adjusting to the outside world and finding professional occupations that satisfied their personal aspirations. These voices were swiftly condemned and stilled. Then someone observed there was no proof presented. And eventually Chief Casimir altered her story in line with what she had been informed by the professionals using the ground-penetrating radar, that it identified underground 'anomalies', which could be anything, from dead wood to inanimate buried items -- and just possibly bodies.

A plaque is seen outside of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. (Andrew Snucins/The Canadian Press)

 

Funding was made available to look deeper into the situation. Including disinterring whatever lay underground identified as anomalies by the ground-penetrating radar.  In the years since the original 'discovery' no attempts were made to investigate any further. The story of unmarked graves continued and persist to this day, most particularly in British Columbia. Professor Widdowson objected to this unquestioned and unproven claim and paid dearly in her professional life, when her colleagues and her university employment isolated her.

 

While Professor Widdowson offered to civilly debate anyone who was interested over the issue, her offer was rejected. During an event called 'My name is Charlene: Perseverance and poise in an era of truth, reconciliation, anger and rage', hosted by the Office of Respectful Environments, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion under the medical faculty of UBC, guest Charlene Belleau recounted a comment she had made to Professor Widdowson at a campus event; in disagreement with the professor's position, she had addressed her saying she would like to see  her beaten and raped.

 

When the B.C. Legislature met last Friday, a question was put to the Indigenous Relations minister to comment on Chief Belleau's statement. Refusing to respond, the minister instead accused the questioning member of attempting to foment confusion and division. Yet the B.C. government in 2021 had allocated $12 million to finance First Nations' investigation into the unmarked grave sites. At that time Chief Belleau said it represented an "important first step in supporting the resiliency and healing of B.C. First Nations people". And then: nothing. 

 

The former Kamloops Indian Residential School is seen on Tk’emlups te Secwépemc First Nation in Kamloops, B.C., on May 27, 2021. The remains of 215 children were purported to have been found buried on the site, the First Nation said. (Andrew Snucins/The Canadian Press)

"The UBC [University of British Columbia] faculty of medicine does not condone any speech that endorses or promotes harassment or violence of any kind."

"An invitation for a community member to participate in an event does not constitute endorsement of their specific remarks or views."

Mieke Koehoorn, vice-dean of academic affairs, Faculty of Medicine, UBC 

Impact of Race and Cultural Assessment Justice Scams

"To be clear, the effects of anti-Black racism do not excuse Mr. Abdelgadir or lessen the seriousness of the offence. However, I am satisfied that there is some connection between Mr. Abdelgadir's life experience, anti-Black racism, and his commission of the offence such that it mitigates somewhat his degree of responsibility for the offence."

"Mr. Abdelgadir has been heavily impacted by his father's employment with the UN, multiple relocations, exposure to armed conflict, and unsafe environments. [Abdelgadir] witnessed bodies piled in the streets during the civil war in Yemen in the 1980s."

"Mr. Abdelgadir was subject to racism during his childhood in Bahrain. The IRCA [Impact of Race and Cultural Assessment] describes that he faced significant discrimination as a Black Muslim, and that his family's home was attacked." 

"As the IRCA highlights, Mr. Abdelgadir emphasizes that his stagnation was not the result of a lack of ambition or ability, but rather the consequence of systemic racism, repeated police targeting and unjust criminalization that disrupted his educational and employment trajectory."

Justice Sandra Nishikawa, Ontario Superior Court of Justice 

Samir Abdelgadir, pictured here appearing in court on Zoom in a sketch artist's rendering of his hearing last year, in which he was found guilty of kidnapping, has been sentenced to serve nine-and-a-half years in prison. (Pam Davies/CBC)

 

Any neutral observer not enmeshed with Critical Race Theory, viewing IRCA documents produced by the Viola Desmond Justice Institute might feel otherwise about the 'victimhood' of the man in question, son of a diplomat who had many life advantages but turned to drugs and petty trafficking and managed to rack up a neat little background of criminal activity, crowned by helping to kidnap a child and hold the terrified 14-year-old for 36 hours as leverage against the boy's half-brother who had lifted 90 kilograms of cocaine from its criminal purveyors, his employers.  

"It is an agreed fact that the teen heard the driver tell the person in the backseat that if the teen moved, he should shoot him. I find that the teen believed that the men who kidnapped him had a firearm."

"However, based on the evidence before me, I cannot find beyond a reasonable doubt that a firearm was used."

Justice Nishikawa  

The now-45-year-old Black Muslim, born in North Sudan and estranged from his father at the age of 19 following the divorce of his parents, was not entirely bereft of family support. His father provided him with the wherewithal to buy a condominium in Mississauga, Ontario where he had moved at age 19, later transferring to Hamilton, Ontario for studies at McMaster University where he completed a Bachelor of Commerce and Economics.

 

Abdelgadir's IRCA outlined his acceptance in an MBA program at Toronto Metropolitan University, "but his involvement with the criminal justice system prevented him from pursuing further education". Evidently his efforts to find an apartment after his McMaster graduation were unsuccessful, which he attributed to 'discrimination'. This is when his father gave him a down payment on a condo in 2002, and four years afterward, his brother gave him financial support to buy a house in Hamilton.

 

His dallying with criminal elements in society appears to have led to his being shot on three occasions in May 2023, according to the IRCA. "He has lasting impairments, including difficulty walking for extended periods and chronic exhaustion when outside for more than an hour". He "uses marijuana daily to manage pain". He decided to move to 'informal economies', including sales of marijuana when he failed to find employment in Canada as a Black Muslim, he averred. Arrested age 21 for drug possession he "was taken into custody 'multiple times' for various charges" including cocaine possession.

 

Samir Abdelgadir

He began a landscaping business, then invested in real estate, flipping houses and condominiums for profit, finally investing in two fast-food franchise location in Hamilton, his brother providing financial support for many of his business ventures. As for his interactions with police, Abdelgadir speaks of them as being 'racially motivated'. Police seized money on entering his home, intimidating him, reflecting systemic racial profiling that resulted in 4-1/2 years spent in prison on firearm charges. Abdelgadir described having been arrested some twenty times, charges ranging from substance possession to serious violent offences.

 

On the morning of March 4, 2020 "three men emerged from a Jeep, grabbed S.J." and forced the boy, on his way to school into the vehicle driven by Abdelgadir as the 14-year-old child from a deprived background screamed and struggled in resistance. "S.J. was then taken to a vacant house on Edgeforest Road in Brampton. He was bound and blindfolded." At trial, S.J.'s half-brother Olalekan Osikoya, admitted he had stolen 90 kilograms of cocaine. The boy was released 36 hours later "without proper clothing in the cold in a secluded, wooded area".

 

The boy's brother said the kidnapping had so traumatized the child he could not sleep on his own "because when he tried to sleep, he relived every detail of the abduction." Following that kidnapping, "he damned near went mute", the boy's brother said. The Crown recommended 16 years in prison, while Abdelgadir's lawyer felt five to be appropriate.

 

After crediting Abdelgadir for time spent on stringent bail conditions in pre-trial custody in harsh jail conditions, Justice Nishikawa sentenced the offender to 9.5 years in prison.

 

An Ontario Superior Court of Justice courthouse in Toronto. Photo by Stan Behal/Postmedia

 

 

Guard It Or Lose It -- Canadian Arctic

"These activities [Russian and Chinese] rarely trigger formal defence responses, but over time they reshape the strategic environment."

"Canada's current security architecture is not strongly equipped to counter grey-zone activity." 

"[While] Arctic ice melts at an unprecedented pace, the region is opening up. Navigation windows are getting longer, leading to increased activity by research vessels, ice-capable survey ships, cable-mapping operations, and autonomous underwater systems."

"[Russia and China] are rapidly advancing their Arctic-based drone capabilities, outpacing NATO."

Sweekriti Pathak, fellow, Macdonald-Laurier Institute think tank 

The Canadian government issued a February announcement of up to $40-billion investment in Arctic defence infrastructure. This is part of the Liberal government's pledge to increase defence spending to reach the level that NATO members were informed to be the latest expectation for member-states of the Western military alliance, from 2% of national GDP to a new high of 5%. Arctic defence falls into that general commitment for Canada.

 

In line with that commitment and increased military infrastructure spending to meet the target, the Canadian Armed Forces' intention is to operate in the Arctic on a more permanent basis, rather than as has been the norm to the present, only during warmer months. To that end, troops are expected to practice military operations in the frozen north during its iciest periods, and to accustom themselves to operating in sub-zero conditions on a prolonged basis.

 

Canadian soldiers prepare for a surveillance mission in Pond Inlet, Nunavut, as part of the annual Operation Nanook on Sept. 6. The exercise sees the small team inserted onto a remote mountain top with no additional support, honing their survival skills for multiple days. (David Common/CBC)

 

"Canada must guard against foreign research in the Canadian Arctic and North that is dual-use -- having both research and military applications", alerted a statement by Global Affairs Canada. Canada has long neglected its Arctic geography, and but for an Indigenous battery of Northern Rangers, poorly equipped by Canada, which is dedicated to acting as security scouts guarding Canadian territory, the government has not formally made it a priority to protect its northern assets. 

 

Both Russia, which geographically has a presence in the Arctic, and China, which has not, but is preparing for shipping opportunities for the future through the fast-melting sea ice -- hitherto unused in view of winter sea ice making passage challenging -- have been aggressively pursuing their objectives in the Arctic. Russia has committed to refitting and manning elong-neglected and abandoned military bases in the Russian Arctic, stationing troops there, asserting sovereignty. 

 

A drone photo shows China's research icebreaker Xuelong 2 breaking the ice to lead the way in the Arctic Ocean, Aug. 5, 2025.  Liu Shiping/Xinhua via Getty Images

 

Both countries have established an active and alert presence in the Arctic, on the long-held theory that absence is abandonment, and presence is a deterrent to any challengers. Their sustained presence focuses on data collection and development of infrastructure. Both Russia and China have keen interests in future exploitation possible in mining the seabed of its mineral and energy resources. Both have invested in Arctic-condition ships, capable of cutting through thick sea ice.

 

Russia has built nuclear icebreakers that go along with revitalized bases along sea lanes key to their interests, that include activities along the Northern Sea Route through Russia's Arctic coast, with a focus on extensive seabed and hydrographic surveys to identify underwater features; depth, topography and hazards in the interests of safe navigation and marine construction plans. Canada is just finally waking up to the necessity to do the same, initiated by the previous Conservative government.

The Israeli Elbit Systems Ltd. Hermes 900 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flies over the airbase during a media presentation in the central Swiss town of Emmen

(photo credit: REUTERS)

 

Canada recently took possession of a sophisticated and powerful new Hermes 900 StarLiner drone, capable of multiple tasks such as monitoring the North for oil spills and surveys of ice conditions, part of the Department of National Defence plan to strengthen Canada's Arctic defences. Built by Israel's Elbit Systems, the drone is a medium-altitude, remotely piloted device with a range of over 1,400 nautical miles, equipped with radar and camera sensors. 

 

The drone is meant to fill the gaps between satellites and manned aircraft in support of maritime surveillance for oil spills, ice mapping, shipping monitoring, search and rescue, and environmental protection. Currently, the Canadian Coast Guard has in operation six icebreakers used in the Arctic from June to November to advance maritime safety and security. New icebreakers will be designed to operate during the months heretofore left untended, featuring greater icebreaking capacities. 

 

Chinese Coast Guard vessels traversing icy waters during the joint exercise with Russia in 2024. Photo: China Coast Guard

 

Cancer Statisics for 2026 in Canada

"[Projected estimates] underscore the substantial impact cancer will continue to pose in Canada [in 2026]."

"Since the early 2000s, the incidence of pancreatic cancer has bee moderately increasing while no progress has been made in reducing mortality rates."

"Pancreatic cancer is expected to remain the third-leading cause of cancer-related death in 2026, with a similar number of males [3,400] and females [3,100] expected to die from the disease."

Research report, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal

Doctors say Canada is facing a silent health crisis of HPV-related cervical cancer that could be prevented if more people got vaccinated against human papillomavirus, the virus that can cause the disease. Still from video, CBC

 

A mix of 'good' and 'bad' news comes out of a newly-published study on the state of  cancer in Canada, anticipating that diagnoses and mortality are expected to remain at 'high levels' in 2026. Survival rates are improving for a number of cancers, yet emerging trends for other types of cancer give cause for concern. The report's authors point out that at some point in their lives, close to half the country's population (42 percent) is forecasted to be diagnosed with some form of  cancer.

 

To put it more plainly; an estimated 254,100 individuals will be diagnosed with some kind of cancer, while from among that number 87,900 will die in 2026, as an outcome of their cancerous condition. Lung, breast, prostate and colorectal cancers are identified as the most potentially diagnosed cancers; within that group, 47 percent of all cancers account for new cases estimated to be diagnosed throughout 2026. The third most common cancer killer behind lung and colorectal cancer has been named as pancreatic.

 

Higher risk of pancreatic cancer has been linked to excess body size; 49 percent of Canadian adults measure a waist circumference -- and abdominal fat -- that raises risk of pancreatic and other cancers, according to Statistics Canada. The incidence and death rates for colorectal cancer, common among both men and women, continues to fall, possibly as a result of increased screening related to colonoscopies and stool sample tests begun in the early 2000s. Incidence rates have diminished by 32 percent in men and 29 percent in women since then, given "the removal of pre-cancerous lesions and earlier diagnoses", along with improved  treatments. Concerns have been raised, however over under 50s being increasingly diagnosed with colorectal cancer. 

 

Lung cancer is expected, as the deadliest of all cancers for men and woman, to take 19,200 lives in  Canada in 2026. Lung cancer rates and deaths have been on the decline for males, only more recently among women when historically males were more susceptible to lung cancer, suffering greater deaths than women; a gap that has since been narrowed "over the last 40 years". In 2026, a greater number of women than men are in line to be diagnosed with lung cancers. "A higher proportion of lung cancers among females are not explained by tobacco consumption", according to the  report, suggesting there are risk factors that have yet to be addressed and studied. 

 

Radon gas is invisible, toxic & lurks in Cdn.homes

Exposure to radon -- a radioactive gas that cannot be seen or smelled -- is the second-leading cause of lung cancer in Canada, according to Statistics Canada; as well as the leading cause of cancer onset in non-smokers. Some one in five people in Canada live in homes posting radon levels at or above the guidelines, as reported by a national radon survey. 

 

Cancer remains the leading cause of death, accounting for 26 percent of all deaths in 2023 in Canada, also the leading cause of premature death especially for women. Among a number of 'concerning trends' is the rise of uterine and cervical cancer, following decades of decline. It has now risen "well above the World Health Organization's elimination target" of less than 4 cases per 100,000 women, while increasing among younger females. It is almost always caused by the HPV virus for which a vaccine is available, making it preventable. 

 

Colorectal cancer screening

In the same token, the incidence of uterine cancer is expected to reach a state 53 percent  higher in 2026 than two decades earlier. Rising rates of obesity and women having fewer or no children, or delaying childbirth until they are older than what was previously the case. "The total number of cancer cases and deaths are expected to remain at high levels" resulting from the country's growing elderly population, wrote the researchers.

 

"On its own, lung cancer is expected to account for one in 5 cancer-related deaths in 2026."

"A higher proportion of lung cancers among females is not explained by tobacco consumption."

"[Canada's population grew by about 9.5 percent between 2020 and 2025, primarily due to immigration], and continues to age, with a record percentage (19.5 percent) of people aged 65 and older in 2025 [where the risk of cancer is elevated with age]." 

"[Advances in treatment translates to] a rapidly growing population of people living with and surviving cancer."

Research report