Aug 21 2019 — Bob Weber, The Canadian Press — Bigger, hotter wildfires are turning Canada's vast boreal forest into a significant new source of climate-changing greenhouse gases, scientists say. The shift, which may have already happened, could force firefighters to change how they battle northern blazes, said Merritt Turetsky, an ecologist at the University of Guelph and co-author of a paper that appeared in the […]
Aug 19 2019 — Bob Weber, The Canadian Press — LANGLEY, B.C. — The turtle in my hand dangles its churning feet as I set it down. It touches its first dirt and immediately, unerringly, points toward shore and races as fast as a turtle can to the water. This turtle — a western painted turtle — has never been here before. It's never been […]
Aug 15 2019 — Bob Weber, The Canadian Press — Two federal announcements this week are expected to kick-start a long-awaited road into the heart of the Canadian Arctic that would lower grocery costs for northern families and unlock billions of dollars in mineral resources. Transport Minister Marc Garneau pledged more than $50 million to cover preliminary studies and planning for an all-weather road from Yellowknife in […]
Aug 14 2019 — Bob Weber, The Canadian Press — EDMONTON — A lawyer for one of two caregivers for a four-year-old Indigenous girl who died says charges should never have been laid against them and a publication ban should be lifted from a report on the child's death. The Alberta Crown stayed charges Tuesday against the relatives of the girl known as Serenity, who lived on a reserve in […]
Jul 26 2019 — Bob Weber, The Canadian Press — Some of North America's top conservation scientists have written to the federal government urging it to speed up land protection in Canada. The 32 scientists from 23 universities and other organizations say Ottawa is not on pace to meet the 2020 conservation targets it promised in an international agreement. The letter, addressed to federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna, also […]
Jul 15 2019 — Bob Weber, The Canadian Press — Weather watchers are focused on the world's most northerly community which has been in the middle of a record-breaking heat wave. "It's really quite spectacular," said David Phillips, Environment Canada's chief climatologist. "This is unprecedented." The weather agency confirmed that Canadian Forces Station Alert hit a record of 21 C on Sunday. On Monday, the military listening post […]
Jul 4 2019 — Bob Weber, The Canadian Press — New research for the federal Treasury Board has concluded that buildings, coastlines and northern communities face the biggest risks from climate change in Canada. In a report released Thursday, the Council of Canadian Academies has narrowed down a myriad of threats posed by climate change into the most pressing dozen — a list co-author John Leggat […]
Jul 3 2019 — Bob Weber, The Canadian Press — A United Nations body has given Canada a new deadline to repair the country's largest national park and the government is promising greater efforts to stop its deterioration. At a meeting this week in Baku, Azerbaijan, UNESCO praised Canada for measures it has taken to stop the toll that industrial development and climate change have […]
Jun 23 2019 — Bob Weber, The Canadian Press — The federal government is considering how to legally enshrine Indigenous people's ownership of traditional culture — from songs to art to the use of medicinal plants. Ottawa has signed agreements with the Assembly of First Nations and the Metis National Council to explore ways for Aboriginal communities to control and benefit from their cultural knowledge. "We want Indigenous people […]
Jun 21 2019 — Bob Weber, The Canadian Press — Five Inuit have filed a lawsuit against the federal government over medical experiments, including skin grafts, that they say were performed on them without their consent. A statement of claim filed in Iqaluit, Nunavut, says the experiments were performed in Igloolik between 1967 and 1973 and involved three Canadian universities working with an international scientific program. "They […]
Jun 20 2019 — Bob Weber, The Canadian Press — The bad news is that the populations of more than one-quarter of Canada's bird species are declining, many rapidly. The good news is that about the same number are increasing — proof, says a study on avian Canadians, that sustained effort can put more wings in the sky. "Conservation works when it is integrated with our economy, […]
Jun 17 2019 — Bob Weber, The Canadian Press — Eight U.S. senators say Canadian mines in British Columbia are endangering cross-border rivers through a combination of poor environmental assessments and inadequate monitoring. "We remain concerned about the lack of oversight of Canadian mining projects near multiple transboundary rivers that originate in B.C. and flow into our four U.S. states," says a June 13 letter […]
Jun 13 2019 — Bob Weber, The Canadian Press — The status of Canada's largest park as a World Heritage Site remains wobbly after a United Nations body expressed grave doubts about a federal plan to rescue it. "Considerably more effort will be needed to reverse the negative trends at a time when climate change combined with upstream industrial developments and resource extraction are intensifying," says a draft […]
Jun 13 2019 — Bob Weber, The Canadian Press — Ottawa plans to impose the federal carbon tax on Alberta starting Jan. 1 and federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna says she has written the province about the decision. "We need to move forward to tackle climate change," McKenna said in Ottawa before question period on Thursday. "We see the impacts of climate change through extreme weather, including in […]
Jun 12 2019 — Bob Weber, The Canadian Press — Several remote New Brunswick lakes still have high levels of a pesticide banned 46 years ago — findings with significant implications for today, says the scientist behind a study on DDT published Wednesday. "This is definitely a cautionary tale," said Joshua Kurek of Mount Allison University in Sackville, N.B. "At the time, we applied these […]