Rep. Maxine Dexter, D-Ore., compared U.S. enforcement of immigration law to “terrorism” during a Saturday town hall and promised to dismantle the chief U.S. immigration enforcement agency if Democrats regained power.

“The frank terrorism that is being invoked – when we call that out and stand together, I think people will continue to not want to do that work,” Dexter told an audience at Wy’east Middle School in Oregon.

“I’m not supposed to get political, but if there’s a change in political will, then we can absolutely dismantle and abolish ICE altogether,” Dexter said, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Dexter, a freshman progressive lawmaker, is one of many Democrats who have called for reforms to the agency in the wake of public unrest in Minnesota over President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

Maxine Dexter, left, pictured alongside a group of ICE agents, right. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images; John Moore/Getty Images)

When two civilians in Minneapolis were shot and killed in separate confrontations with immigration officials in January, Dexter was among the first lawmakers who promised to vote against any spending legislation for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that didn’t also include major reforms to ICE, which operates under DHS.

Although the vast majority of Democrats eventually adopted Dexter’s stance over DHS funding, the idea first began as a position held by the Congressional Progressive Caucus and was championed by members like Reps. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.

Democratic US Congresswoman Maxine Dexter speaks during a press conference on April 21, 2025. (Marvin Recinos/AFP via Getty Images)

PROGRESSIVE DEM JASMINE CROCKETT TARGETS TRUMP DEPORTATION FLIGHTS WITH NEW ‘TRACK ICE’ BILL

Gridlock over DHS funding has led to a partial government shutdown which began on Feb. 14, when Democrats in the Senate also refused to advance DHS funding over a set of 10 reforms to ICE.

Among those demands, Democrats want to impose new operational limits to the agency, such as an end to roaming patrols, a ban on masks, a requirement for visible identification and stiffer warrant requirements for detaining illegal aliens in public.

Protesters, using whistles to alert neighborhoods to ICE activity, face off with Minneapolis police officers in Minneapolis, Minn., on Jan. 24, 2026.  (Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)

Those changes would represent the most direct intervention into the agency’s operation since its creation in 2003.

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Republicans have rebuffed those demands, arguing they would severely limit the administration’s immigration goals.

Dexter’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday about the nature of her comments — including whether she had made a campaign promise at a town hall or who had funded the event.

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A man who lost his family to the Lapu Lapu tragedy is questioning how the money that was donated to the victims is being spent.

Alejandro Samper’s mother, Glitza, his father, Daniel, and his sister, Glitza, were killed after a vehicle rammed a crowd at the Lapu Lapu Festival in Vancouver on April 26, 2025.

Samper, 34, wasn’t at the festival with them, as he was about to start work.

Eleven people were killed in total.

The United Way of BC published a report this month that stated it has distributed more than $1.5 million in the form of 45 grants following the deadly charity.

But Samper said that he feels angry about what has happened.

“There’s been not a lot of support from this organization, so we’re just wondering where all this money went,” he said.

“It breaks my heart, makes me feel angry, all the emotions, because that money was intended to help us victims.”

2:50
Lapu Lapu victim speaks to Global News

The report stated that the majority of the fundraising, more than half a million dollars, went toward mental health supports.

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In addition, seven grants totalling roughly $235,000 were spent on healing circles; ten agencies received a total of $200,000 on art therapy; and the rest went to miscellaneous items, such as $30,000 to refurbish a basketball court with the colours of the Filipino flag and youth camps.

“I never heard of any counselling sessions offered to me,” Samper said.

“And I’m Latino, so if I didn’t receive any of this, I’m sure, no, the other victims didn’t receive any counselling sessions. Healing group? Like it’s just a mystery.”

Samper said he would like to see a breakdown of how much counsellors received and who received the sessions because he said it’s all a lie.

2:00
Privacy breaches after Lapu Lapu Day tragedy

Despite multiple requests, United Way BC declined to do an interview, but in an emailed statement, CEO Michael McKnight said the grants go towards supporting immediate and long-term needs.

“Every dollar United Way BC raised in response to the tragedy has gone – and will go –toward supporting the community through registered charities, non-profit programs and community organizations, a practice that adheres to our charitable purpose and Canada Revenue Agency guidelines,” he wrote.

An organization called Latincouver received $55,000 in grants.

Details show that it used almost $15,000 for a health and wellness booth over two days at its Carnaval De Sol in July.

Paola Murillo, founder of the organization, told Global News that the booth reached about 500 people and visitors were sharing messages of support for the Lapu Lapu victims.

“It’s not just for a booth,” she said.

“It’s also for the facilitators. It’s for all the healing, the people that was there, it’s marketing, more brochures that we have to do, website that you need to do, extra cost that we have to put.”

But Samper said something like that is irrelevant to the victims.

“We don’t want to go to another crowded event,” he said.

“And that’s where she claims most of the money went to — how many of the victims of this tragedy attended this festival? No, nobody. Nobody wants to go to this festival, like you know, experience a crowded event.”

Latincouver held several resilience gatherings and healing circles, spending more than $10,000.

Murillo said they had to pay for the activities and the space to hold these events.

“So we bring facilitators, we put our food, we bring the community together, so all of that has an extra expense,” she added.

Murillo also said the grant money is used and is allowed to be used to pay salaries.

But Samper said he is left with more questions than answers in his search for accountability and transparency.

“That doesn’t help me,” he said.

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

When Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine four years ago, there was never much doubt that Roman Ratushnyi would take up arms. The 24-year-old was a seasoned independence activist, having been a teenage leader of the street protests that toppled Kyiv’s pro-Kremlin government in 2014.

When he died just three months into his military service, a street in Kyiv was named after him, and today his grave is a place of pilgrimage for young Ukrainians. The pilgrims also learn, though, that war is irredeemably cruel — as proved by the extra headstone that now lies next to his own. It marks the grave of his brother, Vasyl, who died in combat a year ago this Friday, leaving his parents mourning the loss of both sons.

“Even now, a year later, I’m not sure I can quite accept that it’s happened,” says the brothers’ father, Taras, 52, himself now a captain in an artillery brigade. “We in Ukraine are living through the most horrific experience in Europe since World War II.”

It is men like Taras whom Vladimir Putin would have hoped to have broken by now, wearing their morale down to the point where they no longer wish to fight. Yet as the invasion marks its fourth anniversary today, Taras sees light at the end of a very long tunnel. Not because he thinks victory is immediately within grasp or because he has any faith in Donald Trump’s peace talks. Instead, it is because the past year has been Ukraine’s toughest so far — and yet it has pulled through.

Relentless Russia

After all, it was 12 months ago this week that President Volodymyr Zelensky had his infamous Oval Office fallout with Trump, when the US leader warned that he didn’t have “the cards” to win without US support.

Since then, Russia has continued its slow but steady gains on the battlefield, grinding Kyiv down by its simple willingness to sacrifice far more troops. This winter — the coldest in a decade — Putin has also tried to break Ukraine’s civilian morale, bombing power stations to leave cities unheated in minus-13 degrees. This past Sunday, though, Ukrainians finally observed Kolidii, the traditional Slavic festival that marks the end of winter. And even if temperatures are only up to a balmy 33 degrees, there’s a sense of having weathered the storm.

“The Russians left millions of Ukrainians without heating and electricity, but it’s still not enough,” says Taras. “Did they get our missile or drone factories? No. We are still a force to be reckoned with.”

“There is a sense that the Kremlin has failed to seize the advantage,” adds Alina Frolova, deputy chair of the Center for Defense Strategies, a Ukrainian military think tank. “While things aren’t great, we may yet prevail.”

The mood is certainly more upbeat than at the start of winter last November, when Zelensky admitted Ukraine was facing “one of the most difficult moments of our history.”

 His government was engulfed in a corruption scandal over the theft of millions of dollars from the state energy provider, the outfit tasked with keeping the country warm in winter. Russian troops were close to seizing Pokrovsk, a strategically important city in the eastern Donbas region. And in US-instigated peace talks, Trump was pressuring Kyiv to a deal that would hand over yet more of its territory to Putin, despite Zelensky warning that Ukrainians themselves would never accept it.

Drones guard line

So how have things changed? On the front lines, Ukraine has focused on using drones rather than infantry, creating a 12-mile deep defensive “kill zone” that is extremely hard for Russian troops to break through. All Moscow can do now is send in small groups of soldiers on near-suicidal raids, which often progress as little as 15 yards a day.

For every single Ukrainian soldier who dies, between five and 25 times that many Russians perish, a ratio that is gradually sapping Moscow’s manpower advantage. Until now, Moscow has bought in new recruits by offering signup bonuses of up to $50,000 — a life-changing sum for many Russians. But Ukrainian officials say that since December, Russian casualty levels have outstripped recruitment. Sanctions, including those imposed by Trump last year on Russian oil, are also starving Moscow of the cash it needs to pay its troops.

The talks, meanwhile, have largely petered out and while Trump may not be giving Ukraine US weapons anymore, he has not stopped his Europe allies buying them on Ukraine’s behalf.

“These are potentially the best prospects Ukraine has had since the war started,” reckons Glen Grant, a former British diplomat and advisor to Ukraine’s defense ministry. He says if Europe ups its weapons supply and follows America’s lead in cracking down on Russia’s “shadow fleet” of oil-smuggling ships, Ukraine could “catch the moment,” shortening a war that might otherwise drag on till 2030.

Whether Putin wants the conflict to stop is another matter. Peace would bring back hundreds of thousands of battle-hardened, traumatized troops from the front. And if sanctions-battered Russia is no longer a home fit for heroes, then hard questions may be asked about whether it was worth it.

Indeed, as Putin’s “Special Military Operation” becomes the most disastrous five-year plan since the days of the Soviet Union, the real miracle is not that Ukraine is still hanging on, but that he is. Zelensky may not have “the cards” to win, but no longer does Putin — despite having once held all the aces.

Colin Freeman is the author of “The Mad and The Brave: The Untold Story of Ukraine’s Foreign Legion.”

An inmate escaped from custody while being transported by staff from Correctional Service Canada on Friday, prompting a police search in Prince Albert.

In a news release issued Monday, the agency said Keiston Custer, 30, absconded from lawful custody on Feb. 20 while being transported from Saskatchewan Penitentiary in Prince Albert, Sask.

Correctional officials said the Prince Albert Police Service and the Prince Albert detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were notified. A warrant has been issued for Custer’s arrest.

Custer is described as five feet 10 inches tall (178 centimetres) and weighing 181 pounds (82 kilograms), with a medium complexion, brown eyes and black hair.

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He is serving a sentence of 10 years and two days for manslaughter using a firearm, rioting and possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000.

Anyone with information about Custer’s whereabouts is asked to contact police.

Correctional Service Canada said it will investigate the circumstances surrounding the escape and is working with police to locate the inmate as quickly as possible.

On an ordinary April day in 1999 in a small agricultural community in the heart of Alberta’s southern Bible Belt, a gunman entered W.R. Myers High School in Taber — killing one student before a gym teacher managed to tackle him down.

The student who lost his life was Jason Lang. His friend Shane Christmas, also 17, was blasted in the stomach but survived.

It was the first fatal school shooting in Canada in a quarter of a century — and came eight days after the massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., where 12 students and one teacher were killed.

Now, 27 years later, Dale Lang, Jason’s father, is speaking out after another tragic school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C. has shaken Canada.

“This is something that you can’t fix. It’s a very helpless feeling, a very empty feeling.”

He says the shooting that took his son’s life will never fade from his memory.

“Even though I would say that God has healed us over the time, we still think about it sometimes and we still live in a place where you know you’ve lost somebody and you can’t get them back.”

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Jason’s legacy has continued in several ways, including a scholarship in his name, which has helped countless students.

“We have had, over the years, a number of students who have contacted us to say thank you, to say they remember Jason, they know what happened. So, there’s kind of a legacy going on and hopefully it’s a positive thing that helps people remember things can go wrong and we have to watch out for each other.”

After the shooting in 1999, when classes at W.R. Myers resumed, Lang returned to the school in an effort to heal as a community.

“A lot of the kids were very frightened about the idea of going back into the school where somebody had been killed. For us to be able to (greet them), that was a healing thing for us, but also a healing thing for the kids.”

Lang, an Anglican minister at the time, became a tireless crusader for nearly a decade against the sort of bullying and school violence that led to the shooting. He then walked away from organized religion.

He says the message he shared following Jason’s death unfortunately still rings true today.

“We’re living in a world that’s pretty broken and damaged and people are getting damaged. It was my hope that those kinds of things would begin to change a little but in the 27 years since, we still see a lot of terrible things happening to people, needless things happening.”

Now, for the families of Tumbler Ridge, like Lang’s family, things cannot be the same.

“For the families that lost people, it’s a new normal and it’s not a very nice normal,” said Lang.

As a former pastor, Lang says faith, forgiveness and acceptance was crucial for his personal journey of healing.

“We need some place that we can go to (a church), where we are stimulated to honour and respect other people and treasure other people — support people wherever and whenever we can. There’s lots of good people out there doing nice things and good things,” Lang said.

“But there’s still a lot of broken people and hurting situations and difficult family circumstances and all of those things. So, I’ll just keep praying and we’ll see what happens.”

While hesitant to give advice on healing to other people, Lang does believe there is a way to continue your life even after dealing with such a horrible tragedy.

“These things are painful and when you think about them even 20 years later, you still have a sense of the pain, but it doesn’t mean you can’t be healed and move on with your life.”

With files from Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

New legislation aimed at strengthening fire services across Nova Scotia will allow for the implementation of provincewide standards as well as better access to training for firefighters.

Emergency Management Minister Kim Masland tabled the Support for Fire Protection Services Act in the legislature Monday, the first day of the spring session.

Masland said the bill enables her department to provide oversight for fire services in Nova Scotia and, for the first time, set provincial standards for fire departments, training and personal protective equipment.

“Fire protection services in Nova Scotia are complex and, in many cases, fragmented. That has led to inconsistent levels of service right across our province,” Masland told reporters Monday.

“We know that gaps in training, standards and safety provisions … have had real consequences. We can and we must do better.”

Masland said the new standards will roll out over three years. The province will provide resources for fire departments to get the necessary training, she said.

The bill allows for improvements in mental health support for firefighters, volunteer recruitment and retention, training and interoperability, and mutual aid, Masland said.

It also creates an Office of the Fire Commissioner to provide co-ordination and support to fire services, and requires all municipalities to hold their own reviews that will outline what the needs are in each community.

The bill was created following consultation with more than 700 fire chiefs, fire service co-ordinators and municipal leaders, the province said, as well as a review from the Fire Services Association of Nova Scotia and an audit highlighting issues with the Nova Scotia Firefighters School. 

Masland said her department heard “loud and clear” that fire departments want training delivered to their locations so they can save costs on travelling.

“Our volunteer firefighters that are out there, that are having [fundraising] Bingos every Tuesday night so they can afford breathing apparatuses to fight fires in our communities — that’s not right,” Masland said.

“So government needs to step up and support, and that is what we’re going to do.”

New budget has $3M for improving fire services

Masland did not say how much it would cost to implement the changes in the bill, but the 2026-27 provincial budget tabled Monday includes $3 million to improve fire services in Nova Scotia.

Independent MLA Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin said she’ll ask local fire services and municipalities in her area for their thoughts on the bill, but that “on paper, it looks good.”

However, she questioned why the Progressive Conservative government would introduce the bill on a busy provincial budget day.

“It’s probably a sign that this session is going to be similar to [the] past, where everything is rushed and pushed through as fast as possible,” Smith-McCrossin said in an interview Monday.

“I don’t think today was the best day to be tabling this very important piece of legislation.”

A news release from the province said there are 363 fire service organizations in Nova Scotia, with a mix of municipal-led departments, volunteers, commissions, or a combination. 

There will be provincial support for any fire services wanting to transition to a municipal model, the release said.  

Firefighters have long called for provincial standards in the Nova Scotia fire service, which has been an outlier among many Canadian provinces. Until now, municipalities and fire departments in Nova Scotia set their own expectations and standards.

Amherst fire Chief Greg Jones, president of the Fire Services Association of Nova Scotia, attended Monday’s briefing alongside Masland. He said the recent consultation saw many firefighters give their “very candid input” on what was needed.

“We waited for 50 years to see change. We’re starting to move in that direction, and I think they’ll truly be impressed to see that work is starting to happen,” Jones said.

Municipalities will also be asked to participate in a common records management system, and Masland said the province will provide funding for municipalities signing into the new technology.

Masland and Jones said the system can track the firefighters attending each call, fire inspections, training and equipment.

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Canada’s Olympic athletes began arriving home Monday greeted by friends, family and fans as they returned from the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics.

About a dozen supporters were at Toronto Pearson airport. Some waved Canadian flags while others took selfies with athletes and asked for autographs.

Speaking on a red carpet, Brett Gallant, who won a gold medal in curling as part of Brad Jacobs’ Calgary-based rink, said he was glad being back after a month.

“I just feel kind of some of the Canadian pride, some of the excitement that we have been feeling from afar, but now to be home — it’s great,” he told reporters.

He said it felt “pretty exciting” when Canada got momentum towards the end of the Olympics.

“When there was the curling medal round and then the women’s and men’s hockey medal rounds, as Canadians we were pretty excited to watch most of that,” Gallant said.

“The international curling field has gotten stronger and stronger over the last decade. So it is tougher now … we are pretty proud of what we accomplished.”

The twin flames in co-host cities Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo were extinguished Sunday during a closing ceremony inside the ancient Verona Arena.

The Canadian Olympic Committee said approximately 90 of Canada’s 207 athletes in Milan Cortina marched in the ceremony.

There was some disappointment for Canada on the final day of competition, as the men’s hockey team had to settle for silver after losing 2-1 to the United States in the gold medal game.

Canada ended the Games with 21 medals, including five gold.

WATCH | Every Canadian medal won at the 2026 Olympics:

Montage of every Canadian medal won at Milano Cortina 2026

Montage of every Canadian medal won at Milano Cortina 2026

Cynthia Appiah, a member of Canada’s bobsleigh team, said even though they’re training consistently, it’s hard to compete on the international stage due to lack of investment and equipment.

“We haven’t had an investment in our program in four years, and we haven’t had any investment in our sled technology in six years.

“When you’re comparing that to the Americans and the Germans, who get basically sleds every year or every two years, it is really hard to be competitive,” she said.

Speedskaters Valérie Maltais and Steven Dubois were flag-bearers for Team Canada for Sunday’s ceremony.

“Could not be more proud of you, @TeamCanada,” Prime Minister Mark Carney said on social media on Sunday.

“You’re coming home with 21 hard-fought Olympic medals. Though what Canadians will remember most is how you wore the Maple Leaf: with pride, with grit and with determination.”

Canadians had eight medals and no gold at the halfway mark and rebounded with 13 in the second half, beginning with freestyle skier Mikaël Kingsbury’s dual moguls victory.

The other Canadian gold medallists were the men’s curling team, Megan Oldham in freeski big air, Dubois in the 500-metre short-track, and Maltais, Isabelle Weidemann and Ivanie Blondin in long-track team pursuit.

A pair of snowmobilers who went missing on Feb. 17 were found nearly a week later frozen beneath lake ice in B.C.’s Interior, between Williams Lake and Bella Bella.

Anahim Lake RCMP say the couple, a 65-year-old man and 58-year-old woman from 100 Mile House, went undetected in part because the lake had frozen over after they fell through, concealing cracks in the ice.

The pair were reported missing on Feb. 20, after having not been seen for three days prior.

They were found at Charlotte Lake, which is about 220 kilometres west of Williams Lake, RCMP say.

As police went to the area, police said neighbours initiated their own search and located the couple beneath the ice. Their bodies were eventually recovered by an RCMP dive team on Feb. 22.

“Variable temperatures significantly increase the risks associated with any activity on frozen lakes or rivers, and we urge everyone to use extreme caution,” Anahim Lake RCMP detachment commander Sgt. Scott Clay said in a statement.

“Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the deceased during this difficult time.“

AdventureSmart, an outdoor education program, recommends checking ice thickness prior to any activity, with a minimum of 12 centimetres recommended for snowmobiling.

The B.C. Coroners Service is investigating the deaths, though police say they don’t believe criminality is a factor.