In a Surrey, B.C., pretrial centre, an inmate is goaded into fighting his cellmate — dubbed a “rat” by fellow prisoners — but then dies after being put in a 10-minute chokehold.

In a Vancouver court, a convicted gangland killer with multiple murders to his name refuses to testify at a hearing, fearing the consequences if he co-operates.

And in a Quebec prison, serial killer Robert Pickton is fatally speared in the head by a fellow prisoner.

What binds the cases, prison advocates say, is the “con code” — a set of unwritten rules among inmates that they believe is behind a sharp rise in attacks behind bars. But they say Canadian courts have been reluctant to take the situation seriously.

Advocates say the phenomenon — also known as the inmate code or prison code — is the violent day-to-day reality for those involved in the prison system, well known to inmates, guards and lawyers. And while the Correctional Service of Canada acknowledged the problem, an officer said it was in a “Catch-22” situation, if reporting prison code violence would itself put an inmate at further potential risk.

Numbers provided by the correctional service show prison violence has increased by about 45 per cent in recent years. In fiscal 2021-22, there were 2,265 “assault related incidents” in federal institutions, while in 2024-25, that jumped to 3,279. The figures include assaults involving both inmates and prison staff.

Catherine Latimer, executive director of prison reform group the John Howard Society of Canada, pointed to a contempt-of-court ruling issued by the B.C. Supreme Court in December, after convicted killer Cody Haevischer refused to answer questions under cross-examination by a Crown lawyer, citing the “inmate code.”

He said the code prohibited inmates from “ratting” on fellow gang members or others if they’re still alive.

Haevischer was found guilty of six counts of first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy in 2014 over his role in the so-called “Surrey six” murders in 2007.

He was testifying at an evidentiary hearing last July as part of his ongoing bid for a stay on his case, claiming police misconduct and inhumane prison conditions tainted his trial.

“As an inmate in prison, and a general population inmate specifically, naming names or co-operating in any way, I’ll be viewed as a rat and put my life in immediate danger,” Haevischer testified.

The judge cited him for contempt and told him, “your inmate code, as you’ve described it, isn’t a code that prevails in this courtroom,” while ruling his claims of “duress” lacked an air of reality in the absence of a “concrete threat” to his life by other inmates.

But Latimer said the court’s finding was concerning because prisoners know violating the inmate code by co-operating with authorities can put their lives in danger.

“It should be taken seriously and is taken seriously by correctional authorities and by others,” Latimer said. “All I can say is if I had been (Haevischer), I would have opted for the contempt charge rather than loss of life.

“This guy I’m sure was quite genuine in being afraid for his life.”

Chris McLaughlin, a senior project officer with the Preventive Security Intelligence Branch of Correctional Service Canada, said the code “can vary from institution to institution.”

“There are a number of different aspects to it which include not co-operating with authorities, paying your debts and stepping up if you’re disrespected,” he said. “The inmate code is a thing that does exist. We acknowledge that. We train our staff in recognizing the negative behaviours that are explicit within that.”

He said inmates who feel unsafe could inform prison staff of any “incompatibilities” with other offenders.

Co-operating with prison authorities may be against the inmate code — but McLaughlin said authorities can’t take action on threats they don’t know about.

“If somebody feels that they are in jeopardy already and that they would increase that jeopardy somehow by seeking out some type of assistance, then we’re kind of in a Catch-22 situation,” he said.

Latimer said the murder of B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton at a maximum security institution in Quebec raised a litany of questions about how someone like him, whose offences made him a target under the inmate code, was accessible to harm.

Pickton was waiting for medication in a common room of Quebec’s Port-Cartier Institution on May 19, 2024, when fellow prisoner Martin Charest thrust a broken broomstick into his face. Pickton died in hospital less than two weeks later.

“He was a sex offender and part of the prison code is that if you get a shot at a sex offender, you have an obligation to sort of assault them,” Latimer said.

Charest pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder of Pickton in September 2025, saying he “killed him for the victims.”

Latimer said an independent observer’s report for the correctional service into the killing was inadequate.

“How did he get access to Pickton? How did he get within range of assaulting him? Normally they would keep people like Pickton, who’s particularly vulnerable, in a protected wing, protected from other prisoners who are assaultive,” she said. “There’s a lot in that (report) that doesn’t add up and leaves me with still a lot of unanswered questions about what happened to Robert Pickton.”

Adherence to the inmate code has also had deadly consequences for those in jail for minor offences.

At a pretrial centre in Surrey, B.C., in August 2016, John Murphy was goaded into a deadly fight with cellmate Jordan Burt. They were not enemies, but “dominant members” of the segregation unit where they were housed told Murphy that Burt was a rat, according to a B.C. provincial court sentencing decision.

The ruling says Burt was serving time for a probation violation, and the Toronto Star reported in 2019 that Murphy was behind bars for breaching a driving-ban imposed after he was involved in a fatal drunk-driving incident when he was 20.

Burt, 21, denied the “rat” accusation, and Murphy, 25, didn’t want to fight, but the other inmates were “vocal in making clear” that Murphy was obligated to fight Burt. Burt “gained the upper hand, putting Mr. Murphy in a chokehold,” which lasted for more than 10 minutes before Murphy died.

Burt pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to five and 1/2 years.

“They liked each other, but the unique and warped prison culture in which they lived pitted them against each other,” B.C. provincial court Judge James Sutherland found in 2018.

“This incident arose from the prison culture or this code, and ultimately it perpetuates the prison code and prison politics, and thus the power of distribution in prison. The incident cannot be condoned, even if perpetuating the code was not Mr. Burt’s motivation.”

‘THE INMATE CODE STILL LIVES WITHIN MYSELF’

Lawrence Da Silva served 19 years in prison for the violent carjacking and confinement of Toronto lawyer Schuyler Sigel and his wife, Lynn, and has been out since 2016.

He now works with the John Howard Society, and said in an interview that even after nearly a decade on the outside, the inmate code still pervades his life.

“Unfortunately sometimes the inmate code still lives within myself,” he said. “It was something that was trained into us, not only by other offenders, but by the empowerment of guards.”

He said he learned very early on that talking to guards, or speaking with them for too long, “could look suspicious and you could be targeted.”

Adhering to the code, inside and outside prison, is “vital” to survival, he said.

He said prison hierarchy puts “rats” at the bottom, along with so-called “box thieves” who steal from the cells of fellow inmates, and sex offenders. Da Silva said “going against the grain” of the code would have violent, sometimes deadly, consequences.

“There are people inside that will not allow you to break the rules. They will attack you, they will kill you. And they will kill you in front of the guards. I’ve been stabbed multiple times,” he said.

“Where I came from, the con code was exacerbated by methodical means of violence, throwing boiling oil or jam or water mixed with coffee — things that will not roll just off your skin. This is serious violence that people carry out for the con code.”

Da Silva said it is “offensive” to hear judges and politicians acknowledge the existence of the code but not take it seriously, citing remarks by Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew last year.

Kinew denounced a Supreme Court of Canada finding that mandatory minimum sentences over child sex abuse materials are unconstitutional.

“Not only should (you) go to prison for a long time, they should bury you under the prison. You shouldn’t get protective custody. They should put you into general population, if you know what I mean,” Kinew said in November.

Edmonton defence lawyer Tom Engel said Kinew’s comments were a “disappointment,” echoing criticism he’s levelled at other Canadian politicians for failing to condemn prison violence.

“Politicians are not only condoning it, but they’re encouraging it,” Engel said.

Engel said he’s been involved in many cases that also point to a “code of silence” among prison guards, allowing violence and complicity in inmate attacks to go unchecked.

The code is well-known in legal circles, he said, but it’s incumbent on lawyers to present compelling evidence for judges to take “judicial notice.”

John Randle, spokesman for the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers for the Pacific Region, said the inmate code and prison populations have shifted a lot over his 17 years as a guard.

He said gang members are no longer mixed in with rivals in general population. But the abolition of administrative segregation has made managing violent prisoners more difficult.

“I think that risk of violence is present whether you break the code or not in jail,” he said, and it would be “naive” to believe violence could be stopped in prisons, citing the impact of the drug trade behind bars.

“Drugs have always been probably the No. 1 cause of violence in prison,” he said, and also inmate debt that resulted from the trade. “With drones and technology, you have every single gang all vying for that power and they all have drugs coming in.”

Nora Demnati, a prison law practitioner in Quebec, is the president of the Canadian Prison Law Association. She said the B.C. Supreme Court’s contempt finding in the case of Cody Haevischer stirred up “disappointment” in prison law circles.

“Judges tend to not recognize how real it is,” Demnati said, adding that the unique circumstances of an inmate under duress cannot be reconciled with a “strict application of the law.”

“It’s naive to believe that prisoners are perfectly protected in prison because things happen very quickly in prison.

“A lack evidence of the immediate fear or the temporality of the fear or of the threat to him, those are things that cannot be explained as the law wants them to be explained in terms of the rules of evidence.”

Demnati said she’s had “countless” clients who have been attacked in prison on “mere suspicion” of violating the inmate code, and those who have reported their fears to authorities have had their concerns dismissed.

She said courts should stop considering violence committed in prison an “aggravating factor” when sentencing people who have little choice. Instead, she called for greater recognition from the justice system and the correctional service of the complex underlying factors — unresolved trauma, mental health issues and addiction.

“As long as they refuse to see that and address it on a purely punitive and (through) a security lens, violence in prison will prevail because they’re not addressing the core reason why people engage in violent behaviour in the first place,” she said. “But other than that, I don’t know. I’m not too much of an optimist when it comes to changing the system.”

The sheriff leading the search for Nancy Guthrie teared up in his latest interview aired early Friday — as he insisted, “We’re gonna find her.”

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos became visibly emotional after being asked on Savannah Guthrie’s own show, “Today,” about what gave him hope that the morning show’s host’s mother is still alive, six days after her disappearance.

“Wow,” he said, pausing to choke back tears that appeared to fill his eyes.

“You have to have hope. You have to have hope. Come on, this is somebody’s mom,” the sheriff said.

“We’re gonna find her,” he vowed, visibly emotional.

Newswise — Georgia Institute of Technology has named Michael “Mike” Gazarik as the new director of the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) and a Georgia Tech senior vice president, effective February 16. 

A nationally respected aerospace and research leader, Gazarik has led large, complex research organizations across government, industry, and academia, shaping strategy, driving growth, and building institutions that deliver mission-critical innovation. With more than three decades of experience, his career reflects a deep ability to align technology with national priorities and guide organizations through periods of change and opportunity. 

A Georgia Tech alumnus, Gazarik currently serves as faculty director of the Engineering Management Program at the University of Colorado Boulder and as a part‑time staff member at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. He previously held senior leadership roles at NASA, including director of engineering at NASA Langley Research Center and inaugural associate administrator for the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD). In industry, he spent eight years as vice president of engineering at Ball Aerospace, leading its strategic growth from an elite science contractor into a strategic national security asset that doubled in size.

“Mike Gazarik brings a rare combination of technical depth, executive leadership, and deep government experience,” said Tim Lieuwen, Georgia Tech’s executive vice president for Research. “He knows large research enterprises operate within the realities of policy and budget and has a proven ability to align technology with mission priorities while earning trust across stakeholders. We are excited to welcome Mike back to Georgia Tech to lead GTRI at a pivotal moment for research and innovation.”

GTRI employs more than 3,000 employees, conducting nearly $1 billion in annual research in areas such as autonomous systems, cybersecurity, electromagnetics, electronic warfare, modeling and simulation, sensors, systems engineering, and threat systems. GTRI’s renowned researchers combine science, engineering, economics, and policy to address challenges facing national security, industry, and society.

For nearly a century, GTRI has partnered with government and industry to deliver solutions to the most mission-critical challenges facing our nation,” said Georgia Tech President Ángel Cabrera. “We are proud to welcome Mike Gazarik to lead a crown jewel of our research enterprise and a crucial component of our nation’s science and technology fabric. His experience and leadership will strengthen GTRI’s ability to deliver on its mission and help make our nation safer, healthier, and more competitive.”

Gazarik is widely recognized for leading complex research enterprises with a focus on stability, strategic alignment, and mission impact. At NASA, he helped shape the agency’s science and technology enterprise during periods of fiscal constraint and technical risk, maintaining balance across broad mission areas and forming STMD to consolidate technology development. At Ball Aerospace, he guided significant growth and aligned strategy with evolving national security and civil space needs. His academic work has focused on preparing engineering leaders for mission-driven organizations — experience that aligns closely with GTRI’s role as a trusted partner to government and industry.

He earned a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and an M.S. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Georgia Tech. Gazarik is a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), a former chair of AIAA’s Corporate Strategic Committee, and was elected to the AIAA Board of Trustees in 2025. His honors include NASA’s Outstanding Leadership Medal, the Silver Snoopy Award, the 2023 AIAA Rocky Mountain Section Educator of the Year, and recognition as Engineering Manager of the Year by the American Society of Engineering Management.

“GTRI has a remarkable legacy of delivering solutions that matter for the nation,” said Gazarik. “I’m honored to return to Georgia Tech and lead an organization that combines deep technical expertise with a mission-driven culture. My focus will be on listening, building on GTRI’s strengths, and ensuring we continue to advance research that makes a real difference for our partners and society.”

As director, Gazarik will lead GTRI’s multidisciplinary research enterprise, advancing its mission to deliver high‑impact science and technology solutions in support of national security, space systems, and critical societal needs.

It is among the first organized activities that many young children will get to experience.

Gymnastics is a popular choice, helping to cultivate early co-ordination and flexibility.t

The bright-coloured mats, trampolines and alluring balance beams are enough to intrigue many energetic toddlers. But the fun just doesn’t start at a young age — the option to travel down the competitive stream starts early, too.

“I was probably three or four when I started, but I remember more when I was about six or seven when I started on the competitive aspect of gymnastics,” said 21-year-old Charlotte Innes.

“There were maybe 40 or 50 girls trying out and they only picked maybe four, and she was one of the four,” added Charlotte’s mom, Carrie Mullin Innes.

Being chosen meant the then-young Calgarian had to make some big sacrifices. She said she trained multiple days a week, both before and after school, rising the ranks, winning medals and inching closer to a dream.

“Definitely Olympic-bound, that was the expectation. We were taught that this was more of a job, and we are here to get to the highest level,” said Innes.

But she said she paid a price for reaching that elite level.

“It felt like the military for small children,” said Innes. “On rough days, there would be a lot of degrading comments, like being called worthless. I had a coach say to me, ‘I’ve gone to three Olympics, and you are not going to none.’”

She recalls following a strict diet and said she was expected to show up even if she was hurt.  “I was still required to go to the gym, with a concussion, they would ask me to wear sunglasses or sit in a dark hallway and as long as I was there,” said Innes.

“There were several times I almost pulled her from the sport, and it was due to some of this stuff,” said her mom. “I was just like, ‘I can’t believe someone is treating my daughter this way.’ I spoke up regularly and they didn’t like that.”

Still, the push to succeed for Innes was powerful.

“It felt like gold,” said Innes. “A pot of gold at the end of a rainbow — free college at the biggest colleges you could think of in the U.S., potential (to be) Olympic-bound. There was so many opportunities. There were times I wondered if the trauma was worth where I wanted to be.”

Calgary is hosting the 2026 edition of Artistic Elite Canada this week, which marks the start of this year’s competitive season.

The event, which brings together competitive gymnasts from across the country, is taking place at time when big changes are being made to improve the safety and culture of the sport that has been marred by allegations of abuse and mistreatment of athletes for years.

“The culture of the sport that surrounded us was quite toxic. When I have taken some time to look back and reflect on that, I did see a lot of abuse,” said Innes.

“I saw a lot of physical abuse. I saw a lot of emotional abuse and a lot of mental abuse,” said Kyle Shewfelt, an Olympic gold medalist in the sport who now runs his own gymnastics club in Calgary.

Shewfelt said his experience was very positive, but acknowledged this was not the case for many others.

“It’s taken the hard work of the brave survivors that have come forward to share their stories with so much courage, and I think the community is embracing change that is starting to come,” said Shewfelt.

Gymnastics Canada and provincial affiliations now publicly post the names of sanctioned coaches online.

But Kim Shore, who is a former gymnast, former board member for Gymnastics Canada and longtime advocate for that change, said there is still lots more work to do.

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“It is the tip of the iceberg. Also, that is not an exhaustive list,” said Shore. “There are also coaches who are warned about their behavior and then they choose to go to another sport. There is absolutely no tracking from sport to sport or province to province,” said Shore.

But there is currently a push to change that, according to Kacey Neely, the director of Safe Sport for Gymnastics Canada, who said a national database of all sanctioned coaches in all sports in Canada is now being built.

Neely said Gymnastics Canada is also about to launch its robust safe-sport strategy, which will include the same level of screening for coaches across the country, regardless of the level, along with an independent third party to receive complaints, provide enhanced mental and emotional support for athletes and more education for coaches and parents and their children.

Neely emphasized safety is no longer just an add-on.

“It’s integrated at each level, athlete training, the high-performance program, sport development, coaching and judging — it’s there every step of the way.”

When Innes was 14, she decided enough was enough and quit the sport.

However, she did end up earning a scholarship to a school in the United States but in track and field.

But she said she has had to deal with the trauma of her time in gymnastics.

“I had a lot of anxiety and depression growing up due to that, I didn’t feel like I had a childhood. It felt like I was an adult in a child’s body the whole time,” said Innes, who is now attending law school and hopes to be a voice for other athletes so they don’t have to endure what she did.

“I do hope that other little girls that are dealing with this situation have more resources — to go and speak to people and just more measures put in place.”

When soil testing machines were first rolled out on Eglinton Avenue around 2008 to prepare for a potential light rail line, local business owner Anita Dimitrijevic found them “pretty scary.”

But they were only the start. Work on the Eglinton Crosstown LRT would continue until early this year, spanning political parties, governments, construction firms and local mayors.

For more than 15 years, the key east-west road entered a funk, where local businesses closed, traffic snarled and the transit project at the centre of it struggled from one controversy to another.

Dimitrijevic’s business, Di Moda European Lingerie, is one of many along the route now ready to emerge blinking from the construction chaos when the Eglinton Crosstown LRT officially launches on Sunday.

They are ready for the prosperity the new transit line promised.

“Access to the area was more difficult, parking was limited. Many customers assumed that the whole street was closed and as a small boutique, we really rely on foot traffic,” Dimitrijevic told Global News.

“Seeing the LRT finally open feels like a reward, and we would like to enjoy that reward. We are expecting that our community will change. We’re expecting more people, we’re expecting more movement, more accessibility, more connections.”

The idea of a major transit line on Eglinton Avenue predates even Dimitrijevic’s business, which has been in the area for 21 years. But it was former Toronto mayor David Miller’s Transit City vision in 2007 that breathed life into the plan.

Miller secured provincial funding for his plan to build light rail along Eglinton Avenue from the provincial government.

“It was our proposal, for the most part our design — our being the City of Toronto and the TTC — and we secured the funding,” Miller told Global News.

Then, his successor at city hall, Rob Ford, came to power in 2010 and scrapped the plan. Instead, he proposed an underground version of the route, kicking off years of debate and chaos.

Despite the wrangling at city hall, the route ended up being agreed upon in the image Miller had imagined, and it began to move forward. The TTC, however, was forced to release control of the plan, which would be led by the newly-created provincial transit agency Metrolinx.

Miller said taking control away from Toronto’s transit agency, which is accountable to residents, was a mistake. It made the Eglinton Crosstown LRT an Ontario-wide political hot potato.

“I’m very sad that provincial interference meant a decade delay and had some other pretty negative consequences, including massive cost overruns,” he said. “I’m angry about that, frankly. But it’s pretty exciting to have been there at the inception.”

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The line was beset by lawsuits and delays, missing its target opening date. By 2023, it was three years delayed and Metrolinx had stopped even trying to predict when it might open to the public.

That dynamic continued until December 2025, when the provincial transit agency finally accepted the Eglinton Crosstown LRT as complete and handed it to the TTC. The TTC then took its time assessing the line itself, eventually confirming it would open on Sunday, Feb. 8.

Miller said, despite the long and winding road, it would be a momentous day for Toronto.

“It’s massively frustrating how long it’s taken. And I think people should be justifiably angry,” he said.

“But people should also be really pleased that we finally have rapid transit across an incredibly important avenue in Toronto. That connects so many neighbourhoods, rich and low-income people, into the fabric of the life of the city. It’s pretty exciting.”

That excitement is beginning to bubble along Eglinton Avenue, where the potential of easy access is being relished by businesses.

“It’s only been 15 years, it’s a very exciting day. And we’re excited that this project is moving forward,” Maureen Sirois of Vicky’s Jewellery, and president of the Eglinton Way BIA, told Global News.

“Now we’re optimistic. Our street’s looking great, it’s going to look greater, and people are going to be able to access all these neighbourhoods on Eglinton.”

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

When Mike Thomas’ elderly neighbour got sick and needed to sell his small bungalow on a wide lot in east Edmonton, Thomas immediately became concerned about the home being torn down and replaced with something much bigger.

Thomas said he has invested a lot into his own bungalow over the years: an addition, gardens, a back patio and solar panels on the roof.

He felt like he had no avenue to stop a developer if they purchased the home to the south and wanted to build a multi-family housing complex.

“I would be losing enjoyment of my entire property,” Thomas said.

“My property value would plummet for resale — even if the house is nice — because I’ve got a monster next to me that completely blocks all the light.”

So, he made a life-changing decision — risking his financial future by buying his neighbour’s home in the Bergman neighbourhood.

Thomas had to come up with $75,000 in three months to make the purchase.

“I’m not special and I’m not wealthy — and that killed me.”

He now rents the bungalow next door, at a discount, to a family of Ukrainian refugees.

In 2023, the City of Edmonton changed zoning bylaws to allow for more multi-unit buildings up to three storeys in all neighbourhoods.

The aim was to encourage a variety of development to be built more easily in residential areas.

Since then, there’s been mixed reaction to the increase in multi-unit buildings replacing single-family homes.

Infill ended up being a contentious topic during the 2025 fall municipal election campaign after residents of established communities expressed concerns with property values, not enough parking, predatory developers, quality of builds and housing affordability.

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Some Edmonton homeowners in established, upscale areas like Crestwood and Glenora have even gone so far as to explore placing restrictive covenants on their properties to prevent future development.

The legally binding agreement goes on a property title and limits how a property is used or developed, even after it is sold to a new owner.

Neighbourhoods United has volunteers from 50 mature neighbourhoods who are amplifying their concerns about infill together.

Treasurer Dallas Moravec said their group knows of other frustrated residents doing something similar.

“I’ve heard a few different communities who have started some of these investor groups who put together some money,” Moravec said. “They’re looking to protect their neighbours’ houses that potentially they want to sell.”

“It speaks to the unpredictability of the zoning bylaws.”

Edmonton’s urban planning committee will be reviewing the city’s controversial zoning and infill policies on Feb. 9.

Reports indicate city staff recommend dropping the maximum number of units on a single lot from eight to six mid-block.

For more information, watch the video at the top of this story.

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

Power was restored to Yellowknife and surrounding communities about four hours after the city was plunged into darkness on Thursday because of a “wildlife interference” at a substation.

In an update on social media just before 7 p.m., the Northwest Territories Power Corporation had warned it didn’t know how long it would take to restore power. The outage began around 5:30 p.m., also affecting Ndilǫ and Dettah.

The utility said an investigation had found the piece of equipment that had broken down and it was removed.

“Power restoration has begun and we are restoring power using a combination of hydro and diesel generation,” it said in a social media post at 9:21 p.m.

Posting regular updates, it said just after 8:15 p.m. that it identified the faulty area of the substation that caused the outage.

The company said “wildlife interference in the substation” was believed to be responsible for the outage. Crews had been at the Jackfish power station on the edge of the city investigating the outage.

Stephen Van Dine, city manager, said Yellowknife had activated its cold weather protocol during the outage.

He asked residents to take precautions, including turning on faucets and running water to prevent pipes from freezing.

“We don’t want anybody gushing their pipes full blast,” he said. “Just a low tickle to keep circulation going to avoid any freeze up.” 

He had also asked residents to unplug appliances so they wouldn’t “fry” when power was restored. 

When asked about warming centres, the city manager said the outage had not reached a duration where those needed to be opened. 

The temperature in Yellowknife was about –25 C on Thursday evening.

Yellowknife Traffic and Parking Enforcement had said officers were directing vehicles where traffic lights were not working.

When Ronan O’Driscoll’s son walks into his afternoon session at Learningo, he has a smile on his face — a reaction his father says doesn’t always come easily in traditional school settings. 

His son Martin, 19, lives with severe autism, ADHD and a developmental delay. 

O’Driscoll says Martin has struggled with anxiety and some behavioural issues, so he’s only able to attend his Halifax-area high school for one to two hours a day, a couple days per week. 

To supplement his time away from school, Martin also attends Learningo, a non-profit program that offers alternative education to youth aged five to 25 on the autism spectrum, or with other complex needs. 

“It’s all about … being happy with his life,” said O’Driscoll, who is also on the organization’s board. “He doesn’t tell you what he’s feeling and things like that. So to see that he’s coming here, he’s relaxed and you know, when you’re relaxed, you learn things.” 

The organization has been around since 2016 but now has a new space in the Bedford Place Mall where it runs its “co-schooling” program. 

Executive director Emily Robar says students learn a wide array of skills from emotional regulation, functional communication and literacy, to behavioural and life skills. 

“We’re able to use our rapport and our skill sets to break those skills down, and try to teach them in a different environment so that they could be successful everywhere else that they go,” said Robar. 

She said some participants attend public school part time, and there’s open communication between Learningo and public school staff. 

Other participants are primarily homeschooled. 

“I am enjoying school today,” said 22-year-old Sam Clayton, whose favourite activity at Learningo is doing word searches and spending time with his teachers. 

“I like reading books,” Riley Holmes, 7, said enthusiastically. 

There are about 15 to 20 people on staff at Learningo, including behavioural analysts, educational assistants, as well as social work, psychology and recreational therapy students. 

Staff typically work with one to two students at a time to ensure they’re getting the support they need, which Robar said is often not possible in the public school system. 

“[Parents] want more energy directed specifically to their child, and sometimes the school system can’t do that just based on resources or levels of training for certain staff, or the ability to handle certain levels of crisis,” she said. 

“Sometimes I think in the school system, it’s more of a case of ‘well, there are so many shortages, there’s so many needs. Let’s just kind of keep them in the corner and keep it all calm,’ right?” said O’Driscoll. “Something that comes up a lot is staffing issues for, let’s say, educational assistants.”

A two-hour co-schooling session costs $75 per student, and Robar said some families are able to pay for it using respite funding allotted from government. 

They also have an after-school program, as well as March break and summer offerings that are slightly less costly.

She said the organization uses fundraising and grants to pay for overhead costs and equipment but does not yet have a recurring funding source to help the group expand and lower costs for families.

But still, Learningo has a waitlist for its co-schooling program, which Robar said highlights the demand for this type of service.

“Families are willing to do whatever it takes to get supports for their children,” she said. 

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One city is in bloom, while another freezes under a blanket of snow.

Canada’s extreme winters bring all kinds of surprises along the country’s vast and varied landscape, and this year, those contrasts are especially sharp between two of its biggest cities, Vancouver and Toronto.

Vancouver has experienced an unusually warm winter, on track to be its first without snow in 43 years.

The city is already looking lush and green after one of its warmest Januarys on record. Some of its famed cherry blossoms were blooming by the middle of last month, and have since been joined by daffodils and other flowers.

A meteorologist told The Canadian Press the unusual warm weather, rain and occasional sunshine contributed to early plant growth, adding that it has not been getting cold enough to freeze plants overnight.

Elsewhere in B.C., Sandspit and Bella Bella exceeded record daily highs this week.

Environment Canada meteorologist Bobby Sekhon told CBC British Columbia that the mild conditions are being driven by repeated ridges of high pressure, creating stable air over B.C., resulting in winter weather only lasting for a week or two in many parts of the province.

“This winter in general has been very abnormal,” he said.

Not everyone is thrilled. The heat has melted skating rinks, closed ski hills and raised concerns about the potential of a deep freeze damaging early blooming plants — as well as the impacts of climate change.

Not so nice in Ontario

But some 3,400 kilometres east in Toronto, some residents would gladly swap their deep freeze for an early glimpse of spring.

The city was hammered by heavy snow and winter storms through much of January.

On Jan. 25, Toronto Pearson Airport recorded 46 centimetres of snow, its highest daily snowfall on record.

That brought the January snowfall total to 88.2 centimetres, which Environment Canada previously told CBC News is “the snowiest January and snowiest month since records began in 1937.”

Trudy Kidd, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, told CBC Toronto that the polar vortex was the culprit behind the late-January freezing temperatures, describing it as “a swirling pool of cold air” that’s typically parked over the Arctic but can “leak” down to more southern regions when it weakens.

An hour west, Waterloo broke its winter snowfall record, recording its most winter snow accumulation ever by the end of January.

Hamilton, meanwhile, was under another cold weather alert Wednesday as it felt like –22 C with the wind chill.

And Toronto is not out of the woods yet — Environment Canada’s Friday forecast is calling for strong winds and a low of -18 C on Friday.

Still, a little perspective is in order. For anyone complaining, that’s nothing compared to what some parts of Canada have felt this winter.

On Dec. 23, Braeburn, Yukon, recorded the country’s lowest temperature in 50 years, hitting a bone-chilling -55.7 C.