Nearly 12 years after the death of his daughter, Gregg Perras still marks her birthday quietly, sitting in her chair in the Quinterra Legacy Garden while looking out over the Glenmore Reservoir in southwest Calgary.

“It was such a beautiful day. She would have loved that it was so sunny out,” Perras said.

“I like to come here on her birthday, so I came, and I sat in her chair, and I just looked out.”

The garden in South Glenmore Park honours the “Brentwood Five” — college-aged friends Jordan Segura, Josh Hunter, Kaiti Perras, Zachariah Rathwell and Lawrence Hong — who were killed at an end-of-year party in Calgary’s Brentwood neighbourhood in April 2014.

Matthew de Grood was found not criminally responsible for the homicides due to a mental disorder.

The garden, located at 90 Avenue and 24 Street S.W., opened in 2021. It features permanent outdoor musical instrument fixtures and a stage, which serves as a place to appreciate music and the arts, as well as to heal and remember those lives.

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For the families of the massacre victims, the space has become a place of reflection and connection rather than closure.

“It gives me peace, not closure — not total closure — but a sense that we have done something for our five children,” said Marlene Hong, Lawrence’s mother.

The entrance to the garden is normally marked by an ornate bronze plaque depicting a tree, with one branch representing each life lost.

But on what would have been Kaiti Perras’ 35th birthday, her father noticed the memorial sign was missing and presumed stolen.

“I’m kind of disgusted, to be honest,” Perras said.

“It’s kind of despicable that someone would take a memorial plaque from a park.”

Bronze plaque thefts have increased over the past five years as the value of metal has risen, according to the Calgary Police Service.

Acting Duty Insp. Shelby Stewart said it’s troubling when memorial items are targeted.

“Especially ones that carry any memorial value,” Stewart said. “We’ve seen war memorial plaques turn back up. I think once they realize that they can’t take it to the recyclers, oftentimes we’ll see them.”

Police are investigating the theft, canvassing nearby security cameras and asking anyone with information to come forward. Officers say there is still hope the plaque can be recovered.

The families are also appealing directly to whoever took it.

“Just lay it by the rock, we’ll put it back up,” Perras said.

“Walk away. No one will need to know.”

Despite the loss and the recent theft, the families say the Quintterra Legacy Garden remains a symbol of healing and community.

“This place gives hope,” Hong said. “Not only healing, but connecting with the community.”

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Quinterra Legacy Garden unveiled in memory of 5 Calgarians lost in Brentwood tragedy

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Jamil Jivani’s solo mission to Washington has provoked confusion and consternation among some of his Conservative colleagues who want to avoid the party looking cozy with Donald Trump’s administration.

Jivani, a friend of U.S. Vice-President JD Vance since they attended  Yale Law School together, paid a visit to Vance’s office in what he described as an attempt to “build bridges” between Canada and the United States.

The MP’s office has not responded to repeated interview requests or a request for a list of whom he met with. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s office has also not responded to questions about Jivani’s trip.

Two Conservative sources told Global News Friday that some within caucus are upset with what they view as Jivani’s “freelance” diplomacy with the Trump administration.

“There’s no doubt people are trying to figure out why the separate set of rules [for Jivani] and why the freelancing, is this good for us?” one source, who agreed to speak about caucus dynamics on the condition they not be named, said in an interview.

It’s also not clear if Jivani’s trip was sanctioned by Poilievre’s office.

Jivani is not the party’s “shadow minister” for foreign affairs, international trade or Canada-U.S. trade. The party’s Canada-U.S. trade critic, Shelby Kramp-Neuman, also appeared to have recently visited Washington based on social media posts.

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Highlighting ties to the Trump administration is a dangerous play for Canada’s Conservatives, given how deeply unpopular the U.S. president is with Canadian voters.

Data released by pollster Angus Reid last week found that 66 per cent of Canadians gave Trump an ‘F’ grade on his first year of the second term, while just 15 per cent graded him either an ‘A’ or ‘B.’

Further complicating matters for the Conservatives is that 50 per cent of their voters, according to Angus Reid, gave Trump a ‘C’ grade or better. So a strong majority of Canadian voters dislike Trump, but a significant portion of Conservative voters have a more positive view of the U.S. president.

In an interview with the American news outlet Semafor, Jivani said part of the reason for his trip is to tell the Trump administration “we’re all on the same team.”

“I think there’s a real opportunity to build something with the U.S. administration,” Jivani told the outlet.

“Maybe, in re-establishing that special relationship [between Canada and the U.S.], we could get to a point where the tariff regime imposed on us looks very different from that imposed on other countries.”

In a social media post Wednesday, Jivani said he had “productive meetings” with the White House and State Department – and told Semafor that he met with both his friend Vance and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

He also said Trump asked him to “pass along a message” that he loves Canadians.

“I gotta tell you I’m feeling hopeful and optimistic that we can get something really good done for Canadians workers and businesses,” Jivani said in a video posted to his social media accounts.

It’s not clear who the “we” in that statement signifies, but Jivani – first elected in 2024 – said he’s “sick” of the politics surrounding the Canada-U.S. relationship and has attempted to reach out to the Liberal government about his bridge-building efforts.

His professed multi-partisan ambitions are apparently shared by Poilievre, who told reporters after meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney this week that his party was willing to co-operate with the Liberals to fight against Trump’s unilateral trade war.

“My message [to Carney] is Conservatives are here to work with the prime minister and with the government to knock down these unjust tariffs and fight for our workers, fight for their jobs, and fight for our economic independence,” Poilievre said.

Roland Paris, the director of the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, told Global News that he doesn’t see a danger in Canadian politicians having meetings in Ottawa.

“But that’s within limits,” Paris said in an interview.

“Because I think that everybody, every Canadian, expects that Canadian political leaders will be operating in the Canadian interest. And so, in principle, I don’t think that there’s a problem with these trips [but] it really depends on what is actually said and what commitments are made.”

— with files from Global’s Jillian Piper and David Akin

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The City of Barrie says it has been forced to use a landfill property as a temporary snow storage site, following weeks of record snowfall.

City officials told Global News that the decision to use its Ferndale Drive North property was necessary as snow removal continues under what has become the longest continuous “Significant Weather Event declaration” in Barrie’s history.

The decision to use the land comes after running out of room at its operations centre, due to reports of the city receiving about 300 centimetres, or more than 9.5 feet of snow, since Nov. 1.

City officials said the temporary site would be used for the foreseeable future, with no end date set yet.

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“It is dependent on additional snow accumulations and our requirements to do snow lifts to remove excess snow from areas throughout the city,” said Dave Friary, the city’s director of operations.

Friary said the snow is not being dumped with household waste. Instead, it is being placed on a vacant portion of land at the landfill property, a practice the city says has been used in previous years.

Residents living near the site may notice increased overnight activity as snow hauling continues.

Friary said mitigation measures are in place, including the construction of a berm to reduce noise and light impacts during overnight operations.

Barrie has been under a Significant Weather Event since Dec. 28, 2025, a designation that remains in effect as crews continue to clear narrowed roads and snowbanks.

The city added that this year’s winter cleanup has far exceeded previous events, both in scale and cost.

“This winter’s snow removal effort represents the largest volume of snow we have had to remove,” Friary said. “Previous Significant Weather Events typically lasted one to three days, causing only short delays and little to no additional cost.

“In contrast, the unprecedented snowfall over a compressed time period and the extended duration of this event resulted in significantly higher costs and increased co-ordination and oversight.”

The city says the weather alert will not be lifted until roads, cycling lanes and other impacted areas are fully restored, and updates will be provided as conditions change.

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Some American-made alcohol will be returning to SAQ shelves next week, but only temporarily.

The Quebec government has directed the province’s liquor board to sell off select U.S. products nearing their expiration dates.

Most of the items being liquidated are alcoholic creams and liqueurs and will be marked down by 15 per cent, beginning Feb. 12, according to a release from the SAQ.

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Officials estimate the sales will generate about $9 million, with all proceeds donated to Food Banks of Quebec.

The ban on importing new American alcohol products, introduced last year, remains in effect.

Quebec ordered the SAQ to stop selling and importing American alcohol in early March 2025 as a retaliatory measure against U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods, according to the government of Quebec.

2:30
Impact of Canadian bans of U.S. liquors being felt

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RCMP in New Brunswick are warning about a rise in youth radicalization, which they believe is fuelled by extremist online spaces.

Just this week, police said they arrested a youth late last year for the facilitation of a terrorist activity. That youth is now under a terrorism peace bond, which is a first for the province.

“A terrorism peace bond can be used when investigators fear that a terrorist offence may be carried out, enabling the use of robust monitoring and de-escalation tools,” RCMP said in a release.

“This case is part of a broader trend observed by the (Eastern Region’s National Security Enforcement Section) in New Brunswick involving youth radicalization driven by exposure to extremist online spaces and peer-to-peer networks.”

A spokesperson for the RCMP wouldn’t say which extremist network, if any, the youth was a part of.

“The youth is subject to very strict conditions as a result of entering into this peace bond. Police services across (New Brunswick) are aware of this peace bond and will, as they do every day, work diligently to keep our communities safe,” wrote Insp. Aaron Glode in an email.

0:42
Canada lists 4 new terrorist entities, including online extremist groups

David Hofmann, the director of the Criminology and Criminal Justice Program at the University of New Brunswick, said youth extremism is a problem seen nationwide.

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“This is the next big thing security-wise. The government and security agencies are focused on the fact that there are young people who, typically through the internet but also through face-to-face interaction are becoming more radical,” he said.

Hofmann said he believes the New Brunswick case could potentially be related to nihilist violent extremism groups, such as the 764 network, or possibly a far-right extremist group.

The 764 network is known to target children and youth by manipulating them into recording and sharing intimate images or taking part in acts of self-harm, violence and animal cruelty.

“Whether this is neo-Nazi far-right content, whether this nihilistic violent extremism, it’s the heinousness. It’s the awfulness of the act,” he said.

764 added to list of terrorist entities

Last December, Canada added 764 to its list of terrorist entities.

In total, four new groups were added under the Criminal Code, including three transnational online networks that promote ideologically motivated violent extremism (IMVE).

The move marked the first time any country had 764 as a terrorist organization, a statement from Public Safety Canada said.

In Nova Scotia, Halifax Regional Police alleged a 16-year-old  charged in January with child pornography-related and inciting hatred charges was affiliated with the 764 network.

1:55
Halifax teen allegedly part of online extremist group has 4 of 5 charges dropped

The Crown has since dropped four of five charges against that teen, who is scheduled to return to court Feb. 26, because there was “no realistic prospect of conviction on those four counts” after reviewing the evidence.

Meanwhile, Hofmann said extremism can be very challenging to identify and police, especially if ideologies are spread globally.

“It’s incredibly difficult to police this sort of thing, as the internet is ubiquitous … it’s like finding a needle in a haystack,” he said.

RCMP are asking the public to remain vigilant and inform police of any suspicious activities.

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The City of Calgary has confirmed the second stage of replacing the ailing Bearspaw feeder main will result in significant impacts for residents in Bowness, with plans to dig a large trench through the neighbourhood.

In an update released Friday morning, city officials confirmed crews will use an “open-cut” method for the project’s second stage, which runs from 73 Street N.W. to 87 Street N.W.

According to the city, crews will be excavating a trench along 34 Avenue N.W. and installing the new pipe directly into the open trench, which will be followed by backfilling and surface restoration once work is complete.

The existing feeder main is located just one block away along 33 Avenue N.W.

The open-cut construction will be sequenced in large sections along the alignment, according to city officials, with “one or two” sections completed at a time.

“Open-cut construction will result in significant impacts for residents in the area, including traffic disruptions, noise, street parking impacts, dust and changes to local access,” the city said in a news release. “Plans are rapidly evolving, and teams are currently assessing the full scope of impacts.”

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According to the city, the roadway will be reopened after each section of construction is complete and crews move to the next area.

The city said the approach helps “reduce the duration of localized impacts.”

Construction is expected to last five months, with shovels scheduled to go in the ground in May. Estimates show pipe construction should be completed by October.

“Over the coming weeks and months, the city will work closely with the community to provide greater detail of construction activities, address unique needs of individual residents and support mitigation efforts where practical,” the city said in its release.

Earlier this year, city officials announced it was expediting the project to replace the Bearspaw feeder main after two critical ruptures in less than two years.

The project is now scheduled to be completed in December, after the original timeline had its completion date sometime in 2028.

City officials cancelled the competitive bid process for the project and instead awarded a sole-source contract to Ward & Burke Microtunnelling Ltd. and Graham Construction to fast-track the work.

Construction on the first phase of the project is already underway, which will see microtunneling used to install a new steel pipe between the Shaganappi Pump Station and 73 Street N.W. on the west side of the Bow River.

According to the city, microtunneling was chosen for the first stage due to the alignment having “significant crossings” at 16 Avenue, the Bow River, Sarcee Trail and the CPKC rail line.

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Courtrooms and lawyers’ offices in Alberta are set to become less busy next year, when changes to the province’s auto insurance market take effect.

The province is moving to what it calls a “care-first,” or no-fault, system from its current tort model starting Jan. 1, 2027. That means insurers will be required to bolster medical and income support as well as other benefits for those injured in collisions, regardless of who is at fault, instead of parties having to battle it out in the justice system for compensation beyond the limited amount insurance now covers.

The Insurance Bureau of Canada has welcomed the change, saying it will drive down legal costs for its members and in turn lower premiums for drivers.

“The care and benefits that are provided to those injured in collisions are going to increase. They’re going to be the richest in the country,” said Aaron Sutherland, vice-president for Western Canada and Pacific at IBC.

“That’s a win for drivers and anyone injured in collisions and we’re keen to work with the government to see this new system come to fruition.”

But a legal advocacy group has warned it takes away a crucial avenue for recourse and puts too much power in the hands of insurers.

Auto insurance premiums and delivery models vary province by province. Some, like British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, deliver mandatory coverage through Crown corporations, whereas in Alberta, Ontario and elsewhere, it’s left up to private insurers.

Albertans pay among the highest premiums for auto insurance in Canada and the provincial government has said the changes would shave off up to $400 per year of those costs. IBC has said rising legal expenses make up one fifth of what drivers pay.

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While “care-first” will be a help, Sutherland said more needs to be done to cure what’s ailing the province’s insurance market.

The 2024 annual report from the Superintendent of Insurance published last month painted a grim picture. It found a substantial majority of Alberta auto insurers were unprofitable that year, with private passenger automobile insurance taking the biggest hit.

Auto insurers’ expenses that year exceeded revenues by a collective $1.2 billion, the report said, with claims and expenses outpacing premiums by 18 per cent.

It forecast that escalating claims costs would continue to exceed the province’s Good Driver Rate Cap, which limits premium increases to 7.5 per cent a year for drivers without at-fault claims in the previous six years, criminal convictions in the previous four years or other convictions in the previous three years.

The rate cap, which is meant to be temporary, is set to last at least until the end of this year.

“In any industry, if you are forced to sell a product below the cost of providing it, that’s not a recipe for success or a healthy competitive marketplace,” Sutherland said.

A handful of companies, including Sonnet and Zenith, have exited the Alberta auto insurance market, while others have scaled back their offerings.

“I don’t expect anyone to shed a tear over the financial plight of the insurance industry in Alberta. But what does it mean for drivers? It means less choice, fewer options, more expensive premiums,” Sutherland said.

“We’ve got a competitive market that’s been in crisis, that’s been pulling back, and it’s been drivers that are footing a higher bill as a result and facing significant challenges securing the coverage they need.”

Adding to the pressures in Alberta is the fact that it’s been “the disaster capital for Canada” over the past several years, Sutherland said. For instance, a 2024 hailstorm in Calgary caused more than $3 billion in insured property damage within a single afternoon.

Vehicle theft is also a growing problem, with claims 76 per cent higher in the first half of 2025 than they were in 2021.

Once the “care-first” changes take effect, there will be no other system like it in Canada, said Owen Lewis, past-president of the Alberta Civil Trial Lawyers Association.

Lewis, a partner at KMSC Law in Grande Prairie, Alta., said he’s concerned about what checks and balances there will be in a system dominated by for-profit players, even though the province is planning an independent tribunal to resolve disputes over benefits.

“You’re going to have individuals who are required to navigate a system that, quite frankly, is extremely confusing for me,” he said.

“And they’ll be required to try to navigate that on their own to go against insurance companies that are well-funded, will have their own lawyers, have their own specialists to argue against the individual claim.”

Albertans would still be able to sue if the at-fault driver is convicted of a serious Criminal Code or Traffic Safety Act offence. But it would be “extremely rare” for someone to collect under those circumstances, Lewis said.

Lewis agrees that the status quo is not tenable for insurers in Alberta, but disputes that legal costs should bear so much of the blame.

“You can’t revamp an entire system and take rights away from innocent injured individuals to try to resolve a problem that isn’t created by injured Albertans.”

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