Ottawa has increased the allowable catch for juvenile eels by 22 per cent this year, citing evidence of a healthy population and the success of last year’s relatively peaceful season in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
The fishery for young American eels, known as elvers, was shut down in 2024 after illegal fishing driven by soaring prices led to violence and arrests on many rivers.
Last year, the federal Fisheries Department announced new possession and export regulations aimed at improving management of the fishery, which saw buyers paying as much as $5,000 per kilogram a few years ago.
As well, Ottawa confirmed in 2025 that 50 per cent of the allowable catch would be redistributed from non-Indigenous commercial fishers to First Nations entering the fishery for the first time to seek a moderate livelihood.
Get breaking National news
Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you won’t miss a trending story.
Some non-Indigenous commercial fishers have complained the system has been undermined by some First Nations unwilling to follow the rules.
Story continues below advertisement
Stanley King, manager of Atlantic Elver Fishery, has also accused the Fisheries Department of failing to properly deal with illegal fishing, an accusation the department has denied.
When the season opens on April 1, the eels will be caught in nets and shipped live to Asia where they will be raised in aquaculture facilities for food.
The 22 per cent increase to the allowable catch brings the limit to 12,180 kilograms, an increase partly based on scientific data gleaned from one Nova Scotia river.
When you lose a loved one, your world can change within a matter of seconds. How a person responds to death is a totally unique experience that can come in many forms.
“Some people are more emotional … some people more cerebral…. There’s no right or wrong way; it’s how it works,” explains Brenda Gibbs, owner of Living and Loss Grief Counselling.
The “five stages of grief” are often listed as denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. But the truth is, this is not necessarily how we cope with losing a loved one.
Get breaking National news
Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you won’t miss a trending story.
“That sort of five stages of grief has largely been debunked…. Those were actually written to help a dying person see what stages they’re going through,” says legacy guide and celebrant Karla Combres, who works with individuals and families to help define and create lasting legacies. “The truth is, it’s messy, it’s not linear, you might feel one thing one second, another thing this, you might go back, you might go forth.”
Story continues below advertisement
And we do not grieve just the dead. Some grieve relationships ending, losing a job or even a child moving out on their own. But the common thread among all grief is the element of support needed to heal. That’s why community gatherings like “Death Cafes” were created to help people feel seen during a time that feels isolating.
“There are community gatherings meant truly just to normalize dying and death…. It’s very open-ended, usually. No proselytizing, no selling of products,” Combres says.
At the end of the day, the best way to help someone in their grief journey is to simply reach out.
“It’s about just checking in. How is your day today? If you want to offer help, be specific,” Gibbs says.
The Quebec Conservatives now have an elected member in the national assembly after a former cabinet minister with the Coalition Avenir Québec crossed the floor to join the party.
Maïté Blanchette Vézina, who had quit the CAQ to sit as an Independent in September, joined the Conservatives on Tuesday and announced she will run for the party in the October general election.
Get breaking National news
Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you won’t miss a trending story.
Blanchette Vézina left the CAQ shortly after Premier François Legault shuffled her out of the natural resources portfolio.
Since then Conservative Leader Éric Duhaime had been courting Blanchette Vézina, who delivered a speech at the party’s convention in January.
With his new member Duhaime will now have access to the legislature — a similar situation to 2021 when he convinced former CAQ member Claire Samson to become his party’s sole elected representative.
Story continues below advertisement
Duhaime’s Conservatives collected nearly 13 per cent of the vote during the 2022 provincial campaign but failed to win any seats.
In contrast the Liberals received roughly 14 per cent of the popular vote and won 21 seats.
Changes with how New Brunswick’s paramedics are deployed will benefit rural communities that have been short-changed for nearly a decade, according to the Paramedic Association of New Brunswick.
A pilot project that was tested in three communities for six months will now be implemented province-wide.
The new model means rural paramedics will generally stay within their assigned communities instead of bouncing around on a needs basis.
The Paramedic Association of New Brunswick said ambulances have been disproportionately moving from rural communities to cover urban centres since 2007, and this change will revert to an older model.
The association’s executive director, Chris Hood, said the change is a “win-win for everybody” because rural paramedics can be a resource that frees up demand on acute care.
Get breaking National news
Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you won’t miss a trending story.
“People in those rural parts of the province, perhaps ambulance stations are the only access to health care that they have. So it was not unheard of that ambulances in their communities would get people knocking on the door frequently, asking for what essentially exists as primary care, you know, follow up for blood pressure issues, follow up for a glucometer or blood glucose testing, things like that,” Hood said.
Story continues below advertisement
“And it’s important that if the paramedics are in that community, that resource is available. Then that is preventative care and ongoing care that will prevent perhaps those people from having an exacerbation of their conditions, which will then force them into the acute care part of the health-care system.”
However, Hood pointed out that Ambulance New Brunswick still has a staffing shortage and requires about 200 more paramedics.
Health Minister John Dornan said the province is actively working to bridge that gap.
“We do have a staff deficit in the ambulance service. And so what we have done is created spots to help support paramedics that are currently in training to come back here and work in New Brunswick,” said Dornan.
Both the province and Ambulance New Brunswick are taking a closer look at the system, with a full operational review set to begin in the coming months.
Paramedic and fire chiefs’ groups say N.B. paramedic system needs change
Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree says Canadian national security agencies are looking into a B.C. company accused of financial ties to the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.
The RCMP and Canadian Security Intelligence Service are “reviewing the situation and then they will have more to say,” the minister, who oversees the agencies, said on Wednesday.
Anandasangaree was responding to a Global News report that the U.S. government had sanctioned a Vancouver company over its alleged role in a $100-million Hezbollah financial network.
Seven Seas for International Trading and Logistics was formed in B.C. in 2022 by three directors, all based in Qatar. Corporate records obtained by Global News show it remains active.
It has not been sanctioned by Canada.
The B.C. government said it had reached out to the federal government about Seven Seas, since Ottawa is responsible for sanctions related to terrorist financing.
Story continues below advertisement
“Any next steps from the province would be informed by that engagement with our federal partners,” the B.C. Finance Ministry said in a statement.
Get breaking National news
Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you won’t miss a trending story.
Neither the RCMP nor CSIS has yet responded to questions about the company. Global Affairs Canada has not responded to questions sent on Monday.
Israel intends to seize parts of Lebanon as strikes against Hezbollah intensify, government says
Hezbollah is a key part of Iran’s so-called axis of resistance, a collection of terrorist factions that serve Tehran’s interests through the Middle East.
Canada calls Hezbollah “a radical Shia group ideologically inspired by the Iranian revolution.” The Lebanese faction is involved in the U.S. and Israeli war that began on Feb. 28.
Canadian security agencies have long accused it of fundraising and money laundering in the country.
Story continues below advertisement
Asked why Canadians had only heard about the Vancouver company as a result of U.S. enforcement action, Anandasangaree repeated that more information would be coming.
“We often do not talk about matters that are under investigation, and as you’re aware, there are a range of things that our law enforcement do, including on national security matters, and this is one of those matters where they will have more say.”
The U.S. sanctions allege the B.C. company is part of a network led by “Hezbollah financier” Alaa Hamieh that spans Lebanon, Syria, Poland, Slovenia, Qatar and Canada.
Its founder, Raoof Fadel, “is involved in numerous projects with Alaa Hamieh and the Hizballah finance team,” according to the press release announcing the sanctions.
The U.S. Treasury statement said Seven Seas was “Hezbollah-associated” and was the “Canadian branch of Alaa Hamieh’s similarly named Lebanese companies.”
Reached by Global News on Wednesday, Fadel said from Qatar that he was consulting his lawyer prior to commenting.
Prime Minister Mark Carney is criticizing Air Canada president and CEO Michael Rousseau for making an English-only statement of condolences following the deadly Sunday night crash of one of the airline’s planes at LaGuardia Airport.
One of the pilots killed in that crash was from Quebec.
“I’m very disappointed, as others are — rightly so — in this unilingual message of the CEO of Air Canada. It doesn’t matter the circumstances but particularly in these circumstances: a lack of judgment and a lack of compassion,” Carney told reporters on Thursday morning, speaking first in French before repeating the criticisms in English.
“We live in a bilingual country. Companies like Air Canada, particularly, have a responsibility to always communicate in both official languages, regardless of the situation.”
Rousseau has been summoned to appear before the House of Commons standing committee on official languages, which voted unanimously on Tuesday afternoon for Rousseau to answer why he spoke only two words in French in the video, which were “bonjour” and “merci.”
Story continues below advertisement
The video had French subtitles.
Air Canada President and CEO Michael Rousseau provides a video statement on the tragic accident involving Air Canada Express AC8646: pic.twitter.com/ZwFibpOkj2
“I will follow his comments closely and comments, which I would expect in due course, from the board of directors,” Carney said.
Get daily National news
Get daily Canada news delivered to your inbox so you’ll never miss the day’s top stories.
In 2021, Rousseau was summoned to Ottawa after speaking only around 20 seconds of French in a 26-minute speech at the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal. The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages received more than 2,600 complaints.
Rousseau told reporters after his speech that he had been “too busy to learn French” and said he had “no trouble living in English in Quebec for 14 years,” sparking backlash across the province.
Story continues below advertisement
The next day, Rousseau released a statement offering an apology in both languages.
Air Canada’s CEO apologizes after admitting he doesn’t need to speak French
“I want to make it clear that in no way did I mean to show disrespect for Quebecers and Francophones across the country,” Rousseau’s statement read. “I apologize to those who were offended by my remarks.”
Canada’s then-deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland wrote a letter to Air Canada’s board of directors at the time, urging that “its CEO improve his French and that his knowledge of the language be included in his annual performance review.”
She also asked that knowledge of French “become an important criterion for securing promotions at the airline,” which is subject to the Official Languages Act.
The union representing staff at Global Affairs Canada says the foreign service is laying off dozens of its highest-skilled diplomats, while asking other envoys moving across continents to wait months for their personal items.
The cuts come as Global Affairs Canada sets out its plans to meet budget belt tightening requirements laid out by Prime Minister Mark Carney last year.
The department targets for layoffs are causing an uproar among former diplomats and international relations experts, who say the government’s cuts are odds with Ottawa trying to gain influence at a time of geopolitical calamity.
“The attrition rate that they’re looking at is going to hit missions abroad pretty hard,” said Pam Isfeld, a career diplomat and president of the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers.
“I just don’t think that things have really been thought through,” she said.
Story continues below advertisement
The latest departmental plan for Global Affairs Canada, published on March 13, says GAC will cut 1,240 full-time equivalents by March 2029, a cut of 9.4 per cent of the 13,185 staff equivalent as of March 2025.
Carney making ‘back-room deals’ to try to ‘stitch together’ a majority, NDP leader says
In January, the department issued notices to 3,095 staff warning they may lose their jobs, though some of those may switch to different roles or be spared if others quit or retire.
Global Affairs Canada previously said it must trim its workforce 12 to 13 per cent by 2030.
Get daily National news
Get daily Canada news delivered to your inbox so you’ll never miss the day’s top stories.
Isfeld said as part of the cuts, Ottawa is disbanding a specialized tier for foreign service officers, known as FS-04. Most are either being reclassified as executives or as one rank lower — but 34 positions are simply being terminated, Isfeld said.
“It’s going to make us all look bad in the long run,” she said. “We already were starting to get a bit of a reputation over the last 20 years for our mouths being a lot bigger than our pocketbooks.”
Story continues below advertisement
The department did not respond to a request for comment.
The FS-04 pay band applies to roles with specific knowledge, such as a nuclear specialist deployed to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, according to Isfeld. The union head was herself made an FS-04 when her posting in Warsaw changed to monitoring Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea and keeping track on all matters in neighbouring Belarus.
“It’s a structural mismatch to be saying we’re going to be active and engaged in this ambitious foreign policy — G7 presidency legacy, Indo-Pacific stuff, Africa stuff, Ukraine stuff, climate finance, now all kinds of Arctic stuff, co-operation with the Nordics,” she said.
“You just cut the entire cadre of most experienced, most specialized people,” she said. “Your influence doesn’t come really from your press releases in Ottawa.”
Ottawa proposing to cut billions in funding from science to tourism and foreign aid
In the departmental plan, GAC projects saving a half-billion dollars in the fiscal year that starts next month, $747 million the following year and then $1.12 billion in the fiscal year ending March 2029. Those savings will come from a number of places, including “refocusing Canada’s international presence in the areas of advocacy and diplomacy,” streamlining trade services and linking foreign aid and security initiatives with economic growth.
Story continues below advertisement
The document also says GAC will find unspecified efficiencies across its missions, sell off some properties abroad, and upgrade infrastructure and information security protections at those missions to cut down on the costs of protecting its personnel.
Isfeld said Global Affairs Canada is also cutting back on letting diplomats fly their belonging to postings abroad, and she said some will have to wait six months or more for anything that doesn’t fit in the three suitcases they are allowed to check in at the start or end of a posting.
“Previously, small air shipments were approved as a supplementary shipment option for household effects for some itineraries. This option has been replaced with reimbursement for additional checked bags for all travellers,” the union wrote in a March 4 update to members.
Carney sets April date for 3 byelections
Global Affairs Canada’s cuts come ahead of a foreign policy review that Ottawa expects to come later in the year, which may generally touch on which regions and nations will see an increase in diplomatic postings, which missions might close or merge with others, and what themes or languages the foreign service aims to focus on.
Story continues below advertisement
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand has said her department already has the broad outlines of Canada’s foreign policy and can thus shape their staffing priorities.
Global Affairs Canada has won some praise from MPs and unions for not issuing layoffs to the two lowest ranks of foreign service officers, which had occurred during budget cuts in 2012 and were widely seen as hurting Ottawa’s ability to replenish its diplomatic workforce over time.
In last year’s election, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s campaign platform said he intended “to deploy more Canadian diplomats and officials abroad, to expand our trade, and to restore Canadian leadership.”
An unknown person has been found dead after a large house fire in Mississauga, Ont., authorities confirmed Tuesday.
Emergency crews were called to the home at Mirage Place and Select Court at around 10:40 p.m. Monday, where the structure was already fully engulfed in flames.
According to officials, multiple callers reported a large explosion from the house before it became fully involved.
Peel Regional Police Const. Tyler Bell said one individual was found dead in the home, although it is not clear yet who the individual is.
“The coroner’s office will be investigating the cause of the death of the individual inside,” Bell said. “If any of those investigations determine criminality, Peel police will then take over the investigation.”
Get breaking National news
Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you won’t miss a trending story.
Police say all known residents of the home have been accounted for and were out of the country at the time of the fire.
Story continues below advertisement
“Now we have the difficult task of trying to determine who is the [deceased] individual. We don’t have details like age, gender…. We have no reason to believe anyone should have been in the home that’s associated with the residence at this time,” Bell said.
The Office of the Fire Marshal is leading the investigation into the cause and origin of the fire, which remains unknown.
“This is preliminary,” Jim Demetriou with the Office of the Fire Marshal said. “We are here to find the origin, cause and circumstances around the fire.”
Demetriou said it is too early to determine whether the explosion caused the fire or where in the home the fire started.
Officials say the structure is currently too unstable to allow for a full search.
The Office of the Fire Marshal has called for support, including heavy equipment to assist with debris removal. An engineer is also expected to assess the safety of the building before investigators continue their work.
So far, only one person has been found inside the home, though police say that could change as the search progresses.
There is currently no indication of criminal activity.
An aviation expert says Canada is losing more air traffic controllers to retirement than it is hiring, despite efforts to ramp up recruitment.
John Gradek, a faculty lecturer with McGill University’s aviation management program, said Canada is short about 1,500 air traffic controllers, and 150 more retire each year.
“So guess what? You’re not even covering off retirements,” Gradek said in an interview with The Canadian Press.
Gradek said air traffic controllers are highly specialized with a “special skill set.”
“We know three dimensions. The trick about controllers is they need a fourth dimension, and they have to understand the fourth dimension being time,” Gradek told The Canadian Press.
“And so I make a decision to move an aircraft up 1,000 feet or down 1,000 feet, or turn left or turn right. I’m making that decision because I want this airplane to be in this location at this time and in the future.
Story continues below advertisement
“So that’s a special skill set. Not everybody has it.”
Major YVR delays, flights cancelled due to NAV Canada constraints
Air traffic controllers in the United States have been thrust into the spotlight following the crash of Air Canada Flight 8646 at LaGuardia airport in New York on Sunday.
Both pilots were killed, and more than 40 people were injured when the jet crashed into a fire truck on the runway shortly after landing late Sunday night. The National Transportation Safety Board investigation is in the early stages, with investigators from Canada’s Transportation Safety Board also on the ground for it.
Nav Canada, which certifies and hires “air traffic service professionals” declined a request for an interview on the shortages of controllers in this country. In a statement, it said it is working to address staffing through a multi-year strategy.
Story continues below advertisement
“Canadians and travellers can be reassured, we are in solution mode: focused on strengthening service resiliency, supporting our people, working constructively with industry partners while upholding the highest standards of safety they rightly expect,” spokesperson Gabriel Bourget said in a statement.
Get breaking National news
Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you won’t miss a trending story.
Bourget said since 2023, the agency has licensed more than 600 air traffic professionals, including more than 300 controllers.
The agency would not provide information on vacancy rates, but Gradek said those numbers aren’t keeping up with the retirement rates.
The union representing air traffic controllers also declined to comment.
There are a number of different roles encompassing “air traffic professionals.”
The term “air traffic controllers” includes area control centre controllers (or ACC controllers) which issue instructions to pilots and ensure that aircraft are kept a safe distance apart while airborne.
It also includes tower controllers, which provide pilots clearances and instructions to maintain separation during takeoff and landing.
The total training time ranges from 10 to 18 months for tower controllers, and 20 to 27 months for ACC controllers.
Those who don’t make the cut can take jobs as “flight service specialists” which can sometimes manage traffic on the ground at smaller airports, but aren’t tasked with giving instructions to planes in the air.
Story continues below advertisement
“Only about 10 per cent of the controllers that you take into class make it out as a full-fledged controller,” Gradek said, adding the U.S. rate is about three per cent.
“It is a small number of people that are able to start the program, finish the classroom training and then spend two years exercising some of their skill sets and demonstrating their ability to do what they’re supposed to do in a complex world and graduate at the end.”
And while Gradek said Canada’s training and air navigation systems are “second to none” in the world, some graduates are taking jobs abroad.
CAE training future air traffic controllers in Montreal to meet growing demand
Nav Canada wouldn’t say how many of the 300 air traffic controllers it licenced since 2023 took up jobs in Canada, other than “a vast majority.”
“Australia is hiring controllers like crazy, and New Zealand is hiring, the U.S. is hiring, the U.K. is hiring. So it’s not, it’s not as if this is a Canadian-only job,” Gradek said.
Story continues below advertisement
The salary range for a Canadian controller can top $200,000 a year after they’re fully certified — according to Nav Canada — while controllers in training earn about $60,000. The median pay for American controllers in 2024 was $US144,580, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“So the equipment you’re working with is leading edge — or I would say bleeding edge — equipment when you’re working here in Canada as a controller. So there’s a lot of incentives to stay,” Gradek said.
“But we’re not putting handcuffs on these people. They are Canadians, and they’re free to move. So, that’s a risk we take as well.”
On Monday, Canadian Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon said he is working with Nav Canada to figure out solutions to the shortage of controllers.
“I’ve asked Nav Canada to continue to come up with solutions for recruitment so that we can reduce the undue reliance we have on a smaller number of air traffic controllers than we would wish to have,” MacKinnon told reporters when asked about the issue.
As for Canadians going through the rigorous training system only to take jobs abroad, MacKinnon said he wasn’t aware of that being a problem.
“I’ll take a closer look at that,” he said.
MacKinnon on Tuesday emphasized the safety of the country’s transport systems — notably in aviation — affirming they are “among the most rigorous in the world.”
Story continues below advertisement
“I do want to be very reassuring that we take every precautionary measure and make sure that Canada continues to perform at the highest levels of security,” he told reporters on his way into a cabinet meeting in Ottawa.
“The Americans have very high standards, and we have a very collaborative relationship with the U.S., and I know they’ll be as eager as we to find the answers.”
The death of Air Canada Jazz pilot Antoine Forest, who perished when his plane collided with an emergency vehicle at New York’s LaGuardia Airport on Sunday, has sparked an outpouring of sympathy in his hometown southwest of Montreal.
Since late Monday, many citizens have been calling city hall in Coteau-du-Lac to offer their condolences to the family of Forest, who died alongside co-pilot Mackenzie Gunther.
The attention has surprised and touched the mayor and city staff.
Mayor Andrée Brosseau told The Canadian Press that they’ve been directing people to their Facebook page, where a post about the pilot’s death has garnered hundreds of comments and shares.
Latest on the Air Canada Express crash at LaGuardia Airport
“We’re telling them to leave a comment,” said Brosseau, adding that if the family ever wants to see the comments, “it will be there, on social media.”
Story continues below advertisement
Brosseau said she is “heartbroken for the family” and “available to provide them with any necessary support.”
Get breaking National news
Get breaking Canada news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you won’t miss a trending story.
Coteau-du-Lac has a population of about 7,800, so “everyone knows someone who knows the family,” she said. Forest’s death has deeply affected the community, she added.
Many of the messages have also come from beyond the region. Louis-Cédrik Leduc, a communications staffer for the town, said even U.S. citizens have expressed their sadness and condolences to the city.
Cédric Forest, Antoine’s brother, paid tribute to him in a personal Facebook post on Monday night.
“Have a good flight, my brother!” he wrote. “Oh yes, we’ve heard that phrase often, but this time it will be the last. You were always coming and going, always full of new projects. You left us again, too soon to say goodbye.”
1 of 2 Air Canada pilots killed in LaGuardia crash graduated from aviation program in Peterborough, Ont.
“I love you, my brother,” he added. “You can leave with your head held high.”
Story continues below advertisement
Quebec’s forest fire prevention service, known as SOPFEU, also offered its condolences on Tuesday to the friends and family of the two pilots who died.
“During the 2021 and 2022 seasons, Antoine worked on SOPFEU operations as a spotter pilot with Exact Air,” the agency said in a social media post.
“He was a very kind, highly professional and well-liked colleague.”
The agency also extended its sympathies to Gunther and all the other victims of the accident.
