The Victoria Police Department is changing its response to a weekly pro-Palestinian rally.

The department says that after more than two years of deploying officers to maintain public safety during these demonstrations, they are implementing the change to protect the health and well-being of its officers while upholding the right to peaceful assembly.

According to the department, more than 10,000 hours of officer time have been dedicated to managing these events, which have been taking place for 126 weeks.

It says that maintaining this level of service is no longer sustainable and that, as of April 4, officers will no longer provide traffic control or other related police resources for the street portion of the demonstration.

“We are responding daily to the highest calls for service per member in British Columbia,” Victoria police Chief Const. Fiona Wilson said. “Integrated teams, ongoing investigations, traffic safety and community-based policing priorities. We must ensure that our resources are aligned with our broader and ongoing demands.”

She said the decision announced on Wednesday is a thoughtful and necessary measure to ensure that police can continue to deliver effective and responsive policing in Victoria.

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Insp. Conor King said they have informed key community partners, including representatives from the City of Victoria, the Muslim and Jewish community leadership, and demonstration organizers.

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Starting this Saturday, officers will begin sharing information with protest participants and businesses.

“Over the last several weeks and in the weeks ahead, we will continue to prioritize increased patrols and support for places of worship, in light of the ongoing geopolitical unrest,” King said.

“We will also continue to monitor ongoing safety concerns and assess demonstration activity as it evolves.”

King said the Victoria Police Department is committed to protecting the right to peaceful assembly, but they are urging participants not to march on roadways due to safety risks.

“Individuals that choose to enter the roadway do so at their own risk,” he added.

King said the pro-Palestinian rally is unique in that it has been ongoing for 126 weeks and does not stay in one location.

“VicPD will assess what these protests look like in the future, with an eye to policing and cooperation with the legislative officers on the grounds of the legislature as required,” he added.

King said this move is not about saving the Victoria Police Department money; it is about making sure officers have time off and do not burn out.

“This is 100 per cent an officer wellness decision,” he added.

At the press conference on Wednesday, Maureen Stone, the media liaison for the group Coast Salish to Palestine, which participates in the weekly rally, said the group has never requested any police presence at their rallies.

“We wanted to be clear that we have never asked for, it has been presented that (there are) these large costs, and we never asked for it,” she said.

“We were our own group that set up safety marshals to keep us safe and the police came to every rally without our request.”

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Humber Polytechnic says it will move ahead with layoffs after a voluntary employee exit program failed to fully address its projected budget shortfall.

In a statement, the college said it had introduced a Voluntary Employee Exit Program (VEEP) earlier this year in an effort to reduce costs amid mounting financial pressures.

While the program saw strong participation, Humber said it “did not fully address the projected fiscal gap for 2026–27,” meaning further workforce reductions were necessary.

Employees had until March 9 to indicate their interest but noted that they “must still proceed with involuntary employee reductions.”

The college described the situation as “an exceptionally difficult time,” adding it would offer support to affected employees.

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The move comes as post-secondary institutions across Ontario face growing financial strain, driven in part by declining international student revenue, rising operational costs and a prolonged freeze on domestic tuition.

In a letter to the Humber community, president and CEO Ann Marie Vaughan said the institution continues to face “significant fiscal pressures” despite recent provincial funding.

“Unfortunately, we have arrived at the time when we must make more fundamental choices,” she wrote.

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The voluntary exit program, which was open to all full-time staff including executives, was introduced in an effort to minimize involuntary job losses.

Humber said it would assess participation levels before determining whether further cuts were required but has now confirmed layoffs have taken place.

Several colleges, including Seneca and Algonquin, have announced campus closures, while others, such as Sheridan College, have suspended dozens of programs.

Other institutions have also reduced staffing levels.

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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.

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“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.

“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.

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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.

“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.

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Neither the RCMP nor CSIS has yet responded to questions about the company. Global Affairs Canada has not responded to questions sent on Monday.

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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.

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.

Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca

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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.”

The video had French subtitles.

“I will follow his comments closely and comments, which I would expect in due course, from the board of directors,” Carney said.

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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.

The next day, Rousseau released a statement offering an apology in both languages.

2:16
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“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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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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.”

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.”

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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.

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.

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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.

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.”

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