The Saskatoon Police Service has confirmed the death of one of its officers.

“I can confirm the Saskatoon Police Service is grieving the sudden death of a member,” police spokesperson Owen Fortosky told Global News on Thursday.

Authorities confirmed that the officer was off duty at the time the death occurred.

While the cause of death and the officer’s identity are currently unknown, condolences from members of the community have already started to pour in.

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The Prince Albert Police Association shared a message expressing sympathy for Saskatoon officers and those affected.

“We are deeply saddened to hear the news our brothers and sisters at the Saskatoon Police Service received today,” the association wrote in a release on Thursday. “Our thoughts are with you all and we extend our deepest condolences to the friends, colleagues and loved ones affected at this time.”

Regina Paramedics with Heart also posted a statement of support.

“Regina EMS & Honour Guard are deeply saddened to hear of the loss of one of their police officers. Our hearts are with you all in this devastating loss,” the group wrote.

The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) also issued a statement to the police service, the officer’s family and the broader community.

The FSIN said the loss is deeply felt and acknowledged the difficult work carried out by police officers, adding that elders and cultural knowledge keepers would pray for those affected.

The matter is currently under investigation.

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Ontario’s education minister has directed the province’s school boards to stream Team Canada’s Olympic hockey games during classroom times so students can “rally together and cheer on some of Canada’s best.”

Premier Doug Ford announced the idea in a social media post on Wednesday evening, saying he had told Education Minister Paul Calandra to work out how schools could make it possible.

“To help everyone get in the spirit of the games, I’ve directed the Minister of Education to make sure all Ontario students are able to watch the remaining Team Canada hockey games that take place during school hours, starting with tomorrow’s game,” the premier wrote.

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The Canadian women’s hockey team plays its gold medal match against the USA at 1:10 p.m. on Thursday, while the men’s semi-final against Finland will be played at 10:40 a.m. on Friday.

Calandra confirmed Thursday morning he had moved on Ford’s request and told schools they must let students watch the games.

“In recognition of the Olympics and this exciting time for Team Canada, I am directing all school boards to let students tune in to both the Women’s and Men’s hockey games during school hours,” he said in his own social media post.

“Big games like these aren’t just about the outcome, they’re a chance to rally together and cheer on some of Canada’s best.”

The Winter Olympics wrap up on Feb. 22.

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An Alberta-based legal technology company says it is using artificial intelligence to help personal injury claimants navigate the court system.

Painworth, founded in 2020, recently began offering personalized AI-assisted representation for accident victims seeking injury settlements.

Mike Zouhri, one of three founders, said the company’s mission is to improve access to justice for people who may struggle to afford or reach traditional legal services.

“There’s a myriad of reasons why people have difficulty getting access to justice,” he told Global News in an interview, pointing to rural and remote communities, mobility issues, literacy barriers and what he called “bad case economics,” where a claim may be worth money but not enough to attract a lawyer.

The company previously provided AI-powered back-end tools to law firms, including software that can process thousands of pages of medical records and generate chronologies and draft documents.

Its newer offering adds what the company calls DAVID, an AI system that interacts directly with clients seeking representation. DAVID is available 24-7 and can chat in almost every language.

“In Alberta, the Law Society has given us permission to operate as a law firm, which means that we can now represent people in Alberta, even though we’re non-lawyers,” Zouhri said.

He said every represented file will be overseen by a human lawyer, as required by the regulator.

“Anyone who seeks representation will still have a human ultimately making the final calls,” he said. “These are human attorneys who could lose their bar license. They are ultimately responsible for the file.”

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In an email, the Law Society of Alberta said it was unable to comment on specifics regarding the company, but that it must adhere to a number of conditions to ensure the protection of the public.

“Those conditions include the Law Society’s ability to request information about a participant’s operations and the Law Society’s ability to conduct audits to ensure ongoing compliance with conditions.”

The personalized AI-assisted representation has been operating since December. Zouhri said no case has yet reached trial or a final resolution, noting that personal injury cases typically take years to move through the courts.

“Statistically, traditional law firms get resolution on any particular personal injury file in about five years,” he said.

Under the model, initial intake with the AI system is free. If a client signs a retainer agreement, the company charges a flat 28 per cent contingency fee, which Zouhri said is lower than the 33 per cent or more commonly charged by traditional firms.

“We have a flat, which means it never ratchets up or down. It’s just flat, 28 per cent,” he said.

Zouhri said the idea for the company came from his own experience after being hit by a drunk driver in 2019.

“I’m patient zero. I’m the alpha tester number one,” he said.

He explained how he faced long delays and little communication on his file.

“A huge and common frustration is ‘why won’t my lawyer get back to me? I don’t know what’s going on with my case’,” Zouhri said.

The introduction of AI into legal representation raises questions about privacy and accuracy — according to Kyle Wilson, a BC based tech expert — particularly with large language models, or LLMs, which can generate human-like text.

Wilson said the concept could be beneficial if proper safeguards are in place.

“My reaction to this is that it is definitely interesting. And I do believe that it could be of serious benefit to people,” Wilson told Global News in an interview.

He said it is crucial that a human remains “in the loop,” especially given documented cases in the United States of lawyers submitting AI-generated filings that contained fabricated legal citations.

“In the U.S. there have been hundreds of hallucinated citations, where lawyers have used it to assist them and then blindly submitted it to the court and it had invented laws and citations,” Wilson said.

Wilson also raised concerns about how commercial large language models handle user data.

He said clarity on non-retention agreements or something similar to ensure that clients’ data is protected and not trained upon is important.

Zouhri said Painworth does not train its system on client case material and described each file as isolated.

“All of that stuff is completely black boxed. The [files] don’t mix,” he said, comparing it to locked filing cabinets that cannot share information with one another.

He also said the system uses structured databases and proprietary tools to avoid fabricating case law. “David has no ability to hallucinate that whatsoever,” Zouhri said.

Broader fears about AI should be balanced with recognition of its potential benefits, Wilson said.

“There is a lot of good that can occur out of AI,” Wilson said. But he cautioned that large language models are “kind of like stochastic parrots” that can convincingly generate text without understanding it.

Painworth’s DAVID remains in its early stages. Zouhri said the goal is to lower barriers to legal help.

“Access to justice,” he said. “That’s the mission.”

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YouTube CEO vows to crack down on ‘AI slop’ and deepfakes

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Canada’s justice department is fighting to prevent “sensitive” national security information from emerging at the upcoming murder trial of four Indian men accused of gunning down a B.C. Sikh leader in 2023.

In an application to the Federal Court, lawyers representing the Attorney General of Canada asked for permission to withhold some evidence at the prosecution of the alleged killers of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Court documents released to Global News do not specify which details they are seeking to keep confidential, but they argued that releasing them “would be injurious to international relations and national security.”

The case against the suspected killers of the Sikh temple president is being closely watched because of allegations the government of India ordered the murder as part of a campaign to silence its political opponents abroad.

The claims, first made public in September 2023 by then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, set off a diplomatic rift between Canada and India. Ottawa later expel Indian diplomats and consular officials from the country.

Since taking office, Prime Minister Mark Carney has reengaged with India and sought to expand trade relations. Canadian Sikhs have called that a betrayal, given India’s alleged targeting of them.

It is not unusual for federal lawyers to ask a judge to allow them to refrain from disclosing national security information in trials. Often, it occurs when the information in question was provided by a foreign agency.

“In Canada, the Attorney General has the power to apply to the Federal Court for an order to, in essence, protect certain types of information from being released publicly and to the defence,” said University of Calgary law professor Michael Nesbitt.

“Such applications are neither unusual nor uncommon, and are governed by law and court oversight, while the defence has the opportunity to challenge the application,” said Nesbitt, a leading national security law expert.

“We see this sort of application a lot in the anti-terrorism and national security realm, but often also with respect to cases where it is necessary to protect information associated with undercover operators, informants, or information received from Canada’s allies where such international cooperation has occurred.”

Canadian Justice officials filed their court application on Dec. 24, 2025.

A Department of Justice spokesperson said the Attorney General of Canada was seeking an order under a section of the Canada Evidence Act “confirming the prohibition of disclosure of certain information.”

“We cannot provide further detail at this time.”

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The B.C. Prosecution Service, which is prosecuting the four accused, declined to comment on the Federal Court case. A spokesperson said the case was in the pretrial phase, which is subject to a publication ban.

2:26
Wiretap evidence sheds light on Nijjar murder

Nijjar was shot dead in his pickup truck on June 18, 2023, as he was leaving Surrey’s Guru Nanak Sikh Temple. The RCMP believes India tapped mob boss Lawrence Bishnoi to arrange the killing.

In May 2024, the two suspected shooters, Amandeep Singh and Karanpreet Singh, the alleged getaway driver Karan Brar and a fourth suspect, Kamalpreet Singh, were arrested in Alberta and Ontario.

They have been charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Neither Lawrence Bishnoi, who is imprisoned in India, nor his Canadian lieutenant at the time, Goldy Brar, have been charged in the murder.

The lawyers representing Amandeep Singh, Karanpreet Singh and Karan Brar, declined to comment on the matter. Kamalpreet Singh’s lawyer did not respond to emails from Global News.

India has said it has seen no evidence of its role in the plot.

A Canadian citizen who immigrated from India, Nijjar was a leader in the Khalistan separatist movement that seeks independence for India’s Sikh majority Punjab state. Although India called him a terrorist, he faced no charges in Canada.

At the time he was killed, Nijjar was organizing a symbolic referendum that asked members of the Sikh diaspora if they supported Khalistan independence. The other suspected targets of India’s campaign were also mostly Khalistan activists.

The initial tip implicating high-level Indian officials in the killing came from communications intercepted by the United Kingdom and shared with Canada by British intelligence, sources have told Global News.

Conversations mentioning targets in Canada were also picked up by the FBI during its investigation into a similar plot in which an Indian intelligence officer hired a criminal to kill a pro-Khalistan activist in the U.S.

2:05
Canada shifts trade focus to India after Carney’s latest overseas mission

Such intelligence is often shared with allies on the understanding that it cannot be used in court, said national security law expert Leah West, an associate professor at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs in Ottawa.

“It is typical, in cases where the police receive information from other intelligence services during an investigation, for the Attorney General to seek to have that information protected from disclosure,” she said.

“The basis for seeking to withhold it is referred to as national security privilege. The argument for that is that if disclosed, the information could reveal means and methods, investigative interests, or personnel of the service and doing so would be detrimental to Canadian national security.”

A judge has to confirm the privilege, she said. In addition, the information in question can’t be used against an accused, and anything that could point to the innocence of a defendant must be disclosed, she added.

State actors such as China, India and Iran have long sought to intimidate and silence members of Canada’s diaspora communities, a practice known as transnational repression.

“Transnational repression is emerging as one of the most serious yet least understood threats to security and democracy in Canada,” said a report released on Tuesday by the Montreal Institute for Global Security.

“As foreign states increasingly target individuals on Canadian soil, through intimidation, surveillance, digital harassment, coercion of family members abroad, and, in some cases, plans for physical harm, Canada faces a challenge that strikes at the core of its democratic values and institutions.”

Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca

At Station10 hair salon, it’s business as usual.

But a recent ruling from the Quebec human rights tribunal has put the small business at the centre of a larger legal battle and social debate.

The salon was ordered to pay $500 to Alexe Frédéric Migneault, who filed a complaint after being required to select either male or female when booking an appointment online.

“It’s just the way our website was built in 2023; it didn’t include a non-gender option,” said Station10 co-owner Alexis Labrecque. “We added it a few months later, it’s not something that you can do very quickly. But for them, it wasn’t enough.”

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Despite the changes, Quebec’s human rights tribunal ruled in favour of the complainant — a decision Labrecque claims could affect other small businesses.

“I think the big story here is that now any salon or any business that requires clients to select man or female are at risk of being sued,” he said.

But the person who filed the complaint considers the ruling an important step forward for non binary people in Quebec, one that sets a major precedent in the legal system.

“Non-binary people are virtually non-existent in the legal corpus,” said Migneault. “There are some brief mentions here and there, but almost no decisions that treat and study the inherent struggles that non-binary people face just to exist in plain sight.”

Migneault believes the decision goes beyond just one business and reflects broader recognition

“We are not more than 5,000 [non-binary people], we are 0.15 per cent of the population,” he added. “But we still deserve a place to exist and participate as active members of society.”

The salon hasn’t ruled out appealing the decision.

It has until March 5 to contest the ruling.

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For generations, Métis stories have been passed down orally from elder to youth. But a new book seeks to change this, making sure the stories are not just heard but also remembered.

The book published by Métis Nation—Saskatchewan is titled Self-Determination through the Eyes of Lii Vyeu Moond, Kihtêyak, Ąłnëdhë, and features the stories of 12 Métis elders from across Saskatchewan.

“We’ve been blessed by our ancestors, and we carry that strength through our languages that we speak, through our stories, our history, how we can be so resilient,” said Norman Fleury, an elder featured in the book.

The stories feature the elders’ upbringings, experiences, and life lessons and explore a range of themes, from resilience to recognition.

The book also contains elders’ experiences at residential schools and the challenges they faced in grappling with their identity.

“It really focuses on how the Métis people have been struggling for hundreds of years to really be acknowledged and recognized,” said Dorothy Myo, Métis-Nations Saskatchewan Self-government deputy chief.

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Myo worked extensively on the project, from idea generation to artwork commissioning and publishing.

Each of the 12 elders represents a different Métis Nation—Saskatchewan region, said Myo, adding that the independent government first started collecting stories two years ago as part of a separate project on self-governance.

“We’re so excited about the book because really this is the first Native elders book that has ever been published and hopefully not the last,” said Myo.

For Emile Janvier, an elder whose story is featured in the book, sharing his story is integral for educating children on what happened to his generation.

“I went to boarding school, and we went to hell just to get an education, and a lot of kids don’t realize that,” said Janvier.

“They have to know what we went through.”

The book features a mix of traditional language and translations, something Myo said is a natural way to present the elders’ lessons while also preserving meaning.

“The elders share words, but there is so much behind those words that really will take a lifetime of learning for us to be able to understand,” said Myo.

As the stories are now becoming public, many of the elders celebrating the book’s launch Wednesday in Saskatoon say it also helps them connect with their grandchildren.

“They, in turn, can be telling those stories through the voices of their ancestors,” said Fleury, adding that the stories are a nod to the “whole heart” of the Métis nation.

Elders say they also recognize that while the book may be the first of its kind, it will not be the last.

“There are so many stories that have not been told. You have very few elders here. We have so many other elders that want to tell their stories,” said Fleury.

Métis Nation—Saskatchewan says the book will be made available for purchase in stores in the near future.

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The City of Kelowna, B.C., says 75 parking meters were recently tagged with fraudulent QR codes.

Dave Duncan, Kelowna’s parking services manager, said the decals were placed directly over the tap reader on the machines.

City officials say the QR codes were not authorized by either the municipality or its mobile payment provider, PayByPhone. While the stickers appeared to advertise a convenient way to pay for parking, they actually redirected drivers to a fraudulent site.

“We don’t use QR codes on our pay stations or anywhere near our equipment because we’ve had the occasional issue of QR codes being placed on our metres,” Duncan said.

The decals were reported on Feb. 12 by city staff and within hours city crews had removed all 75. So far, officials believe no one fell victim to the scam. Because the decals featured what appeared to be a copy of the PayByPhone logo, the city notified the company, which was able to have the fake website blocked.

2:45
New QR code scam costs Calgary couple $10K

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Kelowna is not alone. A similar QR code scam was recently discovered in parking lots in Whistler, and last August police in Penticton warned the public about the same scheme.

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“We see this not just with parking meters but other places QR codes are used. It’s often an opportunity for scammers to send you somewhere else versus the actual official space,” said Neesha Hothi with the Better Business Bureau.

The Better Business Bureau recommends avoiding QR codes on public equipment when possible or paying with cash, when available, as another way to reduce risk.

“Ensure that you go specifically to their home app if you’ve got that app on your phone, or if they have a website you can go to directly,” Hothi said.

Duncan says city security cameras captured three people applying the decals around 7 p.m. on Feb. 11. The RCMP have not confirmed whether any arrests have been made.

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A government sign outside the Cottonwoods Extended Care home in Kelowna, B.C.,  promises a bigger and better facility is on the way.

However, plans to replace the 50-year-old care centre are no longer moving forward, at least not for now.

“We were absolutely shocked when we turned to the capital project section of the budget,” said Gavin Dew, Conservative MLA for Kelowna-Mission.  “I’m very concerned about the impact for seniors on access to long-term care. We badly need more capacity.”

Tuesday’s provincial budget revealed the indefinite pause on construction.

The news comes a year and half after former health minister Adrian Dix announced the much-needed replacement, saying then it was long overdue.

“Something we’ve needed to do, let’s face it, for a very long time,” Dix said in Kelowna on June 28, 2024. “Cottonwoods has always been a high priority. I wish, we would have been happy to do it sooner but we’re where we are at now.”

Dew questioned the province’s reversal on a project it deemed to be ‘high priority’.

“Adrian Dix came to Kelowna in an election year and promised to get Cottonwoods done and now that the election is over, they’ve abandoned seniors in Kelowna, just as they’ve abandoned seniors all across British Columbia,” Dew said.

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The construction on a new four-storey care home at the existing Cottonwoods site was to begin this year.

It would have also added nearly 100 new beds, bringing the total to 314.

1:56
B.C. falling behind in long-term care beds

But the Cottonwoods replacement project wasn’t the only one shelved in the budget. Six others in B.C. were also shelved due to what the government calls significant and unsustainable costs.

In an email to Global News, the finance ministry stated, “In some cases, the costs have increased to as high as $1.8 million per bed. We are exploring approaches like standard design guidelines, modular construction options, and other ways to deliver high quality facilities in a faster and more cost-effective way.”

“We have a desperate shortage of long term care beds in this province,” Dew said. “We have seniors who are going to emergency rooms because they’re not able to get care in an appropriate residential environment.”

B.C.’s seniors advocate also expressed concerns over the projects being paused at a time when the senior population is only growing.

“We need to urgently build long term care. We’re currently short 2,000 beds, while 7,000 people are waiting,” Dan Levitt said.

“Fast forward a decade from now, when one in four British Columbians will be over the age of 65 and by then, the ministry of health predicts we’re going to need 16,000 beds. So now is not a time to be slowing down investments in long term care.”

The province did not provide any timeline as to when those long-promised projects may be revived.

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As some Ontarians remain without a family doctor, a new study shows not having one can increase your risk of death, but it found the risk is even higher for those with multiple chronic conditions the longer they’re without.

According to the study, those with multiple chronic conditions who went without a family doctor for two or more years had 12-fold higher odds of death, and a nearly 16-fold higher chance of premature death.

“So people with multiple chronic conditions who do have a family doctor compared to similar people in all other ways with multiple chronic conditions and the only real difference being they don’t have a doctor, (of) those two groups, there was double the risk of dying in the next year,” said Jonathan Fitzsimon, lead author of the study.

The study was published in the Health Affairs Scholar journal this month and saw more than 12 million Ontarians’ health records analyzed.

Of that 12 million, approximately 90 per cent or 11.5 million had a family doctor, with 83 per cent having had their physician for five years or more. The remaining 1.2 million did not have a family doctor, with the study finding roughly one-third being without one for five years or more, and 7.4 per cent without a physician for 15 or more years.

That’s a problem because when those who may need that primary care don’t get it, it can mean more burden on the health-care system.

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“Maybe there needs to be a focus as well, and some degree of priority and additional work on those unattached patients who have multiple chronic conditions, because they’re the ones who are at the most risk individually, but they also have the highest burden on our hospital system,” Fitzsimon said.

A separate study conducted by Fitzsimon and four other researchers found prolonged periods without primary care were “significantly associated” with increased health-care costs. Those with high comorbidities without a family doctor for a long period of time had a median cost of about $8,100 annually.

2:28
Health Matters: 6M Canadians still do not have access to primary care, survey suggests

He noted the study also showed the risk for those with multiple health issues went up in the years after they lost their family doctor, especially within the first five years.

“People with chronic conditions, well-controlled, well-managed, their medications ordered, their prescriptions refilled on time, and then they lose their family doctor and now they’re having to manage these chronic conditions independently or without professional support,” Fitzsimon said.

“That leads to more emergency department visits, more hospital visits, and what we also found now in this new research, a higher association with mortality.”

Fitzsimon applauded efforts by the provincial government to get Ontarians access, noting their Primary Care Action Plan, but said action should still be taken on ensuring care gets to those who may need it the most.

Dr. Tara Kiran, a family physician at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, said not having a family doctor can pose added issues when a patient has several health issues.

“You end up going for a lot of your care to walk-in clinics or emergency departments, and those settings are actually designed to just deal with an immediate issue,” Kiran said. “They don’t provide ongoing follow-up, and it’s not really their job to manage chronic conditions over time.”

She said while these facilities can refer you to specialists, such as an endocrinologist for diabetes, it would only manage “one part of you.”

“Very different from a family doctor that manages the whole of you and balances all of those chronic conditions and your many needs,” she added.

While Kiran agrees with the need to get those with chronic conditions a family doctor first, it can be difficult to ensure they are reached due to barriers they may face.

She said the focus needs to be getting everyone care.

“In theory, we should be trying to prioritize, but in practice that’s hard and that’s why I also support the efforts to just ensure that everyone has one (a family doctor) because if we get that to everyone, that will include the people who are complex too,” Kiran said.

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