Mount Allison University in Sackville, N.B., is closed Wednesday after a “concerning message” was found on campus the previous day.
In a statement, the university said the message referenced Feb. 11, 2026 and the school made the decision to close the campus “out of an abundance of caution.”
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The university said it notified RCMP as soon as the message was found and has increased patrols and security presence on campus.
All classes and on-campus activities are cancelled, and scheduled midterms are postponed until the next regularly scheduled class.
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Anyone who sees something suspicious is asked to call 911 and campus security at 506-364-2228.
“Campus Security will continue to be present, and the situation will remain under review. We will share further updates of when campus will re-open,” the university added.
As we piled into Saskatoon Fire Department Battalion Chief Dwayne Jobson’s truck, we set out to learn more about how the growing toxic drug crisis is causing devastation in Saskatoon.
Jobson took Global News on a ride-along to get a look at the crisis first-hand. A call came through for a response to an overdose within a few minutes of driving through the city.
Paramedics and firefighters were at the scene as we hopped out of the car.
“A lot of it comes down to what drug is on board. Sometimes it can come out of it fairly quickly, within seconds, and other times it takes a long time,” Jobson said.
While there are no official stats for 2026, he says the department is averaging around five to six drug-related calls per day.
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“The ones that are reported, there’ll be lots that go unreported because they have their own kits with them sometimes, so the group they’re with will administer the Narcan or naloxone and then it doesn’t get reported,” Jobson said.
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In 2025, the department responded to an average of 6.8 overdoses daily. That number peaked at this time last year when a deadly drug supply pushed it above 30.
“During that time frame, there were a lot of drug alerts that came out that gave us some detail on what was in the pills that were being taken,” Jobson said.
Jobson said he is worried something similar might happen again this year following two recent drug alerts in Saskatoon for medetomidine, a naloxone-resistant veterinary sedative.
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“Whenever you have drug alerts that come out with that sort of information, it really poses a danger to anyone that may be a drug user and knowing that it’s going to be a little tougher to have a better outcome at times.”
Jobson says things have changed over his three-plus decades on the job.
“Back when I first started, there was really no such thing as an overdose. We’d have issues with alcohol and a few party drugs, as they would say. By now, with the pill crisis, it’s an epidemic,” Jobson said.
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He says part of the reason for the increase is the city’s growing population.
To meet the new demand, the city has recently approved two new stations and the hiring of 20 new firefighters for one of the stations.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced that Canadian flags will be flown at half-mast for seven days on federal buildings following the school shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C.
Shawn Tuffnell says he punched a moose multiple times, gripping its neck, before shooting it to death to save his 70-year-old mother.
The 37-year-old Saskatchewan man says his fight with the animal took place in late January after hearing his mother, Angie Tuffnell, cry for help on her acreage near Bienfait, 220 kilometres southeast of Regina.
“(The moose) was just standing right over top of her, like the chest was directly above her,” Tuffnell recalled in an interview this week.
“I got out there really quick, otherwise he would have started stomping on her.”
Tuffnell said the Jan. 22 attack began when his mother went to the garage and saw the moose resting near a vent.
The animal stood up and chased her down, he said.
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Tuffnell screamed, hoping it would run away, but the moose didn’t leave.
He did the next best thing he could think of — he punched it in the face.
“I hit him right in the lip and cut his lip. That still didn’t work,” Tuffnell said.
He grabbed a yellow shovel and started whacking.
“Then he finally came at me. He didn’t like that yellow shovel,” he said.
The moose lunged at Tuffnell as he retreated back into the house. The animal was in the entryway, and Tuffnell gripped the top of its neck while punching it in the face.
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“All I could think was trying to blind him so he can’t find her outside,” he said.
Tuffnell started yelling for his mother’s boyfriend to wake up and grab a gun.
The boyfriend, hearing the pleas, went to Tuffnell and handed him a rifle, he said.
Tuffnell let go of the moose and shot its eye.
He then shot its other eye, and proceeded to fire 15 or 16 more bullets, he said.
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The moose fell to the ground. Tuffnell yelled at his mother to run into the garage.
“I reloaded three more times after that, just to make sure,” he said. “And I just kept shooting him in the same spot.”
Tuffnell drove his mother to hospital to stitch up her injured leg. Her calf was punctured when the moose lunged away from her and towards her son.
Tuffnell’s sister was working at the hospital when they showed up, he said.
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“It was definitely a family affair. It was a bit of a shock for her,” he said. “(The wound) just went through the skin and tissue. The muscle was perfectly fine.”
Tuffnell called Saskatchewan’s wildlife hotline to report what happened. Conservation officers came to remove the animal and bring it to Saskatoon for testing.
The Canadian Wildlife Health Co-operative said in a statement that it examined the adult male moose and found it in very poor condition.
The animal had no remaining fat stores, and its stomachs were full of an abnormal, low-quality food resembling partially digested straw.
It said the moose died from multiple gunshot wounds to the head.
“At this time, the reason for the moose’s poor condition and aggressive behaviour is unknown, and the investigation is still ongoing,” the co-operative said. “Tests for rabies virus and chronic wasting disease were both negative.”
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It said the moose was likely starving and seeking heat during a cold spell where temperatures plunged below -40 C.
Tuffnell said he recalled the moose being very skinny.
“I don’t know, being a younger moose, just learning how to survive,” he said.
Tuffnell, a hunter, said he’s been charged by a moose before on two separate occasions. In those cases, the animal either walked away or he shot his gun in the air to scare it off.
“But this guy was cornered, he was in survival mode,” he said.
His mother remains shaken by the attack.
“She’s not too keen on going outside in the dark anymore,” Tuffnell said.
Cleanup is underway after a military fuel tanker filled with thousands of litres of diesel overturned on a highway in the Northwest Territories.
A spokesperson for Joint Task Force North says the truck was supporting a military convoy between Edmonton and Yellowknife on Monday, when it lost control and tipped over near Kakisa, between Fort Providence and Enterprise.
It caused a slow fuel leak of roughly 2,900 litres of diesel, equivalent to the size of a small pool.
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The Canadian Armed Forces says the truck, which was carrying 15,000 litres of fuel, has been recovered.
Canadian Armed Forces personnel examine the scene after a military fuel tanker filled with thousands of litres of diesel overturned on a highway near Kakisa, N.W.T. in this Monday, Feb. 9, 2026 handout photo.
Credit: Canadian Armed Forces
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Nobody was hurt, but the truck driver and passenger were taken to hospital as a precaution.
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The spokesperson says the spill has been contained and the remaining fuel transferred.
RCMP say road conditions and weather are believed to have been factors, and a spokesperson with the territorial government says it’s aware of the spill.
Leadership candidate for the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), Christine Fréchette, is promising to revive the popular fast-track immigration program that her government recently terminated — the Programme de l’expérience québécoise — also known as the PEQ.
Fréchette says if she’s elected to replace outgoing Premier François Legault, she would reopen the PEQ for two more years.
Rival candidate Bernard Drainville has also pledged to introduce a grandfather clause for those already in the process.
“It’s urgent, because there’s a lot of uncertainty,” Drainville said. “People are worried. Entrepreneurs are worried.”
Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada said she was reassured by the candidates’ softer tone, emphasizing the importance of retaining talent and businesses in the city.
Pressure has intensified on Quebec Immigration Minister Jean-François Roberge as opposition parties and members of his own government openly question the decision to abolish the program.
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During question period this week, Québec solidaire MNA Guillaume Cliche-Rivard accused Roberge of contradicting himself after weeks of defending the elimination of the program, which offered certain immigrants a fast track to permanent residency.
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Roberge has said scrapping the PEQ was necessary to protect the French language and better manage immigration levels. The move, announced last November, plunged thousands of international students and temporary foreign workers already in the system into uncertainty, triggering protests from affected individuals, business groups and educational institutions.
“We were not given the chance to stay,” said one temporary foreign worker at a recent protest in Montreal. “Now I am here, and I don’t have any future.”
Opposition parties say the conflicting messages have exposed a lack of leadership within the government.
“The immigration minister is now totally alone,” said Liberal immigration critic André Morin. “It doesn’t work.”
Interim Liberal Leader Marc Tanguay questioned who is ultimately in charge of immigration policy, while Morin urged Roberge to act immediately and introduce a grandfather clause.
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Health Minister Sonia Bélanger also weighed in earlier, saying she had pressured Roberge to make exceptions for health-care workers, describing his hardline approach as concerning.
“In the health-care system, we need all of our workers,” Bélanger said.
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Québec solidaire is calling on the CAQ to pause the abolition of the PEQ until the leadership race concludes, arguing the government itself appears divided.
“So now what we’re seeing is that they don’t even agree among themselves,” said Québec solidaire co-spokesperson Sol Zanetti.
Roberge has so far resisted the mounting pressure, portraying the disagreement as an internal debate. But critics say the growing dissent raises questions about how long he can maintain his position on the issue.
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An organization that represents pea, lentil and bean growers in Saskatchewan says it supports a new federal investment intended to spur diversification among its trading partners.
Canada’s agriculture minister announced Tuesday a $75-million investment over five years to expand export activities into new, non-traditional markets and support sectors most affected by trade barriers.
“This added investment will help our sector access new markets, strengthen interprovincial trade and build more resilience in the face of global challenges,” said Heath MacDonald, minister of agriculture and agri-food, at an unrelated policy breakfast in Ottawa.
The program builds on the existing AgriMarketing Program and adds funding for two new streams: national industry associations and small and medium-sized enterprises.
Organizations can apply for funding to expand export activities, with priority given to sectors most impacted by trade barriers, such as pulses and canola, according to a news release from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
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“There are opportunities all over the world, but we can’t spread ourselves too thin. We have to target our markets and go after them,” said MacDonald.
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The federal government’s investment is being well-received by the national industry association representing pulse growers.
“Any investment in helping us diversify and helping us find new avenues, new uses, new ways to put more pulses on more plates around the world is something that we support,” said Jeff English, vice-president of public affairs at Pulse Canada.
In January, Canada struck a trade deal with China to remove the 100 per cent tariffs on Canadian yellow peas, effective March 1 through the end of the year.
China imposed this tariff in March 2025 in response to Canada’s previously imposed 100 per cent tariff on Chinese electric vehicles and a 25 per cent import tax on steel and aluminum.
But India’s 30 per cent tariff on Canadian yellow peas remains in place, something local pulse producer associations say is a reason the industry needs to diversify its trading partners.
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“The more diversified we are, the less of an impact that will be, and we’ll have stronger prices for farmers at the end of the day,” said Carl Potts, executive director of Saskatchewan Pulse Growers.
Potts said his association is exploring strategies to tap into other markets worldwide, including the Indo-Pacific and Latin America regions.
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Alongside diversifying its trading partners, the organization is also focused on increasing demand for other products in new markets, such as pet food and animal feed. This, according to Potts, was a strategy that helped bolster pea imports into China 20 years ago.
“At the time, they might have been importing maybe 200,000 tonnes a year, but we worked with local industry and consultants in the market to help develop more demand for peas,” said Potts.
“We’ve grown that into a market of over two million tonnes in some areas.”
Alongside finding new markets, the pulse grower associations say they are also continuing to advocate for strengthened relations with current trading partners and look forward to new opportunities to do so — from CUSMA renegotiations to a potential India trip by Prime Minister Mark Carney.
“As the government does its job in terms of building a stronger relationship with India, we’re doing things in lockstep as well,” said English.
The head of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said on Tuesday he expected Canada would announce it was certifying some Gulfstream business jets that had been delayed for years, resolving an issue highlighted by President Donald Trump.
“I think we’ve resolved the issues with Canada,” FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford told reporters on Capitol Hill after a meeting with lawmakers. “My understanding is Transport Canada will announce the Gulfstream certifications that have been delayed for years.”
Bedford said he expected Canada would announce the certifications for the jets produced by the U.S. company later this week.
A spokesperson for Canada’s Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon said on Tuesday that regulator Transport Canada “continues to work with Gulfstream and the FAA on certification of their aircraft.”
MacKinnon did not answer questions from reporters about the Gulfstream issue while heading into a cabinet meeting in Ottawa.
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General Dynamics-owned Gulfstream did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Last month, Trump said in a social media post that the U.S. was planning to decertify Canadian-made Bombardier Global Express business jets and threatened 50% import tariffs on all aircraft made in Canada until the country’s regulator certified a number of planes produced by U.S. rival Gulfstream.
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His declaration came amid broader tensions between the neighboring countries after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, citing U.S. trade policy, urged nations to accept the end of the rules-based global order that Washington had once championed.
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Trump also said he was planning to “decertifying their Bombardier Global Expresses, and all Aircraft made in Canada” until the Gulfstream planes were certified.
That threat, if it had been carried out, would have a drastic impact on U.S. carriers like American Airlines and Delta Air Lines which rely on Canadian-made airplanes for many of their regional services.
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However, aviation experts have expressed doubts that Trump has the authority to unilaterally decertify Canadian aircraft.
Canadian officials said last month they were working to resolve the aircraft certification dispute with Trump.
Airline officials said if the U.S. could decertify airplanes for economic reasons, it would give other countries a powerful weapon and could put the entire aviation system at risk.
Trump has since highlighted other issues with Canada. On Monday, he threatened to not allow a $4.7 billion bridge between Detroit and Canada from opening unless Canada agreed to trade talks.
More than 100 First Nations and First Nations organizations have signed a joint statement to B.C. Premier David Eby to uphold the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.
The Act, DRIPA, was unanimously passed by all parties in the legislature in 2019, with the provincial government stating that “B.C. is the first province to put in place the declaration on the rights of Indigenous peoples, to bring the UN declaration into law.”
The government is looking at amending DRIPA after a landmark court ruling in December that determined it was legally enforceable and not just symbolic.
On Dec. 8, the BC Conservatives asked Eby to reconvene the legislature immediately to repeal the act, and Eby said he wants to amend DRIPA, not scrap it, and is in no rush to call back the House before Feb. 18.
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On Jan. 29, First Nations say that the province issued a letter of notification regarding potential amendments to the Declaration Act and Interpretation Act anticipated for the spring legislative session and invited First Nations to participate in an expedited consultation and co-operation process, subject to signing a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).
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They said that the First Nations leaders who signed the NDA received materials from the provincial government.
“The province’s actions risk pulling all who call B.C. home back to a time of blame, conflict, increased litigation, and threats of violence against Indigenous peoples,” First Nations said in a statement.
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In the joint statement, First Nations say that despite recent court decisions that reaffirm the “crucial need to consult and negotiate, a negative narrative has begun to take hold.”
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They said this narrative wrongly blames First Nations for uncertainty, while ignoring the fact that B.C. was largely settled without treaties.
“If allowed to shape public discourse or government decision-making, this narrative risks pulling our province backward — toward a time marked by blame, conflict, increased litigation, and even real threats of violence against Indigenous peoples. That is not a future any of us should accept,” the statement reads.
“Recent calls to amend the Declaration Act or appeal court rulings are rooted in this fear-based response. They suggest that the framework we have built together is the problem, when in fact it has been part of the solution. These actions would not create certainty — they would slow progress, increase litigation, and grind projects to a halt as First Nations are once again forced to defend our rights and interests through the courts.”
First Nations say that B.C. can walk two paths — one of negotiation, collaboration and shared prosperity, or one that leads backward to a place of uncertainty and conflict.
Demorizi has been the focus of a U.S. federal arrest warrant issued on Oct. 28, 2025.
According to the FBI, Demorizi was wanted for allegedly assisting the international drug trafficking organization locate a witness who was later murdered.
He faces numerous charges, including conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine, conspiracy to commit murder in connection with a continuing criminal enterprise and drug crime, and murder in connection with a continuing criminal enterprise and drug crime.
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In addition, Demorizi has also been charged with conspiracy to export cocaine, conspiracy to tamper with a witness, victim, or an informant, and tampering with a witness, victim or informant.
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Alleged drug kingpin Ryan Wedding arrested
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The 35-year-old man is the latest to be arrested in connection with Wedding, a former Olympian, who himself was arrested last month.
In November, eight Canadians were arrested as part of the ongoing investigation into Wedding.
Wedding pleaded not guilty in January to charges of becoming a cocaine-smuggling kingpin responsible for multiple drug-related murders.
He has been accused of leading a transnational drug trafficking network and working with Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel to transport hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia through Mexico to the U.S. and Canada.
Wedding was on the FBI’s “Top 10 Most Wanted” list and the U.S. government had offered a US$15 million reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction.
