Kelowna, B.C., business owner David Lea is expressing frustration at ongoing social disorder plaguing the city.

“I’ve never seen it worse,” said Lea, who’s operated a business in Kelowna for 30 years.

Lea owns Toshido Mixed Martial Arts in Rutland, where he says he deals with frequent problems.

“It’s just a constant infestation of feces, crack pipes, syringes, garbage — you know, it’s just, it’s an ongoing concern,” Lea said. “It makes doing business so much harder, so much more expensive.”

Lea said the latest incident happened on Thursday, when a big mess was left in front of his martial arts studio.

“It was a disaster,” Lea said. “My kids class was starting at 4:00. I got here at 3:30 and there was smashed crack pipes everywhere. There’s syringes, garbage. They had a big fire right up on our main entrance.”

On Thursday, the City of Kelowna announced its latest response to the ongoing issues: temporary overnight security patrols.

“We have a private security company under the guidance of the city, who are out patrolling in those overnight hours,” said Darren Caul, the city’s community safety director.

“This private security company is two individuals who are able to patrol the back alleys and and the streets, notify RCMP should there be crimes in progress.”

Frustrated business operators have long called for overnight patrols.

While many welcome the new measure, some aren’t sure how effective a ‘temporary’ program will be, one that’s expected to be in place for only several months.

“You know, ‘temporary,’ the word always kind of scares me a little bit. But I think it’s a step in the right direction,” said Todd Daniels, owner of Gallery Streetwear in downtown Kelowna.

The city will use data from RCMP, bylaw enforcement and the security team to determine where it’s most needed, but Caul said for now, the city is zeroing in on one area.

“For the moment the focus is on the downtown, because this is one of the areas that is where there is an acute need at this time,” Caul said.

Lea said the acute need also exists in Rutland and is calling for the same resources to be deployed there, too.

“We should be getting that kind of attention that the downtown people are getting. It’s that simple,” Lea said.

Caul said it will deploy overnight security to Rutland based on the data it’s regularly reviewing.

“Through that data and that daily exchange of information between security, bylaw services and the RCMP, where those focal points are, we will shift,” Caul said. “And over time, should we see a hot spot emerge elsewhere in the city, we would redeploy that security team to that hot spot.”

Lea said he feels businesses in Rutland are being left behind.

“If they don’t start doing something, we’re going to have to,” Lea said. “And I really don’t think that’s good for anybody, but we’re being left with no other option.”

With data-driven deployment of resources, Caul encouraged residents to always report crime to police.

“It’s really important for citizens to consistently report crimes that come up because if the police don’t know what’s happening, the police can’t go,” Caul said. “So through consistent reporting by the public, that then informs the data that drives deployment.”

The $16,000 monthly program is being funded through the city’s public safety levy.

If effective, it could be expanded.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Tackling health misinformation and rebuilding public trust are top priorities for Canada’s incoming chief public health officer Dr. Joss Reimer.

In an interview Friday, the day her three-year appointment to the role was made public, the Manitoba native said it’s critical for the federal government to take a proactive approach to countering false information.

“One of the biggest challenges with health misinformation is the speed at which it changes, because it doesn’t take a lot of time to come up with a lie,” she said.

She acknowledged that trust in institutions, including health information, was eroded during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Because there was so much difficulty, people were losing jobs and income, people were being separated from loved ones. And whether or not those were right decisions, it was hard,” she said.

“And so we have a lot of trust-building that we’re going to need to do that’s going to take years.”

The pandemic thrust public health officials across the country into the spotlight. Dr. Theresa Tam, Reimer’s predecessor in the job, became a household name as she gave near-daily updates for months on end to Canadians who were anxiously trying to stay on top of shifting epidemiological information and public health advice.

Tam retired in June after eight years in the role.

Reimer also had a public role during the pandemic as chief medical officer for the Winnipeg health authority. She was also the medical lead for Manitoba’s COVID-19 vaccine implementation task force.

Health Minister Marjorie Michel noted in a statement that Reimer joins the Public Health Agency at a critical time.

She said Canada is facing “a resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, the threats posed by avian influenza A (H5N1), HIV and tuberculosis, the ongoing impacts of the illegal drug crisis and the harmful impacts of false health information.”

Reimer said she has a unique perspective on the measles outbreak.

“I come from a small town which is part of the measles outbreak and where we have seen a fair bit of vaccine hesitancy. And we need to have partnerships from on the ground, from community leaders all the way up to the federal government,” she said.

The measles outbreak has gone on long enough that Canada has lost the measles elimination status it had held since 1998, something that public health experts across the country say is alarming. The United States and Mexico are at risk of losing their status as well.

Reimer said it’s not a shock that measles cases are on the rise, given how “incredibly infectious” the disease is and “given that there is more misinformation and more vaccine hesitancy.”

Canadian health officials have warned that misinformation is not limited to social media.

In December, Michel told The Canadian Press that American health institutions are no longer reliable sources of information for Canadians, since the Trump administration gutted funding to many research and scientific institutions and began promoting false information about vaccines.

Michel said at the time that U.S. President Donald Trump “slapped us (in) our face” and changed the long-standing relationship between the two nations when he took office just over a year ago.

Reimer said Canada needs to stand on its own and ensure it’s sharing trustworthy information.

“I know that there are still really amazing people in the American system doing wonderful work, and so I think that there’s a lot of ways that we can continue to work together,” she said.

Reimer has a master’s degree in public health and has conducted research on sexually transmitted diseases and drug-related harms.

Nancy Hamzawi, the Public Health Agency of Canada’s president, said she looks forward to working with Reimer.

“At a time when strong, science-driven leadership has never been more important, I am confident that her vision and dedication will help advance the public health and well-being of Canadians,” Hamzawi said in a press release.

Reimer is the past president of the Canadian Medical Association and during her tenure delivered a formal apology to Indigenous Peoples for the harms caused by the medical profession.

Dr. Margot Burnell, the Canadian Medical Association’s current president, said Reimer was a source of calm and measured leadership for Manitobans during the pandemic.

At the CMA, Reimer “led the fight against false health information and advocated strongly for solutions to improve access to care for everyone in Canada,” Burnell said.

Reimer is set to begin her term on April 1.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

Nurses at Manitoba’s second-largest hospital have declared it too dangerous to work in and are discouraging union members from accepting jobs or shifts there.

The Manitoba Nurses Union says 94 per cent of its members at St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg have voted in favour of what they call “grey listing” the facility due to serious safety concerns.

Union president Darlene Jackson says members are tired of working in an environment where security issues are acknowledged but not being resolved.

Among safety measures the union is calling for are the installation of panic alarms, appropriate screening at entrances, and shuttles for staff to and from the parkade.

This is the third time in seven months members have voted to grey list a hospital, with Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre and Thompson General Hospital getting the designation last year.

The province recently announced it plans to hire more security, including five new positions in Thompson, and will be expanding a security app that provides safety alerts to employees to more hospitals.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

Saskatchewan dancers are getting ready to take their skills all the way to Dublin for one of the biggest dance competitions in the world, The Dance World Cup.

“The Dance World Cup is basically, lots of different types of countries. I think there’s over 50 countries that are going to it. And it’s kind of the dance version of the Olympics,” said Giselle Ferraro with Studio One.

Giselle Ferraro and Ava Murdoch from Studio One RP Dance in Saskatoon are getting excited for Dublin, saying they are thrilled to dance for Team Canada.

“I’m just really honoured to be part of it, and I just never thought like I would be able to represent Canada in this way,” said Ferraro, with Murdoch adding, “I don’t even know how to explain it. It’s just such a great feeling to be dancing in like a different country and meeting so many new people.”

But it’s not just Saskatoon dancers. Olivia Mann and Nadia Buyan from Dancers Edge in Warman, Sask., were also scouted to dance for Team Canada.

“I had no clue this was going to happen to me and it’s just definitely something that I didn’t expect to happen so young either,” said Mann, with Buyan saying, “I’m very excited. It is a dream of mine since I was very little. I have always wanted to, and I was so happy when I found out.”

Saskatchewan dancers will be bringing all kinds of genres to Dublin with Teams and Solo dances.

They said when they heard they were invited to dance for Canada, it didn’t feel real. Family and friends have been ecstatic for them as well.

“I was really excited. I was like jumping up and down,” said Ferraro.

“My best friend, she screamed in my face and hugged me and they started crying,” said Mann.

When asked what they are looking forward to most in Dublin, Buyan said, “Seeing all the amazing structures and seeing all of the different cultures that they do.”

Murdoch said, “Watching other countries dance and seeing how we compare to them. And just like everyone being together.”

The 2026 Dance World Cup runs July 8th till the 18th, with Canada dancing along 73 other countries.

Watch above for more on the dancers and the emotions they are feeling leading up to the World Cup.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Public consultations are underway for a proposed all-seasons resort in Alberta’s Kananaskis Country.

In December, the Alberta government announced plans to create three new all-season resort areas in the province, which it claims will create thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic benefits.

The designation of Castle, Fortress and Nakiska as all-season resorts will be the first ones on provincial lands in Alberta, but, as part of the change in designation, some of provincial park boundaries have also been adjusted.

On Friday, an open house was held at Calgary’s Mount Royal University to discuss the plans for Fortress Mountain, a former ski hill, located about 125 km west of Calgary, that closed its lift in 2004 and now only offers Cat skiing.

Plans to revitalize the area include hotels, gondolas, trail networks and private real estate sales.

The proponents claim the project will create over 1,000 jobs.

“What we’re doing right now, we’re trying to figure out exactly where the points are that Albertans generally would like to see as part of this project or not see as part of this project and we really want to get as much information we possibly can,” said David McKenna of Ridge North America, who is working with Western Securities to develop the resort.

However, others are concerned about the impact the year-round attraction will have on local wildlife and plant life.

“The environmental assessment that was done failed to answer many of those questions and is insufficient, so given the fact that we don’t really know — we don’t have answers to any of our questions so we cannot support the development as it’s proposed,” said Gareth Thomson with the Biosphere Institute of the Bow Valley, adding that Kananaskis Country already receives 5 million visitors per year.

“That’s a million more than the National Park (Banff) and the mind boggles when you think about the transportation traffic, log jams on a busy weekend in the summer,” added Thomson.

“Fortress overlaps with important wildlife habitat for multiple species of which include grizzly bears and wolverine,” said Chloe Hahn of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society. “We also have critical habitat for threatened bull trout overlapping with the site.”

The next round of public consultations is scheduled for Feb. 23 in Edmonton.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

The federal government has updated its travel advice for the United States and is now urging First Nations people to carry a passport in addition to a status card when crossing the border.

Before this week, the government website said First Nations people could “freely” enter the United States for the purposes of employment, study, retirement, investing or immigration.

As of Thursday, the website has been updated with new guidelines.

The website now says First Nations people “may” be able to cross the Canada-U.S. border by land or water with their Secure Certificate of Indian Status, also known as a secure status card.

The website says acceptance of all status cards is “entirely at the discretion of U.S. officials.” Status cards and secure status cards aren’t accepted travel documents for air travel, it says.

When crossing the Canada-U.S. border, travellers are strongly urged to carry a valid passport and use a valid machine-readable secure status card, the website says.

The government says that as of February 2019, all new and renewed secure status cards are issued with a machine-readable field. The government began issuing secure status cards in 2009, phasing out older laminated, paper or plastic versions of the cards.

“While you may have previously crossed the Canada-U.S. border with only a secure status card, (Indigenous Services Canada) now strongly recommends also carrying a valid passport when travelling outside of Canada,” says the Government of Canada website.

The government says people registered under the Indian Act entering the U.S. to live or work may also be asked to provide documentation to “prove the percentage of Indian blood required under U.S. law.”

Mohawk Council of Kahnawake Grand Chief Cody Diabo, who serves as the co-chair of the Jay Treaty Border Alliance and sits in the Iroquois Caucus, said Canada should not be telling First Nations how to conduct themselves at the border and should instead recognize the Jay Treaty.

The Jay Treaty — which Canada does not recognize but the United States does — allows First Nations people born in Canada to freely enter the United States for employment, study, retirement, investment and immigration.

“Before they tell us what we need to cross the border with, they need to recognize that we have the free right by law to cross,” Diabo said.

“Our cards are enough with other documents listed in section 289 of the Immigration Act and upheld by the Jay Treaty.”

The Assembly of First Nations has warned First Nations people to be wary of crossing the border into the United States due to U.S. immigration enforcement raids and the detention of some Indigenous people.

AFN National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak has confirmed that at least one First Nations person had a negative encounter recently with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, better known as ICE, and that person has since returned to Canada.

The case prompted the advocacy body to issue a statement warning First Nations members to make sure they have the right documentation and identification when crossing the border.

In a statement, Indigenous Services Canada said last month it had been made aware that some people have recently reported the confiscation or damage of status cards in the U.S. It said the department can issue emergency status cards and will expedite requests from people who have been affected.

Mississauga First Nation also warned its members against crossing the border, citing ICE’s recent detention of Indigenous people. Three Oglala Sioux Tribe members were detained at a homeless encampment by ICE agents in Minnesota earlier this year.

Several other First Nations have issued similar warnings, including Six Nations of the Grand River near Hamilton, Ont., and Garden River First Nation near Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.

The Jay Treaty Alliance, a body representing tribal governments and First Nations communities on both sides of the border, is encouraging First Nations people crossing the border to the U.S. to ensure they are carrying their familial lineage letter, status card, long-form birth certificate and government-issued photo ID.

U.S. tribal members are being encouraged to carry their tribal IDs, state-issued IDs or driver’s licences, or a U.S. passport.

—With files from Alessia Passafiume, The Canadian Press

© 2026 The Canadian Press

ChatGPT has confirmed that an account connected with the Tumbler Ridge shooter, Jesse VanRootelsar, was identified in June 2025 for “abuse and detection and enforcement efforts.”

VanRootelsar shot and killed eight people on Feb. 10 — her mother and half-brother at their home and then five students and an educator at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School. She was then found dead of what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound inside the school, RCMP later confirmed.

“Our thoughts are with everyone affected by the Tumbler Ridge tragedy,” a spokesperson for OpenAI, which owns ChatGPT, confirmed on Friday afternoon, adding that after the incident on Feb. 10, the company contacted the RCMP.

“We proactively reached out to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police with information on the individual and their use of ChatGPT, and we’ll continue to support their investigation.”

The organization stated that when an account associated with VanRootelsar was identified in June, it was subsequently banned for violating the usage policy.

The company considered referring the account to law enforcement, but determined that the account activity did not meet the higher threshold required for such a referral.

They determined that the case did not meet the threshold for referring a user to law enforcement because it did not involve an imminent and credible risk or planning of serious physical harm to others.

In a statement, RCMP Staff Sgt. Kris Clark said the platform did reach out to the RCMP after the shooting.

“As part of the investigation, digital and physical evidence is being collected, prioritized, and methodically processed,” he said. “This includes a thorough review of the content on electronic devices, as well as social media and online activities.”

OpenAI said that its goal is to support people’s safety and well-being and over-enforcement in these situations can be distressing for a young person and their family, for example, if police show up unannounced at their door.

The company says it trains ChatGPT to discourage imminent real-world harm when it identifies a dangerous situation and instead is trained to provide advice to avoid any result of immediate physical harm.

VanRootelsar’s online activity has already been in the spotlight following the deadly mass shooting.

Online platforms YouTube and Roblox each shared statements with Global News last Friday.

“Following this horrific incident, our Trust and Safety teams identified and removed a YouTube channel associated with the alleged suspect in accordance with our Creator Responsibility Guidelines,” YouTube said in a written statement.

Roblox, which is a social gaming platform and creation system where millions of users play, create and socialize in virtual worlds called “experiences,” also said it deleted an account.

“We have removed the user account connected to this horrifying incident as well as any content associated with the suspect. We are committed to fully supporting law enforcement in their investigation,” a Roblox spokesperson said in a written statement.

“The user’s account and any content created by the user was removed from Roblox on Feb. 11, 2026.”

Meanwhile, a former RCMP weapons officer says guns in a photo posted by VanRootselaar’s mother all appear to have been legal to own in Canada at the time, although they include a semi-automatic rifle that was later prohibited.

Jennifer Jacobs posted the photo of guns in a cabinet to Facebook in August 2024 with the caption, “Think it’s time to take them out for some target practice.”

Jacobs and her 11-year-old son were among eight people killed in the shooting.

VanRootselaar’s father issued a statement last week saying in part: ” As the biological father of the individual responsible, I carry a sorrow that is difficult to put into words. I was estranged from Jesse Strang and was not part of his life. His mother declined my involvement from the beginning, and I was not given the opportunity to be a part of raising him. Jesse did not use the VanRootselaar family name at any point in his life. While that distance is the reality of our relationship, it does not lessen the heartbreak I feel for the pain that has been caused to innocent people and to the town we call home.”

RCMP identified the shooter as “Jesse Van Rootselaar” and said she was assigned male at birth but had started transitioning to a female.

Global News is spelling the surname as VanRootselaar to match the father’s spelling of the last name.

–with files from Ariel Rabinovitch and The Canadian Press

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Tackling health misinformation and rebuilding public trust are top priorities for Canada’s incoming chief public health officer Dr. Joss Reimer.

In an interview Friday, the day her three-year appointment to the role was made public, the Manitoba native said it’s critical for the federal government to take a proactive approach to countering false information.

“One of the biggest challenges with health misinformation is the speed at which it changes, because it doesn’t take a lot of time to come up with a lie,” she said.

She acknowledged that trust in institutions, including health information, was eroded during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Because there was so much difficulty — people were losing jobs and income, people were being separated from loved ones. And whether or not those were right decisions, it was hard,” she said.

“And so we have a lot of trust-building that we’re going to need to do that’s going to take years.”

The pandemic thrust public health officials across the country into the spotlight. Dr. Theresa Tam, Reimer’s predecessor in the job, became a household name as she gave near-daily updates for months on end to Canadians who were anxiously trying to stay on top of shifting epidemiological information and public health advice.

Tam retired in June after eight years in the role.

Reimer also had a public role during the pandemic as chief medical officer for the Winnipeg health authority. She was also the medical lead for Manitoba’s COVID-19 vaccine implementation task force.

Health Minister Marjorie Michel noted in a statement that Reimer joins the Public Health Agency at a critical time.

She said Canada is facing “a resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, the threats posed by avian influenza A (H5N1), HIV and tuberculosis, the ongoing impacts of the illegal drug crisis and the harmful impacts of false health information.”

Reimer said she has a unique perspective on the measles outbreak.

“I come from a small town which is part of the measles outbreak and where we have seen a fair bit of vaccine hesitancy. And we need to have partnerships from on the ground, from community leaders all the way up to the federal government,” she said.

The measles outbreak has gone on long enough that Canada has lost the measles elimination status it had held since 1998 — something that public health experts across the country say is alarming. The United States and Mexico are at risk of losing their status as well.

Reimer said it’s not a shock that measles cases are on the rise, given how “incredibly infectious” the disease is and “given that there is more misinformation and more vaccine hesitancy.”

Canadian health officials have warned that misinformation is not limited to social media.

In December, Michel told The Canadian Press that American health institutions are no longer reliable sources of information for Canadians, since the Trump administration gutted funding to many research and scientific institutions and began promoting false information about vaccines.

Michel said at the time that U.S. President Donald Trump “slapped us (in) our face” and changed the long-standing relationship between the two nations when he took office just over a year ago.

Reimer said Canada needs to stand on its own and ensure it’s sharing trustworthy information.

“I know that there are still really amazing people in the American system doing wonderful work, and so I think that there’s a lot of ways that we can continue to work together,” she said.

Reimer has a master’s degree in public health and has conducted research on sexually transmitted diseases and drug-related harms.

Nancy Hamzawi, the Public Health Agency of Canada’s president, said she looks forward to working with Reimer.

“At a time when strong, science-driven leadership has never been more important, I am confident that her vision and dedication will help advance the public health and well-being of Canadians,” Hamzawi said in a press release.

Reimer is the past president of the Canadian Medical Association and during her tenure delivered a formal apology to Indigenous Peoples for the harms caused by the medical profession.

Dr. Margot Burnell, the Canadian Medical Association’s current president, said Reimer was a source of calm and measured leadership for Manitobans during the pandemic.

At the CMA, Reimer “led the fight against false health information and advocated strongly for solutions to improve access to care for everyone in Canada,” Burnell said.

Reimer is set to begin her term on April 1.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

A judge has denied bail for a Calgary man arrested on extradition warrants connected to accused Canadian drug kingpin Ryan Wedding.

Allistair Chapman, 33, and nine others were arrested last year in an FBI investigation into a billion dollar international drug trafficking organization allegedly run by Wedding in Mexico, Colombia, Canada and the United States.

Chapman is accused of cocaine trafficking and helping Wedding, a former Team Canada Olympic snowboarder turned fugitive, set up the killing of an FBI informant.

U.S. prosecutors allege Chapman helped arrange the killing by providing the man’s photo to a co-accused and paying for it to be posted online.

The informant was later shot dead at a restaurant in Colombia.

Court of King’s Bench Justice Paul Jeffrey says U.S. prosecutors have a strong case against Chapman and releasing him on bail would undermine public confidence in the justice system.

“While he did not pull the trigger, he knew the purpose of the work he was assigned was the murder,” the judge said in a written decision Friday.

“The killing of a prosecution witness circumvents the rule of law and impairs the criminal justice system’s ability to protect society.”

The judge said if Chapman is extradited and convicted, he faces life in a U.S. prison.

Chapman’s lawyer had asked he be released on a $500,000 surety guaranteed by his parents and he be allowed to live with them under a curfew pending an extradition hearing.

The Crown described Chapman as a “loyal soldier” to the criminal organization and a flight risk.

“Chapman has failed to satisfy me on balance that his detention is not necessary,” said Jeffrey.

Wedding was arrested last month in Mexico and transferred to California. He had been on the FBI’s Top 10 most-wanted list.

Chapman is set to appear in Calgary court again Mar. 13.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is returning Winnipeg for the first time in almost a decade.

The UFC announced a Fight Night card on Friday that will take place on Saturday, April 18, at the Canada Life Centre.

The main event will feature Canadian Mike Malott who is the brother of former Winnipeg Jets and Manitoba Moose forward Jeff Malott. The 34-year-old will headline the card and put a 13-2-1 record on the line in a welterweight bout against Brazilian Gilbert Burns.

“So stoked to find out that I am the main event for UFC Winnipeg,” Malott said in a social media post. “Can’t wait to represent and put on a show for you guys and kick some ass.”

Malott is 6-1 in the UFC octagon and has won his last three straight fights.

This will be the third UFC event held in Winnipeg but first since a UFC on Fox card back in December of 2017. UFC 161 was also contested in Winnipeg in 2013.

Tickets go on sale on March 6.

© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.