There is growing resistance to the Richmond School District’s move to gender-neutral, non-competitive track meets for elementary students.

The district says it promotes diversity and inclusion, but some parents say it does not reflect the real world or how they grew up.

“It seemed a lot more competitive,” Scott Tolman, a parent, told Global News.

This year, at Richmond elementary track meets, students participate in a wider range of events. They can pick between competition and recreation, but there are no ribbons and events are gender neutral.

“I want a ribbon to remember it since it’s my first time and also like because if you do it, then it feels like you’re more proud of it and you’ll remember it for longer, but I also just want one,” Amaya Sagarbarria, a Grade 4 student, said.

One parent with a son in Grade 7 started a petition against the changes.

“So the last few years he’s been really looking forward to high jump and he did quite well in previous years and got ribbons for that and this year he didn’t even get a chance to try the high jump because the lines were so long because they encourage everyone to try it,” Kim Nowitsky said.

Richmond City Councillor Alexa Loo is a parent and also a two-time Olympian in snowboarding, and has also been vocal about the changes.

“I think it’s important for kids to be able to evaluate their effort against their results and understand how they’ve done and compare themselves against each other,” she said.

“You know, what’s the other person doing differently that I’m not doing, how could I have done better?”

In a statement, School District 38 said it is aware of recent questions and media attention about changes to elementary track and field, including concerns that competition has been removed.

However, the district said each student may choose between competitive or recreational options and students who wish to have their results recorded may do so.

“The updated format also gives students more ways to participate, try different activities and stay active throughout the day,” the statement read.

“The district has increased the number of Grade 4 to 7 elementary track and field meets from six to eight. This change is intended to give more students the opportunity to take part.

“The updated format is aligned with the Physical and Health Education curriculum, set by the B.C. Ministry of Education and Child Care. This curriculum focuses on physical literacy, self-awareness, movement skills and the enjoyment of physical activity. The Richmond School District is responsible for delivering this curriculum to all students.”

The reaction is still mixed.

“It’s good, good exercise and everything, but at the same time it’s kind of losing that, you know, that feel that it used to have where it was competitive back then,” Tolman said.

Another parent likes the idea that kids get to choose more.

“If they feel like confident to do it, they go to do it competitively and that’s a, that’s one of, one of the things that I like — it’s not forcing the kid to be competitive all the time,” Jorge Espinosa said.

The district tried the changes last year through a pilot project with four schools.

They said feedback showed that students wanted the chance to participate in more events.

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

A Port Moody, B.C., woman is speaking out about a rare and stigmatizing genetic condition in the hopes of raising awareness.

Kirsten Anne was diagnosed with neurofibromatosis when she was only two years old.

“So, I don’t really know what it is like to not have this,” she told Global News.

Neurofibromatosis, or NF, Type One, affects one in every 2,500 Canadians. It is a rare genetic disorder that causes the uncontrollable growth of non-cancerous tumours on the nerves.

“It can also impact your hearing and vision, you can have scoliosis, bone deformities, airway blockages, you are at higher risk for certain cancers like breast cancer,” Anne explained to Global News. “And because it is so individualized, it does impact everybody differently.”

In her case, her tumours are concentrated on her back and torso.

Growing up, Anne said the physical differences were hard to explain and hard to hide.

“As a child going through that and being called names and other awful things, that does also stick with you,” she said.

However, Anne is now taking those experiences and channelling them into her art, while advocating for others navigating the disorder.

She has toured elementary schools, teaching children about acceptance and empathy, as part of an educational puppet troup.

“My ultimate goal one day is to have an NF puppet show, so I can educate people,” she said.

“As a puppeteer, I find that even adults — it’s just easier to reach them with any sort of message with a puppet. It’s non-threatening, it’s just a little bit easier to digest.”

May is also Neurofibromatosis Awareness Month, which helps start the conversation about improving care and quality of life for those navigating a diagnosis.

“It does require a multi-disciplinary clinic,” Dr. Sarah Lapointe said.

“And there are a lot of trials out there in the pipeline to, you know, have hope that we can manage this syndrome and this condition, every day. So, yes, I think the future is bright.”

Anne said she hopes her message allows her to take centre stage.

“I want to be a voice for them and to uplift them, so they know that they aren’t going through this alone,” she said.

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

A nine-year-old girl who was attacked by a Calgary police dog while officers were chasing a suspected car thief was a case of a “confluence of errors,” Alberta’s police watchdog said in a report released Wednesday.

The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team said while the outcome was “serious and extremely unfortunate,” there were no reasonable grounds to believe that an offence was committed when the girl was attacked in February 2025.

In its formal report, ASIRT said a suspect in a stolen vehicle investigation was being chased on foot and refused to stop for police.

A police service dog was then deployed to chase the suspect down.

The dog’s handler, who had been part of the Calgary police canine unit for 10 years, lost sight of the animal and could no longer issue commands.

ASIRT said the dog pursued the suspect into the backyard of a home.

The suspect ran across the backyard to the other side of the home, but the dog continued straight through an opening in the back fence, across an alley and into a green space where the girl was walking home with her friend.

The dog handler had expected to hear “the offender struggling with the (dog) or screaming … and was surprised when he didn’t,” the report said.

He then noticed an open gate at the back of the yard and heard officers in a helicopter transmit over the radio that the dog was in a field with some children.

The report said the dog initially ran past the girl, but when she started running away in the opposite direction, it turned around and went after her, jumping up and biting her backpack and hair.

The girl then fell on the ground and the dog bit her leg, the ASIRT report said. The dog let go after its handler arrived and called the animal off.

The girl was helped to a police vehicle, where she waited for an ambulance.

“This is why I hate dogs,” the girl reportedly told one of the officers.

She was then sent to the Alberta Children’s Hospital, where she was treated for the five puncture wounds on her thigh, “one of which extended deep to the muscle.”

ASIRT noted in its report that police dog handlers can face criminal charges if they deploy the animals in circumstances that do not abide by their standard training or guidelines.

“Criminal negligence causing bodily harm looks at whether there was a marked and substantial departure from the conduct of a reasonably prudent person.

In this case, there is no evidence that this duty was breached to the requisite criminal standard,” the report said.

“There was a confluence of errors that contributed to the unfortunate outcome on this date.”

The report said the officer was not aware at the time he deployed the dog that there was an open green space where children were present behind the home the suspect was running toward.

He also wasn’t aware that the backyard gate had been left open.

ASIRT concluded the girl was an unintended target and the officer acted reasonably in deploying the dog to apprehend a fleeing suspect.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

Political rhetoric is ramping up ahead of a planned fall referendum in Alberta.

“Our view is Danielle (Smith) needs to make a decision: Is she going to support Mister Lukaszuk, or is she going to support her base? What we are saying is she needs to understand that if she abandons her base or betrays her base, there will likely be political consequences.”

That’s the threat from Jeffrey Rath, lawyer for the Alberta Prosperity Project, the group that said it collected more than 300,000 signatures on a citizen’s petition calling for a referendum on the province’s independence from Canada.

However, the petition, which proposed the question: “Do you agree that the province of Alberta should cease to be a part of Canada to become an independent state?,” was recently rejected by the courts over a lack of consultation with First Nations.

Instead, in an effort to appease party’s supporters, many political analysts expect Smith to call a referendum on the question asked in the Forever Canadian petition.

That petition, which was spearheaded by former Alberta MLA and deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk, asks, “Do you agree that Alberta should remain within Canada?”

“It’s not the question that the separatists want because it’s an affirmative question,” said Mount Royal political scientist Duane Bratt.

“It’s a positive question. But it’s better than having no referendum question.”

He expects Smith to announce her plans during a paid, province-wide television address on Thursday.

However, Alberta’s journey toward holding a fall referendum vote on separation took a bizarre turn Wednesday, when a bipartisan committee meeting of MLAs established to review Lukaszuk’s question imploded after UCP caucus sent out a premature news release announcing the vote had taken place and the motion had passed.

For Rath, choosing to put the pro-Canadian question on a referendum ballot amounts to a betrayal of the many Albertans who are separatists, but chose to support Smith as leader of the UCP.

“I think people within the UCP, you’re sick and tired of being lied to. Danielle promised that if we jump through the hoops, and if we got all the signatures and did what we were supposed to do, our question would be on a ballot this fall,” Rath said on Wednesday.

“We’re tired of being lied to by this premier about the fact that she has our interests at heart, because it’s clear that she doesn’t.”

To the political analysts Global News spoke with, the threats to Smith’s job are very real.

Feo Snagovsky, assistant professor of political science at the University of Alberta, said while Smith has done a “really good” job of managing the sometimes conflicting demands of separatists and federalists within the UCP, those issues are now coming to a head.

“We know that close to a majority, if not a majority, of supporters of the UCP support Alberta becoming an independent country — and the other half does not,” said Snagovsky.

“All the public opinion polling we have available to us suggests that it still remains a minority position among Albertans, and she’s facing this tension between trying to stay responsive to the general electorate and the popular will, on one hand, and on the other hand trying to make sure that she retains her job and she stays responsive within her political party.”

Other political observers agree.

“It’s a pressure cooker and heavy is the head that wears the crown,” said Michael Solberg, who is a partner at New West Public Affairs and admits to being a card-carrying member of the UCP.

“I think the premier probably wakes up every day with extraordinary new challenges that she has to face from members of her caucus, the Opposition and now certainly the far fringe of her party — which is increasingly becoming the majority of her party, at least per the threats coming from groups like Jeffrey Rath is leading,” Solberg said.

“I don’t want to discount the risks to the premier that the separatist groups have, especially if they start buying up all the memberships, but the premier is no slouch,” Solberg added.

“She’s a fighter. There’s a lot of institutional strength behind her, and I think people who underestimate her do so at their own peril.”

If Smith does call a referendum on the “Forever Canadian” citizen’s petition, Rath said separatists are already planning their attempt to oust the premier — as was done with her predecessor Jason Kenney.

“We’re asking all of the people that signed (our) petition and all of our canvassers to organize themselves to sell memberships across the province, because if our question is not put on a ballot by the end of the month, we’re going to be organizing a special general meeting of the of the United Conservative Party for August,” Rath said.

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

It appears that the B.C. provincial government paid more than half a million dollars over two months to keep two tenants in a Vancouver SRO hotel.

Two tenants were the last people staying in the 140-room Colonial Hotel after the B.C. government shut it down.

The province now says that Atira, which was managing the SRO, received $3.9 million from BC Housing during the fiscal year ending on March 31.

That breaks down to $325,000 a month, including in March when the occupancy had dwindled to just two tenants.

Atira also received an additional $222,000 in April to support a wind-down of operations with the same two residents remaining.

That equals $547,000 for two months to oversee two tenants.

“The problem with this is simply that those two tenants that are currently residing in this building, of course, need to have access to safe shelter, that’s not negotiable,” Claire Rattée, B.C.’s Mental Health, Addictions and Housing Support Critic, said.

“The problem is that I can’t wrap my head around is at what cost. This is an insane cost to shelter two people.”

One of the last two tenants has now moved to alternate housing and the other resident, who the government says is a pre-existing tenant of the original landlord, is refusing to move.

The B.C. government said it shut down the Colonial because the building’s owner was not maintaining it properly.

Global News has offered Atira an open invitation for an interview regarding its involvement with the Colonial Hotel, but has yet to hear back.

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

Chaos descended upon a bipartisan Alberta legislature meeting determining the fate of an anti-Alberta separatism question Wednesday afternoon.

A committee of MLAs established to review Thomas Lukaszuk’s Forever Canadian petition recommended the province include a question for Albertans to vote on the province remaining in Canada during the Oct. 19 provincial referendum, according to a news release issued by the United Conservative Party.

The problem is: that did not happen.

The UCP news release was issued shortly after 3 p.m., while the Select Special Citizen Initiative Proposal Review Committee meeting was still underway and before a vote had been held — leading to confusion and chaos both inside and outside the room.

The motion was expected to pass, given the UCP members on the committee outnumber the Opposition NDP members, but it was still being debated when the UCP caucus published the premature statement announcing the vote had taken place and the motion had passed.

“I understand the UCP has already issued a release about a referendum being called and that’s already been released to media,” said Edmonton-Whitemud NDP MLA Rakhi Pancholi in the meeting.

“So a little awkward since we’re still debating the motion but perhaps, that is because this committee has always been treated like a sham by the members opposite.”

The news release had said with more than 400,000 Albertans signing Lukaszuk’s Forever Canada petition, combined with the reported 301,000 who signed the Alberta Independence petition, it meant over 700,000 Albertans deserved the opportunity to have their voices heard in a referendum.

The NDP members of the review committee called a point of privilege after realizing the news release had been sent out before a motion had been voted on.

“I have just had the opportunity to review an absolutely shocking news release,” said NDP MLA Christina Grey, who then read out a section of the news release containing quotes from committee chair Brandon Lunty, who is a UCP backbencher.

“Oftentimes, it feels like the politics of the UCP is a stage play to exercise their power to do what they want — but I very seriously raise this point of privilege now, because it has been nevermore apparent than the fact this committee is still meeting and still debating this motion and a press release from you as the chair has already gone out.”

The NDP members said the premature release called into question the process and Lunty’s impartiality and called for it to be brought to the legislature Speaker’s attention.

The United Conservatives voted against escalating the issue but time on the meeting ran out before the vote on the Oct. 19 referendum could occur.

Lunty asked for consent to extend the meeting, which was denied.

The meeting was then adjourned without a vote being held, meaning the committee did not recommend the question be added to the referendum ballot as the premature news release indicated.

The news release, which even had laudatory quotes from chair Lunty, was pulled back by the caucus about 20 minutes later.

“We would like to clarify that the previous statement was inadvertently distributed in error. Please disregard the earlier communication,” UCP caucus communications said.

This is a breaking news story. More to come…

–with files from The Canadian Press

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

Changes to Canada’s citizenship act have resulted in an influx of Americans inquiring about seeking Canadian citizenship, immigration lawyers say.

In December, Bill C-3 was passed, changing the first-generation limit to citizenship by descent.

“As long as you could trace that citizenship back to someone that you are naturally related to that was born in Canada that had Canadian citizenship, that individual can pass their citizenship on down to further generations,” said Jessica Jensen, a partner and immigration lawyer at MLT Aikins.

“So right now there is no cap on the generational ability to pass on citizenship.”

Jensen says this has resulted in a spike in people seeking guidance on how to apply for citizenship and seek citizenship applications. She adds that, given the current political climate, the majority of applications and inquiries they are receiving are from Americans.

“(With) the current administration in the U.S., there are a lot of folks looking for work opportunities or resident opportunities in Canada … having a great-grandparent who was Canadian and had Canadian citizenship that they could attach themselves to has really opened that door for them,” she said.

She also says it has brought complications with it as well. Particularly for those who previously had to renounce their Canadian citizenship to obtain American citizenship, which was required between the 1940s and 1970s.

“It has opened kind of a can of worms in terms of things we are advising on for individuals,” Jensen said. “We have a handful of folks who might have renounced their Canadian citizenship during that period by a matter of requirement rather than a matter of intent or want. So there are a lot of questions as to whether or not those renunciations of Canadian citizenship prohibit an individual now.”

This has resulted in more Americans seeking historical documents and birth certificates to track Canadian lineage.

According to a provincial spokesperson, Manitoba Vital Statistics has observed an increasing number of applications from U.S. mailing addresses, which have identified citizenship as their reason for submission. In 2021, Vital Statistics received 48 applications of that kind. In 2024, they received 71 applications, and in 2025, it spiked to 225 applications. In 2026, there have already been 256 applications so far.

The provincial spokesperson noted applications do not always include a reason for submission, so the numbers are not a total of all applications from the U.S. for citizenship purposes.

Alastair Clarke, an immigration and refugee lawyer in Winnipeg, says it’s unlikely anyone foresaw the volume of applications Bill C-3 would spur.

“I don’t believe the lawmakers planned on having applications from individuals who were four generations removed from a Canadian or five generations removed from a Canadian,” Clarke said. “I don’t believe the government planned or predicted that they would receive applications from individuals who are so far removed from Canada.”

Clarke said his firm, Clarke Immigration Law, has also been flooded with calls from people interested in applying for Canadian citizenship, with the majority being from south of the border.

“These are Americans who are looking for a backup plan,” Clarke said. “We’ve spoken to many Americans who are very anxious about what’s going on with the Trump administration.”

Clarke also noted that some applicants are making inquiries to connect with their roots.

“I’ve heard from individuals that have Canadian ancestry and they feel that inside they are Canadians and they want to get in touch with those Canadian roots,” he said.

“And that is one of the intentions of Bill C-3 … that was one of the explicit intentions of the legislation.”

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

Summer weather is arriving and Edmonton’s outdoor pools are starting to open for the 2026 season.

People can make a reservation online for any of Edmonton’s five outdoor pools to avoid lines during public swims, but this year, they’ll have to pay the day before their reserved time.

“Outdoor pools are a passion of Edmontonians, of council, of administration,” said City of Edmonton site coordinator and operations supervisor, Shauna Graham.

“When it’s hot and it’s sunny the people are jam-packed in. It’s partly why we went to the reservation system to allow people who can’t get their rate at opening to be able to ensure they can get access, just like a restaurant, later in the day.”

Also new for 2026 – concessions will no longer be available at outdoor pools.

The city says it wasn’t seeing the sales to support managing the concessions across all five sites so people are now encouraged to bring their own food and empty water bottles or sealed drinks.

Instead, there will be vending machines at three of the pools —Mill Creek, Queen Elizabeth and Borden Natural Swimming Pool.

“See what the uptake is there, how it works with getting the vending people in to stock,” Graham said.

“If we run out during the day, we’ll track all of that, but we still are going with no outside drinks. So if you have your pre-bought drink, like a Slurpee or any of the coffee shops, we won’t allow that in — but if it’s factory sealed, you can bring it from outside.”

Crews are also preparing the city’s 78 spray parks.
Weather and air quality permitting, this is the opening schedule for the outdoor pools:

• Wîhkwêntôwin: May 20
• Mill Creek: May 23
• Queen Elizabeth: May 30
• Fred Broadstock: June 6
• Borden Natural Swimming Pool: June 20

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

Twelve black bears from Marineland are travelling in a pair of trailers toward their new home at a sanctuary in the United States more than 2,000 kilometres away as the park slowly winds down its operations.

The bears are off to the Wild Animal Sanctuary in Colorado, a charity that sits on a massive property that nearly 1,000 large carnivores including bears, lions and tigers call home.

“We wish them safe travels and a comfortable life in their new home!” Marineland said in a statement.

Marineland staff as well as a half-dozen workers from the sanctuary began preparing the bears to move early Wednesday morning and the entire operation was wrapped up before noon, the park said.

The day went smoothly, said Pat Craig, the sanctuary’s executive director.

“I was glad that we put a lot of time prepping into it and talking with Marineland and working on the logistics of what would happen today,” he said. “And so all that preparation helped pay off to where it’s really quick and easy on the bears.”

The bears should be in their new digs by late Thursday morning, he said.

There, the dozen bears will have 40 hectares of land to themselves, a space the size of about 75 football fields.

They’ll have their own evergreen forest, Craig said. “It’s almost like they’re going to live back in the wild, even though these guys never did,” he said.

The deal has been in the works for some time, but the bears couldn’t be moved while they were hibernating.

Late last year, Julie Woodyer of Zoocheck, a Canadian-based animal rights’ organization, heard the provincial government was looking to help Marineland move its bears.

She immediately thought of the Wild Animal Sanctuary, a place where she had helped relocate rescued bears in the past, she said.

Woodyer put Craig in touch with Marineland and everything seemed to go well from there on, she said.

“It is a really wonderful sanctuary facility and they have the space and resources to care for that number of bears,” she said.

The Niagara Falls, Ont., tourist attraction closed to the public in the summer of 2024 after the death of its owner, Marie Holer. The park’s founder, John Holer, died in 2018 and left Marineland to his wife.

Now the sprawling property just a kilometre from Horseshoe Falls is up for sale. Sources have said a deal is in place for the land with the sale conditional upon the animals being removed from the property.

Several hundred deer also remain at the park as Marineland slowly works to move them.

Marineland is also working with a coalition of American aquariums in a bid to move its 30 belugas and four dolphins.

The park has said it is running out of money to care for its animals.

Since 2019, 19 beluga whales, one killer whale and one dolphin have died at Marineland.

That year, the federal government also passed a law that banned marine mammal captivity, but grandfathered in Marineland’s animals. It also banned using marine mammals in shows and forbade breeding.

Last year, Marineland applied for a permit to send its whales to Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, an aquarium in China, which had bought all of the park’s belugas.

Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson denied the permit, saying she did not want to subject the whales to performances and breeding.

In response, Marineland threatened to euthanize its whales should the federal government not provide emergency funding.

Months later, those negotiations with the federal government continue and the park has not ruled out the possibility of mass euthanasia.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

Former CFL player Arland Bruce III was awarded $25,000 in damages by an arbitrator earlier this month after suffering a concussion in a 2012 game.

The amount is significantly lower than the $310,000 Bruce had been seeking.

In a May 6 decision, arbitrator Allen Ponak ruled both the B.C. Lions and Montreal Alouettes committed three breaches of the collective agreement related to concussion management.

However, Ponak said that no previous arbitration cases under a collective bargaining agreement were cited “in which damage awards for safety violations have been anywhere close to the amounts being sought.”

Bruce filed a grievance alleging the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Lions, Alouettes and CFL failed to provide adequate medical care before, during, and after his concussion, violating the collective agreement between the league and the CFL Players’ Association (CFLPA).

Bruce, a former wide receiver, also claimed he suffered permanent physical and cognitive brain damage as a result. He received the concussion during a game in 2012 while a member of the Lions.

Ponak ruled there were two contract violations by the Lions around clearing Bruce to play in 2012 without pre-season medical followup, and then Bruce’s return to game play without a physician’s medical clearance.

He also found one violation by the Alouettes around their failure to retain a brain injury assessment for Bruce, that it claims to have administered.

In March 2018, the Supreme Court of Canada decided against hearing Bruce’s concussion lawsuit against the CFL and former commissioner Mark Cohon. It came after two B.C. courts, the Supreme Court of British Columbia and B.C. Court of Appeal dismissed the suit, saying the Supreme Court previously ruled unionized employees must use labour arbitration and not the courts to resolve disputes arising from their collective agreement.

Bruce’s lawyers had argued the CFL’s collective agreement was unusual because athletes individually negotiated their pay, and it had no long-term disability insurance plan, but players were also excluded from occupational health and safety regulations and ineligible for workers’ compensation.

Bruce played 12 CFL seasons with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (2001—02), Toronto Argonauts (2004—09), Hamilton Tiger-Cats (2009-11), B.C. (2011—12) and Montreal (2013). The two-time Grey Cup champion and three-time CFL all-star also spent time in the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs (2000) and San Francisco 49ers (2003).

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 20, 2026.

© 2026 The Canadian Press