TORONTO – John Chayka knows what the Toronto Maple Leafs mean to a rabid and tortured fan base.

The club’s new general manager — 19 weeks into a job that kicked off with blistering criticism in some circles — used to be among them.

“I’ve loved this team for as long as I can remember,” Chayka said in a recent interview. “I think ‘love’ is the key word. The love that fans have for their team is really unique. Love is complicated in our personal lives. When you think about loving a team, there’s the euphoric highs. And if there’s downs, people are upset.

“Their days can be made or broken on the results of a game … with that comes a real obligation.”

Alongside senior executive adviser of hockey operations Mats Sundin — a franchise legend also brought back in the fold following Toronto’s spring housecleaning — Chayka believes the Maple Leafs have taken positive steps over the last four months coming off their first playoff-less campaign in a decade.

“The hockey capital of the world,” Sundin said as he sat beside Chayka on the same video conference call with The Canadian Press. “With that comes responsibility. It’s a privilege.”

But before the pair could get to work, the 37-year-old Chayka came under intense fire at an awkward and uncomfortable introductory press conference where his character, reputation, integrity, pedigree and resume were all called into question.

He had been out of the NHL since 2020 and some of his dealings as a peach-fuzzed, analytics-driven GM for the Arizona Coyotes had left much to be desired, including an 11-month suspension for “conduct detrimental to the league” after he sought employment from another team while still under contract.

Chayka took the criticism in stride.

“It wasn’t the season anyone wanted and changes were made,” he said of an Original Six franchise that’s won two playoff rounds in the salary cap era and hasn’t sipped from the Stanley Cup since 1967. “You’re communicating those changes. I wish I could say I was surprised there were hard-hitting questions or there were people that wanted to ask followups and dig in.”

The product of Jordan Station, Ont., added being under an intense microscope is part of the gig.

“The media plays an incredibly important role in this entire ecosystem,” Chayka said. “That connection to fans is really important to me. I have no issues or problems. I’m always happy to be a pro, answer any questions.

“But the focus is building a team and putting the players in the best position to have success. The rest is not really my concern.”

Chayka and Sundin had as many conversations as possible — players, coaches and management — after arriving on the scene to get a feel for the organization from top to bottom.

“To really understand what’s gone well,” Chayka explained of the process. “What should we maintain? What shouldn’t we change? What are some opportunities? The group’s been through a lot, and in a good way. They’ve seen a lot of different things. They have a great perspective.

“That’s important to the story and moving forward.”

The Maple Leafs’ new brain trust, which was basically drinking from a firehose of information early, quickly went to work on a drastic reshaping following a last-place finish in the Atlantic Division.

Head coach Craig Berube was fired, while four assistant GMs, including Canadian women’s hockey legend Hayley Wickenheiser, were either let go or agreed to mutually part ways. Other members of the backroom and scouting staffs were handed walking papers in a wide purge.

“Get some momentum and wind in the sails,” Chayka, whose team opens training camp Wednesday with medicals, said of the exercise. “You always have all the best laid plans, but ultimately you have to convince some other people to jump on board.

“We’re really fortunate. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than clever.”

Luck bounced the Maple Leafs’ way when they beat the draft-lottery odds and won the right to select winger Gavin McKenna with the No. 1 pick in June.

Jim Hiller, who has familiarity with captain Auston Matthews and fellow veterans John Tavares, William Nylander and Morgan Rielly from his time as an assistant on Mike Babcock’s staff in Toronto between 2015 and 2019, was hired as the club’s 41st head coach.

The Maple Leafs then added a number pieces, including two-time Cup-winning goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky and defenceman Darren Raddysh, while netminder Joseph Woll and blueliner Brandon Carlo were among the players sent packing.

“The plan was to be nimble, but also opportunistic and aggressive,” Chayka said. “We feel fortunate to have been able to execute some of these things.”

Toronto will need Matthews much closer to his 69-goal stat line in 2023-24 after combining for 60 total over the last two campaigns — the latter cut short by a torn MCL — to make a playoff return.

“Sometimes an injury like that allows you to get dialled in and focused,” Chayka said. “He’s always looking for new ways to improve. Watched him the other day shooting pucks for three hours. He’s full green-light.”

Chayka, meanwhile, was given the keys to lead the team he grew up rooting for just down the road.

The assignment is clear. Many before him, however, have failed to deliver.

“There’s no question fans will love the Toronto Maple Leafs,” Chayka said. “The question becomes, ‘Can we be deserving of that love?’ You don’t do that overnight. You don’t do that by winning a game. You do that through consistent efforts over a long period of time.

“It’s our obligation to earn that love.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2026.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to halt strikes on Russian diesel, saying the attacks are causing a global shortage. He spoke after diesel prices in the U.S. hit a record on Friday, soaring past $6 a gallon on average.

Ukraine has for months been targeting Russia’s oil and gas industry with long-range strikes, prompting fuel rationing across the country and causing Moscow to ban diesel exports in July, one factor disrupting the global supply of diesel. But the global crunch also came after the war on Iran curtailed oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.

Fuel prices are weighing on Americans as they prepare to vote in midterm elections in November.

Trump was asked by a reporter if he had spoken with Zelenskyy following his recent conversation with Russia’s Vladimir Putin. He responded by calling on Zelenskyy to halt strikes against Russia.

“Mr. Zelensky has to do one thing. He has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia,” Trump told reporters on the sidelines of the Irish Open, which is being played at his Doonbeg golf club.

“We spoke to Mr. Zelenskyy about it. There are plenty of other targets. Don’t hit diesel fuel, because that’s hurting, that’s hurting the world,” he said.

Kyiv says Russia’s oil industry both funds and directly fuels Moscow’s more than four-year-old invasion of its neighbor.

Russia has ramped up its air campaign against Ukraine in recent weeks, using ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones to pierce Ukraine’s defenses. Moscow’s attacks have targeted Ukraine’s power grid ahead of winter in what officials say is meant to demoralize civilians.

Civilians were killed and injured overnight into Sunday as Russia and Ukraine exchanged large-scale drone strikes.

Two people were killed and 14 more injured near an oil and industrial hub in Russia’s Tatarstan, according to local officials, while Ukrainian authorities reported on reported on Russian drones pummelling the Black Sea port of Odesa and starting a fire near a border crossing with Poland.

Ukraine targets more Russian oil facilities

The two Russian civilians died after a drone slammed into a tree near their parked car in the city of Nizhnekamsk, according to the office of regional head Rustam Minnikhanov. Nizhnekamsk houses a key cluster of oil refineries and other industrial plants. Mayor Radmir Belyaev said that a fire had broken out at an unspecified “enterprise.”

Ukraine also claimed to have hit a major oil refinery in Slavyansk-on-Kuban, in Russia’s Krasnodar region near Crimea. The Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) agency said its drones struck a key oil processing unit and the refinery’s tank farm overnight into Sunday.

Krasnodar authorities said the strike on “an enterprise” in Slavyansk-on-Kuban injured three people and damaged an oil pipeline.

Russian forces shot down 389 Ukrainian drones during the night, Russia’s defense ministry said Sunday.

Russia targets Odesa and western Ukraine

In Ukraine, at least nine people were injured in a “massive” Russian nighttime attack on Odesa, according to Serhii Lysak from the city’s military administration. Odesa is home to Ukraine’s main port hub on the Black Sea and has faced sustained drone and missile strikes, with Kyiv accusing Moscow of trying to choke off its exports.

A Russian drone attack on Saturday struck a residential high-rise in Odesa, killing two people and injuring 26 others, Ukrainian officials said.

Russian overnight strikes also pounded western Ukraine, though there were no immediate reports of casualties. One drone set fire to a gas station near the Yahodyn-Dorohusk border crossing with Poland, according to Ukraine’s top diplomat and a spokesperson for the local customs force.

“This is Putin’s terror ‘knocking’ directly on the doors of the EU and NATO. Russian barbarians are at your gate, dear partners,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X.

Ukraine’s border crossings with Poland are a conduit for much of the military and humanitarian aid sent by Western allies.

Valentyna Chernysh, a spokesperson for the Volyn Customs Office, told The Associated Press that the Yahodyn crossing was intact and no one was harmed.

Earlier this week, two people died when Russian drones hit the Starokozache border crossing between Ukraine and Moldova on Tuesday. The following day a “direct threat” to a Polish-Ukrainian crossing point was avoided due to the cooperation between Warsaw and Kyiv, according to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

Ukraine’s air force said its air defenses shot down or suppressed 409 Russian drones of various types overnight, including a newer jet-powered version that is faster and more difficult to intercept. It said Russia had attacked Ukraine with 453 drones in total.

Kremlin says peace talks could restart in October

Also on Sunday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow is open to restarting peace talks in autumn featuring Russia, Ukraine and the U.S.

“We are not ruling out that possibility,” Peskov told reporters. “October cannot be ruled out.”

Last weekend, U.S. envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, followed by a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv. Despite the latest diplomatic push, the core demands of Moscow and Kyiv remain mutually exclusive, especially over territorial concessions.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

The search is continuing for at least 129 people missing after a ferry overturned in bad weather in Indonesia ‘s Java Sea on Sunday.

At least 108 people were rescued and the bodies of six passengers were recovered as the search operation expanded around the vessel’s last known position.

The ferry, with more than 240 people on board, was traveling from Surabaya in East Java to Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan province, on Borneo Island, officials said.

The captain had reported rough seas with waves up to 3 meters (10 feet) before issuing a distress call, saying the ship was listing, said I Putu Sudayana, who heads the Banjarmasin Search and Rescue Office. Authorities later received information indicating the vessel had overturned.

The rescue agency in Banjarmasin said it received a report two hours after contact was lost with the Virgo Transport 8 at about 2 a.m. Sunday.

A rescue ship was headed to the vessel’s last known position, the agency said, and by Sunday afternoon authorities were deploying teams supported by a dozen vessels, including four navy ships, and two helicopters.

Survivors are rescued and dead bodies recovered

Initial information indicated the vessel’s last known position was in the Java Sea, about 148 kilometers (92 miles) from Banjarmasin. The ship’s manifest said it was carrying 243 people — 213 passengers and 30 crew members — although it is common in Indonesia for the number of passengers to differ from the manifest. The vessel was also transporting 89 vehicles.

Sudayana, who is coordinating the search, said search teams, assisted by nearby tugboats and other passing vessels, had rescued 107 people and recovered six bodies by Sunday afternoon.

The 119-meter (390-foot) Virgo Transport 8 ferry was built in Japan in 1987 and operated there until last year before being sold to the current Indonesian operator, PT Virgo Karya Shipping.

Transportation Minister Dudy Purwagandhi said aerial searches showed the ferry was floating upside down and had not sunk. Rescuers were concentrating search efforts around the overturned ferry, he told reporters Sunday.

Videos released by the National Search and Rescue Agency on Sunday showed an overturned ferry floating in choppy waters during a helicopter search operation. Separate footage captured exhausted survivors disembarking from a rescue ship at a port in Banjarmasin, while injured victims were carried on stretchers before being taken by ambulances to nearby hospitals.

Distraught relatives wait for news at a port

Hundreds of relatives gathered at a command center in Banjarmasin’s Trisakti port, awaiting word on family members believed to be aboard the ferry. Many anxiously checked passenger manifests and rescue lists as authorities continued searching for survivors.

“I was shocked when I saw my uncle’s name on the passenger list,” said a woman who goes by a single name, Bunga. “But I felt relieved after officials told me he had been rescued.”

Indonesia is an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands where ferries are a common method of travel. Disasters occur regularly, with weak safety enforcement often blamed.

At least 211 people were rescued from an Indonesian ferry that caught fire last month in rough seas near the Indonesian tourist island of Bali, while one person was found dead and four others remained missing. The incident happened less than two weeks after another Indonesian ferry, the Mutiara Sentosa 2, caught fire off the main island of Java, with the loss of at least five people.

Sunday’s accident comes just four days after a fire that gutted a passenger ferry in the Philippines killed at least 76 people, with at least 10 others still missing.

—Karmini reported from Jakarta. Associated Press journalists Fadlan Syam in Jakarta and Edna Tarigan and Andi Jatmiko in Pontianak, Indonesia, contributed to this report.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

Buffalo Chicken Salad

A quick and easy way to turn leftover chicken into a new meal, inspired by classic Buffalo chicken wings served with ranch, celery and carrot crudité.

Ingredients

Cooked chicken, diced or shredded 300 g – about 3 medium thighs / 2½ cups
Buffalo Greek Yogurt Ranch* 120 g – about ½ cup
Celery, finely diced 60 g – about ½ cup
Carrot, coarsely grated 50 g – about ½ cup
Green onion, thinly sliced 20 g – about ¼ cup
Fresh lemon juice 10 g – about 2 tsp
Salt to taste
Ground black pepper to taste

Make the Chicken Salad
1. Remove any bones or unwanted skin from the leftover chicken. Dice or shred the chicken into bite-sized pieces.
2. Add the chicken, celery, grated carrot and green onion to a mixing bowl.
3. Add 120 g (½ cup) of the Buffalo Greek Yogurt Ranch and the lemon juice.
4. Fold everything together until the chicken and vegetables are evenly coated.
5. Taste and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper as needed.
6. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to eat.

Buffalo Greek Yogurt Ranch

Ingredients
Plain Greek yogurt, 2–5% 1,000 g – approx. 4 cups
House-made hot sauce 60 g, or to taste – ¼ cup, or to taste
Lemon juice 15 g – 1 tbsp
Garlic powder 7.5 g, – approx. 2½ tsp
Onion powder 9 g – approx. 1 tbsp
Dried dill 2 g – approx. 2 tsp
Dried parsley 2 g – approx. 2 tsp
Ground black pepper 5 g – approx. 2 tsp
Kosher salt 5 g, or TT approx. ¾ tsp, or to taste

Make the Buffalo Ranch

Combine the Greek yogurt, house-made hot sauce, lemon juice, garlic powder, onion powder, dill, parsley, black pepper and salt in a small bowl.
Whisk until smooth. Taste and adjust the seasoning and hot sauce as desired.
If the ranch is too thick, add a little additional milk or buttermilk until it reaches your
preferred consistency.

Easy Cowboy Caviar

Ingredients

Black beans, drained and rinsed 150 g – about ¾ cup
Corn, canned or frozen and thawed 120 g – about ¾ cup
Tomato, diced 100 g – about ¾ cup
Bell pepper, diced 75 g – about ½ cup
Red onion, finely diced 40 g  – about ¼ cup
Fresh cilantro, roughly chopped 10 g – about ¼ cup
Jalapeño, finely diced 10 g – about 1 tbsp
Fresh lime juice 30 g – 2 tbsp
Olive oil 20 g – 1½ tbsp
Ground cumin 1 g – ½ tsp
Garlic powder 1 g – ⅓ tsp
Salt 3 g – about ½ tsp
Ground black pepper 1 g – about ½ tsp

Method

1. Drain and rinse the black beans well. If using canned corn, drain it. If using frozen corn, thaw before using.
2. Combine the black beans, corn, tomato, bell pepper, red onion, cilantro and jalapeño in a bowl.
3. Add the lime juice, olive oil, cumin, garlic powder, salt and black pepper.
4. Toss everything together until evenly dressed.
5. Taste and adjust the lime juice and salt as needed.
6. The Cowboy Caviar can be served immediately, but allowing it to sit for 10–15 minutes before serving will give the flavours time to come together.

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

George Chuvalo, a hard-nosed heavyweight who never hit the canvas despite taking on the world’s best boxers, has died.

Sully’s Boxing Gym in Toronto, where Chuvalo trained during his career, confirmed his death in a social media post Saturday. The gym said Chuvalo died on his 89th birthday.

“Today, Sully’s lost a piece of its history,” the gym said.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford also paid tribute to Chuvalo, calling him “a heavyweight boxing legend, a family friend and a Canadian icon.”

“My thoughts are with all of George’s family and loved ones as we mourn his passing,” Ford said in a social media post.

Chuvalo was a Canadian amateur champion at 17, held the national title as a pro for almost 20 years and was ranked as high as No. 2 in the world.

He was 73-18-2 as a pro with 64 knockouts in a pro career that stretched from 1956 to 1978.

His career was defined by two mega-bouts with Muhammad Ali, in 1966 at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens and 1972 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, in which Chuvalo drew kudos for standing toe-to-toe with the most gifted and charismatic boxer of the era.

“When people think of me, they think of me fighting Muhammad,” Chuvalo said. “But I had close to 100 fights.”

Known for having one of the best chins in boxing, Chuvalo pointed out that it took more than the ability to absorb punches to record 73 wins and rank in the top 10 in the world in an age of heavyweight greats like Ali, Joe Frazier and George Foreman.

Chuvalo took pride in noting he had more knockouts than Joe Louis and Jack Dempsey, while also exceeding the total number of fights that Ali, Frazier, Rocky Marciano and Mike Tyson had.

Before retiring in 1978, Chuvalo wrote in his 2013 autobiography “Chuvalo: A Fighter’s Life: The Story of Boxing’s Last Gladiator, “I’ll be remembered as a guy who fought the best of his time, beat a lot of them and lost to some others.”

He was never knocked down as a pro.

“Not in the ring, anyway,” he says. “Outside the ropes has been a different story.”

Chuvalo lost three sons and his first wife Lynne to drugs and suicide.

“If you added up every punch I ever took and then multiplied the total by 10,000, it wouldn’t begin to equal the pain of losing three sons and a wife to drugs and suicide,” he wrote.

As for his fights with Ali, the American legend made most opponents look slow and predictable, but he could not finish Chuvalo, even though the stocky fighter who liked to get in close and work the body had only 17 days’ notice to prepare.

“They had a contest between a bull and a bumblebee at Maple Leaf Gardens last night,” Toronto Star columnist Milt Dunnell wrote at the time. Dunnell would add, “The bull came out of it with his face looking like a bucket of balls at a golf driving range.”

Ali went a full 15 rounds for the first time and had to go to the hospital for internal bleeding, while Chuvalo said, “I went dancing with my wife.”

When it came to his payday, Chuvalo said he ended up with $12,500, as manager Irving Ungerman took the lion’s share of the $49,000 purse, after expenses.

Chuvalo would also lose a rematch to Ali six years later by 12-round decision.

Despite the defeats, the Ali fights made Chuvalo a star in Canada and in the boxing world as the tough, unrelenting underdog.

“Icon — that’s the only way I can describe George Chuvalo,” said Lennox Lewis, a Canadian boxing star of another generation.

“He gave as good as he got, and then some,” reads Chuvalo’s Canada Sports Hall of Fame bio. “George Chuvalo was an extraordinary fighter and competitor — inside and outside of the boxing ring.”

Chuvalo was the son of Croat immigrants.

His mother worked in Toronto as a chicken plucker at Royce Poultry Packers, owned by Ungerman’s father, Chuvalo’s future manager. His father was a cattle skinner at Canada Packers.

George said he was drawn to boxing as a boy after seeing a copy of The Ring, a magazine known as “the Bible of boxing.” He egged his mother to get him boxing gloves, which she eventually bought at Eaton’s department store.

He found a local church that offered boxing training and had his first organized fight at age 10, an exhibition bout declared a draw. He eventually joined a boxing club and by 15 was a 198-pound heavyweight.

He fought 19 times as an amateur, losing just once. In May 1995, he knocked out Peter Piper in Regina to win the Canadian amateur title.

Chuvalo was chosen to represent Canada at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne but turned pro instead.

He went on to become a five-time Canadian heavyweight champion, back when that title still counted, and held it for most of his 20-year pro career.

He lost a World Boxing Association championship bout to Ernie Terrell in 1965, a fight he always felt was fixed by mobsters.

A frequent fighter at Madison Square Garden during that time, going 3-6 against top pugilists like Frazier, Foreman, Floyd Patterson and Buster Mathis. The Ring named his bloody 1965 encounter with Patterson fight of the year.

He hoped to challenge for the Commonwealth title, but could not convince English champion Henry Cooper to fight him. He felt the Canadian Boxing Federation also let him down by not insisting that Cooper face him.

His last bout was a TKO win over George Jerome, a logging camp cook from Vancouver, who was the No. 1 contender in Canada, in December 1978 at Toronto’s St. Lawrence Market to retain the Canadian title. Chuvalo was 41 and made just $7,500 for the bout.

A bloody Jerome lasted two rounds before the ring doctor stepped in.

Out of the ring, Chuvalo was a big, friendly man who loved telling stories and making jokes. But his painful moments were almost beyond imagination.

In 1985, his son Jesse, who began using painkillers after an accident and developed an addiction, committed suicide. In 1993, another son, Georgie Lee, died of a drug overdose. Four days later, his wife was found dead with a suicide note.

Then, in 1996, his son Steven was found dead in a hotel room with a needle in his arm.

“After Steven died, I was barely able to function,” Chuvalo wrote in Toronto Life in 2013. “I felt like I was suffocating every time I went to sleep in the dark.

“I blamed myself for my sons’ deaths — for letting them quit high school, for not putting them in rehab earlier.”

He remarried to Joanne O’Hara and began visiting schools across Canada to deliver an anti-drug message. He had two remaining children and said he turned to “mush” whenever he saw his grandchildren.

Chuvalo, inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1990 and the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1997, was named to the Order of Canada in 1998.

Canada added him to its Walk of Fame in 2005.

A statue of Chuvalo was erected in his family’s ancestral home in Ljubuski, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in 2011.

Some 24 years after his induction into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame, Chuvalo took part in a new conference at Mattamy Athletic Centre, site of the old Gardens, honouring the 2014 inductees — and the bell he answered 15 times against Ali some 48 years earlier.

Chuvalo, then 77, rang the bell, gave the crowd a thumbs-up and then shadowboxed.

“I get reminded of it just about every day of the week,” he said of his first fight with Ali. “That makes me very, very proud to be a Canadian.”

The bell was donated to the Hall of Fame by Michael Shillolo, whose father, Frank Shillolo, used to be the official bellman for the Ontario Athletics Commission.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

When a person on board a cruise ship off the coast of British Columbia fell ill, the Royal Canadian Air Force responded quickly to airlift the patient, a travel companion and medical personnel from the ship to waiting emergency health services.

The rescue happened on Saturday morning, when the RCAF’s 442 Transport and Rescue Squadron received a call that prompted a high-seas search and rescue mission.

A CH-149 Cormorant helicopter and a CC-295 Kingfisher airplane were deployed in the pre-dawn hours to a spot 200 km northwest of Port Hardy, B.C.

The Kingfisher arrived first and coordinated the medevac alongside the ship’s captain and provided “over-watch” for the helicopter, a news release said.

At the same time, the ship’s captain steered his vessel into the wind, turned off his radar and cleared an area on the bow so the chopper could safely approach.

Two search and rescue technicians were then lowered onto the ship from the helicopter to take over care of the patient and prepare them for a transfer onto the aircraft.

The patient, their companion and a member of the ship’s medical staff, along with the technicians, were then hoisted into the helicopter. The aircraft then flew to Comox where the patient was transferred to emergency health services awaiting their arrival.

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

Turkish authorities cracked down on multiple LGBTQ+ groups and individuals early Sunday morning, detaining dozens of members, breaking into association offices and raiding popular hangouts.

In an escalation of its decade-long hostility toward LGBTQ+ groups, particularly in the lead-up to elections, simultaneous police raids beginning at 1 a.m. took place in the major cities of Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Aydin and Mersin.

Justice Minister Akin Gurlek announced on social media that the investigation into 162 suspects, nine associations and 13 businesses was to “protect children, the institution of the family, and public order” in line with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s 10-year executive order relating to families and children.

“As per the duty to protect families and children given to the state by the constitution, no criminal organization, abuse network or illegal activity which targets children, youths or families will be tolerated!” Gurlek said.

The raids targeted both current and former members of multiple prominent LGBTQ+ rights and HIV awareness groups. The organizations’ websites were also blocked.

Gurlek also noted that such associations were found to receive significant funding from international sources and agencies.

The Human Rights Association condemned the raids. “This is not a judicial investigation; it is a political operation aimed at forcing society into a monolithic family model and purging LGBTI+ and independent civil society under the guise of protecting the family and children,” it said.

“To include unrelated charges such as ‘forming a criminal organization,’ ‘drugs,’ ‘prostitution’ and ‘obscenity’ serves not to reveal the truth but to incriminate the entire community.”

The religious conservative Justice and Development Party has been increasingly vocal against LGBTQ+ groups to play up to the more conservative elements of its base. In 2015, it banned Istanbul Pride, which had tens of thousands of attendees in previous years prior. Since then, authorities have violently dispersed any attempted gatherings for Pride.

This summer, an LGBTQ+ cruise ship that tours the Mediterranean and has docked in Turkey multiple times in the past was refused permission to dock there.

The Ottoman Empire, predecessor to the modern republic of Turkey, decriminalized homosexuality in 1858, however there is still significant social discrimination.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

Quebec political leaders are entering their 18th day on the campaign trail today with their first debate approaching on Tuesday.

The Liberal party is expected to present its financial framework today.

The Parti Québécois will then be the only one left to present its financial framework.

Party leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon has said he would do so on Tuesday, the day of the first debate.

While the Parti Québécois has been favoured by some public opinion polls, recent surveys appear to show the Coalition Avenir Québec gaining momentum.

Quebec voters go to the polls Oct. 5.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

Two decades ago, James Santos saw his friend die in a shooting at a Montreal college. Now, he is a Montreal police officer, working for the force he says saved his life that day.

Sunday marks the 20th anniversary of the shooting. On Sept. 13, 2006, a gunman entered Dawson college and opened fire on students in the hall. He killed 18-year-old Anastasia De Sousa and injured 16 others, according to a coroner’s report from 2008.

Santos, then a 17-year-old student, was having lunch with De Sousa that day. The cafeteria was packed and the two found a free table close to the entrance, he recalled in an interview with The Canadian Press.

“We were talking about our weekend and what we did and we had laughs — and then, all of a sudden, I see the shooter walk in,” he said.

When he realized the man had a real weapon, Santos dove behind some chairs. De Sousa, who couldn’t see the shooter, stood up.

“She turned around facing the shooter and basically one of the first shots was directed to my friend,” recalled Santos.

Thinking De Sousa fainted, Santos crawled over to drag her to cover.

“That’s when I realized she got hit by one of the rounds near the abdomen. So I tried to console her, tell her that I was next to her and that everything will be alright,” he said.

Soon, the shooter turned his attention back to Santos. He told Santos to get up and get in front of him, essentially acting as a human shield. Santos obeyed.

“I didn’t want to anger him because I believed that Anastasia was still there, and I also had other friends that were trapped,” he said.

He tried to talk the shooter down. At that moment, Santos recalled, he accepted that he would die.

“I just didn’t want to take other students with me,” he said.

He fed the shooter white lies about the layout of the school, telling him one corridor led to a janitor’s closet or that another led nowhere.

When the shooter asked Santos how De Sousa was doing, Santos didn’t know what to say. At that point, he still hoped his friend was alive. So he told the shooter that he wasn’t sure and asked him to let him get her help.

“He didn’t say anything — he just loaded his magazine into a semi automatic and walked over to her, he unloaded all his 12 rounds on her, and then he came back and he told me, ‘Well, now you have nothing to worry about,’” said Santos.

Santos froze. Later, when the shooter held another student at gunpoint, Santos snapped, yelling at the shooter to leave the student be.

“I think I had enough with everything. Enough with the gunshots, the blood, the screaming of the students, just all of it,” said Santos.

“The shooter didn’t say anything, he just laughed.”

The shooter spared that other student. Moments later, police shot him in the leg. Santos was sure the angered gunman would shoot him. Instead, the shooter killed himself.

Santos ran off. He thought it had been hours since De Sousa was killed and the ordeal began.

“I found out a little later on that it was a dozen minutes that passed by,” he said.

In 2008, then-Governor General of Canada Michaelle Jean awarded Santos the Star of Courage for his actions that day.

Dawson College commemorated the shooting on Friday in a ceremony that brought De Sousa’s family, survivors and students together in the school’s Peace Garden. Loved ones remembered De Sousa’s cheerful and resilient character.

During the ceremony, De Sousa’s mother, Louise De Sousa, called on the federal government to tighten gun control laws.

Santos said the journey to becoming an officer was a challenging one, as he worked over years to overcome the trauma.

Talking about the events of that day two decades later, Santos seems calm, his voice never wavering.

“I have all the details in my mind. I recall everything, but I don’t put myself into it. I’m looking at it as a third person,” he said.

That wasn’t always the case, he said.

“Initially, saying it the first couple of times was extremely, extremely, extremely hard. There’s really no words to place it, just because you pretty much relive every second of it,” he said.

Nonetheless, as he tells the story, little details come up. The way De Sousa had wanted to go out for lunch, but Santos instead opted to eat at the cafeteria. The fact that she sat with her back to the door and couldn’t see the shooter coming in.

Santos said he fixated on some of these details after graduating from Dawson, filled with survivor’s guilt.

“What if I had given her the (other) chair?” he asked.

“It just goes down that spiral that it’s extremely hard to get out because you could think of anything, but it’ll never change what actually happened.”

He had considered a career in law enforcement before the event of 2006, and he said his experience during the shooting pushed him to want to join the Montreal police.

“I wanted to give back to the community that gave me another chance, right? The police (officers) gave me another chance at life.”

The path to get there wasn’t easy. Santos had vivid nightmares and panic attacks, and he knew he would have to address his trauma if he wanted to work as a police officer. He turned to therapy and set small goals, like watching an action movie, or one with a lot of shooting, until he could get through it calmly.

Then he joined the army. Training was a challenge, he said.

“The smell of gunpowder would bring me right back to the event of Dawson,” he said.

After about a decade in the military, Santos got into the police academy. He then worked for a year in a town outside of Montreal before joining the Montreal force in 2018.

“As a police officer, you never know what calls you’re getting. (If) I get a call, I’m not going to be having anxiety or sweating or anything, because of all the little things I did prior to get myself to where I am today,” he said.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER – Even Nathan Rourke gets tongue-tied.

The B.C. Lions quarterback met a childhood idol on Saturday when his team added 2006 Grey Cup MVP Travis Lulay to its wall of fame.

When the pair were introduced, Rourke started to call the Lions legend Travis but decided in the moment Mr. Lulay might be more appropriate.

“Then I came out somewhere in the middle,” he said with a smile. “I told him I hope that we can chat sometime and just kind of pick his brain a little bit.”

Meeting Lulay has long been a dream for the Canadian quarterback.

“When I was young, and I watched the Lions, he was the quarterback. And so he’s the quarterback for the Lions for me,” Rourke said. “Everyone has their era … who’s the identity of their team and who’s their quarterback of their era, and Travis was that for me growing up. So it was pretty cool to see, and I hope to be in that position at some point down the road.”

Rourke put on yet another performance Saturday that could help cement his position in Lions’ lore.

The 28-year-old amassed a combined 394 yards, throwing for 317 with a touchdown and powering the Lions to a 48-29 victory over the Montreal Alouettes. He added 77 yards on the ground and a rushing major as B.C. (7-6) split a home-and-home series with the CFL powerhouse.

B.C. jumped out to a 17-0 lead early in the second quarter, only to see the visitors rally and get the game to within four points late in the first half.

The Lions showed resilience, Rourke said.

“I’ve just been really impressed with that,” he said. “This team, we’ve had a lot of adversity this year. The way we’ve responded to it, I’ve been really proud of.”

Davis Alexander threw for 242 yards for the Alouettes (10-3) with two TDs and an interception.

“He’s a heck of a player,” Lions head coach Buck Pierce said of Montreal’s starter. “He plays with fire. He plays tough. We did a good job of being able to stop some of that momentum that he’s able to create.”

The Lions opened the scoring Saturday with a 35-yard field goal from Sean Whyte early in the opening frame, then boosted their lead following a successful challenge.

Tyrice Beverette swooped in to collect Rourke’s pass in the end zone, and it looked like the visitors had made good on the interception. Pierce challenged the play and, after review, officials ruled Lorenzo Burns had interfered with the pass, putting B.C. at the one-yard line.

Running back Zander Horvath capitalized, plunging in and Whyte’s convert gave the home side a 10-0 lead.

Seconds into the second quarter, Alexander tried to get a pass off before he was pulled down from behind, but defensive tackle Casey Sayles nabbed the ball and sprinted in for another TD that put the Lions up 17-0.

The interception ended a streak in which the Als QB went 108 attempts without getting picked off.

Montreal responded with a big drive, capped by Alexander’s 26-yard toss to Tyson Philpott in the end zone to put the visitors on the scoreboard.

It didn’t take the Alouettes long to further chip away at the deficit.

Beverette snuck around B.C.’s offensive line and hauled Rourke to the turf. Mustafa Johnson collected the loose ball and ran it in for another TD. Maltos Diaz missed the convert, but the Lions’ lead dwindled to four points.

The two sides then traded seven-point scores, with Rourke finding Keon Hatcher Sr. in the end zone under pressure before Alexander sent Tyler Snead a deep ball to make it 24-20 for B.C.

Action continued on both ends of the field in the dying seconds of the first half.

With 35 seconds left in the quarter, Rourke kept the ball himself after a snap and darted down the field, getting the ball to the corner marker for a touchdown before being forced out of bounds. Whyte’s convert put B.C. up 31-20.

“We responded when we needed to respond, I thought,” Pierce said. “Especially in the first half when you look at some of the field position we started with offensively and what they started with as well. We were able to keep pace, still get the ball in the red zone, and then finish drives in the end zone.”

A string of penalties on Montreal’s next possession made for choppy play, but the Als persisted and, with five seconds to go in the half, Maltos Diaz put a 25-yard kick through the uprights to make it 31-23 heading into the locker rooms.

Both sides struggled to capture momentum in the second half, but Montreal took another bite out of B.C.’s lead midway through the third with a 33-yard field goal from Maltos Diaz.

The Lions broke through the stalemate midway through the frame when Horvath muscled his way through traffic for his second TD of the night.

Montreal lost a key piece on the ensuing kickoff return when receiver Devonte Dedmon was upended and suffered an apparent leg injury in the process. After being examined on the field, he was taken away on a cart.

Horvath struck again with less than five minutes to go in the game, diving across the goal line for his third touchdown of the game and 16th on the ground this season. The 27-year-old American has also reeled in two receiving majors.

“I think he’s probably scored too many touchdowns at this point. Let’s give it to somebody else, give someone else a chance to score,” Rourke said with a grin. “But, yeah, he’s done a fantastic job answering the bell when we needed him in a lot of different ways and certainly been a huge addition to the offence in terms of all the carries that he’s gotten this year.”

Montreal answered with a 50-yard field goal from Maltos Diaz before Whyte sealed the game at 48-29 with a 42-yard kick through the uprights.

The Lions hope they haven’t seen the last of the Alouettes this season, Rourke said.

“We recognize that they’re a very good team, we believe we’re a good team, and I think the competitive juices definitely were flowing (tonight),” the quarterback said.

“Feels good to get this one for sure, and I’m sure if we want to get to where we want to get to and be champs at the end of this year, we’re gonna have to go through them again. So we look forward to that.”

UP NEXT

Alouettes: Visit the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (4-9) on Friday.

Lions: Have a week off before hosting the Saskatchewan Roughriders (8-5) on Friday, Sept. 25.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2026.

© 2026 The Canadian Press