Jermey Hansen and the rest of the Artemis II crew aboard the Orion spacecraft are “focusing on getting it all done right” ahead of re-entry Friday night, Chris Hadfield says.

Hadfield, a decorated Canadian astronaut who served as commander of the International Space Station, told Global News Friday that he has communicated with Hansen through email ahead of the crew’s return to Earth.

NASA said the four-person crew are set to splash down around 8 p.m. in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of San Diego, Calif., travelling at 38,000 kilometres an hour.

The astronauts looped around the moon this week in a six-hour lunar flyby that took them farther into space than any humans before.

Hansen is the first non-American to leave Earth’s orbit, while Hadfield was the first Canadian to perform extravehicular activity in space.

Here is what Hadfield told Global News on Friday. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: What does this mission mean to you and how historic is this moment as the Artemis II returns?

A: I’ll take the second question first. It’s really historic. Nobody has ever left Earth orbit except Americans. No other country, no Soviet astronaut or Russian or Chinese astronaut has ever done it. The very first country after the United States to have someone leave Earth is Canada. And everybody should take pride in that and recognize what Jeremy Hansen has done on behalf of us all. But how I’m feeling about it, just really keenly interested and excited. So proud of how well Jeremy and his crew has done, what Canada has done to get us here, what it means for the future, and now all eyes and held breath turn towards their re-entry tonight.

Q: What will they be feeling during that fireball phase of re-entry and how has their training really prepared them for this?

A: Yeah, I was emailing back and forth with Jeremy. Pretty amazing to email with someone who’s on the way back from the moon. They’re so proud of the ship and the team and how this vehicle has done. And Jeremy just says, ‘I’m going to miss this, this is a great experience.’ But what they’re focusing on now is getting it all done right. First, they need to perfectly line up their vehicle to enter the atmosphere at exactly the right angle. If they come in a little too shallow, they’ll skip out and then that’ll make a real mess later on. If they come in a little too steep, it’ll burn them up, so they have to aim it just right. They’ll be watching that. They’ve got to jettison the service module, the life support system on the back, and then they need to expose the pristine belly of their capsule to the Earth’s atmosphere — it’s been protected from little meteoroids up until now — and then fly it down through the atmosphere. Hopefully, the computer will properly steer it as they fly down through and dissipate all that energy, and then get down to where they’re slow enough, they can pop little drogue shoots and then the three big parachutes and come down like a monstrous thistle down into the Pacific off the coast of California. It’s going to be an amazing half-hour ride.

Q: What do you think this crew will carry with them from this journey?

A: You know, the way it works is your emotions get sort of trapped in lag behind you because there’s so much amazing new stimulation. So unbelievably different things in your life and you just can’t keep up. You can’t see fast enough. You can hardly even feel fast enough for what those four people have been through. And they’ve been doing their best to share it but even they admit it, they’re just fumbling for enough vocabulary to let people know how this feels and how it actually looks. They’ll have taken tens of thousands of pictures, but they now have the rest of their lives in order to sort out what this means to them as a person and then how to share it with their family and their friends and the rest of the world and let people see where we are in history as a species. As we transitioned from exploring the moon, done by the Apollo astronauts to now to this very first flight of starting to settle on the moon, much as we did Antarctica a hundred years ago, and somehow Jeremy and his three crewmates need to get all that square in their heads immediately when they land and then with a lot of time to reflect later on.

Q: How are you feeling on this day as you await your friends to return home?

A: Well, I mean, Jeremy used to be a combat fighter pilot flying F-18s. I was a test pilot as well. Dangerous professions, but they’re part of society and there’s no guaranteed outcome. So what you do is you study it like crazy, you change who you are, you develop a huge, deep skillset for things to go wrong. But eventually somebody needs, if you want to, talk about the edge of the envelope and expanding the envelope. Someone has to test where the edges of the envelope are. That’s what Jeremy and his crew are doing. They are pushing the edge of the envelope. No human beings have ever flown this spaceship back down into the atmosphere before. We think we’ve done our math right. We did an unpiloted test, but it didn’t go perfectly, but we’re confident this is going to work today. But until someone is willing to risk really everything to go and test it, the rest of us won’t really know. So it’s extremely serious. And the crew takes it seriously. Everybody in all the space agencies is watching keenly and we’ll know whether we are right or wrong here after they’re safely back into the water of the Pacific. And I’m confident they’ll be OK, but there’s no guarantees on the edge of exploration.

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

St. Lawrence College and Fleming College have announced plans to integrate as equal institutions, a move aimed at building a stronger educational platform across both regions by 2027.

The integration is designed to increase access to education, expand specialized programming and student pathways, and better align the colleges with regional labour market demands. Officials say the partnership will also strengthen long-term institutional capacity and sustainability.

Despite the merger, both colleges will continue to operate under their existing names and brands. There will be no immediate changes to local programs, services or student supports. Students currently enrolled will continue their studies as planned and will eventually receive diplomas and certificates from their respective home colleges.

The colleges have also confirmed that no campus closures or consolidations are planned as part of the integration.

Moving forward, academic programming will be carefully reviewed with a focus on helping students succeed. The next phase of the process will focus on implementation planning and engaging with key partners and the community for input.

Due diligence is expected to be completed within the month, with the remaining integration work continuing throughout the year. The newly integrated college is scheduled to take effect on or before April 1, 2027.

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

Potential social media and AI chatbot bans for Canadian children and youth are expected to be proposed at the Liberal party policy convention underway in Montreal.

Out of the 24 policy resolutions being brought forward for debate by party members, two are about a potential social media and artificial intelligence chatbot ban for youth.

Those proposals come as a growing number of countries debate similar measures, and after Australia introduced a ban last year.

One resolution from Quebec calls for anyone under the age of 16 to be banned from accessing “all AI chatbots and other potentially harmful forms of AI interaction,” such as ChatGPT.

Another calls for a law similar to one Australia passed late last year that would set a “minimum age of 16 for creating social media accounts” and put the onus on companies that run the platforms to “prevent underage users from holding accounts.”

An Angus Reid Institute poll released on March 30 found that “banning those under 16 from platforms would be well received by the vast majority of Canadians,” with three-quarters (75 per cent) saying they support a “full ban on social media use for anyone under the age of 16.”

Support from parents with kids in their household stands at 70 per cent.

A September 2025 Ipsos poll also found an average of 71 per cent of people across 30 countries believe children under 14 “should not be able to access social media,” with 74 per cent of school-age parents feeling the same.

Twenty-five per cent of those surveyed also stated that social media is a “top challenge” for young people.

In March, Prime Minister Mark Carney said he had not made up his mind on the issue but that it should be debated.

“I think this is something that merits an open and considered debate in Canada,” he told reporters during his trip to Japan.

“We’re in a position, though, as a country, where our legislation … with respect to online harms, the exploitation of children, is lagging.”

The Angus Reid Institute poll found that support for a ban on social media for under-16s was highest in B.C. at 81 per cent and 77 per cent in Alberta.

Support sat at 70 per cent in Saskatchewan, 72 per cent in Manitoba, 74 per cent in Ontario, 73 per cent in Quebec and 76 per cent in the Atlantic provinces.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said on X that Australia recently implemented a full ban for children under 16 and that Canada should also consider options to limit social media use by minors.

He also said the federal government needs to pass online harms legislation and that the question of an “age of majority” for social media would be part of that discussion.

In addition, a committee of Quebec legislature members recommended last year that social media accounts be barred for youth under 14 unless they have the consent of a parent or guardian.

Australia became the first country to ban social media for children when it made platforms, including TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram, liable for fines of up to AU$50 million (C$45.5 million) for systemic failures to prevent children younger than 16 from holding accounts.

As a result, the eSafety Commissioner reported that platforms had so far removed about 4.7 million accounts held by under-16s.

In addition, the Massachusetts house of representatives voted 129-25 Wednesday night to pass legislation that would ban all children under age 14 from using social media in the state and require kids ages 14 and 15 to get parental consent to use social media, becoming the first U.S. state to implement such a law.

In January 2026, California Sen. Steve Padilla also proposed a bill that would place a four-year ban on the sale and manufacture of toys with AI chatbot capabilities for kids under 18.

The goal is to give safety regulators time to develop regulations to protect children from “dangerous AI interactions.”

— with files from The Canadian Press

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

Commuters in most Atlantic provinces are finding relief at the pump today after widespread drops in prices set by local utility boards.

But experts say they don’t expect the decreases to continue past a few days amid market uncertainty over the Iran war.

Constantine Passaris, economics professor at the University of New Brunswick, says commuters should fill up their tanks now as Canadians are in for “a bumpy ride” over the next couple of months.

The Newfoundland and Labrador regulator lowered the maximum price of regular gasoline by 13.5 cents per litre.

New Brunswick’s energy board cut back its maximum figure by five cents per litre to $189.5.

The Halifax area saw a 1.7-cent decrease, while Prince Edward Island’s minimum price remained unchanged at just over 198 cents a litre.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

In June 2018, Jack White was in Toronto to perform at Budweiser Stage. Before the show, he sat down with us to talk about everything—from his career to his connection to Canada. “Canada meant a lot growing up, my father side is from Nova Scotia we had a lot of ties, a lot of history through that. My grandfather travelled across Canada and taught in a railroad car,” White says. “Also growing up in Detroit basically across the street from Canada.”

He went on to say that it was currently a “difficult time in America” and that he “couldn’t even watch the news anymore.” Just the weekend before, while headlining The Governors Ball in New York City, he changed the lyrics to his song ‘Icky Thump‘ to ‘Icky Trump‘. Although, he noted that artists shouldn’t speak out as a way to pander for applause. He says, “sometimes something comes up and it makes sense…it’s hard to ignore.”

White is known for mixing it up on stage, bringing different talents together to create his band. The most important element for him is the drums. “I’ve always played to the drummer,” he says. “That’s the most important element of the band to me and, whether it’s Meg White or Daru Jones or Patrick Keeler – I’ve been very lucky to play with some of the best drummers I’ve ever seen myself, live.”

He also operates in a no-phone zone, asking concertgoers to attend without their phones. “It’s an interesting experiment. I thought people were going to take to it negatively but, people have taken to it incredibly positively. Everybody walking out of the show says, ‘I loved that, that was amazing, I wish all concerts were like that!’ I think it’s starting to catch on, other artists seem to be wanting to do this and it’s great.”

Despite his own fame, it’s scientists who leave him starstruck. “Neil deGrasse Tyson, or I was with the family of Carl Sagan once. We put out a record with Carl Sagan’s voice on it through Third Man Records. Those are the people I really respect,” he says.

Becoming famous was something that came about unexpectedly to him. “I was only hoping that I would be able to continue doing upholstery, I had my own shop, which I had when I was 21…and I thought I was just going to do that for the rest of my life and I was hoping that I would be able to play in a band on weekends when I had free time, and maybe one day make a record.”

White has just announced a return to Canada on his latest world tour, performing in Toronto with Angine de Poitrine on July 14th.

© 2026 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

The family of a New Brunswick man says he was airlifted to hospital for care but ended up hours later alone and cold in a ferry parking lot, trying to find his way back home wearing slippers and without a winter coat or phone.

His sister is raising questions about hospital discharge decisions and calling for changes.

“I was really scared because I did not know how he would make it home,” Stephanie Fleet told Global News.

Fleet’s brother, 63-year-old Robert Morse, was airlifted from their home in Grand Manan Island to the Saint John Regional Hospital for a potential stroke last week.

Morse had a stroke last year and has experienced mobility problems ever since. On April 2, he fell while at home, and his sister called for an ambulance to take him to the local hospital.

Once in hospital, it was decided he would be flown by air ambulance to the Saint John Regional Hospital. The trip between the island and Saint John would typically take about 2.5 hours to drive, and include a ferry ride.

Fleet says she made a point of asking medical staff how he would return home and offered to run home to grab necessities.

“I specifically asked a nurse, ‘Do I need to go home, get him some clothes, his medication, that sort of thing for when he flies out,” and she says no,” said Fleet. “He’s going to be flown back (they said).”

Hours later, Fleet says she received a call from her brother on a stranger’s cellphone. He told her he was being sent to the Blacks Harbour Ferry in a taxi.

According to Fleet, her brother received no assistance and had no phone, jacket, proper footwear or plan.

She says a “guardian angel” noticed her brother in the lineup to the ferry and offered to help him and drive him home.

“My brother’s kind of rough looking and with the stroke he shuffles, and if I didn’t know him, I don’t think I would’ve opened my (car) door to him,” she said.

“But once this stranger, and I said guardian angel, called me and said, ‘We have him,’ it was such a relief.”

Fleet says Morse often battles mini strokes, has diabetes, neuropathy, ulcers on one foot and limited mobility in the other leg. The fact he was sent on a ferry by himself and left to navigate the way home is unbelievable to her.

“He says, ‘Well, they did a test on me in the hospital and made me walk six or seven steps and said I was fine,'” she said.

“(But it was) on a smooth floor with nothing there that might trip him.”

The province’s Department of Health declined to comment on the story.

In a statement, Horizon Health told Global News that “safe discharge planning requires careful coordination” which includes “clear communication” with the patient and caregivers.

The statement from Greg Doiron, vice president of clinical operations with Horizon Health, said they couldn’t discuss specific patient situations but noted that discharge planning takes into account geographic distance, the patient’s physical condition and transportation barriers.

“Taxi vouchers are a resource that we use, at times, to support patients who require transportation assistance. Patients with concerns about the care they receive in our facilities are encouraged to reach out to Horizon’s Patient Relations Department,” he wrote.

But Fleet says there needs to be stronger policies and clear communication to protect vulnerable patients during discharge.

“If there had been communication from one hospital to the other, it would have been, ‘No, he can’t come home on his own,’ and the plane would’ve been there to take him home,” she said.

“A simple phone call would’ve made a huge difference.”

With the health-care system stretched thin and worried about her brother’s safety, Fleet says she has now built a community of support so if another emergency arises, she won’t be facing it alone.

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

Did you buy injectable peptides online? Health Canada is warning of “serious health risks” from injecting the drugs.

“Think twice before injecting peptides bought online,” Health Canada said in a notice posted online on Thursday, adding that “unauthorized products can seriously harm you.”

Peptides can “change how your body works,” the agency said. They are marketed online and on social media as “anti-aging” products and for weight loss, bodybuilding, athletic performance, injury recovery, sleep, mental focus, or general “wellness.”

“In Canada, peptides are generally regulated as prescription drugs. Authorized peptide drugs should only be used under the care of a licensed healthcare professional, such as a doctor, to treat specific conditions,” Health Canada said.

Using unauthorized peptide drugs can cause serious health risks, including, but not limited to, hormonal imbalance, mood swings, blood sugar imbalance, liver or kidney damage, blood clots, and growth of cancerous tumours, the agency said.

They could also lead to infections, allergic reactions, and other serious complications interact with other medications or health products you may be taking.

There are “many other unauthorized peptide drugs” available online that “should be avoided,” Health Canada said, giving these examples:

• BPC-157
• CJC-1295
• DSIP
• Epitalon
• GHK-Cu
• HCG
• Ipamorelin
• KPV
• Melanotan I and II
• MOTS-C
• NAD+
• SS-31
• TB-500
• Retatrutide

Many of these products have not demonstrated, through scientific trials, to provide the health benefits they claim.

If you have used an unauthorized injectable peptide drug and you feel unwell or have concerns, contact your family doctor or a healthcare professional such as a physician, nurse practitioner or a pharmacist, Health Canada said.

You should also safely dispose of the drugs or take them to your local pharmacy for safe disposal, the agency said.

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

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said he would not step down in his first interview with a U.S. network for NBC News’ Meet the Press, which broadcast a portion of the interview on Thursday.

In a nearly five-minute clip — part of a longer interview scheduled to air on Sunday — journalist Kristen Welker asked Díaz-Canel if he would be “willing to step down if it meant saving Cuba.”

Before answering, Díaz-Canel, 65, asked Welker if she had ever posed that question to any other president in the world.

He asked: “Is that a question from you, or is that coming from the State Department of the U.S. government?”

“In Cuba, the people who are in leadership positions are not elected by the U.S. government, and they don’t have a mandate from the U.S. government. We have a free sovereign state, a free state. We have self-determination and independence, and we are not subjected to the designs of the United States,” Díaz-Canel said.

“The concept of revolutionaries giving up and stepping down – it’s not part of our vocabulary.”

Díaz-Canel said he became president not out of a “personal ambition or corporate ambition or even a party ambition,” but because of a mandate by the people.

“If the Cuban people understand that I am not fit for office, that I have no reason to be here, then I should not be holding this position of president; I will respond to them,” he said.

Díaz-Canel also accused the U.S. government of implementing a “hostile policy” against Cuba and said it has “no moral to demand anything from Cuba.”

“I think the most important thing would be for them to understand and take this critical position, a sincere position, and recognize how much it has cost the Cuban people — and how much they have deprived the American people from a normal relationship with the Cuban people,” he added.

Díaz-Canel said Cuba is interested in engaging in dialogue and discussing any topic without conditions, “not demanding changes from our political system as we are not demanding change from the American system, about which we have a number of doubts.”

The Cuban president’s comments come as tensions between Cuba and the U.S. remain high. U.S. President Donald Trump called Cuba a “failing nation” last month, and said he’ll have “the honour of taking Cuba” soon.

In February, Trump also said the U.S. was in talks with Havana and raised the possibility of  “a friendly takeover,” without sharing details on what that meant.

“The Cuban government is talking with us,” Trump said. “They have no money. They have no anything right now. But they’re talking to us, and maybe we’ll have a friendly takeover of Cuba.”

In response to Díaz-Canel’s comments Thursday, a White House official said the Trump administration is talking to Cuba and claimed that leaders of the country “want to make a deal and should make a deal.”

“Cuba is a failing nation whose rulers have had a major setback with the loss of support from Venezuela,” the White House official said to NBC News on Thursday.

Last month, Trump said he could soon strike a deal with Cuba or take other action, following protests in the island nation’s capital as its population faces rolling blackouts, fuel shortages and economic turmoil.

Díaz-Canel confirmed that the country was in talks with the U.S.

“These ‌talks have been aimed at finding solutions through dialogue to the bilateral differences we have between the two nations,” Díaz-Canel said in a video aired on state television, adding that he hoped the negotiations would move the adversaries “away from confrontation.”

Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga, Cuba’s deputy prime minister, said in an interview in Havana that “Cuba is open to having a fluid commercial relationship with U.S. companies” and “also with Cubans residing in the United States and their descendants.”

— With files from Global News’ Rachel Goodman and The Associated Press

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

Saskatchewan’s 21^st lieutenant-governor has died.

The province says Vaughn Solomon Schofield was 82 when she passed away following a short illness.

She served in the role as Crown representative from 2012 to 2018.

Premier Scott Moe says Solomon Schofield was dedicated to the province’s residents and deeply committed to the Canadian Armed Forces.

Before she was appointed to the role, she attended university in her hometown of Regina and later worked in business real estate.

She leaves behind two children and five grandchildren.

“Vaughn Solomon Schofield was a wonderful embodiment of the Saskatchewan spirit,” Moe said in a news release Thursday.

“She was lieutenant-governor when I became premier.

“Her decades-long commitment to our Armed Forces was steadfast and she will be missed by all who knew her.”

Gov. Gen. Mary Simon remembered Solomon Schofield in a statement as someone whose time in the Armed Forces and her dedication to public service and philanthropy made her a “cherished leader in the viceregal community.”

“Her legacy had a profound impact on our country and will inspire generations to come,” she said.

© 2026 The Canadian Press

Two women have life-threatening injuries after a double stabbing in Brampton late on Thursday night.

Around 11 p.m., police and paramedics rushed to an address in the area of Cherrytree Drive and Ray Lawson Boulevard for reports of a stabbing.

Officers at the scene said an altercation had happened inside a home, and two women were stabbed. One was in her 70s, the other was in her 50s.

Paramedics confirmed they took two women to hospital with injuries that could be critical.

A male suspect was arrested after allegedly fleeing the scene. He faces two counts of attempted murder. Police said the man was related to the two women, but wouldn’t say how.

Police said the investigation was ongoing.

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