If you asked Jacob Marfo 10 years ago if he thought he would become an advocate for the Canadian Blood Services Stem Cells for Life, his answer would have been no.

The Edmonton man said before his son got sick at just nine months old, he was a blood and plasma donor, but didn’t know anything about stem cells.

“That’s the sad reality,” he said. “I also didn’t have any idea about the statistics at that time.” 

People are more likely to find a stem cell match in donors of similar ancestry or ethnic background but less than two per cent of donors on the Canadian Blood Services Stem Cell Registry are Black.

Jacob’s son, Ezra, was diagnosed with leukemia at 11 months old.

Ezra spent 475 days in hospital between the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary and the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton.

“Before that, he was this bubbly boy who would be playing every day,” he said. “Going around, like crawling to remove all my power cables and crawling under my desk when I’m working.”

Doctors said Ezra needed a stem cell match, so the family got to work advocating for people to be tested.

Jacob started the Swab 4 Ezra campaign, urging more people — especially Black Canadians— to register as stem cell donors, flying from coast to coast to make presentations, and speaking to media in hopes of raising awareness.

Unfortunately, their perfect little boy never found his perfect match.

Ezra died in September 2022.

Edmonton filmmaker Sandro Silva had originally tried to see if he was at match for Ezra during the search for a donor. He said he didn’t qualify and soon received a letter from Jacob.

“They said he had passed away a couple of weeks ago,” Silva said.

“I was just in tears.”

So, he reached out to Jacob.

“I said ‘Look, I’m very sorry I couldn’t help. I tried. But I couldn’t,'” he said. “What I can do as a producer, as a filmmaker, is put the story out there.”

The pair worked together for more than two years filming, Ezra’s story and the search for a donor,.

Their film The Perfect Match, sheds light on critical shortcomings in Canada’s stem cell registry and underscoring the life-saving impact of increased donation in Black communities.

While Jacob (Founder of the Ezra Marfo Cancer Foundation), stars in the show, it also includes the stories of Ufuoma Muwhen (Founder and CEO of NotJustYou), and Revée Agyepong Brown (author of My Sickled Cells) who were saved by stem cell donors.

“It is important for us, because the mistrust of the Black population, or the minorities, rather, on these organizations that deal with things like health, regulation of blood, is something that hasn’t started yesterday, but we have to really tackle that in a way that builds the awareness,” Silva said.

“As a Black filmmaker this story is deeply personal,” he added. “Working on The Perfect Match helped me better understand how Black and other minority communities in Canada can work together with institutions, organizations, and social services providers to overcome mistrust of the medical system.”

The world premiere will be held at the NorthWest Film Fest on April 11 at 7 p.m. at Metro Cinema in Edmonton.

Canadian Blood Services will be on site following the screening, offering the audience the opportunity to join the national stem cell registry and improving the chances of finding a match for patients in need.

Jacob said he hasn’t been able to watch the film from start to finish yet, but will watch it with support around him at the premiere.

He knows it will be hard to see his son again, especially on the big screen, but adds it’s not about something bigger — helping others, just like his son would have wanted.

“The legacy I want to leave for Ezra is the stem cell registry — to become an advocate so that more and more people will be on the registry, irrespective of the colour of their skin,” he said.

“So that when someone within that population requires a match for any blood or other one will be available to save their lives.”

More information on the film can be found here.

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

Space exploration may be at the forefront of the news cycle following the Artemis II mission, but for one Alberta teen, it’s always been his main focus.

Sixteen-year-old Thomas Toombes has been chosen as the 2026 Western Canada delegate to attend the International Space School in Houston this summer.

He’ll be joined by 50 other students from 25 countries. Together they will be sorted into teams with the task of designing a mission to Mars.

The teens will be responsible for calculating everything needed to simulate what it would take to bring society to the red planet.

“We’re planning to our best ability, in every single way, a Mars habitat,” said Thomas, “How to get humans there and any variable. We’re expected to cover, for example, food, water, trash, down to the electricity.”

Over two weeks, the teams cover specific departments. Some students will be assigned to do math for rocket launches whereas others will look into more civic duties.

“As part of our mission, I want to make sure we have good medical systems on board,” said Thomas, who recalled the Artemis II team learning zero gravity CPR as part of their preparation.

The Western Canada delegate at the space school will represent Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Yukon and the Northwest Territories.

Applicants must be aged between 15 to 19 to apply. However, a strong application and a deep interest in advancing space exploration and spaceflight is needed.

The Hangar Flight Museum in Calgary is responsible for selecting the delegate, a role that isn’t taken lightly.

“There’s so much hope with the space industry and I think that can get people really charged up and we’d love to see a ton of applications come in next year,” said Lauren Maillet, the interim executive director of the Hanger Flight Museum.

“If you are too young for the program right now, keep your eye on the ball because Thomas knew before he was old enough to apply and spent his (time) preparing. And that’s what made him successful.”

The young Cochrane local has also had an encounter with NASA with its civilian science program, helping categorize Martian clouds into a database for the organization.

Thomas intends to study mechanical engineering at university and hopes a future career in space science is in his stars.

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

It’s pothole season.

The time of year when the freeze-thaw cycle can cause pavement to crumble, leaving large divots in the roadway, and cost drivers a lot of money to repair the damage to their vehicles if they’re unsuccessful at dodging them in time.

While city crews are out filling some of them — and have been since January, weather permitting — city officials admit that the wild swings in the weather recently have delayed the work a bit this year.

That’s because the same city employees in charge of keeping the streets clear of snow are also responsible for filling those divots in the road.

“Potholes typically form when moisture penetrates the surface of the road, freezes below the surface creating an ice pocket. The pocket melts and there’s a void there, and when driven over becomes the pothole,” said Chris McGeachy of the City of Calgary roads department.

“Our crews are responding to potholes (but) of course with the kind of extended winter, you know the blitz did start a little later. Our focus here up until sweeping is blitzing the potholes.”

Some of the repair work — on major provincial roads, such as Deerfoot Trail — is also the responsibility of the province.

In a written statement to Global News, the province says with up to 180,000 vehicles travelling Deerfoot Trail every day, most of the repair work on Deerfoot needs to be done at night or during non-peak hours to avoid periods of high traffic volume.

With more snow in the forecast — April is traditionally the second snowiest month of the year — the City of Calgary says it won’t know how this year’s pothole season stacks up against previous seasons until about May.

But mechanics in the city are already seeing some frustrated pothole victims facing costly repairs such as broken struts and blown tires.

“If you hit a pothole and it bends your rim, all of a sudden you got some vibrations going on. $500, anywhere up to $1,000 if you’re replacing rims,” said Brandon Dawborn of Chetlen Auto Tech and Repair, who has a shop just off Macleod Train in the south Calgary community of Willow Park.

“On an all-wheel-drive vehicle, if you damage one tire, you have to get a whole new set of tires all the way around.“

“It does draw a lot of customers and it really sucks, because a lot of times it’s not … how they’re driving or anything. It’s just the road driving on,” added Dawborn.

In 2025, the city says its crews filled 35,855 potholes, slightly less than 2024 when they set a record, repairing 37,850 potholes.

The City of Calgary also set up a website, with an online form, to allow drivers to report any nasty potholes they and their vehicle may encounter.

The website also has a map showing the location and repair status of some of the nastiest potholes in the city.

Judging by it, Macleod Trail is one of the worst areas in the city for potholes so far, meaning Dawborn likely has a busy pothole season ahead of him.

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

There was a steady stream of customers at Stawnichy’s Mundare Sausage on Friday, coming in and out of a brand-new door that replaced one destroyed in an after-hours break-in.

It’s been a long, busy two days after two thieves busted into the store on Wednesday night. Stawnichy’s says in their nearly 70 years of business, they’ve never had a break-in until this week.

“I think we’ve been kind of lucky that it hadn’t happened for so many decades,” said Kyler Zeleny, assistant general manager and a member of the Stawnichy family that runs the beloved small business in eastern Alberta.

Stawnichy’s has operated in Mundare, Alta., about an hour east of Edmonton, for decades and is famous for its Ukrainian garlic sausage, or kielbasa.

So much so, the town populated by descendants of Ukrainian homesteaders is also home to the world’s largest sausage statue — a 42-foot-tall replica of the millions of links the company produced and sold since the 1960s.

“Nobody can top their kielbasa,” said long-time customer Sharon Ewasiw, who drove over from Lamont on Friday morning to stock up on sausage. “Nobody — the best in Alberta.”

Ewasiw and several other ladies were stocking up for this weekend’s for Orthodox Easter celebrations.

“Pepperoni, kielbasa, ham, paprika, bacon,” said June Tichkowsky, listing off her grocery list.

“Garlic — can’t forget the garlic — and radishes and onions and cheese,” Ewasiw piped in.

The ladies explained their bounty all goes into a basket they take to church to be blessed before this weekend’s dinner. It’s an annual event that, this year, came with a little more excitement than normal following the store being broken into.

RCMP responded to a business alarm on Wednesday around 11:45 p.m., after two thieves smashed in the front door window and broke in.

Security camera video shows them jumping over the front counter, grabbing the cash register and yanking it free from its electric cords before fleeing out the broken door.

“They did some really quick kind of counter-top hopping. They did about three — looked very parkour-esque — and they grabbed our cash machine, and went out the front door,” Zeleny said.

“They were in here for about six seconds.”

However, the thieves perhaps didn’t make off with as much moolah as they hoped.

“Like most businesses — and if there’s any criminals listening — there’s usually no cash in registers,” Zeleny said, explaining there was just a bunch of quarters and dimes in the machine.

“So if you see anyone or hear anyone with about $80 worth of change in their pockets — that might be our culprits.”

However, the thieves did cause several thousands dollars in damage to the store.

“The smaller the business, the harder it is for them to kind of absorb those costs,” Zeleny said.

Zeleny said he showed up early Thursday morning with his dad to board up the front door and window.

“Those become very long nights for small businesses and then trying to figure out how to open the next day.

“So they get $90, but we have to pay for $4,000 or $5,000 worth of damage.”

Thankfully, they had a spare door and helping hands to get things back into working order once the sun came up.

“In small towns, we try to look out for one another.”

The stolen cash register was found broken and ditched in a snowbank, Zeleny said, so a new cash register was acquired. A glass company from Vegreville got the ball rolling on replacing smashed glass.

“Within one day, it didn’t really look like we had been broken into.”

Zeleny fears if thieves broke in once, they might do it again — either at Stawnichy’s or another small business.

“We don’t want them in our communities, we don’t want them coming back. And we want to see justice for places like this,” he said.

“I hope they realize the amount of damage they’ve done to only get $80 worth of coinage, maybe not to do it again — but we’re kind of hoping that we can figure out who the culprits were.”

To that end, the family business — with grandma’s approval — is now offering 100 rings of their Mundare sausage for the person who helps find the suspects.

“We offered, with Baba Jane’s blessing, we can give 100 free rings of sausage to anyone who can help us find who these individuals are,” Zeleny said.

“That’s nearly $1,000 worth of good quality, local product.”

RCMP said the recovered cash register will be analysed by Alberta RCMP forensic identification services.

Police are searching for two suspects.

Suspect one was wearing:
• Red hoodie with a black sweater with white stripes down the arms and white writing on the back
• Black track pants with stipes
• Red gloves
• Red mask
• Black baseball hat
• Red running shoes
• Believed to be between five feet, eight inches and six feet, two inches tall, with an average build

Suspect two was wearing:
• Grey/ Dark green jacket
• Grey pants
• Grey running shoes with a white bottom
• Grey gloves
• Black mask with a white pattern
• Believed to be between five feet, six inches and six feet tall, with an average build

 

Vegreville RCMP is also requesting the public’s assistance for dash camera footage, or surveillance footage in the areas between 51  and 53 avenues along 50 Street in Mundare, from between April 8  at 11:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. on April 9.

Anyone with footage that appears helpful, or has know who may have committed the crime, is asked to contact Vegreville RCMP at 780-631-2750.

Anonymous tips can also be submitted to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or online.

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

If you’ve seen headlines about young Americans being automatically registered for a U.S. military draft, don’t worry: there’s no indication it has anything to do with the war in Iran.

There’s no current draft in the U.S. right now, meaning eligible men — and yes, it’s only men — are not being conscripted into military service.

So why will registration now become automatic starting in December? Here’s what you need to know.

In 1917, the U.S. Congress created the Selective Service System to oversee a database of eligible men available in the event of a military draft.

At the time, the U.S. had entered the First World War but the army was failing to meet its recruitment targets, prompting president Woodrow Wilson to require young men to enlist for military service.

Drafts were enacted during the First and Second World Wars as well as the Korean War and Vietnam War. There has not been a mandatory draft in the U.S. since 1973, with military service remaining voluntary.

Under the current federal law, men are required to register with the Selective Service System within 30 days of their 18th birthday and inform the agency of any changes to their personal information, including their address, between the ages of 18 and 25.

In the event of a draft, the agency would send out conscription notices to everyone in the registry and would also adjudicate deferments and exemptions.

Men are able to submit late registrations up until their 26th birthday. Failing to register can result in fines up to US$250,000 or up to five years in prison, as well as potential ineligibility for federal jobs and loans.

Women are exempt from registering under the law.

Young male immigrants to the U.S. are required to register, however, with the agency warning failing to do so may result in delays to citizenship approvals.

The implementation of a nationwide automatic draft registration system was tucked into last year’s annual U.S. defence policy bill, the National Defense Authorization Act, which was signed by U.S. President Donald Trump in December.

The law says U.S. men aged 18 to 26 will be automatically registered to the draft database.

The Selective Service System then submitted a proposed rule to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in late March seeking to implement the change in December of this year.

The agency says the automatic system will result “in a streamlined registration process and corresponding workforce realignment.”

According to the Military Times, registration for the draft has dwindled in recent years, in part because the option to register through federal student loan forms — which accounted for nearly a quarter of registrations — was removed in 2022.

Managing the registration system had also grown to be expensive, the Military Times said, costing the U.S. government around US$30 million annually.

U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, Democrat of Pennsylvania, said in a statement last year after the defence bill was passed that the automatic registration system “will save taxpayer dollars and reverse falling registration rates.”

Houlahan sponsored the addition of the automatic registration language to the bill and noted it gained bipartisan support from Democrats and Republicans.

The Selective Service System said in its 2024 report to Congress that 46 U.S. states and territories already have automatic registration.

Those states allow information submitted by eligible men through driver’s licence and state ID applications to be sent to the Selective Service System for registration, according to CNN.

Other states, such as New York, include a section for registering to the selective service database on driver’s licence application forms.

The timing for the automatic draft registration system comes as the U.S. pursues a fragile ceasefire and peace deal with Iran to end a war that had raised the potential for U.S. ground troops being deployed.

Trump repeatedly refused to rule out the possibility of ground troops in Iran while the war was being fought. A majority of Americans have voiced opposition to the idea in polls, the Associated Press reported last month.

The Pentagon said in December that 2025 saw the U.S. military’s best recruitment numbers in 15 years, with each branch meeting or exceeding its goals.

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

World-class international rugby is returning to Winnipeg for the first time in more than three decades.

Canada’s men’s rugby team will take on the 24th-ranked Zimbabwe at Princess Auto Stadium on July 18 in the first international rugby match in Winnipeg since 1993.

It’s the final stop as part of the World Rugby Nations Cup Tour. It’ll be one of two matches that day as Tonga will also meet Portugal in the afternoon.

All four teams will be going to the World Cup in Australia in 2027.

Former Canadian captain Gareth Rees made the announcement Friday morning on Global News Morning. He played in that game in Winnipeg 33 years ago and is excited to see his sport reach new heights.

“Rugby has gone to a new place from when I was here many, many years ago,” said Rees. “And it’s great. Great opportunities for kids to play the game. All different types of kids, body types. You’ve got some great clubs here in Manitoba and in Winnipeg in particular.

“It’s a great sport to sign up to and be active for every type of child who wants to just have a run around.”

Canada’s roster will be announced in June.

“Bringing Rugby Canada to Winnipeg is a really exciting moment for us,” said Wade Miller, president and CEO of the Winnipeg Football Club, in a media release. “We’re proud to welcome the sport to Princess Auto Stadium and showcase the incredible atmosphere our fans create. It’s a great opportunity to introduce rugby to new audiences while hosting a world-class event right here in our city.”

There are also three games in Edmonton a week earlier as part of the tour. Tickets start at $50 and give access to both matches at Princess Auto Stadium.

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

Gabriel Vilardi is the Winnipeg Jets’ team nominee for the NHL’s annual King Clancy Memorial Trophy.

The award is given to the player who “best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community.”

Vilardi has been open about his mental health journey and his personal struggles with anxiety and panic attacks, with the goal of helping others who are experiencing similar challenges.

The 26-year-old is enjoying a career year with personal bests in games played, goals, assists and points. In his third season with the Jets, Vilardi has 29 goals and 35 assists in 78 games.

The team nominees are chosen by their respective NHL clubs.

Kris King in 1996 is the only Jets player to ever win the award since it was first presented in 1988. Captain Adam Lowry was nominated from the Jets last season.

The winner gets a $25,000 donation to the charity of their choice.

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

The University of Ottawa says there is a “violent incident occurring on campus,” telling students to avoid the area and shelter in place if they are present at the school.

Students on campus are being told to find an enclosed area and lock or barricade the door, turn off the lights and mute all electronic devices.

“Take cover and remain silent until authorities instruct otherwise,” the school said in a notice on its emergency alert website and app at 5:18 p.m. Eastern.

“If a violent attacker is close by, be ready to run, hide or, if your life is in imminent danger, defend yourself by any means necessary until you can get away.”

The university also issued a post on X announcing a lockdown due to a “violent threat on campus,” and issued subsequent holds for the lockdown at 6 p.m. and 6:37 p.m. Eastern.

“The security threat on campus is ongoing and police are investigating. Continue to lockdown until instructed otherwise,” the emergency alert website said.

https://x.com/uOttawa/status/2042713860629815777

Ottawa Police said on social media there was an “increased police presence” at a central intersection of the campus at Nicholas Street and Laurier Avenue “as officers investigate a suspicious incident.”

“There are no reported injuries at this time,” it said.

Police later said officers were called to the campus “following reports of a suspicious person in the area” and would remain on scene for an undetermined amount of time.

https://x.com/DutyInspector/status/2042723468370722928

https://x.com/OttawaPolice/status/2042734599806071012

OC Transpo, the city’s public transit agency, said on X that the uOttawa LRT station is closed and that trains will not be stopping there.

Police were seen at the LRT station as well.

The campus was not blocked off to pedestrians, who were still allowed to walk through.

Global News has reached out to Ottawa Police Service and the University of Ottawa requesting more information, but has not yet heard back.

University of Ottawa campus is spread among the downtown core in Ottawa and is minutes from Parliament Hill and the Rideau Centre, as well as popular commuting routes.

This is a developing story. More to come…

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

St. Boniface Hospital’s cardiac centre of excellence will receive $22.1 million from the provincial government in an effort to expand access for patients.

This investment will partially fund the creation of a new five-bed cardiac assessment zone to monitor patients. Fourteen additional inpatient beds are also in the works at the Winnipeg hospital.

“We’re going to do the work here to strengthen how patients move through the system with rapid cardiology consults in the emergency department better coordinated through a centralized access office,” said Manitoba Minister of Health, Seniors and Long-term Care Uzoma Asagwara, at a press conference on Friday.

These changes should reduce wait times and increase access to care, Asagwara added.

Over 1,300 cardiac surgeries were completed at St. Boniface last year. The average number of people registered on this waitlist was approximately 93 people per month. This figure does not include people who are in pre-habilitation before surgery or those seeking other treatment options, the province said.

As of this January, 103 people remained on the heart surgery waitlist, according to provincial data.

Part of the funding will go towards hiring more staff, Premier Wab Kinew said. He did not say how many or what kind of professionals will be enlisted.

Manitoba’s Association of Health Care Professionals said the government must address staffing head on.

“(The) government is now promising more capacity when they have no plan to fix existing staff shortages for respiratory therapists, perfusionists, cardiology technologists, and many other specialized allied health professionals that are needed to do this life-saving work,” said Tim Smith, the association’s president, in response to the announcement.

“The health minister spoke today of the previous government not having a staffing plan. We are still waiting to see one from this government,” Smith continued.

Improving the state of cardiac care at the hospital was part of Kinew’s platform prior to his election in 2023. While campaigning, the now-premier promised to hire additional staff as a method to reduce wait times for care.

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

The Manitoba government has abruptly parted ways with its commissioner in charge of investigating misconduct complaints against teachers.

Premier Wab Kinew says the government recently found out that Bobbi Taillefer was working from Florida and decided it was not acceptable.

Taillefer, a former teacher union leader, was appointed over a year ago as Manitoba’s first commissioner of teacher professional conduct.

The appointment came as the province established a public registry of teachers whose certificates have been suspended or cancelled due to misconduct.

Taillefer’s departure was first reported by the Winnipeg Free Press, and Kinew says anyone in charge of deciding matters of child safety needs to be in the province.

The Canadian Press was unable to contact Taillefer for comment.

“What’s been described as a resignation was actually a firing. We said, ‘You cannot be in Florida,'” Kinew told reporters Friday. He said he didn’t know how long Taillefer had been in the United States.

“If you want to be the person who’s going to decide whether or not an adult teacher can be in a classroom with a child in Manitoba, you need to be in Manitoba too.”

As commissioner, Taillefer received and investigated complaints and could refer cases to a hearing panel for adjudication.

The online registry allows members of the public to search a teacher’s name and see whether their teaching certificate is still in good standing. There’s also a chronological list of disciplinary decisions.

The latest decision involved a teacher who met up with a student and provided the student with cannabis and alcohol, says a consent resolution agreement. The teacher’s certificate was cancelled.

Kinew said the commissioner’s work in Florida could also have presented a security risk for sensitive data contained in complaints and investigations.

He pointed to U.S. laws such as the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act, known as the Cloud Act, which allows American authorities to request data from U.S. tech companies, even if the data is held on servers in other countries.

“And now with this Cloud Act in the States, there’s the ability for American data providers to reach across the Canadian border,” Kinew said.

© 2026 The Canadian Press