'A beautiful soul': Funeral held for baby boy killed in wrong-way crash on Highway 401
A funeral was held on Wednesday for a three-month-old boy who died after being involved in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 in Whitby last week.
In an update Sunday regarding the devastation of post-tropical storm Fiona in the Atlantic provinces, federal officials confirmed that the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) are already on the ground in several provinces to assist and are on their way to others.
The storm has caused huge amounts of damage across eastern provinces, with power lines down, homes smashed to pieces and at least two deaths reported.
“Homes have been destroyed and swept away, communities have been isolated and thousands of people are without power,” Anita Anand, Minister of National Defence, said in a press conference Sunday afternoon, adding that Nova Scotia, one of the hardest-hit regions, is her home province.
Around 100 CAF troops for each of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador are being deployed or are already on the ground, assisting with cleanup efforts, she said, around three platoons per province.
This comes after requests for aid from provinces were approved today. Additional troops may be pulled to assist pending further information on the needs of provinces, she added.
“Protecting Canadians is obviously our top priority,” she said.
Their focus will be to help clear debris and help to reestablish the power grid to get communications and power back across the Atlantic provinces.
Dominic Leblanc, intergovernmental affairs minister, said in the update that the federal government will be working with provincial counterparts in the coming weeks to attempt to achieve some semblance of normalcy.
“The government of Canada stands ready to assist provinces in the cleanup and recovery efforts that will take place in the coming days and weeks,” he said.
He added that while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has expressed a desire to be on the ground, he does not want to get in the way of cleanup, and is waiting for an “appropriate moment” when it will be “responsible for him to visit.”
When asked if the federal government would be assisting with financial aid for those whose homes and possessions were lost in the storm, Minister of Public Safety Bill Blair said that an existing disaster financial assistance arrangement that the federal government has with provinces will play a role.
Through this program, provinces can make requests for funds, but provinces have “the primary lead” on identifying those who need aid.
The federal government has not provided an exact dollar amount of funds to assist those devastated by the storm, instead announcing they would match donations made by Canadians to the Canadian Red Cross.
Blair stated that the Red Cross would be helping with the arrangement of interim housing for those who had lost their homes.
Gudie Hutchings, rural economic development minister, provided an update from Newfoundland and Labrador, saying that the death of a 73-year-old woman who was reportedly washed out to sea in the town of Port aux Basques, N.L., “shows the power of the water.”
“Living in coastal communities, we know what can happen, and tragically, the sea has taken another soul.”
She added that the level of devastation caused to property, including numerous homes being completely destroyed, will mean a long recovery for the province.
“We’re looking at a long time before we get some of this infrastructure replaced.”
On Prince Edward Island, communication remains a challenge, with MP Sean Casey noting that most of his information has been gathered by walking around on foot to speak to those affected.
It was largely a “wind event” in P.E.I., he said, and that meant a lot of downed power cables. One death on the island has been reported, and officials say that generator issues may have played a role.
“Last night, practically the entire island had no power,” he said, adding that some regions are slowly regaining that power.
“Reconnecting to power and cell phones is going to be a challenge.”
In Nova Scotia, reports of serious injuries are minimal, according to Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.
“Things on the ground at home are pretty rough through Nova Scotia and Cape Breton,” the representative of Central Nova said, adding that driving is impossible due to debris and power lines down on many streets.
He praised the resilience of Nova Scotians, saying that they are “showing what they’re made of.”
In his own community, a young boy was missing, and everyone came together to search for him, he said. The child was located safely.
Fraser added that he’s worried about harbour infrastructure and the damage done to farms.
Delivering an update on the Magdalen islands and Gaspe region in Quebec, National Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier also noted the need for better infrastructure to tackle the increased instances of extreme weather driven by the climate crisis.
“Obvious that we have to build infrastructure that is able to face the reality that we’re experiencing right now,” she said, adding that she spoke to a lobster fisher Sunday who told her, “I can’t imagine people who don’t believe in the climate crisis.”
Leblanc noted that long-term infrastructure is something the federal government is interested in investing in.
“I would certainly be open to looking at ways the government of Canada can strengthen the resiliency of that infrastructure,” he said.
A funeral was held on Wednesday for a three-month-old boy who died after being involved in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 in Whitby last week.
There has been a "sophisticated" cybersecurity breach detected on B.C. government networks, Premier David Eby confirmed Wednesday evening.
Toronto police say a man was taken into custody outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion Wednesday afternoon after he tried to gain access to the residence.
U.S. President Joe Biden said for the first time Wednesday he would halt shipments of American weapons to Israel, which he acknowledged have been used to kill civilians in Gaza, if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a major invasion of the city of Rafah.
Dakota Joshua had a goal and two assists and the Vancouver Canucks scored three third-period goals to claw out a 5-4 comeback victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series Wednesday.
One of the Indian nationals accused of murdering British Columbia Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar says in a social media video that he received a Canadian study permit with the help of an Indian immigration consultancy.
Pfizer has agreed to settle more than 10,000 lawsuits about cancer risks related to the now discontinued heartburn drug Zantac, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the deal.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault is defending his comments about a new history museum after he was accused by a prominent First Nations group of trying to erase their history.
Independent U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had a parasite in his brain more than a decade ago, but has fully recovered, his campaign said, after the New York Times reported about the ailment.
The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
A P.E.I. lighthouse and a New Brunswick river are being honoured in a Canada Post series.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.