Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
A "secret" Royal Canadian Mounted Police report paints a dark picture of Canada's future.
Obtained through an access to information request, the heavily redacted document outlines troubling trends to prepare for in Canada, including climate change, misinformation, government distrust and a global recession.
"The global community has experienced a series of crises, with COVID-19, supply-chain issues, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine all sending shockwaves throughout the world," the report's introduction states. "The situation will probably deteriorate further in the next five years, as the early effects of climate change and a global recession add their weight to the ongoing crises."
Published in 2023, the declassified report quotes French President Emmanuel Macron on "the end of abundance" and notes that future economic forecasts are "bleak."
"The coming period of recession will also accelerate the decline in living standards that the younger generations have already witnessed compared to earlier generations," the nine-page report predicts in a section titled "Popular Resentment."
It goes on to state that "many Canadians under 35 are unlikely ever to be able to buy a place to live."
"The fallout from this decline in living standards will be exacerbated by the fact that the difference between the extremes of wealth is greater now in developed countries than it has been at any time in several generations," the report adds.
The report also includes sections on "Erosion of Trust," "Paranoid Populism" and "Effects of Climate Devastation."
"Law enforcement should anticipate that these destructive weather patterns will affect all facets of government, including damage to critical infrastructure, increasing pressure to cede Arctic territory, and more," the report cautions. "Law enforcement should expect continuing social and political polarization fueled by misinformation campaigns and an increasing mistrust for all democratic institutions."
A section on the "Arctic" warns that Northern Canada will experience the effects of climate change sooner than the rest of the country.
"Shrinking polar icecaps are providing access to untapped raw materials and new paths for transportation," the report explains. "This new opportunity for profit is causing several countries to expand their territorial claims in the area."
The report also highlights challenges posed by new and emerging technologies.
"Through such mechanisms as social media, the Internet of Things, and biometric identifiers, big data is and will increasingly be available on a scale that is difficult to quantify," it adds. "Access to this data will allow private entities to develop the means to exercise undue influence over individuals and populations at an unprecedented level."
Titled "Whole-of-Government Five-Year Trends for Canada," the report was based on information compiled by the RCMP between June and October 2022. It was obtained through an access to information request and provided to CTVNews.ca by Matt Malone, an assistant law professor and government secrecy researcher at Thompson Rivers University in B.C.
Despite being based on "open source information," entire pages and sections are redacted in white.
In their response to Malone, the RCMP cited part 15 of Canada's Access to Information Act, which allows government institutions to withhold information that "could reasonably be expected to be injurious to the conduct of international affairs, the defence of Canada or any state allied or associated with Canada or the detection, prevention or suppression of subversive or hostile activities."
In a statement to CTVNews.ca, the RCMP said the report was written by the force's Federal Policing Strategic Management team in 2023.
"The Whole of Government Five Year Trends (2023) report was a forecasting exercise, based on a review of open-source articles and reports," the spokesperson said by email. "It was undertaken to provide Federal Policing managers with insight into anticipated changes in Canada's political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal circumstances, aiding in safeguarding Canada."
The last page of the report underscores the destabilizing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"In the wake of COVID-19, Canada's governments have normalized operating during a respiratory pandemic," it says. "But the damage to the economy and to the social fabric of the nation is ongoing, and there is an established opposition to existing and potential public health measures and other restrictions."
The final section – "Next Steps" – is completely redacted in white.
You can read the document here.
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Jurors in the hush money trial of Donald Trump heard a recording Thursday of him discussing with his then-lawyer and personal fixer a plan to purchase the silence of a Playboy model who has said she had an affair with the former president.
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a scuba dive boat captain to four years in custody and three years supervised release for criminal negligence after 34 people died in a fire aboard the vessel.
Fake text message and email campaigns trying to get money and information out of unsuspecting Canadian taxpayers have started circulating, just months after the federal government rebranded the carbon tax rebate the Canada Carbon Rebate.
Staff at a small southern Alberta office supply store were shocked to find someone had broken into the business last week, but they were even more confused when they discovered the culprit was a bear.
President Joe Biden has called Japan and India “xenophobic” countries that do not welcome immigrants, lumping the two with adversaries China and Russia as he tried to explain their economic circumstances and contrasted the four with the U.S. on immigration.
Montreal police are facing pressure to move in and dismantle a pro-Palestinian encampment on McGill University campus on Thursday, as a growing number of universities across this country grapple with the tough decision of how to handle the protests.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.
The lawyer for a residential school survivor leading a proposed class-action defamation lawsuit against the Catholic Church over residential schools says the court action is a last resort.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.