![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6976926.1721883767!/httpImage/image.png_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.png)
AS IT HAPPENED Wildfire reaches Jasper Wednesday night, causes 'significant loss'
One of two wildfires threatening Jasper National Park reached the townsite Wednesday night and caused 'significant loss.'
Clayton Thomas-Müller spent a large part of his life on the mean streets of Winnipeg, connected to both gangs and drugs, but eventually turned his angst into activism, and has spent decades fighting for Indigenous rights.
It's a story he tells in his new memoir titled "Life in the City of Dirty Water", a reference to the muddy rivers of his hometown.
"I've been in over 100 countries. I always get drawn back to the west end of Winnipeg," Thomas-Müller told CTV News. "To me it's a very special and sacred place."
In the book, Winnipeg is the backdrop to an early life of crime, but also where he forges his path as a voice for human rights and the environment.
An activist, documentarian and author, Thomas-Müller has stood up to the fossil fuel industry, forestry and mining, with his sights set on the hydroelectric system as well.
"All of these really destructive industries are adjacent to our communities and so environmental racism in Canada continues to be very much a red and white issue," he said.
But every story has a beginning, and for Thomas-Müller it started before he was born as the son of a residential school survivor.
"My oldest son I had at 16, so I was just a kid myself," said Thomas-Müller's mother Gail Pelletier. "We've been through a lot together."
In the 1970s, Pelletier found herself trying to raise a child alone while dealing with her own trauma.
"I had to learn to be able to hug and kiss my child without thinking that I was going to abuse him," she said.
Pelletier ended up becoming a psychiatric nurse. On top of teaching her son the importance of education and hard work, she reconnected him with the land and his culture.
"Exposure to our ceremonies saved my life," Thomas-Müller said.
Although he's stepped away from some of his activism, Thomas-Müller said he sees the upcoming National Day for Truth and Reconciliation as a new starting point in the fight for Indigenous rights.
"When native people are talking about truth and reconciliation, we're talking about land back," he said. "Until we get that land back we will continue to see the poverty, challenges and polarized political landscape here in this country."
One of two wildfires threatening Jasper National Park reached the townsite Wednesday night and caused 'significant loss.'
Alberta has called in the Canadian Armed Forces to help assist with the worsening wildfire situation in the province.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday delivered a solemn call to voters to defend the country's democracy as he laid out in an Oval Office address his decision to drop his bid for reelection and throw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris.
Staff at a Barrie child care centre say they are frustrated by what they call a local MPP's inadequate response after a car crashed through a window in one of the toddler rooms.
The North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad) intercepted two Russian and two Chinese bombers flying near Alaska Wednesday in what appears to be the first time the two countries have been intercepted while operating together.
An analyst and an assistant coach with Canada Soccer are being removed from the Canadian Olympic Team and 'sent home immediately,' according to the Canadian Olympic Committee.
After a handful of Australian water polo players tested positive for COVID-19 this week, questions have emerged around how the spread of the disease will be mitigated at the Summer Olympic Games in Paris.
A B.C. man who was hired to help a non-profit build a food hub but instead spent the money on personal expenses – including travel, restaurants, booze and cannabis – has been ordered to pay more than $120,000 in damages.
Two people are dead and two others suffered serious injuries following a shooting that police have described as a 'gun battle' outside a plaza in Scarborough, Ont. early Wednesday morning.
A local First Nations elder and veteran is helping to bring the Ojibwe language to a well-known film for the first time.
A cat who fled her Montreal home nearly a decade ago has been reunited with her family after being found in Ottawa.
A woman in Waterloo, Ont. is out thousands of dollars for a car crash she wasn’t involved in.
A swarm of bees living in a lamppost in Winnipeg’s Sage Creek neighbourhood has found a new home for its hive.
Around 100 acres of Manitoba Crown Land near the Saskatchewan border is being returned to the Métis community.
Nova Scotia is suspending the licensed Cape Breton moose hunt for three years due to what the province is calling a “significant drop” in the population.
A well-known childhood prank known as 'nicky nicky nine doors,' or 'ding dong ditch,' has escalated into a more serious game that could lead to charges for some Surrey, B.C. teens.
It's been more than a month since their good friend was seriously hurt in an accident and two teens from Riverview, N.B., are still having a hard time dealing with it.
Halifax bridges have collected thousands of coins from around the world.