'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.
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."
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.
Rookie goalie Arturs Silovs will start in net for the Canucks as Vancouver kicks off a second-round series against the Edmonton Oilers Wednesday night.
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.