'Some structural damage' from wildfire near Fort Nelson, B.C., mayor confirms
More than one home has been damaged or lost due to a massive wildfire outside of the B.C. community of Fort Nelson, the mayor confirmed Wednesday.
Utah lawmakers wasted no time this week before returning to an issue that has become a popular topic in GOP-led statehouses: Trying to limit medical options doctors are allowed to provide transgender youth.
On the second day of the legislative session, a committee began considering a policy that would stop minors from receiving gender-affirming health care -- including surgery or puberty blockers. They also began considering a proposal to require schools to notify parents when kids want to change which pronouns they go by, and another that would limit when transgender people under 18 can change the sex listed on their birth certificates.
Each measure advanced through the committee on a 5-2 party line vote.
The proposals reflect how lawmakers in red states continue to make matters related to gender, sexuality and youth central to their legislative agenda. As LGBTQ Americans become increasingly visible in popular culture, some social conservatives have rallied around issues such as the bathrooms that transgender kids can use, sports teams they are allowed to play on and the health care their doctors can prescribe.
This year, 11 states have introduced proposals that would enact restrictions on doctors from prescribing puberty blockers, hormones or surgery to transgender kids and teens, regardless of what their parents want. Republicans on Tuesday introduced a transgender health care proposal in South Dakota, where one supportive lawmaker called puberty a "natural cure" for gender dysphoria.
State Sen. Mike Kennedy, a Republican family doctor sponsoring Utah's proposal, said it didn't make sense that health care policy related to gender and youth -- which is at times reversible and other times irreversible -- would be subject to no government oversight.
He acknowledged the topic was emotional for the families of transgender youth, yet said it was government's responsibility to address issues of children's consent and development.
"Caring for our children does not mean riding the latest radical wave," he said. "We must ask questions: Does the child understand the long-term ramifications of their decision?"
"We can't allow social policy to outpace science," he added, arguing for more research on gender dysphoria and noting how medical fields in countries such as Finland and Sweden have tightened regulations governing transgender youth health care.
Questions about transgender youth and their health care dovetail with another growing Republican priority: parental rights. Jeri Brummett, a transgender woman and member of the Salt Lake County Republican Party, called the proposal excessive governmental intervention into individual medical decisions.
The bill, she said, "purports to protect transgender minors from their doctors and parents, yet its real effect is to place this Legislature and our state government between parents, their children and their doctors."
Greg Walker, a Utah parent whose daughter has identified as transgender "since she could talk," said it was disheartening to see the health care decisions his family and their doctors have made politicized.
At each juncture -- before she went on puberty blockers or estrogen, for example -- the Walkers and their doctors thoroughly deliberated and relied on experts like the American Academy of Pediatrics to understand "the risks of doing it and not doing it."
Walker said he was particularly concerned about the disproportionately high suicide rates for transgender youth and of the potential harm that could result in the absence of treatment.
"As a parent. my first priority is to take care of my child and make sure my child's safe," Walker said.
In Utah, where a majority of residents and politicians are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, lawmakers have for years focused heavily on social issues, including pornography and alcohol. Last year, the Republican-supermajority Legislature enacted a ban on transgender kids in girls sports. It was subsequently challenged in court and put on pause. While the case undergoes review, a commission of experts is making eligibility decisions for transgender youth.
One concern that arose during discussions about eligibility decisions was the use of birth certificates to verify athletes' sex because transgender people routinely apply to change them. The Utah Supreme Court affirmed their right to make the changes two years ago.
State Sen. Dan McCay, a Republican who led the charge for last year's youth sports ban, said limiting the changes would help Utah enforce its youth sports policy and only affect minors. Opponents who testified at the hearing said identification document changes were an individual liberty issue and deeply emotional for transgender people who don't want to out themselves on a daily basis.
More than one home has been damaged or lost due to a massive wildfire outside of the B.C. community of Fort Nelson, the mayor confirmed Wednesday.
A warning from a Saskatoon driver about using your fast-food app while in the drive-thru line — a trip to get some free lunch cost him a lot more than he bargained for.
An 'unrepentant' YouTuber has been ordered to pay $350,000 in damages as compensation for a 'relentless' campaign of defamation waged online against a business owner and his company, the B.C. Supreme Court has ruled.
Chief Robert Michell says relief isn't the right word to describe his reaction as the search begins for unmarked graves at the site of a former residential school he attended in northern British Columbia.
While it's unclear what these closures might mean for the 27 restaurants in Canada, Red Lobster is expected to file for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. this month.
A man from B.C.'s Lower Mainland has been sentenced to four years behind bars after shooting a sex worker in the back during a drug-fuelled 43rd birthday.
Nearly six dozen dogs were seized from a home Wednesday morning by the Winnipeg Humane Society. It is the largest known seizure of animals in the city’s history.
Of the $40-million Aiden Pleterski was handed over two years, documents show he invested just over one per cent and instead spent $15.9 million on "his personal lifestyle." The 25-year-old Oshawa, Ont. man was arrested and charged with fraud and money laundering on Tuesday.
A man with a long record of dangerous driving told investigators he smoked marijuana oil and took prescription drugs hours before he sideswiped a bus, killing eight Mexican farmworkers and injuring dozens more, according to an arrest report unsealed Wednesday.
When Adam Kirschner wrote 'Slap Shot,' he never imagined the song would be embraced by his favourite team.
A team is ready to help an entangled North Atlantic right whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
A $200 reward is being offered by a North Vancouver family for the safe return of their beloved chicken, Snowflake.
Two daughters and a mother were reunited online 40 years later thanks to a DNA kit and a Zoom connection despite living on three separate continents and speaking different languages.
Mother's Day can be a difficult occasion for those who have lost or are estranged from their mom.
YES Theatre Young Company opened its acclaimed kids’ show, One Small Step, at Sudbury Theatre Centre on Saturday.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.