In the news: Ottawa urged to help Inuit, Ontario funding cuts, B.C. long-term care

By Canadian Press on March 19, 2026.

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed …

Critics urge Ottawa to help Inuit resist Chinese surveillance, economic dependence

The Carney government is leaving Inuit communities at risk of Chinese surveillance and economic dependence and isn’t facing up to the threat China poses to the North, critics say.

“Inuit communities are central to the challenge. Yet they are often not provided with the resources, information or technical support needed to fully assess these complex Chinese investment proposals,” said Elizabeth Donkervoort, director of the China Strategic Risks Institute think tank.

“We need to make sure that Inuit and Indigenous communities are genuine partners in addressing these issues,” she told a March 9 news conference on Parliament Hill.

Donkervoort’s group released a report earlier this month arguing that Ottawa must help Inuit resist Beijing’s attempts to extend its influence across the Canadian Arctic.

Toronto’s donor-funded consumption sites bracing for fallout for Ontario funding cuts.

As the Ontario government cuts funding for seven supervised drug consumption sites in the province, workers at three remaining sites in Toronto that don’t rely on provincial funding say they’re worried the move will further strain their resources and lead to more overdoses and open drug use across the city.

The province said Monday it will initiate a 90-day wind-down period to give the seven defunded consumption sites time to transition to the government’s abstinence-based model — homelessness and addiction recovery treatment, or HART, hubs.

It said the move affects two sites in Toronto, two in Ottawa and one each in Niagara, Peterborough and London, with Health Minister Sylvia Jones saying in a statement that the government is “focused on treatment, recovery and safer communities.”

Health-care workers and harm reduction advocates have said the defunding would force these sites to close, leading to more overdoses and deaths.

TC CEO urgers quicker timelines as globe clamours for stable energy supplies

The CEO of natural gas pipeline operator TC Energy Corp. says Canada risks missing out on opportunities to provide global markets with a secure supply of energy if permitting timelines aren’t significantly shortened.

François Poirier says there’s been heightened demand for more liquefied natural gas exports off the West Coast of North America — especially to Asia — since the U.S. and Israel launched their war on Iran about three weeks ago.

The conflict has choked off the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil and LNG supplies ordinarily pass from the Persian Gulf to the open sea.

Poirier says the conflict has underscored how much customers appreciate getting their energy from suppliers that can avoid pinch points like the Strait of Hormuz.

B.C. faces long-term care shortage, and decision to delay facilities is drawing fire

James Wolfe, who lives in B.C.’s Fraser Valley, spent the last year and a half looking for a long-term care bed for his 68-year-old brother Brian, who has Down syndrome and non-verbal dementia.

Mostly, it involved a back-and-forth with local health administrators. “They are great people,” he said. “They are very compassionate doing their job.”

But there was simply a lack of appropriate facilities, and Wolfe said his brother was in and out of hospital as his health declined.

“At Christmas, he was really sick in the hospital,” Wolfe said, and while his brother was eventually discharged, he was back in hospital with pneumonia and sepsis in January.

Vancouver closing out first no-snow winter in 43 years. There may be more on the way.

Vancouver is poised to close out its first official snow-free winter in 43 years, in what environmental researchers say may become a new norm for southwestern British Columbia rather than an anomaly.

Friday marks the start of spring, and with temperatures forecast around 12 degrees, the city is sure to see out winter without having experienced the one centimetre of accumulation at the airport that is required to mark an official snowfall.

It’s the city’s first official no-snow winter since 1982-83, although Environment Canada meteorologist Brian Proctor says there were three days this winter with trace snowfall.

Vancouver’s snowless winter is also on pace to be the city’s second-warmest on record, with Environment Canada saying the mean temperature at the airport weather station was 6 degrees from December to February, well above the seasonal average of 4.3 C and only bested by the 6.3 degrees reported in 1958.

Juno Awards to feature musical tribute to Nelly Furtado including performances by Alessia Cara, Shawn Desman.

Nelly Furtado will receive a musical toast at the Juno Awards this year.

The ceremony will feature a tribute to the Victoria-born songstress in honour of her induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

Juno organizer CARAS says the tribute will include performances from Alessia Cara, Jully Black, Shawn Desman and Tanya Tagaq, “along with some very special guests.”

CARAS says they’ll be joined on stage by Furtado’s band, led by musical director Herag Sanbalian, “who has curated a selection of her greatest hits.”