Alberta
Orthodox church burns to the ground in another suspected arson in Alberta
From LifeSiteNews
Two suspects are in custody after All Saints Ukrainian Orthodox Church was destroyed last weekend in Bellis, Alberta.
Yet another historic Canadian Christian church has been reduced to ashes after being set ablaze.
Members of the Smoky Lake Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said two suspects, both indigenous, have been arrested in connection with a fire that destroyed All Saints Ukrainian Orthodox Church last weekend.
According to Sgt. Anita Doktor, detachment commander of the Smoky Lake RCMP, said police and the community are saddened to see a nearly century-old cultural building destroyed in such a manner.”
“We believe in preserving our history, no matter our beliefs, and want to highlight the fact that this is not something that should take place within our communities. We thank the surrounding detachments and specialized RCMP units for assisting in this investigation,” Doktor said.
Fire investigators believe that an accelerant was used to burn down the church in Bellis, Alberta. An investigation showed that stolen items in the cars linked the suspects to the church arson.
Initially, the RCMP were alerted to reports of both attempted and completed thefts from a vehicle. After some investigation, a police chase ensued, during which the suspects drove erratically to try to evade capture.
A stolen car was involved in the chase, while another suspect in another vehicle tried to flee as well, with some of the suspects fleeing on foot.
Eventually, the RCMP, with the help of dogs and drones, was able to locate and arrest two of the three suspects, one of whom is a youth. One suspect is still at large.
The suspects that were arrested are Sandy Dawn Marie White, 23, and Lazare Favel, 26, who both reside on the Saddle Lake First Nations.
They both are facing multiple charges, including arson, theft, break, flight from police, assault with a weapon, and mischief to cultural property.
One of the suspects, Favel, is still in jail waiting for a court date, with the other, White, already released on bail.
RCMP have asked anyone with information on the arson to call the Smoky Lake detachment or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477, or online at www.P3Tips.com.
In 2021 and 2022, the mainstream media ran with inflammatory and dubious claims that hundreds of children were buried and disregarded by Catholic priests and nuns who ran some Canadian residential schools. The reality is, after four years, there have been no mass graves discovered at residential schools.
However, as the claims went unfounded, since the spring of 2021, over 120 churches, most of them Catholic, many of them on indigenous lands that serve the local population, have been burned to the ground, vandalized, or defiled in Canada.
In October 2024, retired Manitoba judge Brian Giesbrecht said Canadians are being “deliberately deceived by their own government” after blasting the now former federal government of Justin Trudeau for “actively pursuing” a policy that blames the Catholic Church for the unfounded “deaths and secret burials” of Indigenous children.
Residential schools, while run by both the Catholic Church and other Christian churches, were mandated and set up by the federal government. They were in operation from the late 19th century until the last school closed in 1996.
While some children did tragically die at the once-mandatory boarding schools, evidence has revealed that many of the children passed away as a result of unsanitary conditions due to underfunding by the federal government, not the Catholic Church.
From LifeSiteNews
Premier Danielle Smith said the Alberta government will use its resources to help local police forces focus on ‘real’ policing such as tackling rising crime.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith doubled down in a fight against Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government, saying her province will refuse to participate in his planned gun buyback program that aims to seize the legally purchased guns of Canadian firearm owners.
“Alberta’s government will not be cooperating with this gun grab against law-abiding firearms owners,” Smith wrote in a X post on September 23.
“We expect law enforcement to focus their time and resources on real provincial policing priorities, like policing violent criminals, not hunters and sport shooters.”
Smith said her government will use its resources to help local police forces focus on “real” policing, such as tackling rising crime.
Alberta Justice Minister Mickey Amery and Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis in a joint statement said the Carney Liberals’ gun buyback program is nothing more than a “confiscation scheme.”
“The Liberal government should end this program, which will waste over $700 million and counting and directly attacks firearms owners, and instead prioritize measures that will actually keep Canadians safe,” reads a portion of the statement.
Smith earlier called out the Liberals’ planned gun buyback, promising to fight its implementation in Alberta.
The Canadian government’s controversial gun grab Bill C-21, which bans many types of guns, including handguns, and mandates a buyback program, became law on December 14, 2023, after senators voted 60- 24 in favor of the bill.
In May 2023, Bill C-21 passed in the House of Commons. After initially denying that the bill would impact hunters, former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau eventually admitted that C-21 would indeed ban certain types of hunting rifles.
Trudeau’s gun grab was first announced after a deadly mass shooting in Nova Scotia in May 2020, in which he banned over 1,500 “military-style assault firearms” with a plan to begin buying them back from owners.
Late last year, the Trudeau government extended the amnesty deadline for legal gun owners until October 30, 2025. It should be noted that this is around the same time a federal election will take place.
When it comes to gun-related deaths in Canada, as reported by LifeSiteNews, Statistics Canada data shows that most violent gun crimes in the country last year were not committed at the hands of legal gun owners but by those who obtained the weapons illegally.
From LifeSiteNews
Premier Danielle Smith is following through on a promise to address growing concerns with Canada’s euthanasia regime.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has sent a mandate letter to Justice Minister Mickey Amery directing him to draft and introduce new legislation on euthanasia to ensure better oversight of so-called “medical aid in dying,” or “MAiD” and to prohibit it for those suffering solely from mental illness.
In December of last year, Smith’s United Conservative government indicated that they would seek to address growing concerns with Canada’s euthanasia regime. Mainstream media outlets attacked the move, with the CBC actually reporting that: “Some are concerned new limitations could impact already vulnerable Albertans.”
Premier Smith has now followed through on that promise. The September 25 mandate letter, which lays out directives on a wide range of issues, calls for the justice minister to take steps to protect vulnerable Albertans suffering from mental illness:
As lead, work with relevant ministries to introduce legislation to provide greater oversight and appropriate safeguards for medical assistance in dying and prohibit medical assistance in dying where a person seeks this procedure based solely on a mental illness.
In an email to the CBC, Amery stated that while euthanasia law is under federal jurisdiction, healthcare falls under provincial jurisdiction. The CBC falsely claimed that mental illness “has never been an approved sole eligibility factor for MAID, though the government has considered permitting it.” In fact, the Trudeau government passed Bill C-7, which legalized MAID for those struggling with mental illness, in 2021.
That eligibility expansion has been delayed twice—in 2023 and 2024—and is now slated to come into effect in 2027. Despite those delays, Bill C-7 is still law. MP Tamara Jansen and MP Andrew Lawton are currently championing Bill C-218, the “Right to Recover Act,” which would reverse this and make it illegal to offer or perpetrate euthanasia on someone struggling solely with mental illness.
The CBC’s coverage of this move was predictably repulsive. In addition to their disinformation on euthanasia for mental illness, they reported that “Smith’s letter directing new provincial legislation on MAID comes almost a year after the government surveyed just under 20,000 Albertans on whether they think the province should step in. Nearly half of those surveyed disagreed with putting in more guardrails on MAID decisions.”
“Nearly half” is an unbelievably deceitful way of reporting on those results. In fact, 62% were in favor of legislation for a dedicated agency monitoring euthanasia processes; 55% were in favor of a MAID dispute mechanism allowing families or eligible others to challenge decisions to protect vulnerable people, such as those with disabilities or mental health struggles; and 67% supported restricting euthanasia to those with physical illnesses rather than mental illnesses. The CBC did not report on a single one of those numbers.
Provincial legislation to protect people with mental illnesses is badly needed, although I pray that by the time Justice Minister Amery gets around to drafting it, the Right to Recover Act will be passed in Parliament, and provincial action will be unnecessary. In the meantime, it is increasingly clear that much of Canada’s mainstream press coverage of this issue actively threatens the lives of the suicidal and those struggling with mental illnesses. If their dishonesty and attempts and manufacturing consent were not so routine, they would be breathtaking.
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