Author: Harry Miller

Health Canada says mice can squeeze through a crack the size of a dime, so mouse-proofing a Canadian home means sealing every exterior opening at least that big, packing steel wool or copper mesh around pipes before caulking, then removing the food, water and nesting material that draw rodents in. Traps come second, set at right angles to the wall and baited but unset for three to four days first. Poison is a last resort: Health Canada says baits should never be the only method of control. Never sweep or vacuum dry droppings, soak them in one part bleach to nine parts water instead, because the deer mouse is Canada’s most common carrier of hantavirus.

B.C. has no active measles cases as students return to class, but the B.C. Centre for Disease Control sequenced a genetically distinct strain after a cluster of 11 cases in the province’s northeast in July and August. That matters because Canada’s measles elimination status, lost on Nov. 10, 2025, is tracked by virus strain rather than case count: the country regains it only once transmission of the original outbreak strain is interrupted for at least 12 months. Neither PHAC nor PAHO has published the date that clock started, so widely repeated late-2027 timelines are inference rather than an official figure.

A Calgary unity concert is set for Sept. 20, but Alberta courts have twice ruled that separation would breach Treaty 7 and Treaty 8 obligations.

Indigenous MPs condemned a residential school denialist shirt campaign this week. Three months earlier, the Senate rejected an amendment to criminalize denialism.

SOCAN filed a Federal Court claim against AI music generator Suno on Sept. 2, alleging outputs streamed in Canada replicate songs by its members.

Canada’s Changing Climate Report 2026 says the country has warmed 2.0 C in 75 years, that about 1 C more warming by 2040 is unavoidable, and that sea-level rise, glacier melt and permafrost thaw will continue even after temperatures stabilize.

Transport Canada says every vehicle should carry a winter emergency kit from roughly October to April. At minimum it holds a first aid kit, a shovel, traction material such as sand or cat litter, booster cables, windshield washer fluid, an ice scraper, a flashlight, warm layers and blankets, non-perishable food and water, and road flares or a reflective vest. CAA advises against using road salt as an abrasive because it can rust the vehicle, and recommends a crank-type flashlight since batteries fail in extreme cold.

Clothing and furniture join Canada’s 50 per cent counter-tariff list on Sept. 8, landing hardest on the households whose wages are growing the slowest.

A new Immigration and Refugee Board practice notice takes effect Sept. 7, barring AI-written refugee narratives and requiring disclosure of AI translation. Self-represented claimants are covered too.

On Sept. 5, 1945, Soviet cipher clerk Igor Gouzenko fled Ottawa’s Soviet Embassy with proof of a spy ring in Canada, helping set off the Cold War.