Bryan Adams decries elements of Ottawa’s online streaming rules

HALIFAX – A 14-year-old girl has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter in the stabbing death of a 16-year-old boy near a Halifax mall earlier this year.

A spokeswoman for the provincial Public Prosecution Service confirms the girl appeared in Halifax Youth Court on Monday, when she also pleaded guilty to a charge of violating the release conditions of her bail.

Melissa Foshay says the Crown is no longer seeking an adult sentence for the girl, who was initially charged with second-degree murder.

The teen is scheduled to return to court Oct. 30 when facts will be entered and a publication ban will also be considered to protect the right to a fair trial for the others accused in the case.

Two boys now aged 17 and another boy who is 15 were also charged with second-degree murder.

The victim was found badly injured in April in a parking garage next to the Halifax Shopping Centre and he died later in hospital.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 9, 2024.

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TORONTO – Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says the federal government is moving ahead with guidelines around sustainable investing and corporate climate disclosures, but details on the plans are scarce.

A wide range of investors, asset managers and environmental groups have been pushing the government to roll out such guidelines, also known as green taxonomies, to attract more investment for emissions-reducing projects.

Frustration has been mounting as efforts to create such guidelines have been in the works for years in Canada, with multiple groups tasked with creating recommendations but still nothing in place.

Those looking for answers will, however, have to wait longer, as the government says it plans to have a third-party organization develop the taxonomy, with the first guidelines issued within a year of the organization beginning its work.

On the potential inclusion of fossil fuels — a key area of contention — the government says it doesn’t anticipate new natural gas production would qualify, but that drafters could consider existing natural gas for its potential to displace more polluting fuels internationally.

For company disclosures, the government says it will launch a regulatory process to figure out what information, and what size of private federal corporations, will be included.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

TORONTO – Serious mental health disorders and thoughts of suicide are more prevalent among people who are transgender or gender diverse in Canada, researchers say.

Their study published recently in the journal JAMA Network Open found transgender participants were three times more likely to meet the criteria for depression, bipolar disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and social phobia than cisgender people.

They were also three times more likely to have had serious thoughts of suicide and six times more likely to have attempted it during their lifetime.

The results show a need to better support people as they express their gender identity, said senior author Ian Colman, a professor of epidemiology and public health at the University of Ottawa.

“This points to the kinds of stressors that they are likely facing as they’re going through that process,” Colman said in an interview Wednesday.

“The more we can do to support them, the better — whether that’s gender-affirming care through the health-care system, whether that’s providing safe spaces in schools, in communities … or just being more supportive and tolerant as a society, I think all those things are going to be helpful.”

The population-based study analyzed responses to the most recent Statistics Canada Mental Health and Access to Care survey, which included people 15 years of age and older surveyed between March and July of 2022.

The StatCan response rate was 25 per cent, resulting in a sample of 9,861 people. Fifty-two respondents were transgender or gender diverse.

“When you just see these exceptionally high rates of poor mental health and suicidality in this population, this is a crisis and these people need support,” Colman said.

Disparities in mental health might be explained by “minority stress theory,” the authors said in the study, published Oct. 2.

That means “prejudice and negative social experiences by members of historically stigmatized groups can have substantial impacts on both physical and mental health,” they said.

Dr. Sarah Fraser, a family doctor who runs a gender-affirming clinic in Halifax, said the study results were “unfortunately not surprising.”

“In my clinical practice, it is clear that trans and diverse individuals have higher rates of mental health issues like depression, anxiety and suicidal thinking,” Fraser, who was not involved in the study, said in an email to The Canadian Press.

“My trans patients have told me that they are followed, harassed, yelled at, or even physically assaulted just for being who they are. I hear this every single day,” she said.

“As a family doctor, I think that one thing we can take away from this study is the importance of providing gender-affirming care, and of being a supportive place where people can come regardless of their gender identity,” Fraser said.

Helen Kennedy, executive director of Egale — a Canadian advocacy organization for the LGBTQ+ community — said the study reflects the results of “the unacceptable amount of hate, violence, and discrimination that trans and gender-diverse communities face across the country.”

“Advocates have long been warning of the devastating consequences, including higher rates of suicidality. The responsibility is on all of us to speak out against hateful misinformation and rhetoric so that trans and gender-diverse individuals know that they are valued and loved,” Kennedy said in an email.

The researchers identified transgender and gender diverse participants by finding those whose reported gender identity differed from their sex assigned at birth.

Potential limitations of the study include the small number of transgender people in the sample, the authors said, but they noted the results were in line with other studies about use of mental health services among transgender people.

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If you are thinking about suicide, or you’re worried about someone else, call or text Canada’s suicide crisis helpline at 9-8-8. Help is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 9, 2024.

Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version misspelled researcher Ian Colman’s last name.