Vancouver’s Union Gospel Mission spokesperson Jeremy Hunka says while donations are falling, the need for help is going up.
“It’s a scary thing because at the same time, the needs are escalating,” he said. “That ultimately means people are suffering, people are struggling, and people are dying from things that would otherwise be preventable.”
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However, Hunka says he’s not surprised by what the study found.
“What the report showed is something that we’ve been seeing as a trend over the past several years,” he said. “We’re seeing fewer individual donors and those that are continuing to donate are actually donating less on average.”
Just under 20 per cent of Canadian tax filers claimed charitable donations on their 2017 tax return, the study found. In the U.S., 24.9 per cent of taxpayers claimed they had donated.
The study says the most generous province was Manitoba, with 23.4 per cent of tax filers claiming charitable donations in 2017.
The rest of western Canada — Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C., in that order — was collectively behind Prince Edward Island (21.3 per cent) and Ontario (20.9 per cent), who came out in second and third place, respectively.
The least-generous province or territory was Nunavut with 7.2 per cent, with the other two territories rounding out the bottom three.
Manitoba remains the most generous province with an average donation of $2,109
Fraser Institute
According to the study, the lowest average claim of any U.S. state was $3,512 USD in Rhode Island.That was still more than the highest average claim of any Canadian province, which was $2,703 CAD in Alberta.Overall, according to the index of charitable giving for all 50 American states (including Washington, D.C.) and all 13 Canadian provinces and territories, Utah was found to be the most generous.
HALIFAX – An energy firm based in Ireland says it is planning to produce aviation fuel using about 700,000 tonnes of wood biomass annually.
Simply Blue Group announced today that construction would begin in 2026 with the bio fuel project expected to be operating by 2029 in Goldboro, N.S., about 165 kilometres northeast of Halifax.
The company says it has secured about 305 hectares of land for development, including 108 hectares previously owned by Pieridae — which had planned to build an LNG plant at the site — and 198 hectares owned by the Municipality of the District of Guysborough.
Based in Cork, Ireland, the company says its aviation fuel performs like conventional jet fuel but reduces greenhouse gases by “approximately 90 per cent.”
Simply Blue says that every year the project will source about 700,000 tonnes of biomass from Wagner Forest NS Ltd. to produce 150,000 tonnes of the fuel.
Tory Rushton, the province’s natural resources minister, issued a statement saying the plant could represent a new market for the province’s forestry sector.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
FREDERICTON – New Brunswick RCMP are disputing claims that the recent shooting death of an Indigenous man in mental distress happened during a police wellness check.
Assistant commissioner DeAnna Hill, commander of the New Brunswick RCMP, says that information is inaccurate.
On Monday, the RCMP said two officers responded to a report of an armed man in mental distress at a home in the Elsipogtog First Nation, where one Mountie shot the man after the other failed to subdue him with a stun gun.
Erin Nauss, director of the Serious Incident Response Team, says she understands the initial interaction on Sunday was not what the RCMP would call a wellness check, but she says the police oversight agency will conduct an investigation to “determine all of the facts.”
Meanwhile, a statement from an Indigenous group that works with the RCMP said they weren’t told about the deadly incident until it was too late, and the group described the Mounties’ initial role at the scene as a wellness check.
As well, New Brunswick Liberal Leader Susan Holt has described what happened as a wellness check gone wrong.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
HALIFAX – RCMP are expected to provide an update today on their investigation into the suspicious disappearance of a 55-year-old Nova Scotia woman.
Esther Jones was reported missing on Labour Day, and the RCMP’s major crime unit is now involved in the case.
According to police, Jones was last seen on Aug. 31 in Kingston, N.S., and family members reported her missing Sept. 2.
Two days later, officers found Jones’s vehicle, a silver 2009 Volkswagen Passat, abandoned in nearby Greenwood, N.S.
Jones is described as five-feet-four with a slim build, and she has brown, greying, shoulder-length hair and hazel eyes.
She may have been wearing a black T-shirt with ties on the shoulders, a black and floral below-the-knee skirt, and sunglasses with mirrored lenses when she was last seen.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
