Edmonton police Chief Dale McFee announces he’ll retire in February

A salmon task force examining the impacts of the massive landslide that temporarily dammed British Columbia’s Chilcotin River last July says there have been three “significant” slope failures since then, and the site remains unstable.

A statement from the Tsilhqot’in National Government, which is part of the task force alongside the federal and provincial governments, says there is still “significant material” that could move, that would result in future blockages. 

The update says the latest movement on Nov. 8 blocked the river in B.C.’s central Interior for about three hours, stirring up sediment. 

It says the recent slide emphasizes the need for ongoing research, analysis and risk assessment in order to understand the current and future impacts on salmon.

The statement says there is “an extreme conservation concern” for Chilcotin River steelhead and stock assessment information is highly limited. 

Still, it says recent fieldwork confirmed the presence of adult steelhead above the slide site, providing “limited evidence” that the fish have been able to pass.

Steelhead typically enter the river system in October, staying until their spawning period between the following May and June, and the Tsilhqot’in National Government says it will conduct additional fieldwork to gather data next spring.

“Given the months-long period that adult steelhead spend in the Chilcotin watershed, water quality and flow impacts from the initial slide and ongoing sloughing may have specific impacts on this population,” the statement says.

The Nov. 14 update adds that Fisheries and Oceans Canada is leading an assessment to quantify the effects of the slide on migrating salmon, and it’s also planning an assessment to evaluate changes to the river’s channel.

The slide in Farwell Canyon, south of Williams Lake, B.C., dammed the river and created a lake about 11 kilometres long behind the mass of earth and debris.

It took nearly a week before the material broke free, sending a torrent of water and broken trees downstream, while prompting numerous flood advisories.

The Tsilhqot’in National Government says aerial monitoring shows the distribution of Interior Fraser coho in the Chilko River, a tributary of the Chilcotin, is “typical” and there is no evidence of unusual spawning behaviour.

It says another flyover this month will inform the final return estimates.

“Information to date shows no red flags regarding significant impacts to (Interior Fraser coho) migration from the Chilcotin landslide,” the statement says.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 20, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Toronto police are investigating the death of a four-month-old baby who was reported missing on Wednesday.

Police say a family member reported the baby missing shortly after 11:30 a.m.

Officers responded to a residential building in Toronto’s midtown, where the infant was found.

The baby was rushed to hospital and pronounced dead there.

Police said this is “a tragic situation that raises many questions,” but they won’t be releasing any other details at this time.

A spokesperson for the force said police want to reassure the public that there’s “no safety risk.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 20, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

EDMONTON – Alberta’s information and privacy commissioner says she has big concerns – including fuzzy definitions and insufficient guardrails – in two bills now being debated in the house.

The bills aim to amend existing access to information and privacy rules and are touted by Premier Danielle Smith’s government as being the strictest privacy regulations in Canada.

But commissioner Diane McLeod says, to the contrary, the government would be creating legislative holes if the bills are approved.

McLeod outlined her concerns and suggested changes in letters sent Wednesday to the sponsors of the bills: Technology Minister Nate Glubish and Service Alberta Minister Dale Nally.

Glubish’s bill would create a separate act for the protection of privacy while Nally’s bill proposes changes to freedom of information rules. 

McLeod noted Glubish’s bill would allow the personal information of a minor to be shared without that minor’s permission if doing so was deemed to be in the youth’s best interest.

McLeod noted that the bill isn’t clear on who would be responsible for determining the best interests of minors, nor is it clear what best interest means.

“If disclosure is truly ‘in the best interests of a minor’ then it should be with consent,” McLeod wrote.

The commissioner’s letter also says Glubish’s changes don’t account for privacy risks when government bodies use “automated systems” to collect and make decisions around personal data.

McLeod wrote that it isn’t clear what an automated system even refers to or if artificial intelligence would be involved. She says privacy guardrails are therefore critical.

When it comes to changes put forward by Nally to Alberta’s freedom of information rules, “there are many grounds for concern,” McLeod wrote.

She wrote that the proposed changes give the government more power to avoid disclosing information to the public by including in the exempted correspondence “virtually all communication between political staff and (members of cabinet).”

Nally defended this change Wednesday, saying that such electronic communication should be confidential as freedom of information “is about access to government documents, not about political conversation.”

McLeod’s letter says she is also concerned about broad disclosure exemptions for government records relating to labour relations and “workplace investigations,” both of which the bill doesn’t provide a definition for. The letter also says the bill appears to exempt the disclosure of data kept in government databases.

“In my view, this amendment takes access rights a step back, not forward,” she wrote.

Glubish and Nally told reporters they will review McLeod’s concerns and recommendations over the coming days. Glubish also said that the government gave McLeod “unprecedented access” to the development of the legislation, but in a statement Wednesday, McLeod said her office didn’t see the finished bills until they were introduced in the legislature.

Both bills have passed first reading in the assembly and will need to be read and debated three more times before receiving royal assent.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 20, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.