Police arrest fourth person in death of Halifax teen Devon Marsman

MONTREAL – The Quebec Liberal Party has called for the French language commissioner to investigate the cancelling of some French-language training courses for newcomers to the province.

Citing an “ongoing series of closures of francization programs,” the Opposition party announced Saturday morning in a news release that its critics for the French language and French classes, André Albert Morin and Madwa-Nika Cadet, sent a letter to the Commissioner of the French Language.

The letter asks commissioner Benoît Dubreuil to “investigate to ensure that the right to French language learning services, included in the Charter of the French Language, is respected,” the release said.

The Liberals are blaming the Coalition Avenir Québec government’s budgetary decisions, which it says, “jeopardize the possibility for immigrants to become French speakers within a time frame that would facilitate their integration into the job market and into Quebec society.”

In several interviews this week, Quebec’s Immigration Minister Jean-François Roberge blamed school service centres for the closures, saying his government has actually increased budgets for French-language courses.

However, media reports this week described education centres forced to cut back on programming because of budget constraints imposed on them by the province, which have also resulted in teachers losing their jobs.

“These cuts have led, in recent weeks, to the cancellation of French courses, particularly in the regions of Abitibi-Témiscamingue, the Capitale-Nationale, Estrie, Laval , the Laurentides, Mauricie and Montreal,” the release said.

Aside from cancellations, the Liberals say average wait times for full-time French study has recently doubled to four months while people who are enrolled are sometimes forced to travel hundreds of kilometres to attend class.

“There is an impression of disorder that suggests the government is unable to meet its obligations under the Charter of the French Language,” the letter sent to the Commissioner late Friday stated.

The closures come at a time of increased demand for the classes, with Quebec currently hosting around 600,000 temporary immigrants. Quebec has repeatedly asked the federal government for more power and funds to deal with the surge in newcomers, but the CAQ leadership has also come under fire from Ottawa.

Federal Public Services and Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said Friday that the $750 million the federal government is spending to help the province with newcomers is not being fully used.

“We absolutely must invest the necessary sums in francization,” said Duclos. “If we want new arrivals to be able to reach their full potential, we have to offer them appropriate services.”

Cadet told The Canadian Press in an interview the government is clearly struggling to provide the right to learn French.

“So in our opinion, the commissioner should have the mandate to investigate this, and that’s why we wrote him this letter,” Cadet said, but would not say whether her party would increase French-language budgets.

Last February, Dubreuil stated it would cost between $10.6 and $12.9 billion for all temporary immigrants to complete intermediate-level training in French.

Cadet responded by saying, “I don’t think we’re in that type of scenario. I think there’s a way to better deploy the offer and make sure there are no service breakdowns.”

–With files from La Presse Canadienne

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 26, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

TORONTO – New details are emerging that link a suspected transnational drug trafficking ring allegedly run by a wanted Olympian to an April homicide in Ontario.

An affidavit filed by a Toronto police officer assigned to the fugitive squad says evidence collected from the cellphone of a suspected ring member shows how the group orchestrated the man’s death.

The documents kept by a Toronto court allege the ring’s second-in-command Andrew Clark would hire “hit men,” including Malik Damion Cunningham, who used the aliases Jamal Abukar and MrPerfect (sic).

The documents allege Clark provided Cunningham with a list of targets to murder, including one man known in court records as R.F.

The documents say the pair chatted over encrypted messaging service Threema about the target list, with Cunningham allegedly telling Clark, “Give me the easiest one first,” adding he would need a car, a fake ID, and a “place to bring the gun after.”

Clark, meanwhile, allegedly told Cunningham to “drive over niagra blow this guys top off.” (sic)

The affidavit says the conversations occurred before R.F. was shot and killed in front of his Niagara Falls home on April 1.

On Oct. 17, Niagara Regional Police said the United States Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation had arrested several individuals in connection with the April 1 murder of 29-year-old Randy Fader.

The same day Clark, Cunningham and former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan James Wedding were named in a California indictment filed against 16 suspects who allegedly moved hundreds of kilograms of cocaine through North America and orchestrated several murders.

The indictment said Wedding, Clark and others were involved in a scheme to transport cocaine from Mexico to the Los Angeles area, where it was allegedly stored in stash houses before delivery to couriers for transportation to Canada using long-haul semi-trucks.

“The organization resorted to violence — including multiple murders — to achieve its aims,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in an Oct. 17 press release.

Wedding and Clark, the office alleged, directed the Nov. 20, 2023, murders of two people in Ontario in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment that passed through Southern California. Another member of that family survived the shooting but was left with serious physical injuries, the office said.

Wedding and Clark allegedly also ordered the murder of another victim on May 18 over a drug debt, while Clark and Cunningham have been charged with the April 1 murder in Niagara.

Clark was arrested on Oct. 8 by Mexican law enforcement.

Wedding, who competed for Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, had been living in Mexico.

His aliases include “El Jefe” and “Public Enemy” and he is facing eight felony charges, including conspiracy to export cocaine, three counts of murder in connection with a continuing criminal enterprise and one count of attempted murder.

He is considered a fugitive, with the FBI offering a US$50,000 reward for information leading to his arrest and extradition to the U.S.

If convicted, the U.S. Attorney’s Office says Wedding, Clark, and Cunningham would face a mandatory minimum penalty of life in federal prison on the murder and attempted murder charges.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 26, 2024.

— with files from Sonja Puzic in Toronto

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

NORTHEASTERN MANITOULIN AND THE ISLANDS, Ont. – Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree has apologized on behalf of the Canadian government to a group of Ontario First Nations for mismanagement of their money over a century ago.

The minister issued the apology Saturday at Aundeck Omni Kaning First Nation on Manitoulin Island, about 350 kilometres northwest of Toronto, during a ceremony that also commemorated a $447.9 million compensation settlement that will be shared among the five First Nations.

A news release from the federal government says the Crown made an agreement with the First Nations in 1862 for sales of Indigenous land, but used the profits from the sales to build roads and open up Manitoulin Island for settlement rather than giving the money to the First Nations as intended.

The release says “the Crown failed to act honourably and uphold its relationship with the First Nations, which went against the spirit and intent of the Treaties, broke promises and created injustices which continue to be felt by the communities today.

The five communities include Aundeck Omni Kaning First Nation, M’Chigeeng First Nation, Sheguiandah First Nation, Sheshegwaning First Nation and Zhiibaahaasing First Nation

The settlement for the historical claims, which are often called “the Manitoulin Project,” was reached last December and was approved in community votes held in March, with 98 percent of participants voting in favour.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 26, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.