Maple Express | November 15, 2026: Fifth Soldier Dies After CFB Wainwright Fire

Source: CP24

1. Fifth Soldier Dies After Fire at CFB Wainwright

A fifth soldier has died after the fire at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright, the Canadian Armed Forces said Saturday, Nov. 14. Pte. William Douglas Dal Bianco of the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (3 PPCLI), died Friday from injuries he suffered in the Oct. 17 fire. The military said he was being cared for in an Ontario hospital when he died.

"Let me say how heartbroken we are by the loss of Private William Douglas Dal Bianco," said Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jennie Carignan, who pledged to keep standing with everyone affected by the tragedy. Lt.-Gen. Michael Wright, commander of the Canadian Army, said the army will remember Dal Bianco's dedicated and honourable service and stands with his family, friends and colleagues.

The fire broke out during live fire training on the base and was driven by high winds, injuring 43 CAF members when it overtook an administrative area. As of Saturday, five members had died, 24 remained in hospital and 14 had been released. Prime Minister Mark Carney said on social media that Dal Bianco and his fellow soldiers "were training to defend Canada."

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2. Avian Flu Detected at Several Saskatchewan Properties and a Poultry Show

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has detected avian flu at several non-commercial properties in Saskatchewan and at a poultry show in Moose Jaw earlier this month. A case of highly pathogenic influenza linked to the Nov. 7 Moose Jaw show was reported by the CFIA and shared by the Saskatchewan Poultry Association in a post on Friday.

Anyone who showed, sold or bought birds at the event is asked to call the CFIA's sick bird line at 1-403-338-5225. People who attended but did not show, sell or buy birds should still monitor their own birds at home. The incubation period ranges from two to 14 days, and signs include lethargy, loss of appetite, swollen eyes, respiratory signs, a drop in egg production or death.

Birds at a non-commercial property in the rural municipality of Bayne were confirmed to have the illness on Tuesday. On Friday, poultry at a non-commercial property in the RM of Preeceville were also confirmed, and on Saturday another case was reported at a non-commercial property in the RM of Loon Lake. In all cases, the number of infected birds and the measures taken were not known.

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3. Bag Tag Switching: How Canadian Travellers Can Protect Themselves

The fifth part of CTV's W5 investigation, published today, examines so-called bag tag switching: a corrupt airport worker removes the tag from a checked bag and attaches it to a suitcase filled with drugs, sending the dirty luggage across continents under an unsuspecting traveller's name. W5 has identified more than two dozen such cases, and some victimized Canadians have served jail time in countries where police were not interested in hearing "that's not my bag."

Federal Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon said after W5's original investigation earlier this year that he was going "back to the drawing board." Bill Drori, who runs Montreal company Tamperguard, has a cheaper and easier fix than legislation: a tamper-evident baggage tag. While a normal tag can be stuck and re-stuck dozens of times, his reveals a "VOID" message the first time it is removed, and the glue disappears so it cannot be re-attached.

Drori said there was virtually no price difference between his tags and standard ones when he priced them for the Colombian airline Avianca in 2016, and he could have the material ready for a label-maker in four weeks. That same year he pitched the idea at the AVSEC World Conference in Kuala Lumpur, where everyone called it a great idea but no one wanted to take the lead. W5 raised the technology with MacKinnon, who said he is open to learning more: "We are open to all manner of measures that can ward off criminal behavior."

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4. One Arrested After Vehicle Fleeing Break-and-Enter Crashes into East York Store

Toronto police were called shortly before 9 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14, to a break-and-enter at a home in the area of O'Connor Drive and Broadview Avenue. When officers arrived, the suspects had already fled in a vehicle.

The vehicle later crashed into a store in East York, and officers arrested one suspect at the scene. At least one other suspect fled from the crash on foot. There was no immediate word on injuries.

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5. Oilers Beat Maple Leafs 1-0 as McDavid Reaches 50 Points in 21 Games

Devon Levi made 20 saves for his first NHL shutout and Connor McDavid extended his season-opening point streak to 21 games as the Edmonton Oilers downed Toronto 1-0 on Saturday night at Scotiabank Arena, handing the Maple Leafs their sixth straight home loss.

Evan Bouchard opened the scoring at 15:34 of the second period, taking a pass from McDavid and firing his 12th goal of the season. Edmonton improved to 15-3-3 and is 7-1-1 over its last nine games. McDavid has 50 points (11 goals, 39 assists) and leads the league; he is the fifth player in NHL history to reach 50 points in 21 games or fewer, joining Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky, Bernie Nicholls and Mike Bossy.

Anthony Stolarz stopped 22 shots for Toronto, which fell to 8-12-2 with its sixth consecutive regulation loss and finished a six-game homestand at 1-8-0 over its last nine games. Head coach Mike Babcock faced his former team in Toronto for the first time since being fired in November 2019.

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6. Homicide Investigation in Ottawa's Central Park Neighbourhood

Ottawa police say officers responded to a disturbance at a home on Grenwich Circle near Whitestone Drive at 2:38 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14, and determined on arrival that a homicide had occurred. The homicide unit is investigating.

One person has been arrested but no charges have been laid, police told CTV News Ottawa. Police said there are no outstanding suspects and no known risk to public safety. The identities of the victim and the suspect were not released, and police said more information would come in the coming days.

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7. What Canadian Travellers Should Know About Their Rights After the U.S. Grounding

Canadian airlines and airports are still dealing with the aftershocks of Friday's grounding of U.S. air traffic, with some travellers facing cancellations and delays. Under Canada's Air Passenger Protection Regulations, passengers have the right to be rebooked if their flight is cancelled or subject to a lengthy delay.

Airlines must rebook travellers on the next available flight operated by them or a partner airline departing within 48 hours of the original departure time. Air passenger rights advocate Gabor Lukacs said that for international travel, including to and from the U.S., airlines must rebook passengers on a competing carrier if they cannot find a flight within 48 hours. He noted the nationwide U.S. grounding is an "extraordinary circumstance" outside the airline's control, so compensation does not apply here.

Air Canada said it cancelled about 250 flights affecting some 27,000 passengers after the FAA issued the ground stop order on Friday, halting all U.S. flights for more than four hours. Porter and WestJet said it will likely take the whole weekend for schedules to return to normal. Lukacs said airlines are not required to reimburse Canadians stuck in the U.S. for hotels and meals: "In Europe, passengers would still be getting meals and accommodation. In Canada, that's not an obligation." He advised travellers who feel an airline has not met its obligations to document their communications and take the matter to small claims court.

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8. FAA Says U.S. Air Travel Should Fully Recover by End of Sunday

The U.S. air travel schedule should be back to normal by the end of Sunday, FAA administrator Bryan Bedford said Saturday, two days after the nation's longest ground stop in 25 years. He said airlines would still have delays and cancellations on Saturday but promised that "the worst is behind us."

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the problem began when contractor L3Harris Technologies replaced a section of the air traffic control system's old copper wire with new fibre wire, causing the system to overload and creating intermittent communications and radar gaps that led the government to shut down air traffic for more than four hours. Officials were investigating whether contractor "incompetence" or a faulty router was the cause. L3Harris said it is supporting the FAA's investigation and takes seriously the impact on travellers, airlines and air traffic operations.

The union representing the agency's technicians, the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, said the FAA normally consults its own technicians in advance to assess the risks of upgrades or repairs, but that did not happen this time. FlightAware said more than 6,000 flights within, into or out of the U.S. were cancelled Saturday. Aviation consultant Andrew Charlton estimated Friday's stoppage affected about a quarter of the 45,000 flights in the U.S. each day.

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9. B.C. "ISIS Bride" Kimberly Polman, in Her Own Words

A statement of facts obtained by The Canadian Press lays out the regrets and fears of Kimberly Polman, a British Columbia woman who in 2015 was unemployed and living in low-income housing when she decided to travel to war-torn Syria to join her husband in the Islamic State. It was, she later wrote, a "terrible mistake."

The document includes a handwritten two-page letter she composed in Syria's Roj refugee camp, dated April 3, 2019 and addressed to "Dear Canadians." In it she said she "came to ISIS believing I could help women and children" as a nurse, but was "immediately thrown into a world of intense fear, unable to leave." Polman, who converted to Islam in 2003, met a Kenyan man of Somali descent named Suhayb Muhammad Adan in 2014 and married him that summer.

The statement says she booked return flights to Vienna at a Flight Centre in Surrey, B.C., in July 2015, continued to Turkey and was smuggled into Syria, where she forfeited her U.S. passport and remained for about seven years. She pleaded guilty last month to leaving Canada to participate in activities of a terrorist group; her trial, set for Nov. 9, was vacated, no sentencing date has been set, and she is due in court next week.

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10. First-Ever Girls in Sport Summit Highlights Grey Cup Weekend

More than 100 girls took part in the first-ever Girls in Sport Summit during Grey Cup weekend in Calgary on Saturday, an initiative aimed at encouraging young girls to try different sports and stay involved as they get older. Activities included flag football and cheerleading.

Karen Dommett, executive director of Grey Cup 2026, said girls drop out of sports exponentially more than boys. She pointed to a lack of recreational opportunities as one barrier, adding that not every young athlete needs to compete at an elite level: "There's a lot of different levels to participate." Inside the Saddledome, girls learned from CFL cheerleaders.

Shiloh Colmenares-Mickler, 14, a competitive cheerleader for nearly a decade, tried flag football for the first time: "I found it really cool. And I love the fast pace." Flag football will make its Olympic debut with men's and women's competitions at the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.

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