Maple Express | September 24, 2026 — Kenneth Law Sentencing Hearing Continues as More Victims' Families Speak

1. Kenneth Law Sentencing Hearing Continues as More Victims' Families Speak

Source: CP24

An Ontario court will hear today (Sept. 24) from more friends and family members of people who took their own lives using products purchased from Kenneth Law. On Wednesday, more than a dozen victim impact statements were presented in court, some in person, some read by prosecutors and some by video.

Several said Law preyed on people at their most vulnerable, robbing them of their future and leaving countless families grappling with grief. Adrienne Dalli, whose brother Maurizio Vadala died in 2023, told the court it is "devastating" to know he was guided toward death instead of receiving the support he needed.

Law, a former chef from Mississauga, Ont., pleaded guilty earlier this year to 14 counts of aiding suicide in the deaths of 14 people in Ontario. The plea came weeks after he was set to stand trial on those charges and another 14 counts of first-degree murder related to the same victims; prosecutors plan to withdraw the murder charges after he is sentenced. An agreed statement of fact read in court in May said Law ran several websites used to sell sodium nitrite and other products that can be used for self-harm, and sent some 1,200 packages to people in more than 40 countries, including close to 160 packages shipped to addresses within Canada.

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2. Report: Carney Prepared for 'Risk' Trump Might Order a Military Invasion of Canada

Source: CP24

Prime Minister Mark Carney said he is prepared for the possibility of U.S. President Donald Trump ordering a military invasion of Canada, according to a new report. In an interview with The New York Times published Wednesday, Carney described the prospect as an "extreme tail risk," but said it would be "irresponsible" not to prepare. He called it "just risk management."

Earlier that same day, Trump said on Truth Social that "Canada is destroying itself by allowing millions and millions of people into the Country" who were "essentially unchecked and unvetted." Carney was in New York that day for a "pledging event" for the OceanEye observation system, funded in large part by the European Union, and did not mention the United States in his opening remarks.

In the interview, Carney also said Canada is looking into expanding its economic ties with China and reducing its military and technological reliance on the United States, including Elon Musk's Starlink satellite systems. He discussed Canada's review of its planned order of 88 U.S. F-35 fighter jets and the potential of instead buying Sweden's Saab Gripen. Canada has already committed to buying 16 F-35s to replace its aging CF-18 fleet, but Carney ordered a review of the contract for the remaining 72 aircraft after Trump announced tariffs on Canadian goods early last year.

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3. Peel Region Launches Medical Drone Pilot to Deliver Aid Before Paramedics Arrive

Source: CP24

A drone is now being used in Peel Region to deliver life-saving equipment and medication to the scene of an emergency in the critical moments before paramedics arrive. Peel Regional Paramedic Services' (PRPS) medical drone pilot program launched on Sept. 22 and serves residents of Bolton, Ont., delivering automated external defibrillators (AEDs) for cardiac arrest, naloxone for suspected opioid overdoses, trauma supplies for severe bleeding, and epinephrine auto-injectors for allergic reactions or anaphylaxis.

During the three-year pilot, paramedics will also provide "real-time guidance" before they arrive on scene. The drone is operated by Peel paramedics with advanced complex remotely-piloted aircraft system pilot certificates, and it flies 150 to 200 feet above the tallest structure on the flight path at speeds up to about 60 km/h. The program is operated with grants and funding and will be expanded based on how the pilot goes, safety analysis, community need and regulatory approval; it runs until Sept. 21, 2029, with a review after six months and annual inspection and servicing.

Chief Brian Gibson said in a release that putting life-saving tools like AEDs into the hands of bystanders faster — potentially minutes sooner than a traditional response — means giving "every resident the best possible chance to save a life before paramedics arrive." The pilot was developed by PRPS with Dr. Sheldon Cheskes, medical director at the Sunnybrook Centre for Prehospital Medicine and an internationally recognized leader in cardiac arrest research, supporting his work on drone-enabled AED delivery, notably in rural, remote and Indigenous communities across Ontario where longer emergency response times can affect outcomes.

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4. Two Claims in Five Years, Then Dropped by Her Insurer: An Ontario Woman's Story

Source: CP24

Canadian home insurance rates have been rising steadily over the past five years due in part to extreme weather leading to more claims. New statistics from Lowestrates.ca show that even a single claim can cause rates to go up, and if you have two claims within five years, some companies will cancel your policy. That is what happened to Christine Buechler, of St. Thomas, Ont.

Buechler told CTV News a sewer back-up caused flooding in her basement and there were problems with tree roots in her yard, so she filed a claim for about $18,000, which was paid. She thought everything was fine, but in August she got a letter saying her insurance was being cancelled "due to frequency of claims." She then remembered that three years earlier she had made a $4,000 claim after losing a hearing aid. She was told two claims in three years meant she was considered "high risk," leaving her to scramble to find another policy after calling 10 to 15 insurance companies.

Fleur Dsouza, an insurance expert with Lowestrates.ca, said claims history is one of the most important factors in what you pay; according to the site, one claim over five years could raise premiums by 20 to 22 per cent and two could make rates 30 per cent higher. She said for smaller claims you may want to pay for them yourself. Buechler said her premiums have now doubled, and she would have replaced the hearing aid herself had she known it would affect her rates, recalling asking, "Will my insurance go up?" — and being told, "No, you should be fine."

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5. Baby Found Near a Brantford Trail 21 Years Ago: Mother Pleads Guilty

Source: CP24

More than 21 years after a newborn baby was found dead along a Brantford, Ont., trail, his mother pleaded guilty in court on Wednesday. The 39-year-old woman, arrested in February, was charged with indignity to a body and concealing the body of a child; she pleaded guilty to only one of those charges, admitting she disposed of her child's body. She cried quietly beside her lawyer and, despite the plea, insisted she had no memory of the crime.

The full-term baby boy, wrapped in a yellow towel, was left near Dufferin Avenue and Parkside Drive on July 28, 2005. A neighbour found a "bloodied object" in his backyard the next day, thought it was raw meat, and called Brantford Police after hearing a dead baby had been found nearby; the object turned out to be a placenta. An autopsy found trauma to the child's skull, jaw and left ribs, but the medical examiner could not determine when the injuries occurred, and the body was too badly decomposed to determine the cause of death or whether the baby was stillborn. An investigator named him Baby Parker.

According to the agreed statement of facts, a big break came in 2023 when police worked with the Toronto Police Service's Investigative Genetic Genealogy Unit to identify the father, narrowing it to two men who were both 20 in 2005, one of whom had been in a relationship with the mother. The woman was identified as a person of interest on Feb. 26, 2024; in June 2025 officers collected garbage from her home and swabbed a water bottle. She was arrested on Feb. 26, 2026, and a DNA warrant estimated she was about five million times more likely than a random woman to be the baby's biological mother. Justice Elizabeth Wilson stressed that "the essential part is that it's an informed plea" and warned the woman she would have a criminal record. Sentencing is expected to begin in November.

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6. Brantford Woman Gives Up Social Work Registration After Defrauding Doulas

Source: CP24

Kaitlyn Braun, of Brantford, Ont., who previously pleaded guilty to criminal charges for faking pregnancies and deceiving doulas, has promised never to work as a social worker again. She appeared before a disciplinary committee of the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers on Aug. 10. Documents show that between June 2022 and March 2023 she obtained doula services under false pretenses — telling doulas she had been sexually assaulted or was experiencing a miscarriage or stillbirth, sending a photo of a stillborn baby, and not paying for services. One doula racked up a bill of close to $6,000 in uncompensated time and expenses.

The documents also said Braun coerced a doula to perform a massage on her while naked or partially naked, and used a breast pump in front of a doula while shirtless. At her criminal trial, one doula said the experience had a profound impact on her life and career, saying "I am afraid of trusting social workers... I am afraid of being triggered at a birth." Braun earned a Bachelor's Degree in Social Work at Wilfrid Laurier University in 2020 and later registered with the college; from October 2021 to July 2022 she worked as a residential counsellor at Haldimand & Norfolk Women's Services, which reported her termination to the college on Aug. 17, 2022.

Braun was also accused of submitting a false sexual assault report. In February 2023 she went to Brantford General Hospital for a sexual assault evidence kit and gave a sworn videotaped statement to police, but later that same day emailed a detective to confess she made it up. On Dec. 7, 2023 she pleaded guilty to one count of public mischief relating to the false report, and also pleaded guilty to four counts of committing an indecent act, 11 counts of obtaining services by false pretense and five counts of fraud involving 13 doulas in Ontario, Alberta and the United States. On Feb. 14, 2024 she was sentenced to two years less a day of house arrest plus three years of probation; after offending again she was later given a five-year sentence under a joint submission. She admitted to all of the misconduct allegations, resigned from the college and permanently gave up her registration, agreeing never to re-apply, and must pay the college $5,000.

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7. Could Banff's Famous 'The Boss' Be Euthanized? Parks Canada Responds

Source: CP24

The Boss, one of Banff's best-known bears, has roamed the Bow Valley for decades — and as he advances in age, his future is drawing scrutiny. Bear 122 is believed to be in his mid-to-late 20s, while the lifespan for a wild grizzly averages 20 to 25 years. Parks Canada wildlife ecologist David Laskin said that just because The Boss is legendary doesn't mean he gets special treatment: "He's no different than any other grizzly bear in the park."

Through an access to information request, CTV News obtained an email sent from a Parks Canada wildlife ecologist/veterinarian to two other employees in April 2025, suggesting a "proactive discussion" was needed about management of Bear 122. Because of the bear's advanced age, declining condition and high level of habituation, the email said The Boss should be managed "more aggressively," adding that teams were being "prepared" for the possible scenario where they would need to "lethally remove 122 from the landscape" due to public safety or welfare concerns.

Laskin, who neither sent nor received the email, responded that lethal removal is a management tool that is "extraordinarily rare," considered only once other options are exhausted — "even more so in the case of (Bear) 122." Concerns that Parks Canada was considering lethally removing The Boss were first reported in the Rocky Mountain Outlook in July, prompting Donna Buchanan to start an online petition. "There is no reason any animal, wild or otherwise, should be euthanized," she wrote, adding "it's so unfair because he has been an icon for almost 30 years." As of Wednesday the petition had more than 2,000 signatures. Nick de Ruyter of the Biosphere Institute of the Bow Valley said the public must do its part, noting the problems arise when photographers, hikers and bikers get too close, and that the bear follows his nose into town to eat crab-apple apples.

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8. Eby Calls Early B.C. Election over Trump Threat; Voters Ask 'Why Now?'

Source: CP24

Premier David Eby is making U.S. President Donald Trump and the threat posed by his trade policies a central argument for why British Columbia needs an early election, but experts say that may be a tough sell. Eby launched the provincial campaign Tuesday in front of the Peace Arch border crossing, appealing for a fresh mandate to protect B.C. from the economic fallout of Trump's latest tariffs. "Families feel these tariffs reaching into their grocery bill. They see it at the pump," he said.

But the NDP already holds a majority in the legislature, and Eby called the election with two years remaining in his government's mandate. University of British Columbia political scientist Kathryn Harrison said "the central issue in this campaign is shaping to be whether we should be having an election at all," adding that early elections are risky for governing parties because "voters don't like going back to the polls too much, too soon," and tend to blame the party that calls the vote. Eby is not seeking an election to form a government after losing his majority, but asking for a fresh mandate while his government remains in power.

The election call came after months of drama within the official opposition B.C. Conservative Party. Former leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay resigned Sunday, and the party quickly installed Lorne Doerksen as interim leader, with several Conservative MLAs who had left or been kicked out returning. The timing is also unpopular: British Columbians will vote in municipal elections only one week before the provincial vote — the provincial election is set for Oct. 24, with the municipal vote a week earlier, also on a Saturday. Municipal leaders had asked Eby to delay and did not get their wish. Vancouver mayoral candidate Pete Fry said the move "is not being well received by local governments across British Columbia," and Port Coquitlam mayoral candidate Brad West said people "only have so much bandwidth." The 2024 B.C. provincial election cost taxpayers more than $82 million.

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9. N.W.T. Ends Seasonal Time Changes, Will Stay on Daylight Time Year-Round

Source: CP24

The Northwest Territories government says it is officially ending seasonal time changes. The territory's new permanent time standard, known as Northwest Territories time, will be observed year-round. Clocks will not have to go back an hour on Nov. 1, when a time change would normally occur, and the territory will now share a common time with Alberta and Saskatchewan.

The government says the transition is expected to be simple for most residents, as devices running the latest software will receive the time zone update once it is released by system providers. The change comes after public feedback in 2022, when more than 3,500 residents participated in an online survey and more than 87 per cent supported ending the practice of changing the clocks twice a year. Respondents most commonly expressed a preference for maintaining mountain daylight time year-round, which is in line with the new time zone.

"Ending seasonal time change gives residents what they've asked us for," Premier R.J. Simpson said in a news release Wednesday, adding that "this change provides greater consistency for people, families, organizations and businesses across the territory."

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10. Two Manitoba Men Switched at Birth Each Receive $250K Settlement

Source: CP24

Two Manitoba men who learned decades later that they were switched at birth have received a settlement from the Manitoba government. According to a recent financial information disclosure for the 2025-26 fiscal year released by the province, Edward Ambrose and Richard Beauvais were each paid $250,000. Ambrose and Beauvais were born on the same day in 1955 in Arborg, Man., but went home with different parents.

"What happened was a miscarriage of justice. No one can give them back the years that were lost but we hope the settlement brings some closure," Justice Minister Matt Wiebe said in a statement. Beauvais, who was raised Metis, took a test with an at-home ancestry kit he got as a gift in 2022; the results came back saying he was Ukrainian and Jewish.

That same year, Ambrose's sister also did an at-home ancestry kit and found she had a brother living in British Columbia, who turned out to be Beauvais. Ambrose was raised Ukrainian throughout his life but became a member of the Manitoba Metis Federation in 2024 after learning of his heritage. The pair received a formal apology from Premier Wab Kinew in the Manitoba legislature in 2024.

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