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Thursday, July 10, 2025

Trudeau minister asked if unvaxxed US women can abort in Canada “won’t deal in hypotheticals”

By
Noah Jarvis
-

The federal Liberal minister for women and gender equality and youth would not say whether unvaccinated US women could enter Canada to terminate their pregnancies, despite the government saying earlier that women denied abortions by a reversal of Roe v. Wade would be welcome.

Responding to questions by True North’s Elie Cantin-Nantel at a press conference on Wednesday, minister Marci Ien finally stated, “I don’t deal in hypotheticals” when pressed whether the government would allow all US women – including unvaccinated women from marginalized communities – into the country for abortions.

A leaked draft of US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s decision opinion would overturn the precedent set by the 1973 case Roe v. Wade, which established a right for women to abort their pregnancies in the US constitution.

In response to the leak, Liberal minister of families, children, and social development Karina Gould said in an interview with the CBC that American women seeking an abortion in Canada are welcome to come.

Public safety minister Marco Mendicino reaffirmed this sentiment by alerting the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) that American women seeking to terminate their pregnancy were welcome to cross the border. 

“I’ve engaged CBSA (the Canada Border Services Agency), my office is currently working with them to make sure there are clear guidelines so that women who may not be able to access healthcare including abortions are able to come to Canada,” he said.

Unvaccinated Americans and Canadians have been barred from crossing the Canada-US border since Mar. 2020, despite vaccinated residents of both nations regaining this right in Nov 2021.

Furthermore, while black Americans make up about 13% of the general population, statistics show they sought out 38% of all abortions. In addition, only 47% of black Americans are fully vaccinated. 

This data suggests that black Americans and other historically marginalized groups who rely more on abortion services would be turned away at the Canadian border at a disproportionately high rate. 

When True North asked Ien to address the issue on Wednesday, Ien initially dodged the question, reiterating statements previously made by minister Gould and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about abortion services and health insurance. 

When pressed further about unvaccinated US women being admitted into Canada, Ien said, “That is something that we will deal with. I don’t deal in hypotheticals. But that is something that we will deal with in an empathetic way when and if the occasion arises.”

True North reached out to Gould’s office and CBSA for comment earlier this week but has received no response. 

Feds formalize policy allowing biological males to serve prison sentences in women’s prisons

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

Biological men who identify as women are now officially allowed to transfer into women’s correctional institutions if they request to do so.

The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) made the policy clear in a directive from the Commissioner on Wednesday that the transfers would take place regardless of the inmate’s anatomical sex. 

The document – Commissioner’s Directive 100 Gender Diverse Offenders – lays out the transfer process and also mandates gender diversity training to staff and correctional officers. 

“After completing the intake assessment process, offenders will be placed according to their gender identity or expression in a men’s or a women’s institution, if that is their preference, regardless of their sex (i.e., anatomy) or the gender/sex marker on their identification documents,” the directive states. 

“In the event there are overriding health or safety concerns that cannot be resolved, the offender will be placed in a site that better aligns with their current sex (i.e., anatomy).”

According to the document, male inmates who wish to be housed in a women’s prison will undergo an assessment process that includes an interview with a staff member from the receiving site. 

The Assistant Commissioner for Correctional Operations and Programs as well as the Deputy Commissioner for Women will reportedly have the final say on whether the request by the inmate gets approved. 

Women’s rights activists have blasted the decision as a threat to the safety and dignity of female inmates. 

True North spoke to former federal prisoner and spokesperson for Canadian Women’s Sex-Based Rights (caWsbar) Heather Mason, who said that as a consequence of the transfers, female prisoners will have to deal with increased security as a result of the presence of more aggressive and violent biological men. 

“We have less security measures,” said Mason. “We don’t have weapons. We have one eight-foot fence. We don’t have guard towers.” 

“There’s a high proportion of males in maximum security looking to transfer so this is going to impact Indigenous women the most. As you know, 50% of our prison population are Indigenous and also approximately 50% of the women in maximum security are Indigneous.”

According to Mason, due to the fact that “men are more aggressive and violent” housing them with women will likely “lead to guards protesting, wanting increased security measures.” 

Other new gender-identity measures include being allowed access to private showers or toilets “to ensure safety and privacy.”

Staff will now also be required to undergo mandatory “training on gender identity and expression” while the CSC will also pursue engagement with “gender diversity advocacy groups, when developing and updating staff training material.” 

The policy is a crystallization of what has been taking place for some time, as biological men who identify as women have been allowed into women’s prisons since 2017. That year, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged his government would house transgender inmates based on gender identity. 

“I will make sure we look at it and we address it and we do right in recognizing that trans rights are human rights and we need to make sure we are defending everyone’s dignity and rights in every way we can,” said Trudeau at the time. 

Soon after the CSC adopted an interim policy to place inmates in the prison of their choice “regardless of their anatomy (sex) or gender on their identification documents, unless there are overriding health or safety concerns which cannot be resolved.”

Mason blamed the policy and its shortsightedness squarely on Trudeau. 

“They originally released a policy that would still transfer based on sex, except they changed the requirements for gender reassignment surgery, but then it was Justin Trudeau himself at the town hall meeting who was like ‘Oh I never thought about that, we’ll change it.’ So it definitely was a Liberal Justin Trudeau thing,” she told True North. 

Mason also said that inmates are struggling with the new directives and frustrated with the lack of action from guards and administrators who are too afraid to go after transgender inmates for bad behaviour. 

“They say that the trans prisoners are untouchable,” she said. ”That they control everything and that Corrections is scared to discipline them because they’re scared of being sued since trans prisoners are threatening Canadian human rights claims against them.” 

On Mar. 26, a Parole Board of Canada (PBC) decision confirmed a female prisoner’s report that she was repeatedly sexually assaulted by a biological male housed in the Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, Ontario. 

Steve (Sam) Melenbacher was charged with sexual assault over the incident. 

The PBC report notes that a female prisoner reported that Mehlenbacher has “created a trail of victims, many of whom have been terrorized” by him. 

RCMP did not request the Emergencies Act to deal with Freedom Convoy

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-
Darrin Calcutt

Contrary to statements by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki has revealed that the federal police force did not request the government invoke the Emergencies Act to deal with the Ottawa Freedom Convoy protests in February. 

Lucki made the statement while appearing before the parliamentary committee tasked with investigating Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s unprecedented use of the law. 

“We were the ones who would be using those authorities so we were consulted to see if they would be of any use to police,” Lucki told Parliamentarians. “The measures enacted under the emergencies act provided all police officers across the country, not just the RCMP, with the ability to deal with blockades and unlawful public assemblies.”

Although Lucki claimed that the act was helpful for law enforcement to crack down on protestors, the RCMP did not specifically request for it to be invoked.

Lucki’s testimony appears to contradict statements delivered by Trudeau in the House of Commons.

“When illegal blockades hurt workers and endangered public safety, police were clear that they needed tools not held by any federal, provincial or territorial law,” Trudeau said. “It was only after we got advice from law enforcement that we invoked the Emergencies Act.”    

Lucki appeared alongside CSIS Director David Vigneault on Tuesday night. When both witnesses were asked what information they were allowed to provide to the inquiry, they skirted the questions. 

“I feel like the seriousness of this committee is undermined, when we don’t get the frankness and the concise and full information that we deserve,” said NDP MP Matthew Green. “Having you dance around the question, when I asked a specific question, in my opinion is not you being frank.” 

Critics have accused the Trudeau government of putting on a charade by limiting the scope of the mandatory inquiry into Trudeau’s use of the Emergencies Act. 

Questions have been raised about the objectivity of the judge appointed to oversee the investigation – Ontario Appeal Court Justice Paul Rouleau – who was a former Liberal donor and political aide for the party. 

Liberal Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino has also cited cabinet confidence in an attempt to prevent the disclosure of the information the federal government relied on to justify use of the act. 

Recently, the author of the Emergencies Act, former defence minister Perrin Beatty, called for “extraordinary accountability” from the federal government over its use of the act. 

“Was invoking the act the right thing to do in the first place? Did it meet the high threshold that was anticipated, that was required under the act?” Beatty asked. 

“The only thing that I can say, as the author of the act, is that wherever you have extraordinary powers, there must be extraordinary accountability.”

World Economic Forum’s Davos summit only accrediting invited media

By
Andrew Lawton
-

The World Economic Forum (WEF)’s flagship event in the mountains of Switzerland is open to media – but only select, invited journalists are allowed to even apply for accreditation.

The WEF’s annual meeting runs May 22-26 in Davos, a resort town in the Swiss Alps. This is the first in-person Davos event since 2020 as Covid restricted travel and large gatherings.

A planned annual meeting in Singapore last summer was rescheduled multiple times before it was cancelled altogether.

The WEF operates a media portal for journalists to register for its events, but only those with an invitation code are allowed to even apply for the upcoming Davos meeting. Repeated inquiries to the WEF’s public affairs team went unanswered.

This year’s event promises to be the “starting point for a new era of global responsibility and cooperation.”

No programme or list of speakers and panels is yet available, but the WEF says it will “bring together over 2,000 leaders and experts from around the world, all committed to a ‘Davos Spirit’ of improving the state of the world.”

True North’s Andrew Lawton will be in Davos to report on the conference.

In addition to accreditation challenges, the WEF also created accommodation challenges. Before announcing its meeting, the organization booked all hotel and resort rooms in Davos and the nearby town of Klosters, as well as most properties listed on Airbnb.

Some Airbnb hosts also cancelled confirmed reservations at the WEF’s request, with one telling True North “the penalty by this organization is tremendously high if I won’t fulfill their conditions.”

In January, WEF chairman Klaus Schwab released a new book, The Great Narrative, about “how we can shape a constructive, common narrative for the future.” This book was a follow-up to his 2020 manifesto COVID-19: The Great Reset, which tried to seize what Schwab called “a unique window of opportunity” to reshape the economy and the “social contract” amid the global pandemic.

The Trudeau government has close ties to the WEF, giving it $2.9 million last year for “conservation measures.” Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland sits on the organization’s board of trustees, and has spoken at past meetings. Last year, then-health minister Patty Hajdu participated in a closed-door panel discussion on cross-border travel restrictions.

Interest in the WEF has surged in recent months, as clips recirculate showing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau discussing the need for a “reset” in a United Nations speech and Schwab boasting about the organization’s efforts to “penetrate the cabinets” of various countries, including Canada.

While there is no shortage of baseless conspiracy theories about the WEF, legitimate criticism of the organization and the Davos agenda are often erroneously dismissed as conspiracy theories.

Conservative Leadership Debate LIVE coverage

By
Candice Malcolm
-

True North will go live as we cover the next Conservative Leadership Debate, tonight in Alberta’s capital.

All six candidates will be squaring off in Edmonton, including Scott Aitchison, Roman Baber, Jean Charest, Leslyn Lewis, Pierre Poilievre and Patrick Brown – who will be making his debate debut after skipping the Strong and Free Conference event last week.

Follow True North’s Candice Malcolm, Harley Sims, Harrison Faulkner and Elie Cantin-Nantel as they discuss the debate, the rivalries and the issues that are shaping the Conservative leadership race and the conservative movement in Canada.

True North’s Andrew Lawton is on the ground in Edmonton, covering all the action from the floor as well as speaking with candidates after the debate.
Our coverage of the Conservative Leadership Debate begins tonight at 7:30PM ET / 5:30PM MT / 4:30PM PT.

Watch the debate here!

Surge in illegal border crossings into US from Canada is 90% non-Canadians

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

Border guards are seeing a 47% spike in people crossing into the US from Canada illegally, and only one in ten of those migrants is a Canadian citizen. 

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) statistics show that the first six months of the fiscal year to date saw a 47% increase in illegal border crossings in comparison to the year before.

Between Oct. 2021 and Mar. 2022, CBP officers encountered 625 people attempting to leave Canada illegally. Only 63 of those people held Canadian citizenships. 

Meanwhile over the same period the previous year, 426 people illegally crossed the border and were met by border guards. Of those, 84 were Canadian citizens. 

In March, a group of six Indian nationals were rescued after attempting to cross the St. Regis River from Canada into New York state. 

US citizen Brian Lazore was arrested in what officials are calling a human smuggling operation. 

A similar attempt to travel out of Canada in January ended in tragedy after a family of four Indian nationals died of exposure while trying to cross the Manitoba border on foot.

According to CBP Chief patrol Agent William Maddocks, US border guards have seen a “notable increase of foreign nationals with criminal history” leaving Canada. 

Illegal crossings into the US are, however, dwarfed by illegal entries into Canada via Roxham Road and other unofficial border crossings. 

Since the Canadian government began tracking the number of illegal border crossers entering Canada, the country has seen an intake of 60,544 people to date. 

At its peak in July to September 2017, 8,559 asylum claimants entered Canada illegally. 

Although the Covid pandemic led to significant drop in illegal border crossings into Canada, the easing of COVID-19 restrictions are seeing rates return to pre-pandemic levels.  In October to December of 2021, a total of 785 people illegally crossed into the country – nearly double than what it was the three months before. 

As reported by True North in March, taxpayers are being forced to pay the hotel bills for illegal  Roxham Road crossers who don’t have a quarantine plan. 

Deputy Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Catrina Tapley told the Commons immigration committee that rooms for the migrants are being billed to the Government of Canada. 

Conservative leadership race becomes referendum on Freedom Convoy

By
Andrew Lawton
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The tensest moments at the first Conservative leadership debate of the campaign came when candidates were debating which among them was the first and loudest supporter of the truckers’ convoy to Ottawa earlier this year. Jean Charest called it an “illegal blockade,” Scott Aitchison said it was a product of Justin Trudeau’s failings, Roman Baber said we need to talk about mandates and not just the convoy, Pierre Poilievre said he supported the truckers, and Leslyn Lewis said Poilievre only stood up for them when it was politically convenient to do so. In this edition of The Andrew Lawton Show, Andrew breaks down the debate with Lewis and Baber, and discusses the curious absence of Patrick Brown.

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Liberals refuse to say if unvaccinated US women would be permitted to have abortions in Canada

By
Noah Jarvis
-

After declaring that US women would be welcome to have abortions in Canada if Roe v. Wade is overturned, Liberal minister of families, children, and social development Karina Gould is now refusing to say whether the policy includes unvaccinated women.

In an interview with CBC, Gould proclaimed last week that American women prevented from obtaining an abortion would be able to undergo the procedure in Canada. 

A leaked draft of US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s decision opinion would overturn the precedent set by the 1973 case Roe v. Wade, which established a right for women to abort their pregnancies in the US constitution.

Public safety minister Marco Mendicino also declared that he had alerted border patrol agents that American women coming to Canada to have an abortion were welcome.

“I’ve engaged CBSA (the Canada Border Services Agency), my office is currently working with them to make sure there are clear guidelines so that women who may not be able to access healthcare including abortions are able to come to Canada,” he said.

In Mar. 2020, the Canadian and American governments agreed to close the Canada-US land border, which has remained closed to citizens who have not received at least two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

True North reached out to Gould’s office and CBSA for comment, asking if the government would permit American women to enter Canada to obtain abortions regardless of their vaccination status.

As of this article’s publication, both Gould and CBSA have failed to comment on the matter.

According to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), only 66% of Americans are fully vaccinated, suggesting that over 100 million Americans cannot cross the Canada-US border due to vaccination status. 

Among black Americans, the issues are more pronounced, with data showing only 47% are fully vaccinated. Despite making up only 12.4% of the American population, black communities obtained 38% of all abortions in 2019.

In some American cities, more black babies are aborted than born.

The Trudeau government has committed to eliminating racial discrimination, with the government “developing a whole-of-government action plan to eliminate systemic racism.”

Despite this initiative, the data would suggest that black Americans – who seek abortions at a much higher rate than the general American population – would be disproportionately barred from entering Canada due to their vaccination status. 

The Trudeau government is expected to announce additional funding to “strengthen access to abortion” on Wednesday.

Election Season: Analyzing the vote in Ontario, Alberta and the CPC

By
Candice Malcolm
-

In Ontario, Progressive Conservative leader Doug Ford is hoping to win another majority but it’s not a clear path for victory for the Conservatives. The NDP and Liberals are hoping to increase their seat count and disgruntled conservatives are working against Ford because of his pandemic response. Meanwhile, the Conservative Leadership race continues to heat up as candidates sign up new members and appeal to conservatives in Canada. Plus, the results of the United Conservative Party leadership review are set to be announced in the next few days.

On today’s episode of the Candice Malcolm Show, Candice is joined by pollster and Partner at One Persuades Hamish Marshall to analyze the busy election season.

Candice and Hamish discuss the top issues in Ontario, the strategies of the candidates in the Conservative leadership race and how Jason Kenney may fare in the upcoming leadership review. Tune into The Candice Malcolm Show.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE CANDICE MALCOLM SHOW

Trudeau government gave $3 million to WEF and $1.6 billion to UN in 2021

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

The Liberal government funnelled more than a billion-and-a-half taxpayer dollars into various United Nations bodies, and millions into the World Economic Forum (WEF) last year, public accounts data shows. 

According to the transfer payments section of the 2020-2021 Public Accounts of Canada, the WEF received $2,915,095 from Canadian taxpayers in the form of grants and contributions.

Funding was provided by two departments – the Department of Environment and the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development. 

The largest of the transfer payments to WEF was a $1,141,851 contribution from the International Development Assistance for Multilateral Programming. WEF also received another $1 million grant under the same program. 

Other payments were cited as “contributions in support of conserving nature” and for the “establishment and management of conservation measures.” 

The Trudeau government also generously funded the UN to the tune of $1.576 billion in the form of financial support, contributions and grants. Funding came primarily from Global Affairs, although other departments including Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship also gave the UN money. 

Six UN-affiliated organizations received transfer payments worth more than $100 million each. The largest payment was given to the United Nations Children’s Fund, totalling $543 million. Meanwhile UN peacekeeping operations saw contributions worth $235 million, while the UN High Commissioner for Refugees received $139 million. 

Other large recipients include the UN Population Fund and the United Nations Organizations. 

True North contacted Finance Canada to clarify these transfer payments but did not hear back by the deadline given. 

According to Federal Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation Franco Terrazzano, the Trudeau government needs to do a better job accounting for its funding of international organizations like the WEF, while Canada deals with a debt of over $1 trillion. 

“That’s a lot of money, and we can’t just keep sending a ton of tax dollars to international organizations because we’ve been doing it for years,” Terrazzano told True North. 

“The feds are more than $1 trillion in debt, so it’s on the government to make a clear case for every cent it sends to international organizations, and if it can’t make the case then we need to see reductions.”

The controversial WEF has received renewed attention in the Conservative leadership race after candidate and MP Pierre Poilievre committed to boycotting the organization.

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