There was a time in this country when Canadians didn’t really care about Canadian music.

No, wait. Let’s start over.

There was a time in this country when Canadians didn’t like Canadian music and did whatever they could to avoid, ignore, and pretend it didn’t matter or even exist. Yeah, that’s more accurate.

There was one exception this rule: If a Canadian artists somehow miraculously received some kind attention (read: validation) from outside the country–preferably in the United States–then suddenly they were paying attention to at home.

It was a mix of insecurity and what I believe to be Canada’s two unofficial mottos: (1) “Who do you think you are?” And (2) Why can’t you be happy with what you have?”

That’s harsh but true. And for years, talented, ambitious flowed south across the border to seek their fortune in America. Paul Anka. Neil Young. Joni Mitchell. John Kay.

There were those who chose to remain in Canada while still having international success. Gordon Lightfoot is among that number. The Guess Who and BTO are two more. But they weren’t really fully accepted at home until they had a hit in America. Suddenly, our attitude swung 180 degrees. “Them? That successful band on the Billboard charts and American Bandstand? Yeah, they’re one of ours! Go Canada go!”

This is the way it was for several decades. It was a frustrating situation for countless Canadian musicians.

But thing things started to warm up a bit in the 1980s. By the time the 90s arrived, attitudes towards homegrown talent had swung completely in the other direction. Not only were Canadian music fans loving Canadian bands, Canadian music was being heard all over the world.

Wait. Let’s try that again. I meant to say that Canadian music was in demand all over the world.

Some have called this the Great CanRock Revolution of the 1990s. It. Changed. Everything. And here’s how it started.

Songs heard on this show:

• Our Lady Peace, Starseed
• Martha and the Muffins, Echo Beach
• Chalk Circle, April Fool
• Tragically Hip, Little Bones
• Tragically Hip, She Didn’t Know (Live)
• Sloan, Underwhelmed
• I Mother Earth, Not Quite Sonic
• Billy Talent, River Below

Here’s Eric Wilhite’s playlist. The Ongoing History of New Music can be heard on the following stations:

• 102.1 The Edge/Toronto – Sunday night at 7
• Q107/Toronto
• Live 88-5/Ottawa
• 107.5 Dave-FM/Kitchener
• FM96/London
• Power 97/Winnipeg
• Sonic 102.9/Edmonton
• The Zone/Victoria
• The Fox/Vancouver
• Surge 105/Halifax
• WAPS/WKTL The Summit/Arkon, Canton, Cleveland, Youngstown

We’re still looking for more affiliates in Calgary, Kamloops, Kelowna, Regina, Saskatoon, Brandon, Windsor,  Montreal, Charlottetown, Moncton, Fredericton, and St John’s, and anywhere else with a transmitter. If you’re in any of those markets and you want the show, lemme know and I’ll see what I can do.

© 2022 Corus Radio, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

A coroner’s inquest into the death of an Indigenous teen is hearing he had a heated argument with another resident at a Hamilton group home the day before he went missing.

Scott Shewfelt, a youth worker at the Lynwood Charlton Centre’s Flamborough location, says Devon Freeman was upset and crying on Oct. 6, 2017 because some of the other youth at the home had made “negative comments” about his late mother.

He says there was an argument during which Freeman damaged one youth’s crutches as well as other items on the property.

Shewfelt says he went to talk to Freeman afterward, and the teen seemed to feel better by the end of the conversation. He says there was no indication Freeman wanted to leave the site.

Read more:

Police not told of Indigenous teen’s suicidal thoughts when he went missing: inquest

Read More

• Police not told of Indigenous teen’s suicidal thoughts when he went missing: inquest

Freeman, who was 16 at the time, went missing from the home on Oct. 7 and his body was found on the property more than six months later, in April 2018. An autopsy determined he died by hanging.

On Wednesday, jurors heard police weren’t told of Freeman’s history of suicidal thoughts or that he had attempted to end his life earlier that year.

The inquest also heard Freeman had been reported missing from the home dozens of times that year, and often wouldn’t return for days.

In his testimony Thursday, Shewfelt said Freeman leaving the property was a “common problem.”

“Normally it was because he was being held accountable for a comment or behaviour,” the youth worker said.

Usually, as soon as staff realized he had left, they would search the building and then the property, he said.

Someone would also usually try to follow Freeman to monitor his safety and encourage him to come back, but the teen would take steps to elude staff, including venturing onto private property, he said.

© 2022 The Canadian Press

Waterloo Regional Police are investigating a “hate-motivated” incident involving a group of teens in Kitchener on Wednesday night.

Acccording to police, officers were dispatched to the area around Westheights and Driftwood drives in the Forest Heights neighbourhood after the incident was reported.

Read more:

Kitchener man facing charges in connection with hate-motivated hit-and-run: police

Five teens reported that another group of teens had approached them before making threats and insulting them, police say.

Police say they believe the incident to be hate-motivated.

Read more:

14 cars, statue tagged with hate-motivated graffiti in Kitchener-Waterloo

No injuries were reported to police as a result of the incident.

Anyone with information can call 519-570-9777 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

The family of an Indigenous woman who was mocked by staff as she lay dying in a Quebec hospital in September 2020 has filed a lawsuit seeking nearly $2.7 million.

Joyce Echaquan, a 37-year-old Atikamekw mother of seven, filmed herself on Facebook Live as a nurse and an orderly were heard making derogatory comments toward her at a hospital in Joliette, Que., northeast of Montreal.

The video of her treatment in September 2020 went viral and drew outrage and condemnation across the province and the country.

Read more:

Vigil held in Montreal to mark 2-year anniversary of Joyce Echaquan’s death

The lawsuit filed Thursday in Joliette names the hospital, a doctor who treated her and the ex-nurse who was caught on film insulting Echaquan and seeks a total of $2.675 million in compensatory and punitive damages.

The family and the community of Manawan marked the second anniversary of her death on Wednesday.

Lawyer Patrick Martin-Menard says the civil suit is about moving forward and getting compensation for the family for the loss of Echaquan.

© 2022 The Canadian Press

Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, who was formerly married to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has filed for divorce from her second husband after less than two years of marriage.

Scott and Dan Jewett, a former science teacher at the Seattle private school where Scott and Bezos had sent their children, married in March last year.

Read more:

Queen Elizabeth II died of ‘old age,’ death certificate shows

Court records first obtained by the New York Times found that Scott filed for divorce from Jewett on Monday in the King County Superior Court in Washington State.

Scott divorced Bezos in 2019 after 25 years of marriage amid reports that he had an affair with a TV anchor. Scott received US$38 billion in the divorce settlement, catapulting her into the upper echelons of the world’s richest in her own right.

Scott and Jewett announced their marriage in 2021 through a message on their webpage for the Giving Pledge, an organization that encourages billionaires to donate the majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes.

In his message on the Giving Pledge in 2021, Jewett wrote: “I am married to one of the most generous and kind people I know — and joining her in a commitment to pass on an enormous financial wealth to serve others. I look forward to the growth and learning I have ahead as a part of this undertaking with MacKenzie.”

Read more:

Jeremy Mackenzie, ‘Diagolon’ founder and far-right figurehead, arrested

But Jewett’s message has since been deleted from the page and his name was also removed from a Medium post that Scott wrote last year regarding their donations.

Scott is currently worth $28.9 billion, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index. In March, Scott announced that she had donated an additional $3.9 billion to 465 nonprofits, bringing her total charitable contributions to over $12 billion.

The terms of the divorce are not yet known, including any possible prenuptial conditions.

© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

The Regina police charged a 13-year-old youth in connection with a firearms offence in Regina on Tuesday.

Police said that before midnight on Tuesday, Regina police received a call from an individual who had received photos showing a firearm.

Read more:

Regina police search for 3 suspects following report of back alley robbery, assault

Patrol officers located the sender of the photos, police said.

“This individual was arrested on an unrelated outstanding warrant,” Regina police said.

“Further investigation led officers to obtain consent to search a nearby apartment. In the search, police discovered a sawed-off .22 calibre rifle.”

Read more:

Regina Board of Police Commissioners outlines importance of Corrections Support Unit

Regina police arrested a male youth without incident and charged him with several offences including possession of a firearm and obstructing a peace officer.

The teen cannot be identified due to the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

He made his first court appearance on the charges in youth court at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

 

© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Canadians living in Russia who hold dual citizenship should leave the nation while they can as Vladimir Putin mobilizes troops for his war in Ukraine.

The warning from Ottawa rings similar to that coming from United States, which on Wednesday advised its dual citizens to leave the country as Russia calls up 300,000 soldiers to fight in the seven-month-long conflict with Ukraine.

“Russia does not recognize dual-citizenship and that dual citizens may be subject to certain legal obligations, including military service,” a Global Affairs Canada (GAC) spokesperson told Global News Wednesday night.

“Dual citizens may be detained, imprisoned, or fined large sums if they try to avoid military service.”

Read more:

Putin orders partial mobilization of Russian troops as Ukraine wages counteroffensive

Since March 5, the federal government has advised Canadians not only to avoid all travel to Russia, but to leave the nation as a response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, which began on Feb. 24. The West has rallied around Kyiv, and has imposed severe economic sanctions on Russia in response to the war.

After repelling Putin’s troops in the initial widespread invasion, Ukraine’s forces have battled Moscow in the eastern Donbas region since spring. Recently, Ukraine has taken back territories occupied by Russia in an ongoing counteroffensive that has been described as a humiliating moment for Moscow. In response, Putin ordered a partial mobilization of 300,000 soldiers and on Friday is set to formally annex four occupied regions in Ukraine in what could result in an escalation of the war.

Since Putin’s mobilization order on Sept. 21, tens of thousands of Russian men have fled the country. Although Putin said the call up was aimed at men with past military service, many Russians fear it will be much broader and more arbitrary than that. There are several reports of men with no military training and of all ages receiving draft notices.

Russians have flocked to airlines to seek ways out. On Wednesday, Russians clogged highways heading out of the country, and Moscow reportedly set up draft offices at borders to intercept some of them. Russia has land borders with 14 countries.

Read more:

Russian police arrest hundreds in protests over Putin’s military mobilization

The move has also triggered protests and acts of violence across Russia. Angry demonstrations have been seen not just in Moscow and St. Petersburg, but in the remote areas with women chasing a police officer and shouting, “No to war!”

On Monday, a gunman who opened fire in an enlistment office in a Siberian city and gravely wounded the military commandant, said, “We will all go home now.”

With unrest growing in Russia, Ottawa is cautioning Canadians who are still in Russia.

“Canada’s travel advisories note that Canadians in Russia should not depend on the Government of Canada to leave the country and that the cost of transportation and transit time have increased significantly and remain very volatile due to high demand, limited flight availability and rerouting,” the GAC spokesperson said.

— with files from The Associated Press

© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

One person was taken to hospital in unstable condition after a Wednesday night fire at a Logan Avenue industrial building.

The Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service (WFPS) said it was called to the site just after 8 p.m., where firefighters found a machinery fire and “significant smoke,” which had triggered the single-storey building’s sprinkler system.

Read more:

Winnipeg firefighters donate gear to overseas colleagues in need

The fire was declared under control within about 40 minutes. Its cause is still under investigation and there are no current damage estimates.

 

© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

Nova Scotia spent $8.3 million on a provincial day of mourning to mark Queen Elizabeth’s death.

Schools and courts were closed and public sector workers were given the day off for her funeral on Sept. 19.

Health-care services remained open on the provincial holiday and businesses were given the choice to open or close.

Read more:

‘Fixture of Canadian life’: Queen Elizabeth II remembered in N.S. service

The province says it cost $7.1 million in additional wages to pay workers in the health-care and long-term care networks for the holiday.

It cost Nova Scotia’s Justice Department and Department of Community Services a combined $1.2 million in extra expenses.

Finance Minister Allan MacMaster says the holiday came with a cost but “a lot” of Nova Scotians felt that honouring the queen with a day of mourning was the right thing to do.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 29. 2022.

© 2022 The Canadian Press

The Guelph Storm begin their 2022-23 Ontario Hockey League season at home on Friday.

They host the reigning champion Hamilton Bulldogs at the Sleeman Centre with the faceoff set for 7:30 p.m.

But before the puck officially drops on the season, the Storm are inviting fans to come out to their Home Opener Street Fest celebration.

The event gets underway at noon on Macdonell Street between Wyndham and the West Parkade.

The free celebration will include live entertainment, family activities, a kids’ area, downtown restaurant and patios open, and the City of Guelph water wagon.

Read more:

‘It’s been a real privilege’ — Guelph Storm ownership sells team to Toronto businessmen

If that’s not enough to get people excited about the upcoming hockey season, the City of Guelph announced on Wednesday that people can ride Guelph Transit buses for free during all Storm home games this season.

And 1460 CJOY will once again carry Storm games, home and away, this season.

Larry Melott will have the call of Friday’s game beginning with the pregame show at 7:15.

 

© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.