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Saying “we will not give in to terror,” a Toronto rabbi says his Chabad synagogue will carry on with public Hanukkah celebrations after today’s attack on an Australian Jewish beach party that left at least 12 people dead.

“Fear does not define us, and it will not silence Jewish life. Chanukah is about light pushing back against darkness. That message feels especially urgent right now,” Rabbi Levi Gansburg of Chabad on Bayview said in a news release.

Twelve people were killed and at least 29 injured as terrorists targeted a Chanukah party on Bondi Beach in Sydney, organized by the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. One shooter is believed to be among the fatalities, the second was injured.

Hanukah begins today, and events are planned all week across Canada.

In a statement, Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was “horrified by the antisemitic terror attack” on Bondi.

“Canada stands with the people of Australia and Jewish people everywhere in sorrow, and determination never to bow to terrorism, violence, hatred and intimidation,” Carney said on the X social media platform.

“Hanukkah is a time of light amidst the darkness, and a remembrance of the resilience of the Jewish people. May we all support and strengthen that resilience to protect our Jewish communities and to ensure more fundamentally that all people can thrive in every aspect of our society.”

Horrified by the antisemitic terror attack that has stolen the lives of 11 people at a Hanukkah event on Bondi Beach today in Australia.

Canada stands with the people of Australia and Jewish people everywhere in sorrow, and determination never to bow to terrorism, violence,…

— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) December 14, 2025

Chabad on Bayview plans events today and Monday along Bayview Avenue in Toronto, and said members of the public are invited to “attend and stand together in celebration of faith, freedom, and community.”

“This country should and must be a safe place for Jews to live openly and proudly,” Gansburg said in the release. “The Jewish community has been, and continues to be, a positive and meaningful contributor to Canadian society. Celebrating our heritage publicly is not an act of defiance, it is an expression of belonging.”

‘An absolute massacre’: Survivor Arsen Ostrovsky describes Bondi Beach bloodbath

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Demetrios Nicolaides is the father of five elementary-age daughters, but the tumult in his life doesn’t end there.

He is Alberta’s very busy minister of education and childcare, working hard to build consensus with deeply frustrated educators in the aftermath of a gnarly teachers strike. He’s also a prime target in a well-orchestrated plan to recall a growing number of United Conservative Party (UCP) MLAs, which may not be unrelated.

Perhaps the only PhD inside Premier Danielle Smith’s cabinet and caucus, Nicolaides is the standard-bearer for academically sound and evidence-based approaches to bridging deep political divides. His current challenge is to ensure complexity and aggression are addressed in K-12 classrooms, aggravated by swelling class sizes.

“We can’t ask our teachers to be interpreters, mental health experts, clinical professionals and teachers, all at the same time,” declares Nicolaides. Few would disagree.

Nicolaides says his government is “fully in alignment with what teachers are asking for… and fully in alignment with what the challenges are.”

Growing incidents of violence in the classroom have his full attention. “I’ve heard firsthand from teachers,” he reports, “stories that are just unbelievable, to be quite frank, that need to be addressed.

“One stark indicator of the growing severity of behavioural challenges is the rise in ‘room clears’ — a practice where an entire class is evacuated to ensure safety due to a student’s behaviour,” explains a November 2025 report to the minister from education leaders.

The report also states, “incidents of emotional and behavioural dysregulation are becoming increasingly common in schools, often manifesting as physical aggression — including fighting, hitting, biting, hair-pulling — and in the most extreme cases, the presence of weapons.”

Nicolaides laments the fast growth in class sizes propelled by a two-year population surge: “That needs to be addressed, no question.”

“In 2023, we saw the largest increase in our population, ever, in the history of this province,” the minister reports. That’s going to put immense pressure on our school divisions and on our teachers, he adds, “that’s why we’re calling for more responsible immigration and a provincial seat at the table when it comes to immigration.

“In 2022, the Calgary Board of Education was planning to wind down 14,000 student spaces, equivalent to 22 schools, due to lacklustre enrolment projection,” Nicolaides elaborates. “Fast forward one short year to 2023, and we’re hit with the highest ever level of population increase our province has seen.”

To be clear, Nicolaides — born and raised in Calgary to parents who emigrated from Cyprus in the ‘70s — is not blaming immigrants.

“There’s a consensus across the country that immigration needs to be managed more sustainably,” he asserts. “NDP B.C. Premier Eby has called for that … and I would argue further, even former prime minister Justin Trudeau in the spring of ’24 said they needed to be a little bit more diligent about managing immigration.”

The UCP government is willing to throw money at these issues — promising 3,000 additional teachers by 2028, and $400 million over three years to deal with classroom complexity. Early in December, the government announced a $69-million investment over three years into a mental health and well-being grant.

But, as the minister makes clear, strategies need to be evidence-based. That means tabling legislation to mandate math and reading assessments for K-Grade 3, to enable early detection of learning difficulties and enable targeted intervention. That also means deepening the conversation on classroom sizes.

“I would say, class sizes larger than 30 are too big,” the minister states, “that’s why I have commissioned and asked our school divisions to provide us with detailed classroom numbers so we can get an exact understanding of where are the outliers.”

Effective next month, class sizes will be publicly disclosed, but the minister remains a stickler for rational decision-making. Are we talking about reducing class size to improve academic performance, he asks, or are we talking about reducing class size to make classrooms more manageable for teachers, given the complexity?

Nicolaides acknowledges the frustration over the government’s use of the notwithstanding clause to legislate striking teachers back to work; and as education minister, he’s the obvious whipping boy for the Alberta Teachers’ Association.

But one group with whom he may not find consensus are those set on using recall legislation to force byelections for the 44 UCP MLAs (starting with Nicolaides) who voted to use the notwithstanding clause against teachers.

In 2019, when Nicolaides was first elected MLA, then-premier Jason Kenney campaigned on the idea of recall, stating at the time, “it should be for serious and egregious breaches of trust,” and that’s the sentiment Nicolaides says he believes in. “But I think what’s happening here,” he continues, in a recall campaign targeting 44 UCP MLAs (including the premier), “is an attempt to completely upset stable governance.

“I’m not sure who’s behind the Total Recall initiative,” says the minister, “but it seems to be quite coordinated.” Public service unions decry responsibility for weaponizing Alberta’s recall legislation, but a look at Operation Total Recall’s website, plus appeals for support by union leaders, lead one to conclude organizational effort is being dedicated to this province-wide call to action.

“Every individual MLA in a constituency has a relationship with their voters, their neighbours and constituents, and it’s the integrity of that relationship that has to be the question when a recall is brought forward,” Nicolaides says, “not an opportunity for outside interests to try and influence things.”

The UCP government has decided it will not amend recall legislation to set higher thresholds or clearer rules. Nicolaides says he doesn’t anticipate those petitioning for a byelection in his constituency will gather significant support. In Calgary-Bow constituency, the threshold for a successful recall petition is 16,006 verified signatures of constituents (that’s 60 per cent of the votes cast in the constituency in the 2023 provincial election), by Jan. 21.

Nicolaides has other plans for late January: fingers crossed, he plans to be at the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, as part of a campaign to raise awareness and funds for domestic violence prevention in Alberta, in honour of his sister who was killed by her ex-husband nearly two years ago.

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Human right lawyer — and frequent National Post contributor

Arsen Ostrovsky

— was injured in today’s Australia attack that targeted a Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach and left at least 12 people killed.

He spoke to 9News Australia at the scene, his face and shirt covered in blood, his head wrapped in a bandage. This is a slightly edited transcript of that interview:

This was a bloodbath, it was an absolute massacre.

I was with my family, it was a Hanukkah celebration, there were hundreds of people. There were children, there were elderly, families enjoying themselves, children, kids at a festival, playing, and then all of a sudden it’s absolute chaos.

There’s guns, fire everywhere. People ducking, it was absolute chaos. We didn’t know what was happening, where the gunfire was coming from.

I saw blood gushing from me, I saw people hit, saw people fall to the ground. My only concern was, where are my kids, where’s my wife, where’s my family?

I survived October 7, I lived in Israel the last 13 years, we came here only two weeks ago to work with the Jewish community, to fight antisemitism, to fight this bloodthirsty, ravaging hatred. That’s why I’m here. We’ve lived through worse, we’re going to get through this and we’re going to get the bastards that did this.

(Ostrovsky, the new head of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council office in Sydney, had warned about rising antisemitism after coming across anti-Israel graffiti at Bondi Beach two weeks ago, the

Jerusalem Post

reported.)

I saw at least one gunman firing, looked like a shotgun, firing randomly in all directions. I saw children falling to the floor, I saw elderly, I saw invalids, I saw people just, it was just an absolute bloodbath. Blood gushing everywhere.

October 7, that’s the last time I saw this. I never thought I would see this in Australia, not in my lifetime. On Bondi Beach, of all places. This iconic place.

My children and my wife are safe, thank God. They’re OK. They managed to get away. But I didn’t know where they were, and there’s no greater fear, no greater horror not knowing where your family is. They’re OK. I’ll be OK.

I got hit in the head, I’m bleeding. I’ve lost blood. There are people around me that are far worse. I’ll be OK, we’ll be OK as a community and we will defeat this ravaging hatred.

https://twitter.com/IsraelWarRoom/status/2000165395164955029

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Jew Ride, a car service for the Jewish community is offering an alternative to other ridesharing companies amid reports of antisemitism in Toronto.

Founder Vadim Danilov moved to Canada with his wife and children from Israel two months before the October 7 attacks. He became a driver for Uber, during which time he heard many stories from his Jewish passengers. Some told him that they felt the need to hide their Stars of David when they got into a vehicle or avoid speaking Hebrew for their own safety.

This week, National Post reported on two more antisemitic incidents involving Toronto residents and the ridesharing company. In August, a Canadian-Israeli who was travelling with his wife in Europe said

he was refused a ride

by an Uber driver because he said he was from Israel. In February, a woman said she was kicked out of an Uber after the driver heard her speaking Hebrew to her husband.

Last month, model Miriam Mattova told the Post that she was told to get out of the vehicle by an

Uber driver because she was Jewish

in November. She was left alone on the street in the middle of the night.

“This is what made me start this company in March of this year,” Danilov told National Post.

Jew Ride

, offers services for all passengers, but he said that 95 per cent of his clients are Jewish. “It’s to help passengers from the community and provide them with the safe, private transportation service anywhere in GTA.”

Currently, Danilov operates 24 hours a day and provides transportation all kinds, including for events, airport pickups and dropoffs, for businesses and even for pets. Danilov said he works with two other drivers from the community. Customers can book a ride online through the website.

“My passengers today say they feel safe when I pick them up and they also say … antisemitism in Canada, it’s getting worse and worse,” he said. He added that he believes the Canadian government has to get involved in order to stop the antisemitic acts that have been reported by Jewish passengers using Uber.

Former Toronto resident Leigh Elzas posted about Jew Ride on Facebook, applauding it for offering safe alternatives for the Jewish community. She lived in Toronto for her whole life but moved to the United States in July.

“One of the reasons we left was because of the antisemitism in Canada, but Toronto is especially bad,” she said.

“I wanted to help spread the good word and let people know there’s an option other than Uber, because Jews are not safe taking Lyfts, Ubers, anything, other than accepting rides from other Jews it seems these days.”

Elzas said she hasn’t used Jew Ride herself, but she said she knows someone who had an “excellent experience” with it.

“Too many Jews in Toronto have faced discrimination simply trying to get a ride,” she wrote on Facebook in August. “Some Uber drivers cancel as soon as they see a Jewish name, a person who looks Jewish, or even a mezuzah on the doorpost. It’s another harsh reality of life today for a Jew living in Canada. That’s why this service exists. I, of course, fully support it, but I hate that it has to.”

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U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term in office has borne witness to a dramatic and unprecedented escalation in tensions between the U.S. and President Nicolás Maduro’s Venezuela.

The White House has deployed a naval task force towards Venezuela and destroyed over 20 boats with the purported aim of preventing the flow of narcotics to American shores.

However, many view the buildup as a pretext for regime change; Trump has repeatedly suggested that Maduro’s days in power are numbered and has authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations on Venezuelan soil.

But as the Trump administration piles pressure on Venezuela, some analysts speculate that the ultimate goal of Washington’s military buildup is regime change not just in Venezuela, but in Cuba too.

“I don’t think anyone can imagine (the United States) going for regime change in Venezuela and sitting back on Cuba,” said Helen Yaffe, co-host of the podcast Cuba Analysis and professor of Latin American political economy at the University of Glasgow.

Speaking to National Post, Yaffe emphasized the likelihood of a simultaneous campaign of regime change in both Latin American nations.

According to the professor, Venezuela and Cuba are grouped together in the eyes of Washington’s foreign policy. Not only have the two been close allies since the 1998 election victory of left-wing Venezuelan revolutionary Hugo Chávez, but they are also both seen as ideological foes of the United States.

The two countries, along with Nicaragua, constitute what former U.S. national security adviser John Bolton termed the “troika of tyranny,” a triumvirate of Latin American nations with left-wing authoritarian governments. Bolton, who served in the first Trump administration, and foreign policymakers in the current U.S. administration, such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, view the three countries as their principal regional adversaries.

Yaffe thinks that targeting one element of the “troika” is likely to lead to a campaign against the other members.

Not only does the White House view Venezuela and Cuba as part of the same ideological threat, but they are also seen as key chess pieces in a broader geopolitical strategy of deterring Chinese influence in the region.

The Trump administration has explicitly expressed its desire to counter China’s growing influence in Latin America, where the Asian titan is increasingly involved in massive infrastructure and mining projects.

Paul Hare, a former British ambassador to Cuba (2001-2004) and former deputy head of mission to Venezuela who lectures in international relations at Boston University, emphasized the importance of China’s enduring support for Venezuela and Cuba.

China “has a big role to play in this too,” Hare told the National Post, pointing out that the Chinese “immediately came out saying Maduro won” after the 2024 Venezuelan elections, which were widely decried as fraudulent.

Hare also noted that “China would like to keep Cuba as a nuisance to the U.S.”

Indeed, there have been reports of increased Chinese-Cuban cooperation in the field of military intelligence and surveillance. Regime change in Cuba and Venezuela would undoubtedly curb Chinese influence in Latin America.

But Yaffe contends that accusations of Cuba becoming a “Chinese listening post” are being used to justify potential regime change in the Caribbean nation: “to turn any country into the bogeyman, you associate it with China.”

“The key issue… is oil,” argues Yaffe, who believes the White House’s end goal is for its corporations to control Venezuela’s oil supply.

The South American nation has the largest oil reserves in the world – some five times larger than those held by the United States. Maduro alleges that America’s claims of wanting to democratize Venezuela or prevent drug trafficking are a pretext to control his country’s petrol supplies.

Indeed, this week’s dramatic seizure of an oil tanker by U.S. forces off the Venezuelan coast shows that petroleum is undoubtedly a key piece of the equation.

But beyond the economic appeal for Washington to secure Venezuelan oil supplies, analysts say controlling petrol exports would also give the U.S. leverage over the Cuban regime.

Cuba has historically depended on Venezuelan oil, receiving up to 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) since 2000 to help stabilize its economy in times of crisis, although this number has dwindled in recent years.

While Havana has made an effort to diversify its trading partners to include Mexico and Russia, approximately 60 per cent of its total fuel and crude oil imports came from Venezuela in the first 10 months of 2025.

As a result, a successful regime change operation in Venezuela risks damaging the already fragile Cuban economy, as Cuba would likely be obliged to renegotiate an oil deal with Venezuela on less favourable terms. Venezuelan oil shipments to the island could also stop altogether because of American sanctions.

Notably, the oil tanker seized on Wednesday was bound for Cuba, with Politico reporting that the Cuban state firm Cubametales intended to sell the vessel carrying Venezuelan crude oil to Asian energy brokers.

Ex-ambassador Hare told National Post that a U.S. chokehold on Venezuelan oil could oblige Cuba to rely on “the Americans and to some extent the Europeans” for economic support.

He added that, in exchange for easing economic sanctions in a post-Maduro world, the U.S. would likely pressure the Cubans to enact significant reforms, such as the expansion of “elements of the private sector,” the ousting of current Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and a potential “new business deal” with the Trump administration.

As tensions mount between Trump and Maduro, Cuba has offered support to its longstanding ally, denouncing U.S. actions as “aggressive” and reportedly sending bodyguards to protect Venezuela’s president.

However, Hare said that Cuban assistance has limits and that they simply “don’t have the resources” for a “mass commitment” of troops to Venezuela.

Yaffe agreed, noting that although any armed confrontation “would bog the U.S. down in a (drawn-out) Vietnam-style” conflict, neither Cuba nor Venezuela could ultimately defeat the U.S. militarily.

Amid reports that the Cuban regime has tried to communicate with the United States about its future in the eventuality of Maduro’s removal, the Caribbean island appears to be preparing for the worst.

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Statistics Canada is seeking feedback from various groups on options for releasing data collected during the last census, but not publicly shared, on transgender and nonbinary children from toddlers and pre-schoolers to young teens.

In a consultation guide, the federal agency said it “may be breaking new ground” as the first national statistics office in the world to disseminate gender information for children and youth under 15.

“There are enough cases in the 2021 Census data to support basic analysis by gender diversity status for young children and youth aged 0 to 14,” the agency said, data that could provide “valuable information on the experiences and outcomes among this population.”

The 2021 census was the first in Canada to collect information on sex at birth as well as gender, how the individual identifies. According to the data, 100,815 people, or 0.33 per cent of the population aged 15 and older, identified as transgender or non-binary. The proportion was highest (0.79 per cent) for Gen Z (those born roughly between 1997 and 2012).

But only data on those aged 15 and older have so far been released.

Numbers collected on younger children “required more investigation to ensure quality and protect confidentiality,” the agency said in a statement to National Post. The goal is to ensure data are reported in a way “that does not cause undue harm to gender diverse children and youth,” according to the consultation document.

Some who have called for an urgent reappraisal of Canada’s gender-affirming model of care praised StatCan for collecting the data,

although they questioned the agency’s reluctance to release it publicly.

“Transparency as to the number of impacted youth can only be a good thing, in my view,” said Calgary pediatrician Dr. Edward Les, who added it wasn’t at all clear “what harm could arise from sharing data so openly, so as to help foster discussion around the health of these kids.”

However, he and others also said the document appears to have an ideological bent and they questioned whether asking parents to make judgments on their children’s gender is an accurate way to collect data.

The question of persistence is also a minefield.

“There are many gender nonconforming children,” said Dr. Joanne Sinai, a clinical associate professor and psychiatrist at the University of British Columbia.

“The majority of them will grow up to be gay or lesbian and not have gender dysphoria.”

“Some parents would label their gender nonconforming children as transgender, and others would not,” Sinai said. “Gender ideology is interfering with the acceptance of gender nonconforming kids as being completely normal rather than it being an indication they are transgender.”

Gender is a feeling and fluid, Sinai added. “I have no idea what non-binary even means for young kids. It’s different for everyone and there is no way to define it.”

According to the

Canadian Paediatric Society’s 2023 position statement on gender-affirming care

, some children may recognize a “degree of mismatch” between their gender identity and birth sex as early as age two or three, and, by ages six to seven, “children begin to appreciate gender as an identity independent of external features.”

“Children and youth are often assumed to be cisgender (people whose reported gender corresponds to their birth sex) from birth until they ‘come out’ as a different gender on their own accord,” reads the StatCan consultation guide.

“Researchers suggest that children aged 18 to 24 months are developmentally capable of recognizing gender norms and expressing gendered behaviours in visible ways.”

“Research also suggests that, like cisgender children, transgender and non-binary children may recognize their own gender identity as early as 2 to 3 years old or during later childhood or early adolescents,” the document reads.

Les challenged that assumption. “The document’s contention that ‘researchers’ have found that children as young as two or three can exhibit evidence of ‘cross-gender’ identity is further evidence of ideological capture,” he wrote in an email to the Post.

“We’re expected to believe, I suppose, that a little boy that plays with dolls is therefore a girl, or that a female toddler enamoured with trucks is a boy, and that a parent observing this sort of behaviour can vouch ‘by proxy’ that their child is ‘transgender.’ What nonsense.”

Gender isn’t static and can change “from one point-in-time to another,” the document reads.

Kids can generally self-report around age 12. However, parents who report their child’s gender status by proxy may or may not do so accurately, the agency noted. “If a child has not disclosed their gender as gender diverse or if their gender is not affirmed by the proxy respondent, then the child’s gender may be reported as their assumed gender by default.”

It’s complicated, Sinai said. Typically, one person per household fills out census data. “You have one parent who has a gender non-conforming kid is who is like, ‘whatever.’ And you have another parent who doesn’t want to be seen as transphobic, and they would say ‘my kid is trans.’”

Some parents are opting “not to gender” their children based on birth sex “and rather consider the child as non-binary until they can explore and present their gender as they see fit,” the consultation paper states.

But

gender-open parenting

can be psychologically confusing for children, Sinai said.

“They’re in a world where things are boy and girl. Whether we like it or not, there is a dichotomy. They’re in a world which is male and female. They see adults. They see other kids. It can be incredibly confusing if nobody is referring to them as their sex. That could really confuse their sense of identity development.”

StatCan is exploring an age cutoff for the under-15 data, although the document noted that “there are enough cases in the 2021 Census data to support basic analysis” by gender status for typical five-year groups, such as 0 to four, five to nine and 10 to 14.

The questions select respondents are being asked include how the public might react if the data are released or not released.

Children identifying as trans and nonbinary and their families are often marginalized, “and at times targeted by groups that seek to dismiss their existence and limit their rights,” the document reads.

This week, Alberta’s United Conservatives invoked the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to pass three controversial laws that require parental consent for students changing their names or pronouns in school, a ban on the prescribing of puberty-blockers and cross-sex hormones to youth under 16 and a law prohibiting transgender girls from participating in amateur female sports.

Releasing the data on young children could help address gaps in the public’s understanding of these children, but it could also be met with negative reactions and misconceptions, the StatCan document states.

When the census data on sex and gender were first released,

Egale Canada

said the information could help minimize discrimination and improve the mental health and wellbeing of transgender and non-binary people.

Sinai is concerned the data will be used “to justify medicalization, meaning puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones in youth.”

In a statement to the Post, StatCan said its consultation guide includes a summary and literature review “that present various perspectives and considerations.” However, Les noted that the document includes only three references and makes no mention of two

studies by McMaster University-led researchers

published earlier this year that concluded “considerable uncertainty” remains about the gender-affirming medical treatment for youth, echoing a major British review that led to a ban on puberty blockers for minors.

StatCan said it is consulting with “subject-matter” experts.

The consultation was launched Nov. 10, and ended Friday, StatCan said.

“Questions were sent to multiple groups and individuals, including LGBTQ+ groups, who were identified as likely data users.”

The same questions on birth sex and gender will also be asked in the 2026 census.

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A piece of legislation making its way through Ottawa this fall and set to come into effect in January, if not earlier, will restore and grant Canadian citizenship to thousands of people around the world who were previously shut out by an earlier rule.

It also means a handful of celebrities — including Hillary Clinton, Madonna and Viggo Mortensen, among others — will also, by virtue of their Canadian ancestry, become Canadians.

“This has a huge impact on people all over the world who are descendants of Canadians,” Toronto immigration lawyer Valerie Kleinman from Green and Spiegel told National Post in an interview.

“I can imagine a situation where there are many people globally who will be Canadian and will actually have no idea that they are Canadian, which is really interesting.”

Here’s what you need to know about Bill C-3: An Act to Amend the Citizenship Act and the elimination of the first-generation limit on citizenship.

What famous people could become Canadian under Bill C-3?

According to

Perche-Quebec

, a website that explores the historical migration of people from France’s Perche region to New France, the territory colonized by France in North America, former First Lady and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has several French-Canadian ancestors in her maternal family tree.

Their descendants stayed in Quebec for generations and later emigrated to the U.S., though some, including her great-great-grandmother Mary Anne Frances McDougall, lived in Windsor at times.

“She really has a good French-Canadian line,” Gail Moreau-Desharnais of the French-Canadian Heritage Society of Michigan told

The Canadian Press

in 2016.

“And when you trace her matrilineal line, or female to female to female, her ultimate female ancestor is Jeanne Ducorps, one of the Filles du Roi (King’s Daughters).”

That was the name given to roughly 800 women sent to New France by King Louis XIV between 1663 and 1673 to correct the gender imbalance in the colony, where they were encouraged to marry and make babies.

As documented by Perche-Quebec and other genealogists, Clinton’s ancestry also makes her a distant relative of Justin Bieber, Madonna, Celine Dion, Jack Kerouac, Ryan Gosling, Alanis Morissette, not to mention two former prime ministers — Pierre Elliott and Justin Trudeau.

Award-winning actor Angelina Jolie’s great-grandmother, Marie-Louise Angélina LeDuc, who shares a similar Percheron pioneer ancestry as Clinton and the others, hails from Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade, Que., a town on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River, according to

Geneanet

As reported by the

BBC

last year, Jolie is also a distant relative of the late Queen Elizabeth II by way of her matrilineal line, which stretches back to French King Phillip II, who ruled in the late 12th and early 13th century.

As for Madonna, the singer has French-Canadian ancestry, starting with her great-great-grandparents and dating back six generations, according to a Canadian genealogist.

She was born Madonna Louise Ciccone to Silvio Ciccone and Madonna Louise Fortin, whose maternal great-grandfather was Narcisse ‘Nelson” Fortin of St-Simon, Que, as researched by Kim Kujawski, who runs a service called

The French Genealogist.

His son of the same name would later settle in Bay City, Michigan, where the singer was born four generations later in 1958.

Actress Lily Collins already has U.K. and U.S. citizenship by way of her parents — famed pop rocker Phil Collins of England and his second ex-wife Jill Tavelman.

She could add a Canadian passport by way of her maternal great-grandfather,

Jack Charles Tavelman, who was born in Winnipeg in 1900 to Russian Jewish parents, according to

Ancestry.com.

He later emigrated to California, where he ran a men’s clothing store in Beverly Hills.

Detroit-born rocker Jack White has one of the shorter climbs along his family tree to find a Canadian connection.

As reported by

CBC

in 2007, his paternal grandfather, Frank Gillis, was from Sydney Mines, a small town in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. His wife, Florence MacIsaac, while born in Boston, grew up in Antigonish, N.S., to parents from Inverness, also on Cape Breton Island.

He’s also distantly related to renowned Nova Scotia fiddlers Ashley MacIsaac, Buddy MacMaster and Natalie MacMaster.

Lord of the Rings trilogy actor Viggo Mortensen, who already has citizenship in the U.S., where he was born, and in Denmark, where his namesake father hails from, also has roots in Nova Scotia on his mother’s side.

As documented by

Geneanet

, his maternal grandfather, Walter Sydney Atkinson, was born in Parrsboro, a small town in the province’s northwest. Her Canadian ancestry in Atlantic Canada dates back several generations.

“I’ve always had an affinity (for Canada),” he told Sheridan College in 2021. “I’ve been there a lot. I like the landscapes, not just in the east but the west — I know the country fairly well.”

Why was Bill C-3 introduced?

In 2009, the Stephen Harper government eliminated the first-generation limit on citizenship by descent. That meant Canadian citizens born abroad to parents from Canada could no longer pass on their citizenship to children born outside of Canada.

For instance, if your grandfather was a Canadian, but his daughter — your mother — was born in the U.S., her offspring wouldn’t automatically be granted citizenship.

It created a new class of individuals known as

“Lost Canadians,”

a term that originally referred to people who lost or never acquired their citizenship “due to outdated provisions (sex, marital status, place of birth, naturalization status), which affected whether that person could derive, acquire, or lose Canadian citizenship.”

The second-generation cutoff was challenged in court and ultimately led to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice

ruling it unconstitutional in 2023

and requiring Ottawa to amend the Citizenship Act to correct it within six months.

Legislation tabled to eliminate the first-generation limit died with the prorogation of Parliament in March at the request of then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to allow the Liberal Party to hold a leadership contest to name his successor. The legislation was reintroduced as Bill C-3: An Act to Amend the Citizenship Act in May and received Royal Assent in the House of Commons

on Nov. 20.

The new provisions have yet to be passed into law, however, as Ottawa had already filed for and was granted its fifth extension since the original ruling. The new deadline is Jan. 20, 2026.

In her

latest ruling

, Justice Jasmine Akbarali said the federal government “has been making significant progress” and the legislation could come into force before the deadline.

“There is a reasonable expectation that the replacement legislation may come into force by the end of 2025,” she wrote.

Asked if government will meet the deadline, Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada would not say.

“The bill will come into force on a date set by order in council, which will be communicated publicly,” they wrote in an email to National Post.

Who can become Canadian citizens under Bill C-3?

For people born before the legislation comes into effect — the “Lost Canadians” — their right to Canadian citizenship is retroactively restored, provided they can provide an unbroken line of descent from an ancestor, a grandparent or a great-grandparent born or naturalized in Canada.

There is no limit on how far back into the family tree, meaning that even great-great-grandparents and beyond with Canadian lineage can afford citizenship.

Certificates of citizenship are not automatically granted, however, and must be applied for individually with documentation.

Kleinman said finding the evidence could prove difficult for people going far back into their lineage to find the Canadian connection among great-great-grandparents and earlier ancestors.

“We’ll have to see what type of evidence will be accepted, but there has to be very clear proof that there is that direct lineage from generation to generation to generation,” she said.

For people born after C-3 becomes law, a Canadian born abroad hoping to pass on their citizenship to their child born abroad will need to prove “a substantial connection” to the country, which is defined as living in Canada 1,095 days — the equivalent of three calendar years — before their child was born.

“This approach supports fairness for families while reinforcing the principle that real, demonstrated ties to Canada guide citizenship by descent,” IRCC stated in

a press release.

Kleinman expects more clarity on this provision and what evidence will be required once the law is enacted, but she foresees scenarios that could make it hard to prove those three years of physical residency.

“Maybe we have a 40-year-old who lived in Canada between the ages of one and four years old and now is having a baby abroad after the legislation comes into force — how will they prove that they spent 1,095 days in Canada when they were effectively a toddler?”

Or in the case of a person or persons with Canadian ancestry who already have a toddler while living abroad, but then have a second child after the law is enshrined. The first child would retroactively be afforded citizenship, while the other would have to prove his parents spent 1,095 days in Canada before his birth.

“

I think we’re going to see a variety of interesting scenarios that will affect many people,” she said.

IRCC implemented

interim measures

in 2023, allowing people from both groups to apply before the prior to the legislation’s enactment.

It’s not clear how many people globally could potentially seek to apply for proof of citizenship, but Ottawa is not expecting a flood of applications.

“Based upon available evidence, we expect applications in the tens of thousands over time, not hundreds of thousands,” Diab said during her opening statement at

a
Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology last month. “

Between January 2024 and July 2025, we received just over 4,200 applications under the interim measure for those affected by the first-generation limit.”

IRCC’s spokesperson told National Post the department is not expecting a “surge in applications,” nor does it “anticipate any significant increase in processing time for proof of citizenship applications” once C-3 i enacted. The current processing time is about nine months, but

IRCC warns

that applications outside Canada and the U.S. may take longer.

Kleinman, who expects a lot of interest and a high volume of applications, said she’s personally spoken to many people about the impending changes, some of whom shed “

tears of joy when they understood what this would mean for them.”

A lot of those people, she admitted, are Americans.

By virtue of our shared border and shared immigration history, “

There are many people in the United States who have Canadian ancestry and there is a lot of interest right now in particular.”

Another interesting scenario raised by Kleinman involves people who may have to formally renounce their Canadian citizenship if they are already citizens of a country that doesn’t allow dual citizenship, such as China, India, Japan, Saudi Arabia and several dozen more.

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For nearly a decade, Jolene Van Alstine has been on an exhausting journey through Saskatchewan’s health-care system, in search of treatment for a rare and debilitating parathyroid disease.

What began as a search for a diagnosis, turned into a years-long wait to see an endocrinologist and an ongoing struggle to get the surgery she needs to treat her condition. After enduring years of extreme pain and nausea, and unable to get treatment, Van Alstine decided to apply for a medically assisted death.

Her story spread across social media after she appeared in the legislature to implore the government to help her get access to the surgery she needs, or else she would choose a medically assisted death.

It was Van Alstine’s understanding at the time that she had been approved for a Jan. 7 MAID appointment after a doctor assessed her. However, she learned late this week that a second doctor must sign off on any requests. The earliest she anticipates getting a MAID appointment at this point would be March, her husband, Miles Sundeen told National Post.

The couple is now hopeful Van Alstine won’t have to go through with her plan to die, as U.S. conservative commentator Glenn Beck has offered to pay for her to get surgery in the U.S. Sundeen and his wife have been in touch with Beck, who is looking for a surgeon willing to do the complex operation Van Alstine needs.

Saskatchewan’s health minister is also now helping Van Alstine find treatment in Canada.

National Post spoke with Miles Sundeen about Van Alstine’s condition and the fight to get her treatment. This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.

How would you describe Jolene’s medical journey over the past 10 years?

It’s very difficult just getting in to get a diagnosis, and then the wait times for specialists, especially in Saskatchewan, to see an endocrinologist, was extensive. After seeing an endocrinologist, to get a referral to a surgeon to remove parathyroid glands, was a long wait. It’s a long wait for surgery. She’s had three surgeries now over the last four or five years, but it’s taken a great deal of time to work through the process every time.

How optimistic are you right now?

Well, we did go before the legislature here in Saskatchewan with the NDP a couple weeks ago, and we did have a meeting with Jeremy Cockrell, the health minister. He committed to helping us find help outside of the province of Saskatchewan. There are no endocrinologists in Saskatchewan taking new patients, and there’s not surgeons able to do the surgery, especially with Jolene’s complex case, but he’s committed to try and help us now. The plan that was devised with him was to get a referral from our family doctor to three clinics across Canada. One is in Hamilton, Ont. at McMaster, one at the University of Toronto, and one in Edmonton. So, the referrals have been sent to endocrinologists and the clinics that they work at. We haven’t had any response as of yet, so we’re hoping that that would be a good thing. But in the meantime, this gentleman in the U.S., Glenn Beck, has put it on his site, and apparently he got like a million hits about Jolene’s story, and he’s offered to pay for treatment and surgery, or whatever it is, in the USA.

How would you describe Health Minister Jeremy Corkrill’s attitude and sympathy towards the situation?

In the meeting, he was kind of neutral. We didn’t really touch base on that. We didn’t confront him in that situation. Seems a little bit apathetic, but he did commit to trying to help us. So that’s all I was really looking for. Unfortunately, it was verbal. There was nothing in writing. But for his commitment, I am hoping that I can take his word for it.

How did you find out that Beck wanted to help you and what steps have been taken?

I’ve been talking to one of his producers. Jolene says that she reached out to Beck because somebody told her that she was trending on Twitter, so she reached out to him and confirmed that he was for real. Because, quite honestly, neither of us had heard of him, but his assistants and I have been in communication over the last two days both on phone and by texting. Apparently, there were two surgeons in the U.S. that were interested in helping. One of the surgeons did call from Atlanta, and I talked to him today (Dec. 10). I gave him a synopsis of Jolene’s case, and it’s complex, and he felt it perhaps was a little bit beyond his pay grade, but that’s a nice thing to say. We had previously, three or four years ago, been in touch with the Norman Parathyroid clinic in Tampa Bay, Florida, and he is working on sending a referral to them for us. Apparently, they are the ultimate parathyroid institution in the United States, especially for complex cases. So that is good news. We are optimistic about that, that this might pan out to be something that will give Jolene some help, treatment and surgery.

How would you describe the support you’ve received from friends and family?

There are some friends and family that have tried to be supportive, but when you’re ill and not leaving the house, like not leaving the house for about eight years with no social interaction, only leaving the house for hospital visits, doctor appointments and lab work. People give up on you and write you off and just don’t think about you anymore. Social interactions are important to keeping relationships alive. So it’s been very tough. She has been very lonely, depressed, anxious about being just basically a social outcast, a hermit in her own home.

What are the symptoms of this condition?

One of the worst symptoms is nausea and vomiting. She is usually up at 4:30 in the morning. She goes to bed at 6 p.m. the night before, and she is so nauseated that she vomits for possibly two to four hours before it settles. She can’t take any of her nausea medications because they’re oral until she can control the vomiting enough in order to even take them to try and assist in controlling the vomiting. The other thing is, her body overheats. Her extremities get red, her hands, her feet and her face and her whole body just feels like it’s burning, and she’s spent two and a half years of her laying on the bathroom floor at night with the cold water running in the shower, day and night sometimes, and our temperature in our house, we spent two and a half years with it at 13 to 13.5 degrees Celsius, and that might be a nice spring day, but it’s not comfortable in the house when it’s minus 20 to 30 degrees. She has osteoporosis, very badly, because this disease leaches calcium out of her bones. She had four or five bone breaks, in four year, breaks where a normal person would have fallen or hit the joint or the bone and would have just ended up with a bruise. She apparently has had bone density tests, and she has the bones of an 80-year-old woman because of this disease. The longer it goes on, the worse it gets. So delaying treatment and surgery is very important, very important. So those are some of the symptoms. There are a couple others that are bad, but those are really horrendous, the bone pain as well, because, as the calcium leaks, it causes almost like a nerve bone pain. She’s on very strong medications of hydromorphone daily to try and control it.

How would you describe the support that people have given you since your story became public?

Honestly, to me, it’s very surprising, and I don’t even know how this particular thing came about. I know that the NDP, a couple weeks ago, said they were going to post the article on social media there, and I’m assuming that Glenn Beck and his staff saw this and decided to take up the cause.

To conclude, anything else that you think should be mentioned?

I’ll tell you one very important thing, and that’s this, is that because of the time lag to get treatment, Jolene has spent very close to eight years laying on a couch because she’s too ill. I mean, she can excuse me, she can get up and use the facilities herself, but she has home care and kind of looks after bathing and stuff. I try to help, but she has no other capabilities, as far as leaving the house, cleaning, cooking, looking after herself, basically, in any way, shape or form. What this has done in the meantime, because of being so sedentary and being so nauseated every day, she gets sick all the time. She gets pneumonia. She’s developed a condition called diverticulitis, which is caused by a very sedentary lifestyle, at least one of the major causes, and that is a condition in the bowels, where, in the meantime, she’s had to have her sigmoid colon resected because of infection. She keeps getting infections in the bowels. This is something she does even when the parathyroid is looked after. This is a condition we have to fight and will have to live with the rest of her life as well. It’s a direct result of the parathyroid not being looked after in an expeditious manner and that’s very important, and that’s a very sad situation as well.

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Younger Canadians are generally less trusting than older people, according to a recent survey conducted by Leger for the Association for Canadian Studies.

Atlantic Canadians are the most trusting in general (71 per cent), while British Columbians are least trusting (51 per cent), says Jack Jedwab, president of the association.

“For several years we’ve been monitoring evolving rates of trust in peoples, nations and institutions,” Jedwab explains. With heightened degrees of polarization, especially along ideological lines, he says it’s vital to understand the extent this is accompanied by a breakdown in trust between people and within communities.

“The persistence of younger people being less trusting is an outcome of growing polarization,” he says. “It’s compounded by greater vulnerability, where age intersects with less education and lower income all contributing to higher instability and more challenges for resolving conflicts where trust is often critical.”

This study suggests that the amount of education a person has can play a role in trust. People with university degrees are more inclined to trust (65 per cent), while folks with a high school diploma are less inclined (52 per cent).

And indeed, income is a factor. Folks making more than $100K are more likely to trust in general (62 per cent), while people making $40K are less likely (52 per cent).

Perhaps unsurprising, people living in rural areas are more inclined to trust their neighbours than city folk. Looking at this issue from the perspective of age, trust in neighbours is stronger for people 35 or more.

Overall, Jedwab says, ethnic minorities are the most trusting of people who share their ethnic background. Specifically, members of ethnic minorities who speak a language other than French or English are far more trusting of people that share their ethnic background than those who don’t.

Race also seems to play a role. According to Jedwab, Black Canadians are least trusting of people in general, while Chinese and Middle Eastern are generally more trusting of people that share the same background.

A related Leger survey for the Association for Canadian Studies looked at the level of trust in the workplace.

Trust is vital in establishing a strong workplace culture and is linked to successful economic outcomes, productivity and job satisfaction, says Jedwab.

“The survey found that younger people are also less trusting of co-workers,” he notes. But most other Canadians do, beginning with the 45-54 years’ old cohort.

Meanwhile, most Canadians say they trust their bosses and that level starts to increase between ages 35-44.

“The results on trust send an important message to labor leaders who are the object of much distrust compared to employers who earn relatively strong trust. The gap may affect a union’s influence in effectively representing workers.”

Indeed, based the survey results suggest the Canadian view of labour unions is not positive. Most Canadians don’t trust labor union leaders, especially between ages 45 and 54.

Finally, Canadian trust their co-workers more than their employers or union leaders.

“Income is an important driver of trust across that spectrum,” says Jedwab. “People with higher incomes are far more trusting of bosses and co-workers.”

Both surveys were conducted in late October, the first with 1,527 respondents, the latter with 1,537.

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Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe is not giving up the fight to change the federal system of

equalization payments

to the provinces.

In a Dec. 11 post to X, he included a map that shows his province, Alberta and B.C. receiving nothing from 2026 equalization.

Several eastern provinces are set to get substantial sums: Quebec $13.9B, Nova Scotia $3.5B, New Brunswick $3.3B. Ontario is getting less, $406M, Newfoundland and Labrador is in line for $182 million while the smallest province in the country will be getting $723M.

The only western exception is Manitoba ($5B).

The Federal government gave next year’s equalization amounts to provincial finance ministers.

This map is a clear indication of which provinces are driving Canada’s economy and how the equalization formula disincentivizes economic growth. pic.twitter.com/rX5CHZSOKG

— Scott Moe (@PremierScottMoe) December 12, 2025

This is not the first time Moe has been critical of the system. He has described the equalization formula as

unfair to provinces like Saskatchewan

that rely heavily on natural resources, arguing that including the resource revenues in the equalization calculation penalizes provinces such as his.

He has regularly framed equalization as a

pattern of the West being taken advantage of by Central and Eastern Canada

“The equalization formula doesn’t reflect the economic realities of the western provinces,” says Saskatchewan’s executive director of media relations, Jill McAlister-Lane.

In a Friday email to National Post, she wrote: “Equalization is meant to ensure comparable public services across the country, but the current formula is inequitable. The formula masks the fiscal challenges faced by some provinces while supporting those in other provinces.”

While discussion about equalization has the potential to pit province against province, McAllister-Lane is careful not to go there.

“It isn’t about one province versus another. Saskatchewan respects each province has its own economic structure and needs. The issue is the formula, which doesn’t account for Saskatchewan’s economic contributions in areas like energy, mining and agriculture. Saskatchewan contributes significantly to the national economy. We would like a formula that acknowledges that contribution and treats all provinces fairly.”

One of the notable points in Saskatchewan’s battle against the current system came

in 2018, when Moe put forward a plan to reform

it by cutting the total by about 50 per cent and then redistributing the savings to all provinces on a per‑capita basis. Since then, he has continued to push for per‑capita transfers.

Under

Moe’s proposa

l, non‑recipient “have” provinces like Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia would gain, while “have not” provinces would lose, relative to their present status quo.

Quebec

, which now receives more than half of all equalization dollars, would lose funding because part of its share would be removed and redistributed throughout the country.

Meanwhile, Moe’s government has been pushing back in the courts. It got involved in

Newfoundland and Labrador’s legal battle

, launched in 2024, when that province challenged the federal equalization program in the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is claiming the formula unfairly penalizes it by not accounting for service delivery costs within its dispersed population, while also imposing a fiscal capacity cap and applying a GDP growth ceiling, potentially depriving it of billions.

Moe has similarly reiterated that Saskatchewan has not received equalization for many years while arguing the formula ignores structural costs involved in serving sparsely populated provinces.

The case is ongoing with no trial date set. The

Canadian Taxpayers Federation

and the Saskatchewan government have been granted intervenor status to oppose demands for larger payments, citing risks of higher costs for net-payer provinces.

He continues to keep the issue alive, echoing criticism by Alberta’s Danielle Smith that Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C. are

“helping support the rest of Canada”

while not receiving equalization payments themselves.

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Source: National Post (Politics)

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