Passengers can be at ease while travelling on Canadian carriers, some of the country’s major airlines say, after a new study claims many U.S. airlines are using “potentially unhealthy water” for coffee, tea and hand-washing.

Air Canada, Flair Airlines, and Air Transat told National Post that they adhere to water safety guidelines. (WestJet did not immediately respond to National Post’s request.)

For the

2026 Airline Water Study

, researchers tested water provided on flights between October 2022 and September 2025. They observed 10 major airlines and 11 regional airlines. The findings by Center for Food as Medicine & Longevity were released in late December.

“Airlines often respond to our findings by saying they comply with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines. But the public should understand that all of this data is self-reported by the airlines, and enforcement depends on their accurate reporting and follow-through,” Dr. Charles Platkin, the study’s author and the executive director of the Center for Food as Medicine & Longevity, told National Post.

“More importantly, compliance should be the floor, not the ceiling — and this study examines whether airlines are actually doing enough to protect passengers and treat them with care while onboard. What does care look like? It means passengers can drink a cup of coffee or tea without hesitation, wash their hands with confidence, and trust that clean, safe water is available throughout their flight.”

Researchers warned travellers to “never drink any water onboard that isn’t in a sealed bottle,” and to stay away from coffee or tea offered on flights. They also said that an alcohol-based sanitizer should be used instead of washing hands in an airplane bathroom.

“Airplane drinking water is stored in onboard tanks and distributed through plumbing to galleys and lavatories,” the study says. “These systems can face stagnation, temperature fluctuation, and maintenance complexity, all of which can contribute to microbial contamination risk or persistent hygiene challenges.”

Airlines were given a score out of five followed by a letter grade based on a variety of factors, including whether or not

coliform bacteria or

E. coli were found in the water, and the frequency of disinfecting and flushing an aircraft’s water tank. Coliform can be an indicator that “suggests potential fecal contamination or inadequate disinfection.” A grade of A or B indicated that “an airline has relatively safe, clean water,” according to researchers.

The highest scoring major airlines were Delta Air Lines and Frontier Airlines, which both received a Grade A.

Following close behind were Alaska Airlines and Allegiant Air, which both received Grade B. Trailing further behind were the major airlines that received a Grade C, which included Southwest Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines and United Airlines.

But the lowest scoring major airlines, according to the study, were Spirit Airlines, JetBlue, and American Airlines. They all received a Grade D.

Regional airlines in the study struggled in comparison to the major airlines, with nearly all of them — except for GoJet Airline — needing to improve their water safety.

At the top of the list, GoJet received a Grade B. Meanwhile, Piedmont Airlines, Sun Country Airlines and Endeavor Air received C grades.

The Grade D group was the largest for the regional carriers, featuring SkyWest Airlines, Envoy Air, PSA Airlines, Air Wisconsin Airlines, Republic Airways and CommuteAir. The lowest grade received by any airline across the entire study was an F, given to Mesa Airlines.

Canadian airlines, meanwhile, reassured travellers of their water safety standards. Wes Cruickshank, who is the VP of Maintenance at Flair Airlines, said that Flair follows “rigorous standards for onboard water safety.”

“All potable water is sourced from approved airport facilities, routinely tested, and maintained through regular sanitation, with aircraft potable water systems. Additionally, Flair has a Potable Water Control Program,” he said. “Onboard coffee and tea are instant and prepared fresh using potable water, and bottled water is available for purchase onboard.”

A spokesperson for Air Transat said that the potable water on its aircrafts is safe and “regularly tested to meet strict standards, in full compliance with Canadian and provincial regulations.”

A spokesperson for Air Canada told National Post that Canadian airlines are governed by the Department of Health Act’s Potable Water on Board Trains, Vessels, Aircraft and Buses Regulations.”

“Our potable water management program, which exceeds the requirements governing the airline industry, is regularly audited by the Public Health Agency of Canada,” said the airline.

As of 2011, the Aircraft Drinking Water Rule came into effect in the United States, requiring airlines to test water tanks for coliform bacteria and possible E. coli, the study explains. There were a total of 35,674 sample locations tested for coliform across all of the airlines in the study. “Of these, 949 locations (2.66 per cent) tested positive for total coliform,” according to the study. E. coli was present at 50 locations.

Platkin said access to clean water isn’t a luxury, it’s a basic expectation. “And while getting someone safely from point A to point B is essential, how passengers are treated during that journey matters too,” he said. “Airlines should focus not only on meeting minimum requirements, but on doing better and showing greater care for the people they serve. Passengers deserve that.”

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A Turkish citizen who lost his refugee status in Canada after allegedly depositing counterfeit cheques at a Canadian bank and moving home for nine years has won another shot at regaining his status here as a protected person.

Musa Durmus was granted refugee protection in Canada in January 2001 “based on his fear of persecution due to his political activity and Kurdish identity,” according to a recent Federal Court ruling out of Toronto.

After over 12 years in Canada, Durmus returned to Turkey, where he bribed a judge to change his first name, remained for about nine years, married and had two children, said the decision.

Durmus “has a grade five-level education and limited knowledge of English,” it said.

He applied for permanent residence in Canada shortly after his refugee claim was granted “but his application remained in progress for many years and remained pending when he left Canada in January 2012.”

Durmus “alleged that shortly after arriving (back) in Turkey, he was arrested and beaten by government officials,” said the decision.

“Shortly after, Mr. Durmus paid a bribe to have his first name legally changed and then obtained a national identification card and a Turkish passport with this new name. For approximately the next nine years, Mr. Durmus lived in Turkey. He was employed there, got married, bought a home and had two children.”

Durmus “also alleged that he was politically active in Turkey during this time and that in 2016 was detained and beaten on account of his political activity.

In March 2021, Durmus left Turkey with his wife and children.

“They went to the United States via Mexico. Approximately two months later, in May 2021, Mr. Durmus entered Canada. Mr. Durmus’ wife and children later entered Canada and were permitted to file refugee claims. Their refugee claims were accepted on the basis of their association with Mr. Durmus,” said the decision.

In his wife and children’s case, the RPD found that “given the past detentions of the claimants’ husband/father and his heavy involvement in Canadian Kurdish community activities, that there is a serious possibility that the claimants would face harm if they were to return to Turkey due to their familial connection to him that would amount to persecution.”

Shortly after Durmus returned to Canada, Canada’s immigration minister at the time applied to the Refugee Protection Division (RPD) “for cessation of his convention refugee status.“

It found in September 2023 that Durmus had “voluntarily reavailed himself of the protection of Turkey,” which resulted in Durmus losing his protected person status in Canada.

The RPD did not make a finding on the circumstances that led to his departure from Canada, said the decision. “The RPD found that even if it accepted Mr. Durmus’ version of events, his return to Turkey was voluntary. The RPD weighed various factors, including Mr. Durmus’ lack of understanding of the immigration consequences of his return to Turkey and the security precautions he took, specifically his name change, but found that overall, given the length of time and the nature of Mr. Durmus’ activities in Turkey, his intention to reavail had been established. The RPD further found that Mr. Durmus received actual diplomatic protection.”

The circumstances surrounding his departure from Canada in January 2012 “are not clear and were not ultimately determined by the RPD,” Justice Lobat Sadrehashemi wrote in her Jan. 9 decision.

“The minister alleged that a few days prior to leaving Canada, Mr. Durmus deposited counterfeit cheques at a Canadian bank. Approximately ten months later, the York Regional Police issued a warrant for Mr. Durmus’ arrest.”

For his part, Durmus testified he returned to Turkey “because his father had a surgery the year prior, his own mental health difficulties relating to his repeated interviews with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the lengthy delay in processing his permanent resident application,” said the decision.

The “determinative issue” for the judge was the RPD’s treatment of his name change in Turkey.

“The RPD accepted that Mr. Durmus had changed his name and lived under a different name in Turkey for most of the nine years he was living there,” Sadrehashemi said.

“The RPD’s treatment of this key issue and how it impacted its analysis of his intention to reavail and whether he received ‘actual’ protection is not adequately explained. The decision is unreasonable because it does not allow us to ‘understand the decision maker’s reasoning on a critical point’ and leaves unanswered questions that are central to determining the application.”

The judge allowed Durmus’ application for judicial review.

“The RPD decision dated September 14, 2023 is quashed and the matter is sent back to be redetermined by a different decision-maker,” Sadrehashemi said.

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The Canadian federation for the sport of skeleton is defending a decision to withdraw athletes from an international event on Sunday, a move a former U.S. Olympic athlete and two-time world champion alleges torpedoed her chance of attending a sixth Games.

According to a statement from Bobsleigh Canada Skeleton, four of the program’s “younger athletes” were removed from a North American Cup race in Lake Placid, N.Y., an event on the lower-tier developmental circuit’s calendar where competitors from any nation can earn points to qualify for the upcoming Milan Cortina Games in Italy.

BCS said the racers, “relatively new to the sport,” had already “experienced a particularly challenging week on the track,” and it was decided, in consultation with two International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation (ISBF) officials, that it was in the best interest of the athlete and the program to remove them from the third race of the week.

In interviews with the

London Times

and

DW

, five-time U.S. Olympian Katie Uhlaender alleges that Canadian coach Joe Cecchini, whom she identified as “a friend of 20 years,” revealed his plan to her in a courtesy phone call two days before. He allegedly said his goal was to “eliminate any possibilities” of another senior Canadian competitor missing the Olympics — identified by DW as two-time Canadian Olympian Jane Channell — by protecting the national team’s ISBF ranking.

“He did not have to do that. He did it because he could. And it wasn’t to protect his athletes; it was to manipulate the system,” said Uhlaender, who has never medalled at previous Olympics. “He waited until after everyone was registered and gave the illusion that the Canadians were going to be competing. He wanted to make sure that we could not get full points.”

National Post has contacted Uhlaender for comment.

Under

its rules

, qualification is calculated using points earned at sanctioned events, where the number of athletes who start a race directly determines how many points can be awarded. The qualification window closes next Sunday, drastically reducing a given athlete’s ability to earn required points.

As it happens, Uhlaender would win gold in Sunday’s race, but a field of 21 competitors left her short on points. The 41-year-old is

ranked

20th globally, but third among U.S. sliders, leaving her outside of the Olympic picture. (The top-ranked Canadian sliders are 21-year-old Hallie Clarke, who is 12th overall, and Channell, currently ranked 26th and clinging to an Olympic berth heading into this weekend’s final World Cup event before the Olympics.)

“I hadn’t let go of the dream yet,” Uhlaender told the Times. “I don’t get to have a shot now. It was over before I had a chance.”

Uhlaender also claims that Cecchini, who competed for Italy at the 2018 Games, said it wasn’t his responsibility to “uplift” the competition.

DW, meanwhile, obtained an email reported sent by Cecchini to Canadian team members that framed the decision as being “in the best interests of the national team,” aimed at understanding the qualification points scenarios and managing confirmed start numbers.

In emails to National Post, the ISBF said it would reserve comment while its integrity unit investigates the incident, while the U.S. federation said it will await that decision.

In its statement, BCS said it knows the athletes’ removal had an impact, but “it is well understood within the sport that development circuits do not carry fixed points.”

“The National Skeleton Program has always treated the development circuit as exactly that — a developmental environment — not a pathway for Olympic qualification.”

“BCS remains confident that its actions were appropriate, transparent, and aligned with both athlete welfare and the integrity of the sport.”

The federation said Uhlaender’s allegation that the young Canadians wanted to race and were scared to tell Cecchini “could not be further from the truth.”

According to the Times, U.S. head coach Andrew Blasser and three other national coaches sent the International Olympic Committee athletes’ commission a formal complaint warning of what they called potential “sport manipulation and unethical conduct.”

It alleges that the Canadian athletes had been registered and reported to the track that day only to be told they were being withdrawn. The coaches argued that the late exits appeared designed to push the field below the threshold for full participation points, thereby putting athletes from multiple countries at a disadvantage.

DW later identified the others as coaches for Denmark, Israel and Malta.

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Less than 40 per cent of CBC’s reporting on the Israel-Hamas conflict was “balanced or neutral,” finds a new study by a Jewish advocacy group.

B’nai Brith Canada also found that more than 50 per cent of CBC’s news articles and videos included in the study met its threshold for pro-Palestinian bias, while less than seven per cent met the threshold for pro-Israel bias. This was based on a sample of 299 items published between Oct. 1, 2024 to April 30, 2025.

The pieces reviewed included reporting on military operations, humanitarian conditions, diplomatic initiatives, hostage negotiations and Canadian domestic implications, such as protests or antisemitic-related incidents.

The purpose of the report is to evaluate “whether CBC’s English-language online coverage during that period met public-broadcaster expectations of balance and impartiality.”

“For generations, CBC has been a fixture in Canadian homes: trusted, valued, and woven into our national life. This is not about factual inaccuracies or intentional distortions. It’s about what Canadians deserve: a public broadcaster they can count on for neutral, impartial, and fair reporting,” the group wrote in a post on X about the study.

“It’s time for the CBC to regain that trust.”

B’nai Brith Canada said it was requesting a meeting to review the study’s findings with CBC.

An independent study from B’nai Brith Canada is putting hard numbers behind a growing national concern: systemic bias within CBC’s coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

The study analyzed hundreds of English‑language CBC reports over a six‑month period. The findings (from Oct… pic.twitter.com/m7GpSSV51U

— B’nai Brith Canada (@bnaibrithcanada) January 12, 2026

“We routinely get requests by special interest groups interested in meeting with us in order to influence our coverage of the news,” Chuck Thompson told National Post. He is CBC’s head of public affairs.

“We generally decline these requests in order to safeguard the independence of our journalism. However, we are open to criticism and will review this report closely as we do all public and private communication.”

While the CBC’s recurring patterns of framing, contextual omission, presentation, and sourcing are “consistent” with the dynamics of conflict reporting, the study says, such patterns should not be found in the context of Canadian public broadcasting.

That is at the heart of the issue, researchers explained, and “raises questions about institutional practices and standards.”

The CBC has faced

scrutiny about its coverage

of Israel-Hamas conflict from many in the Jewish community since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists murder 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, sparking a war in the Middle East.

In February,

an intervention was filed

over “continuing concerns about the CBC’s pattern of inaccurate, unfair, and unbalanced news coverage of Israel” after October 7 on behalf of Jewish advocacy group the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) and HonestReporting Canada, a pro-Israel watchdog group.

In September, a

Radio-Canada journalist was placed on leave

for what CIJA referred to as “antisemitic” comments she made on air. In October, CBC’s president and CEO

Marie-Philippe Bouchard told the Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage

that she condemned the comments made by the journalist — but said the broadcaster didn’t “have to stop everything to do a full investigation” into antisemitism.

The study notes that the CBC has a unique role as a public broadcaster and has “a statutory obligation to provide balanced and impartial coverage of matters of public interest.”

“That responsibility is especially consequential in the context of protracted and highly contested international conflicts, where reporting choices can shape public understanding, influence domestic discourse, and affect social cohesion,” the study says.

Thompson said CBC News was made aware of the study earlier on Monday. It said it was not “involved or consulted prior to its release.”

“Since the Hamas-led attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, CBC News has published thousands of stories on the conflict in Gaza on all of our platforms; the sample examined by the B’nai Brith study includes only a portion of that coverage. We invite the public to review the breadth and depth of our work on this complex and polarizing story,” Thompson said, providing

a link to its coverage.

“As with all its journalism, CBC’s coverage of the conflict in Gaza is bound by our rigorous Journalistic Standards and Practices (JSP), the foundational principles of which are fairness, accuracy, balance, integrity and impartiality.”

Thompson said CBC News is “accountable to the independent CBC Ombud.” Since the start of the conflict, he said that the Ombud has conducted formal reviews of audience complaints of their reporting, but none have found its coverage “violated our journalistic standards of impartiality.”

The study does not intend to single out any journalists, B’nai Brith says, but is meant to indicate that there are “structural pressures that shape coverage in predictable ways,” such as “heavy reliance on international humanitarian organizations, foregrounding of humanitarian impact without equivalent causal context, asymmetrical emotional language, and selective omission of initiating actions are all practices that fall well within standard journalistic norms.”

Researchers also found that, on average, there was a negative tone toward Israel and the Jewish community.

“Fair and balanced reporting matters because the way this conflict is covered shapes how people understand it and how they respond,” writer and pro-Israel advocate

Aviva Klompas

told National Post.

“For Canadians, this matters because distorted reporting hardens views, deepens polarization, and undermines trust in media and public institutions. It also creates a climate in which Jews are blamed for events thousands of miles away, based on false or incomplete information.”

She added: “When coverage crosses from reporting into pushing a narrative, it puts real people at risk.”

The study recommends that CBC have periodic, internal structural reviews of conflict-related coverage. It says that its editorial standards should have clearer internal guidance regarding contextual completeness and sourcing practices, and that it should increase institutional awareness of how narrative framing and emotional emphasis accumulate across coverage as a whole.

Researchers acknowledged the study’s limitations, included its scope and timeline, and that it did not assess Radio-Canada, CBC’s French-language counterpart. The 299 items were coded across four independently defined dimensions of structural bias: framing, selection of contextual information, presentation and language, and sourcing. “Each dimension was coded using explicit thresholds and a binary scoring system,” the study says.

“These findings do not suggest factual inaccuracy, unethical conduct or deliberate advocacy by CBC journalists,” researchers said. “They point instead to recurring structural patterns that, in aggregate, produce a skewed interpretive environment.”

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The U.K. is considering a ban on the social media platform X and is trying to gather international support for such a move. But Canada has said it won’t be part of that, at least for now. Here’s what to know.

Why is Britain upset at X?

It isn’t just Britain, but that country have been making news over discussions to ban the platform. At issue is X’s AI assistant, Grok, which has been widely used to generate sexualized deepfakes of women and children, including modifying photographs to remove a person’s clothing.

What has X done to deal with the problem?

The company, run by Elon Musk, said the issue was due to a lapse in its AI’s safeguards. It subsequently limited image generation to

paying customers

. But politicians in Britain and the EU called for a stronger regulatory crackdown.

What are other countries doing?

Some have gone so far as to block their citizens from accessing Grok. On Monday,

Britain’s Guardian newspaper

reported that Malaysia had become the second country to temporarily block access to Grok. This came a day after Indonesia made a similar move.

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said on Sunday it would restrict access to Grok over the AI tool’s ability “to generate obscene, sexually explicit, indecent, grossly offensive, and nonconsensual manipulated images, including content involving women and minors,” per the Guardian.

The Guardian also reported that Germany’s culture and media minister had called on the European Commission to take legal steps, warning of the “industrialization of sexual harassment,” and that France and Italy were also warning of the platform’s misuse.

What is Britain’s plan?

On Monday, the U.K.’s independent media regulator Ofcom said it was launching a formal investigation into X over Grok’s image creation feature.

Ofcom described the reports as “deeply concerning,” saying in a statement that the undressed images of people “may amount to intimate image abuse or pornography — and sexualiszed images of children… may amount to child sexual abuse material.”

The office of U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed the investigation and said Ofcom “has our full support to take any action it sees fit.”

A Downing Street spokesperson added, per an Agence France-Presse news story: “We won’t hesitate to go further to protect children online and strengthen the law as needed.”

Britain’s Online Safety Act says social media and video-sharing platforms hosting potentially harmful content are required to implement strict age verification and are not allowed to create or share non-consensual intimate images, or child sexual abuse material, including sexual deepfakes created with AI. Ofcom has the power to impose fines of 10 per cent of worldwide revenue for breaches of these rules.

What has been Canada’s reaction?

Last week, Starmer was said to be in talks with officials in Canada and Australia about mounting a combined response.

The initial response seemed strong when, several days ago, A.I. Minister Evan Solomon posted to X: “Deepfake sexual abuse is violence. We must protect Canadians, especially women and young people, from exploitation.”

Deepfake sexual abuse is violence.

We must protect Canadians, especially women and young people, from exploitation. Platforms and AI developers have a duty to prevent this harm.

Our government is continuing to advance responsible AI, including introducing Bill C-16, the…

— Evan Solomon (@EvanLSolomon) January 8, 2026

However, in the early hours of Sunday morning, he followed up that message to clarify: “Contrary to media reports, Canada is not considering a ban of X.”

What was Elon Musk’s reaction?

According to the

New York Times

, Musk’s reaction to Britain’s call for a ban was to label the U.K. government as “fascist,” while also boasting that the controversy had led to more downloads of the app.

However, when games developer Tim Sweeney posted to X on Canada’s decision not to ban the platform, Musk responded briefly with just two emojis: c Canadian flag and a heart.

🇨🇦❤️ https://t.co/b6BEdLxz1R

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 12, 2026

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A B.C. judge has decided that a woman who believes Jesus Christ will help her fight allegations of recklessly discharging a gun is mentally fit to stand trial.

According to a recently published

provincial court decision

, Crown counsel, on the expert advice of forensic psychiatrist Dr. Garen Gharakhanian, had applied to have Denise Angela Norris declared unfit “based on her diagnosis of unspecified psychosis with religious delusions,” an assessment not contested by her court-appointed lawyer.

The Crown argued that because Norris does not recognize the court’s authority, she “will not actively engage in the court process and will not participate in her defence because, in her view, there is no point,” judge Kristen Mundstock wrote.

In opposing the application, defence counsel insisted Norris was aware of the proceedings, but she ultimately believed “her spiritual fate will be decided by God.”

The Crown submitted reports from five of the meetings between the “deeply religious or spiritual” Norris and Gharakhanian, snippets of which were included in Mundstock’s decision.

During their earliest encounter, Norris acknowledged the existence of courts, judges and prosecutors, but could not explain the charges against her, which she dismissed as “man-made.”

“She said Jesus was her defence lawyer, he will be present at her hearing and she will take instructions from him,” Gharakhanian explained, adding that she communicates with the son of God “mentally and through prayers, while Jesus communicated to her two or three times per day by speaking to her.

“She said she could hear Jesus with her ears and has had visions of him,” he wrote.

As the weeks progressed, these beliefs remained unchanged. Norris insisted she would represent herself in court, with Jesus speaking through her and that the final decision will be made by God.

The psychiatrist said Norris “denied auditory or visual hallucinations”, but said she insisted that “Jesus does speak to her and she was married to God.”

“She then started talking about her relationship to God and Jesus Christ and claimed she had seen Jesus Christ and the devil.”

Norris, who refused to attend court by video because she said it was akin to “playing video games with her life,” also repeatedly stated that provincial law did not apply to her and that the RCMP lacked the authority “to enter her residence, even if she was destroying property.”

In his final report, Gharakhanian said Norris continued to express this belief — distinguishing between B.C. and God’s jurisdiction — and maintain her innocence.

“She said she did not shoot at police and if she were to shoot at them she would have hit them,” the judge wrote. “She also stated the police shot at her and stated the police shot her in the chest to kill her.”

Even with a clear mental disorder, in Mundstock’s view, Norris’s understanding of the legal process and their seriousness indicate she’s able to conduct a defence or instruct her lawyer to do so.

The judge emphasized that fitness does not depend on whether an accused makes good decisions, only whether they are capable of making and communicating decisions. Unlike other cases where delusions caused persons to believe everyone involved the legal process was colluding against them, Norris didn’t appear to have any “persecutory beliefs.”

“Norris’s belief system may interfere with her ability to make the best decisions in conducting her defence, but that is not the standard upon which fitness is measured,” they concluded. “Ms. Norris is entitled to make poor decisions if she chooses.”

The decision does not provide any details on the nature of the Crown’s case against Norris, but it does provide a date and a geographic location for her alleged reckless discharge of a firearm as June 19, 2025, in or near Agassiz, just northeast of Chilliwack. She also referenced shooting and being shot by police during her interviews with Gharakhanian.

All of that aligns with an

incident reported by the Agassiz RCMP

, which is now the subject of investigation by the

Independent Investigations Office of B.C.

, the province’s police oversight entity.

According to the Mounties, officers were called to a residential disturbance that evening, where they found a person with a handgun who “reportedly pointed the gun at police before going into the home.”

Police allege the person returned, pointed the gun outside and fired a shot, resulting in officers returning fire and striking the person before they reentered the home.

The IIO report indicates the accused was air-lifted to the hospital.

According to the court decision, when first taken into custody, Norris refused to take anti-psychotic medication and had to be restrained to be injected. She eventually agreed to accept oral medication, despite denying the need for it.

Norris, who remains in custody, also initially refused to eat, stating that “the eternal body will be with God, the body left behind will decompose.” She eventually started eating again.

The B.C. Prosecution Service told National Post in an email that she is set to appear in court on Monday.

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An Air Canada crew member was trapped in the cargo hold of a flight that was scheduled to take off from Toronto’s Pearson Airport last month, the airline said.

Flight

AC1502

was expected to go from Toronto to Moncton, N.B. on Dec. 13, but it never made it to its destination. A member of the ground crew became stuck in the cargo hold when the doors “inadvertently closed” while he was inside, the airline said in a statement to National Post.

“Upon discovery, the aircraft returned to the gate,” the statement said. “There were no injuries, but as this presented a potential safety issue, we have reinforced our procedures with our ground crews.”

A French Canadian travel blogger and realtor Stephanie Curé posted about the incident

on Instagram

. In the video, a voice can be heard speaking to passengers. Curé started filming as the announcement was being made.

“I’ve never had that in my life,” the voice says, explaining the situation. “First time, hopefully the first and last. But that’s the reason we had to taxi — get that person out of the airplane. The good news is that the person is perfectly fine and safe.”

He added that there was some paperwork to deal with before taking off. However, the flight was later cancelled, according to airline tracking site FlightAware,

CTV News reported

.

“They never did get us to Moncton that day,” wrote Curé, in the caption of the post.

“We had already started taxiing when a baggage crew member was under the aircraft in the cargo and could be heard yelling for help and banging underneath us. Thankfully, he got out safely. I still can’t believe this happened.”

Another passenger, Gabrielle Caron,

told CBC

that passengers sitting at the back of the plane heard “screaming and banging, trying to get their attention.” Someone on the flight “even said that they called 911.”

“We’re noticing the flight attendants are kind of running back and forth in the airplane,” said Caron, “and on the ground, we could see the crew gathering around the plane, so we knew something was happening.”

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Canadians are increasingly concerned about rising crime in their communities, according to a new Angus Reid Institute poll.

“New data from

Angus Reid

,” says Shachi Kurl, president of the institute, “shows that three-in-five (62 per cent) Canadians believe crime has been rising in their communities over the last five years. That’s a lot more than the number of Canadians who say there’s been no change (24 per cent) or a decrease (five per cent).”

The new perception is matched by empirical data from Statistics Canada, which shows a rise in both its Crime Severity Index and Violent Crime Severity Index since 2020.

One key metric reveals growing discomfort: In 2015, Angus Reid asked Canadians if they felt safe walking alone after dark in their neighbourhood, finding one-in-three strongly agreed they felt safe and half agreed. This question was put forward again in 2022 and 2025. The proportion who felt safe had dropped from 32 per cent in 2015 to 23 per cent in 2022, and 17 per cent in 2025.

In 2014, Canadians were more likely to perceive stable crime rates (40 per cent) than increasing ones (30 per cent).

The perception that crime is rising close to home tends to be strongest among Conservatives, according to Angus Reid’s data. Those who voted CPC in 2025 believe there has been an increase in crime in their community at a rate 30 points higher than those who voted for Mark Carney’s Liberals (51 per cent). A majority (58 per cent) of past Bloc voters agree crime is increasing. Few Canadians (five per cent) say that crime has been decreasing where they live.

Many minor crimes have been on a downward trajectory in recent years, but one key offence has bucked this trend: shoplifting.

Shoplifting incidents are at their highest mark in decades. After a drop during the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak, each subsequent year has featured more shoplifting. “Increased financial pressures, mental health and addiction issues, lower police staffing levels, and other aspects are credited for this, as well as a focus on theft among organized crime,” says Kurl.

“Report after report during the past few years have noted the increase in shoplifting and abuse faced by the business community.”

Asked about their current job and the past six months, two-in-five (40 per cent) have dealt with shoplifting incidents “many times,” while one-quarter (24 per cent) say it has happened once or twice. Four-in-five have faced verbal abuse, while 43 per cent have endured physical threats.

Among the most widespread crimes, or at least attempted crimes, are fraud and identity theft. More than four-in-five Canadians say they have been the target of an online or phone scam over the past two years. For 30 per cent of the population, this has resulted in the loss of information or money.

Notably, according to the Angus Reid data, Canadians lost more than $638 million in reported fraud cases in 2024, although only five to 10 per cent of such cases are thought to be reported to authorities. This means that while 13 per cent of Canadians have been involved in a police-reported crime during this two-year period, more than one-in-three (36 per cent) have been victims of a crime if expanded to include this rampant fraud.

The prevalence of phishing and fraud attempts is astounding, with more than four-in-five Canadians saying they have been the subject of an attempt over the past two years. Asked if they believe telephone or internet-based fraud and identity theft attempts have been increasing or decreasing in their communities, a majority of Canadians, in each case, say they’re becoming more frequent.

While more than 80 per cent have been contacted, 30 per cent say they had money or personal information taken from them by a scam. These proportions tend to be higher with age. People 60 years of age and older are almost twice as likely as 18- to 29-year-olds to have been a victim. Some of this may be attributable to unfamiliarity with emerging fraud strategies.

Across income level, there is little variance, according to Angus Reid. “Canadians of all financial backgrounds are targets. Between 27 and 35 per cent within all income ranges say they have been victimized by fraud of this sort.”

Kurl says that the proportion of Canadians choosing crime and public safety as a top issue in Angus Reid Institute’s quarterly tracking has crept upward over the past eight years. After sitting in single digits from 2014 to 2019, the COVID and post-COVID environment has been one of elevated concern, with the proportion choosing this issue among their most important, rising to almost one-in-five

She notes that according to Statistics Canada, police-reported crimes have risen since 2014, after decades of falling. Though these rates are well below the high point recorded in 1990.

The rate of police-reported violent crime in the U.S. was 334 incidents per 100,000 in 2023, which remains significantly higher than the rate in Canada — 252. However, the gap between the U.S. and Canada has shrunk over the past 25 years.

Crime trends in both countries have fluctuated in recent years, but Canadians are much more likely to perceive crime as rising, while Americans are still far more likely to say that crime is increasing (39 per cent) than decreasing (10 per cent) in their community, though many (37 per cent) say there has been no change.

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