#Canada Post union switching from countrywide to rotating strikes.

Rotating strikes will begin at 6 a.m. local time, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers said Thursday evening.

The announcement came a day after the union met with the federal minister responsible for Canada Post.

The union said it met with Joël Lightbound on Wednesday evening, voicing concerns about recently announced changes to the postal service’s mandate to overhaul its operations.

There will be a followup meeting with the minister’s office next week, it said.

Among the changes are an end of door-to-door mail delivery for nearly all Canadian households within the next decade. As well, the frequency of mail delivery will slow down and some post offices will be shuttered.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers declared the countrywide strike on Sept. 25, hours after the federal government announced its changes.

Canada Post has welcomed the announcement amid its stark financial challenges, while the union called it a government overstep in the bargaining process.

In a bulletin about the meeting with Lightbound, the union said it asked the minister to roll back the changes but that he said they would stand.

A spokesperson for Lightbound said late Thursday that the minister was not immediately available for comment on the move to rotating strikes or his meeting with union representatives.

Canada Post did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the union’s decision, nor did a spokesperson for Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 9, 2025.

RCMP investigate alleged assault of woman who lives beside B.C. ostrich farm.

The RCMP are providing round the clock protection for Lois Wood, a 72-year old Edgewood, B.C., resident who lives next to Universal Ostrich Farms (UOF) after a masked man doused the woman in gasoline and punched her in the face.

According to police, the suspect they arrested is associated with the protest camp at UOF, where dozens of people have gathered to demonstrate against the culling of more than 300 ostriches, following an outbreak of Avian Flu last December.

The police investigation comes as the Supreme Court will decide later this week if it will hear an appeal by UOF to overturn an order by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to euthanize the birds.

In her only interview, Wood told CTV News that she was scared, but felt compelled to speak out for the other residents of Edgewood who are being intimidated by the strangers who have invaded their quiet community.

“Everybody’s scared. The only reason I’m talking right now is because I have 24/7, serious police protection,” Wood said in an interview a week after she was assaulted. Bruises were still visible around her left eye.

In July, Wood was part of a group of 26 residents, representing 10 per cent of the town, who broke their silence to speak with CTV News about their health and safety concerns.

Wood’s name has also been linked to the anonymous complaint received by the CFIA of dead ostriches, which triggered an inspection and lead to the discovery of H5N1 in the flock.

“(Protesters) yell at me, ‘This is all your fault, this is murder’…I’ve never called CFIA. I haven’t been in contact with them,” Wood said during a Zoom interview, adding that she was able to handle the harassment but never thought it would result in a physical attack.

“I thought I was going to be lit on fire.”
A masked man and a red jerry can

At least one police car has been parked near the road that leads to her home since Sept. 22. That was the day the CFIA was set to euthanize more than 300 ostriches. Beginning as early as 4 a.m., Wood recalled hearing people at the protest camp moving equipment, preparing for arrival of the CFIA and the RCMP.

At 7 a.m. Wood, who lives alone, says she opened the screen door to the front porch to put out some food for her cat. That’s when she saw a man wearing a balaclava dressed in black, “carrying a five-gallon, red jerry can.”

“He was pouring gas all around the bottom of my steps, along the side of my house,” Wood said. She claims he reached into his pocket and feared that he was going to grab a lighter. At that moment, Wood says her only reaction was a “primal” need to fight like her life depended on it.

“I screamed, ‘Get out! Get out!’ and he poured gas all over me,” she said.

As she started to move toward him, Wood says the intruder threw gas on her face and her clothes. She grabbed his arm and sunk her teeth into the exposed flesh where his sleeves were rolled up.

“This is primal. This is survival. And I got his upper arm as hard as I could,” she said. “I was just thinking, ‘Harder, harder, how hard can I bite him?’”

Wood says the masked man broke free, but not before she was able to “kick him in the privates.”

The perpetrator then punched her in the face and knocked her down.

At that moment, Wood says she saw the man reach again into his pockets. Afraid she was about to be lit on fire, the retiree scrambled to her feet and pulled out her flip phone to call for help.

CTV News has seen one video which has surfaced on the social media feed of UOF supporters, showing Wood screaming at a man dressed in black.

Assault, arson charges possible

Staff Sgt. Kris Clark of the RCMP’s E Division in B.C. said in an email that medics treated a victim and investigated a report of an “assault and arson attempt at property neighboring the Universal Ostrich Farm,” shortly after their arrival on Sept. 22.

The “suspect associated to the protest camp on the UOF, was identified and arrested without incident,” Clark said, adding that police have gathered evidence to present to the B.C. Prosecution Service to lay potential charges.

UOF spokesperson Katie Pasitney declined to be interviewed for this story, but responded to questions over text. She described the people who are gathered at the farm as “families, neighbours, farmers and advocates,” standing together peacefully because they care about “truth, justice and the well-being of living creatures.”

Pasitney said the Wood incident was “handled quickly and promptly with us” and that the people involved were removed quickly. She also characterized the reporting of the attack on Wood as a “distortion” of their fight.

“Creating division at a moment when we are waiting for the Supreme Court of Canada to decide whether our case will even be heard feels far too convenient,” Wood said. “Why would mainstream media choose now to publish negative and false representations of Universal Ostrich Farm just as the country’s highest court weighs whether we deserve a fair chance at justice?”

Since the H5N1 virus was detected at UOF last December, Pasitney has participated in numerous interviews with national and local media organizations, as well as right wing Canadian and American influencers. UOF’s attempt to save its ostriches has garnered support from members of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration and a New York billionaire who offered to help fund their legal fight.
MP calls for agriculture minister to stop slaughter

First-term member of Parliament Scott Anderson represents the riding of Vernon-Lake Country-Monashee and the community of Edgewood. He says he’s getting about 1,000 communications a day about Universal Ostrich Farms, telling CTV News most responses are from constituents who live in his riding.

Anderson says “99 per cent” of the correspondence is support for saving the ostriches.

“My office is listening to all sides, but concentrating on the ostriches and their research potential, not the history of the farm or the farmers,” said Anderson, who has been calling on federal Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald to intervene in the slaughter and test the ostriches instead.

He says he has heard about the alleged assault and arson attempt involving Wood, but Wood says her MP has not contacted her.

Anderson did visit the ostrich farm this past weekend and documented what he saw on his Facebook account. He said that he had a message for supporters.

“Any violence that moves from the beaten path of a peaceful protest is going to result in bad things for the ostriches,” he wrote. “Political support will dry up.”

The CFIA estimates there are currently between 300 to 330 ostriches on the B.C. farm. The agency has said that the “ongoing delay” in carrying out the cull of ostriches represents “potential animal and human health risks.”

The agency said in a statement on Tuesday that it’s stamping out policy for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), adding it “plays a critical role in animal disease control and preparedness,” and that under the policy, “there is no post detection testing of exposed birds to exclude them from depopulation.”

“Allowing a domestic poultry flock known to be exposed to HPAI to remain alive means a potential source of the virus persists,” CFIA said. “It increases the risk of reassortment or mutation of the virus, particularly with birds raised in open pasture where there is ongoing exposure to wildlife.”

With files from The Canadian Press

Five Canadian provinces boost their minimum wage, Alberta now lowest, Five provinces are increasing their minimum wage today to support workers amid affordability issues.

The hikes will apply to Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

The provinces have tied their increases to Canada’s steadily growing consumer price index, which is an indicator of inflation.

Ontario’s minimum wage is now $17.60 per hour, Nova Scotia’s and Prince Edward Island’s are $16.50 an hour, Manitoba’s is $16 per hour and Saskatchewan’s is $15.35 an hour.

Alberta is the only province that has not boosted its minimum wage, with its $15-per-hour rate now the lowest in #Canada.

British Columbia, Quebec, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador raised their minimum wage earlier this year.

‘Jumping for joy’: Olympic hopeful on track for permanent residency after facing deportation.

It was late Thursday when Tamarri Lindo, 21, saw an unexpected email pop up in his inbox from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) that changed his and his family’s entire lives: an email that said they were no longer under threat of deportation and could finally call Canada home as permanent residents.

“We read a letter that IRCC said something about being approved. I was like, ‘Wait, I didn’t just read this right? Did I just read this right?’” said Lindo in a Zoom interview with CTV News Friday.

“Then we were all over the place that night.. we’re shouting, we’re jumping up and down. I was very excited. But what’s crazy is that it actually felt like a dream, because... I can’t believe it finally happened.”

The Lindo family and their lawyer, Aidan Simardone, began a social media campaign and petition last week to put public pressure on elected officials to stop the Lindo family from getting deported back to Jamaica.

“The petition got over a thousand signatures that were sent to the members of parliament and different ministers who are responsible for both immigration and deportations,” said Simardone in a Zoom interview with CTV News Friday.“Thanks to all this attention, all this pressure that the Lindos ended up getting -- just yesterday, very recently, their humanitarian, compassionate application was approved -- and that’s for the whole family,” Simardone said. “This grants them permanent residency and means that they can remain in Canada, that they no longer can be actually deported anymore and that they are now safe.”

Lindo has a dream to represent Canada at the Olympics as part of the hurdling team, after becoming one of the country’s top hurdlers at the collegiate level. Now competing while in his third year at York University, he already has a gold medal from the 2025 Ontario University Athletics championship in 60-metre hurdles and gold in the 4x100 metre relay at the Canada Games in August.

But his dream almost came to an end after his entire family was on the verge of being deported back to Jamaica.

In 2019, Lindo’s father, George, brought his wife and Lindo’s two sisters to Canada from Jamaica and filed political asylum after their lawyer says George was targeted for his political affiliation with the country’s opposition party, the People’s National Party. He alleged he had been the victim of several violent attacks, including three assassination attempts.

In May of 2024, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) gave them a notice of deportation, and later that year, gave them a one-year extension to stay.

At the time, the IRCC had said the Lindo family had “provided little documentary evidence to demonstrate that they are at risk of harm or persecution in Jamaica as a result of (Lindo’s) political activity” and “crime, including murder, is widespread throughout Jamaica - any risk they face is not personalized, it’s one shared generally by all persons living in Jamaica.”

The one-year extension was set to end this month, with Simardone saying they had an interview with CBSA this upcoming Monday and that deportation would likely begin quickly after that.

“In this case, what we provided was that we showed that the family is contributing significantly to Canada. I mean, of course, the parents who are hard working and pay their taxes, but also the big story here is Tamarri Lindo, with his major success in track and field. And then also continuing to provide evidence, news reports from Jamaica about political violence,” said Simardone.

In an interview with CTV News last Sunday, the family said it believed returning to Jamaica could possibly mean death, and that it had heard from friends and family back home that people had come to the family’s old house in Jamaica looking to see if they had returned.

Simardone credits that public pressure as part of the reason why the IRCC accepted the Lindo family’s claim and has now granted it “permanent residency in principle,” meaning it meets the eligibility criteria, but must still pass the medical, security and background checks.

“I think it’s no surprise that it was very soon after the attention that this case got that we … got an approval. We were, of course, on this for more than two years. And then suddenly, within the span of a week, everything moves really quickly. So thanks to a good reminder of that: nothing’s ever set in stone when it comes to immigration (and) public attention, public pressure does work," said Simardone.

The IRCC did not provide CTV News with a reason as to why the Lindos’ claim was approved, saying it would need the family’s permission, which their lawyer did not provide, to share that private information.

Meanwhile, Lindo is excited at the prospect of representing the maple leaf on the Olympic stage. Now heading towards citizenship, he hopes he can thank Canadians for supporting him and his family by giving them gold medals in return.

“I’ll try my best from right here now to continue making Canada proud,” said Lindo. “And hopefully one day... when it’s time for me to put on that jersey, I remember all of them and make sure I compete every single day for everybody who helped supporting me and my family.”

No injuries have been reported after a small plane containing three occupants crash landed in Toronto’s east end on Monday night.

The incident happened at Monarch Park Collegiate Institute at 1 Hanson St., just south of Danforth Avenue and west of Coxwell Avenue.

Toronto fire said they were dispatched to that area at 8:20 p.m. for reports of a small plane that had crashed into the stadium area.

They said that paramedics at the scene reported smelling gas and fuel.

Toronto fire’s hazmat team quickly responded to address this issue. Toronto fire told CTV News Toronto in an email that a small amount of fuel was leaking, but crews have since been able to contain it.

Toronto police, meanwhile, said they were called to the scene at 8:17 p.m. for reports of a small plane that has crashed in a field. Police said three occupants were on board, noting that no injuries have been reported at this time.

Speaking with reporters at the scene, Toronto fire Chief Jim Jessop said crews arrived to find a small plane that had crashed “just shy” of the soccer field into the parking lot right beside the grandstand.

“I am happy to report there are no injuries to the occupants of the airplane and no injuries to the civilians that were playing soccer on the field. As you can see, the game continues,” he said, adding that the scene is now stabilized and the leaking fuel has been mitigated.

“We have deemed the situation under control so there is no risk to the public.”

Jessop said the aircraft, which looks to be a four-seater 140 Piper Cherokee (C-FXGC), appears to have come through the tree canopy and skidded into a fence about 50 feet away from a field where people were playing soccer.

He said that he has not spoken with the plane’s occupants, whom he described as in their mid 30s to 40s, and is not aware of where the plane came from and where it was heading.

“We were very fortunate tonight, when I was back at the scene, and you look at the amount of people on that field playing soccer, and we got very lucky tonight,” Jessop said.

“This is rare. You know, we did have the plane go down into the lake a number of weeks ago, but to see a plane crash land into the heart of the city on a high school property is something I have not seen in my close to 30 years (of service), and it is extremely rare. So we are very, very fortunate that there were no injuries, that it turned out the way it did, because it could have been a lot worse.”

Transport Canada, the authority that has jurisdiction over this kind of incident, has been notified and wil be handling the investigation once its investigators arrive on scene, Jessop said.

Until they arrive, Toronto fire and police will “maintain scene continuity and stand by and then provide any assistance that is required or requested by Transport Canada,” the fire chief noted.

The Toronto District School Board has been advised of the incident and will work with Transport Canada on next steps in the morning. It not clear at this point if classes will be cancelled for the day.

Witnesses share what they saw and heard

Beach resident Kevin Alexander told CP24 that he was in the area of the park’s pickleball courts when he saw the aircraft’s lights dipping below the trees and then heard the crash, adding that several people who witnessed what happened ran in that direction..

Another witness named Frank Leonardo told CP24 that he was playing soccer nearby when he saw a plane “flying really low” moments before it crash landed.

“The whole field was being played on. Thank God (no one was hurt),” he said.

David was with his kids who were practing soccer at the field at the nearby St. Patrick’s Catholic Secondary School when the plane came down.

“We saw a plane really low. I’m going to say maybe 250 to 300 feet in the air, very quiet. And it was just kind of going from the west side of the field to the east side, and then it was out of sight and then we heard a crash,” he told CP24.

“We saw three occupants that were near the plane and shortly after we saw the police, and fire, and ambulance, everybody showing up.”

With files from CP24’s Melissa Duggan

#BREAKING No injuries reported after small plane with 3 passengers crashes in Toronto