Winnipeg taxpayers will be forced to pay for the city’s new costs to legalize and enforce Cannabis laws if the province doesn’t pony up on the cannabis excise tax, says Mayor Brian Bowman.

Premier Pallister has indicated MB will keep all federal excise tax revenues from cannabis sales. This means that unless MB provides municipalities w/ revenues from new Provincial cannabis tax Wpg property taxpayers will have to pay for City’s new costs from cannabis legalization

— Mayor Brian Bowman (@Mayor_Bowman) November 27, 2018

Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister said he is not going to share the excise tax on cannabis with municipalities and he has signaled that fiscal restraint with municipal transfers will continue.

Pallister spoke to delegates at the annual convention of the Association of Manitoba Municipalities Monday.

He said his priority is addressing the provincial deficit, and the government has to curb spending to avoid the debt growing even more rapidly.

READ MORE:
Where tax dollars from cannabis are going in Manitoba

Pallister gave no indication that his government will end a freeze on municipal funding that has been in place for two years.

He also said there is no evidence that cannabis revenues will be greater than provincial costs for extra policing and other related issues.

Association president Chris Goertzen says municipalities are dealing with extra costs of their own and deserve more money from the province.

They held a press conference Tuesday morning to demand the province restore road and bridge funding which was drastically cut last year.

– With files from

A white Swedish Instagram model is being accused of pretending to be black on social media in an attempt to gain followers.

Emma Hallberg, 19, is facing backlash after an image of her with noticeably lighter skin and straight hair recently started circulating online. Hallberg, who has 245,000 followers on Instagram, is known for posting photos of herself with darker-toned skin and curly hair, which has led many people to believe she was black or mixed-race.

White girls if you want to pass as Black, how about using your platforms to address the injustices and discrimation actual Black people face. Don’t just appropriate, Appreciate the people you are imitating #emmahallberg pic.twitter上海龙凤419/gpmkvB0BZj

— Niccole Nero Gaines (@2CsNiccole) November 19, 2018

One social media user on 上海夜生活 said Hallberg was “painting herself black for mercantile purposes” and that presenting herself in this way was a form of cultural appropriation.

Others have accused her of “blackfishing,” a term used to describe non-black people adopting black features through heavy makeup, tans, textured or artificial hair and photo filters.

In response to the backlash, Hallberg told BuzzFeed she gets “a deep tan” naturally from the sun and never pretended to be anything but white. The teen also denied ever intentionally misleading people about her race and said she is “sad” that some of her “natural features are hurting and upsetting people.”

View this post on Instagram

First day off school and I’m actually already bored 🙄😂

A post shared by EMMA HALLBERG (@eemmahallberg) on Jun 14, 2017 at 1:17pm PDT

But Hallberg is among a slew of non-black women on social media who seemingly present themselves as black — a behaviour experts say is incredibly problematic.

According to Dr. Aria Halliday, an assistant professor of Africana feminisms at the University of New Hampshire, “blackfishing” is an extension of blackface.

Halliday pointed out that using race as costume is not a new practice, but the way in which women are using social media, makeup and beauty culture to alter their appearance is.

“The ability to costume oneself with makeup is something that people are really fascinated by,” she told Global News. “Being able to costume oneself via makeup as a completely different culture or ethnicity just [helps people] perform [blackface] even more.”

View this post on Instagram

You only fail when you quit 👊🏽 Hair from @yyonghair ✨

A post shared by EMMA HALLBERG (@eemmahallberg) on Aug 24, 2018 at 11:57am PDT

READ MORE: Certain books continue to cause an uproar in Canadian education — here’s why

On top of being culturally insensitive, profiting off of an aesthetic of blackness is also wrong, she added. This is something that members of the Kardashian/Jenner family have been called out for doing many times through their makeup lines and fashion collections.

“A lot of these Instagram models are getting followers. They’re getting paid to do certain makeup things and they’re definitely using their privilege to create a capitalist endeavour,” Halliday said.

“They don’t have to deal with the everyday existences of what it means to be a black woman, for example, but they are then parading themselves on social media as such.”

View this post on Instagram

BO WEST

A post shared by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on Jan 29, 2018 at 12:58pm PST

WATCH BELOW: Polish talent show contestant impersonates Drake in blackface

In order for society to move away from “blackfishing,” it’s important people are educated on the history of using race as a costume and understand there is not one single definition of what it means to be black, Halliday said.

“There’s this idea that blackness is a certain thing, and if you are black, there’s a certain stereotype …  [but] black people look all different ways across the globe,” she said. “If we continue to feed into these generalizations and stereotypes, we continue the idea that people can put on our costume and wear it.”

“But also, in every instance of costuming, people separate it from this history of blackface and the way that it’s derogatory and the damage that has happened. We need to continue to talk about and learn about the history of blackface and where it comes from,” Halliday added.

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A New Brunswick teenager who inspired people around the world to perform random acts of kindness has been honoured posthumously with the Order of New Brunswick, and remembered as someone who encouraged people to dream big.

Becca Schofield  died in February at the age of 18 – two years after being diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.

Her movement on social media, with the hashtag #BeccaToldMeTo, quickly went viral and inspired ongoing acts of compassion and generosity around the world.

READ MORE: Becca Schofield of #BeccaToldMeTo movement passes away after battle with cancer

“Today shows you what a simple act can leave such a big legacy. We are proud and honoured beyond words,” Anne Schofield said Tuesday as she held the Order of New Brunswick medal presented to her and her husband Darren on behalf of their daughter.

Her eyes welled with tears as she spoke of the pride she had in what her daughter had accomplished.

“The group of people that she has been honoured with – you look at their resumes and it’s lifelong commitments that they have done – and there’s this little girl and all she wanted to do was spread a little bit of kindness. She said it’s so simple – just be nice,” Schofield said.

Becca Schofield was one of 11 recipients of the award this year, presented by Lt.-Gov. Jocelyne Roy Vienneau and Premier Blaine Higgs.

“What an inspiration she has left for her community and her family. Her life, although very, very short had an impact that other people take a lifetime to achieve or try to achieve,” Higgs said.

Roy Vienneau said Schofield and all the recipients had made New Brunswick a better place.

“See how this day, this moment can be used to move your own agendas forward to help others, and to help make New Brunswick better. I believe Becca would have wanted that,” she said.

Anne Schofield said she hears from people every day about how Becca affected the lives of others.

A woman who has gone through loss of her own is coming to the aid of the parents of a young girl who died in a tragic Christmas parade accident in Yarmouth, N.S.

The small town of 7,000 people was left devastated when four-year-old MaCali Cormier died Saturday night after she fell under the wheels of a float during the annual Parade of Lights.

READ MORE: Candlelight vigil held in Yarmouth, N.S., to honour memory of child killed during Santa Claus parade

Sarah Robicheau says she understands the intense pain the loss of a child can bring, after experiencing a stillbirth in 2012 and the loss of an infant to SIDS just two years later.

“I know the heartache and what’s to come,” she said.

“When I had my loss, there was not really any resources in Yarmouth for child loss, so I kind of left the hospital empty handed, with nothing, and not really anywhere to go to.”

A candlelight vigil was to be held at Frost Park in Yarmouth Monday night in memory of MaCali, a pre-primary student who was the oldest of three children.

Grief counsellors were to be dispatched to local schools on Tuesday, when students return from a previously scheduled day off.

“Members of our crisis management team will be in schools on Tuesday morning to provide support for our staff and students,” the Tri-County Regional Centre for Education said in a statement.

WATCH: Candlelight vigil held in Yarmouth, N.S., to honour memory of child killed during Santa Claus parade

Robicheau, 29, along with another friend who lost a child to SIDS, started Anchor for Hope, a non-profit organization that provides support for parents who have experienced child and infant loss, as well as stillbirths and miscarriages.

This support comes in the form of “Hope Boxes” – packages given out at hospitals filled with comfort items like bubble bath and chocolates, as well as a list of resources for parents grieving the loss of a child. They also make meals for families in mourning.

The day after Saturday’s tragedy, Robicheau made a social media request asking people to donate food items for meals for MaCali’s grieving family.

READ MORE: N.S. parade organizers emphasize safety after child dies at Yarmouth parade

“When you’re grieving the loss of a child, it’s really hard to remember to feed yourself, along with other children in the home,” she said.

“It’s just kind of a way to say, ‘We’re here, we love you,’ and just to offer support.”

She said the request was met with a lot of response, and Anchor for Hope had enough food to provide the family with supper every night until the end of December.

Since Saturday, condolences have poured in from across the country and the rest of the world.

“Not only is Canada and everybody in Canada grieving over this, but everyone around the world is also grieving about this,” said Devan Boudreau, a close family friend who had known MaCali since her birth.

Boudreau, 29, said MaCali was a friendly, happy girl who always wanted to be part of what was going on.

“She was a very, very great kid. So full of love and life. It’s unbelievable. Even if you were a stranger and you walked by her in the mall, and you looked at her, she’d say hi or give you a hug,” Boudreau said.

H.M. Huskilson’s funeral home in Yarmouth has chosen to absorb the funeral costs, and instead, donations can be made to a trust fund for Cormier’s younger siblings.

Tear gas is a chemical weapon banned in war. On Sunday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents deployed the chemical agent at migrants over an international border.

READ MORE:
Trump says U.S. did not tear gas children at border, despite images showing it

Border patrol officials said they used the tear gas at the San Ysidro port of entry after migrants threw rocks at them.

Authorities also appeared to use a flash bang, which makes a loud noise but does not fire a projectile, at a group of people who were trying to get through a section of the border fence, according to the L.A. Times.

Now, officials in both Mexico and California want answers from the Trump administration and are assessing possible legal actions that could be taken in the matter.

WATCH: Trump explains why tear gas was used at Mexico border

Tear gas considered a method of warfare depending on where it’s used

Tear gas is a chemical weapon and is illegal for international use, including on the battlefield. The 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention, which the U.S. has signed, says that although tear gas has no long-term effects when used properly, the substance is banned in battle since it’s difficult to distinguish from more dangerous agents in the fog of war.

However, tear gas is not illegal to use domestically.

READ MORE:
‘We are human beings’: Migrant mom didn’t expect tear gas to be fired at kids, families

CN, or 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile, is one of the most common types of chemical agents in tear gas. CN gas was used the First World War and in tunnels during the Vietnam War.

On U.S. soil, tear gas is allowed to be used in domestic law enforcement to control riots. But it’s considered a chemical weapon if used as a method of warfare.

However, U.S. soldiers threw tear gas canisters into Mexico, meaning they were no longer on domestic ground. Is this legal?

WATCH: Migrants from caravan register in Mexico to work instead of risking rejection at U.S. border

“Is this legal? Is this moral? Is this accurate? What is happening here?” tweeted Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, on Nov. 25.

Is this legal? Is this moral? Is this accurate? What is happening here? https://t.co/4BBFsLvUwE

— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) November 25, 2018

According to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention, member states are allowed to possess riot control agents and use them for domestic law enforcement purposes.

“Riot control agents are intended to temporarily incapacitate a person by causing irritation to the eyes, mouth, throat, lungs and skin,” the group said on its website.

WATCH: Overcrowding and bad hygiene conditions prompting health concerns at Mexico’s migrant caravan

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said on 上海夜生活 that tear gas was used “because of risk to the agents’ safety.”

Today, several migrants threw projectiles at the agents in San Diego. Border Patrol agents deployed tear gas to dispel the group because of the risk to agents’ safety. Several agents were hit by the projectiles. The situation is evolving and a statement is forthcoming.

— CBP (@CBP) November 25, 2018

On Monday, Trump defended the use of the tear gas, saying it was necessary as a defence tactic.

“They had to use [tear gas] because they were being rushed by some very tough people and they used tear gas and here’s the bottom line: nobody is coming into our country unless they’re coming in legally,” Trump said.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection also said Monday that the use of tear gas will be reviewed.

WATCH: Tear-gassed mother recounts U.S. border chaos

Can it cause damage?

“Tear gas, under the Geneva Convention, is characterized as a chemical warfare agent and so it is precluded for use in warfare, but it is used very frequently against civilians,” Sven-Eric Jordt, a nerve gas expert at Yale University School of Medicine, told National Geographic. “That’s very illogical.”

Jordt said there are many examples of people who have suffered severe injury and burns, especially in enclosed environments or city streets with multi-storey buildings. He said tear gas is also problematic for people with asthma or other conditions, who can have very severe reactions to the substance.

“Tear gases are very serious chemical threats. I think it is very problematic to use them,” he said. “Law enforcement has to weigh the risk of tear gas injury of bystanders against gaining control in a riot situation under the assumption that rioters break the law.”

Criticism

The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, CHIRLA, an immigrant rights organization in California, condemned the use of tear gas against immigrants at the border.

“It is a despicable act on the part of the Trump administration and CBP officials to attack defenseless women and children firing tear gas, a chemical agent, at them,” said Angelica Salas, executive director for the organization, in a statement.

“These are human beings who are reaching a point of desperation because their asylum claims are being processed at a snail’s pace or not at all.”

British aid group Oxfam said in a statement the use of tear gas was shameful.

WATCH: About 100 migrants have been deported following rush to U.S. border

“Images of barefoot children choking on tear gas thrown by US Customs and Border Patrol should shock us to our core,” Vicki Gass, Oxfam America Senior Policy Advisor for Central America said.

Democrats and other critics called the use of tear gas an overreaction, and questioned the idea of keeping the migrants in Mexico to make asylum claims there.

Mexico’s foreign ministry called on Monday for “a full investigation” into what it described as non-lethal weapons directed toward Mexican territory the day before, a statement said.

WATCH: Trump says migrant caravan uses children as protection when rushing border

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra is assessing whether the state can take legal action over the Trump administration’s use of force against the migrants and future threats to shut the border with Mexico, he said in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday.

“We have been approached by folks who have expressed complaints,” Becerra, who is the son of Mexican immigrants, said. “We are monitoring what’s occurring.”

—; With files from Reuters

A group representing Canadian businesses is praising the federal government for legislating postal employees back to work, saying it will help clear hefty backlogs of mail ahead of the busy holiday season.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business said in a statement that it was pleased Ottawa listened to business owners, who described the postal strike as “an emergency for many small firms and for Canadian consumers.”

READ MORE:
Canada Post back-to-work legislation passed, comes into effect on Tuesday

Mail service was scheduled to resume today at noon Eastern after the Senate passed legislation ordering an end to five weeks of rotating strikes by postal workers.

Royal assent was granted Monday after senators approved Bill C-89 by a vote of 53-25, with four abstentions.

The government deemed passage of the bill to be urgent due to the economic impact of continued mail disruptions during the busy Christmas holiday season.

Senator says Senate did ‘right thing’ in passing Canada Post back-to-work legislation

02:17

Senator says Senate did ‘right thing’ in passing Canada Post back-to-work legislation

01:18

Canadian Senator says delaying debate for Canada Post back-to-work legislation a day informed discussion

02:27

Senators question constitutionality of Liberals’ Canada Post back-to-work legislation

01:30

President of Canada Post workers’ union says all options on table over back-to-work legislation

00:59

Trudeau defends Canada Post back-to-work legislation amid questions from NDP

00:57

Canada Post workers’ union president says he hopes Senate understands back-to-work legislation ‘unnecessary’

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers issued a statement declaring it’s “exploring all options to fight the back-to-work legislation.”

Negotiations had been underway for nearly a year, but the dispute escalated more recently when CUPW members launched rotating strikes Oct. 22.

Those walkouts have led to backlogs of mail and parcel deliveries at the Crown corporation’s main sorting plants in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal.

Dan Kelly, president of the business federation, said 71 per cent of members it surveyed supported back-to-work legislation after two-thirds of small businesses reported they had been negatively affected by the strike.

READ MORE:
Canada Post’s request to pause strike over holidays rejected by union

“Back to work legislation is never an easy choice, but it will help salvage the holiday season for small firms and consumers,” he said in the statement. “We’re relieved to see Canada Post back to work and hope the corporation and the union can reach a long-lasting agreement to ensure Canada Post can become a low-cost and reliable option for small business.”

Last Thursday, Brittany Castagnier was driving east on Highway 401 from Odessa to Kingston to meet a client. She drove for about two minutes and then she was suddenly hit by a transport truck from behind and ended up in a ditch.

Castagnier says she heard a loud bang and the next thing she knew, her car was resting in a ditch. The entire experience is a blur because it happened so fast. But what Castagnier does remember is that she “felt like a ragdoll, being thrown around a car.”

The car’s airbags deployed during the crash and all Castagnier could see was her sunroof, everything else was covered. Castagnier says “I felt so claustrophobic.”

She then tried to kick the sunroof out so she could escape from her red Mazda but she was unsuccessful. “I really thought I was giving it my all,” Castagnier said.

Fortunately, at that moment another transport truck driver stopped on the shoulder of the highway, broke through her sunroof and pulled her out of her vehicle.

READ MORE:
Collision closes both directions of Highway 401 near Odessa, Ont.

The transport truck that hit Castagnier’s car had also hit other vehicles in a chain reaction collision.  No one was seriously hurt.

“The luck of that was extraordinary,” says Cont. Scott Woodburn with the Napanee OPP. Castagnier is suffering from a concussion and is also being treated for whiplash.

Castagnier says she’s lucky as “things could have ended up to be a lot worse.” Castagnier’s Mazda has been written off.

READ MORE:
Transport truck collision causes delays on highway 401 Eastbound

Castagnier adds that she’s thankful for the truck driver who rescued her, the paramedics and the people who cared for her by giving away their jackets and blankets. She also hopes the truck driver who hit her vehicle learns his lesson and is more careful going forward.

A risk of snow squalls in London’s forecast throughout the day and into the evening has prompted a weather advisory from Environment Canada.

The government agency says London, Parkhill, and Eastern Middlesex County should prepare for flurries and squalls that could deliver local snowfall amounts between 10 and 15 centimetres by Wednesday morning.

The city is already waking up to a small amount of snow and ice on area roadways, which has prompted the cancellation of school-purpose vehicles in Central and East Elgin.

READ MORE:
First blast of winter weather in London keeps police, emergency services, salt trucks busy

Environment Canada meteorologist Rosemary Tabory tells 980 CFPL flurries are expected to get more frequent throughout the day, with a chance for squall activity in the afternoon.

“We just had a large low-pressure [system] move through southern Ontario this past evening, and in behind it, we’re getting into a strong gusty northwesterly flow. It’s generating a bit of activity off the great lakes.”

Tabory says the squalls could impact road and driving conditions, and she’s warning motorists to be careful.

READ MORE:
London police, OPP, CAA report spike in service calls following blast of winter weather

“You could be driving into something that gives you near zero visibility, you could encounter snow-covered roads that might be slippery, so just be very cautious,” she said.

Temperatures will continue to hover around the freezing mark Tuesday, during the day and overnight. There’s blowing snow in the forecast for Wednesday morning too, and a small chance of flurries until Friday night.

It’ll be warmer over the weekend, with a high of 5 C on Saturday and Sunday.

The Kremlin warned Tuesday that a simmering war in eastern Ukraine could boil over after Russia seized three Ukrainian ships and Kiev responded by declaring martial law in parts of the country. Russia paraded the captured seamen on television, a move that Ukraine called criminal.

Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other for Sunday’s confrontation in the Kerch Strait, which links the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. The clash has raised the specter of renewing a full-blown conflict in eastern Ukraine and saw Russia strongly criticized at the United Nations by the United States and its allies.

READ MORE:
Russia seized Ukrainian ships and sailors, then blamed ‘banditry’. Here’s what you need to know

The Ukrainian parliament on Monday adopted a motion by the president to impose martial law for 30 days. That is something Ukraine avoided doing even when Russia annexed its nearby Crimean peninsula in 2014 or sent in clandestine troops and weapons to insurgents in war-torn eastern Ukraine.

On Sunday near Crimea, Russian border guards rammed into and opened fire on three Ukrainian navy vessels traveling from the Black Sea toward a Ukrainian port. The Russians seized the ships and their crews.

Ukraine considers the 24 captured men to be prisoners of war and says some have been seriously injured, while Russia says they are individuals who have violated its border.

The Kremlin reacted strongly to Ukraine’s declaration of martial law, with Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, telling reporters Tuesday that it might trigger a flare-up in hostilities in eastern Ukraine.

Ukrainian troops have been fighting Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine since 2014, a conflict that has left over 10,000 dead, but fighting has eased since a truce in 2015.

WATCH: Relatives of captured Ukrainian soldiers in the dark about their whereabouts, condition

The martial law formally went into effect on Monday in several parts of Ukraine, including areas bordering territory now held by the separatists.

The Russian intelligence agency FSB claimed the ships had Ukrainian SBU intelligence agents onboard with a mission to mount what they called “provocation” in the Kerch Strait.

The strait is spanned by a new bridge that Russia completed this year — the only land link from the Russian mainland to the annexed peninsula of Crimea.

The SBU on Tuesday confirmed it had officers on the ships but denied any nefarious intentions, saying they were simply fulfilling counterintelligence operations for the Ukrainian navy.

The SBU also demanded that Russia stop using “psychological and physical pressure” on the Ukrainians — an apparent reference to interviews of the crewmembers that Russia released late Monday. The video broadcast by Russian state television showed three separate interviews with Ukrainian seamen, all of whom agreed with Russian claims that they violated its border.

WATCH: Tensions escalate after Russia seizes Ukraine naval ships

It was not immediately possible to ascertain if the men were talking under duress or had been subject to violence. One of them was clearly reading from a script prepared for them.

Ukraine’s foreign minister told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he has asked the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross to arrange a visit to the Ukrainian prisoners and he’s waiting for a Russian response. He said some of the seamen on the seized ships had been seriously injured in the clash with Russia.

“It’s not a political issue here, because we can have an argument about the legal status, but it’s about simply concentrating on protecting them and helping them,” Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin told the AP.

When asked about the Ukrainian seamen broadcasts on Russian TV, Klimkin said “even to put prisoners of war on television is already a crime.”

READ MORE:
Poland, Germany among countries to support sanctions on Russia for capturing Ukrainian ships

A court in Crimea on Tuesday ordered that one of the Ukrainians be kept in custody pending a trial. He could be sent to prison for six years if found guilty. Rulings for possible arrest of 11 more Ukrainian seamen are expected later in the day while the court will rule on the remaining 12 on Wednesday.

Ukraine said its vessels were heading to the Sea of Azov in line with international maritime rules, while Russia charged that they had failed to obtain permission to pass through the narrow Kerch Strait.

Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke on the phone early Tuesday, and the Russian president expressed a “serious concern” about what the martial law in Ukraine might entail.

Meanwhile, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Tuesday that Berlin has “called on Russia and Ukraine to show the greatest possible restraint” and suggested that Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine could work together to resolve the tensions.

WATCH: Freeland condemns Russian seizure of Ukrainian ships

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who was visiting Paris on Tuesday, rejected that offer, saying that he did not see “a need for any kind of mediators.” He spoke after meeting with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who appeared to soften his criticism of Russia’s seizure of the ships.

Shortly after Russian border guards seized the Ukrainian ships off Crimea, France’s Foreign Ministry said “nothing justifies” Russia’s use of force.

But after long talks with Lavrov in Paris, Le Drian blamed the ship standoff on the “high level of militarization” in the region and avoided pointing the finger at Russia.

The United States and the European Union have slapped sanctions on Russian businesses, tycoons and banks for Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.