The grotesque global business of suicide poison seller Kenneth Law was laid bare in a Newmarket, Ont., courtroom on Friday as Law took a plea deal and admitted to criminally assisting 14 suicides after the Crown concluded it would be “impossible” to convict him of murder.

Details of nearly 100 suicides aided by his online shopping business, which sold poisonous chemicals and asphyxiation masks, were read into the record by a prosecutor.

These include the 14 Ontario deaths for which Law was previously charged with murder, and 79 from Britain, shared by British authorities on the condition they be used to inform and increase his sentence. The U.K. will not seek to prosecute Law over these deaths and regards these Ontario proceedings as the final criminal word, according to a statement Friday from the National Crime Agency. Sentencing is expected to be argued in September, to allow time for victim impact statements.

Judge Michelle Fuerst of the Superior Court of Justice found him guilty on each of 14 counts and entered convictions.

The victims include a 16 year-old-girl who was found dead by her father. They include a 21-year-old man who had stopped taking his depression medication and was found dead by his brother. One 25-year-old woman left a note saying, “Why would it be logical to suffer to the bitter end?” A 21-year-old Ontario man took the poison late at night, his family heard him vomiting, he asked to call 911, and then collapsed in his father’s arms. An 18-year-old man was found by his 14-year-old sister. One 34-year-old man was found in a rental car at BMO Field wearing an asphyxiation mask connected to a nitrogen tank, and he had previously made a donation to a charity for trauma for first responders. Most of the others took poison and were found in their homes, often their bedrooms, or hotel rooms. Many asked for help after taking the poison, including calling emergency services and disclosing what they had ingested.

Among the 79 British deaths, many had mental health problems, and some had previously made suicide attempts. Only a very few had terminal physiological illnesses. One woman was found by her young daughter slumped over the child’s dollhouse. A 21-year-old university student was found in his dormitory room by campus services after sending a message to his romantic partner: “Bye this is your fault.”

Many were university students in their 20s. “Just dump my body and forget about me,” said a note left by a university student. One victim’s mother had died of cancer three days before he took the poison. Many were found dead by campus security services or hotel cleaning staff.

But poison sold by Law also seems likely to have caused many more deaths even than these, given that he also admits shipping 1,209 packages to 41 countries around the world. Most contained the legal poison sodium nitrite, a curative agent for food that is also toxic in sufficient quantities, but some contained special masks that cause asphyxiation with nitrogen gas. Law himself said on a secretly recorded call by a journalist that people have also died from his products in the United States.

Law, 60, entered the prisoner’s box shortly after 10 a.m. wearing a dark blazer over a white shirt, tan trousers, no belt and a paunch, with his greying black hair cut short. He has been in custody since his arrest in 2023. With his legal team beside him, he stood to say “I plead guilty” 14 times to the registrar’s reading of the charges. He showed no emotion and spoke only to answer Judge Fuerst’s questions about whether he understands the consequences of his plea. He used his right hand to sign the agreed statement of facts held by his lawyer Matthew Gourlay.

“Hearken to your plea as the court hath recorded it,” the registrar said, before detailing it.

Behind him in the gallery, victim family members sat with solemn faces, some in tears, others with pained expressions or closed eyes, or sharing comforting embraces.

An agreed statement of facts indicates that from 2020 to his 2023 arrest, he received approximately $300,000 from this business, roughly equally through Shopify and PayPal.

His online material said he would not sell to minors, and that he enforced a minimum age of 25, and court has heard that customers would occasionally send images of government issued identification to prove details of their identities. But the Ontario cases include two children, and there are more in the British list, including an autistic 14-year-old boy who obtained the poison under a pseudonym.

A publication ban prohibits identifying the minor Ontario victims.

The province originally wanted to charge Law with murder, which could have made him one of the most prolific Canadian murderers ever. But the underlying jurisprudence changed unexpectedly.

“The law in Ontario no longer makes a murder prosecution viable in this case,” said Crown prosecutor Peter Westgate.

He said the Ontario Court of Appeal reviewed the case of a nurse who had tried to murder her mother and daughter, and in its reasons, described a “standard of causation” under which a voluntary suicide can be charged as a murder by someone else. “The court’s analysis of that standard made a murder prosecution impossible.”

In effect, the only way to charge Law with murder would be if he had overborn the free will of his victims before they consumed his poison.

The Supreme Court of Canada reviewed that decision in turn, and overturned the outcome but did not interfere with the description of this standard of causation. This remains “binding,” Westgate said, and so there is no longer a reasonable prospect of convicting Law of murder. On that analysis, the Crown had no choice but to drop the murder charges.

An agreed statement of facts describes how Law, a former engineer and business executive, started his suicide kit business during the pandemic. He used the alias “Greenberg” to anonymously promote his business on a web forum called Sanctioned Suicide, and direct its users to his retail websites. He had come to the attention of law enforcement before. In 2022, a police officer from the U.K. told him his packaging had been found at the scene of a suicide, and Law said he was “surprised and saddened” as it was intended to be used for deli meats, and that he intends to stop selling sodium nitrite “as soon as our inventory is depleted.”

The 50 gram packages of sodium nitrite sold by Law included instructions that refer to its primary intended industrial use in curing hams and other meats. They do not refer to human ingestion for suicide.

Law would also offer consultation phone calls for $150 to address customer questions and concerns, and he sent documentation saying he was not engaged in “solicitation” and his business “will be held harmless for the end use of its products.”

Law came to the attention of Canadian police after The Times of London conducted a sting on Law, having tracked his business to a post office box in Mississauga. Court heard the journalist James Beal’s recording of a preliminary phone call and the in-person interview when he managed to stake out Law at the post office.

The recording left no doubt Law knew what he was selling the poison for. He said he had been doing it for more than two years. He said he has sent “literally hundreds” of packages to the U.K., and many were used to cause death.

“I want to end my life,” Beal told him, but claimed to be nervous about taking the right amount.

Twenty-five grams diluted in water, Law said. “Sodium nitrite can take around 40 minutes, thereabouts, in terms of you know, death, and there is a high probability if you don’t take some anti-emetics, that there will be nausea and vomiting. So not 100 per cent peaceful, I can’t guarantee you that.”

Law described the physical symptoms of nausea, pale and blue tinged skin, but claimed the risk of long term organ damage in the case of survival was low. Many of the victim details in the agreed statement of facts refer to vomit being found near the deceased.

In the event of interception by law enforcement, Law’s advice was to claim to be an “aspiring chef” who wants to cure some bacon.

He called sodium nitrite the “budgetary choice,” and said a more “peaceful” but expensive option is a nitrogen asphyxiation mask. The agreed statement of facts suggests the sodium nitrite cost about $80 for a 50 gram package, and the mask system cost a few hundred.

“You do have the right to life and obviously to death too,” Law said on the journalist’s recording.

He said the pandemic led many people to reflect, “What’s the whole point in life?”

Both Law and the Crown agree he made these statements to Beal, but disagree on his motivations. His “true motivation” will be discussed at sentencing, the agreed statement says.

Search warrant photographs showed shelves of packaged products in his Toronto area home after his arrest.

Police also found a will by Law, evidently made out after The Times sting because he referred to the journalist’s “zeal.” He claimed in the will to have been helping people alleviate their pain “while making a small modest profit.”

The parties likewise do not agree what can be concluded from this statement, and will be argued in September at the sentencing hearing.

Assisting suicide has a maximum prison term of 14 years under Canadian law.

• Can suicide be murder? With Kenneth Law to plead guilty to lesser charge, we may never know
• Ontario man accused of selling toxic substances so people could die by suicide expected to plead guilty in May

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Uncontrolled, undetected internal bleeding, an emergency medicine “time bomb,” can kill within hours.

So, when Dr. Fraser Mackay saw a young woman recently with a minor shoulder injury from a fall who seemed in an inordinate amount of pain, his gut told him something was off.

She was seated in a chair in a very public, high traffic area of a Saint John, N.B., emergency department. No space for a proper assessment. Nowhere to assess her privately. Mackay decided she needed a bedside ultrasound of her abdomen. A proper ultrasound requires laying the patient down and lifting their clothing. Except there were no empty stretchers. So, she just sat there, in pain.

With his shift over, Mackay told the on-coming doctor, “Until we get a stretcher, she can’t go home.”

Her stomach was finally scanned, an hour or two later. The test showed internal bleeding requiring emergency surgery to find and stop the source of bleeding.

“It would have been very easy to say, ‘Well, if things get worse, come back later,'” Mackay said. “Who knows how long she could have sat there. And what if that stretcher hadn’t become available, and her bleeding had gotten worse? She shouldn’t have been assessed in a chair in the first place.”

Except “chair medicine” and “waiting room care” have become routine and common, default responses to Canada’s severely gridlocked emergency rooms, Mackay and other emergency physicians are reporting.

“ER chair medicine in Ontario (the awful cousin of hallway medicine) is unacceptable. Full stop,” Toronto emergency physician Dr. Raghu Venugopal posted on X.

“We need to get rid of it. We must fund hospitals and fix the problem of critically ill patients put in a chair. There is zero exaggeration here. I am sounding the alarm. Hear it.”

ER chair medicine in Ontario (the awful cousin of hallway medicine) is unacceptable. Full stop. We need to get rid of it. We must fund hospitals and fix the problem of critically ill patients put in a chair. There is zero exaggeration here. I am sounding the alarm. Hear it. pic.twitter.com/J6LZ5vUm7z

— Raghu Venugopal MD (@raghu_venugopal) May 3, 2026

Venugopal posted that he witnessed people in “extremis from pain ” being “put and kept in a chair.”

Extremis can mean uncontrolled, doubled-over-in-agony pain. “Generally speaking, those patients shouldn’t be in a chair,” Mackay said.

But as backed-up emergency departments desperately try to manage more demand than they have the capacity to meet, more people are being assessed in “unconventional spaces,” the official euphemism for spaces never designed, or equipped, to provide emergency care: No access to oxygen or suction, no nurse call bell, no easy access to a washroom or sink, no shred of privacy.

“Unconventional spaces” can include any carved-out space. Hospitals are converting ambulance bays into patient wards. “No heating, no plumbing, but, ‘Hey, it’s great — we’re taking care of our patients by sticking them in a cold garage,'” said Mackay, chair of the Canadian Association of Emergency Physician’s rural, remote and small urban section.

Patients have been examined in closets and washrooms. Doctors are wading into waiting rooms and pulling sick patients into corners and cubby holes. Blankets are being hung off IV poles to create makeshift curtains for people stranded in chaotic hallways. While it may give the illusion of an acceptable version of medicine, care is “guaranteed being comprised by the concept, ‘We can just see a patient in a chair,'” Mackay said.

He’s had several “near misses” involving patients treated in chairs — close catches where a disaster was narrowly avoided because of, in the internal bleeding case, vigilance. “I got a bad vibe, which is honestly a big part of being a doctor.”

The pressure to provide treatment in whatever space they can is creating a moral, “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” dilemma for emergency staff across Canada, said Medicine Hat, Alta., emergency physician Paul Parks.

“You don’t want to watch suffering and see patients not doing well and lingering in the waiting room. But you also know that, when you walk out there, you don’t really have a nurse, you don’t have monitoring, you don’t have the standard things you would have if you had a normal care space,” said Parks, a past president of the Alberta Medical Association.

“You, by definition, are basically kind of MacGyver-ing it and giving suboptimal care to a degree.”

But while some care, some intervention, may be better than nothing, “this is just a Band-Aid on a massive, gaping wound,” he said.

An average of 1,390 people seen in an emergency room on any given day in Ontario in 2023-24 received care in an unconventional space, a metric first tracked by the news outlet, The Trillium.

Not every person who lands in emergency needs to be in a space with monitors and a gurney or stretcher — the old school thinking of the 90s.

Over the years, emergency departments pulled together “minor treatment” spaces. At Parks’ Medicine Hat hospital, that meant three chairs separated by office space dividers in a public hallway outside the waiting room.

Thus, “chair care” was born.

More recently came “rapid assessment zones” designed for the “less acutely unwell” who can be safely seen in an internal waiting area or chair space — people with sprains, cuts needing stitches, sore throats, ear infections. There are comfortable padded recliners, perhaps a bed or two. The aim, to increase patient flow — assess, treat and move people out, quickly. “It maximizes your space and allows good throughput,” said Ottawa area emergency physician Dr. Michael Herman.

The potential danger occurs when the emergency department gets “jammed up with admits,” meaning every cubicle or hallway stretcher already filled with people who need to be admitted to the hospital, but with no empty beds on the wards to move them to, because those scarce beds are filled, often with people who no longer need to be there but can’t leave because there’s nowhere for them to go — no space in a nursing or long-term care home, no home care or rehab bed. What’s known as “access block,” another administrative euphemism.

Suddenly, people with more serious complaints trickle down to the fast-track zone, “where it’s really not optimized for that person or that complaint,” Herman said.

“It slowly becomes normalized — the frog in the boiling water. ‘We just wanted to see them to get things started or get things moving along,’ and then it becomes two patients, then eight, then 10.”

“You’ve normalized a patient population through one of these zones that isn’t appropriate for them,” Herman said.

That can be risky with “undifferentiated” patients: Is the chest pain acid reflux, pneumonia or an evolving heart attack?

“That’s the five-alarm fire situation many of us worry about every day,” Herman said.

When hospitals are running at 100 per cent capacity, and the congestion backs up into emergency, “the goal posts move, and the appropriateness goes out the window,” Mackay said.

“You cannot appropriately examine a patient in a chair, physically, or from a patient privacy perspective. You have to lift up shirts, take off pants, put on monitors, get your stethoscope out.”

And when the rapid-access zones and other chair areas are overflowing, including with now very sick patients needing more prolonged care, and those areas get gridlocked, “then we’ll go out into the waiting room,” Parks said, to try to find the near misses and avert another waiting room disaster.

Even then, there often aren’t enough personnel to help. Parks said it’s not uncommon for doctors to see waiting room patients with lower, right-side abdominal pain and fever that looks suspicious for appendicitis. Blood work, a CT scan and antibiotics and pain meds can be ordered. “But, while the blood work and maybe CT scan gets done, there’s no one available to deliver the antibiotics or pain medication,” Parks said. Hours later, the patient is still in the waiting room, with no comfort or pain relief. “And you get the CT scan back and, indeed, it is appendicitis and they go straight to the operating room,” after having spent eight or nine hours in the waiting room.

It’s a “duct tape,” workaround solution that’s sparked ongoing ethical debate among doctors.

“What is more important,” Mackay asked. “Do we compromise care to at least do some sort of assessment, which then perpetuates and even normalizes substandard care as a result of half-assed status quo system policies that lack accountability, versus we stick to the high ground of, ‘I will not see a patient until I have the capacity to do so to the best of my abilities in an appropriate site.’

“More and more we’re recognizing that we just want to see the patients. We want to try and find those ticking time bombs. We want to get people out of the department that have been there for 12 hours.”

Earlier this month, a patient was discovered dead in the waiting room of an overcrowded emergency department at Edmonton’s Royal Alexandra Hospital. In late December, Prashant Sreekumar, a 44-year-old father of four, died at Edmonton’s Grey Nuns Hospital. After waiting eight hours in an emergency with chest pain, he collapsed within minutes of being called to a treatment area.

“My heart goes out to our triage nurses who have the impossible task of looking through a packed waiting room and trying to figure out who’s the needle in the haystack,” Herman said. “They’re being set up to fail by the system that doesn’t allow them to flow these patients into the care spaces they need to be in, in a timely manner.”

Sreekumar had complaints that likely required cardiac monitoring and a nurse-staffed bed, Herman said. “What so-called ‘unnecessary’ visit was sitting in the bed that he needed to be in? Was it an ankle sprain? Of course not. It was another equally sick person or admitted patient who wasn’t able to get out of that space so he could get in.”

Everyone fights over that one final stretcher, he said. “We put people in these suboptimal environments and then act surprised when suboptimal things happen.”

One of the biggest indicators of a system in free-fall is assessing, treating and discharging an acutely ill patient in a chair, Mackay said. “And that is driven by the pressure we have. We are not taught to do that. It goes against our training. One of the fundamental aspects of training a physician is patient respect. Patient privacy.

“You don’t undress patients in a hallway. You don’t ask patients their deepest, most personal questions when there’s someone sitting in a chair next to them.”

It also does nothing to reduce what’s been described as the “ barbaric ” and growing practice of boarding — keeping admitted people, like an 80-year-old with a fractured hip, on a hallway stretcher for one, two, three days, with 24/7 light and noise, and no sleep, waiting for a ward bed to open. A recent systematic review found strong evidence linking boarding with higher death rates in hospitals, longer hospital stays, more medication errors and worsening burnout for staff.

Canada’s chronic hospital bed shortage is a major driver of emergency department crowding, but in addition to more beds, a more integrated health system overall is needed, Mackay said, including more community supports — more long term care, more physiotherapy — to discharge patients wherever they need to go.

“None of this has anything to do with the emergency department. That’s the frustrating part,” he said.

“But it’s a huge burden on staff and a huger burden on the patients, because they’re not getting the care they need in the place they need it.”

National Post

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Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke to Pope Leo XIV about the importance of protecting humanity when it comes to artificial intelligence, according to his office.

A readout of the conversation says Carney thanked the Pope for his “leadership in this field.”

“They discussed the imperative that AI must serve humanity, beginning with the protection of the individual,” says a readout provided by the Prime Minister’s Office on Friday.

“Prime Minister Carney expressed Canada’s desire to lead internationally on responsible AI and tools to benefit the global community.”

The readout says the pair also discussed the Vatican’s return of some Indigenous artifacts to Canada from its museums, which has been a longstanding calls from Indigenous leaders and residential school survivors, as well as the need for global peace.

Carney, who is Catholic, spoke to the Pope about artificial intelligence after the pontiff released new guidance when it comes to approaching the technology, directing it at global Catholics and Christians.

“In the era of artificial intelligence, when human dignity is threatened by new forms of dehumanization, ours is the pressing duty to remain profoundly human,” the Pope said in his encyclical letter, the first released since he became pontiff last year .

“We must lovingly safeguard the grandeur of humanity bestowed upon us and revealed in its fullness in Christ, the splendor of which no machine can ever replace.”

The Pope also warned about the consequences of individuals having mass amounts of their data collected.

He says in his letter that the “freedom in the digital age is not merely a matter of interiority but also a public concern.”

“It calls for clear rules, transparency, the possibility of recourse and proportionate limits on the use of intrusive technologies, so that technology will remain at the service of the human person and not become a form of control over consciences.”

The pontiff opened his letter by illustrating how humanity was at a crossroads when it came to the technology.

“Either to construct a new Tower of Babel or to build the city in which God and humanity dwell together.”

Carney told reporters this week that his government’s long-awaited artificial intelligence strategy is expected to come next week, an effort that has been spearheaded by Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon.

Solomon’s office has only said that the strategy’s release was “imminent,” and did not confirm a specific date.

Canada’s approach to artificial intelligence, particularly chatbots, has fallen under heavy scrutiny since a shooter opened fire on family members and a secondary school in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., located in the province’s interior.

Solomon, who met with representatives from OpenAI after it was revealed that the shooter had their account suspended due to what the company had previously flagged as troubling exchanges, has said the government was looking at all options for next steps.

The minister has touted the importance of ensuring Canada’s approach to artificial intelligence was competitive with jurisdictions like the United States, with the federal government also having its own approach for the technology within the public service in hopes of improving output.

National Post

• Heritage minister reconvenes advisory group on online harms to consult on AI chatbots
• Carney's budget reveals $925.6 million plan to support 'sovereign public AI infrastructure'

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our politics newsletter, First Reading, here.

A tip to police that Esther, a missing Toronto girl, had been spotted in a Walmart led to her eventual discovery in the basement of a home in Rexdale, a neighbourhood within Toronto’s Etobicoke region.

According to the Toronto Sun , which spoke to a resident in the area, the 14-year-old was seen at a Walmart at the corner of Rexdale Blvd. and Islington Ave. She was then believed to have walked into a nearby residential neighbourhood.

The resident told the paper’s Joe Warmington that police “went up and down the street to check to see if neighbours had security video.”

The resident said that several officers and police then converged on one house. “They brought out a white man of about 30 and put him in a police car,” said the witness. Esther followed. “She was wearing a black hoodie and a jacket and seemed to be walking fine. They put her in a police car as well and then left.”

This was at about 1 p.m. Thursday.

“She has been taken to hospital to be examined both physically as well as for medical staff to assess what emotional toll the situation may have caused her,” Superintendent Don Belanger said at a press conference about two hours later, near the command centre that had been set up to aid in the search.

“Our investigation will now turn to whether or not there is any evidence of criminality associated to her prolonged disappearance. It is for this reason, along with Esther’s and her family’s obvious right to privacy, that I will not be able to comment further at this time.”

The Sun learned that the house where Esther was found is owned by a man named Devon, who said he has a tenant, Duffy, in the basement.

That man was at a Toronto Police division Thursday night, though police have not indicated if they have laid any charges.

Belanger said of Esther’s parents: “I think they’re relieved. We’re all extremely relieved. No one’s more relieved than her parents, but I haven’t had any direct contact with them today.”

In a statement released on Thursday afternoon, Esther’s parents expressed joy at her return and gratitude for those who helped look for her.

“There are no words to describe the relief we are feeling knowing that Esti has been found safe. For the first time in days, we can hug our daughter and breathe again,” the statement says.

“To the thousands of people who carried our family through this nightmare — thank you will never feel big enough,” it adds.

“There are not enough words to thank the overwhelming support from the Jewish community and every resident of Toronto and the GTA who searched for Esti as if she was their own daughter.”

Joyous messages on social media included comments from B’nai Brith Canada , Toronto politician Brad Bradford and MP Anthony Housefather .

Asked about numerous reports of missing posters being torn down, Belanger said: “I can’t think of anything more unethical than that type of behaviour. It’s absolutely ridiculous. Any effort to disrupt our attempts to locate Esther, nobody can ever justify that.”

He thanked the investigative teams that had worked on the case, adding: “Last but truly not least, I must offer a special thank-you to the community. The manner in which this community came together to support this investigation and Esther’s family was nothing short of remarkable. This was more than a police search and a police investigation. It was truly a combined police and community effort, including the numerous tips we received daily, and for that we’re extremely grateful.”

Family spokesperson Maureen Leshem spoke briefly at the press conference. Asked how she felt when she heard the news, she replied: “Immense relief, just an extraordinary sigh of relief. We can breathe again.”

She added her thanks. “Thousands of people came out to help from all walks of life, not just from our community, but from the entire community, people as far as Hamilton, people as far as Mississauga, we had old people, young people, children … Everybody was willing to do what they needed to do to bring a child home, regardless of whether they knew Esther or not.”

Esther, affectionately known as Esti, was reported missing on Friday, May 15, in the area of Earl Bales Park , a large green space located at Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue West in the northern part of the city.

Canadian Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, who had added his voice to the growing chorus of outrage over the tearing down of posters that have been put up to aid in the search for the missing 14-year-old, was among the first to comment on X after she was found.

“What a blessed relief for her loved ones,” he posted.

Oh, Thank God!

Esther is found safe.

What a blessed relief for her loved ones.

Thank you to the countless volunteers, community members, first responders, and Toronto Police who worked tirelessly to bring her home safely to her family. https://t.co/DmVTsVLaGA

— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) May 28, 2026

American commentators and international media had been taking notice of the events in Ontario’s capital.

“‘Cruel’ vandals rip down posters for missing Jewish teen girl who vanished in Toronto,” reads a headline in the New York Post . The article added, over the image of a partially torn-down poster: “The bungling yobs even left behind evidence by not even fully removing the posters.”

“This is one of the sickest things I’ve ever seen in my life,” Jeff Feldman, a debt advisory consultant based in New York, wrote on X in response to a story in Britain’s Daily Mail. “Pure evil. Humanity is in a sad place.”

Texas politician Cameron Carlisle added: “The Jewish people are literally under attack around the world. It’s time to start speaking up & taking action against this vile & antisemitic behavior!”

“Hey, Canada. What’s wrong with you?” posted Montreal/New York-based X account LGBT for Israel . “Has this level of hate always been here, just dormant? Did we simply miss it all these years? Or is this what humans so often do when given a cheap, socially approved scapegoat … one that’s easy and safe to attack?”

“This is shocking and disappointing,” the embassy of Israel in Canada wrote in a post on X. “Jew-hate is getting in the way of a missing girl being brought to safety. In Canada. In 2026. May Esti come home as soon as possible.”

Poilievre’s and the embassy’s reactions were in response to a widely shared post that alleged the woman photographed started to tear down some posters before she was stopped. The original post appears to have come from a Toronto resident posting on Facebook under the name Shana Ti. National Post has reached out to her for comments.

This is shocking and disappointing. Jew-hate is getting in the way of a missing girl being brought to safety. In Canada. In 2026.

May Esti come home as soon as possible. https://t.co/23OvxTWi6c

— Israel in Canada (@IsraelinCanada) May 26, 2026

“I just stopped this woman from tearing off one of the posters of Esther at Christie and Dupont. She said. ‘Stop looking for her’ And started tearing off the poster. And I said ‘don’t tear off that poster’ and she said ‘why are you talking to me stranger?’ and I said ‘that is a poster of a missing 14-year-old girl do not remove it’ and she walked away and I took these photos.” said the post on Facebook on Thursday.

Last week, Toronto police said they have elevated the search for Esther to Priority 1 status, the highest level of response and one that mobilizes extensive resources like specialized K-9 units, drones, mounted officers and large-scale ground searches, in addition to community outreach.

Esther’s family also announced a $25,000 reward for any information leading to her “safe return.”

• 'Help Find Esti' posters of missing 14-year-old Jewish girl 'are being ripped down across Toronto'
• Beryl Wajsman: The double standard of outrage over treatment of flotilla activists

Toronto Police have released an additional image of Esther in hopes it will help find the 14-year-old Jewish girl who has been missing since Friday, May 15. The latest release also adds that she was last seen on May 16 at 12:01 a.m., in the Bathurst Street and Hotspur Road area.

On the weekend, Michael Levitt, President-CEO of the Simon Wiesenthal Center Canada, shared an image of a torn poster on X and told whoever had done it to stop.

“As volunteers search desperately for a missing 14-year-old Jewish girl, posters meant to help bring her home are being ripped down across Toronto,” posted Combat Antisemitism Movement on X on Monday as they reshared a video by Dan Levy. “Not political posters. Not protest signs. A missing child.”

The parents, Shira and Joseph, said on Thursday that their daughter has been diagnosed before as being on the autism spectrum, CP24 reports. The parents added that the “only reason we’re okay saying it now because she’s still missing.” Her mother said, “ It’s like her medical information that she should have the right to disclose when she chooses to.”

Last week, Toronto police said they have elevated the search for Esther to Priority 1 status and on Thursday announced that they have launched a dedicated phone line for tips about her disappearance, committing all available resources as community volunteers join in the effort to find her.

A Priority 1 or Level 1 search is the highest level of response from the police, and mobilizes extensive resources like specialized K-9 units, drones, mounted officers and large-scale ground searches, in addition to community outreach.

Esther, also known affectionately as Esti, was last seen on Friday, May 15, in the area of Earl Bales Park , a large green space located at Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue West in northern Toronto.

She is described as 5-foot-2, medium build, with brown hair, and was last seen wearing grey sweatpants, a green shirt and no shoes.

“It was Friday night,” her mother, Shira, told Global News. “It was cold outside and she left, and it was dark and she didn’t have her shoes. Both of her pairs of shoes are by the door. And she doesn’t have her phone. Her phone is in the house.”

Shira added that Esther had left her home before but always returned.

Police have released an image of Esther, as well as several blurry security camera images, which have been widely shared on social media.

“I don’t know who else she might have contact with,” her mother said. “I really hope that she’s OK and maybe she’s just scared to come home and she has friends or someone helping her.”

Volunteers in the search include many from Toronto’s large Jewish community, including Shomrim Safety Patrol , an organization founded in 2021 and committed to ensuring the safety and security of Jewish communities across the Greater Toronto Area.

A command centre is operating from the nearby Petah Tikvah Synagogue parking lot. Police say they have deployed a drone as well as marine, canine and mounted units in the search.

Duty Inspector Peter Wallace said in an update: “We are currently appealing to the public to please check your backyard if you reside in this area, your sheds and also your surveillance camera.”

At that time, Shira also delivered a direct appeal to her daughter.

“Esti, my love, if you are watching this, please come home,” she said. “We love you so very much. We miss you terribly. Your family, here, across the country, and around the world, are searching and praying for you every minute. Your friends, classmates, neighbours, and community are all worried about you and hoping to see you safe.”

In a brief press conference on Thursday afternoon, TPS had no new information to provide, but announced a new dedicated phone line of 647-355-4148 for anyone with information that could assist their search. They can also call 911, TPS directly at 416-808-3200, or contact Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), or at www.222tips.com .

“Anyone with information, no matter how small, please come forward,” Inspector Jon Rose said.

“ We do know and we deeply appreciate how concerning this is to the community and to the family when a young person goes missing, especially for this length of time. We would very much like to find Esther and get her home safely to her family.

Police have also created a QR code which people can scan and upload any video which may assist the investigation.

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An India-based gang operating in Canada reportedly sent a letter to a B.C. police station last summer claiming to have a thousand operatives ready to do its bidding. Here’s what to know.

What is the Bishnoi Gang?

According to Public Safety Canada , the Bishnoi Gang is a transnational criminal organization operating primarily out of India.

“The Bishnoi Gang generates terror in the communities in which they operate through their involvement in extortions and intimidation,” the government says. “The Bishnoi Gang also engages in murder, shootings and arson.”

Who is Lawrence Bishnoi?

Founder and kingpin of the Bishnoi gang, Lawrence Bishnoi was born on Feb. 12, 1993, in Dutarawali, a village in India’s Punjab region. A law-school graduate, he has been in jail in his home country since 2015, with multiple charges and accusations against him.

Currently in the Sabarmati jail in the city of Ahmedabad, Bishnoi is said to have been moved around different prisons for his safety and because of his ability to break jail rules.

What is the gang’s connection to Canada?

The government of Canada says of the gang: “They have a presence in Canada, and are active in areas with significant diaspora communities. The Bishnoi Gang creates a climate of insecurity for Canadians in diaspora communities as it targets them, their prominent community members, their businesses, as well as cultural figures within the community.”

What did the letter to police say?

According to Global News and other media sources, a letter from the gang was delivered to a police station in Abbotsford, B.C., on Aug. 13, 2025.

Testifying at a deportation hearing conducted virtually on Thursday for an alleged member of an Edmonton-based extortion gang, Edmonton Police Const. Kevin St. Louis told the Immigration and Refugee Board: “Police actually received a letter addressed from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang that was sent to a police station.”

He added: “This specific letter outlined essentially their criminal organization, where they talked about having upwards of 1,000 individuals that are willing to carry out these shootings as a part of the group. It also alludes to how every business needs to pay their tax, which I think clearly demonstrates the monetary gain that this group is looking to obtain as a result of these extortions.”

What has Canada’s reaction been?

Last September, the government of Canada listed the Bishnoi Gang as a terrorist entity under the Criminal Code.

“Every person in Canada has the right to feel safe in their home and community and as a government it is our fundamental responsibility to protect them” Gary Anandasangaree, Minister of Public Safety, said at the time.

“Specific communities have been targeted for terror, violence and intimidation by the Bishnoi Gang. Listing this group of criminal terrorists gives us more powerful and effective tools to confront and put a stop to their crimes.”

A terrorist listing means anything owned by that group in Canada can be frozen or seized, and makes it a criminal offence for anyone in Canada and Canadians abroad to knowingly deal with property owned or controlled by a terrorist group.

What has the Indian government’s reaction been?

When Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh temple leader, was shot and killed in Surrey, B.C., on June 18, 2023, the government of Canada accused the Bishnoi gang of being involved.

Three months after the killing, prime minister Justin Trudeau told the House of Commons that authorities were also investigating the possible involvement of Indian government agents.

And in a statement the following October, the RCMP released “a statement on violent criminal activity occurring in Canada with connections to agents of the Government of India.”

The statement noted “well over a dozen credible and imminent threats to life which have led to the conduct of Duty to Warn by law enforcement with members of the South Asian community, and specifically members of the pro-Khalistan movement.”

It said that a team “created to investigate and coordinate efforts to combat this threat … has learned a significant amount of information about the breadth and depth of criminal activity orchestrated by agents of the Government of India, and consequential threats to the safety and security of Canadians and individuals living in Canada.”

This month, a spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs said those claims were baseless .

“It is not our policy to interfere in issues of other countries,” said spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal. “”We believe that any concerns of this nature should be addressed through established mechanisms rather than through public or politicized narratives.”

What can be done?

In addition to the terrorist designation, police forces across Canada continue to combat South Asian crime rings. This week, Peel police in Ontario said they had arrested 17 individuals, most of whom have ties to an international criminal network known as For Brothers, which targeted South Asian business owners and community members across the region, Canada and the United States.

They were not directly connected to the Bishnoi Gang, but schisms within that group as well as copycat crimes committed by those invoking Bishnoi’s name have spread.

Deportation is another tool of the government. In March, the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) announced it had removed from Canada under escort two men “linked to extortion and organized criminal schemes in Canada.” Arshdeep Singh had entered Canada on a study permit in 2022, while Sukhnaaz Singh Sandhu entered Canada in 2016 as a temporary resident.

CBSA noted that it had, as of March 12, 2026, opened 372 immigration investigations, issued 70 removal orders for various inadmissibility grounds, and enforced 35 removals.

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China has issued a strongly worded response after a Canadian warship transited the Taiwan Strait, accusing foreign countries of undermining its sovereignty and security “in the name of freedom of navigation.”

HMCS Charlottetown passed through the 180-kilometre-wide waterway, which separates mainland China from the island of Taiwan, on May 22 and 23 as part of a routine operation, the DND told National Post. The passage was made without any allied ships in tow.

“China respects the right of navigation that all countries are entitled to under international law, but firmly opposes acts that undermine China’s sovereignty and security in the name of freedom of navigation,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Friday.

Chinese ambassador to Canada Wang Di also said that sending warships through the Taiwan Strait “violates China’s territorial integrity.”

Marine tracking data suggests the Canadian naval vessel passed through the strait on its way to the Sea of Japan after plying the South China Sea near Vietnam. The crucial choke point connects the South China Sea to the East China Sea and handles about one-fifth of global maritime trade.

Days before the vessel’s crossing, Conservative Foreign Affairs Critic Michael Chong travelled to Taiwan to meet with President Lai Ching-te, whom China refers to as a “separatist.” Chong told National Post following the visit that it was meant “to make a statement” after China’s ambassador to Canada warned parliamentarians against visiting Taiwan.

Taiwan is claimed by China as part of its territory but has operated as a de facto independent state since 1949. President Lai has said he would not provoke China while noting Taiwan would not give up its “free way of life under pressure.”

Canada has had no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan since 1970.

“The Taiwan Strait is an international waterway, and all countries enjoy the right of freedom of navigation,” Taiwan’s defence ministry said in a statement to Reuters. The ministry added that it “closely monitors relevant developments through joint intelligence, surveillance, ​and reconnaissance mechanisms, but does not proactively disclose the movements of military vessels from allied nations.”

In light of the HMCS Charlottetown’s recent passage, Chong said it was important to show that individual nations do not control access to international straits. “After Beijing recently made an unreasonable demand that Canadian warships no longer transit the Taiwan Strait, the Canadian government had to signal that it wasn’t going to comply and exercise the Royal Canadian Navy’s right of transit passage,” Chong wrote in an email statement.

The warship departed its home port of Halifax in February “as part of Canada’s commitment to a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific,” the DND said in a statement at the time. The frigate will showcase its “operational excellence and ability to project power across vast ocean spaces while working alongside Canada’s allies and partners,” it added at the time. It carries a crew of roughly 240 Royal Canadian Navy sailors and Royal Canadian Air Force personnel.

Canadian warships have transited the strait eight times since the navy launched its Indo-Pacific strategy in 2022. A Canadian warship last transited the strait in September, when it was accompanied by an Australian destroyer. China, which sees foreign military transit through the passage as a challenge to its claims over Taiwan, denounced the move at the time as a “provocation.”

China has stepped up land, sea and air military drills in the strait in recent years, including by carrying out shooting drills. During U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing earlier this month, Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed U.S. commitments to Taiwan. The U.S., Taiwan’s chief ally, approved US$11 billion in arm sales to Taiwan last year, while another package worth at least US$14 billion has reportedly stalled, media reports last week said.

On Thursday, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in Ottawa for a three-day visit, the first bilateral visit of its kind in 10 years. It follows Prime Minister Mark Carney’s January signing of a new “strategic partnership” with China during a trip to Beijing, which signalled a diplomatic thaw and greater economic co-operation.

Wang pointed to a “turnaround” in China-Canada relations, which are now “improving and growing,” he said on Friday, Bloomberg reported. Foreign Minister Anita Anand said Canada aims to increase exports to China, it’s second largest trading partner, by 50 per cent by 2030.

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Your grocery list this week probably didn’t include “luxury Normandy butter cups” or beef tenderloin, and you probably opted for the $25 bottle of red wine instead the one more than twice the price, but the Canadian Taxpayers Federation wants you to know that “Prime Minister Mark Carney and his entourage” are enjoying such luxuries when they fly internationally.

The advocacy group dug into House of Commons order paper questions and learned that just shy of $200,000 was spent feeding Carney and government officials who accompanied him on just three out-of-country flights in 2025.

Franco Terrazzano, the CTF’s federal director, contended that’s more than an average Canadian family will spend to feed themselves for a decade.

“When the government is paying more than a billion dollars a week to cover interest charges on the debt, it’s time to stop irresponsible overspending on luxuries like gourmet in-flight dining,” he said in a press release.

According to the latest Canada Food Price Report , the average family of four is expected to spend $17,571.79 on food this year, which, over ten years, is roughly $180,000.

Of the three overseas excursions, the most costly from a catering standpoint was the May 16-19 trip to Rome and Vatican City last September — where the devout Catholic and his wife, Diana Fox Carney, attended the inaugural mass of Pope Leo XIV — which rang in at almost $94,000.

Menu items included veal escalope, herb and smoked Gouda omelets, crème brûlée and chocolate mousse.

A trip to the U.K. two months prior to strengthen economic and security ties — just two days after being sworn in — ended with a catering invoice for over $52,610 sent to Ottawa.

One option on the way to London was red wine braised beef with a choice of edamame ragu or pearl onion and rosemary roasted red potatoes, while the return menu featured pan-seared salmon with lemon and herb couscous and broccoli.

On their trip to and from to the Netherlands last June for the NATO leaders’ summit, the total catering cost for Carney and 57 others on the Royal Canadian Air Force Airbus 330 was roughly $49,000 from a menu that offered beef tenderloin, Scottish salmon and the “luxury Normandy butter cups.”

On the subject of wine, Carney and his fellow passengers had a choice between a selection of four on each flight — two red and two white — all of them from wineries in Ontario or B.C.

A 2021 chardonnay from Inniskillin Montague Vineyard Chardonnay, reasonably priced at around $30 across Canada, was available on every flight, but more red options included Le Clos Jordanne Le Grand Clos Pinot Noir, which retails for $55 at the LCBO or the Meyer Family Vineyards Pinot Noir which commands a $56 price tag.

According to the Department of National Defence, which operates the 437 Transport Squadron responsible for moving the prime minister and other VIPs, catering costs “include the cost of food, non-alcoholic beverages, and associated fees, including catering handling and delivery, storage, cleaning and disposal of international waste, airport taxes, administrative fees, security charges, and local taxes.”

Terrazzano said the spending contradicts Carney’s campaign promise to tighten the government’s purse strings. Part of the Liberals’ election platform was to “spend less on government and invest more in the people and businesses that will grow our economy.”

“Carney has repeatedly told Canadians he would spend less, but he spent more money on airplane food than Trudeau,” Terrazzano said, noting that documents show the former prime minister spent $43,000 to cater his 2024 trip to Italy.

“The prime minister shouldn’t need a focus group to recommend him to stop billing taxpayers half a million dollars on airplane food in one year.”

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Forty years ago this month, Vancouver welcomed the world.

And while our coastal neighbours have since hosted the Olympics and will be one of two Canadian cities welcoming global soccer fans, it was Expo 86 that helped put Vancouver on the map

Vancouver Sun journalist Dan Fumano joins Dave Breakenridge to discuss the how the event turned Vancouver into the city we know now, the legacy left by Expo, and whether it could play host to another world’s fair.

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Canada has fallen to the 19th spot on the best country ranking list published annually by U.S. News.

Having previously placed second in 2023 and fourth in 2024, Canada is one place behind the U.S., which ranked 18th this year. While this is quite a drop, it’s important to note that it’s partly due to a change in the way the rankings are developed .

“Designed to help citizens, business leaders and policymakers understand how each country is serving its citizens,” says the publication, the rankings now evaluate countries based on more than economic output. So-called “operational health” is important too, says U.S. News. That encompasses everything from civic engagement to infrastructure and health care.

Instead of relying primarily on perception surveys, the newly overhauled model evaluates countries by drawing on 100 statistical indicators. It draws on data provided by international organizations such as the United Nations and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The ranking showed mixed results across the eight categories that made up the rankings.

Canada’s top ranking was in culture and tourism, and the country ranked highly in creative exports, intellectual property, tourist attractions and linguistic diversity.

Regarding governance, Canada ranked 18. The country scored highly for its lack of political violence, having a strong passport, effective government, low corruption, and inflation, but low in government debt, debt servicing and tax revenue.

Canada also ranked 18 in opportunity. That shows in top marks for our years of schooling, social protection, solid regulatory regime, and level of business creation, but low for corporate taxation, individual taxation, foreign direct investment and unemployment.

Elsewhere, Canada placed 20 for infrastructure, getting top marks for cybersecurity, drinking water, electricity access and sanitation, but low for energy independence, grid access and road density.

And the country fell to 27 for civic health, with low marks for the level of anxiety, the number of unsentenced prisoners, homicide and low voter turnout.

But perhaps unsurprisingly, Canada received top marks for its universal health coverage: 100 out of 100. Canada ranked highly in disease detection and life expectancy, but ranked lower for accessibility to doctors and the availability of hospital beds.

The United States was uneven in its performance, despite strong economic development and culture rankings. The U.S. struggled in areas such as health and infrastructure. For example, it ranked first in culture and tourism, but 15 in opportunity, 33 in health and 41 in civic health.

Meanwhile, this year’s ranking showed strength from European nations. Switzerland came first overall, followed by Denmark, Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands. The first non-European country in the rankings was Australia, coming in at 14.

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