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Korchinski-Paquet's mother makes new allegation against police at coroner's inquest
Korchinski-Paquet inquest grapples with new claim
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
A coroner's inquest into the death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet is scrambling to find a way forward after the Toronto woman's mother unexpectedly made a new allegation against police officers during her testimony this morning.
Korchinski-Paquet fell from her 24th-floor balcony in the late afternoon of May 27, 2020, while police officers were in the west-end apartment she shared with several family members.
As she described her memories of that day, Claudette Beals told the inquest this morning that she saw officers push her daughter toward the balcony, prompting lawyers for several of the parties to raise concerns in the absence of the jury about previously undisclosed evidence.
Among them were lawyers representing the officers at the scene, who said their clients weren't given a chance to respond to the allegation when they testified earlier this week.
The presiding coroner has called a recess so that counsel can discuss how to proceed.
The inquest has heard Korchinski-Paquet had a history of seizures from epilepsy, often followed by erratic and aggressive behaviour, and had experienced two seizures earlier in the day before police were called over a disturbance involving knives.
One of the province's police watchdogs later cleared the officers of wrongdoing in the fatal fall, which it said happened as she was trying to move from her apartment's balcony to a neighbour's.
The inquest's scope includes how first responders are informed and trained about epilepsy but is not meant to examine the various watchdog investigations into the case.
"There's lots of good things to explore about epilepsy, about public support for families, about awareness of postictal delirium, about police response and how those two can intermingle," presiding coroner Dr. David Cameron said before the recess.
"We've explored lots of great things during this inquest and everyone has worked really well together ... and now we've got a bit of a problem and we'll have to work through it."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2026.
Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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Skunk in downtown Vancouver that bit people tests positive for rabies
B.C. skunk that bit people positive for rabies
A skunk that bit a number of people in downtown Vancouver has tested positive for rabies.
Vancouver Coastal Health issued a news release notifying the public of the confirmed case on Wednesday.
The health authority said interactions with skunks are rare, but "a small number of people bitten by the skunk have been assessed and received rabies vaccinations and immunoglobulin to prevent rabies."
Rabies virus is a fatal viral infection that affects the brain and nervous system. It is found in the saliva of infected animals and can be transmitted through a bite or a scratch from an infected animal, Vancouver Coastal Health said.
"Rabies virus is not transmitted through exposure to the spray, urine or feces of infected skunks," it added.
Though bats are the only known "reservoirs" for rabies in British Columbia, the authority said "occasional spillovers to other animal species in specific geographical areas, including skunks, have occurred in B.C."
The seriousness of the infection was highlighted in an issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal earlier this year, where infectious disease physicians described the case of an 11-year-old Ontario child who died of rabies in 2024.
Dr. Brian Hummel, the case report's senior author and a pediatric infectious disease physician at McMaster Children's Hospital in Hamilton, told The Canadian Press in June that it's "an extraordinarily rare infection" for humans in Canada, with only 28 cases reported since 1924.
The most recent rabies case before the 11-year-old boy was a man who died after exposure to a bat in B.C. in 2019.
Hummel said once symptoms of rabies start, there is no treatment or cure, but noted the virus has a relatively long incubation period — usually weeks — before symptoms of illness start to show.
Anyone who may have been bitten or scratched by a sick or abnormally behaving skunk in Vancouver's West End neighbourhood between Sept. 22 and Oct. 17 is being asked to contact Vancouver Coastal Health for assessment.
The release said anyone who lives outside the region should contact their local health authority for assessment.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2026.
Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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National security screening system can be strengthened, senior adviser to Carney says
Security screening can be improved: PM's adviser
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
A senior federal adviser says a government-wide registry of security clearance information would improve efficiency, reduce duplication and help departments identify where relevant personnel security data may already exist.
David Morrison, senior diplomatic and international affairs adviser to the prime minister, told MPs on a House of Commons committee Wednesday such a registry would be one way to strengthen Canada's national security screening process.
The Commons public safety and national security committee is holding hearings on the screening process following the arrest of a Canadian NATO intern on espionage allegations.
A federal source not authorized to speak publicly about the issue has said that officials in Canada were proceeding on the basis the suspect is Biwei Zhang — also known as Claire Zhang — who was previously employed by Canadian government agencies.
Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree previously told the Commons committee the woman arrested in Belgium had received a security clearance from Global Affairs Canada.
The clearance was granted even though court records said the federal Public Service Commission found in 2023 that Zhang committed fraud in an appointment process for a position with the Canada Border Services Agency.
The Federal Court dismissed her application for judicial review of the decision the following year. She submitted a letter of apology during the investigation into her actions.
Morrison, a former deputy minister of foreign affairs, pointed out that individual federal departments are accountable for deciding to issue security clearances, informed by centralized expertise.
The Treasury Board Secretariat establishes the policy framework, the Public Safety portfolio — through RCMP and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service — contributes criminality checks and national security assessments, and individual departments collect relevant information, assess risks and make security clearance decisions, he said.
Morrison declined to discuss specific cases, but he said a person screened to work at NATO would likely have a secret-level clearance.
He indicated that open source checks, such as internet searches of a person's history, are now being done for secret-level security screening — a tightening of the system following the arrest in Belgium.
Morrison told the MPs that open source verification should be used more consistently across government for a wider range of security levels. "Its use would also benefit from common tools, training standards and methodologies across departments," he said.
Morrison also suggested human resources-related information relevant to an assessment of an individual's reliability or loyalty should be available to personnel security decision makers without compromising privacy protections or procedural fairness.
Finally, he said a robust personnel security effort should extend throughout a person's employment in the form of insider risk programs, recurring screening, reporting obligations and security awareness. He said these measures would help identify emerging risks, ensure clearance holders remain reliable and loyal, and confirm that clearances reflect current information.
Security expert Wesley Wark said CSIS "shoulders the main burden" of security screening for the federal government, essentially through assessing loyalty to Canada and reliability as it relates to that loyalty. CSIS provides advice related to immigration files as well as on security clearance checks.
Wark, a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, said the current system for security screening in Canada "is simply unsustainable," noting CSIS handles hundreds of thousands of screening requests annually.
"The dual burdens of immigration and security clearance screening on CSIS are simply too great and threaten, in my view, to erode the operational effectiveness of CSIS as it addresses its core missions," Wark said.
"An intelligence service should not be a security screening shop."
He suggested Canada follow the United Kingdom's lead and set up a separate, centralized organization for security clearances.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2026.
By Jim Bronskill | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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