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Advocates planting the seed of a tree protection law in Winnipeg's election
Advocates call for bylaw to save Winnipeg's trees
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ian Bickis
The giants that Diane Poulin used to live among are all dead, but she's hoping to protect the ones still left in Winnipeg.
“I had five mature elm trees right in front of my house that leaned over the street and formed a beautiful canopy, and they're all gone now,” she says.
In her backyard was the biggest of the bunch.
"He was like the grandfather of the neighbourhood … his canopy filled our backyard, and he’s gone."
The city’s trees are under threat from disease, pests and climate change, but there's limits on how much can be done to push back against these forces of nature.
So, Poulin and other advocates at Trees Please Winnipeg are also pushing to hold back another threat — property owners.
The group wants Winnipeg to put a bylaw in place to control the cutting of trees on private property, since there's currently little stopping owners from cutting down as many trees, however big, as they please.
Advocates like Poulin say protecting the urban canopy is crucial because of the many benefits trees bring to all residents, such as providing shade in heat waves, cleaning the air, controlling rainwater and beautifying the city.
With more than 80 per cent of the city’s trees on private property, there needs to be a way to preserve those trees, too, she says.
To ramp up pressure, Trees Winnipeg has pushed candidates in the municipal election to sign a pledge that includes a commitment to enact a bylaw that would control the removal of all tress more than 15 centimetres in diameter.
Many cities across Canada already have some form of private tree bylaw, which generally still allow cutting trees for development or when they're unhealthy, but not when someone just doesn't want to rake leaves anymore.
Surrey, B.C., passed protections in 2006, while cities such as Ottawa, Vancouver and Toronto have since joined in. Edmonton has one in the works.
"We're really falling behind on that front," Poulin says.
About 75 per cent of candidates have signed on to the pledge, she says, though there are some notable gaps, including incumbent mayor Scott Gillingham.
At a recent campaign stop, he said he was proud of his record on trees, which saw the city boost funding and its replacement rate for trees. But he would only commit to council talking about a bylaw protecting trees on private property, not passing one.
"We have to take a look at what it is and what the nuances are, what the requirements would be, what the terms of any bylaw would be," he said.
The mayor and council have been made aware of how passionate many Winnipeggers are about trees. When city leaders tried to fill a financial gap this summer by cutting the forestry budget, there was enough of an outcry they backed down.
But going so far as to tell private property owners what they can do with their trees can also raise passions.
In Toronto, for example, such bylaws have led to frustrated homeowners who have been told they can't cut down their mature ginkgo trees, despite the trees starting to produce their noxious-smelling fruit.
Such a bylaw could have also made it challenging for Paul Taylor to clearcut his tree-covered lot in Winnipeg, which stood as something of an extension of the city’s Assiniboine forest.
Taylor says he did it over security concerns, as the trees hid his old family home from the street, leading to break-ins and vandalism, so he flattened the whole place.
The business owner says he’s still in favour of some kind of bylaw protecting trees, as long as it leaves room for genuine safety and liability situations, and has some kind of replanting requirement.
"I'm generally supportive of protecting Winnipeg's urban tree canopy, and I don't see that as being at odds with being a developer," he says.
Neighbours that were asked about the clearcut didn’t jump to support laws to prevent it.
Brian Paterson, who has lived next door for 67 years and enjoyed the view of the ancient oaks and other trees that grew there, says that within reason, people should be able to decide for themselves.
“Would I rather the trees be there? Yeah, but he has a right to whatever he wants to do with his property.”
Across the street, Bianca Johnson says she loves the idea of protecting trees, but worries about how far a law may go, and what kind of hassle someone might have to go through to deal with, say, a diseased tree.
“In general it sounds great, but details are always the important nitty-gritty bit,” Johnson says.
“There’s always the personal rights versus communal rights.”
While such bylaws do limit the personal, it’s not so different from many existing laws, said Erna Buffie, who published a book earlier this year on saving the urban canopy.
“I have to pull a permit if I want to do any kind of renovation on my property or in my house, but I can go ahead and cut down a tree that's 100 years old without any repercussions,” she says.
“There's something fundamentally wrong with that.”
She says the current lack of protections means, for example, that the owner of the Lemay Forest was within their rights to cut down the roughly 17,000 trees on the property. The forest, and the graves within it, were only saved when the province stepped in to expropriate it last year.
With the city’s trees still largely unprotected, Poulin at Trees Please has also been working to add new ones.
She helped raise money to plant eight trees across from her house, even though she won't be around to see them grow to the grandeur of what they replaced.
"We do this for the next generation of Winnipeggers and kids and grandkids, who need to inherit a city that is livable for them."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2026.
By Ian Bickis | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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N.L. faces ‘serious liability questions’ over Ithaca Energy’s entry into province’s oil sector, legal expert warns
Ithaca’s majority owner, Delek Group, is blacklisted by the UN over alleged human rights concerns.
The provincial government doesn’t intend to stop Ithaca Energy’s entry into Newfoundland and Labrador’s oil sector despite the company’s ties to Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territory.
Ithaca is majority-owned by Israeli energy conglomerate Delek Group, which is blacklisted by the United Nations for its alleged role in “activities that raised particular human rights concerns.”
On Wednesday Wakeham said he won’t comment on Ithaca’s “political things,” and that the company’s involvement in the province’s oil and gas sector “bodes well for our industry.”
His comments come nearly a week after provincial Energy Minister Lloyd Parrot did not answer questions from The Independent about what the PC government will do, if anything, in response to Ithaca’s takeover of Canadian oil company Suncor’s stakes in the Terra Nova, White Rose and West White Rose offshore oil projects.
Human rights advocates say the impending acquisition should be stopped, while a legal expert says the federal and provincial governments – as well as Suncor and provincial crown corporation OilCo – face legal risks if they fail to intervene.
“Gaza has been razed. Families have been erased, children have been starved and buried under rubble, and the West Bank is being cleared village by village,” local Palestinian solidarity group Palestine Action YYT told The Independent in a statement. “Newfoundlanders and Labradorians did not build an offshore industry to underwrite that. Not one barrel of our oil should pad the profits of anyone tied to apartheid and ethnic cleansing.”
Michael Bueckert, vice president of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) – one of the country’s leading voices speaking out against Israel’s war and occupation in the occupied Palestinian territories – calls Ithaca’s acquisition “unacceptable” and wants political leaders to step in.
“As the International Court of Justice has determined, our political leaders are obliged to avoid economic dealings with companies involved in Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine,” he said in a statement to The Independent.
“This underscores the urgent need for Canada to intervene and impose comprehensive sanctions to stop all economic trade with those who profit from and facilitate Israel’s illegal settlements.”
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Delek Group is providing “services and utilities supporting the maintenance and existence of settlements, including transport,” and of using “natural resources, in particular water and land, for business purposes.”
The Independent sent questions to Delek Group but did not hear back.
Carney needs to clarify commitment to sanctions
In September, Prime Minister Mark Carney committed to banning trade in goods with Israel’s settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. “Settlements are illegal under international law,” he said at the time.
But details of Canada’s new sanctions have not yet been announced.
CJPME and others, including federal MP Heather McPherson – an outspoken critic of Canada’s relations with Israel amid what many argue amounts to Israel’s genocide against Palestinians – are calling on the Liberals to expand Canada’s sanctions against Israel and prohibit trade in services, too.
Heidi Matthews, an assistant professor of law at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto and an expert in international criminal law, says the Carney government needs to ensure its new policy is “comprehensive enough to capture things like federal and provincial procurement, and involvement in economic deals with corporations that in one way or another are engaged in illegal activity in occupied Palestine.”
The Independent reached out to Global Affairs Canada for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
Legal risks for governments, corporations: Professor
Matthews says Wakeham’s characterisation of Ithaca and Delek’s ties to Israel’s occupation of Palestine as ‘political things’ is “inattentive to the realities of their commercial dealings,” which, she says, “cannot – according to the evidence that’s been documented by the UN database – be disassociated from violations of international law.
“It is well established that the occupation of the Palestinian territory, including the West Bank, is unlawful because it violates the Palestinian right to self-determination, and also because it amounts to the acquisition of territory by the use of force, as well as systemic racial discrimination and apartheid. All of this was found by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in its 2024 advisory opinion on the question.”
In December 2023, South Africa instituted proceedings at the ICJ, accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians and violating the 1948 Genocide Convention. The court isn’t expected to render a decision until 2029 or 2030. In 2024, however, the court issued an advisory opinion on the “legal consequences arising from the policies and practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.”
The ICJ said Israel “has an obligation to bring an end to its presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible,” and “must immediately cease all new settlement activity.”
The court also said states dealing with Israel have a legal obligation to “take steps to prevent trade or investment relations that assist in the maintenance of the illegal situation created by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
In August, the federal government warned Canadian businesses that, “Engagement in, or connection to, settlement-related activities presents significant legal, financial and reputational risks [which] arise in part because, under international law, settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are not recognized as part of Israel’s territory.
“Activities may involve assets or resources subject to dispute and may expose businesses to increased scrutiny from investors, partners and civil society,” the advisory reads. “Businesses may also face disputes related to land, water, minerals or other natural resources associated with investments or transactions.”
Matthews points to the Supreme Court of Canada’s 2020 decision in Nevsun Resources Ltd. v Araya, which she says, “very clearly established that Canadian corporations can be held directly liable for violating these peremptory norms of international law, and that would include the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.”
This means Suncor and Newfoundland and Labrador crown energy corporation OilCo could arguably face litigation, Matthews says. “But I do think the key question would be about whether or not the relationship between Suncor or OilCo. and Delek is too attenuated, by virtue of Ithaca in the middle. So whether doing business essentially with a company whose parent company is engaged in human rights violations – whether or not that’s a close enough link.”
Though states are legally bound to international law, including human rights law, states’ subnational jurisdictions could face legal consequences, too.
Matthews says Ithaca’s entry into the province’s oil sector raises “serious liability questions” for the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, “in the sense that under international law […] the actions of [provinces or territories] are still attributable to the central government itself.
“Canada has several obligations under international law, including to prevent trade or investment relations that assist in the maintenance of the occupation, which would include but not be limited to the settlement economy,” she continues. “So the provincial government also shares in that obligation.”
‘Silence is complicity,’ says local Palestine solidarity group
When asked Wednesday if he had the power to stop Ithaca’s acquisition of Suncor’s stakes in the oil projects, Wakeham said it’s “not something that I’m looking at.”
The premier said he is “focused on making sure that we have what the world needs, and we wanna make sure that if, as long as the world has a demand for oil, that Newfoundland and Labrador is part of that solution.”
“For Wakeham to say that somehow the province is not bound by international law with respect to its connection to, or involvement in, these violations shows a basic misunderstanding of provincial obligations under international law.”
Palestine Action YYT, which has held rallies, marches and other protest actions since 2023, says the federal government’s actions so far are inadequate, but pale in comparison to the provincial government’s. “Ottawa talks about banning settlement trade. Premier Wakeham and Minister Parrott won’t even say the word. Silence is complicity, and we won’t be silent,” the group says in its statement.
“We will resist this deal, and we expect oil and gas workers and their neighbours will stand with us.” The group says it is planning a public meeting in the near future, details of which will be announced this coming week. “Everyone who refuses to bankroll genocide is invited.”
With files from Kenny Sharpe.
Copyright 2026, The Independent. All rights reserved.
Justin Brake, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Independent.
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N.L. faces ‘serious liability questions’ over Ithaca Energy’s entry into province’s oil sector, legal expert warns
Ithaca’s majority owner, Delek Group, is blacklisted by the UN over alleged human rights concerns.
The provincial government doesn’t intend to stop Ithaca Energy’s entry into Newfoundland and Labrador’s oil sector despite the company’s ties to Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territory.
Ithaca is majority-owned by Israeli energy conglomerate Delek Group, which is blacklisted by the United Nations for its alleged role in “activities that raised particular human rights concerns.”
On Wednesday Wakeham said he won’t comment on Ithaca’s “political things,” and that the company’s involvement in the province’s oil and gas sector “bodes well for our industry.”
His comments come nearly a week after provincial Energy Minister Lloyd Parrot did not answer questions from The Independent about what the PC government will do, if anything, in response to Ithaca’s takeover of Canadian oil company Suncor’s stakes in the Terra Nova, White Rose and West White Rose offshore oil projects.
Human rights advocates say the impending acquisition should be stopped, while a legal expert says the federal and provincial governments – as well as Suncor and provincial crown corporation OilCo – face legal risks if they fail to intervene.
“Gaza has been razed. Families have been erased, children have been starved and buried under rubble, and the West Bank is being cleared village by village,” local Palestinian solidarity group Palestine Action YYT told The Independent in a statement. “Newfoundlanders and Labradorians did not build an offshore industry to underwrite that. Not one barrel of our oil should pad the profits of anyone tied to apartheid and ethnic cleansing.”
Michael Bueckert, vice president of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) – one of the country’s leading voices speaking out against Israel’s war and occupation in the occupied Palestinian territories – calls Ithaca’s acquisition “unacceptable” and wants political leaders to step in.
“As the International Court of Justice has determined, our political leaders are obliged to avoid economic dealings with companies involved in Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine,” he said in a statement to The Independent.
“This underscores the urgent need for Canada to intervene and impose comprehensive sanctions to stop all economic trade with those who profit from and facilitate Israel’s illegal settlements.”
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Delek Group is providing “services and utilities supporting the maintenance and existence of settlements, including transport,” and of using “natural resources, in particular water and land, for business purposes.”
The Independent sent questions to Delek Group but did not hear back.
Carney needs to clarify commitment to sanctions
In September, Prime Minister Mark Carney committed to banning trade in goods with Israel’s settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. “Settlements are illegal under international law,” he said at the time.
But details of Canada’s new sanctions have not yet been announced.
CJPME and others, including federal MP Heather McPherson – an outspoken critic of Canada’s relations with Israel amid what many argue amounts to Israel’s genocide against Palestinians – are calling on the Liberals to expand Canada’s sanctions against Israel and prohibit trade in services, too.
Heidi Matthews, an assistant professor of law at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto and an expert in international criminal law, says the Carney government needs to ensure its new policy is “comprehensive enough to capture things like federal and provincial procurement, and involvement in economic deals with corporations that in one way or another are engaged in illegal activity in occupied Palestine.”
The Independent reached out to Global Affairs Canada for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
Legal risks for governments, corporations: Professor
Matthews says Wakeham’s characterisation of Ithaca and Delek’s ties to Israel’s occupation of Palestine as ‘political things’ is “inattentive to the realities of their commercial dealings,” which, she says, “cannot – according to the evidence that’s been documented by the UN database – be disassociated from violations of international law.
“It is well established that the occupation of the Palestinian territory, including the West Bank, is unlawful because it violates the Palestinian right to self-determination, and also because it amounts to the acquisition of territory by the use of force, as well as systemic racial discrimination and apartheid. All of this was found by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in its 2024 advisory opinion on the question.”
In December 2023, South Africa instituted proceedings at the ICJ, accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians and violating the 1948 Genocide Convention. The court isn’t expected to render a decision until 2029 or 2030. In 2024, however, the court issued an advisory opinion on the “legal consequences arising from the policies and practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.”
The ICJ said Israel “has an obligation to bring an end to its presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as rapidly as possible,” and “must immediately cease all new settlement activity.”
The court also said states dealing with Israel have a legal obligation to “take steps to prevent trade or investment relations that assist in the maintenance of the illegal situation created by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
In August, the federal government warned Canadian businesses that, “Engagement in, or connection to, settlement-related activities presents significant legal, financial and reputational risks [which] arise in part because, under international law, settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are not recognized as part of Israel’s territory.
“Activities may involve assets or resources subject to dispute and may expose businesses to increased scrutiny from investors, partners and civil society,” the advisory reads. “Businesses may also face disputes related to land, water, minerals or other natural resources associated with investments or transactions.”
Matthews points to the Supreme Court of Canada’s 2020 decision in Nevsun Resources Ltd. v Aray, which she says, “very clearly established that Canadian corporations can be held directly liable for violating these peremptory norms of international law, and that would include the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.”
This means Suncor and Newfoundland and Labrador crown energy corporation OilCo could arguably face litigation, Matthews says. “But I do think the key question would be about whether or not the relationship between Suncor or OilCo. and Delek is too attenuated, by virtue of Ithaca in the middle. So whether doing business essentially with a company whose parent company is engaged in human rights violations – whether or not that’s a close enough link.”
Though states are legally bound to international law, including human rights law, states’ subnational jurisdictions could face legal consequences, too.
Matthews says Ithaca’s entry into the province’s oil sector raises “serious liability questions” for the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, “in the sense that under international law […] the actions of [provinces or territories] are still attributable to the central government itself.
“Canada has several obligations under international law, including to prevent trade or investment relations that assist in the maintenance of the occupation, which would include but not be limited to the settlement economy,” she continues. “So the provincial government also shares in that obligation.”
‘Silence is complicity,’ says local Palestine solidarity group
When asked Wednesday if he had the power to stop Ithaca’s acquisition of Suncor’s stakes in the oil projects, Wakeham said it’s “not something that I’m looking at.”
The premier said he is “focused on making sure that we have what the world needs, and we wanna make sure that if, as long as the world has a demand for oil, that Newfoundland and Labrador is part of that solution.”
“For Wakeham to say that somehow the province is not bound by international law with respect to its connection to, or involvement in, these violations shows a basic misunderstanding of provincial obligations under international law.”
Palestine Action YYT, which has held rallies, marches and other protest actions since 2023, says the federal government’s actions so far are inadequate, but pale in comparison to the provincial government’s. “Ottawa talks about banning settlement trade. Premier Wakeham and Minister Parrott won’t even say the word. Silence is complicity, and we won’t be silent,” the group says in its statement.
“We will resist this deal, and we expect oil and gas workers and their neighbours will stand with us.” The group says it is planning a public meeting in the near future, details of which will be announced this coming week. “Everyone who refuses to bankroll genocide is invited.”
With files from Kenny Sharpe.
Copyright 2026, The Independent. All rights reserved.
Justin Brake, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Independent.
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Show less
Le jeûne intermittent: c'est quoi et comment ça marche pour brûler du gras
L'expression IF est partout sur Instagram et YouTube. Je ne comprenais rien, jusqu'à ce que je tombe sur une vidéo de Whitney Simmons, YouTubeuse reconnue dans le domaine du fitness (voir ci-bas).
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IF, c'est pour intermittent fasting, ou bien un jeûne intermittent en français. Cet article est à des fins informatives seulement et ne recommande à personne de jeûner ou de manger moins pour perdre du poids. Au contraire, selon les recommandations de cet article: Manger moins: la clé pour gagner plus de poids.
Le jeûne intermittent est une «tendance» dans le monde de la mise en forme présentement, utilisée dans le but d'atteindre ses #fitnessgoals sans perdre de poids ou de masse musculaire. Les adeptes de ce mode de vie ne mangent que pendant une période de temps déterminée, puis cessent de manger pendant plusieurs heures.
Par exemple, une personne qui pratique le JI pourrait commencer à manger aux alentours de 1:00 pm, puis arrêter de manger vers 8:00 pm. Son corps est donc en période de jeûne pendant 17 heures par jour. Le but n'est pas de manger moins ou différemment.
Selon plusieurs experts, cette pratique aide à construire les muscles tout en éliminant le gras corporel, car le métabolisme devient «fou» en ne digérant de la nourriture que pendant quelques heures par jour. L'organisme va donc puiser dans ses réserves de graisses pour produire de l'énergie pendant la période sans repas (de 21:00 à 13:00 le lendemain, selon l'exemple précédent).
Pour bien pratiquer le jeûne sans manquer d'énergie ou perdre du poids, il est bien important de manger des gros repas très nutritifs pendant la période d'alimentation (ex: de 1pm à 8pm). Le JI ne limite pas la quantité d'aliments ingérés dans une journée, seulement le moment où les repas sont pris. Il est donc possible de manger 3 repas, comme d'habitude, durant une période de 7 heures (voir vidéo plus bas pour des exemples de gros repas).
Important: il faut très bien s'y connaître en matière d'alimentation pour s'assurer de consommer la bonne quantité de macro/micronutriments afin de rester en bonne santé, bien se nourrir et ne pas perdre de masse musculaire. Cette pratique n'est que conseillée aux gens qui font énormément d'activité physique et qui sont suivis par un professionnel de la santé. Une nutritionniste peut donner des recommandations en fonction de la quantité de protéines, glucides et lipides nécessaire pour s'assurer que le corps n'ait pas à puiser dans ses réserves de muscles pour aller chercher de l'énergie.
Par exemple, Whitney Simmons s'assure de manger énormément de protéines, selon les besoins énergétiques requis pour son mode de vie (sa vidéo explicative est à la fin). Elle adore cette façon de s'alimenter puisqu'elle manque de temps dans une journée et n'a pas à traîner plusieurs repas ou collations lorsqu'elle s'absente de la maison.
Bien entendu, le meilleur moment pour ingérer des aliments dépend de chaque personne: ceux qui travaillent durant la soirée pourraient préférer manger de 8:00 à 16:00 avant de s'arrêter pour plusieurs heures. La période de jeûne peut également varier d'une personne à l'autre. Certaines personnes préfèrent jeûner pendant 12 ou 13 heures par jour ou bien s'adonner à cette pratique seulement quelques journées par semaine.
Mais pourquoi ça aide à brûler de la graisse? Le corps peut être dans 2 états: nourri ou à jeun. Lorsqu'on mange, le corps absorbe et digère les aliments et du sang se précipite dans l'estomac (c'est pour ça qu'une tonne de personnes sont épuisées après avoir mangé). Il n'est pas facile pour le corps de brûler des graisses lorsqu'il est en phase de digestion, en raison du niveau d'insuline (hormone diminuant le taux de glucose dans le sang). Lorsque le corps est dans un état de jeûne, de 8 à 12 heures après un repas, le niveau d'insuline est faible, ce qui l'entraîne à puiser dans les graisses pour générer de l'énergie.
Notre organisme est très rarement en «mode à jeun», puisqu'on mange du lever jusqu'au coucher, et qu'on dort beaucoup moins de 12 heures par nuit.
Plusieurs influenceurs dans le monde de l'entraînement physique disent avoir perdu du gras et gagné du muscle sans avoir changé le contenu de leur assiette ou leur routine d'exercices en essayant le JI.
La pratique du jeûne intermittent est très critiquée. L'avis d'un professionnel est recommandé avant d'entreprendre des changements.
Pour visionner les capsules de Whitney Simmons, c'est ici:
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