Voyageur 49
Fake maple leaves, real recruitment numbers, and a $750,000 question about free speech.
News for residents of the “11th province”: Canadians abroad.
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Loblaw Fined $10,000 for Slapping a Maple Leaf on American Broccoli
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has finally named the product behind its first-ever "maple washing" fine. It was President's Choice broccoli slaw - bags of shredded broccoli stamped "Product of USA" on the packaging, but promoted with maple leaf decals and "Product of Canada" shelf tags at a Toronto Superstore.
The $10,000 penalty is small change for Loblaw, but the CFIA said it's also looking at a similar case involving a Sobeys-owned Safeway near Edmonton, where Compliments avocado oil got the Canadian-flag treatment despite being imported. That file is "ongoing."
The Buy Canadian movement took off last year after Trump's tariff threats and 51st-state comments, and grocers were happy to ride the wave. The problem is that some of them got sloppy about which products actually qualified. For a food to earn a "Product of Canada" label, it has to be entirely or almost entirely made here. Broccoli slaw from the U.S. doesn't count, no matter how many maple leaves you stick on the shelf.
Read more: CBC News
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Canadians Are Signing Up for the Military at the Fastest Rate in Years
Applications to the Canadian Armed Forces are up 12.9% over the past eight months, Defence Minister David McGuinty said this week. Actual enrolments are climbing too - 6,710 people joined in 2024-25, up from 4,334 the year before and 3,924 the year before that.
The CAF is still short, though. As of late December, the regular force had 65,677 members, about 5,800 fewer than the target of 71,500 by 2032. Ontario and Quebec are producing the most recruits, followed by Alberta. Nobody (!?) from the northern territories signed up.
The boom times line up with a more general shift in mood. Three-quarters of Canadians now say they want more defence spending, up from two-thirds in late 2023. Ottawa has responded with a 20% military pay raise, better base housing, and big procurement plans for submarines, jets, and warships. Whether the applications translate into trained soldiers is another question - recruits who don't pass security, medical, or personality checks get released.
Read more: National Post
A B.C. School Trustee Owes $750,000 for Criticizing a Curriculum. Is This What Human Rights Tribunals Are For?
The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal ordered former Chilliwack school trustee Barry Neufeld to pay $750,000 last week for what it called a years-long campaign against SOGI 123, a set of classroom resources on sexual orientation and gender identity. The tribunal found that his public statements - which included characterizing gender identity teaching as a form of child abuse - "poisoned" the workplaces of LGBT teachers in the district. Neufeld served as a trustee for more than 20 years and says he was criticizing policy, not people.
He wasn't the only one hit this month. A Montreal hair salon called Station10 was fined $500 by Quebec's Human Rights Tribunal for offering "men's" and "women's" haircuts on its booking system, which the tribunal said excluded non-binary customers (pause for laughter). Two provinces, two rulings, same week.
The reaction has been loud. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre called the Neufeld ruling "Orwellian." British comedian John Cleese said he'd skip performing in B.C. Neufeld's lawyer has filed for judicial review in B.C. Supreme Court and expects the case to reach the Court of Appeal. The Free Speech Union of Canada has launched a petition to abolish human rights tribunals entirely. On the other side, the B.C. Teachers' Federation and the province's human rights commissioner have both backed the decision, saying the tribunal did exactly what it was designed to do.
Read more: CBC News | Sign the petition: Free Speech Union of Canada