In the news today, June 20

Five stories in the news for Wednesday, June 20

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SENATE APPROVES BILL TO LEGALIZE POT

Canadians will be able to legally purchase and consume recreational marijuana by mid-September at the latest, after the Senate voted Tuesday to lift an almost century-old prohibition on cannabis. Senators voted 52-29, with two abstentions, to pass Bill C-45, after seven months of study and debate. Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor has said the provinces will need two to three months after the bill is passed before they’ll be ready to implement the new legalized cannabis regime. Canada is the first industrialized country to legalize cannabis nationwide.

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REGINA TRUSTEES VOTE TO RENAME SCHOOL

School trustees in Regina have voted to change the name of a school over concern that it honours a man who was a driving force behind the residential school system in Canada. The Davin School is to be renamed Crescents School. Davin School was named after Nicholas Davin, an MP who submitted a report to the federal government in 1879 called the “Report on Industrial Schools for Indians and Half-Breeds.” He had been appointed by Ottawa to investigate American industrial schools for Indigenous children, and recommended similar schools be set up in Canada.

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COURT TO HEAR CHALLENGE TO ‘GSA’ LAW

The first court challenge of an Alberta law that bars schools from telling parents about their children’s involvement in gay-straight alliances gets underway today. Arguments are to be heard in Medicine Hat, Alta., on behalf of dozens of parents and independent faith-based schools wanting the legislation to be put on hold until there is a ruling on its constitutionality. Leading the challenge is the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, which argues keeping parents out of the loop violates charter rights including freedom of religion and expression.

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B.C. TO ASK COURT TO OVERTURN POLYGAMY ACQUITTAL

A special prosecutor is set to ask British Columbia’s Court of Appeal to overturn the acquittal of a former leader of a polygamous community, who was found not guilty of taking a girl across the border for a sexual purpose. Crown-appointed prosecutor Peter Wilson is expected to ask the court at a hearing that begins today to either convict James Oler or order a new trial. A B.C. Supreme Court judge found Oler not guilty in February 2017, concluding the Crown failed to prove the man crossed the border in 2004 with a 15-year-old girl who later married a member of a polygamous sect in the United States.

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SURVIVORS OF BRONCOS CRASH TO ATTEND NHL AWARDS

Ten of the 13 survivors of the Humboldt Broncos’ bus crash will attend tonight’s NHL Awards ceremony in Las Vegas, at the invitation of the league and its players’ association. The Broncos were travelling together to a Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League playoff game on April 6 when their bus collided with a truck — a devastating crash on a flat, lonely stretch of Prairie highway that resulted in the deaths of 16 people, including 10 players. The ceremony will include a tribute to the Broncos, while Humboldt head coach Darcy Haugan, who was killed in the crash, is posthumously nominated for the inaugural Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award.

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ALSO IN THE NEWS:

— The Commissioner of Official Languages for New Brunswick, Katherine d’Entremont, will present her fifth Annual Report to the Standing Committee on Procedure, Privileges and Legislative Officers.

— A general court martial will be held in Halifax for Sgt. Kevin MacIntyre, a military police officer accused of sexual assault.

— Royal Canadian Navy submarine HMCS Windsor returns to Halifax after completing a five-month deployment in the Euro-Atlantic region.

— Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland speaks to the Montreal Council on International Relations about “Canada in a Changing World.”

— Statistics Canada releases the travel between Canada and other countries figures for April.

— Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer welcomes Richard Martel to caucus.

— Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation releases the Housing Market Insight – Montreal report.

— BlackBerry Ltd. holds its annual meeting in Waterloo, Ont.

— Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi and officials hold a media availability on the fifth anniversary of the Calgary flood and what has been done in its aftermath.

— Alberta Indigenous Relations Minister Richard Feehan is scheduled to kick off National Indigenous Peoples Day with Indigenous artists and performers in Edmonton.

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