The schedule for the upcoming NHL season leaves room for an Olympic break, but the league says no final decision has been made on whether players will compete in the 2022 Beijing Games.
The NHL said in a statement Thursday that it has agreed to pause play between Feb. 7 to 22, 2022, for the Olympics, but noted talks are ongoing between the NHL Players’ Association and the International Ice Hockey Federation about whether its athletes will compete in Beijing.
“The NHL and the NHL Players’ Association will retain full authority to decide not to participate should COVID-19 conditions worsen or otherwise pose a threat to the health and safety of NHL Players, or for any other reason that may warrant such decision,” the statement said.
The league said if players don’t participate in the Olympics, a revised schedule will be released.
The NHL unveiled its 2021-22 schedule on Thursday, announcing that the campaign will kick off on Tuesday, Oct. 12 with the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Tampa Bay Lightning, hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The first Canadian matchup will see the Montreal Canadiens face the Maple Leafs in Toronto on Oct. 13. The Vancouver Canucks will also visit the Edmonton Oilers that night.
The Leafs will be in Ottawa to battle the Senators on Oct. 14, the same night the Winnipeg Jets open their season in Anaheim against the Ducks.
Other schedule highlights include the league’s newest franchise, the Seattle Kraken, opening their inaugural season at the Vegas Golden Knights on Oct. 12, and a rematch of last year’s Stanley Cup final on Dec. 7 when the Habs host the Lightning.
The 2021-22 season will see teams play its regular 82-game schedule, up from the 56 games they saw in the pandemic-condensed 2020-21 season.
A total of 26 people were arrested as attempts to evict people from a homeless encampment at Toronto’s Lamport Stadium Park led to violent clashes on Wednesday afternoon.
Video from the scene shows police scuffling with a line of apparent protesters who set up makeshift barricades around the encampment.
Police were seen tossing some of the protesters to the ground. A woman can be heard screaming as police drag her from a group and handcuff her on the ground.
A release from police said three officers were injured and 26 people were arrested.
There were 19 people charged under the Trespass to Property Act while six others are facing criminal charges.
One person, a 38-year-old man, living in the encampment was among those criminally charged. The rest of those charged did not live at the site and are facing charges of either assaulting a police officer or obstructing police.
Police say most of those charged have since been released.
Later in the evening, a large group of protesters gathered outside 14 Division at Dovercourt Road and Dundas Street, awaiting the release of those arrested at the Lamport Stadium encampment.
Social media posts reported officers were using pepper spray and batons on the protesters.
Police said at least one officer was injured when protesters allegedly threw projectiles at officers.
Three people were arrested outside 14 Division, but no details on charges have been released. The crowd has reportedly since dispersed.
A police bus also appears to been involved in a collision with parked vehicles outside of 14 Division.
Supt. Carter said they attempted to approach the situation at Lamport Stadium with “the least amount of force.”
When asked if there was a better way to handle these trespass notices, Carter said, “We work with the city and the city is the one who addresses the original problem and tries to get people to move on.”
“There is another way to do this, you just don’t let them put a tent up, but we’re not that type of city,” he added.
In a tweet, police said that “protesters are refusing to leave the park” and say an update on arrests will come later in the day.
Joey Mauger was among the encampment residents who didn’t want to leave the park.
“Me and my friends, we don’t bother anybody,” he said from behind the orange fence set up around the encampment earlier in the day. “We like it here, we don’t want to go and we don’t know where we’re going to go.”
Mauger said he and his partner had been living at the park for six months. He said he was previously put up in a hotel by the city but left because he didn’t feel safe due to random check-ins
“I’m too scared and not sure about anything anymore,” he said, adding that he wanted affordable permanent housing.
Sedulea Holland, who said her brother has experienced homelessness, was among those who showed up to support encampment residents.
“Where are they going to go? All the homeless people in the hotels get kicked out and end up on the street,” she said. “They need help, not law and order.”
The City of Toronto said there were 11 encampment occupants at the park when they arrived. Two people accepted a referral to a shelter or hotel program, five people already had a space in the shelter system. Three others left and one person declined an offer of permanent housing at the end of the day.
A total of 30 structures were removed from the encampment.
It’s the second day in a row that City of Toronto workers along with police and corporate security hired by the city were at the site of an encampment to enforce trespass notices. On Tuesday, those living at the Alexandra Park encampment were made to leave the area, with few accepting offers of housing in shelters or hotels.
As evictions began of those living at the encampment located on King Street east of Dufferin Street on Wednesday, the city once again reiterated in a release that “The Toronto Police Service will be present today to ensure the safety of encampment occupants, City workers and the public.”
Police and security guards told those who remained in the fenced-off encampment that they were trespassing and had to leave. Many ignored those instructions and some encampment residents could be seen barbecuing as music played from a speaker.
Outside the fence, roughly 100 people had gathered in a show of support for the homeless residents. Some who were volunteering with the Encampment Support Network, an advocacy group, were passing bottles of water and packages of food to those behind the fence.
The trespass notices were issued on June 12.
The City said there are more than 30 structures at the park and up to 17 homeless people living there are being offered safe, indoor space with access to meals, showers, physical and mental health supports and a housing worker.
Park residents are allowed to take two bags of belongings with them. All other belongings were to be collected and stored for up to 30 days, to be picked up at a later date.
Emergency crews have responded to 283 service calls to Lamport Stadium Park so far this year.
The recent encampment clearings come after residents living at four large encampments, including Lamport Stadium, were issued trespass notices last month, warning they could be removed if they refused to leave and face fines of up to $10,000 if convicted.
Back in May, a violent confrontation erupted as the city dismantled another homeless encampment at the stadium. Three police officers suffered minor injuries and one man was charged with assaulting an officer.
Encampments have popped up throughout the pandemic as more shelter-users take to the streets instead, citing safety concerns and COVID-19 outbreaks in shelters.
The city maintains the shelter system is safe and has said it will eventually clear all of the homeless encampments, which it says are unsafe. City council also recently passed a motion to end encampments.
“The city remains focused on providing a human services response to encampments and peaceful, voluntary referrals for people sleeping outdoors to safer, indoor accommodation,” the city said.
“Since June 15, 108 people staying in encampments, including eight people this past week, have been referred to safe inside space. Since last spring, the city has referred more than 780 people from Moss Park, Lamport Stadium, Alexandra Park and Trinity Bellwoods Park to safe inside space.”
Police said nine people were arrested on Tuesday during the clearing of the encampment at Alexandra Park. A photographer from the Canadian Press who was inside the area fenced in by city crews was among those arrested.
In June, three people were charged after confrontations between police and protesters as City crews evicted those living in encampments at Trinity Bellwoods Park.
The city of Toronto is opening up all of its COVID-19 clinics to walk-ins and allowing youth to also walk-in to the clinics, starting on Thursday.
Anyone 12 years of age and older will be able to walk into any of the nine city-run clinics and get a first or second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The city initially only opened up the Toronto Congress Centre to walk-ins on July 8, but after a successful first day, walk-ins were expanded to three other clinics.
The walk-in appointments are available from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. and those who walk-in can expect a short wait.
A release from Toronto Public Health says by lowering the barrier to vaccines across Toronto, they hope to reach the 20 per cent of Toronto adults who have not received a first dose and the 125,000 people who have a second dose scheduled for later in the year.
Toronto reached over 65 per cent of adults fully vaccinated earlier this week.
The city is also holding a #VaxtheNorth clinic this weekend in Mel Lastman Square from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. to help bolster the vaccine campaign in North York.
Walk-ins will be offered for anyone 12 years of age and older or you can book an appointment through the North York Toronto Health Partners booking website.
Ontario’s COVID-19 science advisory table has released its recommendations on whether the province should be issuing a vaccine certificate to those who have been fully vaccinated.
The 21-page brief released Wednesday suggests they could allow for the reopening of high-risk settings sooner and/or at increased capacity.
It says the certificate could be used to regulate entry into high-risk locations including gyms, restaurants, cultural and sports events and could also be used in settings like schools and workplaces that require mandatory vaccination.
The science table brief says on a longer-term basis, vaccine certificates can serve as a verifiable, secure, standardized, accessible and portable records of immunization.
The report also said given the “anticipated seasonality” of COVID-19 as well as variants of concern, implementing a vaccine certificate could be useful if public health measures need to be reintroduced.
It also acknowledges there are important legal, ethical, privacy and accessibility issues that would need to be addressed should the vaccine certificates be issued.
Premier Doug Ford has been strongly opposed to the idea of a vaccine passport, saying, “We’re not going to have a split society.”
“I’ve never believed in proof. Everyone gets their proof when they get the vaccination,” said Ford last week.
The Toronto Region Board of Trade has called on the Ontario government this week to introduce a vaccine passport system for non-essential business activity.
It also comes as Quebec moves to impose their own vaccine-passport system in September in areas where COVID-19 outbreaks occur, requiring people to prove they are vaccinated to enter places such as gyms and bars.
The Kraken expansion draft lacked drama after all 30 picks leaked out hours before they were revealed, but it had plenty of Seattle to introduce the NHL’s 32nd franchise.
One pick was announced by an octopus from the Seattle Aquarium. Another came written on a fish thrown in the city’s legendary Pike Place Market.
As far as the players selected, the Kraken got their goaltender in late-blooming Chris Driedger, perhaps their first captain in defenceman Mark Giordano and veteran forwards Jordan Eberle and Jared McCann. They passed on big-money goaltender Carey Price fresh off backstopping Montreal to the Stanley Cup Final, choosing instead to sign Driedger to a $10.5 million, three-year contract.
“When I kind of came to terms, I had no clue who my goalie partner would be,” Driedger said. “I’m kind of just betting on myself in that situation. In the NHL there’s going to be competition wherever you go.”
Price’s cap hit of $10.5 million – annually – for the next five seasons, plus the 34-year-old’s questionable injury history, led to Seattle passing on him.
“Any time you see a name like Carey Price available, you have to consider it,” Kraken general manager Ron Francis said. “Certainly we did that, we had a lot of discussions. And at the end of the day, we made the decision that we did to go in a different direction.”
Seattle also took goalies Vitek Vanecek from Washington and Joey Daccord from Ottawa. Driedger and Vanecek combine to cost less than half of Price.
Giordano, 37, has the biggest cap hit of any player the Kraken selected but could soon wear the “C” when they open their inaugural season at Vegas and then open Climate Pledge Arena Oct. 23 against Vancouver.
“It feels a little bit different today, but it’s been crazy last day or so,” Giordano said. “This is the first time in my career I’ve ever been drafted, so thank you to the Kraken and I’m happy to be here.”
Eberle, one of a handful of players on site at Gas Works Park on Lake Union, called it a “new challenge.”
“You don’t get many opportunities to be part of a new franchise,” said Eberle, who came from the New York Islanders. “Any time you get that opportunity to bring the Cup to a city that’s never had it before, it’s pretty special.”
Seattle had the Stanley Cup once before in 1917 when the city’s team was the Metropolitans.
It’s up to Francis and the Kraken to try to bring it back, and the expansion strategy seemed to mimic the Vegas Golden Knights making some off-the-board picks rather than taking big stars.
“I have a tremendous amount of faith in Ron Francis’ ability to build a team,” Driedger said. “He knows what he’s doing.”
Along with Driedger, Francis agreed to terms with pending free agent defencemen Adam Larsson and Jamie Oleskiak. Larsson got a $16 million, four-year deal to become the pick from the Edmonton Oilers, and Oleksiak got $23 million over five years.
Boston defenceman Jeremy Lauzon will go down in the record books as Seattle’s first expansion draft selection. Kole Lind from rival Vancouver was the 30th, and the Kraken did not announce any trades – a far cry from Vegas’ wheeling and dealing in 2017.
“A great list of guys here,” Oleksiak said about Seattle’s initial roster. “It’s a new team team and it offers a lot of opportunities for guys and it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
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AP Hockey Writers Stephen Whyno and John Wawrow contributed to this report.
Toronto police say two people, a man and a woman, have died after a two-car crash in Etobicoke on Tuesday.
It happened around 4:12 p.m. at Carlingview Drive and Constellation Court in the Dixon Road and Highway 427 area.
The debris-scattered crash scene shows a black minivan leaning against a broken light pole and a totaled red vehicle propped up against a nearby building.
Police believe excessive speed was likely a factor.
One of the victims died at the scene, while the second person died after being rushed to hospital.
Police said road closures in the immediate area will likely last several hours.
CALGARY — Canada’s environment minister says extreme weather conditions across the country should be a wake-up call for people resisting taking action against climate change.
Wildfires are raging out of control, forcing residents out of their homes, in British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
A state of emergency goes into effect in B.C. on Wednesday to prepare for potential mass evacuations as nearly 300 fires burned across that province and threatened communities. Two people died in the village of Lytton, B.C., earlier this month after much of the community was destroyed by fire.
Farmers in the Prairies are also suffering from severe drought conditions, while weather alerts are in effect across Western Canada due to a dense cloud of smoke.
“I think the events that we’re seeing this summer are probably underlying that even more for Canadians,” Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said Tuesday in an interview with The Canadian Press.
“The tragic event in Lytton, I think, was quite shocking for many people … certainly the forest fires, but also the flooding that we’ve seen in the last number of years.”
Wilkinson was in Calgary to announce a mitigation plan related to the 2013 floods in southern Alberta that led to five deaths and billions of dollars in damage.
He said all of the data suggests the extreme weather won’t be improving in the future.
“I think people are starting to understand that it’s even more proximate to them, that the impacts of climate change are with us already,” he said.
“We need to take action to make sure we’re not making the problem worse but, of course, we’re also going to need to learn to adapt to the changes that are with us already.”
Wilkinson, who grew up in Saskatchewan and now serves as the MP for North Vancouver, said he understands why some people still fight against taking action on climate change.
He said, however, that it’s a reality that extreme weather events will be more frequent and more intense in the future.
Wilkinson said the time to take action is now.
“I think it’s an opportunity to come together as Canadians and to double down in terms of being part of what has to be an international consensus and international solution,” he said.
“I think it is the defining issue of our generation and certainly of our children, and I think that Canada has an opportunity to play an important role.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 21, 2021.
Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press
Toronto police have issued an arrest warrant for a 32-year-old Toronto man in connection with an alleged “deliberate” fatal hit-and-run.
Police said they were called just after 9 p.m. to the Polson and Cherry Streets area for a report that a pedestrian had been struck by a truck.
When officers arrived, one of the victims had no vital signs and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
A second person that police said was also struck by the vehicle suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
The driver of the truck that police allege was involved in the collision had already fled the scene when emergency services had arrived.
Investigators said there was an argument prior to the collision and one man allegedly got into a pick-up truck and “deliberately struck the pedestrian.”
Following an investigation, police have obtained an arrest warrant for Robert Cada for second-degree murder and attempted murder.
He was last seen wearing a white t-shirt, blue jean shorts and white shoes. The vehicle believed to be involved in the incident has since been recovered.
The victim of the incident has not yet identified by police. A memorial has been started close to the site where the incident occurred.
Former Green leader Elizabeth May is speaking out after months of near-silence on the internal strife engulfing the party she headed for 13 years.
In a statement to media Tuesday afternoon, May says “rumours” about her involvement in party power struggles have pushed her to clarify she has no role in any of the Greens’ governing bodies.
Members of the federal council, which governs most of the party’s affairs, have clashed with leader Annamie Paul for months over issues that range from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to staff layoffs and funding for Paul’s riding campaign in Toronto Centre.
May says she did have first-hand knowledge of Green MP Jenica Atwin’s defection to the Liberals last month, a loss of one-third of the Green caucus that May called “painful” but no cause for “misplaced anger, blame and name-calling.”
May says she fully supports the Green party, adding simply that “our leader is Annamie Paul and only our members have authority to call that into question.”
Falling short of a full-throated endorsement, the statement comes a day after Paul held a news conference to show her party has pushed past a period of tumultuous acrimony ahead of a likely election this year.
The lingering tensions have left Greens in limbo and Paul reeling from a temporarily sidelined threat to her leadership.
Paul confirmed Monday that a non-confidence motion against her planned for Tuesday was cancelled, and that no similar motions will be proposed by the current federal council or before the next party convention.
“We need to pull together for what appears to be an imminent election campaign,” May said Tuesday.
A man is dead after he was found shot at a plaza in Toronto’s west end early Tuesday morning.
Emergency crews were called to Westown Plaza, at Dixon Road and Islington Avenue, just after midnight for reports of a man shot and laying on the ground.
The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
It is not yet known if the man was shot at the plaza.
There is no word on suspects.
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