In the news today: gun ban court fight, OSAP pause, B.C. storms, laboratory fined

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed …

Legal battle over federal firearms ban heads to Supreme Court of Canada

The country’s top court is set to hear legal arguments this week about the validity of a federal ban on hundreds of types of firearms the government considers fit only for the battlefield.

The hearings slated for Monday and Tuesday at the Supreme Court of Canada will give opponents of the ban another chance to make their cases after losing in the Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal.

In May 2020, the government prohibited the use, sale and importation of 1,500 firearms models and variants, including the AR-15 and Ruger Mini-14 — a move applauded by gun control advocates.

In October 2023, a Federal Court judge dismissed a request to strike down the ban as unlawful and beyond the scope of the powers delegated to the Governor in Council — effectively the federal cabinet.

—

OSAP pause may force dental college to close, school says

An Ontario career college that has trained dental hygienists and dental assistants for 22 years may have to close as early as next month, due to a provincewide pause on student financial aid in the sector.

Tuition at Southern Ontario Dental College in Hamilton is high, and as a result most of the students rely on Ontario Student Assistance Program funding.

But Colleges and Universities Minister Nolan Quinn stopped OSAP payments last month to all private post-secondary institution students due to what he calls serious concerns unearthed in the early stages of a sector-wide audit.

He has indicated the pause will continue into the new year, but Southern Ontario Dental College says it may not last until then without alternate funding.

—

Third storm heads for already drenched B.C. coast

The third in a series of storms is heading for British Columbia, after wild weather knocked out power to thousands, triggered evacuations and left one person dead over the weekend. 

Environment Canada issued wind warnings and special statements predicting heavy rain across large swaths of the province over the next few days.

In Haida Gwaii and North Vancouver Island, heavy winds are expected into Monday afternoon with gusts up to 110 kilometres an hour and a second low-pressure system following with winds likely to reach warning criteria again.

A special weather statement covering most of B.C.’s coast and Vancouver Island says a “strong and potent” series of storms will approach the B.C. coast from Tuesday through Thursday, bringing heavy rain, particularly in upslope terrain and higher elevations. 

—

B.C. lab ordered to pay $32K for misgendering transgender, non-binary patients

British Columbia’s human rights tribunal has ruled that a private laboratory provider must update its policies and pay $32,000 in damages for discriminating against transgender and non-binary patients.

The tribunal last month found LifeLabs and its subsidiary Excelleris Technologies misgendered and outed three patients at clinics in Vancouver and Burnaby in 2019.

Its decision says in one case, a non-binary person was told they had to choose either male or female to receive lab services and was outed to other patients in the waiting room.

The tribunal heard last year from one expert who said gender-diverse people face barriers in accessing health care, and that misgendering can be a “significant source of distress.”

—

Why Indigenous stewards are bringing ‘good fire’ back to Canada’s forests

Indigenous fire practitioners are leading a movement to put more strategic, controlled burns back on the land, outside of peak wildfire season.

Amy Cardinal Christianson is a former research scientist with the Canadian Forest Service.

She says she worries governments will shift to mostly prescribed fires, keeping the power with wildfire agencies, and overlooking Indigenous-led cultural burns.

In Ontario, the province recently relaxed legislation making it so Indigenous communities no longer have to apply for a fire permit for cultural burns if the provincial ministry is notified in advance.

—

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2026.