Your World Tonight - Church attack in Michigan, India stampede, Orange shirt appropriation, and more

Episode Date: September 28, 2025

Death, injury, and fire at a Mormon Church in Michigan - after a man allegedly drove into it during Sunday service, opened fire and set the building ablaze. At least four people are confirmed dead, and multiple others have been taken to hospital. We'll have the latest on the investigation.Also: In southern India, police are investigating the senior members of a political party. It comes a day after dozens of people died in a crowd crush at one of its rallies.And: This year marks the fourteenth Orange Shirt Day on Tuesday - paying tribute to the tens of thousands of Indigenous children forced to attend residential schools. With more businesses are participating, some are trying to take advantage of the momentum. The Orange Shirt Society, a non-profit organization, is scrambling to do something about it. Plus: March for Longueil teenager killed in a police shooting, Catching apple thieves in Ontario orchards, and more.

Before making reservation dogs, Sterlin Harjo was ready to quit the industry. The director credits this nothing-to-lose attitude for allowing him to just let go and swing for the fences, which resulted in him creating the smash-hit TV show. After the series finale, Sterlin moved on to his next big project, The Lowdown. He joined me, Tom Power, to talk about why he wanted to center his new series around truth and journalism at a time when both seem more threatened than ever. Follow Q wherever you get your podcasts, including YouTube. This is a CBC podcast. Hi, I'm Kate McGilvery. This is your world tonight.

It's just death by a thousand cuts. They will crush Canada Post, and it's management and the government doing it. With Canada Post at a crossroads, striking workers and their union are fighting tooth and nail for a and what happens next. And warning that the big cuts the government has planned are a road to ruin. Also on the podcast, death, injury, and fire at a Mormon church in Michigan, after a man allegedly drove into it during Sunday service, opened fire, and set the building ablaze. Plus, I once did a 10-minute search on the internet, and I found 10 countries selling Orange Shirt Day, Every Child Matters shirts.

With Truth and Reconciliation Day coming up on Tuesday, The nonprofit behind Orange Shirt Day says companies looking to make a quick buck are undermining the message. Postal workers are resisting the federal government's plan to end home delivery. Ottawa is also calling for some rural mail outlets to shutter in order to modernize a service losing millions of dollars a day. As J.P. Tasker reports, the government says the 150-year-old Crown Corporation is being asked to change in order to ensure its survival. For the second time in less than a year, some 55,000 Canada Post workers are off the job,

bringing mail and parcel delivery to a standstill and testing the patients of people who rely on the postal system to make a living. One big giant nightmare keep on going with Canada Post, servicing small businesses like ours across Canada. Lauren James sells model trains by mail, from his shop in Tilsenburg, Ontario. He says the work stoppage is costing him tens of thousands of dollars in lost sales. It's frustrating. At least this time, it's not Christmas and Black Friday and Cyber Monday,

but now we have a service eruption with no potential restore date. The latest job action comes after the federal government demanded an overhaul of the postal system, directing Canada Post to Relax Delivery Standards, and door-to-door delivery and lift a moratorium on. closing some rural post offices. This is thousands of jobs on the line, and it devastates the service. The union that represents most postal workers is digging in, vowing to stay on strike until the government backs down.

CUPW negotiator Jim Gallant. It's just death by a thousand cuts. They will crush Canada Post, and it's management and the government doing it. And I understand that the prime minister is a business guy, but this is a public service. If you try to make a profit on a public service, you're going to fail. At its peak, Canada Post was delivering some 5.5 billion letters a year. That number has dwindled to less than 2 billion.

Once dominant in parcel delivery, it now moves fewer than 1 in 4. The Crown Corporation is effectively bankrupt, losing $10 billion a day. We've just started on taxpayer injections to keep the lights on at the Canada Post, that that is not going to be a long-term solution. Hamilton speaks for Canada Post. He says the company needs to downsize if it has any hope of staying in business. Are we going to be a leaner organization going forward? Absolutely, top the bottom, management included. The prime minister says there's no going back, saying yesterday that even more cuts could be coming. The government has indicated a corporation should move forward with some

changes that are the start of a path towards viability. More will need to be done. The centuries-old service is at a crossroads. The longer workers are out on strike. the more customers Canada Post could lose. J.P. Tasker, CBC News, Ottawa. To Grand Blank, Michigan now, where a gunman opened fire during Sunday services at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At least four worshippers were killed,

and other eight people are in hospital with injuries. Police say they're still searching the area for more victims. Katie Simpson is watching all of this for us from Washington. Katie, the police gave an update this evening. What more do we know? Police and witnesses describe an absolutely horrific scene. The church was packed, hundreds of people inside around 1025 this morning. It was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blank,

a rural community about an hour north of Detroit. Police and witnesses say it was around this time when the suspect drove a pickup truck through the front doors of the church. One witness says at first people thought it was an accident and went to help. But that's when the driver got out of the vehicle, armed with an automatic rifle, and began shooting worshipers. The same time, investigators say the suspect somehow managed to start a fire that completely engulfed the church. Police say they first arrived on scene less than one minute after those first 911 calls started coming in, and they were able to find, shoot, and kill the gunmen in less than 10 minutes.

The scene was understandably chaotic. There were immediate calls for backup because authorities couldn't get. to everyone who needed help because the fire was so intense and spreading quickly. The suspect has been identified as 40-year-old Thomas Jacob Sanford and he lived in a neighboring town. Photos from the scene show a truck, the one used in this attack. It had several American flags hanging right behind the truck's cab. Police are not yet providing any details about a motive at this time, and the bomb squad has been called in to deal with any possible suspicious materials.

And what kind of reaction are we hearing on this? President Donald Trump says he was briefed on the shooting. In a post on social media, he said this appears to be yet another targeted attack on Christians, adding the epidemic of violence in our country must end immediately. Houses of worship have been targeted in attacks in the U.S. recently, including just last month when two children were killed at a Catholic church mass in Minneapolis. On top of that, it has been an incredibly volatile thing. time in America. The killing of Charlie Kirk. Police say the right-wing activist was targeted in a

politically motivated assassination. Police believe politics also played a role in another fatal shooting targeting a Dallas immigration facility. Again, investigators in Michigan are still working on a motive here, but this will certainly add to the tensions of this moment. Katie Simpson in Washington, Katie, thank you. Thanks. U.S. President Donald Trump says his plan to end the war in Gaza is in its final stages. In an interview with the Reuters News Agency, Trump says his 21-point plan has gotten a very good response from Israeli and Arab leaders. He says he hopes to finalize the deal in a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. Since becoming president in January, Trump has repeatedly claimed that a negotiated peace between Israel and Hamas is close. In southern India,

police are investigating the senior members of a political party after dozens of people, died in a crush at one of its rallies. Our South Asia correspondent, Salima Shivji, has more. The cries of pain from a family hunched over the body of their loved one draped in flowers, gone so abruptly. An elderly female relative raises her hands to her head repeatedly in grief. A few steps away, this young woman is inconsolable. Like so many other families in Karur,

in India's southern Tamil Nadu state. It was a massive political rally Saturday evening that took their relatives, a campaign stop ahead of state elections next year. For Vijay, the wildly popular Tamil actor turned politician. His star power brought thousands to the site, more than double the expected number. Within minutes of the rally starting, after Vijay arrived hours later than planned,

panic hit. The crowd surged towards the campaign bus where the former actor stood making a speech. He was seen throwing water bottles from the top of the vehicle and calling for police to come help. Several people fainted from waiting in the heat. Others fell as the crush of the crowd overwhelmed them. Ambulances could barely make it through the crush of people to get the injured out. Among the dead, at least nine children. My brother's two boys are at the rally. His older son passed away, this man cries. What should I do? He asks in anguish. My daughter and her fiancé sent a selfie from there.

This woman says they told me they'd be home soon. But now they're both gone. The grief hitting many families hard after the deadliest political rally Tamil Nadu has seen in a country where fatal crowd surges are relatively common. In June, 11 people died after a cricket victory celebration in Bangaluru. And last January at the Holy Mahakumela Hindu Festival, a crowd surge killed 37 people, officials said, although opposition leaders dispute that figure and believe it was much higher.

Vijay, in a post on social media, said his heart is shattered by the tragedy. He's offered compensation to the victim's families, as has the state government. But there's also blame directed at the former. movie star. Letting the rally take place here was the worst decision, this woman says, gesturing to the wide arterial road behind her. It was overcrowded, she says. There was nowhere to go to get out.

The case has been registered, we'll be the details later. As Davidson-Davaservatam with the Tamil Nadu police confirmed, they've filed a case against key members of Vijay's new political party, a first step that could lead to criminal charges. But the investigation into how this deadly stampede could have happened is just beginning. Selina Shivjee, CBC News, Mumbai. Still ahead, a few bad apples are spoiling the fun at an Ontario pick-your-own orchard. Hundreds of pounds of the fruit have been stolen by visitors this fall.

We'll meet the farmers who caught some of those thieves red-handed, coming up later on your world tonight. There are new details about the circumstances surrounding the fatal police shooting of a Quebec teenager last weekend. 15-year-old Nuran Rizai was killed while officers were responding to a call about a group of armed people in public. Quebec's independent police watchdog is now investigating. The CBC's Rafi Bucci Canyon was at a protest this afternoon calling for justice for Rizai. And he joins us now. Rafi, take us through what happened today. protesters marched up and down the boulevard in front of the main police station in Longuei on Montreal South Shore.

They say they were looking for justice, a fair and transparent investigation into the killing of Nuran Razayi, but also demanding that police forces in Quebec start wearing body cameras. That is a trend elsewhere in the country, all municipal police in Alberta wear them, for example. Ontario provincial police do, so do Toronto police, but it's not standard practice here. Some protesters we spoke to say both those goals spoke out to them. I personally do believe that police should have body cams, but I also believe that people, ordinary citizens, should film the police. When there's something happening, I believe people should be documenting, you know, what's going on.

I just want to sensibilize the population about racism that exists, especially. towards immigrants. So this is why I'm here to support. I don't know if it's going to make any change, but at least we're going to sensibilize some people. Rafi, can you remind us what we know about Rizai's death last Sunday? Right before 3 p.m.,

police were called to the scene on a street intersection in Longuey. The preliminary information from the police watchdog group, the Bureau of Enquette Independent, or BEI, says it was about a group of armed people. A witness who lives in the area told CB. an officer stepped out of a car and yelled out twice to a group of teenagers running around before shooting twice. The witness said Nuran Razai fell to the ground. And we're also learning some new details about what happened here.

What can you tell us? Yeah, our colleagues at Radio Canada obtained details from one of three calls to 911 that day. That caller described the group of 15 to 20 people in an altercation of some sort, including some holding baseball bats and pepper sprays. this call was about 10 minutes long and it also mentioned a firearm some four times. But it also said no firearm was actually seen, just what looked like the barrel of one sticking out of someone's backpack. We also know police arrived on the scene at 257 p.m. And Brazai was shot by 258, so a minute later. And the BEI has been largely quiet since their initial announcement as they continue their investigation.

but they've confirmed the only firearm found at the scene was the one the officer discharged. Rafi Bougi Canyon in Montreal, Rafi, thank you. You're welcome. On Tuesday, you'll see many Canadians in orange shirts, paying tribute to the tens of thousands of indigenous children forced to attend residential schools. This year marks the 14th Orange Shirt Day,

but with more businesses participating, some are trying to take advantage of the momentum. As Juanita Taylor reports, the Orange Shirt Society, a nonprofit organization, is scrambling to do something about it. Orange Shirt Day, Every Child Matters, was created to honor survivors and their families and to remember those that never made it home.

Phyllis Webstad started a global movement 14 years ago with her story. She's the residential school survivor whose orange shirt was taken from her as a six-year-old child, a gift from her grandmother for her first day of residential school at St. Joseph Mission in Williams Lake, BC. It's her story behind Orange Shirt Day. For whatever reason, my story was chosen to be the story to bring about change in Canada.

Webstad helped found the Orange Shirt Society, traveling the country and sharing her story. Now, thousands of Canadians wear orange shirts from coast to coast to coast on September 30th, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. I didn't advocate for this. It just happened and it hit social media and just blew up to become the orange shirt movement that it is today. And that is sparking interest by designers and companies to create and sell their own shirt in stores and online. I once did a 10-minute search on the internet and I found 10 countries selling Orange Shirt Day Every Child Matters shirts and other merchandise as well.

But some creators of the orange shirt haven't been doing so in the spirit of its intent, says Webb's dad. She says shirts must be orange and include the message every child matters. One online company called North Maple Wear is offering shirts in multiple colors with phrases like All Child Matters and Each Child Matters. CBC News reached out to the company for comment, but we did not receive a response before deadline. It's maddening to see that happening. Appropriation of Orange Shirt Day prompted the Orange Shirt Society to act. The Orange Shirt Society applied for the trademark Every Child Matters in May of 2020, and we were successful in receiving that trademark June of this year.

Do you want a receipt? Do you want a bag? Meanwhile, orange shirt sales at signed a store in Yellowknife are going steady. Owner Janet Pacey collaborated with an indigenous artist Elaine Landry, to create this year's shirt. But Pacey says she does it for the artist and for the community, not for the sales. It bothers me to know that there's people making money off of this.

That's not what it's about. It's about honoring a group of people that deserves to be honored. Pacey says she only charges to cover operating costs. She's meeting the criteria the Orange Shirt Society has set out with its trademark. Webstad knows that it will take time to catch on. I see this as me and the Orange Shirt Society not being able to get our story out appropriately. I want to do paid advertisements in regard to all of this,

but we just couldn't mobilize quick enough for yet another orange shirt day, but guaranteed next year we will be out there and talking more about this in the media and in the public. Events including marches and ceremonies will be held on Tuesday across the country to mark the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. No doubt in a sea of orange. Winnita Taylor, CBC News, Yellowknife. The booming city of Steinbeck, Manitoba, is a prairie success story, with a growing population and busy industries

that have so far largely been spared from the U.S. trade war. But they know that could change. And as they continue to sell south of the border, Steinbeck's business leaders are also hoping to see new Canadian trading partners emerge. Cameron McIntosh has more. Made in Canada, dozens of workers are assembling custom windows on a busy factory floor in Steinbeck, Manitoba. Everything we make is configured to order.

Neil Fast is president and CEO of Lowen Windows. Depending on how busy we are, it'll be about two or three hundred units a day will be produced. Most of it like this by hand. A lot of it will look like that. Most are bound for the U.S. For now at least, Lowen's windows are protected from U.S. import tariffs. But tariffs and counter-tariffs on aluminum and lumber have made input costs less predictable,

creating uncertainty for the company and its 700 employees. We are looking to really simplify our supply chain, make it a lot more resilient and able to withstand any unexpected changes that that might come out of next year, for sure. Any progress on new trade deals that lessen reliance on U.S. trade is welcome news, as Fast also tries to land more orders at home. We're having our best year in Canada in a long time. Lowen is one of the biggest employers in Steinbeck, a city of about 18,000, about 35 minutes southeast of Winnipeg. Since 2011, the population has grown more than 30%, largely driven by immigration. manufacturing jobs in windows, concrete, and food production, a big draw.

A lot of that business, reliant on North-South trade, as is the other big economic driver here, agriculture. These three are full, the last two are still waiting. Just outside town, Mark Rampel is pointing to grain bins on the mixed farm she runs with her son. Midway through harvest, she's watching the weather, the markets, and the whims of the White House. Their hog business is entirely Canadian, but uncertainty over U.S. trade threatens prices overall.

It's a huge factor because it makes it difficult to plan for next month, little alone next year, or for the next generation. Be it a farm or a factory across the region, a push to adapt. For years, Steinbeck has aggressively sought to grow by attracting new businesses and is trying not to let uncertainty over U.S. trade, slow it down. We have a lot of opportunities here. Tessa Massey is executive director of the Chamber of Commerce with a simple pitch.

This is a great place to live and a great place to do business. We are pro-business. There's a lot riding here on cross-border and global politics, along with Canada's ability to avoid the worst of U.S. tariffs and land new trade deals. The American market, likely impossible to replace entirely. but on the window assembly line, Fass says he's ready to sell to anyone anywhere. The culture and the workforce that has been built up here is incredible.

On the farm, Remple is already thinking about next year's harvest. We are by nature, a tenaciously optimistic, I sometimes say. Just hoping Canada can land the right deals. Cameron McIntosh, CBC News, Steinbeck, Manitoba. For many Canadian parents, finding quality and affordable daycare remains difficult. That's despite a 2021 government promise to institute $10 a day daycare across the country by next year. For families wondering what is next, examples around the world can shine a little light, both on the best case scenario and the ultimate cautionary tale.

Freelance reporter John Last tells us more. When Lisa Peterson had her first child, she knew she would be heading back to work before too long. So when her daughter, Naya was a few months old, the former BC teacher filled out an online form from her home city of Copenhagen. Within a few months, she had guaranteed full-time care in a clean and modern city-run daycare. It was insanely easy. Daycare in Denmark is heavily subsidized by the government and nearly universally accessible. And its benefits aren't just felt by parents. Birgit Steckman is a child care expert with FAO, the union representing daycare workers in Denmark.

We have really solid research in Denmark saying that when the children reach the second grade in school, it's over. Their path is made. Today, despite record government spending, Canada's daycare system is still a far cry from Denmark's. If you're looking for a comparison, it's with another country where child care is in the news. all the wrong reasons. Child care has become a big business in Australia. Matt Grundoff is an economist with the Australia Institute, a think tank. Like Canada, Australia's daycare system is dominated by private providers, who have kept fees high and costs low to maximize profits. For over 30 years, the Australian government has been trying to lower fees with subsidies not unlike those introduced

in Canada. But experts say the result there has been a disaster. Georgie Dent is. as CEO of the Parenthood, a child care advocacy group. Every time the government has made an investment in the child care subsidy to try and make childcare more affordable for parents, providers have just put up their fees. Worse, for-profit daycares have been found to cut corners on safety and staff screening. In one city, authorities found a serial child abuser was allowed to work at dozens of different centres, gaining access to thousands of children. The problem has gotten so bad that Australia's government

is now considering scrapping its subsidy altogether and putting that cash towards building a public system like Denmark's from scratch. For Grundoff, that's just common sense. We don't have to reinvent the wheel here. There's no reason we can't more closely link child care with primary school education. Canadian experts say that the takeaway from Australia and Denmark's example should be clear. Mornah Ballantyne is Executive Director of Child Care Now, a Canadian advocacy group. The evidence is pretty clear about what is the better system. A publicly delivered system is better for quality. It's better for children, better for families, and provides much better economic returns.

But Canadian parents might not want to hold their breath. Ballantyne says any progress on a public system will depend on the political will to make it happen. Canada's partial subsidy may have been a start, but a daycare system to rival Denmark's is still a long way away. For CBC News, I'm John Last in Ottawa. An apple orchard in Ontario is bringing in new security measures after losing hundreds of pounds of fruit to theft. Visitors have been caught smuggling out apples using backpacks and even strollers, leading farmers to lose thousands of dollars in profit.

As Cameron Mahler reports, some farmers are considering shutting down the public picking altogether. We don't know if we would want to do this forever if this would continue. It's peak apple picking season at shoe orchards near kitchen. Ontario, but if you're heading into the fields this year, don't bring a stroller, backpack, or wagon. Owner Tim Shoe says those new rules aren't ideal, but it's his best tactic to curb theft. We realized that with that many people on the farm, it was difficult to keep track of how many people were in the rows, where they were going. Over just two weekends, more than 7,500 customers came to Shue's farm.

He says some of them were caught filling their trunks up with bushels, or even hiding apples under blankets. I seized about 250 pounds of apples. There's no way with 4,000 people on our farm that we were able to get even half the people that were stealing. Shue estimates at least 500 pounds were taken. That's about $2,000 worth of apples, enough to make him question whether his pick-your-own operation is worth it. You know, if everyone was stealing from us, if we certain we'd shut down tomorrow. Shoe isn't alone.

Byron Good, who runs Good family farm pumpkins in Waterloo, says theft is a constant worry, but unlike Shue, he doesn't want to impose bans on his farm, worried it will affect his customer's experience. The vast majority of people are honest. If people like to come as families, if it's easier to have children in a stroller, we don't want to take that out of way. Instead, Good relies on security cameras and even plants his most valuable pumpkins further from the road. But theft at pick your own farms like the ones shoe in Good Run isn't a small issue. Kevin Vallier is the CEO of Agri Tourism, Ontario, a nonprofit organization that promotes farmers who've opened their gates to the public.

He says rules like shoes are becoming more and more common. I've talked to a number of members this year and last year that are seeing a significant it rise in theft. I know some have talked about shutting you pick down altogether because it's just they're losing so much money. Valier says some farmers are now paying for fencing, security, or extra staff, costs that often get passed back down to customers. But still, both Valier and Good worry too many restrictions will take away from what makes going to the farm special. Shoe understands that, but says without the changes, orchards like his, could be forced to close their gates permanently. Cameron Mahler, CBC News, Ottawa.

And finally, let's stop by a music festival and conference in Winnipeg that wraps up tonight. Breakout West shows off artists from across the western provinces, a good number of them bringing a proper Western dose of banjos, guitars, and soul. That's Manitoba's Jade Turner. The festival ends with the Western Canadian Music Awards, and she's bringing home country artist of the year. Then there's the winners in the hip-hop category, from Kidamette Village in British Columbia,

Snoddy Knows Res Kids. Finally, there's this year's inductee into the Western Canadian Music Hall of Fame, Winnipeg's own, Shantelle Creviasik. Thanks for being with us. This has been your world tonight for Sunday, September 28th. I'm Kate McGilvery.

Good night. From me But I am right beside you In this life For more CBC podcasts, go to CBC.