Your World Tonight - Indigenous leaders call for an end to Alberta premier's separatism talk, measles on the rise, Signalgate casualty, and more

Episode Date: May 1, 2025

Indigenous leaders speak out against Alberta's premier, and accuse Danielle Smith of trying to create a national unity crisis. The comments come as Alberta proposes a bill to make it easier for voters to trigger referendums — including on seceding from Canada.Also: Measles cases continue to rise across Canada. We look at where this highly contagious, but preventable disease is spiking, and what medical experts say are the reasons why.Plus: The Trump Administration shuffles the deck. U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz is out after his involvement in the Signal chat scandal that saw the leak of sensitive details about a military strike in Yemen. But he’s being nominated for a new position.Also: Rising tensions between India and Pakistan, Quebec’s ban on cell phones in schools, and more.

When a body is discovered 10 miles out to sea, it sparks a mind-blowing police investigation. There's a man living in this address in the name of a deceased. He's one of the most wanted men in the world. This isn't really happening. Officers are finding large sums of money. It's a tale of murder, skullduggery and international intrigue. So who really is he? I'm Sam Mullins and this is Sea of Lies from CBC's Uncovered, available now.

This is a CBC Podcast. When the federal government violates the Constitution, we are going to meet them with every step that we can in order to preserve our ability to manage our own affairs. These are the kind of things that you can expect to see from our government. We'll do more of them if we have to. After a federal campaign that saw the issue of Western separatism heat up, with some warning a liberal win could cause it to boil over, Alberta Premier Daniel Smith is making it easier

for people in her province to trigger referendums on any issue Albertans want to put to the test including national unity. Welcome to Your World Tonight. I'm Susan Bonner. It is Thursday May 1st coming up on 6 p.m. Eastern also on the podcast. Our ancestors whenever somebody was exiled from their own territories, they're expected to pass through the territory and continue on. And that's kind of what we're doing here. We're upholding our old laws. Fed up after an alleged killing linked to the toxic drug trade, a First Nations community in British Columbia takes matters into their own hands,

forcing members out with direct action that's testing the boundaries of tradition and modern justice. For Albertans who would like to leave, the door will be a bit easier to open. After warnings about Western alienation and independence, Premier Daniel Smith is changing the rules for holding referendums. As Erin Collins reports, the move is already getting pushback from several First Nations. High above several streets across Alberta, signs that the province's sovereignty movement is alive.

Billboards declaring support Alberta separation and a new law tabled in Alberta this week lowers the bar for a referendum on achieving that goal. I think direct democracy has a long history in Alberta and we're just going to make sure that citizens are able to identify issues they care about so they can vote on them directly. Alberta's premier insists Bill 54 isn't about sovereignty. Danielle Smith says citizens could choose to vote on any number of policy issues. But it would now take support from just 10% of voters in the last provincial election to trigger a vote on sovereignty. An effort Danielle Smith won't say if she supports.

I guess we'll see whether or not they're able to put together a petition, gather enough signatures and put it to the people. I think you're kind of jumping ahead a few steps. Alberta's separatists will need fewer than 180,000 signatures to take that next step. Organizers of the independence push say they can quickly get to that number. A vocal minority on the march now facing increasing opposition. I truly believe she does this just to get the public riled up. Chief Billy Joe Tuckrow of the Mikasou Cree First Nation not happy.

We take these threats very, very seriously. One of several Alberta chiefs penning their opposition to separation saying any talk of independence ignores their treaty rights to the land. Co-writing a letter to Danielle Smith accusing her of manufacturing a constitutional crisis, forwarding it to Prime Minister Mark Carney urging him to get Alberta in line. It's Canada's responsibility to tell Premier Smith to back off, let the treaty people do what they need to see fit on their own lands. Alberta NDP leader Nahed Nenshi also accusing the premier of stoking the embers of separatism in the province.

We're paying a lot of attention to a very small minority of people who do not represent Albertan values. If you want to flirt with separatism, put your money where your mouth is. Call the referendum yourself. Leaving Canada is on some Albertans' minds. Recent polling suggests a quarter of Albertans

would vote to leave Confederation, a number that political scientist Brendan Boyd says should be taken seriously. Almost a third of the population in Alberta has expressed some interest in this, and so there is frustration there. The fact that 25% of Albertans want to leave Canada is worrying. But to put that number in perspective, in a province where there's little support for Liberals, more Albertans voted for Mark Carney's party on Monday than support separation.

Erin Collins, CBC News, Calgary. The results of Monday's federal vote have changed. After a recount, Elections Canada says the Montreal area riding of Terrebonne has gone back to the Bloc Québécois by just 44 votes. The Liberals were initially declared the winner. There will now be a judicial recount but that flip puts the seat count at 168 for the Liberals. The Conservatives remain at 144. The Bloc rises to 23 while the NDP stays at 7 and the Greens won. Prime Minister Mark

Carney is holding a news conference tomorrow morning where he is expected to lay out the priorities for his minority government. They are being shamed and chased out of their community. And in case they're thinking of coming back, their homes are being torn down too. A First Nation in British Columbia says it's trying to stop a cycle of violence by banishing band members linked to alleged crimes and a tragic death. They say it's a traditional way to keep their community safe. Officials worry it could be going too far.

Brady Strachan has details. Yanaka, they're here. In video uploaded to social media, people lined the highway near Prince George as a truck approaches. Get the f*** out of here. As the truck slows down to turn off the highway, the protesters advance, telling the driver they are unwelcome. Keep moving.

This hostile welcome is related to an alleged homicide on Haida Gwaii last month. The RCMP say a man named Luke Pearson was killed in a targeted hit and run. 32-year-old Tyson Young is charged with second degree murder and remains in custody. Late last month, First Nation leaders banished Young and seven people associated with him from their community on Haida Gwaii and demolished homes owned by the band that they were living in. Terry Teejee is chief of the BC Assembly of First Nations.

Chief and council of Skidigan know that these people that were in this homes were selling drugs and I think took it upon themselves to to banish them from the community. As news spread this week on social media and those banished arrived on the mainland, people gathered along highways in communities like Prince Rupert, Hazelton and Smithers in support of the victim's family and to send a message that those banished from Haida Gwaii are not welcome. Smogulgem is a hereditary chief of the Wet'suwet'en nation where some of the protests took place. Our ancestors whenever somebody was exiled from their own territories as they were leaving their neighboring territories are not allowed to serve them. They're expected to pass through the territory and continue on.

That's kind of what we're doing here. We're upholding our old laws. He even followed the group force to leave Haida Gwaii as they traveled from Hazelton to Smithers, B.C., live streaming it all and calling on others to join in. We know how it feels to bury our young people, and it's happening far too often. And this movement just caught the hearts of so many of our communities. RCMP staff

sergeant Chris Clark says he's aware of the protests but he warns what police are seeing is bordering on harassment. The actions of the quote-unquote protesters have not been peaceful, lawful or safe. There's certainly concern for an escalation. Clark says police know where the people banished from Haida Gwaii are headed, but he's not disclosing the location for their safety. He says none of them is facing criminal charges. CBC News has reached out to the Skittaget Band Council and the Council of the Haida Nation, but they declined to speak until a memorial is held for Luke Pearson,

a 32-year-old who relatives say was a much-loved member of the community. Brady Strachan, CBC News, Vancouver. Coming up on the podcast, fears that a crisis in Kashmir could lead to a conflict between India and Pakistan. Measles spread in areas where vaccination rates are low and unconnected in Quebec schools, a full cell phone ban planned. The Trump Administration's Firing Rumors of a Trump administration firing swirled today in Washington for hours until a social media post by the U.S. president took many by surprise.

National Security Adviser Mike Walz, at the center of a scandal dubbed Signalgate, isn't being fired. He's being nominated for a new position. Paul Hunter explains. Have a good day. Walking toward the White House this morning, Donald Trump's embattled national security adviser Mike Walz. Within minutes, word would emerge, he's gone, along with his deputy Alex Wong. Walz had been under fire since March after the revelation that he'd added a prominent journalist to a private, high-level U.S US security group text chat on the texting

app Signal in which highly sensitive military intel was discussed just ahead of a US assault on Houthi rebels in Yemen. It's embarrassing, yes. That's Waltz on Fox News in late March. Look, I take full responsibility. On what came to be known as Signalgate. How's the number on your phone? Well, if you have somebody else's contact and then it, and then somehow it gets sucked in. Oh, someone sent you that contact. Democrats today on Waltz's departure. It's long overdue.

I mean, he's the guy who started the unclassified text chain. That's Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth, as she and others emphasized, more must now follow. Chief among them, Trump's Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, who is also on that text chain, authoring its most sensitive aspects. Here's Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal. The Secretary of Defense should be fired

and should have been fired before Mr. Walz. But from Trump, the shuffle had just begun. Then announcing on his Truth Social platform, Walz is now his nominee to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. And replacing Walz as national security adviser, at least temporarily, wrote Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, while Rubio continues on at state. The president has just written on Truth Social. Within moments of that post, a reporter at the State Department press briefing seeming

to catch spokeswoman Tammy Bruce off guard, including on the implications for her boss, Rubio. Do you know how long he's going to be serving in both roles? It is clear that I just heard this from you. The magic. Well, I, I have. Eventually, Bruce describing the day as an exciting moment. As Trump seemingly tries to move beyond the signal controversy for waltz, it's hardly over. To be U.S. ambassador to the U.N. requires confirmation by the U.S. Senate

and hearings with waltz before the vote. Says at least one senior Democrat on that, it'll be brutal. Paul Hunter, CBC News, Washington. Ukrainian officials are working to quickly ratify a critical minerals agreement with the United States, hoping it will mean American funds will soon start to flow. While the deal is a major breakthrough for the two countries, Ukraine remains locked in Russia's war with no clear way out. Briar Stewart reports. Around the same time that US and Ukrainian officials were signing a natural resource agreement in Washington, Russian drones targeted Odessa. Another reminder that an economic

deal is very different from one that promises peace. US President Donald Trump hasn't been able to quickly end the war as he vowed, but his team is describing this agreement as a win for Washington. We'll move it and operationalize it as fast as we possibly can. Stephen Miller is the White House Deputy Chief of Staff and says while peace is Trump's ultimate aim, this is also about payback. For the hundreds of billions of dollars that our taxpayers have spent subsidizing the war in Ukraine. Ukraine isn't required to directly repay the USAID, but Washington sees this as an economic opportunity. And officials say at the same time, a strong signal of its commitment to a sovereign, stable

Ukraine. Under the deal, the US will get preferential access to invest in new natural resource projects in Ukraine, including the extraction of critical minerals. Washington and Kyiv will jointly manage an investment fund. There's also no mention of security guarantees, which is what Ukraine's president had been pushing for earlier this year. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the deal was truly an equal partnership. But on the streets of Kyiv, where there's significant distrust of the Trump administration,

some residents are wary. In my opinion, it would be harmful for Ukraine. We will be going to be occupied not by Russia, but with America. I trust the Ukrainian government. I don't trust America. Natalia Shapovail is vice president of the Kiev School of Economics. She thinks the deal is positive and was the only way to keep the U.S. engaged.

It allows Ukraine to stay in this negotiation. Shapoval says there are still a lot of details that haven't been clarified, but at least it gives the U.S. a sizable stake in Ukraine's future. It's a big deal, but the war is much bigger and this deal doesn't show enough evidence how exactly US can help to bring peace. Vladimir Putin has so far refused to agree to a proposed 30-day ceasefire and Trump appears to be growing more frustrated with the Kremlin though the White House hasn't followed up on any of its repeated threats to roll out more punishing sanctions against Russia.

Briar Stewart, CBC News, London. India and Pakistan are inching closer to a potential military confrontation. The two countries have exchanged gunfire along the border in the aftermath of a deadly attack last week in Kashmir. Now Pakistan says it has evidence that India is preparing to escalate. South Asia correspondent Salima Shivji has the latest. The raw pain as relatives console one another at the funeral of one of the victims of the deadly attack in Indian controlled Kashmir. Now turning into quiet grief for the family trying to process their loss.

My brother died saving the lives of our guests, the tourists, Naushad Hussain says. At least there's that to be proud of. Tourists visiting the disputed Kashmir region were the target of last week's violence that killed 26. The deadliest militant attack on civilians to hit the Indian controlled part of contested Kashmir in two decades immediately triggered a security crackdown with hundreds arrested and police blaring warnings over loudspeakers for residents to stay away from militant groups. The violence has sent two nuclear powers hurtling

towards the brink of war once again, sworn enemies India and Pakistan. Both claim Kashmir in its entirety but only control parts of it. India's government blames Pakistan for having what New Delhi calls linkages to the attack and says two of the suspected gunmen are Pakistani nationals, charges Islamabad denies. A key border crossing between the two countries is now shut, the airspace above closed. And India has suspended a crucial river waters sharing treaty that Pakistan downstream relies on. A move Pakistani officials are not taking lightly. The country's foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, put it bluntly. Any attempt to stop or divert the flow of water belonging to Pakistan will be considered as an act of war.

He says Islamabad has credible intelligence that India is preparing a military attack very soon and Pakistan will respond in kind, says military spokesperson Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry. Still, officials in Islamabad are also signaling they want to defuse tensions, calling for international mediation and an independent inquiry. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has spoken to both sides, urging calm and de-escalation. But that might be tricky, with seething anger in the streets and a desire for vengeance propelling India's response,

says Brahmachalini, a professor with Delhi Think Tank, the Centre for policy research. So the challenge for Prime Minister Modi is to calm public anger. He has to keep the country united. At the same time, he has to deliver a response that's proportionate and calibrated. A response many on the Pakistan-administered side of Kashmir are bracing for. We just want peace. We want both countries to live like good neighbours, this man says, after decades of violent insurgency.

Salim Ashrafjee, CBC News, Mumbai. stay up to date and never miss one of our episodes, follow us on Spotify, Apple, wherever you get your podcasts. Just find the follow button and lock us in. Ontario is reporting a spike in measles infections. More than 200 were added this past week alone, including in Ottawa, a city that hasn't had a case since 2019. The vast majority of infections are in unvaccinated children and despite the surge, getting more people immunized hasn't been easy. Health reporter Jennifer Yoon reports. Oakville, Ontario mom Sumaiya Hafeez has vaccinated her kids against measles. But she's alarmed.

In her region of Halton, only about 25% of 7-year-olds are fully immunized according to the latest provincial data. There are the groups who do not approve of vaccinations and then they put everyone at risk. Measles is spreading at an accelerated pace in Ontario. The province is reporting over 200 more cases this past week, bringing the total to 1,242 cases so far this year.

The vaccine preventable disease known for the blotchy red rash can kill one to two out of every 1,000 infected, even with the best medical care. Dr. Joanne Oda, a medical officer at Halton Region's public health unit, knows her region is surrounded by measles cases. But she thinks more kids are vaccinated than the data suggests,

though she admits she doesn't know by how much. Parents, she says, just haven't reported their vaccination statuses. Most people want to be protected. They just don't know how to report. Even in provinces that do keep closer tabs on vaccination rates, tackling misinformation about the vaccine remains a challenge. In Alberta, vaccination rates are less than 50% among 7-year-olds in some communities.

The province is reporting 193 cases this year, the most in almost three decades. Dr. Alison Goncalves with Alberta Health Services South Zone says her team is talking to families, hesitant to get the jab. We have to get more information out to parents about what they need to stay informed and to combat that misinformation that's out there. That is a bit of a game of whack-a-mole. Dr. Michael Gardam is the former head of Health PEI. He says trying to fight misinformation is extremely challenging.

While you're trying to message positively and meet people halfway and understand their concerns, there is an entire group of people whose sole purpose in life is to undermine everything that you're saying. What would help is to see top health officers brief the public more often, says Dr. Shelley Duggan, the president of the Alberta Medical Association. We need to be seeing the medical officer of health probably on a weekly basis. We need to see vaccination clinics popping up. We need to make it easy for people.

CBC has repeatedly requested an interview with Dr. Kieran Moore, the chief medical officer of Ontario, and Dr. Sunil Sukram, Alberta's interim top doctor. Neither were made available. Jennifer Yoon, CBC News, Toronto. Not even at recess or lunch, Quebec is taking the nationwide effort to limit cell phones at school to another level, banning the devices outright at all times at all schools. The move comes as teachers say the restrictions are leading to real change in student behavior. Vanessa Lee reports. Every class you can use it so now we can't. So it's like why? Why? Océane Paradis is a grade 10 student in Quebec City.

She admits a blanket ban on cell phones will help with being less dependent on her phone, but she isn't happy about it. I think it's good for us, but I don't like that. I really like to listen to music and everything like that. Cell phones were banned from Quebec classrooms in January of last year. Kids were still allowed to use them during breaks. Now, the new measure will extend to the entirety of the school day, including recess and lunch at both elementary and high schools.

It creates cyber-intimidation. Education Minister Bernard Drinville says cell phones are a barrier to socialization among students and can lead to conflicts and cyberbullying. The ban follows recommendations by a special provincial committee that studied the impact of screens on young people. I want students to be more concentrated. I want students to talk to one another. I want students to succeed more. Dreiville says around 400 Quebec schools have already banned the use of cell phones on school property including Collège Charles Le Moine on Montreal's South Shore. Principal David Bowles says he has seen a real difference in school climate and student

behaviour. The moment that we banned them, students started talking to each other, playing cards, playing games, playing ping pong, borrowing footballs, basketballs, playing outside, and enjoying a social life that they need to be learning at their age. Joel Westheimer is a professor of democracy and education at the University of Ottawa. This is the first ban in Canada to cover the whole school for the whole day.

He says it's important to involve students in a larger community discussion. The word ban implies that it's this punitive thing. And really what we want to emphasize is, you know, the reduction in use. So many studies show the beneficial outcomes of that. And it's not just in learning and cognitive outcomes, it's in social outcomes and happiness. The province says exceptions can be made for educational purposes or to accommodate students with special needs.

It will be up to each school to decide what happens if students are caught breaking the rules when they take effect this fall. Vanessa Lee, CBC News, Montreal. We close tonight with a community struggling with a wave of vandalism, the suspect still at large and described as about 50 centimeters tall with black, white and red feathers. He's taking out all our mirrors in town. He's making the rounds. He's definitely a vandal.

He's getting crazy this year. He's doing some stuff and he's on the news. He's famous now. Everyone's banded together to see if they can outsmart him. Residents of Rockport, Massachusetts, known for its lobster fishing and picturesque views, it now stands out as the place where people are covering their car mirrors with shopping bags. That seems to be the only way residents can protect their vehicles from a very aggressive woodpecker.

My neighbor showed me her two mirrors that got, were attacked. He's got the big red head. He looks like the real life version of Woody Woodpecker. And a beak, big beak. He's destroyed at least two dozen car mirrors over the past few weeks and and even cracked a windshield? A large, pilliated woodpecker who's big and strong enough to break glass. He's also confrontational and likely confusing his own reflection for another male bird in his territory.

Wildlife experts say the woodpecker should calm down after mating season. In the meantime, despite the ongoing property damage, most Rockport residents are having a good laugh. Da, da, da, da, da. That's what, I think that's the music that goes with the Woody Woodpecker cartoon. ["Woodpecker Theme"] Guess who? Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. ["Woodpecker Theme"] Thank you for joining us. Guess who?

Thank you for joining us. This has been your World Tonight for Thursday, May 1st. I'm Susan Bonner. Talk to you again. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.