Your World Tonight - NWT wildfire, U.S. tariffs ruled illegal, Sixties Scoop survivor meets his family, and more

Episode Date: August 30, 2025

Wildfires have ravaged much of Canada during this summer. First, it was the Prairies, then Atlantic Canada - now, wildfires are leading to evacuation orders in the North. The small community of Whati, Northwest Territories is nearly empty - as an encroaching fire threatens the community.Also: A federal appeals court decision on Friday ruled many of President Donald Trump's tariffs are illegal. The tariffs have been left in place for now. But the Trump administration says it plans to file its own appeal of the ruling - all the way to the Supreme Court.And: After more than five decades and a journey of more than 13-thousand kilometres, a Sixties Scoop survivor makes it back to Manitoba to finally meet his biological mother - after spending his life in New Zealand.Plus: First Nations teenagers travelling for high school, Cottage owners battle increasing fees on short-term rentals, and more.

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This is your world tonight. Yesterday we drove from what he was smoky in the morning. There was too much smoke. We couldn't breathe good. We're nearing the end of summer, but wildfire season isn't done with Canada yet. Now it's the Northwest Territories, a small First Nations community emptied out.

Residents unsure when they'll be able to go back home. Also on the podcast, new school year, new city. You'll hear about the dozens of First Nations teenagers who need to move hundreds of kilometers to go to high school. Plus, the money that I was making from the rentals was fueling everything. It was even paying the mortgage. Any last-minute long weekend cottage trips might be a washout.

as some Ontario cottage owners take down their rental listings and tell new rules to go jump in a lake. First, it was the prairies, then Atlantic Canada, and now wildfires are leading to evacuation orders in the north. The small community of Wattie Northwest Territories is nearly empty. The residents now in neighboring Bechico and Yellowknife as an encroaching wildfire threatens the community. As Winita Taylor reports, fire officials say they don't know when anyone can return home.

Why don't just smoky, smelly, can breathe? Josephine Bishop describes the conditions in Wattie before fleeing the community. Bishop says she was surprised when she was told to leave her home because of an encroaching wildfire. You could see, the fire made me from where I live. It was just like a vacuino. It was just a big, huge fire. Was it scary? Yeah, it was scary.

Bishop was on one of three busloads of evacuees, driven 163 kilometers to Benchocon, where a temporary evacuation center was set up with cots, water, towels, and food. A stopover for those en route to Yellowknife because the city needed time to prepare. The chief of Bechocon, Bertha Rabasquezou, says they are there to help.

We'll try to make sure that we're supportive and not create any hardships for them. They're already traumatized, having to leave their home and not sure how things will unfold. But I think to try to just be supportive and listen to trauma so that they're not so traumatized by the evacuation. Fire officials say the wildfire is about 8 kilometers from Wattie. They've been keeping a close watch since it started burning one month ago. At the evacuation center in Yellowknife Saturday morning, Leroy Rabasca is watching his phone for any update, unsure of when they will be able to go home.

For people like evacuation is very hard. People are like something they're struggling, they don't have money here too. And there's a couple of dogs to live behind. They forgot to take all of them, I guess. Michael Rabasca is also at the evacuation center with his family of five. I was happy when I got here, so my family's safe. And while in Yellowknife, Michael Rabasca says he will join in on the Dene Hand Games tournament this weekend

as a way to keep his mind off and encroaching wildfire burning so close to his home. Well, those people, they're going to do their job, I know that. They're going to keep the fire out somehow, you know, like they're working so hard and doing their job. But I don't want to think about that, so that's why I'm joined a hanging tournament. So once I play hangings, they keep my mind into the games, just to have fun there. This is the first evacuation order in the territory this summer. Fire officials say it is unusually late in the year, with the fire season not being over yet. Juanita Taylor, CBC News, Yellowknife.

The Trump administration says it will appeal a rule. ruling on tariffs all the way to the Supreme Court. The Federal Appeals Court decision says many of President Donald Trump's tariffs are illegal, but that they will be left in place to allow for the appeal. So for now, Canada remains stuck with Trump's 35% duties on medals and other goods. Journalist Steve Futterman has more. It is clearly a major defeat for the White House, but it may not be the final word. The appeals court did say that Donald Trump exceeded his authority.

However, the court is allowing the tariffs to remain in effect until October 14th, and it seems likely the U.S. Supreme Court will have the final say. My fellow Americans, this is Liberation Day. It was April 2nd at a lavish White House event that Trump almost gleefully listed the tariffs for individual countries. Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia. Oh, look at Cambodia, 97%. But immediately there were legal experts who argued this was something only. only Congress could do.

Trump tried to claim emergency powers. Last night, the court disagreed. Former Obama Solicitor General Neil Kachio, who argued against the tariffs before the court is hopeful. I think the court overwhelmingly rejected President Trump's notion that he can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. And it said, no, the Constitution imposes limits.

And one really important limit, Mr. President, is you're not allowed to tariff on your own. Trump remains confident he will win in the end, On his truth social platform, he said, all tariffs are still in effect. He accused the appeals court of being highly partisan and claimed, if these tariffs ever go away, it would be a total disaster for the country. From the start, officials from around the globe, including the Director General of the World Trade Organization, Ngozian-Canjo-Aweila, expressed concern about a potential trade war.

If we have tit for tax retaliation, whether it's 25%, tariff's 60%, and we go to where we went, the 1930s. We are going to see double-digit global GDP losses. Double-digit. That's catastrophic. Everyone will pay. Everyone. For the moment, things remain in limbo. Former Canadian diplomat and international trade attorney Lawrence Herman says everyone is going to have to simply stand by for a determinative decision. Until then, we'll have a lot of uncertainty. You might call it chaos, but the world will have to await the final views expressed by the U.S. Supreme Court. Trump is hoping the court, which includes three of his nominees, will again bail him out. And while the court has generally been willing to give the president expanded power,

there have been exceptions. Now Canada and countries that have been hit hard, wait to see what the justices will do. Steve Futterman for CBC News, Los Angeles. The first day of school is just a good. around the corner. For most Canadian students, that might mean getting new school supplies or making new friends. But for dozens of First Nations teenagers in northern Ontario, it means moving to a new city, hundreds of kilometers from home. Sarah Law reports from Thunder Bay, where preparations are underway to help ease the transition.

Volunteers rummage through a box of pens, pencils, markers, and notebooks. The school supplies donated to the United Way's Gen Next program's stuff a bus campaign to support dozens of incoming First Nations high schoolers in Thunder Bay. Program chair Noah Siren says every item counts. School supplies can add up. It's no secret that funding for education is cut every single year and it's harder for schools to get supplies. Dennis Franklin Cromarty or DFC is Thunder Bay's all-Indigenous high school.

Many First Nations in northern Ontario do not have high schools. schools, leaving students and families to choose between dropping out or going to school hundreds of kilometers away. It's a particularly vulnerable age, too, like going to high school. Volunteer Melissa Blackwell moved to Thunder Bay from southern Ontario five years ago. She says it's important to consider the mental health toll that comes from leaving home at such a young age. You're also kind of like forming your sense of identity and stuff. So I can't even imagine coming to a whole new place, again, without the supports that you would normally have. Just such a challenge that these kids are doing to get an education.

According to Statistics Canada, just under two-thirds of First Nations youth have high school diplomas compared to 91% of their non-Indigenous peers. As the school's First Nation student success program coordinator, Sean Spenrath sees the obstacles they face firsthand. Leaving your family, I couldn't imagine doing that at 13 years old, and going to a strange place you've kind of never really been. About 160 students are expected to arrive in the coming day. days, many who have never lived in a city. To help make the transition easier, DFC put students

in an amazing race where they use city transit to find local landmarks. They'll also meet community leaders, business owners, and service providers beyond the school's four walls. So anything we can do to put them on a level playing field, that's what we're doing here today. As students begin flying into Thunder Bay, Spenrath is calling on the broader community to step up. Saying hello and smiling and Waving goes a long way to making these kids feel welcome in the community. Next weekend, the students attend the annual Wake the Giant Music Festival with indigenous musicians, resource booths, and a headliner performance by the Black-Eyed Peas. Spenrath says it's Canada's largest orientation event for First Nations youth.

Sarah Law, CBC News, Thunder Bay, Ontario. Still ahead, the journey home that took five decades from the other side of the world. A 60's scoop survivor makes it back to Manitoba to finally meet his biological mother after spending his life in New Zealand. His story is coming up on your world tonight. Israel has identified the remains of the second hostage recovered from Gaza as Idon Shativi. The Prime Minister's office says Chitivi was recovered from the territory on Friday, along with the body of Elon Weiss that was previously identified. Israel says 48 hostages now remain in Gaza, only 20 of them are believed to be alive.

Several leaders of Yemen's Houthi rebel-controlled government are dead, including self-proclaimed Prime Minister Ahmed al-Rahawi. The Houthis confirmed Al-Rahawi and multiple government ministers were killed by an Israeli air strike in the capital, Sana'a, on Thursday. Israel and the Iran-backed Houthis have repeatedly, exchanged missile fire since the war in Gaza began. The Houthi rebels say they are prepared to retaliate for Thursday's strike. Nigeria is starting to feel the effects of foreign aid cuts by the U.S. and the UK. For decades, Nigeria has depended on international funds to make

contraceptives both affordable and available. But now, with funding drastically reduced, resources for women's health care and reproductive care are dire. Frileance reporter Kuhnlae Babs has more. I can't afford to have any more children. For Hidit Okoro, the lack of available contraception is taking a heavy toll. The mother of three came to a busy Abuja health

clinic for family planning help, but left empty-handed. She says another pregnancy would be devastating for her. With the current economic situation, I already have three and it's wiser to raise a few than to have many and struggle to provide for them.

Thousands of women across Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa are now facing similar situations. Compared to last year, access has dropped. Only about 60% of clients get access to the commodities and 40% leave empty-handed. Naomi Oche is a nurse at a public clinic on the outskirts of Abuja. A clinic once carried several types of contraceptives. But she says these days, most women are left with only one child. Sometimes the only option available is female condoms, which most women don't want. The method they like most is implants, IUD, pills and intersovers, and are often completely out of stock.

Nigerian's family planning budget has been slashed by 97%. The large cuts are compounded by USAID ending its financial support for family planning programs, as well as a 40% cut in foreign aid by the UK. You know, when women cannot access contraception, you can imagine what will happen, more on plant pregnancies, on safe abortion, and possibly more maternal deaths. Public Health Partitioner Mary Babalola warns this could undo years of progress in reducing maternal mortality. According to the World Health Organization, do not funded initiatives have helped to cut number of women dying in childbirth across South Southern Africa by 40% since the year 2000. But Nigeria is still considered the most dangerous country in the world to give birth. One in 100 Nigerian women die in labor or in the days following childbirth

and the country account for more than one quarter of all maternal deaths worldwide. Protecting women's health must be treated as a national priority. Activist and commentator Amzad Lawa says it is time for Nigeria to find homegrown solutions and reduce its dependence on foreign aid. Nigeria needs to stop treating family planning as a donor-driven agenda. As a country, we must put real money behind it through health insurance. schemes, working with private sector partnership, and community-driven solutions. The government says it is working to boost local manufacturing and expand access through state-funded

programs. But for women like Edith Okoro, time is running out. Kunle Babs for CBC News, Abuja, Nigeria. After more than five decades and a journey of more than 13,000 kilometers, Jonathan Hooker made it home to Manitoba to reconnect with his indigenous heritage and family. Hooker was removed from his home and placed with adoptive parents as part of what's now known as the 60s scoop. Landing in New Zealand, Karen Paul's has his story. An emotional reunion, 52 years in the making.

I'm happy to see my son. I thought I would never see him again. Patsy George hasn't seen him since he and two daughters were taken away from her as children. He was only too much when they took him away from me. Mother and son embracing their private moment bringing cheers and tears to onlookers. First time I've actually laid eyes on my mother,

so yep, it's all a bit overwhelmed, really. In 1973, Jonathan Hooker was taken from his home and adopted by a non-indigenous family who moved to New Zealand. He always knew he was adopted, but... I didn't know anything about the 60 Scoop until about five years ago. Hooker found his biological family thanks to a DNA kit, social media, and 60 Scoop survivor and advocate, Colleen Rajat. So we do need resources put towards helping our 60 Scoop survivors return home.

We also need research into how many more Jonathan's are there out there. To my Kree brother, welcome home to your territory. Welcome home to your people. Manitoba Kuwait Noi Okamakanaq Grand Chief Garrison Sati welcomed Hooker by wrapping him in a traditional blanket. He was deprived of his language, his culture, his identity. But now this is a new journey for him, a new beginning. or he reconnect with his family, his community, his nation.

One day later, Hooker, his wife Charmaine and Rajat are at the historic forks in Winnipeg. They're stopped by a woman. I recognized him, yeah. I kept watching him last night on the news. Outside, another man greets him. Yeah, I saw your story there yesterday. That was pretty amazing.

Pretty incredible. Hooker doesn't quite know what to do with all. the attention. How much do you think your story is really striking a chord? I'm not really too sure. Obviously, this is all new to me. He's still thinking about that airport reunion. Amidst the cheering and drums, he didn't realize his soft-spoken mother was talking to him when she called him by his birth name, Dalton Floyd. There's a lot of ground we've got to make up. You know, we've got to build the relationship. Like, I realize she's my mother and everything, but I don't really know her as such. It's all baby steps. Hooker says

there's a lot to process. Identity, family, history and belonging. Growing up in New Zealand, I was kind of always an outsider because I wasn't a native of their country. I wasn't a Maori and I definitely wasn't a white person. He'll spend the next three weeks visiting his home communities in northern Manitoba trying to fill in the puzzle pieces of his life. I know that I'm not going to learn everything in this next couple of weeks but at least it'll open my eyes to a lot of things. It's good. Already he's learned he has another sister. out there somewhere, he hopes someday they can find her, too. Karen Paul's, CBC News, Winnipeg.

Solar power has come to Canada's northernmost communities, thanks to a company based in this country's most southern city. But as T.J. Deere tells us, there are limits to how much power can be supplied, posing challenges to the project's success. Power in Nunavut largely comes from, from diesel fuel, arriving by ship during the summer sea lift season. Depending on where the community is, sea lift deliveries may only happen once a year, but a company from Windsor, Ontario, is working to lower the territory's reliance on diesel.

Green Sun Rising has installed solar panels in four communities in Nunabut's High Arctic. It was made possible through a program run by the Kulik Energy Corporation, known as QEC, which is the territory's power supplier. QEC buys the generated electricity, then sells it back to communities. Klaus Doring is the president of Green Sun Rising. He says they've built relationships with indigenous communities across Canada,

which are in a similar position. All Inuit land settlement organizations are clients of ours. We also have First Nation communities that are our clients, all for diesel reduction. One of the four communities in Nunavut where panels are now installed, is the northernmost in the country, Greece Fjord.

Figures provided by Green Sun Rising say the panels there can generate more than 99,000 kilowatt hours of power per year and create a diesel offset of more than 28,000 liters. But the Hamlet says QEC limits how much power can be used. David General is Greece Fjord's senior administrative officer. He says it's disappointing that they can't take full advantage of their system. A lot of money was invested by the feds in the system, but also we invested a lot of time and every project takes administrative work.

And in a community where the cost of living is arguably the highest in the country, and accessibility is arguably the worst, that loss of revenue does matter, especially when the power can't be stored during the polar winter, when the sun never rises. We don't have the opportunities for economic development that even other communities may have and noon, but we just don't have the opportunities in front of us to take advantage of. QEC says while there's no standard policy on capping renewable power, it might come in the future. President and CEO Ernest Douglas says local caps are determined by the size of their

grid, adding that the main limitation of creating power in the high Arctic is unstable local grids. So we just have to make sure that any time that we're adding things to our grid, we do so in a very careful manner so that we don't affect the stability of that. Dooring's company is set to build a solar panel system in the country's second most northern community of Resolute Bay next year. T.J. Deere, CBC News, Akhalui.

You're listening to Your World Tonight from CBC News. And if you want to make sure you never miss one of our episodes, follow us on Spotify, Apple, wherever you get your podcast. Just find the follow button and lock us in. With their rugged landscape, white sand beaches and slower pace of life, Scotland's outer hebrides are a retirees paradise. And that's becoming a problem for the island chain where young people are leaving in high numbers.

Freelance reporter Richard Baines reports from Stornaway on the efforts the islands are making to stem the demographic crisis. The Outer Hebrides are known for their beauty with golden beaches and rocky hills. But such scenery is a factor driving the demographic crisis here. The problem we have is the older people retiring up to the islands. The statistics expert for the island health service is Debbie Boskirt. are attracted by those views and by crime-free communities. The numbers of elderly population have risen. You've got rural Lewis, which includes the West Side,

and Ness is 28%. And that's only in the last 15, 16 years. Probably will stay here because, I mean, I love the culture. I love the music, just the people and stuff. These stay-at-home school boys are busking for tourists in Stornaway towns. Centre. Generations of my family's been living here, so I just love to stay. My family's been here the same as soon, basically. I wouldn't want to be the one to leave.

But more than half the island's youngsters leave after finishing school. Over 65 will make up 40% of the population by 2037, and with the ageing population needing more medical help and social care, it's a double whammy for the health service. You haven't actually got the population to work, especially for the semi-skilled jobs and the unskilled jobs which can range from domestics to healthcare assistance to social care workers in care homes. Anybody looking to come live here and just to give them a bit of guidance and support

to kind of make that process a lot easier for them. Christina Morrison from the local council runs a scheme aiming to rejuvenate the population. It can be quite handy for people who have never lived in a rural community, be able to talk through how the childcare works or where's the best places to find housing and things like that. The scheme also taps into government funding for housing and infrastructure, such as internet upgrades. 44 families have so far been helped to come here, some returning after moving away.

So who's being attracted and what do they do? So this is us just coming into the distillery now. Island-born Johnny Engledew came home seven years ago and now runs a distillery here. We've got five washbacks. so they're wooden fermenters which I can open up but will he and his family stay? It's been an extremely positive

move for us so this is us for life I hope and expect our kids will continue to live in the islands but who knows we left the island and I expect they'll leave the island for a period of time as well it seems whatever the authorities do there'll still be plenty more

Mary Ann MacLeod's Richard Baines for CBC News in Scotland's Outer Hebrides It's the last long weekend of the summer season, and for thousands of Canadians, that means this. Loons, campfires, lapping lakes, general cottage bliss. But people who are scrambling for a last-minute rental in Ontario's cottage country are likely out of luck. Several short-term rental hosts are taking their cottages off sites like air. Airbnb to protest new rules and fees. As Ithelmusa reports, they say complying with the rules

just isn't worth it. This is it. Come on in. So this is Dragonfly. Justin Boutich shows me around his two-bedroom cottage in Muscoca. He's owned this lakefront property since the late 90s. There were mice living in there. There were even flying squirrels living in there. And so it was a labor of love. It's also been a great source of backup income, he says. The money that I was making from the rentals was fueling everything. It was even paying the mortgage. But now things have taken a turn. Harder economic times mean less bookings. Boutich's municipality has also introduced new short-term rental licensing rules that include a yearly $1,000 fee, which could hurt his bottom line even further starting next year. I think some people somehow have this

impression that we're out here making all this money and, you know, I'm sure there are organizations that are, you know, they're corporations that are actually making a decent profit, but I'm not one of them, which is, you know, it's too bad that we're all being lumped into that same category. Short-term rental licensing rules are one-way municipalities in Ontario, are regular regulating vacation properties in popular cottage communities. In the township of Muscoca Lakes, there are approximately 700 short-term rentals. Chief Administrative Officer David Pink says the new bylaw will help preserve the character of the area and root out bad apples. We've set up a demerit point system.

So after a certain number of infractions, whether it be noise, trespass, fireworks, etc., the municipality has an ability to revoke a license. Pink says the yearly fee helps cover the township's administrative costs and enforcement. But some operators like Gabriel LeClair in Calabogi, Ontario, say the extra fees and bureaucracy in his municipality are not worth it. We're going to sell them. We've taken one off the market already, off the Airbnb market, and we're going to sell that one, and then once that one sells, we'll sell the other one as well. Licensing fees and the rules vary from one municipality.

to the next. It's a patchwork of regulations in Ontario. Minden Hills Councilor Pam Saney in Halliburton County would like the province to step in. I think that for every municipality to have to go through this process with all of our staff time and all of our legal time going into providing these short-term rental agreements and how to operate this, that's something that could have been incorporated and done more. and done more at the provincial level. The Ontario government did not reply to our request for a comment.

I wonder if the otters will come out. That would be cool. Boutich says he hopes bookings pick up to offset this new short-term rental fee, but he's not seeing it just yet. Ithelmusa, CBC News, Uderson, Ontario. One of the Eagles, lesser-known songs, 1975's, I Wish You Peace. Fitting, since there's a new list out that shows just how at-peace some countries are.

The Global Peace Index ranks 163 independent states and territories, based on criteria like societal safety and security, ongoing domestic and international conflict, and the degree of militarization. Global peacefulness overall is slipping, down an average of 0.36%. For the first time, Russia is at the bottom of the list. Ukraine just one above it. Our neighbors to the south, well, they're down at number 128.

And while Canada has slipped five spaces since last year, we still sit at number 14, tied with the Netherlands. As for the most peaceful, well, the top five consists of Switzerland, Austria, New Zealand, Ireland, and number one? The country this band is from, a place of volcanoes, hot springs, and the northern lights. Iceland is the most peaceful country in the world, according to this list, a position it has held since 2008. The key to its success? but the index calls positive peace in attitudes, institutions, and structures,

strongly correlated with higher GDP growth, lower interest rates, societal well-being, and more resilience to shocks. Iceland must be doing something right. It also came in at number three on this year's World Happiness Report. Maybe it's something to do with the music, too. Here's more from Of Monsters and Men. This is their new song, Ordinary Creature, on Your World Tonight. I'm Stephanie Skanderas.

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