PressProgress

NEWS International students protesting sudden rule changes and a mass refusal of work permits in Alberta faced an ICE-like immigration raid at a peaceful protest in Calgary last week. 1500 students from Portage College, an Alberta-based public college with partner campuses in Edmonton and Calgary, say that they became suddenly without status after their work permits were refused after graduation.

ANALYSIS What is going on inside Kerry-Lynne Findlay’s BC Conservatives? A number of recent shakeups and questionable social media activities make it appear as though the party is moving even further to the right. by Rumneek Johal, Executive Editor August 21, 2026 The BC Conservatives’ new leader has had an eventful few months since taking her post.

ANALYSIS While Doug Ford’s Government makes changes to who exactly is eligible to receive social assistance in Ontario, advocates are trying to draw attention to a larger issue: social assistance in Ontario is failing those in need. Last Thursday, the province announced that individuals on student visas, temporary work permits and illegal immigrants would be ineligible for social assistance programs in Ontario.

ANALYSIS New strides in reproductive healthcare, like male contraceptives and endometriosis diagnostic tools, may not be far away for Canadians — especially in light of regulatory changes announced by Health Canada last month. Two rapid diagnostic tests for endometriosis, a painful and underdiagnosed medical condition that affects at least 1 in 10 women of reproductive age in Canada, were recently approved for use in the UK for a pilot period of three years.

Hundreds of homes have been destroyed and thousands of British Columbians have been forced to evacuate as wildfires rage through parts of the province. Over the weekend, a massive fire in Summerland, BC created conditions that BC Wildfire Services said they had “never seen before.” On Saturday, BC’s Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness Kelly Greene declared a provincial state of emergency over the fast-moving wildfire situation in interior BC.

Podcast Canadian Healthcare: When Provinces Go Rogue Guest panelists discuss the ways provinces are undermining Canada's healthcare system What are Canadians supposed to do when their provincial government undermines their healthcare system?

The longest nursing strike in BC history and the first Canadian union-led provincial nursing strike in decades came to an end last week, after recommendations put forth by government-appointed mediators were accepted by the BC Nurses’ Union. After three weeks of nurses refusing overtime and non-nursing duties and rotating picket lines outside hospitals in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island, all job action was halted as of midnight on July 24.

After four years as a reporter and two years as an Associate Editor at PressProgress, Rumneek Johal is now taking the helm as the new Executive Editor. “It is rare to see organizations that uplift and value voices like mine in positions of power, and although it was certainly earned through hard work and a relentless commitment to the cause, it is exciting to see that walls are coming down and the work of a Punjabi woman from Surrey, BC is valued, after all,” Johal said.

NEWS The morning of July 7 seemed like a normal work day for Alex Carrigan. As he drove to work, he listened to News1130, the Vancouver news radio station where he’d worked as a traffic reporter for a little over three years. “At 10:15, I hear a pre-recorded message saying that today was the last day of 1130 News Radio playing local news coverage,” Carrigan told PressProgress.

Against the backdrop of summer heatwaves, hundreds of wildfires and Toronto claiming the title of worst air quality in the world, critics of Ontario’s latest pipeline announcement say the Northern Shield Energy Corridor project simply does not stand up to scrutiny. The proposed route for the pipeline expected to run between Alberta and Ontario was announced by Ontario premier Doug Ford and Alberta premier Danielle Smith earlier this month.