Former Calgary Hitmen player Brent Dodginghorse named finalist for NHL's Willie O'Ree Comunity Hero Award
Former Calgary Hitmen Brent Dodginghorse was named a finalist by the NHL for the Willie O'Ree Community Hero Award earlier this week. (Photo: X@NHL.com)
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35 minutes ago
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McIntosh sets world record in 400M freestyle at Canadian Swimming Trials
Olympic medallist Summer McIntosh speaks to members of the media after arriving at Pearson airport following the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, in Toronto, Monday, Aug. 12, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov VICTORIA — Swimming star Summer McIntosh of Toronto set a world record in the 400-metre freestyle event on Saturday while competing in the Bell Canadian Swimming Trials in Victoria. McIntosh posted a time of three minutes, 54.18 seconds at Commonwealth Place to establish the new mark. She trimmed 1.20 seconds off the 2023 record set by Australia's Ariarne Titmus. She beat the other swimmers in Victoria by more than 13 seconds. The Toronto teenager celebrated her fourth career long-course world record by slapping the water twice with her right hand then pumping her fist. It was an unusual show of emotion from the usually stoic 18-year-old. 'You can see my outburst of emotion because I was really not expecting that time,' said McIntosh. The 400 free was her first-ever world record when she swam 3:56.08 at the 2023 Trials, but Titmus lowered the mark to 3:55.38 at world championships later that year. McIntosh finished behind Titmus for silver at last summer's Paris Olympics to go with the gold medals she won in the 200 and 400 individual medley and 200 butterfly. 'Just seeing the time, after two years of really pushing my hardest every day and training, not seeing the results. It is just all that energy and anger, blood, sweat and tears built up. Having an amazing swim is just really satisfying,' McIntosh said. She also holds the 400 IM world record, plus the 400 free, 200 butterfly and 400 IM in the short course pool. 'I knew my training has been really strong these past couple of months,' said McIntosh, who won the Northern Star Award as Canada's Athlete of the Year for 2024. 'I knew I was able to do something special.' Ella Jansen of Burlington, Ont., finished second in 4:07.36, under the AQUA A qualifying time of 4:10.23, good enough to be selected to Team Canada for the World Aquatics Championships July 26-Aug. 3 in Singapore. It was also a big night for Calgary native Cole Pratt, who trains at the High Performance Centre in Vancouver. After battling through years of injuries the 22-year-old returned to the top of the podium, winning the men's 100-metre backstroke in 54.27. That was below the Swimming Canada secondary standard of 54.48, earning him selection to his first national team since 2021. 'That was a really long time coming,' said Pratt, who competed at the Tokyo 2020 Games but missed qualifying for Paris due to shoulder, neck and back injuries. 'Coming back to this was really hard. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to quit every day. I stuck with it and now I'm here.' Para swimmer Nicholas Bennett showed he had collected no dust after taking a break from the sport. The S14 swimmer with the Red Deer Catlina Swim Club won the men's 100-metre multi-class breaststroke in 1:05.13. 'I took a little bit of a mental health break, so we're just working on getting our strength back,' said the native of Parksville, B.C., who won three medals at the Paris Paralympics and was named co-flag-bearer for the closing ceremony. In other races, Kylie Masse of Lasalle, Ont., an Olympic medallist and world champion, cruised to victory in the women's 100-metre backstroke in 58.18 seconds. Finishing on her heels was Taylor Ruck of Kelowna, B.C., in 58.93. Masse was surprised with her time, which was faster than the 58.29 she swam at the Paris Olympics where she was fourth in the 100. 'I haven't really processed it but I'm really happy,' said Masse, who has a chance to continue her streak of winning at least one medal at every major international championships and Games since 2015. 'This year has been different, just taking a little bit of a step back but at the same time still putting in the work. I just feel like I have a different perspective on the sport. I'm really grateful to be here.' Ruck posted the third-best 100 back time of her career and her fastest in six years. 'I had no expectations,' said the three-time Olympian. 'I touched, looked at the time and was very excited and happy with what I saw.' Two-time Olympian Mary-Sophie Harvey of Trois-Rivières, Que., experienced a first when she won the women's 200-metre breaststroke in 2:23.40. Paris Olympian Sophie Angus, who trains at the High Performance Centre in Ontario, was second in 2:24.84. Both swimmers were under the AQUA A qualifying time of 2:25.91. For Harvey, who trains with CAMO in Montreal, it was her first victory at a trials since she started attending the events in 2012. 'It's kind of crazy,' she said. 'I never thought that would be the first one. I'm pretty pleased with how I am feeling in the water right now, considering I'm not fully rested for this week.' Meanwhile, Ethan Ekk earned selection to his first-ever senior national team, winning a close men's 400 free in 3:49.57. That was just 0.06 seconds ahead of Jordi Vilchez of the Barrie Trojans, and under the Swimming Canada secondary standard. 'That was a very hard race, I can't lie. That last 50 was a battle for all of us,' said Ekk, 18, a Tallahassee, Fla., native whose parents are from Vancouver. 'I was aware of them the whole race. It wasn't until that last 50 I just put my head down and didn't know where anybody was at. I kind of just closed my eyes and tried to move as fast as I could,' Ekk said. 'I heard the announcer say 'Ethan Ekk,' and I was like 'Yes!' I was so pumped and excited and I'm so happy to represent Canada.' Oliver Dawson of the Grande Prairie Piranhas won the men's 200-m breaststroke in 2:11.25. The 17-year-old set a national age group record and earned selection to the world championships team by being under the Swimming Canada secondary standard. In other Para swimming events, Ali Diehl, an S9 swimmer who trains with the Prince Albert Sharks, won the women's multiclass 100-m breaststroke in 1:24.44. Aly Van Wyck-Smart of Toronto, who trains with Whitby Swimming, took the women's 50-metres S2 event in 1:47.31. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 7, 2025. The Canadian Press
CTV News
an hour ago
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Man dies after shooting near Emmett Avenue and Jane Street: police
A Toronto police officer's uniform is seen during a press conference in Toronto on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston A man has died in hospital Sunday morning after a shooting in Toronto's west end late last night, officials say. Toronto police say officers responded to reports of gunfire near Emmett Avenue and Jane Street just after 10 p.m. When they arrived, officers found a male victim with a gunshot wound. He was transported to hospital by paramedics but has now succumb to his injuries. Police say the suspect fled the area before officers arrived, adding that the homicide unit is now investigating. Anyone with information is asked to come forward.
CTV News
an hour ago
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‘Uphill battle': Criminal Code must include definition for femicide, advocates say
Kingston Police cars are seen in Kingston, Ont., on Thursday, Nov. 28, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick TORONTO — As police in Ontario increasingly investigate killings of women and girls as femicides, advocates say a firm definition of the term must be embedded in the Criminal Code. It's a change they hope could be on the table soon after Prime Minister Mark Carney proposed cracking down on intimate partner violence in this year's federal election campaign. Ottawa police, who have been using the term since August 2024, said last week they were investigating the death of a 54-year-old woman as a femicide. They arrested a 57-year-old man and charged him with second-degree murder. Last month, Kingston Police logged its first use of the label in a news release. Police said they determined the death of a 25-year-old woman to be a femicide because it occurred 'in the context of intimate partner violence,' and they arrested a 26-year-old man for first-degree murder. They confirmed it was their first time describing a homicide in this way. Police use the word so rarely that the Kingston example was a 'very significant' move, said Myrna Dawson, founder and director of the Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability. 'That's not something that's really in their vocabulary right now. It's not something that is in many people's vocabulary as much as it should be,' she said. Dawson, who is also a sociology professor at the University of Guelph, said the lack of Criminal Code definition is part of the reason why. The observatory defines femicide as the killing of women and girls because of their gender. The group also uses a framework from the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime that lists 10 specific indicators that a crime could be considered femicide. They include a woman or girl being killed by her intimate partner or family member, a victim having had a history of being harassed and sexual violence playing a role in the crime. In some cases, more than one factor can be at play. 'They're killed in distinct ways from men and boys, and they're killed in many ways because of men and boys being entitled to relationships with them and expecting that women don't get to decide when they don't want a relationship any longer,' Dawson said. Using the UN framework, her group has counted 1,014 femicides across Canada since it began tracking the killing of women and girls in 2018. That included 187 femicides last year. A current or former intimate partner was accused in nearly half of those cases, the observatory found. Family members were accused in another 28 per cent of cases. Only six per cent of alleged perpetrators were strangers to the victims. Though Kingston police have now called one case a femicide, the group's data suggests at least four killings since 2018 could meet the definition. Other groups are attempting the same work. The Ontario Association of Interval Houses, which tracks cases in the province, has identified five femicides in Kingston since late 2019. Its executive director, Marlene Ham, said that without a universally recognized definition for femicide, different groups will end up with different numbers. Adding a definition of femicide to the Criminal Code would allow better data on violence against women to be captured by police and national agencies such as Statistics Canada, both advocates said. Kingston Police spokesperson Const. Anthony Colangeli declined to answer questions about what motivated the force to use the term femicide and whether it plans to use similar terminology in the future. An Ottawa police spokesperson said the force started using the word femicide to 'highlight the realities of gender-based violence faced by women in our community.' 'By using appropriate language to refer to these murders, we are continuing conversations about this subject that is often considered 'private.' We are raising awareness about an epidemic that is occurring and labelling these deaths appropriately,' the spokesperson said in an email. In the absence of an agreed-upon definition, Ottawa police have come up with a list of 14 forms of violence that fall into the category of femicide, including intimate partner violence killings, the torture and misogynistic slaying of women, the killing of Indigenous women and girls, killing related to sexual violence and the 'non-intimate killings of women and girls.' The force confirmed it does not use femicide to describe women killed in murder-suicides — something Dawson said should change as it is 'a very common scenario in femicide cases.' Other police forces, such as the Toronto Police Service, don't use the term femicide because it currently has no bearing on which charges police lay in homicides. The force does, however, lay terrorism charges in homicides where misogyny is a motivating factor. Dawson says police are 'fighting an uphill battle' when it comes to using femicide terminology more consistently. 'Police really need leaders to take the initiative, and by that I mean the federal government who decides what is a criminal offence and what should be labelled and legislated officially,' she said. Carney promised in the campaign to make killings motivated by hate — including femicide — a 'constructive first-degree offence,' which means a first-degree murder charge would be laid even if the slaying was not planned and deliberate. Chantalle Aubertin, a spokesperson for Justice Minister Sean Fraser, said in a statement the government is 'determined to bring forward legislation to advance this commitment as soon as possible.' Should the federal government enshrine a definition of femicide, Statistics Canada could record better data, Dawson said. The agency already tracks homicides reported by police each year, and the genders of the accused perpetrators and victims. While a 2023 report on gender-related homicides of women and girls broke down some indicators of femicide, it only addressed some of the UN's indicators. 'The more we know about these killings and the more we can contextualize them within that understanding of femicide, the more awareness that we can ultimately build and continue to have these discussions about prevention,' Ham said, noting a history of threats, violence and coercive control is present in many cases. It's important to keep the conversation about violence toward women going, Dawson added, with an emphasis on how these killings differ from those targeting boys and men. 'That's what we're trying to emphasize because if we don't recognize that, then our prevention efforts also don't recognize that, and we don't recognize the urgency of this.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 8, 2025. Cassidy McMackon, The Canadian Press
