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CBC
06-05-2025
- Climate
- CBC
Planting before the May long weekend? It depends what you want to grow, and how
Some green thumbs are finding ways around the old rules about when to get that spring garden started Media | Should you wait until Victoria Day before you plant? Caption: How and what you plant might make a bigger difference than when you get into the garden this spring. Open Full Embed in New Tab Loading external pages may require significantly more data usage than loading CBC Lite story pages. As sure as spring frost turns to morning dew, gardeners are once again weighing the old maxim that you shouldn't plant before the May long weekend if you want to reap a healthy harvest. Should you wait for June's first moon? Or does a changing climate mean an earlier final frost? More than a dozen early spring shoppers were browsing the hollyhocks, roses and compost at the east-end location of Ritchie Feed and Seed when CBC News visited on a recent weekday morning to ask about their long weekend plans. "That has changed. It's now the middle of May," said Sheila Lang, who was looking for climbing roses. "I guess it's global warming or whatever." Stephanie Dragan was looking for Canadian-bred roses, all the better to take advantage of the sunny weather. "Just because the weather seems to be warming up and so I find we can get a little bit more of a head start on the season," she said. "Things like cold weather vegetables, roses — I like to get planted out a little bit early." Benoît Côté prefers observable measurement over groundhogs, almanacs or old sayings. "You subscribe to what the weather is and what good old Environment Canada and other people are telling you," he advised. "You just go with it." On top of the warmer weather, Victoria Day falls relatively early this year on May 19. The garden centre's general manager warned you never know when a late frost will strike. "That wisdom is mainly for annuals and veggies and stuff that are a little less frost-hardy. Usually in May, as long as the soil is warmed up enough, perennials, trees, shrubs — they can go in earlier," Michael Ritchie said. Protect your 'babies' At the Growing Together Community Farm near Shirley's Bay in Ottawa's west end, volunteers start their first shifts in the second week of May, and there's a greenhouse prepped for a seedling sale on the weekend of May 24. Maureen Russell, a self-described "crazy tomato lady," is organizing this year's sale and understands the temptation people feel when they bring home a fresh bounty. "They're so eager to put them out in the garden, and that's when you're going to get failure," she said. Russell uses improvised cloches made by cutting the bottoms off plastic bottles to get her tomato plants going. She has also draped sheets and towels over plants to shield them from a late May frost. "I'm an anxious gardener," she said. "You can take chances with your seeds, but you also need to protect them because they're babies!" Image | Hélène Hébert gardening consultant Aylmer Gatineau Quebec Caption: Gardening consultant Hélène Hébert stands in front of a protective fabric tunnel at the year-round garden she maintains at her home in the Aylmer sector of Gatineau, Que. (Matthew Kupfer/CBC) Open Image in New Tab Plant and harvest all year Over in the Aylmer sector of Gatineau, Hélène Hébert is already harvesting spinach, onions and other hardy crops under the protection of a low fabric tunnel. "Most gardeners in Canada are just begging for the last frost day to happen, and I don't care about that! I really don't. I just plant whatever is adapted for the season I'm in," she said. Hébert is a gardening coach with online courses on year-round gardening. She said climate change has made summertime gardens more vulnerable to hazards such as hail in the spring. She said without protection for heat-loving plants like tomatoes and peppers, gardeners may want to wait until the second weekend of June to plant outside. Meanwhile, Hébert said her shoulder seasons are benefiting from warmer winters. Spinach she planted in October is ready for harvest, and she added spring plants in March. "Where I planted my spring garden used to be my winter garden…. The soil in there thawed while there was still snow around, so I was able to start planting my spring garden early," she said. "It gives you so much more freedom. It shatters the limitations we think we're bound to [in] gardening."
CBC
06-05-2025
- CBC
Red Dress Day walk brings stories, solidarity to Regina streets
Dozens braved the rain Monday to support MMIWG2S Monday's rain didn't stop dozens of community members from walking in Regina's second annual Red Dress Day event at the mâmawêyatitân centre. The event was part of a national day of awareness for missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people (MMIWG2S). After the rainy walk, students and community members gathered at Scott Collegiate to hear stories honouring the lives of missing Indigenous women. For Gwenda Yuzicappi, sharing her daughter's story is a way to keep her memory alive. "If I can let one more person know what happened to her, that's my purpose," said Yuzicappi, whose daughter Amber Redman went missing in 2005. Yuzicappi said she felt her daughter's presence during the walk and wanted to offer comfort to others who have experienced similar loss. "Coming here for Red Dress Day, with so many inner-city children, youth, adults, being able to share her story gave me a lot of honour and respect. As First Nations women, we matter. Our lives matter," she said. Held annually on May 5, Red Dress Day is a national call to end gendered and racialized violence against Indigenous people in Canada. "It deepens understanding. Empathy grows from that and developing allies for our Indigenous community is so important," said Rhonda Haus, principal at Scott Collegiate. WATCH | Mother keeps her daughter's memory alive at Red Dress Day walk: Media Video | Mother keeps her daughter's memory alive at Red Dress Day walk Caption: Gwenda Yuzicappi's daughter Amber Redman was just 17 when she disappeared in 2005. Twenty years later, the mother shares Amber's story at Saskatchewan's second annual Red Dress Day walk. The event aims to spread awareness for missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people in Canada. Open Full Embed in New Tab Loading external pages may require significantly more data usage than loading CBC Lite story pages. This is the second year the school has hosted a Red Dress Day ceremony, creating space for reflection, learning and solidarity. "It's a powerful opportunity for our students and community to hear first-hand experiences and understand the trauma and stories shared today," Haus said. "I think of Amber Redman's family and the profound impact their story has on everyone who hears it." Participants brought signs, photographs, and traditional items to honour those lost. Inside the school, the event featured drumming, ceremony and space for families to share memories. Many attendees wore red or ribbon skirts, and some students painted red handprints on their faces, a symbol of the lives lost and voices still unheard. "I wear this red face paint to walk in solidarity with families and communities, and to walk for the women and two-spirit people who can't walk with us," said Izzy Sunshine, a student at Scott Collegiate. As a young person in the community, Sunshine said she hopes more of her peers will engage and remember those who have been lost. "I just want to send a message to everyone who saw us walking today, and everyone here: I support and stand with families."
CBC
04-05-2025
- Climate
- CBC
Calgary continues efforts to plant nearly a million trees, and better balance local canopy
The city intends to plant 930,000 new trees by 2029 After a major influx of federal dollars last fall, Calgary's efforts to plant more trees continues this spring. Since 2023, Calgary has planted 200,000 trees as part of an effort to introduce 930,000 in total by 2029. Looking further ahead, Calgary, a city of roughly seven million trees, aims to nearly double its urban canopy coverage from 8.25 per cent, as measured in 2022, to 16 per cent by 2060. The local effort was bolstered by nearly $61 million from the federal government last fall. The funding is part of Canada's 2 Billion Trees program, a national effort to improve urban spaces, provide cleaner air and help the country adapt to climate change. But where Calgary's new trees will go is a pressing question surrounding this project. Many of the more well-established and central Calgary neighbourhoods have more trees. But Calgary's canopy often grows more sparse in neighbourhoods further from the city's core, in areas that weren't developed with trees in mind or have poorer soil quality. The disparity creates a problem for residents who miss out on benefits like trees that offer shade to mitigate heat in the summer and disrupt winds to protect from the cold in the winter, while also more effectively managing storm water, improving biodiversity, and enhancing social and mental wellbeing. Paul Atkinson, the city's acting urban forestry lead, said Calgary tries to tackle this disparity by targeting areas with less trees per hectare of public land, but it's not always a simple fix. Some areas need soil rehabilitation, which can be expensive, while other neighbourhoods weren't developed with enough space for trees, based on street design and where utilities were installed. "If you take that bird's eye view and look at some of these sites, they might look like ideal spots to plant a tree, but they might actually have high-pressure gas lines or utilities or street light cables or all these things underground," Atkinson said in an interview with This Is Calgary. LISTEN | Where will Calgary plant nearly a million trees? Media Audio | This is Calgary : You get a tree! And you get a tree! Caption: Where will Calgary plant nearly a million trees? We put that question to the city's top tree guy, and also ask if communities with historically fewer trees will get finally get spruced up. Open Full Embed in New Tab Loading external pages may require significantly more data usage than loading CBC Lite story pages. A map of the city's urban canopy shows neighbourhoods like Eau Claire, Erlton and Garrison Green have more than 25 city-maintained trees per hectare. But other neighbourhoods like Franklin, Sunridge and Mayland have less than five. The city's efforts don't just end on public land though, as its Branching Out program offers roughly 5,000 trees per year for residents to grow on their land, with quadrants covered by less canopy given priority. Frustrations over a more sparse canopy But some parts of the city want a stronger effort to balance the scales between trees in each neighbourhood. Much of Ward 5, which is represented by Coun. Raj Dhaliwal, has an urban canopy far below the city's average. In November, Dhaliwal said he planned to call for a sizeable amount of the federal funding toward new trees to be used in his ward. What's the value of a tree? The city will tell you Saddle Ridge is one neighbourhood with less coverage, boasting just eight city-maintained trees per hectare. Asim Baig, president of the Saddle Ridge Community Association, points out parts of his neighbourhood feel barren, with no trees at all or older plants damaged by hailstorms. He said he often hears frustration from other residents, because it seems as though trees damaged by hail aren't replaced at a rate matching the damage. "Every time we push for having more trees around our boulevards and parks, the reason that we hear is that soil is not as good as the other communities. And our frustration is that there has to be some sort of remedy to mitigate this problem," Baig said. Baig added that caring for trees has also had an effect to unite residents who share a passion for it, and that the neighbourhood on the whole wants to see more trees. "[Trees] add a sense of belonging," Baig said. "It's not even [just] better for environment, but people come together." Planning planting ahead Atkinson said soil quality, depth and availability can all be improved, and the benefits of better soil health, carbon sequestration below ground and tree longevity outweigh the associated cost. But it's still an expensive process, and can lead to some resistance. "When you're dealing with trees and convincing people if we enhance the soil it'll save us money over 200 years and it will produce a canopy over 200 years, it's a pretty tough sell because I won't be here in 200 years to find out if we're all correct," Atkinson said. The city plans its canopy development roughly a year out, and it's using other methods to put more trees in the ground like new micro-forest areas. It's planting potted trees that, because they need to be carefully dug into the ground by hand, can be installed closer to some underground utilities. In some neighbourhoods, Atkinson says they've already put in the work in all of the available plantable area, the canopy just needs time to grow. In other cases, there's more work to be done. "We want people to have access to trees. We want every citizen to have these cost-effective solutions to mitigate heat and all these things around residences," Atkinson said.
CBC
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Pop singer Nia Nadurata reflects on writing her breakout track I Think I Like Your Girlfriend
The emerging singer-songwriter also discussed her debut EP on The Block Image | nia nadurata the block Caption: Nia Nadurata joined The Block's host Angeline Tetteh-Wayoe in Toronto for an interview. (Robbie Serrano; graphic by CBC Music) Open Image in New Tab Media Audio | The Block : Nia Nadurata stops by The Block to talk about her debut EP, Still Living With My Parents and how she uses real life experiences to create relatable break up anthems. Open Full Embed in New Tab Loading external pages may require significantly more data usage than loading CBC Lite story pages. Toronto pop singer-songwriter Nia Nadurata cut her teeth penning songs for Juno-nominated artists including Boslen and Nonso Amadi, before releasing her first official single, Drive Faster, in 2023. She followed it up with a second track, I Think I Like Your Girlfriend, and the hook-y, upbeat song took off: it now has more than a million streams on Spotify and is her most popular track to date. WATCH | The official music video for I Think I Like Your Girlfriend: Embed | YouTube Open Full Embed in New Tab Loading external pages may require significantly more data usage than loading CBC Lite story pages. In a new interview with The Block 's host Angeline Tetteh-Wayoe, Nadurata explains how a joke about her ex-boyfriend led her to write the infectious song. The full interview is available above and you can read an excerpt of their conversation below. You just heard one of my favourite tunes called I Think I Like Your Girlfriend from Toronto-based indie pop artist, Nia Nadurata, taken from her debut EP, Still Living With My Parents. Nia has been steadily working behind the scenes writing for some of your favourite artists, which we will get into, and has decided to step forward and release her own music. She's known for these cute, catchy, poppy, anthemic breakup songs... Welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. So that song is apparently based on a true story [and was] originally titled, Why Does Your Girlfriend Hate Me? Yes. So do you want to dive into that a little bit? Give us the backstory. Um, I mean, it was a really weird situation where I was just friends with somebody I used to see, which is sometimes a good thing, sometimes a bad thing. You never want there to be any bad blood, I guess. You don't? Well, I mean, no. I'm like, wait a little longer, my friend. Me personally, I would hate to have bad blood. But then I [wrote] a song about it. And then what do you expect from somebody? Did the song create bad blood? Honestly, the song for us, we actually got closer. Okay, wait, wait. I just need to say, so you and your ex remained friends? Yes. 15 South Asian Canadian artists to listen to right now And then following the release of this song, where he started dating someone else, you got even closer. Yes, of course. Of course, of, course, of course. They did break up on my release day. Did it have anything to do with you? That's none of my business, because by then it [was] actually not my relationship. I am just a singer, singing. Singing songs. How these Filipino Canadian hip-hop artists are creating a unique sound I love how you're just like, "I accept no responsibility for my actions." Hey, we listen and we don't judge! Honestly, I thought that it was one of these sort of queer anthems when I first heard it, it was like you had a crush on your ex's new girlfriend. Well, that was the whole joke about it, because the queer topic is something that I never really talked about in my family. So it would always just be a little joke that we would say like, "Oh, I like that guy. Maybe his girlfriend, too." And it would just be a joke that my cousins and I would say just to test the waters with our lola, just to see if she was listening. She wasn't. But that's all for the best of course, she loves the song. But we wrote it originally with the idea [of] why does your girlfriend hate me, because I was like, "I get that you don't want to be around somebody that your boyfriend used to see, but I think I'm being really nice." And I don't know why she doesn't like me. And then we thought that "why does your girlfriend hate me," would be a funny thing to say. And then I was like, maybe it's him, maybe he doesn't want me to be around her because he knows that her and I would hit it off. Like, look at us, we have the same taste, of course we would hit if off.
CBC
01-05-2025
- Sport
- CBC
Vancouver Whitecaps beat Inter Miami 3-1 to eliminate Lionel Messi's squad
Whitecaps will now compete for a continental crown on June 1. Messi's club loses 3rd straight game Image | CONCACAF Vancouver Inter Miami Soccer Lionel Messi Caption: Inter Miami forward Lionel Messi (10) reacts after missing a shot during the first half of a CONCACAF Champions Cup second-leg semifinal soccer match against the Vancouver Whitecaps, on Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Messi's squad was dumped out of the competition by the ascendant Whitecaps. (Lynne Sladky/The Associated Press) Brian White and Pedro Vite scored two minutes apart, and the Vancouver Whitecaps stunned Inter Miami 3-1 in the second leg of their CONCACAF Champions Cup semifinal on Wednesday night, spoiling Lionel Messi's squad's hopes of making the tournament's final. Sebastian Berhalter also scored for Vancouver, which advanced with a 5-1 aggregate scoreline to face either Cruz Azul or Tigres UNAL in the Champions Cup final on June 1. For Vancouver, the final will represent one of the biggest matches in the club's history, with the winner of the final set to play in the expanded Club World Cup. They had previously only made it as far as the semifinal in 2017. Miami entered Wednesday's match trailing 0-2 in aggregate after being shut out in the first leg last Thursday. That meant they needed to win by at least three goals in regulation on Wednesday to advance. WATCH | Whitecaps shut out Messi and Miami in 1st leg: Media Video | Whitecaps defeat Messi and Inter Miami 2-0 in 1st leg of CONCACAF semi Caption: The Vancouver Whitecaps came out on top in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions Cup semifinal Thursday, with a 2-0 win against Inter Miami FC. As Yasmine Ghania reports, it was also a great night for fans who got to watch soccer royalty. Open Full Embed in New Tab Loading external pages may require significantly more data usage than loading CBC Lite story pages. Messi was held without a goal for the fourth straight match. In the tournament's history, four MLS clubs, including Inter Miami last week, have lost the first leg of a semifinal by a 2-0 scoreline on the road. No team has come back to advance to the final. Those chances were dashed quickly in the second half Wednesday, when Vancouver erased a one-goal deficit minutes into the frame. Image | CONCACAF Vancouver Inter Miami Soccer Sebastian Berhalter Caption: Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Sebastian Berhalter (16) celebrates after scoring the third goal of the game. The in-form Berhalter will miss the final after accumulating one too many yellow cards. (Lynne Sladky/The Associated Press) Open Image in New Tab Berhalter found White for the equalizer in the 51st minute, and Vite sent a deflection past Oscar Ustari in the 53rd. Berhalter, who had an assist on the first two goals, put the game away with a shot from the center of the box into the bottom left corner in the 71st. Berhalter has accounted for all five of the Whitecaps' goals in the semis after scoring one in the opener, but he will miss the championship because of yellow card accumulation. He was shown one in the first half after a foul on Miami's Tadeo Allende. Jordi Alba got Miami on the board with his first goal of the season, nine minutes into the game, on a feed from Luis Suarez. Miami couldn't capitalize on a series of chances after that. The CONCACAF Champions Cup features the best teams from North America, Central America, and the Caribbean to crown a regional champion. building its own stadium even as its current ownership group prepares to sell the club. Miami also dropped its third straight match, the first time the team has lost that many in a row in the Messi era. A record crowd of over 53,000 watched striker Brian White and midfielder Sebastian Berhalter score in Vancouver's opening-game win against Messi and Miami at B.C. Place Stadium last Thursday.
