In the news today: Carney meets Zelenskyy, MAID laws debate, Tessa Virtue returns

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed …

Carney’s itinerary for day two of G7 summit stacked with meetings with world leaders

Prime Minister Mark Carney will meet today with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the G7 summit in France following a working session about building peace for Ukraine.

The meeting with Zelenskyy is one of at least five bilateral meetings Carney will have today, including with the leaders of Italy, the United Arab Emirates, India and South Korea.

At the working session on Ukraine, leaders are focusing on sustaining international support for Ukraine, increasing co-ordinated pressure on Russia and advancing efforts toward peace.

The first full day of this year’s G7 leaders’ summit will also include discussions about conflicts in the Middle East, and the pullback in foreign aid funding that is requiring a rethink of how the world handles international development needs.

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Mandy Gull-Masty, Minister of Indigenous Services responds to a question during a news conference following the release of opioid data in Ottawa on Monday, June 15, 2026.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Minister expected to table First Nations drinking water legislation today

Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty is today expected to table long-awaited legislation to govern clean drinking water in First Nations communities.

The House of Commons is expected to rise by Friday for the summer break, which means the legislation likely won’t be debated or voted on until the fall.

The Canadian Press has obtained a draft of the bill, which blurs language used in another bill that failed to pass that affirmed access to clean drinking water as a human right.

The new bill instead says the government will work toward the progressive realization of the right to safe drinking water.

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The Peace Tower is backlit by the sun on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Sunday, May 25, 2025.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Canada’s MAID laws on ‘a collision course’ as Parliament awaits legal challenges

A decade after Canada legalized medical assistance in dying, advocates and clinicians say the debate around MAID is more polarized than ever.

Parliament has taken a cautious approach to changing Canada’s MAID laws over the years and typically has waited for court rulings to push the matter forward.

Inclusion Canada and disability rights groups are arguing that Track 2 MAID discriminates against people with disabilities, and Dying With Dignity Canada is arguing in another case that excluding people with a mental illness as a sole underlying condition is a violation of their Charter rights.

Health Minister Marjorie Michel says the government isn’t currently considering changes to the existing laws, but it’s waiting on a parliamentary committee report to decide what to do about MAID for people with mental illness.

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A person walks a dog at Spanish Banks Beach in Vancouver, B.C., Friday, Jan. 12, 2024.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns

Presence of alcohol ‘significantly reduces’ rescue chances in youth drownings: study

A new study by researchers at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver has found that alcohol significantly reduces the chance of rescue in a youth drowning accident.

The study, published in Medicine Science and Law, analyzed 11 years of forensic data on 638 pediatric drowning deaths in Canada. 

It found that teenagers between ages 15 and 19 made up 33.5 per cent of the deaths, 22 per cent of the fatalities were toddlers aged two and four, and children between five and 11 years old accounted for 20.5 per cent of the deaths.

The study says when alcohol was present, it quadrupled the risk of the person not being rescued. 

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Retired Canadian ice dancer Tessa Virtue seen in this undated photo.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout- Nikki Ross (Mandatory Credit)

Figure skater Tessa Virtue to make off-ice dance debut at Fall for Dance North

Figure skater Tessa Virtue is returning to her first love: dance.

The Olympic gold medallist will make her off-ice dance debut this October at Fall for Dance North, one of Canada’s largest dance festivals.

The move comes seven years after Virtue retired from skating and became an executive adviser at Deloitte.

The ice dancer is set to make her dance debut on Oct. 15 at the Bluma Appel Theatre in Toronto. 

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 16, 2026.

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