Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand made trips to both Oman and Qatar this week, while Defence Minister David McGuinty was in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Prime Minister Mark Carney's ministers and officials have made at least nine separate visits to Persian Gulf nations since October. Carney himself has travelled to the region twice — to the United Arab Emirates in November and to Qatar in January.

He has already signalled plans to travel to Saudi Arabia at some point on the invitation of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

"The breadth and depth of our relationship in the Gulf region is big, it's expansive," McGuinty told reporters in a virtual call from Doha alongside Anand on Thursday.

After decades of neglecting the region, Anand said, Canada is undertaking "a broader, long-term engagement" with the Persian Gulf.

"I want to stress that Canada's work around the world now isn't just economically focused," Anand said Thursday, moments after signing a strategic partnership agreement with Qatar.

"We are here not only to grow the bilateral relationship but to show Canada's support, not only in times of peace but also in this very difficult time of conflict."

Their visits came as the U.S. war on Iran continued to roil the Middle East and international energy markets.

University of Ottawa professor Thomas Juneau, who specializes in the region, said Canada is still lagging but catching up to its peers on pursuing investment from wealthy oil states and co-operation in diplomacy, security and artificial intelligence.

Those efforts include tracking AI adoption in Dubai, green energy in Saudi Arabia and the diplomatic talks Qatar has overseen between warring parties such as Israel and Hamas.

"Canada has largely neglected the Persian Gulf," Juneau said. "We still see them as oil and natural gas powers. Obviously, that's true but it is simplistic, it is reductive."

Anand said Thursday Canada's partnership with Qatar will span culture, boosting visa processing and tourism. It's among the Gulf countries where Canada is allowing more direct flights. She said she will be back in the region for a fourth time this year for a meeting of the Gulf Co-operation Council in June.

Juneau said after the U.S. decision to launch a war on Iran, Gulf countries "are looking to diversify their political, security and military partnerships beyond the United States."

"They are not moving away completely from the U.S., either to China, to Russia or to anybody else. But they are trying to put a few eggs in other baskets," he added.

The Gulf Research Center, a think tank based in Saudi Arabia, noted in a January report that Canada could do more with regional players on mediation.

"Canada has much to offer regarding softer security issues, such as enhancing collaboration on humanitarian aid and advancing peace negotiations in conflict zones," the report reads.

The region has a dire human rights record and Juneau said Carney and his ministers have been conspicuously silent on those issues — largely because raising them can undermine efforts to gain influence without improving the situation.

He added that Canada has a track record of pushing to deepen ties with countries and regions before letting up as priorities shift.

"The engagement needs to be sustained. There needs to be prime ministerial visits, there needs to be ministerial visits. Our embassies need to be better staffed, they need to be engaged on the ground," Juneau said.

He said it's clear Ottawa has three priority countries in the region: Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE.

Carney's invitation to Saudi Arabia follows a gradual thaw in bilateral relations that began after the Trudeau government criticized the kingdom's justice system and its treatment of women.

A Carney visit would show "the willingness of both countries to go back to more serious relation — and actually try to take it a step further from what it was before 2018," Juneau said.

Economically, Canada could expand trade and work on building infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, which has planned various megaprojects.

During his January visit to Doha, Carney said Qatar committed to "significant strategic investments" in Canada’s major projects, including energy projects, though he did not mention any specific sums.

Qatar is an American ally that has taken on increasing diplomatic importance. It hosted negotiations between Israel and Hamas and assisted Canada's work to bring Ukrainian children abducted by Russia back to their families.

Like the United Arab Emirates, Qatar is home to a large number of Canadian workers, particularly in white collar professions.

As of March 8 — days into the U.S. and Israeli war on Iran — 9,777 Canadians had registered their presence in Qatar with Global Affairs Canada and 30,632 had done so in the United Arab Emirates.

Carney has been courting UAE investment in critical mineral development, the energy sector, ports and AI. He has avoided criticizing the country over widespread allegations it is fuelling a genocide in Sudan.

On a visit last November to Abu Dhabi, Carney said the UAE had pledged to invest tens of billions of dollars in Canada, though no official commitment or timeline has been presented.

Juneau said the country has been "massively investing in artificial intelligence" and went on a green push ahead of hosting a United Nations climate change conference in 2023.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 14, 2026.

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press

The court’s order allows women seeking abortions to continue obtaining the drug, mifepristone, at pharmacies or through the mail, without an in-person visit to a doctor. Access is likely to remain uninterrupted at least until into next year as the case plays out, including a potential appeal to the high court.

The justices granted emergency requests from makers of mifepristone, who are appealing a federal appeals court ruling that would require women to see a doctor in person and halt delivery of mifepristone through the mail. The federal Food and Drug Administration, which first approved mifepristone for use in abortion in 2000, stopped requiring in-person visits five years ago.

Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented, with Thomas writing that the two companies, Danco Laboratories and GenBioPro, are not entitled to the court's action to spare them “lost profits from their criminal enterprise.”

Anti-abortion groups, frustrated with President Donald Trump’s administration, are pushing the FDA to move faster with a review that they hope will result in restrictions on mifepristone, including blocking its prescribing via telehealth platforms. The Republican administration says the work takes time.

Earlier this week, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary resigned after months of criticism from Trump’s political allies, including abortion opponents.

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America and similarly aligned groups had called on Trump to fire Makary over the slow pace of the mifepristone review.

The court is dealing with its latest abortion controversy four years after its conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed more than a dozen states to effectively ban abortion outright.

The case before the court stems from a lawsuit Louisiana filed to roll back the Food and Drug Administration’s rules on how mifepristone can be prescribed. The state claims that the policy undermines the ban there, and it questions the safety of the drug, which has repeatedly been deemed safe and effective by FDA scientists.

Alito, who wrote the opinion overturning Roe, agreed that the state's efforts have been thwarted by medical providers and private organizations that mail the pills to women in Louisiana, despite the abortion ban. Danco and GenBioPro “are obviously aware of what is going on yet nevertheless supply the drug and reap profits from its felonious use in Louisiana,” he wrote.

Thomas said those who mail the pills are in violation of the Comstock Act, a 19th-century law that has long gone unenforced and bans mailing any “article, instrument, substance, drug, medicine, or thing which is advertised or described in a manner calculated to lead another to use or apply it for producing abortion.”

Lower courts concluded that Louisiana is likely to prevail, and a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that mail access and telehealth visits should be suspended while the case plays out.

The drug is most often used for abortion in combination with another drug, misoprostol. Medication abortions accounted for nearly two-thirds of all abortions in the U.S. in 2023, the last year for which statistics are available.

The current dispute is similar to one that reached the court three years ago.

Lower courts then also sought to restrict access to mifepristone, in a case brought by physicians who oppose abortion. They filed suit in the months after the court overturned Roe.

The Supreme Court blocked the 5th Circuit ruling from taking effect over dissenting votes by Alito and Thomas. Then, in 2024, the high court unanimously dismissed the doctors’ suit, reasoning they did not have the legal right, or standing, to sue.

In the current dispute, mainstream medical groups, the pharmaceutical industry and Democratic members of Congress have weighed in cautioning the court against limiting access to the drug. Pharmaceutical companies said a ruling for abortion opponents would upend the drug approval process.

Debate over the safety of mifepristone has churned for more than 25 years. The FDA has eased a number of restrictions initially placed on the drug, including who can prescribe it, how it is dispensed and what kinds of safety complications must be reported.

Despite those determinations, anti-abortion groups have filed a series of petitions and lawsuits against the agency, generally alleging that it violated federal law by overlooking safety issues with the pill.

Trump’s administration has been unusually quiet at the Supreme Court. It declined to file a written brief recommending what the court should do, even though federal regulations are at issue.

The case puts the administration in a difficult place. Trump has relied on the political support of anti-abortion groups but has also seen ballot question and poll results that show Americans generally support abortion rights.

Both sides took the administration’s silence as an implicit endorsement of the appellate ruling.

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Mulvihill reported from Haddonfield, N.J.

___

Follow the AP’s coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.

Mark Sherman, Geoff Mulvihill And Matthew Perrone, The Associated Press

Ratcliffe met with Raulito Rodriguez Castro, Ministry of Interior Lazaro Alvarez Casas and the head of Cuban intelligence services and discussed intelligence cooperation, economic stability and security issues. A CIA official confirmed the meetings to the AP.

Ratcliffe was there "to personally deliver President Donald Trump’s message that the United States is prepared to seriously engage on economic and security issues, but only if Cuba makes fundamental changes. According to official reports, the meeting served as a platform for Cuba to present evidence asserting that the nation poses no threat to U.S. national security,'' the CIA official said.

An official statement from Cuba's government noted the meeting "took place Thursday, May 14, against a backdrop of complex bilateral relations.”

While the U.S. stressed the Cuba cannot continue to be a “safe haven for adversaries in the Western Hemisphere,” the Cuban delegation insisted that the island presents no threat to U.S. security. Cuban officials also took issue with the nation's continued inclusion on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Thursday's meeting comes weeks after the Cuban government confirmed that it had recently met with U.S. officials on the island as tensions between the two sides remain high over the U.S. energy blockade of the Caribbean country and as Cuba’s power grid has collapsed and energy to its eastern provinces has been cut. The U.S. blockade of fuel to the island has heightened its economic woes, with reduced work hours and food spoilage as refrigerators stop working.

Earlier this week, the U.S. State Department reiterated that the U.S. will provide Cuba with $100 in humanitarian assistance and support for satellite internet “if the Cuban regime will permit it.”

In late January, U.S. Donald Trump threatened tariffs on any country that sells or supplies oil to Cuba. Though Trump also has threatened to intervene in the country, and Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said recently that his country was prepared to fight if that should happen, source told the AP earlier this month that military action is not imminent.

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Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

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Tucker reported from Washington, D.C.

Andrea Rodríguez And Eric Tucker, The Associated Press

The court’s order allows women seeking abortions to continue obtaining the drug, mifepristone, at pharmacies or through the mail, without an in-person visit to a doctor. Access is likely to remain uninterrupted at least until into next year as the case plays out, including a potential appeal to the high court.

The justices granted emergency requests from makers of mifepristone, who are appealing a federal appeals court ruling that would require women to see a doctor in person and halt delivery of mifepristone through the mail. The federal Food and Drug Administration, which first approved mifepristone for use in abortion in 2000, stopped requiring in-person visits five years ago.

Mark Sherman, Geoff Mulvihill And Matthew Perrone, The Associated Press

A group of Montreal-based sex workers — the Sex Work Autonomous Committee — says their demands include an end to the nightly fees that dancers have to pay to work in clubs.

They also want to be considered employees of their workplaces instead of self-employed workers, a status in Quebec that offers fewer labour rights and protections.

The committee says that by going on strike May 23 during one of the biggest tourist weekends in Montreal, they will be able to exert maximum pressure on club owners.

A Montreal dancer who goes by the name Kit says she is going on strike to call attention to the fact she and her colleagues, as self-employers workers, are not covered by Quebec workplace safety regulations.

She says her job comes with occupational hazards because she performs in eight-inch heels on uneven floors.

Kit, who is a member of the Sex Work Autonomous Committee, says people who sell sexual services are going on strike to call attention to the fact the federal government hasn't fully decriminalized sex work.

Grand Prix weekend begins May 22 with race day May 24.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 14, 2026.

Erika Morris, The Canadian Press

A group of Montreal-based sex workers — the Sex Work Autonomous Committee — says their demands include an end to the nightly fees that dancers have to pay to work in clubs.

They also want to be considered employees of their workplaces instead of self-employed workers, a status in Quebec that offers fewer labour rights and protections.

The committee says that by going on strike May 23 during one of the biggest tourist weekends in Montreal, they will be able to exert maximum pressure on club owners.

A Montreal dancer who goes by the name Kit says she is going on strike to call attention to the fact she and her colleagues, as self-employers workers, are not covered by Quebec workplace safety regulations.

She says her job comes with occupational hazards because she performs in eight-inch heels on uneven floors.

Kit, who is a member of the Sex Work Autonomous Committee, says people who sell sexual services are going on strike to call attention to the fact the federal government hasn't fully decriminalized sex work.

Grand Prix weekend begins May 22 with race day May 24.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 14, 2026.

Erika Morris, The Canadian Press

The federal agency has completed an infectious disease risk assessment as officials prepare for thousands of players, staff and fans to converge on Toronto and Vancouver next month.

It analyzed 14 pathogens that could be imported during the games, including avian and swine flu, mpox, Ebola virus, poliovirus and measles.

Measles is the agency's top source of concern because of how widespread it is around the world and how easily the disease is transmitted through the air.

Canada lost its measles elimination status last year after an outbreak persisted for more than a year.

Mpox virus is next on the list but it poses only a moderate risk because it's spread to close contacts like sexual partners or people in the same household.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 14, 2026.

Canadian Press Staff, The Canadian Press

The federal agency has completed an infectious disease risk assessment as officials prepare for thousands of players, staff and fans to converge on Toronto and Vancouver next month.

It analyzed 14 pathogens that could be imported during the games, including avian and swine flu, mpox, Ebola virus, poliovirus and measles.

Measles is the agency's top source of concern because of how widespread it is around the world and how easily the disease is transmitted through the air.

Canada lost its measles elimination status last year after an outbreak persisted for more than a year.

Mpox virus is next on the list but it poses only a moderate risk because it's spread to close contacts like sexual partners or people in the same household.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 14, 2026.

Canadian Press Staff, The Canadian Press

Officials said no injuries were reported in the community 70 kilometres west of Prince Albert.

Kelly Watson, a council member with the First Nation, said the fire was first reported early Wednesday afternoon in a wooded area near homes.

“We don’t know how it was caused,” Watson said. “We’ll leave that matter to the RCMP to investigate.”

Watson said strong winds quickly pushed the flames through the area, threatening nearby homes in what residents refer to as the lake area.

“It’s sad that we lost one house, but thank goodness for the response that we had that we saved several other homes,” he said.

Residents in the area were evacuated as a precaution, but later allowed to return home.

Watson said the community’s own fire response resources, including two fire trucks, were deployed. The public works employees and community members who assisted in the response were also commended for coming together to help fight the blaze.

Emergency support came from multiple agencies and neighbouring communities as the fire escalated. The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency helped dispatch aerial firefighting support, including two water bombers, which were critical in slowing the spread of the blaze.

He also confirmed ground support arrived from nearby First Nations, including crews from Muskeg Lake Cree Nation, along with additional water trucks from various local sources.

“Throughout the night, our local crews were managing, observing, ensuring that the hot spots didn’t pick up with the wind.”

Rain overnight also helped crews gain control of the fire, Watson added.

Mistawasis Nêhiyawak Chief Daryl Watson said the latest blaze was one of several fires the community has dealt with over the past week.

“This last one here was a grass fire that basically went into our forested area,” he said. “With the wind, it just took the fire out of control in a matter of minutes.”

The chief said dry conditions and the abundance of grass and forest surrounding the community have created dangerous fire conditions.

A fire ban has since been issued in the community.

An aerial view of the fire on Mistawasis Nêhiyawak, a First Nation located about 70 kilometres west of Prince Albert. (Image Credit: Submitted/Lands Technician Kelsey Watson-Daniels)

Chief Watson said between three and four families have now been displaced by recent fires, including one family of up to 15 people who lost their home in Wednesday’s blaze.

“Time was of the essence. We just had enough time to evacuate,” he said.

The First Nation is now working with the Canadian Red Cross to secure temporary accommodations while longer-term housing solutions are explored.

“The good thing about it is that we do have insurance in all of our homes, so that’s a saving grace,” Watson said. “But again, it’s going to take probably six months to a year to resolve that.”

Chief Watson said trying to develop a firefighting plan for the community with the province has been a daunting task.

“We are part of the Saskatchewan Fire Management Zone, but we’ve been having a lot of concerns with respect to the provincial side of it, with the emergency response people,” he said. “We’ve been trying to negotiate time and time again to have a REACT crew (specialized, rapid-response team tasked with high-risk emergency management) in our community to no avail. So,  I think after this scenario, with the fires in our community, I think we have more ammunition now to take to government and basically tell them in no uncertain terms it’s time they get off their butts and start developing a plan that includes all the people in the forest management zone.”

He said without the strong community response working with emergency crews, the fire could have spread further into the backcountry, which includes a multitude of freshwater lakes and more than 30,000 acres of what he called pristine forest.

—

 panews@pattisonmedia.com

Several current and former Conservative politicians have gone on social media to denounce the production “Northland Tales." The show is being produced for CBC and APTN.

The show is described by the Indigenous Screen Office — which works to increase Indigenous media representation using federal funding — as a satire program meant to “flip the script” on modern and historical injustices against Indigenous Peoples.

Frances Widdowson, who has described herself as a “known controversial figure” and has publicly questioned the history of residential schools and unmarked graves of children at the site of a former school in Kamloops, described her interview for the show in a video posted to social media this week.

During what appeared to be the tail end of the interview, a pile of shoes was placed in front of Widdowson. Children’s shoes were widely used as symbols for the children who died or never made it home from residential schools after news broke in 2021 that potential unmarked graves were found on the grounds of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in Kamloops, B.C.

At that point, Widdowson realized the interview was a spoof and turned her phone on the program host. She grilled him on the purpose of the show in a video that was transmitted live and later posted to social media.

“I’ve got nothing to be ashamed of. I just don’t like being lied to,” Widdowson said in the 11-minute video.

“I was given a sense it was something different than what it was, but that’s kind of part of the thrill of it, I guess.”

The Canadian Press reached out to Widdowson for comment but did not hear back.

The show is described by the Indigenous Screen Office as an unscripted comedy series "where an Indigenous activist trio uses pranks as a form of social action.

"With outrageous humour, they flip the script on modern and historical injustices against Indigenous Peoples, offering a fresh, timely perspective on the prank genre, akin to shows like Borat and The Yes Men."

Former Alberta premier Jason Kenney attacked the production on social media, calling it "appalling, doubly so as this fraudulent activity is being conducted with our tax dollars."

Other politicians, including B.C. MLA Dallas Brodie, posted on social media they were also asked to appear on the show.

Conservative MP Aaron Gunn told The Canadian Press he was approached "very persistently" by the show’s production staff in April but ultimately decided not to grant an interview.

Emails from the show’s producer to Gunn’s North Island-Powell River constituency office, provided to The Canadian Press, say the show was looking to examine the debate over “Canadian historical memory — specifically the forces driving the removal of monuments to figures like Sir John A. Macdonald, and the pushback from historians, legal advocates, and ordinary citizens against Canada's founding values and cultural memory.”

“We'd like this series to give a broader platform to those at the forefront of this fight, like Mr. Gunn, bravely speaking in defence of Canadian heritage,” the email continues.

One of Gunn's constituency office staffers described in an email a conversation she had with the show’s production team. She said she was told the production company was preparing a docuseries for CBC, which was under pressure to provide a balance of views on John A. Macdonald.

Gunn said it seems the show was “trying to entrap, trick and deceive some of the individuals who have been very outspoken in defending Canada’s first prime minister."

“I think it was entirely inappropriate for a taxpayer-funded state broadcaster to use a production company, or partner with a production company, that disguised their identities and motives in an attempt to lure or deceive or trick an opposition member of Parliament, as well as just other everyday Canadians,” he said.

“I do think everyone’s allowed to, of course, have their own opinions about these and other issues, but I think they are important conversations, and they are nuanced conversations, and they deserve real, serious conversations.”

In an emailed statement, CBC's head of public affairs Chuck Thompson said the show is in early production for CBC Entertainment and APTN. He said the news divisions of both broadcasters are not involved in the production and had no prior knowledge of it.

"Social experiments and satirical prank shows are a long-established television format used by broadcasters and streamers around the world, including many public broadcasters. In this case, the Indigenous creators are using the format for Northland Tales," Thompson wrote.

"A form of comedy is being deployed to increase better understanding of historical injustices against Indigenous peoples and support truth and reconciliation in Canada."

Thompson said it's important that the series does not have a negative impact on CBC's news brand.

APTN did not respond to a request for comment.

Gunn has had tense relations with First Nations — especially during last year's federal election campaign, when the regional chief of British Columbia called on the Conservatives to drop him as a candidate and accused him of denying the history of residential schools. Gunn has rejected that claim.

Gunn also has spoken in support of the first prime minister’s legacy, which has become a cultural and political flashpoint.

Macdonald is largely viewed as the architect of the residential school system and his statues were removed from some public spaces after news emerged of potential unmarked burials on residential school sites in 2021.

More than 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend residential schools, the last of which closed in 1996. An estimated 6,000 children died in the schools, though experts say the actual number could be much higher.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was tasked with researching the institutions, found they were rife with abuse. Children attending the schools were separated from their families and barred from visiting them.

The commission concluded the schools constituted “a systematic, government-sponsored attempt to destroy Aboriginal cultures and languages and to assimilate Aboriginal Peoples so that they no longer existed as distinct peoples.”

Kimberly Murray, Canada’s former special interlocutor on unmarked graves and missing children associated with residential schools, spoke extensively about what she called residential school denialism in her 2022 report.

"Denialism is not a simple misunderstanding of the facts; whether consciously or unconsciously, denialists are working toward the accomplishment of psychological, practical or political goals," she wrote.

"Indian residential school denialism must be taken seriously because it puts at risk the important work of truth and reconciliation. It should not be dismissed as a harmless fringe phenomenon."

Conservative MP Billy Morin, who previously served as chief of Enoch Cree Nation, told The Canadian Press the show’s premise fails to respect the gravity of the residential school experience.

“Not only is this wrong against a public servant, it completely disrespects and trivializes residential school survivors and their families,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 14, 2026.

Alessia Passafiume, The Canadian Press