A former Saskatchewan government employee has been charged with breach of trust and money laundering, according to the provincial RCMP.

Tony Dou, of Saskatoon, was arrested on May 5, and charged with several offenses related to his alleged actions while working as an employee of the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program (SINP).

According to the RCMP, Dou allegedly engaged in fraudulent activities between April 2015 and July 2022 which included altering documents and procedures, accessing government databases for unauthorized purposes, and obtaining over $650,000 from program participants.

“Breach of trust investigations allege violations of confidence and integrity, which are fundamental pillars of public office,” RCMP Supt. Andrew Farquhar said in a news release.

“The RCMP investigates such assertions thoroughly to uphold accountability and protect the public interest.”

On April 29, charges were laid against the accused following an extensive investigation and in consultation with Crown prosecution.

The charges against Dou include fraud over $5,000, accepting a benefit contrary to section 121(1)(c), breach of trust by a public officer, possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000 and money laundering.

Dou is scheduled to appear in Saskatoon provincial court on May 20.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) is warning of yet another measles exposure – this time at several locations within Regina.

The following locations are affected:

Regina Open Door Society (2314 11th Avenue)

• Thursday, May 1, 2025, from 7:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
• Friday, May 2, 2025, from 7:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Walmart East Location (2150 Prince of Wales Drive)

• Saturday, May 3, 2025, from 8:00 p.m. to 10:15 p.m.

BarBurrito (4938 Gordon Road)

• Monday, May 5, 2025, from 9:30 p.m. to 11:45 p.m.

Alliance Health Medical Clinic (Sure Health) (4936 4th Avenue)

• Tuesday, May 6, 2025, from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

According to the SHA, the warning was released due to a case of the virus being confirmed. If you attended any of the above locations during the specified times, the SHA advises you to monitor measles symptoms for up to 21 days after exposure.

Symptoms include fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes, fatigue, irritability, small, white spots in the mouth and throat (Koplik spots) and a red blotchy rash which develops on the face and spreads down the body about three to seven days after symptoms begin and can last four to seven days.

The announcement comes a day after the SHA announced an exposure in the community of Preeceville. Previous cases have been reported in Rosthern, North Battleford, Saskatoon and Swift Current.

Speaking to reporters Thursday morning, Saskatchewan’s chief medical health officer Dr. Saqib Shahab says the province is now part of an unprecedented measles outbreak.

According to Shahab, 27 cases of measles have been reported since mid-March - with 15 of those cases occurring in the last week.

Most of the infections involve children and all but one case involves unvaccinated residents. There have been two hospitalizations due to the virus.

The health authority reiterated that vaccinations are the only way to prevent measles and is encouraging those who haven’t had their two doses to get them.

Saskatchewan is seeing an “alarming” increase in retail crimes involving violent threats and vandalism.

According to the Retail Council of Canada, retail crime costs the province’s retailers an estimated $180 million annually.

“Saskatchewan retailers have experienced a continuous escalation of criminal incidents in their stores, as perpetrators see little consequence for their actions within the justice system,” said John Graham, Director of Government Relations for the Prairie Region at the Retail Council of Canada.

“Property loss is substantial; post-pandemic, we have seen an alarming increase in retail crimes involving violent threats and vandalism,” he added.

Graham said poverty and addictions are key issues driving retail crime.

According to Graham, there has been substantial growth in career offenders who are more organized, determined, and targeted in their efforts.

“Not only do these individuals represent a disproportionate amount of the losses, but they are also key contributors to the bigger concern of employee and shopper safety, due to the higher frequency of situations that involve assaults, weapons, and other threats,” Graham said.

Retail crimes in Saskatoon have forced the Saskatoon Police Service (SPS) to launch Project SHIELD, tackling crime in the city.

The project coincides with the Retail Council of Canada’s national “Retail Blitz” campaign, which aims to crack down on retail crime across the country.

“Officers will have a visible presence in the 200, 300, and 400 blocks of Confederation Drive over two days - May 7 and 8. Working alongside store LPOs and security personnel, SPS will focus on identifying and arresting offenders for a range of crimes such as theft, robbery, weapons possession, breach charges, and executing outstanding warrants. Education will be provided to less-prolific offenders under certain circumstances,” SPS said in a release.

SPS says Saskatoon sees a steady increase in retail crime, and businesses in the city are experiencing a rise in prolific and violent offenders entering stores.

According to SPS, in many cases, shoplifting is observed, and weapons are present along with an increased threat of escalated violence towards staff, security personnel, and shoppers.

Police ask residents to help them during this project by reporting crimes. However, the Retail Council of Canada recommends that retailers reduce inventory of high-target items, ensure good sightlines across stores, and train staff to greet customers.

The Saskatchewan NDP says a leaked letter from health-care workers at the Regina General Hospital indicates that patients have died after not receiving urgent life-saving care due to severe staffing shortages.

According to the letter obtained by the Saskatchewan NDP, the severe shortages are in the hospital’s Interventional Radiology (IR) unit. The letter is signed by 15 radiology technologists and nurses.

It reads that: “a lack of physician coverage has already resulted in cases where patients did not receive life-saving interventions in time.”

The NDP said the letter also details that six of the 10 IR technologists and five of the nine nursing positions have not been filled, patient procedures are being delayed due to a physician shortage and declining mental health and resignations are occurring because of unsustainable working conditions.

The letter also claims that procedure rooms are being used by other programs, which is causing delays, longer patient wait times and increased overtime for staff. The NDP also said the letter mentions a lack of training for new hires and that a multi-million-dollar radiology suite at Regina’s Pasqua Hospital is not being used due to a lack of staff.

Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill said he received the letter during question period Thursday and will be reviewing it to better understand what is taking place.

“I just received the letter about 90 seconds ago. We take these issues seriously and will be reviewing the letter and understanding what’s happening at Regina General Hospital’s Interventional Radiology unit. We understand that these services are absolutely important to the people of this province not just here in [Regina] but right across southern Saskatchewan.” Cockrill told reporters.

Speaking to reporters following question period, Cockrill said the Saskatchewan Health Authority recently signed contracts with two Regina based radiology groups run by physicians that will bring additional services to the city’s hospitals.

“So obviously, as we get those agreements up and running and in place that should help to stabilize radiology services. We are also training registered nurses to do PICC lines in Regina, something RNs do in other communities around the province … Again, that will help to ease the burden and patients get faster service.”

Cockrill said the agreements were signed in the past couple of months.

NDP MLA Meara Conway suggested that while Cockrill may have just seen the letter Thursday, a news conference they held in October brought the ongoing issues to light.

“So, for the health minister to somehow suggest that he’s not aware of these issues is just not believable in my view,” she said, adding that Cockrill also met with staff where he was briefed on the ongoing concerns.

One of the signatories of the letter, Gerri Grant, was a radiologic technologist for 17 years in Regina. She resigned last summer because of the ongoing pressures mentioned in the letter.

Grant said the letter was written less than one month ago and confirmed it was not sent to the Ministry of Health initially.

“Ultimately, I gave up a really fabulous and engaging career. Just watching my co-workers struggle, myself struggle with that work-life balance, we were taking on-call hours at an excessive rate, watching patients suffer – I couldn’t see that anymore,” she said.

Grant added that she saw the delays in care harm patients and said it ultimately it became something she could no longer handle.

“This has been a problem for many years,” she said. “It’s just getting worse now.”

U.S. President Donald Trump’s preliminary trade agreement with the United Kingdom sent a signal to countries around the world — including Canada — about the goals of his campaign to upend global trade with tariffs.

While the agreement announced Thursday has not been finalized and many details remain unclear, it suggests the president is willing to lower some tariffs but not to drop duties completely.

“The final details are being written up,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

Trump launched his trade war on the world in April with “reciprocal” tariffs, only to walk back the most devastating duties a few hours later. Trump said the 90-day pause would give countries time to negotiate a deal while he kept in place a 10 per cent universal tariff.

Trump also imposed a 145 per cent tariff on imports from China, as well as 25 per cent duties on steel, aluminum and automobiles.

The announcement Thursday was a critical one for the Trump administration as it faces mounting pressure from Americans concerned about rising prices and markets in turmoil.

Trump said the deal will boost American ethanol and beef exports to the United Kingdom. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the baseline 10 per cent tariffs on most U.K. imports to the United States will stay in place.

U.K officials said in a separate press conference that duties on steel and aluminum will be lifted, while tariffs on automobiles will drop to 10 per cent for a quota of 100,000 vehicles.

Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro told reporters at the White House that the United Kingdom’s digital services tax is “still in negotiations.” The Trump administration has taken aim at Canada’s own digital services tax, which it says amounts to “extraterritorial” taxation of American firms.

Experts on Canada-U.S. relations said the U.K. deal could offer hints about how Trump’s administration might approach trade talks with Canada.

“It shows that the Trump administration is amenable to negotiation,” said Fen Osler Hampson, an international affairs professor at Carleton University and co-chair of a group of experts on Canada-U.S. relations.

Canada was not included in Trump’s “reciprocal” tariff regime and is not subject to the 90-day race to make a deal.

The president hit Canada with economywide tariffs in March, which Trump linked to the flow of fentanyl across the U.S.-Canada border. A few days later, Trump partially rescinded the duties for imports compliant under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico-Agreement on trade, called CUSMA.

Canada is also being hit with tariffs on steel, aluminum and automobiles — with a partial carveout for American-made parts of vehicles.

American Automotive Policy Council President Matt Blunt said he was disappointed that the deal Thursday would give U.K automakers an advantage over those in the deeply integrated North American auto market.

“Under this deal, it will now be cheaper to import a U.K. vehicle with very little U.S. content than a (CUSMA-compliant) vehicle from Mexico or Canada that is half American parts,” Blunt said in a statement from the council, which represents the Big Three automakers — Ford, General Motors and Stellantis.

“We hope this preferential access for U.K. vehicles over North American ones does not set a precedent for future negotiations with Asian and European competitors.”

CUSMA was negotiated during the first Trump administration and is up for review next year. Experts have said the president’s tariffs undermine the continental trade pact.

The president’s exclusion of most CUSMA-compliant imports — and his comments during an Oval Office meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday — indicate Trump still sees value in the agreement. Trump said the agreement is “still very effective.”

Trump’s meeting with Carney was largely cordial, considering it came after months of the president taunting Canada with talk of annexation and calling former prime minister Justin Trudeau a “governor.” Trump said Canada chose a “very talented person” in its election and Carney called Trump a “transformational” president.

The U.K. deal suggests the relationship reset between Carney and Trump is a very good sign, said Christopher Sands, director of Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Canadian Studies.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s “persistence and friendly professionalism were an effective combination in dealing with Trump tariffs,” Sands said in a text message. A similar approach might work for Carney.

The deal with Britain indicates Trump may not want to completely blow up international trade. Sands said claims made by some Trump officials that the president is looking to reset global trade rules in the United States’ favour should be taken seriously, at least for now.

The U.K. trade agreement suggests some kind of U.S. tariff on Canadian goods could remain in place, even if trade talks between Ottawa and Washington largely succeed, Hampson said.

“The reality is, we are entering an era of managed trade,” he said via text message.

“If CUSMA stays in place, not only can we live with Trump’s tariffs, if they are lower we may actually benefit vis-a-vis other countries who sell in the U.S. market.”

Henry Olsen, a senior fellow at the Public Policy Center, poured cold water on Canadian expectations during a panel discussion at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington on Wednesday.

Trump has been clear that “he doesn’t believe in trade deficits,” Olsen said.

While Trump greatly exaggerates the deficit with Canada — which is linked to U.S. imports of Canadian energy — Olsen said the president will want any agreement to reduce that deficit. “That will be extremely difficult for Prime Minister Carney to do.”

Robert Prevost, the Chicago-born missionary who spent his career ministering in Peru and took over the Vatican’s powerful office of bishops, was elected the first pope from the United States in the history of the Catholic Church.

Prevost, a 69-year-old member of the Augustinian religious order, took the name Leo XIV.

In his first words as Pope Francis’ successor, uttered from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica, Leo said, “Peace be with you,” and emphasized a message of peace, dialogue and missionary evangelization. He wore the traditional red cape of the papacy — a cape that Francis had eschewed on his election in 2013 — suggesting a return to some degree of tradition after Francis’ unorthodox pontificate.

“I would also like to thank all my brother cardinals who have chosen me to be the successor of Peter and to walk together with you as a united church, always trying to find peace, justice, and always trying to work as men and women faithful to Jesus Christ, without fear,” the pope said in near-perfect Italian, mentioning the saint considered the first pope.

Prevost had been a leading candidate for the papacy, but there had long been a taboo against a U.S. pope, given the country’s geopolitical power already wielded in the secular sphere. But Prevost was seemingly eligible because he’s also a Peruvian citizen and lived for years in Peru, first as a missionary and then as an archbishop.

Francis, history’s first Latin American pope, clearly had his eye on Prevost and in many ways saw him as his heir apparent. He sent Prevost to take over a complicated diocese in Peru, then brought him to the Vatican in 2023 to serve as the powerful head of the office that vets bishop nominations from around the world, one of the most important jobs in the Catholic Church. And in January Francis elevated Prevost into the senior ranks of cardinals, giving him prominence going into the conclave that few other cardinals had.

The crowd in St. Peter’s Square erupted in cheers when white smoke poured out of the Sistine Chapel on the second day of the conclave, the most geographically diverse in history. Priests made the sign of the cross and nuns wept as the crowd shouted “Viva il papa!”

Waving flags from around the world, tens of thousands of people waited to learn who had won and were shocked when an hour later, the senior cardinal deacon appeared on the loggia and said “Habemus Papam!” and announced the winner was Prevost.

He spoke to the crowd in Italian and Spanish, but not English, honouring Pope Francis and his final salute to the crowd on Easter Sunday.

“Greetings ... to all of you, and in particular, to my beloved diocese of Chiclayo in Peru, where a faithful people have accompanied their bishop, shared their faith,” he said in Spanish.

U.S. President Donald Trump said it was “such an honor for our country” for the new pope to be American.

“What greater honor can there be?” he said. The president added that “we’re a little bit surprised and we’re happy.”

The last pope to take the name Leo was Leo XIII, an Italian who led the church from 1878 to 1903. That Leo softened the church’s confrontational stance toward modernity, especially science and politics and laid the foundation for modern Catholic social thought, most famously with his 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, which addressed workers’ rights and capitalism at the beginning of the industrial revolution.

An Augustinian pope

Vatican watchers said Prevost’s decision to name himself Leo was particularly significant given the previous Leo’s legacy of social justice and reform, suggesting continuity with some of Francis’ chief concerns.

“I think this pope is saying something about social justice by choosing this name, that it is going to be a priority. He is continuing a lot of Francis’ ministry,’’ said Natalia Imperatori-Lee, the chair of religious studies at Manhattan University in the Bronx.

The new pope was formerly the prior general, or leader, of the Order of St. Augustine, which was formed in the 13th century as a community of “mendicant” friars — dedicated to poverty, service and evangelization. There have been six previous Augustinian popes.

The requirements and ethos of the order are traced to the fifth century St. Augustine of Hippo, one of the theological and devotional giants of early Christianity.

The Order of St. Augustine has a presence in about 50 countries, according to its website. Its ethos includes a contemplative spirituality, communal living and service to others. A core value in their rule is to “live together in harmony, being of one mind and one heart on the way to God.”

Prevost graduated from the Augustinian Villanova University, in suburban Philadelphia, and his election thrilled American students studying in Rome who happened to be in St. Peter’s Square to witness history.

“That’s the first American pope in history. How exciting!” said Alessandra Jarrett, a 21-year-old political science student at Rome’s John Cabot university. “Crazy that we’re able to be here and see it, and this was even our last day in school.”

The past of Pope Leo

Francis moved Prevost from the Augustinian leadership back to Peru in 2014 to serve as the administrator and later archbishop of Chiclayo.

He remained in that position, acquiring Peruvian citizenship in 2015, until Francis brought him to Rome in 2023 to assume the presidency of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. In that job he would have kept in regular contact with the Catholic hierarchy in the part of the world that counts the most Catholics and who clearly would have had a hand in his election.

Since arriving in Rome, Prevost has kept a low public profile but was well-known to the men who count.

Significantly, he presided over one of the most revolutionary reforms Francis made, when he added three women to the voting bloc that decides which bishop nominations to forward to the pope. In early 2025, Francis again showed his esteem by appointing Prevost to the most senior rank of cardinals.

The bells of the cathedral in Peru’s capital of Lima tolled after Prevost’s election was announced. People outside the church expressed their desire for a papal visit at one point.

“For us Peruvians, it is a source of pride that this is a pope who represents our country,” said elementary school teacher Isabel Panez, who happened to be near the cathedral when the news was announced. “We would like him to visit us here in Peru.”

The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) is warning the public of a measles exposure risk in the community of Preeceville following a confirmed case of the disease.

Residents who visited the Shop Easy Foods, located at 102 Main Street N in Preeceville between 2 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. on April 29 are advised to monitor themselves for measles symptoms.

“If you were at an identified location during the specified times below, please monitor for measles symptoms for up to 21 days after exposure,” the advisory read.

Symptoms related to measles include fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes, fatigue, irritability, small, white spots inside the mouth and throat (known as Koplik spots), and a red blotchy rash – which develops on the face and spreads down the body about three to seven days after seven days after symptoms begin.

If you were exposed and are unvaccinated or are exhibiting measles symptoms, the SHA encourages you to call the province’s 811 HealthLine.

Measles is highly contagious and can be spread very easily through the air. The virus can live up to two hours in the air or on surfaces in a space where a person has coughed or sneezed.

The virus can spread from four days before a rash appears until four days after a rash develops.

“Through this period, a person needs to stay in strict isolation to avoid spreading the infection to others,” the advisory read.

Regina police have charged two men and are looking for a third after approximately $30,000 worth of trading cards and memorabilia were stolen from a home in the city’s southeast.

Officers were called to a residence on the 0 block of Michener Drive around 7:45 p.m. on April 6 for the report of a break and enter and were told that two individuals broke into the home and stole the collection, a Regina police news release said.

Officers were able to identify three individuals connected to the incident and executed a search warrant on the 6200 block of Dewdney Avenue on April 11.

“Several items were located that were confirmed to be the stolen trading cards,” police said in the release.

A second search warrant was executed on May 2 at a residence on the 1400 block of McCarthy Boulevard where officers were again able to identify several items also confirmed to be stolen.

As a result, a 42-year-old man and 39-year-old man, both from Regina, have been charged with break and enter and possession of property obtained by crime under $5,000, police said.

Officers are still looking for 39-year-old James Smith from Regina who is wanted in connection to the case, police said.

A description of Smith was not provided by police.

The 42-year-old and 39-year-old accused made their first court appearances on May 5, according to Regina police.

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