Good morning. Canadian security experts are calling for an independent inquiry into Havana Syndrome illnesses at Ottawa’s embassy in Cuba. More on that below, along with updates on the strikes in Kyiv and mass shooting events in South Africa.
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A man walks beside Canada’s embassy in Havana, Cuba.Desmond Boylan/The Associated Press
TOP STORIES
Security experts call for Havana Syndrome illnesses probe
Parliamentarians need to independently investigate whether Russia used sonic weaponry against Canadian diplomats in Cuba, where they were allegedly helping U.S. intelligence agencies, and how the diplomats were subsequently treated by Ottawa, former Canadian spies and high-level security officials say.
The context: The Globe and Mail reported Saturday that, according to two sources, a Canadian diplomat was sharing intelligence with American spies in Cuba around the time of the alleged sonic attacks. Canadians were also using satellite equipment brought into Cuba under diplomatic cover by the U.S. between 2016 and 2018, one of the sources said.
The illness: During that period, officials from both countries experienced dizziness, headaches, blurred vision and memory loss – symptoms that became known as related to Havana Syndrome. Ten Canadian diplomats and their families filed a lawsuit in 2019, alleging that they were denied leading-edge health care, and that the government played down the seriousness of brain injuries.
The latest: However, the details of that lawsuit will stay under wraps. The Canadian Department of Justice confirmed that it invoked Section 38 of the Canada Evidence Act in the case, a rarely used law that restricts disclosure of matters that could harm national security, national defence or international relations.
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Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Anita Anand, addresses the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York on Saturday.Eduardo Munoz/Reuters
Anand tells UN that Canada is courting more partners
In an address that echoed Prime Minister Mark Carney’s January speech at the World Economic Forum, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand told the United Nations this weekend that Canada is diversifying its ties under a policy of “values-based realism” because Ottawa “can no longer afford to be overly reliant on any one partner.”
What else: U.S. President Donald Trump said he didn’t expect a peace agreement with Iran until after the midterm elections, scheduled for Nov. 3. In his speech at the UN last week, the President disavowed any connection between the two, but his handling of the war suggests otherwise, writes David Shribman.
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Jennifer Gaskin’s conviction in a decades-old shaken baby case is upcoming in the Court of Appeal.Dave Chan/The Globe and Mail
This mother seeks to clear her name in a shaken baby case
More than 20 years after she was convicted in the death of her baby boy, and more than a decade after the science of “shaken baby syndrome” was called into question, Jennifer Gaskin is hoping to clear her name. The appeal is the latest in a decades-long effort to undo the damage caused by the now widely contested forensic theory of SBS.
Up next: In advance of the Sept. 29 hearing, Gaskin’s lawyers and the Crown have come together, jointly submitting to the court that her conviction be quashed. “For 27 years, my other two children have thought I killed their brother Joeseph,” she said in a statement to The Globe and Mail. “If my appeal goes well, I pray they will realize I did not kill their brother, and accept me as their loving mother.”
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Jeff Foster, CEO and founder of CIX, in Toronto’s Financial District.Cole Burston/The Globe and Mail
Extended hours for stock trading comes to Canada
A new platform launched by CIX Trading Inc. has brought extended trading hours to Canada, allowing investors to buy and sell domestic stocks earlier in the morning and well into the evening. The launch marks a years-long process of regulatory scrutiny, fundraising and technical trials.
The change: Beginning today, CIX will allow trading from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. before moving to a 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. schedule later this year. Eventually, CIX plans to offer trading 23 hours per day, Monday through Friday.
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Montreal Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki, Colorado Avalanche superstar Cale Makar and San Jose Sharks wunderkind Macklin Celebrini all demand your attention this season.The Globe and Mail
Your NHL season preview
The 2026-2027 NHL season starts Tuesday with five games, as the league begins play in September for a rare 84-game regular season. Here’s a look at the Canadian teams’ key storylines and players to watch for this hockey season.
The costs: This season, the new hockey salary cap is a maximum of US$104-million, with a maximum of 20 per cent of that going to a single player. In the spirit of Moneyball, The Globe and Mail looked at the supply and demand of NHL goals and saves over the last 20 years.
The Take
None of us knows how our stories will end, or what shape we will be in when the time comes. Whether it’s a genetic cancer risk or a familial pattern of mental illness, we all wonder about what we would and wouldn’t want to know about our destinies.
— Robert Kolker, author
Soon, we’ll all be able to see our medical futures, writes Robert Kolker, author of The Vanishing Family: Love, Fate and the Quest to End Dementia. But do we want to look into the crystal ball?
The Shot
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The Royal Ontario Museum Dinosaur Gallery with construction covering hoardings.David Kerr/The Globe and Mail
Museums across the country are closing their doors now in a bid to open them to a wider audience later. But renovation needs are forcing these Canadian institutions into a balancing act of how to give visitors access and reconsider their social role.
The Wrap
What else we’re following
At home: Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre pitched a plan to cut federal taxes on diesel fuel until at least Canada Day.
Abroad: A worldwide shortage of Patriot missiles – caused by the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran – has created a hole in Kyiv’s air-defence shield as winter approaches.
Crime: Two separate mass shootings in South African townships have left at least 28 people dead.
Religion: Pope Leo XIV condemned medically assisted death as immoral “false compassion,” during a visit to Lourdes, the French shrine associated with miraculous healings.
On TV: Law & Order Toronto returns with familiar scene partners playing new cop partners.
In the ground: Save money on gardening by doing a fall swap, and give your plants the best chance of thriving next year.