FortSask

The royal family’s longest-serving monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, has died at the age of 96. 

As the world mourns the loss of one of the world’s most monumental figures, we can look back fondly on when Her Majesty visited Fort Saskatchewan in 1978. 

On August 2, 1978, Queen Elizabeth II, then 52, visited the community alongside Prince Phillip as part of a tour leading up to the Commonwealth games in Edmonton. 

The day was as perfect as could be, with a clear blue sky and sun shining down on Fort Saskatchewan. 

As he stood between wind-whipped Canadian flags on a podium in Iqaluit in 2017, Prince Charles recalled his official first visit to Canada's North nearly half a century earlier.

"I have never forgotten the warmth of the welcome from the Inuit people, which made me feel instantly at home, as indeed I have with all Canadians on my subsequent visits," said Charles, who drew applause from the crowd in Nunavut's capital with a halting attempt at an Inuktitut greeting.

Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada and the Commonwealth, ascended the throne as much by a twist of fate as by the grace of God.

As the daughter and granddaughter of men who were not first in line to the throne, Elizabeth was once destined for a life of relative regal obscurity.

Instead, she became one of the world’s most famous women at the age of 25, when her father’s death in 1952 made her England’s sixth ruling queen and longest-reigning monarch.

Sherwood Park residents can expect a brand new building for the local HodgePodge Lodge. 

The community staple, which specializes in helping residents find new ways to reuse materials, has been around since 2017. The center has been so successful that they have outgrown their current building and are now in the process of constructing another. 

Erin Wildeboer, the Waste Diversion Program Liaison, explains why the center has so much appeal to those in the community. 

Buckingham Palace says Queen Elizabeth II is under medical supervision as doctors are “concerned for Her Majesty’s health.”

The announcement on Thursday comes a day after the 96-year-old monarch canceled a meeting of her Privy Council and was told to rest.

The palace says the queen is “comfortable” and remains at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, where she has spent the summer.

Prime Minister Liz Truss said “the whole country will be deeply concerned by the news from Buckingham Palace this lunchtime.”

A deadly stabbing rampage over the Labour Day weekend in rural Saskatchewan underscores a critical lack of social supports in Canada's justice system, experts say. 

RCMP have named Myles Sanderson, 32, as a suspect in Sunday's attacks on the James Smith Cree Nation and nearby village of Weldon, northeast of Saskatoon, that left 10 people dead and 18 injured. His younger brother Damien Sanderson, who had also been named a suspect, was also found dead near one of the crime scenes Monday from wounds police said were not self-inflicted.

RCMP say two men went on a stabbing rampage in Saskatchewan on Sunday. They say 10 people died and 18 others were injured at several locations on the James Smith Cree Nation and nearby village of Weldon. They say one of the suspects, Damien Sanderson, was later found dead. The second suspect, Myles Sanderson, was arrested Wednesday and died shortly after. Here's a timeline of the police response. All times are local: 

Sunday, Sept. 4:

5:40 a.m. - RCMP gets the first report of a stabbing on the James Smith Cree Nation. 

The federal government intends to temporarily hike GST rebate cheques in a bid to ease some of the hurt of inflation for lower-income Canadians.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will announce a three-pronged plan to address affordability at the Liberal cabinet retreat in Vancouver today.

Cabinet ministers are gathering ahead of the fall sitting of Parliament with the economy and the cost-of-living crisis top of mind.

The Western Canadian Wheat Growers (WCWG) have taken a firm stand in opposition of a proposed cut of 30% to fertilizer emissions in a submission to the federal government.

The organizations says the policy attempts to reduce greenhouse gases, but the actual reduction would be infinitesimal, and the impact on the food in Canada, and globally, would be significant.

President Gunter Jochum notes the policy is precisely what Canada, and the world, does not need in a time of food insecurity and inflation. 

Shauna Smith of Fort Saskatchewan won $100,000.

According to the Western Canada Lottery Corporation, Smith won by matching six of the seven digits in her Lotto Max ticket.

Smith purchased her winning ticket from a 7-Eleven (97101A 90 Street) in Fort Saskatchewan the morning of the draw. The next morning Smith returned to the same store, where she scanned her ticket on the self-checker.

“Wow, $1,000! Then I checked again... 'no, $10,000,’" she laughed.

Still not sure what her windfall was, she sought a second opinion.