A mandatory water restriction remains in place for an Ontario town as a heat wave persists across the province.

Residents and businesses in Bowmanville, Ont., were told by Durham Region to discontinue all non-essential indoor and outdoor water use as of Sunday.

According to the region’s website, the urgent notice remains in place as of Tuesday and is “effective immediately until further notice.”

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“The Region is currently investigating a maintenance issue with one of the three filters at the plant,” the notice read.

“The water quality will not be impacted as the remaining filters will maintain our current high standard of water treatment; however, the maintenance issue has impacted the overall capacity of the plant.”

The notice said water restrictions are necessary to maintain adequate water levels to deal with emergencies such as fire protection.

It gave examples of non-essential water use such as cleaning driveways or decks, washing cars and lawn watering.

Southern Ontario is under yet another heat wave with temperatures in the 30s C but the humidity making it feel more into the 40s. The heat wave is expected to end by Wednesday.

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Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree’s claim that he was helping a constituent when he lobbied federal officials to let a terrorist group “member” resettle in Canada is contradicted by documents on the case, a Global News investigation has found.

In defending letters he wrote before he joined cabinet that urged border security officials to approve the immigration application of a suspected member of the Tamil Tigers, Anandasangaree has said he assisted the man’s Canadian wife as an MP.

“That a constituent, a Canadian citizen, with a Canadian child, would want to reunite her family in Canada is not unusual,” Anandasangaree said in a July 14 statement explaining the letters he penned in 2016 and 2023.

“MPs from all parties provide letters of support for constituents as a routine matter,” he said. Last week, he added that he was only “executing my duties as a Member of Parliament, one that I believe constituents expect me to do.”

But court records and interviews indicate the woman is not Anandasangaree’s constituent. Rather, she is a longtime resident of Markham, Ont. — which is outside his Scarborough-Guildwood-Rouge Park riding.

Her immigration records, tax returns and commercial receipts each list a Markham home address, and two additional letters of support she gave immigration officers were from a city councillor and MPP — both in Markham.

Reached by phone, she declined to answer questions and referred a reporter to her lawyer, who confirmed the woman had resided in Markham since at least 2016 and could not recall ever living in Anandasangaree’s riding.

The revelations have raised new questions for Anandasangaree, who became Minister of Public Safety in May, and promptly recused himself from making national security decisions related to the Tamil Tigers.

When Global News first reported on Anandasangaree’s support letters, Prime Minister Mark Carney said his appointee to oversee Canada’s national security agencies had been “transparent about the details of that situation and he has my confidence.”

The Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment on the evidence suggesting the man’s wife was not actually Anandasangaree’s constituent. The minister’s office released a statement on Monday that portrayed his earlier statement as lacking clarity.

“It is not uncommon for MPs to assist Canadian citizens that are out of their riding, especially if the local MP is unable to assist due to their role in cabinet, as was the case in this situation,” the statement said.

“It is also important to note that this particular applicant’s family was introduced by a known constituent of Scarborough-Rouge Park. This should have been made clearer in the minister’s statement of July 14, 2025.”

3:13
Letters reveal public safety minister’s support of suspected terror group ‘member’

Earlier this month, Global News reported that before joining cabinet, Anandasangaree wrote two letters asking the Canada Border Services Agency to grant permanent residence to Senthuran Selvakumaran.

The Sri Lanka man married a Toronto-area woman in the United Kingdom in 2005 after British immigration officials rejected his asylum claim. She then applied to bring her husband to Canada, but border officials have repeatedly rejected him on the grounds he was a self-admitted paid member of the Tamil Tigers.

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Also known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, the group committed scores of assassinations and bombings during Sri Lanka’s civil war, and raised millions in Toronto, partly through extortion, before landing on Canada’s list of terrorist organizations in 2006.

“In truth, I have helped the LTTE not only because I wanted to help them, I also got payment for it,” Selvakumaran wrote in an asylum claim.

After telling immigration officers in Britain, and then Canada, that he had worked for the Tigers for seven years, Selvakumaran changed his story and insisted he had lied about his involvement because of bad legal advice. But the CBSA still had doubts and rejected him.

Writing on his House of Commons letterhead, Anandasangaree then asked the CBSA to reverse that decision, adding that “as a Member of Parliament” he had met and counselled Selvakumaran’s wife Nilushie Senthuran.

“Providing guidance, advocacy, or support letters in support of Canadians is a standard responsibility of Members of Parliament across all parties. It is part of an MP’s duty to assist, in accordance with federal rules, Canadian citizens seeking to reunite with their families,” the minister’s latest statement said.

Anandasangaree’s last letter to immigration officials on the matter was dated July 18, 2023. He was Parliamentary Secretary of Justice at the time and joined cabinet on July 26, 2023.

The Office of the Ethics Commissioner said parliamentary secretaries were permitted to work as MPs “for their constituents,” but declined to comment further. “At this time, we’re choosing not to make further statements.”

Last year, the CBSA president recommended that, regardless of Anandasangaree’s request, Selvakumaran should not get permanent residence because he was a terrorist group member.

Selvakumaran appealed that decision to the court and used Anandasangaree’s endorsement as evidence against the government. In a court document, Selvakumaran’s lawyer, Lorne Waldman, described Anandasangaree as the wife’s MP — a claim that was repeated in the judge’s ruling on the case.

But the lawyer acknowledged last week that was a mistake.

“While it is correct that we, as Mrs. Senthuran’s legal counsel, mistakenly stated that Mrs. Senthuran was a constituent of MP Anandasangaree, that was an error on our part,” Waldman said.

He noted that neither of Anandasangaree’s letters said she was a constituent.

“A referral between MP Anandasangaree and Mrs. Senthuran was made through a constituent,” Waldman said. “After MP Anandasangaree and his staff met with Mrs. Senthuran and reviewed her extensive documentation, he agreed to support her husband’s application.”

He said it was a regular practice for Members of Parliament to write letters of support, and there was “nothing improper or irregular” about Anandasangaree writing such a letter after meeting her.

But in his response to questions from Global News asking why he wrote letters asking the CBSA to give permanent residence to a foreign national who had been deemed a terrorist group member, Anandasangaree called her a “constituent.”

2:10
Cabinet minister under scrutiny over letters supporting terror group ‘member’

None of residential addresses in the wife’s applications to sponsor her husband to immigrate are not part of Anandasagaree’s Toronto riding, according to the Elections Canada website.

“Nilushie has been a resident of Markham since the time she came to Canada in September 2002,” Juanita Nathan, then a Markham city councillor, wrote in a July 10, 2023 letter supporting Selvakumaran’s bid to immigrate.

Now the Liberal MP for the Pickering-Brooklin riding east of Toronto, Nathan told Global News her letter was incorrect and the woman had only actually lived in Markham since 2007.

She wrote the letter as part of her previous municipal duties, “which is a common practice among elected officials when assisting residents navigating immigration processes,” she added.

“The letter was based on humanitarian grounds and was not an endorsement of any individual’s past affiliations. My commitment has always been to support families in our community within the bounds of Canadian law and procedures.”

The Ontario provincial Conservative MPP for Markham-Thornhill, Logan Kanapathi, also wrote a support letter dated July 10, 2023. It identified the woman’s address in Markham. The home has been owned by her sister since 2007, according to property records.

Kanapathi did not respond to emails requesting comment.

2:12
Carney says he still has confidence in public safety minister

The letters Anandasangaree wrote when he was a backbencher and parliamentary secretary in Justin Trudeau’s government resurfaced in court two months after Carney named him public safety minister on May 13.

The appointment has put the former lawyer and Canadian Tamil Congress activist in charge of Canada’s counter-terrorism and border security institutions, including the RCMP and CBSA.

In the public safety portfolio, he has been tasked with seeing through legislation to strengthen Canada’s borders and appease U.S. President Donald Trump amid a chaotic White House trade war.

Last month, Anandasangaree recused himself from decisions related to the Tamil Tigers and its Canadian front, the World Tamil Movement, which are both listed terrorist groups.

He also said that when he joined the federal cabinet, he instructed his staff to no longer provide letters of support, and as a minister he would not make decisions “on any matter wherein I advocated for a constituent.”

Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca

As people around the world welcomed a new millennium, Torontonians in the year 2000 were welcoming something even bigger – a herd of hundreds of life-size moose statues.

Twenty-five years ago, Toronto launched its Moose in the City campaign, a project featuring 326 colourful moose statues decorated by artists and placed all over the city in an effort to usher in the new year with a boost for local tourism and art sectors.

The project came at no cost to the city, according to council minutes from April 2000, and the statues were sponsored by various companies. The public could stumble upon the hoofed, herbivore masterpieces at locations including the CN Tower, Pearson Airport and city hall.

Some of the artists involved say the project was emblematic of the city’s culture and shows how municipalities can step up to support the art scene — even as some of the famed sculpted creatures have disappeared in the years since.

Moose in the City was a “great collaboration with the city” for artists, said Kelly Borgers, who was commissioned to do three of the statues. There was even a launch party for the project, with music and a sculpture parade.

“All the moose were all together. We pushed them on wheels down the street like a stampede,” she recalled.

Borgers said she produced three statues: Park Moose, Driving Moose Daisy and Florence Moosingale. She’s not sure what happened to the first two – decorated with nature scenes and granny glasses, respectively – but Florence lives in the city’s midtown outside the headquarters of a home care agency.

Lee Grunberg, the president and CEO of Integracare, said Florence used to get Valentine’s Day cards addressed from another moose that’s perched on the roof of a house in nearby Mount Pleasant neighbourhood.

“The people that bought these moose, they love the camaraderie of owning these moose,” Grunberg said.

Borgers likes to drive by and see Florence once in a while, she said, and knowing her art is still out there 25 years later brings her joy.

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“She’s always dressed up in all different costumes, for Valentine’s Day, for Easter, for Christmas, for Canada Day,” Borgers said with a laugh.

“It’s awesome. I’m proud of my moose. She has a better wardrobe than I have.”

Borgers said the project was symbolic of the fun to be had in the city, and it “lightened things up.”

“I just think it had a good sense of humour, that was nice,” she said. “Nobody saw moose and frowned.”

Lindsay Davies, who is based in Aurora, Ont., said the project gave her and other artists a chance to “show their thing.”

Davies was commissioned by Belinda Stronach, daughter of billionaire businessman Frank Stronach, to paint a moose statue to look like former Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Curtis Joseph. The statue was complete with a jersey, hockey socks and a detailed goalie mask covering the moose’s snout. It was placed in front of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

“I just felt totally honoured and absolutely thrilled where it ended up downtown on Front Street,” said Davies.

Despite reports at the time of moose vandalism — including alleged antler thefts — Davies said she’d love to see the city do a similar project again, especially given the participants’ diverse art styles.

“It’s just wonderful, and it’s very inspirational,” said Davies. “I think the public in general really benefits from something like that.”

Davies said her moose was auctioned for $25,000 that went to charity shortly after the project. Though she said she doesn’t know where Curtis Joseph Moose is today, she theorizes he’s somewhere in Little Britain, Ont., after a local bakery took ownership years ago.

Toronto-based artist Teri Donovan said George Cohon, the founder of McDonald’s Canada, brought up the public art idea with then-mayor Mel Lastman, who became very interested in the project and stood behind it.

Donovan said she got involved after a friend sent her a brochure about the campaign and she ended up creating two sculptures: the Bay Street Moose and the Strawberry Moose with Whipped Cream.

“It was really an interesting thing to do. It had its challenges, of course, but in the end, it was a lot of fun,” she said.

She isn’t sure about the fate of her two moose, although she discovered through online research that the Bay Street sculpture was missing.

There were controversies surrounding the project, she recalled. The quality of some sculptures was not very good, she said, and critics complained that the statues were not actually art.

“But it wasn’t supposed to be high art, it was supposed to be a fun project for the city,” she said.

Donovan remembers her neighbours and their kids routinely checking on the progress of one of her moose creations as she painted it in her driveway.

“I live in a quiet neighbourhood in the east end of Toronto and there isn’t a lot of that kind of thing that happens here,” she said.

Donovan said Moose in the City was a draw for tourists and it also helped raise money for charities as some of the moose were auctioned off.

Laurel Brooks still has the moose her family purchased at auction and moved to their Muskoka cottage, where it stayed until 2012.

She said her daughter and ex-husband initially wanted to get Tourist Moose, with a hat and a camera around her neck, but the bidding for that one was “pretty competitive.”

They ended up getting a moose built by Toronto District School Board students, she said.

After separating from her ex-husband, Brooks brought the moose back to Toronto where it now sits on an elevated platform in her backyard. The sculpture, too big to fit through the garage or the side of the house, had to be hoisted and moved with ropes, she said.

It’s made of paper-mache, with layers coming off over the years, and has been repainted with red flowers that look like poppies.

“I just really liked it,” Brooks said with a laugh when asked if the hustle of moving the moose back and forth was worth it.

“It’s just a cool thing to have.”

— With files from Fatima Raza.