Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have officially tied the knot, and while some Canadians surely have royal wedding fatigue, one of the country’s foremost storytellers believes this “story about love” is a great reason for the nation to come together.

During CBC’s broadcast of the nuptials, semi-retired broadcaster Peter Mansbridge took the time to speak directly to the camera about why covering the royal wedding is newsworthy in terms of both time and money.

“Every once in a while, you want to show that there’s more to our world than all the horrible things that happen,” said Mansbridge, dividing his attention between the audience and The National co-anchor Adrienne Arsenault.

“It’s a story about royalty and celebrity, and it was nice to watch, and it was nice to check out of the horrible things we see and cover so much of our lives, and to realize that nice things happen too.”

One of these nice things also includes Mansbridge’s return to TV — this time with a beard.

The Stratford, Ont. resident, who first covered a similar event back in 1981 for Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s wedding, is the former chief correspondent of CBC News. His appearance at the royal wedding marked his first time back on the airwaves in a non-Canadian Screen Awards capacity since his final newscast on Canada Day of 2017.

He made sure to stress the day’s feel-good significance and place in history for his co-host and those at home.

“Here’s why it’s important, and especially important for you [Adrienne]. This is a person, this is a journalist who has covered some of the worst things we’ve seen in our world in the last 20 years. And you have those images burned into your mind and your soul, and you’ve tried to help us through by telling these stories. And they’re an important part of what we do as journalists. But you know, they’re not the only things that happen in this world.”

“Fairy tales, well, you know, they may never come true or they may almost never come true,” Mansbridge continued. “But it’s nice to believe in them for a day.”

At the end of their broadcast, Arsenault only had one way to thank Mansbridge for his remarks — with a heartfelt tweet.

Arsenault was one of many who showed their appreciation for what Mansbridge had to say, as his name became a trending topic throughout the network’s coverage by virtue of what he shared or perhaps just because people were happy to see him back on television.

Though Mansbridge has not yet made any statements about his future plans to return to CBC News, at the end of a Facebook Live on Saturday, he gave one last send-off.

“Enjoy the weekend, it’s a holiday weekend back home,” said Mansbridge, referring to the Victoria Day holiday. “You know, make sure you get out and enjoy it, and I’m glad you caught this bit of history, because this was history.”

“I’m Peter Mansbridge in Windsor, so long for now.”

Watch the full video of Mansbridge’s remarks about the royal wedding below.

OTTAWA — Canada’s spy agency says many members of the environmental and Indigenous communities see the federal purchase of the Trans Mountain pipeline as a betrayal, and suggests that could intensify opposition to expanding the project.

A Canadian Security Intelligence Service assessment highlights a renewed sense of indignation among protesters and clearly indicates the spy service’s ongoing interest in anti-petroleum activism.

The Canadian Press used the Access to Information Act to obtain a heavily censored copy of the June CSIS brief, originally classified top secret.

Watch: Trudeau on why Ottawa isn’t appealing Trans Mountain decision. Story continues below.

Civil liberties and environmental activists questioned the rationale for CSIS’s interest, given that opposition to the pipeline project has been peaceful.

CSIS spokeswoman Tahera Mufti stressed the spy service is committed to following the governing legislation that forbids it to probe lawful protest and dissent.

“While we cannot publicly disclose our investigative interests, we can say that it is important for the service to pose important analytical questions on these types of issues, such as the question of whether developments such as the purchase of a pipeline could give rise to a national-security threat to Canada’s critical infrastructure.”

‘Developing intelligence issue’

Earlier this year, Kinder Morgan dropped plans to twin an existing pipeline that carries about 300,000 barrels of bitumen daily from Alberta to British Columbia. The federal government announced in late May it would buy the pipeline and related components for $4.5 billion.

The government intends to finance and manage construction of the second pipeline — which would increase the overall flow of bitumen to 890,000 barrels a day — and ultimately try to find a buyer.

The CSIS brief characterizes resistance to the pipeline project as a “developing intelligence issue.”

“Indigenous and non-Indigenous opponents of the project continue to highlight the increasing threats to the planet as a result of climate change and the incompatibility of new pipeline and oil sands projects with Canada’s 2015 commitment under the Paris Climate Accord,” the brief says. “At the same time, many within the broader Indigenous community view the federal government’s purchase and possible financing, construction and operation of an expanded bitumen pipeline as wholly incompatible with its attempts at Crown-Indigenous reconciliation.”

The pipeline acquisition and commitment to complete the project is therefore “viewed as a betrayal” by many within both the environmental and Indigenous communities, CSIS says.

“Indigenous opposition at the grassroots level remains strong. In response to the federal purchase, numerous Indigenous and environmental organizations have restated their commitment to prevent construction.”

The brief singles out the Treaty Alliance Against Tar Sands Expansion, noting it has signatories from over 50 North American First Nations in its bid to halt the project. It also features a May quote from Canadian environmental organization Stand.earth that the decision “will haunt the Trudeau government.”

The intelligence brief was completed a little more than two months before the Federal Court of Appeal quashed government approval of the pipeline project due to inadequate consultation with Indigenous groups and failure to properly assess the effect of increased tanker traffic in the waters off British Columbia.

Unclear exactly what CSIS was looking at: expert

In the wake of the court ruling, the federal government ordered the National Energy Board to reassess the tanker issue and asked a former Supreme Court justice to oversee fresh consultations with Indigenous communities.

The CSIS brief notes there had been “no acts of serious violence” stemming from peaceful demonstrations and blockades at Trans Mountain facilities in British Columbia that resulted in the arrest of more than 200 people, or at smaller protests across the country.

However, the document includes a section titled “Violent Confrontations and Resource Development” that mentions past conflicts over shale-gas development in New Brunswick and a high-profile pipeline in North Dakota.

It is unclear, because of the redactions to the document, exactly what CSIS was looking at, said Josh Paterson, executive director of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, which has expressed strong concern about the spy service’s monitoring of activists.

In the information that has been released, there is no suggestion of a threat to national security or critical infrastructure, of clandestine activities or of violence in relation to the Trans Mountain project, Paterson said.

“While some opponents of the pipeline were arrested during protest for breaching a court order, that was a matter for police and the courts, and was done out in the open — it should not be a matter for our spy agency.”

Given past interest on the part of security and police officials, the CSIS brief is not surprising, said Tegan Hansen, a spokeswoman for Protect the Inlet, an Indigenous-led effort against the pipeline and tanker project.

But she is curious as to why the spy service document makes reference to sabotage and violent physical confrontations.

“I’m not sure why they’re trying to draw that connection with violence,” Hansen said. “I’d be interested to know. But it’s certainly not our intention to ever pursue violence.”

In what’s being called “northern humour at its best,” the hashtag #NunavutTVShows uses dryness and wit to highlight some serious issues for the northern territory, while also painting a picture of the community and culture of life in Nunavut.

The social media campaign — which involves tweeting a typical TV show with its name re-imagined for Nunavut — trended on Twitter over the weekend.

Tweeters from the North poked fun at the landscape, the cost of living, and the internet.

And had a few things to say about the healthcare system.

And while many of the tweets touched on some serious topics for the North — such as housing (which has been called “inadequate and unsafe” by officials), hunger (food shortages are a huge problem), and health issues (Nunavut has the worst health outcomes in all of Canada) — others touched on the community and culture.

The hashtag actually made its debut five years ago (and as #NunavutMovies), but had a surge over the weekend in response to another huge and heartbreaking issue for Nunavut: suicide. At its worst, the five-year suicide average for Nunavut was 121 per 100,000 people — nearly 11 times the national rate, according to the Canadian Press.

Some users thanked those tweeting #NunavutTVShows for making them laugh, and — for those who may have moved away — for reminding them of home.

Facebook and Instagram allow prominent neo-Nazis and white supremacists to profit off their platforms, letting them sell merchandise such as children’s T-shirts with slogans saying “White baby ― the future of our race.”

Last month, Facebook removed White Rex, a Russian-owned neo-Nazi clothing company, from its platform after HuffPost reported on the company. But at least three other brands including Sva Stone, Ansgar Aryan and Pride France, still maintain Facebook pages. White Rex is still on Instagram, which is owned by Facebook.

The proliferation of white supremacist businesses on Facebook is more evidence of the social media giant’s inability to rein in radicalism and hate on its platform. Some of the clothing brand pages HuffPost identified have also been suspended or banned in the past, demonstrating the shortcomings of Facebook’s whack-a-mole approach to extremism.

The clothing labels routinely use variations of well-known Nazi symbols and coded references in their products and Facebook posts but generally shy away from direct calls to violence or explicitly hateful rhetoric. Their support of white supremacy, however, is obvious after even a brief scroll through these pages.

In an interview with Recode last month, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg used Holocaust denial as an example of the kind of speech the company shouldn’t take down because it is “hard to impugn intent and to understand the intent.” After Jewish groups and anti-discrimination groups criticized his statement, he apologized.

The German brand Ansgar Aryan, which has more than 16,000 Facebook followers, uses a thinly veiled HH symbol as one of its logos and repeatedly refers to the number 88. Both are common references among neo-Nazis to the phrase “Heil Hitler.” Another shirt features a hooded Klansman holding a rifle with the slogan “We want you to enlist today.”

In a post on July 13, Ansgar Aryan offered a free issue of the magazine National Socialism Today to anyone who bought more than 50 euros’ worth of merchandise from the brand’s store. The magazine featured convicted Holocaust denier and right-wing extremist Ursula Haverbeck on its cover. When a HuffPost reporter flagged Ansgar Aryan’s page for hate speech, Facebook said the content did not violate community standards.

Ansgar Aryan is run by Patrick Schroder, a German neo-Nazi and member of the extreme-right National Democratic Party. Schroder is part of Germany’s “nipster” or neo-Nazi hipster subculture, which attempts to put a less violent facade on its extremist ideology, but Ansgar Aryan’s official website still sells knives, bats, pepper spray and ski masks.

Schroder isn’t the only well-known white supremacist to use Facebook to build their brand.

Sva Stone, for example, is owned by a prominent Ukranian neo-Nazi named Arseniy Bilodub. It has more than 20,000 followers on Instagram and around 7,000 on Facebook. Sva Stone’s clothing includes symbols that mimic the Nazi SS logo and feature modified swastikas. It also makes a line of T-shirts with its swastika-like logo and the slogans “white boy,” “white girl” and a children’s size “white baby.”  

“Generally, it’s worn by neo-Nazis around Eastern Europe,” said Pavel Klymenko, a monitor of extremism and researcher at the FARE Network, an organization that tracks far-right hooliganism and discrimination in soccer.

Sva Stone also uses Facebook to promote white supremacist music festivals featuring Bilodub’s metal band, Sokry Peruna. A video from a Sokry Peruna concert in April shows Bilodub performing on stage next to a Sva Stone banner as a crowd of skinheads give Nazi salutes. Photos from the event also show people waving Nazi flags, as well as wearing swastika shirts and Sva Stone and White Rex clothes.

“[Bilodub is] somewhat of a patriarch of the Ukrainian Nazi music scene,” Klymenko said. “His music has always been hardcore neo-Nazi, with texts like ‘kill the monkey,’ ‘kill the immigrant.’”

Sva Stone’s connections to Nazism and support for white supremacy have not prevented the company from running its Facebook page for more than four years. The group sells T-shirts that cost around $15, using the platform’s shop feature. 

“We have good relationship with Facebook,” a representative from Sva Stone told HuffPost in an email. 

The company denies it is a political movement or supports any ideology. It also refused to comment on how much money it has made from its Facebook shop.

“Our focus now is on Russian invasion to Ukraine and we are involved in help to benevolent battalions and groups defending Ukraine,” Sva Stone said.

One of Sva Stone’s Facebook posts celebrates the ultranationalist Azov Battalion, a powerful Ukrainian militia whose neo-Nazi membership prompted the U.S. Congress to issue a ban on funding earlier this year. Bilodub has ties to leaders of the Azov Battalion, Klymenko said, and militia members often wear Sva Stone clothing.

Many of these extreme-right brands are also involved in Europe’s neo-Nazi mixed martial arts scene and promote underground white supremacist fighting tournaments throughout Europe. Russian neo-Nazi and fight promoter Denis Nikitin, who owns White Rex, is a major organizer and cheerleader for these events.

“Mr. Nikitin admires Dr.Göbbels‘ dedication and devotion to the Idea of National Socialism,” a representative from White Rex told HuffPost. White Rex, however, denied that Nikitin ever had a framed photo of Joseph Goebbels in his bedroom, as was previously reported in The Guardian.

The company said it has no stance on the Holocaust, and did not return a request for comment on whether it denies up to 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust.

Nikitin met earlier this year with American white supremacists who now carry White Rex clothing in their own online store. Other extremists have sought to start clothing labels based on the models of Bilodub and Nikitin.

“Now almost any small hooligan or neo-Nazi who has got more than 10 friends is trying to make his own clothing,” Klymenko said.

Facebook is aware that extremists are using its platform to profit from and promote hateful ideology, and has banned far-right and Islamist extremist groups numerous times. But the company is unable or unwilling to keep these kinds of pages permanently off its platform.

White Rex had two of its pages removed in the past, according to a Facebook spokesperson, but somehow managed to start a new one that lasted for three years and gained almost 13,000 followers. A post from clothing brand Pride France encouraged people to tell their friends about the page so it could get its numbers back up to where they had been before Facebook took down its previous page.

Facebook and Instagram did not immediately respond to requests for comment on why these white supremacist clothing labels have been allowed to operate on the platforms and how much money the brands have made through the platforms.

The social media giant is having one of its worst months on record. Facebook’s stock price plunged by about 19 percent last week after the company released an earnings report that showed sluggish growth and sales. Facebook lost around $120 billion in market value in the crash.

Ansgar Aryan and Pride France did not immediately return requests for comment on their ideology and relationship with Facebook.

UPDATE: 4 p.m. ― Facebook and Instagram unpublished several of these pages a few hours after HuffPost initially published this story.

As Facebook has done with other offensive pages in the past, the company removed the offending pages from its site only after a news outlet, this time HuffPost, directly reached out to a spokesperson for comment prior to publication of an article.

Sva Stone’s Instagram, which has over 20,000 followers, is still online.

We’re stoked for June. Not because it signals the beginning of summer (summer, what’s that?) but because Netflix Canada’s June 2018 offerings are legit stacked.

If you’re a “Star Wars” fan — and we suspect many of you are — then you’re about to be excited because “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” is coming to your screen soon, which means we’ll all be pretending to be butt-kicking Jedis (in the privacy of our own homes, of course).

In fact, there’s plenty of entertainment in June that involves butt-kicking, including crime-fighting superhero Luke Cage in “Luke Cage” Season 2, the lady wrestlers of “Glow” and the hilarious women of the “Ghostbusters” reboot.

But, one of the (arguably) biggest releases of the month is “Queer Eye” which is back for Season 2 on June 15!

So what are you going to watch on Netflix Canada in June? Check out highlights below and find our selections under the gallery:

Movies:

“Lady Bird” — Available June 3

In 2002, an artistically inclined 17-year-old girl comes of age in Sacramento, California.

“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” — Available June 26

Rey developed her newly discovered abilities with the guidance of Luke Skywalker, who is unsettled by the strength of her powers. Meanwhile, the Resistance prepares for battle with the First Order.

“Ghostbusters” — Available June 26

Following a ghost invasion of Manhattan, paranormal enthusiasts Erin Gilbert and Abby Yates, nuclear engineer Jillian Holtzmann, and subway worker Patty Tolan band together to stop the otherworldly threat.

TV Shows:

“Queer Eye” Season 2 — Available June 15

“Queer Eye” is back and ready to transform the stylistically challenged into hip and happening savants at the hands of the new Fab Five.

“Kim’s Convenience” Season 2 — Available June 19

While running a convenience store in Toronto, members of a Korean-Canadian family deal with customers, each other and the world around them.

“Luke Cage” Season 2 — Available June 22

As his popularity soars, Luke Cage finds his world suddenly upended by a mysterious newcomer with astonishing powers — and sinister plans for Harlem.

“Nailed It!” Season 2 — Available June 29

Everyone’s favourite amateur baking show is back with an all-new season of epic failures and a star-studded cast of culinary guests.

What’s going:

We all know that a new month means some TV shows and movies will be leaving Netflix. Here’s what we’ll be saying goodbye to from Netflix Canada in June 2018:

June 1:

“A Little Chaos”

“Doctor Dolittle”

“Fatal Attraction”

“The Grand Budapest Hotel”

“Ice Age: Collision Course”

“Independence Day: Resurgence”

“Seventh Son”

“Smokin’ Aces”

June 2:

“Sherlock: Series 3”

“Unlocking Sherlock”

June 8:

“Born on the Fourth of July”

“Knocked Up”

“Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life”

“Oz the Great and Powerful”

“Varsity Blues”

June 9:

“The Great Outdoors”

June 15:

“Miami Vice”

“Shutter Island”

June 16:

“Captain America: Civil War”

June 22:

“True Grit”

“Uncle Buck”

June 29:

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

Rockville, MD (Reuters) – Instagram on Monday said co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger have resigned as chief executive officer and chief technical officer of the photo-sharing app owned by Facebook Inc, giving scant explanation for the move.

The departures at Facebook’s fastest-growing revenue generator come just months after the exit of Jan Koum, co-founder of Facebook-owned messaging app WhatsApp, leaving the social network without the developers behind two of its biggest services.

They also come at a time when Facebook’s core platform is under fire for how it safeguards customer data, as it defends against political efforts to spread false information, and as younger users increasingly prefer alternative ways to stay in touch with family and friends. Concerns over Facebook’s business sparked the biggest one-day wipeout in U.S. stock market history in July.

Systrom wrote in a blog post on Monday that he and Krieger planned to take time off and explore “our curiosity and creativity again”.

Their announcement came after increasingly frequent clashes with Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg over the direction of Instagram, Bloomberg reported.

In a statement, Zuckerberg described the two as “extraordinary product leaders”.

“I’ve learned a lot working with them for the past six years and have really enjoyed it. I wish them all the best and I’m looking forward to seeing what they build next,” Zuckerberg said.

WhatsApp co-founders split

Koum’s departure in May followed the exit of his WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton.

That led to a reshuffling of Facebook’s executive ranks, increasing Zuckerberg’s ability to influence day-to-day operations. Zuckerberg ally Chris Cox, who leads product development for Facebook’s main app, gained oversight of WhatsApp and Instagram, which had been given independence when Facebook bought them.

Adam Mosseri, who had overseen Facebook’s news feed and spent a decade working closely with Zuckerberg, became Instagram’s head of product.

Instagram and Facebook have operated independently and the two services barely mention each other. But as regulators have pushed Facebook to improve information safeguards for individual privacy, to combat addiction to social media, and to stop misinformation or fake news, Zuckerberg and other leaders have been under more pressure to monitor units beyond the core social network.

Earlier:

Systrom and Krieger notified the photo-sharing app’s leadership team and Facebook on Monday about their decision to leave, Instagram said. Their departure would be soon, it said. The New York Times first reported the move.

Systrom and Krieger met through Stanford University and worked separately in Silicon Valley before forming Instagram in 2010.

Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 for $1 billion. The photo-sharing app has over 1 billion active monthly users and has grown by adding features such as messaging and short videos. In 2016, it added the ability to post slideshows that disappear in 24 hours, mimicking the “stories” feature of Snap Inc’s Snapchat.

The photo app’s global revenue this year is likely to exceed $8 billion, showed data from advertising consultancy EMarketer.

Increased advertising on Instagram has seen the average price-per-ad across Facebook’s apps decline this year after a year of upswing. A new privacy law in Europe also has affected prices.

Instagram had been hailed in Silicon Valley as a flashy acquisition done right, with the team kept relatively small and Systrom having the freedom to add features such as peer-to-peer messaging, video uploads and advertising.

“I see Mark [Zuckerberg] practice a tremendous amount of restraint in giving us the freedom to run, but the reason why I think he gives us the freedom to run is because when we run, it typically works,” Systrom told Recode last June.

The app’s latest product, IGTV, has been slow to gain traction. Offered through Instagram and as a standalone app, IGTV serves up longer-length video content, mostly from popular Instagram users.

Video content has been a major emphasis for Facebook as it seeks to satisfy advertisers’ desire to stream more commercials online.