People

ST. PAUL, Alta.—When 14-year-old Simon Chamberland saw several Grade 6 students running down the school hallway, crying and screaming with blood dripping down their faces, he thought a gunman was on the loose.
He next heard a panicked secretary at Racette Junior High School announce over the intercom that the building was in lockdown mode.

STEWART, B.C.—A 50-year-old man has been identified as the person killed in an avalanche in northwest B.C. on Tuesday.
The B.C. Coroner’s Service said Pat Lawrence Desmarais of Telkwa was doing mine survey work with another man 50 km outside Stewart, near the Alaska border, when the avalanche came down.

TORONTO—The Supreme Court of Canada is willing to take a look at the country’s main laws controlling prostitution.
The top court said today it will hear a government appeal of a ruling striking down the ban on brothels.
Ontario’s top court had ruled the ban on bawdy houses increased the dangers prostitutes face because it forces them to work outside.

CALGARY—Calgary’s Catholic school district is going to review its policy against allowing students to be vaccinated against the virus that causes cervical and other types of cancers.
Four years ago, the district said “No” to the HPV vaccine—a position that was strongly supported by Calgary Bishop Fred Henry, who opposed the vaccine on moral and religious grounds.

OTTAWA—When a three-car motorcade rolled into the park where Laura Kelly was taking wedding photos of a young Ottawa couple over the weekend, one of the groomsmen joked that it was Lady Gaga.
But the celebrity who rolled down the window and wished his best to the newlyweds was none other than Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

WINNIPEG—Winnipeg’s new police chief stood by his comments on religion yesterday—comments which have led to something of a baptism by fire in media relations.
Devon Clunis, a longtime police officer and chaplain who will take over as chief in December, has faced criticism for telling a Christian magazine that prayer could help reduce crime in the Manitoba capital.

OTTAWA—Canada’s economy may well be muddling through, but on a more personal level, Canadians generally are not, a new study of well-being suggests.
The Canadian Well-being Index, led by researchers at the University of Waterloo, shows that quality of life in Canada deteriorated by 24 percent between the onset of recession in 2008 and 2010.

WASHINGTON — Some of the nation’s top comedians hailed Ellen DeGeneres as a trailblazer Monday night as she received the highest U.S. humour prize.
The Kennedy Center is awarding DeGeneres the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. The show will be broadcast Oct. 30 on Public Broadcasting Service stations.

LONDON — Doctors treating 15-year-old Pakistani shooting victim Malala Yousufzai said Friday that she is able to stand with help and to write, though she still shows signs of infection.
Malala is “well enough that she’s agreed that she’s happy, in fact keen, for us to share more clinical detail,” said Dr. Dave Rosser, medical director at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham,

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney poked gentle but sharp fun at themselves and each other for a charitable cause Thursday night, two days after more serious attacks on each other in their second debate.