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The puck that Sidney Crosby slid past Ryan Miller in overtime to win the gold-medal game at the Olympics was missing, but according to the IIHF it has been found. (Chris O’Meara/Associated Press)

Sidney Crosby’s missing Olympic gear may be back in the fold, but where’s the gold-medal puck?

The head of the Vancouver Games and the International Ice Hockey Federation both acknowledged the puck from Canada’s 3-2 overtime win over the U.S. also went missing, but the IIHF says it has been found.

John Furlong, CEO of the VANOC organizing group, was awaiting confirmation on that Thursday.

“I knew it was missing because people were talking about it,” Furlong said in an interview. “There’s apparently some discussion going on today that it may have been found, but I’m not sure. I haven’t had anybody tell me that it’s found, personally tell me.

“I know that they found the stick and the glove and I’m not sure what’s going on with the puck, but I understand it may have been secured. But I’m not sure, I’m waiting to hear.”

Crosby’s game-winning stick and one of his gloves were temporarily missing, but Hockey Canada said Wednesday they had been misplaced during packing.

Szymon Szemberg, the IIHF’s communications director, says the puck has also been found.

“We can inform you that we have had a parallel issue with the missing game puck with which Crosby scored THE GOAL, but we will in the next couple of days be able to officially announce that the puck is missing no more,” he said in an email to The Canadian Press, responding to a query about Crosby’s missing gear.

“It [the puck] has been located and will be sent to the Hockey Hall of Fame to be put on display for the whole world to see.”

Belongs to organizers: Furlong

But Furlong says the puck belongs to Games organizers.

“The puck wouldn’t belong to Sidney Crosby anyway,” he said. “Where it ends up is the question.

“Who owns it? Well, we would own it, but where it ends up … it will likely end up in the same place, no matter who found it, where it is, who has it. It will likely end up in the same place, which is where it is going to do the most good in terms of its long-term legacy value.

“A lot of people are going to want to sit and admire this little piece of rubber that is probably the most significant, how many ounces, in all of history,” he added.

Dennis Kim, VANOC’s vice-president of licence and merchandising, said pucks were among items saved for auction on the Games website or “for historic purposes for partners.”

“As many as 30 or more pucks are used for each hockey game, so the process of selecting and categorizing those for auction with absolute certainty, including those from the medal-round games, understandably takes a little longer,” he said in a statement.

“Although the process for tracking the pucks was a meticulous one, since we’re asking people to pay money for something through auction or to potentially display it publicly for historic purposes, we’re taking the extra care and time to verify the puck inventory we collected.

“We understand and appreciate the public and media interest in hockey pucks as 2010 Games memorabilia and as soon as we can make more pucks available for auction or to our partners for historical purposes, we’ll do so.”

Canadians are no strangers to puck drama.

The mystery over what happened to the puck Paul Henderson shot past Vladislav Tretiak in Moscow to win hockey’s Summit Series for Canada in 1972 gets murkier by the year.

BMO Field may not see the likes of Dwayne DeRosario and Toronto FC in the home opener on April 15 if the players strike continues past the start of the season. (Chris Young/Canadian Press)

Major League Soccer players have overwhelmingly voted to authorize the first strike in the league’s history if contract talks fail, which would wipe out openers scheduled to start March 25.

The league’s first labour contract, a five-year deal, was originally set to run out Jan. 31 but was extended twice while negotiations continued. It expired Feb. 25 after the MLS Players Union refused another extension.

Unhappy with the single-entity structure that has seen the league negotiate all contracts since play began in 1996, players want greater free-agent rights and a higher percentage of guaranteed deals.

The threat of labour strife comes as the Philadelphia Union, the league’s 16th team, is set to start play. The Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps have been added for 2011.

Tiger Woods is reportedly aiming to return at the Masters. (Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images)

Tiger Woods intends to remain out of golf at least until the Masters, two people with knowledge of his plans have told The Associated Press.

Woods has been practising at Isleworth near his Orlando home the past two weeks, and swing coach Hank Haney flew there during the weekend to work with him. That led to speculation Thursday he was close to playing again.

The two people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because only Woods is supposed to release such information, say he is likely to play first at Augusta National in April.

The Canadian Border Services Agency has fined WestJet $5,300 for sending arriving international passengers through the domestic arrivals area at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, bypassing customs, CBC News has learned.

With their passports and declaration papers in hand, 53 passengers disembarked WestJet flight 1245 from Tampa, Fla., on Feb. 15 and headed for Canadian soil, unchecked by customs.

When contacted by CBC News about the incident, WestJet officials said one of its employees opened a “swing gate” — a door which routes deplaning passengers to either domestic or international arrivals — the wrong way.

“There were a few [passengers] that only made it a few feet,” said WestJet representative Richard Bartrem. “This is an error that we recognized almost immediately, but some people did manage to get down into the arrivals hall, so at that point WJ informed the CBSA immediately of the situation.”

Bartrem said WestJet then made intercom announcements, calling their Tampa passengers back. He said all of the passengers were rounded up and sent to customs.

CBSA said it issued a $5,300 fine for the incident.

“WestJet has been made aware of this serious infraction and an administrative monetary penalty [AMP] was issued against the airline,” CBSA said in an email to CBC News.

Reg Whitaker, a former government adviser on aviation security, said as harmless as the incident turned out, it shows a “weakness in the system, which could be exploited.”

“Whether it’s people bringing in elicit materials, drugs, etcetera, etcetera, or whether it’s terrorists or people who wouldn’t be admissible or something like that, who knows? The point is that there is a potential there and clearly if it does happen then that’s something that really has to be looked at.”

This isn’t the first time WestJet has been fined for swinging gates the wrong way. The Calgary-based company had five similar incidents in the last year across Canada. But Bartrem said it is still a rare occurrence.

“Since January of 2009 … [there have been] more than 10,000 inbound flights that are either coming in from international or trans-border from the United States,” he said. “There have been five occurrences since January of 2009. So we’re talking about less than a decimal point on the percentage side.”

Under the Customs Act, the airline is responsible for sending its passengers straight to customs; if the gate is swung in the wrong direction, it costs the airline $100 per person passing through it.

Whitaker said it’s crucial airlines be fined for contravening the act this way.

“The air carriers have to be cognizant and being fined is certainly going to impress on them the necessity of making sure this kind of incident doesn’t happen again,” he said.

CBSA officials said international passengers have always been accounted for in such incidents.

“If an airline has inadvertently sent passengers to the domestic area, to our knowledge, all passengers have always been escorted back to the controlled area to be screened before entering Canada,” the agency said in an email to CBC News.

WestJet’s Bartrem said the company is trying to put an end to the errors.

“Going back and reinforcing through training and through communications that everybody understands that you are working a swing gate … make sure that they understand where the plane is coming in from, and that they’re taking the proper steps to make sure that those doors are locked off correctly so that the people are presenting themselves before customs agents,” he said.

While it is the air carrier’s responsibility to get passengers to customs, Whitaker said there should be no opportunity for incidents like this to happen at all, but that would require changing airport infrastructure.

“I think that the real remedy would be that the airport simply doesn’t permit that physical or structural potential. That there would be some kind of complete segregation between incoming flights from abroad that are required to process everybody through customs and those that are arriving domestically where that’s not necessary,” Whitaker said.

In 2003, Air Canada allowed 209 passengers to walk out of Ottawa’s MacDonald-Cartier International Airport without customs clearance. One man couldn’t be tracked down for nine days. When he was, he declared to CBSA by phone that he hadn’t brought anything considered contraband into the country. Air Canada had to pay an administrative monetary penalty of $20,900 for that incident.

CBC News asked CBSA how many fines have been handed out in total to international carriers across the country in the last year, but was denied the information

“Privacy requirements prevent me from providing details concerning administrative procedures,” spokesperson Vanessa Barrasa replied via email.

Author Michael Crummey’s Galore was named best book in the Canada and Caribbean category. (Random House/Canadian Press)

Nova Scotia writer Shandi Mitchell and Newfoundland and Labrador’s Michael Crummey advance to the finals of the Commonwealth Writers Prize after their books were chosen winners in the Canada and Caribbean regional category Thursday.

Mitchell won the first novel honours for Under This Unbroken Sky and Crummey’s Galore was named best novel .

Their books will compete with those from other Commonwealth regions April 12 at the finals in New Delhi.

Both writers were hailed as “first-class storytellers” by a jury appointed by the Commonwealth Foundation.

Shandi Mitchell said the win for her debut book resulted in ‘over-the-moon excitement.’ (Shandi Mitchell)

Crummey’s Galore depicts multiple generations of two St. John’s families divided by wealth, status and religion, beginning in the 19th century with the arrival of Irish and English immigrants.

“He never falters in his rendering of the Newfoundland idiom and in the energy of a story that spans six generations,” jury chair Antonia MacDonald-Smythe said in her citation.

“Etched in wit, raucous and inventive, Crummey’s Galore is a seamless melding of myth and history, an epic masterpiece that is grounded in the folklore of a unique part of Canada.”

Over the moon

Mitchell, who lives and writes in Wellington, N.S., just outside Halifax, said being chosen for her debut novel was “pretty overwhelming.”

“The emotions are somewhere between disbelief and relief and gratitude and over-the-moon excitement,” she told CBC News.

Under This Unbroken Sky tells the story of a Ukrainian family trying to survive in the Prairies.

“Mitchell’s own sensuous response to her environment is powerfully reflected in her characters, who are seeking to align themselves with that indifferent world even as the tensions of their past lead them into an intricate, inevitable and entirely convincing tragedy,” MacDonald-Smythe said.

Other regional winners announced Thursday:

• South Asia and Europe: best book, Solo, by Rana Dasgupta, India; best first book, In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, by Daniyal Mueenuddin, Pakistan.
• Africa: best book, The Double Crown, by Marie Heese, South Africa; best first book, I Do Not Come to You By Chance, by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, Nigeria.
• Southeast Asia and Pacific: best book, The Adventures of Vela, by Albert Wendt, Samoa; best first book, Siddon Rock, by Glenda Guest, Australia.

The prize aims to reward the best of Commonwealth fiction written in English and is supported by the Macquarie Group Foundation of Australia.

Ontario skip Glenn Howard, right, and third Richard Hart discuss a shot as they continue their unbeaten streak at the Brier in Halifax. (Andrew Vaughn/Canadian Press)

Glenn Howard rolled to his 10th consecutive victory at the Brier on Thursday, securing first place in the round robin while leaving his Ontario rink on track to become the third straight undefeated team at the Canadian men’s curling championship.

The veteran skip orchestrated a 9-3 win over the Northwest Territories/Yukon rink in the afternoon draw, leaving an evening match with Alberta’s Kevin Koe as the last hurdle before the playoffs in Halifax.

Kevin Martin, the Olympic gold medallist, posted perfect 13-0 records in each of the previous two Briers.

Northern Ontario also continued its march, eliminating Quebec with a 9-3 win in the afternoon.

Skip Brad Jacobs finished the round robin with a 9-2 record, and could face Howard in the 1-2 page playoff if Alberta loses to Howard in the round robin final Thursday night.

Manitoba’s Jeff Stoughton, a two-time Brier winner, prolonged hope of a tie-breaker with a 7-6 win over Saskatchewan to raise his record to 7-4.

P.E.I. won its second game of the Brier, pounding New Brunswick 9-4.

Koe, Jacobs in playoffs

In Thursday’s morning draw, Alberta and Northern Ontario clinched playoff berths.

Koe beat his brother Jamie’s Northwest Territories/Yukon rink 8-3 to improve to 8-2.

Meanwhile, Jacobs beat Newfoundland and Labrador’s Brad Gushue 8-4 to also post an 8-2 record.

Gushue (7-3) is still very much in playoff contention but must beat Quebec (5-4) Thursday night to avoid the possibility of playing a tiebreaker.

Dr. Barbara Heartwell, a Windsor, Ont., surgeon suspended after performing unnecessary mastectomies, will return to the operating room.

Dr. Barbara Heartwell, shown here in October 2009, is currently under review by the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons but has had her operating privileges reinstated at Hôtel-Dieu Grace Hospital in Windsor. (CBC)The board of directors at Hôtel-Dieu Grace Hospital has reinstated Heartwell’s operating privileges, CBC News has confirmed.

Heartwell voluntarily stopped operating last month after it became public that she had removed breasts from at least two women who did not have cancer.

She later asked to have her operating privileges restored.

Seven members of the hospital board met for five hours Wednesday to hear Heartwell and her lawyer make the argument for why the surgeon should be allowed to return to the operating room.

A medical advisory committee established by the hospital had made a recommendation to the board in the first week of March, but the board did not reveal what that recommendation was.

Wednesday’s meeting was closed to the public.

Hôtel-Dieu has scheduled a news conference for Thursday evening.

Musician K’naan performs Wavin’ Flag during the Canada for Haiti benefit. (CBC)

A remixed version of K’naan’s anthem Wavin’ Flag that will be available for download Thursday at midnight pulls together 57 Canadian artists in a fundraiser for Haiti.

Artists such as Avril Lavigne, Drake, Sam Roberts and Nelly Furtado rushed to help after a group of artists and record executives launched the initiative in early February.

“When you listen to K’naan’s song — and Drake does a rap in the middle which is exceptional — it is absolutely the perfect piece of lyric for this problem,” says Randy Lennox, the president and CEO of Universal Music Canada, who helped pull together the charity single.

In an interview Thursday with CBC Radio’s Q cultural affairs show, Lennox said the whole effort was pulled together in nine days by a team of artists and producers who contacted a pantheon of Canadian music performers.

“What happened was, we were watching the [reprise of] We Are the World in the United States the day after the Grammy awards, and the instinct was ‘We want to do something as Canadians,’” Lennox said.

A version of We Are the World for Haiti was recorded in February in Los Angeles in response to the devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti on Jan. 12.

“For Haiti, no time like the present. At that point I went on YouTube and looked at Tears Are Not Enough and thought, ‘do we recreate that song?’” he said.

Tears are Not Enough was a 1985 charity single by Canadian artists. Lennox said a group of artists, including K’naan brainstormed about having a “contemporary song that spoke explicitly to Haiti.”

They settled on Wavin’ Flag, the same song K’naan performed at the Canada for Haiti benefit Jan. 25.

Lennox said he is proud of the artists who stepped up to the plate for Wavin’ Flag, including Justin Bieber, Kardinal Offishall and Nikki Yanofsky.

“The moment of this song — watching these 57 artists come together in Vancouver — was unbelievable. A really rewarding moment for our history,” he said.

The single will benefit Free the Children, War Child Canada and World Vision Canada.

Lennox is to be honoured Friday with induction into the Canadian Music and Broadcast Industry Hall of Fame.

Lennox, who rose from the mailroom at Universal to become head of the company, said talent is not the only ingredient that goes into music stardom. He has worked with numerous Canadian success stories, but also seen genius artists who sell 25 albums, he said.

“It happens because you are who you surround yourself with. It is a business at the end of the day. Genius artists who have the acumen to listen and understand the business connections end up winning on both sides,” Lennox said.

Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development Chuck Strahl introduced legislation on Thursday that could extend Indian status to thousands of Canadians (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

The Conservative government introduced new legislation to amend the Indian Act that, if passed, could recognize an additional 45,000 Canadians as status Indians.

“This addresses the difference in treatment between how descendants of aboriginal women who marry non-aboriginal people are treated differently than aboriginal men. So this is a gender equity issue,” said Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl, who introduced the bill in the House of Commons on Thursday.

Under the proposed legislation, the grandchildren of women who marry non-natives would be granted Indian status. People who have registered Indian status are entitled to certain benefits, tax exemptions, federal programs and rights guaranteed under specific treaties.

The changes come after Ottawa lost a court case challenging the discrepancies in the way men and women are treated when it comes to Indian status under the Indian Act.

Originally under the Indian Act, women were stripped of their status if they married a non-native, but men were allowed to keep their status no matter whom they married.

In 1985, Ottawa changed the rules. Women who married non-natives would retain their status, as would their children, but not their grandchildren.

But the rules were still different for Indian men. They were allowed to marry a non-native and pass status down to two generations.

Last year’s court decision prompted the government to extend Indian status for one more generation for women who had married non-natives. This means grandchildren of such a union will now have native status but not great-grandchildren.

Strahl refuses to speculate on increase in numbers

Strahl said he could not estimate what the new status recognition would cost the government in terms of funding. There have been estimates that 45,000 Canadians would be eligible to be recognized as status Indians if the legislation passes.

Currently, there are about 800,000 status Indians in Canada.

Strahl said that if every single person who becomes eligible for Indian status under the new law applies for it, it could increase the number of status Indians by eight per cent.

But Strahl said it’s unclear how many people will apply and how many will want to move to a reserve, get membership in an existing band or just take advantage of the privileges that come with a status card.

“You can always pluck a number out of the air on a per capita basis, but it would be pretty frivolous,” he said.

The British Columbia Court of Appeal gave Ottawa a deadline of April 6, 2010, to change the law. The government has applied for an extension until the end of the current parliamentary session.

Strahl said he hopes Parliament will expedite passage of the bill

With files from The Canadian Press

Isaiah May, seen in this file photo with his mother Rebecka, was on life support since being transferred to the Stollery Children’s Hospital shortly after his birth in October.

(Facebook)

Isaiah May, the brain-damaged Alberta infant who had been in intensive care since his birth in October, died in his parents’ arms just after he was taken off life support shortly after noon Thursday at Edmonton’s Stollery Children’s Hospital.

The announcement was made by lawyer Rosanna Saccomani, who read a prepared statement from Isaac and Rebecka May, who did not attend the news conference.

“All along it was our hope that Isaiah’s condition would brighten and improve. It has not,” the statement said. “The decision that has now been made may be incomprehensible but has been made knowing we have done everything possible to find meaningful answers to our questions and that all reasonable alternatives were fully explored and carefully considered.”

“Isaiah has been a blessing to us and his spirit will always be in our hearts. We will never forget the miracle of his birth, the Christmas that we spent together and the early spring day when we said our goodbyes … we have set our tiny miracle free and he is now home in the arms of angels.”

The news conference came just hours after Alberta Health Services announced that a court hearing on Isaiah’s condition scheduled for 9 a.m. MT would not proceed.

The court was expecting to receive a report from Victoria pediatric specialist Dr. Richard Taylor, who travelled to Edmonton last month to assess the infant’s condition.

In a statement, Alberta Health Services offered its condolences to the family.

“All Alberta Health Services’ physicians and staff who have been involved in caring for Baby Isaiah were touched by the May family’s strength. Our deepest sympathies go out to the family,” the release said.

Isaiah May suffered severe brain damage after being deprived of oxygen during a long, medically complicated delivery last October in Rocky Mountain House, Alta., about 230 kilometres southwest of Edmonton.

Doctors at the Stollery hospital had wanted to take him off a ventilator in January, believing there was no hope for recovery, but the Mays went to court to get a reprieve and have a medical expert assess their son.