Category Archives: Canada

Canada scientists create new method to break down toxic ‘forever chemicals’

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University of British Columbia researchers develop silica-based material with ability to absorb wider range of harmful chemicals

Researchers at a Canadian university have made a breakthrough they hope will dramatically shorten the lifespan of the thousands of toxic “forever chemicals” that persist in clothing, household items and the environment.

Scientists at the University of British Columbia announced on Wednesday that they had developed a new silica-based material with ability to absorb a wider range of the harmful chemicals, and new tools to break them apart them.

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Student arrested after two staff members stabbed at Canada high school

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Two victims and the student taken to hospital for treatment after incident in Halifax

Police officers have arrested a student on suspicion of stabbing two staff members at a high school in Canada’s Atlantic coast city of Halifax, police said.

The two victims and the student were taken to hospital for treatment after the attack on Monday, and the extent of their injuries remains unclear. Halifax regional police confirmed that the suspect is a student at the school.

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Canada woman sues Tim Hortons after ‘superheated’ tea caused ‘horrific’ burns

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Jackie Lansing sues coffee chain for C$500,000 after cup of tea that ‘collapsed’ and spilled on her stomach and legs left her ‘disfigured’

An Ontario woman and her family are suing Canada’s best-known coffee chain for C$500,000 ($366,000), alleging Tim Hortons served her “superheated” tea in a defective cup that left her with “horrific” burns on her body.

Jackie Lansing, 73, ordered a black tea while at a drive-through in southern Ontario last year.

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‘I came here to escape’: Toronto tackles caste-based discrimination in schools

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Activists hopeful as Canada’s largest school district takes first step towards banning caste discrimination

When Vijay Puli arrived in Toronto with his wife and baby daughter, he thought they had finally left behind the discrimination, violence and social rejection they had faced in India.

Puli identifies as a Dalit, a member of a group who in India are considered to be at the very bottom rung, often deemed “untouchable”.

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Edmonton police shootings: teenager kills two officers after shooting own mother

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Constables aged 30 and 35 were gunned down by 16-year-old male who then shot and killed himself in Canada’s Alberta province, say authorities

A 16-year-old has shot his mother and killed two police officers before taking his own life in Edmonton, Canada.

A police official and a senior government official said the male shot and wounded his mother early on Thursday at an apartment in the city in Alberta province. Two patrol officers were shot and killed upon arriving at the scene about 12.47am. There was no indication the officers were able to fire shots.

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Canada: university president to take leave amid controversy over Indigenous ancestry claim

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Incident involving Vianne Timmons is latest high-profile case of apparent cultural identity fraud

The president of a Canadian university has apologized and is taking a leave of absence after allegations that she falsely claimed to be Indigenous, in the latest high-profile case of apparent cultural identity fraud.

Vianne Timmons, who is president of Memorial University of Newfoundland, said that she would be taking a six-week leave after the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) published a report last week questioning her claims that her father’s great-great-grandmother was Mi’kmaq.

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Two pedestrians dead and nine injured in Canada truck collision

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Police investigating if incident was deliberate and say there is no further danger in the town of Amqui north of Quebec City

Two men have died and nine other pedestrians were injured in Canada, after they were hit by a truck on Monday, police said.

Quebec police spokesperson Helene St Pierre said a 38-year-old man had been arrested and investigators were looking into whether the incident in the town of Amqui, north of Quebec City, was deliberate.

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Canada: inquiry into police unit accused of excessive force against green activists

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Officers with C-IRG accused of ripping off protesters’ masks and pepper-spraying them during protest in British Columbia

Canada’s federal police force has opened an investigation into a controversial unit tasked with overseeing environmental protests, following hundreds of complaints that officers used excessive force, disregarded court orders and violated protesters’ rights.

The Civilian Review and Complaints Commission, a watchdog arm of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said on Thursday it would examine the activities of the community-industry response group, or C-IRG, based in British Columbia.

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Giving the middle finger is a ‘God-given right’, Canadian judge rules

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Gesture may not be civil or polite but ‘it is not a crime’ and is protected under Canada’s constitution, judgment says

Giving your neighbour the middle finger may not be polite but is protected as part of a person’s right to freedom of expression under the Canadian constitution, a judge has ruled.

In a 26-page decision, Dennis Galiatsatos dismissed a case against a man accused of harassing his neighbour in a Montreal suburb.

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Toronto dog owners bite back after city posts ‘no barking’ sign at pooch park

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City called off its dogs and said it would review its sign approval process after canine owners called the prohibition ‘lunacy’

Officials in Canada’s most populous city have their tails between their legs after they were forced to call off an effort to stop dogs barking in local parks.

Inhabitants of Toronto are grudgingly accustomed to a daily soundtrack of city life: gridlocked traffic, rumbling trucks, heavy machinery and noisy neighbours.

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Trudeau faces fury of Canadian MPs over alleged Chinese election meddling

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Prime minister faces accusations of not taking issue seriously amid reports of 11 candidates receiving Chinese money

• Canada roiled by leaked intelligence reports of Chinese election ‘meddling’

Justin Trudeau is under mounting pressure to explain how seriously his government has responded to the threat of Chinese interference in Canadian elections in the wake of damning intelligence leaks.

Allegations that the prime minister’s government has failed to act on meddling efforts featured prominently in a raucous session of parliament on Wednesday, as concern over Beijing’s efforts to undermine Canadian elections continues to dominate the country’s politics.

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Canada roiled by leaked intelligence reports of Chinese election ‘meddling’

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Trudeau resists calls for public inquiry as leaks spark fierce debate and threaten to dent country’s reputation with allies

A flurry of leaked intelligence reports has reignited allegations that China interfered in Canada’s recent federal elections, kicking off a fierce debate over possible responses to Beijing’s meddling.

But the leaks also run the risk of harming Canada’s reputation among its allies, experts warn, as the country’s spy agency struggles to respond to mounting public concern.

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‘A part of winter is missing’: Ottawa grieves over lack of canal ice for skating

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Rideau has not turned into world’s long ice rink as usual, laying bare unpredictable realities of climate crisis

Every winter for more than two decades, Chris Macknie has laced up boots, clipped on skis or slipped on running shoes to compete in Ottawa’s Winterlude triathlon.

The event, held in dead of winter, has hundreds skate along the frozen Rideau canal, swapping out their blades for nordic skis and then finish with a run.

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Canadian government urged to test sick patients for herbicide

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Patients in New Brunswick with array of symptoms ‘show signs of exposure to glyphosate’, says neurologist

A neurologist who believes his patients are suffering from a suspicious illness has pleaded with the Canadian government to carry out environmental testing he thinks will show the involvement of the herbicide glyphosate.

For more than two years, dozens of people in the Canadian province of New Brunswick have experienced a distressing array of neurological symptoms, initially prompting speculation that they had developed an unknown degenerative illness – and that figure is believed to be far higher than official reports.

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Canada bans TikTok on government devices over security risks

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EU and parts of US already block access to Chinese-owned app amid concerns over data privacy and security

Canada has joined the US and EU in enacting a sweeping ban preventing TikTok from being installed on all government-issued mobile devices, as western officials take action over the Chinese-owned video-sharing app.

Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, did not rule out further action. “I suspect that as government takes the significant step of telling all federal employees that they can no longer use TikTok on their work phones, many Canadians from business to private individuals will reflect on the security of their own data and perhaps make choices,” he said.

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Canadian minister calls for emergency order to save country’s last spotted owls

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Steven Guilbeault wants to block logging of critical old-growth forest to prevent owls from going extinct in British Columbia

Canada’s environment minister plans to use a rare emergency order to protect the last of an endangered owl species in an area where critical old-growth forest is slated for further clearcutting.

Steven Guilbeault advised the environmental groups Ecojustice and the Wilderness Committee that he believed the spotted owl was facing “imminent threats to its survival” and he would use the powers to block further destruction of its habitat in British Columbia, the groups announced on Thursday afternoon.

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World’s largest skating rink on thin ice as Canada’s warm winter prevents opening

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Mild temperatures in Ottawa make it too dangerous to open Rideau Canal Skateway, the capital’s 7.8km long ‘blockbuster’ attraction

Canada’s Rideau Canal Skateway – the largest outdoor rink in the world and a Unesco heritage site – may not open this winter for the first time in five decades, due to a lack of ice.

Ottawa is in the grips of its third-warmest winter ever recorded, according to Environment Canada, with temperatures hovering just below freezing through most of December and January.

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Hunt for mysterious object shot down in remote Yukon faces daunting odds

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The Canadian territory is an aircraft graveyard – now the difficult search is on for a downed unidentified craft in its vast environs

The rugged, “unpeopled” landscape of Canada’s Yukon territory is a graveyard for aircraft, with more than 500 planes crashing in its forests, mountains and lakes over the years.

Now, Canada’s military and police, alongside their US counterparts, are searching the unforgiving landscape in midwinter for a mysterious object recently shot on Saturday by a fighter plane.

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‘I felt kidnapped’: Canada police sued for arresting photographer covering protest

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Environmental publication the Narwhal argues Amber Bracken’s rights were violated for being detained while working

A Canadian environmental publication has announced plans to sue the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), arguing it violated the rights of a photojournalist after she was arrested and detained while on the job.

The lawsuit, if successful, could have significant implications for Canadian journalists reporting in areas where police try to limit both public and media access.

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‘It’s surreal’: search for mystery flying object rocks quiet Canadian lakeside

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Military aircraft patrol above Lake Huron, on the US-Canada border, as a Canadian coast guard icebreaker searches for debris

• What do we know about the four flying objects shot down by US?

It was a mild, sunny winter afternoon when Tara Shannon learned all the airspace above her community in south-eastern Ontario had been closed.

Soon after, she and her neighbours began receiving scattered reports of a high-flying mystery object had been spotted in the area.

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