Category Archives: Canada

Sikh activist accuses India of ‘transnational terrorism’ after US foils plot to kill him

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Gurpatwant Singh Pannun makes comments after Washington raised concerns Indian government may known of plot

A prominent Sikh activist who was reportedly the target of a foiled assassination attempt on US soil has accused India of “transnational terrorism” after Washington raised concerns the Indian government may have had knowledge of the plot.

The Financial Times reported on Wednesday that the US had thwarted the plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, an American and Canadian citizen, after the June murder of another Sikh separatist leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in a Vancouver suburb.

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Legal dispute rages over unsolved C$24m gold heist at Toronto airport

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Airline and armoured car company locked in bitter lawsuit over who is to blame for one of Canada’s largest ever heists

A brazen gold heist at Toronto’s main airport, in which thieves seized nearly C$24m ($17m) worth of gold bars and cash, is still unsolved after more than half a year.

But the airline and armoured car company that handled the cargo are now locked in a bitter lawsuit over the theft, with each saying the other is to blame for one of Canada’s largest ever heists.

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Canada-China detention feud reopened after claims of ‘unwitting’ espionage

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Freed detainee Michael Spavor says he unknowingly passed intelligence to Michael Kovrig, who then told Canadian officials

A simmering diplomatic feud prompted by China’s detention of two Canadian citizens has been reopened after one of the men claimed he was arrested for unknowingly passing on intelligence to Canada and its allies.

The Globe and Mail reported Michael Spavor is seeking a multi-million dollar settlement from Canada’s federal government, alleging he “unwittingly” provided intelligence on North Korea to fellow Canadian Michael Kovrig, who then shared that information with Canada and Five Eyes allies.

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Mystery of ‘decades-old’ plane wreck in Canadian backcountry solved

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Police were stumped when ‘crashed’ plane was found in British Columbia, but it was placed there last summer for rescue training

When a hunter in British Columbia stumbled upon the crumpled remains of an airplane fuselage on 3 November, he reported the grim findings to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

Officers were dispatched to the remote crash site to survey the wreckage and concluded that the shell of the bush plane, with no motor, wings, doors or seats, was likely more than two decades old.

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Canadian man convicted of murdering Muslim family in 2021 truck attack

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Nathaniel Veltman found guilty on four counts of first-degree murder and one of attempted murder over London, Ontario, attack

The Canadian man who killed four members of a Muslim family, has been found guilty on four charges of first degree and one count of attempted murder, in a case that tested how the country’s terror laws might prosecute far-right extremism.

The jury took around six hours to convict Nathaniel Veltman, who faces a life imprisonment sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years. Justice Renee Pomerance will determine whether Veltman’s actions meet the threshold for terrorism when she issues her sentencing.

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Canadian peace activist confirmed killed in Hamas attack

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Officials confirm ‘lifelong advocate for peace’ Vivian Silver, 74, killed after initial reports suggested she had been taken hostage

Vivian Silver, a Canadian-born activist who spent decades working to foster peace between Israelis and Palestinians, has been confirmed killed after initial reports suggested she had been kidnapped during the 7 October Hamas attacks.

In a statement on Tuesday, Idit Shamir, Toronto’s Israeli consul general, confirmed the 74-year-old had been killed by Hamas during the assault on Kibbutz Be’eri in southern Israel.

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Canada investigates alleged ‘threats’ against Air India after boycott call

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Officials launch investigation after separatist leader posts video warning Sikhs against flying with airline on 19 November

Canadian officials and the Royal Canadian Mounted police are investigating alleged “threats” against Air India after a separatist leader warned Sikhs against flying with the airline on 19 November.

The US-based activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun posted a video last week in which he called for a boycott of India’s flagship carrier.

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Shots fired at another Jewish school in Montreal amid tensions over Israel-Hamas war

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Third such case in less than a week in Canadian city but unclear if incidents are related

A Jewish school in Montreal was hit by gunfire, according to local media, marking the Canadian city’s third such attack in less than a week amid heightened tensions over the conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.

No one was injured when the facade of Yeshiva Gedola of Montreal was struck early on Sunday. Bullet marks and shells were found after residents heard gunfire, CBC News in Canada reported.

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Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard found guilty of sexual assault

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Prosecutors had said the 82-year-old lured women to a private bedroom suite after inviting them on a tour of his headquarters

The former Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard has been found guilty on four counts of sexual assault after five women testified he used a private bedroom suite in his company headquarters to assault them.

The verdict by a Toronto jury came midday on Sunday after five days of deliberation.

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Canada reels at ‘deliberate’ killing of boy, 11, in gangland hit targeting father

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Police call shooting of unnamed boy and his father, Harpreet Uppal, at Edmonton gas station ‘sick and twisted’

An 11-year-old boy has been deliberately shot and killed alongside his father in what police have called a “sick and twisted” escalation of gang violence in the Canadian city of Edmonton.

The boy, who has not been named, was sitting next to his 41-year-old father, Harpreet Uppal, in their vehicle outside an Edmonton gas station on Thursday when they were attacked, police said on Friday. Another child, a friend of the boy, was also present but physically unharmed.

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Justin Trudeau condemns shots fired at two Jewish schools in Montreal

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Canadian prime minister says ‘attacking each other is not who we are’ after clashes between pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian groups

Justin Trudeau has condemned recent violence in Canada after shots were fired at two Jewish schools in Montreal and clashes broke out between pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian students at a university in the city.

Police on Thursday said they were investigating overnight shootings at two Jewish schools in the Côte-des-Neiges neighborhood after staff reported finding bullet holes in the front doors of the schools.

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Canada: murder charge for ex-boyfriend of woman abducted by fake police

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Case of Elnaz Hajtamiri, taken from Ontario home by three men with police equipment in January 2022, had stumped investigators

The ex-boyfriend of a Canadian woman who was abducted by fake police officers has been charged with first-degree murder, marking the latest twist in a high-profile kidnapping case that had appeared to stump investigators for nearly two years.

Elnaz Hajtamiri was dragged from a property in an Ontario beach community on 12 January 2022 by three men with police equipment who forced their way into the home and hauled her barefoot through the snow to a waiting vehicle.

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Canada’s emissions cut plan insufficient to meet targets, official report finds

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Auditor general says key measures to cut emissions by 40-45% to meet Paris accord commitment delayed or not prioritized

Canada’s emissions reduction plan is insufficient to meet its target to cut emissions by 40% to 45% below the 2005 level by 2030, according to a new a report released by the country’s auditor general.

The audit found the government’s plan insufficient because key measures needed to meet the 2030 target were delayed or not prioritized, according to a statement from the office of the auditor general on Tuesday.

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Buffy Sainte-Marie Indigenous roots controversy rocks Canada First Nations

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New documentary threatens to tarnish folk singer’s reputation as a cultural icon who fought tirelessly for social justice movements

Allegations in a documentary that the popular American folk singer Buffy Sainte-Marie misrepresented her Indigenous roots have rattled First Nations communities in Canada, where she claims to have been born, highlighting the complex legacy of an artist whose decades-long career is defined by advocating for Indigenous rights.

Sainte-Marie describes herself as a “Cree singer-songwriter” has long traced her identity to the Piapot First Nation reserve in Saskatchewan, where she claims she was born in 1941. Sainte-Marie says she was taken from her biological mother when she was an infant and raised by a white family in the US.

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Disabled man drags himself off plane after Air Canada fails to offer wheelchair

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Airline was forced to apologize to Rodney Hodgins who flew to Las Vegas with his wife to celebrate their anniversary in August

Air Canada has been forced to apologize after a man with spastic cerebral palsy was forced to drag himself off a plane when the flagship carrier failed to provide a wheelchair for him.

Rodney Hodgins, 49, a hardware salesman from British Columbia who requires the use of a motorized wheelchair, flew to Las Vegas with his wife, Deanna, to celebrate their anniversary in August.

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Buffy Sainte-Marie denies allegations she misled public about Indigenous ancestry

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Singer calls allegations ‘deeply hurtful’ after documentary questions ‘shifting narrative’ surrounding her Cree roots

Folk singer and social justice advocate Buffy Sainte-Marie has denied allegations that she misled the public about her Indigenous ancestry, after a Canadian documentary questioned the “shifting narrative” surrounding her Cree roots.

On Friday, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s investigative wing, the Fifth Estate, published an investigation into the singer’s ancestry, alleging her life story is part of a broader narrative “full of inconsistencies and inaccuracies”.

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Canada to have first majority-female supreme court following nomination

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Justin Trudeau appoints Mary Moreau to bench of Canada’s top court, which will be made up of five women and four men

Justin Trudeau has nominated the Alberta judge Mary Moreau to Canada’s top court, setting up the first majority-female bench in the supreme court’s 148-year history.

The naming of Moreau will give Canada’s top court five female judges and four male judges. Moreau was most recently the chief justice of Alberta’s superior court, and has worked in that court for 29 years. She will fill a vacancy on the supreme court created by the resignation of Russell Brown in June.

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India resumes visa services in Canada after row over killing of Sikh separatist

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Tensions between the two countries peaked after Hardeep Singh Nijjar was murdered in Canada earlier this year

India’s embassy in Ottawa has announced that it will reopen visa services for Canadians, a move that could reduce tensions in a bitter dispute over the killing of a Sikh separatist on Canadian soil.

Relations between India and Canada plunged after Justin Trudeau, the prime minister, last month publicly linked Indian intelligence to the killing of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, allegations New Delhi called “absurd”.

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Canada tells of China-linked ‘spamouflage’ blitz on MPs’ social media

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Foreign ministry says bots posted conspiracy theories, lies and abuse as comments on feeds including that of prime minister Justin Trudeau

The Canadian government has said it has detected a China-linked campaign that involved bots posting disinformation and propaganda as comments on the social media feeds of members of parliament, including the prime minister, Justin Trudeau.

The “spamouflage” campaign, using networks of new and hijacked social media accounts to post bulk messages, took place in August and September, and targeted dozens of lawmakers from across the political spectrum, Canada’s foreign ministry announced.

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Canada withdraws 41 diplomats from India embassy amid murder dispute

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Country forced to reduce diplomatic presence amid tensions over Sikh separatist killing and says it will not take retaliatory steps

Canada has withdrawn 41 diplomats from India amid a dispute over the murder of a Sikh separatist, announced foreign minister Melanie Joly, adding that Ottawa would not take retaliatory steps.

New Delhi last month asked Ottawa to reduce its diplomatic presence after prime minister Justin Trudeau said there was credible evidence of a potential link between Indian agents and the murder in June of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 45, who was shot outside a Sikh temple in British Columbia.

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