Civil rights groups alarmed over Quebec’s move to ban prayer in public

Announcement follows statements from Quebec premier, who expressed frustration over public prayers in Montreal

Quebec says it will ban prayer in public, a move that civil rights groups described as an “alarming measure” that targets religious minority groups and would infringe on “basic democratic freedoms”.

The province’s secularism minister, Jean-François Roberge, said the move had been prompted by the “proliferation of street prayer” which he described as “a serious and sensitive issue” adding that the government had watched with “unease”. Roberge said the government would introduce legislation in the fall.

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Beach returned to First Nation after 170 years following Canada legal battle

Stretch of Lake Huron shore was promised to Saugeen people in 1854 treaty with crown but was wrongly omitted from map

A stretch of beach will be returned to a First Nation in Canada 170 years after it was mistakenly omitted from its reserve. The sandy sliver of land measures less than two miles long, but has nonetheless sparked an outsized battle, with a nearby resort town claiming the case sets a foreboding precedent for property rights in the country.

Canada’s supreme court said on Thursday that it would not hear a challenge from the town of South Bruce Peninsula, which is contesting a lower court’s ruling that the Saugeen First Nation’s reserve was erroneously smaller than promised.

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Ontario premier Doug Ford’s party spent nearly $300,000 on novelty ‘Canada is not for sale’ hats

The Progressive Conservative party of Ontario reportedly paid C$278,910.71 on the viral hats during the province’s election campaign

Dealing with the unprecedented threats from Donald Trump’s threats to Canada’s economy and sovereignty have required unconventional strategies from federal and provincial leaders, including barring liquor sales and cancelling contracts with Tesla.

But among the more unorthodox strategies to hit back against the US is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on novelty hats.

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Rightwing ‘parents’ rights’ groups gain ground in Canada as Alberta book bans target LGBTQ+ titles

Two such groups claim they persuaded Alberta to institute sweeping public school book ban

Socially conservative “parents’ rights” groups that have emerged as powerfully political lobbying groups in the US are quickly gaining ground in Canada, academics and free speech advocates say, after two such groups claimed they had persuaded Alberta to institute a sweeping public school book ban.

Alberta recently directed schools to purge library books from shelves that fit its definition of “explicit sexual content” by 1 October. If the policy is applied precisely as outlined, a host of books face being purged, including George Orwell’s 1984 due to passages in the text that discuss sexual intercourse and rape.

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Canada to drop counter-tariffs on some US goods one day after call with Trump

Mark Carney says change will go into effect on 1 September but tariffs on steel, aluminum and autos will remain

Canada will drop its counter-tariffs on some American goods in the coming days, Mark Carney has said, as the country’s prime minister looks to end a protracted trade war with longtime ally the United States.

From 1 September, the Canadian government will remove some levies on US goods that comply with the North American free-trade pact, a move meant to “match” how the White House treated Canadian goods. Levies on steel, aluminum and autos will remain in place.

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Conservative leader wins Canada byelection, regaining parliament seat

Pierre Poilievre returns to House of Commons after shock April loss and narrower margin in Tory stronghold

Canada’s Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, has won a closely watched byelection in the province of Alberta, giving him a chance to return to parliament after suffering a shock defeat in April’s federal election.

Poilievre finished with 80.4% of the vote after Monday’s election in the riding of Battle River-Crowfoot, in the deeply Conservative western province.

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Flight attendant union leaders ‘ready to go to jail’ as Air Canada strike outlawed

Arbitrator orders 10,000 striking staff back to work after government intervenes – unconstitutionally, union says

Union leaders representing 10,000 striking flight attendants have said they would be willing to go to jail rather than comply with an order to return to work, as Canada’s federal government seeks to end a bitter contract dispute that has halted hundreds of summer flights and stranded travellers around the world.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, the national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees said members would remain on the picket lines as part of a work stoppage that has halted Air Canada’s national and international operations during its busiest season.

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Conservative leader runs for safe seat in parliament after Canada election defeat

Pierre Poilievre has chance of winning House of Commons seat after losing riding he had held for more than 20 years

Canada’s federal conservative leader will have a second chance of winning a seat in parliament when residents of a rural Alberta district cast their ballots in a closely watched byelection on Monday.

Pierre Poilievre’s bid to take the safe seat of Battle River-Crowfoot comes four months after the Conservatives’ defeat in April’s federal election, in which the party leader lost the riding he had held for more than 20 years.

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‘Pray for rain’: wildfires in Canada are now burning where they never used to

Canada’s response to the extreme weather threat is being upended as the traditional epicentre of the blazes shifts as the climate warms

Road closures, evacuations, travel chaos and stern warnings from officials have become fixtures of Canada’s wildfire season. But as the country goes through its second-worst burn on record, the blazes come with a twist: few are coming from the western provinces, the traditional centre of destruction.

Instead, the worst of the fires have been concentrated in the prairie provinces and the Atlantic region, with bone-dry conditions upending how Canada responds to a threat that is only likely to grow as the climate warms.

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Air Canada flight attendants to defy back-to-work order and remain on strike

Union to challenge order issued less than 12 hours after start of action that has left more than 100,000 travellers stranded

Air Canada’s flight attendants plan to remain on strike, their union has said, defying government efforts to force them back to work and into binding arbitration over a dispute that has left more than 100,000 travellers stranded around the world during the peak summer travel season.

About 10,000 flight attendants who work for Canada’s largest airline walked out on the job early on Saturday amid a bitter dispute over what the union has described as “poverty wages” and unpaid labour.

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Air Canada cancels flights during peak season ahead of flight attendant strike

Canada’s largest airline expects full shutdown as workers protests over claims of ‘poverty wages’ and unpaid labour

Canada’s largest airline has started cancelling flights during the peak summer travel season ahead of a strike by more than 10,000 flight attendants over what they say are “poverty wages” and unpaid labour for work when planes are not in the air.

Air Canada said it would start suspending flights on Thursday ahead of full shutdown on Saturday after the flagship carrier and the union representing the flight attendants failed to resolve a months-long dispute over pay and working conditions.

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Canada wildfire season already second worst on record as experts warn of ‘new reality’

More than 470 Canadian fires classified as ‘out of control’ as scientists say climate change exacerbating the burning

With hundreds of wildfires burning out of control, Canada’s 2025 fire season is already the second-worst on record, as scientists report climate change is prolonging and exacerbating the burning, leading to more destruction, evacuations and smoke-filled skies.

More than 470 fires across the country are currently classified as “out of control”, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC).

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Canadian who could not renew visa due to mental health crisis faces UK ban

Academic Heather Scott has been told by Home Office that being ‘acutely ill’ is not an exceptional circumstance

The Home Office is threatening to ban a Canadian academic from the UK after she was unable to renew her visa in time during a mental health crisis.

Dr Heather Scott has lived in Britain since she came in 2011 on a study visa. The renowned academic, whose area of research relates to Victorian cemeteries including Highgate, Brompton and Abney Park, is required to be based in London.

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Canada wildfires: 81 million Americans under air quality alerts as blazes rage

Hundreds of fires across Canada and parts of the US prompt alerts in 14 states from Great Lakes region to the north-east

Hundreds of wildfires continued to burn across Canada and parts of the US on Tuesday sending smoke from the blazes across the region and reducing air quality in both countries.

US air quality tanked from the Great Lakes region to the north-east, making skies hazy from Minneapolis to New York City and even prompting a ground stop at Boston’s Logan international airport due to “low visibility” on Monday. Detroit, New York City and Chicago continued to record some of the worst air quality in the world on Tuesday, according to IQAir, ranking fourth, 10th and 11th respectively.

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Canada wildfires prompt severe air quality alerts across country and US

More than 700 active wildfires burning across Canada and about two-thirds are currently out-of-control

Billowing smoke from hundreds of out-of-control wildfires – most of which are in the Canadian Prairies – have caused severe air quality alerts across Canada and the United States.

Detroit, Michigan, and the Canadian cities of Montreal and Toronto, recorded some of the worst air quality in the world on Monday, according to a ranking by IQAir, a Swiss air quality technology company.

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Canada braces as tariff deadline looms and talks with US ‘chaos machine’ drag

Ottawa is still trying to find a trade deal with Washington to avoid heavy tariffs as 1 August deadline approaches

After months of tariff threats from the US and escalating trade tensions that have sowed anger in Canada and fractured a once-close alliance, the country is now fast approaching a 1 August deadline to reach a deal with the Trump administration – which has shown no signs of backing down.

And observers are keeping a close eye on negotiations this week to determine whether too large a chasm has grown between the countries, resulting in what could be an explosive end to what was decades of free-flowing trade.

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Trump threatens Canada on trade deal after Carney moves to recognise Palestine

Trump says recognising Palestine statehood ‘rewards Hamas’ and US deal with Canada would now be ‘very hard’

Donald Trump has threatened Canada after it moved to recognise a Palestinian state, reacting to Mark Carney’s announcement by saying that signing a US trade deal would now be “very hard”.

The Canadian prime minister said on Wednesday that if the Palestinian Authority promised to meet certain conditions, including demilitarising and holding elections without Hamas, Canada would join France, the UK and other allies in formally recognising a state of Palestine at the UN general assembly in New York in September.

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Canada to recognise Palestine at UN general assembly, joining France and UK in push for new state

New Zealand and Australia were signatories to a declaration that indicates they could follow suit in the coming months

The Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, has announced his country plans to formally recognise Palestine during the UN general assembly in September, after France and 14 other countries co-signed a declaration that pointed towards a wave of future recognitions of an independent Palestinian state.

Canada’s plans follow similar announcements by France and the UK to formally recognise Palestine, while New Zealand and Australia were also signatories to a declaration that indicates they could follow suit in the coming months.

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Justin Trudeau and Katy Perry spotted dining together in Montreal

Restaurant Le Violon confirms former Canadian prime minister and singer visited but saw ‘no signs of PDA’

Justin Trudeau and Katy Perry were seen dining together in Montreal this week.

A communications consultant for the restaurant Le Violon confirmed that the former Canadian prime minister and the singer spent about two hours at the fine-dining spot on Monday evening. Photos of the meetup published by TMZ led to speculation of a budding romance.

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Weather tracker: Cooldown in sight for south-east Europe after scorching heatwave

Refreshing northerly airmass to bring abrupt end to extreme heat, offering respite for residents and firefighters

After enduring a relentless stretch of searing temperatures, relief is finally in sight for south-east Europe. The Balkans, which have been scorched by a brutal heatwave over recent weeks, have seen daily maximum temperatures soar, culminating in a peak on Saturday with widespread temperatures of 40C (104F) and above across Albania, Serbia, Bulgaria and neighbouring regions.

Turkey also suffered, with a scorching 50.5C (122.9F) recorded in Silopi on Friday, the country’s all-time highest maximum temperature. Now these places are set to experience a dramatic cooldown as a refreshing northerly airmass is moving in, bringing an abrupt end to the extreme heat and offering much-needed respite.

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