National News

You started seeds in spring and watched as they sprouted, then watered, fertilized and even staked plants as they grew, while visions of summer salads, grilled vegetables and homemade pickles danced in your head.

Then one day, black blotches, yellow-spotted leaves and mushy bottoms showed up, and your dreams turned to nightmares.

Many home gardeners lovingly tend their plants only to find them ravaged by unknown forces before harvest time.

But fear not: Here are some tips for identifying and treating five of the most common ailments that threaten your crops.

When 48 Catholic church entities signed on to fundraise $25 million for survivors under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, it was spelled out they would do so through their "best efforts."

Ken Young puts it another way. 

"It was a weasel clause," the former Manitoba regional chief of the Assembly of First Nations said in a recent interview. 

"And they used it."

Canada must make good on a long-standing promise to implement a centralized mental health crisis line that bypasses police and connects those in need with professionals who can help them, experts argued as a similar system went live in the United States.

The new 988 mental health hotline American authorities launched on Saturday will, once fully operational, offer residents struggling with suicidal thoughts an easy-to-remember number that will connect them with trained mental health counsellors rather than law enforcement personnel.

VINNYTSIA, Ukraine (AP) — Liza, a 4−year−old girl with Down syndrome, was en route to see a speech therapist with her mother in central Ukraine when a Russian missile rained down from the sky.

She never made it to the appointment. Now the images that tell the story of her life and its end are touching hearts worldwide.

After a month-long pause, the federal government is bringing back random, mandatory COVID-19 tests for vaccinated travellers arriving at Canada's four main airports.

Ottawa paused the tests in mid-June as it faced criticism from tourism and air travel groups about the chaos at Canadian airports.

The government also said it planned to move the tests themselves to locations outside of airports.

That means that when the tests resume next week, they will completed either at an in-person or virtual appointment.

Canada's drug regulator approved Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine for infants and preschoolers, making it the first vaccine approved for that age group in the country.

Health Canada now says the Moderna vaccine can be given to young children between the ages of six months and five years old in doses one-quarter the size of that approved for adults.

The National Advisory Committee on Immunization is expected to provide advice on its use later today.

Hockey Canada says it is in the process of making changes. 

Whether those moves will be enough to satisfy the general public, fans, federal government and corporate sponsors remains to be seen. 

The sport's under-fire national federation made a series of announcements in an open letter to Canadians published Thursday, including the reopening of a third-party investigation into an alleged sexual assault involving members of the country's 2018 world junior team. 

The federal government says it will provide more than $35 million during the papal visit to Canada to support Indigenous communities, organizations and residential schools survivors. 

Pope Francis is set to travel to Alberta, Quebec and Nunavut from July 24 to 29. The papal visit is to include public and private events with an emphasis on Indigenous participation.

A new tranche of census data shows the typical Canadian family is diverging further from the nuclear structure that was once the norm, with more couples living in common-law partnerships and without children. 

Statistics Canada released results Wednesday from the 2021 national census that show 23 per cent of couples who live together are unmarried — the highest percentage of any G7 nation. 

When a daring construction crew entered a century-old hut in the Rockies on the first day of its takedown, they lit the fireplace one last time and discussed for an hour the gravity of what they were about to do.

"The whole crew knew the grandness and the sadness of what we were doing," said Sean Alexander, the manager of the construction crew that last month took apart the Abbot Pass Refuge Cabin. It straddled the Continental Divide and the Alberta-British Columbia boundary about three kilometres above sea level and was the second-highest structure in Canada.