National News

Pro hockey player Alex Formenton, a former member of the NHL's Ottawa Senators who currently plays in Switzerland, has been charged by police in London, Ont., his lawyer said Sunday.  

"The London Police have charged several players, including Alex Formenton, in connection with an accusation made in 2018," lead counsel Daniel Brown said in an email. "Alex will vigorously defend his innocence and asks that people not rush to judgment without hearing all of the evidence."

The governments of Manitoba and Saskatchewan say they are concerned about the potential risks of allowing Canadians to seek medical assistance in dying solely on the basis of a mental illness.

Provinces have expressed fears that the country may not yet be ready for the change to take effect in March, federal Health Minister Mark Holland recently acknowledged. 

The federal Liberal government passed legislation last year to delay the expansion for 12 months, and will soon have to decide whether to do so a second time. 

A former Saskatchewan Mountie has been found guilty of manslaughter in the shooting death of his lover.

Bernie Herman, 55, had pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the death of 26-year-old Braden Herman. The two men are not related.

"I did not believe (Bernie) Herman that he felt threatened," Court of King's Bench Justice Gary Meschishnick said in his decision Thursday. 

But the judge said the Crown had not proven the officer was not provoked.

A killing must have been planned and deliberate for a first-degree murder conviction.

Rescuers parachuted into the scene of a deadly plane crash near a remote community in Canada's North on Tuesday.

The Transportation Safety Board said the British Aerospace Jetstream passenger plane went down near Fort Smith, N.W.T., which is by the Alberta boundary.

The plane had taken off from the community's airport when it lost contact and crashed near the banks of the frigid Slave River.

It was registered to Northwestern Air Lease, and the company said the aircraft had been chartered.

A judge has ruled it was unreasonable for the Liberal government to use the Emergencies Act to quell "Freedom Convoy" protests in the national capital and at key border points two years ago.

In a decision released Tuesday, Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley said invocation of the act led to the infringement of constitutional rights. 

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association and several other groups and individuals had argued in court that Ottawa ushered in the emergency measures without sound statutory grounds.

New visas for international students will be slashed by more than one-third this year as the federal government tries to slow a rapid increase in temporary residents that has put immense pressure on Canada's housing system.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced a temporary cap on new student visas at a three-day cabinet retreat in Montreal. Affordability and housing are top items on the agenda, with a growing focus on the role record immigration has been playing in both.

Canada's financial intelligence agency warns that illicit cash is being laundered through online gambling sites that provide a variety of ways to disguise shady funds.

In a newly published bulletin, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada highlights the criminal exploitation of legitimate and unlicensed digital wagering operations.

The centre, known as Fintrac, notes the popularity of online gambling grew during the COVID-19 pandemic and has been fuelled by the 2021 legalization of single-event sports betting in Canada.

Myles Sanderson had a list of grievances and was ready to kill anyone who got in his way, a coroner's inquest into a Saskatchewan mass stabbing heard Friday. 

Experts testified there was likely a reason the killer chose each of his targets. 

"His mission was to attack, injure and murder those who he had a grievance against," said Staff Sgt. Carl Sesely, an RCMP criminal profiler.

"Simple as that." 

The RCMP has eased its policy on cannabis use by members, saying simply they must be fit for duty when reporting for work. 

The new substance use policy replaces a 2018 one that required front-line officers and many other employees in "safety-sensitive" positions to refrain from recreational cannabis use for four weeks before duty.

The change, implemented earlier this month, brings the Mounties in line with many other police forces on employee pot use.

The village of Ste-Pétronille, Que., is used to receiving attention from outsiders. Tourists flock to the hamlet at the tip of picturesque Orleans Island to see its French colonial architecture and enjoy views of the Quebec City skyline across the St. Lawrence River.