National News

British Columbia's premier issued a direct plea to the head of Meta on Monday as he implored the social media giant to reinstate access to Canadian news on its platforms amid the province's ongoing wildfire crisis.

David Eby said it feels as though the social media giant is holding the province "ransom" in its ongoing spat with the federal government while it continues to ban news sharing on its Facebook and Instagram platforms.

The Law Society of Manitoba has barred two Alberta lawyers from practising in the province and ordered them to pay $5,000 after receiving complaints they hired a private investigator to surveil a judge who was hearing a case involving COVID-19 public health orders.

John Carpay, president of the Calgary-based Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, and Randal Jay Cameron faced charges from the independent regulator, including undermining public respect for the administration of justice and breach of integrity.

Canada's Heritage Minister is calling on Meta to allow people to share news articles on Facebook and Instagram as thousands flee wildfires that have devoured homes in British Columbia and the Northwest Territories.

Pascale St-Onge says Meta's decision to continue blocking Canadian news articles on its two massive platforms is "reckless."

In a Friday post to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, she said those threatened by the out-of-control fires need more access to news about what's happening.

The wildfire battle in British Columbia continues today, focusing on the central Okanagan, where flames tore through West Kelowna suburbs and forced the evacuation of neighbouring Kelowna's University of B.C. campus.

The fire fight in the Interior is the epicentre for a battle against hundreds of fires across B.C. that have prompted the declaration of a provincewide state of emergency and forced the evacuation of about 15,000 people.

A state of emergency has been declared in the City of Kelowna, B.C., and thousands more West Kelowna residents have been ordered to leave their homes in the face of a fast-burning wildfire.

The "very active and unpredictable" McDougall Creek wildfire has now destroyed structures and put more than 2,400 West Kelowna properties under evacuation order, up from about 800 Thursday afternoon, after a frightening night that saw hills surrounding the Okanagan community ablaze.

The alarm bells are becoming bull horns: Canada's housing supply isn't keeping up with the rapid rate of population growth.

Academics, commercial banks and policy thinkers have all been warning the federal government that the pace of population growth, facilitated by immigration, is making the housing crisis worse.

It's now been more than six months since Canada has had a federal ethics watchdog. 

Mario Dion retired in February after serving as the last permanent ethics and conflict-of-interest commissioner. 

A longtime staffer in that office, Martine Richard, took on an interim role in April — but she resigned within weeks amid controversy around the fact she is the sister-in-law of Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc.

Investigations that would normally be conducted by a commissioner are on pause until a permanent replacement is found.

Members of the military now have the option to bypass the Canadian Armed Forces grievance process and taking complaints of sexual misconduct, harassment or discrimination to a third party.

The military announced today that the independent Canadian Human Rights Commission will hear new and existing complaints.

Former Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour recommended the change in her May 2022 report on sexual misconduct and toxic culture in the Armed Forces.

Donald Trump's defiant march deeper into infamy barely broke stride Tuesday after a grand jury in Georgia finally handed up another long-awaited indictment of the former president — his fourth in five months. 

"Communism has finally reached America's shores," Trump's campaign, seemingly buoyed by his mounting legal woes, declared in a fundraising missive that accused "rogue prosecutors" of "criminalizing dissent." 

An unusually high number of great white sharks found dead on Canadian beaches over the past year is a sign the population is growing, says a shark biologist.

Four great white sharks were found washed up along beaches in Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in the past 12 months, said John Chisholm from the New England Aquarium, in Boston, Mass. That number is higher than previous years, he said in an interview Thursday.

"The other part of this is how many go unreported as well," he said.