National News

Mounties say a regimental funeral will be held next Wednesday for British Columbia RCMP Const. Shaelyn Yang.

The 31-year-old officer was stabbed to death last week in a Metro Vancouver park while she helped a City of Burnaby employee notify a man in a tent that he wasn't allowed to live in the park.

Thirty-seven-year-old Jongwon Ham has been charged with first-degree murder in Yang's death and remains in custody. 

Mounties say the service will be held at the Richmond Olympic Oval, which has the capacity for about 8,000 spectators. 

Statistics Canada says 34.6 per cent of people in this country have no religious affiliation — more than ever before.

The last time Canadians were surveyed on religion, in 2011, 23.9 per cent selected "no religion."

The latest tranche of data from the 2021 Census also shows the highest proportion of the population — 53.3 per cent — identifies as Christian, but that is down from 67.3 per cent in 2011.

StatCan says last year's survey presents the most comprehensive portrait of Canadians' religious affiliations to date.

The latest release of 2021 census data shows immigrants make up nearly a quarter of all people in Canada, and are projected to represent a third of people in the country by 2041.

Immigration now makes up the largest portion of the population since Confederation, with more than 8.3 million people in the country who were, or had ever been, a landed immigrant or permanent resident.

Statistics Canada says immigration is the main driver of population growth, in part because of the aging population and low fertility rates in the country. 

Alberta's new cabinet will be sworn in today at a ceremony at Government House in Edmonton.

Premier Danielle Smith announced who would head the top tier of her government on Friday — a 27-member cabinet supported by 11 parliamentary secretaries.

After this morning's ceremony, Smith and her cabinet will hold a media availability with reporters.

Smith defeated six rivals earlier this month in the leadership race to replace Jason Kenney as party leader and premier, and all but one of the six have a place at Smith's cabinet table.

A former senior officer for the Ontario Provincial Police says the "Freedom Convoy" protests in Ottawa could have been ended without the federal Emergencies Act.

Former Chief Supt. Carson Pardy told the public inquiry examining the invocation of the act Friday that plans to clear the demonstrations were consistently delayed because of confusion and disorganization within the ranks of Ottawa police, and that the chief of police didn't trust his OPP team.

Pardy said emergency powers proved "critical," giving police power to tow and hold vehicles without laying charges. 

Former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney says a global recession is likely, making it challenging for Canada to avoid a similar economic downturn. 

While testifying before the Senate banking committee on Thursday, Carney said Canada may fare better than others because of mitigating factors such as the country's ties to the U.S. as well as the strong labour market recovery after the pandemic.

A senior Ontario Provincial Police officer is expected to be cross-examined this morning at the federal government's inquiry into the use of the Emergencies Act.

Supt. Craig Abrams told the commission yesterday that his officers saw dysfunction in the ranks of the Ottawa Police Service even from the early days of the protest. 

He said Ottawa police failed to come up with an operational plan and were not properly deploying OPP officers sent to Ottawa to help patrol the "Freedom Convoy" protests in February.

A study suggests lower-income and younger people may be more at risk of developing lung cancer long-term because they can't afford to remove radon gas from their homes.

The study, from a multidisciplinary team of cancer researchers at the University of Calgary and University of British Columbia, was published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports at Nature.com.

The researchers interviewed those living in nearly 3,000 households across Canada who had tested for and found radon in their homes.

The "Freedom Convoy" had gridlocked Canada's capital city for more than two weeks before the "floundering" Ottawa police force approved a detailed plan to handle it, senior police officers have told the public inquiry into the Liberal government's use of the Emergencies Act.

Patricia Ferguson, the acting deputy chief of the Ottawa police, said Thursday that the force assumed protesters would not stay longer than a weekend and relied at first on a boilerplate plan that had been used for other downtown events involving big crowds, such as Canada Day celebrations.

An RCMP officer who was fatally stabbed Tuesday in a park in Burnaby, B.C., was there to notify the occupant of a lone tent that he wasn't allowed to live there, police said Wednesday. 

Sgt. Timothy Pierotti of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team told a press conference that Const. Shaelyn Yang, 31, volunteered to work on a mental health and homeless outreach team and she was helping a city worker deliver the news to the man, he said.