The Canadian Press

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.

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.

British Columbia's port workers have voted almost 75 per cent in favour of accepting a contract offer, ending weeks of turbulent job action that stopped billions of dollars' worth of goods from being shipped.

In a statement on the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada website, president Rob Ashton says the results of the latest ratification vote came in 74.66 per cent in favour of the agreement.

Federal Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan confirmed in a tweet that both the ILWU and the BC Maritime Employers Association have ratified the deal, ending the dispute.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Grégoire Trudeau say they are separating after 18 years of marriage.

In statements posted to Instagram, both say they have made the decision after "many meaningful and difficult conversations."

The couple met as children but reconnected as adults and were married in a ceremony in Montreal in May 2005.

They have three children, 15-year-old Xavier, 14-year-old Ella-Grace and nine-year-old Hadrien.

Trudeau is the second prime minister to announce a separation while in office.

Alberta-based advocacy organization Friends of Medicare says the province needs to put a stop to a Calgary clinic planning to charge annual fees for faster access to a physician.

Friends of Medicare executive director Chris Gallaway says the province also has a responsibility to help family doctors struggling to keep their heads above water as costs of running these clinics continue to rise.

Starting next week, the Marda Loop Medical Clinic has told patients it will switch to a new care model. 

A wildfire in southeastern British Columbia that was first spotted Monday afternoon has charred three square kilometres in less than 24 hours and is threatening more than 1,000 properties, including a ski resort, west of Invermere.

The BC Wildfire Service says smoke and challenging flying conditions have prevented accurate mapping of the blaze in mountains 10 kilometres west of Invermere and seven kilometres north of Panorama Mountain Resort.

The Regional District of East Kootenay ordered evacuations late Monday for 25 properties and several recreation sites.

Mental Health Minister Carolyn Bennett says the government is putting $156 million over three years toward a new three-digit suicide-prevention hotline.

Starting on Nov. 30, people in crisis will be able to dial 988 anywhere in Canada to be connected with trained responders 24 hours a day by phone or text message.

The free service will be offered in English and French.

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health will receive the money to launch and operate the hotline.

Before the sun broke through the sky Monday morning, members of a Manitoba First Nation planned to start a critical month-long search in a good way. 

Spiritual advisers were to lead a pipe ceremony in Minegoziibe Anishinabe while a sacred fire was to be lit near where potential graves of children forced to attend residential school may be. 

The sacred fire is expected to burn for the entirety of the estimated four-week-long excavation of an area underneath the Catholic church where 14 anomalies were detected using ground-penetrating radar last year. 

A fast-moving wildfire that has prompted evacuation orders and alerts in and around the Kamloops area expanded rapidly to 18 square kilometres in size on Sunday as it moved closer to the city limits. 

The Ross Moore Lake fire, first discovered Friday afternoon, is now about 13 kilometres south of the city and more than doubled in size overnight.