Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press

A maple tree, a red dress and a ceremonial sword may seem like cold comfort for Canadians hoping to hear their head of state defend them against U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated pitches to annex their country.

But royal watchers say King Charles is showing subtle support for Canada in the only way he can, given his politically neutral role.

The Royal Canadian Legion branch in Montreal’s Verdun borough meets once a week in a community centre space it rents by the hour, less than 500 metres from the elegant brick building it sold over a decade ago when maintenance costs got too high. 

After years of rising rents, a forced move and general instability, its members are happy to have somewhere to meet. But president Darlene Harrison says one question keeps coming back: “When are we going to have our own home again?”

Among the millions glued to their TV sets Tuesday night watching U.S. election results will be a group of people in Montreal with a particular connection to Democratic candidate Kamala Harris — her high school classmates. 

Kamala Harris lived in Canada

Long before she became an American vice-president and presidential candidate, Harris spent several years in Montreal and attended Westmount High School from 1978 to 1981.

While she doesn't talk much about that time, one of her former classmates believes her high school years helped shaped who she would become. 

Maureen Anderson lost both her sons to their overseas service in the Canadian Army, even if they died years later and a continent away from the hot dust and violence of the Afghanistan war.

Growing up, Ron Anderson was more serious, “a little fighter,” his mother recalls. His younger brother Ryan was quieter, softer. Both joined the military before they finished high school, already certain of what their career paths would be.

“My boys were very kind to me, and I miss them terribly,” Anderson said in an interview this week from her home in Oromocto, N.B. 

Stéphan Perreault and his team have been helping restore power in North Carolina since Hurricane Helene hit in late September, and they don't expect to be heading home any time soon.

They are some of the hundreds — possibly thousands — of Canadian line workers who have been called into service to help rebuild power grids after Helene and now Hurricane Milton have left millions of Americans in the dark.

Family members of patients allegedly brainwashed decades ago at a Montreal psychiatric hospital are afraid they're running out of time to get compensation because the federal government and the McGill University Health Centre have filed motions to dismiss their lawsuit.

Glenn Landry's mother, Catherine Elizabeth Harter, was among the hundreds of people to receive experimental treatments under the MK-ULTRA program, funded by the Canadian government and the CIA between the 1940s and 1960s at Montreal's Allan Memorial Institute, which was affiliated with McGill University.

U.S. President Joe Biden is stepping aside as the Democratic candidate in that country's November election and throwing his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris -- a Montreal-area high school graduate who spent several years in the city.

Here's what to know about her Canadian connections. 

Before she became America's first female, first Black, and first South Asian vice president-elect, Harris spent several years in Montreal, where she attended Westmount High School from 1978 to 1981.

Just over one year after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, a new poll suggests a growing number of Canadians believe it’s time to reconsider the country’s ties to the monarchy.

Data released Wednesday by Leger indicates that 63 per cent of respondents said it was time to rethink ties — a seven point increase from March. About 81 per cent of respondents said they didn’t feel attached to the monarchy, compared to 14 per cent who said they did, results similar to six months ago.

Harvey Satewas Gabriel still remembers the first time he heard a preacher read Bible passages in the Mohawk language back in the 1950s. He watched the United Church minister open the book and translate the Scripture into Mohawk straight off the page as he read, the words sounding like “honey” to the then-17-year-old from Kanesatake, Que.

Gabriel went home and asked his mother why there was no Mohawk Bible. She said, "That’s a big project, who’s going to translate that?" he recalls.

Eighteen-year-old Hunter Sousa from Maine celebrated his high school graduation by hopping in a truck and heading to Nova Scotia to fight the biggest forest fire in the province's history.

Sousa works for the Maine forest service as an on-call firefighter, but had never before fought a fire. The call from his superior came on a Thursday.