National News

RCMP are warning about a rise in violent extremism among Canadian youth, while Jewish leaders urge community members to be diligent about security after two teenagers were arrested on terror-related charges in the last five days.

The Mounties say five Canadian youth have been arrested in terror-related cases since June.

"The RCMP is seeing a concerning trend of violent extremism and terrorist use of the internet, including amongst young persons," the Mounties said in a statement Saturday.

Violent extremists who lack the means to carry out an attack in Canada could compensate by perpetrating hoaxes with the help of artificial intelligence, says a newly released analysis.

The May report by the federal Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre, obtained through the Access to Information Act, warns that such visual trickery, known as a deepfake, poses "a persistent threat to public safety."

Less than a year away from a historic trip around the moon, Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen says humankind's upcoming missions to further explore deep space will inspire future generations, just as NASA's Apollo expeditions sparked his passion.

Hansen will be on board Artemis II, slated to launch in November 2024, the first crewed voyage to lunar space since the final Apollo mission more than half a century ago.

An Ontario man accused of sending lethal substances to people who later took their own lives has been charged with 14 counts of second-degree murder in addition to his previous 14 charges of counselling and aiding suicide, police said Tuesday.

Police said all 28 charges against Kenneth Law relate to the same 14 alleged victims, who were between the ages of 16 and 36 and died in communities across Ontario, as far north as Thunder Bay and as far southwest as London, Ont. More than one victim was under the age of 18, they said.

The federal government unveiled some details Monday of a long-awaited plan to help uninsured Canadians afford dental care — a rollout industry professionals say they'll be watching closely for its impact on staff shortages and private coverage.

Seniors over the age of 87 will be the first cohort invited to apply to join the federally subsidized dental plan as Ottawa gradually enrols eligible participants over the course of the coming 12 months. 

Christi Friesen remembers her husband saying he knew that the cloud of depression over her was finally lifting when he saw her smile at the end of the gruelling 2016 harvest season.

That October had been brutal, with three storms dumping about 20 centimetres of snow on the couple's Peace River, Alta., grain farm. On the morning of the third snowstorm, Friesen felt the wind knocked out of her when she looked out the window to see a blanket of white covering crops she had hoped they would harvest that day.

The new federal dental insurance plan will be phased in gradually over 2024, with the first claims likely to be processed in May, government officials said ahead of a formal announcement scheduled for Monday morning. 

Applications are expected to open as early as next week, starting with qualifying seniors over the age of 87, but it will take months before they can start to claim the benefits, the officials said in a briefing provided to The Canadian Press on the condition they not be named. 

About one in nine Canadian adults have had long-term symptoms from COVID-19 infection, according to a Statistics Canada report issued Friday. 

That amounts to 3.5 million Canadians, it said. 

Almost 80 per cent of those people with long-term symptoms have them for six months or more, the report said, including 42 per cent who had them for a year or more. 

A dinosaur fossil found in the Alberta badlands has revealed new details about the diet of young meat-eating tyrannosaurs.

The research, published Friday in the journal Science Advances, is based on a well-preserved Gorgosaurus libratus specimen discovered in 2009 by a technician from the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alta.

"We describe the first tyrannosaur skeleton found with prey items preserved inside the stomach," Darla Zelenitsky, an associate professor in the department of earth, energy and environment at the University of Calgary, said in an interview.

Canada's financial intelligence agency says it anticipates that criminals will increase their use of cryptocurrency to raise, move and hide funds outside the traditional banking system.

In its latest annual report, released Monday, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada highlights its development of strategic intelligence on the role virtual assets play in money laundering and terrorist financing.