A travel ban has been lifted for BC's Okanagan region as wildfires subside after this week's rain.Emergency Management Minister Bowinn Ma announced yesterday that travel restrictions for West Kelowna have been lifted from midnight.On August 9, travel restrictions were imposed in most parts of the region.Parts of West Kelowna, Westbank First Nation and parts of Lake Country are however still under evacuation orders.Travel bans for Penticton, Vernon, Kelowna and Kamloops were lifted earlier.The Emergency Operations Center has appealed that people returning home should ensure safety.The Stein Mou

British police are investigating the deaths of 88 people in the UK who bought products from Canada-based websites that allegedly contained lethal substances for self-harm.Britain's National Crime Agency said that in the last two years, 232 people in the U.K. who bought substances from websites have been identified and 88 of them have died.National Crime Agency deputy director Craig Turner said his sympathies go out to the family members of the victims.They are being assisted by specially trained officers of the police force.The investigation actually started after the arrest of a Canadian man

Singer-actor Diljit Dosanjh-starrer 'Punjab 95' based on the life of human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, faces a setback.The movie has been removed from the line-up of the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival, starting on September 7. Directed by Honey Trehan, the movie was scheduled for a world premiere in the Gala Presentations section on September 11, but the TIFF’s website has no mention of the biographical drama in its line-up anymore. There has been no official statement regarding the removal of ‘Punjab 95’, nor has anyone from the film commented on the same. Produc

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly has appointed senior public servant Natalka Cmoc as Canada's new ambassador to Ukraine.Global Affairs Canada describes Cmoc as a career expert on Ukraine who worked previously on the creation of Operation UNIFIER, the Canadian military's training and capacity-building mission in support of the Ukrainian military.The department says Cmoc also was involved in Canada's implementation of democracy programming in Ukraine and Canadian monitoring of Ukrainian elections following the 2015 presidential campaign.A Ukrainian speaker, Ms. Cmoc has deep connections to

Quebec university administrators and professors are praising the provincial government's rejection of an idea by the federal housing minister that Canada could cap the number of student visas it issues.They say that limiting the number of international students will do little to address housing shortages and would instead hurt university research and deprive Quebec of skilled immigrants.On Monday federal Housing Minister Sean Fraser suggested that capping the explosive growth in the number of international students recruited to Canada in recent years was an option to reduce demand for housing.

Canada's corporate ethics watchdog is investigating allegations that Walmart, Hugo Boss and Diesel involved forced labor in their supply chains.Sheri Meyerhoffer released three reports today that say none of the three companies have done enough to disclose that the products they are selling in Canada are free of slave labor.These are the fourth, fifth and sixth investigations announced by the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) since it began accepting complaints in March, 2021.Last month CORE announced investigations into Nike Canada and Canadian mining company Dynasty Gol

To discuss the housing crisis, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has demanded Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to start the Parliament session at the earliest.After the three-day Liberal cabinet retreat ended, Poilievre blamed Trudeau for the housing crisis, adding that the Conservative Party had more policies to balance the budget to lower mortgage interest rates.Taking a dig at Trudeau, Poilievre said that now the holidays are over and the House of Commons proceedings should resume so that Canadians can be given homes.The session is scheduled to start on September 18.According to the Canada

The Okanagan and Shuswap areas of British Columbia received heavy rainfall on Wednesday.BC Wildfire Service information officer Forrest Tower says about 20 millimeters of rain has fallen in the past day, which has helped the firefighters in fighting the blaze.Firefighters battling the McDougall Creek wildfire near Kelowna say the fire is coming under control due to last night's showers.Wildfires have wreaked havoc in BC's southern interior, forcing about 25,000 people to evacuate their homes.Tower says the Bush Creek East fire in the Shuswap area remains the state's top priority wildfire and 1

Firefighters in the Okanagan say heavy rain overnight has helped put out the wildfire.Thousands of people were forced to leave their homes due to this fire.Firefighters said 174 homes have been damaged by the blaze that has raged around Okanagan Lake since last Thursday.West Kelowna Fire Chief Jason Brolund says a total of 84 properties were damaged in West Kelowna and Westbank First Nation.North Westside Fire Rescue Chief Ross Kotscherofski says the rain helped put out the fire on the east side.In a wildfire update issued on Tuesday, West Kelowna Fire Chief Jason Brolund said more than 3,000