Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller says communication has been challenging, but he thinks government ministers are closer to getting a meeting with Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs in British Columbia. That's as more rail blockades are springing up in Quebec and Ontario. Miller says the government is still working to find an agreement on the chiefs' demands that the RCMP leave their territory. On their way in and out of a cabinet meeting today, Miller and several other cabinet ministers maintained the position that rail blockades must come to an end.

Canada's top health official has released the final 195 Canadians and their families who were brought home from Wuhan, China after two weeks of observation for the novel coronavirus.All the Wuhan evacuees were quarantined at Canadian Forces Base Trenton for 14 days the presumed incubation period of the virus to be isolated and observed for signs of the disease now called COVID-19.A group of 219 evacuees were allowed to leave the base last week after passing a final round of health screening.Chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam says none of the evacuees from Wuhan showed any signs of the

Thousands of commuters couldn't board their usual trains into Toronto this morning because of a blockade near Hamilton.GO Train service has been stopped since last evening by more than a dozen people from a group called Wet'suwet'en Strong: Hamilton in Solidarity.The group posted a message on Facebook reading -- ``It's a new day, and we started it by burning the injunction delivered by CN rail!''Yesterday morning, police moved in on a blockade on a rail line on Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory near Belleville, Ontario that was also in support of hereditary chiefs from BC's Wet'suwet'en First Nation

Federal cabinet ministers are defending the removal of protesters from a rail blockade near Belleville, Ontario. Transport Minister Marc Garneau says the police action will not affect the Trudeau government's commitment to reconciliation with First Nations people. Ontario Provincial Police moved in this morning to remove Indigenous protesters blocking the main rail line between Toronto and Montreal.

The federal carbon tax has been struck down as unconstitutional by Alberta's Appeal Court, which says legislation that brought in the tax erodes provincial jurisdiction. The Alberta government challenged the tax, arguing climate change isn't a national issue requiring overriding federal intervention. The federal government countered by saying climate change is a national and global concern that can't be left to each of the provinces alone. Today's 4-1 decision is the first to side with a province against the federal government after courts in Saskatchewan and Ontario upheld the federal levy l

Ontario Provincial Police have moved to clear an indigenous rail blockade in Ontario that has crippled freight and passenger rail traffic in most of eastern Canada for nearly three weeks. Ontario Provincial Police on Monday arrested some protesters on Tyendinaga Mohawk territory near Belleville, Ontario, east of Toronto. Demonstrators have set up blockades in British Columbia, Ontario, Alberta and Quebec in solidarity with opponents of the Coastal GasLink pipeline project that crosses the traditional territory of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation in northwestern British Columbia. Hereditary chief

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says it's been two weeks and now it's time for the barricades on rail lines and other major transportation routes to come down. He says in a democracy, people have a right to have their say but the situation is "unacceptable and untenable." The blockades, particularly one on a critical east-west rail line in Ontario, are responses by Indigenous people and supporters of the hereditary chiefs of the Wet'suwet'en Nation who oppose a major natural-gas pipeline project.

Canadian passengers who spent weeks stuck in their cabins aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship have arrived in Cornwall, Ontario. They were flown out of Japan overnight, then bused to a NAV Canada centre, where they will spend an additional quarantine period. Forty-seven Canadians are still in Japan receiving treatment for the new coronavirus.Also today, the Canadian evacuees from Wuhan, China are being released from quarantine at CFB Trenton, Ontario.Health Minister Patty Hajdu (HY'-doo) says the government is helping them with their travel plans.

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland says she wants to make Canada's trade negotiations more "transparent," by agreeing to proposals from the New Democrats to provide more details of future deals. Freeland offers that view in a Wednesday letter to the New Democrats, a promise that secured the party's support for a speedier ratification of the new North American trade deal, which is still before Parliament. In the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Canadian Press, Freeland makes clear she is agreeing to the NDP proposals to get support for ratifying the new continental trade agreem