Hereditary chiefs of the Wet'suwet'en are scheduled to meet for a second day with senior federal and provincial ministers today as they try to break an impasse in a pipeline dispute that's sparked national protests and led to disruptions in the economy. Federal Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett and British Columbia Indigenous Relations Minister Scott Fraser began the long-sought talks Thursday afternoon. They wrapped up after about three hours with Fraser saying the talks were productive and the mood in the room was respectful. Bennett said it was a "very good start." Heredi

Search and rescue team members say they have been called to take part in a search for a woman missing from her home in New Westminster, east of Vancouver. The team, from Coquitlam, says in a social media post that members have been asked to assist the New Westminster Police Department in the search for Nirla Sharma. Police say the 44-year-old was last seen on Sunday as she went to bed and is believed to have left her home Monday when a family member heard the front door chime at about 4 a.m. New Westminster's major crime unit is now involved in the case and Sgt. Jeff Scott says anyone with das

A meeting between Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs and the federal and British Columbia government is expected to take place today.Nationwide rail and road blockades have been popping up for weeks as a show of support for the hereditary chiefs of the First Nation in northwestern B.C., who oppose a natural gas pipeline project cutting across their traditional territory.Chief Na'Moks, who is also known as John Ridsdale, says the meeting scheduled to start this afternoon and continue Friday.It was abruptly cancelled Wednesday afternoon, but Na'Moks says he and the other hereditary chiefs were notif

Medical officials in Ontario are reporting a fifth case of the novel coronavirus in the province.The Ministry of Health says the latest case is a woman in her 60s who had recently travelled to Iran.They say the woman arrived at a Toronto hospital on Monday and has since been discharged to her home where she is in self-isolation.The ministry says Toronto Public Health is following up with the patient and looking into people she had close contact with.This is the 12th case of COVID-19 in Canada, but public health officials say the risk of the virus spreading in this country is still low.The viru

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

A seventh case of the novel coronavirus has been diagnosed in British Columbia. Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says a man in his 40s who is a close contact of the sixth case in the province has been diagnosed with COVID-19. The sixth case involves a woman in her 30s whose diagnosis was confirmed last week after returning from Iran. The man had symptoms of the illness before the woman's diagnosis and Henry says officials have been working with the Fraser Health Authority to identify anyone he came into contact with before going into isolation last week. Henry says the man's conditio

COVID-19 is taking aim at a broadening swath of the globe, with officials in Europe and the Middle East now scrambling to limit it. Despite showing signs of stabilizing in China, where fewer new infections are being reported, worries are growing elsewhere. In Italy, authorities have set up roadblocks, called off soccer matches and shuttered sites including the famed La Scala opera house. In Iran, a report of dozens of deaths in a single city emerged as infections were reported to have spread for the first time to Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain and Afghanistan. The leader of the World Health Organizati

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