Ottawa says Canada will contribute $10 million to earthquake relief efforts in Turkey and Syria as part of an initial aid package.International Development Minister Harjit Sajjan says the federal government is conducting a needs assessment for further aid and is also considering deploying the country's disaster assistance response team to help with rescue operations.The death toll of Monday's earthquake has surpassed 5,300 and is expected to rise as search and rescue operations continue.The powerful 7.8 magnitude quake, which was followed by strong aftershocks, has levelled thousands of buildi

A Boeing 737 air tanker owned by a British Columbia company has crashed in western Australia while on deployment to a fire. Coulson Aviation, based in Port Alberni on Vancouver Island, says in a statement that both pilots walked away from the accident and have been medically assessed. The statement says the company is offering all the support it can to its local and international crews and is grateful to its firefighting and aviation industry colleagues in Australia. Coulson announced last month that it had been awarded a contract to provide its Boeing 737 Flatliner, designated tanker 139,

The Law Society of Alberta has voted in favour of keeping a requirement for its members to complete a course on Indigenous history and culture. Almost 3,500 lawyers voted on the motion, which would have struck down the society's right to require such courses. Last week, 51 lawyers signed a petition calling that right into question, with some of the signatories calling the required course political indoctrination. In the end, their petition was defeated by a roughly three-to-one margin. That means lawyers will continue to have to take the course as a condition of practising law in Alberta. Brit

Opposition parties say the public deserves answers about a Chinese balloon’s incursion over Canadian territory. The federal government is offering few details about the balloon’s flight over Canada before the U.S. military revealed its presence over the western state of Montana last week. While Beijing says it was a weather research balloon that got blown off course, Ottawa and Washington are alleging that it was being used to spy on sensitive military sites. The Liberal government has confirmed it flew into Canadian airspace from Alaska before crossing back into the Western U.S., but it w

The federal government is investing more than $46 million over the next five years to explore and protect Canada's oceans. Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray says understanding of the marine environment is "relatively meagre" because oceans cover 70 percent of the Earth's surface. Speaking at a news conference at the International Marine Protected Areas Congress in Vancouver, Murray said the investment will give Canada a clearer picture of how ecosystems are changing and how resources can be managed sustainably. The funding will come from the government's $3.5-billion Ocean Protection Plan. Kate

The Crown wants the Quebec sexual assault case involving Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygaard to proceed more quickly. Nygaard's case has been adjourned for months as he faces charges in Toronto and the United States, and prosecutor Jerome Laflamme told a Quebec court judge today that the complainant wants to pursue legal action. Nygaard, 81, was first arrested in Winnipeg in 2020 under the Extradition Act following nine sexual assault-related charges in New York. He will stand trial in Toronto in September 2023 on charges of sexual assault and confinement. Nygaard will face trial in Quebec fo

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada is "ready" to provide help after powerful earthquakes hit Turkey and Syria, killing thousands of people. In a statement, Trudeau called the reports and images from Turkey and Syria "devastating" and expressed his thoughts for those affected. More than 2,600 people have been killed so far and the death toll is expected to rise as rescue workers and residents search for survivors of Monday's earthquake. It was Turkey's worst earthquake this century and came before sunrise in bitterly cold weather, followed by another magnitude 7.7 earthquake in the after

A powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake has rocked large parts of Turkey and neighboring Syria.The earthquake, which hit Turkey and parts of northwestern Syria on Monday, has so far killed more than 2,600 people and left thousands injured or homeless, hampering efforts to find survivors.There are reports of many buildings collapsing and efforts are being made to find residents trapped under the piles of rubble.Rescuers on both sides of the border continued to search on Monday and officials feared the death toll could rise.It was Turkey's worst earthquake this century and came before sunrise in bit

Like every year, Bollywood actor Arjun Kapoor remembered his late mother Mona Shourie Kapoor on her birth anniversary on Friday. He took to social media to share a letter that he wrote to his mother in 1997 which had him requesting her to always keep smiling. Mona Kapoor, the first wife of film producer Boney Kapoor, died of cancer on March 25, 2012. In the letter that Arjun penned as a kid, he wrote, “My mother is more precious than gold, more soft than a petal of flower, more enthusiastic than a teenager, more loveable than myself.” The actor added, “Oh mother! never get upset, becaus