Immigration Minister Marc Miller is increasing the number of applications that will be processed under a much-criticized program to reunite Palestinians with Canadian relatives. The move comes as he testifies about measures introduced months ago that were meant to bring relatives of Canadians from conflict zones in the Gaza Strip and Sudan to safety. The Gaza program initially had a cap of 1,000 applications that could be "accepted into processing," but Miller is now increasing that number to 5,000, each of which can include multiple family members. Palestinian Canadians have complained about

Treasury Board President Anita Anand says Ottawa is developing a new artificial intelligence strategy for government operations. She says the strategy will help make government more efficient and improve services for Canadians. The effort will include setting up a specific division to retrain existing public servants. Anand made the announcement at a meeting with experts who are convening in Gatineau, Que., to discuss developing the strategy. The federal government has already begun incorporating AI into its operations, using the technology in hundreds of different ways. These talks come as ei

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the International Court of Justice's latest ruling is in line with Canada's position on Israel's military operations in Rafah. His comments come after the United Nations' top court ordered Israel to immediately halt its military offensive in the southern Gaza Strip city, but stopped short of ordering a ceasefire for the enclave. The sharply focused decision sent a three-pronged message to Israel, ordering the country to halt the Rafah offensive, allow war crimes investigators access Gaza and immediately increase humanitarian aid into the region. Trudeau reite

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has written a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, urging him to meet the NATO spending target Canada agreed to a decade ago. All NATO allies pledged to spend at least two per cent of GDP on defence, but Canada is spending well below that at around 1.33 per cent. In a letter dated today, 23 senators say Canada is a valued ally and note its contributions, including leading a multinational battle group in Latvia. But they say the alliance is facing a severe threat landscape and they are calling on all NATO countries to uphold their commitment. Under its ne

The Ottawa police hate-crime unit has charged an unnamed older woman with assault, harassment by threatening conduct and mischief after a woman's hijab was pulled off at a recent protest. Pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian groups gathered last week outside city hall after the Israeli flag was raised to mark 76 years since that country's establishment. Police say a woman wearing a hijab was attending a lawful demonstration when someone approached and removed the headscarf "while making lewd gestures." They say they identified that person as a 74-year-old woman, but won't share her name or when she

Immigration Minister Marc Miller is expected to table legislation today that would extend citizenship to some children born outside of the country. In 2009, the Conservative government changed the law so that Canadian parents who were born abroad could not pass down their citizenship unless their child was born in Canada. Amendments to the Citizenship Act in 1977 and 2009 also stripped thousands of people who were born abroad of their Canadian citizenship. Those who've not had access to citizenship rights as a result of the amendments are known as "Lost Canadians." Last year, the Ontario Super

Interpol says more than 200 stolen Canadian vehicles have been found each week across the globe since February. The international law enforcement agency says a total of more than 1,500 vehicles have been identified thanks to the RCMP's decision earlier this year to integrate Canada's database for stolen vehicles with Interpol's. Interpol’s database, which collects information from 137 countries, indicates that so far this year Canada ranks among the world’s top 10 countries for stolen vehicles. It says thieves are attracted to Canada's abundant supply of highly prized models such as SUVs a

The Opposition Conservatives, backed by the Bloc Québécois, are calling for the House Speaker to resign over what they say is yet another display of partisan behaviour. The accusation stems from a post on the Liberal party website promoting an event involving Speaker Greg Fergus. The event details include a political attack on Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, saying his "reckless policies" would risk the health, safety and pocketbooks of Canadians. Liberal party spokesman Parker Lund says the language was auto-populated, and is standard language for events posted on their website. He bl

Four Indian nationals accused in the murder of British Columbia Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar are all due in court today. Twenty-two-year-old Amandeep Singh appeared via video link for his first appearance in a Surrey, B.C., court last week, and the matter has been put forward to today. Singh was charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder earlier this month while he was already in the custody of Peel Regional Police in Ontario for unrelated firearms charges. Karan Brar, Kamalpreet Singh and Karanpreet Singh, who already face the same charges following their arrests i