A Montreal elementary school teacher has pleaded guilty to several sex-related crimes involving five young girls.Dominic Blanchette today entered guilty pleas on eight counts, including sexual interference, possession of child pornography, child luring and sexual exploitation.His crimes occurred between September 2017 and May 2022, when he was arrested.Court documents say that Blanchette, 28, who taught in the city's Montreal North borough, used his influence as a teacher and basketball coach to groom and exploit a total of five girls in grades 5 and 6.The case will return to court in July for

A senior defence official says Canadian taxpayers are on the hook when it comes to fixing at least two of the Royal Canadian Navy's new Arctic patrol vessels. Defence Department deputy minister Bill Matthews says that is because the one-year warranty on those two ships has expired. The federal government is planning to buy eight Arctic patrol vessels from Halifax-based Irving Shipbuilding, including six for the Navy and two for the Canadian Coast Guard. Three of the ships are finished, though Matthews told a parliamentary committee today that it will be up to Irving to fix the problems in the

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says three members of his party who met with a German politician from a far-right party will stay in caucus. Speaking to reporters today in Ottawa, Poilievre otherwise ducked questions about the recent meeting between Ontario MPs Leslyn Lewis, Dean Allison, Colin Carrie and Christine Anderson. Anderson visited Canada as part of a tour organized by supporters of last year's "Freedom Convoy" protests around Parliament Hill, which she publicly supported. Anderson is a member of European Parliament representing the Alternative for Germany party, which has been

The RCMP says it has opened an investigation into possible violations of the Security of Information Act concerning recent media reports about alleged foreign interference. In a statement to The Canadian Press, the national police force says the probe is not focused on any one security agency. The Globe and Mail newspaper, citing classified Canadian Security Intelligence Service records, recently said China worked to help ensure a Liberal minority victory in the 2021 general election as well as defeat Conservative politicians considered unfriendly to Beijing. A Global News report cited anonymo

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says having an Indigenous person serve as the next commissioner of the RCMP is "an excellent idea." He made the comment in response to questions from reporters in Winnipeg today about a call from some First Nations leadership for the government to ensure the next top Mountie is Indigenous. RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki is set to retire from her post this month, slightly before the end of her five-year term. She was appointed in April 2018 and led the force during a chaotic few years that included the deadliest mass shooting in modern Canadian history, along with

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly and her Chinese counterpart had a testy exchange over allegations that Beijing's envoys may be interfering in Canadian matters. Joly spoke with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang during a G20 meeting in New Delhi this week, telling him Canada will not accept China meddling in Canadian democracy. The Liberal government has been under pressure to explain what it's doing about alleged interference in the last two federal elections, which came to light in recent media stories based on leaks from security sources. Canadian officials who were there for the excha

The federal government has stopped shipping rapid COVID-19 antigen tests to provinces as millions are set to expire within the year, and experts say the once-essential tool has lost its importance in the pandemic. There are 90 million rapid tests in the federal inventory, Health Canada said in an email. About 80,000 of those are set to expire within six months and 6.5 million within the year. The rest expire within two years. “Canada has robust inventories and is well prepared for COVID response,” Anne Génier, with Health Canada, said in an email. Ottawa has ordered more than 811 million

RCMP say a six-year-old boy is in hospital after being shot by a four-year-old in Manitoba. Mounties say the children were at a home on Peguis First Nation, north of Winnipeg, and were able to get access to a gun on Monday night. Police say the younger boy fired the weapon and struck the older child. The six-year-old was taken to hospital with serious injuries but is expected to survive. RCMP seized five firearms, a cross bow and ammunition from the house. They say a man was arrested and will be facing a charge of unlawfully storing a firearm.

The Northwest Territories government says COVID-19 vaccines for children age six months to five years will be temporarily unavailable until a new shipment arrives in Canada.The territory says its current inventory of Moderna's Spikevax infant pediatric vaccine will soon expire.That vaccine will be available in the Northwest Territories until March 8.The territory says there will then be a gap of four to six weeks until a new supply is available for distribution.While Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine is also available for children in this age range, the territory says it does not have that va