Defence Minister Anita Anand says Canada will invest 4.9 billion dollars over the next six years to modernize North America's aging defensive systems. At a news conference at CFB Trenton, Ontario this morning, Anand said this is the most significant upgrade to Norad from a Canadian perspective in almost four decades. The funding is the first of an estimated 40 billion dollars that will be spent over the next 20 years to upgrade the early warning system. It will include plans to build new radar networks to detect threats coming over the Arctic, as well as command and control systems, and advanc

Manitoba RCMP say a 92 year old priest has been charged after a decade-long investigation into the Fort Alexander Residential School northeast of Winnipeg.Arthur Masse was charged with one count of indecent assault on a 10 year old girl.The school was opened in 1905 in the community of Fort Alexander, which later became the Sagkeeng First Nation.The school closed in 1970.Mounties have said that officers with the major crime unit began looking into the residential school in 2010 and a criminal investigation began the following year.Police have said the investigation involved reviewing archived

Federal officials say there are 168 confirmed cases of monkeypox in Canada. The Public Health Agency of Canada says 141 cases have been reported in Quebec, 21 in Ontario, four in Alberta and two in British Columbia as of Friday.Canada's chief public health officer says all infections have been in men aged 20 to 69.Dr. Theresa Tam told a news conference that many cases have been linked to sexual contact with other men, but the virus can spread to anyone who has had close physical contact with an infected person.Tam says local health authorities have indicated that the rate of growth is slowing,

Amid stubbornly hot inflation and rising interest rates, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland detailed financial commitments to ``help make life more affordable for millions of Canadians'', but the measures were all previously announced. Freeland delivered a keynote address about the state of the Canadian economy at the Empire Club of Canada in downtown Toronto on Thursday afternoon. In her speech, Freeland highlighted the federal government's ``Affordability Plan,'' which she referred to as a suite of measures totalling $8.9 billion in new support for Canadians in 2022. The measures were all i

Toronto's Black residents received an apology from the city's interim police chief today as the force released previously unseen race-based data on use of force. Toronto's interim police chief has apologized to the city's Black community as the force releases previously unseen race-based data on its use of force and strip searches. James Ramer says the force has not done enough to ensure everyone receives fair and unbiased treatment. The apology was swiftly rejected by some, including one activist who noted that Black people have called for years for police to stop treating them unfairly. Bev

Ottawa police say the RCMP is conducting an ongoing investigation into the false bomb tip that led to the arrest of two Sikh rally organizers near Parliament Hill on Saturday. Interim Ottawa police chief Steve Bell shared that information in a letter to the city's police services board Tuesday night.Bell says in light of that investigation, Ottawa police is limited in what it can share about the circumstances around Saturday's incident, but adds it will work to give as much information as possible to "ensure transparency."Bell says police are aware of the effect law enforcement's response had

The World Sikh Organization is calling for an investigation into a false tip that led to the wrongful arrest of two organizers of a Sikh rally near Parliament Hill. The organization's president says Canadian law enforcement should fully investigate and prosecute those involved. Tejinder Singh Sidhu says in a statement that the ``hoax bomb threat'' in connection to the Sikh rally on Saturday is ``deeply concerning.'' The two rally organizers say they were wrongfully arrested in connection with a bomb threat that prompted an evacuation of Parliament and the closure of surrounding streets.

Transport Minister Omar Alghabra says the Canadian government will suspend COVID-19 vaccine mandates for domestic and outbound international travellers and federally regulated workers. The new rules will come into effect on June 20, though the requirements for foreign nationals coming to Canada will not change. Intergovernmental affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc warns the government is prepared to ``bring back'' necessary policies if there's a resurgence of the virus in the fall. Travel industry groups have blamed federal public health measures and mandates for slowdowns at airport customs tha

A federal government source says Canada's much-criticized COVID Alert app will be discontinued in the coming days. The app was launched in the summer of 2020 as the pandemic began. Nearly 7 million people had downloaded it as of February 1st, but it requires users to enter a one-time key for a positive PCR test, which many provinces are no longer offering. Less than 58,000 of the keys have been used in the app. The COVID Alert App cost the government 20-million-dollars.