The federal Liberal government has yet to respond to a months-old invitation from Tokyo to have Canada rejoin a global environmental organization that regulates the timber trade.A July 2022 briefing note obtained through an access-to-information request shows that Japan has asked Ottawa to be part of the International Tropical Timber Organization.The group works with producer and consumer countries to share knowledge about conservation practices and to promote the sale of sustainable timber.The organization currently includes 37 exporters of timber and 38 countries that import it, including al

New research using advanced technology suggests heavy oil facilities in Alberta and Saskatchewan are releasing almost four times the amount of a powerful greenhouse gas than they report to government.The research, published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, pioneers new methods of measuring methane emissions that question current industry practice, said author Matthew Johnson, an engineering professor at Carleton University in Ottawa."A lot of these (reports) are done on estimates," said Johnson. "Clearly, they're not very accurate."Methane is a gas emitted as a byproduct of

Ukraine wants Canada to lend its expertise and donate crucial railway parts to keep its embattled passenger and cargo rail system running as landmines and missile strikes threaten to stall the country's lifeline.The rail system is vital to the war effort, and has been since the first days of the invasion that began one year ago this week.Millions of people used trains to escape occupied cities and flee to neighbouring countries.Thousands of wounded soldiers and civilians were also transported by rail to hospitals in safer parts of the country.The railway is also how Ukraine moves aid and soldi

Justice Paul Rouleau, the head of the public inquiry that examined the federal Liberal government's decision to invoke the Emergencies Act in February 2022, concluded in his final report the choice was justified.Here is what he wrote: "It is regrettable that such a situation arose here, because in my view, it could have been avoided. As I have explained in this report, the response to the 'Freedom Convoy' involved a series of policing failures. Some of the missteps may have been small, but others were significant, and taken together, they contributed to a situation that spun out of control. La

Two people have died and one was hurt in an avalanche in the Purcell Mountains in southeastern British Columbia.Avalanche Canada says a group of five snowboarders and one skier were caught in the slide on Thursday in an area known as Terminator 2.5 outside of a ski area boundary near the town of Golden.It says the avalanche was triggered by the group and three people were buried in the snow, one partly and two completely.Avalanche Canada says the two buried victims did not survive and the one person partly buried was rescued with injuries.It says a second group of snowboarders that was lower o

The deputy commander of Norad says a suspected Chinese spy balloon passed through "radar gaps" during its flight over Canada.Lt.-Gen. Alain Pelletier says that it affected the military's ability to track its flight path as it flew over central British Columbia.Pelletier and Maj.-Gen. Paul Prevost of the Canadian Armed Forces strategic joint staff are appearing before a parliamentary committee this morning.The two say the Chinese balloon passed near several Canadian military bases during its journey through Canada on January 30-31.But they say the balloon did not pass over anything of particula

The man charged with killing two young children when the bus he was driving slammed into a daycare in Laval has been ordered by a judge to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.Pierre Ny St-Amand's lawyer requested the evaluation today, saying he has reason to question whether his client is mentally fit to stand trial.St-Amand appeared to be struggling to walk and had to be supported by two corrections officers as he made his way to the courtroom in Laval, a suburb north of Montreal.The 51-year-old driver with the Laval transit corporation was arrested last week after a bus crashed into the front o

President Joe Biden says the three unknown flying objects he ordered shot down over the U.S. and Canada earlier this month were likely no danger to national security.Biden says the objects were downed expressly because they did pose a potential risk to commercial air traffic.Biden, who spoke out after members of Congress had urged him to do so, says the U.S. and Canada worked closely together to monitor the objects before acting out of an abundance of caution.He says there's nothing to suggest they were surveillance devices, and were more likely linked to private research or recreational activ

New legislation introduced in the House of Commons today would make it easier and faster for people who may have been wrongfully convicted to have their cases reviewed.The bill is dubbed "David and Joyce Milgaard’s Law," named for the man who was released in 1980 after being wrongfully imprisoned for 23 years, and his mother who fought relentlessly to free him.The government says it is rare for miscarriages of justice to occur but a formal process to review such cases is needed.The bill would establish an independent commission to review, investigate and decide which criminal cases should be