The Liberal government has introduced legislation to create four new hate-related criminal offences. Justice Minister Sean Fraser says the bill will create new crimes of obstruction and intimidation aimed at protecting religious institutions. Fraser says the bill will make it a criminal offence to wilfully promote hate through the use of hate symbols. That designation would apply to two Nazi symbols — the swastika and the SS bolt — and symbols of designated terrorist entities. Fraser says the bill also would create a new category of hate crime which would be layered on top of existing offe

The Carney government is barring the Irish rap group Kneecap from entering Canada, saying the group has endorsed political violence and terrorism. Jewish groups had been asking Ottawa since June to ban the group, along with the English punk-rap duo Bob Vylan, over comments they argued served to incite antisemitism. Liberal MP Vince Gasparro, parliamentary secretary for combating crime, says Kneecap has "publicly displayed support for terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah and Hamas" that goes beyond artistic expression. His announcement, made in a video posted this morning to social media,

Filmmaker and journalist Avi Lewis is expected to officially announce his intention to run for the federal NDP leadership today. Lewis is expected to release a video later today and hold a formal campaign launch in Toronto next week, according to his campaign team. Lewis ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for the NDP in the 2021 and 2025 elections in two Vancouver-area ridings. His grandfather David Lewis was a founding member and former leader of the federal NDP, while his father Stephen Lewis led the Ontario NDP. Lewis is one of the co-authors of the Leap Manifesto, a 2015 document that outli

Prime Minister Mark Carney is appointing his principal secretary and former justice minister David Lametti as Canada's next ambassador to the United Nations. The Prime Minister's Office says Lametti will replace former Liberal leader Bob Rae, who has held the role since 2020. Lametti is the second member of former prime minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet to leave a top role in Carney's office in recent months. Carney's former chief of staff Marco Mendicino was replaced by former UN ambassador Marc-Andre Blanchard, who started working for Carney in July. The Prime Minister's Offic

Canada Post says it will be sending new offers to the Canadian Union of Postal Workers in an effort to move negotiations forward. The postal service has been in contract talks for almost two years with the union representing some 55,000 postal workers.

The RCMP say their seizure of $56 million worth of cryptocurrency from an online platform is the largest in Canadian history. The national police force says the exchange platform — TradeOgre — was used by criminal organizations to launder money. They say their operation to shut down the website is the first time a Canadian police force has dismantled a cryptocurrency exchange. Police say TradeOgre didn't require users to identify themselves and hid the source of its funds. However, they did not announce arrests in the case, saying their investigation is ongoing and that charges may result

The Conservatives have introduced a private members’ bill in the House of Commons that would make the murder of an intimate partner a first-degree crime. Conservative public safety critic Frank Caputo says the bill would treat such crimes the way the Criminal Code currently treats the murder of a peace officer. Caputo told a press conference on Parliament Hill today the bill would create a new offence of assaulting an intimate partner. He says the bill would also create a mechanism for judges to order a risk assessment of an individual charged with intimate partner violence who is on release

The B.C. government has announced a provincial extortion task force to investigate the extortion-related files that have become a concern for many areas of the province. The task force will be led by the B.C. RCMP and will consist of a total of 40 members. In addition to the RCMP, this force will include members from the Surrey Police Service, Delta Police Department, Abbotsford Police Department and Metro Vancouver Transit Police. In addition, members of the Canada Border Services Agency and the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit and members of the BC Anti-Gang Police Team will also be

The public safety minister says details on the Liberal government’s gun buyback program will be released within the next couple of weeks. Gary Anandasangaree says the government will provide information on next steps and the mechanics of the program very soon. Anandasangaree says he is confident collection facilities will be available in Ontario even though the Ontario Provincial Police has said they won’t directly participate in the program. He says other police have already signed on though he did not say which ones. During the spring federal election, the Liberals promised to implement