A group made up primarily of retired military officers and diplomats is looking for volunteers to welcome and help integrate any former Afghan interpreters and their families who end up being evacuated to Canada. Calls are growing to protect those who worked with the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan from Taliban retaliation. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters in Hamilton today that many Afghans put their lives at risk to support Canadians.Trudeau says this is something his government takes very seriously and that it is working diligently and aggressively on its plan. Some Canadian vet

Canada's deputy public health officer says almost 80 per cent of Canadians 12 and over have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Dr. Howard Njoo says over 57 per cent of Canadians are fully vaccinated with two doses. He says that number is steadily increasing, with many people intending to get vaccinated. Njoo says with fall and back-to-school approaching, it's a call to arms to get the shot and protect yourself and others.

British Columbia is expected to name the newly appointment First Nations liaisons who are supporting its residential school response. Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Minister Murray Rankin is scheduled to introduce the liaisons and provide more details on the province's 12-million-dollar residential schools response fund early this afternoon.The government has previously said the fund will support investigative work at former residential school sites and fund programs that support those experiencing trauma following the discovery of remains.Several First Nations in B-C and Saskatchewan

BRICS Members agreed to take forward India's proposals circulated in the 2021 BRICS meeting on Contact Group on Economic and Trade Issues (CGETI).The meeting of the CGETI was held from July 12-14, 2021. During the three day meeting, the BRICS Members deliberated on the following proposals circulated by India, for strengthening and increasing the intra-BRICS cooperation and trade, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement."These proposals are, BRICS Cooperation on Multilateral Trading System; BRICS framework for ensuring Consumer Protection in E-Commerce; Non-Tariff Measures res

In a major boost for the Indian Navy and Make in India, the Defence Ministry on Tuesday issued a tender expected to be worth around Rs 50,000 crores for building six conventional submarines under Project-75 India."The tender has been issued today for the construction of the six conventional diesel-electric submarines within the country. The tender has been issued to the Mazagon Dockyards Limited and Larsen and Toubro," Defence sources told ANI.The two Indian companies identified as the strategic partner would now select one partner each from the five global original equipment manufacturers inc

Over a three-day period, B.C. is reporting 156 new cases of COVID-19, for a total of 148,487 cases in the province:July 16-17: 56 new casesJuly 17-18: 60 new casesJuly 18-19: 40 new casesThere are currently 653 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, and 146,062 people who tested positive have recovered. Of the active cases, 49 individuals are currently in hospital and 12 are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation.In the last 72 hours, two new deaths have been reported in the Fraser Health and Vancouver Coastal Health regions, for an overall total of

Cooler weather cut the number of new wildfire starts over the weekend across BC, but the BC Wildfire Service says 300 blazes are still burning and 37 of them are either highly visible or a direct threat to lives and property. The wildfire service says three new wildfires have been sparked in the last two days. It says the wildfire danger remains high to extreme across most of southern BC, but rain has cut the risk to moderate, or even lower, across much of the northern half of the province. The chance of showers remains in the forecast for many northern and central regions, but Environment Ca

Flood waters remain very high in Yukon but after days of sandbagging, residents around Lake Laberge and the Southern Lakes are finally getting some positive news. Flood warnings are posted for those regions but a statement from Yukon's Emergency Measures Organization says water levels are dropping. It says levels of Bennett, Tagish and March lakes are still six to 15 centimetres above record water levels in 2007, but are dropping slowly, while the level of Lake Laberge has fallen 1.5 centimetres in the last 24 hours, and is now at 42 centimetres above 2007 levels. One property on Lake Laberge

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says rising vaccination rates and declining COVID-19 cases are allowing Canada to move forward with adjusted border measures next month. The federal government will begin letting fully vaccinated American citizens and permanent residents into Canada on August 9th, and the rest of the world starting September 7th. Trudeau says the move is in recognition of the unique bond between the US and Canada, especially between border communities. However, there's no indication yet from the White House if it will be reciprocated. The federal government will begin letting ful