The president of the Ukrainian National Federation of Canada is defending a Second World War veteran of a Nazi unit who was recently lauded as a hero in Canada's Parliament.Jurij Klufas has not met 98-year-old Yaroslav Hunka but says the treatment the veteran is getting is unfair.He says Hunka was a soldier who understood he was fighting for Ukraine, not Germany and that countries, including Canada, have cleared his division of war crimes.Hunka received a standing ovation in the House of Commons on Sept. 22, leading to international criticism after it was revealed he had fought with a mostly v

On Friday, Statistics Canada released new GDP data, which showed that Canada's GDP was unchanged during July.The service sector expanded marginally while the goods-manufacturing industry recorded a contraction.The manufacturing sector shrank by 1.5%.Agriculture and forestry, transport and warehousing, retail and professional services also declined.Recording a boom in the mining and oil and gas sectors, it is said that the mining sector grew by 4.2% and oil and gas extraction grew by 1.5%.July GDP data was weaker than economists expected.Preliminary data showed an expansion of 0.1% during Augus

Atleast 50 people died and over 92 people were injured in bomb blasts at 2 places in Pakistan on Friday.The first blast took place in Mastung area of Balochistan province of Pakistan.Along with this, the second blast took place during Friday prayers in Hangu Mosque of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.Hangu District Police Officer Nisar Ahmed has confirmed the dead and injured.An official said the roof of the mosque collapsed due to the blast and around 30 to 40 people may have been buried under the debris.Heavy machinery has been ordered to remove them.The Chief Minister of Balochistan has announce

The premier of the Northwest Territories has announced she won't be running for re-election in November.Caroline Cochrane says representing the N.W.T. has been among the highest honours of her life.The former social worker was first elected as a member of the territory's legislature in 2015 and was voted in as premier in 2019.She became a face of the fight against unprecedented wildfires in the territory in August when Yellowknife's 20,000 residents were ordered out of the capital for three weeks due to an encroaching fire.Cochrane told a news conference at the time that she drove around the c

Central Okanagan Emergency Operations has lifted the state of local emergency in West Kelowna, B.C., more than a month after the McDougall Creek wildfire devastated the area.It says it has also rescinded all remaining evacuation orders stemming from the blaze.West Kelowna was put under the state of emergency on Aug. 16 as the 139 square kilometre McDougall Creek fire destroyed or damaged nearly 190 properties.The wildfire forced the evacuation of more than 10,000 properties and put another 10,000 homes on alert, with about 50,000 residents impacted by various orders and advisories.In a stateme

As of Jan. 1, 2024, employers performing asbestos abatement work must be licensed to operate in B.C. and anyone performing this work must be trained and certified.These new requirements were part of amendments to the Workers Compensation Act made in spring 2022.The legislative amendments also gave WorkSafeBC the authority to develop and administer the licensing and certification regime. In addition to being required to have a licence requirement, asbestos abatement employers will need to ensure their workers are appropriately trained and certified by Jan. 1, 2024.Any individual performing asbe

Health Canada has authorized Pfizer-BioNTech's updated COVID-19 vaccine for people six months and older.The mRNA vaccine targets the Omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant that is circulating in Canada.This is the second vaccine targeting XBB.1.5 that will be available in this country.Earlier this month, Health Canada authorized Moderna's updated mRNA vaccine.Both Pfizer and Moderna's shots are one-dose vaccines for people five years of age and older.Three shots of the Pfizer vaccine is recommended for children between six months and four years of age who have not received their primary series of a COVID-

The federal government is coping with apparent cyberattacks this week, as a hacker group in India claims it has sowed chaos in Ottawa.The Canadian Armed Forces says that its website became unavailable to mobile users midday Wednesday, but was fixed within a few hours.The military says the site is separate from other government sites, such as the one used by the Department of Defence, and the incident remains under investigation.Various pages on the House of Commons website are continuing to load slowly or incompletely due to an ongoing attack that officials say started Monday morning.The Commo

The University of Alberta is returning endowment funds from the family of a Ukrainian man whose military service was linked to the Nazis.Since 2019, the university's Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies has had a $30,000 endowment carrying the name Yaroslav Hunka.Hunka was introduced in the House of Commons last week during a visit from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.It was later revealed that Hunka had fought in a Ukrainian unit set up by Nazi Germany to fight the Soviet Union.The revelation forced the resignation of Anthony Rota as House Speaker and an apology on behalf of Parlia