Canada and the United States are eyeing the sky with suspicion these days, as well as the shared continental defence system that's supposed to be watching it for them.The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or Norad, appeared to lose track of the mysterious object that was eventually shot down Sunday over Lake Huron.Jamil Jaffer, executive director of the National Security Institute at George Mason University in Virginia, says that's just one example of why Norad needs an overhaul.Jaffer says it's unclear if the challenges posed by the recent flurry of overhead encounters represent a lac

A cross-section of MPs say Ottawa should cost-match donations to more organizations who are responding to devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.Officials from Global Affairs are testifying to the House of Commons foreign affairs committee about Canada's response to the massive earthquake and hundreds of aftershocks that have killed more than 35,000 people.The federal government has offered to match up to $10 million in donations to the Canadian Red Cross for their partners on the ground to help people who are suddenly homeless.The officials say they are simply following a 2016 declaratio

An "anomaly" that military officials were tracking through the weekend before fighter jets downed an unknown object over the Great Lakes was first detected in Canadian airspace.Norad commander Gen. Glen VanHerck says radar first picked up the object on Saturday at about 4:45 p.m. EST, about 110 kilometres north of the Canada-U.S. border.VanHerck says it crossed into U.S. airspace over Montana about an hour later, but fighter jets were unable to locate it, which is why it was deemed an anomaly.Radar newly detected an object approaching Wisconsin that night, and President Joe Biden ordered it sh

Russia's ambassador in Ottawa says Canada is a "very dangerous country" for Russians to visit.Oleg Stepanov says Canada keeps sanctioning people and claimed that Russians are regularly experiencing racism.In a Russian-language interview last Friday, Stepanov said, "I would not recommend (visiting Canada) for tourism, education or business."However, he added that most Canadians treat Russians well, and Moscow's travel advisory for Canada only warns of street gangs and a "rather harsh climate."Stepanov says relations between Ottawa and Moscow are in a deep freeze and claimed that Russia has been

A search and rescue team from British Columbia has taken part in the successful rescue of a woman from earthquake rubble in Turkey, more than four days after the tremor hit.Footage by the CBC showed members of the Burnaby Urban Search and Rescue team being thanked and embraced by Turkish colleagues on the scene, moments after the dust-covered woman was taken to an ambulance in the town of Adiyaman.The volunteer Canadian team had earlier shared photos on social media showing them at work in Adiyaman, where Turkey's consul general in Vancouver said they had been deployed early Thursday.The Burna

The federal government is appealing a judge's declaration that four Canadian men being held in Syrian camps are entitled to Ottawa's help to return home.In a filing today in the Federal Court of Appeal, the government asks that a ruling last month by Federal Court Justice Henry Brown be set aside and be placed on hold while the appeal plays out.In his ruling, Brown directed Ottawa to request repatriation of the men as soon as reasonably possible and provide them with passports or emergency travel documents.Brown said the men are also entitled to have a representative of the federal government

A Toronto woman says she's devastated after seven members of her family were killed in the massive earthquake that hit parts of Syria and Turkey earlier this week.Aya Hammoud, who came to Canada as a refugee in 2017, says her grandfather, his wife, her four cousins and their mother died when the quake destroyed their apartment building in the Syrian city of Harem, near the country's border with Turkey.Hammoud, 24, says rescue teams have recovered the bodies of her grandfather and his wife, but the bodies of her cousins, who were all under the age of 13, and their mother remain under the rubble

Immigration Minister Sean Fraser says Canada may fast-track applications to come to Canada from people in the earthquake zones of Turkey and Syria.Two major earthquakes rocked southwestern Turkey and northwestern Syria in a matter of hours on Monday, destroying thousands of buildings.The confirmed death toll keeps rising, with more than 19,000 people killed and at least another 64,000 injured.Tens of thousands more are homeless in the middle of winter and struggling to access food, water and shelter.Fraser says his department is trying to understand the effect on applicants already in Canada's

Humanitarian groups that have been supporting Ukrainian refugees are calling on Ottawa to extend a special immigration program that allows people fleeing Ukraine to temporarily live, work and study in Canada.The program provides Ukrainians and their families with a visa to stay in Canada for up to three years while they figure out their next steps, but applications are due to close on March 31.As of Jan. 29, more than 150,000 Ukrainians have arrived in Canada since the Russian invasion of their country last year.Four organizations that represent Canadian volunteers, hosts and sponsors have wri