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

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

Some politicians and researchers say four flying objects that were discovered, tracked and shot down over U.S. and Canadian airspace in recent weeks highlight the need to improve security in Canada's Arctic."It should be a wake-up call for Canadians in general of the woefully inadequate capacity we have in the North in terms of our military capacity," said Opposition Yukon Party Leader Currie Dixon."The fact that we rely on the American military to a huge degree is simply a fact of life in the North and that's something I don't think a lot of other Canadians would find acceptable."A high-altit

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly has ended a two-day visit to Ukraine where she met with senior officials to assess Canada's response to Russia's invasion.Ottawa tried to keep the visit under wraps for security reasons, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a video Tuesday of his meeting with Joly.Joly met with her Ukrainian counterpart, as well as the country's prime minister, top prosecutor and internal affairs minister to discuss Canada's military support and attempts to bring Russia to international tribunals for war crimes.She also spoke with Ukraine's first lady Olena

The head of NATO is raising the prospect of hard targets for military spending which could put more pressure on Canada to invest billions more on defence.NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg today urged the military alliance's 30 members to recommit to spending at least two per cent of their GDP on defence.He said they should set firm requirements and timelines for meeting the target, unlike when it was first set in 2014.Canada has long lagged most of its allies on spending as a share of GDP, and refused to fully commit to the target.Successive Canadian governments have instead insisted tha

StatCan numbers reveal the percentage of permanent residents who become Canadians has plummeted over the past 20 years.The Institute for Canadian Citizenship says Statistics Canada data points to a 40 per cent decline in citizenship uptake since 2001.The group's CEO, Daniel Bernhard, calls the drop alarming and says it should serve as a "wake up call" to improving the experience newcomers have in Canada.In 2021, nearly 45.7 per cent of permanent residents who'd been in Canada for less than 10 years became citizens.That's down from 60 per cent in 2016, and 75.1 per cent in 2001.The StatCan data

The federal government says it is tightening its policy on bankrolling research with foreign entities that might pose a risk to national security.The government says "a sensitive research area" will not be funded if a person on the project is affiliated with a university, research institute or laboratory connected to military, national defence or state security entities of foreign powers considered to be a risk.In a statement late Tuesday, Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne and Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said the new policy applies to the Canada Foundation for Innovation an

A day after Quebec confirmed that asylum seekers who cross the border irregularly are being sent to other provinces, Premier François Legault called on the prime minister to discourage migrants from coming to Canada.Legault told reporters he thinks many people are claiming asylum in Canada because of a 2017 Trudeau tweet saying the country would welcome people fleeing persecution.The premier, who has maintained the province doesn't have the capacity to welcome more people, says Trudeau should post a new tweet telling migrants not to come.Quebec's immigration minister said Tuesday that only ei

A gunman has killed three people and wounded five at Michigan State University. The shooting set off an hours long manhunt as frightened students hid in classrooms and cars.Police said early Tuesday that the shooter eventually killed himself.Officials do not know why the 43-year-old man targeted the campus.He was not a student or employee and had no affiliation with the university.The shooting began Monday night at an academic building and moved to the nearby student union.Students hid where they could as hundreds of officers scoured the East Lansing campus.Police announced the man's death fou