As the year’s climate-related gains and catastrophes wrap, Canada’s National Observer is reviewing the top five stories to make waves in B.C.’s coastal and island communities in 2022. First Nations, forests and fish-related news surfaced as some top issues from CNO’s Island Insider beat, and are likely to dominate headlines in the new year as […]

TAPACHULA, Mexico (AP) — When migrants arrive to the main crossing point into southern Mexico — a steamy city with no job opportunities, a place packed with foreigners eager to keep moving north — they soon learn the only way to cut through the red tape and expedite what can be a monthslong process is […]

OTTAWA — The young Russian seaman who turned up exhausted and bleeding on the British Columbia shore struck a Canadian intelligence official as well mannered, sincere and athletic, built like Tarzan of the movies. Less than two years later, defector Sergei Kourdakov would die in a California motel room — apparently by accidentally shooting himself — after […]

OTTAWA — The federal government says departments will focus on making the access-to-information system work better amid calls for fundamental changes to the transparency law. The Access to Information Act allows people to request government documents, from internal emails to expense reports for a $5 fee, but it is widely considered to be outdated and poorly administered. The law […]

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli soldiers accused of harming Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip over the last five years have been indicted in less than 1% of the hundreds of complaints against them, an Israeli rights group reported. The watchdog argued that Israel’s military systematically fails to conduct a credible prosecution of […]

“In selfishly protecting their incumbent positions with this by-law by banning outdoor election signs outdoors on private property, Brampton politicians have trampled on the rights of residents to express their political opinions in the most crucial time — during an election.” That was the stinging statement by Christine Van Geyn, the Canadian Constitution Foundation’s litigation director, who […]

OTTAWA — The RCMP confirmed Tuesday that documents sent to the Muslim Association of Canada that appeared to be internal records of the Canada Revenue Agency and the Mounties are forgeries. The Globe and Mail reported last week that the association had been sent records, which the newspaper determined to be fake, that implied both […]

JERUSALEM (AP) — Majd Ramlawi was serving coffee in Jerusalem’s Old City when a chilling text message appeared on his phone. “You have been spotted as having participated in acts of violence in the Al-Aqsa Mosque,” it read in Arabic. “We will hold you accountable.” Ramlawi, then 19, was among hundreds of people who civil […]

WINNIPEG — Nearly $700,000 was spent repairing vandalism to Winnipeg bus shelters over 15 months as city and community leaders urge more support for an unhoused population that has exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data obtained by The Canadian Press through freedom-of-information requests shows that from June 1, 2021, to Aug. 31, 2022, the estimated damage to bus […]

OTTAWA — Canadian taxpayers spent at least $1 million hosting King Charles III, who was the Prince of Wales at the time, when he visited Canada earlier this year. The RCMP provided a breakdown of the nearly $450,000 in costs it incurred for his three-day visit in May, accompanied by Queen Consort Camilla, who was then the […]

VANCOUVER — Internal RCMP documents show police saw potential for human-wolf “conflict” after the animals escaped their enclosure at the Greater Vancouver Zoo in August, while the facility announced there was no danger to the public. The zoo in Aldergrove was shut for three days from Aug. 16 as workers and conservation officers searched for […]

Msit No’kmaq, Wahkohtawin, Nindinawemaganidog — all loosely translate into the phrase “all my relations,” which is defined by a kinship between beings in the natural world and Mother Earth. It’s a phrase that asserts the symbiotic relationship between Indigenous nations and their lands. Now, as the world prepares to converge on Montreal for the United […]