More than half of English speakers live in multilingual households The proportion of people in Quebec who mainly speak French at home has continued to dwindle, according to Statistics Canada. In 2021, 85.5 per cent of Quebecers reported speaking French at home at least regularly, according to census data published by the government agency Wednesday. That compares to 87.1 per cent in 2016. Although the number of people speaking French at home has increased — rising from 6.4 million in 2016 to 6.5 million in 2021 — they now makeRead more

Diane Therrien explains why she sent out a profanity-filled tweet about a weekend protest The mayor of a small Ontario city is getting a lot of attention today — not for ducking a tough question, but for answering one in some very direct terms. Peterborough mayor Diane Therrien was called on to respond to a scene that unfolded in her city east of Toronto over the weekend. A few dozen people had gathered outside the city’s police station after a call from a QAnon conspiracy theorist who purports to be the “QueenRead more

‘History will show this was a total overreaction’ — Dean French The man who negotiated on the City of Ottawa’s behalf with Tamara Lich and other organizers of the Freedom Convoy says an agreement for truckers to leave the city’s residential streets wasn’t given enough time to play out before the federal government used its emergency powers to quell the weeks-long occupation. “This is a black mark on Canadian history,” Dean French said of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14, just a day afterRead more

‘It’s breaking us,’ says Terrace, B.C., dad as family short 2 passports after 5-month wait Canadians are getting creative trying to cut the long waits for passports that have been dragging on for close to five months after a surge in post-pandemic travel demand overwhelmed the system. By Aug. 11, a total of 1,092,560 passport applications had been filed this year – with more than 550,000 of those applications flooding in since April. Service Canada said it’s prioritizing the applications of people traveling imminently, increasing staff and processing sites. Despite allRead more

Fishing boat had nearly 9,840 litres of oil and diesel on board when it went down in Salish Sea Crews are assessing the waters off San Juan Island in the Salish Sea near Vancouver Island after a fishing boat sank and leaked fuel on Saturday. The Aleutian Isle had nearly 9,840 litres of oil and diesel on board when it went down off the west coast of San Juan Island in Washington state. Gerald Graham, a Victoria-based consultant who specializes in marine oil spill response and prevention, said the diesel fuelRead more

‘He should be proud and the whole community is proud,’ says Jim MacEachern The Cambridge Bay airport erupted in cheers, and tears, Monday as Eekeeluak Avalak entered, bearing the territory’s first ever medal — Gold — from the Canada Summer Games. “Happy to be home,” Avalak told CBC News shortly after his plane landed in the western Nunavut community. The 18-year-old wrestler, known affectionately as Eekee in the community of about 2,000, defeated Alberta’s Fred Calingay on Thursday. Avalak became only the second athlete from Nunavut to win a medal at the CanadaRead more

Police were responding to a call involving a person with a weapon A man shot by a police officer in downtown Windsor on Monday afternoon has died, police say. Windsor Police said Monday night that a 70-year-old man died in hospital after an officer shot the man they described as a suspect in the area of Wyandotte Street and Ouellette Avenue. Police said on Twitter just before 3 p.m. that they responded to a call involving a weapon. The provincial Special Investigations Unit (SIU) has taken over the investigation, as per provincial legislation.Read more

In Twitter video, LaFlamme says she is ‘shocked and saddened’ by the move Veteran news anchor Lisa LaFlamme says she was “blindsided” as Bell Media ended her contract at CTV National News after more than 30 years, a “business decision” it says will move the chief news anchor role in “a different direction.” In a subsequent news release, CTV said the decision to end LaFlamme’s contract was due to “changing viewer habits” and that national affairs correspondent Omar Sachedina, who joined the network in 2009, will take LaFlamme’s place as chief anchor. “I am honouredRead more

Campers were shocked to see missing children at South Dakota biker rally The two children at the centre of Monday’s Amber Alert issued in Saskatchewan remain safe with authorities in South Dakota, but more details are coming out about their journey, including how they, their mother and her common-law partner got across the border. Their mother and her common-law partner, Benjamin Martin Moore, a convicted sex offender, were arrested in South Dakota on Tuesday at about 11:30 p.m. MT, according to Meade County Sheriff Ron Merwin. Saskatchewan RCMP confirmed on Friday that bothRead more

The Halifax-based gopher tortoise is the oldest of his kind on record Nova Scotia’s most beloved reptile is now 100 — or close enough for a party. Gus the gopher tortoise has been in residence at the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History in Halifax since 1942. While his actual hatching day is lost to history, August seems like the right time to celebrate. “So it’s an average time, mid-August, for when tortoises start to hatch from their eggs,” said Liz Spence, one of the museum’s curatorial staff who takes care ofRead more