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Patrice Runner, 57, of Canada was convicted in June of multiple counts of defrauding ‘millions of older and vulnerable Americans’A Canadian conman, who swindled more than US$175m (C$241m) from his North American victims through “a massive psychic mass-mailing fraud scheme” has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.Patrice Runner, 57, who holds citizenship with both Canada and France, was convicted by a jury in...

Nearly half a million hectares of Crown land on Haida Gwaii will be returned to Indigenous people in first-of-its-kind agreementFor centuries, the Haida people have known that the impenetrable forests and bountiful waters of Xhaaidlagha Gwaayaai – “the islands at the boundary of the world” – were both a life-giving force and their rightful home.Now, after decades of negotiation, the province of British Columbia...

Prime minister testified at inquiry into foreign interference that agency’s report of China meddling wasn’t relayed to himCanada’s spy agency is under pressure after Justin Trudeau and his closest advisers say they were never made aware of a report that Beijing “clandestinely and deceptively” interfered in both the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.Canada is in the midst of a contentious public inquiry “examining and...

Worst-ever fire season in 2023 saw 15m hectare burned, eight firefighters killed and 230,000 people evacuatedCanada risks another “catastrophic” wildfire season, the federal government has warned, forecasting higher-than-normal spring and summer temperatures across much of the country, boosted by El Niño weather conditions.Last year, Canada endured its worst-ever fire season, with more than 6,600 blazes burning 15m hectares (37m acres), an area roughly seven...

Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon speaking loudly and often after party win over Coalition Avenir QuébecQuebec separation is back among the living.Years after many considered it dead, the prospect of removing Canada’s second-most populous province from the federation has re-entered the political debate. And though Quebecers aren’t exactly marching in the streets in its support as they once did, they are certainly taking...

This live blog is now closed. You can read our latest stories on the total eclipse below:If you missed today’s total solar eclipse just wait … until 2044Millions across US, Mexico and Canada witness rare total solar eclipseFirst contact is when the moon’s outer edge first appears to touch the sun, creating the beginnings of a partial eclipse and a crescent sun reducing in...

Almost 32 million people in the path of totality as moon’s shadow crossed the Mexico-Texas border and then traversed 15 statesIf you missed the total solar eclipse just wait … until 2044Total solar eclipse over Mexico, US and Canada – in picturesThe ethereal spectacle of a total solar eclipse swept across North America on Monday afternoon, giving tens millions of people in Mexico, the...

‘If the United States threatened to suspend aid, maybe my son would be alive today,’ John Flickinger told the US secretary of stateWhen the US’s top diplomat called with condolences over the killing of John Flickinger’s son in the Israeli airstrikes on a World Central Kitchen aid convoy in Gaza, Flickinger knew what he wanted to say.The grieving father told Antony Blinken, the US...

Rare celestial event on Monday will see the moon block out the sun for a few minutes and day turn to night, with fans hoping the clouds don’t spoil the viewAcross the US, Mexico and Canada, people have rushed to stake out spots to witness a rare total solar eclipse, while forecasts for cloudy skies worry some hopeful spectators.The phenomenon happens when the moon...

CSIS intelligence report suggests growing number of countries targeting country’s large diaspora populationsCanada’s spy agency has declared that the governments of India and Pakistan probably attempted to meddle in its elections.As a closely watched public inquiry investigates the scope of foreign interference, on Thursday night the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) released a report suggesting a growing number of countries see Canada – and...

Justin Trudeau says allegations ‘extremely troubling’ after officers arrested First Nations men and confiscated their boots and phonesTwo First Nations fishermen have said they were forced to walk shoeless for hours in the dark and cold after Canadian federal officers seized their boots and phones.The prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said the allegations were “extremely troubling” amid mounting anger over the treatment of the Mi’kmaw...

Total solar eclipse on 8 April will be first to touch province since 1979, and Niagara Falls is declared one of the best places to viewThe region of Canada surrounding the city that contains a side of – and shares a name with – Niagara Falls has declared a state of emergency as it prepares to welcome up to a million visitors for the...

‘Momentous change’ will permit lawmakers in Canadian province to address chamber in ‘first languages’Lawmakers in Ontario will now be able to address the province’s legislature using Indigenous languages, in a “momentous change” that belatedly recognizes the “first languages” of the region.The Ontario government house leader, Paul Calandra, this week moved to amend a standing order that previously required lawmakers to use either English or...

District education authorities launch multibillion-dollar lawsuit against Meta, Snap Inc and ByteDanceFour of Canada’s largest school boards have launched a multibillion-dollar lawsuit against the social media companies Meta, Snap Inc and ByteDance, accusing them of acting in a “high-handed, reckless, malicious, and reprehensible manner” with products the boards claim harm student learning and “rewire” how children think.The four district boards – Ottawa-Carleton, Toronto, Peel...

Police initially said they did not have resources to search for women believed to have been murdered by an alleged serial killerCanada has pledged tens of millions of dollars to search landfill for the remains of two Indigenous women believed to have been murdered by an alleged serial killer, but experts and community groups have warned that the figure still may not be enough...

Residents and marine officials in British Columbia hope a changing tide will save her orphaned calfA killer whale stranded off Canada’s west coast has died despite efforts to rescue her, but residents and marine officials hope a changing tide will save her orphaned calf.On Saturday, members of the Ehattisaht First Nation, a coastal community along the north-western reaches of Vancouver Island, spotted an orca...

Man says he ended up in ‘a crazy situation’ after he began taking in cats abandoned during Covid pandemicAn animal welfare charity in western Canada is scrambling to secure the resources needed to care for about 300 cats – all of them seemingly in good condition – after a call came in from a man who described himself as being “overwhelmed” by the sheer...

Several McGill University students have spent more than three weeks demanding school divest $20m from various companiesA group of students at McGill University have spent more than three weeks on hunger strike in an effort to force the Canadian college to divest from “companies supporting the Israeli military”.The move follows months of protests and sit-ins at McGill and at universities around the world, as...

Year of devastating wildfires meant Canadians were breathing worse air than southern neighbours for first time everCanada’s pristine air quality has been long praised by its citizens and prized by its government. But the thick plumes of smoke and miles of haze released by a record-breaking season of wildfires deteriorated the country’s air so much that it has fallen behind the United States for...

Industry minister says review of popular video app that is planning to expand in country has been ongoing since September 2023Canada is conducting a national security review of Chinese-owned TikTok’s proposed expansion of the popular video app in the country, the industry minister, François-Philippe Champagne, said on Friday.In a teleconference from Italy after meeting with his G7 counterparts, Champagne said the review under the...

Discovery was made after First Nations tipped off ecologists about groups of fish gathering in a fjord off British ColumbiaDeep in the hostile waters off Canada’s west coast, in a narrow channel surrounded by fjords, lies a coral reef that scientists believe “shouldn’t exist”. The reef is the northernmost ever discovered in the Pacific Ocean and offers researchers a new glimpse into the resilience...

CBC aired an investigation into the death of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, whose killing the Canadian government suspects India was behindIndia has ordered prominent video-sharing platforms to block access to a new Canadian documentary probing the assassination of a prominent Sikh activist in Vancouver, in a move that highlights India’s mounting frustration with the allegations its government was behind the high-profile killing.The request marks the...

Father calls on judge to block medically assisted death in case that highlights limits on family members’ ability to interveneA Canadian man has called on a judge to block his 27-year-old daughter’s medically assisted death, arguing she lacks the ability to fully consent to the procedure in a case that highlights the limits on family members’ ability to intervene when a person has decided...

Monument has long been a source of tension between Canada’s Ukrainian diaspora and Jewish and Polish communitiesA controversial memorial to Ukrainian soldiers who served in a Nazi unit during the second world war has been removed from a Canadian cemetery following years of protests by community groups who described the shrine as “painful” and offensive.The cenotaph, which had stood in the privately owned St...