A female northern wheatear (AFP Photo/Heiko Schmaljohann)The Arctic songbird weighs less than an ounce and is not much longer than a pen, but the northern wheatear is astounding researchers who've discovered it makes an annual migration halfway around the world to Africa.

The journey to Africa the tiny bird takes every spring and fall is one of the longest seasonal migrations in the world, Postmedia News reports.

Scientists published a study of the wheatear's migration in the latest issue of Biology Letters, the journal of Britain's Royal Society.

"The northern wheatear [Oenanthe oenanthe] is a small [approx. 25 grams], insectivorous migrant with one of the largest ranges of any songbird in the world, breeding from the eastern Canadian Arctic across Greenland, Eurasia and into Alaska," the study says.

The paper says researchers found the bird follows two routes to Africa. One population in Alaska flies about 14,600 kilometres every year through Russia, Kazakhstan and the Arabian Desert to spent the winter in eastern Africa. It takes about

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At a time when Canada is playing host to some of the world's big scientific brains, some of the country's scientists are accusing the Conservative government of muzzling them.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science is holding its annual meeting in Vancouver starting this week, attracting scientists from more than 50 countries, the Globe and Mail reports.

It's the first time in three decades the prestigious organization has met in Canada.

"It's a great chance for us to show the world how far Canadian research has come forward, since the conference was last here in 1981," Paul Davidson, president of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, told the Globe.

The multi-disciplinary conference will hear from speakers on topics ranging from autism to obesity to new technologies for tracking marine mammals, the Globe says.

The theme this year is the globalization of science. Countries who see science as the key to progress need to work together, association CEO

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A plan by the manufacturer of the powerful painkiller OxyContin to change the widely-abused drug to make it harder to misuse is causing a near panic among aboriginal leaders.

As of March 1, OxyContin tablets will be replaced with a new formulation called OxyNEO, which is harder to crush into injectable form or to chew for a quick high. Purdue Pharma Canada's OxyContin will be pulled off Canadian pharmacy shelves in the coming weeks, the Toronto Star reports.

But First Nations leaders and addiction experts warn the change will trigger a public health crisis, the Star says.

At least half the residents of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation's 49 communities in northern Ontario are addicted to Oxy, says Grand Chief Stan Beardy

"In some communities, it's as high as 70 to 80 per cent of people addicted to OxyContin, including kids as young as nine years old to people as old as 65," Beardy told the Star.

"We are very concerned that if they cease manufacturing OxyContin and if there is no replacement or

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When Hélène Campbell learned she needed a new set of lungs, the young Ottawa woman sprang into action.

Campbell suffers from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis—the scarring and thickening of the lungs—and knew she didn't have time to waste. Within a few short months of her summer diagnosis, her lung capacity had plummeted to 21 per cent. She's now in Toronto with her mother awaiting a double lung transplant.

But instead of taking a passive route, the 20-year-old decided to use her struggle to make positive change.

As CTV News reports, Campbell sent a tweet to Canadian pop star Justin Bieber last month, asking him to spread the word about organ donation.

The singer complied, re-tweeting the message to his 16 million followers.

What happened next illustrates the mobilizing power of social media and good deeds. Immediately after the Bieber tweet, Ontario's Trillium Gift of Life Network reported a massive jump in its visitor traffic. Even more impressive: 2,000 new organ donors registered

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Quebecor Media Inc. CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau.There's a man-bites-dog quality to this story but it's true: A senior official in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government is defending the CBC, even praising its policies, against attacks from Sun Media, the Conservative government's staunchest media supporter.

The Canadian Press has acquired an internal memo by Wayne Wouters, powerful clerk of the Privy Council, under the Access to Information Act that clears the public broadcaster of boycotting Sun Media in its advertising contracts.

Sun Media's parent company, Quebecor Inc., and owner Pierre Karl Peladeau have been feuding for years with the CBC, which Peladeau believes provides unfair, taxpayer-funded competition for private broadcasters like him.

Sun outlets have been demanding access to CBC documents that they argue should be available under access legislation but which the CBC refuses to hand over, saying they would reveal competitive business information. The dispute has spilled over into legal challenges and acrimonious

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A strike that takes down a major municipal public service is never a good thing for an incumbent mayor, especially when he's facing an attractive challenger for his job in an election year.

Halifax Mayor Peter Kelly, a 20-year veteran of municipal politics who's been in the mayor's chair for 11 years, is confronting both problems.

More than 700 Metro Halifax transit workers went on strike Feb. 2, inconveniencing the region's 55,000 commuters and others who depend on the system.

Less than a week later, popular former Liberal MP Mike Savage, the son of former Nova Scotia premier John Savage, announced he was going to run for mayor in the October municipal election.

"I want Halifax to be the most liveable city in Canada, the most entrepreneurial city and the most inclusive city," Savage told The Halifax Chronicle Herald.

"I want us to keep young people here. I want us to be able to respond to opportunities more quickly than people believe we've been able to so far. I don't want

Read More »from Embattled Halifax Mayor Peter Kelly facing tough election challenge from son of late premier

Fans of the iconic Degrassi series are mourning the loss of Neil Hope, also known as Derek "Wheels" Wheeler, as news broke on Thursday that the former teen star has been dead for five years.

Several media outlets have reported that news of Hope's passing was made public on Thursday, Feb. 16, but confirmation from Hope's sister-in-law, Tracy Northrup Hope, had been posted on the Facebook group "Let's Bring The Real Neil Hope ("Wheels" from Degrassi)" on Jan. 12, 2012. The posting reported Hope had died from natural causes on Nov. 25, 2007, in Hamilton, Ontario. He was 35.

According to the National Post, the Canadian actor's fiancee, Christina Boulard, released the following statement:

"The family regrets to announce that Neil passed away in Hamilton, Ontario on November 25, 2007 of natural causes. There was some confusion regarding his passing that they do not wish to go public with, which is why they are only announcing his death now to the public and the media."

Producers of the show,

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 McGill support staff walked out Thursday morning, on the first day of class for many students.

Montreal has been rated the best student city in Canada, but it falls well behind Paris according to a new international survey.

Paris was followed by London and Boston with Montreal landing 10th, Toronto coming in 26th and Vancouver coming in 31st.

British firm QS, which usually ranks individual universities, examined 50 cities around the world, looking at student mix, quality of living, employer activity and affordability to devise the list.

Helping Montreal finish in 10th was that QS ranked McGill as the 17th best university in the world.

"Montreal has been dubbed the cultural capital of Canada, and one of the world's most liveable cities," reads the description of the city on the QS ranking website. "Montreal has one of the highest scores for quality of living, alongside a favourable student mix and rankings score, largely courtesy of the world-class status of McGill."

QS also says Montreal is the best-value destination in the top 10 behind Boston and Berlin and while tuition fees

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