Beaver enjoys meal next to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan pond.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Up to 40,000 Army National Guard soldiers across the country — or about 13% of the force — have not yet gotten the mandated COVID-19 vaccine, and as the deadline for shots looms, at least 14,000 of them have flatly refused and could be forced out of the service. Guard soldiers have until Thursday to get the vaccine. And according to data obtained by The Associated Press, between 20% to 30% of the Guard soldiers in six states are not vaccinated, and more than 10% in 43 other sta
Abortion rights defenders gather outside US Supreme Court and in New York.View on euronews
British Columbia's health system could soon feel the ripple effects of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 50-year-old ruling that became the backbone of abortion rights in the country. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down that 1973 precedent on Friday. The milestone decision — a draft of which was leaked last month — has the potential to claw back abortion access across the U.S. by allowing states to restrict or outright ban the procedure. Some states had already put in
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s conservative ruling party leader pushed back Sunday against what he described as Western views on LGBTQ rights. Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the head of the Law and Justice party, described a theoretical situation in which a person named Wladyslaw, which is traditionally a male name, comes to work asking to be called Zosia, a traditionally female name. “And according to what we are recommended from the West that everyone should obey it,” Kaczynski said at a rally in Grudzia
Conservation groups have been doing a lot of work lately to give people virtual access to important ecological areas in the Maritimes, but if that's given you the itch to go in person this summer, there are special precautions to take, according to two people who make a living promoting outdoor adventures. "These are not the places we want to start going bushwhacking," said Jan-Sebastian LaPierre, of Dartmouth-based marketing company A For Adventure. You probably should not go with a big group,
A government-led team of politicians and Indigenous leaders held its first meeting Wednesday as residents in Happy Valley-Goose Bay urged swift action to address a growing number of transient people in the community. The Acute Response Team, established this week, seeks to find immediate solutions to a problem that the town's mayor says has become a safety issue. "We brought the concerns that our community was in a crisis situation because we had seen an increase in that escalation in terms of t
NEW YORK (AP) — Parades celebrating LGBTQ pride kick off in some of America's biggest cities Sunday amid new fears about the potential erosion of freedoms won through decades of activism. The annual marches in New York, San Francisco, Chicago and elsewhere take place just two days after one conservative justice on the Supreme Court signaled, in a ruling on abortion, that the court should reconsider the right to same-sex marriage recognized in 2015. That warning shot came after a year of legislat
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau kicked off the final day of the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Kigali, Rwanda by joining youth leaders for an intergenerational dialog breakfast on Saturday. Climate change was a key focus among participants.
KABUL (Reuters) -Afghanistan's Taliban administration on Saturday called on international governments to roll back sanctions and lift a freeze on central bank assets following the earthquake that killed more than 1,000 people and left thousands homeless. The 6.1-magnitude quake that struck the east of the country early on Wednesday destroyed or damaged 10,000 homes and injured about 2,000 people, straining the country's fragile health system and posing a major test for the ruling Taliban. "The Islamic Emirate is asking the world to give the Afghans their most basic right, which is their right to life and that is through lifting the sanctions and unfreezing our assets and also giving assistance," Abdul Qahar Balkhi, foreign affairs ministry spokesman, told Reuters in an interview.
For the first time, a free shuttle bus service will ferry nature lovers to some of the most popular spots in Gatineau Park during the summer. Saturday marked the start of the pilot project, which will run every weekend until Aug. 28. Regular shuttles have operated every fall for a three-week period, and that will still continue. "We're making Gatineau Park more accessible, more equitable for people who either don't own a private car or don't have access to one or don't want to drive," said Tobi
Protesters at a Montreal abortion rights rally in solidarity with Americans following the reversal of Roe v. Wade by the United States Supreme Court say they fear the decision will lead to a rise in anti-abortion sentiment in Quebec and the rest of Canada. Hundreds of Quebecers of all ages gathered outside the Montreal courthouse Sunday afternoon amid sweltering heat, carrying signs that said, "Solidarity and rage," "My body, my choice" and "Access to abortion is a human right." Law student Cele
Homeowners in one eastern Ontario township are taking issue with the arrival of short-term rentals in their riverside community. Residents in East Hawkesbury, Ont., approximately an hour's drive east of downtown Ottawa, have brought their concerns to the local council, calling for rules that would manage Airbnb properties and others like them. "These homes were built for families, not for Airbnb. I mean, what do they contribute to the neighborhood?" said Jennifer Brennan, who's lived in the area
Summer McIntosh of Kelowna, B.C., capped a sensational week of swimming on Saturday, becoming the first Canadian with two victories and four medals at a single world championship. The 15-year-old lowered her junior record time to four minutes 32.04 seconds in the women's 400-metre individual medley on Saturday in Budapest, Hungary. Earlier this week, she also set world junior marks in the 200 butterfly (gold) and 400 freelstyle (silver) while earning freestyle relay bronze in the 200. '"This is
Two Edmonton area women were cleared on impaired driving charges after provincial court judges found their charter rights were violated while using the toilet in police custody. Since those rulings, Edmonton police and RCMP have changed policies. One was a provincial court decision issued in September 2020 by judge D'arcy DePoe, involving a woman who was charged with impaired driving on March 21, 2019. CBC is not identifying her because the charges were ultimately dismissed. After the woman rear
Since early May, a team of specially trained patrollers has been walking the trails of Vancouver's Stanley Park, looking for coyotes to see how they react when they come close to humans. The patrollers — two Park Board staff members and six Stanley Park Ecology Society volunteers — are doing what's known as aversion conditioning. "Conditioning coyotes to remember that humans are not their friends," said Dana McDonald, environmental stewardship co-ordinator for the Vancouver Board of Parks and Re
Mary Kilroy's son Patrick Bennett didn't set out to get hooked on drugs. After losing him to a drug overdose, she is now working to warn other parents. "We're losing our children," she says. "They're dying. And they're young." The grieving mother wants policy changes, to bring about more treatment options for addiction and safe supplies of illicit drugs. To help push toward those changes, Kilroy, who lives in St. John's, has become one of the first two people from Newfoundland and Labrador to jo
Two more Royal Canadian Navy vessels have departed from Halifax to join an ongoing NATO operation. HMCS Kingston and HMCS Summerside, each carrying crews of 46, set sail late Sunday morning to join Operation Reassurance in the Baltic Sea and North Atlantic. A crowd of family and friends gathered to watch the vessels depart. Both ships will be a part of a NATO mine countermeasures group. The sounds of the Stadacona Band of the Royal Canadian Navy surrounded the jetty as the vessels prepared for t
Abortion rights activists took part in Pride Toronto's Dyke March downtown on Saturday to show support for those who will be affected by the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Members of the Ontario Coalition for Abortion Clinics carried a large coat hanger in the march to demonstrate opposition to the decision on Friday that strips away constitutional protections for abortion. The coalition believes women should have the right to control their own bodies. The coat hanger sym
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says countries must stand up to Russian President Vladimir Putin and support Ukraine's democracy. Speaking at the conclusion of the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, Trudeau says he told leaders that Russia is responsible for much of the food shortages and supply chain issues felt around the world.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The end of Roe v. Wade started in the Senate. It was the Senate Republican partnership with President Donald Trump to confirm conservative judges, and transform the federal judiciary, that paved the way for the Supreme Court's landmark ruling to overturn the constitutional right to abortion. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell set the strategy in motion, engineering the Supreme Court's makeover by blocking President Barack Obama's 2016 nomination of then-Judge Merrick Garl
