As Canada’s wildfires intensify, recruiting firefighters is tougher
British Colombia, CanadaReuters Canada is wrestling with its worst-ever start to wildfire season, but recruiting firefighters is becoming increasingly difficult due to tight labor markets and the tough nature of the job, provincial officials say. Limited resources could threaten Canada’s ability to douse fires, which are expected to get bigger and fiercer in future as […]
Canada on track for its worst-ever wildfire season
Ottawa, Canada Reuters Canada is on track for its worst-ever year of wildfire destruction as warm and dry conditions are forecast to persist through to the end of the summer after an unprecedented start to the fire season, officials said on Monday. Blazes are burning in nearly all Canadian provinces and territories, and federal government […]
StrangeSights: The first kebab in space?; woodpecker attacks world’s largest hockey stick; and honouring Waldi…
DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
Canada struggles to reach 18,000 stranded by flood waters
Abbotsford, British Columbia, CanadaReuters Canada was still trying to reach 18,000 people stranded on Thursday after floods and mudslides destroyed roads, houses and bridges in what could be the costliest natural disaster in the country’s history. Receding flood waters were helping rescue efforts, but the downpour blocked off entire towns in the province of British […]
Canada province expects death toll to rise after 500-year flood
Abbotsford, British Columbia, CanadaReuters The death toll in Canada from massive floods and landslides that devastated parts of British Columbia is set to rise, with the province declaring a state of emergency on Wednesday. Authorities have confirmed one death after torrential rains and mudslides destroyed roads and left several mountain towns isolated. At least three […]
Canada floods cut rail link to Vancouver port; one dead
Merritt, British Columbia, CanadaReuters Floods and landslides that have killed at least one person have cut all rail access to Canada’s largest port in the city of Vancouver, a spokesperson for the port said on Tuesday. Two days of torrential rain across the Pacific province of British Columbia touched off major flooding and shut rail […]
Residents of Canadian town destroyed by record-breaking fire return for glimpse of homes
Lytton, British Columbia, CanadaReuters Residents of Lytton, British Columbia, were able to see the remains of their homes on Friday for the first time since they were forced to flee for their lives days ago. The central British Columbia town made headlines at the end of June for breaking Canada’s heat record – hitting 49.6 […]
Record heat forces western Canada province to shut schools, universities
Vancouver, CanadaReuters British Columbia closed schools and universities on Monday due to extreme heat which pushed temperature in the western Canadian province to a national record over the weekend, in a country that is widely known for its brutal winter and snows. Lytton, a town in central British Columbia roughly 200 kilometres north of Vancouver, […]
Canada’s Trudeau wants Vatican apology for church-run school abuses
Toronto, Canada AP Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday he is “deeply disappointed” the Roman Catholic Church has not offered a formal apology and made amends for its role in Canada’s former system of church-run Indigenous boarding schools after the remains of 215 children were located at what was once the country’s largest such […]
Canadian minister says Pope needs to apologise to Indigenous
Toronto, CanadaAP Canada’s Indigenous services minister said Wednesday that Pope Francis needs to issue a formal apology for the role the Catholic Church played in Canada’s residential school system, days after the remains of 215 children were located at what was once the country’s largest such school. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government also pledged again […]