Canada forced to cope with increase in refugee crossings from US

An increase in the number of asylum seekers arriving in Canada from the US has those north of the border looking closely at Donald Trump’s immigration policies. Canadian politicians are at loggerheads about how to deal with the new flow of migrants. Montreal (dpa) – It’s not a spring flood yet but it is a rising tide that has officials in Canada’s capital, Ottawa, worried. The growing number of asylum seekers crossing illegally from the United States into Canada has Canadian leaders concerned that they might…

Trudeau’s meeting with Trump to be a test of charm and mettle

Trade is likely to top the agenda when Justin Trudeau meets Donald Trump for the first time on Monday, with the Canadian premier also under pressure to stand up to the new US president on immigration and human rights. Montreal (dpa) – When Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau steps off his plane in Washington on Monday for his first meeting with President Donald Trump, he’ll need to marshal every ounce of his considerable charm to win over his new southern neighbour. He might also need to…

Rail oil transport risks remain, 12 months after Quebec disaster

A long train brimming with crude from one of North America’s burgeoning shale oil fields derailed and exploded on July 6, 2013, in a sleepy Quebec village, killing 47 people. On the anniversary of the conflagration in Lac-Megantic, safety improvements in flammable rail freight remain slow to implement, while the amount of oil on the tracks soars further.

Runaway train rips heart out of Quebec town

Maude Verreault owes her life to a cigarette.

The 36-year-old waitress at Musi-Cafe restaurant in central Lac-Megantic was taking a short smoking break last Saturday night when a runaway tanker-train careened into the town and exploded near where she was standing.

Police foil “al-Qaeda” inspired Canada Day bomb plot

Canadian authorities charged two people Tuesday in an “al-Qaeda-inspired” plot to bomb Canada Day celebrations at the provincial legislature in Victoria, British Columbia.

Canada’s ice road to diamonds

A late March blizzard has finished blowing over much of Canada’s Northwest Territories and Ron Near’s job just got more interesting.

A retired Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer, Near is in charge of the world’s longest ice road that connects Yellowknife, the territorial capital, to three diamond mines: Ekati, Diavik and Snap Lake.

Dreams made of diamonds

Matevos Harutyunyan has to fly across Canada from Yellowknife, the capital of Northwest Territories, to Montreal to do what he loves the most.
Harutyunyan is an expert diamond cutter and polisher but ever since the Arslanian Cutting Works factory in Yellowknife shut its doors two years ago, the only chance he gets to practice his beloved craft is during short visits to Montreal.

Sweet victory for Canadian police: maple syrup thieves caught

The largest known heist ever of sweet and expensive maple syrup oozed a step closer to solution on Tuesday as Canadian police arrested three suspects.
Sergeant Claude Denis, spokesman for the Quebec provincial police, said the hunt for an estimated 3 million kilograms of stolen syrup took police investigators to neighbouring Ontario, New Brunswick and north-eastern United States.

Remembering my fallen colleagues

On November 11, 2001, I survived an ambush that killed three of my colleagues. Johanne Sutton, Pierre Billaud and Volker Handloik were killed when the group of Northern Alliance soldiers we were traveling with was ambushed by Taliban fighters on a barren plateau near Dasht-e-Qala in Takhar Province, in northeastern Afghanistan. Jo, Pierre and Volker were the first journalists to be killed in that war. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, since September 2001 13 foreign journalists and six Afghan reporters have been killed…

Sisters in arms

Lt. Chantal Tétreault stood in the crew commander’s hatch of her Bison light armoured vehicle surveying the dusty road ahead. She gripped the handle of a loaded machine gun, ready to fire. From hatches behind her, two Canadian soldiers scanned the nearby fields and the village’s mudcaked walls, their fingers tense on the trigger guards of their rifles.