Canada

During his first two months as a volunteer chaplain with Windsor, Ont., police, Hassan Rkie was accused of trying to get a victim to drop domestic violence charges in an ongoing case and has since been charged with obstruction, CBC News has learned.

The 47-year-old was quietly charged in February. The Windsor Police Service didn't release the information publicly, though it often does when arrests are made.

According to documents filed in the Ontario Court of Justice, it's alleged Rkie "did intentionally attempt to dissuade a person ... by bribes from giving evidence in a judicial proceeding."

Two sources within the police service told CBC News that Rkie knew a man in the community being accused of domestic violence. They said he then proceeded to contact the complainant in what they claim was an attempt to get them to drop the charges.

Years after two Ontario police officers got into a violent altercation in broad daylight that ended in one shooting the other 10 times, both have walked away with no convictions.

On Nov. 29, 2018, Donovan and Parker were investigating a car crash at a rural intersection near Niagara Falls, Ont.

Parker was directing traffic, but left to use the bathroom. When he returned to his post, Donovan confronted him and a fight ensued.

Donovan later testified that Parker pushed and hit him and pulled his baton. When Parker reached for his gun, Donovan drew his own and began firing in self-defence.

Parker was shot in the cheek, nose, shoulder, thigh, calf, hip, abdomen and foot but survived.

During the company's second quarter earnings call on Thursday morning, Loblaw executives fielded questions from analysts about the grocery giant's soft food retail sales — and whether a boycott organized online had impacted the company's profits at all.

Some Canadians have been boycotting Loblaw since May, after the moderators of an online Reddit group called r/loblawsisoutofcontrol began encouraging its then-45,000 members to stop shopping at the store and its subsidiary brands.

During the company call, neither CEO Per Bank nor chief financial officer Richard Dufresne used the word boycott. But they didn't deny that it was a factor in food retail sales that "came in a little soft" compared to the same time last year.

The company's earnings results note that food retail same-stores sales increased by 0.2 per cent in the second quarter of this year, compared to a 6.1 per cent increase during the same quarter last year.

A wildfire that roared into the community of Jasper, Alta., late Wednesday has left vast stretches of the townsite incinerated.

Video shared to social media on Thursday shows blocks upon blocks of buildings have been levelled by fire.

The video, taken from inside a truck, shows a view of a community forever changed.

Where buildings once stood, charred rubble remains. Many homes in the historic townsite have been destroyed, leaving only the foundations.

"We are seeing potentially 30 to 50 per cent structural damage," (Premier Danielle) Smith said.

The Township of Langley will investigate how an extreme-right group was able to book a community hall jointly managed by the township and a local Lions Club.

“We’ll have to be reviewing that in the future, especially with this particular hall,” Langley Mayor Eric Woodward told The Tyee. “And seeing if there’s any assistance the township can provide and any policy updates to help these groups ensure that they don’t mistakenly book something like this in the future.”

Diagolon is led by several livestreamers who spend hours online spouting racism against Jewish and South Asian people and other minorities, dwelling on violent fantasies of fighting against invading immigrants.

The RCMP has described Diagolon as a “militia-like network with supporters who subscribe to accelerationist ideologies — the idea that a civil war or collapse of western governments is inevitable and ought to be sped up.”

This June, the group started advertising for an in-person “Terror Tour” across Canada during the summer, promising stops in major Canadian cities from Halifax to Vancouver.

In reality, the meetings have been held in small venues in smaller communities. The Ottawa gathering happened in an agricultural hall in the village of Carp.

For the Kamloops stop, the group apparently met at a skating rink owned by the Falkland and District Community Association. The small community is about 70 kilometres east of Kamloops.

When Diagolon members showed up at the community centre venue they had rented in Sudbury, they found the doors locked.

In Kelowna, Diagolon held an informal gathering in a park rather than booking an event venue. A warning about the event was posted on a Kelowna Reddit group.

China’s chief diplomat told Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly Friday that Beijing wants to “inject momentum into the restoration of normal relations,” but said the Asian power will brook no criticism of human-rights abuses or its menacing threats to the island democracy of Taiwan.

"I can't be a racist sack of shit and spew hate speech in Canada so I'm not coming!" - a fetid sack of gangrenous anal sphincters.

Years into a drug overdose crisis, Canada is facing backlash against government-sanctioned programs such as legal injection sites designed to keep users alive without curtailing drug use.

The British Columbia government has walked back a pilot project to decriminalize small quantities of illicit drugs in public places in the province. Police there also are prosecuting activists seeking to make safe drugs available.

And the man who may become Canada's next prime minister, Conservative Pierre Poilievre, has said he wants to shut down some sites where users can legally consume illicit drugs under supervision, calling them "drug dens."

The backlash reflects growing fears in Canada over the use of narcotics in public spaces, encampments where drug use is seen as common, and the specter of needles in playgrounds. Some critics of the so-called harm reduction programs see a rising number of overdose deaths in Canada as evidence that existing measures are not working.

But public health experts worry that dialing back the programs would endanger the health and lives of drug users, contributing to even more deaths.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's decision to hand-pick a candidate for a riding in an upcoming Montreal byelection isn't being well-received by three aspiring contenders who spent months campaigning only to be shunted aside.

The Liberals announced Montreal city Coun. Laura Palestini last Friday as the party's candidate in a byelection whose date has yet to be announced for the riding of LaSalle--Emard--Verdun. The byelection must be called by July 30.

Three aspiring candidates -- local school commissioner Lori Morrison; entrepreneur Christopher Baenninger; and former Quebec Liberal party organizer Eddy Kara -- denounced the decision, with Morrison calling it "anti-democratic, 100 per cent."

Morrison said she couldn't believe the party let her knock on doors and sign up memberships only to ultimately abandon plans for a nomination meeting.

Archive: [ https://archive.is/n5388 ]

Now, an investigation from the Investigative Journalism Foundation and CTV News shines new light on how Canadian shell companies and registries were used to pull off the scheme.

The investigation — based on dozens of corporate filings, interviews with experts and both domestic and international court records — found MTFE was part of a network of dozens of Canadian shell companies peddling similar cryptocurrency investment schemes.

But experts interviewed for this story, including former law enforcement and intelligence officials, say the investigation highlights gaps in Canada’s enforcement that have made the country a waystation for financial crime.

“We’ve become such a weak link in the financial crime arena that we’re attracting all the business,” said Garry Clement, a former RCMP officer who investigated financial crime. “Because they know that virtually nothing is going to happen to them.”

A Manitoba man wants an apology from police after RCMP wrongfully named and charged him in relation to an alleged teen sex exploitation case in Portage la Prairie.

Scott Joseph Taylor, 34, was one of seven people named in a release by RCMP following an investigation that alleged teens were being lured into performing sexual acts on men in exchange for drugs and money.

The press release said Taylor was charged with unsafe firearms storage and obtaining sexual services from a person under 18 after police searched his Portage la Prairie home.

Then on Friday, more than a week after the initial release, the Mounties sent an update stating Taylor was not involved in what happened and his charges had been stayed.