Canada

Residents, chemists and firefighters are raising concerns about prevention and emergency preparedness after 15,000 kilograms of lithium batteries inside a shipping container caught fire at the Port of Montreal on Monday.

"Around 6 p.m., I started smelling something chemical in my place," said Lia Chauvel, who lives about two kilometres from the port. "Like at 7 p.m., I get a text from the city. I thought it was spam."

The fire started at 2:40 p.m. About two hours later, the city issued a precautionary lockdown notice through landlines to some nearby residents. A reminder alert was sent at 6:51 p.m.

At 6:53 p.m., the Mercier—Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough posted a warning on Facebook, and the comment section quickly filled with residents saying they were never notified or didn't see the post until much later.

Washik, 58, told The Canadian Press earlier this month that she was having a playful water gun fight with a child during a neighbourhood gathering when she accidentally sprayed Rochester in the chest.

Washik said that, despite her apologies, he called police. After Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) arrived, Washik said the officers didn't ask her "a single question" and charged her with assault with a weapon. But Rochester's security footage appears to show a different version of events.

Around 6 p.m. ET, Rochester is setting up his lawnmower on his front lawn when Washik walks over, the footage appears to show. No other people can be seen.

She stands at the end of his lawn and is heard saying, "Hey, how's it going?"

Rochester doesn't appear to respond and begins mowing his lawn while Washik watches him for several minutes, occasionally waving.

"It was very strange and creepy," he told CBC.

Then, a boy crosses from the other side of the street and Washik appears to ask him for a water gun, making a flicking motion with her hands in the direction of Rochester.

The footage doesn't capture the side of the house, where Rochester alleges he was intentionally sprayed.

More than 550 people who attended the P.E.I. International Shellfish Festival last weekend reported getting sick, according to the province's Chief Public Health Officer.

"This is the biggest gastrointestinal illness outbreak we have on record," Dr. Heather Morrison told CBC News on Friday.

Stool samples taken from people who ate food at the festival have tested positive for norovirus, Morrison said.

"That makes sense to us given all the information that we have."

“Get an application and drop it off (at) one of these companies and start working, you need to start working if you’re healthy — bottom line — if you’re unhealthy, I’ll take care of you the rest of my life, your life, we’ll take care of you,” the premier said.

“But if you’re healthy, get off your A-S-S and start working like everyone else is.”

The Toronto District School Board is holding a special meeting on Wednesday evening to discuss a field trip to a protest in support of an Indigenous community last week. According to videos on social media, pro-Palestinian slogans were chanted at the protest.

#onpoli #cdnpoli

A foreign government tried to get a Liberal candidate defeated and a former parliamentarian is suspected of having worked to influence parliamentary business on behalf of a foreign government, the public inquiry into interference in Canadian politics was told Friday.

Officials from the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) unveiled two new examples of such foreign interference, in addition to four examples that had been released publicly.

Officials did not name the countries suspected in the newest examples of foreign interference, or the parliamentarians involved.

Officials said China is the country most actively trying to interfere in Canada's affairs, followed by India. They also warned that the conflict in the Middle East could lead Iran to interfere in the next federal election.

Brian Smallshaw, a web developer and historian from Salt Spring Island, said he suspected the force was breaking the law and breaching rights when arresting activists during protests against old-growth logging on Vancouver Island.

But now that the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission has upheld his allegations, he knows it.

In a scathing report completed last month, the commission found the Mounties wrongfully arrested Smallshaw while he was hiking three years ago when he wouldn't submit to a search he considered unconstitutional.

Four trustees of a controversy-mired western Manitoba school board met on Monday and voted to ban all but the Canadian, Manitoban and school flags, right after butting heads with a panel the province appointed to help guide them in their roles.

The Mountain View School Division board has nine seats on its board, so the four trustees present at Monday's meeting weren't enough to achieve the quorum required under the Public Schools Act — but they went ahead with a school boarding meeting anyway.

The province ordered a governance review of the school board in April, after trustee Paul Coffey gave a board meeting presentation in which he said residential schools started as a good thing, questioned the extent of abuse at the schools and called the term "white privilege" racist.

NATO says it wants its members to develop national plans to bolster the capacity of their individual defence industry sectors, a concept Canada has struggled with — or avoided outright — for decades.

At the NATO leaders summit in Washington in July, alliance members agreed to come up with strategies to boost their domestic defence materiel sectors, and to share those strategies with each other. Almost entirely overshadowed at the time by debates about members' defence spending and support for Ukraine, the new policy got little attention.

Federal officials are just beginning to wrap their heads around the ramifications of the new policy, and the burden it could place on the government and Canada's defence sector.

With illicit drug use, homelessness and untreated mental illness reaching a crisis in parts of Canada, the governments of at least three provinces want to treat more people against their will, even as some health experts warn involuntary care for drug use can be ineffective and harmful.

This month, British Columbia's premier, whose party is in a tight race for reelection in the province, said his government would expand involuntary treatment for people dealing with mental illness combined with addiction and brain injuries due to overdose. Some would be held in a repurposed jail.

The Alberta government is preparing legislation that would allow a family member, police officer or medical professional to petition to force treatment when a person is deemed an imminent danger to themselves or others because of addiction or drug use.

And New Brunswick has said it wants to allow involuntary treatment of people with substance use disorders, although it, too, has yet to propose legislation. A spokesperson for the governing Progressive Conservative party, which is also running for reelection, called this "compassionate intervention."

Screenshot of map:

While vote to topple his government has failed, it signals a new series of tests for the prime minister.

Bonne fête des franco-ontariennes et franco-ontariens!

L’origine de cette journée remonte au 25 septembre 1975, date à laquelle le drapeau franco-ontarien a été levé pour la première fois à l’Université de Sudbury. Conçu par Gaétan Gervais et Michel Dupuis, ce drapeau est rapidement devenu un puissant symbole d’identité pour les Franco-Ontariens. Ses couleurs et ses symboles racontent l’histoire et l’environnement de cette communauté : le vert représente les forêts d’été du Nord de l’Ontario, tandis que le blanc évoque les hivers enneigés. La fleur de lys rappelle les racines françaises, et le trille blanc, fleur emblématique de l’Ontario, souligne l’appartenance à cette province.

A veteran Montreal police officer says racism is a "cancer eating away at the organization" in a stinging resignation letter.

Patrice Vilcéus, a Quebecer of Haitian origin, served on the Montreal police service (SPVM) for more than 30 years and worked his way up to commander of the anti-gang squad.

"Throughout my career, I've made sure that I'm not just an observer of racism, racial profiling and social challenges. My aim has been to break down taboos and introduce more nuanced approaches, so as to take all aspects into account and help the organization grow," he wrote in a four-page letter obtained by CTV News.

His letter made reference to the recent Quebec Superior Court ruling declaring that there's a systemic form of racial profiling within the SPVM. The landmark decision also awarded $5,000 in punitive damages to anyone stopped on the streets based on their ethnic origin.