Trudeau acknowledges charges in Nijjar killing, calls for commitment to democracy
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has acknowledged the charges laid Friday in relation to the murder of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Federal Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair has said images of wildfires burning across Canada are some of the most severe ever witnessed in the country and the forecast for the next few months indicates the potential for continued higher-than-normal fire activity.
The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre says there are 415 fires currently burning. About 2,285 fires have burned 37,000 square kilometres so far this year
Here's a look at the current wildfire situation as of Tuesday afternoon:
There are five active wildfires. The province has recorded 212 so far this year, about double the number in an average year. About 267 square kilometres have burned.
A fire that broke out at the end of May in suburban Halifax destroyed about 200 structures, including 151 homes. About 16,500 people were initially forced from their homes and the city says about 4,100 residents remain displaced.
A fire in Shelburne County in southwestern Nova Scotia, considered the largest in the province's history at around 250 square kilometres, is still out of control. The province says 150 structures had been lost, including an estimated 60 homes.
The province has reported more than 150 wildfires, including at least 110 that are out of control. This year so far, fires have burned more than 1,730 square kilometres.
Premier Francois Legault says the Abitibi-Temiscamingue region in northwestern Quebec is an area of particular concern, with the communities of Normetal and Lebel-sur-Quevillon under threat.
Fires have forced about 10,000 people from their homes, mostly in the northwestern Atibibi region and eastern Cote-Nord region.
There are 64 wildfires burning across the province, 18 of which are out of control. A total of 590 wildfires have burned about 12,016 square kilometres this year.
Officials recently lifted a provincewide state of emergency, brought in May 6 to expedite co-ordination of firefighting resources and support for evacuees. At one point in early May, about 29,000 were out of their homes in various communities.
About 4,300 remain evacuated. Evacuation orders are in place for Fort Chipewyan, Dene Tha' First Nation, Fox Lake, Chipewyan Lake and surrounding areas, and part of Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation. Garden River is under an evacuation alert.
There are 25 wildfires actively burning, four of which are not contained.
The province has recorded 201 fires so far this year, compared to a five-year average of 135.
Many residents in northern Saskatchewan remain out of their homes. Community members identified as high-risk were evacuated last week from La Loche and Clearwater River Dene Nation.
Indigenous Services Canada says about 400 evacuees are from First Nations.
There are 11 wildfires actively burning across the territory. A total of 21 wildfires have burned nearly 3,833 square kilometres this year.
K'at'lodeeche First Nation residents remain displaced by a fire that has damaged several buildings on the reserve, including the band office. The fire is classified as being held and was last mapped at 32 square kilometres.
The nearby town of Hay River, where residents were allowed to return on May 25 following a nearly two-week evacuation order, remains under a precautionary evacuation alert.
An out-of-control wildfire measured at more than 2,490 square kilometres is burning 10 kilometres from Sambaa K'e near the Alberta boundary. The community was evacuated last week. One home was destroyed in an ignition operation.
There are 78 active wildfires, 24 of which are out of control. A total of 382 fires have burned more than 4,563 square kilometres this year.
B.C. Wildfire Service says an out-of-control fire burning north of Fort St. John, estimated at more 2,400 square kilometres, is the second largest in the province's history.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 6, 2023.
By Emily Blake in Yellowknife
This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has acknowledged the charges laid Friday in relation to the murder of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Three bodies recovered in an area of Baja California are likely to be those of the two Australians and an American who went missing last weekend during a camping and surfing trip, the state prosecutor’s office said Saturday.
Princess Anne paid tribute to veterans buried at a cemetery in British Columbia today, laying a wreath to honour the more than 2,500 military personnel and family members buried there.
Mystik Dan won the 150th Kentucky Derby in a photo finish, edging out Forever Young and Sierra Leone for the upset victory.
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
A lockout notice issued by WestJet to a union representing aircraft maintenance engineers could result in a work stoppage next week.
Almost a week after all London Drugs stores across Western Canada abruptly closed amid a cyberattack, they began a "gradual reopening" on Saturday.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.