IN PHOTOS Northern lights dance across the night sky in southern Ont.
From London, to Mildmay, Collingwood and St. Thomas, here are some highlights of Friday night and Saturday morning's northern lights display.
Chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam says she'll soon have advice to help fully vaccinated Canadians figure out what they can safely do, but it won't be a blanket list of dos and don'ts covering everyone, everywhere.
Instead, Canada is looking at a "risk assessment tool" that will guide Canadians to make a call on their own whether they are safe and comfortable to take off their masks and throw physical distancing to the wind.
"It's not a straight black and white, sort of everybody take off their masks, everybody just do whatever you want," she said at a news conference Tuesday. "We would like to enable people to take themselves through that kind of risk assessment while respecting local public health requirements."
At least 7.7 million Canadians -- one in five people -- have received both doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, and that group is growing by one million people every two or three days. By the end of July, Canada expects to have enough doses to fully vaccinate all Canadians over the age of 12.
The Centers for Disease Control in the United States issued general guidance for the fully vaccinated back in early March, when fewer than one in 10 Americans had all the required doses they needed. That included, for example, socializing indoors and maskless with other fully vaccinated people, and not having to quarantine or test after an exposure to COVID-19 as long as you didn't develop symptoms.
The CDC now says fully vaccinated Americans can travel without quarantining afterwards, though they do need a negative COVID-19 test before departing for the U.S.
Canada is moving to follow suit July 6, when citizens and permanent residents can return home without quarantining, as long as they are fully vaccinated and test negative both before and after arriving.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday he will announce within the next few weeks when that can be expanded to fully vaccinated foreigners.
But direct guidance on how individual Canadians can begin to interact with one another more normally remains elusive.
Canada has been reluctant to go there so far, preferring to focus on community levels of vaccination, but Tam said Tuesday it is time to start getting a bit more specific for individuals.
"I think this is a really good question, especially at this point in time that most Canadians will have access to the second dose," she said.
"We expect to undergo these discussions rapidly and provide further communication to Canadians."
The tool is likely to provide a list of questions about your vaccination status, and that of the people you want to gather with, whether it will be indoors or outdoors, and what the local infection rates are.
Dr. Nazeem Muhajarine, a professor of community health and epidemiology at the University of Saskatchewan, said a blanket statement on what all Canadians can do when double-dosed isn't realistic.
"I think it would be helpful to some extent but the thing is some of these messages have to be really nuanced," he said.
He said there is still much to be learned about how the vaccines prevent transmission, the variants of the virus add some elements of risk, and that for now, he wouldn't recommend people take off their masks indoors in public.
"We're not there yet," he said.
Canada's case counts are the lowest they have been in nine months, and hospitalizations and intensive care admissions have dropped below where they were last October and November respectively. Tam said she is thrilled at how Canada has done planking the curve since the third wave peaked in April.
And as vaccinations increase things are starting to loosen.
Alberta announced Monday it would be lifting almost all provincial restrictions on Canada Day, eliminating the province wide public mask mandate and opening the door for indoor parties, and limit-free outdoor celebrations.
Saskatchewan will follow on July 11.
Quebec is moving every region into the "green" status as of next week, allowing for larger indoor gatherings, and street parties. Premier Francois Legault also said as of Friday, fully vaccinated people can socialize with each other indoors without masks.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 22, 2021.
From London, to Mildmay, Collingwood and St. Thomas, here are some highlights of Friday night and Saturday morning's northern lights display.
For decades, North Bay, Ontario's water supply has harboured chemicals associated with liver and developmental issues, cancer and complications with pregnancy. It's far from the only city with that problem.
The Netherlands' contestant in the Eurovision Song Contest was dramatically expelled from competition hours before Saturday's final of the pan-continental pop competition, which has been rattled by protests over the participation of Israel.
The rolling hills leading to the hamlet of Rosebud are dotted with sprawling farms and cattle pastures -- and a sign sporting a simple message: No Race Track.
An evacuation alert was issued for two Wood Buffalo communities Friday night, as crews battled an out-of-control wildfire near Fort McMurray.
Evan Bouchard scored 5:38 into overtime and the Edmonton Oilers bounced back for a 4-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs on Friday.
Irresponsibly using a credit card can land you in financial trouble, but personal finance columnist Christopher Liew says when used properly, it can be a powerful wealth-building tool that can help grow your credit profile and create new opportunities.
A cyclist turned herself in and received a fine after striking a four-year-old girl who was crossing the street to catch a school bus.
Where you live plays a big factor in what you pay at the grocery store. And while it's no secret the same item may have a different price depending on the store, city or province, we wanted to see just how big the differences are, and why.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
A P.E.I. lighthouse and a New Brunswick river are being honoured in a Canada Post series.