'He's in our hearts': Family and friends still seek answers one year after Nathan Wise’s disappearance
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
As Britain's prime minister, Boris Johnson established an independent inquiry into the government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now the inquiry wants to see, in full, what Johnson wrote to other U.K. officials as the outbreak raged -- but the government is fighting a demand to hand over the material.
Inquiry chairwoman Heather Hallett, a retired judge, has asked the government to produce full copies of Johnson's WhatsApp messages and notebooks, after initially being given redacted versions.
Government officials said they only cut out material that was "unambiguously irrelevant" to the investigation, but Hallett wants to be the judge of that. She said "the entire contents of the specified documents are of potential relevance to the lines of investigation being pursued by the inquiry."
Hallett -- who has the power to summon evidence and question witnesses under oath -- set a deadline of 4 p.m. (1500 GMT) Tuesday for the government to hand over the documents, covering a two-year period from early 2020.
But hours before the deadline, the government asked for more time, claiming it didn't have Johnson's WhatsApp messages or notebooks. Hallett denied a request to move the deadline to Monday, but agreed to extend it by 48 hours, until Thursday.
The inquiry said if the WhatsApp messages and notebooks can't be produced, the government must provide witness statements from senior officials setting out what efforts have been made to find them.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who took office after Johnson left office in September -- to be succeeded, for a few weeks, by Liz Truss -- said the government had already handed over tens of thousands of documents to the inquiry and was "considering next steps carefully." The government is worried about the precedent that disclosing Johnson's full, unredacted conversations might set.
Bob Kerslake, a former head of the civil service, said that the government was likely resisting disclosure "to save embarrassment of ministers" -- an approach he called "misguided."
The U.K. has recorded more than 200,000 deaths among people with COVID-19, one of the highest tolls in Europe, and the decisions of Johnson's government have been endlessly debated. Johnson agreed in late 2021 to hold an inquiry after pressure from bereaved families.
Hallett's inquiry is due to investigate the U.K.'s preparedness for a pandemic, how the government responded, and whether the "level of loss was inevitable or whether things could have been done better." Public hearings are scheduled to start in June, and Johnson is among the senior officials due to give evidence.
The inquiry has already landed Johnson in hot water. Johnson was one of dozens of people fined last year for breaking his own government's pandemic lockdown rules in the so-called partygate scandal. Earlier this month, government-appointed lawyers helping Johnson prepare his submissions and testimony came across evidence of more potential breaches of COVID-19 restrictions.
The new evidence relates to alleged visits to Chequers, the prime minister's official country retreat, as well as potential breaches in the leader's Downing Street residence.
Civil servants reported the information to police, which say they are assessing the new evidence. Johnson denies wrongdoing.
It’s been a year since Nathan Wise went missing and his family is no closer to finding out what happened to him.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
The fire burning near Fort McMurray grew from 25 hectares to 5,500 hectares over the weekend.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin began a Cabinet shakeup on Sunday, proposing the replacement of Sergei Shoigu as defence minister as he begins his fifth term in office.
Police are searching for a male suspect after a man was “slashed in neck” on Sunday morning in downtown Toronto and died.
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Health Canada announced various product recalls this week, including electric adapters, armchairs, cannabis edibles and vehicle components.
English, history, entertainment, math and geography: high school trivia teams could be quizzed on any of it when they compete at the Reach for the Top Nationals in Ottawa in June.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
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.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
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.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.