National News

Two more Richmond schools will soon get seismic upgrades. Maple Lane and James McKinney elementary schools are receiving a combined $19.3 million from the provincial government for these improvements.

An advocate is demanding answers after the suicide of a young Indigenous inmate in Saskatchewan on Monday. “He was crying out for help,” said Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP) national vice-chief Kim Beaudin.

TORONTO — Defence lawyers for a Toronto man accused of sexually assaulting and strangling a young woman suggested Thursday that another man was responsible for the killing.

WINNIPEG — Manitoba announced its first presumptive cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, and officials are warning people to stop shaking hands, rethink travel plans and reconsider attending large public events.

CALGARY — A two-year-old who recently returned from a family vacation in Florida is among four new COVID-19 cases confirmed in Alberta, prompting a daycare in a downtown Calgary office tower to temporarily shut down.

OTTAWA — Leaders of Canada's three national Indigenous organizations will speak with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau by telephone Friday to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on Canada's Indigenous communities.

OTTAWA — A federal watchdog has found the federal prison service failed to ensure a safe work environment at a Quebec penitentiary.

Onion Lake Cree Nation is still in a state of emergency and the measures implemented are helping control gang-related activity, according to Philip Chief, director of operations. OLCN declared a state of emergency Jan.

WINNIPEG — Manitoba's Opposition New Democrats used procedural tactics to block the release of the provincial budget for a second straight day Thursday, pushing back the delivery of the 2020-21 fiscal plan to Monday — at the earliest.

OTTAWA — China and Russia are meddling in Canadian affairs, a national security-and-intelligence watchdog says in a new report that cites evidence of "significant and sustained" foreign interference directed at Canada.