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Wildfire concern differs widely across Canada, poll shows

The Pocket Knife Creek wildfire south of Fort Nelson, B.C., June 10. Seven in 10 respondents in B.C. say they had taken some action to reduce wildfire risk, according to a survey.

Canadians who live in the West are much more likely than those in the rest of the country to have taken action to reduce wildfire risk and mitigate the impacts of wildfire smoke, according to new polling.

The national survey, conducted for The Globe and Mail by Nanos Research, asked Canadians what steps, if any, they had taken in their households in the past two years to address concerns about the intense wildfires that have swept the country, selecting all options that applied.

Manitoba officials hopeful rain, international support will slow raging wildfires

Trees burned by wildfires in the surrounding area of Flin Flon, Man., June 12. Nearly 560 wildfires burned across the country on Sunday, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.

Officials in Manitoba are hopeful that an influx of international firefighters paired with cooler, wetter weather will slow the raging wildfires that have triggered the province’s second state of emergency this year.

As of Sunday, there were 122 active fires burning in the province, which is experiencing its most destructive wildfire season in three decades, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. Premier Wab Kinew cited the need for more shelter spaces for evacuees when he made the rare declaration of a second state of emergency on Thursday.

Vancouver Lapu-Lapu attack inquiry urges B.C. mandate risk assessments for all public events

Members of the Vancouver Police forensics team examine the scene where a vehicle drove into a crowd at a Lapu-Lapu Day street festival Saturday evening in Vancouver on April 27.

An independent commission tasked with improving safety at public events in B.C. after a deadly vehicle attack at a Filipino street festival has recommended that the province mandate risk assessments for all such gatherings, clarify jurisdictional roles and improve training.

The province convened the Commission of Inquiry into Community Events Safety in May after the April 26 vehicle attack. Eleven people died and dozens more were injured when an SUV barrelled through the busy Lapu-Lapu Day block party on the city’s eastside, casting fear and uncertainty on to the summer festival season ahead.

Sparks from an RCMP vehicle mishap ignited fire threatening Lytton

The Izman Creek fire burning north of Lytton had grown to 155 hectares by Thursday.

An RCMP equipment failure is responsible for igniting a wildfire near Lytton, B.C., stirring painful memories for a community that is still rebuilding after being levelled by fire four years earlier.

A Mountie who was in the area searching for a missing swimmer was towing a police boat along Highway 12 northeast of the village in B.C.’s Interior on Canada Day when a wheel ejected from the right side of the trailer, causing a fire in a grass-filled ditch, said B.C. RCMP spokesman Staff Sergeant Kris Clark.

Vast majority of large U.S. fentanyl seizures happen along Mexican border, report finds

In 2023-2024, counties on the border with Mexico, which make up 2.35 per cent of the U.S. population, accounted for about 40 per cent of large fentanyl seizures.

Almost all large seizures of illicit fentanyl in the United States occur along the southern border with Mexico, according to a new report that casts more doubt on the White House’s claim that the drug is “pouring” into the U.S. from Canada.

U.S. President Donald Trump has cited the fentanyl crisis as a legal rationale to invoke emergency economic powers and impose tariffs on imports from Canada. But a Manhattan Institute report by Jonathan Caulkins and Bishu Giri of Carnegie Mellon University concludes that such levies, regardless of merits or drawbacks, cannot be justified as part of a pragmatic and data-informed response to the threat of illicit drugs in the U.S.

Iranian-Canadians gripped with fear and uncertainty as they try to reach family after U.S., Israeli attacks

Saeed Abdollahi holds a picture of his family. The 31-year-old, who came to Canada in 2021, worries about relatives who remain in Iran.

Saeed Abdollahi had just returned to his Calgary home after work when a friend phoned with the news that U.S. air strikes had targeted his hometown of Isfahan, in central Iran. His heart sank; this was the moment he had feared.

The 31-year-old architectural designer turned on the television, desperate for more information from news channels. He frantically tapped out messages to family and friends in Iran, knowing that a near-complete internet blackout meant they wouldn’t be received. The government has said it ordered the shutdown because of cybersecurity concerns.

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