Aug 6 2020 — Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — The crown prince of Saudi Arabia sent a hit squad to Canada in an effort to hunt down and kill a former top intelligence official who knows too much, a civil suit filed Thursday in court in the United States asserts. The 106-page unproven complaint, which reads like a spy thriller, accuses Mohammed bin […]
Aug 6 2020 — Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — An HIV-positive man who had protected intercourse with three women without telling them about his health status has had his aggravated sexual assault conviction upheld. In dismissing his appeal, Ontario's top court rejected arguments that condom use is a sure fire way to prevent transmission of the virus that can lead to AIDS. […]
Aug 6 2020 — Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — A Hamilton-area homeowner who gunned down a would-be car thief seconds after confronting him in the dead of night succeeded on Thursday in getting the country's top court to hear his case. The Supreme Court agreed to weigh in at the request of Peter Khill, who was initially acquitted of second-degree murder in the […]
Aug 5 2020 — Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Peter Rakobowchuk, a journalist with Canada's national news agency whose high energy delivery was instantly recognizable to decades of listeners, has died. More widely known by his radio moniker Peter Ray — a supervisor early on told him it sounded smoother — the irrepressible Rakobowchuk had been undergoing chemotherapy for liver cancer. He […]
Aug 3 2020 — Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — A Canadian professor who sparked a backlash by using a prestigious international scientific journal to question the impact of diversity hiring on the quality of scientific research has hit back at his detractors, saying he was the victim of a social media tempest. In a lengthy statement, Tomas Hudlicky, 69, of Brock University, says […]
Jul 30 2020 — Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — A freight-train derailment in northwestern Ontario that led to a significant oil spill this winter was caused by a phenomenon known as "ice jacking," federal investigators reported on Thursday. The report by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada concludes the rails had loosened due to a buildup of snow and ice underneath, making them […]
Jul 30 2020 — Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Ask the outgoing head of the country's largest municipal police force about defunding or cuts to its $1-billion budget, and the response reflects typical disdain for what he views as sloganeering in response to complex problems. Before considering cuts, the soft-spoken Mark Saunders says, something realistic and effective would first have to be […]
Jul 29 2020 — Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Three children should not be sent back to their allegedly abusive father in Kuwait pending the outcome of their parents' custody dispute in Canada, Ontario's top court ruled Wednesday in a case that attracted United Nations attention. In setting aside an order that the two boys and a girl should be returned to the […]
Jul 24 2020 — Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — A law that bars a judge from imposing a conditional sentence for certain offences was struck down as unconstitutional on Friday in a decision likely to find its way to the country's top court. In a 2-1 ruling, the Ontario Court of Appeal found the provisions of the Criminal Code run afoul of the charter because […]
Jul 23 2020 — Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — A city bus driver whose licence was revoked after she lost her eye to cancer has won her battle to have the relevant provincial regulations declared unconstitutional. In her ruling this month, Ontario Superior Court Justice Jessica Kimmel decided the rules, aimed at enhancing road safety, are unfair to the monocular — those with sight […]
Jul 22 2020 — Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — For-profit long-term care homes in Ontario saw significantly worse outbreaks of COVID-19 and more related deaths than their non-profit or municipally run counterparts, according to a new study released on Wednesday. The paper in the peer-reviewed Canadian Medical Association Journal raises questions about the ownership status of nursing homes, a factor the association […]
Jul 21 2020 — Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — A young woman who made headlines with a toss of a chair from a 45th-storey Toronto balcony was fined $2,000 on Tuesday, with the judge saying it was lucky no one was hurt and that Marcella Zoia had been shamed publicly. In passing sentence, Ontario court Judge Mara Greene rejected prosecution calls to jail […]
Jul 19 2020 — Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Three protesters were charged with mischief on Saturday after supporters of Black Lives Matter threw paint on several statues, including one of Canada's first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, and called for the defunding of police. The protesters, who had marched on the Ontario legislature from Ryerson University, where a statue of […]
Jul 16 2020 — Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — A police officer who shot and wounded a Black woman after a domestic call on Mother's Day in Mississauga, Ont., was charged on Thursday with criminal negligence and other offences. In a statement, the director of the provincial Special Investigations Unit, Joseph Martino, said he had reasonable grounds to charge Valerie Briffa in the shooting of […]
Jul 12 2020 — Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — In its 26 years of existence, officers with Canada's largest Indigenous police force have never shot and killed anyone and no officer has died in the line of duty, despite a grinding lack of resources and an absence of normal accountability mechanisms. It's a record of which the Nishnawbe Aski Police Service is […]