Montreal city councillors table motion to declare state of emergency on homelessness

MONTREAL – Two people are missing after a house caught fire Friday evening in Saint-Georges, Quebec, about 85 kilometres southeast of Quebec City.

Quebec provincial police say they received a 911 call at around 5 p.m.

Spokesperson Élizabeth Marquis-Guy says police are still working to locate the missing men.

Police say one of the men is in his 50s while the other is in his 60s.

Firefighters battled the flames well into the night and have since put out the fire.

Marquis-Guy says the cause of the fire is not yet known, and the investigation is ongoing.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 16, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

LIMA, Peru – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is announcing $35 million in Canadian funding for programs across the Pacific Rim ranging from cybersecurity training to fighting domestic violence.

The funding pulls from money that was already allocated, such as the Indo-Pacific strategy the Liberals announced two years ago.

The prime minister made the announcement in Peru in his second day at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

The largest projects involve improving access to reproductive health care for women in Peru and fostering sustainable communities in the country’s Andes region.

Trudeau met Saturday with Peruvian President Dina Boluarte as well as Chilean President Gabriel Boric.

The prime minister is set to hold a press conference Saturday afternoon alongside Trade Minister Mary Ng.

The APEC group aims to resolve trade barriers and grow economies across the Pacific Rim, but it’s been challenged by rising protectionism.

A frequent topic of discussion at the summit’s public events has been how to maintain rules-based trade as U.S. president-elect Donald Trump vows to implement sweeping tariffs.

Canada has doubled down on its focus on trade, announcing Friday that negotiations were complete for a trade agreement with Indonesia.

That country has a booming economy, and Trudeau’s office says it is Canada’s largest export market in Southeast Asia, particularly for agriculture, manufactured goods and natural resources.

As part of Canada’s engagement across the Pacific Rim, Trudeau has announced support for programs such as a $3.9-million investment in the BlackBerry Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence in Malaysia, which will train 3,500 people from across the region in an effort to boost local jobs in government, research, and industry.

Another project involves integrating at least 2,500 Venezuelan refugees with medical degrees into Peru’s medical system.

Trudeau has also announced that Canada will seek to expand nuclear-energy collaboration across Southeast Asia, particularly for countries grappling with how to adequately power computers and data centres used for artificial intelligence.

Trudeau said that would bring jobs and more regional clout to Canada.

The prime minister had informal meetings on the sidelines of the APEC summit, where Chinese President Xi Jinping is a particularly important figure due to Beijing’s push for closer ties to South America.

Xi this week unveiled a mega port in Peru, and newspapers and billboards around Lima have been promoting Chinese companies. An ad from one Chinese alcohol maker shows Machu Picchu and the Great Wall of China, wishing a successful APEC summit in both Spanish and Chinese.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 16, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

EDMONTON – Canada’s Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault is apologizing after shifting claims about his Indigenous identity came under scrutiny.

The Liberal member of Parliament said at an unrelated announcement in Edmonton on Friday that he’s sorry he wasn’t as clear as he could have been “with everything that I know now.”

“I apologize that I wasn’t as clear as I could have been about who I am and my family’s history,” he said, adding that he’s still learning about his family’s heritage “in real time.”

Boissonnault has previously referred to himself as “non-status adopted Cree” and said his great-grandmother was a “full-blooded Cree woman.”

He said Friday he’ll have to confirm his great-grandmother’s status, but his mother and brother are citizens of the Métis Nation of Alberta.

“I apologize if that particular way of referring to myself — I apologize that it was inaccurate.”

It comes after the National Post reported that a company co-owned by Boissonnault unsuccessfully bid on two federal contracts in 2020 while identifying itself as Indigenous and Aboriginal-owned.

The government has pledged to award five per cent of its procurement contracts to Indigenous-owned businesses.

Since that story’s publication last week, Boissonnault has said the family he was adopted into has Indigenous ancestry and his adopted mother and brother are status Métis.

Boissonnault said Friday he never claimed any Indigenous status to his business partner, Stephen Anderson.

“Mr. Anderson should never have claimed that on the particular contract application, and no contract was awarded,” he said.

Boissonnault has previously sat as a member of the Liberal Indigenous Caucus, but he said he joined it as an ally representing many Indigenous people in his community.

When asked about the Liberals’ past claims about his Indigenous identity, he said he corrected the party and asked for the descriptions to be changed as soon as he became aware.

“I never asked the party to refer to me as an Indigenous person. I never clicked any box in any form with the Liberal party. I have never put (an) Indigenous claim to any contract or any application in my entire life,” he said.

The Conservative party has said it wants Boissonnault to testify before the ethics committee so he can “answer truthfully for these serious allegations of fraud.”

“This is even more urgent given the new allegations that his company fraudulently claimed to be Indigenous-owned while applying for government contracts,” said Conservative MP Michael Barrett.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 15, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.