COVID-19 Pandemic Has Spurred Newcomers To Canada To Return To Their Home Countries

OTTAWA — The economic and life disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted some recent immigrants to leave Canada and return to their countries of origin, where they have more social and family connections.The number of permanent residents who have been in Canada for less than five years declined by four per cent to 1,019,000 by the end of 2020 from 1,060,000 the year before, according to an analysis of Statistics Canada’s labour force survey that measures the number of w

Everyone lives life a little differently, and at a different pace. Getting your first job, getting married, buying a home, or starting a side hustle are all major life events. While we all have unique circumstances, what’s for certain is that life events and taxes go hand in hand. A good rule of thumb is that for every milestone you hit, you can expect that it’ll somehow affect your tax filing and might add to the complexity of your taxes.In partnership with H&R Block, we breakdo

In this special pandemic edition of “Born And Raised,” hosts Alisha Sahwney, Al Donato, and their guests explore themes of belonging and identity in immigrant families by heading where the heart is. Listen to ‘Born And Raised’ on Apple Podcastsand Google Podcasts.We decided on our season three theme last year, after the COVID-19 pandemic sent us all home last March. The team figured episodes about this topic would be all too relatable for listeners. That, and the obv

A long-time resident of the English village Butcombe, John Adams is fed up with the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, or what he calls the “corporate psychopath” that’s hellbent on expanding the nearby Bristol Airport. Teachers’, one of Canada’s largest pension funds, owns 100 per cent of the regional airport, which is surrounded by sacrosanct greenbelt land in North Somerset, just outside Bristol, U.K. For more than two years the airport has been push

It took Canada 36 years to acknowledge that I am a Status Indian. I grew up in Matachewan, Ont., a township near Matachewan First Nation. There were only seven houses on the First Nation, so most band members lived in town with French and English neighbours. There, nobody questioned that I was Indigenous. I didn’t question it, because I knew who I was. Yet, according to the Indian Act, my siblings and I were anything but.In December 1952, my grandmother, Laura Flood, became one of mor

As COVID-19 vaccine supplies ramp up across the country, most provinces and territories have released details of who can expect to receive a shot in the coming weeks. Here’s a list of their plans to date:Newfoundland and LabradorThe province says it is in Phase 1 of its vaccine rollout. Health-care workers on the front lines of the pandemic, staff at long-term care homes, people of “advanced age” and adults in remote or isolated Indigenous communities have priority.Newfoundland

The president of the Ontario Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists is applauding the province’s move to include pregnant women on its priority list of recipients in the next phase of its COVID-19 vaccination plan.Dr. Constance Nasello says that although pregnant women were excluded from initial trials of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, there is increasing evidence that the vaccines are safe for them.Ontario health authorities listed pregnancy as a factor putting someone at

OTTAWA _ Independent MP Yasmin Ratansi is being ordered to repay the House of Commons money given to her sister after she lost her job in Ratansi’s Toronto riding office.Ratansi left the Liberal caucus in November after admitting she had employed her sister as a constituency assistant in her riding of Don Valley East, saying she “made an error.“The board of internal economy, the all-party body that sets spending guidelines for MPs, reviewed the matter and said Monday that it de

Meghan Markle’s pups, Guy and Pula, are both rescue dogs. The former senior royal is on record as saying they’ve been a great source of comfort this past year ― a turbulent one, to say the least, since Meghan and husband Prince Harry stepped back from their official duties, fought multiple lawsuits with tabloids media outlets, and experienced heartbreaking baby loss.During a two-hour interview with Oprah that aired Sunday, Meghan and Harry invited the former talk show host

The tabloids can be vicious to pregnant bodies, a fact that Kim Kardashian knows first-hand. In a series of Instagram story posts last Friday, the media mogul and mom of four opened up about how traumatizing it was for her to endure body-shaming from the press eight years ago. After watching the documentary “Framing Britney Spears,” the 40-year-old celebrity parent said she related to the singer’s struggles. “No matter how public someone’s life may se

OTTAWA — A Nebraska Republican senator put U.S. President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion USD relief bill into perspective over the weekend by comparing its price tag to the value of Canada’s annual economy. The U.S. Senate passed the COVID-19 relief bill 50-49 Saturday along party lines. The bill, dubbed the American Rescue Plan, includes a proposal for another round of $1,400 USD stimulus cheques for people who earn less than $75,000 annual income and extended federal unemploy

“Kim’s Convenience,” the CBC sitcom about Korean immigrants who run a convenience store in Toronto and who sometimes clash with their Canadian-born children, will come to an end after the current season. The show’s producers made the announcement on Twitter on Monday.“At the end of production on Season 5, our co-creators confirmed they were moving on to other projects,” the post read. The show was created by Ins Choi, who wrote the play the show is based on, a

OTTAWA — Members of the House of Commons ethics committee have unanimously voted to summon WE Charity co-founders Craig and Marc Kielburger to testify.Should the brothers not appear by this Friday to testify for at least three hours, the ethics committee has declared, they may face potential censure by the whole of the House of Commons.The brothers had been scheduled to appear before the committee on Monday. It was originally meant to be the final day of testimony in the committee’s

OTTAWA — Former prime minister Kim Campbell spoke frankly Monday about how increased representation of women in politics can sometimes be followed with pushback from extremist groups.Speaking virtually to delegates at Daughters of the Vote, an annual summit organized by Equal Voice Canada to encourage more women to get into politics, Campbell called the timing “fortuitous” for the 338 participants to apprentice as members of Parliament for the day. “We see resurgent

MONTREAL — In 2019, Quebec’s secularism law —Bill 21 — became official. It prohibits certain public service workers from wearing religious symbols at work and has disproportionately affected women who wear the hijab, an Islamic headscarf. The law has faced several legal challenges since its inception, which claim it is a violation of human rights, perpetuates gender bias, and forces women to choose between their faith and careers. Bill 21 invoked a notwithstanding clause,

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s interview with Oprah on Sunday still has us reeling from all the shockers shared, with one of the major ones being that the Royal Family took away Harry’s access to their funds in early 2020 ― and that if it weren’t for his mother’s inheritance fund, his family would be in dire circumstances.The Royal Canadian Mounted Police provided their protection services to the couple while they stayed in Canada, from November 2019 to

Federal Conservatives are accusing the Liberals of seeking to “engineer” an election by blaming the Official Opposition for delays in the government’s legislative agenda.Conservative House Leader Gérard Deltell charged in a statement Monday that Liberals are “playing games” at a time when the focus should be on the COVID-19 pandemic.“Canadians don’t want a risky pandemic election, but with every filibuster, delay in producing House-ordered documen

Meghan Markle’s two-hour interview with Oprah Winfrey on Sunday night was so jam-packed with information that some of the big reveals had to wait until Monday morning.In a clip that didn’t make Sunday’s broadcast, Meghan spoke publicly about her difficult relationship with her father for the first time. “There was such an obsession about anything in my world, including tracking down my parents,” Meghan told Oprah. “And I did everything I could to protect

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s two-hour sit-down with Oprah Winfrey on Sunday included multiple reveals about their mental health, the reported racial discrimination they faced from members within and surrounding the Royal Family and the British press, and much more, including the main driver behind their decision to leave Canada for California.First spotted in Victoria and Vancouver Island in November 2019, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived in British Columbia on their extende

MONTREAL — Aeroplan is launching a partnership that will allow its users to earn and redeem points at Starbucks.The Air Canada loyalty program says members will need to link their Aeroplan account to a Starbucks Rewards account to allow them to earn both Aeroplan points and Starbucks stars.Once connected, Aeroplan users can earn points by loading money on their digital Starbucks card and can save when they redeem Aeroplan points for Starbucks gift cards.The new partnership follows a r

For years, as tabloid headlines veered more and more dramatic leading up to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s exit from the Royal Family in 2020, many royal watchers wondered if we would ever actually find out what was going on behind closed doors.On Sunday, we did. A little more than a year after they decided they would step back, and just a few weeks after the announcement that they won’t be returning as working members, the couple sat down with Oprah Winfrey for a highly antic

Meghan Markle didn’t hold back during her interview with Oprah on Sunday evening.Among them: Archie, her now nearly two-year-old son with husband Prince Harry, was not offered royal titles or protection.While she got pregnant with him, Meghan said, she was told the Royal Family didn’t want the baby to have a prince/princess title. That meant he wouldn’t receive any of the security that’s usually afforded to royal children. The logic coming from The Firm (as the Royal

Several provinces were preparing to loosen COVID-19 restrictions on Sunday, as Canada’s chief public health officer expressed optimism over vaccines ahead of the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 crisis.The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic last March 11, and Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam said it’s been a difficult 12 months marked by hardship and sacrifice.“Yet, as the months have gone by, I have also witnessed the remarkable courage, stre

OTTAWA — The federal Conservatives plan to summon two senior Liberal aides to testify on when they first learned of sexual misconduct allegations surrounding the military’s former top soldier — and account for what they did about the accusations.The Tories said they will ask the House of Commons’ defence committee on Monday to have Zita Astravas and Elder Marques appear in the coming days, as opposition parties continue digging into the government’s handling of the

The first day of spring is just a few weeks away, and for Canadians, that means the snow will be melting in just a few months... So of course, our thoughts turn naturally to the many exciting events that come with the arrival of springtime.Except maybe not so much this year, with the COVID-19 pandemic still raging and the country hunkered down, waiting for a vaccine. Some people are likelier than others to enjoy a “normal” spring this year, and it largely depends on where you ar

Ian McMahon and his 10 siblings felt terrified as they watched the first wave of COVID-19 devastate nursing homes across Ontario in spring 2020. But no one got infected at the Windsor, Ont. home where their father, George Arthur McMahon Sr., lived. They celebrated George’s 87th birthday in September with an outdoor party at his nursing home. George — who was also a grandfather to more than 25, great-grandfather to 12 and great-great-grandfather to two — had to stay behind

LONDON — Britain’s royal family and television have a complicated relationship.The medium has helped define the modern monarchy: The 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II was Britain’s first mass TV spectacle. Since then, rare interviews have given a glimpse behind palace curtains at the all-too-human family within. The fictionalized take of Netflix hit “The Crown” has moulded views of the monarchy for a new generation, though in ways the powerful, image-conscious r

TORONTO — Ontario’s New Democrats say they would create a new cap-and-trade carbon pricing system if elected in 2022.The official Opposition made the promise in an environmental policy plank of their election platform, released today at a morning news conference.Party leader Andrea Horwath says the province needs the carbon pricing system to help fight climate change.She says the system would generate $30 billion in revenue, and the NDP would raise another $10 billion through the sal

BRANTFORD, Ont. — Wayne Gretzky remembered his father, Walter, as a man with “a heart of gold” today at his funeral in Brantford, Ont.Known as Canada’s hockey dad, Walter Gretzky died Thursday at age 82 after battling Parkinson’s disease and other health issues in recent years.Wayne Gretzky, the oldest of the family’s five children, delivered an emotional eulogy, saying of his late father, “We’d be a way better world if there was so many more peopl