News/Politics

Canada's new disability benefit — a program that provides eligible people with up to $200 a month — is now open for applications.The program is available to people with disabilities between the ages of 18 and 64 who already have been approved for the disability tax credit. The government says payments are set to begin in July.The payments are meant to supplement provincial and territorial programs, and Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu said all provinces and territories except for Alberta have pledged not to claw back their own benefits.The benefit was part of the Trudeau Liberal government's promise to help lift people with disabilities out of poverty.Many advocates for people with disabilities have panned the benefit, saying it will do little to actually address poverty.Hajdu, whose new portfoli...

DNA testing company 23andMe didn't have adequate data protections and ignored warning signs ahead of a massive data breach almost two years ago, an investigation by Canada's privacy commissioner found.Commissioner Philippe Dufresne told reporters that proper protections were not in place in 2023 when hackers gained access to roughly 6.9 million profiles on the site — nearly half its client base."The breach serves as a cautionary tale for all organizations about the importance of data protections," Dufresne said during a news conference on Tuesday."With data breaches growing in severity and complexity — and ransomware and malware attacks rising sharply — any organization that is not taking steps to prioritize data protection and address these threats is increasingly vulnerable."Customer pro...

A major overhaul is expected of the national body that issues Canada's cancer screening guidelines.The changes were ordered by the federal health minister, following an external review of the Task Force on Preventive Health Care. The task force is an arm's-length panel set up by the federal government to publish national guidelines for family doctors, advising them on when to send their patients for routine screenings of various illnesses, including common cancers.But the panel has been criticized for years for failing to fully take in expert advice, using outdated research and being too slow to update its guidelines. Many of the task force's recommendations are over a decade old."Those cancer screenings translate into survival," said Dr. Anna Wilkinson, an Ottawa family physician who help...

Canada's Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam is leaving her position at the end of next week.Tam has been in the role since June 2017, but became a household name in the last five years as she led the country's public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic.Tam says her term ends on June 20, and she doesn't have another job lined up.She is taking a break to think about new opportunities, spend more time with family and get back to some of her passions, including playing music and long-distance running.A pediatric infectious disease physician by training, Tam joined the federal government's public health team around the time measles was eliminated in 1998.She says it's concerning to see the virus return but is confident Canada can stop domestic transmission once again through immun...

Marc Garneau died this week after being diagnosed with two types of cancer earlier this year, his former staffer says.The first Canadian to travel to space and former cabinet minister died on Wednesday. He was 76.Marc Roy, Garneau's former chief of staff, told CBC's Power & Politics that the former minister had been diagnosed with lymphoma and leukemia earlier this year."He fought a short but very difficult battle with two very rare types of cancer," Roy told host David Cochrane."Although his diagnosis was only a couple of months ago, he was well until four or five weeks ago. So it went very, very quickly … it's a very, very tough loss."Roy said Garneau only shared his diagnosis with a small circle that agreed to respect his wish for privacy."[It was] something he wanted to keep with h...

A recently released RCMP audit says its 911 dispatch centres across the country are struggling with severe staff shortages and burnout, putting front-line Mounties and the public at risk. Described as the lifeline for officers in the field, the RCMP is responsible for 17 operational communications centres, where dispatchers field calls in almost every province and all three territories. They also help with national security files. Dispatchers are often the first point of contact for the public in emergencies and provide critical support for officers responding to those calls.But new findings suggest the dispatch centres — known as operational communications centres or OCCs — are in a state of emergency themselves. "Staffing shortages limit the effectiveness of the OCCs and could potentiall...

First Nations leaders are urging Prime Minister Mark Carney to tackle a number key priorities in the first 100 days of Canada's new Parliament."All these priorities are in line with Prime Minister Carney's stated priorities, namely: economic development, housing, infrastructure and continued progress on reconciliation," Sen. Paul Prosper, who represents Nova Scotia, said in Ottawa on Monday.Prosper's requests are supported by chiefs across Nova Scotia and Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Cindy Woodhouse, who appeared at the news conference by video."Canada Strong cannot be successful without the full participation of First Nations people across this beautiful country," Woodhouse said, referencing a Liberal slogan from the last election campaign.The new session of Parliament b...

Mark Carney's promise to lead a Canadian economic transformation includes a renewed focus on artificial intelligence, which the new prime minister listed as a key pillar of his plan.Experts say they are encouraged by Carney's campaign pledge to invest in the technology. But they say that after establishing itself as a leader in the early decades of AI development, Canada risks falling farther behind other countries if his government doesn't deliver."They care about the right stuff and I think they are generally on the right track," said Lawrence Zhang, head of policy at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation's Centre for Canadian Innovation and Competitiveness."I don't know if they're going to deliver or not. But it's extremely important that they do deliver."During the elect...

Liberal Party pledges to make an access to abortion fund permanent, spend up to $20,000 for IVF treatment and invest in data collection on issues like menopause are welcomed initiatives, some women's health advocates say.But they also cautioned that the party needs to release more details, particularly on how such initiatives would be funded. While the IVF program did lay out an actual dollar amount, the party's platform does not detail how much it would invest in other reproductive health programs."I'm excited about visible commitments to women's reproductive health, women's safety, gender," said Frédérique Chabot, executive director of Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights, an organization that advocates for sexual and reproductive health issues in Canada and globally. "There's a lo...

Election day is less than two weeks away, but Rowena Edwards is still unsure who she should vote for."Honestly, I don't like any candidates," the 63-year-old told CBC News through an email interview.Edwards is one of more than eight million Canadians living with a disability. She says she spends around 20 hours a day in a hospital bed at home in Sherwood Park, Alta. — by herself and unable to work. She says she feels forgotten by Canada's federal party leaders."Our leaders don't even think about us," she said. "I have no faith that things will change for us." She's not the only person who feels that way. Disability activist and retired lawyer David Lepofsky, who is blind, says people with disabilities are victims of a "vicious cycle that muzzles their voice."Activists are calling on federa...