National News

VANCOUVER — Police say a 44-year-old woman has been arrested in a hate-crime investigation over a speech in Vancouver that praised the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel.

OTTAWA — Defence Minister Bill Blair says it's hard to convince cabinet and Canadians that meeting the NATO spending target is a worthy goal, because "nobody knows what that means.

OTTAWA — Human-rights groups are urging Ottawa to reverse course on plans to allow immigrant detention in federal prisons, saying vulnerable people could be exposed to unreasonably harsh conditions.

OTTAWA — A decision about whether to recriminalize drug use in British Columbia needs to be made urgently, Canada's addictions minister said Wednesday, but she says she is still waiting for more information from the province before making a call.

OTTAWA — Citizens' Services Minister Terry Beech says 1,200 seniors have already visited a dentist and had their claims processed by the federal government's new dental care plan.

SQUAMISH, B.C. — Plans to use a renovated cruise ship to house more than 600 workers as they build a liquefied natural gas facility near Squamish, B.C., have been voted down by the local council. The ship arrived in B.C.

OTTAWA — The head of the Halifax Port Authority says scanning more shipping containers for stolen cars may do little to curb auto theft.

OTTAWA — NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says his party will support the federal budget, ending any speculation that the party could pull out of its deal with the minority Liberal government.

HALIFAX — An independent committee has released its first report on how governments and the RCMP are responding to the inquiry into the 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia, but it does not offer any assessment of the progress made so far.

VICTORIA — Pro-Palestinian protesters have set up camp at a second university in British Columbia, with tents going up on a field at the University of Victoria.