Page 8 - Canada

Canada student visas down 66%, foreign worker arrivals cut by half in 2025

Canada cut new student visas by 66 per cent and temporary worker arrivals by 51 per cent in early 2025, as IRCC tightened caps and raised requirements

Canada visas in August: Indian visitor takes 45 days, work permit 7 weeks

Canada's updated visa timelines show Indian visitor visas now take 45 days, while work permits are processed in just over seven weeks

Canada Express Entry: 192 foreigners get PR invites, cut-off hits 800

Canada's IRCC invited 192 PNP candidates in the latest Express Entry draw with a CRS cut-off of 800, the second-highest score of 2025

Air Canada, flight attendants union restart talks for 1st time since strike

Air Canada and the union representing 10,000 flight attendants resumed talks late Monday for the first time since the strike began over the weekend. The strike is affecting about 130,000 travellers a day at the peak of the summer travel season. It was the first time the two sides talked since early Saturday or late Friday. In an update to its members, the union said the airline reached out and the meeting occurred with the assistance of a mediator in Toronto. It followed the union's declaration that the flight attendants won't return to work even though the strike, now in its third day, has been declared illegal. Earlier, Air Canada said rolling cancellations would now extend Tuesday afternoon after the union defied a second return-to-work order. The country's biggest airline had said earlier that operations would resume Monday evening but the union president said that won't happen. We will not be returning to the skies, said Mark Hancock, national president for Canadian Union of

Air Canada suspends restart ops after flight attendants' union defies order

Air Canada said it suspended plans to restart operations on Sunday after the union representing 10,000 flight attendants said it will defy a return to work order. The strike was already affecting about 130,000 travellers around the world per day during the peak summer travel season. The Canada Industrial Relations Board ordered airline staff back to work by 2 pm Sunday after the government intervened and Air Canada said it planned to resume flights Sunday evening. Canada's largest airline now says it will resume flights Monday evening. Air Canada said in a statement that the union illegally directed its flight attendant members to defy a direction from the Canadian Industrial Relations Board. Our members are not going back to work, Canadian Union of Public Employees national president Mark Hancock said outside Toronto's Pearson International Airport. We are saying no. The federal government didn't immediately provide comment on the union refusing to return to work. Hancock said th

Over 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants go on strike, flights cancelled

More than 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants went on strike after a deadline to reach a deal passed, the union confirmed early Saturday. Canadian Union of Public Employees spokesman Hugh Pouliot confirmed the strike has started after no deal was reached. Air Canada has said all flights will be cancelled for the duration of the work stoppage. Canada's largest airline has already cancelled more than 620 flights, leaving travellers around the world stranded and scrambling during the peak summer travel season. A bitter contract fight between Canada's largest airline and the union representing 10,000 of its flight attendants escalated Friday as the union turned down the airline's request to enter into government-directed arbitration, which would eliminate its right to strike and allow a third-party mediator to decide the terms of a new contract.

Air Canada cancels flights ahead of work stoppage affecting thousands

Air Canada started cancelling flights on Thursday ahead of a possible work stoppage by flight attendants that could impact hundreds of thousands of travellers. A complete shutdown of the country's largest airline threatens to impact about 130,000 people a day. The union representing around 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants issued a 72-hour strike notice Wednesday. In response, the airline issued a lockout notice. Mark Nasr, Chief Operations Officer for Air Canada, said the airline has begun a gradual suspension of Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge operations. All flights will be paused by Saturday early morning, he said. Nasr said this approach will help facilitate an orderly restart which under the best circumstances will take a full week to complete. He said a first set of cancellations involving several dozen flights will impact long-haul overseas flights that were due to depart Thursday night. By tomorrow evening we expect to have cancelled flights affecting over 100,000 ...

Canada's Gildan Activewear to acquire HanesBrands for $2.2 billion

Gildan Activewear is buying HanesBrands for USD 2.2 billion in a deal that gives the basic apparel maker access to brands including Hanes and Maidenform. The companies put the transaction's valued at about USD 4.4 billion when including debt. HanesBrands shareholders will receive 0.102 common shares of Gildan and 80 cents in cash for each share of HanesBrands common stock. HanesBrands shareholders will own about 19.9 per cent of Gildan stock once the deal closes. As part of Gildan, HanesBrands will benefit from an even stronger financial and operational foundation that will provide new growth opportunities helping to power further innovation, a broader product offering and greater reach across channels and geographies, HanesBrands chairman Bill Simon said in a statement on Wednesday. Gildan's headquarters will remain in Montreal, Quebec after the transaction is complete. The combined company will keep a strong presence in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where HanesBrands is ...

Air Canada to cancel flights from Thursday amid looming cabin crew strike

Air Canada said Wednesday it will begin a gradual suspension of flights to allow an orderly shutdown of the country's largest airline as it faces a potential work stoppage by its flight attendants on Saturday. The airline said the first flights will be cancelled Thursday, with more on Friday and a complete cessation of flying by Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge by the weekend. The union representing around 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants issued a 72-hour strike notice Wednesday. In response, the airline issued a lockout notice. Air Canada said customers whose flights are cancelled will be notified and they will be eligible for a full refund. The company also said it has made arrangements with other Canadian and foreign carriers to provide customers with alternative travel options to the extent possible. We regret the impact a disruption will have on our customers, our stakeholders and the communities we serve, Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau said in a statement. On Tuesday, Air

From illness to violence: What's behind 1,203 lost Indian lives in Canada?

Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh informed the Rajya Sabha on Thursday that most deaths in Canada between 2020 and 2024 were caused due to medical illness or old age

Key exemption allows most Canadian, Mexican goods to enter US tariff-free

US President Donald Trump raised the tariffs on Canadian goods to 35 per cent last week, but a key exemption for Canada and Mexico shields the vast majority of goods from the punishing duties. Goods that comply with the 2020 United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement trade pact that Trump negotiated during his first term are excluded from the tariffs. Here is a look at Trump's tariffs on the two countries and their exemptions: Most Canadian exports reaching the US duty free Canada's central bank says 100 per cent of energy exports and 95 per cent of other exports are USMCA compliant. The Royal Bank estimated that almost 90 per cent of Canadian exports appear to have accessed the US market duty free in April. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the commitment of the United States to the core of USMCA, reaffirmed again last week, means the US average tariff rate on Canadian goods remains one of its lowest, and over 85 per cent of Canada-US trade continues to be tariff free. "Canada

India's IOC buys 7 mn barrels US, Abu Dhabi crude amid Russian oil decline

India's top refiner IOC buys 7 million barrels of crude from US, Canada and Abu Dhabi via tender, as Russian oil imports pause due to narrowing discounts and rising sanctions

Canadian wildfire smoke chokes Midwest, sparks air quality concerns

Smoke from Canadian wildfires hovered over several Midwestern states Saturday, bringing warnings of unhealthy air for at least the third day. Air quality alerts were in effect in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, as well as eastern Nebraska and parts of Indiana and Illinois. Forecasters said the smoky skies would remain for much of the day. Canadian environmental officials said smoke from the forest fires would persist into Sunday for some areas. The Switzerland-based air quality monitoring database IQAir, which assesses air quality in real time, listed the city of Minneapolis as having some of the worst air pollution in the world since Friday. The Air Quality Index (AQI) was expected to reach the red or unhealthy category in a large swath of Minnesota. AQI is a system used to communicate how much air pollution is in the air. It breaks pollution down into six categories and colours, along with advice on what is and is not safe to do. They range from good (the colour green) t

Trump slaps steep new tariffs on India, Canada, others; markets reel

South Africa's Trade Minister Parks Tau said he was seeking "real, practical interventions" to defend jobs and the economy against the 30per cent US tariff it faces

Statehood for Palestine? The legal test, the war, and the global shift

Global calls for Palestinian statehood rise, but legal, political, and diplomatic roadblocks remain complex and contested

Canada to recognise Palestinian state, risking split with US, Israel

Canadian PM Mark Carney cites Gaza crisis and eroded peace framework as Ottawa prepares to recognise Palestine at the UN, joining France and possibly the UK

Canada visa lottery: 17860 parents, grandparents of migrants invited for PR

Canada has reopened its Parents and Grandparents Program for 2025, with IRCC sending 17,860 invitations by lottery. Selected applicants must apply by October 9

Foreign-trained nurses: Canada offers free help before and after you arrive

Nurses who have received their confirmation of permanent residence but are still abroad can benefit from the Pre-Arrival services. Meanwhile, those who are already in Canada can use the Post-Arrival.

610 antiquities retrieved from six countries in five years, says govt

A total of 610 antiquities were retrieved from the US, the UK and four other countries over the last five years, the government informed Parliament on Monday. Union Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat shared this information in a written reply to a question on whether the government has conducted any survey or study regarding theft of Indian artefacts in the last five years; and details of the total number of artefacts recovered, still missing and unaccounted for over the same period. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) maintains up-to-date data of theft cases in respect of protected monuments, sites and museums under its jurisdiction, he said. On retrieval of antiquities from abroad, according to the data shared by him, in 2020, three artefacts were brought back from Australia and five from the UK. In 2021, 157 antiquities were brought back from the US and one each from Canada and the UK. In 2023 and 2024, the figures stood at 105 (the US) and 297 (the US) ...

Kapil Sharma's Kap's Cafe to reopen post-shooting incident in Canada

Comedian Kapil Sharma took to his Instagram account to share the news of the cafe reopening. He expressed his happiness by writing 'Proud Of You Team' for the staff of Kap's Cafe