Category Archives: Social
Pope creates lay ministry to boost supply of faith teachers
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis on Tuesday formally created a new lay ministry to encourage greater participation of secular women and men in the teaching of the Catholic faith, especially in places where priests are in short supply.
School shooting in Russia kills 9 people; suspect arrested
MOSCOW (AP) — A gunman launched an attack on a school in the Russian city of Kazan that left at least nine people dead Tuesday — including seven youngsters — and sent students hiding under their desks or running out
Migrant children held in mass shelters with little oversight
The Biden administration is holding tens of thousands of asylum-seeking children in an opaque network of some 200 facilities that The Associated Press has learned spans two dozen states and includes five shelters with more than 1,000 children packed in...
France vows tougher punishment for those who attack police
PARIS (AP) — “Dead or Alive.” The chilling words were scrawled on photos of three police officers in their uniforms posted last month on a wall in a Grenoble suburb, in southwest France.
Boost in near-term funds, risk should lure more social-finance investors, Hussen says
OTTAWA — Changes to the federal plan to finance experimental ways to deliver social services should more easily and quickly bring in needed private-sector backers for the strategy to work, says the minister on the file. Social Development Minister Ahme...
U.N. committee to consider racism complaint of N.S. Mi’kmaq fishers against Ottawa
HALIFAX — A United Nations committee on racial discrimination is asking the federal government to respond to allegations it committed racist actions in its treatment of Mi'kmaq lobster fishers in Nova Scotia. The April 30 letter of notice from the Comm...
Demonstrators demand more social housing in Montreal protest
MONTREAL — Protesters are calling for more social housing in a demonstration Saturday in Montreal's Sud-Ouest borough, where rents are among the highest in the city. Véronique Laflamme, a spokeswoman for the Popular Action Front for Urban Redevelopment...
B.C. government to give more than $8 million for programs to curb gang violence
VICTORIA — British Columbia is providing $8.6 million in grants for communities and families dealing with gun and gang violence. A government news release says 221 not-for-profit projects led by local governments and school districts among others will ...
Statistics Canada sees more demand to fill out census online during pandemic
OTTAWA — Statistics Canada says the response to the census is higher than the agency expected so far, with online submissions coming from some remote communities for the first time. Census cards with information about how to fill out the short-
Ottawa to create new system to tackle delays in processing immigration applications
Ottawa says it will create a new digital platform to help process immigration applications more quickly after the COVID-19 pandemic underscored the need for a faster shift to a new system. The federal government pledged in the 2021 budget to spend
