National News

MONTREAL — Advocates for asylum seekers who worked in health care during the pandemic's first wave are calling on Quebec to speed up the processing of immigration applications from workers dubbed "guardian angels" by the premier.

EDMONTON — Road-building approvals for coal exploration already exceed legal limits in some parts of Alberta's Rocky Mountains and foothills, suggest documents from the province's energy regulator.

OTTAWA — Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne sees a future for Canada as a leader in biomanufacturing, including vaccines — but not soon.

CALGARY — Alberta relaxed more environmental rules in response to the COVID-19 pandemic than any other government in Canada, says a study from the University of Calgary.

PORT HAWKESBURY, N.S.

OTTAWA — The Conservatives are calling on the Liberal government to stop funding the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank given the ongoing detention and secret trials of two Canadians in China.

VICTORIA — Bruce and Crystal Dunahee say they can't and will never give up hope of finding their son Michael, who disappeared 30 years ago from a playground in Victoria.

OTTAWA — The federal Liberals are facing calls from some of the hardest-hit businesses in the pandemic to use the coming budget to extend emergency relief programs beyond June, saying many will still need help even as the economy picks up.

REGINA — The federal Indigenous Services minister says Canadians are impatient to see action from the RCMP after a report that said officers in Saskatchewan racially discriminated against the mother of a young Cree man who was shot and killed.

A team of international scientists that includes a Canadian researcher said it has mapped, for the first time, the magnetic fields surrounding a black hole.