National News

VANCOUVER — On a small island in British Columbia's Fraser River is a campsite packed with Canadian snowbirds who found refuge when the border with the United States was shut because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

OTTAWA — Health Canada approved a second COVID-19 vaccine Wednesday, paving the way for the shots from U.S. biotech firm Moderna to start arriving in the country.

The latest numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Canada as of 7:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2020. There are 528,354 confirmed cases in Canada. _ Canada: 528,354 confirmed cases (75,305 active, 438,452 resolved, 14,597 deaths).

The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada (All times Eastern): 6:50 p.m. British Columbia's top doctor says COVID-19 cases in the province are levelling off after peaking in mid-November. Dr.

OTTAWA — The federal Liberal government has tapped a sailor to steer the Canadian Armed Forces, appointing Royal Canadian Navy commander Vice-Admiral Art McDonald as the next chief of the defence staff.

LETHBRIDGE, Alta. — The force appears to be with police officers in southern Alberta who took a young woman wearing a "Star Wars'' storm-trooper costume to the ground last May.

MONTREAL — Police say a man convicted of an aerial attack on Hydro-Quebec power lines and who has evaded authorities for a week could be hiding out in the province's north.

TORONTO — The family of an internationally prominent Pakistani dissident urged a thorough investigation into her death, saying Wednesday they were having difficulty accepting a police conclusion she killed herself.

TORONTO — The Supreme Court agreed on Wednesday to weigh in on a ruling related to the defence of extreme intoxication that had alarmed some women's groups.

MONTREAL — Quebec authorities say masks that have been distributed to daycares across the province since May don't meet provincial safety standards.