National News

WASHINGTON — The United States is introducing a new private refugee sponsorship program that's based on a similar system in Canada. State Department officials say the Canadian model helped inspire and inform the design and implementation of the U.S.

In The News is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to kickstart your day. Here is what's on the radar of our editors for the morning of Jan. 23 ... What we are watching in Canada ...

HALIFAX — Prominent members of Nova Scotia's Black community are supporting a bid to protect the Halifax home and clinic of the late Clement Ligoure, the province's first Black doctor and an unsung hero of the 1917 Halifax Explosion.

OTTAWA — The federal government does not have a willing partner to find a way to introduce fire codes on First Nation reserves, a newly released document shows.

VANCOUVER — The joy of Lunar New Year parades, parties and other festivities was tempered with sadness on Sunday following a deadly mass shooting in California that appeared to target people celebrating the same occasion.

MONTREAL — More than three dozen people gathered at a north Montreal funeral home Sunday to pay their last respects to a man few in attendance had ever met. Fritznel Richard, 44, was found dead in a wooded area in St-Bernard-de-Lacolle, Que.

Canadians across the country and people around the world kicked off the first day of Lunar New Year celebrations Sunday and welcomed the arrival of the Year of the Rabbit.

OTTAWA — Israel's ambassador to Canada says he intends to leave his post early after a change in government back at home as protests mount in Tel Aviv over controversial new policies.

Montreal police say a 75 year-old woman has died after a fire in the city's north end. Police spokeswoman Const. Véronique Dubuc says the fire department was called to an apartment in the Ahuntsic-Cartierville borough around 10 p.m. Saturday.

YELLOWKNIFE — Three of Canada’s five most expensive federal contaminated sites are abandoned mines in the North. Former resource extraction projects are also among the most costly sites where the territories are responsible.