National News

Arctic governments are bracing for the potential impact of the novel coronavirus in far-flung, isolated communities with often overcrowded homes.

COQUITLAM, B.C.

The latest numbers of confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases in Canada as of March 12, 2020: — Ontario: 59 confirmed (five cases resolved) — British Columbia: 53 confirmed, including one death (six cases resolved) — Alberta: 19 confirmed — Quebec:

OTTAWA — The Bank of Canada prepared to increase the cash it pumps into the financial system and Finance Minister Bill Morneau stressed the need for fiscal measures to manage the impact of COVID-19 as official Ottawa responded to another market plung

BC Education Minister Rob Fleming came to Richmond this morning to deliver news about provincial funding for seismic upgrades. But he wound up fielding several questions about coronavirus and how it may affect students.

Two more Richmond schools will soon get seismic upgrades. Maple Lane and James McKinney elementary schools are receiving a combined $19.3 million from the provincial government for these improvements.

An advocate is demanding answers after the suicide of a young Indigenous inmate in Saskatchewan on Monday. “He was crying out for help,” said Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP) national vice-chief Kim Beaudin.

TORONTO — Defence lawyers for a Toronto man accused of sexually assaulting and strangling a young woman suggested Thursday that another man was responsible for the killing.

WINNIPEG — Manitoba announced its first presumptive cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, and officials are warning people to stop shaking hands, rethink travel plans and reconsider attending large public events.

CALGARY — A two-year-old who recently returned from a family vacation in Florida is among four new COVID-19 cases confirmed in Alberta, prompting a daycare in a downtown Calgary office tower to temporarily shut down.