National News

OTTAWA — The government hopes to see kids eating meals under a universal, national school food program before the end of the next school year, but it will take time for organizations to scale up their operations, the families minister said Thursday.

MONTREAL — Earlier this week, members of Montreal's Muslim community gathered in a park to celebrate the Eid al-Adha holiday, a day when families traditionally wear their finest clothes, share gifts, feast and pray together.

OTTAWA — Federal Justice Minister Arif Virani says he isn't going anywhere without a mobile duress alarm in his pocket. He doesn't move around without first informing someone, including when he attends public events.

OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada will not delve into a dispute between Nova Scotia and its teachers union that stretches back several years.

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed... Heat wave still grips Ontario, Quebec, Maritimes A heat wave that's washed over eastern Canada is sticking around for a little while still.

EDMONTON — Cheryl Oates learned that she needed to lace up a good pair of running shoes to keep up with Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley.

VICTORIA — A sexual misconduct investigation into a veteran Vancouver police officer who also teaches criminology was spurred by anonymous comments on a social media post, the Office of the Police Complaint Commission in B.C. says.

OTTAWA — Canada needs to meet NATO's minimum defence spending target, and present a plan on how it will reach it as a way to show authoritarian regimes that Western allies are aligned, said the alliance's secretary general on Wednesday.

VANCOUVER — With entrenched views on all sides of the salmon-farming debate in British Columbia, the federal government cast the issue five years down the road on Wednesday, saying aquaculture must move to land by 2029.

VANCOUVER — When the federal government allowed British Columbia to walk back its experiment with drug decriminalization, the move wasn't surprising to Brittany Maple, executive director of the Matsqui-Abbotsford Impact Society.