NATO is planning a seven-fold increase in the numbers of troops deployed in Iraq to train the country’s security forces as the military alliance seeks to prevent resurgence of the Islamic State group, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday. “The… »
Levon Sevunts
Born and raised in Armenia, Levon started his journalistic career in 1990, covering wars and civil strife in the Caucasus and Central Asia.In 1992, after the government in Armenia shut down the TV program he was working for, Levon immigrated to Canada. He learned English and eventually went back to journalism, working first in print and then in broadcasting.
Levon’s journalistic assignments have taken him from the High Arctic to Sahara and the killing fields of Darfur, from the streets of Montreal to the snow-capped mountaintops of Hindu Kush in Afghanistan.
He says, “But best of all, I’ve been privileged to tell the stories of hundreds of people who’ve generously opened up their homes, refugee tents and their hearts to me.”
Afghanistan and Iraq top agenda of NATO defence ministers’ meeting
The future of NATO’s deployment in Afghanistan and Iraq are at the top of a two-day meeting of NATO defence ministers, including Canada’s Harjit Sajjan, that began Wednesday via secure teleconference link. The virtual get together is also the first… »
COVID-19 vaccines have reached 27% of adult Indigenous population: minister
Health authorities in Canada have distributed more than 83,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses in over 400 First Nations, Inuit and northern communities, reaching 27 per cent of the Indigenous adult population, Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller said Wednesday. Speaking at a… »
Canada’s annual inflation comes out of deep freeze in January, rises to 1%
Canada’s annual inflation picked up pace in January rising to 1.0 per cent compared with a year ago, the country national statistics agency reported Wednesday. Statistics Canada attributed much of the increase to rising gasoline prices that increased 6.1 per… »
Immigration & Refugees, Politics
MPs vote unanimously to grant permanent residence to wrongly accused man
Legislators in Canada’s House of Commons unanimously voted on Tuesday to ask the federal government to grant permanent residence to a Guinean man who was held in detention for six days last month after being wrongly accused of shooting a… »
Canadian NGO calls on Ottawa to cancel purchase of Israeli drone
A Canadian NGO is calling on the federal government to cancel its $36-million purchase of an Israeli-made civilian maritime surveillance drone over concerns about the manufacturer’s human rights record. Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) has… »
‘Total betrayal.’ Gun control activists react to Trudeau’s gun buyback scheme
Gun control activists in Canada reacted with “anger and dismay” on Tuesday to the Trudeau government’s proposed legislation to toughen the country’s gun laws, accusing the Liberals of backtracking on their promise to remove all newly blacklisted firearms from circulation.… »
Immigration & Refugees, Society
Ottawa relaxes work permit rules for international students
In an effort to attract more highly skilled immigrants, the federal government is further relaxing rules for thousands of international students who had post-graduation work permits (PGWP) but because of the pandemic could not work and get the necessary work… »
Child soldiers ‘still being used as expendable fuel of war,’ UN warns
Despite the fact that 99 countries have signed up to international efforts spearheaded by Canada to eradicate the use of child soldiers around the world, children are “still being used as expendable fuel of war,” UN officials say. As the… »
Everyone who wants a vaccine will get one by end of September, Trudeau says
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday reiterated his pledge that every Canadian who wants to get a COVID-19 vaccine will get one by the end September, just as a new poll shows growing dissatisfaction with his government’s handling of the… »
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