As the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic grounds many of Canada’s air carriers to halt, the country’s national Inuit organization is calling on the federal government to designate air transportation to remote Arctic communities as an essential service. Inuit Tapiriit… »
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.”
Trudeau promises surge of made-in-Canada masks, ventilators and testing kits
The federal government has signed contracts with three Canadian companies to make ventilators, surgical masks, test kits and other medical supplies over the coming weeks to cope with the country’s rapidly increasing number of COVID-19 cases, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau… »
Frontline healthcare workers need better support, emergency physicians warn
Canada’s already undermanned and overstretched frontline healthcare workers fighting to stop the spread of COVID-19 need better physical and mental health protection support to endure what is likely to be a prolonged battle with the pandemic, says the Canadian Association… »
TC Energy to start work on Keystone XL pipeline
TC Energy Corp. said on Tuesday it would proceed with the construction of the long-delayed $8 billion US Keystone XL pipeline project after getting a $1.1 billion US equity investment from the Alberta government. Once completed, the 1,947-kilometres-long pipeline will… »
Trudeau unveils details of wage subsidy program, warns against double dealing
Canadian businesses whose revenue has decreased by 30 per cent or more due to the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic will qualify for the government’s 75 per cent wage subsidy program, regardless of the number of employees they have,… »
Canadian military gearing up for COVID-19 response
The Canadian military is gearing up to help civilian authorities in the fight against COVID-19, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday. The Canadian military has drawn up plans to mobilize 24,000 full-time and part-time soldiers to support civilian authorities across… »
Nearly one-in-eight Canadians think threat of COVID-19 is ‘overblown’: survey
Even as the number of confirmed COVID-19 infections in Canada continues to climb over 6,300 cases, resulting in at least 67 fatalities, nearly-one-in-eight Canadians believe the threat posed by the new coronavirus is “overblown,” according to a new survey. The… »
Montreal declares local state of emergency over COVID-19 outbreak
The City of Montreal declared a local state of emergency Friday in an effort to contain the further spread of COVID-19 among the homeless population of Quebec’s largest metropolis. That emergency went into effect at 4 p.m. local time (20:00… »
Canadian charities ask Ottawa for $10B to survive the pandemic
A coalition of 150 Canadian charities is urging the federal government to offer an urgent $10-billion financial lifeline to prevent the “irreparable collapse” of the struggling sector and the programs it offers to vulnerable Canadians and abroad. In an open… »
Ottawa boosts wage subsidies for small businesses up to 75%
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Friday a major increase to the federal emergency package for Canadian businesses, boosting the wage subsidy for small and medium-sized companies to 75 per cent, up from the 10 per cent promised last week.… »
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