At I/O 2017, Google promised that Google Home would get the ability to make phone calls. Today, the feature is rolling out to users in the US and Canada. Google Home users can call businesses listed in Google Maps or people in Google Contacts with a simple "OK Google, call [whoever]." It also combines Google Contact's relationship knowledge and Google Home's multi-user support, allowing people to say something like "Call my mom" and have the system accurately look up and dial the right person.

The poorest families in Ontario are earning less than they were in 2000, while during the same period richer families have watched their income grow, according to a new economic report. The analysis by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) describes an increasingly "polarized" Ontario labour market that is shifting away from stable manufacturing jobs to more precarious service sector work and rewarding higher-earning families while punishing poorer ones.

The number of asylum seekers who illegally crossed the U.S. border into Canada more than tripled last month, according to Canadian government data released on Thursday, as migrants worried about the U.S. administration's immigration crackdown head north.

A teenager who wore the shirt and tie that a Toronto cop bought for him after he allegedly attempted to steal them for a job interview has been hired. Const. Niran Jeyanesan thought he was responding to a routine shoplifting call on Aug. 6 at a Walmart in the city’s north end. The 18-year-old who had allegedly attempted to make off with some clothes had picked out a long-sleeved shirt, a tie and a pair of socks. He told the officers they were meant for a job interview.

North Korea has freed a Canadian pastor who was serving a life sentence of hard labour, one day after a Canadian delegation arrived to negotiate his release. KCNA, North Korea's official news agency, said on Wednesday that Hyeon Soo Lim had been "released on sick bail… from the humanitarian viewpoint."

The machine, which Catholics called "demonic," was installed by French street theater company La Machine as part of Canada's 150th anniversary celebrations last Thursday.

Canadian supermarkets have become the first in the world to stock genetically modified fish, and about five tonnes of GM salmon have been sold in the country in recent months. The sales figure was revealed in the most recent earnings report of the US-based AquaBounty Technologies, whose hybrid Atlantic salmon – which contains a gene from a Chinook salmon and a gene from the ocean pout – has been at the heart of a heated debate over transgenic animals as food.

Six Americans have been charged with bringing handguns across the New Brunswick border so far this summer, as a Canadian prosecutor says it's proving difficult to let otherwise law-abiding people know they can't bring firearms on vacation. "The offences continue to occur with alarming frequency during the summer months," federal prosecutor Peter Thorn said from Hampton, N.B.

Family members are outraged over a letter telling residents of Manoir Notre-Dame special care home in Moncton, N.B., to ration their toilet paper and buy their own facial tissues. "I think it really shows a lack of respect, dignity and compassion," said Dianne Leger, whose 88-year-old mother has been living at Manoir Notre-Dame for five years.

New Zealand firefighters will start leaving for Canada tomorrow to help bolster local efforts as scores of wildfires rage out of control across the country. Eighty people including firefighters from Fire and Emergency, the Department of Conservation and forestry contractors will fly to Vancouver over the next three days on a five-week mission to provide relief to Canadian firefighters stretched to capacity.

A man is charged with attempted murder and a raft of firearms offences after helping fend off home invaders, one of whom he’s now charged with shooting. Kyle Earl Munroe was arrested on July 12 after RCMP and Halifax Regional Police responded to a report of a home invasion involving firearms at a home in Porters Lake. Police said that three men entered the residence with guns and a struggle took place with two men inside.

A recent surge in asylum seekers arriving from the United States has prompted Canadian authorities to open a temporary welcome centre in one of Montreal’s best-known landmarks. Since the start of the year, the numbers of asylum seekers entering Canada from the US has soared. More than 4,000 of them – many of them driven by fears of Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigrants – have entered Canada at remote, unguarded locations along the border.

This one's for all the Canadians who are Free AF.

A new report shows that Toronto is North America’s fastest-growing tech market. The fourth largest city in North America is becoming a leader in all things technology and innovation.

Hours after President Donald Trump announced on Twitter that he’s barring transgender people from serving in the U.S. military, the Canadian Armed Forces tweeted its own message to the transgender community: You’re welcome to sign up with us. “We welcome [Canadians] of all sexual orientations and gender identities. Join us!” tweeted the CAF, with the hashtags #DiversityIsOurStrength, #ForcesJobs, and included a link to jobs in the CAF.

A province-wide state of emergency remains in effect in B.C. as nearly 140 new fires broke out on Friday alone.

Most of the country understands that when it comes to government, you pay for what you get.

After first appearing on Jeopardy!, then celebrating a rather public engagement, and now having their wedding featured in the New York Times, Saint John teacher Maryanne Lewell and her husband Michael Townes are ready to "stop talking about ourselves." "We are pretty ordinary people. We are just two regular teachers that have our entire lives ahead," said Lewell. "It's just the way we met that is interesting to people."

A Canadian elite forces sniper took down an ISIS terrorist from a staggering 2.14-mile distance.

Tamara Crowchief may have yelled "I hate white people" as she carried out a violent assault on a white person, but that doesn't mean her attack was racially motivated, a Canadian judge has ruled. The attack occurred outside a pub in Calgary, Canada, on Nov. 1, according to the Calgary Herald. Crowchief's victim, identified as Lydia White, lost a tooth in the assault, the paper reported.

Celebrations are taking place across Canada as the country marks the 150th anniversary of its confederation. The main events are taking place in the capital Ottawa, with hundreds of thousands of people expected to attend and a huge security operation in place. They will be addressed by PM Justin Trudeau, as well as Prince Charles, whose mother, the Queen, is Canada's head of state.

The age-old "tomayto-tomahto" debate may bear the remnants of Canadian Dainty, a quasi-British accent spoken by upper middle class Canadians that is now mostly extinct, according to a Toronto linguist.

Having negotiated and signed a free-trade deal (CETA) with the European Union, what's stopping us from taking this project a step further?

The Supreme Court of Canada says the trial judge who acquitted a 35-year-old woman of sexual assault charges for having sex with a 14-year-old boy did not make any error in law. On Friday, the Supreme Court released written reasons for its May ruling where justices said Saskatchewan resident Barbara George should not face a new trial on sexual interference and sexual assault charges.

Canada's economy grew by 0.6 per cent in May, the seventh straight monthly gain. The overall economy has grown by 4.6 per cent in the 12 months leading up to the end of May, Statistics Canada said. That's the biggest 12-month figure since 2000. The strong showing blew past what economists were expecting, which was modest growth of 0.2 per cent for the month.

Their union says the fact guards drew their guns 299 times during that period to defuse potentially dangerous situations shows why more of them should be armed at Canadian airports.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne has announced a plan to increase the provincial minimum wage to $15 an hour by Jan. 1, 2019.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland says the Liberal government will make a "substantial investment" in the military because Canada can no longer rely on Washington for global leadership in the face of threats of Russian adventurism and the need to combat the "monstrous extremism" of Islamic State.

America has left the world, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland signalled in Tuesday's landmark foreign policy address. Canada and its allies will hang together, she vowed, awaiting its return. This was a very dangerous thing to say. But we live in dangerous times. Although Ms. Freeland never mentioned the words "Donald Trump" in her speech to the House, practically every line was informed by the crisis of his rogue presidency. Clearly, something happened at May's NATO and G7 meetings to make Prime Minister Justin Trudeau conclude there is nothing to be gained by treating with this man.

Canadian regulator the CRTC has announced that Canada will soon formally ban not only locked phones, but unlocking fees. According to an announcement by the agency, the rule change will take effect on December 1st, 2017, after which point wireless carriers may not even sell locked devices. The agency's move is an update to Canada's Wireless Code, which dictates consumer rights and the rules governing the nation's wireless carriers. In addition to banning locked devices, a rule update will modify the trial period after purchase, letting subscribers now cancel their contracts within 15 days...

A thief who made off with a human toe used in a notorious cocktail served by a Dawson City bar has mailed the toe back to its owners, Yukon RCMP say. Staff at the Downtown Hotel reported the theft last Sunday, saying someone had made off with one of the bar's mummified toes. The bar, located in a small community more than six hours north of Whitehorse, uses the toes in a drink they call a "Sourtoe Cocktail."

Thousands of people who fled to Canada to escape President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal migrants have become trapped in legal limbo because of an overburdened refugee system, struggling to find work, permanent housing or enroll their children in schools.

Break out the red and white. CBC is marking the 150th anniversary of Confederation with a full day of special programming from coast to coast to coast. Whether you're blasting the radio at a backyard barbecue, streaming events in Ottawa on your phone while partying in Saskatoon, or just curling up in front of the TV, we've got you covered from sunrise to the last firework over Parliament Hill. And if you're watching online, you can tune in from anywhere in the world!

More than 20,000 Muslims attended a three-day convention denouncing terrorism. The Ahmadiyya sect held the conference in the Canadian city of Mississauga. It featured an Islamic exhibition, a question and answer session with scholars and a series of lectures. A press conference was also held and members of the media were encouraged to questions on issues relevant to the Muslim community.

Last fall, when the Canadian government began consulting the public on its plan to revise national food guidelines, I wrote that the existing food guide had lost all usefulness and credibility because lobbyists and economic concerns, rather than science, had been the driving force behind their structure and content.