In the news: Canadian astronaut’s wife ready for lift-off, remembering Stephen Lewis

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed …

Astronaut Hansen fulfilling lifelong dream: wife

As Jeremy Hansen prepares to begin a historic mission to the moon aboard the Artemis II, his wife says his family will be trying to take in every single moment.

If everything goes as planned, Catherine Hansen will be on the roof of the launch control centre at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center Wednesday evening to watch her husband begin a 10-day lunar fly-around.

“I’m really trying to encourage everyone — and very, very specifically myself — to be in that moment and to allow whatever emotions may come,” she told The Canadian Press on Tuesday. “There will be excitement, there will be exhilaration, there will be terror and fear.”

Jeremy Hansen, 50, of London, Ont., will serve as the mission specialist for Artemis II and become the first non-American to travel beyond low Earth orbit.

Ontario minimum wage to rise to $17.95

Ontario’s minimum wage is set to rise to $17.95 an hour on Oct. 1.

The province boosts the wage annually based on the Ontario Consumer Price Index, a measure of inflation.

The current minimum wage is $17.60.

The government says someone earning minimum wage and working 40 hours per week will see an additional $728 per year.

Labour Minister David Piccini says the increase will leave Ontario with one of the highest minimum wage rates in the country.


Report criticizes CRA over audit of Muslim charity

A report by an expert in extremist financing and money laundering says the Canada Revenue Agency’s approach to policing terrorist abuse “proved seriously deficient” in the case of a long-running audit of the Muslim Association of Canada.

The report by University of Manitoba professor Michelle Gallant is the latest study to recommend the revenue agency make changes to ensure its audits of charitable organizations are free of bias and discrimination.

It calls on the agency to become more familiar with cultures and religions, including Islam, to better publicize how it conducts such audits, and to consider regularly releasing lists of groups and individuals with whom charities should avoid engaging.

Final submissions continue in Stronach trial

Lawyers are set to continue their final submissions today in the
sexual assault trial of billionaire businessman Frank Stronach.

Stronach’s defence lawyer argued Tuesday that his accusers lied and, in some cases, fabricated their accounts.

Leora Shemesh also criticized what she described as “tunnel vision” among the officers who investigated the decades-old allegations, arguing it tainted the evidence.

Crown prosecutors argued any inconsistencies in the complainants’ testimony were peripheral and did not affect the core of their allegations.

Stronach, who achieved fame and wealth as the founder of the auto parts giant Magna International, has pleaded not guilty to 12 charges related to seven complainants.

Bail for Ontario lawyer in Wedding case challenged

Prosecutors are set to argue today that an Ontario judge was wrong to grant bail to a Toronto-area lawyer accused of advising the murder of a federal witness in an alleged international drug smuggling ring.

Lawyers for the Attorney General of Canada are asking the Court of Appeal for Ontario to order that 62-year-old Deepak Paradkar be detained until his extradition hearing.

In documents filed in February, the Crown says the Appeal Court’s intervention is necessary to “salvage the public’s confidence in the administration of justice, to protect the public, and to ensure that Canada’s ability to comply with treaty obligations in this important case is not frustrated.”

Paradkar was arrested for extradition to the U.S. last fall along with several other Canadians as part of an FBI investigation targeting Ryan Wedding, the former Olympic snowboarder turned alleged drug kingpin.

Lewis leaves legacy of fighting AIDS pandemic

Experts say Stephen Lewis awakened the Canadian public’s consciousness to the HIV-AIDS pandemic raging in Africa, and they credit him with galvanizing the political will to stop standing idle.

Lewis, who dedicated his life to advocating for social justice, died on Tuesday at the age of 88.

Dr. Adrienne Chan, who has worked in the HIV sector for over two decades, says she remembers feeling frustrated as an infectious diseases resident when she saw what was happening in Africa.

Tens of millions of people on the continent were dying because they did not have access to the life-saving medications her patients had in Canada, and she said it seemed like nobody was doing anything about it.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 1, 2026

The Canadian Press