 Here’s what you need to know to get the day started: | | | Canadians evacuating Israel torn between desire to help with war effort and fear for children, family | | |  | Shirley Simon and her two children prepare to board a Canadian government evacuation flight leaving Israel on Thursday. (Jason Ho/CBC) | | | For many people boarding Canadian evacuation flights out of Israel, the relief at leaving behind a country at war was evident on their faces.
But it was also obvious many were conflicted about wanting to stay and help.
Most international airlines — including Air Canada — have now stopped flying out of Israel, so the Canadian government has organized evacuation flights that began Thursday from Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv.
Canada's Ambassador to Israel, Lisa Stadelbaur, said the first government-sponsored flight left in the afternoon carrying 116 people and a second flight that departed Thursday night had roughly the same number.
Other Canadians left on private charter flights out of the northern city of Haifa that were arranged and paid for by members of Toronto's Jewish community.
Shirley Simon, a mother of nine- and seven-year-old boys, said she agonized over the decision to leave Israel, but decided the toll the war has already taken on her young family was too much.
"I'm leaving now because I realize this situation is causing a lot of mental health issues for myself and my children," Simon told CBC News.
"They are seeing family members who are totally stressed out, who can't communicate with them, and we just decided we have family in Canada, so we are going to leave," she said.
Simon says her husband — who runs a building contracting business — is needed in Israel to complete work on several properties and to help with the country's mobilization. But she felt splitting the family up was their only option.
"Nothing like this has ever happened and it scares you to your core," she said. | | | | | Get out of Gaza City now, Israel's military tells Palestinians | | |  | (Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images) | | | | Palestinians with their belongings flee from their homes following Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City on Friday. Israel has called for the immediate relocation of 1.1 million people in Gaza amid its massive bombardment in retaliation for Hamas's attacks. Read the story here. | | | | | | | | | In brief | | | The Canadian Security Intelligence Service has warned Inuit leaders that foreign adversaries could gain a foothold in Canada by offering to fill infrastructure gaps in the North. But Natan Obed, president of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami — the nonprofit organization that represents more than 65,000 Inuit across Inuit Nunangat and the rest of Canada — said the spy agency's inability to share classified intelligence with the region's decision-makers leaves them in the dark about the risks. "We are making decisions every day that are currently not as informed as they could be about threats and considerations," Obed recently told CBC News. "The partners that we choose are sometimes not the partners that we hope to have." Read the full story here.
New Democrats will get their chance to give the party's leaders an earful about the confidence-and-supply agreement with the Liberals when NDP members meet in Hamilton today for the start of a three-day convention. It's the first such gathering of New Democrats since the party signed the confidence-and-supply agreement with the governing Liberals in 2022. The federal NDP holds the balance of power in the House of Commons. The Liberal minority government relies on New Democrats' votes to pass legislation through a formal agreement that both parties signed. Under the terms of that confidence-and-supply agreement, the NDP agrees to support key government legislation in exchange for the Liberals advancing a number of NDP policy priorities. While national polls suggest the pact with the Liberals hasn't cost or gained the party any support, some party faithful are heading to Hamilton with concerns about how the agreement is playing out. Read the full story here.
Infectious diseases don't just threaten the health of humans and animals. Trees are also susceptible to new pathogens, and scientists worry a growing number of species could be at risk as climate change makes tree populations more vulnerable. Butternut canker, for instance, is ravaging trees across Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and much of the eastern U.S., while sudden oak death — caused by a fungus-like plant pathogen — is devastating oak populations in California and Oregon. "In North America, we've effectively lost chestnut as a major overstory tree over the last century, due to chestnut blight. With new diseases continually emerging, other trees could face similar consequences over the coming decades," said Andrew Gougherty, a research landscape ecologist at the U.S. Forest Service. His latest study, published in the open-access journal NeoBiota, quantifies just how bad things are getting for the planet's largest plants. He looked at more than 900 new disease reports impacting several hundred tree species in dozens of countries and found the number of emerging tree diseases has shot up in recent decades. Read the full story here.
Yajur Chauhan glanced around the historic 16th-century Mughal monument Humayun's Tomb in east Delhi on a weekday morning and couldn't help but sigh in despair. He would normally be explaining the landmark's significance to a group of Canadian sightseers but he was alone, just as India's tourist high season got underway. "All of my tours are now getting cancelled. Nobody is coming because of the visa issues," said the tour manager who's been in the business for more than 25 years. "I'm helpless." Chauhan, 52, isn't the only tour guide to experience a dramatic loss of income after diplomatic tensions between Canada and India escalated into a full-blown conflict, with one of the retaliatory measures including India halting visa processing for Canadian citizens. The move followed a public statement from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that he had credible allegations linking Indian agents to the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh Khalistani activist and Canadian citizen who was shot dead outside a gurdwara in Surrey, B.C., in June. Read the full story here.
Now here's some good news to start your Friday: Need a little break from what has been an intense week in the news? Check out these beautiful images that CBC drone pilot Shane Hennessey captured recently through the morning fog near Tenmile House, P.E.I. Watch the video here. | | | Your weekly look at what’s happening in the worlds of economics, business and finance. Senior business correspondent Peter Armstrong untangles what it means for you, in your inbox Monday mornings. Click here to subscribe to the newsletter. | | |  | Who's responsible for the fentanyl crisis? | The U.S. says China and Mexico aren’t doing enough to stop the global trafficking of fentanyl. Those countries say they’re being scapegoated. So, what is actually happening?
Listen to today's episode | | | Families have identified three Canadians who died after Hamas's surprise attack on Israel last week as warfare continues in the Gaza Strip. Military planes are now evacuating Canadians out of Tel Aviv.
This week we want to know how your family is being affected by what's happening in Israel and Gaza?
Fill out the details on this form and send us your stories. | | | Today in history: October 13 | | | 1812: British, Canadian and Mohawk forces under General Sir Isaac Brock defeat the U.S. army at Queenston Heights on the Niagara frontier. Brock is killed during the fighting.
1909: The Ontario Provincial Police is established.
1970: Canadian External Affairs Minister Mitchell Sharp announces the establishment of diplomatic relations with the People’ Republic of China.
1986: Expo 86 closes in Vancouver after a 172-day run. It drew 22 million people. | | | (With files from CBC News, The Canadian Press, The Associated Press and Reuters) | | | | |  | CBC NEWS APP | The most convenient way to get your news
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