FAMILIES SUE FOR SHOOTING

The families of the five teenagers who were with 15-year-old Nooran Rezayi when he was shot dead by Longueuil police are suing the city and the police force for $1.9 million.

Rezayi was killed Sept. 21, 2025, after police responded to a 911 call about a group of youth wearing masks in a residential neighbourhood.

The statement of claim filed at Quebec Superior Court criticizes the actions of officers, alleging racial profiling played a key role in Rezayi’s avoidable death.

The allegations in the lawsuit have not been tested in court.

Quebec’s police watchdog, known as the BEI, submitted its report into the incident on March 11, which Public Security Minister Ian Lafrenière said he was open to making public.

Longueuil’s police chief has previously said his officers are sharing the grief felt by the community and that they were co-operating with the provincial watchdog.

The plaintiffs are not identified in the lawsuit to protect the identity of minors, who are all between the ages of 15 and 17.

PROJECT COST BALLOONS

OTTAWA — The federal government says it could end up spending up to $6.6 billion to update the systems it uses to deliver benefits to Canadians — more than three times what was budgeted at the project’s launch.

The initiative involves migrating Old Age Security, the Canada Pension Plan and Employment Insurance benefit programs to a cloud-based platform.

The modernization project is led by Employment and Social Development Canada and the government initially set aside $1.75 billion for the work in 2017.

A document shared by the department says the spending cap has been updated over time because of the rise in cybersecurity threats, greater understanding of the complexity of the work required and an expansion of the project.

As of December 2025, the document says actual spending on the project amounted to $1.8 billion.

While the program’s original timeline called for completion by 2030, the document says the projected completion date range is now 2030-31.

INCIDENT COULD BRING CHARGES

MONTREAL — Quebec provincial police say a man arrested at the Montreal-Trudeau International Airport could face fraud charges following an incident that caused flight delays on Wednesday afternoon.

Police initially said two men, one in his 20s and one in his 30s, had been arrested on flights that landed in Montreal.

But on Thursday, Sgt. Laurie Avoine said only one of them could face charges at a later date.

Air Canada confirmed on Thursday that both men were on flights operated by the airline. The company noted the flights landed safely and operations have since returned to normal, while refusing to comment further.

The investigation was handled by Quebec provincial police, who patrol the airport. In an email, the RCMP’s Quebec branch said they were not involved as “there was no nexus to national security.”

A spokesperson for Norad said that CF-18 and F-16 fighter jets and KC-135 refuelling aircraft in undisclosed locations were monitoring a situation involving two commercial airplanes on Wednesday until they landed in Montreal.

Norad did not specify what triggered the alert.

Airport spokesman Eric Forest said officials temporarily closed a runway at the airport but operations returned to normal at around 6 p.m.

DROP BOXES TO BE SCRAPPED

OTTAWA — The Canada Revenue Agency says it will get rid of dozens of drop boxes used for tax filing and payments across the country after this tax season.

The agency says there are 45 of these boxes still operating across the country where Canadians can drop off tax returns, payments and other documents.

But the CRA says fewer taxpayers are using these boxes and the number of items submitted this way fell 78 per cent over six years to roughly 430,000 for the 2024-25 period.

Items submitted through drop boxes also face processing delays and security concerns related to break-ins and vandalism.

The CRA says the last documents will be accepted via drop box on May 28, after which users will have to shift to electronic filing, letter mail or in-person payment options at a Canada Post.

The 2025 tax season is now open and closes for most individual filers on April 30.

EXTORTION SUSPECTS DEPORTED

EDMONTON — The Canada Border Services Agency has deported two people as police continue investigating extortions in Alberta.

The Edmonton Police Service says it teamed with the RCMP and border agency in 2025 to investigate a series of violent extortions.

Police say suspects were targeting South Asian businesses in Edmonton.

Five suspects in the Edmonton area were arrested, with some allegedly linked to South Asian business extortions in Calgary, B.C. and Ontario.

The 22-year-old alleged ringleader and another 25-year-old man were deemed to be illegally in Canada and were deported.

Investigators say criminal networks recruit young South Asian newcomers, like students and workers, to extort or commit petty crimes.

» The Canadian Press