Ontario police services board calls Six Nations members halting housing development 'terrorists'


Jorge Barrera

© CBC Contractors for Losani Homes walk away from the entrance to the housing development site known as 1492 Landback Lane on Thursday. They were turned away from conducting locating work for a natural gas pipeline on the contested parcel of land.

A southern Ontario police services board is calling on the Ontario Provincial Police to arrest an NDP MP and take action against what it calls "acts of terrorism" committed by members of Six Nations who halted a housing development in Caledonia, Ont.

Members of Six Nations have been occupying the McKenzie Meadows housing development, known as 1492 Landback Lane, for over two months despite an injunction extended by an Ontario court in August.

Caledonia is about 20 kilometres south of Hamilton and next to the Six Nations reserve, which has the largest population of any First Nation in the country with over 27,200 members.

The parcel of land in question is part of a case before the Ontario Superior Court filed by Six Nations in 1995 against the provincial and federal government over the illegal dispossession of Six Nations lands and trust monies. A trial is scheduled for October 2022.

Bernie Corbett is chair of the Haldimand County police services board and a long-time councillor for Haldimand County, which oversees Caledonia. He said he and Haldimand County residents are "fed up" with the stalemate that remains on the parcel, despite an Ontario judge recently extending an injunction barring people from crossing onto the property.

Corbett said he was particularly perturbed by Hamilton Centre NDP MP Matthew Green's visit last week to the site. He said the OPP should have arrested Green on site.

"In my estimation he trespassed, he should have been arrested because a judge's order was issued. Those people should not be there, it's private property," said Corbett.

"[Green] is not immune to that type of situation and it concerns me he went out there... He bad-mouthed the community, the OPP and the federal government. That exacerbated the problem."

The OPP did not respond to a request for comment. Over two dozen people have been arrested at the site so far allegedly defying the injunction.
'Acts of terrorism'

The Haldimand County police board also aired its grievances with the OPP during a public meeting Wednesday that was attended by the OPP's West Region Commander John Cain, who is in charge of overseeing policing of the site.

"These people who claim to be peaceful Aboriginals and only want to take alleged Aboriginal land have crossed a line," said a position document prepared for the meeting by the police board.

"They have openly disobeyed orders of the court. They have committed acts of aggression and intimidation which by Canadian Criminal Code definition are acts of terrorism. These Aboriginals are not protesters, they are now by legal definition terrorists."

Green said the police board's statements were racist and examples of "anti-Indigenous colonial violence." Green said the police board represented only the views of the "far-right" in Haldimand County.

"If I was Indigenous, hearing these statements by the chair of this police board, I would fear for my safety at the hands of police as I leave the territory," said Green.

"Not only are the comments racism, they are targeted and they are meant to incite violence against Indigenous people... If there was a line to be crossed, it would be the line of human rights and the code of conduct related to both elected officials of the municipality and the police services board." 

  

© Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press Hamilton Centre NDP MP Matthew Green criticizes the Haldimand County police board statements as racist.

In the document, the Haldimand County police board also singled out Skyler Williams, who has acted as a spokesperson for 1492 Landback Lane, mentioning reports of his involvement in incidents during the 2006 conflict over a separate housing development in Caledonia known as Douglas Creek Estates, which subsided after the province bought the land.

A statement issued by members of 1492 Landback Lane said "The board is violently racist, viewing Indigenous lives as barriers to corporate profit. Their statements amount to calls for police to target our community and Skyler Williams in particular which is a threat that is intolerable to our community."

The statement also called for the police board's resignation.
'Rule of law'

Police board vice-chair Brian Haggith, a former OPP inspector who retired in 2014, said he believes the OPP's approach to Indigenous policing — which follows recommendations from the Ipperwash inquiry called after the 1995 shooting of Dudley George during the occupation of Ipperwash provincial park — is broken.

Haggith, who was one of the incident commanders when the 2006 Caledonia conflict flared, said there needs to be a third-party review of the Ipperwash framework which should lead to an overhaul.

"I understand that Canada has 400 years of history… and I understand they have viable land claims, everybody does... We have a system in our democracy and our democracy is based on the rule of law and that is how we all get along," he said.

"These people, if they have a bona fide, legitimate land claim they should, like every other person, take that matter to the court... If they have a strong enough case, the courts could order a stop to construction until the matter is settled."

Haggith said ultimately it's the federal government's failure to deal with outstanding land claims that has created a cyclically volatile situation in the region.

© Dan Taekema/CBC An OPP officer stands near a blockade on Argyle Street South just outside Caledonia on Aug. 5.

Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett and Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller have offered to meet with the Six Nations band council and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, but no meeting has yet been set.

"We believe the best way to resolve outstanding issues is through a respectful and collaborative dialogue, which is vital to building stronger relationships and advancing reconciliation," said a statement from Bennett's office.

"Canada deeply values its relationship with Six Nations and is committed to continuing to work collaboratively to address Six Nations' historical claims and land right issues. We are actively working with the community and look forward to meeting at the earliest opportunity."

Land sold to squatters in 1800s

The site, at 1535 McKenzie Road, was once known as Lot 3 and part of the Haldimand Tract, which was granted to the Haudenosaunee of Six Nations of the Grand River in 1784 for allying with the British during the American Revolution.

Lot 3 was sold between settlers during a period of widespread squatting on Six Nations land, leading to complaints to the colonial authorities. In 1844, the colonial authority, through its Indian Office in Kingston, issued a public notice announcing squatters were "required forthwith to remove from said tract."

However, the colonial authorities sold 11.5 acres of Lot 3 to a man named Thomas Nicholas in 1845 for $506.25. Nicholas had in turn previously purchased the land from a squatter named George Bryant, who declared squatters rights to the plot, according to a recent research report by the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council, the traditional governing body of Six Nations. The sale was finalized in 1853, past the 1851 due date for the instalment plan that was part of the deal, according to the research.

"Thus rendering the sale useless," according to the confederacy research report.

"The Haudenosaunee did not benefit from the proceeds of this sale. Crown patents were being issued by the Crown unilaterally, thus creating their own registry base. They stole it fair and square."  

  

© CBC Skyler Williams, spokesperson for 1492 Landback Lane, takes a break from insulating a wooden shelter at the site.

Skyler Williams said he sees the police services board statements and documents as a "direct threat" to his personal safety.

"It is certainly worrisome for my kids and certainly for my wife, so yes, I'm concerned," said Williams.

"I hope it's just ignorance. I generally hope they just don't know about the history of this land... It's hard to live in a world where someone would hate you because of the colour of your skin, because of where you come from, because you're on the wrong side of the tracks."

Williams said Six Nations is being hemmed in by developments on land that has been stolen and the community cannot expand due to the bureaucratic obstacles to adding new lands to reserves. Williams said the community can't rely on the land claims process or the courts because it takes decades for anything resembling movement to occur.

"To say these 40-year-old land claims processes that in my opinion are broken [are] the only path forward, then this is going to continue to happen, like it's happening across the country," said Williams.

Canadian viewers of HBO's 'Watchmen' should know the KKK helped bring down a provincial government in 1929


James M. Pitsula, Professor emeritus, Department of History, University of Regina

© (HBO) In 'Watchmen,' Angela Abar (Regina King) finds KKK garb in the closet of Judd Crawford (Don Johnson), her late friend who was Tulsa’s police chief.

The HBO show Watchmen, which was nominated for 26 Emmy awards, has used science fiction and the superhero genre to probe white supremacy, police corruption, trauma and institutional racism across time. The show, a “re-mix” based on the original Watchmen comic series engages the subject of policing and the Ku Klux Klan.


Beyond Watchmen, the Klan may be most familiar to some contemporary Canadians through its high-profile American and Hollywood portrayals.

But as I trace in my book Keeping Canada British: The Ku Klux Klan in 1920s Saskatchewan, the Klan also existed in Canada, first appearing here in 1921. And nowhere else in Canada did the Klan achieve the influence it attained in Saskatchewan — where it helped bring down a government.
Origins in ex-Confederate soldiers

In 1866, immediately after the American Civil War, a group of ex-Confederate soldiers in Pulaski, Tenn., formed an organization called the Ku Klux Klan, after the Greek word “kuklos,” which means circle.

The Klan propped up white racial supremacy by means of violence and intimidation, including beatings, torture, sexual assault and murder. The Klan faded out in the 1870s, but was revived in 1915 when a small group of men gathered at Stone Mountain outside Atlanta, where before an altar beneath a fiery cross they swore allegiance to the Invisible Empire Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

By the fall of 1921 there were 100,000 members in the United States. The peak membership is estimated at three million to six million (or higher) in the 1920s, but the precise number is not known because the records at Atlanta headquarters were destroyed.
First appearance in Canada

The Klan’s first appearance in Canada was in 1921, when branches were formed in Montréal and West Vancouver.

Cross burnings were sighted in various locations, for example, in Fredericton, N.B., at the Mount Saint Vincent convent in Nova Scotia, and at the St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic church in Melville Cove, near Halifax. The Klan reported as many as 7,000 enrolled just in the Toronto chapter, although as political scientist Allan Bartley notes this claim may be exaggerated.

He finds the Klan “initially exercised its strongest appeal in southwestern Ontario,” where Black people were “targets of rising racism.” But “the Klan also exploited traditional Protestant animosities against Catholics and French Canadians. There were diatribes against Blacks, Jews and foreigners, and avowals of respect and loyalty to British traditions and institutions.”

In Ontario and elsewhere in Canada, the Klan advanced its capacity to exploit local prejudices against those who didn’t fit neatly into moulds of British Protestant Canadian nationalism.

© (John Boyd/Library and Archives Canada, PA-087848) A gathering of the Ku Klux Klan in Kingston, Ont., July 31, 1927.

Klan organizers Lewis Scott and Pat Emmons, both from South Bend, Ind., arrived in Saskatchewan in late 1926. They preached white supremacy, and to that extent the message was the same as it was in the United States. But the message was tailored to local conditions.

The 1931 census showed that for the first time since Saskatchewan was established as a province, people of non-British origin formed the majority of the settler population. There was a small Black population in Saskatchewan, and a growing number of immigrants from central and Eastern Europe.
Preserving ‘traditional’ social order

For many British Protestants, who fashioned themselves as rightful “nativists,” it seemed that “foreigners” were taking over the country. Combined with this was a desire to preserve their traditional gender and moral order.

Votes for women and more women in the paid work force, women smoking or bobbing their hair suggested that gender roles were changing. The Klan did not want this, partly because they thought that controlling women’s sexuality was essential to keeping the white race pure.
Saw themselves as ‘moral arbiters’

The 1920s was also the era of prohibition of alcohol, a regime that was difficult to enforce. There was also a general anxiety about prostitution, opium and gambling all of which were disproportionately blamed on the non-British population.

As scholar William Calderwood noted in his 1973 article, “Religious Reactions to the Ku Klux Klan in Saskatchewan,” Protestant clergymen were prominent in the ranks of the Klan. (Calderwood also wrote an 1968 master of arts thesis, The Rise and Fall of the Ku Klux Klan in Saskatchewan while at the University of Saskatchewan, Regina Campus).

They saw the Klan as a bulwark against the moral collapse of society. Canadians had fought in the First World War in large part for the British Empire, and its fresh psychological wounds influenced the rise of right and fascist politics.

25,000 members in Saskatchewan

The Klan declared that Canada must not allow what had been won in the trenches of Belgium and France to be lost on the plains of Saskatchewan. For all these reasons, the Klan took off like wildfire, signing up an estimated 25,000 members in the province.

One notable event was a huge rally and cross burning outside Moose Jaw on June 7, 1927. An estimated 8,000 people attended the rally. Newspaper reports of the time estimated more than 1,000 automobiles at the scene. On Empire Day, May 24, 1928, crosses burned in communities across the province.

In September 1927, Klan organizers Emmons and Scott fled the province, taking with them money they had collected for membership fees and from the sale of Klan regalia. Emmons was brought back and put on trial for embezzlement, but acquitted because he had acted in accordance with Klan rules.

At this point the Saskatchewan Klan might have collapsed, but instead it restructured itself as a locally run organization. All ties with the American Klan were severed. Robes and hoods, part of Klansmen’s or Klanswomen’s garb, were no longer worn in public.

The new locally run Klan explicitly emphasized that it rejected violence and its main purpose was to keep Canada British and follow constitutional methods to achieve that goal. But cross burnings, verbal attacks on the non-British and explicitly racist pronouncements were, if not physically violent, hateful and deeply intimidating.

Liberal Premier Jimmy Gardiner, continued to attack the Klan, saying that it was an alien American import and that it had left a trail of bloodshed everywhere it went in the U.S. However, he was unable to cite specific instances of bodily violence perpetrated by the Klan in Saskatchewan. Gardiner lost the election of 1929, the first defeat for the Liberals since 1905, partly because of the backlash against his anti-Klan crusade.

Pervasive racism

Gardiner’s own archives are significant textual sources for documenting the Klan in Saskatchewan. Both Gardiner’s collection of newspaper clippings and his correspondence provide insight into this strange and complex history.

Gardiner, who began his career as a teacher and was a Protestant, stood against the Klan’s hateful expression of an idealized exclusive white British Protestant social order.

At the same time, his archives, as well as many other sources, show how there was an atmosphere of accepted racist discourse and legally established stuctural racism. Such laws pertained to and impacted both colonial settler relations with Indigenous peoples and non-British racialized groups.

Gardiner had to walk a line of being anti-Klan: He couldn’t denounce the clan in frankly anti-racist terms, because there was so much racism in the general population including among his own supporters. He mainly denounced them because they had originated in the U.S. and for their blatant hucksterism.

Lest Canadians believe that the Klan was only an American phenomenon, it’s important to critically examine our own histories and legacies — including the many waves of white supremacist activity — and levels and nuances of structural racism.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

James M. Pitsula does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

PM Trudeau 'disappointed' by RCMP treatment of Sikh officers over mask issue

  

© Provided by The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he is disappointed that Sikh RCMP officers have been removed from front line policing during the pandemic because their religiously mandated facial hair makes it difficult to properly wear a face covering.

The World Sikh Organization of Canada says officers have been placed on desk duty for almost six months, as the RCMP found the N100 mask does not seal with facial hair.

The organization says no attempt has been made to accommodate Sikh officers with other protective coverings that would work with beards.

Trudeau said Friday that health and safety regulations are extremely important and must be applied in workplaces across the country.

"But I was very disappointed to hear of this issue with the RCMP," he added. "Because I do know that many other police forces and other organizations have figured out ways of upholding health and safety standards without needing to create discrimination against certain individuals because of their religion."

The presence of diverse Canadians in police forces is extremely important for all Canadians, Trudeau said.

"It is something that I certainly hope the RCMP rectifies quickly, and it shouldn't have happened in the first place."

The RCMP had no immediate comment Friday.

Mary-Liz Power, a spokeswoman for Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, the cabinet member responsible for the RCMP, said the minister's office had raised the matter with the Mounties and expected a resolution as quickly as possible.

“All officers must be given equal opportunity to serve their community while practising their faith. They must not experience discrimination based on religion," Power said.

"It is essential for the RCMP to provide necessary personal protective equipment in a timely manner for Sikh officers."

In a statement this week, World Sikh Organization of Canada president Tejinder Singh Sidhu said taking Sikh officers off the front lines constitutes discrimination.

"We have tried for months to assist the affected RCMP officers and advocate on their behalf but with no success and no response from the federal government. The discrimination against bearded Sikh officers must end immediately."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2020.

The Canadian Press

Statistics Canada Reports Record High Level Of Youth Not In School Or Work

Daniel Tencer

© Provided by HuffPost Canada


MONTREAL ― Nearly one in four Canadians under the age of 30 were neither in school or work as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded this spring, Statistics Canada says.

With jobs for youth coming back more slowly than jobs for others, some experts are growing worried Canada could be held back for years as an entire generation struggles to get its feet on the ground.

“Youth who go unemployed for longer periods of time, evidence has shown, have problems further on in life with maintaining employment,” said Tim Lang, president of Toronto charity Youth Employment Services (YES).

“So it’s critical that youth get employment as quickly as they can.”


In a report issued Thursday, Statistics Canada found that 24 per cent of Canadians aged 15 to 29 were “NEET” ― not in employment, education or training ― as of April of this year. That’s double the rate in February, before the pandemic.

Among teens, much of this spike was attributed to disrupted classes during the spring lockdowns. But among those in their 20s, massive job losses were behind the sudden spike in idleness, Statistics Canada said.

Between February and April, one out of every three jobs held by this group disappeared, and ― with large parts of the service sector still in lockdown ― they aren’t coming back very quickly.

The jobless rate for youth was 23.4 per cent in August, compared to 10.2 per cent for Canada as a whole.

This reality could have negative consequences for this generation of Canadians for years to come. Research shows that people who experience unemployment early in their career will earn less than they otherwise would for at least a decade, and potentially for their entire lives.

A recent OECD report attempted to estimate what the loss of skills due to the COVID-19 disruption to work and school could cost the economy. In their baseline scenario, the disruption to education reduced the size of the economy by 1.5 per cent permanently. For an economy of Canada’s size, that means hundreds of billions of dollars of unrealized wealth, and a lower standard of living.

Despite the dreary numbers, Lang urges youth to stay focused.

“Now is a chance to re-skill and retrain if you’re out of work through no fault of your own,” Lang told HuffPost Canada.

He applauded Canada’s governments for responding quickly to the jobs crisis, but urged them to do more to raise awareness of programs and organizations ― such as his own ― that help youth find work.

Lang noted ruefully that the WE Charity scandal “gave a bit of a black eye to the non-profit sector,” but noted that there are organizations other than WE out there working to help youth.

The charity he heads, Toronto-based YES, has been training youth to work in cloud computing, boasting a 90-per-cent success rate in placing youth in jobs.
Missed opportunities

Lang has mixed feelings about the government’s income supports, the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and the Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB).

While the programs helped many stay afloat during the lockdown, they may be harming rehiring at this point, Lang said.

“There are still many businesses who are looking for employees, and many companies said they couldn’t rehire (former employees) because of CERB,” he said.

He worries young Canadians may be missing opportunities on the assumption that there are none right now.

“Believe it or not, even though youth unemployment is so high, there are still jobs to be had,” he said.This article originally appeared on HuffPost Canada.

VANCOUVER BC Hootsuite terminates U.S. ICE contract, after CEO says it 'divided' company

© Provided by The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER — Hootsuite says it is terminating a contract it has with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after a "broad emotional and passionate" reaction from staff.

The Vancouver-based company's chief executive Tom Keiser broke the news to his staff in an email, where he says that within the last 24 hours he had learned many employees were upset by the company's decision to partner with ICE.

He did not share why staff were concerned, but says the issue created a divided company and is not the kind of business he wanted to lead, so he reversed the decision.

Keiser's letter says the company first proceeded with the contract after holding internal conversations and forming a committee to review the partnership.

Other tech companies have previously faced backlash from staff when considering contracts with ICE, who they allege has been involved with human rights and immigration abuses.

Hundreds of Google employees walked out and signed a petition last year in an effort to stop their company from working with ICE and the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which they accused of caging and harming asylum seekers and illegally detaining refugees and U.S. citizens. 

ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Hootsuite says in an emailed statement to The Canadian Press that it is taking steps to ensure the termination is completed swiftly.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published September 24, 2020.

The Canadian Press

After long-term care, Quebec private seniors residences a growing COVID-19 concern
  

© Provided by The Canadian Press

MONTREAL — A slow but steady rise of COVID-19 cases in Quebec's private seniors residences in recent weeks is causing concern among experts and authorities, who want to avoid the disaster that befell long-term care homes during the first wave of the novel coronavirus.


As of Wednesday evening, there were 39 private residences in Quebec with 180 COVID-19 cases between them listed on the government's website. Four among them were described as "critical" because more than 25 per cent of their residents were infected.

In comparison, only 20 long-term care homes were listed as having cases. One facility was listed as critical.

Yves Desjardins, the head of a group representing hundreds of seniors residences, says the number of facilities affected and the total number of COVID-19 cases in the network remains low. He said, however, managers are watching the trend carefully.

Unlike the first wave of the virus, which was concentrated in long-term care, the second has the virus spreading throughout the community, according to health officials. Desjardins says community spread poses a risk for people living in seniors residences because they are generally more active than are residents of long-term care homes.

"We have a clientele that is much more autonomous, that move around, families coming to visit, workers coming to the residence," Desjardins said in a recent interview. "The virus is circulating in the community, and we're in the community."

Health Minister Christian Dube has expressed concern about cases appearing in private seniors homes, known as RPAs. On Sept. 15, he tightened health directives in those facilities, mandating that masks be worn in common areas such as hallways and elevators.

"The RPAs, for me, that's our next problem if we're not careful," he said on Sept. 15.

Seniors residences must record the names of guests, who are required to wear masks. Despite the rules, there have been some outbreaks.

The four seniors residences listed as critical are located in the Quebec City area and in the region to its south, called Chaudiere-Appalaches. The RPA called Villa Ste-Rose in Laval, north of Montreal, has seen cases jump from four to 18 in recent days.

Dube said this week that while some cases in seniors residences are unavoidable, public health is contacting each place to ensure infection-control measures are being followed.

Louis Demers, a professor at Quebec's public administration school, known as Ecole nationale d'administration publique, says the province should be concerned.

By raising the salaries of orderlies in long-term care homes, he said the government may have lured people away from the public sector. That attempt to reverse critical staff shortages in long-term care has the potential to increase seniors residences' dependence on employment agencies.

"If your personnel is insufficient, and you have to choose between not giving a woman a bath, or giving one by someone who might have the virus, what do you do?" he said in a recent interview.

A major issue that contributed to hundreds of deaths in long-term care homes in the spring was the fact employees worked in more than one facility, often carrying the virus with them to vulnerable and captive populations.

Desjardins said it's nearly impossible to "100 per cent" ensure staff only work at one residence, especially when some health professionals come in and out to provide services.

He said, however, that owners of residences generally ask staffing agencies to ensure personnel don't rotate between facilities. When it comes to professionals providing medical services, they are asked not to visit multiple places in the same day, he explained.

Both Demers and Desjardins said private seniors residences are better prepared to face a second wave than long-term care homes were prepared to face the first wave of the novel coronavirus last spring.

Owners have a set of clear guidelines explaining which measures to impose based on the alert levels in their regions, covering everything from visitors to cafeteria dining. Infection-control measures are now known and understood, and personal protective equipment such as masks are available, Desjardins said.

Demers said the population in seniors residences are healthier than in long-term care homes and generally live in their own small apartments, which makes distancing easier. They're also less likely to suffer from cognitive problems such as dementia.

He believes the government's biggest challenge when it comes to private seniors homes is to find the right balance of measures that will protect people from the virus while allowing them the social contact that's essential to their mental health.

After witnessing the hardships caused by the restrictive measures placed on seniors homes last spring — such as including banning all visitors and limiting movement — there's little appetite for another lockdown, he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2020.

Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press

Black Canadians get sick more from COVID-19. Scientists aim to find out why

Emily Chung, Vik Adhopia, Melanie Glanz
© Craig Chivers/CBC Cheryl Prescod, executive director of Black Creek Community Health Centre, has been setting up mobile COVID-19 testing centres in her northwest Toronto community, which has been a hot spot for the disease. She has also been helping to…

Race-based data shows that Black Canadians are far more likely to get sick and be hospitalized for COVID-19 than other ethnic groups. A new study looking at antibodies in the blood of Black Canadians aims to understand the reasons in an effort to reduce the impact of the disease on Black communities.

The study is being led by Dr. Upton Allen, chief of infectious diseases at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. He says the data shows that across North America, Black communities are disproportionately affected by the pandemic, according to data from cities like Toronto and Ottawa, and organizations such as the Edmonton-based African Canadian Civic Engagement Council and the Innovative Research Group.

In Toronto, for example, data from May 20 to July 16 found that Black patients made up 21 per cent of COVID-19 cases, even though they were only nine per cent of the population.

"What is less clear in the Canadian context is why?" Allen said. "We suspect that it has to do with the types of exposures that people have. However, we really need the data to substantiate that."

Researchers suspect that a number of risk factors might play a role:

The work that people in the communities do, including how many are front-line workers and how many work several different jobs at different locations to make ends meet.

Living conditions, such as crowded, multigenerational homes.

Pre-existing medical conditions that can increase risk, such as obesity and diabetes, which are often associated with poverty.

In order to find out if that's the case, the study will be recruiting 2,000 Black Canadians and 1,000 non-Black Canadians from across the country, including both adults and children over two years old. Participants will answer a questionnaire and do a blood test for two types of antibodies:


One that indicates whether the person has been infected with COVID-19.


Another, called a neutralizing antibody, that provides immunity against the virus.

Participants will get their results and can opt to be retested over two years.

"This is important because it provides information for the individual that gives them some idea of their level of protection over time but also provides an idea of overall protection within the community," Allen said

.

© Craig Chivers/CBC COVID-19 testing kits are seen at a pop-up testing site in northwest Toronto.

He said he hopes the study will show:


The extent to which certain communities are protected (or not protected) over time by "herd immunity," whereby so many people are immune that the virus can't easily spread.


The biggest risk factors in certain communities, and therefore what measures need to be ramped up to minimize risk of further outbreaks in those communities.


Opportunities for support, such as providing a place for infected people to self-isolate.

Allen said he's been working for several months to get communities involved in the project.


"It's all about trust," he said, "recognizing that we are doing this research to benefit the community."

WATCH | Scientists dig into why Black Canadians are more likely to be sick or hospitalized with COVID-19:

Why community involvement is crucial

Patrick Shaw has volunteered to participate in the study and is helping to recruit other participants. He runs a youth organization in Toronto called Sister's Keeper Basketball and began connecting with the community about COVID-19 after learning about the high rate of the disease in Black communities.

"We were asking them, you know, 'Did you get tested?... Do you know where to get tested?' And they were saying, 'No,'" he said.

He said Black communities in Toronto consist of multiple cultures that think in different ways, and culture itself can pose a challenge

.

© Melanie Glanz/CBC Patrick Shaw has volunteered to participate in the antibody study and is helping recruit other participants. He says having people on the ground that community members trust will be key to the study's success.

Some people are distrustful of doctors because of bad experiences in the countries they came from, Shaw said, and many others don't have a family doctor — relying on walk-in clinics — which doesn't allow them to build trust with the medical community.

"If they don't trust you," he said, "they're not going to believe anything you say."

Shaw said having people on the ground that community members trust will be key to the study's success.

Cheryl Prescod, executive director of Black Creek Community Health Centre, has been setting up mobile COVID-19 testing centres in her northwest Toronto community, which has been a hot spot for the disease.

She, too, has been helping to recruit participants for the study.

Prescod said most of the people in the community live in apartments and take public transit to work, and many have jobs that put them in contact with other people.

"We need to think about neighbourhoods like this in a very unique way," she said. "And we have to think about what are the characteristics that will increase that spread."

WATCH | Black Canadians hit harder by COVID-19, study reveals:
Socioeconomic versus genetic factors

Dr. David Naylor, co-chair of the federal government's Immunity Task Force, is among those keen to see the study's results. The task force's job is to look at antibodies and other markers of immunity to better understand how COVID-19 has spread and "where it's touched down hardest."

"Data in Ontario are pretty clear, you know — two to four times higher rates of, variously, infection, intensive care unit hospitalization and death among diverse neighbourhoods," he said. "So understanding the spread of this disease in those neighbourhoods by looking at more than simply confirmed diagnostics is pretty valuable."

Naylor said he wonders how much of the disease's impact on Black communities is due to socioeconomic conditions, "and how much could be genetic?"

He said he's interested in the details about what subgroups within Black communities are hit hardest.

"Are there differences across ethnic racial groups? Are there special markers?... This kind of information will help public health officials, that'll help clinicians, that'll help community leaders, above all, to think about how they can protect those communities."

The task force is currently looking for proposals to study COVID-19 "hot spots" — groups of workers or neighbourhoods with high concentrations of cases, and Naylor said he has encouraged Allen to submit his study.

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.

Virus disrupting Rio's Carnival for first time in a century

© Provided by The Canadian Press

RIO DE JANEIRO — A cloud of uncertainty that has hung over Rio de Janeiro throughout the coronavirus pandemic has been lifted, but gloom remains — the annual Carnival parade of flamboyant samba schools won’t be held in February.


And while the decision is being characterized as a postponement of the event, no new date has been set.

Rio’s League of Samba Schools, LIESA, announced Thursday night that the spread of the coronavirus has made it impossible to safely hold the traditional parades that are a cultural mainstay and, for many, a source of livelihood.

“Carnival is a party upon which many humble workers depend. The samba schools are community institutions, and the parades are just one detail of all that,” Luiz Antonio Simas, a historian who specializes in Rio’s Carnival, said in an interview. “An entire cultural and productive chain was disrupted by COVID.”

Rio’s City Hall has yet to announce a decision about the Carnival street parties that also take place across the city. But its tourism promotion agency said in a statement to The Associated Press on Sept. 17 that without a coronavirus vaccine, it is uncertain when large public events can resume.

Brazil’s first confirmed coronavirus case was Feb. 26, one day after this year’s Carnival ended. As the number of infections grew, the samba schools that participate in the glitzy annual parade halted preparations for the 2021 event.

Nearly all of Rio’s samba schools are closely linked to working class communities. Their processions include elaborate floats accompanied by tireless drummers and costumed dancers who sing at the top of their lungs to impress a panel of judges. Tens of thousands of spectators pack the bleachers of the arena, known as the Sambadrome, while tens of millions watch on television.

Before the schools began competing in the 1930s, Carnival was celebrated in dance halls and haphazardly on the streets, Simas said. The parades entered the Sambadrome in the 1980s, and have become Rio’s quintessential Carnival display.

The immense labour required for each show was already stymied by restrictions on gatherings that Rio’s governor imposed in March. Even with those measures, Rio’s metropolitan region, home to 13 million people, so far has recorded more than 15,000 deaths from COVID-19.

Beneath the Sambadrome’s bleachers, the city created a homeless shelter for the vulnerable population during the pandemic.

Samba schools suspended float construction, costume sewing, dance rehearsals, and also social projects. The Mangueira school’s program in the favela near downtown Rio that teaches music to children — keeping them away from crime, and cultivating the school’s future drummers — hasn’t held classes since March.

The pulse of entire suburban Rio cities like Nilopolis, whose population of 160,000 cheers the Beija-Flor samba school, has faded, Simas said.

Some performers resorted to odd jobs and gigs. Diogo Jesús, the lead dancer referred to as “master of ceremonies” in the Mocidade school, couldn’t make rent without his income from private events. He started driving for Uber and sewing facemasks to sell at a fair.

“It was a blow. We live Carnival all year round, and many people when they realized everything would stop wound up getting sick or depressed,” Jesus said in an interview inside his house in Madureira, a neighbourhood in northern Rio. “Carnival is our life.”

The last year Rio’s Carnival was suspended was 1912, following the death of the foreign relations minister. The mayor of Rio, at the time Brazil’s capital, postponed by two months all licenses for the popular dance associations’ Carnival parties, according to Luís Cláudio Villafañe, a diplomat and author of the book “The Day They Delayed Carnival.” The mayor also voiced opposition to unregulated celebrations, but many Rio residents partied in the streets anyway.

Revelers were undeterred during World War II. And they poured into the street every year during more than two decades of military dictatorship, until 1985, with government censors reviewing costumes, floats and song lyrics.

Then came coronavirus.

“We must await the coming months for definition about if there will be a vaccine or not, and when there will be immunization,” LIESA’s president, Jorge Castanheira, told reporters in Rio on Thursday. “We don’t have the safety conditions to set a date.”

The 2020 coronavirus already forced Rio’s City Hall to scrap traditional plans for its second-biggest party, New Year’s Eve, which draws millions of people to Copacabana beach for dazzling fireworks. Earlier this month, the city’s tourism promotion agency Riotur announced that main tourist spots will instead display light and music shows to be broadcast over the internet.

Delay of the Carnival parade will deprive Rio state of much needed tourism revenue. In 2020, Carnival drew 2.1 million visitors and generated 4 billion reais ($725 million) in economic activity, according to Riotur. A statement from the agency Thursday provided no further clarity on the fate of the Carnival street parties.

Some parties are small — for example one including a few dozen dog owners exhibiting their pets wearing wigs or funny hats. But most feature amps blasting music to throngs of thousands who dance, kiss and swill booze in a crush of celebration. The biggest one boasts more than two million partygoers.

Rita Fernandes, president of Os Blocos da Sebastiana, said her association already cancelled its 11 street parties that together draw 1.5 million revelers. Most others groups will follow, she said.

“We cannot be irresponsible and bring the multitudes to the street,” she said, pointing to Europe’s second wave of contagion.

After several weeks of declining daily infections, Rio authorities have begun expressing concern about an uptick. Public spaces such as beaches have been crowded in violation of pandemic restrictions.

A drummer in Mangueira’s samba school, Laudo Braz Neto, said the children he instructed before the pandemic are listless, and he knows there is no way to put on Carnival without being able to safely gather.

“Carnival will only really happen when the whole world can travel. It’s a spectacle the world watches, brings income and movement here,” he said. “I have no hope for 2021.”

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Associated Press videojournalist Diarlei Rodrigues contributed to this report.

Marcelo De Sousa, The Associated Press

Watch: Robert Redford, Edward Norton Premiere Documentary ‘Public Trust’ Live On YouTube

Aynslee Darmon



Edward Norton is inviting documentary fans to the premiere of "Public Trust".

The virtual event will take place on YouTube Friday night with Norton and the filmmakers.

"Public Trust" is about America’s system of public lands and waters that are held in trust for all Americans, documenting the fight to protect them.

"Even in this moment of deep polarization, there are some things we ought to be able to unite around like defence of our public lands," Norton said ahead of the premiere. "Yet, they’ve never been more threatened."

The film is from director David Garrett Byars and Patagonia Films. Yvon Chouinard and Robert Redford are executive producers.

Questions linger about firm that received border wall contract


CBSNews

© Credit: CBSNews 60borderwallpreview-10.jpg

Three former administration sources say President Trump wanted government officials to give border wall contracts to a company with a checkered past, the same firm that recently built a private wall on the Rio Grande that some engineers say is likely to fail. The North Dakota company, Fisher Sand and Gravel, was partially funded by the pro-Trump "We Build the Wall" campaign whose executives are now charged with fraud and money laundering. They have pleaded not guilty. Sharyn Alfonsi investigates company CEO Tommy Fisher and his campaign to win over the Trump Administration on the next edition of 60 Minutes, Sunday, September 27 at 7 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.

Fisher had the president's attention after multiple appearances on Fox News touting a better, cheaper way to build the border wall. Former Department of Homeland Security officials said there were concerns about an initial wall prototype Fisher Sand and Gravel put up in San Diego. But he did get funding to build two private walls from "We Build the Wall," the crowdsourcing group chaired by former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon. Fisher reportedly used $20 to $30 million of his company's money to complete one of them. 60 Minutes wanted to ask Fisher why he would put up so much of his own investment but the contractor did not respond to interview requests.

Bannon, Brian Kolfage, the entity's founder, and two others connected to "We Build the Wall" were charged with defrauding donors; federal prosecutors say they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of the money they raised for personal items. Fisher denies he had any role in the alleged scheme and has not been charged. He parted ways with the group, he told the Washington Post.

Alfonsi saw one of the walls Fisher Sand and Gravel built on the banks of the Rio Grande in Mission, Texas. A local attorney, Javier Pena, who has filed a lawsuit for a neighboring land owner, says mounds of dirt were recently used to hide problems caused by summer rains. "Massive erosion…The foundation is crumbling…There are these trenches all along the wall, the sand just washing away," Pena says. Pena tells Alfonsi engineering experts he hired who have viewed the site concur. "It's not a question of whether it's going to fail, it's when it's going to fail and it already started to fail." In a leaked memo about the private walls Fisher Sand and Gravel constructed, Customs officials alleged Fisher "inflated" claims about the quality and speed of his work "due to lack of experience."

Attorney for land owners says parts of southern border wall failing due to erosion

Three former Trump Administration sources say that President Trump pressured government officials to direct wall contracts to Fisher Sand and Gravel, which had promised to build walls faster and cheaper than others. Over the last nine months, Fisher Sand and Gravel has been awarded almost $2 billion in federal border wall contracts.

Fisher Sand and Gravel has a troubled environmental and safety record, racking up violations in six states from 2000 to just this past June and paying almost two million in fines. The company also admitted responsibility for tax fraud in 2009. Representative Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, has called for an investigation into the awarding of the contracts to Fisher. "Fisher could potentially have been debarred from bidding on any federal contracts. But they weren't," Thompson says. "The president made no bones about his support for Fisher. And-- guess what? Fisher got the contract. It speaks for itself." An investigation into Fisher Sand and Gravel by the Department of Defense Inspector General is ongoing