Canadian Women's Soccer international Quinn hopes to start conversation, help young trans folk

© Provided by The Canadian Press

There is only one name before Janine Beckie, Kadeisha Buchanan, Gabrielle Carle and the rest of the alphabetized Canadian women's soccer roster on the Canada Soccer website.

Quinn. No first name. Just Quinn.

Family, friends and teammates have long known it but now Rebecca Quinn wants everyone to be aware after coming out as openly transgender.

Quinn said the decision to share — through a social media post earlier this month — came partially out of frustration at being portrayed "in society and social media and news ... without my true identity."

"It's really hurtful over time and I think it does take a toll on you," the 25-year-old, who no longer uses Rebecca, she or her and goes simply as Quinn or Quinny, said in an interview.

"I wanted to be my authentic self in all spheres of my life. And one of those is being in a public space. So that was one of the reasons behind it. Because I was tired of being misgendered and everything like that."

Quinn also wanted to be "a visible figure for young trans folks or people questioning their gender, people exploring their gender."

"Because unfortunately when I was growing up, and even going through that process of figuring out myself in college, I didn't have those people in the public sphere to look up to really.

"There are several trans athletes and there are amazing trans people in media and in politics but I just think those faces are not common enough. I want to be a visible trans person succeeding in my job so that younger trans folks could see that they did have an avenue to go and that they would have a future and career ahead of them."

Quinn also wanted to start a conversion on the topic, to show what people can do "to be better allies" to the trans community.

Quinn made the announcement in a Sept. 8 Instagram post.

"Coming out is HARD (and kinda bs)," they wrote. "I know for me it's something I’ll be doing over again for the rest of my life. As I’ve lived as an openly trans person with the people I love most for many years, I did always wonder when I'd come out publicly."

The post drew headlines from England's Daily Telegraph and Sun to People magazine and France's Paris-Match.

The world governing body of football issued its own statement.

"FIFA congratulates Rebecca Quinn for being out and proud, and we wish them continued success in their career and for the future," said FIFA, whose Gender Verification regulations cover 16 pages.

Quinn's post drew support from teammates and others. But there was also some negative feedback.

"Unfortunately I knew that was coming out, that there would be some backlash. It's sad to say but that's the reality of it," Quinn said. "That can be a little hard to digest but it hasn't been my first experience with it."

"I think I've faced my fair share of transphobia in my life," they added.

Quinn, who played college soccer at Duke, is the highest-drafted Canadian in NWSL history — taken third overall by the Washington Spirit in 2018.

Quinn has won 59 caps for Canada with five goals and three assists and was a member of the 2016 Olympic team that won bronze in Rio and the 2019 World Cup squad.

Quinn's scoring account for Canada opened with a bang in February 2016, recording a hat trick in a 10-0 win over Guatemala in the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament. The goal spree came in a seven-minute span.

A holding midfielder/centre back, Quinn went on loan to Sweden's Vittsjo GIK in August from the NWSL's OL Reign. Quinn has also had a stint with Paris FC in France.

Quinn's new teammates have been "fantastic" and "super-inclusive."

"I think that's maybe a testament to the Swedish culture," said Quinn.

At Duke, Quinn helped organize their team's first Pride Game and served on the executive board of the school's Athlete Ally chapter. According to its mission statement, the organization "believes that everyone should have equal access, opportunity, and experience in sports — regardless of your sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression."

"If I can make an impact in the LGBTQ community, then I'm doing something greater with my time in sports," Quinn said in an interview at the 2019 World Cup in France. "It's something that I think gives me value just beyond soccer within my athletic experience."

That journey continues. Quinn says trying to deconstruct society's rigid gender binary is a "continuous process that I'm constantly doing."

"But I think definitely if I'm looking back at a young age, there was me pushing back against that rigid gender binary and I continue to do that today."

Quinn comes from a supportive, sporting family.

Their father played rugby at Western and mother basketball at Waterloo while sisters Lauren (swimming, Western) and Jillian (a fraternal twin, soccer, Northeastern) also competed.

"Obviously there was a learning curve, like I was saying for everyone," said Quinn. "We don't get taught this in our formal education or primary school or whatever else. Trans people unfortunately aren't woven into the fabric of our teaching.

"They've been such a testament to how people can learn and can change, just even in terms of using pronouns," Quinn added referencing their family. "My parents are 60 years old and they don't mess up."

Quinn is grateful that their sport is open to trans players, although there always is concern that regulations could change. Many trans players are being excluded in sports, they added.

Canada Soccer has been supportive and teammates "really amazing."

Quinn wants to show that there is a future for trans people.

"That's not to say it's not going to be difficult ... for people who are exploring their gender or think that they might be trans or non-binary. But yeah, that they should be hopeful for their future. And that it will get easier, for sure.

"And that hopefully we continue to move the needle forward in creating a space and that future generations will be more inclusive. And it will be easier to operate in society as a trans person, a gender-expansive person."

Quinn is living proof, having experienced the good and bad.

"I continue to face transphobia every single day that I operate in this world. I think I'm just really proud of myself that I've been able to do this. And I've been able to grow that shell. I'm really happy that I'm living authentically in my life. I think it's really beautiful."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 23, 2020.

CANADA
Military member with links to far-right groups says he's 'done nothing wrong'
Murray Brewster  CBC
4 hrs ago

© Facebook/CBC News A Facebook photo of Erik Myggland on Aug. 24, 2019 wearing a Three Percenter patch.

A Canadian military reservist whose membership in two far-right groups is being investigated by the army has spoken publicly about the matter for the first time, telling a local print and online publication in British Columbia that the allegations against him are "rubbish."

Erik Myggland, who belongs to the Canadian Ranger Valemount, B.C. patrol, spoke recently to The Rocky Mountain Goat, a weekly publication, about the military's effort to release him from the service.

A CBC News investigation last month chronicled Myggland's prolific online support for the Three Percenter movement — a survivalist organization originally from the U.S. that conducts military-style training — and the Soldiers of Odin, a group with white supremacist roots in Europe.

Myggland was interviewed by the military's counterintelligence branch, which is charged with keeping tabs on possible threats within the service.

He is still serving as a Ranger, although his own unit recommended he be removed more than a year ago. The army is now investigating to learn why he hasn't been ejected from the Rangers to date. Lt.-Gen. Wayne Eyre, commander of the Canadian Army, said recently that Myggland is not expected to be formally released until later this fall.

"I'm fine with being released, but it absolutely matters why," Myggland told the newspaper, adding that he "can't stand for" being publicly linked with hate groups.

CBC News reached out to Myggland — who has posted anti-government screeds online and described Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as a "treasonous bastard" in one social media post — on several occasions before its first story on him was published in late August. He initially agreed to talk but then went silent.

After publication of his recent interview with the local weekly, CBC News again reached out to Myggland to verify his remarks and again offer him the opportunity to comment on his online posts and involvement with both groups.

© Twitter/CBC News A tweet by Erik Myggland responding to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Vimy anniversary tribute on April 9, 2018.

Myggland refused to be interviewed by CBC News. In an email, however, he claimed that coverage of his story has been biased and has failed to cite his years of community service, working with troubled teenagers and teaching self-defence courses to women, and his work with the Rangers and the local volunteer fire service, which he said included 400 emergency responses and life-saving calls.

"You see you have no interest in these things. You have no interest in the truth," he wrote. "You are more interested in trying to destroy a good man that has done NOTHING wrong!"

His email did not address his involvement in either right-wing group and did not answer questions related to his case.

In his interview with The Rocky Mountain Goat, Myggland did address the military counterintelligence investigation of his activities.

The media outlet quotes him saying that he was asked by his commanding officer to meet with counterintelligence officers and insisting that he "promptly complied and fully briefed them on his past activities with the Soldiers of Odin and his current activities with Three Percenters in B.C."
'We weren't doing anything wrong'

The army launched a summary investigation after a CBC News investigation reported that the Canadian military counterintelligence branch interviewed Myggland about his affiliations but allowed him to continue serving.

There was no mention of Myggland's social media posts in The Rocky Mountain Goat article, although it does quote him strenuously insisting he is not racist.

"The most intriguing question [asked by CBC journalists ...] in that article was why did the Armed Forces allow me to serve for two years after being investigated? It's a pretty simple answer: because we weren't doing anything wrong," the article quoted Myggland as saying.

The story also paraphrased his patrol commanding officer, Clayton Gee, as saying Myggland did not preach hate or try to recruit other Rangers while serving.

Myggland vehemently denied being "racist or hateful" in his interview with the weekly and claims that, as a Facebook administrator for the Three Percenters of B.C., he would call out those who displayed such behaviour.

He said the Three Percenter movement is all about teaching survival techniques and preparing people for the collapse of society — something which its members believe is inevitable.
'Anathema'

Myggland is quoted as saying the B.C. Three Percenters would practice with firearms at a local firing range and "conducted military drills with Airsoft rifles."

Section 70 of the Criminal Code of Canada gives the federal government the power to prohibit assemblies without lawful authority for the purpose of conducting military exercises.

Barbara Perry is an expert on far-right groups at Ontario Tech University, in Oshawa, Ont. She said she was surprised to see a case of suspected far-right activity within the military handled so "nonchalantly, or so informally."

A counterintelligence investigation should have sounded the alarm all the way up the chain of command to 4th Canadian Ranger Group headquarters and beyond, said Evan Balgord, executive director of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network.

"It really needs to be communicated to every level of commanding officer in the Armed Forces that membership in a hate group is anathema to serving in the Forces," Balgord said.

The Department of National Defence (DND) would not comment on Myggland's public statement, saying that in light of the army's investigation, "it would be inappropriate for us to publicly discuss further."

It also refused to discuss "the sensitive nature of its intelligence work," adding that information collected during an investigation by counterintelligence officers is protected under the Privacy Act and needs to be safeguarded to protect current and future investigations.

"That being said, we can firmly say that the entire institution remains unwavering in its commitment to fighting hateful conduct," said Dan Lebouthillier, DND's head of media relations.

"We will not tolerate racist or harmful behaviour in our ranks or among our civilian personnel."

Myggland pointed out in his interview that neither the Three Percenters not the Soldiers of Odin are on any state lists of terrorist organizations.

That's true, said Perry — but even a simple Internet search five years ago would have revealed the anti-Muslim rhetoric being traded among members of the Three Percenters in the U.S., and the blatant white supremacy and anti-immigrant commentary dominating the discourse among Soldiers of Odin organizers, especially in Europe.

"You would have to have been willfully blind" to claim ignorance about those groups because of the "explicitness of the narratives" at the time Myggland joined, said Perry.

Even before the recent introduction of the anti-racism policy framework, Canadian military policy officially barred members from joining groups "that they knew or ought reasonably to have known" would promote violence and hatred.

After a child's accidental shooting death, Pennsylvania appeals court rules federal gun industry protection law unconstitutional


By Laura Ly, CNN
3 hrs ago

© Brady United J.R. Gustafson, who was killed in March 2016 after his 14-year-old friend unintentionally shot him with a semi-automatic handgun that he believed was unloaded.

A Pennsylvania state appeals court has decided that the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act of 2005 is unconstitutional, court documents filed on Monday show.

The PLCAA is a federal law that prohibits civil lawsuits from being brought against gun manufacturers and distributors as a result of misuse of their products by others.

The law says businesses should not "be liable for the harm caused by those who criminally or unlawfully misuse firearm products or ammunition products that function as designed and intended."

But the PLCAA violates the 10th Amendment, Pennsylvania Superior Court Prothonotary Joseph D. Seletyn said, which guarantees states' rights -- essentially stating that matters which are not delegated to the federal government by the US Constitution and are not Constitutionally prohibited, fall under the authority of the state government.

"The only portions of the PLCAA that do not offend the Constitution are its findings and purposes ... and a few definitions," Seletyn wrote.

The 63-page decision also took issue with arguments that the law falls under Congress' power to regulate interstate commerce.

"We hold that merely because, at some point in time, that gun passed through interstate commerce, does not give Congress perpetual authority to regulate any harm it may cause," Seletyn wrote.


The case that took this to court

The decision came down as part of a case against gun manufacturer Springfield Armory, Inc. and firearms store Saloom Department Store. In March 2016, a 14-year-old unintentionally shot and killed his friend J.R. Gustafson in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, with a semiautomatic handgun that he believed was unloaded.

Gustafson's parents sued both Springfield Armory and Saloom Department Store, asserting that they "were negligent and strictly liable for manufacturing and/or selling the defective handgun that caused their son's death," court documents state, alleging the gun's design was defective because it lacked a safety feature "to disable it from firing without the clip attached."

In January, a trial judge in Westmoreland County dismissed the lawsuit after ruling that the PLCAA gave immunity to both the gun manufacturer and firearms store.

The Gustafsons appealed. Following Monday's court decision, the case will be sent back to the trial court.

CNN has reached out to attorneys for Springfield Armory, Inc. and Saloom Department Store for comment on Monday's court decision. They previously attempted to have the case thrown out and argued the PLCAA protected them from being held civilly liable for the child's death, court documents show.


Lead attorney calls decision a win for Gustafson's parents

The Gustafsons' lead attorney, Jonathan Lowy, is also Vice President of the Brady Campaign, a nonprofit organization that advocates for gun control and against gun violence.

Lowy called Monday's decision a "win for the parents of J.R. Gustafson and other victims of gun industry negligence and misconduct, who will now have their day in court."

"In finding that PLCAA is unconstitutional in its entirety, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania properly recognizes that states have the authority to hold negligent gun makers accountable in court, and to ensure that all victims have the right to seek civil justice against wrongdoers who cause them harm," Lowy said in a statement.

In a news release Monday, the Brady Campaign said the Pennsylvania superior court is the first appeals court to hold PLCAA unconstitutional in its entirety.

"This access-to-justice victory for gun violence victims shows why it matters who sits on our nation's court," Brady Campaign President Kris Brown said in a statement.

The next court date for the case has been scheduled for October 28, online court records show.

Racial bias is an everyday reality for Black American shoppers. Cassi Pittman Claytor is studying how to end it.


mstone@businessinsider.com (Madeline Stone)
28/9/2020

© Provided by Business Insider A sign on a closed Sephora store during companywide racial bias training in June 2019. Nicholas Kamm/Getty Images

Cassi Pittman Claytor is an assistant professor of sociology at Case Western University whose research focuses on how racism plays out in many different aspects of Blacks' lives, including when they visit retail stores. 

She is working with Sephora to inform a national study the retailer is conducting about racial bias in store environments, pertaining to both customers and employees. The goal is for the research to be applied to all kinds of retailers. 

"There's the idea that it's a toll, but not everyone pays the same toll," Pittman Claytor said in a recent interview with Business Insider.

Back in April 2019, SZA said in a viral tweet that she was racially profiled at a Sephora store in Calabasas, California.

The music artist, who is Black, said a Sephora employee she identified as "Sandy" called security on her, to make sure she wasn't trying to steal anything from the store.

"We had a long talk. U have a blessed day Sandy," SZA tweeted.

Two months later, Sephora closed all of its US stores, distribution centers, and corporate offices for an hour of diversity training informed by experts on race.

Around the same time, the beauty retailer commissioned a national study on racial bias, in collaboration with Cassi Pittman Claytor, an assistant professor of sociology at Case Western Reserve University, and David Crockett, a marketing professor at the University of South Carolina.

Their research examines the entire process of buying a product, from the moment a consumer realizes they need to make a purchase to the moment they complete it, and how racism played a role in each phase.

"For example, the market might privilege white male consumers, and their experience is more pleasant or more favorable, more satisfactory, if they are perceived as the ideal or most favored," Pittman Claytor said in a recent interview with Business Insider. "Race can positively impact consumers, and it may negatively impact others."

The goal for the ongoing Sephora-commissioned study is to reach conclusions that could apply to consumer experiences no matter the retailer, helping businesses to reduce the possibility that racial bias would happen in stores.

Pittman Claytor said that racial bias would be nearly impossible to eliminate altogether, but that retailers can pinpoint strategies to make sure that all of their customers, no matter their race, can have a better experience.

Sephora once again closed its stores for racial-bias trainings in July. The two-hour trainings took place on Blackout Day, when Black people and other people of color were encouraged not to spend money except at Black-owned businesses.

Sephora was also the first retailer to publicly announce its support of the 15% Pledge, which asks businesses to devote 15% of their shelf space to Black-owned businesses. West Elm and Rent the Runway are among the companies who have since joined the movement.

Pittman Claytor said signing the pledge is a good first step, but it needs to be part of a broader strategy.

"A lot of companies can do a lot better," she said.

© Provided by Business Insider Cassi Pittman Claytor. Da'Shaunae Marisa for Business Insider

'Not everyone pays the same toll'

A retail store is unique in that it's a place where people of different races and statuses come into contact with each other. That mismatch means that shoppers tend to make snap judgments about others based on how they look and dress, Pittman Claytor said.

She said that Black consumers report experiences like not being greeted when they enter stores, receiving inferior service, and feeling that they are being associated with theft and that they are being watched by store workers.

On the other side of the equation, Black retail workers say they have been bullied or referred to in derogatory terms by customers.

"It's a pervasive problem," she said. "There's the idea that it's a toll, but not everyone pays the same toll."

Pittman Claytor said that in addition to the financial toll — leading Black people to often end up paying more for the same product, including cars — there's also an emotional one, "the stress and strain" that comes from being treated as if you were inferior "when you're just trying to spend your hard-earned money."

And during the time of the coronavirus pandemic, which has disproportionately affected Black Americans, wearing a mask in public has complicated interactions further.

"People of color do a lot of work with their body language to convey that they belong, that they're not going to steal anything," Pittman Claytor said. "[A mask] effectively makes it more difficult to communicate with your smile ... It's often a tool we use to disarm people."

Racial bias also shows up in the types of products that are made and how they are advertised. In beauty, for example, there may be dozens of shades of beige makeup marketed but only two of brown.

"Questions about who the store is for need to begin at the corporate level," she said, adding that companies need to be getting insight and feedback from a diverse set of people.

© Carlo Allegri/Reuters People sit with shopping bags outside of Macy's Herald Square store in New York City. Carlo Allegri/Reuters

Black buying power is on the rise

Blacks' economic clout continues to grow in America. According to the most recent study on Black consumer habits by Nielsen, Black buying power has grown from $320 billion in 1990 to $1.3 trillion in 2018. It grew 114% from 2000 to 2018, compared to 89% growth in white buying power.

Pittman Claytor, who was named to Business Insider's list of the 100 People Transforming Business for 2020, examines how middle-class Blacks navigate historically white spaces in her new book, "Black Privilege." Her sociological research touches on topics like how Blacks navigate the corporate world, how they choose where to live, and why buying from Black-owned businesses is important to them.

She said that middle-class Blacks often experience racism more frequently than those of a lower socieconomic status because they're more likely to be only one of a few in their position.

"Unlike whites, no matter how high blacks climb, they continue to confront societal racial hierarchies that place blacks at the bottom, preventing them from capitalizing and cashing in on all the benefits that their credentials and class status should afford them," she writes in her book. 

Read the original article on Business Insider

Trump 2016 campaign 'targeted 3.5m black Americans to deter them from voting'


Dan Sabbagh THE GAURDIAN 28/9/2020

© Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Donald Trump during a 2016 debate. The Trump campaign’s goal was to dissuade black Americans from backing Hillary Clinton by targeting them with ‘dark adverts’ on their Facebook feeds.

Donald Trump’s 2016 US presidential election campaign has been accused of actively seeking to deter 3.5 million black Americans in battleground states from voting by deliberately targeting them with negative Hillary Clinton ads on Facebook.


The secret effort concentrated on 16 swing states, several narrowly won by Trump after the black Democrat vote collapsed.

The claims have come from an investigation by Channel 4 News, which was leaked a copy of a vast election database it says was used by the Trump campaign in 2016.

Comprising the records of 198 million Americans, and containing details about their domestic and economic status acquired from market research firms, the investigation claimed voters were segmented into eight categories.

One was marked “deterrence”. Those placed in the special category – voters thought likely to vote for Clinton or not at all – were disproportionately black.

According to the investigation, the Trump campaign’s goal was to dissuade them from backing the Democrat entirely, by targeting them with “dark adverts” on their Facebook feeds, which heavily attacked Clinton and, in some cases, argued she lacked sympathy with African Americans.

The effort is said to have been devised in part by Cambridge Analytica, the notorious election consultant that ceased trading last year following revelations that it used dirty tricks to help win elections around the world and had gained unauthorised access to tens of millions of Facebook profiles.

In Michigan, a state that Trump won by 10,000 votes, 15% of voters are black. But they represented 33% of the special deterrence category in the secret database, meaning black voters were apparently disproportionately targeted by anti-Clinton ads.

In Wisconsin, where the Republicans won by 30,000, 5.4% of voters are black, but 17% of the deterrence group. According the Channel 4, that amounted to more than a third of black voters in the state overall, all placed in the group to be sent anti-Clinton material on their Facebook feeds.

Attacks ads that were used by Trump’s digital campaign included one known as the “super-predator” commercial, featuring a video clip of controversial remarks made by Clinton in 1996, which the Republicans claimed referred to African Americans.

Arguing that it was necessary “to have an organised effort against gangs”, and their members Clinton said: “They are often the kinds of kids that are called super predators – no conscience, no empathy. We can talk about why they ended up that way, but first, we have to bring them to heel.”

The Democrat apologised for using those words shortly after being confronted by Black Lives Matter activists about them in February 2016, but the language was picked up by Trump during the campaign and heavily recycled online.

Another attack ad reportedly came from a political action committee also run by Cambridge Analytica. It features a young black woman who appears to be a Clinton supporter abandoning her script to say: “I just don’t believe what I’m saying.”

When reminded that she is an actor, she replies that she is “not that good” of an actor

Jamal Watkins, the vice president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), said it was shocking and troubling that there was a covert attempt to suppress the black vote in 2016.

“So, we use data – similar to voter file data – but it’s to motivate, persuade and encourage folks to participate. We don’t use the data to say who can we deter and keep at home. That just seems, fundamentally, it’s a shift from the notion of democracy,” Watkins told Channel 4.

It is estimated that 2 million black voters across the US who voted for Barack Obama in 2012 did not turn out for Hillary Clinton. In Wisconsin, Trump’s vote matched Mitt Romney’s in 2012, but Clinton lost because her vote collapsed. The Democrat polled 230,000 votes fewer than Obama.

Key to the Trump victory was putting off black voters in cities like Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In one city ward, where 80% of its 1,440 voters were black, almost half or 44% of the ward was marked as for deterrence, a total of 636 people, 90% of whom were black.

Many other factors accounted for Clinton’s defeat, including legislation that was accused of suppressing the black vote.

Again, in Wisconsin, the Republican-run state has introduced measures requiring citizens to produce valid voter identification, which it was argued disproportionately affected poor and black voters.

The Trump campaign spent $44m (£34m) on Facebook advertising and generated 6m adverts overall. But the passage of time has meant that only a handful of the attack ads used by the Trump campaign have been recorded, and Facebook will not say how many or which ads were used at the time.

The company said that “since 2016, elections have changed and so has Facebook – what happened with Cambridge Analytica couldn’t happen today”. It added that it now has “rules prohibiting voter suppression” and was “running the largest voter information campaign in American history”.

The Trump campaign, the Republican national committee and the White House all declined to comment.

A senior official in the the Trump campaign has previously denied any targeted campaigns against individual groups.

Mexican women demanding legalization of abortion clash with police

28/9/2020

© Reuters/CARLOS JASSO Abortion rights campaigners clash with police in Mexico City

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Women charged police lines and threw Molotov cocktails at officers in Mexico City on Monday during protests demanding the legalization of abortion in the majority Roman Catholic country.

The protesters, clad in the green bandanas that have become the symbol of the pro-choice movement in Latin America, gathered in Mexico's capital to mark International Safe Abortion Day, which is celebrated each year on Sept. 28.

© Reuters/CARLOS JASSO Abortion rights campaigners clash with police in Mexico City

Police, many of them female officers, responded by spraying plumes of tear gas at the women, some of whom wielded hammers, and threw bottles and paint.

At least one officer was briefly engulfed in flames after being hit by a Molotov cocktail, before colleagues doused the fire with an extinguisher, television images showed.

Abortion is illegal in Mexico outside the capital city and the southern state of Oaxaca, which legalized the medical procedure last year. In the rest of Mexico, abortion is banned except under certain circumstances, such as rape.

© Reuters/CARLOS JASSO Abortion rights campaigners clash with police in Mexico City

Abortion law has been receiving renewed attention after the death in the United States of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a pioneering women’s rights advocate, which has cast doubt over the future of legal abortion there.

© Reuters/CARLOS JASSO Abortion rights campaigners clash with police in Mexico City

(Reporting by Carlos Jasso in Mexico City; Writing by Laura Gottesdiener; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Matthew Lewis)  

© Reuters/CARLOS JASSO Abortion rights campaigners clash with police in Mexico City

Minimal risk to wild salmon from viruses on farmed B.C. salmon: Fisheries Department

© Provided by The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER — The Department of Fisheries and Oceans says nine pathogens from farmed salmon in British Columbia's Discovery Islands pose a minimal risk to wild salmon, based on its scientific assessments.


It said Monday the department will consult with seven First Nations on the islands, which are near Campbell River, in deciding whether to renew the licences of area fish farms before they expire in December.

Meetings with the First Nations, which have raised concerns about three salmon farms, are expected to begin in October.

Jay Parsons, the department's director of aquaculture, said the risk of the viruses transferring from farmed to wild stocks in the Fraser River is less than one per cent.

The federal government has been conducting a series of assessments based on a recommendation from an inquiry into dwindling salmon stocks in the Fraser River.

Inquiry commissioner Bruce Cohen said in his final report in 2012 that salmon farms along the sockeye migration route in the Discovery Islands could potentially introduce exotic diseases and aggravate endemic disease that could affect sockeye.

He recommended that the Fisheries Department put a freeze on net-pen salmon farm production on the islands if it could not confidently say by Thursday that the risk of serious harm to wild stocks is minimal.

Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan said a promise by the Liberal party before the 2019 election to transition from open-net salmon to another system of salmon farming by 2025 is in the works and the studies on the nine pathogens are part of that process.

However, she did not commit to whether a new system would be in place by 2025 beyond developing a plan for it.

Jordan said four weeks of consultation will be done with the seven First Nations in the Discovery Islands.

"These particular farms may not be a good fit in this location for the First Nations communities, so we want to make sure that we consult with them to see what it is that they see as the best path forward," she said.

Conservation groups including Living Oceans and the Watershed Watch Salmon Society criticized the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for not doing an assessment of sea lice. That suggests the department did not fully fulfil the recommendation in the Cohen report, even after eight years, the Watershed Watch Salmon Society said in a statement.

Jordan said the department has made changes based on the available science and aims to increase salmon stocks while restoring more habitat.

"There are a number of things that are impacting the wild Pacific salmon stock," she said, adding that includes climate change. "There is no one silver bullet that's going to deal with the challenges that we're seeing."

Chief Clint Williams of the Tl'amin First Nation, one of the seven that the Fisheries Department will be consulting, said he has not heard about any meetings with federal officials.

Williams said that as part of a joint fisheries committee with the department, the Tla'amin would like more information on a regular basis to learn why salmon stocks have been shrinking to the point that no fish could be saved over the winter for the past three years.

"If we're trying to manage this resource together, then I think it needs to really appear and feel that way and be moving in that direction," he said from Powell River.

"I think when they release their science, they need to have it viewed through the First Nations' lens as well."

The BC Salmon Farmers Association said the findings from the assessments show that scientific research supports the way the industry operates.

"Working closely and openly with Indigenous Peoples is how salmon farmers in B.C. are working to create a shared future of economic opportunity and environmental stewardship," it said in a statement.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 28, 2020.

Camille Bains, The Canadian Press

Trudeau urges largest countries in the world to support UN biodiversity plan

© Provided by The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is calling on countries with the largest land masses to do more to protect the biodiversity of their land and water.


Trudeau made that call on Monday at a special session of the United Nations via video conference, on the sidelines of a virtual General Assembly meeting.

Trudeau was taking part in the Leaders Event for Nature and People that also included the leaders of Costa Rica and Norway.

The prime minister was pledging Canada’s support for a UN initiative that aims to protect 30 per cent of land and oceans by 2030.

But Canada is the only country in the top-10 largest countries by land mass that has joined the initiative, Trudeau said.

"Every country will find it difficult to protect 30 per cent of their land and protect biodiversity. So, it’s not about who is doing better," the prime minister said.

"In terms of sheer acreage of the world, we need to get those other nine largest countries in the top 10 to do their part and step up as well."

Canada will be working with Indigenous Peoples as necessary partners because they "understand how important it is to be good stewards of these lands and these waters that sustain us," Trudeau said.

One Indigenous leader welcomed Trudeau’s statement and said it could also help Canada’s ongoing efforts with reconciliation.

"Respecting this leadership will also advance reconciliation and build a more equitable and sustainable future. Much of the recent progress in conserving lands — including forests and wetlands that store massive amounts of carbon — has come from Indigenous Nations," said Frank Brown, a member of the Heiltsuk Nation and senior leader with the Indigenous Leadership Initiative, in a statement.

"Now, by placing Indigenous-led conservation at the heart of its approach to protecting both nature and climate, Canada can lead the world in promoting a new model of ethical conservation — one rooted in respect, responsibility, and reconciliation."

Trudeau also said the government will move forward with its plans to plant two billion trees, ban many single-use plastics and protect wetlands, saying he wants "Canadians once again to connect to their nature."

The initiative is known as the "high ambition coalition," and it was started late last year by Costa Rica and France.

The government said in a statement that Canada is "uniquely positioned" to take part because it has the second-largest land mass in the word, one-fifth of the world’s fresh water, and the longest coastline in the world. Taken together, Canada's natural features play a critical role in fighting climate change, it said.

"Our forests, grasslands, and peatlands absorb enormous amounts of carbon pollution and are our best ally in protecting our climate," the statement said.

Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said in a statement that expanding protected areas is "critical not just for stopping the loss of nature and biodiversity but also to fighting climate change and helping prevent future pandemics."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 28, 2020.

Mike Blanchfield, The Canadian Press

COMMENTARY: Canadian women are ‘disillusioned and disengaged’ with COVID-19 political response


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© Adrian Wyld/CP Gov. Gen. Julie Payette and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wait during the throne speech in the Senate chamber in Ottawa on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020.

The pageantry of last week’s almost surreal throne speech, and the subsequent televised address by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, may have left Canada’s political classes with much to dissect and discuss.

Yet Canada’s women and moms were simply left rolling their eyes at a big theme in those speeches — that the pandemic has hit women worse than men, and most of all, those women with children.

READ MORE: Trudeau dangles national childcare system in throne speech with few hints of fiscal restraint

This is a disconnect that is causing women in general, and moms in particular, to feel disengaged and disillusioned. Many have little faith in our political leaders to make things better for them in any practical way, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

And it shows up in the numbers.

Ipsos recently asked Canadians which federal party leaders best fit the bill on a series of traits. Women were consistently more likely than men to say that none of our leaders could be described as best at anything, whether managing the COVID-19 crisis, steering the ship during tough economic times or taking action against climate change.

Most damning of all, nearly four in 10 women (37 per cent), including 38 per cent of moms, say that no major federal party leader’s values best represent their own (just 27 per cent of men feel the same).

READ MORE: Liberals, Tories in dead heat ahead of throne speech but neither in majority territory, Ipsos poll says

Think about that for a moment: despite real progress made in female representation at the highest levels of elected office, many women simply don’t see themselves reflected in the leadership of this country.

What they do see is another acute health-care crisis just around the corner. Women are significantly more pragmatic than men about a second wave of COVID-19: eight in 10 (81 per cent) expect a second wave to hit their community in the fall, compared to 71 per cent of men.

Moms, who are best placed to see what’s happening in schools, are even more likely to expect things to get worse: 84 per cent expect their community to be affected this fall.

READ MORE: 75% of Canadians approve of another coronavirus shutdown if second wave hits, Ipsos says

Women also see a good deal of personal risk, at a time when they are expected more than ever to be the glue that keeps their families together. Ipsos polling has shown for a long time that women tend to worry more about health issues than men, and that continues to be the case as this second wave gathers pace: 72 per cent of women (and 71 per cent of moms) are personally concerned they will catch the virus, compared to just over half of men (55 per cent).

It follows, then, that women are also more supportive of measures to curb the spread of COVID-19. If a second wave hits — and Prime Minister Trudeau confirmed last week that it is undeniably underway — women (80 per cent) are significantly more likely than men (71 per cent) to support shutting down most non-essential businesses quickly like we did in the spring.

Eight in 10 moms agree – particularly if doing so means avoiding the closure of schools again. Why shouldn’t they, when so many have so much at stake if we end up with a spiralling COVID-19 situation like the one playing out south of the border?

There are systemic reasons behind these sentiments.

COVID-19 is a bigger threat to women because of our increased chance of exposure: we are more likely to be front-line health-care workers, and more likely to be living in long-term care homes — one of the worst places to be during a pandemic, as we all saw to our horror in the spring.

Women’s financial health and housing security are more at risk because we are more likely to be in the precarious employment situations that led to more than three million jobs being lost around the country in the first two months of the pandemic alone.

At home, women are disproportionately at risk of gender-based violence from their partners, a situation exacerbated by punitive lockdown conditions.

When kids enter the picture, moms are the ones who tend to shoulder the child-care responsibilities, including decisions about education. From keeping them busy when schools closed early to debating the safety of sending them back in the fall, it’s been a tall order for the average mom, and the new school year is barely a month old.

In his address on Sept. 23, the prime minister said that “by creating a Canada-wide early learning and child-care system, we’ll ensure that kids have access to care, and that no parent, especially no mother, will have to put their career on hold.”

That’s a measure that will no doubt be welcomed by those who need it most.

Despite it, most Canadian women are still feeling stuck at the crossroads, unsure which way to turn.

Mitra Thompson is a senior account manager at Ipsos

Brazil prosecutors bring graft charges against Bolsonaro's son: report

© Reuters/ADRIANO MACHADO Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro is seen after an inauguration ceremony of the new Brazilian National Development Bank (BNDES) President at the Planalto Palace in Brasilia

RIO DE JANEIRO/BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian state prosecutors in Rio de Janeiro on Monday brought charges against the president's son, Flavio Bolsonaro, for alleged embezzlement, laundering and running a criminal organization, domestic newspaper O Globo reported.

The indictments ratchet up pressure in a long-running probe into the son of right-wing leader Jair Bolsonaro. The younger Bolsonaro, 39, is a federal senator who has been under investigation for accusations that he orchestrated a corruption scheme in which employees would kick back part of their salary to him while he was serving in the Rio de Janeiro state legislature.

Flavio Bolsonaro did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent to his cabinet office.

O Globo, one of Brazil's leading dailies, cited a more than 300-page indictment detailing the charges.

The Rio prosecutors office, however, said in a statement that no charges had yet been filed against Flavio.

"The institution regrets and repudiates the disclosure of news related to sealed investigations," it said.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Viga Gaier and Jake Spring; Editing by Matthew Lewis)


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