Canadian Conservative Senator Lynn Beyak 'erroneously' donated to Trump's re-election campaign in violation of U.S. law
National Post Staff

© Provided by National Post Sen. Lynn Beyak


A Canadian senator, who has stirred controversy in the past, violated American law when, in May, she donated to U.S. President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign.

Ontario Sen. Lynn Beyak made a $300 contribution to the Republican National Committee, public records from the American Federal Election Commission show .

In the records, Beyak listed her occupation as retired and her address as a P.O. box on Davis Point Rd. in Dryden, N.Y., however, no such road or address exists in the rural New York town. Vice News, which first reported the story, also stated there is no Lynn Beyak in the American town.

The senator lives in Dryden, Ont., and Vice reports that a phonebook listing that matches the address in the donation receipt belongs to Beyak.

At the time of her donation, she was still a member of the Canadian Senate.

American federal laws prohibit campaigns from soliciting or accepting contributions from foreign nationals who do not hold U.S. citizenship.

Parsing through financial disclosures, Vice reports that there is no indication that Beyak holds dual citizenship or owns property in the states.

Beyak’s office confirmed to Vice that the senator did send in the political donation, however the money “is being returned in its entirety, simply because (the contribution) was erroneous.”

The RNC must report all returned donations but has not reported returning the senator’s contribution.

Since former prime minister Stephen Harper appointed Beyak to the Senate in 2013, she has had a series of controversies.

Facing Senate suspension, Sen. Lynn Beyak apologizes 'unreservedly' for posting racist letters online

Senate votes to suspend Lynn Beyak again despite her apology for posting offensive letters on website

In 2017, the Conservative Senate caucus expelled her after she called for the creation of a program in which Indigenous peoples could receive cash if they relinquished their protected status and land.

In February, sitting as an independent, Beyak was suspended for the remainder of the parliamentary session because she did not complete the anti-racism training she had been directed to undergo.

Beyak’s suspension ended when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau prorogued Parliament in the summer.

Beyak is back on the government payroll, collecting her full $157,600-a-year salary, and has access to Senate resources, CBC reported .

In Canada, senators are appointed until their mandatory retirement age of 75 and it can be difficult to remove a senator from his or her post.

Bank of Canada says economy will likely be scarred by COVID-19 until 2023

HEY KENNEY STOP THE CUTS 

BORROW AND PRIME THE PUMP

Don Pittis CBC

© Blair Gable/Reuters Physically distanced. Carolyn Wilkins, the Bank of Canada’s senior deputy governor, and Governor Tiff Macklem offer their latest gloomy thoughts to a virtual news conference in Ottawa on Wednesday as COVID-19 resurges.

Maybe it's his job to prepare us for the worst, but Canada's chief central banker, Tiff Macklem, has warned of a long, slow recovery as successive rounds of COVID-19 lead to a "scarring" of the domestic and world economy.

After what some see as a false dawn this summer as the economy resurged, Macklem, governor of the Bank of Canada, and his senior deputy, Carolyn Wilkins, offered a gloomy outlook for an economy that they say is unlikely to get back on track until 2023.

Not only that, but jobs — hit harder in this recession than the last one — are disproportionately affecting Canadians with the lowest wages. While 425,000 jobs disappeared following the 2008 credit crisis, this time around, employment has been cut by 700,000.


And Macklem said some of those jobs may never come back.

"We're going to get through this, but it's going to be a long slog," he said at a virtual meeting with financial reporters on Wednesday.

Good news? Lower for longer

The good news, if you could call it that, was that the central bankers have committed to keeping interest rates at current extraordinarily low levels until inflation climbs back to between two and three per cent, which they don't foresee as likely for three years.

Forecasting the economy is always something of a guessing game, but Macklem and Wilkins said that this time there was added uncertainty because of not knowing what the novel coronavirus is going to do next.

The central bankers made it very clear that the current outlook depends on a number of assumptions about the path of the pandemic that may turn out to be better or worse than they currently foresee.

Among those assumptions is that the virus will return in succeeding waves, each less damaging than the last. Another is that a vaccine will not become widely available until 2022, a sobering estimate from sober central bankers that may be disheartening for those who had hoped U.S. President Donald Trump's optimistic outlook of an October vaccine launch was more than just electioneering.

© Carlos Barria/Reuters In the past, U.S. President Donald Trump — shown during a tour of the Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies' Innovation Center in Morrrisville, N.C., in July — has suggested a vaccine would be available before the Nov. 3 election, but Canada’s sober central bankers are more pessimistic.

By promising that interest rates will stay low until 2023 — something central bankers call "forward guidance" — Macklem said he hopes businesses and consumers can confidently borrow for the medium term without fear that interest rates, and therefore loan repayments, will suddenly shoot up.

That's good if you are buying a new stove but not for a home, or for a longer-term business investment. To influence those longer-term rates, the central bank has shifted the way it buys bonds as part of its quantitative easing plan that it initiated for the first time following the COVID-19 market disruption.

When the market crisis hit in early spring, the bank bought short-term bonds to help increase the amount of money in circulation, reassuring investors, Macklem said. But now that markets are working more normally, the Bank of Canada has reduced its monthly bond purchases from $5 billion to $4 billion and is switching to buying bonds that don't mature for up to 30 years, in theory making longer-term loans cheaper.

Economy scarred by COVID-19

But while making borrowing cheap will help, the central bank worries that it won't be enough to prevent the economy from being scarred by large employment losses as some people's jobs never come back.

"We've assumed that a fraction of these people are permanent," Wilkins said. "That's because with COVID, not only is the recovery going to take longer so that there is more chance there'll be scarring, it's also the types of jobs created."

As the economy rebounds, she said, the new jobs available will not match the skills of those who became unemployed. Among those worst hit will be women and young people.

"The effects of this pandemic have been extremely uneven," Macklem said, directing reporters to a "particularly stunning" chart in the Monetary Policy Report, reproduced below, showing low-income workers have suffered more and their jobs have uniquely failed to recover.

Just as we saw during the long climb out of the last recession, replacing those jobs will require new private investment, some of it in entirely new sectors. But with so much uncertainty — and so much permanent structural change — Macklem said many companies will be hesitant to invest until things begin to stabilize.

"Clearly we are seeing a resurgence of the virus — it's happening in Canada and it's happening elsewhere," he said.

Macklem's current economic outlook is only a best guess based on so many unknowns. It may be that the virus gets even worse, he said, and it may be that a vaccine does not arrive until later than the bank has estimated or that it is ineffective.

But while the central bank is compelled to consider the bleakest case in its economic planning, Macklem does not exclude the possibility of a far less gloomy outcome, which he said would be "wonderful."

"There's certainly scenarios where a vaccine is available early next year and it proves effective, and we can deploy it at scale so that by the end of the year, we don't need to physically distance anymore."

And from a central banker, that is a positive ray of sunshine.

Follow Don Pittis on Twitter: @don_pittis

Ginella Massa to join CBC News Network as primetime host

Jackson Weaver CBC

© Yasmine Mehdi/CBC Ginella Massa will join CBC News Network as a primetime host starting in the new year.

Journalist Ginella Massa will join CBC News Network as the host of a new primetime show, the Crown corporation announced Wednesday as part of programming changes over the next few months.

"She's just got a spark and curiosity to her that is refreshing at a time when there's so much to be interested in, and so much that is sort of unchartered in terms of the kind of journalism we do, the kind of stories we tell," said Michael Gruzuk, CBC's senior director of programming.

Massa will also join CBC's flagship news program The National as a special correspondent, as well as take part in "many of our CBC News specials," according to an internal CBC memo.

A graduate of Seneca College and York University, Massa is currently a reporter for CityNews in Toronto. In 2019, she was part of the CityNews team that won a Canadian Screen Award for best live special for coverage of an Ontario leaders' debate.

She has also worked with CTV, NewsTalk 1010 and Rogers TV, moving from behind the scenes as a news writer and producer to in front of the camera as a television journalist.

In 2015, she became the first hijab-wearing TV reporter in Canada, and then the next year, the first to anchor a major newscast in the country.

Massa said she hopes to use her new CBC role to focus on stories from different perspectives — be it race, religion or class.

"For the last decade of my career in journalism, both behind the scenes and on air, I have often been the only one who looks like me in the room," Massa said.

"I do try to bring those perspectives to the newsroom … bring the stories that people around me are talking about, which aren't always the stories that get the most attention."

Beginning in the new year, Massa's hour-long show will air weeknights at 8 p.m. ET on CBC News Network.

New programs

Her hiring comes alongside a number of other changes on the cable network.

On Nov. 1, it will launch Rosemary Barton Live, a two-hour Sunday program focused on federal politics, followed by the premiere of CBC News Live with Vassy Kapelos, a weekday "fast-paced roundup of breaking political and Canadian stories" on Nov. 2, the internal memo said.

Kapelos will continue to host Power and Politics, which moves to a new time slot of 6 p.m.-8 p.m. ET on weekdays.

CBC journalist Carole MacNeil will host a new weekday afternoon show on News Network, which will be "more programmed" rather than focusing on breaking news that just happened, Gruzuk said.

The changes come weeks after Barbara Williams, CBC's executive vice-president of English services, announced 130 job cuts across the country. That included 58 news, current affairs and local positions, with most of them in Toronto.

The company cited higher costs and lower revenues as the reason for the cuts, precipitated by a $21-million budget deficit. That shortfall was, in particular, "due to declines in advertising and subscription revenues linked to our traditional television business," Williams wrote in a letter to staff.

IN THE HOOD

Commonwealth Stadium opens as temporary homeless shelter for winter amid COVID-19
Dustin Cook EDMONTON JOURNAL

© Provided by Edmonton Journal Commonwealth Stadium is seen in Edmonton, on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2020. The inside concession area of the stadium is being used as an overnight shelter operated by Hope Mission.

An enclosed concession area in Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium has opened as a temporary homeless shelter for residents sleeping rough this winter.

The site, which opened on Friday, has overnight capacity for 120 people with two metres between sleeping spaces to follow COVID-19 guidelines. The shelter is operated by Hope Mission and replaces its other temporary shelter at the Central Lions Recreation Centre, which closed last Thursday after operating since early April.

Hope Mission executive director Bruce Reith said the stadium can accommodate about 40 more people than the previous site, which is essential as the weather turns colder. Right now, the space is operating as an overnight shelter with residents required to leave around 8 a.m., but Reith said they are working with the city to offer 24-7 services and also provide daily meals onsite. The shelter is scheduled to be open until at least March, with operational funding coming from the provincial government.

“We’re concerned about winter obviously and that’s why I’m excited about Commonwealth,” Reith said in an interview with Postmedia Wednesday. “My concern is feeding people so that they can come in, distance the two metres, have a nice hot meal and also be inside somewhere warm to have that.”


Planned services also include social supports, housing information and day sleeping accommodations. A date hasn’t been confirmed for the transition to a 24-7 shelter, but the city said services will increase over the next few days as more staff are brought in.

Area Coun. Scott McKeen said he is hopeful the shift to a 24-7 shelter comes as soon as possible, voicing concerns about residents being kicked out early and left outside in the surrounding McCauley community, which he said is a frequent occurrence at the Hope Mission emergency shelter a few blocks west.

“It’s city space and they must operate 24-7 or we’ll run into the same problem again and that is people being evicted in the early morning into McCauley,” McKeen said. “I credit Hope Mission for the work they do, but I think they have to modernize their practices and it’s frustrating to me that we’ve struggled to get them to do that.”

In responding to McKeen’s comments, Reith said it is necessary to clear the emergency shelter early in the morning in order to transition the space for meal service.

Details about the Commonwealth Stadium shelter already being open for five nights caught McKeen off guard during a council committee meeting Wednesday morning. He said he wasn’t consulted or given any notice to inform the community.

“I can’t tell you how dismayed I am to hear that. That this comes to me as a surprise,” McKeen said in response to the update from city officials. “I am absolutely blown away that this would happen on my watch without some heads up and some meeting with me about this.”

Even though the shelter opened Friday, city spokeswoman Nicole Thomas told Postmedia in an email Monday afternoon that there were “no confirmed updates” about the use of Commonwealth Stadium as a shelter. On Wednesday, Thomas said the city was waiting to confirm operational details before making an official announcement to avoid confusion about locations and services available.

Two other temporary winter shelters are set to open their doors within the next few days. A 24-7 program at the Edmonton Convention Centre with overnight capacity of 300 people will open Friday evening and be operational until the end of March.

On the south side of the river, The Mustard Seed has received a development permit from the city to operate a temporary shelter out of an empty warehouse near 99 Street and 75 Avenue. The site, owned by Cessco Fabrication and Engineering Ltd., will open as a 24-7 shelter Monday and provide shelter space for up to 120 people until mid-May.

There are currently about 2,000 people experiencing homelessness in Edmonton and 600 people sleeping outside nightly.

duscook@postmedia.com

Thailand's first transgender MP dismissed from parliament
AFP 

Thailand's parliament lost its first transgender MP Wednesday after the constitutional court revoked her seat in what critics called a political move against supporters of the kingdom's pro-democracy movement.  

© Chalinee Thirasupa 

Tanwarin Sukkhapisit was a pioneer for Thailand's LGBT community when she won a seat at last year's election

Tanwarin Sukkhapisit, a former actor and film-maker, was a pioneer for the LGBT community when she won a seat at last year's election for the Future Forward Party.

But the party was dissolved in February this year, a move that escalated discontent and fuelled pro-democracy activists to demand the government step down.

Dozens of its MPs, including Tanwarin, joined another party -- the Move Forward Party -- but a judge ruled Wednesday that, as a "stockholder of a media company", she had breached electoral law and must leave her parliamentary seat.

"I'm not surprised -- I expected this to happen," Tanwarin told AFP, adding she did not think the decision was related to her gender identity.

"I will continue my work fighting for better outcomes for the LGBT community."

Thailand's transgender community is high profile but faces education and workplace discrimination in the Buddhist nation.

The country's parliament still has three other remaining transgender MPs.

Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat told AFP the ruling was disappointing but hailed her legacy.

"Even if we lose an MP today I think we have a national icon when it comes to freedom and gender equality."

Tanwarin is the latest casualty of a law many claim the government is using as a political weapon.

"They are trying to use a legal mechanism against whoever they assume supports the (pro-democracy) movement," said political scientist Titipol Phakdeewanich.

Near daily protests have rocked Thailand's capital for months as activists demand the government step down and call for reforms to the powerful monarchy.

Earlier on Wednesday, the cabinet approved plans to set up a reconciliation committee it said was a bid to defuse political tensions.

But the largest opposition party, Pheu Thai, dismissed the gesture, accusing the prime minister and former army chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha of trying to "buy time".

"The truth is Prayut has no credibility anymore. He needs to resign," deputy leader Pichai Nariptapan said.

bur-lpm/rs/axn

'Barrett is like Jesus' for evangelical voters: Why confirming a new Supreme Court justice before the election mattered more to Republicans than another coronavirus stimulus

© Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images President Donald Trump stands with newly sworn in U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation to the Supreme Court marks a huge victory for Republicans.
Despite the criticism from Democrats for prioritizing her appointment over passing a new COVID-19 stimulus package, experts say the GOP was following a longstanding plan.

If Republicans lose both the White House and Senate in 2020, they still have control over a critical branch of government: the judiciary. 

"White evangelicals will wait for the stimulus package. It pales in comparison to getting the Supreme Court justice," an expert told Insider.

Even if President Donald Trump doesn't win on November 3, Amy Coney Barrett delivered the GOP a crucial victory.

The federal judge — now a newly-minted Supreme Court Justice — is the first nominee in US history to be confirmed this close to an Election Day. Barrett replaced the late liberal icon Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg eight days before the general election, thanks to a Republican-led Senate that was fiercely committed to filling the seat.

In the ensuing weeks, Democrats denounced Republicans for prioritizing a judicial appointment and punting on key legislative duties, key among which was a new coronavirus stimulus bill to help millions of struggling Americans.

The partisan fiasco came to a head on Monday evening when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's plans finally materialized. He adjourned the Senate after Barrett's confirmation vote, shutting down the prospect of additional aid until after the election.

Despite the criticism, experts say Republicans stuck to the surest way they know to preserve their political influence: controlling the courts. With Barrett, the results were twofold: Republicans cemented a conservative majority on the nation's highest bench for decades to come, and they solidified support from some of their core constituents, white evangelical Christians.

McConnell's 'leave no vacancy behind' mindset about the courts

And the timing couldn't have been more ideal for the party, experts told Insider. As Trump trails his Democratic opponent Joe Biden in national polls and Republicans fight to maintain their majority in the Senate, this may have been the last opportunity in the foreseeable future to fulfill their legal agenda — and they pounced on it.

No matter the outcome of the 2020 election, "at least they can hold onto one branch of government," John Fea, a history professor at Messiah University, told Insider. "It's perfectly fitting with the political playbook."

© Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., gives two thumbs up as he leaves the chamber at the Capitol after a vote confirming Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, Monday, Oct. 26, 2020, in Washington. Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo

This playbook has been years in the making.

After Republicans won the Senate during then-President Barack Obama's second term, they consistently blocked his judicial nominees. McConnell's tactics were thrust into the spotlight in 2016 when he refused to even consider Obama's pick to succeed the late Justice Antonin Scalia.

"It is a president's constitutional right to nominate a Supreme Court justice, and it is the Senate's constitutional right to act as a check on a president and withhold its consent," McConnell said on the Senate floor after Obama nominated Judge Merrick Garland.

By the time Trump took office, Republicans were well-positioned to reshape the judiciary, as the president inherited 105 empty judgeships from his predecessor.

McConnell has since helmed an historic effort to flood the federal courts with conservative judges. In total, the top Republican has made 220 confirmations, including three Supreme Court justices. He reemphasized his mission earlier this year with a declaration to "leave no vacancy behind" — pushing through 26 federal judges even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conservative judgeships are critical to the GOP's white evangelical base

Republicans began to cultivate a strategy on the judiciary decades ago, around the same time that white evangelicals entered the political forefront. After landmark Supreme Court cases, including 1973's Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion, white evangelicals grew increasingly worried with what they viewed as the nation's moral downturn. The GOP, emboldened by the conservative coalition, coalesced under an anti-abortion and pro-religious liberty platform. Then, in the 1980s, white evangelicals started consistently voting red. 

(BARRY GOLDWATER IN A FIT OF LIBERTARIAN LIBERTINE ATHEISM DENOUNCED THE REAGAN REPUBLICAN MORAL MAJORITY AS A VIOLATION OF THE FIRST AMENDMENT)

 

 © SUSAN WALSH/POOL/AFP via Getty Images Amy Coney Barrett looks over to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, as they meet with on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on September 29, 2020. SUSAN WALSH/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Many white evangelicals believe that "the United States will not survive if it does not course-correct and get back to these white evangelical Christian values," Lauren Kerby, a religious studies lecturer at Harvard Divinity School, told Insider. The Supreme Court offers them a shortcut "to enforce these kinds of values that they're really concerned about."

The party then moved to build a network of conservative lawyers and judges to resist liberal influence in the courts, Andrew Lewis, a political science professor at the University of Cincinnati, told Insider. They coined a judicial philosophy focused on resolving legal disputes through the Constitution's original text, known as originalism, and empowered groups such as the Federalist Society to promote the interpretation. Critics say the ideology works to limit the federal government's power over social issues like abortion and leaves them up to state legislatures to decide.

Fast forward to Trump, and "all of this led to really strong efficiency of getting conservative judges appointed," Lewis said.

Barrett, a self-identified originalist, was previously a member of the Federalist Society, along with many other Trump-appointees. "Barrett became one of the judicial candidates that the religious right was most interested in," Lewis told Insider. "She represents these cultural and traditional conservative interests more, so I think it really gets many of them excited."

The relationship between Republicans and white evangelicals continues to energize this legal pursuit. Trump gained 80% of their vote in 2016 after he campaigned on the courts.

In 2020, with Barrett, "it's less about trying to win over the evangelicals," Fea, an American evangelicalism scholar, told Insider. "It's a matter of upholding them — not losing them. It's a matter of securing that 80%."

Had Republicans left the Supreme Court seat open, they would've failed to elevate their conservative ideology and disappointed much of their base, Fea added.

"White evangelicals will wait for the stimulus package," he said. "It pales in comparison to getting the Supreme Court justice."

© Samuel Corum/Getty Images People that both support and oppose the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett demonstrate in front of the Supreme Court of the United States on October 26, 2020 in Washington, DC. Samuel Corum/Getty Images

Barrett's confirmation has sparked excitement among Republicans, and concern among Democrats

If Biden wins the presidential election, it's unclear whether he'll attempt to tip the Supreme Court's majority in his favor by adding more justices. The former vice president has remained intentionally vague on the topic, saying only that he is "not a fan" of court packing and will create a bipartisan commission to study court reform, if elected.

Some progressives in the Democratic party have already rallied behind the idea of expanding the court after Barrett's confirmation on Monday night. But McConnell blasted the notion earlier this week and said that the left "won't be able to do much about this for a long time to come."

At the moment, he's not entirely wrong. Barrett is 48 years old and will serve a lifetime appointment on the court, much to the dismay of liberals who decry her record as a threat to women's reproductive rights, health care, and gun control.

In the coming months, the Supreme Court is slated to take on a number of contentious cases, including a challenge to the Affordable Care Act, at which time it will become clear just how far right the ideological balance has shifted.

Despite the trepidation, however, Barrett's upcoming rulings spark excitement for many supporters.

To them, Kerby said, "Barrett is like Jesus. She's going to save the nation somehow."

Read the original article on Business Insider

Ocasio-Cortez: 'Trump is the racist visionary, but McConnell gets the job done'

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) lashed out at President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in a new interview, calling the president a "racist visionary."  

© Getty Images Ocasio-Cortez: 'Trump is the racist visionary, but McConnell gets the job done'

In an interview with Vanity Fair published Wednesday, the New York Democrat alluded to a New York Times report last month that Trump paid no income taxes for 10 of the 15 years before he was elected president and just $750 a year in 2016 and 2017.

"These are the same people saying that we can't have tuition-free public colleges because there's no money," Ocasio-Cortez told the magazine, "when these motherf---ers are only paying $750 a year in taxes."

Ocasio-Cortez alleged that "Trump is the racist visionary, but McConnell gets the job done. He doesn't do anything without Trump's blessing. Trump says, 'Jump.' McConnell says, 'How high?' Trump never does what McConnell says."

The progressive lawmaker also weighed in on the upcoming presidential election between Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. In the past, Ocasio-Cortez, who endorsed the more liberal Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) during the 2020 primaries, has argued that Biden would do a better job than Trump at protected marginalized communities.

"This is not about a decision between two candidates," she told Vanity Fair. "It's about a decision between two countries."

She added that the future of the Democratic Party hinges on a Biden administration being able to make real changes in the lives of those who are struggling.

"If these people's lives don't actually feel different" Ocasio-Cortez said, "we're done. You know how many Trumps there are in waiting?"

"I think, honestly, a lot of my dissent within the Democratic Party comes from my lived experience. It's not just that we can be better, it's that we have to be better. We're not good enough right now," she added.

Ocasio-Cortez had recently said that Democrats should focus on winning next week's election before pushing for policies under a possible Biden administration.

"I don't want us to start counting our chickens before they hatch," she told CNN's "State of the Union" earlier this week. "I think we need to focus on winning the White House period."

THE HILL

Co-chair of N.S. Assembly of Mi’kmaw Chiefs steps down amid moderate livelihood fishery dispute

Alexander Quon and Jesse Thomas

The co-chair of the Nova Scotia Assembly of Mi'kmaw Chiefs has stepped down from the organization amid a split over the implementation of the moderate livelihood fishery

.

© Ross Lord / Global News Boats from Sipekne’katik First Nation were tied up after lobster traps were cut in a dispute with commercial fishers.

The decision, announced in a press release on Tuesday, comes after the organization had been discussing the definition of moderate livelihood with the federal government, although negotiations broke down last week.

The elder statesman of the Nova Scotia Assembly of Mi'kmaw Chiefs, Terry Paul, has spent decades as co-chair and served 36 years as chief of the Membertou First Nation.

Read more: Sipekne’katik First Nation fishery secures buyer for its lobster

He could not immediately be reached for comment on Wednesday.

In a statement, Paul said his confidence in the organization has been weakening for some time.

"While I understand, there are many employees who work every day for our communities, I have distrust in some of the issues at hand, primarily with the Fisheries files,” he said.

Paul will now work alongside Chief Mike Sack of the Sipekne'katik First Nation as well as other chiefs who are implementing a moderate livelihood fishery.
Moderate livelihood

Indigenous nations in Eastern Canada have a treaty right to fish or hunt for a “moderate livelihood,” a right that was recognized by the Supreme Court of Canada’s 1999 Marshall decision.

Although the term “moderate livelihood” was not formally defined by the court, a subsequent decision ruled that the government has the authority to impose some regulations for the purposes of conservation, subject to nation-to-nation consultations.

However, with no clear definition in the 21 years since the Marshall decision, the Sipekne’katik First Nation launched its self-regulated moderate livelihood fishery in September.

A second, Indigenous-run moderate livelihood fishery was launched by the Potlotek First Nation in Cape Breton in October, while Paul announced earlier this month that the Membertou First Nation was planning to launch its own moderate livelihood fishery.

Late last week, Paul accused the Department of Fisheries and Oceans of not recognizing the Supreme Court's Marshall decision by seizing lobster traps from band members.
Violence against moderate livelihood fishery

All of this comes on the heels of a violent response to the Sipekne’katik First Nation launching its moderate livelihood fishery.

Traps laid by Mi'kmaw fishers have been repeatedly cut or damaged.

The incidents culminated on Oct. 13, with mobs of as many 200 people swarming two lobster pounds in southwestern Nova Scotia.

At a facility in New Edinburgh, N.S., the crowd removed and damaged video cameras, then ransacked the lobster pound and storage facility where the lobster catch was to be housed.

Read more: Ottawa appoints special mediator in N.S. Indigenous lobster fisheries dispute

A van at the facility was set on fire.

RCMP have charged 31-year-old Michael Burton Nickerson from Yarmouth County with arson causing damage to property in relation to the incident.

Later that night, the same thing occurred at a lobster pound in Middle West Pubnico, N.S., a Mi’kmaw fisher told Global News.

Jason Marr said he and others were forced to take cover inside the lobster pound as the building’s windows were smashed out and his vehicle was damaged.

“They vandalized (my van) and they were peeing on it, pouring things into the fuel tank, cutting electrical wires,” Marr told Global News by phone on Wednesday.

He also said they smashed the windows of the van, and said that he saw them kicking, punching and hitting it with objects.

Video taken that night and posted on Facebook shows a damaged vehicle at the scene.

Marr alleges the non-Indigenous fishers threatened to “burn” his group out of the building if they didn’t leave and allow them to seize the lobster catch.

“I thought they were going to kill me,” he said.

Eventually, the group was forced to leave. Marr claims the non-Indigenous fishermen destroyed his catch, which he estimated was probably worth $40,000.

The facility that Marr took cover in was destroyed by what police called a “suspicious” fire on Oct. 17.

A man was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries that are believed to be related to the fire. The man is considered a person of interest in the case.

Read more: N.S. Mi’kmaq won’t deplete lobster stock, says expert

On Wednesday, Paul did not respond to a request for comment but Sack did.

"I haven't gone into details with him on that so I guess he'd have to shed some light on that one. But I respect his decision and he's been around the table for a long time, so it must be something worth doing so, if that's the case," Sack said on Wednesday.

Membertou is the latest to join Sipekne'katik and Millbrook First Nations in stepping down from the assembly.

The assembly released a statement Wednesday afternoon that it respects the autonomy of Mi’kmaw communities.

“We recognize that we are at a critical point in exercising and implementing our Treaty Rights, which can come with a range of thoughts and opinions.”

The Assembly said it remains committed to the protection of Treaties and is proud of the work it does for Mi’kmaq.

“Because we are stronger together, we will remain open to Membertou and Sipekne’katik coming back to the table, if and when they decide that is what is best for their communities.”

With files from Graeme Benjamin.

Father of 4 identified as worker killed at Trans Mountain pipeline site in west Edmonton


The man killed on the job at a west Edmonton construction site is being remembered by family as a loving husband and father.
© Supplied Samatar Sahal was killed while working at a Trans Mountain pipeline site in west Edmonton on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2020.

Samatar Sahal was fatally hit by a piece of equipment while working at a Trans Mountain pipeline site on the northwestern corner of the intersection between Whitemud Drive and Winterburn Road/215 Street.

The 40-year-old leaves behind a wife and four young children: the eldest is eight and the youngest just a two-month-old newborn.

While gathered at the work site to grieve and pray on Wednesday, Sahal's family said he had a special bond with his kids and he was "an amazing father."

"We're not here to point any fingers, we're not here to say anything destructive was done to him on purpose," his niece Hani Abdi said. "Obviously his time and his calling was here.

"We're just here to pray and to ask for God to bless him."

Several dozen people gathered at the work site, where Abdi said they're in shock and disbelief.

"You get to leave every morning and your expecting that same person to come back [home.] For him not to be able to come back — it's something that you don't want to happen to anybody. It's something that you can't fathom."

He had worked in construction for many years, according to a GoFundMe raising money to cover funeral expenses and help support the young family. A service for Sahal will be held on Thursday.

Read more: Worker killed at Trans Mountain pipeline job site in west Edmonton

The workplace incident happened Tuesday afternoon, where a CAT pipelayer machine and a tarp on the ground were taped off.

SA Energy is the contractor leading the pipeline expansion work in the Edmonton region. The company released a statement saying it was deeply saddened to confirm the death of one of its workers.

"Our prayers and sympathies are with our employee's family, friends and colleagues during this difficult time," the SA Energy statement read in part.

Trans Mountain also released a statement saying the company was “deeply saddened” by the death.

“This is a tragic incident and I know that staff and contractors at both SA Energy and Trans Mountain join me in extending our deepest sympathies to the worker’s family,” said Ian Anderson, president and CEO of Trans Mountain.

Both SA Energy and Trans Mountain said work at the construction site was immediately stopped and all appropriate authorities were notified, including Alberta Occupational Health and Safety.

A spokesperson with the government ministry responsible for OHS investigations confirmed it was investigating.

Edmonton police said officers did respond to the scene to make sure the death wasn't suspicious, but deferred to OHS because a workplace was involved.

The Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project is designed to triple the capacity of the existing 1950s-era pipeline between Edmonton and a shipping terminal in Burnaby, B.C., to about 890,000 barrels per day of products including diluted bitumen, lighter crudes and refined fuels such as gasoline.

Construction in the Edmonton region has been ongoing for about a year.

Read more: Trans Mountain pipeline: A look at key dates in the history of the project

Nenshi says Alberta needs the federal contact tracing app as province sees 410 new COVID cases

UCP CREATED USELESS ABAPP DUPLICATING FEDAPP
Madeline Smith 

  

© Provided by Calgary Herald Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi urged Calgarians to increase their vigilance as COVID-19 numbers surge in the city. Nenshi spoke on Wednesday, October 28, 2020.



Mayor Naheed Nenshi is calling for the provincial government to bring the federal contact tracing app to Alberta as COVID-19 cases spike.

Calgary’s mayor said Wednesday he has “no idea” what the holdup is in making the COVID Alert app available locally. The app lets people report a COVID diagnosis in eight provinces and, if it’s downloaded on your phone, also notifies you of possible exposure. The app works in Quebec and Ontario, which were both hard hit by COVID, but Alberta is still waiting.

As of Wednesday, 140 people in the Alberta Health Services Calgary zone have died from COVID-19.

“I don’t want any more,” Nenshi said.

“And, yeah, the federal app might not be perfect . . . but it’s something. We know the provincial app doesn’t work properly on most devices. We know people aren’t using it at all. So let’s take what we’ve got and make the job of those contact tracers easier.”

Active COVID cases in Alberta now sit at 4,793 after the province announced 410 new cases Wednesday. Daily case counts recently have regularly been above 400, and occasionally above 500. There are currently more active cases in the province than there were at the height of the first wave in the spring.

There are 1,788 active infections in the Calgary zone, compared to 2,245 in the Edmonton zone. The 410 new positive cases were identified from 10,631 tests — a 3.9 per cent positivity rate.

Alberta Health announced four more deaths Wednesday, including one in Calgary: a woman in her 90s linked to the outbreak at the Revera Mount Royal long term care home.

In Edmonton, a man in his 80s and a woman in her 90s linked to the outbreak at the Edmonton General Care Centre died, as well as another man in his 80s from the AHS Edmonton zone.

On Monday, Alberta announced new mandatory public health measures after 1,440 new cases were identified over three days. In Calgary and Edmonton, there’s now a 15-person limit on all social and family gatherings where people are “mixing and mingling.”

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Nenshi and Calgary Emergency Management Agency Chief Tom Sampson said they welcomed the new rules, and stressed it’s critical to follow them amid the “extremely concerning” spike in numbers.

“Social contact is a major contributor to those higher rates of infection,” Sampson said. “We need to tighten up our bubbles and sit together in our smaller cohorts.”

Sampson has also called for the federal contact tracing app to come to Alberta.

The provincial government said in August that Alberta would adopt the federal contact tracing app after months of issues with the provincial app, ABTraceTogether. For that app to work properly, users on Apple devices had to leave it running in the foreground with their phones unlocked at all times, an issue that led to concerns about privacy and practicality .

Nenshi added that he heard reports that United Conservative ministers had mocked the federal app in the legislature Tuesday as “Trudeau’s app.” The Hansard transcript of Tuesday’s Question Period doesn’t have a record of such a comment, but it was reported as part of heckling in the chamber.

Nenshi said he’s concerned about “politicization of public health.”

“Stop it. We don’t need that kind of partisanship here,” Nenshi said. “We’ve got to keep people safe, and I just hope that we go ahead and sign off on it as soon as possible.”

Health Minister Tyler Shandro told reporters Wednesday that the delay comes down to making sure the 247,000 people who already downloaded Alberta’s contact tracing app can be “transitioned” to the federal one.

“It only works if we have a certain amount of people who are going to be downloading it,” he said. “We need, for this to be effective in Alberta, for there to be a good base of downloads. That’s why we’re having that conversation with (the federal government) right now to make sure that transition is smooth.”

© Gavin Young/Postmedia Calgary Emergency Management Agency Chief Tom Sampson urged Calgarians to increase their vigilance as COVID-19 numbers surge in the city. Sampson spoke on Wednesday, October 28, 2020.

Nenshi and Sampson held a joint news conference on COVID at Calgary’s emergency operations centre for the first time in months. They said they would start speaking to the public more regularly again until the situation is more under control.

Sampson said Calgary’s effective reproduction number sits at 1.35, which means COVID numbers are multiplying “faster than we can afford.” For the virus to be under control, the measure needs to be lower than one.

The mayor noted some European countries are now returning to strict measures to contain the virus — in France, President Emmanuel Macron announced a second national lockdown Wednesday.

“We cannot get there. We need to help these businesses succeed,” Nenshi said.

He urged Calgarians to keep following advice that’s been in place for months now — wash or sanitize your hands frequently, wear a face covering in public, keep a two-metre distance from other people and keep your social “bubble” of people you don’t live with very small.

Municipal Affairs Minister Tracy Allard tested positive for COVID-19 last week, and Nenshi said she told him she caught it from a small family gathering for Thanksgiving.

But, he added, she also said that because she’d been so vigilant about taking precautions with anyone she’d been in contact with, no one she’d seen within the two weeks before she started isolating tested positive.

“We have the ability to do that. It actually makes a difference for us to be thoughtful and careful.”

masmith@postmedia.com