SCOC

Father still on the hook for unpaid support, even though child now an adult, top court rules

Special to Financial Post 

In its first family law decision of the year, the Supreme Court of Canada recently dealt with the issue of retroactive child support. Given the relative infrequency with which a family law case makes its way to the highest court in the land, the decision is unquestionably an important one. All nine judges of the Supreme Court reached a unanimous decision in Michel v Graydon which clears the way for a parent’s claim for child support that should have been paid in years gone by

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© Provided by Financial Post 

The message from the Supreme Court is loud and clear: proper child support, which is the right of a child, must be paid.

The facts of the case are fairly straightforward. The B.C. couple was in a common-law relationship. They are the parents of one child, born in December 1991. They separated in 1994 following which the child lived with the mother and the father agreed to pay child support of $341 per month, based on his declared annual income of just under $40,000.

When the child support agreement was reached, the father’s income was, in fact, approximately $6,000 higher than his declared income. As years went by, the father’s income continued to exceed his declared income, yet he continued to pay only $341 per month to the mother. At the high-water mark, the father’s annual income reached $80,000, or double the income on which the support order was based. In April 2012, child support was terminated when the child completed post-secondary studies.

Three years later, the mother commenced court proceedings against the father in which she sought $23,000 on account of the father’s underpayment of child support since 2001.

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Not surprisingly, the father resisted the mother’s claim. He took the position that the court lacked jurisdiction to make such an order since the child was no longer a “child” under the applicable legislation. In other words, the father said the ship had sailed on the mother’s opportunity to make such a claim since it was made too late.

The father’s refusal to correct his underpayment of child support was made despite his awareness and acknowledgement that the mother and child were living in poverty when he was underpaying child support.

In September 2016, Judge Garth Smith of the British Columbia Provincial Court heard the mother’s claim for increased child support. Judge Smith ordered the father to pay $23,000 on account of his underpayment of child support. In making the order, Judge Smith found the child “lived in poverty for many years and may not have had to if (the father) had paid child support in accordance with his annual income as it fluctuated.”

In accordance with the Judge’s order, the $23,000 payment was to be divided equally between the mother and the adult child.

The father successfully appealed from the trial judge’s decision. Thereafter, the mother unsuccessfully appealed to the Court of Appeal for British Columbia followed by her successful appeal to the Supreme Court, which resulted in Judge Smith’s decision being restored.

The Supreme Court noted that the fact the child was no longer a “child” under the applicable B.C. legislation at the time the mother commenced court proceedings was not a bar to her claim for retroactive child support.

Writing for the majority of the Court, Justice Russell Brown was critical of the father’s conduct, noting that “failure to disclose material changes in income undermines the child-support regime imposed by the ( Child Support ) Guidelines . The record here also indicates that (the father) knew about his daughter’s financial circumstances and made disparaging remarks about her standard of living instead of modifying his child-support payments to assist her.”

In her concurring reasons, Justice Sheilah L. Martin noted that child-support obligations “arise upon a child’s birth or the separation of their parents. Retroactive awards are a recognized way to enforce such pre-existing, free-standing obligations and to recover monies owed but yet unpaid. Such a debt is a continuing obligation which does not evaporate or fade into history upon a child’s 18th or 19th birthday or their graduation from university.”

Justice Martin continued by underscoring the purpose and importance of permitting retroactive child support, noting that such an order “enhances access to justice, reinforces that child support is the right of the child and the responsibility of the parents, encourages the payment of child support, acknowledges that there are many reasons why a parent may delay making an application, and recognizes how the underpayment of child support leads to hardship and contributes to the feminization of poverty. In short, allowing recipient parents to make claims for historical child support is in the best interests of children and promotes equality and access to justice for all.”

In what will likely become a compass for future claims for retroactive child support, Justice Martin noted that the “courtroom doors should not be closed because certain categories of debts owed to children are classified as coming too late.”

The message from the Supreme Court is loud and clear: proper child support, which is the right of a child, must be paid. Failure to do so will not be condoned by the court and will likely be corrected by a retroactive award for support.

Adam N. Black is a partner in the family law group at Torkin Manes LLP in Toronto.

ablack@torkinmanes.com

ALBERTA

Election commissioner probe into UCP leadership race continues with reprimand, court order

Drew Anderson CBC 28/10/2020

© CBC Jeff Callaway, above, was a candidate for the leadership of the UCP. His chief financial officer, Lenore Eaton, has been given a letter of reprimand, in addition to earlier fines, for allegations of irregular donations to the 'kamikaze' campaign.

Alberta's election commissioner continues to investigate the 2017 United Conservative Party leadership contest, handing down a letter of reprimand to "kamikaze" candidate Jeff Callaway's chief financial officer and obtaining a court order compelling the owner of an Edmonton banquet hall to appear for an interview.

The CFO, Lenore Eaton, was served the letter for accepting "contributions not belonging to contributor."

Eaton has already been fined $10,000 for "knowingly" making a false statement on the campaign's returns and for accepting money from a corporation — Energize Alberta. Corporate donation are banned in Alberta.


Eaton was also the CFO for Energize.

The commissioner, in earlier findings, alleges $60,000 was given to the campaign by Calgary businessman Robyn Lore through his corporation Agropyron, and then distributed to individual donors who donated to the campaign under their own names.

Lore and Agropyron have been fined $25,000 for the alleged contributions.

Those fines were slated for a judicial review on Sept. 21, but Lore's lawyer told CBC News it was adjourned to set a date for a special application "which entails a lengthier hearing."
Eaton maintains innocence

Energize Alberta, also controlled by Lore, was fined $18,373 but has failed to pay those fines, according to the commissioner's website.

"Ms. Eaton maintains her innocence and denies that she had any knowledge of illegal financial contributions," said her lawyer, Cory Wilson, in response to questions from CBC News.

"She volunteered for a campaign and trusted the people around her."

Callaway ran his campaign in collaboration with the race's eventual winner, Jason Kenney, now the premier, in order to attack the latter's main rival, former Wildrose Party leader Brian Jean.

Callaway then dropped out of the race and endorsed Kenney.

Both men deny they colluded.

However, CBC News has obtained emails and documents that outline the collaboration, including a resignation speech emailed to Callaway's team from Kenney's then-deputy chief of staff and current director of issues management, Matt Wolf.
Roger Sarna ordered to appear

A separate investigation into the leadership race is also ongoing within the commissioner's office.

Bhupinder "Roger" Sarna, owner of the Aria Banquet Hall in Edmonton, was fined $20,000 this summer for obstructing an investigation of the election commissioner.

His fine has now been reduced to $4,000, but he has also been ordered by the Court of Queen's Bench to appear for an interview with the investigators.

Sarna did not return a request for comment on Wednesday, and did not returns calls when CBC News first reported on his fines.

The banquet hall owned by Sarna is tied to an ongoing election commissioner investigation into the 2017 United Conservative Party leadership contest.

Tariq Chaudhry hosted two Eid events there for Kenney.

The events happened in 2017, as Kenney was running for the leadership of the newly formed UCP, and in 2018, as he set his sights on the premier's office.

While the details of the fine against Sarna aren't known, details of Chaudhry's complaints are well established. 

Alleged payment of memberships

Chaudhry sent a letter of complaint to the election commissioner in December 2018, alleging he signed up hundreds of new party members to vote for Kenney as leader — and paid for many of their memberships, himself, in violation of party rules.

He also said in the letter he was never reimbursed for the banquets he was asked to organize.

Receipts show he paid $21,076 to Aria Banquets for the two events: one in September 2017 and another in June 2018.

He also says he paid $6,000 out of his own pocket in membership fees for 600 of the 1,200 new members he signed up.

Chaudhry alleges in a sworn affidavit that he attempted to give the money for the members he signed up directly to Kenney at one of the events he hosted.

"Mr. Kenney asked the $6,000 I had be paid in cash and told me he would arrange from someone to pick up the same at my home at another time," he wrote.

Party rules forbid paying for the memberships of others.

Communication stopped

Chaudhry says Kenney and the party stopped returning his calls and texts after he hosted the second event.

None of Chaudhry's allegations have been proven in court.

CBC News has confirmed an email was sent to Chaudhry at that time by Dave Jennings, an investigator at the office of the election commissioner.

"I've recently been assigned a file relating to your complaint to our office regarding Jason Kenney's campaign(s) in 2017 and 2018," reads the email, dated July 30, 2019.

"Specifically, the allegations are that he had you buy UCP memberships and put on events that were not properly paid back or claimed/expensed."

The email says Chaudhry is not under investigation.

The RCMP are also investigating allegations of fraud the 2017 leadership race.

CBC News recently confirmed that Wolf, the premier's director of issues management, was interviewed this summer, but the premier's office said he was not considered a subject of the investigation.

Alberta must move ahead with federal COVID tracing app, advocacy group says
CBC/Radio-Canada 

A group of doctors and concerned citizens is calling on the provincial government to immediately adopt the federal COVID-19 tracing app.

Masks4Canada says Alberta's case numbers are rising at an alarming rate, and while the group welcomes new limits on social gatherings — announced for Calgary and Edmonton earlier this week — it believes the province needs to do more.

"Forty per cent of people who've acquired COVID recently, we don't know where they've acquired it from," said Dr. Tehseen Ladha, a pediatrician specializing in public health at the University of Alberta.

"And so having something like the federal app, which would allow people to be notified if they've been in the proximity of someone who has COVID, would be a very effective way to contact trace, and it would address some of our capacity issues with contact tracing."

Province says it is seeking a smooth transition

Speaking Wednesday, Health Minister Tyler Shandro said the province will end up adopting the federal app.

Shandro said the province wants to ensure it does not lose the 247,000 users who have downloaded Alberta's ABTraceTogether app.

"The issue right now is to be able to talk to the federal government about how those 247,000 people can be transitioned to the federal government's app," he said.

"I want to make sure there's a transition that's smooth and has the smallest bleed of users."

© CBC News Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro says the province will adopt the federal government's COVID-19 tracing app but wants to ensure it doesn't 'bleed' the 247,000 users currently using the Alberta app.

Alberta and British Columbia are the only provinces that have yet to sign on to the federal app.

The province set new records for the number of active cases on both Monday and Tuesday this week, with the total now sitting at 4,738.
'Let's get something in place'

Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi and the chief of the Calgary Emergency Management Agency, Tom Sampson, also called on the province to get on with activating that federal government's app.

"We know the provincial app doesn't work properly on most devices and nobody is using it, at all," Nenshi said as he and Sampson held a media briefing Wednesday about the new restrictions introduced this week by the province.

"Let's get something in place."

Alberta Health has said it is working with Ottawa to sort out how to transition users from the province's tracing app to the national one.

Meanwhile, Masks4Canada said in a release that it believes a 15-person limit on social gatherings is still too large.

"New cases announced today reflect public health measures in place two weeks ago. Therefore rapid, proactive public measures are imperative," the release said.
Other recommendations

The group made several other recommendations — including moving to a provincewide mask mandate and officially acknowledging there is evidence of airborne spread of the virus.

Ladha says she is concerned the virus is being allowed to spread in overly crowded environments such as restaurants and gyms.

"We're not proposing a full lockdown, but we feel that if we don't implement some mandatory measures immediately, then we're headed to a place where a more severe lockdown would be needed," she said.

Dr. Joe Vipond, an ER physician in Calgary and a co-founder of Masks4Canada, said the contact tracing system in Alberta needs help.

"We're not hearing any reports of successes from the government and so we need to look at other options," he said. "Really, this is the only other option that's out there right now."

Nenshi said he heard in question period that some ministers were mocking the federal app as "[Prime Minister Justin] Trudeau's app."

"Stop it. We don't need that kind of partisanship here," he said. "We gotta keep people safe and I just hope we go ahead and sign off on it as soon as possible."

 

New bird genomes give insight into evolution of genomic diversity

FACULTY OF SCIENCE - UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN

Research News

 

The Bird 10,000 Genome Project (B10K) is a large international project co-led by University of Copenhagen, China National Genebank at BGI-Shenzhen, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Rockefeller University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In a study published today in Nature, the B10K achieved its family phase milestone releasing genomic resources for 363 bird species including 267 new genomes, and illustrating how these resources give improved resolution on genomic evolution analyses.

The paper also established a new pipeline to analyze the unprecedented scale of genomic data, which revealed a detailed landscape of genomic sequence gains and losses across bird lineages. The study showed that the passerine birds, the largest extant order of bird species, possessed genomic features that differed from other bird groups. Passerine genomes also contain an additional copy of the growth hormone gene. The songbirds, a group of Passeriformes, have lost a gene called cornulin, which might have contributed to the evolution of their diverse pure-tone vocalizations. Dense genomic sampling also facilitated the detection of signals of natural selection down to the single-base level, which may not be possible with few genomes.

- "Such detection power was only possible when the species were densely represented in the comparative genomic analyses," said Guojie Zhang, a principal investigator on the B10K and head of the Villum Centre for Biodiversity Genomics at Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen. "These genomes allow us to explore the genomic variations among different bird groups and help to understand their diversification processes".

The large collaborative effort involved over 150 researchers from 125 institutions in 24 countries. To sequence the bird genomes, the project heavily relies on tissue samples stored in museums around the globe. The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, the Natural History Museum of Denmark, and the Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science contributed the majority of the samples for the project. This allowed them to sequence genomes from rare and endangered birds, which will be important resources for conservation actions.

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Rats also capable of transmitting hantavirus

Evidence of infection caused by Asian virus found in Germany

CHARITÉ - UNIVERSITÄTSMEDIZIN BERLIN

Research News

 

A group of researchers from Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin have confirmed Germany's first-ever case of animal-to-human transmission involving a specific species of virus known as the 'Seoul virus'. Working alongside colleagues from Friedrich-Loeffer-Institut (FLI), the researchers were able to confirm the presence of the virus in a young female patient and her pet rat. Their findings, which have been published in Emerging Infectious Diseases*, may influence the way in which we deal with both wild and domesticated rats.

Following multiple outbreaks earlier in the 21st century, hantavirus disease syndromes have gained increasing levels of public attention and were made notifiable in Germany in 2001. The Puumala and Dobrava-Belgrade viruses, for instance, which are common across central Europe and can be spread by numerous types of mice, usually cause acute fever. Occasionally, infection may result in HFRS (hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome), an illness characterized by fever, low blood pressure and acute kidney failure. The Seoul virus, in contrast, which is mainly found in Asia and transmitted exclusively by rats, is far more likely to cause severe disease. Even outside Asia, however, there have been numerous reports of rat-to-human transmission of this highly virulent virus.

For the first time, a team of researchers led by Prof. Dr. Jörg Hofmann, Head of the National Consultant Laboratory for Hantaviruses at Charité's Institute of Virology, has been able to describe an autochthonous (i.e. acquired in Germany) case of Seoul virus infection transmitted by a rat. Working in close collaboration with a team of researchers led by Prof. Dr. Rainer G. Ulrich at the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut (FLI) in Greifswald and colleagues at both local and regional health authorities, the researchers were able to identify the virus in samples from a young female patient from Lower Saxony and her pet rat. "The virus originally comes from Asia and was probably carried to Europe by wild rats on ships. However, it had not previously been observed in Germany," says the study's first author, Prof. Hofmann. The infected rat, which had been bred for domestic life, is likely to have been imported from a different country.

After developing symptoms of acute kidney failure, the young patient required intensive care treatment and was hospitalized for several days. Serology testing quickly confirmed a suspected diagnosis of hantavirus infection. The species of hantavirus responsible, however, remained unclear.

Working at Charité's specialist hantavirus laboratory, Prof. Hofmann and his team of researchers developed a special molecular diagnostic technique capable of identifying the Seoul virus in samples collected from the patient. Using the same technique, experts at the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut were able to confirm that the patient's pet rat had been infected by the same virus. Explaining the results, Prof. Hofmann says: "Both viral sequences - the patient's and the rat's - were identical. This confirms that the disease was transmitted by an animal to a person - which means it is a zoonotic disease."

"Until now, only contact with mice would result in a suspected diagnosis of hantavirus infection. It will now be necessary to consider the possibility of infection after contact with either wild or domesticated rats as well," caution the study's authors. "The fact that this pathogen has been confirmed in a pet rat also means that the virus is capable of being exported, via the trade in these animals, practically anywhere in the world." Those keeping rats are therefore advised to exercise caution.

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*Hofmann J et al. Autochthonous rat-borne Seoul virus infection in a young patient with acute kidney injury, Germany. Emerg Infect Dis (2020), DOI: 10.3201/eid2612.200708

Alberta proposes legislation to change rules on child-care spaces

EDMONTON — Alberta is proposing new rules for child care that would include flexible oversight and availability 24 hours a day to accommodate parents who work shifts.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Children’s Services Minister Rebecca Schulz says a bill introduced in the house Wednesday follows extensive consultation with stakeholders, parents and caregivers.

The bill proposes a risk-based licensing approach. That means child-care centres with good track records would still be checked on, but more focus and resources would be placed on new ones or those that were struggling to meet standards.

“(This) means our licensing officers and their teams can spend as much time as necessary with those centres that need attention and monitoring to be compliant with regulations and also to be safe,” said Schulz.

“These changes will absolutely not compromise the safety of children and youth in child care. In fact, with risk-based licensing, enforcement will actually improve.”

Tricia Cunningham, executive director of the SIGIS Child Care Society, said licensing officers have knowledge that would be better used working with struggling centres rather than spreading that expertise around in a cookie-cutter approach.

“They’re going to be able take that energy and put it into the field and (into) the centres that need that support,” said Cunningham, who stood beside Schulz at the announcement.

The bill would also allow for availability to care 24 hours a day. Details, ratios, safety rules and policies on such around-the-clock centres have yet to be drafted, but Schulz said “we now at least have the (legislative) flexibility to step up and meet the needs of those working parents.

“This is an ask that we’ve heard again and again from communities like Fort McMurray that have a high number of young families with parents who do shift work.”

Record-keeping, traditionally done on paper, would be allowed digitally.

Current ratios and best practices would be maintained and accreditation would be streamlined.

“It was kind of confusing for parents,” said Schulz. “Most parents didn’t really understand or know whether their centre was licensed, regulated, accredited or approved.”

She said if the legislation passes, there will be two choices: “You are licensed or you are not. You are a licensed facililty, you are a licensed day home, or you are not.”

Opposition NDP critic Rakhi Pancholi said the bill is vague and it's not clear if subsequent regulations will have the quality care standards that parents are seeking.

"We know to get our economic recovery back on track, parents want to have access to affordable, quality child care," said Pancholi.

"If it's not accessible, if it's not affordable, if it's not high quality, we know parents are either going to put their children in unlicensed child-care settings or they will choose to step out of the workforce."

The province has 2,701 day cares, out-of-school care and pre-school programs accommodating more than 111,000 spaces. There are about 2,900 active licensed or approved programs. 

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

9 out of 10 teachers say they face violence, bullying in Alberta schools: ATA survey
Julia Wong 

Ninety-three per cent of Alberta teachers who responded to a survey report being on the receiving end of bullying or aggression during their career, with students being the primary cause.

© THE CANADIAN PRESS/Carlos Osorio A physically distanced classroom is seen at Kensington Community School amidst the COVID-19 pandemic on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2020.

The finding was released in the Alberta Teachers’ Association's inaugural survey on aggression in schools, which is believed to be the first study of its kind in the province.


READ MORE: Kicked, punched, scratched — 311 incidents of student violence towards Edmonton teachers in 1 year

“The survey responses revealed teachers’ and school leaders’ concerns that aggression against teachers has been worsening in schools and that the problem has been neither effectively addressed nor recognized,” reads the report compiled by the ATA’s Committee on Understanding Aggression(s) in Alberta Schools and School Communities.

There were responses from 561 teachers across the province, out of 4,000 randomly selected teachers, to an online survey and focus groups. The report acknowledges the sample size is moderate but said it is sufficient to understand concerns around aggression.

The report defines violence and bullying as remarks that offend or intimidate, threats of violence (with or without a weapon), property damage, attempted or actual physical violence, and stalking.

RELATED: Incidents of student violence against teachers likely higher than reported, experts say

Other findings from the report include:

Most bullying occurred face-to-face but 35 per cent of the incidents occurred through email or social media.

Weapons were used in 12.4 per cent of cases (88 reports), with knives (four incidents) and guns (six incidents) used in a few instances.

Women experience more bullying than men, while special education teachers experience more bullying than other types of teachers.

Elementary and middle school teachers report higher levels of violence than high school teachers, who themselves report higher levels of bullying.

Ninety-one per cent of those who experienced violence and bullying reported adverse effects, such as stress, physical injuries and loss of job satisfaction.

Almost half of the respondents reported having training related to managing bullying and violence but 62 per cent indicated a need for additional education or training.

Fifty-eight percent of respondents who reported an incident said it was handled to their satisfaction.

Several factors affect whether an incident is reported, including whether the perpetrator has a history of violence or bullying, whether a weapon is used and whether there is an injury.

There were also reports of bullying from parents (15 per cent of respondents) and other staff (approximately six per cent of respondents).

“It tells you it’s something that is happening in schools, and whether or not we talk about it or if we just try to keep it quiet, it’s something I feel like we need to talk about. We need to try and end the stigmatism that goes around it as well,” said ATA president Jason Schilling.

“We want our students to be safe. But we also need to have a discussion about the safety of teachers and other staff who are in the school, such as EAs a well.”

READ MORE: ‘Dirty little secret’ — Alberta teachers call for classroom accountability amid student violence

Lisa Everitt, an education researcher with the ATA and contributor to the project, said the results, while not definitive, provide a snapshot of the situation in Alberta classrooms.

“It provides us with direction to help us deal with policy questions around the issue. It helps us to deal with individual teachers who are affected by this and it also helps us understand where we need to direct our research in future projects,” she said.

Everitt said the majority of incidents are on the lower end of seriousness.

“We don’t see schools are being unsafe. We believe that those more serious incidents of aggression that involve violence… those are much less common,” she said.

The study recommends providing additional training to front-line teachers, evaluating existing support programs and resources for teachers and further study into how incidents are followed up.

RELATED: More safety inspectors, enforcement could improve safety in Alberta classrooms, labour expert says

Schilling said he wants to see clearer and easier ways for staff to report incidents and for those incidents to be followed up. He also wants changes to funding for schools to ensure there are enough staff at schools.

“One of the things that came out of the study that caught my eye was that if our classes are too large, it’s harder for teachers and staff to make relationships with students and to figure out why students might be feeling the way that they are,” Schilling said.

Colin Aitchison, a spokesperson for Education Minister Adriana LaGrange, said Alberta Education just became aware of the report and is going to carefully review the survey.

“We all agree that aggressive behavior or violence in a school is completely unacceptable. If a teacher is criminally attacked, we fully expect schools/school divisions to involve appropriate law enforcement authorities,” Aitchison said in a statement to Global News.

Global News investigation

The report comes on the heels of a 2018 Global News investigation that found 311 incidents of student violence towards Edmonton teachers in the public and Catholic school districts in one school year.

The investigation revealed there were 91 incidents of students biting or spitting on a teacher, 67 situations where a teacher got hit or punched and 50 cases where students kicked a teacher.

The investigation also found a teacher or EA required first aid in 117 incidents and required medical aid or time off work in 45 cases.

The data analyzed by Global News also showed that the majority of incidents within the EPSB happened in elementary schools; the ECSD redacted the names of all schools in its incident reports.
Teacher responds to report

“Ryan” is a teacher in the province; Global News has agreed to identify him with a pseudonym due to concerns over repercussions for speaking out.

Ryan said he has faced multiple instances of student aggression over the years.

“I had one student who – I was back from appendix surgery, it was my second day back – and he leapt off a filing cabinet at me aiming for my incision marks. I’ve had a student slam a heavy metal door on my arm and then a lot of verbal aggression,” he said.

“I’ve had students who, they were on their computer when they weren’t supposed to be, (and) I asked him to put it away and he wouldn’t. I got an email from him basically telling me he was going to cut my head off with an axe and bring it back to school and cut me into small pieces because I was an idiot.”

Ryan said the findings of the ATA survey were not surprising and reinforced his experiences. He said there’s been more of a spotlight on the issue of student violence against teachers, and the survey was important for the organization to do.

“It gets that ball rolling of saying, ‘Yeah, we recognize this is a problem,’ and instead of just doing lip service,” he said, adding he hopes to see more resources for those dealing with these issues and more followup when incidents are reported.

Got a tip about a story? Email reporter Julia Wong at julia.wong@globalnews.ca or use the contact form below


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Cadillac Fairview covertly collected images of 5M shoppers across Canada: privacy commissioners

An investigation into Cadillac Fairview’s use of facial recognition technology at a dozen Canadian malls found the real estate company collected the images of five million unsuspecting shoppers from across the country.

© Getty Images Cadillac Fairview – one of North America’s largest commercial real estate companies – embedded cameras inside their digital information kiosks at 12 shopping malls across Canada and used facial recognition technology without their customers’ knowledge or consent, an investigation by the federal, Alberta and BC Privacy Commissioners has found.

The results of the investigation, conducted by the federal, Alberta and B.C. privacy commissioners, were released on Thursday.

According to the report, the company embedded small, inconspicuous cameras inside their mall directories at 12 Canadian malls (two in Alberta, two in B.C., one in Manitoba, five in Ontario and two in Quebec) which collected images of customers without their knowledge or consent.

Read more: Calgary mall defends use of facial-recognition technology after customer discovers they’re being watched

Cadillac Fairview said it was using facial recognition technology to determine the age and gender of shoppers, and that images taken by the cameras were analyzed briefly before being deleted.

It argued that shoppers were made aware of the activity through decals placed on the doors to enter the shopping malls, but the commissioners determined that wasn’t enough to obtain meaningful consent.

“Shoppers had no reason to expect their image was being collected by an inconspicuous camera, or that it would be used, with facial recognition technology, for analysis,” privacy commissioner of Canada Daniel Therrien said.

Read more: Privacy commissioner ‘following up’ with Calgary mall using facial recognition software

“Questions about when an organization is collecting personal information can be complex, but the conclusion we came to about cameras in mall directories was straight-forward,” B.C. information and privacy commissioner Michael McEvoy said.


“Pictures of individuals were taken and analyzed in a manner that required notice and consent.”

Though Cadillac Fairview said the images weren’t kept on file, investigators found the sensitive biometric information generated from the images was being stored in a centralized database by a third party.

Read more: Calgary mall defends use of facial-recognition technology after customer discovers they’re being watched

“Cadillac Fairview stated that it was unaware that the database of biometric information existed, which compounded the risk of potential use by unauthorized parties or, in the case of a data breach, by malicious actors,” a news release stated.

Cadillac Fairview is one of North America’s largest commercial real estate companies with 69 properties in Canada including Toronto-Dominion Centre, CF Toronto Eaton Centre, CF Pacific Centre, CF Chinook Centre, Tour Deloitte and CF Carrefour Laval.

The investigation was launched after the use of the facial recognition software came first came to light in 2018.

1:57  Facial recognition software privacy concerns
https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/topstories/cadillac-fairview-covertly-collected-images-of-5m-shoppers-across-canada-privacy-commissioners/ar-BB1aw7Y5?ocid=msedgdhp

Since then, Cadillac Fairview removed the cameras from its digital directory kiosks and said it has no plans currently to reinstall the technology.

It has also deleted all information associated with the cameras that is not required for legal purposes.

Read more: Alberta Privacy Commissioner investigating use of facial recognition software in Calgary malls

The three privacy commissioners recommended that if Cadillac Fairview were to use the technology again, it needs to put more effort into obtaining shoppers’ consent before capturing and analyzing their images.

“This investigation exposes how opaque certain personal information business practices have become,” Alberta information and privacy commissioner Jill Clayton said.

“Not only must organizations be clear and up front when customers’ personal information is being collected, they must also have proper controls in place to know what their service providers are doing behind the scenes with that information.”

Read more: Cadillac Fairview suspends use of facial recognition cameras at Calgary malls

In a news release, the commissioners said they “remain concerned” that Cadillac Fairview “refused” their request to “commit to ensuring express, meaningful consent is obtained from shoppers should it choose to redeploy the technology in the future.”

In a statement sent to Global News via email, Cadillac Fairview confirmed it accepted and implemented all the recommendations from the investigation with the exception of those that speculate about hypothetical future uses of similar technology.

"We currently have no plans to use the technologies in question," the company said.

It went on to say the images collected of shoppers referenced in the report "are not faces."

"These are sequences of numbers the software uses to anonymously categorize the age range and gender of shoppers in the camera’s view. If the same shopper crossed the camera’s view again, a new string of numbers would be generated.

"We want to reiterate that we take the concerns of our visitors seriously and are committed to protecting our visitors’ privacy."

The malls where the technology was used were:

Alberta

CF Market Mall in Calgary

CF Chinook Centre in Calgary

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Dust devil led to crash that killed paraglider pilot in Alberta: safety board

GIBBONS, Alta. — The Transportation Safety Board of Canada says an Alberta pilot who died after crashing his powered paraglider hit a dust devil.

The crash occurred on May 13 near Gibbons, about 40 kilometres north of Edmonton.

Board officials say they did a limited, fact-gathering investigation into the accident.

Their report says the pilot was on a recreational flight over a private field northwest of the town.

It says he flew for about 25 minutes and the entire flight was captured on a video camera attached to his helmet.

One minute before the crash, the report says, the glider went through a dust devil — a rotating updraft that can be common in Alberta on warm, sunny days.

"This localized pocket of hot air rises quickly in a small spinning column, and cooler air rushes in below to replace it," says the report. "The resulting vortex is made visible by the dust it picks up.

"Dust devils seldom extend higher than 100 meters, but those that do can flip objects like lawn furniture."

The report says the dust devil caused the RS Ultra Kangook MF glider to suddenly climb faster. It rolled sharply to the right and its lines wrapped around the pilot, the trike, and the turning propeller. Eventually the entire canopy collapsed.

"Control was lost and the aircraft impacted the ground, fatally injuring the pilot."

The report concludes that meteorological events such as dust devils can present a hazard.

"Paraglider pilots need to be aware of the conditions that can be conducive to the formation of these phenomena, and avoid operating in these conditions where possible."

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

Banks roll out robots as pandemic shakes up IT plans
By Iain Withers and Anna Irrera



LONDON (Reuters) - When banks were flooded with loan requests from businesses struggling with the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, hastily built robots helped several lenders cope with the deluge.

The bots were one of many quick technology changes deployed across the industry during the crisis, a contrast to the slow progress it's made in the past two decades to improve technology in the face of increasing competition from fintech rivals.

Now the jolt from the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the process even though banks globally are having to cut IT spending this year for the first time since 2009, based on data from research company IDC."Bots allowed us to process a much higher volume of applications than we would have been able to do before. It meant the timelines didn't get longer with the massive volume," said Simon McNamara, chief administrative officer at Britain's NatWest , which has granted more than 13 billion pounds ($16.90 billion) of state-backed loans.

It is a pattern that has played out across banks globally, where technology changes that would usually take months were done in a matter of days.At Citigroup , there was a 300% rise from a year earlier in the number of new accounts opened digitally by corporate or fund clients during March, while the number of those clients using its online and app services rose 25%. "We were seeing this trend pre-COVID but it accelerated during COVID," Naveed Sultan, Citi's global head of transaction banking, said.

"The traditional ways of working became almost non-existent."

But as banks have to budget for a pick-up in loan losses due to the pandemic, some projects, such as large-scale customer data mining to offer more personalised services may have to be shelved, IDC research showed.

Global IT spend by banks is set to shrink by 1.7% this year to $200 billion, down from $203.5 billion in 2019, based on IDC data. Growth is then forecast to resume over the next three years, albeit at a slower pace.

(Graphic: Bank tech spending link: https://graphics.reuters.com/HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS/oakpenyojvr/chart.png)

CRISIS LOANS

Banks have prioritised process automation in the face of spiking workloads as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, based on IDC surveys of bank executives.Santander's UK division rolled out data analytics tools to speed up loan application processing and credit checking as borrowers came under strain.

"We had prepared but the volume was higher than expected," Santander UK's chief technology officer Carlos Selonke told Reuters. "It's a huge focus for us, making changes to increase our velocity."Swiss bank UBS developed six bots within three days which assisted client advisers in handling the immense inflow of coronavirus crisis loan requests from businesses in Switzerland, said Mike Dargan, global head of group technology at UBS.



Banks have also been prioritising shifting data to the cloud to speed up response times and allow more staff to work from home, while also bolstering defences against the growing threat of cyber attacks.

"We had four main focus areas, remote working to enable the employees at UBS, system stability, as we saw a lot of volatility, cyber security, and operations continuity," UBS's Dargan told Reuters.

'MOONSHOTS' ON HOLD

On the flip side, bank spending on consumer-facing technologies for branches and online services is forecast to grow more slowly, increasing from $31 billion in 2020 to $40 billion in 2024, according to IDC.

Other less urgent projects such as systems overhauls and longer term so-called "moonshot" digital ventures are being shelved.

"Banks are struggling to deploy new software," David Buxton, chief executive of Arachnys, a startup that sells compliance technology to banks. Many employees are still working remotely which means they may not have the tools needed for new and more ambitious IT projects, he said.

NatWest ditched its fledgling digital savings brand Bó early into the pandemic.

McNamara said the pandemic was a factor in the decision as there was strong demand for the bank's existing mobile app, which has added 700,000 users since the pandemic started.

Although banks have reined in IT spending overall this year to cope with the initial pandemic fallout, IDC predicted growth will resume from next year, with overall spending forecast to jump by a quarter to $250 billion in 2024.

Industry experts say the pandemic has focused bank executives' minds when it comes to IT spend and more digitally savvy lenders will steal a march on competitors.

"There is a digital divide," Jerry Silva, global banking research director at IDC said. "Sometimes I call it the predatory gap, because those banks are going to be able to steal market share from those that weren't prepared prior to 2020."

($1 = 0.7693 pounds)

(Reporting by Iain Withers and Anna Irrera. Editing by Jane Merriman)