U.S. states threaten lawsuits against Biden administration in long-shot bid to revive Keystone XL

© Provided by Financial Post The route of the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline lies idle through a farmer's field near Oyen, Alberta.

CALGARY— More than a dozen U.S. states are considering lawsuits against Washington, D.C. following the cancellation of Keystone XL, but experts say Alberta should pursue diplomatic avenues to try to revive the project before taking legal action of its own.

Since U.S. President Joe Biden signed an executive order revoking cross-border permits for the US$14.4-billion Keystone XL pipeline on his first day in office, a number of union leaders, Republican and Democrat lawmakers and attorney generals from 14 states have urged the president to reconsider his decision.

The 830,000-barrels-per-day Keystone XL pipeline project has been through regulatory and legal hurdles in the U.S. for over a decade as proponent TC Energy Corp. has sought to build a line from Alberta to carry oilsands crude to heavy oil refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. Construction was underway in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Montana and South Dakota before Biden’s executive order last month.

U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia and current chairman of the powerful Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, sent Biden a letter Feb. 9, urging him to reconsider the cancellation of Keystone XL and “take into account the potential impacts of any further action to safety, jobs and energy security.”

“It is of the utmost importance that the United States maintain energy security through strategic relationships with our allies rather than increasing reliance on OPEC nations and Russia. This includes the development of infrastructure, like the Keystone XL and Mountain Valley pipelines, to get this energy to market in the safest and most responsible way,” Manchin wrote.

Similarly, Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen along with the AGs of 13 other states wrote a letter to the U.S. President on Tuesday, making the same request and threatening legal action on the pipeline.

“Your decision will result in devastating damage to many of our states and local communities. Even those states outside the path of the Keystone XL pipeline — indeed all Americans — will suffer serious, detrimental consequences,” Knudsen wrote.

While the letter doesn’t say what legal action the states could pursue, it does indicate the states are considering a lawsuit.

“Please be aware that states are reviewing available legal options to protect our residents and sovereign interests. In the meantime, we urge you to reconsider your decision to impose crippling economic injuries on states, communities, families and workers across the country,” Knudsen wrote.

And on Feb. 4, U.S. Senator John Thune from South Dakota, said during a legislative session that scrapping Keystone XL pipeline is nothing more than a symbolic gesture.

“In a nod to the far-left environmental wing of the Democrat Party, the President issued a new moratorium on oil and gas leasing on Federal lands and called a halt to the Keystone XL Pipeline, even though we are a long way from significantly reducing or eliminating our need for oil and natural gas.”

© Todd Korol/Reuters

 A supply depot servicing the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline lies idle in Oyen, Alberta.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has said on multiple occasions his oil-producing province is reviewing its options on suing the U.S. government over the cancellation of Keystone XL, in which the province is an investor. The Alberta government invested $1.5 billion in Keystone XL last year and would provide up to another $6 billion in loan guarantees for the project in March 2020.

“We are monitoring and continuing to talk to American political players about the importance of Canadian energy to the United States,” Kavi Bal, spokesperson for Alberta’s energy ministry, said in an emailed statement. He said the province is “ reviewing every legal tool at our disposal to defend our financial interests in this project.”

TC Energy and the Alberta government may strengthen a potential Chapter 11 free-trade case against the United States by attempting to use diplomatic avenues to get the Keystone XL project re-approved, said Mark Warner, an international trade lawyer and principal at Maaw Law in Toronto.

“There’s no rush. They have time to play out these options,” Warner said, noting the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement allows companies such as TC Energy to use the old Chapter 11 complaint process until 2023.

In Chapter 11, processes, complainants need to show that they’ve attempted to pursue other domestic remedies before launching their claims. He said the aggrieved parties also have the ability to sue in U.S. Federal Court.

“They don’t have to file right away, there’s no harm in testing it,” Warner said.

There may be another legal avenue TC Energy Corp. and the Alberta government can pursue in their efforts to revive the Keystone XL project

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© Chris Schwarz/Government of Alberta Alberta Premier Jason Kenney.

Scott Miller, a senior advisor at the Center For Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., said a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision on a program called the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) found former U.S. president Donald Trump contravened the Administrative Procedure Act in signing an executive order cancelling DACA.

Miller said American legal circles are currently chattering about the similarities between the two cases.

“Keystone XL was not just a policy decision to allow a pipeline to cross a border. What came with it were a whole bunch of permits. The policy change had the effect of revoking those permits without due process,” Miller said.

TC Energy did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday, and has remained silent on whether it would scrap the project or launch legal action to revive it . The company previously launched a Chapter 11 NAFTA challenge and a lawsuit in U.S. Federal Court when former U.S. president Barack Obama vetoed the project in 2015.

‘A slam dunk case’: Alberta considers seeking U.S. compensation for Keystone XL via old NAFTA rule

Joe Biden’s attack on fossil fuel goes faster, further than anyone expected

TC Energy to cut 1,000 construction jobs after Keystone XL pipeline permit revoked

Jason Kenney calls Biden’s Keystone XL cancellation an ‘insult’ as he urges retaliation

The company’s earnings announcement on Feb. 18 is expected to disclose a large writedown on the value of the project, which has also affected the earnings of oil producers in Calgary.

Prospective shippers on the Keystone XL pipeline were on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in contingency payments to TC Energy if the Keystone XL pipeline was cancelled.

Athabasca Oil Corp., for instance, disclosed last year it would make US$48 million in contingency payments to TC Energy if the project was cancelled, given its commitment to ship 7,200 barrels of oil per day on the Keystone pipeline.

Suncor Energy Inc. and Cenovus Energy Inc. have disclosed impairment charges related to the cancellation of Keystone XL of $142 million and $100 million, respectively, as those two oil majors reported earnings this month.

Financial Post

NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE

Remorse a factor in no hate speech charges after shooting of Colten Boushie: document

REGINA — A newly released document shows prosecutors in Saskatchewan weighed backlash and remorse felt by people accused of posting hateful online messages after the high-profile shooting death of a young Cree man.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Tuesday marks the three-year anniversary of the acquittal of Gerald Stanley in the death of 22-year-old Colten Boushie of Red Pheasant First Nation, after he and his friends drove onto Stanley's farm near Biggar, Sask., in 2016.

Stanley's trial heard from Boushie's friends, who testified they had been looking for help with a flat tire. Stanley told court he thought they were trying to steal an all-terrain vehicle and his gun accidentally went off, firing a bullet into the back of Boushie's head.

A jury found Stanley not guilty of second-degree murder.

Boushie's death caused racial tensions in the province to flare and sparked debate on systemic racism toward Indigenous people and rural crime.

A deluge of online comments made after the shooting was the subject of a recently revised briefing note prepared for incoming Saskatchewan Justice Minister Gord Wyant by the public prosecutions branch. The partially-redacted document, dated last November, was released to The Canadian Press under Freedom of Information legislation.

"Some people made comments online approving of the violence done to Mr. Boushie, and lamenting that more of his group had not been killed that day," it reads.

"A number of people who made comments like this were themselves subjected to an online shaming campaign, which included potentially threatening messages."

The prosecutions office says it reviewed RCMP investigations into the comments and didn't recommend charges because there was no reasonable likelihood of conviction.

"Public Prosecutions also considered the remorse of the suspects and the social media consequences they had already received in determining whether there was a public interest in pursuing charges," the document says.

Chris Murphy, a lawyer for Boushie's family, says he believes the comments fit the Criminal Code's definition of hate speech towards an identifiable group.

He says he finds the rationale by the prosecutions office troubling because of the message it sends.

"(It) suggests that you can say hateful things about Indigenous people in Saskatchewan and you don’t have to fear reprisals from the police for those statements if you’ve been shamed online for saying them, which to me is frankly unbelievable."

“I don’t ask this lightly, but I ask whether or not the public would believe that Indigenous people who are the subjects of criminal investigations in Saskatchewan are granted the same sort of leniency."

Murphy also questions why neither Boushie's family nor legal counsel were informed that some people accused of making the posts had expressed remorse.

RCMP spokesman Cpl. Rob King says about 85 online accounts were investigated for comments made about Boushie's death and the Stanley trial. Officers informed those who made reports about the outcomes of the investigations, King says, and Boushie's family didn't file complaints.

Kelly Sundberg, a criminologist at Calgary's Mount Royal University, says collecting evidence in online hate cases is complex and often crosses jurisdictions.

"There's so many challenges of just showing that, that computer was used by a certain person on this time and that we know it's the only person possibly behind that keyboard."

Another expert says hate speech is a tough crime to prosecute because it requires drawing a line between freedom of expression and words that normalize hate or violence toward members of a specific group.

“At minimum, any expression of remorse would have to be publicly made and made to those who were the victims," says University of Windsor law professor Richard Moon, adding that could be to Boushie's family or the wider Indigenous community.

Saskatchewan's Ministry of Justice says it doesn't comment on the details of investigations where no charges are laid and the RCMP says it is bound by privacy laws.

"Prosecutions recommends charges where there is a reasonable likelihood of conviction and it is in the public interest to prosecute. In these instances, neither of these two thresholds were met," says justice spokesman Noel Busse.

"Depending on the situation, prosecutors may also take publicly observable information into account."

Eleanore Sunchild, a lawyer based in North Battleford, Sask., who also represents Boushie's family, says the briefing document fails to mention the problem of racism.

"It's like they feel if they don't acknowledge the racism that exists here — it's not an issue.

"The issue is far from over. We still see continued injustice occur everyday in Canada against Indigenous people."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 9, 2020.

Stephanie Taylor, The Canadian Press

FRIGGEN BRRRRRRRR

 Polar vortex delivers frigid temperatures to much of Canada

Duration: 01:47 2 days ago

A polar vortex is being felt across the Prairies, two months later than usual but the frigid temperatures were in between –40 C and –50 C in some provinces. Ontario is expected to be in a deep freeze later this week.

Polar vortex pounces over all-time Canadian temperature records


A prominent lobe of the polar vortex settled over Western Canada on Sunday and created the coldest Canadian temperatures in years, and in some cases, record-breaking cold that was reported by a handful of weather stations.

Coldest air in years across Canada, breaking the Weather Network temperature legend

MUST SEE: Canadians vs. the Polar Vortex

It was so chilly on Sunday that even the most sophisticated satellites were perplexed and caused them to pick up the ground and mark it as freezing cloud-tops.

The resulting output looked like a gargantuan thunderstorm over the Prairies, which can be seen in the graphic below.

© Provided by The Weather Network

So how chilly were the reds above? On Sunday, Wekweèti, N.W.T. recorded -51.9°C, which is Canada's coldest temperature since March 2017. Before 2017, you have to go back to Old Crow, Yukon to find a temperature below -52.0°C in the Canadian database. There are a couple of indications we might get a notch colder too, in the days ahead.

What's the coldest temperature you've ever experienced? Perhaps -30°C? -40°C? Only a handful of Canadians have ever experienced temperatures colder than -50°C without the wind chill, and those in Wekweèti and Old Crow are some of the lucky few.

© Provided by The Weather Network

Not all regions near the Arctic Circle saw bone-chilling cold conditions. In comparison to northern Saskatchewan, regions in eastern Nunavut experienced relative beach weather as mild air surged up to 25 degrees above normal, pushing the mercury up to 2.0°C on Sunday. By early Monday morning, Iqaluit pushed above the freezing mark, as moderate easterly air wrapped in behind the descending Siberian air.

WATCH: EXTREME COLD CREATES A ONE-OF-A-KIND DRUM KIT

The dense, Arctic air had no trouble infiltrating the Prairies, where Uranium City managed a rare feat -- tying the coldest temperature on record for the station at -48.9°C. Key Lake in Saskatchewan (-48.2°C) and Fort Chipewyan in Alberta (-47.2°C) set rare new monthly minimum temperatures, as well.

Some computer models suggest that temperatures will once again plunge into the -50s in Yukon and Northwest Territories, particularly in the valleys of the Mackenzie Mountains.

© Provided by The Weather Network

Wicked wind chill values left an icy, dangerous chill across Northern Canada in recent days and the coldest of 2021 is currently a staggeringly low -66 that was recorded at Ennadai Lake, Nunavut on February 6th.

© Provided by The Weather Network

Frigid air will remain in place throughout the week, keeping daytime highs hovering well into the -20°Cs, or even -30°Cs in some locations, with overnight lows continually plunging into the -40°Cs for the foreseeable future.

The lobe of the remnant polar vortex will remain situated between Manitoba and Alberta for the time being, as an Arctic high refuses to budge in Western Canada throughout the entire week.

© Provided by The Weather Network

Thumbnail image courtesy: Lucy Frances

Belarus reporters deny charges in 'absurd' protest trial

Two Belarusian journalists denied on Tuesday organising protests against strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko on the opening day of their trial in Minsk.

© STRINGER Katerina Bakhvalova (right) and Daria Chultsova face up to three years in prison on charges of organising illegal demonstrations

Mass protests swept Belarus last year after Lukashenko claimed a sixth term in office in August, following an election that the opposition and the West said was rigged.

The government cracked down on the demonstrations, leaving at least four protesters dead and thousands in jail, with hundreds claiming to have been tortured in custody.

On November 15, two journalists for Poland-based opposition television channel Belsat -- Katerina Bakhvalova, 27, and Daria Chultsova, 23, -- were detained while covering a rally in support of a killed protester.

After spending seven days behind bars on charges of participating in an unauthorised demonstration, the two were charged with "organising and preparing protests that grossly violate the public order".

The charges carry a maximum penalty of three years in prison.

In court on Tuesday, a prosecutor said the women -- who flashed V for victory signs as they were held in a cage for defendants -- were accused of "attracting people to participate in a mass event" via their broadcast.

Both journalists told the judge they were not guilty.

A lawyer for Bakhvalova asked the judge to release the two and instead restrict them from leaving the country, a request the judge refused.

The next hearing is scheduled for February 16.

The Committee to Protect Journalists and the US embassy in Belarus on the eve of the trial demanded the journalists be released, describing the charges as "absurd" and "outrageous".

Exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya said the "honest journalists" were being tried for showing "the world the regime's weakness and cowardice".

In its crackdown on the protests, Belarus also came down hard on independent media.

According to the Belarus Association of Journalists, media workers were detained 477 times in the country in 2020.

tk-emg-acl/txw

HOW THEY CAN ARREST 5000 PROTESTERS

"Face control": Russian police go digital against protesters

By Gleb Stolyarov and Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber

© Reuters/MAXIM SHEMETOV FILE PHOTO: 

Rally in support of Alexei Navalny in Moscow

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Georgy Malets didn't make it to an anti-Kremlin rally last month. He was detained on his way there by police using facial recognition technology in the Moscow metro.

The 30-year-old Russian photo blogger said the police told him he had been identified by a "Face-ID" camera system and must accompany them to a police station for checks.

"I could see they had some kind of photographs, but they weren't from cameras - it was definitely a photograph from my profile on social networks," Malets told Reuters.

He said he was questioned for four hours as a witness in a criminal case the police said had been opened into earlier rallies, so missed the Jan. 31 protest.

Moscow police and the IT and transport departments of the mayor's office did not respond to requests for comment.

But reports from other protesters who have attend rallies in recent weeks in support of jailed opposition politician Alexei Navalny also indicate police are using facial recognition technology to make preventive arrests and detentions.

An unnamed law enforcement source told TASS news agency the technology used images stored on a database of regular protesters. Rights advocates expressed concern surveillance systems were being used for this purpose.

SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS

Samariddin Radzhabov, who was tried for throwing a plastic bottle at a police officer in 2019, said he was also detained on the metro before the Jan. 31 rally and then released.

Ekaterina Schulmann said her husband Mikhail was detained after entering the Moscow metro following a protest.

"They (the police) said he was stopped because 'face control had reacted' and that he had to go to an investigator as a witness in some kind of criminal case," she told Reuters.

Three others at the police station he was taken to had also been identified using facial recognition technology, she said.

The Moscow mayor's office announced it was rolling out a facial recognition system in the metro to spot wanted criminals in 2018, when Russia hosted the soccer World Cup. There are now surveillance cameras all over Moscow.

"There is still a lot we don't know about the facial recognition system in Moscow," said Kirill Koroteev, a lawyer at human rights group Agora.

He said it was unclear how automated the system was, whether all cameras used it and which databases it used.

"At first they said the system would be used to find lost kids and fugitive convicts," said Sarkis Darbinyan, an Internet freedom advocate. "Then they used it to monitor self-isolation during the pandemic, and now, as expected, to monitor protests and activists."

PANIC BUTTON

Tens of thousands have protested since Navalny was arrested after returning from Germany following treatment for poisoning in Siberia with what Western countries say was a nerve agent.

He was jailed on Feb. 2 for violating parole on what he says was a trumped-up charge. The Kremlin denies his treatment is politically motivated and questions whether he was poisoned.

The Kremlin has also defended the police against accusations of using disproportionate force, saying the protests are illegal because they have not been approved and could spread COVID-19.

Protesters have for several years used social media to coordinate rallies. Now they also have a smartphone app available which, if they are detained, allows them to obtain a lawyer as easily as ordering a taxi, says its founder, Kaloy Akhilgov.

The Advocall app contains a panic button to summon a lawyer, contacts for lawyers and instructions on how to behave if detained or questioned.

Akhilgov, who runs a law firm, said his lawyers would work without charge to help protesters if necessary. About 4,600 people had downloaded the app and over 300 requests for legal assistance had been received via the app, he said.

(Additional reporting by Anastasia Adasheva; Writing by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Andrew Osborn and Timothy Heritage)

 

Kilauea Eruption & Earthquake Update (Feb. 9, 2021)

HAWAIʻI VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK - The vigor of the eruption appears tied to ongoing inflation and deflation cycles recorded at the summit. During times of inflation, the eruptive activity is more robust. Seismicity is also elevated, but stable. 

A synthesized voice was utilized in the narration for this story. Video and photos are from the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, and Tropical Visions Video.

Full USGS presentation: https://youtu.be/6A1fWQkFEnw

Live Earthquake Stream... Earthquake and Solar weather updates

REST IN POWER

Mary Wilson, a founding member of 'The Supremes,' has died

Mary Wilson, THE founding member of "The Supremes" has died at the age of 76, her publicist told CNN

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© WIll Jacks/WireImage/Getty Images CLEVELAND, MS - MARCH 09: Mary Wilson listens to questions from the audience at GRAMMY Museum Mississippi on March 9, 2018 in Cleveland, Mississippi. 

Wilson "passed away suddenly this evening," according to a statement from her longtime friend and publicist, Jay Schwartz.

The singer was at her home in Henderson, Nevada. She is survived by her daughter, son, several grandchildren, a sister and brother.

Services will be private due to Covid-19 restrictions and a celebration of Wilson's life will take place later this year, her publicist said.

Breaking barriers

Wilson was a "trendsetter who broke down social, racial, and gender barriers," Schwartz said in his statement.

She began her career in Detroit in 1959 as a singer in what was then called "The Primettes." They went on to become "The Supremes," Motown's most successful group of the 1960s, with 12 number one singles including "Where Did Our Love Go," "Baby Love," and "Stop! In the name of Love."

"Their influence not only carries on in contemporary R&B, soul and pop, they also helped pave the way for mainstream success by Black artists across all genres," the statement said.

In 2018, Billboard celebrated the 60th anniversary of Motown with a list of "The Hot 100's Top Artists of All Time," and listed The Supremes at number 16, according to the statement.

Wilson's legacy went beyond singing, Schwartz noted. She became a bestselling author, motivational speaker, businesswoman, and US Cultural Ambassador, he said.

"Wilson used her fame and flair to promote a diversity of humanitarian efforts including ending hunger, raising HIV/AIDS awareness and encouraging world peace," the publicist said.

Wilson was also instrumental in passing the Music Modernization Act (MMA) in 2018, which aimed to modernize copyright-related issues for new music and audio recordings in the face of new technology like digital streaming which did not protect music recorded before February 15, 1972, the statement said.

SUPREMES GREATEST HITS YOUTUBE

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1ArdAjkHLUpRFyV0PQgQFsQHwvuOrDvB

© Bettmann/Getty Images The Supremes (left to right, Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson, and Diana Ross) pose with their cameras as they arrive at London Airport.

© David Redfern/Redferns/Getty Images The Supremes (Susaye Greene, Mary Wilson and Scherrie Payne) during a live concert performance at the New Victoria Theatre in London, England, Great Britain, in April 1974.

Black History: How racism in Ontario schools today is connected to a history of segregation

Toronto’s Africentric Alternative School first opened in 2009 after years of advocacy and then months of heated public debates and criticism about the meaning and significance of the school.

© (Buxton National Historic Site & Museum) Students of School Section #13 with teacher, Verlyn Ladd, who taught at the school from 1939 to 1958. Class of 1951, Buxton, Raleigh Township, Ontario.

For some, the school represented a push towards equitable schooling practices within an education system that largely left Black students disengaged. For others, the school represented a newer, more modern form of segregation disconnected from the multicultural learning practices promoted throughout Ontario schools.

The assumption here was that Ontario always had equitable and open schools. Many argued that separate institutions (especially those that considered the intersections of race and educational access) were not reflective of the inclusive education that Canada encouraged.

However, what many Canadians do not know is that the province has a long and complex history with separate schooling beginning with the creation of public school systems in the province. In fact, racism and segregation remain embedded in the institutional fabric of formal schooling systems across Canada.
Exclusionary practice became policy

When I first began researching Black women teachers in Canada for my book Schooling the System: A History of Black Women Teachers, I was struck by how many women in the early 19th century worked in separate schools providing education to Black students.

I soon discovered that most of these women were unable to gain employment in public school systems as a result of discriminatory hiring practices that funnelled them into predominately Black schools. These schools were created as a result of a series of exclusionary social practices, but were later supported through formal educational policy.

The Common School Act of 1850 set into law what was already being practised by local communities throughout Ontario. The act permitted any group of five Black familitoes  ask local school trustees to establish a separate school. The law also permitted the creation of separate schools for Roman Catholic and Protestant families.

While the act was intended to allow for freedom of choice in various communities, it gave many racial separatists the ammunition they needed to enforce racial segregation.

In various areas, white community members used the act as a way to force Black students into separate institutions. These individuals refused to allow Black pupils into public (then called common) schools and justified this by using the 1850 Act.
Black children isolated, turned away

While there were occasions where Black children were permitted into common schools, they were often forced to sit on separate benches or isolated within these classroom spaces. More often than not, Black children were not allowed into common schools and were required to attend separate Black institutions. As a result, the passage of the Common School Act of 1850 further entrenched Black students into substandard facilities throughout Ontario and often forced Black Canadian community members to create their own separate schools or use facilities provided to them by local trustees.

While the Common School Act of 1850 was intended to create equal education among racial and religious groups, expectations fell short of the ideal. Race-based separate schools flourished in Niagara, St. Catharines, Dresden, Simcoe, Chatham, Buxton, Sandwich, Gosfield, Mulden, Anderdon and Colchester, where the last segregated school closed in 1965, over ten years after the historic Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka case was won in the United States.

Read more: Racial segregation returns to US schools, 60 years after the Supreme Court banned it

In the U.S., as a result of Brown vs. Board of Ed., many Black teachers lost their jobs, and were often unable to access positions in public boards. In Canada, similar but unacknowledged forms of racial prejudice ensured that Black educators could not gain access to public school systems until the middle of the 20th century.

When Black schools did open, Black community members and teachers ensured these schools were also open to students of all races.

Scholar Alison Norman who has researched school teachers at Six Nations of the Grand River has examined the history of Black educators who taught at Six Nations, including generations of the Alexander family. These Black and Indigenous educators collaborated to preserve cultural and community ties. In my scholarship, I am just beginning to examine points of convergence among Black and Indigenous communities, asking how they experienced different but connected models of separate schooling.

Read more: Indian day school survivors are seeking truth and justice

Some institutions, such as the Buxton Mission school, developed elite learning programs for Black and white students alike. Buxton was one of the only separate schools offering classical training (with a focus on Latin, Greek, mathematics, theology, history and geography). The school prepared many Black students for university in Canada and the United States.
Gerrymandering school districts

Despite the existence of integrated schools like the Buxton Mission school, the 1850 Common School Act revealed uneven institutional supports for Black students. In Charlotteville, Ont., school district lines were gerrymandered to prevent Black students from attending public schools in the area. Historian Robin Winks describes this as the “first and possibly most important court action involving attempts to segregate Negro pupils.”

Local trustees often struggled to find certified educators to teach Black children and many schools lacked the resources to meet provincial guidelines.

By the time Wilson Brooks was hired as the first Black educator in a Toronto public school in 1952, Black students continued to face challenges in public schools as a direct consequence of these historical exclusions.

The continuities of racial discrimination in Ontario’s education system remained pervasive into the 21st century as Black students faced limited access to equitable learning outcomes in Ontario schools.

Black educators, meanwhile, faced isolation and discrimination, while also creating strategies and practices of resistance.
Ongoing realities of racial injustice

In the 2017 report, Towards Race Equity in Education, researchers discovered that in comparison to white and other racialized students, Black students were less likely to be enrolled in academic streams in Toronto schools. In addition, Black students were twice as likely to drop out of school than other students. Black students were also under-represented in gifted programming and over-represented in basic-level programming throughout Ontario schools.

All of this meant that despite a growing push towards diverse education models in Ontario schools, curricula and teaching practices have been unable to create inclusive learning spaces for Black students. That responsibility has often been left to the few Black teachers within Ontario schools, or community activists pushing for programming to address Black student engagement.

Recently, parents of children attending the Africentric Alternative School launched a petition after discovering that virtual learning would be unavailable to students at the school during the COVID-19 pandemic. While most Toronto District School Board institutions created options for online learning during the pandemic, this option was not available for alternative schools, leading to calls to action by community members. In addition, fluctuating enrolment at the school has led to increasing funding restrictions reminiscent of the separate schools of the 1850s.

The current debates surrounding Black access to education reflect the realities of racial injustice embedded in our schools. Ultimately, the Common School Act of 1850 was one of many policies that left Black students disadvantaged throughout Canadian school systems.

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

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

New guidance addresses structural racism in racial and ethnic disparities research

Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes journal statement

AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION

Research News

DALLAS, February 11, 2021 -- Structural racism is a public health crisis in the U.S. and worldwide. The scientific publishing community can improve our understanding and address the significant health impacts of structural racism in racial and ethnic disparities research, according to a new statement, "The Groundwater of Racial and Ethnic Disparities Research: A Statement from Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes," published today in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, an American Heart Association journal, from the journal's editors.

It is critical to acknowledge the societal structures - the groundwater, as it is called in "The Groundwater Approach: Building a Practical Understanding of Structural Racism" from The Racial Equity Institute - that have led to disproportionate rates of disease among people from various racial and ethnic groups. Previous research attributes many disparities to issues related to individual factors or local systems not the underlying societal factors, or groundwater.

"Scientific journals are part of the groundwater of the research and health care community. Structural racism underlies the widespread disparities in health and health outcomes that are ubiquitous in the published literature and, thus, must be at the forefront of disparities research," said Khadijah K. Breathett, M.D., M.S., FAHA, lead author of the statement, an associate editor of Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes an assistant professor of cardiology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, a cardiologist at the University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center and a heart failure specialist with the Advanced Heart Failure, Mechanical Circulatory Support and Cardiac Transplantation Team at Banner - University Medical Center in Tucson, Arizona. "Through this statement, we recognize the imperative to address intentionally the entrenched systematic challenges such as structural racism and share our evolving view of best practices for publishing disparities research."

In the statement, the editors of Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes challenge the scientific research community to take a broader perspective and to methodically examine structural factors including racism when studying racial and ethnic disparities in health. This includes efforts to flag the historical foundation of race - it is a social not a biological construct that was designed to separate one population from another - and to avoid perpetuating racism. Race has served to grant additional privileges to certain populations at the exclusion of others worldwide, and race is rooted in the development of U.S. health structures and health care delivery systems.

To this end, the Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes editorial team developed detailed, specific instructions for authors to encourage consistent framing, terminology and methods aligned with established best practices for scientific research on racial and ethnic disparities in health. A key first principle urges that measuring race and ethnicity be done correctly - enabling people to self-report race and ethnicity. Race categorization after data collection also matters, therefore, describing subjects as white versus non-white inherently reinforces the belief that white race is the standard by which other populations should be measured. In addition, they strongly recommend the inclusion of researchers of diverse backgrounds as a principle to ensure broad perspectives.

The five best practices recommended include:

Develop questions and methodological strategies informed by conceptual frameworks. Explicitly describe rationale and classification for inclusion of racial and ethnic patient populations in the methods section. Form diverse and inclusive study teams and cite their scholarship.

Contextualize discussion of results within conceptual frameworks and models.

Avoid generalized genetic explanations for racial and ethnic disparities.

The editorial team will continuously review, refine and strengthen best practices as the issue evolves, and the statement and instructions for authors submitting research will be updated accordingly. All guidance is effective immediately for research submitted to Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

Strengthening disparities research is a priority, and the guidance is under review by the editorial teams of the Association's portfolio of 11 additional scientific journals: Circulation; Stroke; Hypertension; Journal of the American Heart Association; Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology; Circulation Research; Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology; Circulation: Genomic and Precision Medicine; Circulation: Heart Failure; Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging; and Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions. As adopted, it will be highlighted in the author instructions for each journal.

"Race is associated with so much more than genetics and ancestry, including social determinants of health (e.g., income, education, housing) that also are inextricably linked to systemic and structural racism," said co-author Erica S. Spatz, M.D., M.H.S., associate editor of Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, an associate professor and director of the Preventive Cardiovascular Health Program at Yale School of Medicine at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. "We need our work in disparities research to reflect these complexities if we are to move from merely describing differences to making meaningful change."

Brahmajee K. Nallamothu, M.D., M.P.H., editor-in-chief of Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes and a professor in the division of cardiovascular diseases and department of internal medicine at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, added: "We do not want this statement to discourage racial and ethnic disparities work. In fact, we hope this statement will inspire more and even stronger research in the field. We must always think about the 'groundwater' and how our efforts together can help us achieve cardiovascular health equity for all racial and ethnic populations."

This statement reflects another step in the American Heart Association's November 2020 Presidential Advisory, "Call to Action: Structural Racism as a Fundamental Driver of Health Disparities." The advisory declared structural racism as a major cause for poor health and premature death from heart disease and stroke for many and detailed the Association's immediate and ongoing action to accelerate social equity and health care and outcomes for all people.

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Additional authors and members of the Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes editorial board are Daniel B. Kramer, M.D., M.P.H.; Utibe R. Essien, M.D., M.P.H.; Rishi K. Wadhera, M.D., M.P.P., M.Phil.; Pamela N. Peterson, M.D., M.S.P.H.; and P. Michael Ho, M.D., Ph.D. Author disclosures are in the manuscript.

Additional Resources:

Available multimedia is on right column of release link -
https://newsroom.heart.org/news/new-guidance-addresses-structural-racism-in-racial-and-ethnic-disparities-research?preview=b719e28e0cffc1f387148c75e6cb56bd
After February 11, view the manuscript (ADD LINK) online.

Structural racism causes poor heart health, premature death from heart disease and stroke
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Statements and conclusions of studies published in the American Heart Association's scientific journals are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect the Association's policy or position. The Association makes no representation or guarantee as to their accuracy or reliability. The Association receives funding primarily from individuals; foundations and corporations (including pharmaceutical, device manufacturers and other companies) also make donations and fund specific Association programs and events. The Association has strict policies to prevent these relationships from influencing the science content. Revenues from pharmaceutical and biotech companies, device manufacturers and health insurance providers are available here, and the Association's overall financial information is available here.

About the American Heart Association

The American Heart Association is a relentless force for a world of longer, healthier lives. We are dedicated to ensuring equitable health in all communities. Through collaboration with numerous organizations, and powered by millions of volunteers, we fund innovative research, advocate for the public's health and share lifesaving resources. The Dallas-based organization has been a leading source of health information for nearly a century. Connect with us on heart.org, Facebook, Twitter or by calling 1-800-AHA-USA1.

HOGAN'S ALLEY

Reclaiming 'renewal': Society pitches new life for historic Black Vancouver area

VANCOUVER — When Randy Clark wants to return to the home where he spent his formative years from 12 to 16, it means gazing at a viaduct that many credit with the destruction of Vancouver's historic Black community

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© Provided by The Canadian Press

The house where Clark lived with his mother and four of his 10 siblings was demolished in 1970 alongside others that backed onto "Hogan's Alley."

The city approved the construction of the Georgia viaduct under a banner of "urban renewal," but it came at a cost to those who called it home.

"That's where the viaduct currently rests, on that piece of property," Clark, 67, said in an interview.

Clark is part of a group hoping to see a revitalization of the area with acknowledgment of Vancouver's Black history.

Hogan's Alley is named for a T-shaped laneway that ran for several blocks in Vancouver's Strathcona neighbourhood.

Black settlement in the area dates back to 1858 when governor James Douglas introduced a policy welcoming Black Californians to British Columbia. The Great Northern Railway station nearby also meant many Black porters chose Hogan's Alley as a home in the 1920s.

The area east of downtown was also home to Italian, Chinese, Japanese, First Nations and Jewish residents, many of whom were prevented from living in other neighbourhoods by racist housing policies, said Lama Mugabo, a board member with Hogan's Alley Society.

At the height of its vibrancy, Hogan's Alley was an entertainment district attracting the likes of Sammy Davis Jr. and Ella Fitzgerald. Jimi Hendrix would visit his grandmother Nora Hendrix, who was an active member of the African Methodist Episcopal Fountain Chapel and cooked at Vie's Chicken and Steak House, which was owned by Clark's grandparents.

"It was a place where people came to party, people came to enjoy soul food, to listen to jazz. All the great musicians, when they came to town, they ended up in Hogan's Alley," Mugabo said.

Over the years, the neighbourhood met challenges. The city's efforts to rezone Strathcona made it difficult for residents to obtain mortgages or loans for home improvements. Newspaper articles portrayed Hogan's Alley as a centre of squalor, immorality and crime, the Vancouver Heritage Society says.

Clark said he remembers a lack of garbage pickup by the city compared with other neighbourhoods and debris piling up on lots. When he moved in, plans for the freeway had been announced and an exodus of residents was underway.

"It was very noticeable to me that that area where I lived was not being kept up," Clark said.

The city began bulldozing houses in 1967 and the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts opened in 1972, although plans for a larger freeway never came to fruition.

"For us, these viaducts constitute the monuments of our displacement," Mugabo said.

The impact continues as Black people move into Vancouver and find no cultural core, he said.

Mugabo moved to Vancouver in the 1980s from Rwanda and said he could relate to the story of Hogan's Alley and was drawn to efforts to revitalize it.

"As a political refugee, I know what displacement is. Also, as a Black man, I know how violent racism has been and the impact of racism on our community," he said.

More than 50 years after the viaducts were built, city council voted to take them down in 2015.

The society spent two years consulting the community and meeting with various city departments to submit a proposal that would allow for affordable housing, a cultural centre and business and retail space in their place, Mugabo said.

Ultimately, the society wants a community land trust on the block that would protect the area for public use under a long-term lease.

"The work we're doing today is not about us, it's not for us. It's for our children's children," he said.

The society's proposal has been embedded in the city's northeast False Creek Plan, but some elements remain unfulfilled, including the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the society, Mugabo said.

No one from the city was available for an interview, but it said in a statement that it is continuing discussions with the society on establishing an agreement, including consideration of a land trust.

However, it said the 20-year plan, which includes revitalization of the Hogan's Alley block and removal of the viaducts, relies on development funding and timing to deliver public benefits.

"The City recognizes that this is only the initial stage in building a relationship with the Hogan's Alley Society and the larger Black community, and sees this work as crucial to the long-term success of the city's cultural redress efforts with Vancouver's Black and African diaspora communities," the statement said.

The city said it's committed to prioritizing the needs of Black people who face racism and persistent social and economic exclusion, including work to address historic wrongs and to remove barriers to full participation of their cultures.

It is also in the process of creating a planning position to address systemic anti-Black racism, the statement said.

Clark said he's hoping the neighbourhood has a bright future, but instead of doing so under the umbrella of "revitalization," he chooses to reclaim a different phrase.

"I'm going to use another word: Renewal."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 9, 2021.

Amy Smart, The Canadian Press