USA

Indigenous advocacy group launches campaign against new voting bills

Jared Gans 

The Hill 

4/7/2021

An advocacy group for Native Americans is putting up billboards in various states to oppose measures that it says would increase voting restrictions.

© The Hill Indigenous advocacy group launches campaign against new voting bills

The campaign launched by the Global Indigenous Council comes as more state legislatures are considering voting laws like the one in Georgia that sparked corporate backlash.

Tom Rodgers, president of the Global Indigenous Council and an enrolled Blackfeet tribal member, said the goal of the campaign is to draw attention to bills that would limit the number of available polling stations and ballot drop-off spots, calling the measures especially harmful to Native Americans who may not have access to the remaining voting locations.

Such legislation, he added, is opening painful wounds for Native Americans, who faced obstacles to voting for years even after federal protections were put in place.

"It's truly a teachable moment of history, and it's repeating itself again," Rodgers told The Hill. "The Jim Crow of the West. We were already historically subject to restrictions on our ability to have an equal opportunity to vote."

He said some states put up barriers to voting in the past by requiring residents to pay taxes and own property before they could vote, disenfranchising younger and poorer voters.

Now, more than 360 bills that would limit voting rights have been introduced in 47 states this legislative session, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.

Rodgers said his group's campaign is targeting states with a significant Native American population that have a historical record of voting rights discrimination. The goal of the billboards, he said, is to encourage residents in Arizona, Georgia, Montana and Nevada to advocate against certain bills in their state legislatures.

In his criticism of restrictions on mail-in voting, Rodgers said the long distances many Native Americans need to travel to reach polling locations can unjustly impact those populations. In Montana, for example, more than 78,000 residents, or 6.5 percent of the state population, are Native American.

Billboards were first put up in Phoenix last week, and Rodgers said the council will move on to Atlanta next week and Montana the week after.

"There is a lot of focus on the South, as there should be...but it is now prevalent across the United States," Rodgers said.

The billboard shows an image of tombstones for students who attended the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. The location was the first government-run boarding school for Native American children designed to assimilate the students into white society, according to the Carlisle Indian School Project, which seeks to maintain and honor the legacy of those who attended the school.

The school's motto was "kill the Indian" and "save the man," according to the National Park Service, which said at least 168 students at the school died of various diseases.

"They were separated from their parents, from their culture, from their land," Rodgers said.

He said the campaign is designed to teach others about how Native populations were mistreated in the past through assimilation measures like the school and how that mistreatment lingers through voting restrictions.

"We're more than museums on your walls - we're just people that you've chosen not to see for far too long," he said. "So you put us away on reservations, put us away in your attic, in your basement, and ultimately you put us away in your graveyard."

The billboard campaign comes on the heels of the council's efforts to pressure senators to confirm now-former Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) to lead the Interior Department as the first Native American Cabinet secretary. The Senate confirmed Haaland in mid-March in a 51-40 vote, with nine senators absent.

First Nations open to twinning 

Trans-Canada


Four First Nations near the Manitoba-Ontario border say they are prepared to give “conditional consent” for the first phase of the twinning of the Trans-Canada Highway between Kenora and the border.

“We can get so much done when we agree to work together,” Niisaachewan Chief Lorraine Cobiness said at a news conference Tuesday.

She was joined by the leaders of Wauzhushk Onigum, Shoal Lake 40 and Washagamis Bay First Nations, which call themselves the Niiwin Wendaanimok (Four Winds Group).

Following months of discussions with provincial transportation officials, the group has agreed to allow Ontario to enter its territory under its guidance to start the first phase of the project; in return, the provincial government is expected to work collaboratively with the Anshinaabeg and ensure the communities benefit from the project.

That would amount to $77 million in direct and indirect economic activity for the four bands, and a safer drive for travellers.

“I think we all have had… not the greatest experience on that highway at most times,” Cobiness said.

“There is a definite desire to make sure that the highway is safe for everybody to travel on.”

The partnership will also help advance reconciliation, said Wauzhushk Onigum Chief Chris Skead.

“The past relationship has been genocidal for the Anishinaabeg. More recently it hasn’t worked for anyone. But now these discussions have been guided by Manito Aki Inaakonigaawin, the sacred law of the Earth,” Skead wrote.

“We have been guided by the principles of Weweni (Take our time), Bebeka (doing it right), Biiziindun (listen), and Kegotachken (do not be afraid).”

The chief of Shoal Lake 40 said the journey thus far has included a harmonized process for understanding environmental impacts and mitigation measures. The creation of an Anishinaabe Guardians Program and opportunities that will establish the foundation of the nations’ economies are also part of the project, said Chief Vernon Redsky.

The first phase of the twinning, which will involve connecting Highway 1 from the Manitoba-Ontario border to Highway 673, is expected to start this fall. The next two phases, which the nations have yet to consent to, would involve the section from Highway 673 to Kenora. There will be a sacred ceremony at the end of the month, if the Ontario government agrees to the partnership’s conditions.

— with files from Dylan Robertson

Maggie Macintosh, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Winnipeg Free Press

CANADA
North’s only law school launches Indigenous law and justice institute


Editor's note: Story originally published April 6, 2021. Seventh paragraph quote from law school dean, Jule Hughes, was corrected to change the word 'secular' to 'settler'.

Thanks to the Justice Partnership and Innovation Program offered by Canada’s Department of Justice, Lakehead University’s Bora Laskin Faculty of Law will receive up to $437,139 to launch an Indigenous Law and Justice Institute, Maamawi Bimosewag – They Walk Together, and expand the law program.

Lakehead University’s Bora Laskin Faculty of Law is not only the singular law school in Northern Ontario, but was one of only two law schools (the other being University of British Columbia’s Peter A. Allard School of Law) that offered mandatory courses in Aboriginal law prior to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).

Now, since the release of the TRC’s directives, many universities are responding and once again, so is the law school.

The creation of the Maamawi Bimosewag – They Walk Together Indigenous Law and Justice Institute is a response to Call to Action #50:

“In keeping with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, we call upon the federal government, in collaboration with Aboriginal organizations, to fund the establishment of Indigenous law institutes for the development, use, and understanding of Indigenous laws and access to justice in accordance with the unique cultures of Aboriginal peoples in Canada.”

It is an important step on the path to reconciliation, and one that Bora Laskin Faculty of Law Dean Jula Hughes says is the basis for the Institute’s creation.

“The call to action really speaks to the fact that Canada is built on settler law, British and French,” said Hughes, “in a manner that didn't account for the existing legal orders before the Europeans came, but also not consistent with Indigenous lawmaking.”

“The failure to recognize it has resulted in, or has been a contributor to, the many injustices that Indigenous people have experienced.”

The heart of the Calls to Action, a path to reconciling the treatment of Indigenous people in Canada, is the heart that beats behind the school of law as well.

“The law school was founded with the support and partially on the instigation of Indigenous communities and organizations here in Thunder Bay and in Northwestern Ontario. That's been a big consideration from the beginning,” said Hughes.

“And those same organizations and communities that supported the law school in the first place, our partners at Anishinabek Nation, Fort William First Nation, Grand Council Treaty No. 3, the Métis Nation of Ontario, the Nishnawbe Aski Nation and the Chiefs of Ontario, are all in support of this new Institute.”

The Director of the Indigenous Law and Justice Institute, which launched on April 1, 2021, is Professor Nancy Sandy, with guidance from Hughes and the Anishinawbe Omaa Minowaywin, the law school’s Indigenous advisory council.

“The work at the institute going forward is going to be responsive to what communities and partners want us to do,” said Hughes. “We are very aware that the expertise is in the communities, not in the law school. We're learners in this process and we hope to be helpful partners, but the communities are the drivers. That's going to shape the future of the work of the Institute.”

The school’s location will also shape the curriculum.

According to a release announcing the Institute’s launch, “by offering legal education with a triple mandate in Aboriginal and Indigenous Law, Natural Resources and Environmental Law, and Sole/Small Town Practice with the Integrated Practice Curriculum (IPC), its curriculum provides students with a legal education that will prepare them to practice law in Northern Ontario and Canada while understanding the issues pertinent to the land and peoples of this region.”

Said Hughes, “The vision for the future, where we have vibrant, indigenous legal orders contributing to Canadian law, but also in forming how indigenous self-governance will look in the future. The Institute's work is to contribute to a better awareness of legal orders and allow students in law to become competent practitioners when it comes to indigenous laws, so that they can support the work of those indigenous communities, governments, and organizations.”

You can find more information about Lakehead University’s Bora Laskin Faculty of Law by visiting Lakehead’s website.

Jenny Lamothe is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter at Sudbury.com. She covers the Black, Indigenous, immigrant and Francophone communities.

Jenny Lamothe, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Sudbury.com

ECOCIDE

Massive fire engulfs chemical plant near Houston

A fire burning at a Houston-area chemical distribution plant on Wednesday led to a shelter-in-place order for two nearby neighborhoods. The thick black smoke from the fire could be seen for miles.

 Duration: 00:44 

WE HAVE CHEMICAL PLANTS IN THE CITY OF EDMONTON #YEG

WW3.0
Nation-state cyber attacks could lead to cyber conflict

Allen Bernard 4/8/2021 

A new report from HP released Thursday, Nation States, Cyberconflict and the Web of Profit, found that nation-state cyber attacks are "moving us closer to a point of advanced cyber conflict."

© Provided by TechRepublic Image: iStock/CROCOTHERY

"Nation-state conflict doesn't take place in a vacuum; as evidenced by the fact enterprise is the most common victim within those attacks analyzed," Ian Pratt, global head of Security for Personal Systems at HP, said in a statement. "Whether they are a direct target or a stepping-stone to gain access to bigger targets, as we have seen with the upstream supply chain attack against SolarWinds, organizations of all sizes need to be cognizant of this risk."

The research, which was sponsored by HP and conducted by Mike McGuire, senior lecturer in criminology at the University of Surrey, found a 100% rise in "significant" nation-state incidents between 2017-2020. McGuire, who looked at over 200 cybersecurity incidents associated with nation-states since 2009, found that enterprise-class organizations are now the most common target (35%), followed by cyber defense (25%), media and communications (14%), government bodies and regulators (12%) and critical infrastructure (10%).

"Nation-states are devoting significant time and resources to achieving strategic cyber advantage to advance their national interests, intelligence gathering capabilities, and military strength through espionage, disruption and theft," McGuire said in a statement. "Attempts to obtain IP data on vaccines and attacks against software supply chains demonstrate the lengths to which nation-states are prepared to go to achieve their strategic goals."

McGuire also relied on first-hand intelligence gathering from informants across the Dark Web and consultations with an expert panel of 50 leading practitioners in relevant fields (such as cybersecurity, intelligence, government, academia and law enforcement) to develop his findings. What he found was a "clear picture of escalations in tensions" that are being supported by increasingly complex structures that intersect with the underground cybercrime economy known as the "Web of Profit."

Other findings include:

The increase in attacks represent a "worrying" or "very worrying" escalation in tensions
COVID-19 presented a "significant opportunity" for nation-states to exploit

Supply chain attacks such as the SolarWinds hack increased 78% in 2019

Between 2017 and 2020 there were 27 software supply-chain attacks associated with nation-state actors

Over 40% of cyber attacks involved targets with physical and digital components such as an energy plant—a phenomenon known as "hybridization"

Nation-states may be "stock-piling" Zero Day exploits

Most experts believe nation-states are monetizing cybercrime

Nation-states are recruiting cybercriminals to conduct attacks

Nation-states and the Web of Profit

The study also found that nation-states are buying tools and services from the Dark Web and thus contributing to the Web of Profit. Likewise, tools developed by nation-states are making their way onto the black market. The Eternal Blue exploit that was used by the WannaCry hackers in 2017 is a good example, the report said.

Even though 20% of incidents involved sophisticated, custom-made weapons such as targeted malware or weaponized exploits that were likely developed by nation-state cybersecurity programs, half involved low-budget, straightforward exploits that could be easily purchased on the Dark Web.

Half (50%) of the tools used were built for surveillance, 15% enabled network incursion and positioning, 14% were for damage or destruction, and 8% for data extraction. The mix of tools suggests that nation-states are more focused on listening than stealing data.



"Cybercrime economies are shaping the character of nation-state conflicts," McGuire said in a statement. "There is also a second generation of cyber weaponry in development that draws upon enhanced capabilities in computing power, AI [artificial intelligence] and cyber-physical integrations."

Nation-states also are weaponizing chatbots to deliver phishing messages, react to new events and send messages via social media sites. In the future, deep fakes, drone swarms capable of disrupting communications or engaging in surveillance, and quantum computers capable of breaking almost any encryption algorithm will all be part of the digital battlefield, he said.

To de-escalate cyber-tensions and prevent nation-states from being drawn into further acts of cyberconflict, 70% of the expert panel say it is necessary to create a cyberconflict treaty, but few believe it will happen anytime soon.

Europe's oldest map is a carved stone slab from the Bronze Age

By Amy Woodyatt, CNN 4/8/2021


A slab of stone, engraved with intricate lines and motifs dating to the Bronze Age, has been revealed to be Europe's oldest map, researchers say.

© From Bournemouth University

Using high-resolution 3D surveys and photogrammetry, researchers re-examined the Saint-Bélec Slab -- an engraved and partly broken piece of stone that was discovered in 1900 but forgotten about for almost a century.

Researchers from the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (Inrap), the UK's Bournemouth University, the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the University of Western Brittany say the recent study of the stone has revealed it to be the oldest cartographic representation of a known territory in Europe.

The slab, which boasts intricate carvings and scattered motifs, has had a busy life: unearthed from a burial mound in western Brittany, it is thought to have been reused in an ancient burial toward the end of the early Bronze Age (between 1900 and 1640 BCE), experts say, where it formed a wall of a small, coffin-like box containing human remains. At the time of excavation, the 12.7-foot-long slab was already broken and missing its upper half.

In 1900, it was moved to a private museum, and until the 1990s, it was stored in the National Museum of Archaeology in the castle of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, in a niche in the castle moat. In 2014, it was rediscovered in one of the museum's cellars.

Upon studying the rediscovered slab, researchers found the carvings resembled a map, with repeated motifs joined by lines.

They noticed that its surface was deliberately 3D-shaped to represent a valley, with lines in the stone thought to depict a river network.

The team noticed similarities between the engravings and elements of the landscape of western Brittany, with the territory represented on the slab appearing to show a region of about 19 miles by 13 miles, along the course of the Odet river.

Clément Nicolas, a postdoctoral researcher at Bournemouth University and first author of the study, told CNN that the discovery "highlights the cartographic knowledge of prehistoric societies."

But there are still many unknowns, including why the slab was broken in the first place.

"The Saint-Bélec Slab depicts the territory of a strongly hierarchical political entity that tightly controlled a territory in the early Bronze Age, and breaking it may have indicated condemnation and deconsecration," Nicolas said.

The study was published in the French journal Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française.

© From Bournemouth University Researchers noticed that the slab's topography resembled a valley, with lines representing a river network.

Yes, Some Plants Do "Scream" When They're Cut -You Just Can't Hear It
Haley Lyndes 
POPSUGAR

4/8/2021

To put it simply: plants are smart. While they may not have brains like humans do, plants talk to one another through smell and even communicate with insects to maintain survival. Like any living thing, plants want to remain alive, and research shows that when certain plants are cut, they emit a noise that can be interpreted as a scream. But before you feel guilty for all the leafy greens you've cut over the years, it's important to note that as humans, we process pain because we have a nervous system - plants do not. Because of this, we can't say a plant's "scream" is due to suffering, but is rather a form of communication for survival.

© Getty / Grumpy Cow Studios 

Yes, Some Plants Do "Scream" When They're Cut -You Just Can't Hear It

What Is a Plant's Scream?

According to a study on tobacco and tomato plants by Tel-Aviv University, researchers found that when stressed, certain plants produce an ultrasonic sound that is undetectable to the human ear. Keep in mind that being stressed can be caused by drought, insects, and yes, by being cut. Certain organisms can detect these sounds up to several meters away and respond accordingly to protect themselves. Researchers say if humans could understand these sounds, we'd better understand the condition of plants. However, it's still unclear if all plants emit a sound when they're threatened, so don't worry about your houseplants producing secret screams - it's probably not happening as often as you think.

Is It OK to Cut Plants If They Do Scream?

Yes - similar to humans, not all stress is bad, and in most cases pruning or trimming plants stimulates growth. The best time to prune or trim plants is during their growing seasons (spring or summer), with vines and trees being some of the best plants to trim, along with most houseplants. Keep in mind that certain houseplants like palms and tree ferns are more particular, so trim those plants with ease. Trimming or pruning plants is good to do when there are yellowing or dead sections of your plant, and to encourage fuller growth!

Mandrake History – Learn About Mandrake Plant Lore

Mandragora officinarum is a real plant with a mythical past. Known more commonly as mandrake [1], the lore generally refers to the roots. Beginning in ancient times, the stories about mandrake included magical powers, fertility, possession by the devil, and more. The fascinating history of this plant is colorful and even popped up in the Harry Potter series.

About Mandrake History

The history of mandrake plants and their use and legends goes back to ancient times. Ancient Romans, Greeks, and Middle Eastern cultures were all aware of mandrake and all believed the plant had magical powers, not always for good.

Mandrake is native to the Mediterranean region. It is a perennial herb with a large root and poisonous fruits. One of the oldest references to mandrake is from the Bible and probably dates to 4,000 B.C. In the story, Rachel used the berries of the plant to conceive a child.

In Ancient Greece, mandrake was noted for being a narcotic. It was used medicinally for anxiety and depression, insomnia, and gout. It was also used as a love potion. It was in Greece that the resemblance of the roots to a human was first recorded.

The Romans continued most of the medicinal uses that the Greeks had for mandrake. They also spread the lore and use of the plant throughout Europe, including Britain. There it was rare and costly and was often imported as dried roots.

Mandrake Plant Lore

The legendary stories about mandrake are interesting and revolve around it having magical, often menacing powers. Here are some of the most common and well-known myths about mandrake from earlier times:

The fact that the roots resemble the human form and have narcotic properties is likely what led to the belief in the plant’s magical properties.

The human shape of the mandrake root supposedly screams when pulled from the ground. Hearing that scream was believed to be fatal (not true, of course).

Because of the risk, there were many rituals surrounding how to protect oneself when harvesting mandrake. One was to tie a dog to the plant and then run. The dog would follow, pulling out the root but the person, long gone, would not hear the scream.

As described first in the Bible, mandrake was supposed to boost fertility, and one way to use it was to sleep with the root under a pillow.

Mandrake roots were used as good luck charms, thought to bring power and success to those who held them.

They were also thought to be a curse because of the ability to kill with the root’s scream.

Mandrake was thought to crop up under gallows, wherever the body fluids of condemned prisoners landed on the ground.

Article printed from Gardening Know How: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com

URL to article: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/mandrake/mandrake-history-plant-lore.htm

URLs in this post:

[1] mandrake: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/mandrake/mandrake-plant-growing.htm

 CANADA
Victims of gun violence slam feds over gun-control reform

TORONTO — The federal government's proposed gun-control laws are "toothless and cowardly," victims of gun violence in Ontario said Thursday.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The Danforth Families for Safe Communities advocacy group as well as other families affected by gun violence sent a letter to Public Safety Minister Bill Blair outlining their disappointment as the national Liberal convention gets underway this week.

The group of victims and families affected by Toronto's Greektown mass shooting that left two dead and 13 hurt say the government's plan to allow municipalities to ban handguns should be scrapped and replaced with a federal law banning handguns outright.

"The handgun piece is just a disaster, it's an abdication of their responsibilities," said Ken Price, whose daughter, Samantha, was injured after being shot on July 22, 2018 by a young man on a rampage.

Bill C-21 would give municipalities discretion to ban handguns, if they choose, through bylaws restricting their possession, storage and transportation.

It also proposes a buyback of many recently banned firearms that the government deems to be assault-style weapons, but owners would be allowed to keep them under strict conditions.

The group said Blair, a former Toronto police chief, failed by not delivering a stronger handgun ban.

While the group applauded the federal government for banning military-style rifles, it slammed the optional "buyback" program.

"You must do better," the families wrote to Blair.

Gun violence continues to worsen in Canada.

The rate of violent gun offences increased for a fifth straight year in 2019, according to a 2020 Statistics Canada report.

In Toronto, the number of people killed or injured by guns has increased significantly since 2015, when the Liberals came to power. That year, 24 people died after being shot and 126 people were injured after 288 total shootings.

In 2020, 39 people died and 178 others hurt in 462 shootings in Toronto.

Those who wrote to Blair also criticized a proposed "red flag" portion of the legislation that would allow residents to seek a court order to have someone's guns seized if they think that person is a threat to public safety. The idea is to help women facing domestic violence, or families of those who are suicidal.

"Women already don't trust police or courts to protect them from domestic abuse or sexual assault, so why would we expect police or courts to protect us from guns?" said Alison Irons.

Her daughter, Lindsay Wilson, was shot and killed by her ex-boyfriend, who then killed himself in 2013 in Bracebridge, Ont.

"I'm a diehard Liberal but I see this bill as toothless and cowardly," she said.

Irons played an instrumental role in a different piece of gun-reform legislation – Bill C-71 – part of which would allow a background check on a gun-buyer's entire life. Currently, background checks are limited to the past five years.

While that bill has been enacted, it hasn't been fully implemented, including the extended background check provision, Irons said.

"My daughter's killer had a criminal record or personal violence that he hid from her," she said.

He had been convicted of forcible confinement and an assault related to a drug deal, Irons said, and received two years probation. The man then applied for his gun license and received it, she said.

"It's an appalling example of how the system is failing Canadians," Irons said.

The group said they will fight the Liberal government on the issue, especially if an election is called this year.

Mary-Liz Power, a spokeswoman for Blair, said the Liberal government seeks to end gun violence in the country.

"We have taken the strongest and most extensive action to end gun violence that our country has ever seen," Power said.

She said "significant elements" of Bill C-71 will be implemented this summer.

Power also said if Bill C-21 is passed, owners of prohibited weapons would need a license and enhanced storage requirements.

"These measures will give our government information about where these prohibited weapons are, and who has them; information that will ensure our buyback program is effective in retrieving these weapons that are too dangerous for our communities," Power said.

"The federal government would like to thank the members of Danforth Families for Safe Communities for their advocacy, and their commitment to a future free from gun violence."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 8, 2021.

CANADA

Advocates demand sweeping changes to military complaints process for sexual violence

"We talk about this masculine warrior ideal, and men who have been raped by their fellow soldiers are deeply embarrassed and they end up deeply affected by it. So they suffer even more, in silence."

OTTAWA — Advocates are calling for fundamental reforms to the process for reporting sexual violence in the Canadian Armed Forces, deeming decades-old patterns of misconduct a "national embarrassment" amid a broken military justice system.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Christine Wood, co-chair of the military sexual-trauma survivors group It's Just 700, told a parliamentary committee Thursday that complaints and investigations must occur outside the chain of command, and that a greater focus on victim recovery is essential.


A former air force reservist, Wood is demanding an independent mechanism for complaints and a national platform for therapy and online peer support.

"It is simply unethical to ask them to come forward without a plan in place to support them," she said, stressing the "moral injury of betrayal" by fellow service members.

"The people I know that have fought the hardest for so many years are burning out, and they are at the edge ... I have a dear friend who is right now writing emails to herself to remind her of all the reasons that she should not commit suicide."

Wood and Julie Lalonde, an anti-harassment educator, said the Armed Forces needs a clearer definition of military sexual trauma to properly respond to a sexualized culture that is hostile to women.

"You cannot change something that you won’t even name," Lalonde said.

Acting defence chief Lt.-Gen. Wayne Eyre said last month the military is developing a suite of new programs aimed at tackling inappropriate behaviour in the ranks, including a "playbook" for handling misconduct allegations against senior officers and an updated code of conduct with more concrete definitions of unacceptable actions.

The House of Commons committee on the status of women is the second panel of MPs to probe the Liberal government's handling of allegations of misconduct against senior military officers.

Those include former defence chief Gen. Jonathan Vance and his successor Admiral Art McDonald, whose seat Eyre is filling after McDonald temporarily stepped aside last month, only a few weeks after taking over from Vance.

Wood drew on her own experience with the complaints process around sexual violence, which she says happened hours after her drink was spiked in the officer's mess in 2011.

"The reporting process itself was terrifying. It was me in a room with men for about two hours, three hours. I was videotaped. I felt like a suspect," she said, calling the ordeal "traumatic."

Recovery programs are similarly flawed, she said.

"I’ve been offered a seat in a group therapy session. They’re all men. And they’re all there with combat trauma. And I don’t even know who raped me. So there’s no way I’m going into that room.

"Sexual trauma is not necessarily worse or easier than combat trauma, it’s just different," she added, stating that the military places "exceptional roadblocks" to accessing proper care.

Sexual trauma is not automatically recognized as an operational stress injury, a categorization that would open up additional support programs and therapies, Wood said.

In 2015, retired Supreme Court justice Marie Deschamps issued an explosive report detailing a highly sexualized culture in the Armed Forces. She noted in February that some of her recommendations are still gathering dust.

Those include establishing a truly independent centre outside the military's chain of command that would be the main authority for receiving reports of inappropriate and criminal behaviour from service members and the military as a whole.

The federal government did set up what is known as the Sexual Misconduct Response Centre in September 2015, which Wood called a "skeleton." Part of the civilian arm of the Department of National Defence, it provides support for victims and information to military leaders.

The acting chief of the defence staff said in March the military will also wind down its all-encompassing effort to end sexual misconduct, a campaign dubbed Operation Honour that was launched by Vance upon his taking command of the Armed Forces in July 2015.

Some, most notably Lt.-Col. Eleanor Taylor, who recently announced that she was quitting the military following its failure to address misconduct in the ranks, have suggested that Operation Honour was poisoned because senior leaders failed to set good examples.

“The greatest thing about Operation Honour is that it acknowledged that there is a problem and it brought the conversation out into the open. But it failed to define the issue," Wood said.

"I really believe that sexual misconduct in the CAF is a national embarrassment."

Toxic masculinity can be at least as destructive for male service members who have suffered sexual trauma.

"The stigma and the shame is multiplied by a thousand for them," Wood said.

"We talk about this masculine warrior ideal, and men who have been raped by their fellow soldiers are deeply embarrassed and they end up deeply affected by it. So they suffer even more, in silence."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 8, 2021.

Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press

Geothermal power generation potential raised by both NDP and Sask. Party

Regina – The potential of using geothermal power generation was brough up by both the environment minister and leader of the opposition in scrums with reporters following question period on April 7.

That was the day after the government’s budget announced there would be a $150 tax for road usage imposed on electric vehicles per year, at the time of registration.

Environment Minister Warren Kaeding was asked several questions about that, but one of his answers referenced the Deep Earth Energy Production project near Torquay. He said, “Well, I would say even directly supporting the electricity is going to be generated to support electric vehicles, SaskPower has made a commitment that they will be going up to 50 per cent renewable by 2030, which isn't very, very long from now. So you've seen a number of facilities that have been built on a commercial scale, solar facilities that have been built on a on a commercial scale. We've done a lot of other community green energy projects like the DEEP geothermal energy, the bio energy facility is just going to be completed up in Meadow Lake, utilizing that waste from the forest industry. So there's a number of sources of energy now that that is being produced that will have a renewable, or green component.”

A few minutes later, New Democratic Party Leader Ryan Meili was asked about carbon capture and storage with coal-fired electrical generation, small modular reactors, or both. He replied, “We should be going ahead with what is available and ready now. We could be leading in geothermal, there's incredible technology available with closed loop thermo that we could get people who are good at drilling and putting pipe in the ground, of which there are a lot of people here in this province, building tomorrow and be creating power from it. Their incredible opportunities in solar. This premier killed the solar industry, we could be doing so much more than wind and biomass. We need to explore every option, but we know that SMRs are always on the horizon and never ready, we need to do the things that are available now.”

Asked about Ontario Power Generation’s Darlington New Nuclear Project, which is a small modular reactor planned to be online by 2028, he said, “We'll see, we'll see. Right? It's been, it's been a few years down the road for 30 years.”

Brian Zinchuk, Local Journalism Initiative reporter, Estevan Mercury