An estimated 2,600 Latinos were killed by police in the past six years, report says

By Nicole Chavez, CNN 

While the true scope of the impact of police brutality is difficult to quantify, a new report indicates that more than 2,600 Latinos were killed by police or died while in custody in recent years.

© Kamil Krzaczynski/Getty Images Protesters march through Logan Square neighborhood during a rally on April 16, 2021 in Chicago.

The report released Thursday by UnidosUS in partnership with a group of researchers, scholars, activists and family members of Latinos killed by police, indicates that deaths of people of color are severely undercounted and much more needs to be done to produce an accurate database that collects ethnicity information.

As part of its initial effort and awareness of the limitations of its method, the newly formed group, the Raza Database Project, analyzed eight national databases that track police killings and use a combination of news reports and public records. Researchers took a closer look at entries that were identified as "White," "Other," or "Unknown" and compared the names to the surname datasets from the 2010 US Census to spot any individuals who may have been misidentified.

Between 2014 and May 9 of this year, there were a total of 15,085 people who died in police custody or were killed in encounters with officers, according to the report.

After the group's analysis, the number of Latinos increased about 24% from 2,139 to 2,653, the report states.

The number of deaths of Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders and Native Americans also increased significantly.

But these findings should not be considered final as its method may lead to both overcounting and undercounting, the report said.

Roberto Rodriguez, the project's director, said that the group's estimates are not comprehensive but they offer a more accurate look, especially because of the gaps in government-level data collection.

The group noted the numbers likely still undercount Latinos and other people of color because they may not have surnames of Hispanic origin.

In recent years, a number of activists and media outlets have taken it upon themselves to collect data of police violence because there is no federal database of information.

But they have found that law enforcement agencies often lump individuals into broader racial categories and not ethnicities.

"There's no standardization of how people are labeled and there's no centralization," said Rodriguez, who is also an author and former associate professor at the University of Arizona. "All of these groups are doing the government's work."

Janet Murguía, president and CEO of UnidosUS, said the group's findings are a "disturbing" indication that over-policing in communities of color might be more widespread than previously thought.

"The numbers we already knew about are unacceptable; these new numbers are unconscionable," Murguía said in a statement. "This data demands immediate consideration by those in Congress who are working on much-needed law enforcement reform legislation to ensure that their solutions truly reflect the scope of the problem."

Rodriguez said the group plans to expand the findings released Thursday and launch more efforts to delve into the issue of Latinos killed by or while in custody of law enforcement.

The report was released as calls for police accountability among the Hispanic community have increased in recent months following the deaths of Latino boys and men in police encounters.

In Chicago, 13-year-old Adam Toledo and Anthony Alvarez, 22, were killed by officers at the end of separate foot chases in March.

The two deadly shootings sparked outrage and protests in Chicago, with community members demanding changes to the Chicago Police Department's practices and policies, and prompted Mayor Lori Lightfoot to announce last month the city's police department must implement a foot pursuit policy by the summer.

Meanwhile in California, the family of Mario Gonzalez Arenales seeks justice for the 26-year-old who died on April 19. He died in police custody in Alameda, California, after being restrained for about five minutes at a local park. Officers were answering separate calls about a man who appeared to be intoxicated and a possible theft.

Next week, the family of Sean Monterrosa will host a series of events to honor his life and raise awareness to the issue of police brutality among Black and brown people. Monterrosa, 22, was shot and killed by an officer in Vallejo, California, last year, just a week after George Floyd's death in Minneapolis.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta recently announced the state will review Monterrosa's case.

Unusual bobcat tree den found in California fire burn zone

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP) — Biologists studying Southern California bobcats found a mother and three kittens this spring in an unusual den in a cavity up in a tree in an area intensely burned by a huge 2018 wildfire west of Los Angeles, the National Park Service said.

Bobcat “denning” in a tree is unusual, according to biologist Joanne Moriarty.

Their dens are usually found in hollow areas of thick chaparral or coastal sage or in woodrat nests made of piles of sticks and leaves.

Scientists believe the bobcat used the cavity because little vegetation has grown since the Woolsey Fire ravaged the Santa Monica Mountains and Simi Hills, the park service said Thursday.

The mother was first captured in the Simi Hills more than a year after the fire. A radio tracking collar was placed on her and she was given the designation B-370 in the study of how bobcats survive in a region where wilderness is fragmented by urban development.

Moriarty suspected B-370 was denning but was having trouble finding her last month.

“Then I look up into this little tiny hole in the tree, and her face is just poking out at me," she said.

Moriarty used a remote camera held on an extension pole to see the kittens.

The Associated Press

Alaska official backs key approval for proposed gold mine

Donlin Gold is owned by subsidiaries of Canada-based NOVAGOLD Resources Inc. and Barrick Gold Corp. 


JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A proposed gold mine in western Alaska has won a key approval, with a state official rejecting an administrative law judge's findings that the state Department of Environmental Conservation lacked “reasonable assurance” the project would meet Alaska water quality standards.

Department Commissioner Jason Brune, in a decision Thursday, defended the analyses done by the department's Division of Water and upheld its issuance of a so-called certificate of reasonable assurance for the Donlin Gold project. Brune said the issuance was supported by “a reasonable basis in law and substantial evidence in the record.”

Brune’s decision can be challenged in court.

Olivia Glasscock, an attorney with Earthjustice who is representing the Orutsararmiut Native Council, said Friday that a decision on next steps had not been made. The council had challenged the issuance of the certificate, leading to the findings last month by an administrative law judge.

Brune was not bound by those findings.

Critics of the proposed mine have raised concerns about possible impacts to water and salmon habitat.

Mark Springer, executive director of the Orutsararmiut Native Council, in a statement said the mine "would be a direct threat to water quality, to the many fish that traverse these waters, and to the Kuskokwim way of life.”

Donlin Gold LLC, in a statement, cited the scientific work that’s been done surrounding the project and said it would not operate “without demonstrated compliance with the State’s water quality standards.”

Donlin Gold said it commended the department “for standing up for responsible natural resources development which benefits all Alaskans.”

Donlin Gold has proposed an open-pit, hard-rock gold mine about 145 miles (233 kilometers) northeast of Bethel and about 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of the tiny community of Crooked Creek.

The developer has estimated the project will take three to four years to build once necessary approvals are secured and that the project could produce an average of about 1 million ounces of gold a year during operations, according to the state Department of Natural Resources.

Donlin Gold is owned by subsidiaries of Canada-based NOVAGOLD Resources Inc. and Barrick Gold Corp. It secured key authorizations in 2018 from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

Becky Bohrer, The Associated Press

First Nation laws on First Nation land codes to be enforced by provincial justice mechanism

Two Saskatchewan First Nations will be working with the province to enforce the First Nations' laws on their reserves.

The pilot project involves Whitecap Dakota First Nation and Muskoday First Nation and is expected to get underway this September.

A memorandum of understanding was signed in 2019 in response to the growing frustrations about First Nations having laws that were neither recognized nor enforced on the reserves. Work on the MOU stalled with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

The former chiefs “initiated some discussions with the province trying to find a way to access the provincial justice mechanisms in order to give more teeth to our laws going forward,” said Murray Long, advisor to Whitecap Dakota.

Long was part of a panel on the National Online Conversations on Indigenous Laws held May 25. The webinars promote dialogue between Indigenous governments and the federal government on “how to address the challenges of creating effective and affordable enforcement systems for Indigenous laws.”

The event was hosted by Andrew Beynon, director of land code governance for the First Nations Land Management (FNLM) Resource Centre.

Under the FNLM framework agreement 100 First Nations govern their lands and many have made advances in law making and retaken control over their lands and environment. However, they still face difficulties with the enforcement of their laws.

The pilot project aims to deploy provincially designated Community Safety Officers (CSOs) on reserve with provincial courts having the jurisdiction to adjudicate First Nations laws.

“It’s your own law written on your land code that’s going to be enforced, not a provincial law that’s going to be enforced or brought down on your community… (and it’s) being recognized through the provincial court system and adjudicated through the provincial court system,” said Dean Bear, land governance director at Muskoday First Nation.

Although the federal government has been kept informed of the progress on the MOU, Bear pointed out that the RCMP were reluctant to recognize First Nations laws written on the land code and the Court of Queen’s Bench was also reluctant to recognize the authority of First Nations that had signed the FNLM framework agreement.

“The next thing you do, you look to an alternative (and it) has to be through the provincial courts,” said Bear.

Long admits that the relationship between First Nations and Saskatchewan has often been one of “distrust and a struggle” and Bear adds that many First Nations are “leery” about using the provincial system, but both men stressed that this is what works right now.

“This is really a symbiotic relationship where each needs the other to make this work particularly in an expedient context,” said Dale Tesarowski, an executive director with Saskatchewan Justice.

“It’s not that we’re taking jurisdiction. We’re sharing jurisdiction. We’re taking First Nations laws and applying provincial process to them to ensure that they are enforced and followed.”

To that end, CSOs will be recruited from the First Nations communities so they will have a connection to community members and leadership. They will undertake provincial training through an existing program and the province will pick up the price tag. However, the operational costs will be carried by the bands.

“Largely with this pilot you’re trying to utilize each others strengths to a certain degree and the CSO program provides a lot of the infrastructure the First Nation may need,” said Dusty Ernewein, legal counsel with the Saskatchewan law firm McKercher.

Once CSOs complete their training, they will be designated under the Police Act as special constables and have the status of peace officers under Saskatchewan law, said Tesarowski.

“The community will create expectations through their laws and CSOs will be the first mechanism for ensuring that people do so,” he said. “It puts them at the forefront in terms of enforcing First Nations laws.”

As for the provincial courts, Beynon noted that the Land Advisory Board Research Council had suggested that the courts inform new court registrars, private sector lawyers and prosecutors of the new standing of First Nations laws.

Tesarowski said he could not compel the courts to do anything.

“If things role out they way I would like them to, all of the different (judicial) players … will be fully aware of what’s going on anyway. They’ll know that there are First Nations laws. They’ll know what First Nations laws actually say. They’ll know that the enforcement of those First Nations laws by CSOs, for the most part, is authorized, and that those CSOs will be protected through provincial designation,” he said.

Tesarowski is hoping that it will eventually go a step further with people from First Nations communities being the ones hearing the case.

“We want … (that) there be perhaps some kind of joint appointment for justices of the peace, either through the Land Management Act or the Indian Act or through a provincial appointment process,” he said.

The general agreement for the pilot project is targeted for Sept. 30.

“How that agreement takes effect may be in some cases may be just going out and starting to do the stuff,” said Long. “We will figure that out as we go, but the idea is to be practical and not get into a long, detailed agreement that everyone fights over.”

He added that the province may need to make some legislative changes.

Windspeaker.com

By Shari Narine, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker.com, Windspeaker.com

CANADA

Elder brings fight to human rights commission

Tears filled the eyes of Cheryl Scott as she spoke about the mistreatment her husband, Kanehsata’kehró:non Winston Nelson, was subjected to while in the care of the St. Eustache Hospital.

“They cannot treat a human that way,” Scott said. “There are too many things that have happened at that hospital – no Indigenous person or anybody else deserves that kind of treatment from a hospital.”

Among other things, Nelson's wife claimed that her husband was called “Mohawk,” “dog” and “idiot.” She also recounted hearing nurses at the establishment mimicking stereotypical Indigenous war chants outside her husband's room.

It was during a press conference on Thursday, with the assistance of the Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR), that the two community members announced they were moving forward with filing a civil rights violation complaint against the hospital for systemic racism in health care.

The decision to move forward with the complaint to the Quebec Human Rights Commission in part pertains to their discontent surrounding the result of an internal investigation into a distressing event that occurred earlier this year.

When 71-year-old Nelson was sent home from the St. Eustache Hospital in frigid January wearing nothing but a hospital gown, Scott said this was the last indignity she and her husband would suffer at the hand of the establishment.

“My husband has been dealing with the racism from this hospital for too long,” she expressed. “I am going to the highest court of Canada if I have to, to get his dignity, his respect and everything else that they took from him.”

After being admitted on December 30, 2020, due to persisting heart issues, Nelson was released less than a week later when doctors presumably deemed his condition to be terminal. Having been in a wheelchair since 2013 and with Scott unable to drive, she arranged for a taxi to pick him up on January 5, so he could be brought home safely.

“I was told that the girl who took the blanket off of my husband, when she brought him downstairs, didn’t know better because it was her first day,” explained Scott.

The Centre integre de sante et de services sociaux (CISSS) des Laurentides that supervises the St. Eustache facility carried out an internal investigation into the circumstances that led to the unsettling situation.

In a response to The Eastern Door, CISSS spokesperson Dominique Gauthier said that although the inquest determined that the support offered during this event was inadequate and lacked sensitivity, the findings in no way pointed to any form of discrimination.

In light of this response, the executive director of CRARR, Fo Niemi, said the case rather appears to be the latest strike in a series of incidents Nelson was subjected to due to his Mohawk identity.

“We have clearly started to see a compilation of incidents that point to certain racial bias and outcome with the way he was treated that day, when he was sent home in such a vulnerable and degrading state,” said Niemi.

The civil rights organization director explained that CRARR has been mandated by the family to file a complaint to the Commission against the hospital.

“With systemic racism, the complaint is basically to look at the totality of the way he was treated,” said Niemi. “Any kind of differential treatment, both intentional or not, could essentially jeopardize his right to equality, dignity and the security of the person.”

While the inquest into the death of Joyce Echaquan is ongoing, Niemi expressed that this case. along with the findings of the Viens Commission on access to public services by Indigenous Peoples, set a precedent for Nelson and other victims to seek legal action.

“We believe that we need to launch a complaint, so as to have a formal investigation conducted by the Human Rights Commission into systemic racism to measure to what extent – not only in this case but in all the cases of health care, how systemic racism against Indigenous people manifests itself when a person goes to a hospital to seek care,” he explained.

Along with this complaint, the CRARR director said he hopes the family’s decision to take this avenue will encourage more Onkwehón:we to push back against health institutions that still foster discriminatory and unsafe climates for marginalized groups.

“We need to break this glass ceiling because there’s a general distrust in the Quebec justice system and the Quebec human rights system,” he said. “We need to overcome that – this is the only way things will change.”

As efforts across the country are underway to achieve fair treatment in public services for Indigenous Peoples, Scott adamantly joined this fight.

“I have been fighting and fighting and fighting for years,” she said. “I just hope that the truth comes out and I am just praying that this can be done before he is gone.”

laurence.b.dubreuil@gmail.com

Laurence Brisson Dubreuil, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Eastern Door

Fight for Mohawk land continues

The sounds of cars honking, supportive words, rhythmic drums and lively singing echoed far and wide in Kanehsatake on Saturday, where a car convoy took place to raise awareness.

The matter at the heart of the protest is once again the concerns which persist over the protection of territories subject to historic land claims.

There were almost 100 people, including Kanehsata’kehró:non land defenders and allies from across the region, present to demonstrate their support in the ongoing efforts to protect the Kanien’kehá:ka territory of Kanehsatake.

The rally was organized as a reminder that this issue is not going away on its own.

“We are trying to keep the pressure up,” said outspoken land rights activist Al Harrington. “It means a lot to see everybody that showed up today – it really restores the faith in people's commitment.”

At the initial meeting point off of Route 344, pines towered over the heads of community members; a conspicuous reminder of what is at stake in this ongoing fight.

When the clock struck 11 a.m., Kanehsata’kehró:non were the ones to lead the trail of cars down the road, past the ferry dock in the municipality of Oka, and towards the final rallying point.

The bright colours of the Ieweras Gray, Warrior, and Haudenosaunee Confederacy flags stood out as the convoy lasted close to an hour, before cars arrived at a residential development site located next to the Pines.

“This has been a long journey for many generations to try and stop the land theft that you see here surrounding this development site,” said Onkwehón:we rights activist and representative of the People of the Longhouse, Ellen Gabriel. “Once again, we are forced to protest and continue our fight to protect one of the last few traces of our homeland from encroachment and outright land fraud.”

Organizers and protesters were adamant on their intention to end any new building on Kanehsatake ancestral lands, which include the development site that borders the forest at the centre of the so-called 1990 Oka Crisis.

“We have tried the peaceful methods to bring resolution to our land conflict, but our voices incessantly fall upon deaf ears,” said Kanehsata’kehró:non Wanda Gabriel, who, along with Ellen, served as a liaison person throughout the summer of 1990. “The economy trumps the inherent human rights of Indigenous people.”

As the pair stood in front of a series of Land Back banners, they reiterated that issues that pertain to land conflict in the community are far from recent.

“This is not a new issue, it is a three-centuries old conflict that persists because of systemic racism, ignorance and the cruelty of colonization,” expressed Ellen.

As a means to achieve concrete measures to protect the land, organizers called upon all levels of governments to intervene.

“We call upon prime minister Trudeau to declare a moratorium upon all development, and to sit down with Rotinonhsión:ni of the Longhouse: the traditional government upon which the women are not only vested as the title holders of our homelands, but also as an obligation to protect the land,” said Wanda.

In addition to this call to action, a demand was also made for governments to permanently stop residential developer Grégoire Gollin from selling any additional land situated on the traditional territory, which they say was fraudulently purchased.

Continuing land conflicts

For his part, Gollin doubled down on his word not to build on the lots he purchased in the early 2000s.

“I have no intention to start a development project on my lots in the Pines,” he expressed. “I do not know where this rumour about me having a project to build there started, but it is nothing short of fake news.”

Gollin evoked that the claims surrounding his intentions are the result of nothing more than a misunderstanding, which he speculates may have come from his intention to meet with the municipality after a rezoning of the area was done without his consultation.

He explained that Oka recently rezoned the sector where the properties in question are located from a residential one to a conservation one.

“All the current conservation zoning put forth by the city have also made the object of a heritage quoting, meaning that it’s impossible to even obtain a permit to build,” pointed out the developer.

In addition to this, Gollin expressed that he had met with the Mohawk Council of Kanesatake (MCK) in the past, namely to consult them about the purchased land. He further stated his continued intention to donate 60 hectares of the Pines which are under his name, through a federal “ecological gift” program – a project which was brought to a halt when Oka opposed the initiative with a by-law to declare the Pines a heritage site.

“The municipality zoned the section as a patrimonial site and I see this as badly-intentioned and provocative,” said Gollin, adding that he believes Oka’s decision to rezone the area was possibly a retaliation to his refusal to donate the land to the municipality.

While the local developer has sold land in recent years to allow the construction of houses in Oka’s Domaine des Collines, he assured the community that no real estate development will take place inside the forest, which he acknowledges is at the core of land claims and holds sacred significance.

“I simply blame the city for not having respected my right as a property owner and not wanting to sit with me to find a proper solution,” he said.

Kanesatake grand chief Serge Otsi Simon also questioned the validity of the claims surrounding Gollin’s development projects.

“They say that we have to stop Mr. Gollin, but stop him from what? He has no intention of developing in the Pines and he made that clear in the agreement he made with us,” said the MCK grand chief.

While he emphasized his support with the right of community members to protest, Simon said he believes the feelings aimed at Gollin should be redirected toward other actors.

“Everyone is forgetting about the real culprit in all of this,” he expressed. “The ones sitting up there in Ottawa, watching the whole show and not doing a damn thing about it.”

Solidarity with Palestinians

As the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has reignited in recent weeks, Ellen Gabriel said that many land defenders see this conflict as an Indigenous issue and that they are committed to showing solidarity with the community overseas.

“We declare our support for the Palestinian relatives whose struggle with land disposition like ours continues,” said Ellen. “We hope for peace on their lands, for all human beings – no matter what their affiliation, so that everyone can join a movement of change.”

Taking part in the convoy was Norma Rantisi and Tasnim Rekik, two Palestinian protesters who explained the significance of extending their support by attending Saturday’s event.

“As a Palestinian, I too am subject to settler-colonial practices, but I also owe responsibility as a settler here to fight against the ongoing land dispossession,” said Rantisi. “The struggles for liberation, while different, are inextricably linked. These are global struggles, and we have to work together,” she said.

Rekik also expressed that what community members are witnessing is ultimately part of a widespread global issue impacting all Indigenous Peoples.

“What is happening in Sheikh Jarrah is happening here in Kanehsatake, and to so many more Indigenous people around the world,” said Rekik.

It is with a focus of continuing to apply pressure on the actors involved with the decisions impacting the land conflict in Kanehsatake that organizers also pleaded upon allies to take action by boycotting Oka National Park and seeking answers from government officials.

“We are here to ask you to help us get a meeting with the government of Canada and to have a friendly relationship with the people in Oka,” expressed Ellen. “All we are asking for is peace and our land back.”

laurence.b.dubreuil@gmail.com

Laurence Brisson Dubreuil, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Eastern Door

Is this Transport Canada policy too slow for at-risk whales?

Protecting the North Atlantic right whale population requires a mandatory slowdown for vessels in the Cabot Strait, says Oceana Canada.

In early 2020, Transport Canada introduced a voluntary slowdown to protect the critically endangered species, but the majority of vessels are not complying, Oceana Canada found.

There are now fewer than 366 right whales left in the world, according to researchers, and there have been 21 known right whale deaths in Canadian waters between 2017 and 2020.

“It is the collisions with these vessels that are killing these whales,” said Sean Brillant, senior conservation biologist at the Canadian Wildlife Federation. “We need to be a bit more aggressive in a situation like this with a species that is so close to extinction and that is so clearly shown to be affected by vessels and vessel traffic.”

Slowing vessels to 10 knots or less can reduce the lethality of a collision by 86 per cent, according to a 2013 study of collision-related mortality in right whales, which is why Oceana Canada is calling on Transport Canada to make the slowdown mandatory. Newer research has shown collisions with large ships are often lethal even at lower speeds, but limiting speed still helps reduce the risk, said Brillant.

Global Fishing Watch data revealed 64 per cent of vessels failed to comply with the 10-knot voluntary slowdown in Cabot Strait from April 28 to May 4, the first week the measure was in place in 2021.

In areas with mandatory speed restrictions, compliance is high, with only 44 out of 600 vessel movements exceeding the restrictions, according to Transport Canada.

There's no good reason why they shouldn't make it mandatory," said NDP fisheries critic, Gord Johns. "Timing is of the essence given the state of right whales... they're on the brink of extinction."

Transport Canada issued a statement to Canada’s National Observer saying the slowdown will remain voluntary for 2021 and that it “has increased outreach to mariners and vessels transiting the Cabot Strait.” It says making the restriction mandatory will require increased monitoring of right whales, as well as “evaluating and weighing safety considerations, economic impacts, and ongoing detection data to ensure the measure is effective at protecting the North Atlantic right whales and mariners.”

Transport Canada also noted its results of this year’s trial voluntary slowdown in Cabot Strait are indicating increased participation rates over those reported by Oceana Canada.

“The cumulative participation rate for the first three weeks of the 2021 spring trial is 52 per cent compared to a cumulative participation rate of 46 per cent in the first three weeks of the 2020 spring trial,” reads the statement.

Transport Canada said participation rates may be affected by factors like weather, vessel timetables, logistics, delivery schedules, and contractual obligations.

Oceana’s analysis doesn’t account for weather and some of these factors, said Kim Elmslie, campaign director for Oceana Canada. She said sometimes adverse weather conditions cause restrictions to be lifted for the safety of vessels, which “is understandable and unavoidable.”

“However, the risk of vessel strike to the whales remains — which makes it even more important to have strong, mandatory measures in place when vessels can safely slow down,” said Elmslie.

Although speed restrictions are important and useful, they aren’t the solution to preventing lethal strikes on whales, Brillant said. A 2020 study, which he co-authored, found large ships going 10 knots still have an 80 per cent chance of killing a whale if one is struck.

Ideally, Brillant said, we would try to move our vessels away from the whales, but this poses a challenge in the Cabot Strait.

“In this case, speed restrictions may be the best tool we have to dial down the possibility of lethal ship strikes on whales,” he said.

Transport Canada’s introduction of the voluntary speed restriction and other monitoring techniques in the area are all good steps, said Elmslie. “But we want them to go even further than what they're doing.”

Oceana Canada also wants the voluntary speed restrictions to come into effect before April 28 because right whales have previously been spotted in the strait days before the slowdown kicks in, including one sighting this year on April 26.

Oceana Canada will continue to meet with Transport Canada and the shipping industry to try to make the speed restrictions mandatory, she said. “I feel confident that we can find some common ground.”

She says Canadians can support a mandatory speed restriction by signing Oceana Canada’s petition.

“This is the critical moment where we have to pull out all the stops and do everything that we can,” said Elmslie. “We don't really have the luxury to pilot and trial and take a few years to see if we can educate and do other things. I think that those are noble efforts, but the whales just don't have that much time.”

Natasha Bulowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, National Observer

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau commits $25M for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank


OTTAWA — Canada will provide $25 million to Palestinian civilians affected by a recent conflict with the Israelis in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday.  

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Trudeau said in a news release that the funding will go directly to experienced organizations that will help the most vulnerable Palestinian civilians cope after the conflict.

"The recent violence in the region is alarming — we have all seen the disturbing images of displaced civilians, loss of life and pain inflicted on families," Trudeau said.

Canada's aid will include $10 million for urgent food assistance, shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene, as well as psychosocial support for children. Another $10 million will go toward humanitarian and rebuilding efforts, such as vital medical infrastructure.

Canada will also dedicate up to $5 million for peace-building initiatives between the Palestinians and Israelis.

International Development Minister Karina Gould said in an interview that "we have to deal with the immediate humanitarian situation on the ground in Gaza today."

"It means providing some psychosocial support to people who have experienced the violence over those 11 days," she said. "It means providing health services to people who have been injured, but also supporting the health facilities that have been damaged."

Last week, Canada welcomed a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that left hundreds of people dead.

At least 230 Palestinians were killed, including 65 children and 39 women, and 1,710 people wounded, the Gaza Health Ministry said. Twelve people in Israel were killed.

Gould said there is a need to ensure there is functioning civilian infrastructure in Gaza.

"People can access health facilities, so that they can drive on roads and children can go to schools," she said. "Those repairs need to happen."

Before the conflict, the United Nations estimated that approximately 1.57 million people in Gaza, out of a total population of two million, were in need of humanitarian assistance.

In December, Canada committed funding of $90 million over three years to respond to the rising needs of vulnerable Palestinian refugees.

This report was first published by The Canadian Press on May 28, 2021.

—-

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

Maan Alhmidi, The Canadian Press

Violence in Gaza has left behind a changed political landscape in Canada

Evan Dyer 

 Chris Young/The Canadian Press A pro-Israel supporter stands in front of pro-Palestinian supporters before being escorted from a demonstration by police in Toronto on Saturday, May 15, 2021.

In 2004, Paul Martin's Liberals chose to drop Jean Chretien's policy and tack in a more pro-Israel direction. The change became public when Canada voted alongside the U.S. against a motion at the UN that affirmed the right of Palestinians "to mobilize support for their cause."

Although Stephen Harper and his Conservatives would continue to claim to be better friends of Israel, it was clear from 2004 on that the differences between the parties amounted only to a matter of degree.

Differences shrank further in 2012 when Tom Mulcair, a self-described "ardent supporter of Israel in all instances and circumstances," won the leadership of the NDP.

That consensus of party leaderships began to dissolve with Jagmeet Singh's election as NDP leader in October 2017.

The latest Gaza war has shaken things up again. "I don't think Canadian politics on this particular issue is the same as it was a month ago," said Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith. "And I don't know that it ever will be the same."

Today, Paul Manly represents Nanaimo-Ladysmith for the Greens, but until 2014 he was a New Democrat.

"I was one of 14 candidates that were rejected by the NDP for having said anything about Israel and Palestine," he told CBC News.

In 2012 Manly's father Jim, himself a former NDP MP and United Church minister, was detained by Israeli commandos who boarded a vessel that was attempting to break Israel's naval blockade and deliver supplies to Gaza.

"When my father was in detention in Israel, no NDP MP would speak out for him and my own member of Parliament was told that she couldn't speak about the issue," said Manly. "So to not be able to speak up for a constituent stuck in an international situation when other countries are speaking for their citizens really lays bare the hard line that was taken by Tom Mulcair at the time."
Greens divided

But Manly's new party has also experienced friction in the wake of recent events.

A statement by leader Annamie Paul calling for a ceasefire and condemning both Palestinian rocket attacks and excessive Israeli military force appeared to be an attempt to put forward a moderate position close to that of the Trudeau government.

Green MP Jenica Atwin responded on Twitter: "It is a totally inadequate statement …. End Apartheid."

Paul, who converted to Judaism 20 years ago, has spoken in Israeli media about the prejudice she faced when running for the Green Party leadership.

"It started out as innuendo, with veiled suggestions and attacks against me as a Zionist," she said. "And then because neither we nor others responded to it, people became more emboldened and more explicit.

"I was accused of the usual tropes, including being in the pocket of foreign agents, being embedded in a political party to further the goals of those foreign agents, and the usual things related to money."
The recriminations fly

This month, as tensions in the Middle East flared, it was Paul's senior adviser Noah Zatzman who charged that "a range of political actors" were disseminating "appalling anti-Semitism and discrimination ... beginning with Jagmeet Singh and [former Green leadership candidate] Dimitri Lascaris and many Liberal, NDP and sadly, Green MPs." (The entire Green caucus only has three members.)

"I think using accusations of antisemitism to shut down legitimate criticism of human rights abuses is offensive and dangerous, and it dilutes the weight that word carries when it's used to identify real antisemitism," Manly told CBC News.

Manly responded to Zatzman's claims by publishing an article by his friend and chief of staff, former Israeli soldier Ilan Goldenblatt, entitled Criticizing Human Rights Abuses Is Not Anti-Semitism.

NDP position shifting

Paul Manly would not be disqualified from today's NDP.

Singh hasn't moved the party as far or as fast as his critics on the left would like. But the party has moved beneath his feet.

Delegates to the NDP's April convention supported motions calling for "an end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian land" and an end to "all trade and economic cooperation with illegal settlements in Israel-Palestine."

When similar motions were proposed at the NDP convention in 2018, they failed even to come to a vote.

The motions led the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) to accuse the NDP of harbouring "a toxic obsession with Israel." It said Singh's comments on the recent conflict — by focusing on Palestinian victims while overlooking deaths and injuries from Hamas rockets — were "cold-hearted, morally reprehensible and inconsistent with his previous statements on the matter."

But Singh has continued to recalibrate his position. "If we want to achieve peace, we need to apply pressure to achieve it," he said this week, making it clear that pressure should be on Israel.
Trudeau: Harper-era policy on autopilot

Conservative Foreign Affairs critic Michael Chong gave CBC News a restrained statement just before the ceasefire:

"Canada's Conservatives have been clear that Israel is one of Canada's closest allies and we support Israel's right to defend itself. Dialogue and peaceful negotiation are the only path forward towards a settlement between Israelis and Palestinians and an eventual two-state solution. We urge calm and sincerely hope that hostilities cease."

While the Conservatives haven't changed their position on the topic, they have dialed back the volume. Support for Israel is no longer a staple of party fundraisers and the foreign policy focus has clearly shifted to China. The Conservative Party isn't really seeking to highlight differences with Trudeau's Liberals on the conflict — partly because there really aren't any big ones.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau maintained, without fanfare, Stephen Harper's pro-Israel voting record at the UN and, a few months after becoming prime minister, voted in Parliament to condemn BDS (the movement to boycott Israel) "both here at home and abroad."

© Amr Alfiky/Reuters Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has largely maintained the Harper government policy on UN votes related to Israel.

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked Trudeau to intercede to discourage the International Criminal Court at The Hague from investigating the 2014 Israel-Gaza War, Trudeau wrote to the court that Palestinians, as stateless people, had no right to bring cases for war crimes.

But some in his party no longer seem willing to go along with that approach.
Splits in Liberal ranks

Liberal MP Erskine-Smith said the government is too tolerant of Israeli settlements.

"For as long as I've followed politics, we haven't seen Canadian governments that have acted vocally consistent with Canadian foreign policy, which is that settlement expansion is contrary to international law," he said.

In April, Erskine-Smith presented a petition calling on Canada to oppose the pending evictions of Palestinian families from homes in the Sheikh Jarrah district of East Jerusalem, an issue that helped trigger the recent deadly conflict.

© CBC

 Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith says his government should take a harder line on Israeli settlement expansion.

"There's an asymmetry to the conflict between Palestine and Israel," he told CBC News. "And pressure needs to be brought to bear upon Israel to ensure that we don't see continued settlement expansion and we do see greater concern around human rights."

The Trudeau government has voted against dozens of UN resolutions that affirm existing tenets of Canadian policy — such as UN resolution 17/96, guaranteeing the protections of the Geneva Convention to Palestinian civilians. Like the Harper government, it says it does that to protest what it calls the singling out of Israel.
Friendly criticism

Erksine-Smith said he agrees that "there are many other countries deserving of criticism on human rights bases as well. And so the singling out of Israel, I think, can be problematic.

"My overall view, though, is that for the very reason that we hold up Israel as an ally, as a democracy with an independent judiciary that shares our values in relation to human rights, it's on those grounds that we ought to criticize as a friend."

Both Liberal MP Erskine-Smith and Green MP Manly said they have been deluged with mail about events in Gaza, and both say they believe that strong reaction was conditioned by a year of protests over racial justice in North America.
Changing times

Erskine-Smith described a recent friendly conversation with an Israeli diplomat.

"My message to him was: I've not seen this level of correspondence from people who don't follow politics and aren't seized with this really complex issue," he said. "And I think those who represent the Israeli government and Canada need to know that."

The MP said he told the diplomat that current Israeli policies are "undermining Canadian support for our continued friendship."

If currents are shifting in Canada, Israeli politics are in turmoil. There is a strong chance that the Netanyahu era is drawing to an end. For those whose task it is to argue Israel's cause in Canada, a new Israeli government could make life easier. Israel's longest-running prime minister is too much of a known quantity to change many minds on either side of the debate in Canada.

© Sebastian Scheiner/The Associated Press Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

While the NDP says it wants to halt Canada's arms sales to Israel (which are negligible anyway), what really matters to Israel is Canada's diplomatic support. Without it, Israel's guaranteed votes at the UN could shrink to only the U.S. and the handful of small Pacific Island states that vote with U.S. foreign policy.

And even Washington's support — the cornerstone of Israel's security, along with its nuclear deterrent — is looking much less certain in these changed times.

Probe ordered on California death row inmate innocence claim

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday ordered an independent investigation into the conviction of death row inmate Kevin Cooper, who says he was framed for the stabbing deaths of four people, including two children, at a suburban Los Angeles home in 1983.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Cooper, 63, maintains he was framed and has been seeking gubernatorial clemency since 2016.

In his executive order, Newsom said he “takes no position" on Cooper's guilt or innocence or whether to grant him clemency.

Newsom appointed a law firm to review court records and all facts and evidence in the case, including those that don't appear in trial and appellate records, along with the results of DNA tests previously ordered by the governor.

The order said the tests had been completed, but Cooper’s lawyers and the San Bernardino County district attorney’s office have “starkly different views” about whether they support Cooper’s claims.

Cooper's attorney, Norman Hile, called the order gratifying.

“We are confident that a thorough review will demonstrate that Kevin Cooper is innocent and should be released from prison," he said.

Cooper was convicted of a 1983 attack in Chino Hills, east of Los Angeles. Doug and Peggy Ryen, their 10-year-old daughter, Jessica and 8-year-old son, Joshua, were attacked in their sleep along with an 11-year-old neighbor, Christopher Hughes, who was a houseguest. Investigators said they were stabbed more than 140 times with an ice pick, knife and hatchet.

Joshua’s throat was slashed, but he survived.

San Bernardino County prosecutors said previous DNA tests showed that Cooper, who had escaped from a prison two days before the slayings, was in the Ryens' home and smoked cigarettes in the Ryens' stolen station wagon, and that Cooper’s blood and the blood of at least one victim was on a T-shirt found by the side of a road leading away from the scene of the murders.

Cooper claimed that investigators planted his blood on the T-shirt.

He argued that trial evidence “was manufactured, mishandled, planted, tampered with, or otherwise tainted by law enforcement," according to Newsom's order.

Cooper's supporters have said other evidence, including untested hair samples, indicated there were multiple killers who were white or Hispanic.

The case attracted national interest after New York Times’ columnist Nicholas Kristof, U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris of California and reality television star Kim Kardashian urged officials to allow re-testing.

In December 2018, then-Gov. Jerry Brown ordered DNA retesting for a T-shirt, towel, and a hatchet handle and sheath. Two months later, Newsom ordered additional DNA testing of hair samples collected from the victims’ hands and the crime scene, as well as two blood samples and a green button that investigators said linked Cooper to the crime and his attorney alleged was planted.

According to Newsom's executive order, prosecutors argue that “overwhelming evidence” points to Cooper's guilt and contend that his conviction was affirmed by state and federal appeals courts after conducting “exhaustive reviews" of the evidence and Cooper's misconduct claims.

Messages seeking comment from the San Bernardino County district attorney's office weren't immediately returned after hours.

Cooper had been scheduled for execution in 2004. But a federal appellate court stayed the execution pending further review. Both the California and U.S. supreme courts rejected his appeals.

California hasn't executed anyone since 2006, and Newsom has imposed a moratorium. There are more than 700 men and women on the nation's largest death row.

Robert Jablon, The Associated Press