Records rebut claims of unequal treatment of Jan. 6 rioters


It's a common refrain from some of those charged in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol and their Republican allies: The Justice Department is treating them harshly because of their political views while those arrested during last year's protests over racial injustice were given leniency.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Court records tell a different story.

An Associated Press review of documents in more than 300 federal cases stemming from the protests sparked by George Floyd’s death last year shows that dozens of people charged have been convicted of serious crimes and sent to prison.

The AP found that more than 120 defendants across the United States have pleaded guilty or were convicted at trial of federal crimes including rioting, arson and conspiracy. More than 70 defendants sentenced so far have gotten an average of about 27 months behind bars. At least 10 received prison terms of five years or more.

The dissonance between the rhetoric of the rioters and their supporters and the record established by courts highlights both the racial tension inherent in their arguments — the pro-Donald Trump rioters were largely white and last summer’s protesters were more diverse — and the flawed assessment at the heart of their claims.

“The property damage or accusations of arson and looting from last year, those were serious and they were dealt with seriously, but they weren't an attack on the very core constitutional processes that we rely on in a democracy, nor were they an attack on the United States Congress,” said Kent Greenfield, a professor at Boston College Law School.

To be sure, some have received lenient deals.

At least 19 defendants who have been sentenced across the country got no prison time or time served, according to the AP’s review. Many pleaded guilty to lower-level offenses, such as misdemeanor assault, but some were convicted of more serious charges, including civil disorder.

In Portland, Oregon — where demonstrations, many turning violent, occurred nightly for months after a white Minneapolis police officer killed Floyd — more than 60 of the roughly 100 cases that were brought have been dismissed, court records show.

Most of those defendants received deferred resolution agreements, under which prosecutors agree to drop charges after a certain amount of time if the defendant stays out of trouble and completes things such as community service. Some Capitol riot defendants have complained it's unfair they aren't getting the same deals.

Conservatives have sought to equate the attack on the Capitol with the Black Lives Matter protests, accusing Democrats of being hypocrites for not denouncing the violence after Floyd’s death as loudly as the Capitol insurrection. Some Republicans have seized on the handling of the protest cases in Portland to suggest that the Jan. 6 defendants are being politically persecuted.

Only a handful of the nearly 600 people charged in the insurrection have received their punishments so far, and just three people have been sentenced to time behind bars. The vast majority of the most serious cases — involving those accused of assaulting police officers or conspiring to block the certification of Biden's victory — remain unresolved.

The catalysts for the riot and the demonstrations for racial justice were also fundamentally different.

The mob of Trump supporters whipped up by the former president’s lies about the election descended on the Capitol and pushed past police barriers, assaulted officers, smashed windows and sent lawmakers running in a stunning attempt to overturn the presidential election.

The demonstrations across the country after Floyd’s death were largely peaceful calls to address racial inequality and police brutality that occasionally turned violent. In some cities, protests descended into chaos after dark, with people smashing windows, looting stores, setting fires and assaulting officers.

Then-Attorney General William Barr pushed federal prosecutors to aggressively go after protesters who caused violence. Defense lawyers complained that many of the cases belonged in state court — punishments are typically lighter there — and accused Justice Department officials of carrying out a politically motivated effort to stymie the demonstrations.

Just this month, a man who was 19 at the time was sentenced to four years behind bars and ordered to pay what his lawyer said is likely to exceed $1.5 million in restitution after pleading guilty to inciting a riot last spring in Champaign, Illinois.

In the Capitol riot, dozens of defendants have been charged only with misdemeanors, and a standard plea deal has allowed many to plead guilty to a single count of demonstrating in the Capitol.

An Indiana woman who admitted illegally entering the Capitol but didn’t participate in any violence or destruction avoided jail time, and two other misdemeanor defendants got one and two months of home confinement. Two other people who were locked up pretrial were released after pleading guilty to misdemeanors and serving six months in jail.

Only one defendant convicted of a felony has received his punishment so far. Paul Hodgkins, who breached the U.S. Senate chamber carrying a Trump campaign flag, was ordered to serve eight months behind bars.

In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland in June, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and four other Republican senators expressed concern about “potential unequal administration of justice” in how prosecutors have responded to the Jan. 6 riot and the Black Lives Matter protests.

One Jan. 6 defendant has similarly accused the Justice Department of selective prosecution based on different political viewpoints, comparing his case with how the department has handled charges stemming from the Portland protests.

Garrett Miller, of Texas, was wearing a T-shirt that said, “I Was There, Washington D.C., January 6, 2021,” when he was arrested. Prosecutors say Miller posted threatening messages on Twitter directed at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, after the riot. His lawyer said Miller isn’t trying to excuse his actions.

Federal prosecutors say Miller hasn’t presented any evidence that his case was politically motivated.

They also rejected comparisons between Miller’s actions and those of the Portland defendants, “who — despite committing serious offenses — never entered the federal courthouse structure, impeded a congressional proceeding, or targeted a specific federal official or officer for assassination.”

Meanwhile, in Utah this month, a federal judge sentenced 25-year-old Lateesha Richards to nearly two years in prison for tossing a pair of basketball shorts onto an overturned, burning patrol car and for hurling a baseball bat toward police officers during a May 2020 protest in Salt Lake City. There’s no evidence that the bat struck anybody.

Defense attorney Alexander Ramos, who had pushed for the judge to sentence Richards to the one year in jail she has already served, said the George Floyd protesters appear to be getting even more scrutiny than comparable “run-of-the mill” cases.

“If it didn’t have this political background, I think more people would have been let out,” Ramos told the AP.

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Richer reported from Boston, Kunzelman from College Park, Maryland, and Billeaud from Phoenix.

Alanna Durkin Richer, Michael Kunzelman And Jacques Billeaud , The Associated Press

900-Plus Call on US Government to Protect Afghan Artists

Lindsey Ellefson 

More than 900 signees — including art-focused organizations and individuals — are urging the American government to evacuate artists, filmmakers and more from Afghanistan

© TheWrap afghan evacuate rescue

"We are writing to urge the United States government to do everything in its power to facilitate the departure from Afghanistan of at-risk Afghans, and to include artists, filmmakers, performers, and writers in that category. As a group of individuals--artists, filmmakers, performers, writers, curators--and institutions, acting in solidarity with our peers in Afghanistan, we recognize the vulnerability of the country's cultural workers, who are already being targeted by the Taliban and forced into hiding," says the letter, which was initially created by Arts for Afghanistan on August 24. "Like Afghan journalists, activists, and citizens who have assisted the US, cultural workers face threats to their lives because of the work they've done--and they are unlikely to get out of the country without immediate changes to Washington's approach to granting visas and providing flights."

Using a Google Doc, the letter's creators opened it up to individual signers. Among the organization that have added their names are France's ACA Project, the Afghan American Artists and Writers Association, Artists at Risk, the Asian American Arts Alliance, the Authors Guild, the Film Festival Alliance, the Freelancers Union, the National Writers Union, the New York Foundation for the Arts and PEN America. The US Department of Arts and Culture also appears on the list.

Visual artists like Coco Fusco, Naeem Mohaiemen, Walid Raad, Michael Rakowitz, Martha Rosler, Cecilia Vicuña and Martha Wilson signed, too. So did writers like Teju Cole, Hari Kunzru, Viet Thanh Nguyenm and Lynne Tillman, and actors like Michael Ealy and Khatira Rafiqzada.

The letter urges the government to take immediate action through the State Department and Department of Homeland Security to expedite visa processing and provide asylum for vulnerable Afghans and include cultural workers in the categories being used to put at-risk Afghans on evacuation lists. Other recommendations include holding the Taliban accountable for commitments made during the Doha negotiations, removing quotas for Afghan refugees, halting deportations of Afghan refugees and keeping the Kabul airport open until all at-risk Afghans who want to evacuate have been able to.

The letter was presented before the U.S. completed its full military withdrawal from Kabul. President Joe Biden had declared earlier this month that Tuesday was the deadline for American troops to be pulled from Afghanistan, which recently fell to Taliban rule.

"Even before the Taliban's takeover, cultural workers took grave risks in depicting the experiences and articulating the aspirations of Afghans, with the encouragement--and, often, direct support--of the US government. Now, the vocation of truth-telling has become much more dangerous, and many of our peers see no choice but to leave the country. In addition to standing with advocates for journalists and activists, we insist on the protection of all who have devoted themselves to fostering free expression and civil society in Afghanistan," says the letter.

Fran Drescher Supporters Win Big In SAG-AFTRA National Board Races In New England & New Mexico

© SAG-AFTRA


Fran Drescher supporters have held on to two more national board seats as the SAG-AFTRA elections wrap up later this week. Incumbent Bill Mootos has been reelected in New England, and incumbent Mel MacKaron has been reelected in New Mexico.

With only four of the union’s 25 local races to be decided, it now looks more and more likely that Drescher’s ruling Unite for Strength party and its affiliates will continue to hold a majority of the 80 National board members, which includes the 10 national officers, no matter who wins the national presidency – Drescher or Matthew Modine. Local elections in Los Angeles and New York, where 23 national board seats are still up for grabs, will determine the balance of power. Those races, and the campaigns for national president and secretary-treasurer, will conclude Thursday.

In New England, Mootos defeated Chuck Slavin by a 2-to-1 margin – 469 votes to 225. Slavin was endorsed by Modine’s MembershipFirst slate. A third candidate, George J. Vezina, received 48 votes.

Slavin also lost his bid to unseat Andrea Lyman as president of the New England Local. Lyman, who also supports Drescher, also doubled up on Slavin, 506 votes to 239. Her local vice presidential running mates Tom Kemp and Vic Ramos also won, as did incumbent secretary Ellen Colton, all of whom are Drescher supporters. Of the local’s 2,783 eligible members, 757 voted (27.2%).

In New Mexico, MacKaron defeated challengers Michael Miller and Heath Hensley. MacKaron got 95 votes; Miller got 76; and Hensley, who was endorsed by Modine’s MembershipFirst, came in third with 50. Of the local’s 772 eligible members, 225 cast ballots (29.15%).

Voting is ongoing at the union’s locals in Philadelphia and San Diego, but only Philadelphia is electing a national board member this cycle.

More from Deadline

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Fran Drescher's SAG-AFTRA Slate Doubles Down On "Defamatory" Claim That Matthew Modine's Camp Violated Union's Election Rules

SAG-AFTRA Election: Matthew Modine Threatens To Sue Fran Drescher For "Slanderous" Accusations

CTHULHU STUDIES
Female Octopuses Throw Things at Irritating Males, And Look, We Totally Get It

When it comes to getting rid of an annoying pest, sometimes subtlety just won't cut it. Sometimes you just have to throw everything or anything within reach, pelting the offender with shells and debris until they scuttle off back to their hole.

© Godfrey-Smith et al., bioRxiv, 2021 An octopus flings a cloud of silt.

OK, that approach probably isn't great for humans. But for octopuses, it seems to work a treat, according to new research.

In a site off the eastern coast of Australia, where such large numbers of Sydney octopuses (Octopus tetricus) congregate that scientists have dubbed the region Octopolis, scientists first observed octopuses flinging objects at each other in a scene of heated argy-bargy in 2015.


OctopusesThrowingDebris throwing by octopuses in the wild. (Godfrey-Smith et al., bioRxiv, 2021)


Now they have determined that the flingers are mostly female – and they're probably, at least in some instances, trying to ward off overly amorous males.

"The throwing of material by wild octopuses is common, at least at the site described here. These throws are achieved by gathering material and holding it in the arms, then expelling it under pressure," the researchers write in their pre-print paper.

"Force is not imparted by the arms, as in a human throw, but the arms organize the projection of material by the jet... Throwing in general is more often seen by females, and we have seen only one hit (a marginal one) from a throw by a male. Octopuses who were hit included other females in nearby dens, and males who have been attempting mating with a female thrower."

Many animals fling debris at others, and there are many reasons for doing so. It can be a threat or defensive behavior, or have to do with trapping prey. Most animals seen doing this, however, are flinging things at other species, not their own.

So, to determine why octopuses might like to throw shells, silt, and algae at each other, a team of researchers led by philosopher of science Peter Godfrey-Smith of the University of Sydney set out to observe the chucking in action.

Using non-invasive GoPro cameras left on-site, they recorded over 100 instances of the inhabitants of Octopolis flinging debris willy-nilly. The octopuses would hold material in their arms, and then use their siphons to blast a jet of water that would blow the material up to several body-lengths away.

As they analyzed their recordings, the researchers noticed that there seemed to be two main types of throwing. The first had to do with housekeeping, and keeping their cosy dens free of unwanted debris and food waste.

The second seemed a bit more targeted. Octopuses, determined to be (mostly) female, were observed throwing material at other octopuses in targeted attacks. Overall, shells were the most commonly thrown object, at 55 recorded instances.

For 33 percent of these targeted throws, the flung object actually hit the intended target, with silt being the best material for this task. The targets were either other nearby females, or males making attempts to mate.

In one notable instance, recorded in 2016, a female octopus threw material at a male 10 times over a period of 3 hours and 40 minutes, hitting it five times. Interestingly, octopuses that were hit with such ejecta made no attempt to retaliate, but did sometimes attempt to duck (although not always successfully).

Another, perhaps slightly more controversial explanation for this behavior could be that the throws are not always necessarily targeted, but could be a form of tantrum due to frustration.

After several dramatic interactions, the researchers observed that one octopus would throw things in a manner that didn't seem directed at the other octopus. Given how difficult it is to assign intent to animals, though, especially one as alien as octopuses, it is impossible to definitively conclude that this is the case.

Either way, it seems that the throwing does seem to play some sort of social role.

"Octopuses can thus definitely be added to the short list of animals who regularly throw or propel objects, and provisionally added to the shorter list of those who direct their throws on other animals," the researchers write.

"If they are indeed targeted, these throws are directed at individuals of the same population in social interactions – the least common form of nonhuman throwing."

The paper is available at the pre-print website bioRxiv.

LEAD FROM BULLETS

Birds of prey face global decline from habitat loss, poisons

WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite a few high-profile conservation success stories – like the dramatic comeback of bald eagle populations in North America – birds of prey are in decline worldwide.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

A new analysis of data from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and BirdLife International found that 30% of 557 raptor species worldwide are considered near threatened, vulnerable or endangered or critically endangered. Eighteen species are critically endangered, including the Philippine eagle, the hooded vulture and the Annobon scops owl, the researchers found.

Other species are in danger of becoming locally extinct in specific regions, meaning they may no longer play critical roles as top predators in those ecosystems, said Gerardo Ceballos, a bird scientist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and co-author of the study published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“The golden eagle is the national bird of Mexico, but we have very few golden eagles left in Mexico,” he said. A 2016 census estimated only about 100 breeding pairs remain in the country.

Harpy eagles were once widespread throughout southern Mexico and Central and South America, but tree cutting and burning has dramatically shrunk their range.

Of threatened birds of prey that are active mostly during the day — including most hawks, eagles and vultures — 54% were falling in population, the study found. The same was true for 47% of threatened nocturnal raptors, such as owls.

That means “the factors causing the decline have not been remedied" and those species need immediate attention, said Jeff Johnson, a biologist at the University of North Texas, who was not involved in the study.

Globally, the biggest threats to these birds are habitat loss, climate change and toxic substances, said Evan Buechley, a research associate at the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center and a scientist at nonprofit HawkWatch International who was not involved in the study.

The insecticide DDT thinned egg shells and decimated bald eagle populations in North America, leading to its ban in the U.S. in 1972. But Buechley said other threats remain, including rodent pesticides and the lead in hunters' bullets and shot pellets. Many raptors feed on rodents and dead animals.

The Andean condor is declining due to exposure to pesticides, lead and other toxic substances, said Sergio Lambertucci, a biologist at the National University of Comahue in Argentina.

Widespread use of an anti-inflammatory drug in livestock led to the rapid decline of vultures in South Asia. The birds died after eating carcasses, shrinking the population of some species by 95% in recent decades.

In East Asia, many raptor species are long-distance migrants: They breed in northern China, Mongolia or Russia and travel down the eastern coast of China to spend summers in Southeast Asia or India.

“Certain areas of the coast will see 30 to 40 species during peak migration,” said Yang Liu, an ecologist at Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, who was not involved in the study.

But eastern China is also the most populous and urban part of the country, with steep development pressures. “Sites that are bottlenecks for migration, with thousands of birds passing through, are important to protect,” he said.

Of 4,200 sites identified by conservation groups as critical for raptor species globally, most "are unprotected or only partly covered by protected areas," said Stuart Butchart, chief scientist at BirdLife International in the United Kingdom.

A 2018 study in the journal Biological Conservation found that 52% of all raptor species worldwide are decreasing in population.

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Follow Christina Larson on Twitter: @larsonchristina

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Christina Larson, The Associated Press

Canada's housing crisis is so bad its government wants to change the rules for buying a home
bwinck@businessinsider.com (Ben Winck) 11 hrs ago

© Patrick Doyle/Reuters A realtor's for sale sign stands outside a house that had been sold in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, May 27, 2021. Patrick Doyle/Reuters

Canada sits in a housing crisis of its own, and its government is eyeing some unconventional fixes.

Prime minister Justin Trudeau aims to ban blind bidding, which keeps buyers from seeing others' offers.

The ban will "crack down on predatory speculators," he said. "You shouldn't lose a bidding war ... to speculators."

Canada desperately needs affordable homes. Revamping the homebuying process might be the key, according to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Home prices in Canada surged 22% over the past year, and the median home price sits at a record high, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association. Material shortages and soaring construction costs also place the country in a bleak supply shortage. The Bank of Nova Scotia estimates the country has fewer homes per 1,000 residents than any other G7 nation.

The government is taking a multipronged approach to address the problem. On the supply front, Trudeau rolled out a plan last week that aims to build 1.4 million homes over the next four years. Yet the prime minister's plans for accessible homebuying are perhaps more ambitious.

For one, Trudeau seeks to ban blind bidding. In that process, bidders can see the asking price of the home, but not what other prospective buyers bid. It's been criticized as a way for sellers to pad prices. Outlawing such bidding would help "crack down on predatory speculators" and make for a fairer market, Trudeau said in an August 24 speech.

The prime minister also plans to bar the buying of Canadian homes for investment purposes. Housing markets in Canada's largest metropolitan areas have been increasingly flooded by foreign buyers as investors look to capitalize on soaring prices. Trudeau's plan promises to prohibit new foreign ownership of Canadian homes for two years and expand on taxes of vacant foreign-owned homes.

"You shouldn't lose a bidding war on your home to speculators," Trudeau said. "No more foreign wealth being parked in homes that people should be living in."

Some of Trudeau's plan has already received pushback from Canadian homebuilders. Banning blind bidding would keep homeowners from selling their properties "the way they want," and boosting supply is a much more effective way to aid affordability, the CREA said in a statement.

"Open bidding is still bidding," the association added. "Homeownership remains out of reach for millions of Canadians because there is not enough housing supply to meet demand."

Canada's Conservatives see other options for healing the market. Erin O'Toole, the party's leader, proposed a plan last week that would also ban foreign investors from buying for two years and lift supply by refurbishing 15% of federal buildings for housing use.

Regardless of their differences, each party's plan strikes a starkly different tone from their southern neighbor. While the US continues to grapple with similar affordability pressures, the federal government has done little to aid buyers. The bipartisan infrastructure plan backed by President Joe Biden lacks the $213 billion initially set to create and retrofit 2 million housing units.

Bidding wars have also boosted homeownership out of reach for many Americans. The hottest markets frequently saw interested parties furiously bid up homes to avoid losing out, Insider previously reported. And rampant speculation by firms like BlackRock and Blackstone means thousands of homes have been taken off the market over the past decade to be rented out for steady income. The investing trend grew even more popular throughout the pandemic as home values spiked higher.

On the rental front, lawmakers are struggling to assist Americans on the verge of eviction. The Supreme Court struck down Biden's 60-day eviction ban on Thursday, putting roughly 7.4 million Americans at risk of homelessness. Democrats have slammed the court's ruling and called for fresh aid, but such support is unlikely to materialize. With the ban reversed, Goldman Sachs estimates 750,000 households will face eviction by January.

Read the original article on Business Insider

BC

Nuxalk Nation stands together to uphold the laws of the land and waters


On Aug 16, members of the Nuxalk Nation, including both hereditary and elected leadership, handed an eviction notice to workers of the mining company Juggernaut Exploration Ltd.

“We are the lawful authority with jurisdiction here. Our sovereignty is neither granted by nor subject to the opinion of others. At no time has the British Crown, Canada or the province of British Columbia had jurisdiction over the people of Nuxalk,” Nuskmata (Jacinda Mack) read from a statement on Aug 16.

“We do not consent to any mining activities, including exploration. We do not recognize permits and tenures issued by British Columbia.”

Nuskmata is the spokesperson for the ancestral governance of the Nuxalk Nation on mining issues. For the past ten years, she has been advocating for communities and speaking about the impacts of the industry, including the 2014 Mount Polley tailings pond spill — considered the largest mining disaster in Canadian history.

“That was in my mother’s homeland, and there’s now this in my father’s homeland,” Nuskmata tells IndigiNews over the phone.

The Vancouver-based company received two five-year permits for mining exploration activities from the province of B.C. for work on Qw’miixw (Mount Pootlass), a glaciated peak four kilometres from the occupied village of Q’umk’uts (present day Bella Coola), and above Nutcucts’kwani (Necleetsconnay) River.

“Mt. Pootlass is the mountain of our head hereditary chief, where that family ancestry is from,” says Nuskmata. “It is a spiritual place with stories of supernatural beings.”

The other site drains into the Noeick River, a salmon bearing river, she explains, and then into South Bentink Arm, at another important village site called Talyu, which community members also plans to reclaim.

“They picked the worst possible places they could to mine,” says Nuskmata. “It would flow directly into our river, it would go into the estuary, into all of the marine and sacred areas. It would impact every aspect of our life in a negative way.”

While the company is currently limited to exploratory activity, if they moved forward, it would open the door to other mining companies interested in these deglaciated areas in Nuxalkulmc (sovereign unceded Nuxalk territory), Nuskmata says.

The nation’s concerns aren’t strictly environmental, Nuskmata says. They’re also concerned about the social impacts of an influx of workers in a small community, she says. And then there’s the way the provincial and federal governments have dealt with this issue.

This story isn’t a new one, she says.

“This is the continuation of illegal colonial occupation and genocide on our people.”

Nuskmata isn’t only concerned about mining, she’s concerned about “industrial extraction in any form,” in a time of unprecedented climate change across the world, in the middle of a shape-shifting global pandemic, wildfires, droughts and floods.

“The capitalist system is crippling and collapsing entire ecosystems — that we’re a part of — with blind ambition and greed,” she says. “We need to be thinking about the bigger picture, long-term — we’re in this incredible crisis right now.”

It’s time to return to systems of governance that are based on sustainability and “not taking more than you need,” looking at ways to restore, rather than extract, she says.

“We’re saying no to mining, but it’s a spark in the community to talk about these bigger issues, to bring people together and reimagine a future where we’re actually healthy, and safe, living within our ecosystem in a good way.”

In 2019, the Nuxalk hereditary leadership signed an agreement with the band office and the elected chief and council (who have jurisdiction over federally-funded programs and services delivered on reserve), saying that all would work together for the benefit of the Nation, Nuskmata says.

“This is critical, because predictably what happens is the company will go to the band office and completely dismiss ancestral governance,” Nuskmata says. “But what we’re saying is that we have an understanding that we’re Nuxalk first, we’re all here, and we have a responsibility to protect our lands, and that comes before any type of colonial institution and our community recognizes that difference.”

This is a sovereignty issue, Nuskmata says, and her community has come together with one unified voice, saying no to mining activity in the valley and pushing back on “the divide and conquer trap of companies, the province and Canada.”

According to B.C.’s Minister of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation, consultation between the Province and Nuxalk Nation regarding the two mining permits took place in “accordance with the Coastal First Nations Reconciliation Protocol, to which the Nuxalk Nation is a signatory,” but Nuskmata says “there has been no deal of any kind.”

“The province is the one who has been issuing these illegal permits,” Nuskmata. “They’re wasting everybody’s time and money.”

Letters have been sent to the province and feds, on behalf of the joint leadership, Nuskmata says, but they’ve received no response.

“I really think that it’s up to the people to be engaged in this, because that’s where the real change happens,” Nuskmata says. “Coming together, better communication, better relationships, that’s what everybody wants, we want the same things — to be happy and healthy and live in a peaceful way.”

More people are beginning to understand the history of the valley, she says, information that has been suppressed from the general public, including “the violence that has been inflicted, in order to get to the gold in our mountains.”

Neighbours want to learn more about Nuxalk ancestral governance and laws, “the laws of the land and waters,” she says.

“Real reconciliation is happening in communities on the ground,” Nuskmata says. “People are working together to educate themselves, share that knowledge and stand together to create a better kind of society.”

Helping to keep the roughly 2,000 people who live in the valley informed is the Nuxalk Radio station, which “broadcasts the laws of the lands and waters.”

“It’s a critical piece in our sovereignty,” Nuskmata says. “The radio station has been amazing in encouraging language revival — there’s this renaissance happening.”

One of the conditions of employment at the radio station is that hosts need to be learning the Nuxalk language and incorporating it in their programming. When it started in 2014, DJs had some degree of Nuxalk, Nuskmata says, but now people are speaking it everyday, teaching it to their children, rapping in the language.

“The more we learn it, the deeper we understand how our relationships to the land are rooted in love, rooted in responsibility, reciprocity,” Nuskmata says.

It’s these ancestral laws — love, responsibility, and reciprocity, that call Nuxalk people to stand up against industrial activity that will harm their community, lands and waters, and future generations, she says.

Nuskmata is currently involved in rebuilding her ancestral village of Nusq’lst, a village that was decimated by smallpox. Since the nation has taken action on the Vancouver-based mining company, two more people have come forward to start their process of rebuilding homes in the village, she says.

“That’s really exciting,” she says. “That’s the goal of all of this pushback — to educate and inspire people to stand up to their responsibilities and take action, to move back to our lands.”

Emilee Gilpin, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Discourse

Researchers explore how people respond to wildfire smoke

Peer-Reviewed Publication

STANFORD UNIVERSITY

As wildfires become commonplace in the western U.S. and around the world, checking the daily air quality warning has become as routine as checking the weather. But what people do with that data – whether it drives them to slip on a mask before stepping outside or seal up their homes against smoke – is not always straightforward or rational, according to new Stanford research.

In a case study of Northern California residents, Stanford researchers explored the psychological factors and social processes that drive responses to wildfire smoke. The research, which ultimately aims to uncover approaches for helping people better protect themselves, shows that social norms and social support are essential for understanding protective health actions during wildfire smoke events. The findings appeared this month in the journal Climate Risk Management.

“It’s important to understand how people behave so that public health communications professionals can potentially intervene and promote safer behavior that mitigates risk,” said lead study author Francisca Santana, a PhD student in the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources (E-IPER). “This kind of qualitative work is a first step so that we can learn how people are using information and interacting to make decisions. We can then look at where there might be leverage points or opportunities to promote more protective behavior.”

Exposure to wildfire smoke can irritate the lungs, cause inflammation, impact the immune system and increase susceptibility to lung infections, including the virus that causes COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While other studies have examined how people respond to evacuation orders, little has been done to understand what’s happening with wildfire smoke exposure if people don’t – or can’t – leave the area, according to senior study author Gabrielle Wong-Parodi, an assistant professor of Earth system science at Stanford’s School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences (Stanford Earth).

“It resonated with me, the things that people were doing to try to protect themselves in the absence of access to effective ways to reduce their wildfire smoke exposure,” Wong-Parodi said, referring to a resident who breathed through a wet bandana in an attempt to filter out toxic smoke particles. “It’s urgent that we come up with strategies that are realistic for what people are going through.”

Study authors Santana and David Gonzalez, who worked on the study as a PhD student at Stanford, interviewed residents across age, race and income demographics who were affected by wildfire smoke from the 2018 Camp Fire that destroyed Paradise, California, and subsequent fires in 2019 in Fresno, Santa Clara and Sacramento counties.

They found that individuals responded to wildfire smoke events in three main ways: interpreting information together, protecting vulnerable others and questioning protective actions. Their responses were influenced not only by the Air Quality Index (AQI) but also by what they were personally experiencing – whether they smelled, saw or tasted smoke in the air.

Just as important were the social factors at play, the researchers found. “Social norms and social support were really influencing how people chose to act on their perceptions of threat,” Santana said. “For example, a lot of people talked about observing others wearing masks, and in some cases that observation was enough for them to act by wearing a mask themselves.”

Their discussions revealed that the shared rules or standards of behavior within a social group – social norms – were a common pathway driving behavior change, in addition to the act of assisting or comforting others within your social group – social support.

“There were only a handful of people who described looking at the AQI and then changing their behavior based on just that – it was almost always a conversation they were having with one another,” Santana said. “It was very much a social exercise of making sense of limited information or information that was not at the right scale for their community.”

The study provides a framework for better understanding wildfire smoke responses by examining social processes while acknowledging that cultural and political contexts, as well as factors like demographics, health status and previous exposure to smoke and air pollution, may also influence individual behaviors.

In the western U.S., climate change has contributed to the risk and extent of wildfires, bringing smoke to regions like the Bay Area, which has historically been less affected than the rest of the state. In some cases, the researchers found that residents were unable to protect themselves because they couldn’t access N95 masks or air purifiers or properly seal their homes.

“This research is also important for epidemiologists trying to understand how wildfire smoke affects health,” said Gonzalez, who is now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Berkeley. “This can help us to look at disparities in who’s exposed to smoke and whether that leads to poorer health for some populations.”

As these events become more common, there could be an opportunity to find policy synergies that help prepare communities for future smoke events, according to the co-authors. For example, programs that are designed to improve household comfort and increase energy efficiency could also include measures to reduce smoke intrusion during wildfire smoke events, Wong-Parodi suggested.

Some of the interviews revealed that residents simply didn’t know what to do while experiencing a novel extreme event. But even that revealed how processing uncertainty is a social exercise, not just a cognitive one.

“This piece shows that social norms may be an effective lever for encouraging the pro-health change that we’d like to see,” Wong-Parodi said. “That is actually a really promising sign for thinking about how to adapt and mitigate our risk as we’re facing increasing threats from climate change.”

###

Wong-Parodi is also a center fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. Stanford research coordinator Stephanie Fischer, BS, BA ’19, and Earth systems master’s student Jessica Mi helped conduct interviews for the study.

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JOURNAL

Climate Risk Management

DOI

10.1016/j.crm.2021.100351 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Case study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Psychological factors and social processes influencing wildfire smoke protective behavior: Insights from a case study in Northern California

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

12-Aug-2021

Wildfire near Penticton, B.C. balloons to 200 hectares, marches towards luxury development

The Skaha Creek wildfire, burning southwest of Penticton, B.C., crested the ridge and crept down the mountainside on Sunday night, threatening a luxury hillside residential development.

© Courtesy: Glenn Norton The 100 hectare Skaha Creek wildfire is burning directly above the luxury Skaha Hills development west of Penticton, B.C.

The wildfire, first discovered on Aug. 28, was described by locals as looking like a volcano had erupted as bright orange flames illuminated the night sky.

Read more: Cooler temperatures help slow growth of Skaha Creek wildfire near Penticton, B.C.

Plumes of smoke could be seen billowing from large swaths of the mountainside above Penticton Regional Airport (YYF) on Monday morning.

The blaze is now highly visible from the entire City of Penticton, Highway 97 and surrounding communities. It is 212 hectares in size and is believed to be human-caused.

No evacuation alerts or orders have been issued, though some residents living in the Skaha Hills development directly below the wildfire are packing up and preparing to leave if conditions deteriorate.

The Skaha Creek wildfire is being managed as part of the Okanagan complex, lead by an incident management team.

Read more: More military crews join B.C. wildfire fight

Fire information officer Roslyn Johnson said crews will focus their efforts on the east flank of the fire, which is closest to homes, with direct attack operations to contain all spot fires across Skaha Creek Road.

"Heavy equipment will work to build an indirect line on the west and north flanks," Johnson said.

"There are two heavy and two medium helicopters working the fire today. Skimmers and air tankers will continue to support the incident, if necessary."

An aerial assault hammered the vigorous surface fire over the past two days, with five helicopters, nine skimmers and three air tankers supporting ground crews on Sunday.

Read more: Volunteers begin sifting through ashes of Lytton, B.C. fire for family heirlooms

"The skimmers were providing cooling action and air tankers were putting down lines of retardant," Johnson said.

"Heavy equipment worked along the west flank constructing guard and crews worked using direct attack method along the east flank."

The City of Penticton issued a statement on Sunday warning that firefighting response efforts may impact operations at the nearby Penticton airport.

Passengers are advised to check yyf.penticton.ca for current flight information.

Recreational boaters on Skaha and Okanagan Lakes are also asked to stay close to shore to allow aircraft responding to the nearby wildfire to collect lake water.

Cooler conditions are lowering the intensity of the fire, with temperatures forecasted to be in the low 20's for much of the week, a far cry from the high 30 C and low 40 C that fuelled B.C.'s brutal wildfire season earlier this summer.

Read more: Okanagan residents urged to secure garbage due to hungry bears displaced by wildfires

Winds could gust to 40 kilometers per hour on Monday evening, according to Environment Canada.

A special air quality statement has been issued for the Okanagan Valley due to wildfire smoke.

As of Sunday, there are 232 active wildfires burning in B.C. Nearly 4,000 properties across the province remain under an evacuation order, and 6,255 properties are on alert.

Since the start of the 2021 fire season, 1,558 wildfires have scorched 864,665 hectares of earth.

Nearly 3,000 firefighters are on the front lines, assisted by 443 out-of-province firefighters and 110 helicopters and airplanes.

B.C. wildfires a ‘wake-up call’ to return to Indigenous-led fire management

Traditional burns offer a way to protect the land, sustain Indigenous cultural practices and unite two very different worldviews, say fire experts.

“Fire is not bad, fire is a life bringer, and the syilx people have lived in harmony with the land in a reciprocal relationship since time immemorial,” says sxʷuxʷiyaʔ, the Penticton Indian Band’s project manager for the Natural Resource Department.

sxʷuxʷiyaʔ manages traditional burns in and around snpink’tn (Penticton), in the southern Interior of B.C. on unceded syilx territory.

“Fire is a tool our people have used for thousands and thousands of years to manage our timxw [life force], our lands, our animals, our berries,” says sxʷuxʷiyaʔ.

“If you plan, as our people have done — where to burn, when to burn and what to burn — fire actually replenishes the land, replenishes our food source, to keep the land healthy.”

In recent months, wildfires have been moving rapidly through the territory. And Kira Hoffman says she sees these fires as a “wake-up call” to settlers to listen to, learn from and work with Indigenous fire management practices.

She’s a post-doctoral researcher with the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Forestry.

“One of the things I find really frustrating right now is many agencies saying they don’t have the expertise to engage in more controlled fire on the landscape at the scale we need.

“I think that the big issue is that they are not considering the relevant experience and knowledge of Indigenous Peoples, and the lifelong practice of understanding fire, and being taught fire, and how many ways you can use fire,” she says.

“There are so many examples where people are successfully living with fire in fire-dependent landscapes, because they are a fire-dependent culture and without it, it can totally erode a landscape.”

sxʷuxʷiyaʔ says he knows “firsthand what we can do when we come together and work together.”

“Whenever we get referrals for prescripted fuel reduction burns or prescribed burns we inform B.C. Wildfire Services [BCWS] that this is syilx territory and we manage our land with fire and we have a very developed process for burn prescriptions, fuel reductions, and fuel modifications and treatment,” he says.

“We [then] lead the project collaboratively because that’s our resources, that’s our timxw.”

syilx Peoples have long been practicing traditional burning protocols following syilx scientific methodologies.

Burns were systematic and strategic, he explains.

“We didn’t just start a fire and let it burn. It was selectively burned, based on multiple values [such as] … berry production … animal population … disease, grasslands, diseased trees.

“And it was not burned every single year. It was one area that was burned, [then] another area burned, and you wouldn’t return to the same area until after quite some time. It might be after four years, or after 20 years. It was all dependent on the landscape.”

Protocols around traditional burning are deeply embedded in the captikw, the oral storytelling laws that guide the values and ethics of the syilx people.

“We have names for everything when it comes to doing burns,” says sxʷuxʷiyaʔ.

And while the practice is still very active in the snpink’tn area of the syilx territory, colonial governments have made it difficult to carry out, he says.

“The Canadian government has been stifling our efforts to manage our land properly — giving people fines for lighting fires, setting up private properties [and] provincial parks, and stopping us from managing our landscapes with fire.

“I believe, and, because of my training of writing fire prescriptions with a syilx lens on it, that the wildfires we are experiencing today are a product of mismanagement of lands by Canada, and by extension, of course, the province of B.C.,” he says.

As a researcher, Hoffman has been studying pyro-diversity, the role of traditional burns in sustaining the land prior to colonization, and the kind of impacts these burns could have on the land today.

She says her team at UBC has reviewed “a thousand papers” in an effort to better understand “the relationship between biodiversity and controlled burning.”

They’ve found that “it didn’t matter if it was a tundra or a savanna grassland, if you used fire and you used it regularly for cultural purposes, it benefited biodiversity.”

And it’s not just in papers that she’s seen the positive impacts of cultural burns, says Hoffman, who says she worked as a B.C. wildfire fighter for many years prior to becoming a researcher.

“When I’m out on the land, I can see where cultural burnings have happened on the landscape,” she says.

“A south-facing slope, for instance, that has more berries than what should be there. It’s just the highest density of huckleberries, and it’s obvious it’s a cultural burning area … And you can dig down in the soil and see the char, or you can go around and see the fire scars in those meadows.”

This healthy abundance of berry growth is one of the many markers of a healthy thriving ecosystem, she says.

“It’s just really clear that land was managed for so long by people, and people who have unbelievable expertise in fire.”

Hoffman points out that there is a significant difference between what colonial institutions often describe as “prescribed burns” and traditional or cultural burns practiced by Indigenous Peoples.

“The difference between prescribed burning and cultural burning is a very specific community practice. So who does the burning, where the burning is done, and how it’s done is very different,” she says.

What’s interesting is the way these two systems of knowledge are speaking to each other right now, she says.

“The traditional knowledge and [contemporary] fire knowledge … Coming out of Indigenous communities is the same as what the [Western] scientists are saying, too — which is we need more fire on the land. Whether that’s prescribed fire or cultural burning, or best case scenario both.”

“I would really like to see Indigenous-led fire programs,” she adds. “[sqilxw] know how a fire is going to burn. They know when the rains are going to come based on what’s going on. So I’m always totally gobsmacked when I hear there isn’t enough fire knowledge [by governing agencies] to do controlled burning.”

sxʷuxʷiyaʔ agrees.

“We have thousands of years of knowledge and experience with it, and our resources and knowledge are being seriously underutilized and underfunded,” he says.

Tim Lezard is a council member for the Penticton Indian Band, based in Snpink’tn. He says in his community, traditional burning is crucial.

“Like any tradition, it is birthed out of necessity,” he says, adding that syilx Peoples knew that the health of the land meant the health of the people.

Lezard’s grandmother, Annie Kruger (nee George), was a firekeeper in their family, meaning she held the knowledge around when, where and how to start traditional burns.

“She talked a lot about the berry bushes, like the black caps. She would go burn those, and raspberries, and burn those patches,” he says.

“My dad and uncles would go along the creekside to burn, [and] my grandpa would make them clean up around the creeks and burn up any dead plants,” he says.

“My grandma would always stress you must always have an intention when you first start [a] fire, and ask yourself: ‘What is the intention here?’

Lezard says the provincial government could be spending less on fire suppression and more on proactive measures through fuel management — as his family has done for generations.

“A lot of it is based on fear from colonizers. They came here and colonized our people and they saw our resources as money rather than being part of the land. That’s a big part of it is colonizers’ mentality is more around fire suppression.”

The BCWS should be working with and learning from sqilxw Peoples, says Lezard.

“Our intentions are both going in the same direction,” he says. “Whether it’s quantifiable through western science or … Indigenous science, there will be an overlap and an agreement.”

sxʷuxʷiyaʔ says that it’s possible to have different governing bodies working together to ensure cultural burns are happening in a good way while respecting syilx values and honouring shared intentions.

“They provide resources, we take the lead, but we collaborate,” he says.

“We go out at their resourcing with our knowledge keepers, our burn specialists, and then we write our prescription and what we do is merge them, so that a burn plan can move forward with our [sqilxw] values and our interests at the forefront of the decision making.”

Kelsie Kilawna, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Discourse

THEY WORK THEY ARE EFFECTIVE

 Alberta harm reduction advocates call on province to stop 'unjust assault' on supervised consumption sites

UCP CAN'T STAND THAT

Anna Junker 

© Provided by Edmonton Journal 

The Safeworks supervised consumption site at the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre is shown in Calgary on Thursday, May 27, 2021. It is set for closure once the province finds locations for two new drug sites in the city.

A coalition of Albertans promoting harm reduction is calling on the provincial government to stop the “unjust assault” on services that help prevent overdoses.

Ahead of International Overdose Awareness Day on Tuesday, Albertans for Ethical Drug Policy, a group of peers, professionals, advocates, and people who have lost loved ones to the overdose crisis, said in a joint statement that the UCP government is focusing on their “Alberta model” and closing down supervised consumption services (SCS) despite the fact they help save lives.

In Edmonton, the supervised consumption site at Boyle Street Community Services was closed down last fall, while the George Spady site’s hours were expanded to 24 hours. In 2020, North America’s busiest supervised consumption service in Lethbridge was closed while the province plans to shutter the Sheldon M. Chumir safe consumption site in Calgary.

“This government’s actions clearly reveal their indifference to the staggering death toll and toward people who use drugs — our neighbours, friends, family members, employees, colleagues and community members,” the group said in a statement Monday. “The deaths will continue to rise as a result.”

Between January and May of this year, 624 Albertans died from accidental drug poisoning, a 41 per cent increase compared to the same time frame last year.

In 2020, a total of 1,328 Albertans died of drug poisoning, a 155 per cent increase from 521 in 2019. There has never been an overdose fatality at a safe consumption site.

Kym Porter, advocacy leader with Moms Stop the Harm (MSTH) and part of the coalition, said in the release MSTH supports a spectrum of harm reduction, from saving lives within an SCS to helping a person live a meaningful life.

“Removing any support within that spectrum equals death,” she said.

Albertans for Ethical Drug Policy is demanding the province take a number of actions to address the drug poisoning crisis.

The demands include retracting the safe consumption site report and reopening closed sites, as well as opening injectable opioid agonist treatment (iOAT) programs to new patients. The coalition says additional supervised consumption sites should be opened in Calgary, Edmonton, Grande Prairie, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat and Red Deer, while low-barrier, community accessible drug checking services should be made available.

The group is also calling for funding for harm reduction programs to be reinstated to 2019 levels and iOAT programs expanded, including in correctional facilities.

The coalition is also asking for low barrier access to safe pharmaceutical alternatives to toxic street drugs to be provided and the new regulations to supervised consumption sites should be cancelled.

“The loss of supervised consumption services at this time, when deaths continue to mount, will directly translate to increased drug poisoning morbidity and mortality in Alberta,” said Dr. Bonnie Larson, a professor at the University of Calgary, in the release.

“Excellent scientific evidence supports the efficacy, safety, and cost-effectiveness of supervised consumption. Closing these services represents a violation of my patients’ rights to essential, life-saving care.”

In a statement, Eric Engler, press secretary for mental health and addictions associate minister Mike Ellis, said the province is ensuring 4,000 Albertans can access treatment and recovery services annually and free of charge.

“We are increasing access to evidence based-medications for opioid addiction, and we are improving the quality of services that reduce harm before someone enters recovery,” Engler said.

“Alberta’s government is spending more in 2021/22 on services that reduce harm than at any time in Alberta’s history. The idea that we are engaged in an ‘unjust assault’ on services that reduce harm is outrageous and categorically false.”

Albertans for Ethical Drug Policy is hosting a march and rally for International Overdose Awareness Day. At noon on Tuesday, the march will gather at 103A Avenue and 100 Street, behind city hall, and at 1:30 p.m. the rally will take place at the Alberta legislature.

ajunker@postmedia.com

twitter.com/JunkerAnna