CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Liberal group points to meat companies as reason for higher grocery store prices

WASHINGTON — The price of meat on grocery store shelves has become a subject of increasing debate, but one liberal group says the Covid-19 pandemic and wages aren't to blame

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© Provided by NBC News

Instead, the group Accountable.US found meatpackers have paid hundreds of million of dollars in penalties for price-fixing and are pointing to that as the cause.

Republicans have increasingly pointed to consumer prices and inflation as evidence that Democratic economic policies, including pumping trillions of dollars of stimulus into the economy to off set pandemic problems.

A review by Accountable.US found that biggest meat processing companies have all recently been subject to serious price-fixing lawsuits, with several already agreeing to pay at least $400 million in fines and settlements in recent years for manipulating prices, and even colluding with one another to do so.

"When meat packer CEOs are still living high on the hog after agreeing to pay $400 million in fines and settlements for manipulating prices in recent years, consumers know who to really blame for ridiculous meat prices," said Accountable.US president Kyle Herrig in a statement to NBC News.

Major meatpackers included in Accountable.US review are Smithfield Foods, JBS, National Beef Packing Company, Tyson Foods, and Cargill.

In October 2020, JB and its subsidiaries agreed to pay over $110 million to settle price-fixing allegations, according to documents compiled by Accountable.US. Tyson Foods agreed to a $221.5 million price-fixing settlement and continues to face lawsuits from major food sellers like Walmart, McDonalds and Sysco alleging price inflation.

Additionally, the review found Smithfield Foods paid $83 million to settle price-fixing allegations.

The White House addressed the issue of rising meat prices earlier this month and said it would take "strong actions" to crack down on illegal price fixing, enforce antitrust laws, and bring more transparency to the meat-processing industry. Since December 2020 prices for beef have risen by 14.0 percent, pork by 12.1 percent and poultry by 6.6 percent, according to the White House.

"Just four large conglomerates control the majority of the market for each of these three products, and the data show that these companies have been raising prices while generating record profits during the pandemic," said White House officials in a blog post.

Gross profits for some of the leading beef, poultry, and pork processors are at their highest levels in history, and the first half of 2021 were the most profitable quarters in history for some of the processors, with net income for many of these companies on pace to reach historic highs as well.

The U.S. Justice Department is conducting an ongoing joint investigation with the Agriculture Department on price-fixing in the chicken processing industry, which has already yielded a $107 million guilty plea by Pilgrim’s Pride and numerous other indictments

KOKANEE BEER SHOULD FUND THIS

Kokanee begin the uphill swim from record low levels in Kootenay Lake

The ravages of 2014 are still affecting current populations of Kootenay Lake salmon and are keeping their numbers low, but the land-locked fish’s future is looking much different.

Eight years ago the kokanee salmon population in the lake collapsed, from an average of about a million to “unprecedented low numbers,” averaging between a record low of 12,000 in 2017 to about 90,000 in 2020.

Those numbers reflected a poor survival from 2014 and a “weak cohort” that spawned in 2017, noted an official with the provincial Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, which is responsible for kokanee management.

“Kokanee spawner counts have not been fully completed, but we are expecting 2021 to result in a low return, as was anticipated,” noted the official.

However, despite the low numbers right now, there are more abundant spawning numbers predicted for the next few years due to improved survival and higher egg deposition after 2017.

The ministry contends that when kokanee fall to such low abundances, they have more food available to them, as there is less competition between fish, so they grow much faster and larger.

“This translates into many more eggs per female, so although spawner abundance is much lower, total egg deposition for the whole run hasn’t fallen as dramatically,” the official explained. “In fact, in 2020, the 90,000 spawners laid enough eggs to produce the long-term pre-collapse average of fry.”

However, the species has thrived in some lakes in the region but not others — like Kootenay Lake — with research noting that factors such as pollution, lake levels, climate change and habitat loss are contributing to the downswing.

A land-locked form of sockeye salmon, the number of spawning fish can vary each year — similar to ocean-going forms of salmon.

But some people have warned that Kootenay Lake’s ecosystem is out of balance and more should be done here to resuscitate the species, including a larger kokanee egg planting and a reduction in the predatory rainbow and bull trout.

Picking on kokanee

There are other factors related to the downward spiral of the kokanee, including over predation from rainbow and bull trout in the lake.

In order to address restoring the balance between the species in the lake the table must be tilted for a while, the ministry contends, with the ecosystem favouring having kokanee overabundant, relative to the demand of their predators.

The equation for recovery of one species of fish comes, temporarily, at the expense of others, noted the ministry official.

“Ultimately, kokanee recovery is predicted to occur when we reach a threshold in the lake where kokanee are abundant enough to outpace the demand of predators,” he said.

“The exact threshold is unknown, but there are actions we can and have been taking to restore the balance, and the approaches are to increase the amount of kokanee surviving or eggs being deposited and/or reduce the number of predators.”

Part of that reduction are programs such as the Angler Incentive Program (https://bcwf.bc.ca/kootenay-lake-angler-incentive-program/), which encourages anglers to harvest rainbow and bull trout in the main body of Kootenay Lake and then turn in the heads to local depots to enter a monthly or grand prize. The program has been deemed a success by the ministry.

Keeping the beat

Five years ago the ministry deposited over 500,000 kokanee eggs into the spawning channels surrounding the lake, citing a 90 per cent hatch rate.

And now, using an adaptive management approach based on “strong monitoring of kokanee and predator populations, as well as scientific advice from an expert team to annually monitor the situation and inform changes to recovery actions,” the numbers are rising.

“Kootenay Lake recovery may take several years, but it is clear that our prior actions to increase kokanee abundance, coupled with predator reduction actions, are key to resulting in a better balance,” the ministry official noted.

Once the balance is restored, it is expected that kokanee will again become abundant within a life-cycle (about three to four years), and large bodied rainbow trout and bull trout will follow within a few years.

This situation will trigger a different response from the province at that point.

“In order to ensure the balance is maintained into the future, it is expected that our focus will then shift to developing strategies to maintain balance of fish populations in consultation with the public and our partners from Indigenous Nations and the BCWF,” the ministry official explained.

Timothy Schafer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Nelson Daily

IF YOUR BEER TASTES FUNNY ITS BECAUSE WE GOT MORE KOKANEE IN THE LAKE

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Marvel Entertainment chairman, others accused of breaking law in Veterans Affairs scheme under Trump

Kevin Breuninger 

House Democrats on Monday accused three Donald Trump associates of breaking the law as they used their connection to the former president's private golf club to shape veterans' policies for their own benefit.

The three associates, known as the "Mar-a-Lago" trio, are billionaire Marvel Entertainment Chairman Ike Perlmutter, attorney Marc Sherman and doctor Bruce Moskowitz.

Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump, and her husband, Jared Kushner, were aware of those efforts, the Democrats alleged.

© Provided by CNBC US President Donald Trump shakes Ike Perlmutter, CEO of Marvel Entertainment, hand before signing an executive order at the US Department of Veterans Affairs April 27, 2017 in Washington, DC.

House Democrats on Monday accused three Donald Trump associates — including billionaire Marvel Entertainment Chairman Ike Perlmutter — of breaking the law as they used their connection to the former president's private golf club to shape veterans' policies for their own benefit.

Perlmutter, attorney Marc Sherman and doctor Bruce Moskowitz — known as the "Mar-a-Lago Trio" — refused to comply with a federal transparency law while secretly influencing the Department of Veterans Affairs during the Trump administration, two Democratic committee chairs said in a press release.

Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump, and her husband, Jared Kushner, were aware of those efforts, the Democrats alleged, citing newly released documents that include emails from Ivanka's personal account.

"Bolstered" by their links to Mar-a-Lago, the three men "violated the law and sought to exert improper influence over government officials to further their own personal interests," said Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Mark Takano, D-Calif., in a press release.

"The documents we are releasing today shed light on the secret role the Trio played in developing VA initiatives and programs, including a 'hugely profitable' plan to monetize veterans' medical records," Maloney and Takano said.

They accused the trio of violating transparency rules established by the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

A spokesman for the Department of Justice did not immediately respond when asked if the agency would investigate the Democrats' allegations. A spokesman for Marvel Entertainment did not immediately respond.

© Provided by CNBC Steve Bannon (L), senior counselor to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, walks with physician Dr. Bruce Moskowitz (R) as they arrive to attend a meeting between Trump and health care leaders at the Mar-a-lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. December 28, 2016.

ProPublica in August 2018 published an investigation accusing Perlmutter, Sherman and Moskowitz of pushing VA officials toward certain policies with no accountability or oversight, and while remaining hidden to all but a few agency insiders.

Takano in 2019 announced an investigation and asked then-VA Secretary Robert Wilkie for materials related to the three men.

Postmortem: Voters reject the laissez-faire approach to child care

AKA THE ALBERTA APPROACH

© Provided by Financial Post Sixty per cent of voters endorsed candidates who backed the Liberal government's plan to spend $30 billion on a program that promises to drop the cost of child care in every province to $10 a day.

FP Economy editor Kevin Carmichael unpacks the week in economics

Not this time

The results of the Sept. 20 election settled the debate about how to lower the cost of child care. Sixty per cent of voters endorsed candidates who backed the Liberal government’s plan to spend $30 billion on a program that promises to drop the cost of child care in every province to $10 a day. That should be enough to convince opponents to concede.

For the second time in 15 years, the Conservatives promised to scrap federal subsidies for daycare in favour of tax credits. Stephen Harper won in 2006 and promptly killed former prime minister Paul Martin’s national daycare program before it had a chance to get going. Erin O’Toole said he would do the same to the network that Justin Trudeau was putting together when he opted to trigger an election. Voters stopped the Conservatives this time, saving a policy that has the potential to change the trajectory of the economy. How? By clearing a path for tens of thousands of women to fully participate in the economy while still in the prime of their working lives. The chart below tracks the employment rates of women aged 25 to 54 from the late 1990s, when Quebec introduced a subsidized child-care program, to present. No other jurisdiction followed Quebec’s lead. Imagine if more of them had.

Tiff Macklem’s dashboard
The charts the Bank of Canada cares about as it navigates the economy’s exit from the pandemic

Labour squeeze

The anecdotal evidence about severe labour shortages was reinforced by empirical data last week. Statistics Canada reported on Sept. 21 that there were almost 732,000 job vacancies in the second quarter, a record. Most of the openings were in health care, restaurants, and retail (chart below). All of those industries are notorious for demanding a lot of people in return for relatively little pay. It’s possible the pandemic has caused nurses, line cooks, and store managers to decide that they don’t want to return to those sectors. Some are settling for generous emergency benefits, while others have learned new skills and gone to work in other industries. Immigration is also a factor.

But labour shortages are a problem at the high end of the pay scale, too. “We’re really struggling to hire,” Adam Froman, founder and CEO of Toronto-based Delvinia Holdings Inc., a digital research firm, told FP Economy. Talent was tight in the technology industry before the pandemic. It’s worse now because the crisis accelerated the shift to the digital economy, intensifying the demand for labour, and because the new work-from-anywhere culture has made poaching by companies that pay in U.S. dollars or euros commonplace. “Salaries are going up and up and up,” Froman said.

© Provided by Financial Post

Retail reversion

Retail sales fell 0.6 per cent in July from June, Statistics Canada reported on Sept. 23, the third decrease in four months. Household consumption remains an engine of growth, however. Retail sales have exceeded pre-pandemic levels every month since June 2020, and Statistics Canadas said preliminary data indicate a rebound in August.

Economists reckon consumers are spending more of their disposable incomes on services now that social-distancing restrictions have been eased. For example, spending at restaurants and bars increased 11 per cent in July, Statistics Canada said in a separate report. Our behaviour also appears to be reverting to pre-pandemic patterns, as the most recent data show that we’re back to spending more on automobiles than on food, while sales at hardware stores have dropped to match spending on clothes and footwear for the first time since before the crisis.

© Provided by Financial Post

Affordable child-care is finally a political winner, 15 years after it was first proposed

Child care plan best hope for boosting Canada's economy

Debt relief

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce published results of a survey of almost 17,000 businesses on Sept. 23 that suggested the country’s employers were waiting for the next shoe to drop in July and August, when the poll was conducted. Companies said they felt good about demand over the next three months, and they liked their prospects over the longer term. But the number of respondents who reported that they were unsure about how much longer they could keep their businesses open increased in the third quarter from the previous three months. Uncertainty is back.

One solace: companies said they were finding it easier to borrow, probably because their lenders were seeing evidence of renewed cashflows. That jibes with aggregate credit data. Non-mortgage liabilities of non-financial corporations increased 3.4 per cent in July from a year earlier, the second consecutive monthly gain, according to Statistics Canada’s most recent data. Business lending is still well off its pre-pandemic pace, but the recent increase is a positive sign.

© Provided by Financial Post

• Email: kcarmichael@postmedia.com | Twitter: CarmichaelKevin

Nearly $80 million in damages for B.C.'s White Rock Lake wildfire

Nathan Howes

Sun., September 26, 2021,

With the 2021 wildfire season finally in B.C.'s rearview mirror, the financial toll of one of the devastating blazes is now coming to light.

The wildfire in White Rock Lake, B.C., which began Aug. 2, is estimated to have caused $77 million in insured damage, according to the initial evaluation from Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc. (CatIQ). More than 800 claims are anticipated from this event, the majority of which will be related to residential properties.

RELATED: B.C.'s historic wildfire season: A recap of the explosive summer

The fire, which grew to more than 833 square kilometres, destroyed 78 properties in the central Okanagan, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC).

The escalating frequency and severity of weather events like wildfires are also becoming more of a financial burden for insurers and taxpayers, the agency said.

(BC WILDFIRE SERVICE) White Rock Lake BC Fire Aug 4 2021

White Rock Lake (K61884) wildfire, posted Aug. 4, 2021. (BC Wildfire Service/Twitter)

"Canada's insurers are here to help the residents of Killiney Beach, Monte Lake and other areas impacted by the White Rock Lake wildfire recover and rebuild following the devastation it has caused," said Aaron Sutherland, vice-president of Western and Pacific Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC), in a news release.

B.C. endured one of its worst fire seasons on record in 2021 and is memorable for how close the large blazes came to major population centres in the southern Interior.

Extreme heat and dry conditions fanned the fires, which led to numerous evacuation alerts and a new total loss of the village of Lytton.

"We all must do better to prepare for wildfires, floods, heat, hail and wind storms. These perils are having an outsized impact on those most vulnerable and, as a result, we must greatly enhance our efforts to mitigate future change and adapt to the new weather reality we face," said Sutherland.

With files from Kyle Brittain.

Thumbnail courtesy of BC Wildfire Service/Twitter.

CANADA

Respiratory professionals' group seeks mandatory COVID vaccination for health-care workers

Sun., September 26, 2021, 

Registered nurse Debbie Frier, left, injects Leah Sawatsky, an emergency room nurse, with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in Regina last December. (Michael Bell/The Canadian Press - image credit)

A group representing respirologists, respiratory health-care professionals and respiratory scientists is calling for legislation to make it mandatory for people working in health care to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

The Canadian Thoracic Society issued a position statement on mandatory vaccinations for health-care workers on Sept. 22.

Dr. Paul Hernandez, the society's president and head of respirology at Dalhousie University, said the vaccines have proven to be the most effective way to reduce death, severe illness and hospitalization from the virus.

"We've debated this over the summer at our executive and board level and have unanimously supported this call for mandatory vaccination," he said.

Mike Dembeck

Hernandez said the Canadian Nurses Association and the Canadian Medical Association have already recommended mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for all health-care workers.

In the case of the few individuals with a reasonable exemption from vaccination, Hernandez said governments and health authorities need to ensure that they don't increase the risk to patients of their co-workers.

Describing vaccination as just "one part of a total package of tools" in the fight, he said mandatory vaccination does not remove the need for masking and personal protective equipment, handwashing and physical distancing where appropriate.

Responding to concerns expressed about the effectiveness of the vaccine, Hernandez said fully vaccinated patients are a "very small minority" of patients who require hospitalization or die from COVID-19.

"It's in the order of two per cent," Hernandez said. "So 98 per cent of the patients that we see in hospital, or who unfortunately die from COVID 19, have either not been vaccinated at all or have only had a single dose of a two-dose vaccine."

Hernandez said he is hoping other health-care organizations join the call for mandatory vaccinations for health workers.

He said he knows from speaking to nurses in Nova Scotia and from the releases issued by the Nova Scotia Nurses Union that they have been strongly encouraging their members to get vaccinated.

The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions and its member organizations like the NSNU issued a position statement in August that strongly encouraged members to get vaccinated but stopped short of calling for mandatory vaccinations.

The national federation said the benefits provided by the vaccines far outweighed any risks, but that it would leave any mandates to public health officials.

The statement said nurses' unions would support a vaccination or testing policy requirement for high‐risk settings when it is supported by science.

Dave Laughlin/CBC

Janet Hazelton, NSNU president, said if Public Health decides that vaccination is a requirement to work in health care, the union would support the recommendation.

"We are increasingly concerned as we look across the country about the amount of patients being admitted with COVID in the next wave," Hazelton said. "The ICU can only hold so many people."

Hazelton said should public health introduce a vaccination mandate it must also accommodate nurses who can't be vaccinated.

She said in those situations the employer should "respect and take appropriate action" by providing more personal protective equipment and increased testing.

In response to an emailed inquiry about mandatory vaccinations for health-care workers, Pattie Lacroix, a spokesperson for the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia, said the college "follows the direction and guidance as provided by the province's Chief Medical Officer."

Businesses, schools and cities to observe National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

WHILE AB & SASK GVMNT'S DON'T

For the first time ever, this year Sept. 30 will mark National Truth and Reconciliation Day as a federal holiday. Jill Macyshon reports.

Brittany Hobson
The Canadian Press Staff
Monday, September 27, 2021

A ceremonial cloth with the names of 2,800 children who died in residential schools and were identified in the National Student Memorial Register, is carried to the stage during the Honouring National Day for Truth and Reconciliation ceremony in Gatineau, Quebec on Monday, Sept. 30, 2019. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang)

As the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation approaches, Alana Hogstead has decided as a small-business owner to close up her shop in honour of the day.

Hogstead co-owns Martha's Music in Camrose, Alta., with her husband. The store will be closed on Thursday.

"We're just a small business and a small voice in the grand scheme of things, but we're going to make our opinion known," Hogstead said in a phone interview.

"We think there needs to be more reconciliation and honesty."

Hogstead is not alone in her decision. Businesses, cities and schools across Canada are preparing to follow the federal government's decision to observe the day, in some cases stepping up because provinces won't.

The House of Commons unanimously supported legislation in June to make Sept. 30, also known as Orange Shirt Day, a federally recognized holiday to mark the history of and intergenerational trauma caused by residential schools. The statutory holiday applies to all federal employees and workers in federally regulated workplaces.

The day is a direct response to one of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's calls to action.

Only a handful of provincial and territorial governments are having public servants and schools observe the day.

The Alberta government said it would not make Sept. 30 a statutory holiday for its employees. That drew harsh criticism from union groups.

Hogstead doesn't agree with the decision and hopes "down the road (the province) will see the light."

In Edmonton, city employees and the Edmonton Police Service will be observing the day.

City manager Andre Corbould said planning came together quickly. The city consulted with employees, unions and Indigenous groups and elders, he said. "We listened, learned andled."

The city will mark the day with community events and workplace activities.

Corbould said the city arranged to have employees who are interested attend an Indigenous Peoples exhibit at Fort Edmonton Park. Due to the pandemic, employees had to sign up and, within 48 hours, spots were fully booked, he said.

"I do not see this as a holiday. I see it as a paid day of leave with focus on truth and reconciliation. We've asked employees to think about that."

Future plans will have to wait until after the municipal election next month, said Courbould, but he expects a request to observe the day every year will be made to the new city council.

The City of Calgary has also advised its employees to observe the day and is encouraging staff to learn more about Canada's assimilation policies including residential schools and the resulting intergenerational trauma to Indigenous Peoples, city manager David Duckworth said in a statement.

Saskatchewan has said it is not making the day a statutory holiday, but Prince Albert city council recently approved Sept. 30 as a paid day for civic employees.

The Prince Albert Urban Indigenous Coalition plans to hold a one-hour education session on residential schools. The pre-recorded session will be available through the coalition's website.

Some schools in Saskatchewan will also be closed to students on Sept. 30.

The Saskatoon Public Schools division said in a statement they have made the day a planning day for teachers at its schools.

The school division will be recognizing Orange Shirt Day on Sept. 29 and is planning learning opportunities and activities during the week leading up to the Nation Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 27, 2021.

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

MORON

UCP MLA criticizes Alberta Health Services salaries in light of ICU shortages

Sun., September 26, 2021,

Lac St. Anne Parkland UCP MLA Shane Getson. 

(Shane Getson/Facebook - image credit)

A UCP MLA is under fire after he suggested Alberta's public health authority is to blame for "unacceptably low" ICU bed levels as COVID-19 hospitalizations soar in the province.

"ICU bed levels that were available for the public dropped unacceptably low coming into cold and flu season and a prediction of the 4th wave," Lac Ste. Anne-Parkland MLA Shane Getson said in a Facebook post Saturday. "Hence the 'crunch and strain' on the system.

"The wave hit, but AHS didn't staff the beds adequately to meet their own predictions?"

Getson took aim at the salaries of those who run Alberta Health Services, singling out Dr. Verna Yiu, with a link to a 2016 article about the AHS president and CEO's salary.

In a follow-up post, Getson suggested that vaccine passport systems are a distraction to prevent the public from keeping AHS accountable for maintaining sufficient ICU bed capacity in the province.

In a statement, AHS defended its efforts to add capacity, noting the health authority has added 195 additional ICU surge spaces during the fourth wave — more than double the provincial baseline of 173 ICU beds, for a total of 368 beds.

"Adding ICU capacity is not simple," spokesperson Gregory Harris said in an email. "ICU patients require highly skilled, specialized physicians and nurses, and the level of care is extremely complex.

"Our biggest challenge now in this fourth wave is finding health-care professionals to appropriately and safely staff those additional beds. Our ability to do this is extremely limited compared to previous waves."

Edmonton-City Centre MLA David Shepherd, the NDP critic for health, called Getson's comments "ignorant and tone deaf."

He said he was especially "astounded" at the timing of the criticism.

CBC News

"That he would make these comments now, at a time when our hospitals are overwhelmed with COVID patients, including people from his community who are in hospitals in Edmonton because his government failed to take seriously the threat of the fourth wave," Shepherd said.

"MLA Getson talks about how AHS should have seen this coming, they should have been prepared. Where was he?

"Dr. Verna Yiu has shown more leadership in the midst of this crisis than Jason Kenney ever has, certainly than MLA Getson has and any member of the UCP caucus in terms of protecting the health of Albertans."

Shepherd called on Alberta's new health minister Jason Copping to publicly denounce Getson's comments.

CBC requests for comment from Getson's office and Copping through a UCP caucus spokesperson were not returned Saturday.

On social media, health-care workers and members of the public also threw their support behind AHS and Yiu, including several tweets with the hashtag #thankYiu.

Alberta's fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic hit 20,040 active cases on Friday — more than twice as many as any other province or territory.

As of Friday's report, there were 1,061 people in hospital with COVID-19, including 243 in intensive care beds.

ALBERTA 

Private vaccine verification app Portpass sparks privacy, security concerns



Sun., September 26, 2021




A screengrab from the Portpass website. The Calgary-based COVID-19 vaccine verification app is being criticized over concerns it may not protect user information or accurately verify vaccination status. (Portpass.ca - image credit)More

Private proof-of-vaccination app Portpass may be easy to manipulate with fake vaccine records and may not securely protect users' personal information, experts say.

The Calgary-based company has said it has more than 500,000 users across Canada registered for its app, which is touted as a way to store and share vaccine records and COVID-19 test results.

The Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation (CSEC) has recommended the app for getting into NHL and CFL games in the city. Alberta currently does not have a proof-of-vaccination app, but the government has said it plans to create a QR code.

Conrad Yeung, a local web developer, said he was curious about the Portpass app after reading an article about it. But shortly after downloading the app, he noticed an issue when it asked him to upload his photo ID.

Yeung said he uploaded a random photo of a mayoral candidate in Calgary "just to see if the app would let me."

"It let me upload a random photo for my driver's licence," he said. "And then I was like, you know what? There's probably something sketchy here so I'm just going to upload fake stuff and see what happens."

Yeung made a fake vaccination record with an actor's name and the app verified it as legitimate.

There's a lot of questions when it comes to these types of apps … who has access to it? Can it be manipulated? Is it secure?" - Ritesh Kotak, cybersecurity analyst

That prompted the web developer to take a closer look. He noticed the website does not appear to validate security certificates and has a backend that can easily be accessed by members of the public — making its data potentially vulnerable to hackers.

He also noticed some details that seem to refute statements on the app's website.

Portpass says its data is housed in Canada, but Yeung pointed out it actually appears to be hosted out of an Amazon data centre in Ohio.

The app claims to use AI and blockchain to verify records and keep data secure, but Yeung didn't find evidence of that at a quick glance at the site's backend — and he questions the claim based on the app's speedy verification of his false information.

The app also names a purported network of labs, pharmacies and health clinics called the Canadian Digital Health Network as a collaborator. However, the CDHN's main webpage links back to the Portpass website and other links on the CDHN website led to "404 page not found" messages on Sunday.

CBC News called Portpass founder and CEO Zakir Hussein on Sunday afternoon.

Hussein initially agreed to talk and said he had seen Yeung's Twitter posts expressing concerns about the app. But shortly into the recorded interview he ended the call mid-sentence, and then said in a followup call that he would speak with CBC before 6:30 p.m. MT that day to give his team time to look into the issues. Followup calls were not returned.

Portpass recommended by Calgary Flames

Portpass is recommended by the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation as the preferred way to provide proof of vaccination for attendees at Calgary Flames hockey games at the Scotiabank Saddledome or Calgary Stampeders football games at McMahon Stadium.

CBC reached out to CSEC for comment but has yet to receive a response.

Those planning to attend Sunday's Flames game were told in advance that, "for the most efficient entry possible, all ticket holders should sign up and download Portpass and complete their COVID-19 proof of vaccination online or through the app."

But after Yeung publicly raised concerns and CBC called Portpass's CEO, multiple people reported that the app no longer appeared to be fully functioning — simply showing a grey screen and the words "undefined undefined" instead of a name on the vaccine verification screen.

At 5:17 p.m. MT, less than two hours before the hockey game's scheduled start, the company tweeted it was having "technical difficulties" and asked users to bring a printed vaccine record to the game instead.

Flames fan Mckenna Baird said he downloaded the app on the NHL team's recommendation, and when it wouldn't load he initially assumed it was an issue specific to his phone.

"Because the Portpass app is not working we're not able to get into the arena," Baird said as he waited outside the Saddledome on Sunday. "It's definitely upsetting.… Hopefully they'll get it sorted out."

Terri Trembath/CBC

Yeung is also worried about a call he received after he posted publicly about his concerns with the app and spoke with CBC.

He said later on Sunday evening he received a call from someone who identified themselves as a police officer and asked him about his "spam tweets."

Yeung asked the caller for their badge number, then called Calgary Police Service's non-emergency line to ask about the call. He said police told him that badge number doesn't exist. CBC has reached out to Calgary police for comment.

He said he'd like to know what due diligence was done by companies like CSEC, which have promoted the app.

"That's the most concerning part … you have somebody in a place of authority promoting something that is potentially unsafe and has privacy issues," Yeung said.

Cybersecurity tech analyst Ritesh Kotak said he agrees with those concerns.

"There's a lot of questions when it comes to these types of apps … who has access to it? Can it be manipulated? Is it secure?" Kotak said. "You're literally giving away so much personal information about yourself that can be used against you.… That's my word of caution when we just decide to arbitrarily give up our data to private corporations. What will they do with it? Who is accountable?"

Portpass.ca

Sharon Polsky, president of the Privacy and Access Council of Canada, said the app's privacy policy raises questions.

"Whether it's Portpass or any of these other apps, the privacy policies, and I say 'so-called privacy policies' … you look at them closely, there's some inconsistencies," she said.

"Portpass says the information is held in Canada … and that's great, except the very next sentence is 'we take appropriate steps to protect your personal data when it's transferred across borders.' Well, if it's scrubbed and it's held in Canada, what is there to transfer across borders?" Polsky said.

Polsky said that paper vaccine passports are more secure than apps, while Kotak suggested people only download apps approved or recommended by government agencies.

Alberta's current paper vaccine record has been criticized for being easy to edit, though falsifying a provincial health record is against the law.

Done waiting on B.C., Gitanyow declare new protected area: ‘this is all our land’

Sun., September 26, 2021

On a late August afternoon, under cloudy skies that threatened rain, Gitanyow hereditary chiefs gathered at the Lax An Zok fish camp on the banks of the Meziadin River in northwest B.C. to sign a unilateral declaration.

Provincial representatives were notably absent in the attentive crowd of 200 who gathered to witness Simogyet (Chief) Malii Glen Williams, Simogyet Wii Litswx Gregory Rush Sr. and others declare the immediate protection of 54,000 hectares of land and water in Gitanyow territory, which includes large portions of the Kitwanga and Nass River watersheds and significant sections of the upper Kispiox River, a tributary of the Skeena River.

“Today we hear lots about the United Nations Declaration [on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples] … that Indigenous people have a right to preserve their lands, use their culture, their systems — and lots of talk about reconciliation,” Williams said. “How do we correct the wrong that was done to us?”

Williams spoke slowly and carefully, leaving long pauses that made space for the weight of his words to sink in, gaps punctuated by the sounds of kids playing in puddles, the wind in the birch trees and the white noise of the falls on T’aam Mats’iiaadin (Meziadin River).

As The Narwhal recently reported, the Gitanyow have been working with the province to protect the Meziadin watershed for more than four years. The nation has made significant inroads in convincing provincial and federal governments to recognize the authority of Gitanyow governance, reflected in the recent signing of the Gitanyow Governance Accord which charts a five-year path towards legal recognition of the hereditary governance system.

But the speed at which ecosystems in Gitanyow territory are changing due to a warming climate, coupled with the threat of mineral exploration impacts to struggling wild salmon populations, spurred the hereditary chiefs to declare the creation of the Wilp Wii Litsxw Meziadin Indigenous Protected Area in advance of any provincial decision.

Williams told the audience that provincial representatives did not accept an invitation to attend the event.

“It is unfortunate that one part of the government chose not to be here today. They were instructed not to attend, not to come here because we were exercising our li’ligit (feast system) to use our traditional law to protect where wild salmon spawn and to ensure that our future generation, our youth, our young people continue to have food security.”

He paused and added, “Enjoy the salmon.”

The Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development declined an interview request and did not clarify why provincial representatives decided not to attend.

“Yes, B.C. received an invitation to the event,” the ministry wrote in a statement provided to The Narwhal. “This declaration is a Gitanyow-led initiative and we are in early discussions with Gitanyow to understand their proposal; we have additional work with other First Nations and stakeholders prior to formally acknowledging the proposal.”

Williams gestured towards the river.

“Just last night, over 3,000 sockeye passed just a few feet down the road. Now we’re at 221,000 that have passed and they’re into the spawning beds: into the Hanna, Tintina, Strohn and the lakeshore. And yet we hear from B.C., ‘We will protect wild salmon and habitat,’ and they didn’t want to come, to stand with us.”

“I think they should just continue to stay home and give our land back. That would be justice.”

Further into Wilp Wii Litsxw territory, grizzly tracks mark the banks of Strohn Creek at the northwest end of Meziadin Lake, a sign the sockeye are returning to spawn after their long journey up the Nass and Meziadin rivers. The runs are only just starting but already flashes of red contrast with the turquoise water as fish jump and show their fins at the creek’s mouth.

The decision to protect the watershed as an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area had its genesis when Gitanyow fisheries researchers discovered a sharp decline in stocks spawning in Hanna and Tintina creeks — an area already protected as a provincial conservancy — and an increase in the populations returning to Strohn and Surprise creeks further to the north, which lack protection.

The Hanna-Tintina Conservancy was established in 2012 after the signing of the Gitanyow Huwilp Recognition and Reconciliation Agreement and the development of an associated land-use plan. The main purpose of the land-use plan was to protect sockeye — about 75 per cent of all Nass River sockeye, the third largest run in the province, spawn in the Meziadin watershed.

Armed with data on the natural redistribution of sockeye populations, the Gitanyow asked the province to expand the conservancy.

“If you’ve got the third largest run of salmon and you’ve already acknowledged the value of Hanna and Tintina, why would you not acknowledge the same value here when it’s even higher in productivity now?” Naxginkw Tara Marsden asks, as we watch the salmon at the mouth of the creek. Marsden is from Wilp (house group) Gamlakyeltxw and works as Wilp sustainability director for the Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs’ office.

The glacial-fed creek systems that provide ideal habitat for the fish have their headwaters in the northern Coast Mountains, where mineral exploration companies are staking claims and looking for new opportunities as glaciers recede, revealing potential deposits of valuable minerals. There are six companies with active claims above the salmon habitat, according to an email provided to The Narwhal by the Gitanyow.

“One of the challenges in expanding the conservancy has been that [mineral exploration] is not enough of a threat,” explains Marsden, who believes the province is reluctant to embrace a new Indigenous Protected Area because it wants to capitalize on economic gains from mining activity. While mineral exploration has less of an impact than developing and operating a working mine, companies are allowed to divert water from the creeks to facilitate test drilling. Marsden says it’s unlikely a mine will ever be built in these mountains. “They’re just staking claims trying to generate some buzz and generate some money.”

Mining claims in B.C. can be staked without Indigenous consent. The province’s Mineral Tenure Act, which governs the claim process, dates from the mid-1800s and has not been updated to reflect Indigenous Rights. Critics of the act point out that B.C. doesn’t even require companies or individuals talk to First Nations before staking a claim or entering their territories to take a look at the land, let alone obtain their consent.

The Gitanyow are not against mining, Marsden notes, but they’re not willing to risk losing one of the few viable salmon populations left in the watershed.

“Brucejack mine, that’s a good mine for most people,” she says, referring to a gold mine near Stewart, B.C., just outside of Gitanyow territory. “It’s in a good location, the waste treatment is good and it provides a ton of jobs for people.”

Expertly piloting the Lax Yip Protector, a new research boat, off the beach at Strohn Creek and down the lake, Mark Cleveland, head fisheries biologist with the Gitanyow Fisheries Authority, suddenly stops the engine and points to a dark shape in the water — a bear, swimming across the lake.

“I thought it was a moose,” he says with a grin.

Spotting a bear in the middle of the lake is rare, even though the region is home to one of the highest concentrations of grizzlies in the province.

“About five years ago on Hanna, in one flight over a 10-kilometre section, [we saw] 12 grizzly bears,” Cleveland says. The fisheries team conducts regular helicopter surveys to assess the health of spawning populations. “And that’s just the ones we saw because most of the time they’re pretty smart, they run off before you get there with the helicopter.”

Those bears thrive because of an abundance of food sources. But as the ecosystem evolves as climate change warms the creeks and lake, rendering habitat less suitable for the bears’ preferred food sources, grizzlies have to adapt and move around the territory. The salmon that return to Strohn to spawn arrive about one month later than the populations that congregate at Hanna and Tintina, Cleveland explains. As fish populations decline, the bears will have to find alternative food sources.

“There’s all these spin-off effects that come to light,” he says.

Protecting the watershed as an Indigenous Protected Area allows the Gitanyow to adapt more nimbly to changes and control activities within the area boundaries.

“The Indigenous Protected Area is not a park,” the declaration states plainly. “It is a new way of being with the land and water, in respect, but also ensuring our people and our neighbours can sustain themselves with employment opportunities.”

Leaving the bear to its long swim, Cleveland turns the boat back towards the south end of the lake. Marsden points towards a forested hillside.

“You can look down there and you can see logging, right? This is clearly not an anti-development situation. This isn’t Fairy Creek,” she says, referring to the ongoing Vancouver Island conflict about old-growth logging that has seen more than 1,000 people arrested in Canada’s largest act of civil disobedience.

“This is a more moderate proposal, I would say, and something that we’re doing for ourselves and for future generations with fish, but it’s not a ‘protect everything’ [scenario]. We have a lot of balance that has to happen within our own nation — a lot of people who are in forestry and who want to continue to be.”

Complementing the Gitanyow fisheries research is the Gitanyow Guardian program, which started six years ago with seed funding through the Environmental Stewardship Initiative, a collaboration with the province and other First Nations.

Lead guardian Jimmy Morgan has an infectious smile and clearly loves his job.

“I just feel really blessed,” he says, standing on an artificial bank he helped create to restore a tributary of the Hanna that had been damaged by long-term impacts of legacy forestry operations. “Not very many people even get to go out on their territory, and I get paid to help take care of it.”

In the 1960s and 1970s, forestry companies logged most of the area. Deciduous species, which sucked up water from streams and creeks, primarily grew back. When a series of wooden bridges, built to access the timber, caved in, they clogged all the tributaries. The downstream impacts ruined important fish habitat, flooding some areas and drying up others.

The guardians cleaned everything up and diverted streams that had broken their banks as a result of the industrial impacts. Young salmon need wetlands to survive the long winters, Morgan explains.

“That’s where the little cohos and sockeyes go and overwinter,” he says. “The wetlands down there were never really full. They didn’t have big ponds as much as they do now.”

Morgan is from a bordering community but his wife is Gitanyow.

“I’m an eagle from Kitwanga and I have no idea about the ins and outs of my territory but I know everything about my wife’s,” he says with a laugh. The matrilineal system of hereditary governance means Morgan’s kids have the potential to become high-ranking Gitanyow chiefs. “I have the opportunity to teach them all of this and how to respect it,” he adds, gesturing around at the landscape. “I’m just really honoured to be able to do this.”

Morgan also works with organizations like Nature United to support other Indigenous communities across the country, sharing his knowledge and experiences at events such as a recent national gathering hosted by the Indigenous Leadership Initiative.

“It’s fun sometimes and other times it’s pretty tough work,” Gitanyow Guardian Dustin Gray says, one of his fingers bandaged from a recent fracture. “Scary too, ‘cause we’re working pretty close with the grizzlies out here.”

Gray grabs his phone and pulls up photos and videos of bears and wolves the guardians have encountered while looking after the territory, recalling the pack of wolves that sauntered right past him while he was planting grass seed to stabilize the banks of a stream.

“I really like this job because we’re out here in the territories,” he says. “I learned a lot of stuff off of Jimmy, while I was working with him, and I jumped on with the fisheries for a little while, learned quite a bit off of them. It’s just been really awesome.”

Part of the job is being the “eyes and ears” of the hereditary chiefs. When the guardians spot someone on the land engaged in a prohibited activity, whether it’s hunting in an off-limits area or conducting unauthorized mineral exploration work, they take a non-confrontational approach.

“We don’t go in and say, ‘You guys got to get the bleep out of here,’ ” Morgan explains. “We go in there and say, ‘This is who we are, we have a land-use plan, you’re welcome to come and talk to our directors and here’s our card.’ And then we’ve done our job. And then it’s up to them to do what’s right after. I love our process.”

Morgan attributes many of the successes the Gitanyow have achieved to the nation’s progressive approach to conservation projects.

“One of the main things Gitanyow does that I love is that they work with professionals — they find the best of the best.”

Those collaborations include working with people like aquatic ecologist Allison Oliver, glaciologist Matthew Beedle and wildlife biologist and trapper Dave Hatler. Hatler helped the nation tackle a beaver population problem wreaking havoc on the ecosystem.

“We could have just gone and got one of the best trappers in our village but because we value scientific methodologies and traditional knowledge, we always try to combine the two together,” Morgan says. “We found a guy in Telkwa, a professional trapper. He literally wrote the book on the regulations in B.C.”

“He came out and it was amazing. He looked at the whole area [and said] ‘Once we trap out seven beavers we’ll be able to get the big mama and once you get the lady out, it’s done.”

For Morgan, the new protected area is a natural extension of that collaborative approach.

“To me the [Indigenous Protected Area] is a perfect playground to showcase how industry and Indigenous governments can coexist and work together,” he says. “This is going to be a huge example. Our leaders are our chiefs, and this is their area. If they give us permission, then we go and do it. That’s just Gitanyow’s mentality; it’s going to happen anyway and you can either come along for the ride and join us or just watch it happen.”

In tandem with signing the declaration, the Gitanyow chiefs released a draft management plan for the new protected area, outlining a vision for the area and detailing permitted and prohibited activities. Underpinning every aspect is a simple concept: gwelx ye’enst, which is the “right and responsibility to pass on the territory in a sustainable manner from one generation to the next.”

Sustainable use includes allowing recreational users and visitors to continue exploring the area, partnerships with Gitanyow-led businesses and building culturally significant buildings and infrastructure, according to the plan.

Wilp Wii Litsxw will also create a science and climate change study centre and a cultural camp and will commence Elders and youth programming within the protected area, the plan notes.

“We have affirmed in our Ayookxw (laws) that the entire Meziadin watershed is protected from mining and mineral exploration, railway and other major industrial development,” Simogyet Wii Litsxw Gregory Rush Sr. said in a statement. “We take this important step to let government, industry and the general public know that this area must be cared for by the original stewards of this land — Wilp Wii Litsxw and the Gitanyow.”

Many Elders and matriarchs gave their speeches in Simalgyax, a language that, like many Indigenous languages, was nearly lost to the impacts of colonialism.

Williams concluded his speech by speaking directly to the younger generation.

“It’s now for the young people — our young Gitxsan, Gitanyow people — to stand up and be firm and be bold and transition our lax’yip (territory) back to the rightful owners.”

“The former Delgamuukw, the late Albert Tait, used to always say when things were tough …‘Who are we scared of?,’ ” Williams said, referring to the Gitxsan hereditary chief who fought for recognition of Indigenous Rights and Title in a landmark Supreme Court case.

“This is all our land.”

Matt Simmons, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Narwhal