Saturday, October 09, 2021

'Moleman': 4chan user linked to Alberta man charged in extremism investigation

The bail hearing was the first time authorities have made a link between Maure and Moleman. Since then, Postmedia has reviewed dozens of posts from a 4chan user of that name, which reveal something of the world of firepower, survivalism and extremist views which attracted the attention of national security investigators

Author of the article: Jonny Wakefield
Publishing date:Oct 07, 2021 •
Photo posted to 4chan from user 'Moleman' shows three men posing for a photo with an Edmonton Police Service officer on Whyte Avenue on Halloween 2016.

To the largely anonymous world of 4chan, Moleman was an outlier: an outlandish figure who liked to dig tunnels, shoot guns and thumb his nose at authority.

Unlike other users on the notorious message board site, Moleman made no secret of his real-world location, posting alleged photos of himself and his friends at recognizable locations around Edmonton wearing camouflage and other military gear.

Prosecutors claim Moleman is Kelvin Gregory Maure, the 26-year-old alleged right-wing extremist arrested after police turned up a cache of weapons and explosives at his Parkland County home earlier this year.

Maure is facing 34 charges after an investigation by the RCMP’s Alberta-based Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET). Police say their search turned up seven prohibited weapons including loaded assault-style rifles and materials for making explosives.

Maure has pleaded not guilty. His trial is set for April 2022.

Maure was released on bail in late August over the objections of Crown prosecutors, who allege he displayed a “cavalier” attitude in firing semi-automatic assault rifles and engaging with online neo-Nazi content.

The bail hearing was the first time authorities have made a link between Maure and Moleman. Since then, Postmedia has reviewed dozens of posts from a 4chan user of that name, which reveal something of the world of firepower, survivalism and extremist views which attracted the attention of national security investigators.

‘Fascistic or neo-Nazi predilections’

Maure was allegedly part of an online community that INSET began monitoring in September 2020. The following January, while under surveillance, police say Maure made posts which “displayed escalating behaviour” which led police to deem him a “threat to critical infrastructure, the police and the public.”

Maure was arrested with the help of an RCMP tactical team on Feb. 13, 2021, after an hours-long operation outside the Parkland County home where he lived with a family member. The arrest came one day after Maure allegedly damaged a propane tank and shed at an oil and gas facility near Drayton Valley. Investigators say they recovered “numerous” guns during a search of Maure’s property, including three AK-style rifles, an SKS rifle, a 9 mm pistol and high-capacity magazines — as well as police and military paraphernalia.

Kelvin Maure arrested at 35 Heatherlea Dr in Parkland County with a cache of weapons after making extremist views known online. Taken on Friday, April 30, 2021 . 
PHOTO BY GREG SOUTHAM /Postmedia



Seven of the weapons were deemed prohibited, meaning they are illegal to own in Canada without special exemptions, while three — an AK-47, AK-74 and Baikal Viking 9 mm — were allegedly loaded when Maure was arrested.

Police also seized explosive substances including TATP, a volatile compound used in terrorist attacks including the 2005 London bombings, as well as fuses and percussion caps. TATP can be synthesized from household chemicals including hydrogen peroxide.

Police released news of Maure’s arrest in April. He was granted bail Aug. 31.

During the bail hearing, Crown prosecutor Richard Tchir alleged Maure was part of a group that — as Justice Sterling Sanderman summarized — had “extreme right-wing … fascistic or neo-Nazi predilections.” The Crown argued Maure should stay in jail ahead of trial given his collection of prohibited firearms, his “cavalier” attitude in firing them, and his alleged interest in promoting social unrest.

Tchir also claimed Maure had researched how explosives could be used to “create chaos” in the electrical grid, and how to “remediate” firearms to allow them to fire fully automatic.

RCMP’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team have laid 34 criminal charges against Kelvin Gregory Maure. RCMP executed search warrants on several properties resulting in the seizure of numerous firearms and other paraphernalia. Images supplied by RCMP.
RCMP’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team have laid 34 criminal charges against Kelvin Benjamin Maure. RCMP executed search warrants on several properties resulting in the seizure of numerous firearms and other paraphernalia. Images supplied by RCMP.

Defence lawyer Robert LaValley characterized his client as an “immature, role-playing young man” who failed to understand the seriousness of his actions. He said the Crown had overstated his client’s relationship with the far-right.

Sanderman disagreed with the Crown’s concerns. He likened them to “the over-reaction during the McCarthy era of the early 1950s and to the unjustified fear of communist subversives.” Sanderman said he was shown no “concrete” evidence that tied Maure “inexorably” to any particular ideology or group.

As part of his bail plan, Maure has been ordered to live with his mother in Edmonton, and cannot leave the apartment unless escorted by his mom or the man acting as his surety. Sanderman also prohibited him from possessing any firearms or devices that can access the internet.

‘Moleman’

The Crown alleges Maure used the online alias “Moleman.” Postmedia has found numerous posts from a user of that name on 4chan, an online image board service.

Created in 2003, 4chan is built around anonymity. Unlike many message forums, users do not register a unique username that follows them around the site. Many simply post as “Anonymous,” though some choose a distinctive handle and tripcode, a unique identifier recognizable to others in the community.

Postmedia has reviewed a variety of posts from a 4chan poster named Moleman, dating back to 2016. All use the same tripcode.

Postmedia provided copies of the posts to LaValley, who declined to comment.

Moleman posted frequently on /k/, 4chan’s weapons and gun culture board. /K/ users are known to meet in person, and Moleman and other Alberta posters appear to have done so on several occasions. In June 2016, Moleman identified himself as Canadian on a post about his tunnelling project. One user questioned whether the author of the post was the “real moleman” because he was using an unfamiliar tripcode. To prove his identity, Moleman posted a photo of guns from a “Burta” (Alberta) meet-up as “proof.”

A December 2018 photo posted to 4chan from user ‘Moleman’ shows an apparent meet up, featuring eight armed, masked men, and a goat named Doug.

In late 2016, Moleman reached out to others in the Edmonton area for a “group buy” of tracer ammunition. He also posted about a “winter meet,” featuring gunplay and outdoor camping in -30 C weather. In December 2018, Moleman posted a photo of another apparent meet up, featuring eight armed, masked men, and a goat named Doug which Moleman claimed they killed and ate. He posted a photo of the goat’s severed head as proof.

One of the pieces of alleged police paraphernalia seized from Maure is a tan shirt with an RCMP patch on the shoulder. The shirt also includes a patch from a seemingly fictitious military organization called “Task Force 165: Doug’s Darlings,” which features a goat skull insignia.

Moleman also posted several alleged photos of himself at Edmonton landmarks.

Most of the photos stem from an outing around Halloween 2016, which Moleman and two other men spent wearing military-style uniforms around the city. Moleman said he was “ccing” (sometimes used as an acronym for concealed carrying) and “nursing” a hidden bottle of Stolichnaya vodka. Moleman said they told people — including police — that they were “GRU (a Russian military intelligence service) and naval infantry living in Canada.” Moleman said it was the “best moment of my life.”


Photo posted to 4chan from user ‘Moleman’ shows three individuals posing on the steps of the Alberta Legislature on Halloween 2016.

Photo posted to 4chan shows ‘Moleman’ standing behind the Alberta Legislature on Halloween 2016.

In one photo of the outing, the three men — two of them with face-covering balaclavas — stand with an Edmonton Police Service officer on Whyte Avenue. Later, they took photos at the Alberta legislature. In one shot, two of the men squat by a peace officer vehicle, one of them with his middle fingers in the air. They also posed on the legislature steps. Moleman wrote: “the legislature is dangerously unprotected and under manned i knocked on the door for a minute trying to annex it and yelled im here to take your country but no one showed up.”

Moleman later posted an apparent photo of himself drinking from a bottle of vodka behind the legislature. In another photo, he stands in the same area with his balaclava on, holding what appears to be a handgun. In all the photos, his uniform has a distinctive green shoulder patch.

Some /k/ users were critical of Moleman’s night out. “Going out with friends in gear for Halloween and interacting with police and other people is cringey and try hard,” one wrote.

Moleman responded with bravado: “I don’t see you walking up to cops from behind while in body armour and a balaclava, with open alcohol on you, just to stop them so you can get pictures or messing around the city center and legislature.” He attacked the author of the post, saying “your crippling social autism prevents you from doing s— like that.”

In response, another user agreed with the criticism. “You still kinda come off as someone trying to prove something to everyone here,” they wrote.
‘Unnaground’

In addition to firearms, Moleman showed a fascination with digging, regularly posting photos of a bunker-like excavation project and talking about life “unnaground.” Tchir, the prosecutor, told court that police found “essentially a bomb making facility” in a dugout in Maure’s yard.

On April 15, 2017, Moleman posted a photo of an underground entrance with a “blast door.” He wrote: “Moleman here with the first ever footage from inside my tunnel project, join me as I dig my grave, post unnaground memes, post your bunkers, etc.” One of his tunnels was 12 feet deep, with room for two people to sit inside.

Photo posted to 4chan in April 2017 from user ‘Moleman’ shows the entrance to an underground bunker
.
Photo posted to 4chan from user ‘Moleman’ dated December 2016.

Absent from the Moleman posts reviewed by Postmedia is any explicit neo-Nazi content, though the user is clearly concerned with race. In one 2017 post Moleman said he was half-French and half-Slavic and thus “not even human let alone white.” He also occasionally used racial slurs to attack other posters.

David Jones, a researcher with the Edmonton-based Organization for the Prevention of Violence, has reviewed the Moleman posts.

He said unlike many in the anonymous world of 4chan, Moleman seemed to seek notoriety. Some believed Moleman was really a police officer.

“He became really well-known as Moleman on the page,” Jones said.

The user also seemed to have few compunctions about posting images of themselves, which some believed foolish.

“Some other users, including ones who seem to be in Alberta, or in Western Canada, were deeply skeptical of him, because he kind of sought to de-anonymize his activity online and associate it to one consistent poster,” said Jones.

News of Maure’s bail was greeted with mixed reaction on 4chan. Several users posted news stories about his release. Some sought to find out who “ratted” on the user, while others blamed Moleman himself for what happened.

One user suggested anyone paying attention to people who post on weapons forums “would quickly become attracted to a young man posting prohibited firearms and concerning messages.”

One user posted simply: “MOLEMAN IS OUT OF JAIL.”

Maure’s trial is scheduled to begin April 4, 2022.


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Modern Crocodiles Are Evolving at a Rapid Rate

Despite their reputation as “living fossils,” crocodiles have changed dramatically in the last two million years


Riley Black
Science Correspondent
October 7, 2021
A gharial has the same skull shape as some extinct crocodiles. This skull shape has likely evolved three different times during the history of crocodiles. 
DeAgostini / Getty Images

Crocodiles look like they belong to another time, an era when reptiles ruled. But appearances can be deceiving. Today’s crocodiles are not holdovers that have gone unchanged since the Jurassic, but are one expression of a great, varied family that’s been around for over 235 million years. More than that, crocodiles are still evolving—and faster than they have at other times in their family’s scaly history.

The seemingly contradictory conclusion about crocodylian evolution comes from a recent study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B by University College London anatomist Ryan Felice and colleagues. By comparing three-dimensional models to track anatomical landmarks on crocodylian skulls over time, the researchers found that modern crocodile species in Australia, southeast Asia and the Indo-Pacific are evolving quickly despite looking like semi-aquatic antiques. Modern croc species look so similar not because of conserving ancient traits, but because crocodiles are evolving the same skull shapes over and over again through time.

“Crocodylians just seem ancient and primordial and look a bit like Hollywood dinosaurs,” Felice says, not to mention that some species are among the largest reptiles on the planet. American alligators can grow to be 14 feet long, and saltwater crocodiles can get to be over 20 feet in length. On top of that, Felice notes, some fossil crocodiles superficially resemble living species. The spitting reptilian image can create a narrative that crocodiles haven’t changed much at all, content to lurk in the evolutionary backwaters. But that’s not the real story.

Today’s alligators, crocodiles and gharials—grouped together as crocodylians—shared a common ancestor back in the Cretaceous, around 95 million years ago. But crocodile history goes much deeper. Today’s alligators and crocodiles are just the remaining members of a broader, older group of reptiles called pseudosuchians—or crocodiles and their extinct relatives. The first pseudosuchians evolved over 235 million years ago, around the time that the first dinosaurs were making their mark on the Triassic landscape, and have gone through a vast array of changes through time.

Many fossil pseudosuchians were unlike any creatures alive today. Triassic animals called aetosaurs, for example, are sometimes called “armadillodiles” for the way these crocodile relatives resembled large, omnivorous armadillos. Around the same time there lived bipedal crocodile relatives like Poposaurus and Effigia, pseudosuchians that evolved dinosaur-like body plans and habits independently. In fact, during the Triassic there was a greater diversity of pseudosuchian species and body plans than dinosaurs. They, not the “terrible lizards,” were the dominant reptiles on land. That is, until massive volcanic eruptions triggered a mass extinction about 201 million years ago and many forms of pseudosuchians died out, allowing the dinosaurs to step out of the shadows.

But even in Jurassic and Cretaceous heyday of the dinosaurs, surviving lineages of pseudosuchians thrived. Some crocodile relatives spent their whole lives at sea. Sharp-toothed predators like Dakosaurus and Thalattosuchus hunted the oceans for prey alongside ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs. Others were terrestrial carnivores that were stiff competition for dinosaurs. In prehistoric Brazil around 90 million years ago, land-dwelling crocodiles like Baurusuchus were among the apex predators of their time and bit into prey with blade-like teeth. And semi-aquatic ambush predators existed, too. Some of them were about the size of their modern counterparts, but a few were giants. Deinosuchus, the “terror crocodile,” was an alligator that could grow to be almost 40 feet long and lurked in North America’s swamps between 82 and 73 million years ago.


Even after the asteroid strike that ended the “Age of Dinosaurs,” some species of crocodile survived and continued to evolve in new ways. While mammals were going through a major evolutionary flowering, new terrestrial crocodiles—such as the “hoofed” crocodile Boverisuchus —evolved to chase after them. And even in recent times, until about 4,000 years ago, there lived terrestrial crocodiles in the South Pacific called mekosuchines that had teeth and jaws suited to crunching mollusks and insects. Crocodiles and their relatives haven’t been evolutionary slouches. Instead, these reptiles have rapidly responded to changing times.

To track how crocodile skull shapes changed through the ages, Felice and colleagues used a technique called geometric morphometrics to compare the skulls of 24 living crocodylian species and 19 of their fossil relatives. These three-dimensional models allowed researchers to look at different landmarks on the skulls—such as the placement of the eyes or the length of the snout— and track how anatomy has shifted over time and through evolutionary relationships.
A 19th century illustration shows the different skull shapes of three species of crocodylians.
 The Print Collector / Getty Images

The analysis did more than track shape. Crocodile snout shapes are heavily-influenced by what those species eat. For example, very long, narrow snouts filled with many small teeth are considered clues to a diet heavy in fish. Living gharials have this shape, but so do some extinct marine crocodiles. Felice and colleagues hypothesize that this fish-eating snout shape has evolved at least three times in the history of crocodiles.

Two crocodiles with similar skull shapes, then, might not be close relatives. Instead, distantly-related crocodiles are converging on the same skull shapes because they’re feeding on similar prey and living in similar habitats, with an array of species repeating a small number of skull shapes. The fact that distantly-related branches on the crocodile family tree are converging on similar skull shapes, University of Tennessee paleontologist Stephanie Drumheller-Horton says, suggests that crocodiles are evolving rapidly to repeatedly fill the same set of niches.

And new studies are beginning to track just how quickly crocodiles are changing, especially modern species. Earlier this year Harvard University paleontologist Stephanie Pierce and colleagues reported that some modern crocodylian lineages are evolving rapidly. The study by Felice and coauthors adds to this picture. Crocodile species living through the landmasses of the southern Pacific—like the famous saltwater crocodile—are showing a high rate of evolutionary change over the past two million years. Over and over again, Felice and colleagues found, modern crocodiles are converging on a small set of skull shapes. Africa’s Nile crocodile and Morelet’s crocodile of Central America are not especially close relatives, for example, but they’ve evolved remarkably similar skull shapes. Likewise, today’s broad-snouted caiman of South America has a very similar skull to the extinct crocodile Voay whose remains are found in Madagascar. This is why they seem ancient. It’s not that they’ve gone unchanged, but that crocodiles are evolving into a limited number of forms over vast spans of time. Look at a saltwater crocodile and you’re seeing the revival of one of evolution’s greatest hits.


Recognizing the pattern is just a first step towards answering some deeper evolutionary questions. “With new and more sophisticated analytical techniques,” Pierce says, “we can start to better understand how and why they converged on similar morphologies.” The new study helps lay the groundwork for experts to investigate how particular diets influence the evolution of distinct skull shapes in both modern and fossil crocs. In addition, Pierce notes, a skull can come together during embryonic development in only so many ways. The number of anatomical forms crocodiles can take are influenced by what internal factors, such as growth, allow as well as outside influences like diet.

Digging in deeper to why crocodiles tend to repeat similar forms over time might help explain why today’s alligators, crocodiles and gharials seem so similar to each other. They are all semi-aquatic carnivores that hunt by ambush. There are no more terrestrial crocs, seagoing crocs, crocodiles with a varied toolkit of different-shaped teeth, or species like many of those that used to exist. Felice and colleagues estimate that of all the crocodile skull shapes that have existed, today’s species only represent about a third of that variety. But given the longstanding survival of these reptiles, could crocodiles someday undergo another evolutionary burst and evolve some of these lost forms again?

“It’s possible, but highly unlikely,” Felice says. There might be some characteristics inherent to modern crocodylians that prevent them from reclaiming some of their family’s past diversity. Living crocodylians generally have low, squat bodies with limbs that need to hold them up on land as well as push them through water. The need for an amphibious body makes them less efficient on land than mammalian carnivores and not quite as maneuverable as entirely-aquatic hunters, and so competition from other meat-eaters may keep them restricted. The global climate likely has a factor to play, as well. During warmer global climates, Drumheller-Horton says, crocodylian species spread and diversify. “But the crocodylians living today are the survivors of the last cycles of ice ages, so we’re looking at a fairly restricted sampling of the total diversity they once had,” she says. On top of that, many modern crocodylian species are facing habitat loss and other extinction threats created by humans. If the armored reptiles are to someday thrive again, they’ll need a major ecological shakeup to open a path to a new Age of Reptiles.


Riley Black | | READ MORE
Riley Black is a freelance science writer specializing in evolution, paleontology and natural history who blogs regularly for Scientific American.
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New finding could inform how zeolites are used in carbon capture and storage

by Amanda Morris, Northwestern University

New finding could inform how zeolites are used in carbon capture and storage
Ancient zeolites in Iceland. Credit: Claire Nelson

Zeolites could be considered as nature's workhorse.

Filled with microscopic holes and channels, these ultraporous minerals can soak up environmental contaminants, filter drinking water, manage nuclear waste and even absorb carbon dioxide (CO2).

Now, in the first study of its kind, Northwestern University researchers have analyzed ancient  specimens collected from the edges of East Iceland to discover that zeolites separate   in a wholly unexpected way.

"Calcium occurs as multiple isotopes having different masses," said Claire Nelson, the paper's first author. "Most minerals preferentially incorporate lighter calcium isotopes. What we found is that some zeolites prefer lighter isotopes to an extreme degree, while other zeolites prefer heavier isotopes, a rare and striking result."

This finding could help quantify temperatures in both modern and ancient geologic systems, as well as inform efforts to mitigate human-caused climate change by carbon capture sequestration.

The study was published on Friday (Oct. 1) in the journal Communications Earth and Environment, a new open access journal established by Nature Portfolio.

"We discovered something completely unexpected and new," said Andrew Jacobson, senior author of the study. "It could have wide ranging implications in the geosciences and across fields, especially considering that zeolites have countless applications in industry, medicine and environmental remediation."

Jacobson is a professor of Earth and planetary sciences at Northwestern's Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. Nelson recently earned her Ph.D. working in Jacobson's laboratory and is currently a postdoctoral research scientist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Zeolite expert Tobias Weisenberger, a geologist at the University of Iceland's Breiðdasvík Research Center, was a key co-author of the study.

Rappelling for rocks

Although they form in a wide variety of geologic environments, zeolites are particularly common in volcanic settings that produce basalt. As lava erupted from volcanoes piles up over time, the buried rocks compress and transform. Groundwater interacts with these rocks to form zeolites, which comprise aluminum, oxygen and silicon atoms linked together to make three-dimensional cage-like structures.

"The initial volcanic lava crystallized into primary minerals," Nelson said. "Then water rained down and infiltrated the rocks, dissolved them and produced secondary minerals like zeolites and calcite."

To collect samples for the study, Nelson visited the Berufjörður-Breiðdalur region in eastern Iceland, where glacial erosion has carved deep valleys and fjords into basalt rock to reveal buried zeolites. Nelson climbed to the top of the fjord's mountains and rappelled into the river canyon to collect samples from various altitudes, representing different depths of burial and thus temperatures of metamorphism.

A weighty surprise

To analyze these samples, Nelson used a state-of-the-art, highly precise method for measuring calcium isotopes developed in Jacobson's laboratory. Nelson and Jacobson were particularly interested in identifying mechanisms that fractionate (or separate) calcium isotopes according to their masses.

"For decades, geoscientists have employed zeolites to understand the hydrothermal alteration of basalt, but until now, calcium isotope researchers had neglected them," Jacobson said. "As it turns out, the minerals show extremely large calcium isotope fractionations, much larger than anyone predicted or even thought possible."

The Northwestern team found that the zeolites showed extreme calcium isotope variability, more so than practically all other materials produced at the Earth's surface.

After further analysis, Nelson discovered that this behavior directly correlates with bond lengths between calcium and oxygen atoms within the zeolites. Zeolites supporting longer bonds accumulate lighter calcium isotopes, whereas those with shorter bonds accumulate heavier calcium isotopes.

"Basically, heavier isotopes prefer stronger (or shorter) bonds," Nelson said. "It's more thermodynamically favorable for stronger bonds to concentrate heavier isotopes. Longer bonds energetically prefer lighter isotopes. Such observations are rare and inform what we know about the behavior of calcium isotopes in general."

Hot potential

The results have wide-ranging implications, as zeolites have multiple industrial and commercial applications. In addition, understanding the mechanisms that fractionate calcium isotopes can help inform both existing and new uses of the calcium isotope proxy. Because  can be temperature-dependent, Jacobson and Nelson say that zeolites could be developed into a completely new type of geothermometer, potentially capable of reconstructing ancient temperatures in environments where zeolites form.

"The bond length relationship indicates that the fractionations are controlled by thermodynamics rather than kinetics," Nelson said. "Thermodynamic, or equilibrium, controlled fractionation is temperature-dependent. So, with more research, the calcium isotope ratios of zeolites could be used to quantify temperatures from the past."

The new understanding also has significance for using calcium isotopes to trace basalt weathering, including its role in long-term climate regulation and application in carbon capture and storage.

Volcanic eruptions directly triggered ocean acidification during Early Cretaceous
More information: Claire J. Nelson et al, Large calcium isotope fractionations by zeolite minerals from Iceland, Communications Earth & Environment (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s43247-021-00274-9
Journal information: Communications Earth & Environment 

Provided by Northwestern University 
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No Strike Action From CUPE Until At Least Oct. 22

Saint John, NB, Canada / Country 94
Brad Perry
Oct 7, 2021 | 12:19 PM
No Strike Action From CUPE Until At Least Oct. 22

Stephen Drost, the president of CUPE New Brunswick, speaks during a virtual news conference on Sept. 29, 2021. (Image: Zoom video capture)

Do not expect any strike action from CUPE New Brunswick until at least later this month.

All 10 CUPE locals that are without contracts will be in a legal strike position as of early next week.

But president Stephen Drost said the locals have agreed not to withdraw services until at least Oct. 22.

“Our groups were very clear: let’s give this a couple of weeks, see where this pandemic is headed,” Drost said in an interview Thursday.

A 14-day “circuit breaker” will begin Friday evening in areas of New Brunswick with a high number of COVID-19 transmissions.

That includes Zone 1 (Moncton region) as far north as and including Sainte-Anne-de-Kent; the northern portion of Zone 3 from and including Deerville and Florenceville-Bristol; and all of Zone 4 (Edmundston region).

“We know that systems are in critical condition right now because of being grossly understaffed and underfunded for way too many years,” said Drost.

“We work in these systems every day and we want to make sure that we do our due diligence, that the public is protected but also protect our workers.”

Members of the 10 locals, which represent more than 22,000 public-sector workers, have held a series of strike votes in recent weeks. The results for the final local were released Wednesday.

Eight of the locals are already in a legal strike position and have some have begun implementing “contractual obligations” meaning they will only do what is required of them in their collective agreements.

In terms of job action, Drost and CUPE would not show their hand, saying they will withhold “very specific details of their plans of action” which includes the dates of when job action may begin.

Drost said the union is prepared to go back to the bargaining table at any time, as long as the government removes concessions it wanted CUPE to agree to.

“We want to get back to the table and resolve this and I’ve been very clear: if the premier really wanted to resolve this labour issue, he could in a matter of minutes,” he said.

The province’s most recent offer included a nine per cent wage increase over six years, while the union is seeking 20 per cent over four years.

With files from Robert Lothian.

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BC
Union files complaint alleging Uber engaging in unfair labour practices

A large B.C. union is taking Uber to the B.C. Labor Relations Board over allegations it fired a number of drivers for refusing unsafe work.

Author of the article: Keith Fraser
Publishing date:Oct 07, 2021 •
A large B.C. union is taking the cases of three Uber drivers to the B.C. Labor Relations Board alleging that the giant tech corporation is engaging in unfair labour practices.
 PHOTO BY REUTERS/MIKE BLAKE/FILE PHOTO
Article content

A large B.C. union is taking the cases of three Uber drivers to the B.C. Labour Relations Board alleging that the giant corporation is engaging in unfair labour practices.

The United Food and Commercial Workers Union local 1518 said Thursday that the Lower Mainland drivers in question were fired after refusing unsafe work. One of the drivers was allegedly terminated in November 2020 and the other two in February and July of this year.

The union, which represents more than 26,000 members in various sectors including community health, hospitality and retail, says in a news release that in one case a customer threatened to lodge a complaint against a driver and became violent after the driver asked her to wear a mask.

In that instance, the driver phoned police, who had to remove the customer from the driver’s car, according to the union.

Another driver was fired after refusing to take four passengers in his vehicle in violation of Uber’s COVID-19 safety regulations, says the union.

After complaints were made against them, the drivers discovered that the Uber app had been deactivated from their phones, meaning they were no longer able to get passengers, it says.

Eva Prkachin, press secretary for the union, said that the union has been fighting for a long time to get Uber drivers the right to organize and join a union in order to enhance their working conditions.

“So we’ve been partnering with them over the last couple of years on a variety of initiatives, this one being a pretty obvious example.”

Bhupinder Singh, one of the drivers who was fired, says in the news release that he bought a new car, borrowed money from a friend and planned to start studying for his future, but his livelihood was stolen from him.

“It affected my mental health. I was a top star rating driver and completed more than 2,000 trips and with two false and angry customer accusations, Uber deactivated my account without proper investigation.”

The union says that if the board rules in their favour, the drivers could be reinstated and compensated for the unfair firings.

Uber said in a statement that they had just received a copy of the complaint and were reviewing it.

“We want every experience on the Uber platform to feel safe, respectful and positive and we’ve developed our policies with this in mind,” an Uber spokesperson said in the statement.

The company said that by way of background, that “losing access to a driver or delivery account” didn’t happen very often.

“Often when it does, we know it can be very stressful and frustrating. That’s why our case review process is human-led.”

The company said the most common reasons why a driver or delivery person might lose access to their account are an expired document or an issue with their background check.

“Others are usually due to safety issues, fraud, discrimination by the driver or the delivery person, or persistently low ratings from riders or Uber Eats users.”

 

B.C.-based Uber drivers claim they were fired for refusing unsafe work

In one case a driver says a woman became violent when he asked her to wear a mask.
 By: Elana Shepert
uber
One of B.C.'s oldest and largest unions is supporting Uber Drivers who claim they were fired fo
r refusing unsafe work in 2021 in Vancouver, BC. File photo.

One of B.C.'s oldest and largest unions is supporting Uber drivers who claim they were fired for refusing unsafe work. 

UFCW 1518, the United Food and Commercial Workers' International Union, is taking the cases of several Uber drivers to the BC Labour Relations Board. They've filed an unfair labour practice complaint against giant tech corporation Uber, according to a news release. 

For the drivers who were fired the ride-hailing service was the primary source of income. They had also been working for the company for several months without any other incidents before being fired. In fact, one of the drivers had "1,000 five-star reviews on his account."

In one of the cases, an Uber driver said a customer threatened to lodge a complaint and became violent when the driver asked her to wear a mask. The driver phoned the police who had to remove the customer from the vehicle.

In another incident, a driver refused "to take four passengers in his vehicle as this violated Uber’s explicit COVID-19 safety regulations. The driver believes that the customer who ordered the trip retaliated against him by leaving a bad review and rating."

In addition to COVID-19 safety regulations, drivers reported having to deal with intoxicated customers who were "rude, demanding and insulting." When they asked the customers to tone down their behaviour, the riders said they would "lodge a formal complaint against the drivers."

Following these complaints, the drivers discovered that the Uber app was deactivated from their phones. The apps were deleted from drivers who otherwise had "strong driving records and high customer ratings and reviews."

When they attempted to reach Uber support, the drivers claim that the team did not follow up on requests. 

“I bought a new car, borrowed money from my friend and planned to start studying for my future, but my livelihood was stolen from me,” explained driver Bhupinder Singh. “It affected my mental health. I was a top star rating driver and completed more than 2,000 trips and with two false and angry customer accusations, Uber deactivated my account without proper investigation.”

If the Labour Relations Board rules in favour of the UFCW 1518 complaint, the drivers could be reinstated and compensated for the unfair firings.
The union is also seeking changes to the Employment Standards Act to enable app-based contract workers like Uber drivers to join a union.

A spokesperson from Uber Canada told Vancouver Is Awesome that the company has just received the complaint and is reviewing it. “We want every experience on the Uber platform to feel safe, respectful, and positive and we’ve developed our policies with this in mind.”

Uber Canada adds that people don't lose access to driver or delivery accounts often. "When it does, we know it can be very stressful and frustrating. That’s why our case review process is human-led. While data and technology are useful tools for improving the safety of the Uber platform, people will always play a role in helping to ensure that drivers and delivery people are treated fairly.

"The most common reasons why a driver or delivery person might lose access to their account are an expired document or an issue with their background check. Others are usually due to safety issues, fraud, discrimination by the driver or delivery person, or persistently low ratings from riders or Uber Eats users."

UFCW Local 1518 represents more than 26,000 union members working in the community health, hospitality, retail, grocery, industrial, and professional sectors across British Columbia.

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Union for University of Manitoba professors, librarians, instructors to hold strike vote

University of Manitoba Faculty Association suggests latest

 wage offer from university mandated by province

CBC News · 
The union that represents U of M professors, instructors and librarians says its membership has approved a strike vote, which will take place between Oct. 16-18. (Bryce Hoye/CBC)

Dozens of University of Manitoba staff will soon decide whether or not to hit the picket lines.

Instructors, professors and librarians at the U of M have asked the University of Manitoba Faculty Association to conduct a strike vote after collective bargaining negotiations hit an impasse, the union said Wednesday night.

"Students rely on us every day in classrooms, libraries and labs. We want the University of Manitoba to continue being a great university. That means attracting great instructors, professors and librarians, and keeping the talent we have," UMFA president Orvie Dingwall said in a statement.

"It's hard to attract new staff and keep existing staff when they can work elsewhere for fewer hours and more money."

According to the union, U of M president Michael Benarroch confirmed Wednesday that wage increases on offer have been mandated by the provincial government. 

Dingwall said the current deal mirrors wage freeze restrictions the Progressive Conservative government attempted to impose on the public sector in 2017 through the Public Services Sustainability Act.

That legislation was ultimately defeated in the courts, with the ruling judge describing the proposed freeze as a "Draconian measure" that limited unions' bargaining power and violated certain rights.

"This provincial government needs to stop interfering in negotiations" Dingwall said in a statement. "And we need the university to come to the bargaining table with a reasonable salary offer so we can negotiate a fair deal."

The union strike vote is scheduled to take place between Oct. 16-18. Results are expected the morning of Oct. 19, the union said.

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Drone footage shows new land created by lava flow on Spanish island La Palma

Alexandra Mae Jones
CTVNews.ca writer
Thursday, October 7, 2021 


Lava from La Palma volcano creates new land

TORONTO -- Drone footage of the coast of the Spanish island La Palma shows just how far the lava flow from last month’s volcano eruption has extended, forming a new headland that juts out into the ocean.

In a video released this week, the lava’s progress is visible as two huge black trails, one curving off the side of the coast into the water in a large, black blob, and the other oozing down onto some farmland.

La Palma, which is part of the volcanic Canary Islands, suffered a volcanic eruption in mid-September, forcing the evacuation of more than 6,000 residents.

Since then, the slow path of the lava has carved through more than 900 houses and eradicated everything in its path.

The new land mass created by the lava off the coast is still visibly hot, with steam rising from its surface, but officials say the lava is slowing down.

The La Palma council tweeted on Oct. 6 that the volcano is stabilizing, and there’s been less seismic activity recently. They added that nearly 422 hectares have been affected by the lava runoff, which is 1.2 kilometres wide at its widest part.

More than 90 hectares of the affected land have crops, with banana plantations making up the largest percentage of affected farmland.
  

La Palma volcano update: Magnificent aerial image of new branch and delta

Fri, 8 Oct 2021, 03:05
03:05 AM | BY: MARTIN

Aerial photo shows the tongue (right) of the main lava (left) extending south-southwest direction (image: @RTVCes/twitter)
As we reported in the latest news, the main lava flow has formed the new branch located south of Todoque affecting banana crops, water tanks and some buildings.


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BATTLE FOR THE WOODS
B.C. court reinstates Fairy Creek injunction while forestry company appeal is pending
Police have begun arresting anti-old-growth logging protesters who refuse to leave a restricted access area set up by RCMP near Port Renfrew, Vancouver Island: May 18, 2021 (CTV News)

CTV News Vancouver Island
Published Oct. 8, 2021 

VANCOUVER -

British Columbia's highest court has reinstated the injunction against protesters camped out in Vancouver Island's Fairy Creek watershed, at least for a little while.

The B.C. Court of Appeal granted a temporary injunction on Friday evening, pending the outcome of an appeal brought forward by the company that holds a provincial licence for logging in the area.

Late last month, the B.C. Supreme Court declined to extend the injunction prohibiting protesters from interfering with the activities of Teal Cedar Products, Ltd. in the Fairy Creek area.

The injunction initially granted back in April, and police began enforcing it in May. Between the start of enforcement and the end of September, RCMP officers made more than 1,100 arrests in the watershed.

In deciding not to extend the injunction, Supreme Court Justice Douglas Thompson referenced the escalation of both illegal activity on the part of protesters and of violence on the part of RCMP officers attempting to enforce the injunction.

Thompson concluded that the actions of the RCMP at the injunction site have put the court’s reputation at risk.

The justice said that while allowing the injunction to expire could cause significant harm to both Teal Cedar and to the rule of law, “methods of enforcement of the court’s order have led to serious and substantial infringement of civil liberties, including impairment of the freedom of the press to a marked degree.”

The logging company has appealed Thompson's decision to the B.C. Court of Appeal, which is scheduled to hear the application on Nov. 15.
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158 Albertans with COVID-19 reported their illness to province's multimillion-dollar app

Reported infections led to 1,500 other users learning they

 may have been exposed


Janet French · CBC News · 
The Alberta government is contracted to pay for technical support and updates for the ABTraceTogether app, even though the government is no longer performing widespread contact tracing. (Janet French/CBC News)

The Alberta government will spend $4.3 million by year's end on a contact tracing phone application that has notified about 1,500 people of potential exposure to COVID-19.

Months after Alberta scaled back contact tracing efforts, the government still has contracts with Deloitte and IBM to maintain and upgrade the beleaguered ABTraceTogether app, which launched in May 2020.

Although 317,000 people have downloaded the app onto their phones, only 158 had entered a positive COVID-19 test result into the app between its May 2020 launch and last week, according to Alberta Health.

"That's an infinitesimal fraction of the number of people who have been exposed to COVID in the province," said Dr. James Talbot, a professor of public health at the University of Alberta and Alberta's former chief medical officer of health.

Nearly 306,000 people tested positive for COVID-19 in Alberta since the pandemic began.

The app's lost potential is a disappointment to Talbot, who said it should be a powerful tool during an outbreak of communicable disease.

"It could be that it wasn't advertised widely enough," he said. "It could be that the case wasn't made to Albertans for why it was so important for Albertans to do this. It could be that Albertans have a natural tendency to not want to be tracked."

WATCH | Alberta premier defends ABTraceTogether app

When asked about the effectiveness versus cost of the province's contact tracing app, Jason Kenney said, 'you don't make any progress unless you are willing to take some risks, as we did in that instance. ' 1:39

CBC News obtained the usage data after filing a freedom of information request to the health ministry. A request in August for the information was refused by the office of then-health minister Tyler Shandro.

There is no data on how many contacts notified by the app ultimately tested positive for COVID-19.

Integrated contact tracing

The app uses Bluetooth technology to detect when another app user's phone is within 10 metres. If a person tests positive for COVID-19, they would input that information into the app to alert other users who have been near them during the last 21 days.

The ABTraceTogether website says contact tracers will ask people who test positive to upload that data so they can track their close contacts.

But since July 29, Alberta Health Services (AHS) contact tracers have only followed up on COVID-19 cases linked to high-risk settings like a hospital or long-term care home.

AHS spokesperson Kerry Williamson said that since late July, tracers haven't been asking patients, other than those linked to high-risk settings, to upload app data.

Federal app got more action

Talbot said that integration of manual contact tracing with automated tracking is what distinguished ABTraceTogether from the federal government's COVID Alert app.

Last year, the Alberta government was adamant about using its own app — and not COVID Alert — because it provided data to contact tracers.

Abandoning widespread contact tracing made the app less useful, Talbot said.

As of Sept. 28, nearly 6.7 million people had downloaded COVID Alert. 

A Health Canada spokesperson said 34,000 people in eight provinces and one territory had voluntarily reported positive COVID-19 test results since the federal app launched in July 2020.

That's about one in 200 users. Comparatively, Alberta's app saw one report of a positive case from every 2,000 users.

The federal COVID Alert app was launched by the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in July 2020.
 (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

The federal app began tracking notifications in February 2021. By early August, more than 75,000 people received a notification they were a close contact of someone who tested positive. 

COVID Alert cost the federal government $3.5 million in 2020-21, but they have not yet provided a cost for this fiscal year.

Mathieu Fenniak, a Calgary software developer, was among the first to raise concerns last year that the ABTraceTogether app didn't work properly on iPhones.

Although developers have since released updated versions, Fenniak said the underlying technology will never reliably allow iPhones to exchange data.

INSTEAD OF USING THE FEDERAL APP IN ALBERTA UCP CONTRACTED OUT THEIR APP

According to information provided by Alberta Health, the government is under contract with Deloitte until Dec. 31, 2021, to provide strategy, technical improvements and support for the app.

The government is set to pay Deloitte a total of $1.7 million for its work on the app. IBM also has a $2.6-million contract to provide maintenance and support.

"Four million dollars for 158 usages of the app seems quite expensive and a very inefficient use of tax dollars," Fenniak said.

Health Minister Jason Copping's office did not respond to a request for an interview.

Talbot, who still believes the technology behind ABTraceTogether could help speed up investigations of outbreaks, hopes the software can be repurposed to help investigate cases of food-borne illness or influenza.

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