YOUNG, DUMB, BULL
Officials free elk from a tire that was wrapped around its neck for two years

Cheryl Santa Maria
Wed., October 13, 2021, 

Trail camera picture from July 12, 2020 near Conifer, Colorado. (Dan Jaynes/CPW)

Colorado wildlife officials have finally freed an elk that has had a tire wrapped around its neck for at least two years, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) said in a press release.

The 4-year-old, 270-kilogram bull elk was spotted near Denver Saturday and tranquilized. Part of the antlers were cut off in the removal process. When adding up the weight of the tire, the antlers, and the approximately 4 kg of pine needles and other debris inside the tire, it's estimated the elk lost about 16 kilograms of weight.

Officials first spotted the elk in July 2019 while conducting a population survey of bighorn sheep and mountain goats in the area.

“I am just grateful to be able to work in a community that values our state’s wildlife resource,” Dawson Swanson, one of the wildlife officers who helped remove the tire, said in a statement.

“I was able to quickly respond to a report from a local resident regarding a recent sighting of this bull elk in their neighborhood. I was able to locate the bull in question along with a herd of about 40 other elk.”

Scott Murdoch, Swanson's partner, said the removal was "tight," even after cutting the antlers off.

“It was not easy for sure, we had to move it just right to get it off because we weren’t able to cut the steel in the bead of the tire. Fortunately, the bull’s neck still had a little room to move," Murdoch said.

CPW - rescue
Wildlife officers Scott Murdoch (left) and Dawson Swanson (right) hold up the tire that was on this bull elk for over two years (Pat Hemstreet/CPW)

“We would have preferred to cut the tire and leave the antlers for his rutting activity, but the situation was dynamic, and we had to just get the tire off in any way possible.”

The elk didn't appear to be suffering any physical distress from the presence of the tire, Murdoch said.

“The hair [on its neck] was rubbed off a little bit, there was one small open wound maybe the size of a nickel or quarter, but other than that, [the neck] looked really good. I was actually quite shocked to see how good it looked.”

Officials have made several unsuccessful attempts to perform a rescue. But fall is breeding season, which likely helped, as elk tend to be more visible this time of year.

BEING MINDFUL OF WILDLIFE

"The saga of this bull elk highlights the need for residents to live responsibly with wildlife in mind," CPW says.

"That includes keeping your property free of obstacles that wildlife can get tangled in or injured by. Wildlife officers have seen deer, elk, moose, bears and other wildlife become entangled in a number of man-made obstacles that include swing sets, hammocks, clothing lines, decorative or holiday lighting, furniture, tomato cages, chicken feeders, laundry baskets, soccer goals or volleyball nets, and yes, tires."

CBC On the Island host's book on earthquakes nominated for Balsillie Prize for Public Policy



Wed., October 13, 2021, 

Gregor Craigie, host of CBC's On the Island, has been nominated for the inaugural Balsillie Prize for Public Policy, which recognizes books of nonfiction that advance and influence policy debates on social, political, economic and cultural topics relevant to Canadians. ( - image credit)More

Four finalists for the inaugural Writers' Trust Balsillie Prize for Public Policy were announced Wednesday — and among them is CBC's On the Island host Gregor Craigie, for his book On Borrowed Time: North American's Next Big Quake.

The award recognizes non-fiction books that advance public policy discussions about social, political, economic and cultural topics that are relevant to Canadians and engaging to policymakers. The finalists were selected from 69 titles, submitted by 34 publishers.

Craigie says his book dives into how British Columbia can better prepare for the next big earthquake — whose occurence, geologists say, isn't a matter of if, but when.

"I couldn't help it. I became obsessed with it as a journalist and really in my own personal life as a young parent, starting to worry about all these buildings around me that I would go to in Victoria," he said.

atlanticbooks.com

Craigie spoke to emergency officials, seismologists, geologists and earthquake survivors from around the world.

"Often the building owners or residents or employees don't know that the buildings are at risk, and there are literally thousands of buildings across Vancouver and Metro Vancouver that are at risk and there's no immediate plan to fix them," he said.

Craigie's book also features stories from survivors, including a lecturer in New Zealand who was pinned beneath a rubble after the bus she was on was crushed by a collapsing building during an earthquake.

"Every single person in that bus, except for her, were killed ... and she said, very powerfully, to think that a simple mandate by a municipal government could have saved the lives of all the people in the bus."

He also looks at what makes it impossible for scientists to predict when the next earthquake will happen in B.C.

"Scientists can't predict it," Craigie said. "In fact, every scientist I talked to said we just need to focus on mitigating and getting ready, not trying to predict earthquakes."

The Balsillie Prize winner will be announced on Wednesday, Nov. 24 and will be awarded $60,000.

BC

Lytton residents push for more involvement, government transparency in rebuilding their town

Thu., October 14, 2021

At least 200 people fled their homes on a moment's notice after fast-moving wildfire tore through the community of Lytton in B.C.'s Fraser Valley. Conditions in the area were dangerously dry and windy after the summer's record-breaking heatwave. (Edith Loring-Kuhanga/Facebook - image credit)More

A group of Lytton residents who were forced to flee their homes after a fire tore through their town during the summer told their town council Wednesday night that they want to be involved in rebuilding their community.

The council meeting took place on the eve of the Transportation Safety Board's release of a report looking into the possible cause of the fire on June 30.

Jennifer Thoss, who told council she represents 59 Lytton property owners, said she and others would like to see more transparency in the local government's efforts to re-establish the interior community. Thoss, a resident of Delta, B.C., also owns properties that were damaged in the fire.

"I think we're scared that the individuality, the community, the heart of Lytton will be lost. There is all these people working in the village of Lytton that we don't know," she said.

Thoss asked for council meetings to be recorded and posted online, and called for council to consider residents for positions and contracts pertaining to Lytton's reconstruction.

The Transportation Safety Board will be holding a virtual news conference on Thursday after making public a report on the "possible relation between train activities and the fire that destroyed the town of Lytton, B.C."

'A lot of questions and very little answers'

Concerns were also raised during the meeting about how much progress has been made as Wednesday marked 105 days since the fire destroyed Lytton's buildings and infrastructure.

Bethany Lindsay/CBC News

Edith Loring-Kuhanga, school administrator at Stein Valley Nlakapamux School in Lytton, told council that some of the residents whose homes burned down are elders, and that she wants to see recovery efforts move faster.

"I worry about our elders, our seniors who continue to be displaced and homeless," said Loring-Kuhanga.

She said residents want more communication about what is being done to help them.

"There appears to be a little action on the ground as the residents, we have a lot of questions and very little answers. First, I want to raise the issue of interim housing. Winter is quickly approaching. Where is that on the council and recovery managers agenda?" she asked.

Mike Simpson, senior regional manager at Fraser Basin Council, provided an overview of the work being done in the aftermath of the fire and the services the community will need as it recovers.

He said efforts are underway as winter approaches to have temporary housing in place, as well as basic services such as a grocery store, medical facilities, an RCMP detachment and garbage collection services.

Simpson said he recognizes that people are frustrated about not receiving information about what kind of progress is being made.

"We do have some things planned in the works around community and town halls that we're working with mayor and council on staff to to be able to host and support them," said Simpson.

He said town hall-style meetings for residents are being planned for as early as the end of October.

CANADA
Staff, students in this school board are learning about Islamophobia, but true test comes in real world

ISLAMOPHOBIA IS ALSO ANTI-SEMITISM 

IN MANY CASES, THE SAME TROPES ARE APPLIED 

BY WHITE RACISTS; 

SINCE ARABS ARE ALSO SEMITES 

ISLAMOPHOBIA IS ALSO ARAB/MIDDLE EASTERN FOCUSED.

Thu., October 14, 2021

Alisha Aslam, a 16-year-old high school student in northeastern Toronto, created a website and school resources to combat Islamophobia. (Craig Chivers/CBC - image credit)

Over the years, Nokha Dakroub has come face-to-face with racism and anti-Islamic hate during her work as a school trustee.

Among the most vivid incidents were a series of meetings at her Mississauga, Ont., school board in 2017, when protesters spewed Islamophobic comments and tore pages from a Qur'an in objection to a long-held policy granting Muslim students space at school for prayers.

This month, however, Dakroub is proud of a major, pioneering step the Peel District School Board (PDSB) is taking against those very sentiments: the board passed her motion to adopt an anti-Islamophobia strategy, which will include mandatory training for all PDSB staff.

"We need to continue doing work, through public education, to combat the elements of hate that exist in our society," she said.

Muslim students, teachers and educational leaders are among those working to make our classrooms more inclusive, but many say that the struggle to dispel Islamophobia is only just beginning and must expand to encompass everyone.

Amid an increase in hate crimes against Muslims across the country, including the targeted attack that killed four members of the Afzaal family in London, Ont., in June, Dakroub has noticed a positive shift toward fighting Islamophobia.

She believes Canada is slowly moving in the right direction and links this changing mentality to more Canadians acknowledging serious issues facing our nation, such as systemic racism against Black and Indigenous people.

"This is not going to be an overnight fix. We're not going to roll out a strategy in a few months and then all of a sudden declare that Islamophobia is over and we no longer have an issue. It's going to take time. It's going to take multiple opportunities of learning and unlearning," said Dakroub.

"Is it going to work? I think it will, because I strongly believe that education is the key to — and specifically public education is the key to — raising awareness and changing the world."

Not simply 'an issue for Muslims,' says student

The fact that the Peel board's decision is aimed at making a measurable difference at the classroom level "just hits personally," for Alisha Aslam, a 16-year-old student who lives in neighbouring Toronto.

"Nothing will happen until we try to change the places where we spent our lives the most — and for a lot of people, like me, that's the classroom." she said.

A member of the Ontario Provincial Youth Cabinet and passionate advocate who campaigns against discrimination both in school and in her northeast Toronto community, Aslam created a website and school resources to combat Islamophobia, including encouraging fellow students to speak up against it.

"I wanted to see change happening — not in the next few years, but I want to see it right now," she said.

The teen added however that Islamophobia "isn't just an issue for Muslims" to grapple with.

"This is really an issue for humanity and for all of us Canadians to solve."

Ongoing anti-racism training needed for all staff

Adopting an anti-Islamophobia strategy is a phenomenal idea for several reasons, according to Regina high school English teacher Aysha Yaqoob.

Naming Islamophobia is important in terms of specifically addressing anti-Islamic hate, she explained, and a dedicated strategy will help create safe spaces for Muslim students and staff.

"It's an idea that every school division across Canada needs to adopt," she said.

WATCH | How this Regina teacher builds a safe space for students to discuss race, biases and inequity:

Still, Yaqoob wants to see precise details of the strategy to come, especially around what mandatory training will look like.

"Some of the [anti-racism] training that is done … isn't really authentic or meaningful. It's very short and isn't ongoing. And so I'd hope that this training is something that's ongoing, that builds upon itself and that year-to-year, it's a mandatory training for all staff, not just teaching staff," she said.

It's also important to have Muslim educators leading the comprehensive training, she said, which must go beyond the surface of cultural celebrations, for instance.

"I would really hope and encourage that whoever is leading this initiative is someone who is Muslim, who can speak to incidents of anti-Islamic hate, Islamophobia and also do it in an authentic and meaningful way," said Yaqoob.

"Ongoing and anti-racist kind of training [and] anti-oppressive training within there, rather than just cultural diversity celebrations, which we're kind of used to here in Canada."

For many Canadians, the horrific murder of the Afzaal family brought to light a fact all too familiar for the Muslim community: Hate attacks are very common.

Since then, however, Yaqoob said she thinks there's been little action on the part of political leaders to fight Islamophobia.

"Non-Muslim folks were actually listening and understanding that this is a huge issue here in Canada.… That racism and systemic racism is deeply embedded within the very fabric of our nation here," she said.

Mere months later, though, "I'm not sure that I see much progress," she said.

"I don't know how much longer Muslim folks can wait if the consequences of anti-Islamic hate is our lives."

National Council of Canadian Muslims

This summer, the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) released a set of 61 policy recommendations for all levels of government to take action against Islamophobia, including measures for Canada's education system.

The non-profit advocacy group developed the recommendations after holding consultation sessions with mosques, community groups and organizations representing Canadian Muslims across the country.

It's a key first step for all school districts and divisions to recognize Islamophobia as an issue that must be addressed and to follow through, like the Peel board, with adopting a strategy to combat it, according to Fatema Abdalla, the council's communications co-ordinator.

She recognized recent movement from two provincial education ministries on the issue, including Ontario earmarking some funding for school resources to raise awareness about Islamophobia and British Columbia's recent proclamation of October as Islamic Heritage Month, which also noted its commitment to creating "a K-12 anti-racism action plan with an anti-Islamophobia strategy."

The B.C. proclamation added that "teaching British Columbia's colonial history to children and highlighting local Muslim stories helps provide tools to tackle anti-Muslim sentiments and Islamophobia."

The NCCM is calling on all provincial and territorial ministries of education to make as "robust" a commitment as B.C., said Abdalla, who also emphasized the importance of taking a preventative rather than reactive approach.

"Some of the stories that we hear of what students and staff have experienced is really heartbreaking," she said. "We can't really be serious about tackling Islamophobia if we don't start with our education systems."

Anti-mask activists ordered by Calgary judge to preach science, too

Wed., October 13, 2021

Artur and Dawid Pawlowski, pictured during their arrest in Calgary on May 8, had been flouting public health restrictions for months, holding large church gatherings indoors, without masks, despite the pandemic. (Artur Pawlowski TV/YouTube - image credit)More

A Calgary-based street pastor, his brother and an anti-mask cafe owner have been fined, put on probation and ordered by a judge that they must also preach science if they continue to rail against COVID-19 public health rules.

Pastor Artur Pawlowski of Street Church Ministries, his brother Dawid Pawlowski, and Whistle Stop Cafe owner Christopher Scott were sentenced Wednesday, following their contempt of court convictions for having incited others to break public health orders.

"They are on the wrong side of science," said Court of Queen's Bench Justice Adam Germain.

"They are also on the wrong side of common sense."

As part of their probation conditions, Germain ruled that if the three pandemic-denying, anti-mask leaders continued to preach to their followers, they must also present the perspective of medical experts.

Germain noted the sentences come as the threat of COVID-19 has "never been greater" in Alberta.

Scott and the Pawlowskis "have contributed to this ominous health situation," said Germain, and "encouraged others to doubt the legitimacy of the pandemic."

Judges' orders attempt to control

For months, the men — along with fringe Calgary mayoral candidate Kevin J. Johnston — incited followers to break the public health restrictions and gather in large groups unmasked.

Two judges issued orders aimed at controlling repeat offenders like Johnston, the Pawlowskis and Scott in May.

That month, health inspectors padlocked the Whistle Stop Cafe in Mirror, Alta., which Scott had been operating for months in open defiance of Alberta Health Service (AHS) orders.

One day after he was served with a judge's order to obey restrictions on public gatherings, Scott held a large anti-restriction rally, attracting hundreds.

Throughout the pandemic, the Pawlowskis repeatedly hosted and promoted large, maskless gatherings for church services in Calgary and also denied health officials entry to their church in Dover, a neighbourhood in southeast Calgary.

Jason Franson/The Canadian Press

Attempts by AHS inspectors to enter the church were met with abusive language.

The Pawlowski brothers turned their arrests into a "spectacle," said Germain, adding it was clear during sentencing submissions that Artur issued a "taunt" to the court hoping for more jail time.

"It is not an unreasonable observation that the Pawlowskis revelled in their arrests and went out of their way to make their arrests the Saturday night news spectacle that it became," said Germain.

"He has a fervent desire that I martyr him," he said of Artur.

Judge suggests speech script

Instead, Germain said he had a more effective way for the men to repair the harm they've caused.

Artur must pay a $23,000 fine and serve 18 months probation while Dawid must pay $10,000 and serve 12 months on condition.

Christopher Scott, who fundraised $120,000, enabling him to purchase the Whistle Stop Cafe, was handed a $20,000 fine and an 18-month probation period.

During those probationary periods, the men must obey all AHS orders and provide 120 hours of community service work at a homeless shelter, food bank or charity. The Pawlowskis' street church ministries are not included as an acceptable organization.

If the three men continue to preach to their followers, they must also place the other side of the argument on the record, the judge said.

Germain suggested wording like: "I am aware that the views I am expressing to you may not be held by medical experts … the majority of medical experts favour social distancing … vaccine programs."

Two weeks ago, Artur was arrested on outstanding warrants as he arrived back in Calgary on a private charter flight following a month-long, anti-vaccine speaking tour in the United States, where he met with Eric Trump and extreme right-wing online social media activists.

He faces further charges of disobeying a court order and failing to wear a mask, allegations that date back to March and June of this year.

Countries decry 'vaccine nationalism' as poorer nations struggle for access to shots

Marquise Francis
·National Reporter & Producer
Wed., October 13, 2021

Seventy-five countries around the world called for an end to what they describe as “vaccine nationalism” in a joint letter to the United Nations this month.

The letter, spearheaded by China, demands that COVID-19 vaccines be treated as a global public good for health, arguing that richer countries should not be allowed to stockpile their resources while poorer countries go without.

“The pandemic knows no borders,” the letter says in part. “The only solution lies in global solidarity, unity and multilateral cooperation. ... At this critical time, it is crucial to step up our joint efforts to leave no one behind.”

The concept of vaccine nationalism refers to the signed agreements a number of countries made with the vaccine manufacturers before the shots became available to the general public, allowing them to buy up large amounts, which in turn makes the initial supply of vaccines unaffordable and inaccessible to poorer countries.

Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, speaking at the U.N. General Assembly on Oct. 1. (Wang Ying/Xinhua via Getty Images)

More than 18 months into the pandemic, while some wealthy nations appear headed toward pre-pandemic normals, many cash-strapped countries remain ravaged for resources.

Mexico, Egypt and North Korea were among the countries that signed the joint letter. Noticeably absent were the U.S., the U.K. and Canada.

The letter outlines deep concerns regarding a lack of vaccine equity for poorer countries, which, it argues, only exacerbates already prevalent issues of poverty and hunger, trade and more.

Sixty-five percent of the population of high-income countries had received at least one vaccine shot as of Sept. 9, while just 2 percent of the population of low-income countries had received at least one dose, according to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

This summer the European Union secured 900 million doses of Pfizer’s vaccine and reserved an option to double this amount by 2023. Even without exercising that option, the EU could give all its citizens at least six shots each. The U.S. has secured more than a billion shots, enough to inoculate every American at least five times. Meanwhile, residents of many smaller and poorer nations have yet to receive a single dose.

Vaccination rates in countries like Haiti and the Democratic Republic of the Congo remain less than 1 percent, according to Reuters tracking data.

A medical worker administers a dose of COVID-19 vaccine for a man in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, on Oct. 8. (Zanem/Xinhua via Getty Images)

The disparity in vaccination rates also comes with a hefty price tag. A National Bureau of Economic Research study determined that uneven distribution of the vaccine could cost upwards of $3.8 trillion globally, while vaccinating the world’s most vulnerable fifth of the population would cost less than $40 billion.

Aaditya Mattoo, World Bank chief economist for the East Asia and Pacific region, expressed disappointment in the current rollout.

"I am a trade economist and all my life, I believed that production should happen where it is most efficient and then be distributed to where there is greatest need," Mattoo told the Manila Times last week. "But this crisis has disappointed me because instead of countries pursuing a globally optimal cooperative strategy, there has been what we call vaccine nationalism.”

Poor and middle-class countries have accrued enough vaccines through 2023 to vaccinate at most half their populations, while the majority of rich countries have secured more than 350 percent of the doses needed for their populations, according to UNICEF data.

Worldwide access has faltered, but attempts have been made to fill the gap. Smaller countries that depend on the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access, or COVAX — an international initiative seeking to ensure equitable access to vaccines — have made little progress.

COVAX was formed in April 2020 as a way for high-income countries and corporations to pay for vaccine access to the 92 poorest countries. The program initially appeared to run smoothly as vaccine distributions began in late February, with almost every country in the world signing up. But as the months went on, supply chains slowed and COVAX could not financially compete with richer countries that were buying up market share.

An analysis by Global Justice Now revealed that more than 82 percent of COVID-19 vaccines have been purchased by the wealthiest countries, accounting for just 14 percent of the world population. The long-term effects of this could be dire.

A man receives a COVID-19 vaccination in the village of Summercourt, England, on Sept. 25. (Hugh Hastings/Getty Images)

Infectious disease expert Dr. Adeeba Kamarulzaman of Malaysia says the longer people remain unvaccinated, the more potential there is for the virus to mutate into an even more dangerous strain.

“I hope the world doesn’t live to regret the nationalism that we are practicing,” Kamarulzaman said during a webinar last week.

A Princeton University and McGill University study published in August in the journal Science also revealed that vaccine nationalism likely has a direct correlation to the transmission of the virus.

“Unequal vaccine allocation will result in sustained transmission and increased case numbers in regions with low vaccine availability and thus to a higher associated clinical burden compared with a vaccinated population,” the study found in part. “Coordinated vaccination campaigns across the world, combined with improved surveillance and appropriate nonpharmaceutical interventions to prevent case importation, are imperative.”

Leaders from several developing countries in attendance at the United Nations General Assembly last month criticized wealthy countries for enabling COVID variants to emerge because of their selfishness.

“Rich countries hoard lifesaving vaccines, while poor nations wait for trickles,” Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said at the conference. “They now talk of booster shots, while developing countries consider half doses just to get by. This is shocking beyond belief and must be condemned for what it is — a selfish act that can neither be justified rationally nor morally.”

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres lambasted the entire world on vaccine inequity, calling it an “obscenity” and saying, “We are getting an F in ethics.”

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres addresses the General Assembly on Sept. 21. (Eduardo Munoz-Pool/Getty Images)

The World Health Organization has set an ambitious goal to have 40 percent of the world vaccinated by the end of the year and 70 percent by the middle of 2022. As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 3.75 billion people worldwide have received a dose of vaccine, accounting for just under 49 percent of the global population, according to the New York Times tracker. But more than 50 countries missed the WHO’s September target of 10 percent, with most of them located in Africa, whose overall vaccination rate remains under 5 percent.

Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo told the U.N. General Assembly last month that Africa is the continent hardest hit by vaccine nationalism — 900 million Africans need to get the vaccine in order for the continent to reach the 70 percent threshold, with very little help in sight.

President Biden has called this moment an “all-hands-on-deck crisis,” pushing for all countries to reach a 70 percent vaccination rate by the fall of 2022. To do its part, the U.S. last month pledged to buy more than 500 million vaccine doses for other countries, which will bring the total number of donations promised by the U.S. to more than 1 billion.

"We're not going to solve this crisis with half-measures or middle-of-the-road ambitions. We need to go big," Biden said at a virtual summit on the pandemic last month.

But as many rich nations administer booster shots to the elderly and immunocompromised, many critics question if the U.S. is doing enough to encourage equity on the world stage.

“The more people that are vaccinated, the less likely new variants will evolve,” Avery August, a Cornell University immunologist, told Yahoo News. “However, all of these examples highlight the crucial lack of access lower-income countries have to the most cutting-edge medicines and vaccines. If these countries do not have the financial resources, or the scientific infrastructure, to participate in the development of these vaccines, they tend to be left out of the benefits, or at the very least are the last in line to receive the benefits.”

Bottles of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine. (Ariana Drehsler/AFP via Getty Images)

While many poorer countries push for access to vaccines, richer countries continue to vaccinate thousands each day.

More than 216 million Americans, or 65 percent of the U.S. population, have had at least one dose of a vaccine, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Just over 56 percent of the country is fully vaccinated. Similarly, in Canada, 71 percent of the population has been inoculated at least once.

While critics fault countries like the U.S. and the U.K. for stockpiling resources, others say a collective approach needs to take place to help those in need.

Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and a public health professor at George Washington University, told Yahoo News it’s a “false choice” to argue that the U.S. should stop giving out booster shots in order to help other countries.

“We need to scale up the manufacturing of doses around the world,” Wen said. “We need to be working with other entities to increase distribution systems for lower-income countries. But at the same time, we cannot deny Americans, including American children, including American adults, the ability to get an additional layer of protection.”

Cover thumbnail photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Getty Images, Ronny Hartmann/AFP via Getty Images

_____

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
Welcome to Britain, the bank scam capital of the world

Lawrence White and Iain Withers
Wed., October 13, 2021

 Man holds laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this illustration picture

LONDON (Reuters) - It was an email offering a discount on an electric toothbrush that began the sequence of events that ruined Anna's life.

Within minutes of entering her card details, she got a call from her bank telling her fraudulent transactions were being made. The next day Robert Clayton from Britain's Financial Conduct Authority called to say they were pursuing the criminals responsible but that her savings were at risk.

There was no toothbrush, though. No fraud department, no Robert Clayton. They were all part of a scam to gradually siphon off Anna's life savings, and within a few weeks the plot had succeeded, to the tune of about 200,000 pounds ($270,000).

"I am still in shock, the guilt and shame are impossible to convey," said the 78-year-old widow from central England, who did not want her full name to be used in this story.

She is one of thousands of people who have seen savings swept away this year by an unprecedented wave of online bank fraud hitting Britain, where you're more likely to be a victim of online fraud than any other crime.

The country is the global epicentre for such attacks, according to five of the biggest British banks and more than a dozen security experts who said scammers were buying up batches of consumers' personal details on the dark net to target the record numbers shopping and banking online since the pandemic.

The country's super-fast payments infrastructure, relatively light policing of fraud-related crime, plus its use of the world's most widely used language English, also made it an ideal global test bed for scams, the banks and specialists added.

A British record of 754 million pounds ($1 billion)was stolen in the first six months of this year, up 30% from the same period in 2020, according to data from banking industry body UK Finance, and up more than 60% from 2017, when it began compiling the figures.

That represents a per capita fraud rate roughly triple that seen in the United States in 2020, according to a Reuters calculation from UK Finance and the latest available Federal Trade Commission data.

"The most sophisticated fraud tends to start in the UK, and then move two years later to the U.S. and then around the world," said Ayelet Biger-Levin, vice president of product strategy at U.S.-based cybersecurity firm BioCatch, which provides anti-fraud technology to banks.

"In the last 12 months we have seen more fraud attacks than we had seen in any other year in history. Data breaches have also accelerated, so there's a lot more personal information out there that criminals can take advantage of."

'MONEY WOULD HAVE SUPPORTED US'

Unlike simple email-based scams of the past purporting to be from princes or oil barons seeking your help to shift their millions, the modern bank scam can be sophisticated, multi-phased and extremely convincing.

"We've seen some cases where the fraudster has been talking to somebody for three or four years as someone else before they actually scam them out of a large amount of money," said Brian Dilley, group director for economic crime prevention at Britain's biggest bank Lloyds.

Deena Karia, another scam victim, told Reuters how she lost 10,000 pounds in early February after buying a seemingly safe bond purportedly issued by Credit Suisse and apparently listed on price-comparison site MoneySuperMarket.

After filling out a form on the website and receiving a call from a staff member there, she called them back on the number listed on the website to check the phone number was legitimate, made further checks about the bond and went on to invest.

Karia, from outer London, still does not know exactly how her money was stolen, but believes the scammers may have created a fake website mimicking MoneySuperMarket.

The genuine MoneySuperMarket warned on Feb. 15 of crooks faking its website and impersonating its staff. A spokesperson for the company said it is working to take down such fake websites and phone numbers, working with the FCA to highlight cloned websites and reporting issues to the police.

"I lost my Dad not long ago, I'm caring for my mother and that money would have supported us for years," Karia said.

Barclays, her bank, has refunded only half the money, saying she could have done more to protect herself.

"We have every sympathy with Miss Karia who was the victim of an investment scam and as the case is currently being investigated by the Financial Ombudsman Service, we await the conclusion of their review," Barclays said.

FAST PAYMENTS, FAST FRAUD?

The government's National Economic Crime Centre (NECC) agrees with the banking sector's assessment that fraud represents a threat to British security.

"It is growing from an already enormous scale," said Chris Reed, fraud threat lead at NECC, which he said was meeting at least every month with bank bosses, technology executives and telecoms companies to assess and respond to threats.

Britain's Faster Payments' network, which allows transfers between bank accounts to settle instantly rather than in hours or days as in the United States and other developed banking markets, means criminals can rapidly spirit away funds.

"The faster payment system has facilitated faster fraud," said Richard Emery, a fraud expert who is advising Anna and 63 other scam victims whose average loss is 102,000 pounds.

Pay.UK, which runs the network, said the system supported the British economy, consumers and businesses. It added that criminals were getting better at exploiting digitisation and that it was working with the industry and regulator to fight fraud.

While security experts and senior bankers said many fraud attacks could be traced overseas - including from India and West Africa - Britain is also increasingly exporting attacks.

Crimes such as authorised push payments (APP) – where people are tricked into authorising a payment by a criminal posing as their bank or other trusted company – are proliferating globally after having started off as a largely UK phenomenon.

The country ranks second in the world behind the United States as a source of automated bot attacks, the fastest-growing type of fraud attack in the world, according to data from LexisNexis Risk Solutions, a financial crime analysis firm.

Bot attacks see criminals use a high volume of stolen identity credentials to overrun a website, allowing them to set up new accounts or access existing ones.

"It's popular to say the fraud threat is imported into the UK, and I don't think that bears analysis," said NECC's Reed. "There is a significant UK nexus to a lot of fraud, our operational experience is showing that."

HSBC: UK IS HOTBED OF FRAUD

Britain's banks - which often pick up the compensation bill when people are scammed - are trying to respond.

HSBC, which has operations in the Americas and Asia, has hired more than 300 staff in a year to support its anti-fraud operations in its home market and increased annual spending by 40% to deal with an "exponential" number of customers affected, the bank told Reuters.

"The UK is the hotbed of activity for fraudsters. Currently the UK accounts for about 80% of our global personal fraud losses," it said.

Lloyds said it had invested 100 million pounds in its defences over the past two years, while rival NatWest has 10% of its workforce - amounting to 6,000 people - dedicated to combating financial crime. TSB has hired 100 extra staff to support fraud victims in the last year.

But lenders are also pressing the government to make social media platforms, where they say some attacks originate, share the burden. British lawmakers told bosses at Facebook, Google, Amazon and eBay last month that they needed to do more combat fraud.

The NECC's Reed said another problem was that just 1% of policing resources were dedicated to fighting fraud, despite it making up over a third of all crime in England and Wales.

"I won't hide away from the fact that resourcing of the response is completely out of step with the scale and seriousness of the threat. We've got a mountain to climb."

This means that criminals are emboldened to target people like Anna, who has little hope of recovering her savings.

The fraudsters had told her to shift her "at risk" cash to an account on a cryptocurrency platform that they emptied - while isolating her from family by stressing secrecy and coaching her on how to respond to sceptical bank officials.

"They knew the name of my financial adviser, they were utterly convincing as FCA staff," she said. "And they told me I could not tell anyone about the investigation as it would damage their efforts to catch the crooks."

($1 = 0.7327 pounds)

(This story corrects to 'widow' from 'widower' in fourth paragraph)

(Reporting By Lawrence White and Iain Withers; Editing by Rachel Armstrong and Pravin Char)

LEAVE THEM  FISHERS ALONE

Canada seeks to claw back $25M in COVID relief from thousands of fishers


Thu., October 14, 2021

Travis Nickerson of Clarks Harbour, N.S., no longer has the COVID-19 federal relief money to give back, and says he now regrets taking it. (CBC - image credit)

The federal government is demanding 4,193 Canadian fishers repay $25.8 million in COVID-19 relief assistance paid out in 2020 under the Fish Harvester Benefit and Grant Program, CBC News has learned.

More than half the harvesters issued overpayment letters are in Nova Scotia, where 2,382 have received notices totalling $13.8 million, according to data released to CBC News by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

DFO said many harvesters were ineligible because they were regular wage-earning employees rather than self-employed sharepersons, as required under program rules.

"Canada Revenue Agency data appears to indicate that a significant number of applicants have filed incorrect tax information with respect to the nature of their income," DFO spokesperson Barre Campbell told CBC News.

Travis Nickerson of Clarks Harbour, N.S., received an overpayment letter.

"It's a mess," said Nickerson, a lobster boat crewman. "They gave me something when I really needed it, and now they want it back."

Nickerson is paid a share of the catch and saw his income drop in the first half of 2020 when COVID-19 crashed demand for lobster worldwide.

Brett Ruskin/CBC

The fish harvester benefit was created to help fishers not eligible for other assistance.

Self-employed fishers or sharepersons could get up to $10,164 in two instalments. Under Phase 1, 60 per cent was paid in the fall of 2020 and rest is available this fall.

Fishers had to estimate the drop in income compared to earnings in 2018 or 2019. The attestations were checked against actual earnings in the spring of 2021 when fishers filed their tax returns.

Fishers in each province and territory have received overpayment notices. Among the provinces with the most money owing, DFO said 481 harvesters in British Columbia have been issued repayment notices for $3 million; 473 in Newfoundland and Labrador for $3.4 million; 296 in New Brunswick for $1.5 million; and 93 in P.E.I. for $1.26 million.

The fishers have until Friday to file an appeal. The deadline to appeal has been extended three times.

'They dangled the bone'

Like many, Nickerson fell afoul of the rules because he filed an income tax form indicating he was a wage earner even though his pay is based on a share of the catch.

Nickerson has received an overpayment letter demanding $6,000 — money he said he does not have and regrets taking.

"They dangled the bone, I reached out for the bone. And they bit me for reaching for the bone," he said.

More than 18,000 fishers received the harvester benefit in Phase 1 of the program, which has paid out a total of $130 million.

In some cases, DFO said recipients did not meet the threshold of a 25 per cent drop in income last year.

"In other cases, applicants who attested to being self-employed shareperson crew — who would typically be eligible for the benefit — did not have tax data on file with CRA that supported their claim that their income came from self-employment. Because the recipients did not qualify for the payments, this is not considered a clawback," Campbell said.

A misunderstanding

Some say the overpayment letters reflect a misunderstanding about how the inshore fishery works in some provinces.

Chris d'Entremont, the MP for West Nova, said he's heard from hundreds of fishers in southwestern Nova Scotia.

"Almost everybody is being asked to send it back for the reason they're receiving a share of the catch, but they're not shareholders in the business, and that's kind of where the challenge is coming in," he said.

D'Entremont said the government was warned this problem could arise.

"People are paid a share, but that number is broken down into a different kind of payment at the end of the day," he said. "They didn't listen to us and now we're into lots of folks having to pay the money back."

Steve Lawrence/CBC Chris d'Entremont, the MP for West Nova

Three different federal departments are involved in the harvester benefit: DFO, Canada Revenue Agency and Service Canada, which is administering the program.

"One hand doesn't know what the other is doing," said Ronnie Newell of Island Tax and Accounting in Barrington, N.S.

"Do they think they work at Walmart? There is no hourly wage here. If they go out and don't catch anything on a trip, they don't get paid. Nothing."

Newell is helping navigate crewmen through the process. In many cases, he filed their tax returns.

He said captains have been encouraged by the federal government in recent years to classify crewmen as employees.

Dave Laughlin/CBC

Newell said right now, crewmen who made the same amount in 2020 are being treated differently. Some get to keep the harvester benefit, while others have to pay it back.

The repayment demand does not make any sense to Jimmy Atkinson, a lobster boat crewman also from Clarks Harbour.

He's one of many on Cape Sable Island to receive an overpayment letter.

"I'm a bit confused on this," said Atkinson, 60. "This was all based on the COVID dilemma. What makes a difference how we was paid, if it was something that the government actually came out with to help us?"

CBC

DFO said this is less a matter of box-ticking than about accurate income reporting.

"It may well be ... that a large number of crew have shares agreements. However, it also appears that a large number of employers and crew have filed tax information with CRA that seems to suggest many crew members are not self-employed, but rather regular employees," said Campbell.

He said income status could have big implications for fisheries employment insurance — which is intended for self-employed harvesters — or regular employment insurance.

The Canadian Independent Fish Harvesters Federation said applicants were given incomplete and incorrect information when they applied for assistance last year, and that same misinformation was passed on to accounting professionals hired by the applicants.

It's asking DFO to extend the appeal deadline another month and change the rules.

"It is now clearly evident that the government failed to design the program based on how taxes are filed in the fishing industry," federation president Melanie Sonnenberg wrote to DFO deputy minister Tim Sargent last month.

Not easy to change course

Overturning the ruling is not easy.

Crewmen will be required to get their captains to write to DFO and CRA notifying them of the mistake in their status, and confirming they are a shareperson. Finally, they must convince CRA to amend their T4 slip.

D'Entremont said DFO has to back off its overpayment demands and forgive the first instalment.

"The department has to extend this much further and just sort of say, 'Hey, we made the mistake, not you. We're going to fix it by letting you keep that first round of money,'" d'Entremont said.

Supported by Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA, Free Alberta Strategy released


Wed., October 13, 2021

Published September 28, the Free Alberta Strategy is a policy paper written by Airdrie MLA and lawyer, Rob Anderson, University of Calgary political scientist, Barry Cooper, and constitutional lawyer, Derek From, in cooperation with the Alberta Institute.

The paper has two key objectives, which include establishing provincial sovereignty within Canada, and the end of equalization payments to have-not provinces.

“We believe that Alberta needs to declare itself a sovereign jurisdiction within Canada,” said Anderson. “Part of that is to pass a piece of legislation called the Alberta Sovereignty Act, which specifically states that the province of Alberta will not enforce federal laws that are unfair, that unfairly attack the province of Alberta, or that are outside of the jurisdiction of the federal jurisdiction of Ottawa. An example of that would be the carbon tax. If the legislature feels that the carbon taxes are an unconstitutional attack on Alberta and on our jurisdictional rights as a province, then we would simply say, under the Alberta Sovereignty Act, that he will not be enforcing that law within the boundaries of Alberta.”

The paper does not advocate for complete separation from Canada, points out Anderson, who believes that separatism is another option Albertans are tired of hearing of as the proposed only alternative to doing nothing about what is outlined in the strategy.

“The main issues that I'm hearing is, first of all, the lack of resource movement, is the fact that that Albertans are the best in the world at taking risk and safely extracting oil and gas are unable to get work unable to get work at the pay they used to, or they have to go hundreds of miles away to find work, and all the time the demand for oil and gas is increasing. So that would be the main one,” said Drew Barnes, MLA for Cypress-Medicine Hat. “Secondly, the fact that Alberta is such a cash cow to the rest of Canada, large parts of that through equalization, and the fact that equalization, and this money transfer is unfair in terms of giving some provinces, you know, sovereign funds as big as Alberta's. It's given them cheaper services. And it has created a problem where some provinces have not tried to increase their revenues or develop their resources, because they want to continue to collect equalization. It's an unfair system that hasn't worked well for anyone.”

Barnes noted a strong frustration in his constituency in the wake of the federal election, and said that “people are frustrated that elections are decided, you know, before we even finished counting our votes here.” Barnes said that seeing legacy parties adopt strategies to “keep Quebec and Ontario happy rather than protect the individual Alberta” definitely fanned the flames in the area.

“It starts with the fact that in Cypress-Medicine Hat, too many, too many of us are not able to work in the oil and gas industry, because of the fact that, you know, Ottawa has blocked pipelines, and that needs to change. Secondly, you know, the fact that, you know, taxes are so high in Canada, and the federal government does so little for us. People realize that there has to be a better system and opportunity for hardworking people and hardworking families to keep more of their own money. So they have more choices,” said Barnes.

There is confidence that with this sovereignty, Alberta would be fine operating on a much more individual scale, said Anderson.

“I will put my belief in Alberta, governing itself over Ottawa governing Alberta any day of the week,” said Anderson. “Obviously, there's going to be times when the government of Alberta doesn't do a great job. But that is a rare occurrence in comparison to the absolute gong show. That is the federal government in Ottawa and specifically, as it relates to Ottawa to Ottawa is consistent attacks on Alberta's energy and agricultural sectors. It's been unrelenting for the last 50 years. It doesn't stop. And so, you know, if there are from time to time, obviously provincial governments are going to screw up but at least at the very least, they have Alberta's best interests at heart. You cannot say that about Ottawa.”

Anderson believes that Alberta would not look much different in terms of healthcare or social programs, save for the improvement made by more of the revenue generated in the province being re-invested into the province itself.

“We'd have more resources under the free Alberta strategy,” said Anderson. “They contemplate the stopping equalization and, and net transfers out of the province, we've sent more than six over the last 60 years, we've spent more than a cent more than $600 billion to Ottawa, more than we've got back and in federal spending, and that 600 billion is largely gone to Quebec as well as as well as the Maritimes for vote buying schemes in those areas, by generally federal liberal governments, but also by conservative federal conservative governments as well, just to a lesser extent. but this with the strategy contemplates putting an end to that. And so that means more resources for Alberta, which means more healthcare dollars, more education, dollars, more social spending, and also fewer taxes.”

Anderson specifically notes that the money could be used to increase ICU capacity during this pandemic, and said that money being sent to Ottawa may be the cause of the lack of healthcare resources in the province.

“We’re sitting here with 300 ICU beds in the middle of a pandemic, well, of course there's gonna be problems when you run your health system like that,” said Anderson. “When you don't have enough resources. So that's why we're losing doctors and nurses to neighboring provinces right now. And we're not going to get them back so long as we continue to have our resources sucked dry by Ottawa.”

Anna Smith, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Prairie Post East

ALBERTA SEPERATISM IS AMERICAN DECSENDENTS IN ALBERTA, AND SOME AMERICAN SECOND GENERATION WHO PROPOSE THESE LETS SEPERATE AND JOIN AMERICA SCHEMES

IN THE PAST WE HAVE HAD NUMEROUS SEPERATIST PARTIES OF THE RIGHT SINCE PETER LOUGHEED FOUGHT OFF THE WESTERN CANADA CONCEPT (WCC) WHICH AROSE OUT OF THE COLLAPSED SOCIAL CREDIT PARTY/GIVERNMENT

IT AROSE IN SOUTHERN ALBERTA AS ALL THESE MOVEMENTS OF THE RIGHT DO.

CALGARY IS THE LARGEST AMERICAN CITY IN CANADA

RIGHT WING MORMONS PROMOTE ANTI TAX CAMPAIGNS AS THEY PAY THROUGH THEIR CHURCH TITHES INSTEAD.

DUTCH REFORM CHURCH RIGHT WING ACTIVISTS CAME HERE FROM SOUTH AFRICA 

AND PROMOTE THEIR NEO CALVANISM THROUGH GROUPS LIKE THE FAKE UNION CLAC AND THE CHRISTIAN FARMERS ASSOC OF CANADA WHO FOUNDED AND SUPPORTED THE REFORM PARTY 

SEE

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2006/10/cardston-home-of-bigots.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2005/07/conservatives-bash-canada.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2005/03/right-to-life-right-to-work.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2005/11/canadas-right-wing-union.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2006/01/calgary-herald-remembers-rb-bennet.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2007/04/leo-strauss-and-calgary-school.html

http://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2005/07/rebel-yell.html

Cities file complaint with Alberta ombudsman over consolidated ambulance dispatch

Wed., October 13, 2021

Mayors of four Alberta municipalities have jointly filed a complaint to the province's ombudsman over the decision to consolidate their EMS dispatch services. (David Bell/CBC - image credit)

Four cities across Alberta have jointly filed a complaint with the province's ombudsman over the UCP government's decision to allow Alberta Health Services to consolidate regional ambulance dispatch.

"It is unacceptable that we continue to risk people's lives," said Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi in an emailed release on Wednesday.

"We've seen the data and listened to those on the frontline and we know that this dispatch system cannot meet the needs of patients in our cities. We hope that the Alberta ombudsman will consider the severity of the situation and convince our provincial government to make the right decision."

The four mayors have spoken out against consolidation since July 2020.

But despite their concerns, Alberta Health Services (AHS) officially brought municipally controlled operations in Calgary, Lethbridge, Red Deer and the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo into the three existing AHS centres in January 2021.

The move was one of multiple recommendations made during a review of AHS by external consultants Ernst & Young, which laid the stage for several cost cutting measures including possible privatization of some health services.

AHS had said the consolidation would save millions each year and that patients wouldn't notice the difference.

But first responder groups, like the union representing Calgary firefighters, had expressed concerns that consolidation would cause delays in coordinated responses.

Prior to the consolidation, firefighters were often first on scene in cities like Calgary and Red Deer as calls came in and were coordinated between EMS, fire and police.

"Our fire trucks would often arrive well in advance of the ambulance, and that is an option that's no longer available to us," said Red Deer Mayor Tara Veer in an interview.

Patient outcomes have suffered, mayors say

Since the centres were consolidated, the mayors of the four municipalities say there have been significant issues with service delivery that have hurt health and safety outcomes of patients in their regions — and that some delays were reported within the first day of the changeover.

"Seconds count in life and death circumstances … we continue to see the consequences of consolidated dispatch on the ground, and we have an ethical imperative to every Albertan to continue to pursue every avenue possible," said Veer.

The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo has previously estimated that emergency services staff had to intervene in one in five calls during the first few weeks to prevent AHS caused delays, and that in some instances patients were transferred multiple times or first-responders were sent to the wrong location.

In another incident, the mayors said that AHS experienced a "code red" situation where no ambulances were available, but the local dispatch centre was not notified — if it had, fire crews could have been mobilized to assist if needed.

"Since the province forced a consolidated dispatch system on our communities, we have witnessed the deterioration of ambulance dispatch," said Wood Buffalo Mayor Don Scott.

"Our communities have tried every avenue to communicate with the government that this system is flawed and to strongly dispute the effectiveness of it, but our calls for a third party review remain unanswered," said Veer.

"We will not be giving up the fight for what we know is in the best interest of patient safety."

Former Health Minister Tyler Shandro said in October 2020 that he had reviewed the situation and allowed AHS to proceed.

Alberta's ombudsman Marianne Ryan provides oversight of provincial government agencies, municipalities and other authorities and makes recommendations to resolve issues.

CBC has reached out to the ombudsman's office to confirm if it will investigate the complaint.

AHS said in a statement earlier this month that it was aware a complaint was being filed.

"Dispatch services were successfully consolidated seven months ago, and the system continues to perform as expected," read a statement attributed to the health authority in early October.