Native American leaders say Chaco prayers being answered

CHACO CULTURE NATIONAL HISTORIC PARK, N.M. (AP) — The stillness that enveloped Chaco Canyon was almost deafening, broken only by the sound of a raven's wings batting the air while it circled overhead.

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Then a chorus of leaders from several Native American tribes began to speak, their voices echoing off the nearby sandstone cliffs. They spoke of a deep connection to the canyon — the heart of Chaco Culture National Historic Park — and the importance of ensuring that oil and gas development beyond the park's boundaries does not sever that tie for future generations.

The Indigenous leaders from the Hopi Tribe in Arizona and several New Mexico pueblos were beyond grateful that the federal government is taking what they believe to be more meaningful steps toward permanent protections for cultural resources in northwestern New Mexico.

It's a fight they've been waging for years with multiple presidential administrations. They're optimistic the needle is moving now that one of their own — U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland — holds the reins of the federal agency that oversees energy development and tribal affairs.

Haaland, who is from Laguna Pueblo and is the first Native American to lead a Cabinet agency, joined tribal leaders at Chaco on Monday to celebrate the beginning of a process that aims to withdraw federal land holdings within 10 miles (16 kilometers) of the park boundary, making the area off-limits to oil and gas leasing for 20 years.

New leases on federal land in the area will be halted for the next two years while the withdrawal proposal is considered.

Haaland also committed to taking a broader look at how federal land across the region can be better managed while taking into account environmental effects and cultural preservation.

The perfect weather did not go unnoticed Monday, as tribal leaders talked about their collective prayers being answered.

“It’s a nice day — a beautiful day that our father the sun blessed us with. The creator laid out the groundwork for today,” said Hopi Vice Chairman Clark Tenakhongva.

A World Heritage site, Chaco is thought to be the center of what was once a hub of Indigenous civilization with many tribes from the Southwest tracing their roots to the high desert outpost.

Within the park, walls of stacked stone jut up from the bottom of the canyon, some perfectly aligned with the seasonal movements of the sun and moon. Circular subterranean rooms called kivas are cut into the desert floor, and archaeologists have found evidence of great roads that stretched across what are now New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado.

Visitors often marvel at the architectural prowess of Chaco’s early residents. But for many Indigenous people in the Southwest, Chaco Canyon holds a more esoteric significance.

The Hopi call it “Yupkoyvi,” simply translated as way beyond the other side of the mountains.

“Whose land do we all occupy? We walk the land of the creator. That’s what was told to us at the beginning — at the bottom of the Grand Canyon,” Tenakhongva said. “Many of us have that connection. Many of us can relate to how important the Grand Canyon is. Ask the Zuni, the Laguna, the Acoma. They made their trip from there to this region. We know the importance of these areas.”

Pueblo leaders also talked about areas near Zuni Pueblo in western New Mexico and Bears Ears National Monument in Utah that are tied to Chaco civilization.

Laguna Gov. Martin Kowemy Jr. said Chaco is a vital part of who his people are.

“Pueblo people can all relate through song, prayer and pilgrimage,” he said. “Now more than ever, connections to our peoples’ identities are a source of strength in difficult times. We must ensure these connections will not be severed, but remain intact for future generations.”

Acoma Pueblo Gov. Brian Vallo said the beliefs, songs, ceremonies and other traditions that have defined generations of Pueblo people originated at Chaco.

“Our fight to protect this sacred place is rooted in what our elders teach us and what we know as descendants of those who settled here,” Vallo said. “That is our responsibility — to maintain our connection, our deep-felt obligation and protective stewardship of this sacred place.”

Both the Obama and Trump administrations also put on hold leases adjacent to the park through agency actions, but some tribes, archaeologists and environmentalists have been pushing for permanent protections.

Congressional legislation is pending, but there has been disagreement over just how big the buffer should be.

The Navajo Nation oversees much of the land that makes up the jurisdictional checkerboard surrounding the national park. Some belong to individual Navajos who were allotted land by the federal government generations ago.

Navajo leaders support preserving parts of the area but have said individual allottees stand to lose an important income source if the land is made off-limits to development. Millions of dollars in royalties are at stake for tribal members who are grappling with poverty and high unemployment rates.

Haaland’s agency has vowed to consult with tribes over the next two years as the withdrawal proposal is considered, but top Navajo leaders already are suggesting they’re being ignored. Noticeably absent from Monday's celebration were the highest elected leaders of the tribe’s legislative and executive branches.

Navajo Nation Council Delegate Daniel Tso has been among a minority within tribal government speaking out against development in the region. He said communities east of Chaco are “under siege” from increased drilling.

He told the story of one resident who wipes dust from his kitchen table only to have it dirty again the next day due to the oilfield traffic. He said the consequences are having negative effects on residents' spirits and thus their ability to remain resilient.

“Yes, we want the landscape protected, we want better air quality, we want to protect the water aquifer, we want to protect the sacred,” he said. “The undisturbed landscape holds much sacredness. It brings peace of mind, it brings a settled heart and it gives good spiritual strength.”

No matter what side they're on, many Navajos feel their voices aren't being heard.

Haaland on Monday invited everyone to participate in the listening sessions that will be held as part of the process, which she has dubbed “Honoring Chaco."

Environmentalists say the region is a prime example of the problems of tribal consultation and that Haaland's effort could mark a shift toward more tribal involvement in future decision-making when it comes to identifying and protecting cultural resources.

“By creating a new collaborative process with ‘Honoring Chaco’ we have the ability to ameliorate broken promises and to right the wrongs of consultation just being a check-the-box exercise,” said Rebecca Sobel with the group WildEarth Guardians. “Hopefully it will be the beginning of a new relationship.”

Susan Montoya Bryan, The Associated Press

BC
First Nation community cut off by landslides still hasn't heard from government

Almost two weeks after mudslides and flooding washed away whole sections of communities along the Nicola River in British Columbia’s Interior, Shackan Indian Band has still not heard from the provincial government and is going it alone in caring for its community members.


One of five First Nation communities situated along Nicola Valley’s Highway 8 between Merritt and Spences Bridge, Shackan Indian Band Chief Arnold Lampreau went door-to-door in pouring rain last Monday, asking his community members to evacuate immediately as rising waters were imminent.

The night before, Lampreau was called by one of his band councillors, Lindsay Tighe, telling him the neighbouring community of Coldwater Indian Band was on evacuation alert. Not taking it too seriously to begin with, it wouldn’t be until the morning he realized he needed to act.

“I looked out into my field and there was already water in my field, and the water was rising quite fast and furious,” Lampreau said. “So right off the bat, I told my wife Lenora that we need to get out and we have no time to wait.”

Evacuating firstly to Merritt, band members were redirected again after that city itself was placed on evacuation notice. Nine days later, members now find themselves temporarily housed in shelters across the Interior, including Salmon Arm, Kamloops, and even a Trans Mountain pipeline camp outside of Merritt, operated by multi-national Civeo. Lampreau said five band members remain on reserve.

Since then, Lampreau said the band council has not been contacted directly by any provincial agency or ministry. Lampreau said they have given up trying to contact Emergency Support Services or Emergency Management BC and have since gone directly to the federal Indigenous Services department.

“[Emergency Management BC] never looked after our people. We fell through the cracks. We never even got called days after,” Lampreau said.

Lampreau and the band council have been spending the subsequent days taking care of their community by themselves: organizing shelter, food, medicine and emergency finances.

The executive director for the overarching Scw'exmx Tribal Council has also been evacuated, Lampreau explained, complicating communication with government agencies further.

“I was saying how important the tribal council would be now, to come together and pull our chiefs together and [do] some of the legwork for us. And we've been having to do that on our own,” he said.

The hard reality of the devastation to the land and community is slowly sinking in for the band. Lampreau said eventually they will have to confront reality that Shackan may have to move and re-establish somewhere else.

Decimated firstly by wildfires this past summer, the medicines, food, and forests on either side of the river that Shackan had relied upon since time immemorial now no longer exist.

“We need other lands to sustain our livelihood … the possibility of re-establishing Shackan down there, [the thing that] really binds us to that, that is our ancestors,” he said.

“Our loved ones are buried there. And some special places that are dear to our hearts. And we know those names of those places, and some of the ancient places where they dwell, they're there. And those historical spots are there, and we know about them, and we just can't walk away from them.

“But in one breath, we have to be able to find a place to raise our new generation of people, the next seven generations. We have to start thinking about them and ensuring that they have a place to go and a safe place to be,” he said.

At a press conference on Monday afternoon, B.C.’s Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Murray Rankin acknowledged the impact flooding and landslides have had on First Nations communities, including being displaced from their homes, difficulties practicing ceremony and culture, and being separated from family and loved ones.

Rankin also acknowledged how this has compounded the trauma of the last year.

“Chiefs and members of Indigenous communities have shown enormous resilience and great leadership during this difficult period,” he said.

Rankin announced government agencies from different sectors have now been congregated to form integrated Indigenous response and recovery teams, which include members from First Nations Emergency Services Society, First Nations Health Authority, Emergency Management BC, and Indigenous Services Canada.

“Yesterday, I was on was on a call with First Nation leaders and Minister [Mike] Farnworth. We heard from impacted communities; we heard their concerns as to how we can improve our response. And I heard we have more work to do.

“We must improve our communications with First Nation communities in advance of and during emergencies. We need to streamline our processes to help people access supports more easily, and we can work to ensure that the supports provided to First Nation communities are meeting the needs identified by the communities themselves,” Rankin said.

Glacier Media requested specific details from the province regarding its effort to support communities along Highway 8 but did not hear back by time of publication.

However, in response to the announcement, Shackan Indian Band Coun. Yvonne Joe said the integrated response is something that should’ve been done years ago.

“That should have really been in place. Because we’re not invited to the table... there's [no] kind of negotiations that transpire, and it happens within our territories. We're never asked to sit at the table, and we're never asked, ‘What would you like?’, or ‘What are your thoughts?’” she said.

Joe said she’s now expecting a call from the province.

“They're probably now going to reach out, because we're making noise. All the bands in our valley, they're rattling the cages,” she said.

Charlie Carey, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, North Shore News

Systemic racism within British Columbia police targets minorities

Indigenous and Black people are highly overrepresented in arrests or chargeable incidents in British Columbia’s two largest cities which also have a high population of vulnerable new immigrants — Vancouver and Surrey — according to a new report revealing systemic racism in the province.

The report, funded by B.C.’s Human Rights Commissioner Kasari Govender, includes expert analysis of data from the Vancouver Police Department, the Nelson Police Department and the Surrey, Duncan and Prince George RCMP detachments, which were selected to represent different communities with varied demographic populations in the province.

In 2011, 44 per cent of Vancouver’s population was born outside of Canada, according to data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), while Surrey is home to the second-largest immigrant population (220,155) in the Metro Vancouver Region, representing 22 per cent of Metro Vancouver’s total immigrant population.

“The key findings reflect policing issues affecting Indigenous and racialized communities, including new arrivals,” a spokesperson for the Commissioner told New Canadian Media.

Key findings in the 90-page submission by Commissioner Govender to the B.C. government’s Special Committee on Reforming the Police Act (SCORPA) include:

“Systemic racism in policing undermines community trust and safety,” Govender said in a statement.

Govender also said it’s “critical to acknowledge that the data is about individuals, particularly Indigenous, Black and other racialized individuals who experience significant and long-term harm, trauma and mental health impacts as a result of police interactions and involvement in the criminal justice system.”

Scot Wortley is professor of criminology in the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies at the University of Toronto and helped analyze the policing data. According to him, it’s “clear” that “profound racial disparities in police arrest and mental health statistics exist” in B.C.

“These disparities demand monitoring, policy attention and action by police, government and oversight bodies to redress the disparities that this data points to,” he said.

The report called for “immediate and sustained action to address the structural discrimination behind these numbers and to redress the harms caused by it.”

Limited data

Govender also expressed concerns about the limitations of the police data available for research and study purposes in B.C.

For example, B.C. RCMP is the largest policing agency in the province and serves 70 per cent of the population. Yet, they do not currently retain historical records of data after a file is closed beyond the minimum national standard, which in some cases is just 24 months.

“The B.C. RCMP’s failure to retain historical policing data for research and study purposes is deeply troubling as it contradicts principles of transparency and accountability in policing,” Govender’s statement read.

Citing examples based on the data from the five police jurisdictions, the report noted that although Indigenous people represent only 2.2 per cent of Vancouver’s population, they were involved in 24.5 per cent of all arrests captured. Black people only represent one per cent of Vancouver’s population but were involved in 5.3 per cent of all arrests. Latinos and Arab/West Asian civilians were also significantly overrepresented in arrests in the Vancouver data.

Indigenous and Black people were significantly overrepresented in police arrests in Surrey as well. While Indigenous people only represent 2.6 per cent of the population there, they were involved in 6.9 per cent of all arrests. Black people, who only represent 1.8 per cent of that population, were involved in five per cent of all arrests.

For Alicia Williams, from the BC Community Alliance, Govender’s findings are “devastating.”

“Especially for the communities grappling with this discriminatory treatment and for people who have experienced or witnessed negative interactions with police,” she said. “But the Commissioner’s recommendations give us a roadmap for change.”

The RCMP said they are analyzing Govender’s findings.

Fabian Dawson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, New Canadian Media

B.C. human rights commissioner report outlines racial disparities in policing

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VICTORIA — The office of British Columbia's human rights commissioner says an analysis of data from five police services across the province shows "profound racial disparities" and it is calling for changes toaddress discrimination in policing.

The report from Kasari Govender's office includes a series of recommendations for the B.C. government as part of a submission to a special committee of the legislature tasked with examining potential changes to the province's Police Act.

An analysis of data from the five B.C. police services found Indigenous, Black and other racialized people were over-represented in arrests and detentions, as well as in mental health or well-being checks and strip searches, the report says.

In one example, it says data provided by the Vancouver Police Department from 2011 to 2020 showed Indigenous people were over 11 times more likely to be arrested than their representation in the general population would predict. The analysis found that while Indigenous men represented 1.1 per cent of the city's population, they were involved in 19 per cent of the department's arrests.

In Nelson, data from 2016 to 2020 showed Black people were 4.7 times more likely to be involved in mental health incidents than their representation in the population.

The Vancouver and Nelson police services and the RCMP in Surrey, Prince George and Duncan/North Cowichan were chosen because they represent communities of different sizes with varying demographics in distinct parts of B.C., the report says.

The data analysis was completed in September by Scott Wortley, a professor at the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies at the University of Toronto.

Wortley highlighted the over-representation of Indigenous women in arrests and mental health checks by police at a news conference on Wednesday.

Studies across North America show that women, regardless of race, are typically under-represented in police statistics and charge recommendations, he said.

However, he said the analysis of B.C. police data found that Indigenous women were not only arrested at higher rates than women from other racial groups, but they often had arrest rates higher than those of white, Asian and South Asian men.

Serious violent offences accounted for less than five per cent of the charges recorded by all five B.C. police departments, he said. By contrast, between 30 and 40 per cent of the charges related to public disorder or the administration of justice, such as failing to appear in court or to comply with the conditions of a release.

The over-representation of Indigenous and Black people was higher for such charges, which are more likely to involve police discretion, Wortley said. It also was highest among cases that were either dropped by Crown prosecutors or closed if police decided not to pursue charges, he said.

Some would argue that provides "evidence of arrests of low quality or arrests that were based on limited evidence and have very little chance of prosecution," he said.

While the data analysis did not seek to identify the root causes of the racial disparities that it revealed, Wortley said three main explanations have emerged: bias in policing practices, such as surveillance and street checks; police discretion in how minor offences are handled; and bias when civilians report crimes to police.

Wortley also noted the possibility of higher rates of offending among racialized groups that "may be related to issues of colonization, historical discrimination, multi-generational trauma and contemporary social-economic disadvantage."

Tom Stamatakis, president of the Canadian Police Association, had not yet reviewed the commissioner's report and analysis on Wednesday, but said in general, factors underlying data on police interactions "aren't just policing issues."

"The reason why police do end up needing to respond to issues related to mental health or addictions or homelessness is because there have been cuts to other services or other services aren't available to fill that space," he said in an interview.

"If people are telling us there are issues with the way we're policing in a particular community or the way we're policing a part of a community, then of course the police need to be responsive to that."

The human rights commissioner's report says an array of data shows that the impacts of colonization, immigration policies, systemic racism in the health-care and education systems, and other "embedded social inequities lead to greater involvement of some communities in the criminal justice system."

Systemic racism in policing is unjust, contrary to the law and undermines community safety, Govender told the news conference.

"When marginalized people cannot trust the police, they are less likely to report crimes against them. To build this trust, we need to reimagine the role of police in our province, including by shifting our focus from the police as default responders."

Govender's report urges B.C. to adopt recommendations that include working with other levels of government to redirect funding from police budgets and investing in civilian-led services for mental health and substance use, homelessness and other conditions that could be addressed through expanded social programs.

The report also calls for changes to police oversight in B.C. and says the Police Act should be amended to ensure police boards are representative of the communities they serve, specifically those who are disproportionately affected by policing.

The B.C. RCMP said in a statement it could not speak to the specifics of the report's findings as the Mounties were not invited as active participants in the research and did not receive a final copy of the report until its public release.

In general, spokeswoman Dawn Roberts said the RCMP "has acknowledged the existing broad body of research demonstrating that certain groups are over-represented" in the justice system, including Black and Indigenous people.

The RCMP has been developing a national approach to the collection, analysis and reporting of race-based data in policing since July 2020 in collaboration with Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police and Statistics Canada, she said.

The B.C. RCMP's submission to the legislative committee on the Police Act addresses many of the same issues as the commissioner's report, Roberts added.

In Vancouver, Sgt. Steve Addison said police recognize that "historical inequalities have led to over-representation of racialized people in the criminal justice system."

The department changed its policies on street checks last year in response to concerns that people of colour were over-represented in the stops, and the new policy has "significantly reduced the number of checks that occur," he said.

Officers receive anti-bias training throughout their careers, Addison said in a statement.

Police in Nelson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 24, 2021.

The Canadian Press

Black Nurses in BC Face ‘Entrenched and Pervasive’ Racism, Survey Finds

Black, Caribbean and African-descent nurses in British Columbia face frequent “entrenched and pervasive” racism and discrimination at work that is causing trauma and fuelling health inequities for Black and racialized patients, according to a new survey.

In the survey as well as group meetings conducted by the Coalition of African, Caribbean and Black Nurses in BC, nurses described frequent workplace bullying and harassment from colleagues, patients and their families. They described some co-workers refusing, before the pandemic, to touch objects previously handled by Black colleagues.

One nurse described being physically assaulted by a colleague after the nurse informed the colleague that they’d taken the nurse’s chair.

“Everyone who came to our group meetings had different experiences of racism and discrimination,” said Ismalia de Sousa, a nurse and PhD student at the University of British Columbia school of nursing who helped found the coalition in 2020.

But many shared experiences, like being dismissed by superiors, having few opportunities for promotion or being scapegoated for mistakes made by non-Black colleagues, came up again and again, de Sousa said.

Ninety-three per cent of survey respondents were women, and three-quarters were born outside Canada, meaning intersecting sexism, racism and xenophobia further worsen the harm they experience.

“Those experiences have significant impacts for respondents’ personal and professional lives, and have long-lasting traumas too,” de Sousa added.

Now the coalition is calling for transformative action to support Black nurses and end anti-Black racism in health care that is affecting both staff well-being and patient care and outcomes.

“As nurses, student nurses, academics and researchers, we have an ethical duty to safeguard human rights, justice, equity and fairness,” reads a Wednesday open letter from the coalition addressed to the provincial government, health authorities and regulatory colleges for nursing.

“This is why we call on you to heed the B.C. Human Rights Code and work collaboratively with us to find solutions that put an end to racism and racial discrimination and its associated emotional and physical impact on our members, non-members and the public.”

The coalition was founded by a group of concerned nurses in the wake of the pandemic’s first wave and the public reckoning with racism in health care, and anti-Black racism following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Racism and discrimination are not new for Black nurses who’ve been living with them for years and decades, stressed de Sousa, but the events of 2020 shone a light to make them unignorable.

In B.C., the extent of anti-Black racism in health care and its effects is obscured by the lack of race-based data collection and missing research on the specific experiences of Black nurses in the provincial context.

There is a lot of data from elsewhere in the world on anti-Black racism experienced by health-care workers, de Sousa said, but it can’t be considered an exact indication of what is happening in B.C.

Meanwhile, there are very few Black people, let alone nurses, in senior leadership positions in health authorities in B.C. Respondents said this is a direct result of managers being unwilling to invest or train Black nurses for higher positions or to progress in their careers.

“Some of these ideologies and beliefs are deeply rooted in history, for instance the idea that Black people are uneducated,” de Sousa said, noting for many years Black women were barred from attending nursing schools in Canada. “And these beliefs are still manifested, sometimes unconsciously, in the ways people treat and perceive Black nurses.”

For the nearly half of surveyed nurses who were trained outside Canada, like de Sousa, barriers to registration in Canada also contributed to poor mental health or feeling helpless to report discrimination during practicum settings.

It’s also difficult always being the first Black person to do something or the only one in the room, said de Sousa. “That’s the importance of mentorship and seeing someone in a leadership position who looks like you and thinking you could be that person.”

This lack of support or promotion for Black nurses impacts patient care as well, particularly for Black patients who may not feel respected or heard by care teams they can’t see themselves in.

“In certain positions of power, if those people are not representing the people for which we care, then we won’t have health-care practice that represents everyone and that caters for everyone and that is taking into consideration every individual,” said de Sousa, “but we will have inequitable health-care policies and certain groups will remain invisible.”

The coalition hopes, like the In Plain Sight report on anti-Indigenous racism in health care, that the survey’s establishment of the extent and impacts of racism can spur action from government and health-care authorities.

In 21 recommendations, the coalition calls for senior officials dedicated to anti-racism work in every health authority, mandatory anti-racism training for all employees and enhanced policies against racism and discrimination in the workplace.

They also want a commitment to hire more Black nurses into leadership positions by 2024, a review of treatment plans and criteria that differ by race, and the establishment of a centre led by Black experts and community-builders to study causes and solutions to health-care inequities for Black people in B.C.

Barriers for internationally trained nurses to practice in B.C. should be removed, and more resources should be made available for immigrant and newcomer physical and mental health care.

“We urge everyone to recognize that while our skin colour is rooted in genetics, our experiences in society are not,” reads the letter. “Our experiences are manifestations of the deeply racist divisive societies we live in [that] we must all work together to dismantle.”

Moira Wyton, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Tyee

‘Historic’ report slams Canadian newsrooms for overwhelming whiteness

A new landmark study shows most Canadian newsrooms remain overwhelmingly white even as immigration continues to redefine this country’s demographics, resulting in much public lament over the lack of diversity in the media.

Described as “historic” in terms of its scope and reach, a new race- and gender-based study from the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) has found that “almost half of all Canadian newsrooms exclusively employ white journalists.”

“The typical Canadian newsroom is not representative of the Canadian population,” the final 17-page report, released Nov. 25, states.

In an email statement, CAJ president, Brent Jolly, told New Canadian Media that “while these numbers do not tell a complete story, they do provide a first glimpse at the makeup of Canadian newsrooms from coast to coast to coast.”

The report, conducted between November 2020 and July 2021, invited the editors-in-chief of 636 radio, television, digital and print news outlets to respond, out of which 147 sent full and verified answers. That represented 209 outlets across the country and 3,873 journalists combined. The results are mapped on out the CAJ’s website.

According to the report’s authors, it’s the first time in Canadian media history that so many organizations agreed to participate in such a study. In 1994, a national survey by the Canadian Daily Newspaper Association was sent to 82 editors, but only half responded. And out of the 18 “largest newspapers” Canadaland surveyed in 2016, only three sent answers back.

“Without a doubt, our industry is undergoing significant changes — from addressing workplace wellbeing and mental health, to uniting against online harassment and infringement on press freedoms, to being transparent about the diversity of our own newsrooms,” Jolly wrote in his email statement.

The lack of diversity has triggered a reckoning among newsrooms and journalism schools, leading to some measures adopted that have seen an increase of it.

But “(n)ewsroom managers tend to overestimate the diversity of their newsroom,” the report asserts.

According to the CAJ, those numbers are likely being inflated by a “handful of large newsrooms that employ a large number of (visible minority) reporters.” Ultimately, however, “most Canadian newsrooms tend to be whiter.”

For instance, even though 84 per cent of newsrooms employ zero Indigenous journalists, “of those that do, 74.8 per cent work at either the CBC or the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network.” Likewise, 50 per cent, 40 per cent, and 47.3 per cent of Latin, Middle Eastern and Black journalists, respectively, work at the public national broadcaster.

That means that about nine in 10 newsrooms have no Latin, Middle Eastern or Mixed Race journalists. About nine in 10 have no Black or Indigenous journalists. While Asians are “more prevalent in newsrooms,” the study found, two thirds of newsrooms employ none of them.

“By comparison,” the study states, “just three per cent of newsrooms have no white journalists on staff.”

The study found that some demographics “seem to be overrepresented when compared to the national population level,” including Indigenous (6.4 per cent of journalists compared with 4.9 per cent of the population), Middle Eastern (1.7 per cent compared with 1.5 per cent) and Mixed Race (3.1 per cent compared with 0.7 per cent).

“However, it is important to emphasize that these numbers are driven by just a few newsrooms. Ninety per cent of newsrooms surveyed have no Latin, Middle Eastern or Mixed Race journalists on staff.”

Women, who make up 50.4 per cent of the country’s population, according to 2016 census data, are also at the margins of the industry, the study found, even though the national data shows women journalists outnumbering men (52.7 per cent compared to 46.7 per cent).

That is because most women are working either part-time (61 per cent) or as interns (64.9 per cent). “Among full-time staff, women make up 50.7 per cent of journalists,” the report states, “compared to 48.9 per cent men and 0.4 per cent non-binary.”

The report also found that “84.2 per cent of all white journalists work full time compared to 63.6 per cent of Black journalists and 60 per cent of Middle Eastern journalists. Around three quarters of all Asian, Latin, and Mixed Race journalists work full time. Around 8 in 10 Indigenous journalists surveyed work full time.”

Even at the Toronto Star, which is considered a progressive newspaper often focusing on issues affecting the working class, “68.5 per cent of full-time staff are white, 22.8 per cent are Asian and none are Indigenous,” the report found, based on the Star’s own data.

“The newsroom reported between one and four Black, Latin and Middle Eastern staff.”

(It should be noted that the information is based on the Star’s own “diversified data” which did not “collect specific numbers for certain questions, like the number of Black or Middle Eastern staff, but instead collected ranges.” Therefore, the CAJ did not include their data in the final results).

When asked what they’re doing to encourage more diverse applicants to come forward, some newsroom leaders admitted “no additional steps” are being taken.

Some of the steps that were identified included targeting schools and specific associations representing diverse journalists, posting salaries and creating diverse hiring committees.

In his email statement, Jolly said despite the profession being “under increasing scrutiny and attack,” any long-term solution will require industry leaders working together, transparently.

“While it is incumbent upon all of us to find new ways to tell the complex and important stories of our time, it is also our responsibility to be up to the task of addressing our own strengths and weaknesses with thoughtful reflection.”

Fernando Arce, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, New Canadian Media

All arrested CGL pipeline opponents in northwest B.C. released with conditions

After two days of court hearings, all those arrested from the Coastal GasLink (CGL) pipeline construction site in northwest B.C. have been released with conditions.

Last week the RCMP arrested 29 people from the construction site near Houston, while enforcing an injunction order for CGL and clearing up blockades set up by a Wet’suwet’en group and their supporters.

Among those arrested were Gidimt’en Checkpoint’s key leader Sleydo’ (Molly Wickham ) and two journalists, who were in custody until they appeared in court on Nov. 22.

Some of those arrested, including the journalists were released on Nov. 22, with conditions to comply with the injunction. All of them are expected to reappear in court on Feb. 14.

While non-Wet’sutwet’en members were told to stay out of the injunction zones, those who are Wet’suwet’en can return to hunt, fish, trap and conduct cultural practices. The journalists can return for their work, but were told to be mindful of the previous injunction and keep the peace.

Sleydo’, who was among one of the last to be released on Nov. 23, with similar conditions, was told not to be within 75 metres of any CGL worksites (as opposed to 10 metres for all the others who were arrested).

In the Nov. 23, hearing, Justice Marguerite Church of the Supreme Court of B.C., ordered Sleydo’s release on the condition she appears in court in February.

Even though CGL’s lawyer pleaded to bar Sleydo from returning to the area given past instances where she breached injunction orders, Church said the “blanket exclusion” would prevent her from exercising her constitutionally protected Indigenous rights in those areas.

Church also warned Sleydo’ that violating the conditions of her release would lead to stricter orders in the future.

Upon release, Sleydo’ said in a Facebook video statement, “This injunction has no jurisdiction on our territories, [it is] an inadequate piece of law that has been been used to violate human rights, to violate Indigenous rights, to violate Wet’suwet’en law. It’s not something that should be used when there’s issues of Indigenous land and Indigenous law in dispute with the so-called Canada and the Crown.”

She also said she was removed from her territory “illegally” and called everything that happened since their arrest on Nov. 19 a violation of human rights.

“It was a violation of our human rights, and violation of me as a Wet’suwet’en woman,” she said in the video uploaded by Gidimt’en Checkpoint.

Binny Paul, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Terrace Standard

This company wants to grow billions of corals each year - on land

Based in the Bahamas, Coral Vita is growing coral on land. - Copyright Coral Vita

By Doloresz Katanich • Updated: 23/11/2021 - 

Restoring lost coral reefs and growing more climate-resilient ones is the mission of Coral Vita, a Bahama-based company.

Sam Teicher and Gator Halpern met at Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and soon discovered a shared concern for the dying coral reefs of the oceans.

"I grew up in San Diego, California, where I spent as much time as I could in the ocean and in the waves and my co-founder Sam's been a scuba diver since he was 13 years old," says Coral Vita co-founder, Gator Halpern.

Sam Teicher and Gator Halpern met at Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and co-founded Coral Vita in 2019.Coral Vita

"Even in our relatively short lifetimes, we've been able to see how drastically the ocean environments have changed, especially coral reefs, which have collapsed all around the world."

Scientists battle to save Florida's coral reef from 'mysterious' disease

The livelihoods of one billion people depend on coral reefs, but they are dying rapidly due to climate change. In the last 70 years, half of the world’s reefs have been lost and 90 per cent are likely to disappear by 2050.

Over 25 per cent of all marine species live in coral reefs and they also provide coastal protection from waves, storms, and floods.

"Coral reefs are really the cornerstone of life in our oceans, and therefore in many ways life on our entire planet," says Gator.



What is acidification?

Ocean acidification is one of the main threats to coral reefs.

As the climate changes, the seas are warming, while also absorbing a lot of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, turning our oceans into a huge carbon sink.

But as carbon is absorbed by the world's oceans, it changes the chemistry of the seawater so that it becomes slightly more acidic.

This combination of acidification and rising temperatures threatens the health of coral reefs, placing stress on these unique ecosystems.

This coral 'gardener' in Kenya is helping to restore an ecosystem devastated by global warming

"With our love for the environment, and for the ocean, we decided we couldn't just study the science and watch what was happening. We wanted to try to create a mission-driven company doing our best to address this issue we care so much about."
Can coral reefs be saved?

In May 2019, the pair launched Coral Vita, the world’s first land-based commercial coral farm in Freeport, Grand Bahamas. They have developed a hi-tech farming solution to grow more resistant, diverse coral and restore reefs around the Bahamas and beyond.

They grow 24 different types of indigenous coral, 50 times faster than in the wild, and breed the coral so that it is more resistant to the effects of climate change.

"Growing a dinner plate size coral takes months rather than decades," says Gator Halpern. Coral Vita

Coral Vita’s innovative approach to coral farming was awarded one of the first-ever Earthshot Prizes for environmental innovation, which were launched by the Royal Foundation and Prince William earlier this year.

Coral Vita was awarded the Prize in the 'Revive our Oceans' category and they will receive £1 million (€1.2 million) prize money. This will enable the company to establish a global network of coral farms and grow a billion corals each year.

PROFESSOR SAYS EARTH IS FORMING SATURN-LIKE RINGS MADE OF SPACE JUNK

"EARTH IS ON COURSE TO HAVE ITS OWN RINGS. THEY’LL JUST BE MADE OF JUNK."

FUTURISM

Wretched Garbage Planet

We’ve got a huge space junk problem — and it’s only going to get worse as more and more companies and governments launch satellites, spacecraft, probes, and even tourists into space.

While much of what we send to orbit ends up getting sucked back into the Earth’s atmosphere to burn up, much of it remains — until we figure out how to do something about it.

Things could get so bad, University of Utah professor Jake Abbott predicts that the Earth could soon start looking a lot like Saturn.

“Earth is on course to have its own rings,” he told The Salt Lake Tribune. “They’ll just be made of junk.”

Tractor Beam

According to the European Space Agency, there are an estimated 170 million pieces of space debris larger than one millimeter across already in orbit. Roughly 670,000 of them are larger than about half an inch across.

With companies like SpaceX launching their own massive constellations of broadband-beaming satellites, our planet’s orbit is busier than ever. That means we are also at a greater risk of knock-on collision events that could result in even more, smaller pieces of space junk.

Now, scientists are trying to figure out how to address the problem. Abbott believes one way to swoop up space junk could be using magnets.

By spinning up a magnet at the end of a robotic arm to create special electrical currents called eddies, individual pieces of space junk could be controlled and slowed down, as described in a recent article Abbot published in the journal Nature.

“We’ve basically created the worlds first tractor beam,” the researcher told The Salt Lake Tribune. “It’s just a question of engineering now. Building and launching it.”

READ MORE: Space pollution may soon give Earth its own rings. Has Utah team found a solution in magnets? [The Salt Lake Tribune]

More on space junk: Russia Says Actually It’s Fine That It Blew Up a Satellite, Filled Orbit With Deadly Space Junk

Biofuels investment: ExxonMobil to use algae to commercialise low-carbon fuels development

ExxonMobil to commercialise biofuels from algae technology

The US supermajor is working with biotechnology company Viridos to scale up the feedstock

US supermajor ExxonMobil has signed a joint development agreement with Viridos, a privately-held biotechnology company, to commercialise its low-carbon biofuels projects.

ExxonMobil and Viridos, previously called Synthetic Genomics, have been working together for over a decade, when ExxonMobil opened a greenhouse facility in La Jolla, California, to test algae as a biofuels feedstock.

“Our research with Viridos is one facet of our approach to help society identify and deploy the biofuels needed to reduce emissions from important sectors of the economy, including heavy duty transportation,” said Vijay Swarup, vice president of research and development at ExxonMobil.

“ExxonMobil has supported Viridos in the development of advanced bioengineering tools, and we look forward to further advancements in the research that shows potential to help society mitigate the risks of climate change.

Viridos plans for the algae biofuels to be primarily used in heavy transport, but also in aviation, commercial trucking, and maritime shipping, and hopes the renewed partnership enables other parties to access and advance Viridos’ patented technology.

“The recent productivity advances in Viridos’ technology are an opportunity to turn CO2 into renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuels, providing an essential component for the decarbonization of the heavy-duty transportation industry,” said Dr. Oliver Fetzer, Viridos’ chief executive.

“In this next phase of the program, we intend to broaden participation and invite others to build the ecosystem required for full-scale deployment.”

Viridos’ advancements in emission-reducing biofuels come after the company has made a name for itself since its founding in 2005 through its research and genomes, specifically with transplanting the first genome, synthesising the first bacterial genome and creating the first synthetic cell.

(Copyright)

Chess Is An Esport, According To Twitch Star And Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura

By
Nathan Grayson
9/14/20 

Photo: TSM

Sometimes it’s the small sprinkles of strangeness that stand out the most. If you had told me several years ago that 2020 would bring daily disasters of incomprehensible consequence, I probably would have believed you, because we’ve been trending in that direction for a while now. The idea of an esports organization signing a chess grandmaster, however, would have at least gotten a “Wait, what?” In hindsight, though, Hikaru “GMHikaru” Nakamura’s decision to sign with TSM makes perfect sense. Thanks to the recent efforts of Nakamura and other chess streamers, Twitch is reshaping the 1,500 year-old game in its own image.

Nakamura, 32, partnered with TSM a couple weeks ago and is one of the 20 best chess players in the world. He became a grandmaster at age 15, when most of us had barely grandmastered the art of wearing deodorant. He’s been streaming on Twitch for a couple years, but he stepped up his efforts in March and began collaborating with big-name streamers like Felix “xQc” Lengyel, among many others. Nakamura’s combination of teacherly wisdom, galaxy-brained skills, and uncommon expressiveness (relative to other, more placid chess experts) resonated with Twitch viewers. This kicked off a late-spring/early-summer chess boom that drew countless big-name streamers into its orbit.

Nakamura and other chess streamers like Alexandra Botez capitalized by training Twitch personalities and pitting them against each other in tournaments that were legitimately thrilling to watch. Streamers like the aforementioned Lengyel and former League of Legends pro Joedat “Voyboy” Esfahani grew as players in real time, flexing mental muscles they didn’t know they had. It made for compelling viewing not in the standard “fish out of water” sense where a streamer mines failure for comedy, but in a way that allowed streamers to legitimately surprise themselves and commentators with their newfound skills.

Months later, chess is no longer reaching the ridiculous highs of its early-summer explosion, but thanks to the efforts of Nakamura and other chess streamers like Botez, GothamChess, and Hearthstone-turned-frequent-chess streamer ItsHafu, among many others, the ancient game has become a modern Twitch mainstay. Sometimes, this means increasingly skillful (but still relatively inexperienced) Twitch stars competing in Nakamura’s trademark “PogChamps” series. Other times, like over the weekend, it means top-level events featuring Nakamura and other grandmasters like Magnus Carlsen and Garry Kasparov. Nakamura’s partnership with TSM, a major esports organization with teams in games like League of Legends and Valorant, is a natural evolution of this melding of cultures (and monetary interests)

Speaking to Kotaku in a recent interview, Nakamura said that he feels like this was all bound to happen. While chess spectatorship has moved online in the past five or so years, covid-19 expedited the process by forcing even the biggest competitions onto the internet. When paired with a sudden influx of Twitch viewers and culture, this has, in Nakamura’s estimation, transformed chess into an esport.

“Due to the fact that there have not been over the board competitions, there have been major competitions online,” Nakamura told Kotaku over a Discord voice call. “So when you have major online competitions combined with just the whole explosion of chess on Twitch, I think chess is definitely an esport and, going forward, there are gonna be a lot of high level competitions that will be held online. Maybe it’s not a traditional esport yet, but I think it will be within the next 6 to 12 months.”

This might sound like heresy to some in both the chess and esports communities, but it makes perfect sense to Nakamura considering technology’s role in chess’ recent evolution.

“When you look at the progression of modern chess over the last couple hundred years, it’s a game where you had a lot of decisive results,” he said. “You had one player winning or you had these great periods of dominance by certain players. Whether that was because they were able to study better or were more naturally talented at the game, you can kind of argue on that point... But now the game, because of technology, has become a more even playing field. Computers have helped teach everybody the same things, because we all use the same programs to study the game of chess.”

But for a while, according to Nakamura, many high-level chess games meandered toward ties, which made them slow and sloggy to watch. However, with chess now evolving away from that tendency thanks to faster variants like blitz chess, it has transformed into a game with clearer win/loss stakes—the same sorts of stakes that catapulted similarly complex games like Dota 2 and League of Legends into the esports limelight.

“I think this is one of the biggest breakthroughs,” Nakamura said while explaining the rationale for his belief that chess is an esport. “Because you have winners and losers, more people will follow it even if they can’t necessarily understand what exactly is going on. You see a winner, you see a loser. You don’t see games end in ties anymore, or not as much at least. And I think that’s one of the biggest catalysts in terms of the interest in these online competitions.”“When you have major online competitions combined with just the whole explosion of chess on Twitch, I think chess is definitely an esport.”

While chess was not engineered to be an esport the way an increasing number of modern games have been, it does have one leg up on many competitive video games: teaching tools are built into the software. The structure of games often informs the way streamers turn them into content, and in chess’ case, teaching is a key link in that DNA chain. That is, in large part, why Nakamura was able to grow his audience so rapidly, and he thinks that if more chess players follow his example, the game will be able to carve out a formidable esports niche.

“The study tools that exist for chess do not exist for Valorant or League of Legends,” Nakamura said. “It’s very easy to instruct and help out people who are newer to the game, whereas in something like League, what happens is you just shit on everybody, and it’s hard to explain what is going on to someone who’s new to the game... That’s something I dislike about a lot of these games: Yes, you can go to the shooting range in Valorant, but that’s it in terms of practice. You have to learn by playing the game. With chess, [teaching] is something you can do whether you’re competing in real time or just going over it.”

He added that when streamers like Lengyel and Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek first started playing chess, their instinct was to just charge into matches head-on and learn through attrition, like in video games. They pretty quickly ran into brick walls, Nakamura said, because they did not spend much time trying to learn from others before doing. This, Nakamura believes, is demonstrative of the differences between chess and more traditional esports—of an area where new, cutting-edge games could learn from one that’s been around the block a millennium’s worth of times.

This dynamic leads to a multitude of thorny contradictions: On one hand, chess has spent centuries perceived as an elitist sport, an intimidating game associated with legacy and high culture. It bears scars from the lashes of that history to this day; despite chess’ enormous potential for novice-friendly streams and competitions, big chess events have tended to assume expertise from their audiences—with impenetrable commentary to match. On the other hand, digital chess’ barrier to entry is actually lower than that of many traditional video games. On platforms like Twitch, teaching has become part of playing thanks to ease of access to study tools. So Twitch, which in turn has gatekeeping issues of its own that include impenetrable commentary but also plenty of other homegrown barriers (just try being bad at a video game in front of a Twitch audience, I dare you), has nonetheless become a gateway for people who might have once found themselves interested in chess, only to get scared off by the cultural moat surrounding it.


Unsurprisingly, these contradictions have led to friction. Nakamura says that the chess community has heaped judgement on him for spending so much time streaming and tutoring relative novices like Lengyel, even as the realities of post-covid existence have forced it to appeal to a less monolithic online crowd.

“There are some people who have said certain negative things about PogChamps or about some of these streamers who are attempting to play chess, and they’re obviously not at the same same level,” Nakamura said. “It’s [a product of] the culture of chess having been around so long and sort of having this prestige as being something where you have to be really smart to play... If over-the-board tournaments happen again down the road, I do expect for there to be a certain negative reaction from the super-elite players and organizers in the chess world toward what I have done, because I think a lot of people still don’t see it the same way as I do.”

Nakamura believes, though, that the chess world is going to have to embrace a broader range of people and personalities if it wants to ride this wave of success into a new era.

“10 or 15 years ago, I had this mentality of very much, like, trash talk and in your face kind of stuff. That’s never really been something that’s been accepted in the chess world. You’re supposed to be proper,” he said, noting that though he thinks he’s personally matured past that, the sort of trash talk you’d hear in an esport like CSGO would be a big no-no in chess. “There’s a certain glorifying of chess players that were viewed as superheroes. And when you’re viewed like that, it’s very hard to come off that pedestal and be relatable or try to give back to people who are not as good at the game as you are. This can be attributed to what we call chess elitism, so I think you need more personalities. And now there are quite a few other streamers, both grandmasters and even players who are a little below grandmaster, but I think personality plays a very big role.”“If over-the-board tournaments happen again down the road, I do expect for there to be a certain negative reaction from the super-elite players and organizers in the chess world toward what I have done, because I think a lot of people still don’t see it the same way as I do.”

But of course, being a Twitch personality comes with its own challenges: dealing with the constant scrutiny of viewers and subreddits like Twitch highlight reel/kingmaker/drama farm Livestreamfail, for one. Once upon a time, in the halcyon days of March, every LSF comment on a Nakamura clip was a glowing testament to his unique brand of wholesomeness, and he opened up on stream about how much more accepted he felt in the Twitch community than among fellow chess grandmasters. These days, however, some viewers (especially those on LSF) accuse him of being arrogant or overly sensitive, or swarm on moments of perceived animosity between Nakamura and other streamers. Nakamura says that he tries to avoid drama, but sometimes it’s hard not to read the comments—many of which he attributes to people within the chess community. In truth, though, this happens to almost every streamer who experiences a sudden popularity explosion. While “familiarity breeds contempt” is far from a universally true adage, it’s certainly the case in a social media ecosystem that facilitates “engagement” through drama and controversy.

Moreover, while Twitch can help more people learn chess, gatekeeping is built into the more personality-driven side of the platform; only the most dedicated fans can hope to be aware of everything a streamer has done across multi-hour streams nearly every day of the week, but there’s still an expectation of long-term cultural literacy—of meme understanding and historical knowledge. The Twitch and esports scenes have opened chess up to a new world of possibilities and acceptance, but also to new problems and forms of toxicity, as well

Photo: Chess.com

Still, Nakamura is optimistic. He thinks if he continues to play his pieces right, more good things can come of this. He noted that multiple major esports organizations contacted his agent about signing him, and that they’re looking to sign other chess players as well. He expects more signing announcements soon and, hopefully, a chess league made up of endemic esports teams down the line.

“Long term, I’m really hoping that there will be some sort of chess league, or there will be various competitions between the organizations in the future, and I do believe that’s gonna happen based on what I’ve heard,” he said.

Of course, esports is its own minefield, with dubious financials and underpaid, overworked players a-plenty. Nakamura, admittedly still a newcomer to the esports world, is going to have to overcome a lot of deeply ingrained institutional biases from both the chess and esports scenes if he wants to realize his idealized vision for chess’ future. But, if nothing else, it’s a really nice vision.

“I think that if things are done correctly, chess has a very viable path as being an esport that’s not just for the very top players in the top events,” he said, pointing to the success of PogChamps, functionally an amateur-level tournament, as an example, “but across all different ranges, whether it’s super-strong players, complete beginners, or even strong amateur players.”