It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Monday, January 24, 2022
Former SpaceX colleagues join forces to build autonomous freight train cars, which aim to boost efficiency and ease supply-chain pressures
ztayeb@businessinsider.com (Zahra Tayeb) 1 day ago
Former SpaceX engineers are building self-driving, electric freight train cars, CNBC reported.
The LA-based startup, Parallel Systems, raised $50 million in a Series A funding round. The system is made up of autonomous, electric rail cars that work to transport shipping containers.
Three former SpaceX engineers are teaming up to build autonomous and battery-electric freight train cars.
The trio consists of CEO Matt Soule and co-founders Ben Stabler and John Howard. They have named their new Los Angeles-based startup Parallel Systems and it has raised $50 million in a Series A funding round, according to Fast Company.
In an interview with CNBC, Soule highlighted the energy efficiency of freight trains in comparison with trucks. He told the outlet that rail does have "operational and economic limits," because of "the way that it is architected." But, he added, "if you can break through those barriers and allow rail to serve more of these markets — that's the opportunity."
In an interview with Design Boom, Soule said: "Our business model is to give railroads the tools to convert some of the $700 billion US trucking industry to rail. The parallel system can also help alleviate the supply chain crisis by enabling low cost and regular movement of freight in and out of ports."
The system is made up of self-driving electric rail cars, which work in pairs to transport standard shipping containers, according to the company's website.
Each unit can also join up with others or split off to their destination alone, which offers a key advantage in reducing waiting times that are linked to loading long freight trains, per Design Boom.
Parallel Systems isn't the only company recently created by former SpaceX engineers. Benson Tsai, who worked at Elon Musk's company for five years, said in an interview with Insider that he launched a pizza-making robot startup, Stellar Pizza, with two former colleagues.
Mayor of London announces ambitious plans to tackle poor air quality and carbon emission
A new report commissioned by the Mayor of London, which is being called a stark wake-up call for the UK government, outlines the scale of the action required to move London towards a greener future.
A new report published on 18 January 2021 by Element Energy, commissioned by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, sets out the scale of the action required to move London towards a greener future and net-zero carbon emissions by 2030.
The new analysis shows that more action will be required by City Hall, particularly around reducing vehicle use in London, but that the Mayor does not have the funding or powers to deliver everything that’s required alone. Khan is calling the report a stark wake-up call for the UK government on the need to provide much greater support to help London to reach net-zero by 2030 and to help the UK to reach its national target, which was announced before COP26.
Combatting transport emissions in London
Between 2000 and 2018, London achieved a 57 per cent reduction in workplace greenhouse gas emissions and a 40 per cent reduction in emissions from homes, but just a seven per cent reduction in emissions from transport.
In order to reduce transport emissions by anywhere close to the amount that will be required to clean up London’s air, achieve net-zero by 2030 and cut congestion, the capital will have to see a significant shift away from petrol and diesel vehicle use and towards walking and cycling, greater public transport use and cleaner vehicles. At the moment, just two per cent of vehicles on the roads in London are electric.
The Mayor has already taken ground breaking action to tackle toxic air, carbon emissions and congestion in the capital by introducing and then expanding the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) and tightening Low Emission Zone (LEZ) standards – which is expected to lead to a five per cent fall in CO2 emissions from cars and vans in the zone and a 30 per cent cut in toxic nitrogen oxide emissions from road transport. But the new report shows how much more action is required.
The cost of inaction
The Mayor has said that the cost of inaction – to the economy, livelihoods, the environment and the health of Londoners – would be far greater than the cost of taking the necessary action to transition to net-zero and reduce air pollution.
In 2021, London saw the impact of the climate emergency first-hand with soaring temperatures and flash floods in the capital. City Hall analysis has shown that, if extreme temperatures and flooding get worse, a quarter of London’s rail stations, one in five schools, nearly half of London’s hospitals and hundreds of thousands of homes and workplaces will be at risk of flooding in the future.
The capital has seen a shift to driving during the pandemic, with the cost of congestion rising to over £5 billion in 2021, leading to gridlocked roads and toxic air pollution. The number of miles being driven in the capital has increased in recent years, despite statistics showing that more than a third of car trips in London could be made in under 25 minutes by walking, and that two-thirds could be cycled in less than 20 minutes.
The toxic air pollution being caused by London traffic is leading to nearly 4,000 premature deaths a year and children growing up with stunted lungs. The action already committed by the Mayor will reduce the number of air quality-related hospital admissions by one million by 2050, helping to save the NHS and social care system approximately £5 billion. However, if no additional action is taken to reduce air pollution beyond the existing polices, around 550,000 Londoners would develop diseases attributable to air pollution over the next 30 years and the cumulative cost to the NHS and the social care system is estimated to be £10.4 billion.
The Mayor believes that this is also a matter of social justice – with air pollution hitting the poorest communities the hardest. Londoners on lower incomes are more likely to live in areas of the city most badly affected by air pollution and least likely to own a car. Nearly half of Londoners don’t own a car, but they are disproportionally feeling the damaging consequences that polluting vehicles are causing.
Potential sustainable initiatives
The report sets out that, to achieve anywhere near a 27 per cent reduction in car vehicle kilometres, London will need a new kind of road user charging system implemented by the end of the decade, at the very latest. Such a system could abolish all existing road user charges – such as the Congestion Charge and ULEZ – and replace them with a simple and fair scheme where drivers pay per mile, with different rates depending on how polluting vehicles are, the level of congestion in the area and access to public transport. Subject to consultation, it is likely that there would be exemptions and discounts for those on low incomes and with disabilities, as well as consideration around support for charities and small businesses.
The Mayor recognises that London could benefit from more sophisticated types of technology to introduce this kind of simple, fair road user charging scheme and has therefore asked Transport for London (TfL) to start exploring how it could be developed. However, it’s clear that the technology to implement such a scheme is still years away from being ready.
Given the urgency of the climate crisis and the damaging impact of toxic air pollution, the Mayor believes that bold action must be taken now. As a result, the Mayor has announced that he is considering a number of policies that could be ready within the next few years to encourage Londoners and those who drive within London to shift from polluting cars to electric vehicles, public transport and sustainable active travel, such as walking and cycling.
The potential approaches under consideration are:
Extending the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) even further to tackle more of the dirtiest vehicles: extending the current zone beyond the north and south circular roads to cover the whole of Greater London, using the current charge level and emissions standards
Modifying the ULEZ to make it even more impactful in reducing emissions: building on the existing scheme by extending it to cover the whole of Greater London and adding a small clean air charge for all but the cleanest vehicles
A small clean air charge: a low-level daily charge across all of Greater London for all but the cleanest vehicles to nudge behaviour and reduce the number of short journeys by car Introducing a Greater London boundary charge, which would charge a small fee to non-London registered vehicles entering Greater London, responding to the increase in cars from outside London travelling into the city seen in recent years.
The Mayor and TfL will now begin a period of consultation with Londoners, local government and businesses about the way forward to achieving the clean, green and healthy future that London and the world desperately needs.
All options under consideration would be subject to full equality impact assessments, with mitigations and exemptions put in place for Londoners on low incomes and with disabilities being a key focus of any scheme development. The Mayor is determined to deliver a just transition to net-zero in London by not only making sure that those on lower incomes are always protected, but by ensuring that the wider benefits of moving to a green economy – including more jobs, lower fuel bills and better health outcomes – are felt by everyone, particularly the poorest and most disadvantaged in London.
Subject to consultation and feasibility, the chosen scheme would be implemented by May 2024.
A statement from the Mayor of London
Credit: Greater London Authority
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “This new report must act as a stark wake-up call for the government on the need to provide much greater support to reduce carbon emissions in London. It’s clear that the scale of the challenge means that we can’t do everything alone.
“But I’m not willing to stand by and wait when there’s more that we can do in London that could make a big difference. We simply don’t have time to waste. The climate emergency means that we only have a small window of opportunity left to reduce carbon emissions to help to save the planet and, despite the world-leading progress that we have made over the last few years, there is still far too much toxic air pollution permanently damaging the lungs of young Londoners.
“This is also a matter of social justice – with air pollution hitting the poorest communities the hardest. Londoners on lower incomes are more likely to live in areas of the city most badly affected by air pollution and least likely to own a car. Nearly half of Londoners don’t own a car, but they are disproportionally feeling the damaging consequences polluting vehicles are causing.
“We have too often seen measures to tackle air pollution and the climate emergency delayed around the world because it’s viewed as being too hard or politically inconvenient, but I’m not willing to put off action that we have the ability to implement here in London. I’m determined that we continue to be doers, not delayers – not only to protect Londoners’ health right now, but for the sake of future generations to come.
“It’s clear that the cost of inaction – to our economy, to livelihoods, to the environment and to the health of Londoners – would be far greater than the cost of transitioning to net-zero and reducing toxic air pollution. That’s why I’m today beginning a conversation with Londoners, local government and businesses about the best way forward to create the green, sustainable city we all want to see.”
Tent city residents promised shelter at a B.C. hotel evicted for not paying rent
Some homeless residents who were offered shelter at one of B.C.’s single-occupancy hotels in Vancouver have been told they have as little as 24 hours to pay rent or vacate.
Fawn Auger, a tenant of B.C. Housing’s program at the Patricia Hotel was scrambling to pack up her belongings Friday after an eviction notice was slipped under her room’s doorway the previous day.
She held up the notice that stated she owed $3,562.50 in unpaid rent. “You have 24 hours to pack all your belongings and leave,” states the handout from Atira Property Management, the company B.C. commissions to operate the hotel.
“I don’t have anywhere to go,” said Auger, who initially relocated to the city from Edmonton in 2016 to attend college for visual art. “I’ll have to go back to sleeping in a tent. haven’t been able to apply for Income Assistance, I don’t have ID.”
The 30-year-old is one of nearly 300 people the province said it assisted to move indoors from Strathcona Park, where they relocated after the Vancouver Port Authority won a court injunction forcing tenters to leave CRAB Park in April.
Auger, along with others offered supportive housing, say they were told by B.C. Housing outreach workers enlisted to help them that the cost of the hotel would be covered for the first six months of the program.
“Given the urgent need to quickly and safely house people sheltering at Strathcona Park, outreach workers offered indoor spaces to everyone at the park even if they were not receiving government assistance,” B.C. Housing said in an email Friday.
“Once everyone was housed, non-profit staff worked to connect individuals to the appropriate income assistance and rental payment programs.”
However, a wave of evictions continues to sweep tenants of the Downtown Eastside hotel, purchased by the province for $63.8-million in April, back out onto the streets.
“I feel like I was led into a trap,” said tenant Inga Trotskaia, who was ordered to vacate the Patricia on Aug. 8.
Nearly four months after she settled into her room, the 32-year-old was started by an eviction notice taped to her door. Its words gave her a 10-day ultimatum: pay rent or vacate.
“I ended up signing another repayment plan with Atira, which now has me paying $500 a month for 20 months,” she said.
B.C. Housing maintains that, at this time, Atira is not evicting tenants from the Patricia due to non-payment of rent.
However, eviction notices at the hotel seen by Postmedia gave nonpayment of rent as the reason.
Downtown Eastside housing advocates have been vocal about the rent mix-up.
“It seems to be quite a pattern,” said Fiona York. “People were told by outreach workers when they moved into the hotel from the park that they didn’t have to pay for six months but then they got presented with bills for back rent.”
Some tenants who had been handed 24-hour eviction notices have refused to leave the hotel, choosing to instead barricade themselves in their rooms with their belongings.
“I built a community here, I can’t leave,” said one of them, Sasha, who asked that his last name not be used, fearing retaliation.
In an email statement, B.C.’s Housing Ministry told Postmedia the hotel has a rental rate of $375 a month, which is “provided directly through government assistance and residents do not incur a direct cost.”
Of the 297 people housed from the homeless encampment in Strathcona Park, 37 have been evicted so far for reasons the ministry said it couldn’t disclose due to privacy concerns.
A group of landholders and Indigenous land users is voicing its opposition to new provincial trespassing legislation in Saskatchewan, saying it infringes on treaty rights.
The Trespass to Property Amendment Act says that as of Jan. 1, anyone who wants to access a rural landowner's (WHITE FARMER) property for recreational purposes needs written, electronic or oral consent from the owner.
That affects people who use private rural property for activities like hunting, fishing, hiking or snowmobiling.
The legislation is opposed by the Treaty Land Sharing Network — a group of farmers, ranchers and other landholders who aim to provide a safe space for Indigenous people to use the land for their own practices. The network currently includes more than 4,000 acres (about 1,600 hectares) of land across Saskatchewan.
The group says its aim is to work together with Indigenous peoples to share land in the way that the treaties envisioned — but the new trespassing legislation runs in opposition to that work. "The Trespass to Property Amendment Act further criminalizes Indigenous people practising their way of life and exercising their treaty and inherent rights by requiring them to obtain permission from each landholder prior to accessing land," the network said in a press release Thursday. Without permission from the landowner, Indigenous people accessing land may be subject to penalties including fines up to $25,000, or jail time up to six months.
Last month, Justice Minister and Attorney General Gordon Wyant said his government "worked hard to balance the rights of landowners in rural Saskatchewan with those of recreational land users."
But the network says "by undermining access to land, the amendment threatens Indigenous food sovereignty, language revitalization, and Indigenous relationships and responsibilities to the land."
The inherent right of Indigenous people to move freely through their territories "was affirmed during the signing of the numbered treaties, and is fundamental to other inherent and treaty rights including hunting, fishing, trapping, gathering, and practising ceremony and culture," the network says.
CBC News reached out to the province on Friday for a response to the Treaty Land Sharing Network's criticism.
Joellen Haywahe, a network member from the Carry the Kettle First Nation, told CBC the legislation impedes on her treaty rights.
The new legislation was meant to address criminal concerns, she says, but ignores the traditional needs of Indigenous peoples such as "hunting, fishing, trapping, gathering, and then our own ceremony practices or language training ... taking the kids out onto the land."
"The Treaty Land Sharing Network hopes it helps people see that not everybody wants to go and steal. On our own lands, our medicines are running short ... our game is running short," said Haywahe.
Haywahe said she understand that people want to protect their property from theft.
"I get everybody is a little bit weary of their property being stolen on because we're the same way out here. We have outfitters coming out here to our own lands and they're going and killing game. Now that's taking away from our food sovereignty too." Barrier to relationship building
Joel Mowchenko, a network member who farms near Mossbank, southwest of Regina, told CBC that the new legislation is a barrier that stands in the way of farmers like himself building relationships with Indigenous land users.
"It stands in the way of trust being built between the two groups," said Mowchenko.
He said he hopes that by speaking out against the trespassing legislation, the Treaty Land Sharing Network can help people think about the rights of Indigenous people and learn about treaties.
But he said the legislation won't stop the work that the Treaty Land Sharing Network does.
"We are going to continue building relationships. We're going to continue exploring ways to share the land. But it makes it harder to build those relationships. I really feel it sends the wrong message. And it's a step in the wrong direction."
Mowchenko said that land sharing is a win-win situation.
"Some Indigenous land users come and harvest some sage from our native prairie. And then in the process, I've been able to learn about the different types of sage and the different practices of Indigenous peoples," Mowchenko said.
"They've also pointed out different features of the land that we farm and different things that would have been used in different ways by Indigenous people in the history. So we're both coming out ahead in that and it's been a fantastic experience."
Municipal leaders question Alberta government push to fund provincial police force
Alberta municipal leaders say rather than investing hundreds of millions of dollars into a provincial police force, the government should focus on increasing funding to address the major drivers of crime.
Alberta Municipalities, formerly the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association, held a virtual summit Wednesday night on the future of policing in the province, with more than 400 local government officials, including mayors, councillors and chief administrative officers.
President Cathy Heron said in an interview Friday with Postmedia locally elected officials agreed tackling mental health, addictions, and homelessness would help solve a lot of issues related to crime.
“That could happen under an RCMP model as well. So, the question should not be ‘Who is delivering policing in Alberta?’ The question should be, ‘What does that look like? And how is it delivered?’ ” said Heron.
A PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report commissioned by the government concluded that dumping the RCMP in favour of a provincial service would cost Alberta approximately $200 million more annually and come with a $366-million price tag at least for the transition, but could provide better service, more officers on the ground, dedicated mental health nurses and social workers.
However, Heron noted that social work and health care is a provincial responsibility, which raises concerns for municipal leaders, many of whom fear costs will be downloaded onto their cities and towns.
Premier Jason Kenney has repeatedly promised the province, not municipalities, would pay any extra costs.
“We should at least look at the possible benefits of rural Alberta experiencing the same kind of local community policing as Edmonton and Calgary and some of the mid-sized cities in Alberta,” Kenney said at the November convention of the Rural Municipalities of Alberta.
The idea of creating a provincial police force was one of the Fair Deal Panel’s 25 recommendations, despite the panel finding that only 35 per cent of Albertans supported the idea.
Heron said municipal leaders had a long list of unanswered logistical questions on top of their financial concerns, including how police commissions would be appointed, and what authority local councils and commissions would have.
Alberta’s government plans to hold 70 meetings with law enforcement organizations, municipal and Indigenous governments, and public safety organizations such as victim services and rural crime watch groups.
The National Police Federation, the union representing RCMP members, is also making a public push across the province with its consultation efforts. Heron said she’s encouraging her colleagues to attend both.
“When we did our analysis of the PwC report, we just ended up with more questions. So, we’re going to enter these engagement sessions hoping to get answers. That’s the transparency we’re calling for,” said Heron.
In March, Alberta Municipalities is expected to ratify the associations’ position for or against a potential provincial police service at a leaders caucus meeting.
Heron said she would push for a referendum on the issue, and for all Albertans who have a stake to get a vote, including those in cities like Calgary and Edmonton.
The Justice Ministry did not provide a response to Alberta Municipalities’ statements as of press time Friday.
KENNEY LIED I AM SHOCKED Braid: Details of Madu phone call were known to premier's closest staff in March 2021
Don Braid, Calgary Herald 1 day ago The burning new question about Justice Minister Kaycee Madu’s phone call to a police chief is who knew about it, and when.
Key people in Premier Jason Kenney’s inner circle, those right at the centre of power, knew what had happened within a couple of days of the minister’s call to Chief Dale McFee of the Edmonton Police Service.
Kenney said Thursday: “I do recall at some point last year hearing that minister Madu had gotten a ticket, had paid for it.”
He added that he wasn’t fully briefed on “the call and the details” until this past Monday, after the CBC’s Elise von Scheel and Janice Johnston broke the story.
Madu was issued the $300 ticket for distracted driving in a school zone on March 10, 2021. Shortly afterward he called the chief.
That much is publicly acknowledged now, including Madu’s continuing denial that he deserved to get a ticket. He said his cellphone was in his pocket.
(Interestingly, all ministers have three cellphones: one ministerial, another for constituency matters and a personal phone.)
Very quickly after the call between Madu and McFee, staff were trying to figure out how to handle this. Environment and Parks Minister Jason Nixon, a key political adviser to the premier, discussed the matter with Pam Livingston, then Kenney’s deputy chief of staff, now the chief.
Nixon also talked to Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver.
Other key people were told directly what had happened, apparently with details of the chief’s reaction to the call.
They included Larry Kaumeyer, who at that point was Kenney’s chief of staff, and Matt Wolf, his issues manager. After learning the details, they both talked to Madu.
Both Kaumeyer and Wolf have since left the government.
Word also spread quickly across the Edmonton Police Service. Lobbyists who deal with the government were asking staff about it.
Some reporters got wind of the call but weren’t able to confirm facts until the CBC finally nailed it, 10 months later.
Was Kenney briefed in this period right after Madu called the chief?
I haven’t spoken to any source who can say definitely that he was.
But at the same time, they say he should have been told about a matter so sensitive and potentially damaging. Most find his explanation vague in the extreme.
The call became a joking matter as word spread around the government, but there was always a recognition that it was serious business.
A justice minister who calls a police chief about a penalty issued to him personally is way over the red line that is supposed to protect police from political interference. Madu’s other issues — racial profiling, even his suggestion that he was being improperly watched — are very important subjects in another forum, including the legislature or during a policy review.
But not when the minister has just received a ticket; even if, as Madu says, he did not ask for it to be rescinded.
In the end, it appears that Madu was told to pay the ticket. The government would then let it ride, hoping the call to McFee would never become public.
There was another way, of course. Kenney could have announced immediately that the minister made a big mistake and fire him; or, as now, suspend him while investigating.
Kenney would at least have earned credit for dealing with it quickly and openly.
That kind of open approach is essential to every successful government. But it doesn’t seem to be in this outfit’s DNA.
Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Calgary Herald.
The Omicron wave has reached Alberta. Case numbers are higher than they have ever been and we are only catching a small fraction of the actual impact. Despite the exploding case numbers, the once encouraging slogan of “we’re all in this together” is gone. Instead of hearing about togetherness, we’re being told that we need to “just live with it.” Tests are in short supply, supports for workers have been drawn down, and businesses remain open despite the risk of spread.
True, widespread vaccination has changed the game some. Vaccination rates are high in Canada and vaccinated people are well-protected from severe disease and death. However, immunocompromised people are still very vulnerable and young children are still not able to get vaccinated.
As a working parent of a three-year-old, those concerns sit in the back of my head every day. Like many, I feel as though I’ve been left on my own to figure out what to do about this current wave. As a sociologist studying how vulnerable groups like people with disabilities have been managing during the pandemic, it’s clear that many people have been left behind in this pandemic. How have we gotten here?
Understanding this journey requires considering how inequality is structured and how this relates to policy — central areas of my research at the University of Alberta.
Considering structures of society shows us that we have never actually been “all in this together.” If we were really all in this together, why have billionaires increased their wealth while others struggle to pay their mortgages and inequality has grown? Why did Canadian CEOs continue to receive astounding bonuses in 2020 when workers struggled? Why do some countries have vaccination rates above 80 per cent while others hover around 10 per cent? Why are COVID-19 mortality rates twice as high in racial minority neighbourhoods in Canada? Why has it become so acceptable to simply write off people with disabilities?
One thing has been very clear since the beginning of the pandemic — some groups are better able to shield themselves from the virus than others. We live in a stratified society where certain groups continually receive better access to important resources, opportunities, and rewards at the expense of other less advantaged groups. The pandemic, especially with the spread of Omicron, amplified these disparities, posing a higher threat to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 — and governments have not given this fact enough consideration within policy.
COVID-19-related policy has never explicitly aimed to decrease inequality or address stratification across groups. Some policies like the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) helped to limit the growth of inequality, and others have helped to protect those with the least. Most, however, have focused on getting people back to work and making sure businesses don’t lose profits.
In the case of COVID-19, “just live with it” brings us back to a message that fits with other ongoing policy in Canada and many other nations. Since the 1980s, power has shifted toward businesses and owners above workers, resulting in fewer supports for people outside the labour market. Recent pandemic policy is no different.
So, what do people do when governments don’t support them?
They turn toward community. They turn toward each other. This is where I see hope. This is where people have taken the slogan of “we’re all in this together” to heart. In Edmonton, we see it in the ongoing work of organizations like Boyle Street and YESS and the Co-ordinated Youth Response jointly undertaken by organizations during the pandemic. We see it among the public sector workers — doctors, nurses, teachers, essential workers — supporting each other and standing up against attempts to undermine the sector.
Crises like a global pandemic are shocks to our systems, our way of doing things. They show us the flaws and the faults in our ways. In doing so, they can show us a new path forward. In order to move forward, we must commit to change at all levels. We don’t have to “just live with it.”
Dr. Michelle Maroto is an associate professor of sociology at the University of Alberta. A specialist in social stratification and policy, she’s a speaker at this year’s International Week.
Lockdowns, staff shortages and 'warning shots': inmate describes desperate situation at Edmonton Max during COVID's fifth wave
Jonny Wakefield
21/01/2022
Edmonton’s maximum security prison is dangerously short-staffed and descending into violence, an inmate said in a desperate appeal to a provincial court judge Friday.
Aaron Moore, an inmate at Edmonton Institution, appeared in Drumheller provincial court Friday to be sentenced for stabbing an inmate during a brawl last year at the city’s federal prison.
When given a chance to address the court, Moore detailed for Judge Bruce Fraser how conditions inside Edmonton Institution have worsened since he was transferred there in August.
Appearing by video from a conference room in the lockup, Moore said that addictions programming, educational opportunities and out-of-cell time have all fallen by the wayside as the prison grapples with staffing troubles.
Moore also said he witnessed a Jan. 8 fight in which three inmates were injured, one of whom remains in hospital. Moore claimed a correctional officer fired an “assault-style” rifle during the altercation.
“I witnessed officers dragging an inmate’s non-responsive body,” he said. “I fear for my life here, as do the staff.” ‘Burnt right out’
James Bloomfield, prairies regional president with the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers, said persistent, region-wide staffing shortages have been exacerbated by COVID’s fifth wave.
“There are lockdowns, and we are managing movement within the institution based on staffing levels,” he said.
“Today we have 12 people off due to COVID-related reasons,” he added. “Everybody is burnt right out. Overtime is being ordered, people are being forced to stay (at work).”
The flareup is the latest in the troubled history of Edmonton Max, which many consider to be among the worst prisons in Canada. Multiple reports have been written on its “toxic” workplace , and as of 2020 Edmonton had the worst rates of inmate-on-inmate assault, use of force by corrections staff, and self-harm by inmates.
CCTV image showing inmates at Edmonton Institution throwing food at “protected status” inmates, in a photo published by Canada’s correctional investigator in 2020.
Jill Shiskin, Moore’s lawyer, said she has repeatedly run into problems reaching clients at Edmonton Institution due to the frequent lockdowns. Moore’s own hearing was delayed a week after court staff were unable to reach the prison.
After Fraser said there was little he could do about the conditions of Moore’s confinement, Shiskin said Moore’s statement was intended to put “on the record the conditions people are currently facing in Edmonton Max.”
Bloomfield said Edmonton Institution is well below its full staff complement of 266 correctional officers. Before COVID-related absences, the prison was operating with a staff of about 210. Around 50 positions are unfilled, while another 50 staff are on leave for WCB-related issues.
He said that has led to the scaling-back of classroom and group programming intended to help prisoners reintegrate.
“It creates a lot of tension within the walls, when you have to adjust routines to match your staffing,” he said.
The situation came to a head on the evening of Jan. 8, when a fight broke out between two inmates. According to Correctional Service of Canada spokesman Jeff Campbell, both inmates were taken to hospital after the fight. One was returned to the prison that night, while the other remains in hospital.
During the fight, correctional officers attempted to “de-escalate” the situation by firing “impact munitions” and “warning shots,” Campbell said. He was unable to immediately clarify whether the warning shots were live ammunition. A third inmate who was uninvolved in the fight suffered scrapes that did not require further medical attention.
Edmonton police continue to investigate the fight, a spokesperson said Friday.
Moore said he hopes to one day return to Drumheller, where there is a GED program, as well as Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous meetings.
He said he has seen numerous violations of Bill C-83, which was intended to eliminate the use of solitary confinement in federal prisons. Since the beginning of January, inmates on Moore’s unit have received the mandated four hours out of cells a day on just four occasions, he said. On the remaining days, they have been confined to cells for all but 15 minutes.
Fraser agreed to sentence Moore to an additional three months for his role in the stabbing, which he called “extremely lenient.” Shiskin said provocation and self-defence would have been issues had the case gone to trial.
Her Toronto bookstore unionized in the middle of a pandemic. Now, she hopes others will join her
Vanessa Balintec
In the years leading up to the pandemic, Greta Whipple often wondered what would be the last straw that forced her to leave her part-time customer service job at Yorkdale shopping centre's Indigo book store.
There were many things that frustrated her, including stagnant wages and the fear management could lay her off at any time. But she thought if she went somewhere else, things wouldn't be any better.
"I can't tell you the number of times … I contemplated a shift, but I really had the feeling that that would just be lateral," said Whipple, 25. "You're dealing with the same stuff under a different brand."
Then came COVID-19.Whipple realized she no longer felt safe at work wearing insufficient PPE and running the risk of dealing with customers who refused to wear masks.
But instead of leaving, she helped spearhead the unionization effort at her store last summer, following in the footsteps of at least five other Indigo stores in Canada where employees unionized.
Whipple is now among 35,000 members represented by United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1006A, which deals with workplaces such as grocery stores, retail shops, restaurants and more.
"COVID-19 was the straw that broke the camel's back," said Whipple. "We locked down in 2020 [and 2021] and people had the time away from work. I think coming back, it sort of woke them up."
The percentage of workers who belong to unions throughout the country has held steady — before and during the pandemic —hovering at over 30 per cent for about a decade, according to Statistics Canada.
But while public sector workers are highly unionized at 77.2 per cent as of 2021, only 15.3 per cent of their private sector counterparts belong to unions, down from 21.3 per cent in 1997.
Jim Stanford, the director of the Centre for Future Work, a research institute in Canada and Australia, says industries like retail, hospitality and manufacturing are reckoning with the reality that their employees, who traditionally aren't unionized, may be looking to unionize to improve their working conditions.
"If you do a poll and ask workers, 'Do you want the protection of wages and benefits and pensions that come with a union contract,' the majority will say yes," said Stanford, a former economist and director of policy with Unifor, the largest private sector union in Canada.
"It's more the legal and operational hurdles that have to be overcome in order to form a union in the face of very aggressive management opposition."
Stanford says some of those hurdles include rules governing unionization campaigns and certification votes. Another barrier is employer intimidation, something he says governments don't do enough to stop, even though it's illegal.
For Lyndsay Craine, one of 110 new members from The Salvation Army York Housing and Support Services who unionized with UFCW Locals 175 & 633 in December, unionization seemed within reachafter COVID-19 showed the importance of her work.
"I don't feel that it's an us-against-them situation," the program services case worker said of the relationship between the Salvation Army and its employees.
"But I believe that we're coming at it from two very different perspectives … so it was necessary to create a situation where the people who [have] their feet on the ground and [provide] direct service have a greater say."
Over the pandemic, support services have been dealing with a worsening opioid, homelessness and mental health crisis leading to long service wait times and barriers to in-person treatment.
"Advocating for ourselves became essential to our ability to advocate for our clients," said Craine.
According to Lesley Prince, director of organizing at UFCW Local 1006A, the local has seen "strong interest" from many retail workers.
"Since late 2020, workers at four book stores and eight retail cannabis stores in Ontario have voted to join UFCW 1006A," wrote Prince in an email to CBC News. "We see this trend continuing in 2022 as workers seek a meaningful voice on the job."
The Ontario Chamber of Commerce and the Toronto Board of Trade declined to comment on the effect of unionizations on businesses
Whipple says while a collective agreement is still in the works, the immediate difference in morale is immeasurable.
"I think the reason why so many of us have stayed at Indigo for so long is because we do like the work — we just don't like how disrespected we are," said Whipple, who says union dues are capped at about $11 a week.
"Knowing that we finally have somebody in our court to vouch for us, it makes it way more tempting to stay."
In response, Indigo says the unionization of its Canadian stores does not mean workers are benefiting from "higher wages, vacation, paid sick-time, health benefits or guaranteed hours."
"With the automatic deduction of union dues, unionized employees' take-home pay is actually less. Even with a minimal tax deduction the loss of income can be substantial," wrote Madeleine Lowenborg-Frick, Indigo's director of corporate communications, in an email.
"We respect our employees' right to seek third-party representation, but we prefer to have a direct relationship with them."
The Salvation Army wrote in an email to CBC News that it will "respect the voting process, result and look forward to better understanding the concerns raised" and working toward a resolution.
Stanford says despite the cost of paying higher wages and betterbenefits,employers should realize unionization can help them attract and retain employees in the long run.
"A union gives workers a safe, predictable channel to express their opinions and to challenge management decisions that they see as arbitrary or unfair" Stanford said.
"Sometimes that makes all the difference in your work experience."
Major disaster averted in icy Kara Sea after two oil barges ran aground The two barges went on rocks near the northern tip of the Vaygach Island.
Russia’s Marine Rescue Service describes the unprecedented salvage operation as "extremely difficult" as ice was rapidly building up on the structures of the barges in the freezing cold polar night. The environmental group Bellona now calls on a ban on transporting fuel oil during icy Arctic winter months.
“There was a real threat of an ecological catastrophe comparable to the emergency near Norilsk,” is the wordings used by Rosmorrechflot, the Federal Agency of Marine and Rivertransport, when informing about the until now unreported incident with two oil barges that ran aground at the northwestern tip of the Vaygach island on November 24 last year.
One of the two huge barges contained 7,000 tons of diesel fuel, while the other was loaded with 170 tons of kerosene (paraffin).
Both barges were towed by the same sea tug, the “Pak“ operated by Lena River United Shipping Company based in Yakutia.
Sudden freeze-up
Destination for the two barges is not disclosed, but supplies of fuel oil to Russia’s remote Arctic regions are normally taking place during autumn with departure ports like Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. Last fall, however, saw a sudden freeze-up and quickly accumulating sea-ice on the Northern Sea Route, including the Kara Sea.
Vaygach, where the two oil barges ran aground, is the island separating the archipelago of Novaya Zemlya from the mainland, most known for the Kara Gate, the western entrance to the Northern Sea Route between Europe and Asia.
When the distress call was made, the tug with the barges was sailing in stormy winds, waves, drifting ice and polar darkness, Rosmorrechflot informs. The salvage tug “Beisug” was at the moment in the Kara Gate and came to the site of emergency after only 35 minutes.
Then, the two oil barges MN-4001 and MN-4002 were already on the rocks. Two other rescue ships were sent to the site with additional equipment. Later, also a support vessel departed from Murmansk to join the rescue operation.
Rescuers had a hard time cracking the ice that had built up on the deck of the barges. The ice cover was about 30-50 cm thick, according to information published by Russia’s Marine Rescue Service last week.
Two months in shadow
It is unclear why it took nearly two months from the accident happened till information was made public. One reason could be that the rescued barges first last week were delivered to port in Severodvinsk in the White Sea and the danger of any spill now is over.
It is local newspaper Severny Rabotchy that informed about the arrival of the barges to Severodvinsk.
The rescue operation was very difficult and the crew of the salvage vessels were working around the clock to avoid a major oil spill in the fragile Arctic marine environment.
Pulling the barges off the rocks was considered unsafe. This would certainly have led to additional and massive damage to the barge hulls with a guaranteed spill of oil products, the rescue service said.
Work was further complicated by limited depths, windy weather, waves, shifting ice, temperatures down to minus 20 degrees Celsius and constantly icing on the barges. The rescue workers had to manually break the ice to gain access to hatches and other structures and to reduce the weight of the barges.
Diving inspections revealed that the ballast tanks on both barges were pierced. Two tankers came to the site and about 5,000 tons of the diesel fuel were reloaded.
The first barge was removed from the rocks during December, soon followed by the other.
Vaygach Island in summer. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
After additional diving inspections, a plan was made on how to tow the barges to a safe port. The towing operation is described as taking place in “extremely difficult ice conditions”, it got “repeatedly stuck” in dense ice, with ice fields at some places with a thickness up to one meter. The crew had to fight rapidly icing on deck during the towing operation through the eastern part of the Barents Sea and the White Sea to Severodvinsk near Arkhangelsk.
Thanks to competent, well-coordinated actions by the marine rescuers they managed to prevent an environmental disaster in Russia’s Arctic zone, the emergency services concluded.
Deeply worried
Sigurd Enge, an expert on Arctic shipping and marine environment with the Bellona Foundation in Oslo, is deeply worried about what happened.
“It is only luck that this didn’t ended in a disastrous oil spill,” he said in a phone interview with the Barents Observer.
“It clearly shows that the Northern Sea Route is not ready for year-round sailings. Towing barges with fuel oil are seriously jeopardizing the Arctic environment. We can’t base emergency preparedness on luck,” Sigurd Enge said.
Sigurd Enge is advisor on Arctic and shipping with the Bellona Foundation. Photo: Thomas Nilsen
Enge has first-hand experiences from younger days in Arctic waters with shrimp fishery north in the Barents Sea, around the archipelago of Svalbard.
“Icing on vessels happens very quickly,” he explains. “In worst conditions, sea spray icing occurs when freezing cold wave-generated spray comes in contact with any structure on the boat.”
“Seawater can freeze to ice on the deck within seconds,” he noted.
In December 2020, icing was believed to cause the sinking of the Russian fishing vessel “Onega” near Novaya Zemlya in the eastern Barents Sea. Only two of the 19 crew members were rescued.
Sigurd Enge said that danger of icing makes towing and emergency navigation especially hard.
“You can’t sail against the wind. That will create even more spray that freezes on the vessel.”
“We in Bellona strongly recommend imposing a ban on towing barges with fuel oil in icy waters, especially during polar night,” Sigurd Enge said.
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