Alberta plan to phase out all COVID-19 restrictions reckless: public health faculty

EDMONTON — Faculty members from the University of Alberta School of Public Health, saying it could prolong the pandemic, are voicing strong opposition to what they call the rapid relaxation of COVID-19 health measures in the province.

In an open letter sent to Premier Jason Kenney and top-ranking United Conservative officials, about 25 experts with varied experience in public health, infectious diseases and social epidemiology say the government is using selective data to support its policies.

"We know and agree that restrictions have had deleterious effects on our society. However, this extreme back and forth of on-again, off-again restrictions only serves to prolong the course of this pandemic," the letter reads.

"We cannot tell what the future will hold, but the history of other pandemics, our immediate experience with Omicron and the fourth wave, and the wealth of evidence should teach us that a cautious, slow easing of restrictions would be the prudent way to proceed."

Premier Jason Kenney announced earlier this week a phased, but speedy approach to dropping all pandemic health measures. Kenney said the threat of COVID-19 to public health no longer outweighs the damaging impact of restrictions.

Alberta's vaccine passport is already a thing of the past and masking requirements for children 12 and under, as well as for all students, are to end Monday. Most remaining measures are to be lifted in March should pressure on hospitals continue to ease.

Steve Buick, press secretary to Health Minister Jason Copping, said the letter released Friday gives a "distorted view" by ignoring that other jurisdictions in Canada are taking similar approaches.

"Restrictions take a heavy toll on society, from workers earning modest wages in service businesses to students who have seen their education compromised by the change to online classes. The letter takes an unbalanced view, with almost no acknowledgment of that impact," said Buick in a statement.

"The letter calls for restrictions to continue but distorts the basis for them. The justification for restrictions is to prevent the health system from being overwhelmed. That has not happened."

COVID-19 hospitalizations decreased by 20 to 1,566 Thursday with no significant changes to intensive care admissions. The seven-day average positivity rate was about 32 per cent.

The letter says the province's plan is reckless when waning immunity after two vaccine doses, slow uptake for booster shots and lagging vaccination of children are considered.

It says it's time to expand vaccine mandates to include third doses, rather than ditch them altogether. The group also expresses concerns that the government is removing the freedom of municipalities, post-secondary institutions and school boards to make their own decisions.

Education Minister Adriana LaGrange told school boards Tuesday that they will not be able to bring in their own mask mandates. Advanced Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides similarly informed post-secondary schools that he expects them to return to pre-pandemic rules when more measures are expected to be lifted March 1.

That phase would see an end to keeping students in cohorts at schools, capacity limits and the indoor mask mandate.

Letter co-author Dr. Simon Otto, who specializes in epidemiology and infectious diseases, said in an interview that he is concerned government decisions are being driven by politics rather than all available evidence-based data.

"We speak from a position of expertise," he said. "We're training the next generation of public health professionals and we train them to think in this way, so we really feel it's important for the government to hear from us."

Otto said the government should release the data it is using to guide its decision-making and be more transparent with the public about crafting COVID-19 policies.

"Ignoring the evidence and dismissing the concerns and fears of parents, students and educators is a dangerous and irresponsible overstep by the government," the letter says.

"Now is absolutely not the time to make these drastic changes."

— By Alanna Smith in Calgary

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 11, 2022.

The Canadian Press

LABOUR NEWS ALBERTA TELL KENNEY TO KEEP COVID PROTECTIONS

The pandemic is not over but this week, Kenney announced he was removing the vaccine passport immediately and masking rules for students in Alberta schools and children under 12 on Monday. At the same press conference, Dr. Deena Hinshaw reported 1,623 people in hospital with COVID-19, including 129 in intensive care, and 13 people died in the past 24 hours, yesterday, 22 people died. 

Action

Demand safe schools in Alberta!

The relaxing of school safety protections by the UCP government is premature and the AFL is partnering with Support our Students Alberta on an email tool to demand that the Alberta government adopt a more rational approach to ensure schools are safe for every child and education worker!  

Tell Kenney to keep COVID-19 protections in schools until hospitalizations are down and ventilation is improved. Take action.

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News

Alberta health care workers call on their fellow citizens to help them push back against the UCP’s reckless decision to prematurely remove COVID-19 protections

The following joint statement released was today from a coalition of Alberta health care unions:

“On behalf of the more than 75,000 health care workers who we represent in Alberta, we want to express our profound concern about the provincial government’s recently announced plan to end the vaccine passport program, remove mask mandates in schools and begin treating COVID-19 as another seasonal illness like influenza. We believe these decisions are premature, reckless and irresponsible. We have no doubt they will lead to increased illness, disability and death. We also think they were clearly based on political considerations, rather than on science or the kind of concern for the public good that citizens should reasonably be able to expect from their governments. Read more.

 

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Alberta's plan to remove COVID-19-related restrictions: What you need to know

Albertans are no longer required to show proof of vaccination under the first step of the provincial government's three-part plan to phase out most public health measures by March 1.

Premier Jason Kenney, Health Minister Jason Copping and Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw laid out the plan Tuesday, saying hospitalization trends will be monitored as restrictions are relaxed.

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Alberta businesses wrestle with fate of vaccine passports

Some entrepreneurs worry ditching the system too quickly could lead to another resurgence in cases — mirroring the province’s reopening of the economy last summer — and potentially trigger more public health measures down the road.

Labour leaders say they’re concerned with the province taking steps to end the vaccine passport at this point.

“Removing these protections will make workplaces less safe,” said Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan. “This is all about politics.”

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Listen to AFL President Gil McGowan talk about the "freedom convoy" on Global radio 770 CHQR & read his statement: 

The authoritarian bullies who are terrorizing Ottawa do NOT represent Alberta workers

“On numerous occasions over the past week, the so-called “Freedom Convoy” has been portrayed as an uprising of ordinary Canadian workers, particularly truckers. I want to make it clear that the people who descended on Ottawa this weekend – and who continue to essentially occupy and terrorize the city – are in no way, shape or form representative of the vast majority of working Canadians or Albertans, including truckers. 

The workers who I know and represent are at work today, not intimidating innocent citizens or rubbing shoulders with known white supremacists and other extremists. Instead of supporting what’s going on in Ottawa, all but a tiny sliver of Canadian workers are doing what they do every day: providing health care, educating our children, making our cities and municipalities work, producing and moving goods, working on construction projects, stocking shelves, serving customers and doing the myriad of other things that make our economy run."  Read more. Listen to radio interview.

'They Are Firing the Entire Committee!' Memphis Workers Say Starbucks Targeting Union Organizers

"The arc of Starbucks' union-busting is long, but it bends toward losing," said Starbucks Workers United.



Nikki Taylor, a shift supervisor at the Poplar and Highland Starbucks in Memphis, Tennessee, was one of numerous workers fired by the coffee chain for what they say are their union organizing efforts. (Photo: More Perfect Union/YouTube/screen grab)

BRETT WILKINS

February 8, 2022

Workers at a Memphis Starbucks who were fired Tuesday after launching a unionization effort vowed to carry on their fight, with one employee invoking the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.—who was assassinated in the Tennessee city while campaigning for workers' rights.

"Starbucks has been fighting desperately to silence us because we did not back down or let them shake us."

"I was fired by Starbucks today for 'policies' that I've never heard of before and that I've never been written up about before," Nikki Taylor, a shift supervisor at the Poplar and Highland store, said in a statement.

"This is a clear attempt by Starbucks to retaliate against those of us who are leading the union effort at our store and scare other partners," she added. "Starbucks will not get away with this—the entire country will be outraged."

Taylor tweeted: "This is an outrage! They are firing the entire committee!"

Beto Sanchez, another shift supervisor at the store, said that "Starbucks has been fighting desperately to silence us because we did not back down or let them shake us."

A Starbucks representative told The New York Times that the workers were fired for violations including allowing at least one reporter inside the store to conduct an after-hours interview in which some of the employees were unmasked.

Starbucks Workers United, which is representing company employees seeking to unionize at various locations around the country, said that "in their most blatant act of union-busting yet, Starbucks is retaliating against the union organizing committee at the Poplar and Highland store after they allowed the media to conduct interviews in their store after hours."

The group added that "Starbucks is using policies that have never been enforced, such as going behind a counter when a partner is not officially working, to fire workers. Starbucks chose to selectively enforce policies, that have not previously been consistently enforced, as a subterfuge to fire union leaders. Many of these workers did not have any prior offenses or write-ups."

Starbucks Workers United said it would file charges against the company at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Last year, an NLRB administrative judge found that Starbucks had illegally retaliated against two baristas at a Philadelphia Starbucks who sought to unionize.

According to the NLRB, the judge, Andrew Gollin, "found that Starbucks closely monitored their public social media activity, attempted to gauge employees' support for the employees' efforts, and unlawfully spied on protected conversations one of the employees initiated with coworkers."

The agency added that Gollin "concluded Starbucks retaliated against the employees and discharged them in an attempt to quell the organizing drive."


The Memphis terminations come amid a wave of unionization efforts at dozens of Starbucks locations around the nation.

The Poplar and Highland workers chose January 17, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, to launch their unionization drive. King was assassinated in Memphis in 1968 while participating in a sanitation workers' strike. The store employees are demanding higher pay—including a minimum wage of at least $15 an hour—better working conditions, and improved Covid-19 safety precautions.

"This store is a family, and an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. We as partners should not be afraid to speak to the media, to organize our stores, or to fight for our right to have a union," said Sanchez, noting that King "was killed in our very city while fighting for the right to organize a union."


"We have no intentions [of] backing down or wavering," Sanchez added, "and we're ready for the rest of the community and other stores to join us in our fight for workers' rights."

Paid Leave for All: Worker Advocates Demand Expanded Protections

"The call for paid leave has never been clearer or louder from all corners of our country," said a pair of Senate Democrats marking the 29th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act.


A woman works at a distribution station at the 855,000-square-foot Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island, one of the five boroughs of New York City, on February 5, 2019. (Photo: Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images)


ANDREA GERMANOS

February 5, 2022

Economic justice advocates and Democratic lawmakers on Saturday issued fresh demands for comprehensive paid leave for the nation's workers, saying such protections would address crucial gaps in labor law that the ongoing pandemic has underscored.

The calls came on the 29th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which provides eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave to care for a new child or take care of one's own or family member's illness. But, worker advocates say, the groundbreaking law is sorely insufficient, because the leave is unpaid and FMLA doesn't cover all workers.

"It's been 29 years today since the FMLA was passed—the first federal protection for people to take time off work when they need it most. But about 10.5 million need leave and don't take it," tweeted the National Women's Law Center.

"All workers should not only be covered," the group added, "but be able to afford to take their leave."

The House Education and Labor Committee similarly noted that "millions of workers are not eligible for FMLA. And unpaid leave is not practical for most Americans."

"We must build on the FMLA by expanding access to PAID leave for workers across the country," the panel added.

Such expansion would also help advance racial equity.

According to NARAL Pro-Choice America: "The 44% of Americans not covered by the FMLA include 48% of Latinx workers, 47% of AAPI workers, and 43% of Black workers. Every American should be covered by the FMLA."


In a Friday statement, Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who heads the Senate's Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) said the lack of guaranteed paid leave is especially problematic in light of the ultra-contagious Omicron variant.

"American parents still can't take paid time to care for a seriously ill child. Patients can't take paid time to recover from surgery or cope with a cancer diagnosis. And workers with a cold, the flu, or even Covid-19, can't take the time to get well and keep their coworkers safe—because they would risk losing a paycheck or even their job," said Murray and Gillibrand.

Related Content

Calls for Paid Leave Grow as Workers Face 'Vicious Cycle': Their Jobs or Covid Safety

In addition to harming families and the economy, the pair said the absence of paid leave and sick days is "hurting our ability to fight this pandemic. If we want to stop the spread of Omicron, be ready for whatever this pandemic brings next, and prepare for future public health crises—then we need paid leave."

Pointing to recent polling showing overwhelming public support for such protections, the lawmakers added that "the call for paid leave has never been clearer or louder from all corners of our country" and urged their congressional colleagues to help enact such a measure.

President Joe Biden, for his part, said in a Saturday tweet marking the FMLA anniversary that he is "committed to continuing the fight for national paid family and medical leave."

That vow was welcomed by Center for Economic and Policy Research co-director Eileen Appelbaum, who expressed hope Biden would "push for it when bills to provide it are introduced in the Congress."

"People are desperate for paid leave," she said, calling it "policy that is needed and popular."

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.

Advocates urge Biden to grant clemency to Leonard Peltier

by Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan

February 10, 2022

President Biden must take action, granting long overdue clemency to Leonard Peltier after close to half a century in prison for a blatantly political prosecution.

Leonard Peltier is a 77-year-old Anishinabe-Lakota Native American activist imprisoned for 46 years for a crime he says he did not commit. Amnesty International calls him a political prisoner. Peltier recently contracted COVID-19 inside the Coleman maximum security federal penitentiary in Florida, where prisoners have reportedly been denied vaccine booster shots.

“In and out of lockdown last year at least meant a shower every third day, a meal beyond a sandwich wet with a little peanut butter—but now with COVID for an excuse, nothing,” Peltier recently wrote. “No phone, no window, no fresh air—no humans to gather—no loved one’s voice. No relief. Left alone and without attention is like a torture chamber for the sick and old.”

Peltier, a member of the American Indian Movement, was convicted of involvement in the killing of two FBI agents, Jack Coler and Ron Williams, in a shootout on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota on June 26th, 1975, during a period of intense violence on the reservation. Peltier’s arrest and trial were marred by prosecutorial misconduct, withheld evidence, coerced and fabricated eyewitness testimony, and more.

The shootout occurred just three years after the death of J. Edgar Hoover. Under Hoover, the FBI engaged in widespread illegality with its COINTELPRO program, directed against civil rights and antiwar organizations. Groups like the Black Panthers and individuals including Martin Luther King, Jr. were targeted for surveillance, disruption, infiltration, intimidation, and false prosecutions. The FBI intensively targeted the American Indian Movement, which was active protecting elders on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

Peltier’s attorney, Kevin Sharp, learned that Peltier had a negative COVID test recently, but not much more: “When will boosters be made available? Any changes in prison COVID protocols to ensure prisoners are safer? When can I speak to Leonard? ” Sharp wrote in an email to us Wednesday. “I was earlier denied a call with the Assistant Warden trying to get these answers.”

Sharp’s route to Peltier’s case was unusual. Nominated to the federal bench by President Obama in 2011, he served as a federal judge in Tennessee for six years, three of them as Chief Judge. In 2017, he resigned, denouncing the mandatory minimum sentences that he was forced to impose. He then worked for the release of Chris Young, who he had mandatorily sentenced to life without parole. TV personality Kim Kardashian got involved, and they won clemency for Young from President Donald Trump. Publicity from that prompted long-time Peltier supporter Connie Nelson, the ex-wife of musician Willie Nelson, to send Sharp information on Peltier’s case.

“I sat down to read the stacks, just reams of information on Leonard’s case, not really coming at it with any preconceived notion… looking at it from the viewpoint of a federal judge,” Sharp explained on the Democracy Now! news hour. “What I saw was shocking. The constitutional violations just continued to stack up. I was outraged that this man was still in prison.”

The movement for executive clemency for Peltier peaked in late 2000, as President Bill Clinton was leaving office. Clinton promised to give Peltier’s clemency application “a looksee” on WBAI radio in New York City, when he called us on election day to get out the vote.

Clinton infamously abused the presidential power of clemency, granting pardons to campaign donors and cronies of his half-brother, among others. He denied clemency to Peltier, as did his successors, Presidents George W. Bush, Obama and Trump.

One of the federal prosecutors who put Peltier in prison spoke out, in 2017. “Leonard Peltier’s conviction and continued incarceration is a testament to a time and system of justice that no longer has a place in our society,” retired U.S. Attorney James Reynolds wrote to President Obama. “I have realized that the prosecution and the continued incarceration of Mr. Peltier was and is injust.”

Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii, who chairs the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, wrote a letter to President Biden on Jan. 28. “I write to urge you to grant a commutation of Leonard Peltier’s sentence. Mr. Peltier meets appropriate criteria for commutation: (1) his old age and critical illness, (2) the amount of time he has already served, and (3) the unavailability of other remedies,” Schatz wrote.

On February 2nd, HuffPost reporter Jennifer Bendery asked White House press secretary Jen Psaki, “Does the President know who Leonard Peltier is?” Psaki replied, “I’m sure he does, but I have not discussed it with him.” Bendery also asked Senate Judiciary Committee chair Sen. Patrick Leahy about Peltier. Leahy said he would ask President Biden about Peltier in their upcoming private meetings.

President Biden must take action, granting long overdue clemency to Leonard Peltier after close to half a century in prison for a blatantly political prosecution.

This column originally appeared in Democracy Now!

 

Fighting with Tools: Prefiguration and Radical Politics in the Twenty-First Century (Rethinking Marxism, 2015)

Mathijs van de Sande

299 Views18 Pages

1 File ▾

Social Movements,

Anarchism,

Antonio Negri,

Mikhail Bakunin,

Autonomous Marxism

 ...more ▾

This article conceptualizes some of the political practices and discourses that characterize recent protest movements such as Occupy and the Indignados. These movements’ strategies are distinguished by the central role they give to the occupation and recomposition of public spaces and also by their refusal to engage with representative politics and public institutions. Critics argue that this so-called strategy of withdrawal illustrates a categorical misunderstanding of the political. But as notions such as “withdrawal” or “exodus” give only a rather partial account of these movements’ practices and discourses, this paper aims to introduce an alternative, contemporary concept that has a much stronger explanatory potential: “prefiguration” or “prefigurative politics.” In order to flesh out and apply this concept, it reconstructs the political ontologies of two radical traditions that significantly influenced more recent protest movements—namely, early anarchism with its antithetic dialectics (Mikhail Bakunin) and contemporary autonomist Marxism (Antonio Negri).

Anthropology and the Social Factory

Stephen Campbell

2018, Dialectical Anthropology

417 Views13 Pages

2 Files ▾

Anthropology,

Antonio Negri,

Operaismo

Show more ▾

Since its birth in the early 1960s, Italian operaismo (workerism) has provided an optimistic reading of working-class militancy, a theoretically stimulating account of capitalist transformation, and a set of highly productive conceptual categories. Despite a shared provenance, however, operaista-influenced movements and theorists have since taken these categories in quite varied directions. Given this conceptual heterogeneity, I consider herein one such category—the “social factory”—and its conceptual reworking by Antonio Negri, as he elaborates in his 2017 book, Marx and Foucault. I employ, as means to pursue this inquiry, an anthropological lens—drawing, to do so, on anthropological theory and ethnographic research. My aim is to build toward to a reconception of the social factory analytic for use in a contemporary anthropology of state formation.

Judge grants City of Edmonton interim injunction for downtown protest convoys

Emily Mertz and Caley Gibson - Yesterday

The City of Edmonton applied for and was granted an interim injunction on Friday in regards to the noise from downtown protest convoys that have taken place around the Alberta legislature and 109 Street the last two Saturdays.

Drivers in the convoys have been showing their opposition to a number of issues, mostly to do with public health measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read more:
Ottawa asks Superior Court for injunction against trucker convoy protesters

In a special council meeting Friday afternoon, city manager Andre Corbould told councillors that an Alberta Court of Queen's Bench Justice granted the city's request for a temporary injunction "to address nuisance noise from vehicles that participate in protests against public health restrictions," under Section 554 of the Municipal Government Act.

He said it would apply to prohibiting protesters from creating incessant sound with horns and megaphones.

A news release from the city said: "the injunction compels people who are organizers, participants or drivers involved in a protest convoy of vehicles or farm equipment to refrain from sounding vehicle horns, airhorns or other noise-making devices from creating unnecessary noise within the city.

"The city sought this injunction after witnessing and hearing from residents and businesses about the effects of noise during protest convoys on Jan. 29 and Feb. 5."

City officials said they believe another protest will take place Feb. 12.

"We fully support the right to peaceful protest," said Mayor Amarjeet Sohi. "When that protest impacts nearby people and businesses to the degree that the well-being of individuals is compromised or a business cannot operate, we must take action.

"As a legal measure that prohibits certain behaviours or actions, an injunction was a reasonable step that allows the city to also support those Edmontonians who want to carry on with daily life.

"The people of Edmonton have been through so much over the last two years, this was one way we could stand up for their right to peace and quiet."

Sohi said the temporary injunction will give bylaw and police officers "added tools" to enforce the noise bylaw.

"I also hope it sends a message to protestors that what they're doing is breaking the law and there's an injunction in place to prevent them from doing what they're doing.

"If they're going to protest, they have to protest peacefully."

Sohi said the city has heard from a lot of downtown residents, including seniors, who felt disturbed by the loud horns and scared to go outside their homes.

The injunction is in effect immediately until March 4, 2022.

Read more
Trucker protest: Judge grants injunction against honking in downtown Ottawa

On Monday, an Ontario judge granted a 10-day injunction to prevent protesting truckers in downtown Ottawa from honking their horns incessantly.

That same day, Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson told Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Doug Ford that the city needed 1,800 more officers, in addition to his current contingent of 2,100 police and civilian members, to “quell the insurrection” the local police cannot contain.

An injunction is a court order that a person cease certain behaviour. If they don’t comply, they can be charged with contempt of court.

Paul Champ, a lawyer representing central Ottawa residents in a proposed multimillion-dollar class-action lawsuit, argued the loud and prolonged honking is causing irreparable harm.

Keith Wilson, representing three of the respondents in the case, told the judge the ruling on the injunction would carry national importance.

Read more:
Injunction granted to prevent protesters from blocking Ambassador Bridge

Councillors were meeting Friday to discuss possibly implementing a local COVID-19 vaccine passport, what that would look like and what implications it might have.

Video: Injunction considered against anti-mandate protesters

Earlier Friday, the Edmonton Police Service issued a media release saying it is aware of another convoy planned for the city on Saturday.

Police said convoys may be coming from various parts of the province, convening at the Alberta legislature grounds. The convoys are anticipated to affect Edmonton traffic anywhere between 10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Significant traffic disruption may include Anthony Henday Drive, Yellowhead Trail, Stony Plain Road, Whitemud Drive, Gateway Boulevard, Walterdale Hill, Queen Elizabeth Park Road and the downtown core.

"We recognize that these demonstrations cause significant disruptions to traffic and create many concerns for residents and businesses," the EPS said.

The EPS said policing during public demonstrations is a complex task that includes upholding multiple laws, while balancing fundamental rights set out in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The EPS said it will continue to work with municipal and provincial partners to ensure proper resources are in place to manage traffic and crowds, while preventing situations from escalating.

Police urged people not to call 911 unless it is an emergency.

The EPS said it may use verbal warnings, tickets and arrests to mitigate any disorderly conduct.

"Our focus will be to prevent these convoys from developing into situations that actively threaten the safety and security of our community. We are closely monitoring this demonstration and are ready to adapt our response as required."

When asked how the injunction would impact EPS' response, a spokesperson told Global News:

"The EPS will continue to work with its municipal and provincial partners to ensure proper resources are in place to manage traffic and crowds and prevent situations from escalating," Cheryl Voordenhout wrote.

"The injunction will be incorporated into these enforcement strategies."

Video: Ontario under state of emergency as police prepare for third weekend of convoys

-- With files from Mike Blanchfield and Laura Osman, The Canadian Press

 

Global Gender Gap in Unpaid Care: Why Domestic Work Still Remains a Woman’s Burden

February 12, 2022

In the brief Global Gender Gap in Unpaid Care: Why Domestic Work Still Remains a Woman’s Burden, the author reviews the literature on both the economic and sociological factors which perpetuate the pattern of gender disparity in unpaid domestic care work. The author also summarizes the “recognize, reduce and redistribute” policies which could be adopted to help address the problem.

The policy brief includes country reports on gender gap in unpaid domestic care in Armenia, Belarus, Georgia and Ukraine. It was published by The Forum for Research on Eastern Europe and Emerging Economies (FREE Network).

Download

• FROGEE POLICY BRIEF 4 Insights from Armenia
• FROGEE POLICY BRIEF 4 Insights from Belarus
• FROGEE POLICY BRIEF 4 Insights from Georgia
• FROGEE POLICY BRIEF 4 Insights from Ukraine

EU4GENDEREQUALITY

RETURN OF THE NORTHWEST COMPANY
Federation fur company promises to get Métis trappers back on lines
Thursday

Over a year in the planning, the Manitoba Metis Federation (MMF) is taking the next step in revitalizing the Red River culture and way of life.

First it was about the music and getting more than 3,500 kids fiddling and promoting square dancing. Then it was about providing economic support to artisans in the form of grants and purchasing the high-quality products to sell in the MMF store locally, nationally and internationally. Now, it’s about the trappers.

“I have a passion for history and culture and just our nation in general. This is part of the evolution of our nation and we kind of got pushed out of the market many, many moons ago,” said MMF President David Chartrand.

Come spring, the new Red River Métis Fur Company will purchase muskrat and beaver pelts from Métis trappers and pay them an above-market price. As the year goes on, the furs of other animals in season will be purchased.

The Red River Métis Fur Company has committed $1 million to purchasing those furs.

The fur industry for Métis trappers has taken a beating over the years, says Chartrand. Animal rights and environmental activists have campaigned against trapping. Fur farms have grown in numbers. Farmers and ranchers have killed coyotes and other predators to keep their properties clear.

“This has impacted the way we trap and do things,” said Chartrand. “We want to give (the trappers) not only the opportunity to practise something they love to do, their traditions, but to at least give them a chance to make some money. We’ll buy from them and then we’ll worry about selling them.”

Local Métis artisans will get first priority for the furs to create beaver mitts or muskrat hats and other products.

Working with artisans and trappers, points out Chartrand, is about creating microbusinesses. He believes local economies will benefit from small businesses more than any large business.

MMF is also investigating overseas markets for fur sales, with possibilities existing in countries like Turkey, Russia and China.

To ensure the environment and species are protected, a quota-based system will be put in place, which will limit how many animals of each species Métis trappers can take. Chartrand says those numbers will be easy to track, pointing out that trappers will be aware of when their lines are coming up empty in specific fields.

“We always want to make sure the trapper has something to trap and at the same time ensure a balance in the environment,” said Chartrand.

While the MMF’s goal is to give Métis trappers the opportunity to renew their culture and gain economically, if there aren’t enough furs coming in, Chartrand says he will speak to local First Nation trappers, set quotas and purchase their furs.

There will also be grants in place through the MMF for trappers to purchase traps.

Chartrand says the MMF is also looking at “getting the traditional hide back.” He says many artisans would prefer to work with moose, elk or deer hide instead of cow hide. However, the present price for those traditional hides is low.

The MMF is also considering the bead market. Beads are becoming scarce, says Chartrand, and are an important part of the Métis culture. Métis are known as the Flower Beadwork People. The MMF will either consider purchasing a “massive amount of beads” or developing a company that will make their own beads.

“I’ve been talking about traditional economies and figuring out how to do it for at least 20 years. I’m so proud as a Métis government that we have the resources economically now to do our part. To make sure we give a hope to our trappers, a hope to our culture and way of that life, that we do not give it up. That is part of who we are and that will carry on for centuries to come,” said Chartrand.

Windspeaker.com

By Shari Narine, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker.com, Windspeaker.com

Founded in 1779, the North West Company was a major force in the fur trade from the 1780s to 1821. Managed primarily by Highland Scots who migrated to Montréal after 1760, or came as Loyalists escaping the American Revolution, it also drew heavily on French-Canadian labour and experience. The name first described Montréal traders who in 1776 pooled resources to reduce competition among themselves and to resist inland advances of the Hudson’s Bay Company.

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/north-west-company

Sen. Bernie Sanders warns of 'drumbeats' of war in Washington


Sen. Bernie Sanders gave a speech on the Senate floor Thursday expressing grave concern over the "drumbeats" of war building in Washington, D.C., amid escalating tensions along the Ukrainian border.

Sanders, I-Vt., the de-facto leader of the Democratic Party's progressive wing, which had kept relatively quiet on the issue to this point, pleaded with government officials to not follow a similar path of past military conflicts.

"I'm extremely concerned when I hear the familiar drumbeats in Washington, the bellicose rhetoric that gets amplified before every war, demanding that we must 'show strength,' 'get tough' and not engage in 'appeasement'," said Sanders, who has, in the past, led the charge to defund the war in Iraq and to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan.


Bernie Sanders leaves the Capitol following a vote on January 31, 2022

 in Washington, DC.

The senator focused on the "unintended consequences" that have resulted from previous American military involvements and the way wars have been portrayed in the lead up to those conflicts.

"They [wars] rarely turn out the way the planners and experts tell us they will. Just ask the officials who provided rosy scenarios for the wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq, only to be proven horribly wrong," Sanders said.

Sanders reaffirmed his support for the pursuit of a diplomatic solution with Russia, the latest attempts of which have been led by French President Emmanuel Macron, who met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy separately this week.


Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President

 Emmanuel Macron attend a joint press conference, in Moscow, Russia, Feb. 7, 2022.

MORE: Macron: Putin told him Russia won't escalate Ukraine crisis

While condemning Putin over his responsibility for the current crisis, Sanders also called on officials to "consider the perspectives of our adversaries." Putin has demanded the U.S. and Europeans commit to keeping Ukraine out of NATO, something the West has rejected outright.

"One of the precipitating factors of this crisis, at least from Russia's perspective, is the prospect of an enhanced security relationship between Ukraine and the United States and Western Europe," Sanders said.

In addition to his war critique, Sanders objected to potential sanctions against Russia and the possible impact on civilians. That includes a package the Senate has been discussing that could cause economic devastation in Russia and reverberate across Europe.

The legislation appears to be on hold following disagreement on a variety of issues, including the strength of the sanctions, leading some to suggest President Joe Biden should proceed on his own.

On Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., indicated it would be better for Biden to take action as opposed to waiting for the passage of a sanctions package he believes wouldn't deter Putin. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., struck a similar tone.


Chairman Bob Menendez, left, and Senator Jim Risch, during a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the US Capitol in Washington, DC.

"We're just a hair's breadth away from an agreement on strong, message-sending sanctions legislation, but I really believe the Biden administration should act now -- in fact yesterday," said Blumenthal, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.


A soldier fires during a Russian and Belarusian joint military drills at Brestsky firing range, Belarus

.MORE: Russia begins huge war games in Belarus amid Ukraine invasion fears

Concerns about a Russian invasion into Ukraine continue to build as the Russian military began a series of exercises in Belarus on Thursday that are expected to continue until Feb. 20.

"[We] must work hard to achieve a realistic and mutually agreeable resolution...that is not weakness," Sanders said. "That is not appeasement. Bringing people together to resolve conflicts nonviolently is strength, and it is the right thing to do."

ABC News' Trish Turner and Allison Pecorin contributed to this report.