Grassy Narrows First Nation looking at next options to protect land from mining activity in Ontario

Logan Turner 

Members of a First Nation in northwestern Ontario are back to the drawing board in their attempts to protect traditional lands from continued impacts of industrial activity.

Most recently, leadership from Asubpeeschoseewagong Anishinabek (Grassy Narrows) asked Ontario to inform companies and prospectors about the risks of staking a mineral claim in Grassy Narrows's traditional territory.

Thanks to Ontario's switch to a digital staking system in 2018, mining companies and prospectors can register a mineral claim in the territory from anywhere in the province without ever stepping foot in the area, and without knowing about the First Nation's ongoing efforts to protect their lands.

The community sent a letter to the provincial mining recorder on Feb. 7, asking for a notice of caution to be placed on the online staking system to notify parties thinking of staking a mineral claim in the area.

"We believe that there is a considerable risk to companies that are staking, or that have staked claims in the subject area, because they are operating in a social conflict zone subject to ongoing litigation," said the letter, which was obtained by CBC News.

In November 2021, Grassy Narrows took Ontario to court over nine mineral exploration permits they say the province granted in the First Nation's traditional territory without consulting them.

Grassy Narrows has also been asking Ontario to withdraw the land from forest management planning and mineral staking since 2018, and they declared a moratorium on all industrial activity in the area since 2007.

"It appears that Ontario is not currently disclosing these risks to companies," the letter said.

"It also fails to alert these companies that their claims are encumbered by Grassy Narrows' rights and interests and that their ability to access and operate within their claims may be impeded by the social conflict arising from the Crown's failure to respect our rights and interests."

© CBC Grassy Narrows First Nation is located about 90 kilometres northwest of Kenora, Ont.

But Ontario's provincial mining recorder disagreed with Grassy Narrows, responding in a Feb. 18 letter that denied the First Nation's request to have a notice of caution issued.

"While there have been a few instances in which the Ministry has considered it appropriate to issue cautionary statements … regarding claims asserted by Indigenous communities, the underlying circumstances were materially different," said mining recorder James Schweyer in the Feb. 18 letter.

The ministry did not provide additional details on why they refused the request in an emailed statement to CBC News. They also did not respond to questions asking how many notices of caution are currently approved in Ontario nor where they are located.
Growing legal uncertainty in northern Ontario

Dayna Scott said it was a missed opportunity to improve clarity and relationships between government, First Nations and industry in the mining sector, especially in the lands around Grassy Narrows. Scott is an associate professor at York University's Osgoode Hall Law School and an expert in environmental law and justice.

Since Ontario Premier Doug Ford was elected in 2018 and vowed to "hop on a bulldozer" himself to build roads to the Ring of Fire and open northern Ontario to more resource development, there has been a growing number of legal challenges claiming the government has failed to adequately consult First Nations.

It's led to more legal uncertainty in the mining industry in northern Ontario, Scott said, which is a concern given the Progressive Conservatives priority to expand mining in the north to boost the economy and facilitate a coming transition to electric vehicles and clean steel.

If the province placed more notices of caution on contested lands from the beginning, "companies would be warned of these risks in advance, and they would maybe think twice about staking claims within that territory," Scott told CBC News.

"Or alternatively, the companies would be aware of those risks, they would stake there anyway, and then Ontario would have arguments in some future litigation that the company might bring, saying that the company should have been aware of those risks and the uncertainty related to the lands in question from the beginning."
Land protection 'for our children and grandchildren'

Joseph Fobister of Grassy Narrows has been involved in the work to protect the First Nation's lands from industrial activity for more than two decades.

For him, it's quite simple. He wants mining companies and prospectors to know about and respect the laws of Grassy Narrows, and he doesn't want to see anymore logging or mining.

The people and the lands have already been through so much, he told CBC News, they need to heal from the decades of clear-cut logging, mining activity and mercury poisoning.

"We need to have something for our children and grandchildren, so this fight is important not for myself, but for the community."

Since the government won't apply a notice of caution, Grassy Narrows staff has taken it upon themselves to inform mining companies about their laws and the outstanding litigation.

Most of the companies have been "open to dialogue with Grassy," said Fobister.

He added, "ultimately, they have to accept that we won't accept any more resource extraction from our territory ... and we're not ready to make any deals until the community changes their mind."

Something’s in the air: Tech company looks to sound waves to filter potentially harmful particles

Since the start of the pandemic, air filtration in schools, hospitals, and homes has been front of mind for people, and a talking point for provincial governments.

© Provided by National Post Just like sand can block water in a river, large particles can block the flow of air through filters.

Often, the filters that go in buildings catch air contaminants such as dust or viruses just fine, but it’s possible that these particles can be too small and slip through the high-efficiency particulate air — or HEPA — filters.

Oliver Centner, CEO of tech company Atmofizer, says the solution lies in soundwaves.

“Essentially, what we’re doing is making snowballs out of the particles that are too fine to be caught by regular filters,” Centner says. “Our solution is to make things bigger; this helps the filter catch more particles.”

Atmofizer developed devices that sit in front of air filters and blast air currents, like sound waves, in front of the filters to clump the small particles together.

HEPA filters, commonly found in homes and businesses, are advertised as being able to filter 99.7 per cent of contaminants in the air. But of those 0.3 per cent that make it through when it comes to the air we breathe, every bit can make a difference, depending on just how harmful the particular particles that make it through the filter are.

People really should pay the same attention to what they breathe as they do to what they drink or eat, Centner says.

“Water had its turn. People are aware of food and focus on organic. It’s time we put as much emphasis and time into thinking about air,” Centner says. “As many as 12 million people each year die from air pollution, five million from indoor air quality and seven from outdoor air quality.”

Atmofizer devices are not designed to replace filters, but to enhance them and make them last longer. Because the air pressure produced by the devices clumps particles together, traditional filters catch larger bits of debris from the air less often. This can actually extend the life of a standard filter, Centner says, likening airflow through a filter to the flow of a river. Just as a pile of sand can block the flow of a river, billions of small particles can clog a filter and wear it out. So, less sand — or particles — means less of a chance of clogging up the works.

The company, based out of Vancouver, plans to sell four types of devices for different applications. A movable device fits into a standard wall outlet and purifies the air in the room. A dual-purpose, portable laptop stand-purifier hybrid is designed for office spaces. For houses and buildings, Atmofizer designed two front-of-filter devices to work alongside existing equipment. The larger devices are not yet available, but plans include technician-installed filters for buildings.

The prices for the two smaller devices range from about $500 to $1,200. Centner said he can’t yet give a dollar figure for the cost of installing the larger system in a home, but these costs may be recouped, since the actual filters will not need to be replaced as often.

Air filters and purification have been discussed a lot, thanks to COVID-19. Brands such as Dyson advertise their purifiers as being developed with COVID in mind, although not specifically to filter out the virus.

In the future, Centner hopes to develop a recyclable, reusable home filter that could be cleaned, potentially in the dishwasher, and quickly put back in place.

Home HEPA filters are available for most air purifiers available on the market, although the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency suggests the use of a filter alone is not enough to protect against COVID. These portable units can be easily moved into most rooms.

Many schools across Canada are seeking funding to get these filters installed, and provinces such as Ontario continually make talking points regarding the installation of HEPA and other systems in classrooms.

Last month, Ontario childcare operators called for more HEPA filters in their facilities.

Austin Air Systems, an air purifier manufacturer based out of Buffalo, New York, suggests it could cost between USD$600 and $700 per year to run HEPA filter systems in a classroom.

Progressive favorite Casar wins primary for redrawn Texas district

Tal Axelrod 

Greg Casar, progressive groups' favored candidate in a Democratic Texas House primary, emerged victorious Tuesday, handing the party's left-flank a high-profile win.

© Associated Press/Eric Gay

 Progressive favorite Casar wins primary for redrawn Texas district

Casar, an Austin City Council member, beat state Rep. Eddie Rodriguez in the primary for the 35th Congressional District, a newly created, deep blue House seat that includes parts of Austin and stretches to San Antonio.

He is expected to coast to victory in November.

Both candidates cast themselves as progressives, but Rodriguez ran with the support of the New Democrat Coalition Action Fund, a group that backs moderate candidates.

While on the city council, Casar advocated for allowing tent encampments for the homeless population and cutting funding to Austin police.

Casar's win is a badly-needed victory for the progressive flank of the Democratic Party. Liberals were downtrodden after recent high-profile losses, including failing to get a more progressive candidate nominated for president in 2020 and for the House in a Cleveland-area House race last year.

MURDER MOST FOUL
Montana Gov. Gianforte hunts, kills National Park Service-tracked mountain lion

#STOPKILLINGPREDATORS

Tim Fitzsimons 

Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte shot and killed a mountain lion that was being tracked by the National Park Service in December, his second such hunt of a monitored animal that ventured outside the protected areas of Yellowstone National Park.

© Provided by NBC News

The Republican governor “had a valid mountain lion license, treed a lion on public land in Park County and harvested it,” his spokesperson, Brooke Stroyke, said, adding that dogs were used in the hunt and drove the lion up the tree.

“As the group got closer to the lion, members of the group, who have a hound training license, used four hounds to tree the lion once the track was discovered in a creek bottom on public land," Stroyke said. "After the lion was treed, the governor confirmed the mountain lion was a [male], harvested it and put his tag on it. He immediately called to report the legal harvest and then the [Fish, Wildlife & Parks] game warden.”

The Dec. 28 hunt was legal, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks spokesperson Greg Lemon said in an email.

"Mountain lion hunting has a strong history in Montana, and mountain lion hunters are some of the elusive predators’ strongest advocates and those most engaged in how lions are managed across the state," Lemon wrote.

News of the governor's hunt broke on the 150th anniversary of Yellowstone, the 2.2 million-acre park that was the first in the National Park System.

Federal law prohibits hunting and the discharging of firearms in Yellowstone. However, animals leaving the park are routinely hunted on non-protected lands in Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. Nearly 190 bison were killed during the 2020-21 winter after migrating out of the park into Montana.

In 2021, Gianforte told the Helena Independent Record that he "made a mistake" after he trapped and killed a Montana black wolf that was also tagged in Yellowstone before he completed the required state certification.

Gianforte told the paper at that time that he probably had spent "over 40 days invested over five years attempting to harvest a wolf."

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M 

Malaysian financier said he discussed 1MDB probe with Trump allies -testimony

By Luc Cohen 

© Reuters/Olivia Harris FILE PHOTO: Traffic passes a 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) billboard at the Tun Razak Exchange development in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A fugitive Malaysian financier said he won support from allies of former U.S. President Donald Trump for a possible settlement of a probe into the looting of funds from the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund, a former Goldman Sachs banker testified on Tuesday.

Tim Leissner offered a glimpse of what he had heard from financier Jho Low about the attempted deal, on the sixth day of his testimony at the trial of Roger Ng, another former Goldman banker. Ng, 49, has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiring to launder money and violate an anti-bribery law.

Leissner, a former Goldman partner, said he had no independent verification of the information.

Leissner testified that Low, whom he described as the mastermind of the scheme, told him at a 2017 meeting that Low and his lawyers were in talks with the Trump administration about the potential for a multi-billion dollar deal that would spare several people from U.S. charges.

Low told Leissner he had met with Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, in Beijing and had hired Chris Christie, the former Republican governor of New Jersey, as his lawyer with the promise of a $10 million fee if the settlement was successful, Leissner said.

Christie said he represented Low in civil forfeiture actions in California that resulted in Low surrendering $700 million to the U.S. Department of Justice. He said he never entered into an agreement to receive a fee if charges were dropped in exchange for payment to the U.S. government.

"There were never any discussions between me and any members of the Trump administration that the criminal investigation would be dropped or any charges against Mr. Low or anyone else dismissed in exchange for payment to the government," Christie said in a statement. "Nor was there any agreement for a legal success fee to me to negotiate such a result."

Kushner could not be reached for comment.

Low, who was indicted by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn in 2018, has not been arrested by U.S. or Malaysian authorities. Malaysia says Low is in China, which Beijing denies.

Prosecutors say Goldman helped 1MDB raise $6.5 billion, but that $4.5 billion of those funds were diverted to government officials, bankers and their associates. The bank in 2020 agreed to pay a $3 billion fine and have its Malaysia subsidiary plead guilty in U.S. court.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Richard Chang)

Ex-Goldman bankers consulted Feng Shui master on 1MDB probe -testimony

By Luc Cohen

 

© Reuters/EDUARDO MUNOZ FILE PHOTO: 

Ex-Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng exits the United States Courthouse in Brooklyn, New York

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two former Goldman Sachs bankers sought advice from a feng shui master in 2016 on how to handle a U.S. investigation into the looting of funds from Malaysia's 1MDB sovereign wealth fund, one of the bankers, Tim Leissner, testified on Tuesday.

Leissner is the prosecutors' star witness at the Brooklyn federal court trial of Roger Ng, 49, who has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiring to launder money and violate an anti-bribery law. Leissner, 52, pleaded guilty to similar charges in 2018 and agreed to cooperate with the government.

Leissner testified that after the FBI served him with a subpoena in February 2016, Ng and his wife, Hwee Bin Lim, suggested he consult a feng shui master they trusted to ask whether they "would be in trouble."

Ng had left Goldman in 2014, Leissner said.

The charges stem from one of the biggest financial scandals in history. Prosecutors say Goldman from 2009 to 2014 raised $6.5 billion for 1MDB through bond sales and earned $600 million in fees, but that $4.5 billion was diverted to officials, bankers and their associates through bribes and kickbacks.

Leissner testified that he and Ng played a key role in that scheme and that he personally transferred $35 million in kickbacks to Ng, Goldman's top banker for Malaysia. Leissner oversaw the firm's Southeast Asia team.

He said on Tuesday that Ng and Lim attended his meeting with the feng shui master at a Hong Kong hotel, where the master said he would have trouble with authorities over the next five years but that the problems would later resolve themselves.

"I was in a panic," Leissner said. "They felt this would give me comfort and they wanted to show their support."

At the end of the meeting, Leissner said he, Ng and Lim concocted a "cover story" involving Lim and Leissner's then-wife, Judy Chan, to justify the $35 million in funds.

The testimony could prove problematic for Ng, who argued that the money prosecutors call ill-gotten gains was actually derived from a legitimate business venture between the two men's wives.

Ng's lawyer has said he played no role in the scheme beyond introducing Leissner to an intermediary close to the Malaysian government, and says Ng later warned Goldman not to trust the intermediary.

Lawyers for Ng are expected to call Lim to testify in her husband's defense. They began cross examining Leissner, who has already testified for five full days, on Thursday morning.

Goldman in 2020 paid a nearly $3 billion fine and arranged for its Malaysian unit to plead guilty in U.S. court.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Richard Chang)

LIVING WAGE

Workers behind the first union push at an Amazon retail store just sent management a list of demands, including a starting wage of $25 an hour

klong@insider.com (Katherine Long) 

© Reuters/HENRY NICHOLLS Inside an Amazon Fresh store

 Reuters/HENRY NICHOLLS

Workers at a Seattle Amazon Fresh grocery launched the first union push at an Amazon retail store.

A wave of labor activism is sweeping Amazon, including at three US warehouses with union drives.

The Amazon grocery workers are asking for higher wages and a more flexible attendance policy.

Workers behind the first union push at an Amazon retail store have asked management for higher pay, a more flexible attendance policy, longer breaks, and other benefits, according to an email shared with Insider.

They are also calling on a federal labor board to investigate whether Amazon violated labor law by removing pro-union literature from a break room and disciplining the employee who put it there.

The Fresh grocery store in Amazon's hometown of Seattle is the latest part of the company's empire to experience labor activism. Three US Amazon warehouses are in the midst of unionization campaigns, with votes at warehouses in Alabama and New York scheduled to conclude at the end of this month. Last June, the Teamsters approved a plan to organize Amazon warehouses and delivery drivers.

In Seattle, the Amazon Fresh workers are advocating for a $25 starting wage, less discipline around tardiness and absenteeism, longer paid breaks, chairs at checkout counters, and more rigorous training on diversity issues, sexual harassment and discrimination, according to the email, which was sent Tuesday. An Amazon spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions.

The current starting pay for workers at the store is $18.25 an hour, according to job advertisements. Until Seattle lawmakers repeal a state of emergency declared at the start of the pandemic, pay at the store is boosted by a city hazard pay ordinance, which adds an extra $4 to grocery workers' hourly wages.

Labor organizing is sweeping other retailers. Workers at more than 100 Starbucks locations are petitioning to form unions. Outdoor equipment retailer REI is also facing a union fight in New York City. Some other companies in the sector have already raised wages. Target just increased starting pay to up to $24 an hour. Costco made headlines last year when the CEO announced that over half its retail workforce makes more than $25 per hour.

Workers at the Seattle Amazon Fresh location are organizing independently under the moniker Amazon Workers United, unaffiliated with established grocery unions like United Food and Commercial Workers. The union drive kicked off in February after an employee, Joseph Fink, said they were disciplined by a manager for posting pro-union literature in the break room, Seattle's KUOW reported.

Fink filed a complaint last month with the National Labor Relations Board over the incident. They lodged a second complaint with the board Tuesday, alleging that Amazon removed an NLRB settlement notice Fink posted that reminded workers of their right to unionize.

The NLRB required Amazon to post copies of the settlement, which included information about workers' rights, in "prominent places" in some of its facilities, though not in its retail stores, until the end of February. The settlement, made public in December, stemmed from six workers' allegations that Amazon had limited their rights to unionize.

Employees of the Seattle Amazon Fresh store have been meeting for months about possibly forming a union, Fink told Insider. The group decided to go public with their union push last month, before filing a petition to hold a union election, in part to "eradicate the climate of fear around the word 'union,'" Fink said. "There's already such a fearful work environment at Fresh. We wanted to have a different kind of narrative about our union."

Amazon Workers Union doesn't know yet when it will hold a formal election, Fink said. For now, the union is focused on educating workers about their rights to organize.

'Fresh wounds:' 169 potential graves found at former Grouard residential school

Hamdi Issawi

© Provided by Edmonton Journal Treaty 8 Grand Chief Arthur Noskey (right) listens while Kapawe'no First Nation Chief Sydney Halcrow speaks about the discovery of 169 potential remains with ground penetrating radar at the former Grouard Mission site in Treaty 8 during a press conference in Edmonton on Tuesday, March 1, 2022.

Video player from: YouTube (Privacy Policy, Terms)

University of Alberta researchers working with Kapawe`no First Nation have identified 169 potential graves at a former residential school site in northern Alberta.

Speaking in Edmonton on Tuesday at the North Peace Tribal Council Office, Chief Sydney Lee Halcrow of the Kapawe’no First Nation announced the results of a recent ground survey, and said it marks the beginning of a long journey to learn about the children who never made it home from St. Bernard’s mission in Grouard, about 370 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.

“The grief we felt when discovering our stolen children has opened fresh wounds,” Halcrow said. “We remember the desolation our people felt when our children were forcibly removed from their families and communities to be placed in Indian residential schools.”

The announcement comes after the First Nation, assisted by the University of Alberta’s Institute of Prairie and Indigenous Archaeology, completed ground survey work in October at the former mission site.

Dr. Kisha Supernant, director of the institute and an associate professor of archeology at the university, said the effort involved ground-penetrating radar and drone imagery during a six-day search of only one acre of the site — a “high priority” area identified by residential school survivors, community members and archival records.

Halcrow told Postmedia the entire site spans at least 100 acres, and he plans to eventually search all of it.

© Ian Kucerak Treaty 8 Grand Chief Arthur Noskey spoke about the discovery of 169 potential remains with ground penetrating radar at the former Grouard Mission site in Treaty 8 during a press conference in Edmonton on Tuesday, March 1, 2022.

Of the potential graves identified, Supernant said 115 were found at a community cemetery in an area with no grave markers, while 54 were found in other areas around the school property.

The effort relied on Canadian Archaeology Association best practices for the use of ground-penetrating radar to search for unmarked graves, she added, and all data were analyzed to identify results with traits that scientific research associates with unmarked graves.

While she is reasonably confident the cemetery findings represent graves, Supernant said she can’t determine whether they belong to children or other community members, although parish records indicate that children who died at the school were buried in the cemetery.

“We do not need ground-penetrating radar results to know that children didn’t come home from this school,” she said. “The knowledge of survivors, and the extensive archival records already contained clear information about children dying while in residence here.”

Following the announcement, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and Indigenous Relations Minister Rick Wilson issued a joint statement condemning the “wicked injustice” of the residential school system while thanking the university’s archeological team for its assistance.

In June, Kenney said the province would spend $8 million to aid Indigenous communities researching burial sites and undocumented deaths at residential schools.

Halcrow said Kapawe`no First Nation conducted the search on its own dime, and only received provincial funds a couple of weeks ago.

“If we would have waited, this report would not be done until probably next year,” he said.

© Ian Kucerak Dr. Kisha Supernant, Director of the Institute of Prairie and Indigenous Archaeology, University of Alberta, speaks about the discovery of 169 potential remains with ground penetrating radar at the former Grouard Mission site in Treaty 8 during a press conference in Edmonton on Tuesday, March 1, 2022.

According to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR), St. Bernard’s, also known as the Grouard Indian Residential School, operated for 63 years between 1894 and 1957 under Roman Catholic administration.

Supernant said the search will expand to include the site of a former Anglican mission nearby known as St. Peter’s, which the NCTR identifies as the Lesser Slave Lake Residential School.

Also speaking at the announcement, Treaty 8 Grand Chief Arthur Noskey said the mounting number of potential graves found at former residential school sites across the country leaves him with a deep sorrow that’s difficult to express.

In May, a ground-penetrating radar search near the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in B.C. helped identify about 200 potential graves. Since then, Indigenous communities across the country have reported hundreds of similar findings.

“It’s as if this wound cannot heal — it’s reopened over and over, and when you think it will get better, it splits open again,” Noskey said. “How can we heal if we haven’t found them all? How can we heal unless we search every single residential school site in Canada for our children?”

The Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line is available 24-hours a day at 1-800-721-0066 for those feeling pain or distress from residential school experiences.

hissawi@postmedia.com

@hamdiissawi

WORKERS CAPITAL

California lawmakers say they'll push the 2 largest US public pension funds to dump Russia investments

gdean@insider.com (Grace Dean)

Russian President Vladimir Putin seen in Moscow, 

Russia, on February 19, 2022. 

Sputnik/Aleksey Nikolskyi/Kremlin via REUTERS

California lawmakers say they'll push state agencies to dump investments in Russia.

The legislation would include CalPERS and CalSTRS, America's two largest public pension funds.

As well as US federal sanctions, state and private entities are scrambling to cut ties with Russia.

California lawmakers say they'll push state agencies, including the US' two largest public pension funds, to dump investments in Russia after the country invaded Ukraine.

Data suggests California likely has more than $1 billion in investments in Russia, primarily in its pension funds, the office of State Senate Majority Leader Mike McGuire said in a statement.

McGuire and a bipartisan group of California lawmakers will introduce legislation calling on all state agencies "to divest from any and all Russian assets immediately," Monday's statement said.

The call comes as governments imposed sanctions against Russia, and international companies scaled back their interests there, after President Vladimir Putin ordered troops to invade Ukraine.

McGuire's office said that state pension funds California Public Employees' Retirement System, or CalPERS, and California State Teachers' Retirement System, known as CalSTRS, would be called upon to immediately divest Russian assets under the proposed legislation.

CalPERS is the largest pension fund in the US with nearly $500 billion in assets. A spokesperson told Reuters on Thursday that the fund had around $900 million of exposure to Russia, but no Russian debt.

Calculations by Reuters suggest that CalSTRS had more than $800 million in exposure to Russian assets as of June 2021. CalSTRS is the US's second-largest pension fund with more than $300 billion in assets. The fund told Reuters that it had investments in Russia and was monitoring potential risks to its portfolio.

Neither pension fund immediately responded to Insider's requests for comment, made outside of regular working hours.

The California lawmakers said in the statement that the legislation would also block the state from awarding contracts to companies that conduct business with Russia, and that they would also ask private companies to divest their investments in the Russian economy.

"California is the world's fifth largest economy and enhanced action taken by the State could help the people of Ukraine by putting additional financial pressure on the already beaten-up Russian economy," McGuire's office said in the statement.

"At this point there can be no excuse to invest in and support Putin, his oligarchs, and the Russian economy," his office added.

The US is among countries that have been imposing sanctions on Russia after the country recognized two breakaway groups in Ukraine before launching an invasion of the country. The sanctions are aimed at hobbling Russia's economy and have hit its banks, oligarchs, and trade. So far the measures have led to a collapse in the currency, the ruble, and a surge in inflation.

Colorado's state pension fund said last week that it would divest $7.2 million from Sberbank, Russia's biggest bank, after the US announced Thursday that it was blocking the bank from processing transactions made in dollars. Maryland has severed its sister-city ties with Russia's Leningrad region in what the state's governor called a "symbolic gesture" backing Ukraine.

Canada will soon require digital platforms to pay news outlets and broadcasters revenue

MobileSyrup 



Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez’s mandate letter calls on him to introduce drastic legislation to equal the news revenue playing field.

The legislation will likely require digital platforms (like Google and Facebook) financially benefiting from Canadian news content to share revenue with news outlets. The mandate letter states Rodriguez will present legislation in early 2022.

But according to recent reporting from Cartt, a timeline to when exactly the legislation will be introduced has not been made public.

The publication does confirm news broadcasters are going to be a part of the new legislation, according to an announcement Rodriguez made at a Canada 2020 event discussing the future of news.

“Minister Rodriguez confirmed last week that broadcasters will benefit from the framework, given the important role they play in producing and providing Canadians access to news,” the spokesperson told Cartt.

The mandate letter also details the legislation will take after Australia’s approach.

Named the “news media bargaining code,” the legislation allows Australia’s Treasury to designate certain digital platforms to share revenues with news platforms they financially benefit from.

But what exactly that will look like in Canada is not clear at this time.

“Further details on the legislative approach will be available in due course,” the spokesperson told Cartt.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: Cartt.ca

Alberta video game developers say industry is being left behind in province

Stephen David Cook

A lack of incentives for Alberta video game development is taking jobs and economic opportunities elsewhere, industry advocates warn.

Last week's provincial budget promised increased funding for film, television and innovation programs but was a disappointment for the video game industry as it failed to offer any new support.

"It's just an absolutely massive opportunity for Alberta, but we continue to lag behind other provinces," said Scott Nye, chair of the industry association Digital Alberta.

A report from the Entertainment Software Association of Canada notes the industry contributed $5.5 billion to Canada's GDP in 2021 — a growth of 35 per cent over two years.

Full-time employment in the industry rose by 17 per cent in that time while studios continue to pop up across the country, primarily in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia where tax incentives are offered.

Alberta had its own Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit, introduced by the NDP government. It covered 25 per cent of salaries and bonuses for staff, along with an additional five per cent for employees from diverse or under-represented backgrounds.

After being elected in 2019, the UCP government yanked the credit and introduced its own tax regimens for film, television and innovation.

The growth of the interactive digital media sector in Alberta has significantly slowed, Nye said.

"A lot of companies that are members of Digital Alberta are making the hard decision to, unfortunately, stop growing in Alberta, and instead put their investment in jobs in other provinces."
Fostering growth

Trent Oster, CEO of Edmonton-based Beamdog, said his initial growth plan had the video game development company at 130 employees at this point. He's now sitting around 80, with almost a third of those in other provinces.

"It's a race and we were actually accelerating — we were on a catch up pace — and then that got knocked out from under us," he said. © CBC Trent Oster, standing, is the CEO of Edmonton independent video game company Beamdog. He was a co-founder of BioWare in 1995.

Oster pointed to Quebec as an exemplar province that aggressively courted video game developers. Montreal boasts offices for major studios like Ubisoft, Warner Bros. Games and Electronic Arts.

Such an ecosystem allows employees to gain experience and move between companies or start their own. Alberta's industry is missing a tier of experienced employees and must look elsewhere, Oster said.

Alberta needs to foster a similar ecosystem to remain competitive but video game studios are like start-ups and scale-ups that need support before they can become major profitable ventures, he said.

"If there's no support and no investment and, as a result, no infrastructure that builds up around it … the companies just either starve out or they move."
Tech sector support

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Jobs, Economy and Innovation said in a statement the province's tech sector has grown exponentially during the UCP government's tenure. The spokesperson pointed to investment success stories like those from Amazon Web Services and homegrown companies like Jobber.

The statement did not address video game or interactive digital media development directly.© David Bajer/CBC Kyle Kulyk founded Itzy Interactive more than a decade ago, starting in mobile games before moving to computer games.

Kyle Kulyk runs independent studio Itzy Interactive, which counts three full-time employees and four contractors. He said the only reason he's not looking to set up shop elsewhere is that he's already built a life in Edmonton.

"I stay in the province simply because my family is here," Kulyk said.

Alberta's lower corporate tax rate doesn't mean much for a small business as it can take up to three years before the studio sees any income from a product beingput out to market, he said.

Kulyk noted the TV production of HBO's The Last of Us, which filmed around the province last summer and was upheld as an investment success story, is based on a video game.

"They won't put any effort into growing the industry that creates those [intellectual properties]," he said. "And it's just a lack of vision."