More exotic pet regulation is needed in Alberta after Edmonton man charged, advocate says
Anna Junker - Yesterday

Stricter regulations are needed in Alberta for exotic pets following a house fire where hundreds of reptiles and amphibians were discovered, an advocate says.


© Provided by Edmonton Journal

Reptile tanks are seen outside of a home damaged in a fire at 2014 112A St. in Edmonton on Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021.

The discovery of the animals is not surprising and shows there are loopholes in animal protection laws in Alberta, said Michèle Hamers, campaign manager of the group World Animal Protection.

“In most jurisdictions, there are a lot of regulations to prevent people from keeping dangerous animals like tigers and lions, but when it comes to reptiles, usually the only reptiles that are prohibited to be kept are venomous reptiles, the ones that grow really large like anacondas, for example,” said Hamers.

“This means that thousands of animals are not subject to any regulations and can be kept, can be bred, can be used in any way.”

Postmedia reached out to the justice ministry for comment but they were unable to respond by deadline.

In November, Edmonton Fire Rescue Services was called to a home in the area of 20 Avenue and 112 Street. Close to 700 replies and amphibians were found that “appeared seriously neglected,” with many that were dead prior to the fire.

On Tuesday, police charged 31-year-old John Makaryshyn with 37 counts of offences under the animal cruelty section of the Criminal Code along with 89 counts under the Animal Protection Act of Alberta.

Hamers said the loopholes in regulations create concerns over animal welfare, biodiversity and public health. The breeding isn’t regulated nor is the number of animals that an individual can have.

Like puppy mills, there can be reptile mills, Hamers said, where hundreds or thousands of animals are kept confined and bred.

“If you go inside these places, usually reptiles are kept in plastic drawers or containers,” she said. “They’re stacked on top of each other. In many cases like these drawers are given long enough for the animals to stretch to fit in or to be very comfortable moving around. They don’t have access to natural light or natural features. And that’s their life.”

While Alberta has a list of controlled animals, World Animal Protection would like to see a precautionary system used, where the animal is measured against a list of criteria including animal welfare, public health and safety, and risk of evasiveness.

“If they meet the criteria, fine, they can be kept as pets, but if they don’t, they should be left off,” Hamers said. “Right now it is a prohibited list, so it’s like just a list of animals and by default, everything else is allowed.”

Until there is better regulation, the industry will continue to take advantage, Hamers said.

“We are just glad that the Edmonton police and others are taking the animal welfare regulations that are available serious and that they apply it even to reptiles and amphibians because these animals need as much protection as our dogs and cats.”

ajunker@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/JunkerAnna

Nurses march on capital demanding reforms to protect themselves and patients

© Susan Walsh/AP

Thousands of nurses from around the country marched to the White House and past the U.S. Capitol Thursday demanding reforms to the health care industry they claim has been putting their lives in danger and prioritizing profits over the care of patients.

They called for three major changes: fair wages, safe-staffing ratios, and protection against workplace violence -- issues nurses say have only been made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the nation marked 1 million deaths from Covid, the nurses gathering in front of the White House warned of what they said was the dangerous nurse-to-patient staffing ratio putting both patients and nurses in danger.MORE: COVID-19 nurse reflects on 1 million American virus deaths: 'We are still mourning losses'

While the ratio of nurses to patients depends on the type of care, a nurse most commonly cares for three patients at one time. Some nurses at Thursday's protest reported caring for eight to 10 patients simultaneously. Cindy Reuss said she left her job after 17 year due to unsafe staffing ratios.

Her job job was her heart, she said, in an interview with ABC affiliate WJLA.

"None of us want to leave bedside nursing," Reuss said. "But we cannot do it. With eight to ten patients, it's not safe. We just want the opportunity to be good nurses."MORE: Biden orders flags to half-staff as US records 1 million COVID deaths

Other nurses at the protest highlighted what they said was the lack of protection nurses have against workplace violence.

Thomas Fernandes, who's been a critical care travel nurse for five years, claimed a patient shattered a meth pipe on his head with no repercussions.

"Put your hands on a cop, you go to jail. Put your hands on a nurse and you can come back next week," Fernandes said, pointing to what he said was a lack of penalties for patients who harm those dedicated to caring for them.


© Susan Walsh/AP

People march outside the White House protesting working conditions of nurses, in Washington, D.C., May 12, 2022. They ask for improved wages, staffing environments and no violence against healthcare workers.

Adriane Carrier said she has been injured three times and spent two and half years out of work. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, nursing and residential care facilities have the second-highest workplace injury incident rates in the country.

"We need to have a safe workplaces and consequences for injuring and harming health care workers and nurses," she said.

During their march past the U.S. Capitol, the nurses also demanded fair, reasonable and competitive wages, noting what they said is the increase in hospital profits while they've seen little to no increase in pay.

"This is a time where the health care industry and hospitals have made record profits while [nurses] are leaving the bedside," Carrier said. "50,000 more nurses will be leaving the bedside. There will be no more nurses to take care of Americans and our country and that is going to be the biggest tragedy of all."

Rising student debt to worsen money woes of young Britons



AFP - 

Rhiannon Muise graduated from Edge Hill University in northwest England last year with a mountain of student debt, which is growing even larger due to surging inflation.


© OLI SCARFF

Rising inflation is adding to pressures on recent graduates who may have taken out tens of thousands of pounds in student loans during their time at university

The 21-year-old dance and drama graduate said it will take a "lifetime" for her to pay back the £45,000 ($55,000) she owes for tuition fees and living expenses, particularly if she stays within her chosen field where salaries can be low.


© JUSTIN TALLIS

University tuition fees vary in different parts of the UK, because education is a devolved matter for the governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

Muise's plight echoes that of students across Britain, who are already struggling with a cost-of-living crisis.

Britons heading to university next year face major changes that critics argue will worsen the financial pain.

- Exhausting -

The pressure is "exhausting, especially for someone in their 20s who has just started thinking about their career", Muise told AFP.


© JUSTIN TALLIS

Inflation is at a 30-year high, increasing the price of everyday items such as food, as well as energy costs

Her current job as Edge Hill student engagement officer pays below the threshold that activates repayments.

UK graduates shoulder more debt than any other developed country, according to House of Commons Library data.

About 1.5 million students borrow nearly £20 billion in loans every year in England alone.


© Andy Buchanan

The coronavirus pandemic saw in-person classes move online and outrage that many students still had to pay full fees

And on average, graduates of 2020 have amassed £45,000 in debt.

Zeno, a 25-year-old student in London who gave only his first name, said he owes just short of £75,000 for his loans.

Unless he "wins the lottery", he accepts he will probably be paying the money back from his salary for the next 30 years.

- Tuition fees -

University used to be free in the UK, with means-tested grants for the poorest students to cover living costs

But after the sector was opened up in the 1990s, numbers surged and, despite protests from student bodies, tuition fees have been gradually introduced in the last decade to help universities meet costs.

With education a devolved matter for the governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, different tuition fee arrangements are in place across the UK.

Accommodation and living costs are extra.

In England, undergraduate tuition fees are capped at £9,250 a year for UK and Irish students -- up from £3,375 in 2011 when the government cut most ongoing direct public funding.

The cap in Wales is £9,000 and £4,030 in Northern Ireland.

Scottish students studying in Scotland pay £1,820 but those from the rest of the UK attending universities north of the border with England pay £9,250.

- Inflation worry -

The picture is further complicated by rocketing inflation because the student loan interest rate is linked to the retail price index (RPI).

Loan interest is calculated by adding up to 3.0 percentage points to the RPI rate.

Inflation however soared to 30-year highs this year, particularly on rocketing energy costs and fallout from the Ukraine conflict.

Graduates could therefore pay an interest rate of 12 percent from September -- or more if prices rise even higher.

The UK government plays a large part in student financing, providing loans that only demand repayment when a graduate earns above a threshold of £27,295 per year.

What borrowers repay depends on how much they earn. Unlike private lenders, they have up to 30 years to repay. The debt is cancelled after this time.

"This system is more progressive than in the United States, with generous write-offs for lower-paid graduates," said Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute in Oxford.

Current and recent students faced huge upheaval during courses due to coronavirus restrictions, with the pandemic also hitting job opportunities.

A combination of high debt repayments, high cost of living and wages that have failed to keep pace with inflation, add yet more stress.

- Conundrum -

Student finance poses a major conundrum for the public purse because the UK forecasts outstanding loans will top £560 billion by 2050.

From next year, Britain will lower the repayment threshold for new borrowers to £25,000 and lengthen the repayment time from 30 to 40 years.

This will however increase costs for low-earners, while benefiting richer graduates who can pay back more quickly.

The UK government forecasts however that half of new students will repay their loans in full under the new plan.

Student debt has long been a concern in the United States, where the Federal Reserve estimates that it amounts to a staggering $1.76 trillion.

US students on average have outstanding debt of close to $41,000, according to think-tank Education Data Initiative.

President Joe Biden this year extended a moratorium on student loan repayment and interest -- and is holding talks over partial debt write-offs.

str/phz/rfj/har

Scientists renew efforts to find ship torched by colonists




Anew effort is underway to find the remains of a British ship that Rhode Island colonists burned 250 years ago, marine archaeologists and state officials announced Tuesday.

The June 10, 1772, burning of the HMS Gaspee was an an act of rebellion that some proud Rhode Islanders maintain was just as important in sparking the American Revolution as the Boston Tea Party more than a year later.

Yet schoolchildren rarely learn of it in history class.

The effort to find evidence of the ship in the waters off of Warwick could bring more attention to the sinking, said state Rep. Joseph McNamara, who has been involved in efforts to find the ship for years.

The latest search that will start in July is being conducted by the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project using more than $30,000 in privately raised funds, he said. There have been previous searches for the Gaspee, but this time archaeologists will use the latest sonar technology, he said.

“The Gaspee was burned to the waterline," he said. “So we'd be looking for the quadrant of a hull, or a debris field that could tell us about the crew and how they conducted themselves.”

Debris could include pieces of metal, ceramic or flint, among other things, he said.

The Gaspee was sent to Narragansett Bay to enforce trade laws and thwart smugglers. The colonists were soon fed up with the Gaspee under the leadership of Lt. William Dudingston for stopping ships and disrupting trade.

When the ship ran aground while chasing a suspected smuggler, several prominent colonists heard the news and rowed out to it before it could refloat on the next high tide, according to historian Steven Park's book on the incident. The colonists looted the ship, shot the captain (he survived), and set it on fire.

The British crown offered a reward for the suspects, but no one ever turned them in.

The sinking is celebrated every year at the Gaspee Days festival in Warwick, which includes the ceremonial burning of a miniature model of the ship.

Mark Pratt, The Associated Press

CANADA
Some cities will not halve child-care fees by end of year, study finds



Tuesday
 The Canadian Press


OTTAWA — The federal government’s highly touted national child-care program aims to make care more affordable for parents, but a new study suggests just how much fees are reduced will depend on where they live.

The study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives says because provinces and territories are taking different approaches to try to meet the government’s initial fee reduction targets, some might miss them.

“It seems to me the challenge is not so much getting a plan up and running, it’s correctly implementing it,” said David Macdonald, study co-author and a senior economist at the centre.

The Liberals' 2021 budget promised $30 billion in new spending on a national child-care system over five years, and $9.2 billion annually afterward.

The government’s national plan is intended to cut average fees in half for regulated early learning and child-care spaces by the end of the year, and bring $10-a-day child care to every province and territory by 2026.

The four ways the provinces and territories plan to reach a 50 per cent fee reduction include trimming set fees, giving a flat-rate rebate to parents without touching market fees, having each service provider halve their individual fees, and changing parent fee subsidies.

“Broadly speaking, most cities and most age groups will miss the federal targets. They won't miss them by much, but they will miss them,” Macdonald said.

Different types of child care exist for different child age groups, including infant, toddler and preschool-aged care, the latter being the most common.

For preschool-aged child care, seven of 26 cities included in the study’s analysis will meet or exceed federal targets in 2022, including Whitehorse, Regina, Oakville, Ont., and Ottawa.

Meanwhile, 15 cities will be close to their targets, missing them by about $20 to $100 a month, including Lethbridge, Alta.; Toronto; Saint John, N.B.; and Halifax, the study says.

The four cities that will miss their targets by more than $100 a month are Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton and Charlottetown, the centre found.

The reason Winnipeg is one of the cities with fees set to lag behind its target has to do with its approach, Macdonald said.

North America went through a period known as the ‘baby boom’ after World War II, in which birth rates shot up dramatically for about two decades. The first members of this generation reached retirement age in 2011, and the continued departure of baby boomers from the labour force is impacting the economy in interesting new ways.

“The Manitoba government is not changing their set fees at all. They're modifying their subsidy system for lower-income households, such that the average reduction in fees will still be 50 per cent. But the benefit is really for lower-income households,” he said.

Macdonald said he hopes the provinces move to the set fee system, the most predictable and transparent way to get to the 50 per cent reduction in child-care fees. Five provinces have adopted this method, including Quebec and most recently New Brunswick.

Many other provinces haven't touched the prior market fees, meaning whatever the child-care centre charged is still in place,and parents would be given rebates against the fee, he said.

“Those market fees are all over the place. They can be expensive, they can be cheap, they can be in the middle. It's much less predictable in terms of what parents might get,” Macdonald said, noting this route is harder to calculate and track for parents, and harder for provinces to manage.

The study says this approach will result in parents paying widely varying fees, though still less than what they were paying before.

Keeping the market system intact for child care also means it is unclear whether parents are actually going to get to $10 a day in three years time, Macdonald said.

Some might pay more than $10 a day as long as enough pay less than that to arrive at an average of $10, he said.

Mohammad Hussain, spokesperson for Families Minister Karina Gould, said in a statement Tuesday that many Canadian cities are well on their way to reaching the federal goal of reducing parent fees by 50 per cent on average by the end of 2022.

Quebec and Yukon have already achieved $10 a day on average, Hussain said.

The government's agreements include commitments to reduce average fees at the provincial and territorial level, and account for the effect of subsidies, he said.

This gives provinces and territories more flexibility in how they reach the fee reduction goals.

"To date, all provinces and territories have indicated they are on track to meet the targets outlined in their Canada-wide agreements, including achieving the 50 per cent average fee reduction by the end of 2022," Hussain said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 10, 2022.

---

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

Erika Ibrahim, The Canadian Press

Luxury vehicles of former federal cabinet minister torched in Montreal suburb

Incendie/fire - FILE PHOTO. (Daniel J. Rowe/CTV News)

Daniel J. Rowe
CTVNewsMontreal.ca Digital Reporter
Updated May 7, 2022 

The Montreal police (SPVM) arson squad is investigating after a fire at a former federal cabinet minister's residence destroyed two vehicles.

The possible arson may be the act of anarchists.

Police confirmed that a 911 call at 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 4 reported an explosion on Chester Ave. in the affluent suburban Town of Mont Royal (TMR).

Police spokesperson Jean-Pierre Brabant said a Jaguar and Land Rover were destroyed in the fire, but no residences were damaged, and there were no injuries.

Police have looked at surveillance footage and the charred carcasses of the luxury vehicles are being analyzed.

"At this point, we're still gathering some information," said Brabant.

ANARCHIST ACT

An anonymous letter sent to the anarchist website Montreal Counter-info said the act was directed at the former Conservative cabinet minister under Stephen Harper, Michael Fortier.

It was done, the letter reads, "in the spirit of vengeance" in solidarity with Wet'suwet'en land defenders and "all those who fight the extractive industry."

Wet’suwet’an land defenders could not immediately be reached for comment.

Fortier is currently vice-chairman of RBC Capital Markets. He left politics in 2008.

The authors of the anonymous letter say RBC's involvement in the controversial pipeline in northern BC was the reason for the alleged arson.

"Tucked away in his big house in the Town of Mount-Royal (a wealthy Montreal neighbourhood separated by a long wall from the poor and exploited), Mr. Fortier no doubt feels at ease with his employer’s decision to continue funding the Coastal GasLink pipeline (or any other disgusting project financed by RBC)," the letter reads.

"As glaciers melt and drought, fire and famine spread, Mr. Fortier may think that his money and connections will protect him, his children and his grandchildren. But the ecologically dispossessed will know the names of those responsible. He must understand that no one is safe amid this storm."

The letter says that an incendiary device spread to "the engine block of his Jaguar, parked in front of his home."

Police say, after interviewing the residents of the home where the vehicles were parked, that there were no threats made, no letters sent and no conflicts before the fire.

The SPVM is taking the anonymous letter seriously.

"We're going to look into it, but we're still trying to clarify what the reason is for the arson," said Brabant.

Police investigating if anti-pipeline anarchists torched cars of RBC executive who was an ex-Tory minister

Christopher Nardi - Tuesday
National Post

© Provided by National Post

Environmental activists outside an RBC branch in Vancouver, B.C., call on the bank to defund the Coastal GasLink project, April 7, 2022.

OTTAWA – Montreal police are investigating if anti-pipeline anarchists are behind a fire that destroyed two luxury vehicles at the home of former Conservative Minister and current RBC executive Michael Fortier.

The incident is just the latest of a rash of attacks against Royal Bank of Canada and its executives’ properties over the last few months by anarchists opposed to the organization’s funding of the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline in British Columbia.

They claim to be acting in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en land defenders, who oppose the project.

Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) confirmed they were investigating how a Jaguar and a Land Rover caught fire during the night last Wednesday. On Tuesday, police spokesperson Gabriella Youakim said police sent both vehicles to a specialized garage for analysis to determine if they were destroyed by arson.

She also confirmed that police were analyzing both surveillance footage from the property as well as at least one video she said was circulating online involving the incident.

“As of now, I can’t confirm that it’s criminal because they have to look at the cars and the videos, so we’re just waiting on that. It may take some time for the cars, maybe a bit less (time) for the videos, but I think they’re waiting to see something concrete to be able to say yes, it’s an arson,” Youakim said.

Axe-wielding protesters vandalize Coastal GasLink work camp

RBC CEO defends pipeline funding, calls for net-zero incentives

But according to an “anonymous submission” on anarchist website MTL Counter-info , the fires were started by a group of anarchists “acting in the spirit of vengeance” using an “incendiary device” on the engine block of Fortier’s Jaguar parked in front of his home.

“As glaciers melt and drought, fire and famine spread, Mr. Fortier may think that his money and connections will protect him, his children and his grandchildren. But the ecologically dispossessed will know the names of those responsible. He must understand that no one is safe amid this storm,” reads the communiqué.

“This act is in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en land defenders and all those who fight the extractive industry.”

Fortier did not respond to a voice mail left at his Montreal home.

In a statement, RBC said it was relieved that no one was hurt by this “act of violence.” Spokesperson Rafael Ruffolo would not say if the bank was concerned about more similar attacks on bank or employees’ property.

“The safety of our employees and our communities is our primary concern and top priority. This act of violence could have put anyone at risk and we are grateful no one was harmed,” Ruffolo said by email.

Ian Brodie, former chief of staff to Stephen Harper, denounced the “appalling political violence” against Fortier, adding that it was a “miracle” that neither Fortier nor his family was injured in the process.

But the project has received strong opposition from both environmental groups and Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs. The latter recently travelled to Toronto to express their opposition to RBC’s financing of the project during the bank’s latest annual shareholder meeting.

Videos posted on various websites show Montreal “anarchists” smashing windows and spraying paint on five RBC branches on the night of Oct. 26.

“It’s easy: a well-masked crew or individual emerges from an alley, takes a look around to make sure that the coast is clear, then dedicates under 30 seconds to throwing rocks through the windows before disappearing,” reads the video caption.

In April, anti-Coastal GasLink activists proudly announced that they had “a good time vandalizing” the home of RBC Quebec President Nadine Renaud-Tinker using a paint-filled fire extinguisher, according to another post on MLT Counter-info .

The same month, a group of Montreal anarchists shared a video of them sneaking into downtown RBC offices and spray painting anti-pipeline messages and putting stickers on the walls. The video also shows them unfurling a banner that reads, “RBC divest from CGL.”

Abortion rights activists in the US can learn from recent progress on abortion access in Latin America

Stefano Pozzebon - Yesterday 
CNN


The prospect of the United States overturning decades of abortion rights, which materialized this week in a leaked draft opinion by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, triggered shock waves in many countries in Latin America, where many feminist organizations have often looked at the US as a model of greater reproductive rights and freedoms.

However, that model has flipped on its head in recent years. Just as several US states have put in place further barriers to abortion access through various restrictions, some countries in Latin America have moved in the other direction, with a growing number of countries liberalizing such laws.

Laura Gil, a gynecologist and abortion rights activist in Bogota, Colombia has experienced this turnaround firsthand. “I remember we would meet with health professionals in the US, and for years they would always look at us with admiration for our struggle to expand reproductive rights. Now it’s the opposite,” she told CNN.

The doctor was in Florida when news of the leak broke on Monday. Her US colleagues were disparaged, she said. “They come from an environment where abortion is legal, while for us, abortion used to be banned and now it’s not,” she said.

Gil was at the forefront of a yearslong popular campaign to legalize abortion in Colombia, a movement that achieved its goal in February when the Constitutional Court ruled in favor of legalizing abortion up until 24 weeks of a pregnancy.

Colombia’s decision followed similar recent measures in Mexico and Argentina, where abortion rights advocates demonstrating collectively as the “green wave” – the color of choice for the movement – celebrated their victories.

Argentina’s Senate voted to legalize abortion up to 14 weeks in December 2020, making the country the largest nation in Latin America at the time to legalize the practice.

In September, Mexico’s Supreme Court unanimously ruled that penalizing abortion is unconstitutional, a decision expected to set precedent for the legal status of abortion nationwide, although individual states have moved at different paces on its implementation.

And just last month, after years of court battles, Ecuador took a first step to liberalize its laws by legalizing abortion for pregnancies that occurred as a result of rape up to 12 weeks.A woman holds up a banner that reads "My body, I decide" in Saltillo, Mexico, after the country's Supreme Court ruled that penalizing abortion is unconsitutional in September. - Daniel Becerril/Reuters
Valuable lessons

Now that it appears the tables could be turning, some Latin American activists say they can offer valuable lessons to their US counterparts to defend the right to abortion.

Giselle Carino, an Argentinian political scientist who took part in the campaign for legal abortion in her country, now serves as the New York-based CEO of Fos Feminista, a feminist alliance of more than 170 organizations around the world.

“I look at Argentina with a lot of pride, of course, because that was a truly democratic effort,” Carino told CNN.

“It took 20 years for us, and we had many defeats. When we succeeded, it was because mobilization was huge: People would talk abortion at the dinner tables, in bars, cafes – and at the same time we managed to put women in positions of power. We elected feminist representatives who would try to expand our struggle,” she said.

“Those were the two lessons: To make abortion a mainstream topic and to advance through political victories, bit by bit,” she added.


© Provided by CNN

Abortion rights activists celebrate in Buenos Aires after Argentina's Senate approved a bill to legalize abortion up to 14 weeks in December 2020. -

 Emiliano Lasalvia/AFP/Getty Images

Carino points to Donald Trump’s presidential win in 2016 as a turning point for abortion rights. “This is his legacy because, who put those judges to the Supreme Court? It’s a legacy of authoritarianism and attacks on basic human rights. When you elect a leader like Trump, the damage is far more profound than four years in power,” she said.

But Carino views the striking down of Roe v. Wade as far from a defeat. Instead, she sees it as a call for progressive activists to renew their struggle for full reproductive rights and as an opportunity to elect politicians who support those goals in the upcoming US midterm elections.

“The US know how to put people in the street, look at Black Lives Matter. Now it’s the time to elect feminist leaders,” she said.

Despite the marked gains for the pro-abortion movement in some Latin American countries, activists still worry about the fragile state of abortion rights in several nations across their region.
Social justice

Society has long been hostile to women seeking abortion in Latin America, where the Catholic church remains a major influence, although the influence of Protestant churches are increasingly impacting policies in countries such as Brazil.

In many Latin American countries, women face prosecution and lengthy jail sentences for the procedure – and in some countries, for even for miscarrying.

In El Salvador, for example, Sara Rogel spent almost 10 years in prison after being convicted of murder after she lost her pregnancy in what she said was a fall at home when she was 22 years old.


© Provided by CNN

Activists in El Salvador demonstrate against gender-based violence and in favor of abortion rights in San Salvador in 2016.

 - MARVIN RECINOS/AFP/AFP/Getty Images

Abortion rights activists fear that that could be the state of some US states in a few years’ time.

“A great victory of the feminist struggle in Latin America is to show that abortion is a social justice issue,” says Luisa Kislinger, a Venezuelan abortion rights activist who now lives in the US.

Venezuela only allows abortion when the life of the pregnant person is at risk, with thousands of clandestine abortions performed in the country each year by people who can’t afford to travel abroad for the procedure, Kislinger told CNN.

While data on illegal abortions is hard to collect, organizations such as Faldas-R, a Caracas based NGO that provides counseling to people looking to terminate their pregnancies, say that more than 70% of the people seeking their assistance live in poverty.

“In Venezuela, abortion is effectively off limits for poor women, and that often means Black women, indigenous, disabled… all these are minorities,” Kislinger said.

“It’s exactly what might happen in the US, because communities like African Americans, Latinos, or migrants often do not have the resources to receive an abortion (there too),” she said.

Data from the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights, supports this concern.

Abortion is “increasingly concentrated among low-income women,” according to the group, which says that “women who are low-income and lack insurance coverage for abortion often struggle to come up with the money to pay for the procedure.”

“As a result, they often experience delays obtaining an abortion or are forced to carry their unintended pregnancy to term.”

This fall, Latin American abortion rights activists will have all eyes on Brazil, where presidential front runner and former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva recently said everyone should be allowed to access an abortion.

Da Silva and incumbent Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro – who is a staunch opponent of legalizing abortion – are likely to go head-to-head in October’s elections. Brazil’s own Ministry of Health acknowledges that the country is among the top 25% of countries with the most restrictive abortion laws.

By the time Brazil chooses its path, in the US, a federal right to abortion could well be a thing of the past.

This story has been updated to correct Giselle Carino’s profession. She is a political scientist.

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Anti-abortion rally held outside Alberta legislature as debate percolates

Lisa Johnson - Yesterday .
Edmonton Journal

An annual anti-abortion rally brought the fight to the steps of the legislature Thursday amid heightened political tensions.

© Provided by Edmonton Journa

lProtesters on both sides of the abortion debate clash during a March for Life rally that drew an estimated 200 to the Alberta legislature grounds in Edmonton, Thursday, May 12, 2022.

Parliament Hill in Ottawa saw a similar rally, but this year the events came on the heels of reports that the U.S. Supreme Court could overturn the landmark Roe V. Wade decision that legalized abortion.

With an estimated 200 people at least, the crowd wasn’t as big as it was during the March for Life in 2019 , when between 800 and 1,000 people gathered at the legislature grounds.

UCP MLA for Peace River Dan Williams, who has called himself pro-life, Catholic church leaders and advocates spoke at the event. Many attendees chanted and held placards that said “choose life” while counter-protesters blasted music and carried their own signs, including one that said “mind your own uterus,” leading to some tense confrontations.

ABOLISH THE CATHOLIC CHURCHES CHARITY STATUS FOR POLITICKING

Rev. Dean Dowle, pastor at the Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton, encouraged attendees to push provincial politicians for legal change.

“Please call or email your local MLA to register your support for legislation that protects children as our future citizens and honours the frail and elderly with the health care they have earned,” said Dowle, while counter-protesters yelled “my body my choice” nearby.


© Ed Kaiser/Postmedia

Sheriffs try to keep the pro-choice and pro-life supporters apart at a pro-life rally drawing an estimated 200 supporters to the Alberta legislature in Edmonton, Thursday, May 12, 2022.

Attendee Chris Taylor held a sign that read “defend the poor and fatherless,” and said he believes abortion equates to ending human life. “It’s not something we should just stand by and ignore,” he told Postmedia.

NDP women’s issues critic Janis Irwin told Postmedia she was silently expressing her pro-choice position, carrying a large sign that said “I can’t believe I still have to protest this s–t.”

She said the event shows reproductive rights continue to be under threat.

“Women and other folks who access abortion need to know that they are valued, they’re loved. And, we — an NDP government — will do all we can to ensure access to abortion in this province,” said Irwin.

The event comes after an amendment passed on a proposed Alberta labour bill offering unpaid bereavement leave on Wednesday.

After critics, including Irwin, had called for the bill to explicitly offer time off for abortion and termination for medical reasons, Labour Minister Kaycee Madu said the revised language will cover all situations involving pregnancy loss, including abortion and termination for medical reasons.

lijohnson@postmedia.com

twitter.com/reportrix

Friday's letters: Abortion rights are not settled in Alberta: NDP leader
Edmonton Journal - 

© Provided by Edmonton Journal

NDP Leader Rachel Notley and NDP MLAs call for a guarantee that the Alberta government will protect existing abortion services and work to expand access during a news conference on the steps of the Alberta legislature in Edmonton on Tuesday, May 3, 2022.

Re: “Kenney, Notley not far apart on abortion rights,” Opinion, May 10

Columnist Rob Breakenridge could not be more wrong in his recent column. He relies on a stale cliche, that abortion rights are a “settled issue,” and that Kenney has preserved the “status quo.”

The status quo isn’t good enough. Access to abortion in Alberta before 2015 was extremely poor, and my government worked hard to change that. We passed legislation to prevent harassment outside abortion clinics. We provided full public coverage for the abortion pill, a critical step towards access in rural Alberta. We were also working to provide clinical abortion services outside of major cities. The Kenney government halted this work.

We have a long way to go, but Kenney refuses to move.

We don’t need to recite Jason Kenney’s life-long hostility to women’s rights.

Upholding the right to abortion is more than landmark court decisions. It takes work every day by health providers, community organizations, and elected representatives to ensure that rights translate into accessible services. Only the NDP can be trusted to advance women’s health care.

Many Albertans have taken access to abortion for granted. Perhaps Breakenridge is one of them. But those who would roll back the clock on women’s rights have never rested. The news coming out of the U.S. will embolden these groups in Canada.

Albertans deserve a government that strengthens public health care and expands access in every community. I commit that an NDP government will take up this work every single day.

NDP Leader Rachel Notley, Edmonton

Most Canadians support the right to choose to have an abortion: poll
Wednesday
The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — As the United States faces turmoil over the possible overturning of the right to have an abortion, a new poll offers a picture of how Canadians feel about the issue.

About four in five respondents to an online survey by Leger and the Association for Canadian Studies said they are in favour of a woman’s right to an abortion if she so chooses, while 14 per cent said they are opposed.

Seventy per cent of all respondents said they were concerned about the leaked plan to overturn Roe v. Wade, and almost half said they think the situation in the U.S. on the right to an abortion may have an effect in Canada.

The online survey of 1,534 Canadians between Friday and Sunday cannot be assigned a margin of error because internet-based polls are not considered random samples.

"Is it the old adage that if the if the U.S. sneezes Canada gets a cold, that whatever happens in the States is bound to have an impact on Canada? That's always been sort of how we position ourselves against the U.S.," said Christian Bourque, Leger executive vice-president.

Bourque said the high level of concern is notable given the vast majority of Canadians say they support the right to choose to have an abortion.

"In Canada, whenever there's been attempts at reopening this debate, it was fairly quickly shut down. So why now would some people think that this would in some way launch this debate in Canada?" he said.

"It's not as if there was this overwhelming feeling that the views of Canadians were changing on the topic."

The right to an abortion doesn't exist in Canada in the same way it is enshrined in Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that has served as a legal scaffold for reproductive rights champions around the world for nearly half a century.

Abortion is decriminalized in Canada because of a 1988 Supreme Court decision, but no bill has ever been passed to enshrine access into law and it's also not considered a constitutionally protected right under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

"We know Canadians like to pay attention to U.S. politics but I think this shows really that there's a concern over this leakage of Supreme Court documents and what it's leading up to right now in the States," said Bourque.

About two in three survey respondents said the Canadian government should introduce a bill to protect the right to freely choose to have an abortion.

Many advocates fear that any effort to codify abortion access into law in Canada would risk triggering an erosion of those services. Limits on how late in a pregnancy an abortion can be performed are determined at the provincial or territorial level in Canada, and enforced by the medical community, not the courts.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government sought to assure Canadians last week that it would protect access to a safe and legal abortion, though it was not entirely clear about how.

Trudeau said Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos and Status of Women Minister Marci Ien are examining the “legal framework” to ensure “the rights of women are properly protected” under both the current and any future government.

The Liberals promised during the last election campaign to introduce regulations under the Canada Health Act to ensure that abortion services are considered medically necessary and publicly funded.

It is among the abortion-related election promises that have thus far gone untouched. The Liberals pledged a $10-million information portal on reproductive health and rights, but there was no mention of it in the federal budget last month.

A promised $10 million for youth organizations to “respond to the unique sexual and reproductive health needs of young people” has also yet to materialize.

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

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

Erika Ibrahim, The Canadian Press