Extreme heat, overdoses contributed to excess deaths in Canada amid COVID-19: report

Sean Boynton and Jamie Mauracher - Friday, May 12,2022

© Provided by Global NewsA paramedic loads his stretcher back into the ambulance after bringing a patient to the emergency room at a hospital in Montreal, Thursday, April 14, 2022. Hospitalizations due to COVID-19 have topped 2100 patients in Quebec.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

Extreme heat in Western Canada last year and an escalating drug overdose crisis helped contribute to a nearly 6 per cent rise in deaths across the country during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Statistics Canada.

Although the provisional excess mortality report released Thursday found COVID-19 accounted for a vast majority of the estimated 30,146 excess deaths from March 2020 through December 2021, it says the pandemic likely had "indirect consequences" that led to other excess deaths.

Those consequences include delayed health care response and increased substance abuse. But experts say addressing the underlying issues -- extreme heat and safe supply -- can help lessen those impacts and save lives.

Video: Excess deaths up during pandemic in Canada

Last summer, one of the most extreme heat waves in history led to more than 3,500 deaths in British Columbia and Alberta over a two-week period ending July 10, according to the report.


In B.C., much of the blame for heat-related deaths was put on long waits for paramedics, who told Global News that the health-care system — already strained by the pandemic — was stretched even further.

Read more:
2021 heat wave over B.C., Alberta was among most extreme since 1960s: study

BC Emergency Health Services did not activate its emergency coordination centre until the day the heat began to subside.

Dr. Blair Feltmate, a professor at the University of Waterloo and head of the school's Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation, says extreme heat is the deadliest of all climate change impacts, often leading to dozens of deaths at least.

"When floods or fires occur, generally speaking, (we'll see) one, two, three, maybe four people die, which of course is four too many," he said. "With extreme heat, it's a whole other ballgame.

"This should be the code red of climate change," he said. "This is the silent killer. ... It's not just inconvenient, it can kill you."

Despite the issues with ambulance responses, the high number of deaths in Western Canada last year occurred under what Feltmate calls "good conditions," where electricity was still running and water was being pumped through taller apartment buildings.

Without air conditioning, working elevators and water, "people can easily die in the thousands" during a similar heat wave, he said.

‘They were pleading for help’: Impact of heat dome on B.C. ambulance and dispatchers

A study out of the United Kingdom released earlier this month projects that by around 2080, heat waves like last year's could have a one-in-six chance of happening every year in western North America as the effects of human-caused climate change worsen.

The projections are different depending on whether global climate change is contained, the researchers said.

Feltmate estimates the number of days per year when major Canadian cities see temperatures exceed 30 C will double or even triple within 30 years.

Subsequent heat events in B.C. last summer saw improvements to the emergency response. The province and BC Emergency Health Services have vowed to improve their systems to avoid what happened in June and July.

The Statistics Canada report found there were 4,494 excess deaths among Canadians younger than 45 between May 2020 through December 2021, 19 per cent more than if there had not been a pandemic.

Yet the report said most of those deaths were not caused by COVID-19, but rather other causes "such as overdoses."

It noted the number of deaths among younger Canadians due to accidental poisonings — which includes drug overdoses — rose 30 per cent in 2020 compared to the year before.

Read more:
B.C. coroner wants ‘urgent action’ on safer drug supply six years into overdose crisis

Several provinces shattered records for overdose deaths last year, including B.C., Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario.

The Public Health Agency of Canada says deaths from illicit drug use nationwide jumped 95 per cent during the first year of the pandemic compared to the year before, and has continued to climb since. It says 20 people died per day during the first nine months of 2021, while more than 26,600 Canadians have died since 2016.

Mark Haden, an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia who studies addiction and spent decades working in treatment, says the rise in overdose deaths during the pandemic has not been surprising.

"One of the things I say is that addiction is an attachment disorder," he said. "As we walk the path of addition, we become more and more disconnected.

"COVID as a whole has been a process of disconnection. ... We have become very socially isolated, and social isolation is directly and immediately connected to addictions."

The overdose crisis has worsened, have politicians noticed?

 

A recent report from the B.C. Coroners Service showed that between January 2019 and January 2022, more than half of illicit drug toxicity deaths happened at home.

Some Canadian cities and provinces are trying to decriminalize possession of small amounts of drugs in order to curb the number of deaths.

In November 2021, British Columbia became the first province to request the federal government to decriminalize possession of small amounts of drugs. Vancouver and Toronto have made similar requests, while Vancouver has also asked for approval to create a safe supply of drugs to counter toxic combinations of fentanyl found in the illegal market.

While decriminalization could help reduce the stigma that leads people to use drugs alone indoors, Haden says safe supplies could truly make a difference in saving lives.

"The reason why people are dying is not because they're accessing opiates," he said. "If they were accessing opiates through a medical system where they're given known dosages of known quantities of known products, they wouldn't die of overdose."

Read more:

There are growing calls for drug decriminalization. Could it solve Canada’s opioid crisis?

The federal government has provided funding to safe supply pilot projects in Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria, B.C. But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has so far resisted calls to decriminalize personal supplies of illicit drugs.

Health Canada is currently reviewing B.C.'s decriminalization request, but has not yet issued a final decision.

Haden says it's critical officials act now to ensure those at risk of overdose aren't forgotten.

"If we were talking about teachers or politicians, what would be an acceptable number of deaths?" he asked.

"I think the baseline would be zero deaths for, say, kindergarten teachers. So why don't we apply the same rules (to drug users) that we apply to kindergarten teachers?"

— with files from the Canadian Pres

AUTOMATISM 

Supreme Court Blames Magic Mushrooms

(& BOOZE) For Calgary Man's Naked Attack On Professor

Canada Edition (EN) - Friday
 Narcity

Canada's top court has upheld the acquittal of a Calgary man that broke into a university professor's home and attacked her with a broom handle while naked and high on magic mushrooms.

Matthew Brown, a former Mount Royal University student, was charged with breaking and entering and aggravated assault after he attacked Mount Royal professor Janet Hamnett while intoxicated in 2018, and left her with broken bones in her hand.

The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) was looking at three specific cases, including two from Ontario, to determine whether a defence of extreme intoxication to the point of automatism – a term for acts committed unconsciously – can be used for those who take drugs and end up committing acts of violence.

In its judgment, the court voted unanimously for the acquittal and said the piece of the Criminal Code that prevented the use of the defence was "unconstitutional".

While Brown could be criticized for his decision to drink alcohol and ingest magic mushrooms prior to the attack, he could not be blamed for the aggravated assault that "occurred while he was in a state of delirium," the court said.

Brown was acquitted at a trial in May 2020, but it was overturned months later by the Alberta Court of Appeal which said he must bear the consequences of taking illegal drugs "in reckless disregard of the possible risks," according to CBC.

According to the judgment, Brown had attended a friend's party on the evening of the attack, where he had several mixed drinks, beers, and several one-half grams or smaller portions of magic mushrooms.

At 3:45 a.m., Brown removed his clothing and left the house "in an agitated state," running into the street naked and barefoot. Hamnett was woken up around 4 a.m. to loud noise and was attacked when she went to investigate. She was repeatedly beaten by Brown with a broken broom handle before managing to escape to the bathroom and lock the door.

When Brown left, Hamnett fled to a neighbour’s house and the police were called. Hamnett was left with cuts, broken bones in her right hand, and psychological damage after the attack.

UNANIMOUS

Canada’s top court says voluntary extreme intoxication a defence in violent crimes

Amanda Connolly - Friday

The Supreme Court of Canada issued a major decision on Friday allowing criminal defendants in cases involving assault — including sexual assault — to use a defence known as self-induced extreme intoxication.

Effectively, it means defendants who voluntarily consume intoxicating substances and then assault or interfere with the bodily integrity of another person can avoid conviction if they can prove they were too intoxicated to control their actions.

"To deprive a person of their liberty for that involuntary conduct committed in a state akin to automatism — conduct that cannot be criminal — violates the principles of fundamental justice in a system of criminal justice based on personal responsibility for one’s actions," wrote Justice Nicholas Kasirer in the unanimous nine-judge ruling.

Under Section 33.1 of the Criminal Code, extreme intoxication — formally known as non-insane automatism — cannot be used as a defence in criminal cases where the accused voluntarily ingested the intoxicating substance.

Video: Supreme court ruling restores Calgary man’s acquittal in 2018 drug-induced break and enter

The court's ruling declares that section is unconstitutional.

Read more:
Thomas Chan gets new trial after Supreme Court rules extreme intoxication can be used as defence

The court found that, despite the "laudable purpose" of the criminal code provision, it runs afoul of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms because it is too broad.

"The legitimate goals of protecting the victims of these crimes and holding the extremely self-intoxicated accountable, compelling as they are, do not justify these infringements of the Charter that so fundamentally upset the tenets of the criminal law," the court said in the ruling.

"With s. 33.1, Parliament has created a meaningful risk of conviction and punishment of an extremely intoxicated person who, while perhaps blameworthy in some respect, is innocent of the offence as charged according to the requirements of the Constitution."

In a written argument presented to the court as part of its deliberations, the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund had warned that allowing the defence to be used in cases of voluntary extreme intoxication would privilege "individual rights over those of vulnerable groups, including women and children who disproportionately bear the risks of intoxicated violence."

"The harm caused to women as a result of intoxicated violence is devastating and infringes on their right to security and equality," the group had argued in their factum.

"Holding individuals accountable for violent crimes committed in a state of self-induced intoxication is a pressing and substantial objective, given that a failure to do so excuses such violence and discourages reporting as an option for survivors."

Automatism in Canadian law is defined as "a state of unconsciousness that renders a person incapable of consciously controlling their behaviour while in that state."

AUTOMATISM OR SONABULISM, 

DR. CALGARI 1921 B&W

The same definition is used to support the defence of "insane automatism," which is what is used in criminal cases where the accused is found to be not criminally responsible.

The federal government had added the provision to the Criminal Code in 1995 specifically in recognition of concern "that self-induced intoxication may be used socially and legally to excuse violence, particularly violence against women and children."

Video: Are police mishandling sexual assault cases across Canada?

In the ruling, Kasirer noted that the court's decision striking down the provision "has no impact on the rule that intoxication short of automatism is not a defence to violent crimes of general intent, such as assault or sexual assault."

He also wrote that there are still other paths that the government can consider using to legislate around "extreme intoxicated violence."

"The sense that an accused who acts violently in a state of extreme self‑induced intoxication is morally blameworthy is by no means beyond the proper reach of the criminal law," he wrote.

"Protecting the victims of violent crime — particularly in light of the equality and dignity interests of women and children who are vulnerable to intoxicated sexual and domestic violence — is a pressing and substantial social purpose."

The decision went on to provide examples of ways that the government could legislate.

For example, Kasirer suggested one approach could be "if Parliament legislated an offence of dangerous intoxication or intoxication causing harm that incorporates voluntary intoxication as an essential element."

"Parliament may also wish to study and regulate according to the nature and properties of the intoxicant. The common effects of the intoxicant, its legality, and the circumstances in which it was obtained and consumed may be relevant to a marked departure standard."

Attorney General and Justice Minister David Lametti said his office is assessing the decision.

“Our Government is unwavering in its commitment to ensuring that our criminal justice system keeps communities safe, respects victims, holds offenders to account, all while upholding Charter rights," he said in a statement following the decision.

"We are carefully reviewing the decision to determine its effect on victims as well as the criminal law. It is critically important to emphasize that today’s decision does not apply to the vast majority of cases involving a person who commits a criminal offence while intoxicated.”

The court issued three rulings on self-induced extreme intoxication on Friday. The three cases involved individuals who faced criminal prosecutions after committing violence after using drugs.

One of those cases involved Thomas Chan, a Peterborough, Ont., man who was previously convicted of murdering his father in December 2015 after consuming magic mushrooms and having hallucinations.

The Supreme Court decision allows him to use the extreme intoxication defence at a new trial. Chan's lawyers had previously sought to use the defence during his initial trial.

The main decision was the case of an Alberta man named Matthew Winston Brown who was acquitted of violently attacking a woman inside a house that he had broken into after consuming alcohol and magic mushrooms at a party in 2018.

The Crown had appealed his acquittal.

The third case involved a Whitby, Ont., man called David Sullivan.

Sullivan, the court wrote, had "voluntarily taken an overdose of a prescription drug." While impaired, he "attacked his mother with a knife and injured her gravely."

He was charged with multiple offences and convicted, but his lawyers appealed.

A guaranteed basic income could end poverty, so why isn’t it happening?

Lorne Whitehead, Professor of Physics, University of British Columbia a

Jiaying Zhao, Associate Professor, Psychology, University of British Columbia - 

The Conversation

On April 27, Senator Diane Bellemare published an op-ed in the Globe and Mail opposing a proposal for guaranteed basic income where all Canadian citizens and residents over the age of 17 would receive unconditional guaranteed sufficient income.

One recent poll suggests nearly 60 per cent of Canadians support a basic income of $30,000. In another poll, 57 per cent of Canadians agree that Canada should create a basic universal income for all Canadians, regardless of employment.

Despite the strong public support, Bellemare argued that, “A basic income would be an unfair, complicated, and costly way to eliminate poverty.” As a social scientist who has researched cash transfers, and an entrepreneur and organizational leader, we challenge the view that basic income is “unfair”, “complicated” and “costly.” Instead, we argue that it can be fair, simple and affordable.
Basic income can be fair

Basic income can be fair to all Canadians, accommodating people with different needs. A system that includes basic income does not necessarily entail clawing back existing benefits and services.

Importantly, a gradually phased-in, carefully designed basic income program can be monitored and adjusted over time, to ensure that diverse individual needs are always addressed.

Research from Stanford University suggests that a basic income program can inspire meaningful social integration — greater participation in social and civic activities in the community — while also providing individuals with stability, safety and security.

An analysis of Ontario’s basic income trial illustrated that people with diverse needs reported better personal relationships with friends and family with basic income. In turn, their sense of social inclusion and citizenship improved.

Basic income can be simple

With careful planning, a basic income system could be designed to be simple, adaptable, reliable and fair. In other words, it could be a type of synergistic solution that involves an optimal mix of different policy programs that yield greater efficacy. For example, a basic income program could be combined with a wage subsidy program.

Contrary to Senator Bellemare’s assertion that “basic income would likely hamper participation in the labour market,” research has found that basic income has no negative impacts on the labour market. That is, basic income has no negative impact on employment rates or wages.

With a basic income program, recipients would be motivated to participate in the labour market and feel empowered to discover the most fulfilling way to work without fearing for their financial security.

Related video: Minister says new social programs will provide cost-of-living relief to Canadians (cbc.ca)

Basic income can be affordable

Recent cost-benefit analyses have demonstrated that carefully designed cash-based interventions can be cost effective and generate net savings for society. Recipients rely less on social services over time, meaning governments pay less to fund these programs.

While Bellemare’s analysis suggests there could be a cost problem, other, more thorough analyses have taken into account the true costs and benefits of basic income programs and rebuked that claim.

We caution against overly simplistic cost estimates and call for a more careful, thorough calculation of the true costs and benefits associated with of basic income programs. In fact, Canada can adopt a basic income program without increasing its fiscal debt.

Last year, the Parliamentary Budget Office of Canada estimated that a guaranteed basic income of $17,000 per individual would cost the government $88 billion.

This amount could be offset by scaling back tax credits that disproportionately benefit Canadians who earn higher incomes. In addition, a well-designed basic income program can provide non-monetary benefits that are typically not captured in cost-benefit analyses, such as improvements in health, education, social cohesion and productivity.

Read more: Giving people money with no strings attached is good for their health, dozens of studies indicate

Research supports basic income

There is a considerable amount of research that supports basic income around the world. It is prudent to carry out significantly enhanced research to reduce hesitations on basic income on social and economic grounds. Basic income can be a reliable, powerful component of a nationwide program to reduce poverty and enable all citizens to thrive.

Basic income should form part of a practical comprehensive plan for eliminating poverty in Canada. Indeed, there is emerging political will to push for a national strategy for a guaranteed basic income.

Last summer, Liberal MP Julie Dzerowicz sponsored Bill C-273, the National Strategy for a Guaranteed Basic Income Act. It was the first time a bill about basic income was debated by Parliament. And in February 2021, four senators — three from Prince Edward Island, one from Ontario — published an open letter that called for nationwide guaranteed basic income.

This is essential, because poverty is an unnecessary, cruel abomination. Think of it this way: most Canadians probably have a close friend or family member who is impacted by poverty, since one in 15 Canadians still live in poverty.

Poverty touches us all — it is everyone’s tragedy, which is absurd because poverty can be affordably reduced as we have argued above. Hopefully, one day future Canadians will look back to 2022 and ask how a just society could ever have tolerated such needless suffering.

Read more:

How to build a better Canada after COVID-19: Transform CERB into a basic annual income program

The cancellation of Ontario’s basic income project is a tragedy

CANADA

'We just don't have enough workers:' Restaurants rocked by labour shortage, inflation

When a fried chicken chain opened its first location in Atlantic Canada, it was so popular it had to cut back hours.

The Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen that opened a few weeks ago in a Halifax suburb has reduced its schedule because of high demand that left staff scrambling as customers queued up for hours.

"Due to industry-wide staffing challenges, the store is open for one less hour than before," Popeyes spokeswoman Emily Ciantra said in an email.

"The restaurant aims to be back to its regular hours by early June."

The bizarre case of a restaurant so popular it needs to close early underscores a pervasive issue facing restaurants in Canada: A labour crunch.

"The new Popeyes that opened actually had to ... cut back hours just to give their people a rest," said Gordon Stewart, executive director at the Restaurant Association of Nova Scotia.

Restaurants across the country are reducing hours and condensing menus as persistent staff shortages and spiking costs threaten to derail the industry's comeback from crushing pandemic restrictions.

The decision by many restaurants to scale back operations comes despite an upswing in business as diners return to restaurants in full force.

"Customers are back. But when you don't have staff to work all the shifts, you start cutting back hours," said Stewart.

"There are very few restaurants now that are running seven days a week and full hours."

Canada's restaurant industry was slammed by two years of shutdowns, repeated layoffs and strict capacity limits. About 13,000 eateries across the country closed permanently.

The situation prompted an exodus of workers from the sector as people sought more steady incomes, switched fields or went back to school. Canada also welcomed fewer immigrants during the pandemic, newcomers that sometimes find work in the restaurant industry.

Compounding the issue now is Canada's rock-bottom unemployment rate, which Statistics Canada said hit 5.2 per cent in April.

As the lucrative patio season ramps up, the restaurant industry expects staff vacancies will rise to 210,000 across the country by this summer, said Olivier Bourbeau, vice-president of federal affairs with Restaurants Canada.

"It's extremely difficult for restaurants to find staff," he said. "We just don't have enough workers."

Job openings abound across the industry in both fast food and full-service restaurants.

But the problem is most acute in kitchens.

"Red seal chefs, sous-chefs, line cooks — that's where the shortage is really hurting restaurants," Stewart said.

During the pandemic some restaurant operators blamed government subsidies for the lack of staff, but the ongoing shortage suggests a more protracted and complex issue. Some workers in the industry have said the long hours, unstable schedules, low wages and gruelling conditions — especially in a hot, busy kitchen — are to blame.

Meanwhile, restaurants are also facing spiralling costs.

Statistics Canada reported the annual inflation rate hit 6.7 per cent in March, while food costs — a key input for restaurants — increased even more, with prices for dairy, pasta, meat and cooking oil all soaring.

"From gasoline to a steak, it’s all gone crazy," Stewart said. "Costs are up right across the board."

Some eateries are eliminating less profitable meals like breakfast or lunch, offering fewer menu items overall and closing during the slowest days of the week to cut down on waste. Others are offering smaller portion sizes, rethinking the so-called "centre of plate," typically beef, chicken or fish, or even just ordering less food at one time.

"If you don't sell something by its (expiry date) it's gone, you have to throw it out," Stewart said.

"So they're ordering less. They're watching the inventory, controlling it, watching the plate size and designing smaller tighter menus."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 14, 2022.

Brett Bundale, The Canadian Press

INSTITUTIONAL RACISM & GENOCIDE

Journalist Connie Walker tells her family's residential school story in new podcast

TORONTO — For investigative journalist Connie Walker, going deep and getting personal is nothing new.

But with her latest project, for the first time in her 20-year career, Walker faced the difficult task of unearthing secrets and reopening long-buried wounds within her own family.

"It's nerve-racking; these are real people and their real experiences, and I always feel such a weight and a responsibility to not contribute to any harm and to be respectful of what they have gone through," says Walker, a former CBC reporter who previously helmed the podcasts “Missing & Murdered: Finding Cleo” and “Stolen: The Search for Jermain."

"Those responsibilities feel even heavier when it's your father, your aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters," she adds.

For the second season of the Spotify-Gimlet podcast "Stolen," Walker, who is Cree from Okanese First Nation in Saskatchewan, traces the painful past at a Canadian residential school of her late father, Howard Cameron, and how it impacted his life and his relationship with her. Titled "Surviving St. Michael's," the project premieres on May 17.

The idea came to Walker after her brother told her a story she'd never heard before and says she is likely to never forget: one night in the 1970s, while working as a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer, Cameron pulled over a drunk driver and found himself staring down a priest from his residential school days.

After beating the man to the point that he was left bloodied and crumpled on the ground, Cameron drove away.

Hearing the story "changed everything" for Walker, especially after last year's discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves at a former Kamloops residential school, and propelled her to find out more.

"I think for Indigenous people, especially people like me who have been trying to shine a spotlight on the truth about residential schools, it was a relief that people were finally paying attention and that there seemed to be an acknowledgment of what Indigenous people and survivors have been saying for so long about what they endured," says Walker in an interview from her home in Toronto.

"But on the other hand, the weight felt even heavier," she adds.

Walker recalls feeling "lost" in the weeks after the Kamloops discovery, but feeling inspired when she saw family and friends then sharing their own stories of life in the residential school system on social media.

So when she heard about her father's encounter that night, Walker says, "I had this pit in my stomach, thinking, what happened to him there? What did this priest do to him?

"It was the first time I really had to confront that in a way that I never had before.

"And once it was in front of me, I couldn't just get past it, I had to go through it. I was compelled to go further and stare it in the face."

In her investigation, Walker leaves no stone unturned, hunting down St. Michael's residential school priests, and speaking with survivors, including her aunts and uncles, about what happened all those years ago — all while grappling with the generational trauma still rippling through her family.

"Learning about my dad has had to happen through the people who knew him better than I do, which were his siblings, and they all have their own experiences in residential school," she says, adding those were things "we just didn't talk about" prior to her investigation.

But her family was incredibly "open, generous and supportive," says Walker, though having them be a part of this project has involved great "anxiety, fear, sadness, heartbreak, but also so much gratitude and so much empathy and so much love."

"It has definitely helped me reconnect with that side of my family and that's something that I really cherish," she adds, noting there's a tremendous pressure in getting their story right and sharing it with the world.

All in all, however, it's made for a "healing, therapeutic" journey for the award-winning journalist, who now feels closer to her father than ever before.

Cameron had been a rare presence in Walker's young life, and when he was around, she says, he was often violent, leaving her afraid of him for years, keen to keep her distance.

But after learning of the physical and sexual abuse he experienced, she says "it finally clicked and gave me some insight into why he was the way he was when I was a kid."

After completing the investigation, Walker adds, "Now, it's a huge regret of mine that I didn't take the time to connect with him.

"I really feel like I've gotten to know him in a new way ... and what I've been able to learn about him leaves me in awe that he was able to keep going, learning, healing and prioritizing his family."

The experience has Walker eager to continue exploring her community's stories in podcast form, which she believes make space for a "deeper dive" and "greater immersion" than traditional media.

"It's the perfect way to be sharing our stories, which have been misrepresented and underrepresented for so long," says Walker.

"We are one family of thousands who share this history."

But ultimately, says Walker, "I just want to do my dad proud."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 13, 2022.

Sadaf Ahsan, The Canadian Press

RACIST MURDEROUS COPS IN KANADA
Mother of Chantel Moore tells inquest about night N.B. police shot her daughter

FREDERICTON — The mother of an Indigenous woman shot by New Brunswick police in 2020 told a coroner's inquest Monday that less than two hours after she was awakened by an officer seeking her daughter's address to check on her safety, police returned with news that her daughter had been killed.


© Provided by The Canadian Press

Mother of Chantel Moore tells inquest about night N.B. police shot her daughter

Martha Martin was one of the first witnesses called Monday at the inquest into the June 4, 2020, death of her daughter, 26-year-old Chantel Moore, a member of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation in British Columbia.

Martin said Const. Jeremy Son of the Edmundston, N.B., police knocked on her door at 2:30 a.m. to say there was concern for Moore's safety. He said police had received calls from Moore's ex-boyfriend, suggesting someone might be stalking Moore and they needed to check on her.

Martin said she gave Son directions to her daughter's new apartment and he left, but at 4:19 a.m. there was another knock on her door.

"It was two police officers to give me the news my daughter had been shot," she said sobbing. "They gave me the news she had been shot and killed."

Martin said her daughter was an outgoing and loving person who had recently moved to New Brunswick from British Columbia to make a better life for herself.

"She made friends everywhere she went. She was very loving and would go the extra mile for friends and family," Martin said.

Earlier, Jonathan Brunet, a former boyfriend of Moore, told the inquiry their relationship ended in May 2020 and he was living in Quebec while Moore was in New Brunswick. "She was energetic. She always had a smile. She had a positive energy around her," he told the inquest jury via video link.

He said he got a series of text messages from Moore in the hours before her death, and at one point it appeared the messages were coming from a third person. He said it was as if the person was in Moore's apartment and was going to harm her.

Brunet said he tried to reach Moore's friends and family, but it was late at night and he got no replies, so he called police. "I didn't know if police believed me. It was a worrisome situation," he said.

Chelsea Ouellette, a friend of Moore, testified that she had drinks with Moore in the hours before her death. She said Moore was drinking beer and rum that evening and was happy and chatty but didn't seem overly intoxicated.

Ouellette said she left Moore's apartment around midnight but realized she had left her wallet behind and returned to retrieve it at around 1 a.m. She said Moore was having a video call with someone and was still on the call when she left with her wallet about five minutes later.

A jury of three women and two men was chosen Monday morning to hear testimony at the inquest, which is expected to last all week. Coroner Emily Caissy said the proceedings are not a trial and are not intended to assign blame. Instead, the jury will have the opportunity to make recommendations aimed at preventing similar deaths in the future.

Police have said an intoxicated Moore was shot on the balcony outside her apartment after reportedly approaching the officer with a knife.

T.J. Burke, the lawyer for Moore's family, stated outside the inquest Monday that the Edmundston police force lacked the tools to de-escalate the situation without using deadly force, and he plans to file a lawsuit on Tuesday against the city and the officer who shot Moore.

"It sets out the negligence we believe occurred on June 4, 2020, whereby the defendants — the City of Edmundston and the police officer Jeremy Son — fell below a professional standard of care for police officers in preserving the life of Chantel Moore," he said. Burke said he hopes the lawsuit will provide financial compensation for the family and answers that will help the family heal.

The six chiefs of the Wolastoqey Nation in New Brunswick issued a statement at the start of the inquest Monday.

“It is unacceptable that the family was forced to wait this long for answers to the tragic murder of a young Indigenous mother,” said Chief Ross Perley of Tobique First Nation.

The chiefs have been calling for an independent inquiry on systemic racism in the provincial justice system.

“We want to be clear that this inquest in no way replaces the need for an inquiry on systemic racism, but it is a start and will hopefully bring some closure to Chantel Moore’s family and allow them some peace of mind,” said Chief Allan Polchies Jr. of St. Mary’s First Nation. “Indigenous Peoples in New Brunswick cannot continue to be on the receiving end of injustice within the provincial justice system.”

The province called coroner's inquests into the deaths of Moore and Rodney Levi — who was fatally shot by the RCMP near Miramichi on June 12, 2020 — rather than an independent inquiry on systemic racism.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 16, 2022.

Kevin Bissett, The Canadian Press

KANADA IS THE HURON SPELLING

A MASS KILLER WEEKEND IN THE USA

California church shooting: Parishioners praised for hog-tying suspected gunman

UNARMED PARISHONERS

Churchgoers are being praised for their quick thinking after they were able to detain a shooter inside their Southern California church over the weekend, hog-tying his legs with an extension cord in what a sheriff's official called "exceptional heroism and bravery."

A man opened fire at the Grace Presbyterian Church in the city of Laguna Woods on Sunday, killing one person and wounding five others.

Orange County Undersheriff Jeff Hallock said in a press conference Sunday that officers responded to a call about a shooting at 1:26 p.m. that afternoon. The incident happened at a lunch banquet that was honouring a former pastor of the primarily Taiwanese congregation.

“We believe a group of churchgoers detained him, and hog-tied his legs with an extension cord, and confiscated at least two weapons from him,” said Hallock, as reported by NBC News. “That group of churchgoers displayed what we believe is exceptional heroism and bravery in intervening to stop the suspect. They undoubtedly prevented additional injuries and fatalities.”

Hallock said there were between 30 and 40 people at the luncheon but did not say how many of the parishioners stepped in to halt the shooter.

In a Facebook post from the Presbytery of Los Ranchos, a church administrative group, presbytery leader Tom Cramer called for prayers.

“Please keep the leadership of the Taiwanese congregation and Geneva in your prayers as they care for those traumatized by this shooting,” he wrote.

On Monday, police confirmed the suspect as David Chou, 68, of Las Vegas, N.V. Chou was detained on one felony count of murder and five felony counts of attempted murder.

The five victims wounded in the gunfire include four males and one female, all senior citizens ranging in age from 66 to 92 years old.

The naming of the person killed in the attack is pending official identification and notification of next of kin.


Michelle Butterfield - 
-- With files from Global News' Irelyne Lavery

THERE WERE THREE MASS SHOOTINGS IN THE USA THIS WEEKEND

FRIDAY BUCKS GAME, 

SATURDAY BUFFALO, 

SUNDAY CALIFORNIA

ITS NOT GUNS THAT KILL PEOPLE 

ITS PEOPLE WITH GUNS

PROPERTY IS THEFT; 

PRIVATE PROPERTY FETISH BASIS OF RURAL CRIME

Murder trial begins for father, son accused of fatally shooting two Métis hunters

Both men pleaded not guilty to each charge during the first day of the trial, expected to last 10 days

Author of the article:Anna Junker

EDMONTON JOURNAL
Publishing date: May 16, 2022 • 

Jacob Sansom, 39, and his uncle Maurice (Morris) Cardinal, 57, smile in a photo taken the day before they were found with gunshot wounds on Saturday, March 28, 2020, around 4 a.m. on a rural road near Glendon, northeast of Edmonton.

 PHOTO BY SUPPLIED

Video surveillance shows Anthony Bilodeau fatally shot Jacob Sansom within 26 seconds of arriving at a northern Alberta intersection, a Crown prosecutor told a jury during opening statements Monday.

Anthony and his father Roger Bilodeau have each been charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Métis hunters Jacob Sansom and Maurice (Morris) Cardinal.

They are accused of fatally shooting Sansom and his uncle, Cardinal, on a rural road near Glendon, Alta. in March 2020.

Both men pleaded not guilty to each charge during the first day of the trial, expected to last 10 days.

Crown prosecutor Jordan Kerr said Sansom and Cardinal were driving on Range Road 484 after they had spent a day hunting for moose and the evening with friends, drinking and skinning the animal. They were heading home when they slowed down or possibly stopped outside the rural property of Roger Bilodeau, who observed the truck with his 16-year-old son Joseph Bilodeau.

Kerr said the Bilodeaus were “deeply suspicious” of the truck, after seeing a number of “suspicious vehicles” near their property earlier in the day.

The jury will hear a statement Roger gave to police about the pursuit, when he had called Anthony who lived a short distance away. During this call, Kerr said Roger told Anthony “these sons of bitches are coming to steal or do something” and asked Anthony to bring his gun.

Anthony then got into his own truck to join the pursuit.

Sansom and Roger eventually reached a T-intersection at Township Road 622 and Range Road 484 and stopped. A Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. gas pumping station was also located at the intersection, equipped with surveillance cameras.

What occurs next between the men is disputed by the Crown and defence. The Crown asserts Sansom was unarmed and three minutes after Sansom and Roger arrived at the intersection, Anthony arrives. Both Sansom and Cardinal had left their truck at this point.

“Then 26 seconds after Anthony Bilodeau’s arrival on the scene, you’ll see Jacob Sansom fall to the ground in front of him in the middle of the road,” Kerr said.

Kerr said Sansom was shot in the chest. He said Cardinal is seen moving towards Sansom, appearing to hold a firearm. An altercation occurs between Anthony and Cardinal, he moves back to Sansom’s truck and then is shot three times.

Kerr said there is “no self-defence here” and Roger is also criminally liable for the deaths. Roger initiated a “dangerous and persistent high-speed chase” and had “clearly anticipated having a confrontation” when asking Anthony to join the pursuit and bring a gun.

Shawn Gerstel, a defence lawyer representing Roger, said this case is not about how the deceased died or who pulled the trigger, but there is “much more to this story” including what happened in the minutes and hours prior to the deaths of Sansom and Cardinal.

Gerstel said Joseph had witnessed two blue trucks pull up to the property earlier in the day while he and his mother were home alone, and Sansom’s truck looked similar so he and Roger decided to follow them and see what they were up to.

Gerstel said at the intersection, Sansom assaults Roger inside his truck, with Joseph pleading “please don’t kill my dad.”

“There will be other evidence that shows the level of violence that was inflicted on Roger and Joseph that evening,” Gerstel said.

He said the jury will hear testimony from Joseph that he believed Anthony was acting in self-defence towards himself and his family.

Following opening statements, the Crown played the surveillance video for the jury and the first two witnesses were called to testify.

ARMED FARMERS ARE A PROBLEM ON THE PRAIRIES, WHEN THE KILL OTHERS ITS THIS PRIVATE PROPERTY DEFENSE THAT GETS THEM OFF ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY KILL INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

MAKE CANADA A REPUBLIC

Métis leader calls for Queen to apologize 

for residential schools

IF THE POPE CAN DO IT SHE CAN TOO

The Canadian Press

The president of the Métis National Council says the Queen should apologize for residential schools to help survivors and their families heal.

Cassidy Caron says residential school survivors told her that an apology from the Queen would be important since she is the leader of the Anglican Church and Canada’s head of state.

Caron says she will make the request to Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, during a reception with them at Rideau Hall on Wednesday.

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall are to visit Canada this week for a three-day tour that is to partially focus on Indigenous reconciliation.

Last month, Pope Francis apologized at the Vatican to survivors and Indigenous delegates for the Catholic Church’s role in residential schools.

Some 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend residential schools; the Anglican Church ran about three dozen of them.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 16, 2022.

The Canadian Press

REST IN POWER
Gerald Hannon, Toronto journalist and LGBTQ activist, dies at 77

Gerald Hannon, a talented and controversial Canadian journalist, educator, and queer activist has died at the age of 77.

© Provided by National Post

Jessica Mundie - Friday

NATTIONAL POST/POSTMEDIA

He chose to end his life by medical assistance in dying (MAID) after living with the quickly progressing atypical Parkinson’s disease for four years. He was joined by friends Peter Kingstone, Gerry Oxford, and Ed Jackson as he took his last breath, reported Xtra, the LGBTQ publication to which Hannon contributed.

In a memoriam published by Xtra, friends recalled Hannon as “guileless” and “kind,” a man who was a generous teacher of journalism students and a passionate defender of gay rights.

“When we finally met, I was surprised, disappointed even, that this gentle, soft-spoken man was the notorious Gerald Hannon. He didn’t have horns, as painted by the right-wing media, nor did he breathe fire,” Justine Pimlott, a filmmaker, told Xtra. “And this is exactly what I came to love about him — his ability to be quietly, yet fully, present, and his faculty for observation and non-judgment.”

Hannon grew up in Marathon, Ont., a small town on Lake Superior whose economy was built on pulp.

“It was very beautiful, but isolated and remote,” wrote Hannon on his website. “I trapped rabbits, with a friend. He and I wrestled frequently in the bush. We sometimes fought with knives. I discovered opera.”

He moved to Toronto at 18 and came out as gay six years later.

Hannon’s long career in journalism began in 1972 at the gay liberation magazine, The Body Politic, where he was involved from the second issue to the last. He served as a writer and photographer.

“We weren’t journalists or particularly activists, but we suddenly became so,” Hannon told the Toronto Sun in 2008.


© Postmedia/FileGerald Hannon in 1996.

The magazine tackled issues gay rights activists were passionate about in the 1970s and ’80s, such as discriminatory criminal law, workplace issues and sexuality. But it’s perhaps most famous for an article Hannon wrote in 1977 entitled Men Loving Boys Loving Men. The article discussed sexual relationships between adults and minors, and was widely seen as a defence of pedophilia.

After backlash about the article from other media outlets, namely the Toronto Sun, the magazine’s office was raided by Toronto police and in January 1978, the magazine and its publishers were charged with distributing “immoral, indecent or scurrilous material.” A year later, the case was tried. After six days of testimony, the only piece of documentary evidence presented was a copy of The Body Politic containing Hannon’s article. The magazine was acquitted, and won again on appeal in 1982.

“I must judge with objectivity and concern for the right of free discussion and dissemination of ideas unless there be a clear incitement to illegal action,” the judge wrote.

The Body Politic ceased publication in 1986 after 15 years and Hannon became a freelancer and part-time instructor of journalism at Toronto Metropolitan University (then Ryerson University). He contributed to many newspapers and magazines, including Toronto Life, the Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, and Xtra.

In 1995, Hannon caught the media’s eye again when the Toronto Sun ran a story under the headline “Ryerson Prof: I’m a Hooker” after he had responded truthfully to a reporter who asked if he engaged in sex work.

“Much was written about me, particularly after it was revealed that I supplemented my income from teaching and writing with the wages of sin as a sex worker,” wrote Hannon.

The university suspended him the day after the story came out. Even then, he had his defenders. Christie Blatchford, then a Toronto Sun writer, who would later write for the National Post until she died in February 2020, said Hannon was “a genuine eccentric, a tweedy, rumpled and engaging man with outlandish opinions and a steadfast insistence on expressing them.”

“Gerald Hannon’s mistake, in his own words, was to have ‘a controversial idea in an institution that doesn’t welcome them’. And isn’t it always the way? Now that I’m two decades out of Ryerson, I’ve finally found a cause I’d protest and a sit-in I’d join?”

Hannon continued working as a freelancer after the scandal, winning 13 National Magazine Awards for his work. He was known for his detailed profiles and ability to capture diverse people in writing such as opera singer Cornelis Opthof, journalist Wendy Mesley, and then-mayoral candidate Rob Ford.

“Hannon’s honesty, like many of his other traits, was part of what made him an utterly brilliant journalist. He never worried about hurting feelings or offending,” Montreal-based journalist Matthew Hays told Xtra.

In 2006, Hannon co-hosted a walking tour of Toronto focusing on the city’s early queer history alongside writer Jane Farrow. “I figured I could piece together the basic narrative and guide people through it, but how much cooler would it be to feature one of the guys who pretty much put the queer in queer Canadian history?” Farrow told Xtra.

Farrow remembers Hannon as “unstinting in his generosity. He gave of his heart, his talents, his take on the world freely and beautifully.”

Later in life, Hannon got the most joy from singing opera. Jackson, a former publisher of the Body Politic and in the room when Hannon died, wrote that Hannon became involved with the Toronto City Opera.

“A shameless ham, he was at his best mugging his way through the comic roles,” wrote Jackson in Xtra.

Chris Lea, who was on the board of the Toronto City Opera, praised Hannon for his writing and activism in Toronto. Lea told Xtra that Hannon was his first boyfriend.

“Without Gerald, not just our city, but all Canada, would have been less free… If they knew Gerald as I do, they would know his gentle kindness, his passion, his humour and love.”

On his website, Hannon lists some of his “distinguishing marks.”

“Never had a driver’s license.

Never had a television.

Never learned how to properly tie my shoes.

Can’t properly use a knife and fork.”

Hannon’s long-awaited memoir titled Immoral, Indecent & Scurrilous: The Making of an Unrepentant Sex Radical is scheduled to be published this summer. According to Jackson, Hannon got to see a special advance copy of the book before his death.