PURGING TORY LAW

MPs pass bill removing mandatory minimum sentences from some criminal offences


OTTAWA — Members of Parliament voted to adopt the Liberal government's proposed legislation on mandatory minimum penalties Wednesday, bringing it another step closer to becoming law.



Bill C-5, which passed third reading in the House of Commons with a vote of 206 to 117, would amend the Criminal Code to remove mandatory minimum sentences for all drug convictions and for some firearms and tobacco-related offences.

Prosecutors would also be required to consider referring defendants to treatment programs or other support services instead of charging them for simple drug possession offences.

Justice Minister David Lametti has argued the changes, which reverse "tough on crime" measures passed under former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper, would target the overrepresentation of Black and Indigenous people in the criminal justice system.

“The recent corrections and policing reports are a disappointing reminder that systemic discrimination and racism are a reality for too many in Canada’s criminal justice system,” Lametti said in a statement.

Thanks to an NDP amendment to the bill, existing criminal records associated with simple possession charges will now disappear within two years, or, for new convictions, two years after the end of the sentence.

NDP Justice Critic Randall Garrison said in a statement that the government’s acceptance of the provision is an acknowledgment of how “seriously flawed” their existing system for pardons is.

Garrison said the changes in the bill are long overdue. “We know that on this government’s watch, the percentage of Indigenous women in federal prisons has reached shocking and unacceptable levels.”

Canadian courts have already struck down some mandatory minimum sentences, calling them unconstitutional.

Still, Conservatives are holding fast on their line that Bill C-5 is “soft on crime” and “puts communities and victims at risk.”

Along with Independent MP Kevin Vuong, the Conservatives voted against the bill at third reading, while the other parties joined with the Liberals to pass it.

Conservative justice critic Rob Moore asserted in a statement that the mandatory minimums should stay in place, especially for weapons offences.

“Conservatives believe that serious, violent offences that are committed with firearms deserve mandatory prison time,” he said.

If the bill passes the Senate, it will be Liberals' first major move on the file after promising to review mandatory minimums in 2015.

Their previous version of the same legislation, Bill C-22, was introduced in February 2021 but died on the order paper when last fall’s federal election was called.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 15, 2022.

The Canadian Press

Liberals still mulling delivery of dental care as clock ticks to fulfil pledge to NDP

OTTAWA — The clock is ticking for the government to deliver on its ambitious promise to the New Democrats to deliver a dental care program for low- and middle-income uninsured kids by the end of the year, while cost estimates have nearly doubled.




The pledge is a key element of the Liberal government's deal with the NDP to stave off an election until 2025. The Liberals promised to provide coverage by the end of the year for children living in a household with an income of less than $90,000, expanding it next year to include under 18-year olds, seniors and persons living with a disability.

The plan is to fully implement the program by 2025.

The government has just over six months to launch a completely new program, but still appears to be in the consultation phase of the planning and hasn't settled on the most basic question: what form will this program take?

One option is for the program to be delivered as a federal transfer to provinces, which would either administer it alongside existing dental programs or amalgamate them together.

But the NDP have always pitched the program as a stand-alone federal dental insurance plan, administered by federal staff to fill the gaps in the patchwork of provincial and private programs across the country.

A third option to contract the program out to a private company is also on the table, according to several stakeholder groups who've been in talks with government officials but aren't able to speak publicly.

Each available path has its own pitfalls and would likely take more than six months to traverse, and it's not clear what concessions the NDP are willing to accept to get a federal dental-care program in place.

"We are driving dental care forward and are intent on delivering the stated goals. We believe we’ve found an excellent national model that meets expectations," said NDP health critic Don Davies in a statement Thursday.

The government's 2022 budget suggested the plan would cost $5.3 billion over the next five years, starting with a modest investment of $300 million this year to kick-start the kids program.

But in a legislative costing note, the PBO says the total cost of the program, if delivered as a transfer to provinces, could be closer to $9 billion, and the government would have to spend $939 million this year to get it going.

The PBO's report underscores just how complicated the government's task is in setting up a new dedicated program, the Canadian Dental Program said in a statement.

“While we fully support efforts by all levels of government to improve Canadians’ oral health, we’re concerned that the timeline previously announced may be exceedingly ambitious given the complexity of this issue," said Dr. Lynn Tomkins, the association's president.

The government has so far held several one-on-one and roundtable meetings with a large slate of stakeholders, including those with an interest in health care, oral health and insurance.

A task force has been stood up to navigate the various options. The executive director of that task force, Lindy Van Amburg, was not available for an interview.

Instead, Health Canada issued a statement to say that coverage will be provided for children this fiscal year, suggesting the government may be offering itself slightly more breathing room by giving itself until the end of March to fulfil its deal with the NDP.

"The government of Canada is committed to respecting the timelines that have been set out for this program, and will provide more information as the design of the program moves forward," the statement read.

Still, the timeline is ambitious. If, as the PBO interpreted, the government decides to download its dental care ambitions onto the provinces, it will need to get buy-in from 13 provinces and territories with a myriad of existing programs and their own unique industry landscape.

The dental association prefers this option because it would support existing programs that need funding, be less disruptive to the insurance sector and pose a lower risk of people going without coverage during the transition.

The Liberals went through a similar process to realize its cost-cutting goals for child care last year, but it took nearly a year to get all provinces and territories to agree.

The politics of signing new provincial and territorial dental care deals may also be complicated by the fact that several provinces, including Quebec and British Columbia, have emphatically requested more money from the federal health transfer with less political meddling from Ottawa.

Contracting out a federal program comes with its own headaches. Some stakeholders have told the government it could offer best value for money, but transparency and accountability could be lost in the event a private company takes over the coverage.

Awarding a multi-billion-dollar procurement process would normally take upwards of a year. Companies need time to prepare a bid, government officials need to carefully go through each one, and that's all before the winning company is able to start working on the program.

It's anyone's guess how long it would take to launch a federal bureau with dedicated government staff.

The government will need to pick an option before it can even begin delving into the arguably much more challenging and detailed work of deciding which services will be covered, how much reimbursement the plan will offer and how it will impact the industry at large.

It's also difficult to know precisely how much the program will cost. If, as some groups fear, provincial and employee insurance plans drop coverage and refer patients to the federal program, the Liberals' promise to the NDP could become much more costly, very quickly.

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

Laura Osman, The Canadian Press

Liberals table bill responding to Supreme Court decision on 'extreme intoxication'

OTTAWA — The federal Liberals tabled a bill Friday that seeks to eliminate "self-induced extreme intoxication" as a legal defence for violent crimes, after the Supreme Court struck down a similar provision in May.



Bill C-28, introduced by Justice Minister David Lametti, would create new language in the Criminal Code that creates criminal liability when a person who commits a violent crime is "in a state of negligent self-induced extreme intoxication."

For a person to be found criminally liable under the drafted update of Section 33.1 in the code, the court would need to consider the foreseeability of the risk that ingesting intoxicating substances could "cause extreme intoxication and lead the person to harm another person."

In making that determination, the court would have to consider anything the person did to avoid such a risk.

The bill defines "extreme intoxication" as intoxication that renders a person unaware of, or incapable of consciously controlling, their behaviour.

The new language is being proposed in response to the Supreme Court's unanimous decision that the previous wording of Section 33.1, which eliminated "self-induced intoxication" as a defence, was unconstitutional.


In the court's decision, Justice Nicholas Kasirer wrote that convicting someone for how they behave in a state of automatism, or when they are too intoxicated to stay in control, violates principles of fundamental justice.

Under the previous version of the law, the court found a person could be convicted without the prosecution having to prove that they acted voluntarily or that they ever intended to commit a crime⁠ — even though a "guilty action" and a "guilty mind" must ordinarily be present for someone to be found guilty of a crime.

The court upheld two acquittals of men who committed violent acts after voluntarily consuming drugs, and ordered a new trial in a third, similar case.

It suggested Parliament could enact new legislation to update the language of the Criminal Code and hold "extremely intoxicated" people accountable for their violent crimes⁠.

The section the court struck down had been added by the Liberal government of Jean Chrétien in 1995, in response to a Supreme Court decision that acquitted a man of sexual assault because he was blackout drunk at the time of the offence.

The court has made it clear that simply being drunk or high, short of a state of automatism, is never a defence for a criminal offence.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 17, 2022.

Marie-Danielle Smith, The Canadian Press

US Feds taking first steps toward revising race, ethnic terms

The federal government is taking preliminary steps toward revising racial and ethnic classifications that have not been changed in a quarter century following calls for more accurate categories for how people identify themselves in federal data gathering.


© Provided by The Canadian PressFeds taking first steps toward revising race, ethnic terms

The revisions could open the door to changes long desired by advocates on census and survey forms. Among them are a new category for people of Middle Eastern and North African descent who currently are classified as white and efforts to make categories less confusing for Hispanic participants.

The chief statistician of the U.S. said in a blog post Wednesday that her office was initiating a formal review of the race and ethnicity classifications maintained by the Office of Management and Budget which were first outlined in 1977 and have not been revised since 1997.

The purpose of any changes to the standards will be to better reflect the diversity of the U.S., said Karin Orvis, the chief statistician, who was named to the position by the Biden administration earlier this year.

The review will wrap up by summer 2024 after getting input from government experts across agencies and public feedback, according to the chief statistician. That date would be months before a presidential election that could lead to a stop to any revisions if there's a change in administrations. Momentum for changing the classifications grew in the years leading up to the 2020 census, but it was halted after then-President Donald Trump took office in 2017.

“I understand the importance of moving quickly and with purpose," Orvis said. “It is also important that we get this right."

Besides helping to provide a portrait of the demographic makeup of the U.S., the categories are used to enforce civil rights, voting rights and employment discrimination laws. Under current classifications, race and Hispanic origin are separate categories on census forms and surveys.

Some advocates have been pushing for combining the race and Hispanic origin questions, saying the way race is categorized often confuses Hispanic respondents who are not sure how to answer. Tests by the Census Bureau in the 2010 census showed that combining the questions yielded higher response rates.

The need to change the current standards can be seen in 2020 census results in which the “some other race" category surpassed African Americans as the nation's second-largest racial group. The “some other race" category was made up overwhelmingly of Latinos, said Arturo Vargas, executive director of NALEO Educational Fund.

“Right now, the Census Bureau knows the way it collects data is fundamentally flawed. It’s confusing and distorts the true nature of our nation’s diversity,” Vargas said. “For the Latino population, the current construct is flawed when it comes to Latinos being able to identify themselves as Latino and by the race category.”

Advocates also have been pushing for a category of Middle Eastern and North African, also known as MENA, for the once-a-decade census and other federal demographic surveys. The Census Bureau recommended adding a MENA category to the 2020 census form, but the idea was dropped by the Trump administration.

Several U.S. House members equated the lack of a MENA category to “the longstanding erasure of a group of our fellow Americans" in a letter this week to Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young and Census Bureau Director Robert Santos.

“OMB standards determine how our political institutions distribute material resources, political representation, and research funding," said the letter from 18 House Democrats, including Michigan's U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the lone Palestinian American in Congress. “These resources are vital components of growth and development for any minority community, particularly those who experience historical barriers to meeting basic needs and accessing support."

Meanwhile, Asian communities also have been calling for more nuanced details. Grouping Asians together in a single race category masks wide variations among different Asian groups, according to advocates.

“Aggregated data points in health, education and other issues perpetuate the persistent and pernicious myth that all Asian Americans are affluent and well-educated — by not allowing for a deeper dive into the differences within subgroups," said Terry Ao Minnis, an official at Asian Americans Advancing Justice ' AAJC.

For many civil rights groups, updating the categories has been a priority for years.

“We have been calling for urgency on this matter,” Vargas said. “We are heartened that we are seeing some movement.

Mike Schneider, The Associated Press

NOVA SCOTIA

Active shooter training still not sufficient following Portapique: paramedic union

The union representing paramedics in Nova Scotia says the current active shooter training still isn't up to standard, after first responders who worked during the 2020 mass shooting told an inquiry they were put into a position of danger "we should never been put in."


© Liam Hennessey/CPA memorial remembering Lillian Hyslop is seen along the road in Wentworth, N.S. on Friday, April 24, 2020.

Graeme Benjamin and Rebecca Lau - Wednesday

The mass casualty commission, which is looking into the April 2020 mass shooting that claimed 22 lives in the Portapique, N.S. area, heard from the paramedics on Monday.

Read more:

Mass shooting inquiry - N.S. paramedics offer dramatic testimony about their role

"Things that I think are really important in order to grow from the whole situation still hasn't been addressed," Melanie Lowe told the inquiry.

The paramedics were staged just off Portapique Beach Road across from Blueberry Field Road, which the shooter used to escape.

The first responders went home that night not knowing he was still on the loose, and was told to come back to work the next day.

"At the end of the day, where was the support? Where was the care?" said paramedic Jeff Aucoin.

"I think we were put in a position of danger we should have never been put in."

Kevin MacMullin, a spokesperson with International Union for Operating Engineers Local 727, which represents Nova Scotia paramedics, says the current active shooter training isn't sufficient.

"We should be fully prepared to know what to do when we arrive on those scenes, how to protect ourselves and our patients," said MacMullin.

"It's something that's high time to be done. This is two years later and we're not trained."

The lack of mental health services has also been a concern, with all the paramedics saying they never received follow-up calls after their post-incident briefing.

"Something that traumatic, they should have been put off work for an indefinite period," said MacMullin.

EHS, which employs the paramedics, did acknowledge in a statement that they "continue to learn about how we could have supported them more fully since that unexpected event."

An internal review process found several areas of change, including moving EHS radios to an encrypted system and drafting guideline that states employees will be relieved from duty "in these instances."

EHS Executive Director Charbel Daniel told Global News that among the changes made since the mass shooting are a bolstered mental health team and an overhaul of its "All Hazards Plan."

"Ensuring that our teams have a voice, that they're heard, and that our continuous improvement process is led by their voices and the changes that they'd like to see," explained Daniel.

Daniel praised the first responders who answered the call that day, saying EHS "greatly appreciate the strength and honesty the team has demonstrated."

As for the first responders, they hope sharing their experience will result in real change, although that is yet to be seen.

"If it happened again tomorrow, I don't see what would be different," Advanced Emergency Medical Dispatcher Bruce Cox told the inquiry.

N.S. teachers' union ponders how to restore gains taken by unconstitutional law

HALIFAX — The union representing Nova Scotia teachers is pondering options to restore the losses its members incurred because of an unconstitutional law that imposed a labour contract on them in 2017.



The law passed by the former Liberal government five years ago was struck down Tuesday by the Nova Scotia Supreme Court, with Justice John Keith commenting that Bill 75 violated good-faith collective bargaining "and was terribly wrong."

Paul Wozney, president of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union, says it's complicated to undo the actions of the Stephen McNeil government.

"The years when the wages and contract language would have applied have already passed .… We're now dealing with a different government, and how do you address those harms?" he asked in an interview Wednesday.

The Supreme Court decision noted that when the bill passed, the union lost key provisions it had negotiated, including two days of professional leave and the creation of a labour-management council that would provide for arbitration if disputes over working conditions couldn't be resolved.

The imposed contract set wage increases to three per cent over four years. It also wound down a long-term service award, which had allowed teachers to accrue up to one per cent of their salary each year toward a lump-sum payment at the end of their careers.

Wozney said some of the damage caused by the province's actions, particularly the restrictions on the ability to strike, have been erased by the court decision. However, he said the contractual losses of teachers remain unresolved.

He says the union's options include appealing the court decision to seek more remedies, or attempting to persuade the current Progressive Conservative government to restore the union's lost gains through negotiations.

“We have some soul-searching on what to do about making this right for teachers who suffered from this legislation," Wozney said.

"You can spend a lot of money on legal processes and come out a loser. We've invested a lot of energy in this challenge, and the question is, will there be another pathway without spending a whole lot more money on court processes?"

Premier Tim Houston said Thursday that he believes the court decision means the parties should "discuss what remedies there should be." His government is "open to some of the things that are important to the union membership," he added.

Asked if the specific losses of the union would be reconsidered, he responded, "I would encourage both sides to go to the table with the things they want to talk about, and all of those things would and should be included in the discussions moving forward."

Wozney said one other option is for the NSTU to work with other unions as they consider their next steps in a constitutional challenge of Bill 148, a separate bill the McNeil government passed that imposed a wage package on tens of thousands of public sector workers.

The Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union, along with the Federation of Labour said Thursday in an email they are considering "appropriate next steps with the legal challenge to Bill 148."

Finance Minister Allan MacMaster, whose department is responsible for labour talks, said neither of the two bills have an impact on current negotiations. "Our government wants to be different than the last government. We don't want to be seen as antagonistic. We want to be fair and reasonable," he said.

However, Wozney said labour law reform is needed to discourage similar behaviour from future premiers.

"McNeil benefited politically from this," he said. "He used teachers as a punching bag to play to a political base. He won the election by the skin of his teeth, and he did so on the backs of a base who believed it was right to be tough on unions."

Michael Lynk, a law professor at Western University, said it's unlikely that governments will pass legislation that reduces their ability to impose contracts on public sector unions when talks fail. He said he's hoping the Supreme Court of Canada will further clarify conditions under which governments can impose contracts on unions.

"What it's going to be in the future is judge-made law, where public sector employers have to allow the bargaining process to go its full route, and, if the government still feels it needs to impose an agreement, (it) can only do so after bargaining in good faith," he said.

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

Michael Tutton, The Canadian Press

Halifax children’s hospital sounding alarm over its ER department ‘crisis’

As Nova Scotia's health system continues to face strain from the COVID-19 pandemic, the emergency department at a Halifax children's hospital is sounding the alarm.


l Halifax  IWK Health Centre

Karla Renić - Wednesday

Katrina Hurley, the chief of the IWK emergency department, says the hospital's ER is in a crisis, seeing record numbers of patients for spring

“It’s nearly beaten a record level of ever, patient volume in a single day,” said Hurley.

“A lot of these patients are also acutely ill. So it's a high level of acuity in addition to a high volume of patients.”

Read more:

COVID-19: N.S. health workers ‘overwhelmed’ as hospitals reach capacity, staff off sick

Hurley said there’s no one illness that’s dominating in the high patient volumes, something that’s unusual for this time of the year.

“In the past, when we've had a large surge, it's been almost exclusively due to a single virus such as RSV or influenza.”

Nova Scotia continues to see hundreds of newly-confirmed cases of COVID-19 each week and restrictions — including wearing face masks — have been lifted since March 21.

But according to Hurley, it’s not just that everyone has COVID-19 without masks in place.

“(It is) masks are off and everyone has everything,” she said.

The IWK emergency department has been seeing patients with fever, cough, vomiting, diarrhea and hand-foot-and-mouth disease, among others.

“The masks protected the children from COVID, but they also protected them from all those other childhood ailments. And so removing the masks has brought all of those illnesses back, pretty much at the same time.”

The ER at the hospital has been working at overcapacity for six weeks every day, said Hurley.

“Some days are better than others. But at some point during most days we become overwhelmed.”

According to Hurley, the previous single-day record for ER visits at the IWK was 180 patients. Last Monday, they saw 178. In previous years, the average would be about 100 patients a day during this time.

Because of overcrowding during a normal day at the ER, waiting rooms become full and some patients end up waiting for hours. In the past six weeks, Hurley said there have been 47 long waits, which exceed 12 hours.

“The fact that 47 people sat in our department and waited for 12 hours to me is a sign of a crisis in our department.”

Pediatric emergency medicine is the most overcrowded, with the average child patient being under the age of five.

Hurley said she believes people come to the ER as a last resort.

“The epidemiology of illness in the community has changed and the health-care system has changed," Hurley said. "There are more patients than ever that don't have a family doctor, and patients’ ability to access care in walk-in clinics appears to be quite limited — at least that's what patients tell me.”

Read more:

New Doctors N.S. president on burnout, backlogs and embracing virtual care

In addition to that, the pandemic has placed a lot of strain on staffing in Nova Scotia, so the department often needs to fill shifts on short notice.

And after spending hours in the waiting room, patients often become “verbally very upset with staff,” said Hurley.

“That can be difficult to face day in and day out, particularly when ... the staff is working in triage.”

She also said it can be distressing for health staff to see people in need waiting for care. “I feel really badly. I feel that I haven't maybe done my job well enough,” she said.

The department currently has vacancies, though they rarely work understaffed because people will work overtime, or assist from other units.

Health Minister Michelle Thompson said in a media availability Wednesday, there has been some work done to assist the IWK with staffing

“Nurse practitioners, as well as an increase in physician hours to assist with the increase in patients that they’re seeing,” said Thompson.

But the overcrowding can’t just be boiled down to issues within the emergency department, according to Hurley.

“We can't control what's happening in the community. We can't control where and how people access health care… People decide what their emergency is. Some of those are things that I don't consider an emergency, and some of them are things I wish they had come for sooner.”

Hurley said there’s no one solution to this problem.

“If we add more walk in clinics, does that mean people will use them? If we add more nurses to the emergency department, does it mean we can move patients faster when we don't have enough beds?”

Read more:

N.S. health-care worker unions optimistic about province’s health plan

Heading into the summer, Hurley said July and August have in the past been the quietest months of the year in terms of patient volumes. But this year, that might not be the case.

When it comes to what the government can do, Hurley said she’s not sure as it’s a complex system. Data gathered now can inform decisions in six months, but not immediately.

“My biggest concern is that we don't have the ability to respond to surges while they're occurring,” she said.

“I can't tell you how hard we're trying. We meet all the time, we're always strategizing.”

In the meantime, she wants families to be prepared when visiting the ER. The sickest patients are seen first, and others may have to wait so bringing toys, food and distractions is a good idea.

“I want them to know that we're doing the best we can to provide them with the care they need.”

-- With files from Alicia Draus.

With more kids working and getting hurt on the job, Quebec to review labour laws


MONTREAL — Quebec Labour Minister Jean Boulet says the government will review the laws governing working conditions for children because of a reported increase in child labour across the province — and in the number of kids getting hurt on the job.



Boulet says he mandated a committee to look into reports that an increasing number of children aged 11 to 14 were joining the workforce as a result of persistent labour shortages. The committee, composed of major union and employers groups, recommended the government investigate.

In an interview on Tuesday, Boulet said he would conduct an "in-depth reflection on child labour," but he said the government should remain open to letting kids work under certain circumstances. He said, however, that child labour should be viewed as something "atypical."

"I asked my team to make an inventory of all regulations … concerning child labour," Boulet said. "After, I will compare it with legislation in other provinces. We are going to analyze the impact, and then we are going to determine the necessity, or not, to improve our laws."

Unlike other provinces, Quebec has no minimum working age. In British Columbia, for instance, the minimum working age was raised in 2021 to 16 from 12, with some exceptions.


Boulet, however, said Quebec's lack of a minimum working age doesn't mean the province encourages children to toil in unsafe conditions. He said the province has a series of "scattered" laws that govern the work kids can perform.


"There's a regulation … that makes sure you need to be at least 16 years old to drive a forklift, at least 18 years old to do (sandblasting) work … to go underground, it's at least 18," Boulet said. "Child labour is well regulated in Quebec. Everything that is dangerous, that is risky is prohibited."

And yet a rising number of children are getting hurt on the job. The province's workplace safety board said that in 2021, 203 children under 16 years old suffered a work-related injury — a jump of 36 per cent from 2020, when there were 149 injuries. In 2019, 154 kids under 16 were hurt on job, while in 2018, there were 85 injuries reported in that age group.

Safety board spokesperson Antoine Leclerc-Loiselle says "various factors" are leading to the rise in young people getting hurt at work.

"The weeks following hiring are those when workers of all ages are most at risk of injury," he said in a statement Wednesday. "Young people, finding themselves more often in a 'new employee' position, are therefore more vulnerable."

Boulet urged anyone who witnesses a child being poorly treated at work to file a complaint with the safety board. "We will make sure they pay fines," Boulet said about employers who violate the law.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 15, 2022.

Caroline Plante, The Canadian Press

Julian Assange's extradition to US approved by UK government

Tara John - CNN-TODAY

UK Home Secretary Priti Patel has signed an order to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States, where he faces espionage charges, in a decision Wikileaks said marked a “dark day for press freedom.”

A London court issued a formal extradition order back in April, leaving Patel to rubber-stamp his transfer to the US after a years-long legal battle.

The decision will likely see months more of legal wrangling: Assange has the right to appeal Friday’s decision within 14 days, according to a Home Office statement announcing the order.

Wikileaks said Assange’s extradition will be appealed, stressing that the “next appeal will be before the High Court,” according to a Friday statement.

The organization asserted that Assange “committed no crime and is not a criminal,” adding that he is a “journalist and a publisher” who “is being punished for doing his job.”

“This is a dark day for Press freedom and British democracy. Anyone who cares about freedom of expression should be deeply ashamed,” Wikileaks added.

In Friday’s statement, the Home Office stressed that the UK courts have not found that extradition of Assange would be incompatible with his human rights.

“The UK courts have not found that it would be oppressive, unjust or an abuse of process to extradite Mr Assange. Nor have they found that extradition would be incompatible with his human rights, including his right to a fair trial and to freedom of expression, and that whilst in the US he will be treated appropriately, including in relation to his health,” it said.

Assange is currently in the high-security Belmarsh Prison in London, where he has been held since being dragged out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London three years ago.

He is wanted in the US on 18 criminal charges after WikiLeaks published thousands of classified files and diplomatic cables in 2010. If convicted, Assange faces up to 175 years in prison.

His extradition has been the subject of numerous court dates since his arrest, which took place after Assange sought diplomatic refuge in the embassy for seven years. In January 2021, a magistrates’ court ruling found that Assange could not be extradited as it would be “oppressive,” by reason of his mental health.

But the High Court overturned that decision in December, saying Assange could be extradited on the basis of assurances given by the US government about his treatment there.

Rights groups have expressed concerns over the US’s indictment of Assange, saying it undermines freedom of the press.

“Allowing Julian Assange to be extradited to the US would put him at great risk and sends a chilling message to journalists the world over,” Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International secretary general, said in a statement Friday.

CNN’s Niamh Kennedy contributed to this report.

Support for refugees rises, survey finds, amid Ukraine war exodus



WARSAW (Reuters) - The world has become more compassionate towards refugees, according to a survey by pollster Ipsos published on Friday, a finding it said suggested the war in Ukraine had increased public openness to people fleeing war or oppression.


© Reuters/JAKUB STEZYCKIFILE PHOTO: Ukrainian refugees granted free accommodation at a hotel in Bratkowice

Some 78% of people in 28 countries believe those escaping conflict or persecution should be able to take refuge in another country, up from 70% in a 2021 survey.


© Reuters/SPASIYANA SERGIEVAFILE PHOTO: A Ukrainian refugee looks out of a bus in Sunny Beach

Fewer people also believe borders should be entirely closed to refugees, with 36% agreeing in Friday's poll, against 50% a year earlier, in part reflecting decreasing concerns related to the coronavirus pandemic.


© Reuters/GWLADYS FOUCHEFILE PHOTO: Ukrainian refugee Katerina Bezruk and her daughter Arena pose for a picture in the Norwegian Arctic town of Kirkenes,

The Ipsos survey of attitudes towards refugees polled 20,505 people from 28 countries, including Australia, Argentina, China, France, Great Britain, Poland, Sweden, Turkey and the United States.

"Attitudes have become more favourable since last year in most of the countries surveyed, suggesting that the Ukraine crisis has increased public openness to refugees and reversed some of the concerns generated by the pandemic," IPSOS said.

The Ukraine conflict has forced over 6.5 million people to flee to neighbouring countries.

A report by the U.N. body showed on Thursday that some 89.3 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide as a result of persecution, conflict, abuse and violence at the end of 2021.


© Reuters/STRINGERFILE PHOTO: Refugees from southeastern Ukraine, who are preparing to travel to the Palanca checkpoint to cross into Moldova en route to Germany, gather in Odesa

Since then, millions more have fled Ukraine or been displaced within its borders, with price hikes linked to blocked grain exports set to stoke more displacement elsewhere.

(Editing by William Maclean)