‘Guerrilla Habeas’ Highlights Cruelty Of Trump-Era Immigration Policies – Contenders Documentary

Story by Alex Cramer • Yesterday 

‘Guerrilla Habeas’ Highlights Cruelty Of Trump-Era Immigration Policies – Contenders Documentary© Provided by Deadline

From separating families at the border to promises to build a massive wall between the US and Mexico, the Trump administration took an aggressively hostile approach towards immigrants.

It was these policies that inspired directors Betsy Hershey and Emma Wall to make the documentary Guerrilla Habeas, which focuses on the immigrant families whose lives were torn apart by these laws and the intrepid lawyers and activists who fought to protect them.

Speaking at Deadline’s Contenders Documentary panel, Wall revealed why they felt called to make this movie.

“We started on this film at a time when I think so many of us were really appalled by what was happening in the immigration system,” she said. “So we started this in the beginning of 2019, following the Muslim ban, following Trump’s zero-tolerance policy that was separating families at the border. And we — as so many people, I think, in this country — were feeling incredibly helpless and hopeless. It felt like these grave injustices, these human rights violations, and we didn’t know what to do about it.”

While making Guerrilla Habeas, the filmmakers quickly realized that they needed to consider not just the story they were trying to tell but also how to protect the people who were helping them tell it.

Wall told Deadline’s documentary editor Matthew Carey, “During those years in the Trump administration, lots of activists in the non-citizen community, people participating in films were being targeted and were being deported for their involvement, and so we wanted to be really careful in terms of how we told this story because it’s a difficult one to share.”

While it was the needless cruelty of the Trump administration’s immigration policies that first inspired them to direct the film, co-director Hershey added that many of those policies have remained in effect with the Biden presidency.

“I think the important issue to remember is that this didn’t go away when Trump went away, and the system remains,” she said. “The system that is allowing what’s happening in this film remains. So until we fix the underlying issues, it’s not going to matter who is in charge of the government because what we need is to keep families together in a system that is going to ensure everyone’s safety.”

BC Labour Wants 15 Days of Paid Sick Leave. The Province Is Hesitant

Less than a year after B.C. legislated five paid days off, the BC Federation of Labour wants the provincial government to triple the number of sick days guaranteed to employees.

Delegates at the federation's convention unanimously voted to lobby for at least 15 annual days of employer-paid illness or injury leave.

The federation previously pushed for 10 days.

B.C. law currently guarantees five days paid leave to people who have worked for an employer for at least 90 days.

The federation also wants the provincial government to remove the 90-day requirement and provide five days of “paid family responsibility leave,” which might be used to care for sick children or relatives.

But business groups argue ratcheting up the number of guaranteed sick days is premature and would cause undue expense.

And B.C. Labour Minister Harry Bains was noncommittal as to whether he’d consider increasing the number of guaranteed sick days so soon after introducing them.

B.C. temporarily guaranteed employees three days of paid sick leave during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic as a way of guaranteeing workers compensation if they had to stay home.

The province passed legislation this January guaranteeing eligible employees five paid sick days per year, more than any other jurisdiction in Canada. At the time, they estimated as many as half of workers in the province did not have access to paid sick leave.

Bains said the number of days was determined by a combination of a government poll and third-party consultation. They determined the average worker used about five days a year.

“I know there are brothers and sisters in the room that would have wanted that to be doubled,” former premier John Horgan acknowledged in his speech to the federation’s convention last week.

“But my message to you is that every journey starts with that first step, and our first step is five days, and we can only go up from here,” Horgan said.


Bains, though, made no indication that was coming anytime soon.

He was asked twice if B.C. would consider increasing the current number of sick days and did not say. He argued B.C.’s program was already the most generous in the country and said his government had made it easier for workplaces to unionize, which he argued could lead to more workplaces with more generous benefits.

“There always can be improvements. But again, we are the only province that has five paid sick days available to all workers covered by employment standards,” Bains said in an interview. He similarly rejected removing existing criteria.

“You need to establish yourself as an employee. That means that you are committed to the employer,” Bains said.

But labour economist David Fairey says B.C.’s existing sick day guarantees are inadequate and increase the risk employees will spread illnesses in the workplace because they cannot afford to miss the pay.

He believes that is particularly true for industries like construction, tourism and agriculture, where employees might work on a seasonal or short-term basis and thus not be employed long enough to make use of the sick days under the current eligibility criteria.

Other workers who are not considered employees — like Uber drivers and many short-term contractors — also don’t qualify.

“These are some of the most precarious workers, so they’re going to go to work sick,” said Fairey, co-chair of the BC Employment Standards Coalition.

Most provinces don’t have guaranteed sick leave, though the federal government recently started guaranteeing at least 10 paid sick days a year to private employees in nationally regulated industries like airlines.

Al Bieksa, president of United Steelworkers’ Local 2009, spoke in favour of the motion, which also called for a campaign to push back against the stigma of using sick days for mental health recovery as well as physical injury or illness.

The BC Chamber of Commerce opposed the implementation of paid sick leave legislation in B.C., citing its cost to businesses, and president Fiona Famulak said they don’t support tripling the number of days either.

“The paid sick leave program hasn’t been in play for one year yet, and it just seems premature to call for a three-fold expansion of the program,” Famulak said. She argued government should instead evaluate the existing program to see how effective it was.

Fairey says the experience of most other developed economies is that sick day programs don’t impose undue cost and have noted public health benefits.

“Everyone is bearing the cost of sickness. And employers are going to have to take that as the cost of doing business, just like minimum wage or overtime,” Fairey said.

Zak Vescera, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Tyee

Calgary tunnel mural that deterred graffiti for 5 years has been removed

Story by Carolyn Kury de Castillo • Global News

The pedestrian tunnel under 14 Street by Confederation Park in northwest Calgary used to be illuminated by a colourful mural. It's now regressed to the original dull grey.


City crews remove mural in 14 Street pedestrian tunnel in Confederation Park

Carolyn Kury de Castillo/Global News

The only colours in the tunnel on Monday were from sparks as city crews removed the last remnants of the art that was painted five years ago.

"For many years, the tunnel was perfect," said Yvonne Brouwers, who regularly walks through Confederation Park.

"Nobody put graffiti over top of the mural. Then, just recently, we saw graffiti go over top. We talk about the mural every time we come here and we thought: 'That's really sad that there's graffiti now,'" Brouwers said.

"We loved the mural. It's beautiful. It's real art and it made this tunnel special."

Two murals were created in Confederation Park -- one under 14th Street the other in the 10th Street pedestrian tunnel.

The murals were commissioned by the city as part of the Street Art for Youth Program and completed in 2017.

Read more:
Tunnel graffiti art, creative playground unveiled at Calgary’s Confederation Park for Canada Day

AJA Louden was the lead artist and mentor for this piece.

He led a group of youths in workshops that focused on the tools and techniques of urban muralism and street art.

Video: Vandals strike Calgary Beltline mural project

The city says this year the 14th Street mural was vandalized beyond repair, and the decision was made to decommission it. The 10th Street mural was not damaged.

Louden isn't surprised or disappointed that his art was covered with graffiti and ultimately removed. He said some of his work was inspired by the graffiti that was in the tunnel before.

"I don't take it personally at all. It's just a natural home for that type of art and that type of expression and that's what that tunnel was full of before we got down there.

"So I really couldn't take it too personally if people still found that as a home to try and be creative, or maybe found some urge to respond to what they saw on the wall already," Louden said.

Read more:
Street artists drawing on Vancouver’s first legal graffiti wall

The city said the artwork at the site has had a positive impact on the community and "has been, for the most part, effective at reducing graffiti," according to Julie Yepishina-Geller Cavanagh, the city's public art liaison.

"There's certainly a school of thought that those who put graffiti on walls won't put graffiti on other people's artwork, or for that matter, other people's graffiti," said Ward 7 Coun. Terry Wong. "So having artwork there seem to be a bit of a deterrent."

Video: Renowned graffiti artist completing ‘world’s tallest painted mural’ in downtown Calgary

Louden said part of what he likes about street art is that it's not forever.

"Sometimes our idea of art is you paint something on the wall and that thing stays exactly the way you painted it for the rest of its life span. But when you see graffiti or street art, the wall is constantly changing.

"It's a graffiti art gallery that's constantly rotating. I think that's really exciting and invigorating."

The city says the murals were commissioned with the intention of having a five-year lifespan and there are no immediate plans for its replacement.

"Although we have no current plans for another project in that space, we welcome ideas from members of the community who might like to partner with an artist to replace the mural," said Yepishina-Geller Cavanagh.

"For example, the community association could initiate a project and the public art team would help connect them to the right people at the city for approvals."

Read more:
Deadly stretch of Calgary pathway being replaced with switchbacks

Louden is excited to see what will light up the tunnel down the road.

"I would love to see more spaces like that be turned into opportunities for artists of all kinds to get an experience with painting to scale. Murals have become a really popular movement now and artists need a space where they can learn this art form.

"Even just learning how to paint something in that tunnel can be really helpful for young emerging artists," Louden said.

Back in 2017, he led a group of youths aged 12 to 17 in workshops that focused on the history, culture, tools and techniques of urban muralism and street art.

"I'd love to see this to remain a home for community art because that's what that mural was about in the beginning," Louden said.

"It was myself collaborating with a group of youth and a local poet to create something new together."

Mysterious structure discovered on Florida beach
Story by Caitlin O'Kane • 6h ago

Beachgoers in Florida discovered a mysterious object buried underneath the sand, perplexing locals and officials. The object began protruding out of the sand after Hurricanes Ian and Nicole battered Volusia County earlier this year, said Kevin A. Captain, a spokesperson for for Volusia County.

It appears to be a wooden structure and looks like pieces of wood poking out of the beach for about 80 feet. It was discovered Thanksgiving weekend by beachgoers, Captain told CBS News via email.

He said an archeologist is visiting the beach on Tuesday to examine the structure. CBS News has reached out to the Florida Department of State for more information and is awaiting response.


Beachgoers in Florida discovered a mysterious object buried underneath the sand, perplexing locals and officials. It appears to be a wooden structure. / Credit: Volusia Beach Safety© Provided by CBS News

The erosion on the beach has been "unprecedented," Volusia Beach Safety Deputy Chief Tammy Malphurs told CBS News affiliate WKMG. "We haven't seen this kind of erosion in a very long time," she said. "I've been on the beach probably 25 years and that's the first time I've seen it exposed."

Related video: Mystery Object Appears On Florida Beach After Hurricane Nicole
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Large sections of Florida beaches carved by erosion


"We're not sure what it is," Malphurs said about the structure.

Hurricane Ian hit Florida as a Category 4 on Sept. 28, while Hurricane Nicole made landfall in the state as a Category 1 on Nov. 10. These hurricanes and Hurricane Fiona extensively damaged parts of Florida and Puerto Rico.



The object began protruding out of the sand after Hurricanes Ian and Nicole battered Volusia County earlier this year, said Kevin A. Captain, director of information for Volusia County government. / Credit: Volusia Beach Safety© Provided by CBS News

After Nicole made landfall, Gov. Ron De Santis said the storm would be less significant than Ian, but still make an impact – especially in Volusia County, located just above where the storm officially made landfall, according to CBS Miami.

"This is obviously not as significant storm as Hurricane Ian was, but coming on the heels of that, you're seeing communities, particularly in the Volusia County area, that had a lot of that erosion on the coastline," DeSantis said during a press conference. "This has put some of those structures in jeopardy, and they've been working very hard to make sure everybody's safe."

Other areas of the state, like Broward County, which includes Fort Lauderdale, also reported widespread beach erosion after Nicole.

REVERSING FASCIST LAW

Alberta health minister tables legislation to reverse government power to scrap doctor contracts
Story by Lisa Johnson • 

Alberta's Health Minister Jason Copping.© David Bloom

More than two years after Alberta’s UCP government changed the law to be able to unilaterally scrap a physician funding contract, it took steps in the legislature Monday to reverse that power.

Health Minister Jason Copping introduced the promised Bill 4, the Alberta Health Care Insurance Amendment Act, 2022, which if passed will repeal the section of the health care insurance law that allows the province to scrap its master agreement with doctors — a step former health minister Tyler Shandro took in February 2020.

The move was promised as part of a four-year compensation agreement with the Alberta Medical Association (AMA) ratified in September. In turn, the AMA agreed to drop its lawsuit against the government without seeking legal costs. The suit originally sought $255 million in damages and acknowledgments the province’s actions violated the charter.

The government did not immediately provide an estimate of how much that legal fight cost taxpayers.

At a news conference Monday, Copping said the legislation is no longer required.

“This legislation is another step in our relationship with Alberta’s physicians to create a collaborative environment founded on mutual respect and trust with innovative ideas for the future,” said Copping. When asked if it was a mistake to change the health care insurance law in the first place, Copping emphasized that it was important to move past that.

“That was a decision that was made at that time. It was a very different time,” said Copping. When asked why the government didn’t back down earlier, in particular once the COVID-19 pandemic hit and created extra pressure on health-care providers, Copping said the change in Monday’s bill has been part of discussions with the AMA for a long time.

“I’m very pleased with this agreement, but it took us some time to actually get there, but that was time quite frankly, well spent,” he said.

Dr. Fredrykka Rinaldi, president of the AMA, said at the news conference the introduction of Bill 4 was an important step in rebuilding the relationship between the government and doctors.

“This is another important milestone on the road forward with the agreement,” she said. Rinaldi did not immediately disclose how much the lawsuit cost the AMA.

The latest deal will see physician compensation increase by an average of four per cent over the next four years, including a lump sum one per cent increase as a “recognition payment” for work over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Copping noted that the deal puts a strong priority on primary health care, including a sliding scale of rate increases, with the highest increases for family physicians at 5.2 per cent.

An additional $252 million in spending will go toward initiatives to help bring doctors to underserved areas, and primary care networks are slated to get $40 million lump-sum increases over the first two years of the deal.

The government said Monday it has started to implement various commitments in the agreement, including rescinding the daily visit cap, announced Nov. 21, and distributing the one-per-cent rate increase.

While government officials said the latest agreement will keep Alberta doctors “among” the highest paid in Canada, they were unable to project how the province will rank in 2022.

According to data from the Canadian Institute of Health Information , in 2020-21 Alberta physicians averaged a gross clinical payment per physician of $367,000, above the national average of $344,000 and second only to Prince Edward Island’s gross average of over $405,000 — although average payments vary significantly by specialty.

Alberta government surrendering power to impose pay deals on doctors

Story by Janet French • CBC

The Alberta government is repealing a law that gave cabinet the power to unilaterally rip up and replace agreements with the province's doctors.


Alberta's Health Minister Jason Copping has tabled legislation that would remove the government's ability to rip up pay agreements with doctors and unilaterally impose new ones.© Jason Franson/The Canadian Press

In return, the Alberta Medical Association has committed to withdrawing a lawsuit against the province.

Health Minister Jason Copping told reporters at an embargoed press conference Monday that his government is fulfilling a commitment made to doctors.

"This legislation is another step in our relationship with Alberta's physicians to create a collaborative environment founded on mutual respect and trust with innovative ideas for the future," Copping said.

At the same news conference, AMA president Dr. Fredrykka Rinaldi said the bill was an important milestone in improving the relationship between doctors and the province.

However, Rinaldi said the government and physicians have plenty of work ahead to improve health-care services and stabilize doctors' practices.

Under former Premier Jason Kenney, the United Conservative Party government in 2019 granted itself the power to terminate and replace doctors' compensation agreements. It did so by amending the Alberta Health Care Insurance Act.

In February 2020, as doctors resisted the government's attempts to save money by changing how they were compensated, the Kenney government terminated its master agreement with the medical association and imposed a new contract without consultation.

The AMA then filed a $255-million lawsuit against the province for allegedly breaching their charter rights and preventing their ability to strike.

Rinaldi said Monday the association will drop the lawsuit once the legislation takes effect, and will not seek to reclaim legal costs from the province.

The AMA says it will not seek legal costs from the province if it drops its suit. The organization would not disclose how much it has spent on the suit.

CBC News has asked the province how much it has spent defending the suit and has not yet received a reply.

Copping refused to say whether he regretted the approach his government took with doctors, which critics have said was unnecessarily combative and potentially drove some physicians to leave the province.

"That was a decision that was made at that time, and it was a very different time," Copping said, adding that the COVID-19 pandemic added unexpected strain to the health-care system and workers.

Building a new agreement with doctors

After rejecting a previous offer in 2021, Alberta doctors voted to accept a new, four-year contract with the province in September. It includes a modest pay rate increases, particularly for specialists under pressure, such as family doctors.

The government and AMA agreed to strike committees to deal with other unresolved issues.The government also committed to investing more money into rural physician recruitment programs.

As part of that new agreement, the government agreed to give up its power to unilaterally toss out agreements inked with doctors. The AMA said when that bill became law, it would withdraw its lawsuit.

One of the parts of the 2020 agreement doctors said was problematic was a daily cap on the number of visits a doctor could be fully paid for per day.

Last month, the government announced it would temporarily remove a daily cap on the number of patient visits doctors could be paid for each day.

Physicians said the cap was severely limiting patients' access to care while demand was surging.

Repeating pattern, says expert

University of Alberta political science professor John Church, who studies the politics of health care in the province, says repealing the law is a good start for the government to repair the relationship.

However, he said there are outstanding issues of fair compensation for all of doctors' work, and a lack of recognition from the government that doctors bore the brunt of abuse from pandemic deniers and people against vaccinations.

He sees the UCP government's aggressive stance, and ultimate capitulation, as part of a repeating pattern in Alberta politics, where the government attempts to rein in physician costs and then loses to powerful lobby that has the public's support.

Governments serious about reducing health spending would pour more resources into preventative and primary care to keep people out of hospitals and emergency rooms, Church said.

CALL THE ELECTION

UCP caucus votes to propose changes to Alberta's controversial sovereignty act
Story by Lisa Johnson • 

Alberta’s UCP caucus voted Monday morning to propose changes to Premier Danielle Smith’s sovereignty act, aiming to quiet concerns about the bill granting cabinet the unilateral power to rewrite laws.


Premier Danielle Smith gives details on the Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act on Nov. 29, 2022.© Provided by Edmonton Journal

Smith confirmed on Saturday during her radio talk show that changes were on the way to the controversial Bill 1, the Alberta Sovereignty within a United Canada Act, first introduced last Tuesday,

In a news release Monday, UCP caucus revealed the details, saying one amendment would clarify that cabinet can’t make changes unilaterally behind closed doors without first going back through the legislature.

A second amendment will more narrowly define what harms are addressed under the act. They must be related to federal initiatives that, in the opinion of all MLAs, are unconstitutional, affect or interfere with Alberta’s constitutional areas of provincial jurisdiction, or interfere or violate the charter rights of Albertans.

During question period in the legislature Monday, Smith said she was grateful to take suggestions for changes from her caucus, and admonished the Opposition NDP for refusing to try to work to make the bill better, including by proposing amendments.

“I don’t think that the leader of the Opposition is approaching this in good faith. My caucus is. My caucus identified some issues that they wanted to address. They wanted to seek some clarity, and that’s the kind of leader I am — I want to make sure that we get this bill right,” said Smith.

Related
Alberta government attempts clarification as NDP calls sovereignty act anti-democratic

Smith introduces flagship Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act, giving cabinet new power

After the Calgary Chamber of Commerce and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers have warned against the bill, Smith also accused them of not reflecting the feedback of their members.

Related video: Controversial sovereignty bill introduced in Alberta
Duration 4:04
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“Neither the head of the chamber nor the head of the CAPP consulted their members because I have been getting dozens of calls,” said Smith.

It’s unclear when the amendments will be introduced, but the bill is set to be debated in second reading Monday evening. Government house leader Joseph Schow limited that stage to one hour, meaning the bill could swiftly make its way to the next stage of debate that allows for amendments to be introduced.

The bill as originally written pledges to give Alberta the power to direct provincial agencies to act against federal laws it considers unconstitutional or harmful to Albertans.

Under the first draft, if a non-binding resolution is passed by MLAs, it would give cabinet the power to change provincial laws without going back to the legislature.

The so-called Henry VIII clause was panned as undemocratic and the act constitutionally problematic by critics, including constitutional experts, who said it would give the premier and her ministers sweeping power without proper legislature oversight.

Smith and her cabinet ministers were defending the bill last week, denying it would give cabinet the power to unilaterally alter legislation behind closed doors, and accusing the NDP of fearmongering.

Premier has lost trust due to ‘bumbling and stumbling’: Notley

For her part, NDP Leader Rachel said in the legislature that Smith has changed her characterization of the bill from denial to admitting it has problems.

“She’s lost people’s trust with this bumbling and stumbling, so now her bill is beyond saving. Why won’t she just withdraw it?” said Notley.

“I honestly think that this is an act in process of being written, and the conversation going on now between the UCP caucus and the premier is a conversation that should have happened before it was introduced, and the market saw it and investors saw it and opinion leaders all across the country saw it. It is a mess,” said Notley.

At an unrelated news conference Monday, Justice Minister Tyler Shandro was asked multiple times by reporters what went wrong with the drafting of a bill that it needed to be significantly changed so quickly after being proposed.

“I’m not going to characterize it as a mistake,” Shandro said, also citing caucus and cabinet confidence.

“I think that there was a first draft of the bill, and obviously there are a lot of questions about it even at the press conference here in this room, just last week. Folks have questions, and they’re asking for clarity, and we’re taking that feedback,” he said.

'A very difficult position': Liberal gun control bill raises questions about NDP support
Story by Bryan Passifiume •

OTTAWA — As criticism mounts against the government’s attempts to outlaw scores of hunting and sport rifles, questions are arising as to how the federal Liberals’ gun policy will impact their relationship with the NDP.


NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shake hands on March 24, 2022, shortly after sealing a deal in which the NDP would support the minority Liberals for the remainder of the term.© Provided by National Post

One prominent New Democrat came out against the policy on Monday, calling it a massive overreach that must be fixed.

The Liberals are dependent on the NDP’s support to keep their minority government in power. A splinter in that relationship could cause trouble for the Trudeau Liberals while at the same time the issue is a challenge to the New Democrats’ own party unity, according to one political scientist.

Meanwhile, the national conversation on gun control took an interesting turn over the weekend after Montreal Canadiens’ netminder and avid hunter Carey Price weighed in on the issue on social media.

“I am not a criminal or a threat to society,” he posted to Instagram, along with a photo of him wearing camouflage hunting gear and cradling a shotgun.

“What @justinpjtrudeau is trying to do is unjust. I support the @ccfr_ccdaf (Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights) to keep my hunting tools.”

While gun owners and advocates are using Price’s comments to advance their cause, those seeking tighter control on firearms say Tuesday’s 33rd anniversary of the École Polytechnique massacre — where a gunman murdered 14 women in 1989 — should serve as a reminder of the lives taken by armed criminals.

Price’s timing of his announcement so close to the anniversary are also being roundly criticized.

The team’s owner told Radio-Canada on Monday that the 35-year-old Price was not aware of the 1989 massacre.

“He was not aware of the tragic events of Dec. 6, 1989, nor of the coalition’s recent marketing initiatives,” Groupe CH president of sports and entertainment France Margaret Bélanger told Radio-Canada.

Separately, a spokesperson for Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino told La Presse that the firearm Price is carrying in his Instagram post would not be banned under Bill C-21.

“Our bill does not target firearms currently used for hunting and we fully respect the traditions of hunters and Indigenous Peoples,” Audrey Champoux said in a statement.

But as political parties of all stripes consolidate their membership’s views on one of Canada’s most polarizing issues, Queens University political science Professor Kathy Brock said gun control offers a unique dilemma to the NDP, who rely heavily on both inner-city voters and those in rural parts of the country.

“This one is very difficult for the NDP to find a united consensus position on,” she told the National Post.

Related video: Alberta's proposed sovereignty act raising more questions over gun control
Duration 6:02
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“They are putting the NDP in a very difficult position that could cause a bit of a schism and tension in the relationship between the NDP and Liberals, but also within the NDP party.”

Veteran NDP MP Charlie Angus who represents Timmins-James Bay, a vast northern Ontario riding encompassing nearly 252,000 sq. km. and a diverse range of rural cities, villages and First Nations communities, is speaking out.

In a Tweet Monday morning, Angus said the government’s gun control measures had “morphed into a massive overreach,” and described the Liberals’ amendment as “hugely problematic and must be fixed.”

The cultural split between urban and rural will always be a concern for the NDP, Brock said.

“If you travel through the north, if you visit people’s homes where there are experienced hunters, they tend to keep their guns very safe,” she said.

“Yes, there are some accidents and there are problems that do happen with guns, but it’s less frequent than people in the urban communities think of and associate with guns.”

Speaking to reporters Monday from Ingersoll, Ont., Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government “made a commitment” to move ahead with “strong, smart gun control,” highlighting his government’s recent move to freeze handgun sales and banning “military-style” and “assault-style” firearms.

Despite the controversial amendment being quietly introduced in committee after Bill C-21’s second reading , the prime minister framed the amendment as a “list put forward” by the government for public consultation.

“We’re hearing a lot of feedback around concerns that hunters are saying about guns that they use more for hunting, hunting rifles and shotguns,” he said.

“That’s what we’re listening to feedback on now, to make sure we’re not capturing weapons that are primarily hunting weapons.”

Last week, the National Post reported expanding the government’s mandatory buy-back program could add over a billion dollars to the $756-million estimate released last year by the Parliamentary Budget Officer.

Brock said it bears comparing to the days of the federal long-gun registry, which saw similar internal opinion shifts.

“At the time, people said this could be a real sleeper issue for the Liberals that they aren’t tracking necessarily, and that it could lose some votes in the Atlantic provinces, as well as the western provinces,” she said.

“The western provinces were less of a concern, but the Atlantic provinces were a concern — and in some swing ridings, you could see people questioning their support for the Liberals over this, so this is always a potentially difficult issue, even for the Liberals.”

During those debates, she recalls fears of rifle owners illegally modifying their firearms to make them easier to conceal — such as sawing-off barrels or stocks.

“That’s a behaviour you can capture under other laws,” she said.

“Then there’s always the bigger issue of if (Bill C-21) really captures the illegal gun market — the guns that are coming into Canada illegally that are being transported across provincial boundaries.”
Expanded Liberal gun ban could cost taxpayers 'another billion dollars,' says criminologist
John Ivison: For the sake of national unity, Liberals should drop hunting rifle ban

While Brock has little confidence the rift would impact the “supply and confidence” agreement that relies on the NDP to keep the Liberal minority government from collapsing, the effects could be felt later down the line.

“The Liberals are playing out an interesting strategy,” she said.

“ Maybe it won’t have an effect on the supply agreement, but it could have an effect in the next election as a sleeper issue particularly.”

Native women’s association calls out Canada for doing little to stop genocide following killing of four women in Winnipeg

WARNING: This story contains distressing details.

The Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) is not mincing words following the killing of four Indigenous women in Winnipeg at the hands of one man.

“Let’s be clear, these crimes are part of the genocide that was declared in 2019 by the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls,” the NWAC press release said.

NWAC, a national organization which represents Indigenous women, girls and two-spirited people, has been highly critical of the federal government. It has published report cards holding the federal government to account for failing on many of the 231 calls to justice in the national action plan on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and two-spirited people (MMIWG2S).

The latest report card was released in June and gave the government a failing grade.

The provinces and municipalities need to start taking their share of responsibility as well, Carol McBride, president of NWAC, said. She called on the provinces and municipalities to create their own action plans to address MMIWG2S.

Indigenous women, girls and two-spirited peoples live all over the country, and “it’s getting pretty scary to just walk the streets or go to a store,” she said.

Related video: Families remember 3 First Nations women police say were killed by same man
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Manitoba Indigenous chiefs frustrated, call for more action over MMIWG

“This is outrageous.”

The homicide rate for Indigenous Peoples remains seven times higher than that of non-Indigenous peoples, which amounts to a “Canadian human rights failure,” the press release said.

The deaths are a reminder that serious action must be taken to stop the violence against Indigenous women, girls and two-spirited people. The government can’t hold an inquiry and think their job is finished — “the inquiry was just the first step,” NWAC said.

McBride is a mother and aunt and understands how difficult it is for the families of those who were lost. She wants the families to know that they are in her thoughts and prayers.

“We have to work together to stop this genocide … enough is enough, we need to pull up our socks and start working together for the protection of our families,” she said.

Matteo Cimellaro / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada’s National Observer

Matteo Cimellaro, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada's National Observer

Iranian protesters call for three-day strike as pressure on regime builds

Story by Patrick Wintour and agencies • Yesterday 

Protesters in Iran have called for a three-day strike this week amid conflicting reports that the nation’s “morality police” had been shut down, and as the US said the leadership in Tehran had locked itself into a “vicious cycle” that had cut it off from its own people and the international community.


Photograph: Wana News Agency/Reuters© Provided by The Guardian

The call steps up pressure on Iranian authorities after the attorney general said this weekend that the morality police – whose detention of a young woman triggered months of protests – had been shut down.

There was no confirmation of the closure from the interior ministry, which is in charge of the morality police, and Iranian state media said the attorney general, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, was not responsible for overseeing the force.

On Sunday, after a closed meeting with several senior Iranian officials including President Ebrahim Raisi, lawmaker Nezamoddin Mousavi told semi-official news agency Isna that the government was “paying attention to the people’s real demands”, though he did not address the reported closure of the morality police.

Hundreds of people have been killed in the unrest that erupted in September after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman who was detained by the morality police for breaking hijab rules.

Montazeri also said on Saturday that the government was reviewing the law on the compulsory hijab, one of the issues that sparked the protests that have lasted more than 10 weeks.

The activist HRANA news agency said 470 people had been killed as of Saturday, including 64 minors.

Related: ‘We walked in front of the police with no veil’ – voices from Iran’s women-led uprising

Protesters seeking to maintain their challenge to Iran’s clerical rulers have called for a three-day economic strike and a rally in Tehran’s Azadi Square on Wednesday. Similar calls for strike action and mass mobilisation have in past weeks resulted in an escalation in the unrest.

Related video: Iran strikes, morality police status unclear after 'closure' comment
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'There have been protests across Iran for weeks, the anger is directed at the country's morality police'

Iran disbands 'morality police' amid two and half months of nationwide protests

Rob Malley, the US special envoy on Iran, told a conference in Rome that Iran’s leadership had locked itself into a “vicious cycle” with its crackdown on the protests, and Washington was more focused on Tehran’s decision to arm Russia in Ukraine and the repression of its internal protests than on talks to revive the nuclear deal.

“The more Iran represses, the more there will be sanctions; the more there are sanctions, the more Iran feels isolated,” Malley said.

“The more isolated they feel, the more they turn to Russia; the more they turn to Russia, the more sanctions there will be, the more the climate deteriorates, the less likely there will be nuclear diplomacy. So it is true right now the vicious cycles are all self-reinforcing.

“The repression of the protests and Iran’s support for Russia’s war in Ukraine is where our focus is because that is where things are happening, and where we want to make a difference.”

The US director of national intelligence, Avril Haynes, said at the weekend there was worrying evidence that Russia was seeking to deepen military cooperation with Iran. Ali Bagheri, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, was in Moscow at the weekend.

One senior European diplomat said Iran was paying a huge cost for its decision to become the only country to arm Russia in the war against Ukraine. “It’s an unholy alliance and a massive miscalculation by Iran,” the diplomat said.

The next show of US solidarity with the protesters is likely to come when it tables a motion to throw Iran off the UN committee on the status of women in a vote due on 14 December, Malley said.

Some European diplomats believe an irreversible turning point has been reached from which Iran’s leadership will not recover.

The diplomat said: “The situation is really quite simple. The Islamic Republic – the regime – after 43 years has finally lost contact with their people and that is what this is really about. This is different from anything that’s gone before in the previous 43 years.

“They are having a dialogue with themselves but the main population finds the offers of reform largely an irrelevance.”

The diplomat also detected tensions within the regime over how to respond to the protests, saying: “There is a lot of internal disharmony around different bits of the particular security apparatus in terms of passing responsibility for handling the protests.”

The diplomats believe the regime’s self-evident loss of domestic support is sharpening the internal Iranian debate about whether to reduce its isolation through a growing alliance with Russia, or instead try to revive the nuclear deal.

Malley’s remarks suggest the US believes Iran has taken a series of fateful decisions that make a full revival of the nuclear deal – in which the west lifted some economic sanctions in return for controls on Iran’s nuclear programme – a political impossibility for now, although he said the door to diplomacy was not shut if Iran’s leadership changed course.

Iranian state broadcasters on Sunday moved to distance themselves from comments on the morality police. Al-Alam state TV said foreign media were depicting his comments as “a retreat on the part of the Islamic Republic from its stance on hijab and religious morality as a result of the protests”, but that all that could be understood from his comments was that the morality police were not directly related to the judiciary.

Reuters contributed to this report

Caretakers say it’s a crucial time to protect kɬúsx̌nítkʷ, the ‘heart’ of syilx homelands

Located in the “heart” of syilx homelands, kɬúsx̌nítkʷ (Okanagan Lake) is a lifeline for the people, plants and animals who depend on its nourishment.

The original stewards of the lake kept it pristine. However, with the onset of water pollution, shoreline erosion, climate change and the presence of microplastics — caretakers face a new set of challenges as they look towards protecting kɬúsx̌nítkʷ for future generations.

Following a water ceremony on the shore of kɬúsx̌nítkʷ in September, Elder K̓ninm̓tm̓ taʔ n̓q̓ʷic̓tn̓s Wilfred ‘Grouse’ Barnes of Westbank First Nation said he has noticed “a lack of care” towards the lake and encouraged people to take more action to protect it.

At the nk’mip (Osoyoos Lake) Water Forum in October, syilx and non-syilx groups came together to discuss the protection of kɬúsx̌nítkʷ and how threats to the lake and its shorelines can be mitigated.

During one session, it was revealed that a low level of microplastics are present in kɬúsx̌nítkʷ — 2.75 g were collected during a preliminary study which surveyed five freshwater sample sites during the summer of 2021.

A presentation by Larratt Aquatic Consulting at the same forum highlighted the impact that water sports have had on sediments in kɬúsx̌nítkʷ and across the entire watershed. Specifically, turbulent waves and the downward-pointing vertical jets that come with wakeboarding are disturbing contaminated sediments, releasing harmful toxins that ultimately impact the water quality and habitat for aquatic beings.

Furthermore, the natural shoreline of kɬúsx̌nítkʷ, spanning 290 km, is being impacted by growing development. A rise in broad land-usage around the lake — driven by single-family, commercial and industrial entities — is posing a grave threat to the biological and ecological function of the lake.

As more natural shoreline is lost to residential and commercial development, the risks include a permanent loss in key habitat functions, habitat connectivity and clean drinking water — issues that impact all living things which call the valley their home.

A declining shoreline

Overall, 59 per cent of natural shoreline along kɬúsx̌nítkʷ has been lost, according to a 2016 Foreshore Inventory and Mapping (FIM) update report of the lake. With just 41 per cent of natural shoreline remaining, the lake continues to experience a slow decline of natural shoreline each year due to development, researchers said.

Between 2009 and 2016, 4.1 km (or 1.42 per cent) of natural area around the shoreline was lost or permanently altered. During this period, the construction of 165 new retaining walls, 164 new docks and nine new marinas along the lake’s shoreline were observed.

“It adds up to something that is measurable and of high risks to important natural ecosystem functions around the lake,” writes Ecoscape Environmental Consultants, the group who prepared the report.

Continued changes or disturbances to the natural shoreline — brought on by an increase in density and land use surrounding the lake — could result in the direct loss of fish habitats, wildlife and even clean drinking water, the report states.

As noted by Okanagan Nation Alliance, the habitat availability for a variety of species, such as sockeye and kokanee salmon, would be greatly impacted by the loss of natural shoreline, as these aquatic beings tend to spawn near lakeshores. And since natural shorelines help with the infiltration of runoff into the ground, losing that would increase both peak water flow and the probability of flooding.

“On average, all areas that increase in density from single family or greater, have lost nearly all natural character and have significantly reduced biological capability to support key ecosystem functions,” states the FIM report.

Protecting what remains, rather than disturbing natural areas, is crucial because “it is less likely it will be restored to a similar level of biological function.” The report says that there’s a likelihood that over the next 40 to 160 years, “any areas that are not protected will become disturbed to a greater extent, reducing the overall biological capacity of the Okanagan region.”

Not only is education for the public on shoreline protection and restoration crucial, but the report recommended that all levels of government need to work together towards a common goal in protecting the lake. More importantly, the development of a lakeshore management plan is vital, as there is not one consistent management plan for kɬúsx̌nítkʷ that all levels of government are using.

“If there is a true desire to protect Okanagan Lake, urgent action is necessary to ensure that we educate the public and develop regulation or policy to protect what matters,” states the report.

Protecting kɬúsx̌nítkʷ and beyond

As a response to the FIM report, a total of 27 syilx and non-syilx organizational bodies — including ONA, syilx member communities, local governments, regional districts, conservation agencies and more — came together in 2018 to determine a shoreline management plan to protect the natural areas around kɬúsx̌nítkʷ. It was here where the syilx-led kɬúsx̌nítkʷ Responsibility Planning Initiative came to be.

During a presentation of the initiative at the nk’mip Water Forum, Okanagan Collaborative Conservation Program manager Scott Boswell revealed that it was at this initial meeting in 2018 where all levels of government agreed that current operations were not working to protect both the water and the land.

While creating a plan to protect natural shoreline along kɬúsx̌nítkʷ was the initial goal, Boswell said that the scope of the project expanded to protecting the kɬúsx̌nítkʷ watershed in its entirety.

“They all agreed that they would use a syilx-led process to look at ways of doing things differently,” said Boswell.

Beginning in 2019, the co-ordinating team behind the Responsibility Planning Initiative visited every community around kɬúsx̌nítkʷ, where they asked each municipality to assign a staff representative to the project and provide resources.

After a policy-gap analysis, Boswell said that it was clear that non-syilx partners working in the project had little to no understanding of syilx laws or protocols, and how they can be utilized to create sustainable development practices. As a result, the co-ordinating team conducted 11 capacity-building workshops, where syilx history, laws and protocols were shared.

“We met as much as possible as we could out on the water, out near the lake,” said Tessa Terbasket of Lower Similkameen Indian Band, who works in ONA’s natural resources department.

“That meeting on the land really changes the conversation and brings the lake into the conversation itself.”

The workshops were recorded, and 37 interviews with syilx leaders and other elected officials were also completed.

“This process would not have been possible — and we’re still at this process — without the voices of our syilx Elders, community members, Youth and women, who are really our foundation and are guiding us along as we go,” said Terbasket.

In addition to community engagement, she added that the syilx’s siwɬkʷ (Water) Strategy, which outlines the Nation’s collective commitment and responsibility to taking care of water, played a crucial role in helping to direct the kɬúsx̌nítkʷ Responsibility Planning Initiative.

Through research, workshops and community engagement, Boswell said that five themes emerged: re-imagining water governance, syilx traditional ecological knowledge, truth and reconciliation, rights and responsibilities, and capacity bridging.

These five themes will be used to help develop and implement the siwɬkʷ Responsibility Action Plan, meant to guide protection of kɬúsx̌nítkʷ and the watershed as a whole. The plan, which would provide guidance for new land-use practices based on syilx values, is slated to be done for 2024.

For now, Terbasket said that the ONA coordinating team is continuing to interview community members and gather syilx ecological knowledge. Interviews and watershed tours with Elders are also part of this process.

Workshops with non-syilx partners are also ongoing to further refine points of action. A syilx version of a memorandum of understanding for the action plan is being developed, which would uphold commitments to the project and hold each other accountable.

While it’s important to think about the scale of protecting the kɬúsx̌nítkʷ watershed, Terbasket said that it’s equally important to create a safe space for meaningful engagement that allows the syilx Nation to uphold their worldview, title, rights and responsibilities to the water and the land.

“Okanagan Lake is really the heart of the valley. It’s the heart of our territory,” she said. “In recognizing the people, I must also recognize all the fish and all the salmon, the aquatic species, the elk, and all the wildlife that also depend on this lake equally.”

Reporting for this story was made possible in part through a grant from the Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

Aaron Hemens, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Discourse

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