Report: Myanmar arms industry growing after army takeover

Mon, January 16, 2023



BANGKOK (AP) — Companies from at least 13 countries have helped Myanmar build up its capacity to produce weapons that are being used to commit atrocities following a 2021 military takeover, independent international experts have found.

The report released Monday by the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar details how the country has stepped up arms production since the army seized power on Feb. 1, 2021, igniting a mass public opposition movement.

The army’s takeover from elected civilian leaders reversed nearly a decade of progress toward democracy after 50 years of military rule. After security forces used lethal force against peaceful demonstrators, opponents of military rule took up arms. Some U.N. experts have characterized the situation as a civil war.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners has documented more than 2,700 civilian deaths in the violence, including 277 children, while more than 13,000 people have been detained. The true number is believed to be much higher.

Companies in the U.S., Europe, Asia and the Middle East are supporting the military supply chain, the report says, urging those businesses to ensure they are not facilitating human rights abuses.

The growth of the homegrown arms industry comes as some countries have enforced arms embargoes or sanctions against individuals and companies involved in trading or manufacturing arms.

In October, the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions against Aung Moe Myint, a businessman close to the army who it said facilitates arms deals on its behalf. His brother, Hlaing Moe Myint, and the trading company they founded, Dynasty International Company Ltd., were also targeted. One of its directors, Myo Thitsar, also was designated for sanctions.

In November, the U.S. imposed sanctions on aircraft suppliers to the military, citing deadly air strikes on civilians.

Myanmar has no private arms makers, so any such companies are run by the Ministry of Defense and Directorate of Defense Industries, the report said.

Local factories still can draw upon licensed technology and overseas supply chains, technical support and other backing, sometimes by sending equipment to Singapore and Taiwan for upgrading and maintenance, it said.

In a statement, council expert Chris Sidoti urged that governments investigate and when justified initiate action against companies that enable Myanmar's military to make weapons used in “indiscriminate attacks on civilians."

“Foreign companies that profit from the suffering of the Myanmar people must be held accountable," said Sidoti, a human rights lawyer and a member of the U.N. Fact Finding Mission on Myanmar from 2017 to 2019.

A report last year by the United Nations’ Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights outlined some of those links, naming companies in Russia, China, Ukraine, Israel, Singapore and the Philippines.

A major factor driving the buildup in the domestic arms making industry is the risk that imports of arms, military aircraft and other weaponry will be cut off by embargoes or sanctions. The army is now self-reliant in making small arms and light weapons, the report says.

Myanmar's arms-making capacity includes a wide variety of items from assault rifles and machine guns to mortars, anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons, missiles and missile launchers and artillery and air defense systems, it said.

Land mines and naval mines are among other products being made in Myanmar, said the report, citing people who have worked in the industry and also photos of weapons displayed at a defense and security exhibition in Bangkok that showcased such products.

Weapons factories, known as “KaPaSa," an abbreviation of the local name for the Directorate of Defense Industries, draw on components such as fuses, optical sights and detonating caps imported from India and China. They also have computer numerical control, or CNC, machines for milling, grinding and other functions made in Austria, Germany, Japan, Taiwan and the United States, the report said.

The exact number of such factories is unclear but analysis of satellite images and other information has identified dozens of such facilities.

Much of the technology used in the arms-making industry was transferred for civilian use before the military took control, ousting the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

But more research is needed on the complex network of suppliers, licensors of technology and other details of weapons manufacturing, the report said.

Myanmar has endured decades of armed conflict between the central government and ethnic minorities seeking greater autonomy, mostly in border regions.

Elaine Kurtenbach, The Associated Press

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5 EYES MEMBER WONDERS WHAT GIVES
Military concerned by Canada's absence from American-British-Australian security pact

Sun, January 15, 2023 



OTTAWA — There are concerns at the highest levels of the Canadian Armed Forces that this country won't have access to the same cutting-edge military technology as its closest allies because it is not part of a security pact between Australia, Britain and the United States.

The trilateral treaty, nicknamed "AUKUS" after the three countries involved, was announced in September 2021 in what many have seen as a bid to counter China's growing military presence in the Indo-Pacific region, where Canada has growing economic and security interests.

While much of the attention around the pact has centred on American and British plans to provide nuclear submarine technology to Australia, Vice-Admiral Bob Auchterlonie told The Canadian Press in a recent interview that isn’t the whole story.

Auchterlonie is the commander of the Canadian Joint Operations Command. In that role, he is responsible for managing dozens of military operations at home and abroad while closely monitoring the threats and challenges facing Canada and the Armed Forces.

“The fact is that (nuclear submarine) technology has existed for a while, so the sharing of that is not a big deal,” he said.

“The issue is when you start talking about advanced technology in terms of the artificial-intelligence domain, machine learning, quantum, all of these things that really matter moving forward. Those are conversations we need to be in on. And the issue is: Why are we not included in this? Is it resistance to get involved? Is it policy restrictions that we have? Or are we just not going to invest? That's the question. So it is a significant concern.”

The federal Liberal government has not said why Canada is not part of AUKUS, or even whether it was invited, with Defence Minister Anita Anand’s office again sidestepping the question last week.

Anand's spokesman Daniel Minden instead referred to Canada’s participation in the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance, which includes Australia, Britain, the U.S. and New Zealand, as well as the North American Aerospace Defence Command and the NATO military alliance.

“Through the Five Eyes and our bilateral partnerships, we will continue to work with our closest allies to keep Canadians safe,” Minden said in an email.

The Australian High Commission and U.S. Embassy in Ottawa referred questions to their respective capitals. The British High Commission did not respond to a request for comment.

Some analysts have previously questioned whether Canada’s absence is an indication of impatience over Ottawa’s perceived failure to get tough with China.

The government has in recent months hardened its position on China in a variety of ways, including through a ban on Huawei technology in Canada’s 5G network, new restrictions on foreign ownership in critical minerals and the unveiling of an Indo-Pacific strategy.

That strategy is intended to signal a marked shift in federal policy and priorities toward the region given its growing importance to Canada’s economy and security. It specifically identified China as “an increasingly disruptive global power.”

Many of those actions, such as the Huawei ban, came only after frustration from allies over long delays. Some critics have said the government still isn’t taking a hard enough line with Beijing.

Auchterlonie praised the Indo-Pacific strategy, which includes promises to deploy more naval warships and other military assets to the region while building closer defence relationships with a number of different countries.

“The strategy we have just come up with, and the fact that we have now blocked (Chinese) companies from investing in the North, has been a positive step for Canada, a real positive step,” he added. “I think we recognize the challenge we're facing.”

He also reported no noticeable change when it comes to Canada’s participation in the Five Eyes alliance.

American officials warned for years that they may withhold sensitive intelligence if Canada did not take a stronger position on China, particularly during the Trump administration and as the Liberal government repeatedly put off a decision on Huawei and 5G.

“I work with my Five Eyes partners throughout the globe, and I haven't seen a change in terms of the information-sharing piece,” Auchterlonie said. “So that is good.”

He nonetheless expressed concern about Canada's lack of involvement in AUKUS, even as he acknowledged the issue has political dimensions and it may not be his place as a military officer to express such a sentiment.

“This is probably not my lane, but the fact is: What do I do for a living?” he said.

“I am the operational side of the Armed Forces. Therefore, am I concerned? Do I want to be involved with our closest allies in things? Yes, I do. Absolutely. And I think it's critical given where you see technology moving. Canada needs to be part of that.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 15, 2023.

Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press

Carpaccio the artist, not the appetizer, now getting his due

Sun, January 15, 2023 



VENICE, Italy (AP) — When most people think of “carpaccio,” they think of the thinly sliced raw beef appetizer made famous by Venice’s iconic Harry’s Bar. Few people know that the dish is named for a lesser-known Venetian, the Renaissance painter Vittore Carpaccio, because of the intense red hues he favored.

Carpaccio the painter has recently received more attention outside his native Venice. In November, the National Gallery in Washington inaugurated the first retrospective exhibit of his work outside Italy. The show, “Vittore Carpaccio: Master Storyteller of Renaissance Venice,” is set to move to Venice’s showcase Palazzo Ducale on March 18.

The Washington exhibit includes two Carpaccio paintings that left Venice for the first time in more than 500 years.

“At first, we were a bit hesitant, because allowing these masterpieces to leave their natural habitat is always a risk,” said Piergiorgio Millich, the grand guardian of the Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavon fraternity.

The Venice institution, also known as the Scuola Dalmata, or Dalmatian School, has 10 Carpaccio paintings, the most still under the roof of the same place that originally commissioned the artist's work.

Art conservator Valentina Piovan analyzed the works and undertook a yearlong restoration before she convinced the institution that some of the canvases could safely make the journey to Washington.

Piovan is now working on restoration of several other Carpaccios in the headquarters of the fraternity, which was founded in 1451 by a group of Venetians as a social center providing medical and spiritual support for members — mostly sailors in the republic’s naval fleet. When the fleet defeated the Ottomans in the Turkish-Venetian wars, they were paid handsomely.

As a result, they were able to hire one of the most prominent Venetian painters of his time, Carpaccio, to paint a series of paintings dedicated to St. George, the legendary figure who slayed a dragon, saved a princess and convinced the Selenites to convert to Christianity.

In the first painting in the cycle “Saint George and the Dragon,” a masterpiece more than three meters (around 10 feet) long, Carpaccio paints the saint on horseback with his lance thrust into the mouth of the dragon and the ground littered with the body parts of partially devoured humans. The princess, dressed in a “carpaccio” red robe, clasps her hands together in gratitude as she watches the scene from a rocky outcropping above.

It is classic Carpaccio, a combination of narrative storytelling and attention to detail.

And it clearly was an inspiration for Giuseppe Cipriani, the Venetian restauranteur and owner of Harry’s Bar, who invented a dish named for the painter in the 1950s. According to the official Harry’s Bar history, Cipriani had a customer, Contessa Amalia Nani Mocenigo, whose doctors had prescribed a strict diet without cooked meat.

Cipriani came up with a dish of sliced raw beef with a sauce of mayonnaise and Worcestershire sauce, and named it after the painter in part because of its ressemblance to his favorite reds that were on exhibit in Venice at the time.

“I think people are starting to get an appreciation of paintings, Venetian paintings, from the very beginning of the 16th century, and also learn maybe where the word carpaccio,” came from, said Melissa Conn, director of the Venice office of Save Venice, an American nonprofit which has provided $400,000 for the restoration of several Carpaccio works.

Trisha Thomas, The Associated Press

Alberta’s new policy on psychedelic drug treatment for mental illness: Will Canada lead the psychedelic renaissance?


Erika Dyck, 

Professor and Canada Research Chair in the History of Health & Social Justice,

 University of Saskatchewan

THE CONVERSATION
Sun, January 15, 2023 

Psychedelics are being held up as a potential solution to the growing need for mental health treatment. But, magic mushrooms are not magic bullets.

 (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Patients in Alberta will now be able to legally consider adding psychedelic-assisted therapy to the list of treatment options available for mental illnesses.

Alberta psychiatrists and policymakers suggest that they are getting ahead of the curve by creating regulations to ensure the safe use of these hallucinogenic substances in a therapeutically supported environment. As of Jan. 16, the option is available only through registered and licensed psychiatrists in the province.

Alberta’s new policy may set a precedent that moves Canadians one step closer to accepting psychedelics as medicinal substances, but historically these drugs were widely sought out for recreational and non-clinical purposes. And, if cannabis has taught us anything, medicalizing may simply be a short stop before decriminalizing and commercializing.

Psychedelic drugs — including LSD, psilocybin (magic mushrooms), MDMA (ecstasy) and DMT (ayahuasca) — are criminalized substances in most jurisdictions around the world, but some people are suggesting it is time to re-imagine them as medicines. A few places are even considering decriminalizing psychedelics altogether, claiming that naturally occurring plants like mushrooms, even “magic” ones, should not be subject to legal restrictions.

In the wake of cannabis reforms, it appears that psychedelics may be the next target in the dismantling of the war on drugs. Canada made bold strides internationally with its widespread cannabis decriminalization, but are Canadians ready to lead the psychedelic renaissance?

Early psychedelic research

There is some precedent for taking the lead. In the 1950s and ‘60s, an earlier generation of researchers pioneered the first wave of psychedelic science, including Canadian-based psychiatrists who coined the word psychedelic and made headlines for dramatic breakthroughs using LSD to treat alcoholism.

Vancouver-based therapists also used LSD and psilocybin mushrooms to treat depression and homosexuality. While homosexuality was considered both illegal and a mental disorder until later in the 1970s, psychedelic therapists pushed back against these labels as patients treated for same-sex attraction more often experienced feelings of acceptance — reactions that aligned this particular approach in Vancouver with the gay rights movement.

Despite positive reports of clinical benefits, by the end of the 1960s psychedelics had earned a reputation for recreational use and clinical abuse. And, there was good reason to draw these connections, as psychedelic drugs had moved from pharmaceutical experimentation into mainstream culture, and some researchers had come under scrutiny for unethical practices.

Regulation and criminalization

Most legal psychedelics ground to a halt in the 1970s with a set of regulatory prohibitions and cultural backlash. In public health reports since the 1970s, psychedelics have been described as objects of unethical research, recreational abuse and personal risk including injury and even death.

Underground chemists and consumers tried to combat this image, suggesting that psychedelics provided intellectual and spiritual insights and enhanced creativity.

Most jurisdictions around the world criminalized psychedelics, whether for clinical research or personal experimentation. Indigenous and non-western uses of hallucinogenic plants of course stretch back even further in history, and these too came under legal scrutiny through a combination of colonial pressures to assimilate and a looming war on drugs that did not distinguish between religious practices and drug-seeking behaviours.

The return of psychedelics

At the moment, the next generation of scientific research on psychedelics still lags behind the popular enthusiasm that has catapulted these substances into the mainstream. 

(AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

In the last decade, regulations prohibiting psychedelics have started relaxing. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has designated breakthrough therapy status to MDMA and psilocybin, based on their performance in clinical trials with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and treatment-resistant depression, respectively.

Health Canada has provided exemptions for the use of psilocybin for patients with end-of-life anxiety, and has started approving suppliers and therapists interested in working with psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Training programs for psychedelic therapists are popping up across Canada, perhaps anticipating a change in regulation and the current lack of trained professionals ready to deliver psychedelic medicine.

At the moment, the next generation of scientific research on psychedelics still lags behind the popular enthusiasm that has catapulted these substances into the mainstream. Celebrity testimonials and compelling patient accounts are competing for our attention.

Meanwhile, the growing burden of mental illness continues to overwhelm our health-care systems. Psychedelics are being held up as a potential solution. But, magic mushrooms are not magic bullets.
Beyond the medical marketplace

Historically hallucinogenic substances have defied simple categorization as medicines, spiritual enhancers, toxins, sacred substances, rave drugs, etc. Whether or not Health Canada, or the province of Alberta, reclassifies psychedelics as a bona fide therapeutic option, these psychoactive substances will continue to attract consumers outside of clinical settings.

Canada has an opportunity to take the lead once more in this so-called psychedelic renaissance. But, it might be our chance to invest in more sustainable solutions to harm reduction and ways of including Indigenous perspectives, rather than racing to push psychedelics into the medical marketplace.

Indigenous approaches to sacred plants are not only about consuming substances, but involve preparation, intention and integration, often structured in ritualistic settings that are as much about spiritual health as physical or mental health.

This cosmology and approach does not easily fit under the Canada Health Act, nor is it obvious who should be responsible for regulating or administering rituals that sit outside of our health-care system. These differences in how we might imagine the value of psychedelics is an opportunity to rethink the place of Indigenous knowledge in health systems.

We are well positioned to take a sober approach to the psychedelic hype, which has been driven in large part by financial interests, and consider what aspects of the psychedelic experience we want to preserve.

Now may be a good time to reinvest in our public institutions to ensure that psychedelics don’t simply become another pharmaceutical option that profits private investors. Instead, we have an opportunity with psychedelics to rethink how a war on drugs has harmed individuals and communities and how we might want to build a better relationship with pharmaceuticals.

This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Erika Dyck, University of Saskatchewan. 

Read more:

The real promise of LSD, MDMA and mushrooms for medical science

Psychedelic experiences disrupt routine thinking — and so has the coronavirus pandemic

Erika Dyck receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. She is a board member of the US not-for-profit Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines.

SEE

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Information literacy courses can help students tackle confirmation bias and misinformation


James Wittebols, Professor of Political Science, University of Windsor

THE CONVERSATION
Sun, January 15, 2023

Understanding our confirmation biases can help us tackle fake news and misinformation. (Shutterstock)

When it comes to the news these days, what we choose to regard as trustworthy has more to do with our own world view than what kinds of news practices are worthy of trust.

Many people are seeking out news that aligns with their politics. But there’s just one problem with this: we are not always good judges of what constitutes trustworthy information and news.

That’s why learning about news and information literacy is so important. An information literacy course I teach at the University of Windsor, Information Searching and Analysis, tries to show students that the same phenomenon which makes us poor judges can also be turned around to make us better, more critical consumers of news and information.

The process I use in this information literacy course does not encourage “trust” in mainstream or legacy news media per se. Rather, students learn to assess news based on the characteristics of a news story: multiple, adversarial sources, the use of statistics and data in which the sources are named and can be accessed independently, the kinds of advertising present and whether it is related to the story.
First lesson: Check your confirmation bias

Confirmation bias suggests that our prior knowledge and experiences often inform our opinions. However, by becoming aware of our confirmation bias tendencies, we can begin to self-critique the way we process information and learn more about ourselves and how we interpret news and information.

The solution comes in the form of an experiential assignment in which students realize their confirmation bias tendencies. Students are tasked with a weekend assignment in which they look for and report on examples of confirmation bias around them and in media reports. They are told to focus mostly on themselves — how they often engage in confirmation bias.

By becoming aware of our confirmation biases, we can self-critique the way we process information and news. (Shutterstock)

The assignment is an eye opener. In their end-of-semester papers, 80 per cent of students in the Information Searching and Analysis class noted that the assignment was an important element of the course. Here are a few examples:

“I knew that in some aspects of my life, I may have exhibited confirmation bias towards certain ideas. However, I did not think it was as prominent as it was after the completion of the assignment.”

“…relating to my personal life, this was the most important assignment.”

“I think it was the most impactful and (will) stick with me the longest.”

“It was an insanely enriching experience for me to pull my biases out of the woodwork, particularly for someone like myself who regards themselves as quite unbiased when it comes to anything.”

“…extremely valuable was the consciousness I developed in regard to (how) social media was exclusively forming my opinions… I believe this is perhaps the most universal function of the class.”

The course uses a flipped classroom approach. Flipped classrooms use class time for discussion, group activities and experiential education instead of lectures and passive forms of learning.

The key is self-confrontation. All the ways to engage in confirmation bias cannot be conveyed through a dry explanation of the concept. The point is to not preach or lecture them about their “faults.” Rather, it is about letting them understand for themselves how confirmation biases can result in inaccurate learning that may have negative effects.

Media framing

Over the rest of the semester students explore a social justice issue by looking at how interest groups, journalists and academic researchers have treated the issue. This serves to give them a holistic view of the information field and leads to a better understanding of both the issue and the social dynamics that inform debate about it.

Greater information literacy enables us to assess how trustworthy the news we see on social media is. (Shutterstock)

It is also crucial that students understand the nature of sponsored content and other native ads which may look like news but embed a point of view.

News, information and misinformation play a significant role in improving and undermining democratic discourse and decision-making. Educators at all levels will need to give news and information literacy greater attention to ensure students know how to critique the news they encounter.

This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: James Wittebols, University of Windsor. 

Read more:

Bias be gone! Can our unconscious prejudices be overcome?


People of colour: there’s a bias in how pictures are used to depict disease in global health publications

Ontario expanding private delivery of public health-care services in 3-step plan


Mon, January 16, 2023

TORONTO — Ontario is expanding the private delivery of public health care, by funding procedures such as more cataract surgeries and MRI and CT scans.

Making the announcement today, Premier Doug Ford lamented "endless debates" about who should deliver health care, but all he cares about is getting people the care they need quickly and safely.

Ford and Health Minister Sylvia Jones say the procedures will continue to be paid for by the Ontario Health Insurance Plan, though critics worry what the plan will do to hospital staffing and say patients are sometimes pushed to pay out of pocket for add-ons at the private clinics.

Jones says the first stage of the new plan is to add 14,000 cataract surgeries through "new partnerships" at centres in Windsor, Kitchener-Waterloo and Ottawa.

As well, she says the province is putting $18 million in existing centres across the province for MRI and CT scans, cataract surgeries, other ophthalmic surgeries, certain gynecological surgeries and plastic surgeries.

Subsequent steps in the plan are set to include expanding the scope of private surgical and diagnostic centres, including more colonoscopy and endoscopy procedures, and in 2024, expanding surgeries at clinics for hip and knee replacements.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 16, 2023.

The Canadian Press

NATIONALIZE IT UNDER WORKERS CONTROL

Puerto Rico to privatize power generation amid outages


Sun, January 15, 2023 



SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico announced Sunday that it plans to privatize electricity generation, a first for a U.S. territory facing chronic power outages as it struggles to rebuild a crumbling electric grid.

The move marks the beginning of the end for Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority, a behemoth long accused of corruption, mismanagement and inefficiency that holds some $9 billion in public debt — the largest of any government agency.

Many Puerto Ricans already irate and fatigued by power outages were wary of the announcement, given that serious complaints about the length of outages, costly power bills and other issues arose after the island’s government privatized the transmission and distribution of power in June 2021.

Fermín Fontanés, executive director of Puerto Rico’s Public-Private Partnerships Authority, said the board of directors unanimously approved the privatization of generation, including the members who represent the public’s interest.

It was not immediately known which company they selected to take over power generation. A spokeswoman with the authority said the contract was not yet public, in accordance with local laws.

Fontanés said the contract would be sent to the governing board of Puerto Rico’s power company and then to the territory's governor for his signature. The contract is expected to be approved despite opposition to the privatization.

Carmen Maldonado, vice president of the main opposition Popular Democratic Party, said she and others would fight the plan.

José Luis Dalmau, a party member and president of Puerto Rico’s Senate, said lawmakers would scrutinize the process and demand that workers at the state power company be protected and that the grid is stabilized and number of outages reduced, among other things.

He noted that Puerto Ricans are dismayed with the current situation and demand a more reliable and economic electrical system: “The necessary transformation of our … system is a priority.”

It was not immediately clear what effect, if any, the privatization would have on unsuccessful efforts so far to restructure the power company’s debt, with the government and some creditors going to court after several rounds of failed mediation talks.

The push to privatize generation comes as the presidents of Puerto Rico’s House and Senate fight a contract extension recently awarded to Luma, a consortium made up of Calgary, Alberta-based Atco and Quanta Services Inc. of Houston that operates the transmission and distribution of power across the island.

The presidents went to court last week against Puerto Rico’s governor, who supports the contract extension, and are demanding that a judge terminate the contract amid complaints against Luma.

Puerto Rico’s power grid was razed by Hurricane Maria, a Category 4 storm that hit in September 2017, but it was already weak given a serious lack of investment and maintenance in equipment for decades. Its generation units are on average 45 years old, twice those of the U.S. mainland.

Efforts to rebuild the grid began only recently, with only emergency repairs made in the years following Maria.

Danica Coto, The Associated Press

This B.C. rescue wants to dispel East Asian stereotypes during the Year of the Rabbit


CBC
Sun, January 15, 2023 

A rabbit is pictured in Richmond, B.C. A local charity is hoping to celebrate the animals, as well as the East Asian community, during the Year of the Rabbit. 

(Akshay Kulkarni/CBC - image credit)

A Richmond, B.C.-based rabbit rescue group says they're hoping to give back to the East Asian community during the upcoming Year of the Rabbit.

Rabbitats was formed during the last Year of the Rabbit in 2011. Run by volunteers, it has a sanctuary in South Surrey, and also helps run the popular Bunny Cafe on Vancouver's Commercial Drive.

But their founder, Sorelle Saidman, says the group is most active in Richmond, where she estimates up to 2,000 rabbits roam the streets. Rabbitats started out by trapping hundreds of rabbits in Richmond Auto Mall.

Saidman says she hopes the upcoming Year of the Rabbit will be a platform for the charity to honour the community, many of whose members volunteer, donate, and adopt bunnies from Rabbitats.

Ben Nelms/CBC

She also hopes to push back against racist stereotypes surrounding rabbits and Asian people.

"One problem that our volunteers have had on occasion is people misconstruing why they're trapping the rabbits," she told CBC News.

"Coming up to our volunteers and accuse them of potentially trapping these rabbits to take them ... to a Chinese restaurant or something.

"[It] has been a longstanding and very hurtful cultural stereotype, and it's just so totally wrong," she said.

One of the ways they want to thank the community is by applying for a grant from the Richmond Community Foundation, she says, to fund a project focused on cultural awareness and dispelling stereotypes, for which they're currently looking for advisors to ensure the project is culturally sensitive.

Akshay Kulkarni/CBC

Still, the rescue has big plans for the Lunar New Year: they are set to host a 10-day long "rabbit education" table at Richmond's Aberdeen Centre from Jan. 13 to 22.

They are also anchoring the Year of the Rabbit celebration at Chinatown's International Village Mall from Jan. 21 to 22.

"We're going to have, I'd say, 50 rabbits on hand," Saidman said.

"People will be able to come into a Bunny Hut that we're building in the rotunda there, and … learn all about bunnies.

"We're celebrating the Year of the Rabbit and we're celebrating the rabbits themselves."

Mark Schiefelbein/Associated Press

The Chinese calendar follows a 12-year cycle that is repeated over and over again. Each of the 12 years is represented by an animal.

Sherman Tai, a fortune teller and astrologer based in Richmond, says this year will likely be a good year for change in B.C.

"This is not superstition and this is nothing relating with the religious," he told Stephen Quinn, host of CBC's The Early Edition.

"This is only the statistics … which we used for thousands of years, based on yin and yang."

WATCH | A tour through Richmond's Aberdeen Mall during the festival:

Rabbits not good in urban areas

Saidman says feral and wild rabbits in the Lower Mainland do not thrive in urban areas, despite what people may think.

"The reality is they just breed faster than they're killed," she said. "It is a dangerous place for them and they really don't have great survival skills."

Rabbitats says they have seen a spike in unwanted and abandoned animals over the past few months, as well as signs that bunnies were making inroads in municipalities across the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island.

The organization is currently raising funds to move into a farm in Langley that would allow them to house more than 500 rabbits.

CANADA HAS NO DEATH PENALTY
Court to decide whether to release Sask. Saulteaux sisters during wrongful conviction review of murder case

Sun, January 15, 2023 

Nerissa Quewezance, left and her sister Odelia Quewezance, right, outside of the Court of King's Bench in Yorkton where a judge considered a publication ban as requested by the Crown. The two will reappear at the courthouse Tuesday for a interim judicial review hearing as their conviction is evaluated as a potential miscarriage of justice.

 (Dayne Patterson/CBC - image credit)

Warning: This story contains distressing details

A pair of Saulteaux sisters who have been in the prison system for almost 30 years for a murder they say they didn't commit will have their opportunity to argue for a conditional release this week.

Odelia Quewezance, 50, and her sister, Nerissa Quewezance, 48, have been incarcerated since they were 21 and 18 after being convicted of the second-degree murder of Kamsack, Sask., farmer Anthony Dolff in February 1993.

Court heard during their trial that Dolff took the two sisters, who are from Keeseekoose First Nation, and a cousin of theirs to Dolff's home near Kamsack, Sask., about 230 kilometres northeast of Regina.

Dolff allegedly propositioned the women, and at some point the trio robbed him, leading to a confrontation where he was stabbed multiple times, strangled with a telephone cord and had a television thrown on his head.

The sisters' cousin has admitted numerous times to killing the older man, including during the ensuing trial, and to an APTN investigation.

Odelia and Nerissa Quewezance have vehemently maintained their innocence for decades. Advocates have pointed to court documents, specifically those outlining how the sisters' cousin confessed to the murder, as evidence of their innocence.

A two-day hearing will begin Tuesday to determine if the sisters will be released, and under what conditions, as their conviction undergoes a ministerial review to determine if there has been a miscarriage of justice.

"This is their first opportunity for bail since their arrest on Feb. 25, 1993, and they are very much looking forward to it," said James Lockyer, one of their defence attorneys and co-founder of Innocence Canada, which works to exonerate the wrongfully convicted.

While the hearing on Tuesday is similar to a bail hearing pending appeal, it's a special judicial invention to allow people conditional freedoms while they await the results of a judicial review.

In late November, at a hearing where the court considered whether the conditional release hearing would be subject to a publication ban, Odelia said, "the truth is coming out, we're finally going to get justice."

Dayne Patterson/CBC

A welcome back to the community

Chief Lee Ketchemonia of Keeseekoose First Nation said the community will provide support to the sisters if they are released and choose to return, though he's unsure if there will be an available home for them given the community's lack of housing.

"This is a wrongful case and if they were wrongfully convicted of course we're going to try and give them as much support as [we] can," said Ketchemonia, who grew up with Odelia and compared her to a big sister.

Ketchemonia said band council members want to see the sisters reintegrated into the First Nation.

In the three decades the sisters have been incarcerated, a lot of the people the sisters grew up with, like their grandparents, have died, Ketchemonia said.

Dayne Patterson/CBC

Ketchemonia attended the publication ban hearing in November to provide support. The Crown had requested the ban. The defence, CBC and APTN all opposed it. The judge decided against the ban.

"I just hope that the truth really comes out," Ketchemonia said.

Quewezances' conditional release hearing

Both sisters have a criminal history spanning into their youth, according to parole documents, including assault charges and being unlawfully-at-large during their parole after their conviction.

Documents also outline the sisters' traumatic childhood experiences, including physical and sexual abuse, enrolment in residential schools and a family history of substance abuse, mental health issues and criminal involvement.

Kent Roach, a University of Toronto law professor and expert in wrongful convictions, said that while the Crown may point to the these past events as risk factors, they "also need to be contextualized within the experience of … Indigenous women in jail but also the experience of someone who honestly believes they were wrongfully convicted."

"We forget that David Milgaard, perhaps Canada's most celebrated wrongfully convicted person and something of a national icon, escaped from prison," Roach said. "I would hope that if [Milgaard's] case was coming up today we wouldn't say we're not going to grant bail because you once escaped from prison."

LISTEN | The Current's Matt Galloway speaks with Odelia Quewezance and defence lawyer James Lockyer in June 2022

According to Roach, the sisters will have to prove their release is in the public interest, potentially pointing to the facts of the case, though the judge can decide how deep they want to delve into those facts' merits.

If the sisters are released, the court will set conditions. Roach referenced the case of Glen Assoun, who spent 17 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit. Assoun was under strict release conditions, including electronic monitoring he paid for and being required to report any meetings he had with women.

Roach said he's aware of eight cases that had a bail hearing pending a ministerial decision and all except one ended with conditional release.

Advocates continue to call for exoneration

The sisters' cousin, who was 14 at the time, confessed to Dolff's murder during the trial, according to court transcripts, admitting that he had lied about several aspects about how Dolff's death unfolded. The cousin confessed that it was him that said "let's kill him," not Nerissa, as he had previously said.

The cousin was convicted of second-degree murder and served four years in custody as a minor.

The ministerial review of the sisters' conviction — which is the last chance at freedom after all avenues of appeal have been exhausted — could lead to a new trial, a new appeal, a question of law referred to the provincial or territorial court of appeal, or a dismissal of the application.

Richard Agecoutay/CBC

The decision could take years, though federal justice department said in-custody applicants take priority.

Ultimately, it could lead to Odelia and Nerissa's exoneration, an outcome advocates like Ontario Senator Kim Pate have endorsed.

She said that despite the sisters' history, like the crimes outlined in parole documents, she doesn't believe their release will increase a risk to public safety.

"What is publicly available, with respect to Nerissa and Odelia, is the most negative interpretation of everything they've ever done, I would argue, since they were in residential school and the child welfare system and the prison system," Pate said.

"That is not necessarily the person or the people that I know, or that their families know."

Pate has co-authored reports on human rights in prisons and, in May 2022, a report on the "Injustices and Miscarriages of Justice Experienced by 12 Indigenous Women" including the Quewezance sisters.

Since 2003, all of the 20 exonerated people were men and only two weren't white, according to the report.

"If [Odelia and Nerissa] are successful in terms of the hearing for judicial interim release, it shows that, in fact, Indigenous women may have some hope that the system is trying to change to address the discriminatory components," Pate said, pointing to the high incarceration rates of Indigenous women.

A 2021 senate report found that 66 per cent of the women in federal custody in the Prairies were Indigenous.

Decades after her death, Margaret Oldenburg's plant collection could hold answers on Arctic biodiversity

CBC
Sun, January 15, 2023

An article from Oct. 31, 1944, published by the Saskatoon Star Phoenix, describes Margaret Oldenburg as a botanist who used plants as an excuse for travelling. She documented thousands of plants during her decades in the North, and her collection is now being studied as a snapshot of Arctic biodiversity. (Submitted by Paul Sokoloff - image credit)

Landing unexpectedly on a lake in the Arctic wild was, apparently, a day like any other for botanist Margaret Oldenburg.

Maybe the pilot that day forgot to check the fuel gauges. Whatever happened, as the story goes, Oldenburg and the pilot had to wait until someone came to find them. When they did, Oldenburg was apparently found by the side of the water, where she'd been collecting plants the whole time.

"She was just going about her day, doing her botany, unshaken," said Paul Sokoloff, a botanist with the Canadian Museum of Nature who has recently learned more than he ever expected to about the intrepid adventurer who died a half century ago.

Sokoloff recently made a trip to the Bell Museum in Minnesota. There's a large collection of pressed and dried plants at the museum — "essentially a library of plant biodiversity through the ages," Sokoloff said.

Thousands of those specimens were collected by Oldenburg.

"Some of our core research programs are on Arctic plant biodiversity ... so this kind of became a priority for us, like, 'Let's get these plants into the collection so we can use them,'" Sokoloff explained.

"In doing so, we learned a lot about this really interesting woman."

Giacomo Panico/CBC

Oldenburg, a self-taught botanist who died in 1972, documented those plants over the course of decades spent roaming the Arctic, often aided by famed bush pilot Ernie Boffa.

A full chapter of Boffa's biography is devoted to his adventures with Oldenburg. Author Florence Whyard described her as "a maiden lady of uncertain age but definite ideas" — a cigarette-smoking "spinster librarian" who hopped on the SS Nascopie one day and disembarked at Churchill, Man. She eventually came to spend much of her time in Aklavik.

In one memorable paragraph, Whyard wrote that on one particularly busy day, "despite her huge bags of collected specimens, Margaret Oldenburg just ran her strong brown hands through her short-cropped hair, lit another cigarette, and said, 'Me? I just go along for the ride.'"

As fascinating as Oldenburg's life was, it's what she left behind that has Sokoloff's full attention: the plant collection that offers insight into years of biodiversity in the Arctic.

Submitted by Paul Sokoloff

"By having this, it's essentially this data point that tells us, OK, well, we know these plants were here — maybe we can use that to help us tell, are they moving in the future? Are they contracting in the future? Is their range contracting?" Sokoloff explained.

"All of this data helps us build a more complete picture of Arctic biodiversity through space and through time."

The collection even includes the first plant Oldenburg ever collected: a lousewort from Hebron in Labrador

Sokoloff said they plan to build a database with all the information they've collected. From there, they'll be collaborating with the Bell Museum to write a paper about Oldenburg and her botanical legacy.

"I think that'll be a really fitting tribute to all of those years that she spent making these really important collections," he said.