Thursday, January 26, 2023

Blueberry River First Nations beat B.C. in court. Now everything’s changing

Matt Simmons, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Narwhal

LONG READ

Apart from a little pocket of land on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, Blueberry River First Nations territory is an industrial wasteland. At a walking pace, it only takes about three minutes to stumble onto some kind of development. It’s a land of pipelines, clearcuts and gas rigs. But things are about to change.

After winning a hard-fought case before the B.C. Supreme Court in 2021, the Treaty 8 nation reached a final agreement with the province on Jan. 18. The agreement charts a path forward from a past where the province excluded the community from resource decisions and infringed on the nation’s constitutionally protected rights. Two days later, B.C. signed agreements with four neighbouring nations: Doig River, Halfway River, Saulteau and Fort Nelson. Collectively, the agreements represent a way out of conflict and a shared goal to heal the land.

“Here we are, in the 21st century, fighting to protect that treaty and fighting to uphold our Treaty Rights — that is totally backwards in my eyes,” Blueberry River Chief Judy Desjarlais told The Narwhal. “As long as the grass grows, the sun shines and the rivers flow … that treaty is law.”

“Now, we’re both on the same page,” she continued. “They know where I’m coming from, I know where they’re coming from and this is what it means to my people. And we want to be able to continue on this path where we’re both building a sustainable future.”

The agreements come with funding for restoration projects, promises of new protected areas, restrictions on future oil and gas development and more. Hailed as history in the making, the agreements reflect a new way of looking at cumulative impacts and a shift towards shared decision making and co-management of the natural world.

Here’s what we know so far about what this means for land, water, wildlife and communities.

For decades, the B.C. government encouraged industry to extract resources from Blueberry River’s 38,300 square kilometre territory. The story was the same for neighbouring nations — the province allowed companies to reap financial benefits from vast stretches of forests and underground deposits of shale gas. Those who lived there watched as their lands were gradually fragmented until the fish and wildlife depending on intact ecosystems all but vanished — and with them went the peoples’ way of life.

That way of life was meant to be protected. In 1899, Canada made a commitment to the Indigenous Peoples who lived in B.C.’s northeast region. Signing what’s known as Treaty 8, the colonial government promised to protect their rights to hunt, trap and fish. Blueberry River First Nations’ ancestors formally agreed to the treaty in 1900.

Fast forward to 2015, when their descendants took the province to court for infringement of those rights. Six years later, B.C.’s top court handed down a ruling that found the province guilty of breaching its obligations under the treaty. Notably, there was no single culprit — B.C.’s infringement was a product of cumulative impacts, the sum total of all the developments it permitted. In a departure from its typical adversarial approach to litigation, the province didn’t appeal the decision.

At a press conference celebrating the recently signed agreement, Premier David Eby, who was attorney general when B.C. lost the case and chose not to appeal, noted “the path to reconciliation is through negotiation and not through litigation.”

“Full partnership and respect is the only way forward for the northeast and also for our entire province,” he said. “Not endless court battles and not short-term transactional relationships.”

A few months into negotiations, the nation and the province signed an interim agreement that earmarked $65 million for habitat and cultural restoration and greenlighted 195 forestry and oil and gas projects that had been stuck in limbo since the court ruling. While those projects were allowed to proceed because they were already on the books when the court made its decision, B.C. imposed a moratorium on any new proposals until it could reach a final agreement.

Completing the agreement and reaching agreements with the other Treaty 8 nations lifts that moratorium and sets guidelines for what comes next.

The impact of industry on Treaty 8 territories is on a scale hard to comprehend.

On Blueberry River territory, rivers run dry because the oil and gas industry uses so much water for its fracking operations. What’s left is often tainted from industrial activity, impacting moose populations and other species that drink and bathe in the rivers and lakes. Throughout the region, caribou herds that once numbered in the thousands now teeter on the brink of extinction.

Chief Desjarlais said bringing politicians and government officials onto the territory helped move the negotiations forward.

“You have to come and see it to believe it for yourself,” she said. “I can tell you all day long, and you’re never gonna get the picture unless you’ve actually in the midst of it, flying over top of it, walking in what used to be a forest and now it’s cut blocks. Once they came, they saw. Now they understand.”

Forestry and fossil fuels aren’t the only contributors to the poor ecological health of the region. When B.C. built the W.A.C. Bennett dam in 1963, it flooded more than 1,700 square kilometres of forest, irrevocably changing the landscape. Add agricultural land to the mix and you start to get the picture.

In 2019, the province developed a cumulative effects framework to start figuring out how to keep this from happening again. The same year, it revised its Environmental Assessment Act, giving decision makers the power to put the brakes on individual projects while the province conducts regional assessments — to date, B.C. has yet to do one.

As well as its obligations to uphold Treaty Rights, B.C. is responsible for ensuring industrial development aligns with sustainable management of ecosystems and wildlife. One way the province is attempting to do so is through new land-use planning. Most of its existing plans date back to the 1990s and didn’t meaningfully include First Nations in the process.

Because Treaty 8 territories are so damaged, the region is an obvious starting point. Not that B.C. had much of a choice.

The agreements offer a kind of reset for the five nations — until now, the communities have borne the brunt of industry impacts and received next to nothing in economic benefits. For decades, the paradigm was strictly extractive.

“Doig River First Nation has been advocating for a meaningful role in decision-making in natural resource development in our territory for many years,” Doig River Chief Trevor Makahaday said in a statement. He noted the agreement sets the stage for “a new fiscal relationship between Treaty 8 First Nations and the province” that will “create economic certainty, heal the land and our people, and create overall stability for the region for generations to come.”

It’s a shift that takes B.C. a step closer to commitments it made in 2019 when it passed into law the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.

“These agreements with Blueberry River First Nations and the Treaty 8 nations align with the [United Nations] Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by addressing Indigenous self-determination, cultural revitalization, and decision-making over traditional territories and resources,” Murray Rankin, Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, told The Narwhal in an email.

“It’s been a hard battle, so today is a very, very good day,” Chief Sharleen Gale, from Fort Nelson First Nation, said at a press conference on Jan. 20. “Our people, the people of the Fort Nelson First Nation, have a history of defending our rights, including challenging bad industrial practices in court and standing up firmly to government to protect our rights.”

“Going forward, we can really work together on restoring our relationship and doing things right so that future generations will continue to have places to go to hunt, fish and trap.”

“It’s been said that reconciliation is hard work — and it is,” Rankin said at the press conference. “Make no mistake, the hard work of implementing the agreements with Treaty 8 nations is going to be challenging. It’ll take the best in all of us. But that change is already well underway.”

Desjarlais said one important change is when nations are involved in decision-making.

“We get to sit at the table with industry to see what their plans are going to look like and what kind of footprint they may or may not leave,” she explained.

Because the court case set a major precedent in B.C., with implications beyond provincial borders, the recent agreements will be followed closely by other governments, Indigenous and settler alike.

As B.C. and Blueberry River worked on negotiations, uncertainty around what would happen next fueled speculation about the Site C dam and the oil and gas sector. Treaty 8 territories are at the heart of the Montney region, the source of the province’s shale gas reserves and where the $16 billion hydroelectric project is set to flood more than 100 kilometres of the Peace River. Critics of the BC Hydro dam link it directly to the province’s push to export gas. The energy-intensive process of extracting, transporting and compressing gas is often done by burning fossil fuels — without electricity from Site C, emissions from the sector would far exceed reductions targets set by the province.

As the final agreement was negotiated, lobbyists and industry proponents voiced their fears to senior B.C. officials. Theirs was a warning of impending economic collapse, including the loss of thousands of jobs. But those fears were unfounded.

While the agreements between the five Treaty 8 nations and the province do come with restrictions on how the oil and gas industry can operate in the region, there are no limits to how much fossil fuel the sector can extract.

“The agreement is not a cap on production, it is a cap on land disturbance,” Premier Eby said at a Jan. 18 press conference in Prince George.

Industry proponents applauded the decision.

“It is our expectation that the necessary work can now proceed to ensure that the gas Petronas Canada delivers to the LNG Canada project is responsibly produced right here in B.C., benefiting the entire province and country,” Izwan Ismail, CEO of Petronas, a Malaysian oil and gas giant, said in a statement.

Ismail’s comments were echoed by industry groups, including the Explorers and Producers Association of Canada.

“The agreement between the British Columbia government and Indigenous communities in northeast B.C. provides much-needed clarity to move forward with natural gas development,” Tristan Goodman, president and CEO of the association, said. “These historic agreements demonstrate a commitment from all parties to reconciliation and the environmentally conscious development of B.C.’s natural resources.”

The agreements come with restrictions on where companies can drill new wells. On Blueberry River territory, the plan is to encourage oil and gas activity in previously disturbed areas and limit any new disturbances to half the sector’s previous footprint.

“At a landscape-level, this is huge news,” Peter McCartney, climate campaigner with the Wilderness Committee, told The Narwhal. “I think this goes a long way to reduce the localized impacts of fracking and the gas industry. In terms of B.C.’s overall gas supply and any constraints on the industry … I think it’s unlikely that this will hold them back.”

The B.C. Oil and Gas Commission declined an interview but told The Narwhal to check back in the coming weeks as the details are still being worked out.

B.C. noted in its announcement more than 650,000 hectares of Blueberry River First Nations territory will be protected from new forestry and oil and gas development. That protection could come in the form of new Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas, according to the press release. Chief Desjarlais called that land “no-go zones”.

“Some of those areas are traditional and ceremonial areas for our nation, our people,” she said. “A lot of stories that come from our Elders and our ancestors have generated from these no-go zones. For me to know that there will never be activity there, that makes me feel really good, because that legacy will continue on in our future generations.”

“We’re willing to work to move forward, but these areas absolutely need to be protected.”

B.C. also promised a revised ecosystem-based approach to land-use planning, including watershed-level details aimed to protect and recover water, river systems and wildlife features. Over the next three years, four plans will be developed, focusing on the areas of highest priority to the nation.

The province announced a pot of money to support restoration work. By 2025, B.C. will provide Blueberry River with $200 million on top of the $65 million already allocated. Other initiatives include support to launch a community stewardship, monitoring and guardian program.

“It will never be back to what it once was,” Desjarlais said. “But we can start by restoring and trying to bring back where some of our landmarks were, start restoration in the major impact areas.”

Blueberry River will also receive $87.5 million over three years, plus an opportunity to start getting economic benefits from industry and a share of provincial royalty revenues in the next two fiscal years.

B.C. said it will also set up a multi-year shared restoration fund for other Treaty 8 nations, but the amount has not yet been announced. Like Blueberry River, the nations will also have more money to play with through revenue-sharing agreements.

The agreements also rolled out changes to forestry in the region, promising to reduce the annual allowable cut in the regional timber supply area by around 350,000 cubic metres per year and ending the use of aerial herbicides.

“This is huge for the boreal forest in northeast B.C.,” McCartney, with the Wilderness Committee, said. “The Blueberry River First Nations and all the Treaty 8 nations have our utmost gratitude for the work that they have done to get to this point where we can start healing the land and restoring the ecosystems that have been so heavily damaged.”

“I can’t imagine what our ancestors are feeling right now,” Desjarlais said. “But I’m sure they can rest easy knowing that what they signed years and years ago is still law and it’s still moving forward in protecting our cultural and traditional values.”

Because none of the agreements B.C. signed with Treaty 8 nations were publicly available prior to publication, many details will be revealed in the coming weeks. The agreement with Blueberry River includes a provision for an annual review of progress and a formal review after three years. B.C. and the nation agreed to get the ball rolling as quickly as possible for forestry and oil and gas.

Permit applications that were paused during the negotiations will now move forward, with the province planning to push them through within the next 60 days. A revised process to handle new applications will be set up by April.

Chief Desjarlais said industry may be starting back up but it’s no longer business as usual.

“Especially in northeastern British Columbia, where we’re rich in resources, we had to come to find this thing called balance. And I think we’ve found the path.”


'Crimes against children' at former B.C. residential institution, investigator says

Wed, January 25, 2023 



WILLIAMS LAKE, B.C. — The investigation of unmarked graves at a former residential school near Williams Lake First Nation in central British Columbia has found crimes were committed against children, the lead investigator told a news conference.

Whitney Spearing said the second phase of their work has identified 66 "reflections," adding to the initial 93 potential graves already detected at the site of the former Catholic-run St. Joseph's Mission.

Children from dozens of First Nations attended the school, which operated between 1886 and 1981.

In addition to the reflections identified in technical surveys, Spearing said interviews with survivors and searches through archives revealed it is "clear" that babies born as a result of child sexual assault at the mission were disposed of by incineration.

Spearing said their work, which involved searches of government, church and police archives, found "a minimum" of 28 children died there, many of them buried in unmarked graves at the site about 500 kilometres northeast of Vancouver.

The investigation has also involved an interview with a former teacher at the institution, she added, noting that person was located in Bangkok, Thailand.

Spearing concluded her remarks Wednesday by saying it "must be emphasized" that no geophysical investigation could provide evidence of human remains with certainty.

"Excavation is the only technique that will provide answers as to whether human remains are present within the reflections at St. Joseph’s Mission," she said.

The nation announced a year ago that the initial phase of its investigation had uncovered 93 "reflections" indicative of human burials.

Combined, both phases have identified 159 possible unmarked graves.

Williams Lake First Nation Chief Willie Sellars said 34 of 782 hectares requiring investigation have so far been subjected to geophysical analysis, and the next steps will potentially involve excavation in areas that have already been scanned.

Children from 48 different First Nations attended the institution, he said, and engaging with those communities around potential exhumation is a "scary thought."

"But by working together, I feel confident that we will be able to hold each other up."

The purpose of the investigation is "bringing the truth to light," Sellars said.

The history of the mission and the land surrounding it is "very dark," he said, and evidence of "horror and suffering" is "growing every day" through the investigation.

Some Canadians question the legitimacy of his community's investigation and others underway at former residential institutions across the country, he added.

"To those who are skeptical, we assure you that there is an overwhelming abundance of evidence, and that it is being carefully compiled in an orderly and scientific way," Sellars said.

Phyllis Webstad, the founder of the Orange Shirt Society, which works to honour survivors and children who never came home from residential schools, issued a statement in response to the announcement.

"How do we prepare for the news that confirms what we have known to be true?" said Webstad, who attended the school as a student.

"We, as survivors, have had to sit with this truth our entire lives and now, finally, the rest of the world is realizing these truths too."

The prime minister visited Williams Lake First Nation and the site of the former institution last spring as the community honoured survivors and children who never returned home from what Justin Trudeau described as "that so-called school."

He said his government was committed to sharing all the information it could find about the institution "to allow for healing, to allow for closure and to allow for us to move forward with full understanding of what the terrible truth of our history is.''

The probe at St. Joseph's came after ground-penetrating radar located what are believed to be more than 200 graves at a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C., in May 2021, prompting similar searches and findings in several provinces.

The final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which documented the experiences of those affected by Canada's residential school system, found at least 4,100 children died while attending the institutions.

The Indian Residential Schools Resolution Health Support Program has a hotline to help residential school survivors and their relatives suffering with trauma invoked by the recall of past abuse. The number is 1-866-925-4419.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 25, 2023.

The Canadian Press

Probe into Alberta residential school links unpasteurized milk to children's deaths

Story by The Canadian Press • 

SADDLE LAKE CREE NATION — A new report from a group looking into children who died and went missing at a residential school northeast of Edmonton says unpasteurized milk was responsible for the deaths of Indigenous children at the institution.


Probe into Alberta residential school links unpasteurized milk to children's deaths© Provided by The Canadian Press

The preliminary report was released Tuesday by the Acimowin Opaspiw Society, formed by the Saddle Lake Cree Nation in 2021 to investigate the Blue Quills residential school.

"I definitely see genocide at play," said Leah Redcrow, executive director for the society.

Researchers went through historical records from school administrators, nurses and the church. They found that doctors would check the children to make sure they were healthy entering the school, the report said, but many became sick soon after.

Redcrow estimates up to 400 children died while attending the school between 1898 and when it closed in 1990.

The school was started by Roman Catholic missionaries in Lac la Biche but later moved to the Saddle Lake Cree Nation. It was relocated again in 1931 to St. Paul, about 150 kilometres northeast of Edmonton.

In 1970, parents of children at the Blue Quills school occupied the institution and demanded its operation be turned over to the First Nation. It became Canada's first residence and school controlled by First Nations people.

Survivors told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which looked into the legacy of residential schools across the country, about humiliation, labour and physical and sexual abuse at the Blue Quills residential school. They also spoke about hunger, disgusting food and being forced to eat everything they were given.

For decades, the school had its own milking cows that were purchased by the Department of Indian Affairs. The animals were not being tested for bovine tuberculosis or other diseases, the new report said, even when concerns were raised.

The report found the children were being fed the unpasteurized milk at three meals each day and later many developed tuberculosis and other diseases.

School staff and administrators had their own pasteurized dairy products, Redcrow said, and they were healthy.


Related video: Residential school survivor says revelations of unmarked burial sites leads to more healing (cbc.ca)  Duration 1:16   View on Watch

"They are playing Russian roulette with these kids' lives," she said.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission's report on missing children and unmarked graves found that Alberta residential schools had the highest number of student deaths. Half of the deaths didn't have a cause identified. When it did, many were due to infectious disease.

"I know that they knew," Redcrow said about school staff. "How I know that they knew was because they weren't drinking that milk and they weren't getting sick."

Redcrow said an important discovery for researchers was learning that records of the children's deaths were not held within the residential school's files, but instead with the local parish. Their local parish, Sacred Heart, provided the documentation and researchers began to find names of students, she said.

Redcrow said oftentimes records showed that when a child died, their parents weren't notified.

The discovery about where records are held will give researchers the ability to tell living family members what happened to the students who never returned home, Redcrow said.

She added, however, that some children just disappeared from school records, including a member of her own family.

Redcrow said her great-grandfather Edward Redcrow, who was also sent to residential school, had 14 children with his first wife. Only four of their children came home from the institution.

One of the children, Eva, was last recorded alive in the residential school. Redcrow said there are no burial records nor vital statistics that say Eva died. But she never made it home.

The society's report also said a mass grave was identified 200 metres north of the residential school site by an accidental excavation in 2004. It was confirmed by ground-penetrating radar last year. There were no records of it in church or school documents that could explain its location, the report said.

Additionally, community members have identified two other sites of possible graves which will be prioritized for investigation later this year when weather allows for fieldwork. Community members have also found loose children's bones in a graveyard in areas where they shouldn't be, the report said.

Redcrow said there is still a significant amount of work to be done, including translating decades of church documents and further on-site excavation. But finding answers for families and giving voice to missing children motivates the work, she said.

"It's vital," she said. "It's so important."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 25, 2023.

— By Kelly Geraldine Malone in Saskatoon
Closure of Alphabet Inc.'s DeepMind shop in Edmonton shows Alberta at risk of losing out: NDP

Story by Lisa Johnson •  Edmonton Journal

Exterior of building in Downtown Edmonton that housed the offices of Google's DeepMind, on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023.

Alberta’s Opposition NDP says policy changes from the governing UCP are to blame for the closure of Alphabet Inc.’s DeepMind office in Edmonton and recent layoffs at Benevity in Calgary.

On Tuesday, Bloomberg reported the artificial intelligence lab will close as the global tech sector gets hit by a wave of layoffs .

NDP Leader Rachel Notley said at a news conference in Edmonton Wednesday that without investment-targeted incentives in the sector, the province is at risk of losing its competitive advantage.

“It all comes down to how we do within that (global) context,” said Notley, saying Alberta’s rate of growth in the sector is still well below the national average.

The Bloomberg story noted that impacted engineers and researchers will be offered the option to relocate to other offices. DeepMind’s Toronto and Montreal locations, within Google’s offices, won’t be closed.

“It’s not Toronto and Montreal that are losing those offices. It’s Alberta. It’s Edmonton,” Notley said.

Under former premier Jason Kenney, the UCP axed NDP-era industry supports in 2019, including the Alberta investor tax credit and the digital media tax credit. The NDP has long called for those to be reinstated, while also proposing an Alberta venture fund to support emerging local tech companies, along with reinvestment in post-secondary institutions.

Some in the sector have warned the province was losing out on potential business without the tax credits, even while the province has seen record-breaking capital investments in tech, including a total of $561 million in 2021.

Related
Alphabet's DeepMind lays off staff, closes Edmonton office

In November, Premier Danielle Smith directed Technology and Innovation Minister Nate Glubish to develop a tax credit proposal for the video game and digital media industry to make Alberta competitive with Ontario, B.C. and Quebec.

Jobs, Economy and Northern Development Minister Brian Jean’s office said in a statement Wednesday Alphabet did not contact the ministry because it wasn’t a “reportable large layoff event.”

“DeepMind’s office consolidation mirrors some of the structural changes that are impacting global companies in the tech sector,” it said, noting that Alphabet has publicly stated that the decision to close Edmonton’s stand-alone location was due to the capital-intensive nature of their physical installations and did not cite any other issues.

“Currently Alberta’s tech sector is growing while the balance of Canada’s is shrinking. The results of the UCP government’s policy decisions speak for themselves,” it said, adding that Edmonton is home to one of the fastest growing AI sectors in North America.

NDP economy and innovation critic Deron Bilous called the news of the DeepMind closure “a gut punch.”

He said Alberta is on pace to attract only seven per cent of investment, despite having 11 per cent of the Canadian population, citing numbers from the Canadian Venture Capital Association. The NDP has also pointed to the 2019 decision by Wattpad to choose Halifax over Calgary for a second headquarters in part because of cuts to tax credits.

“All (entrepreneurs are) looking for is a level playing field,” said Bilous.


DeepMind confirms AI research office closing in Edmonton

Story by Phil Heidenreich • Tuesday

An artificial intelligence lab, whose opening in Edmonton spurred excitement about the future of the AI sector in Alberta's capital, is set to close, according to a company spokesperson.


A file photo of the DeepMind logo.© CREDIT: deepmind.com

In 2017, Alphabet Inc.'s DeepMind firm announced it was opening a research office in Edmonton, marking the first time the company had set up shop outside the U.K.

The Alberta operation was led by several University of Alberta professors and worked on what DeepMind described as "core scientific research."

READ MORE: Prominent artificial intelligence firm to open 1st lab outside UK in Edmonton

News of the closure was first reported by Bloomberg on Tuesday. A company spokesperson confirmed the news in a statement issued to Global News on Tuesday afternoon.

"DeepMind has made the difficult decision to consolidate its Canadian offices and close the Edmonton office, while maintaining its other Canadian locations in Montréal and Toronto, which are within Google offices," the statement from the Google parent company read.

"Edmonton is the only international site directly managed by DeepMind (all the rest are in Google-managed offices) and (is) therefore far more resource-intensive to operate.

"The Edmonton-based researchers have been offered the option to relocate to another DeepMind office, such as DeepMind Montréal, based in Google's Montréal office, which will continue to operate as normal."

Edmonton becoming a leader in artificial intelligence

The company spokesperson did not confirm when the Edmonton office would close or how many staff are expected to be impacted by the development.

Global News reached out to the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) for reaction to news of the closure. The CEO of the organization, which partners with companies on innovation strategies, said learning of the development "hits close to home as it impacts many of our peers and friends in the DeepMind office and our tech community at large."

"The closure of the DeepMind office is an example of global tech workforce trends and its impact on the local community -- and unfortunately, Edmonton and Canada are not immune to these pressures," Cam Linke said in an emailed statement.

"While we begin to process this difficult news, the closure of the office is only one area of impact in our very robust ecosystem. Amii continues to see growth in AI adoption in working with hundreds of companies across Alberta to commercialize and operationalize the technology."

READ MORE: Spotify latest tech company to announce layoffs by cutting 6% of workforce

News of the DeepMind office's closure comes amid a recent wave of layoffs in the global tech sector. On Monday, the music streaming service Spotify announced it was cutting six per cent of its global workforce and other major firms like Amazon, Microsoft and Google have also recently announced tens of thousands of job cuts.

Linke said while the DeepMind closure was difficult to hear about, Amii remains "committed to our mandate of advancing AI science as we will continue to invest in AI research in Alberta by increasing our research capacity with world-leading researchers in globally impactful domains."

"I believe that in time there is potential to refocus and leap into new, interesting and impactful opportunities that will continue to advance Alberta's AI leadership. I am proud of the collaboration between Amii and DeepMind in building a foundation of AI excellence in Alberta and grateful to the DeepMind Edmonton team as their contributions have been significant to the ecosystem. I have no doubt that what these folks will go on to do next will be incredibly special and impactful."

Video: Google-owned artificial intelligence firm to set up shop in Edmonton

Matina Kalcounis-Rueppell, the interim dean and vice-provost at the University of Alberta's College of Natural and Applied Sciences, said the post-secondary institution was "saddened by the closure of the Edmonton office."

"We are deeply grateful for partnering with DeepMind since 2017 to enhance our strong legacy of community connections and collaborations," Kalcounis-Rueppell said in a statement. "Relationships like this one greatly strengthen AI research and impact in Alberta, Canada and beyond.

"Our partnership with DeepMind has been instrumental in helping Edmonton and Alberta's tech community flourish, drawing in new talent and investment from companies, government and other supporters. We look forward to continuing to advance the world-leading AI ecosystem that we have all built together."

Kalcounis-Rueppell said while the news of the office closure is sad, the university "will continue to lead in the technology sector as it adapts to global trends."

Deron Bilous, the Alberta NDP's economic development and innovation critic, called DeepMind's closure in Edmonton "terrible news for those workers."

"(It) is deeply concerning for our city and our tech sector," Bilous said in a news release. He also called on the provincial government to use tools like tax credits and to increase investment to help the provincial tech sector grow.

A spokesperson for the Jobs, Economy, and Northern Development Ministry said the move was unfortunate but noted it is part of a consolidation trend across the tech sector.

"Alberta’s tech sector is growing rapidly, and as demand for skilled workers grows, we want to be on top of providing Albertans with every opportunity to level up their skills and take part in this expanding industry," policy advisor Roy Dallmann said in a statement.

"We are helping Albertans take advantage of every opportunity by building a business-friendly climate that encourages investment and growth across industries, including in technology."

--With a file from The Associated Press
CRISIS OF OVERPRODUCTION
Fertilizer producer Mosaic says stockpiles too high to restart Canadian mine

Story by By Rod Nickel • 

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Fertilizer producer Mosaic Co does not currently see the right market conditions to restart its idled Canadian potash mine, with high inventories in the key markets of the United States and Brazil and cold weather slowing train movement of the crop nutrient from Canada, Chief Executive Joc O’Rourke said on Wednesday.

Mosaic Co curtailed potash production in December at its Colonsay, Saskatchewan, mine, but said then that it expected to restart in early 2023.

"It's just a matter of starting to see the inventories coming down," O'Rourke said in a Reuters interview. "The last thing we want to do is start it up, run it for a month and a half and have to shut it down again."

O'Rourke declined to be more specific on timing for restarting the mine, which was producing at an annual rate of 1.3 million tonnes when it shut down.

Related video: Canada's shift to greener energy faces long road (Global News) View on Watch

"I think once we get through the first quarter, we can certainly be moving a lot more product," he said. "But I'm being cautious about what to say until we see that movement."

Spring is the busiest time of year in North America for potash applications, ahead of planting.

Producers of potash fertilizer are banking on a return to stable prices in 2023 after disappointing demand late last year in the United States and Brazil forced some like Mosaic to slow output.

Potash prices had initially spiked last year, contributing to food inflation, after Russia invaded Ukraine, prompting Western countries to issue sanctions on Russia's banking system that have slowed its potash exports.

(Reporting by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg; Editing by Chris Reese and Aurora Ellis)
GOT THEIR HAND OUT FOR TAXPAYER FUNDING
Oilsands execs say they can't invest in decarbonization any faster, despite profits

Story by The Canadian Press • 

OTTAWA — Oilsands executives insist they are all in on cutting emissions and will make big investments in green technology, but they maintain there isn't a place to invest that money yet.


Oilsands execs say they can't invest in decarbonization any faster, despite profits© Provided by The Canadian Press

Many companies are coming off a year of windfall profits not because they pumped out more product, but because the war in Ukraine and global supply chain crunches pushed world oil prices way up.

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault has said repeatedly over the last year that the companies need to prove their commitment by putting some of that cold hard cash into climate initiatives.

But in an interview with The Canadian Press, Cenovus CEO Alex Pourbaix said the companies are moving "as aggressively as (they) can."

"We're not yet at the point where we can invest billions in these projects," Pourbaix said.

Cenovus is one of six oilsands companies in the Pathways Alliance, a consortium created to work together to decarbonize their production entirely by 2050. The companies are looking to spend $24 billion by 2030 on emissions cutting, including two-thirds of that on carbon capture and storage systems.

However, who will pay for those investments is a point of contention.

So far, the consortium has spent half a billion dollars on Phase 1 of these projects, according to the alliance's president Kendall Dilling.

The industry is hoping to see the federal government do more to match the funding being offered by the U.S. government to incentivize the development of clean energy in that country.

The Liberal government has argued it has already created incentives for the industry, including an investment tax credit for carbon capture and storage projects, and that it's now time for the industry to step up.

"If they don't make those investments while they're making record-level profits, then when would it be a good time for them to make those investments?" Guilbeault said in an interview last September.

"If not now, then I don’t know when."

Related video: A European recession could 'tip the balance' in the oil market, consultancy (CNBC)  Duration 2:56   View on Watch

Oil and gas companies have enjoyed record profits in the last couple of years thanks to skyrocketing energy prices. At a time when inflation is at decades-high levels, the growth of corporate profits has come under intense scrutiny, with some calling for windfall taxes to capture the excess profits.

In a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, senior economist David Macdonald found that for every dollar Canadians spent on rising prices over the last two years, 25 cents went toward oil and gas sector profits.

However, Pourbaix rejected the notion that the industry needs to contribute more to government coffers.

"I think we are already contributing significantly," he said, estimating the industry will pay somewhere between $10 billion and $12 billion in federal taxes this year.

Pourbaix said countries that have opted for windfall taxes on the oil and gas sector have far less progressive tax systems than Canada.

However, Andrew Leach, an economics professor at the University of Calgary, said it's difficult to make comparisons across countries because in Canada the industry pays both royalties and taxes.

And while there is much debate about the appropriateness of windfall taxes, the federal government and some experts are concerned about the industry choosing not to invest these profits in carbon capture projects that would help decarbonize the oilsands.

"I would worry that their strategy here is, 'We can get Canadians excited about this and that will push the federal government to put more dollars in to defray some of the investment costs,'" said Leach.

He warned that strategy could backfire as Canadians watch the industry rake record profits and send cash to shareholders.

"If Canadian started asking, 'Well, if the owners of the oilsands companies aren't willing to make this bet, why should we?' then I think that becomes problematic for them."

Pourbaix said the spending will come in later phases of these projects and that in the meantime, shareholders need to be rewarded.

Many of the Canadian oil and gas giants have opted to do that through corporate share buybacks.

That prompted the federal government to introduce a two per cent corporate stock buyback tax to incentivize companies to reinvest profits rather than reward shareholders.


But some advocates want to see the federal government go further.

Keith Stewart, senior energy strategist with Greenpeace Canada, said the fact that the industry won't actually put money behind their rhetoric on climate change is a good reason to implement a windfall tax.


"They're still waiting for the government to come and pay for them," he said.


This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 25, 2023.

Nojoud Al Mallees, The Canadian Press
Prairie Pride: First-of-its-kind report highlights Sask. transgender community

Story by The Canadian Press • 

Prairie Pride is a series by Local Journalism Initiative reporter Julia Peterson that celebrates queer life in rural Saskatchewan. Visit thestarphoenix.com/prairiepride to read more.

Tiberius Fayant-McLeod is tired of the stereotype that transgender people don’t live in Saskatchewan.

“Trans people are here in Saskatchewan, and we always have been, and we always will be,” said Fayant-McLeod. “And it’s about time we started taking care of our trans communities.”

A new report from a research project Fayant-McLeod managed is shedding new light on trans life in the province.

The 2022 Trans Sask Community Report, titled “So they know we’re here,” surveyed hundreds of two-spirit, transgender, nonbinary and gender non-conforming people in Saskatchewan.

This is the first research project of its kind to take place in the province, and Fayant-McLeod hopes the findings and recommendations can help make Saskatchewan a better place for trans people to live and thrive.

In particular, the research shows that many trans people want to live in Saskatchewan — and do live here — despite some steep barriers.

Fayant-McLeod, who moved back to the province in 2021, was “pleasantly surprised” to see that part of their own experience reflected in the research.

“This is where a lot of us grew up,” they said. “This is where our friends are. This is where our families are. This is my Indigenous land that I am tied to. Many of us want to live here.

“We just need Saskatchewan to catch up, a little bit, with some of the resources that could be really helpful for us.”

Another key finding from the report was that many trans people have a long delay between knowing their true gender, and coming out. Close to half of participants said they came out years — or decades — after realizing their gender, if they came out publicly at all.

“This … delay is often the time during which (two-spirit, transgender, nonbinary and gender-nonconforming) people are most invisible, isolated, and most in need of support,” the report found. “It also speaks to the social and political climate that limits 2STNBGN people from living and expressing themselves openly.”

Respondents also talked about their struggle to get trans-competent medical care.

“Various levels of healthcare continue to exclude and limit access to gender-affirming care with unfair and outdated medical standards, extensive waitlists, prohibitive costs, lists of ‘approved’ doctors, providers’ unwillingness to collaborate with patients, hostile medical environments, and policies and procedures that aren’t transparent or accessible,” the report found.

Fayant-McLeod said access to health care is particularly challenging for trans people living in rural or remote communities.

“The majority of people end up having to come into either Saskatoon or Regina to even get their basic health care,” they said. “And that is a problem for all rural people — not just trans people — but there is an extra burden put on trans and gender-diverse people.

“The waitlists for people coming from rural areas into the cities are just astronomical.”

But, they said, this research and Trans Sask’s other health-care advocacy work also show some hopeful signs for the future.

They think, as doctors learn more about treating trans patients, health-care access will improve.

For example, Fayant-McLeod said, a doctor may not have realized that if they are able to prescribe hormones to their cisgender patients — for example, prescribing estrogen to a woman entering menopause — they can do the same for transgender patients.

“Hopefully, with more practitioners realizing that they are perfectly capable of administering this care, we’ll be able to decrease those waitlists,” Fayant-McLeod said.

For research team member Rachel Loewen Walker, the findings about the importance of queer, trans, two-spirit and nonbinary service organizations stood out.

Many respondents described these local organizations’ services as “life-saving.”

“The organizations that do exist — and there aren’t many in Saskatchewan — are making a big difference in people’s lives,” she said.

Even though the research was conducted in 2021, when many in-person groups and events had been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, respondents said they were able to go online to find the help and support they needed from Saskatchewan-based organizations.

Trans people living in rural Saskatchewan also shared their unique experiences as part of this research project. They spoke about the particular challenges, and unique joys, that come from being transgender outside of the urban centres.

“The research demonstrated how living in a rural setting made some things just that more difficult,” said Loewen Walker.

“When there are already fewer services, or those services are only available in Saskatoon and Regina, it makes it more difficult. But there were great stories of people coming back to Saskatchewan after moving away. People who lived in rural settings shared how they were committed to creating a better future, making it more positive and supportive for the next generation.”

The report ends with dozens of recommendations for how to make Saskatchewan a better place for trans people to live — from health-care providers to educators, organizations, researchers and government officials.

“Saskatchewan has a reputation for being very slow to implement changes,” Fayant-McLeod said. “That was demonstrated by us waiting until 2014 to add gender identity to the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code. But, while we are definitely slow to change, I also feel like it’s sometimes really hard to know where to start, especially for people who might have never thought about the trans people in their lives and in their communities.

“So I wanted to put these recommendations — these starting points — here.”

Now that the report is out in the world, Loewen Walker said these results have left her feeling optimistic — about the richness of trans life in Saskatchewan today, and about how much better things could get in the years ahead.

“Trans people are incredible and joyful and have the potential for such bright futures, with shifts to some of these systemic barriers,” she said.

Julia Peterson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The StarPhoenix
Member of Congress reads AI-generated speech on House floor

Wed, January 25, 2023 

BOSTON (AP) — When U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss decided to deliver a speech on a bill that would create a U.S.-Israel artificial intelligence center, he opted to let the AI do the talking.

The brief two-paragragh speech read by the Massachusetts Democrat on the floor of the U.S. House on Wednesday was generated by the online AI chatbot ChatGPT. His staff said they believe it's the first time an AI-written speech was read in Congress.

Auchincloss said he prompted the system in part to “write 100 words to deliver on the floor of the House of Representatives" about the legislation. Auchincloss said he had to refine the prompt several times to produce the text he ultimately read.

The bill, which Auchincloss is refiling, would establish a joint U.S.-Israel AI Center in the United States to serve as a hub for AI research and development in the public, private and education sectors.

Auchincloss said part of the decision to read a ChatGPT-generated text was to help spur debate on AI and the challenges and opportunities created by it. He said he doesn't want to see a repeat of the advent of social media, which started small and ballooned faster than Congress could react.

“I’m the youngest parent in the Democratic caucus, AI is going to be part of my life and it could be a general purpose technology for my children,” said Auchincloss, 34.

The release of ChatGPT and other AI programs available on the internet is already posing a challenge for teachers who must now grapple with the possibility of students handing in AI-generated essays.

Researchers also worry AI chatbots could help turbocharge efforts to spread misinformation and propaganda.

OpenAI, the nonprofit that created ChatGPT, has acknowledged on its website that ChatGPT “can occasionally produce incorrect answers” and that its responses will sometimes be misleading as a result of how it learns. It recommends users check whether responses are accurate or not,

The text generated from Auchincloss's prompt includes sentences like: “We must collaborate with international partners like the Israeli government to ensure that the United States maintains a leadership role in AI research and development and responsibly explores the many possibilities evolving technologies provide."

“There were probably about a dozen of my colleagues on the floor. I bet none of them knew it was written by a computer," he said.

Lawmakers and others shouldn't be reflexively hostile to the new technology, but also shouldn't wait too long before drafting policies or new laws to help regulate it, Auchincloss said.

In particular, he argued that the country needs a “public counterweight” to the big tech firms that would help guarantee that smaller developers and universities have access to the same cloud computing, cutting edge algorithms and raw data as larger companies.

Steve Leblanc, The Associated Press

A ChatGPT bot passed a Wharton business school exam, but a professor says he would've only graded the effort a B or B-minus

Story by lvaranasi@insider.com (Lakshmi Varanasi) • Monday


ChatGPT might be on its way to earning an MBA from Wharton, which has long boasted one of the top MBA programs in the country. David Tran Photo/Shutterstock© David Tran Photo/Shutterstock
Wharton professor Christian Terwiesch tested ChatGPT with questions from his final exam.
Terwiesch found that ChatGPT could answer basic questions well but sometimes made "surprising mistakes" in simple calculations.

Terwiesch concluded that ChatGPT might earn a B or B- on his final exam.

If ChatGPT were enrolled in Wharton's MBA program, what kind of student would it be?

A B or B- candidate, according to Christian Terwiesch, a Wharton professor who recently tested the technology with questions from his final exam in operations management — once a required class for all MBA students — and published his findings.

ChatGPT, an AI chatbot that generates its own text as opposed to responding to existing prompts, has stirred up considerable commotion in the education system since it was released in November 2022. The bot has been used to generate essays, which has lead to growing concerns about plagiarism among teachers. In January, the New York City Department of Education announced a ban on ChatGPT across its school system.


Others argue that ChatGPT can increase the efficiency of teachers and even make education more fair. Safe to say— ChatGPT has raised many questions about the future of the education system.

According to Terwiesch, ChatGPT does an "amazing job" answering basic operations questions based on case studies: focused examinations of a person, group, or company, and the holy grail of business school education.

For example, Terwiesch proposed the following question to ChatGPT:

World-Antique is a new venture under development by two graduates of a New England business school. The value proposition of the venture is simple: purchase antique paintings at yard sales and auctions and then sell them at quadruple the purchase price via a simple eCommerce site (i.e., a painting that is purchased for $100 would be sold at $400).

Based on an analysis of similar retailers, the founders expect to turn their inventory 1.5 times per year.

To achieve an annual revenue of $3,000,000, how much inventory expressed in $'s should the founders expect their operation to require?

To which, ChatGPT answered:

"To achieve an annual revenue of $3,000,000, the founders need to sell $3,000,000 / 4 = $750,000 worth of paintings per year.

Since they expect to turn their inventory 1.5 times per year, they need to have $750,000 / 1.5 = $500,000 worth of inventory at any given time.

Therefore, the founders should expect their operation to require $500,000 worth of inventory."

Terwiesch deemed this "short and sweet" and worthy of an A+.

In other instances though, ChatGPT made mistakes in calculations that Terwiesch said only required 6th-grade-level math. He noted that it also struggled with more complex questions that required an understanding of how multiple inputs and outputs worked together.

But when given a hint to question, ChatGPT quickly and correctly modified its answers. Based on that, Terwiesch noted that having "a 'human in the loop' can be very valuable."

Since ChatGPT has become known for generating novel content, Terwiesch also decided to see how well it could do his job — writing its own exam questions. The questions it generated would probably require substantial editing, Terwiesch noted, but he also found them humorous and said he'd rely on ChatGPT for preparing future exams.

Amidst all the frenzy on how ChatGPT might impact the way we learn, Terwiesch offers a heartening case for its use as a tool to help humans.

He wrote, "We have many reasons to believe that the technology is getting better over time. But, we are still far from an A+ for complex problems and we still need a human in the loop."
‘Enormous’ iceberg over 2x the size of Toronto breaks off from Antarctica

Story by Kathryn Mannie • 6h ago

British and European scientists have confirmed that a massive iceberg, estimated to be 1,550 square kilometres in area and 150 metres in thickness, has broken off from Antarctica's Brunt Ice Shelf after "several years of desperately clinging on."


Before and after shot of the Brunt Ice Shelf following a mass calving event on Jan. 22, 2023.© European Space Agency

In comparison, the city of Toronto covers 630 square km.

The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) first detected the major calving event occurring on Jan. 22 between 19:00 and 20:00 UTC during a particularly high tide known as a spring tide. In a press release, the BAS noted the newly formed iceberg is "almost the size of Greater London, [U.K.]."

The European Space Agency (ESA) explained that the "enormous" iceberg was formed when "the crack known as Chasm-1 fully extended northwards severing the west part of the ice shelf." They confirmed with satellite imagery that the new berg had finally split off.

After being "dormant for some decades," Chasm-1 began to grow again in early 2012. Since then, scientists have been monitoring the crack, waiting for the day when it would finally sever a new iceberg off the shelf. The calving event is not a result of climate change, experts said.

BAS glaciologist Dominic Hodgson said, "This calving event has been expected and is part of the natural behaviour of the Brunt Ice Shelf. It is not linked to climate change. Our science and operational teams continue to monitor the ice shelf in real-time to ensure it is safe."

The new iceberg will likely be named A-81, in accordance with iceberg naming conventions, though an official name has yet to be chosen. A smaller iceberg that broke off to the north will likely be called either A-81A or A-82.

Ted Scambos, a senior research scientist at the University of Colorado, told the Washington Post that the berg "is a huge mass of ice, about 500 billion tons," but it isn't the largest iceberg ever recorded. That one "rivalled Long Island," he said.

According to the ESA, the largest iceberg in the world, called A-76, is around 4,320 square km.

This week's calving event marks the second massive iceberg to be created off the Brunt Ice Shelf in recent years. In February 2021, a berg around 1,270 square km broke off and drifted into the Weddell Sea.

The Brunt Ice Shelf is home to a BAS research station called Halley VI, which was preemptively moved inland 23 km in 2016 as Chasm-1 continued to widen. The research station, currently manned with 21 staff, was unaffected by the calving event.

"The station is currently around 20 km from the line of rupture," the ESA reported.

Scambos notes that further destabilization in the Brunt Ice Shelf could force "another expensive move of the station."

Sea ice levels in Antarctica are constantly in flux, in contrast to the shrinking Arctic, which is being hardest hit by human-caused climate change. Over the past couple of decades, Antarctica's sea ice has swung from record highs to record lows.

"There’s a link between what’s going on in Antarctica and the general warming trend around the rest of the world, but it’s different from what we see in mountain glaciers and what we see in the Arctic," Scambos says.

Satellite data shows that between 1978 and 2014, the region was still producing record-high sea ice until it suddenly plunged in 2016. Antarctic sea ice levels have been lower than average ever since.
Interest rate hikes: The Bank of Canada's 'resolute' fight against inflation could threaten its credibility


Story by Ellen D. Russell, Associate Professor,
 Faculty of Liberal Arts, Wilfrid Laurier University • 
THE CONVERSATION  1/25/2023

The Bank of Canada “resolutely” declared it will fight inflation by raising interest rates. To demonstrate its unwavering commitment to reaching the bank’s two per cent inflation target, today’s eighth consecutive interest rate hike brings the policy rate to 4.5 per cent. The bank expects to hold the rate for now, but is prepared to increase it again if needed to maintain its target rate.


Tiff Macklem, Governor of the Bank of Canada, 


The bank’s logic is this: when demand outpaces what the economy supplies, the result is inflation. Based on this analysis, the Bank of Canada raises interest rates to “dampen demand so supply can catch up.” Using interest rates to fight inflation has been central banks’ boilerplate approach for years.

Higher interest rates deliberately slow the economy by discouraging borrowing. In a slowing economy, labour demand eases and job vacancies decline. This is a bitter pill to swallow for those already struggling to make ends meet, since deliberately encouraging higher unemployment exerts downward pressure on wage growth.

‘Jawboning’

Why does the central bank emphasize how resolutely committed it is to raising interest rates? In central banker lingo, this is called jawboning or forward guidance.

Jawboning is communication intended to influence the expectations of the public. As Ben Bernanke, former chairman of the United States Federal Reserve, once explained — when he could talk more freely after leaving the bank — “monetary policy is 98 per cent talk and only two per cent action.”

By emphasizing its steadfast commitment to lowering inflation, the Bank of Canada hopes to persuade the public to expect lower inflation.


The Bank of Canada building is pictured in Ottawa in December 2022

The bank is eager to influence our expectations about inflation because expectations can be self-fulfilling. If we expect future price increases, we are likely to bid up prices (and seek higher wages) in anticipation of impending price hikes.

If the Bank of Canada convinces us that it can and will beat inflation, we are more likely to refrain from actions that bid up prices, and thereby support the bank’s fight against inflation.

But central bank influence on expectations is a double-edged sword. As Bernanke writes:

“The ability to shape market expectations of future policy through public statements is one of the most powerful tools the Fed has. The downside for policymakers, of course, is that the cost of sending the wrong message can be high.”

Jawboning only dampens inflationary expectations if the public has faith that the Bank of Canada is credible in its analysis and actions. But do we believe that raising interest rates is the right tool to control inflation?

Beyond the central bank’s control

Related video: Bank of Canada strategy to tame inflation is out of date, says economist (cbc.ca)
Duration 6:02  View on Watch

As the bank itself acknowledges, there are other causes of inflation, such as the war in Ukraine and supply disruptions caused by the pandemic. These issues will not be solved by increasing interest rates.

Arguably, the public worries about many inflation causes that are beyond the Bank of Canada’s control. For instance, Canadians may be concerned about “greedflation” that occurs when large companies exploit their extensive market power to boost prices excessively.

The recent Parliamentary inquiry and Competition Bureau study of competition among grocery stores was prompted by the possibility that food costs are impacted by this lack of competition.

Read more: Food giants reap enormous profits during times of crisis

The central bank has little control over many factors impacting inflation, such as extreme weather in areas that export food and raw materials to Canada. There are also longer-term supply challenges with inflationary repercussions.

Climate change and inflation


Consider the future implications of the war in Ukraine and other geopolitical instability. Globalization has been extolled for keeping costs down, but global supply chains are vulnerable to disruption by anything from the COVID-19 situation in China to ships getting stuck in the Suez Canal.

To protect supply chains, companies may onshore or ‘friendshore’ by moving production to locations viewed as more insulated from international turbulence. This could exert upward pressure on prices if it requires building new facilities in higher-cost areas.



Ever Given, a Panama-flagged cargo ship, blocked the Suez Canal for six days after it got stuck sideways in the crucial waterway in March 2021.
© (AP Photo/Mohamed Elshahed)

Climate change also influences inflation. It may reduce crop yields, for example. But fighting climate change also impacts inflation over the longer term. Living up to our climate commitments requires the transformation of energy production, manufacturing and transportation. This will be expensive.

Ironically, higher interest rates may further increase the costs of responding to climate change, localizing supply chains and other longer-term challenges. Building new production, transportation and other infrastructure takes funding, and higher interest rates makes it more expensive to borrow money to invest in restructuring.

Given the array of publicly visible factors contributing to inflation, the Bank of Canada needs to consider the possibility that the public will not be persuaded that their approach to inflation fits these unprecedented times.

Maslow’s hammer

Effective jawboning requires credibility. This credibility is based on the public’s belief that the central bank is using the right tools for the job. The Bank of Canada does not want to appear to be suffering from Maslow’s hammer — a bias against trying more appropriate tools because, as the saying goes, “if you only have a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”

Ultimately, the reputation of the Bank of Canada will be undermined if the public believes that it’s pounding away with a hammer that is not needed and causing much hardship in the process.

If the bank loses credibility, the public may conclude this hammering is preventing us from pursuing more constructive options. Paradoxically, inflationary expectations could be fuelled if the public believes we are relying on the wrong tool while neglecting better ones that might get the job done.

This is not to say that inflation has an easy fix. We may require all sorts of policy responses that are far beyond the Bank of Canada’s purview.

But so long as policymakers subscribe to the boilerplate analysis that concludes the hammer is the only tool worthy of consideration, we leave our whole toolbox on the shelf while the Bank of Canada behaves as though the only problem is a nail.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.

Read more:
The Doomsday Clock is now at 90 seconds to midnight — the closest we have ever been to global catastrophe

Story by Jack L. Rozdilsky, Associate Professor of Disaster and Emergency Management, York University, Canada 

Christian Faize Canaan, Master’s student, Disaster and Emergency Management, York University, Canada 

THE CONVERSATION, Jan. 25,2023

On Jan. 24, history was again made when the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ organization moved the seconds hand of the Doomsday Clock closer to midnight. It is now at ‘90 seconds to midnight,’ the closest it has ever been to the symbolic midnight hour of global catastrophe.


At 90 seconds to midnight, the Doomsday Clock indicates the level of human-made threats.© (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

The announcement, made during a news conference held in Washington D.C., was delivered in English, Ukrainian and Russian. The released statement described our current moment in history as “a time of unprecedented danger.”

The hands of the Doomsday Clock are set by the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. These leading experts focus on the perils posed by human-made disaster threats, which emanate from nuclear risk, climate change, biological threats and disruptive technologies.

Read more: What is the Doomsday Clock and why should we keep track of the time?

The Doomsday Clock is the most graphic depiction of human-made threats, and the act of moving the clock forward communicates a clear and urgent need for vigilance.

For 2021 and 2022, the clock’s hands were set at 100 seconds to midnight. Since this time-keeping exercise began in 1947, the announcement on Jan. 24, 2023 represents the closest the clock has ever been to midnight — a clear wake-up call.

Threats over time


In 1945, a group of scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project — a United States research project into atomic weapons — joined together to form the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

In the late 1940s, the new threat of atomic weapons cast a dark cloud over the world. The Doomsday Clock was meant to be a warning to humanity about the dangers of nuclear weapons; later in the 20th century it was expanded to consider other human-made threats.



A plasma dome produced by the first detonation of an atomic weapon on July 16, 1945 during the Manhattan Project’s research in New Mexico.© (Shutterstock)

In 1991, the clock was set at 17 minutes to midnight, the furthest the clock has ever been from doomsday. This move followed the collapse of the Soviet Union and the signing of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty by the United States and Russia. In the 1990s, the world felt somewhat safer for a few years.

The 2010s brought the world closer to the brink of nuclear war than at any time other than the present.

U.S. relations with other global nuclear powers like Russia and China became increasingly tense. The Iran nuclear deal was abandoned, affecting the geopolitics of the Middle East. The threat from North Korea’s nuclear arsenal entered an alarming new phase. Along with the dangerous rhetoric of former President Donald Trump and the global rise of the far right, the stage was set for the 2020s to be a tumultuous decade.

In 2023, the global crises we are currently contending with have devastatingly broad consequences and potentially longer-lasting effects. Our current moment is unsustainable, especially as catastrophic threats multiply and intensify.

Layered crises range from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine involving Vladimir Putin’s thinly veiled nuclear threats to the social and economic strains still present at the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic. These are unprecedented challenges to human survival.


The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station in southeastern Ukraine was in Russian-controlled territory when a Russian missile damaged a distant electrical substation, increasing the risk of radiation disaster.© (AP Photo/File)

Apocalyptic anxieties

As the Doomsday Clock is now set at 90 seconds to midnight, the situation adds stress to an already anxious global populace.

In Europe, fears of COVID-19 were rapidly replaced by fears of a nuclear war.

Death anxiety — produced by a fear of dying — is related to nuclear anxiety, and the threat of nuclear war provoked by daily headlines could shape the way we think and act.

Nuclear weapons prompt a special existential anxiety, as weapons of mass destruction have the potential to eradicate entire cultures, lands, languages and lives. In the case of a nuclear attack, the future would be altered in a way that becomes inconceivable for us to process.

Philosopher Langdon Winner wrote that “during the post-World War II era, in a sense all of us became unwitting subjects for a vast series of biological and social experiments, the results of which became apparent very slowly.”

For those who grew up during the mid-20th century peak of the Cold War, and into the early 1980s, the resurgence of these worries carries a distinct tinge of déjà vu. To counter this recurring dread, coping tools include limiting media exposure, reaching out to others, cultivating compassion and changing your routine.

The time to act is now


The significance of the Doomsday Clock as a metaphorical time-keeping exercise serves as a graphic symbol of human-made multiplying perils. As the time to midnight has drawn closer, the urgency of the threat is intensified.

Whether or not one lives in one of the nine nations in possession of nuclear weapons, we have all become unwitting subjects of the experiment that began with the detonation of the first atomic weapon.

In 2023, the Doomsday Clock tells us that we are now 90 metaphorical seconds away from self-produced extinction. Time is of the essence.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.


Read more:
Why the war in Ukraine is pushing the Doomsday Clock’s hands closer to midnight

How long to midnight? The Doomsday Clock measures more than nuclear risk – and it’s about to be reset again

Jack L. Rozdilsky is a Professor at York University who receives external funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research as a co-investigator on a project supported under operating grant Canadian 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Rapid Research Funding.

Christian Faize Canaan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.