To revitalize Indigenous communities, the Residential School settlement must prioritize language education


Frank Deer, Professor, Associate Dean, and Canada Research Chair,

 Faculty of Education, University of Manitoba

THE CONVERSATION
Fri, January 27, 2023

After a decade, the federal government has reached an agreement to settle a class action lawsuit that included 325 First Nations across Canada. The class action was initiated by the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc and shíshálh Nation in 2012. It was concerned with, among other issues, the loss of language and culture through Residential Schools. The settlement, worth $2.8 billion, includes support for cultural revitalization with focus on heritage, wellness and languages.

Efforts toward cultural revitalization will be funded by the $50 million Day Scholars Revitalization Fund. An important aspect of the fund will be the central role Indigenous Peoples will have in managing and guiding the process of supporting the cultural revitalization.

Read more: Canada's $2.8 billion settlement with Indigenous Day Scholars is a long-time coming

This settlement, just as the Indian Day School Settlement and the Indian Residential School Settlement before it, focuses on the justice necessary to address physical and emotional harms, and the long term impacts that they had for Indigenous communities and their national, cultural and traditional identities.

These traumatic impacts were deliberately put upon Indigenous Peoples through focus on the most vulnerable members of a community — their children. Over generations, many Indigenous children and youth who were attending these schools lost their language, culture and thousands lost their lives. The trauma of those experiences may be too horrific to recount. The intergenerational trauma experienced by the communities affected by these schools were also traumatic and constitute genocide.

Former Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc Chief Shane Gottfriedson (left) and Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Marc Miller at a news conference in Vancouver on Jan. 21, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Revitalizing Indigenous languages

A recurrent theme in the narratives of survivors is how Indigenous identities have been adversely affected, and principal among those aspects are Indigenous languages. Frequently regarded as one of the central components of Indigenous cultural identity, language revitalization has become of paramount importance.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s (TRC) Calls to Action contain a number of imperatives related to languages. Call to Action 14 identifies Indigenous languages as “a fundamental and valued element of Canadian culture and society.” The reasons behind this are not difficult to understand: language allows humans to communicate ideas and is one of the pillars that support a people’s culture, traditions and history.

The importance of Indigenous languages is not just reflected in the special cultural and national features that they represent for Indigenous Peoples. They also are the optimum way to represent Indigenous knowledge, heritage and consciousness — such manifestations are undermined by the use of non-Indigenous languages.
Restoring agency

The Day Scholars Revitalization Fund represents an important opportunity for those involved in the class action. First and foremost is the issue of agency. Responsibility for developing and employing a plan of action to utilize the funds rests with Indigenous Peoples.

The issue of agency is essential given the history of unjust government control over matters that affect Indigenous communities. Indigenous people must have an adequate voice, influence and control in regard to issues, initiatives and policy that affect them, their communities and their territories. As is frequently proclaimed by Indigenous Peoples: Nothing about us without us!
Community initiatives

There are a number of ways that Indigenous communities can support the revitalization of their languages. The fundamental starting point is best summed up by the words of then chief commissioner of the TRC, Murray Sinclair: “Education got us into this mess and education will get us out.”

shíshálh Nation hiwus (Chief) Warren Paull speaks during the news conference in Vancouver on Jan. 21, 2023. Agency is essential given the history of unjust government control over matters that affect Indigenous communities. 

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Canada has a rich and diverse history of Indigenous languages. However, most Indigenous children and youth, whether in public or on-reserve schools, are still educated in English and French.

There are however some encouraging developments in some Indigenous communities. In the far north, efforts have been made to ensure that Inuktut is the principal language of instruction in some Inuit schools. In Manitoba, some school divisions have created opportunities for First Nations languages such as Anishinaabemowin to be featured in classroom programming.

Partnerships between Indigenous communities and their respective schools need to be established to support the sorts of institutional transformations necessary to support curricular development, classroom resources and recruitment of qualified teachers.

These transformations require the voice, influence and control of Indigenous Peoples, and efforts should be marshalled to support such participation. Indigenous communities have worked hard to establish such partnerships. In the community of Kahnawa:ke, schools such as Karonhianónhnha Tsi Ionterihwaienstáhkhwa employ an immersion programme to sustain the Kanien’keha language.

Educational programming is crucial to revitalizing Indigenous languages, but it’s not the only piece of this puzzle. Community conditions outside of the school in which children and youth have opportunities to speak the language are also essential.

Communities need to develop strategies that provide improved opportunities for young people to learn and retain their language. Children and youth should be encouraged to use Indigenous languages outside of school as well through community laws, commerce and media. Such initiatives require the commitment of community members and the support of the Day Scholars Revitalization Fund may be well suited for this purpose.

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

It was written by: Frank Deer, University of Manitoba.

Read more:

Residential school system recognized as genocide in Canada’s House of Commons: A harbinger of change


Indigenous conservation funding must reflect Canada’s true debt to First Nations, Inuit and Métis

Atlantic Canada needs health-care funding based on need, not population: Green Party

Fri, January 27, 2023 



FREDERICTON — The Green Party is calling on the federal government to fund health care in Atlantic Canada in keeping with the needs of its residents, not based on its share of the population.

Federal Green Party Leader Elizabeth May says the Atlantic provinces have a higher proportion, compared with the rest of the country, of residents who have complex needs for health care.

New Brunswick Green Party Leader David Coon says funding has recently been distributed to provinces on a per capita basis, putting the Atlantic region at a disadvantage.

As well, Coon says there is a disturbing trend toward the private management and delivery of health care in the country, adding that the corporate ownership of surgical centres is of notable concern.

Several surgical centres in Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic region are receiving funding from provincial governments to provide knee, hip and other surgeries as a way to ease backlogs.

He says there are strong benefits to surgical centres owned publicly, not by corporations looking to maximize profits and service their shareholders with growing dividends.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 27, 2023.

The Canadian Press

INDEFENSIBLE 'CHOKE' HOLD

As RCMP defends neck hold, minister says he 'very clearly' laid out his expectations for reform

Fri, January 27, 2023 

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino speaks with reporters on January 10, 2023 in Mexico City. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press - image credit)

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino says he has laid out "very clearly" the reforms he wants to see from RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki — comments that come as the RCMP continues to defend its use of a controversial neck hold.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau instructed the minister to work with the RCMP to ban "the use of neck restraints in any circumstance." The promise was repeated in Mendicino's mandate letter to Lucki.

Earlier this month, the RCMP told CBC News the carotid control technique is safe and effective and it will keep instructing its officers to use the restraint in rare cases.

"Well, the very first thing I would say is that it is important that we reform our ...law enforcement institutions," said Mendicino on his way into a caucus meeting Friday.

"That is precisely why, after receiving my mandate letter from the prime minister, I took the additional further step to lay out very clearly how we can create that that reform within the RCMP."

Vascular neck restraints involve compressing the arteries on either side of a person's neck, causing the person being restrained to slip into unconsciousness.

When used correctly, the restraint doesn't restrict breathing. It differs from the hold that killed George Floyd while in police custody in 2020, but the carotid restraint has come under intense scrutiny since then.

Lucki promised to review the technique after Floyd's death. A number of U.S. police forces have banned the carotid restraint.

RCMP spokesperson Robin Percival said the national police force has "not banned or placed a moratorium on the use of the carotid control technique."

Instead, she said, the RCMP issued new guidance to its officers late last year that "strengthens and clarifies definitions, oversight and accountability measures, the risks of applying the technique on medically high-risk groups, requirements for medical attention, the threshold for use and requirement to recertify annually on the policy regarding application."

National Police Federation/YouTube

Percival said the carotid control technique was used 25 times in 2020 and 14 times in 2021 by RCMP officers.

Mendicino said he'll keep working with the RCMP to usher in reforms.

"The point here is to ensure that the RCMP sets the gold standard when it comes to use of force so that we can keep Canadians safe and make sure that we're doing it in a way that is responsible and professional," he said Friday.

"And we're going to continue to make sure that we work with the RCMP to enact those things."

The RCMP Act says the commissioner serves "under the direction of the minister" and "has the control and management of the force."

'They've been fighting about this for 50 years'

Brian Sauvé, head of a union representing more than 20,000 RCMP officers, said he thinks Lucki is acting within her authority in retaining the carotid hold as an option for officers.

"There's been a lot of talk last year, for example, about operational independence of the RCMP. Use of force, the Incident Management Intervention Model, in my opinion, would fall within that operational independence," he said in an interview last week.

University of Ottawa criminology professor Michael Kempa disagrees.

"The answer is an unambiguous no. It is absolutely the responsibility of the RCMP to take policy direction from the minister of public safety on any matter to do with policies around recruitment, using force, weapons, etc.," he said.

"This is a problem that has bedevilled the RCMP and its relationship with their minister of public safety… They've been fighting about this for 50 years as to what exactly operational independence means."

Kempa described the power of the federal minister over the RCMP commissioner as equivalent to the power of police services boards over municipal police services.

The force's operational independence was thrust into the spotlight last summer when the federal government was accused of pressuring Lucki to have the Mounties release the types of weapons used by the gunman in the tragic mass shooting in Nova Scotia that left 22 people dead in 2020.

Both Lucki and former public safety minister Bill Blair have denied political interference.

Justin Tang/The Canadian Press

During last year's public inquiry into the government's use of the Emergencies Act to end the convoy protests, Lucki suggested the federal government should more clearly define operational independence.

"For me, it's pretty clear. Anything operational, we're advising what's happening, but we're not taking direction on how to do things," she testified on Nov. 15.

Lucki's contract is up for renewal

Historically, disagreements between the federal government and the RCMP don't end well for the commissioner, said Kempa.

"In the end they're either dismissed or simply their contract is not renewed," he said.

"I think that rather than make a big public scene over this particular issue, if it's important to the minister, it would just be one more reason to not renew the contract and kind of deal with it quietly in that way."

Lucki was appointed commissioner back in April 2018. While the RCMP Act states commissioners hold office at the government's "pleasure," most commissioners serve for about six years.

In November, Mendocino said he would be talking to the commissioner "as her current defined term comes to its natural conclusion."

"And we'll see where that takes us."

North Dakota landowners at odds in carbon pipeline plans


Fri, January 27, 2023 


North Dakota landowners testified for and against a carbon capture company’s use of eminent domain Friday, as Summit Carbon Solutions moves forward in constructing a massive underground system of carbon dioxide pipelines spanning 2,000 miles across several states and under hundreds of people’s homes and farms in the Midwest.

The proposed $4.5 billion carbon pipeline project would capture carbon dioxide emissions across neighboring states and deposit the emissions deep underground in North Dakota.

Landowners who opposed the company's right to eminent domain argued that a private entity should not be able to forcibly buy their land and that the pipeline will potentially endanger people living above it.

Eminent domain refers to the government’s right to forcibly buy private property — like the land under a person’s house or farm — for public use.

Landowners who supported Summit's right to exercise eminent domain said the company's timely construction of the carbon pipeline serves an important public interest — it would reduce the state’s carbon footprint and thereby allow North Dakotans to continue working in energy and agriculture — and that people living above the pipeline will be safe.

“The safety of our operations, our employees, and the communities where we operate is the foundation of Summit Carbon Solutions’ business,” Summit said on its website. “As the project is constructed, we will utilize the latest and most reliable technologies and materials.”

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee did not immediately vote on the bills heard Thursday and Friday about carbon pipelines and eminent domain.

Republican Sen. Jeffery Magrum, of Hazelton, said he introduced the bills because he has heard from “many landowners” that carbon pipeline developers are threatening the use of eminent domain as a way to negotiate for property rights and access.

“We need to support property rights and our land owners as we develop our natural resources,” Magrum said.

The bill heard Friday would prohibit carbon pipeline companies from exercising eminent domain, but would allow oil, gas and coal companies to continue using eminent domain.

"The proposed carbon dioxide pipeline would move a dangerous product through our community to a location where it cannot be used for any purpose, but instead must be injected underground and sequestered forever," said Gaylen Dewing, who has worked as a farmer and rancher near Bismarck for over 50 years.

Dewing added that the state's energy industry “would not benefit in any way” from this practice of storing carbon dioxide underground, so carbon pipeline companies should not have the right to exercise eminent domain.

Susan Doppler, a landowner in Burleigh County, said her family does not want "our land ripped up — toxic and useless — to give way to a hazardous pipeline. What a worthless and disgusting inheritance to leave a future generation.”

But other North Dakota landowners pushed back.

Keith Kessler, a farmer and rancher in Oliver County who owns land within the boundaries of the pipeline project, said a different pipeline has been transporting carbon for over 20 years between North Dakota and Canada. That pipeline has never had a rupture or leak, and hazardous incidents from carbon pipelines are rare, he said.

And Lori Flemmer, a resident of Mercer County, said her husband and sons work in the energy industry and on their family farm. Working in agriculture and energy is “reality in coal country," she said, and carbon capture technology is necessary for reducing carbon footprints and keeping coal plants alive.

Summit Carbon Solutions' Executive Vice President Wade Boeshans said the company must keep its ability to use eminent domain in order to build carbon pipelines in a timely fashion, deliver on the $4.5 billion pipeline project and keep North Dakota's economy afloat. According to the company's website, the project would span Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska.

Republican Gov. Doug Burgum lauded North Dakota’s efforts to store carbon dioxide in January.

“We’re on our way toward achieving carbon neutrality as a state by 2030, thanks to our extraordinary capacity to safely store over 252 billion tons of CO2, or 50 years of the nation’s CO2 output,” Burgum said. “And in the process, we can help secure the future of our state’s two largest industries: energy and agriculture.”

The Trump administration in 2018 gave North Dakota the power to regulate underground wells used for long-term storage of waste carbon dioxide. North Dakota was the first state to be given such power, the Environmental Protection Agency said in announcing the move. The state has since invested heavily in carbon capture and sequestration technology.

___

Trisha Ahmed is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow her on Twitter: @TrishaAhmed15

Trisha Ahmed, The Associated Press

Alberta Justice spokespeople deliver duelling statements on prosecutor email review



Fri, January 27, 2023 

EDMONTON — An Alberta government email review of whether Premier Danielle Smith’s office interfered with Crown prosecutors has taken a confusing turn, with duelling statements from two spokespeople on what was investigated.

Ethan Lecavalier-Kidney, a spokesman for Justice Minister Tyler Shandro, has issued a statement that appears to call into question earlier comments made by Alberta Justice communications director Charles Mainville.

The review was ordered by Smith a week ago to respond to allegations in a CBC story that reported a Smith staffer emailed prosecutors last fall to question decisions and direction on cases stemming from a blockade at the Canada-U. S. border crossing at Coutts, Alta., last year.

The Justice Department said Monday it had done a four-month search of ingoing, outgoing and deleted emails and found no evidence of contact.

Two days later, Mainville said in a statement that deleted emails are wiped from the system after 30 days, meaning the search for deleted emails may not have covered the entire time period..

Lecavalier-Kidney, in a statement Thursday night, said deleted emails could live in the system for 60 days and would have been available to investigators.

He did not respond Friday to a request asking himto clarify whether investigators went back 30 or 60 days on the deleted emails.

The government has also delivered conflicting messages on who was investigated in the email review.

Smith promised that emails from all Crown prosecutors and the 34 staffers in her office would be checked.

However, the Justice Department later said emails between “relevant” prosecutors and Smith staffers were checked. It did not say how it determined who was relevant.

Smith has said she did not direct prosecutors in the Coutts cases and the email review exonerated her office from what she has called “baseless” allegations in the CBC story.

The CBC has said that it has not seen the emails in question, but stands by its reporting.

The Opposition NDP said questions stemming from the CBC story, coupled with multiple conflicting statements from the United Conservative Party premier on what she has said to Justice Department officials about the Coutts cases, can only be resolved through an independent investigation.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 27, 2023.

Dean Bennett, The Canadian Press

Spain's govt under pressure to do more on gender-based crime

Fri, January 27, 2023



MADRID (AP) — A spate of gender-based violence, coupled with the early release of several sex offenders, has increased pressure on Spain's left-wing government, which strongly plays up its feminist credentials, to do more to protect women from abuse.

Following an urgent meeting Friday, the country's Equality Ministry proposed housing and income support for abuse victims but said there was no need to tighten a law that has allowed some sex offenders to review and reduce their sentences.

"We need to be able not only to make protection services available but also ... to effectively reach the victims without the need for long bureaucratic procedures,” Equality Minister Irene Montero said.

At least six women have been killed — allegedly by their current or former partners — so far this year, according to the latest records by the government's office against gender-based violence.

After studying these cases, the Equality Ministry found that some of the victims had been living with their alleged killers for economic reasons. Montero said she planned to provide housing services and a minimum wage-linked income to women who had suffered violence and remained vulnerable.

The proposal would require Cabinet approval but Montero said it shows the government's will to improve what she called an already very high-functioning system against gender-based violence.

Official data show that at least 1,188 women have died at the hands of their male partners or ex-partners since 2003, when the country pioneered counting cases of femicides.

Statistics show a slight decline in the number of annual killings since 2000. Records have stabilized at just below 50 in the past years, but it's unclear how much further such crimes can be reduced.

Experts agree that there has been a significant drop in cases in the last decades after Spain’s strong commitment to targeting violence towards women, but more can still be done, particularly for victims who had already filed complaints against an aggressor at least once. In 2022, such cases accounted for 43% of female murder victims.

“We need to improve risk assessment because when women report their situation, the danger of attack by their partner becomes huge,” says Yolanda Besteiro, an expert on gender issues and president of the Progressive Women Federation.

Violence against women has increasingly become a social concern — and a political point of contention in a highly polarized debate.

Opposition parties have heavily criticized the government after it introduced highly contentious legislation on sexual consent that, ironically, has also allowed more than 200 convicted sex offenders to successfully appeal their prison sentences.

According to rulings shared by Spanish courts, at least 20 sex crimes have been released from prison since parliament approved the law four months ago after significant reductions in their prison terms were granted.

That's because those punished with the lowest prison term under the previous criminal code have the legal right to remain at the lower end of possible sentences under the new law; that has resulted in reductions of up to four years of imprisonment for offenses such as aggravated sexual abuse.

The spotlight is now on Equality Minister Montero, the sponsor of the law — popularly called “only yes is yes,” since it makes explicit consent in sexual relations a must. When asked Friday, she said she wasn't considering revising the law.

“We are busy doing all necessary to guarantee the correct enforcement of the law,” she said.

Montero argues that the new law protects women better than before, and the real problem is the way some judges apply it. That has earned her strong criticism.

A top official from her ministry, Victoria Rosell, said a majority of sentences that are being revised don't get reduced.

In the region of Madrid, the capital, such sentence reductions are one in ten. In northern La Rioja, one in 55, records show, although not all regional courts shared their statistics.

Many reached by The Associated Press didn't have available data or said that judges were still working on reviewing previous rulings.

Raquel Redondo, The Associated Press

THE ORIGINAL; 'JEWS SHALL NOT REPLACE US'
Photos show the horrors of Auschwitz, the largest and deadliest Nazi concentration camp, 78 years after its liberation

Natalie Colarossi,Lauren Frias
Fri, January 27, 2023 

An aerial view of the Auschwitz II-Birkenau extermination camp on December 19, 2019 in Oswiecim, Poland.

Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

It has been 78 years since the Soviet Army liberated Auschwitz, the largest Nazi concentration complex.


First established in 1940, Auschwitz had a concentration camp, large gas chambers, and crematoria.


More than 1.1 million people were murdered at Auschwitz, including nearly one million Jews.

It was the greatest tragedy of the Holocaust. In just five years, over one million people were murdered at Auschwitz, the largest and deadliest Nazi concentration camp.

Auschwitz was established in 1940 and located in the suburbs of Oswiecim, a Polish city the Germans annexed. Between 1940 and 1945, it grew to include three main camp centers and a slew of subcamps — each of which were used for forced labor, torture, and mass killing.

An estimated 1.3 million people were deported to Auschwitz during its five-year operation, and approximately 1.1 million were killed.

The terror of Auschwitz finally subsided on January 27, 1945, when the Soviet Army liberated the remaining 7,000 prisoners from the camps.

On the 78th anniversary of this liberation, these photos exhibit the horror and history of Auschwitz.

Auschwitz was established in 1940 in the suburbs of Oswiecim, Poland. During its first year, authorities cleared 15 square miles for the camp.

An aerial view of the Auschwitz II-Birkenau extermination camp on December 19, 2019 in Oswiecim, Poland.Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Source: The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Auschwitz I, the first camp to undergo construction, was initially created for three reasons: to imprison enemies, to use forced labor, and to kill certain groups of people.

The crematorium near gas chamber one at the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz I in Oswiecim, Poland, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2019.Markus Schreiber/AP

Sources: The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Auschwitz‑Birkenau Memorial and State Museum

Construction of the largest camp, Auschwitz II, also called Auschwitz-Birkenau, began in October 1941. Electrified barbed wire divided it into 10 different sections.

The remains of brick stone chimneys of prisoner barracks can be seen inside the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz Birkenau or Auschwitz II.Markus Schreiber/AP

Sources: Jewish Virtual Library, The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Auschwitz-Birkenau's different sections were for "women; men; a family camp for Roma (Gypsies) deported from Germany, Austria, and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia; and a family camp for Jewish families deported from the Theresienstadt ghetto," according to the Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Women in the barracks at Auschwitz, Poland, January 1945.Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images

Sources: The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Inmates were put into poorly structured wooden barracks with 36 bunks each. Five to six prisoners were packed in so over 500 prisoners were in each unit.

Reuters Pictures Archive

Source: The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Incoming prisoners who were selected for forced labor received tattoos and had a serial number sewn into their uniforms. Auschwitz was the only concentration camp to do this.

Auschwitz concentration camp survivor Eva Behar shows her number tattoo in her home on December 1, 2014 in London, United Kingdom.Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Source: The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Shortly after construction, Auschwitz-Birkenau became the largest killing center and central location for the extermination of Jews in Europe.

Bodies of prisoners found in Auschwitz, shortly after liberation in 1945.Reuters

Source: Museum of Jewish Heritage

In 1942, two farmhouses just outside the camp were turned into gas chambers.

Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

But as Auschwitz-Birkenau became a central location for mass killing, these gas chambers were too small. Four new chambers were built between March and June 1943, each containing a disrobing area, gas chamber, and crematory ovens.

Shoes of victims exterminated at Auschwitz.Rolf Vennenbernd/picture alliance via Getty Images

Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

As millions of people were murdered, mounds of eye glasses, razors, shoes, and other belongings were left behind.

Remains of glasses from people exterminated at Auschwitz.Pawel Ulatowski/Reuters

In 1942, Auschwitz III, also known as Buna or Monowitz, opened near the town of Monowice to house more forced laborers.

An ariel picture taken of Auschwitz barracks taken on December 15, 2019 in Oswiecim, Poland.Pablo GONZALEZ / AFP via Getty Images

Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Forty-four subcamps with different specializations were established at Auschwitz between 1942 and 1944. The Nazis made prisoners work on large farms, in coal mines, in weapons production — basically anything the German military needed for war.

A photo of women deemed fit for work, taken in May 1944 in Auschwitz.AFP via Getty Images

Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Between 1940 and 1945, an estimated 1.3 million people were sent to Auschwitz. Approximately 1.1 million were killed.

Cadavers of women and Children who died in cold weather at Auschwitz.Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images

Source: Museum of Jewish Heritage

In January 1945, before Soviet forces could reach the camps for liberation, nearly 60,000 people were forced to march west, and thousands more were killed.

Soviet soldiers with survivors of Auschwitz in 1945.REUTERS:HO AUSCHWITZ MUSEUM

Source: The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

The terror finally subsided on January 27, 1945, when the Soviet Army reached the gates of Auschwitz.

Soviet soldiers arriving at the gates of Auschwitz in 1945.REUTERS:HO AUSCHWITZ MUSEUM REUTERS

Source: The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

When Soviet soldiers arrived, only between 6,000 and 7,000 prisoners remained. The majority of them faced starvation, illness, and death.

Sovfoto/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

Source: The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Available records indicate that when the soldiers arrived, at least 700 youth prisoners were still at the camp, half of whom were Jewish.

Children who have lived to be liberated by the Red Army from the Auschwitz concentration camp on January 27, 1945.TASS via Getty Images

Source: Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial Museum

In many cases, the liberated children were malnourished, severely weak, vitamin deficient, and diseased. Of 180 children examined after liberation, 40% had tuberculosis.

Jewish children, survivors of Auschwitz, with a nurse behind a barbed wire fence, Poland, February 1945.Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images

Source: Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum

Immediately after liberation, many of the children were sent to hospitals organized by the Soviet army and the Polish Red Cross.

Holocaust survivor Rachel Rubin shows a photograph of herself as a 14-year-old girl shortly after her liberation in 1945.Julian Stratenschulte/picture alliance via Getty Images

In 2016, a group of children who survived the horrors of Auschwitz met to take their photo together.

81-year-old Paula Lebovics, 79-year-old Miriam Ziegler, 85-year-old Gabor Hirsch and 80-year-old Eva Kor pose with the original image of them as children taken at Auschwitz at the time of its liberation on January 26, 2015 in Krakow, Poland.Ian Gavan/Getty Images

In total, 6 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust. One-sixth of these exterminations happened at Auschwitz alone.

Photographs are displayed at the Birkenau Museum, December 10, 2004, of the many faces of the men, women and children at the Auschwitz II.Scott Barbour/Getty Images

Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

To commemorate this grave tragedy, world leaders met in Israel in 2020 to mark 75 years since the camp's liberation.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin arrived in Israel on a working visit to attend celebrations marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.Mikhail Metzel/TASS via Getty Images

On January 27, 2023, Holocaust survivors gathered in Oswiecim, Poland, to attend a ceremony marking the 78th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

Holocaust survivors wearing striped scarves attend a ceremony during 78th Anniversary Of Auschwitz - Birkenau Liberation and Holocaust Remembrance Day.Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Holocaust survivors and former Auschwitz inmates were joined by world leaders at a wreath-laying and candle ceremony in front of the Death Wall to remember the thousands who died at the former Nazi concentration complex.

The flag of Israel and candles are seen during the 78th Anniversary Of Auschwitz - Birkenau Liberation ceremony and Holocaust Remembrance Day in Brzezinka, Poland, on January 27, 2023.Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Editor's note: This list was first published in January 2020 and has been updated to reflect recent developments.

Business Insider

Kelowna man photographs rare encounter with pack of wolves

Thu, January 26, 2023

On Jan. 21, Kelowna, B.C., resident Mike Walchuck found a wolf pack in Black Mountain - sntsk'il'ntən Regional Park, where it's rare to spot the animal. (Mike Walchuck - image credit)

A man's casual hike at a regional park in B.C. led to the encounter of a lifetime.

Mike Walchuck of Kelowna, B.C., was out for a late morning walk on Jan. 21 in Black Mountain - sntsk'il'ntən Regional Park when he encountered a pack of wolves.

"The first thought was like, 'Is that a big coyote?'" Walchuck said.

"But when I got a closer look I'm like no, that definitely looks bigger than a coyote … and then I saw the black one came out."

About half-way through an eight-kilometre hike, Walchuk came to an open field with fewer trees — where he first caught a glimpse of the animals.

The park, located in Kelowna's eastern outskirts, borders a golf course, with residential areas several kilometres away. It's rare to spot a wolf in the area.

'I've never seen wolves before'

Walchuck has hiked the area several times and explored several other parks in the Okanagan. He and his wife moved to the area in 2020 to get closer to nature.

He describes himself as a wildlife nerd who enjoys the outdoors, and it's not uncommon for him to see wildlife on his walks.

"I have seen coyotes, deer, and elk, but I've never seen wolves before."

Mike Walchuck

Walchuck says they were about 150 metres away when he first spotted them. He's not certain how many wolves were in the area, but he saw four animals.

He believes there were likely more.

Wolf sightings rare in area, says professor

Adam Ford, a biology professor at the University of British Columbia Okanagan, says Walchuck was lucky to get so close to the elusive carnivores.

He says wolves have evolved to be fairly skittish around people and tend to be more active at night.

Ford adds that the animals have large territories and will pass through areas like the Okanagan while pursuing prey like elk or deer.

"It's hard to know if that area in Black Mountain is at the edge of their range and they're just occasionally coming in," he said.

Ford says the animals in the Central Okanagan may stick around if there's food, but they could travel as far away as Sicamous — about 125 kilometres north of Kelowna — or to the U.S. border if that's where their prey is.

He adds that it's unlikely wolves in the Interior will become habituated to urban areas the way coyotes have.

"We typically don't see wolves and people in the same areas," he said. "But we've also seen cases in places like Banff National Park where wolves have been food-conditioned by irresponsible campers which has led to the destruction of those wolves because it became unsafe for people."

Mike Walchuck

In 2019, a wolf attacked a man while he was sleeping in a tent with his family in Banff National Park.

Parks Canada tracked the wolf believed to be responsible for the attack to a location about one kilometre south of the campground and killed it.

The agency said it was the first incident of its kind within a national park.

Avoid encounters with wildlife: WildsafeBC

WildsafeBC, a non-profit organization educating people about wildlife safety, says there are approximately 8,500 wolves in the province.

WildsafeBC co-ordinator Lisa Lopez says human-wolf interactions are extremely rare. But she says people should avoid potential encounters with wildlife, even if they are tempted to take a photo or observe the animals.

"If they are protecting a kill, if they are on a hunt, or protecting young … perhaps avoid that area," she said.

Lopez adds it's important to always keep pets leashed, because wolves are territorial and could see a pet as a potential threat or prey.

Tucker Carlson Talks Nonsense About U.S. Invading Canada To Remove Trudeau

TUCKER MUST HAS BEEN INSPIRED BY THIS

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/01/tory-thugs-should-move-south-large.html

Ron Dicker
Fri, January 27, 2023
HuffPost

Tucker Carlson on Thursday called for the U.S. to invade Canada and remove Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The Fox News host claimed he meant it before saying he was talking himself “into a frenzy.” (Watch the video below.)

During Fox Nation’s “Tucker Carlson Today,” Carlson referenced the arrests last year of anti-vax truckers in Canada. The demonstrators paralyzed commerce and won over extremists with their traffic-tying protests of COVID-19 safety measures. At the time, Carlson said the country had become a dictatorship because the government took action.

And now he suggested he’d like to do something about it.

“I’m completely in favor of a Bay of Pigs operation to liberate that country,” Carlson said. “Why should we stand back and let our biggest trading partner ... why should we let it become Cuba? Like, why don’t we liberate it? We’re spending all this money to liberate Ukraine from the Russians. Why are we not sending an armed force north to liberate Canada from Trudeau? And I mean it.”

The right-wing personality then laughed and said, “I’m just talking myself into a frenzy here.”

Carlson’s suggestion brought to mind the mostly forgotten 1995 movie “Canadian Bacon,” in which the United States fabricates tension with Canada, prompting American vigilantes to prepare for war.

h/t Media Matters

WHO decision on COVID-19 emergency won't effect Canada's response: Tam

Fri, January 27, 2023 



OTTAWA — On Monday, exactly three years from the day he declared COVID-19 to be a global public health emergency, World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will decide whether to call it off.

But declaring an end to the "public health emergency of international concern" would not mean COVID-19 is no longer a threat. It will also not do much to change Canada's approach.

"In Canada, we're already doing what we need to do," chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam said in her most recent COVID-19 update.

She said the WHO discussion is important but COVID-19 monitoring and public health responses are not going to end. That includes continued surveillance of cases, particularly severe illness and death, and vaccination campaigns.

The WHO's emergency committee, which was struck in 2020 when COVID-19 first emerged as a global health threat, voted Friday on whether to maintain the formal designation of a public health emergency.

Tedros will make the final call Monday based on the advice the committee gives him.

He warned earlier this week that he remains concerned about the impact of the virus, noting there were 170,000 deaths from COVID-19 reported around the world in the last two months.

"While I will not pre-empt the advice of the emergency committee, I remain very concerned by the situation in many countries and the rising number of deaths," he said Jan. 24.

"While we are clearly in better shape than three years ago when this pandemic first hit, the global collective response is once again under strain."

He is worried not enough health-care workers or seniors are up to date on vaccinations, that access to antivirals is limited and that health systems around the world remain fragile following three years of pandemic strain.

In Canada, there was a noticeable rise in cases, hospitalizations and deaths over Christmas and early in January but all are trending down again. Tam said there were no surges of the virus anywhere in Canada, though the latest variant of Omicron was being watched closely.

Federal surveillance data shows more than 30 people are still dying of COVID-19 every day, and hundreds of people are still hospitalized.

The formal designation of the global public health emergency was made on Jan. 30, 2020, when 99 per cent of confirmed COVID-19 cases were still restricted to China.

The decision was made to declare an emergency because human-to-human transmission was starting to occur outside China, and the hope was that by designating an emergency it could prompt a public health response that could still limit the impact of COVID-19.

That did not happen. On March 11, 2020, Tedros declared a global pandemic, practically begging countries to do more to slow it down.

The declaration of a pandemic meant that there was exponential growth in the spread of the virus.

By WHO terminology, a "public health emergency of international concern" is the highest formal declaration and the one which triggers a legally binding response among WHO member countries, including Canada.

It is what is done when a health threat is "serious, sudden, unusual or unexpected," when it carries global public health implications and may require "immediately international action."

A designation prompts the WHO director-general to issue recommendations for member countries including increased surveillance to identify new cases, isolating or quarantining infected people and their close contacts, travel measures such as border testing or closures, public health communications, investments in research and collaboration on treatments and vaccinations.

Dr. Sameer Elsayed, an infectious diseases physician and the director adult infectious diseases residency training at Western University in London, Ont., said to his mind the WHO should end the global emergency designation even though the pandemic itself is not over.

"I don't know that we should continue to call it an emergency," he said. "I hope they say that we're going to bring it down a notch."

Elsayed said for vulnerable populations, including the elderly and those with compromised immune systems, COVID-19 continues to pose a serious threat, but for most people there are far bigger threats, including suicide. He said with limited health resources, COVID-19 needs to be put in its proper place alongside other health issues.

Children, in particular, said Elsayed, are much more at risk from influenza and RSV than COVID-19 in wealthy countries, and from food insecurity and the lack of access to clean water in many developing nations.

Tam said regardless of what WHO decides, Canada won't stop monitoring the evolution of the virus that causes COVID-19, including for new variants that may require adjustments to vaccines or other treatments.

She also said we must continue to monitor the ongoing developments in long COVID.

"We mustn't, I think, let go of the gains that we've had in the last several years," she said.

"I think whatever the decision is made by the director-general of WHO, I think we just need to keep going with what we're doing now."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 27, 2023.

Mia Rabson, The Canadian Press