FAUX SHAMAN
'Dances with Wolves' actor to be charged in U.S. may have victims in Canada: police

Wed, February 1, 2023 



CALGARY — Police in southern Alberta say they have been working with authorities in the United States in a sexual assault investigation involving a former actor in "Dances With Wolves."

Nathan Lee Chasing Horse, who is also known as Nathan Chasing His Horse, is accused of sexually assaulting girls as young as 13 and taking wives as young as 15.

Las Vegas police also allege the assaults span two decades and happened in the U.S. and Canada.

Chasing Horse, who was born on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, was arrested Tuesday near Las Vegas.

Police in Calgary and the neighbouring Tsuut’ina Nation say they have been collaborating with authorities in Las Vegas and believe there may be victims in Alberta.

Both are reminding the public that there is no statute of limitations on investigating or prosecuting sexual assaults in Canada.

“However, we know that not all victims will feel comfortable reporting to police, and encourage them to reach out to the resources provided by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, or locally to a community organization,” Calgary police said in a statement Wednesday.

Tsuut’ina Nation police said that they are reviewing all related historical sexual assault files and “working with a dedicated Crown prosecutor to ensure all victims have a voice.”

Chasing Horse is known for his role as the young Sioux character Smiles a Lot in the 1990 Oscar-winning Kevin Costner film “Dances with Wolves." He later gained a reputation as a so-called medicine man who performed healing ceremonies.

His arrest was the culmination of a months-long investigation that began after the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department received a tip in October 2022.

No lawyer is listed for Chasing Horse in U.S. court records.

Court documents show that he is to be charged with at least two counts of sex trafficking and one count each of sexual assault of a child younger than 16, child abuse or neglect and sexual assault. U.S. authorities have not said when he will be formally charged.

Las Vegas police arrested Chasing Horse as he left a North Las Vegas home Tuesday.

The Associated Press reported that it had obtained a search warrant, which says Chasing Horse, 46, shared the home with his five wives and is believed to be the leader of a cult known as The Circle.

AP also reported that Las Vegas police noted in the document that they have identified at least six alleged victims and uncovered sexual allegations against Chasing Horse dating to the early 2000s in multiple states.

He was banished in 2015 from the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana, the warrant reportedly says, amid allegations of human trafficking.

“Nathan Chasing Horse used spiritual traditions and their belief system as a tool to sexually assault young girls on numerous occasions,” the AP story says, quoting what detectives wrote in the warrant. It adds that his followers believed he could communicate with higher beings and referred to him as “Medicine Man” or “Holy Person.”

One of Chasing Horse’s wives was allegedly offered to him as a “gift” when she was 15, while another became a wife after turning 16.

Chasing Horse is also accused of recording sexual assaults and arranging sex with the victims for other men who paid him.

Although the warrant includes details of crimes reported elsewhere, the AP story said the arrest stems from crimes allegedly committed in Nevada’s Clark County.

Chasing Horse is due in court Thursday in North Las Vegas.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 1, 2023.

— By Daniela Germano in Edmonton, with files from The Associated Press

The Canadian Press

Republican-led committee targets COVID relief aid for review

“The Trump administration regularly told agencies to ignore data reporting requirements," Raskin said.

Wed, February 1, 2023 


WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans on Wednesday began their promised aggressive oversight of the Biden administration, focusing on what watchdogs described as “indications of widespread fraud” in federal coronavirus aid programs initiated under President Donald Trump.

GOP lawmakers complained that too little attention was paid to the problems when Democrats controlled Congress. Democrats blamed the Trump administration for much of the mess.

More than 1,000 people have pleaded guilty or have been convicted on federal charges of defrauding the myriad COVID-19 relief programs that Congress established in the early days of the pandemic. More than 600 other people and entities face federal fraud charges.

But that's just the start, according to investigators who testified as the House Oversight and Accountability Committee held its first hearing in the new Congress on fraud and waste in federal pandemic spending. Congress approved about $4.6 trillion in spending from six coronavirus relief laws, beginning in March 2020, when Trump was in the White House.

“We owe it to the American people to get to the bottom of the greatest theft of American taxpayer dollars in history," said Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the committee chairman.

Gene L. Dodaro, head of the Government Accountability Office, told lawmakers that it will be some time before the full extent of fraud is known. The inspector general for the Small Business Administration has more than 500 ongoing investigations involving loan programs designed to help businesses meet operating expenses during the pandemic. The Labor Department's internal watchdog continues to open at least 100 unemployment insurance fraud investigations each week.

The GAO said the more than 1,000 convictions related to COVID-19 relief fraud are one measure of how extensive it was. "There are definitely indications of widespread fraud, but it's impossible to estimate right now what the full extent will be," Dodaro said.

The GAO reported in December that an extrapolation of Labor Department data would suggest more than $60 billion in fraudulent unemployment insurance payments during the pandemic in just that one program. The GAO also warned that such an extrapolation has inherent limitations and should be interpreted with caution.

Still, lawmakers are anxious to understand how much theft has occurred and what can be done to stop it in future emergencies.

“We must identify where this money went, how much ended up in the hands of fraudsters or ineligible participants, and what should be done to ensure it never happens again," Comer said.

Some 20 inspectors general work collaboratively to investigate pandemic relief spending. Michael Horowitz, who chairs a committee Congress created in March 2020 to lead oversight of COVID-19 spending, said data analysis is critical to detecting fraud.

For example, this week the committee issued a fraud alert regarding the use of questionable Social Security numbers to obtain $5.4 billion in pandemic-related loans and grants. He said a team of data scientist compared tens of millions of applications with data at the Social Security Administration to see if they fully matched the SSA's records.

“Over 69,000 didn't," said Horowitz, who also serves as the inspector general at the Justice Department. “This type of advanced data analytics is transforming how we do oversight."

One of the biggest factors in the COVID fraud that occurred was the need to get dollars out to people and businesses as quickly as possible. Horowitz said it is critical that agencies assess applicant eligibility before payments are sent out, but the Small Business Administration allowed entities applying for Paycheck Protection Program to self-certify they were eligible. He said that resulted in $3.6 billion going out to some 57,000 applicants on the federal government's do-not pay list, “a list the SBA did not bother to cross-check."

The House committee, which plans to examine an array of hot-button issues, includes some of the most strident critics of the Biden administration as well as some of its most ardent supporters. The clash in perspectives was evident from the start as Comer complained that the Biden administration faced little to no scrutiny last Congress.

“This committee has for too long stood on the sidelines while taxpayer dollars were wasted by bureaucrats whose only priority is getting money out the door," Comer said.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the committee, said the COVID relief programs “were by no means perfect." But he said the result of the programs was the shortest economic recession on record.

He blamed the Trump administration for allowing much of the fraud to occur. He said organized criminals and fraudsters took advantage of the overwhelming crush in demand for assistance and the problem was compounded by decisions “that hamstrung" the government's oversight.

“The Trump administration regularly told agencies to ignore data reporting requirements," Raskin said.

Horowitz said three programs that received about $2 trillion in funding account for most of the fraud that occurred: two loan programs designed to help small businesses and the unemployment insurance programs administered by the states.

Kevin Freking, The Associated Press

MPs vote unanimously to have Canada resettle 10,000 displaced Uyghur people


OTTAWA — Members of Parliament have unanimously called on Ottawa to start a refugee program to resettle 10,000 Uyghurs fleeing persecution in China.

Liberal MP Sameer Zuberi proposed the motion last June, calling on the government to launch a program in 2024 to bring Uyghurs and other Muslims of Turkic origin to Canada.

The UN Human Rights Office reported last August that China is committing "grave human rights violations" against Uyghur people, and that some who fled to other countries have been "forcibly returned," though Beijing rejects these reports.

The motion, which is not binding, calls on Canada to develop a plan within four months to take in 10,000 Uyghur people over the course of two years.

The idea is to resettle people from countries such as Turkey rather than directly from China, with Zuberi arguing there is no safe way to do the latter.

The Commons passed a motion in February 2021 that recognized China's treatment of the Uyghur people as a genocide, though Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet abstained from the vote, saying more international investigations were needed.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 1, 2023.

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

FTC fines GoodRx for unauthorized sharing of health data

Wed, February 1, 2023 



In a first-of-its-kind enforcement, the Federal Trade Commission has imposed a $1.5 million penalty on telehealth and prescription drug discount provider GoodRx Holdings Inc. for sharing users' personal health data with Facebook, Google and other third parties without their consent.

California-based GoodRx also accepted that it will be prohibited going forward from sharing user health data with third parties for advertising purposes, the FTC said. The agreement is pending federal court approval.

Consumer protection advocates hailed Wednesday's announcement as a potential game-changer that could seriously curtail a little-known phenomenon: The trafficking in sensitive health data by businesses not strictly classified as health care providers.

"Digital health companies and mobile apps should not cash in on consumers’ extremely sensitive and personally identifiable health information,” Samuel Levine, head of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement. “The FTC is serving notice that it will use all of its legal authority to protect American consumers’ sensitive data from misuse and illegal exploitation.”

GoodRx did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the business impact of the enforcement action.

It is the first such enforcement under a 2009 law, the Health Breach Notification Rule, which applies to personal health record vendors and related providers not covered by HIPAA, the federal privacy rules that govern the health care industry.

The enforcement comes three years after Consumer Reports discovered that GoodRx was sharing people's personal health information with more than 20 companies. “People told us they’d never expected that their sensitive information was being shared with the likes of Google and Facebook,” Marta Tellado, president and CEO of Consumer Reports, said in a statement Wednesday. “This is a win for consumers, and it could have a profound effect on how our health information is kept private moving forward."

Justin Brookman, the director of technology policy at the public-interest group, said “health apps and websites have been giving away our personal data for years without consequence. This case should be a turning point — now companies have to understand that sharing customer data without clear permission will lead to investigations and fines."

On its website, GoodRx says it has helped consumers save more than $45 billion since 2011.

The FTC said more than 55 million consumers have visited GoodRx's website or mobile apps since January 2017. It said the company collects personal and health information from its users and from pharmacies that confirm when one of its coupons has been used in a purchase.

The FTC said in a news release that GoodRx “deceptively promised its users that it would never share personal health information with advertisers or other third parties" while sharing information on their prescriptions and health conditions with third-party advertising companies and platforms including Facebook, Google and Criteo. That process helped GoodRx target personalized ads on Facebook and Instagram and other platforms, the FTC said.

Other provisions of proposed federal court order oblige GoodRx to direct third parties with whom it shared consumer health data to delete it and inform consumers.

Frank Bajak, The Associated Press

Service animals widely recognized for improving quality of life

Wed, February 1, 2023 

On January 17, Niverville’s town council voted in favour of accepting a new bylaw pertaining to service animals, laying out the policy under which they will be welcomed into public facilities.

According to the bylaw, a service animal is described as an animal that is trained to provide assistance to a person with a disability. The disability could be visible, such as a visual impairment, and could also be invisible, such as epilepsy.

Service dogs may also accompany a peace officer in the execution of their duties.

The goal of the bylaw is to remove barriers experienced by those with physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory disabilities which may hinder that person’s full and effective participation in society.

While pets are still restricted from entering local public facilities, the Town of Niverville recognizes that trained service animals are the exception to that rule since they provide important functions for the people who own them.

Service animals, most often dogs, can be trained to guide the visually-impaired and alert the hearing-impaired. They can assist those with limited mobility, protect a person during a seizure, or remind someone to take their medication.

According to federal law, certified service dogs are allowed wherever the handler goes with the exception of places where food is processed and produced. This includes taxis and public transport vehicles, stores, malls, theatres, and essentially any place that is open to the public.

Business owners and service providers cannot decline access to a service dog, but they can request proof, such as a letter from a medical professional, indicating that the dog is required by the handler.

Many service dogs are easily recognizable by their vest or band, which is issued by a certified service animal trainer once their training is complete.

In recent years, service animals have also become much more widely recognized for the significant role they can play in improving the quality of life for someone living with debilitating mental illnesses such as autism or PTSD.

But while terms such as support, therapy, or comfort animal are becoming more broadly used, under most legislation an animal won’t qualify for public access clearance unless it’s been professionally trained to perform a specific task that is directly related to the disability of its handler.

A Service Dog for Leia

Eleven-year-old Leia lives in St. Adolphe. She loves the same things most kids her age love: Lego, video games, crafts, and animals. Leia has been diagnosed on the autism spectrum.

According to her mom, Nadine Huberdeau, Leia’s anxiety and sensitivity to loud noises have made it difficult, but not impossible, for her to go into public spaces in the past.

During the pandemic, though, Leia’s challenges intensified, like they did for many kids who struggle with mental health concerns.

For over two years now, Leia hasn’t gone to school. As a matter of fact, she rarely leaves the house—and when she does, she’s unable to get past the end of the driveway.

When she tries, she has panic attacks that make her feel like she’s dying. Everyday noises, like the passing of a garbage truck, are enough to send her into a closet to hide.

What she wants more than anything is to be normal, like other kids.

“We’ve noticed that having an animal with her helps comfort her and gets her to push herself a little bit,” says Huberdeau. “And when we saw that happen, we thought, ‘Maybe a service dog would be the right way to go.”

According to Huberdeau, the cost to purchase a fully trained service dog, though, comes to around $40,000. It’s a cost that feels impossible, especially since Huberdeau quit work to be at home with Leia.

According to Leia’s mom, there are no available supports from Southern Health-Santé Sud or the government to provide service dogs to autistic children.

After months of conversations with service dog trainers, the next best option for the Huberdeaus felt somewhat more attainable, at $20,000. In this case, it means finding a trainable pup and hiring a professional to teach it to respond according to Leia’s needs.

“The service dog is not a cure,” Huberdeau clarifies. “It’s a tool.”

For Leia, it will be complemented by sessions with a therapist who makes house calls, an out-of-pocket cost also not covered by the healthcare system, according to Huberdeau.

Since that time, a young Golden Retriever pup has been selected based on its temperament, which will make its training as a service dog easier. The process will take between 12 to 18 months as the trainer visits Leia’s home to help her bond with the new pup and then takes the dog away for intensive instruction.

“It will be slow,” Huberdeau says of her expectations for Leia’s progress. “Even if it’s just getting into town or getting to the mailbox at first.”

To help cover the costs of the service dog and its training, Huberdeau and friends are planning an online silent auction fundraiser which will run from February 8 to March 10. As well, a GoFundMe page has been set up in Leia’s honour (see details below).

A PTSD Sufferer and His Service Dog

Randy MacDonald lives in Niverville with his wife, kids, and his best pal Chance. Chance, an Australian Shepard, came into his life in 2018 and MacDonald describes that moment as completely life-altering.

Since the early 1990s, MacDonald has suffered with the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Before meeting Chance, MacDonald says that he was virtually incapacitated by anxiety to the point where he, too, rarely left his home.

He relied heavily on alcohol in order to sleep and was known to his family and friends for his angry outbursts.

The first symptoms of PTSD began to show themselves after his Canadian military tour of duty in Croatia in 1993.

Fresh out of high school, MacDonald joined the military and trained as a combat fighter. Once deployed, he had the expertise to go into areas of conflict and take out the enemy, using whatever force was needed.

For seven months, MacDonald experienced the ravages of war in Croatia and the human toll exacted in that country’s war for independence from Serbia.

Despite his training, MacDonald and his company arrived in Croatia to discover that the war was governed by a United Nations rule which prevented the Canadian ground crew from taking aim at the enemy unless they, or the thing they were protecting, had been hit by enemy fire.

For MacDonald, this made him little more than a bystander, witnessing the carnage as innocent civilians were annihilated in front of his eyes. The Canadian team was rendered virtually powerless to protect them.

To make matters worse, he says, the enemy was very much aware of the restrictions imposed on the Canadian ground crew, and they took full advantage by shooting at military vehicles or blowing off explosives in close proximity, keeping MacDonald’s crew constantly vigilant.

Without an offensive option, MacDonald turned to humanitarian efforts within the local Croatian communities. He spent time in rebuilding efforts and making friends with the children. But all too often when his company returned to the community weeks later, it had been flattened by the enemy with people lying dead in the streets.

“[The military] doesn’t prepare you for the human aspects of going to war,” MacDonald says. “When I was younger, I was full of piss and vinegar. But when I got there, it was nothing like what I’d trained for… It’s like seeing a car wreck for the first time when you’re a young kid and no one telling you what’s happening. And you walk away and are left to [try making sense of it].”

MacDonald went on two more brief tours in the years that followed, including time spent clearing minefields. Eventually, as his PTSD symptoms worsened, he was moved to office and teaching jobs.

At the time, he says, the Canadian military offered no trauma resources for soldiers returning home from war.

“I used to go into a store and within 15 to 20 seconds I could tell you who looks sketchy, where the exits are, how big the aisles are, and, if anything happens, where I could go to hide,” he says. “I wouldn’t even go into a store if a guy had a backpack on because I didn’t know what was in their backpack.”

In 2001, MacDonald finally sought counselling on his own at the prompting of his wife, who worried for his well-being. The military finally retired him with a small pension a few years later.

Still, it took years for MacDonald to learn about the power of a support dog for those suffering with mental illness. It took him longer still to get over the stigma he felt was attached to people with mental illness and their service dogs.

Thanks to a friend, MacDonald discovered an organization in Ottawa that provides service dogs to military veterans and public service professionals who suffer with PTSD.

Funded through grants and fundraising initiatives, they are able to provide trained dogs, valued at $35,000, to qualifying recipients at no charge.

MacDonald applied and qualified. Chance, still a puppy in 2018, was professionally trained to respond to MacDonald’s specific PTSD symptoms and came to live with him and his family later that year.

Being a highly sensitive service dog, Chance can sense when MacDonald’s heartrate increases and leans deeply into his side to reassure him and distract him from the source of his anxiety.

Because he’s deeply sensitive, he also shrinks when MacDonald succumbs to an episode of anger, teaching MacDonald to catch himself in advance and control his temper for the sake of his canine pal.

One month after receiving Chance, MacDonald accompanied his wife on his first Christmas shopping excursion in 23 years.

Today, MacDonald has kicked his addictions to alcohol and cigarettes. He’s taken up golf, joined a bicycle club, and has successfully attended heavily populated events like Jets and Nighthawks games.

Still Some Work to Do

While most people are becoming acclimatized to service dogs in public places, MacDonald says there’s still some work to do to educate people on how to respond to a service dog.

First and foremost, people must understand that the dog, while in public with his handler, is on duty. In order to perform his job to the best of his ability, the service dog must stay highly focused and vigilant at all times.

Reaching out to pet a service dog, talking to it, or even making eye contact with it serves as a distraction. Service dog owners ask that people, to the best of their ability, ignore the service dog altogether.

As well, many dog owners don’t understand the importance of keeping their leashed or off-leash pets at a substantial distance from a service dog at all times.

Handlers are not trying to be unfriendly when they allow a wide berth when walking around someone’s pet. But any sniff or nose nuzzle is a distraction.

In MacDonald’s case, as the handler of a very sensitive dog, he adds that other dogs pose risk in terms of friendly or unfriendly nips with the teeth. Any trauma caused to Chance by another dog could result in all his training being lost and his effectiveness as a service dog destroyed.

Five years in, MacDonald says that he can’t imagine his life without Chance in it. He’s grateful for the opportunity that his service pal has given him to experience life again.

“I want to make my family proud that I can come through a major conflict, [rise above] all the demons I face, and find my way.”

Brenda Sawatzky, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Niverville Citizen

FEDS KOWTOW TO UCP SMITH
Feds to lay out 'sustainable jobs' plan for energy transition ahead of legislation


Wed, February 1, 2023



OTTAWA — The federal government will show Canadians its plan to protect jobs during the clean energy transition no later than early spring, Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said Wednesday.

Legislation to guide how that plan is implemented, however, won't come for some time after that.

The Liberals have promised a "just transition act" since at least 2019, and Wilkinson has been saying it will finally happen this year.

That prospect prompted outcry in Alberta, where the energy transition will have the biggest impact and provincial politicians are headed for a tightly contested election this spring.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has asked for a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to help shape that legislation. Her chief opponent, NDP Leader Rachel Notley, asked the federal Liberals to delay the whole thing at least until after the election, which is scheduled for the end of May.

But Wilkinson said the bill, for which he didn't offer a timeline, will in some ways be secondary to the action plan listing what the government intends to do. He said that plan will hopefully be revealed by the end of March, though it may "slip into the next quarter."

"The legislation will guide future efforts and will create a governance structure, but it's the policy statement that I think is going to be the most impactful," he said. "And, as I say, we will be releasing that in the coming few months."

He said the plan is based on lengthy consultations with provinces, labour organizations, business and Indigenous communities. Ultimately, he said, it will contain no surprises.

The concept of a "just transition" has existed for several decades, but it took on new meaning after the 2015 Paris climate agreement committed most of the world to transitioning to cleaner energy sources in a bid to slow climate change.

The idea is that any efforts to adjust reliance on fossil fuels must ensure that people who work in energy industries can move to new sectors and will not be left out in the cold.

The "just transition" debate exploded last month when Smith lambasted the federal government for a briefing document that listed the number of jobs that could be affected by the ongoing global transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy.

Smith misread the total number of jobs in the affected sectors to mean the number of jobs the federal government expected would be lost, and pledged to "fight this just transition idea" with everything she had.

A week later, the premier wrote to Trudeau warning him that the Ottawa-Alberta relationship was "at a crossroads," and demanding that Alberta be included in all discussions on a "just transition" going forward.

She also said the legislation shouldn't be labelled as a "just transition" bill, but one about "sustainable jobs."

That request hit the federal government with interest and even amusement, since several federal ministers had already signalled their intention to use the term.

"I think I've been pretty clear I don't like the term 'just transition,'" Wilkinson said Wednesday.

"I prefer 'sustainable jobs.' I think it speaks to a future where we're looking to build economic opportunity for all regions of this country, very much including Alberta and Saskatchewan."

Smith will be in Ottawa next week as part of a first ministers meeting on health care, but there is no sign she will get a one-on-one meeting with Trudeau on sustainable jobs.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 1, 2023.

Mia Rabson, The Canadian Press

NDP calls for end to most immigration detention cases

Wed, February 1, 2023 

Barbed wire is seen at an immigrant detention centre in Laval, Que. The federal NDP's immigration critic is calling for an end to most detentions of immigrants, calling the practice 'inhumane.'

 (Olivier Plante/CBC - image credit)

The federal NDP is calling for an end to immigration detention — except for people who pose a danger to the public — after Radio-Canada/CBC reporting revealed that thousands of foreign nationals are detained each year with no release date.

"To put someone in jail when they're not a threat to public safety and throw away the key, without letting them know when they will actually be free, is so wrong, so inhumane," said Jenny Kwan, the party's immigration critic.

"People's lives are destroyed in that way and they have zero hope. Many of them may have fled persecution to get to safety. Little do they know that when they get to Canada, they could be put in jail."

Earlier this week, Radio-Canada/CBC told the story of Abdirahman Warssama, who fled to Canada from Somalia only to be locked up for five years and seven months in maximum security jails in Ontario.

While immigration detainees are not charged with a crime, they can spend months or even years behind bars. In most cases, they're detained because the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) believes they won't show up for immigration proceedings like removal.

According to Kwan, the fact the federal government emptied its immigration holding centres during the COVID-19 pandemic to avoid outbreaks shows the current policy isn't necessary.

"Get rid of immigration detention," she said. "People without serious criminality and public safety issues should not be put in jail."

Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

Bloc tabling motion

For its part, the Bloc Québécois plans on tabling a motion before the standing committee on citizenship and immigration to better understand immigration detention and identify ways to avoid the practice.

"We really want to shed some light on this and ensure that it doesn't happen again," said Bloc Québécois MP Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, vice-chair of the immigration committee.

"It's horrible. It's really a shame, I think, for a G7 country that calls itself welcoming to the poorest people around the world and to people who are oppressed in their own country," he added, calling Radio-Canada/CBC's report "shocking".

The office of Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino, who is responsible for CBSA, has previously indicated to Radio-Canada/CBC that immigration detention is always a measure of last resort and that the government continues to seek alternatives.

Race to vaccinate rare wild monkeys gives hope for survival

“Vaccinating wild animals for the sake of animals, not to protect humans, is novel”

Wed, February 1, 2023



SILVA JARDIM, Brazil (AP) — In a small lab nestled in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest, researchers with gloved hands and masked faces cradle four tiny golden monkeys so a veterinarian can delicately slide a needle under the thin skin of each sedated animal’s belly.

The next morning, biologist Andréia Martins brings them to the precise spot where they were caught. She opens the wire cages and the monkeys dart out, hopping to a tree or the ground, ascending the canopy and regrouping as a family. They chatter noisily as they vanish into the rainforest.

This brief, strange encounter with humanity has been for the sake of their own health – and the survival of their kind. These endangered wild monkeys, called golden lion tamarins, have now been vaccinated against yellow fever, part of a pathbreaking campaign to save a threatened species.

“Vaccinating wild animals for the sake of animals, not to protect humans, is novel,” said Luís Paulo Ferraz, president of the nonprofit Golden Lion Tamarin Association.

When yellow fever began to spread in Brazil in 2016, resulting in more than 2,000 human infections and around 750 deaths, it also quickly killed a third of the highly vulnerable tamarins, the majority of them in just a few months. So scientists in Brazil developed a yellow fever vaccine customized for the endangered monkeys.

The inoculation campaign started in 2021, and already more than 300 tamarins have been vaccinated. The first such effort in Brazil, it raises vital questions about how far to go to save a species from extinction.

One of the traditional adages of conservation is “Leave it be.” But in an age when every corner of the globe is touched by human influence – from melting icebergs to fragmented forests to plastic-filled oceans – a new generation of scientists and environmentalists is increasingly calling for more interventionist approaches to save wild animals and ecosystems.

Carlos R. Ruiz-Miranda, a conservation biologist at State University of Northern Rio de Janeiro, is among the scientists who have worked for more than three decades to protect the golden lion tamarins, twice going to their rescue when extinction threatened. He says the vaccinations are the only option left: “Is it too extreme? Give me another alternative.”

Viruses have always abounded in nature. But humans have drastically changed the conditions and impacts of how they spread in wildlife. Epidemics can travel across oceans and borders faster than ever, and species already diminished by habitat loss and other threats are more at risk of being wiped out by outbreaks.

“Human activity is absolutely accelerating disease spread in non-human populations,” said Jeff Sebo, an environmental researcher at New York University, who was not involved in the Brazil project.

Golden lion tamarin | Smithsonian's National Zoo (si.edu)
___

Southeastern Brazil was once covered by the rainforest, but today the undulating landscape is an uneven checkerboard of dark green jungle and grassy cow pastures – only 12% of this rainforest remains.

Yet it’s the only place in the world that wild golden lion tamarins live.

The longstanding effort to save the charismatic monkeys – famous for their copper-colored fur and small inquisitive faces framed by silken manes – included a pioneering captive breeding program, coordinated among around 150 zoos worldwide. Many of those animals were then carefully released in Brazil starting in 1984, in cooperation with local landowners.

Then came yellow fever.

After the first lab-confirmed death of a tamarin from the virus in 2018, a census of the monkeys revealed the population of wild tamarins had dropped from around 3,700 to 2,500.

“This epidemic moved very quickly from north to south, across the country – no wildlife does that,” said Ruiz-Miranda. “It’s people. They cross vast distances in buses, trains, planes. They bring the disease with them.” Yellow fever is transmitted by mosquitoes, he explained, but highly mobile infected people spread the disease much farther and faster than insects alone.

“We realized that in five years, we could lose the entire population if we did nothing” said Ferraz, of the Golden Lion Tamarin Association.

Golden lion tamarin | Smithsonian's National Zoo (si.edu)
___

At the time of the yellow fever outbreak, Marcos da Silva Freire was a deputy director of technological development at Brazil’s Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, which oversees vaccine diagnostics and production in the country.

Freire arranged with the Primate Center of Rio de Janeiro to begin trials of different doses of yellow fever vaccines on about 60 monkeys, close relatives of the tamarins, in January 2018.

A year later, he checked the level of antibodies in their blood. The vaccine appeared to work, without negative side effects. When the team got government approval to begin vaccinating wild monkeys, Freire supervised the first rounds of shots.

So far, they’ve vaccinated more than 300 tamarins and detected no adverse side effects. When they’ve caught and retested monkeys, 90% to 95% have shown immunity -- similar to the efficacy of human vaccines.

The outbreak appears to have subsided, and the monitored monkey population has stabilized overall and even increased a little inside the Poço das Antas Biological Reserve.

Golden lion tamarin | Smithsonian's National Zoo (si.edu)
___

While authorities elsewhere have inoculated animals to safeguard human health, it’s still very rare for scientists to administer vaccine injections to directly protect an endangered species.

“What are the unintended consequences of vaccination? You can’t always be certain,” said Jacob Negrey, a biologist and primatologist at Wake Forest University’s School of Medicine.

But increasingly scientists are examining the merits of vaccinating endangered wildlife, drawing up plans to potentially vaccinate tigers against canine distemper in Asia, chimpanzees against respiratory diseases in Africa, and koalas against chlamydia in Australia.

“There are people who say we shouldn’t touch nature, that we shouldn’t alter anything. But really, there are no pristine natural habitats left,” said Tony Goldberg, a disease ecologist and veterinarian at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who supports vaccinating wildlife when it’s safe and practical.

“People are waking up to the magnitude of the problem and realizing they have to do something.”

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Follow Christina Larson on Twitter at @larsonchristina.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Christina Larson, The Associated Press

MISSISSIPPI GODDAMN!
Mississippi House seeks to control Jackson sales tax revenue

Thu, February 2, 2023 


JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi House voted Thursday to further restrict how the capital city of Jackson, which has struggled with water problems, can spend money from a 1% local sales tax — the latest effort in the Republican-led Legislature to control actions of the Democratic-led city.

Jackson voters approved the tax in 2014, with the money designated for roads, bridges, water and sewer. Under House Bill 1168 that passed the House Thursday, all of the money would go toward the city's struggling water system.

Jackson lawmakers and other Democrats opposed the plan. They said directing all the 1% sales tax revenue to water would hinder Jackson’s ability to fix heavily damaged roads and bridges, including those pockmarked by potholes deep enough to flatten tires.

“Our streets will go to the devil,” said Democratic Rep. Earle Banks of Jackson.

Jackson has had water problems for years and most of the city lost running water for several days in late August and early September after heavy rainfall exacerbated problems in the main water treatment plant. Parts of Jackson lost water again after a cold snap in December.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Trey Lamar, a Republican from Senatobia, sponsored the bill. He said ensuring clean, fresh drinking water is a higher priority now than fixing potholes.

“There is a serious need to spend money on water and sewer in the city of Jackson,” Lamar said.

Opponents of the bill pointed out that Jackson is set to receive $600 million from the federal government for water system improvements. Lamar said he does not know when the federal money will arrive. He also acknowledged he has not spoken with Ted Henifin, who was appointed by the federal government to oversee improvements to the Jackson water system.

Democratic Rep. Robert Johnson of Natchez pointed out that money generated by the 1% sales tax in Jackson is already overseen by a commission with members chosen by the governor, lieutenant governor and House speaker. Critics of that commission say it was created by the majority-white Legislature to curb the power of elected officials in a city that is more than 80% Black.

Speaking of Lamar's new proposal, Johnson said: “This is another one of those paternalistic ideas that, 'We’re going to tell y'all what to do because we want to punish you while we're doing it.'”

House Bill 1168 passed 76-41. The vote was largely along party lines, with support from Republicans and most of the opposition from Democrats.

The bill was held for the possibility of more House debate and it eventually would have to go to the Senate for more work.

The Republican-controlled state Senate recently passed a bill that would transfer the ownership and management of the Jackson water system to a regional board after the federally-appointed administrator leaves.

A bill that awaits House debate would create a new court system in parts of Jackson with appointed rather than elected judges. Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said the court proposal reminds him of apartheid. He has also sharply criticized the regional water board proposal.

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Follow Emily Wagster Pettus on Twitter at http://twitter.com/EWagsterPettus.

Emily Wagster Pettus, The Associated Press

ADDICTION IS A HEALTH ISSUE

Sask. not following B.C. on decriminalization path
NOT A CRIMINAL ISSUE
Thu, February 2, 2023 

Advocates for drug decriminalization at a 2018 rally in Vacnouver. This week, B.C. began a three-year pilot that will allow possession of small amounts of drugs. (Tina Lovgreen/CBC - image credit)

Harm reduction advocates say Saskatchewan should follow B.C.'s lead when it comes to decriminalization of drugs, but the provincial government said it has no intention to do so.

This week, the federal government and B.C. launched a three-year pilot allowing people 18 and older to possess small amounts of certain illicit drugs without being charged. Last year, the federal government granted B.C. an exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA).

But do not expect Saskatchewan to lobby Ottawa for the same arrangement.

On Wednesday, Justice Minister Bronwyn Eyre said the provincial government is not interested in decriminalization at this time.

"We aren't entertaining decriminalization in terms of the partnership between B.C. and the federal government. We feel the rehabilitation side, which we've invested millions of dollars in, is very important and is our very fulsome response to the issue."

In B.C., people 18 and older can now legally possess up to 2.5 grams of the following four drugs:

Cocaine (crack and powder).


Methamphetamine.


MDMA.


Opioids (including heroin, fentanyl and morphine).

Eyre said the government has questions about the B.C. plan and that it differs from other jurisdictions that "have gone on this path" by decriminalizing certain "hard drugs."

"Fentanyl and meth, the really serious ones, there are a lot of questions about is that a good idea, and we would respectfully say no in Saskatchewan."

Eyre said there are questions about "what the Portuguese model actually accomplishes."

In 2000, to deal with an addictions epidemic, Portugal began decriminalizing all drugs. It saw addiction rates and HIV rates drop.

Portugal also has 170 recovery facilities for a population of 11 million people, and provides mental-health treatment and mandatory education about the harmful effects of drugs.

Saskatchewan's Minister for Mental Health and Addictions Everett Hindley told the media on Tuesday that decriminalization was "not on our radar right now."

Hindley pointed to provincial initiatives to add drug treatment spaces and money for harm reduction.

But Kayla DeMong disagrees with the provincial government's approach. DeMong is the executive director of Saskatoon's Prairie Harm Reduction.

"For a province like Saskatchewan, where we are still focusing so much on prevention and treatment and not looking at supporting people while they use substances, decriminalization goes a long way in showing that people that use substances deserve to be treated better in our society."

DeMong said the province's response to the drug use and overdoses has not worked.

"Their inaction around looking at innovative approaches, looking at things beyond treatment, is causing people to die in this community and those deaths are a direct result of the policies put forward by this government."

Saskatchewan's coroners service released preliminary overdose numbers last month. They showed a record number of overdose deaths in 2022. The latest figures say there were 204 confirmed and 217 suspected drug deaths in the province in 2022. The total of 421 would surpass the record of 401 set in 2021.

DeMong said there are some concerns with a decriminalization model that requires users to get treatment and counselling, because "not everyone who uses substances has a substance use disorder."

"There is a risk of overburdening our already struggling treatment system if we were to put in mechanisms [saying] that everyone found with substances needs to access these supports."

DeMong said the idea that everyone who uses substances "needs help" is "really out of date."

Opposition NDP health critic Vicki Mowat did not take a position on decriminalization when asked on Wednesday.

Mowat said the government is failing to create enough supports in the community.

"Unfortunately the result of that is the stark numbers of overdose deaths that we have that are breaking records in terrible ways," Mowat said. "We know that we have to work to provide those supports. And I look forward to doing more consultations with the police chiefs to learn more about this."

Saskatchewan's police chiefs have heard the arguments for decriminalization.

Last year police and officials in both Regina and Saskatoon received a report from University of Saskatchewan researchers that recommended decriminalizing simple possession of drugs.

The report said there was evidence to suggest decriminalization "may effectively reduce drug toxicity deaths by reducing exposure to a toxic and unregulated drug supply."

Benefits would also include increased access to harm reduction services that can lessen disease transmission, better relationships with police, less work for police, and lower costs for the health and legal systems, the report said.

Neither city moved any further toward decriminalization.

Saskatoon Police Chief Troy Cooper and Regina Police Chief Evan Bray have both said "de facto" decriminalization exists.

In June, Cooper said, "we still charge people, although rarely, with simple possession."

Bray has said the force has focused in recent years on cutting off the supply of drugs and laying drug trafficking charges.

The Regina Police Service said in a statement that if officers arrest someone for breaking and entering and they happen to have a small amount of drugs, the person will be charged for break and enter, and not charged for possession. The drugs will then be destroyed.

DeMong said "de facto" is not sufficient, because it leaves too much room for interpretation.