The politics of blasphemy: Why Pakistan and some other Muslim countries are passing new blasphemy law

Ahmet T. Kuru, Professor of Political Science, San Diego State University

THE CONVERSATION
Mon, February 6, 2023 

People gather around the body of a man who was killed when an enraged mob stoned him to death for allegedly desecrating the Quran, in eastern Pakistan in February 2022. AP Photo/Asim Tanveer

On Jan. 17, 2023, Pakistan’s National Assembly unanimously voted to expand the country’s laws on blasphemy, which carries the death penalty for insulting the Prophet Muhammad. The new law now extends the punishment to those deemed to have insulted the prophet’s companions, which could include thousands of early Muslims, with 10 years in prison or life imprisonment.

Human rights activists are concerned that the expanded laws could target minorities, particularly Shiite Muslims who are critical of many leading early Muslims.

Pakistan has the world’s second-strictest blasphemy laws after Iran. About 1,500 Pakistanis have been charged with blasphemy over the past three decades. In a case covered by the international media, Junaid Hafeez, a university lecturer, was sentenced to death on the charge of insulting the prophet on Facebook in 2019. His sentence has been under appeal.

Although no executions have ever taken place, extrajudicial killings related to blasphemy have occurred in Pakistan. Since 1990, more than 70 people have been murdered by mobs and vigilantes over allegations of insulting Islam.

My research shows that blasphemy laws historically emerged to serve the political and religious authorities, and they continue to have a role in silencing dissent in many Muslim countries.
Blasphemy and apostasy

Of the 71 countries that criminalize blasphemy, 32 are majority Muslim. Punishment and enforcement of these laws vary.

Blasphemy is punishable by death in Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Brunei, Mauritania and Saudi Arabia. Among non-Muslim-majority countries, the harshest blasphemy laws are in Italy, where the maximum penalty is two years in prison.

Half of the world’s 49 Muslim-majority countries have additional laws banning apostasy, meaning people may be punished for leaving Islam. All countries with apostasy laws are Muslim-majority. Apostasy is often charged along with blasphemy.

Laws on apostasy are quite popular in some Muslim countries. According to a 2013 Pew survey, about 75% of respondents in Muslim-majority countries in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia favor making sharia, or Islamic law, the official law of the land. Among those who support sharia, around 25% in Southeast Asia, 50% in the Middle East and North Africa and 75% in South Asia say they support “executing those who leave Islam” – that is, they support laws punishing apostasy with death.

Firefighters in a factory torched by an angry mob in Jhelum, Pakistan, after one of the factory’s employees was accused of desecrating the Quran, Nov. 21, 2015. STR/AFP via Getty Images

The ulema and the state

My 2019 book “Islam, Authoritarianism, and Underdevelopment” traces the roots of blasphemy and apostasy laws in the Muslim world back to a historic alliance between Islamic scholars and government.

Starting around the year 1050, certain Sunni scholars of law and theology, called the “ulema,” began working closely with political rulers to challenge what they considered to be the sacrilegious influence of Muslim philosophers on society.

Muslim philosophers had for three centuries been making major contributions to mathematics, physics and medicine. They developed the Arabic number system used across the West today and invented a forerunner of the modern camera.

The conservative ulema felt that these philosophers were inappropriately influenced by Greek philosophy and Shiite Islam against Sunni beliefs. The most prominent name in consolidating Sunni orthodoxy was the respected Islamic scholar Ghazali, who died in the year 1111.

In several influential books still widely read today, Ghazali declared two long-dead leading Muslim philosophers, Farabi and Ibn Sina, as apostates for their unorthodox views on God’s power and the nature of resurrection. Their followers, Ghazali wrote, could be punished with death.

As modern-day historians Omid Safi and Frank Griffel assert, Ghazali’s declaration provided justification to Muslim sultans from the 12th century onward who wished to persecute – even execute – thinkers seen as threats to conservative religious rule.

This “ulema-state alliance,” as I call it, began in the mid-11th century in Central Asia, Iran and Iraq and a century later spread to Syria, Egypt and North Africa. In these regimes, questioning religious orthodoxy and political authority wasn’t merely dissent – it was apostasy.
Wrong direction

Parts of Western Europe were ruled by a similar alliance between the Catholic Church and monarchs. These governments assaulted free thinking, too. During the Spanish Inquisition, between the 16th and 18th centuries, thousands of people were tortured and killed for apostasy.

Blasphemy laws were also in place, if infrequently used, in various European countries until recently. Denmark, Ireland and Malta all recently repealed their blasphemy laws. But they persist in many parts of the Muslim world.

In Pakistan, the military dictator Zia-ul-Haq, who ruled the country from 1978 to 1988, is responsible for its harsh blasphemy laws. An ally of the ulema, Zia updated blasphemy laws – written by British colonizers to avoid interreligious conflict – to defend specifically Sunni Islam and increased the maximum punishment to death.

From the 1920s until Zia, these laws had been applied only about a dozen times. Since then, they have become a powerful tool for crushing dissent.

Some dozen Muslim countries, including Iran and Egypt, have undergone a similar process over the past four decades.

Dissenting voices in Islam

The conservative ulema base their case for blasphemy and apostasy laws on a few reported sayings of the prophet, known as hadith, primarily: “Whoever changes his religion, kill him.”

But many Islamic scholars and Muslim intellectuals reject this view as radical. They argue that Prophet Muhammad never executed anyone for apostasy, nor encouraged his followers to do so. Criminalizing sacrilege isn’t based on Islam’s main sacred text, the Quran, either. It contains over 100 verses encouraging peace, freedom of conscience and religious tolerance.

In Chapter 2, Verse 256, the Quran states, “There is no coercion in religion.” Chapter 4, Verse 140 urges Muslims to simply leave blasphemous conversations: “When you hear the verses of God being rejected and mocked, do not sit with them.”

By using their political connections and historical authority to interpret Islam, however, the conservative ulema have marginalized more moderate voices.
Reaction to global Islamophobia

Debates about blasphemy and apostasy laws among Muslims are influenced by international affairs.

Across the globe, Muslim minorities – including the Palestinians under Israeli occupation, Chechens of Russia, Muslim Kashmiris of India, Rohingya of Myanmar and Uyghurs of China – have experienced persecution.

The Rohingya of Myanmar are among several Muslim minorities facing persecution worldwide. Rakhine state, Myanmar, Jan. 13, 2020. STR/AFP via Getty Images

Alongside persecution are some Western policies that discriminate against certain Muslims, such as laws prohibiting headscarves in schools.

Such laws and policies can create the impression that Muslims are under siege and provide an excuse for the belief that punishing sacrilege is a defense of the faith.

Instead, blasphemy laws have served political agendas of populist politicians and their religious supporters in Pakistan and some other Muslim countries.

Moreover, these laws contribute to anti-Muslim stereotypes about religious intolerance. Some of my Turkish relatives even discourage my work on this topic, fearing it fuels Islamophobia.

But my research shows that criminalizing blasphemy and apostasy is more political than it is religious. The Quran does not require punishing sacrilege: Authoritarian politics do.

This is an updated version of a piece first published on February 20, 2020.

This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. If you found it interesting, you could subscribe to our weekly newsletter.

It was written by: Ahmet T. Kuru, San Diego State University.

Read more:

At 75, Pakistan has moved far from the secular and democratic vision of its founder, Mohammad Ali Jinnah


Execution for a Facebook post? Why blasphemy is a capital offense in some Muslim countries

More than 15,000 workers' compensation claims filed in B.C. over COVID-19

Sun, February 5, 2023 

WorkSafeBC data shows more than 15,000 workers' compensation claims were filed in relation to COVID-19 since the pandemic began. (Ben Nelms/CBC - image credit)

Over 15,000 claims were filed with B.C.'s workplace regulator regarding COVID-19 exposures since the first case of the virus was recorded in the province three years ago.

According to data from WorkSafeBC, which adjudicates and provides compensation for workers who get ill or injured on the job, health-care workers filed the most COVID-19-related claims.

The agency found 87 per cent of COVID-19 claims met their criteria for workers' compensation since 2020, with a 94 per cent acceptance rate in 2022.

That amounts to claims from nearly 8,500 health-care workers in total since the pandemic began, according to the agency.

No. of COVID-19 claims that met WorkSafeBC's claim criteria

The large volume underscores the strain health-care workers are facing, says a union official and an advocate. One lawyer also says it highlights the rights of workers and employers as the pandemic continues to claim lives in B.C.

"I was quite surprised to see the volume of claims," said Chris Drinovz, an employment lawyer at KSW Lawyers. "Not only the number of claims, but the number of allowed claims."

B.C. sectors with most registered COVID-19 claims

WorkSafeBC says they took around 23 days on average to adjudicate the claims.

Drinovz says the fast and high rate of acceptance is relatively uncommon for the agency. When cases involve mental health problems at work, for example, they often necessitate testimonies and extended investigations.

He thinks the rate could be explained by COVID-19 being added to Schedule 1 of the Workers' Compensation Act, which includes diseases and infections assumed to be contracted at work.

"In the normal course, like if I suffer a back injury, for example, the burden is on the worker to show that the injury was caused by the workplace," he said.

"What happened during the heart of COVID, there was legislation that came out which added COVID-19 to Schedule 1.

"Any disease or injury in Schedule 1, there's an automatic presumption that if you get it and you report, it's presumed to be work-related."

Most WorkSafeBC claims between 2017 and 2021 were related to "other strains" including back strains and other physical injuries.

Situation changed post-Omicron

While employers are still liable for COVID-19 exposures within their workplaces, Drinovz says things changed after the province ordered businesses to move from strict COVID-19 safety plans to communicable disease plans.

"Employers still have those obligations and they're still answerable to WorkSafe," he said. "But certainly, the focus is not as intense as it was during the heart of COVID."

Maggie MacPherson/CBC

The agency also notes that things changed dramatically when community transmission rates were high from the Omicron variant.

They say while the community remains at risk due to widespread community transmission, some workers remain at higher risk. The agency adds that they now have to determine which duties place workers at higher risk of contracting COVID.

Drinovz says it is illegal to restrict workers from filing a workers' compensation claim, and that employers should encourage workers to file claims if they deem it necessary.

B.C. occupations with most COVID-19 WorkSafeBC claims

Advocates ask for more support

Meena Brisard, secretary-business manager for the Hospital Employees' Union, says she's not surprised health-care workers filed the most workers' compensation claims related to COVID-19.

"[We] made sure that our members were aware that they could make workers' compensation board claims," she told CBC News.

"Each new wave of COVID-19 really pushes health-care workers closer to the brink."

She says the claims reflect how COVID-19 continues to affect communities.

"The level of community exposure is high. What you see in the community is also reflected in the health-care system in acute care, long-term care and assisted living."

Ben Nelms/CBC

Sanjiv Gandhi, a former surgeon and current deputy leader of the B.C. Green Party, says repeated illnesses could lead to longer-term health consequences for health-care workers.

"Health-care workers are humans just like everybody else, and they're going to get affected just like everybody else," he said at a news conference. "Perhaps more so, given they're around sick people every day."

Brisard says the union would continue to push the government to institute more mental health supports for health-care staff.

A WorkSafeBC spokesperson said in a statement that they introduced specific COVID-19-related mental health supports and "return-to-work opportunities" for employees who file a claim, in addition to an in-house clinic for workers experiencing long COVID, which can be accessed by those who reach out to WorkSafeBC.

First Nations leaders, provincial officials create marine refuge on B.C. Central Coast

Sun, February 5, 2023

Chief Winidi (John Powell), centre, of the Mamalilikulla First Nation, sits with Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray, left, and former chief Richard Sumner during an announcement about a new marine refuge in the Gwaxdlala/Nalaxdlala (Lull Bay/Hoeya Sound) area in Knight Inlet on B.C.'s central coast, at the International Marine Protected Areas Congress (IMPAC5) in Vancouver, on Sunday. 

(Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press - image credit)

Provincial officials and First Nations leaders announced they will be closing fisheries and establishing a "marine refuge" along the Central Coast of B.C. Sunday.

The announcement was part of the IMPAC5 global ocean conservation conference in Vancouver, where representatives from 123 countries are meeting to discuss the state of the world's oceans.

As part of the conference, the federal government, along with 15 coastal First Nations, said they're creating a protection plan for the Northern Shelf Bioregion in B.C. — which extends from the top of Vancouver Island all the way to Alaska, includes a number of islands and the Great Bear Rainforest.

The first significant piece of that plan will be full protection of the marine environment in the Gwa̱xdlala/Nala̱xdlala (Lull Bay/Hoeya Sound) area — located up Knight Inlet on B.C.'s Central Coast.

Located off the northeast coast of Vancouver Island near Campbell River, the area stretches over 21.2 square kilometres — five times the size of Vancouver's Stanley Park. The inlet is home to a unique sponge and coral reef, estuaries and salmon-bearing streams.

Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press

"While this may be a relatively small area, in the grand scheme of areas that need to be protected, we cannot overstate the value of conserving and protecting this priceless area," said Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray at the conference.

"This new marine refuge contributes to meeting Canada's marine conservation targets of protecting 25 per cent of the oceans by 2025 and 30 per cent by 2030," she added.

Murray's announcement, which was made with B.C. Resources Minister Nathan Cullen and Chief Winidi (John Powell) of the Mamalilikulla First Nation, comes after the First Nation itself had declared the area an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA) in 2021.

That declaration followed reports of emaciated grizzly bears and dwindling salmon stocks in the region, with Powell saying at the time that it was a "constructive challenge" to the provincial and federal governments to work together with his nation.

Liz McArthur/CBC

"In addition to protecting and conserving, we have to reconnect generations of our people who didn't recognize Gwa̱xdlala and Nala̱xdlala as our own," the chief said on Sunday.

"It's a lot of work ahead of us, but we hope that we are setting a path that not only our own children, but other First Nations will take up."

The federal government says all commercial and recreational fisheries in the area will be shut down. It said this is the first of many regions that will be protected under the so-called marine protected area network action plan.

Conservationist praises plan

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said in a statement that the conservation plan was "closely related" to a previously-announced $800 million funding plan for Indigenous-led conservation initiatives.

That funding specifically went to the Northern Shelf Bioregion and the Great Bear forest, with the help of Project Finance for Permanence (PFP).

The PFP is a funding model that channels contributions from Indigenous communities, all levels of government and philanthropists to provide long-term protection for land and water.

"This is a huge milestone for biodiversity conservation and Indigenous stewardship in B.C.," Kilian Stehfest, a marine conservation specialist with the David Suzuki Foundation, said in a statement.

"Once implemented, this network will act as an insurance policy against management failures and unprecedented environmental changes."

The government says this is the first marine protected area network in Canada, and will be co-governed by Indigenous, federal and provincial governments.

"Our ability to come together as Indigenous people, as we have for 14,000 years, has led to this position where we're doing this together," said Dallas Smith, the president of the Nanwakolas Council.

The council, which negotiates marine planning agreements on behalf of seven First Nations bands located across the Great Bear Rainforest, says it hopes to lead from the front when it comes to conservation in the area.

Right whale found entangled in Canadian lobster fishing gear in U.S. waters

Sun, February 5, 2023

Argo, an adult male North Atlantic right whale, has been rescued from entanglement in southern U.S. waters. (Submitted by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - image credit)

A right whale found entangled in lobster fishing gear in waters off the southern United States was disentangled by U.S. marine mammal rescue responders last weekend.

An investigation by U.S. officials and Fisheries and Oceans Canada has determined the gear was from Lobster Fishing Area 33 in Southern Nova Scotia, according to a DFO release.

The adult whale is identified officially as North Atlantic right whale 1218, and known as Argo.

Endangered species

North Atlantic right whales are an endangered species with a estimated population of 336 individuals, including 70 breeding females.

According to the release, it is the first entanglement connected to Canada's lobster fishery in five years.

The release said the harvester reported the lost gear to DFO.

In 2017, 12 endangered right whales died in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Two deaths were blamed on entanglement in Canadian snow crab gear. Five more died in U.S. waters.

Adam Burns, senior assistant deputy minister of fisheries and harbour management with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, said the circumstances of the entanglement and how the gear travelled so far is being investigated.

"This reinforces the importance of our ghost gear retrieval efforts that have been underway now for a few years," said Burns.

Submitted by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

The Maritime Fishermen's Union did not respond to requests for comment.

Second entanglement

Authorities are investigating a second entanglement that occurred over the weekend of Jan. 21.

North Atlantic right whale 3812, a 15-year-old male known as Nimbus, was also successfully disentangled by U.S. marine mammal responders.

The cause of that entanglement is unknown.

"Every entanglement is concerning and we design our measures in Canada to avoid entanglements," said Burns.

"Each time an entanglement does occur, whether it's from Canadian or U.S. gear, we seek to learn as much as we can so we can continue to refine and improve our measures."

Burns said his department is working with harvesters to test whale-safe fishing gear technology.

Save Ontario Wetlands aims to provide crucial resources while conservation authorities are under attack by Ford government


Sun, February 5, 2023 

February 2 marked World Wetlands Day, 2023. Launched by the Secretariat of the Convention on Wetlands, the focus is to remind people around the world of the signing of the international Convention on Wetlands. According to global data, since the early ‘70s, 35 percent of the world’s wetlands have been destroyed. Wetland restoration is one of the keys to reversing biodiversity loss and other devastating impacts of global temperature increase. While the Doug Ford PC government continues its developer-driven assault on Ontario’s crucial wetlands, a new group is fighting back, with science.

Growing up, Rebecca Rooney recalls being drawn to the water. She loved to swim and just splash around. She quickly became enamoured with the cornucopia of life teeming in aquatic ecosystems. Catching frogs, watching bugs flit through the water and discovering native plants helped nurture her love of science.

In university, Rooney began studying lakes and the damage human proximity has done to these vast blue habitats. The work became somewhat depressing. Quantifying the effects of contamination and constantly focussing on the injuries to the natural environment from human activity, was like dumping a cold bucket of water over the flames of her passion.

“I didn't feel like there was a lot of hope in that avenue of research,” Rooney told The Pointer.

She began to look at ecological restoration as an antidote. A branch of study where scientists look at undoing some of the damage to our natural ecosystems. When it came time to look into PhD opportunities, Rooney chose wetland restoration.

She began working on wetland reclamation projects in the Alberta Oil Sands, recreating some of the ecosystems that had been destroyed by the industrial search for fossil fuels. Continuing this work, she is now a wetland ecologist and an assistant professor in the faculty of science at the University of Waterloo where she runs the Waterloo Wetland Laboratory.

“[A wetland] is just the coolest place to be because it's just this interface where the land and the water meet that becomes this biogeochemical hotspot where there's all this action happening, transforming nutrients, and the plants that grow there,” she said, with her seemingly innate passion pushing out the excitement of her words.

Rooney is not alone in her desire to protect and restore wetland ecosystems. When the PC government under Premier Doug Ford introduced Bill 23 in the fall of 2022, Rooney, along with other wetland scientists and practitioners, created a Slack channel where discussions about the legislation, and its proposed changes to environmental protection mechanisms—in particular, the threat to wetlands—could happen in one place.

From these conversations, Save Ontario Wetlands was born. A grassroots organization—the group has about 70 members on its Slack channel—the group of academics has been facilitating important conversations about Bill 23, the dire threats the legislation poses to our most sensitive ecosystems, and educating the public about what all the development-driven actions mean for our planet at a time when the ominous impacts of climate change appear closer than ever.

The group serves as an education tool to get the general public thinking about these avoidable threats to our natural environment. Scientific knowledge is often esoteric, so the group aims to make the combined years of university education of the 70 group members accessible.

Rooney noticed a gap between what the public knew and the real science behind wetland ecology so, for her, it was crucial to begin sharing information from trustworthy sources.

“Scientists don't always do the best job communicating in plain terms,” Rooney said. “So we thought it was really important to help make the science that's really well established available to the public so that they could be informed when facing these proposed policy changes.”

Information that is difficult to consume is often overlooked. But Rooney said she believes that making information about wetlands accessible will lead to more people caring about these precious ecosystems, and when more people care about something, we are more likely to manage it sustainably.

“It's a really important ecosystem to be working in,” she said. “And it's one that I think people historically haven't really appreciated adequately, because we get to take them for granted.”

A lack of public understanding on the significance of wetlands made it easier for the Ford government to push through legislation that would cause harm to these ecosystems.

When Bill 23, also known as the More Homes Built Faster Act, was proposed, it was done so in the name of building homes for a rapidly growing population. But with subsequent legislation targeting the Greenbelt, conservation authorities, and other environmental safeguards, it became evident that the government had no intention of protecting our natural spaces alongside the objective of accommodating future residents.

On November 17, 2022, less than two weeks before Bill 23 was passed, Save Ontario Wetlands presented a written submission to the Standing Committee on Heritage, Infrastructure and Cultural Policy with four recommendations on the content of Bill 23. Primarily, the group was requesting an extension on the commenting period on the legislation until the end of 2022 in order to have more time to properly assess and comment on the effects of the legislation on the natural environment. They also recommended the government engage in meaningful public consultation using scientific expertise. These recommendations were ultimately ignored as the Bill received Royal Assent on November 28.

One of the most significant ways it directly impacts crucial spaces is through the changes to the Wetlands Evaluation System. When determining if an area deserves protection as a provincially significant wetland (PSW), the natural features are evaluated on a scale of 0 to 1,000 with a score over 600 warranting provincial designation. Bill 23 eliminates the presence of endangered species as a criteria for evaluation along with other changes making it more difficult for a wetland’s assessment score to reach 600 points.

The second change attacks the geographic positioning of wetlands. They often exist in groups meaning there is a series of small water features amalgamated in a low lying area. Prior to Bill 23, these wetlands would be evaluated as a group, or complex, with a total score of 600 meaning all of these bodies of water would be protected. The legislation abolishes this concept of a complex, evaluating each of the individual bodies of water, regardless of their size, separately, making it nearly impossible for any to achieve a score qualifying them for protection.

“Rather than save money by cutting red tape, the resulting degradation and destruction of wetlands will increase the cost of living and exacerbate the affordability crisis because Ontario’s wetlands provide extensive and free ecosystem services,” the written submission by the group states. “We are concerned that Bill 23 will reduce critical natural infrastructure and ecological health of wetlands, watercourses and greenspaces that serve to reduce flooding, support important recreational activities, such as fishing, and reduce surface and groundwater quality and quantity.”

Wetlands are what Rooney calls “keystone ecosystems”, “an ecosystem that punches well above its weight class”. Wetlands have a very small footprint in Canada, making up only about three percent of the land base. But for geographic features with such a small physical footprint, they do a wealth of work in terms of water purification, habitat creation and flood mitigation.

In November provincial Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk concluded in her annual report that the provincial government was not doing enough to protect communities from flood risks, a problem that will only be exacerbated by Bill 23. An increased risk of flooding is a consequence of climate change and the paving over of wetlands will diminish the natural protections we have to prevent these events from becoming catastrophes. The loss of wetlands creates a snowball effect. They store carbon and when these wetlands are destroyed the carbon is released, speeding up warming. Wetlands in southern Ontario used to store 3.3 million tons of carbon, but as a result of wetland loss, almost two-thirds of this has been released into the atmosphere. Rooney said there is still a significant amount being held in remaining wetlands that we cannot afford to release.

According to her, Ontario has already lost between 70 and 90 percent of its wetlands, making it crucial that the remainder are protected while restoration and reclamation work begins. The written submissions from Save Ontario Wetlands cites a study from the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation which concluded that wetland preservation reduced estimated damages from flooding by 38 percent in urban areas.

The authorization over flooding events is generally the jurisdiction of conservation authorities which were created decades ago and had their powers expanded in the aftermath of Hurricane Hazel which decimated homes across the province in 1954. Bill 23 curtails much of the power of conservation authorities leaving municipalities on their own to make decisions regarding local development and conservation.

“Most municipalities do not have expert staff to review planning materials related to natural assets and hydrology,” the written submission details. “They depend on local conservation authorities to provide expert advice to assist in evidence-based decision-making.”

Rooney added that municipalities are already swamped with many responsibilities in relation to things like the opioid crisis, the climate crisis, and now development proposals all while under tight budget constraints.

“For a long time, in Ontario, we really have this world leading system with the conservation authorities. This is the reason why the extent of payouts for flood damage in Ontario are so much less than everywhere else in the country,” Rooney said. “Under these new rules, [municipalities] are not going to have the ability to rely on those conservation authorities as much as they have. So there's going to be a gap in capacity and resources to be able to effectively manage flood mitigation and wetland conservation and management.”

Despite the grim picture Bill 23 paints for Ontario’s wetlands, Rooney is hopeful that Save Ontario Wetlands can begin to provide expertise to local municipalities to help make informed and sustainable decisions regarding development.

“When you think about how few wetlands remain, every single one is precious, and we can't really afford to lose any of them,” she said. “What we need to do is conserve all the wetlands that remain, we just can't afford to dig up or fill in anymore.”

She would like to see the process of wetland restoration and reclamation begin across the province, applying a blanket conservation approach for all existing wetlands and beginning restoration in areas where decimation rates are the highest, generally close to urban areas.

“And we should not be allowing any additional destruction of wetlands at all in southern Ontario.”

Email: rachel.morgan@thepointer.com
Twitter: @rachelnadia_
Rachel Morgan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Pointer

Advocates come together to help sailors stuck for months on tugboats in Quebec port


Sun, February 5, 2023 



TROIS-RIVIÈRES, Que. — Groups that advocate for seafarers are expressing concern for 11 sailors who are spending a harsh Quebec winter aboard three tugboats that have been detained for months in the port of Trois-Rivières.

Paul Racette, who operates the Foyer des Marins seafarers' club in the port, said the workers, who hail from Mexico, Cuba and Guyana, aren't used to winter.

"For them, 17 degrees is cold, so imagine them having to work outdoors at the temperatures we're having now," he said in an interview.

Furthermore, they're weathering the winter on the moored tugboats, which he says aren't designed for long-term living.

"It's very small, it's narrow, there are no conveniences inside, so it's problematic," he said.

The boats, which are in the 30 to 40 metre range, were sold last year to a company that wants to bring them to the South American nation of Guyana. But they've been detained in the port, halfway between Quebec City and Montreal, since October due to what Transport Canada describes as "non-compliance with various international maritime conventions," including labour regulations that ensure the crew's well-being.

"Before lifting the detention and authorizing the vessels to depart, Transport Canada will verify that the outstanding items have been rectified," wrote spokeswoman Sau Sau Liu.

Racette said that while there were about 25 crew members originally, their numbers have dwindled to 11 as some have left and fewer have come to replace them.

On a recent visit, two of the three tugboats could be seen moored along the river's edge, dwarfed in size by the much larger ship behind them. Canadian and Guyanese flags whipped in the wind as heavy snow fell.

None of the sailors stepped out when a reporter stopped by, and Racette said none of the current crew wanted to speak with media out of concern they could face reprisals.

The vice president for the St. Lawrence and East Coast for the Seafarers International Union of Canada, who has been working with the crew, said he's concerned about the sailors' working and living conditions.

Vince Giannopoulos said some of these are matters of “base level legality,” including contracts. He said some of the seafarers were sent to the ships with only verbal agreements regarding pay, only to find upon arrival that the compensation in the written contract was far less than promised.

His visits to the ship, the most recent of which was in December, revealed “all sorts of problems,” ranging from a lack of safety and cold-weather equipment to inadequate food, he said.

“During a couple of my visits the crew was having Mr. Noodles three times a day,” he said. “That was their breakfast, lunch and supper.

“It's hard to even find out where to begin with this story because there are just so many issues.”

Mark Wong, a seafarer from Guyana, spent six months aboard the vessels working as an engineer before flying home in late December.

While he found the living conditions aboard the tugboats to be generally good, the 59-year-old said it's the first time he's been stuck on a detained vessel for so long.

He said the situation began to drag on as crew members had to be switched out and inspections kept revealing more issues to be fixed.

He said the arrival of winter was "terrible," and his strongest memory is the ice on the deck.

"I'm not accustomed to it," he said.

Wong said he was one of those who arrived without a contract, and, while he's received his wages, he says the company still owes him leave pay. Despite the issues, he said he would be willing to go back.

"Not in the winter though," he added.

Racette said the seafarer's club, which has a small budget and is mostly volunteer-run, has been doing what it can to support the crew. Members visit the vessels to bring treats, chat, and encourage the seafarers to visit their clubhouse, which has a pool table, snacks, comfortable chairs and Internet access.

Volunteers have come forward to help drive some of the crew to shopping centres or to attend a Spanish-language religious service, while community members have donated warm clothing, he said.

More recently, he's been making an appeal for donations to take the crew on outings such as restaurant visits or bowling trips.

While it's not clear how long it will take for the tugboats to get authorization to leave, Racette's opinion is that they'll remain in the port until at least April when the ice clears.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 5, 2023.

Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press

City of Yellowknife staff will strike Wednesday if no deal is reached

Sun, February 5, 2023

Both sides have agreed to continue mediator-led negotiations on Monday and Tuesday. If a deal is not reached, unionized city employees will strike Wednesday, the City of Yellowknife says.

 (Sidney Cohen/CBC - image credit)

The union representing the majority of unionized employees with the City of Yellowknife has given notice that its workers will walk off the job on Feb. 8 if a deal is not reached, the municipality says.

In a press release, the city says it received notice of a strike from the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) North at 12:01 a.m. Sunday.

Both sides had agreed to continue mediator-led negotiations on Monday and Tuesday.

"The City remains hopeful that an agreement will be reached in good faith, as bargaining negotiations are set to continue on Monday, February 6th and Tuesday, February 7th," senior administrative officer Sheila Bassi-Kellett wrote in an email to city staff on Sunday that was obtained by CBC News.

In a joint statement released Sunday, PSAC and the Union of Northern Workers (UNW) said mandatory strike notice of at least 72 hours is legally required.

Two hours after it sent the notice, the unions say they received a response from the city that it would lock out workers on Wednesday if a deal was not reached.

"Workers will not be intimidated by this surprise Lock-Out notice," PSAC North regional executive vice-president Lorraine Rousseau said in the written statement.

"Though the Union followed process and served notice to be in a legal strike position February 8, the parties still had the option to extend mediation and avoid labour disruption if the mediation was productive, which was the hope of the bargaining team," UNW President Gayla Thunstrom said in the statement.

"I am really disappointed that the bullying and intimidation from the employer has escalated, but it shows what city workers have been dealing with."

No one from the city was immediately available to comment.

City facilities to close

An email sent to city staff last month from Bassi-Kellett says the city is offering an annual salary increase of two per cent. The union has not made its demands public but has said workers deserve a higher salary increase that reflects the rise in inflation and the high cost of living in the capital.

If workers strike, the city says it will close municipal facilities including the Yellowknife Public Library, Multiplex, Fieldhouse, Ruth Inch Memorial Pool, Yellowknife Community Arena and the Visitor Information Centre.

Garbage disposal will continue but on a weekly pickup schedule. Compost bins will not be collected and the recycling stations set up across the city will also not be available. The Yellowknife Solid Waste Facility will also close to the public.

The city says all non-essential snow and ice clearing will be cancelled.

Public safety services like the Yellowknife Fire Department will still continue to operate.

Months-long labour dispute

The city and the PSAC have been without a collective agreement since Dec. 31, 2021. The parties left the table in December 2022, when negotiations aided by a federally appointed mediator failed to produce a deal.

Since then, the labour dispute has grown increasingly intense, with the unions accusing the city of acting in bad faith and attempting to circumvent the collective bargaining process. The city maintains it's committed to the bargaining process and the negotiation of a collective agreement.

Then last month, members of PSAC Local X0345 voted in favour of going on strike. The unions have not said how many members voted for or against the job action.

Cape Breton University reaches tentative agreement with faculty union
Sun, February 5, 2023 

There is a tentative agreement in the strike between Cape Breton University and its faculty union. (Erin Pottie/CBC - image credit)

Cape Breton University said Sunday it had reached a tentative agreement with the union representing faculty members, a news release from the university said.

Cape Breton University Faculty Association members have been on strike since Jan. 27. They have called for greater respect from the institution and pay raises.

According to the release, the agreement comes after a week of discussions led by a provincial conciliator.

The release said the university's board of governors has already approved the agreement and the next step will be a union vote to ratify it.

The union confirmed the tentative agreement later Sunday and said a vote is planned for Monday afternoon.

The university said details of the agreement will be released once it is ratified.

Haiti garment workers share $1m payout after factory closure a year ago


Sarah Butler
Sun, 5 February 2023 

Photograph: Andrew Kelly/Reuters

More than 1,100 garment workers in Haiti are sharing $1m (£830,000) in compensation from the owner of Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein after being left destitute by the closure of a factory.

PVH, which was one of several brand owners sourcing from the Vald’or factory in the Caribbean country, agreed to pay the sum to cover missed severance pay, pension contributions directly to workers and the government pension fund after involvement by the Worker Rights Consortium lobby group.

Vald’or, which is owned by a US-based company and made clothes for PVH’s licensee Centric as well as several other brands, closed its factory in Port-au-Prince in January 2022. Haiti’s garment industry has suffered amid rising violence in the country, which has affected shipments, and sliding orders from North American brands, which have been hit by the cost of living crisis.

In a rare intervention by a large fashion brand owner, most former Vald’or workers are receiving the equivalent of more than six months’ wages, and some are receiving more than a year’s pay.

Some are using the money to start businesses or to support their families after being unable to pay rent, and having been forced to withdraw children from school without money to pay fees since the factory closed.

Anderson Charles, one of the workers who received compensation, said he had been unemployed since the factory closed a year ago. “It is very difficult to get a new job. I haven’t got one and many of the workers are still searching,” he said.

“I felt very angry and frustrated [when the factory closed]. I had been working there more than four years and the company just let us go without any compensation.”

Charles has made a small amount of money through buying and selling goods since his role was made redundant and now plans to set up a small warehouse and expand

The agreement is one of the first globally to be signed swiftly without lengthy public pressure in which a brand owner has taken responsibility for the actions of one of its suppliers.

It marks a growing trend for brands to step in where their suppliers have not supported workers, with the lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret paying sacked workers who had been making its bras in Thailand $8.3m last year.

The payment comes after weeks of protests by garment workers over pay and conditions in Haiti last year, which resulted in a rise in the minimum wage.

A spokesperson for PVH, which is headquartered in New York, said: “As social responsibility and ethical behaviour in the global fashion and apparel industry is inseparable from our values, PVH is committed to being part of the solution, even if we bear no direct responsibility. “

It said that PVH product made up less than 1% of Vald’or’s capacity and was produced via a licensee – Centric Brands.

“We, together with Centric, believe it was the right thing to do to share in the commitment of supporting the affected workers, especially given the current context in Haiti. We are pleased that we were able to provide financial restitution for the affected workers in Val D’or Haiti and participate in a comprehensive resolution to this unfortunate situation,” the company said.

A Worker Rights Consortium report from 2021 said it had documented similar wage theft cases at 31 garment factories in nine countries.

Thulsi Narayanasamy, director of advocacy for WRC, said: “It must be a basic standard for fashion brands to ensure that when workers don’t receive what they are legally owed, they are swiftly and fully compensated.

“We’re glad to see brands increasingly recognising their obligations and paying workers, like PVH has done here. We have a long way to go, but every time a brand steps up to ensure garment workers receive what they’re owed, it makes it harder for the next brand to refuse.”

Vald’or did not respond to a request for comment.

WORST QUAKE IN 70 YEARS

Turkey earthquake latest news: Second massive 7.7 magnitude quake strikes

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Second powerful earthquake rocks Turkey hours after morning devastation

Chris Stevenson
Mon, 6 February 2023


Turkey has been hit with a second earthquake measuring more than 7 magnitude, according to measurements from the US Geological Survey.

The tremor, measuring 7.5 magnitude was picked up about four kilometres outside Ekinozu, central Turkey. The European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) measured the quake at 7.7 magnitude, with its epicentre about 40 miles north north-east of Kahramanmaras, a depth of 2km.

It comes after an earthquake hit close to Gaziantep, southeast Turkey – about 100 miles south of Ekinozu – as well as neighbouring Syria, killing more than 1,500.


Thousands more were injured when the earthquake struck, collapsing apartment blocks and heaping more destruction on Syrian cities already devastated by years of war.

The quake, which hit in the early darkness of a winter morning, was the worst to hit Turkey this century. It was also felt in Cyprus and Lebanon.

Rescue workers operating in bitter winter weather pulled casualties from rubble across the region.

Residents retrieve an injured man from the rubble of a collapsed building following an earthquake in the town of Jandaris, in the countryside of Syria's northwestern city of Afrin 

(AFP via Getty Images)

The World Health Organisation (WHO) expects a significant jump in the death toll following the two major earthquakes and aftershocks.

"I think we can expect the death toll to increase significantly," Rick Brennan, the WHO's regional emergency director for the Eastern Mediterranean, told Reuters.

"There's been a lot of building collapses and it will increase more significantly around the epicentre of the earthquake."

Turkey has said that more than 1,000 people have died in the earthquake, with thousands more injured.

In Syria, already wrecked by more than 11 years of civil war, the health ministry said more than 326 people had been killed and 1,042 injured in government-held areas.

At least 255 people were killed and 811 injured in opposition-held areas of northwest Syria, a spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA) told Reuters.

Madevi Sun-Suon said the agency expected the casualty figures to increase as many people remained stuck under the rubble amid a response effort being hampered by tough weather conditions.

The agency had also recorded at least 170 buildings damaged in northwest Syria, the spokesperson said.

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Turkey and Syria: ‘Death toll likely to rise quickly’ as two huge earthquakes kill 2,300 – latest updates (yahoo.com)

Turkey earthquake: Screaming, shaking... how it felt when the quake hit

Imogen James - BBC News
Mon, February 6, 2023 

A car buried by the roof of a house in Diyarbakir

It was 04:17 local time when Erdem, asleep at his home in Gaziantep, southern Turkey, was shaken from his sleep by one of Turkey's biggest-ever earthquakes.

"I have never felt anything like it in the 40 years I've lived," he said. "We were shaken at least three times very strongly, like a baby in a crib."

People went to their cars to escape the damaged buildings. "I imagine not a single person in Gaziantep is in their homes now," Erdem said.

More than 130 miles (209km) west, in Adana, Nilüfer Aslan was convinced her and her family would die when the quake shook their fifth-floor apartment.

"I have never seen anything like this in my life. We swayed for close to one minute," she said.


"[I said to my family] 'There is an earthquake, at least let's die together in the same place'... It was the only thing that crossed my mind."

When the quake paused, Aslan fled outside - "I couldn't take anything with me, I'm standing outside in slippers" - to find that four buildings surrounding her own had collapsed.

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Huge quake toppled buildings as people slept

In Diyarbakir, 300 miles (482km) east, people rushed into the streets to help rescuers.

"There was screaming everywhere," one 30-year-old man told the Reuters news agency. "I started pulling rocks away with my hands. We pulled out the injured with friends, but the screaming didn't stop. Then the [rescue] teams came."

Elsewhere in the city, Muhittin Orakci said seven members of their family were buried in the rubble.

"My sister and her three children are there," he told the AFP news agency. "And also her husband, her father-in-law and her mother-in-law."

In Syria, a large number of buildings collapsed in Aleppo, around a two-hour drive from the epicentre. Health director Ziad Hage Taha said wounded people were "arriving in waves" following the disaster.

Aleppo, Syria

Özgül Konakçı, a 25-year-old who lives in Malatya, Turkey, said the aftershocks - and freezing weather - made things worse.

"It's very cold and it's snowing right now," she told BBC Turkish. "Everyone is on the streets, people are confused about what to do. Just before our eyes, the windows of a building exploded due to aftershocks."

As a second earthquake occurred at 10:24 GMT, a camera operator for Turkish news channel A Haber could be seen running from a collapsing building in Malatya as screaming was heard in the background.

"As we were heading to the rubble to [film] search and rescue efforts, there were two consecutive aftershocks with a loud noise," reporter Yuksel Akalan said on air.

"The building you are seeing on my left was brought down to earth. There is a lot of dust. A local resident is coming and he is covered in dust. A mother is taking her children [away]."

Ozgul Konacki, 25 and from Malatya, spoke while waiting outside with her family, having seen buildings around them collapse.

"Some people wanted to go back to their houses because it was too cold," she said. "But then we felt strong aftershocks and they were out again."

Ismail Al Abdullah - a rescuer from Syrian humanitarian group White Helmets - has been working in Sarmada, near the border with Turkey, rescuing survivors.

"Many buildings in different cities and villages in north-western Syria collapsed, destroyed by this earthquake," he said.

"We need help. We need the international community to do something, to help us, to support us. North-western Syria is now a disaster area. We need help from everyone to save our people."

Videos from Turkey show collapsed buildings and rubble in the aftermath of a 7.8 magnitude earthquake that has killed more than 1,600

Hannah Getahun

Sun, February 5, 2023 

People stand in front of a collapsed residential building after an earthquake in Malatya, Turkey February 6, 2023.Depo Photos via REUTERS

• A 7.8 magnitude earthquake in southern Turkey was felt as far away as Lebanon.

• The Turkish city of Gaziantep was one of the major areas affected by the quake.

• Videos online show the aftermath of the quake, which could result in a large number of casualties.

Videos and photos that have emerged online showing the massive destruction caused by a powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake that rocked Turkey and Syria on Monday, killing more than 1,600 and leaving thousands more injured.

According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the epicenter of the earthquake was in southern Turkey, 20 miles away from the city of Gaziantep. The Governor of the Gaziantep province wrote on Twitter that the quake was "felt strongly" in the region. The earthquake was followed by a 6.7-magnitude aftershock 11 minutes later.

The quake was also felt in Lebanon and Israel.

Men search under the rubble at the site of a collapsed building, following an earthquake, in Hama, Syria, in this handout released by SANA on February 6, 2023.SANA/Handout via REUTERS

"Only three earthquakes of magnitude 6 or larger have occurred within 250 km of the February 6 earthquake since 1970," a tectonic summary from the USGS noted.

 

 

Syria's Civil Defense reported that "several residential buildings" collapsed and resulted in people being trapped under the rubble.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan said on Twitter that all "relevant units" were being dispatched to help people trapped under buildings.

People try to reach trapped residents in a collapsed building in Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey, early Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. A powerful earthquake has caused significant damage in southeast Turkey and Syria and many casualties are feared. Damage was reported across several Turkish provinces, and rescue teams were being sent from around the country.Mahmut Bozarsan/AP

"I convey my best wishes to all our citizens who were affected by the earthquake that occurred in Kahramanmaraş and was felt in many parts of our country," Erdoğan wrote.

As a result of the quake, Italy's Department of Civil Protection also issued a Tsunami alert warning citizens to move away from coastal areas.

Factbox-Turkey quake: international support and offers of aid






Mon, February 6, 2023 

(Reuters) - Dozens of governments and international organisations have responded with offers of support after an earthquake of magnitude 7.8 struck central Turkey and northwest Syria.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that 45 countries had offered help with search and rescue efforts.

Below is a list of some of those announcements of support:

GERMANY

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said Germany's federal civil protection agency could provide camps with emergency shelters and water treatment units and that it was already preparing relief supplies with emergency generators, tents and blankets, in coordination with the Turkish authorities.


U.N. WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION

WHO chief Tedros said its network of emergency medical teams has been activated to provide essential health care for the injured and most vulnerable affected by the earthquake.

ITALY

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Italy's Civil Protection was standing by to contribute support and provide first aid.

INDIA

The government said two teams from India's National Disaster Response Force comprising 100 personnel with specially trained dog squads and equipment were ready to be flown to the disaster area for search and rescue operations. Medical teams were being readied and relief material was being sent in coordination with the Turkish authorities.

POLAND

Poland will send rescue group HUSAR consisting of 76 firemen and eight rescue dogs, Interior and Administration Minister Mariusz Kamiński said.

EUROPEAN UNION

European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič said the EU's 24/7 Emergency Response Coordination Centre had been in contact with the Turkish authorities and had activated its emergency Copernicus satellite mapping service to help first responders working on the ground.

TAIWAN

Taiwan’s fire department said a team of 40 rescuers along with three search and rescue dogs and four to five tonnes of aid would leave for Turkey on Monday. It previously said it was ready to offer a team 130 people, along with five search dogs and 13 tonnes of aid, and was awaiting Turkey's response.

UKRAINE

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine was ready to send support. "We are in this moment close to the friendly Turkish people, ready to provide the necessary assistance," he said.

RUSSIA

Russia's emergencies ministry said two IL-76 aircraft with 100 rescuers were ready to fly out to Turkey if required.

President Vladimir Putin sent messages to Turkey and to Syria, where Russian troops have been supporting the Syrian military, expressing condolences to the presidents of both nations and offering support.

GREECE

Greek Prime Minister Kyrikos Mitsotakis offered condolences and support to Turkey, saying Greece was mobilizing its resources and will assist immediately.

SPAIN

Spanish urban rescue teams are preparing to travel to Turkey, Spain's Interior Ministry said, and officials from the Defence Ministry and other departments were coordinating to send the crews immediately to Turkey.

ISRAEL

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said all authorities have been instructed to make immediate preparations to provide medical, and search and rescue assistance.

NORWEGIAN REFUGEE COUNCIL (NRC)

"NRC is assessing the situation in order to provide direct support to those most affected across Syria. A massive scale up is needed and our organisation will be part of it," said Carsten Hansen, Middle East regional director for NRC. He also appealed for more international support for Syria and southern Turkey.

(Reporting by Reuters bureaus; Editing by Edmund Blair, Angus MacSwan, William Maclean)