Tracing fishing gear to protect North Atlantic right whales is positive step: experts

Mon, February 6, 2023 


FREDERICTON — Much can be learned about the evolving habits of endangered North Atlantic right whales by tracing pieces of fishing gear from which the animals are freed, say researchers.

Gear that was disentangled from a whale in United States waters in January was traced back to the southern coast of Nova Scotia, Canada's Fisheries Department said in a recent news release.

"This is the first North Atlantic right whale entanglement confirmed to be connected to Canada’s lobster fishery in over five years," the department said.

Andrea Morden, manager of the whales team at the Fisheries Department, said fishers have been required to tag their gear since 2020. Since then the department has received 11,675 lost gear reports, she added.

Whale entanglements can be reduced by knowing what's out there — even if no one knows exactly how much gear is floating around the oceans, Morden said in an interview Monday.

"Commercial harvesting has been going on in Canada for as long as Canada's been around," she said.

"It's hard to say how much gear … was being lost before lost gear reporting requirements came into effect."

Dalhousie University biology professor Boris Worm said that by tracing gear, researchers can determine what parts of the ocean present the greatest risk for entanglements — a leading cause of injury and death for the whales.

"Then we can double down our conservation efforts in that particular region."

He said he was interested in learning the gear had been traced back to the southern coast of Nova Scotia, because conservationists hadn't been focusing on those waters.

"We haven't surveyed it as much as the Gulf of St. Lawrence," he said. "So it's really important information to know where we have to direct our monitoring and conservation efforts."

Michael Moore, a marine mammal scientist from Massachusetts, agreed that being able to trace gear is helpful.

"Having the gear marked certainly highlights where risk is now occurring," said Moore, with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, a non-profit dedicated to ocean research, exploration and education.

Worm said researchers began noticing a shift in the right whales' summer feeding habitat about 10 years ago, when the animals gradually moved northwest from around the Gulf of Maine, which includes the Bay of Fundy and south of Nova Scotia, to the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

"It was as if the whales were looking for a new supermarket," he said.

Moore noted the asymmetry between the number of remaining North Atlantic right whales, which is about 340, and the thousands of ropes criss-crossing parts of the ocean.

"A fisherman can rightly say he's never seen a whale, but a whale can rightly say he's seen gear every day," he said. "And that mismatch of perspective makes it so hard."

While tracing gear is useful, he said it doesn't necessarily mean animals won't be entangled in the same area again. Entangled animals suffer from stress, the inability to feed and injuries that might even affect reproduction, he said.

Worm and Moore said that the survival of the endangered right whales depends in large part to fishers moving to ropeless gear.

Moore published a paper last month in the journal of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, in which he argued that consumers should buy seafood that is ethically sourced — including from fishers who use ropeless gear.

A balance is needed, he said, between the needs of the fishing industry and consumers and the survival of large marine life, as crabs, fish and other seafood may not exist in an ocean without whales.

"We have to take the longer view," Moore said. "If we were to realize that through killing off large whale species that are endangered or changing habitats so that animals can no longer live there, at some point in time the human race is going to recognize that they are left alone on the planet."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 6, 2023.

Hina Alam, The Canadian Press

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

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/02/right-whale-found-entangled-in-canadian.html

2 workers dead after incident at Vancouver company's gold mine in Ghana

Mon, February 6, 2023

An image taken from Vancouver company Galiano Gold's 2021 sustainability report shows the tailings storage facility at its Asanko Gold Mine in Ghana. (Galiano Gold - image credit)

A Vancouver-based gold mining company is reporting the deaths of two contractors at its operation in the West African country of Ghana.

On Monday, Galiano Gold released a statement announcing that the two workers had been killed a day earlier in an unspecified "incident" near a tailings storage facility at the Asanko Gold Mine.

"On behalf of Galiano Gold, we offer our sincerest condolences to the family, friends, and co-workers of our two colleagues," the company's president and CEO, Matt Badylak, said in the statement.

The company says both contractors were pronounced dead at the scene.

Krista Muhr, an investor relations adviser for Galiano Gold, said she couldn't share any further information about what happened while an investigation is underway.

Galiano Gold says it has notified authorities in Ghana. The last death reported at the mine was in 2015 when a contractor was killed.

Rodrigue Turgeon, co-lead for the Canada national program for the industry watchdog Mining Watch Canada, called for an independent investigation into what happened.

"While we still know too little about the causes of the human catastrophe, it is unfortunate that once again the 'Zero Harm' precautions taken by another Canadian mining company abroad are not sufficient to ensure the safety of all workers," Turgeon said in a written statement.

"Canada must take responsibility for the impacts of its mining corporations operating abroad. Our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of the deceased contractors."

The Asanko mine is managed and operated by Galiano Gold in a joint venture with the South African firm Gold Fields Ltd.

According to Galiano Gold, about 2,600 people work at the mine, of whom 99 per cent are Ghanaian.

The firm was named the mining company of the year in December by the government of Ghana.

CBC News has reached out to Ghana's Minerals Commission for comment.

Native bee in Canada under attack from newfound invasive species

Nathan Howes
Mon, February 6, 2023 


Canada's wild bees are under pressure from a variety of threats, which now include two newfound invasive species that popped up on scientists' radar after turning up in Ontario.

For the first time in Canada, two foreign mason bee species have been found, posing a risk to native mason bees. The non-native mason bees, Osmia cornifrons and Osmia taurus, originate from northern Asia and were introduced to North America more than 50 years ago as crop pollinators. The Osmia taurus is of particular concern to researchers.

SEE ALSO: Bees can't get COVID, but other virus infections may mean fewer babies

Their discovery in Ontario was made by University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) researchers in 2017, then popping up again in the following two years. After that, scientists found even more individuals through iNaturalist.

Scott MacIvor, an assistant professor in biological sciences at the UTSC and lead author of the study published in the journal, PeerJ Life and Environment, told The Weather Network that it is "very likely" we will see other types of non-native species move into Canada from the U.S.

"It was a matter of time before the land bridges that connect our countries would be a natural pathway for these [invasive species] into our province," said MacIvor.

Mason Bee (Osmia taurus) (12376108403)/Wikipedia

Osmia taurus. (Benjamin Smith/Wikipedia. CC BY 2.0)

"These land bridges are kind of our natural corridors that these bees and other animals may use to fit within their habitat range they prefer."
More work needed to survey mason bee numbers

Mason bees are active in the early spring, overwintering as adults instead of larvae like most bees do, the assistant professor said. Many people examining these species are focusing mostly on the summer when they have already retreated into their nests for the year, so it's hard to gauge the populations of the two invasive species in Ontario at the moment.

"More work is needed to survey these [species] early in the spring, so we can kind of get a better sense of the population sizes of these. But certainly we see them. And we didn't see them before," said MacIvor.

What's "unique" about mason bees is the prevalence of an online trade for their cocoons to support pollination, whether in agricultural systems or for sale to gardeners who want to augment these in their backyards, MacIvor said.

Osmia cornifrons (non-native mason bee)

Osmia cornifrons. (Beatriz Moisset/Wikipedia. CC BY 3.0)

"Mason bee cocoons are one of the main groups of bees that are very easy to [sell]. They overwinter in a little cocoon as an adult. Well, we can collect those cocoons and put them in the mail. And it is illegal to do that between the United States and Canada," he said.

These types of "human-driven movements" of wildlife are activities we need to be aware of, MacIvor said. However, there is no evidence to suggest Osmia cornifrons and Osmia taurus arrived in Ontario from a mail-order source.

"Toronto is a large, growing city, and there is a lot of interest in pollinator gardening [to] save the bees. It is possible these kinds of online services may lead to the movement of certain kinds of bees or pathogens," said MacIvor.

Threats to native mason bees

One of the problems with non-native mason bees is they compete with wild species over food and nesting opportunities, the UTSC assistant professor stated.

Blue orchard bee/JimRivers OSU College of Forestry/Wikipedia

Orchard mason bee. (Jim Rivers/OSU College of Forestry/Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 2.0)

"They use the same kinds of flowers in early spring where people aren't putting enough attention into the diversity or breadth of the flower availability for these bees. So, there may be more competition," said MacIvor.

“These two non-native bees have also been associated with a non-native mite species. Mites can get into the nests of bees and cause havoc, impact larval health or death.”

Mason bees are important pollinators for native spring ephemerals in woodlands and for orchard crops, as well, MacIvor said. This includes everything from plums and peaches to cherries and apples.

"Supporting our native wild bee populations in general supports these critical pollination services that we depend on," said MacIvor. And in the case of wild bees, we get it for free."

Orchard mason bee/Red58bill

Orchard mason bee. (Red58bill/Wikipedia. CC BY 3.0)

With at least one out of every three bites of food requiring pollination, we have to think about protecting bees to ensure nutritional security, MacIvor said. Just in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) alone, there are upwards of 300 species of bees or more.

“They're really effective pollinators of many of the crops that we really like, especially the really colourful, nutritious ones that can sometimes be expensive," said MacIvor. "There are broad, sweeping actions like gardening for pollinators in all the seasons that can really have an important impact to ensure they stick around with us."

WATCH: What do bees and thunderclouds have in common? More than you'd think
Click here to view the video

Thumbnail courtesy of Don Campbell/University of Toronto Scarborough.

Follow Nathan Howes on Twitter.

Supreme Court rules Blood Tribe can argue at highest court its reserve size ‘Big Claim’

Mon, February 6, 2023 

The Supreme Court of Canada has opened the door to the Blood Tribe to argue its case that Canada breached its treaty obligations in land commitment to the southern Alberta First Nation.

“We believed that this was a case that the Supreme Court of Canada would want to hear as it raises important aspects of s.35 of the Constitution Act and the enforcement of treaty rights never before addressed by the Supreme Court. We were correct,” said Blood Tribe Chief Roy Fox and council in a statement to Windspeaker.com Feb. 3.

On Feb 2, the highest court in the country granted leave to appeal on Canada v Jim Shot Both Sides and Roy Fox et al. The action is more commonly known as the "Big Claim."

The Big Claim refers to land that was shorted to the Blood Tribe reserve when the Blackfoot Confederacy and the Crown executed Treaty 7 on Sept. 22, 1877. Under the treaty, the size of the reserve was to be established through a formula promising “one square mile for each family of five persons, or in that proportion for larger and smaller families.” The Blood Tribe has long claimed that the actual size of its reserve did not equal what was promised by the treaty.

Last year the Federal Court of Appeal ruled that a claim for more land for the reserve was time-barred by Alberta’s Statute of Limitations.

Legal action began in the federal court in 1980, but the action was in abeyance for decades.

Finally in 2016 the first phase of the court trial went ahead with oral history received from Blood members. The second phase proceeded in 2018 to hear facts and expert witnesses and to make a determination on liability.

In a 2019 ruling, the trial judge in the federal court closed one door to the Blood Tribe but opened another.

The judge found that the Blood Tribe’s claims could have been pursued as early as 1971, but action had only begun in 1980 and therefore a land entitlement breach was time-barred through Alberta’s Statute of Limitations.

However, the trial judge ruled that an action for breach of a treaty commitment could not have been pursued in a Canadian court prior to the advent of s. 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 and therefore that action fell within the limitations statute.

The trial judge concluded that Canada was in breach of its treaty obligation to provide a reserve equal to the treaty land entitlement provisions and that the size of the reserve should be 162.5 square miles more. Presently the reserve is 547.5 square miles, which still makes it the largest in Canada.

The Crown appealed the decision.

The Federal Court of Appeal allowed the appeal and ruled against the Blood Tribe.

The Court of Appeal ruled that treaty rights are not the same as Aboriginal rights and took issue with the trial judge’s finding that treaties were not enforceable prior to 1982. The Court of Appeal went a step further, ruling unanimously that all claims of the Blood Tribe were time-barred.

“The Blood Tribe Council is pleased that the Supreme Court of Canada has granted Leave to Appeal and we continue to look to Canada to live up to its promises of reconciliation and to not rely on limitation defenses when they clearly breach Treaty promises,” said chief and council in their statement.

In a blog, Kyle McMillan, associate with McCarthy Tetrault law firm, said the Federal Court of Appeal’s decision “clarifies the application of limitation periods to historical treaty claims.”

Further, McMillan wrote, “This decision has implications for historic claims by Indigenous groups and the remedies that may be available where there are potential limitation period issues.”

McMillan pointed out that the Blood Tribe could pursue damages through the Specific Claims process, which was noted in the decision rendered by the Federal Court of Appeal.

The federal government’s Specific Claims Tribunal was established to address grievances from the failure to fulfill historic treaty obligations or other legal obligations relating to First Nations lands and other assets.

“However, if this ruling is not set aside or settled outside of litigation, there will be statutory limitations on the remedies that the Blood Tribe can obtain for the 162.5 square miles that ought to have been included in their reserve since 1883, including a $150 million statutory cap on damages,” McMillan wrote.

“The Blood Tribe continues to fight to hold Canada to its treaty obligations, both through litigation as well as negotiation,” said chief and council in their statement.

Windspeaker.com

By Shari Narine, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker.com, Windspeaker.com

‘I thought the world was coming down’: Sen. Patrick Brazeau draws on personal struggle to fight for alcohol warning labels

Mon, February 6, 2023 

Warning: This story contains distressing details of self-harm

Patrick Brazeau, a non-affiliated senator, is candid about his struggle with alcohol; it informs his reasons for now wanting to be involved in its regulation.

He tells a story of smudging on the bank of the St. Lawrence River in Montreal on March 27, 2020. It was in the early days of pandemic, marked by isolation, distance and fears of the unknown, and Brazeau had helped organize an international Indigenous day of smudging. During his smudge, Brazeau prayed to his late mother, who passed away in 2004 of colon cancer, for help to quit drinking.

“I had come to a point where I was tired, just tired,” he said. During his prayer, he asked: “‘Please give me a sign, any sign, mainly in my prayer, any sign, like a rainbow, like just anything.”

The next day, Brazeau had a few drinks. The day after that, he smudged again and didn't reach for the bottle; the day after that, the same thing. Since that day, Brazeau has replaced his daily drinks with daily prayers.

“Now that I look at it, why I think I did get my sign, I just didn’t see it, (is) because my sign happened two days after,” Brazeau said, the sentence catching halfway in his throat.

In his role in the Senate, Brazeau is drawing from his own experiences with alcohol to push for warning labels on alcoholic beverages as part of Bill S-254, An Act to amend the Food and Drugs Act. His next step is to get the bill into committee so experts can testify, then it will head to the House for debate.

Bill S-254 would mandate warning labels on alcoholic beverages that point to the increased cancer risk correlated with alcohol consumption. The idea is not new: warning labels are mandated on both tobacco and cannabis products in Canada.

The bill comes on the heels of a Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction report that stated no amount of alcohol is good for you and that only two drinks per week is low risk. Anything beyond that increases one’s risk for cancer, heart disease and other mental and social harms.

Opponents to warning labels have argued they are unproductive and downplay the potential benefits of alcohol, such as social connection.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said warning labels may improve knowledge, raise awareness and prompt discussion of the harmful health consequences of alcohol, and that “no negative effects have been demonstrated,” citing labels in both France and the United States in a 2017 report.

That was born out by a pilot program for alcohol warning labels in Yukon, said Brazeau, which saw a seven per cent reduction in consumption, he said. The study also found consumers increased their knowledge of the risks of alcohol consumption, according to reporting by CBC. The program was soon pulled after lobbying from the alcohol industry.

Alcohol was classified as a carcinogen in 1988 by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a subsidiary of the WHO. It’s something Brazeau learned about on his journey to recovery, adding he has joined the 25 per cent of Canadians who are aware of the risks of alcohol, Brazeau said.

It’s personal for Brazeau. He was suspended from the Senate from 2013 to 2016 while facing sexual assault and drug charges, as well as a Senate scandal. He was acquitted in the sexual assault case and pleaded guilty to simple assault and cocaine possession, according to reporting by CBC. He was also absolved of the fraud charges in the Senate scandal. His life was a mess.

In 2016, in a despairing moment, Brazeau attempted suicide. After he woke up from a medically induced coma, he immediately wanted to change his life for the better. But change didn’t come easily.

Brazeau continued to abuse alcohol “to try and bury the hurt and bury the pain and bury the shame” of a dark period in his life. Whether it was playing golf, attending a hockey game or returning home from work, Brazeau was always scheming for his next drink.

Nonetheless, he began the next chapter of his work, pushing for a suicide prevention study in 2019.

“I was basically digging myself even deeper, but I couldn't see it and I couldn't feel it because I was just so focused on my hurt and pain, and whether I was victimizing myself or not is irrelevant but I thought the world was coming down,” he said.

Now sober, Brazeau says his head is clearer, the excess weight is gone and he’s ready to play the long game. It took a quarter of a century to mandate labels on tobacco products, about the same amount of time Brazeau has left in the Senate, he explained.

As for his home community, Kitigan Zibi Anishnabeg, Brazeau says they know what he went through, particularly the political and partisan aspects of it. But he doesn’t go back often, moving away as part of his healing, to change friends, lifestyle and his scenery, Brazeau explained.

“I think I'd say that most are ready to give me a second chance. But that's not something that I focus on or think about,” he said.

“It's a work in progress, I take it day by day, and it's not always easy every day… but I just feel the need to do this.”

His work in the Senate now is focused on mitigating alcohol abuse and preventing suicide, with a report on the latter due in the spring.

“This is my way of trying to give back in terms of what I know and my experiences and my expertise in this, to send a message out,” he said.

Brazeau speaks specifically to First Nations communities ravaged by residential schools, colonial violence and the lack of services and resources to cope with trauma.

“People are hurting, there are no proper services to turn to (for) help, so they turn to these things.”

If you are struggling with your mental health or know someone who is, there is help. Resources are available online at crisisservicescanada.ca, or you can connect to the national suicide prevention helpline at 1-833-456-4566 or the Kids Help Phone at 1-800-668-6868. First Nations people, Métis and Inuit can also reach out to Hope for Wellness at 1-855-242-3310 or the Kamatsiaqtut Help Line at 1-800-265-3333.

Matteo Cimellaro, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada's National Observer

UNLIKE TRUMP HE GOT BUSTED

Crown wants Quebec sex assault case of fashion mogul Peter Nygard to move forward

Mon, February 6, 2023 



MONTREAL — The Quebec lawyer prosecuting the sexual assault case against Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard told the court Monday the complainant wants proceedings to move forward more quickly.

Nygard's case in Quebec has been put off for months. The 81-year-old founder of a defunct international women's clothing company faces one count of sexual assault and one count of forcible confinement involving incidents that allegedly took place in Quebec between Nov. 1, 1997, and Nov. 15, 1998.

He also faces sex-related charges in Toronto, where he is currently detained, and in the United States, where authorities say he used his position in the fashion industry to lure women and girls.

Prosecutor Jérôme Laflamme had told reporters it was expected that a trial date would be set on Monday. But Nygard's lawyer was not ready to proceed, and Quebec court Judge André Perreault put off the case once more, until April 14.

"The prosecution will be expecting a final position on this case at the next date so that we can move things along a little bit," Laflamme told Perreault. "It's been a little while since the initial arraignment and the plaintiff, she wants things to move."

Nygard was first arrested in Winnipeg in 2020 under the Extradition Act after being charged with nine sex-related counts in New York. He is also the subject of a class-action lawsuit in the U.S. involving 57 women who allege Nygard abused his position in the fashion industry and sexually assaulted them.

The fallen fashion entrepreneur was charged in Toronto in 2021 with six counts of sexual assault and three counts of forcible confinement involving incidents between the late 1980s and mid-2000s. He will face trial in Toronto in September 2023.

Two additional sex assault charges were laid by Toronto police in June 2022.

The Quebec charges were filed in March 2022, and Nygard waived his right to bail hearing in that province last July.

Nygard has denied all the allegations against him, and he is appealing a U.S. extradition order. That appeal is scheduled to be heard in Winnipeg on April 26.

In March 2022, federal Justice Minister David Lametti said Nygard could be extradited to the U.S. once his Canadian cases are settled.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 6, 2023.

Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press

Indigenous course to continue after lawyers vote to keep Alberta law society rule for mandated education

Mon, February 6, 2023 

The Law Society of Alberta held a meeting Monday in response to a petition to remove the rule that mandates education, in the wake of a new Indigenous course. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press - image credit)

Alberta lawyers have voted to keep the rule allowing the law society to mandate legal education which has, so far, only been used for an Indigenous course.

On Monday, more than 3,400 lawyers logged into the Law Society of Alberta's "special meeting," which resulted in a vote of 864 for and 2,609 against removing the power for the regulator to implement continuing education.

The meeting was held after the law society received a petition, signed by 50 lawyers, which proposed a resolution to get rid of Rule 67.4.

While some of the signatories are open about their opposition to the mandated course itself, others were adamant that the root of the issue is the ability for the law society to mandate education and the automatic suspension as a consequence for failing to complete the course.

The law society released a brief statement saying it's "pleased" that Rule 67.4 was affirmed by the vote.

"Clearly, the issues discussed at the special meeting have captured the attention of many Alberta lawyers and the wider public," said president Ken Warren. "This rule is significant for the law society to continue to carry out our duties of self-regulation in the public interest."

Petition triggers vote

The Path is a free, five-hour online course that teaches Indigenous cultural competency. All lawyers in the province were required to complete the Path by October 2022.

After receiving a petition signed by 50 of the province's 11,100 lawyers, the law society issued notice of a special meeting, which began at 11 a.m. Monday and ended with the vote just before 1 p.m. MT.

In a letter sent to the province's lawyers last week, the Law Society of Alberta's benchers, also known as its board, asked for support in opposing the resolution to be tabled Monday.

The letter was distributed to lawyers in the province last Tuesday and focused on what the benchers described as the "privilege" of self-regulation.

"This motion comes as self-regulating professions face intense scrutiny," wrote the benchers.

The mandatory course was developed in direct response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's Call to Action 27. It asks the Federation of Law Societies of Canada to "ensure that lawyers receive appropriate cultural competency training."

Google notifying Canadian employees affected by global layoff of 12,000 workers

Mon, February 6, 2023 


TORONTO — Canadian Google employees affected by recently announced job cuts were being told Monday whether they have been laid off.

Google Canada spokesperson Lauren Skelly confirmed in an email that notifications were being sent to staff impacted by the cuts announced last month.

Skelly wouldn't say how many Canadians are due to be laid off and in what departments or cities they work, but said Canada remains an important and priority market for Google.

However, LinkedIn posts showed software engineers and user experience designers in Kitchener, Ont. were among those that lost their jobs.

Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Google and parent company Alphabet, told staff in mid-January that his company would be laying off 12,000 workers.

"Over the past two years we’ve seen periods of dramatic growth," he said, in a blog post revealing the cuts.

"To match and fuel that growth, we hired for a different economic reality than the one we face today."

The reality that materialized pushed him to undertake a "rigorous" review across product areas and functions to ensure roles are aligned with the company's top priorities.

"The roles we’re eliminating reflect the outcome of that review," Pichai said. "They cut across Alphabet, product areas, functions, levels and regions."

Within days of his announcement, Google shared that it would close the Edmonton office owned by its artificial intelligence subsidiary DeepMind.

The U.K.-headquartered subsidiary plans to consolidate its remaining operations, but maintain its Montreal and Toronto offices, which are located within Google-managed buildings.

Researchers at the Edmonton office have been offered the chance to relocate to another DeepMind site, Skelly said.

Other companies that have laid off staff or reorganized operations in recent months as investor and economic sentiments shift include Shopify, Netflix, Amazon, Wealthsimple, Clearco and Hootsuite.

Layoffs aggregator Layoffs.fyi counts 94,838 staff across 297 global tech companies who have been laid off already this year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 6, 2023.

Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press

EV'S IN OIL COUNTRY
Birch Hills County, AB is latest to plug into charging station

Mon, February 6, 2023

Birch Hills County installed three electric vehicle charging stations earlier this month, inclusive of a Level 3 station that is available to the public at all times.

The Hypercharge stations were open to the public on Jan. 20. The Level 3 Charger has connectors for both Tesla and J-1772.

“We were able to access the Electric Vehicle Charging Program under the Municipal Climate Change Action Centre (MCCAC),” says CAO Larry Davidson.

“The grant provided 100 per cent of funding. We actually installed two Level 2 chargers within the Birch Hills County compound for our own future use, as well as a Level 3 charger for public use.”

The Level 3 Charger is the first for Alberta north of Edmonton, a step that is expected to increase electric vehicle traffic that will be visiting the northern part of the province.

“We saw it as an opportunity to attract traffic to our businesses and communities that would otherwise not typically be visited,” says Davidson.

“Council wanted to ensure that EV vehicles could charge within a 30-minute charge cycle as opposed to the typical Level 2 charger which needs several hours.”

Davidson says council is aware it will take time for people to adapt to electric vehicles, but their goal was to attract more visitors to the county.

Birch Hills’ Level 3 charger is located on the southwest corner of the Birch Hills County office parking lot at 4601-50 Street in Wanham.

“Council feels this is an opportunity to utilize grant funding to provide a new service that would otherwise be unavailable for many years,” says Davidson.

“We also see this as an opportunity to take advantage of future grant funding for electric vehicles for our own fleet.”

The Level 3 charger rate is $0.33 per minute, trying to stay similar in cost to Petro Canada and Canadian Tire locations that offer the service in the province. Davidson says a typical charge on an EV at a Level 3 charger will be about $10. The County has recently also added the charger to Plugshare so that public will know that it is accessible.

“It will take time, but based on our energy rates and the rates we charge for charging, we should make a small profit after considering power consumption and maintenance,” Davidson says.

“Council is proud to be a leader in implementing new technologies that will benefit our communities.” A Level 2 charger will be installed at the Falher Town office, a Level 2 and a Level 3 at the M.D. of Smoky River office, and a Level 3 charger in the Town of Slave Lake.

Local municipalities are taking advantage of grants being offered to help improve infrastructure. Two Level 2 chargers were also installed last year at the Northern Sunrise County office near Peace River.

If other municipalities are interested in applying for grant money to apply for EV charging infrastructure, at the time of publication there was still money available through SouthGrow for approximately 46 per cent of the installation and equipment cost.

Emily Plihal Local Journalism Initiative Reporter - South Peace News - southpeacenews.com

Emily Plihal, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, South Peace News

Quebec minister 'surprised' asylum seekers given free bus tickets from New York City

Mon, February 6, 2023 



MONTREAL — Quebec's immigration minister says she was "surprised" to learn the City of New York is helping to provide free bus tickets to migrants heading north to claim asylum in Canada.

Christine Fréchette says the story highlights the need for Ottawa to solve the problem at Roxham Road, which is an unofficial border crossing south of Montreal used by tens of thousands of people last year to claim asylum.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams told Fox 5 this morning that his administration helps in the "re-ticketing process" for people who arrive in the city but want to go elsewhere.

He told the news station that the city does not push or force people to leave but some express a desire to move on to other places, including Canada.

His comments come after the New York Post reported that some migrants in New York City are being given free tickets to Plattsburgh, N.Y., from where they travel about half an hour by shuttle or taxi to cross into Quebec at Roxham Road.

An official with Adams' office said the city doesn't treat requests for bus tickets to Plattsburgh any differently than those for other American cities.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 6, 2023.

Why some migrants turn around and head back to NYC after free bus ride to near Canadian border

Tue, February 7, 2023 

Freezing rain clings to a 'do not enter' sign at Roxham Road on Jan. 5, 2022. Migrants are being bused near the area from New York City. (Charles Contant/CBC - image credit)

At the Port Authority in New York City, Ilze Thielmann greets would-be refugees as they step off buses.

Many of them were put on buses in southern U.S. states, where officials say they are unable to deal with the deepening migrant crisis.

Thielmann's non-profit organization, Team TLC, and others like it get funding from New York City to help those new arrivals get where they want to go. The process is called "re-ticketing."

Many of them want to go north, to Plattsburgh, N.Y. — the closest town to Roxham Road, an irregular border crossing into Canada used by asylum seekers.

CBC

"They want to cross the Canadian border and take their chances there," Thielmann said. "They think that there are all these jobs up there. They think they're going to be able to get asylum very easily up there and that's just not the case."

Re-ticketing in New York City is not a shocking or surprising process, advocates in Montreal say. But getting a job is often not as easy as the migrants think and overburdened community services are struggling to handle the number of people who are crossing into Canada. As a result, Theilmann said some re-ticketed migrants turn around and come right back.

The New York Post first reported on Sunday that migrants in New York City were receiving free bus tickets — courtesy of charities funded by New York taxpayers — to go to Plattsburgh.

From there, many of them board taxis to Roxham Road, where they enter Canada illegally and claim asylum.

New York Mayor Eric Adams said in an interview with a local television station on Tuesday morning that the city has a partnership with charities to help migrants leave.

"Those who are seeking to go somewhere else, [we're] not we're pushing or forcing — if they're seeking to go somewhere else, we are helping in the re-ticketing process," he told Fox 5 TV's Good Day New York.

"We found that people had other destinations, but they were being compelled only to come to New York City … Some want to go to Canada, some want to go to warmer states, and we are there for them as they continue to move on with their pursuit of this dream."

Not so different from Quebec

Eva Gracia-Turgeon, the co-ordinator of Foyer du Monde, a shelter for asylum claimants in Montreal, said she was not shocked to learn New York City was helping asylum seekers leave the city.

New York is aware "that a lot of people cannot live in that city anymore because of the prices, because of the lack of housing," and so it gives tickets for people to go elsewhere, she said, "somewhere they can actually find a house or maybe meet a family member."

The move, in her opinion, is not so different from migrants in Montreal being encouraged to move to Quebec's regions, and New York City is providing migrants with safe transportation to reach locations they would likely be heading to anyway.

CBC

"I don't see where the problem is exactly," she said. "I think the problem is, for a lot of politicians, the fact [that] Roxham Road exists. And they want to point to [re-ticketing] as another element for closing Roxham Road, where it's not the solution."

"You can put a wall, you can close a road, but it's still not going to change the situation. You still need to take care of the people you receive in your own province, in your own country."

Abdulla Daoud, the executive director of the Refugee Centre in Montreal, says he doesn't think New York paying for bus tickets for migrants is contributing to a new wave of people crossing at Roxham Road.

The bigger problem, he says, is the slow crawl of federal government bureaucracy that delays asylum seekers as they seek work permits in Canada. These delays leave them reliant on public assistance and overburdened community services.

The Quebec government on Monday announced an investment of $3.5 million to 12 organizations in Montreal, Laval, Montérégie and Quebec City to provide support to migrants.

"I appreciate Quebec's announcement of investing more into community groups," Daoud said, "but this should also be a federal thing. And if we regulate the crossings in a way, by cancelling [the Safe Third Country Agreement] completely, it will actually help individuals cross at different points throughout Canada. That way, the brunt isn't just on Quebec."

Suspend Safe 3rd Country Agreement

It's a sentiment echoed by opposition parties in Quebec, who say the flood of migrants using Roxham Road demonstrates the need to suspend the Safe Third Country Agreement.

The agreement, signed in 2002 between Canada and the United States, means that migrants must submit their asylum application in the first of the two countries they enter and cannot try a second time at an official border crossing.

If they try to cross into Canada at an official land border crossing, because of the agreement, they will be turned away.

But the agreement only applies to claims made at official border crossings. If a refugee enters Canada illegally, via Roxham Road, for example, and then claims asylum on Canadian soil, the Safe Third Country Agreement does not apply.

Québec Solidaire co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois said the agreement should be suspended so migrants stop crossing irregularly at Roxham Road, where the passage can be dangerous, and instead seek asylum at official crossings.

"It has been going on for too long already," Nadeau-Dubois said. "It's easy to play politics on the back of Roxham Road. It's harder to propose pragmatic solutions that will work and protect people."

Marc Tanguay, the interim leader of the Liberal party, urged the federal government to renegotiate the Safe Third Country Agreement so "the U.S. takes more responsibility and doesn't become just a crossing ground, that the U.S. doesn't let states take these poor people and put them on buses that bring them to the border. These are people, not merchandise."