It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Friday, March 03, 2023
Launch event “International Day for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Awareness”
March 3, 2023
To mark the first-ever International Day for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Awareness, the Permanent Mission of Kyrgyzstan to the United Nations together with the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs co-hosted a virtual launch event on Wednesday March 1, 2023.
The event served the purpose of commemorating the new international Day with Member States, organizations of the United Nations system, civil society, youth, academia, media, and other interested parties.
Additionally, this inaugural event provided the opportunity to spotlight the role of disarmament education as a tool for peace and security, as highlighted in the resolution.
Launch event speakers via Zoom.
Background
The International Day for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Awareness seeks to promote awareness and better understanding of disarmament and non-proliferation issues among the public.
Since the founding of the United Nations, the goals of multilateral disarmament and non-proliferation have been central to the Organization’s efforts to maintain international peace and security.
Weapons of mass destruction, in particular nuclear weapons, continue to be of primary concern, owing to their destructive power and the threat that they pose to humanity. New and emerging weapon technologies, such as autonomous weapons, imperil global security and have received increased attention from the international community in recent years.
Observed on 5 March, the day that the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons entered into force, the International Day for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Awareness plays a role in deepening the global public’s understanding about how disarmament efforts contribute to enhancing peace and security, preventing and ending armed conflicts, and curbing human suffering caused by weapons.
Through resolution A/RES/77/51, the General Assembly invites all Member States, the organizations of the United Nations system, civil society, academia, the media and individuals to commemorate the International Day, including through all means of educational and public awareness-raising activities.
The officers said they used their own funds throughout the election expecting that they would be refunded.
Some policemen have expressed dissatisfaction with the non-payment of their allowances for work done during the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly polls.
Some of the officers who spoke to SaharaReporters said the promise they received was that they would be paid before the poll but were surprised that up till now they have not been paid.
They also threatened to boycott the March 11 governorship and state house of assembly elections.
The officers said they used their own funds throughout the election expecting that they would be refunded.
“Nigerian police officers are suffering in terms of salaries. Imagine, after working diligently for the elections, police are entitled to collect N150,000 for election allowances but we didn't get any money,” a female Superintendent of Police told SaharaReporters on Friday.
“Those that received; just a few of us got N35,000. Please come to our aid, we police are working but suffering in terms of our salaries. Kindly tell our IGP (Inspector General of Police) to pay us our money. Even our arrears that the President signed for us, we were not paid.”
Another aggrieved officer attached to a police command in Southeast Nigeria said, “I am a police inspector serving in Imo state command. I know several times you have been fighting through newspaper publications for the police authority to pay the outstanding six months’ arrears but all to no avail.
“This time around, the presidential election allowances are another thing that is making us feel dejected. Some selected personnel have collected their allowances. While the majority of us, especially those receiving salaries from Nigeria Police Microfinance Bank, have not been paid.
“Till date, no reason was given. The allowance is N35,000 flat rate. Other banks paid before the general elections. Many of us have not received it across the country. The Nigeria police microfinance bank has not paid the money. They are even frustrating everyone collecting salaries in the bank with their poor service.
“They don't pay salaries on time, even when they pay, one cannot access the money. Transfer is not working, ATMs are not working, cash is not available, we are suffering.”
Another officer accused the police authorities of diverting the funds.
“Even Police constables that passed out in December are affected. Up till now, the IGP didn't pay their salaries.
“Even election allowances, they were not paid, they are heading to the third month without salaries, they are really suffering as well.”
Muyiwa Adejobi, the Force’s Public Relations Officer, did not immediately respond when his comment was sought by SaharaReporters.
Protesters in Colombia clash with oil company and take hostages
A civilian and police officer have died in violent demonstrations calling for Emerald Energy to invest in rural communities.
Colombia’s human rights ombudsman meets with police and demonstrators in San Vicente del Caguan, Colombia, on March 2 [Colombian Ombudsman Office/Reuters]
Caracas, Venezuela – Colombia’s Defence Minister Ivan Velasquez and the commander of its armed forces, Helder Giraldo, have landed in Caqueta province to seek the release of dozens of police officers and oilfield workers taken hostage during deadly protests.
At least 79 police officers and nine oilfield workers have been held since Thursday, as protesters demand that the oil company Emerald Energy invest in surrounding rural communities.
An officer and civilian died in confrontations between riot police and protesters, as demonstrators took control of the oil company’s offices. Police sources indicate that the civilian was shot to death, while the officer suffered a stab wound.
“The homicide of Subintendant Ricardo Arley Monroy, who was mercilessly killed when he was defenceless in the power of his captors, deserves general repudiation,” Velasquez tweeted late on Thursday, referring to the police officer killed. “Nothing, nothing justifies this act.”
Other cabinet ministers are expected to join Velasquez and Giraldo on Friday in San Vicente del Caguan, a town in southern Colombia where much of the violence is centred. They include Minister of the Interior Alfonso Prada and Minister of Transportation Guillermo Reyes.
Colombian Defence Minister Ivan Velasquez has travelled to San Vicente del Caguan to address demonstrations by rural residents [File: Luisa Gonzalez/Reuters]
On Friday, the office of Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, announced that six oilfield workers remained in the protesters’ custody, down from the nine reported earlier in the week. There was no update on the number of police officers held, however.
“It’s important that farmers free the police that they have in their custody,” Velasquez tweeted.
Petro echoed calls for the hostages’ release. “I insist on the unilateral release of the police officers,” he posted on Twitter. “The protection of their integrity is essential for the government.”
Twenty-two protesters have also been injured, according to a local farming association involved in the demonstrations.
Police told the news agency Reuters that dissidents from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a disbanded rebel group, could be involved in the violence. In 2016, the FARC signed a peace deal that some members rejected, in favour of continued armed action.
But Alexander Ospina, a spokesperson for the communities involved in the protests, told Al Jazeera he had seen no indication of involvement from FARC dissidents. He said such rumours seemed intended to delegitimise the rural communities’ fight.
Protesters have called for Emerald Energy to help fix roads and invest in local institutions, including schools. As part of the unrest, members of local communities have blocked access to one of the company’s oilfields.
President Gustavo Petro has called for the hostages to be released as tensions between an oil company and rural communities ramp up [File: Luisa Gonzalez/Reuters]
Ospina said demonstrators are waiting for the arrival of government officials to begin talks. They hope to reach a deal with the government over what they consider Emerald Energy’s obligation to build infrastructure for local communities and provide compensation for environmental damage.
“To de-escalate the situation, we need to sign agreements with the government that correspond to our reality,” Ospina said. “If the oil companies don’t want to invest in our communities, then the government should remove the oil companies from our lands.”
But Prada, Colombia’s Interior minister, has announced that the government will only fully enter negotiations with the protesters once the hostages are freed.
“We have said that an absolutely insurmountable requirement to sit down to talk with a large body of the national government in relation to the social issues of the community is naturally the immediate release of our members of the National Police and six workers,” Prada said.
About 4,000 farmers, representing more than 150 farming and Indigenous communities, are present for the protests, Ospina said.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA
Parasites That Feasted on Extinct Tasmanian Tiger Still Exist: 'Remarkable'
Parasites that once feasted on the extinct Tasmanian tiger, otherwise known as the Thylacine, surprisingly still exist today.
One of these parasites, a species of flea, has managed to survive even though the last known Tasmanian tiger died in 1936.
Thylacines were native to the Australian mainland, as well as the islands of Tasmania and New Guinea. The iconic species first appeared around 4 million years ago and was the largest living carnivorous marsupial before it vanished, driven in part by human persecution.
While the last known thylacine died at a zoo in Tasmania in 1936, it was not until 1982 that the International Union for Conservation of Nature declared the species extinct.
A Thylacine in captivity circa 1930. These animals are thought to be extinct—the last known Tasmanian tiger died in 1936.
At the time, international standards dictated that 50 years must pass with no confirmed records of an animal before it could officially be declared extinct.
Given that scientists know relatively little about the Thylacine itself, knowledge of its parasites is surprisingly robust.
"Fortunately for us, the last Thylacine died relatively recently, in 1936, and over the century or so prior to that, support for science and natural history in Australia grew steadily. That meant that there were scientists and museum curators out collecting specimens, including Thylacines and their parasites," Mackenzie Kwak, a parasitologist at Hokkaido University in Japan, told Newsweek.
"Many of those specimens are still protected in museums today, which gives researchers like me the opportunity to learn more about them and share that information with the public and other scientists."
Kwak, who was born and raised in Australia, said he got "hooked" on parasitology in his last year of pursuing his bachelor's degree and has been researching parasites ever since.
"I think almost every Aussie—myself included—has an innate fascination with the Thylacine, not only because it's an Australian icon but also because it was such a large and spectacular animal."
Three parasite species have been recorded from the Thylacine: the aforementioned flea, a roundworm and a tapeworm.
"Interestingly though, the roundworm and tapeworm were accidental infections, with the roundworms originating from a hapless pigeon which was caught and eaten by a Thylacine in the London Zoo and the tapeworm likely having been contracted by a Thylacine eating scats of a Tasmanian devil," Kwak said.
"However, the Thylacine probably had many other parasites if their relatives, the quolls and Tasmanian devils, are any indicator. Sadly though, any chance of understanding these other mystery parasites probably vanished when the Thylacine became extinct," he said.
An illustration of the thylacine and its parasites. The burrowing flea (Uropsylla tasmanica) is the only natural parasite of the Thylacine that still exists today.
MACKENZIE KWAK/J. GOULD
The parasites of the Tasmanian tiger likely did not cause too much harm to their host, according to Kwak.
"In most cases, we find that parasites which have co-evolved with their hosts over a long period of time typically converge on a fairly amicable existence with their host," he said. "Increasingly, we are also realizing that parasites can actually help to train the host's immune system which can help to reduce the risk of allergies and autoimmune diseases. So, parasites may have even benefited the Thylacine in their own small way."
The burrowing flea (Uropsylla tasmanica) is the only natural parasite of the Thylacine that still persists today. It survives in Australia on quolls and Tasmanian devils—two other types of carnivorous marsupials.
Kwak said it's surprising that this flea still exists given that it was specialized to live on the Thylacine.
"Very often when a species goes extinct, its host-specific parasites become extinct as well—a process we call an extinction cascade. So, to have the burrowing flea alive and well today is remarkable, especially when you consider that the quolls and Tasmanian devils that it survives on are actually quite distantly related to the Thylacine and belong to an entirely different family of marsupials," he said.
"The flea seems to have 'hedged its bets' by parasitizing a range of carnivorous marsupials—a quirk of its ecology, but a very lucky quirk nonetheless!"
The burrowing flea had a "very unique" relationship with the Thylacine, according to Kwak.
"Unlike other fleas, the larvae of burrowing fleas are also parasitic and embed themselves within the skin of the host, though the adults are much like the typical fleas most people know and loath," he said. "They would have lived within the fur of the Thylacine, taking small blood meals from their host."
Almost a century since the last known Thylacine died, some scientists have started working on the "de-extinction" of the species. If these efforts, which are utilizing advanced gene-editing technology, turn out to be successful, there will be significant implications for the burrowing flea.
"If the Thylacine were to be resurrected through de-extinction science, sooner or later conservationists would push for it to be rewilded into Tasmania so that it could once again fulfill its ecological functions," Kwak said.
"Given that the burrowing flea and its remaining hosts are already widespread in Tasmania, it would really only be a matter of time until the fleas 'rewilded' themselves back onto the Thylacine. Perhaps by 2040, Tasmania may again have the burrowing fleas and Thylacine together back in the ecosystem just as they were 200 years ago in 1840!"
Until the world stops or slows our greenhouse gas emissions, we won't know just how severe climate change effects like sea level rise and extreme weather will be. A new framework could help communities when making often irreversible climate adaptation decisions under this uncertainty—so they're not spending so much that they're left servicing unnecessary debt, and not spending so little that they're left unprotected.
Graeme Guthrie, a New Zealand economics researcher, suggests the framework says adaptation decisions like stormwater upgrades are mostly made by local authorities with limited analytical resources, so it's designed to be easily used at the local scale.
The scale of public investment needed to successfully adapt to climate change will depend on the magnitude of that change. For example, communities will need to increase the capacity of their stormwater systems to cope with intense rainfall, but they do not know how much additional capacity will be required. The situation facing Dunedin is typical. NIWA estimates that a 1-in-100 year rainfall event will currently see 141mm of rain falling in a 24-hour period. By 2090, this estimate increases to 148mm under RCP2.6 and 172mm under RCP8.5.2 The demands on Dunedins stormwater system, and the amount of new investment required, depend crucially on which climate scenario unfolds.
Uncertainty about the magnitude of climate change will remain high for many years (decades, according to some experts), before gradually falling as scientists learn more about the change in climate. If climate change is less severe than communities expect, they may end up spending too much on adaptation; if it is more severe than expected, they may not spend enough. The nature of adaptation investment makes these errors extremely costly for society. Much adaptation investment will be irreversible, so if communities build too much, they will be left servicing debt used to build capacity they will never need. On the other hand, if communities do not build enough, they will either be stuck with high flooding costs in the future or they will need to invest again—with all the additional cost that entails. The final option—that communities delay investment until they have a clear idea of how much capacity will be needed—would leave communities under-protected in the meantime.
There are no low-cost adaptation options, but some options are less costly than others. Policymakers aim should be to choose adaptation options that minimize the overall cost to society, where these costs include the funds spent on adapting and the costs incurred by the community when flooding and other weather-related events occur.
Real options analysis (ROA) is an ideal decision-support tool because it can handle the flexibility embedded in investment programs, such as the ability to accelerate, delay, or rescale investment. It takes mathematical techniques originally developed for pricing particular types of financial securities and uses them to calculate the values of the various investment options available to decision-makers. Of these options, perhaps the most important one is the option to wait, learn more about the magnitude of climate change, and then invest. Investment is only socially optimal if the payoff from investing is greater than the option value of waiting.
This paper, which has been published in the Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, presents a new real options framework that incorporates current uncertainty about climate change and how that uncertainty might change over time. It uses this framework to investigate the best way to upgrade an urban stormwater system in response to future climate change. Optimal investment policies can be expressed in many equivalent forms, but the most useful one involves the benefit-cost ratio. Whenever investment might occur, we can calculate the ratio of the present value of the projects future benefits to the present value of the future costs. If this ratio is high enough, then it is optimal to invest. Standard cost-benefit analysis leads to investment occurring as soon as this ratio is greater than one, but this paper shows that such a policy is far too aggressive. It is typically optimal to wait until a projects benefits are much greater than its costs before investment is truly optimal—at least 60% higher for the baseline case considered in the paper. The investment criterion is even more demanding when economic conditions are more volatile, when expected economic growth is faster, and when climate change is expected to be more severe.
Much adaptation spending will fund relatively small projects under the jurisdiction of local authorities. These authorities have the local knowledge and incentives that are essential to good decision-making, but many of them have limited analytical resources. This is unfortunate because real options analysis can be complex and resource intensive. It is not widely used, particularly for relatively small projects. If society is to retain the benefits of local decision-making, then the decision-makers need approaches that are simple enough to be useful for evaluating small- and medium-scale adaptation decisions yet retain a degree of economic rigor. This paper proposes one such approach.
The most difficult part of ROA is calculating the option value of waiting. The alternative approach developed in this paper uses tools that are familiar to most practitioners to calculate an approximate option value of waiting. The alternative rule involves replacing the fully optimal value of the delay option with its value assuming investment is delayed until the best fixed future date, which requires one standard cost-benefit calculation for each possible future investment date. The approximate option value is the maximum of these values. A decision-maker using this alternative rule invests once no fixed future investment date implies a greater net present value than investing immediately. Investment is delayed significantly past the date when the benefit-cost ratio equals one, but it still occurs earlier than under the optimal investment policy.
For the next few decades at least, the acceleration in investment compared to optimal investment timing is moderate. The welfare losses that result from using this simple rule are remarkably small, usually just a few percent of the level of welfare if full ROA is used instead. These welfare losses are only substantial if economic conditions are very volatile, expected economic growth is low, and climate uncertainty will fall rapidly. However, for typical projects in typical conditions, it appears to be possible to capture most of the benefits of full ROA using simple techniques that will make scarce analytical resources stretch further.
This paper is the first output of a larger project supported by the Deep South Challenge as part of its "Living With Uncertainty" program. The second stage of this project, which is currently underway, investigates richer option structures and evaluates the performance of even simpler alternatives to full ROA.
More information: Graeme Guthrie, Optimal adaptation to uncertain climate change, Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.jedc.2023.104621
WORLD BANK REPORT Cattle market in Southern Madagascar. Photo: Jo de Berry/World Bank
Between 2018 and 2022, Southern Madagascar experienced a prolonged drought as rainfall became scarcer amid a changing climate. Food security was devastated and widespread hunger ensued to reach near-famine proportions. The impoverishment and health impacts of malnutrition and stunting caused by these lean years will be felt for years to come.
"In 2020, the World Bank teamed up with researchers at the Global Studies Institute, California State University, and put in place a monitoring system to track the social impacts of the drought in Southern Madagascar."
Dry river in Southern Madagascar. Photo: Tangala Mamy/World Bank
This monitoring system revealed important social trends during the drought and recovery period in Southern Madagascar. Here are three key trends uncovered by the survey:
1) Drought has resulted in a perceived increase in rates of violence against women.
Even before the drought, life in Southern Madagascar was particularly hard for women. Regions in the south already had the highest rates of violence against women and girls, particularly concerning sexual violence, with 16% of women and girls reporting violence compared to the national average of 7%. Cultural norms and beliefs about gender, along with ambiguous and weak laws about violence, contributed to the issue.
2) Communal violence including theft and cattle raiding rose during the drought.
Low-level community conflict has been long persistent in Southern Madgascar. Cattle raiding in the region is driven by organised groups, but at a local level attracts young men seeking income. Survey respondents linked the increased hunger and poverty during the drought to a rise in opportunistic cattle raiding, as well as other acts of harm such as theft, kidnapping and murder as people tried to access income through any means possible.
Montreal university says no indication donation by Chinese billionaire was suspect
Thu, March 2, 2023
MONTREAL — The Montreal university that was promised an $800,000 donation as part of an alleged plot by the Chinese government to influence Justin Trudeau said the pledge came at a different time in Canada-China relations.
The Globe and Mail, citing an unnamed national security source, published a report earlier this week alleging that a Chinese diplomat instructed Chinese billionaire Zhang Bin in 2014 to donate $1 million in honour of Pierre Elliott Trudeau as part of a plan by Beijing to influence his son.
The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation said Wednesday it will return the $200,000 donation.
Asked Thursday whether the university would do the same, Heinrich said the school was reviewing its options "in light of the available information."
The Canadian Press has not been able to reach Niu and Zhang for comment.
The news about the donations came in the context of allegations of Chinese interference in Canadian elections. The federal Liberal government has faced pressure in recent weeks following media reports that cite unnamed security sources and leaked intelligence alleging China meddled in the last two elections.
National security agencies say they have seen attempted interference by China in the last two ballots, but not enough to affect electoral integrity.
On Wednesday, Heinrich said the university's law faculty received $550,000 to create a scholarship named on behalf of the two Chinese businessmen, adding that a final payment of $250,000 was never received. He said the donors had no influence over the students selected for the scholarships, which were last offered in 2018 and were intended to promote exchanges between Canada and China.
A portion of the donation — $50,000 — was intended to be used for a tribute to the elder Trudeau, which Heinrich said would have been a piece of art.
"The completion of this work of art is not currently planned," he said.
He said that since 2016, the international context has changed and the university follows all government regulations around international partnerships.
"Some programs that our law faculty put in place with Chinese partners ended in 2019, notably, summer schools in China and the training program for Chinese judges," he said.
Kovrig and Spavor spent nearly three years detained in Chinese prisons and were released in September 2021, after Meng reached a deal with U.S. prosecutors over fraud and conspiracy charges related to American sanctions against Iran.
Daniel Stanton, a former CSIS agent who is now the director of national security at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute, said universities have to take a harder look at where they get money from, but that it can be difficult for universities to determine if donations may actually be coming from a foreign government.
He said universities have to think about what they're being asked to use the money for and if any partnerships with universities in countries like China may touch on areas of sensitive research, such as around artificial intelligence or technologies used for encryption.
"If it's something like a law school, something non-technical or non-sensitive, then maybe it's not such a big deal," he said in an interview. "But if part of the donation is that students are going to then go back to China and then maybe do some graduate work in an academy that has links to the (People's Liberation Army) or something else like that, that would call into question whether this is a genuine donation or the genuine exchange."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 2, 2023.
— with files from Morgan Lowrie
Jacob Serebrin, The Canadian Press
Unclear whether N.B. employers will face consequences over alleged abuse of foreign workers
Thu, March 2, 2023 The majority of New Brunswick's temporary foreign workers, more than 2,000, work in seafood processing. (CBC - image credit)
The federal government is reviewing a report outlining precarious working conditions for temporary foreign workers in New Brunswick's seafood processing industry, but it's not clear if any specific employers will face repercussions.
Meanwhile an industry representative says the report does not reflect to his experience, and lays the responsibility on the researchers to produce names of offending employers.
On Wednesday, researchers from Dalhousie and St. Thomas universities released a report based on interviews with low-wage temporary foreign workers in New Brunswick in 2020 and 2021.
The report, done in partnership with the Cooper Institute and the Madhu Verma Migrant Justice Centre, includes first-person descriptions of cramped housing and verbal abuse.
Some workers said they were told "it's not a good idea to get sick," were reprimanded for calling an ambulance for a colleague, and felt they were not trained adequately to handle dangerous equipment.
Kayla Hounsell/CBC
Carla Qualtrough, the federal minister of employment, workforce development and disability inclusion, said in a statement the study's findings are "disturbing."
"All allegations of this nature are reviewed and acted upon. If criminal activity is suspected, the information is forwarded to law enforcement agencies," she said.
Qualtrough's office did not confirm whether a specific investigation was triggered by the report. The report did not name any workplaces in order to protect the identity of the interviewees, some of whom still work in New Brunswick and fear reprisals.
In an interview Thursday, Nat Richard, executive director of the Lobster Processors Association in New Brunswick, said the report relies on the first-hand experiences of 14 people out of more than 2,000, and that makes it inaccurate.
"What is portrayed in that report is nowhere close to the reality of our industry," he said
. CBC
The report said workers would only speak on conditions of strict anonymity, and few ever speak out against employers because they fear deportation or not being invited back to work next season.
"If that is true, I cannot condone that," Richard said.
When asked what role his association has in responding to the issues raised by the report, he said he would be happy to hear from the researchers directly.
"If they want to reach out to me and identify who these employers are, I will gladly put them in touch with the responsible federal authorities so these cases can be looked at more carefully," he said.
Dalhousie University
The report's lead author Raluca Bejan, who is an assistant professor of social work at Dalhousie University, said researchers spent months trying to find workers willing to speak.
She said a member of the team speaks Spanish, and that helped them gain the trust of the Mexican community. They were able to interview 15 people, she said, one of whom worked as a mushroom picker and the rest worked in seafood processing. She said researchers used all of the interviews they gathered to compile the report.
Research ethics and their policies dictate that they can't reveal identifying information of those who agreed to be interviewed, Bejan said.
"We cannot destroy people's livelihoods by doing that."
"We won't reveal the name of the employers and the locations because some people want to go back to the same workplaces."
She said even if the employers are identified, she believes the problem lies with the program itself. She said it does not have adequate protections, especially when it comes to housing standards.
A spokesperson for Qualtrough's office said threatening deportation, not adequately informing workers of health and safety regulation and not properly communicating healthcare insurance details are all considered to be contravening the temporary foreign worker program.
She said investigations are triggered by direct complaints from workers, but also from advocacy groups or news reports.
Typically, specific employer names are needed to start an investigation, but that doesn't mean it won't take place. She said the 24/7 tip line is still operational, and workers can always go to advocacy groups and ask them to make complaints on their behalf.
The government has amended the program since researchers conducted the interviews to require employers to make certain the people they hire did not pay recruiters who charge thousands of dollars to help workers secure contracts.
The government is also working on a national housing standards strategy for the low-wage stream of the program, alongside the provinces and territories.
'There's absolutely no obligation ... to return'
Richard said the fact that some workers come back year after year proves the report is not accurate.
"There's absolutely no obligation on the part of these workers to return to the same processing facility year after year, and the vast majority of them do," he said.
When asked whether that may be because some workers have no other option, Richard said working in seafood processing isn't easy, and employers pay several dollars more than the provincial minimum wage of $13.75.
"A lot of these workers tell me they make more in an hour in Canada than they would in their home countries over a whole day, assuming they can even find employment," he said.
"We need these workers desperately in our industry … I think we need to have a little bit more of a reasonable debate about this, not tar everybody with the same brush. Understand that most employers do work very hard to provide decent and safe and welcoming workplaces."
CANADA
Feds release climate taxonomy proposal that includes oilsands-related spending
Fri, March 3, 2023
The federal government has released proposed guidelines on what investments should be considered worthy in the fight against climate change.
Clarity around what's considered eligible is meant to increase investment in these areas to help close a climate spending gap that in Canada alone is estimated to be upwards of $115 billion a year.
The taxonomy report written by the Sustainable Finance Action Council proposes to include both widely accepted green investments like solar panels and electric vehicles, as well as a more contentious "transition" category for emission reduction efforts in heavy industry, including the oilsands.
Environmental groups have criticized the inclusion of oilsands-related investments, as well as so-called blue hydrogen, in the transition category, as they say such projects will still have significant emissions even with reduction efforts, and there are clear alternatives.
The council proposes that there be intensifying restrictions around what emission-reduction efforts on fossil fuel projects would be eligible, but says that there will still be oil and gas demand for decades so it's also important to reduce emissions on existing production.
The proposed rules would disqualify any coal projects or the development of new oilfields from being included, but there is still much to be worked out in terms of details.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 3, 2023.
Newfoundland and Labrador
Smith's Ambulance Services employees discover they lost their jobs from a Facebook post
Fri, March 3, 2023 Janelle Evans, second from left, has worked with Smith's Ambulance Services for almost two years. She discovered she no longer worked with the company via Facebook, after Eastern Health announced there would be a change in the company that provides ambulance services to the Whitbourne area. (Curtis Hicks/CBC - image credit)
Janelle Evans says she spent Thursday evening preparing for her next shift as a primary-care paramedic with Smith's Ambulance Services, her employer for almost two years.
That was until she logged into Facebook and discovered she no longer had the job.
Eastern Health announced Thursday evening that Smith's Ambulance Services would no longer be providing ambulance services to the Whitbourne area.
Evans says she was made aware that Eastern Health had abruptly cut her employer's contract only through social media posts.
"I guess it would've just been nice to find out that I had no job on any other term other than by Facebook," said Evans. "I mean, we still want to be here and we still want to work in Whitbourne and provide the care and the service to these communities and these people that we know."
The health authority said in a press release Thursday that routine and emergency ambulance service to the region will continue and that there will be no change to service levels.
The emergency room in the community has been closed continuously for months because of a lack of staff, and Whitbourne residents have been protesting the ongoing closure.
The town's mayor, Hilda Whelan, says the change in ambulance service providers isn't welcome news for the community.
"We've been serviced by Smith's Ambulance a long time and we've had good service," said Whelan. "Losing them is not good for anybody, for him, for us, or for the employees."
Kenneth Baird, president and interim CEO of Eastern Health, said the health authority changed service providers because of concerns with the former operator's ability to "meet its obligations under the ambulance services contract."
Baird said he couldn't elaborate on specific concerns but he said Eastern Health was directed to replace the operator in the area by the Department of Health and Community Services.
In an emailed statement to CBC News, the Department of Health said, "Due to legal considerations, we are not in a position to provide comment at this time."
In June, Eastern Health accused the private ambulance service of breaching its contract by not responding to a mutual aid call. The company's owner, Wade Smith, isn't currently speaking publicly but he denies the accusation.
Baird said it was Smith's responsibility to tell employees about the change, but acknowledged the operator was given a limited time to do so.
"Time to notify their employees was short," said Baird on Friday. "But that is a process that Smith's would need to speak to."
Urgent care centre
There are two ambulances at the town's William H. Newhook Health Centre. On Friday, one ambulance from Eastern Health and one from the Heart's Delight area were stationed outside the Whitbourne health centre.
Baird says it's a temporary solution, adding the government and the health authority are discussing permanent resolutions. It remains unclear whether Smith's Ambulance Services will be reinstated as the ER's service provider.
"Eastern Health is providing the resource. It does mean there's a little bit of added pressure to the resources available within our capacity," said Baird. "But we do have sufficient resources to meet this demand on a short-term basis."
While Whelan says the town is grateful that ambulance services aren't being affected by the change, she is concerned for the future of Whitbourne's emergency services.
She says there have been discussions with Eastern Health about restoring emergency services, but not on a 24/7 basis. She says there's a possibility the Newhook centre could become an urgent-care centre that would operate for eight to 12 hours a day.
Although having an urgent-care centre is a good idea, she says, it's not what the town wants or needs. It's essential the town has 24/7 emergency service, regardless of whether an urgent-care clinic is provided, and she says she's told Eastern Health that.
"I've told them bluntly that no, we won't accept no less than 24-hour care," said Whelan. "I've fought many battles and I've lost none, and I don't plan on losing this one."
There have been discussions with the community about different emergency care models, said Baird, and Eastern Health continues its effort to recruit staff to provide 24-hour emergency services to the town. He said he expects announcements will be made by the government in "due course."
Ongoing concern
In a press release Friday, Eastern Health said emergency services at the Newhook centre will be temporarily closed due to "human resources challenges" from Mar 6 to 13. The health authority says anyone with a serious medical problem should go to the nearest emergency department in Carbonear, Placentia or St. John's.
It's been eight months of ongoing closures, which Andrew Pretty of Dildo says is nothing short of a disaster.
"I wouldn't call it a health-care crisis. I would call it a health-care disaster," said Pretty. "I'm hearing horror stories about emergency departments being overflowing and people taking hours and hours and hours to be seen for stuff as serious as strokes."
Elaine Thorne of Markland says the abrupt change in ambulance services and ER closures is causing stress for many people.
"It's absolutely ridiculous to let us suffer and not have the health care that we need and should have," said Thorne. "We are a huge area that need urgent care. It's frustrating and it's scary."
PHOTOS Curtis Hicks/CBC
128 B.C. organizations and advocates call on province to legislate pay equity
Thu, March 2, 2023 B.C. has yet to enact promised pay transparency legislation requiring employers to report salary data, bonus pay and overtime for different demographics.
(Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock - image credit)
Dozens of B.C. organizations, advocates and academics have joined forces with an urgent plea for the provincial government to legislate pay equity and close the gender gap.
A total of 128 signatories are included in a March 2 open letter addressed to Premier David Eby and key cabinet ministers, calling on them to bring in a pay equity act "that enshrines in law the responsibility of all employers to identify and close gaps in pay for work of equal value."
The letter says the province's plan for pay transparency legislation, which would require employers to report salary data, bonus pay and overtime for different demographics, doesn't go far enough to solving the problem of unequal pay between the genders.
Humera Jabir, a staff lawyer with signatory West Coast LEAF, said that legislated pay transparency leaves the burden on individual employees to advocate for equal pay.
"The difference is accountability," Jabir told CBC's On the Island.
"Transparency would require employers to report on what the systemic differences are in their organizations with respect to pay. Pay equity legislation includes accountability mechanisms, having to actually shift things, not just report on them."
Statistics Canada numbers from 2018 show that women in British Columbia made 18.6 per cent less to do the same jobs as men, the widest gender pay gap in the country. It is one of four provinces, along with Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland, that doesn't have pay transparency or pay equity legislation.
The coalition behind this week's open letter also includes the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, several labour unions and the B.C. Library Association, who say the gender pay gap is especially stark for Indigenous and Black workers, people of colour and people with disabilities.
It's now been nearly a year since the province announced plans for a pay transparency act on International Women's Day 2022, but it has yet to be introduced in the legislature.
The open letter says that any pay transparency law needs to be "robust and effective," but it must be accompanied by pay equity legislation enacted before the next elections.
"While we appreciate that pay transparency plays a role in promoting equity, your legislation will take no direct action to protect and advance the right to equitable pay," the letter says.
CBC reached out to all the government officials named in the letter, but has yet to receive a response.
