UK Passport Office strike: 'Huge delays' for renewals as staff begin five-week walkout

James Cheng-Morris
·Freelance news writer, Yahoo UK
Mon, 3 April 2023

Queues at passport offices are expected as staff are set to go on strike for five weeks. (Getty Images)

A five-week strike by Passport Office workers will cause “huge delays” for people looking to renew their passport, a union has warned.

British holidaymakers are bracing for severe disruption as more than 1,000 members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union began more than a month of industrial action.

The staff in passport offices in England, Scotland and Wales will take part in walkouts, which are scheduled to run until 5 May.

Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the PCS, warned: “In my opinion there will be huge delays in the already 10 weeks that people are supposed to apply for passports, and there will be huge disruption on the fast-track service that people can use when they want to get a passport quicker.

Read more: Who is on strike today in the UK?

“The Government says it has got contingency measures in place so we’ll see how that works out over the next few days and weeks, but I would expect there to be delays.”

The PCS union has warned of possible delays that could impact holidaymakers.

 (Getty Images)

He said there has been “radio silence” from the Government without even “one minute” of negotiations since strikes began.

Civil servants are to strike throughout April, culminating with another walkout by 133,000 workers at the end of the month, the PCS announced.

It said the huge stoppage will take place on 28 April in an escalation of the long-running dispute over pay, jobs, pensions and conditions.

With the summer holidays only a few months away, Yahoo News UK explains why some Passport Office staff are striking and when people should renew their passports if they are going abroad.

When and why are Passport Office workers striking?

More than 1,000 PCS members working in Durham, Glasgow, Liverpool, London, Newport, Peterborough and Southport will walk out from 3 April to 5 May. Members in Northern Ireland's Passport Office are currently being balloted.

It’s an escalation of a dispute over jobs, pay and conditions.

General secretary Mark Serwotka said: “Our members are not backing down in this dispute.

“Ministers need to take notice that we’re escalating our action and they need to resolve the dispute by putting money on the table.

“We know our strikes have already caused serious disruption. The new strikes and another national day of action will pile the pressure on a government that refuses to listen.”

When do I need to renew my passport by?

Ultimately, the Passport Office says it can take “up to 10 weeks” for the renewal process to be completed, though a recent National Audit Office report said the processing time for “straightforward applications” was just 12 days in September last year.

Even so, if we go by the Passport Office’s guidance, 10 weeks is getting well into summer holiday territory.

Also, consider a quarter of the Passport Office’s 4,000-strong workforce will be striking for half of this time.

And the fact the office processes six million passport applications a year. This averages 115,000 a week, meaning about 600,000 applications could be received during the five-week strike period where there will be a depleted workforce.

Given you have no chance of going abroad with an out-of-date passport, it’s best not to leave anything to chance.

Strike or no strike, it’s safest to apply as soon as possible if your current passport is expiring (also note that if you're visiting an EU country from the UK, your passport will need to be valid for at least three months after the date you intend to leave, and be less than 10 years old).

Could it affect my summer holidays?

The PCS, as mentioned above, warned the strike will have a “significant impact” on the delivery of passports. But the government, responding to the union's announcement, has said there are no plans to change the 10-week guidance.

A Downing Street spokesman said: “There are no current plans to change the guidance that people should allow up to 10 weeks to get a passport.

"The Home Office will work hard to manage the impact of this strike action to ensure they can still provide the vital service to the British public as you would expect ahead of ahead of the summer where we fully acknowledge that many people will want to get away and enjoy the summer with their family.

“So we will do everything we can to mitigate the impact of the strikes.”

Read more: 'People used to clap': Why striking junior doctors are so fed-up
How much do passport workers earn?

The average figure is not available on the government's website, but current vacancies at the Passport Office show salaries of £22,400 for a document controller, up to £27,650 for a counter fraud officer and up to £27,650 for a customer service team leader.

Serwotka said the government is treating its "own workforce [including Passport Office staff] worse than anyone else".

"They’ve had six months to resolve this dispute but for six months have refused to improve their 2% imposed pay rise, and failed to address our members’ other issues of concern."

Passport Office staff paid less than supermarket workers, claims union


Emma Lawson
Mon, 3 April 2023 

Passport Office staff in Scotland could make more money “working in a cafe or supermarket”, a union representative has said as workers begin a five-week strike in a row over jobs, pay, pensions and conditions.

More than 1,000 members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) at eight sites are walking out in an escalation of the long-running row.

Workers are picketing outside eight Passport Office sites across the UK, including in Glasgow, and calling for a 10% pay rise.

PCS Scotland branch secretary Andrew Bain told PA news agency: “We’ve actually had two pay rises this year, because our lowest grade would have fallen under the National Minimum wage. That’s just how close we are to the breadline at the moment.

“We think 10% is perfectly fair, we have half of our members spending 50% of their wages on housing. It’s not a great situation for us to be facing.

“We’ve got members who are having to rely on Government benefits and foodbanks just to get through the month. It’s a shocking situation for workers of the Government to be in. They could find better wages working in the cafes and shops in Glasgow.”

He added: “We’ve got examiners doing complex case work on nationality and things like that and it seems like they would be better off to work for the likes of supermarkets, where there are higher wages and far less stress, being told you’re only worth 2% has a massive impact on your morale and mental health.

“We’re only in this position because the Government refuses to engage with us. We are at a crisis point.”

PCS members are striking over pay and conditions (Jane Barlow/PA)

Mr Bain said the Government was approached six months ago when the issue of a pay rise was brought up, but since then there has been no more conversation with them.

When asked about possible disruption facing those renewing passports, he added: “The Government is still adamant that the 10-week policy will remain in place.

“Before the strike action was happening, we received a turnaround of about 14 days of renewal, so in all likelihood it might still be a 10-week period for passport applications.

“At the end of the five weeks, we’ll be back in the office processing these applications and if the Government was actually to come to the table and talk to us about this, and offer a decent pay rise, we would be back in work tomorrow to process the applications.

“We will be able to get most passports out the door once we’re back in the office, but there will be a knock-on effect, there always is.

“There was one last year when we were working at full capacity and we still had a backlog. A lot of it is panic. I would say if you don’t need to renew your passport just yet, don’t renew your passport.”

Picket lines are also being mounted outside offices in England at Durham, Liverpool, Southport, Peterborough and London; plus Belfast in Northern Ireland and Newport, Wales.

The union is stepping up strikes, with a nationwide walkout of more than 130,000 civil servants planned for April 28.

The Home Office said the Passport Office has already processed more than 2.7 million applications this year, and added that more than 99.7% of standard applications are being processed within 10 weeks, with the majority of those delivered to customers well under this timescale.

There are currently no plans to change official guidance which states that it takes up to 10 weeks to get a passport.

UK

Risk of cancelled appointments and long waits during junior doctor strikes


Abigail Beaney
Mon, 3 April 2023 

NHS junior doctors on the picket line outside the Maidstone Hospital in Maidstone, Kent. (Image: PA)

Appointments may be cancelled and patients may be waiting longer than normal as junior doctors will be striking for 96 hours in East Lancashire next week.

East Lancashire Hospital Trust has warned patients that they may experience disruption to services next week during planned industrial action by the British Medical Association and Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association.

Junior doctors are set to strike from 7am on Tuesday, April 11 until 7am on Saturday, April 15 in a dispute with the government over pay.


East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust, which provides services across a range of settings including Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital, Burnley General Teaching Hospital, Clitheroe Community Hospital, Pendle Community Hospital and Accrington Victoria Community Hospital, is trying to minimise disruption and will continue to provide essential services.

Despite this, the trust has warned that some planned appointments and procedures may be cancelled and that cancellations could be at late notice.

Lancashire Telegraph: Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital

Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital

The trust has also said there may be longer waits to be seen than usual.

Executive director of Integrated Care, Partnerships and Resilience, Tony McDonald said: "Our number one priority is to ensure that those in greatest need continue to have access to high quality care during the industrial action.

"We are doing everything we can to minimise disruption but there is no doubt that some services will be impacted and the industrial action is set to take place immediately after the Easter bank holiday, which is always a very busy time for the Trust.

"If you have an appointment at any of our hospitals, please assume this is going ahead - if we need to rearrange any appointments or procedures, we will contact you directly to let you know.

"Regardless of any strike action taking place, it is really important that patients who need urgent medical care continue to come forward as normal, especially in emergency and life-threatening cases, when someone is seriously ill or injured, or their life is at risk.

"Please help us by thinking about the most appropriate service for your need - if it is not life threatening or an emergency, use NHS 111 online or call 111 and a clinician will be able to advise what to do."

Dr David Levy, medical director of NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board, said: “We ask people to continue to use services wisely during industrial action and take simple steps to help ensure care is available to those who need it most.

"If you need health advice on a day of strike action, but it is not an emergency, try NHS 111 Online and a clinician will call you back if needed. Please continue to only use 999 or A&E in emergency and life-threatening cases - when someone is seriously ill or injured, or their life is at risk.

“During strike action we will prioritise resources to protect emergency treatment, critical care, neonatal care, maternity and trauma, and ensure we prioritise patients who have waited the longest for elective care and cancer surgery.

"We will only cancel appointments and procedures where it is necessary and will reschedule immediately, where possible. The NHS will contact you if your appointment needs to be rescheduled. If you have not been contacted, please attend your appointment as planned.

“The public’s support during previous periods of industrial action has been invaluable and we are immensely grateful to them for continuing to use NHS services appropriately during these times of pressure.”

Communities are being encouraged to think ahead to the Easter weekend and industrial action to ensure that should they order repeat prescriptions, that they do this in plenty of time and that should a friend or relative need picking up after a hospital discharge, that this is done as early as possible to free up beds.

More information can be found on the Trust's website elht.nhs.uk or through their social media profiles on Facebook and Twitter.

UK teachers reject government pay offer amid labor unrest


Mon, April 3, 2023 

LONDON (AP) — Teachers in England rejected the government’s latest pay offer on Monday, raising the specter of more strikes and further disruptions for parents and children as double-digit inflation sparks labor unrest across the country.

News that teachers had voted to reject the offer came as U.K. passport workers kicked off a five-week strike that threatens to cause headaches for travelers ahead of the summer holiday season.

Immediately after announcing the results of the ballot, the National Education Union scheduled one-day strikes for April 27 and May 2.

The walkouts are the latest in a wave of strikes that has disrupted Britons’ lives for months. Public-sector workers including doctors, train and bus drivers, airport baggage handlers, border officers and postal workers are demanding pay increases to keep pace with inflation, which stands at 10.4%.

A cost-of-living crisis fueled by sharp rises in food and energy prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has left many struggling to pay their bills. Unions say wages, especially in the public sector, have fallen in real terms over the past decade.

The government had offered teachers an average 4.5% pay increase, plus a one-time payment of 1,000 pounds ($1,233), which it described as “fair and reasonable.”

But the offer was rejected by 98% of the teachers who took part in a ballot on the proposal.

The offer was unacceptable and did nothing to address the shortage of teachers in England, NEU Joint General Secretaries Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney said at the union’s annual conference.

“The offer shows an astounding lack of judgment and understanding of the desperate situation in the education system,'' they said in a statement.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan countered that the government had negotiated in good faith and that the union's decision was extremely disappointing. She said pay would now be decided by the independent pay review body.

“After costing children almost a week of time in the classroom and with exams fast approaching, it is extremely disappointing that the NEU have called more strike action,'' she said.

Earlier Monday, 1,000 members of the Public and Commercial Services union at the Passport Office walked off the job as they too demand higher pay. The strike is taking place as Britons seek to renew travel documents in preparation for their summer vacations.

Despite fears of delays, the government hasn’t changed its estimate that it will take up to 10 weeks to get a passport.

Danica Kirka, The Associated Press

Teachers in England and Wales facing ‘unmanageable’ workload, survey finds

Richard Adams Education editor

THE GUARDIAN
Sun, 2 April 2023 

Photograph: Chris Bull/Alamy

Teachers have said they are facing “unmanageable” levels of stress and workload, before the result of a crucial vote that could trigger further strikes and school closures in England in the coming weeks.

Some teachers surveyed by the National Education Union (NEU) reported turning to antidepressants to cope, while 48% said their workload was unmanageable all or most of the time. In contrast, just 1% of teachers said their workload was always manageable.

The findings come as the NEU’s annual conference on Monday will learn if its members have voted to reject the government’s pay offer, which would lead to strikes on Thursday 27 April and Tuesday 2 May.

NEU members in England have been balloted on whether to accept the government’s offer last month of a one-off £1,000 payment for this year and a 4.3% pay rise for most teachers from September, with the government also offering a new taskforce to explore cutting teachers’ workloads.

Members of the NASUWT teaching union as well as the National Association of Head Teachers and the Association of School and College Leaders are also being consulted on the offer.

The almost 18,000 teachers and support staff in England and Wales who responded to the NEU’s survey said workload and stress were major issues that appeared to be getting worse compared with previous surveys.

Nearly two-thirds of teachers in England said they “very often” worried about their wellbeing, a significant rise compared with the results of a similar NEU survey two years ago when fewer than half said they were very often worried.

The NEU joint general secretary Mary Bousted said: “We have known for a number of years that workload is the number one reason teachers decide to leave the profession, and it remains a major concern for support staff also. It is a key driver of the recruitment and retention crisis, where talented graduates suffer burnout within just a few years of qualifying.”

The NEU’s results echo the findings of an unpublished survey for the Department for Education (DfE), revealed by Schools Week. The DfE’s survey found that one in four teachers in England were considering leaving the state sector in the next year, with almost all blaming high workload. The pressure of Ofsted inspections and government policy changes were also blamed by large numbers, followed by pay.

The DfE’s survey also found that more than one in five teachers were working 60 hours or more each week during term time. Three-quarters of the 11,000 teachers and school leaders surveyed said they had “unacceptable” workloads and spent too much time on administration.

Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education secretary, said the results would “alarm parents across this country and could be disastrous for children’s education”.

The NEU’s delegates to the annual conference in Harrogate will also meet the union’s new general secretary, Daniel Kebede, after his victory in the members’ ballot.

Kebede, a primary school teacher, won in a landslide among the 9% of members who voted in the first leadership contest since the NEU was formed in 2017, after the merger of the National Union of Teachers and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers.

ONTARIO

PC government’s $28B highway budget criticized for ignoring emissions reduction & congestion solutions

Local Journalism Initiative
Mon, April 3, 2023 

“Misaligned finance is holding back progress.”

Those were the words of Christopher Trisos, a researcher and director of the Climate Risk Lab at the African Climate and Development Initiative at the University of Cape Town and one of the authors of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) AR6 Synthesis Report.

It provided a “final warning” for humanity, pointing out that capital exists to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, encouraging nations to strengthen their emissions reductions targets.

Misaligned funding by governments with diverging priorities is one of the biggest barriers.

Doug Ford was the target of frustration voiced last week by federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, who addressed Ford’s latest attack on Ottawa’s carbon tax, saying his criticism was “incredibly rich coming from a premier who has no plan to fight climate change.”

A day later, on Thursday, Ford shot back during a press conference in Hamilton, calling Guilbeault a “real piece of work.”

He highlighted investments in the Ring of Fire, to extract minerals needed to make electric vehicles, “to make sure we take cars off the road.” He also claimed that his government is “building the largest transit system in North America to get people out of their cars and get them onto the transit system. We’re doing everything we can.”

The facts and figures do not support Ford’s claims in the face of the Environment Minister’s criticism of the premier’s policies.

After taking control of the provincial legislature in 2018, Ford immediately cancelled the electric vehicle subsidy, which resulted in sales plummeting by more than 50 percent (they have since partially recovered), and his move to build the 413 Highway and another one just south of Bradford was in direct contrast to the existing transportation planning for Southern Ontario, which focuses on alternative modes such as regional commuter train lines, light rail transit through cities and bus rapid transit to connect municipal systems.

While the 2023 budget allocates funding largely for projects that are already underway or are needed within the existing transit infrastructure model, its almost $30 billion for highways runs counter to the research that began to shift transportation thinking a couple decades ago.

In 2013 the C.D. Howe Institute released research that showed highway congestion across the GTHA cost as much as $11 billion each year, from lost productivity, shipping delays and associated social costs.

The impact of highway gridlock on individuals and families, who lose time with each other and often suffer from anxiety and stress related to commute times that can reach four hours a day, is hard to measure.

Transportation makes up the greatest proportion of emissions in Ontario — 35 percent according to the Canada Energy Regulator. The Ford government has never hidden its love of highways for single-occupancy cars to travel from place to place in a driver’s utopia. In reality, across Ontario, major 400-series highways have become chronically congested, significantly contributing to longer commutes and a dramatic increase in emissions.

A 2019 study by business to business research consultancy Expert Market, based in the UK, used seven data points to rank the best and worst cities in the world for commuting. Toronto was the worst in North America and was only better than five of the 74 global cities studied, using criteria such as average commute time (96 minutes, the longest on the list), average journey distance (10 kilometres) and average number of hours spent in congestion over 240 commuting days (47).

The urban app Moovit, used by transit riders and other commuters around the world, published its Global Public Transport Report for 2022 last year. It found GTHA residents struggle with the longest average transit commute in North America, 12.29 kilometres per trip, and each individual trip from point A to B took 56 minutes.

The biggest issue, according to transportation experts, is Ontario’s under-funding of transit and over-reliance on highways, which, according to research, create more and more congestion due to the reality of “induced demand”. Increasing road space does not alleviate gridlock, it just creates more volume over time which makes congestion even worse.

Instead of moving away from highway capacity (which the province has been addicted to for a century), at the expense of smart transportation design, Ontario has continually invested in its major roads.

The Gardiner Expressway was built in the ‘50s to alleviate traffic in downtown Toronto. When it became overused, the 401 was extended to alleviate gridlock and now represents the epitome of gridlock in North America, with the infamous designation as its busiest highway. Enter the 407, the toll route built to relieve parking lot traffic on the 401.

Less than six months after the 407 was built in 1997, its toll charges led to a sharp decrease in use, and continued congestion on the 401. The PCs’ solution is the 413, repeatedly claiming it will save drivers up to 30 minutes per trip.

“We’re building new highways, like Highway 413 and Bradford Bypass because without them, already intense gridlock will more than triple within as many decades,” Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney said in the opening message to her government’s Transportation Master plan which came out in February 2022.

Ford and his PC government claim the solution to gridlock is the paving of new highways and the widening of existing ones, announcing in the 2023 budget a staggering $27.9 billion for highway projects over the next decade.

The Pointer reached out to the provincial transportation ministry in July and again this past week to find out how the government concluded 30 minutes would be saved per trip on the 413. Responses did not provide an explanation. An expert panel commissioned by the most recent Liberal government found the highway would only save between 30 and 60 seconds per trip, according to its detailed analysis.

Nonetheless, the PCs are committed to invest $27.9 billion over 10 years for the construction or rehabilitation of highways across the province, a move that has many transportation and environmental experts shaking their heads.

“They're spending billions on what we know are unnecessary highways, but then they can't make financial commitment to necessary infrastructure,” Jennifer French, MPP for Oshawa and NDP Transportation and Infrastructure Critic, said.

The construction of more highways will see more people using personal vehicles opposed to other forms of transportation, in turn leading to more congestion, gridlock and emissions.

Gideon Forman, Climate Change and Transportation Policy Analyst at the David Suzuki Foundation, called the Highway 413 project a “waste” and an example of “inappropriate spending”, warning the impact will stretch much further than the highway itself contributing to massive sprawl across the southern reaches of the Greenbelt.

The environmental organization, which has been a prominent advocate in the fight against the 413, is launching a new ad campaign that highlights the cost of the transit project, displaying posters on TTC and Brampton Transit asking “what else could that money buy?”

The answer? A lot.

Research from the David Suzuki Foundation found Highway 413, if built, will cost approximately $8 billion and move about 7,000 people per hour at peak times. In contrast, $7 billion could be invested in advancing public transit systems that will move between 22,000 and 29,000 people per hour for less cost.

“There's a whole range of things that we can do in short order, that would move a lot more people on public transit,” Forman said.

He told The Pointer he would like to see this money put toward advancing crucial public transit infrastructure. The 2023 provincial budget briefly mentions a transformation of Go Transit infrastructure but does not give details on what this will look like or specific costs for projects. Forman said the $8 billion allocated for the 413 could easily be swapped to fund transit in the same areas like the Milton Go line, the Kitchener Go line, and developing a Go line to Bolton — a project Caledon council, in particular Mayor Annette Groves, who was the former regional councillor for Bolton, has been pushing for years.

Research from the David Suzuki Foundation found the highway funding could also be used to better deal with many other pressing problems facing Ontarians. Instead of building the 413, 11 hospitals could be built; or 20,000 nurses could be hired; or 40,000 affordable housing units could be created.

“They talk a lot about housing, but we don't we certainly don't see it in this budget. We need to be getting back into the business of publicly funded affordable housing and building it,” French said.

With Bill 23 and the removal of certain parcels of Greenbelt land for development — which will create more sprawl — unnecessary major highways will only increase the value of land developers have already assembled for suburban-style subdivisions.

“We're also really concerned about [Highway 413] being a sprawl accelerator,” Forman said. “So not only is it harmful paving farmland and the Greenbelt, but it also increases and vastly expands the whole thrust towards sprawl.”

Urban planners and environmentalists are increasingly sending warnings about the environmental impacts of sprawl. As development encroaches closer to sensitive ecosystems, there is an increased risk of contaminants entering crucial waterways and other natural habitats, harming crucial flora and fauna.

A previous investigation by The Pointer found 29 endangered, threatened and species of concern that had been spotted along the proposed path of the 413. Twenty-one of these species were found in the areas where proposed interchanges would be built.

Environmental consequences of the construction of the highway will put significant financial pressure on the government. The Financial Accountability Office, which conducts independent analysis on financial and economic risks across the province, estimated in an emissions analysis the costs to deal with roads, rail and bridge repairs alone, over the rest of the century, could cost approximately $171 billion. This medium emissions scenario is optimistic and, at the rate Ontario is moving, it would more likely experience a high emissions scenario which could see costs as high as $322 billion.

The Province’s own transportation master plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, which was published in February 2022, and the Metrolinx Big Move master plan, stress the importance of elevating public transit systems and modes of active transportation to enhance the way people move. With the sprawling communities that will be built under Bill 23 and subsequent changes to the Greenbelt, Ontario will be left with communities that cannot rely on any method of transportation other than the individual car, and the highway projects the PCs plan to spend $28 billion on over the next ten years.

“When we look to safer infrastructure, whether it's for cycling, pedestrian, that's not that's not likely from the government, because certainly it's not the designing we've seen to this point,” French said. “And I don't see any signaling in this budget that they're going to change course.”

Both French and the NDP Public Transportation Critic and MPP for Ottawa Centre, Joel Harden, said the PC budget focuses on fancy new projects as opposed to working on existing infrastructure. French said she was disappointed, but not surprised, to see a lack of funding for maintaining local roads and highways. Despite an increase in funding on paper, the money is not being reasonably or sustainably allocated to the projects that she sees as more important than new highway projects.

“I think transit and transportation planning should be evidence based, that if they're going to focus on transportation, do it properly.”

Harden points out that while some municipalities have seen a return to pre-pandemic transit ridership levels, others are still falling behind, struggling to maintain ridership and service levels. Even Toronto’s transit had to just cut service to 39 routes as ridership losses continue and it becomes unlikely that pre-pandemic levels will be reached in the near future.

While the provincial budget commits $70.5 billion for transit projects over the next 10 years, a $9 billion increase from the previous year, Harden said there is no funding to help municipalities recover from what has been a “death spiral” for transit.

Another source of contention is the nonexistent funding to help electrify local transit systems, which is the best way to decrease transportation emissions. While some municipalities, like Mississauga, are way ahead in electrifying their fleets, largely thanks to federal funding, the provincial government is providing little support.

“You have to constantly water the grass, you have to constantly renew the systems you have,” Harden told The Pointer. “And there was nothing in the budget for that, there was just money in the budget for these glossy trains that don't exist.”

The move toward more sustainable transportation systems represents a dramatic shift. Forman said he believes Ontarians are on board but the government is failing to get behind the idea.

For almost 100 years, transportation has been a largely individual act, people driving in a personal car which has become the most outwardly visible symbol of one’s status.

“The idea that you get in your private car, in your own little box, and move yourself, it's just not compatible with a climate crisis. It’s not compatible with the congestion that we have. It's not compatible with the physical limits of cities,” he said.

Public transportation offers not only climate benefits, but it can also help more people more efficiently while taking up less space. One full bus is the equivalent of 35 to 40 cars on the road.

“Clearly, public transit is just much more efficient. So we need our government to be thinking in terms of that real efficiency, we need to have a government that has a conservation mindset,” Forman said.

Across Canada, advocates are pushing for new transportation policies. Last week, 65 organizations in BC signed a letter calling on the Premier and the NDP government to immediately divert infrastructure funds away from highway construction and expansion into public transit and active transportation initiatives.

French said she hopes this can be an example to governments of how to prioritize funding and finding creative solutions to keep people moving. In Ontario the removal of tolls on Highway 407 has been suggested, instead of building the 413.

Critics have pointed to Ford’s close relationship with the developers who have already assembled land across the 413 route (which will be worth as much as ten times more with a highway alongside future subdivisions) as the real motivation to build right under and through parts of the Greenbelt.

“This, really disappointingly, is not a government that is working with a plan,” French said. “They are working with somebody's wish list, and it's not that of Ontarians.”

Rachel Morgan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Pointer

Saskatchewan Budget Still 

Overlooks the Poor

Sun, April 2, 2023 

While there are some good things to be found in the 2023-24 Saskatchewan Provincial Budget, critics say that it does nothing for the poorest in the province. Finance Minister Donna Harpauer refuted the criticism pointing out the $26.6 million that the Ministry of Social Services will spend on programs supporting people with low incomes including families and seniors and increases to Saskatchewan Income Support and Saskatchewan Assured Income for Disability. However, the $30 a month the government committed to increasing the basic benefit, factors out to about one dollar a day for those being supported by those two programs. Neither of these programs takes into account the seniors living on a fixed income, as only in very specific circumstances do they receive support from either SIS or SAID once they attain the age of 65 years.

“Our province is the most affordable place to live in Canada for a family of four," Finance Minister Donna Harpauer said as she delivered the Budget, but that only holds true if that family of four has an annual income of $75,000.00 and owns their own home. The province is also calculated to be the second-most affordable province for single people who rent and earn at least $40,000 a year, but the 2021 census showed that the median annual income for single individuals in Saskatchewan is $42,400. Mathematically, the median is the middle value in a list ordered from smallest to largest, so this points out that half the single individuals in this province make less than $42,400, and for reference to earn that median amount, those individuals need to make $22/hour and work 40 hrs/week. With a minimum wage of $13/hr, it becomes easier to see what the critics are pointing out.

Even if a family or individual does fit the criteria that say they find Saskatchewan affordable, Joel Bruneau, head of the economics department at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon said, they may have costs cutting into their household budget that the province didn't account for. Governments create pseudo-families to facilitate their calculations, and this often overlooks the reality that many face.

"If you have two small children and you're searching for daycare, that could be a struggle. If you're trying to take care of an aging parent and struggling to find long-term care, that can be a struggle," he said. "By essentially arguing that we're affordable for everybody, I think we gloss over the fact that there are a lot of people that are struggling."

Saskatchewan's finance minister, Donna Harpauer, said last Wednesday that the budget is meant to help those who really need it, but if those who really need help are saying it does nothing for them, then one must ask who Minister Harpauer defines as “those who really need it”? The working poor remain stuck at low wages, seniors continue to face challenges to remain in their own homes, and the disabled and unemployed are told that an extra dollar a day is going to make their life better.

Using data from the Government of Saskatchewan website (May 2022 scale), the basic Saskatchewan Income Support available for eligible single adults with no children, who have a low income or are unemployed and need assistance paying for their basic needs is $315 per month. This basic benefit amount is meant to pay for food, clothing, travel, and personal and household items. Additionally, a shelter benefit which is meant to pay for all shelter-related expenses including rent, mortgage payments, utilities, and taxes for singles outside of Saskatoon and Regina $540; an additional alternate heating benefit can be provided for those who reside in a residence where natural gas is not accessible and must use an alternate heat source ($130/month). That results in a total monthly support of $855/month. When was the last time you saw rent and utilities totaling $540? Arguably, there are low-income rental units in many towns across the province, but if the individual has a pet or companion animal those units are more often than not unavailable because they do not allow pets of any sort. The same is true of many designated senior rental units. This discriminatory practice continues despite the numerous studies which have concluded that companion animals have many health benefits for the infirm and the elderly.

Looking now at the Saskatchewan Assured Income for Disability program, there are three main components to the program: the Living Income component which covers basic needs such as food, shelter, and transportation. The Disability Income component pays for costs directly related to the disability, while the Exceptional Need Income component helps to cover bills like those for service animal care costs, special food items, and home care. According to the different tiers of funding which relate to where the individual lives, for a single adult in Wakaw and surrounding areas the benefits should be as follows: Living Income Benefit $931; utilities: phone $30, power $84, heating $93 and water and sewer $50. There may be other benefits available for individuals with disabilities that are outside of the SAID program, but these amounts are those that are attributable to it alone. (https://www.savvynewcanadians.com/said-payment-dates/)

Saskatchewan also offers a Seniors Income Plan which is a monthly supplement provided to seniors who have little or no income other than the federal Old Age Security pension ($687.56/month currently) and the Guaranteed Income Supplement to qualify for the senior must have an annual income less than $20,832 (a maximum monthly payment is $1026.96). For a single pensioner living at home, the maximum monthly benefit is $330 and they must have an annual taxable annual income of $4560 ($380/mon) or less, which means they can still apply if they receive CPP as long as the maximum monthly payment is $380 or less. So for seniors who rely solely on the OAS, GIS, and possibly SIP their monthly income is a mere $2044.52 which works out to less than that earned by someone working minimum wage. (https://www.saskatchewan.ca/residents/family-and-social-support/seniors-services/financial-help-for-seniors#eligibility)

If these three groups are not those in our province who need the help and support the most, then who are? The usage numbers for Food Banks around the province continue to climb as the poorest amongst us continue to struggle to make ends meet and put food on their tables. Madame Minister, $1 a day is not even a drop in the proverbial bucket.

Carol Baldwin, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Wakaw Recorder

PEI
'Love is louder': Community comforted by large turnout in support of transgender rights


CBC
Sun, April 2, 2023 

More than 200 people march along Great George Street in Charlottetown in support of transgender rights. (Tony Davis/CBC - image credit)

Members and allies of P.E.I.'s transgender community say the large turnout for a rally in support of transgender rights on Sunday brought them a "ton of joy" and made them feel safe in a time when bigotry is on the rise.

More than 200 people marched in downtown Charlottetown, carrying signs that read Protect Trans Youth and Trans Men Are Real Men and chanting slogans such as "We're here. We're queer. We won't disappear."

Lucky Fusca, executive director of the P.E.I. Transgender Network, said the march was about transgender joy, increasing visibility of the transgender community and standing up to transphobia.

"The emboldenment of bigoted beliefs and hate has been really loud and we wanted to gather today to show our community and to show our allies that love is louder," Fusca said.

Tony Davis/CBC

Last month, a storytime event featuring people dressed in drag that was planned for the Kings Playhouse in Georgetown was cancelled after it was the target of online attacks. It has been rescheduled for April 15.

Fusca said they were grateful to see so much support on Sunday.

"When I turned around and saw how many people were following in tow, it was healing for me. It brought me a ton of joy and made me feel safe," Fusca said.

Police were not notified in advance of the demonstration, but there was little traffic disruption.

Fusca said they did not see any people protesting the march other than a a few "head shakes."

Tony Davis/CBC

The march was part of a week of all-ages events hosted by the P.E.I. Transgender Network called "Break the Cis-tem." Fusca said they hope to have similar events in the future.

Kali Ross, who sits on the board of the P.E.I. Transgender Network, said there have always been queer and transgender people in the community, and always will be.

"No matter the hatred that people spread and the bigotry, that does not erase the trans community, the queer community, no matter what," she said. "So, it's really important that we're here and we're … spreading that message and taking space up."

Drag events, including rescheduled ice performance, pop up across Calgary

CBC
Sun, April 2, 2023 

Karla Marx was one of the organizers of Saturday's Drag on Ice event. (Terri Trembath/CBC - image credit)

It took more than a month, but the show eventually did go on.

Drag on Ice, an event originally scheduled for Feb. 10 during Calgary's annual Chinook Blast festival, was postponed due to safety concerns surrounding protests and demonstrations at the time.

On Saturday, performers finally took to the ice at the Henry Viney Arena. It was one of several events happening at more than 40 venues across Calgary that day to stand in solidarity with the drag community.

"It just shows that while there are vocal opponents, they are a minority. Especially when you're in the online world, their voices seem ubiquitous," said Karla Marx, a drag queen and one of the organizers of Saturday's ice performance.

"But then you come out to an event and you see who shows up, how many people show up."

Terri Trembath/CBC

Marx recalled riding a float during the Calgary Pride Parade last year where, she says, thousands of people were outside in "sweltering heat" supporting and cheering others on.

"I will always keep that memory," she said.

Among the venues that held a pop-up event on Saturday was local pub Ship and Anchor. Fostering a welcoming environment is something the business says it holds to a high regard.

"It's always been a place that we've tried to keep safe, inclusive. That goes for not just our staff, but our regular customers are people we treat like family.… Their safety and comfort and inclusivity within this environment is very important to us," said Nick Lake, a floor manager at Ship and Anchor.

"A lot of people who walk through our doors, they continue to come through these doors in particular because of why we uphold that."

Terri Trembath/CBC

Across the country in recent months, protestors have rallied against various drag events — the most vocal of whom include members of alt-right groups.

Following demonstrations at a drag event held at the Seton Library, the City of Calgary passed a safety bylaw in March — titled the Safe and Inclusive Access Bylaw — that prohibits protests within 100 metres of an entrance to a recreation facility or library.

The city also updated an existing street harassment bylaw to further address ongoing concerns about the safety of the 2SLGBTQ community.

"There's a lot of people who are interested in promoting hatred instead of inclusivity," said Mayor Jyoti Gondek. "What we've got in Calgary is a point in time where the folks in this city are saying, 'We're not down with that, we don't appreciate that.'"

Both bylaws are set to be discussed again later this month.

VPD deputy chief "appalled" by online criticism following trans-rights rally

The Canadian Press
Sun, April 2, 2023 


VANCOUVER — The deputy chief of the Vancouver Police Department says he is "appalled" by the "vile and abusive comments" officers have received on Twitter after a Friday rally in the city turned violent.

Deputy Chief Howard Chow took to the platform to respond to online criticism of the department's policing tactics and for not making arrests at the International Transgender Day of Visibility rally.

Police issued a news release Saturday saying they had begun investigating "violent confrontations" that occurred when people attending the demonstration confronted a group of counter-protesters inside Vancouver's Grandview Park.

The department has alleged at least two people were assaulted but did not provide further details.

Chow says policing demonstrations and protests are challenging, and protecting the right to free speech is "one of the most important" aspects of the job.

Investigators say they have reached out to a victim who posted a video of an assault online, and have invited that person to meet with detectives to provide a statement.

Chow says though officers did not make arrests at the time, that does not mean they won't do so in the future.

"We're used to having cameras on us, (and) some even try to set it up to elicit a particular response. It's all fair game. Never easy to give an immediate answer to a chaotic scene where you simply don't have all the facts yet. That's why we investigate and sometimes it takes time," he said on Twitter.

Police have also shared parts of video and images posted online by a victim, and are appealing to those who saw the altercations to reach out.

They said in the news release that there may be more witnesses who have not spoken to police, as well as bystander videos that may show different perspectives of the incident.

"Our full investigation into the matter will determine the outcome of criminal charges," Chow Tweeted. "This will involve different camera angles, witness accounts, video reviews, etc. Sometimes, jumping in and arresting one or two at the moment will only incite or inflame the situation."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 2, 2023.

The Canadian Press

UK
Voices: The marginalisation of trans people by the gay community is beyond unhelpful – here’s why

Catherine Kelly
Sun, 2 April 2023 

Voices: The marginalisation of trans people by the gay community is beyond unhelpful – here’s why

It’s rarely a good idea to reread diaries from your teenage years. Recently though, I found a passage from my own that made me laugh. At 15, on the verge of coming out as a lesbian for the first time, I wrote that I hoped telling people about my gay identity would help me to stop thinking about it all the time. It didn’t work out that way.

In fact, I have spent the last three years researching the history of lesbian feminist writing and activism for my PhD. I spend a lot of my waking hours thinking about what it means, and has meant, to be a lesbian.

You might assume, then, that I would be excited by the prospect of a new organisation promising to platform the needs and experiences of lesbians in the UK. Founded by academic Kathleen Stock and journalist Julie Bindel, the Lesbian Project promises to champion lesbians.

However, scratch the surface and you’ll find that this group, like the LGB Alliance, is more interested in excluding trans women than in supporting the lesbian community (which is deeply supportive of the transgender community). In fact, the group explicitly excludes transgender lesbians, as Stock confirmed in an interview on BBC’s Woman’s Hour.

In recent years the media conversation about transgender lives has become increasingly toxic, and somehow lesbians have become a key part of it. This so-called debate – which in many ways The Lesbian Project epitomises – has left me frustrated and angry. Once again, my identity as a lesbian is being used as a cover for transphobia.

So how did we get here? If you’re familiar with Bindel and Stock, the exclusionary policies of their organisation won’t surprise you. They are leading figures in a small but vocal group of “gender critical” people. Their claim that trans people can’t be part of the lesbian community is one that I know, from my research and my own life, is simply untrue.

The rights and experiences of LGBTQ people have always been intertwined – trans people have been at the centre of struggles for lesbian rights for generations. Lesbian history is not a simple or harmonious one. We have often disagreed, and trans lesbians have faced appalling transphobia in their struggle to be included in the lesbian feminist movement.

But it’s also a history marked by moments of bravery and solidarity between cis and trans lesbians. One example of this is the Lesbian Avengers, a 1990s activist group who defended the rights of trans women in women-only spaces.

As a cis lesbian, I find the arguments from anti-trans feminists to be both nonsensical and dangerous. Their fears about a lesbian identity in “crisis” – despite evidence from the most recent census that there are more of us than ever – are unfounded.

Tellingly, in their fight to exclude trans people from public life, this fringe group of “gender critical” feminists have allied themselves with a right-wing anti-LGBT movement that targets drag queen storytimes and inclusive sex education.

It’s important to note that many of the arguments being used against trans people are eerily similar to the prejudiced language that was once more commonly heard about cis lesbian, gay and bisexual people. Take education – until 2003 it was illegal for teachers in the UK to speak positively about gay relationships, or for schools to teach books with gay characters. We saw how Section 28 harmed a generation of LGBTQ+ people.

Now we are seeing these debates repackaged and directed at trans children. When anti-trans campaigners deny the validity of trans identities, they echo the sneering language of Section 28 which dismissed queer couples with children as “pretended family relationships.” We owe it to future generations to not repeat the mistakes of the past, and instead prioritise an inclusive education system so that all children have the freedom to be true to who they are, access their potential and pursue their dreams.

Stock and Bindel have tried to pre-empt some of the criticism that’s been levelled at them already, acknowledging that lesbians are a politically diverse group and that many lesbians will disagree with them and their views.

They’re right about that; over a thousand people have signed an open letter condemning the Lesbian Project for its discriminatory trans-exclusionary policies. And last week, hundreds of trans and cis lesbians and queer people danced in the street outside the Lesbian Project’s inaugural event, in a “counterparty” thrown by a new group, The Dyke Project – which describes itself as “a collective of trans, cis and nonbinary dykes and queers of all persuasions” – to show what our community really looks like.

To me, this description reflects the community I know and love. The Dyke Project kept the event off social media, letting news of it spread through word of mouth. The crowd that turned up on Saturday is a testament to the strength of our community, and to the solidarity and care we show each other when some of us are under attack.

I came along because I wanted to share my anger and sadness at the way a rising tide of transphobia in the UK is harming the people I love, but I left feeling a little bit lighter. Drag kings, DJs, dancing in the streets – this was the lesbian community doing what it does best: finding space for joyful resistance.

As someone who studies lesbian history, I was moved to see tributes to that history all over the protest. One banner read “a day without trans people is like a day without sunshine”, a reference to a pro-lesbian banner at a 1979 San Francisco Pride march.

The 1979 banner was itself a tongue-in-cheek reference to anti-gay campaigner Anita Bryant, whose advertising campaign for orange juice carried the slogan “A day without orange juice is like a day without sunshine”. Bryant’s homophobic campaign, with its cry of “Save Our Children”, bears a chilling resemblance to the UK’s current moral panic about trans identities. If there’s one thing that LGBTQ people can learn from the history of anti-queer campaigns, from “Save Our Children” to Section 28, it’s that we’re stronger together.

A few days after the protest, the organisers tweeted that “trans dykes and cis dykes stand together and we always will”. It’s up to us to make sure that this is true. We can’t allow a small minority of vocal lesbians – and their friends in power – to put our trans lesbian sisters at risk, and we can’t allow them to speak over the wider trans-inclusive lesbian community. At its best, this community is brave, united and committed to justice. I’m proud to be a member.

Canadian-American First Nations filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin to win MacDowell Medal

The Canadian Press
Sun, April 2, 2023 


PETERBOROUGH, N.H. — Prolific filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin will receive the MacDowell Medal.

MacDowell, an American arts organization, says the Canadian-American documentarian will be the first female filmmaker to win the prize when it's awarded at a ceremony in July.

The award goes to an artist who's made an outstanding contribution to their field.

The 90-year-old Obomsawin, who is Abenaki, has more than 50 films under her belt, including 1993's "Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance" and last year's short "Bill Reid Remembers."

Past winners of the prize include James Baldwin, Ta-Nehisi Coates and Toni Morrison.

Jesse Wente will introduce Obomsawin at an event on the MacDowell campus in Peterborough, N.H.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 2, 2023.

Filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin to receive Edward MacDowell Medal

Sun, April 2, 2023 

NEW YORK (AP) — Documentary maker Alanis Obomsawin is this year's winner of the Edward MacDowell Medal, a lifetime achievement honor given previously to Toni Morrison, David Lynch and Roseanne Cash among others. She is the first female director to win the medal, presented by the MacDowell artist residency program. She is also the first recipient who descends from the Abanaki People, part of whose homeland is now the setting for MacDowell, based in Peterborough, New Hampshire.

“It is a distinct pleasure to be counted among such a magnificent group,” the 90-year-old Obomsawin, referring to the other medal winners, said in a statement.

A New Hampshire native who grew up in Quebec, she has made dozens of movies, focused often on First Nations people, her credits including “Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance” and “Incident at Restigouche.” She is also an activist, actor and musician who has received numerous awards in Canada.

"As the Grand Dame of the Indigenous film world and the documentary field, Alanis Obomsawin’s exemplary 52-year body of work uplifting Indigenous stories and triumph inspired us with compelling and unequivocal enthusiasm to award her with the 2023 Edward MacDowell Medal,” Bird Runningwater, a member of the Medal Selection Panel and guide for the Sundance Institute’s investment in Native American and Indigenous filmmakers, said in a statement.

The Canadian writer Jesse Wente, board chair of Canada’s Council for the Arts, will introduce Obomsawin during a July 23 gathering at MacDowell,

In its announcement Sunday, MacDowell noted that it “has been reexamining its core values and vision, making changes to outdated and exclusionary policies, acknowledging that its program takes place on un-ceded First Nations lands, and continuing to activate diversity, equity, inclusion, and access throughout the organization.” MacDowell, founded early in the 20th century, had called itself the MacDowell Colony until 2020, when it dropped “colony,” saying the word suggests elitism and exclusion.

The Associated Press

First Nations chiefs to debate Trudeau government's draft UNDRIP action plan

Mon, April 3, 2023 

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples contains 26 articles affirming inherent and pre-existing collective rights and human rights of Indigenous peoples. (Ka’nhehsí:io Deer/CBC - image credit)

As the Trudeau Liberals approach eight years in power, David Lametti acknowledges much is riding on his government's upcoming plan to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in Canada.

The Liberals will paint a detailed picture of their current reconciliation agenda and chart a course for the federal bureaucracy for years when they release the finished document in June.

They'll likely get strong feedback this week from Assembly of First Nations (AFN) chiefs as they gather April 3-6 in Ottawa to scrutinize a still-incomplete draft offering a wide-ranging bundle of 101 ongoing and proposed policy initiatives.


"A lot is riding on getting this right," said Lametti, federal minister of justice and attorney general, in a recent interview.

"It's walking and chewing gum and juggling and playing the saxophone at the same time. That's what we're trying to do with the action plan."

Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

Under 2021's United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (Bill C-15 or UNDA), the federal government must align Canadian laws with the international declaration, a legally non-binding document outlining minimum standards for the recognition and protection of Indigenous rights.

Under that law, Ottawa has until June 2023 to table the action plan, which Lametti said will lay out a "roadmap for how we go forward" but which Indigenous leaders are not impressed with so far.

First Nations in B.C. watching closely

"What the federal UNDA action plan is very lean on is co-management," said Hugh Braker, a member of the political executive of the First Nations Summit, one of the largest First Nations organizations in British Columbia.

First Nations in the province are watching the federal approach with keen interest, said Braker, a lawyer and citizen of the Tseshaht First Nation.

He said B.C. First Nations are focused on co-management, meaning the affirmation of their decision-making power over things like fisheries, land and natural resources.

But Lametti wouldn't answer directly when asked if his plan will require Indigenous consent before resource extraction projects impacting them go forward.

"Indigenous peoples have to be involved in any project from day one," he said.

"If they are involved in any project from day one, I think it is a guarantee that only good projects will go forward."

A promise of involvement from "day one" isn't enough, Braker said.

"We're not talking about consultation," he said.

"We're talking about co-management, and we're talking about free, prior and informed consent."

Russ Diabo, a First Nations policy analyst and one of the law's most vocal opponents, raised the same point.

"The draft is basically continuing with the status quo," said Diabo, who is a contract adviser to the AFN national chief but offered the opinion on his own behalf.

"By replacing consent with consultation under that domestic standard, it's basically guaranteeing that natural resource development will go ahead."

Indian Act 'must be repealed,' plan says

Among other things, the draft plan promises to establish an Indigenous rights ombudsperson and pursue amendments to fisheries legislation. It mentions ongoing proposed legal reforms concerning Indigenous health, policing and water.

It calls the Indian Act "a colonial-era law designed to exert control over the affairs of First Nations" that will never align with UNDRIP and therefore "must be repealed."

But Diabo said the law "domesticates" UNDRIP, bringing the international declaration under a well-entrenched colonial legal system that includes Canada's Constitution and Supreme Court rulings.

"I see the action plan as a threat to our treaty and inherent rights," said Diabo.

"All the measures that they have in there are all based under Canada's assumed Crown sovereignty."

Submitted by Russ Diabo

Lametti acknowledged much is at stake with the UNDRIP plan, but he said it's not a make-or-break moment.

"I don't like 'make or break' because it puts too much pressure on one person or one piece of legislation," he said.

"We have a number of different incremental steps."

These include jumps in spending on Indigenous programs, new Indigenous child-welfare and language laws, lifting of dozens of boil-water advisories, work to reform the land claims process and cut governance deals across the board, he said.

But the Liberals' reconciliation record has been under scrutiny, and this may well be a make-or-break moment for some observers, said Lynn Groulx, CEO at the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC), which advocates for Indigenous women nationally.

"I wouldn't be so confident if I was him," she said of Lametti.

"If we can't get this right, we're really in trouble."

First Nations' court challenge to B.C.'s mineral rights system begins today

CBC
Mon, April 3, 2023 

An aerial view of Gitxaała Nation territory on B.C.'s North Coast. The nation says there's no way for it to effectively intervene in mineral rights claims under the province's current system. 

(Gitxaała Territorial Management Agency - image credit)

A challenge by two First Nations against the way British Columbia grants mineral claims begins in B.C. Supreme Court on Monday morning, marking the first legal test of the province's Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.

The Gitxaała and Ehattesaht First Nations have sued the province over its Mineral Tenures Act, which currently grants mineral claims for a nominal fee via an online system and does not include initial consultation with Indigenous people.

The two nations say this process goes against the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which the province adopted in 2019. The declaration requires governments to obtain free, prior and informed consent before taking actions that affect Indigenous peoples and territories.

In the current system, by the time the nation finds out mineral rights have been granted, the process has often moved on to permitting and exploring, Gitxaała Nation Chief Coun. Linda Innes says.

"The dominoes have already started dropping there, and there's no way for our Gitxaała Nation to intervene at that point," Innes said.

'Groundbreaking legal challenge'

In a written statement, the Gitxaała said the case is "a groundbreaking legal challenge against B.C.'s outdated practice of granting mineral claims."

In January, the B.C. Human Rights Commission was granted intervenor status in the case.

"The interpretation of the Declaration Act plays an important role in ongoing decolonization and reconciliation efforts in our province," said B.C. Human Rights Commissioner Kasari Govender at the time.

The Gitxaała say several mineral mining rights have been granted on their territory in the past few years. They hope to overturn those claims and change the way claims are granted.

The B.C. Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation says it can't comment on matters before the court.

The Ministry did say "the province is committed to working in consultation and co-operation with all Indigenous Peoples and in alignment with the Declaration Act and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples."

It also said the province committed to modernizing the Mineral Title Act in March 2022, as part of the Declaration Act Action Plan, and that work is being done "in consultation and co-operation with Indigenous peoples."

The case is scheduled to run for eight days. Gitxaała leaders are expected to hold a news conference prior to the start of the court hearings.

ROM hosts panel discussion on Cree visual artist's work

Sun, April 2, 2023 

(ANNews) - University of Lethbridge Blackfoot scholar Leroy Little Bear is participating in a panel discussion at Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) alongside Cree visual artist Kent Monkman about Monkman’s work.

“We Are Made of Stardust: How Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Western Science Intersect in Kent Monkman's Being Legendary” is happening April 6 from 7 to 9 p.m.

Little Bear and Monkman will be joined by co-panelists Opaskwayak Cree Nation star lore expert Elder Wilfred Buck and University of Victoria astrophysicist Kim Venn, as well as moderator Lisa Jackson, a filmmaker from Aamjiwnaang First Nation.

The discussion will focus on the intersection of Indigenous and Western ways of knowledge, being and science, with an emphasis on Monkman’s new ROM exhibition, “Being Legendary.”

Moderator Jackson’s latest documentary, centres on Wilfred Buck, an expert in Indigenous star knowledge.Those who want to tune into the panel discussion from Alberta can do so on the ROM’s Facebook page after the event ends.

Jeremy Appel, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Alberta Native News

Canada gives Mi'kmaq 14% of lucrative Maritime elver fishery for 2nd year



Mon, April 3, 2023

A bucket of elvers is shown near Chester, N.S., in 2019. (Richard Cuthbertson/CBC - image credit)

For a second year, the federal government is giving Mi'kmaw First Nations 14 per cent of the lucrative Maritime fishery for baby eels — or elvers — without compensating commercial licence holders.

The transfer implements the Mi'kmaw treaty right to fish for a moderate living, but also sets the stage for further court challenges by commercial elver licence holders.

"I'm quite confident that we will be taking legal action based on this again," said Michel Samson, a lawyer representing Wine Harbour Fisheries.

Wine Harbour is one of several licence holders in federal court trying to overturn the 2022 decision, saying it was unfair and rushed.

The quota transfer will collectively cost seven commercial licence holders several million dollars, based on 2022 prices which reached $5,000 per kilogram.

The tiny, translucent elvers are caught in Maritime rivers, shipped live to Asia and grown for food.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has put licence holders on notice that a permanent cut is coming.

"Over the course of 2023, and consistent with the Government of Canada's reconciliation agenda to increase First Nation participation in fisheries, DFO will conduct a review of the elver fishery with a primary objective being the sharing of benefits through enhanced Indigenous participation in the fishery over the longer term," Jennifer Ford, DFO's director of resource management and licensing, Maritimes region, wrote in a March 28 letter to industry.

Ford outlined this year's allocation: 1,200 kilograms — or 14 percent of the commercial quota — to 10 Mi'kmaw communities.

Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press

The quota cut does not affect the We'koqma'q First Nation in Cape Breton, which also holds a commercial licence.

In 2022, DFO also took 1,200 kilos of commercial quota but only allocated 600 kilograms to the Mi'kmaq. The remaining 600 kilograms were not caught.

In 2023, the full 1,200 kilograms has been allocated based on DFO authorizations that reflect community harvest plans.

Commercial licence holders object

In southern Nova Scotia, Kespukwitk First Nations (Acadia, Annapolis Valley, Bear River and Glooscap First Nations) will designate harvesters from among their members to fish a 450-kilogram allocation, an increase of 50 kilograms compared to 2022.

The Wolastoqey Nations in New Brunswick (Madawaska Maliseet, Tobique, Woodstock, Kingsclear, St. Mary's and Oromocto First Nations) will also designate harvesters from among their members to fish a 750-kilogram allocation, an increase of 550 kilograms compared to 2022.

The Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Chiefs did not provide comment.

Commercial licence holders say they have been poorly treated.

They claim in 2022 DFO did not consider their offers to sell out in good faith — a process known as willing-buyer, willing-seller.

It has been used for decades to integrate Mi'kmaq into commercial fisheries without increasing pressure on a given species.

'It's a smash and grab'

Samson says this year was worse.

"This is now two years in a row that the minister is arbitrarily cut quota without offering compensation. And without even asking for proposals from license holders who would be prepared to exit the fishery. And that should send a chilling effect across all commercial fisheries in Canada," he said.

"It's a smash and grab, you know, basically put a gun to your head and they're just going to take it," says Brian Giroux, a member of the board of directors for the Shelburne Elver Group. "They never even gave the willing buyer, willing seller process a chance."

Mi'kmaw entry to elver fishery challenged by N.S. MP

Justice Department lawyers told the federal court earlier this year DFO is not obliged to compensate licence holders even if federal fisheries ministers have repeatedly committed to the process.

In Ottawa, Nova Scotia Conservative MP Rick Perkins has regularly challenged Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray about the elver fishery.

"Eleven per cent of the licenses have now gone, are made-up of First Nations, while the Mi'kmaq are only 2.7 per cent of the population. So what's the level at which you say, OK, that's enough licenses relative to the overall total allowable catch?" Perkins asked Murray at a parliamentary committee meeting last week.

CBC

"Our reconciliation fisheries are not specifically about population quota. They are about our mandate to implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and accommodate a treaty affirmed rights to fish," Murray said.

Murray has repeatedly said DFO remains committed to the willing-buyer, willing-seller process because it provides predictability in the market but will not allow failure to reach a deal to thwart expanding Indigenous access.