Ten-hut Time Machine? West Point to open time capsule possibly left by cadets in the 1820s

The Canadian Press
Sat, August 26, 2023 



A long-forgotten time capsule at West Point recently discovered inside the base of a monument and believed to have been left by cadets in the late 1820s is expected to be pried open Monday.

The contents of the small lead box could possibly provide a window into the early, more Spartan days of the storied U.S. Military Academy.

It's not certain exactly when the box was placed in the monument's marble base or who chose any items inside, though a committee of five cadets that may have been involved with the time capsule included 1829 graduate Robert E. Lee, the future Confederate general.

The box will be opened during a livestreamed event.

“It’s a mystery, right? A mystery of history,” said Jennifer Voigtschild, the academy’s command historian.

The container was discovered in May during restoration to a monument honoring the Revolutionary War hero Thaddeus Kosciuszko. A construction manager made the surprise find and carefully pulled out the hefty box, which is about a cubic foot.

“After I shut the job down and we roped off the area, then I realized, ‘Oh my gosh, what did we find?’” manager Chris Branson said.

Cadets in the 1820s honored Kosciuszko, a Polish military engineer, with a column near where current classes march and play soccer. As an officer of the Continental Army, he designed wartime fortifications at the location along the Hudson River, before the military academy was established there in 1802.

A plaque indicates the monument was erected by the corps of cadets in 1828. Other evidence suggests it wasn't completed until 1829. That includes a July 1828 letter from a committee of cadets involved in the dedication, including Lee, seeking advice on lettering for the monument.

It’s also possible the capsule dates to 1913, when the Polish clergy and laity of the United States donated a statue of Kosciuszko to sit atop the column. West Point officials, though, think the capsule more likely dates to the late 1820s, well before the academy grew into the sprawling post producing more than 900 Army officers annually.

In the early 19th Century, cadets lived in wooden barracks without running water. Around 40 graduated each year. Sylvanus Thayer, considered the “father of the military academy,” was superintendent in the 1820s.

X-rays indicated there is a box inside the container, but there are few clues whether opening it will produce a historical bounty or a bust reminiscent of Geraldo Rivera’s televised unsealing of Al Capone's vault in 1986.

There could be monument blueprints, class lists or a message from the cadet committee. There could be everyday military items like uniform buttons or musket balls. There could be papers, a medallion or other items related to Kosciuszko.

“So lot's of possibilities,” Voigtschild said. “It could be Revolutionary. It could be from the cadets from the time period of the 1820's. Or both.”

Lee's involvement with the monument is coming up just as West Point reckons with his legacy. Lee graduated second in his class and later served as superintendent at the academy before he resigned from the U.S. Army to lead Confederate troops during the Civil War.

The academy said in December it would comply with recommendations from a commission to remove honors to Lee and other Confederate officers. The recommendations, which included renaming buildings and removing a portrait of Lee from a library, were part of the military’s broader efforts to confront racial injustice.

A reconstructed and refurbished monument to Kosciuszko is expected to be in place next summer.

Michael Hill, The Associated Press

An abundance of mushrooms to forage and study thanks to N.B.'s wet summer

CBC
Sun, August 27, 2023

Some samples of the newly named species of hedgehog mushroom - hydnum atlanticum. (Submitted by Alfredo Justo - image credit)

While all the wet weather this summer has resulted in challenging times for some New Brunswick farmers, it's been the opposite for people foraging or studying mushrooms.

Heading into the peak season for mushrooms, there's an abundance of them in New Brunswick.

Alfredo Justo, head of botany and mycology at the New Brunswick Museum in Saint John, confirmed the recent wet weather has helped.

"It has been a really good year ... for example, chanterelles started fruiting this year in early July," said Justo in an interview with CBC's Shift.

"Whenever you have a year like these with lots of rain, you're going to see a lot of the summer edibles, before the fall season, fruiting in July and August, and that's what we're seeing this year."

Be careful what mushrooms you eat

Justo said there's a growing interest in mushrooms in general, and he sees it when he's out in the field. But he cautions enthusiasts to make sure they know what they're picking.

Alfredo Justo is the curator of botany and mycology for the New Brunswick Museum in Saint John.

'Whenever you have a year like this with lots of rain, you're going to see a lot of the summer edibles, before the fall season ... and that's what we're seeing this year,' says Alfredo Justo, curator of botany and mycology at the N.B. Museum in Saint John. (Submitted by Alfredo Justo)

"If you're foraging for mushrooms for eating, you always have to be 100 per cent certain of what you are collecting," he said. "You have to have basic knowledge of the most common edibles and also the most common and more dangerous toxic species that occur in your area."

Jessika Gauvin is president of the MycoNB Society, and said her mother taught her to forage for mushrooms from a very young age when she was growing up in Moncton.

She agrees there has been a surge in interest over the past few years, especially during and after the pandemic.

"It's really cool to see all of the excitement around mushrooms," she said. "I go out now and people no longer look at me like I have three heads. They're like, 'Are you after chanterelles?' It's cool to see more awareness around it.'"

Jessika Gauvin said foraging for mushrooms is becoming more popular in New Brunswick.

Jessika Gauvin, president of the MycoNB Society, says foraging for mushrooms is catching on in New Brunswick and 'it's cool to see more awareness around it.' (Submitted by Jessika Gauvin)

Gauvin also runs a company, Enchanted Mushroom Forest, which offers guided foraging tours or coaching.

She said New Brunswick has a rich diversity of mushroom species, and it does take some dedication to learn to tell them apart.

"We have hundreds of mushroom species here," said Gauvin.

"Our really popular mushrooms have got to be the chanterelles, the hedgehog mushrooms, lobster mushrooms. Those are probably the most common ones here but we have meadow mushrooms, horse mushrooms — those are the ones related to the ones you get at the store."

Mycoblitz project

Justo said there is also a very active citizen scientist community in the province, who often help gather mushrooms for further study.

A large matsutake mushroom found last year by Jessika Gauvin, who said they smell like cinnamon.

A large matsutake mushroom found last year by Gauvin, who says they smell like cinnamon. (Submitted by Jessika Gauvin)

He and other researchers, including some of the citizen scientists, are taking part in the Maritimes for Mycoblitz, a North American research project spanning Nova Scotia, P.E.I. and New Brunswick for the first time this summer.

Together, they hope to assemble 1,000 collections of mushrooms.

"That seems like a lot, but it's actually just a small grain of sand in the study of biodiversity," Justo said. "But it's a good number."

N.B. scientists name new mushroom species

A good year for foraging has also meant a good year for scientific study.

Justo and his colleagues recently published a paper naming a new species of hedgehog mushroom, which was found and identified as part of a project in 2021 to study chanterelles and hedgehog mushrooms in New Brunswick.

Examples of the newly described species of hedgehog mushroom, Hydnum atlanticum.

Justo says hydnum atlanticum mushrooms are very similar in appearance to other hedgehog mushrooms — small-to-medium sized with brown and orange colours on the cap. (Submitted by Alfredo Justo)

"One of the finds was this species," he said. "We have over 30 collections of it. When we got the DNA sequencing back, it was a species that was not formally described."

He described the mushroom, which they dubbed hydnum atlanticum, as very similar in appearance to other hedgehog mushrooms — small-to-medium sized with brown and orange colours on the cap.

Is the new species rare?

The next step after naming the mushroom species is for scientists to study how rare or common it is, and where it can be found. So far, according to Justo, it has been found in New Brunswick, Labrador and parts of New York.

According to Justo, the next step after naming the mushroom species is for scientists to study how rare or common it is, and where it can be found.

According to Justo, the next step after naming the mushroom species is for scientists to study how rare or common it is, and where it can be found. (Submitted by Alfredo Justo)

He said the classification means the data is available to researchers throughout North America.

"Now they have the morphological data available, they have the DNA data available to them," he said.

Justo said researchers can compare their hedgehog mushroom finds to this one, to see if it's widespread or if it's going to be a rare species.

"We'll have to find out in the coming years."

Conservation group concerned over renewed push to develop N.S. gold mine


CBC
Sun, August 27, 2023 

The St. Marys River is one of Nova Scotia's longest rivers. (CBC - image credit)

A conservation group in Nova Scotia is raising concerns about plans to develop a gold mine in Guysborough County because of the site's proximity to one of the province's longest rivers.

Atlantic Mining Nova Scotia Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Australia-based St Barbara Ltd., announced last week that it was "fully committed" to the Cochrane Hill project on the province's Eastern Shore.

It did also announced it was withdrawing from provincial and federal environmental processes for the Touquoy Gold Mine, which is closing after it failed to get approval for changes to the site, and for the proposed Beaver Dam Gold Project and proposed Fifteen Mile Stream Gold Project.

The Atlantic Salmon Federation in Nova Scotia said it is concerned about the company turning its attention to the Cochrane Hill project and the potential effect of a gold mine near the St. Marys River, where a long-term salmon restoration project has seen success.

"When we looked at Cochrane Hill and the fact that that's still being considered, it just results in all of us shaking our heads here that are involved in Atlantic salmon conservation because we know this area," Deirdre Green, the program director of the Atlantic Salmon Federation in Nova Scotia, told CBC News. "There's significant biodiversity there that needs to be protected."

Wild Atlantic salmon

Green said the proposed site is above McKeen Brook, which flows into the watershed — a spawning area and habitat for wild Atlantic salmon.

The St. Mary's River Association said on its website the river hosts four federally and provincially listed species at risk, "all of which would be threatened by the mine."

"It wouldn't take much for that to have quite an impact on the species," Green said.

Residents and community groups protested Atlantic Gold's proposed the Cochrane Hill gold mine proposal in 2019. (Submitted by Raymond Plourde )

The Atlantic Salmon Federation is seeing evidence "of the success of the work that's been done there over the past years, so we do not want to see a smash-and-grab extractive industry coming and negate all that excellent work," Green said.

Another concern is the potential use of Archibald Lake for the project. A May 2023 analysis by the provincial government examining the prospect of protecting the area noted the lake has been "identified as a preferred water source for a proposed gold mine at nearby Cochrane Hill."

The province's Environment Department is working on its final recommendations on whether to protect it. Nova Scotia Environment Minister Tim Halman said in June he hoped the recommendation would be ready by the end of the year.

A spokesperson for the Environment Department told CBC News in an email on Thursday there are currently no active environmental assessment applications for the Cochrane Hill mine and that the department could only "speak to timelines and processes for actual applications we have received."

The federal government previously terminated its evaluation of the proposed Cochrane Hill gold mine in 2022, saying the company failed to submit the required information and studies by deadline.

Company 'proud of safety record' in N.S.

St Barbara told CBC News in an email it takes its commitment to respecting the environment and safety seriously. It said it is "fully committed" to developing the Cochrane Hill project.

"We are proud of our safety record in Nova Scotia, this includes the safety practices of our exploration team — who will be working at Cochrane Hill in the immediate future," the company said.

"All work occurring at Cochrane Hill is standard practice in identifying and delineating underground resources and will be conducted under appropriate permits that include environmental protection measures and remediation bonds, as is required by the provincial government."

The company said the planned work is focused on designing a project "which reduces interactions with sensitive environmental and social receptors, as identified through the preliminary work undertaken to date including feedback from the public, stakeholders, and First Nation communities."

The gold mine project in Cochrane Hill would bring hundreds of "well-paying, long-term jobs to rural Nova Scotia," the company said, and would generate "hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity with the area."

NEWFOUNDLAND

New program in Terra Nova aims to preserve thriving salmon populations

CBC
Sun, August 27, 2023 

The Atlantic Salmon Confederation has selected the Terra Nova River, which is home to a large population of salmon, as one of the locations to receive funding for preservation efforts. (Submitted by Kristen Noel - image credit)

The Atlantic Salmon Confederation has selected the Terra Nova River, which is home to a large population of salmon, as one of the locations to receive funding for preservation efforts.

The Atlantic Salmon Confederation has selected the Terra Nova River, which is home to a large population of salmon, as one of the locations to receive funding for preservation efforts. (Submitted by Kristen Noel)

The Atlantic Salmon Federation has launched a new conservation program aimed not at areas where fish are at risk, but rather at areas where salmon are thriving, with the goal to keep it that way for years to come.

The federation, which operates within the Atlantic provinces, has chosen four salmon watersheds: the Margaree and Cheticamp Rivers in Nova Scotia, the Nepisiguit River in New Brunswick, and the Terra Nova River in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Kristen Noel, the communication representative for the federation, said that they searched for rivers with self-sustaining salmon populations, free of environmental threats such as invasive fish species and man-made structures like dams. Most importantly, they looked for rivers with an active community involved in fishing and conservation efforts.

"We're looking at watersheds that have active salmon fisheries so that we can have stewards out on the water," Noel said.

"They are the eyes and ears of the land. They let us know when they notice issues with the salmon. They really care about the fish and the river."

Another criterion was an active group working on the conservation of the watershed.

Kris Hunter, the director of programs for the Atlantic Salmon Federation, delivered a speech in Glovertown, NL, about the launch of the conservation program.

 (Submitted by Kristen Noel)

The ASF partnered with the Freshwater Alexander Bays Ecosystem Corporation for the Terra Nova location. They are a local group that works on projects that preserve the watershed.

The Federation's role, Noel said, is not only to provide funding for conservation projects but also to offer scientific resources, information, and guidance both on the river and in the boardroom for business and community outreach.

"And we also connect partners who are doing similar work so that we can have a network for knowledge sharing. We can simply be there to provide support with any questions, so that they can focus on doing that important work in their local communities."

The type of work could involve mapping current and future land use in the area, as well as assessing watersheds for vulnerability to factors such as climate change and habitat improvement. According to Noel, the scope of work varies depending on the area.

The ASF collaborates with universities, such as Memorial University, to create models that predict the effects of warm air temperatures on watersheds. This provides partners with additional information for their efforts.

"Our goal over the long term is to have 30 wild salmon watersheds across Eastern Canada," said Noel.

"Right now, with the wild salmon watersheds, we're not considering any restrictions. Anglers are an important part of conservation, so at the moment, we don't plan on imposing any restrictions. We only hope to protect the land and water."

The federal government used to build social housing. Then it stopped. How is that going?


CBC
Sun, August 27, 2023 

Whitchurch-Stouffville aerial scenic of areas under development for residential home construction. Taken on June 11, 2022. Since the federal government pulled out of building non-market housing, there's been a gap in who takes that on, say advocates. (Patrick Morrell/CBC - image credit)

Many agree we're in the middle of a national housing crisis. So how did we get here?

It depends on who you ask, but for many housing experts, affordability advocates and municipal officials, the answer lies in part with a policy shift consecutive federal governments joined decades ago. A shift that some argue provides clues on how to fix the current housing conundrum.

Despite the prime minister's assertion earlier this month that housing isn't primarily a federal responsibility, it hasn't always been that way.

Canada had long provided subsidized housing for people who couldn't afford to pay market value: for workers and returning veterans after the Second World War, for example, and in the 1970s and early 80s as pressure mounted for Ottawa to intervene during a series of recessions.

In the early to mid-1990s, back-to-back governments of different political stripes — first the Conservative government under Brian Mulroney and then Jean Chretien's Liberals — began pulling back from the business of affordable housing.

Facing big deficits and with neoliberalism taking hold globally, Ottawa reduced spending on housing, cut the federal co-operative housing program (one that saw the construction of nearly 60,000 homes) and eventually pulled the plug on building any new affordable housing units altogether.

We now have a 30 year deficit in non-market housing, said Andy Yan, director of the city program at Simon Fraser University.

"We're dealing with the consequences now," said Yan. "Specific populations are struggling for housing that is affordable, that has some kind of relationship to their income."

"We see who's paying the price on our streets in Canada."

Andy Yan, director of The City Program at Simon Fraser University, is pictured in Vancouver on Sunday, Feb. 7, 2021.

Andy Yan, director of The City Program at Simon Fraser University, is pictured in Vancouver in a 2021 file photo. He says the consequences of Ottawa doing less for social housing are seen on the streets of cities today. (Maggie MacPherson/CBC)

Canada's housing crisis has been the Liberal government's priority at this week's cabinet retreat in Charlottetown, P.E.l., with the country's housing minister, Sean Fraser, even suggesting the the federal government is considering a cap on the number of international students to ease the pressure on the housing market.

According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC), Canada needs to build 5.8 million new homes — including two million rental units — by 2030 to tackle housing affordability.

Municipalities left to manage housing file

It's not just the federal government that's passed the buck on affordable housing. Over a number of years in the late 90s and early 2000s, the Conservative government in Ontario, under Mike Harris, passed the file to municipalities to manage.

"Devolving responsibility in itself is not a problem," said Murtaza Haider, professor of data science and real estate management at Toronto Metropolitan University. That is, of course, "if it is accompanied by giving more resources," he said.

Murtaza Haider, a professor of data science and real estate management at Toronto Metropolitan University, believes governments need to look at bigger initiatives to tackle the country's housing crisis.

Murtaza Haider, a professor of data science and real estate management at Toronto Metropolitan University, believes governments need to look at bigger initiatives to tackle the country's housing crisis. (James Dunne/CBC)

And according to Haider, that hasn't happened.

"Responsibility for social housing ended up with local governments despite their severely constrained revenue base," he said. "Municipal governments get 10 per cent of the taxes we pay. 90 per cent of our taxes go to the feds and the provinces."

In 2017, the federal government announced it was "re-engaging in affordable housing through the National Housing Strategy," and said it would invest more than $82B over 10 years to "build stronger communities and help Canadians across the country access a safe, affordable home."

"But the realization is that the demand for such housing far exceeds the supply and the subsidies and the support that the three tiers of governments are providing," said Haider.

Gord Krantz was first elected to the town council in Milton, Ont., in 1965. He's been the mayor since 1980.

Gord Krantz was first elected to the town council in Milton, Ont., in 1965. He's been the mayor since 1980. (Submitted by Gord Krantz)

At 86, Milton Mayor Gord Krantz is familiar with changing policies and philosophies on social housing. Krantz is Canada's longest serving mayor, having been in the seat since 1980. He was a town councillor for 15 years before that.

"Downloading usually will start at the top," he said. "The federal government is the top of the food chain. They downloaded on the province and then the province downloads on municipalities. We're the end of the food chain."

But all levels of government need to come together to tackle the housing crisis, said Krantz. "It's come to a peak now. We're all going to have to get our act together to address this looming problem," he said.

It comes down to money. The Region of Halton — which Milton is a part of — needs more money for affordable housing, said Krantz.

"The federal and provincial governments, with their taxing abilities, they can make it work," he said. "Could they maybe cut back in an area or two and put an extra billion or two into social housing? I think they have the ability to do that."

CBC contacted the office of the housing minister, who referred questions to the CMHC. It didn't respond by deadline.

Can the private sector pick up the pieces?

In the absence of government leadership, it's clear who has taken charge, says Leilani Farha, global director with the human rights organization, The Shift.

"When [Ottawa] retreated from the housing market, they allowed the private sector to invade the space and come in a very unregulated way," said Farha, who is also the former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing.

As result, Canada now has an unruly and very powerful private real estate sector, said Farha. "They're used to being on a gravy train and receiving preferential tax treatment without having to provide any social housing."

For Farha, the answer to easing Canada's housing crisis is two-fold: better regulate the private sector so developers are compelled to include affordable housing in their portfolios and governments need to pony up more money for social housing projects.

Simply flooding the market with new market value units isn't the answer, she said.

Leilani Farha is the global director of The Shift, an international human rights organization and is the former UN special rapporteur on the right to housing.

Leilani Farha is the global director of The Shift, an international human rights organization and is the former UN special rapporteur on the right to housing. (Idil Mussa/CBC)

"Traditional supply-demand economics do not apply anymore in the housing sector," she said. "Institutional investors with so much money and ability to finance are speculating with housing."

"It's skewed the whole market."

Farha believes federal governments in the 90s made a grave mistake when they abandoned the social housing file, but the bigger mistake was losing the vision.

"Housing is for households and not speculative investment," she said. "Changing that vision was a colossal mistake."

With files from Andrea Hoang

Receiving death threats not regular part of Quebec elementary teacher's job: tribunal

The Canadian Press
Sat, August 26, 2023 



LÉVIS, Que. — The psychological harm suffered by a Quebec elementary teacher after a student brought knives to school and told classmates he planned to kill her was a workplace injury, the province's labour tribunal has ruled.

The teacher, identified only as K.R. in the ruling, filed a workplace injury claim in February 2020, saying the incident — which took place three months before — and the boy's continued presence in her class led to an anxiety disorder.

The tribunal ruling overturns a May 2020 decision by Quebec's labour board, which sided with her employer, dismissed her claim and ordered her to repay more than $1,590 in benefits.

"Receiving death threats, even if they are not carried out, is beyond the normal and foreseeable scope of a second grade teacher's work," administrative judge Renée-Claude Bélanger wrote in his late July ruling.

Bélanger's decision found a seven-year-old student — identified as X — told other children he had brought knives to school in order to kill the teacher. Those threats were reported to a school daycare worker, who found four butter knives in the boy's backpack and confiscated them.

But K.R. told the tribunal she was never officially informed about the incident and instead heard about what had happened from a fifth grade student.

She testified that after the child told her about the incident, moments before the start of class, she felt a sense of panic and remembers little of the morning.

"All that she remembers is that X was in her class and that no one came to see her to tell her about the situation or ask if she was all right," Bélanger wrote.

Later in the day, during recess, a colleague came to ask K.R. if it was true that X had brought knives to school and threatened to kill her. The colleague told her all the children were talking about the incident, according to the ruling, but K.R. still hadn't been officially informed of what happened.

She wouldn't find out that the student had only brought simple butter knives to school until months later when she read documents filed with the labour board, Bélanger wrote.

"The Tribunal holds that she would have liked to not have had X in her class at the beginning of the day and to have been advised of the situation by someone other than a fifth-grader," he wrote.

While X and his mother met with a police officer and school administrators that day, K.R. testified she wasn't invited to the meeting, Bélanger wrote.

In her testimony, K.R. described X as a disruptive student who was feared by other children and who frequently ran away from class.

She told the tribunal the boy's behaviour in the months that followed exacerbated the anxiety she felt after the incident and she dreaded the thought of having to finish the school year with him in her class.

School administrators rejected a request to allot dedicated time for the student to work with a special-education teacher, according to her testimony.

She stopped working in mid-January 2020 and sought medical attention for her anxiety.

The teacher's employer, a school service centre that operates the school near Quebec City where she taught, opposed her workplace injury claim. Neither the school nor the service centre are named in the ruling.

According to the decision, the employer argued X never posed a real or potential danger to the teacher and her situation doesn't meet the criteria for a workplace injury.

It told the tribunal the teacher received all the necessary and available professional assistance and that her teaching responsibilities were the normal and expected duties of an elementary school teacher.

While Bélanger ruled that dealing with a disruptive student is part of a primary school teacher's normal responsibilities, X's behaviour, coupled with the death threat, went beyond what a second grade teacher would normally be expected to handle and were "objectively traumatic."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 26, 2023.

— By Jacob Serebrin in Montreal

The Canadian Press

Hundreds rally in Saskatoon against new sexual education, pronoun policies in province's schools


CBC
Sun, August 27, 2023 a

People rallied in Sasktoon Sunday against recently announced school policies around sexual education and students pronouns. (Camille Cusset/CBC - image credit)

Hundreds of people assembled in Saskatoon Sunday afternoon, protesting new policies around students' pronouns and sexual education in schools.

Sunday's rally occurred around the Wildwood area, outside the office of Don Morgan, the minister of Crown Investment Corporation, as well as labour relations and workplace safety. It is the latest in a wave of opposition to the education policies announced earlier this week.

"Stop this. It's not in the interest of saving children, or making children safe," said Fran Forsberg, one of the rally organizers. Two of her children are transgender.

"You are putting youth and children in harm's way."

On Tuesday, Education Minister Dustin Duncan announced several new policies around sexual education and the use of pronouns in schools throughout the province.

If a student is younger than 16, schools must now seek permission from their parent or guardian to change the child's pronouns and preferred name. Consent is not required for students aged 16 or older.

Parents and guardians must now be informed about the sex education curriculum, and have the option to pull their child from participating.

School boards must also cease inviting third-party organizations — excluding provincial government and Saskatchewan Health Authority employees — to present about sexual health education in classrooms, until the education ministry finishes reviewing its materials for the curriculum.

In the meantime, only teachers are allowed to conduct sexual education in classrooms.

The announcement stems from an incident that occurred in Lumsden High School in June, just before the end of the school year.

Many people at Sunday's rally focused on the pronoun policy announced by Saskatchewan Education Minister Dustin Duncan on Tuesday.

Many people at Sunday's rally focused on the pronoun policy announced by Saskatchewan Education Minister Dustin Duncan on Tuesday. (Camille Cusset/CBC)

Planned Parenthood Regina, a sexual health clinic that offers community programming, among other things, presented to a Grade 9 health class about contraception, consent, and sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections — which aligned with the curriculum.

The presenters left behind additional resources if students wanted to learn more. One student picked up a copy of a card set titled Sex from A-Z, which was unrelated to the presentation and not age-appropriate.

The new policies are an attempt to get parents more involved in their children's schooling, and create uniformity across school divisions when it comes to dealing with these matters, Duncan previously said.

On Sunday, Premier Scott Moe posted on social media, defending the policies.

He has been touring the province and, at "every stop," he has received positive responses to the new policy, he said.

Yet, since Tuesday morning, the Opposition NDP, educators, health professionals and sexual health stakeholders have strongly opposed the move, suggesting the policies could harm transgender and non-binary children — as well as students in general — through lesser sexual education.

"Kids do better [in school] when parents are involved," said NDP education critic Matt Love, who attended Sunday's rally. "The fact is, these policies are forcing schools and teachers into a position that could put children at risk."

Lisa Broda, Saskatchewan's Advocate for Children and Youth, has announced her office will be reviewing the new pronoun policy — about which she said they were not advised.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association, a non-partisan non-profit organization that focuses on protecting human rights and freedoms, suggests the pronoun policy discriminates against gender-diverse students specifically and could violate privacy rights if someone was outed.

Critics have questioned which experts the government consulted when crafting — and moving forward with — the new education policies, as there is a body of research that suggests how harmful they could be.

CBC News asked Duncan that question earlier this week. He evaded answering directly, but said the government would be consulting and researching moving forward.

On Sunday, Moe acknowledged on social media that he had been asked the same question.

"I believe the leading experts in children's upbringing are their parents," he said.

'Not all parents are safe to involve'

People who spoke with CBC News Sunday didn't fully support Moe's belief, because not all parents are open to gender diversity.

Teresa Mead, a therapist, has consulted with schools to identify safe people — teachers, in particular — for gender-diverse youth to talk to, in between therapy sessions, she said.

Teresa Mead, a therapist, says schools and teachers are often safe havens for gender diverse students.

Teresa Mead, a therapist, says schools and teachers are often safe havens for gender diverse students. (Camille Cusset/CBC)

"They need to be validated in the world that they live in," she said.

Mead has seen the role teachers can play in her personal life, too. Mead is an open ally of the LGBTQ community, she said. Yet, her own child waited nine months to come out to her about being transgender.

Her child first came out to a teacher, Mead said.

"They were still worried that I would kick them out of the home," she said.

Wilbur Braidek, 14, finds the new pronoun policy "really stupid."

Wilbur Braidek, left, attended Sunday's rally with his mother Jessica Fraser, right. Braidek changed his name at school last year without telling his parents.

Wilbur Braidek, left, attended Sunday's rally with his mother Jessica Fraser, right. Braidek changed his name at school last year without telling his parents. (Camille Cusset/CBC)

He changed his preferred name last year, so for him, the new policy — and the paperwork that comes with it — would be an inconvenience "just to get them to call me my name," Braidek said.

Braidek changed his name without telling his parents, said Jessica Fraser, his mother.

"Not all parents are safe to involve," she said.

"Our kids should be able to be themselves at school. School should be a safe place, where you can trust the people around you and be yourself — and sometimes home isn't that."

Don Kossick, who was appointed to the Order of Canada this year in part for promoting human rights and social justice, was among the crowd in Saskatoon Sunday.

He wants the government to "back off right away and apologize," Kossick told CBC News.

"They've caused a commotion in this province. It's not fair — and it's not fair to the people who want to be who they are," he said.

Trans Lifeline provides a national phoneline operated by transgender people for people who are transgender or questioning their gender identity. Canadians can access support by calling the 24-hour service at 1-877-330-6366.

Refugees sleeping in Toronto churches continue calls for government support

CBC
Sun, August 27, 2023 

Refugees and asylum seekers sleeping in a Toronto church protested outside Premier Doug Ford's constituency office on Thursday. (CBC - image credit)

After spending days or weeks living in an emergency shelter at a Toronto church, dozens of asylum seekers and refugees want action from the provincial and federal government.

On Thursday, asylum seekers who have been living at Pilgrim Feast Tabernacles in Etobicoke staged a protest outside Premier Doug Ford's constituency office at 823 Albion Road. Nadine Miller, a director with the church, says its been housing about 150 people and neglecting bills to pay for their food.

While immigration policies are a federal responsibility, Miller and the church is calling on all levels of government to work together on a solution.

"We need them, from the local level in Ontario to the federal government, to sit down and come up with a way that the refugees that are sleeping in the churches can be moved, can be housed," she said.

The church is one of multiple in the city that has stepped up to help asylum seekers who had been sleeping on city sidewalks outside a homeless support centre at 129 Peter Street downtown as the city and federal government went back and forth over shelter funding. On Friday, Mayor Olivia Chow said the city has provided three churches with $50,000 to help offset costs of housing refugees.

Half of people coming to Toronto shelters are refugees: mayor

Chow said the city is housing about 10,000 people in its shelter system, around 3,300 of them are newcomers.

"Half the people coming to shelters are refugees," Chow said.

Ford also addressed the situation during a media availability on Friday.

"I have people in my own riding, as you've heard, asylum seekers, new refugees, coming here [and] sleeping in church's basements, sleeping in an old TD Bank. That's unacceptable," Ford said. "We need to continue to build homes."

Beatrice Wathira was one of the asylum seekers protesting outside Ford's office this week. She says she had to flee Kenya because her life was in danger.

Beatrice Wathira said she came to Canada because she knew the federal government would help people in need.

Beatrice Wathira said she came to Canada because she knew the federal government would help people in need. (CBC)

"I had been reading about Canada and I know it's a good country, where [the] government can take care of the person who is in need of being protected," said Wathira, who used to be employed operating heavy machinery on construction sites and hopes to do the same here.

A report published in June by CIBC deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal found there are at least 80,000 vacancies in the construction industry nationwide. But before Wathira could help fill one, she's calling on the government to help her find somewhere to live.

'Winter is coming'

Miller is worried that the coming change in seasons will only make things worse.

"Winter is coming. If these people are not acclimatized and educated and into homes right now, I believe that we will lose some of their lives," she said.

Throughout the summer, Chow has been calling on the federal government to supply more money to help address the situation.

In July, the federal government announced that asylum seekers would be given a one-time injection of about $212 million, with $97 million for Toronto, into the Interim Housing Assistance Program.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada did not reply to a request for comment prior to the publication of this story.

Influx of asylum claimants flooding shelters, social services in Ottawa

The Canadian Press
Sun, August 27, 2023 



OTTAWA — Femi Biobaku came to Canada more than a year ago fleeing persecution from the Nigerian authorities, forcing him to leave his wife, two children, community and job as an accountant back home.

He landed in Ottawa in July 2022 and stayed with a host family for nearly a month before moving into a dorm at the Ottawa Mission homeless shelter, where things took a turn for the worse.

"It was horrible. When I was there, I was being attacked," said Biobaku.

After leaving Nigeria, the newcomer said, living at the shelter for about a month re-traumatized him, leading him to consider suicide.

He credits a referral to Ottawa's Matthew House — a non-profit organization that provides transitional housing to refugees — for saving his life.

"The first day I landed at Matthew House … that night, it was like I was in my home back in Nigeria," said Biobaku.

He said Matthew House, along with providing food and shelter, helped him get his life in Canada on track with therapy and other support services.

And after receiving his work permit, Biobaku has been employed by Matthew House's furniture bank — a program that helps newcomers and low-income families in Ottawa furnish their homes.

Biobaku is just one of nearly 92,000 asylum claimants who fled to Canada in 2022, and around 70,000 more have arrived since, according to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.

It has led to an influx of unsponsored refugee claimants that have flooded homeless shelters, temporary housing and social services in several Canadian cities, most notably in Toronto, and now in Ottawa.

Allan Reesor-McDowell, executive director of Matthew House, said all 13 of its reception and transitional homes are at full capacity, which combined typically provide beds for over 90 people.

Before the pandemic, Reesor-McDowell said, refugees would stay in these homes for three to four months before moving to more permanent housing, but now it's around six months.

He said this is because, simply put, "it's harder to find housing."

The refugee crisis has escalated for a decade, long neglected by the Canadian government, he said.

"This is not a new thing at all," said Reesor-McDowell.

"If you don't address something that's staring you in the face for years, eventually it catches up to you."

Reesor-McDowell said Matthew House and 30 to 40 similar organizations across Canada are the best option for helping unsponsored refugees when they first arrive and permanently diverting homelessness.

That process includes finding newcomers legal aid, securing a work permit and a job, then transitioning them into permanent housing and independence, he said.

The number of refugee claimants coming to Canada is not overwhelming and could be easily handled if co-ordinated services were given the resources to expand, he added.

"It's not that complicated, we already know what to do," said Reesor McDowell. "We have programs that are super effective (and) low-cost. We just need more of that capacity across the country and then it's not a problem."

The city provides Matthew House with $270,000 annually, which goes toward staffing, but operational costs are supported through fundraising and grants, Reesor-McDowell said.

He added that while Matthew House has received municipal support, the federal government's response has been lacklustre.

Last month, the federal government announced $210 million in funding toward temporary housing for refugee claimants, with nearly half pledged to get asylum seekers in Toronto off the streets.

Reesor-McDowell said that instead of contributing to programs that welcome and support asylum seekers, the feds have invested in temporary and less cost-effective options such as hotels.

However, at least one Ottawa city councillor sees a place for hotels in the mix of short-term solutions.

Several community centres in the national capital were repurposed during the pandemic to provide housing when shelters were full.

Though that was supposed to be a temporary solution, demand has forced the city to leave some open.

Right now, two are still being used as shelters and both are at maximum capacity, including one in Ottawa Coun. Stéphanie Plante's Rideau-Vanier ward.

Plante worries that using recreation centres in low-income areas is taking away an important community resource from children.

"It just seems like we're being put in a position where, you know, we're putting vulnerable people, on top of vulnerable people, on top of vulnerable people, and they're kind of competing for the limited resources in these areas," she said.

An alternative to using the community centres as temporary housing, Plante said, is relocating refugees to hotels, motels and Airbnb's across the city until longer-term solutions are found.

"We have hotels in Kanata, in Orleans, in Barrhaven. We could be putting people in all parts of the city if we really wanted to give those rec centres back to kids," she said.

As for the long-term solutions, Plante feels the answer is not letting bureaucracy get in the way and finding creative fixes to the housing problem.

Plante mentioned turning vacant government offices into residences and offering incentives to developers who build on brownfields, spaces where former factories or other operations might have contaminated the soil.

"I want to see cranes in the sky. I want to see work boots," she said. "I want to see hammering away. Like, I just want to build.".

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 27, 2023.

Liam Fox, The Canadian Press

Climate Change Is Helping Pests and Diseases Destroy Our Food

Mumbi Gitau
Sat, August 26, 2023 



(Bloomberg) -- Pests and diseases are exacerbating crop shortages that have sent prices for goods like cocoa, olive oil and orange juice soaring. That’s set to become even more prevalent as extreme weather events multiply.

Already, plant diseases cost the global economy over $220 billion every year, and invasive insects at least $70 billion, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. Pests adapt easily to the changing climate, with warmer temperatures allowing them to generate more quickly and migrate faster, in turn reducing crop yields, according to Leah Buchman, an entomologist at Georgetown University.

“As temperature rise, you have this expanded geographic range and this expanded range of insects that will just increase those diseases that insects spread,” Buchman said.

As a result, destructive moths native to the Americas have been found devouring corn and other grains across Africa and Asia. A whitefly associated with tropical and subtropical climates has been destroying tomato plantations in Europe. Below are some of the crops that are struggling as the enemies that destroy them increase.

Cocoa

West Africa, home to two-thirds of global cocoa supply, has seen serious difficulties with its crop in recent seasons, causing wholesale prices to soar near historic highs this year.

Two diseases in particular have compounded the problem. Black pod disease is caused by fungal-like organisms that spread rapidly on cacao pods under humid conditions, turning them black or brown. It has caused destruction of up to 30% of annual cocoa crops, according to the several studies. Prolonged periods of heavy rain combined with irregular patterns have increased opportunities for it to spread.

Swollen shoot virus is transmitted via mealybugs that feed on the sap of cocoa plants, and significantly reduces crop yields before eventually killing the plant. Mealybugs thrive in warmer temperatures, and can spread the virus quickly even if only a single seedling is infected. Uprooting infected trees is the only way to control the disease, according to World Agroforestry. About 20% of the cocoa crop in Ivory Coast is infected with swollen shoot, said Steve Wateridge, head of research at Tropical Research Services.

Tomatoes


The price of tomatoes in India soared 700% last month, an increase so out of the ordinary that it has sparked social media memes comparing the cost of the essential ingredient with anything from petrol to political influence.

The crop’s output took a hit amid delayed monsoon, heavy rains in some growing areas and hotter-than normal temperatures in June. But it has also suffered because of the so-called silverleaf whitefly. The sap-feeding insect has the ability to transmit hundreds of plant viruses, crimping production of key crops like tomatoes, but also cassava, beans and sweet potatoes. In India, the highly infectious tomato leaf curl virus transmitted by the insect contributed to devastating losses. The virus was recently introduced to Europe, possibly from India and has been causing outbreaks in several European countries. The insects have shown high adaptability to changes in agro-ecosystems, with a combination of hot weather and high humidity resulting in the insects’ buildup.

Olives

Spain, the world’s largest olive oil producer, is facing its own type of oil crisis as drought has caused output to dwindle, more than doubling wholesale costs in the past year. But it’s not only extreme heat and dryness that’s biting into European olive farmers’ production.

With temperatures in the region rising, fending off certain diseases has become more difficult. Xylella fastidiosa is “one of the most dangerous plant bacteria worldwide,” according to the European Commission, and has the potential to cause an annual production loss of €5.5 billion in the EU. The bacterium kills plants by clogging vessels that carry water from roots to leaves, slowly choking them to death.

Temperatures below -5C (23F) can reduce the disease viability, but with winter seasons reaching those temperatures less frequently, the distribution of suitable areas for the bacteria may change. In Italy, at least 20 million of the country’s 150 million olive trees have already been infected, mostly in the region of Puglia, which used to contribute up to 50% of Italy’s total annual olive oil production.

Grains

The global grains trade has faced trouble for a number of reasons, not least due to recent escalations in Russia’s war against Ukraine. While prices have remained more or less in check, unfavorable weather and pests have sparked local production issues in some countries.

That’s true in China, one of the world’s top growers of corn, where pests like the fall armyworm are attacking plants earlier than usual. Native to the Americas, the destructive pest is now found across various continents including Asia and Africa. Fall armyworms can migrate hundreds of kilometers in a single night during their moth stage, and produce many eggs, raising their chances of survival. Warmer and humid weather supports survival and reproduction of the pest, allowing larvae to begin their assault much earlier in a crop cycle.

Orange Juice

Damage from hurricanes, frost and diseases have decimated orange groves in Florida, pushing US orange juice futures to record highs this month. Orange growers across Brazil and the US are struggling to battle the citrus greening disease, a fatal illness that causes fruits to get smaller, fall off trees and produce bitter juice, causing a global shortage.

The disease, transmitted by a insect known as the Asian citrus psyllid, is considered the most serious threat to citrus plants. In Brazil, nearly one in four orange trees in Sao Paulo State and western Minas Gerais have the disease, according to research group Fundecitrus.

An increase in average temperatures in parts of the country’s citrus belt can benefit the spread of the insect that carries the bacteria, according to a study by Brazilian Agricultural Research company Embrapa. Citrus crop output in Brazil, the world’s top exporter, has also dwindled due to the disease.

--With assistance from Dayanne Sousa.

Exclusive-India's aviation watchdog reviewing fatigue data after pilot death-source

Aditi Shah and Riddhima Talwani
Fri, August 25, 2023 

 An Air India Airbus A320 aircraft takes off as an IndiGo Airlines aircraft waits for clearance at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad

By Aditi Shah and Riddhima Talwani

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's air safety watchdog has launched a review of pilot fatigue data to see if any policy changes are needed after the sudden death of an IndiGo pilot, a senior aviation ministry official told Reuters.

The rare review, which has not previously been reported, comes after an IndiGo pilot collapsed and died before his flight last week. That has sparked complaints from some Indian pilots that they are being stretched to the brink by airlines, even though they comply with duty time regulations.

After the death, hundreds of airline pilots plan to form an association to challenge flying duty regulations they say cause fatigue and jeopardise safety, Reuters reported this week.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has now decided to conduct a review of pilot fatigue data it has collected during spot checks and surveillance of airlines to see if regulations related to flight duty times or fatigue need to be changed, said the official.

The regulator could go a step further by approaching Indian airlines to submit details of pilot complaints related to fatigue.

"The regulator will go to a granular level," said the official, declining to be named in line with government rules.

While pilot fatigue is a global problem, India is at the heart of the matter as the world's fastest-growing aviation market, with hundreds of new planes on order by IndiGo and Tata group-owned Air India.

IndiGo, India's biggest airline, has said the pilot who died had a 27-hour break before duty and was in good health.

In the United States, regulators allow pilots on two-pilot flights to be on duty for a maximum of 14 hours during the day and nine hours for late-night flights. India does not differentiate between day and night flights and allows pilots to be on duty for 13 hours within a 24-hour span.

"Whatever systemic intervention is needed, the regulator will make robust changes. It is an outcome oriented exercise and the watchdog is open to take all steps," the official said, adding India intended to be in line with other major regulators.

Indian pilots must, however, report fatigue without fear of backlash from airlines, he added.

"The airlines need to show more maturity. Rostering needs to have an element of cautious monitoring of fatigue," said the person, adding that reporting it is a "shared responsibility".

About a dozen Indian pilots with whom Reuters spoke in recent weeks shared worries not just about work hours but flight schedules they say are erratic and worsened sometimes by consecutive late-night departures without sufficient rest.