Alien Objects on Earth: Harvard Physicist Says Hundreds of Tiny Fragments at Bottom of Ocean Are From Outside Our Solar System

Story by Samyarup Chowdhury •

Harvard physicist Avi Loeb and his team claim that the tiny fragments they found at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean originated outside our solar system.

This would be the first time someone has discovered an object from outside our galaxy on Earth, Knewz.com has learned.


The fragments of the© Knewz (CA)

Back in 2014, a meteor-like object crashed off the coast of Papua New Guinea, thus breaking apart into tiny fragments that now lie under the Pacific Ocean, as per Daily Mail.

Professor Loeb and his team are studying the tiny fragments, and he has not ruled out the possibility that they could also be the remnants of an alien craft.


Professor Loeb and his team aren't ruling out the possibility of the© Knewz (CA)

In a post on Medium from January 2023, Professor Loeb discussed in detail his plans regarding "The Galileo Project," the expedition to study the fragments of the interstellar object that crashed into the Pacific Ocean.

Related video: Searching for evidence of interstellar objects (NBC News)

Duration 7:17   View on Watch

"We have a boat. We have a dream team, including some of the most experienced and qualified professionals in ocean expeditions. We have complete design and manufacturing plans for the required sled, magnets, collection nets and mass spectrometer. And most importantly, today we received the green light to go ahead," he says about the $1.5 million expedition.

As per Daily Mail, the 700 or so tiny metallic spheres his team analyzed contain compositions that do not match any natural or man-made alloys of Earth.

"I was thrilled when Stein Jacobsen [the one who performed the composition analysis of the spherules] reported to me about it based on the results in his laboratory... Stein is a highly conservative and professional geochemist with a worldwide reputation. He had no bias or agenda whatsoever and expected to find familiar spherules with solar system composition. But the data showed something new, never reported in the scientific literature. Science is guided by evidence," Professor Loeb said in a statement to the outlet.

Analysis has shown that the fragments are rich in Beryllium, lanthanum, and uranium, in addition to a low content of elements that bind to iron, like Rhenium - one of the rarest elements found on Earth. However, the findings are yet to answer whether the fragments are artificial or natural in origin. The Harvard physicist says that it is the next question his research aims to answer.

“People say ‘Oh, it’s just a space rock. We saw so many space rocks in the past. What’s new about it? It’s the first one that came from outside the solar system and, second, it’s tougher than 99.7 percent of everything we have seen," Professor Loeb says in a statement to The Harvard Crimson. "We should be able to tell what its origin is — whether it’s an artificial alloy, for example, if it were a spacecraft of another technological civilization,” he adds.

Unilever beats shareholder case over Ben & Jerry's Israel boycott

 Ben & Jerry's, a brand of Unilever, is seen on display in a store in Manhattan, New York City

© Thomson Reuters

By Jody Godoy

(Reuters) - A Manhattan federal judge dismissed a lawsuit against Unilever Plc on Tuesday that claimed the company misled U.S. investors by not immediately disclosing a decision by its Ben & Jerry's unit to stop selling ice cream in Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.

A Michigan pension fund sued in June 2022, seeking damages for a drop in Unilever shares after Ben & Jerry's announced in July 2021 it would stop sales in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and parts of East Jerusalem.

U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield ruled on Tuesday that Unilever was not required to disclose the boycott when Ben & Jerry's board decided on it in 2020 because Unilever had ultimate control over whether to implement it.

While Ben & Jerry's board oversees its social mission, Unilever retained authority over financial and operational decisions when it bought the ice cream company in 2000.

Schofield said the delay in announcing the board's resolution was likely "to determine what, if anything, to do about it."

An attorney representing the pension fund for fire and police in the Michigan community of St. Clair Shores and a Unilever spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The pension fund had sought damages for those who held Unilever American depositary receipts in July 2021, when they fell after several U.S. states reviewed their relationships with the British consumer goods company and some Jewish groups accused Ben & Jerry's of antisemitism.

Founded in 1978, Ben & Jerry's has long positioned itself as socially conscious. It said in July 2021 that selling ice cream in the occupied Palestinian territories was "inconsistent with our values."

Most countries consider Israeli settlements in those territories illegal, which Israel disputes. In 2022, Unilever sold its interest in Ben & Jerry's operations in Israel.

The Vermont-based ice cream maker sued to block the sale. The companies settled the dispute in December.

The case is City of St. Clair Shores Police and Fire Retirement System v. Unilever Plc et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 22-05011.

(Reporting by Jody Godoy and Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Wild horses could be removed from N.D. park

Story by Associated Press 
Jack Dura

BISMARCK, N.D. — The beloved wild horses that roam freely in North Dakota's Theodore Roosevelt National Park could be removed under a National Park Service proposal that advocates say could sever a cultural link to the past.

Visitors who drive the scenic park road can often see bands of horses, a symbol of the West and a sight that delights tourists. Advocates want to see the horses continue to roam the Badlands, and disagree with park officials who have branded the horses as “livestock.”

The Park Service is revising its livestock plans and writing an environmental assessment to examine the impacts of taking no new action — or to remove the horses altogether.

Removal would entail capturing horses and giving some of them first to tribes, and later auctioning the animals or giving them to other entities. Another approach would include techniques to prevent future reproduction and would allow those horses to live out the rest of their lives in the park.

The horses have allies in government leaders and advocacy groups. One advocate says the horses' popularity won't stop park officials from removing them from the landscape of North Dakota's top tourist attraction.

“At the end of the day, that's our national park paid for by our tax dollars, and those are our horses. We have a right to say what happens in our park and to the animals that live there," Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates President Chris Kman told The Associated Press.

Last year, Park Superintendent Angie Richman told The Bismarck Tribune that the park has no law or requirement for the horses to be in the park. Regardless of what decision is ultimately made, the park will have to reduce its roughly 200 horses to 35-60 animals under a 1978 environmental assessment's population objective, she previously said.

Kman said she would like the park “to use science” to “properly manage the horses," including a minimum of 150-200 reproductive horses for genetic viability. Impacts of the park's use of a contraceptive on mares are unclear, she added.

Ousting the horse population “would have a detrimental impact on the park as an ecosystem,” Kman said. The horses are a historical fixture, while the park reintroduced bison and elk, she said.

A couple bands of wild horses were accidentally fenced into the park after it was established in 1947, said Castle McLaughlin, who in the 1980s researched the history and origins of the horses while working as a graduate student for the Park Service in North Dakota.

Park officials in the early years sought to eradicate the horses, shooting them on sight and hiring local cowboys to round them up and remove them, she said. The park even sold horses to a local zoo at one point to be food for large cats.

Around 1970, a new superintendent discovered Roosevelt had written about the presence of wild horses in the Badlands during his time there. Park officials decided to retain the horses as a historic demonstration herd to interpret the open-range ranching era. "However, the Park Service still wasn't thrilled about them," McLaughlin told the AP.

“Basically they're like cultural artifacts almost because they reflect several generations of western North Dakota ranchers and Native people. They were part of those communities," and might have ties to Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull, she said.

In the 1880s, Theodore Roosevelt hunted and ranched as a young man in the Badlands of what is now western North Dakota. The Western tourist town of Medora is at the gates of the national park that bears his name.

Roosevelt looms large in North Dakota, where a presidential library in his honor is under construction near the park — a legislative push in 2019 that was championed by Republican Gov. Doug Burgum.

Burgum has offered for the state to collaborate with the Park Service to manage the horses. Earlier this year, North Dakota's Republican-controlled Legislature passed a resolution in support of preserving the horses.

Republican U.S. Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota has included legislation in the U.S. Interior Department's appropriations bill that he told the AP “would direct them to keep horses in the park in line with what was there at the time that Teddy Roosevelt was out in Medora.”

“Most all of the input we've got is that people want to retain horses. We've been clear we think (the park) should retain horses,” Hoeven said. He's pressing the park to keep more than 35-60 horses for genetics reasons.

The senator said he expects the environmental review to be completed soon, which will provide an opportunity for public comment. Richman told the AP the park plans to release the assessment this summer. A timeline for a final decision is unclear.

The environmental review will look at the impact of each of the three proposals in a variety of areas, Maureen McGee-Ballinger, the park’s deputy superintendent, told the AP.

There were thousands of responses during the previous public comment period on the park's proposals — the vast majority of which opposed “complete livestock removal.”

Kman's group has been active in gathering support for the horses, including drafting government resolutions and contacting congressional offices, tribal leaders, similar advocacy groups and “pretty much anyone that would listen to me,” she said.

McLaughlin said the park's effort carries “a stronger possibility that they'll succeed this time than has ever been the case in the past. I mean, they have never been this determined and publicly open about their intentions, but I've also never seen the state fight for the horses like they are now."

The park's North Unit, about 70 miles (112.65 kilometers) from Medora, has about nine longhorn cattle. The proposals would affect the longhorns, too, though the horses are the greater concern. Hoeven said his legislation doesn't address the longhorns. The cattle are managed under a 1970 plan.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park “is one of very few national parks that does have horses, and that sets it apart,” North Dakota Commerce Tourism and Marketing Director Sara Otte Coleman said in January at a press conference with Burgum and lawmakers.

Wild horses also roam in Assateague Island National Seashore in Maryland and Virginia.

The horses' economic impact on tourism is impossible to delineate, but their popularity is high among media, photographers, travel writers and social media influencers who tout them, Otte Coleman said.

“Removal of the horses really eliminates a feature that our park guests are accustomed to seeing,” she said.

Australia sets date for historic referendum on its First Nations people

Story by By Hilary Whiteman, CNN •

Australia has set the date for its first referendum in 24 years as polls suggest the government is on course for failure unless it can reverse declining support.

On October 14, more than 17 million registered voters across the country will vote on whether to change the constitution to recognize the land’s original inhabitants through a First Nations advisory group with a direct line to government.

“On that day, every Australian will have a once in a generation chance to bring our country together and to change it for the better,” said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday.

As soon as the date was announced, the no campaign sent a text message calling for tax deductible donations that read: “It’s on! Albo has called it and we have until OCT 14 to beat the Voice!”

Just one question will be asked that requires a “yes” or “no” answer – “A Proposed Law: to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. Do you approve this proposed alteration?”

The question has generated hundreds of headlines and hours of debate online and on air, as both sides mount vigorous campaigns to sway the majority in all states and territories.

A double majority vote is needed for the vote to pass – that is over 50% of voters across the country, and at least 50% in a majority of states – at least four of six. Votes in the territories – the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory will only be included in the national total.

The vote is being seen as a pivotal moment, not only because constitutional change is rare and irreversible but because it has illuminated issues that have festered for centuries.

The Voice, if approved, would enshrine a body in the constitution made up of Indigenous people to advise the government on laws that relate to them.

Supporters say the vote is an opportunity to treat the raw wounds of injustice, to finally listen to First Nations people following generations of persecution, racism and neglect.

Others say it’s a token gesture that at best will achieve nothing and risks dividing the nation by giving some Australians a special place above others in the constitution.

The landscape is further complicated by those in the “yes” camp who believe a mark on a ballot is a small stand against racism destined to be exhibited by some “no” voters, whose ranks include some First Nations people who argue that voting yes will absolve Australians of any substantive action against racism and what’s really needed is a treaty.


Members of the audience react during the WA Liberals for No Campaign Launch in Perth, Sunday, August 20, 2023. - Richard Wainwright/AAP Image/Reuters© Provided by CNN

Is a tick a yes?

Now a date has been called, campaigners are expected to ramp up efforts to capture undecided voters, who may not automatically cast their ballots along traditional political party lines.

While the Labor government wants a yes vote, Australia’s other major parties – the Liberal Party and National Party, whose coalition was dumped last May after nine years in power – are backing a “no.”

The heated political climate has created spot fires of misinformation that the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has attempted to snuff out before they catch hold.

For example, last week, Liberal leader Peter Dutton suggested that the AEC process was flawed because the AEC commissioner said they’d likely accept a tick for yes but not a cross for no.

“At every turn, it just seems to me that they’re taking the opportunity to skew this in favor of the yes vote when Australians just want a fair election, not a dodgy one,” Dutton told Sky News.

The AEC released a statement saying it “completely and utterly rejects the suggestions by some that by transparently following the established, public and known legislative requirements we are undermining the impartiality and fairness of the referendum.”

The AEC said by law it is obliged to count votes with a clear voting intention that have been incorrectly cast and that “longstanding legal advice provides that a cross can be open to interpretation as to whether it denotes approval or disapproval.”

A question of perception

Beyond arguments over procedure, the debate has struck at the heart of how the nation perceives its Indigenous people 235 years after the arrival of British settlers irreparably transformed the fates of those whose ancestors had inhabited the Australian subcontinent for tens of thousands of years.

Government statistics updated each year show the enduring toll of colonization, casting a broad brush over an Indigenous population whose hundreds of distinct groups make up less than 4% of the population – some 800,000 people in a nation of 26 million.

For a long time, Australian history was told through the lens of colonizers, who ignored or downplayed the country’s violent roots, says Anna Clark, a historian at the Australian Centre for Public History, at the University of Technology Sydney.

At the end of the 19th century, she said Indigenous people didn’t fit into Australia’s nation-building narrative, and decades later, as the American civil rights and anti-apartheid movements took hold, “the silence became overwhelming.”

Demands from the Indigenous community grew louder and were discussed, refined and finally drafted into the “Uluru Statement from the Heart” – a document endorsed by nearly 250 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders and elders. The statement forms the basis of the Voice proposal – which Clark says historians “overwhelmingly” back.

“It’s a really important moment because Australian historians have kind of curated and defined what Australian history is and who is a historian and who can tell that story. And right now we’re being invited to step back and listen to other national narratives and to give that voice to Aboriginal storytellers and knowledge holders.”


Cedric Marika leads the Gumatj dancers during Garma Festival in East Arnhem, Australia, on August 4. - 

Tamati Smith/Getty Images© Provided by CNN

No vote strengthening in the polls

But recent polling suggests if a vote was cast now, it would likely fail.

The no campaign has gained momentum with questions about the detail, suggesting that voters don’t know enough about how the Voice will work to make a decision. The government says those details will be debated in parliament after constitutional change.

The last time Australians were asked to vote in a referendum on the country’s Indigenous people was in 1967 – when 90% voted to include Indigenous Australians in population counts and for the government to enact laws pertaining to them.

This time around, June Oscar, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), is concerned that the information isn’t reaching some people – those in remote areas and others who are shutting out the conversation, which at times has been distressing for some First Nations people.

“We are seeing or hearing a lot of racist and harmful discourse in relation to the referendum,” Oscar said, noting the AHRC produced a referendum resource kit that advises people on how to minimize harm. Tips include centering Indigenous knowledge, voices and perspectives and avoiding racially denigrating language.

Oscar said she’s also “saddened and disappointed at some of the untruths” being spread.

The fear among some is that if the vote fails, it will send a message, rightly or wrongly, that racists have won – and centuries of fighting for respect as the country’s First Nations people will then fall to future generations.

“I think there is a strong and shared belief that we should and we are capable of getting this right during our lifetime, and that we should not leave this legacy of the fight to our children and grandchildren,” Oscar said.

And if it fails?

“We go back to the drafting board again and learn from this for whenever the next opportunity comes around.”

But Albanese has made it clear there are no second chances.

“Voting no leads nowhere. It means nothing changes. Voting no closes the door on this opportunity to move forward,” he said on Wednesday.

Directly addressing Australians he said, “Don’t close the door on an idea that came from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people themselves, and don’t close the door on the next generation of Indigenous Australians.”

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TVO strike highlights the scourge of contract work in public service journalism

The Conversation
Story by Nicole Cohen, Associate Professor, Communication, University of Toronto •

Workers at TVO are on strike for the first time in the public broadcaster’s 53-year history.

Amid the din of traffic outside TVO’s offices in Toronto, unionized journalists, producers and education workers hold picket signs declaring: “Fund TVO Like it Matters.”

TVO’s contract with the union, a branch of the Canadian Media Guild, expired in October. After months of negotiations, workers are striking to improve wages and to address precarious employment.

The union says that workers have received below-inflation wage increases since 2012, including zero increases between 2012-2014.

I spoke to a producer who has worked at TVO’s flagship current affairs show, The Agenda, for 22 years and earns $74,000.

Wages shrinking

In a video posted to social media, digital journalist Daniel Kitts, who has worked at TVO for 25 years, says: “For the past 10 years we have tried to… support this organization by seeing our wages shrink basically every year thanks to inflation. And after 10 years, we just can’t do it again.”

Another crucial issue in the dispute is temporary and precarious employment, when workers are kept on perpetual contracts with no hope of their position becoming permanent.

TVO workers say these contracts prevent them from doing the kind of rigorous, civic journalism and current affairs programming that serves communities in Ontario.

In a news ecosystem where traditional advertising revenue is down, outlets chase clicks at the whims of platforms like Meta and X and disinformation circulates widely, the need for quality, fact-based public affairs programming is particularly urgent.
The risks of precarious work

In their 2015 study of precarious employment in southern Ontario, researchers found it has collective, cumulative effects on communities in what they call a precarity penalty.

People in precarious employment earn low incomes, face intermittent and insecure work, lack access to benefits and training and endure stress, social isolation and poor mental health.

Such pressures on individual lives shapes people’s participation in community life, and precarity becomes a burden borne by society at large.

Striking TVO workers are drawing attention to journalism’s precarity penalty: the consequences for robust journalism when the work of producing journalism is made precarious.


A striking TVO employee hands out flyers on the picket line outside of TVO offices.

© THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby

At issue at TVO is funding. TVO is funded via a provincial Crown Corporation and reports to the Ministry of Education. It receives a base operating grant of $38.3 million annually, but funding hasn’t increased as costs and inflation have risen.

Rank-and-file workers are feeling the squeeze as senior managers receive above-inflation raises. The Agenda host Steve Paikin told CBC Ottawa that when he joined TVO 30 years ago, there were 650 people working at TVO. Now there are about 250. “I’m really nervous about the place being squeezed any further,” he said.
TVO’s contract workers

The government wants to see TVO increase “self-generated revenue,” including donations and sponsorships. But precarious employment is baked into this model, TVO union branch president Meredith Martin told me.

As money comes in for specific projects, workers are hired on contract. When the project ends, so do the contracts. No one is made permanent in such an unstable funding environment.

TVO wants the union to give up language that enables workers on contract for two years to become full-time employees, eligible for benefits and other protections. Martin has seen first-hand the problems the contract model brings to the workplace: high staff turnover, low morale and an inability for workers to invest in quality work.

TVO signage is seen at Canada Square in Toronto. Almost 96 per cent of CMG’s members at TVO rejected an offer from the employer.

© THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby

In journalism, precarity is manifold. Insecure work prevents people from establishing themselves in an organization and accessing career supports. Precariously employed journalists can’t contribute meaningfully to teams, speak out against sexism and racism at work or enjoy professional autonomy.

Employment insecurity is linked to industrial precariousness, where technological and economic changes spur management to shrink journalists’ wages and job security. As profits decline and labour forces contract, fewer journalists are in secure positions and increasing numbers of workers are on contract or freelance.

The impact on diverse communities

Two successive annual surveys by the Canadian Association of Journalists show that women, racialized, Indigenous, queer and trans journalists are concentrated in the most precarious positions, making it difficult to meaningfully diversify journalism in Canada.

Journalists, researchers and advocates have long been calling for increased racial and gender diversity in journalism, demanding that newsrooms represent the communities they report on. Precarity is an impediment to such diversity.

Public, non-profit outlets like TVO can and should become model employers, committed to producing journalism in the public interest and providing workers, particularly those from diverse communities, with the sustainable jobs necessary to do so. (The CBC is also under fire for maintaining a permanent underclass of temporary workers).

TVO workers are part of a broader movement to protect journalism via unionization. Since 2015, more than 150 newsrooms in Canada and the United States have organized unions.

In my review of their contracts, I find many examples of language that converts contract workers into full-time permanent workers after a set period, usually 12 months. This type of language is becoming the industry standard, negotiated by worker-led bargaining committees to gain some stability in an unstable industry.

Although work in journalism has never been a safe bet, it’s now rife with deepening uncertainty. In this context, TVO workers’ strike for material security to do work in the public interest matters more than ever.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.

Read more:

Collectivism — not individualism — is the path to reducing social and economic inequality

Ontario school strike: Government’s use of the notwithstanding clause — again — is an assault on labour relations

Nicole Cohen has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Canada 'trailing partners' on securing vital utilities and services: internal memo

Story by The Canadian Press •


OTTAWA — A newly released federal memo concedes Canada is "trailing key international partners" who have updated their approaches to securing vital utilities and services from a growing array of risks.

The Public Safety Canada memo says "new and rapidly evolving threats pose a greater risk of harm to Canadians and their cyber, economic and national security."

The Canadian Press used the Access to Information Act to obtain the internal briefing note, prepared in advance of a January meeting of deputy ministers.

The federal government is looking to update a 2009 national strategy intended to protect critical infrastructure in sectors ranging from energy and water to manufacturing and transportation.

An updated strategy would bring Canada into greater alignment with international partners as officials manage risks from extreme weather events, supply chain failures, cyberattacks or espionage, said Public Safety spokesman Tim Warmington.

"With a renewed understanding of the most vital assets and systems, and the interdependencies between them, Canada will be able to further combat the risks and vulnerabilities to critical infrastructure."

Just this week, a federal report warned that profit-seeking cybercriminals are expected to target high-value organizations in critical infrastructure sectors in Canada and around the world over the next two years.

In highlighting the importance of infrastructure protection, the government points to natural calamities including wildfires, flooding and landslides, the threat of malicious cyberactivity by foreign adversaries and the supply chain disruptions and goods shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"There's a clear recognition that critical infrastructure is subject to significant threat," said Aaron Shull, managing director and general counsel at the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo, Ont.

Shull points to reviews and policy updates in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia aimed at protecting their important systems in a changing world. "Our friends and allies are clearly moving on it."

He stresses the benefits of looking at the threats to Canada in a comprehensive, integrated way, rather than in piecemeal fashion divorced from a broader security strategy.

Shull also argues Canada's policy cannot be a "one and done type of thing, where it's like, 'Oh, we updated it, we've got a new strategy in place, we don't need to look at it for another 20 years, right?'"

"We need to have a mechanism in place to make sure that our policy frameworks are keeping up with the world around us."

Since the fall of 2021, Public Safety has been consulting interested parties on renewal of the national strategy on critical infrastructure. An October 2022 report cited the key themes that emerged over the previous year, including:

— possible addition of the space and defence sectors to the list of critical areas;

— expansion of partnerships to involve municipalities and Indigenous communities in forums;

— establishment of criteria to identify and prioritize the most vital infrastructure sectors, organizations and assets;

— and inclusion of the public and the broader infrastructure community in information sharing on risks.

"Some signalled a desire for the government to engage in more all-hazards risk assessments and analysis, and share the results of these analyses in a timely fashion," says the report on the consultations.

Respondents wanted to see more investigation of risks from cyberattacks, emerging threats such as pandemics, protests and extreme weather events and the dangers to communication networks and supply chains.

The consultations "identified gaps to fill and areas to further support," Warmington said.

Public Safety's ongoing work to renew the national strategy complements other ongoing federal security initiatives as well as efforts on emergency management and climate change adaptation, he added.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 29, 2023.

Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press

Marching to Ottawa for neglected and murdered Indigenous men: One family’s fight for justice grows

Story by Michelle Stewart, Associate Professor of Gender, Religion and Critical Studies, University of Regina •
THE CONVERSATION

Amanda Snell (left) stands next to her car which has a photo of her deceased partner, Steven Dubois, taped to it. Richelle Dubois (right) stands next to a photo of her son, Haven Dubois.© (Michelle Stewart)

Summer in Canada means our highways are filled with tourists and travellers. For many summers now, some travellers move with a specific mission on those highways: to raise awareness about social issues facing Indigenous Peoples and the ongoing harmful impacts of Canada’s Indian Residential School program.

This summer, the Dubois family from the Pasqua First Nation in Saskatchewan is taking that walk. As they march from Regina to Ottawa, their hope is to raise awareness about the vulnerabilities and systemic inequalities faced by Indigenous boys, men and Two-Spirit People.

Specifically, the Dubois family is hoping to get some care and raise attention about what happened to two of their deceased family members. They are also demanding a national inquiry into missing, murdered and neglected Indigenous boys, men and Two-Spirit People.

My research focuses on racialized justice and settler colonialism. I first came to know the Dubois family in 2016 when Richelle was parked outside a Regina police station in -40 C weather demanding accountability in the investigation of her son’s death. We have since become friends and colleagues. I met up with the family as they began their walk.

Stories from fellow travelers

The cars leading the Dubois walk are covered with blue hand prints and photographs of deceased family members, Haven Dubois and Steven Dubois. The family’s march calls attention to the death of their loved ones, but also to all Indigenous people who face institutional neglect.

Constance Dubois, 59, is marching for her brother Steven who she says was mistreated at their local hospital in Regina. She also walks for her grandson, Haven, who she believes was murdered.

As they walk, the family has met many others on the road with similar stories.

Constance says the stories from fellow travellers have had a significant impact on her and her family: “The stories coming out while we are on the road makes us more determined to take their stories to Ottawa.”

Richelle Dubois, 42, is Haven’s mother. She says the stories have a common theme: “a lack of investigation and accountability.”
Haven Dubois, searching for justice

In 2015, Haven Dubois was 14 when he died. It was a school day and according to his school, he was on a school field trip. But instead he was found by his mother, unresponsive in a local shallow ravine in Regina.

According to his family, Haven was a strong swimmer.

The family believe Haven was murdered, and that his murder has not been investigated because it was prematurely deemed an accident. According to them, Haven had been subjected to gang recruitment and bullying prior to his death.

They see a flawed police investigation and modified coroner’s reports.

Intimidation and disrespectful care

After they rushed their son to the hospital, they say police declared their son’s death an accident before they left that day. Following his death, the Dubois family say they faced community intimidation and disrespect from police.

In the eight years since Haven’s death, the Dubois family has been fighting for a robust police investigation, exploring multiple mechanisms of police accountability. The family has seen two coroner’s reports, but believe they have not seen justice.

Just before they left on their walk, the Dubois family finally received a notice from the Saskatchewan coroner saying an inquest will be called in 2024 to investigate the circumstances of Haven’s death.

The inquest will focus on the cause of death, but will not look at how the investigation was originally handled.

The Dubois family feels they have demonstrated connections between other flawed investigations into the deaths of Indigenous people during the same time period.

Canadian-based sociologists Jerry Flores and Andrea Román Alfaro note the role between police inaction and settler colonialism and argue it is “through their (in)actions — what they say, tell, and do or do not do — that police affirm the disposability of Indigenous bodies, constraining the survival of Indigenous communities and consolidating settler colonialism.”
Steven Dubois, ‘ignored to death’

Steven Dubois, 47, was a partner and father of three when he died on Feb. 8, 2022.

His family believes Steven received substandard care at their local hospital. Steven had been previously diagnosed with a liver disease and the family says this diagnosis impacted his care.

Over the course of one week, they said Steven was taken by ambulance to the emergency room three times and was released back to his family despite being in medical distress. It was only when his family refused his return by ambulance and insisted that he receive medical care that he was admitted to the hospital.

Once there, the family says they received mixed messages about his care and how to manage his pain. Staff said Steven was alert and responsive, but it was clear to the family he was not — he was declining rapidly. Family members can only speculate had he been adequately cared for, he may have lived longer.

After his death, his partner, Amanda Snell, who had maintained diligent daily logs while Steven was in hospital, wrote to health care officials demanding information.

The correspondence she received indicate that Steven could have received medication as frequently as every 30 minutes to manage his pain, but he received it two to six times in a 24-hour cycle.

Amanda says the hospital confirmed hygiene protocols were not met.

His daughter, Avery Snell, said: “The very people who were meant to provide care and comfort made my dad endure excruciating pain…It is now our time to stand up and seek change for injustices that Indigenous families face every day in our society. Shame on our health systems.”

According to research, Steven’s story is one of many across Canada’s health-care system in which Indigenous people are subject to a “pattern of harm, neglect and death in hospitals.” Essentially, they are “ignored to death,” according to Manitoba law professor Brenda Gunn.
Rising voices

Critical theorist Sherene Razack writes that “although Indigenous people repeatedly register the connection between colonial violence and accountability, their voices are seldom heard.”

This summer, the Dubois family have added their voices to an increasingly large demand for further inquests by the Canadian government to continue to examine the impacts of colonial violence and racism on policing, justice and health-care practices.

The family’s next major town will be Sault St. Marie, Ont. They anticipate arriving in Ottawa by mid-September when they are hoping to meet with representatives from the Assembly of First Nations and the federal government. To find up-to-date details of their walk, visit their social media page.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.

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Michelle Stewart has held funding from multiple organizations and entities including from federal contracts (for example Public Safety Canada) as well as research grants that include Tri-Agency funding. Michelle knows the Dubois family and has written in Briarpatch Magazine with Richelle Dubois as well as co-taught a community class on racialized policing.

Pushed to the limits, Edmonton animal centre halting intake of healthy dogs

Story by Lisa Johnson •

John Wilson, director of animal care and park rangers, speaks about shelter capacity at the Animal Care and Control Centre, 13550 163 St., in Edmonton on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023.© David Bloom

Edmonton’s Animal Care and Control Centre isn’t accepting healthy dogs as the number of abandoned animals at shelters and rescues across the province reaches a critical limit.

John Wilson, animal care and park rangers director, told reporters Tuesday the centre has been operating for 30 years but has never seen such a dramatic demand for care.

“I’m a little bit saddened that we are where we are. It’s a very difficult place for anybody who has compassion and empathy for the animals in our community to find ourselves in this place where so many animals are being abandoned, or being surrendered,” Wilson said.

The move is temporary for the city-funded facility, which is giving priority to dogs that are injured or in “significant distress” until there is more kennel space. Others will be put on a waiting list.

It comes after animal rescues in Edmonton have been raising the alarm over the rise in abandoned pets, in part because of inflation and a lack of accessible pet-friendly housing.

Wilson said people don’t often volunteer why they give up their pets but “financial factors are definitely a part of that equation.” At the same time, many animals adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic may have presented unanticipated behavioural problems or health problems.

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The centre sees between 6,000 and 7,000 animals each year but only has space at one time for 47 dogs. Normally, animals stay for between three and 10 days but now stress on the system has turned the average stay into four to six weeks.

Related video: Increased pet surrenders and wildfires create strain on rescue agencies (cbc.ca)   Duration 0:47   View on Watch

Staff from the centre have also been offering pet daycare for thousands of people displaced by wildfires in the Northwest Territories at the Edmonton Expo Centre. It’s the third time this summer they’ve been called in to support evacuees, Wilson said.

An Animal Care and Control Centre staff member with a dog the staff have nicknamed Lovely Lady during a news conference outside the centre in Edmonton on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023.© Photo by David Bloom

The latest city budget saw the Animal Care and Control Centre get a $3.3-million increase .

On Tuesday, Wilson called that boost a “godsend” that has allowed for the hiring of more kennel care and veterinary staff.

“It’s not just about kennel space. It’s also about staffing levels, training, it’s about the condition of the animals when they come into us, the duration of their stay — there’s a lot of factors,” he said.

City budget documents from December noted the sheer volume of animals, from birds to reptiles, has created “challenges in providing the legislated standard of care” under Alberta’s Animal Protection Act.

“The City of Edmonton continues to incur reputational and legislative risk because the capacity to maintain animals in an environment free from distress is inadequate,” the document states.

Wilson said Tuesday that is no longer the case, and the centre is currently not euthanizing healthy animals due to space constraints.

“Now, that is not what we’re doing, and the reason we’re here today is to ask the community for its help in dealing with this community issue,” he said.

Some advocates have already called for a mandatory spay and neuter bylaw in Edmonton, a possibility that could come to council after public consultations this fall to update its more than 20-year-old animal licensing and control laws.

Wilson encouraged Edmontonians to continue helping lost dogs reunite with their owners using the city’s lost and found pet page , by bringing animals to a vet to check for a microchip, or reaching out through social media and neighbourhood networks.

He emphasized the importance of educating people on pet ownership and the resources available to help them, including financial support for vet care and pet food banks around the city .

lijohnson@postmedia.com

twitter.com/reportrix

Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations plan to sue governments

Leaders from First Nations communities across the Canadian Prairies stood in unison on Tuesday, announcing plans to pursue legal action against provincial and federal governments for allegedly breaching treaty agreements.

“They held my hand and said, ‘You’re my friend,’ ” Sweetgrass First Nation Chief Lorie Whitecalf said at a Tuesday news conference in Saskatoon. “As soon as the pipes were turned on, they forgot my name.”

Gathering under a large wooden teepee outside the offices of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) — with the support of chiefs from Saskatchewan and Alberta — expressed frustrations that have led to this point.

Leaders said they feel that agreements — including the 1930 Natural Resources Transfer Agreement and Treaty Land Entitlement Framework — are being ignored.

“What we are saying is our treaties are of international law. They trump federal and province laws,” FSIN Chief Bobby Cameron said.

“This is our basis. They failed in their duty to consult … This statement of claim has been a long time coming — many, many decades to get to this point.”

Each chief shared stories of frustration and disappointment with provincial and federal leaders surrounding breaches to treaties, some of which were signed before several provinces became legally ratified.

The chiefs and leaders collectively called on governments to recognize promises that were made to First Nations people that have since fallen by the wayside, affecting their communities and putting them in dire straits.

Others cautioned that potential investors looking to Saskatchewan for business and natural resources to stay clear while the lawsuit is impending. Several of the chiefs said First Nations have not received agreed-to shares of profits from natural resources, as provinces and private businesses have reaped benefits in the trillions.

“There is no reason for us to be beggars in our own lands,” said Chief Kelsey Jacko of Cold Lake First Nations in Alberta.

“We talk about equalization payments when my people are in poverty right across Turtle Island, and there’s no need for that.”

They spoke of the suffering of the First Nations people. While there are prominent Indigenous members of the community in Saskatoon, others are seen daily gathering on the streets outside charity organizations.

“Surrender: there’s no word for that in our languages. We agreed to share,” Jacko said. “Christopher Columbus didn’t find us. We found him, and we helped him out.”

Kimiya Shokoohi, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The StarPhoenix

EPA head says he's 'proud' of decision to block Alaska mine and protect salmon-rich Bristol Bay



ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The nation’s top environmental official said he fully supports his agency’s decision to block a proposed gold and copper mine in Alaska’s salmon-rich Bristol Bay, even as the state of Alaska has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn that action.

“Let me be clear, we are very proud of our decision to really evaluate the Pebble Mine project and do what is necessary to protect Bristol Bay,” Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday as he began a four-day tour of Alaska, starting in a Bristol Bay village.

The EPA in January vetoed the proposed Pebble Mine, citing concerns with possible impacts on the aquatic ecosystem in southwest Alaska that supports the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery. The region also has significant mineral resources.

Last month, the state of Alaska asked the nation’s high court to intervene.

“The EPA’s order strikes at the heart of Alaska’s sovereignty, depriving the State of its power to regulate its lands and waters,” according to the court filing.

The EPA and the Department of Justice are reviewing the complaint and have until late next month to file an optional response, Regan said.,

Regan’s first stop will be in the Bristol Bay village of Igiugig, located about 250 miles (402 kilometers) southwest of Anchorage, where Lake Iliamna feeds the Kvichak River. The village’s 68 residents comprised mostly of Indigenous people lead a subsistence lifestyle, relying mostly on salmon.

Regan planned to talk to tribal leaders about solid waste management issues and energy generation, but also “to highlight the significance of our decision around Pebble Mine, to protect the bay for environmental and cultural, spiritual and sustenance reasoning.”

When asked if there are other actions EPA could or should take to block the mine if the state were to prevail, he said their process is to follow the science and law on a project-by-project basis, the way the agency evaluated the Pebble Mine proposal.

“I feel really good about the decision we made,” he said.

Canada-based Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. owns the Pebble Limited Partnership, which has pursued the mine. As proposed, the project called for a mining rate of up to 73 million tons a year.

Regan planned to discuss environmental justice concerns, climate change, subsistence food security, water infrastructure and pollution from contaminated lands conveyed through the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act during his first visit to the nation’s largest state.

Discussions will also include how the EPA might help support community projects with money provided with the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, or the climate and health care bill passed last year.

Other stops will be in Utqiagvik, the nation’s northernmost community formerly known as Barrow; Fairbanks; Anchorage, and the Native Village of Eklutna, located just north of the state’s largest city.

Alaska became the fourth stop on what is billed as Regan’s “Journey to Justice” tour to learn how pollution has affected people. Previously, visits were made to Puerto Rico; McDowell County, West Virginia, and one that included stops in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas.

Regan is not the only Biden administration official set to visit. U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Marcia Fudge will address housing needs in Alaska later this week.

Other administration officials who have visited this summer include U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Mark Thiessen, The Associated Press