NHL

League withdraws ban on Pride Tape use

The NHL is withdrawing their decision to ban the use of Pride Tape after the NHL, NHLPA, and NHL Player Inclusion Coalition came to an agreement to lift the ban on Tuesday.

“After consultation with the NHL Players’ Association and the NHL Player Inclusion Coalition, players will now have the opportunity to voluntarily represent social causes with their stick tape throughout the season,” the NHL said in a statement released on Tuesday.

This revoke of the ban could be thanks to Arizona Coyotes defenceman Travis Dermott, who proved that it only takes one person to make a difference. During the Coyotes’ game against the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday Dermott flashed glimpses of Pride Tape wrapped around the top of his stick, he figures that finding the right game plan to attack the issue with it could have a positive impact on some people who needed it.

“It’s easy to forget that it’s a battle if it’s not in front of you,” Dermott told The Athletic’s Chris Johnston.

“If you don’t see it every day, if it’s swept under the rug, if it’s just hidden from the naked eye, it’s easy to forget that there’s a group of people that don’t feel like they belong because the majority of people do feel like they belong.”

Back in June, the NHL announced they decided to remove theme nights or represent any special jerseys that marked the NHL’s support for a variety of groups. Although they received backlash on the decision they continued to disappoint the hockey community by banning the use of the iconic rainbow-coloured tape, solely based off the idea that they did not want any players to be put in a tough spot if they chose not to participate.

Related video: NHL Reverses Ban On Rainbow-Colored Stick Tape (unbranded - Sport)

Duration 1:13 View on Watch

NBC News  NHL lifts ban on colorful stick tape after facing pushback

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cbc.ca    NHL reverses Pride tape ban

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cbc.ca   NHL bans Pride tape on players’ sticks

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The lifting of the NHL’s ban is hopefully a way of moving forward in the NHL’s goals of becoming more inclusive, and Dermott emphasizes an important message.

“As athletes, we have such a great platform to spread love, and I think if we’re not spreading that love then what the hell are we doing?”

Scholastic reverses decision to make books on race and LGBTQ issues optional at elementary school book fairs

Story by By Chandelis Duster, CNN  • 

 Scholastic has reversed a decision to allow school districts to opt out of offering a wide range of diverse books, including those that discuss subjects like racism and LGBTQ issues, at its elementary school book fairs, the book publisher said Wednesday.

The company offered a collection of 64 titles called “Share Every Story, Celebrate Every Voice,” that included “titles we support even as they are the most likely to be restricted,” a Scholastic spokesperson previously told CNN. 

The publisher said the move was in response to dozens of state laws and pending legislation targeting books across the United States and would have allowed districts to elect not to offer the collection at their annual book fairs.

But on Wednesday, Scholastic said it was working to “find a better way” to combat efforts to target and ban books.

The collection of books will remain available online and at Scholastic book fairs this fall, a spokesperson told CNN. But, the publisher said, it will not be offered in January 2024.

Scholastic said it would “keep in mind the needs of our educators facing local content restrictions and the children we serve.”

“We understand now that the separate nature of the collection has caused confusion and feelings of exclusion,” Scholastic said in a statement.

“It is unsettling that the current divisive landscape in the US is creating an environment that could deny any child access to books, or that teachers could be penalized for creating access to all stories for their students.”

The decision to offer diverse books in a separate collection faced widespread backlash online, including from poet Amanda Gorman, who said her book, “Change Sings,” was part of the collection.

“It honestly feels like a betrayal. As an elementary student, for weeks I’d save every single penny I had for the Scholastic Book Fair, because it felt like a safe place to explore and choose for myself what books I wanted to read, what stories I wanted to find representations of myself in,” Gorman wrote on social media last week.

“It was in part what made me want to write children’s books in the first place. I never thought that my work would be a #1 NYT best-seller, or that the very place that had inspired me would censor my words.”

In addition to Gorman’s work, the separate collection included titles addressing Black and Latino history, and the biographies of Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, boxing legend Muhammad Ali and NBA superstar LeBron James, CNN previously reported.

CNN’s Nicole Chavez contributed to this report.

Rishi Sunak first world leader to say AI poses threat to humanity

Story by Martyn Landi and Katherine Fidler • METRO UK

Rishi Sunak has said the threat of AI should be a global priority

 (Picture: Peter Nicholls/Getty)© Provided by Metro

Rishi Sunak has said mitigating the risk of extinction because of artificial intelligence (AI) should be a global priority alongside pandemics and nuclear war.

The prime minister said he wanted to be ‘honest’ with the public about the risks of AI, as he made a speech on the emerging technology.

As the government published new assessments on AI, Mr Sunak said they offered a ‘stark warning’.

‘Get this wrong and it could make it easier to build chemical or biological weapons,’ he said.

‘Terrorist groups could use AI to spread fear and disruption on an even greater scale.

‘Criminals could exploit AI for cyber attacks, disinformation, fraud or even child sexual abuse.

‘And in the most unlikely but extreme cases, there is even the risk that humanity could lose control of AI completely through the kind of AI sometimes referred to as “super intelligence”.’


Criminals could use AI for more sophisticated cyber attacks, the prime minister warned (Picture: Getty)© Provided by Metro

Mr Sunak is not the first world leader to warn over the threats posed by AI, but went a step further in likening it to that posed by other ‘exinction-level events’,

He said: ‘Indeed, to quote the statement made earlier this year by hundreds of the world’s leading AI experts, mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority, alongside other societal scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.’

One of signatories, the ‘godfather of AI’ Geoffrey Hinton, quit his job at Google earlier this year while warning of the dangers posed by the technology – adding that part of him now regretted his life’s work.



Dr Geoffrey Hinton has warned repeatedly of the dangers of AI (Picture: Getty)© Provided by Metro

However, Mr Sunak added that it was ‘not a risk that people need to be losing sleep over right now’ and he did not want to be ‘alarmist’.

The issue of AI and its potential capabilities was thrown into sharp focus last November following the public release of ChatGPT, a large language model (LLM) with outstanding capabilities, including writing content indistinguishable from human work and creating computer code within seconds.

Related video: AI expert explains why the general public needs to be on the look out for deepfakes to stay safe (FOX News)  Duration 0:56  View on Watch

Since its release others have followed, while generative AI image creators have also proliferated, allowing users to create pictures from a simple text prompt.

A report yesterday from the Internet Watch Foundation warned users on the dark web were using these to create child sexual abuse images.

Next week the government will host an AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park, bringing together world leaders, tech firms and civil society to discuss the emerging technology.

Ahead of the summit, Mr Sunak announced the government would establish the ‘world’s first’ AI safety institute, which the prime minister said would ‘carefully examine, evaluate and test new types of AI to understand what each new model is capable of’ and ‘explore all the risks’.

He said tech firms had already trusted the UK with privileged access to their models, making Britain ‘well placed’ to create the world’s first AI safety institute.

The prime minister said the government would use next week’s summit to push for a first international statement about the nature of AI risks, and said leaders should follow the example of global collaboration around climate change and establish a global expert panel on the issue.

But Mr Sunak said the government would not ‘rush to regulate’ AI, although he added that countries should not rely on private firms ‘marking their own homework’.


Bletchley Park, home of the Enigma machine that helped win the Second World War (Picture: Getty)© Provided by Metro

‘Only governments can properly assess the risks of national security,’ he said.

He also defended the decision to invite China to the AI Safety Summit, arguing there can be ‘no serious strategy for AI without at least trying to engage all of the world’s leading AI powers’.

‘That might not have been the easy thing to do but it was the right thing to do,’ he said.

Ahead of the prime minister’s speech, the government published several discussion papers showing its evaluation of the risk of AI, which suggested that there were new opportunities for growth and advances, but also a range of ‘new dangers’.

The papers said there is insufficient evidence to rule out a threat to humanity from AI and that it is hard to predict many of the risks because of the broad range of potential uses in the future.

It adds that the current lack of safety standards is a key issue, and warns that AI could be used to carry out more advanced cyber attacks and develop bioweapons.

It also warns that human workers could be displaced by AI and both misinformation and disinformation could be spread more easily, and potentially influence future elections.

In defence of Bill C-282: Canada's supply management supports farmers while safeguarding consumers

 Bruce Muirhead 
 
 Professor of History, Egg Farmers of Canada Chair in Public Policy, of Waterloo  Jodey Nurse, Faculty Lecturer, McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, McGill University  THE CONVERSATION

 The recent passage of Bill C-282, legislation that prevents Canadian trade negotiators from surrendering additional supply managed commodities — like eggs and dairy — in international trade negotiations, has reignited debates over Canada’s supply management system.

Canada’s supply management system is designed to align the production of dairy, eggs and poultry with domestic consumption through the judicious use of quotas and tariffs.

Critics of the bill argue it may hamstring our trade negotiators and raise food prices, claiming that Canada’s supply management system is designed to “constrain supply, strangle competition with tariffs and keep prices high” by limiting dairy, eggs and poultry imports from the United States.

However, there is no evidence to support these claims. This kind of criticism relies on outdated beliefs in the sanctity of the so-called free market and its ability to produce cheap goods.

If Canada wishes to preserve domestic farms and enhance food security, officials must have limits on what they can give up to American and other foreign interests. We argue the current supply management model works to provide competitive prices to consumers, while also providing a living wage for farmers.

The Canadian model is working

If the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated anything over the past several years, it’s that local food production is necessary to ensure food security. Evidence suggests that the global food system has exacerbated environmental degradation and food insecurity while consolidating power in the hands of a select few global food corporations.

It’s clear we need to invest in local, community-based food sources — something supply management is able to facilitate by the nature of its operation. The supply management model is focused on supplying food to the Canadian market, with very limited opportunity for exports.

Under this model, dairy and eggs are generally marketed in the region in which they are produced — Ontario eggs are sold in Ontario supermarkets — thereby privileging the local.

Supply management also reflects some of the concepts common to the food sovereignty movement. Food sovereignty refers to the right for people to define their own food and agriculture systems and produce healthy and culturally appropriate food using ecologically sound and sustainable practices.

Food sovereignty puts community first, prioritizing local and regional food needs. Notably, Canada’s supply management system has been recognized as an important institution of food sovereignty by the National Farmers Union because of its defense of local food production.

Canada’s supply management system also contributes to rural sustainability. Smaller dairy (an average farm size of 88 milking cows) and egg (an average farm size of 23,000 laying hens) farms provide a stability on rural concession roads that is unmatched when they are adequately supported.

Supply-managed farms outshine their counterparts in the hog, beef and oilseeds/grains sectors by making more investments, creating more jobs and contributing more to the GDP per farm.

Fairer production

Canada’s current supply management model works well for both consumers and producers. Producers reap the rewards of a system that ensures farmers are paid fair prices for their products, covering the costs of production. Meanwhile, consumers enjoy the benefits of a stable supply of eggs, safeguarding them from significant price fluctuations.

Supply management is a legitimate tool for co-ordinating production with demand and avoiding overproduction and waste — two chronic issues that have plagued the United States and Europe, despite significant price supports, subsidies, government purchase programs and import restrictions.

In today’s economic landscape, ensuring food affordability is as critical as ever. Despite worldwide inflation, Canada had the second-lowest food inflation rate in the world at 8.9 per cent over the year from June 2022. This stands in contrast to the 19.6 per cent increase in the United Kingdom and the European Union, Hungary’s 45.1 per cent and Argentina’s staggering 95 per cent.

Farmer wages

The connection between fair farmer incomes and food sustainability and sovereignty must be emphasized.

If food producers can’t make a living, they will leave the industry and cause catastrophic consequences. This is already happening in some places. In the U.K., rising production costs and lower farm prices are forcing farmers out of the industry and jeopardizing the U.K.’s self-sufficiency in the dairy sector.

In Australia, farmers are leaving dairy by the thousands because of price crashes. Meanwhile, in New Zealand, the world’s largest exporter of dairy, the livelihoods of dairy farmers remain precarious. Egg prices in New Zealand increased year-over-year by 75 per cent in June.

Even in the U.S., the story is similar. Rapidly rising input costs like fuel, insurance, feed prices and labour costs, combined with stagnant or lower milk prices, have led farmers to depart that industry.

As supermarkets, middlemen and global food corporations pay farmers less and input costs go up, this situation has been aptly called “a cost of farming crisis.”

Deregulation threatens sustainability

The recent passage of Bill C-282, and the discussion of the bill in the Senate, presents an opportunity to reflect on the importance of food systems that serve to enhance Canadian food sustainability, security and sovereignty. As the earlier international examples make clear, deregulation in dairy farming has not led to vibrant, sustainable industries, but quite the opposite.

Further proof is highlighted by food policy analysts in the U.S. who are calling on the government to reform dairy policies they argue have caused “devastating farmer loss and hardship, and a worsening environmental outlook.”

A recent Food and Water Watch report illustrates how U.S. dairy policies centred around export markets have hurt family-sized farms by slashing on-farm profits, encouraging extreme industry consolidation and increasing environmental degradation and exploitative practices of resources.

Bill C-282 attempts to protect a domestic system that rejects this model. Policymakers and all Canadians should work to support systems that allow for valuable food industries to flourish, rather than dismantle them.

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

Read more:

• Canada’s disappearing ‘average farmer’ means one-size-fits-all policies no longer work
• Growing farmland inequality in the Prairies poses problems for all Canadians

Bruce Muirhead receives funding from Egg Farmers of Canada.

Jodey Nurse has received funding from Egg Farmers of Canada in the past. Her current work is not funded by them.

In the Amazon, communities next to the world's most voluminous river are queuing for water

CAREIRO DA VARZEA, Brazil (AP) — As the Amazon drought rages on, public authorities in Brazil are scrambling to deliver food and water to thousands of isolated communities throughout a vast and roadless territory, where boats are the only means of transportation.

Across Amazonas state, which has a territory the size of three Californias, 59 out of its 62 municipalities are under state of emergency, impacting 633,000 people. In the capital Manaus, Negro River — a major tributary of the Amazon — has reached its lowest level since official measurements began 121 years ago.

One of the most impacted cities is Careiro da Varzea, near Manaus by the Amazon River. On Tuesday, the municipality distributed emergency kits using an improvised barge originally designed to transport cattle.

The Associated Press accompanied the delivery to two communities. It docked miles away from them, requiring residents, most of them small farmers and fishermen, to walk long distances through former riverbeds turned into endless sand banks and mud.

Each family received a basic food package and 20 liters (5.3 gallons) of water, enough for just a few days but a heavy burden to carry under the scorching heat.

“I will have to carry the food package on my back for half an hour,” Moisés Batista de Souza, a small farmer from Sao Lazaro community, told the AP. He said the biggest problem is getting drinkable water. To reach the closest source demands a long walk from his house.

Related video: Strange 2,000-Year-Old Stone Faces Uncovered During Amazon River Drought | Amazon River (Zee News)   Duration 1:42  View on Watch

“Everybody in Careiro da Varzea has been affected by the drought,” said Jean Costa de Souza, chief of Civil Defense of Careiro da Varzea, a municipality of 19,600 people, most living in rural areas. “Unfortunately, people don’t have water. Some lost their crops, while others couldn’t transport their output.”

Costa de Souza said the municipality will finish next week the first round of deliveries to all rural communities. Other two rounds are under planning, pending on receiving aid from state and federal governments.

Dry spells are part of the Amazon’s cyclical weather pattern, with lighter rainfall from May to October for most of the rainforest. The season is being further stretched this year by two climate phenomena: the warming of northern tropical Atlantic Ocean waters and El Niño — the warming of surface waters in the Equatorial Pacific region — which will peak between December and January.
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AP reporter Fabiano Maisonnave contributed from Brasilia.

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Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Edmar Barros, The Associated Press

'The Art of War' and Amy Schumer's memoir are among many books banned in US prisons. Here's why

NEW YORK (AP) — Tens of thousands of books are being banned or restricted by U.S. prisons, according to a new report from PEN America. The list includes everything from self-help books to an Elmore Leonard novel.

“The common concept underpinning the censorship we're seeing is that certain ideas and information are a threat,” says the report's lead author, Moira Marquis, senior manager in the prison and justice writing department at PEN, the literary and free expression organization

Timed to the start Wednesday of Prison Banned Books Week, “Reading Between the Bars” draws upon public record requests, calls from PEN to prison mailrooms, dozens of accounts from inmates and PEN's struggles to distribute its guide for prison writing, “The Sentences That Create Us: Crafting A Writer’s Life in Prison," which came out last year.

Marquis said that the most common official reasons for bans are security and sexual content, terms that can apply to a very wide range of titles. Michigan's “restricted” list includes Leonard's thriller “Cuba Libre,” set right before the 1898 Spanish-American War, and Frederick Forsyth's “The Day of the Jackal,” about a professional assassin's attempt to murder French President Charles de Gaulle in the 1960s. Both novels were cited as a “threat to the order/security of institution.”

“One of the books ('Day of the Jackal') deals with the planned assassination of a political leader/methods for engaging in such activities and the second ('Cuba Libre') deals with an individual engaged in various criminal enterprises,” a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Corrections told The Associated Press in an email. “As part of the updated restricted publication process, a new Literary Review Committee has been formed to review items that were previously placed on the restricted publication list, to determine if they should remain or be removed.”

Amy Schumer’s memoir “The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo” was flagged by Florida officials for graphic sexual content and for being “a threat to the security, order, or rehabilitative objectives of the correctional system or the safety of any person.”

Other books to appear on banned lists: Sun Tzu's “The Art of War,” the compilation “Prison Ramen: Recipes and Stories from Behind Bars,” Barrington Barber's “Anyone Can Draw: Create Sensational Artwork in Easy Steps" and Robert Greene's self-help best-seller “48 Laws of Power.”

“It’s a form of control. It’s the ultimate form of power of manipulation," Greene said in a statement issued through PEN.

In its report, PEN found parallels between the frequency of prison bans and book bannings in schools and libraries. In Florida, PEN has estimated that more than 40% of all library bans took place in Florida in 2022. Meanwhile, the organization found that more than 22,000 books are banned from Florida prisons — the highest of any state — as of early this year, with some entries dating back to the 1990s. Texas, another frequent site of library bannings, had more than 10,000 prison book bans, second only to Florida.

Incidents of banning are likely much higher than what PEN has compiled, according to “Reading Between the Bars,” because record keeping by many prisons is erratic or non-existent. Kentucky and New Mexico are among more than 20 states that do not keep centralized records.

"Prison book programs have mostly tried to raise awareness locally when prisons implement new censorship restrictions for communities they serve," the report reads. “But these programs are largely run by volunteers and struggle to keep up with the demand for books even absent censorship. The upshot is that there have been few nationwide efforts to analyze trends in carceral censorship.”

Marquis says that PEN places bans into two categories: content-specific, in which books are banned because of what they say or allegedly say, and content-neutral, in which books are restricted because they are not sent through accepted channels. In Maine, Michigan and other states, prisoners may only receive books through a select number of vendors, whether Amazon.com, a local bookstore or an approved publisher. In Idaho, Amazon and Barnes & Noble are not among the nine approved sellers, which include Books a Million and the Women's Prison Book Project.

Content-neutral restrictions may also apply to the packaging (some federal facilities only permit white wrapping, Marquis says), and against free or used literature “because the intended recipient did not receive permission from a warden — or similar administrator — for each specific title mailed to them before the literature arrived,” according to Marquis.

A spokesman for the Idaho Department of Correction told the AP in an email that restrictions on packaging had become necessary because of “an increase in the amount of drug-soaked mail being sent to our residents.” He added that inmates can receive books and periodicals free of charge from authorized vendors and publishers.

“We believe our guidelines area a reasonable response to a growing problem that puts the health and safety of the people who live and work in Idaho’s correctional facilities at risk,” he said.

“Reading Between the Bars” follows a report released late in 2022 by the non-profit newsroom the Marshall Project, which found some 50,000 banned prison titles, based on lists made available by 19 states. In 2019, a PEN report explored different levels of prison bans — from individuals not permitted to receive a given book to state-wide restrictions — and determined that restrictions were both widespread and arbitrary.

“With over two million Americans incarcerated, the book-restriction regulations within the United States carceral system represent the largest book ban policy in the United States,” the 2019 study reads in part. “The reality of book banning in American prisons is systematic and comprehensive. State and federal prison authorities censor content with little oversight or public scrutiny. Often the ultimate decision-maker about a person’s right to read is housed in the prison mailroom.”

Hillel Italie, The Associated Press

'Last' Beatles song set for release next week

Story by AFP • 

The Beatles -- Lennon, McCartney, Starr and Harrison -- split in 1970, each going on to solo careers© PAUL ELLIS

Amuch-anticipated "new" Beatles record, created with the help of artificial intelligence, will be released next week on November 2, former band members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr revealed Thursday.

"Now And Then", first written and sung by ex-Beatle John Lennon and developed by the rest of the band, has now been finally finished by McCartney and Starr -- and AI -- decades after its original recording.

McCartney, 81, announced its imminent release in June, in what has been dubbed in a promotional trailer "the last Beatles song".

The track will be unveiled at 1300 GMT on November 2 by Apple Corps, Capitol and Universal Music Enterprises (UMe), with a music video debuting the following day.

A 12-minute documentary written and directed by Oliver Murray -- best known for a 2022 biopic mini-series on The Rolling Stones -- will premiere on YouTube the evening, before featuring commentary from McCartney and Starr.

"Now And Then" was recorded by Lennon in the late 1970s at his home in New York's Dakota Building, and also features piano music.

Working with Peter Jackson, the film director behind the 2021 documentary series "The Beatles: Get Back", AI was used to separate Lennon's voice from the piano chords.

- 'Emotional' -

"There it was, John's voice, crystal clear," McCartney said, in comments published alongside the announcement of the release date.

"It's quite emotional and we all play on it, it's a genuine Beatles recording," he added.

"In 2023, to still be working on Beatles music, and about to release a new song the public haven't heard, I think it's an exciting thing."

McCartney and Starr finished the song last year, including fellow ex-Beatle George Harrison's electric and acoustic guitar recorded in 1995.

Recording at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles, they also added Starr's drum part alongside bass, piano, a slide guitar solo by McCartney -- inspired by Harrison -- and more backing vocals.

Starr added the process "was the closest we'll ever come to having him (Lennon) back in the room so it was very emotional for all of us.

"It was like John was there, you know. It's far out."

The Beatles -- Lennon, McCartney, Starr and Harrison -- split in 1970, with each going on to have solo careers, but they never reunited.

Lennon was shot dead in New York in 1980 aged 40 while Harrison died of lung cancer in 2001, aged 58.

- 'Meant to be' -

"Now And Then" was one of several tracks on a cassette that Lennon had recorded for McCartney a year before his death. It was given to him by Lennon's widow Yoko Ono in 1994.

Two other songs, "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love", were cleaned up by the producer Jeff Lynne, and released in 1995 and 1996.

An attempt was made to do the same with "Now And Then" but the project was abandoned because of background noise on the demo.

AI has now made that possible, though its use in music is the subject of industry-wide debate, with some denouncing copyright abuses and others praising its prowess.

McCartney said earlier this year that the technology's use was "kind of scary but exciting because it's the future".

Sean Ono Lennon, the son of Lennon and Ono, said it was "incredibly touching" to hear the former Beatles working together again "after all the years that dad had been gone.


"It's the last song my dad, Paul, George and Ringo got to make together. It's like a time capsule and all feels very meant to be," he added.

"Now And Then" will be released as a double A-side, with the band's 1962 debut single "Love Me Do", and cover art by US artist Ed Ruscha.

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Household spending in Alta. dropped twice the national average in 2021, survey

From transportation to clothes to entertainment, Canadian households spent almost 3 per cent less on goods and services in 2021, according to Statistics Canada.

The biennial survey of household spending was released last week and found spending declined in 2021 for the first time since 2010. The average Canadian household spent $67,126 on goods and services. Shelter, food, and transportation continued to be the largest household costs, but the pandemic impacted how that money was used

More of the average total household budget went to shelter costs in 2021 than in 2019. The amount going to mortgages was up 7.8 per cent and renters paid on average 5.9 per cent more.

An overall drop in transportation spending of more than 20 per cent was chalked up to fewer vehicles being purchased, and a decline in the amount spent on fuel (despite higher gas prices).

While spending on recreation, entertainment, and clothing fell substantially, the demand for home renovations and a strong housing market led to an increase of 44 per cent on household furniture and equipment compared to 2019. Communications expenses also rose, driven by purchases of new phones and internet services.

B.C. had the highest average spending on goods and services with $75,028, and Alberta followed close behind with an average spending of $75,003 — the first time in nearly two decades the province was knocked from the top spot.

“The initial and legacy impacts of the oil and gas sector has created a bit of a wage premium in Alberta,” said Mike Holden, chief economist for the Business Council of Alberta.

“Combined with the fact that we have a relatively low tax burden, it just means that Albertans have more disposable income to spend, and it goes farther when they do spend it.”

“That's a major driver, I think, behind the fact that consumer activity in the province is stronger here than anyplace else.”

Though the average wage in Alberta is still above the national average, this advantage has started to slip in recent years as inflation has outpaced wage growth, Holden said.

Average household spending in Alberta was down 6 per cent in 2021 compared to 2019, roughly twice the national average.

“One of the challenges we've seen over the last little while is that our purchasing power has been falling because inflation has been chipping away at the amount that we have to spend,” Holden said.

“What we're seeing is individual consumers, both in Alberta and across the country, are starting to spend less on big-ticket items ­­— on cars, on home furnishings, on things you'd buy at a hardware store,” he said.

Since the Statistics Canada survey, there has been a bit of a change in consumer habits, Holden said. Now, more is being spent on food, clothing, sports, and recreational equipment, driven in part by rising costs.

Albertans are still spending less than in previous years, but the influx of newcomers is making up for it in consumer markets, Holden said.

“We're in this interesting situation where the Canadian population is surging, and the Alberta population is growing even faster. I think we're adding like 40,000 people per quarter to the province, which is a huge number. And so even as individual Albertans are starting to spend less, where their money isn't going as far, there's so many more of them that it's helping keep retail activity and consumer activity afloat.”

Brett McKay, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, St. Albert Gazette

Health-care standards not met at Alberta correctional centre, report finds

The Canadian Press

EDMONTON — Two inmates at the Edmonton Remand Centre died and three others were hospitalized after receiving poor medical care at the institution, the province's public interest commissioner has found.

"These significant lapses in the standard of care demonstrated a substantial and significant danger to the life, health and safety of patients," said the investigation report from Kevin Brezinski.

"This was serious and significant wrongdoing."

Alberta Correctional Health Services said it has implemented reforms in light of the report, released Wednesday.

Brezinski said the investigation began after a whistleblower filed a complaint with his office in the summer of 2022. That person drew Brezinski's attention to the treatment of seven inmates.

Some events had occurred several years before the complaint and some were current. A nursing consultant hired by Brezinski's office investigated five cases.

Although the report doesn't attribute the deaths or hospitalizations specifically to treatment the inmates received, it finds a long list of problems.

The consultant found staff didn't assess symptoms of pain, shortness of breath, poor vital signs, high temperature or high blood pressure. Vital signs weren't documented and patients weren't examined

"In one specific incident, it took two days for medical staff to begin treatment after noting a patient's toe was black and swollen with fluid," the report says.

Brezinski said patients with addictions weren't afforded proper treatment.

"There didn't seem to be an appropriate protocol in place to manage drug withdrawal," he said.

"Addictions and people that are in custody sometimes go hand-in-hand and you would think that medical professionals would have adequate training to assess these issues. I would expect more."

Medical staff used what they called "pain protocols" that turned out not to exist. In one case, a patient was refused treatment for vomiting because staff didn't witness it, a violation of Alberta Health standards.

Although the consultant didn't investigate the remaining two cases, the report said Alberta Correctional Health Services acknowledged similar problems with their treatment.

In a statement, the health agency said it has already implemented many of Brezinski's recommendations.

They include requirements to monitor and record vital signs, new protocols to manage substance withdrawal, pain management and wound care. Twice-yearly audits are to ensure treatment quality.

A consultant has been hired to continue to ensure policies and practices remain current.

"It is imperative that all individuals in our corrections system are provided with the same consistent, high-quality care as every Albertan," said spokeswoman Kristi Bland.

Brezinski said those changes need to be made throughout the system, not just in Edmonton.

"I would assume at other correctional facilities similar behaviours would probably be taking place," he said.

The agency did not say if any staff may face disciplinary action, despite Brezinski's recommendation for Alberta Health Services to review the actions of individual staffers.

Otherwise, Brezinski praised the health agency's response. Protocols are now mandatory and audits are getting results.

"They are actually getting ahead of things," Brezinski said. "When they do do these audits and identify concerns, they're getting to it a lot quicker."

But he reserved his greatest praise for the whistleblower who raised the concerns.

"This is a great case where you have a whistleblower who is courageous enough to come forward."

The public interest commissioner is an independent officer of the Alberta legislature to whom public-sector employees can bring concerns about government officials. Brezinski also serves as Alberta Ombudsman, to whom the public can report concerns.

Brezinski said it was the first time his office has investigated complaints into Alberta's correctional system.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Oct. 25, 2023.

Bob Weber, The Canadian Press

Archeology service vital to industry, community

Story by The Canadian Press  • 

Thunder Bay, Ont. — Ten years after archeologists David Norris and Arlene Lahti began an archeological business in their basements, their Woodland Heritage Northwest service has become a critical component to many area industries, with mining being at the top of the list.

Norris, who is the company’s project archeologist, says archeological assessments for any type of new development that’s occurring on the land are required by the regulatory body of the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Multiculturalism, which licenses them. 

“Sometimes (our work) involves doing assessments on stuff that’s already developed, for instance, the waterfront where there was an archeological assessment done when they put in the hotels there,” Norris said. “If it’s deep enough that they’re going to disturb it, an archeological assessment would be required. This generally involves the mines, power lines and infrastructure cycling through Northwestern Ontario.”

Woodland Heritage Northwest is a Metis-based company that provides assessments for individual landowners who need property severances. 

“We go in prior to any development to see if there are any artifacts or campsites that may be on the ground, we excavate them as per the regulations and help companies, proponents and Indigenous communities mitigate these types of circumstances,” Norris said. 

“We work quite closely with a lot of First Nation communities to ensure that their concerns are heard and that they’re addressed from the community level.”

The company works with Lakehead University’s archeology field students and employs seven people with two additional ones expected this summer. 

“We can’t hire people fast enough to get the work that we need to be done and that’s why we partnered with the university to help us train individuals,” Norris said. “We like to hire students.”

Yet, it’s working closely with Indigenous communities that prove to be some of the most rewarding work they do. 

“One of our bigger focuses now is to work with (Northern) communities and hire from within the community,” Lahti added. “We go in and do archeology in their areas and we love it when they want to participate with us. We’ve hired them for those projects or longer periods depending on the work and it’s really just trying to build those partnerships and relationships with people in the North here.” 

Norris called it a “win-win” and said they really “enjoy people who enjoy the North.” He says the North contends with its own challenges and logistics and both their company and the people that live there truly love being there. 

“It just really fits with our mission,” Lahti said. “Being an Indigenous company ourselves, working with Indigenous communities, building partnerships and finding that win-win for all the work that has to get done up here, why not have the people who live here, work here and profit from that?” 

Norris called archeology a “tool” which he says links land use to the history of the land. 

“Communities can use this as tangible evidence to create arguments that they’ve utilized that land and have been on that land for an exceptionally long period of time,” he said. 

“I think Indigenous voices are becoming louder within Northwestern Ontario and we like to be sort of a pedestal with which they can stand on to make their concerns heard.”

Norris described Woodland Heritage Northwest as a for-profit business, which he says is a consulting firm. They are always investing in its growth by putting money back into the company.

Sandi Krasowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Chronicle-Journal

Toxic diets: Canadian orcas face high risks of pollution-related health effects

Story by Anaïs Remili, Postdoctoral fellow, Wildlife Ecotoxicology,

McGill University • 1d THE CONVERSATION

Killer whales, also called orcas, are known for their intelligence and striking presence. They are also enduring a silent but persistent threat beneath the surface of our oceans.

My research investigates killer whales and their diets in the North Atlantic. Previous studies have focused on killer whales in the Pacific Ocean. But until now, no data existed for our killer whales in the North Atlantic, including those in Eastern Canada and the Canadian Arctic.

With other international researchers, I recently published a study in Environmental Science & Technology that reveals a troubling reality: these apex predators are carrying high levels of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in their blubber. The accumulation of these synthetic contaminants is also creating health risks for the killer whales.

Forever chemicals

POPs are also known as “forever chemicals” due to their remarkable stability and long-lasting nature. This group includes well-known compounds like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), chlorinated pesticides like dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and brominated flame retardants.

In the last century, these chemicals were mass produced and used in a wide range of applications, such as industrial processes or agriculture. But research conducted in Sweden in the late 1960s revealed that these chemicals accumulate in living organisms and persist in the environment.

The chemicals bind to fats and increase in concentration as they move up the food web, impacting dolphins and whales the most. These animals, being top predators, accumulate the largest concentrations and struggle to eliminate these chemicals. This buildup of contaminants through their diets — known as biomagnification — is especially concerning for marine mammals, as they need ample fat for warmth and energy.

At high concentrations, these chemicals disrupt the mammals’ immune and hormonal systems but also affect their ability to reproduce, and can even lead to cancer.

A gradient of contamination

Our study, focusing on 160 killer whales, reveals a concerning pattern of PCB contamination accross the North Atlantic. The concentrations vary significantly across the North Atlantic, ranging from a staggering 100 mg/kg in the Western North Atlantic, to around 50 mg/kg in the mid-North Atlantic. Intriguingly, killer whales in the Eastern North Atlantic carry lower PCB levels at roughly 10 mg/kg in Norway.

For context, PCB-related immune effects start at 10mg/kg, while reproductive failure was observed at 41 mg/kg in marine mammals. Killer whales in Eastern Canada and the Canadian Arctic have PCB levels exceeding twice the threshold linked to reproductive problems in marine mammals.
You are what you eat

Diet plays a pivotal role in this pattern of contamination. Killer whales that primarily feed on fish tend to have lower contaminant levels. On the other hand, those with diets focused on marine mammals, particularly seals and toothed whales, show higher levels of contaminants.

Killer whales with mixed diets — containing both fish and marine mammals — tend to display elevated contaminant levels, particularly in Iceland.

Our research investigates the potential impact of diet preferences on killer whale health. Risk assessments suggest that killer whales in the Western North Atlantic, and specific areas of the Eastern North Atlantic where they have mixed diets, face higher risks, directly linked to what they eat.

Among the emerging contaminants, hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD), a flame retardant, is of particular concern. Concentrations of HBCDD in North Atlantic killer whales are among the highest measured in any marine mammals, surpassing levels found in their North Pacific counterparts.
Disappearing sea ice

This reveals the fascinating complexity of killer whale ecology and underscores how their dietary choices significantly impact their exposure to environmental pollutants.

It also raises some concern for “Arctic-invading” killer whales that progressively move north due to climate change. Killer whales’ large dorsal fin has traditionally prevented them from navigating dense sea ice. But the melting of sea ice has allowed killer whales to access a new habitat with new prey species.

There, researchers believe that they will hunt more and more marine mammals, like ringed seals, narwhals and belugas. These dietary shifts, influenced by our changing environment, may result in heightened health risks for apex predators.

Read more: Analyzing the fat of killer whales reveals what they eat
Maternal transfer means females are less contaminated

The study also spotlights a sex difference in contaminant concentrations. Male killer whales appear to be more contaminated than their female counterparts, thanks to the transfer of contaminants from adult females to their offspring during gestation and lactation.

Killer whale mothers use their own energy to produce fatty milk for their calves, helping them grow quickly and stay healthy. This nutritious milk comes from the mother’s blubber, where contaminants are stored. As she feeds her young ones, she may pass on as much as 70 per cent of these stored contaminants.
Urgent action

In response to these findings, urgent action is needed to protect North Atlantic killer whales and their ecosystems. The 2001 United Nations treaty’s objective to phase out and destroy PCBs by 2028 is slipping out of reach.

Substantial quantities of PCB-contaminated waste are stored in deteriorating warehouses, risking contaminants ending up in the environment, and further affecting our ecosystems. To compound the issue, as one chemical gets banned, another often emerges, with enough variations to avoid previous regulations, perpetuating a harmful cycle.

To effectively tackle the issue of contaminant accumulation in killer whales, the following actions are necessary:

Urgent steps are needed for the proper disposal of PCB-contaminated waste, with an emphasis on international collaboration to support nations lacking the infrastructure for waste management.

It is crucial to prevent the release of potentially more harmful contaminants into the environment by improving toxicity testing of chemicals before they enter the market.

Collaboration among ecotoxicologists, conservation biologists, policymakers and other stakeholders is essential. Effective strategies to mitigate pollution’s adverse effects can only be developed through collective efforts.

Targeted conservation efforts should be directed toward populations at higher risk, such as killer whales in the Eastern Canadian Arctic, and Eastern Canada.

Chemical pollution has been identified as one of the nine global threats to wildlife, as well as human health in modern times. It is time to give our planet — and killer whales — the relief they need by reducing existing contaminants through concrete actions.

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

Read more:
For generations, killer whales and First Nations hunted whales together. Now we suspect the orca group has gone extinct

Canada takes first step to regulate toxic ‘forever chemicals.’ But is it enough?