International court rules against Guatemala in a landmark Indigenous and environmental rights case



MEXICO CITY (AP) — Guatemala violated Indigenous rights by permitting a huge nickel mine on tribal land almost two decades ago, according to a ruling from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights Friday.

The landmark verdict marks a monumental step in a four-decade struggle for Indigenous land rights and a long, bitter legal battle, which has at times spilled into the streets of northern Guatemala.

It also comes at the close of the U.N. climate summit COP28, which stressed the importance of renewables and energy transition minerals like nickel more than ever.

According to a verdict read from Costa Rica in the early hours of the morning, the Guatemalan government violated the rights of the Indigenous Q’eqchi’ people to property and consultation by permitting mining on land where members of the community have lived at least since the 1800s.

In its written sentence, the court linked the human rights violations to “inadequacies in domestic law,” which fail to recognize Indigenous property and ordered the state to adopt new laws.

Leonardo Crippa, an attorney with the Indian Law Resource Center who has been researching and representing the community since 2005, said that the finding against the state of Guatemala was a once-in-a-century advance for Indigenous rights in Guatemala and internationally.

“All countries in Latin America are going to look at this decision," Crippa said. “All courts will have to secure that any decision that this made on mining, on Indigenous lands or titling of Indigenous land is done in a way that is consistent with what the court decided today.”

The court also ordered an immediate stop to all mining activities, gave Guatemala six months to begin awarding a land title to the community, and ordered the creation of a development fund. No further mining can take place, it said, without the community's consent.

The Guatemalan environmental department responsible for initially permitting the mine didn't immediately respond to an Associated Press request for comment.

For Rodrigo Tot, a local leader, the verdict is vindication of a lifelong battle against the mine and the state which took his own son's life.

Guatemala first granted massive exploratory permits at the Fenix mine in eastern Guatemala to Canadian company Hudbay just under two decades ago. In 2009, the mine’s head of security shot Tot's son dead. Hudbay sold the site to a local subsidiary of Swiss-based Solway Investment Group two years later.

“Losing your life doesn't matter, but only for something important,” Tot said. “Within our anthem there is a part where it says ‘overcome or die.’ If I die defending my land, then I believe it is something that will remain as the history of our struggle.”

Over a decade of national and now international litigation after the murder of Tot's son, documents were leaked appearing to show the mine attempting to divide the community by bribing some locals to testify in court in favor of the mine.

In response the U.S. Treasury sanctioned two Solway officials implicated in the accusations in November 2022. The ruling Friday noted the community suffered “violence, threats and harassment,” from 2006 to 2019. The U.S. Treasury sanctions against the two Solway employees, who were fired by the company, were not part of the court’s decision Friday.

A spokesperson for Solway wrote that the company and its subsidiary were “not a party to this case” and that “disagreements regarding the mismatch in land demarcation began even before our company acquired the project.”


She did not respond to questions about bribery allegations or the community's harassment up to 2019, eight years after Solway's subsidiary acquired the site.

While Crippa said it was encouraging that the court's ruling came with strict timelines, Tot admitted he expects there will now be a battle for compliance.

“It doesn’t end here. Our fight is going to go on,” he said. But "it encourages us when we see that there are people who also value our struggle.”

The Fenix mine isn't the only conflict between international mines offering clean energy minerals and Indigenous communities in the region, nor is it likely to be the last.

Indigenous and environmental protests rocked Panama for weeks earlier this year when the government approved a 20-year contract for a Canadian company's local subsidiary. Eventually, a ruling of the country's supreme court struck down the contract and ordered the copper mine to close.


Meanwhile, one study published last year calculated that over half of existing and planned critical mineral mines sit on or near Indigenous land. In remarks at COP28, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres warned of the potential for exactly this type of conflict as demand for minerals like nickel grows.

“The extraction of critical minerals for the clean energy revolution — from wind farms to solar panels and battery manufacturing — must be done in a sustainable, fair and just way,” Guterres said.

___

This story was first published on Dec. 15, 2023. It was updated on Dec. 16, 2023, to add that the two mine employees sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury had been fired by the mine's owner and were not part of the court's decision.

___

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

Daniel Shailer, The Associated Press

4.9 magnitude earthquake strikes northwest of Pemberton BC

Story by Mike Raptis • 7h

A 4.9 magnitude earthquake struck the west coast of B.C. on Sunday afternoon, approximately 137 kilometres northwest of Pemberton. (Earthquakes Canada)© Provided by Vancouver Sun


A 4.9 magnitude earthquake struck the west coast of B.C. on Sunday afternoon, approximately 137 kilometres northwest of Pemberton.

The earthquake, which happened around 3:30 p.m., could be felt on northern and central Vancouver Island, the Sunshine Coast and parts of Greater Vancouver

John Cassidy, a seismologist with Natural Resources Canada, says people over a “very wide region” of the province have reported feeling the earthquake.

Cassidy said the quake was felt as far away as Kelowna, more than 350 kilometres from the quake’s epicentre.

Cassidy says seismic events in that part of the province are “relatively rare,” with the last quake in the area around the same magnitude hitting in 2017. He says Sunday’s quake wasn’t a complete surprise since the province’s coastal areas are an active earthquake zone, but the largest and most frequent earthquakes occur offshore

“For this size of an earthquake, aftershocks are expected,” Cassidy said. “In fact we are recording a number of small aftershocks at this time. So the largest that we’ve seen so far is about a 2.6 magnitude.”

Cassidy said aftershocks can happen hours or even days after such quakes, but tend to drop off in frequency “as time goes on.”

There have been no reports of damage or injuries so far.

Earlier this month, a magnitude 3.1 earthquake was felt in parts of the B.C.’s Okanagan region.

B.C.’s earthquake and tsunami guide says there are an average of 3,000 quakes reported in the province every year.

The guide says most of them are too small to be felt, but tremors strong enough to cause structural damage typically happen once every 10 years.

However, B.C. is at risk from what is often called “the big one” — a megathrust temblor that could occur offshore where the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate is being forced under the North American plate — as well as from fault lines that run through the Pacific Northwest.

With files from Canadian Press and Glenda Luymes

Related
3.1 magnitude earthquake shakes B.C.’s southern Okanagan

B.C. is 'earthquake country': Are we prepared?

Earthquakes Canada receives hundreds of reports in B.C. after 4.9 magnitude quake


Sun, December 17, 2023 

VICTORIA — Earthquakes Canada says a 4.9 magnitude earthquake was recorded Sunday afternoon and public reports poured in from hundreds of kilometres away from the event's epicentre.

John Cassidy, a seismologist with Natural Resources Canada, says people over a "very wide region" of the province have reported feeling the earthquake, which hit just before 3:30 in the afternoon.

Cassidy says the quake was felt by people across northern and central Vancouver Island, and as far away as Kelowna, more than 350 kilometres from the quake's epicentre.

He says it hit a remote region about 222 kilometres north-northwest of Vancouver.

Cassidy says seismic events in that part of the province are "relatively rare," with the last quake in the area around the same magnitude hitting in 2017. He says Sunday's quake wasn't a complete surprise since the province's coastal areas are an active earthquake zone, but the largest and most frequent earthquakes occur offshore.

"For this size of an earthquake, aftershocks are expected," Cassidy said in an interview. "In fact we are recording a number of small aftershocks at this time. So the largest that we've seen so far is about a 2.6 magnitude."

Cassidy said aftershocks can happen hours or even days after such quakes, but tend to drop off in frequency "as time goes on."

He said Sunday's earthquake was minor in the "global scheme of things," but said it's important to be prepared for earthquakes nonetheless. "It's really a good reminder that we are in an active earthquake zone," he said. "They don't happen very often, but when they do happen, it's important to know what to do, to drop, cover and hold on."

Cassidy said the province is getting an early-warning system for earthquakes that's been under development by Natural Resources Canada, similar to systems in place in California, Oregon, Washington, Japan and Mexico.

"It's been a very successful undertaking," he said. "It's the type of automated system that would let you know that an earthquake has occurred and that shaking is on its way, and so the farther away you are, the more time that you would have. So it's an opportunity, you know, in hospitals for surgeons to put down their scalpels."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 17, 2023.

Minor 4.9-magnitude earthquake rattles B.C.'s Coast Mountains


CBC
Sun, December 17, 2023 

A minor 4.9 magnitude earthquake, about 222 kilometres northwest of Vancouver, shook B.C.'s Coast Mountains on Sunday, according to Earthquakes Canada.

 (Datawrapper, Arrthy Thayaparan/CBC - image credit)

Residents in many areas of B.C. reported feeling the effects of a minor earthquake that struck in B.C.'s Coast Mountains, about 220 kilometres north of Vancouver on Sunday afternoon.

Earthquakes Canada says the quake was recorded at 3:23 p.m. PST and registered at a magnitude of 4.9, but so far there are no reports of damage or secondary impacts, such as landslides.

John Cassidy, a seismologist with Natural Resources Canada, says earthquakes are a relatively rare occurrence for the central part of the province's coastal mountain range, with the last being a 4.1 magnitude quake in 2017.

"It appears to be a relatively shallow earthquake and with a number of small aftershocks so far ... in the magnitude one-to-two-and-a-half range," he said, adding aftershocks can happen hours or even days after such quakes, but tend to drop off in frequency "as time goes on."

Cassidy says people over a "very wide region'' of the province have reported feeling the earthquake, which hit a remote region roughly 150 kilometres northwest of Whistler.

Reports came in from people across northern and central Vancouver Island, and as far away as Kelowna, more than 350 kilometres from the quake's epicentre.

Lara Lares says she and her mother were in their kitchen at home in the Nemiah Valley, about 40 kilometres from the epicentre, when they felt the sudden jolt.

"We had a lot of horses in our backfield that started running all of a sudden, like full sprinting from one end of a field to the other and like back again," said Lares, whose family runs Flying L Ranch, a horse rescue and ranch.

"All of a sudden we felt the earth shake ... All of our plants were shaking, like the walls were shaking."

Lara Lares (left) and her family run Flying L Ranch in the Nemiah Valley, about 40 kilometres from the epicenter of Sunday's earthquake. (Lara Lares)

Lares says while the earthquake only lasted four to five seconds with no damage to their property, the family and horses are still shaken in the aftermath.

"I've never felt so unsteady while standing on solid ground," she said.

"My dogs were a little nervous ... and [the horses] were pretty jumpy and kept their distance."

Cassidy says Sunday's earthquake was minor in the "global scheme of things,'' but said it's important to be prepared for earthquakes nonetheless.

"It's really a good reminder that we are in an active earthquake zone,'' he said.

"They don't happen very often, but when they do happen, it's important to know what to do, to drop, cover and hold on.''

CANADA
Almost two-thirds of Google's $100-million media fund will go to print, digital media

Story by Peter Zimonjic • CBC

Internet search giant Google has agreed to pay Canadian news outlets $100 million annually, indexed to inflation.© The Associated Press

Almost two-thirds of the $100 million Google must give to news outlets across the country each year will be distributed to print and digital media, with the remaining third split between CBC/Radio-Canada and other private and public broadcasters.

Government officials outlining how the compensation will be divided said Friday that CBC/Radio-Canada's portion of the fund will be capped at seven per cent, while other broadcasters in the country will split 30 per cent. Print and digital media will share the remaining 63 per cent of the fund.

The annual compensation for news organizations, required by the Online News Act, will be distributed to outlets based on the number of full-time journalists they employed in the last calendar year who were producing original news content.

The Online News Act, which became law on June 22, 2023, takes effect December 19. It requires digital platforms with 20 million unique monthly users and annual revenues of $1 billion or more to compensate news outlets for sharing links to their pages.

Only Google and Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, meet those criteria in Canada. Google's deal requires it to pay $100 million a year, indexed to inflation. Facebook escaped the need to strike its own deal by no longer sharing links to news pages.

While Meta opted to remove news links, Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge said Friday the company may still fall under the act when it comes into effect on Dec. 19.

"Yes, they are trying to ban news but we know that Canadians find ways to share news anyway, so their ban is not fully working," Pascale St-Onge said Friday. "So will they fall under the legislation or not? The CRTC needs to pay attention to that."

If the CRTC decides not enough effort has gone into removing links to news articles on Meta, the company could become subject to the act.

That would compel Meta to either do more to remove links or strike a deal similar to Google's. If Meta fails to come to an agreement, the law requires that it participate in mediation.

If mediation fails, the law says an arbitration process would evaluate proposals from the platform and the affected news services. The arbitration panel would then choose one of the offers.

"We've been clear for months that the regulatory process could not address the fundamentally flawed premise of the Online News Act," said Rachel Curran, a spokesperson for Meta Canada.

"News outlets choose to use our free services because it helps their bottom line, and today's release of final regulations does not change our business decision to end news availability on Facebook and Instagram in Canada."

As part of the deal, Google provided assurances that Canadian news outlets will be treated fairly in comparison with deals it might strike with news media in other countries.

The federal government said that if news outlets in other countries strike a better deal with Google, the company would go back to the federal government "with a view to resolving any concerns."
Eligibility and distribution

Under Section 11.1 of the Online News Act, news organizations that are eligible to receive funding under the deal include non-profit and for-profit outlets that produce local, regional and national news content.

Government officials said Friday that after the act comes into force, eligible news organizations are required to answer a "call-out" by Google.

News organizations in the call-out that demonstrate they qualify for funding will then join a collective that will speak to Google with one voice to hammer out details of the funding they will get.

Any administrative costs incurred by the collective will be deducted from the $100 million fund. Google will cover its own administrative costs outside the fund.

St-Onge has said that the collective distributing the money will be required to do so in a "transparent manner under the legislation" and the process will be "supervised by the CRTC [Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission]."

Media companies that qualify under the act but do not want to be a part of the collective can make a pitch to the CRTC for permission to strike their own deals directly with Google. To be successful, media outlets must convince the regulator their negotiations are fair and also benefit other companies that qualify for funding.

The regulations unveiled Friday say that news outlets are required attest that most of money they get from the fund must be used to "support the production of local, regional and national news content."

Media outlets receiving funding must also attest that they will not undermine freedom of expression or journalistic independence by interfering in an outlet's editorial process.

Google can strike non-monetary agreements with news outlets to provide them with in-kind technical support under the act, but it must be over and above the $100 million fund.
Media, Google react

Google issued a statement Friday saying that while it maintains that the Online News Act is "fundamentally flawed legislation," it is pleased that it managed to strike a funding agreement with the federal government.

"Fortunately, this means we will be able to continue sending valuable traffic to Canadian publishers and Canadians will be able to continue enjoying the Google products they know and love while we work through the exemption process," the statement said.

News Media Canada, a group representing print and digital media in Canada, issued a statement welcoming the regulations, saying that it works out to about $20,000 per journalist.

"Today, we have a solid regulatory framework with teeth that ensures Google compensates news publishers — large and small — for the exceptional reporting our journalists do, without fear or favour, on behalf of their fellow Canadians," said Paul Deegan, CEO of News Media Canada.

CBC/Radio-Canada also welcomed the regulations, saying they will "help ensure that Canadian news organizations receive compensation for the journalism they produce.

"It is also important that the regulations recognize that the news provided by CBC/Radio-Canada has value and should also receive compensation."

The statement did not say how its seven per cent will be shared between CBC and Radio-Canada, but the corporation said it will "work with its media partners and digital platforms on the next steps."

Kevin Desjardins, president of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, which represents private radio and TV stations in Canada, said he is disappointed with how the fund will be distributed.

He told CBC News that Canadians turn to radio and television for news and broadcasters are investing in their services to ensure those platforms survive.

"So on that level, we think that at least this piece of the puzzle is not aligned with what the reality in the marketplace is and I think it underscores the need to find other ways to support broadcast news," he said.

Dec 15, 2023

Online News Act funding capped for private broadcasters, CBC: regulations

Mickey Djuric, The Canadian Press

Ad 2 of 4

This ad will end in 8 seconds

Learn more

00:07 / 00:15

• Now Showing

  

  8:54

  To stay unbiased, news media needs to get its fair share, and sto...

• Up Next

  

  6:42

  Canadian Heritage Minister on deal with Google and the online ne...

• 

  8:35

  Government and Google come to an agreement over news act bill

The Liberal government has put a cap on how much money CBC and other broadcasters can get from Google after the tech company agreed last month to pay $100 million annually to compensate Canadian news companies.

CBC/Radio-Canada will get no more than a $7-million share of the annual fund, while another $30 million at most will be reserved for other broadcasters, according to final regulations released Friday that will implement the Online News Act.

The other $63 million will be shared among other qualifying news outlets, such as newspapers and digital platforms.

Independent news outlets and outlets from Indigenous and official language minority communities must also benefit from the fund, the regulations said.

Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge told reporters Friday that it's a fair approach.

"Having more equitable relationships and commercial relationships between tech giants and our newsrooms is an essential part in ensuring the sustainability of our news sector," St-Onge said Friday.

"And ensuring that journalism continues to play its role in democracy."

As a result of the deal, Google will be exempt from the Online News Act, which compels tech companies to enter into compensation agreements with news publishers for linking to their content, if it generates revenue for those digital giants.

Google still sees the law as "fundamentally flawed," but is pleased it was able to find "a viable path to exemption in the final regulations," a spokesperson for the company said in a statement Friday.

"Fortunately, this means we will be able to continue sending valuable traffic to Canadian publishers and Canadians will be able to continue enjoying the Google products they know and love while we work through the exemption process."

For outlets to qualify for the money, their content must be available on Google Search.

Other outlets that produce news but don't have an online presence, such as campus radio stations, will be excluded from funding under the deal.

Once the law comes into effect next Tuesday, Google will have to launch an open call in which eligible news businesses have 60 days to request a slice of the $100-million pie, which is to be indexed to inflation.

The money will be distributed proportionately to how many full time-journalists companies employ.

In order for news businesses to be eligible, they must have at least two full-time employees.

Small print and digital outlets can expect to receive about $17,000 per journalist that they employ, an official with the Canadian Heritage Department said Friday in a technical briefing for journalists. The briefing was provided on the condition that the officials not be named.

The reaction in Canada's news industry was mixed as the government rolled out its final regulations.

CBC/Radio-Canada welcomed the news. "We know that one law or set of regulations won't solve all of the challenges facing the news business in Canada. But it will help," a spokesperson for the public broadcaster said in a statement.

News Media Canada, which represents hundreds of publishers, also applauded the regulations.

But the Canadian Association of Broadcasters expressed disappointment, saying they don't reflect the role private broadcasters of all sizes play in the Canadian news marketplace.

And the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada said they believe the regulations "leave ethnic media to fend for themselves."

Friday's regulations came after months of tension between Google and Ottawa.

The Liberal government ultimately bended to the Silicon Valley tech giant's demands after it threatened to remove news links from its search engine — even though Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed zero interest in compromise.

He said over the summer that their "bullying tactics" would not work on his government.

Liberals have since celebrated the Google deal as a win, but the Conservative critic for Canadian heritage, Rachael Thomas, has accused the government of caving to Google's demands.

The government had initially sought compensation that would have amounted to closer to $172 million, according to a formula that was included in an earlier draft of the regulations.

Google said they were days away from beginning the process of removing news from their products in Canada, before they were approached by the government "in the final hours" with a proposal that addressed their concerns.

Even before the Online News Act became law, Google was offering to pay news businesses $100 million annually.

The company currently has existing deals with news publishers, but it remains unclear if those contracts will be renewed in light of the new deal.

The only companies big enough to fall under criteria set out under the Online News Act are Google and Meta.

For its part, Meta responded to passage of the bill by ending access to news for Canadian users of Instagram and Facebook.

That position remains unchanged.

"We've been clear for months that the regulatory process could not address the fundamentally flawed premise of the Online News Act," Rachel Curran, head of public policy for Meta Canada, said in a statement.

"News outlets choose to use our free services because it helps their bottom line, and today's release of final regulations does not change our business decision to end news availability on Facebook and Instagram in Canada."

St-Onge has previously told The Canadian Press that Meta could still be regulated under the act, as social-media users find loopholes to share news on its platform.

However, that decision will be up to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, which will regulate the law.

The official Opposition has promised to repeal the law if they get elected.

"A common sense Conservative government will defund the CBC and replace the dystopian Liberal news ban with a bill that restores balance for small, local and independent voices in the media," Thomas said in a statement Friday.

THEY WERE IN POWER FOR A DECADE AND NEVER DEFUNDED CBC, AND THERE ARE NO MORE SMALL LOCAL INDPENDENT VOICES IN THE MEDIA DUE TO INDUSTRY CONSOLIDATION INTO THE POSTMEDIA MONOPOLOY

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 15, 202

MANITOBA

Mobile Overdose Prevention Site secures funding for winter months

Story by Glen Dawkins • 

 Winnipeg Sun

Levi Foy, executive director of Sunshine House, outside the Mobile Overdose Prevention Site.

© Provided by Winnipeg Sun

The Mobile Overdose Prevention Site (MOPS) will be funded to continue operations through the winter, it was announced last week.

Operated by Sunshine House drop-in and resource centre, MOPS is Manitoba’s first formal overdose prevention site, where people can come and use substances in a space supervised by staff who are trained in overdose response.

MOPS will receive $72,728 from an amendment to the existing agreement with Health Canada Substance Use and Addictions Program, $55,000 in grassroots fundraising, and $250,000 from the Winnipeg Foundation. The funds are expected to take MOPS through the winter months to March 31, Sunshine House announced Tuesday.

“The continuation of MOPS through the winter was really a community effort,” said Levi Foy, executive director of Sunshine House. “It was our friends at the Manitoba Harm Reduction Network and Main Street Project who organized a meeting where we all sat around a table with the Winnipeg Foundation and came up with a plan.”

MOPS has been operating out of a converted recreational vehicle since Oct. 28, 2022. Five days a week, the RV is parked in the lot next to 631 Main Street, just north of Logan Avenue.

“It’s essential to have MOPS open during the winter months,” said Davey Cole, MOPS coordinator. “The risks and harms that people face when using substances outdoors are multiplied when the weather gets cold.”

“We felt like we were facing a doomsday scenario — it really seemed that we would have to shut MOPS down at the worst possible time of year,” Foy said.

“We’re relieved to know MOPS has secured funding to get through the winter months,” said Jamil Mahmood, executive director at Main Street Project. “MOPS is an essential community program that provides important harm reduction services to people who use drugs. Winnipeg is experiencing an ongoing drug toxicity crisis with many drug poisonings taking place. Ensuring people who use drugs have a place to get their drugs tested, have a safe place to use, be spotted while using in case of drug poisoning, and access information about safer drug use, especially over the winter months, is critical. Main Street Project will always do what we can to support MOPS and advocate for the program.”

“The Winnipeg Foundation is proud to support the important, life-saving work of the Mobile Overdose Prevention Site,” said Megan Tate, Vice President for Community Impact. “Our community is experiencing an addiction and overdose crisis which requires a range of supportive services including prevention, harm reduction and treatment. The Foundation provides funding to organizations working in each of these areas and recognizes the critical role MOPS plays, both in harm reduction and supporting those who wish to access addictions treatment.”

“Our approach to reducing harms as a result of substance use is comprehensive and compassionate,” said Federal Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health Ya’ara Saks. “We are using every tool at our disposal to build a safer, healthier and more caring future for all Canadians. We are doing this by supporting organizations like Sunshine House that have deep roots in their communities, have the trust of their clients and have the first-hand knowledge needed to make a real difference in people’s lives.”

From October 2022 through November 2023, MOPS has received over 25,000 visits and supervised over 7,600 instances of drug use. MOPS has performed drug checks — testing samples of substances to determine if they contain dangerous contaminants — 391 times. MOPS also provides referrals to other needed services, including housing and addictions treatment.

'Smoke screen': Canadian airlines use NDAs to keep a lid on passenger settlements

The Canadian Press
Sun, December 17, 2023 



MONTREAL — Colleen Dafoe was at the Halifax airport last December with her husband and daughter when WestJet told her their trip was cancelled.

The airline suggested rescheduling them on a flight more than 10 days later, she said — well after the end of their planned vacation to the Dominican Republic to celebrate Dafoe’s 50th birthday with extended family.

They never left Nova Scotia.

Dafoe said she asked for a refund from WestJet, which refused and instead offered a vacation voucher valid for one year. Eventually, she turned to small claims court for the $1,200 in compensation she believed her family was owed under Canada’s passenger rights charter.

Only after she launched the legal action did a WestJet lawyer offer to pay them the full amount — if they signed a non-disclosure agreement barring them from discussing the matter.

“My husband and I hemmed and hawed about this. Part of us wanted to stand our ground and not accept the confidentiality clause, because airlines should not silence people when they have not followed regulations,” Dafoe said.

In the end, Dafoe agree to a settlement that included a confidentiality clause, which bars her from disclosing the amount.

WestJet says it does “not comment on NDAs publicly regardless of topic or circumstance.”

Dafoe said she agreed to settle because going to court seemed “kind of scary — we didn't know if we could navigate the system well enough against a full-time lawyer and not come out losers."

Her case fits into an apparent pattern where Canada’s two biggest airlines initially proffer vouchers — often worth between $150 and $300 — if a passenger complains. Then, should the customer decline and proceed to file a court claim, Air Canada and WestJet eventually offer up to as much as the original request, or sometimes more, after a protracted back-and-forth — so long as an NDA is inked.

The Canadian Press communicated with more than 20 passengers of Canadian airlines who faced scenarios comparable with Dafoe's. Some spurned the offers, while others agreed to settlements they said topped $1,000.

Consumer rights advocates warn that confidentiality agreements between big companies and individual customers are far from routine in most sectors, and that the policy amounts to a power play by airlines to avoid setting legal precedents or letting word of payouts spread.

Under Canada's Air Passenger Protection Regulations, airlines must compensate travellers for breaches that range from cancelled flights to failure to rebook customers promptly.

The regime is overseen by the Canadian Transportation Agency, which faced a record backlog of 61,000 complaints against carriers as of Dec. 5. Many travellers said they opted to skip the regulator's process — which begins only after an initial complaint directly to the airline is rejected — because of its nearly two-year wait time in some cases.

Air Canada said in a statement that non-disclosure agreements are nothing out of the ordinary, and that it pays compensation when owed.

“NDAs are very common in the context of a litigated dispute resolution, and an agreement to them is often part of any settlement agreement entered into prior to a court hearing,” spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick wrote in an email.

“They are designed to protect the integrity of the negotiation process, notably because each case is different and settlements are not directly comparable.”

But Sylvie De Bellefeuille, a Quebec-based lawyer with advocacy group Option consommateurs, said the main goal is to suppress backlash — online and in the courts.

“They don't want to have a precedent. And especially now with social media, they might not want to have people saying, ‘I settled with Air Canada for 500 bucks,’” she said.

That concern over word-of-mouth aligns with a justification of NDAs put forward by a WestJet lawyer in an email to one customer last October: “While a passenger may share their experience (online), it often leads to an expectation that all passengers may be compensated in the same or similar manner, despite having very different travel circumstances.”

An Air Canada paralegal offered a comparable explanation on a phone call recorded and shared with The Canadian Press by Elizabeth Patrick, who is seeking $400 in compensation plus expenses after her January flight was delayed more than five hours due in part to a defective airplane door. “You believe that you’re entitled to the $400, and we say you’re not entitled to it. So that’s why it’s important for us for you to sign a confidentiality agreement,” the paralegal said on the call.

The confidentiality clauses are important enough to airlines that in some cases they offer the amount requested in passenger lawsuits, and occasionally more — along with an NDA — following a drawn-out process that can involve haggling with corporate lawyers.

Darren Guy said Air Canada initially gave him a $20 food voucher and no hotel accommodations after his evening flight to Vancouver from Montreal was cancelled in May, due in part to crew constraints. So he filed a claim for accommodation costs and $1,000 in compensation.

Air Canada paid him back for the $758 hotel price but denied the compensation, which regulations state range up to $1,000 in the event of a flight disruption of more than nine hours that was within the carrier’s control.

Guy sued in small claims court, and Air Canada responded with an offer of “vouchers and some cash.” He rejected it. The offer went up to a $1,000 voucher plus $800 in cash — more than the $1,000 he was asking for.

“The only stipulation was to sign a gag order,” Guy said, calling the experience “frustrating” and a “ridiculous … rigmarole.”

“It just makes me angry," he said. "I’m stubborn, and nobody’s going to tell me what I can and can’t talk about.”

He rejected the airline's higher offer.

Kelly Geraghty of Maple Ridge, B.C., who has filed an $11,000 claim that includes moral damages against WestJet following flight disruptions last year, said confidentiality clauses impose a cone of silence that can be suffocating.

“The big thing for me is it is a life-long burden. You’re not even allowed to talk to your spouse about it,” she said of deals signed within the black box of an NDA.

“If they did nothing wrong, then why are they trying to hide it?”

Sometimes, the settlement offer is significantly lower than requested. Many customers wouldn’t know that they can simply reject a “lowball offer” in a bid to receive a higher one from airlines, said John Lawford, executive director of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre.

“It's kind of a big power play from a much stronger party,” said Lawford, calling the practice “unconscionable, bad form, cheap ... These are very small amounts.”

“It's meant to muzzle dissent and to reduce criticism of the company,” he said. “You're binding somebody to silence about conditions that might show other problems with the airlines.”

From a business point of view, however, carriers are only doing what makes sense under the current system of rules and enforcement, said Gabor Lukacs, president of the Air Passenger Rights advocacy group.

“From an economic perspective, the airlines are doing the right thing,” he said, stressing that the “smoke screen” thrown up by confidentiality clauses prevents cases from proliferating.

“The airlines are not evil, they are not good or bad. They are simply playing what is cold and optimal strategy in a game where the cards are stacked against the passenger.”

To speed up complaint processing and coax customers back to the regulator rather than the courts, the Canadian Transportation Agency created the role of "complaint resolution officers." Training began in mid-August, with 50 now hired and another 50 set to join next year, the agency said.

It is now hashing out regulations to cement sweeping reforms to the country’s passenger rights charter. Announced in April and set to take effect in the first half of 2024, the changes to the Air Passenger Protection Regulations appear to scrap a loophole through which airlines have denied customers compensation for flight delays or cancellations when they were required for safety purposes.

First rolled out in 2019, the new regime also allows the regulator to ratchet up the maximum penalty for airline violations to $250,000 — a tenfold increase — and puts the regulatory cost of complaints on carriers.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 17, 2023.

Companies in this story: (TSX:AC)

Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press

SABATOUERS 

Ukrainian special ops commandos are freelancing top-secret sabotage missions, poisonings, and assassinations in Russia, says military source

Lindsay Dodgson
Sun, December 17, 2023 

A military operation at sunset.guvendemi/Getty Images

Ukrainian commandos are freelancing sabotage missions in Russia, a source told The Times of London.


They are trained to carry out sabotage missions, poisonings, assassinations, and diversions.


They dress in civilian clothes, carry fake documents, and use only their steps to orient themselves.

Ukrainian special ops commandos are freelancing sabotage missions in Russia, a military source told The Times of London.

The officer, named only as Mykola, told The Times operatives are being trained to carry out sabotage, poisonings, assassinations, and diversions behind enemy lines.

They dress in civilian clothes, carry fake documents, and use only their steps to orient themselves, he said.

The missions are so secret even Mykola's superiors don't know about them, he said. The need for top-secret assignments is partly due to dwindling funds making their way to Ukraine from the EU and the US, according to The Times.

"It's off the books," Mykola told The Times at his classified training camp's base. "The government is too slow and bureaucratic. We need to train people fast and get them ready. There are no government specialized training camps for the kind of operations needed to fight this war."

Ukraine is also struggling to keep up with the sheer amount of Russian soldiers and Russia's drone army, which outweighs them by 7 to 1. Mykola acknowledged this, believing these missions give Ukraine an edge.

"We can only compete in surgical techniques," he said. "Technology and our entrepreneurial mindset will defeat Russian meat and steel."

Mykola also explained the optimum conditions for a cross-border mission into Russia, such as low cloud that hides the moon and stars.

"They will dress in civilian clothes, carry fake papers, no phones, use a compass, a map and count their steps to orient themselves," he explained.

Most of the missions are "too low-key" to explain, Mykola added, "mainly because the Kremlin is keen to keep quiet about the humiliation of Ukrainian special ops commandos roaming around Russian countryside."

But he did admit that "men like him" were responsible for the drone attacks on the Kremlin in May 2023.

"We also have Russians inside Russia who help us, people who see how senseless this war is and hate the criminal regime," he said.

Mykola also criticized missions of other military operatives in the Ukrainian army, such as a daring jet ski raid on Crimea, which was caught on video, calling it "a complete waste of time and resources."

"We call the people who carried it out Spielberg brigades," he said. "They went, they saw, they filmed.

"As usual Kyrylo was more interested in sending people out to make promotional films than serious operations."

Meanwhile, the Kyiv Post reported that anti-Putin dissidents fighting for Ukraine in the Liberty of Russia Legion had launched a new incursion into Russian territory on Sunday. According to sources in the Ukrainian intelligence community, there was renewed fighting in the Belgorod region.

"Russia is unable to control security within its borders. Putin's security forces cannot ensure the safety of their citizens," the source said to Kyiv Post.

The Legion was last active in the summer, but little has been heard of the outfit since.

WWI REDUX; TRENCH WARFARE

Ukrainian troops fighting on Dnipro river say official claims of success are misleading: 'There are no positions. It's a suicide mission'

Alia Shoaib
Sun, December 17, 2023 

A Ukrainian serviceman jumps out of the boat onto the shore of the Dnipro river near Kherson, Ukraine, 15 October 2023.Alex Babenko/AP Photo

Ukrainian soldiers and marines told The New York Times that the Dnipro river front is brutal.


They contradicted official reports that they have gained a foothold on the eastern bank.


They said that Ukrainian soldiers are dying in huge numbers and that it is a "suicide mission."

In recent months, the banks of the Dnipro river have taken center stage in the war in Ukraine, with Ukrainian officials claiming that their forces have gained a foothold on the eastern bank.

However, marines and soldiers on the ground told The New York Times that these claims are overstated and that Ukrainians are dying in huge numbers, often before they even reach the other side of the river.

"There are no positions. There is no such thing as an observation post or position," Ukrainian soldier Oleksiy said. "It is impossible to gain a foothold there. It's impossible to move equipment there."

"It's not even a fight for survival," he said. "It's a suicide mission."

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said in November that Ukrainian forces had gained a foothold on the eastern river, which would mark a significant advance in Ukraine's counteroffensive.

Russia has held control of the eastern bank after having retreated from the western bank last year.

There were also optimistic reports of Ukrainian forces taking armored vehicles across the river for the first time, and the Ukrainian army posted a statement claiming to have established "several strongholds."

However, soldiers on the ground described a grim scene, telling The Times about difficult conditions, brutal fighting, and growing casualties.

Oleksiy spoke to The Times out of frustration at the high rate of soldiers dying.

"I did not see anything like this in Bakhmut or Soledar," he said. "It's so wasteful."

The battles of Bakhmut or Soledar, in the country's east, are known to have been among the most intense of the war.

Soldiers speaking to The Times said that the bodies are literally piling up. Oleksiy described how troops arriving to fight often had to step on soldiers' bodies lying in the mud.

A deputy company commander, Volodymyr, told The Times that some dead marines have been lying on the river bank for as long as two months because intense shelling makes it difficult to collect the bodies.

Oleksiy also criticized the Ukrainian command for poor preparation and logistics, which meant that in some cases, wounded men had to be left behind because there were not enough boats.

"People who end up there are not prepared psychologically," he said. "They don't even understand where they are going. They are not told by the command that sends them there."

Earlier this month, a Ukrainian soldier told the BBC that marines sent to help defend recent Ukrainian advances on the Dnipro river were so inexperienced they couldn't even swim.

In the BBC News report, the soldier said Ukrainian forces were experiencing serious shortages in equipment and reinforcements as they defended their positions, which were under relentless Russian attack.

The troops also described difficulties with the landscape, with the river bank being muddy and swamp-like and scattered with craters filled with water.

The environment means that in most places there is nowhere to dig in, soldiers told The Times.

Despite the difficult conditions, Ukrainian soldiers and marines are continuing to put up a fight, and Russia has also suffered high casualties.

The cross-river mission is currently not striving for a major breakthrough, but is prioritizing eliminating as many Russian soldiers as possible and taking out Russian artillery, Yevhen Karas, deputy commander of the 14th Separate Regiment, told the paper.

Ukrainian Marines on ‘Suicide Mission’ in Crossing the Dnieper River

Carlotta Gall, Oleksandr Chubko and Olha Konovalova
Sun, December 17, 2023 

A worker replacing a Ukrainian recruitment billboard with a new one, in a residential neighborhood in Kherson, Ukraine on Dec. 1, 2023. 

(Mauricio Lima/The New York Times)

KHERSON, Ukraine — There was a faint tremor in the marine’s voice as he recounted the murderous fighting on the east bank of the Dnieper River, where he was wounded recently.

“We were sitting in the water at night and we were shelled by everything,” the marine, Maksym, said. “My comrades were dying in front of my eyes.”

For two months, Ukraine’s Marine Corps has been spearheading an assault across the Dnieper River in the southern region of Kherson to recapture territory from Russian troops. The operation is Ukraine’s latest attempt in its flagging counteroffensive to breach Russian defenses in the south and turn the tide of the war.

Sign up for The Morning newsletter from the New York Times

Soldiers and marines who have taken part in the river crossings described the offensive as brutalizing and futile, as waves of Ukrainian troops have been struck down on the river banks or in the water, even before they reach the other side.

Conditions are so difficult, a half-dozen men involved in the fighting said in interviews, that in most places, there is nowhere to dig in. The first approaches tend to be marshy islands threaded with rivulets or meadows that have become a quagmire of mud and bomb craters filled with water.

The soldiers and marines gave only their first names or asked for anonymity for security reasons, and commanders declined almost all media requests to visit military units in the Kherson region.

Several soldiers and marines spoke to journalists out of concern about the high casualties and what they said were overly optimistic accounts from officials about the progress of the offensive.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that it was not immediately possible to comment on the soldiers’ accusations but that it would provide a response in due course.

Some of the heaviest fighting has been in the village of Krynky, on the east bank 20 miles upriver from Kherson city, where Ukrainian troops seized a narrow strip of fishermen’s houses — the only place where they managed to establish a toehold.

But footage of the area, livestreamed from a drone and seen by The New York Times, verified soldiers’ accounts of heavy Russian airstrikes that have destroyed the houses and turned the river bank into a mass of mud and splintered trees.

Fresh troops arriving on the east bank have to step on soldiers’ bodies that lie tangled in the churned mud, said Oleksiy, an experienced soldier who fought in Krynky in October and has since crossed multiple times to help evacuate the wounded.

Some of the dead marines have been lying there for as long as two months, as units have been unable to retrieve the bodies because of the intense shelling, said Volodymyr, a deputy company commander who was attending the funeral of one of his men, identified only as Denys, last week.

“The left bank is very difficult,” Volodymyr said. “Those who do it are the real heroes, men with great will power.”

With Ukraine’s counteroffensive bogged down and the United States and even the European Union showing signs of cutting back aid, the cross-river offensive has been keenly watched for signs that Ukraine can regain momentum against Russian forces. The hope is that they can create a breakthrough deep enough to threaten Russia’s supply routes and its hold in the south. The Marine Corps, rebuilt to full strength this year with several newly formed brigades, was assigned the task.

Since the war’s outset, Ukrainian officials have sought to maintain a positive narrative in an effort to maintain morale at home and support abroad. Casualty numbers are not published, nor are details of setbacks suffered by Ukrainian troops.

In the case of the Dnieper, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine and other officials have suggested recently that the marines have gained a foothold on the eastern bank. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted a statement last month claiming they had established several strongholds.

But marines and soldiers who have been there say these accounts overstate the case.

“There are no positions. There is no such thing as an observation post or position,” Oleksiy said. “It is impossible to gain a foothold there. It’s impossible to move equipment there.”

“It’s not even a fight for survival,” he added. “It’s a suicide mission.”

Oleksiy said the Ukrainian commanders’ poor preparation and logistics had decimated his battalion. Wounded men were being left behind because of a lack of boats, he said, and the brutal conditions were degrading morale and soldiers’ support for each other.

“People who end up there are not prepared psychologically,” he said. “They don’t even understand where they are going. They are not told by the command that sends them there.”

Oleksiy agreed to let the Times publish his account out of frustration at the losses. “I did not see anything like this in Bakhmut or Soledar,” he said, referring to two of the most intense battles on the eastern front. “It’s so wasteful.”

Russian airstrikes along the river banks marked on the Ukraine Control Map, which geolocates video footage of strikes on both sides of the front, confirm his description. The map shows heavy Russian aerial bombardment of several crossing points along a 40-mile stretch of the river.

Russian troops are taking heavy losses, too, by several accounts. The map details multiple hits by Ukrainian artillery, rockets and drones on Russian troops and armor in all of the main settlements along the eastern bank. The city of Kherson has come under repeated Russian attack, but it also resounds with the constant firing of Ukrainian artillery.

“Generally, we are on hunting duty,” said Yevhen Karas, 36, deputy commander of the 14th Separate Regiment, who was visiting one of his units operating drones against Russian targets across the river. He asked for the location not be revealed for security reasons.

“The main priority is Russian artillery and to defend our operations,” said Karas, whose surname is also his military call sign. After two months of operations, he said, the Russian units in the area and long-range artillery had been heavily suppressed. Russian troops were generally staying under cover during the day and moved only at night as a result, he said.

Karas headed a volunteer military group, C14, from 2014, which has been described as extreme right-wing by watchdog groups. In 2016 it was integrated as a special operations force in the Ukrainian army.

The marines were suffering, Karas said, but the Ukrainian attacks had unnerved Russian commanders, who brought back an airborne unit from the Zaporizhzhia front to bolster the defense.

“They are very scared that Ukraine this month, or in the spring or the summer, will increase its territory to expand and liberate” the east bank, he said, adding that he followed radio intercepts of Russian communications, among other sources of intelligence.

Even small territorial gains would give Ukraine the ability to strike Russia’s supply routes into Crimea, he said. But for now, the cross-river operation was focused not on a breakthrough but on drawing in and killing as many Russian troops as possible, he said.

Drones were proving critical in that fight, providing reconnaissance and guiding artillery, while increasingly targeting troops and equipment with explosives. A kamikaze drone was cheaper and more accurate than expensive artillery shells, which are in increasingly short supply, said the unit commander, Dzhmil, 37, giving his call sign.

“We read the papers and we know who is helping us and that everything has its price,” he said, referring to growing debates in the United States and Europe over aid to Ukraine. This week the threat of future aid cuts only deepened, as Zelenskyy’s efforts to rally support in the European Union and the U.S. Congress were rebuffed.

Ukrainian artillery and drone units were well placed along the river’s western bank, which has the advantage of having higher elevation than the eastern bank and allows access to supplies, electricity and logistics, Karas said.

Yet if Russian artillery has been suppressed in some areas, its forces have retaliated with devastating aerial bombardment, rocket strikes and a multitude of drones.

The marine Maksym, who was recovering in the hospital after being wounded in Krynky in November, said Russian airstrikes and tank, artillery and mortar fire were so intense that his platoon could not advance from the basements where the soldiers had first taken shelter.

After three men were killed in an airstrike, the platoon was ordered to evacuate. It turned into a chaotic and disastrous retreat. The soldiers came under shell fire as they made their way to the river bank in the dark, only to be told upon arrival that they would have to wait for three hours for boats to pick them up.

“It was a swamp, all in craters filled with water,” Maksym said, adding, “We had no choice but to try to dig in as deep as we could.”

“Everyone was already wounded by that time,” he said. A boat came, on a different mission, and took the most seriously wounded.

As they waited for more boats, Russian planes bombed the river bank, with three glide bombs, massive half-ton explosives that gouged great holes in the earth.

Another boat arrived and took away five more wounded men. Maksym had to wait another 40 minutes for the next boat.

“The left bank was like purgatory,” he said. “You are not dead yet, but you don’t feel alive.”

Of the 10 men in his platoon, half were dead or missing, he said. “Not a single one survived without injury.”

c.2023 The New York Times Company

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/09/trench-warfare-redux-upward-of-20000.html