MANITOBA

Teachers union executive weighs options after information leak

 Manitoba Teachers’ Society executives have not ruled out an investigation to hold whistleblowers accountable for exposing employee concerns about the head office’s “toxic” environment, related departures and capacity to support members.

“I honestly can’t say at this point in time which direction things will take; we’ll have to see how things play out,” said president Nathan Martindale, who represents upwards of 16,600 public school teachers.

Martindale chairs the union’s provincial executive — a governing board made up of 13 elected teachers, all of whom received a letter earlier this month urging them to launch an “inquiry.”

Executives from eight locals signed a March 7 letter requesting provincial executive members probe how confidential information about MTS headquarters was leaked last month via social media and reporters.

The Free Press obtained the findings of a spring 2023 survey that yielded responses from 65 per cent of the support and clerical staff who run day-to-day operations for the society out of its Portage Avenue campus.

The poll found the majority of workers — members of Teamsters Local Union 979 — had a negative perception of the psychological health and safety of their office. There was also a notable absence of trust and confidence in the senior management team among respondents.

Nearly a dozen sources, including experienced staff members and representatives from the political side of the organization, have corroborated those results in separate interviews in recent weeks.

Insiders flagged concerns about the short-lived tenure of a human resources director who was investigating MTS employee concerns, the abrupt cancellation of a third-party probe into management and service-delivery levels.

More than 20 per cent of employees have gone on a leave of absence or left the organization permanently over the last year.

Martindale broke his silence on the situation Tuesday.

“We’ve heard the concerns. We’re working on solutions. We’re committed to making things better, and it’s going to take time but we’re going to do it,” he said, adding he appreciates local executives’ worries about confidential memos going “further than the intended audience.”

The union leader noted MTS is ensuring its workplace safety and health committee is meeting regularly “after a hiatus” and requiring employees to attend an introductory workshop on harassment prevention.

The former is required by law, but the society’s internal committee did not meet quarterly — the minimum standard for Manitoba offices with 20 or more employees — in 2023.

Martindale declined to provide any information about the status of the union’s operational management team, citing confidentiality surrounding personnel matters.

Interim executive director Roland Stankevicius, who came out of retirement when his successor went on leave late last year, will serve until Danielle Fullan Kolton returns or another leader takes her place on a permanent basis, he said.

The president did not disclose exactly when he first became aware of the Teamsters survey results, although he acknowledged they were presented to members in the fall.

“MTS, as an organization, and leadership, specifically, has been trying to solve problems and address problems for quite a while now,” he said, adding both political and operational leaders are committed to the time-intensive work required to rebuild trust.

Teamsters 979 president Paul Frias shared the poll results with members on Sept. 25.

In a followup bulletin, Frias said requests to meet with Fullan Kolton about the findings on “several occasions” were declined.

“Whistleblowers are often the people who are most committed to the missions of their organization and they’re usually the most devoted and most loyal and have a crisis of conscience, but they see no other option,” said Pamela Forward, president of the Whistleblowing Canada Research Society.

Forward said people who make disclosures about wrongdoing are often punished because of a “closed and defensive” culture that is commonplace in organizations and, in her view, working against managers.

“This whole thing about reputation and pretending that there’s no wrongdoing – ‘the error-free administration’ – this is what has deteriorated trust in organizations everywhere, including in government,” she said.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Maggie Macintosh, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Winnipeg Free Press

 3D PRINTING

New machine at Glenrose hospital helps patients with artificial limbs, orthotic devices

Story by Caley Gibson

 • 1d • Global News

Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital patient Rowan McNair (L) pictured with orthotist Andreas Donauer (R).

The Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital in Edmonton is now home to a new machine that is greatly improving the fitting of artificial limbs, braces and other orthotic devices for patients.

The hospital has upgraded from a three- to a seven-axis robotic carver. The machine allows orthotists and prosthetists to replace traditional time-consuming plaster methods with a faster digital approach.

The carver uses 3D-shape capture and design software and automated model carving to replicate anything from head to foot. It can develop models to create prosthetic limbs, orthotic braces and wheelchair cushions.

The machine can carve models within five to 20 minutes, speeding up the previous process.

“If you think of the challenge of making a plaster cast of a patient’s head, especially a pediatric patient, or a torso for a patient who needs a spinal brace, the process was labour intensive and time consuming for staff, and I’m sure unpleasant for patients at times,” said Andreas Donauer, an orthotist at the hospital.

“Access to the robotic carver helps speed up the process from patient assessment to fitting a patient with a limb or brace, helping inpatients get their devices sooner and improving rehab outcomes.”

Rowan McNair, 11, is one of the patients benefiting from the new machine. The Edmonton boy has a rare disorder that includes symptoms of sleep apnea. The CPAP mask he had been wearing while sleeping caused rashes and pressure sores for years. It got to the point he was unable to wear the machine.

After being referred to the Glenrose, Donauer took 3D images of McNair's head and used the new machine to create a replica foam carving of the boy's head. The process took only a few minutes. From there, Donauer was able to make a flexible helmet with straps for McNair's CPAP machine, making it fit much more comfortably.

“I’m so grateful this technology was available to us,” said Angela McNair, the boy's mother.

“The pain resulted in him not wanting to wear the mask, or ripping it off in the night. We struggled for years to find an adaptive solution to help him get through the night without discomfort."

The 11-year-old now sleeps through the night without any discomfort.

"It helps me sleep a lot better," he said Tuesday. "With my old CPAP, I got sores and it hurt my face. This one, I don't get that. And my face feels a lot better with this thing."

Staff at the hospital have been using the seven-axis machine since June 2023, after the three-axis carver they were previously using broke in November 2022.

Donors came together to contribute the $500,000 needed to buy the seven-axis robotic carving machine.

The machine is being used to carve about 50 models every month for pediatric patients at the Alberta Children's Hospital in Calgary.

Canada's big banks say sustainable finance pledges may not curtail emission growth

 A Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) logo is seen on Bay Street in the heart of the financial district in Toronto

REUTERS/Mark Blinch/File Photo© Thomson Reuters

By Nivedita Balu

TORONTO (Reuters) -Some of Canada's biggest banks have for the first time said their green financing efforts may not necessarily curtail emissions growth, after years of pressure from activists to improve transparency in their climate goals.

Canadian banks, said to be one of the biggest fossil fuel financiers globally, have drawn criticism from climate activists and investors over using sustainability-linked financing (SLF) merely for the pretence of a lower carbon footprint rather than take meaningful steps in that direction.

In their latest annual climate reports released during the past week, many Canadian banks have pledged billions of dollars in sustainable financing to decarbonize high-emitting sectors, while highlighting major challenges to meeting their goals.

"The question for regulators will be whether it's enough for the banks to insert these brief disclaimers deep in their ESG reporting or whether they need to do a better job telling their investors and the public that these huge financial numbers they promote as green aren't necessarily adding up to emissions reductions at all," said Matt Price, executive director of Investors for Paris Compliance.


FILE PHOTO: Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrives for the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, Britain, November 1, 2021. REUTERS/Phil Noble/PooL/File Photo© Thomson Reuters

In January, the group urged securities regulators to investigate major Canadian banks on their climate-related claims and alleged misleading disclosures.

The complaint gave climate activists more fuel in their fight, which is part of a broader international push for accountability on corporate climate pledges.

Price said the latest revelations were not enough to obviate an investigation.

Canada is the world's fourth-biggest oil producer, and its energy sector contributes about 5% to the country's GDP. Despite the influence of the oil sector, the federal government has set out aggressive emissions goals that include pushing companies to cut emissions up to 38% from 2019 levels by 2030.

Bank of Nova Scotia has given C$132 billion ($97 billion) since 2018 toward its target of C$350 billion in climate-related finance by 2030, but said that climate-related projects "may — or may not — lead to reductions in overall emissions."

The bank's chief sustainability and communications officer, Meigan Terry, said it aims "to be transparent and support a clear understanding" about its climate-related financing target.

Scotiabank's climate-related finance framework, released last year, includes broader categories such as biodiversity, sustainable agriculture and circular economy, which are not necessarily measured in emissions reductions.

CIBC said "sustainable financing may involve eligible green activities... but do not necessarily curtail the growth of their absolute emissions."

TD said the greenhouse gas emissions impact of its business activities cannot be "reliably measured at this time."

Royal Bank of Canada, Canada's No. 1 bank, said that the target of limiting global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels would be a key challenge and that just 2% of its clients have plans aligned with that goal.

The bank's plans this year include tripling lending for renewable energy projects to $15 billion and boosting low-carbon energy lending to $35 billion by 2030.

In a recent report, think tank InfluenceMap said between 2020 and 2022 the big five Canadian banks steadily increased their fossil fuel financing exposure to an average of 18.4% in 2022 from 15.5% in 2020. That compares with an average of 6.1% for leading U.S. banks and 8.7% for European banks across the same period.

Several global banks have committed to "net-zero financed emissions" by 2050 but have drawn doubts from many investors, due to concerns over the lack of a defined goal.

Regulators in the Americas and Europe have increasingly been worried about greenwashing, in which companies exaggerate their environmental credentials.

($1 = 1.3578 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Toronto, Editing by Nick Zieminski and Gerry Doyle)

Royal Navy nuclear submarine returns home after 201 days under the sea, the second longest mission ever

Story by Mark Nicol Defence Editor •Daily Mail - 1d

A Royal Navy nuclear submarine has returned to base after a staggering 201 days submerged deep beneath the waves.

HMS Vengeance slipped back into Faslane on the Clyde on Monday following the marathon patrol, finally allowing her exhausted sailors to set foot on dry land.

Their hide-and-seek mission began on August 29 last year when the Vanguard-class craft gently glided under the surface of the North Sea.

At any time over the past seven months, the captain – who cannot be named for security reasons – could have been called upon to launch a Trident missle, Britain's nuclear deterrent. But now the 132-strong crew face arguably the biggest challenge of all, readjusting to everyday life.

For the duration of the patrol, they were unable to contact their families, see sunlight or eat fresh food. Defrosted oranges and dried egg powder featured prominently in their staple diet.


The Royal Navy's fourth and final Vanguard-class submarine - HMS Vengeance

HMS Vengeance trurning home to Faslane on March 17 after 201 days at sea

On what was one of the longest Royal Navy submarine operations ever undertaken, their lives were measured out in six-hour shifts – while their days and nights were spent squeezed into a 491ft-long metal tube.

They had their sleep disrupted, were deprived of fresh air and many suffered vitamin deficiencies. Common health issues among submariners include ear problems, joint disorders and an increased risk of certain cancers. Though, experts say the biggest trial was being cut off from their loved ones.

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While 'attack' submarines do rise to the surface of the ocean during their missions and give their crews some respite in the process, ballistic missile vessels known as 'bombers' remain hidden on the seabed.

And as bomber submarines are 'receive only' vessels, they could read heavily vetted 'family grams' from the outside world but never respond – as sending a signal would have risked revealing the sub's location.

Meanwhile, any information or detail that could have caused them distress would also have been deleted by their captain.

Many of the events that were happening as they embarked on the mission now seem like distant memories. However, as a submarine source disclosed, HMS Vengeance's crew would have soon forgotten outside happenings after they departed His Majesty's Naval Base Clyde.


HMS Vengeance seen arriving home with the crew members standing on top of the vessel © Provided by Daily Mail

The officer said: 'The daily rhythms change soon after leaving port, everything gets shorter.

'Everything works most of the time and the submarine is impenetrable. Certainly, there are physical challenges but it is the emotional and mental aspects of the job that are more difficult.

'You worry most about what's happening to your families, someone very close to you might have taken their own lives, one of your children might have developed a dreadful disease.

'Your wife or husband might want a divorce, their could be someone different living in your house, a different car on your drive; but you just won't know.' Months later, when you finally return to port, people will have grieved, they will have moved on, everyone looks very different and seems to act very different.

'Being a submariner is an amazing job, you get paid maybe £14,000 more than a year than if you were on a sailor on a warship, but you'll miss everyone's birthdays and Christmas.'

The officer added: 'Most of the sailors on HMS Vengeance will be in their early 20s, so they might not have dependents. But for the older more senior members, they have got families and life is hugely demanding for them.

'The Royal Navy saying goes 'recruit a submariner, retain a family'. That is so true. It is harder for those we leave behind and who we come back to, in this case seven months later.'

HMS Vengeance's patrol is believed to be the second-longest in Royal Navy history, although senior naval sources refused to confirm the length of any previous deployments.

Nuclear bomber operations are supposed to be significantly shorter. But due to maintenance issues across the fleet, fully functioning submarines are spending longer at sea.

Last night, the Royal Navy said: 'Our continuous at sea deterrent protects us and our Nato Allies every moment of every day.

'We are immensely grateful to the submariners onboard, and their loved ones, for their commitment and dedication.'

Milley confirms he got piece of paper ordering full withdrawal from Afghanistan during final Trump days

ByMike Brest
March 19, 2024 

Shortly after former President Donald Trump lost his reelection bid in November 2020, then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley was given a piece of paper that called for the withdrawal of U.S. forces in Somalia and Afghanistan.

Milley, who has since retired as a general in the Army, told lawmakers that he received the note days after Trump fired then-Secretary of Defense Mark Esper in the aftermath of the election. The piece of paper, he told lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday, had the president’s signature on it and called for the complete withdrawal of U.S. forces from Somalia by Dec. 15, 2020, and from Afghanistan by Jan. 15, 2021.


“Acting Secretary of Defense [Christopher] Miller and I and others went over to the White House to confirm that order because we had not been consulted on that,” Milley explained. “So we did, and that order was then subsequently rescinded.”

Retired Gen. Mark Milley, left, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and retired Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, right, former commander of the U.S. Central Command, prepare to speak to the House Foreign Affairs Committee about the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 19, 2024.

 (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Roughly a week later, he received a new order from then-national security adviser Robert O’Brien, which called for the U.S. military to reduce its troop presence to 2,500.

News of the note emerged last November via a book by ABC News’s Jonathan Karl, who reported that it was not in fact written by Trump but by John McEntee, who was serving as director of the Presidential Personnel Office. Milley did not reveal in his testimony who gave him the note or who wrote it.

Military leaders, Milley included, recommended to President Joe Biden that the U.S. shouldn’t reduce its military footprint in Afghanistan below that threshold.

Despite their advice, Biden ordered the complete withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan in April 2021. They ultimately withdrew at the end of August 2021, with the Taliban back in power and Afghans who had spent two decades working with U.S. forces concerned for their safety.

Milley and retired Gen. Frank McKenzie, the former commander of the U.S. Central Command, told lawmakers on the committee that the State Department was too slow in initiating a noncombatant evacuation operation. The State Department did not initiate the evacuation until the day before the Taliban overtook Kabul, about two weeks before the military’s impending withdrawal.

The number of Afghans who wanted to depart the country skyrocketed with the collapse of the government because the Taliban’s resurgence meant those who worked with the U.S. were now concerned about reprisals. The U.S. military was able to evacuate roughly 120,000 people in the last two weeks of August, but thousands of Afghan allies were left behind

Milley said the State Department’s delayed call for the evacuation was “the fundamental mistake.”

These evacuations were marred by the Abbey Gate bombing on Aug. 26, 2021, which claimed the lives of 13 U.S. service members and roughly 170 Afghan civilians. Dozens of U.S. troops were injured in the blast.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee is investigating the conclusion of the U.S.’s war in Afghanistan. Milley and McKenzie’s appearance in front of the committee marked their first times testifying on Capitol Hill since their retirements.

 

Biden announces historic investment into women’s menopause health

Story by Katie Hawkinson

 • 1d •

Jill Biden and Maria Shriver clap as Joe Biden holds up an executive order to allocate billions for women’s health research© REUTERS

President Joe Biden has signed a historic executive order that will channel major funds into women’s health, including research on menopause and mid-life health.

The president issued the order at a White House Women’s History Month event on Monday morning, where he was joined by First Lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and former first lady of California Maria Shriver.

The order allocates $12bn to and marks the “most comprehensive set” of executive action to improve research on women’s health, according to the White House.

However, this funding is not guaranteed. Given Congress has the “power of the purse,” lawmakers can move to deny the president his funding.

“So now that the President has done his job, we have to do ours,” Ms Shriver, a journalist, author and advocate for Alzheimer’s research, said at the event.

“We have to get Congress to approve the $12bn investment this president has called for to implement this bold vision.”

Senator Laphonza Butler, a Democrat from California, praised the order and told The Independent she’s unsure whether Congress will actually approve the funding.

“The leadership is there, at least on the Democratic side,” Ms Butler said. “The question is, can we actually come together as a Congress to see the value?”

Through this order, Mr Biden is calling for funds to foster research on menopause. The funds also enable the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to launch its first-ever “Pathways to Prevention” series on menopause.

Ms Shriver called the president’s order historic, particularly considering the focus on menopause.

“I’ll bet today that this is the first time a president of the United States has ever signed an executive order that mentions the words ‘menopause’ and ‘women’s mid-life health,’” Ms Shriver said at the event.

Further research on reproductive ageing is particularly important for racial health equity, given that women of colour in the US face disparities around reproductive health access compared to white women – due to both racial bias on an individual level and structural racism in the healthcare system. Black women in particular are more likely to enter mid-life with more adverse physical symptoms than white women.

“Black and Brown women are more likely to develop endometriosis and face pregnancy-related complications,” Ms Shriver said. “And we don't have the research to tell them what to do about it. This matters because when women ask questions, they can't get answers because the majority of the research that has been done in this country has only been done on men.”

Mr Biden’s order also goes beyond reproductive health, including funding research on mental health and substance use disorders, environmental health factors and autoimmune diseases that disproportionately affect women, such as rheumatoid arthritis.

Just before signing the executive order, Mr Biden reiterated a call he has made many times before: “You send me a Democratic Congress that supports reproductive freedom, I promise you we will restore Roe v Wade again as the law of the land.”

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Revealed: documents shed light on shadowy US far-right fraternal order

New documents detail inner workings of Society for American Civic Renewal, group with an emphasis on Christian nationalism

One document says that membership in the SACR group is ‘predicated on political alignment and faithfulness to the Christian religion’.

 Photograph: Fortgens Photography/Getty Images

Jason Wilson

THE GUARDIAN

Tue 19 Mar 2024 

New documents have shed light on the origins and inner workings of the shadowy Society for American Civic Renewal (SACR), including methods for judging the beliefs of potential members on topics such as Christian nationalism, and indications that its founders sought inspiration in an apartheid-era South African white men-only group, the Afrikaner-Broederbond.

They also show that Boise State University Professor and Claremont thinktank scholar Scott Yenor tried to coordinate SACR’s activities with other initiatives, including an open letter on “Christian marriage”.


One expert says that one of the new documents – some previously reported in Talking Points Memo – use biblical references that suggest a preparedness for violent struggle against the current “regime”.

The SACR is a secretive far-right men-only organization with an emphasis on Christian nationalism and a desire to open branches across the US.

The Guardian has previously reported on SACR’s close links to the Claremont Institute, an influential rightwing thinktank with fellows who have participated in attempts to overturn the 2020 election and promoted the idea that an authoritarian “Red Caesar” might redeem a US republic they see as decadent.

SACR’s origins appear to date to the latter half of 2020, with key milestones in the group’s development coming over the following 18 months.

And there are indications that the inner circle of the group sought inspiration from earlier iterations of Christian nationalism in authoritarian states.

As previously reported in the Guardian, Skyler Kressin, a tax consultant based in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, appears to play a central administrative role in SACR. Idaho and Texas company records show that Kressin incorporated lodges in Boise, Coeur d’Alene and Dallas; serves as a director of the Coeur d’Alene and Dallas lodges; and was named as the principal officer of the parent organization on its 2020-21 tax return.

On 30 October 2020, Kressin wrote an email to Yenor with the question “that good?”, along with a screenshot of an Amazon listing for Super-Afrikaners, a book by the investigative journalists Ivor Wilkins and Hans Strydom.


First published in 1978, Super-Afrikaners exposed the workings of South Africa’s Broederbond, a secretive, exclusive, men-only network that promoted the interests of white Afrikaners in that country and which is credited with a significant role in bringing the National party – the architects of apartheid – to power.

Within half an hour, Yenor replied: “That’s the one”.

The Guardian contacted Scott Yenor with detailed questions on aspects of this reporting, including whether or not the Afrikaner Broederbond had been an inspiration for SACR.

He did not respond directly to most of those questions, but on the matter of SACR’s secrecy, he wrote in an email: “We maintain confidentiality because we know talentless punks like you would pose ridiculous, bad-faith questions meant to stoke your unhinged fever dreams and incriminate us and even unaffiliated people.”

Yenor continued: “Lazy propagandists who disregard ethics in journalism don’t deserve detailed responses.”

The Guardian invited Yenor to respond to the initial questions.
SACR’s rules and vetting process


In the early part of 2021, Yenor drafted documents that firmed up SACR’s purpose and character.

To a 27 April 2021 email sent to himself and his wife at her employment address, Yenor attached a document entitled “Working membership and recruiting guide for chapter leadership”.

In spelling out SACR’s rules, the document reveals the high value the organization places on secrecy. It says that “all discussion is confidential unless clearly noted otherwise”; and “all names of attendees are strictly confidential”. The document even says that members should withhold information from prospective members, instructing that members should “never reveal the names of other Chapter members to prospects”, and “never reveal national or chapter initiatives to prospects – speak only in general terms about our objectives and mission”.

The document also lays out procedures for vetting such prospects. After chapter leaders have decided that a prospect is “worthy of consideration”, they should be invited to a chapter event.

The document says that at that point, members should “gauge alignment and fit” with questions such as “What are your thoughts on Christian nationalism?”, “Comment on the Trump presidency and what it entails for the future”, and “Describe the dynamic of your household in terms of your role and that of your wife.”

In the first section – “membership criteria” – the document says membership in the group is “predicated on political alignment and faithfulness to the Christian religion, combined with virtue and with any of community influence, capability, or wealth”.

The document elaborates on each of these criteria.

Alignment is “deference to and acceptance of the wisdom of our American and European Christian forebears in the political realm, a traditional understanding of patriarchal leadership in the household, and an acceptance of traditional natural law in ethics”.

Natural law is a view with a long history on the right which holds that fundamental moral principles arise from God or nature, not from human reflection or politics. It is a view that Claremont scholars have attempted to provide.

Faithfulness also has a patriarchal edge in SACR’s definition: it is “submission to the authority and standards of behavior of a particular Trinitarian Christian body”, but also “taking ownership as head of the household in terms of leading regular prayer and spiritual reading and reflection”.

Influence is defined as “the ability to make a mark primarily on culture and social discourse but also in politics and business. The positions here can range from equity ownership in productive enterprises to positions of influence in cultural, religious and intellectual institutions.”


Recruiting efforts for the group included visits to Boise from out-of-town collaborators.

A 19 March 2021 email from Yenor lays out a draft schedule for a visit to Boise by Aaron Renn, senior fellow and editor of “theocon” website American Reformer – co-founded by Nate Fischer – and a former senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

Plans included “dinner at Epi’s”, a Basque restaurant in Boise; a meeting with representatives of the Idaho Freedom Foundation, a far-right thinktank; and a guest lecture by Renn to Yenor’s students.

Also planned were “drinks with SACR possibles” where Yenor anticipated a “soft sell as per Skyler’s method”, a comment which is not explained further.

The documents indicate Yenor had worked on putting together a group of “SACR possibles” ahead of Renn’s visit.

In a 19 March 2021 exchange, Yenor and his son Jackson workshop the wording of an invitation to prospective SACR members to an evening talk at a local “classical Christian” academy, the Ambrose school. While Scott Yenor’s original had “a national movement with national ambitions”, Jackson Yenor replied with the recommendation: “Say goals instead of ambitions. These guys are ‘goal oriented’ business people, not Machiavelli.”

Further on, the text advised prospective recruits that “chapters will unite public-spirited men who are interested in doing the work of civic renewal. This might involve shoring up teetering institutions. It might involve seeking to turn corrupt institutions.”

The Ambrose School is a “classical Christian” academy in Meridian, on the western edge of the Boise metro area, where Yenor’s wife Amy works as an events coordinator.

The draft invitation does not indicate any date for the drinks meeting, but Yenor’s visit happened less than three weeks after Yenor was working on the text.

The Guardian contacted Boise State University to ask whether there were any policies about faculty combining guest lecturer visits with political activism, but there was no immediate response.

Other documents appear to be connected to SACR recruiting.

On several occasions, Yenor emailed a link to the sacr.us domain with no further context or explanation in the email text. One such email was sent to the Gmail address of the chief executive of a civil engineering company in Pennsylvania. Another was sent to a lawyer and former justice department employee in Tallahassee, Florida.
Christian nationalist prayers

An April 2021 email Yenor sent to his wife’s work address has an attached PDF – “SACR-prayers”. The document features a “long prayer – formal and inaugural occasions” and a “short prayer – regular meetings”.


The long prayer draws biblical and historical parallels for SACR’s activities: “May God unite us in this mission as Joshua’s men when they defeated the mighty walls of Jericho, as Nehemiah’s men who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, as St Constantine’s men when they conquered in the sign of the cross. May the light of Christendom be restored in our homeland, and may America not fall to those who hate God.”

Brad Onishi is the author of Preparing for War, a critical account of Christian nationalism, the host of the Straight White American Jesus podcast, and an academic with appointments at UC Berkeley and the University of San Francisco. He is also a self-described former Christian nationalist.

In a telephone conversation he said that the prayers include “coded” references that may function as justifications of violence.

Explaining the reference to the story of the conquest of Jericho in the book of Joshua, Onishi said: “What happens when the walls fall down? Joshua’s men go in and kill everyone: men, children, women, animals.

“It’s an attempted genocide, right?”

“In that prayer they’re saying we’re Joshua’s men. We’re the type of men who trust God,” Onishi added.

“And when God, when God gives us the signal, we’re going to go kill everybody. That’s what we do.”

BC

Cleanup costs could be three times higher for Teck Resources’ coal mines, says report

 Clean up of selenium pollution from Teck Resources’ coal mines could cost $6.4 billion — or more than three times the deposit required so taxpayers don’t foot the bill, says a new report.

Published March 19, the report commissioned by Wildsight, a Kootenay-based environmental organization, highlights a significant gap between the $1.9 billion the province requires Teck to set aside for emergency shutdowns and mine reclamation and the projected cost of the company’s plans to address selenium pollution from coal mining in B.C.’s Elk Valley.

Selenium is a naturally occurring mineral that is toxic at higher doses, particularly to fish and egg-laying animals.

Simon Wiebe, mining policy and impacts researcher for Wildsight, emphasized that other cleanup costs aren’t included in the report’s projected $6.4-billion estimate, so the total would likely be even higher.

“There are many other issues involved in this: There's land reclamation, there's habitat reclamation, there are other water quality concerns as well ... heavy metals, nickel, sulfate,” said Wiebe.

The $6.4-billion estimate covers the cost of building water treatment facilities planned by Teck before 2027 and the operation of all existing facilities 60 years into the future, he explained.

Wildsight contracted Burgess Environmental Ltd., a Calgary-based consulting firm focused on environmental remediation and geotechnical engineering. The report draws on publicly available data from Teck, the provincial government and other analyses.

Teck currently provides a $1.9-billion cleanup bond to the province, which is intended to cover the costs of shutting down and reclamation of Teck’s mines in case of an emergency. Teck coal has the largest reclamation bond in the province of British Columbia.

In an emailed statement to Canada’s National Observer, Teck Resources spokesperson Dale Steeves called the report’s estimates “inaccurate and inconsistent with calculations made under government policy.”

The report’s “use of simplified assumptions for ongoing water treatment operating costs'' resulted in “significant overestimations,” according to Steeves’ statement. The company “meets all current bonding requirements” set out by the government and is “committed to meeting all reclamation obligations at no cost to government or taxpayers.”

Gordon Johnson, report author and president of Burgess Environmental, noted that information was requested but not received from Teck to create more accurate models. Johnson is an engineer with previous experience working for mining and oilsands companies.

Teck’s statement highlighted its four existing water treatment facilities, capable of handling four times as much water as its 2020 operations.

“We have invested $1.4 billion, so far, in water quality with plans to invest a further $150 million to $250 million by the end of 2024,” said Steeves, adding that selenium concentrations “have stabilized and are now reducing downstream of treatment.”

The Wildsight report was published a week after Canada and the U.S. announced the International Joint Commission (IJC) — a body tasked with resolving disputes about shared waterways — will investigate the effects of selenium pollution from mining operations in B.C. Part of this process will involve governments working together on an action plan to reduce and mitigate the impact of mining pollution in the Elk-Kootenai watershed.

“We're going to submit this document to the IJC and we're hoping they take it into account… Additional research is definitely needed,” said Wiebe.

Since 2012, the Ktunaxa Nation, the Councils of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai, and the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho have been calling for the commission’s investigation. In a March 11 press release, Gary Aitken Jr., vice-chair of the Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, called this agreement “an important first step in addressing the serious pollution problem in the Kootenai Watershed.”

Teck is preparing to sell a majority stake of its Elk Valley coal mines to Swiss mining giant Glencore, and Wiebe hopes the Canadian government will look at this report during its review of the proposed sale under the Investment Canada Act.

Accountability for selenium pollution must be maintained throughout any transfer of ownership, noted Wiebe.

Natasha Bulowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada's National Observer

CANADA

Infrastructure program falls short on tracking results, but on right path: auditor

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Auditor general Karen Hogan says the government's $4.6-billion program to bolster transportation infrastructure across the country suffers from poor results tracking, but the fund is well-crafted overall.

In a report on Tuesday, Hogan said the Transport Department took an evidence-based approach to pinpoint supply-chain bottlenecks and call for proposals under the National Trade Corridors Fund.

For example, backed-up terminals and overloaded warehouses during the past few years led officials to solicit submissions for port upgrades and expansions.

However, half of the 181 funded projects failed to include a fleshed-out strategy to assess results, leaving their impact unclear, according to the report. A handful had no strategy.

"The department did not effectively monitor and report on results," the report stated.

Transport Canada needs sturdier monitoring and reporting systems, especially given how long infrastructure programs can take to produce results, Hogan wrote.

“This time factor makes it all the more important to have a robust system to track performance so that Transport Canada can show the extent to which the fund has contributed to improving the fluidity of Canada's transportation infrastructure," she said in a release.

The dearth of tracking also produced radio silence on how the program might back sustainable development goals from the United Nations, Hogan added.

The government launched the National Trade Corridors Fund in 2017 in an effort to strengthen Canada's network of roads, rails, airports and seaports by 2028. The projects by municipal and provincial governments as well as private companies range from routine street upgrades to multibillion-dollar port terminals.

Industry has welcomed the money, but says the program falls far short of the funding tsunami unleashed in the United States as well as the kind of comprehensive strategy needed to address long-standing problems.

Since 2021, the Biden administration's US$1.2-trillion infrastructure bill has funded some 40,000 projects aimed at rebuilding the U.S. transportation network.

"There is no commensurate kind of funding happening, particularly for marine infrastructure, on our side," said Jason Card, a spokesman for the Chamber of Marine Commerce.

"The dire consequence of that is we'll be falling behind in our carbon reduction goals, our supply-chain strength and our economic development goals, potentially. This stuff has a knock-on effect if you get three or four or five years where ports are doing extraordinary things down south of the border and we're not keeping up."

Trade groups and analysts have also called for a more cohesive approach to the overall flow of goods into and out of the country.

The government launched a national infrastructure assessment in 2021, but has yet to follow up on recommendations — establishing an independent commission on major infrastructure opportunities, for example — more than two and a half years later.

The United States, European Union, Australia and Switzerland have overarching transport infrastructure strategies, the European Court of Auditors found in 2021. Canada does not.

The auditor general highlighted other defects in the National Trade Corridors Fund.

The Transport Department weighed project proposals using a merit-based approach, "but could not demonstrate on what basis it prioritized some meritorious projects over others," the report found. Documents that laid out the benefit of various projects recommended by civil servants were "insufficient" to support their ultimate ranking, it said.

Nonetheless, the auditor general's office found no instance of funds handed over to ineligible recipients.

"In terms of the program, it's working well," Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez told reporters. "We have to do a little bit better in terms of reporting."

The government also established an office to develop a national supply-chain strategy in December, he noted.

As of Dec. 31, Transport Canada had approved $3.8 billion to fund 181 transportation projects under the now seven-year-old trade corridor program, with about 20 per cent of that money spent so far.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 19, 2024.

Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press

Rockstar Games employees slam 'massive problem' at GTA 6 studio

Story by Jake Brigstock

 • 

Employees at Rockstar Games have hit out at the decision to bring the workforce back into the office full time to complete GTA 6 with one saying it could cause a "massive problem".

Senior bosses at Rockstar told employees on February 28 they would have to work in the office five-days-a-week again which will come into effect from April 15.

It didn't go down well with developers, who publicly lashed out at the decision when it was announced.

Employees at the company have been hybrid working or remotely but this is set to come to an end for the majority with Rockstar reportedly yet to give any further details at present.

And a developer has described the "massive problem" they say Rockstar could have caused itself.

Speaking to Aftermath, one Rockstar employee said: "We're quite worried that we're gonna lose personnel over this or it will have a large negative impact on people's health.

"It's a very anti-parent move. For people with disabilities, it's a massive problem."

Employees are said to be concerned about the 'state of the project' in relation to GTA 6 but have more concerns about the health of their colleagues first and foremost.

Another employee said: "In a world where we are still dealing with Covid, just being able to be considerate of your colleagues around you in staying away from the office is a really good benefit to have.

"That will be completely lost. That's going to result in a loss of productivity for the company."

Employees also claimed the move does not make sense because when they were working on Red Dead Redemption 2, although they would be in the office, they would be working remotely with other studios and departments anyway and say GTA 5 was made almost entirely remotely.

When the announcement was made on February 28, the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) said Rockstar management "is refusing to engage with workers and say they will be pulling the plug on their remote access technology to shut down any possibility of continued home working".

Austin Kelmore, chair at IWGB Game Workers, said at the time: “The workers in the IWGB Game Workers Union at Rockstar are pushing for transparency over pay and promotions, a healthy and inclusive workplace culture and work-life balance centred around what each worker needs.

"It is unacceptable that Rockstar leadership has gone back on its word time and time again and have ignored the workers' requests for basic working conditions."

It's reported Rockstar is forcing this through to issue productivity and security concerns after a major leak of unfinished portions of GTA 6 came in 2022 and the trailer leak that was posted online hours before it was due to be officially released.

Rockstar has been contacted for comment.