Dairy farm over the moon with calf's unique marking

CBC
Sat, April 20, 2024

Eclipse the Holstein calf was born on the same day as the total solar eclipse on a dairy farm in Kingston, Ont. (Laura Carey/Facebook - image credit)

An aptly-named calf born near Kingston, Ont., is causing quite a stir due to her unusual markings.

Eclipse was born with a white crescent moon-shaped mark on her forehead. Not only that, but she was born on Apr. 8, the same day a historic total solar eclipse briefly plunged the region into darkness.

Laura Carey owns Carey Farm with her husband Michael and his brother Neil. The dairy farm has been in Michael's family for four generations and has 150 cows, 65 of them used for milking.

Carey was milking the cows when she first noticed the newborn calf's unique marking.

"I thought it was cool but I didn't really pay much attention until the next day when I got a better look at her and I thought, oh my gosh, look at the marking, it's like an eclipse," Carey told CBC.

Eclipse is a Holstein, the breed many people picture when they image a dairy cow. They're often born with remarkable spots and markings, Carey said.

"Over the years we've had [markings] that look like hearts and ones that look like question marks," she said.

Photo took off on social media

On April 9, Carey posted a photo of Eclipse on Facebook. Shortly after, she received a message from a family member alerting her to the post's growing popularity.

"Soon enough it had 40 [shares] and then the vet shared it, and it went off from there," Carey said.

Eclipse was quite small for a Holstein calf, weighing in at around 32 kilograms. Most calves are closer to 45 kilograms.

Carey's post describes Eclipse as "a tiny girl with a big attitude."

"Cows are no different from you and I," she said. "They come in all personality types."

Like the celestial event she's named after, Eclipse attracts attention, Carey said.

"We have another calf right now and she's laid back, I could do anything to her. But Eclipse has got a little more spice to her."

NB/MAINE

The stage is set for an amphibian stampede on Campobello Island

CBC
Sat, April 20, 2024

It's called a 'Big Night': volunteers come out to help migrating amphibians cross roadways each spring. It's a popular event in Maine, but is just getting started in Campobello, N.B. (Erin McAllister/Submitted by Sally Stockwell - image credit)


All it takes is one perfect spring night.

The temperature hovers around a hospitable 5 C, perhaps with some light rain to sweeten the deal.

"That is a cue for amphibians that live in vernal pools that is time for them to make their big move out of the vernal pool into the broader forest environment," said Pete Coleman in an interview with Information Morning Saint John.

Coleman is with Roosevelt Campobello International Park on Campobello Island, N.B., which is preparing for its second annual so-called "Big Night" of amphibian migration.

Roads through the 2,800 acre park will be temporarily closed in order to keep the frogs and salamanders safe on their journey.

The Roosevelt Campobello International Park draws more than 160,000 visitors per year to see the summer home of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Most are Americans who cross the international bridge from Lubec, Me. to Campobello Island.

Roosevelt Campobello International Park is famous for the summer home of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the former U.S. president. But it's also holding an annual Big Night to help protect amphibians crossing the road. (Submitted by Roosevelt Campobello International Park)

Wood frogs, spotted salamanders, and blue spotted salamanders are some of the species that partake in the great migration every spring, Coleman said.

Vernal pools are temporary wetlands that form in the woods when snow melts and spring rains begin. Coleman said they're the perfect environments for these small creatures because there is no flowing water and no other predators living in them, making for an ideal nursery to lay eggs in.

"They all share their origins in these specialized conditions that the murky bottom of a vernal pool, because of the leaf litter, allows for."

But when that perfect night arrives, the frogs and salamanders are on the move.

Wood frogs are a common sight across Canada and exist in every province and territory. They are one of four frog species in Ontario that shut down their organs and freeze every winter, then thaw undamaged in the spring.Wood frogs are one of the species that will be on the move during the Big Night on Campobello. (Janet M. Storey)

And a desire to protect them is what inspired the Big Night event in the park.

"It was just easier to take a blanket approach as a safety measure and just close access for one hour before sunset and one hour after sunrise to allow these creatures to migrate across the road," Coleman said.

Once they leave the pools, the amphibians can travel large distances relative to their size.

"They can travel up to 3,000 feet, depending on the species," Coleman said, "And that may not seem like a lot, but if you're looking at a creature that's only a few inches long, 3,000 feet is quite an undertaking."

He said it's hard to tell how many vernal pools exist in the park due to their temporary nature, but the park is working on mapping locations so they have a better idea going forward.

Big night is a big deal in Maine

But while Big Night programming is relatively new on Campobello Island, it's a springtime favourite in neighbouring Maine.

Sally Stockwell is the director of conservation with the Maine Audubon, and said there are Big Night events organized in many communities across the state each spring.

"It's really a magical moment because you get all these people out in the dark, in the rain, and there's this incredible phenomenon happening that most people have no idea is actually happening because they're back in their homes and they're not paying attention," Stockwell said.


Sally Stockwell with the Maine Audubon says there's big nights across the state each spring, and said volunteers love to participate.

Sally Stockwell with Maine Audubon says there are Big Night events across the state each spring and volunteers love to participate. (Submitted by Sally Stockwell)

"The kids love it. I mean, they're just so excited," Stockwell said of a Big Night she helped facilitate last week in Cumberland, Me. in partnership with the Chebeague and Cumberland Land Trust.

Volunteers are given flashlights, safety vests and containers to help the amphibians cross the road if needed.

"And usually they're pretty sluggish. They're moving pretty slowly because it's not that warm."

Local police are even stationed nearby to slow or halt traffic.

She said the Big Night in Cumberland has gotten so popular it's almost become chaotic, with around 75 people participating this year, that next year the land trust is planning to assign people time slots to help the amphibians cross the road.


A young volunteer helps a salamander across the road during last week's big night event in Cumberland, Me.

A young volunteer helps a salamander across the road during the Big Night event in Cumberland, Maine. (Submitted by Chebeague and Cumberland Land Trust)

But a Big Night is hard to predict, Stockwell said, and sometimes it doesn't even happen.

"Sometimes the critters come out of the forest and move across the roads in a series of evenings, and sometimes they are all out there the same night, which is where that 'big night' concept kind of comes from," she said.

Volunteers head out into the woods to observe and listen when the Audubon suspects a Big Night might be near, and the organization starts getting calls from people around the state when it does.

"I think it's just a great community activity. So the more you can get people out there, the better."

Wrongfully convicted New Brunswick man dies months after exoneration

The Canadian Press
Sat, April 20, 2024 



FREDERICTON — A New Brunswick man who spent decades fighting a wrongful murder conviction that landed him and a friend behind bars had only a few months to relish his victory, the organization that helped in his legal battle said Saturday as it announced his death.

Innocence Canada, which led the legal fight to exonerate Walter Gillespie and his friend Robert Mailman of their 1984 murder convictions, said Gillespie died Friday in his home in Saint John, N.B., at the age of 80.

Founding director James Lockyer lamented the fact that Gillespie had such a brief time to enjoy the fruits of his decades-long fight.

"It's very sad," Lockyer said. "I'm just glad that he managed to have his name cleared before he died. That was so important to him."

Details about Gillespie's cause of death were not immediately known.

In January, New Brunswick Court of King’s Bench Chief Justice Tracey DeWare acquitted Gillespie and Mailman, 76, of the 1983 murder of Saint John resident George Leeman and apologized for the "miscarriage of justice."

Her ruling came after federal Justice Minister Arif Virani ordered a new trial on Dec. 22, saying evidence had surfaced that called into question "the overall fairness of the process."

Ron Dalton, now co-president of Innocence Canada, took up the men's case when he was fighting for freedom from his own wrongful conviction.

He called Gillespie a "study in strength of character and friendship."

"For 40 years (Gillespie) refused to falsely implicate his friend, Robert Mailman, and paid dearly with his freedom," Dalton said. "A sad end to a difficult but honourable life."

In an interview in January, about a week after he was formally exonerated, Gillespie recounted the offer of freedom dangled before him a year after Leeman's murder.

He said he was told by Saint John police that if he signed a statement against Mailman, he would be charged with aiding and abetting and only face three years in prison.

"I said I was not going to do that," he said. "(The officer) said, 'if you're going to protect (Mailman), you're going down with him.'"

He spent 21 years in prison.

Gillespie was born on Aug. 31, 1943, in Saint John and had a Grade 6 education. Most of his immediate family died in a house fire when he was about 20.

His friendship with Mailman predated their shared legal ordeal. The men previously told The Canadian Press they met in 1961, with Gillespie joking Mailman was checking out his then-girlfriend during one of their first encounters.

They became inseparable after their wrongful convictions, speaking to each other every day for decades.

"We've been joined at the hip for over 40 years through this. And he's like a brother," Mailman said of his friend.

Mailman was not available for comment on Gillespie's death on Saturday, but said through Dalton that he hadn't been able to sleep well after learning the news.

In an earlier interview, Mailman described the friend he called Wally as a man of few words.

"You never bother a sleeping junkyard dog," he said with a laugh.

Gillespie is survived by a daughter with whom he only recently began to reconnect.

"We haven't connected for almost the last 40 years," he said shortly after having his name cleared. "... I'm hoping I can help her out if we can get any money or anything like that. I talked quite a bit with her over the last couple days or so. Oh, it feels great."

The New Brunswick government reached a settlement with the two men on March 1 for an undisclosed sum.

While on parole, Gillespie lived at a halfway house where he also worked as a cleaner for 15 hours a week.

After being declared innocent, he moved to an apartment in Saint John for which he paid $800 a month. The former hotel room he described as a jail cell was cramped even with his minimal belongings, brightened only by his own colourful paintings and the set of white towels and a white tea kettle Mailman gave him as housewarming gifts.

"Wally shouldn’t have to come out of the prison … and to a halfway house all them years, only to go into a place that’s even worse than he left behind," Mailman said of his friend's spartan quarters.

When Mailman was diagnosed with terminal cancer last November, Gillespie was the first person he called.

Gillespie signed out of the halfway house for a day and spent it with his friend as he learned of the life-changing diagnosis.

Apart from his quiet conviction and strength of character, Dalton recalled Gillespie's love of American author Zane Grey's westerns and his voracious reading habits. He also remembered Gillespie's flashy fashion sense, noting his penchant for bright colours and the black patent shoes he saved for a special occasion and finally wore to court on the day his name was cleared.

But he said Gillespie's most enduring impact stems from his efforts to uphold justice in Canada's correctional system.

"Mr. Gillespie helped raise awareness of wrongful convictions in this country and that will be a part of his legacy.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 20, 2024.

Hina Alam, The Canadian Press

'We Shall Persist': New book shines light on fight for women's right to vote in Atlantic region

"I would sooner see her in a cage than a polling booth."

CBC
Sun, April 21, 2024 

A picture of Ella Hathaway, shown at the Frank and Ella Hathaway Labour Exhibit in Saint John in 2019. She was a member of the Saint John Women's Enfranchisement Association. (Lauren Bird/CBC - image credit)


A history professor at the University of New Brunswick in Saint John says she hopes her new book about how women in Atlantic Canada got the vote helps to dispel a number of myths, including the notion that people in the region were behind the times.

"Some might find it surprising how long ago the campaign started," said Heidi MacDonald, who is also the dean of arts at the university.

Her new book is called, We Shall Persist: Women and the Vote in the Atlantic Provinces.


One fact that surprised MacDonald during her research is that women in this region voted in the early 19th century.

"We've got proven cases of women voting in New Brunswick in the 1827 and the 1839 elections," she said.

"We don't know how many women voted, but it's very significant that we have examples of women voting."

Heidi MacDonald says there was a long and bitter fight to win the vote for women in the region.

Heidi MacDonald says there was a long and bitter fight to win the vote for women in the region. (Submitted by Heidi MacDonald)

The requirement for voting in those days was property ownership. So, some women, likely widows or heiresses, voted until they were specifically banned from doing so.

"It was written into the legislation in the mid 19th century in all three Maritime provinces … that only men could vote," said MacDonald.

In New Brunswick, that happened in 1843.

And that's when the local suffragist fight began, she said.

"The main thing I wanted to correct is that the Maritimes were behind the West … That's not true at all," said MacDonald.

There's also a misperception that it wasn't much of a fight, she said.

vvv

Heidi MacDonald says she would be delighted if her book were to find its way into the hands of high school students. She says she's tried to write it in an accessible way. (Submitted by Heidi MacDonald)

The only other book on suffrage in eastern Canada was written in 1949 by American author Catherine Cleverdon, said MacDonald.

She wrote that it was "natural" that there wouldn't be much suffrage interest in the Maritimes because of inherent conservatism and isolation.

"It's just wrong," said MacDonald.

There was a long and bitter fight in the region, she said, that coincided with — or pre-dated — campaigns elsewhere in the country.

Some of the "radicals" of the region's suffrage movement belonged to the Saint John Women's Enfranchisement Association, she said.

It formed in 1894 and was the only organization in Atlantic Canada specifically dedicated to suffrage, according to MacDonald.

Saint John in the 19th century was a very important North American city, she said, and far from being isolated, it was closely connected to places such as the U.S. and England.

"Lots of these suffragists in New Brunswick and elsewhere had relatives in — or were recent immigrants from — the U.S. or Britain. … They were writing letters. They were being visited. … Saint John newspapers carried content from elsewhere in the world."

Pamphlets circulated by New Brunswick suffragists.

Pamphlets circulated by New Brunswick suffragists. (Lauren Bird/CBC)

One of the members of the Saint John Women's Enfranchisement Association was Ella Hathaway, who is memorialized at Saint John's Lily Lake Pavilion.

Hathaway served as the group's secretary for about 30 years, said MacDonald.

Her husband Frank was a businessman who was elected to a political position in 1908.

"What a powerful couple they became working for suffrage," said the historian.

Mabel Peters was another prominent local suffragist.

Peters wore a number of hats, said MacDonald. She was also involved in the Women's Christian Temperance Union, which tried to raise awareness of the negative effects of alcohol and get laws passed to regulate or prohibit it. And she was internationally known for her work to establish the first playgrounds.

All of these reforms overlapped, said the author.

"They were all for the betterment of society in an age long before the welfare state, in an age when ... churches were the main players in trying to better society. But churches didn't do everything, and these women came in and filled the gap."

Other New Brunswick women reformists included Julia Turnbull of Saint John and her relative Emma Stedman of Fredericton, said MacDonald.

They were both figures in the temperance union, which had more than 10,000 members and was the largest voluntary organization of its time, she said.

"It's an umbrella organization in every rural community, in every city in the Maritimes, working for all kinds of reform … anti-cruelty for women and animals … pasteurized milk. The list really is very extensive."

"There's one thing that would really help them have a much bigger influence … and that is having the vote."


Andrew Blair was an opponent to women's suffrage in NB.

Former New Brunswick premier Andrew Blair was an opponent of women's suffrage in New Brunswick. (Provincial Archives of New Brunswick)

It was tough going, said MacDonald, and particularly difficult in New Brunswick.

Eight times the matter was debated in the provincial legislature, more than in any other province, she said.

"Seven defeats … that's really hard on the people in the campaign to keep up that fight."

Some of the anti-suffrage figures were former premier and Father of Confederation, Samuel Leonard Tilley and former premier Andrew George Blair.

"What can we say? They erred," said MacDonald.

'I would sooner see her in a cage than a polling booth,' then-premier Blair told the legislature. 

(Lauren Bird/CBC)

An Acadian suffragist who went by the penname Marichette took on those naysayers.

She reminds MacDonald of Antonine Maillet's philosophizing washerwoman La Sagouine or the American comedian and actor Carol Burnett.

"You can picture her leaning on a mop and saying, 'I don't think these male anti-suffrage politicians have any idea what they're talking about. Let me tell you the real story on suffrage. I want the vote. I deserve the vote. I'm … as smart as any man, rich or poor.'"

Many of the crusaders fought tirelessly for 30 years and were in their 60s or 70s before they finally won the vote, she said.

For New Brunswick women that happened in 1919, with a notable exception. It took much longer for First Nations women to gain the right to vote, until the early 1960s.

It was a campaign of more than 100 years, said MacDonald, and definitely not just something that was lightly granted as a reward for women's work during the First World War.

MacDonald would be delighted if her book were to find its way into the hands of high school students. She says she's tried to write it in an accessible way. It's part of a six-book series, divided by region.

A launch event is planned for Friday, April 26, at the Shadow Lawn Inn in Rothesay at 7 p.m.

From tiny river eggs to ocean prey, filmmaker aims to capture life of salmon

CBC
Sun, April 21, 2024 

Young Nick Hawkins fighting a salmon on the Miramichi River. (Submitted by Nick Hawkins - image credit)


As a child fly fishing on New Brunswick's renowned Miramichi River, Nick Hawkins used to daydream about being able to peer under the tea-coloured water and see where the salmon were.

When he hooked one and briefly held it in his hands before releasing it again, he imagined what that fish may have seen and experienced on its migration to sea and back again. A month earlier, it could have been chased by orca whales off the coast of Greenland, he mused.

Hawkins has been "completely obsessed" with salmon ever since.


"Atlantic salmon, and salmon in general, are really for me like everything that it means to be wild and everything that I love about the natural world, kind of encapsulated into into one species," he said.

Now, after living in Halifax and Ecuador, filming pumas, great white sharks and many other plants and animals for the likes of Disney+ and Apple TV, the 35-year-old wildlife cinematographer and biologist has moved back to the Fredericton area and received an infusion of cash to help realize his boyhood dream.


Nick Hawkins

Nick Hawkins grew up in Kelly Creek, near Fredericton, and studied biology at the University of New Brunswick. After writing about science and natural history in magazines, he got into wildlife cinematography about six years ago. (Submitted by Nick Hawkins)

Hawkins is one of nine winners of 2024 grants from the Trebek Initiative, named for the late quiz show host Alex Trebek.

He's getting $97,674 from two organizations that Trebek supported, the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and National Geographic Society, to film the migration of Atlantic salmon — "from their home rivers in Canada to their feeding grounds in the icy fjords of Greenland" — and to document "the passionate efforts of those trying to reverse the species' precipitous decline."

According to the Trebek Initiative website, the grants are meant to "ignite the passion to preserve."

Hawkins thinks salmon is a great species to target for conservation.

Measures to protect salmon also protect a broad range of habitats, he said, from freshwater to estuaries, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the open Atlantic Ocean.

Like many Canadian kids, Hawkins learned something of the salmon life cycle in school, where wall posters showed life progressing from eggs in a riverbed, to parr, then smolt that go out to the ocean and adult salmon that return to the same river, two to four years later. Atlantic salmon enter rivers in eastern Canada in spring and early summer. They spawn in fall. Young fish migrate out to the ocean in May.More

Like many Canadian kids, Hawkins learned something of the salmon life cycle in school, where wall posters showed life progressing from eggs in a riverbed, to parr, then smolt that go out to the ocean and adult salmon that return to the same river, two to four years later. Atlantic salmon enter rivers in eastern Canada in spring and early summer. They spawn in fall. Young fish migrate out to the ocean in May. (Submitted by Atlantic Salmon Federation)

He'll start out trying to capture the earliest stages of salmon life in some of the clearest rivers on Quebec's Gaspé Peninsula.

Then, he hopes to do some interviews in Miramichi and Restigouche with people who are working on salmon projects.

The most ambitious part, said Hawkins, will be trying to find salmon in the ocean, where they basically sink to the bottom of the food chain — and become prey for seals, sharks and whales.

It will be like trying to find a needle in a haystack, he said.

The crew will be small — just Hawkins and one or two other people — so they can react nimbly as opportunities arise.

They're planning to spend two years filming because of the unpredictability of weather and wildlife.


Neville Crabbe is the Director of Communications for the Atlantic Salmon Federation

Neville Crabbe is the director of communications for the Atlantic Salmon Federation. He hopes this new film project will also show that things aren't all 'doom and gloom.' (Tom Moffatt/Atlantic Salmon Federation)

Hawkins will be aided by the Atlantic Salmon Federation.

"Public awareness and education are key ingredients to effective conservation and big, super-high-quality projects like this are what we need to be doing," said federation spokesperson Neville Crabbe.

A big part of the Salmon decline has been attributed to their their time at sea.

"These fish are leaving the rivers and they're not returning. It's certainly a hope of mine that this project will help reveal some of what the risks are," said Hawkins.

"When they get into the ocean they just disappear, and there's so many threats that they can potentially face out there."

The big known threats to Atlantic salmon, as summarized on the Trebek Initiative website, are overfishing, habitat degradation, open-net pen aquaculture and climate change.

Crabbe hopes this new film project will also show that things aren't all "doom and gloom."

Atlantic salmon in Gaspé, Quebec.

Atlantic salmon in Gaspé, Quebec. (Submitted by Nick Hawkins)

Since the early 1970s, Atlantic salmon populations have declined significantly.

Adult returns to North American rivers have rebounded by 30 per cent since the early 1990s, when commercial fisheries were closed and other conservation measures were introduced, Crabbe said, citing federal fisheries department data.

And scientists actually suspect that warming conditions from climate change are making freshwater habitats more favourable for Atlantic salmon in Greenland, he said.

Fishermen in Greenland have reported seeing salmon in estuaries at odd times of year, he said — even close to shore in winter and beyond the Kapisillit River, which has the one known established Atlantic salmon population in that country.

Atlantic Salmon Federation researchers collected water samples from five rivers near Qaqortoq, Greenland, last fall, Crabbe said, and those are being analyzed for any Atlantic salmon DNA.

"If these fish are indeed moving north and establishing themselves on places like Baffin Island, West Greenland, northern Labrador — beyond where they've traditionally been established — then for [the Fisheries and Oceans, Atlantic Salmon Federation] and other players in wild Atlantic salmon conservation, we know we have to shift our focus to some new areas."

Salmon photographed in Gaspé, Quebec.

Salmon photographed in Gaspé, Quebec. (Submitted by Nick Hawkins)

The other pressing questions for the federation include what routes Atlantic salmon take back to eastern Canada and what factors influence that migration, said Crabbe.

Federation researchers, in partnership with Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the American National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, have tagged more than 300 adult salmon off the west coast of Greenland over the last several years, he said.

Those fish are now on their way home and their tags are programmed to release in late April or early May.

The tags are expected to float up and transmit daily movement data, showing where in the North Atlantic they spent the winter months and how and when they returned home.

Oceanographers from Fisheries and Oceans in Quebec are helping with the analysis, said Crabbe.

From preliminary data and early observations, the fish are ranging further south and east than expected, he said.

A big component of Hawkins's project is to gather visuals that organizations like the salmon federation can use to promote the continuation of their research.

Hawkins and his longtime creative partner Tom Cheney accompanied federation researchers last fall in Greenland communities where a salmon fishery occurs and got some unbelievable footage for their grant application, said Crabbe.

These incredible predators are a sign of a healthy ocean ecosystem and are hopefully here to stay.

Hawkins has filmed wildlife all over the world, including great white sharks for a recent project off the coast of Nova Scotia for CBC. Being in the water with a 20-foot shark was exhilarating, he said, but he’s just as excited about this salmon project. (Nick Hawkins)

Hawkins plans to return this fall to do some diving in deep fjords and will possibly gather other video by remotely operated underwater vehicle and by towing a camera behind a boat.

He wants to see how many salmon are down there and what they're up to.

He'll be using a kind of scuba gear that recycles air so he can blend into the river bed without making bubbles that disturb the fish.

You have to get within about a metre for good underwater images, said Hawkins.

He hopes his work will raise the profile of the East Coast species, which is generally overshadowed by West coast species, such as chinook or sockeye.

But Hawkins will also be working on a concept for a longer film.

"There's so much we don't know about Atlantic salmon, as … with much of the natural world.

"I hope that we learn some something along this journey"

Surrey, B.C., Vaisakhi parade draws Sikhs from around the world

CBC
Sat, April 20, 2024 

More than 550,000 people attended a Vaisakhi parade in Surrey on Saturday, with organizers saying it is the largest such celebration in the world. (Allistair Brown/CBC - image credit)

More than half a million people attended a Vaisakhi parade in Surrey, B.C., on Saturday, which organizers say is the biggest celebration of the Sikh festival in the world.

The Surrey Khalsa Day Vaisakhi Parade began at the Gurdwara Dashmesh Darbar Temple on 85 Avenue Saturday morning, and the parade wound its way through several city streets over the next few hours.

Surrey RCMP estimated more than 550,000 people attended the parade, according to an emailed statement sent around 3:30 p.m. PT on Saturday afternoon.

Vaisakhi celebrates the creation of the order of the Khalsa in 1699, a defining moment in Sikh history that gave the Sikh faith its final form. It is a holy day that marks the New Year, according to festival organizers.

The festival is marked by colourful processions, as well as the practice of serving free meals to the community in acts of seva and langar, two significant aspects of the Sikh religion.

Sharing food, particularly with those who are less fortunate, is a central belief in Sikhism. (Maurice Katz/CBC)

Festivities, including floats, food and music, are open to people of all cultures and drew Sikhs from all over the world to Surrey.

Amandeep Kaur says she travelled from the Sikh-majority Punjab region of India to attend the parade on Saturday.

Kaur said, amid crowds of people, that "joy and togetherness" made it feel like home.

Imran Hayre says she missed last year's parade — the first to take place after three years of COVID-19 restrictions — and wanted to make sure she was there this year.

"Surrey is such a multicultural place and it's amazing to see people coming together," she told CBC.

Vaisakhi marks the New Year in the Sikh faith and celebrations are open to people of all cultures, organizers and attendees say. (Maurice Katz/CBC)

Hayre was helping serve thousands of pakoras (fritters) at the festival, and says family in Victoria and Bellingham, Wash., came to town as well.

"It's a beautiful thing that so much of our community has immigrated to this country and we can make such a loving thing happen in our new country," she told CBC.

The importance of Vaisakhi as a day for religious reflection and expression was a central theme for many in attendance.

Several Sikh organizations in B.C. expressed concern earlier this month when Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke said "700,000 people partying for a day is a lot of fun" when referring to the celebrations.

Members of the Sikh Motorcycle Club walk and ride in the Vaisakhi parade on Saturday. (Maurice Katz/CBC)

"Khalsa Revelation Day is a faith celebration, not a party," the Sikh Community of B.C. wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, on April 10.

"Her misrepresentation of the event is disappointing and irresponsible," the post read.

Neonatal Intensive Care Units

Alberta government knew about NICU pressures before this week's letter from doctors

CBC
Fri, April 19, 2024

Health minister Adriana LaGrange makes a health-care announcement in this file photo. Earlier this week, she did not answer directly when asked by CBC News about a February letter from NICU doctors.

(Todd Korol/The Canadian Press - image credit)

Front-line staff are pushing back against the provincial government's response to what they call a "crisis" in Alberta's neonatal intensive care units, calling it "short-sighted" and "frustrating."

A group of Edmonton doctors sent an open letter to the health minister this week, outlining concerns about a shortage of staff and beds in the province's NICUs.

But it wasn't the first time they'd raised the alarm.

There were earlier warnings in 2022 and 2023. And a private letter was sent to the health minister by neonatologists from Calgary and Edmonton in early February detailing the situation and asking for a meeting.

"I don't feel that we are fully being heard and fully being engaged with," said Dr. Alixe Howlett, a Calgary-based neonatologist who signed the February letter and said they have yet to get that meeting.

"That concerns us because we're not advocating for ourselves, we're advocating for our patients. And so their voices aren't being heard."

According to Howlett, two babies, on average, are transferred between Calgary zone hospitals every day due to bed and staffing shortages in neonatal intensive care units.

"We have been very clear what the resources needed are: beds and staff."

Earlier this week, Health Minister Adriana LaGrange did not answer directly when asked by CBC News about the February letter.

The health minister's office has since confirmed it received the February correspondence from Calgary and Edmonton neonatologists and an investigation was ordered into the concerns at the time.

But it wasn't until this week's letter, which was made public, that the minister expedited that work.

"The minister's office received the February letter, and directed officials to investigate the concerns," press secretary Andrea Smith said in a statement emailed to CBC News.

"At the time of the February letter, the department had already been engaging on how to address this issue. Alberta Health, AHS and Covenant Health have continued to work closely to address these concerns in short- and long-term planning for both capacity and workforce."

According to the minister's office, workforce and NICU capacity have been an ongoing issue that are monitored closely.

"After receiving a second letter this week, the minister directed the department to expedite this work."

When asked about her government's response at a Thursday news conference, Premier Danielle Smith pointed to her health-care restructuring plan .

"I would say our front-line workers are doing a tremendous job of being able to manage that patient flow. And if we need to have more staffing there to ensure that we can take some of the pressure off, that's what we're going to do. That's the whole reason for the refocusing."

Smith said her numbers, while they fluctuate, show that on Thursday, for example, there were dozens of open NICU beds across the province.

"We are always monitoring to make sure we have enough space."

Free beds but no staff

However, doctors say it may look that way on paper, but in reality they often don't have enough staff to use free beds.

And, if the beds are staffed, they aren't always in NICUs that provide the appropriate level of care, according to staff.

Calgary's Foothills Hospital, which handles high-risk deliveries and some of the sickest babies, houses 39 of Calgary's 126 NICU beds, according to Howlett.

That simply isn't enough, she says, noting a new NICU planned for the hospital is years away.

"We can never say no to these babies. [So] we transfer babies out," she said.

Earlier this week, LaGrange told reporters Alberta would airlift babies out of the province if needed. And while she's backed off of that message slightly, she still isn't ruling it out if needed.


Dr, Alixe Howlette is a neonatologist working in Calgary's five NICUs. (Alixe Howlett)

"It's not safe health care and it's frustrating because we've been calling for more beds and more staff for several years now," said Howlett, noting that moving vulnerable babies is risky and they often don't fare as well.

United Nurses of Alberta president Heather Smith said her union regularly hears concerns from members about staffing shortages in NICUs

"It's a crisis and we need commitments that this is not going to continue and that there's going to be an investment to ensure that babies are not placed at risk," said Smith.

"The minister knows it's an issue. The question is what is her government going to do, if anything, to turn it around? Turning it around includes infrastructure and making this province a magnet for health-care workers."

In an email, Dr. Amber Reichert, a neontaologist who signed this week's open letter, called the Alberta government's response "severely short-sighted."

"We desperately need more beds. We need those beds to be able to care for the most fragile and vulnerable population of Albertans. We need sufficient staff to meet the needs of those Albertans," said Reichert.

"Current staffing is inadequate to meet the acuity needs of those patients."

Reichert is also worried the division of health-care provision into four new organizations — through the health restructuring plan — has the potential to aggravate roadblocks to staff distribution that already exist in Edmonton, where NICUs are in hospitals run by both AHS and Covenant Health.

AHS has confirmed Alberta's neonatal intensive care units are running at between 90 and over 100 per cent capacity.

That's well above the 80 to 85 per cent safety threshold physicians say is needed to keep beds open — and staffed — to treat critically ill babies without delay.

According to Howlett, Calgary's recent population surge, including young families and newcomers who haven't always had good prenatal care, is adding to the pre-existing pressures.

"There's a huge strain on the system and it's just going to get worse."

Alberta First Nations patients more likely to leave ER without care, study says

ALBERTA SERVES THE WHOLE NWT

The Canadian Press
Sun, April 21, 2024



Researchers say First Nations patients are more likely to leave Alberta emergency departments before receiving care than non-Indigenous patients.

They say a new study shows that anti-Indigenous racism is part of the reason why.

Lead author Patrick McLane of the University of Alberta says provincial data from 2012 to 2017 showed 6.8 per cent of First Nations patients left emergency departments before being seen, or against medical advice.

That's compared to just 3.7 per cent of non-First Nations patients.

McLane says after controlling for variables such as other patient demographics, geography or type of diagnosis, First Nations status was the only apparent explanation for the difference.

That conclusion was backed up by interviews conducted from 2019 to 2022with First Nations people who reported being asked stereotypical questions about substance use, overhearing racist comments and feeling like they were made to wait longer than other people for care.

Although the research was conducted in Alberta, McLane says the findings likely apply to emergency department visits across Canada.

The study was published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 22.

Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.

Racism, discrimination may lead to First Nations patients leaving emergency rooms: Alberta study

CBC
Mon, April 22, 2024 

A Calgary Fire Department vehicle sits outside the Alberta Children's Hospital emergency room. (Mike Symington/CBC - image credit)


Systemic racism and inequity in health care may be contributing to why First Nations patients in Alberta disproportionately leave emergency departments without being seen, or against medical advice, according to a new study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

The peer-reviewed paper builds on a previous one that found nearly seven per cent of First Nations patients' visits to emergency departments ended in them leaving without care, compared to nearly four per cent of visits by non-First Nations patients.

The team examined provincial administrative data for more than 11 million emergency department visits in Alberta from 2012 to 2017, controlling for patients' ages, geography, visit reasons and facility types.


"First Nations people, when we control for all of these other factors, have higher odds of leaving without completing care," said Patrick McLane, an adjunct associate professor in the University of Alberta's department of emergency medicine. He co-authored the study.

The researchers also asked 64 health directors, emergency-care providers and First Nations patients to comment on their quantitative findings through sharing circles, a focus group and telephone interviews from 2019 to 2022.

Patrick McLane, an adjunct associate professor at the University of Alberta, has been studying the quality of emergency care for First Nations patients.

Patrick McLane, an adjunct associate professor at the University of Alberta, has been studying the quality of emergency care for First Nations patients. (Peter Evans/CBC)

McLane co-led the study with Lea Bill, the executive director of the Alberta First Nations Information Governance Centre. Elders and First Nations partner organizations helped shape the study and interpret its results.

Racism and stereotypes

Study participants, while commenting on the quantitative findings, raised a number of reasons why First Nations patients leave emergency departments without receiving care.

They shared stories of providers discriminating against First Nations patients and relying on stereotypes about them.

One participant, who was quoted in the study, reported walking out of one health care facility and visiting another after a doctor's first question was how much alcohol they had had to drink.

Another participant mentioned overhearing a racist rant at a nurses' station in an emergency department.

Participants also noted other barriers to receiving care, such as long wait times, transportation availability and health-care professionals using medical jargon while speaking with patients.

Siksika Nation Coun. Samuel Crowfoot said the study reflects what members of his community southeast of Calgary have long been experiencing: misdiagnoses, being targeted by hospital security, and physicians assuming intoxication.

The First Nation has encouraged members to share stories related to racism and discrimination in health care and signed an agreement with Alberta physicians to address both problems.

Benedict Crow Chief, of Siksika Nation, filed a human rights complaint last year against Alberta Health Services (AHS) and a hospital, alleging anti-Indigenous discrimination led to the death of his wife, Myra Crow Chief.

At the time, AHS said it could not comment on the specific case but that racism and discrimination have no place within the organization.

Samuel Crowfoot, a councillor for Siksika Nation, said he was not surprised by the study's results since community members have long experienced inequitable treatment in the province's health care system.

Siksika Nation Coun. Samuel Crowfoot was unsurprised by the study's results, he said, because community members have long experienced inequitable treatment in Alberta's health-care system. (Justin Pennell/CBC)

In a Friday statement, AHS spokesperson Kerry Williamson said the agency acknowledges that some Indigenous people face barriers accessing care because they do not feel safe or welcome within the healthcare system.

"This has to change," he said.

AHS continues to implement a roadmap to improve care for all Indigenous peoples in Alberta and expand its Indigenous Wellness Core (IWC), which works with Indigenous communities and partners to provide culturally appropriate health care for Indigenous people in Alberta.

"By creating meaningful relationships and listening to Indigenous communities, we will continue to build partnerships that improve the health and wellness of Indigenous patients and families together," Williamson said.

Crowfoot said the problem goes beyond Alberta, though. He hopes other First Nations file complaints on behalf of members who experience discrimination.

"It's very frustrating because these stories are common and we'll bring them forward as many times as we need to until we see significant change," he said.

Interrupted care

The study's authors said their findings show disproportionate disruptions to care for First Nations patients.

The team found a greater proportion of First Nations patients came back to the emergency department within 72 hours of leaving. About one in 20 patients, in First Nations and non-First Nations groups alike, needed to be hospitalized upon returning.

The findings align with Australian research that found more Indigenous patients chose to leave emergency departments before being seen.

In a previous study, McLane and his colleagues found First Nations patients in emergency departments tended to receive a lower level of care than other patients.

Strategies to retain patients

The Alberta study's authors suggested providers and emergency departments work with First Nations on strategies to retain First Nations patients.

Dr. James Makokis, a family physician from Saddle Lake Cree Nation, said emergency care providers should be following basic triage principles, taking patients' vital signs and taking extra steps to communicate and check in with Indigenous patients.

Dr. James Makokis uses western and Indigenous medicines to treat his patients.

Dr. James Makokis says systemic changes are needed to address anti-Indigenous racism and discrimination in health care. (Submitted by James Makokis)

Around-the-clock transportation, he said, could help people who live on First Nations that may be several hundred kilometres away from a hospital.

Improving access to primary care could also reduce the pressure on overburdened emergency room staff, he said.

Crowfoot and Makokis said complaint processes should be streamlined so patients have an easier time reporting racism and discrimination when it happens.

"Until we're actually ready to address those things in a real, fundamental, truthful, transformative way, we will still continue to see results like this," Makokis said.

Inuvik elder Gerry Kisoun to be the N.W.T.'s next commissioner

CBC
Fri, April 19, 2024 


Gerry Kisoun was been named by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as the next commissioner of the Northwest Territories on Friday. (Karli Zschogner/CBC - image credit)


Gerry Kisoun will be the next commissioner of the Northwest Territories, according to an announcement from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's office on Friday afternoon.

The Inuvialuit-Gwich'in elder worked for the RCMP for 25 years, serving in Tuktoyaktuk and Inuvik, as well as in Alberta and the Yukon according to his biography. After retiring from the RCMP, Kisoun worked for Parks Canada for 17 years in its Western Arctic Field Unit.

He was also previously the deputy commissioner of the N.W.T. from 2011 to 2017.

Kisoun has served on the Northwest Territories Tourism Board, the Gwich'in Land and Water Board, the Gwich'in Land Use Planning Board, the RCMP Commanding Officers' Indigenous Advisory Committee, and the Board of the Inuvik Community Corporation's Elders Committee.

He has also received the RCMP Long Service Medal, the 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal, the Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee Medal and the Polar Medal.

The role of the commissioner is largely ceremonial. Kisoun will, among other things, swear in members of the Legislative Assembly and executive council, appoint ministers and provide assent to bills.

The commissioner is also the federal government's representative in the territory and the Chief Executive Officer of the territory.

Kisoun's term is expected to last five years. He replaces outgoing commissioner Margaret Thom.

A swearing in ceremony for Kisoun is being planned in the coming weeks.

NOVA SCOTIA

'Each drum has its own story': NSCAD exhibit explores Indigenous language revitalization

CBC
Sat, April 20, 2024 

A drum by artist Jude Gerrard, titled Star Dancers, based on Mi'kmaw petroglyphs located in Kejimkujik and Bedford. (Sis'moqon - image credit)


At the Treaty Space Gallery on NSCAD's port campus in Halifax, 13 meticulously painted hand drums have been hung on the walls, each expressing individual journeys of revitalizing Indigenous languages.

Some are adorned with words in the language of the artists who created them, others feature cultural motifs tied to their language.

"Each drum has its own story," said artist Dr. Joshua Schwab-Cartas, who led the project, titled Living our Languages, which is made up of paintings on rawhide drums.


The exhibit aims to dispel the notion that Indigenous languages are disappearing, and speaks to the experience of existing within institutions that aren't built for Indigenous people.

Scholars, artists and researchers affiliated with the university organized and facilitated multiple workshops with local Indigenous artists to create the artwork on the drums featured in this exhibit.

The workshops encouraged community-building, bringing together artists with a common goal of expressing their connection to their language.

Artist Natalie Laurin with her drum 'G Bay' (middle drum) is connected to the Michif language. The ceinture fléchée surrounds the lively waters of Georgian Bay, where she feels most at home and connected to her roots.

Artist Natalie Laurin with her drum, titled G Bay. A ceinture fléchée, or arrowed sash, surrounds the artwork, which depicts the lively waters of Georgian Bay, where Laurin said she feels most at home and connected to her roots. (Sis'moqon)

Natalie Laurin, a Métis exhibitions co-ordinator with the gallery, was part of the team that facilitated the workshops who spoke on the importance of community-building at NSCAD.

"We are a pretty small amount of Indigenous students, staff and faculty here," said Laurin.

"We first gathered and we went around and everyone talked a little bit about where they're from and where they're at, and their language learning journey and destigmatizing [that journey]."

Participants ranged in their level of fluency, she said. Some had grown up in their language. Others were just beginning to learn it.

Laurin said the gallery focuses on highlighting stories and contemporary artwork of Indigenous people and their relationship to the land, as well as treaties and treaty education.

She created a drum that depicted the land because that is where she feels most connected to her culture.

"That's where I feel most inspired to learn the language," she said.

"I miss home and I wanted to show it on [my drum], and I miss my family from there and sitting at the kitchen table hearing my papere talk in his French accent with Michif words sprinkled in there."

Artist Dr. Joshua Schwab-Cartas pictured here with his drum 'Guie' saa' created by him and his daughter, Najeli Schwab Nicolantonakis. This drum translates to flower celebration and celebrates their language by using designs that are part of the women's regalia amongst Isthmus Binniza's (Zapotec)

Artist Joshua Schwab-Cartas is pictured with the drum titled Guie' saa, which he created with his daughter, Najeli Schwab Nicolantonakis. (Sis'moqon)

Schwab-Cartas, a Binnizá scholar and assistant professor at NSCAD, said the project is "really about celebrating the resiliency of our ancestors and everybody who has sat around that kitchen table teaching us our language… whether it's around the table or over Zoom or in my case under a mango tree in our community."

The exhibit is also about representation, feeling seen and carving out a space where Indigenous people feel reflected and honoured, Schwab-Cartas said.

"Most education systems, like mainstream education, don't really take into consideration Indigenous methodologies, needs, agendas and objectives," he said.

"This space wasn't created for us or by us," he added. The exhibit "is a way of telling NSCAD and other institutions that we are an important part of the makeup of universities."

Artist Najeli Schwab Nicolantonakis is pictured here with a drum she collaborated on with her father, Dr. Joshua Schwab-Cartas, 'Guie' saa' (far right drum). This drum translates to flower celebration and celebrates their language by using designs that are part of the women's regalia amongst Isthmus Binniza's (Zapotec)

Najeli is pictured with a drum, pictured on the right, which she created in with her father. Titled Guie' saa, which translates to flower celebration, it celebrates their language using designs that are part of women's regalia among Isthmus Binnizas, a Zapotec people. (Sis'moqon)

Schwab-Cartas collaborated with his eight-year-old daughter, Najeli Schwab Nicolantonakis, to create a drum that represents the regalia worn by women in their Binnizá culture to honour women and the legacy they carry in his language-learning journey.

"Some of the first words I ever like learnt in my language came from my great grandmother and my grandmother," he said.

He is learning the language together with his daughter, Najeli, and said he is honouring the strong women in communities that bring their cultural life forward. That includes his daughter, whom he said is "going to be the next matriarch in our family, who can speak about our culture and language."

The exhibit include QR codes that contain stories, songs, or expressions of language from participants and also a browser allowing access to Native Land Digital, a website that maps Indigenous territories, treaties and languages across the world.

Some of the QR codes feature the voices of participants speaking about the drums they created, said Sydney Wreaks, a Métis research assistant and facilitator with the project.

Artist Sydney Wreaks is pictured here with her drum 'Onkwehonwe Lakoterihwaien:ni' (middle drum). The title means 'human beings responsibility' in Kanien'kéha kateweiénhstha, and represents the relationship and responsibility as human beings to the land.

Artist Sydney Wreaks stands next to her drum, in the centre of the photo. Titled Onkwehonwe Lakoterihwaien:ni, it means the responsibility of human beings in Kanien'kéha kateweiénhstha, and represents our relationship with the land. (Sis'moqon)

"You're going to have some people talking specifically about maybe the design and the history behind that, and how it's tied to their language or singing and going through their languages," Wreaks said.

The Living our Languages exhibit runs until April 30 at NSCAD's Treaty Space Gallery.