RIP
Contractor charged after Fort McMurray worker killed in fall through roof
CBC
Thu, October 24, 2024 

Charges have been laid after a worker sustained fatal injuries after falling through a roof on a Fort McMurray worksite in June 2023. ( Government of Alberta - image credit)


A contractor is facing workplace safety charges after a worker died in a fall in Fort McMurray last year.

The worker was removing construction material from a roof on June 8, 2023, when they fell through the roof to the floor below. The worker sustained fatal injuries.

Pacific Rim Industrial Insulations Ltd. has been charged with four counts under Alberta's Occupational Health and Safety Act.


The charges, which were laid on Oct. 10, include failing to ensure a worker was protected from falling when working at a height of three metres or more.

According to the charges, the worker was not equipped with an adequate restraint system and was not protected by guardrails.

It is alleged that the company had failed to develop a fall protection plan for its workers, as required by the OHS code.

According to the legislation, employers must ensure that employees are informed of all fall hazards at each work site. Employers must also enforce the use of fall protection systems when employees are at risk.

The charges have not been proven in court. Company officials have not responded to requests for comment on the case.

According to the company's website, the contractor specializes in insulation, cladding and asbestos abatement for sectors including the chemical, oil and natural gas industries.

Zamboni driver in western Quebec arrested for impaired driving after rink incident

Morgan Lowrie
Wed, October 23, 2024 

MONTREAL — A Zamboni driver in western Quebec has been arrested on suspicion of impaired driving after a low-speed crash at a hockey rink on Monday.

Police in the region say the 25-year-old man was arrested after he drove the ice-resurfacing machine into the boards at a rink in Chelsea, Que., while cleaning the ice between two games.

A 30-second video posted online shows a referee skating alongside the machine and its driver as it heads straight into the boards with a loud crash.

Sgt. Martin Fournel of Sécurité Publique MRC des Collines-de-l'Outaouais says several people witnessed the event and one of them called police after seeing signs that the driver was impaired.

He says police administered a sobriety test and then arrested the rink employee, who was released on a promise to appear in court at a later date.

Police say nobody was hurt, but a door onto the rink was damaged.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2024.

Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press

ENEMY FROM WITHIN

Georgian ruling party founder vows to ban opposition at final pre-election rally

Lucy Papachristou and Felix Light
Wed, October 23, 2024 



Georgian ruling party stages final rally before general election

By Lucy Papachristou and Felix Light

TBILISI (Reuters) - The founder of Georgia's ruling Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, doubled down on Wednesday on a pledge to ban opposition parties should his party clinch victory in a crucial parliamentary election this weekend.

If it wins a majority in parliament, Georgian Dream will


make opposition parties "answer with the full rigour of the law for the war crimes committed against the population of Georgia," Ivanishvili told a large pro-government rally in Tbilisi's central square. He did not specify what crimes they had committed.

Although rarely seen in public, the billionaire and one-time prime minister is widely viewed as the main powerbroker in the South Caucasus country of some 3.7 million.

Many thousands flooded down Tbilisi's main avenue and onto the central Freedom Square on Wednesday, although the crowd began to noticeably thin as Ivanishvili spoke. He addressed his supporters from behind bulletproof glass.

A senior Georgian Dream MP said before the rally on Wednesday that the party would organise transportation to the rally for a "significant" number of attendees, according to the Interpress news agency.

"I have been a supporter of Georgian Dream since the day it was founded," said Ramaz Giorgadze, who said he had come from the town of Tkibuli, some 150 miles (240 km) west of the capital.

"Thank God that he sent us such a man as Bidzina Ivanishvili," he said, praising the former prime minister's investments in several western Georgian towns.

Following Ivanishvili's speech, his eldest son, Bera, a rapper, performed his 2011 song "Georgian Dream," for which the party was originally named.

Ivanishvili issued his rallying cry three days before Georgians head to the polls in a parliamentary election that has come to be viewed as a test of whether the country returns to Russia's orbit or maintains its pro-Western orientation.

Days earlier, President Salome Zourabichvili - a fierce Georgian Dream critic - delivered a strong pro-EU message to a thousands-strong crowd of opposition supporters gathered in the same square.

Georgia was granted European Union candidate status last year, but relations have deteriorated rapidly since Georgian Dream passed a law on "foreign agents" in May that critics say is a sign it is tilting towards Moscow.

Tbilisi's main Western allies have responded by levying sanctions on top Georgian officials, withdrawing tens of millions of dollars in aid and freezing long-standing security and defence dialogues with Tbilisi.

Ivanishvili has cast Saturday's election as an existential fight to prevent a "Global War Party" in the West from pushing Tbilisi into direct conflict with Moscow - conspiracy theories on which he doubled down in an interview with Georgian television earlier this week.

In the winding 80-minute interview aired on Monday, Ivanishvili accused several opposition candidates of fomenting revolution and chaos in Georgia ahead of the elections.

He also assailed what he called "LGBT propaganda", claiming that in the West, parents force their children to undergo gender affirmation surgeries and "men's milk" is viewed as "the same as women's". A bill significantly curbing LGBT rights was signed into law in Georgia earlier this month.

Opinion polls show Georgian Dream remains the country's most popular party, though it has lost ground since 2020, when it won almost 50% of the vote and a narrow parliamentary majority.

(Reporting by Lucy Papachristou and Felix Light in Tbilisi; Writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Marguerita Choy)


Factbox-What's at stake in Georgia's election on Saturday?

Felix Light
Fri, October 25, 2024

A member of an electoral commission checks a ballot box at a polling station in Tbilisi


By Felix Light

TBILISI (Reuters) - The South Caucasus country of Georgia holds a parliamentary election on Saturday that pits a government seen as leaning increasingly towards Russia against an opposition that champions integration with the West.

Here's what to look out for.

HIGH STAKES POLLS

* The ruling party, Georgian Dream, is seeking a fourth term in office.

* A mountainous country of around 3 million people between Russia and Turkey, Georgia gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 and has followed broadly pro-Western policies ever since.

* Many Georgians dislike Russia, which ruled the country for around 200 years and backs two rebel regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, that broke away from Tbilisi's control in the 1990s. Russia defeated Georgia in a five-day war in 2008.

RUSSIA VS WEST

* Georgian Dream has in the last two years shifted towards pro-Russian rhetoric, accusing Western countries of seeking to drag Georgia into war with Russia. It has also deepened ties with China.

* The party is dominated by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire ex-prime minister who is Georgia's richest man and is generally regarded as its most powerful person.

* Opinion polls show that Georgians are broadly supportive of joining the EU and NATO, but are also keen to avoid conflict with Russia, and deeply conservative on issues such as LGBT rights.

* Georgian Dream has campaigned on keeping Georgia out of the war in Ukraine.

* The election comes days after Moldovans narrowly approved EU accession, in a vote Moldovan authorities said was marred by Russia-backed meddling.

AUTHORITARIANISM AND PROTESTS

* Georgian Dream has passed a series of hotly contested bills, including a law requiring groups that receive funds from abroad to register as "foreign agents".

* Opponents staged mass demonstrations, describing the legislation as authoritarian and inspired by similar laws used to curb dissent in Russia.

* The bill caused a crisis in relations with the West, with the U.S. sanctioning several Georgians for human rights abuses and threatening to end aid to Tbilisi.

* Other legislation has clamped down on gay rights. Opponents say this also borrows from repressive laws in Russia.

SOURING ON THE WEST

* The European Union, which gave Georgia membership candidate status last December, has said Tbilisi's application is now frozen, and threatened to suspend visa-free travel for Georgians if this election is not free and fair.

* Georgian Dream's Ivanishvili has made overtures to Moscow, including considering an apology for Georgia's role in the brief 2008 war against Russia, even as his bloc says it still wants to join the EU and NATO.

* There is little reliable opinion polling. Surveys by pro-opposition media outlets show Georgian Dream losing its majority, while data from pro-government pollsters predicts the ruling bloc's strongest ever performance.

* Georgia's opposition parties are deeply divided, and have been unable to come to an agreement to contest the election together but hope to deprive Georgian Dream of a majority and form a coalition administration in its place.

(Reporting by Felix Light; Editing by Gareth Jones)


Voters at loggerheads ahead of Georgia's 'front line' election

Fri, October 25, 2024 

Georgian ruling party stages final rally before general election


By Felix Light

TBILISI (Reuters) - Nana Malashkhia never planned to get into politics.

But the 48-year-old former civil servant shot to fame in Georgia during the 2023 protests against a law on so-called "foreign agents" after she was filmed waving a European Union flag whilst being blasted by a police water cannon.

The video made her an icon for opposition-supporting Georgians who worry that the foreign agent law will sabotage the country's chances of joining the European Union, and want to see its authors in the ruling Georgian Dream party voted out of office.

Now, having left her job at the Tbilisi mayor's office to dedicate herself to politics, Malashkhia is at the centre of a high-stakes election on Saturday as the top candidate for the Coalition for Change, one of the country's four main opposition parties.

"I am the sort of person who doesn't like publicity. But when I decided to enter politics, I got out of my comfort zone. Because I understood that this election is the front line," she told Reuters.

By contrast, 23-year-old Sandro Dvalishvili, a law graduate and Georgian Dream activist, said he believes that some anti-government protesters have been hoodwinked into rallying for causes they do not fully grasp.

"People of my age especially are easily influenced by others," he said. "And that's why the majority of those who went to protests didn’t know why they were there."

Georgia's politics have long been deeply polarised, with most major media outlets either explicitly pro-government or pro-opposition.

Opposition supporters often dub the ruling party "Russian Dream", accusing its founder, billionaire ex-prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, of harbouring sympathy for Georgia's vast northern neighbour and former imperial overlord.

Meanwhile, Georgian Dream accuses what it calls the "radical opposition" of being proxies for divisive former president Mikheil Saakashvili, who is serving a six-year prison sentence for abuse of power, and of being sponsored by Western intelligence agencies.

During this campaign, Georgian Dream officials have repeatedly suggested they will ban opposition parties if they are returned to government.

Occasionally, the furious rhetoric tips over into violence. In April, an opposition member of parliament punched a Georgian Dream lawmaker in the face in parliament during a hearing on the foreign agents law, earning a beating in return.

On both sides, activists see this election as existential, with Georgia's democratic future, or its peace and stability at risk.

But above all, the shadow of geopolitics hangs over the election.

Critics at home and abroad have accused Georgian Dream of seeking to restore ties with Russia, which polls show most Georgians dislike, while deliberately tanking its chances of EU membership.

"Right now, what we have is a referendum. We are choosing between Europe and Russia," Malashkhia said.

For Malashkhia, EU membership is key to protecting Georgian sovereignty from Moscow, which ruled the country for 200 years, and continues to back separatists in two breakaway Georgian regions.

She said: "We can’t change our geography. Russia will always be next door. And that's exactly why we need to be with strong allies."

"And those strong allies are in the European Union."

But Sandro Dvalishvili, who outside politics also works as an actor, said that he feared that a victorious opposition's anti-Russian views could drag the country into war.

In 2008, Georgia lost a five-day war with Russia over the rebel province of South Ossetia, a defeat still raw today.

Georgian Dream has placed keeping the peace with Russia at the heart of its campaign. Around Tbilisi, billboards show pristine Georgian cities alongside devastated Ukrainian ones, above a caption reading "No to war! Choose peace".

Dvalishvili said: "Right now, some people don’t understand the danger they might face if we’re defeated."

"If it turns out that we don’t win, for me that’ll be very bad. Because I don’t see another force that will bring peace and stability to our country".

(Reporting by Felix Light; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Georgia prepares for a bitterly divided election which could determine its future in Europe

Euronews
Thu, October 24, 2024 at 9:51 p.m. MDT·1 min read


Georgia is heading to the polls on Saturday in a parliamentary election many citizens believe will be the most crucial vote of their lifetimes.

The election will pit a coalition of opposition parties against the ruling ‘Georgian Dream’ which many fear is dragging the nation towards authoritarianism and away from the European Union.

80% of Georgians favour joining the EU, according to polls, and the constitution demands leaders pursue membership of the EU and NATO.

Brussels put Georgia’s bid for entry to the EU on hold indefinitely in August after the ruling government passed a ‘Russian law’ cracking down on freedom of speech earlier this year.

Manu Georgians fear that if the ‘Georgian Dream’ party are re-elected, hopes of joining the EU could be permanently extinguished.

‘Georgian Dream’ argue it needed to curb harmful foreign actors trying to destabilize the country, but journalists and activists say it's true goal is to stigmatize them and restrict debate before the election.

Tens of thousands of Georgians marched on Sunday ahead of the election viewed as make-or-break for the chance to join the EU.

As well as the EU freezing membership talks, the U.K. suspended its security dialogue with Georgia and cancelled other defence talks, concerned about threats to democracy.

Yukon hydroponic farming company ColdAcre shuts down

CBC
Fri, October 25, 2024

Lettuce being grown using ColdAcre's system. (ColdAcre Food Systems - image credit)


Na-Cho Nyäk Dun First Nation first announced it had bought a majority stake in Whitehorse-based agricultural company ColdAcre Food Systems in January.

Just 10 months later, the company has closed.

Its last day of operation was Oct. 18, and staff will be dismantling and selling equipment until December.

Sarah Frey is a communications consultant with the Na-Cho Nyäk Dun First Nation's development corporation (NNDDC).

She says financial pressures caused by the Eagle mine closure and the emergency mitigation efforts that followed make a project like ColdAcre are now less feasible.

"It's unfortunately a casualty of what is being called a huge environmental disaster," said Frey. "But NNDDC is also seeing the side of … this is a disaster economically for us and our community members."

On Oct. 23, the development corporation held a forum to support Mayo residents experiencing economic impacts in the wake of the mine shutting down.

CEO Tarek Bos stands in the Whitehorse warehouse that has been home to ColdAcre Food Systems.

CEO Tarek Bos stands in the Whitehorse warehouse that has been home to ColdAcre Food Systems. (Virginie Ann/CBC)

For CEO Tarek Bos, ColdAcre's closure has been "extremely sad."

The company focused on making a business case for growing food in the subarctic.

"That was always my favourite part," Bos said. "Coming up with unique builds to solve problems… all the cool equipment that we devised on our own and figured out how to build."

That could look like growing lettuce in old shipping containers or repurposing barrels to pasteurize oyster mushrooms.

The company found success partnering with a number of First Nations governments and small northern communities interested in acquiring the tools to grow their own food.

Inside a hydroponics unit operated by ColdAcre Farm Systems in Whitehorse.

Inside a hydroponics unit operated by ColdAcre Farm Systems in Whitehorse. (Archbould Photography/ColdAcre Farm Systems)

Bos said the Eagle mine situation hit during a transitional moment for the company as they tried to figure out ways to make the business more competitive with southern growers.

"It does feel a little bit like swimming upstream when you're trying to pursue food production in northern Canada," he said. "I think if you spoke with any farmers, whether traditional or greenhouse farmers or anything, they would probably say the same thing."

Canada's three territories heavily depend on imported produce and pay high shipping costs.

Over the past few years, Na-Cho Nyäk Dun First Nation has made a series of investments to improve local access to food, running a farm, installing a communal commercial kitchen, and hiring a food systems researcher.


Hydroponic growing operations in progress.

Hydroponic growing operations in progress. (ColdAcre Food Systems)

Frey said that's still a priority.

"Often in a northern context, we talk about the idea of food security, which is basically having enough caloric intake," Frey said. "But NNDDC is really focused on expanding that to food sovereignty."

Sovereignty would look like giving the community a greater sense of control over what they eat and the ability to access culturally-relevant foods.

Bos said he hopes the training, equipment and greenhouse operations ColdAcre helped distribute across the North will spark an appreciation for local agriculture long after the company is gone.

"I'm very hopeful… I would love to see that."

Quebec sealers praise new personal-use seal-hunting licences in P.E.I. and N.B.

YES VIRGINIA THEY STILL HUNT SEALS IN CANADA

CBC
Wed, October 23, 2024 

Gil Thériault, director of the Intra Quebec Sealers Association, says his group has been lobbying for personal-use licences 'for many years.' (Submitted by Édouard Plante-Fréchette - image credit)


Quebec sealers are praising a new federal pilot project to expand personal-use seal-hunting licences to people on Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick — and an animal welfare group says the move is "not really a concern" if the hunt is carried out humanely and sustainably.

The licences are a "great idea," according to Gil Thériault, director of the Intra-Quebec Sealers Association, an advocacy group representing sealers in the province.

"We've been expecting that for many years — and demanding that for many years," Thériault said Wednesday.


Fisheries and Oceans Canada announced Tuesday that it will grant an unspecified number of personal-use licences this year to hunt grey and harp seals in Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick.

Each licence will let the holder harvest up to six harp and/or grey seals, DFO said in a news release. Those are two of the four kinds of seals that spend at least part of the year in the waters around P.E.I.

Until now, only hunters in the provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec could apply for such licences in Eastern Canada.

A young harp seal rests on the ice off the coast of Cape Breton island, Nova Scotia, March 31, 2008. Heavy pack ice has made it difficult for sealers to reach the young seals.

New personal-use licences would allow P.E.I. hunters an annual harvest of up to six harp and/or grey seals each. Here, a harp seal is shown resting on the late-winter ice off the coast of Nova Scotia. (Paul Darrow/Reuters)

The changes to personal-use seal licences came in response to "growing interest" in the hunt, according to DFO.

CBC News reached out to DFO for comment, but the department did not make a spokesperson available.

'There's a will,' sealer says

Thériault said he's witnessed growing interest as well.

He said about 25 prospective hunters, most of them involved in the fisheries, attended an information session about personal-use licences he hosted on P.E.I. in August.

A young grey seal appears to be napping on the ice.

DFO's most recent population estimate for grey seals, such as the one shown here, was 366,400 in 2021. Its most recent population estimate for harp seals dates back to 2019, when it stood at 4.7 million seals. (Charles Caraguel)

"There's a will," he said, before adding that it will take time for hunters on the Island to familiarize themselves with how best to take the animals.

Given that time, however, Thériault hopes the personal-use licences will be a first step toward the return of a wider commercial seal hunt in the region.

"What we want to do is reinvent seal hunting and spread that recipe somehow in the Maritimes and elsewhere in Quebec," he said.

He views seal hunting as a potential solution to improve fish stocks by limiting the "overabundant" population of seals that are now feeding on species like cod, squid and herring.

DFO's most recent population estimate for harp seals dates back to 2019, when it stood at 4.7 million seals. Its most recent estimate for grey seals was 366,400, in 2021.

Commercial hunt not viable: animal welfare group

But the director of wildlife campaigns for the International Fund for Animal Welfare says commercial seal hunting has not proven to be economically viable.

Frozen harp seal meat harvested in Newfoundland and Labrador. Seal in French is 'loup marine' or 'phoque.' (Jane Adey/CBC) See 'loup marin' in package.

Frozen harp seal meat harvested in Newfoundland and Labrador is shown at a culinary festival in Quebec. 'If someone wants to go out and hunt a seal to feed their family... it's not really a concern for us,' says Sheryl Fink, the director of wildlife campaigns for the International Fund for Animal Welfare. (Jane Adey/CBC)

Sheryl Fink said that although her organization opposes commercial seal hunting, it does not oppose the new personal-use licences for P.E.I.


If it's done humanely and it's going to be done sustainably, in a proper manner, it's not really a concern for us. — Sheryl Fink, International Fund for Animal Welfare

"If someone wants to go out and hunt a seal to feed their family, I think that's — if it's done humanely and it's going to be done sustainably, in a proper manner — it's not really a concern for us," she said.

Fink said no scientific evidence supports the notion that reducing the number of seals in the region will help fish stocks rebound.

"What we do know is that when we try to balance ecosystems by removing large components of it, we generally make things worse, not better," she said.

Besides, she added, market demand for seal products simply does not exist. Instead, she said, proper management of all fisheries should leave enough fish to go around for humans and all kinds of animals — including seals.

Montreal climate protesters charged after climbing Jacques Cartier Bridge

The Canadian Press
Wed, October 23, 2024 



MONTREAL — A pair of environmental activists who scaled Montreal's Jacques Cartier Bridge Tuesday morning will remain detained after being charged with mischief and wilfully resisting or obstructing a peace officer.

Olivier Huard and Jacob Pirro appeared in court Wednesday, along with a third protester.

The third person, Michèle Lavoie, is facing only a mischief charge, in relation to obstructing, interrupting or interfering with the lawful use of property.


Their lawyer, Barbara Bedont, said all three remain detained pending their next court date on Oct. 31 after the prosecution objected to their release.

Huard and Pirro climbed to the top of the bridge early Tuesday as part of a climate protest, leading police to close one of the main access points onto the island for several hours during the morning rush hour.

The groups Last Generation Canada and Antigone Collective took credit for the protest, demanding an end to fossil fuel extraction and denouncing government inaction on climate change.

The groups urged supporters to rally outside the courthouse Wednesday morning.

Bedont, reached by phone, described the prosecutor's decision to oppose the activists' release as "incomprehensible."

"There's a long history of civil disobedience leading to very positive changes in our society," she said, adding that her clients were not violent. "This is an important part of a democratic system."

Laura Sullivan, a spokesperson for Last Generation Canada, reiterated a call for the protesters' release, and for the federal government to "commit to ending fossil fuels by 2030."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2024.

The Canadian Press

Former and current service industry workers react to Trump’s McDonald’s shift

NOT USING PPE

Katie Mather
·Reporter
Wed, October 23, 2024 

Donald Trump fulfilling an order during a recent visit to the McDonald's in Feasterville-Trevose, Pa. (Doug Mills/New York Times via AP/Pool)


Donald Trump manned the fry station at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania during a weekend campaign stop, intended at least partly in response to Vice President Kamala Harris, who has claimed that she worked at the fast food chain in 1983.

Trump has repeatedly accused Harris of lying about working there in an attempt to pose as someone with working-class roots. McDonald’s said in a statement that it did not keep employment records for all positions dating back from the early 80s. Trump has not provided any evidence to validate his claims that Harris did not work there.

After Trump’s McDonald’s appearance, where he scooped fries for a reported five minutes followed by 15 minutes of answering reporter’s questions at the drive-through window, Trump quipped, “I’ve worked for 15 minutes more than Kamala.” (The Washington Post reported that the McDonald’s was closed to the public during his visit and the “customers” were Trump supporters prescreened by the U.S. Secret Service. No one ordered food and received whatever Trump gave them. McDonald’s also issued a statement clarifying it is not endorsing a political candidate.)


According to McDonald’s, one in eight Americans have worked at the chain at some point in their life.

One Reddit user, who is a current employee at McDonald’s, told Yahoo News they saw the stunt as nothing more than what “a presidential candidate does during the election cycle.”

“[They] stop in random restaurants and pretend to understand everyday struggles,” they said. “No different [from] any other candidate before or likely long after.”

Another McDonald’s employee, who has worked at the chain for 17 years, told Yahoo News they saw the appearance as purely “a jab at Kamala.”

“It was because he thought it was an easy thing he could do,” they added.

“I feel it's just a continuance of him focusing on things that are only lies, he has no evidence [Harris] didn't work there,” said another Reddit user, who has worked in the service industry for over 20 years. In a separate comment, they added, “[Trump has] never had a real blue-collar job so he needed to show it.”

While speaking to the press at McDonald’s, Trump also avoided answering any questions about his stance on the minimum wage, even though employees at McDonald’s and other fast-food chains make an average of $13.20 an hour, according to the 2023 Bureau of Labor Statistics. Since 2009, Pennsylvania has adopted the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.

One of the more vocal critics of Trump’s McDonald’s stunt is Roy Wood Jr., a comedian and co-host of CNN’s Have I Got News for You. In an X post that was shared almost 2,000 times, Wood wrote, “Tired of politicians showing up and doing the most basic part of a job. Anybody can work a fry scoop. Can you drain a deep fryer without spilling that 400 degree lava on your skin or all over the floor during lunch rush?”

Wood, who worked in the food service industry throughout his teenage years, including at a hospital cafeteria, told Yahoo News he thought Trump’s McDonald’s shift was “stupid and a waste of voters’ time.” He said it was comparable to Trump’s town halls “where he takes no questions and just dances instead.”

“I think that anybody that’s worked any type of service industry or blue-collar job, to me, I would rate that just under military service,” Wood said. “Not everyone can relate to military service, but we understand the nobility of it. But most of us have had a job where you’ve had to serve strangers or use a little elbow grease outdoors.”

Trump is not the first presidential candidate to pose for photos while “working” an everyday job. In 1992, George H. W. Bush tested out cash registers at the National Grocers Association trade show. That same year, Bill Clinton and Al Gore wore hard hats and safety goggles at a factory in Iowa. In 2008, John McCain stirred a pot of gumbo at a restaurant in Florida.

In Wood’s opinion, this trend — politicians cosplaying as regular Americans — won’t end anytime soon.

“You’ve got to try everything,” Wood said about candidates reaching voters. “Everybody is living in their own bubbles and you must now enter those bubbles individually in the campaign. It’s the equivalent of digital door-knocking — you’re just not going to reach everybody on 60 Minutes anymore.”

 Grand Teton grizzly bear No. 399 that delighted visitors for decades is killed by vehicle in Wyoming

Mead Gruver
Wed, October 23, 2024 



The Associated Press


CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A famous grizzly bear beloved for decades by countless tourists, biologists and professional wildlife photographers in Grand Teton National Park is dead after being struck by a vehicle in western Wyoming.

Grizzly No. 399 died Tuesday night on a highway in Snake River Canyon south of Jackson, park officials said in a statement Wednesday, adding the driver was unhurt. A yearling cub was with the grizzly when she was struck and though not believed to have been hurt, its whereabouts were unknown, according to the statement.

The circumstances of the crash were unclear. Grand Teton and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials said they had no further information to release about it.

At 28 years old, No. 399 was the oldest known reproducing female grizzly in the Yellowstone ecosystem. Each spring, wildlife enthusiasts eagerly awaited her emergence from her den to see how many cubs she had birthed over the winter — then quickly shared the news online.

Named for the identity tag affixed by researchers to her ear, the grizzly amazed watchers by continuing to reproduce into old age. Unlike many grizzly bears, she was often seen near roads in Grand Teton, drawing crowds and traffic jams.

Scientists speculate such behavior kept male grizzlies at a distance so they would not be a threat to her cubs. Some believe male grizzlies kill cubs to bring the mother into heat.

The bear had 18 known cubs in eight litters over the years, including a litter of four in 2020. She stood around 7 feet (2.1 meters) tall and weighed about 400 pounds (180 kilograms).

Hundreds of visitors at times would gather at a wide meadow to see her in the evenings, recalled Grand Teton bear biologist Justin Schwabedissen.

Some youngsters "just thought that was just the coolest thing in the world to see a bear out there, cubs wrestling in the wildflowers,” Schwabedissen said.

Another time he met a just-retired Midwest factory worker whose dream was to see a bear in the wild.

“She was in tears that night from being able to have an opportunity to see her,” Schwabedissen said.

News of the bear's death spread quickly on a Facebook page that tracks the grizzly and other wildlife in Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks. By late Wednesday more than 2,000 people posted comments calling the bear a “magnificent queen,” an “icon” and an “incredible ambassador for her species.”

They were heartbroken and devastated by her death, calling it a tragic loss.

The momma bear had fans all over the world, said tour guides Jack and Gina Bayles, who run the Team 399 Facebook page and planned to visit the site where she was killed.

“You might say she was the accidental ambassador of the species,” Jack Bayles said. “My single biggest concern is that people are now gonna lose interest in bears.”

The grizzly lived through a time of strife over her species in the region, as state officials have sought to gain management control over grizzlies from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, saying the bears' numbers have rebounded past the point of being at risk.

Conservation groups have objected, saying climate change imperils some of the bears' key food sources including whitebark pine cones.

Some 50,000 grizzlies once roamed the western United States. But outside Alaska they are now confined to pockets in the Yellowstone region and northern Rockies. They dwindled in the Yellowstone region to just over 100 animals by 1975, when they were first protected as a threatened species.

The region encompassing Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks and surrounding areas in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho is now home to some 1,000 grizzlies. They remain federally protected but in an ongoing tug-of-war between political and court decisions have bounced off and back on the threatened list twice in recent years.

Government biologists say the population is healthy and officials from the three Yellowstone states continue to seek their removal from federal protection.

On average, about three grizzlies annually in the region are killed in vehicle collisions, with 51 killed since 2009, according to data collected by researchers and released by the park. No. 399 was the second grizzly killed in the region by a vehicle this year.

“Wildlife vehicle collisions and conflict are unfortunate. We are thankful the driver is okay and understand the community is saddened to hear that grizzly bear 399 has died,” Wyoming Game and Fish Department Director Angi Bruce said in the statement.

___

Amy Beth Hanson in Helena, Montana, contributed to this report.

Mead Gruver, The Associated Press

Lands guardian from Poplar River First Nation works to help protect World Heritage Site

Owen Bear, 23, became a lands guardian for Poplar River First Nation on Aug. 12

CBC
Wed, October 23, 2024 

A set of rapids on Poplar River is pictured. The river runs through a vast area of wilderness known as Pimachiowin Aki which was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2018. (Tyson Koschik/CBC )


Owen Bear is learning to love the land, designated as Canada's first mixed cultural and natural World Heritage Site, which surrounds his home community of Poplar River First Nation.

The area is known as Pimachiowin Aki, which in Anishinaabemowin translates to "the land that gives life." It was given the designation by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's World Heritage Committee in 2018.

"I never got to enjoy it as a kid … but now I get to come out here and just live," Bear said.


The area is part of the largest stretch of untouched boreal wilderness left on earth, home to millions of trees, hundreds of lakes and rivers and wetlands, as per the description on Pimachiowin Aki's website.

"I think it's a really beautiful place and it is one of our traditional lands that we have the right to go to and people have been going there years and years," Bear said in an interview along the banks of the Poplar River.

Owen Bear is a lands guardian for Poplar River First Nation. He's been tasked with protecting and monitoring the vast wilderness of Pimachiowin Aki, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that encompasses the community. (Josh Crabb/CBC )

The commemorative UNESCO designation recognizes the area for both its natural beauty and cultural significance as the ancestral home of the Anishinaabe people for more than 7,000 years.

It's a pristine wilderness area straddling the Manitoba-Ontario border home to two provincial parks and four First Nations: Ontario's Woodland Caribou Provincial Park, Manitoba's Atikaki Provincial Park, Poplar River First Nation, Pauingassi First Nation, Little Grand Rapids First Nation and Bloodvein First Nation.

The whole area covers more than 29,000 square kilometres — about the size of Belgium — and is legally protected from all commercial logging, mining, hydroelectric development. All waterways are free of diversions and dams.

Newest UNESCO World Heritage Site is boreal forest important to First Nations cultures


Manitoba's east-side boreal forest gets 2 big endorsements for UNESCO World Heritage Site status

Each of the four First Nations has what's known as a lands guardian.

Bear, who's 23, was approached by First Nation leaders earlier this year to take the position of lands guardian for Poplar River this past August to help protect the World Heritage Site for generations to come.

The lands guardian program is funded by a grant from the First Nations National Guardians Network.

"A lands guardian could be many things," Bear said. "Our job is never the same, so there's always something new to do such as going outside, to collecting samples for the dirt and muskegs or water samples."

A set of rapids on a winding river is pictured on a section of the Poplar River. (Tyson Koschik/CBC )

Muskeg samples are to check how dry the land is to monitor the risk of forest fires, which have previously ripped through this area. Water samples are used to measure water quality.

Bear's also responsible for preventing overhunting or illegal hunting and making sure the wishes of elders are respected.

Part of Bear's job also involves checking on shoreline erosion and monitoring water levels on the Poplar River. It's important for fishers and other boaters to know when they're travelling through river's many rapids, he said.

Bear said "depending on how high or low" the river is "there could be a rock in those channels because of the effects of the water depth."

Willard Bittern, fire chief for Poplar River First Nation, runs a set of rapids on the Poplar River in his motorboat. (Tyson Koschik/CBC )

Willard Bittern, Poplar River's fire chief, has been travelling up and down the river for many years. He drives his motorboat upstream and downstream through several sets of rapids, which can be challenging depending on the river level.

Using the Poplar River to access the land has been a tradition in his family passed on to him by his father.

Willard Bittern, fire chief for Poplar River First Nation, is pictured outside his cabin on the Poplar River. (Tyson Koschik/CBC)

Bittern has a cabin right along the river where he spends a lot of his free time, using it as an outpost during moose harvests and for rest and relaxation.

"I've been travelling this river … so many years with my kids, my wife, my hunting buddies," Bittern said.

"It's a beautiful place."

He describes it as "peaceful and quiet" with "no vehicles and no dogs barking."

Ed Hudson, a Poplar River First Nation councillor who serves on the board of directors for Pimachiowin Aki, said the land is important to people in the community.

"To me, the main thing is the land to be left intact just the way it is in its natural state," Hudson said. "It produces healthy animals that give us sustenance, like the little animals we harvest. They need good clean water and good clean land for them to be healthy as well."

Ed Hudson, a Poplar River First Nation councillor, points at the Poplar River. It serves as an important natural feature in the area and is used by many people to access the land for hunting and fishing. (Tyson Koschik/CBC)

Poplar River has an 8,600 square kilometre area within Pimachiowin Aki, known as Asatiwisipe Aki, which is the community's traditional territory and trapline section.

Provincial legislation which was put in place before the World Heritage Site designation protects both areas from development.

"I've always prioritized our traditional territory first because we have that protected and it's legislated, and then comes Pimachiowin Aki over it as sort of an added protection," Hudson said.

Despite challenges, fishing on Lake Winnipeg 'just a way of life' for many in this northern First Nation


Community garden in Poplar River First Nation sows seeds for more sustainable future

Bear also puts out song meters, which record birdsong, on the land as part of his job, and the audio recordings are sent to the National Audubon Society which monitors birds and their habitats.

Researchers with the Canadian Wildlife Service and the University of Manitoba Natural Resources Institute have also conducted migratory bird monitoring surveys in recent years using data gathered in Pimachiowin Aki.

Owen Bear looks at the Poplar River while making a trip up the waterway to check on the vast wilderness known as Pimachiowin Aki that surrounds his community of Poplar River First Nation. (Tyson Koschik/CBC )

As a lands guardian, Bear hopes he can help restore wildlife populations, preserve wildlands and encourage more people to start eating more traditionally.

"It feels good," he said. "It feels good to connect on the land, connect with myself and see our beautiful land and just enjoy it."

Commons committee plans to examine contamination at Fort Chipewyan, Alta., dock

CBC
Wed, October 23, 2024 

The 'big dock' at Fort Chipewyan, Alta., a Transport Canada facility, is used not only for commercial purposes, but also swimming, hunting, fishing and trapping. (Submitted by Jay Telegdi - image credit)

A House of Commons committee will study the issue of contaminated soil at a federal dock in Fort Chipewyan, Alta., after Indigenous community leaders said the government kept them in the dark about it.

Earlier this month, leaders of Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, Mikisew Cree First Nation, and Fort Chipewyan Métis Nation released a joint statement accusing the federal government of hiding a 2017 Transport Canada report that outlined the contaminants found in the soil near the dock on Lake Athabasca.

On Monday in Ottawa at a meeting of the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development, NDP MP Laurel Collins introduced a motion for the committee to hold meetings in November on this issue.


"Hearing those calls to action from the nations and from the community, I wanted to make sure that this is brought into the light, that we can hold the ministers responsible for their inaction," said Collins.

"This is a violation of Indigenous treaty rights … the government's responsibility to protect human health, to protect communities."

NDP MP Laurel Collins rises during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Friday, Feb. 28, 2020.

NDP MP Laurel Collins rises during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa in 2020. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)

The motion outlines that if the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities opts not to study the issue, the environment committee will ask several ministers to speak to the issue, including those from Transport, Environment and Climate Change, Emergency Preparedness, Indigenous Services, and Crown-Indigenous Relations.

"I'm satisfied with the NDP putting a motion forward that forces the Liberal government to address the issue that we're having with the big dock," said Athabasca Chipewyan Chief Allan Adam.

"They have to commence some kind of study … to fix the problem."

Adam would also be invited to speak in front of the committee, along with Mikisew Cree Chief Billy-Joe Tuccaro and Fort Chipewyan Métis Nation President Kendrick Cardinal, on how the incident is affecting their communities.

Contractor finds 2017 assessment

Fort Chipewyan has no all-season road; the community depends on its airport and the dock for transportation. In recent years Lake Athabasca has had low water levels and community leaders had asked Transport Canada to dredge the area for safe use of the dock, to no result.

So they decided to do it themselves.

"Once we found a suitable contractor to get the job done, he started applying for the permits and … [an] environmental assessment," said Adam.

"He found out that the environmental assessment was done in 2017 … That's how we found out about this whole mess."

Allan Adam, Chief of Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, is frustrated by what he says is the government's concealment of the chemical contamination of the Big Dock.

Allan Adam, chief of Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, is frustrated by what he says is the government's concealment of the contamination at the dock. (Dennis Kovtun/CBC)

That assessment, done by Millennium EMS Solutions, examined levels of hydrocarbons and heavy metals in the soil, sediment and groundwater in the dock area. That assessment concluded that wells within 60 metres of the dock would need further examination.

In a previous statement to CBC News, Transport Canada said the 2017 assessment "investigated risks to human health and wildlife, and the study determined that the site was not likely to pose any risks to human health."

Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation commissioned its own studies of the area, including one done by Stantec that found hydrocarbon and metal contamination in the sediment at the bottom of the dock, and metal contamination of the water.

"Transport Canada doesn't know what to do because they didn't take any studies to remediate the problem, they thought it would … just go away without anything coming out of it," said Adam.

"Now we're stuck and we've got to deal with it because we're not going to let this go away."

For Collins, what has happened at Fort Chipewyan is an example of environmental racism.

"You'd hope after voting in favour of the National Strategy on Environmental Racism … that they would take this issue seriously, but clearly they haven't because they have not taken action," said Collins.

In July, a law was passed that requires the federal government to better track environmental racism, and aim to correct it.

"I can't really describe the disbelief and disappointment that I feel when I see this kind of government inaction and lack of accountability," said Collins.

Adams said his community wants to see the soil near the dock remediated, to ensure that there is no risk to people using the lake.

"We've put out warnings in the community, don't go swimming down by the big dock, or at the beachfront or any other areas until we determine how to fix the problem," said Adam.

"Transport Canada's got lots of money … so they could clean up this mess. They created it … now help solve it."

In an emailed statement, the office of Transport Minister Anita Anand said she has not yet received an invitation to speak to the committee.

"Our government is working to ensure that operations at the port facility are carried out safely," the statement reads.

"Remote and Indigenous communities must have access to the safe and reliable connectivity that they need."