#FREEPALESTINE      #BDS

Beefed-up Israel police clash with Palestinians in Jerusalem

JERUSALEM — Israeli police on Saturday clashed with Palestinian protesters outside Jerusalem's Old City during the holiest night of Ramadan in a show of force that threatened to deepen the holy city's worst religious unrest in several years. Earlier, police blocked busloads of pilgrims headed to Jerusalem for prayer at Islam's third holiest site.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Police defended their actions as security moves, but these were seen as provocations by Muslims who accuse Israel of threatening their freedom of worship. Competing claims to east Jerusalem, home to major shrines of Judaism, Islam and Christianity, lie at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and have triggered serious violence in the past.

The unrest came a day after violence in which Palestinian medics said more than 200 Palestinians were wounded in clashes at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound and elsewhere in Jerusalem. Friday's violence drew condemnations from Israel’s Arab allies and calls for calm from the United States and Europe and the United Nations. The Arab League scheduled an emergency meeting on Monday.

Early Sunday, the Israeli military said Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a rocket at the country's south that fell in an open area. In response, aircraft struck a military post for Hamas, the militant group ruling the territory. There were no reports of casualties in either attack.

Police chief Koby Shabtai said he had deployed more police in Jerusalem following Friday night's clashes, which left 18 police officers wounded. After weeks of nightly violence, Israelis and Palestinians were bracing for more conflict in the coming days.

“The right to demonstrate will be respected but public disturbances will be met with force and zero tolerance. I call on everyone to act responsibly and with restraint,” Shabtai said.

Saturday night was “Laylat al-Qadr” or the “Night of Destiny,” the most sacred in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Islamic authorities estimated 90,000 people gathered for nighttime prayers at Al-Aqsa, the third-holiest site in Islam.

A large crowd of protesters chanted “God is great” outside the Old City's Damascus Gate, and some pelted police with rocks and water bottles. Police patrols fired stun grenades as they moved through the area, and a police truck periodically fired a water cannon.

Palestinian medics said 64 Palestinians were wounded, mostly by rubber bullets, stun grenades or beatings, among them a woman whose face was bloodied. Eleven people were hospitalized, medics said.

One man with a small boy yelled at the police as they marched by. “You should be ashamed!" he said.

Earlier, police reported clashes in the Old City, near Al-Aqsa, and in the nearby east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, where dozens of Palestinians are fighting attempts by Israeli settlers to evict them from their homes. Police reported several arrests, and said one officer was struck in the face with a rock.

Earlier Saturday, police stopped a convoy of buses that were filled with Arab citizens on the main highway heading to Jerusalem for Ramadan prayers. Israel’s public broadcaster Kan said police stopped the buses for a security check.

Muslims fast from dawn to dusk during Ramadan, and travellers, upset that they were stopped without explanation on a hot day, exited the buses and blocked the highway in protest. Kan showed footage of the protesters praying, chanting slogans and marching along the highway toward Jerusalem. The road was reopened several hours later.

Video: Israeli police, Palestinians clash at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque (cbc.ca)


Ibtasam Maraana, an Arab member of parliament, accused police of a “terrible attack” on freedom of religion. “Police: Remember that they are citizens, not enemies,” she wrote on Twitter.

The current wave of protests broke out at the beginning of Ramadan three weeks ago when Israel restricted gatherings at a popular meeting spot outside Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel removed the restrictions, briefly calming the situation, but protests have reignited in recent days over the threatened evictions in east Jerusalem, which is claimed by both sides in their decades-old conflict.

Other recent developments, including the postponement of Palestinian elections, deadly violence in which a Palestinian teenager, two Palestinian gunmen and a young Israeli man were killed in separate incidents in the West Bank, and the election to Israel’s parliament of a far-right Jewish nationalist party, also have contributed to the tense atmosphere. One right-wing lawmaker, Itamar Ben-Gvir, briefly set up an outdoor “office” in the heart of a Palestinian neighbourhood last week, infuriating residents.

On Sunday evening, Jewish Israelis begin marking “Jerusalem Day,” a national holiday in which Israel celebrates its annexation of east Jerusalem and religious nationalists hold parades and other celebrations in the city. On Monday, an Israeli court is expected to issue a verdict on the planned evictions in Sheikh Jarrah.

Israel captured east Jerusalem, along with the West Bank and Gaza — territories the Palestinians want for their future state — in the 1967 Mideast war.

Israel annexed east Jerusalem in a move not recognized internationally, and views the entire city as its capital. The Palestinians view east Jerusalem — which includes major holy sites for Jews, Christians and Muslims — as their capital, and its fate is one of the most sensitive issues in the conflict.

The Al-Aqsa mosque compound is the third holiest site in Islam. It is also the holiest site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount because it was the location of the biblical temples. It has long been a flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In recent days, protests have grown over Israel's threatened eviction in Sheikh Jarrah of dozens of Palestinians embroiled in a long legal battle with Israeli settlers trying to acquire property in the neighbourhood.

The United States said it was “deeply concerned” about both the violence and the threatened evictions. The so-called Quartet of Mideast peace makers, which includes the U.S., European Union, Russia and United Nations, also expressed concern.

Egypt and Jordan, which made peace with Israel decades ago, condemned Israel's actions, as did the Gulf countries of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, two of the four Arab countries that signed U.S.-brokered normalization agreements with Israel last year. The UAE expressed “strong condemnation” of Israel's storming of Al-Aqsa.

In a call to Palestine TV late Friday, President Mahmoud Abbas praised the “courageous stand” of the protesters and said Israel bore full responsibility for the violence. Abbas last week postponed planned parliamentary elections, citing Israeli restrictions in east Jerusalem for the delay.

Israel's Foreign Ministry had earlier accused the Palestinians of seizing on the threatened evictions, which it described as a “real-estate dispute between private parties,” in order to incite violence.

Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip and opposes Israel's existence, has called for a new intifada, or uprising.

Late Saturday, several dozen protesters gathered along Gaza's volatile frontier with Israel, burning tires and throwing small explosives. Israeli forces fired tear gas at the crowd. No injuries were immediately reported.

In an interview with a Hamas-run TV station, the group's top leader Ismail Haniyeh warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to “play with fire” in Jerusalem.

“Neither you, nor your army and police, can win this battle,” he said.

___

Akram reported from Gaza City, Gaza Strip.

Josef Federman And Fares Akram, The Associated Press

Blaze rips through London tower with same cladding as Grenfell

AFP

Medics treated 44 people on Friday after a fire tore through a London tower block covered in the same cladding blamed for the 2017 Grenfell Tower tragedy that killed 72.

© Tolga Akmen Firefighters brought the blaze in east London under control

London Fire Brigade said the blaze in Poplar, east London, was under control but two men were taken to hospital with smoke inhalation and a further 38 adults and four children treated at the scene.

Twenty fire engines tackled the fire at the 19-storey block of flats near the Canary Wharf financial district, with reports that parts of the eighth, ninth and 10th floors were alight.

The blaze evoked memories of the 2017 tragedy, when Grenfell Tower in west London was completely gutted after the cladding on the outside of the building caught fire.

Around 20 percent of the facade of the tower block in Friday's fire features aluminium composite material polyethylene cladding panels, which were found to be a key factor in the Grenfell fire.




Survivors and relatives of those who died at Grenfell said Friday that "enough is enough".

"The government promised to remove dangerous cladding by June 2020 -- it has completely failed its own target and every day that goes by lives are at risk," support group Grenfell United said in a statement.

"Today more people have lost their homes in another terrifying fire."

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said it was "vital that government, developers, building owners and regional authorities work together to urgently remove the cladding from every affected building."

Work to replace the cladding was already "under way", according to building developer Ballymore.

jwp/phz/bp

NO SURPRISE HE IS A WHITE SUPREMACIST

Maxime Bernier uttered racist slur about Jagmeet Singh, according to statement filed in court

Elizabeth Thompson 

CBC 7/5/2021

© Adrian Wyld / Canadian Press People's Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier is suing political strategist Warren Kinsella for defamation.

People's Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier once discounted NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh's chances of winning a seat in the House of Commons by saying he'd "never get elected with that rag on his head," according to an affidavit filed recently in an Ottawa court case.

In a separate affidavit, however, Bernier says that he's not a racist and that the affidavit is the only eyewitness account of him "supposedly saying something racist" filed by the lawyer for political strategist Warren Kinsella.

Bernier said Kinsella was hired to paint him and the People's Party of Canada as racist to draw support away from his fledgling party during the last election.

The allegations and counter-allegations are part of hundreds of pages of affidavits and exhibits filed recently in Ontario Superior Court in an acrimonious defamation suit that pits Bernier against Kinsella.

In October 2019, it was reported that Kinsella's Daisy Group had been hired in the months prior to the 2019 federal election to mount Project Cactus, a campaign to draw attention to xenophobic or racist comments made by People's Party of Canada (PPC) candidates or their supporters.

At the time, a source said that Daisy Group had been hired by the Conservative Party of Canada. In a recent affidavit, however, Kinsella said the client was a lawyer who was a member of the Conservative Party — not the party itself.

In February 2020, Bernier sued Kinsella and Daisy Group for defamation, alleging that the campaign damaged his reputation.

In an affidavit filed by Kinsella's lawyer dated April 15, former Conservative communications adviser Matthew Conway describes what he said was an incident involving Bernier in February 2018, when Bernier was still a Conservative Party critic.

Conway said he was standing with Bernier in the House of Commons' foyer, waiting for him to go on television to comment on the budget, when Singh walked by.

 Ben Nelms/CBC NDP leader Jagmeet Singh celebrates after his election victory in Burnaby South on Oct. 21, 2019.

"When Mr. Singh entered the foyer, Mr. Bernier said, referring to Mr. Singh, 'Il ne se fera jamais élire avec ce torchon sur sa tête,'" wrote Conway. He translated the phrase into English as, "He'll never get elected with that rag on his head."

The affidavit claims that, a few minutes later, Bernier asked what Singh was "doing with that knife," referring to Singh's kirpan — the sacred ceremonial dagger that observant Sikhs are supposed to wear at all times.

"Both of these comments made me nervous," Conway wrote in his affidavit. "Not only did I consider them to be offensive and racist, but I was concerned, in my role as a communications adviser, that members of the press who were nearby may have overheard the comments

In an affidavit dated May 3, Bernier calls into question Conway's account.

"This is the only eyewitness account of me supposedly saying something racist ever offered by Mr. Kinsella, and it comes from someone connected to the party that paid Kinsella for 'Project Cactus' and stands to benefit if Mr. Kinsella is vindicated," Bernier wrote. "It is the only eyewitness claim of me making a racist statement that Kinsella has included in his motion material."

The statements made by both sides in the dispute have not yet been tested in a court of law.

While Bernier went on to lose his seat in the Quebec riding of Beauce in the 2019 election, Singh won the British Columbia riding of Burnaby South.

Bernier's lawyer Andre Marin declined to comment when reached by CBC News.

The documents filed recently in court are the latest twist in a tale that began in October 2019 when a source told media outlets about Project Cactus.

At the time, a source told CBC News that the campaign was funded by the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) — something that then-Conservative leader Andrew Scheer refused to confirm or deny.

In his affidavit dated April 15, however, Kinsella said that "Daisy was not hired by the CPC."

"Rather, for a six-week period ending June 29, 2019, a lawyer who was a member of the CPC paid Daisy to supplement work Daisy was already doing about the PPC," Kinsella wrote. "Daisy did not take direction from the lawyer or submit any work for his review or comment."

By wrapping up the work by June 29 — the date after which pre-election spending would have to be declared — the money spent to hire Daisy Group did not have to be reported to Elections Canada.

© CBC/Lisa Xing Political strategist Warren Kinsella is asking the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to throw out a defamation suit launched by People's Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier.

In a recording of a Daisy Group meeting — which was leaked to CBC News in November 2019 by a source who attended the meeting and asked not to be named — Kinsella said "Hamish and Walsh" would start to ask what Daisy Group was delivering if they don't start "spilling some blood."

Hamish Marshall, who was the Conservatives' 2019 federal election campaign manager, has a background in marketing. John Walsh, a former president of the Conservative Party who was co-chair of the 2019 election campaign, is a lawyer.

At the time, Walsh refused to comment on Daisy Group's work on Project Cactus. Walsh did not return a phone call from CBC News this week.

Bernier's defamation suit is seeking $325,000 in damages. In his affidavit, he encourages the court to "curb dirty political tricks."

"My reputation suffered serious harm," Bernier wrote, adding he needed a chance to clear his name in court so that voters will know he has "been a target of paid defamation and dirty tricks."

Kinsella has applied to have Bernier's defamation lawsuit thrown out, arguing it is a "strategic lawsuit against public participation" (SLAPP) suit. SLAPP suits are those used to intimidate or silence critics.

The motion to dismiss the case is scheduled to be heard by the court in June.

Elizabeth Thompson can be reached at elizabeth.thompson@cbc.ca.

Jagmeet Singh Responds To A Former MP Allegedly Calling His Turban A 'Rag'

Lisa Belmonte 

It has been alleged that Jagmeet Singh's turban was called a "rag" by a former MP, and the NDP leader responded.

© Provided by Narcity

He posted a series of tweets in response to that allegation and said he's "no stranger to hate" but this isn't about him, "it's about systemic racism in the halls of power and having the courage to confront it."

Singh noted that the situation runs deeper than allegations of racial slurs, and that the problem isn't that someone called his turban a rag.

"It's about how we treat one another," he said. He continued by saying that, for this reason, he will "never back down" or stop fighting.

In 2019, Singh was told that he should cut off his turban to "look more like a Canadian." He responded by saying, "I think Canadians look like all sorts of people. That's the beauty of Canada."

THE NEW COLD WAR/RED SCARE 2.0

China-based chain says rows of surveillance cameras in Canadian restaurants for security, not spying

Tom Blackwell 

The photos posted online show rows of surveillance cameras, their apparent focus the dining area of Canadian restaurants owned by a popular China-based chain.

© Provided by National Post Surveillance cameras — about one per table — can be seen on the ceiling of a Haidilao Hot Pot restaurant in Markham, Ont.

The company, Haidilao International Holding, says its video equipment is there to ensure everyone’s safety and security — not, as a recent report suggested, to track staff and customers on behalf of authorities in Beijing.

But the cameras, installed by a business whose home government employs surveillance pervasively, are sparking concern among Canadian critics of the People’s Republic, and interest from the federal privacy commissioner.

Haidilao may intend to use the equipment just for security purposes, said Ivy Li of Canadian Friends of Hong Kong. But Chinese law requires its companies to co-operate with security services if requested — and makes all firms subject to the controversial “social-credit” monitoring system, she noted.

“The possibility that someone (in China) could take that data and use it, that is a concern,” said Li. “We have (Chinese) businesses here that operate directly subject to the corporate credit-score system. They become, whether wittingly or unwittingly, part of the Chinese security system.”

In fact, a 2018 Canadian Security Intelligence Service report on an academic workshop warned that under the social-credit system “data can be collected on companies and individuals abroad, posing a challenge for countries not wishing to be part of a Chinese system of social control.”

The federal privacy commissioner’s office has not looked into the matter, but will “follow up” with Haidilao, said spokesman Vito Pilieci this week after being contacted by the National Post.

Meanwhile, Haidilao, which has four outlets in the Toronto and Vancouver areas, strongly refuted the article by a Canadian journalist and a military-intelligence veteran alleging video from the cameras was being sent back to China as part of the social-credit program.

“There is no audio recording and no facial recognition function,” said Haidilao spokesman Yang Xibei. “The recorded video is stored on-site only and does not get transmitted or backed up to anywhere outside Canada. Haidilao Canada has no connection with China’s social credit program.”

The article, which quoted a manager of the Vancouver location as saying the two cameras per table were there to “people track” and “punish” errant employees, was defamatory, the firm charged. Haidilao abides by all applicable laws here, Yang said.

But freelance journalist Ina Mitchell and the recent article’s co-author, Scott McGregor , a former military intelligence officer and intelligence advisor to the RCMP, said they stand by their story. It was based on a formal, recorded interview with the restaurant manager, a follow-up call and “other testimony,” said Mitchell.

For security reasons, Yang said he could not comment on the quantity or location of the video gear. But photos on a website for the Markham, Ont., restaurant — some of which have now been removed — show what appear to be at least 25 cameras in the ceilings, about one per table below.

Even if they are just meant to prevent theft and other crimes as the company maintains, that seems like “overkill,” said Cheuk Kwan, spokesman for the Toronto Association for Democracy in China.

“This is beyond having CCTV going in and going out of a restaurant,” he said. “This is people maybe holding hands under the table, or whatever they’re doing, and not wanting other people to find out.”

Citing the rise in anti-Asian hate incidents recently, Kwan stressed that the issue concerns a China-based chain, not restaurants run by Chinese Canadians.

B.C.’s information and privacy commissioner can’t comment on specific situations in case they become the subject of a complaint, said spokesman Noel Bovin. But the province’s Personal Information Protection Act requires businesses to obtain consent before collecting, using or disclosing personal information, he noted.

Overt video surveillance should only be used as a last resort after trying less intrusive options, says a commission document .

“Organizations need to consider whether video surveillance will achieve the intended purpose and whether the concerns are serious enough to warrant implementing this highly invasive technology.”

With headquarters in Beijing, Haidilao International Holding Ltd. owns 935 restaurants from Australia to the U.S., cheerful places where diners cook meat and vegetables in pots of bubbling broth

© Peter J. Thompson/National Post “The recorded video is stored on-site only and does not get transmitted or backed up to anywhere outside Canada,” a spokesman for Haidilao says.

But it was born in a country where the government uses technology to monitor people on a massive scale. China employs an estimated 200 to 600 million closed-circuit cameras, producing eight of the 10 most surveillance-heavy cities in the world, according to the consumer research site Comparitech .

The omnipresent video is coupled with widespread use of facial recognition software. The People’s Daily tweeted in 2018 that the government’s “Skynet” facial-recognition system could scan China’s 1.4 billion people in a second.

Then there is the social-credit system Beijing is building, where citizens are given ratings based on their “trustworthiness,” with privileges like access to train tickets denied for those with too many demerits. Video and facial-recognition is expected to play a part, while private companies like Haidilao are already subject to a more advanced, parallel social credit system for corporations.

The Canadian writers’ article in the Indian newspaper Sunday Guardian quoted a manager of Haidilao’s Vancouver restaurant as saying its cameras were part of social credit, used against staff who didn’t follow corporate standards and to people track.

The company’s B.C. operation did not respond to a phone message from the Post.

From corporate headquarters, Yang said the story was false and the employee misquoted. The company has hired lawyers to look into the matter, he said. The video equipment is to protect staff and customers from robbery, theft and vandalism, said Yang.

“Closed circuit camera systems are standard in almost every business directly serving the public, and there are video surveillance signs posted throughout the restaurant.”

(Modified May 7 10:14 a.m. to clarify nature of CSIS report.)

• Email: tblackwell@postmedia.com | Twitter: tomblackwellNP

ABOUT TIME
Alberta gets court injunction against planned anti-COVID-19 health order protests

EDMONTON — The Alberta government says it has taken legal action to stop any planned protests of COVID-19 public health orders, including one at a central Alberta cafe that was closed for not following the rules.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

On Wednesday, Alberta Health Services closed the Whistle Stop Cafe in the hamlet of Mirror until its owner can demonstrate the ability to comply with health restrictions.

The agency says it had received more than 400 complaints against the business since January.

Alberta Health Services says it has been granted a pre-emptive court injunction against a planned protest by the cafe owner and supporters.

It says it also has received a court order against all other organizers of advertised illegal gatherings and rallies breaching COVID-19 public health orders.

There is an ad promoting a rally this weekend at the cafe in Mirror called "The Save Alberta Campout Protest."

The ad says the event is a response to "harmful restrictions" imposed by Premier Jason Kenney, Health Minister Tyler Shandro, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta's chief medical officer of health, and "the United Conservative Party caucus' ongoing attack on the rights and freedoms of the people of Alberta."

Video: Alberta promises more enforcement of public health rules (cbc.ca)

Alberta Health Services says the court order restrains the cafe owner and others from organizing, promoting and attending the event.

"AHS has taken this step due to the ongoing risk to Albertans created by those breaching COVID-19 public health restrictions and advertising social gatherings which, if held, breach current and active CMOH Orders and pose a risk to public health," the agency said in a release Thursday.

"AHS strongly condemns the intentional disobeying of COVID-19 public health restrictions,"

The agency says with COVID-19 cases increasing in the province, including the more easily transmitted and potentially more severe variants, there is urgent need to minimize spread to protect all Albertans.

Last weekend, hundreds of people gathered near Bowden, also in central Alberta, for a pre-advertised maskless "No More Lockdowns'' protest rodeo.

Days later, the premier announced stronger restrictions and doubled fines for scofflaws

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 6, 2021

The Canadian Press

Long-time Edmonton politician Amarjeet Sohi hasn’t decided if he will run for mayor in the upcoming election, contrary to a news report Thursday.

© Provided by Edmonton Journal Former member of Parliament and Edmonton city councillor Amarjeet Sohi said is considering running for mayor in the upcoming Edmonton municipal election, but hasn't made a final decision.

Sohi, a former member of Parliament and city councillor, told Postmedia Thursday afternoon he was surprised to see an article by The Hill Times citing anonymous sources that he would be officially entering the race to be Edmonton’s mayor race this month.

Instead, Sohi said he is “seriously considering” a run for mayor but hasn’t made a decision. He said he is continuing to engage with residents on what they would like to see in a leader and has no timeline for an announcement either way.

“I’ve lived in Edmonton for 40 years and I love our city and we have faced a number of difficult challenges over the last few years, particularly over the last 14 months living through a pandemic and we’re still living through that. But I also believe that coming out of this pandemic we will continue to face significant challenges as well as opportunities, so that is why I’m seriously considering to run to be Edmonton’s next mayor,” Sohi said. “It’s a huge, huge responsibility and I want to continue to engage with more Edmontonians over the next while to understand their priorities and what their ambitions are about our city. But I am deeply committed to our city and I want to play my part in providing that leadership.”

Sohi was elected as Ward 12 city councillor for three terms starting in 2007 before resigning in 2015 to run federally. He then served as the Liberal member of Parliament for Edmonton Mill Woods and took on the roles of minister of natural resources and minister of infrastructure and communities before losing his seat in the 2019 election.

If Sohi does enter the mayor’s race, he will join three other candidates who have served on Edmonton city council. Mayor Don Iveson announced last November he would not be running for a third time leaving an open race for the mayor’s chair. Current Ward 11 Coun. Mike Nickel is running for mayor for the third time ADVERTISING IN THE FAR RIGHT RAG WESTERN STADARD and former councillors Kim Krushell and Michael Oshry have confirmed their candidacy.

Cheryll Watson, Diana Steele, Brian Gregg, Rick Comrie, Abdul Malik Chukwudi and Augustine Marah have also registered, bringing the number of confirmed candidates to nine.

Aspiring candidates for both mayor and the 12 councillor seats have until Sept. 30 to officially register. Edmontonians will go to the polls on Oct. 18.

duscook@postmedia.com

twitter.com/dustin_cook3

USA DUMPING

Millions of Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses made at a Baltimore plant are reportedly being held across Europe, Africa, and Canada as a precaution

acooban@businessinsider.com (Anna Cooban)  

© Photo by Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images Emergent BioSolutions disposed of 15 million doses of J&J vaccine in March Photo by Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images

Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses are on hold in Europe, Africa, and Canada, the New York Times reported.

The doses were produced in a Baltimore plant around the time some batches were contaminated.

Emergent BioSolutions had to discard 15 million J&J doses in March after the incident.

Millions of doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine are sitting unused across three continents as national regulators assess their safety, The New York Times has reported.


Health officials across Europe, Africa and in Canada are reviewing batches of the J&J vaccine manufactured at a Baltimore plant after some were found in March to be contaminated by portions of a harmless version of the virus that is used to make the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is also manufactured at the plant.

Emergent BioSolutions, the biopharma company running the facility, had to dispose of up to 15 million doses after the incident.

An estimated six to nine million doses are on hold worldwide because they were manufactured during the time of the original contamination in February, according to the NYT.

Regulators in the EU, Canada and South Africa have said there was no evidence to show the doses they received were contaminated, but they required further testing. Some doses from a batch produced at the site are being used in Europe.

The Food and Drug Administration has not approved doses produced at Emergent's plant for use in the US, and did not say whether it had helped ship doses to other countries when asked by the NYT.

"In general, individual importing countries determine if a product meets that country's standards for importation," an FDA spokeswoman said in a statement to the NYT.

The pause threatens to slow down the vaccination programs of countries relying on the J&J vaccine, such as South Africa, which stopped using AstraZeneca's vaccine in February after a study suggested it offered "minimal protection" against a COVID-19 variant spreading through the country.

South Africa has one of the lowest vaccination rates of any country, while Europe and Canada also use vaccines by AstraZeneca, Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech to make up for a shortfall of J&J shots.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Researchers work to authenticate Titanic passenger’s message in a bottle

Duration: 01:49 


A message in a bottle found on a beach at the Bay of Fundy in 2017 could actually be a letter written by a 13-year-old girl who was on the Titanic. Experts are studying it to confirm, but they believe it's possible the letter is authentic.

Tories accused of politicizing education

Nearly 15 years after he was hired by Manitoba Education, John Finch retired as a public servant this year — earlier than planned — because of his concerns about the growing politicization of the department in charge of K-12 schooling.

Finch, 56, worked in consultant, managerial, and co-ordinator roles during his career in the department; most recently, he was in charge of learning support and technology, a unit responsible for all curricular areas outside of numeracy and literacy.

He left his post in early January, two months before the Pallister government released the kindergarten to Grade 12 review, an action plan to address it, and Bill 64 (Education Modernization Act).

“I really wasn’t seeing the values that I had reflected in the department any longer; there’s no educators in the senior ranks,” he told the Free Press.

“Assistant deputy ministers have traditionally been educators, but that’s not the case now, and so you have people that don’t necessarily understand how schools function making the decisions on what should happen within schools.”

Finch, who got his start in education as a public school teacher, had planned to retire in a year’s time, but said the prioritization of policy over educational philosophy, in part, prompted an earlier leave. He sees Bill 64, which aims to overhaul the existing school governance model, as a political decision rather than one related to curriculum or education management.

“I can’t think of anyone in the education department who would think about removing elected trustees from the education milieu of Manitoba. It’s something that I think took everybody by surprise. It certainly did not come from the education department. It wasn’t even in the K-12 review,” Finch said.

The commission tasked with examining all things education recommended the province downsize its school board roster into six to eight regional boards, and create both appointed and elected trustee positions for them.

Instead, the province wants to replace all 37 English boards with a centralized authority run by government appointees who will oversee 15 regions. The new model will allow for administrative services to be streamlined. It also calls for approximately $40 million in the $2.5-billion education budget to be redirected to classrooms, according to Education Minister Cliff Cullen.

Amalgamation of some kind makes sense, Finch said, but what has been proposed — Winnipeg as a single region with more than 100,000 students, 41 times the size of the smallest region, a combination of Evergreen and Lakeshore — “makes absolutely no sense from a management perspective.”

“Hanover, Seine River, the areas that were (not) combined have a political perspective that would match the government perspective,” he added.

The contents of the legislation only reinforce his worry that major curriculum developments in the works could be subject to political involvement, given various new advisory councils made up of external appointees will be created to consult on everything from curriculum to funding.

The challenges the department faced in overseeing dozens of entities during the COVID-19 pandemic are being used as rationale for change.

Finch, however, said divisions were “far more responsive” in comparison to government-led efforts, which require a time-consuming approval process, when it came to everything from setting up remote learning to providing nutrition support.

“Some of the school divisions, for example, went way beyond what we ever had envisioned — Winnipeg School Division was using their culinary arts kitchens to send meals to students at home, to the magnitude of a couple thousand per day,” said Finch, who worked on the department’s COVID-19 nutrition program. “The response that we had for the home nutrition learning program didn’t come close, and it took three months for our nutrition program to get off the ground.”

He credits Deputy Education Minister Dana Rudy for playing a key co-ordination role in communicating with superintendents about their needs throughout the pandemic, but said he doubts scrapping agile divisions will result in a more responsive system.

Rudy was executive director and chief allied health officer of Winnipeg Regional Health Authority before she moved to Manitoba Education in February 2020 — one month before the province was originally scheduled to release the K-12 review. The current assistant deputy minister’s résumé includes leadership roles in the families and finance departments.

Cullen, who is in charge of the education portfolio, has a background in agricultural and environmental sectors.

In a prepared statement Thursday, he said, “We know not everyone will agree with decisions made by their current elected government.

“The role of Manitoba Education is to provide leadership and oversight to the system and ensure a consistent standard of high-quality education is available to all students across the province. The strategic direction for the education system set by the department is grounded in educational philosophy and informed by expert advice including that from educators.”

The education minister added the province is confident in the qualifications and credentials of its dedicated ministry staff and will continue to engage educators on the future of the public school system.

Meantime, Finch said he hopes there is some “sober second thought” about the changes on the table.

“We have a really good education system in the province and the way that it’s being characterized… it’s basically saying, ‘(Teachers), you’re not doing your job so government is going to step in and make it better,’ without really specifying how they’re going to make it better.”

Maggie Macintosh, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Winnipeg Free Press

After 4 years, bill requiring sexual assault training for new judges becomes law

A long-awaited bill that would require prospective judges to undergo training in sexual assault law was finally adopted by the Senate Thursday, clearing the way for it to be officially added to the federal Judges Act and Criminal Code

  

© Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press A gavel sits on a desk in Ottawa, Wednesday February 13, 2019.

Bill C-3 quickly received royal assent after passing through third reading in the Senate. The bill officially became law once the Speaker of the House of Commons was informed shortly afterwards.

The bill, which will also require judges to commit to continued education in how systemic racism and discrimination factors into assault cases, unanimously passed the House last November.

Read more: Rona Ambrose’s judicial sex assault law training bill gets 2nd shot as Liberals retable

It began as a private members bill introduced in February 2017 by former interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose, which the Liberal government supported.

The bill had made it all the way to the Senate in May 2017, but it was held up there for two years and ultimately failed to pass before the 2019 federal election.

Justice Minister David Lametti reintroduced it as a government bill in February 2020 with amendments that senators had proposed to Ambrose's bill. But he then had to reintroduce it again last fall after Parliament was prorogued by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in late August.

Reintroduction of bill requiring sexual assault law training for judges to break down myths, stereotypes: Lametti

Lametti had urged the Senate in March to pass the bill quickly and avoid adding further amendments that he feared would doom the bill once again.

"This bill sends a clear message to all survivors of sexual assault, and to all Canadians," Lametti said on Twitter after the bill passed the Senate.

"The justice system must serve you fairly and respectfully. Sexual assault cases will be heard without the influence of myths and prejudices."

He thanked Ambrose for her "support and cooperation" as the bill wound its way through Parliament.

MPs working across party lines to pass bill that aims for mandatory sexual assault law training for Canadian federal judge

Trudeau says Conservatives ‘played politics’ with Rona Ambrose’s proposed legislation

The idea that judges need added training to hear sexual assault cases was driven by rulings that critics have said relied on stereotypes about victims of sexual abuse.

The bill would also require the Canadian Judicial Council to report on continuing education seminars offered on matters related to sexual assault law and social context.

It also amends the Criminal Code to require judges to put their reasons for decisions in sexual assault proceedings on the record.

— With files from the Canadian Press

Judges' sexual assault training bill receives royal assent after clearing the Senate

OTTAWA — Rona Ambrose says she had no idea it would take so long and require such determination to see that new judges are properly trained in sexual assault law.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Four years and three attempts later, Bill C-3 received royal assent in Parliament on Thursday evening.

The legislation will require new federally appointed judges to agree to take training, including learning about rape myths and stereotypes and how to make sure biases about race, gender and other social factors do not influence their decisions.

It will also require judges to put their reasons on the record when ruling on sexual assault cases.

The legislation originated as a private member's bill that Ambrose presented in 2017 while she was interim Conservative leader, but after it received cross-partisan support in the House of Commons, it stalled in the Senate.

Ambrose said there were certain senators who purposely tried to hold up the bill with the intent of quashing it. These individuals, whom she did not name, posed questions and made statements about the bill that she says were sexist and misogynistic.

"There were senators who knew that they could hold it up. They said things like, 'This will sway the legal system in favour of victims,' which was the most bizarre thing I've ever heard because it was just about education, and things like, 'This is just another part of the Me Too movement,' " she said in an interview Friday.

"It was misogyny, without a doubt. Sexism and misogyny, and from corners I didn't expect."

The Liberal government supported her original bill, but because of the stalling tactics employed in the Senate, it died when Parliament was dissolved for the 2019 election.

The Liberals revived it last year, making it a government bill that could not be killed in the Red Chamber.

Justice Minister David Lametti said the new law will help ensure survivors of sexual assault are treated with respect and dignity in their interactions with the criminal justice system.

"We expect that these changes will have a broad and positive impact that reach beyond sexual assault matters," he said Friday.

"Judges will benefit from new tools and perspectives that they can apply in all of their work."

Lametti gave full credit to Ambrose for championing the passage of this legislation, which she has continued to do even though she is no longer involved in federal politics.

"Rona's ongoing support and collaboration were important to getting this bill through the parliamentary process, and I wanted to thank her, personally, for her commitment to this issue and to this legislation."

Looking back over the long road to royal assent, Ambrose said she was emotional when she learned the bill had finally passed.

Her thoughts were with the victims of sexual assault who have reached out to her over the last four years, many of whom disclosed their painful experiences, including triggering and re-victimizing ordeals within the justice system.

It was these women's stories that kept her driven to ensure federal judges are properly applying Canada's laws when it comes to sexual assault and rape victims.

"This isn't the be-all and end-all that's going to solve all kinds of things, this is just a small thing that we needed to do, but it's incredible that a small thing took so long to get done," Ambrose said.

"Because the truth is institutions are pretty opaque at times. We're seeing that with the military now too and with the RCMP — there are a lot of great things about our institutions, but willingness to reform themselves is not one of them."

The bill was sparked by some high-profile rulings that led to public outcry. Alberta judge Robin Camp asked a sexual-assault complainant in 2014 why she couldn't keep her knees together; Halifax judge Gregory Lenehan said "a drunk can consent" while acquitting a taxi driver of sexual assault on a passenger in 2017.

Camp resigned from the bench after the Canadian Judicial Council eventually recommended he be removed. Lenehan was cleared of misconduct, though a committee examining his decision said his words were "ill-considered."

The new law will only apply to federally-appointed judges and training will not be mandatory for those already on the bench, in order to respect the principle of judicial independence.

However, the training will be available for all judges who wish to take it, Lametti said.

"We can't force judges who are currently sitting to undergo training, but we do hope that this will create a positive environment to receive that training, and hopefully we will, with time in particular, have a much better-equipped bench that will instill confidence in Canadians."

Some provinces have begun taking steps toward adopting similar mandated or voluntary training programs for judges, including Prince Edward Island, which passed legislation in 2018, and Saskatchewan, which committed to developing a training program for judges, lawyers and other justice system professionals in 2019.

Ambrose said she hopes all the provinces and territories will pass legislation similar to the new federal law, although she is aware of intense push back from the legal and judicial community in many jurisdictions that has made this challenging.

She plans to continue working with any province that wish to make courtrooms a safer and more sensitive place for victims.

"Some of the things that judges have said and some of the mistakes that they've made are just unacceptable for people who hold those positions," Ambrose said.

"To me, the easiest way to rectify that is to make sure they have the right education and training, so yeah, I'm going to keep pushing for it at the provincial level because that's where a lot of these cases are."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 7, 2021.

The Canadian Press