Watchdog: Trump officials ignored warnings about family separations

The inspector general for the Department of Health and Human Services

said senior Trump administration officials failed to prepare for migrant

 family separations, making the reunification process more complicated. 

File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo

March 5 (UPI) -- Senior Health and Human Services Department officials didn't act on staff's warnings of an increase in family separations at the border, leaving the department unable to provide adequate care for separated migrant children, a watchdog report released Thursday said.

The HHS inspector general's office conducted the study in response to the Trump administration's so-called zero-tolerance policy implemented in spring 2018 in which all adults accused of illegally crossing the southern border were prosecuted. Because of that, officials separated children from their detained parents and housed them at facilities across the United States.

Court battles later required the federal government to reunify migrant children with their parents. The inspector general's office said it investigated how the government responded to the zero-tolerance policy and the order to reunite families.

It found that a lack of communication across interagency channels meant there was a lack of planning for how to handle a larger number of children separated from their parents.

RELATED Court allows Trump administration to block migrants in Texas, N.M.

This "left the department unable to provide prompt and appropriate care for separated children when the zero-tolerance policy was implemented," the report said.

"Further, because no procedures or systems had been established to track separated families across HHS and [the Department of Homeland Security] for later reunification, HHS struggled to identify separated children."

One Office of Refugee Resettlement staff member told inspector general investigators they noticed an increase in children being separated from their parents a full year before zero-tolerance became the Trump administration's official policy.

RELATED Supreme Court weighs due process rights of asylum seekers

"I said ORR was seeing much higher levels of separation, and that those separations were impacting particularly babies and young children," the staffer said. "I said this so many times that I was called a broken record.

Another ORR staffer told the inspector general: "I told them it was going to traumatize children to separate them unnecessarily. I said that to anyone I could."

HHS officials declined to act on the warnings, though, the inspector general report said.

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During the reunification process, the inspector general report said it found "significant operational challenges," which were complicated by poor guidance from the HHS. Manual processes made the reunification vulnerable to error, the report said.

The report recommended that the HHS take steps to prioritize children's interests and well-being. The agency also recommended the department enter into formal agreements with the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice to ensure better communication going forward.

The inspector general based its findings on case reviews, more than 5,000 documents, and interviews with staff, officials and provider facilities.

RELATED Federal court blocks 'Remain in Mexico' immigration policy

Exclusive: Guatemala seeks to limit migrants returned under U.S. asylum agreement


GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Guatemala’s new government is trying to limit the number of foreign migrants the United States sends its way under an agreement that makes the Central American nation a buffer zone to reduce U.S. asylum claims.


The United States has sent hundreds of Honduran and El Salvadoran asylum seekers to Guatemala under the agreement implemented in November and is now seeking to expand the program.

However, Guatemala’s priority in ongoing talks with U.S. officials is to make sure the number sent back daily does not exceed its “very limited” capacity to process new arrivals, deputy foreign minister Eduardo Hernandez told Reuters.

“We have only one runway” and one migrant reception center, Hernandez said in an interview last week. The agreement “cannot exceed our installed capacity.”


As it stands, the deal is one of a series of overlapping measures the Trump administration sees as key to bringing down irregular migration into the United States. U.S. President Donald Trump has made his performance on controlling immigration a plank of his 2020 re-election campaign.

Known as an Asylum Cooperative Agreement and signed by the previous Guatemalan government, the deal is similar to the safe third country agreement under which asylum seekers who pass through Canada must apply for refuge there rather than in the United States.

Critics of the arrangement, and similar U.S. deals with Honduras and El Salvador, say those countries do not offer adequate conditions for protecting at-risk migrants and that their asylum systems are too rudimentary to cope.

Under President Alejandro Giammattei, who took office in January, the Guatemalan government has promised to give more information about the deal, which was negotiated behind closed doors and was only partially made public.

Hernandez said the government was working with U.S. counterparts to produce clear implementation rules governing issues such as how many families with children Guatemala accepts, whether to extend the deal to more nationalities, and how many foreign asylum seekers it would take per day.

“If it is possible, we want to add an annex, something succinct, simple, direct, clear and that leaves no space for interpretation,” he told Reuters last week.

Under the initial agreement, the United States agreed to only include individual adults, but Hernandez said it was later extended to include families with children.

Casa de Migrante, a non-governmental shelter that receives the returned foreign migrants, say pregnant women and young children showing signs of chronic stress were among the people U.S. officials had placed in the program.

Data released by the Guatemalan Immigration Institute, a government agency, show that through March 3 a total of 789 people have been returned, including 311 children.

The Trump administration on Thursday announced it set aside 10,000 H2-B temporary non-agricultural work visas for Guatemalans, El Salvadorans and Hondurans, as part of a broader expansion of such visas.

The nationality-specific set-aside is unusual for such programs, and appeared to be in recognition of the asylum deals.

The deal with Honduras could be implemented imminently, acting U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark Morgan said on Thursday. Morgan said the United States continued to negotiate to increase the number of asylum seekers taken by Guatemala.

Guatemala court overturns government's civil society restrictions

MARCH 6, 2020 

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Guatemala’s government on Friday said it will respect a ruling by the nation’s Constitutional Court that overturns a law allowing the government to pry into the affairs of and even dissolve non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Congress passed the law on Feb. 12 with the support of the ruling party and other conservative lawmakers who argue that foreign-backed NGOs violate national sovereignty.

The law had been questioned by the United States and human rights groups. The U.S. State Department had described the bill as putting “onerous” requirements on NGOs in Guatemala, saying such groups play key roles in functioning democracies.

Several civil rights organizations sued to overturn the law, saying it violated human rights. The court sided with the organizations.

The law forced NGOs to register, report their donations and allow their accounts to be inspected. Under certain circumstances, it would also allow NGOs to be dissolved, controlled and monitored.

“We will respect the ruling and call on Guatemalans to unite, to promote a culture of transparency, prosperity and development,” Guatemala’s government said.

Although the court’s ruling is provisional if Congress and the government want to re-impose the rules, the legislative process would need to start from scratch, former congressional legislative director Ana Isabel Antillon told Reuters.

Governments around the world, including Turkey and India, in recent years have made regulations more burdensome for civil society groups. In 2019, rights group Amnesty International released a report warning of a “global assault” on NGOs.

In Guatemala, civil society has often been at odds with governments, the army and business groups by seeking justice for victims of a 36-year-long civil war, as well as supporting anti-corruption efforts and peasant farmer and land-rights activists.

Migrants are boon for poor Roma villagers on Turkey-Greece border

BOOMTOWN ON THE BORDERLANDS

KARAAGAC, Turkey (Reuters) - For members of the Roma minority in the Turkish village of Karaagac on the border with Greece, the arrival of thousands of migrants desperately seeking to cross into the European Union could not have been better news.

Sevgi Katirci rides a horse cart in the town of Karaagac near the Turkish-Greek border in Edirne, Turkey, March 6, 2020. REUTERS/Joseph Nasr

Poor and living mainly from cultivating their gardens and collecting cardboard and plastics for recycling, Roma families are now looking to cash in catering to the needs of 4,000 migrants now in a makeshift tent camp at the frontier.

Farmers set up stands selling everything from tomatoes and cucumbers to quince and pomegranate. Others sold mineral water, bread, yoghurt and tinned teapots.

A few turned their horse-drawn carts into taxis to ferry exhausted migrants and their shopping to the border.


Among all the Roma scrambling to make more money on the edge of the village overlooking fields and a dirt road running to the Pazarkule border crossing, teenager Sevgi Katirci stood out.

She was the only woman riding a horse cart and her clients were solely men. Wearing a green jacket and black jeans, she would gracefully whip her horse and race to the border as her passengers held tight.

“The migrants are here today, but they could be gone tomorrow,” said her father Mehmet, operating his own cart and watching his hard-working daughter with pride. “So we have to make the best of it.”

Like many children of Roma in Turkey, Sevgi doesn’t go to school. Her work helps her family earn about 150 Turkish liras ($25) a day, charging 10-15 liras per passenger.


The Roma and their foreign clients have turned the dirt road to the border into a multicultural market where migrants compare notes on their experiences and discuss what to do next.

Hassan Tunai, who was selling water bottles, fruit juice and yoghurt, said earning money from the migrants left him with a bad feeling.

“I wish it would not be like this,” he said, wearing sunglasses and hoisting the Turkish flag on his stand. “When we see them (the migrants), the money that we earned loses its meaning. It does not make us happy.”

5 March 2020

Migrants prepare for the coming night in a forest in the buffer zone at the Turkey-Greece border a crossing point

AFP/Getty

In Canada, doctors broadened coronavirus testing, and made an unlikely save
TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada’s official guidance on the novel coronavirus has been to test patients who recently traveled to affected areas, but some doctors and hospitals have expanded testing on their own, finding the first in a series of patients linked to Iran before the scale of the Iranian outbreak was known.


FILE PHOTO: Staff and visitors walk past a sign indicating to

 wash hands on the elevator doors at the Jewish General Hospital

 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada March 2, 2020. 

REUTERS/Christinne Muschi/File Photo

The Canadian approach, which let front-line staff exercise judgment in looking for the virus, diverged from the United States, which said only on Tuesday that any American could be tested.

One unlikely catch was British Columbia’s sixth patient, a woman in her 30s whose test results were announced on Feb. 20. She had recently traveled from Iran, but as the country had only disclosed its first cases on Feb. 19, she would not have been flagged under federal guidelines in use at the time.

But the woman had been on multiple international flights, so a clinician in Vancouver tested anyway, said the province’s health officer Bonnie Henry at a recent press conference.

“We have always said that if a clinician has a concern about somebody and they have symptoms that could be COVID-19, that we would allow that testing,” she said.

The day after the case was found, Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief medical officer, told reporters “imported cases linked to Iran could be an indicator that there is more widespread transmission than we know about.”

By March 3, BC had found five more cases linked to Iran, and more were identified in Ontario.

Every case that is caught can prevent a chain of new infections. Even so, on Thursday BC said it had what could be Canada’s first case of community spread. Canada has confirmed 45 cases by Friday.

Canada’s federal government testing guidance is currently focused on travel to a list of locations that has lagged the spread of the virus. On Friday, Washington state was not listed, even as it battled an outbreak that has killed 12 people.

But provinces are not bound by the guideline. BC, which shares a border with Washington, is now telling healthcare providers that anyone who would usually be tested for influenza or respiratory syncytial virus, another common illness, should also be tested for the novel coronavirus.

Ontario has stuck with the federal government’s list of affected areas, but says clinicians can test other patients they feel are at risk.

Surveillance testing, a separate process focused on patients who no one has identified as at risk, is also ramping up. BC has added the virus to its flu surveillance program, which tests a sample of patients seen by a selected group of clinicians to better understand how the flu spreads. Ontario is piloting a similar program.

Kevin Katz, medical director of Toronto’s Shared Hospital Laboratory, who is participating in the Ontario pilot, said on Thursday his site had sent 20 to 30 samples a day for just under a week and so far all were negative, uncovering no evidence of widespread community transmission.

Lab capacity has made testing possible. Canada has three government labs that can confirm infection, and Ontario has said its lab alone could handle up to 1,000 samples a day. Washington state said on Wednesday its state lab can only test about 100 patients a day.

In Ontario, several major hospitals said they are also running diagnostic tests more broadly than the province requires.

“The people who are having to respond to this on the front lines are always going to have to be more nimble,” said Susy Hota, director of infection control at the University Health Network. “We’re going to see things shifting a little bit quicker.”

Reporting by Allison Martell; Editing by Nick Zieminski

Climate change or coronavirus? 'Pick your evil', protesters say

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Protesters at a rally led by climate activist Greta Thunberg on Friday denounced governments for taking urgent action against the coronavirus outbreak but failing to treat global warming as an emergency.

VIDEO https://www.reuters.com/video/?videoId=OVC3X6TPB

Several thousand people braved the rain in Brussels with the 17-year-old Swede, marching through the city that is home to the European Union’s main institutions.

“It is shameful that for so long the climate and environmental emergency has been ignored. We are still in a crisis that has never once been treated like a crisis,” Thunberg told the demonstrators in a speech.


Some supporters said they had put aside concerns about being infected with the coronavirus in a crowd to join the march.

“It’s pick your evil. Do you want to die from global warming or from coronavirus?” said Gorkem, 40, wearing a face mask.

“One of them gets much more attention than the other, so we are trying to raise a bit more awareness about what is already affecting all our lives.”

Flo, a filmmaker from the Belgian city of Ghent who attended with her baby daughter, said the rapid spread of the coronavirus had demonstrated that governments can respond to crises.

“You see people all crazy with coronavirus and you see that governments can do things to make everybody aware about a situation, to make things happen ... But they do so little about climate change,” she said.
Organisers said some 4,000 people attended the event, fewer than expected, probably because of the weather and concerns about the spread of the virus in large crowds.

Andaga, 25, a marine biology student from Ghent, said some of her friends stayed away because of worries about the virus.

“I thought, okay, maybe I should carry hand sanitizer, but it was sold out everywhere ... Yes, it was a concern of mine but not enough to stop me from coming out and marching,” she said.

While the protest went ahead, some events in the European Union’s hub have been canceled as a precaution.

The European Parliament has banned external visitors for the next three weeks, although it waived its own rule on Thursday to allow Thunberg to give a speech.

Other climate events have fallen victim to the virus. The United Nations on Friday postponed a week of climate change events in Kampala, Uganda, which had been scheduled for next month

Exclusive: U.S. discussing non-renewal of Chevron's Venezuela waiver, moves to cut oil trade - sources

(Reuters) - The U.S. government is preparing to impose new measures as soon as next week to stifle Venezuela’s oil exports, including a move not to renew Chevron Corp’s (CVX.N) license to do business with state-run company PDVSA, sources familiar with the matter said.



The United States imposed harsh sanctions on Venezuela in early 2019, in an effort to oust socialist President Nicolas Maduro, whose 2018 re-election was considered a sham by most Western countries.

Venezuela’s oil exports have dropped by one-third since then, but more than a year on, Maduro remains in power, backed by Venezuela’s military as well as Russia, China and Cuba.

Frustrated by the socialist leader’s grip on power, the Trump administration has increased pressure on Venezuela’s oil industry in recent weeks.

The U.S. Treasury Department last month blacklisted Geneva-based Rosneft Trading, a unit of Russia’s oil giant Rosneft (ROSN.MM), for conducting business with PDVSA and warned global energy firms that more such measures were expected.

Now, U.S. officials are targeting oil-for-fuel swaps and loan repayments through oil deliveries, threatening to close off the last areas left open by the government for firms still dealing with PDVSA.

According to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, Washington has already told some of PDVSA’s customers to stop oil-for-fuel swaps if they want to fully comply with new sanctions. Companies taking Venezuelan oil as repayment for debt could also have to cease those transactions.

A 90-day period set by Washington to wind down foreign purchases of Venezuelan oil ends on May 20.


“The United States is asking us to follow a policy of zero Venezuelan crude going out, zero fuel going in. So swaps so far allowed would have to end by the wind-down period deadline,” an executive from one PDVSA customer said.

One of the sources said the measures were likely to come late next week but another cautioned a final announcement could still be several weeks away.

Chevron is the largest U.S. company still in the country, operating with a waiver that allows it to continue producing oil with PDVSA in several joint ventures, and also trade cargoes of Venezuelan crude in international markets. Its license expires in April.

Chevron spokesman Ray Fohr said the company is “hopeful” its license can be renewed.

PDVSA and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. U.S. special envoy for Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, declined to comment. The U.S. Treasury did not comment beyond repeating that the license expires on April 22.

“Chevron is a positive presence in Venezuela,” Fohr said. The company’s share of production from its joint ventures with PDVSA averaged some 35,300 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2019, representing about 6% of the country’s total production.

“If Chevron is forced to leave Venezuela, non-U.S. companies will fill the void and oil production will continue,” he said.

Senior State Department officials had argued against cancelling Chevron’s license for now, but the White House has backed the idea of taking action, one of the sources told Reuters.


Buyers in China, India and Europe continued importing after sanctions last year, so Venezuela’s oil exports did not fall as much as some U.S. officials expected. Washington recently said it will go after customers in Asia, as well as intermediary firms that have helped hide the origin of the crude.

In recent days, major Indian refiners Reliance Industries (RELI.NS) and Nayara Energy began planning a reduction in purchases of Venezuelan oil starting next month.

The United States in January 2019 recognized Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the OPEC nation’s legitimate interim president. Maduro has dismissed Guaido as a puppet of the United States.

ITALY CORONAVIRUS FASHION STATEMENT

REUTERS

MARCH 6, 2020 DEMONSTRATIONS STREET BATTLES CHILE 
https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/protests-flare-up-on-streets-of-chile-idUSRTS351I6

PHOTO ESSAY EXCERPTS

ANARCHIST GAMES

U.S. lawmakers fault FAA, Boeing for deadly 737 Max crashes

WASHINGTON/SEATTLE (Reuters) - A U.S. House investigative report into two fatal Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines crashes on a Boeing 737 MAX faulted the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) approval of the plane and Boeing’s design failures, saying the flights were “doomed.”

Boeing Co’s (BA.N) 737 MAX has been grounded worldwide for nearly a year following the second of two crashes, one in Indonesia in October 2018 and one in Ethiopia last March, that together killed 346 people.

The preliminary investigative findings from the U.S. House Transportation Committee, released on Friday, called the FAA’s certification review of the 737 MAX “grossly insufficient” and said the agency had failed in its duty to identify key safety problems.

“The combination of these problems doomed the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines flights,” the panel said in the 13-page report.

It also said Boeing’s 737 MAX design “was marred by technical design failures, lack of transparency with both regulators and customers, and efforts to obfuscate information about the operation of the aircraft.

The report, which comes days ahead of the anniversary of the Ethiopian Airlines crash, adds that the findings should prompt legislative changes to address how U.S. regulators approve new aircraft for service.

The committee has been probing the crash for almost a year and received hundreds of thousands of documents and interviewed key Boeing and FAA employees in its investigation.

Boeing said it has cooperated extensively with the committee’s investigation and said it would review the report.

The FAA said in a statement it welcomed the report’s observations and said lessons learned from the two fatal crashes “will be a springboard to an even greater level of safety.”

“While the FAA’s certification processes are well-established and have consistently produced safe aircraft designs, we are a learning agency and welcome the scrutiny,” the FAA said.

Ethiopia plans to release an interim report into the March 10 crash before the first anniversary, an official said last month.

A final report into the Lion Air crash released last October by Indonesia faulted Boeing’s design of cockpit software on the 737 MAX but also cited errors by the airline’s workers and crew.

RED FLAGS

The committee also concluded the FAA and Boeing missed “multiple red flags and clear data points” in recommending that the 737 MAX should continue to fly after the first crash.

Those decisions “gambled with the public’s safety,” it said.

Boeing is facing around 100 lawsuits from families of victims of the Ethiopian crash who have questioned why the U.S.-based planemaker and authorities did not ground the MAX after the Lion Air crash.

The U.S. House panel also faulted Boeing for what it described as a “culture of concealment” for failing to disclose information to airline pilots about the 737 MAX’s MCAS stall-prevention system linked to both crashes, and that a key angle-of-attack cockpit alert was “inoperable on the majority of the 737 MAX fleet.”

Boeing did not tell U.S. regulators for more than a year that it inadvertently made an alarm alerting pilots to a mismatch of flight data optional on the 737 MAX, instead of standard as on earlier 737s, but has said the missing display represented no safety risk. Boeing has said it will make the feature standard before the MAX returns to service.

Erroneous data from a sensor responsible for measuring the angle at which the wing slices through the air - known as the Angle of Attack - is suspected of triggering a flawed anti-stall system that pushed the plane downward in two recent crashes.

Federal prosecutors aided by the FBI are reviewing the plane’s certification as are a grand jury and the Transportation Department inspector general’s office. Several independent reviews have also faulted Boeing’s design and called for improvements in how the FAA certifies new airplanes.

Representative Rick Larsen, who chairs an aviation subcommittee, said Friday’s report and other independent reviews make “it abundantly clear Congress must change the method by which the FAA certifies aircraft.”

Boeing halted production of the MAX in January and a key certification test flight is not expected before April, Reuters has reported, as Boeing addresses several software issues and whether it must move wiring bundles on the plane. Boeing says it hopes to win approval for the plane to return to service by mid-year.

Separately, the FAA on Friday proposed fining Boeing $19.7 million for allegedly installing equipment on hundreds of 737 aircraft containing sensors in heads-up displays that regulators had not approved for use.

U.S. FAA proposes fining Boeing $19.7 million over 737 airplane sensors
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday proposed fining Boeing Co $19.7 million for allegedly installing equipment on hundreds of 737 aircraft containing sensors in heads-up displays that regulators had not approved for use.

The FAA alleges that between June 2015 and April 2019, Boeing installed Rockwell Collins Head-up Guidance Systems on 791 jetliners, including 618 Boeing 737 NGs and 173 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft.

The FAA said these aircraft were equipped with sensors that had not been tested or approved as compatible with those guidance systems. Boeing, which did not immediately comment, has 30 days to respond.

The MAX has been grounded since March 2019 after two fatal crashes but there is no relationship between the crashes and this issue. Collins declined to comment.

Boeing said Friday it had cooperated with the investigation and “done a thorough internal review and implemented changes to address their concerns.” Boeing said the issue was not safety but “insufficient documentation.” Boeing added that a review “found the parts met or exceeded all original requirements.”

Boeing added it is “committed to doing better.”

The FAA said Boeing violated regulations when it certified these aircraft as airworthy when they were not in conformance with their type certificates. The FAA also said Boeing failed to follow its own business process instructions, which are in place to help prevent such situations.

Rockwell Collins subsequently conducted the necessary testing and risk analysis and updated the documents, FAA said.

The FAA has proposed other recent fines against Boeing.

In January, the FAA proposed fining Boeing $5.4 million, alleging it failed to prevent the installation of defective parts on 737 MAX airplanes.

The FAA alleged Boeing “failed to adequately oversee its suppliers to ensure they complied with the company’s quality assurance system, ... Boeing knowingly submitted aircraft for final FAA airworthiness certification after determining that the parts could not be used due to a failed strength test.”

The FAA proposed a $3.9 million civil penalty against Boeing for the same issue in December involving 133 737 NG airplanes, the prior generation of the 737.

HERSTORY WOMEN GOLD MINERS OF PERU

PHOTO ESSAY

HERSTORY
'Despicable' - Women seethe over Mexican leader's wobbly response to violence

AMLO IS A NEO LIBERAL NOT A LIBERAL

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico’s president sells himself as lifelong champion of the rights of women, who he calls “more honest” than men. To stress the point, he made history upon taking office in December 2018 by putting women in half his cabinet posts.

FILE PHOTO: Women protest against gender violence and femicides at Angel de la Independencia monument in Mexico City, Mexico, February 22, 2020. REUTERS/Gustavo Graf/File Photo

But Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s prickly reaction to criticism of the government over brutal murders of women in recent weeks has riled feminists and undermined support for him among female voters, helping to fuel protests and calls for a massive walkout next week.

Support for an unprecedented women’s “strike” on Monday has swelled, even as Lopez Obrador has tried to paint the event as a cynical attempt by political opponents to discredit him and capitalize on problems he says they created.

Such comments strike many as tone-deaf and lacking empathy, exposing a weak spot for a government already battling to tackle gang violence, impunity and a stagnant economy.

“As a woman and a citizen, I feel outraged,” said Claudia Calvin, a consultant on gender and technology. “It’s despicable that the head of this country has been unable to understand the importance of women and the impact of violence.”


Allies of the president reject such criticism.

Irma Sandoval, head of the Public Administration Ministry, which monitors federal employees, described Lopez Obrador as “the most feminist president in modern history.”

Polls suggest women are increasingly skeptical.

Lopez Obrador remains popular. But support for him has never been lower ahead of the strike, in which women will withdraw from work, school and public spaces.

A survey by pollster Consulta Mitofsky showed his approval rating among women fell some 3 percentage points from January to February to 52.7%. Among men, it dipped 0.6 points to 59.2%.

UNCOMFORTABLE

The president’s tendency to dismiss criticism and the women’s protests has caused unease inside the government.

Saying he would put “the poor first”, Lopez Obrador took power pledging to tackle chronic inequality and violence.

The row over women has been uncomfortable for him, because Mexico still has more basic problems to address than in advanced economies, where debates over gender equality are more prominent, said an official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Lopez Obrador described himself as a “humanist” on Friday when asked at a daily news conference if he was a feminist, and pointed to deeper-rooted problems in Mexico.

“Because of corruption, we’ve given rise to monstrous economic and social inequality,” the 66-year-old said.

Interior Minister Olga Sanchez has tempered assertions that the popular ferment, including a massive march planned on International Women’s Day this Sunday, has ulterior motives.

“As far as it being a movement by women, for women, with women and against violence, it is,” she said last week.

An intervention by Mexico’s first lady on the issue also caused embarrassment to the government. First, she came out in support of the strike - then quickly changed her mind.

“What would they do without us?” Beatriz Gutierrez wrote on Instagram on Feb. 20 next to an image promoting the strike.

Later that day, she backed a counter-demonstration in support of her husband that urged women to be visible on the streets. Lopez Obrador said he did not know why she had reversed course.

Mexico holds mid-term legislative elections next year, and if the president cannot stem the slide in support among women, it could cost him control of Congress.


Murders of women for reasons of gender known as femicides surged to 976 cases last year, more than double the total five years earlier. At a time of increased scrutiny, critics feel Lopez Obrador has often downplayed their concerns.

They bristled at his announcement that tickets for a raffle to recoup money spent by his predecessor on a presidential jet would go on sale on Monday. He later reversed that decision, saying he did not realize it was the day of the women’s strike.

Others say Lopez Obrador is waking up to the discontent.

On Thursday, six of his female ministers held a news conference to express support for women and their rights.

“It’s still not quite on his radar,” said Vivir Quintana, a musician who wrote a song against femicides. “But I think he can help us a lot, that he’s a sensitive person.”

---30---

Canada's Syncrude oil sands facility declares force majeure after fire: sources

By Devika Krishna Kumar and Rod Nickel Reuters March 6, 2020

A tailings pond near the Syncrude tar sands operations near Fort McMurray

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Canada's Syncrude oil sands facility has declared force majeure after a fire on Sunday at the plant and told customers it will reduce production by about 20%, sources familiar with the matter said.

Syncrude is a joint venture majority-owned by Suncor Energy Inc, with minority stakes held by Imperial Oil Ltd and others. The facility upgrades thick bitumen to light oil.

Canada is the world's fourth-largest oil producer and Syncrude's nameplate capacity of up to 360,000 barrels per day (bpd) represents about 10 percent of the country’s supply.

The fire happened on Sunday in one of Syncrude's hydroprocessing units at its Mildred Lake, Alberta, upgrading facility, spokesman Will Gibson said. He said the building was empty at the time of the fire, and its cause is unknown.

No one was injured, he said.

Gibson declined to comment on the production impact.

Force majeure is a declaration that unforeseeable circumstances prevented a party from fulfilling a contract.

"We're working with the operator, Syncrude, to better understand the situation," Suncor spokeswoman Sneh Seetal said.

Canadian oil prices strengthened due to the production cuts, with light synthetic crude for March delivery flipping from a discount to trade at a premium of $3.50 per barrel over West Texas Intermediate (WTI) on Thursday, market sources said.

Prices for April strengthened to settle at $3.10 over WTI on Thursday, wider than Wednesday's settle of $2.10 over, according to NE2 Canada Inc. The contract traded at $2.90 on Friday.

Syncrude, one of the largest producers of crude oil from Canada's oil sands, has had several operational issues in recent months. In January, the company declared force majeure due to extreme cold weather in western Canada while in December, the company reduced production by 1.6 million barrels due to disruptions.

Earlier last year, Syncrude cut October synthetic crude sales by 1.4 million barrels because planned maintenance at the plant was extended.

Asked about ongoing operational issues at Syncrude, which started operations in 1978, Gibson said the company was focused on being "reliable and responsible."

'A big no-no,' says N.W.T. hunter after finding wasted caribou on the land

CBC March 6, 2020

A hunter in the N.W.T. is calling on others to be mindful about how much they harvest when they head out on the land.

Nathan Kogiak was hunting for wolves near the ice road to the Gahcho Kué mine site, where he goes every weekend to hunt. On Sunday, Kogiak said he saw a pile of caribou remnants near Reid Lake that he showed to N.W.T.'s Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

He then saw another pile of remnants near Lake of the Enemy the next day and reported that, too. Kogiak estimated seeing remnants of more than 30 caribou in each pile — gut piles which hunters typically leave behind — but within that he saw two carcasses full of good meat.

"[On one caribou] they just ... took the front legs hindquarters and then left the rest," he said.

"Growing up that was a big no-no that we're taught we don't do because we highly respect the caribou ...They sacrificed their life for us."

Kogiak said he thinks people are hunting more animals than they have time to process in the cold weather, so they start rushing.


If you need it, you take it. - Nathan Kogiak, hunter

"You can see all the meat there they left on the rump," he said. "They're cutting through good meat just to rip it off quick and get out of there."

"It was a huge harvest," he said. "When you have 30-plus caribou in one pile ... that's not a frequent number that goes through there."

Supplied by Nathan Kogiak

Kogiak wants to see more restrictions on hunting, including for Indigenous hunters, because he doesn't think people are respectful enough of the animals.

"If you need it, you take it," he said.

Harvested caribou not endangered kind: government

Environment spokesperson Joslyn Oosenbrug says there are three cases of meat wastage in the region — two at Reid Lake and one at Lake of the Enemy — under investigation, and that wastage is taken seriously.

Oosenbrug added that the caribou being harvested are not the endangered Bathurst caribou.

Over the past two winters, the 100,000-strong Beverly herd has been wintering near the Bathurst Caribou Management Zone. That means when the herd is outside the zone, hunters can harvest the caribou without impacting the struggling Bathurst herd.

Submitted by Nathan KogiakMore

"The harvest of Beverly caribou is not restricted, although wasting caribou is always illegal under the Wildlife Act, no matter which herd is harvested," Oosenbrug wrote in an email.

"Most caribou harvested at these lakes have been harvested legally and respectfully, using best practices."

Oosenbrug added that the number of meat wastage or illegal cases of harvesting has been relatively low in recent years compared to the total number of caribou available.

Illegal harvesting or meat wastage can be reported on the toll-free emergency line from anywhere in the N.W.T. at 1-866-762-2437.

Alberta Water Polo tells girls who say they were sexually assaulted to wear 'tight suits'

THE ERA OF #METOO IN KENNEY ALBERTA

CBC March 6, 2020

Wear a tighter bathing suit.
That's the advice passed on from the Alberta Water Polo Association to teen and pre-teen girls after receiving complaints of groping during games.

In the last five months, at least three girls around the age of 13 have reported to either the association, police or both that a player in another jurisdiction has been engaging in under-the-suit breast groping during games.

CBC News is not naming any of the players or their teams in order to protect the identities of the underage people involved and because there is an active sexual assault investigation underway.

Police confirm they are investigating sexual assault complaints filed by three girls and their families against the other teenage player.

As of last weekend, the girl accused of groping other players was still playing.

'If I get kicked and punched, I'm OK'

Tess (not her real name) spoke with CBC News about her experiences while playing water polo.

At a game in February, Tess says, her breasts were repeatedly grabbed, under her bathing suit, groped by another player.

It wasn't the first time but it was the worst time.

She says she's used to rough play but this was different.

"If I get kicked and punched, I'm OK," said Tess. "We have to expect physical contact."

But she says players "never go inside the suit."

After the game, Tess had marks, bruises and scratches on her chest and breasts. In a couple places, she was even bleeding. The whole experience has left her feeling confused and frustrated.

Players 'growing into their bodies,' says group

She says that during the game, she repeatedly asked the other player to stop groping her.

Photos taken immediately after the game show Tess, dripping wet, with marks on her chest and tears in her eyes. Down farther, Tess says, bruises on her breasts lasted a couple of weeks.

Before Tess's February incident, complaints were made about the same player with the governing body in November but the families feel the Alberta Water Polo Association is not taking their concerns seriously.

"Clearly Alberta Water Polo absolutely has failed here," said Tess's mother. "This has been going on for months."

CBC News has viewed a complaint filed by another player late last year with the organization that makes almost identical allegations. Following that complaint, the organization sent out a memo in January, asking parents not to "amplify situations" that may arise out of "accidental contact."

It also points out the athletes are "young and growing into their bodies."

"Wearing tight suits helps prevent suit grabbing," reads the memo.

Police involved

The association's suggestion she wear a tighter bathing suit is not an option; Tess has a large chest and says she is normally a medium in clothing and bathing suits.

But for water polo, she wears an extra small, which requires a second set of hands to pull the suit together so it can be zipped up. Tess says it takes effort for someone to get their hands inside her bathing suit.

After that February game, other players told her they had made formal complaints about the same player to Alberta Water Polo months earlier with no results.

So Tess and her father called police.

When an officer arrived to take her statement, a tournament official, who Tess believes to be with the association, burst into the room they were chatting in and demanded to know what was going on.

Association says it is investigating

Tess's family is frustrated on another level, too.

"Not one person in a position of authority has said 'how is she doing," said her mother.

The parents of another teen who was also groped by the same girl aren't sure Alberta Water Polo handled the situation poorly. Rather, they feel the association was ill-equipped to deal with allegations of sexual assault.

"Just as things are evolving in other sports, Alberta Water Polo needs to evolve as well … we think it is absurd to suggest the solution to sexual assault is tighter suits."

Although the organization refused to answer questions, the organization did confirm it is "in the process of investigating these allegations," which it described as "highly sensitive."

"The Alberta Water Polo Association will not be commenting further in order to protect the privacy rights of both the complainants and the respondent," wrote Vern Glaser, president of the provincial organization.

Tess's mother even tried to involve Water Polo Canada, begging its executive director Martin Goulet to step in and make organizational changes.

"Use your voice so never again must a kid use theirs," she wrote.

Goulet responded to CBC News, saying the allegations are outside its jurisdiction and it believes Alberta Water Polo is taking the case seriously.

CITY OF OTTAWA
Discretionary power used to OK SNC-Lavalin's LRT bid rare, experts confirm

CBC March 5, 2020

View photos

Discretionary power used to OK SNC-Lavalin's LRT bid rare, experts confirmMore


The procurement experts involved in the bidding process that saw SNC-Lavalin win a $1.6-billion LRT contract to extend Ottawa's Trillium Line say they don't know of another case where a discretionary power has been used to waive a bidder through the technical scoring evaluation, CBC learned in a background briefing Thursday.

CBC began reporting a year ago that SNC-Lavalin won the contract to extend the Trillium Line into Riverside South, even though the firm twice failed to meet the minimum 70 per cent score in the technical evaluation. Eventually, the city revealed that it had used a discretionary power to allow a proponent to stay in the bidding process — a power that councillors didn't even know existed when they voted to approve the project.

It appears that the use of that discretionary power is highly unusual. The experts who were part of in the Trillium Line Stage 2 bid, and who have been involved of dozens of procurements, said they can't recall another instance where the clause was used in a similar way.
Score deemed close enough

That was one of the revelations from a short background briefing offered by subject experts involved in the bid to members of council and the media.

The experts agreed to answer questions related to the unprecedented release of hundreds of pages of formerly confidential bid documents, on the condition they not be named. The same experts will appear at Monday's finance and economic development committee, where their comments will be on the record.

Despite refusing to speak for attribution, the experts' comments provided glimpses into how the project was awarded to a company that the city's own technical evaluation team recommended be dropped from the competition.

For example, the experts said that because technical evaluation was by its nature more subjective than financial scoring, they felt that the fact SNC-Lavalin only missed the minimum score by three percentage points was a good enough reason to waive the normal requirements.

City of Ottawa

Mention of electric train system akin to typo

Nor did the experts seem overly concerned by the apparent holes in the technical bid, such as a lack of detail about a signalling and train control system, or the fact that an elevator was placed in the middle of a platform at Carling station.

As for references to equipment typical of electric train systems, such as an overhead catenary or traction-power substations — the Trillium Line is diesel, and would therefore have no need for such features — the experts likened the slip-up to a typo that didn't necessarily detract from the overall quality of the bid.

During the briefing, CBC also asked about the issue of apparent conflict of interest.

As previously reported, Norton Rose Fulbright was hired by the city to oversee the legal aspects of the procurement, even though the law firm routinely represents SNC-Lavalin in deals worth billions of dollars. The law firm didn't represent the Montreal-based engineering giant in the city's procurement process, and the city waived any conflict of interest concerns for the firm.

Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press

However, one of the lawyers who authored the legal opinions that ultimately led to the city's use of its discretionary power to waive SNC-Lavalin's poor technical score had personally worked for the giant company — and had not been screened for a conflict of interest.

Norton Rose Fulbright lawyer Stephen Nattrass is cited in SNC-Lavalin criminal proceedings, and was part of legal team that oversaw the company's sale of AltaLink, a deal worth $7.2 billion.

He was also one of the three Norton Rose Fulbright lawyers who wrote the legal opinions in October 2018 about allowing SNC-Lavalin to move ahead in the bidding process

Because Nattrass was part of the team that the city asked to give a legal opinion, and not someone directly involved in the evaluation process, he was not screened by the fairness commissioner.

ONTARIO
Defends Nixing Basic Income After Study Shows Trial's Benefits

FORD NATION IDEOLOGY TRUMPS FACTS

Emma Paling HuffPost Canada March 5, 2020


Ontario Minister of Children, Community and Social Services Todd Smith is seen at Queen's Park in Toronto on May 27, 2019. (Photo: Chris Young/Canadian Press)More

TORONTO — Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government says it has no regrets about cancelling a basic income pilot project even though a recent study found it vastly improved people’s health and helped many find better jobs.

“One of the first campaign promises your government broke was to complete the basic income pilot,” Green party Leader Mike Schreiner told Premier Doug Ford in the legislature Thursday.

“Without citing any evidence, you told us that it wasn’t working because it was preventing people from getting a job. Well, we now have the first in-depth study of the basic income pilot, and lo and behold, the premier was off the mark. Three quarters of those who were working continued to do so. One quarter of low-wage workers moved to higher-paying jobs,” he said.

He asked Ford if he would revive the pilot.

Todd Smith, the minister of children, community and social services, answered on Ford’s behalf.

“No,” he said.

“A research project that only included 4,000 individuals is not an adequate solution to solving the problem in a province where we have far too many people living on social assistance … What we’re doing is actually taking action to ensure that people can get back to work.”

Watch HuffPost Canada’s video series about people on Ontario’s basic income pilot.
Ontario's Basic Income Was 'A Blessing' To These Small Business Owners

Smith’s predecessor, Minister Lisa MacLeod, cancelled the pilot early in 2018. At the time, she said the project was “broken” and was discouraging people from finding work.

The pilot, launched by Ontario’s previous Liberal government, provided income to people living on social assistance or in low-wage jobs. Single participants who lived on less than $34,000 could get up to $16,989 per year. Couples with a combined income under $48,000 could get as much as $24,027.

Participants who were working saw their payments reduced by 50 per cent of their income.

According to a survey of more than 200 participants, published by McMaster University on Wednesday, there was “a slight reduction” in the number of people employed once the basic income was put into place.

About a quarter of employed people left their jobs, while one-fifth of the unemployed people found work. Forty-one per cent of those who left work did so to go to school. And almost all of the people who left their jobs had been precariously employed.

The results show “exactly the opposite” of what the PCs said was happening, Wayne Lewchuk, a professor emeritus in McMaster’s school of labour studies and department of economics, told HuffPost Canada.

“If anything, the basic income pilot could be viewed as an employment policy,” he said.

“Because what it really did was provide people with a foundation and a base to improve their general health, improve their mental health, improve their outlook on life. And all of those things make people more employable, not less.”

Nearly 80 per cent of participants said that basic income made them “somewhat more motivated” or “much more motivated” to look for work, the McMaster study found.
Recipients said their health improved

Participants also reported better physical and mental health, improved relationships and fewer trips to food banks, doctors’ offices and emergency rooms.

“One common pattern was for recipients to report moving from low paying dead-end jobs to jobs with better working conditions and with improved long-term opportunities,” the study said.

“The pilot was nothing short of successful,” researchers concluded. “The results ... dispel some of the fears of the opponents of basic income including that it will lead to a wholesale abandonment of paid employment.”

One young man, who said that he had tried to kill himself three times in a five-year period before the pilot, enrolled in university.

“In a way, you could say basic income saved my life,” he said.

Others reported that they could afford basic necessities — like a bed or a warm winter coat — for the first time.

“The desperate situation that some people were in before basic income was implemented, frankly, is a bit embarrassing in a country like Canada,” Lewchuk said.

“Some of these people were really struggling or just barely holding on … Receiving basic income, it was like the sun was shining again.”

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MORE ON BASIC INCOME...

What Is Ontario’s Basic Income Pilot Project?

Basic Income Participants Sue Ontario Government For $200 Million

Canadian Basic Income Of $22,000 A Year Possible With Tax Hikes: Report

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.

Pentagon push to boost cybersecurity could affect Canadian suppliers

CBC March 5, 2020

The Pentagon has been engaged in a quiet, deliberate effort to plug all of the cyber-holes in its high-tech systems and among its defence contractors — an operation that will soon spill across the border into Canada.

Ellen Lord, the U.S. undersecretary of defence for acquisition and sustainment, said today cybersecurity has been one of her biggest concerns since being appointed by the Trump administration two and a half years ago.

Increasingly, major defence contractors have found themselves targeted by hackers from China and Russia who have stolen troves of sensitive data on new and existing weapons systems.

"Bottom line is, I don't think the average American citizen understands that we're at cyberwar every day," Lord told the Conference of Defence Associations Institute's annual meeting in Ottawa today.

The burden of keeping data secure is being placed on the companies themselves, she added.

After consulting with the National Security Agency (NSA), the U.S. electronic spy service and the military's Cyber Command, the Pentagon rolled out a new program in January aimed at forcing defence contractors to deal with points of vulnerability.

"We have written new cyber security standards that we are putting in all of our new contracts," said Lord. "We are looking at the defence industrial base and how they need to address cyber security and how we as a government can hold them accountable."

The initiative includes a cyber security "certification and accreditation" system, similar to the International Organization for Standardization.

Lord said it's not a one-size fits all solution and that companies looking to do business with the Pentagon will have to meet one of five levels of certification, depending upon the contract.

The defence industrial complexes of Canada, Britain and Australia are tightly stitched into the U.S. system. Lord said allies are looking at a similar measures which she hopes to see coordinated with American efforts.

"This is something we're talking with Canada about, with allies and partners, because a lot of us are doing the same thing," she said.

The problems with existing systems — software already in the field — is being dealt with aggressively. Contractors who are responsible for maintaining complex systems on warships and aircraft are being told by the Pentagon to close their potential security gaps.

"We are going to start shutting equipment down if they are not brought up to standard because every day we see [intelligence], we see how much has been compromised," Lord said.

Troy Crosby, head of the Canadian Department of National Defence's materiel branch, said Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada has launched a "cyber secure program" and there's a hope that the two countries can find a way to align their efforts.

Some analysts and critics in the U.S. have argued that contractors — even those that make cyber security a priority — will find the cost of meeting uniform standards prohibitive.

Beyond that, many major contractors have complex supply chains with many smaller companies that also would be required to spend substantial sums of money to keep up with evolving threats.

NEW BRUNSWICK
House of Nazareth backtracks on amount homeless will pay for place at shelter

CBC March 5, 20201 Comment
House of Nazareth officials held a news conference Thursday to backtrack on the fees they intend to charge people staying at the emergency shelter in Moncton and to chastise critics of their plan.

Jean Dubé, House of Nazareth executive director, and Nicolas Parisi, president of the board of directors, faced reporters, a handful of Moncton city staff and some front-line workers to explain how the fee structure will be set up.

Contrary to what Dubé told CBC News last week, anyone receiving income assistance from the province who also has money deducted by Social Development for a "shelter fee" will not be charged to stay at the emergency shelter.

Last Friday, Dubé said the "objective" was that residents would pay $300 a month, and he explained that residents on social assistance would have to pay starting on day one.

Shane Magee/CBC

But on Thursday, Dubé changed that, saying fees will not be charged during the first month of a person's stay, and residents will be given $144 toward a deposit if they move into more permanent housing.

"Once you've stayed more than a month, you will be charged accordingly, and if you have no money, you will not pay," he said.

Dubé also said a resident could be charged up to $300, but the total would be no more than 30 per cent of that person's income.

Some people staying at House of Nazareth receive pension money worth thousands of dollars a month, and they will have to pay the maximum amount, he said.

Dubé said that instead of charging rent to someone on social assistance who receives the basic amount of $537 per month from the government, he will ask the Department of Social Development to give the shelter $144 from that person's monthly cheque.

Jean Bertin, a spokesperson for Social Development, confirmed in an email that once the shelter starts charging residents, the "shelter fee" will no longer be deducted from their social assistance cheques.

He said the amount the province has been deducting for the shelter fee is 25 per cent of the total monthly cheque, which for some recipients means $144 deducted from a $576 cheque.

Shane Magee/CBC

Bertin said the shelter will be responsible for collecting any fees, but if a resident wants to sign over a portion of the social assistance money to go straight to House of Nazareth, that would be possible.

"This practice is already in place for other shelters, landlords and public utilities, for example," said Bertin.

'It's shameful, it's an insult'

Dubé shared his feelings about those who criticized House of Nazareth's plans to charge fees. Critics included residents and Charles Burrell, the Humanity Project founder who operated an emergency shelter last winter, and Trevor Goodwin, the senior director at YMCA ReConnect.

"I find that very unprofessional, and its shameful," Dubé said of the criticism.

He said organizations should be working together to combat homelessness, not fighting among themselves.

Dubé said he wouldn't name names, but added: "You know who you are."

House of Nazareth opened its new shelter, which can accommodate 115 people, earlier this winter.

Dubé has maintained since he first announced charging people to stay there that the fees are in the Albert Street shelter's business plan.

But he said the 15-year business plan would not be made public because it cost "several" thousand dollars and he didn't want another organization to use it.

"It's our plan, we paid for it, it's private and we're going to keep it to the board of directors."

Parisi said the fee plan was shared with the province and the federal government, but not with the City of Moncton because, "the contribution that we received from the city is thin."

The federal and provincial governments helped finance the purchase of the shelter building.

The city declined to comment but said the House of Nazareth asked for and received grants of $25,000 for 2019, 2020 and 2021.

Morneau says Ottawa will announce support for those quarantined due to COVID-19

The Canadian Press March 6, 2020



The federal government will provide financial help for quarantined Canadians over novel coronavirus concerns, and pad its budget contingency should the economic hit be prolonged and deep, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said Friday.

Details about those plans will be coming shortly, Morneau said, who also noted federal officials are mulling measures to insulate the economy from the effects of the outbreak that has now spread to more than 75 countries around the world.

The disease known as COVID-19 has roiled financial markets, spurring the Bank of Canada to take a deeper cut to its trend-setting interest rate this week than it originally envisioned. It has caused sharp declines in trade with China, a drop in oil prices, upended travel plans, and sickened dozens of Canadians and hundreds of thousands more globally.

The full effect COVID-19 will have on the national economy will depend on the depth and geographical spread of the coronavirus outbreak in Canada, Morneau said in a breakfast speech to the Canadian Club of Toronto.

Speaking afterwards, Morneau said the government has the fiscal wiggle room to help businesses through any challenges, as well as workers who may have to be away from work for any period of time.

He said the upcoming budget will have a "greater provision for risk" in the economy, and help with immediate health issues, while trying to decrease the federal debt as a percentage of the national economy, known as the debt-to-GDP ratio.

"In crafting a budget, we're going to need to balance all of those things — as we always do," Morneau told reporters.

"What I can tell you is we will maintain our fiscal firepower to deal with potential challenges down the road while ensuring that we are also dealing with the issues immediately."

In November, the government reduced the cushion for this fiscal year to $1.5 billion because data through two-thirds of the fiscal year suggested risk "as a whole has been reduced." The fall economic update had a $3 billion cushion in its projections for the new fiscal year that starts April 1.

The figure is projected revenues the government sets aside annually as a shock absorber if the money doesn't materialize due to an economic downturn. If untapped, it can go to pay down the federal debt.

The number counts against the deficit, which is projected to be $28.1 billion before accounting for any new spending promises.

CIBC chief economist Avery Shenfeld, in a note following Morneau's speech, suggested the finance minister shouldn't be tempted to cut spending or raise taxes to hit a deficit target. He added a one-time bump in federal health transfers to provinces may be in order to cover any increased costs from COVID-19, as well as direct fiscal stimulus to prod consumer spending, which the economy relies upon.

Morneau said the fiscal response here would account for domestic conditions and may look different than in other countries.

The federal NDP's health critic said Morneau's comment amounted to "announcing that you will announce something" in the face of immediate needs.

"People who can't afford to take a sick day need help right now," Don Davies said in a statement.

The Opposition Conservatives questioned how much the Liberals could muster in spending. Pat Kelly, the party's associate finance critic, said the Liberals failed to prepare for a downturn by running deep deficits during better economic times.

"Now the cupboard is bare as Canada's economy faces both a domestic economic crisis of capital flight, project cancellations and supply disruptions due to the illegal blockades, and the prospect of a global downturn triggered by the coronavirus," he said in a statement.

The blockades cancelled train service and prompted temporary layoffs as demonstrators across the country showed support for Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs who oppose construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline through their territory in British Columbia.

Morneau said he sees the issues around the blockades as being "largely resolved," but added, "will things happen again? I can't predict."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 6, 2020.

Tara Deschamps and Jordan Press, The Canadian Press

SASKATCHEWAN 

NDP accuses Premier Moe of interference and intimidation in school division teacher transfers

CBC March 5, 2020

The Saskatchewan NDP says Premier Scott Moe's attendance and advocacy regarding teacher transfers at a school board meeting in his community last June was "wholly inappropriate."

In June 2019, the Saskatchewan Rivers School Division, based in Prince Albert, held a closed-door meeting. The meeting was attended by MLAs, including Moe who is the MLA for Rosthern-Shellbrook.

On Thursday, NDP education critic Carla Beck said emails the party received through a Freedom of Information request showed the premier was pressuring the school board to overturn its decision.

Moe denied he was attempting to pressure the board. He said the issue resulted in the most feedback he had received from constituents during his time as an MLA and that is why he wanted to hear from the SRSD.

Beck said Moe's role in the meeting amounted to political interference in a human resources matter.

"I do think that that intimidation by the premier was wholly inappropriate in this case."

Beck said she drew that conclusion from what was in the redacted emails and the fact the premier "holds the purse strings" for school divisions.

In response to the allegations, Moe said he would not apologize for taking part in the meeting and said he was performing his role as the area MLA.

"The premier believes he is also the MLA for Rosthern-Shellbrook," Moe said during question period Thursday.

Moe said he could not recall if he said he was there in his role as an MLA but said it was not unusual for him to attend meetings.

"I can't recall exactly how they reacted. I expressed my point on behalf of the constituents. They expressed, I believe, that they weren't going to change this policy."

When asked if he raised potential consequences for not changing the decision Moe said, "absolutely not."

The board ultimately transferred the four teachers.

Redacted emails reveal little detail

One of the emails written following the June meeting was from Robert Bratvold, the director of education for the school division. He wrote, "a much more urgent topic is the Premier's position on [redacted]."

A second email written after the meeting from another official said, "we had a very interesting meeting with the premier and MLAs for our area. We could tell the premier was anxious to get through the agenda and move on to the [redacted]."

The email ended, "don't stress over this. Think of the civil rights mantra 'we shall overcome.' Tomorrow is another day."

Bratvold said Thursday that because the meeting was closed he was not going to comment on the discussions. He also did not say if he was intimidated by the premier but said, "it's a really rare thing for me to feel intimidated or pressured."

Bratvold said the board has "open, honest and frank" discussions with MLAs and "sometimes we see things differently."

He said it is common for the board to meet with MLAs at least once a year.

"Our MLAs do a really good job of making clear they are there as MLAs representing their constituents," Bratvold said.

MOHAWK CEDE TERRITORY

Cabinet approves $240M Mohawk settlement for 132-year-old land claim

The Canadian Press March 5, 2020


OTTAWA — The federal cabinet has approved an agreement that will see Canada pay nearly $240 million in compensation to the Mohawks of Akwesasne to settle a land claim.

The agreement is the result of decades of negotiations between the Mohawks of Akwesasne and the federal government over an 8,000-hectare parcel of land in the most westerly portion of southern Quebec, on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River.

The territory is known in the province as Dundee, but is recognized by local Indigenous residents by its traditional name of Tsikaristisere.

In 1981, the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne filed a claim asking for the land to be returned , asserting that an alleged surrender of the land in 1888 was invalid because they never intended to surrender it.

The Mohawks have long maintained they intended to gradually reclaim the land rather than permanently hand it over to the federal government.

In 2015, the federal government offered a global settlement of just under $240 million in compensation and offered to give the community the right to have up to 18,282 acres of land added to the Akwesasne reserve, if the First Nation buys parcels on the open market.

A referendum was held in December 2018 among Mohawks of Akwesasne to decide whether to accept the offer and 80 per cent of those who participated voted in favour.

On Feb. 29, cabinet authorized Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett to sign the settlement agreement on behalf of the government of Canada.

Through the settlement agreement with Ottawa, once they receive the money, the Mohawks of Akwesasne effectively renounce their claim to disputed land and confirm that the 1888 surrender was valid.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 5, 2020.

ONTARIO
Teachers' unions move ahead with job action despite new government offer
The Canadian Press March 5, 2020

TORONTO — Ontario's premier ramped up criticisms of the province's teachers on Thursday, demanding they resume regular work even as major unions forged ahead with widespread strikes.

Doug Ford targetted all four major teachers' unions during debate at the provincial legislature, which took place as educators marched around the building.

The unions representing Ontario's French-language and English Catholic teachers both held provincewide strikes on Thursday. Public high school teachers at nine boards also walked off the job as part of a series of rotating, one-day strikes.

The walkouts came two days after the Progressive Conservative government tabled proposals meant to address two long-standing union demands. Education Minister Stephen Lecce offered to increase average high school class sizes from 22 last year to 23 next year — instead of the government's original target of 28 — and allow an opt-out for e-learning courses the Tories previously said would be mandatory.

Ford said Thursday the moves should have paved the way to deals with the unions, but because it hasn't yet resulted in progress, it shows the real issue keeping the parties from an agreement is teachers' pay.

"My message to the unions is that the party is over with the taxpayers money," Ford said. "Pack your bags and get back into the classroom."

The teachers' unions have said they would not sign a deal that included class size increases and mandatory online learning — two of the cost-cutting measures the government said were necessary to balance the books.

The province has offered teachers a one per cent pay increase, while the unions are asking for closer to two per cent.

Lecce said Thursday the government has made "reasonable moves" at the table that would effectively freeze class sizes, offer a parental opt out for online learning, and a commitment to full-day kindergarten.

"It's time for the unions to get off the lawn and get back to the table," he said.

Meanwhile, teachers with the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation and Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association carried banners and signs around the legislature Thursday morning, calling on the government to bargain in good faith.

OSSTF President Harvey Bischof said the government's latest offer would still result in the loss of nearly 1,800 teacher jobs and thousands of course offerings.

He said the government presented its latest position with "no flexibility", leading the union to conclude they could not return to talks.

"They clearly laid out, essentially, take it or leave it proposals that cut off any avenue to a deal," he said. "There are several aspects of what we were talking about they had established as essentially bottom lines with no flexibility."

Bischof said he believes parents continue to support the teachers in the tense contract talks, despite the new government position on class size and e-learning.

"I'm not concerned that the public will suddenly decide that they want to support cuts to the quality of their children's education," he said. "(Lecce is) still talking about cutting thousands and thousands of course options out of the system."

OSSTF currently has no dates scheduled to return to the bargaining table. Nor does the association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens, the union representing French-language teachers.

OECTA was in talks with the government Thursday and did not immediately provide comment.

The Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario said it will escalate its job action toward the end of the month in light of the fact that no talks are currently scheduled with the government.

The union did not provide details on what form that escalation would take, but said it would not occur until March 23. It said more details would be released on Monday.

"We will do what it takes to stop the minister's rhetoric and get his negotiating team to come to the table with proposals that will result in a fair deal for students, student learning and educators," ETFO President Sam Hammond said in a statement.



NDP education critic Marit Stiles said the government needs to get back to the bargaining table.

"The minister keeps negotiating at a podium and a microphone and he should be at the bargaining table with education workers," she said.

Interim Liberal Leader John Fraser questioned whether the apparent change in government position is actually a concession at all.

"It still looks like they're making class sizes larger," he said. "It's unclear if the commitment they've made runs the length of the contract. It's one thing to say it, it's another thing to sit down at the table and say 'here are the words'."

Green party Leader Mike Schreiner said even a class size increase from 22 to 23 students will result in teacher layoffs and hurt students.

"The government has created chaos in our education system," he said. "I respect parents, teachers, students, education workers, for standing up and speaking out against it."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 5, 2020.

Shawn Jeffords, The Canadian Press