DID  APACHE ORIGINATE IN NUNAVUT

Moccasin mystery: How did centuries-old footwear from Canada end up in the American Southwest?

When archeologist Julian Steward first found what are known as the Promontory Caves on the north shore of Great Salt Lake in Utah in the 1930s, he couldn’t have known that he would be excavating an area that not only contained an incredible amount of organic remains – rare finds in archeology – but also raised a question that would not be answered until 2021.

The world of archaeology now has a better understanding of these caves and the people who used them, and it all came down to a moccasin.

The people who inhabited the Promontory Caves did so approximately 800 years ago.

They left behind them an abundance of materials available for research, but it was their moccasins (among other things) that provided a key clue that they were actually Dene ancestors. The moccasins were in a Subarctic style, consistent with those used by Dene people farther north.

“Steward noticed that the moccasins that were found were in a style that was really different than anything local groups in Northern Utah used for their footwear,” said Dr. Jessica Metcalfe, assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at Lakehead University.

They were found in another place though, the Subarctic. In case you’re unfamiliar, Metcalfe specifies that subarctic is “the Yukon and Northern Alberta, all the way over to Northern Ontario.”

The question is, why are these moccasins 1,500 kilometres from where they should be?

It took a little while for technology to catch up of course, so it was almost 100 years later that a re-excavation of the area took place, but when it did, Metcalfe was a part of a research team that offered a chemical answer to that question.

It’s the first time that human migrations have been reconstructed using chemical traces in footwear.

If you have any interest in science, or really, ever watched science-ish fiction on television, you have likely heard the term ‘carbon dating,’ a shortening of the actual term, radiocarbon dating. It is a method that establishes age estimates for carbon-based materials that originated from living organisms.

“It’s used if you are looking to get an idea of ‘when’,” said Metcalfe, “Radiocarbon dating looks at carbon-14, which acts like a clock.”

Carbon-14 degrades over time. If you measure how much is left compared to how much should be there, you get an answer. Not so simple, of course, but that’s the gist.

However, Metcalfe works with something that is also revealed when examining carbon-based material. She examines stable isotope composition; she’s not looking at carbon-14, she’s looking at 12 and 13.

“They don’t decay,” says Metcalfe, “It’s a record that exists in the tissue and doesn’t degrade.”

The archeologists who were engaged in the excavation of the Promontory Cave site, as well as the other members of the research team began radiocarbon dating when they found a very different stable carbon isotope on a piece of moccasin, specifically on the ankle wrap. (The ankle wrap is often reused, while the moccasin bottoms would need to be replaced more often.)

Because Metcalfe is a geochemical archaeologist, she was brought in to help understand this unusual result. Again, stable isotopes are different specifically because they do not decay, they paint a clear picture.

“It’s kind of like a fingerprint,” said Metcalfe, “It’s a record that remains in an animal’s tissue and skin and hair, so we can measure isotopes and get an idea of what the animal is eating, where they’re living.”

Metcalfe was enlisted to use her work measuring stable isotopes in animals and plants, to this piece of moccasin. After a larger study of the vast amount of organic material available, there needed to be a “solid baseline of the local bison, in order to determine how much of a variation of carbon isotope values is expected in this place.” They even did testing to ensure that this wasn’t an anomaly of some kind.

In the end though, and that’s literal as Metcalfe examined bone, skin, hair and feces for the research, the research proved that not only were these people extraordinarily talented large animal hunters, but their understanding of the land was exceptional.

For so much of colonial periods (after the arrival of settlers), the people who speak the Dene language in the American Southwest and those in Canadian Subarctic were seen as ‘geographically separate,’ and thought to have no connections with each other, but Metcalfe’s research suggests that Dene groups travelled great distances to gain and utilize landscape knowledge.

“The carbon isotope value suggests the Promontory people not only had origins in the Subarctic, but they had also travelled to a place hundreds of kilometres to the south or east of the caves in Utah, much further south than Great Salt Lake,” said Metcalfe. “Potentially into the territory occupied by the southwestern Dene (Navajo, Apache). Julian Steward suggested that the Promontory people might be Apachean ancestors, and our results are consistent with that interpretation.”

The research of Dr. Metcalfe and her colleagues, along with genetic, linguistic, and oral history evidence, demonstrates that Dene connections are not a recent phenomenon – long-distance migrations and meetings of Dene peoples have been occurring for many hundreds of years.

Metcalfe also notes that of late, Dene people from northern, southern, and coastal nations have gathered at workshops and conferences held in Tsuut’ina territory (southern Alberta) to share their interconnected languages and cultures.

Metcalfe’s research was recently published in North American archaeology journal, American Antiquity. 

Jenny Lamothe, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Sudbury.com

3/23/2021

They wanted democracy for Belarus. Instead they say they were beaten and raped by police

Kiev, Ukraine (CNN) -- Sergei stood on a small sheet of ice in the Dnieper River and breathed in the icy air hard. He had escaped, but that relief was overwhelmed by both the pain of leaving his homeland and the fear he might not survive the rest of his perilous journey.

© ByPol In this screengrab taken from video that was provided by defected police officers, alleged Belarusian protestors are handcuffed and arrested on September 13, 2020.

He was wanted, again, by Belarusian police. He had already been detained last summer and was beaten in custody, all for protesting against the election victory declared by President Alexander Lukashenko. Fellow protesters he'd spent time in detention with had just been arrested, and it was clear the police would soon come for him again. Reluctantly, he knew he had to flee.


His was a particularly remarkable run to freedom. He crossed the border into Ukraine illegally, and was not able to walk through the forest and across sheet ice, like many before him had done. In a hurry, and surrounded by melting ice, Sergei put on a wetsuit and flippers he had bought -- and swam.

In a video he filmed on his phone half-way through his two-hour journey, on New Year's Eve, he recorded part of his escape, which involved not only swimming in freezing temperatures and through dense reed, but stumbling over sheet ice and crawling through thick sludge. Such was his desperation to leave.

"My socks are freezing right to the ice. I will try to crawl there and hope that I will not freeze," he said at one point in his video.

"I'm navigating by the stars," he said, audibly cold. "The feeling is indescribable, and I am all alone here."

Hundreds of thousands of Belarusians attended mass protests across the country last year following Lukashenko's declaration of victory in the August vote. The US and EU declared the vote fraudulent and imposed sanctions on Belarusian officials over the fraud and the brutal crackdown that followed.

Sergei -- who asked CNN not to reveal some details of his story and his real identity -- has now claimed asylum in another country, and he wanted to share his story with CNN so that the relatives he left behind might one day read what had happened to him.

"I left my country, my friends and family, with the bitterness of defeat," he said. "I simply became a refugee and had to start again, as if all I had achieved for years was suddenly nothing. To this day, I am mentally exhausted, and sleepless worrying about those left behind."

CNN has spoken to several other Belarusians who have fled the repression of Lukashenko's regime, illegally across the border into Ukraine, as part of a two-month investigation into the crackdown inside the country. In dozens of interviews, protesters and opposition activists have spoken of torture -- from systematic beatings, to rape with a police baton.

Defectors from the police force have also supplied CNN with videos from the police's own archives -- bodycam, dashcam and surveillance footage -- that display the extraordinary ferocity of riot police against protesters who are unarmed and peaceful, many of them teenagers.

The Lukashenko regime has, activists say, slightly softened its tactics in the past weeks, as fear has gripped the opposition movement. Yet there are concerns among activists the crackdown will intensify again ahead of a nationwide call to the streets on March 25.

© CNN Andrey says an officer raped him with a baton after he refused to unlock his phone.

The fate of the Belarusian protest movement has gained greater significance in the past months as anti-government protests spread inside neighboring Russia against the attempted murder and imprisonment of Alexey Navalny.

Russian President Vladimir Putin swiftly moved to support Lukashenko in August with a $1.5 billion loan and other unspecified assistance. The Belarusian protests, however, have continued. Analysts say the Kremlin is concerned both by a persistent protest movement for democracy on its doorstep, and the impact of unprecedented levels of police violence on how a younger generation of Belarusians view Moscow.

After being presented with a summary of CNN's findings, a State Department spokesperson said the US "strongly condemns the ​months-long post-election brutality carried out by the Lukashenka regime against peaceful protesters." The statement added there were over 500 documented cases of severe abuse, 290 political prisoners and "a number of individuals still reported missing."

© ByPol A teen lies unconscious on the floor after apparently having an epileptic fit.

"These violent actions have destroyed the Belarusian authorities' legitimacy among their own people and the international community," they said, demanding the "immediate release of political prisoners and all those unjustly detained, and ... for those responsible for severe abuses to be held to account."

'He cut my  using this knife'

The police dashcam footage begins with a police car following a white SUV full of protesters. It is September 13, 2020, and the vehicle is carrying activists away from a demonstration in central Minsk. The car pulls over, and then the devastating police onslaught begins.

The footage shows batons hitting the car's windows. A police officer fires a live round into the vehicle. The protesters are yanked out violently, and forced to lie face down on the ground. Two men in the group are bleeding, one heavily, and another from his cheek after the side of his face is ground into the asphalt. The detainees lie motionless. Sometimes their heads are pulled back and they state their names.

A police body cam shows an officer busy treating a small cut on his hand from the glass. The heavily bleeding protester is eventually given a bandage for his head.

The scene -- in video given exclusively to CNN by BYPOL, an opposition activist group of former Belarusian police officers who have defected -- is one of dozens they have released that detail police ferocity. In some, detainees are seen on camera, visibly beaten, and marked with red paint, a grim sign of the police's "traffic lights" system of grading protesters in detention. Those painted red should receive the worst treatment.

Sexual assault allegations have also been made by men and women against the police. Andrey, a protester from Minsk, told CNN he was raped with a police baton in a bid by officers to make him unlock his phone. They wanted the identity of his fellow protesters, he said, asking that some details of his experience and real name not be disclosed for his safety.

Andrey says he refused to give the password, and was beaten. "They just hit me again. At this time, I probably had brain trauma, as I started to feel really dizzy. It was hard to move at all," he said.

The police officer then threatened to assault him with his baton, asked his colleagues for a condom to sheath the weapon, and took a knife from a colleague. "He cut my underwear using this knife. He asked me again to give him the password. I refused again, and then he did what he did."

Andrey felt pain, but also shock that a person could do this to another. "It's not just police anger -- they train to do this," he said. "We are just seeing it now at a huge scale for the first time. It's touched nearly every family in Belarus now."

The Belarusian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Prime Minister's Office did not immediately respond to CNN's request for response to what the footage of police tactics and violence shows and the allegations of abuse made.

Mass arrests at protests in Belarus are also often met with such brutalities. Another leaked police video from BYPOL shows the aftermath of an October protest, in which dozens of demonstrators are forced to stand in a packed police station corridor, facing the wall, their heads bowed, some bleeding on the walls, others suffering from beatings or tear gas they appear to have been exposed to in the earlier protest.

In the video, the police officer passes between detainees asking for their details, and why they were at the protest. One man has had seven teeth smashed out. They are all visibly shaken, and the majority would go on to face criminal charges for protesting, activists said.

The footage also chillingly shows police walking over the unconscious body of a teenage boy on the floor. CNN has learned the detainee likely suffered from an epileptic fit, and was left on the floor by police, who pass over him. Witnesses said the boy was occasionally kicked by police to see if he was responsive. "Are you a boy or girl?" one witness recalled the police shouting. The minor was later released from police custody, according to witnesses, who did not want to be named.

Police in that central station that night were also busy locating those who had escaped riot police, CNN has learned. One was Anya, a teenager, who also did not want to reveal her real name for her safety.

She fled an advancing line of riot police, who were throwing stun grenades at protesters. The explosion that caught her was captured on video.

"I didn't fall," she said. "I froze like a deer. I just stood, thought, breathed, looked around." She said she did not believe she was deliberately targeted, and was swiftly put in a taxi by protesters as the ambulances nearby were overloaded.

In hospital, she was put next to a man who had been trampled by police until his hip broke, she said. "I started screaming that I need help," she said. "Seven people came in the room. Everyone looked at me and at my body. Like 'Wow. What happened to you?' They didn't help. They just looked at me."

Doctors gave her basic treatment and painkillers, but also prioritized a blood alcohol test and told the police of her whereabouts and injuries. She feared for her safety and left with her mother. But the police were not done with her, she said.

She shared with CNN images of the injuries to her legs as she lay on a couch at home. That evening, her phone rang.

"It was the police asking where I had been," Anya said. "I began making up stories. They said they would come and get me, a unit of them. And if they take me, I thought, then I can say goodbye to my limbs, because no one will look after me. I was worried they would torture me on my injuries."

She left Belarus shortly afterwards and shows CNN the fragments of grenade removed from her leg. One fragment is still lodged in her thigh.

Anya hopes for change in Belarus for her generation, and said that while the current peaceful protests haven't worked, it has led to an awakening. "There is a saying among Belarusians now that we didn't really know each other until the summer," she said, of the protests' beginning.

Her generation's desire for wholesale change is a thorn not only in Lukashenko's side, but also the Kremlin's. Some analysts suggest Putin is wary of siding too closely with Lukashenko's brutal crackdown, in case it turns younger Belarusians against Moscow permanently.

For that, it may be too late.

"Lukashenko wouldn't be so arrogant and cruel without the assurance of Russia always having his back," Anya said.

"We are not their people, we are strangers. Russia does not care what happens to us."

By Nick Paton Walsh, Sebastian Shukla, Christian Streib and Denis Lapin, CNN 

3/23/2021

Anti-racist motion stalled at the Alberta legislature

© Provided by Edmonton Journal Edmonton-South NDP MLA Thomas Dang speaks about his private member's bill denouncing racist symbols on Friday, March 19, 2021.

A motion condemning hateful and racist symbols in Alberta was heard at the legislature on Monday, but will have to wait for another day before it can be voted on.

NDP MLA Thomas Dang put forward the motion denouncing the display of “racist symbols and insignia” in public spaces as well as demonstrations “meant to terrorize and promote racism,” citing rallies last month in Edmonton and Calgary that saw some protesters carrying tiki torches, widely considered a white supremacist symbol.

Alberta’s UCP government expressed its support for the NDP motion, but Dang accused the them of running out the clock to avoid debate on his motion, which was heard at the end of a day of private members’ business. The allotted time for motions came after more than an hour of discussion about making rodeo Alberta’s official sport, as well as Bill 205, the Genocide Remembrance, Condemnation and Prevention Month Act.

“Jason Kenney and the UCP made it clear today that they don’t want to have the critically important debate about the rising use of symbols of hate at public events in Alberta,” Dang said in a Monday statement.

The government said they were following normal legislative procedure, with time set aside in the last hour for motions, after two hours for bills. A few minutes before 5 p.m., the allotted time for motions, a division bell, recorded vote on Bill 205 and a 15 minute break were called. Another 15 minute break was called at 5:19 p.m. after a separate NDP motion.

The legislature may have to wait weeks for the next opportunity to debate the anti-racism motion in time set aside for private member’s business, which can only happen on Mondays.

Blaise Boehmer, press secretary to Justice Minister Kaycee Madu, said in a statement the minister and the government would support the motion as tabled and have denounced hate-motivated crime, but added prosecuting such crime is a job for independent law enforcement and prosecutors, not politicians.

“Expressions of hatred towards other Albertans is completely unacceptable, and police must investigate when it does occur to determine if those expressions reach the level of criminality,” said Boehmer.

The NDP proposal comes after Edmonton police reported investigating six hate-motivated attacks against Black Muslim women since December and the National Council of Canadian Muslims called for the immediate creation of a bipartisan provincial-municipal committee in Alberta to deal with the challenge of racist and Islamophobic street harassment.

Dang called on the UCP government last Friday to commit to outlawing such symbols in public spaces.

Boehmer said the Criminal Code is under the jurisdiction of the federal government, and laws must be compliant with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

“We have not heard which mechanisms MLA Dang is proposing to use to ‘ban’ certain inanimate objects and/or emotions,” said Boehmer.

However, Dang said the difficulty police often face in laying charges related to harmful symbols demonstrated the need to create better legislative tools.
‘The action is what’s always lacking’

Irfan Chaudhry, director of the office of human rights, diversity, and equity at MacEwan University, said the province had ways to act without touching the Criminal Code and should not shy away from bold legislation.

“That’s a cop out in my opinion,” said Chaudhry. The government could create parameters for protest, banning hate symbols during protests on government property like the legislature grounds.

Chaudhry compared that option to existing legislation that gives the province the power to hand out stiff penalties to protesters who block rail lines and highways.

He added a declaration and a conversation isn’t enough.

“It’s intent versus action. I think most people have positive intent around addressing racism, but the action is what’s always lacking,” said Chaudhry.

Meanwhile, the government has not committed to making the Anti-Racism Advisory Council’s recommendations to government public, but has said it would review its report in the spring.

(Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the circumstances that led to the vote on the anti-racism motion being held over and to clarify legislature procedure around private members’ bills and motions.)

Lisa Johnson EDMONTON JOURNAL 3/23/2021

Pikangikum First Nation expel OPP from community over sexual assault allegations, SIU investigating

Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit is investigating after it received two complaints that allege women were sexually assaulted by members of the Ontario Provincial Police in Pikangikum First Nation

The remote First Nation located about 500 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay with approximately 3,600 members removed 10 provincial police officers from the community late last Friday. Chief Dean Owen said they acted quickly when they were informed about allegations of misconduct involving officers that occurred over “many years,” including a recent incident that led to civilian staff coming forward.

Mr. Owen said Monday that four community members employed at the detachment came forward with allegations they witnessed serious misconduct from officers, including sexual and physical assault, involving mostly young women who were intoxicated when brought into custody.

A spokesperson for the SIU confirmed Monday that it was notified by the OPP on March 19 and has invoked its mandate. The SIU investigates encounters involving police in Ontario that result in serious injury, death or allegations of sexual assault.

A statement from the OPP on Sunday confirmed that its officers left the community on Friday after a Band Council Resolution (BCR) from Pikangikum Chief and Council, and deferred questions about the officers, including how many are involved in the allegations and the status of their employment, to the SIU. The SIU said it didn’t know how many officers were involved as it is in the very early stages of the investigation.

Mr. Owen said the allegations took place over many years and that the staff members who came forward were warned not to say anything by officers because they took an oath of confidentiality.

“Police would come right after them, very stern warnings to them, use of harsh words,” Mr. Owen said.

“They just couldn’t keep [quiet] any more, they were going to quit because that wasn’t a place where they wanted to work.”

Mr. Owen said there’s a history of unresolved issues with the OPP and that it’s not the first time they’ve been removed. He said the community was trying to work on the relationship but that the allegations brought forward have broken the trust once again.

Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) evacuated its primary care practitioners stationed in the community on Saturday, citing a significant reduction in police presence. The nursing station was to reopen for regular business hours on Monday.

Mr. Owen said the community has seven of its own First Nations police officers who are fully trained and officially recognized the same as the OPP and other First Nations police.

The OPP services Pikangikum under the Ontario First Nations Policing Agreement, which includes both local First Nations constables and non-Indigenous constables who fly into the community for scheduled rotations. All officers receive basic police training from the Ontario Police College.

Mr. Owen said it has been a long-time goal of the community to develop its own stand-alone police service, something the OPP was eager to help with. However, he says that was almost 15 years ago and that the community isn’t even a part of the screening process for officers deployed to the community, despite being told they could be.

In its statement on Sunday, the OPP said it has a history of “supportive, respectful and positive presence in Pikangikum” and that it supports and advocates for Indigenous communities to have their own stand-alone Indigenous policing services.

Mr. Owen said it’s the alleged misconduct of a few certain individuals that are a concern and that 80 per cent to 90 per cent of the officers deployed to Pikangikum are “good officers and have good intentions to work in First Nations communities.”

Mr. Owen said there’s no room for compromise when it comes to the safety of its community members, particularly the youth.

“We won’t be satisfied until a total investigation is done and justice is served and justice for the victims.”

Willow Fiddler, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Globe and Mail

3/22/2021

Native Land Digital's app will show you what Indigenous land you're on

By Leah Asmelash, CNN 

3/22/2021

As the US grapples with history and becomes increasingly racially and culturally aware -- with ethnic studies curriculums in schools, recognition of the dangers of White supremacy, and growing social justice movements -- more people are acknowledging the keepers of the land now known as North America: Native Americans.

© from Native Land

 Native Land Digital, a Canadian nonprofit, runs a website where users can easily type in their addresses and see what nations their land belonged to.

Land acknowledgments are a way for non-Indigenous people to honor and pay respect to the Indigenous people who lived and took care of the land before the arrival of White Europeans, who often used violence to take control of the lands while forcing survivors onto reservations. The acknowledgments are becoming increasingly common, with even the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade taking part.

And now, there are apps that will easily tell you whose land you're on.

One of the most popular ones is run by Native Land Digital, a Canadian non-profit. The organization has a website and app where users can enter an address and see which Indigenous nations lived on that land.

Though the map doesn't represent the official or legal boundaries of the nations, it's an interesting look into the history of the land the users may call home. And the map links out to multiple websites about Indigenous tribes and nations, their languages, or any relevant treaties -- essentially providing users with an education about their homes.

"Native Land Digital creates spaces where non-Indigenous people can be invited and challenged to learn more about the lands they inhabit, the history of those lands, and how to actively be part of a better future going forward together," the website states.

"What we are mapping is more than just a flat picture. The land itself is sacred, and it is not easy to draw lines that divide it up into chunks that delineate who 'owns' different parts of land. In reality, we know that the land is not something to be exploited and 'owned', but something to be honoured and treasured. However, because of the complexities of history, the kind of mapping we undertake is an important exercise, insofar as it brings an awareness of the real lived history of Indigenous peoples and nations in a long era of colonialism."

But if using the map is too cumbersome, one bot on Facebook will tell you what land you're on if you message it your city and state. The bot, called Land Acknowledgment and made by Code for Anchorage, uses data from Native Land Digital.

But land acknowledgements are just a starting point, says Native Governance Center, a Native-led non-profit.

The center lays out a few concrete ways to support Indigenous communities on its website:

Support Indigenous organizations by donating your time and/or money.
Support Indigenous-led grassroots change movements and campaigns.
Commit to returning land.

Bubbling under: Hydrogen-powered cars have been around, but now they’re making a mainstream move

Andy Holloway

 POSTMEDIA

2/22/2021

© Provided by Financial Post oyota Motor Inc.’s Mirai was initially available in Japan and was brought to Canada, specifically Quebec, in 2018. It’s now also available in lower British Columbia.

With or without Joe Biden’s presidential demand to green America’s fleet of automobiles, electric vehicles are here to stay and, eventually, most gas-powered cars will hit the road for one last stop at the junkyard.

That doesn’t mean we’ll all be driving a Tesla or even a hybrid Prius tomorrow. It doesn’t even necessarily mean we’ll be driving electric cars. For one thing, you can only go 400 kilometres or so before needing a charge of 30 to 60 minutes to continue on your way. Good luck getting around outside the city, since the charging infrastructure has been slow in arriving. Gas still tops electric in almost every way, save the environment.

But the idea of a hydrogen car has been making the rounds again and it’s worth another look. Hydrogen cars weigh less, can travel for up to 500 kilometres before refuelling, which only takes a few minutes, and the Canadian Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association notes their environmental footprint of 2.7 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre tops the 20.9 grams for electric cars.

Hydrogen cars aren’t exactly new, since they date back to 1807 when Swiss inventor Francois Isaac de Rivaz created a four-wheel vehicle powered by hydrogen and oxygen. And Canadian companies such as Ballard Power Systems Inc. and Hydrogenics, now a division of American giant Cummins Inc., began developing and commercializing hydrogen fuel cell technology years ago. But it wasn’t until 2014 that the first dedicated mass-produced fuel cell vehicle (FCV) was launched. Toyota Motor Inc.’s Mirai was initially available in Japan and was brought to Canada, specifically Quebec, in 2018. It’s now also available in lower British Columbia, but hasn’t made its way elsewhere yet because of the need for hydrogen refuelling stations. Other hydrogen cars available in Canada include the Hyundai Nexo and Honda Clarity.

“We are headed toward an energy revolution that will electrify the powertrain in vehicles,” says Stephen Beatty, vice-president of corporate at Toyota Canada Inc. “What I think is not really well understood at the moment is that it’s not going to take a single form. It’s going to be several different types of technologies that are best suited for a particular duty cycle and a particular customer.”

For example, electric cars are fine for tooling around close to home, provided you have some place to plug it in on your property, but less useful if you’re going, say, camping, since the cars also tend to be small. Hybrids are obviously one step better in terms of convenience, because good old-fashioned gas kicks in when the battery dies. Hydrogen, meanwhile, is a better way to greenify long-distance travel, such as that done by heavy-duty transport trucks and rental cars; the vehicles can be much bigger than electric and refuelling doesn’t take as long.

The key, of course, is building out the infrastructure so that there are refuelling stations along the major transportation corridors. If that happens, Research and Markets estimates that 6.5 million hydrogen cars could be sold by 2032, compared to just 18,000 in 2019. Various Canadian governments are certainly interested in doing their part to make that happen. The federal government in December released its Hydrogen Strategy: Seizing the Opportunities report, which predicted that a homegrown hydrogen industry could employ 350,000 Canadians and generate $50 billion in revenue. That would help reduce the pain of the declining oil and gas industry, which in 2016 directly and indirectly employed about 550,000 Canadians and generated $41.6 billion in revenue.

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“There’s a growing tide across the country with the provinces and the federal government being interested in developing the hydrogen economy,” Beatty says, adding Alberta, Ontario and Quebec are also moving forward and B.C. is already well-entrenched. “I think the infrastructure issues will be taken care of in due course.

That leaves just questions about the cars themselves. Initially, there were issues about the reliability of hydrogen cars in cold weather, but those have been addressed. Toyota has even cold-tested the Mirai in the Northwest Territories. Aside from running on hydrogen, the Mirai looks and handles like pretty much any other car. “We think we’ve got something that replicates the experience of what people are used to in the conventional automobile,” Beatty says. “The difference is it’s pretty quiet, it’s got good power, and all that comes out of the tailpipe is water.” FPM

 THE FRENCH PRESS

Why the Atlanta Massacre Triggered a Conversation About Purity Culture

The problem with purity culture is not Christianity. The problem is that its extremes are not Christian at all. 

David French Mar 21

(Photo by VIRGINIE KIPPELEN/AFP via Getty Images)

It always happens. Every time there is a mass shooting—often before we even know the number and identity of victims—there’s a desperate and immediate quest to know who was the shooter and what were his motives. Part of this is understandable, human, and necessary. When innocent women and men are gunned down in cold blood something in our spirits cries out, “Why?”

But another part of this quest for an immediate explanation is toxic and destructive. Every single mass shooter (and, sadly, there are many of them) becomes an immediate weapon in the culture war. Did the shooter wear the red jersey or the blue jersey? Does he fit or defy an existing narrative? 

Soon enough, the partisan argument drowns out the answer to the necessary question. We still need to know the reasons each shooter kills—no matter whose partisan or religious ox is gored. 

And that brings me to the Atlanta shooter (I will not use his name). Last week a young man walked into three metro Atlanta massage parlors and killed eight people, including six Asian women. Why did he do it? According to police, the shooter said he suffered from “sex addiction” and shot the women because “they were a temptation for him he wanted to eliminate.”

Does that mean there was no racial component to the killing? Well, no. For one thing, we don’t automatically take a killer’s word as the final explanation for his motives. For another thing, his actions provide their own testimony. The identity of his victims is plain to see. Moreover, there are disturbing cultural patterns that sexualize and exploit Asian women. There is much we still don’t know. At the very least we can and should mourn with our Asian American brothers and sisters and understand (and share!) their heightened concerns.

In the days following the shooting, however, the evidence of the shooter’s sexual confusion and dysfunction continued to mount. And so it’s important to focus on what we do know, on where the evidence is leading us now. The shooter is a Christian young man, baptized in a local Baptist church. He struggled so deeply with sexual sin that he was a patient at a local Evangelical treatment facility, called HopeQuest. He reportedly told a former roommate at a different recovery center that his “very salvation was at stake” if he couldn’t overcome his sexual sin.

And with these revelations, suddenly the Christian part of the internet broke out into a debate about Evangelical purity culture. The shooter’s stated beliefs and deadly actions represented a hyper-violent and extreme manifestation of a toxic theology that long corrupted a slice of Evangelical Christianity. Those same beliefs and actions brought an immense amount of pain bubbling to the surface of the Christian conversation. Soon enough the conversation burst into mainstream media and splashed across the virtual pages of the New York Times and the Washington Post. 

But first, let’s define our terms. “Purity culture” is not a synonym for traditional Christian teachings about sexual morality—specifically the belief that sex is reserved for a marriage between a man and a woman. No, “purity culture” refers to the elaborate set of extra-biblical rituals and teachings that became popular in the 1990s and were designed to build safeguards and “strongholds” of sexual purity in Christian communities. 

The Gospel Coalition’s Joe Carter has written an excellent FAQ about purity culture, and he identifies a number of common characteristics, including specific “purity pledges” that young men and women would take, father-daughter “purity balls” where dads would often given their daughters “purity rings” to symbolize their commitment to chastity, and strict “courtship” relationships that would often feature parent-supervised meetings in lieu of dates and written “purity contracts” prohibiting physical contact.

All of this was distinctly different from what one might call normal or conventional Christian sexual teaching. I’ll give you some examples, from my own Evangelical upbringing. 

As many readers know, I grew up in the Church of Christ, and while my church was more fundamentalist than most, our teaching about sex was mainstream. It represented down-the-line Christian orthodoxy, but it was stripped of the bells and whistles of the purity movement. Our youth group talked about sex a lot (we were teenagers, after all), but there were no rituals. There were no rings. We’d never heard of “courtship.” We weren’t perfect, but we tried to do the right thing.

Fast-forward four years. My college girlfriend was devoted to purity culture, and when she tried to bring me into the fold, I felt like I’d entered a parallel Christian dimension. We both agreed on the top-line moral questions, but she believed so much more.

We didn’t date. We “courted.” And one condition of the courtship was that I attend a week’s worth of “seminars” held by Bill Gothard, then the head of the Institute in Basic Life Principles. At the time Gothard was a powerful Christian celebrity. His seminars could pack arenas, and hundreds of thousands of Christian families hung on his every word. 

His words, however, appalled me. Premarital sexual sin was viewed as defining, status-changing rebellion. You could be forgiven, but if you were no longer a virgin, your life, your wedding, and your marriage would be diminished as a result. You would walk down the aisle fundamentally tarnished, having lost something you could never get back. 

Purity was such a special virtue that God would reward purity with increased beauty, creating a “Godly countenance.” But that beauty must be concealed. Women bore a particular burden to protect “visual” men from temptation. Thus, modesty rules were strict. For example Gothard materials condemned even remarkably modest clothing if it contained what he called an “eye trap.” Here’s an example, posted by a former Gothard student:

(Gothard was later forced out of his ministry after facing dozens of allegations of sexual misconduct.)

By the late 1990s, the purity movement was spreading like wildfire. Josh Harris’s book I Kissed Dating Goodbye sold more than a million copies, and it urged Christian young people to abandon dating entirely. Movements or ministries like “True Love Waits” or the “Silver Ring Thing” elevated purity pledges and placed great emphasis on teenage purity. 

(Harris wrote his book when he was only 21. He has since repudiated the book, separated from his wife, and renounced his Christian faith.)

While some purity teaching was both orthodox and beneficial, other teaching kept lurching towards the same extremes. Time and again purity acolytes repeated the same themes. Sexual sin is a defining sin. Women bore a special burden to protect young men from lust and (later) satisfy their husband’s desires. 

In one particularly pernicious ritual, youth pastors and summer camps would show Christian teenagers two pennies (or other coins), one brand new and others that had been in circulation. The brand new penny was “pure.” The dirty pennies were “handled,” and the more they were “handled,” the dirtier they became.  

At the same time, some purity acolytes taught what the writer Katelyn Beaty has critiqued as a form of “sexual prosperity gospel.” Purity now would mean great sex later. It was God’s reward for your youthful obedience. Chastity was the pathway to sexual satisfaction.

It’s important to emphasize how much the extreme teachings were contrary to the Gospel. And by “contrary to the Gospel” I don’t mean that the orthodox sexual ethic is contrary to God’s plan or that sexual sin can’t be very serious indeed. Instead, I’m referring to the perverted theology of the abusive purity movement.

Are Christians defined forever by their sin? No. They are not “dirty.” They are white as snow:

Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord:

though your sins are like scarlet,

    they shall be as white as snow;

though they are red like crimson,

    they shall become like wool.

Do women pollute men’s hearts with their beauty? Is the sight of women the source of male sin? No. Evil comes from within: 

For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.

Denying these eternal truths did and does tremendous damage to young hearts and minds. Singling out sexual sin as particularly pernicious and life-defining leads to fear and panic when people do stumble and fall. Perversely enough, it can even enable sinful conduct by leading people to feel hopeless when or if they do fail. “I’m ruined anyway. What’s the point of further restraint?”

Placing responsibility for male purity on women harms women. It creates an impossible burden. You cannot oppress women enough to protect men from themselves. You can ban porn, ban explicit TV and movies of all types, put women in long dresses, prohibit makeup, and require courtship contracts, and you still will not solve the problem of sin.

In fact, placing such burdens on women does not make the church more Christian. It instead connects the church to millennia of oppressive practices across the world and across faiths that have put women in a position of covered bondage all for the sake of avoiding the lustful male gaze. 

I saw the costs of an abusive purity culture with my own eyes. During the late 1990s, my wife and I served as volunteer youth directors in our church youth group. The youth pastor had just become a purity acolyte. Over our objection he prohibited dating. He condemned most forms of physical contact before marriage. Soon enough, I found myself consoling 17 year-olds who believed they’d already harmed their future marriage merely because they kissed their prom date. 

(Shortly after he initiated the dating ban, the youth pastor resigned after being caught engaging in inappropriate sexual activity online.)

When the youth pastor left in scandal, I became interim youth pastor, and we reversed course. We held to Christian orthodoxy but we rejected the idolization of purity. Sin does not define the Christian. Christ does. 

And this brings us back to Atlanta. When many Christian women (and women who’d left the church) heard the killer’s motive, they thought, “That’s an extreme version of an idea that I was taught for years—that men need to protect themselves from women, that they need to protect themselves from me.” 

At its most benign, purity culture put unnecessary burdens on young men and (especially) young women. In its more harmful manifestations, however, it has enabled abuse, and at the extreme edge the male demand that women save them from their own sin can lead to murderous rage. 

As this conversation unfolds, it’s important to keep two things in mind. First, the purity culture I’m describing never fully captured the church. Millions of people have thankfully lived their entire Christian lives free from the extremes I’ve described above. 

Second, however, it’s absolutely vital that Christians do not leave the task of confronting extremes to a secular world and media that is often hostile to (or doesn’t understand) Christian orthodoxy itself. The secular critique is typically all confrontation, no redemption. 

The Christian response, however, requires both confrontation and redemption. It recognizes that Christ holds the answer when the church fails. As I’ve written before when addressing the failures and faults of the purity movement, through Christ even stories of past pain and suffering can be redeemed and transformed into instruments of grace and mercy. 

Shortly after we received the first reports about the Atlanta killer’s motives, my friend and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary professor Karen Swallow Prior tweeted two insightful words, “Culture cultivates.” A culture that defines a person by their sexual sin cultivates misery. When it places women in a position of guarding a man’s heart, it cultivates abuse. And sometimes, when a man’s heart is particularly dark, it can even cultivate murder.

The problem with purity culture is not Christianity. The problem with purity culture is that its extremes are not Christian at all. 

YEMEN WAR

Biden’s problem in Yemen: The Houthis are winning

MARCH 21, 2021
Written by
Kristian Coates Ulrichsen and Giorgio Cafiero

The Houthi rebels currently feel emboldened in Yemen’s war. The Iran-aligned movement believes that it is winning this gruesome conflict. This belief is well-founded. Ansar Allah (the dominant Houthi militia) controls the land where roughly 80 percent of Yemen’s population lives. Other factors contributing to Houthi confidence are the shift in Washington’s Yemen foreign policy with new leadership in the White House, and the continuation of Ansar Allah’s strikes against Saudi Arabia, recently exemplified by the Ras Tanura attacks of March 7 that targeted one of the largest oil shipping ports in the world. Rather than laying down their arms and agreeing to what U.S. special envoy to Yemen Tim Lenderking called a “sound” ceasefire plan, the Houthis have decided instead to continue their armed struggle to capture the hydrocarbon-rich Marib province.

Why stop a war you’re winning?

A major dilemma for the Biden administration is how to deal with the Houthis’ resolve to continue fighting. Because the Houthis are currently on the offensive, it will be extremely difficult for the U.S. leadership to figure out how to incentivize them to lay down their arms and trust a peace process that will require them to make concessions to their domestic, regional, and international adversaries. Much of the difficulty for Biden’s team stems from the fact that the U.S. has basically zero direct influence over the Houthis. By virtue of Washington’s support for Saudi Arabia in the war, the Houthi rebels understandably see the U.S. as an enemy. As soon as the Washington-backed Saudi campaign — Operation Decisive Storm — began in 2015, the Houthis began eyeing deeper relationships with Iran, China, and Russia in an effort to counter-balance Riyadh’s support from Western and other Arab governments.

Inspired by and aligned with Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah, the Houthis have gained an immense amount of power. The group will probably never have the strength to control all of Yemen, and the fluid nature of the war suggests that some of their gains could possibly be reversed if the conflict continues. However, the extent to which the Houthis control Yemen today should give all policymakers reason to discount the possibility of Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi’s weak government defeating Ansar Allah militarily. “One thing is abundantly clear: The Houthis will not succumb to pressure,” wrote the Brookings Intelligence Project’s Bruce Riedel. “Almost six years of Saudi bombing, blockade, and humanitarian catastrophe have not moved the rebels.”

Marib first, negotiations later

Indeed, the Saudi bombing campaign’s greatest achievements have been negative. It has built up extreme vitriol and worsened tribal and sectarian divisions in Yemen, which makes it far harder for sufficient or even minimal levels of trust to form among the warring parties. Ansar Allah is concerned that disarming without sufficient guarantees for protection of the Houthis would be too risky. Ultimately, the Houthis justifiably fear being attacked by their Yemeni and Saudi enemies after they have been defanged through peace negotiations. Within this context, Houthi fighters have been pressing on with their offensive on Marib and their increasingly sophisticated rocket and drone attacks against Saudi targets. As the rebels see it, both serve to increase Houthi leverage prior to roundtable talks.

There is a certain short-term logic to this strategy. If serious negotiations on peace begin after a Houthi takeover of Marib, Ansar Allah would be in a far stronger position to dictate terms. Strategically located east of Yemen’s Houthi-controlled capital, Sana’a, Marib hosts much of Yemen’s oil and gas resources and serves as the Hadi government’s last northern stronghold. Described by experts as the “beacon of relative stability” that was a “haven in the middle of a war”, Marib is now a major hotspot where both the Houthis and their adversaries have high stakes. If the Houthis could take control of this city, Ansar Allah would feel all the more emboldened, especially given how such a change on the ground would inevitably add to the Hadi government’s sense of weakness and probably greater pressure to agree to terms for peace that are favorable to the Houthis.

On the other hand, Ansar Allah is taking significant risks in its push to capture more land prior to negotiations. The Houthis’ aggression in their quest to conquer Marib may unite the previously divided anti-Houthi forces against them. It also might make the Biden administration less open to engaging in dialogue with a group clearly committed to an escalation, rather than a reduction, of the conflict.

Bringing the Houthis to the table

In line with Biden’s expressed commitment to resolving the Yemen war diplomatically, how could Washington give Ansar Allah reason to see a ceasefire as a better path than continued warfare? To begin, the U.S. could demonstrate goodwill by convincing Saudi Arabia to end the blockade of Yemen, including the airport in Sana’a and the port at Hodeida, both under Houthi control. This siege has had a minimal effect on the Houthis’ ability to fight, but has been directly responsible for the deaths of countless Yemenis. Such a step would signal the Biden administration’s commitment to concrete steps aimed at helping to wind down this conflict and address unfolding humanitarian concerns. In the process, if the Saudis agree to lifting the blockade, the Houthis could, in turn, agree to halt all attacks on Saudi territory to address Riyadh’s legitimate security concerns.

Additionally, Washington should take advantage of all future opportunities to engage the Houthis in constructive dialogue in search of trust-building measures and achievable outcomes, generating momentum for eventual negotiation of a political settlement. The U.S. will most likely depend on other countries that can facilitate dialogue between Washington and the Iran-aligned rebels whom the U.S.-backed Saudi coalition has been fighting for six years. States uniquely qualified to play this role include Oman, Qatar, and possibly Russia — all of which have some history of engagement and dialogue with the Houthis. Muscat, Doha, and/or Moscow’s abilities to play bridging roles will be critical given the absence of trust between the United States and the Houthis.

Regardless of how the Biden administration approaches the Houthi movement, it is safe to say that the future of large areas of northern Yemen will remain under Houthi control, even after an end to the fighting with the Houthis which is but one of several zones of conflict in Yemen today. In terms of the country’s political landscape, there will be no return to past eras in Yemeni history. What comes after the dust settles will inevitably be a unique product of the past six years of civil war and human suffering. Any realistic foreign policy that Washington adopts in relation to Yemen must accept this, and certain other de facto realities, to engage with the war-ravaged country on pragmatic terms.

Looking ahead, it is safe to assume that Yemen will remain a deeply fractured country that needs far more international aid than it currently receives. However, there is no doubt that the continuation of the armed conflict is the main reason why outside groups are unable to provide the necessary help to the millions of Yemenis, who, in the words of UN World Food Program Executive Director David Beasley, are “knocking on the door of famine”. Ultimately, the Biden administration would be wise to back up its words about addressing humanitarian disasters in Yemen with concrete actions that prioritize the need to save lives above any other purpose. The only way that this can be done is through more engagement between Washington and the Houthis, and President Biden’s negotiating team must use these channels to slowly add to the scope and scale of negotiations.

This article has been republished with permission from the Gulf International Forum.
Written by
Kristian Coates Ulrichsen and Giorgio Cafiero

IRAN NORWUZ

Leader: US has trapped Saudis in quagmire of Yemeni War

Tehran, March 21, IRNA – Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said that "Khamenei stated that Saudi Arabia has not yet been able to force the people of Yemen to surrender after six years. He said that the US has trapped the Saudis in the quagmire of the Yemeni War."

According to the Supreme Leader's official website, Khamenei.ir, "On the first day of the Persian New Year 1400 AH, which has been named the year of “Production: Support and Removing Barriers,” Imam Khamenei - the Leader of the Islamic Revolution - delivered his annual speech in a live broadcast this evening. Imam Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, said that after the passage of 6 years, Saudi Arabia has not yet been able to force the Yemenis to surrender. He said that the US has trapped the Saudis in the quagmire of the Yemeni War.

Addressing the Iranian nation in his New Year speech, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution stated, “The Saudis began the war against Yemen during the Obama administration. They did it with the Americans’ go-ahead. Actually, the Americans gave the Saudis permission and they helped them as well. They gave the Saudis abundant military equipment. Why? In order to force the people of Yemen into surrendering in the course of 15 days or one month after having dropped numerous bombs on them. Well, they were mistaken. They have not been able to do this over the past 6 years. The war on Yemen began on a day at this time of the year. Six years have passed since that day, but they have not been able to force the Yemenis to surrender. I ask the Americans, “The day when you gave the Saudis the go-ahead to enter into the war on Yemen, were you aware the Saudis would get stuck in such a difficult situation?”

Addressing the Americans, Imam Khamenei said, “You knew into what quagmire you were dragging the Saudis. At the present time, they can neither stay nor leave. The problem is difficult either way. They can neither stop the war nor continue it. Both ways are to their detriment. You Americans knew what a disaster you were creating for the Saudis. If you knew it and you did it anyway, how wretched are your allies because you treat them this way. And if you did not know it, then again how wretched are your allies for trusting you and for planning with you who are not familiar with regional issues.”

His Eminence went on to say, “Unfortunately, the Americans are mistaken about regional matters in general. They are making mistakes at the present time as well. Their cruel, unreasonable support of the Zionist regime is a mistake. Their occupying presence in Syria in extensive areas east of the Euphrates is definitely wrong, and so is their cooperation with the Saudi government in bombarding the oppressed people of Yemen.”

Imam Khamenei stressed that the US policies concerning Palestine are wrong, “The issue of Palestine will never be forgotten in the world of Islam. The Americans are happy to see that some pitiful governments have normalized relations with the Zionist regime. However, two or three such governments are insignificant, because the Islamic nation will never forget the issue of Palestine. The Americans should know this. The same is true concerning the issue of Yemen.”

Pointing to the failure of the maximum pressure policy adopted by the US, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution stated, “That previous fool had devised the maximum pressure policy in order to put Iran in a position of weakness. They wished to ultimately force Iran to sit at the negotiating table and to give in to their demands. Well, he [Trump] was kicked out and he left with such disgrace. Even his departure was not done in a good way. It was a disgrace for himself and his country.”

His Eminence also added, “Their maximum pressure policy has failed up until now, and it will continue to fail after this too. These new politicians will be kicked out too and be gone, but Islamic Iran will remain with increasing power and dignity.”

Referring to the JCPOA, he stated, “The country’s policy in dealing with the other parties in the JCPOA and the JCPOA itself has already been clearly announced. This policy should not be violated in any way. It is a policy that has already been announced and which has been adopted with everyone’s agreement. This policy is that the Americans should lift all sanctions. Then, we will verify that they have been lifted. If the sanctions have truly been lifted, we will return to our JCPOA commitments. This is our definite policy.”

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution added, “Some Americans even object to the current JCOPA. I have heard some Americans say the situation has changed since the JCPOA was signed in 1394 and 1395 AH. Therefore, the JCPOA should change as well. I too accept that today’s situation is different from what it was in the years 1394 and 1395. But it has changed to our advantage, not to the advantage of the Americans.”

Imam Khamenei stressed, “Iran has become much stronger now in comparison with the year 1394. It has been able to stand on its own feet and find confidence in itself. However, you have become increasingly disreputable since the year 1394. During this period of time, the administration that was in power disgraced your country with its statements, actions and behavior and finally with its departure. Economic problems have engulfed all parts of your country. Yes, things have changed, but to your disadvantage. So if the JCPOA is to change, it should change to the advantage of Iran, not them.”

At the end of his statements, His Eminence emphasized, “When we say that it is they who should lift the sanctions first, I have heard some politicians in the world respond, ‘What difference does it make? You say the US should act first, and the US says that you should take action first.’ The issue is not who should act first. The issue is that we trusted the Americans during the Obama administration and we honored our commitments in the JCPOA, but they did not honor their commitments. They only said on paper that the sanctions had been lifted.”

He also said that the production movement in the country should be continued and underlined that obstacles hindering production have to be removed.

Earlier yesterday, Ayatollah Khamenei, issued a message on the new Iranian year wherein he described 1399 as the year of the manifestation of the Iranian nation's capabilities both in face of COVID-19 and in confronting enemies' maximum pressure.

He chose the slogan “Production: support and the elimination of obstacles” for the year 1400.

In his today speech, Ayatollah Khamenei recalled that the beginning of the last century, 1300, was the beginning of Reza Khan's dictatorship who came to power with the UK Coup, and now the beginning of the new century in the year 1400 coincides with the upcoming elections, he underlined.

The year 1300 was the onset of Reza khan's dictatorship and the UK Coup was in fact carried out by Reza Khan, he noted. 
In fact, the rule was dependent, dictatorial, and was controlled by the UK in the country, he further noted. 

This year, entering the century 1400 should be named the year of elections, Ayatollah Khamenei said, adding that the current period of time shows that the Iranian system now is based on national self-confidence and self-reliance; that is the difference in this century.

Last year's slogan, "surge in production", was not completely realized, he stated, though some progress in important manufacturing areas were achieved if it is evaluated fairly.

There is a complete list proving the rise of the productions, he stated, noting that some areas including home appliances, car tires, aluminum, petrochemical, and steel experienced growth.

Ayatollah Khamenei’s speech was broadcast live on TV, his official website, and his official pages on social media. Due to protocols to stop the COVID-19 virus from spreading, he did not travel to Mashad for addressing the nation this year.

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