Undocumented workers in B.C. worry COVID-19 vaccine could get them deported

Duration: 02:10 

4/27/2021

Many undocumented workers in British Columbia are hesitant to get a COVID-19 vaccine over concerns that if their status is revealed at a vaccination clinic, they could be deported.

CANADA

Parliamentary report calls for ‘coercive control’ to become crime
Duration: 02:01

 cbc.ca

 4/27/2021
A parliamentary report and an aligning private member’s bill calls for "coercive control" to be added to the criminal code.

Six Nations elected chief endorses building moratorium, calls for unity with Confederacy ahead of hearing on land claims

Six Nations Elected Chief Mark Hill has signalled his support for the development moratorium within the Haldimand Tract declared by the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council last week.

“We reiterate and acknowledge their call for the moratorium,” Hill said, noting the elected council’s “major” land claims lawsuit against the federal government is scheduled to be heard in court late next year.

“It would not be responsible to allow continued development in an uncertain legal environment,” Hill said. “The government of Canada owes Six Nations potentially in the trillions of dollars in relation to our lands.”

Hill made the comments during a virtual press conference on Monday while discussing the importance of finding common ground with the Confederacy on issues such as clean drinking water on the reserve, new long-term and palliative-care facilities, and the need for a permanent home for Kawenni:io Language School, which has been without a fixed address for its 30-plus-year history.

The Confederacy — made up of hereditary chiefs and clan mothers — announced any developers wishing to build along the Grand River need to first go through a consultation with the Confederacy’s development arm, the Haudenosaunee Development Institute.

“In terms of the (consultation) process, we need to make sure the people are part of that process as well, and what that looks like,” Hill said.

“We need to all be held accountable for our actions, and again, be accountable to our people.”

The federal government has said the elected and hereditary leadership — often at loggerheads over who is the legitimate authority on Six Nations — must smooth over their long-standing differences before negotiations can begin over the future of 1492 Land Back Lane, a planned Caledonia housing development presently occupied by Six Nations land defenders.

“We have to develop that road map together in order to get to unity,” said Hill, who characterized recent talks between the two councils as “optimistic.”

“Our people have said over and over again that they would like to see the two bodies work together,” he said.

“What that looks like is the big question.”

The chief said one positive to come out of the pandemic was how representatives from both councils collaborated on public health measures.

“We’ve come together on this issue, and it’s that beauty of when our people do come together, we can really flourish,” he said, expressing hope the two councils can join forces “and once and for all address our long-standing land issues.”

“We have to make sure that we’re keeping Ontario and Canada accountable, because this is very much part of their issue as well,” Hill said.

J.P. Antonacci, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Hamilton Spectator

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M CHARTER SCHOOLS
Former Obama White House adviser arrested for allegedly stealing over $200,000 from charter schools he founded

By Sonia Moghe, CNN 

© C-SPAN/FILE Seth Andrew speaks about charter schools on C-SPAN in 2017

A former White House senior adviser for the Obama administration who helped found a network of charter schools is accused of allegedly stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the schools and attempting to launder the funds in order to get a lower interest rate on a mortgage for a Manhattan apartment, according to federal prosecutors.

Seth Andrew was charged by prosecutors in the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York with wire fraud, money laundering, and making false statements to a bank.

Prosecutors say Andrew helped create a network of charter schools based in New York City in 2005, and left the network in 2013 for a job at the US Department of Education, and later became a senior adviser in the Office of Educational Technology at the White House, where he continued to be paid by the charter school network. Prosecutors say Andrew left his role in the White House in November 2016 and cut ties with the school network in January 2017.

Andrew was taken into custody Tuesday in Manhattan and released on a personal recognizance bond after an initial appearance, SDNY spokesman James Margolin said. Andrew's attorney, Michael Yaeger, said Andrew will plead not guilty and is reviewing the government's case. No plea was entered Tuesday, Margolin said.

Andrew was the founder of Democracy Prep Public Schools, a network of more than 20 public charter schools from Harlem to Washington, DC, according to an email sent to Democracy Prep families and alumni Tuesday morning that was released to CNN.

CEO Natasha Trivers said that Democracy Prep alerted the appropriate authorities once it learned about the unauthorized withdrawals.

"Seth left our network in 2013. His alleged actions are a profound betrayal of all that we stand for and to you and your children, the scholars and families that we serve," Trivers' email said. "To be clear, at no time did the alleged crimes pose any risk to our students, staff or operations in any way."

Trivers also added that the activity did not have "any adverse effect on our scholars or the functioning of our schools" and that the school system has since instituted financial safeguards, which lead to the discovery of the withdrawals.

According to a criminal complaint filed on April 20 and unsealed Tuesday, prosecutors allege that between March and August of 2019, Andrew used his former association with the network of schools to allegedly steal $218,005 of the school's reserve money by using his email address affiliated with the schools to email a bank employee and convince them that he was still associated with the school, which he was not.

The complaint states that after allegedly stealing the school network's money, Andrew "attempted to conceal the source of the stolen funds ... and make it appear that the stolen funds belonged to a non-profit organization that Andrew founded, and currently appears to control."

Prosecutors allege Andrew misrepresented that he "lawfully controlled" the money in order to obtain a discounted mortgage interest rate to buy an apartment in Manhattan.

This story has been updated with additional reporting.

Sustainable engineers Kenoteq are reinventing the brick

Rebecca Cairns, CNN 

4/27/2021


Although we're surrounded by millions of them every day, most of us don't think about bricks too often. For thousands of years, the humble clay-fired brick hasn't changed. The building blocks of modern suburban homes would be familiar to the city planners of ancient Babylon, the bricklayers of the Great Wall of China, or the builders of Moscow's Saint Basil's Cathedral.

© Kenoteq Gabriela Medero, co-founder of Kenoteq, came up with the idea for the K-Briq over a decade ago.

But the brick as we know it causes significant environmental problems, by using up raw, finite materials and creating carbon emissions. That's why Gabriela Medero, a professor of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering at Scotland's Heriot-Watt University, decided to reinvent it.

Originally from Brazil, Medero says she was drawn to civil engineering because it gave her passion for maths and physics a practical outlet. As she became aware of the construction industry's sustainability issues, she started looking for solutions. With her university's support, Medero joined forces with fellow engineer Sam Chapman and set up Kenoteq in 2009.

The company's signature product is the K-Briq. Made from more than 90% construction waste, Medero says the K-Briq -- which does not need to be fired in a kiln -- produces less than a tenth of the carbon emissions of conventional bricks. With the company testing new machinery to start scaling up production, Medero hopes her bricks will help to build a more sustainable world.


The problem with bricks

Although they're made from natural materials, there are problems with bricks at every step of their production.

Bricks are made from clay -- a type of soil found all over the world. Clay mining strips the land's fertile topsoil, inhibiting plant growth.

In conventional brick production, the clay is shaped and baked in kilns at temperatures up to 1,250°C (2,280°F). The majority of brick kilns are heated by fossil fuels, which contribute to climate change.

Once made, bricks must be transported to construction sites, generating more carbon emissions.

Globally, 1,500 billion bricks are produced, every year. Laid end-to-end, they would stretch to the moon and back 390 times.

The environmental footprint of different bricks reflects multiple factors including the type of kiln, fuel, and transportation. But with so many produced, their impact adds up, says Medero.

Enter the K-Briq. To make it, construction and demolition waste including bricks, gravel, sand and plasterboard is crushed and mixed with water and a binder. The bricks are then pressed in customized molds. Tinted with recycled pigments, they can be made in any color.

© Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg/Getty Images

 A brick kiln in West Sussex, in the south of England.

Earlier this year, Kenoteq won its first commission -- to supply bricks for the Serpentine Pavilion 2020 in London's Hyde Park (although the project has been postponed until summer 2021 due to the current pandemic). Designed by architectural studio Counterspace, the building will incorporate K-Briqs in grey, black and 12 shades of pink. The Pavilion's lead architect, Sumayya Vally, says that as a recycled product, the K-Briq appealed to her. It "embodies" the past through its use of old materials, she says, adding that because the bricks can be customized, they allow "the designer to be a part of the construction process of the material," creating unique opportunities in architecture.


Why can't old bricks be re-used?

In the UK, around 2.5 billion new bricks are used in construction every year -- and about the same number of old bricks are demolished. A seemingly simple solution to the brick production problem would be to re-use old bricks.

© Jorge Guerrero/AFP/Getty Images A clay quarry in Andalusia, Spain

But it's not that straightforward. According to Bob Geldermans, a climate design and sustainability researcher at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, reclaiming bricks is an expensive and "labor-intensive process."

According to the UK's Brick Development Association, old brick structures need to be carefully dismantled and the bricks cleaned of mortar with hammers and chisels. Reclaimed bricks are used to help renovate historic buildings or for other specialized projects but for mass construction, the process is too costly.

An additional barrier is that there's no standardized way to check the strength, safety or durability of reclaimed bricks.

Medero says that K-Briqs could solve both these problems.

According to Medero, the K-Briq will be comparably priced to conventional bricks. Additionally, as a new product, the K-Briq has been subjected to rigorous assessment at the materials testing lab at Heriot-Watt University, and is in the process of being certified by regulators. Medero claims that K-Briqs are stronger and more durable than fired clay bricks, and provide better insulation, too.

Scaling up

Kenoteq currently operates one workshop in Edinburgh, which can produce three million K-Briqs a year. Medero is looking at scaling up -- but it's hard to create a revolution in construction.

Geldermans says that the industry is notoriously slow to change -- adding that legislation often lags far behind innovation, so construction companies are not incentivized to adopt sustainable practices and materials.

Stephen Boyle is the program manager for construction at non-profit Zero Waste Scotland which, along with organizations including Scottish Enterprise and the Royal Academy of Engineering, has provided Kenoteq with funding. He attributes the industry's conservatism to a "chicken and egg" situation. Innovative startups need large contracts to allow them to scale, he says, but struggle to become competitive without a large operation already in place.

But despite the challenges, Kenoteq is far from being the only company trying to make construction more sustainable. Other innovators include Qube, an India-based startup creating bricks out of plastic waste, and the ClickBrick which eliminates the use of cement through modular stacking (think real-life Lego).

There are signs of change. In Scotland, the government is reviewing a circular economy bill which encourages businesses to think creatively and economically about how they reuse and recycle materials. Boyle says that there are "contractors who would use [K-Briqs] tomorrow," if they were being produced on a large scale.

Over the next 18 months, Medero plans to get K-Briq machinery on-site at recycling plants. This will increase production while reducing transport-related emissions, she says, because trucks can collect K-Briqs when they drop off construction waste. "We need to have ways of building sustainably, with affordable, good quality materials that will last."

3 SLIDES © Kenoteq

Gabriela Medero and Sam Chapman, co-founders of Kenoteq, say they have created a sustainable alternative to traditional fired clay bricks.

China to report first population decline since 1949 despite relaxing one-child policy

Financial Times 4/27/2021


China is set to report its first population decline since records began in 1949 despite the relaxation of the government’s strict family planning policies, which was meant to reverse the falling birth rate of the world’s most populous country.

© Provided by National Post China’s birth rates have weakened even after Beijing relaxed its decades-long family planning policy in 2015, allowing couples to have two children instead of one.

The latest Chinese census, which was completed in December but has yet to be made public, is expected to report the total population of the country at less than 1.4 billion, according to people familiar with the research. In 2019, China’s population was reported to have exceeded the 1.4 billion mark.

Trade minister dodges questions on whether Canada has curbed potential forced-labour imports from China

The people cautioned, however, that the figure was considered very sensitive and would not be released until multiple government departments had reached a consensus on the data and its implications.

“The census results will have a huge impact on how the Chinese people see their country and how various government departments work,” said Huang Wenzheng, a fellow at the Center for China and Globalization, a Beijing-based think-tank. “They need to be handled very carefully.”

The government was scheduled to release the census in early April. Liu Aihua, a spokesperson at the National Bureau of Statistics, said on April 16 that the delay was partly due to the need for “more preparation work” ahead of the official announcement. The delay has been widely criticised on social media.

Local officials have also braced for the data’s release. Chen Longgan, deputy director of Anhui province’s statistics bureau, said in a meeting this month that officials should “set the agenda” for census interpretation and “pay close attention to public reaction”.

Analysts said a decline would suggest that China’s population could peak earlier than official projections and could soon be exceeded by India’s, which is estimated at 1.38 billion. That could take an extensive toll on the world’s second-largest economy, affecting everything from consumption to care for the elderly.

“The pace and scale of China’s demographic crisis are faster and bigger than we imagined,” said Huang. “That could have a disastrous impact on the country.”

China’s birth rates have weakened even after Beijing relaxed its decades-long family planning policy in 2015, allowing all couples to have two children instead of one. The population expanded under the one-child policy introduced in the late 1970s, thanks to a bulging population of young people in the aftermath of the Communist revolution as well as increased life expectancy.

Official data showed the number of newborns in China increased in 2016 but then fell for three consecutive years. Officials blamed the decline on a shrinking number of young women and the surging costs of child-rearing.

The real picture could be even worse. In a report published last week, China’s central bank estimated that the total fertility rate, or the average number of children a woman was likely to have in her lifetime, was less than 1.5, compared with the official estimate of 1.8.

“It is almost a fact that China has overestimated its birth rate,” the People’s Bank of China said. “The challenges brought about by China’s demographic shift could be bigger [than expected].”

A Beijing-based government adviser who declined to be identified said such overestimates stemmed in part from the fiscal system’s use of population figures to determine budgets, including for education and public security.

“There is an incentive for local governments to play up their [population] numbers so they can get more resources,” the person said.

The situation has led to calls for a radical overhaul of China’s birth control rules. The PBoC report suggested the government should “completely” abandon its “wait-and-see attitude” and scrap family planning entirely.

“Policy relaxations will be of little use when no one wants to have [more children],” the paper said.

TOPICS FOR YOU

Credit Suisse must face lawsuit over U.S. 'volatility' crash

By Jonathan Stempel 

4/27/2021

© Reuters/ARND WIEGMANN FILE PHOTO: Logo of Swiss bank Credit Suisse is seen in Zurich

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday revived a lawsuit accusing Credit Suisse Group AG of causing huge losses by defrauding investors in a complex product for betting on stock market swings that lost 96% of its value in a single day.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said investors could try to prove Credit Suisse intended to collapse the market for its VelocityShares Daily Inverse VIX Short-Term Exchange-Traded Notes ("XIV Notes") through just 15 minutes of its own trading of futures contracts.

Set Capital LLC and other investors in the proposed class action claimed they lost $1.8 billion, while the Swiss bank reaped at least $475 million in profit at their expense.

The 3-0 decision adds to problems facing Credit Suisse, which recently lost $4.7 billion when the hedge fund Archegos Capital Management collapsed, and has been sued over its ties to Archegos and another client, the failed supply chain financier Greensill Capital.

XIV notes imploded on Feb. 5, 2018, when the Standard & Poor's 500 dropped 4.1% and unexpected market turbulence punished investors betting on low volatility.

Circuit Judge John Walker said investors could pursue claims that Credit Suisse manipulated the market for the notes while downplaying the risks in offering documents.

"The complaint plausibly alleges both motive and opportunity to commit a manipulative act, as well as strong circumstantial evidence of conscious misbehavior or recklessness," he wrote.

Credit Suisse spokeswoman Candice Sun declined to comment.

Michael Eisenkraft, the investors' lawyer, said: "We look forward to prosecuting these claims vigorously."

The price of XIV notes plunged as low as $4.22 from $108.37 during the collapse. Credit Suisse later redeemed them at $5.99 each.

When dismissing the case in September 2019, U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in Manhattan adopted a magistrate judge's findings that Credit Suisse had simply taken advantage of market conditions, and was not trying to defraud investors.

The appeals court returned the case to Torres.

The case is Set Capital LLC et al v Credit Suisse Group AG et al, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 19-3466.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

DC police officer: 'It's been very difficult' seeing elected officials trying to whitewash brutal insurrection

By Paul LeBlanc and Caroline Kelly,

 CNN 4/27/2021


A DC Metropolitan Police officer who was brutally assaulted while defending the US Capitol during the January 6 insurrection said Tuesday evening that it's been difficult to watch some elected officials and others "whitewash" the episode in its aftermath.

© Brent Stirton/Getty Images Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as people try to storm the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC.

Michael Fanone, who was stun-gunned several times and beaten with a flagpole during the attack, told CNN's Don Lemon on "CNN Tonight" that "some of the terminology that was used, like 'hugs and kisses,' and 'very fine people,' is like very different from what I experienced and what my co-workers experienced on the 6th."

Though Fanone didn't name Donald Trump specifically, the former President falsely claimed in an interview with Fox News last month that the pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol behaved properly with law enforcement and there was "zero threat" to the building.

Trump also claimed that some of the rioters "went in, and they are hugging and kissing the police and the guards."

His false account conflicts with reams of video evidence of the violence that broke out on January 6, criminal charges filed against participants, law enforcement officials' testimony, police officers' accounts of the violence and lawmakers' descriptions of the fear they experienced that day.

Fanone suffered a heart attack and a concussion during the insurrection and is now dealing with a traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder.

"I experienced the most brutal, savage hand-to-hand combat of my entire life," he said Tuesday. "Let alone my policing career, which spans almost two decades. It was nothing that I had ever thought would be a part of my law enforcement career, nor was I prepared to experience."

Federal prosecutors have filed charges against Thomas Sibick, who allegedly participated in the assault of Fanone. Prosecutors said Sibick was seen in police body-camera footage assaulting Fanone while he lay on the ground outside the Capitol during the riot.

During the brawl outside the Capitol, Sibick allegedly grabbed Fanone's badge and radio, and he later posted a photo of himself holding a police shield on Facebook, court filings say.

"I want people to understand the significance of January 6," Fanone said Tuesday. "I want people to understand that thousands of rioters came to the Capitol hell-bent on violence and destruction and murder."

Living in Myanmar during a military coup like a ‘dystopian world order,’ woman says

Emerald Bensadoun 

For 25-year-old Thet, each morning in Myanmar brings a constant barrage of what sounds like gunshots, and, more recently, grenades. Yangon, Thet's home as well as the country's largest city, "looks like a wasteland now." If she were to look outside her window, Thet said some parts would resemble a ghost town, while others "look like battle zones."

© Provided by Global News Anti-coup protesters standing behind barricades standoff with a group of police in Yangon, Myanmar Thursday, March 4, 2021. Demonstrators in Myanmar protesting last month's military coup returned to the streets Thursday, undaunted by the killing of at least 38 people the previous day by security forces. (AP Photo)

"It feels like a dystopian world order," she says during an interview conducted over Signal, an encrypted messaging service. "The city that I lived in and grew up in is no longer the city that I know anymore."


Global News has agreed to identify Thet by only her first name due to fear of reprisal from Myanmar's military. Global News has also agreed to keep social media accounts run by Thet and other members of the country’s resistance movement anonymous to protect her identity.

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has undergone three military coups since gaining its independence from the British Empire in 1948. The most recent began on Feb. 1, after the Tatmadaw leadership refused to accept election results that declared civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi the winner. The military detained National League for Democracy leaders, cabinet and chief ministers, opposition politicians, journalists and activists.

Since the recent coup d'etat, Thet said it all too common to hear about protesters who end up in jail, some of whom she claims are beaten and tortured before being released back home. But some don't come home.

"We do not know if they're alive anymore or whether or not they have been buried and their bodies cremated," she says.

"Lately, we've been hearing about cases of people being burned alive."

Video: Myanmar protests: Demonstrators burn tires, Chinese flag as military continues crackdowns

Government forces have killed at least 753 protesters and bystanders since the takeover, according to the most recent briefing from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which monitors casualties and arrests. The group says 3,441 people, including Suu Kyi, are in detention.

Reporting by the Associated Press found nearly all of the protests have been nonviolent, but as police and soldiers have increased their use of lethal force, some participants have armed themselves with homemade weapons such as hunting rifles and gasoline bombs for self-defence.

Southeast Asian leaders said Monday that an agreement had been reached with the junta chief to end the crisis in Myanmar, but no consensus was reached that would put an end to the killing of civilian protesters.

Phone and internet service has been suspended in major cities. In Yangon, where Thet lives with her family, the internet is shut down at 1 a.m. and comes back up at around 8:30 a.m.

"Then we hear about what will happen, what happened in parts of our city, the people they kidnapped, the people they shot, the people they killed during the night," she says.

Read more: Up to 3.4 million in Myanmar face hunger after military coup, United Nations says

Thet's experience is all too common for those living in Myanmar. Burmese Canadian Si Thu Naing, who lives in British Columbia, says it's been difficult to connect with his family in Myanmar due to the shutdowns, and fears for their safety.

His brother is a journalist, which he says has made his family a target for the military junta.

"A lot of the media personalities are on the run. They are not living in their own houses or places anymore. They are usually separated from their family because of what they are doing," he tells Global News.

"If they want to arrest somebody, they go into their house and if they can't find the person they are looking for then they just grab one of their family members."

Unable to ignore the news as conditions in Myanmar worsened, he started a petition. On March 23, NDP MP Laurel Collins brought that petition to the House of Commons floor urging the international community and federal government to "act firmly to reject the coup and put pressure on our allies and Asian partners to stop providing arms to the Myanmar military."

"Canadians want our country to be a leader when it comes to standing up for human rights," Collins says in an interview with Global News. "It's really important for Canada to condemn violence, to condemn military coups that undermine democracy, especially when there is escalating violence against civilian protesters and media blackouts."

Naing's petition also demands Canada bar all businesses from exporting arms and tech to the Myanmar military that can be used against the public.

"We're trying to push and put pressure on the government and western countries to do differently this time and hopefully resolve this so that there will be a whole lot more stability over there," Naing says.

Video: Myanmar protests: Mother of military crackdown victim mourns loss of son during funeral

Since the military coup began, Canada has imposed sanctions on nine Myanmar military officials and has urged Canadians doing business with Myanmar-related entities to comply. Foreign Affairs minister Marc Garneau also "unequivocally" condemned the junta's use of force in a statement on Feb. 28, adding that Canada was considering more measures.

Global Affairs Canada reiterated that the federal government condemns "the coup and the violence being perpetrated against civilian protestors" in an emailed statement to Global News, adding that they have "demanded the restoration of the democratically-elected government and the release of all members of the civilian government, activists and civil society leaders."

"We have also urged the Tatmadaw leadership to provide immediate and unfettered access to Myanmar to the UN Secretary General's Special Envoy," the statement read.

Aung Naing Thein, who heads the Alberta Alliance for Myanmar Democracy, has also requested Canada's government take more aggressive against Myanmar's military. His petition was put to the House floor on April 14.

Garnett Genuis, the Conservative MP who brought the petition forward, recalled Canada's call to action against the Rohingya genocide more than one year after Prime Minister Trudeau’s Special Envoy to Myanmar published his 2018 report detailing multiple accounts of mass rape, killings, separation of families and torching of homes and villages.

"Let's not make the mistake that the government made on Burma in the past," he says. "Let's be prioritizing this in discussions of multilateral fora now and pushing for coordinated actions in terms of sanctions against individuals and other measures that will force a change in behaviour."

But for Thein, the petition is personal. Like Thet, Thein was born and raised in Yangon. He said he wrote the petition in the hopes that it would draw attention to what is happening in his hometown.

"Every day I get a phone call or internet call, the first question we ask is not, 'How are you?' Our question is, 'Are you still alive? Are all of my family members still alive?'" He tells Global News. "I never thought that could be a normal conversation."

Both of Thein's parents live in Yangon, as well as his grandparents, aunts and uncles. He says he's scared for his family.

"The military and security force, they come to the streets and then they randomly shoot people indiscriminately," he claims, when asked what he hears from his family about the state of Yangon.

Unable to return home, he asked himself: "As a Burmese Canadian here, what can I do?"

Read more: Myanmar anti-coup protesters stage ‘silent strike’ to mourn over 700 dead

Thein's petition differs slightly from Naing's, in that it calls on Canada to impose sanctions against members and businesses who are chaired and assembled by Min Aung Hlaing, the senior general in Myanmar and de facto leader following the Feb. 1 coup.

When asked about this distinction, Thein says "the more money they have, the more weapons they will buy and then the more atrocities will happen in Myanmar."

Even if his petition receives no traction, Thein says he will continue to push for a future where Myanmar is a democratic state.

"As long as this military are in power, in control and killing people, I cannot stop what I'm doing here because that's not fair for those people in Myanmar who are suffering," he says.

Video: Dozens killed in Myanmar in one of the deadliest days since military coup

For some living in Myanmar, like Thet, the future remains uncertain. Last month, Thet says her neighbour's home was raided by Myanmar militants. She claims her neighbour was taken, and still doesn't know where he is or if he's still alive.

So far, she says she has been lucky. To her knowledge, none of her friends have died. Living with her family has eased her anxiety — at least this way, she knows where they are. But for Thet, every day is a dangerous waiting game, each passing moment more uncertain than the last.

"So much has happened and yet everything feels so achingly slow at the same time," she says. "At this point, I feel less that I'm living and more that I'm surviving and existing."

At 25 years old, Thet has accepted that her life could end.

"I want to be as dispensable as possible," she says.

"Whatever happens: if I go missing, if they end up killing me too, I know the movement will be able to go on as if nothing happened. They may mourn for me, for my friends and family. But the movement itself will be able to continue on because our movement is a leaderless movement."

Read more: Myanmar security forces kill 82 pro-democracy protesters in single day, reports say

Her actions today may not be the tipping point that sets Myanmar back toward democracy, but Thet says anything that could help future generations of activists is a risk she's willing to take.

"Right now my rights no longer matter. I cannot speak out about what my opinions are without fear of being killed. Police and military can come into our house at any time and kidnap us. This is not the type of life that I want for myself and for other people in my community, not just the youth who will have to carry us in the future, but also the elders too," she said.

"For me, the fight is worth it. Risking my life is worth it because we deserve to live in a free Myanmar, a really inclusive Myanmar as well. So that is why I keep organizing in the ways that I can. We must when we have no other option not to. We have already lost so many people. We cannot make their sacrifices go in vain."

-- With files from Reuters and The Associated Press

Women of color make up 1 in 4 hourly workers at Walmart, but less than a tenth of executives

insider@insider.com (Allana Akhtar) 
4/27/2021

© Joe Raedle/Getty Images People of color make up roughly half (47.3%) of all hourly workers at Walmart locations in the US. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Women of color made up 26.8% of all US hourly employees in 2020, Walmart said in a new report.

Meanwhile, 74.5% of executives and 52.3% of hourly workers at Walmart are white.

"We're investing in change," Ben Hasan, global chief of diversity and inclusion, said in a release.

Women of color are doing much of Walmart's hourly work, yet are responsible for few executive-level decisions.

Women of color - or workers who identify as Black, Asian, Latina, or Native -made up 26.8% of all US hourly employees, according to a new report. People of color make up roughly half (47.3%) of all hourly workers.

Though they represent about one in four hourly workers, women of color make up just 8.4% of people at the "officer" level, or people with president or vice president in their titles. Women of all races make up 32.8% of officers at Walmart's US operations.

Read more: A top Walmart healthcare exec is leaving the retail giant

Black and Latino people account for 39% of hourly workers at Walmart, but 14% of US executives. The majority of Walmart employees are white, making up 74.5% of executives and 52.3% of hourly workers.

"Representation matters, education is the foundation of progress, and we're investing in change," Ben Hasan, Walmart's senior vice president and global chief diversity and inclusion officer, said in a release.

Hasan said women representation in upper management stayed roughly the same between 2019 and 2020, but Walmart increased management promotions for women by 4.4%.

CEO Doug McMillan said, "We remain focused on building teams that are diverse and inclusive, and on fostering an environment where people have the opportunity for continued growth and development."

Walmart, the country's largest employer, had 1.5 million total workers in the United States last year.

SURPRISE, SURPRISE; FOX LIES 

A  Fox News anchor admitted on air on Monday that his show was inaccurate when it claimed on Friday that President Joe Biden is trying to require Americans to sharply reduce their consumption of red meat

.

John Roberts, co-host of the afternoon show "America Reports," made the Monday concession after CNN and other media outlets published fact check articles explaining that Biden does not have any plan to restrict red meat consumption.

Roberts acknowledged Monday that "a graphic and the script" from his Friday show "incorrectly implied" that a 2020 academic study about meat-eating and greenhouse gas emissions is "part of Biden's plan for dealing with climate change."

"That is not the case," Roberts said.

Roberts had falsely claimed on Friday that the study -- which is not connected in any way to Biden's actual policies -- found that people need to "say goodbye to your burgers if you want to sign up to the Biden climate agenda." As Roberts spoke on Friday, Fox aired a graphic that claimed "Biden's climate requirements" are to "cut 90% of red meat from diet, max 4 lbs per year, one burger per month."

The graphic went viral online; it was amplified on Twitter by Donald Trump Jr., the Republican governors of Texas and Idaho and others. But it was entirely wrong.

Biden has not put forward any proposal to force Americans to change their diets. And the study Roberts cited -- which was published before Biden had even won the Democratic presidential nomination -- was not about Biden at all.

The study from scholars at the University of Michigan and Tulane University looked at what would happen to greenhouse gas emissions if Americans hypothetically decided to reduce their meat consumption to four pounds per year. It said nothing about a government-mandated reduction to four pounds per year -- and did not even mention Biden's name.

The Daily Mail, a British tabloid, baselessly linked the study to Biden in a Thursday article. A series of Fox personalities then did the same thing on Friday and Saturday.

Fox News hosts Jesse Watters and Ainsley Earhardt also pushed false claims about Biden and red meat. So did Fox Business host Larry Kudlow, the former Trump administration economic official.

Carly Shanahan of Fox's media relations department declined to comment on Monday when asked whether these hosts would also acknowledge they were inaccurate.

ROARING TWENTIES REDUX

A second cryptocurrency exchange has collapsed in Turkey, adding to the country's crypto woes.

© Ozan Kose/Getty Images Turkey's government is planning to crack down on cryptocurrencies.

Analysts said the abrupt closure of the exchanges highlighted the risks of cryptocurrencies.

Many have turned to bitcoin and other assets to try to hedge against the country's high inflationn rate.

The cryptocurrency market has been dealt a major blow in Turkey after a second exchange went down on Friday. The closures have left hundreds of thousands of people without access to bitcoin and other assets, which many had bought as a hedge against rampant inflation.

Analysts said the events were a reminder to cryptocurrency investors everywhere to be sure to do business with reputable companies.

Vebitcoin, a Turkish crypto exchange which had around $60 million in daily trading volumes, announced it had stopped all of its activities on Friday. It put a message up on its website blaming financial strains.

The Turkish financial crimes watchdog then blocked all the exchange's bank accounts in the country later that day, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency.

Vebitcoin's announcement came days after rival Turkish crypto exchange Thodex stopped operations and its founder fled the country. The exchange had around 390,000 active users, according to reports.

The abrupt closure of the exchange was one catalyst for bitcoin's dramatic fall below $50,000 from recent highs close to $65,000, analysts said.

"The collapse of two exchanges in Turkey sent a warning to many cryptocurrency traders who have gotten into crypto with unreputable companies," Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda, said.

Turkey's cryptocurrency woes have been tied up with government efforts to crack down on the market.

Last week the country's central bank backed a ban on crypto payments. It said using cryptocurrencies for payments could cause "non-recoverable losses" for the parties involved.

But many Turks have turned to cryptocurrencies as a hedge against inflation, which stood at 16.2% in March.

"People like the idea of cryptocurrencies because they're unconstrained by the government," Marshall Gittler, head of investment research at BDSwiss, said. "But that freedom comes with costs - it also means there's no insurance and limited regulation."

Philip Gradwell, chief economist at Chainalysis, said: "The troubles at Turkish exchanges illustrate the importance of clear and stable regulation for cryptocurrency."

He added: "Investors in the USA and Europe are fortunate to have reputable cryptocurrency exchanges that operate within a strong regulatory framework, so the events in Turkey should not reduce their confidence."

cbc.ca

Relief efforts underway after La Soufrière volcanic eruptions
Duration: 00:36 

While no deaths have been reported following a series of volcanic eruptions over the past two weeks, large swaths of the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines are left covered in ash and dust. Local agriculture has been devastated and infrastructure compromised, hindering search and rescue efforts.

FASCIST HEGEMONY
Orban seen entrenching right-wing dominance through Hungarian university reform

By Marton Dunai and Anita Komuves 

4/26/2021

© Reuters/BERNADETT SZABO FILE PHOTO: Students in front of the University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary is set to pass legislation on Tuesday setting up foundations to take over the running of universities and cultural institutions in a move critics say extends the ideological imprint of the ruling right-wing government.

Currently, most Hungarian universities are owned by the state but have a large amount of academic autonomy.

The bill, drafted by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's deputy, says they need to be privatised because modern conditions require a "re-thinking of the role of the state" and the foundations will manage institutions more efficiently.

© Reuters/BERNADETT SZABO FILE PHOTO: Hungary's PM Orban in Budapest

Orban's government will appoint boards of trustees to run the foundations, which will control substantial real estate assets and benefit from billions of euros worth of EU funds, while also having considerable influence over universities' everyday life.

The government will endow several of the foundations using its stakes in blue chip companies MOL and drug maker Richter. It will also allocate over 1 trillion forints ($3.3 billion) worth of EU recovery funds for the revamp of universities.

Orban, who came to power in 2010, has tightened his control over much of Hungarian public life, such as the media, education and scientific research, as he seeks to reshape national culture. Orban set out the changes in a speech in 2018 when he envisioned embedding his political system in a new "cultural era".

© Reuters/BERNADETT SZABO FILE PHOTO: Supporters gather in front of the University of Theatre and Film Arts, in Budapest

His government, promoting what it calls Christian, conservative values, has strongly opposed immigration and limited gay adoption and legal recognition of transgender people.

Critics say the new legislation was the next move in extending its ideological influence and power grab.

"This is part of the ideological war that Orban declared two years ago," said Attila Chikan, a professor at the Corvinus economics university in Budapest and a former minister in Orban's first government in 1998.

"They make it no secret: they want to assume intellectual power after political and economic power."

He noted the move came after the government boosted controls over academic research and forced a top liberal school, Central European University, to move to Vienna in 2019.

The bill, to be voted on in parliament on Tuesday, says "the fundamental expectation is that the foundations actively defend the survival and well-being of the nation and the interests of enriching its intellectual treasures."

The foundations running some of the cultural institutions would have patriotic tasks such as "strengthening national identity."

The opposition said with supporters of Orban's ruling Fidesz party, and even government ministers, sitting on the boards, Orban could retain a degree of control over universities beyond the 2022 election and could undermine their autonomy.

Gergely Arato, an MP from opposition party Democratic Coalition said the bill would take away "the property, traditions, community, knowledge" of Hungarian people and give them to government allies controlling the universities.

The government says universities would benefit from the new model. Istvan Stumpf, government commissioner in charge of the changes, declined an interview with Reuters.

In October, students at Hungary's University of Theatre and Film Arts blockaded their school in a row over the imposition of a government-appointed board that protesters said undermined the school's autonomy.

($1 = 300.8700 forints)

(Reporting by Marton Dunai and Anita Komuves; Editing by Toby Chopra)

Opponents force referendum on Swiss same-sex marriage

ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss voters will get final say on whether same-sex couples can marry after opponents gathered enough signatures to force a binding referendum on a 2020 law allowing them to wed

.

© Reuters/Denis Balibouse FILE PHOTO: A rainbow flag is pictured on a balcony ahead of a referendum on anti-homophobia law in Neuchatel

That legislation also allowed transgender people to change their legal gender with a declaration, in a major change for a country that has lagged other parts of western Europe in gay rights.


The Swiss government certified that opponents had gathered enough support to call a referendum under the nation's system of direct democracy. It will in May set a date for the vote, which could come in September at the earliest, a spokesman said.

Opponents had decried "fake marriages" and said only a man and a woman could wed.

A survey commissioned by a gay advocacy group Pink Cross in 2020 showed more than 80% of Swiss support same-sex marriage, suggesting the law would take effect even if subjected to a referendum.

France legalised same-sex marriages in 2013, Germany followed in 2017 and the U.S. Supreme Court in 2015 ruled that the Constitution provides same-sex couples the right to marry.

(Reporting by Michael Shields and John Miller; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)

THE SURGE IN MIGRATION EL NORTE

More than 27,000 displaced in Colombia violence in 2021

AFP  4.27.2021

More than 27,000 people were displaced during the first quarter of 2021 due to a surge of violence in lawless areas of Colombia, the human rights ombudsman said on Monday.

© Luis ROBAYO Despite a 2016 peace accord, Colombia has seen a surge of violence in lawless areas due to a multi-faceted conflict

People have either fled or been chased from their land by threats, murders, forced recruitment by armed gangs, clashes between such gangs, and others pitting them against the armed forces.

It amounts to a 177 percent increase in displacements on the same period in 2020, the ombudsman said.

Colombia thought it had seen the back of more than a half century of armed conflict when in 2016 the Marxist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) signed a peace deal with the government to disband and form a political party.

But violence has continued pitting dissident FARC members, other leftist guerrillas from the National Liberation Army (ELN), drug-traffickers, right-wing paramilitaries and the armed forces in a multi-faceted conflict.

Between January 1 and March 31, there were 65 "massive displacement events" compared with just 35 in the same period the previous year, said the ombudsman.

In a statement, the United Nations deplored "the violence carried out against communities, people defending human rights, social and community leaders, as well as ex-combatants of the former FARC, a situation that has worsened in recent weeks."

The UN said seven ex-guerrillas were murdered in an eight-day period recently.

The leftist Comunes party, which was formed after the peace deal, claims that 271 former fighters that signed the accord have been killed.

lv/jss/gma/bc/st

U.S. announces $310 million in humanitarian, food aid to Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, in a virtual meeting with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei on Monday, announced an additional $310 million in U.S. government support for humanitarian relief and to address food insecurity in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, the White House said.

© Reuters/EVELYN HOCKSTEIN U.S. Vice President Harris holds videoconference with Guatemala's President Giammattei at the White House in Washington

The two leaders also "agreed to open Migrant Resource Centers in Guatemala to provide services for people seeking lawful pathways of migration as well as those in need of protection, asylum referrals, and refugee resettlement," the White House said.

Gallery: Migrants deported from U.S. find shelter in Mexico (Reuters)















4/25 SLIDES © Reuters

An asylum-seeking migrant child from Central America, who was airlifted from Brownsville to El Paso, Texas, and deported from the U.S. with his mother, is seen inside the El Buen Samaritano shelter in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico April 1, 2021. Young families who crossed the U.S. border seeking a better life find themselves forced to head back south into Mexico. They had hoped President Joe Biden would allow them and their young children to stay in the U.S. until their immigration cases could be heard. Instead, many were promptly deported. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez

(Reporting by Mohammad Zargham; Editing by Kim Coghill)

#UCPKILLS

Boyle Street supervised drug-use site to stay closed, George Spady site to keep expanded hours

Dustin Cook , Alanna Smith 
4/26/2021

© Provided by Edmonton Journal Erica Schoen is the director of the supervised drug consumption site at Boyle Street Community Services on August 8, 2018.

A supervised consumption site in Edmonton’s downtown will discontinue operations at month’s end, leaving harm reduction advocates worried for the well-being of former clients.

Boyle Street Community Services spokesman Elliott Tanti said the supervised drug-use site has been closed since the fall when the service was redirected to the Tipinawâw shelter at the downtown Edmonton Convention Centre.

But when the shelter closes April 30, the consumption site won’t return to Boyle Street.

Instead, operations at the George Spady Centre across the street have been extended to 24-7 since the fall. The Spady used to run 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. when the Boyle Street site was in operation.

The two sites opened in March 2018 to jointly provide 24-7 access.

A third site at the Boyle McCauley Health Centre opened in November 2018.

Justin Marshall, press secretary to Alberta’s associate minister of mental health and addictions, said there is no reduction in funding for supervised consumption services in the Edmonton Zone despite the changes.

“The previous government decided to place three consumption sites in Chinatown, within very close proximity to other sites,” said Marshall in a statement. “The government is engaged with the Boyle Street society about potentially operating overdose prevention services in an under-serviced area of Edmonton.”
72 Edmonton opioid deaths in two months

But Angela Welz, the Alberta regional director for Moms Stop The Harm, said this could negatively impact former clients of the Boyle Street site.

“It’s disappointing because you are taking away something clients are comfortable with and asking them to go elsewhere,” said Welz. “Change for many of these marginalized people is very difficult, so it’s worrisome.”

She called the change in direction “sheer cruelty” as it could lead to additional overdose deaths, as numbers are already hitting record-high levels in the city.

In the first two months of 2021, 72 people died in Edmonton from opioid overdoses — representing a 157 per cent increase from January and February in 2020. The current rate of drug poisoning deaths in Edmonton sits at 41.1 per 100,000 people in 2021, exceeding the provincial rate of 30.3.

“I don’t know what else we can say as advocates and families who have lost a loved one to overdose and to the drug toxicity issues,” said Welz. “This is just another stab in the heart.”

Welz said the UCP isn’t listening to pleas from families who have lost loved ones to overdoses and calls from frontline workers when it comes to tackling the overdose crisis.

She said government should be bolstering harm reduction services and exploring safe supply programs.

“This is a very big blow to Edmonton,” said Welz. “It’s just very, very unfortunate because it is so important for that community hub in that neighbourhood. We need more supervised consumption sites, not less.”

Tanti said he isn’t certain there won’t be an impact with one less site but said “a lot has been done to mitigate the impact” as there is still 24-7 care.

He confirmed Boyle Street is working closely with the government to explore the potential for additional overdose prevention sites in parts of the city where they are needed.

Anti-lockdown protest aftermath: How do Peterborough residents feel?

Duration: 02:16 
4/27/2021

After the largest anti-lockdown protest yet on Saturday, Global News asked Peterborough residents what they think of the weekly demonstrations. Officials of the city's Downtown Business Improvement Area are concerned with the growing divide between those who support the protests and those who do not. Sam Houpt has the story...

WHO ELSE SHOWS UP BUT FOR SOME REASON GLOBAL FAILS TO MENTION HIM; MAXIME BERNIER LIBERTARIAN WHITE NATIONALIST
FORMER CONSERVATIVE LEADERSHIP CANDIDATE WHO FORMED HIS OWN TRUMP LIKE PEOPLES PARTY LAST ELECTION
AND OF COURSE HE IS NOT WEARING A MASK

UK
Shift workers treated in hospital three times more likely to have Covid – study

Shift workers treated in hospital are up to three times more likely to test positive for coronavirus than other hospitalised patients, a study has found.

Shift work was defined in the study as working outside the hours of 9am to 5pm, and it is estimated that around 25% of the UK’s workforce engages in some form of such work.

Using data from UK Biobank, the world’s largest biomedical database, researchers from the University of Manchester, Oxford, and the West Indies found that even after taking account of known coronavirus risk factors, such as age, ethnicity and deprivation, shift work increased the likelihood of testing positive for coronavirus in patients treated in hospital. The nature of the shift work or the occupation of those undertaking the shift work did not seem to affect the association.© Photograph: Anthony Harvey/Rex/Shutterstock Patients arrive at the emergency department at the Royal London hospital in Whitechapel.

Over half a million people were enrolled in the UK Biobank, and of these, 6,442 were tested for Covid-19 in hospital, resulting in 498 positive tests between March and August 2020. The shift workers were 2.5 to 3 times more likely to test positive with coronavirus than non-shift workers.

Dr John Blaikley, one of the lead researchers, said that although the study “shows quite a strong association between shift working and being hospitalised for Covid-19, even after controlling for existing Covid-19 risk factors”, further studies looking into the issue, especially in ethnic minority communities, were needed because the UK Biobank did not fully reflect the diversity of the UK.

He added that although it was difficult to explain the exact cause of this association, it could be speculated that possible causes might include reduced social distancing at work and how shift work may impact on the body clock of workers, with the body clock controlling immune response according to time of day.

Dr Hannah Durrington, the other lead researcher, said it was of “paramount importance” that the health and working conditions for shift workers were improved. “We do believe it should be possible to substantially mitigate these risks through good hand-washing, use of face protection, appropriate spacing and vaccination,” she added.

The study is further testament to the disparities that exist in relation to coronavirus and different kinds of work. Earlier this month, research from the Trades Union Congress found that workers on zero-hours contracts and other insecure jobs were twice as likely to have died of Covid-19 compared with those in other professions.

© Photograph: Paul Ellis/AP The GMB union said Boris Johnson’s reported comments that he would rather see ‘bodies piled high’ than approve a third lockdown ‘shows why a public inquiry is needed now’.The Trades Union Congress is calling for an immediate public inquiry into the handling of the Covid pandemic, insisting it should examine whether workers were kept safe enough after about 15,000 people of working age died from Covid in England and WalThe GMB union said the prime minister’s reported comments that he would rather see “bodies piled high” than approve a third lockdown “shows why a public inquiry is needed now”. It said its members “deserve to know why they were put in harm’s way unnecessarily and if the PM think it’s OK for them to die”.The unions want Downing Street to announce a start date and consult the public about its scope. Men working in processing plants, security, care and restaurant work were most at risk of dying from Covid, according to figures up to the end of last year, while for women it was machine operators and care workers.No 10 told bereaved families earlier this month the government did not have time for an inquiry and would not for months to come. It has said there will be “an independent inquiry at the appropriate time”.Calls for an immediate inquiry are gathering momentum. The TUC’s affiliated unions represent 5.5 million workers and its intervention follows similar demands for an inquiry from the archbishop of Canterbury, Labour, government scientific advisers and thousands of the bereaved, who have voiced outrage at Johnson’s alleged comments.They include Lobby Akinnola, whose father Olufemi, 60, was a care worker in Leamington Spa who died a year ago. He was visiting different clients’ homes improvising PPE from a winter scarf and gloves.“If we had locked down a week earlier, how many people could have been saved?” said Akinnola, adding that he was “disgusted” by reports the prime minister said “let the bodies pile high”.“My dad was on the threshold of life and death, but fell on the wrong side. Throughout this pandemic we have relied on frontline workers, but the government didn’t seem to support them.”The TUC has set five priorities for an inquiry: workplace infection control, including financial support to self-isolate; the impact of a decade of spending cuts on the capacity of public services; Covid’s unequal impact on workers, particularly ethnic minorities and people in insecure jobs; the impact of employment support packages such as furlough; and government procurement and its effect on supplies of PPE.

Notley calls for Alberta to offer 10 days of paid work leave to stop workplace spread of COVID-19

Lisa Johnson

EDMONTON JOURNAL

4/26/2021

© Provided by Edmonton Journal On Monday April 26, 2021 in Edmonton Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley, right, and NDP labour critic Christina Gray laid out a proposal for paid sick leave to slow the spread of the COVID pandemic, protect Alberta workers, and speed up Alberta's economic recovery.


The Opposition NDP is calling for the Alberta government to provide 10 days of paid leave for isolating workers to curb workplace spread of COVID-19.

Leader Rachel Notley said Monday the Alberta government should cover employers sending the wage support directly to workers as part of their paycheques, leaving the details of how the province might be reimbursed through the federal government’s recovery sickness benefit until later.

Notley said with variants of concern spreading faster in the workplace, the support would help get transmission rates down and bring the pandemic and public health restrictions to an end faster.

“What we need to do is bring (transmission) down and we can’t do that if people go to work with symptoms, or if they go to work while they’re waiting five days to get a test, or if they go to work because they can’t afford to stay home and not get paid while isolating,” said Notley.

“There’s a good reason to do it, and it’s long overdue,” said Notley, calling on the government to work again with the opposition as it did in passing legislation last week to guarantee three hours of paid sick leave to get workers vaccinated.

Notley also encouraged the government to consult with employers to reach a cost sharing agreement that recognizes that some large employers have increased their profits throughout the pandemic, while many small businesses struggle to survive.

Joseph Dow, press secretary to Labour Minister Jason Copping, said in a statement the Alberta government is concerned by the third-wave surge in cases across the province, but did not say whether Copping is considering any measure to fill in the gaps of the federal program.

Dow encouraged residents to take advantage of existing COVID-19 supports including those of the federal government, and the province’s isolation hotel program that offers up to $625 in financial support .

The NDP’s call comes as paid sick leave makes headlines across the country, especially in Ontario. Premier Doug Ford refused to implement paid sick leave until the public outcry prompted a pledge last week that a provincial program would fill in the gaps left by the federal sick pay program.

On Monday, Ford’s government shut down a bill proposed by a Liberal MPP that would guarantee 10 paid sick days.

As of Sunday , Alberta’s per capita rate of active COVID-19 cases, at 455 per 100,000, far exceeds Ontario’s, which is at 279 per 100,000 people. Ontario’s COVID-19 Science Advisory Table has called for paid sick leave to curb workplace spread.

The federal program offers $450 after taxes per week for up to a maximum of four weeks if they tested positive or are self-isolating due to COVID-19.

Notley pointed out that is less than a full-time minimum wage paycheque in Alberta, and it can take weeks to get the cash to eligible workers.

“Many families simply cannot afford to wait weeks without an income while they try to navigate the federal government’s application process,” said Notley.

Notley said the wages would be far less than the cost of occupied ICU beds and continued damage to the economy.

“We must weigh the cost of this program against the cost of thousands more Albertans falling sick, hundreds more in the hospital and ICU and the broader economic damage that occurs as a result of a longer third wave,” said Notley.

Beginning March last year, all Albertan employees who are in quarantine due to COVID-19 are eligible for 14 days of unpaid, job-protected leave.

 cbc.ca

Mandating paid sick days is 'not the expectation, it's the ask," says federal labour minister

Duration: 01:52

Federal Minister of Labour Filomena Tassi tells Vassy Kapelos on Power & Politics that her government is only asking provinces to mandate paid sick days.

Paid sick days would be 'game changer': grocery store worker

Duration: 05:40

 

Toronto Grocery store worker Rechev Browne says many of his colleagues who have been working throughout the pandemic can't afford to stay home, even when they feel sick.

 Health minister announces details of COVID-19 vaccination rollouts at meat-packing facilities in Alberta

Duration: 01:17 

Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro offers details of the province's rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine to meat-packing plants.