Chita Rivera introduces us to her alter ego in new memoir



It’s hard to imagine Anita, Rose Alvarez and Velma Kelly without Chita Rivera, who first breathed life into these beloved Broadway characters.

At a time when there was limited Latino representation on stage, this young woman of Puerto Rican, Scottish and Irish descent was taking Broadway by storm and ensuring everyone knew her name.

The dancer-turned-Broadway legend reminisces in her new book, “Chita: A Memoir.” Written with arts journalist Patrick Pacheco, it's an inside look at Rivera’s journey from a spunky girl jumping on furniture in her family’s Washington, D.C., home to a professional dancer and then a three-time Tony Award-winning performer.

Each chapter feels like a personal diary entry as Rivera, now 90, also talks about motherhood, and loves lost and found.

“It was the next stage for me to write it down. And it was God’s way of reminding me this is the life I had or have. I got so busy that I didn’t remember that I had a wonderful, wonderful life,” she told the Associated Press.

While Rivera is the memoir's main character, another woman steals scene after scene: her self-proclaimed alter ego, Dolores. Dolores is unapologetic and fiery. She is the unfiltered version of Chita and serves as motivation in times of self-doubt. In one chapter, Rivera writes that she doesn’t read reviews “or Dolores just might invest in a dozen voodoo dolls.”

“I consist of — and I think we all do — I consist of two people: Dolores and Conchita,” said Rivera with a chuckle. “Conchita, she’s the one that has been taking all the glory, you know. She’s been doing all the shows, but Dolores is the one that’s pushed her into it. And she’s been keeping me on track, so I listen to Dolores. I listen to her. She’s growing in my head now as we speak.”

Rivera was born Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero. Friends knew her as Chita, but it wasn’t until someone recommended that she shorten her name to fit on a show poster that she became Chita Rivera. It was a name that she felt respected her heritage.

“If I was going to lose some parts because directors or agents thought my name sounded too south of the border, well, that was their problem,” she writes in the memoir.

Related video: Chita Rivera reflects on her career in new memoir (The Canadian Press)  Duration 1:52  View on Watch

Rivera dedicates a chapter to the late Sammy Davis Jr., whom she met while working on the Broadway musical “Mr. Wonderful” early in her career. She talks about their romantic relationship, and the legendary rat pack member’s inner struggles. Rivera says she decided to go into more detail about their relationship because “it was time to,” and she wanted readers to know her and Sammy better.

“He was an extraordinary human being who had the same problems as everybody else, but he dealt with them in a different way. And I cherish the time that I had with Sammy because he was an amazing person,” she said.

For Rivera, vulnerability in love isn't something to hide. “The loves of my life enabled me to explore myself even more,” she said.

“And I always said, you know, we should have two lives, one to try out and one you’re judged by. But we don’t. We have one life, and we have to live it as best we can,” said Rivera.

Hers became that of a theatre icon, best known for her roles in “West Side Story” (Anita), “Bye Bye Birdie” (Rose) and “Chicago” (Velma). Accolades include a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009; Tony Awards, including one for Lifetime Achievement in Theatre; Kennedy Center Honors and more, filling up pages and pages at the end of her memoir. She also appeared in film and on television.

Her book includes memories of other Broadway legends like Fred Ebb, John Kander, Liza Minnelli, Leonard Bernstein and more.

“And I’m very, very lucky that I met all these people that made up my life,” said Rivera. “They are responsible for me being who I am.”

In the very first chapters of the book, she writes, Gwen Verdon gave her life-altering words of affirmation.

“Be more confident. Go out and create your own roles. Forge your own path,” Verdon told her.

Similar encouragement came from other mentors and colleagues, including Davis, who told her not to “sell herself short.” Those shows of support, she recalls, ”were a shock at the beginning because it was such a surprise.”

Rivera was married once, to fellow dancer Tony Mordente, and has a daughter.

Above all, she says, she hopes those reading her memoir will live their lives fearlessly.

“If I can do it, so can you. So if there are any kids out there that have any questions at all, I hope that I answer some of the questions for them and give them courage," she says. "To go on with their lives, with their own lives and not be afraid of what life has for them.”

Leslie Ambriz, The Associated Press

Paris exhibit celebrates 'first celebrity' Sarah Bernhardt

Paris exhibit celebrates 'first celebrity' Sarah Bernhardt© Provided by The Canadian Press

PARIS (AP) — The pioneering French stage star Sarah Bernhardt was one of the world’s most famous women by the time of her death in 1923 — a status she owed not just to acting talent but her modern instinct for self-publicizing and using the press to brand her image.

A century later, a French museum opened an exhibit on the eccentric, scandalous and multihyphenate performer known as “La Divine,” whom many consider the world’s first celebrity.

At the Petit Palais museum in Paris, the public is now discovering the madcap jigsaw puzzle of Gothic stories, costumes, recordings, films, photos, jewels, sculptures, and personal objects for the first time together–-- that made Bernhardt an object of fascination from Berlin to London and New York.

“Sarah Bernhardt was more than a famous actress. She was one of the first celebrities. She was a businesswoman, a fashion icon, a sculptor, theater director, a visionary, a courtesan. She pushed gender boundaries. By self-publicizing, she paved the way for many, including Marilyn Monroe, Greta Garbo, Madonna, Lady Gaga and Beyoncé,” said Stephanie Cantarutti, curator of the exhibit “Sarah Bernhardt: And the woman created the star.”

The show marking the centenary of her death brings together around 400 exhibits that delve well beyond her life on stage.

It starts at the dawn of her career: A handwritten log in the official Parisian Register of Courtesans from the 1860s with a photograph of her and descriptions of the activities of this young “courtesan.” Bernhardt was after all born into her life’s first role: her mother was also a courtesan, and the mistress of Napoleon III’s half-brother.

The exhibit snakes loosely through the chronology of her life: from her beginnings on stage after Alexandre Dumas took her to the Comedie Francaise, to her most famous roles such as Joan of Arc, Phaedra and Cleopatra — showcasing the dazzling costumes worn at the Theater Sarah Bernhardt that were for Americans then an emblem of Paris at the dawn of the modern fashion industry. The Theater Sarah Bernhardt at Chatelet has since been renamed the Theater de la Ville, while all that remains in the building bearing her name is a cafe-restaurant.

She was one of France’s most prolific gender-benders, famously quoted as saying that she needed to play male characters to feel less restricted. A photo in the exhibit shows Bernhardt in men’s costume, playing Hamlet in a French version of the play.

“She said that roles given to women were not interesting enough and she could not demonstrate all of her talent playing them, so she played many male roles. Importantly. She was ahead of her time,” Cantarutti said, adding that Bernhardt was bisexual and was often photographed wearing pants — when it was illegal for a woman to do so — decades before stars such as Marlene Dietrich.

She was an early influencer, dazzling Oscar Wilde, who wrote the play Salome in French for her and called her “the incomparable one." She inspired Marcel Proust. She was visited in her dressing room by Gustave Flaubert, while Mark Twain wrote: “There are five kinds of actresses: bad actresses, fair actresses, good actresses, great actresses, and Sarah Bernhardt.”

Her intuition for using emerging media and staging stories for the press was key to the actress’ particular mystique.

She made a name for herself during the Universal Exhibition of 1878, escaping in a hot air balloon over the Tuileries garden, where she sliced the neck off a bottle of champagne with a sword and tasted foie gras, she said, to escape the bad smell of Paris.

Not all was rosy — she suffered from having one lung, one kidney and later in life only one leg, but was never downtrodden.

Because of her penchant for tragic roles, rumors spread that Bernhardt slept in a coffin at night. She saw the potential of playing to the gossip: She paid for a padded coffin to be installed in her home and hired a photographer to snap her sleeping in it.

“That photo went everywhere; it became very famous. She also had a hat made of bats,” Cantarutti said.

The Gothic then became her brand when she acquired a pet baby alligator at home, whom she named Ali Gaga. Ali Gaga died of liver failure because Bernhardt nourished it only on champagne, according to Cantarutti.

Bernhardt later went on to take the United States by storm. She was greeted as a celebrity there during her 1912-13 American tour, even though few could understand anything from her French language performances.

The tour was hot off the heels of the success of her groundbreaking 1912 silent movie Queen Elizabeth. The man who secured the U.S. rights to broadcast it during her tour, Adolph Zukor, became so rich that he used the profits from the film to found the Paramount Pictures movie studio — then the Famous Players Film company — according to the museum.

Yet it was sculpture that was her inexhaustible life’s great passion, spawning remarkable works in marble and bronze — some of which were feted and shown at the Universal Exhibition of 1900. Several of her sculptures are permanently shown at the Musee d’Orsay in Paris.

“It seemed to me now that I was born to be a sculptor and I had begun to see my theater in an ill light,” Bernhardt said in her autobiography “My Double Life.”

“Despite it all” was her mantra and the phrase she identified with, the exhibit says.

"Despite the difficulties in her life, starting as a courtesan, trying to break out in a man’s world. Despite all that, and then being an amputee, she continued on,” Cantarutti said.

“Sarah Bernhardt: And the woman created the star” runs until Aug. 27.

Thomas Adamson, The Associated Press

‘Mischievous’ Canadian recalls making Queen‘giggle’ with moose-themed art

Story by Harry Stedman • Yesterday 

 Evening Standard

King Charles III Moose Artwork

An artist renowned for depicting royals with moose as a form of “affectionate mischief” has recalled the “giggling” response he received from the King when he presented him with a postcard of Queen Elizabeth II riding one of the long-antlered mammals.

Canadian Charles Pachter, 80, who lives in Toronto, has produced an entire collection featuring moose alongside royalty over the course of five decades and even presented his creations to the late Queen and King Charles.

His most famous creation, depicting Elizabeth riding a moose, was warmly received by Charles – whose coronation takes place on May 6 – when the pair met in 1999.

Mr Pachter told the PA news agency: “He [Charles] was on a Canadian tour and he was in Toronto because he had particular interests in historical architecture that he believed should be maintained.

“A huge whisky distillery was restored in the early 90s and Prince Charles was there to see it.

“For whatever reason I was invited, and I had a couple of postcards in my pocket. I approached him – he was very approachable and quite charming – and gave him a postcard of his mummy on a moose, and he giggled.

“He was very pleasant about it.”

Mr Pachter’s love for the animal started aged four, when he petted a moose at the Canadian National Exhibition.

“In school, we were taught that the moose was the ‘monarch of the north’,” he said.


“It’s awkward and majestic, and when you see it in the woods you feel like you’ve had a very privileged moment.

“I did for the moose what Andy Warhol did for Marilyn Monroe – I made the moose glamorous.”

Mr Pachter began producing the pieces in 1973 – some of which involves inkjet printing – after hearing that Queen Elizabeth II was coming to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, to open the Shaw Festival Theatre.

“I had begun these images of the Queen sitting on a moose because I couldn’t understand why our head of state didn’t live here”, he said.

“I turned it into a visual pun – by putting the Queen on a moose, I sat her in a Canadian setting.”

He added that at the time, reaction by critics and the public was “pretty dismal and negative”.

However, the artwork has since grown in popularity and recognition and Mr Pachter said the late Queen “chuckled” when he showed it to her in 2015, adding: “She wasn’t offended – she thought it was cute.”

“I’ve had fun with the image and it really has become something of a watermark in my career, and now with the new royals, I’m going to start to have some fun.

“My work does have a quality of affectionate mischief but it’s not malevolent or mean-spirited.”

“I do believe in many ways that they [the royal family] are our version of Hollywood, that we just enjoy seeing them and following their foibles and ups and downs.”

Mr Pachter said he thought the King’s coronation “will go off magnificently”, and talked up the prospect of a reunion with Charles and the Queen Consort as he gets to work on more royal-moose artwork.

“If and when they come back to Canada, I’d love to meet them again,” he said.

“I’m Prints Charles!”

Opinion: We want a choice instead of Charles

When King Charles rumbles up the road from Buckingham Palace in his horse drawn carriage on May 6, off to his coronation, I will be nearby, protesting for the abolition of the British monarchy.


Graham Smith - Courtesy Graham Smith

I will be joined by many other protesters, each of us determined to do two things: show the world Britain isn’t a nation of royalists and tell the British people it’s time we brought this nonsense to an end.

The monarchy is always wrong in principle and is no good in practice. The support it has had until recently was sustained by the Queen, by media deference and by official secrecy (the Royal Household is exempt from Freedom of Information requests).

That support is now falling. According to a recent Savanta poll, support for abolition – that is, Britain having an elected head of state – is close to a third. Even more so for young people under 35 years, where it’s almost half.

Importantly, most people simply aren’t interested in the coronation. After a string of scandals – from accusations of racism (the Royal Household maintains that it complies with the provisions of the Equality Act) to the ongoing saga of Prince Andrew (who has continually denied allegations of sexual abuse) – the monarchy is now reduced to an uninspiring quartet: Charles and Camilla, William and Kate. These are not people to turn around those falling polls.

But while it is almost certainly the case that in Charles we have a head of state who would lose a free and fair election, opposition to the monarchy isn’t about the royals. Yes, in my view the monarchy is corrupt, guilty of systematic abuses of public office and public money, albeit legitimized by the government.

But more profound concerns lie behind the growing push for a republic. It is about recognizing the strength of democratic ideals and the failures of Britain’s own democracy. It’s about democratic reform that leaves no room for hereditary power and privilege.

The monarchy not only forces us to compromise our values, to make intellectual room for hereditary public office and for an institution steeped in the crimes of slavery and empire – it fails to deliver or defend a democratic culture or constitution.

Quite the opposite, the monarchy is the wellspring of so much that’s wrong with our politics. The Crown is the source of all political and legal power. The courts exercise their power in the name of the Crown, as do government ministers.

Over the past 300 years the powers of the monarch have simply been passed on to the government, allowing them to declare war, sign treaties and control parliament. Power is highly centralized, the government largely free to do as it pleases with few checks and balances in place to obstruct it.



Protesters hold signs reading "Not My King" behind well wishers gathered for the arrival of King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla at the Liverpool Central Library on April 26, 2023. 

- Jon Super/AFP/Getty Images

It is telling that royalists so often reduce the argument to economic costs and benefits, as more serious arguments never favor the monarchy. They may say monarchy defends us against tyranny, but this is palpably false. Yet so are claims of economic gain which have been debunked. According to research by my organization, there is no profit from the monarchy, only cost.

Cost to our nation’s finances, certainly, but also to our democratic values and how our democracy plays out in practice.

A parliamentary republic by contrast would give us checks and balances, disperse power between government, parliament and people and an accountable head of state – one of us who can genuinely represent us.

Not running the government but guarding our constitution. It’s a model which works well across Europe, most notably in Ireland.

So, when we shout “Not My King!” at Charles, it is a proud statement of democratic principle – that we recognise no person’s claim to be above us because of birth. Instead, we demand a democracy that celebrates our noblest principles and greatest endeavours.

On May 6 it’s about saying very clearly, we want an election instead of a coronation, and a choice instead of Charles.

Mutual bond endures but Canada at a crossroads as king’s coronation looms

Story by Leyland Cecco in Toronto • 
The Guardian

Photograph: Tim Graham Photo Library/Getty© Provided by The Guardian

More than 800 dives beneath metres-thick ice were not enough to prepare Joe MacInnis for the stress of bringing a member of the British royal family deep into the blisteringly cold depths of the Arctic Ocean. Especially a future king.

“This is one of the most hostile places on the planet and hazards are everywhere,” he said of the waters near Qausuittuq, an Inuit hamlet on the north shore of the Northwest Passage, where the royal dive took place in 1975. “So yes, I was nervous.”

MacInnis, the famed Canadian scientist and explorer, guided then-Prince Charles through a two-metre deep shaft cut through the ice to give access to the ocean.

As they moved through the water, Charles seemed enraptured by ice stalactites and tiny amphipods, later commenting on his love for the “sacred qualities” of the natural world.

Half a century later, MacInnis sees that moment under the ice as a reflection of the broader challenges the new king will face.

“With Charles, you have a set of eyes that have seen a world under the ice as well as on the surface – and are less able than he’d like to make the changes that are needed to fix things,” said MacInnis.

“As a scientist, I’ve watched as this world slowly cascades into a different kind of place. And there’s a real feeling of helplessness.”

As the coronation of King Charles III approaches, the monarchy is at a crossroads in Canada, with the country increasingly apathetic towards a new head of state.

But Charles’s ascension comes at a time when the causes he has long championed –combatting the climate crisis and repairing the damaged relationship with Indigenous peoples – are central to Canada’s national conversation.



Joe MacInnis and the then Prince of Wales prepare to dive below thick ice in 1975. Photograph: Anwar Hussein/Getty© Provided by The Guardian

As a commonwealth country, Canada will formally commemorate the king’s coronation with a series of speeches, performances and artistic events planned in the nation’s capital.

The solemn ceremony will be broadcast on televisions across the country, but – unlike Elizabeth’s coronation 70 years ago, when many students were given the day off – school boards across the country have made no special plans to mark the occasion.

“This is very much about Canadians considering whether they wish to have somebody born and raised in another country, who got their job through hereditary title, continuing to be Canada’s king and Canada’s head of state,” said Shachi Kurl, president of the non-profit Angus Reid Institute.

Kurl points out that demographic shifts have dramatically reshaped the country’s makeup since the last coronation.

“Culturally, linguistically, ethnically, Canada [today] is not the Canada of 1953,” she said. “The last bastions of monarchic support in this country tend to be among older, more conservative people.”

Less than 10% of the population consider the coronation an important event. “Forget it being the most important event of the decade or century or of their lifetime – only 9% say it’s the most important day of the year,” she said.

Charles has made 18 official visits to Canada since 1970 and has expressed a deep love of the country, the second-oldest Commonwealth realm.

“Every time I come to Canada … a little more of Canada seeps into my bloodstream and from there, straight to my heart,” he told a crowd of supporters in Newfoundland in 2009.

Related: Canada’s ties to crown are loosening but cutting them could be tall order

And yet, the monarchy has increasingly fallen out of favour with Canadians, a majority of whom would prefer to see it abolished.

For some, the pomp surrounding the upcoming coronation – the orbs, sceptres and holy oils – feels like a relic of the past. For others, the crown bears both the weight of history, and the responsibility for centuries of injustice against Indigenous peoples, who were dispossessed from their lands through broken treaties and failed promises.

John Geiger, chief executive officer of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, said Canada’s unique constitution meant severing ties with the monarchy would be a near-impossible task that few politicians would want to take on.

He sees the coronation on 6 May as a moment to help Canadians better understand the structure of the country’s government.

“The crown is central to our constitution. And that’s not about to change. Charles might not be a young man and he’s had some personal baggage,” said Geiger.

“But while he represents a role that is ancient, his views are somewhat visionary, especially his concerns over climate change and the environment. In a way, he’s the right guy for the moment we’re in.”

In his visits to Canada, Charles has prioritised visiting Indigenous communities, which have borne the brunt of racist colonial policies and, more recently, the effects of a changing climate.

On a recent trip to Canada, Charles endorsed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 calls to action, as well as the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, but has stopped short of formally apologising for the crown’s complicity in Canada’s residential school system.

The relationship between Indigenous peoples and the British royal family is also complex: the arc of Canadian history is one of broken promises, dispossession and overt attempts to erase Indigenous cultures. But the relationship predates Canada itself, and was founded in treaties signed in the 1700s.

Related: UK faces reckoning after unmarked Indigenous graves discovered in Canada

“Nations make treaties, treaties do not make nations … the sanctity of this covenant was made between not just [the] crown of Great Britain, but with the creator and all of our grandmothers’ and grandfathers’ spirits bearing witness,” said Perry Bellegarde, the former national chief for the Assembly of First Nations. “That’s why we say there’s a sacred covenant that cannot ever be broken.”

Many Indigenous people feel that when the crown devolved responsibilities of governance to Canada’s federal government, the spirit of those treaties was damaged and the government put in place overtly racist policies, like the Indian Act, which Indigenous leaders have been trying for decades to abolish.

Despite waning public support for the monarchy and a career spent advocating for Indigenous self-determination, Bellegarde nonetheless sees Charles as a key ally and friend.

“The power of the monarchy is a modern one – because he has the ability and the power to bring people together.

“He can convene CEOs, prime ministers and presidents and Indigenous leaders to work on the issues that really bind us together: climate change and biodiversity loss.”

In 2001, alongside the late Elder Gordon Oakes, Bellegard gave Charles the Cree name Kīsikāwipīsimwa miyo ōhcikanawāpamik, meaning “the sun watches over him in a good way” and draped him in a star blanket, a nod to the importance of the relationship between the crown and Indigenous nations.

“What a fitting name, because of his commitment to the environment. It even speaks to the nature of the treaties, that they will last as long as the sun shines, the rivers flow and the grass grows.”

“These treaties will remain in effect for generations now and those yet unborn.

“And at his coronation, he will carry that name too – and the relationship that we have with him.”

DHS secretary pushes back on ‘misperception’ that Mexico is not a good partner in fight against fentanyl

Story by Lauren Sforza • Yesterday 

DHS secretary pushes back on ‘misperception’ that Mexico is not a good partner in fight against fentanyl© Provided by The Hill

Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas pushed back Sunday on the “misperception” that Mexico does not aid in the fight against fentanyl, noting that the country is an ally in the effort against the drug.

When asked about the fentanyl crisis by NBC’s Chuck Todd on “Meet the Press,” Mayorkas responded that “there’s a misperception that Mexico is not a good partner,” when combatting the spread of fentanyl.

“They are an ally. And we have a very close partnership with them,” Mayorkas added.

When asked why Mexico does not help with the issue of fentanyl, the secretary reiterated that it is a “misconception” that Mexico does not help, adding that the department has personnel in Mexico to address any fentanyl issues with the U.S. border. He said that while he can’t speak for Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the U.S. does work closely with partners in Mexico to address the crisis.

“I can’t speak to his public statements,” Mayorkas said. “I can speak to what happens on the ground operationally. And we work very closely with our Mexican partners. You know, that fentanyl though, you know, the precursor chemicals, the equipment used to manufacture it, much of it originates in China. And we’ve got to stop that flow.”

Mayorkas has been under fire by Republicans for his handling of the Mexico-US border, especially regarding the issue of fentanyl trafficking. GOP senators introduced a bill earlier this month that would designate nine separate drug cartels in Mexico as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO), saying that those organizations are responsible for fentanyl in the United States.

Nikole Hannah-Jones On Controversy Around ‘The 1619 Project’: “This Is Not Actually A Radical Project” – Contenders TV: Docs + Unscripted
Story by Matthew Carey • Saturday


The 1619 Project, according to one description, “illuminates the legacy of slavery in the contemporary United States, and highlights the contributions of Black Americans to every aspect of American society.” Nothing controversial there, right? Wrong.

The initiative, which originated with a New York Times Magazine issue and has now been adapted into a Hulu documentary series, has triggered passionate reactions from the start.

“This project has come out in a time where we have deep, deep societal polarization,” series host and executive producer Nikole Hannah-Jones noted during an appearance at Deadline’s Contenders Television: Documentary + Unscripted event. Hannah-Jones won the Pulitzer Prize for the print series. The furor notwithstanding, she maintained, “This is not actually a radical project. It’s based on decades of scholarship and within the history profession the ideas that we put forth are actually not that controversial. … Many Americans have been open to its arguments.”

Across six episodes, The 1619 Project examines the historical antecedents behind systemic racial injustice evident in policing, health care, wealth inequality, even capitalism itself.

“This isn’t just Black history, it’s American history. And these things impact all of us,” said Shoshana Guy, the series’ executive producer and showrunner. Guy was among those charged with turning the print series into a cinematic experience. “Our producers, our directors were constantly workshopping, coming up with ideas and ways to bring these stories to life,” she said.

Publication of The 1619 Project four years ago set off the virulent debate over “critical race theory.” Since then, Florida has led an effort by a number of states to control how history is taught in schools, prompting some textbook publishers to offer revisions to reading materials. For instance, one publisher put a new spin on Rosa Parks, who refused to give up her seat to a white patron on a segregated bus in Montgomery, AL in 1955. The revised wording reportedly omits any reference to race: “Rosa Parks showed courage. One day, she rode the bus. She was told to move to a different seat. She did not. She did what she believed was right.”

“In the state of Florida, the Department of Education there has prohibited the teaching of The 1619 Project in public schools,” Hannah-Jones said. “So, what you’re seeing is a response to that where we deracialize the story of Rosa Parks — which you cannot do, because Rosa Parks was standing up against the system of racial apartheid. And the reason she had to give up that seat was because she was a Black woman, not just because someone was being mean to her.”

Hannah-Jones added, “What that tells us is that we have people who are actually so ashamed of our history that they don’t believe that we can tell it truthfully and still believe in these ideas of American exceptionalism.”

U$ Supreme Court to consider overruling Chevron doctrine

Story by Zach Schonfeld 

The Hill

The Supreme Court on Monday announced it will hear a case that could significantly scale back federal agencies’ authority, with major implications for the future of environmental and other regulations.

The justices next term will consider whether to overturn a decades-old precedent that grants agencies deference when Congress left ambiguity in a statute.

Named for the court’s decision in Chevron U.S.A. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, the Chevron deference has become one of the most frequently cited precedents in administrative law since the decision was first handed down in 1984.

It involves a two-step test: first, judges decide if Congress has in the statute directly spoken to the precise question at issue. If it is ambiguous, courts defer to agencies as long as their actions are based on a “permissible construction.

Some of the high court’s conservatives have raised concern about the precedent and how it has expanded the reach of agencies’ authority.

Now, the justices will take up a case that explicitly asks them to overturn it. The high court announced the move on Monday in a brief, unsigned order, as is typical, indicating at least four justices agreed to take up the case.

Herring fishing company Loper Bright Enterprises is appealing a ruling that left in place a National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) regulation based on the doctrine.

The regulation requires herring fishing boats to allow a federal observer aboard to oversee operations and compensate them for their time. The company argues the regulation significantly decreases their profit margin, and the agency had no authorization to impose it.

But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled in favor of the federal government, deferring to NMFS after finding that the law at issue was ambiguous.

“Nearly four decades of judicial experience with Chevron have demonstrated that courts are incapable of applying its two-step Chevron framework in a consistent manner,” attorneys for Loper Bright Enterprises wrote in court filings.

How Whitesand First Nation tackles food insecurity through its community market

Story by Jasmine Kabatay • CBC

For people across Canada and beyond, rising costs and inflation have been hitting them hard.

In northwestern Ontario, higher living costs have meant some First Nations are finding creative solutions to an ongoing and longstanding problem.

Since October, Whitesand First Nation — which is 250 kilometres, or about a three-hour drive, north of Thunder Bay — has been holding a community food market every Wednesday since last October.

Community members in the Ojibway First Nation can access fresh fruits and vegetables, along with other items like bread, at an affordable price — and they're all brought to their community

Angela Nodin, health co-ordinator for Whitesand First Nation, said people there originally heard about such a food market after the neighbouring Ojibway community of Gull Bay First Nation started one. Whitesand then knew they too wanted to get in on it, for good reasons.

Indigenous people living in Canada experience food insecurity — defined as a lack of regular access to safe, nutritious food — at higher rates than non-Indigenous people.

A 2018 national survey by the First Nations Information Governance Centre indicated over half of Indigenous households experience food insecurity. According to research from the University of Toronto, just one in eight Canadian households overall suffers from food insecurity.

A community effort

Whitesand First Nation is one of five locations within Thunder Bay and the region where the Roots Community Food Group, or Roots to Harvest, runs a market.

Roots Community Food Group provides the food while the community sponsors a driver to bring items there weekly.

Getting people to the Whitesand market was slow at first, but it grew and got so popular that it draws lineups of people looking to pick up food items.

"The only time we took a break was during the Christmas holidays, and then it was slow starting back up because they were thinking we weren't going to be consistent. But now…we sell out pretty much every week," said Nodin.

Related video: PM unveils $8.2B for B.C. First Nations health (The Canadian Press)

Duration 1:17 View on Watch

cbc.ca'It's a good day': Halfway River First Nation Chief reacts to historic land claim settlement

1:28

A van gets loaded up with fresh fruits and vegetables for Whitesand First Nation's community food market.© Marc Doucette/CBC

Nodin said it's become so popular that they're thinking of purchasing a larger van to be able to stock more fruits and vegetables for the market, and they're expanding by buying bread makers to make their own fresh supply.

She said that each week, the community gets different items to try, allowing community members to expand their food choices. It's also a learning experience, through community kitchens.

"So if you had something new like zucchini, they would do a recipe," said Nodin. "We look at what's out on the… community market and then when we do community kitchen, we'll try to incorporate that type of food."

Erin Beagle, executive director of Roots to Harvest, said her organization runs five community food markets in Thunder Bay and the surrounding region, including Whitesand First Nation, to make fresh fruits and vegetables more accessible because they play a pivotal role in health and well-being.

"When you can't access fruit and vegetables, if you have diabetes or renal issues, those are accentuated because you can't get the food that sort of helps you be healthy. Also its [preventive] measures too [as] people are more at risk of diet-related diseases."



Erin Beagle, executive director of Roots Community Food Group, runs five community markets within Thunder Bay and the region, including in Whitesand First Nation.

© Marc Doucette/CBC

Pineshi Gustin, an elder living in Whitesand First Nation, said the local grocery service doesn't offer the produce she and her family need, including for health reasons.

"We do less processed food eating in our house, so this service here in the community that you see today is great. It offers better food."

Gustin also said the community market is good for elders and seniors, people with disabilities, low-income households and shoppers without a vehicle.

She looks forward to Wednesdays, knowing she'll get fresh produce for herself and to pick up items for her brother, who can't get to the market.

Helen Kwandebance, a community wellness worker for Whitesand First Nation, said everybody works together to ensure the market is a success, including reducing wait times at the cashier.



Community members in Whitesand First Nation stand in line to pay for their items

© Marc Doucette/CBC

Kwandebance said she loves helping out her colleague taking payments, as she gets to greet people and mingle with them.

The teamwork and partnership between the community and Roots to Harvest is what makes the market work, Kwandebance said, adding that Beagle has come to the community to see Whitesand's efforts, as every market has a different routine.

Kwandebance recalls listening to some women chat in line about a certain type of produce she picked up at the market, and it was half the price of a similar item in a grocery store.

"It was nice to hear the difference of shopping in Thunder Bay because Thunder Bay is our nearest big city, right? It saves them time from travelling to Thunder Bay and one of the other ladies did say it was a lot fresher than as if we were to buy it in Thunder Bay or at our local store."

Curve Lake First Nation Chief Elsie Knott featured on proposed $20 bill

Story by The Canadian Press 

The Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) is leading a campaign calling for an Indigenous woman to be featured on the $20 bill to replace Queen Elizabeth II.

The Change the Bill campaign seeks to foster reconciliation through art by commissioning Indigenous artists to reimagine the banknote with notable Indigenous women. Featuring an Indigenous “hero” on a redesigned bill — a move that is “long overdue” — would be a significant step toward recognizing the important, yet often overlooked, contributions of Indigenous women, according to the group.

As part of the campaign, Canadians are encouraged to sign a petition to support the movement. On the association’s website, a dozen important Indigenous women figures are displayed as potential replacements, along with a reimagined artistic rendering of a new bill created by various Indigenous artists.

Among the 12 women is Elsie Knott — the first woman in Canada to serve as a First Nations chief — who led Curve Lake First Nation for several years.

Knott, born in 1922, was first elected in 1954 — three years after Indigenous women were given the right to vote in band elections and serve on band councils under the Indian Act. She acted as chief until 1960 before being re-elected a decade later. Knott served as chief until 1976.

Knott is known for her commitment to bettering the quality of life and living conditions for her community’s members. Notably, Knott worked to improve water quality, housing, social services, infrastructure, and other aspects of the community.

She was also a dedicated proponent for protecting, preserving and passing along Ojibway culture and traditions, and helped form an Ojibway language program at the Curve Lake First Nation School.

Knott died in 1995.

Four years later, her life, community advocacy and political career was honoured with a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award from the Union of Ontario Indians.

The artistic interpretation of Knott on a new bank note was created by Curve Lake First Nation artist Anna Heffernan. Heffernan decided to feature Knott “out of respect for her service to their community, and because she is proud of their community for their early embrace of women in leadership,” according to the association’s website.

Current Curve Lake First Nation Chief Keith Knott says he thinks Elsie Knott is a perfect fit to be featured on a new banknote.

“It’s an excellent idea,” he said. “It would be a great piece of memorabilia for one the leaders of our community many years ago.”

Years ago, he served on Curve Lake First Nation’s council when Elsie Knott was chief.

“Future leadership could identify within themselves that there’s always that role to play within a community, and I think she would be a great role model for members in the community — for women and men to be recognized in such a national way; to have your community recognized in that fashion,” he said.

So far, the petition has garnered over 34,680 signatures — quickly approaching its goal of 35,000 names.

The next step is to “keep up the pressure and keep the campaign alive by engaging organizations and individuals Canada-wide,” stated a spokesperson for the association.

Schools, organizations, influencers and leaders will be contacted to join the campaign’s next phase.

While the association has met with the Bank of Canada’s governor and the Royal Canadian Mint, it’s ultimately up to the finance minister and the federal government to make a final decision related to bank note changes.

“The next phase of our campaign will ensure that a wide range of voices across the country are engaged and are heard in the minister’s office, each supporting our campaign,” added the spokesperson.

Brendan Burke is a staff reporter at the Examiner, based in Peterborough. His reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.

Brendan Burke, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Peterborough Examiner