AUSTRALIA
Adviser whose former lobby group provided lump of coal to Scott Morrison made ambassador to OECD


Amy Remeikis
Fri, 17 September 2021,

Photograph: Dave Hunt/AAP

The man whose lobby group supplied Scott Morrison with the lump of coal he famously brandished in the federal parliament is off to Paris as Australia’s newest ambassador to the OECD.

Mining lobbyist Brendan Pearson will be reunited with former finance minister Mathias Cormann in the new role having served as his senior adviser before moving into the prime minister’s office as an industry and trade adviser in 2019.

Pearson was chief executive of the Minerals Council of Australia when it supplied then-treasurer Morrison with the lump of coal he held aloft in the parliament in 2017 while saying “this is coal, don’t be afraid”.

Before serving in Cormann and then Morrison’s offices, Pearson also worked at the American coal giant Peabody Energy.

The press release issued by the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, announcing Pearson’s elevation to the OECD ambassadorship didn’t mention the question time coal but pressed Pearson’s international experience.

Related: Mathias Cormann’s flights to win OECD job cost Australia $11,000 a day

“Mr Pearson was most recently senior adviser (industry, trade and investment) [in the] office of the prime minister,” the statement read.

“He has previously worked overseas as counsellor (trade policy) at the Australian embassy in Washington, North Asia bureau chief for the Australian Financial Review in Tokyo and as a visiting scholar, department of politics and international studies at the University of Cambridge.”

Cormann, the former Morrison government finance minister, was narrowly elected the head of the OECD earlier this year. He was forced to defend his previous stance on climate action, having called net zero targets “extremist’, “irresponsible” and “reckless” while a member of the Coalition government, while also having acted as a strong advocate of the coal industry.

Cormann has since said he would pursue a “global approach” to climate action and net zero carbon targets by 2050, as part of his stewardship of the OECD.

Pearson is expected to help the Morrison government push its “technology not taxes” climate solution in response to the European Union’s carbon tariff proposal – which would see levies placed on products from countries showing less ambition in their climate action.

Related: Liberal Andrew Bragg urges Scott Morrison to commit to net zero

The Morrison government is facing increasing global pressure to commit to its own net zero target ahead of the Glasgow climate conference in November.

Critics of the Coalition’s climate policies have questioned the appointment of a former mining and coal lobbyist to the OCED role.

The Australia Institute’s Richie Merzian said Australia “already has a reputation as a lobbyist for the fossil fuel industry”.

“This appointment will only serve to drive Australia’s climate credentials further backwards,” he said in a statement.

Pearson replaces Alexander Robson in the ambassador role. Robson, a former economics adviser to former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, had served as ambassador since 2019.

The Queen’s Gambit: Netflix sued for $5m over ‘grossly sexist’ line in series finale


Georgian grandmaster says Netflix has done irreparable damage to her reputation by implying she ‘lacked skills’ to compete against men

Maanya Sachdeva


The Queen’s Gambit: Netflix sued sued over misrepresenting Georgian grandmaster’s career

Soviet-era chess icon Nona Gaprindashvili has sued Netflix for $5m in a defamation lawsuit over a line in The Queen’s Gambit.

Poised to win big at the 2021 Emmy Awards this weekend, the Anya Taylor-Joy starrer has found itself in the middle of a legal drama over a year after it was released.

In court filings accessed by Deadline, Gaprindashvili alleges that the makers of the show about fictional American chess prodigy Beth Harmon (Taylor-Joy) have deliberately and knowingly misrepresented truths about the Georgian grandmaster’s pathbreaking career.

The lawsuit highlights the series finale “End Game”, during which a commentator references Gaprindashvili, after Harmon beats Russian grandmaster Viktor Laev, another fictional character, at the Moscow Invitationals.

The commentator says: “The only unusual thing about her [Harmon], really, is her sex. And even that’s not unique in Russia. There’s Nona Gaprindashvili, but she’s the female world champion and has never faced men.”

The camera then pans to a woman in the audience who, the lawsuit said, “is obviously meant to be Gaprindashvili”.

The allegation that Gaprindashvili has never competed against men is “manifestly false”, “grossly sexist” and “belittling”, according to the 25-page complaint filed in Federal District Court in Los Angeles.

“By 1968, the year in which this episode is set, she had competed against at least 59 male chess players (28 of them simultaneously in one game), including at least 10 grandmasters of that time,” the filing added.

The lawsuit added that despite having these facts, Netflix “brazenly and deliberately” lied, with “actual malice” about the 80-year-old’s achievements for the “cheap” purpose of “heightening the drama”.

Netflix’s depiction of Gaprindashvili as Russian, not Georgian, added further “insult to injury”.

In a statement to NBC News on Thursday, a spokesperson for the streaming giant said: “Netflix has only the utmost respect for Ms Gaprindashvili and her illustrious career, but we believe this claim has no merit and will vigorously defend the case.”

Gaprindashvili said she confronted the streaming giant over these alleged lies after the series aired but Netflix dismissed her assertions and claimed the scene was harmless.

Netflix also refused to offer a retraction, re-dub the voiceover or issue a public statement, she added.

The lawsuit said there were four instances of “actual malice” on the part of Netflix, including “deliberately” altering the text of Walter Tevis’ eponymous 1983 novel that The Queen’s Gambit is based on.

Gaprindashvili’s lawyers made the case that the mini series, which was viewed by 62 million people, has done irreparable damage to their client’s reputation by implying that she “lacked the skills” to compete against men.

“Thus, in a story that was supposed to inspire women by showing a young woman competing with men at the highest levels of world chess, Netflix humiliated the one real woman trail blazer who had actually faced and defeated men on the world stage in the same era.”


Nona Gaprindashvili - Wikipedia



Nona Gaprindashvili (Georgian: ნონა გაფრინდაშვილი; born 3 May 1941) is a Soviet and a Georgian chess player, and the first woman to be awarded the FIDE title Grandmaster, which occurred in 1978. She was the fifth women's world chess champion (1962–1978).

In 1961, aged 20, Gaprindashvili won the fourth women's Candidates Tournament, setting up a title match against world champion Elisaveta Bykova. She won the match easily, with a final score of 9-2 (+7−0=4), and went on to defend her title successfully four times: three times against Alla Kushnir (1965: 10–6; 1969: 12–7; 1972: 12–11) and once against fellow Georgian Nana Alexandria (1975: …

Wikipedia · Text under CC-BY-SA license

CPTPP: Trump abandoned this giant trade deal. Now, China wants in

By Diksha Madhok, CNN Business 

China has applied to join a major Asia-Pacific trade partnership that the United States ditched several years ago, as the world's second largest economy tries to bolster its relationships in the region.

EVEN THOUGH IT HAS ITS OWN FTA CALLED RECTP WHICH TPP WAS A RESPONSE TO

© Esteban Felix/AP The signing ceremony of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership in Chile in 2018.

Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao applied for membership in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), according to a statement published by the ministry late Thursday.


The CPTPP is an 11-country free trade pact that came into force in December 2018 and includes Mexico, Australia, Canada and Singapore. It succeeded the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) after the United States withdrew under former President Donald Trump in 2017.

The TPP was negotiated under former US President Barack Obama, who wanted to counterbalance China's growing clout in the region by imposing US-backed labor, environmental and patent protections.

Obama wanted the deal to be a major part of his legacy, but his successor, Trump, withdrew the United States from the partnership in 2017. Chinese leaders began angling to take its place almost immediately.

US President Joe Biden backed the TPP during his time serving as Obama's vice president. But his stance has shifted over the years: While running for president in 2019, Biden said he would "not rejoin the TPP as it was initially put forward."

"I would insist that we renegotiate pieces of that," Biden said at a presidential debate during the Democratic primary.

Chinese officials on Friday boosted the idea of involvement with the CPTPP. Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian called it "conducive to promoting regional economic integration in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the economic recovery, trade development and investment growth after the pandemic," at a press conference.

The agreement cuts tariffs among participants, standardizes regulations in areas such as food safety and determines levels of market access for goods and services, such as visa rules for business travelers, which can vary between members.

But the path forward may not be easy for China, particularly since relations between the country and CPTPP member nation Australia have been worsening.

In recent years, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has moved to embrace the United States more closely as a security partner, building a personal relationship with Trump and attempting to do with same with his successor, Biden.

China's official application comes just a day after Canberra signed a security deal with the United States and the United Kingdom called AUKUS.

Australian coal, wine, barley and beef have all already been affected by trade tensions with China, and experts say that defense deal has antagonized Beijing further.

"China probably won't get into CPTPP anytime soon, but news of its formal application coming a day after the AUKUS announcement neatly underscores the continuing rift in how Washington and Beijing conceive of 'competition' in Asia," tweeted Ankit Panda, a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Still, the Chinese and Australian economies are highly dependent on each other. In 2020, tensions between Australia and China did not stop the two countries from pressing ahead with a free trade deal in Asia-Pacific called the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, as both nations saw benefits from their deeper economic integration with other Asian countries. The RCEP spans 15 countries — including Japan, Indonesia and Thailand — and 2.2 billion people, or nearly 30% of the world's population.

At Friday's press conference, Zhao, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, said that China's efforts to join the CPTPP have "nothing to do with the US, UK and Australia trilateral agreements."

"[China] is pushing for economic cooperation and regional integration while the US, the UK and Australia are pushing for war and destruction," he added.

Even if China were allowed to join the CPTPP, the country may find some aspects of the agreement challenging, said Alex Capri, a research fellow at Hinrich Foundation. He singled out "e-commerce and data standards," though said China may be able to find loopholes.

"Keep in mind that when the US pulled out, some 20 provisions dealing with data privacy, IP protection and other digital standards were essentially put on hold," Capri added.

Meanwhile, China isn't the only country attempting to join the CPTPP. Earlier this year, the United Kingdom began talks on entering the partnership, which it sees as one of its biggest opportunities to forge economic alliances beyond Europe after Brexit.

— Hanna Ziady, Ben Westcott and CNN's Beijing bureau contributed to this report.

GOP Senate candidate: US should not accept Afghan refugees


PHOENIX (AP) — The United States should not accept Afghan refugees, including translators and others who helped the American military during the 20-year war, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jim Lamon said, staking out a hardline stance against a group of immigrants that has had widespread support from both parties.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Rather than bringing them to the homeland, the United States should help Afghans who assisted in the war to flee the Taliban and resettle in the Middle East, Lamon told The Associated Press Wednesday evening.

“They should go to countries that are friendly to them and us,” Lamon said. “We cannot continue to be the world’s refugee camp.”

Lamon is running in a crowded Republican primary to take on Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly in one of the most closely watched 2022 Senate races.

His stance on refugees comes as GOP candidates across the country wrestle with how to balance the base's skepticism of immigration with broad public support for providing refuge to Afghans who risked their lives assisting the United States.

While many Republicans have questioned whether refugees are sufficiently vetted or suggested the U.S. is accepting too many Afghans, few have said that even those who most closely assisted U.S. troops should be excluded.

A handful of former Trump administration officials are working to turn Republicans against Afghan refugees, looking to make the collapse of Afghanistan another opportunity to push a hard-line immigration agenda. But they support letting Afghans who obtain a Special Immigrant Visa settle in the United States.

Lamon is aggressively courting Trump's endorsement, going so far as to air a campaign ad in Bedminster, New Jersey, while the former president was visiting his golf course there.

His position puts him at odds with others in the GOP who say accepting refugees is consistent with Christian teachings.

Gov. Doug Ducey and House Speaker Rusty Bowers, both Republicans, issued a joint statement last month welcoming Arizona's “fair share” of refugees and promising that the state's refugee resettlement office would help them settle in.

“They helped our military members in their country, and now we stand ready to help them in ours,” Ducey and Bowers said.

Lamon said the U.S. has spent billions of dollars in the Middle East, including Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, and those countries “need to have brought them in and helped us in that respect."

“What I would have proposed is that those who helped us, we help them move into neighboring countries,” Lamon said.

Lamon, the founder of a solar energy firm making his first run for political office, spoke after accepting endorsements from unions representing thousands of U.S. Border Patrol agents and Arizona police officers, as well as former Trump administration immigration officials.

Jonathan J. Cooper, The Associated Press

Norway's polar bears turn to inbreeding, cannibalism to survive climate change, studies show

Polar bears are turning to inbreeding and cannibalism to survive the effects of climate change in the Arctic, new studies have revealed

.

© Provided by National Post 

In this file photo, a young male polar bear waits for the sea ice to return in the Churchill Wildlife Management Area, in Manitoba on Oct. 27, 2020.

Scientists have noted that ‘rapid sea ice loss in the Arctic Barents Sea’ has led to the loss of 10 per cent of genetic diversity in the polar bear population of Norway’s Svalbard Archipelago, between 1995 and 2015, states the study, published by The Royal Society journal on Sept. 8.


Examining the DNA of 622 polar bears in the archipelago, they found that the group had grown more genetically distinct from polar bears seen at other areas in the Arctic.

Simultaneously, the polar bears had also grown more genetically distinct from the polar bears found at other sites in the Arctic, indicating the bear populations found in the same location are becoming more genetically similar.

Declining sea ice coverage, the study explained, leads to habitat fragmentation, forcing polar bears to mate with others within a smaller area, resulting in inbreeding.

“With genetic diversity, when the population becomes so small, you’ll find that there will be a higher chance of closely related individuals mating and producing offspring. But with that comes risk in the sense that some of the traits that are recessive, will now basically be unmasked in the population,” the study’s author Simo Maduna, of the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research, told ABC News.

As the animals become more isolated from each other, this “may increase inbreeding in the future, most likely with negative effects such as inbreeding depression,” the study said.

A second study , released in April, found that climate change has severely disrupted the dietary habits of the polar bear population, forcing them to prey on seabirds and eggs instead of seals. However, due to lack of experience, most bears observed were not “efficient” seabird egg predators, the study found, noting that instead of visiting multiple nests, bears would often visit the same empty nest multiple times.

In some areas of the Arctic suffering from a lack of food sources, bears have become increasingly cannibalistic, experts say. The disappearing sea ice, Russian scientist Ilya Mordvintsev said , has forced the bears onshore instead of in the water hunting seals, consequently turning to food sources on land.

“Cases of cannibalism among polar bears are a long-established fact, but we’re worried that such cases used to be found rarely while now they are recorded quite often,” Mordvintsev said at a presentation in St. Petersburg.

“We state that cannibalism in polar bears is increasing…. In some seasons, there is not enough food and large males attack females with cubs.”

Western University students set to walk out of class to protest 'culture of misogyny'

LONDON, Ont. — Students at Western University are set to walk out of class today to protest what they call a "culture of misogyny" on campus after a series of sexual assault allegations surfaced in recent days.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The students say they will also be speaking out about the London, Ont., school's handling of those allegations.

Western and London police have said four women have come forward with formal complaints about being sexually assaulted on campus recently.

Police are also investigating allegations made on social media of mass drugging and sexual assaults at the Medway-Sydenham Hall residence on campus during orientation week.

The force has said no one has come forward with a formal complaint on those online allegations.

Western announced yesterday that it will require students in residence to take training sessions on sexual violence and consent as it works to address what it describes as a problematic campus culture.

The measure is part of a new action plan that will also see the university hire 100 new "safety ambassadors" – a mix of upper-year undergraduates and graduate students who will work overnight in residences.

The school also plans to create a task force that will take "a comprehensive look" at student safety.

Today's event is expected to see students walk out of their classes at noon.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2021.

The Canadian Press

Southwest Airlines is giving fully vaccinated staff 16 hours extra pay - and cutting special sick pay for unvaccinated workers who catch COVID-19

Grace Dean

Thu, September 16, 2021, 

Southwest Airlines is boosting incentives to encourage staff to get vaccinated. Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

• Southwest Airlines is giving staff 16 hours extra pay if they show proof they're fully vaccinated.

• Southwest said flight attendants and pilots would receive pay for 13 trip segments, per CNBC.

• The airline is also cutting special sick pay for unvaccinated people who catch COVID-19.

Southwest Airlines is boosting incentives for staff to get COVID-19 vaccines.

The airline is giving fully vaccinated staff 16 hours extra pay if they show proof of vaccination before November 15, according to a company memo sent Wednesday, first reported by CNBC, The Dallas Morning News, and others.

Southwest confirmed this to Insider, saying that it would offer these members of staff "roughly two days of pay."

Southwest said in the memo that flight attendants and pilots, who aren't paid hourly, would instead receive pay for 13 trip segments, per CNBC.

The airline also confirmed to Insider that it would cut quarantine pay protections for unvaccinated people who catch the coronavirus after November 16.

The protections gave employees full pay for up to 10 days if they were exposed to or contracted COVID-19 on the job, per Bloomberg.

Unvaccinated workers would still be able to use normal sick pay, the airline said in the memo, per CNBC.

"If you have not been vaccinated and choose to do so, this timeline gives you enough time to receive both rounds of a two-series vaccine or the single-dose vaccine," Southwest said in the memo, per CNBC.

Alaska Airlines, Delta Airlines, and American Airlines have already announced similar moves.

CNBC reported that Southwest told staff the new policies were "unrelated" to the vaccination rules President Joe Biden announced September 9, which would require businesses with more than 100 employees to mandate vaccines or weekly testing.

In August, United Airlines became the first US airline to mandate vaccines for all employees.

Other airlines, including Delta, Alaska, and Horizon, are only requiring the vaccine for new hires, while encouraging existing staff to get a shot with perks, such as bonuses.

Delta said in August that workers who don't get vaccinated would have to pay $200 extra a month for health insurance. The airline said that each worker who was hospitalized with the virus cost it an average of $50,000.

Delta said last week that 20% of its unvaccinated workers chose to get the vaccine within two weeks of it announcing the insurance surcharge.

Just under a quarter of adults in the US are yet to get their first dose of the vaccine, according to CDC data.

Hundreds of migrating songbirds crash into NYC skyscrapers


Skyscrapers Bird Deaths

This photo provided by Melissa Breyer shows some of the dead birds collected in the vicinity of New York's World Trade Center, Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021. Hundreds of birds migrating through New York City this week died after crashing into the city's glass towers, a mass casualty event spotlighted by a New York City Audubon volunteer's tweets showing the World Trade Center littered with bird carcasses. Melissa Breyer via AP

KAREN MATTHEWS
Thu, September 16, 2021


NEW YORK (AP) — Hundreds of birds migrating through New York City this week died after crashing into the city's glass towers, a mass casualty event spotlighted by a New York City Audubon volunteer's tweets showing the World Trade Center littered with bird carcasses.

This week's avian death toll was particularly high, but bird strikes on Manhattan skyscrapers are a persistent problem that NYC Audubon has documented for years, said Kaitlyn Parkins, the group’s associate director of conservation and science.

Stormy weather Monday night into Tuesday contributed to the deaths, she said.

“We had a big storm and sort of weird weather and lots of birds, and that’s sort of the perfect combination that can lead to bird-window collisions,” Parkins said.

“It seems that the storm might have brought the birds in lower than they would have otherwise have been, or just disoriented them,” Parkins added. “The effects of nocturnal light on birds is also quite strong, especially when it’s a cloudy night.”

Volunteers with NYC Audubon document bird deaths at high-risk spots during the spring and fall migrations.

Melissa Breyer, the volunteer who tweeted about finding nearly 300 birds on sidewalks surrounding the new World Trade Center towers, said the experience was “overwhelming.”

“As soon as I got to the buildings, the birds were everywhere on the sidewalk,” Breyer said. “Looking north, covered, south, covered, west, covered, the sidewalks were literally covered with birds.”

NYC Audubon wants the owners of the World Trade Center towers and other buildings to help reduce the number of bird strikes by dimming the lights at night and by treating glass to make it more visible to birds.

“Make it so that they can see it and recognize that it’s a solid barrier that they cannot fly through,” Parkins said.

Jordan Barowitz, a spokesperson for the Durst Organization, co-developer of One World Trade Center, said in an email, “The first 200 feet of One WTC are encased in glass fins that are non-reflective. This design was chosen because it greatly reduces bird strikes which mostly occur below 200 feet and are frequently caused by reflective glass."

Dara McQuillan, a spokesperson for Silverstein Properties, the developer of three other trade center skyscrapers, said, "We care deeply for wild birds and protecting their habitat in the five boroughs. Understanding that artificial night-time lighting in general can attract and disorient migrating birds, we are actively encouraging our office tenants to turn off their lights at night and lower their blinds wherever possible, especially during the migratory season.”

It wasn't the last flight for all the birds that crashed. Some survived.

A total of 77 birds were taken to the Wild Bird Fund's rehab facility on the Upper West Side on Tuesday, the majority of them from the trade center area, director Ritamary McMahon said.

“We knew it was going to be a large migration coming in. They could tell from the radar,” said McMahon, who scheduled extra staff to care for an expected influx of injured birds.

The Wild Bird Fund staff members gave the birds food, fluids and anti-inflammatory medications to reduce swelling.

Thirty birds recovered and were released in Brooklyn's Prospect Park on Wednesday, McMahon said.

“One of our staff took an Uber down to Prospect Park to release them so they wouldn’t face any more tall buildings on their travels,” she said.

___

This story has been corrected to attribute the quote “Make it so that they can see it and recognize that it’s a solid barrier that they cannot fly through" to Parkins, not Collins.

Edmonton Urban Farm expansion helps feed dozens of families

Chris Chacon 

An expansion to an urban farm is establishing some important roots in Edmonton. The farm is not only helping feed dozens of families, but also providing an escape during a year full of challenges.

© Chris Chacon/Global News 

Image of people harvesting vegetables at the Edmonton Urban Farm.

Alica Jogo and several others from Edmonton's Sudanese community is harvesting loads of vegetables from this newly expanded acre at an urban farm in the city.

"I think I have enough for the next six months," Jogo said. "I'm not buying anything. It's really a blessing, having this garden -- I'm glad that I could be a part of it."

Jogo is one of 53 people who signed up to learn how to garden back in April. That is when the unused plot of land owned by the city but leased to Explore Edmonton had just been transformed to a usable garden space.

"We had funding from the Butler Foundation and from Communities United and we managed to swing it so we actually got seeds in the ground on June 5," said Patty Milligan, Explore Edmonton's agriculture education specialist.

The $35,000 investment is helping bring an abundance of food to several cultural communities in Edmonton at no cost.

"There are some huge needs in the community, and I think they relate to community connection, feeling a part of a group, feeling that you have a safe place to connect during a stressful time and also of course food security," Milligan said.

"It's been hard but with the help... it's really great," Jogo said. "I don't have to worry about food. I don't need to worry about the vegetables now."

Urban farm organizers said they hope to add things like greenhouses, make it more education-friendly and possibly acquire another plot of land.

Read more: Edmonton business owner gets idea for urban farming from Yukon

"The long-term goal would be to have potentially half a block (or) a full city block of diverse growing space with different facilities and structures as well," said Communities United program manager Matthew Taylor.

As for Jogo, she can't wait to get started on the next growing season.

"So long as the garden is still here, I am coming back," Jogo said.

Those interested can contact Communities United or multicultural health brokers for more information.

UCP BACKPEDALS A WEE BIT

Alberta postpones plan to require ID for supervised consumption

(ANNews) - Alberta’s government has postponed plans to require identification to access supervised consumption services for people who use drugs until 2022, the Edmonton Journal reports.

The announcement comes two weeks after harm reduction advocacy groups Moms Stop the Harm and Lethbridge Overdose Prevention Society launched a legal challenge against the government over the new Recovery-Oriented Overdose Prevention Guide announced in June, which will require clients to provide their personal health card number.

Advocates say this measure will add a needless burden to accessing a life-saving service.

Moms Stop the Harm co-founder Kym Porter says rather than postponing the changes, they should be scrapped entirely.

“This doesn’t go far enough. Alberta must repeal the restrictions it has placed on delivering and accessing supervised consumption services in the province or more people will die,” Porter said in a statement.

At the time of Porter’s statement, no SCSs in the province were made aware of the changes, which she says is concerning, as the changes were supposed to come into effect at the end of September.

“We are weeks away from when the restrictions were set to be put in place and, despite the postponement, the Alberta government hasn’t informed supervised consumption sites that they don’t need to implement the changes at this time,” said Porter.

“It’s reckless. Supervised consumption sites need to be notified immediately to ensure they don’t implement measures that will drive people away from accessing their services.”

In a statement sent to the Journal, associated minister of mental health and addictions Mike Ellis said the postponement is intended to ensure SCS operators are in compliance with the Health Information Act to protect their clients’ privacy while accessing their health numbers.

“Alberta’s government will not be deterred in our mission to improve service quality and community safety. It is unfortunate that advocates for supervised consumption services are opposed to ensuring they meet basic quality standards to integrate into the health-care system,” Ellis said.

A 2016 survey from the University of Alberta of 320 people located in downtown Edmonton who use drugs found that just 36 per cent of them would use a site that required them to provide their health card number.

The other requirements of the Recovery-Oriented Overdose Prevention Guide, such as a “good neighbour agreement” with surrounding communities that includes a dispute resolution process, regulations surrounding data collection, staff qualification and training, and clinical practice standards, still go into effect Sept. 30.

From January to May 2021, 624 Albertans have died from accidental drug overdoses, a 41 per cent increase from the same period in 2020.

Jeremy Appel is an LJI reporter for Alberta Native News.

Jeremy Appel, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Alberta Native News