Canadian company hopes to capitalize on psychedelics craze with new drink

Special to Financial Post 

© Provided by Financial Post Psychedelic Water says its namesake beverage is “the world’s first legal psychedelic blend of kava root, damiana leaf and green tea leaf extract for a mild mood-boosting experience.”

A Canadian beverage company is looking to cash in on the popularity of psychedelics with a kava-based drink it is billing as the first of its kind.

Psychedelic Water says its namesake beverage is “the world’s first legal psychedelic blend of kava root, damiana leaf and green tea leaf extract for a mild mood-boosting experience.” The drink is not hallucinogenic, but the company says it produces a calming sensation that gives people positive vibes.

The drink is being backed by a pair of entrepreneurs, Pankaj Gogia and Keith Stein, a lawyer at Dentons in Toronto, who met through a mutual friend and began talking about the potential for a psychedelic-based drink.

Stein said his previous involvement in the cannabis industry and his entrepreneurial instincts — he helped found Simmons Records along with Gene Simmons, Belinda Stronach and Universal Music Canada and was also a founder of the Toronto Phantoms arena football team — motivated him to look into the psychedelic space. At first, he says he thought it was all about magic mushrooms and bad trips, but he was amazed at what he learned.

“I recognized that there was a real void, it was undeveloped, and it was untapped,” he said. “I also became aware of all of the benefits, like cannabis, that could be derived from this space in the shadows.”

He saw other companies were working on psychedelic products, but wasn’t sure if their business models, selling mushroom- or psilocybin-based products in international markets, would be profitable. So he brought a food science professor at New York University and a California company together to create a formula for a psychoactive but non-hallucinogenic drink. They tested the formula on hundreds of people, and they say they received positive feedback.

“We’re creating a new category here,” said Stein. “We have a real opportunity to be a pioneer from here in Canada.”

Gogia, who serves as chief executive, said all of the ingredients are sourced from American vendors.

That includes kava, an herb whose extract is popular in the South Pacific (it is Fiji’s national drink) for its soothing effect but that has also raised health concerns.

While the company says it is safe to consume, there can be side effects due to the active ingredients and it is not recommended for pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers. All of Psychedelic Water’s products say 18+ on them.

Currently the product is only available to purchase online in the U.S., but they will be seeking approval from Health Canada for the beverage here at home and are looking to expand into Europe and Australia in the next little while as well.

Gogia said Psychedelic Water, which launched in February, has done $1 million in sales over the last few months. He is projecting $4 to $5 million in sales for the year, a number that could rise as more channels are brought on.

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The company already has a following on TikTok, the social media site popular with millennials and Gen Zers, where its page has racked up about 24,000 followers. Gogia said the company has engaged with some influencers on the platform, but that much of its success has come from random viewers.

Gogia hopes the drink provides an alternative to alcohol-based beverages.

“This is something that people can try and have a healthier lifestyle without it affecting what they do or creating the harmful effects from alcohol,” Gogia said. “I think it’s something people should be open to trying and hopefully something that becomes part of their lifestyle.”

Financial Post

Before Zaila Avant-garde, there was MacNolia Cox, the first Black top-5 finalist at the National Spelling Bee

By Leah Asmelash, CNN 

On Thursday, Zaila Avant-garde became the first Black American to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee. But 85 years ago, there was another little Black girl from Ohio who came close

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© John Raoux/AP

In 1936, MacNolia Cox was a 13-year-old eighth-grader at the Colonial School in Akron, Ohio. She was the first Black top-5 finalist at the National Spelling Bee that year, in which Elizabeth Kenny, another young Black student about whom little is known, also participated.

Cox's journey to the national contest began at the Akron Armory, where the district spelling bee was held, on April 22, 1936. Over 2.5 hours, Cox spelled out words like "apoplexy" and "abstemious," and finally sealed the deal when she spelled "voluble" to win the competition, according to an article in the Akron Beacon Journal from May 21, 2000.

Pocketing the $25 prize, Cox became the first Black student to win the Akron spelling bee. But her accomplishments didn't end there. Cox got to travel to Washington D.C. to compete in the National Spelling Bee.

"I'm glad I won, and I hope I win in Washington," Cox told the Akron Beacon Journal in 1936.

Her victory launched her into fame. Locally, churches worked together to raise money for a "wardrobe fund," with one church collecting more than $9 for Cox, according to a May 5, 1936, article in the Beacon Journal. Today, that amount of money would be worth about $176.

Even nationally, Cox became a known name, with F.D. Patterson, then-president of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute of Tuskegee, Alabama, sending his well wishes, the Beacon-Journal said.

"We wish her every success in the world in the national contest," he wrote.

The national competition was scheduled for May 26, 1936, and eventually the time came for Cox to make the journey to the nation's capital. Accompanied by her mother, her teacher and a local reporter, Cox boarded the train to Washington, D.C. Thousands of people, including a military band, gathered outside the train station to cheer her on.

"This is the most fun I've ever had in my life," she said at the time, according to the Beacon Journal.

But it was the time of segregation, and the young teenager faced hostility.

It started before Cox had even gotten off the train. Once the crew arrived at the Maryland state line, Cox and her mother had to move to the Blacks-only car, according to the Beacon Journal.

Cox didn't even get to stay with the other spellers in a hotel. Instead, she and her mother stayed with a local doctor, the paper reported. At a banquet for the spellers, they also weren't allowed on the main elevator. They had to enter via a back stairwell, and sit at a designated table away from the others.

On the day of the competition, there may have been some foul play.

Cox was performing well, becoming one of the remaining five contestants. That's when the judges -- all White and Southern, according to the Beacon Journal -- hit her with a word not on the official list: Nemesis.

The word was immediately protested by the local reporter in attendance, who argued the word was against the rules. Nemesis, the name of the goddess of revenge, was capitalized in Cox's dictionary, and capitalized words weren't allowed in the contest, the Beacon Journal reported in 2000.

The judges discussed, ruling that the word was usable because of its colloquial usage, the paper reported. Cox misspelled, saying "N-e-m-a-s-i-s" instead, according to the paper. At fifth place, Cox was out.

But fifth place was still a victory, complete with a $75 reward. Upon her return to Akron, Cox was met with a parade of hundreds of cars and speeches by local figures, the paper reported.

"This is just the beginning for her," said Arlena Bauford, then-president of the Akron chapter of the National Council of Negro Women, to the paper. "She has demonstrated what she can do, and what we as a race, can do. She stands as a symbol before us, and is up to us to see that she is given further opportunity to go ahead."

Cox didn't end up going to college, though, and instead found work as a domestic employee for a local doctor, the paper reported.

"My grandmother, though she would've loved to have sent my Aunt Mac to college, unfortunately was unable to do so," her niece Georgia Gay told the Beacon Journal in 2000. "And back during those times, they were not too willing to give out grants and scholarships to those of us of color."

Cox died of cancer on September 12, 1976, according to the paper, nearly forty years after her history-making endeavor.

Though she may not have won the national competition, her journey paved the way for eventual champions like Zaila and Jodey-Anne Maxwell, who won representing Jamaica in 1998

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© From The Akron Beacon Journal A newspaper clipping shows MacNolia Cox greeting former Akron Mayor William Sawyer while being honored at her school.

Did Surfside building official mishandle engineer’s report on doomed condo? Experts think so

Jay Weaver, Aaron Leibowitz, and Sarah Blaskey, Miami Herald 

MIAMI — When Surfside’s top building official received an engineer’s report three years ago pointing out “major structural damage” to a concrete slab and “abundant” deterioration of garage columns supporting a condo tower, Miami-Dade County’s building code spelled out a course of action.

© David Santiago/Miami Herald/TNS From left, Maria Fernanda Martinez and Mariana Cordeiro comfort each other while they look at the rubble at the Champlain Towers South condo in Surfside, Florida, on June 25, 2021.

It’s one that apparently wasn’t pursued.

Under that law, Rosendo Prieto had a duty to contact the engineering consultant and inspect problems to see if the Champlain Towers South condo was at risk of endangering residents, according to construction experts interviewed by the Miami Herald. They believe the report noted enough significant structural concerns — severe concrete cracking in the pool deck and garage areas and waterproofing failures — to meet the code’s “presumed to be unsafe” standard and trigger a follow-up examination.

© David Santiago/Miami Herald/TNS Rubble is seen at the Champlain Towers South Condo in Surfside, Florida, on June 25, 2021.

Instead, after he was sent a Morabito Consultants’ engineering report by a Champlain condo association member, Prieto met with the board after reviewing the document and assured members that “it appears the building is in very good shape,” according to minutes of a Nov. 15, 2018, board meeting.

If that’s all that happened, experts say Prieto’s actions fell far short of the steps called for in county codes.

Gregg Schlesinger, a Fort Lauderdale contractor and attorney who specializes in construction cases, said building officials are obligated to take action when informed of serious structural problems — not just talk to a condo board.

“I think when you see something like this, you should report it,” Schlesinger said. “It should be looked at.

“When is something unsafe? It’s unsafe when someone knew or should have known of the potential of it collapsing, or deteriorating in such a state where there is a chance of it collapsing,” he said.

About half of the 12-story Champlain Towers South building collapsed June 24 in what is feared to be the worst building failure in U.S. history, leaving at least 78 people dead and dozens more still missing. Several structural engineers, after evaluating public records, condo plans and video footage of the collapse, have told the Herald that they suspect the 136-unit tower on Collins Avenue began to fall after the pool deck caved into the parking garage, which in turn undermined the foundation and triggered the collapse of the middle and oceanfront sections of the building.

John Pistorino, who has worked as an engineer in Miami for 50 years and sits on the state’s engineering board, said that he could not comment specifically on Prieto’s actions because his case was likely to come under scrutiny.

But, speaking generally, Pistorino said that when a building official learns about severe structural problems such as those outlined in Morabito’s report — which are fairly common in an oceanfront property — further inspection would be required for both legal and professional reasons under the Miami-Dade building code, which is among the toughest in the state of Florida.

“In my experience, when we come across a report that is problematic like this one, the building official can get another opinion,” Pistorino said.

It is possible that Surfside’s building official may have taken other actions, such as meeting with Morabito or inspecting the condo tower’s structural problems, that are not reflected in the town’s list of public records posted on its website or in the condo association’s records made public to date. The Herald has asked for all records pertaining to Prieto’s correspondence and actions involving Champlain Towers South, but has not yet received them from the town.

Prieto, a veteran building official who left Surfside last year, also did not respond to a request for comment Thursday and his attorney could not be reached. But three days after the condo’s collapse, he told the Herald that if there had ever been any major concerns with the condition of Champlain Towers South, “they would have been addressed right away.”

If issues were brought to his attention, Prieto said, he would have required an engineer to examine them further. Prieto is a licensed building code administrator, inspector and plans examiner, according to state records, but he is not an engineer himself.

At the time, Prieto told the Herald he wasn’t aware of the 2018 report by engineer Frank Morabito that warned of major structural damage at Champlain Towers South. That appears to conflict with the meeting of the condo board that November, where minutes show he made the “good shape” comment.

Public records also show that Prieto later commented in an email about attending the board’s meeting and praising its efforts to address the structural issues before the start of an official 40-year recertification process.

The condo building, completed in 1981, was facing a formal structural, mechanical and electrical review, as required under Miami-Dade’s building code. Morabito’s nine-page report was an initial summary of his structural findings for the board. The estimated initial cost of repairs was heavy — $9 million — a price tag that caused dissension among board members and delayed the repairs almost three years.

Although the Morabito report did not raise an obvious red flag that the building was “unsafe” or at risk of falling down, the firm urged Champlain’s condo board to replace and repair the deteriorating structural areas in a “timely fashion” because the concrete problems could “expand exponentially.”

Under Miami-Dade County’s building code, “a building, or part thereof, shall be presumed to be unsafe if ... there is a deterioration of the structure or structural parts.” The ordinance further states that “the Building Official, on his own initiative or as a result of reports by others, shall examine or cause to be examined every building or structure appearing or reported to be unsafe.”

A half-dozen engineers and legal experts contacted by the Herald said that given the conditions cited in the Morabito report, Surfside’s building official should have taken several additional steps to address the fundamental safety issue.

He could have spoken with Morabito about the findings in his report to gain a better understanding of the depth of the structural problems at the Champlain Towers South condo. Or, he could have inspected the building, especially the areas of grave concern, such as the pool deck area, where a “major error” was found because it lacked proper sloping and waterproofing, generating persistent leaks into the concrete slab beneath it. Or, he could have examined the “abundant cracking and spalling” found in the concrete garage columns because of deteriorating reinforced steel rods known as rebar that were expanding and causing the concrete to crumble. Records released to date don’t reflect any of that was done.

On the extreme end, the building official has the authority to deem the building an unsafe structure and order an evacuation. Then, if the official finds the building is indeed unsafe, he can order repairs to be made and refer the case to the county’s Unsafe Structures Board, which can take further action, including ordering demolition.

Pistorino, the Miami engineer and author of the county’s 40-year recertification policy, said it is often the case that a town or city’s building official doesn’t have the expertise to determine whether a building is facing imminent danger of falling down, so it’s imperative to retain a structural engineer.

“A building official would normally hire an independent consultant to look at the structure,” Pistorino said. “That seems to be a good practice or good procedure.”

When Morabito noted that 8% of the garage and plaza “slabs have experienced concrete deterioration,” he was indicating damage to a “major structural element” of the building, said Abieyuwa Aghayere, professor of engineering at Drexel University and an expert in concrete structures. Still, Aghayere said from an engineering perspective, whether that deterioration would have made the building unsafe depends on the extent of the damage.

“It would depend on how widespread the deterioration is,” Aghayere said. “If you have spalling at one spot, the structure is strong enough to redistribute load.”

Aghayere said Morabito would not have necessarily been able to see the extent of damage to the slab because the pool deck was covered in tiles. He also said that sometimes concrete can look fine while deteriorating at a chemical level — in other words, it would be weaker than it should be.

“It would have been helpful if he (Morabito) took core samples and tested them,” Aghayere said.

In 2020, Morabito’s team took core samples of the pool deck, noting the depth of the slab but not the strength of the concrete or its chloride levels — tests that Aghayere said would be necessary to be sure about the strength of the slab.

Schlesinger, the Fort Lauderdale contractor and attorney, said the building industry’s laws are replete with gray areas and “overlapping powers” among inspectors, engineers, contractors and architects, which allows them all to “point to other people” when things go wrong. But ultimately, Schlesinger said, “they’re all responsible.”

Schlesinger said Morabito, the engineer, also arguably had a legal and ethical duty to notify Prieto about the firm’s 2018 structural assessment of the property, although he acknowledged there would likely be an “even split” among experts on that question.

“Does this report say there was something structurally unsafe? I believe it does,” Schlesinger said.

Generally, engineers have little incentive to flag problems for government authorities, he said — especially before 40-year recertifications are due.

Morabito’s firm was first hired in 2018 to inspect Champlain Towers South, then again in 2020 to usher the building through its 40-year inspection process after repair costs had ballooned from $9 million to $15 million. Morabito, with offices in Maryland and Florida, did not respond to a request for comment.

In a statement following the Surfside building’s collapse, the Morabito firm defended its actions but also conceded the condo tower had serious structural problems, saying that “our report detailed significant cracks and breaks in the concrete, which required repairs to ensure the safety of the residents and the public.”

Then, it issued another statement: “Morabito Consultants did their job, just as they have done for nearly four decades — providing expert structural engineering counsel and services. And they will continue to work with the investigating authorities to understand why this structure failed, so that such a catastrophic event can never happen again.”

So far, more than a dozen individual and class-action lawsuits have been filed against Champlain Towers South’s condo association, Morabito’s engineering firm and others in Miami-Dade Circuit Court; the condo board itself has a total of $48 million in insurance coverage for property and personal injury claims.

Lawyers representing the condo association, Ken Direktor and Donna Berger, did not respond to a request for comment. But soon after the tower’s collapse, they provided the town of Surfside with the minutes of the mid-November 2018 condo board meeting in which Prieto said the building appeared in good shape and asked officials to post the document on their government website. Other records show that as time passed, some condo board members grew frustrated over not only the lack of progress on the structural fixes but also the escalating costs. Despite its early start, the condo board’s formal plans for the 40-year recertification under Morabito’s direction were only getting underway just as the building collapsed, records show.

From a legal standpoint, holding governments and building officials accountable for construction failures is a challenge. Building officials have sovereign immunity, making it more difficult to hold them liable. And Florida law caps government agencies’ liability in lawsuits at $200,000, requiring approval from the state Legislature and the governor to go above that amount.

But the families of victims of the Champlain Towers South condo collapse are already preparing to pin some responsibility on the town. Last week, lawyers for the estate of Antonio and Gladys Lozano — who were married for 59 years before they were killed in the collapse — put Surfside officials on notice of a potential lawsuit, as required by state law.

The two-page letter points explicitly to Prieto’s failure to act on the 2018 engineer’s report, and notes that Prieto brushed off another email from a Champlain Towers South board member in January 2019 raising concerns about construction at the condo tower next door in Miami Beach.

“The Town of Surfside had actual knowledge of the deplorable conditions and failed to take action,” the letter says. “Employees and officials were negligent for failing to protect the residents, tenants, and owners of the building.”

While poor countries struggle to find vaccines, places that bought too many are scrambling to get rid of doses about to expire

mguenot@businessinsider.com (Marianne Guenot) 

Pfizer BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine on Dec 17, 2020 in Victorville, California. Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Countries including Israel, Bulgaria, and parts of the US have more vaccines than they can use.

They are trying to sell on hundreds of thousands of doses before their expiry dates arrive.

It is a stark illustration of global vaccine inequality: other nations are desperate for shots.

Last week, Israel was on the cusp of throwing out close to one million doses of unused Pfizer coronavirus vaccine. Domestic demand for the shots was too low, and the shots were due to expire at the end of July.

Talks with the Palestinian authority and other countries to take the shots fell through one after the other.

But in the nick of time, Israel found a taker. On Tuesday, it announced that South Korea would take 700,000 doses.

As part of this last-minute deal, South Korea agreed to send back an identical number of doses when it gets its next batch of vaccines from Pfizer in September and October, Reuters reported.

Excess vaccine supply is a new problem for the rich countries that monopolized global supplies.

It coexists uncomfortably with the desperation elsewhere from poorer nations where campaigns have barely begun.

According to Our World in Data fewer than 1% of people in low-income countries have been given even a single dose. Papua New Guinea and Chad have both administered doses to fewer than 0.1% of their populations, per figures compiled by The New York Times.

US at a vaccine 'saturation point'

Some US states are facing much the same problem as Israel.

"If you look at the US, we're clearly approaching saturation in terms of people's willingness to be vaccinated," Hani Mahmassani, Director of the Transportation Center at Northwestern University, told Insider.

Vaccines are sitting unused in states where uptake is low. Oklahoma, Alabama, Utah, Delaware, and New Hampshire have stopped asking the government for new doses of vaccine as they work through their stockpiles, the Associated Press reported.

In June, Tennessee and North Carolina gave millions of doses back to the federal government due to low demand, the AP said. Mississippi returned more than 870,000 doses, and donated 32,400 to both Maine and Rhode Island.

"In Mississippi, if people don't understand how important it is to keep alive, we want to protect other Americans," said Mississippi State Health Officer Thomas Dobbs.

 A sign encouraging vaccination in Birmingham, Alabama, on June 30, 2021 Elijah Nouvelage/AFP; Getty Images

Even countries with low vaccination rates have stockpile problems

Romania, too, has stockpile issues. Even though its rate of vaccination is low, with 23% fully vaccinated, 43,000 of its AstraZeneca shots expired last month.

To get rid of its stockpile, the country announced it would sell about 1.2 million doses of vaccine to Denmark and another million doses to Ireland.

Bulgaria is also looking to donate its excess doses of vaccines. The country received 4.6 million doses but has used only 1.8 million. That is in spite of only about 12% of its population being vaccinated.

Uptake in both countries has been low, in part because of logistical issues but also because of high levels of vaccine hesitancy, according to local news reports.

The same has been seen in some African countries. About 1.25 million AstraZeneca doses, spread between 18 African nations, will expire unless they are used by the end of August, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

A violinist performs during Romania's "vaccination marathon" at the National Library in Bucharest, Romania, May 9. Cristian Cristel/Xinhua; Getty Images

One solution: extend the expiry date

According to a blog post from GAVI, a public-private organization that helps distribute vaccines to poorer countries, vaccine manufacturers were "extremely cautious" when they set the expiry dates for the vaccines.

Most vaccines expire around 3 years after they are produced, but the shelf life for COVID-19 vaccines is a lot shorter: six months for the Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca's vaccines, three months for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Last month, Johnson & Johnson added an extra six weeks to the shelf life of millions of unused doses in the US that were set to expire on June 10.

Canada also approved extending the shelf life of two lots of AstraZeneca vaccine by 30 days in May.

Pfizer, however, told Israel that it could not ensure that its doses would be safe beyond the current expiry date, according to the Times of Israel.

Mexico to try former negotiator of USMCA trade pact


MEXICO CITY (AP) — A judge in Mexico ordered the country's former economy secretary, who served as one of the lead negotiators of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement, to stand trial on illicit enrichment charges.

The judge ruled Friday that Ildefonso Guajardo could remain free while the trial was underway, but he was prohibited from leaving the country. Prosecutors say Guajardo had an “unjustifiable increase in his wealth” while in office from 2014 to 2018.

Guajardo was elected to a seat in the lower house of Congress in the June 7 elections. He denied the charges and said he would work to clear his name.

Guajardo served under former president Enrique Peña Nieto’s 2012-2018 administration. Several ex-officials from that administration have been accused of corruption.

Guajardo told the Milenio television station that the charges “are better for me, because I will have the opportunity to defend myself in front of an impartial authority.”

The trade pact, which replaced the old NAFTA accord, went into effect in July 2020.

The Associated Press

THEY COULD HAVE MADE IT IN TEXAS

Set in Chad, Cannes film 'Lingui' explores abortion struggles

CANNES, France (Reuters) - The director behind "Lingui", a Cannes Film Festival entry about a teenager's battle in Chad to get an abortion, said on Friday he hoped the story would resonate well beyond the African country, including in places like the United States where there are vocal anti-abortion movements

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© Reuters/GONZALO FUENTES The 74th Cannes Film Festival - Photocall for the film "Lingui" in competition

Mahamet-Saleh Haroun said he was inspired to explore the issue after reading stories about babies abandoned or killed by their young mothers in Chad, where abortion is only allowed in specific cases where a woman's life is in danger.

"Speaking to women, it turns out that these are struggles they have been going through for so many years," Haroun told Reuters in an interview. "But they don't talk about it, because it's shameful, it's taboo."

"Lingui" - which translates as "The Sacred Bonds", a reference at one point in the film to family ties - centres on single mother Amina who was been stigmatised her whole life, and who is horrified when her own 15-year-old falls pregnant.

At first terrified at the idea of going against Islamic principles, she ends up trying to help her daughter Maria, as she juggles her everyday struggles of life on the outskirts of N'djamena. The colour and sounds of the sprawling Chadian capital are vividly brought to life, in a light-infused setting for their growing desperation.

"This issue affects a lot of countries today - whether it's in Latin America, even in the United States there are people who are against it, in Morocco, everywhere - I think that this voice from Chad can also speak to other people across the world," Haroun said.

The director worked with non-professional actresses, who said they had also related to the pair's story. Achouackh Abakar Souleymane, who plays Amina, said she was a single mother of a three-month-old at the time of filming.

"I understood how we need to struggle," she said.

The film is vying for awards at the Cannes festival, held on the French Riviera, and which runs until July 17.

Haroun has previously won distinctions in the competition.

(Reporting by Michaela Cabrera and Sarah White, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)

Braid: Kenney shuffle cements Calgary's complete dominance of cabinet

Don Braid, Calgary Herald 

In parts of rural Alberta, the UCP government is known as the United Calgary Party.

© Provided by Calgary Herald Premier Jason Kenney speaks alongside new cabinet members after a swearing in ceremony at Government House in Edmonton, on Thursday, July 8, 2021.

There’s good reason.

Premier Jason Kenney’s cabinet now has 26 members, including 20 full ministers, five associates and the premier himself.

Seventeen are from Calgary ridings.

This is the most geographically lopsided cabinet ever.

Calgary is clearly the power centre not just in numbers, but in influence.

MLAs from the city hold most key ministries, including Health, Energy, Municipal Affairs, Infrastructure, Transportation, Jobs and Innovation, Social Services, Seniors and Advanced Education.

And there’s the premier himself, who represents Calgary-Lougheed.

That riding is named for former premier Peter Lougheed. He would never have allowed this concentration of power. Lougheed was always sensitive to regional balance — one reason the Progressive Conservative regime lasted for 43 years.

Brian Jean, the former Wildrose leader who has called on Kenney to resign, said Thursday on Facebook: “Alberta now has one minister from everywhere north of Morinville (35 km north of Edmonton) and zero ministers from everywhere south of Calgary.”

The sole northerner is Finance Minister Travis Toews, from Grande Prairie-Wapiti.

In the south, there is no minister from Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Brooks, Fort Macleod, Cardston or Pincher Creek — all places represented by UCP MLAs, but not one of them in cabinet.

In the north, Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo has nobody in cabinet — the most glaring omission of all, perhaps, given the region’s enormous economic importance.

All of northeastern Alberta is without a cabinet member.

There are 23 UCP MLAs in the city of Calgary. With 17 in cabinet, the odds of getting a spot are nearly 74 per cent.

The UCP has 38 members outside Calgary and Edmonton. That group supplies eight ministers. Rate of cabinet success: 21 per cent.

The only reason Edmontonians don’t shriek with rage is that they voted NDP in every riding but one, Edmonton-South West. It went to Kaycee Madu, the justice minister. He holds the safest cabinet post in Alberta.

But there’s no good reason for the imbalance between Calgary and the rest of the province. It became even more striking with Thursday’s cabinet shuffle.

Kenney kicked out a full minister, Leela Aheer from Chestermere-Strathmore, and an associate, Grant Hunter from Taber-Warner.

© Ian Kucerak Tanya Fir is sworn in as the Associate Minister of Red Tape Reduction during a cabinet appointment ceremony at Government House in Edmonton, on Thursday, July 8, 2021.

The premier replaced Hunter with Tanya Fir from Calgary-Peigan. Aheer’s role was broken into three pieces, two of which went to Calgarians: Muhammad Yaseen (Calgary-North) and Whitney Issik (Calgary-Glenmore.)

Of the five new associates appointed, four are Calgarians.

Mike Ellis of Calgary-West was promoted to associate for mental health and addictions.

The former occupant, Jason Luan of Calgary-Foothills, got the full portfolio of Community and Social Services

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© Ian Kucerak Jason Luan shakes Premier Jason Kenney’s hand after being sworn in as Minister of Community and Social Services during a cabinet appointment ceremony at Government House in Edmonton, on Thursday, July 8, 2021. Photo by Ian Kucerak

And that job opened up because Rajan Sawhney of Calgary-North East moved to Transportation, leaving Ric McIver (Calgary-Hays) with only one senior job, Municipal Affairs.

Most of the shuffling, in fact, was among Calgarians moving in and up.

Only two small city/rural politicians advanced. Ron Orr (Lacombe-Ponoka) replaced Aheer in Culture. Nate Horner, from Drumheller-Stettler, got the new associate post for Rural Economic Development.

Horner’s appointment was a real gain for Albertans outside the big cities — but the only one.

Many rural conservatives are upset.

“This is not proper representation,” says Todd Loewen from Central Peace-Notley, who was kicked out of the UCP caucus for sending Kenney a public letter telling him to resign.

“It’s not right to consolidate power by regionally excluding large numbers of Albertans from having representation at the cabinet table.”

The huge cabinet contingent shows that Calgary is the obvious battleground in the next election. It may also be true that UCP strategists feel there’s no harm in bulking up Calgary because they can’t possibly lose rural Alberta.

If so, this is a dangerous strategy for the UCP. It runs against how premiers have always constructed their cabinets, with the goal of rough equity among the two big cities and the rest of the province.

Edmonton voted itself out of this formula, but virtually all of rural and small-city Alberta backed the UCP, without any idea it would come to look like the United Calgary Party.

Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Calgary Herald.

dbraid@postmedia.com

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Friday's letters: Slap in the face for hardworking nurses
Edmonton Journal 

What is the problem here? Are the UCP running out of our money after losing billions of taxpayers’ dollars to extremely poor decisions?

© Provided by Edmonton Journal A nurse speaks with a patient at the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton. The Alberta government is proposing a three per cent rollback on salaries for nurses in the province.

What Kenney and the UCP are doing is immoral. Work the nurses (and doctors) until they drop and then reduce their salaries. Thousands of nurses in Alberta have been bending over backwards while working in COVID conditions which are understaffed while caring for thousands of very ill people .

What a slap in the face. Can anyone imagine Kenney or any of the UCP MLAs working under the conditions that the nurses (and doctors) have for the past 16-plus months? Heavens no. They might miss one of their Sky Palace dinners.

Instead of going after public professions that are mostly staffed by women, imagine that the UCP actually started spending our money wisely for the betterment of people’s lives. What an oxymoron. This is just further proof that the sadistic UCP’s intentions are to privatize as many public services as possible, further dividing society.

Their moral compass has always been rapidly spinning backwards straight to purgatory.

H.C. Kolthammer, Edmonton

Albertas’ high nursing salaries bring benefits

Why does the UCP government not want the nurses in Alberta to be the highest paid in Canada? Being the highest paid has advantages — we can attract more nurses to our province; and nurses here have more disposable income, which is a positive for businesses in the province.

This is something the provincial government should be proud of. Health care is important to Albertans, but the UCP government does not seem to realize this, e.g. the treatment of physicians and the shortage of family physicians in Alberta.

Cathy Rainey, Edmonton

Assembly of First Nations' new chief won't 'pull any punches'
Anja Karadeglija 

RoseAnne Archibald, the new national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, is the first woman to be elected to the role — and looks likely to present a stronger voice advocating for First Nations issues with the federal government.

© Provided by National Post Incoming national head of the Assembly of First Nations, RoseAnne Archibald,

Asked how her approach would differ from that of predecessor Perry Bellegarde, Archibald told reporters Friday she takes a dual perspective to dealing with governments.


“I look at the person who is in that position, and I see them as a human being. And I know many people watched as I created a positive relationship between a Conservative government and First Nations in Ontario. And that comes from a place of mutual respect.”

But that won’t stop her from holding governments to account. “You can ask the Ontario government about the many times we have been at loggerheads,” Archibald said.

As national chief, Archibald will lobby the federal government on behalf of more than 900,000 First Nations members. She won the AFN election Thursday evening after two days and five rounds of voting, beating out six other candidates.

Archibald received 205 votes on the fifth ballot, nearly 10 per cent shy of the 60 per cent majority required for a win. The votes are cast by chiefs or their proxies, not individual members of First Nations. She won the election after Muskowekwan First Nation chief Reginald Bellerose, who received 35.5 per cent of the vote, withdrew from the race before the sixth ballot.

“I think that RoseAnne is going to be a very strong national chief in terms of speaking out and advocating on behalf of First Nations across the country,” independent MP and former Liberal cabinet minister Jody Wilson-Raybould said.

“There is a definite need to press the federal government in a way that perhaps has not been reflected in the last number of years.”

Wilson-Raybould described Archibald as a strong advocate, someone who is outspoken, forthright and doesn’t pull any punches.

“I think she’ll come out of the gate in a gallop, which she needs to,” Wilson-Raybould added. “There’s a lot of challenges, both internally within the AFN organization and certainly an enormous amount of issues that she’s going to have to work on.”

Archibald, being the first woman to serve as AFN national chief, marks another first in a career of them. At 23, she became the first woman and youngest chief of Taykwa Tagamou Nation, and in 2018 was the first woman to be elected as Ontario regional chief.

Archibald said her election is a victory for all women, and it’s “absolutely essential that women and girls everywhere can see themselves represented at the Assembly of First Nations in a leadership role.”

But while her gender is important, it’s not the reason she was elected, she added.

“It is the 31 years of experience at every political level that has gotten me here. Women are worthy, women are capable, women are highly skilled.”

In addition to posts as deputy grand chief for Nishnawbe Aski Nation and grand chief for Mushkegowuk Council – she was also the first woman and youngest individual in both jobs – Archibald ran a consulting business for nine years.

Veldon Coburn, an assistant professor at the University of Ottawa’s Institute of Indigenous Research and Studies, described outgoing chief Bellegarde and his predecessor, Shawn Atleo, as “milquetoast” politicians, who “really didn’t have the sort of firebrand that we had hoped for.”

“And then you actually have someone who’s personally charismatic and exciting like RoseAnne Archibald, and who has a lot of integrity, too. So that’s a little bit different.”

While Bellegarde avoided conflict with the federal government, Archibald “will come out and be very blunt about things and actually present solutions as well to the problems, so I think that difference will be quite noticeable,” Coburn said.

She’s done that in her previous roles, Coburn said, adding that her experience on chiefs’ committees that study issues in-depth means she has a deep understanding of critical issues such as housing and water infrastructure.

Bellegarde and Atleo led the AFN after the Idle No More movement began in 2012, “which was probably the most explosive Indigenous movement in the last century … and really they allowed that momentum to fizzle.” Archibald, on the other hand, hasn’t shied away from criticizing organizations, including the AFN, Coburn noted.

Archibald herself has faced criticism in the form of bullying and harassment allegations. An independent report from May looking into those claims for the AFN said seven individuals didn’t file formal complaints because they feared workplace reprisals, according to the CBC. The report didn’t include details about the allegations.

Asked about the allegations Friday, Archibald said she couldn’t comment on a confidential report, but that the allegations were reprisals for her calling for an independent review of harassment and bullying of women and two-spirited, LGBTQQIA+ people at the AFN. She said she was in favour of implementing a whistleblower policy at the organization, and promised to make AFN a “safe, welcoming and healthy space.”

© The Canadian Press Former AFN National Chief Perry Bellegarde at a press conference at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa in February 2020.

Coburn said it’s “very important” for the AFN to have strong leadership now, given the recent announcements that hundreds of unmarked graves had been discovered at the sites of three former residential schools. That includes the remains of 215 children at a former residential school site in Kamloops, B.C., up to 751 remains near a residential school at Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan, and 182 unmarked graves near Cranbrook, B.C.

More than 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend church-run residential schools funded by the government that operated from the 1880s until the 1990s. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission found in its 2015 report children in residential schools died at far higher rates than children in the general population. It said the school system, which separated Indigenous children from their families with the aim of assimilating them and breaking their links to their culture and identity, was a central element of a government policy of “cultural genocide.”

“The recovery of our children at former residential schools is a priority. There must be truth before reconciliation,” she said. “I will support and advocate for resources for ongoing healing from intergenerational trauma from colonization, particularly residential schools.”

Archibald said her next step will be to review the goals she set out in her platform with leaders including national and regional chiefs, with more detailed work plans to come. She also plans to establish a post-pandemic recovery plan for First Nations, and will be coming out with a 100-day plan.

Archibald said other priorities will be pushing the government to put together an action plan to implement all 94 calls to action put forward by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The implementation of the action plan put forward by the inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls is also a priority.

Systemic racism in the justice system and in the health care system, and the climate change crisis, are other priorities that need to addressed, she said.

Archibald promised to “uphold and defend and protect First Nations sovereignty and jurisdiction” through the implementation and recognition of treaty rights in accordance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Bill C-15, which says the Canadian government must ensure its laws are consistent with UNDRIP, became law last month.

“The new national chief is going to, I suspect, work with our nations across the country to ensure that bill is not just something that the government can sit back and say ‘We’ve done what we need to do,’” Wilson-Raybould said.

It will be necessary to press the federal government “to change laws, change policies and change the practices of the federal government in order to create the space for Indigenous nations to rebuild. So I think she’s going to be a strong advocate on that.”

New National Chief RoseAnne Archibald pledges to make AFN more inclusive, transparent


OTTAWA — In her home community of Taykwa Tagamou Nation in northeastern Ontario, surrounded by family and friends, RoseAnne Archibald was about to deliver the oath of office as newly elected national chief of the Assembly of First Nations Thursday when she suddenly began to giggle.

The solemn ceremony, held virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic, was interrupted by messages popping up on her smartphone, which was being used to broadcast her oath and victory speech across the country.

"I'm getting too many text messages from people, it's interfering with my oath of office," Archibald said as she laughed, handing her phone to an aide so she wouldn't have to hold it herself while delivering her remarks.

Archibald's authenticity in that moment reflects the kind of leader she says she wants to be as the first female leader of the AFN, an advocacy organization representing 634 First Nations.

She is pledging to hold governments' feet to the fire in making sure the needs and priorities of First Nations people in Canada are at the forefront of national dialogue and action.

But the new leader also harshly criticized the way the AFN has been run in the past, and is promising to make the organization more inclusive and transparent.

She also says she will approach this transformational work in her own kind and respectful way.

"I have the ability to create space that is respectful and kind to other leaders and at the same time, hold them to account. I'm holding two spaces within me," she said at a news conference Friday.

"I know that with that heart-centred approach, together with any government we can move the yardstick, we can create quantum leaps of change and that's my plan."

Archibald secured her electoral victory late Thursday after two days and five full rounds of voting. The race was about go to a sixth ballot before the last of Archibald's six rivals for the job, Reginald Bellerose, chief of Muskowekwan First Nation in Saskatchewan, conceded.

As the first woman to hold the job of national chief, Archibald says it has been a long and often bumpy road to get here.

The secretariat for the AFN, which oversees the business and operations of the organization, is still also called the 'National Indian Brotherhood,' she noted when asked why it's taken so long for a woman to assume leadership of the AFN.

"It's things like that create a feeling that there isn't a place for women," she said. The negative experiences of national female politicians such as Jody Wilson-Raybould and Catherine McKenna can also often discourage women from seeking higher office, she added.

"These attacks on women don't create safe spaces for women. But it's changing," she said. "It's important that 80 per cent of the chiefs across Canada are men and they elected me. And that, to me, speaks to the change that is happening: that our brothers understand the importance of creating space."

Over the next 100 days, Archibald plans to focus on key issues such as unmarked burial sites at former residential schools, the national action plan on missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and fighting systemic racism in the health and justice systems.

She also plans to prioritize climate change's effects on Indigenous communities — such as the wildfires ravaging First Nations in British Columbia — and will work with governments and regional chiefs on a post-pandemic recovery plan for First Nations.

Asked about an internal investigation the AFN launched into allegations of harassment against her earlier this year, Archibald said she couldn't discuss specifics because of confidentiality.

But she did say she was never interviewed as part of that probe. She also said she believes it was relating to her having raised concerns about allegations of harassment and bullying of women, LGBTQ and two-spirit people at the organization — something she says will not happen under her watch.

"I knew that because I spoke out that there would be retaliation … but I kept walking forward because I believe in the truth," she said.

"I felt like a whistleblower when I brought those issues forward."

Because of this, Archibald says she supports a whistleblower policy for the AFN. She also plans to address concerns she's heard about the AFN being "opaque" in financial matters.

"I ran for national chief to bring better, more inclusive governance to the AFN, one that puts an emphasis on creating safe and healthy workplaces for all people, protected and respected, no matter what."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 9, 2021.

Teresa Wright, The Canadian Press

New national chief calls for reparations for Indigenous people

Ryan Patrick Jones, CBC

The newly-elected leader of the largest advocacy organization for First Nations in Canada has thrown her support behind the idea of reparations for Indigenous people.

Speaking at a virtual press conference one day after being elected national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, RoseAnne Archibald said settler colonialism has had dire effects on Indigenous people in Canada — effects that continue to this day and demand redress.

"Reparations are an essential part of the journey on reconciliation," Archibald said. "Our communities have had longstanding negative impacts as a result of colonization."


Archibald was responding to a media question about an report released last week by Sen. Patrick Brazeau, a member of the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation in Quebec, that examined the history of the relationship between the federal government and Indigenous people.

In a subsequent interview with online news site iPolitics, Brazeau said his report highlighted a history of "broken promises" and "Band-Aid solutions" to First Nations issues, and that reconciliation must include a "process of reparations."
Reparations should go beyond existing settlements: Archibald

The federal government has set up a number of mechanisms to compensate Indigenous people who experienced specific forms of discrimination or abuse.

The 2007 Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement set up a "common experience payment" for all students who attended the government-sanctioned institutions, along with an "independent assessment process" for people who experienced sexual and physical abuse.

So far, those funds have paid out over $4.8 billion to residential school survivors.

A separate nationwide class action lawsuit brought to compensate survivors of federally-operated Indian Day Schools resulted in a settlement with the federal government. That settlement offers former students a range of compensation between $10,000 and $200,000, based on abuse suffered while attending the schools.

And a class action settlement agreement with Sixties Scoop survivors, signed in November 2017, set aside $750 million to compensate First Nations and Inuit children who were removed from their homes and placed with non-Indigenous foster or adoptive parents between 1951 and 1991, and lost their cultural identities as a result.

Archibald said reparations for Indigenous people must go beyond these existing settlements.

"That's only one piece of reparations," said Archibald. "We need those reparations to happen not only with individuals, but communities and nations."

While Archibald didn't specify the exact form such reparations should take, Indigenous people often argue it should go beyond money and include returning control over land that was taken from them.

CBC requested comment from the federal government but has not received a response.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said his party is open to the idea of reparations.

"We know that the Government of Canada has stolen the lives, the culture, the identity, and the future of Indigenous people across Canada," Singh said in a media statement. "We must listen to those hurt the most by colonization and take action to build a new pathway towards reconciliation."

Jamie Schmale, Conservative critic for Crown-Indigenous relations, said his party recognizes that more work needs to be done to address the harmful effects residential schools have had on survivors.

"We also know that the path to reconciliation must be walked in partnership with Indigenous peoples," Schmale said in a media statement. "Trudeau has demonstrated time after time that he has no plans and only hollow words for Canada's Indigenous peoples."

Schmale said Conservatives have called on the Liberal government to take immediate action to address the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions' calls to action that deal with missing children and those who died at residential schools.

Indigenous women - RoseAnne Archibald and Mary Simon - rise to top political positions


(ANNews) – 2021 has been a tumultuous time. On top of navigating through a pandemic, Canada has been forced to reckon with its history of genocide as multiple gravesites have been discovered at formal residential schools across the country — with the amount of unmarked graves being above 1,500.

However, the year is also historic for positive reasons too as two Indigenous women have risen to highly influential political positions this month.

Mary Simon appointed as Canada’s Governor General

On July 6, 2021 the first-ever Indigenous person to serve as Canada’s Governor General was appointed as the Queen’s representative.

Mary Simon is an Inuk woman from Kangiqsualujjuaq in the Nunavik region of Quebec.

She will outrank Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as the second-highest federal office in Canada — after only the Queen herself.

After announcing the Queen’s approval of the appointment, Prime Minister Trudeau, said, “Ms. Simon has dedicated her life to advancing social, economic, and human rights issues for Canadian Inuit and Indigenous peoples, and I am confident that she will serve Canadians and promote our shared values with dedication and integrity.”

“Through this appointment, we are ensuring that Canada is represented by someone who exemplifies the very best of our country.”

Simon has previously served as the president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, a non-profit organization in Canada that represents over 65,000 Inuk people across the country.

She was also Canada’s first Inuk ambassador in Denmark and for circumpolar affairs.

“I am honoured, humbled and ready to be Canada’s first Indigenous Governor General,” said Simon. “I can confidently say that my appointment is an historic and inspirational moment for Canada and an important step forward on the long path towards reconciliation.”

Her election comes after an hiatus during which the position remained empty for several months. The vacancy was due to the January 21 resignation of the previous Governor General, Julie Payette, after allegations of bullying were brought to light last year.

RoseAnne Archibald elected as National AFN Chief

On July 8, 2021 the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) concluded their election for the new National Chief.

RoseAnne Archibald, from the Taykwa Tagamou Nation in Northeastern Ontario, has been elected to the position and is the very first woman to hold the honour in the organization’s 50 year history.

The AFN is a nation advocacy organization that represents more than 900,000 First Nations people in 634 communities across the country.

Archibald was elected after her competitor, Muskowekwan First Nation Chief Reginald Bellerose, conceded the election following the fifth round of voting.

“The AFN made ‘her’-story today,” said Archibald.

This is not the first time Archibald has broken barriers however. She was the first woman and youngest chief elected in her home nation at 23 years old — she later went on to become the first woman and youngest deputy Grand Chief for Nishnawbe-Aski Nation in Ontario.

“Today is a victory and you can tell all the women in your life that the glass ceiling has bene broken. I thank all of the women who punched that ceiling before me and made a crack. You are an inspiration to me,” concluded the AFN National Chief.

Jacob Cardinal, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Alberta Native News