25 YEARS OF BROKEN PROMISES

Liberals Won’t Keep Promise To End Long-Term Boil-Water Advisories On First Nations By March 2021

It is also the current condition and the situation faced by the people of Neskantaga, the First Nation community in Ontario that has been under a boil-water advisory for 25 years.

© Provided by HuffPost Canada Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller holds a news conference in Ottawa on Dec. 2, 2020.

Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller says he takes responsibility for the fact that the Liberal government will fail in its election promise to lift all long-term drinking water advisories in First Nations by March 2021.

“Today we’re making ourselves accountable. We’re making future governments accountable,” Miller said Wednesday at an Ottawa press conference.

“And while there have been many reasons for the delay, I want to state as clearly as possible… ultimately, I bear the responsibility for this, and I have the responsibility and the duty to get this done.”

It was a key promise Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made on his path to power during the 2015 election campaign.

Miller confirmed the Liberal government will not meet its March 2021 deadline despite 97 long-term boil-water advisories having been lifted in partnership with Indigenous communities since 2016. Fifty-nine advisories remain in place in 41 communities.

Miller said an additional $1.5 billion investment this year to tackle the problem, spelled out in this week’s fall economic statement, will “accelerate work” to ensure every First Nation reserve has safe and clean water. The funding is in addition to $2.1 billion the government has already committed to the project since 2016.

At an earlier technical briefing, representatives from Indigenous Services Canada told reporters they expect 22 long-term advisories in 10 communities — nine in Ontario, one in Saskatchewan — to still be in place after March.

But Miller expressed optimism that an additional 20 advisories could be lifted by the end of this month, and, if all goes well, the number of remaining advisories could be down to 12 by the spring.

While he would not announce a second deadline, Miller said he aims to provide projected completion dates in the coming months.

The target was ambitious “from the get-go,” Miller said, adding that Indigenous communities don’t want an “Ottawa-imposed deadline,” but rather a long-term commitment to tackle the systemic problems preventing reliable access to clean water

Imagine having to boil the water that you’re about to consume, every time you reach for a glass of water. Imagine doing this every day of your life, multiple times per day, for over 17 years,” he said, noting that was the reality for members of the Lac Seul First Nation in northern Ontario until a new water plant was completed and opened last February.

“It is also the current condition and the situation faced by the people of Neskantaga, in their case for 25 years,” he said of the First Nation community in Ontario that has been under a boil-water advisory for 25 years. Its residents were evacuated from their homes in October after an oil sheen was discovered in its reservoir.

Miller defended Trudeau for imposing the timeline in the first place and for not having been upfront sooner that the promise wouldn’t be kept.

“As a Canadian, the prime minister did what would be expected of any leadership and said, ‘we want to get this done,’” Miller said of his party’s 2015 campaign promise.

The spring deadline was a “rallying cry for something that is much more profound,” he said, in order to focus attention on the under-investment in essential services in some Indigenous communities.

Trudeau “deserves a lot of credit for saying that,” Miller said.

The minister noted that the mandate letter he received from Trudeau when he joined cabinet last year made it clear that it was among his top priorities to eliminate all long-term drinking water advisories on reserve.

“It is my responsibility to get it done,” he said.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost Canada.
 

THE OMEN

Just in time for Christmas, Jupiter and Saturn will come closer than they have since the Middle Ages

"You'd have to go all the way back to just before dawn on March 4, 1226, to see a closer alignment between these objects visible in the night sky."

By Ashley Strickland, CNN  December 3, 2020


The wonders of stargazing 03:12

(CNN)The two largest planets in our solar system are coming closer together than they have been since the Middle Ages, and it's happening just in time for Christmas.

So, there are some things to look forward to in the final month of 2020.

On the night of December 21, the winter solstice, Jupiter and Saturn will appear so closely aligned in our sky that they will look like a double planet. This close approach is called a conjunction.

"Alignments between these two planets are rather rare, occurring once every 20 years or so, but this conjunction is exceptionally rare because of how close the planets will appear to one another," said Rice University astronomer and professor of physics and astronomy Patrick Hartigan in a statement.

"You'd have to go all the way back to just before dawn on March 4, 1226, to see a closer alignment between these objects visible in the night sky."

If you're a stargazer, you've likely noticed Jupiter and Saturn have been getting closer together since the summer. And they're currently visible in our night sky, inching ever closer to one another.

Jupiter's moon Europa may glow in the dark

But between December 16 and 25, they will become even cozier. Look for the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction low in the western sky for about an hour after sunset each evening during this time.

"On the evening of closest approach on Dec(ember) 21 they will look like a double planet, separated by only 1/5th the diameter of the full Moon," Hartigan said. "For most telescope viewers, each planet and several of their largest moons will be visible in the same field of view that evening."

While these two planets may appear close, they are still hundreds of millions of miles apart, according to NASA.

Hope for clear skies because the conjunction will be visible around the world, with the best perspective for those near the equator.

"The further north a viewer is, the less time they'll have to catch a glimpse of the conjunction before the planets sink below the horizon," Hartigan said.

Unusual molecule found in atmosphere on Saturn's moon Titan

The planets will be bright enough to be viewed in twilight, which may be the best time for many US viewers to observe the conjunction.

"By the time skies are fully dark in Houston, for example, the conjunction will be just 9 degrees above the horizon," Hartigan said. "Viewing that would be manageable if the weather cooperates and you have an unobstructed view to the southwest."

If you're in New York or London, or along those latitudes, try to spot the conjunction right after sunset. Waiting an hour after the sun sets will only put the planets closer to the horizon, making them more difficult to spot.

The best conditions to see this astronomical event will include a clear southwestern horizon and no low clouds in the distance, Hartigan said. Binoculars or a telescope may help you distinguish the planets. A telescope would enable a view of Saturn's rings and the brightest moons of both planets, he said.

If you miss this conjunction and want to see the planets with the same proximity, just higher in the sky, it won't happen until March 15, 2080 -- and then not again until after 2400.
Between 0 and 3000 CE, or Common Era, only seven conjunction were or will be closer than this one -- and two of those were too close to the sun to be seen without a telescope, according to Hartigan. So, yes, this is an incredibly rare event.

Jupiter and Saturn will form the first "double planet" in 800 years


Before 2020 comes to a close, Jupiter and Saturn will be so close that they will appear to form a "double planet." The great conjunction, as the planetary alignment has come to be known, hasn't occurred in nearly 800 years.

© Getty Images saturnjupiter.jpg

When their orbits align every 20 years, Jupiter and Saturn get extremely close to one another. This occurs because Jupiter orbits the sun every 12 years, while Saturn's orbit takes 30 years — every couple of decades, Saturn is lapped by Jupiter, according to NASA. 

However, 2020's conjunction is especially rare — the planets haven't been observed this close together since medieval times, in 1226.

"Alignments between these two planets are rather rare, occurring once every 20 years or so, but this conjunction is exceptionally rare because of how close the planets will appear to one another," Rice University astronomer Patrick Hartigan said in a statement. "You'd have to go all the way back to just before dawn on March 4, 1226, to see a closer alignment between these objects visible in the night sky."


Aligning with the solstice on December 21, 2020, the two planets will be just 0.1 degrees apart — less than the diameter of a full moon, EarthSky says. The word "conjunction" is used by astronomers to describe the meeting of objects in our night sky, and the great conjunction occurs between the two largest planets in our solar system: Jupiter and Saturn. 

The planets will be so close, they will appear to overlap completely, creating a rare "double planet" effect.© Provided by CBS News Jupiter and Saturn will come within 0.1 degrees of each other on December 21, 2020, during what is known as the great conjunction

How to watch the great conjunction

During the last great conjunction in 2000, Jupiter and Saturn were so close to the sun that the event was difficult to observe. But skywatchers should have a clearer view of the celestial event this time around. The great conjunction will be shining bright shortly after sunset, low in the southwestern sky, as viewed from the Northern hemisphere, NASA says. 

Through the entirety of December, skywatchers will easily be able to spot the two planets. For the next three weeks, you can look up each evening to watch them get closer and closer in the sky. 

Jupiter currently appears brighter than any star in the sky. Saturn is slightly dimmer, but still just as bright as the brightest stars, with a recognizable golden glow. 

Saturn will appear just to the east of Jupiter, and will even look as close to the planet as some of its own moons. Unlike stars, which twinkle, both planets will hold consistent brightness, easy to find on clear nights. 

The event is observable from anywhere on Earth, provided the sky is clear. "The further north a viewer is, the less time they'll have to catch a glimpse of the conjunction before the planets sink below the horizon," Hartigan said. 

The planets will appear extremely close for about of month, giving skywatchers plenty of time to witness the spectacular alignment throughout the holiday season. The event aligns with the December solstice, marking the shortest day of the year in the Northern hemisphere. 

This will be the "greatest" great conjunction for the next 60 years, until 2080. Hartigan said that, following that conjunction, the duo won't make such a close approach until sometime after the year 2400.

Head of regional health authority where Indigenous woman died removed from post

MONTREAL — Two months after the death of Joyce Echaquan in a Quebec hospital, the head of the regional health authority that runs the hospital has been removed from his post. 

Provided by The Canadian Press

The departure of Daniel Castonguay was announced Wednesday evening in a news release issued by the provincial health minister.

The decision was approved after the provincial cabinet saw a report by Lise Verreault, who was appointed in mid-November to study allegations of racism against Indigenous people at the hospital in Joliette, Que., northeast of Montreal.

The hospital and its management came under scrutiny in late September after Echaquan, an Atikamekw woman, filmed two staff members at the Joliette hospital insulting her as she lay dying, and other Indigenous people came forward with stories of abusive treatment.

Wednesday's press release says Verreault interviewed 18 people as part of her mandate to establish whether the bond of trust had been broken between the health authority's management and the Indigenous communities it serves.

Castonguay has been reassigned to aid in the preparation of Quebec COVID-19 vaccination campaign and will be replaced on an interim basis by Caroline Barbir, who is also head of a Montreal's Ste-Justine children's hospital.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 3, 2020.

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

The Canadian Press

Footage shows catastrophic collapse of iconic Puerto Rico telescope

Dramatic video from Puerto Rico captures the moment when a 816-tonne platform came crashing down on the Arecibo Observatory, shattering one of the world's largest telescopes and striking a crushing blow to the global scientific community.

© RICARDO ARDUENGO/AFP via Getty Images 

This aerial view shows the damage at the Arecibo Observatory after one of the main cables holding the receiver broke in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, on December 1, 2020.

The catastrophic collapse happened on Dec. 1, less than two weeks after the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) warned that such a disaster was imminent. The NSF had already shuttered operations at the facility after a suspension cable snapped and slashed a hole in the dish last month.

Read more: Massive Puerto Rico radio telescope collapses after cables snap

The telescope was the largest of its kind when it opened in 1963, and it has contributed to all manner of astronomical discoveries over the years, from asteroids to planets to mysterious radio signals in space. It also won a place in pop culture as the set for such films as Contact and GoldenEye, the first James Bond movie starring Pierce Brosnan.

The observatory's telescope consisted of a 816-tonne reflector dish platform suspended 137 metres above a massive, bowl-like dish, which measured 305 metres across.

Suspension cables holding up the platform snapped on Dec. 1, dropping the heavy platform on the dish with a tremendous crash.

Video: Aerial footage shows damage caused by Arecibo radio telescope collapse

Video captured by the Arecibo control tower shows one of the three major cables snapping, causing the platform to swing down on the remaining cables before snapping them, too.

The footage shows the reflector dish platform falling apart in mid-air, while dragging down several support towers behind it.

Drone footage captured from one of the support towers shows the moment when the first cable snapped. The cable snapped at the tower, then the whole structure came crashing down, pulling other towers with it and cracking the bowl of the telescope. Large clouds of dust rose from the bowl after the catastrophe.

Read more: Mysterious radio signal from space traced to ‘zombie’ in our galaxy

Jonathan Friedman, who worked for 26 years at the facility and still lives nearby, described the awful sound of the collapse in an interview with the Associated Press.

“It sounded like a rumble. I knew exactly what it was,” he said. “I was screaming. Personally, I was out of control. … I don’t have words to express it. It’s a very deep, terrible feeling.”

Many scientists, Puerto Rico residents and other public figures mourned the telescope's loss after it was closed, and again after it collapsed.

Ángel Vázquez, the telescope’s director of operations, said it was no surprise when the telescope fell apart early Tuesday.

“It was a snowball effect,” he said. “There was no way to stop it. ... It was too much for the old girl to take.”

Huge Puerto Rico radio telescope, already damaged, collapses

ARECIBO, Puerto Rico — A huge, already damaged radio telescope in Puerto Rico that has played a key role in astronomical discoveries for more than half a century has now completely collapsed. The telescope’s 900-ton receiver platform fell onto the reflector dish more than 400 feet below on Tuesday. The U.S. National Science Foundation had earlier announced that the Arecibo Observatory would be closed. An auxiliary cable snapped in August, causing a 100-foot gash on the 1,000-foot-wide (305-meter-wide) reflector dish and damaged the receiver platform that hung above it. Then a main cable broke in early November.

© Provided by The Canadian Press
DáNica Coto, The Associated Press

Alaska islands may be part of single, massive volcano

Maya Wei-Haas 

A trail of volcanic islands off the coast of southern Alaska may actually be part of a single giant caldera, according to evidence being presented next week at the American Geophysical Union’s fall meeting. If so, it’s possible the newly revealed volcanic giant once erupted in a blast large enough to dwarf the cataclysmic 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.

© Photograph by NASA

The Islands of the Four Mountains in Alaska actually consists of six volcanoes, several of which are pictured here. The restless Mount Cleveland (center) is among the Aleutian's most active. Studying the volcanic hazards of this chain is of vital importance for the frequent air traffic overhead. “We say it’s a very remote area, and it is, but when you come up to 30,000 feet there’s [tens of thousands of] people that pass by every day,” says geophysicist John Power.

The behemoth in question is marked by a semi-circular cluster of peaks in the Aleutian Islands known as the Islands of the Four Mountains (IFM). Long thought to be independent volcanoes, the six peaks—including Herbert, Carlisle, Cleveland, Tana, Uliaga, and Kagamil—may actually be a series of connected vents along the edge of a much larger volcanic caldera.

Even if the idea is confirmed, though, the results don’t necessarily foretell of future catastrophe.

“This new research result doesn’t change the hazards,” says John Power, a geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey and the Alaska Volcano Observatory who will present the work Monday at the AGU meeting. “We’re not forecasting something dangerous here.” (Learn more about supervolcanoes, and why this term can be misleading.)
Searching for the behemoth

Scientists didn’t set out to seek evidence for the mighty blast when they first sailed to the IFM in 2014, but were instead focused on the region's archaeology. A second group headed out during the next couple of years to look into the volcanoes' tectonic underpinnings.

The researchers examined the local geology and employed a suite of technology to study the region, including seismometers to pick up tiny tremors and chemical analyses to understand the composition of gasses effusing from the ground. As they were working through the data, however, perplexing features kept cropping up that they only recently realized may belong to an enormous and ancient eruption.

The first puzzle piece was the curious half-ring shape of the closely clustered IFM volcanoes. One explanation could be a caldera.

Calderas are formed when a massive reservoir of magma suddenly empties and the overlying ground collapses, creating a vast depression in Earth’s surface anywhere from one to 30 miles across. The formation of a caldera produces a host of fractures through which magma can then seep to the surface, so volcanic clusters are common around their edges or centers.

In this case, the researchers suspected that the IFM volcanoes may represent a series of connected geologic structures around a potential 12-mile-wide caldera, which they think lies hundreds of feet beneath the surface of the frigid Pacific waters.

“This would be a simple problem if it were on land,” says Diana Roman, a volcanologist at Carnegie Institution for Science and one of the principal investigators on the project. “But it’s underwater, so it makes it orders of magnitude more difficult.”

Another piece of the puzzle was the discovery of rocks known as welded ignimbrites. These materials form when a large eruption lays down searing volcanic ash so thick that the grains weld together into solid rock, explains Pete Stelling, who participated in the 2015 research season but is not part of the new analysis.

Prompted by these puzzling data, the team began “scraping the couch cushions,” as Roman says, to find any other information to help explain the phenomena. They collected an array of evidence, including gravity anomalies from satellite data and bathymetric surveys that were conducted in the area shortly after World War II. While not high resolution, the seafloor mapping hinted at several curved ridge structures and a depression more than 400 feet deep that could be part of a caldera.

If their suspicions are confirmed, the team believes that the potential underwater basin may have resulted from a volcanic explosion that was just shy of earning the label “super eruption.”

“Any one piece of these pieces of evidence is questionable,” Power says. “But as we get more and more of them lining up, it does become a stronger argument.”
Big, but not the biggest

The team cautions that many unknowns about the structure remain. For one, they are still unsure about the size of the caldera, and they don’t know whether it was made from one large blast or several smaller eruptions.

Even if it was a single event, it would have been a mid-sized blast compared to others around the world through geologic history, Roman notes. For example, a very rough calculation would place the IFM blast about a tenth the size of the one that rocked Yellowstone some 640,000 years ago, says Adam Kent, a volcanologist at Oregon State University who was not part of the study team. “It would be potentially world-changing,” he says. “But not world-ending.”

Still, the preliminary research does provide some tantalizing clues to help scientists better understand the current and potential future hazards in this region.

“This lays a really nice story for future investigation,” says Jackie Caplan-Auerbach, a volcanologist and seismologist at Western Washington University who wasn’t part of the research team.

Denmark to end oil, gas extraction in North Sea

Greenpeace called it “a landmark decision toward the necessary phase-out of fossil fuels.”

COPENHAGEN — Denmark has decided to end all oil and gas activities in the North Sea by 2050 and has cancelled its latest licensing round, saying the country is "now putting an end to the fossil fuel era.”

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The Danish Parliament voted late Thursday to end offshore gas and oil extraction, which had started in 1972 and made the country the largest producer in the European Union. Non EU-members Norway and Britain are larger producers, with a bigger presence in the North Sea.

Denmark is this year estimated to pump a bit over 100,000 barrels of crude oil and oil equivalents a day, according to the government.

That is relatively little in a global context. The U.K. produces about ten times that amount while the U.S., the world's largest producer, pumped over 19 million barrels of oil a day last year. Environmental activists nevertheless said the move was significant as it shows the way forward in the fight against climate change.

Greenpeace called it “a landmark decision toward the necessary phase-out of fossil fuels.”

“This is a huge victory for the climate movement,” said Helene Hagel of Greenpeace Denmark. Wealthy Denmark has “a moral obligation to end the search for new oil to send a clear signal that the world can and must act to meet the Paris Agreement and mitigate the climate crisis."

The 2015 landmark Paris climate deal asks both rich and poor countries to take action to curb the rise in global temperatures that is melting glaciers, raising sea levels and shifting rainfall patterns. It requires governments to present national plans to reduce emissions to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

Denmark has been an early adopter of wind power, with more than a third of its electricity production deriving from wind turbines. They are considered key in the transformation of the energy system and should enable Denmark to no longer be dependent on fossil fuels in 2050 for electricity production.

The agreement to end oil and gas extraction means that a planned eighth licensing round and any future tenders have been cancelled and makes 2050 the last year in which to extract fossil fuels in the North Sea.

It was backed by both the left-leaning parties as well as the centre-right opposition, suggesting the policy is unlikely to be reversed.

“It is incredibly important that we now have a broad majority behind the agreement, so that there is no longer any doubt about the possibilities and conditions in the North Sea,” said Climate Minister Dan Joergensen, a Social Democrat.

According to official figures, the move would mean an estimated total loss for Denmark of 13 billion kroner ($2.1 billion). The industry has earned the small Scandinavian country over 500 billion ($81.5 billion) since the 1970s.

In October, energy group Total pulled out of the latest tender process leaving only one applicant, Ardent Oil, according to authorities.

In June, the Danish Council on Climate Change - an independent body that advises the government - recommended ending any future exploration in the North Sea, saying a continuation would hurt the country’s ambitions as a front-runner on fighting climate change.

Jan M. Olsen, The Associated Pre

Mexico City hospitals are filling up, but so are the streets

MEXICO CITY — Sometimes Latin American dance tunes on the radio — salsa, cumbia, ranchera — bring a little cheer into the emergency room of Mexico City’s Ajusco Medio hospital, which is operating well over normal capacity because of the coronavirus pandemic.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Dr. Marta Patricia Mancilla, head of the emergency unit, says the upbeat soundtrack is a distraction from the routine at the packed hospital, where some people have kneeled at the doors of the emergency room, praying for relatives suffering from the disease.


It has been eight months since the city-run Ajusco Medio hospital was named as one of the few exclusively COVID-19 hospitals in the city of almost nine million, and empty beds are rare.

“The worst is still to come,” Mancilla said.

“And unfortunately, it is going to catch us very tired,” she said of medical personnel who have been working constantly while themselves vulnerable to the disease. Almost 2,000 health care workers are confirmed to have died of the disease across Mexico.

The toll is psychological and physical, and is as clear as the numbers written on an erasable whiteboard in the office of Dr. Alejandro Avalos, the Ajusco Medio hospital's director: total patients are at 122% capacity, intensive care is at 116%, and the emergency unit at 100%.

“We haven't been below 100% since May,” said Avalos, whose hospital — a government facility that treats patients for free — has been temporarily expanded to meet the waves of coronavirus cases. Citywide, occupancy at hospitals was 69% this week.

Yet as full as the city's hospitals are, its streets are also once again thronged; in some more central parts of the metropolis, almost everyone wears a face mask, but in other poorer, outlying areas, fewer people do.

The situation has officials worried. Millions normally gather each year for the Dec. 12 holiday of Mexico's holy Virgin of Guadalupe day, and huge family gatherings are the norm for Christmas in Mexico.

It drew an urgent appeal from President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Friday, who decreed an expansion of 500 more hospital beds in Mexico City and pleaded with Mexicans to stop crowding the streets and stay home in December.

“In this month, December, there are traffic problems, there are growing numbers of vehicles in the streets,” the president said. “Right now, we cannot act like this.”

López Obrador announced new hiring to help exhausted medical personnel. “There is a lot of tiredness, fatigue,” he said.

At least 13,800 people have died of COVID-19 in Mexico City alone, according to official data. Authorities say the number is probably higher in part because of limited testing, especially in the early months of the pandemic.

Methods have improved since the city's hospitals were overwhelmed in May and June, when patients were treated in hallways and relatives of the dead were not even allowed to enter the hospital to identify the bodies. The case fatality rate has dropped significantly at Avalos' hospital, but along with the improvements there has been an emotional cost.

“Our way of thinking has changed,” Avalos said. “We have learned to weep with people, to suffer with people, to understand people better.”

On Friday, the mayor didn't raise the city back to the maximum alert level as some had expected, and employers had feared because it would have required business shutdowns. But Sheinbaum said some measures that were in place during the previous maximum alert would resume, including urging people to isolate themselves voluntarily, suspending non-essential local government activities and authorizing checkpoints to limit the number of people entering the capital’s colonial-era downtown at one time.

Health care professionals' patience appears to be wearing out. Last week a group of doctors and nurses at the La Raza state hospital, one of the city's largest, signed an open letter threatening to stop treating COVID-19 patients unless the city declared a partial lockdown, as it did in the spring.

“If it was bad in May, now it's worse,” said one doctor who signed the letter, and who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals. “There are fewer doctors," he said, due to infections, or doctors simply taking leaves of absence because they can't face the pressure, fear and overwork.

Just as bad, the anesthesia medications needed to successfully intubate patients and keep them on ventilators are running out. “It's shameful to say that some patients have to get their own PCR tests and find a hospital that will take them, because there are no beds” at the free government hospitals, he noted.

López Obrador has rejected any kind of strict lockdown, saying such measures smacked of “dictatorship.”

There are some victories; at the Ajusco Medio hospital, one of the 36 patients on ventilators has been disconnected from the machine and is recovering. A baby was born, separated from his mother who has COVID-19.

The hospital has set up tents outside to detect and triage arriving patients; some can be sent home with medications, others admitted. That has allowed the hospital to greatly increase the number of people it treats.

But the signs of wear are clear: the hospital's CT scan machine is being repaired, after having performed about 4,500 lung scans in recent months to detect coronavirus damage.

The psychological toll is also clear for patients, even those who survive.

María Eugenia Ortiz, 51, and her husband — they were both infected — came to the hospital for their third checkup since being sent home with medications. She chose to endure the disease at home because she was terrified of the hospital. At her worst moments, she struggled to breathe. Fourteen of her friends and relatives have died of the disease.

“Everything would go black and I would feel like I was floating,” Ortiz recalled. “My chest was empty and cold.”

Now, Ortiz feels more confidence in the doctors.

“Before, the doctors wouldn't help you, there was more fear, we didn't know what to do,” she said.

But attitudes change slowly; medical personnel still question whether city residents are taking the pandemic seriously enough.

“We are getting more and more fed up,” said the doctor at the La Raza hospital who himself was infected. “In Mexico, what is killing people isn't the disease itself so much as the lack of information, the poor handling of the pandemic and people's ignorance. Seeing full shopping centres is discouraging, after working a 24-hour shift.”

Mancilla, the emergency director, said: “There is a feeling of 'why do we keep risking ourselves if people aren't paying attention.' This is getting out of hand, and it is hard to keep going on like this.”

Maria Verza, The Associated Press

US Federal judge reinstates DACA, orders Homeland Security to quickly accept new applicants

A New York federal judge on Friday restored the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — which President Donald Trump has tried to end — in a court ruling that would swiftly grant thousands of immigrants whose parents brought them to the U.S. as young children the ability to continue to work and study in the country.

© Provided by NBC News

U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis said in his six-page ruling that he was fully reinstating the DACA program based on the terms established under former President Barack Obama's administration. Trump tried to end the program in September 2017, and this past July Chad Wolf, the acting secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, suspended DACA pending a “comprehensive” review.

However, Garaufis also ruled in November that Wolf has not been acting lawfully as the chief of Homeland Security and that, as such, his suspension of protections for a class of migrants brought to the United States illegally as children is invalid

The judge reaffirmed that position in his Friday ruling. Although Trump formally nominated Wolf for the job in summer, Wolf has yet to get a full vote in the Senate, keeping his role as "acting."

He also ordered DHS to post a public notice by Monday prominently on its website to accept first-time applications, renewal requests and advance parole requests based on Obama-era rules and to ensure that work permits are valid for two years.

This is the latest blow to the Trump’s administration’s efforts to halt the program. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that the Trump administration wrongly tried to shut down the program. The president’s administration then began rejecting new applicants to the program this summer about a month after the High Court blocked the White House from ending the program completely.

In its ruling, the high court found that his administration was “arbitrary and capricious” in its attempt to end the Obama-era program. Existing applicants also must reapply every year, but remain in the program.

The National Immigration Law Center called the ruling a "major victory" in a tweet on Friday.

"This is a major victory for immigrant youth, led by immigrant youth. We would not be celebrating this day were it not for our courageous plaintiffs that fought to affirm that their #HomeIsHere," the organization said. "This is a day to celebrate, and we look forward to working with the incoming Biden administration to create a permanent solution for immigrant youth and communities."

US House votes to decriminalize marijuana at federal level

WASHINGTON — The Democratic-controlled House on Friday approved a bill to decriminalize and tax marijuana at the federal level, reversing what supporters call a failed policy of criminalizing pot use and taking steps to address racial disparities in enforcement of federal drug laws.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Opponents, mostly Republicans, called the bill a hollow political gesture and mocked Democrats for bringing it up at a time when thousands of Americans are dying from the coronavirus pandemic.

“With all the challenges America has right now, (Republicans) think COVID relief should be on the floor, but instead, the Democrats put cats and cannabis” on the House floor, said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. “They’re picking weed over the workers. They’re picking marijuana over (providing) the much-needed money we need to go forward? to address the pandemic.

McCarthy’s comment about cats referred to a separate bill approved by the House to ban private ownership of big cats such as lions and tigers, a measure boosted by the Netflix series “Tiger King.? That bill, approved by the House on Thursday, would allow most private zoos to keep their tigers and other species but would prohibit most public contact with the animals.

Democrats said they can work on COVID-19 relief and marijuana reform at the same time and noted that the House passed a major pandemic relief bill in May that has languished in the Senate.

Supporters say the pot bill would help end the decades-long “war on drugs” by removing marijuana, or cannabis, from the list of federally controlled substances while allowing states to set their own rules on pot. The bill also would use money from a new excise tax on marijuana to address the needs of groups and communities harmed by the so-called drug war and provide for the expungement of federal marijuana convictions and arrests.

“For far too long, we have treated marijuana as a criminal justice problem instead of as a matter of personal choice and public health,? said Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and a key sponsor of the bill. “Whatever one’s views are on the use of marijuana for recreational or medicinal use, the policy of arrests, prosecution and incarceration at the federal level has proven unwise and unjust.?

Drug reform advocates called the House vote historic, noting it is the first time comprehensive legislation to decriminalize marijuana has passed the full House or Senate.

“The criminalization of marijuana is a cornerstone of the racist war on drugs. Even after a decade of reform victories, one person was arrested nearly every minute last year for simply possessing marijuana,” said Maritza Perez, director of national affairs at the Drug Policy Alliance, an advocacy group. “Today the House took the most powerful step forward to address that shameful legacy.''

The vote comes at a time when most Americans live in states where marijuana is legal in some form, and lawmakers from both parties agreed that national cannabis policy has lagged woefully behind changes at the state level. That divide has created a host of problems — loans and other banking services, for example, are hard to get for many marijuana companies because pot remains illegal at the federal level.

Four states, including New Jersey and Arizona, passed referenda allowing recreational cannabis this year. Voters made Oregon the first state in the nation to decriminalize possession of small amounts of cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.

Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., called the House bill an important racial justice measure. The bill “is a major step, mind you, a major step toward ending the unjust war on drugs and racial inequities that are central to these laws,? said Lee, who is African American.

The bill, which passed 228-164, now goes to the Republican-controlled Senate, where it is unlikely to advance. A related bill that would give pot businesses access to traditional banking services has languished in the Senate after being approved by the House last year.

Five Republicans supported the bill: Reps. Matt Gaetz and Brian Mast of Florida; Tom McClintock of California, Denver Riggleman of Virginia and Don Young of Alaska.

Six Democrats opposed it: Reps. Cheri Bustos and Daniel Lipinski of Illinois; Collin Peterson of Minnesota; Chris Pappas of New Hampshire; Conor Lamb of Pennsylvania; and Henry Cuellar of Texas.

Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise, the No. 2 House Republican, said GOP lawmakers have been pushing for weeks to bring up a bill that allows small businesses to receive another round of Paycheck Protection Program loans. Many small businesses are struggling or have closed as a result of the pandemic.

Instead of allowing a vote on the GOP bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is “actually focused more on legalizing pot,'' Scalise said. ”It’s just unbelievable how tone deaf (Democrats) are to these small businesses and the jobs, the families that are tied to them.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also mocked the bill, saying in a floor speech that “the House of Representatives is spending this week on pressing issues like marijuana. You know, serious and important legislation befitting this national crisis.''

The Big Cat Public Safety Act also is unlikely to move forward in the Senate. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said in a tweet that Democrats were moving to “Prosecute Tiger King” rather than address issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

But Carole Baskin, whose animal rescue organization is featured in the Netflix series, said the legislation would culminate a decades-long effort to end abuse of tiger cubs and other big cats, and protect the public and first responders from injuries and death.

“None of these important goals are partisan in any way, and we hope the Senate will follow suit quickly to make it into law,? said Baskin, CEO and founder of Florida-based Big Cat Rescue.

Matthew Daly, The Associated Press

Five House Republicans bucked party lines and voted in favor of legislation to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level on Friday

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© Washington Examiner/Pool Five Republicans vote for bill to decriminalize marijuana

GOP Reps. Matt Gaetz (Fla.) - the only GOP co-sponsor on the bill - Denver Riggleman (Va.), Don Young (Alaska), Tom McClintock (Calif.) and Brian Mast (Fla.) joined Democrats in supporting the measure, which passed in a 228-164 vote.

The sweeping legislation includes language to remove marijuana from the federal list of controlled substances and would expunge certain marijuana convictions.

Gaetz in a floor speech said that while he doesn't think the bill is perfect, it is a step in the right direction in bringing down unjust incarcerations and potentially advance innovation in the health care industry in the United States.

"The MORE Act is flawed; it uses cannabis policy to do a great deal of social engineering to create new taxes and new programs and redistribution of assets. But I am here as the only Republican co-sponsor of the MORE Act, and I'm voting for it because the federal government has lied to the people of this country about marijuana for a generation," he said.

"We have seen a generation, particularly of black and brown youth, locked up for offenses that should not have resulted in any incarceration whatsoever. I'm also deeply troubled that the current policy the federal government inhibits research into cannabis, research that could unlock cures and help people live better lives. My Republican colleagues today will make a number of arguments against this bill, but those arguments are overwhelmingly losing with the American people," he continued.

Riggleman also noted some differences over language in the bill, but said there are inconsistencies with marijuana policy that needed to be addressed.

"The MORE Act is not perfect, but it does address problems related to federal marijuana policy," he said. "Federal marijuana policy is filled with issues and inconsistencies. I don't know why we can't draft a simple one-page bill that de-schedules marijuana and delegates this authority to the states."

Riggleman said that his brother was incarcerated for a marijuana charge, something that has shaped his stance. He said his family owns and runs a distillery, but that he will "humbly submit that alcohol can be much worse than marijuana."

"I don't think there are a lot of Republicans that have a sibling that's been incarcerated for marijuana. It was actually a felony for him. And he has such a difficult time after that, trying to get away from a felony conviction," he told The Hill.

"And it's just I think we're at a point where we have to be honest about marijuana, decriminalize it, but also allow the states to have control over how they react to and how they control marijuana."

Recreational cannabis is legal in 15 states and Washington, D.C., with 34 states having legalized medical marijuana.

The bill marked the first time either chamber has passed legislation to decriminalize cannabis on the federal level.

CANADA 

Black federal public servants file lawsuit alleging systemic discrimination

OTTAWA — Alain Babineau recalls the discriminatory hurdles he faced trying to join the RCMP in the early 1980s, including a question in his first interview about what he would do if called a word notorious for its overt racism against Black people.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Those racist undertones followed him, though, once he became a Mountie.

His story isn't unique, he said in an interview Friday, pointing to other federal public servants, past and present, who have faced similar barriers in their careers.

This week, he is one of several current and former Black federal workers who are named as plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit filed against the federal government, alleging systemic discrimination in how it has hired and promoted thousands of public servants for nearly half a century.

The lawsuit filed in Federal Court, which has not been certified, alleges that some 30,000 Black civil servants have lost out on "opportunities and benefits afforded to others based on their race" going back to the 1970s.

The statement of claim says the $900 million the lawsuit is seeking in damages would compensate Black public servants for the mental and economic hardships they faced.

The workers are also asking for a plan to finally diversify the federal labour force, and eliminate barriers that even employment equity laws have been unable to remove.

Babineau said some of the positions he was promoted to during his time in the RCMP were set aside for visible minority candidates. Whenever he got a promotion, Babineau said he was labelled as having only moved up because of the colour of his skin.

And when he was given a chance to help bring in diverse recruits, Babineau said he was met with a "dog-and-pony show" that didn't address hurdles that could dissuade young Black Canadians from signing up, like being assigned to largely white communities.

"People that have decision-making authority, they just go about their business, and they (are) just part of it," Babineau said, referring to systemic discrimination.

"It continues on and … they don't even realize what it is."

Many Black public servants over the years have remained relatively silent about their experiences, but that changed over the summer as the Black Lives Matter movement grew internationally, said lawyer Courtney Betty.

The Toronto-based lawyer was on a Zoom session with a group of employees over the summer to talk about the issue without any intention of pursuing legal action.

That changed, he said, after hearing some of their stories.

He pointed to one the plaintiffs, Jennifer Phillips, who works for the Canada Revenue Agency.

The statement of claim says she has worked for the agency for about 30 years, faced demeaning comments and lack of career opportunities, pointing to her being promoted only once over three decades.

"I couldn't say no, and it wasn't an easy decision, to say yes, to take this challenge on," said Betty, himself a former Justice Department lawyer.

"But I just thought that something had to be done, to at least give them some resolution after all these years."

He said the plaintiffs in the case are hoping their legal action ensures others don't have to go through the same pain they did in their careers.

Betty also said the government has provided compensation for other groups of employees that suffered similar financial pain, and taken steps to deal with systemic issues like harassment in the RCMP after lawsuits were launched.

None of the allegations in the statement of claim has been tested in court. The Treasury Board said it cannot comment on the lawsuit at this time.

The secretariat acknowledged in a statement that systemic racism is a "painful lived reality" for Black, racialized and Indigenous people in Canada.

A spokeswoman also pointed to the government's throne speech pledge to diversify the top ranks of the public service, and the $12 million over three years in this week's fall economic statement towards that end.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 4, 2020.

Jordan Press, The Canadian Press