Wednesday, June 24, 2020

US deports ex-paramilitary leader 'Toto' Constant to Haiti

a man in a police car parked in a parking lot© Provided by The Canadian Press

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Former paramilitary leader Emmanuel Constant was deported from the U.S. on Tuesday and arrested as soon as he landed in Haiti, where he faces murder and torture charges stemming from killings committed during the political upheaval of the 1990s that involved the U.S. government.

Constant did not say anything as he was placed into a police vehicle, where one officer held a cellphone up to Constant’s ear so he could talk to an unidentified person before he was taken away for questioning.

Constant was among 24 deported migrants who landed in the capital of Port-au-Prince, the fourth such flight since the COVID-19 pandemic began, said Jean Negot Bonheur Delva, director of Haiti’s migration office.

Some criticized his deportation and worried whether he would be held accountable for any of the charges he faces. Reed Brody, an attorney for Human Rights Watch known as the “dictator hunter,” told The Associated Press in a phone interview that Constant should be prosecuted somewhere.

“The worst solution for Haitians would be to have somebody like ‘Toto’ Constant with so much blood on his hands walking around,” he said. “It would just epitomize the impunity with which people have committed murder in Haiti for so long.”

Human rights groups have accused Constant of killing, raping and torturing Haitians when he became leader of the Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s presidency was toppled in 1991. They allege that between 1991 and 1994, the group that Constant led terrorized and slaughtered at least 3,000 slum dwellers loyal to Aristide.

a man wearing sunglasses taking a selfie in a car© Provided by The Canadian Press

According to the San Francisco-based Center for Justice & Accountability, Constant had pictures of mutilated victims in his office and his group would perform facial scalpings and display them.

“Constant sought to cultivate a nearly supernatural mystique for FRAPH,” the centre said.

When Aristide returned to power in 1994 with help from the U.S. military, Constant fled to the Dominican Republic and then entered the U.S. on Christmas Eve. He was ordered deported in 1995 but was allowed to remain in the U.S. because of instability in Haiti. In 2000, Constant was convicted in absentia in Haiti following a trial for the 1994 massacre in Raboteau, a shantytown in the northern coastal town of Gonaives where Aristide supporters were killed.

Constant kept a low profile while in the U.S. and lived with relatives in Queens, New York, until he was arrested in 2006 and later found guilty of fraud and grand larceny. In October 2008, he was sentenced at least 12 years in prison for his role in a $1.7 million mortgage fraud scheme.

Constant has repeatedly alleged that he was on the CIA’s payroll and that he is a scapegoat and would be killed upon his return to Haiti.

There were no protesters or supporters when he landed in Port-au-Prince or when he was taken to a jail cell shortly afterward. His attorney, Ronaldo Saint-Louis, told reporters that Constant was being held illegally.

“This is a country of injustice. We are going to fight for his right to be released,” he said.

Constant was expected to remain in jail overnight in a cell he was sharing with several other detainees. An Associated Press journalist overheard Constant asking them if they needed anything before he requested certain things from his attorney.

“I've been away for too long. Can you bring me some poisson gros sel?” Constant asked Saint-Louis, referring to a popular dish of coarse salt fish. He also requested deodorant, water and mosquito repellent, among other things.

U.S. legislators including Rep. Maxine Waters of California have said it would be “dangerously irresponsible” to deport Constant without a plan to prosecute him in Haiti and protect victims. Waters noted that Jean-Robert Gabriel, who also was convicted in absentia in the Raboteau trial, became a top official in Haiti’s military in 2018.

Marleine Bastien, executive director of the Miami-based Haitian non-profit Family Action Network Movement, also decried Constant's deportation, saying it will only create more chaos. She said many of his friends remain in power and noted that judges in Haiti are on strike.

“Does the US government want to export more instability to an already vulnerable nation?” she said in a statement. "Given the rising number of COVID-19 cases in Haiti and in the US, deporting Constant now, and without a plan to prosecute him, is disgusting and dangerous.”

Brody, the human rights lawyer who worked in Haiti during the 1990s to prosecute human rights crimes, also said the U.S. was not a bystander when Constant rose to power.

“The U.S. has an obligation to ensure that the story ends better than it started,” he said.ovided by The Canadian Press

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Former paramilitary leader Emmanuel Constant was deported from the U.S. on Tuesday and arrested as soon as he landed in Haiti, where he faces murder and torture charges stemming from killings committed during the political upheaval of the 1990s that involved the U.S. government.

Constant did not say anything as he was placed into a police vehicle, where one officer held a cellphone up to Constant’s ear so he could talk to an unidentified person before he was taken away for questioning.

Constant was among 24 deported migrants who landed in the capital of Port-au-Prince, the fourth such flight since the COVID-19 pandemic began, said Jean Negot Bonheur Delva, director of Haiti’s migration office.

Some criticized his deportation and worried whether he would be held accountable for any of the charges he faces. Reed Brody, an attorney for Human Rights Watch known as the “dictator hunter,” told The Associated Press in a phone interview that Constant should be prosecuted somewhere.

“The worst solution for Haitians would be to have somebody like ‘Toto’ Constant with so much blood on his hands walking around,” he said. “It would just epitomize the impunity with which people have committed murder in Haiti for so long.”

Human rights groups have accused Constant of killing, raping and torturing Haitians when he became leader of the Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti after President Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s presidency was toppled in 1991. They allege that between 1991 and 1994, the group that Constant led terrorized and slaughtered at least 3,000 slum dwellers loyal to Aristide.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

According to the San Francisco-based Center for Justice & Accountability, Constant had pictures of mutilated victims in his office and his group would perform facial scalpings and display them.

“Constant sought to cultivate a nearly supernatural mystique for FRAPH,” the centre said.

When Aristide returned to power in 1994 with help from the U.S. military, Constant fled to the Dominican Republic and then entered the U.S. on Christmas Eve. He was ordered deported in 1995 but was allowed to remain in the U.S. because of instability in Haiti. In 2000, Constant was convicted in absentia in Haiti following a trial for the 1994 massacre in Raboteau, a shantytown in the northern coastal town of Gonaives where Aristide supporters were killed.

Constant kept a low profile while in the U.S. and lived with relatives in Queens, New York, until he was arrested in 2006 and later found guilty of fraud and grand larceny. In October 2008, he was sentenced at least 12 years in prison for his role in a $1.7 million mortgage fraud scheme.

Constant has repeatedly alleged that he was on the CIA’s payroll and that he is a scapegoat and would be killed upon his return to Haiti.

There were no protesters or supporters when he landed in Port-au-Prince or when he was taken to a jail cell shortly afterward. His attorney, Ronaldo Saint-Louis, told reporters that Constant was being held illegally.

“This is a country of injustice. We are going to fight for his right to be released,” he said.

Constant was expected to remain in jail overnight in a cell he was sharing with several other detainees. An Associated Press journalist overheard Constant asking them if they needed anything before he requested certain things from his attorney.

“I've been away for too long. Can you bring me some poisson gros sel?” Constant asked Saint-Louis, referring to a popular dish of coarse salt fish. He also requested deodorant, water and mosquito repellent, among other things.

U.S. legislators including Rep. Maxine Waters of California have said it would be “dangerously irresponsible” to deport Constant without a plan to prosecute him in Haiti and protect victims. Waters noted that Jean-Robert Gabriel, who also was convicted in absentia in the Raboteau trial, became a top official in Haiti’s military in 2018.

Marleine Bastien, executive director of the Miami-based Haitian non-profit Family Action Network Movement, also decried Constant's deportation, saying it will only create more chaos. She said many of his friends remain in power and noted that judges in Haiti are on strike.

“Does the US government want to export more instability to an already vulnerable nation?” she said in a statement. "Given the rising number of COVID-19 cases in Haiti and in the US, deporting Constant now, and without a plan to prosecute him, is disgusting and dangerous.”

Brody, the human rights lawyer who worked in Haiti during the 1990s to prosecute human rights crimes, also said the U.S. was not a bystander when Constant rose to power.
“The U.S. has an obligation to ensure that the story ends better than it started,” he said.

Protesters allegedly attack state senator, topple statues outside Wisconsin Capitol

© Lawrence Andrea/Imagn via USA Today The "Forward" statue that typically sits at the top of State Street outside the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison was torn down by protesters, June, 23, 2020.

Turmoil unfolded outside the Wisconsin State Capitol on Tuesday night as protesters allegedly attacked a state senator, smashed windows and toppled two historic statues.

Demonstrations began in downtown Madison earlier Tuesday following the arrest of a Black protest organizer, who police say walked into a restaurant while speaking through a bullhorn and holding a baseball bat. Devonere Johnson, 28, was taken into custody Tuesday afternoon but allegedly broke free from the back of a squad car. He was tackled to the ground as he attempted to escape, according to the incident report from the Madison Police Department.

Two officers suffered minor injuries during the alleged incident, while Johnson sustained abrasions to his arms and leg. Johnson has been tentatively charged with disorderly conduct while armed, resisting arrest and attempted escape, police said.

That night, protesters chanting for Johnson's release tore down the "Forward" statue and dragged it away from its base at the steps of the Wisconsin State Capitol, according to Madison ABC affiliate WKOW. The bronze allegorical statue, which is more than 100 years old, depicts a female figure standing on the prow of a boat, with her right hand stretched out while her left clasps the American flag.

© Dylan Brogan/Isthmus Newspaper Dylan Brogan posted this image on Twitter on June 24, 2020.

A short time later, the same group pulled down a statue of Col. Hans Christian Heg from the Capitol grounds and threw it into a nearby lake, according to WKOW. Heg was a Norwegian immigrant and abolitionist who served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He led the predominately-Scandinavian 15th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment into battle against the Confederate Army until his death at Chickamauga in 1863.

MORE: Protesters try to topple Andrew Jackson statue near White House

The Madison Police Department confirmed in an incident report that a large group of people had removed both statues from Capitol grounds and caused damaged elsewhere. Windows were smashed at a number of buildings, including the Tommy G. Thompson Center, a state government office named after a Republican politician who served as governor of Wisconsin from 1987 to 2001. Windows were also broken at the City County Building and a Molotov cocktail was thrown inside, police said.

The group also attempted to force entry into the Wisconsin State Capitol. Authorities inside the building deployed pepper spray to stop the individuals from entering, police said.

© Dylan Brogan/Isthmus Newspaper Dylan Brogan posted this image on Twitter on June 24, 2020.

At some point during the night, WKOW's crew reportedly came across state Sen. Tim Carpenter who claimed he had been assaulted by protesters for taking a photo of them. Carpenter, a Democrat, then collapsed and the news crew called 911 for an ambulance. His condition was unknown, according to WKOW.

In response to a WKOW reporter's post on Twitter, Carpenter tweeted Wednesday morning about the alleged incident, saying he was punched and kicked in the head, neck and ribs by several people.

ABC News has reached out to Carpenter for comment as well as Wisconsin State Capitol Police.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers issued a statement Wednesday morning, saying the violence will not be tolerated.

"What happened in Madison last night presented a stark contrast from the peaceful protests we have seen across our state in recent weeks, including significant damage to state property," Evers said. "Any single act of injustice against one person is less justice for all of us, and the people who committed these acts of violence will be held accountable. My thoughts are with Sen. Carpenter who was among the individuals attacked last night and wish him a quick recovery."

Authorities are assessing the damage to state property and have recovered both of the toppled statues, according to Evers.

"We are prepared to activate the Wisconsin National Guard to protect state buildings and infrastructure," he added, "and are continuing to work with local law enforcement to understand their response to last night’s events and their plan to respond to similar events in the future."

© Lawrence Andrea/Imagn via USA Today The "Forward" statue that typically sits at the top of State Street outside the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison was torn down by protesters, June, 23, 2020.

The civil unrest comes on the heels of the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old unarmed and handcuffed Black man who died in Minneapolis on May 25 shortly after a white police officer was filmed kneeling on his neck as three other officers stood by. Demonstrations taking place across the United States and around the world are demanding police reform as well as an end to police brutality and racial injustice.

The protest movement has also called into question the appropriateness of a number of statues and monuments, specifically those depicting historical figures linked to racism, colonialism and slavery.

On Monday night, protesters tried to pull down a 168-year-old bronze equestrian statue of Andrew Jackson in a park near the White House in Washington, D.C. but police intervened. Jackson, a former U.S. Army general who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837, has long been criticized by Native American activists for his role in forcing indigenous tribes off their ancestral lands. Many of them died in the process.

Earlier this month, protesters in Virginia's capital tore down a statue of Jefferson Davis, who served as the president of the Confederate States of America from 1861 to 186

Slavery advocate's statue being removed in South Carolina

© Provided by The Canadian Press

CHARLESTON, S.C. — The historic South Carolina city of Charleston was removing a symbol of its legacy on Wednesday, sending crews to take away a statue honouring John C. Calhoun, an early U.S. vice-president whose zealous defence of slavery led the nation toward civil war.

After a nightlong struggle to dislodge it, city crews were still working after daybreak to lift the statue from a pedestal that towers over a downtown square along Calhoun Street. The city and its mayor voted unanimously Tuesday to remove it, the latest in a wave of actions arising from protests against racism and police brutality against African Americans.

© Provided by The Canadian Press
Crews in bucket trucks soared more than 100 feet (30-meters) to reach the top of the pedestal, where they strapped the statue around its shoulders in preparations for its removal using an even taller piece of equipment.

A few hundred people, most of them in favour of removal, gathered to watch it come down. City officials said the statue will be placed permanently at “an appropriate site where it will be protected and preserved.”

“I believe that we are setting a new chapter, a more equitable chapter, in our city’s history,” said the mayor, John Tecklenburg, sent the resolution calling for its removal to the council. “We are making the right step. It’s just simply the right thing for us to do.”

Council members heard from dozens of residents for and against the statue.

Grace Clark, a Charlestonian who said her family has lived in the city since the late 18th century, asked them "to please not remove our history. Not all history is good but it is our history.”

Clark suggested a notion that city leaders had considered in the past: adding contextual information about Calhoun's history with slavery, rather than taking down the monument. "We are doing what we can to honour the black men and women. We’re Charlestonians. We’re south Carolinians. We’re better than this,” she said.

Councilman Karl L. Brady Jr. said he knew his support for removal could cost him politically, but that he would vote his conscience, showing that in Charleston, “we place white supremacy and white supremacist thought back where it belongs -- on the ash heap of history.”

The move comes days after the fifth anniversary of the slaying of nine Black parishioners in a racist attack at a downtown Charleston church. It also comes as cities around the U.S. debate the removal of monuments to Confederate leaders and others, and as thousands of Americans demonstrate against racial injustice in the wake of George Floyd's death under a Minneapolis police officer's knee.

The statue's ultimate resting place will be decided by a special panel. The mayor has anticipated it would go to a local museum or educational institution.

When Tecklenburg announced his plans a week earlier, dozens of protesters linked arms around the monument, shouting, “Take it down!” Video posted on Twitter also showed signs and spray-painting on the monument. Police said they made several arrests for vandalism.

The Calhoun Monument stood since 1898 in the heart of downtown Charleston, towering over a sprawling square where locals and tourists alike enjoyed festivals. But several event organizers said recently that they would no longer use the space while the statue remained.

About 40% of enslaved Africans brought to North America came through the port city of Charleston, which formally apologized in 2018 for its role in the slave trade. In its resolution, the city says the statue “is seen by many people as something other than a memorial to the accomplishments of a South Carolina native, but rather a symbol glorifying slavery and as such, a painful reminder of the history of slavery in Charleston.”

Calhoun’s support of slavery, which he called a “positive good,” never wavered. He said in speeches on the U.S. Senate floor in the 1830s that slaves in the South were better off than free Blacks in the North. With his pro-slavery “Calhoun Doctrine,” he led the South toward secession before he died in 1850.

South Carolina’s Heritage Act protects historical monuments and names of buildings, but the mayor said the monument is not on public property, nor does it commemorate one of the historical events listed in the act. According to the National Parks Service, the city technically leases the land, which “is to be kept open forever as a parade ground for the Sumter Guards and the Washington Light Infantry.”

Thus far, Tecklenburg’s interpretation has not been legally disputed. A two-thirds General Assembly vote is required to make any changes under the Heritage Act. That's tough in a state where conservatives dominate the House and Senate, but it happened in 2015 when the Confederate flag was removed from Statehouse grounds.

Gov. Henry McMaster described the Heritage Act on Tuesday as a “good state law” and a “deliberate process that is not influenced by passion and time.” The former prosecutor called Tecklenburg's assertion that the law doesn't apply in this instance a “legal question,” adding, “It depends on how you read the Heritage Act, and there are people who read it in different ways.”

Several Black lawmakers are urging local governments and colleges to act unilaterally in defiance of the monument protection law because it carries no stated penalties and hasn’t faced a court challenge, and several are planning to do so.

___

Meg Kinnard can be reached at https://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP.

Meg Kinnard, The Associated Press

Frank Oliver’s role in moving Indigenous people off land spurs calls to change name of Edmonton neighbourhood

Dustin Cook
13 hrs ago

© David Bloom Robyn Paches, Oliver Community League president, left, and Jacquelyn Cardinal, an Oliver resident from the Sucker Creek Cree First Nation, beside the Oliver Park sign at 10326 118 St. in Edmonton on Tuesday, June 23, 2020.

Oliver residents are asking the City of Edmonton to change the name of its most populous neighbourhood because of its namesake’s history of racism.

The Oliver Community League, representing the core neighbourhood west of Downtown, launched a campaign Tuesday morning calling on the city to launch a renaming process led by Indigenous communities to create a new name for the area.

The board of directors voted to oppose the Oliver namesake as part of the league’s “Uncover Oliver” campaign because it doesn’t reflect the diversity and inclusivity of the community, president Robyn Paches told Postmedia.

“It’s been a long time coming. This has been a conversation for numerous years that first came to light in 2017,” he said. “Right now is a time in which society in general is talking about racism and what we can do to combat racism and folks have realized it’s simply not enough to be complacent. Folks are talking about this more than they ever have before.”

Frank Oliver was an Edmonton-based federal member of parliament and minister who was instrumental in the removal of Indigenous people from their land by introducing the Oliver Act.

Oliver resident and Sucker Cree First Nation member Jacquelyn Cardinal said the act was one of several of his actions that discriminated against minorities.

“This had horrible impacts on Indigenous people, but they were not the only people his policies affected,” she said. “The Immigration Act of 1906 was incredibly discriminatory and also put forward legislation that tried to shut down Blacks trying to escape the United States into Canada.”

Oliver, who also has a pool, school and park named after him in the neighbourhood, represented Edmonton politically at the federal level from 1904 to 1917 and fought for the city at the national table. He helped establish the province’s national parks, fought for the city’s economic interests and was an integral advocate for Edmonton being named Alberta’s capital over Calgary.

Downtown Coun. Scott McKeen, who represents and lives in the neighbourhood, said he welcomes the discussion but isn’t sure if removing Oliver’s name is the right solution without informing the public of his discriminatory actions. He suggested the city erect plaques and display panels that provide details of the policies he advocated for that negatively impacted Indigenous communities.

“One of the things I worry about with just pulling the name off, then we even want to forget that there was exploitation, fraud, robbery and theft by the early white establishment against the First Nations people in the area,” he said. “There’s a discussion that the community of Oliver and the broader community needs to have to honour reconciliation and through that come up with an answer that best fits the philosophy of Edmonton in 2020.”

Moving forward, the community league is seeking city support and resources to begin a renaming discussion with the public. In response, the city is currently developing a process to rename a neighbourhood or park because this is the first time it has been discussed, spokeswoman Mary-Ann Thurber said. Municipal resources are formalized by the city’s naming committee, but this doesn’t cover renaming.

“The renaming of any park, community or facility will require the creation of an inclusive and thoughtful engagement process,” Thurber said in a statement to Postmedia. “Any suggestions for renaming neighbourhoods and buildings would be taken to city council for approval.”

The campaign already has the support of Brent Oliver, a relative of Frank Oliver, who took to social media Tuesday to acknowledge the need for change.

I am proud to work and stand along side the OCL in this project to #UncoverOliver. My ancestor’s actions are more than problematic, and I support a change. https://t.co/SCzyModAHM— Brent Oliver (@brentoliver) June 23, 2020

Under a new neighbourhood name, Paches said the community would intend to hold a discussion every 30 years to review the name and ensure it still aligned with the values of future generations.

“We think there should be a renewal process integrated into community naming in the city of Edmonton. Every 30 years, allow communities to engage in the process of discussion and reflection,” he said.

This call to change the Oliver name comes a day after council passed a motion from Coun. Aaron Paquette for the city to put a focus on Indigenous communities when naming city parks, buildings and roads.

duscook@postmedia.com

twitter.com/dustin_cook3

AMERIKA
OPINION: History shows us why the fight for LGBTQ equality is far from over

Queer Americans live in schizophrenic times. Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Civil Rights Act protects LGBTQ employees from discrimination, finally extending federal workplace protections to the more than half of U.S. states that had resisted them. The week before, on the fourth anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting, the Trump administration announced a rule change rolling back healthcare protections for trans and gender-queer Americans by redefining sex as determined by “biology,” or birth gender, effectively allowing religious liberty advocates in medical facilities “of faith” to discriminate against the most vulnerable subgroup of the LGBTQ alliance.

Gay conservative columnist Andrew Sullivan, in the wake of the court decision, asked hypothetically whether now might be a good time for the gay rights movement to declare victory, having assimilated gay and lesbians into a society where they’ve supposedly ceased to be minorities. Religious conservatives would encourage such complacency, as they mean to fracture the LGBTQ alliance and then quash it through religious-based discrimination. United, we stand. Divided, we fall.

They will make trans and gender-queer citizens the test case in private hospitals, locker rooms and bathrooms – opportunistic locations, where exposed bodies can become the objects of ideological interrogation. There, trans and gender-queer students and patients now oddly lack the same protections as the average LGBTQ employee. And it would be naïve for gays and lesbians to think that such interrogations will end with their bodies.

© Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Joseph Fons holds a Pride Flag as he walks back and forth in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building after the court ruled that LGBTQ people can not be disciplined or fired based on their sexual orientation, June 15, 2020 in Washington.

(WATCH: Prejudice & Pride: Revisiting the tragic fire that killed 32 in a New Orleans gay bar)

My concerns are rooted not in suspicion, but in history. Forty-seven years ago today, on the night of June 24, 1973, fire struck a working-class gay bar called the Up Stairs Lounge on the ragged edge of New Orleans’ French Quarter. Intentionally set, it was the deadliest fire on record in city history and the worst mass killing of homosexuals in 20th-century America, claiming 32 lives and injuring 15 others. Yet, few Americans were willing to acknowledge such a catastrophe because a gay victim was then considered to be marginal and criminal. Seven out of 10 of Americans, when polled, considered homosexuality to be “always wrong.”

“They viewed homosexuality… as something heterosexuals did that was bad,” remembered Rev. Troy Perry, the legendary gay activist and minister.

The public response to the tragedy reflected those prejudices. As I wrote in my book Tinderbox, a nonfiction account of the Up Stairs Lounge disaster, the police investigation closed without answers or an outcry, and the chief suspect was never questioned. The body of one victim, a gay religious minister named Rev. Bill Larson, was left hanging out a street-facing window as a public spectacle for four hours. City leaders failed to address or even acknowledge the tragedy and the pain it wrought. Local churches refused to bury the dead, and jokes that circulated after the blaze spoke of “flaming queens” who should be discarded in “fruit jars.” Bodies that went unclaimed were dropped into unmarked graves in a potter’s field and lost.

© New Orleans Times-Picayune via AP A firefighter examines the remains of the UpStairs Lounge on June 24, 1973, after a fire that left 32 dead.The Up Stairs Lounge once stood on the edge of gender, racial and religious mores. It served as a forerunner to modern queer spaces in that it was racially integrated, permitting Black and white gay courtship, as well as a haven for trans patrons, then self-identifying as “cross-dressers” in an era when gender dysphoria was not well understood. Local members of a radical, gay-affirming Christian congregation called the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) found safe harbor at the Up Stairs Lounge, and their flock held Sunday services in the bar’s theater hall for several months. The Up Stairs Lounge even hosted receptions for MCC “holy union” ceremonies, or spiritual conjugations for same-sex couples. Patrons of the Lounge had an anthemic song they liked to sing together around the bar’s white baby grand piano, which summed up their ethos: “United We Stand,” by the Brotherhood of Man.

“It was just a wide variety of people,” recalled Up Stairs Lounge survivor Ricky Everett in an interview for Tinderbox. “We had politicians who come in there. We had doctors, lawyers, everyday hourly-wage blue-collar people.”

Fire survivors like Everett, in their trauma, could not fathom how their society conspired to squash an awakening and push them back into hiding. So profound was the denial and minimization of this event that it took into the next century for the Up Stairs Lounge to be known and memorialized, with the names of the victims spoken aloud. Yet today, burial places of several fire victims are unknown, and more than several Up Stairs Lounge survivors choose not to share their sexualities with employers and healthcare providers. Now in their 70s and 80s, these men and women braved an inferno, survived AIDS and grew old only to fear Medicaid discrimination and conceal their orientations to those who provide their insurance. As queer elders, they view their economic livelihoods as indelibly tied to the healthcare system, and they don't want to take risks. They, like trans folk and many others in the LGBTQ crusade, face a “closet at the end of the rainbow,” and it shows that the advancement of queer Americans has been uneven.

© Courtesy Johnny Townsend Patrons of the UpStairs Lounge are pictured in an undated handout photo.

(MORE: The worst crime against the gay community you've never heard of -- until now)

How can this be? How can cisgender gays and lesbians of the American middle class assimilate while the rest of the LGBTQ alliance sits in a waiting room for equality? How can 34% of LGBTQ elders fear that they will have to hide their identity to access suitable housing and 40% of homeless youth happen to be queer in the same nation that Pete Buttigieg, a gay mayor, runs for president? Because the opposition targets those they perceive as vulnerable to attack. Currently, they see a prime path through bigotry by pitting gender identity against birth gender.

Gender minorities have been the target of opportunity for religious conservatives since same-sex marriage became federally mandated in 2015. As “sexual orientation” evolved into a protected class, religious conservatives doubled down on the precept that God determines sex at conception, and they’ve fought it into elementary schools and doctor’s offices. This goes way beyond who bakes a cake for whom. Trans youth are at higher suicide risk; nearly 25% of trans people do not seek healthcare they need for fear of mistreatment; more than 80% of the victims of fatal anti-trans violence since 2013 have been trans women of color.

“We are the most afraid we’ve ever been, but we’re also stronger than we’ve ever been,” Mariah Moore, program associate for the Transgender Law Center, told The New York Times last year.

© Bettmann Archive/Getty Images A fire at the UpStairs Lounge in New Orleans on June 24, 1973 left dozens of people dead.

Up Stairs Lounge survivor Stewart Butler, who descended the front staircase to the bar with seconds to spare, witnessed disparities such as these in the aftermath of the fire, wherein straights and closeted elites worked to smother a working-class gay consciousness – even if such repression meant denying the dead their dignity. He channeled his grief into becoming a self-described “political animal,” a queer activist who worked more than a decade to secure anti-discrimination protections for homosexuals in New Orleans, which finally passed in 1991.

But Butler did not declare victory for himself. Instead, he recruited a local protégé in trans activist Courtney Sharp, who had been pushed out of her job at an engineering firm because of her trans status. Working together, Sharp and Butler campaigned to extend anti-discrimination protections in New Orleans to transgender residents, and they succeeded in 1998. That same year, in a decade when many in the LGB alliance resisted adding “T” to the acronym, Sharp and Butler pushed PFLAG, a national advocacy group encompassing more than 400 regional chapters, to incorporate transgender issues. Through their efforts, PFLAG became the first national queer rights organization in America to add transgender people to its mission statement.

“It amazed me that Stewart, a cisgender gay man who had no skin in the game, would take up our cause,” recalled Sharp.

© Vince DeSantiago Up Stairs Lounge survivor Stewart Butler became an outspoken activist for LGBT+ rights in the wake of the fire.

(WATCH: Prejudice & Pride: Revisiting the tragic fire that killed 32 in a New Orleans gay bar)

Butler passed away this March at the age of 89. The “political animal” never got to witness a U.S. Supreme Court decision that affirmed employment protections for all LGBTQ Americans.

“I thought of him all day long,” said Sharp. “It’s amazing, after all the resistance to us having common cause in the 1990s, to see trans and gay issues affirmed side by side.”

Sharp is currently counseling the family of a transgender youth who attempted suicide and cannot get access to New Orleans schools. Her work continues. As does the work of others who fight against a return to the place where we queer citizens began: denial and erasure.

Robert W. Fieseler is the author of “Tinderbox: The Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberation.”

Walmart Canada facing backlash over 'All Lives Matter,' 'Blue Lives Matter' apparel

5 hours ago
News
2:22

Walmart Canada says it's investigating to see if items sold on its website breach the company's "terms and conditions" after social media users expressed outrage over "All Lives Matter" and "Blue Lives Matter" products on its site.

Asylum seekers continue to cross Canada-U.S. border despite shutdown

© Provided by The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — New statistics show 21 people were apprehended by the RCMP crossing into Canada from the U.S. in May, despite the shutdown of the border.

That's up from just six who were stopped in April, the first full month the border was closed to nearly everything but essential travel in a bid by the two countries to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada says 1,390 people in total filed for asylum in Canada in May, and 1,570 did so in April.

Since 2017, nearly 57,000 people have crossed the border between Canada and the U.S. using unofficial entry points so they are able to file for asylum.

The vast majority arrived in Quebec, and as they've awaited a decision on their claims, many found work in health care.

With those positions now essential to the fight against COVID-19, the federal and Quebec governments are considering a program that could see asylum-seekers granted permanent residency.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 24,2020.

The Canadian Press

How new American tariffs on Canadian aluminum could backfire

Janyce McGregor, Alexander Panetta · CBC News · Posted: Jun 24, 2020

Canadian aluminum ingots await processing on the shop floor. A potential 10 per cent U.S. tariff on Canadian aluminum could hurt the United States more than Canada. (Stu Mills/CBC)

If the Trump administration buys the argument that Canadian aluminum exports have surged and slaps a 10 per cent tariff back on products imported from Canada, the move could end up hurting Americans instead, warns the head of the association representing Canada's aluminum producers.

"Canada stands to win more in a situation like this," said Jean Simard, the president and chief executive of the Aluminum Association of Canada.

"Production will keep going on, exports will keep going on, and at the end, unfortunately, it's the U.S. economy that will bear the brunt of this increase in tariffs."

The damage, Simard said, will be more on the political side, given how much political capital the Trudeau government spent on persuading the U.S. government to lift steel and aluminum tariffs in May 2019.

Last week, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer fuelled D.C. rumours of a possible return to tariffs by telling the Senate Finance Committee that a recent spike in imports is a "genuine concern."

President Donald Trump and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Oct. 1, 2018. The Trump administration is reportedly considering re-imposing tariffs on Canadian aluminum. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

Followers of Canada's long-running battle with the U.S. softwood lumber industry have seen this drama play out before.

As with softwood, the U.S. needs imported aluminum to meet its domestic demand.

Tariffs or no tariffs, the U.S. consumes up to six million tonnes of aluminum every year. But its struggling domestic industry produces only 800,000 tonnes of that.
These bandits would tax their own military to buy the votes of morons ...- Flavio Volpe, Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association

Now, some players in the U.S. aluminum industry (but not all of them) are leveraging their political influence to gain a price advantage over foreign competition.

Why does this lobbying work? Well, there's an election coming in November. And the Trump administration draws a straight line between protecting jobs and winning votes.
How the 'snap back' works

When the previous round of American steel and aluminum tariffs ended, the joint statement issued by Canada and the U.S. laid out conditions under which tariffs could "snap back," or re-apply.

"In the event that imports of aluminum or steel products surge meaningfully beyond historic volumes of trade over a period of time," the statement said (without defining a "meaningful surge" or what that time comparison should be), "with consideration of market share" (again, this ideal share is undefined) "the importing country may request consultations with the exporting country."

U.S. plans to slap tariffs on aluminum imports from Canada, Bloomberg report says

ANALYSIS Steel yourself, Canada: Tariff deal falls short of 'a full lift'

Canadian aluminum shows its mettle in face of Trump's tariff

A formal consultation process hasn't been publicly requested, agreed to or even disclosed. The Canadian side says regular conversations with the Americans about monitoring aluminum shipments have been underway for several weeks; one such conversation involved Canada's ambassador in Washington last Friday.

"After such consultations, the importing party may impose duties of 25 per cent for steel and 10 per cent for aluminum in respect to the individual product(s) where the surge took place," the 2019 statement continued. "If the importing party takes such action, the exporting country agrees to retaliate only in the affected sector."

In other words, no politically damaging Canadian tariffs on Kentucky bourbon or Florida orange juice next time.

Searching for a surge

All the U.S. lobby needed to reignite this tariff heat was evidence it could spin as a "surge." In the volatile market conditions of this past year, American protectionism saw its opening.

American manufacturers, including its defence and aerospace industry, have relied for decades on Canadian aluminum from factories like this one in Sept-Iles, Que. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press)First came last fall's rail strikes and last winter's protest blockades, disrupting the regular flow of aluminum shipments into fits and starts. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, shutting down North American automotive production.

Smelters can't stop production just because their contracts for value-added alloyed steel products are on hold for a few months. The massive costs and environmental risks aren't worth it.

So earlier this year, Canadian producers pivoted temporarily to primary aluminum ingots — a basic commodity that can be stored in a warehouse until the market picks up, at which point it can be melted into something specific.

This "P1020" aluminum is the focus of the data now being spun around Washington. It's a commodity that directly competes with output from older and less-efficient American facilities.

'False' and 'unfounded'

Canada rejects the idea of voluntarily restricting production to satisfy American demands. (It's also not really proper for publicly-traded corporations to do.)

This unwillingness to go along with voluntary export quotas is what sparked the latest tariff threats: higher prices discourage imports by another means.

Simard said the total volume of aluminum coming out of Canada hasn't changed significantly — only the type of product has changed, for reasons that are entirely short-term and related to the pandemic.

Allegations of a threatening surge are "totally false" and "unfounded," he said.

"It's purely market dynamics," he said, adding that the same substitutions happened during the last financial crisis in 2008-09.

"Everybody is doing this. It's the only way to keep plants operating and keep the link with the market," he said. "The problem is caused directly and certainly by COVID. It's a matter of months for the situation to correct itself."

An 'extortion syndicate'

A decision by the Trump administration to reapply the tariff would be curiously timed.

In the new North American trade agreement that takes effect July 1, the Trump administration specifically negotiated requirements for the automotive industry to use more North American steel and aluminum, in an effort to shut out offshore suppliers and repatriate jobs.

Canadian aluminum is geographically convenient and produced in cost-efficient mills, so in theory, the new NAFTA should be a growth opportunity.

But depending on whether a new tariff is applied specifically to P1020 aluminum or across the board — hitting value-added automotive inputs as well — the Trump administration could be taxing automotive suppliers by an extra ten per cent, just as they're struggling to recover.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met workers at the Alouette aluminum plant last May, championing his government's agreement with the Trump administration to lift steel and aluminum tariffs. The U.S. is now threatening to slap tariffs back on. (Jacques Boissinot/Canadian Press)"Canada would be foolish to accept quotas of any sort," said Jerry Dias, the president of Unifor, the union that represents Canadian auto workers.

"The long-term negative ramifications for Canada would be huge. But it would be equally so for the United States. All it does is gouge the American consumer."

Flavio Volpe, president of Canada's Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association, said this apparent hustle to slap tariffs back on before the USMCA takes effect (as early as Friday, according to a report earlier this week from Bloomberg News) is further evidence that "an unprincipled extortion syndicate is in charge of U.S. trade policy."

"The biggest gangsters wear the cleanest suits," he said. "Has anyone seen this kind of behaviour by trading partners in the history of the post-industrial world?"

"These bandits would tax their own military to buy the votes of morons in an election year," Volpe said, referring to the wide use of Canadian aluminum in U.S. defence procurement.
'No harm ... no threat'

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland's office emailed a statement to CBC News Tuesday saying the government "will always defend Canada's aluminum sector and its workers."

It characterized the state of play as "ongoing conversations with our American partners."

(CBC News)

Shortly after, Treasury Board President Jean-Yves Duclos told reporters that Canada is keeping its commitment to monitor its aluminum trade and prevent other countries from dumping cheap products into the North American market.

"The use and production of aluminum in Canada is no harm and no threat to our American friends and neighbours," he said. "The free flow of aluminum across our border is a mutual benefit to both countries and workers in both countries.

"It makes our businesses more competitive, in particular in the automobile industry. It also reduces cost to consumers."

ANALYSIS Trump or no Trump, Canada's relationship with the U.S. isn't going back to 'normal' soon

ANALYSIS Is the global trading system unravelling before our eyes? Here is where things stand

ANALYSISNew NAFTA beats no NAFTA, gov't says, but no big economic boost coming for Canada

But what happens if the Americans don't see it that way?

Should Canada limit its retaliation to what was agreed to in the 2019 statement — and target only U.S. aluminum? Or would all bets be off if the U.S. no longer appeared to be operating in good faith?

During a webinar session hosted by the American Council for Capital Formation, Canada's ambassador in Washington, Kirsten Hillman, wouldn't be drawn into a discussion of what form of retaliation Canada might pursue this time if the U.S. re-imposes tariffs.

"Like all aspects of our economy there can be challenges, right now in particular," she said. "But we firmly believe that Canadian aluminum exports to the U.S. aren't hurting the U.S. market in any way."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Janyce McGregor

Parliamentary Bureau

Janyce McGregor has covered Canadian politics for CBC News since 2001. Send news tips to: Janyce.McGregor@cbc.ca
Follow Janyce on Twitter

CBC News has heard from many people confused by correspondence from the government advising them that they will not be eligible for the full $2,000 in June.

"Because you previously received an advance payment of $2,000 of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, you won't receive a payment for the period of June 15, 2020 to June 28, 2020. This is to cover the equivalent of the first two weeks of this advance. We will communicate any further changes to your future CERB payments in the coming weeks," reads an email from Service Canada received by a CERB claimant.

What's behind the smaller payment?

A spokesperson for Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough said that some people received larger up-front payments than others when the aid program was launched. Those who were eligible for employment insurance (EI) received two payments when the CERB program began — they have now hit the maximum $8,000 for the initial four-month period.

As CERB was being rolled out, Qualtrough said the double deposits were not a mistake and that adjustments would be made through the course of the program.

Governments shouldn't 'scare' Canadians, Liberal MP says as Ottawa threatens penalties for CERB fraud

Canadians have made 190,000 repayments on CERB claims, says CRA

Other people had applied twice, through the EI and CERB streams, and ended up receiving extra payments.

"Don't worry, it's fine. We're on it. We're sorting it out," Qualtrough said at the time, assuring Canadians that the payments would be "reconciled" over time.

She did stress that payments would not exceed the maximum allowable amount and suggested that recipients "budget accordingly." The government has since announced the CERB program will be extended for two more months, which would make an individual eligible for a maximum of $12,000.

Conservative employment critic MP Dan Albas blames government communications blunders for the anxiety some Canadians are now experiencing.

"The Liberals' announcement on April 8 has resulted in considerable confusion, as many Canadians are now finding themselves in an unexpected financial situation," he said. "Government communications to Canadians who are receiving the CERB needed to be clear and concise. Unfortunately, it has been the opposite."

Recipients through the EI stream are paid $1,000 every two weeks, while recipients through the CERB stream receive one $2,000 payment monthly, said Qualtrough's office.

What happens next?

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged on Monday that some people who received the money earlier are now struggling financially.

"This is a situation that is difficult for many families and we're looking at that closely," he said.

For those still out of work due to COVID-19, the extension of CERB will allow them to claim another $4,000 over the next two months.

NDP MP and employment critic Daniel Blaikie said the federal government should warn people well in advance before cutting the payments. The eight-week extension provides an opportunity to let people know when their benefit will end without it stopping abruptly, he said.

"Instead of putting Canadians at ease, the government has been systematically unclear. They're unclear about when payments will end, what penalties there will be and what constitutes a reasonable offer of work," he said.

"What people need is clarity. What they have is a government more concerned about covering their political backside than being straight with Canadians."

Many Canadians who were paid too much in error already have made repayments. As of early June, CRA reported that Canadians had made almost 190,000 repayments of CERB benefits they weren't entitled to receive.

Are there penalties for abuse?

CRA said the agency acted quickly to deliver emergency aid programs to Canadians in need and designed CERB as an attestation-based system, similar to the tax-filing process.

The CRA can verify the claimant's information at the time of filing or at a later date. When a claimant is found to be ineligible, they are contacted to make arrangements to repay an amount.

Trudeau and some federal ministers have said the government will not go after those who made honest mistakes when filing for emergency benefits, but they've vowed to crack down on those caught deliberately defrauding the system.

The government had proposed legislation that would have imposed stiff penalties for CERB fraud, including fines and jail time. After a backlash that saw the government accused of trying to scare people even more during a global pandemic, the bill failed to pass a Commons vote earlier this month.

CERB vs. wage subsidy?

The government has been encouraging employers to take up the wage subsidy program, which covers up to 75 per cent of the employee's salary up to a maximum of $847 a week.

That program was designed to maintain the connection between employer and employees, to allow businesses and economies to restart quickly and smoothly as pandemic restrictions ease up. Businesses must show a 30 per cent decline in revenues due to COVID-19 to qualify for the wage subsidy.

The Conservatives say the government should move to a phased formula for programs to maintain an incentive to return to work — by gradually clawing back CERB payments when someone has higher earnings and allowing businesses to claim a partial wage subsidy when they don't have the full 30 per cent revenue drop.

"As businesses start having shifts to fill, Canadians should not be penalized for returning to work. But that's exactly how the Liberals' programs are structured. Earning more than $1,000 a month results in a worker losing their entire benefit," Albas said.

"That is why Conservatives have called on the government to make the CERB more flexible so that no one is worse off going back to work or picking up a shift."

Black woman accuses Peel police of racism after officer shoots her on Mother's Day

© CBC Chantelle Krupka, 34, a mother of a 10-year-old boy, speaks to reporters outside her Mississauga home about being shot on Mother's Day.

A Black woman in Mississauga says Peel police used excessive force against her when one officer Tasered her in the back and then another officer shot her in the abdomen on Mother's Day.
Chantelle Krupka, 34, a mother of a 10-year-old boy, told reporters on Mississauga on Tuesday that police were responding to a domestic call made by her ex-partner.

Krupka was injured by the officers on the front porch of her home. A single bullet fractured her right hip.

"I asked the officer who shot me why she shot me. It actually in a way calmed me down because the Tasing hurt much more. The shock from the shot really kind of pushed me back and calmed me. It took a minute to register what had happened," an emotional Krupka said at a news conference.
"And I looked her in the eye and I maintained contact. And I asked her repeatedly why she shot me. I said, 'I just wanted to see my son. I didn't deserve this. Why did you do this to me?' She didn't answer."

Krupka's account comes in the wake of a number of recent cases in the U.S. and Canada where racialized people have been killed or injured in interactions with police — the most notable being the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, a death that touched off street protests around the world.

© Evan Mitsui/CBC Anti-racism demonstrators march in Toronto on June 6, 2020, more than a week after George Floyd, an unarmed black man, died in police custody in Minneapolis. Chantelle Krupka's account comes in the wake of a number of recent cases in the U.S. and Canada where racialized people have been killed or injured during interactions with police.
Krupka said she was no threat to police when the shooting happened on May 10 at about 10:30 p.m.

Ontario's police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), has been called in. Krupka took cellphone video of the confrontation, and it is now in the possession of the SIU, which also seized the firearm used by the officer.

Krupka said police also used excessive force against her current partner, Michael Headley, who was Tasered three times as well in front of the home.

In a release on Tuesday, the SIU said it is "nearing completion" of its investigation into the case.

The SIU said the firearm was submitted to the Centre of Forensic Sciences for analysis and information from the conducted energy weapon used on Krupka has been downloaded. It is still waiting for "some recently requested materials" from Peel police.

© CBC Chantelle Krupka, middle, answers questions while her partner, Michael Headley, left, and her lawyer, Davin Charney, right, listen.
Krupka and Headley have also filed a complaint with the Office of the Independent Police Review Director.

They allege that Peel police used excessive force against both of them, unlawfully arrested Headley, and committed "discreditable conduct" because "this is a case of racism."

They allege the officers escalated the situation and that there is systemic racism within Peel police.

"My ex knows that he can weaponize police against me because I am Black. He knows when he calls police they believe him because he is not Black and that they will mistreat me because I am Black. I would not have been shot and Tasered if I was a white woman," Krupka says in the complaint.

"Michael would not have been Tasered if he was a white man. Any fear police felt was exaggerated in their minds because of negative and improper stereotypes and poor training. How could I possibly have been seen as a threat when on the ground after being tasered in the back?"

© Jeremy Cohn/CBC According to Krupka, police were called to the home after she and her ex-partner, with whom she shares custody of their 10-year-old boy, exchanged text messages earlier in the day. She expressed a desire to talk to her son on Mother's Day and there was nothing threatening in the text messages.

According to Krupka, police were called to the home after she and her ex-partner, with whom she shares custody, exchanged text messages earlier in the day. She expressed a desire to talk to her son on Mother's Day and there was nothing threatening in the text messages.

She said when police arrived, a male officer called her, and she became afraid.

She said police shone a spotlight on her house, and she called emergency dispatch and was told to go outside. When she and Headley went outside, she said the male officer accused her of making a fist, and Tasered Headley.

Krupka said she tried to run away. The officer then Tasered her, she fell to the ground, rolled over onto her back and a female officer shot her.

Krupka was taken to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries and underwent surgery. Police searched the home and told her two weeks later that she was being charged.

"The night of the incident, police seized property from my home, including cash, a cell phone, and cannabis — each of which are legal," the complaint reads.

"I believe that the charges against Michael and myself were laid in an attempt to paint us as criminals and create an after-the-fact justification for the excessive use of force against us," it continues.
Use of force 'outrageously abusive,' complaint says

"Even if there were any merit to the charges, which we absolutely deny, the use of force was excessive and outrageously abusive. We did not deserve to be tasered. I did not deserve to be shot."

Davin Charney, her lawyer, said police came to the home to give relationship advice and there is no need for armed officers to do so.

Const. Akhil Mooken, spokesperson for Peel Regional Police, said on Tuesday the force is unable to comment on the incident because the SIU is investigating.

Mooken, however, confirmed that a female was struck and injured on May 10 by a "police-discharged firearm."

He said Krupka has been charged with laundering proceeds of crime committed within Canada, a charge under the Criminal Code, and possession for the purpose of distributing over 50 grams of marijuana, a charge under the Cannabis Act.

© Jeremy Cohn/CBC In a release on Tuesday, the SIU said it is 'nearing completion' of its investigation into the case.

The SIU has not yet responded to an email requesting further comment.

In the release, the SIU said four investigators and two forensic investigators have been assigned to the case. Investigators have canvassed the area in an attempt to obtain evidence and locate witnesses. Krupka, four witnesses, six officers and the officer who is the subject of the investigation have all been interviewed.

The SIU is an arm's length agency that investigates reports involving police where there has been death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment