Single-use face masks get new life thanks to Regina engineer

Sun, February 19, 2023 

Denise Stilling, a mechanical engineer at the University of Regina, turns used face masks into materials for anything from countertops to pavement blocks. (Sam Samson/CBC - image credit)

A University of Regina professor who's spent decades researching how to recycle waste is turning her attention to single-use face masks.

It's her way of tackling a seemingly insurmountable, global problem brought on by plastic personal protection equipment.

"I grew up on a farm, so we're used to taking bail or twine and barbed wire to fix things," said Denise Stilling. "Re-purposing and re-using is part of my DNA as a Saskatchewan farm girl."

Stilling, a mechanical engineering associate professor, has experimented for years with melting down waste products like old tires and grain bags into new materials like pavement blocks.

When face masks were mandated in certain public places to slow the spread of COVID-19, she found her next challenge.

"Once the pandemic hit, and you saw all these masks littering the sidewalks and coming in our waterway, that's when I went — let's do masks."

Hundreds of billions of masks in the trash

A 2020 study suggested 129 billion masks were used around the world every month at that time.

Many of the single-use masks are made with polypropylene plastic, which is a material that doesn't break down for hundreds of years. Though personal protective equipment is a tool to help slow the spread of COVID, researchers and environmentalists have flagged the damages the plastic causes since the start of the pandemic.

Stilling hopes that can change.

"What a great opportunity if we look at our landfills that are filled," she said.

"If we don't have to worry about the contamination, we can use sand and dirt as an additive, we've got a raw source that doesn't cost us hardly anything."

Face masks: a baking ingredient?

In a basement lab at the University of Regina, there are more than a dozen garbage bags and Tupperware containers full of used masks. Stilling gathered them from receptacles on campus.

She waits a significant amount of time before using them so that the virus can die off, and she can safely handle the material.

First, she removes the ear loops and metal nose piece. Then, she manually cuts the masks into strips. Those strips go into a shredder, which pumps out a fluffy material.

Sam Samson/CBC

Then, Stilling mixes the fluff with other waste products such as old tires and sand. She also adds olive oil to bind them.

That mixture goes into a compression mould, which bakes in a convection oven at 200 C for two-and-a-half hours.

The resulting material comes out in a tile shape. Stilling then tests that material for stretchiness and strength.

"If it's something brittle," she said, holding up a thin tile, "then as you can see, this would make a great clip board. I can make this into rulers."

Stilling is working on different recipes. The material can be made into anything from countertops to pavement blocks, depending on what she uses, she said.

Small bit to help the future

Stilling doesn't do the work alone. She's recruited graduate students since the fall of 2021 to run tests and experiment with combinations.

Some students say this work is important since their generation will be forced to deal with plastic pollution.

Sam Samson/CBC

"Right now, there's more awareness among people regarding pollution," said Anaamalaai Annamalai Senthilnathan, a 24-year-old graduate student helping with the experiments.

"Most places are banning single-use plastic and finding alternatives. That's one solution, but what are we going to do with the plastic that exists right now? We have to recycle it."

Stilling said she's doing her part to help the environment by coming up with the prototypes and the materials. She hopes others like entrepreneurs or governments can take on the next step: doing something with it.

Newfoundland and Labrador

Mi'kmaw chiefs look for mediator help to solve wind energy conflict

Sun, February 19, 2023

The proposed Project Nujio'qonik on the Port au Port Peninsula has caused conflicts with some Indigenous nations, five Mi'kmaw chiefs in southwestern Newfoundland say. 

Kyle Bakx/CBC

Five Mi'kmaw chiefs in southwestern Newfoundland are seeking Indigenous mediation to try and resolve conflicts that have arisen from the wind energy proposal for the Port au Port Peninsula.

The five bands in southwestern Newfoundland, acting together as the Newfoundland Association of Rural Mi'kmaq Nations, or NARMN, also hope mediation might rebuild relationships within the communities that they say were damaged over the wind turbine project.

Peggy White is chief of the Three Rivers Mi'kmaq Band located in the Bay Saint George South area, about 70 kilometres south of Stephenville.

White says she hopes that everyone involved will benefit from mediation.

"We're hoping that bringing in a third party can help the company, ourselves, the people that live within our territory — everyone, to come together and find resolution," said White.

"There has to be a way for this to be able to work. We need significant economic infrastructure that we haven't had for the last 70 years."

In a joint statement released Thursday, chiefs of the Three Rivers Mi'kmaq Band, the Benoit First Nation, the Flat Bay Indian Band, the St. George's Indian Band and the Burgeo First Nation express their concern over the divide within their communities that has arisen over Project Nujio'qonik, proposed by company World Energy GH2.

The statement also says that the five chiefs were contacted by World Energy GH2 in spring 2022, and that, given potential positive impacts for their communities, the chiefs have been supportive of the project ever since.

Opinions on the project within the nations vary, said White, with some wanting infrastructure in the area to grow opportunities for younger generations. The average age in the area, she said, is about 60.

"We need to change that. And if we don't, people understand that our communities will cease to exist. And when an Indigenous community ceases to exist, that's extinction of a culture on the land that they've been on for generation after generation," said White.

"Some people understand what we're facing, and some people don't. Some people just, they have an idea of what the project is and they're having difficulty understanding what that's going to look like going forward."

Colleen Connors/CBC

Mediation, White said, can help find some balance between the two sides, and combat misinformation by helping people understand all aspects of the project.

"A real process that takes us from people feeling that they don't have information, that we're being taken advantage of somehow," said White.

"There's a third party that can say, 'Well, no, no, we've met every step of the process'. So, there's transparency. So, just everybody can come together and understand that we haven't missed anything."

Jasen Benwah is chief of the Benoit First Nation located in the southwest of the Port au Port Peninsula.

He agrees that mediation is necessary.

"We need to get back into the communities and feel that connection and feel that information-sharing," said Benwah. "I think that's crucial to our own, I guess, truth and reconciliation when it comes to where we stand as people."

Benwah, who has been criticized for his support of the project, said looking back, a mediator should have been brought in from the very beginning. Yet he doesn't change his stance on the matter.

Patrick Butler/Radio-Canada

"It's important to step forward for our area as long as we strike the balance that we need and that we do it right for all the things for our next seven generations," he said.

Both Benwah and White believe impartial Indigenous experts from outside are needed as mediators on this issue. They hope the mediation process will start in early March.

"We need to make sure that ... the people in our territories are secure that we have met every requirement possible," said White. "If hitting all of those processes makes people feel safer than that's what we're obligated to do."

'World Unity' convoy gathers outside Winnipeg, proclaims new message of peace

Sat, February 18, 2023

A convoy has formed in Dugald, Man., one year after convoy protesters choked downtown Ottawa and blocked border crossings. (CBC - image credit)

A convoy has set up space south of Dugald this weekend, about 20 km east of Winnipeg, where hundreds from across the country are expected to come together at what is being dubbed "Camp Hope."

Many within the Manitoba convoy say they were previously part of the so-called freedom convoy in early 2022, which choked downtown Ottawa and blocked border crossings in protest of COVID-19 mandates.

The Manitoba convoy was set up just a day after the Emergencies Act inquiry's final report was tabled in the House of Commons, which found the federal government met the threshold to use it last year. Organizers say their event is different from the Ottawa blockade, which ended a year ago.

"Camp Hope is not here to tear the government down. We are not here to block roads," Camp Hope owner Walter Hiebert told CBC on Saturday.

"Camp Hope has nothing to do with the convoy... That was pushing the mandates; this is what we bring. People back together and bringing groups back together and bringing peace."

Hiebert, who said he was pepper-sprayed twice during the blockade in Ottawa, owns the 50 acre property. He said the event was to "bring hope" to those who are suffering, as many families, including his own, have been impacted by suicide.

"God put it on my heart to build Camp Hope...there are so many lost souls right now," he said.

In an email to CBC, Manitoba RCMP said they are aware of the Dugald convoy and are working in collaboration with Winnipeg police to ensure safety and to prepare for a possible increased number of vehicles on nearby highways.

The group has been in "constant communication" with law enforcement, who visit the camp a few times a day, said Hiebert.

"We want to protect the police. The police want to protect us. We want to work together with them and try to restore Canada."

Peace, love, unity: Organizer

James Bauder, co-founder of the group Canada Unity and a co-organizer of last year's protest in Ottawa, previously announced a "Freedom Convoy 2.0" in January, which was intended to take place in Winnipeg.

Bauder later said in a Facebook post that he was cancelling the event due to unspecified security reasons. The event was meant to draw attendees from across the country to the heart of the continent, which Hiebert said is a goal of Camp Hope's.

"We are here to bring people back together, to peace, love and unity," he told CBC Saturday.

CBC

Hundreds are expected to be in attendance and a steady stream of people, including families with children, were seen entering the camp premises while CBC was there. Speeches, musical events and workshops were planned for the day.

Rules are in place at the camp to prevent people from using drugs and alcohol, Hiebert said, and there have been no incidents thus far.

"We want to do this in peace," he said. "The whole world is watching."

Province considered Emergencies Act 'overreach'

On Friday, commissioner of the Emergencies Act inquiry Paul Rouleau said "a failure in policing and federalism" created conditions that met the very high threshold needed to invoke the Emergencies Act last winter.

He called out police and the Ontario government for missteps in their responses, saying moments of urgency require leaders of governments at all levels "to rise above politics and collaborate for the common good."

"Unfortunately, in January and February of 2022, this did not always happen," he wrote.

It was the first time the law had been triggered since it was created in 1988.

Manitoba Minister of Justice Kelvin Goertzen said the province considered use of the act to be "overreach," at a Friday press conference.

"Our position to the federal government remains that, in Manitoba, we did not need the powers of the Emergencies Act," he said.

CBC

A protest site in downtown Winnipeg initially formed in early 2022 in response to the federal government's imposition of a vaccination mandate for truckers crossing into the United States, but drew in a wide array of groups disaffected by COVID-19 health restrictions.

The protest was eventually disassembled, as well as a blockade in Emerson, about 110 km south of Winnipeg on the Canada/U.S. border, which Goertzen credited to the work of Manitoba RCMP and Winnipeg police.

Protests are part of a democratic society, but Goertzen said the province would not accept any more blockades.

"People have the right to protest, but that right doesn't extend to disrupting the lives of others."

In response to the Emergencies Act inquiry's final report, Hiebert said only that he was "praying for government."

Coalition forms, opposes convoy

A new coalition made up of nearly two dozen community and church groups, unions and organizations was established in Winnipeg earlier this week and expressed concern over the Dugald convoy, but said no counter-protests are planned for this weekend.

Community Solidarity Manitoba was launched at an event held Thursday at Broadway Disciples United Church to address social and racial inequities, as well as gaps in healthcare for Manitobans.

They urged the province and city of Winnipeg to ensure the health and safety of all Manitobans and prevent the Dugald convoyers from spreading symbols and epithets of hate, as they said happened during last year's protests in Winnipeg.

"Freedom of assembly does not extend to targeted harassment," said coalition spokesperson Diwa Marcelino.

At the end of the event, a man not connected to the coalition brandished a picture of a swastika and urged onlookers to "do some really good journalism" on the meaning of the symbol beyond Nazi Germany. He declined to give his name and was asked to leave by the church minister.

Hiebert asserted the message of the weekend convoy is one of peace and love. He said that only the Canadian and Camp Hope flags are allowed to be flown and people were abiding by the rules.

"We are here to welcome each and every one. If they don't follow the rules of Camp Hope they'll be asked to leave the premises."

CBC

Camp Hope is expected to wrap up by Tuesday. Hiebert said their intent is to bring people together rather than fight the government.

"We can stand together. We don't need to fight," he said.

"We are trying to save our nation."

Chinese consulate-general says report could damage China's relationship with Canada

Sat, February 18, 2023 



VANCOUVER — The Chinese consulate-general in Vancouver has called a newspaper report that cited Canadian intelligence documents and described alleged efforts to oust candidates seen as unfriendly to Beijing, "smearing and discrediting" to China.

The consulate general says in a news release it is dissatisfied and is in "firm opposition" to the report.

It says China has never interfered in any Canadian election or internal affairs in any way, and the reporting could damage the country's relationship with Canada.

The Globe and Mail report, released Friday, says Canadian Security Intelligence Service documents describe then-Chinese consul-general in Vancouver Tong Xiaoling boasting about a strategy that led to the defeat of two Conservative MPs in 2021.

Conservatives Kenny Chiu, who had represented Steveston-Richmond East, and then-Richmond Centre MP Alice Wong both both lost their seats in 2021 after suffering large drops in vote share.

Richmond has a large population of Chinese immigrants.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 18, 2023.

The Canadian Press

Bird flu costs pile up as outbreak enters second year

Sat, February 18, 2023 


OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The ongoing bird flu outbreak has cost the government roughly $661 million and added to consumers' pain at the grocery store after more than 58 million birds were slaughtered to limit the spread of the virus.

In addition to the cost of the government response and rising prices for eggs, chicken and turkey, farmers who raise those animals have easily lost more than $1 billion, said an agricultural economist, though no one has calculated the total cost to the industry yet.

The bad news is that with the outbreak entering its second year and the spring migratory season looming, there is no end in sight. And there is little farmers can do beyond the steps they have already taken to try to keep the virus out.

Unlike past years, the virus that causes highly pathogenic avian influenza found a way to survive through the heat of last summer, leading to a rise in cases reported in the fall.

The outbreak is already more widespread than the last major bird flu outbreak in 2015, but it hasn't proven as costly yet partly because the government and industry applied lessons learned eight years ago.

“The past year has been devastating for the turkey industry as we experience, unequivocally, the worst HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza) outbreak in the industry’s history,” National Turkey Federation spokeswoman Shelby Newman said.

In the current outbreak, 58.4 million birds have been slaughtered on more than 300 commercial farms in 47 states. That is because any time the virus is detected, the entire flock on that farm — which can number in the millions — must be killed to limit the spread of the disease. Only Hawaii, Louisiana and West Virginia have yet to report a case of bird flu. Iowa — the nation's biggest egg producer — leads the nation with nearly 16 million birds slaughtered.

In 2015, about 50 million chickens and turkeys were slaughtered on more than 200 farms in 15 states.

That previous outbreak remains the most expensive animal health disaster in U.S. history. The federal government spent nearly $1 billion to deal with infected birds, clean up barns and compensate farmers. It cost the industry roughly $3 billion as farmers incurred additional costs and lost money when they didn’t have any birds on their farms.

This bills continue to pile up this year as cases spread, and that includes the cost to consumers.

Egg prices shot up to $4.82 a dozen in January from $1.93 a year earlier, according to the latest government figures. That spike prompted calls for a price-gouging investigation although the industry maintains that the combination of bird flu and significantly higher feed, fuel and labor costs is what’s driving prices so high.

The price for a pound of chicken breast was $4.32 in January. That’s down slightly from last fall when the price peaked at $4.75, but it is up significantly from the year before when chicken breasts were selling for $3.73 per pound.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics doesn’t track retail turkey prices the same way as part of its inflation data, but the Agriculture Department says the wholesale price of turkey went from $1.29 per pound last January just before the bird flu outbreak began to $1.72 per pound last month.

The number of birds slaughtered peaked last spring at almost 21 million in March, leaving farmers leery of what they must face in the months ahead. University of Georgia virus researcher David Stallknecht said there is some hope that this spring might not be quite as bad because turkeys and chickens may have developed some immunity to the virus.

The key problem with bird flu is that the highly contagious virus is spread easily by wild birds through their droppings and nasal discharges. Despite the best efforts of farmers, it is hard to keep the virus out.

Farmers have gone to great lengths by requiring workers to shower and change clothes before entering barns, sanitizing trucks that enter a farm and investing in separate sets of tools for every barn. Some farms have even upgraded barn ventilation and installed laser systems to discourage wild birds from congregating.

“We recommend all producers redouble their efforts to protect their birds through good biosecurity practices,” said Lyndsay Cole, a spokeswoman for the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service that's leading the government's response.

Farmers began following those steps after the 2015 outbreak, and this outbreak has only reinforced the need to tighten biosecurity.

“America’s egg farmers continue to double-down on biosecurity protocols to protect our flocks and maintain a stable egg supply. We are grateful that there has been little to no farm-to-farm spread in this current outbreak,” said Oscar Garrison, senior vice president of food safety and regulatory affairs at the United Egg Producers trade group.

Poultry and egg producers, partnering with the government, are parsing this outbreak for new lessons in keeping birds healthy.

“That’s really the key – early detection. It’s kind of like a forest fire - the earlier you detect it, the easier it is to contain and eradicate,” National Chicken Council spokesman Tom Super said.

Officials say bird flu doesn’t represent a significant threat to human health. Human cases are extremely rare and none of the infected birds are allowed into the nation’s food supply. And properly cooking poultry to 165 degrees Fahrenheit will kill any viruses.

There has only been one human case of bird flu confirmed during this outbreak and that was a man who had been helping slaughter and remove infected birds from a Colorado farm. He recovered from the illness after a few days.

Josh Funk, The Associated Press

NO NEED FOR DEBATE

Time in Canada to debate whether notwithstanding clause should exist, says Liberal MP

GET RID OF IT AND THE SENATE

Sat, February 18, 2023 



OTTAWA — A Liberal MP from Montreal says it is time for the country to debate whether the notwithstanding clause should be on the books.

Sameer Zuberi's comments come after a week where the Bloc Québécois forced parties in the House of Commons to vote on whether they felt provinces had the legitimate right to use the constitutional power however they wanted, including pre-emptively.

Both the Liberals and federal New Democrats voted down the motion to defeat it, while the Conservatives supported the Bloc's call.

The notwithstanding clause is a provision in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms that allows provincial and federal governments to pass laws that circumvent parts of the Charter for a period of up to five years.

While it's not new, debate around its use has heated up in recent years as provinces such as Ontario and Quebec have invoked it pre-emptively, effectively preventing anyone from launching a legal challenge in court.

Quebec Premier François Legault's government used it pre-emptively to usher in his government's secularism law, known as Bill 21, which prohibits public servants in positions of authority from wearing religious symbols on the job.

"When you have the usage of the notwithstanding clause being enacted in such a way that it eliminates rights from people, then it calls into question the very clause itself," Zuberi said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has criticized the pre-emptive use of the provision and during a 2021 interview told The Canadian Press he shares the disdain his father, former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, had for its place in the Charter. It was a demand from provinces the elder Trudeau acquiesced to during the 1982 constitutional negotiations.

But that is as far as the current prime minister has gone in his criticisms. Zuberi stopped short of directly calling for the Liberal government to reopen the Charter, saying only "there should be a debate within society, and also within governments on this issue."

Asked about the possible implications of revisiting contentious constitutional negotiations, particularly when Canada is facing issues such as high inflation, Zuberi said "just because this subject is complicated, doesn't mean that we should shy away from approaching it."

Zuberi currently sits as a backbench member of the government, first elected in 2019 in the reliably Liberal riding of Pierrefonds—Dollard in Montreal.

As the only Muslim MP in Quebec, Zuberi said he knows his comments around Bill 21, which he opposes, are perceived differently.

And although he believes Quebecers' view of the law is changing, he believes it is important to tell those affected that they could be in for a long battle.

Earlier in the week, he told a Senate committee studying the issue of Islamophobia that he sees the five-year sunset rule on the clause's application as a chance for the law to be revisited, expressing hope it could fall in the next 10 to 15 years.

"We need to be realistic and not pretend things aren't as they are," he said, saying if the law does not fall through the courts, the only other recourse is at the ballot box.

The Quebec Court of Appeal is expected to release a ruling on the constitutionality of Legault's use of the notwithstanding clause to enact the law, challenged by several civil liberties groups and the National Council of Canadian Muslims. A 2021 ruling by Superior Court Justice Marc-André Blanchard said while the law had "cruel" and "dehumanizing" consequences, it was mostly legal.

Trudeau has committed to intervene in the case if it arrives at the Supreme Court of Canada.

National Council of Canadian Muslims CEO Stephen Brown said Friday he believes the court challenge will be successful, but said it is "absolutely necessary" to convene lawmakers, activists and other members of civil society to examine the clause itself.

Zuberi said his message when he speaks to those affected by the legislation is to stay engaged.

"We obviously hope that legislation will fall through the courts in the short term, but it's possible that this might not happen" he said.

"People have to understand that and be prepared for that midterm struggle. And I think it's a disservice for those who are directly impacted to not understand that."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 18, 2023.

Stephanie Taylor, The Canadian Press

Manitoba's high child poverty rate has First Nations leaders deeply concerned

Sat, February 18, 2023 

A study released earlier this week shows that Manitoba is the province with the highest rates of child poverty in Canada, and First Nations leaders in this province say they are concerned because they know a high number of those children living in poverty in this province are First Nations children.

On Tuesday, the Poverty, Pandemic and the Province report was released which shows troubling levels of child poverty in Manitoba.

According to the report, Manitoba’s child poverty rate sits at 20.68%, the highest childhood poverty rate of any province, and 7.21% higher than the national average. Only the Territory of Nunavut has a higher rate of child poverty at 28.09%.

The study also shows troubling numbers related to First Nations children and youth, as currently in Manitoba 41.6% of First Nations children live in poverty, a higher rate than any other demographic group, according to the report.

Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) Grand Chief Cathy Merrick said those numbers “reflect the enduring consequences of colonialism, marginalization, and discrimination,” and said she is now asking the province to do more to include First Nations leaders and representation in discussions and policy decisions surrounding child poverty.

“This is the cost of exclusion, and the continued refusal to engage with First Nations leadership on policy and legislative development that has historically led to devastating impacts on our families,” Merrick said.

“It is extremely disappointing.”

The report also found that children and youth living in poverty are at a higher risk for negative health outcomes including pre-term birth, child mortality, and suicide, and are also more likely to experience poor educational outcomes.

“We continue to endure overrepresentation amongst poverty statistics, despite the recognition of the systemic nature of these circumstances and institutional oppression which creates these poor outcomes,” Merrick said.

“The government in this province does little to take accountability nor do they make adequate efforts to challenge the normalization of our suffering and the constant stereotypes our citizens are subjected to as a result of this discriminatory treatment.

“It is time to target policies in a manner that reconciles the ongoing discrimination that keeps our families in poverty.”

In a statement to the Winnipeg Sun, a provincial spokesperson said the province wants to work with Indigenous people and organizations to slow those poverty rates among Indigenous children and youth, but also said that poverty reduction in this province is a “shared responsibility.”

“The Manitoba government values conversations with Indigenous rights holders and community partners on how to best support Indigenous children, youth and families,” the spokesperson said.

“Poverty reduction is a shared responsibility. Manitoba is committed to working collaboratively with all levels of government, community partners and other stakeholders in both private and public sectors to ensure that children and families in our province will have a brighter future.”

The spokesperson also claimed the province recognizes the increased risk of poverty among First Nations families is “directly linked to factors including intergenerational trauma, colonialism, and structural racism,” and said the province has been putting programs and policies in place to try and lower child poverty in Manitoba, and among First Nations children and youth.

“The province has implemented various measures to help Manitobans who are struggling with the high cost of living. These include increasing the minimum wage and rent assist rates, and issuing affordability payments,” the spokesperson said.

“As well, the Manitoba government has already established partnerships with Indigenous organizations to provide culturally-appropriate supports to help Indigenous individuals and families stabilize and thrive. Some examples include the original and expansion sites of Granny’s House, Clan Mothers Healing Village, the Community Helpers Initiative, and N’Dinawemak.”

— Dave Baxter is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of the Winnipeg Sun. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.

Climate equity working group 'disappointed' after Vancouver city council rejects climate justice charter

Sat, February 18, 2023 

Vancouver City Hall is pictured. On Wednesday, Vancouver City Council rejected a charter intended to help guide city staff around efforts to address climate- and equity-related issues. (Jacy Schindel/CBC - image credit)

For more than two years, Navdeep Chhina and 15 other members of the City of Vancouver's Climate Equity Working Group worked to create a Climate Justice Charter to help guide city staff around efforts to address climate- and equity-related issues.

On Wednesday, city council rejected that charter.

"This does not feel rewarding," said Chhina. "The charter said, let's do things in an equitable way so that people who are facing the biggest burden are not the ones who are paying the biggest price as well."

The working group was created in 2020 to help inform how the city's Climate Emergency Action Plan (CEAP) "could best consider equity either in the way policies are developed or implemented," the charter describes.

The group was expanded a year later with the "dual purpose of advising staff on the implementation" of the CEAP and co-developing the Climate Justice Charter.

The charter documents some of the lived experiences of Indigenous, Black, and people of colour, and people living with disabilities, and provides recommendations around advancing equity and racial justice within sustainability work.

Rather than setting strict guidelines, Chhina says it was created to help city staff build on current policies and develop new ones, and makes clear that climate policy cannot succeed without addressing social injustices.

Ryan Walter Wagner

Earlier this week, a motion was brought forward to implement the charter, but it was rejected by the majority-ABC-Vancouver council.

"I think the work that was prepared for us is something that we could use as one of many tools," said ABC Vancouver Coun. Mike Klassen. "But the fact is that we can't tell staff how to do their job."

Klassen said the city already has a chief equity officer and an existing equity framework strategy focused on building a more climate-resilient city.

Ginger Gosnell-Myers, a consultant on the charter and a decolonization and urban Indigenous planning fellow at Simon Fraser University, says it is not the responsibility of one person in council to ensure climate equity work is being done, but that of all staff to help residents adapt to a changing climate, including mitigating the impacts of extreme weather events.

"People are really disappointed in this decision that was made," said Gosnell-Myers, who is a member of the Nisga'a and Kwakwak'awakw Nations.

"Council is motioning to us what they think is important and what they're telling us is equity and reconciliation and climate change isn't important. We don't need to track it. We don't need to be accountable for it."

The move was also met with disappointment from councillors Christine Boyle, Adriane Carr and Pete Fry, who voted to implement the charter.

Climate equity still a top priority: councillor

Klassen says creating an equitable climate emergency action plan is still a top priority.

"We've kind of run out of time in doing symbolic gestures. We have to reach actual achievable targets," he said.

He cites work by city staff reviewing the use of renewable fuel sources and creating a framework for carbon offsets, which the city doesn't currently have.

He added the motion put forward to council by the working group seemed "prescriptive."

"The motion said that staff will do this, when in fact we know that things are continuously evolving," he said.

"We need to take tools like these, perspectives like these, and incorporate it just as we do in our work around equity."

'It feels like we're going backwards'

Earlier this week, the park board voted for the removal of the temporary bike lane to restore Stanley Park Drive to two lanes of vehicle traffic.

The board also proposed a dedicated bike lane for 2024 but that would mean cutting down trees in the park, Chhina said.

Council also voted to end the 25-cent fee for disposable drinking cups.

"Our elected officials are not being visionary, are not being leaders," he said.

Gosnell-Myers says measures like these indicate "environmental ignorance."

"This council's priorities is all about business," she said.

"It feels like we're going backwards and putting our heads in the sand at the same time."

Northern spotted owl found injured near B.C. train tracks two months after release


Sat, February 18, 2023 



VANCOUVER — One of just four endangered spotted owls known to be in the wild in British Columbia is now recovering from an injury after being found along some train tracks, slowing the careful plans to revive the species, a breeding facility co-ordinatorsaid.

The injured bird had been released last August along with two others in forests near the Spuzzum First Nation, about 200 kilometres northeast of Vancouver, said Jasmine McCulligh, the facility co-ordinator for the Northern Spotted Owl Breeding Program.

They believe the owl — named Sitist, which means night in the Spuzzum language — may have collided with a passing train, McCulligh said.

A railway worker noticed the injured bird in October and brought it to the Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society in Delta for treatment.

"He was diagnosed with a wing fracture and a scratched eye," McCulligh said in an interview. "That owl has since returned to the breeding centre and his potential for release will be re-evaluated as we get closer to the spring and summer."

She said the other two owls, also males, are "doing really well."

The three males were released in the same area as a lone female that experts know is in the woods.

Northern spotted owls are a federally endangered species, with habitat loss and competition from the barred owl reducing their wild population.

The injury to Sitist leaves justthree confirmed spotted owls in the wild in B.C.

Protection of spotted owls has fuelled decades-long disputes between environmental groups and the forest industry as their future is often tied to saving old-growth forests where the birds live.

"The spotted owl is an old-growth dependent species, so a single pair of owls requires 30 square kilometres of old-growth forest," McCulligh said.

When the birds were released last year, the Ministry of Land, Water and Resource Stewardship said it was "a historic milestone," crediting a partnership between the breeding program and the Spuzzum First Nation.

"The transition from a small group of spotted owls in a distinctly designed breeding facility to a healthy wild population is a long-term process, with an unknown success rate. However, the release of these three birds is a significant step toward an eventual self-sustaining population," the province said in a statement last year.

The province said it would monitor the released owls, including an assessment of the owls' ability to breed in the wild, using radio telemetry, GPS tags, visual checks and acoustic recording to track their movements and health.

McCulligh said the breeding program, which is the only one in the world for the species, determines if an owl is fit for release based on a number of factors including genetics and breeding potential, gender, ability to hunt live prey and overall health.

She said for the injured male to be re-released, the program must first determine if his wing healed properly and if he still has "silent flight," which determines whether his prey will hear him coming.

McCulligh said the ministry is consulting with First Nations, but there is no official timeline for when or if the owl will be returned to the wild.

"We have no concerns of his health here, but we still have to do a thorough evaluation of if he's actually releasable again."

She said the breeding program, which started is 2007, is a "long-term project."

"It could be 50 years until we see a sustainable number in the wild," McCulligh said. "We would say about 200-250 individuals would be enough to kind of become self-sustaining, but that's generations (of owls) from now, possibly."

She said the centre aims to produce 10-20 offspring per year, but it hasn't yet reached that goal, attributing this to challenges like sex ratio and not having enough breeding-age females.

"That's something we have to be careful with monitoring the owls, to make sure that we're pairing them up for the best chance for success," McCulligh said.

She said other challenges, like what happens to the owls once they are released, remains a concern, referencing the injured owl.

"We can put them in one spot, but who knows where they're going to end up. There are train tracks everywhere and we can't control that they don't go on roads or railroad tracks."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 17, 2023.

Brieanna Charlebois, The Canadian Press

Rare cyclone with track the size of Canada just won't quit making news

Very rare, long lived tropical storm may break records in the coming days

Tyler Hamilton and Rachel Modestino
Sat, February 18, 2023 

Rare cyclone with track the size of Canada just won't quit making news

The extremely rare and long-lived Cyclone Freddy continues to churn in the Indian Ocean.

Its powerhouse strength and expansive track covers Canada's entire width, potentially up to 8,000 kilometres long. The storm may also break cyclone energy records in the coming days.

SEE ALSO: Tropical cyclones decreased last century as global warming sped up

Tropical Storm Freddy was just shy of 2023’s first Category 5 storm on Friday and is expected to sustain Category 3 status through Monday. It won't be until Freddy travels farther west that it moves into a less favourable environment, with strength anticipated to diminish to Category 1, before making landfall late Tuesday.



The Eye of Freddie was passed by the International Space Station

Life-threatening surf and surge are forecast, along with rainfall amounts over 300 mm. Madagascar, a country with a population of more than 30 million, is susceptible to many hazards and has one of the highest cyclone risks in Africa. Wind damage, flooding complications from rapid changes in topography and storm surge threats are all elevated with Cyclone Freddy.

Freddy aims to break cyclone energy readings before making devastating landfall Tuesday.
How much energy is released by an average hurricane?

Hurricanes extract energy from warm ocean temperatures and release it through condensation and thunderstorm activity around the eye. The kinetic energy of the wind energy, although less, is still immense. The average wind energy generated by a hurricane is 1.5 trillion watts per day -- enough power generation to cover half the world’s electrical energy production.

FreddeyTracj

Cyclone Freddy developed on Feb. 5, so over the past two weeks it has generated a high accumulated cyclone energy (ACE) score.

By Tuesday, the cyclone will have emitted more energy than the current Southern Hemisphere record-holder, Fantala, which had a 17-day lifespan in the Indian Ocean.

Cyclone Freddy also developed Longitude-90 degrees east, and with its impacts to the Madagascar forecast, it is a highly unusual feat.

Thumbnail courtesy of Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC/SATOPS).