A living nightmare’: Alberta’s former CMOH says current COVID-19 situation was ‘preventable’


by caracampbell
POSTED OCT 3, 2021

Medical devices are seen at Ochsner Medical Center in the New Orleans suburb of Jefferson, La., on Tuesday, Aug.11, 2021. (AP Photo/Stacey Plaisance)

CALGARY (CityNews) ─ Two Alberta doctors are calling the province’s COVID-19 strategy “cold blooded,” and an experiment on the people of Alberta.

Dr. James Talbot, Alberta’s former chief medical officer of health, and Dr. Noel Gibney penned an open letter to the province, saying Albertans have a right to know what the next few months of modelling data looks like.

“You think you’ve fallen asleep, and you’re having this nightmare, and you try to wake up from it, and you can’t,” said Talbot. “It’s like a living nightmare.”

Alberta is dealing with a COVID-19 crisis that has seen well over 1,000 new cases a day for weeks while filling intensive care wards to almost twice normal capacity.

The province’s health delivery agency has had to scramble and reassign staff to handle the surge of intensive care patients far above the normal capacity of 173 beds.

Talbot describes what it’s like watching the COVID-19 situation unfold in Alberta as a medical professional.

“You know, I have friends, family, people I care about who are on the front lines,” he said. “I get a steady stream from them that people don’t seem to understand, and the government doesn’t seem to understand how unbearable this situation is for them.”

In recent days, doctors have called for a swift lockdown or a “firebreak” to immediately reverse the tide of COVID-19 patients.

That would mean a mass shutdown of schools, non-essential businesses and mass gatherings.

Intensive care physicians, emergency ward doctors, the executive of the Alberta Medical Association and the Canadian Medical Association have issued such pleas in recent days.

Talbot says based on the decisions made by the Jason Kenney government, the strategy seems to be to let COVID-19 run its course.

“We think that they should come clean with that and let us know,” said Talbot. “Are they prepared to let this number of people die for two more weeks, two more months, for four more months?”

Other researchers support the open letter, saying it’s important that the models are available for scientific scrutiny and to check for accuracy.

That’s something that didn’t happen before this summer.

“Alberta made mistakes,” said Gosia Gasperowicz, a developmental biologist at the University of Calgary. “The chief medical officer of health (Dr. Deena Hinshaw) and the government had absolutely wrong assumptions. Had they been put under scrutiny, the mistake could have been caught early in the summer. And other scientists could say, ‘hey, you’re assumptions are wrong, let’s not go this way.’”

Added Talbot: “Knowing that it’s all preventable, just makes it more horrible.”

In a statement to CityNews, Alberta Health said: “Recently, the Premier cited Alberta Health Service’s ‘early warning system’, an internal capacity-planning tool. This is not modelling data. It shows a wide range of potential scenarios at a given time, updated constantly based on the latest trends. The worst case informs contingency planning but, as the Premier said, government is working to ensure that does not happen.”

—With files from The Canadian Press

'Cold-blooded' handling of the pandemic, say prominent Alberta doctors in letter taking aim at UCP government

Author of the article: Hamdi Issawi, Anna Junker
Publishing date: Oct 01, 2021

Dr. James Talbot, co-chair of the Edmonton Zone Medical Staff Association strategic COVID committee. Postmedia, file


On Friday, an open letter from prominent Alberta doctors requested the province share its predictive modelling for the fourth wave of a pandemic that’s crippling Alberta’s health-care system, criticizing the government’s “cold-blooded” handling of the pandemic.

Co-written by Dr. James Talbot, Alberta’s former chief medical officer of health, and Dr. Noel Gibney, a former critical care department head for the province’s health authority in Edmonton, the letter questioned the modelling that led the provincial government to previously decline assistance from Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey, which they say is “badly needed and welcome.” Alberta changed its mind Thursday, saying a small team from Newfoundland and Labrador would be heading west to help out in Fort McMurray.

“Like most Albertans, we would like to know how long the fourth wave is going to last, how many more Albertans are projected to die and when we can expect elective surgeries to begin and ICUs to return to normal,” the letter read.

According to predictive modelling from University of Victoria professor Dean Karlen, the letter notes, Alberta’s fourth wave will peak near mid-October, but ICU admissions will continue to increase through to the end of the month.

By failing to share its own predictive modelling, the doctors argue, the government denied Albertans the opportunity to make good decisions and protect themselves.

In sharp contrast to Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s promise of a “best summer ever,” the letter notes that the deadly fourth wave meant the “last summer ever” for 350 Albertans and more who continue to die from the disease.

The doctors recommend seven medium-term and short-term actions to bring down the province’s case count, including patient transfers to ICU facilities in Ontario, the use of vaccine passports and employment mandates to increase immunizations, renewed contact tracing efforts and measures to prevent indoor transmission.



Even with Alberta’s enhanced ICU capacity, doctors say that the province doesn’t have enough trained professionals to care for critically ill patients, which makes a “fire break” crucial to reducing transmission.

Alberta reported 1,630 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday after 15,857 tests were completed over the last 24 hours for a positivity rate of about 10.3 per cent.

Across the province, there are currently 20,215 active cases of COVID-19, a decrease of 40 from Thursday.

There are 1,066 Albertans hospitalized with the virus, a decrease of 17. Of those, 263 are in intensive care units, which remains unchanged from Thursday.

Fourteen more deaths from COVID-19 raised the provincial death toll to 2,731.

Of Albertans aged 12 and older who are eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccine, 83.8 per cent have received one dose, while 74.5 per cent are fully vaccinated.

About 63 per cent of Alberta’s total population is fully immunized against the virus.

Meanwhile, the third and final winner of Alberta’s $1 million vaccine lottery was announced Friday.

Hayley Hauck, of Sherwood Park, was awarded the prize after her name was drawn from more than 1.9 million entries that were received between June 10 and Sept. 23.

A total of 623 Albertans have received lottery prizes for getting immunized against COVID-19.

Military aid for Alberta to arrive Monday; doctors say provincial ‘fire break’ is more impactful step
Morgan Black 

© THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes A member of the Canadian Armed Forces is shown at Residence Villa Val des Arbres a long-term care home in Laval, Que., Sunday, April 19, 2020, as COVID-19 cases rise in Canada and around the world.

Critical care nurses are set to arrive in Alberta on Monday -- reinforcements sent by the Canadian military in an effort to help the province's drowning medical system.

"The Canadian Armed Forces is preparing to provide up to eight critical care nurses to assist in intensive care units in hospitals in Alberta," read a statement from Bill Blair, the minister of public safety and emergency preparedness.

Read more: COVID-19: Edmonton doctor recounts calling woman to share her mom’s dying moments

Just days after saying assistance offered to Alberta by the federal government and Newfoundland and Labrador was not immediately necessary, Premier Jason Kenney announced his province has now agreed to accept help as the health-care system is under “enormous pressure” because of the fourth wave of COVID-19.

Kenney said eight to 10 staff from the Canadian Armed Forces will be coming, likely to CFB Edmonton, along with up to 20 trained staff from the Canadian Red Cross, who will likely be deployed to the hard-hit Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre.

He said his government is in the process of finalizing plans to bring in a medical team from Newfoundland, likely to be deployed to Fort McMurray’s hospital. Alberta Health Services confirmed to Global News the process will likely happen this week.

Read more: COVID-19: Kenney says Alberta to accept help from feds, N.L. as health system under ‘enormous pressure’

“These contributions may help us to staff four or five additional ICU beds,” the premier said, noting that every little bit helps.

"Alberta Health Services is grateful for the assistance of the Canadian Armed Forces and the Canadian Red Cross in providing additional medical personnel to help alleviate the increased pressure on our health system as a result of COVID-19," read a Sunday statement from AHS.

"Specific details of where these medical personnel will be deployed is still being finalized, but it is expected the Canadian Armed Forces will be stationed in Edmonton."

Blair's statement said the initial team will be "in position" by Monday and will seek to confirm where and how the nursing officers will be integrated into the Alberta health-care system.

Read more: Alberta Premier Jason Kenney refused COVID-19 help from N.L. premier

The release said the Canadian Red Cross is planning to provide up to 20 medical professionals with "some intensive care unit experience" to augment or relieve existing staff working in Alberta hospitals.

Dr. Darren Markland, an intensive care physician, said this move does not address the problem of hospitals being overrun and surgeries being an "afterthought."


"This is not a solution. It's appreciated, but we really need to focus our political will on things that will make a difference," he said.

Markland cited the need for a "fire break" -- something major medical groups have been calling for at the provincial level for weeks.

That measure would include the reintroduction of more sweeping restrictions for Albertans.

"If we don't do this soon... what is in my job description for next week is to be involved in looking at making choices for triage," Markland said. "We aren't there yet, but eventually, we are going to pay a price."
'It's not enough'

Danielle Larivee with the United Nurses of Alberta said though she can't give enough thanks to those coming to assist on the front lines, the reality is that there would need to be hundreds of nurses sent to the front lines to make a difference.

"It's very welcome, but it's not enough. We need to stop the flood of ill people into the hospitals," Larivee said. "Our health-care system is actively collapsing."

Read more: COVID-19: Alberta ICU nurse dies as pressure on health-care system continues to mount

A request for federal assistance is initiated when an emergency event overwhelms or threatens to overwhelm the resources of a province or territory and federal government help is needed to support the region.

"The Government Operations Centre is working closely with federal and provincial partners to co-ordinate the federal response to the situation in Alberta," read a release from the federal government.

"Short term, this is appreciated. In the long term, we don't see an end to this with the way it is now. We need to stop community spread," Larivee said.

– With files from Phil Heidenreich

The healthcare industry was already understaffed before vaccine mandates hit. 

Now hundreds of hospital beds across the US are lying empty because there isn't enough staff to treat patients.

gdean@insider.com (Grace Dean) 

Healthcare staff say they're feeling burned out and emotionally exhausted after working during the pandemic. 

Mario Tama/Getty Images

Hospitals are limiting how many patients they admit because of the labor shortage.

At one hospital in Massachusetts, nearly a quarter of beds are empty due to understaffing.

Its CEO warned that the hospital's vaccine mandate could cause more staff to quit too.

Hospitals across the US are having to limit the number of patients they admit because there aren't enough staff to treat them.


At the TaraVista Behavioral Health Center in central Massachusetts, nearly a quarter of its 116 beds are empty, CEO Michael Krupa told Bloomberg.

He said that across the state, there were hundreds of empty beds, and "the reason is exclusively staff."

Krupa said that the hospital had struggled to find nurses and lower-paid aides in the past, but that this hadn't limited its intake of patients before.

Healthcare staff say they're feeling burned out and emotionally exhausted after working during the pandemic, often in a poor working environment - and some have been leaving the profession.

Just over 20 million people across the US worked in the healthcare and social assistance industry in August, per preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). This is around 746,000 fewer workers than in February 2020.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed an executive order Monday declaring a "disaster emergency" due to "severe understaffing" in hospitals and healthcare facilities across the state. She warned that this could affect people's ability to get adequate medical treatment.

The shortage of staff comes as some hospitals and healthcare facilities are mandating COVID-19 vaccines for their staff. Some states, like New York, are mandating the shot for healthcare staff, too.

The vast majority of healthcare staff are either already vaccinated or plan to get the shot, but some healthcare providers have lost workers over the policy.

Houston Methodist Hospital said in June that it had lost 153 workers who either quit or were fired over its vaccine mandate. Novant Health, which has 15 hospitals and more than 350 physician practices across North Carolina, said this week that it had fired around 175 members of staff who refused to get vaccinated.

Some execs say they're reluctant to introduce mandates precisely because of this.

Kevin Smith, president of Massachusetts-based healthcare agency Best of Care, told CNN in August that he wanted to mandate the jab for his team, but that the policy "puts you at risk of alienating the staff, if not losing them to a competitor."

"No one can afford to do that," he added.

TaraVista's vaccine mandate comes into effect on November 1, and Krupa warned that it could exacerbate the hospital's understaffing.

"I am hopeful we will not lose many staff," he told Bloomberg. "But I know we will lose some."

Connecticut has mandated the vaccine for state staff, and its governor warned that he could even call in the National Guard to replace workers who don't comply to prevent staffing shortages.

Hospitals are boosting pay in an effort to attract more workers. One hospital in South Dakota is offering a $40,000 bonus for intensive-care and operating-room nurses. Krupa told Bloomberg that TaraVista and its sister hospital were investing an extra $1 million a year in pay, improved benefits, and bonuses for 310 staffers.Expanded Coverage Module: what-is-the-labor-shortage-and-how-long-will-it-last
Read the original article on Business Insider

Senegal's old capital on the frontline against rising sea

Issued on: 04/10/2021 -

The Senegalese city of Saint-Louis is building a wall along the coast to try to keep the sea at bay

 JOHN WESSELS AFP

Saint-Louis (Senegal) (AFP)

In the northern Senegalese city of Saint-Louis, excavators are ripping up the beach to lay giant blocks of basalt, in an eleventh-hour effort to keep the sea at bay.

When work is finished, a black sea wall will stretch for kilometres along the coastline of the West African country's former capital, famed for its colonial-era architecture.

Dire warnings about the risk of rising sea levels due to climate change are already a grim reality in Saint-Louis, where seafront residents are abandoning their homes to the encroaching Atlantic Ocean.

But the sea wall is a stopgap. And some are sceptical that the historic city of 237,000 people can be saved at all.

Saint-Louis has "already been wiped off the map," said Boubou Aldiouma Sy, a geography professor at the city's Gaston Berger University.

Its unique position -- near the mouth of the Senegal River, with both the swollen waterway and the ocean on its shorelines -- means that its long term existence has always been in doubt, he said.

Saint-Louis lies near the mouth of the Senegal River, with both the swollen waterway and the Atlantic Ocean on its shores 

JOHN WESSELS AFP

"The role of man is to accelerate the process," Sy added.

Founded by the French on an island in the mid-17th century, Saint-Louis became a hub for European traders, playing an important economic and cultural role in the region.

It served as the capital of the French colony of Senegal until the capital moved to Dakar shortly before Senegal’s independence in 1960.

From the original island, the city spread on both sides, onto a long, thin sandy strip of land known as the Langue de Barbarie to the west and eastwards onto the mainland.

Its colourful, historic balconied houses and double-storied villas have helped make the island a UNESCO world heritage site and the city hosts a renowned annual jazz festival.

But Saint-Louis stands only a few metres above sea level.

Saint-Louis was the capital of the French colony of Senegal and its colonial-era architecture helped make the island a UNESCO world heritage site 

SEYLLOU DIALLO AFP/File

Long a problem, floods have become more severe in neighbourhoods such as Guet Ndar, a packed fishing district where brightly painted wooden canoes line the shore.

Coastal erosion is also eating away at the shoreline.

Many locals have had little choice but to move to a displacement camp inland as their homes have been swallowed up by the raging sea, the erosion and the crumbling ground beneath them.

The sea barrier is Senegal's attempt to manage the compounding problems.

But experts point out that while it can protect against freak surges, it cannot stop the rising sea.

- Night terrors -

Mareme Gueye, a Guet Ndar resident, told AFP that all the suffering she'd experienced since childhood "has been caused by the sea".

Six of the seven rooms in her house are gone, washed away by the ocean.

In her one remaining room, she removed the door to ensure that no one gets trapped inside during floods.

Destructive flooding has increased since 2010, according to the 43-year-old, who said that she can no longer sleep at night for fear of the intemperate waters.

Mareme Gueye, 43, says six of the seven rooms in her house are gone, washed away by the ocean JOHN WESSELS AFP

In one harrowing instance, floodwaters swept her parents from her house and dragged them out to sea.

They miraculously survived.

Free-for-all construction in Saint-Louis -- known as Ndar in the local Wolof language -- has worsened coastal erosion.

The city is a particularly acute example of problems common across several coastal metropolises in West Africa, Sy said, pointing to Ivory Coast's main city and economic hub Abidjan, or Guinea's capital Conakry.

Erosion is causing the coastline to recede by some 1.8 metres (yards) a year across the region, according to a 2019 World Meteorological Organization report.

Likewise, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said this year that sea levels on the West African coast are rising by between 3.5 and four millimetres (0.14 and 0.16 inches) annually.

The colossal sea barrier will run 3.6 kilometres (2.2 miles) along the coast 

JOHN WESSELS AFP

With its unique layout surrounded by water, Saint-Louis is on the front line.

Nearly two decades ago, an ill-fated attempt at flood control after heavy rainfall saw authorities widen a water channel on the Langue de Barbarie between the river and sea.

But from its initial four metres, the canal unexpectedly grew to several kilometres wide as the salt water of the Atlantic gushed into the river, causing further disruption to the natural order of things and transforming the landscape.

- Displacement camps -

The encroaching sea has already caused severe damage.

Flooding in 2017 and 2018 left more than 3,200 people homeless -- about 1,500 of them now live in a displacement camp in Djougop, further inland.

The disaster prompted Senegal to begin building the sea wall in 2019, partly financed by France.

Flooding in 2017 and 2018 left more than 3,200 people homeless -- about 1,500 of them now live in a displacement camp in Djougop, further inland JOHN WESSELS AFP

The project is worth some 100 million euros ($117 million) and also includes a rehousing programme.

Building is due to finish by the end of this year, when the colossal barrier will run 3.6 kilometres (2.2 miles) along the coast.

However, the project also requires home demolitions in a 20-metre-wide strip behind the barrier.

Between 10,000-15,000 people in total are set to be uprooted, said Mandaw Gueye, an official working on the project.

Many locals have had little choice but to move to a displacement camp inland as their homes have been swallowed up by the raging sea, coastal erosion and the crumbling ground beneath them 

JOHN WESSELS AFP

Some will end up in Djougop and nearby neighbourhoods where the World Bank is co-funding the construction of 600 homes, he said.

Other project officials stressed that the displaced would be compensated.

But residents appear decidedly unenthusiastic about the prospect of Djougop -- a bland expanse of blue-roofed bungalows built in the desert, far from the sea.

Their seaside fishing district is poor, and one of the most densely populated urban areas in Africa, but tales of the fate of those already displaced have circulated.

The sea barrier is a short-term emergency measure -- the government says it is studying more durable solutions 

JOHN WESSELS AFP

Fishermen in Djougop, whose livelihoods already are physically demanding, must rise even earlier in the morning to reach the distant sea.

Those fishermen who stayed on Guet Ndar often leave without them.

"They are very tired," says 65-year-old local resident Thiane Fall.

- 'Human ingenuity' -

The sea barrier is a short-term emergency measure and not even designed to be impermeable.

The government says it is studying more durable solutions.

Experts stress that while the sea wall can protect against freak surges, it cannot stop the rising sea JOHN WESSELS AFP

Sy, the geographer, suggested structures called groins, built perpendicular to the shoreline, which force sediment to settle in such a way as to reverse coastal erosion.

Ensuring coastal areas are lush with plant life can also slow the trend.

Alioune Badara Diop, one of Saint-Louis' deputy mayors, said these options remain viable.

But the government did not pursue them initially because of their "relatively high cost," he said.

With its unique layout surrounded by water, Saint-Louis is on the frontline against rising sea levels and coastal erosion 

JOHN WESSELS AFP

He isn't convinced that his city has met its end, however, highlighting Senegal's nascent oil and gas sector and all its potential.

"We will have the means, and human ingenuity will make it possible to build structures that will protect the coast," Diop said.

© 2021 AFP

Half a degree makes a big difference in a warming world

Issued on: 04/10/2021

Experts say a 2C warmer Earth would see the number of people facing extreme heat waves more than double

 JOSH EDELSON AFP/File

Paris (AFP)

Half a degree Celsius may not seem like much, but climate experts say a world that has warmed 1.5 degrees Celsius above 19th-century levels compared to 2C could be the difference between life and death.

A 2C Earth would see the number of people facing extreme heat waves more than double. A quarter of a billion more people would face water shortages.

The Arctic Ocean will be ice-free not once in a century but once every 10 years.

Countries that signed the Paris Agreement vowed to cap the rise in global temperatures -- already 1.1C above the pre-industrial benchmark -- at well below 2C, and preferably at 1.5C.

Humanity is still far off the mark: even if fulfilled, current pledges to reduce emissions would still set the planet on course to warm by a "catastrophic" 2.7C, according to the UN.

Here's what the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says we can expect in a world that warms by 1.5C, 2C and beyond.

- Heat waves -

Maximum temperatures in some areas will increase by three degrees if the climate warms 1.5C, four if global heating reaches the 2C mark.

Heat waves that occur once-a-decade today will become four times more likely at 1.5C, and nearly six times more likely at 2C.

The odds of extreme hot spells currently seen once every 50 year increase by nearly nine fold at 1.5C, and 40 fold in a 4C world.

More people will be affected as well: the percentage of humanity exposed to extreme heatwaves at least once every five years jumps from 14 percent at 1.5C to 37 percent with an extra half-a-degree.

- Storms -

Global warming will cause more rain at higher latitudes, north and south of the equator, as well as in the tropics and some monsoon zones.

Precipitation in sub-tropical zones will likely become rarer, raising the spectre of drought.

Extreme precipitation events today are 1.3 times more likely and seven percent more intense than before global warming kicked in.

At 1.5 degrees of warming, extreme rain, snowfall or other precipitation events will be 10 percent heavier

 ASHRAF SHAZLY AFP/File

At 1.5 degrees of warming, extreme rain, snowfall or other precipitation events will be 10 percent heavier and 1.5 times more likely.

- Drought -

In drought-prone regions dry spells are twice as likely in a 1.5C world, and four times more likely if temperatures climb 4C.

Capping the rise in average global temperatures to 1.5C rather than 2C would prevent an additional 200-250 million people from facing severe water shortages.

Limiting drought would also reduce the risk of related disasters such as wildfires.

- Food -

In a world that is two degrees warmer than pre-industrial levels, seven-10 percent of agricultural land will no longer be farmable.

Yields are also predicted to decrease, with corn harvests in tropical zones estimated to drop by three percent in a 1.5C warmer world and seven percent with a rise of 2C.

- Sea levels -

If global warming is capped at 2C, the ocean watermark will go up about half a metre over the 21st century. It will continue rising to nearly two metres by 2300 -- twice the amount predicted by the IPCC in 2019.

Because of uncertainty over ice sheets, scientists cannot rule out a total rise of two metres by 2100 in a worst-case emissions scenario.

Limiting warming to 1.5C would reduce rising sea levels by 10 about centimetres.

- Species in peril -

All these impacts affect the survival of plants and animals across the planet.

Global warming capped at 1.5C negatively affects seven percent of ecosystems. At 2C, that figure nearly doubles.

An increase of 4C would endanger half of the species on Earth.

© 2021 AFP

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M 

Switzerland files criminal complaint over Greensill


ZURICH (Reuters) - Switzerland's economic affairs secretariat (SECO) has filed a criminal complaint in relation to collapsed financier Greensill Capital for alleged violations of the law against unfair competition, it told Reuters on Sunday.

The Greensill Bank is pictured in downtown Bremen

The Swiss NZZ am Sonntag newspaper said police searched Credit Suisse offices last week after the Zurich public prosecutor's office opened criminal proceedings in relation to Greensill following a complaint from SECO.

"No criminal investigation has yet been opened against certain former and current employees of Credit Suisse Group," the paper cited the prosecutor's office as saying.

Credit Suisse, Switzerland's second-largest bank, said on Sunday that data had been collected from the bank as part of an official procedure that was not directed against the lender, when asked for comment about the NZZ am Sonntag report.

"Credit Suisse fully cooperates with the authorities and will, for the time being, not make any further statements on this as this is an ongoing investigation," it told Reuters.

Credit Suisse was forced in March to shut $10 billion of supply chain finance funds that invested in bonds issued by Greensill when the finance firm imploded.

Administrators for Greensill and the Zurich public prosecutor's office did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

SECO referred Reuters to the Zurich prosecutor's office for any further comment about the proceedings.

(Reporting by Michael Shields; Editing by David Clarke)

CANADA FOR $ALE

Australia's Sayona Mining raises $72.5 million to buy lithium project in Canada

(Reuters) - Australian lithium producer Sayona Mining said on Monday it raised A$100 million ($72.5 million) through a share issue to fund the acquisition of the Moblan Lithium Project in Quebec, Canada.

Lithium miners are racing to raise money and expand projects, with global demand for the electric-vehicle battery metal set to soar in the coming decade as more countries move to electrify transportation and cut carbon emissions.

Sayona, which operates in Western Australia and Quebec, said nGLF5dF8Dl it would undertake an additional non‐renounceable rights issue to raise up to A$25.5 million for all its shareholders.

"The Moblan acquisition represents a significant growth opportunity as we build a new lithium base in Northern Québec, adding to our existing Abitibi lithium hub," said Brett Lynch, Manging Director, Sayona Mining.

Last Thursday, the lithium producer said it would acquire Canada-based Lithium Royalty Corp's right to purchase a 60% stake in the Moblan project from Guo Ao Lithium for $86.5 million.

($1 = 1.37601 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Tejaswi Marthi in Bengaluru; editing by Richard Pullin)

A PYRAMID SCHEME BY ANY OTHER NAME 

MLMs and COVID-19: Inside the ‘almost predatory’ business model that thrives during tough times

Rachel Gilmore 

© AP Photo/Upstairs Circus, Matt Johannsen This undated photo provided by Upstairs Circus shows women attending a night of crafting wine bottle tumblers and beaded wrap bracelets at the bar in Denver. Multi-level marketing is often associated with the…

It usually starts with a message: “Hey hun!”

The sender has a friendly tone. They pepper their messages with pet names. Maybe it’s a friend, a distant cousin, or someone you haven’t spoken to since high school.

But the real reason for their message becomes clear when they finally ask: have you ever wanted to be your own boss?

That was the kind of message Anna Lange, who lives in Missouri, had been turning down for months. But then COVID-19 hit. Lange had an 11-month old baby at home. The self-described workaholic had become a stay-at-home mom after having just graduated college. She was living in a new city. She was lonely, and she wanted to help her husband by bringing home some extra cash.

She said yes. And today, Lange is still recovering from it financially and emotionally.

Read more: Why direct sales appeals to so many moms

The business opportunity she pursued was with a multi-level marketing company, also known as an MLM. She paid to buy products to sell. She paid for marketing materials. But the sales just didn't come. By the time the dust settled, Lange was about US$5,000 in debt.

And she wasn’t alone. Industry data shows participation in direct selling -- the umbrella term for the sales industry that includes MLMs -- grew by 20 per cent in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

“I saw a lot of recruitment posts, ‘because it's COVID, people are working from home,’ they're like, ‘now's the perfect time to join in because we're going to have this boom,’” Lange said.

“They told me when I signed up, ‘you can just sell the products and you will be able to make a full-time income doing that.’”

Video: Younger consumers falling victim to gift card scams

But despite the promises made to people like Lange, more than 80 per cent of participants in the direct selling industry make less than 10 per cent of their household income from this work.

“Realistically, I would say that probably five per cent or less of the people doing direct selling in Canada make a full-time wage or something near that,” Peter Maddox, the president of the Direct Sellers Association of Canada – the industry group representing MLMs – told Global News in an interview.

On top of that, “less than one (per cent) of MLM participants profit,” according to a paper published on the U.S. Federal Trade Commission website in 2011.

It’s a lesson Lange learned the hard way.

“I fell on my face big time,” she said.

It all started with the door-to-door salesman.

Often portrayed on TV as a slick, persistent man who won’t take no for an answer, these individual sellers would march up customers’ porches and try to sell them a product.

That’s what direct selling is -- it’s a business model where, instead of placing a product on store shelves, individual "consultants" hawk a brand to their family, friends and community.

It has a long history. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, women would hold Tupperware parties. They’d pass around the plastic containers in the comfort of their living rooms in the hopes of making a buck.

But in an MLM model, the host of that kind of party isn’t just selling the product -- they’re trying to recruit an army of others to sell the goods, too. The recruiter, commonly called the “upline” gets a percentage of any sales the recruit, or the “downline,” makes.

As laws changed and society moved online, these salespeople did too. Selfies and product pictures posted on Instagram overtook these living room sales parties. Salesmen and women who might once have knocked at your door now slide into your direct messages on social media.

But their goal remains the same: sell the product and recruit a sales team. Push your sales team to recruit a sales team of their own. Rinse. Repeat. Theoretically, a recruiter could make limitless commissions from their downline of sellers.

If this sounds like a pyramid scheme, it’s because the two business models are very similar -- but with one important difference: pyramid schemes have no real product and are illegal.

MLMs are legal because the focus is on the real, tangible products -- even if the sellers can beef up their earnings by recruiting more sellers.

Much like Lange, Lillian Cariaga was feeling isolated in her Mississauga, Ont., home when she received the message from a friend in June of 2020.

“It just felt nice to reconnect with someone outside of my household,” Cariaga said.

The friend mentioned she had been exploring a new business opportunity. She was working from home.

Eventually, Cariaga, a single mother at the time, opened up about her financial struggles.

“That's where the hook was,” Cariaga said.

The friend went all-in. She told Cariaga how much money she had made in her first few months with the company. The opportunity, she said, had “changed her life.”

Eventually, the friend invited Cariaga onto a Zoom call with other moms who were part of the MLM. That’s when Cariaga caved.

“It just felt nice to be part of a community of moms who have similar goals,” she said. “The good feeling outweighed the red flags.”

There were quite a few red flags, according to Cariaga. She said there was a major focus on recruiting, rather than selling. She was also told to cut off unsupportive friends and family. After six months with the company, Cariaga was left to clean up the financial and physical mess she feels it may have caused.

Cariaga had been using the hair products she was selling, and one day, her partner pointed out she had a bald spot.

She was also diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that Cariaga said may have been the source of the hair loss.

Still, when she raised the hair loss with her upline – the person who recruited her — Cariaga was “appalled” by the reaction.

“I showed her a picture ... and said, ‘my hair wasn't like this when I started using this, girl.’ And then she said, ‘well, have you been using it consistently and correctly?’” Cariaga said.

“There was no empathy in it.”

Cariaga had also put one of her kids in daycare so she could focus on her MLM work. But she quickly realized she had miscalculated the cost of the daycare. That expense piled on to the debt she was already accumulating from working with the MLM.

“We racked up a few thousand on that, too, so I had to pick up shifts,” Cariaga said. “I was working like five days a week overnight, running on two to three hours of sleep.”

She left the MLM, but the climb back to financial stability was proving steep.

Ultimately, the stress and the lack of sleep took their toll.

"My health got affected. I was hospitalized for blood pressure issues,” she said.

Cariaga said the tactics used to get her to join in the first place were "almost predatory." That became even more clear to her when she was being trained to turn around and recruit more members herself.

"There was an emphasis in the calls, in the training, to emotionally connect – to emotionally connect and see where their pain points are," Cariaga said.

"It's all about building relationships, finding out what the pain points are, and then hooking into those pain points."

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Lange said she was pressured to use similar tactics.

"My upline was going through a miscarriage and she was like, 'oh, we know this is really hard, but it's bringing me people who see my story and they want to join me,'" she said.

"And I'm like, I don't want anyone to join me because of that. That's not something I want to be profiting off of."

Her team also suggested she use her mental health issues to reach potential recruits.

"They told me .. .you could reach so many women by the fact you had postpartum depression," Lange said.

Maddox said in a statement that the industry association does not support these kinds of tactics.

"Any statements made by independent sales consultants associated with DSA Canada member companies, which are considered to be deceptive or unethical, go entirely against what the companies commit to and stand for," he said in a statement.

"DSA Canada member companies have comprehensive processes in place to deal with concerns from consumers and independent sales consultants, and they invite people impacted to contact them directly."

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic became fertile ground for recruiters looking to grow their downline. Both Lange and Cariaga joined their MLMs during the pandemic, in part due to the feeling of isolation and a desire to find a community.

They weren't alone.

As the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered businesses and forced many Canadians out of work, retail sales from direct selling grew by 26 per cent, according to the Direct Selling Association of Canada. In 2020 alone, the number of Canadians that signed up to sell for these companies rose 20 per cent from the previous year, the association said.

MLMs tend to thrive at times when the broader economy is struggling, Maddox admitted.

"When economic indicators aren't as great, there is a little bit of a pick-up in terms of people who are active in direct selling," he said.

"Some people just sign up because they want to get discounts on the product ... but the people who do have signed up with the intent of sales ... that definitely, that does go up at that point."

Lange said her husband was able to work from home during the pandemic, but she felt "super guilty" after leaving the MLM, because she spent the U.S. stimulus checks on the business.

"Any sort of sale that I made went back into the business. It was buying marketing materials. It was buying samples for people who wanted to try the product," she said.

"It really took a hit to our finances."

Lange and her husband had plans to buy a house before she joined the MLM.

"Obviously, that didn't happen because of the housing market. But like, we can't even get an apartment right now because we're still paying off credit card debt from my time with the company," she said.

"And that's really hard. And I feel really guilty about that."

In Canada, there are laws in place to protect sellers like Lange and Cariaga.

The recruiter can’t force the seller to buy more product -- product the recruiter makes a commission from -- than they could possibly ever sell. They also have to have a reasonable “buy-back guarantee” or a refund policy, so you can send back your extra product if you ever leave the gig.

Recruiters also can’t misrepresent how much money there is to be made.

But with so many individual sellers sending so many direct messages to so many people, Maddox acknowledged that it can be a heavy lift to ensure everyone is complying.

"Honestly, it keeps our member companies up at night," Maddox said. "I've visited some of our member companies, most of them are based in the U.S. ... They'll have a whole floor of their building that is the compliance department."

There are people, Maddox said, who "scrub all their consultants' social media accounts" in a bid to find out if anything is being misrepresented.

"There are strict rules in the U.S. and Canada about making income claims, about making product claims," he said.

But in the last five years, the Competition Bureau told Global News it has not laid a single charge against a multi-level marketing company.

When the Bureau does find evidence of potentially illegal activities, it said it "does not hesitate to take action."

"The Bureau is determined to crack down on those who use deceptive marketing practices to steal Canadians’ hard-earned money," said Marie-Christine Vézina, a spokesperson for the Competition Bureau.

"We strongly encourage Canadians who suspect deceptive marketing practices to file a complaint on our website."

Still, one lawyer said that while the laws are there, “in terms of actual enforcement, I see virtually none.”

Toronto-based lawyer Steve Szentesi, who specializes in competition, antitrust and advertising law, used to regularly advise MLM companies about the legal framework for setting up in Canada. He did that work for more than a decade.

"I have not seen a significant appetite for compliance with Canadian laws over the last 10 years," he said.

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Part of the problem, according to Szentesi, is that there are both federal and provincial laws that companies and direct sellers have to abide by -- and many of these laws are "pretty opaque and highly factual."

Provincial and territorial laws, Szentesi said, largely lay out obligations for the individual direct sellers. The broader MLM companies, however, have to comply with both those provincial and federal laws.

"The main obstacle I have found has just been – for sellers and operators and even the courts, in some cases, and the enforcers – to distinguish between legal and illegal," he said.

"If consumers are thinking about joining an MLM plan and have some concerns, they should get competent legal advice."

Lange remembers how much the tone shifted in the messages she received from her MLM colleagues after she made it clear she wanted to leave.

When she joined, she said, they told her she could work "as little or as much as you want" without needing to sign a contract.

"But when you leave, it's 'you're not working hard enough. You didn't do what I told you to. You're not coachable.' And the tables get turned so quickly when you are not putting the dollar signs in their pockets," Lange said.

And while Lange didn't form a tight-knit bond with the team that promised her community when she felt isolated -- most of them lived out of town -- she was still iced out by them after leaving.

Video: ‘Cancel Culture’ may not be a new phenomenon, Trent University experts say

"They all unfollowed me on Instagram. They all unfriended me on Facebook," she said. "Except for the main upline, she's the one who hasn't, but I think it's because our husbands are friends."

Read more: Scammers have never had a more target-rich environment amid coronavirus pandemic: experts

Cariaga had a similar experience. Her MLM team had held training about how to handle unsupportive friends and family, and one instructor said she stopped seeing her best friend of almost 10 years because of the MLM.

Cariaga said she had come close to cutting off her best friend, too, who raised concerns about her new line of work. That was a red flag, she said.

Now she doesn't really talk to anyone from the MLM.

"I felt like I lost that drive that I had, the connection with people that were outside of my family, just that sense of direction," she said, "because that vision that I had of building something for my family – it was gone."

On top of that, she said, she "felt very ashamed" about getting involved with the MLM.

"I was beating myself up," Cariaga said.

But after speaking to the best friend she almost lost and finding an online community of others who had left MLMs, she found a new community that helped her cope.

"I thought, 'OK, I'm not alone in this whole recovery,'" she said.

As Cariaga looks to the future and tries to heal the mental and financial wounds from her time spent with an MLM, she has a message for anyone who is thinking of joining one.

"Be very careful. Don't fall in too deep, if you do decide to go," she said.

"And the moment you start to feel like your family is turning on you, remember who loved you first."

Hungarian LGBT activist among Time's 100 most influential

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — An academic and LGBT activist in Hungary is among the word's 100 most influential people, according to Time magazine, for her work on a children's book that set in motion a debate over human rights in the Central European country

.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

“It’s an honor. Obviously, it feels really rewarding to be one of these amazing 100 people,” Dorottya Redai, a researcher at the CEU Democracy Institute in Budapest and activist with the Labrisz Lesbian Association, told The Associated Press.

The magazine included Redai on its annual TIME100 list last month to honor her efforts to advance LGBT rights in Hungary, where recent moves by the country's right-wing government have been blasted as an attack on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

At the center of Redai's recent work was her spearheading the publication of “Meseorszag Mindenkie” ("Fairyland is for Everyone"), a children's book that retells classic fairytales. The book features disabled children, Roma people, LGBT protagonists and members of other minority groups as characters.

According to Redai, who helped coordinate and recruit the 17 authors who contributed tales, the book was intended to “address social issues in ways that are digestible for younger children,” and to provide parents and teachers with a tool for discussing difficult topics like child neglect, the death of a parent, adoption and poverty.

But its publication sparked a backlash in Hungary. A week after “Fairyland is for Everyone" came out, a politician from a far-right party tore pages out of a copy and put them through a paper shredder, calling the book “homosexual propaganda.”

Prime Minister Viktor Orban said of the book in a radio interview that Hungary is a “tolerant and patient” country concerning LGBT people, but that there is a “red line: leave our children alone.”

“It was really like a tsunami of media and politicians saying really unimaginable things about how we corrupt children,” Redai said. “The book became immediately branded as an LGBT book, which it really isn’t.”

The uproar also made the book a bestseller in Hungary, Redai said, and led to international publishers seeking to release editions in numerous other languages.

Still, the travails in Hungary were not over. In January, a government office in Budapest ordered the book's publisher to place a disclaimer on titles that “display patterns of behavior that differ from traditional gender roles.”

Then in June, Hungary's parliament passed a law that prohibits the “depiction or promotion” of homosexuality and sex reassignment in materials accessible to minors under 18.

That law — along with newer regulations passed in August — means that “Fairyland is for Everyone” must appear on store shelves in opaque packaging and can't be sold within 200 meters (650 feet) of a school or church.

Last month, a mayor in a small town near Budapest ordered the book's removal from a local library, citing the controversial regulations.

Redai's efforts to publish and defend the collection of tales make her a “symbol of courage” in a “hostile societal environment,” Terry Reintke, a German member of the European Union parliament and a co-president of its LGBTI Intergroup, wrote in the TIME100 issue.

“This work shows so beautifully how colorful life is. It makes young people believe that - no matter who you are - there is a fairy tale waiting for you that is your life,” Reintke wrote.

Redai said she hopes her placement on the magazine's list "gives encouragement to LGBT people who are not necessarily activists, to say, ‘You are not alone, the whole world is watching you, so you should hold on.’”

Justin Spike, The Associated Press

CANADIAN Senator accused of being China's 'mouthpiece' worries about rise of anti-Asian racism

OTTAWA — Last June, 33 Canadian senators voted to defeat a motion decrying China's treatment of Uyghur Muslims as a genocide.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

While they all faced criticism from some quarters, only one — Sen. Yuen Pau Woo, leader of the Independent Senators Group — seems to have been singled out as an alleged stooge of China's communist regime, told to resign and "go home."

Last week, Woo got a similar reaction when he tweeted about the release of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, the two Canadians arbitrarily detained by China for nearly three years in retaliation for Canada's arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou at the behest of the United States.

Woo tweeted that it was a "happy day" for the families of the Canadian men who became known around the world as the "two Michaels" and for Meng, who was simultaneously released and allowed to return to China. He urged Canadians to ponder the lessons learned from the affair.

He attached a link to an op-ed published in the Toronto Star that cited a former U.S. ambassador, Chas Freeman, saying that the "U.S., assisted by Canada, took Meng hostage in the first place as part of its trade-and-technology war with China."

That earned Woo a scathing rebuke from Chris Alexander, a former diplomat and one-time immigration minister in Stephen Harper's Conservative government.

DURING THE 2015 ELECTION ALEXANDER PROMOTED AN ISLAMOPHOBIC BARBARISM CULT HOTLINE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS..THAT DIED FAST DURING THE CAMPAIGN

Chris Alexander: The Conservatives' golden boy falls

https://www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/chris-alexanders-fall-a-golden...

2015-10-20 · Chris Alexander's very bad day: A golden boy falls, but for how long? Right now he represents Conservative failures. One day he may run the party. By Cathy Gulli October 20, 2015. Chris Alexander ...

• Estimated Reading Time: 6 mins

"By claiming Meng was 'taken hostage' @yuenpauwoo has violated his oath as a Canadian senator and should resign," Alexander tweeted.

"Mouthpieces for foreign propaganda … should have no place in Canada's Parliament," he added.

Alexander's tweet was shared by others who variously referred to Woo as "pond scum" and a "Chinese commie f---" who should be "sent back to China along with Meng."

China has maintained from the outset that Meng's arrest was politically motivated. Canada and the U.S. have strenuously denied it but plenty of American and Canadian experts nevertheless share Freeman's view that she was a political bargaining chip.

That view was fuelled by former U.S. president Donald Trump, who was attempting to negotiate a trade deal with China at the time of Meng's arrest and who said he'd intervene in her extradition case "if I think it's good for what will be the largest trade deal ever made."

John Manley, a former Liberal deputy prime minister and Canadian foreign affairs minister, said at the time that Trump's comments had "given Ms. Meng's lawyers quite a good reason to go to the court and say, 'This is not an extradition matter. This is actually leverage in a trade dispute and it's got nothing to do with Canada.'"

Woo notes that Manley and others who have echoed similar views have not been denounced as mouthpieces for China.

That's a specific kind of opprobrium, he believes, meant to stigmatize people of Chinese descent and he's worried about where the rising tide of anti-Asian sentiment in Canada could lead.

"I am Exhibit A, if you will, only because I have a bit of public profile," Woo said in an interview.

"But there are many others in the community who do not have my protections and are genuinely fearful of the increasing typecasting and stigmatization that's going on."

Woo was actually born in Malaysia and raised in Singapore before coming to Canada at age 16.

He has been accused of being unabashedly "Beijing friendly," a mouthpiece and lobbyist for the Communist Party of China, even though he points out he's "three generations removed from the mainland (China)."

He fears recent immigrants from China, who still have connections to family there, are considered even more suspect and are less able to defend themselves.

Woo points to reports suggesting that Chinese Canadians might have been influenced by or acting on the behest of China when they voted in last month's federal election, resulting in the defeat of several Conservative incumbents who had advocated a hardline stance against Beijing.

"This is really a slanderous and dangerous way of thinking because it makes assumptions about Chinese Canadians … who have views that may not be mainstream (and) it presumes that they are not able to think for themselves," he said.

"The accusation that they are foreign agents or stooges of the Chinese government is a very, very serious allegation and, of course, hearkens back to the days of McCarthyism when careers were ruined and lives were lost and we have to be very careful not to go back to that place."

One of those defeated Conservative MPs, Kenny Chiu, who lost his B.C. riding to a Liberal in the Sept. 20 election, told The Canadian Press that during the campaign there were WeChat posts he says contained false information about the Conservatives and allegations a private member's bill he tabled would discriminate against Chinese Canadians. But he also said his party could have done a better job speaking directly to members of that community.

When Woo spoke against the motion labelling China's treatment of Uyghurs a genocide last June, he argued that Canada, given its history of forcing Indigenous children to attend residential schools, should not try to lecture China from a position of moral superiority on human rights.

Rather, he said, Canada should appeal to its Chinese "friends" not to make the same morally wrong and societally damaging mistake of trying to repress and forcibly assimilate a minority group.

Sen. Peter Harder, the former government representative in the Senate who now sits with the Progressive Senate Group, made a similar argument.

Sen. Peter Boehm, a former senior Global Affairs bureaucrat and Sherpa for prime ministers at G7 summits, argued that the motion's "few paragraphs of what passes for megaphone diplomacy" would accomplish nothing, other than to anger China and possibly hurt attempts to win the release of Kovrig and Spavor.

Boehm, a member of the Independent Senators Group, said in an interview that both he and Harder got "a few brickbats" for their speeches, including from his former colleague, Alexander.

Alexander could not be reached for comment in time for publication.

"What I was getting was 'You're an experienced diplomat, you should know better, shame on you.' That was basically what I was getting from Chris Alexander and from others who consider themselves experts," Boehm said.

But unlike Woo, he said: "No one has tweeted or commented that I should go back to China."

Boehm agrees with Woo that "there's a correlation here with anti-Asian racism on the rise in Canada … and some of this is permeating into the utterances or what various Canadians who should know better are putting on their social media feeds.

"I think it's unfair and demeaning."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 3, 2021.

Joan Bryden, The Canadian Press

BJP HINDUTVA NATIONALISM IS FACISM

India’s Christians living in fear as claims of ‘forced conversions’ swirl
Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Chhattisgarh 

It was a stifling July afternoon when the crowd moved into the small district of Lakholi, in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh, and gathered outside the house of Tamesh War Sahu. Sahu, a 55-year-old volunteer with the Home Guard who had begun following Christianity more than five years previously, had never before had issues with his neighbours.

© Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Narinder Nanu/AFP/Getty Images

 An Indian church at Christmas. The Christian community in Chhattisgarh numbers about 500,000, according to the last census.

But now, more than 100 people had descended from surrounding villages and were shouting Hindu nationalist slogans outside his front door. Sahu’s son Moses, who had come out to investigate the noise, was beaten by the mob, who then charged inside.

As the men entered the house, they shouted death threats at Sahu’s wife and began tearing posters bearing Bible quotes down from the walls. Bibles were seized from the shelves and brought outside where they were set alight, doused in water and the ashes thrown in the gutter. “We will teach you a lesson,” some people were heard to shout. “This is what you get for forcing people into Christianity.”

Sahu’s family was not the only one attacked that day. Four other local Christian households were also targeted by mobs, led by the Hindu nationalist vigilante group Bajrang Dal, known for their aggressive and hardline approach to “defending” Hinduism. “We had never had any issue before but now our local community has turned against us,” said Sahu.

Since the beginning of the year there have been similar attacks across Chhattisgarh, already the Indian state with the second highest number of incidents against Christians. In some villages, Christian churches have been vandalised, in others pastors have been beaten or abused. Congregations have been broken up by mobs and believers hospitalised with injuries. The police, too, stand accused – of making threats to Christians, hauling them into police stations and carrying out raids on Sunday prayer services.

The attacks have coincided with renewed attention on a longstanding claim from rightwing Hindu groups: that a string of forced conversions are taking place in Chhattisgarh. Such claims have been made by senior figures in the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), which governs India but is in opposition in the state government, as well as rightwing vigilante groups.

Speeches, rallies and press statements in recent months have openly attacked Christian pastors and activists for allegedly converting, through force and coercion, tens of thousands of people from tribal communities and poor, lower-caste Hindu families. They allege they are lured into churches by proselytising pastors offering cash payments, free medical assistance and foreign trips, funded by foreign donors.

Dozens of “anti-conversion” rallies have been held across Chhattisgarh in the past month, as well as direct violent action On 29 August, 100 people, led by members of another rightwing group, Hindu Sara Ja Jagtar Samiti, tried to attack three churches in the district of Kawardha.

In the first church, in Polmi village, Pastor Moses Logan was conducting the Sunday prayer service when the mob burst in. Logan’s wife and mother were badly beaten, the church curtains torn down, musical instruments smashed and furniture destroyed. Logan’s clothes were ripped as the mob grabbed him and marched him to the local police station, where they attempted unsuccessfully to get a police report filed against him for conducting forced conversions.

As Logan’s car left the police station that night with an escort for safety, it was set upon by people waiting outside, who threw boulders and sticks and smashed the windscreens.

Hindu nationalist groups have attempted to file dozens of similar police reports against members of the Christian community, and in multiple incidents mobs have charged into police stations to try to force the arrest of pastors.

Senior BJP figures told the Guardian that forced conversions were now at the forefront of their agenda in the state.

“We are loudly challenging this issue because it will change the demography of the country and is a threat to law and order,” said Brijmohan Agrawal, a BJP former minister in Chhattisgarh who has spoken at several anti-conversion rallies. “These conversions are foreign funded and so those are who are lured in and converted will also be turned against India. Their patriotism then comes under question.”

Yet the Christian community in Chhattisgarh, which according to the last census numbers about 500,000, denies all charges of forced conversion as false and unfounded. Those who spoke to the Guardian said they had no outside funding and were involved in no active proselytising, as per the state law, though Bibles are often distributed in rural villages and slum areas.

Many members of tribal communities and lower-caste families in Chhattisgarh do attend church services, and they are referred to as “believers” rather than Christians. However, most spoke of first coming to church of their own accord seeking community or on the recommendation of a friend or neighbour. While dozens of complaints have been recently made to police against pastors, no official police reports have been filed nor any arrests made, owing to lack of evidence.

Chhattisgarh is one of nine Indian states that already have draconian laws regulating religious conversions. Those wishing to change their religion are required to gain permission from the local district magistrate, and anyone carrying out forced conversions can be punished with a three-year jail sentence.

Instead, many in the Christian community allege that they have become a political target, saying that the conversion claims has been revived by the BJP as a way to tarnish the reputation of the Congress party, which rules the Chhattisgarh state government.

“There have never been any tensions between Hindus and Christians before, this is a completely political issue,” said Obed Das, a pastor in Durg district who was recently threatened after he was accused of forced conversions.

Amit Sahu, the state president of the BJP youth wing in Chhattisgarh, claimed that tens of thousands of pastors and Christian activists were involved in forced conversions and said the plan was to catch them and “fill the jails”.

He said that across the state, BJP workers were being instructed to make lists of Christians they believed were converting tribal and Hindu families and keep them under surveillance. “When our party workers are aggressive, then no one can save these pastors,” said Sahu. “We will do anything to save our religion, to save our culture, to save our country.”

The impact on the Christian community has been palpable. Many spoke of being demonised in their own communities and living in fear or in hiding. Those who spoke to the Guardian agreed to do so only in remote locations so they would not be seen. Pastor Ashish Nag, of Good Shepherd church in Bagbahara, who was among those recently reported to the police for forced conversions, said he had been told he was now a target.

“I am worried and scared,” said Nag. “I have been told I’m under surveillance from these Hindu groups, and they report on my movements and who comes to my church.”

Harish Sahu, 43, a pastor at New Life Fellowship ministry church in Bhatagon, Raipur, had a police report filed against seven members of Bajrang Dal who had attacked him in a police station, and two arrests have been made, but police are now stationed outside his church during Sunday service for protection.

There are signs that the claims of forced conversions are now being taken up by the BJP and rightwing groups in other states such as Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh.

Some of the threats in Chhattisgarh have come directly from the BJP rather than fringe groups. In early August, Pastor Benu Mehananda, of Church of God church in Shamma, Raipur, was accused by two local BJP leaders of carrying out forced conversions. Standing outside his church, they told him if he did not leave the community he would end up like Graham Staines, the Australian Christian missionary who was burned alive with his two sons by members of Bajrang Dal in neighbouring state of Odisha in 1999.

“The BJP has no issue to attract voters here so they are using conversion to polarise the voters down religious lines,” said Mehanada. “The impact for Christians is terrifying. Some families have stopped coming to my services.”

Rishi Mishra, the state coordinator for Bajrang Dal, said: “Religious conversion is the biggest problem in Chhattisgarh and the top of our agenda. Until recently, this problem was limited to rural areas and the tribal belt. But of late they have started their work of religious conversions in urban areas, in an open and fearless manner.”

Mishra claimed that even when they presented police with evidence and witnesses of forced conversions, the police refused to file cases due to pressure from the ruling Congress government. He said Bajrang Dal was also working to convert many of the believers back to Hinduism, and that they had succeeded with 15 families so far.

“Bajrang Dal was established for dealing with things in an aggressive manner,” he said. “Whoever attempts to convert Hindus should be in fear of Bajrang Dal. Bajrang Dal was created for this very purpose. “

Mahendra Chhabda, a member of the ruling Congress government in Chhattisgarh and chair of the minority commission, said forced conversions were not a problem in the state. However, he said he had had a meeting recently with leaders of the Christian community and advised them to stop distributing Bibles to try to ease tensions.

“The BJP and other groups are talking about forced conversions but I have never been presented with evidence for a single case where a person says they have been forced to convert or given benefits to come to church,” said Chhabda. “All over India the BJP have been targeting Muslims to win votes. Now in Chhattisgarh they have decided to come for the Christians.”

Additional reporting by Mohammad Sartaj Alam

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