Zoom lied to users about end-to-end encryption for years, FTC says

Democrats blast FTC/Zoom settlement because users won't get compensation.

JON BRODKIN - 11/9/2020

Enlarge / Zoom founder and CEO Eric Yuan speaks before the Nasdaq opening bell ceremony on April 18, 2019, in New York City as the company announced its IPO

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Zoom has agreed to upgrade its security practices in a tentative settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, which alleges that Zoom lied to users for years by claiming it offered end-to-end encryption.

"[S]ince at least 2016, Zoom misled users by touting that it offered 'end-to-end, 256-bit encryption' to secure users' communications, when in fact it provided a lower level of security," the FTC said today in the announcement of its complaint against Zoom and the tentative settlement. Despite promising end-to-end encryption, the FTC said that "Zoom maintained the cryptographic keys that could allow Zoom to access the content of its customers' meetings, and secured its Zoom Meetings, in part, with a lower level of encryption than promised."

The FTC complaint says that Zoom claimed it offers end-to-end encryption in its June 2016 and July 2017 HIPAA compliance guides, which were intended for health-care industry users of the video conferencing service. Zoom also claimed it offered end-to-end encryption in a January 2019 white paper, in an April 2017 blog post, and in direct responses to inquiries from customers and potential customers, the complaint said.

"In fact, Zoom did not provide end-to-end encryption for any Zoom Meeting that was conducted outside of Zoom's 'Connecter' product (which are hosted on a customer's own servers), because Zoom's servers—including some located in China—maintain the cryptographic keys that would allow Zoom to access the content of its customers' Zoom Meetings," the FTC complaint said.

The FTC announcement said that Zoom also "misled some users who wanted to store recorded meetings on the company's cloud storage by falsely claiming that those meetings were encrypted immediately after the meeting ended. Instead, some recordings allegedly were stored unencrypted for up to 60 days on Zoom's servers before being transferred to its secure cloud storage."

To settle the allegations, "Zoom has agreed to a requirement to establish and implement a comprehensive security program, a prohibition on privacy and security misrepresentations, and other detailed and specific relief to protect its user base, which has skyrocketed from 10 million in December 2019 to 300 million in April 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic," the FTC said. (The 10 million and 300 million figures refer to the number of daily participants in Zoom meetings.)
No compensation for affected users

The settlement is supported by the FTC's Republican majority, but Democrats on the commission objected because the agreement doesn't provide compensation to users.

"Today, the Federal Trade Commission has voted to propose a settlement with Zoom that follows an unfortunate FTC formula," FTC Democratic Commissioner Rohit Chopra said. "The settlement provides no help for affected users. It does nothing for small businesses that relied on Zoom's data protection claims. And it does not require Zoom to pay a dime. The Commission must change course."


FURTHER READING Zoom brings in former Facebook security head amid lawsuits, investigations

Under the settlement, "Zoom is not required to offer redress, refunds, or even notice to its customers that material claims regarding the security of its services were false," Democratic Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter said. "This failure of the proposed settlement does a disservice to Zoom's customers, and substantially limits the deterrence value of the case." While the settlement imposes security obligations, Slaughter said it includes no requirements that directly protect user privacy.

Zoom is separately facing lawsuits from investors and consumers that could eventually lead to financial settlements.

The Zoom/FTC settlement doesn't actually mandate end-to-end encryption, but Zoom last month announced it is rolling out end-to-end encryption in a technical preview to get feedback from users. The settlement does require Zoom to implement measures "(a) requiring Users to secure their accounts with strong, unique passwords; (b) using automated tools to identify non-human login attempts; (c) rate-limiting login attempts to minimize the risk of a brute force attack; and (d) implementing password resets for known compromised Credentials."
FTC calls ZoomOpener unfair and deceptive

The FTC complaint and settlement also cover Zoom's controversial deployment of the ZoomOpener Web server that bypassed Apple security protocols on Mac computers. Zoom "secretly installed" the software as part of an update to Zoom for Mac in July 2018, the FTC said.

"The ZoomOpener Web server allowed Zoom to automatically launch and join a user to a meeting by bypassing an Apple Safari browser safeguard that protected users from a common type of malware," the FTC said. "Without the ZoomOpener Web server, the Safari browser would have provided users with a warning box, prior to launching the Zoom app, that asked users if they wanted to launch the app."


FURTHER READING Zoom for Mac made it too easy for hackers to access webcams. Here’s what to do [Updated]


The software "increased users' risk of remote video surveillance by strangers" and "remained on users' computers even after they deleted the Zoom app, and would automatically reinstall the Zoom app—without any user action—in certain circumstances," the FTC said. The FTC alleged that Zoom's deployment of the software without adequate notice or user consent violated US law banning unfair and deceptive business practices.

Amid controversy in July 2019, Zoom issued an update to completely remove the Web server from its Mac application, as we reported at the time.Advertisement


Zoom agrees to security monitoring

The proposed settlement is subject to public comment for 30 days, after which the FTC will vote on whether to make it final. The 30-day comment period will begin once the settlement is published in the Federal Register. The FTC case and the relevant documents can be viewed here.

The FTC announcement said Zoom agreed to take the following steps:

Assess and document on an annual basis any potential internal and external security risks and develop ways to safeguard against such risks;
Implement a vulnerability management program; and
Deploy safeguards such as multi-factor authentication to protect against unauthorized access to its network; institute data deletion controls; and take steps to prevent the use of known compromised user credentials.

The data deletion part of the settlement requires that all copies of data identified for deletion be deleted within 31 days.

Zoom will have to notify the FTC of any data breaches and will be prohibited "from making misrepresentations about its privacy and security practices, including about how it collects, uses, maintains, or discloses personal information; its security features; and the extent to which users can control the privacy or security of their personal information," the FTC announcement said.

Zoom will have to review all software updates for security flaws and make sure that updates don't hamper third-party security features. The company will also have to get third-party assessments of its security program once the settlement is finalized and once every two years after that. That requirement lasts for 20 years.

Zoom issued the following statement about today's settlement:

The security of our users is a top priority for Zoom. We take seriously the trust our users place in us every day, particularly as they rely on us to keep them connected through this unprecedented global crisis, and we continuously improve our security and privacy programs. We are proud of the advancements we have made to our platform, and we have already addressed the issues identified by the FTC. Today's resolution with the FTC is in keeping with our commitment to innovating and enhancing our product as we deliver a secure video communications experience.

JON BRODKIN is Ars Technica's senior IT reporter, covering the FCC and broadband, telecommunications, wireless technology, and more.

BIGOTRY DISGUISED AS FEMINISM

Uphold religious symbol ban to spare children from being influenced by hijab, Quebec parents plead

© Christian Lutz/Associated Press Ensaf Haidar fled Saudi Arabia not long before her husband, Raif Badawi, was arrested in 2012. Haidar said Monday she is 'shocked' when she sees Quebec women dressed in Muslim religious clothing.Several parents pleaded with a Quebec Superior Court judge on Monday to uphold the province's religious symbols ban in order to shield their children from being exposed to the hijab, which they believe conveys a "pernicious" sexist message.

The parents, all immigrants from Muslim-majority countries, are the first witnesses to be called by defenders of the Laicity Act in a court case brought by opponents of the law who say it is unconstitutional.

Among the most controversial provisions in the law is a prohibition on public teachers from wearing religious symbols at work.

When the trial opened last week, several teachers who wear the hijab testified the law has upended their personal and professional lives. They also stressed they wore the hijab by choice and did not seek to impart their religious beliefs on students.

On Monday, the witnesses testifying in support of the law (widely known as Bill 21) said they believed the hijab always represents sexist values, regardless of why someone decides to wear it.

"For me the hijab is a symbol of inferiority even if they [the Muslim teachers] say they don't feel inferior or superior or equal to men. It's a symbol of inferiority and I insist on that point," said Ferroudja Mohand, who immigrated to Quebec from Algeria in 2011.

Mohand said she is worried that her daughter will be influenced by a teacher who wears the hijab at her school and decide take up the practice.

"Teachers must be neutral because children are impressionable," Mohand said.

Ensaf Haidar, whose husband is the imprisoned Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, said she is "shocked" when she sees Quebec women dressed in Muslim religious clothing given how they are treated in Saudi Arabia.

"The hijab is not a good image for Quebec," said Hadar, who fled Saudi Arabia not long before her husband's arrest in 2012.

Djaafar Bouchilaoun, an Algerian immigrant and father of two, told the court he considered the hijab an affront to his "dignity as a man" because it supposes men are sexual threats to women.

A teacher who wears a hijab, he said, is sending "subtle messages" to children. He called the hijab a "symbol of Islamist proselytizing," adding: "It is pernicious because of it."
Bill 21 upholds rights of parents, lawyers argue

The parents were called by two pro-secular groups — Mouvement laïque québécois and Pour les droits des femmes du Québec — who have intervenor status in the case.

As part of their defence of the law, lawyers for Mouvement laïque québécois are arguing that rather than strip minorities of rights, Bill 21 upholds the rights of parents to have their children receive a secular education.

"This is a necessary condition for the freedom of conscience," Guillaume Rousseau, a lawyer for the Mouvement, said in a recent interview.

Earlier on Monday, an anthropologist specializing in religions testified for the plaintiffs about whether symbols like the hijab do, in fact, proselytize.

Solange Lefebvre, a professor at the Université de Montréal, said the symbols of the major religions aren't typically worn with the aim of converting non-believers.

She explained that the religions most associated with proselytism, such as evangelical Christianity, actually shun wearing symbols.

During a lengthy cross-examination, Lefebvre also said religious symbols aren't always worn out of religious conviction, noting that pop culture acts like Madonna have appropriated the cross for wholly non-religious uses.

Justice Marc-Andre Blanchard asked Lefebvre if a wedding ring constituted a religious symbol. She said it depended on the context, given they are exchanged in both religious and civil ceremonies.

"Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't," she said.


TOPICS FOR YOU

N.B. woman argues 'dry cell' segregation for drugs inside body violates charter

© Provided by The Canadian Press

TRURO, N.S. — A law that kept a New Brunswick woman in solitary confinement for 16 days on suspicion she concealed drugs in her body should be struck down due to its cruelty and lack of basic legal protections, a prisoner rights' lawyer argued on Monday.

Lisa Adams was in court as her lawyers argued that a section of the Correctional Service Canada Act allowing segregation and monitoring of prisoners for suspected concealment of drugs violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Jessica Rose of the Elizabeth Fry Society presented her client's case against the May 6-22 "dry celling" in a submission to Judge John Keith of Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Truro, N.S.


She compared the statute to legalized torture, arguing that it fails to provide adequate access to a lawyer, allows for indefinite confinement and fails to offer protections, such as regular independent reviews, used in other forms of solitary confinement.

"The dry cell is an environment more restrictive and more humiliating than segregation cells were ever alleged to be, and it should be all the more offensive to the public conscience that dry cell prisoners enjoy very weak procedural rights," Rose told the court.

It is called dry celling because inmates are confined in cells without running water or toilets so their human waste can be examined for concealed drugs.

The federal attorney general is conceding that Adams' detention was unlawful in her specific case, but argues a constitutional case can only take place if expert witnesses are called.

"What we have here is a case where the law wasn't administered properly," federal lawyer Ami Assignon said. She said issues such as whether existing time limits for dry cell segregation are constitutional require the testimony of mental health experts in a separate proceeding.

Rose described in court how Adams, who is incarcerated for drug trafficking at the Nova Institution for Women, was placed in segregation in May because correctional officers believed she'd hidden the drug methamphetamine in her vagina while she'd been outside the institution on parole.

She said Adams was given an ultimatum to provide the drug or face an initial period of 14 days being kept in segregation and observed.

According to the applicant's affidavit, Adams said she had no means of producing the drugs as they weren't concealed in her body.

She also told correctional officers the ion scan of her living area that led them to suspect her had likely picked up trace elements of the drug, as she hadn't showered since being returned to the prison.

Rose argued before the court that Adams wasn't given the opportunity to have a formal, Correctional Service Canada process to physically examine her for drugs.

Rather, the lawyer said it was after Adams had spent 14 days in segregation that she was able to "ingeniously engineer" getting a vaginal exam by seeking medical attention for other health reasons. The exam exonerated her, but Adams spent two more days in solitary.

Rose said her client suffered mental illness due to her prolonged segregation under almost constant observation by prison staff, including observation as she showered or attempted to go to the bathroom.

She said that Adams was only allowed out five times into the prison yard, and that she had little meaningful human contact other than a daily 10- to 15-minute visit from prison mental health staff.

The court heard that as the segregation continued, mental health observers documented how Adams, who had a medical history of mental illnesses and suicide attempts, started to shake, became incoherent and threatened to harm herself.

She was taken for an X-ray at a local hospital on May 12, but the doctor involved refused to carry out the procedure after deciding he believed the medical procedure was being carried out without Adams' consent.

Adams argues the corrections law violates four sections of the charter.

Those include charter provisions that prohibit "cruel and unusual punishment" and guarantee the "right to life, liberty and security of the person" and the "right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure.”

In addition, the Elizabeth Fry lawyers say the law discriminates on the basis of gender, as it was designed for the hiding of substances in the rectum and fails to take into account that human body cavities include a vagina where the hidden substance wouldn't be expelled during dry celling.

The judge has reserved his decision.

Outside of court, Glenda Mason, Adams' mother, said if the law is allowed to remain on the books, there is nothing to stop other women from suffering similar violations of their rights.

She said she's looking for legal change, adding, "for Lisa to be part of that would make me very proud."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2020.

Michael Tutton, The Canadian Press

Eastern Ontario reeve seeks to change road name derogatory to Indigenous women

OTTAWA — The council of Beckwith Township near Ottawa is proposing to change the name of a private road that includes a derogatory term for Indigenous women after months of controversy and over the objections of the road owners.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Reeve Richard Kidd says he's confident the council will pass the proposed bylaw on Dec. 1 to change Squaw Point Road to Monarch Lane.

"It's a private road. If If this was a public road, if this is a township road that we owned, we would have changed this years ago," he said.

Colleen Gray, a Métis artist living in Beckwith Township, said the term was once not derogatory but it became so when European soldiers used it to refer to Indigenous women in a negative way.

"The word, when I speak it out of my mouth, makes me feel a little sick inside," she said.

"It's a very ugly word."

Kidd said it's the first time the township has sought to change the name of a private road.

"We didn't realize that we had to pass a bylaw on a private road to change (its name)," he said. "We thought, 'We don't own it.' Like, it's not our property."

The council is moving forward with the change against the wishes of the two owners of the road, said Kidd.

"These two individuals own the land. They signed a document for us saying they didn't want (the road name) to change," he said.

The Canadian Press was unable to reach either of the road owners. Minutes from a township council meeting in September say one of the owners wanted to keep the name "for various reasons including the historic value he wishes not be lost in the community."

Gray said the word has roots in the systemic racism that is a huge problem in Canada.

"It hurts a minority, every time it's used, and so for people to fight for the right to use that word. I don't understand it," she said.

The federal government said in September it will change the name of a mountain and trail in Alberta that use the word, adding the name has been a concern for Indigenous groups and Parks Canada for some time.

Maureen Bostock has been advocating for the Beckwith road name change since April as a member of a group called Lanark County Neighbours for Truth and Reconciliation.

"This is a word that is associated with the violence against Indigenous women that has gone on for 200 years in this area and all throughout Canada," she said. "It's a very very offensive name. It's demeaning. It denies the role of Indigenous women have in their own communities as leaders."

She said many Indigenous women have experienced residential schools, where they were sexually and physically assaulted and this word was used against them as a racial slur.

There are school buses travelling down that road twice a day, she said. "How on earth can we say we are committed as a society to reconciliation when children are still learning about (that offensive word)," she said. "Because the schoolyard again becomes a place where that racist slur gets used."

Residents on the road say they are frustrated over the delay in granting their request to change the name, after the private road owners opposed the move, claiming during a township council meeting in September there was "historic value" in the current name.

Kim Watson, a member of the residents' association, says they voted on the issue and asked to change the name in August.

She said their request was sent to Beckwith Township council and then was forwarded to the upper-tier government of Lanark County. The county sent the request back because the township has the authority to make the change on its own.

"It was like a pass-the-buck thing," Watson said. "We're sort of stalled."

Watson was a member of the committee that organized the name change and went door to door getting recommendations for new names.

"We chose Monarch Lane for the monarch butterfly because it's been struggling this last while," she said. "We want (the name) to get a change. It's well past time."

Kidd said most private roads in the area are owned by road associations, comprising multiple landowners, but this road is owned by two people and there are 25 people that own properties, cottages and houses on the road and have the right to use it.

Bostock's group proposed changing the road name to Anishinaabekwe Point Road.

"It's a respectful way to address Indigenous women in this area," she said.

The council is choosing Monarch Lane instead: the residents who have to change their addresses prefer it.

"It's what the ambulance uses. the fire department uses," Kidd said. "I believe that name would be very easy for people to pronounce, to make it identifiable."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2020.

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

Maan Alhmidi, The Canadian Press


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PHILIPPINES LARGEST EXPORT

CERB, extra hours and bottle returns: supporting overseas family during the pandemic

Edeline Agoncillo sends up to $1,400 of her wages to the Philippines every month and keeps only a few hundred dollars for herself, even during the COVID-19 pandemic.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The money Agoncillo sends without fail — a remittance, it’s called — ordinarily comes from cleaning houses in Edmonton. It supports her elderly parents, her daughter, her son and his child.

During the pandemic, as work dried up, she drew on the federal government’s $500-a-week Canada Emergency Response Benefit to support not only herself, but also her family across the Pacific.

“They have to eat every day; the medication of my parents has to continue every day, and nobody sent their money, just me,” Agoncillo said.

The Agoncillo family is like many in the Philippines, where one in 10 households relies on a relative overseas. Remittances are a huge part of the global economy, exceeding foreign direct investment in low- and middle-income countries for the first time last year.

But then the pandemic struck and The World Bank made a gloomy prediction in April that these transfers would plummet by 20 per cent this year because of COVID-19.

Migrants often give more when their home countries are in crisis. But with the pandemic pummelling economies everywhere, economists thought the flow of money would slow down. Initially it did, but remittances largely recovered by the middle of the year.

People may be earning less, but they are still sending money home.

“We don’t really have a choice,” said Marjorie Villefranche, director of Maison d’Haïti in Montreal, describing the responsibility of the diaspora to send money back to Haiti, one of the world’s poorest countries.

Agoncillo was scared to work when the pandemic started, and families didn’t want her to clean their homes. When she does work, she asks her clients for their deposit-return bottles to make an extra $30 to $40 a week.

She has been sending her parents about 30 per cent more each month since March, because one of her sisters, who is jobless in Dubai, can no longer help. Agoncillo can manage because she lives with two others and she spends as little as possible on herself.

“I’m very deprived,” she said. She asks only that her family pray for her.

Remittances sent from Canada amounted to more than $36 billion in 2018, based on data compiled by the Canadian International Development Platform. Four out of every 10 Canadian residents born in a developing country support loved ones overseas, according to Statistics Canada research.

Pressure to send money has increased during the pandemic as governments worldwide imposed crippling lockdowns, many without emergency relief programs that wealthy countries such as Canada offered.

Canadian incomes have also fallen, putting those helping relatives abroad in a tight spot.

Some migrants dip into meagre savings to find money, said Ethel Tungohan, a professor who studies migrant labour at York University in Toronto. Remittances are “not just an economic contribution, but a sign of love and care,” Tungohan said.

Visible minorities are primary senders of remittances, government data shows, even though they have experienced more unemployment due to COVID-19 than other Canadians. The August Labour Force Survey found that approximately one-third of Filipino and Latin American families, as well as more than one in four Black households, were struggling financially.

Financial support from the government has also played a role in sustaining remittances. The CERB was a lifeline for Agoncillo, and thus her family in the Philippines, for five months.

The Haitian community has also benefited from government support. Haiti depends on its diaspora: remittances in 2019 amounted to 37 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product. Canada is the third-largest source of funds.

Federal pandemic programs eased the pressure on Haitian-Canadians, Villefranche said.

Not all migrant workers qualify for government support. Marco Luciano, the director of Migrante Alberta, a Filipino migrant advocacy organization, points out that undocumented migrants can’t access federal benefits and have taken on extra jobs.

“They had two jobs. Now they have three jobs. And many of them are unstable jobs because of the shutdown,” said Luciano.

Because of migrants’ efforts, the Philippines and Haiti have registered only modest decreases in money transferred. The Philippines, which received $1.35 billion from Canada in 2019, reported a decline of only 6.6 per cent between January and August. Remittances bounced back in June.

Data is similar for Haiti. Transfers from Canada have decreased by only four per cent during the pandemic, according to economist Manuel Orozco of Creative Associates International, a Washington-based international development organization.

Agoncillo requested more hours from her employer when the CERB ended in September. But then she was exposed to COVID-19 when cleaning the house of a client who subsequently tested positive. Her results came back negative, but under Alberta’s public health guidelines, she still had to stay away from work for 14 days.

Agoncillo says the experience has been stressful: “I need my job. I need my job.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2020.

———

Bryony Lau is an independent researcher on conflict in Southeast Asia. She is currently a fellow in global journalism at the University of Toronto.

Bryony Lau, The Canadian Press

SILVER LINING 

Police saw crime dip in first six months of pandemic, Statistics Canada says

OTTAWA — Newly released statistics point to a notable drop in police-recorded crime during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Statistics Canada says 17 police services across Canada reported that selected criminal incidents were down by 17 per cent compared with the same period a year earlier.

The lone exception was uttering threats by a family member, with police reporting four per cent more incidents during the same period last year.

In addition, the number of calls for service rose eight per cent, particularly wellness checks, mental health calls and calls to attend domestic disturbances.

The statistics agency says when the physical distancing measures introduced in mid-March to control the pandemic started easing in May, the number of crimes and calls for service began to rise.

The 17 police services providing data are some of the largest nationally and serve close to 60 per cent of the population of Canada.

During the early months of the pandemic, the police services reported a 20 per cent decrease in sexual assaults compared with the same period a year earlier, Statistics Canada says. The number of reported assaults also declined.

The agency notes victimization surveys have shown that rates of reporting to the police are lower for sexual assaults and spousal violence than for other types of crimes.

For those experiencing violence, especially within the home, previous releases have shown that accessing services during the pandemic may be more difficult because of restricted contact with sources of support, the agency added.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2020.

The 'bittersweet' legacy of Canada's wartime Jewish and Italian internment camps

MONTREAL — In 1940, a Jewish student in the United Kingdom named Edgar Lion was sent to Canada against his will on a ship that carried both German and Austrian Jews and Nazi prisoners of war.

    

© Provided by The Canadian Press

And when he first arrived at an internment camp in Trois-Rivieres, Que., the Austrian-born Lion quickly realized the local citizens gathered near the camp entrance didn’t know the difference between the two groups.

“People were cursing us and throwing stones at us. We had to cross a gauntlet of citizens who knew some of us were prisoners of war, but (didn’t know) some of us were just ordinary prisoners," he said in a recent interview.

"We were in the wrong place. We weren’t supposed to be interned.”

Lion, now 100, is one of thousands of Italian, Austrian and German citizens who were rounded up by the British government and sent to Canada to be interned as “enemy aliens” in what remains a relatively unknown chapter in Canada’s Second World War history.

The men, who included Jewish refugees, civilians working in the U.K. and students, were scattered in camps across Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick, where they were surrounded by armed guards and barbed wire.

Andrea Shaulis, the curator at the Montreal Holocaust Museum, said Canada was unprepared to receive the internees -- Italian, German and Austrian nationals living in Great Britain who were sent overseas because the British government feared could pose a security threat in the event of invasion.

Canadian authorities had thought they would be receiving prisoners categorized as “dangerous enemy aliens,” and had not realized they would be mixed with ordinary citizens or even refugees fleeing Nazi persecution, she said

The facilities where they were sent were primitive at first, including a garage in Sherbrooke, Que., with auto bays filled with water. One camp in Quebec received a load of blankets but no mattresses; another got the opposite.

In some cases Nazi prisoners of war were interned alongside the Jewish refugees at first, causing tension and even fights.

Eventually, however, conditions improved in many of the camps, and the prisoners settled into a routine.

Raffaello Gonnella, the son of an Italian-born man who was interned in a camp on Montreal's Ile Ste-Helene, says his father described life in the camp as boring but safe.

“The war was raging in Europe and Britain, so their families were more in danger than they were,” he said in a phone interview from Glasgow.

Unlike in Great Britain, there was no rationing in Canada, and "being Italian men, they ate rather well,” thanks to the chefs and other restaurant staff among their number who had been working in restaurants prior to being interned, Gonnella recalled.

Lion recalls that in the camps, the internees with university educations created schools and study groups for their younger counterparts.

“We started a camp school for the youngest people who were interned with us, and they didn't have a chance to go to high school, so we made up for it” Lion said.

That effort would later pay off: after their release, many of the internees would go on to study in universities across Canada and Europe, becoming prominent architects, professors, and even Nobel Prize winners.

To this day, the history of Canada’s Italian and German internment camps remains little-known among the general population, with few plaques to mark the sites where they once stood.

The building housing the internment camp on Montreal's Ile Ste-Helene now offers tours to visitors who are often surprised to hear an internment camp existed right next to a major Canadian city.

Paula Draper, a historian who has written books on Canada's Holocaust experience, said this lack of knowledge may be partly because the situation is generally seen as less egregious than the internment of Canadian-born Japanese citizens.

Because conditions were comparatively good, she said many former internees may have hesitated to tell their stories.

“However unpleasant the experience had been to be interned in Canada . . . how do you complain about this when, in fact, the internment saved your life?” she said in a phone interview.

Draper maintains the internment was an “injustice” that should never have happened. On the other hand, it also kept the men safe and, eventually, allowed some to immigrate to North America, where many found great success.

“I always looked at is as a bittersweet kind of Holocaust story,” she said.

Gonnella says the biggest hardship the men experienced in the camp was the uncertainty of not knowing what was happening back home. “They were more worried about their families than themselves,” he said.

But while his father told him stories of pranks and good food, as a young teen Gonnella would learn how deeply the experience had affected his father.

One day, while rooting through his father’s closet for something to wear to school, a young Gonnella came across a denim shirt with a large red, white and blue circle on the back that resembled a target. When he asked if he could wear it, his father “flew into a rage I never saw.”

Unknowingly, Gonnella had taken out his father's camp uniform, emblazoned with a target symbol to make internees visible to the armed guards in the event of an escape attempt.

“I still fill with tears when I think about it,” Gonnella said. “He absolutely went crazy, screaming, shouting, bawling in Italian.”

After spending time in camps in Trois-Rivieres, Que, Fredericton and Sherbrooke, Lion was released in 1941. He moved to Montreal to live with friends of his family and went on to complete his university education, raise a family and build a successful career in the building industry.

Now living in a long-term care home in Montreal, he describes himself as a "survivor" whose life was transformed by his time in the camps.

"It certainly changed my life, because, for one thing, I became a Canadian citizen," he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov 9, 2020

Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press

McCarrick: What's known about the abusive US ex-cardinal

ROME — The Vatican on Tuesday will release its report into the rise and fall of ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the once-influential American cardinal who was defrocked by Pope Francis in 2019 after a Vatican investigation confirmed decades of rumours that he was a sexual predator.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The McCarrick scandal is different from other cases of clergy abuse, primarily because there is evidence that Vatican and U.S. church leaders knew of his penchant for bedding seminarians but turned a blind eye as McCarrick rose to the top of the U.S. church as an adept fundraiser who advised three popes.

When McCarrick’s crimes were revealed, the scandal sparked such a crisis of confidence in the church's U.S. and Vatican hierarchies that Francis approved new procedures to investigate bishops accused of abuse in a bid to end decades of impunity for Catholic leaders.

But beyond that, the McCarrick case has forced the Vatican to acknowledge that adults can be victims of sexual abuse, too. The Vatican has long tried to paint any sexual relations between priests and adult men or women as consensual, focusing its prevention policies on protecting minors.

But as a bishop, McCarrick held all the power in his relationships with his seminarians: to refuse his sexual advances or report his misconduct could have spelled an end to their priestly vocations and careers in the church. The Vatican's new policies, enacted as a response to the McCarrick scandal, spell out that abuse can happen when anyone is forced “to perform or submit to sexual acts" through abuses of authority by church leaders.

Here is what we know about the McCarrick case ahead of the release of the Vatican report:

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WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?

The archdiocese of New York announced on June 20, 2018 that it had determined that an allegation that McCarrick sexually molested a minor was “credible and substantiated." The allegation was lodged by a former altar boy who said McCarrick fondled him when he was a teenager during preparations for Christmas Mass in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1971 and 1972. The allegation was the first against McCarrick involving a minor, and as such triggered the investigation.

On the same day, McCarrick’s former dioceses of Newark and Metuchen, New Jersey, revealed they had settled two of three allegations of sexual misconduct by McCarrick involving adults in 2005 and 2007. Subsequently, James Grein came forward detailing the abuse he suffered at the hands of McCarrick, a family friend, starting when he was 11. Other former seminarians have since described the harassment and abuse they endured while “Uncle Ted," as McCarrick liked to call himself, was their bishop in New Jersey, forced to sleep in his bed during weekend trips to his beach house.

McCarrick, 90, was defrocked last year after the Vatican determined he sexually abused adults and children, including during confession.

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MCCARRICK’S RESPONSE

McCarrick has said he was innocent of the fondling accusation but accepted the pope’s sanctions.

“While I have absolutely no recollection of this reported abuse, and believe in my innocence, I am sorry for the pain the person who brought the charges has gone through, as well as for the scandal such charges cause our people,” he said in a statement June 20, 2018 after the initial fondling allegations were substantiated.

In a 2008 email McCarrick sent to the Vatican, he denied ever having sexual relations with anyone but said he had shown an “unfortunate lack of judgment” for having shared his bed with seminarians.

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VIGANO’S BOMBSHELL:

The McCarrick scandal took on greater dimensions on Aug. 26, 2018 when the former Vatican ambassador to the U.S., Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, published an 11-page expose accusing two dozen U.S. and Vatican churchmen by name of knowing about McCarrick’s misconduct since at least 2000 and hiding it. Vigano cited the case of one former seminarian who in 1994 wrote a lengthy letter to his bishop detailing McCarrick's sexual abuse of him and others — a document that would have been turned over to the Vatican at the very least in 2004 when the man was defrocked.

Vigano demanded Francis resign, saying he had told the pope in 2013 during one of their first meetings that McCarrick has "corrupted generations of seminarians and priests, and Pope Benedict ordered him to withdraw to a life of prayer and penance.” Vigano claimed that Francis rehabilitated McCarrick from Benedict’s sanctions and turned him into a trusted adviser.

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VATICAN’S RESPONSE

Francis initially refused to comment, but later authorized a Vatican investigation into its archives to determine who knew what and when about McCarrick, the result of which is being released Tuesday.

In 2019, Francis told Mexican broadcaster Televisa that he didn’t know anything about McCarrick’s past and didn’t remember if Vigano had raised the issue with him when they met in 2013.

In addition, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, head of the Congregation for Bishops, confirmed McCarrick had been subject to disciplinary measures for uncorroborated “rumours” of misconduct but said the Vatican’s decision for him to live a discreet life of prayer stopped short of binding canonical sanctions because the rumours lacked proof. Ouellet accused Vigano of mounting a “blasphemous” political hit job against Francis.

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FURTHER REVELATIONS

A former McCarrick aide, Monsignor Anthony Figueiredo, in May 2019 released excerpts of correspondence that show McCarrick was placed under written Vatican restrictions in 2008 for sleeping with seminarians, but regularly flouted them with the apparent knowledge of Vatican officials under Benedict and Francis. The correspondence shows McCarrick travelled widely during Benedict's papacy after the restrictions were purportedly imposed, including to regular meetings at the Vatican, to Bosnia, Lebanon, Qatar, Ireland and throughout Asia — travel that continued under Francis, including to China.

After the scandal broke in 2018, photos and videos surfaced of McCarrick appearing at gala benefits — even alongside Vigano, who as the Vatican ambassador in Washington would have been responsible for enforcing any restrictions on McCarrick alongside the then-archbishop, Cardinal Donald Wuerl.

In December 2019, the Washington Post reported that McCarrick gave more than $600,000 in donations from a personal fund he controlled to powerful clerics in the U.S. and Vatican, including those who had a say in whether to investigate him. The payments underscored the common tradition among well-funded bishops and religious superiors to curry favour in the Vatican with checks.

McCarrick also helped funnel millions of dollars to three popes via the U.S. Papal Foundation, which he helped co-found to raise money from wealthy American Catholics for specific works of papal charity.

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This story has been corrected to show that the last name of the former McCarrick aide is Figueiredo, not Figueriredo.

Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press

Mi’kmaq coalition acquires 50% of Nova Scotia-based seafood giant Clearwater Seafoods

As of Monday, 50 per cent of Clearwater Seafood has been acquired by a coalition, which includes Membertou First Nation, their new business partner Premium Brands, and a number of participating Mi'kmaq communities across Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.  

© Ross Lord / Global News 

Boats from Sipekne’katik First Nation were tied up, after lobster traps were cut in dispute with commercial fishers. Sipekne’katik launched a self-regulated fishery on Sept. 17, in an effort to assert Treaty Rights upheld by the 1999 SCOC Marshall decision.

Founded in 1976, Clearwater Seafood is one of North America’s largest seafood companies and is the largest holder of shellfish licences and quotas in Canada.


This transaction means the Mi’kmaq not only become 50 per cent owners of the company, but expect to hold Clearwater’s Canadian fishing licences within a fully Mi’kmaq-owned partnership.

Read more: Indigenous moderate livelihood lobster fishery expands in Nova Scotia

"This is a transformational opportunity for the Mi’kmaq to become significant participants in the commercial fishery through the investment in existing infrastructure, management expertise, and a global market presence," said Chief Terry Paul of Membertou First Nation in a press release.

"This collective investment by First Nations in Clearwater represents the single largest investment in the seafood industry by any Indigenous group in Canada," he added.

According to Chief Paul, Paqtnkek, Pictou Landing, Potlotek Sipekne’katik, and We’koqma’q have participated with Membertou and Miawpukek in this investment.

Video: Mi’kmaq solidarity group rallies in front of Clearwater Market

Membertou First Nation said in a statement that the collective of communities has financed $250 million over 30 years through working with their partners at First Nations Finance Authority.

"This investment is unique and separate from our current commercial operations and does not financially impact Membertou's ability to continue providing all the services necessary for our growing community in any way," the statement reads.

The statement also notes that all the benefits of the ownership will flow back to the communities.

Read more: Sipekne’katik First Nation re-elects Chief Mike Sack for 3rd term

“I am very pleased to recommend this transaction. It represents great value for shareholders, leverages the expertise within the company while advancing Reconciliation in Canada,” said Colin MacDonald, chair of the board of directors of Clearwater, in a press release.

“I am confident that this transaction will enhance the culture of diversity and sustainable seafood excellence that exists at Clearwater," he added.

In a statement, Membertou First Nation said that this commercial acquisition is separate from both their moderate livelihood fishery and their commercial in-shore fishery operations.

"With this acquisition we are participants in all sectors of the fishery," the statement reads.

Global has reached out to Membertou First Nations' spokesperson and Chief Terry Paul, but did not get an immediate response.

More than 70 Alberta doctors implore for 'sharp' lockdown; province reports another 644 cases

KENNEY IS A TRUMP MINI ME

© Provided by Calgary Herald 

Masked commuters travel in downtown Calgary on Monday, November 9, 2020.

More than 70 of Alberta’s physicians, medical professionals and infectious disease specialists are pleading for a “sharp” two-week lockdown to slow the spread of COVID-19, giving contact tracers time to catch up and easing the pressures on the health-care system.

The short lockdown — referred to as a “circuit breaker” — would allow the government to better formulate targeted regional public health measures that would reduce the spread of infections, the health-care professionals said in a letter addressed to the premier Monday.

A circuit breaker is a temporary lockdown with a set end date, rather than an extended lockdown until cases drop past a certain point. It’s a strategy being used by several European governments to “reset” infection rates so public health authorities have time to plot the best path forward.

“We are deeply concerned over the state of the COVID-19 pandemic in Alberta. Over the last three weeks, we have watched the numbers of cases, hospitalizations and ICU admissions dramatically increase,” the medical professionals wrote in the letter.

While lockdowns and restrictions have a significant impact on people’s ability to earn an income and socialize with friends and family, it is “clear that a minimal impairment approach and requests to the people of Alberta to voluntarily stop holding social gatherings in their homes is unlikely to significantly slow the rate of spread,” the doctors explained.

The 74 people who signed the letter are intensive care physicians, emergency physicians, general internists, pulmonologists, infectious disease specialists and family physicians, primarily located in Edmonton and Calgary.

In their letter, group members critiqued the government’s limit on social gatherings of 15 people which expanded to all regions under COVID-19 watch, and the “strong request” to Calgarians and Edmontonians to stop inviting friends to their homes.

“There have been advances in the care of critically ill COVID-19 patients based on research over the last nine months that have resulted in significant reductions in mortality and time to recovery. However, if the rate of COVID-19 spread continues, the consequences to the people of Alberta will be catastrophic,” they said.

“If this rate of increase continues unabated, our acute care health system will be overrun in the near future.”

Acute care beds and operating rooms will be overtaken by COVID-19 patients sooner than later if the upward trend doesn’t stop, the medical professionals explained. Experience grappling with the pandemic in Europe and the United States shows that mortality rates of COVID-19 and other patients increase “dramatically” if these resources are overwhelmed.

During Monday’s update, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, said “all options are on the table for discussion,” which includes a circuit-breaker lockdown.

© Chris Schwarz/Government of Alberta 

Alberta’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw.

“I think the circuit-breaker idea is an interesting one; it’s what British Columbia announced this weekend and you’ll note they targeted some of the same kinds of activities that we are targeting here,” said Hinshaw.

Due to a dramatic spike in cases throughout Metro Vancouver, the British Columbia government banned indoor and outdoor social gatherings for two weeks so people cannot visit with others outside of their household.

In Alberta, another 644 cases of COVID-19 were confirmed during Monday’s update — with a positivity rate of about five per cent — bringing the total number of active cases to 7,965.

An additional 1,646 cases and 11 deaths were reported over the weekend, including a record-breaking 919 cases reported Saturday.

Hospitalizations continue to rise, which Hinshaw said is concerning, as 192 Albertans are reportedly in hospital, including 39 in intensive-care units.

Seven people died from COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the provincial death toll to 369. One previous death was confirmed post-mortem as not linked to the novel coronavirus.

Among the deaths was a woman in her 90s at Extendicare Cedars Villa in Calgary, as well as six Edmontonians.

Hinshaw said the mandatory and voluntary restrictions in place now offer Albertans the opportunity to be part of the solution before stronger restrictions are imposed.

Premier Jason Kenney invoked arguments around civil liberties when he rebuked the idea of a lockdown and downplayed the effects of the coronavirus during a news conference Friday.

He said Alberta can “continue to lead the way as the freest province in the country” if the current restrictions are followed.

Hinshaw said she understands people’s fatigue and frustration right now, but urged them to continue taking public health orders seriously.

“If you have not gotten sick and you don’t know anyone who has either, you must do everything possible to keep it that way,” she said.
Outbreak declared at Calgary Drop-In Centre, Alpha House and transitional housing

An outbreak has been declared at Calgary Drop-In Centre after 11 cases have been identified. As well, outbreaks have been declared after two cases were linked to Alpha House and five to one of its transitional housing units.

Offsite testing is being conducted as staff and clients are screened. This is a reflection of greater community transmission, Hinshaw said.

Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi said it’s imperative for Calgarians to keep themselves and others safe by following public health measures closely, including the request to refrain from hosting others at home.

“If we can do this through the winter, God willing, there will be a vaccine in the spring and this thing will be in our rear-view mirror. But if we overwhelm the hospitals before then, we have created a lifetime of misery for ourselves,” said Nenshi.

— With files from Madeline Smith