Myanmar coup: 100 days of turmoil

Myanmar's military seized power on February 1, ousting the civilian government and arresting its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

© STR The 100 days in Myanmar have seen mass street protests, bloody crackdowns by the junta, economic turmoil and growing international concern

The 100 days that have followed have seen mass street protests, bloody crackdowns by the junta, economic turmoil and growing international concern.

© STR Resistance to the coup began with people banging pots and pans -- a practice traditionally associated with driving out evil spirits

A recap of events:

- Back to the old days -

The generals stage a coup on February 1, detaining Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi and her top allies in pre-dawn raids.

© STR Myanmar's military seized power on February 1, ousting the civilian government and arresting its leader Aung San Suu Kyi

It ends Myanmar's decade-long experiment with democracy after close to half a century of military rule

.

© STR The junta has defended seizing power and said it will not tolerate "anarchy" wrought by protesters

The generals claim fraud in November's elections, which Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party won by a landslide.

The putsch draws global condemnation, from Pope Francis to US President Joe Biden.

- Walkie-talkies -

Two days later 75-year-old Suu Kyi is charged with an obscure offence over unregistered walkie-talkies at her home.

- Internet blocked -

Resistance to the coup begins with people banging pots and pans -- a practice traditionally associated with driving out evil spirits.

© John SAEKI Chart showing the deaths in Myanmar since the February 1 coup

The junta tries to block social media platforms including Facebook, which is hugely popular in Myanmar. Nightly internet blackouts are later imposed.

© STR A UN envoy has called for Security Council action to stop Myanmar from spiralling into civil war

- Bold defiance -



Popular dissent surges over the weekend of February 6 and 7, with tens of thousands of people gathering on the streets calling for the release of Suu Kyi.

Workers begin a nationwide strike on February 8.

- Police fire on protesters -

A young woman, Mya Thwate Thwate Khaing, is shot in the head and another person is wounded after police fire on crowds in Naypyidaw on February 9.

- International sanctions -

The next day Washington announces sanctions against several military officials, including Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the army chief now in charge.

More rounds of sanctions follow in the subsequent weeks from the United States, Britain and the European Union.

- New Suu Kyi charge -

On February 16 Suu Kyi's lawyer says she has been hit with a second charge, this time under the natural disaster management law.

- First protester dies -

Mya Thwate Thwate Khaing, the woman shot 10 days earlier, dies on February 19, becoming a symbol of opposition to the junta.

- More charges -

Suu Kyi is hit with two new criminal charges on March 1. Her lawyer says she is now accused of inciting unrest and breaking telecommunications laws.

Ten days later the military accuses her of accepting illegal payments of cash and gold.

- Atrocities alleged -

On March 11 rights group Amnesty International says it has documented atrocities by the junta including the use of battlefield weapons on unarmed protesters.

A day later a UN rights expert on Myanmar accuses the military of crimes against humanity.

- Junta defends coup -

The junta defends seizing power on March 25 and says it will not tolerate "anarchy" wrought by protesters.

- Bloodiest day -

Armed Forces Day on March 27, the military's annual show of strength, turns into a bloodbath with more than 100 civilians killed in protest crackdowns -- the deadliest single day since the coup.

- 'Civil war' warning -

Violence escalates in border areas between the military and Myanmar's numerous ethnic rebel armies -- several of which have declared their support for the protest movement.

On March 31 a UN envoy calls for Security Council action to stop the country spiralling into civil war.

- Secrets charge -

On April 2, Suu Kyi's lawyer announces the most serious charge laid against her -- of breaching the official secrets act.

- Shadow government -

Ousted civilian lawmakers, forced into hiding, announce the formation of a shadow "National Unity Government".

- ASEAN summit -

Leaders from regional bloc ASEAN hold a summit on the Myanmar crisis in Jakarta, and invite junta leader Min Aung Hlaing.

They agree a five-point statement calling for dialogue, an end to violence and the appointment of an envoy.

But state media report days later the bloc's "suggestions" will only be considered "when the situation returns to stability" in Myanmar.

burs-pdw/dhc/mtp/gle

OCCUPIED PALESTINE
Israel's Supreme Court delays hearing on Palestinian evictions from Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem

By Hadas Gold, CNN 


Israel's Supreme Court on Sunday postponed a hearing on the possible eviction of several Palestinian families from their homes in Jerusalem and will set a new date within 30 days.

© Ammar Awad/Reuters People hold flags as Palestinians gather after performing the last Friday of Ramadan to protest over the possible eviction of several Palestinian families from homes on land claimed by Jewish settlers in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, in Jerusalem's Old City, May 7, 2021. REUTERS/Ammar Awad

The Supreme Court said the hearing, which was supposed to take place Monday, was canceled at the request of the State Attorney General.


Last week, the court said it would hear an appeal by the Palestinian families against their eviction from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem, in the latest development in a decades-long legal case.

A pro-settler organization called Nahalat Shimon is using a 1970 law to argue that the owners of the land before 1948 were Jewish families, and so the current Palestinian landowners should be evicted and their properties given to Israeli Jews.

Palestinians say restitution laws in Israel are unfair because they have no legal means to reclaim property they lost to Jewish families in the late 1940s in what became the state of Israel.

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Friday the law is "applied in an inherently discriminatory manner," adding that the transfer of Israeli civilians onto occupied land could be "prohibited under international humanitarian law and may amount to a war crime."

The situation in Sheikh Jarrah has become a main flashpoint amid rising tensions in Jerusalem. Israeli police have clashed with Palestinians for several days, with Palestinians accusing Israeli settlers of provoking the confrontations.

The Palestinian Red Crescent reported that at least 100 Palestinians were injured during unrest on Saturday evening at various locations across Jerusalem, including Sheik Jarrah, Damascus Gate and the Al Aqsa mosque compound.

THIS IS THE ZIONIST LINE; SERIOUSLY, CLASSIC ANTI SEMITISM
In a statement on Saturday, the Israeli Foreign Ministry called the situation in Sheikh Jarrah a "real-estate dispute."

"Regrettably, the PA and Palestinian terror groups are presenting a real-estate dispute between private parties, as a nationalistic cause, in order to incite violence in Jerusalem," the ministry said.

Palestinian leaders and institutions, including the Palestine National Council, have described the evictions of Palestinian residents from their East Jerusalem homes as "ethnic cleansing" aimed at "Judaizing the holy city," according to Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency.

Most of the international community regards East Jerusalem as occupied territory, and Palestinians see it as the capital of a future state. Israel wants to keep the city united as part of its sovereign territory, rejecting the idea that any part of it is occupied.

The situation in Sheikh Jarrah has drawn worldwide attention, with the US State Department expressing concern over the weekend.

"We are also deeply concerned about the potential eviction of Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan neighborhoods of Jerusalem, many of whom have lived in their homes for generations," spokesperson Ned Price said. "As we have consistently said, it is critical to avoid steps that exacerbate tensions or take us farther away from peace. This includes evictions in East Jerusalem, settlement activity, home demolitions, and acts of terrorism."

Explainer-Jerusalem tense over evictions and holidays

By Maayan Lubel

© Reuters/MOHAMAD TOROKMAN Palestinians hold anti-Israel protest over Jerusalem's tension

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - East Jerusalem has seen nightly clashes during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, with Palestinians pitted against Israeli police and settlers.

The issues and the scale of the protests have varied, covering religion, land and politics, but running through them all is the core conflict between Israelis and Palestinians over the city, which has sites sacred to Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Here are some of the factors that have brought Jerusalem to near boiling point:

When did the protests start?

From the beginning of Ramadan in mid-April, Palestinians clashed nightly with Israeli police, who put up barriers to stop evening gatherings at the walled Old City's Damascus Gate after iftar, the breaking of the daytime fast.

Palestinians saw the barriers as a restriction on their freedom to assemble. Police said they were there to maintain order.

Why did the violence flare up again?

An Israeli Supreme Court hearing was due on May 10 in a long-running legal case about whether several Palestinian families would be evicted and their homes in Sheikh Jarrah, a neighbourhood near Damascus Gate that was given to Israeli settlers.

Some settlers have already moved into the street affected - living next door to the Palestinians facing possible removal.

As the court hearing neared, Palestinians and left-wing Israelis began holding larger demonstrations, saying more evictions could cause a domino effect throughout the overwhelmingly Palestinian neighbourhood.




Video: Pope urges end to clashes in Jerusalem (AFP)

Sheikh Jarrah also contains a site revered by religious Jews as the tomb of an ancient high priest, Simon the Just, leading to frequent tensions between Palestinian living there and religious Jews visiting it.

International attention

The case, in which a lower court ruled that the land in question belonged to Jews in East Jerusalem before the 1948 War, has gathered domestic and international attention, amid criticism of Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem.

On Sunday U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan spoke to his Israeli counterpart to express “serious concerns about the potential evictions of Palestinian families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood,” the White House said.

And United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed "his deep concern over the continuing violence in occupied East Jerusalem, as well as the possible evictions of Palestinian families from their homes," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Sunday.

What next?

On Sunday the Supreme Court hearing on the evictions was postponed, pushing at least one flashpoint past the end of Ramadan and allowing more time for a resolution. A new session will be scheduled within 30 days.

Monday is Jerusalem Day, Israel's annual commemoration of its capture of East Jerusalem during the 1967 war. The event usually sees a march through the walled Old City by Jewish pilgrims, including ultra-nationalists, which could be another flashpoint.

IDENTICAL TO THE ORANGEMEN MARCHING IN CATHOLIC NEIGHBOURHOODS IN BELFAST

Why is Jerusalem so sensitive?

Politics, history and religion.

At the heart of Jerusalem's Old City is the hill known to Jews across the world as Temple Mount - the holiest site in Judaism - and to Muslims internationally as The Noble Sanctuary. It was home to the Jewish temples of antiquity. Two Muslim holy places now stand there, the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest place in Islam.

Christians also revere the city as the place where they believe that Jesus preached, died and was resurrected.

Israel sees all of Jerusalem as its eternal and indivisible capital, while the Palestinians want the eastern section as a capital of a future state. Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem is unrecognized internationally.

(Reporting by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Stephen Farrell, Raissa Kasolowsky and Gerry Doyle)

'An eye opening experience': Edmonton soldier spends a week aiding staff at Opaskwayak Cree Nation care home

Dylan Short 

EDMONTON JOURNAL

9/5/202021


An Edmonton-based soldier says a November deployment to a COVID-19-ravaged seniors home in northern Manitoba was an “eye-opening” experience for his team.

© Provided by Edmonton Journal 

Onekenew Cree Nation Chief Christian Sinclair, left, receives a token of friendship from Master Warrant Officer Tim Steakhouse of 1 Field Ambulance following a smudging ceremony.

Master Warrant Officer (MWO) Tim Stackhouse was part of a team sent from Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Edmonton to Opaskwayak Cree Nation near The Pas in Manitoba to provide support at the Rod McGillivary Memorial Care Home where all 28 residents contracted COVID-19. Stackhouse’s team, made up of nine medical technicians and three nurses, assisted the care home’s staff after several of them contracted the virus and needed to isolate.


Stackhouse said it was a new experience for the medics in the group, who are trained as paramedics and typically work on soldiers who are fit and generally between the ages of 18 and 60.

Heading into a facility where every resident had contracted COVID-19, he said the team was confident in their training, as well as their PPE usage, to keep them safe while they were in an outbreak setting.

“I think we all embrace the vulnerability, and the humility of now caring not only for Canadians but caring for the First Nation community,” said Stackhouse. “Specifically caring for the elders of this community, which of course in the First Nation community are held at a very high level of respect.”

Stackhouse spent a week in the community until the facilities staff were able to return to work.

Military teams have made headlines throughout the pandemic as they have been sent into care homes across the country to provide support in the hardest-hit communities. Stackhouse said CFB Edmonton teams have recently been sent to five different communities to provide assistance.

Outside of a stint supporting flood-fighting efforts in Manitoba, Stackhouse said he has deployed abroad twice in the past decade. But this latest deployment was the first time he has provided direct, first-hand support to Canadians, rather than supporting Canadian interests abroad.

“It’s humbling to actually be serving Canadians. As I said, you know, going into their community, and your sole purpose is to serve, to serve them,” said Stackhouse.

Stackhouse said he wasn’t able to comment on any future deployments but he did mention there were members currently in Ontario where they are currently dealing with large numbers of COVID patients becoming hospitalized.

Tanzanian president ditches Magufuli's rejection of masks
Story by Reuters 


Tanzania's new president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, on Friday stressed the importance of face masks in fighting Covid-19, ditching one of the most controversial policies of her late coronavirus-sceptic predecessor.

© AFP/Getty Images New Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan, pictured at a military parade following her swearing-in the as the country's first female President on March 19, 2021.

Hassan took office in March after the death of John Magufuli, who had urged Tanzanians to shun masks and denounced vaccines as a Western conspiracy, to the frustration of the World Health Organization.

Last month, she formed a committee to research whether Tanzania, which under Magufuli stopped reporting coronavirus data, should follow the course that the rest of the world has taken against the pandemic.

On Friday, wearing a face mask and flanked by senior government and security officials, also all in masks, Hassan addressed prominent community elders in the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam.

"We have come with face masks because elders are in a group of people who are at higher risk of contracting the prevailing disease," she said. "We have found it is important to protect you."

One of those present was Health Minister Dorothy Gwajima, who, while Magufuli was president, urged Tanzanians to embrace steam inhalations, traditional medicines and even vegetable smoothies to protect themselves against Covid-19.

Magufuli died in March after weeks of speculation that he was ill with Covid-19.

Hit by COVID, Senegal's women find renewed hope in fishing


BARGNY, Senegal — Since her birth on Senegal’s coast, the ocean has always given Ndeye Yacine Dieng life. Her grandfather was a fisherman, and her grandmother and mother processed fish. Like generations of women, she now helps support her family in the small community of Bargny by drying, smoking, salting and fermenting the catch brought home by male villagers. They were baptized by fish, these women say.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

But when the pandemic struck, boats that once took as many as 50 men out to sea carried only a few. Many residents were too terrified to leave their houses, let alone fish, for fear of catching the virus. When the local women did manage to get their hands on fish to process, they lacked the usual buyers, as markets shut down and neighbouring landlocked countries closed their borders. Without savings, many families went from three meals a day to one or two.


Dieng is among more than a thousand women in Bargny, and many more in the other villages dotting Senegal’s sandy coast, who process fish — the crucial link in a chain that constitutes one of the country's largest exports and employs hundreds of thousands of its residents.

“It was catastrophic — all of our lives changed,” Dieng said. But, she noted, “Our community is a community of solidarity.”

That spirit sounds throughout Senegal with the motto “Teranga,” a word in the Wolof language for hospitality, community and solidarity. Across the country, people tell each other: “on es ensemble,” a French phrase meaning “we are in this together.”

___

This story is part of a yearlong series on how the pandemic is impacting women in Africa, most acutely in the least developed countries. AP’s series is funded by the European Journalism Centre’s European Development Journalism Grants program, which is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. AP is responsible for all content.

___

Last month, the first true fishing season since the pandemic devastated the industry kicked off, bringing renewed hope to the processors, their families and the village. The brightly painted vast wooden fishing boats called pirogues once again are each carrying dozens of men to sea, and people swarm the beach to help the fishermen carry in their loads for purchase.

But the challenges from the coronavirus — and so much more — remain. Rising seas and climate change threaten the livelihoods and homes of those along the coast, and many can't afford to build new homes or move inland. A steel processing plant rising near Bargny’s beach raises fears about pollution and will join a cement factory that also is nearby, though advocates argue they are needed to replace resources depleted by overfishing.

“Since there is COVID, we live in fear," said Dieng, 64, who has seven adult children. "Most of the people here and women processors have lived a difficult life. ... We are exhausted. But now, little by little, it’s getting better.”

Dieng and her fellow processors weathered the pandemic by relying on each other. They’re accustomed to being breadwinners — one expert estimated that each working woman in Senegal feeds seven or eight family members. Before the pandemic, a good season could bring Dieng 500,000 FCFA ($1,000). Last year, she said, she made little to nothing.

Dieng's husband teaches the Qur’an at the mosque next door to their home, and the couple pooled their money with their children, with one son finding work repairing TVs. Other women got help from family abroad or rented out parts of their refrigerators for storage.

They survived, but they missed their work, which isn't just a job — it is their heritage. “Processing is a pride,” Dieng said.

Most fishing in Senegal is small-scale, and carried out in traditional, generations-old methods, as old as the ways Dieng and other villagers process the fish. They refer to it as artisanal fishing. Once processed, the fish is sold to local and international buyers, and preserving it means it lasts longer than fresh and is cheaper for all who purchase it. In Senegal alone, the fish accounts for more than half of protein eaten by its 16 million residents — key for food security in this West African country.

Industrial fishing is carried out in Senegal’s waters as well, via motorized vessels and trawlers instead of the traditional pirogues, and more than two dozen companies also specialize in industrial processing in the country alongside fishmeal factories and canning plants. The fishmeal factories price women like Dieng out by paying more for the fish and depleting resources — 5 kilos of fish are needed for 1 kilo of fishmeal, a lower-grade powder-like product used for farm animals and pets.

Senegal’s government also has agreements with other countries allowing them to fish off the country’s coast and imposing limits on what they can haul in, but monitoring what these large boats from Europe, China and Russia harvest has proven difficult. The villages say the outsiders are devastating the local supply.

Dieng has become a local leader and mentor whose neighbours increasingly come to her for advice on everything from money woes to their marriages, and she and others are now part of a rising collective voice of women in Senegal working for change along the coast and beyond.

Senegal has designated land near Bargny as an economic zone in its efforts to invest in redevelopment. Dieng’s neighbour Fatou Samba is a town councillor and president of the Association of Women Processors of Fish Products, and she’s testified about the challenges in artisanal fishing. She hopes to stop much of the expansion of big industry as fishmeal companies scoop up fish and send the product to Europe and Asia.

“If we let ourselves be outdone, within two or three years, women will not have work anymore,” Samba said. “We are not against the creation of a project that will develop Senegal. But we are against projects that must make women lose the right to work.”

Samba also warns of the effects of climate change, with rising tides eroding Senegal's coast and forcing fisherman to seek their catch further out to sea. Samba and Dieng have each lost at least half of their seaside homes as water gutted rooms during the rainy seasons of the past decade.

In addition to their laborious work processing fish, Samba and other women handle the bulk of the work at home.

“Especially in Africa, women are fighters. Women are workers. Women are family leaders,” Samba said. “Therefore, women must be empowered.”

Dieng, Samba and other women want to be heard — by the government, and by the companies building projects near them. They want better financing, protection of their fish and processing sites, and improved health regulations.

These women open their doors to family, friends, neighbours and even strangers who are eager to hear about the work they take such pride in, and which they want preserved — to help put food on the table for their families and to pay school fees for their children so they can have a future that might not involve fish. But while they’re happy to talk about the work, they hesitate to focus on themselves. Community is what they are most comfortable with.

Late last month, when word spread that fishermen were finally coming back to Bargny with catches, Dieng and others hurried to meet the pirogues, tethered by ropes to the beach. It was the longest Dieng had been away from the catch. She bought enough to have her haul carried by horse-drawn cart to the plot of land she and friends claimed along acres of black sand. Then she started the work she’s known for decades.

Once the fish were piled onto the ground, the women smoothed them out with a small, flat piece of wood. They covered them in light brown peanut shells, bought by the sack, and then lit embers in a bowl and placed those on the shells, which started to burn. Smoke billowed everywhere, a sign of progress. But it also made trying to breathe as brutal as toiling under the hot sun — even tougher during Ramadan, when the women are fasting.

The women stoked the fire, and after feeling confident it would smoke for hours, stepped away. After a day or so, they returned to turn the fish and let it dry in the sun. Another day passed, and the women returned to clean it. Finally, the fish was packaged in vast nets, sold and taken away in trucks.

The pandemic has taught villagers a crucial lesson: Money from fish may not always be there, so it’s important to try to save some of their earnings.

The pandemic also is not over, so Dieng and other women go door to door to raise awareness and urge people to get vaccinated. Like many other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Senegal imposed strict measures at the start of the pandemic. The government was widely commended for its overall handling of the pandemic, and curfews have been lifted and restrictions largely eased. But the country has had more than 40,000 cases, and both volunteer and government campaigns aim to keep another wave at bay.

At the end of a long day of work, and before she goes home to break fast of Ramadan with her family, Dieng stands in front of her smoking fish and records a video she hopes will to motivate the women working in the industry.

"It’s our gold. This site is all, this site is everything for us," Dieng said of the coast and its vital importance to Bargny. "All the women must rise up. ... We must work, to always work and work again for our tomorrows, for our future.“

___

Meet the women of Bargny: See the portrait series.

___

Follow Carley Petesch on Twitter: https://twitter.com/carleypetesch

Follow AP's multiformat Africa news on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Africa

Carley Petesch, The Associated Press

M-C-M

Rolls-Royce relaunches sale of Norway-based Bergen - source

LONDON (Reuters) - British engineering company Rolls-Royce has put its Norwegian maritime engine unit Bergen back on the block, less than two months after Norway blocked a previous deal for it to be bought by a Russian company.

© Reuters/NTB A view of Bergen Engines AS factory in Bergen

"The sale process has restarted," a source close to the matter said on Monday.

Norway in March stopped Rolls-Royce from selling Bergen for 150 million euros to a company controlled by Russia's TMH Group on national security grounds, in a blow to the British company's disposal programme.

Rolls-Royce is aiming to raise 2 billion pounds ($2.82 billion) from disposals by 2022 as part of plans to repair finances which have been battered by the pandemic, as airlines stopped flying during the pandemic.

The sale of Bergen is now underway at the same time as the sale of Rolls's Spanish unit ITP Aero, which the company hopes will go for up to 1.5 billion euros.

Rolls-Royce could provide more details of the two sale processes on Thursday when it publishes a trading update ahead of its annual general meeting on the same day.

($1 = 0.7092 pounds)

(Reporting by Sarah Young, Editing by Paul Sandle)

U.N. committee to consider racism complaint of N.S. Mi'kmaq fishers against Ottawa

HALIFAX — A United Nations committee on racial discrimination is asking the federal government to respond to allegations it committed racist actions in its treatment of Mi'kmaq lobster fishers in Nova Scotia.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The April 30 letter of notice from the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination asks Leslie Norton, Canada's permanent representative to the U.N., to respond to allegations by Sipekne'katik First Nation by July 14.

The First Nation has argued that it has the right to fish for a "moderate livelihood" when and where they wish, based on a decision from the country's Supreme Court.

The court later clarified that ruling to say Ottawa could regulate the treaty right for conservation and other purposes.

Members of the Sipekne'katik band encountered violence from non-Indigenous residents last fall, resulting in the destruction of a lobster pound and the burning of a band member's van as the First Nation conducted a fishery outside of the federally regulated season in southwestern Nova Scotia.

The federal minister has repeatedly noted the principle of closed seasons exists for conservation purposes and has said her department will negotiate the distribution of commercial licences, which occur within existing seasons, tailored to the needs of each First Nation.

Talks with the band broke down earlier this year, and Sipekne'katik says it is planning to resume a self-regulated lobster fishery outside of federal seasons.

However, the United Nations committee says it is considering allegations the RCMP and the federal Fisheries Department "failed to take appropriate measures to prevent these acts of violence and to protect the fishers and their properties from being vandalized," and that treaty rights weren't respected last year.

"The committee is concerned about allegations of lack of response by the state party authorities to prevent and to investigate the allegations of racist hate speech and incitement of violence online as well as acts of violence and intimidation against Mi’kmaq peoples by private actors," says the letter of notice to the Canadian representative.

The committee's letter noted its prior recommendations requesting governments that have signed the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination "take steps to prevent racist hate crimes against all ethnic and minority groups, migrants and Indigenous peoples."

The letter asks Canada to respond to the allegations and indicate what actions have already been taken to deal with allegations of racism.

The notice is signed by Yanduan Li, the chair of the committee and a representative of China.

The First Nation's leader, Chief Mike Sack, said in a news release Sunday that it intends to proceed with a lobster fishery beginning in June, despite the lack of an agreement with the federal Fisheries Department.

Sack has said he will request United Nations peacekeepers if federal enforcement officers remove his band's lobster fishing gear from the fishing area in southwest Nova Scotia.

He said the involvement of the racial discrimination committee is encouraging.

"Being recognized by a body that represents marginalized people experiencing the destructive and intergenerational effects of systemic racism is a new milestone in our community’s efforts to overcome poverty and oppression,” said Sack in the release.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 9, 2021.

Michael Tutton, The Canadian Press

Video: 

KELOWNA BC Road construction effecting migratory bird habitat 

(Global News)

Parks Canada captive caribou breeding proposal gets OK from scientific review panel

JASPER, Alta. — A last-ditch attempt to save some of Canada's vanishing caribou herds is a step closer after a scientific review panel's approval of a plan to permanently pen some animals and breed them to repopulate other herds.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The captive breeding program would be a first, said Dave Argument, conservation manager for Jasper National Park.

"This idea of bringing in wild caribou (and) raising them in captivity to augment a wild herd is certainly a novel approach."

No one doubts Jasper's caribou are in trouble. One of the park's three herds has already disappeared and the others are down to a handful of animals.

Parks Canada has proposed a $25-million project that would permanently pen up to 40 females and five males in a highly managed and monitored area of about one square kilometre surrounded by an electrified fence. The agency suggests the captive breeding could produce up to 20 calves a year — enough to bring Jasper's herds to sustainable levels in a decade.

The plan received a big boost last week when an independent scientific review panel concluded that it would likely work.

The panel, an international group of conservation experts, agreed that without dramatic measures Jasper's caribou will disappear. Strategies such as predator control or penning and protecting pregnant cows won't work in a national park, it concluded.

"We are confident that the case has been made for the proposed breeding program," the panel's report says.

It does warn that careful monitoring would be required to assess the survival rate of young caribou released into the wild. The effects of climate change on habitat would have to be watched and wolves might occasionally have to be culled, it adds.

"Predators will need to be monitored and managed."

Wolf density in Jasper is low enough that the animals would not be expected to be a major threat to rebuilding herds, the report says.

Justina Ray, a caribou biologist and head of the Wildlife Conservation Society, said the program would also have to consider conditions outside the parks, where energy activity, forestry and road-building continue to degrade habitat.

"Conversion of caribou habitat for all these mountain caribou in southern Alberta and (British Columbia) is ongoing, and these conditions outside the park are very relevant to anything that happens within it," she wrote in an email.

Access to caribou habitat within the park would also have to be managed, she said.

"Access management (roads) ... will need to be stronger than it has been to date if animals are to be released into a safe space."

Parks Canada has met resistance when it has closed parts of Jasper park for part of the year to protect caribou.

Argument welcomed the panel's conclusion. But issues remain before a final decision is made, he said. Budgets need to be approved and consultations conducted.

"There's still an element of public support required," said Argument. "We're not going to proceed without the support of our Indigenous partners."

A preliminary site has been chosen. It's remote from the Jasper townsite and wouldn't be open to public visits.

"It's not going to be a zoo," Argument said.

The caribou have to remain as wild as possible if they are to make it outside the fence, he said.

"Releasing naive animals from a captive breeding facility into the wild comes with certain risks."

If all goes well, Argument said, the fenced pen could be built next year and accept its first animals as early as 2023.

Caribou herds are in trouble across the country. Argument said captive breeding wouldn't help much in places where habitat loss is the problem, such as in areas heavily affected by industry, but it could work in other situations.

"Different circumstances call for different solutions," he said.

"There are other situations across the country where this tool might be very useful. We're at the cutting edge in potentially applying it here."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 9, 2021

— By Bob Weber in Edmonton. Follow @row1960 on Twitter