Repairing Canada’s aging sewer system with an eco-friendly solution
Digital Writers - Yesterday 2:16 p.m.

When you've got thousands, or even millions, of people living in a given city, you're going to need a lot of sewage pipes. Metro Vancouver, for example, has around 9,000 kilometres of them winding around under its streets.

But sewer pipes don't last forever, with some more than a century old, and more instances of pipes failing have been cropping up.

A team at the University of British Columbia hopes to get ahead of the problem with a special kind of carbon-neutral coating, made from recycled material, that could give sewage pipes a new lease on life.

If widely adopted outside the lab, the coating could save taxpayers billions of dollars in the long run.

Weather Network reporter Mia Gordon has more in the video above.

Canadian economy lost 68,000 jobs in May, but lockdowns set to ease


© Provided by The Canadian PressStatistics Canada set to unveil May jobs numbers

OTTAWA — The Canadian economy lost 68,000 jobs last month and more dropped out of the labour force altogether, Statistics Canada said Friday, dampened by continued lockdowns that are now set to ease.

TD senior economist Sri Thanabalasingam said there should be jobs growth in the coming months as provinces prepare to rollback restrictions, which alongside rising vaccination rates may give employers' hiring plans a shot of confidence that the reopening will last.

But he and others warned of potential problems on the path to recovery, including fewer people in the job market potentially leading to labour shortages as demand for workers rises.

Desjardins chief economist Jimmy Jean said once restrictions are lifted there will be pickup in sectors that are still deeply affected, but likely not to a return to the pre-pandemic level.

"That's where the matching process will take time," he said in an interview. "The low-hanging fruit will have been picked and the recovery that we're after might be slower."

The job losses in May, the majority of which were in part-time work, marked the second consecutive month of declines after 207,000 jobs were lost in April and brought overall declines in the third wave of the pandemic to roughly what was seen during the second wave.

The unemployment rate was 8.2 per cent in May, little changed from the 8.1 per cent in April because the number of unemployed people in Canada overall stayed relatively steady.

What changed is that more people dropped out of the labour force in May, including workers who simply got discouraged and gave up looking for work.

Statistics Canada said there were 49,700 discouraged job-searchers last month, more than twice the average of 22,000 seen in 2019. The agency said the unemployment rate would have been 10.7 per cent in May had it included in calculations those people who wanted to work but didn't search for a job.

The job losses in May put the country about 571,100 jobs, or three per cent, below pre-pandemic levels seen in February 2020. The actual gap may be larger once adjusting for population growth during the pandemic, which Statistics Canada said would put the gap at 763,000 jobs, or 3.9 per cent.

Video: Canada’s economy lost 270,000 jobs last month (cbc.ca) Duration 1:55

The data release Friday also noted that 28,000 more core-aged women, those between age 25 and 54, didn't look for work in May as schools remained closed in Ontario, which with Nova Scotia were the only provinces with overall employment losses last month.

Schools were closed in Nova Scotia in May. The had province planned to keep them closed for the rest of the school year, but later reversed that decision.

Ontario schools will remain closed in the province for the rest of this month, which Jean said would delay the recovery in employment for mothers.

Another hurdle will be the loss of more than 100,000 businesses through the pandemic, which will hurt the economy's ability to create new jobs, said Leah Nord, senior director of workforce strategies with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.

A near-term rebound in hiring isn't the same as a jobs recovery, Nord said, noting 478,000 workers are long-term unemployed, meaning they have been out of work for six months or longer.

Not only do those workers have a harder time finding work the longer they are unemployed, they may also see income losses even with government-backed training programs.

An October 2020 presentation to a group of top federal officials noted that employment insurance recipients who started retraining within their first month of a claim ended up with over $10,000 in cumulative gains in earnings five years post-program.

The document, a copy of which was obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act, noted that contrasted with cumulative losses in earnings of over $1,000 five years post-program for anyone starting training after six months of unemployment.

Angella MacEwen, senior economist with the Canadian Union of Public Employees, said many of those unemployed during the pandemic aren't eligible for EI and wouldn't have the usual connection to job-training services.

She also said training often focuses on helping people back into a job immediately.

"Some of the jobs that are coming open, where there is hiring happening, are early childhood education, personal support workers, healthcare broadly, and some of that training (takes) a little bit longer," she said in a recent interview.

"We don't tend to support people in that longer training. We don't tend to support people as much if they're working part-time and training part-time. So thinking about how we can do that, I think, is going to be important."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 4, 2021.

Jordan Press, The Canadian Press

CANADA
O'Regan says 30 million trees to be planted this year, two billion by 2030

© Tina Lovgreen/CBC

The federal government says it still plans to plant two billion trees by 2030 to help sequester carbon.

A Liberal campaign pledge to plant two billion trees by 2030 finally seems to have taken root.

Natural Resources Minister Seamus O'Regan announced Friday that 30 million trees will be planted this season out of the two billion his government promised to plant over the next 10 years during the 2019 federal election campaign.

That goal would see Canada plant an extra 200 million trees each year, which the government says will eventually help to sequester carbon.

To get two billion trees into the ground over a decade, around 33 million would have to be planted each month during each tree-planting season. Over nine years, that grows to about 37 million trees.

But the actual rollout of the program won't be as straightforward.

Because seedlings need time to grow and the project needs nursery space, land to plant and some sort of monitoring to ensure the trees survive, O'Regan said, the number of trees planted will grow progressively each year.

A graph provided by his office shows his department expects to have planted 500 million trees by 2026, and then more than one billion in total by 2028.

"There'll be significant ramp-up," he said. "It takes time to get those seeds in place. This is a long-term play for us though, so it is well worth the wait."

Tories say Liberals have no plan (SAYS THE PARTY WITH NO PLAN)

The government has budgeted around $3 billion for the program, but the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) suggests the final price tag for the endeavour will be closer to double that.

A briefing note to the deputy minister of Natural Resources Canada about the discrepancy — released to The Canadian Press under federal access-to-information law — says the department will look to its planting partners to help fund the program. O'Regan's office confirmed that aspect of the plan.

"The (PBO) report did not mention that the government will seek substantial cost-sharing by its partners, such as provinces and territories, cities and landowners, among others," the document reads.

Conservative environment and climate change critic Dan Albas said the Liberal government has yet to provide details on how it's going to plant two billion trees over the decade.

"It's clear that the Trudeau Liberals have no plan," he said in a media statement Friday. "It took the Liberal government over a year before they even announced a plan to plant trees."

Cape Breton First Nation reaches understanding with DFO to set

 700 lobster traps


© Provided by The Canadian PressCape Breton First Nation reaches

 understanding with DFO to set 700 lobster traps

ST. PETER'S, N.S. — A Cape Breton First Nation has successfully negotiated an interim "understanding" with the federal Fisheries Department that will allow it to set a total of 700 lobster traps beginning Saturday.

The arrangement announced Friday means Indigenous fishers from the Potlotek First Nation will be able to conduct a so-called "moderate livelihood" fishery, with the band planning to allow up to 70 traps per boat.

The community cites a 1999 Supreme Court decision as allowing it to fish for a moderate livelihood, though the court later clarified that Ottawa could regulate the treaty right for conservation and other limited purposes.

The band's fishers have said they have struggled this year after Fisheries officers seized their harvest and gear.

However, federal Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan said in a release Friday the band's fishing will be allowed during the existing season in harvesting districts off the coast of Cape Breton and in Bras d'Or Lake, and they will be permitted to sell their catch.

She also said that overall, the Indigenous harvest will not add to the total number of traps in the lobster fishing areas in question, known as 27, 28, 29, 30 and 31a.

Potlotek Chief Wilbert Marshall said in a news release Friday the arrangement is for this season only and "more discussion will need to be had on future seasons and fisheries."

He also said that in the band's view the initial allocation of 700 traps isn't considered sufficient.

“We didn’t sign any agreements – I told my community members that we wouldn’t. Through talks, we were able to come to an understanding with (the Fisheries Department),” the chief said.

“We know that this is an interim measure, but it is a good first step," he added.

Jordan also referred to the understanding as an initial step, saying it demonstrates Ottawa's willingness to listen to the band's needs while maintaining a sustainable fishery.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 4, 2021.

The Canadian Press

Nunavummiut demand justice in homicide of 'Grizzlies' actor Emerald MacDonald


© Provided by The Canadian PressNunavummiut demand justice in homicide of 'Grizzlies' actor Emerald MacDonald

IQALUIT — About 30 people gathered in a school parking lot as wet snow fell to demand justice for Emerald MacDonald, the 24-year-old actress who was found dead at a cabin outside Kugluktuk on May 3.

RCMP initially called MacDonald's death suspicious, but have since ruled it a homicide.

MacDonald played the role of Miranda in the 2018 Canadian sports drama film "The Grizzlies," based on the true story of a lacrosse team in Kugluktuk, a hamlet of about 1,500 people and the westernmost community in Nunavut.

Police say MacDonald, also known as "Baboo," was last seen buying supplies in the community on April 30 before she travelled to her family's cabin by snowmobile.

RCMP have not provided an update on the killing since May 20 but said they are still investigating and are asking the public to come forward with any information that may help.

Chief Supt. Amanda Jones told The Canadian Press that investigators from the territory's major crimes unit are in Kugluktuk. She said she couldn't provide more details.

"It is under investigation and we're very active in continuing with that investigation," Jones said.

As the wind picked up, the group walked to Iqaluit's RCMP detachment. Some linked arms while others pulled each other close, slowing their footsteps as they embraced and wiped away tears.

As they reached the police building, a woman pulled a single pair of running shoes from a cloth bag and gently put them on the concrete step in memory of MacDonald.

Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, co-producer of "The Grizzlies," spoke to the crowd.

"We chose to come here because we want to trust that the RCMP are doing a good job with the investigation, although we want to trust the RCMP are doing a good job with the investigation, we all know that we can’t necessarily trust that,” Arnaquq-Baril said.

"We want Baboo's family to know that they're loved, that she's loved."

Others in the crowd spoke about their favourite memories of MacDonald and also called on the RCMP to make progress on the investigation.

"She didn't want to die. She shouldn't have died,"

"Justice for Emerald," people in the crowd shouted in unison.

Calvin Pedersen, the legislature member for Kugluktuk, told the assembly earlier this week that residents of the community have hung red dresses outside their homes in solidarity with MacDonald's family.

"I urge anyone who may know something to contact the Kugluktuk RCMP," Pedersen said.

"Baboo's voice and passion made her community very proud of her. This is a terrible loss for our town."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 4, 2021.

___

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

Emma Tranter, The Canadian Press

Royal British Columbia Museum working with Indigenous groups on school records


© Provided by The Canadian Press

VICTORIA — The acting head of the Royal British Columbia Museum's archives says the institution will work closely with Indigenous groups as it processes and documents records from a religious order that ran residential schools across the province.

Genevieve Weber says the museum has about 250 boxes of materials, a third of which relate to residential schools run by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

She says the records range from financial statements and letters to diaries of daily life, known as a Codex Historicus.

She says the museum started to receive and process the records in 2019, and has been reaching out to Indigenous communities mentioned in them to discuss how they would like to proceed in terms of disclosure.

Weber says the focus is to determine with Indigenous communities, such as the Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc in Kamloops, what personal details in the records they are comfortable releasing so as not to cause further harm.

She says the records should be available to researchers by 2022.

Video: RCMP investigating former residential school site in Kamloops, B.C. (cbc.ca)
Duration 3:57

“In the past, when we’ve done engagement, it's normally after the records have been available to the general public for some time. But we felt it was really important, due to the sensitive nature of these records, to reach out to Indigenous communities first,” Weber said.

The First Nation announced last week that it had found what are believed to be the remains of 215 children at the site of the Kamloops Indian Residential School. Since then, there have been calls for better access to records from the schools across the country. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also urged the Catholic Church to release more documents on Friday.

The Oblates ran 10 residential schools across British Columbia.

Father Ken Thorson, the provincial superior of the Oblates, said the organization had looked at making the records available in 2015 but the effort stalled.

Weber said having access to the records has already resulted in some developments in identifying residential school students. She travelled to Kamloops, where she was able to share digitized photo albums and listen to residential school survivors.

"We were able to identify a number of people in the album who had not been identified," she said. "Instead of having a photo album with no names identified, we now have an album with about 80 people identified in it."

— By Nick Wells in Vancouver.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 4, 2021.

The Canadian Press

Foster care is modern-day residential school system: Inuit MP Mumilaaq Qaqqaq

Teresa Wright - cbc.ca- Friday

© Sara Frizzell/CBCNunavut MP Mumilaaq Qaqqaq says the Liberals "can choose to support efforts toward real change or they can join governments of the past in perpetuating violence against Indigenous Peoples."

In the wake of the tragic reported discovery of an unmarked burial site in Kamloops, B.C., the Liberals are facing tough questions about ongoing harms being suffered by Indigenous children in the child welfare system — a system an Inuit MP says is no different from residential schools.

Mumilaaq Qaqqaq, who represents Nunavut, said she has seen far too many people in her territory dying by suicide and children being taken from their homes and placed in the child welfare system.

She took issue with politicians this week portraying the horrors inflicted on Indigenous children by the Canadian government as "historic wrongs" when speaking of the Tk'emlups te Secwepemc First Nation's discovery of unmarked graves believed to contain the remains of 215 children on the grounds of the Kamloops Residential School.

"Colonization is not over. It has a new name. Children are still being separated from their communities. Foster care is the new residential school system. The suicide epidemic is the new form of Indigenous genocide," Qaqqaq said in an emotional address in the House of Commons Thursday.

She shared bone-chilling details of Inuit families in her territory left to clean the remains of a loved one who died by suicide.

"The residential schools and genocide waged against us has evolved into the foster care system and the suicide epidemic we see today," she said. "Indigenous genocide is a 21st century problem."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and several of his cabinet ministers acknowledged Friday that First Nations, Inuit and Metis children are indeed still being taken from their families in disproportionately high numbers and placed in foster care.

Trudeau called this an "unacceptable" situation that must end.

"The ongoing removal of kids from their communities to live with foster families, to go to other cities or towns where they lose their culture, they lose their language, they lose their identity, needs to stop," Trudeau said.

Focused on intervention

Since the passage of Bill C-92 in 2019 — a bill that was drafted to counter the overrepresentation of Indigenous children in foster care — Ottawa has been working to empower Indigenous communities to keep their at-risk children and youth in their home communities with their own language and culture, Trudeau said.

And yet, Ottawa's Indigenous child welfare legislation has not stopped First Nations children from being placed in foster care, said Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller. He called it a "broken child care system."

Video: What is Ottawa doing about the legacy of residential schools? (cbc.ca)
Duration 2:42

While acknowledging Ottawa's role, both he and Trudeau also pointed to provincial systems, which are largely responsible for administering social services programming such as child welfare.

These provincial systems are still far too focused on intervention when they encounter a child or youth at risk, Miller said.

"There are still children being removed, taken into care and dying, and the system is still one that is focused on intervention as opposed to prevention in a way that does not reflect the inherent rights of Indigenous Peoples," Miller said.

"If this is something people think will take a short period of time, they're not understanding the gravity of the situation. It will take the full participation of provinces that run a number of these child care systems, the transformation of their own laws and the lifting up, foremost, of Indigenous laws across the country."

Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett also acknowledged the removal of Indigenous children from their parents and their placement in homes away from their communities is a current reality for too many Indigenous families and a "present danger to children."

Indigenous children account for 52.2 per cent of children in foster care in private homes, according to 2016 census data. Indigenous children make up only seven per cent of the youth population in Canada.
'We want this stopped': Bennett

"There are more kids in care now than there were at the height of residential schools and it's unacceptable and harmful," Bennett said.

"We want this stopped and we are working very hard with the self-governing nations as well as the other nations,."

Ottawa is not only investing and trying to transform the child welfare system but is also taking steps to prevent children from ending up in crisis situations in the first place, the ministers said.

Northern Affairs Minister Dan Vandal pointed to $250 million being spent to build four schools in Northern Manitoba to allow First Nations kids living in remote areas to attend school locally, rather than having to leave their communities — something that has been identified as a trigger that can lead to problems later on.

Criminal justice reforms proposed by the Liberals to repeal some mandatory minimum sentences — as a measure to stop the over-incarceration of Indigenous people across Canada — is also meant to keep families from being separated, said Justice Minister David Lametti.

Those reforms are contained in Bill C-22, which is getting a rough ride in the House of Commons and may not pass before MPs rise for the summer break later this month.

Qaqqaq said she is aware of all these measures but called on Ottawa to do more.

"I am here in an institution that has tried to eliminate my people for the last 70 years, standing up to say that the federal government is responsible for the ongoing colonization happening," she said during her speech.

"Acting is in the hands of this government. They can choose — they can choose — to support efforts toward real change or they can join governments of the past in perpetuating violence against Indigenous Peoples."

The Indian Residential Schools Resolution Health Support Program has a hotline to help residential school survivors and their relatives suffering from trauma invoked by memories of past abuse. The number is 1-866-925-4419.

Forced and coerced sterilization of Indigenous women ongoing, Senate report reveals


© Provided by The Canadian PressForced and coerced sterilization of Indigenous women ongoing, Senate report reveals

OTTAWA — She was screaming that she "didn't want this," but it happened anyway.

A Cree woman had just given birth to her sixth child in Saskatoon, when she was presented with a consent form for her sterilization.

"She tried to wheel herself away from the operating room, but the doctor wheeled her right back in the direction of the same operating room," says a new government report, which details the woman's sterilization in 2001.

"When she was in the operating room, she kept asking the doctor if she was done yet. Finally, he said, 'Yes. Cut, tied and burnt. There, nothing is getting through that.'"

The woman, referred to as S.A.T., is one of 16 women who shared their experiences about their sterilizations in the report by a Senate committee on human rights.

The report, released Thursday, says coerced sterilization of Indigenous women is not a matter of the past and still happens in Canada today.

The committee is urging the federal government to further investigate the "heinous" practice by compiling data and come up with solutions to bring it to an end.

It says the precise number of Indigenous women subjected to forced or coerced sterilization in Canada is unclear.

It also argues that the practice hurts other marginalized and vulnerable groups in the country, including Black women and other people of colour.

Most of the women interviewed for the report were coercively sterilized between 2005 and 2010. The committee says it is aware of a case of forced sterilization as recent as in 2019.

"Some of the Indigenous women who were forced or coerced into sterilization live on reserves in remote areas. Hospitals are often a long distance away and require significant travel – sometimes by air," the report says.

"Away from their family and communities to give birth, many Indigenous women experience language and cultural barriers. Many women are not given adequate information or support to understand and to be informed of their rights, including their sexual and reproductive rights."

Until 1972, Alberta had a law requiring the forced or coerced sterilization of people considered "mentally defective." In British Columbia, the same law existed until 1973.

"Persons deemed 'mentally defective' were not alone as targets – Eastern Europeans as well as Inuit, First Nations and Métis people were also disproportionately targeted and sterilized," the report says.

Karen Stote, an assistant professor of women and gender studies at Wilfrid Laurier University, says in the report that despite the repealing of provincial eugenics laws, forced or coerced sterilization of Indigenous women continued in federally operated "Indian hospitals."

About 1,150 Indigenous women were sterilized in these hospitals over a 10-year period up until the early 1970s, says the report.

"There was 'a climate of racism and paternalism leading to the view that sterilization was for some women’s own good,"" Stote says in the report.

"These attitudes and beliefs continue to underpin health policy today and contribute to the practice of coerced and forced sterilization."

The chair of the Senate committee on human rights, Salma Ataullahjan, said the federal government needs to study the issue further.

"The prevalence of this horrific practice is both underreported and underestimated," she said in a news release.

"The committee is deeply concerned that, along with Indigenous women, other vulnerable and marginalized groups in Canada are affected by forced and coerced sterilization, including women with disabilities, racialized women, intersex children and institutionalized persons," added deputy committee chair, Wanda Thomas Bernard.

"Parliamentarians must understand the full scope of this problem if we are to initiate effective and meaningful solutions."

The office of the federal health minister did not respond to a request for comment on the report.

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

-- By Fakiha Baig in Edmonton

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

The Canadian

RHETORICAL QUESTION

The House: Is it past time Canada had an Indigenous governor general?

Chris Hall - CBC- JUNE 5,2021

© Nick Perry/Associated Press

Cindy Kiro, left, and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, right, walk together through the Parliament Building Monday, May 24, 2021, in Wellington, New Zealand. Kiro was named as New Zealand's next governor-general — the first Indigenous Maori woman appointed to the role.

The federal cabinet minister leading the search for a new governor general says background checks on the short list of candidates are nearly finished.

But Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc isn't saying how many names will be sent to the prime minister, or whether the search committee has been instructed to include a nominee with an Indigenous background.

"I think it's fair to say that in the terms of reference that we made public around the advisory group ... the prime minister asked the group to consider the diversity of the country and to look at potential candidates who represent that diversity," LeBlanc said in an interview airing Saturday on CBC's The House.

The minister made a point of saying that Natan Obed, president of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, is a member of the advisory panel.


© CBC Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami President Natan Obed.

"And I think it's fair to say that we were not insensitive to the importance of considering Indigenous candidacies as well," he said.

The largely ceremonial vice-regal position has been vacant now for more than four months. Former astronaut Julie Payette resigned the post in January after an independent report said she had presided over a toxic workplace at Rideau Hall.

The third-party review was triggered by a CBC News story quoting a dozen confidential sources who claimed Payette and her former chief of staff, Assunta Di Lorenzo, mistreated staff.

Anxious to avoid another appointment that ends badly, the government made background checks into potential candidates more extensive than usual this time.

Video: Indigenous Services officials comment on AG report reviewing response to COVID-19 (cbc.ca)

LeBlanc acknowledged in the interview that he got ahead of himself back in January when he told CBC the search for Payette's successor would only take a matter of weeks.

"The good news — and we've considered dozens and dozens of potential names — the good news is our work is largely finished, we're concluding what I hope would be the final week or so of the normal background security checks, vetting that will take place by senior officials of the government," he said.

"So we're very confident that when we do give the prime minister the short list that he asked us to prepare, all of those important and necessary checks and vetting processes will be done."

When asked how many names are on the short list, LeBlanc refused to be pinned down and joked that the number is somewhere between one and ten.

Canada has never had an Indigenous governor general. Some observers have suggested in the past that such an appointment would be an important symbolic gesture.

Others, including First Nations author Robert Jago, argued back when Payette was appointed in 2017 that an Indigenous appointment would be little more than window-dressing at a time when so many Indigenous issues remain unresolved.

Last month, New Zealand appointed the first Indigenous woman to serve as governor general. Dame Cindy Kiro, a well-known children's advocate, is the third Māori to hold the post. The first, Sir Paul Reeves, was appointed in 1985.

The federal government is under enormous pressure right now to show some progress on Crown-Indigenous reconciliation — in the wake of this week's reports on undocumented deaths at the Kamloops Indian Residential School and fresh calls for Ottawa to move faster on implementing the recommendations of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.


© Brian Morris/CBCA memorial for children who died at a Kamloops residential school on Parliament Hill.

"It's long past time for a indigenous governor-general," said the inquiry's chief commissioner Marion Buller, who added she believes the public would support such an appointment.

"I think it would make a difference because that person would have the opportunity to cast a light on Indigenous issues in Canada and serve as a bridge-builder to a new relationship."

Trudeau has promised to rebuild the relationship with Indigenous communities since taking office, and to take steps toward meaningful reconciliation.

LeBlanc told The House the events of the past week are among many troubling and difficult moments on that journey.

"So obviously there is a heightened awareness," he said. "The time is long overdue for governments, plural, to look at the diversity of the country, including obviously the contribution of exceptional Canadians from Indigenous communities that can serve across the board in positions of leadership in the public and private sector."

N.L. premier vows change: coat of arms description calls Indigenous people 'savages'

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — The Newfoundland and Labrador government has decided to change the official description of the province's 400-year-old coat of arms, which includes a reference to Indigenous people as "savages."

Premier Andrew Furey said a formal notice was submitted to the legislature on Thursday following a discussion earlier in the week with Indigenous leaders.

The Liberal premier said his weekly discussion with Indigenous leaders initially focused on the terrible news from Kamloops, B.C., where last week an Indigenous band reported finding what are believed to be the remains of 215 children at a former residential school.

"The Indigenous leaders are going to reflect on what it means in their communities, and where we want to go in terms of investigating residential schools," Furey said Thursday, referring to the fact that the province once supported five church-run residential schools — four in Labrador and one at the northern tip of the island.

Furey said the discussion then turned to the province's coat of arms.

"The description of the coat of arms in our legislation still refers to savages," Furey said. "We don't think that is at all appropriate. We gave notice today in the house to change that."

The premier said the next step is public consultations. "We'll see where the conversations go," he said.

In June 2018, the governing Liberals said they would drop the archaic description and redesign the coat of arms after Indigenous leaders and the party's own Indigenous Peoples Commission called for changes.

The coat of arms features two Indigenous figures in traditional garb, standing on either side of a red shield. In the official description, the Beothuk warriors are described as "savages."

Qalipu First Nation Chief Brendan Mitchell said everyone who attended the virtual meeting on Wednesday agreed that the insulting term had to be dropped.

"They're all in favour of changing the description," the Mi'kmaq leader said in an interview Friday from Corner Brook. "For me, taking the name 'savage' out of there has to done. That's an unfair statement to make .... We didn't get into a lengthy discussion on the actual text."

The meeting included representatives from other Mi'kmaq communities, the Innu Nation and Labrador's Inuit.

When the issue first surfaced in 2018, Labrador politician Randy Edmunds said the Beothuk must be represented on the coat of arms to honour an Indigenous group that was wiped out after European settlers encroached on their land, resulting in deadly conflicts and the introduction of new diseases.

Shawnadithit, the last known surviving Beothuk, died of tuberculosis in St. John's in June 1829.

Edmunds, an Inuk who was defeated in the 2019 provincial election, said other Indigenous groups should also be recognized.

The original coat of arms was granted by royal warrant from King Charles I of England in 1637. At the time, the island of Newfoundland was known as Terra Nova, and it wasn't yet joined with Labrador. The heraldic symbol was actually given to a business syndicate known as the Company of Adventurers to Newfoundland, which seemed to have little knowledge of the area.

Aside from the coarse description of the Beothuk, the coat of arms includes a depiction of a prancing elk, hovering between the two warriors. The animals are not native to Newfoundland and Labrador.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 4, 2021.

— By Michael MacDonald in Halifax.

The Canadian Press