Former NBA star works to end solitary confinement in prisons


Caron Butler can easily point to the lowest moment in his life — the days he spent as a teenager locked in a solitary confinement cell inside a juvenile prison.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The former UConn and NBA star planned to be at Connecticut's state Capitol on Monday to ask Gov. Ned Lamont to sign legislation that would strictly limit the use of solitary confinement and other forms of inmate isolation in prisons.

The bill, which requires almost all inmates be allowed at least 6 1/2 hours out of their cells and also limits the use of certain restraints, received final legislative approval early Sunday morning. It comes as the state is closing its maximum-security, Northern Correctional Institution, which was designed specifically to keep inmates in isolation.

Butler has been open about his struggles as a youth in Racine, Wisconsin. He dealt drugs and was arrested more than a dozen times before serving more than a year in prison on drug possession and firearms charges.

He was 15 years old when he got into a fight in prison and was thrown into solitary, spending 23 hours a day isolated in a small cell for two weeks. He had no contact with anyone — no books, no radio, no television. He said none of the violence or other trauma in his young life prepared him for the despair of that situation.

“Being in those four walls and those four corners, it does something to you,” Butler said, in an interview with The Associated Press. “Mentally and spiritually, it takes away a lot. It dehumanizes you.”

Butler said he believes he survived because of a strong family support system. He discovered basketball in prison. He turned his life around when he got out to the point where Hall-of-Fame coach Jim Calhoun saw something in him and offered him a scholarship.

Butler went on to become the Big East's player of the year in 2002 and spent 14 seasons in the NBA, where he is now an assistant coach with Miami.

But Butler, who is also a trustee at the Vera Institute for Justice, said he'll never forget the torture he endured in prison and is hoping that the Connecticut legislation will serve as an example for other states.

“Now I look back in hindsight and I want to tell my younger self to stay hopeful,” he said. “There are people out there that care. There's going to be elected officials out there in the future that's going to care about this community in real time. There's going to be change on the horizon. They are going to come up with ways to rehabilitate that never dehumanize people.”

Opponents of the bill say it will take a tool away from guards that helps maintain discipline in prisons. But its supporters say it includes exceptions, such as allowing officers to isolate a prisoner when that is needed to protect someone's life. But there will now be a review process to ensure that isolation ends.

Barbara Fair, the lead organizer for the Stop Solitary CT campaign, part of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, said while thousands of people have horror stories about living in solitary confinement, it’s important for someone as well known as Butler to step forward.

“This is somebody people can connect with,” she said. “That's the biggest problem around our prison systems is that often people have a hard time connecting with the humanity of incarcerated people.”

Butler is not the first former UConn star to advocate for criminal justice reform.

Former UConn women's star Maya Moore left the WNBA to wage what became a successful fight to overturn the wrongful conviction of Jonathan Irons, a man who later became her husband. She also started a social action campaign called Win With Justice, designed to call attention to the power wielded by prosecutors and their obligation to use it responsibly.

Butler said it's not a coincidence that she and others, such as former UConn player Renee Montgomery, are active in the push for social-justice reform.

“We were taught by two Hall of Fame coaches (Jim Calhoun and Geno Auriemma) that when you are passionate about something, you have to find a way to create a wave and make that wave bigger and create a current,” Butler said. “Just like momentum changes in a basketball game, you have to impose your will on a situation.”

Pat Eaton-robb, The Associated Press

Bye-bye four-year degree. Canadian companies want workers faster
Bianca Bharti

FINANCIAL POST

JUNE 7, 2021


Last summer, Marcos Chumacero, an out-of-work bar manager, lolled about his downtown Toronto apartment as the world slowed to a crawl and the federal government went on COVID-19 damage control.

 Provided by Financial Post Tech companies have struggled to find qualified workers for years but the rapid shift to a digital economy brought on by the pandemic has made it worse.

“Like everyone else in my industry, I was collecting CERB,” he recalled, referring to the $2,000-per-month emergency benefit.

A chance call to an acquaintance in social work changed his life. The friend told Chumacero, 30, about NPower, a charity that retrains younger workers who lack computer skills for jobs in the information-technology (IT) industry. He applied and was accepted into a three-month program in September that taught computer protocols and networking among other related subject matter.

No more CERB.

By January, Chumacero had landed a job at Touchbistro Inc., a payments software firm for restaurants, as a bilingual product technician. He’s earning slightly less than the $5,000 per month he averaged as an experienced bartender, but that income came with 60-hour work weeks. Touchbistro asks for only 40 hours per week. The new job is also secure, comes with benefits and offers a path for upward career growth.

“They were not just looking for someone who was tech savvy, but someone who was outgoing, well spoken, obviously bilingual in this case, and that had the drive to learn fast,” he said.

©

 Supplied/Marcos Chumacero Marcos Chumacero’s rapid transformation to IT specialist from bartender is one that Canada’s red-hot technology companies hope thousands of others will replicate.

Chumacero’s rapid transformation to IT specialist from bartender is one that Canada’s red-hot technology companies hope thousands of others will replicate. The latest Statistics Canada data show the professional, scientific and technical services sector had more than 46,600 job vacancies in March. Last week, Economic Development Minister Mélanie Joly suggested the need was even greater, telling reporters on June 3 that the Greater Toronto Area alone had 70,000 vacant technology positions.

Tech companies have struggled to find qualified workers for years. The skills shortage is now even more acute because the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically accelerated the shift to a digital economy in which STEM skills and knowledge are key. For example, education, which has been carried out largely on the internet for the past year, is now at a place that some experts thought would take a decade to reach, according to a report last year by the federal Industry Strategy Council.

But Canada’s workforce wasn’t ready for such a drastic shift, as most of the jobs were in non-technical sectors, such as healthcare and social assistance, retail, and construction. The mismatch is forcing the private sector to step up with training programs tailored for the jobs on offer, rather than wait on a post-secondary education system based on a four-year university degree.

“There is a war on talent right now right across Canada and a lot of companies, including KPMG, just sort of can’t hire fast enough,” said Rob Davis, chief diversity and inclusion officer at KPMG Canada, a consulting firm. “I think that fact alone to me says that, perhaps, we need another avenue, another source of talent than the traditional university type of degree.”

Canadian technology companies had started relying on immigration to fill the gaps. That remains an important part of the solution, but the pandemic-induced border closures exposed the downside to counting on international pipelines to fill empty positions.

Davis, along with other executives, said that rather than waiting on economic immigrants, Canada needs to overhaul its approach to training to take advantage of the large pool of workers that were left stranded by the recession. There is a plethora of workers available for retraining, as the economic downturn has pushed long-term unemployment to record levels. Statistics Canada data released last week put the number of people who had been unemployed for longer than 27 weeks at 478,000, a 166.8 per cent increase from the start of the pandemic.

Traditional paths into digital and knowledge-based jobs, where a person typically spends four or five years at university before going into the workforce, aren’t always flexible enough to meet the needs of employers, said D’Andre Wilson-Ihejirika, director of programming and employment partnerships at Elevate, the non-profit that runs annual technology festivals.

“We know that technology is constantly changing and shifting very quickly,” Wilson-Ihejirika said. “So by the time you finish a four-year degree, what you learn at the beginning of those four years may no longer be relevant.”

As well, people who are already working age don’t always have the luxury of spending more than $40,000 on tuition, while also putting their lives on pause for half a decade to get a STEM degree, Davis said. The sector’s reputation for being dominated by white men creates an additional barrier for marginalized communities.

Joly was in Toronto to announce that the federal government, alongside the City of Toronto, had decided to give Wilson-Ihejirika’s organization $5.8 million to help fund a program that aims to prepare 5,300 people from marginalized communities in the GTA for tech-based jobs. The program lasts three months and focuses on high-demand fields, like project management, data analytics and digital marketing.

“As we know, the tech sector will continue to grow and (will) need to be more inclusive to make sure that everybody is able to have access to its success,” said Joly. If the program is a success, she said it could expand countrywide.

Executives are warming up to hiring graduates of such programs, setting aside notions that qualified candidates must have a university degree, said Greg Smith, CEO of Thinkific Labs Inc., a software platform that helps people create and sell their own online courses.

Smith said Thinkfic’s interview process focuses on previous projects that a candidate has completed and how that has helped him or her acquire the necessary skills. In fact, most of his software developers didn’t go to university for software development. “I quite frankly don’t care if they went to school or where they went to school,” he said. “I care if they can write great code and build great software.”

Coming from a non-tech background can only help an organization, said Sabrina Geremia, who oversees the Canadian operations of Alphabet Inc.’s Google.

Google also has its own certification programs, designed to be completed in six months, that target everyone from existing IT workers who want to add to their skill sets to complete newbies. The training programs focus on high-growth, in-demand fields such as user-experience design, IT and Android development. Geremia describes the “micro-certificates” that participants receive at the end of their training as “Lego blocks” that can either be the start of a base of knowledge or add on to an existing base.

“We are just at a point where the future of work is the future of lifelong learning,” Geremia said.

That’s the case for Chumacero, who used his first block of learning as a springboard to an entirely new career.

“I’ve done everything in the restaurant industry,” he said. “I can’t be convinced to go back.”

• Email: bbharti@postmedia.com | Twitter: biancabharti

'Convenient ignorance:' Canadians' knowledge of residential schools woefully lacking

TORONTO — Widespread shock at the discovery of what are believed to be the buried remains of 215 Indigenous children has highlighted the pervasive ignorance among many Canadians of one of the most sordid, and as yet incomplete, chapters in Canada’s national story, experts and observers say.

 Provided by The Canadian Press

The lack of understanding, they say, is largely due to an education system that has shown a profound reluctance to come to grips with the horrors of the Indian residential school system. Some, however, see the collective shudder at the grim find in British Columbia as evidence of a tipping point toward long overdue change.

"The 'discovery' in Kamloops would only be a true discovery or revelation for most 'mainstream' Canadians that are non-Indigenous," said Sean Monteith, an Indigenous education adviser with the Ontario Public School Boards Association. "Most Canadians are ignorant of this shared history. It may not be as wilful as it is convenient ignorance."

Monteith, director of an eastern Ontario school board who has spent decades pushing reconciliation through education, said teaching about residential schools has inevitably been a spotty check-box exercise that failed to address their still-living legacy of trauma and dislocation. There is no national or even consistent provincial curriculum, he said.

In a recent statement to the British Columbia legislature, Premier John Horgan alluded to the dismal state of teaching about the schools, which he said he only learned about when he heard a survivor speak at a high school gymnasium. Changing what is taught, he said, is crucial.

"It would start by ensuring that our K-to-12 system does a comprehensive job of telling the story of Canada, not with rose-coloured glasses, but with the reality which it deserves," Horgan said. "I have two degrees in history from two universities and I did not know about the atrocities of residential schools from our public education system."

A passing reference in Canada's Citizenship Guide for would-be Canadians is another example of how the ugly reality of residential schools has been glossed over. While the guide refers to "hardship," it makes no mention of sexual abuse, the thousands of child deaths, or the ongoing trauma passed down through generations like a toxic heirloom.

"In today’s Canada, Aboriginal peoples enjoy renewed pride and confidence," the guide states.

Norman Yakeleya, the Assembly of First Nations regional chief for Northwest Territories and himself a residential school survivor, said that just doesn't cut it. A "strong chapter" that tells the truth about the schools and their impact is needed, he said.

"I feel very, very, very sad and very angry," Yakeleya said. "A shaking up needs to happen in Canada that needs to be more than one paragraph."

The Canadian School Boards Association has called for the development - with survivor and Aboriginal input - of a nationwide curriculum on the schools and related topics from kindergarten to Grade 12. Doing so, it said, means funding post-secondary institutions to educate teachers on integrating Indigenous knowledge.

Darren McKee, executive director of the Saskatchewan School Boards Association, said he learned about the Treaty of Versailles or Treaty of Utrecht growing up in the province but not about his own treaty.

"There was this sense of displacement of history, that there was a need to push forward with the history that the majority felt was important," McKee said. "We do have to acknowledge that the truth wasn't being taught."

While many Canadians learned little or noting about residential schools, provinces and territories have recently made changes to their curriculums in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, or are working to do so.

Alberta, for example, which has a single reference to the schools in Grade 10, will include the "dark, deplorable part of Canada’s history" and its legacy in every grade of a proposed Kindergarten to Grade 6 curriculum. Topics would include disease, malnutrition, and neglect that contributed to thousands of child deaths.

“What we are proposing is a huge increase in content,” Premier Jason Kenney said.

Similarly, other provinces and territories, which offer some lessons on Indigenous peoples at various grades, have recently made changes to focus more on residential schools and their legacy. Most say they are also working to offer yet more content to a wider range of age groups.

One foreigner who knows more than many Canadians about the residential schools is Veronika Heinl, who wrote a 40-page paper on the subject in 2018 at her high school in Germany, where the country's role in the Second World War is widely taught. She found no shortage of reference material, ranging from The Canadian Encyclopedia and several books to media reports.

"It's a very intense topic," Heinl said. "You could compare it to the kind of dark part of history in Germany."

Yakeleya said students need to know the realities of Canada and what was done to her Indigenous people.

"They have read the history books of what happened in Germany. The camps. They have read the history of other nations doing this to their own people," Yakeleya said. "Right on the ground they are standing called Canada, it also happened to their own people."

Given jurisdictional complexities, developing a consistent curriculum would be tricky. Different political ideologies get in the way of a more standardized approach," McKee said.

As flags fly at half mast and pint-sized shoes pop up at makeshift memorials across the country, McKee said children appear to grasp the enormity of what happened.

"Kids are looking at this and they seem to get it," McKee said. "They seem to be open to understanding these wrongs and making a difference going forward, but we still got a lot of work."

Regardless, observers said no Canadian can now ignore — through ignorance or attitude — what has been a blistering, self-evident truth to Indigenous people past and present. There's been an unprecedented awakening, Monteith said, although most expect more finds such as in Kamloops.

"You're going to likely see a movement now that will see this shared history required to be taught in all classrooms," Monteith said. "That's how we're going to start to get at informing and moving reconciliation forward, not just in our schools and in our classrooms, but in our homes and in our communities."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on June 6, 2021.

Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press

Protesters call for binding protections for tenants before Heron Gate redevelopment approved

Megan Gillis , Marco Vigliotti 

OTTAWA CITIZEN

JUNE 6,2021

Provided by Ottawa Citizen ACORN members and tenants in Heron Gate gathered on the site of previous Heron Gate

Tenants and supporters marched through a wild-flower dotted field in Heron Gate where homes once stood Saturday, calling for a signed “social contract” before a massive new development is approved by city hall.


“After the last wave of evictions, they made some verbal promises that mass displacement would not happen in Heron Gate again, but there are currently no protections for tenants attached to the official plan that are legally binding, so it’s all just words,” Mavis Finnamore told the crowd at the event organized by Ottawa ACORN.

“Tenants are being asked to trust that Hazelview will just keep their word and not do anything bad to tenants,” she added to boos from a lively crowd gathered along a crumbling street dotted with signs bearing the names of people who once lived there.

“We want to remind everybody: We’re the tenants past and present and we aren’t going away. We’re going to be a bloody thorn in their sides until we get what we want.”

Finnamore’s family, including her spouse, mother and two children, were issued an eviction notice in 2015 for the townhouse they’d rented for more than 30 years in a neighbourhood she called welcoming, diverse and affordable.

Three upscale six-storey buildings now sit on the site at Heron Road and Sandalwood Drive, while Finnamore had to move to the west end to find a new home at higher rent.

The evictions were were “traumatizing” and “terrifying” for residents, many of them people of colour and newcomers, upending lives busy with working multiple jobs, going to school, raising families and learning the language, she said.

A second wave of evictions followed and now a plan for a vast redevelopment by developer Hazelview with an official plan amendment set to go before the planning committee and city council.

ACORN says it wants the City of Ottawa to grant Hazelview a green light to proceed with its redevelopment plans for the area only if it signs a legally binding contract committing to no further displacement of remaining residents, setting aside 25 to 35 per cent of future units for affordable housing, providing rental replacement for previously evicted residents and improved maintenance of existing buildings and units.

Hazelview — then known as Timbercreek — acquired the Heron Gate rental development near the convergence of Heron and Walkley roads in 2012 and 2013 and spent $45 million to upgrade the property. It demolished 86 of the townhouses in 2016 and another 150 units in 2019 after having evicted or relocated the remaining tenants in 2018.

Amid community backlash, the developer inked a “social contract” with Alta Vista Coun. Jean Cloutier and neighbourhood residents in February 2019 for future development of the 20-hectare property, pledging 20 per cent of all total units would be “affordable” housing and promising diversity of housing types and sizes as well as new amenities and green spaces, plus training and employment opportunities for Heron Gate residents.

Hazelview also promised there would be no more demolitions of occupied units until tenants were able to relocate within the community

.

© Ashley Fraser Before any work starts, developer Hazelview must secure approval of its application for an official plan amendment from city council. The application will be presented to the planning committee on Tuesday, and staff’s report will be released to the public on June 28. City council would then look at the application on Aug. 25.

Then, in the summer of 2019, Hazelview unveiled its plan for the future of the now empty site, envisioning 55 new buildings, including townhouses, 16 low- and medium-rise buildings and a central highrise that could soar 40 storeys. The plan, which would be implemented in phases over 20-25 years, would add approximately 5,600 units to the neighbourhood. It was decried by critics as “hyper-gentrification.”

Before any work starts, the developer must secure approval of its application for an official plan amendment from city council. The application was published in December, with the city hosting a series of community information and comments sessions in March.

City staff confirmed that the application would be presented to the planning committee on Tuesday, and staff’s report will be released to the public on June 28. City council would then look at the application on Aug. 25.

Speaking to this newspaper on Friday, Cloutier said the terms of the social contract weren’t that different from the demands from ACORN, but requiring 25 to 35 per cent of units to be set aside for affordable housing was not “attainable” and surpassed any threshold the city had mandated for other developers. A 20 per cent requirement is “reasonable,” he said.

“We have never asked any other landlord in the city of Ottawa for these levels of affordable housing. I would celebrate 20 per cent.”

Nevertheless, Cloutier said he and ACORN were “in agreement in the principles” of the redevelopment of Heron Gate and he would only support the Hazelview application if it met the terms of the 2019 social contract.

“Those are the conditions under which I will support the application, and those are the conditions that I encourage my council colleagues to support as they consider this application.”

Although there has been no discussion of a potential sale of the site, Cloutier added that the commitments in the social contract must be “attached to the property” as opposed to the developer, especially as work is expected to take place over two decades.

When reached for comment, Hazleview said it would “continue to work earnestly” with the city on finalizing details of the master plan for Heron Gate redevelopment along with a “social framework that meets the current and future needs of the community, the city and Hazelview.”

The company expects to be able to share further details about the project in the “coming weeks ahead,” Colleen Krempulec, Hazelview’s vice-president of brand marketing and co rporate social responsibility, said in a statement.

“We remain fully committed to ongoing transparency through the process and to ensuring that stakeholders have various means to stay engaged on the progress of the plan. We are invested in this neighbourhood and remain committed to supporting a sustainable, affordable and diverse community that supports the long-term viability of Heron Gate.”

© Ashley Fraser ACORN members and tenants in Heron Gate gathered on the site of previous Heron Gate “demovictions” on Saturday. Colleen Krempulec, developer Hazelview’s vice-president of brand marketing and corporate social responsibility, said the company remained “fully committed to ongoing transparency through the process and to ensuring that stakeholders have various means to stay engaged on the progress of the plan. We are invested in this neighbourhood and remain committed to supporting a sustainable, affordable and diverse community that supports the long-term viability of Heron Gate.”

In a statement, Mayor Jim Watson’s office said that he “ remains optimistic that the application will be responsive to the community concerns and the cultural diversity in the Heron Gate community” and that Cloutier was advocating for residents throughout the process.

Somerset Coun. Catherine McKenney, council’s liaison for housing and homelessness, thanked people for attending Saturday’s rally and cited Ottawa’s “shameful history” of evicting low-income people from their homes from LeBreton Flats in the 1960s to Heron Gate and the future displacement of residents of Manor Village for the expansion of light rail.

“As we move forward now in the official plan process, I can tell you that it is too often focused on supporting the wealthy development industry and does not do enough to help our most vulnerable citizens,” McKenney said in a statement. “Without the tireless work of ACORN and others, this would never change.”

Ottawa Centre MPP Joel Harden, who attended the rally along with Cloutier and Rideau-Rockcliffe Coun. Rawlson King, said low-income families evicted to demolish their neglected homes should be able to return to affordable units at Heron Gate. Voters should press politicians on their support for them.

“This is not going to be forgotten,” Harden told the crowd. “It’s not going to be forgotten because people here are reminding us and I know this organizing is going to continue.”

Pair of Jerusalem activists freed after detention by Israel


Video: Israeli police and Palestinians clash in Jerusalem (The Canadian Press)


JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police on Sunday detained two members of a prominent family in the contested Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem who led protests against attempts by Jewish settlers to evict dozens of Palestinian families from their homes in the area. The twin brother and sister were released later in the day.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The arrests of Muna and Muhammad al-Kurd, 23, came a day after police detained a well-known Al Jazeera reporter covering a demonstration in the neighborhood. The reporter, Givara Budeiri, was held for four hours before she was released and sent to a hospital to treat a broken hand. It was not clear how her hand was broken, but her boss blamed police mistreatment.

Earlier this year, heavy-handed police actions in Sheikh Jarrah and other parts of east Jerusalem fueled weeks of unrest that helped spark an 11-day war between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

Those tensions are simmering again — and could flare anew if Israeli ultranationalists follow through on plans to march Thursday through the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City. Israeli police were expected to hold consultations on whether the parade, which was originally set to take place when the war erupted on May 10, would be allowed to proceed.

Renewed violence could complicate the task of embattled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's political opponents, who formed a fragile and disparate coalition last week, of passing a parliamentary vote of confidence required to replace him and take office. A close ally of Netanyahu oversees the police.

In Sheikh Jarrah, Jewish settlers have been waging a decades-long campaign to evict the families from densely populated Palestinian neighborhoods just outside the walls of the Old City. The area is one of the most sensitive parts of east Jerusalem, which is home to sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims and which Israel captured in 1967 and annexed in a move not recognized internationally. Israel views the entire city as its capital, while the Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

Settler groups and Israeli officials say the Sheikh Jarrah dispute is merely about real estate. But Palestinians say they are victims of a discriminatory system. The settlers are using a 1970 law that allows Jews to reclaim formerly Jewish properties lost during the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation, a right denied to Palestinians who lost property in the same conflict.

The al-Kurd family in Sheikh Jarrah has been at the forefront of months of protests against the planned evictions.

Early Sunday, police took Muna al-Kurd, 23, from her home.

Her father, Nabil al-Kurd, said police “stormed the house in large numbers and in a barbaric manner.”

“I was sleeping, and I found them in my bedroom,” he said. Police then searched the house and arrested his daughter. Video posted on social media showed her being taken away in handcuffs.

“The reason for the arrest is that we say that we will not leave our homes, and they do not want anyone to express his opinion, they do not want anyone to tell the truth,” he said. “They want to silence us.”

Police also searched for her brother, Muhammad, but he was not there. Later, he turned himself in to Jerusalem police.

The siblings' lawyer, Nasser Odeh, told journalists outside the police station that his clients were accused of “disturbing public security and participation in nationalistic riots.”

On Sunday evening, Muna al-Kurd was released. But before she was freed, police briefly clashed with a crowd outside the station, throwing stun grenades. Later Sunday, Muna posted on Instagram that her brother had been released as well.

The arrests came a day after Al Jazeera's Budeiri, wearing a protective vest marked “press,” was dragged away by police at a protest in Sheikh Jarrah.

According to witnesses, police asked Budeiri for identification. Colleagues said police did not allow her to return to her car to retrieve her government-issued press card. Instead, they said she was surrounded by police, handcuffed and dragged into a vehicle with darkened windows.

In video footage posted online, Budeiri can be seen in handcuffs, while clutching her notebook and shouting, “Don’t touch, enough, enough.”

Israeli police said entrance to the neighborhood is limited due to the tense situation, and only accredited journalists are allowed in. They said that when Budeiri was unable to provide her press pass, police “removed her.” They added that Budeiri was arrested after becoming hostile and pushing an officer.

“The Israel Police will allow the freedom of press coverage, provided that these are done in accordance (with) the law while maintaining public order," according to a statement. The statement did not reference her broken hand.

Budeiri was held for four hours before she was released and sent to the hospital, said Walid Omary, the Jerusalem bureau chief for Al Jazeera. In addition to the broken hand, Omary said Budeiri also suffered bruises on her body. He said her cameraman’s video camera was also heavily damaged by police.

As part of her release, Budeiri is banned from returning to the neighborhood for 15 days, Omary said.

“They are attacking the journalists in east Jerusalem because they don’t want them to continue covering what’s happening inside Sheikh Jarrah," he said.

The Foreign Press Association, which represents hundreds of journalists working for international news organizations, said the treatment of Budeiri was “the latest in a long line of heavy-handed tactics by Israeli police” against the media in recent weeks. It said journalists have been hit by stun grenades, tear gas, sponge-tipped bullets and putrid-smelling water.

"We call on police to punish the officers who needlessly injured an experienced journalist and broke professional equipment. And once again, we urge police to uphold Israel’s pledges to respect freedom of the press and to allow journalists to do their jobs freely and without fear of injury and intimidation," the FPA said.

Last month's war was triggered by weeks of clashes in Jerusalem between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters in and around the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, a flashpoint holy site.

The war erupted on May 10 when Hamas, calling itself the defender of the holy city, launched a barrage of rockets at Jerusalem. Some 254 people were killed in Gaza and 13 in Israel before a cease-fire took effect on May 21.

Al Jazeera’s acting director general, Mostefa Souag, noted that Budeiri's detention came after Israel's May 15 war-time destruction of a Gaza high-rise that housed the local office of Al Jazeera. The tower also housed The Associated Press' office.

Israel has alleged that Hamas military intelligence was operating from the building. The AP has said it has no indication of a purported Hamas presence and has called for an independent investigation.

Josef Federman , The Associated Press

Israel arrests Jerusalem activist as reporter recovers

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli police arrested a Palestinian protest leader in the contested Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem on Sunday, a day after forcefully detaining a prominent Al Jazeera journalist covering the campaign by Jewish settlers to evict dozens of Palestinian families from the area.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The arrest Sunday of Muna al-Kurd, confirmed by phone by her father, Nabil, was the latest move by Israeli police to quell several days of tension in one of the most sensitive neighborhoods in Jerusalem.

It came as Givara Budeiri, a veteran correspondent for the Al Jazeera satellite channel who regularly covers the story, was released from a hospital with a broken hand that her boss said she sustained on Saturday.

Nabil al-Kurd said Israeli police early Sunday “stormed the house in large numbers and in a barbaric manner,” saying they wanted to arrest Muna, 23, and her 22-year-old brother.

“I was sleeping and I found them in my bedroom,” Nabil al-Kurd said in a telephone interview. While his son was not home, police searched the house and arrested Muna, one of the most widely-known activists resisting the Israeli eviction drive. Video posted on social media, confirmed by Nabil, showed Muna being taken from the home in handcuffs.

“The reason for the arrest is that we say that we will not leave our homes, and they do not want anyone to express his opinion, they do not want anyone to tell the truth," he said. “They want to silence us.”

Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The weekend's tensions began Saturday as Budeiri, wearing body armor marked “press,” covered a sit-in among activists. Witnesses and the satellite channel said that after the protest was over, Israeli police asked her for press identification. Budeiri offered to call her driver to retrieve it. Police instead surrounded her, pushed her and handcuffed her before leading her to a border police vehicle with darkened windows.

Budeiri was held for four hours before she was hospitalized with a broken hand, said Walid Omary, the Jerusalem bureau chief for Al Jazeera. Budeiri had been reporting regularly from Sheikh Jarrah, Omary said.

In video footage posted online, Budeiri can be seen handcuffed and surrounded by border police. Clutching her notebook, she is heard shouting, “Don’t touch, enough, enough.”

Israeli police said Budeiri was detained after she was asked for identification, refused — and pushed a police officer. But witnesses say Budeiri, who holds an Israeli press card, was not allowed to return to her car to get the document. Al Jazeera said her cameraman's video camera was also heavily damaged by police.

Oren Ziv, a cameraman on the scene, said the incident took only a few seconds. The officers did not wait for Budeiri to get her identification, he said. They took her to a waiting police vehicle with darkened windows, where she was put in the back seat with female officers.

Al Jazeera's acting director general, Mostefa Souag, condemned the police actions. “The systematic targeting of our journalists is in total violation of all international conventions,” he said.

“They are attacking the journalists in east Jerusalem because they don’t want them to continue covering what’s happening inside Sheikh Jarrah," Omary said.

The tension in Sheikh Jarrah has fueled weeks of unrest and helped spark an Israel-Hamas war after the Islamic militant group fired several rockets toward Jerusalem on May 10, positioning itself as a defender of Palestinian rights in the holy city.

The war, in which 254 people were killed in Gaza and 13 in Israel, ended May 21. In all, Gaza militants fired more than 4,000 rockets toward Israel, while Israel bombed hundreds of Gaza targets it said were linked to militants.

The most imminent Jerusalem evictions are on hold, following the intervention by Israel’s attorney general, but the settlers' campaign continues.

Rights groups fear the evictions could still be carried out in the coming months as international attention wanes, potentially igniting another round of bloodshed. The Israeli watchdog Ir Amim, which closely follows the various court cases, estimates that at least 150 households in two neighborhoods are threatened with eviction.

Souag accused Israel of attempting to silence journalists in a systematic fashion. He noted that Budeiri's detention came after Israel's May 15 war-time destruction of a Gaza high-rise that housed the local office of Al Jazeera. The tower also housed the Gaza office of The Associated Press.

Israel has alleged that Hamas military intelligence was operating from the building. The AP has said it has no indication of a purported Hamas presence in the building. It has called for an independent investigation.

___

Kellman reported from Tel Aviv.

___

Follow Kellman on Twitter at: http://www.Twitter.com/APLaurieKellman

Josef Federman And Laurie Kellman, The Associated Press

‘We didn’t have Gavin anymore’: The aftermath of a workplace injury

Morgan Black 

GLOBAL NEWS

JUNE 6,2021

The first five days of Gavin Zima's new job were uneventful. The sixth day — February 12, 2014 — changed everything

.

© Morgan Black/Global News 

Maryann Reinke holds a photograph of her son, Gavin Zima, on May 17 2021

The young man, with a loving family and so much promise, died that day. While he lived another seven years, the life that he had previously lived was over.

As the opening line of his obituary from this past April so painfully and honestly pointed out: “Gavin Paul Zima, 33, of Edmonton, Alta., took his own life to end his chronic pain and suffering after struggling with multiple injuries in a crippling work accident that left him with a broken body and mind for the past eight years.”

Zima is one of thousands of Canadians that suffer workplace injuries. The public usually hears about the large, dramatic accidents and we sometimes know about the workers who are killed.

But many of those that are injured suffer in silence and anonymity, their lives altered forever.

That was Zima’s story.

Early years

MaryAnn Reinke was 10 months pregnant when Zima was born on Aug. 20, 1987. She said her son took his time entering the world, but moved quickly through the rest of his milestones.

"He was such a happy kid. Nothing bothered him. He was naturally bright and strong," she said from her Spruce Grove home. "He's six years old, playing with his siblings and he's almost beating them at a hockey game!"

Adored by his older brothers and sister, his family said Zima had a heart of gold — and a particular love for his two dogs, Gav and Beagrr. Reinke said he treated the pair like his own children.

Zima graduated with honours from Unity Composite High School in Unity, Sask. After graduation, he went into sprinkler systems and installation.

Read more: Families frustrated with justice process in Alberta workplace deaths

"He was so hard-working. He was extremely well-respected," she said. "Even though he was busy, he still made time for me. You know, 'Mom do you need anything before I go? Can I help you?'"

"He was just so determined," Reinke said. "He made goals and he stuck to them. My neighbours would come up to me and say, 'How do you get your teenager up at 6 a.m. every morning? I can't get mine off the couch.'"

Zima received his Alberta Journeyman certification in sprinkler systems and installation, but after eight years in the field, he was ready for a new challenge.

Devastating crash

Zima had travelled to Saskatchewan from Edmonton to work as a pipeline inspector. He was early in the trade, but a quick learner.

"As much as my company liked me... Gavin was the real rock star," his older brother Sheldon Hildebrand said. "I was really excited to see how he was going to excel... he was already so good a few days into the job."

At the end of a snowy shift in February 2014, Zima was driving down Highway 1 in Saskatchewan when a blizzard hit.

"They were going 30 km/h with their hazard lights on," Hildebrand explained. "There was a (Chevrolet) Suburban on the side of the road and Gavin hit its mirror."

Hildebrand said Zima wanted to check if anyone in the vehicle needed help.

In an unmailed letter written to AISH in 2019, Zima detailed what happened next.

"I was first hit from behind by a tow truck travelling 100 kilometers an hour, which caused my initial injuries," Zima wrote.

"I was then carried several hundred feet by first responders to an ambulance where I was loaded onto a stretcher."

Video: Mother of Gavin Zima, injured on the job, reads firsthand account of incident that plagued him for years

As the paramedics began to load Zima onto the stretcher, a semi-trailer lost control and hit his stretcher, launching him several hundred feet away.

"The semi-trailer jackknifed and broke the ambulance in half. It broke the pelvises of both paramedics," Zima wrote.

"A second ambulance arrived and those paramedics went to retrieve my body, thinking I was dead, only to find me still conscious."

Zima was in hospital for two weeks. A broken sternum, legs and vertebrae made the 26-year-old feel like a stranger in his own body. He would later be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and generalized anxiety disorder.

Reinke said her son was unable to enter a vehicle or travel for long periods of time due to high levels of anxiety.

Workplace accidents

Hours after the crash, Zima applied for support through the Workers Compensation Board (WCB) and worked to heal his body and mind.

While his case was complicated by the cross-provincial nature of his employment, turning to the WCB for support is done by thousands of Canadians every year.

Zima was one of thousands of people injured on the job left with long-term effects. In Alberta, 18,000 workers are currently receiving ongoing benefits and services for workplace injury claims registered at least five years ago.

In total, WCB Alberta has received more than 600,000 claims over the past five years.

Of those 18,000 workers, about 60 per cent are receiving wage loss payments such as a pension. The remainder receive only non-wage benefits like ongoing medical treatment, medications and tools like hearing aids.

In 2020, fewer than 30 per cent of workers who reported claims missed time from work due to their injuries. The average lost-time claim is about 60 days.

Zima’s accident initially left him in a wheelchair with numerous braces due to a broken leg and back. Over time he progressed to a walker, then crutches and finally a cane.

Read more: Olympic cauldron lit for Day of Mourning for workers killed on the job

Reinke said Zima was cleared by WCB as ready to return to work about two years after the accident -- he had a job lined up as a warehouse manager in Saskatchewan once he recovered from his PTSD -- but she said he was far from ready.

Changes in Gavin

As his prognosis became clearer, Zima realized some of his injuries would require long-term, even life-long care.

"The doctor told him: 'You will always have a cane. You will always be in pain. It's chronic pain,'" Hildebrand said.

"Afterwards, he lived in my mom's basement. He was scared to get in the car. He couldn't move until noon when his pain pills kicked in."

"He had to sell his truck because he couldn't drive it anymore. He lost total use of his right leg," Reinke said. "He couldn't even go and get a coffee for himself."

Still suffering, Reinke said her son made her hide all of the photographs of him from before the accident.

"I had placed the photographs so he could see them better," she said. "He said, 'You know, this just hurts me.'"

Once an eternal optimist, his mom said the "loving, caring and fun" Zima receded into himself.

"I kind of didn't want to talk to Gavin after because it made me sad about who he was... before and after," Hildebrand said.

"The accident took him away. We didn't have Gavin anymore," Reinke said.

Final years

"At one point he said, 'I don't want this pain and I don't want this fight anymore.' Then, for two years after he didn't talk about it," Reikne said.

Reinke said she created the most positive and loving environment possible for her son as he battled depression and chronic pain under her roof.

Gavin died by suicide on April 12 in Spruce Grove. He was 33 years old.

"I'm so sorry mom, I tried my hardest to keep going — to take care of you and the dogs longer. I just can't do it," Zima's last note to Reinke read. "I love you more than words can ever express."

"Sure, he's a strong, tough guy — but he's not on the inside. It broke him," Reinke said.

Where to get help

If you or someone you know is in crisis and needs help, resources are available. In case of an emergency, please call 911 for immediate help.

The Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention, Depression Hurts and Kids Help Phone 1-800-668-6868 all offer ways of getting help if you, or someone you know, may be suffering from mental health issues.

WANT SOME CHEESE WITH THAT WHINE Trudeau's comments 'unfair' about Church and residential schools: Toronto archbishop

The archbishop of Toronto expressed "great sorrow" Sunday for the abuse that took place at Canada's residential schools, though he insisted the prime minister was “unfair” in his calls for the Catholic Church to take more responsibility

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Cardinal Thomas Collins also said it was "very important" when Pope Francis held a moment of silent prayer Sunday in honour of Canadian Indigenous children who died at residential schools and the families who mourn them, despite the pontiff not offering an apology for the Church's participation in the schools.

Collins expressed sadness for the rampant suffering endured at the institutions, both in an interview with The Canadian Press and in remarks delivered at a service in Toronto.

He said the Church as a whole has also owned up to its role in the system and chastised Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for seeking further action.

"I would think that Mr. Trudeau and his government ... should join with us and with the Indigenous people in our journey together," Collins said in a telephone interview. "We want to work together. These types of sharp comments, which are not based on real fact, are most unfortunate."

As the Pope addressed his congregation Sunday in the heart of Vatican City, Collins was inviting his own assembly from Toronto's St. Michael's Cathedral Basilica to bow their heads and honour those who died in Canadian residential schools.

The system targeted Indigenous children for decades, and some 150,000 First Nations, Metis and Inuit children were forcibly sent to the institutions where many suffered abuse and even death.

The issue was propelled back into the national spotlight 10 days ago when the Tk'emlups te Secwepemc First Nation in British Columbia announced that the remains of 215 Indigenous children are believed to be buried at an unmarked site at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. Ground-penetrating radar confirmed the findings, the First Nation said.

Pope Francis said he is following news of the findings "with pain" after leading the Angelus prayer on Sunday. "I join the Canadian bishops and the entire Catholic Church in Canada in expressing my closeness to the Canadian people traumatized by the shocking news," he said.

He did not mention Trudeau's call for him to apologize for the Catholic Church's role in Canadian residential schools, which came at a Friday news conference. Saskatchewan's Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations is also demanding an apology from the Pope, saying it is the right thing to do.

"This was genocide, and it should be acknowledged as such by the perpetrators, the Church, the Government, and the RCMP," the organization representing 74 of the province's First Nations said in a release Sunday.

In response to Trudeau, Collins pointed out that Pope Benedict XVI apologized in 2009 to a delegation from Canada's Assembly of First Nations for the abuse experienced by children in residential schools. Benedict called the children's treatment "deplorable" in the same address.

Collins also noted the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, who ran the Kamloops residential school, apologized in 1991.

Trudeau also said Friday he was "deeply disappointed" with the Church's position on releasing residential school records.

"We’re still seeing resistance from the Church, possibly from the Church in Canada," he said.

Collins called those remarks "unhelpful," noting that as far as he understands, the Oblates are releasing whatever documentation they have.

"But I totally agree that everything should be made known," he said, adding that any information that may be withheld should be released. "This whole residential school system was a terrible thing ... we have to repent of that and be deeply careful to ensure it never happens again."

Lawyer Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond said she appreciates what seems to be a "heartfelt commitment" from the Cardinal to provide unmitigated access to records that would help family members identify residential school victims, especially those from the school in Kamloops.

But those in power have "taken positions contrary to the words expressed today," Turpel-Lafond, the director of the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre at the University of British Columbia, said in an email Sunday.

She, too, called on "the highest authority in the Church" to apologize and direct that all records and archival material be released without exceptions.

"Leaving First Nations in limbo to engage with the dozens of church congregations, past and present, does not reflect a fulsome human rights approach," she said. "Canada needs to do better."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 6, 2021.

Sarah Smellie, The Canadian Press


Video: Trudeau calls for apology from the Catholic Church for role in residential schools (cbc.ca)

Pope Calls For Reconciliation, Healing Over Kamloops Residential School Discovery

 cbc.ca

Cardinal says PM's calls for church to release residential school documents 'uninformed'

Duration: 08:22 

Archbishop of Toronto Cardinal Thomas Collins told CBC's chief political correspondent, Rosemary Barton, that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's comments calling on the Catholic Church to release records from its former residential schools were extremely 'unhelpful' and 'uninformed.'

Hundreds in convoy to Kamloops to show support for Indigenous Canadians

Darrian Matassa-Fung 1 day ago

© Global News A convoy consisting of more than 100 semi-trucks arrived in Kamloops on Saturday.

Horns were blaring on Saturday with truckers on a journey from Kelowna to Kamloops.

An Okanagan trucker organized a massive convoy to the site where 215 bodies of children were found at a former residential school.

West Kelowna trucker Mike Otto said when he heard the news of the horrific discovery -- he had to do something.


Ceremonies held across B.C. to honour children found in unmarked burial sites

Video: Conservative MP for Kamloops calls for action to support Indigenous communities (cbc.ca)


"I decided I needed to do something on Facebook, on Monday,” said Otto.

“And it just took off from there."

Read more: ‘This is just the tip of the iceberg’: Blood Tribe remembers 215 children found in Kamloops

The convoy arrived in Kamloops Saturday afternoon with hundreds of vehicles honking their horns in support.

Corinne Derickson, an indigenous woman who says her grandparents lived at residential schools, jumped at the opportunity to help organize the convoy.

“When Mike reached out to me to ride shotgun in the truck I was like hell yes," she said. "I want to be a part of this and bring attention, spotlight the truth. The truth needs to be revealed.”

The truckers left the Okanagan in the morning, growing with the addition of convoys from across B.C.

A few convoys came from the Lower Mainland, as well as others from across B.C.’s Interior.

Read more: First Nation works with SMU anthropologist to search site of former Shubenacadie Residential School

Otto says the support shown blew him away.

“It's unbelievable. Just putting out the call to everyone to coordinate this. It happened within a matter of hours,” said Otto.

“It's unbelievable just to see the support from the community and the truck drivers.”

The convoy also consisted of motorcycles, school buses and regular cars to make for hundreds of people coming together at the former residential school site.

Video: Dr. Kisha Supernant details the extensive work involved in investigating burial sites at residential schools

Statue of Egerton Ryerson toppled after hundreds rally in downtown Toronto

CBC/Radio-Canada 

© Evan Mitsui/CBC

 A statue of Egerton Ryerson, one of the architects of the residential school system, lies on the grounds of the university that bears his name after being toppled on Sunday.

The statue of Egerton Ryerson, considered one of the architects of the residential school system in Canada, was toppled and vandalized Sunday evening following a demonstration in downtown Toronto.

The act occurred at Ryerson University after an afternoon demonstration that was held in response to an announcement by the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation on May 27 that preliminary findings from a survey conducted by a specialist in ground-penetrating radar indicated the remains of what could be 215 children buried on the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C.

Since then, there have been calls from Indigenous professors and students to change the university's name and remove Ryerson's statue from campus for his role in the creation of Canada's residential school system.

It is not known how the statue was brought down, but a video posted to Twitter shows what appears to be a rope tied to the figure and people cheering as it comes tumbling down. CBC News has not verified the contents of the video or confirmed who filmed it.

Toronto police say they are aware of the incident and will investigate.

'It's a little bit of justice'

Craig St. Denis, who was at the campus where crowds gathered after the statue came down, said its toppling "marks the beginning of healing for an entire nation.

"It's important this statue has come down so we can raise awareness to what has been going on since the 1800s and the incorporation of the residential school system," said St. Denis, a Cree whose grandfather was in the residential school system.

Dishanie Fernando, a student at Sheridan College in Oakville, west of Toronto, said the statue should have come down a long time ago.

"The statue represents racism, the statue represent oppression. It should have been taken down a long time ago voluntarily by the Ryerson University. However, that did not happen."

"It's a little bit of justice I suppose for the Indigenous people, but not enough. It's just the beginning," Fernando said.

The university did not immediately respond to requests for comment by CBC News Sunday evening.

Earlier Sunday, hundreds of people rallied in Toronto in honour of the 215 children whose remains are believed to be buried at the Kamloops Indian Residential school site, based on the survey's preliminary findings.

In a tweet before the demonstration, Toronto police urged calm.

"While we appreciate that recent events have had a traumatic impact, we cannot tolerate acts of vandalism/violence. Officers will be on site to ensure the safety of everyone involved and will investigate/enforce as necessary."

At the afternoon rally, people listened to speakers at the Ontario Legislature, then walked east to the university where the statue is located. There was drumming and singing, and at that point, the statue was still standing.

Last week, the statue was vandalized and splattered with red paint. At the foot of the statue, people have placed hundreds of pairs of shoes to commemorate the children whose lives were lost at the Kamloops Indian Residential School.

Following the Kamloops discovery, Indigenous students at the university called on fellow students, faculty and alumni to stop using the name Ryerson in their email signatures, correspondence and on their resumes, urging them instead to call the school X University.

© Evan Mitsui/CBC Demonstrators strike the head of a toppled statue of Egerton Ryerson, one of the architects of Canada's residential school system, on Sunday evening.

In a statement posted to Twitter before the statue was felled, the university said: "We share in the grief and sorrow of our community at the discovery of the remains of 215 Indigenous children near Kamloops, and acknowledge that further and ongoing reconciliation is of vital importance."

It also said a task force created to examine Ryerson's legacy and collect feedback from community members is committed to delivering a final report, including recommendations regarding the statue and name of the university, before the fall semester.

Air Canada says senior executives to voluntarily return 2020 bonuses

MONTREAL — Air Canada says its senior executives have chosen to return their 2020 bonuses in response to "public disappointment."

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The airline company says in a news release the president and CEO, as well as executive vice-presidents of Air Canada, have volunteered to return their bonuses and share appreciation units.

Former president and CEO Calin Rovinescu, who retired in February 2021, says he will also donate his share to the Air Canada Foundation.

The statement does not include middle managers, whose bonuses made up more than $8 million of the $10-million bonus program, among those who are volunteering their bonuses.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland signalled her displeasure Wednesday over the multi-million dollar packages handed out to the airline's executives as the company negotiated a federal bailout, calling the bonuses "inappropriate."

The airline last Monday disclosed its annual proxy circular to shareholders that gave the bonuses to people the investor document called instrumental in the airline's survival over the past year as air travel plunged during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Air Canada's leadership team is completely focused on Air Canada's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and preparations to welcome back furloughed colleagues and travelling customers as soon as possible," Sunday's statement says.

"The airline looks forward to continuing to work with all stakeholders, notably the Government of Canada on many fronts, including the safe re-start of our industry."

In April, the airline and government agreed to a $5.9 billion loan package that includes money to help refund passenger tickets, but also capped executive compensation at $1 million until 12 months after the loan is fully repaid.

The government also paid $500 million for a six per cent stake in the country's biggest airline, which Freeland said was done to ensure taxpayers could benefit once Air Canada's revenue rises when regular travel resumes.

In early 2020, senior executives and 3,200 management employees voluntarily agreed to total reductions of $11.5 million in their base salaries, subject to compensation through share appreciation units that might allow employees to recover some of the forgone salary if the share price rises higher in December 2022 than December 2020, the company says.

Freeland and Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said Canadians "are right to expect responsible corporate behaviour — particularly with respect to executive compensation — from companies receiving government financial support during the pandemic."

"While this situation could have been entirely avoided by Air Canada, we acknowledge this step in the right direction by the top five executives to repay 2020 bonuses and share appreciation units they received," they said in a joint statement Sunday night.

Video: Ottawa blasts Air Canada for $10M in senior executive bonuses (cbc.ca)
Duration 2:07

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 6, 2021.

The Canadian Press