#TAXTHECHURCH

MPs planning 'March for Truth and Justice' Saturday

Timmins-James Bay MP Charlie Angus and Nunavut MP Mumilaaq Qaqqaq will be marching to the Department of Justice Canada Saturday to call the federal government for an independent investigation into reports of crimes committed against Indigenous peoples.

The march will start tomorrow at noon at the Centennial Flame monument on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. It will then proceed to the Department of Justice Canada headquarters.

Angus said the pressure is on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to take action and shine a light on the committed crimes as Indigenous and non-Indigenous people across Canada are demanding justice and accountability.

“This is important because there was an agreement signed between First Nation leaders, the federal government and the various Christian churches involved in residential schools,” Angus said. “But the mass graves have shown us that serious crimes were committed. And unfortunately, the Catholic Church hasn’t moved up to its legal obligations.”

Earlier in July, MPs held a press conference where they called Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada David Lametti to appoint a fully funded special prosecutor to conduct a thorough and comprehensive investigation into residential schools, day schools, sanatoriums and other places where Indigenous people have faced violence and abuse.

The MPs said they want the special prosecutor to have the mandate to seek advice and guidance from the International Criminal Court.

They also want the special prosecutor to have the right to make the information public and to have the ability to access the documents through subpoena if necessary.

“The government is taking a position that they don’t have the power to establish a special prosecutor. That’s a ridiculous position to take,” Angus said. “What they’re saying is they don’t have the political will to launch these investigations.”

To view the event’s Facebook page, click here.

March for Truth and Justice « Canada's NDP

A 24-hour residential school crisis line offering support to former students and their families is available at 1-866-925-4419.

Dariya Baiguzhiyeva, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, TimminsToday.com

Notley reintroducing bill to stop coal mining in Rockies


The Alberta NDP will reintroduce legislation aimed at protecting the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains and watersheds from coal mining and similar activities.

The act would immediately cancel all current activity in the area including road building and cancel existing leases in category one and two lands.

The Eastern Slopes Protection Act was introduced back in April by NDP Leader Rachel Notley, but the UCP government did not bring it to a vote.

The act will be now reintroduced as the very first private members bill to be debated in the fall.

“We will bring this to a vote and I sincerely hope it passes,” Notley said in a news release.

“But one way or another, we will put the UCP caucus on record on whether they want to protect the eastern slopes or not.”

The act would also prohibit the Alberta Energy Regulator from issuing approvals, such as water permits.

The act also cancels leases issued in conjunction with the UCP’s cancelation of the 1976 coal development policy in May 2020, pending the outcome of the regional plan.

“I and many thousands of other Albertans are so grateful and relieved to know that Rachel Notley and the Alberta NDP still know what matters to Albertans – a beautiful, livable province with clean rivers and a secure water future – and are prepared to protect our Eastern Slopes by slamming the brakes on coal and inviting us all to work out better plans for its future,” said Kevin van Tighem, former superintendent of Banff National Park.

“Only someone who doesn’t care about the wishes of Albertans and the future well-being of this province would vote against this bill.”

Existing mines and processing plants that are actively operating would be unaffected, but exploration permits would be cancelled across all categories including road developments and test pits.

If the legislation passes, the government would be on the hook for compensating mining companies for cancelling leases.

“Albertans can be confident that every member of the NDP caucus will enthusiastically support this bill to protect these distinctly Albertan outdoor spaces and protect the watersheds that provide us with clean water for farmers and ranchers and families right across Alberta,” Notley said.

The government put out a survey asking Albertans if they want development on the land in question.

“I encourage every Albertan who has UCP MLA to reach out to them and tell them to support this bill,” Notley added.

Ali Howat, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Jasper Fitzhugh

1 out of every 153 American workers is an Amazon employee

AS PREDICTED THE 21ST CENTURY USA IS A SERVICE ECONOMY

dreuter@insider.com (Dominick Reuter) 
© Noah Berger/Reuters Noah Berger/Reuters

Amazon employs 950,000 workers in the US, the company said in its latest earnings report.

The US has a population of 261 million and an employed non-farm workforce of 145 million, per the BLS.

More people work for Amazon than are employed in the entire residential construction industry.

Amazon has made more than $221 billion in sales in 2021 so far, showing just how massive the company has become since Jeff Bezos founded it in 1994.

Today the ecommerce giant employs 1.3 million people around the world, with 950,000 of those in the US, the company said in its latest earnings release.

According to the most recent US employment report, there are 145.8 million nonfarm payroll workers out of a total population of 332 million.

That means one out of every 350 Americans works for Amazon, or one out of every 153 employed workers in the US.

More people work for Amazon than are employed in the entire US residential construction industry, which is responsible for 873,000 jobs.

Even with its massive scale, Amazon is still a distant second to the country's largest private employer, Walmart, which employs nearly 1.6 million people in the US, or one out of every 91 workers.

While it's possible that more people work at a McDonald's than either Amazon or Walmart - the fast-food brand estimates more than 2 million globally - the company primarily operates on a franchise model, so it directly employs less than 50,000 in the US.

Along with Amazon's size, its decision to implement a $15 minimum wage across the company has had a measurable effect in the communities where it does business. It has also forced other large employers to follow suit.

In May, Amazon announced plans to hire 75,000 delivery and logistics workers at a $17 starting wage and a possible $1,000 bonus.

But last month, a New York Times report found that Amazon had a turnover rate of about 150% every year among hourly employees, leading some executives to worry about running out of hirable employees in the US.

In other words, with so many current and former Amazonians in the US, there's a good chance that you know someone who's worked there.

Biden's new vaccine requirement meets pushback from unions who helped elect him

A commitment to American labor helped fuel President Joe Biden's bid for the White House as he promised to be "the most pro-union president you've ever seen." It was an embrace that many of the major federations, associations, teamsters and brotherhoods in the nation requited by endorsing his candidacy.

VIDEO
Biden announces new vaccine requirements for federal workers

© Susan Walsh/AP

But the support for Biden's leadership that united more than 50 union groups during the campaign threatened to splinter publicly this week, over mixed reception of his plan to require federal workers get the COVID-19 vaccine or face regular testing and other restrictions.

Even before Biden's announcement, segments of the federal workforce rumbled with dissension. Some groups representing large numbers of workers raised preemptive objections.

"It is not the role of the federal government to mandate vaccinations for the employees we represent," the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) said in a statement the day before Biden made his announcement, adding that they encourage members to "voluntarily get vaccinated."© Susan Walsh/AP President Joe Biden speaks about COVID-19 vaccine requirements for federal workers in the East Room of the White House, July 29, 2021.

Following the announcement, an APWU spokesperson underscored that while their workers are government employees, they are an independent agency -- and thus don't have to adhere to Biden's new policy.

A White House spokesperson said that employees of independent agencies are not required to be vaccinated, but are strongly encouraged to do so.

"Make no mistake, we support being vaccinated as the most effective path and means to eliminate the COVID-19 virus, but not at the cost of our Constitutional rights that we protect and hold as self-evident," Larry Cosme, president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA) said. ​​

Biden's new policy is not a mandate but a choice: Either get vaccinated, or face potentially inconvenient restrictions. Federal government employees and contractors onsite will be asked to "attest to their vaccination status" by showing proof. Those who decline to be fully vaccinated, or decline to show proof that they are, must wear a mask at work, social distance and get tested for the virus once or twice a week; they may also face restrictions on official travel.

It all comes as Biden contends with flagging vaccination rates and the delta variant's exponential spread -- both of which threaten hard-fought wins in the fight against COVID.

After the new vaccine policy had been spelled out Thursday, major union groups reacted with a largely tepid response, with many members voicing concerns about personal freedoms, privacy and the policy's practice.

"We have a lot of questions about how this policy will be implemented and how employee rights and privacy will be protected," National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) National President Tony Reardon said in a statement to ABC News. "This approach appears to establish a process for employees to voluntarily disclose their vaccination status."MORE: Why some states are pushing back on masks amid delta variant surge

NTEU represents 150,000 federal employees across 34 departments and agencies. For those employees who wish to keep their vaccination status confidential or choose to remain unvaccinated, Reardon said, "a testing protocol will be established."

The largest union representing federal employees, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), said they expected any new policies to be "properly negotiated with our bargaining units prior to implementation."

"We are seeking details on many aspects of this plan," NTEU's Reardon said. "We will work to ensure employees are treated fairly and this protocol does not create an undue burden on them."

© Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images, FILE Members and supporters of the American Federation of Government Employees participate in a protest in the Hart Senate Office Building Atrium in Washington, Feb. 11, 2020.

NTEU endorsed Biden's candidacy during the 2020 election, as did AFGE and APWU.

So did National Nurses United (NNU), the largest union and professional association of registered nurses in U.S. history. They represent more than 170,000 members nationwide, including some VA nurses, and while saying vaccination is "critically important," they said they place the greatest emphasis on the importance of "respecting the need for medical and religious accommodations."

"The Biden administration is trying to thread that needle," NNU President Deborah Burger told ABC News. "You have to honor those accommodations, and move forward."MORE: Google joins growing list of employers mandating COVID-19 vaccines

At least one major federation of unions is going ever further than Biden in its stance on vaccines: AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said Tuesday that he would support a full vaccine mandate.

"It's important, if you are coming back into the workplace, you have to know what's around you. If you come back in and you are not vaccinated, everybody in that workplace is jeopardized," Trumka told C-SPAN. "What we need to do now is to get more people vaccinated, and I think the mandate is a very acceptable way to do that."

The AFL-CIO endorsed Biden during his candidacy, as did one of its largest member unions, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) -- but this week, the two diverged on the matter of mandates: AFT President Randi Weingarten said that vaccine protocol should be arbitrated in the workplace itself.

© Joe Raedle/Getty Images, FILE A union worker holds a banner depicting a picture of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in a caravan for Biden in Miami Springs, Fla., Oct. 11, 2020.

"In order for everyone to feel safe and welcome in their workplaces, vaccinations must be negotiated between employers and workers, not coerced," Weingarten said in a statement ahead of Biden's announcement, cautioning that a get-the-shot-or-get-fired protocol would risk losing health care staff at a time when they're most needed, and when "staffing levels are already low from the trauma of the past year."

On Thursday, Biden pleaded for Americans to appreciate how urgent the situation has become.

"It's literally about life and death," Biden said in announcing the policy. "That's what it's about. You know and I know, people talk about freedom. But I learned growing up, from school and my parents: With freedom comes responsibility."

ABC News' Jordyn Phelps, Sarah Kolinovsky and Molly Nagle contributed to this report

'Forgotten giant': Hydropower can speed the switch to net-zero, report says

THE 1992 RIO CLIMATE CONFRENCE WAS LED BY HYDRO QUEBEC'S MAURICE STRONG

Daniel Martins 

THE WEATHERNETWORK 

In the drive to net-zero, the biggest buzz always seems to be around wind and solar — hydroelectric power, the first true largescale clean energy source, just doesn’t seem to capture the public imagination the same way.

That waning interest seems to be mirrored by governments and investors. While wind and solar push deeper into record-breaking territory amid the continuing decline in installation costs, hydropower is expected to grow by a mere 17 per cent over the course of the current decade — a quarter less than the previous.

But that disinterest is a mistake, says the International Energy Agency, whose recent special report on hydropower says it needs to be a critical part of the energy transition, complementing wind and solar while making up for their drawbacks.

“Hydropower is the forgotten giant of clean electricity, and it needs to be put squarely back on the energy and climate agenda if countries are serious about meeting their net zero goals,” IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said in a release from the agency. “It brings valuable scale and flexibility to help electricity systems adjust quickly to shifts in demand and to compensate for fluctuations in supply from other sources.”

Notwithstanding the rise of wind and solar, hydropower globally outweighs both in terms of generation, supplying one sixth of electricity worldwide. It makes up at least half of the generation in 35 countries, including 28 emerging nations with a combined population of more than 800 million people.

WATCH CANADIANS USE MORE ENERGY THAN PEOPLE IN ALL BUT SIX OTHER COUNTRIES

But the IEA says new hydropower projects struggle with long lead times, high upfront costs, difficulties with permits and environmental impact assessments, and local opposition, all of which have turned off investors — something the IEA says governments need to take active measures to fix.

“These measures include providing long-term visibility on revenues to ensure hydropower projects are economically viable and sufficiently attractive to investors, while still ensuring robust sustainability standards,” the IEA says.

CANADA, AN OLD HAND AT HYDRO, STILL HAS ROOM TO GROW

Canada’s grid is famously dominated by zero-emission sources, and hydropower towers over them all.

A full 60 per cent of our power is hydroelectric, four times more than distant-second nuclear. The country as a whole is so steeped in hydropower that Canadians refer to their home electricity as “hydro,” even in parts of the country where it makes up negligible parts of the grid.

One of Canada’s most recognizable features seen from space, nicknamed the “Eye of Quebec,” is the ring-shaped Manicouagan Reservoir formed by that province’s Daniel Johnson Dam. Worldwide, Canada ranks fourth in hydropower generation.

© Provided by The Weather NetworkHydroelectricity makes up more than half of Canada's energy generation. Image: Daniel Johnson Dam (Hydro Quebec)

Even so, with its abundant rivers and lakes, Canada’s hydroelectric potential is still not maxed out, according to industry group Waterpower Canada, which says generation capacity is set to grow 10 per cent over the coming decade. Around half of that will come from new projects such as Muskrat Falls in Labrador, La Romaine in Quebec, Keeyask in Manitoba, and B.C.’s Site C project. The rest will come from refurbishment and expansion of existing sites, and new projects using “pumped storage hydro,” which makes use of sites such as quarries and abandoned mines.

“This is before even considering the large number of well-selected sites for new hydropower projects where there is progress on environmental studies and engineering design — of which there are many tens of gigawatts that could be brought online in the next 10-to-15 years,”

Waterpower Canada spokeswoman Anastasia Smolentseva told The Weather Network.

Though wind and solar make up a small part of Canada’s energy mix, they are gradually growing, and most jurisdictions, including the federal government, have announced plans to move toward net-zero.

With installation costs for those energy sources falling each year, Smolentseva says Canada’s hydro resources can be a “reliable and resilient backbone” for the nascent wind and solar sectors as the country’s last fossil fuel plants are retired.

“Wind and solar power output varies according to weather conditions, and consumer electricity demand constantly fluctuates. By adjusting the quantity of water flowing into hydropower turbines, producers can rapidly ramp up or down as needed to flexibly balance supply with demand,” she says, adding: “Without a resource such as hydropower representing a significant proportion of generation capacity, the grid would not be stable and peak loads could not always be met.”

Canada announces over $1.3 billion for infrastructure amid climate change
Isabella O'Malley 

The Government of Canada has announced a new investment in the Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund (DMAF), which will help infrastructure mitigate and adapt to the impacts from climate change.

Communities across the country can submit a project to the government that will help increase resilience to the socio-economic, cultural, and environmental impacts from extreme weather events and natural hazards. Both the present-day impacts and those anticipated in the future, such as increasingly severe heat waves, will be addressed by the submissions.

The DMAF, which was first launched in 2018, will receive an additional $1.375 billion in 2021 and some of the projects that will be supported include wildfire mitigation such as controlled burns, rehabilitating storm water systems, and restoring wetlands and shorelines.

© Provided by The Weather Network"Caution" yellow tape in front of the flooded lakeshore in Toronto. (Marc Bruxelle. iStock / Getty Images Plus)

Small-scale projects will receive between $1–20 million in total eligible costs while large-scale projects could receive above $20 million. A minimum of $138 million of the total funding will be dedicated to Indigenous communities.

Abnormally destructive extreme weather events have raised concerns about how present-day infrastructure will fare in future climate scenarios.

Video: EU unveils sweeping new climate change plan (cbc.ca)

In an interview with The Weather Network, Catherine McKenna, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, cited the recent wildfires in Western Canada as an example of climate change’s impacts on infrastructure.

“[In] Lytton, B.C., basically the town burned down in a matter of minutes and the infrastructure there was incinerated,” said McKenna.

“And that meant the hydropoles, the electricity system, the wastewater system, all infrastructure, are gone, destroyed, and have to all be rebuilt. And this is really the impact of climate change that we’re seeing.”

Scientists confirm that the fatal heat in B.C. was far from normal — a study published by an international team of leading climate scientists reports that climate change made the heat wave at least 150 times more likely and that the heat wave was virtually impossible without climate change.

To date the DMAF has used over $1.9 billion to fund 69 large-scale infrastructure projects to protect communities from natural hazards such as floods, wildfires, earthquakes, and droughts.

“The Government of Canada is committed to getting funding to communities when they need it the most in a way that achieves triple benefits: grow our economy and create jobs; tackle climate change; and build a more resilient and inclusive country for all Canadians,” the announcement states.

Thumbnail credit: Cavan Images. Cavan. Getty Images

The Billions of Victims of the Heat Dome

Stephen Leahy 

For years, Sandra Emry, a researcher at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, has been studying the potential impact of future heat waves on rockweed, a species of brown alga that provides a habitat for marine life on both coasts of North America. To simulate a June heat wave in the year 2060 or 2080 in the Strait of Georgia, between Vancouver Island and the British Columbia mainland, she typically drags patio heaters down to the shore, warming the air around a patch of rockweed to 95 degrees Fahrenheit in order to see how the alga reacts.

© Christopher Harley / University of British Columbia; The Atlantic

This summer, she didn’t need the heaters. On June 28, her thermal-imaging camera showed the temperature nearing 125 degrees. Over the course of a four-day heat wave, dense beds of rockweed died, as did many of the nearby mussels, chitons, limpets, and other intertidal species. “The stench was awful. I never expected to see such a major die-off,” Emry told me. She didn’t think temperatures would get that high this soon.

Billions of mussels, clams, oysters, barnacles, sea stars, and other intertidal species died during the late-June heat wave in the Pacific Northwest, Christopher Harley, a zoology professor at the University of British Columbia, told me last week. Yes, that’s billions, plural. What I call “extreme, extreme heat events”—because the term extreme events doesn’t quite cover the dire situation—not only kill people; they kill plants and animals. In changing our planet’s climate, we’re permanently altering the natural world that is our life-support system. And we’re seeing this happen in real time.

© Provided by The Atlantic (Christopher Harley / University of British Columbia)

Harley, who is investigating the extent of the June die-off, has learned from marine scientists at various institutions that an estimated 100 million barnacles died on a 1,000-yard stretch of shore near White Rock, British Columbia. While not all sites are as bad as White Rock, large numbers of dead marine animals have been found along much of the Salish Sea shoreline, from Olympia, Washington, to Campbell River, British Columbia. The situation is so alarming that Harley said it could lead to the collapse of the region’s maritime ecosystem.

[Aaron Gilbreath: What I’m teaching my daughter about living in extreme heat]

This kind of destruction is so notable because rockweed, mussels, and other intertidal species are incredibly tough and used to wide swings in temperature. They spend 12 hours under the cold waters of the northern Pacific Ocean and then, at low tide, 12 hours exposed to the air and hot sun. Only an extreme, extreme event could kill them. This massive die-off may result in a radically different shoreline ecology, one without the thick carpet of mussels and rockweed that has lined much of the Salish Sea shore since the last Ice Age.

Many land-based species have also died from the heat. I’ve read numerous reports of flightless nestlings, including hawks and terns, throwing themselves out of nests and off rooftops, risking death and injury to avoid being cooked alive. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has warned that nearly all endangered young salmon in the Sacramento River could die. Officials in Washington State also say that salmon in the Columbia and Snake Rivers are at risk. Overheated bears have been seen wading into backyard pools and ignoring swimmers at Lake Tahoe in order to get some cool relief.

Every living thing has its “Goldilocks zone”: a not-too-hot, not-too-cold temperature range. For tropical corals, such as those in the 1,400-mile-long Great Barrier Reef, ocean temperatures need to be between 71 and 85 degrees. If water temperatures reach 90 degrees, as they have in recent years, the reefs bleach and die. Other species like the water cold. Young salmon don’t do well in water above 68 degrees, and some Arctic seabirds show heat stress at 70 degrees. The Arctic is warming nearly three times faster than anywhere else. A heat wave in June 2020 pushed temperatures in one of the coldest places on Earth, Verkhoyansk, Siberia, from its typical 68 degrees to near 100.

Some birds and mammals have coping mechanisms for a drastic change in temperature. They generally deal with the heat by reducing their activity, including eating, and by panting to try to cool themselves. Fish, including salmon, need to consume more oxygen in warmer water; however, warm water holds less oxygen, adding additional stress that makes them more susceptible to disease.

© Provided by The Atlantic (University of British Columbia)

We’re only going to see more of this stress on our ecosystem. A comprehensive global assessment that measured heat waves from 1950 to 2000 found that their frequency, duration, and cumulative heat had increased significantly. In the Middle East and much of Africa, the number of heat waves, and their intensity, has increased by a whopping 50 percent every decade. In other parts of the world, the increase has varied from 10 to 30 percent per decade. While the impacts of drought have received much attention, heat waves are now considered a “major global threat” to plants, animals, and ecosystems globally. Scientific research into heat waves has exploded in the past decade: 1,400 studies have been published in the past six months alone.

[Read: Nowhere is ready for this heat]

Climate scientists are sounding the alarm loudly, urging the world to take action now in order to, as one scientist put it, “prevent the worst outcomes of global warming.” If billions of some of the toughest species on the planet dying is not the worst outcome, I’m sure we don’t want to see what is.

Climate, nature, and humanity’s well-being and survival are deeply interconnected. As the marine biologist and National Geographic explorer in residence Enric Sala told me, “Every morsel of food, every sip of water, the air we breathe is the result of work done by other species. Nature gives us everything we need to survive. Without them, there is no us.”

 Rising water temperatures in Alberta rivers, lakes threatens aquatic life (msn.com)

Duration: 01:57 

People are comfortably swimming in what are normally frigid mountain lakes in Alberta. The persistent heat across the country is causing water temperatures to rise and as Jayme Doll reports, concerns to soar.

Severe wildfires could affect community watersheds, says forest service researcher

VANCOUVER — There is more to learn about the consequences of intensifying wildfires on community watersheds across Canada, but a large, severe fire followed by heavy precipitation could seriously affect drinking water, says a wildfire research scientist with the Canadian Forest Service

.

© THE CANADIAN PRESS/Penticton Herald-Mark Brett The Thomas Creek Fire, 1.5 km east of Skaha Lake, is shown near Okanagan Falls, B.C. in this recent photo. A new wildfire in British Columbia has forced the evacuation of nearly 80 properties, while residents of hundreds more homes around the south Okanagan lakeside community of Okanagan Falls have been ordered to be ready to go on short notice.

An intense fire can burn through vegetation and soil that serve to absorb and more evenly distribute precipitation or melting snow, and also naturally filter sediment and toxins before the water evenreaches a community's drinking-water source, François-Nicolas Robinne said in an interview from Edmonton.

"This kind of sponge effect that the forest has, that the vegetation has, goes away. So you have more water running off earlier in the season," he said.

In a worst-case scenario that could lead to flash floods and flowing debris and it's likely to affect how much drinking water is available to a community and when, said Robinne, with drought compounding the potential impact of wildfire.

"You already have less water, it's already stretched pretty thin, and you have suddenly this huge input of water, but of pretty bad water quality, usually, after a large and severe fire," said Robinne, adding any drinking water would be treated to Canadian standards but it's costly to purify water polluted by wildfire.

It could be "mayhem" to go though a cycle of drought, wildfires, heavy rains and drought again, said Robinne, "because the pressure on the water resource would become so high that I can't even imagine what it would mean in terms of water supply for communities."

Water supply downstream is generally expected to be affected when about 20 per cent of a watershed is burned. That threshold has been met in nine B.C. community watersheds so far this year, said Robinne, with two of those burning up entirely.

Canada needs more data and analysis of the historical and ongoing effects of wildfires on watersheds, said Robinne, noting his work at the forest service involves looking at drinking water intakes and fire risk around communities countrywide.

In the long term, the most intense scorching may resemble "some form of desertification," he said. "We're not there yet, but it's definitely a cause for concern."

In general, Robinne suggests that communities in fire-prone areas undertake fuel management, or reducing the vegetation susceptible to fire in their watershed.

Communities may also consider updating older drinking water treatment systems to ensure water quality in the event their source is affected by wildfire, he said.

British Columbia government mapping shows the eight-kilometre square Brenda Creek fire burning out of control west of Peachland overlaps with that community's watershed. It shows numerous other "wildfires of note," which are either highly visible or pose a threat to public safety, are burning in or very close to other watersheds.

All of Vancouver Island, the south coast and stretches of the southern Interior are classified as drought level four out of five, with many municipalities and regions implementing measures to conserve water through the rest of the summer.

Environment Canada has also issued heat warnings that stretch from parts of Vancouver Island to the south coast and across the southern Interior, as well as the inner central and north coast all the way up to B.C.'s boundary with Yukon.

The hot, dry conditions have helped fuel more than 1,250 wildfires sparked since the start of B.C.'s fire season on April 1, charring over 4,500 square kilometres of land. The 10-year average is 658 fires and about 1,060 square kilometres burned over the same time period, officials with the BC Wildfire Service said last week.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 31, 2021.

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

Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press

Canada takes centre stage in a dramatic month of global weather disasters

Dennis Mersereau 

July was a month to remember here in Canada and around the world. From fires and floods to extreme heat and a barrage of tornadoes, the remarkable pace of disasters over the past few weeks left entire communities devastated. Here’s a look back at some of the intense weather events we witnessed in July.

JULY BEGAN ON THE HEELS OF A HISTORIC HEAT WAVE

Extreme heat is a slow-motion disaster. Raging floods and imposing tornadoes illustrate their power with gripping visuals, but a long spell of overwhelming heat exacts a silent toll. Each hot afternoon bleeds into a stifling night that provides no relief for those who can’t escape the sweltering air’s clutch.

Western Canada’s long tangle with the heat began in late June with a mammoth ridge of high pressure that built over western North America. Dozens of communities in British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon shattered their all-time high temperature records.

© Provided by The Weather Network

Day after day of unprecedented heat resulted in hundreds, if not thousands, of deaths among those who suffered heat-related illnesses. The B.C. Coroners Service reported on July 26 that the heat may have claimed more than 800 lives in the province.

The high-impact, long-duration heat event that began in late June continued through the rest of July. Excessive temperatures started out the month in B.C. before shifting east and roasting the Prairies for weeks on end. Some towns on the southern Prairies saw above-seasonal temperatures on all but a handful of days in July.

NO COMMUNITY HIT HARDER THAN LYTTON, B.C.

Lytton, B.C., felt the heat and its tragic aftermath harder than anyone else in the country. The small town along the Fraser River in south-central B.C. broke Canada’s all-time hottest temperature record three days in a row in the closing days of June.

 "Wildfire devastates Lytton, B.C., dangerous hot and dry conditions continue for the region"

The thermometer in Lytton read 49.6°C on June 29, setting a new Canadian high temperature record. This new record is several degrees hotter than the hottest temperature ever recorded in the desert getaway of Las Vegas, Nevada.

By June 30, a fast-moving wildfire razed 90 per cent of all buildings in Lytton.

JUNE’S EXTREME HEAT HELPED FUEL JULY’S EXTENSIVE FIRES

The devastating blaze that tore through Lytton at the culmination of the West’s unparalleled heat wave was just one of hundreds of fires that burned across Interior B.C., the Prairies, and the U.S. Northwest in July.

© Provided by The Weather Network

July began with a widespread drought that stretched from Vancouver Island all the way to northwestern Ontario. The situation was particularly dire in Interior B.C. and the southern Prairies. Southern Manitoba maxed out the Canadian Drought Monitor’s scale for measuring drought conditions.

The heat made a bad situation even worse. Several days and nights of unprecedented warmth, followed by weeks of above-seasonal temperatures and little precipitation, intensified the drought and made a tinderbox of vegetation across the region.

By the end of July, more than 1,200 fires had been reported in B.C. alone, with nearly 400,000 hectares of land burned in the province. Even more fires were reported throughout the Prairies and northwestern Ontario, including a large complex of fires northeast of Winnipeg. Several fires near Red Lake, Ontario, each consumed tens of thousands of hectares of land.

CHOKING WILDFIRE SMOKE SPREAD EAST

Hundreds of fires burning simultaneously across B.C., the U.S. Northwest, and the Prairies sent a prolific amount of smoke pouring into the atmosphere. The jet stream helped spread these plumes of smoke thousands of kilometres downwind from the blazes, reaching as far as Atlantic Canada to the east and Texas and North Carolina to the south.

Not only did the smoke obscure the midsummer sun, but winds pushed much of that smoke down to the surface and resulted in long periods of dangerous air quality for much of the country.

© Provided by The Weather Network

Southern Ontario endured several days of thick smoke in mid-July, causing the region’s air quality to plummet to its worst level in two decades. Air quality issues reached deep into the United States, as well, where New York City experienced exceptionally poor air quality by modern standards.

Canada and the U.S. weren’t the only areas struggling with fires and dense smoke in July. A similar weather pattern played out in northern Russia, where a historic wildfire season in Siberia has led to a thick pall of smoke blanketing much of eastern Asia.
THE EAST SAW A TROPICAL STORM AND TWISTERS

July started out with Hurricane Elsa down in the Caribbean Sea. Elsa set two records with its formation, first as the earliest fifth-named storm on record, and then as the earliest hurricane ever seen in the tropical Atlantic.

© Provided by The Weather Network

The Maritimes had to deal with Hurricane Elsa’s remnants on July 9-10. It’s uncommon for tropical cyclones or their remnants to track over Atlantic Canada this early in the season. But Elsa took advantage of a favourable environment and aimed for Nova Scotia and New Brunswick after drenching the eastern U.S. Miramichi, N.B., saw 92 mm of rain by the end of the storm.

Elsa was just one of many storms in Eastern Canada this month. Plenty of low-pressure systems swept over the eastern half of the country in July as a result of a wavy jet stream.

Active weather is the result of a delicate balancing act between extremes. The powerful upper-level ridge that brought Western Canada its hot and dry conditions allowed for one round of stormy weather after the next to traverse Eastern Canada. Many of the thunderstorms turned severe in the warm and soupy airmass parked over the region, and some of those storms produced tornadoes.

'The roof is gone,' homeowner emerges from basement after tornado

Ontario witnessed 10 of the 12 tornadoes that touched down in the country this July, bringing the province’s total to 14 (and the national total to 36) for the year. This puts the province ahead of the number of tornadoes reported in Oklahoma so far in 2021, another testament to the power of the persistent ridges that have built over the western half of North America.

Nearly half of Ontario’s tornadoes this year touched down in the July 15th outbreak across cottage country. The Northern Tornadoes Project confirmed six EF-2 tornadoes that day, becoming the region’s most significant tornado outbreak since the infamous event on May 31, 1985.

Three of the tornadoes on July 15th touched down around Lake Simcoe. Farther north, one twister struck east of Huntsville, and two more touched down in Algonquin Provincial Park. The most significant tornado on July 15th carved a 12 km path through neighbourhoods just southeast of Barrie.

A survey of the damage near Barrie revealed EF-2 damage, with maximum sustained winds reaching 210 km/h at the tornado’s strongest point. More than 100 homes were damaged and 11 people were injured.
DEVASTATING FLOODS HIT COMMUNITIES AROUND THE WORLD

The droughts affecting Canada and Siberia stand in stark contrast to the intense flooding that impacted communities around the globe. July witnessed several heavy rainstorms bubble up over areas ill-equipped to handle a sudden deluge.

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July’s worst flooding affected western Europe around the middle of the month. Intense floods killed more than 150 people as the waters swept through communities in Germany, Belgium, and neighbouring nations. A stalled low-pressure system led to several months’ worth of rain falling in a short period of time.

Floodwaters rushing down the Ahr River almost entirely destroyed the town of Altenahr, Germany. The community is nestled in a valley at the bend of a river, leaving it exceptionally vulnerable to a flash flood of this magnitude.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel toured hard-hit towns and said that the damage was “terrifying,” adding that “the German language can barely describe the devastation that's taken place,” as reported by Reuters.

Flooding was also a serious issue in urban areas where rain fell faster than storm sewers could handle the runoff. New York City and Zhengzhou, China, are a world apart from one another, but they were both affected by drenching afternoon thunderstorms that produced notable flash flooding in each city.


Heavy rain associated with Tropical Storm Elsa flooded parts of New York City’s renowned subway system on the afternoon of July 8. The storm dropped more than 50 mm of rain in a short period of time, flooding stations and tunnels as commuters waded through chest-deep water to reach the exits.

A more harrowing situation played out a few weeks later in Zhengzhou, China, a city of more than 10 million people that sits about 600 km southwest of Beijing. A deep reserve of tropical moisture, combined with winds flowing up the side of nearby mountains, produced a rainstorm that dropped more than 600 mm of rain in one day, much of which fell in just a few hours.

The onslaught of water quickly overwhelmed natural and human-made drainage systems. The floods inundated parts of Zhengzhou’s subway system with chest-deep water, and heartbreaking footage emerged of countless water rescues within the city and its surrounding communities. More than 20 people died in the floods.

Thumbnail image courtesy 2 Rivers Remix Society/Facebook

Dangerous B.C. air quality is among the worst on the planet
Isabella O'Malley
WEATHERNETWORK

The air quality across British Columbia has reached dangerous levels and The Weather Network meteorologist Kevin MacKay warns that “we are in for quite a weekend.” According to the Government of British Columbia, there are over 200 wildfires burning as of Friday afternoon, which are largely causing the dangerous air quality conditions.

B.C. dealing with the widespread effects of drought
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An upper level low sitting off Canada’s west coast and the current position of the jet stream are creating stagnant conditions over southern B.C. and are allowing the wildfire smoke to stay concentrated over the region the fires are burning in.

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There is also high pressure over the Pacific Ocean and Saskatachewan, which is essentially bookending the smoke over the Rocky Mountains and further intensifying the poor air quality conditions. All of these atmospheric conditions will contribute to dangerous air quality this long weekend.

“I’ve had an intense headache for 24 hrs... smoke is in the house. Can’t avoid it. There is ashfall daily on my back deck and cars. It really got bad the last few days when you know smoke is coming into the house through the vents,” says Jaclyn Whittal, a meteorologist at The Weather Network who is currently in the Okanagan Valley.

© Provided by The Weather NetworkWildfire smoke blocking out the sunlight in the Okanagan Valley. (Jaclyn Whittal)

Video: B.C continues to battle wildfires and poor air quality but help is on the way (The Weather Network)

The poor air quality in B.C. is currently amongst the worst in the world, with Vernon reaching a rating of 309 and Castlegar reaching a staggering 583.

Some of the most dangerous components in wildfire smoke are carbon monoxide and microscopic, ultrafine particles called PM 2.5, which are 2.5 microns in diameter or smaller and cause health complications when they enter the lungs or bloodstream.

“Individuals may experience symptoms such as increased coughing, throat irritation, headaches or shortness of breath. Children, seniors, and those with cardiovascular or lung disease, such as asthma, are especially at risk. If your home is not air-conditioned, be sure the house doesn't get too warm when doors and windows are closed to keep out smoke,” Environment Canada states.© Provided by The Weather Network

MacKay says that the Okanagan Valley is an area where conditions will be particularly dangerous over the next five days.

“[The air quality] is now surpassing the worst air quality from last summer. This could be the worst air quality in years, if not on record for some areas across southern B.C.”

VIDEO

Worst air quality on the planet engulfs BC (msn.com)