Italy's Covid pass: Violence at protests has ignited a national debate about fascism

By Sarah Dean, CNN

Down a narrow, winding street in central Rome, golden cobblestones shine out from the footpath in front of homes, etched with the words: "Deportata Auschwitz" ("deported to Auschwitz").

© Cecilia Fabiano/LaPresse via AP People gather in Piazza del Popolo square during a protest against the Covid-19 health pass, in Rome, Saturday, October 9, 2021.

© Borut Zivulovic/Reuters People participate in a protest against the implementation of the COVID-19 health pass, the Green Pass, in the workplace as they gather outside the entrance of the major port of Trieste, Italy, Oct. 15, 2021.

One of the stones is dedicated to Rossana Calo, who was just two years old when she, along with her mother, was transported hundreds of miles to the Nazi death camp; on arrival, she was killed in the gas chambers.

These plaques, commemorating more than 1,000 victims snatched from their homes in the Italian capital's Jewish Ghetto in October 1943, are a sobering reminder of the country's dark past.

Italy entered World War II as an ally of Adolf Hitler in 1940, but Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime had already embraced anti-Semitism. Months after he was overthrown in 1943, German authorities began to round up Jews in Rome and other major cities in the country's north.

More than 75 years after Mussolini's inglorious death at the hands of partisans, the debate about fascist ideology -- and its continuing appeal to some Italians -- has been reignited in the wake of the government's attempts to control the coronavirus pandemic.

On October 9, the headquarters of Italy's largest trade union and a hospital emergency ward in Rome were targeted during angry protests against the country's Covid-19 "Green Pass."

The Green Pass, which came into force last Friday, requires all workers -- from café staff to care workers, taxi drivers to teachers -- to show proof of vaccination, a negative test or recent recovery from infection. Italy -- once Europe's Covid-19 epicenter -- now has the continent's strongest vaccine mandate

.

© CNN Gold cobblestones outside front doors in Rome's Jewish Ghetto commemorate people arrested and deported to Auschwitz. Two-year-old Rossana Calo was one of those.

Members of the neo-fascist Forza Nuova were arrested in relation to the violent attacks in Rome.

Fascist parties banned

"Fascism never went away in this country," said history professor Simon Martin, the author of several books on Italian fascism. "Italy has not confronted its past. There is no appetite for this, I think, on either side."

Martin said thousands of people still line up each year on anniversaries, such as Mussolini's birth, death and "March on Rome," to visit his tomb in Predappio, 200 miles northeast of Rome, despite the fact he ran a repressive police state, and was responsible for brutal colonial campaigns and massacres during his 20 years in power.

"[It] has a book of condolence which has to be changed on a regular basis because it fills up," he said.

A 1952 law banned the reconstitution of fascist parties in Italy, but they have reformed under alternative names, Martin told CNN during a visit to the Jewish Ghetto.

© CNN The Mussolini-commissioned building Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana is the centerpiece of Mussolini's Esposizione Universale Roma neighborhood and remains a symbol of the country's fascist era.

The violence of the Green Pass protests on October 9 has led to mounting calls to dissolve neo-fascist groups in the country.

This week, Italian lawmakers in both the upper house Senate and lower house voted in favor of a motion put forward by the country's center-left parties, which calls on Prime Minister Mario Draghi's government to dissolve Forza Nuova and all movements of neo-fascist inspiration. Draghi and his Council of Ministers will now consult legal experts before announcing a decision.

Forza Nuova's lawyer Carlo Taormina told CNN the group is currently being dismantled and has not been active as a political movement for 20 months.

In response to the violent scenes on October 9, tens of thousands of people demonstrated against fascism in Rome's San Giovanni Square at the weekend.

"I came here because it is important to send a message," Jacopo Basili, 30, told CNN at the rally organized by Italy's main trades unions. "What happened was very bad, as if we were returning to 100 years ago in Italy. Today we must say no. It is not possible."

Another demonstrator, Leone Rivara, told CNN he doesn't believe the threat of fascism in Italy today compares to the Mussolini era, but that social tensions in the country have been "aggravated by the pandemic," and that "forces that declare themselves democratic ... cross boundaries and exploit the weakness, the fragility, the anger, the delusion of the people to [upset] the democratic balance of this country."  

© CNN The balcony overlooking Palazzo Venezia where Fascist leader Benito Mussolini gave some of his most notable speeches.

One group accused of doing just that is the Fratelli d'Italia, or Brothers of Italy, a right-wing party that made international headlines when one of its members, Rachele Mussolini -- granddaughter of Benito -- was elected to Rome's city council for a second term earlier this month.

Rachele Mussolini won more than 8,200 votes -- the highest number tallied for any candidate -- and a huge increase on the 657 votes she received in the 2016 ballot.

"I will strive not to disappoint those who trusted me and to conquer those who don't know me ... My goal is to keep working for my city to give it back [its] lost dignity," she wrote in a Facebook post following her re-election.

CNN contacted Rachele Mussolini, via her press secretary, to ask if she finds it hard to distinguish herself from the fascist associations tied to her last name, but has not received a response.

She is not the first descendant of the Italian dictator to go into politics. Her stepsister Alessandra served as a member of parliament in Silvio Berlusconi's center-right People of Freedom alliance, and was a Member of the European Parliament.

Opinion polls suggest Fratelli d'Italia, which grew out of the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement party (MSI), is currently the most popular party in Italy.

The Fratelli d'Italia party -- along with Matteo Salvini's right-wing Lega and the centre-right Forza Italia -- recently backed radio host and lawyer Enrico Michetti in his fight to become Rome's next mayor.

On Monday, Michetti lost the run-off vote by roughly 20%. During the campaign, his office was defaced with the word "fascista."

Asked why Fratelli d'Italia is still affiliated with fascism, the party's leader Giorgia Meloni told CNN her party is not a breeding ground for such a regime.

Andrea Ungari, professor of contemporary history at Rome's LUISS university said he believes a small proportion of Italians could be defined as having fascist beliefs.

Neo-fascist groups Forza Nuova and CasaPound did not participate in Italy's most recent elections.

"It's difficult to define Fratelli d'Italia as a fascist party," Ungari said. "Of course, there are some declarations ... some harsh attitudes ... it is clearly a right-wing party but with the difference between right and extreme right."

"In Italy there is the heritage of fascism of course but sometimes it's a term utilized by the left to monopolise the political debate," Ungari warned.

Numerous reminders of fascism

Monuments linked to racism, colonialism and shameful moments in history have been removed from countries around the world in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests.

In Italy though, architecture from the 20 years of Benito Mussolini's rule is maintained. Unlike Germany, which outlawed and eradicated Nazi symbols in the aftermath of World War II, Italy left numerous reminders of the fascist era standing.

Rome's sports complex -- Foro Mussolini, or Mussolini's forum -- which houses the city's main soccer stadium Stadio Olimpico, has been renamed Foro Italico, but an almost 60-foot marble obelisk bearing Mussolini's name still towers outside it.

Ostiense railway station, which was built to commemorate Hitler's visit to Rome in 1938 and boasts a mosaic themed around the Italian fascist ideology that modern Italy was the heir to ancient Rome, is still one of the city's major railway stations.

And the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana -- a six-storey marble tower constructed as the centerpiece of Mussolini's new neighborhood, Esposizione Universale Roma, in the city's southwest -- remains engraved with a phrase from his 1935 speech announcing the invasion of Ethiopia.

"I think the real problem with those statues is there's nothing to contextualize them ... [nothing] to tell us what fascism was about," said history professor Martin.

Martin said that while it may not be practical to tear down all of Italy's fascist-era buildings, because of the sheer numbers involved, "it should be contextualized. We need to talk about what it means."

As for the motion to ban neo-fascist groups and parties, it "would be a statement of intent by the government," said Martin, but it is unlikely to change people's ideas.

THE ANTI FASCIST ANTHEM

Canada's unfair extradition system needs major reform: legal and human rights experts


OTTAWA — Canada's extradition laws need a thorough overhaul to ensure fairness, transparency, and a balance between a desire for administrative efficiency and crucial constitutional protections, say legal and human rights experts.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

In a report released Thursday, the voices calling for reform say the Canadian process for sending people to face prosecution and incarceration abroad is riddled with shortcomings that make the system inherently unjust.

The recommendations for change emerge from the Halifax Colloquium on Extradition Law Reform at Dalhousie University in September 2018, which brought together academics, defence counsel and human rights organizations.

The report acknowledges the importance of extradition in an increasingly globalized world where criminal activity often traverses borders, but highlights "a number of problems" with how proceedings unfold through the 1999 Extradition Act.

"Canada fulfils most extradition requests from other countries, and individuals who are sought for extradition are almost always unsuccessful in challenging it," the report says.

"But is this as it should be?"

The advocates for reform highlight the case of Ottawa sociology professor Hassan Diab, a Canadian citizen who was extradited to France and imprisoned for over three years, only to be released without even being committed to trial.

"It is worth recalling that, when the Extradition Act was brought in, Parliament was assured by the Department of Justice that Canadians would not moulder away in foreign states awaiting trial, nor would extradition procedures be used to facilitate foreign investigation," the report says.

"Hassan Diab’s case shows that neither of these promises is being taken seriously."

In the Canadian extradition process, Department of Justice officials first determine whether to authorize the start of proceedings in the courts through what’s known as an "Authority to Proceed."

Once an Authority to Proceed has been issued, the Canadian courts have to decide whether there is sufficient evidence, or other applicable grounds, to justify the person’s committal for extradition. When someone is committed for extradition, the justice minister must personally decide whether to order the individual's surrender to the foreign state.

Someone sought for extradition may appeal their committal and seek judicial review of the minister’s surrender order — a process that can play out for months or even years in the courts.

The report released Thursday says the committal process compromises the ability of the person sought to meaningfully challenge the foreign case against them, reducing Canadian judges to rubber stamps and permitting use of unreliable material.

Diab's lawyer, Donald Bayne, said Canada's extradition process is "essentially an unjust system" unworthy of a modern, constitutional Canada.

"Extradition involves the deprivation of liberty of Canadians, and others, without any sworn evidence at all," he told a news conference Thursday to launch the report.

The surrender decision made by the justice minister is a highly discretionary and explicitly political process, unfairly weighted toward extradition, the report says.

The Justice Department's International Assistance Group facilitates the extradition of people to face prosecution or sentencing in the country in which they are charged or convicted.

However, the group is "excessively adversarial" in the way it conducts proceedings, acting without any separation between the litigators and the decision-makers, the report says.

All this takes place under a "veil of unnecessary secrecy," it adds. The group behind the report advocates changes including:

— A presumption of innocence in the committal process, as well as more use of first-person evidence and cross-examination to allow the person sought to challenge the reliability of the case against them;

— Timely disclosure of exculpatory evidence possessed by either the requesting state or the Canadian government;

— A more exacting standard of review for the minister's surrender decisions, and changes to the law to hand some legal questions to the courts;

— Permitting surrender only if the requesting state is ready to take the case to trial;

— Explicit consideration of Canada's obligations under international human rights law;

— A requirement that, if diplomatic assurances are used to facilitate surrender, they be meaningful, transparent, monitored and legally enforceable;

— Reformulation of the International Assistance Group's role so members seek a fair and just result rather than a litigation "win";

— Adequate oversight of the assistance group's activities, including public scrutiny;

— Barring extradition, in cases where Canadian citizens are sought, in favour of a Canadian prosecution, where possible, unless the government can prove it is actually in the interests of justice to extradite.

Dalhousie University law professor Rob Currie said the report had been sent to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Justice Minister David Lametti, among others.

"But what is most pressing is that Parliament look seriously at what extradition actually looks like in Canada and what it should look like in the future," Currie said. "Canadians should have a say in this, and it is well past time for law reform."

Lametti's office had no immediate comment on the report.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2021.

Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press

Uber drivers, gig workers pressure Ontario government for employee status

Mike Crawley 

© Carlos Osorio/CBC 

People who drive and deliver for apps such as Uber and DoorDash are calling on the Ontario government to grant them the rights of employees. The province's minister of labour says new protections for gig workers are coming and says it's wrong for app-based workers to earn less than minimum wage.

People in Ontario who drive or deliver for apps such as Uber, Lyft and Skip the Dishes are calling on Premier Doug Ford's government to grant them basic workers' rights by classifying them as employees.

It's an issue that directly affects hundreds of thousands of people who work in the province's gig economy, and could have implications for all workers across Ontario and in other provinces.

Hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake and there are clear signs that some sort of action is imminent:
Industry sources tell CBC News they expect the Ford government will soon reveal new measures regarding wages and benefits for gig workers.
Ontario's Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development Monte McNaughton is promising legislation by the end of the month as part of "broader efforts to protect and support vulnerable workers, such as those who have kept essential goods moving and the economy going through the pandemic."
A government-appointed advisory panel is working on recommendations "to ensure Ontario's technology platform workers benefit from flexibility, control, and security."

The app companies are profiting from having a workforce at the ready, yet don't provide those workers the rights and benefits of employees, says Brice Sopher, who delivers for Uber Eats and serves as vice-president of the union-backed group Gig Workers United.

"There is nothing right now stopping Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and these other app-based employment companies from offering us full employee rights. They are just choosing not to," Sopher told CBC News. "They have all the advantages with none of the responsibilities."

© CBC Brice Sopher does delivery work for Uber Eats and is vice-president of the group Gig Workers United.

Since app-based workers are currently classified as independent contractors under Ontario's Employment Standards Act, they are not entitled to minimum wage, vacation days or statutory holiday pay. The companies they work for do not have to pay Employment Insurance premiums or Canada Pension Plan contributions.

"There is no reason why we don't deserve full employment rights," said Sopher. "Anything less than that is a lowering of the bar for all workers."

Even those whose jobs are outside the gig economy should still be concerned about the issue, says Sopher. He says if Ontario does not classify app-based workers as employees, companies will have an incentive to convert their existing employees to gig workers, stripping them of employment rights.

While McNaughton is not promising to classify app workers as employees, he says new protections are on the way.

"There's going to be more to come on this in the days ahead," he said Wednesday in an interview with CBC News.

"It's wrong, quite frankly, when we see app-based workers making $3 an hour or anything less than a minimum wage. They deserve more, and we're going to deliver for them," said McNaughton.

Officials from Uber Canada declined a request for an interview, but a spokesperson emailed a statement to CBC News.

"What's important is that we prioritize what drivers and delivery people want: flexibility plus benefits," said the spokesperson.

© Carlos Osorio/CBC App-based workers want Premier Doug Ford's government to force the companies to provide greater transparency on how their pay is calculated.

The spokesperson referred to a proposal the company calls Flexible Work+. It would not grant Uber drivers the status of employees with the right to minimum wage and holiday pay, but would provide a cash-based benefit fund that the workers could dip into for any reason, whether a paid day off or to cover the cost of medications.

Uber Canada's proposal does not commit to how much it would pay into the benefits fund, but it uses rates of two to four per cent of a driver's income as what it calls "illustrative examples."

The question of whether app-based workers should be classed as employees is at issue in a $400-million class-action lawsuit against Uber Canada on behalf of its Ontario drivers.

"When you actually look at the relationship and you look at the control that Uber has over these drivers in many different ways, that's where you see that there is in fact, an employee-employer relationship," said employment lawyer Samara Belitzky.

Belitzky is with the Toronto-based law firm Samfiru Tumarkin, which is bringing the class-action suit on behalf of the estimated 360,000 people who have driven for Uber in Ontario since 2012. 

© Carlos Osorio/CBC Tens of thousands of people in Ontario work for app-based transport and delivery companies such as Uber, Lyft, Skip The Dishes and Doordash.

Ontario's Employment Standards Act previously put the onus on employers to prove that their workers are independent contractors, Belitzky said, but the Ford government changed that in its 2018 rollback of provincial labour law. The burden of proof now rests with the workers.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) has led attempts at unionizing app-based workers. The delivery company Foodora ceased its operations in Canada in the spring of 2020 in the wake of one such unionization drive.

Failing to classify gig workers as employees "is creating two classes of workers right now within our society, and we do not want that," said CUPW president Jan Simpson.

"If the Ford government truly wanted to to support workers in a just economic recovery, they must get rid of the misclassification," Simpson said in an interview.

Ontario's Progressive Conservative government is in the midst of a series of announcements on workers' rights, with a provincial election looming next June.

On Monday, McNaughton revealed measures to tighten rules for temp agencies and firms that recruit foreign workers

On Wednesday, he announced plans for 'right to pee' legislation, which would ban locations from denying delivery drivers access to their washrooms, a common practice during the pandemic.

While drivers welcomed that news, many are looking for much more from Ontario's government.

"There was a time during the pandemic when they could have very easily brought in measures to protect gig workers," said Sopher. "That never happened."

In particular, app-based workers want greater transparency on how their pay is calculated.

"My pay can vary 50 per cent from one day to the next," said Sopher, who delivers exclusively for Uber Eats. "I have no idea how much I make per kilometre or why it's different at a different time. All of that information is hidden from me."

The employment status of app-based workers has been a hot issue elsewhere in Canada and in the U.S.

In British Columbia, a union failed in its bid to have ride-sharing drivers classified as employees. This month, the same union said three Vancouver-area Uber drivers were unjustly fired for refusing unsafe work.

© Ben Nelms/CBC Ontario's government has announced plans for 'right to pee' legislation, which would ban locations from denying delivery drivers access to their washrooms, a common practice during the pandemic.

During the federal election campaign, Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole proposed a flexible benefits package for gig workers that echoed some of what Uber is pitching.

In California, Uber, Lyft and DoorDash led a push to classify app-based workers as contractors, making them exempt from the state's minimum wage and overtime laws. Facilitated by that change, U.S. grocery chain Albertsons laid off delivery workers employed by its 2,200 stores earlier this year and replaced its service with DoorDash.

It's unclear how many people in Ontario work for the app-based companies, but it definitely numbers in the tens of thousands and there's some evidence it could exceed 100,000.

Pre-pandemic research by Statistics Canada found 10 per cent of the labour force in the Toronto area to be gig workers, along with eight to nine per cent of the workforce across Ontario. That would suggest some 700,000 people work in the gig economy in the province, with a significant portion of them driving or delivering for app companies.

Uber Canada said "tens of thousands" of drivers are currently on its platform in Ontario, but declined to provide a more precise estimate, citing competitive reasons.

Survey data from 2016 by Statistics Canada found 36,000 people in Ontario driving for ride-sharing apps such as Uber.

B.C. forests minister introduces bill to overhaul forest practices

VICTORIA — British Columbia's forests minister has introduced a bill to amend the Forest and Range Practices Act, saying it would "reshape" forest management in the province.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Katrine Conroy told the legislature on Wednesday the proposed changes align forestry legislation with the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act passed in late 2019 and introduce "new tools to establish resilient forests."

"The vision is for a forest sector that delivers higher value from our forests, with secure, long-term jobs and healthier ecosystems," she later told a news conference.

Past policies "left too much control of the forest operations in the hands of the private sector" and limited the province's ability to fight climate change, protect old-growth forests and share benefits with Indigenous and local communities, she said.

"We'll put government back in the driver's seat of land-management decisions in partnership with First Nations, including where forest roads are built," Conroy said.

"The ability for the public and communities to view and have input on harvesting plans has been limited. It's time to increase transparency," she added.

Conroy said the proposed changes were "long overdue."

A new forest landscape planning framework is expected to be implemented over time, fully replacing the current forest stewardship planning system, she said.

The new system of 10-year forest landscape plans developed in partnership with First Nations, local communities and other stakeholders will prioritize forest health, replacing the stewardship plans developed largely by the forest industry, she said.

With the proposed changes, companies with harvesting licences would be required to develop and submit their operational plans for the minister's approval, and they must meet the requirements of the broader landscape-level plans, Conroy said.

The landscape and operations plans would be posted publicly, she added.

The province has been working with the forest industry on the changes, which are expected to come into effect through regulation over the next year, Conroy said.

The B.C. Council of Forest Industries supports "modernizing and further strengthening forest policy to ensure we have a strong, sustainable, and competitive forest sector," president Susan Yurkovich said in a statement.

"This includes continuously enhancing frameworks for engagement and collaboration with Indigenous Peoples, communities, labour and industry."

John Betts, the executive director of the Western Forestry Contractor's Association, said in the government statement announcing the changes that the legislation will allow the province to better manage forest resources for both climate change and the cumulative effects of resource development.

"For our reforestation sector, it means we will be managing stands and implementing forest practices more sensitive to the complexities and dynamics of how our forest and range ecosystems connect over the landscape and time."

The province previously released a series of far-ranging forest "policy intentions," including diversifying the ownership of harvesting rights and establishing a framework for compensation in the event those rights are redistributed.

About half of B.C.'s forest tenures are held by five major companies, and the plan released in June included the goal to increase the tenures for Indigenous Peoples, local communities and smaller operators.

Conroy said the province has been working to implement recommendations from an independent review of B.C.'s old-growth forest management released last year, including the deferral of logging in ecosystems at risk of irreversible loss.

B.C. announced the temporary deferral of harvesting across 196,000 hectares of old-growth forests in nine different areas in fall 2020. In June, the government approved a request from three Vancouver Island First Nations to defer old-growth logging across about 2,000 hectares of the Fairy Creek and central Walbran areas.

The province is in talks with Indigenous rights and titleholders over old-growth management and additional deferrals are expected soon, Conroy said.

Further changes to the Forest Act are expected later, she added. That act, separate from the Forest and Range Practices Act, governs the annual allowable cut.

— by Brenna Owen in Vancouver

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 20, 2021.

The Canadian Press

Ancient solar storm helped pinpoint the exact date Vikings settled in Newfoundland

HALIFAX — A groundbreaking study has confirmed Vikings had settled in a remote corner of northern Newfoundland by AD 1021, establishing for the first time a precise date for the earliest European habitation in the Americas — exactly 1,000 years ago.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The remains of the small Norse settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows were unearthed in 1960 by Norwegian explorer Helge Ingstad and his wife, archeologist Anne Stine. But the methods used to pinpoint the date of construction were imprecise.

Until this week, it was believed the Norse encampment was established around AD 1000 — a finding that prompted Canada's easternmost province to stage an elaborate re-enactment and festival in 2000 called, "Vikings! 2000."

That initial date of settlement was based on early radiocarbon dating techniques, the results of which were cross-referenced with analysis of the architectural remains and a handful of artifacts, as well as interpretations of Icelandic sagas written centuries after the Vikings had left the island.

"The buildings are typical of 11th and 10th century Iceland and Greenland," said Birgitta Wallace, a retired senior archeologist with Parks Canada who worked with Ingstad and his wife in the 1960s. "They're quite distinctive in shape and material and there were enough artifacts to confirm that."

As well, Ingstad and Stine found wood cut by metal tools, which were not made by the local Indigenous inhabitants.

But radiocarbon dating techniques at the time were lacking. "You got error factors of plus or minus 100 years — even more sometimes," said Wallace, a co-author of the new study published this week in the journal Nature. "You couldn't even say if it was late 10th century or early 11th century."

Wallace stressed that the original AD 1000 date was never meant to be a precise declaration. "But this new method pinpoints the exact year," she said in an interview Thursday.

Using accelerator mass spectrometry, researchers re-examined tree rings in pieces of wood used to build the camp. They found some tree rings exhibited a pattern consistent with exposure to a solar storm that swept over Earth in AD 993.

"There was one year of solar activity that affected the growth of trees throughout the world," said Wallace, who specialized in Viking archeology in Sweden and the United States before she moved to Canada. "Those tree rings are really wiggly."

Wallace said it's important to understand that the new AD 1021 date represents a precise calculation of when the trees used to build the settlement were felled. There's no way to know how long the Vikings were in Newfoundland, either before or after that date, but it is widely believed that the settlement existed for a relatively short time.

Still, it is the first and only authenticated Viking settlement in North America, outside of Greenland.

The study's contributors, who include researchers from the Netherlands, Germany and Canada, found conclusive evidence from three different trees to support their cosmic radiation theory.

"Our result of AD 1021 for the cutting year (of the wood) constitutes the only secure calendar date for the presence of Europeans across the Atlantic before the voyages of Columbus," the study says.

The archeological find in 1960 turned Norse myth into historical fact. Led by Norse explorer Leif Ericsson, the Vikings' voyage to Newfoundland — completed almost 500 years before Christopher Columbus would lay claim to the continent — was described in two medieval Icelandic documents, the Saga of Erik the Red and the Saga of Greenlanders.

The site at L'Anse aux Meadows, managed by Parks Canada, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978.

When asked to explain why the latest findings are important, Wallace said the level of precision was key. "It's something we rarely have," she said. "There are always many uncertainties in archeology."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2021.

Michael MacDonald, The Canadian Press

Newfoundland and Labrador to drop the word 'savages' from provincial coat of arms

© Provided by The Canadian Press

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — The Newfoundland and Labrador government is moving ahead with plans to drop the word "savages" from the official description of the Indigenous people depicted on the province's nearly 400-year-old coat of arms.

Premier Andrew Furey made the announcement Wednesday as amendments to the Coat of Arms Act were introduced for second reading in the legislature.

The amendments include replacing he word "‘savages" with "Beothuk," the name of Indigenous people who inhabited the island portion of the province when European settlers arrived.

As well, the government plans to add the name Labrador to the coat of arms.

“Actions that respect the culture and heritage of Indigenous peoples are an important step on the path to reconciliation," Krista Lynn Howell, minister of municipal and provincial affairs, said in a statement.

"These proposed changes are part of the process of building an inclusive environment in the province and a step forward in ensuring the coat of arms more accurately reflects the peoples and cultures of Newfoundland and Labrador.”

The heraldic emblem features two Beothuk warriors in traditional garb, standing on either side of a red shield.

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

At the time, Labrador politician Randy Edmunds said the Beothuk must be represented to honour an Indigenous group that was wiped out after settlers encroached on their land, resulting in deadly conflicts and the introduction of new diseases. Shawnadithit, the last known surviving Beothuk, died of tuberculosis in St. John's in June 1829.

Edmunds, an Inuk who was defeated in the 2019 provincial election, said other Indigenous groups should also be recognized. And he said the use of the term savages was offensive.

Last June, the premier confirmed proposed changes would be drafted into legislation following discussions with Indigenous leaders. A meeting earlier that month included representatives from the province's Mi'kmaq communities, the Innu Nation and Labrador's Inuit.

Qalipu First Nation Chief Brendan Mitchell later confirmed that everyone at the virtual meeting agreed that the insulting term had to go.

On Wednesday, Furey cited an online questionnaire that found 85 per cent of the 200 respondents said the legal description of the coat of arms should drop the word "savages."

The original coat of arms was granted by royal warrant from King Charles I of England in 1637. At the time, the island of Newfoundland was known as Terra Nova, and it wasn't yet joined with Labrador.

The symbol was actually granted to a business syndicate known as the Company of Adventurers to Newfoundland, which seemed to have little knowledge of the area.

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

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 20 2021.

The Canadian Press

#TAXTHECHURCH

Manitoba churches lose court challenge against COVID-19 restrictions

WINNIPEG — A judge who ruled against seven Manitoba churches that were fighting public health orders says the restrictions were reasonable and necessary to stem the spread of COVID-19

. 

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Chief Justice Glenn Joyal of Court of Queen's Bench said the orders did not violate the Charter of Rights and Freedomsand the chief provincial public health officer can lawfully impose such restrictions.

"The decision to temporarily close places of worship and otherwise limit the size of gatherings was rational, reasoned and defensible in the circumstances of an undeniable public health crisis," Joyal wrote in one of two judgments in the case released Thursday.

While the closure of churches limited certain charter rights such as the freedom of assembly and freedom of religion, it was reasonable and justifiable, Joyal ruled.

In the second decision, Joyal rejected the churches' argument that only the legislature, not the chief public health officer, should issue public health orders.

"If every public health order and subsequent modification had to be enacted by the Legislative Assembly,it could potentially handcuff and immobilize government’s ability to act in a timely manner," he said.

Manitoba Justice Minister Cameron Friesen said the government has enacted reasonable measures to respond to the pandemic and its position has been upheld by the rulings.

"Those measures are demonstrating their value even now, as we continue to see a stabilizing of the daily case counts, even while other jurisdictions are experiencing very significant case spread and hospitalizations," Friesen said in an emailed statement.

The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, a Calgary-based group representing the churches, said it may appeal the ruling.

"We are disappointed in these decisions and in the unwavering deference accorded to public health officials," Allison Pejovic, a lawyer with the centre, said in a news release.

A special hearing for the case was held in July after Joyal said he learned that the president of the justice centre had hired a private investigator to follow him while he was presiding over the case.

John Carpay took a short leave from his position at the justice centre and professional misconduct complaints were filed with law societies in Manitoba and Alberta.

Throughout the pandemic, there have been times when Manitoba’s health orders restricted worship services. A significant surge of infections in the second wave clogged hospitals and prompted all in-person and drive-in services to be banned.

Government lawyers told court it’s within the bounds of the legislature to grant the chief public health officer the authority to impose reasonable rules.

Dr. Brent Roussin, the chief provincial public health officer, testified that he is bound by using the least restrictive means to stop the spread of the pandemic. The decision about churches was made because, he said, "we were in crisis."

"Our hospitals were full of COVID-19 patients. Our ICUs were full of COVID-19 patients," he said.

Lanette Siragusa, the province's chief nursing officer, told court she supported the orders because hospital staff were exhausted and facing tough decisions about who could get care.

During often heated and confrontational cross-examinations, the health-care leaders were questioned about capacity in hospitals and intensive-care units, as well as the efficacy of certain COVID-19 tests.

Joyal said the case was one of the first in Canada where a church's constitutional challenge also attacked the science that a government relied on to make its decisions.

But, the judge said, after the restrictions were put in place, COVID-19 numbers began to decline in Manitoba, which was consistent with what the province's science and modelling predicted.

"Manitobans flattened the curve and avoided a disastrous situation," said Joyal.

Court also heard from Tobias Tissen, a minister at the Church of God Restoration, which is located south of Steinbach in rural Manitoba. Tissen said he cannot force worshippers attending his church to follow public health orders because it is "God's jurisdiction."

Tissen was arrested by RCMP earlier this week on an outstanding warrant for contravening health orders.

Restrictions have been loosened significantly in Manitoba since the spring as cases of COVID-19 dropped and there was less pressure on the health-care system.

Currently, places of worship have to choose between requiring people to be vaccinated or restricting in-person attendance to 33 per cent capacity or 25 people — whichever is more.

Joyal said public health orders achieve an important societal benefit: protecting the health and safety of others.

"I have no difficulty concluding that any of the restrictions on gatherings and in-person faith services that were eventually implemented, were as Manitoba has argued, temporary and necessary."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2021

Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press

QUEBECOIS WHITE NATIONALISM

Mohawk Council of Kahnawake 'repulsed' by politicization of Habs' land acknowledgment

MONTREAL — The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake is blasting the Quebec government for questioning a land acknowledgment by the Montreal Canadiens that refers to the unceded territory of the Mohawk Nation

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© Provided by The Canadian Press

The statement, which has been read before the NHL team's home games this season, acknowledges the hospitality of the Mohawk Nation "on this traditional and unceded territory where we are gathered today."

Quebec Indigenous Affairs Minister Ian Lafrenière told reporters on Wednesday the acknowledgment may be an error.

In a statement Thursday, the elected council for the First Nations reserve across the river from Montreal commended the hockey club's gesture as an example of true reconciliation and added it was "repulsed" by the province's attempt to politicize the effort, which it said undermines the Mohawk presence in the Montreal region.

On Wednesday, Lafrenière told reporters that referring to a specific nation may be a mistake as historians differ on which nation was the first to live in Montreal, while adding it was important to recognize that First Nations were the first occupants.

Grand Chief Kahsennenhawe Sky-Deer said in a statement that land is an essential part of Mohawk identity.

“It holds the knowledge of our ancestors, our history and our presence, now and for the future," Sky-Deer said. "Opinionated commentary that challenge and discredit our presence are not only insulting, they are taken as displaced attacks on our existence.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2021.

The Canadian Press

With hours before deadline, Liberals reshape pandemic aid to businesses, workers

OTTAWA — The federal government has unveiled a $7-billion redesign of pandemic aid for businesses and individuals that kicks in Sunday, which would cut support to almost 900,000 workers and potentially put thousands of jobs at risk in the near-term

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© Provided by The Canadian Press

The Liberals have long said the federal wage and rent subsidies, along with benefits like the Canada Recovery Benefit, were always designed to be temporary to get the country through the economic crisis COVID-19 caused.

After a last-minute extension this summer, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said Thursday most would not be given an extra month of life past Oct. 23, but reshaped until late November.

The country is in a different phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, Freeland said, noting the labour market has recovered all the jobs lost last year and vaccination rates are rising.

But unemployment remains high, companies face labour shortages and some sectors are further from recovery, which is why aid is being redone and targeted based on need.

"The best possible support for a Canadian is actually a job," Freeland said, "and that's what these programs are designed to really promote."

Wage and rent subsidies for businesses will be more generous and targeted to still-hurting tourism and hospitality sectors, so long as they can prove a prolonged and deep revenue loss.

Restaurants Canada told its members it was happy for ongoing help, but disappointed that eligibility requirements will leave many operators out in the cold this winter.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business said it would push the Liberals to let a wider array of businesses qualify for help, such as gyms, bowling alleys and dance studios, as well as businesses that launched after March 2020.

The government is also looking to extend to May a hiring credit for companies that add to their payrolls by boosting wages, rehiring laid-off workers or new hires, and doesn't require as deep a revenue loss to qualify.

"If economic growth is really as strong as (the Finance Department) forecasts, then there is not a strong need for the expansion of this program," economist Miles Corak wrote on Twitter.

Income support measures for Canadians unable to work because of COVID-19 will only flow to those off the job because of a government-imposed lockdown, but not if a person refused to adhere to a vaccine mandate.

The $300 weekly lockdown benefit would equal what the CRB provides to unemployed workers, over two million of whom have used the CRB since last year and received $27 billion in aid.

An analysis from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives said the end of the CRB would leave some 880,000 people without income support starting Sunday, which the Montreal-based National Council of Unemployed Workers noted would hit self-employed and gig workers hardest, since neither qualify for EI.

The Liberals have promised to help those workers access EI, but not until at least 2023.

"It's not so much that the CRB should continue, or shouldn't continue or that this lockdown benefit should exist or shouldn't exist, but rather that we should have a longer-term solution to this rather than a gap year in essence for self-employed workers, which is in essence what we're going to see," said CCPA senior economist David Macdonald.

Macdonald also said thousands of jobs could be in peril as the wage subsidy is narrowed, but any layoffs would likely move workers onto employment insurance.

Freeland said there is still a need for the benefits to help parents stay home to care for a sick child, or to stay home themselves if sick, which is why the government wants to extend them past next month and add two more weeks of eligibility.

The new measures will exist until Nov. 20, after which the Liberals will need support from enough opposition MPs to enact the proposals unveiled Thursday that Freeland said would cost $7.4 billion through May 7.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh in a statement suggested his party would push back against an end to the CRB to make sure "people aren't left to fend for themselves." Conservative finance critic Ed Fast said his party wouldn't support the CRB living past Nov. 20 because of "skyrocketing inflation and ongoing labour shortages across the country."

The House of Commons returns Nov. 22, which doesn't leave much time for MPs to approve a new aid package before Parliament starts its winter break in mid-December.

"The last thing that we want to see is brinksmanship and games that are going to stretch this out to the 11th hour," said Mark Agnew, senior vice-president policy with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. "It needs to pass in a fairly expeditious manner."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2021.

Jordan Press, The Canadian Press

Health-care workers demand Trudeau fast track paid sick-leave policy

OTTAWA — A coalition of front-line health-care workers has asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to fast-track proposed legislative amendments to grant paid sick leave to federally regulated workers.

 

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Trudeau has said an early priority of his newly re-elected government will be to give all federally regulated workers 10 days of paid sick leave, and work with provinces and territories on better sick-leave policies for all Canadians.

He pledged to do so within 100 days of receiving a new mandate, but the Decent Work and Health Network says that's not fast enough.

"My patients cannot afford any more delays. And frankly, we shouldn't have to wait 100 days for paid sick days," said Dr. Gaibrie Stephen, an emergency physician from Peel, Ont., with the Decent Work and Health Network.

"Diseases are not waiting 100 days to infect our patients."

A lack of paid sick leave has been a major problem for many Canadians during the pandemic who couldn't afford to stay home when ill, risking the spread of COVID-19 in their workplaces.

During the election, Trudeau said as the country’s largest employer, it is up to the federal government to set the example.

The Decent Work and Health Network held an online news conference to call on the government to immediately amend the Canadian Labour Code to provide 10 paid sick days for federal workers, with 14 extra days during public health emergencies.

The group also asked the government to convene the provinces to create adequate sick-leave policies that would include migrant, precarious, and contract workers.

"As health experts, we are recommending patients with flu-like symptoms stay home and isolate, but without access to paid sick days this is difficult for working-class families who are disproportionately racialized," said Stephanie Sarmiento, a public health nurse in Toronto.

The issue is particularly urgent as Canada enters flu season, Sarmiento said.

"Children and adults with cold and respiratory viruses are on the rise across the country," she said.

The lack of paid sick leave can have far-reaching implications on schools and hospitals, said Dr. Shazeen Suleman, a Toronto pediatrician.

She said several schools in her area have already been shut down due to COVID-19 outbreaks, which could have been prevented.

"Many of the children who go to these schools have caregivers who cannot afford to stay home and care for them when they are sick," she said.

When parents can take time off to care for their kids, the children are also more likely to be treated early and less likely to end up in emergency rooms, she said.

“No one should have to make the difficult choice between having to go to work sick or stay home without pay," said NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh in a statement Wednesday.

The NDP said the change cannot be made to the Canadian Labour Code without recalling Parliament, which is not scheduled to happen until Nov. 22.

"Justin Trudeau should reconvene the House of Commons so we can make sure every worker has access to paid sick leave and save lives," Singh said.

Currently, there is a patchwork of sick-leave legislation across the country but no Canadian jurisdiction has adequate policy, the group said.

According to the Decent Work and Health Network, the only jurisdictions with any permanent paid sick days are federally regulated sectors, Quebec and Prince Edward Island with three days, two days and one day respectively.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 20, 2021.

Laura Osman, The Canadian Press