Filmmaker: Officials arrest Iran movie industry workers



DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An award-wining Iranian filmmaker said authorities raided the offices and homes of several filmmakers and other industry professionals and arrested some of them.

Mohammad Rasoulof said in a statement signed by dozens of movie industry professionals on his Instagram account late Saturday that security forces made some arrests and confiscated film production equipment during raids conducted in recent days. The statement condemned the actions and called them “illegal.”

In a separate Instagram post, Rasoulof identified two of the detained filmmakers as Firouzeh Khosravani and Mina Keshavarz. Rasoulof was not targeted in the recent raids.

Iranian media and authorities have not commented on the raids and no additional details were immediately available. Authorities in Iran occasionally arrest activists in cultural fields over alleged security violations.

Rasoulof won the Berlin Film Festival’s top prize in 2020 for his film “There Is No Evil.” It tells four stories loosely connected to the themes of the death penalty in Iran and personal freedoms under tyranny.

Shortly after receiving the award he was sentenced to a year in prison for three films he made that authorities found to be “propaganda against the system.” His lawyer appealed the sentence. He was also banned from making films and traveling abroad.

Iran’s conservative authorities, many with religious sensibilities, control all the levers of power in Iran. They have long viewed many cultural activities as part of a “soft war” by the West against the Islamic Republic. They say Westernization is attempting to tarnish the country’s Islamic beliefs.

The Associated Press

Famous rallying speech by feminist leader Millicent Fawcett was never made, says new book



Donna Ferguson - 
The Guardian


It has become a fashionable feminist slogan that is printed on everything from T-shirts and badges to fridge magnets and mugs: “Courage calls to courage everywhere”.

On her statue in Parliament Square, the suffragist leader Millicent Fawcett even proudly displays her famous quotation on a stone banner.

But a new book suggests that Fawcett’s words have been taken out of context and that she was not making the rallying cry for feminism and suffrage that many people have thought.

“We have taken a quote where Fawcett’s making a statement and we’ve turned it into this feminist go-getting slogan,” said Edinburgh University professor Melissa Terras, editor of a forthcoming book, Millicent Garrett Fawcett: Selected Writings.

“Courage calls to courage everywhere, and its voice cannot be denied” is often cited as a quote from a speech Fawcett made in 1913 about Emily Davison, the suffragette who died after she ran on to Epsom racecourse and was trampled by King George V’s horse.

In fact, Fawcett – who did not approve of the suffragettes’ militant tactics to get the vote – never made any such speech, claimed Terras.

It was not until after some women had the vote, in 1920, that she finally penned her famous line about the contagious impact of the suffragette’s courage.

At that point, Fawcett was merely trying to explain why Davison’s death – which she described as a deliberately “sensational” act of self-sacrifice – made headlines around the world, argues Terras.

“She thought that Davison’s death was pointless,” said Terras, who co-edited the book with suffrage historian Elizabeth Crawford. “She sees it as a senseless loss of life.”

In 1913, Fawcett ran a tersely worded editorial in her weekly newspaper, the Common Cause, stating that, for all who believed in the enfranchisement of women, Davison’s death was a “piteous waste of courage and devotion” that did not deserve the name of “heroism”. She made no other attempt to publicly mourn or comment on Davison’s death at the time, the new book will show.

Terras thinks it is extremely unlikely that when Fawcett wrote her now famous quotation in a book, seven years after Davison’s death, she had decided to rally other women to stand up and fight for their rights as Davison did.

Instead, she suggests that Fawcett, a patriotic pro-war imperialist, was making a connection between Davison’s “self-sacrifice” for the cause of “freedom” and the deaths of so many men during the first world war. Terras said: “In the context of 1920, when lots of young people had just lost their lives, she writes that giving up your life for something you believe in is courageous.”

She may also have been making a call for unity, said the social historian Jane Robinson, who specialises in women’s history. “For many years, the fight for the vote had been divided, and now here was a chance, after the war and ahead of universal suffrage, to bring healing. Hence, courage calls to courage everywhere: we’re all in this together,” Robinson said.

Beverley Cook, curator of the suffragette collection at the Museum of London, said she thinks it is fashionable for contemporary feminists to reclaim the words of the “votes for women” campaigners for their own ends. “Sometimes the words of the suffragists and suffragettes are taken out of context and given a contemporary reinterpretation.”

Terras decided to write the book, which will be published on an open access basis by UCL Press on 9 June, because she could not find the speech Fawcett supposedly made in 1913 and realised that no collection of Fawcett’s speeches and writings existed.

“I thought: how can it be that someone so famous as the first woman to have a statue in Parliament Square – how can it be that no one can read her words? And that felt like an injustice to me.”

Russia’s Black Sea blockade pushing millions towards famine, G7 says


Daniel Boffey in Kyiv - Saturday
The Guardian

Millions of people will starve to death unless Russia allows the export of Ukrainian grain from blockaded ports, foreign ministers from the G7 have said.

As German’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, warned that Vladimir Putin was intransigent during their bilateral call on Friday, the ministers from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and US condemned Moscow for stoking a food crisis.

The G7 governments said the Russian president was pushing 43 million people towards famine by refusing to allow cereals to leave Ukraine via Black sea ports.

“Russia’s unprovoked and premeditated war of aggression has exacerbated the global economic outlook with sharply rising food, fuel and energy prices,” they said in a joint statement. “Combined with Russia blocking the exit routes for Ukraine’s grain, the world is now facing a worsening state of food insecurity and malnutrition … This is at a time when 43 million people were already one step away from famine.”

Canada’s foreign minister, Mélanie Joly, told reporters: “We need to make sure that these cereals are sent to the world. If not, millions of people will be facing famine.”

The call came as Ukrainian officials claimed some major military successes, with the mayor of Kharkiv saying on Saturday that the Russians had withdrawn “far out” from Ukraine’s second-largest city.

The general staff of Ukraine’s army echoed the comments, saying the Russians had left their positions around the north-eastern city, which is 31 miles (50km) from the Russian border.

The remorseless shelling endured by the civilian population in the region had also paused, according to the regional governor, Oleh Sinegubov, while Ukrainian forces were launching a counteroffensive near the city of Izium, 78 miles south of Kharkiv.

However, Putin’s forces have also captured territory in the Donbas region, including Rubizhne, a city with a prewar population of about 55,000, and the situation appeared increasingly grave for the remaining soldiers trapped in the Azovstal steelworks in the south-eastern city of Mariupol.

Speaking on Saturday at a press conference in Kyiv, Natalia Zarytska, the wife of Bogdan Sements, who is among those trapped in the sprawling steelworks, called on China to intervene and help liberate the remaining.

She said: “Strong leaders cannot stand aside when there is evil … After all these negotiations, there is one person worldwide who it would be difficult for Vladimir Putin to refuse. We hope that strong and good China can make difficult decisions for the good.

“We ask the esteemed premier of China, Xi Jinping, to express love and care for global values and eastern wisdom and to join the process of rescuing the defenders of Mariupol.”

Hanna Ivleieva, the wife of a soldier in Mariupol, said only those who had lost their arms or legs were not fighting among the Ukrainian forces left in the city.

She said: “I am a soldier with the marines. My husband, my commanding officers, and close friends are now in Azovstal.

“They were the first to engage in the battle in this war. We are proud of all Azovstal defenders, as they are stronger than the steel [that] used to be produced here.

“But we do not want them to be killed there. We need our heroes alive. We ask the President of China as Putin’s economic partner to undertake all the necessary procedures and rescue our guys”.

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said on Friday that talks with Moscow on extracting a “large number” of wounded defenders and some medics from the plant in Mariupol in return for the release of Russian prisoners of war were “very complex”, adding that Kyiv was using influential intermediaries.

Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk told local TV on Saturday that efforts were now focused on evacuating about 60 people.

Sviatoslav Palamar, the deputy commander of the Azov regiment, which makes up most of the remaining forces at the plant, said in a YouTube video that his soldiers were holding on.

He said: “Our enemy, supported by planes and artillery, continues to attack. They continue their assault on our positions but we continue to repel them.”

The G7 countries said they would expand sanctions on Russia and that they would not accept the new borders Russia is seeking to draw.

They said: “We will never recognise borders Russia has attempted to change by military aggression, and will uphold our engagement in the support of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, including Crimea, and all states.

“We reaffirm our determination to further increase economic and political pressure on Russia, continuing to act in unity.”

They called on China not to aid Putin and “to desist from engaging in information manipulation, disinformation and other means to legitimise Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine”.

Three weeks before Putin launched his war in Ukraine, the Russian president signed a pact with his Chinese counterpart that said there would be “no limits” to the two countries’ cooperation.

Palestinians mourn Israel's creation amid outcry over funeral raid

AFP - Yesterday 


Palestinians rallied Sunday to mark the "Nakba," or catastrophe, 74 years after Israel's creation, with condemnation spreading over a police raid on the funeral of a slain journalist.


© STAFFMap of Israel and the occupied West Bank

The annual demonstrations across the occupied West Bank, annexed east Jerusalem and inside Israel came with tensions high over the killing of 51-year-old Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh.

The Palestinian-American was shot dead Wednesday during an Israeli raid in Jenin, a West Bank flashpoint. A Palestinian militant wounded in clashes there, Daoud al-Zubaidi, died from his injuries in an Israeli hospital Sunday.

Israeli police have vowed to investigate the chaos that marred the day of Abu Akleh's funeral, after television footage seen worldwide showed pallbearers struggling to stop the casket from toppling to the ground as baton-wielding police descended upon them, grabbing Palestinian flags.

The scenes Friday sparked international condemnation, including from the United States, United Nations and the European Union, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday calling for a "credible" investigation into Abu Akleh's death as he offered condolences to her family.


© Ahmad GHARABLI

Violence erupts between Israeli security forces and Palestinian mourners carrying the casket of slain Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh on May 13, 2022

Late South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu's foundation said Israeli police "attacking pallbearers" was "chillingly reminiscent of the brutality" seen at the funerals of anti-apartheid activists.


© ABBAS MOMANI

Palestinians wave flags as they march to mark the 74th anniversary of the "Nakba" or "catastrophe", in the occupied West Bank town of Ramallah, on May 15

- 'Unbridled brutality' -

Israeli commentators joined the chorus lambasting the raid as Abu Akleh's coffin emerged a Jerusalem hospital.

In leading Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot, Oded Shalom said the footage "documented a shocking display of unbridled brutality and violence".

"The Jerusalem District Police decided to come down like a tonne of bricks on anyone who dared to hold a Palestinian flag," Shalom wrote.

"As if holding up a flag -- a mere piece of cloth, for God's sake -- at a funeral procession for an hour or two could have had any impact whatsoever" on Israeli claims to control over Jerusalem, he added.


© ABBAS MOMAN

Palestinians march under a huge flag in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah to mark the "Nakba", or catastrophe of Israel's creation 74 years ago

Israeli police regularly crack down on people holding Palestinian flags.

Thousands of Palestinians streamed through central Ramallah for the main Nakba rally, with crowds also turning out in Gaza City, in the Israeli-blocked strip.

At a student Nakba event at Tel Aviv University (TAU), police said three Arabs were arrested "for attacking demonstrators and police officers."

The arrests followed a confrontation with Im Tirtzu, a right-wing Israeli movement holding a counter rally.

Arab TAU student Aline Nasra said that demonstrators were assaulted by police as they moved to protect one of their members from Im Tirtzu threats.

The right-wing Israelis taunted the Arab students, including with calls that Israel is only for "Jewish people," Nasra said.

- Posthumous report -

Al Jazeera on Sunday posthumously aired a piece produced by Abu Akleh on the Nakba, which marks Israel's 1948 declaration of independence.

A highly respected reporter, she was killed while wearing a helmet and a bulletproof vest marked "Press".

Israel's army said an interim investigation could not determine who fired the fatal bullet, noting that stray Palestinian gunfire or Israeli sniper fire aimed at militants were both possible causes.

The Palestinian public prosecution said an initial probe proved Israeli troops were to blame.

Abu Akleh's posthumously aired piece retraced the fate of the Palestinian people since 1948, with a particular focus on refugees and the displaced.

More than 700,000 Palestinians fled or were forced from their homes during the conflict that surrounded Israel's creation.

One of the latest casualties of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Daoud al-Zubaidi, was the brother of Zakaria, who headed the armed wing of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah movement and briefly escaped from an Israeli prison last year.


© ABBAS MOMANIThis aerial view shows Palestinians marching in a rally to mark the 74th anniversary of the "Nakba" or "catastrophe", in the occupied West Bank town of Ramallah, on May 15

The most recent Israeli fatality was special forces police officer Noam Raz, 46, who was shot Friday in Jenin. He was being buried on Sunday.

bur-jjm/bs/pjm

‘Cold-blooded’ killing and funeral chaos leave West Bank in turmoil

Bethan McKernan and Sufian Taha in Jerusalem 

- Yesterday 
 The Guardian


Nahed Araf Imran and her husband Jamal were exhausted but excited on Wednesday morning: Nahed was in labour with their third child at a local hospital in Nablus, in the north of the occupied West Bank.

But when Jamal’s mother arrived at the hospital crying just before the couple’s daughter was born, he knew something was wrong.

“I asked her what happened and she told me that Shireen Abu Aqleh had been shot dead by the Israelis. Shireen had visited us in our town, Bureen, and covered demonstrations here many times. Everybody knows her,” the 29-year-old construction worker said.

“My mum was heartbroken. I said to myself, when the baby comes, we will call her Shireen, and my wife agreed.”

Shireen Abu Aqleh Jamal Imran came into the world at about noon on Wednesday. At dawn that morning, her namesake, a 51-year-old veteran Al Jazeera journalist, had been shot in the head and killed during an Israel Defence Forces (IDF) raid in the West Bank town of Jenin.

Israeli officials said they believed the dual Palestinian-American citizen had died after being hit by Palestinian fire during an altercation between IDF soldiers and Palestinian gunmen.

But the reporter’s colleagues at the scene said there were no militants near the small group of journalists – all wearing helmets and body armour clearly marked as “press” – when they came under fire from the direction of the Israeli unit. Ali Samodi, an Al Jazeera producer who was shot in the back, told the Observer from his hospital bed that even after Abu Aqleh had fallen to the ground and colleagues tried to reach her, the bullets kept coming. Video of the incident confirms this version of events.

Israel has firmly rejected allegations that its soldiers deliberately targeted the journalists, but the international community is demanding answers in what Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based TV network, has described as an “assassination” carried out “in cold blood”.

Unlike the killings of anonymous Palestinians that occur in the occupied West Bank on a regular basis, Abu Aqleh was a familiar face, broadcasting to millions across the Arab world and well known for her bravery during a 15-year television news career. She was also a US citizen. This time, an Israeli strategy of deflection and denial has backfired.

What is seen by the Palestinians as Israeli obfuscation also threatens to inflame a spate of violence that has surged across Israel and the Palestinian territories since late March.

Gallery: Mourning Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh (dw.com)

1 of 8 Photos in Gallery©AFP

A veteran journalist

Shireen Abu Akleh spent over 25 years working as journalist for Qatar-based news channel Al Jazeera. Abu Akleh, a Palestinian of Christian faith, lived and worked in East Jerusalem. Her coverage mainly focused on the Middle East conflict between Palestinians and Israelis. She often reported from dangerous places but was known for remaining calm and cautious.

A video released by the IDF of what it said were Palestinian militants engaged in a firefight in Jenin on the morning Abu Aqleh was killed has been heavily criticised: human rights group B’Tselem, which visited the two locations, found it was impossible for the shooting in the IDF-distributed video to be the same gunfire that hit Abu Aqleh and Samodi.

And the spectacle of Israeli police storming Abu Aqleh’s funeral procession in Jerusalem on Friday, causing pallbearers to drop her coffin, has added to Palestinian and international outrage.

The public display of Palestinian flags in occupied East Jerusalem is forbidden by the Israeli authorities under any circumstances, but many mourners arrived waving Palestinian banners. The journalist’s casket was also draped in the flag, followed by an orange stretcher bearing a flak jacket marked “press”.


© Provided by The Guardian

Israeli police confront mourners as they carry the casket of Shireen Abu Aqleh on Friday. Photograph: Maya Levin/AP

The EU said it was appalled by the “unnecessary” force used by the Israeli police, while the White House described footage of the scene as “deeply disturbing”.

Israel’s police said the mourners were “disrupting public order” by throwing stones at the heavy police presence, but on Saturdayyesterday said an investigation into the officers’ actions would be launched.

“I was horrified by what I saw on TV from the funeral. I think it shows how Shireen exposed [Israel], she succeeded in that not just in life but in death also,” Imran said. Not letting her funeral proceed with respect … they have publicly exposed themselves for the world to see.”

The battle of narratives sparked by Abu Aqleh’s death is far from over. Palestinian officials have rejected the Israeli offer of a joint investigation, saying “criminals cannot be trusted”, leading Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett to accuse the Palestinians of denying Israel “access to the basic findings required to get to the truth”.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said during a state memorial for Abu Aqleh in the Palestinian town of Ramallah on Thursday that the case will be referred to the international criminal court, of which Israel is not a member and whose jurisdiction the state disputes.

An interim Israeli army investigation “could not determine” who fired the fatal bullet, an IDF statement said on Friday, while an initial probe by the Palestinian public prosecution found that “the only origin of the shooting was the Israeli occupation forces”.

In the meantime, even more so than during her career, Abu Aqleh’s fame has grown. Outside the reporter’s home in Beit Hanina in East Jerusalem this week, neighbours and friends gathered daily to mourn her death despite a raid on the house on Wednesday by Israeli forces: many have put up pictures of her in their windows. On the quiet street outside, local children gather waving Palestinian flags.

“Shireen was a Christian and we are a Muslim family, but that didn’t matter,” one neighbour said. “She has united us.”

For the thousands of people who have thronged streets across the West Bank and Jerusalem this week in tribute, Abu Aqleh’s life and death has become a potent symbol.

“Shireen’s story is the story of the Palestinian people,” said Imran, the father of newborn Shireen. “She will never be forgotten, especially for our family. Every time we call her name we will remember.”

Croupiers plan to walk off the job at Montreal Casino for the second time in two days

 The Canadian Press


MONTREAL — Croupiers at the Montreal Casino say they will walk off the job once again today following a surprise four-hour strike on Saturday.

Employees stopped working on Saturday afternoon to denounce stalled negotiations over the new collective agreement, which came to an impasse last weekend.

The strike is set to resume today from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.

The collective agreement that regulates the working conditions of 521 dealers expired on March 31, 2020, with salaries and schedules among the issues at stake.

Union representative Jean-Pierre Proulx said contract talks will resume on Tuesday with a mediator, adding he hopes this weekend's actions demonstrate the need to find a satisfactory deal.

Loto-Québec, which manages the province's casinos, said clients will still be able to access gaming tables during the temporary strike except in the poker room.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 15, 2022.

---

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

Project Moon Woman: Officer with Alberta's Blood Tribe fights human trafficking

STANDOFF, ALBERTA — It took a few years on the job for Const. Jennaye Norris to realize the Blood Tribe in southern Alberta has a human trafficking problem.



Norris, 29, has been with the Blood Tribe Police Service for almost nine years. The sprawling First Nation, also known as Kainai Nation, is the largest in size in Canada.

Located about 200 kilometres south of Calgary, it's home to nearly 13,000 band members who identify as Blackfoot.

Norris said a few years ago while working drug cases she learned about girls and women from the reserve being forced into the sex trade.

"People were starting to give me human trafficking intelligence — we know it's happening," Norris said in an interview.

She found out that people from outside the reserve were travelling there to sell drugs, then taking girls and women into nearby Lethbridge and trafficking them. Other times, women were meeting men at bars in cities across the province and beyond.

The men became their "boyfriends," Norris said. But the women were "actually getting trafficked through the main corridors of Alberta, which is Calgary, Red Deer, Edmonton and then even over to Vancouver."

Norris pitched to the police service the idea of creating a unit to combat human trafficking on the reserve. It was rejected at first but was recently approved by a new police chief.

Norris is now the coordinator, and one and only member, of the force's Project Kokomi-Kisomm Aakii, or Project Moon Woman. Its aim is to investigate human trafficking cases while raising awareness and training front-line officers.

"Indigenous women are more vulnerable to get trafficked," said Norris. "They think the men can give them a better life than what they have and then kind of lure them in that way."

It was important for the project to have a Blackfoot name, she added, so people will feel comfortable helping with the investigations.

"We've been told people from the reserve who have been trafficked just don't feel comfortable going to city police services. It's from the past mistrust of the police."

Norris, who is from Medicine Hat, isn't Indigenous. But she said as a woman she hopes victims will feel they can talk with her.

So far, Norris said, there haven't been any human trafficking charges laid on the reserve.

Staff Sgt. Brad Moore with the Calgary Police Child Abuse Unit said human trafficking is an under-reported crime. The city force had 23 reported human trafficking cases last year, up from 21 in 2020.

"The victims in these crimes sometimes don't even believe they're victims," Moore said.

"Some of them come from very troubled backgrounds, from living arrangements, and where they're going in their minds is sometimes better than where they came from.

"So how do you tell that person who feels better about where they currently are that they're being victimized, human trafficked or exploited? It's a tough sell."

Moore said for those with troubled backgrounds, the trafficker can appear to be heroic.

"Somebody slides in as kind of the Prince Charming, and says, 'Hey, come hang out with me. I'll treat you well and buy you some stuff.' And they treat them very well ... and then all of a sudden it's, 'Hey, all of this isn't for free.'"

Moore said trafficking victims are disproportionately Indigenous.

"A lot of these people come from very marginalized communities. The number of Indigenous folks across the country is four to seven per cent of the population, and they make up about 52 per cent of the people being exploited or trafficked."

On the Stoney Nakoda First Nation west of Calgary, Myrna Teegee said there needs to be more education for young people so they are aware of the risks.

"It's horrendous and it's tragic ... I don't think people understand that it needs to be put out into the schools and to let people know before they get out into the world," said Teegee, a social worker with the Mini Thni Crisis Support Team.

She said it can be a difficult issue to discuss.

"I think most are afraid to speak out because it's a hush, hush topic."

Sgt. Andrea Scott with the Winnipeg police said reports of human trafficking there have been on the rise in recent years, but that might be because the public is more aware of the crime.

"Our counter exploitation unit uses a similar approach as the Blood reserve in terms of education," Scott said.

"Our officers speak at the Salvation Army, Court Diversion Programs for offenders as well as offering education to the hospitality and hotel industry in the city."

Scott agreed getting victims to come forward can be challenging.

"The trauma victims experience can prove painful to revisit continually through the investigation and court process," she said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 15, 2022.

Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press

Nunavut review board recommends against iron ore mine expansion on Baffin Island

 The Canadian Press

CAMBRIDGE BAY, Nunavut — The Nunavut Impact Review Board is recommending the proposed expansion of an iron ore mine on the northern tip of Baffin Island should not go ahead.

Baffinland Iron Mines Corp. is seeking to expand its Mary River iron ore mine near Pond Inlet by doubling its annual output from six to 12 million tonnes.

The mine, considered one of the world's richest iron deposits, opened in 2015 and ships about six million tonnes of ore a year.

The mine says the expansion would more than double employment at the mine to more than 1,000.

The review board said Friday in a release that there is potential for the proposal to have significant and lasting negative effects on marine mammals, the marine environment, fish, caribou and other wildlife, vegetation and freshwater.

The board said these negative effects could also impact Inuit harvesting, culture, land use and food security.

"The Board has concluded that the proposal as assessed cannot be carried out in a manner that will protect the ecosystemic integrity of the Nunavut Settlement Area and that will protect and promote the existing and future well-being of the residents and communities of the Nunavut Settlement Area, and Canada more generally," the board said.

"As a result, the board has recommended to the Minister that the Phase 2 Development Proposal as assessed should not be permitted to proceed at this time."

Federal Northern Affairs Minister Dan Vandal thanked the board for its work and said the government will review the report and its recommendation.

"I will be taking time to review the report along with federal officials," Vandal said on Twitter. "A decision will be taken following appropriate due diligence and comprehensive analysis, including whether the duty to consult has been met or not."

The mine proposal has faced opposition, including from hunters and trappers in the community closest to the mine.

Inuit hunters said they feared an expansion of the mine could hasten the ongoing decline of a narwhal population that they rely on for food.

In a letter sent last week to the board, the Mittimatalik Hunters and Trappers Organization said the mine is already harming their ability to harvest the important food source.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 13, 2022

Liberal MPs to join fight against Quebec's controversial language bill

Daniel Leblanc - Yesterday 2:00 a.m.
CBC

A number of Montreal-area Liberal MPs will be participating in a protest on Saturday against the Quebec government's plans to reform its Charter of the French language.

While no federal minister is expected to join the march, the presence of Liberal MPs such as Anthony Housefather and Annie Koutrakis points to opposition to Quebec's Bill 96 in the Liberal caucus in Ottawa.

Organized by groups that represent the province's English-speaking minority, Saturday's protest is scheduled to start at Dawson College and end at the Montreal offices of Quebec Premier François Legault.

Liberal MP Francis Scarpaleggia, who represents the western-most riding on Montreal Island, voiced his opposition to Bill 96 in an interview Friday. He added he is "very likely" to take part in the demonstration on Saturday.

"It is not a bill that has consensus. The Quebec Council of Employers has many concerns about its impacts. What I want is a Quebec that is strong, that can move forward, that has a strong economy," he said.

The MP for Brossard-St-Lambert, Alexandra Mendès, said she cannot participate in the protest, but added she supports "most of the demands made by Quebec's anglophone and allophone communities."

Spokespeople for Housefather, who has been in close contact with protest organizers, and Koutrakis confirmed the MPs will be marching against Bill 96. The offices of other MPs who are expected to join the march did not respond to requests for confirmation.
Quebec's 'historic responsibilities'

The minister responsible for the French language in Quebec, Simon Jolin-Barrette, has vigorously defended Bill 96 in the face of criticism from English-speaking groups and Indigenous communities.

His office said the defence of the French language must above all be carried out in Quebec.


© Frederic Bissonnette/Radio-Canada

Simon Jolin-Barrette, the minister responsible for the Charter of the French Language, says there are no plans to exempt Indigenous students from requirements to take courses in French.

"The protection, enhancement and promotion of the French language are historic responsibilities of the government of Quebec that we fully intend to continue to assume," said Jolin-Barrette's press secretary, Élisabeth Gosselin-Bienvenue.

"It is up to the elected representatives of the Quebec nation to debate Bill 96."

Tabled a year ago, Bill 96 would make several changes to the 1977 Charter of the French Language (also known as Bill 101), by strengthening the status of French in "all spheres of society."

In order to ensure that French is "the official and common language of Quebec", the government would impose new obligations related to the use of French in companies with 25 to 49 employees. It would also control access to English colleges, and would regulate interactions in a language other than French between the Quebec government and the province's citizens and businesses.
Open letter

Housefather, who represents the federal riding of Mount Royal, criticized several elements of Bill 96 last year, including the fact that it restricts access to government services in English.

"Suddenly hundreds of thousands of people who considered themselves part of the English-speaking community of Quebec will no longer be eligible to receive certain services from the state in English," he said.

He also criticized the fact that Quebec has preemptively invoked the notwithstanding clause, which will limit the possibility of a legal challenge.

"The idea of insulating a bill from possible legal challenges is profoundly troubling. The public would have no way to find out whether a right has been violated," said Housefather.

Sources said he is also preparing an open letter against Bill 96 that would be published after Quebec's National Assembly has adopted Bill 96. The province's legislature will be on break next week and resume sitting on May 24.

Tour bus operator faces health and safety charges in deadly Icefield crash



Friday
The Canadian Press

JASPER, ALBERTA — A tour bus operator has been charged in a deadly rollover at the Columbia Icefield in Jasper National Park nearly two years ago and more charges could be on the way.

The Alberta government said Friday that Brewster Inc. faces eight charges under the provincial Occupational Health and Safety Act related to use and maintenance of seatbelts, failing to control hazards and failing to ensure equipment was in safe operating condition.

Three people were killed and 14 others had life-threatening injuries after the big-wheel red-and-white Ice Explorer lost control on the road to the Athabasca Glacier, about 100 kilometres southeast of Jasper, Alta., on July 18, 2020.

The bus with 27 people on board rolled about 50 metres down a moraine embankment before coming to rest on its roof.

Tours of the Icefield resumed last year. The tour bus operator said seatbelts had been added to the buses, and changes to driver training and road maintenance have been made.

Pursuit, the company that runs the Icefield bus tours, said in an emailed statement that it can't comment on specifics of the case because of legal proceedings.

"We continue to support a transparent and multi-agency investigation into this tragic accident," it said.

The case is to be in provincial court in Jasper on June 23.

A final RCMP report into the rollover has not been publicly released but was submitted to Alberta prosecutors in April.

The Crown will determine if the evidence warrants any criminal charges.

"The RCMP is aware of the charges that resulted from Alberta Occupational Health and Safety’s separate investigation. The RCMP have shared all requested investigative material gathered during the criminal investigation with the Ministry of Labour and Immigration as required by the Alberta OHS Act," the RCMP said in a release.

"The RCMP’s criminal investigation is independent, separate and parallel to the OHS investigation."

The RCMP said it will provide a further update to victims and families when the outcome of the criminal investigation can be shared.

There have been two civil lawsuits filed on behalf of people on the bus that day. Some plaintiffs have expressed concern about the delay in finding out what happened.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on May 13, 2022.