CANADA
No new equipment or land for a few years, say farmers hit by interest rate hike

CBC, Thu, July 14, 2022


Farmers are used to keeping an eye on the weather and their fields, but now they're also watching the Bank of Canada after it raised its benchmark interest rate by a full percentage point in an attempt to fight runaway inflation.

"It's made for a challenging year, especially with paying off credit lines and making sure that bills are paid on time," said Rauri Qually, who farms with his wife, Pam Bailey, on land west of Winnipeg.

"We've been managing, but there are a lot of farmers across Manitoba and many different aspects of agriculture, from grains and oilseeds to livestock to specialty crops to fruit that are struggling."

Most farmers carry a lot of debt, buying seed, fertilizer and equipment upfront every year, then hoping for a bumper crop and high returns many months later. The rising interest rates call into question the sustainability of some farms, which could directly affect consumers as well as the one in nine Canadian jobs involved in the country's agriculture and agri-food sector.

For Qually and Bailey, drought hurt their harvest last fall. This spring, inflation drove up seed and fertilizer costs. Spring flooding meant a late start to their planting season.

They're about a month behind where they should be.

Increased risk of borrowing

All of that, combined with this increased cost of borrowing, means they'll hold off on major purchases such as a new combine, which can cost half a million dollars. The bank's interest rate impacts what Canadians get from their lenders on products like mortgages and lines of credit.

"That ship has sailed," Bailey said, laughing.

"New tractors aren't exactly in our scope at this point in time," Qually added. " Maybe in a few years."

Toban Dyck

At an agriculture conference in Winnipeg, farmer Toban Dyck was also keeping an eye on interest rates.

He saw his parents struggle with interest rates in the double digits in the 1980s, so he's always been careful not to take on too much debt when the money has been "cheap."

Still, "in order to increase our farm size, we've had to invest in more land, which means loans," he said. "It'll affect us.… Lots of people will be way more saddled with debt."

And while farmers are resilient, "there are lots of deep sighs and just kind of one foot in front of the other," he said.

Toban Dyck

One of the big concerns is that this may just be the beginning of increasingly high interest rates.

A central bank cuts the lending rate when it wants to stimulate the economy by encouraging people to borrow and invest. It raises rates when it wants to cool down an overheated economy.

"The big question is where interest rates are going in the future," said Richard Gray, an agricultural economist at the University of Saskatchewan. He also farms with his son near Saskatoon.

"Fundamentally, you have to see interest rates higher than the expected rate of inflation. Right now, inflation expectations are six or seven per cent and interest rates are not nearly that high yet so there may be more interest rate hikes to come."

Livestock producers most vulnerable, expert says

Gray sees livestock producers as the most vulnerable in the sector. The cost of buying and feeding cattle are up, but the final price at market is not keeping pace.

"So they're in a little bit of an income squeeze, and you add higher interest rates to that group, you can bet there's some farmers that are hurting," he said.

David Laughlin/CBC

High commodity prices are helping some farmers right now, but that could change as the economy slows, said Sylvain Charlebois. He teaches food distribution policy at Dalhousie University in Halifax.

"This year's seeding season was the most expensive in history because of costs, but the return is likely going to be there as well. Commodity prices are are much higher than average, so farmers should do well this year," he said.

"The concern with higher rates is probably next year ... because commodity prices will likely drop as a result of a slower global economy. That's why central banks want a slower economy. Demand for commodities will drop and prices will drop as well. But if costs don't drop, then farmers will be in trouble.

"For next year there is a lot of uncertainty," Charlebois said.

Back in the field, the most immediate concern for Qually and Bailey is getting this crop to harvest.

Kneeling in the soil as they check out their canola plants, they know they're at the mercy of the markets and nature.

"You have to plan for the worst in agriculture," Qually said.

"You know, try to live within your means, farm within your means," Bailey added. "As farmers you gotta have hope. Just keep going."

Nunavut reviewers under pressure to speed up Baffinland review

CBC, Thu, July 14, 2022

Minister of Northern Affairs Dan Vandal, seen here last month, has asked that Nunavut's review board make a recommendation by Aug. 26 about Baffinland Iron Mines' request to continue producing up to 6 million tonnes of ore this year from its Mary River mine. 'It is imperative that the assessment ... is prioritized and conducted in an efficient and expeditious manner,' he wrote. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press - image credit)More

A Nunavut board is being urged to make a prompt decision on whether Baffinland Iron Mines should continue to ship up to six million tonnes ore from its Mary River mine this year.

In a letter to the Nunavut Impact Review Board (NIRB) on Monday, Northern Affairs Minister Dan Vandal asks for a recommendation from the board by Aug. 26 — a little more than six weeks away.

"While I am aware of other ongoing assessments before the Board, given the time-sensitive nature of this process, it is imperative that the assessment ... is prioritized and conducted in an efficient and expeditious manner," Vandal wrote.

"This timeline, while ambitious, still allows for maintaining the integrity of the process as envisioned under the Nunavut Agreement and the Act."

CBC

Baffinland is asking to continue shipping ore at the same rate as it has in the last few years. In 2018, the company was given temporary approval to up its production from 4.2 million tonnes to six million tonnes, and that approval expired at the end of 2021.

The company wants it extended into 2022, and has threatened mass lay-offs starting at the end of August if it's denied.

"As we have stated previously, without this approval, Baffinland will be forced to drastically reduce our workforce in the fall," said Baffinland spokesperson Peter Akman, in an email to CBC on Wednesday.

Minister Vandal rejected an earlier request from Baffinland for an emergency order to produce more ore this year, and instead encouraged the company to go through the NIRB with its proposal.

Baffinland Iron Mines Corp.

Now Vandal is urging speed, saying the potential job losses mean the proposal before NIRB "should receive priority over other ongoing review processes."

He suggests forgoing extensive public hearings in favour of written submissions from stakeholders, including local communities and Inuit organizations. Vandal also refers to a suggestion from the Qikiqtani Inuit Association (QIA), for a "hybrid process," involving some oral testimony along with written submissions.

In a letter earlier this month to the NIRB, QIA suggests such oral testimony might be collected "through means such as teleconferences or video conferences upon the request of individual community organizations."

The timeline suggested by Vandal this week is also "fair in the context all parties are working under," QIA president Olayuk Akesuk told CBC News in an email on Thursday.

More hearings

The spectre of more Baffinland-related hearings may not be a welcome one to some Nunavummiut — a prolonged and sometimes contentious four-year review of the company's proposed expansion plan just wrapped up this year, with the NIRB recommending against that project.

Federal officials are still considering that recommendation and Vandal has said he needs an additional 90 days to issue a decision. His letter to the NIRB on Tuesday suggests that extra time means people can focus on one Baffinland review at a time, and prioritize the immediate production increase and the threat of imminent lay-offs.

That's something QIA pushed for, and Akesuk's email says the minister's actions are "in direct response to QIA's advocacy."

Nick Murray/CBC News

Vandal's letter also tacitly acknowledges that another review of Baffinland's operations at Mary River — this one about the continued production increase in 2022 — could quickly balloon.

"I encourage all parties to focus their interventions on the narrow scope of the Production Increase Proposal Renewal currently under consideration," he wrote.

He cites the "vast amount of information already submitted to the public record" from the reviews of Baffinland's expansion project, and its earlier production increase proposals.

Speaking to CBC News on Wednesday, Karen Costello, executive director of the NIRB, said the board had not yet made any decisions about how the review will be done, or how quickly.

"[Vandal's letter] has been advanced to the board to inform their decision-making, on not only the process but the timing of the process," she said.

'Lack of respect for the regulatory process,' HTO says

Other organizations, along with QIA, have already weighed in on what the process might look like.

David Ningeongan of Nunavut Tunngavik wrote to NIRB last week to say the review process could proceed "in writing with appropriate accommodations and support for community intervenors to ensure their full participation."

The Mittimatalik Hunters and Trappers Organization (MHTO), meanwhile, argues that Baffinland's proposed production increase again this year warrants a "full review process." The organization, based in nearby Pond Inlet, Nunavut, argues in a letter to NIRB that the mine is having a devastating impact on local wildlife populations and that amounts to "an emergency for Inuit."

The MHTO also argues that Baffinland knew its production increase to six million tonnes per year was temporary and due to expire last year. The company should have shown better foresight, it says.

"This lack of respect for the regulatory process is not an emergency that warrants the Board accelerating its reconsideration," the MHTO letter states.

"It is a dangerous precedent to set to allow proponents to not plan for the expiry of authorizations and then claim that the impacts to its workforce as a result of that lack of a plan are an emergency that warrants accelerating regulatory reviews."

Environmental group Oceans North echoes those sentiments in its own letter to the NIRB last week, saying Baffinland's request does not constitute an "emergency," and the livelihoods of Nunavummiut should not be on the line.

"This situation is a foreseeable consequence of poor management and planning," Oceans North vice president Christopher Debicki wrote.

Beth Brown/CBC

"Our concern is that Baffinland will continue to use threats of layoffs and mine closure to pressure the NIRB and other stakeholders to approve current and future expansion of the mine."

Oceans North argues that Baffinland's production increase proposal warrants "in-person or videoconference proceedings," and says reviews and hearings should be televised and recorded.

"It is also very important that parties hear each other's concerns. This is difficult to do when each party writes a separate (and at times untranslated) letter," Debicki wrote.

Debicki's letter says the Mary River project has had a significant impact on narwhal populations in the area, and that's not been adequately addressed in earlier reviews.

Sri Lanka's political, economic turmoil leaves millions facing a food crisis

July 14, 2022 

Sri Lankan protesters stand on top of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's office, demanding he resign after president Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country amid economic crisis in the capital Colombo on Wednesday. (Eranga Jayawardena/The Associated Press - image credit)

Aid agencies are warning the health and well-being of six million Sri Lankans could be in peril as the country contends with extraordinary political upheaval and a punishing economic collapse.

Ousted president Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country Wednesday, the day he was set to resign under intense public pressure to step down because of his handling of the country's finances.

Several factors have caused Sri Lanka's foreign currency reserves to dry up, leaving the government unable to pay for vital imports of food, cooking gas, fuel and medicine — all of which are in short supply.

Observers are warning that if the situation doesn't improve soon, one-third of the country's of almost 22 million people could plunge further into food insecurity as the country endures its worst financial crisis since gaining independence in 1948.

The World Food Programme (WFP) warned some 62,000 Sri Lankans are in such a dire situation they require urgent help.

Food insecurity is defined by the United Nations as the "lack [of] regular access to enough safe and nutritious food for normal growth and development and an active and healthy life." Severe insecurity means a person has "run out of food" and may go a day or more with nothing to eat.

WATCH | Sri Lanka's embattled president leaves country amid economic collapse:

Hunger in Sri Lanka by the numbers

Food inflation rose 80 per cent in June, compared to a year earlier, according to Sri Lanka's Central Bank, while the economy tumbled and food and fuel supplies continued to dwindle.

The UN said more than 60 per cent of Sri Lankans were already choosing to limit meals to stretch their food budgets. In one dire example of the lengths some vulnerable people need to go in order to eat, Britain's Sky News reported some families travel nearly 10 kilometres on foot to get free meal from a community kitchen in Colombo.

In an appeal to donors, the charity Save the Children estimated last week 12 per cent of the country's poorest households are taking "crisis level" steps to survive the food shortages and economic collapse. These measures include borrowing money, taking children out of school or selling belongings, the organization said, citing its own survey of more than 2,300 families.

There's an acute concern for pregnant or breastfeeding women, and children, according to the WFP. The agency said a national school meal program that "provides nutritious meals to one-in-four schoolchildren" has faced disruptions, and a nutritional support program for nursing mothers and young children "has been cut."

"Coupled with income losses, this could lead to higher rates of malnutrition among women and their children," WFP said.

Arun Sankar/AFP/Getty Images

Domestic food production drops

Domestic food production also took a hit by the Rajapaksa government's April 2021 decision to ban the importation of chemical fertilizers and agrichemicals, including herbicides and pesticides, in an apparent shift to organic agriculture. But the move was abrupt, with no plan to import organic fertilizers and no boost in domestic production.

By the time the ban was partially reversed in November, farmers reported a 40 to 50 per cent loss in rice paddy crops, the UN's Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka, Hanaa Singer-Hamdy, told the Daily Mirror last month. Fruit, vegetable and tea crops also suffered.

"Low-income households are the hardest hit and [are] adopting negative coping strategies," she said.

The cost of chemical fertilizer has also risen dramatically since that time, amid a global shortage, leaving farmers in the lurch.

Impact of war in Ukraine

Russia has been accused of weaponizing food exports in its war on Ukraine to middle and lower income countries, and Sri Lanka appears to be one of the casualties.

Ukraine is a principal exporter of grain to lower income countries; it's the fifth largest source of food products imported to Sri Lanka, according to the World Bank.

The Observatory of Economic Complexity, an open-source data visualization website, shows grains accounted for more than one-third of Sri Lanka's total imports from Ukraine; other imports included vegetables, legumes, cooking oils and various spice seeds.

Efrem Lukatsky/The Associated Press

Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky placed blame for the crisis in Sri Lanka on Russia, in a video address to the Asian Leadership Conference in Seoul, saying it should serve as a warning about the global implications of Russia's invasion and blockade of Ukrainian grain and food shipments.

"The shocking rise in food and fuel prices caused a social explosion. No one knows now how it will end. However, you all know that the same outbursts are possible in other countries affected by food and energy crises," Zelensky told the conference.

Is there any relief in sight?

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, appointed acting president by Rajapaksa before he fled, informed parliament of the government's intention to host an international donor conference that will include major Asian donors like India, China and Japan. According to the Economic Times, that won't happen until Sri Lanka can reach a bailout agreement with the International Monetary Fund, though the Central Bank's governor cautioned the current political instability may delay talks further.

Sri Lanka's parliament is poised to elect a new president on July 20.

Last month, the United Nations made an appeal for $47 million US in humanitarian aid funding, to assist 1.7 million Sri Lankans in need until September.

CANADIAN RESPONSE IS PATHETIC
in a statement to CBC News last week, Global Affairs Canada said the federal government provided an initial $50,000 in humanitarian assistance in May through the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Yosemite wildfire moving east into Sierra National Forest

Wed, July 13, 2022 



YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — A wildfire that threatened a grove of California's giant sequoias in Yosemite National Park was burning eastward into the Sierra National Forest on Wednesday.

The Washburn Fire is one of dozens of blazes chewing through drought-parched terrain in the Western U.S. It had increased in size to more than 6.6 square miles (17 square kilometers) and was just 23% contained.

The fire will continue to grow over the next few days, according to a fire update Wednesday night.

“The combination of continued warm and dry weather conditions along with the heavy accumulation of large fuels is creating the perfect recipe for the very active fire behavior we are seeing," the update said.

Meanwhile, firefighting preparations had already been underway in the national forest.

“We've brought in Sierra National Forest folks from the get-go, kind of anticipating that this may happen,” said Nancy Philippe, a fire information spokesperson.

Containment lines within the park, including along the edge of the grove, were holding, firefighting operations official Matt Ahearn said in a video briefing earlier in the day.

The fire had been entirely within the national park since breaking out July 7, when visitors to the Mariposa Grove of ancient sequoias reported smoke.

Authorities have not said how the fire started and whether it involved a crime or some type of accident.

Park Superintendent Cicely Muldoon told a community meeting this week that it was considered a “human-start fire” because there was no lightning that day.

Philippe said a park ranger who is a trained investigator was on the scene almost immediately when the fire was reported, and a law enforcement team continues to investigate.

Philippe said she believed they had found the point of ignition, but declined to release further information, citing the active investigation.

The fire in the southern portion of Yosemite forced evacuation of hundreds of visitors and residents from the small community of Wawona, but the rest of the park has remained open to summer crowds.

One firefighter suffered a heat injury and recovered, but no structures have been damaged.

Flames mostly skirted the Mariposa Grove, though it did leave its mark on some of the trees.

The Galen Clark tree, named for the park's first custodian, and three trees that greet visitors when they arrive at the popular destination, were partly charred but none were expected to die because their canopy didn't burn, said Garrett Dickman, a park forest ecologist who toured the site.

Dickman credited periodic intentional burns in the undergrowth beneath the towering trees with helping the grove survive its first wildfire in more than a century.

Small, targeted fires lit over the past 50 years essentially stopped the fire in its tracks when it hit the Mariposa Grove and allowed firefighters to stand their ground and set up sprinklers to further protect the world's largest trees, Dickman said.

“We’ve been preparing for the Washburn Fire for decades,” said Dickman, who works for the park. “It really just died as soon as it hit the grove.”

The sequoias are adapted to fire — and rely on it to survive. But more than a century of aggressive fire suppression has left forests choked with dense vegetation and downed timber that has provided fuel for massive wildfires that have grown more intense during an ongoing drought and exacerbated by climate change.

So-called prescribed burns — most recently conducted in the grove in 2018 — mimic low intensity fires that help sequoias by clearing out downed branches, flammable needles and smaller trees that could compete with them for light and water. The heat from fires also helps cones open up to spread their seeds.

While intentional burns have been conducted in sequoias since the 1960s, they are increasingly being seen as a necessity to the save the massive trees. Once thought to be almost fireproof, up to 20% of all giant sequoias — native only in the Sierra Nevada range — have been killed in the past two years during intense wildfires.

Fighting fire with fire, which is used in limited applications to reduce threats to property or landmarks, is a risky endeavor and has occasionally gotten out of control.

In New Mexico, firefighters were working Tuesday to restore mountainsides turned to ash by the largest wildfire in the state’s recorded history that broke out in early April when prescribed burns by the U.S. Forest Service escaped containment following missteps and miscalculations.

The Santa Fe County Commission in an afternoon meeting blasted federal officials and unanimously passed a resolution calling on the Forest Service to conduct a more comprehensive environmental review as it looks to reduce the threat of wildfire in the mountains that border the capital city.

So far in 2022, over 35,000 wildfires have burned nearly 4.7 million acres (1.9 million hectares) in the U.S., according to the National Interagency Fire Center, well above average for both wildfires and acres burned.

The Associated Press

Work at African Nova Scotian Justice Institute 'something to celebrate'

Thu, July 14, 2022 

The African Nova Scotian Justice Institute held a meet and greet Tuesday with representatives from a number of government departments and the African Nova Scotian Decade for People of African Descent Coalition (ANSDPAD) to talk about the next steps in the institute's work.

Tuesday marked one year since the former Liberal government announced $4.8 million in spending on the institute that will support African Nova Scotians in contact with the law. The institute's work is also meant to help address overrepresentation and anti-Black racism in the justice system.

“The Justice Institute was alive and well long before a year ago,” said Robert Wright, the African Nova Scotian Justice Institute’s acting director. “But a year ago we really marked the formal partnership that has existed between the Institute and the provincial government. And that’s exciting and something to celebrate.”

Justice Minister Brad Johns was at the event on Tuesday. After he was appointed as minister, the Department of Justice reviewed programs, including the institute, which were started under the former government.

“And one of the things that staff at DOJ, myself, and the premier came on side with was recognizing that the Justice Institute was one of the programs that needed to remain, that it was beneficial for the community and Nova Scotians at large."

Members of the institute said they are still in the process of hiring lawyers and staff and getting office space. They're still working on a date for an official launch.

Brandon Rolle, a lawyer who works for the institute, said the institute will have a law firm with full-time lawyers on staff, a justice strategy working group implementation team, and a forensic assessment treatment unit.

He said the law firm will operate a bit differently than legal aid.

“We’re not going to inquire about people’s financial eligibility," Rolle said. "If you’re of African descent, living in Nova Scotia, dealing with the criminal justice system, we’ll do our best to assist you and represent you.”

The justice working group predates the institution itself and was first founded as a working group under the umbrella of ANSDPAD. Rolle is member of the justice working group. Through ANSDPAD, the justice working group was able to lobby government to implement the Wortley Report, which was the catalyst for the province legally banning police street checks.

The justice working group then lobbied and worked with both the Liberal and PC governments to have the ban amended making “reasonable suspicion” the legal standard in justifying police officers being able to detain citizens and/or record their information into police databases. That change essentially closed the "loophole" in the ban on street checks.

“So when the minister earlier was talking about programs: What does African Nova Scotian restorative justice look like? Can we get African Nova Scotian court support workers? What would a bail supervision team look like?” said Rolle, with respect to the justice strategy working group implementation team.

“What does a transition worker for African Nova Scotians for people transitioning out of custody back into community. What does that look like? All of those programs would really be housed in that justice strategy pillar.”

“And then the third pillar being the forensic assessment treatment unit, which is currently responsible for Impact of Race and Culture Assessments [IRCAs]. So those IRCAs are all being done under that umbrella.”

Last year, Rolle successfully argued and upheld the sentencing of a Black man who received a community sentence for a gun charge after receiving an IRCA upon his sentencing.

ANSDPAD hired Rolle to argue the case in the province’s highest court, which made a precedent setting decision by upholding the sentence and also making IRCAs mandatory in the province when sentencing a person of African descent for a criminal offence.

Cecil Boutilier, a formerly incarcerated Black Nova Scotian, credits the IRCA and social worker Robert Wright for helping him get a better understanding of his life experiences and for helping him turn his life around.

Wright testified last year in support of IRCAs at the appeal hearing over the community sentence for the gun conviction.

Wright said IRCAs will soon be mandatory for Black people, not just in Nova Scotia but across Canada.

“The federal government announced at the end of 2019 that they were going to make [IRCAs] national," Wright said. "They’ve charged the federal legal aid secretariat to do that work nationally, and there are three projects underway.”

“Here in Nova Scotia we have been tasked with creating the training for the assessors. The Sentencing and Parole Project in Ontario has been charged with creating the training for lawyers. And the national judicial institute has been charged with creating the training for judges on IRCAs.”

“So that work is underway and will probably end in 2024. When I say end, I mean all of the training will be in place and all the policies should be in place by 2024. And by the end of 2024 we should see IRCAs being implemented in every jurisdiction in the country.”

Though between now and 2024, Wright admits that there are Black Canadians who could be at risk of “significant harm” when being sentenced.

“Until this becomes standard, the people who are in the system now, I guess the question is, ‘Are their lawyers informed enough?’” said Wright. “It’s going to be non-uniform for a long time to come until we’ve educated the entire national system to the new reality, to the new standard. But that’s really always the challenge.”

“For example, when weed became legal there were people in jail for a crime on a Thursday that is no longer a crime on a Tuesday.”

“There’s clearly a need to look backwards retroactively and say, ‘OK, let’s right the injustices that did occur before we saw the light,' if you will. In terms of pardons, in terms of restitution, because if you go to jail a significant harm has been done to you.”

Michelle Williams is a law professor at the Dalhousie Schulich School of Law and is the former director of the Indigenous Blacks and Mi'kmaq Initiative at the school. Wright described her as “the keeper of the brain trust of the African Nova Scotian Justice Institute.”

Williams said no one organization can undo centuries of structural racist oppression, but they can take collective action and use the law.

“White supremacy is intransigent, it will be there," Williams said. "And we won’t be able to eradicate it ever fully … But you still do it anyway. You still do the work anyway because it’s the right thing to do. It’s the right thing to work toward justice. You might not see it, but what other choice do you have?”

Wright said there are people alive today who worked to advance policies we see today as being racist.

“We need to advance the change and convince a living generation of people that the way we were going was the wrong direction," Wright said.

Matthew Byard, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Halifax Examiner

In London, Ont., site of alleged sex assault, Hockey Canada's reopening of 2018 case is welcome news

Thu, July 14, 2022 

Some interests in London are reacting to Hockey Canada's announcement Thursday it will reinvestigate an alleged sexual assault in 2018, said to have happened at a function in the Ontario city, in a case involving some members of Canada's gold-medal winning world junior team. (Albert Leung/CBC - image credit)

People in London are welcoming news Thursday that Hockey Canada, the sport's national federation, is reopening its investigation into an alleged sexual assault in the southwestern Ontario city in 2018.

Hockey Canada had quietly settled a lawsuit in May, prompting Ottawa to freeze its funding, after a woman claimed she was assaulted in London that June, at a gala and golf function, by some members of Canada's 2018 gold-medal winning world junior hockey team.

"I think for me, looking at this whole situation, someone has to step up," said Trevor Gallant, owner of TAG Hockey, an organization that offers training for youth in the London area.

He believes Hockey Canada is "taking the right steps."

"Maybe they mishandled it a bit at the beginning, but reopening it tells me that, hey, you know, it's a positive step," said Gallant, a former Ontario Hockey League player.

In June, federal Minister of Sport Pascale St-Onge announced the organization's access to public funds had been put on hold over its response to the alleged sexual assault and subsequent out-of-court settlement.

In an open letter published Thursday, the federation made a series of announcements to Canadians, including that it is reopening the third-party investigation into the alleged sexual assault.

Hockey Canada said the players in question must participate in the investigation, and anyone who declines would immediately be banned from all federation activities and programs. Previously, the organization had said it "strongly encouraged" players take part in the investigation into the alleged incident, which was said to have occurred at a Hockey Canada function.

"Nothing can fix what happened a hundred per cent," said Gallant. "But the fact that reopening and investigating, and looking at what went wrong and how can they make it better, is really what hockey's all about.

"Nothing is perfect in the world and things are going to happen," he added. "It's how we react from those that are going to really set the tone for the future of the game, and help people understand what is right and wrong and what's going to be expected of a young athlete and all that."

The 'right call'

Anna Lise Trudell is a manager with London-based Anova, which provides shelter, counselling and other services to people affected by gender-based violence.

She said while Hockey Canada deciding to reinvestigate the alleged sexual assault was the "right call," it only happened after the organization faced financial and public pressure.

"They've had a rude awakening through lots of public pressure around this and hopefully a real shaking within the organization that this is no longer acceptable behaviour, that the prioritizing of sexual violence prevention, and holding players accountable and all transparency is what we expect now in this society."

The complainant in the 2018 sex assault case will be helping in the Hockey Canada reinvestigation, her lawyer confirmed in an email statement to CBC News.

INSTITUTIONAL RACISM

Inuit family furious to learn brother died 4 years ago in Montreal, was buried and no one told them

CBC,Thu, July 14, 2022 

Three of Daniel Saunders's 14 siblings are pictured at his grave site at the Laval Cemetery. From left to right: Joan Saunders, Tim Saunders and Elizabeth Adams. They're demanding to know why authorities failed to notify them that their brother had died and was buried in 2018. (Chloë Ranaldi/CBC News - image credit)

Joan Saunders didn't find it particularly alarming when four years passed without hearing from her youngest brother, Daniel (Danny) Saunders — an Inuk man living in Montreal.

As Danny had had some run-ins with the law over the years, Joan thought her unanswered "Happy Birthdays" and "Merry Christmases" could be the result of an incarceration. Her other theories included a lost phone or a precarious living situation that prevented him from answering her.

What she never imagined was what actually happened: that her brother had died and been buried in a Laval, Que. cemetery back in 2018 without anyone telling her family.

"It took four years for us to realize that our brother was gone and already buried," Joan said in an interview with CBC News.

There is no headstone at the grave where the 43-year-old father of three is buried. Only the number 212 written in orange spray paint marks the plot.

"Who gives permission for these people to do what they do? To bury our brother like that and not get in touch with anybody?"

Daniel Saunders/Facebook

According to the Quebec coroner's office, it's up to the police officers assigned to the file — in Danny's case, the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) — to find the contact information for the deceased's family and inform them of the death.

While there is a process in place in Quebec to search for the next of kin, the Saunders family said it failed them as they had to find out about their brother's death via a complete stranger on social media.

The family is now demanding answers and accountability from Montreal police and the Quebec government.

Learned of death through Facebook

The last time any Saunders sibling saw Danny was on Nov. 12, 2017 at his housing unit in Montreal's Saint-Léonard borough, where he'd been living as part of a social reintegration program and was supported by a social worker.

His family, comprised of 14 siblings, is originally from Happy Valley-Goose Bay, N.L. and part of the Inuit community in the Nunatsiavut region. Some of the siblings, several that now live in Dryden, Ont., came to see Danny for a visit.

After that, he fell off the grid.

"It was the way Danny was, that's the way we grew up," said Tim Saunders, Danny's older brother.

But sometime last week, a Saunders sibling still living in Labrador received a Facebook message from a neighbour of Danny's, who said it had been a while since he'd seen him, and after he did some digging, he found out he had died four years ago.

Chloë Ranaldi/CBC News

Concerned, the family did their own research. A call between Joan's daughter and the Quebec coroner's office confirmed Danny's death, which is estimated to have occurred March 1, 2018. He was buried almost three months later.

"I found out that my brother wasn't on earth here anymore through social media, and that's pretty bad," Tim said.

According to the coroner's investigation into the man's death, Danny's social worker, smelling a foul odour outside his apartment during a visit on March 14, 2018, asked a concierge to accompany her to his unit. Through the patio door, they saw the man, lying dead on his bed.

The report concluded that Danny died of coronary heart disease, precipitated by poorly controlled diabetes and severe obesity. He did not appear to use alcohol or drugs.

Police made 'no effort' to find them, family claims

The Saunders family says it shouldn't have been all that hard to find them. All 14 siblings share the same mother and father, hence many share the same last name.

"All they had to do was even look up on Facebook and find his Facebook page. They could've found me. They could've found most of our siblings that way," said Elizabeth Adams, Danny's eldest sister, whose last name is "Saunders Adams" on Facebook.

Danny's jail and court records should have also been able to lead police to the family, says Joan, who lives in Montreal. She says police clearly knew where to find her, because whenever they were looking for Danny when he was in trouble, they'd turn up at her house.

"He wasn't in trouble this time because he was dead. How come they didn't come knock on the door?" she said.

"They didn't care enough, the police or the social worker, to get in touch with [the] family. He had a lot of family and he had friends, too."

The Saunders siblings say it's unacceptable that they weren't contacted in this age of technology. They accuse the SPVM of not doing its job.

"It seems like there was no effort, no nothing whatsoever was done to find [us]," Tim said.

Montreal police respond

When asked who decides whether a reasonable effort had been made to find the next of kin, the Quebec coroner's office said that responsibility falls to the police department in charge. In Danny's case, that's the Montreal police.

Contacted multiple times by CBC News to explain the police service's role in finding Danny's family, the SPVM initially redirected all questions to the government's Directeur de l'état civil, or registrar of civil status — the agency responsible for registering births, marriages and death.

Finally, the service said that SPVM investigators dedicated to these types of cases "inform the family of the death when it is possible to reach them."

"Unfortunately, all the efforts made by the SPVM to locate members of Mr. Saunders's family have not been successful," it said in an emailed statement.

The service would not comment further on Danny's case.

In a situation where no family member can be found by police, the coroner's office publishes the name of the deceased in the "Unclaimed Bodies" section of its website for a minimum of 30 days, to give the family a chance to come forward, the coroner's office said in a statement.

After 30 days or more have passed without a family member coming forward, the body is buried at the expense of the coroner's office.

Danny's name was added to the list on April 20, 2018 — more than a month after his death. He was buried May 31.

In 2021, 31 people were buried after no family members were found, the coroner's office said. So far in 2022, 18 people have been laid to rest after no family members came forward.

'System is failing Indigenous people,' says brother

Danny's siblings say they can't help but think their brother's death was taken lightly because he is Inuk and had a criminal record. They believe something like this would never have happened to a non-Indigenous family.

"They didn't care because he was a so-called criminal and because he was an Aboriginal. They didn't give a shit about him," Joan said through tears.

Amid the Every Child Matters movement, Elizabeth wonders how in 2022 something like this can still happen.

"We need closure, we need answers ... my brother's life matters, too," she said.

The family is calling on the Quebec government to pay for their brother's exhumation, as well as his repatriation to Happy Valley-Goose Bay so he can be buried next to his parents, where his three daughters can visit him.

Submitted by Tim Saunders

Until then, they say they can only hope they're the last of a string of Indigenous families to have to go through this.

In February, an Indigenous woman named Tara Niptanatiak died and was buried in Calgary the next month, unbeknownst at the time to her family in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. In December, a similar situation happened to another Indigenous woman named Courtney Wheeler, again in Calgary.

"The system is failing Indigenous people of Canada, and [it] failed my brother big, big time," said Tim, looking out toward the unmarked grave under which his brother lies.

"I will never, ever forgive them for it."

USA
EXPLAINER: How gestational age plays a role in abortion laws
By KIMBERLEE KRUESI

July 14, 2022

 An operating room technician performs an ultrasound on a patient at an abortion clinic in Shreveport, La., Wednesday, July 6, 2022. The abortion bans taking effect after the nation's highest court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022 vary greatly in how they define when a pregnancy can be ended.

 (AP Photo/Ted Jackson)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The abortion bans taking effect after the nation’s highest court overturned Roe v. Wade vary greatly in how they define when a pregnancy can be ended.

Some laws prohibit abortion at the point of the “first detectable heartbeat” while others restrict abortion at 15, 22 or 24 weeks of pregnancy. This means determining how far along someone is in pregnancy — gestational age — has become more important, because there is a smaller window of time to secure the procedure in about half of the states in the U.S.

Here’s a look at how gestational age is determined and how states use that metric to restrict abortion:

WHAT IS GESTATIONAL AGE?

Gestational age is the term used to describe how far along a pregnancy is.

Pregnancy begins when the fertilized egg implants itself into the uterus, but the timing for any individual pregnancy can’t be precisely determined.

The most common method for determining gestational age: how much time has passed since the first day of the last menstrual period.

For those who have irregular menstrual periods or can’t remember, determining gestational age can sometimes be difficult. Doctors can use ultrasounds to estimate gestational age.

HOW DOES GESTATIONAL AGE APPLY TO ABORTION BANS?

Republican-led states have attempted to chip away at abortion access for decades, but a renewed push to ban abortion at various gestational ages began to take hold in 2019. Many of those laws are just now being allowed to go into effect now that the Supreme Court has ended the constitutional right to abortion.

To date, more than 40 states limit some abortions after a certain point in pregnancy, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights. These statutes generally require a doctor to determine the gestational age in order to determine if they can perform an abortion.

States including Ohio, South Carolina and Tennessee have outlawed abortions once cardiac activity is detected, which can happen around six weeks into pregnancy — leading to the measures to be commonly called “six-week abortion bans.”

Meanwhile, states such as Florida and Arizona ban abortion at 15 weeks gestational age, though Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich has since declared that a 1901 law that bans all abortions may now be enforceable.

Other states have enacted abortion bans relying on the estimated date of fertilization. The exact day of fertilization is often unknown, but it’s generally considered to happen around two weeks into the last menstrual cycle. For example, states such as Indiana, Iowa and Georgia specifically ban abortion at 20 weeks probable postfertilization — which is 22 weeks gestational age.

GESTATIONAL AGE ISN’T A FACTOR IN SOME STATES

Currently, 13 states have enacted so-called trigger laws that immediately banned abortion when Roe was overturned. Since the Supreme Court ruled last month, states including Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia have said they were beginning work on trigger bans.

These laws generally ban all abortions at any point in the pregnancy, with limited exceptions that vary state to state.

Sadr supporters mass in Iraq prayer rally amid political deadlock


PUBLISHED : 16 JUL 2022
WRITER: AFP

Hundreds of thousands of supporters of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr rally in Baghdad on Friday

BAGHDAD - Hundreds of thousands of Muslim worshippers loyal to Iraqi Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr attended a Friday prayer service in Baghdad, in a display of political might to revive stalled talks on government formation.

The huge turnout came despite scorching heat and the Shiite cleric not being there in person -- an indication of his status as a political heavyweight, as well as a key religious authority.

"Thanks to God for this great victory... Thank you to Friday's faithful," Sadr said on Twitter.

The midday prayer, on Al-Falah Avenue in Sadr City, was led by a Sadr ally, while the mercurial cleric's sermon took aim at rivals from other Shiite factions, including a powerful ex-paramilitary network.

"We are at a difficult... crossroads in the formation of the government, entrusted to some we do not trust," said Sheikh Mahmud al-Jayashi, reading Sadr's speech.

Some factions have shown they are "not up to the task", he added.

Sadr's bloc won 73 seats in the October 2021 election, making it the largest faction in the 329-seat parliament.

But since the vote, talks to form a new government have stalled and the oil-rich country remains mired in a political and socioeconomic crisis, despite elevated global oil prices.

The various Shiite political factions, representing Iraq's largest community, remain unable to agree on a new prime minister.

Sadr initially supported the idea of a "majority government" which would have sent his Shiite adversaries from the pro-Iran Coordination Framework into opposition.

The former militia leader then surprised many by compelling his deputies to resign from parliament in June, a move seen as seeking to pressure his rivals to fast-track government formation.

But a month later the process has not advanced.

- Taking aim at Hashed -

Sadr's sermon took particular aim at the Hashed al-Shaabi, a Shiite former paramilitary force that has been integrated into the army, but is seen by many Iraqis as an Iranian proxy.

The Hashed "must be reorganised and undisciplined elements must be removed", the preacher said, lamenting "foreign interventions" but without naming any country.

He also called for the Hashed -- whose political wing is part of the Coordination Framework -- to be kept at "a distance from politics and business".

Analyst Hamzeh Hadad said the main objective of Friday's rally was to demonstrate that while Sadr's lawmakers had resigned, "it does not mean that he is no longer relevant politically".

"He was flexing his muscles and showing the influence he still has on the street," Hadad said, adding that the points made in his sermon were "nothing new".

Before the prayer began, Sadr loyalists expressed support for the cleric with cries of "Yes, yes to reform! Yes, yes to the reformer!"

Some held prayer mats in hand or waved Iraqi flags.

"We obey Moqtada Sadr, as we obey God and his prophets," Sheikh Kadhim Hafez Mohammed al-Tai told AFP at the rally in Sadr city.

After the 2003 US invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein, the district of the capital was named after Mohammad Sadr, Moqtada's father, a cleric who was assassinated in 1999 under Saddam's rule.

The Friday prayers were ostensibly organised as a tribute to Sadr's father.

Fans turn out to celebrate Tunisian trailblazer Ons Jabeur

Ons Jabeur may have missed out on the Wimbledon title but the trailblazing Tunisian was accorded a champion's reception on Friday as a crowd of hundreds celebrated the country's sporting pioneer.


© Provided by WION

Fans turn out to celebrate Tunisian trailblazer Ons Jabeur

wionnewsweb@gmail.com (Wion Web Team) - Yesterday 

While she ultimately succumbed in three sets to Elena Rybakina, her achievement at becoming the first Arab and African woman to reach a Grand Slam final has seen her popularity soar.

The 27-year-old is visibly enjoying the affection she is getting from her fellow Tunisians.

"Tunisians' love is more important than no matter which title. I hope this is the start of lots more wins. I'm proud to be a Tunisian," she said as women and children carried the national flag, with music played at maximum volume on loud speakers adorned with photos of Jabeur and tennis racquets.

After spotting a banner in favour of a 'yes' vote on the upcoming referendum on the constitution she nodded: "Yes, everything is possible".

And from a big grandstand in front of the capital's national theatre she spelled out her next career objective "to be world number one and win (the French Open) at Roland Garros".

Autographed tennis balls were being thrown into the crowd for those fans lucky enough to get their hands on them.

One of those in the happy throng was Mongia Zaag, who told AFP: "We've come here to experience the joy with Ons Jabeur".

"She's made us happy. I'm very emotional, with everything that's going on (in the country), the morale of the Tunisian people is not at its highest," Zaag added, alluding to the political crisis in the country and global economic difficulties.

The teacher by profession suggested Jabeur "is an example not only for Tunisian girls but also the boys".

Friday's reception followed Thursday's presentation to Jabeur by President Kais Saied of the prestigious Grand Medal of the National Order of Merit.

She said she wanted to "give more hope" to the country's youngsters.

Since she began her climb up the WTA rankings to her present fifth in the world her club's membership has doubled to 700.