'Salad-bar' extremism on the rise in Canada, report says

CBC/Radio-Canada - 

Extremists in Canada are increasingly cherry-picking aspects of various violent ideologies to form their own belief system, in a phenomenon known as "salad-bar extremism," a new report has found.


Extremist groups in Alberta, such as the Proud Boys, have diminished after being added to Canada's list of terrorist entities

.© Nathan Howard/Getty Images

"This "salad bar' extremism, originally used to describe an emerging phenomenon in the U.S., is now present in Canada," a report released Thursday by the Organization for the Prevention of Violence (OPV) reads.

Hate, Extremism, and Terrorism In Alberta, Canada, and Beyond measures the shift in activity between 2019 to 2022.

Mike King, director of research at the OPV, said that in the past, there were many distinct ideologies, listing examples such as white supremacy, anti-government extremism and left-wing extremism and extreme misogyny.

"Now we're seeing more and more blurred planes between these ideologies where people are kind of picking and choosing portions of the same ideologies, and putting them together and almost kind of having a tailored extremist ideology of their own," he said.

It's been three years since the OPV – a non-government organization formed to prevent radicalization and challenge extremist views – published its first report about hate-motivated violence, extremism and terrorism in Alberta.

Since then, researchers say much has changed due to the broad social repercussions from events such as the pandemic, protests against public health measures, tense elections in the United States, and the backlash to racial justice movements.

"The structure and landscape of [ideologically motivated violence extremism] actors continues its shift from group-based tactics to lone-actor and small-cell activity, particularly within the realm of xenophobic extremism," the report reads

Part of the reason for the shift, King hypothesized, is that that some of the patriot and militia groups such as The Three Percenters and Proud Boys have been added to Canada's list of terrorist entities.

The designation makes it easier to charge and arrest individuals supporting the group financially and stop finances flowing to the group, King said.

Proud Boys chapters in Alberta have folded or been dissolved since the Capitol riots in the U.S, the report indicates. The report described the Proud Boys as "a traditionalist, neo-fascist chauvinist organization loosely tied to white power."

The report is based on unprecedented access to interviews with members of the RCMP, municipal policing agencies, provincial and federal justice agencies, public safety officials, community leaders, and frontline practitioners, John McCoy, OPV executive director, wrote in an email.

He added that the OPV runs a program called Evolve, where staff work directly with individuals and families looking to disengage from violent extremism. Psychologists and mentors who work with Evolve also contributed to the report.

An increasing number of people gravitating toward forms of extremism have some form of mental health issues, King said.

That creates new challenges, said King.

"Is the response primarily a psychosocial intervention, or is it more a national security response or is it a bit of both? And I think that can be quite complicated because you definitely don't want to be securitizing what is essentially a mental health issue," he said.

"But you also don't want to be medicalizing what is a security issue. So, there's a fine line there, and I think you really need a lot of experts there to help with the assessment of these cases."

JUMPED OR PUSHED
Lukoil chairman dies after falling from a Moscow hospital window

Anna Chernova - CNN

The chairman of Russian oil and gas giant Lukoil has died after falling out of the window of a hospital in Moscow, according to Russian state media.

“The man fell out of the sixth-floor window and died as a result of his injuries,” a source told TASS.

Lukoil confirmed the death of its chairman on Thursday in a statement published on its website.

Ravil Maganov “passed away following a severe illness,” Lukoil said, making no mention of a fall. “Maganov immensely contributed to the development of not only the company, but of the entire Russian oil and gas sector.”

Lukoil, Russia’s second biggest oil and gas company, made headlines in March when it called “for the soonest termination of the armed conflict” in Ukraine.

Related video: Russian Oil Exec Who Criticized Ukraine Invasion Dies After Falling From Hospital Window
Duration 1:31
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“We express our sincere empathy for all victims, who are affected by this tragedy,” the company’s board of directors said in a statement to shareholders, staff and customers at the time. “We strongly support a lasting ceasefire and a settlement of problems through serious negotiations and diplomacy.”

The firm produces more than 2% of the world’s crude oil and employs over 100,000 people.

RIA Novosti quoted a law enforcement source Thursday as saying Maganov “most likely committed suicide.”

“Investigating authorities are working on the spot to establish the causes of the incident,” the source told RIA.

At least five prominent Russian businessmen have reportedly died by suicide since late January, according to previous CNN reporting.

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2021 saw record-high greenhouse gases, sea levels and ocean heat, new report shows

Last year saw record levels of major greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide and methane, released into the Earth's atmosphere, according to an international climate report.

2021 saw record-high greenhouse gases, sea levels and ocean heat, new report shows   Duration 1:10  View on Watch

The annual State of the Climate report, published Wednesday in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society and led by scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Centers for Environmental Information, also found that global sea level and ocean heat reached record highs in 2021.

"The data presented in this report are clear -- we continue to see more compelling scientific evidence that climate change has global impacts and shows no sign of slowing," NOAA administrator Rick Spinrad said in a statement. "With many communities hit with 1,000-year floods, exceptional drought and historic heat this year, it shows that the climate crisis is not a future threat but something we must address today as we work to build a Climate-Ready Nation -- and world -- that is resilient to climate-driven extremes."MORE: Eco-anxiety among teenagers is growing

Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are the "most significant driver of observed climate change since the mid-20th century," according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, warming the climate as they build up in the atmosphere.

In 2021, the global annual average atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration was 414.7 parts per million (ppm) -- 2.3 ppm greater than the amounts measured in 2020, according to the latest State of the Climate report. That marks the highest amount measured since 1958 -- the start of the instrumental record -- and in at least the last million years, based on paleoclimatic records, the report found. It was also the fifth-highest growth rate in the modern record.


The lignite-fired power plant of Jaenschwalde is pictured behind sun flowers, July 28, 2022, in Doebbrick, Germany. The Jaenschwalde power plant is going to be powered off in 2028 as part of the german coal phase-out.© Florian Gaertner/Photothek via Getty Images

Two other major greenhouse gases -- methane and nitrous oxide -- also saw record concentrations last year, according to the report. The annual increase in methane was the highest in the modern record, and the growth rate of nitrous oxide the third-highest, it found.

Last year was the fifth- or sixth-warmest on record, depending on the dataset referenced, with the last seven years (2015-2021) the seven warmest years on record, according to the report.MORE: Millions of people in Midwest to experience 'extreme heat belt' by 2053: Report

Global ocean heat content, measured from the ocean's surface to a depth of more than 6,000 feet, saw record levels in 2021, "indicative of steadily increasing heat in Earth's system," according to the report. Meanwhile, the global sea surface temperature cooled compared to 2019 and 2020, due to the ongoing La Niña conditions in the tropical Pacific, though it was higher than the 1991-2020 average, the report found.

For the 10th year in a row, the global average sea level rose about 4.9 mm to a new record high, according to the report. The level was about 97 mm higher than the average recorded in 1993, when satellite measurements began, the report stated.


A view of Hulhulmale Island, which is connected to the capital Male to prevent the sea level increase, in Male, Maldives, which is one of the countries most threatened by the sea level increase due to global warming, June 28, 2022.© Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Both global ocean heat content and global average sea level saw "year-on-year increases substantially exceeding their trend rates of recent decades," the report stated.

Among other highlights, the report found that tropical cyclone activity was "well above average" in 2021, with 97 named tropical storms during the Northern and Southern Hemisphere storm seasons compared to the 1991-2020 average of 87. Last year's storm season saw Hurricane Ida, a category 4 cyclone that was the costliest U.S. disaster last year and the fifth most expensive hurricane on record since 1980, with $75 billion in damage, the report noted.MORE: Extreme Weather Photos 2022

The climate report, now in its 32nd issuance, is based on contributions from more than 530 scientists in over 60 countries.

"The 2021 AMS State of the Climate provides the latest synthesis of scientific understanding of the climate system and the impact people are having on it," American Meteorological Society associate executive director Paul Higgins said in a statement. "If we take it seriously and use it wisely, it can help us thrive on a planet that is increasingly small in comparison to the impact of our activities."

2021's climate extremes show global warming has 'no sign of slowing'

Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA TODAY - TODAY

A new federal summary of the globe's climate last year takes bits and pieces of grim news from the past 18 months and rolls it into a sobering report on the world's warming climate.

Long-term warming trends continue worldwide, even when interrupted by temporary cooler weather phenomena, such as the lingering La Nina in the Pacific, concluded the 2021 "State of the Climate" report released Wednesday.

"The data presented in this report are clear – we continue to see more compelling scientific evidence that climate change has global impacts and shows no sign of slowing,” said Rick Spinrad, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The report is prepared by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information, with contributions from scientists around the world.

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Given the floods, drought and historic heat that have continued this year, Spinrad said the "climate crisis is not a future threat but something we must address today."

He and Paul Higgins, associate director of the American Meteorological Society, said the world should use the report to become more resilient against climate extremes.


A cyclist bikes past the setting sun at Papago Park during a heatwave where temperatures hit 115-degrees Tuesday, June 15, 2021, in Phoenix.© Ross D. Franklin, AP

"If we take it seriously and use it wisely, it can help us thrive on a planet that is increasingly small in comparison to the impact of our activities," Higgins said.

The news, however, wasn't all bad. The La Nina lowered sea surface temperatures in the Pacific and helped suppress other global temperatures. Also, the South Pole saw its coldest winter on record, despite warmer temperatures elsewhere on Antarctica.

Here are some of the report's biggest takeaways:
Global average temperatures and sea levels keep rising

The Earth's warming trend continued, and for the 10th consecutive year global mean sea level set a new record high.
Scientific analyses showed global surface temperatures were about .5 degrees above the 1991-2020 average.
The last seven years have been the warmest since recordkeeping began in the mid- to late-1800s, according to the meteorological society.
Sea levels were 3.8 inches above the 1993 average, a two-tenths of an inch increase over 2020. Federal scientists say every inch of sea level rise increases the risk of high tide flooding days in cities along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

Is the globe prepared? Extreme heat waves may be our new normal, thanks to climate change.

Some nations saw dramatic impacts

Temperature extremes set many new record highs, but also a few record lows.
China and New Zealand saw their warmest years on record.
In Kyoto, Japan, one of its native cherry tree species' full bloom dates were the earliest on record, dating back to 801.
Europe saw its second-hottest summer on record, setting a new high temperature of 119.8 degrees in Sicily on Aug. 11, 2021.
In Spain, set a new record low in January, when the temperature at Clot del Tuc de la Llança in the Pyrenees dropped to minus 29.4 degrees.

Learn more about earlier bloom dates: Festivals forced to adapt as climate change disrupts historic weather patterns

Polar regions suffered

Glaciers around the world continued melting for the 34th year in a row, while the temperature of permafrost in many areas reached record high levels.
in June 2021, Canada's Northwest Territories set an all-time high of 103.8 degrees, the highest temperature ever recorded north of the 60th parallel.
A station on the Greenland Ice Sheet recorded the first rainfall since recordkeeping began 33 years ago. It used to be too cold at the top of the ice sheet for it to rain. Scientists say warming conditions there are melting more of the ice sheet, adding to higher sea levels.

 
Weather extremes reigned

Some areas experienced new levels of drought, while others saw record rainfall. Experts say both reflect the warming climate.
Nearly a third of the world's land areas saw drought conditions in August 2021, a new record high.
East Africa saw the lowest-ever rainfall along the equator, the third failed rainy season in a row, threatening food security for more than 20 million people.
In Zhengzhou, China, 7.9 inches of rain fell in a single hour on July 20, the highest one-hour rainfall ever reported for the mainland. Scientists say warmer air holds more water and contributes to extreme rainfall.
In October in Rossiglione, Italy, 29.2 inches of rain fell in just 12 hours, a new European record.

USA TODAY investigates: How a summer of extreme weather reveals a stunning shift in the way rain falls in America.
Greenhouse gas emissions kept climbing

The big two greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide and methane – rose to new record highs. Climate scientists say reducing emissions is critical to prevent further warming.

Carbon dioxide reached an average annual concentration of 414.7 parts per million, up 2.6 parts per million over 2020. That's the fifth-highest growth rate since monitoring began in 1958.
Methane continued its upward trend upward with an increase of 18 parts per billion, the biggest increase since measurements began.
Nitrous oxide also hit 334.3 parts per billion, the third highest level since 2001.

Listen to rainfall trends: What if you could hear climate change? Listen to music based on a century of rainfall data

Dinah Voyles Pulver covers climate and environment issues for USA TODAY. She can be reached at dpulver@gannett.com or at @dinahvp on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 2021's climate extremes show global warming has 'no sign of slowing'

Congress of Aboriginal Peoples’ urgent message to environment ministers: include the grassroots

Yesterday 

“Canada, at all levels, must recognize that we are experiencing a human-caused climate crisis, and that Indigenous Peoples, low-income persons, women, and youth are the most impacted,” Chief Elmer St. Pierre said in a press release before addressing a meeting of the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment.

“The response from governments must be proactive, swift, and transformative to engage all aspects of society.”

To learn from the mistakes of the past, we also need to consult our Elders, he added.

The annual meeting, this year held in Carcross/Tagish First Nation in Yukon, focused on plastic waste, air quality and climate change. Provincial and territorial ministers were in attendance, along with federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault and Indigenous leaders from the Assembly of First Nations, Métis National Council, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, and more.

St. Pierre’s message to the room “was that we need to be able to work with our communities; they have a lot to say,” Jim Devoe, executive director of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP), told Canada’s National Observer.

CAP’s mandate is to advocate for non-status and off-reserve Indigenous Peoples, including those affected by the climate crisis.

For Indigenous Peoples living in urban communities — like East Vancouver, for example — the impacts of the climate crisis are staggering, says Devoe.

Related video: National Centre for Indigenous Excellence looks set to close if Government fails to step-in   Duration 4:49  View on Watch

But the crisis also affects Indigenous Peoples in rural areas who are forced to move to urban centres because of the way climate change and biodiversity loss have impacted their home communities.

“If you’re from a rural centre, as I am, and there’s a shortage of jobs … people have no choice but to leave rural towns for urban centres,” said Devoe, whose home community in Nova Scotia has fisheries that are often overused and overexploited.

“People who leave their communities to go to urban centres to find better opportunities aren’t always finding better opportunities.”

The goal of the national chief has always been to advocate for the grassroots and to centre their voices on issues of climate change, Devoe adds.

“If we don’t have the voice of our communities, we aren’t well-informed,” he said.

Matteo Cimellaro, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada's National Observer

Old-growth forests remain at ‘immediate risk’ despite B.C. government promises, report finds

Yesterday 

B.C.’s old-growth forests are still in jeopardy despite the province’s pledge to work with Indigenous nations to temporarily ban logging in specific areas, a new report by Stand.earth finds.

More than 55,000 hectares of B.C.’s proposed old-growth deferrals are still at “extreme risk” of being logged, Stand.earth’s spatial analysis revealed. Satellite imagery analysis shows some deferrals have already been destroyed or are in the process of being clear-cut.

“The bottom line is that the province is not actually stopping the logging industry from harvesting old-growth over the short term,” Angeline Robertson, author of the report, said at a Zoom press conference on Tuesday.

Last November, the provincial government acknowledged 2.6 million hectares — 226 times the area of Vancouver — of old-growth forest are at high risk of irreversible diversity loss and must be deferred from logging while First Nations and the province develop a new approach for forest management.

However, some First Nations do not support the proposed deferrals, B.C.’s Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development Katrine Conroy told Canada’s National Observer in an emailed statement.

“Government has always been clear that we will respect their decisions and will not be imposing deferrals unilaterally. Logging will proceed on their territories,” Conroy’s statement reads.

The province hasn’t offered First Nations compensation for deferring logging on their territories, which leaves communities to either forgo a critical revenue stream or protect the forests at great economic cost.

Released Aug. 30, the report overlays the 2.6 million hectares of proposed deferrals with active and pending cutting permits issued to the forestry and oil and gas sectors to determine which areas are at immediate risk.

Similar to Stand.earth’s analysis, the province previously said roughly 50,000 hectares of proposed deferrals overlap with previously approved cutting permits and that “many forestry companies have indicated to the Province that they will not proceed with harvesting these areas while discussions with First Nations are ongoing.”

This has not been the experience of some First Nations. In the Stand.earth press release, Chief James Hobart of Spuzzum First Nation said the province assured his Nation last summer there would be no logging activity in their forests.

“But when our community members witnessed loaded logging trucks coming down Spuzzum Main, we were told compliance was voluntary,” Hobart said.

The province says deferrals have been implemented on 1.7 million hectares of old-growth, but Stand.earth noted the government didn’t specify whether those deferrals are protecting areas that would have otherwise been logged. The province also didn’t disclose what type of old-growth is encompassed in the deferrals. Steep slope forests at high elevation have less value to the forestry industry, whereas big-treed valley bottoms and easily accessible old-growth are highly sought after, the report said.

“The forests that actually require the province to defer logging are still at immediate risk of being lost, meanwhile, the province consistently tries to look good by reporting deferrals in areas that aren't actually at risk of being logged… This is all just tall talk,” said Robertson.

As a previous Stand.earth report found, a handful of private companies present the bulk of the threat to these forests.

Canfor alone represents a bigger risk to old-growth forests than all 127 First Nations-owned logging companies combined, according to that report. West Fraser and Sinclar Group are the second- and third-biggest threats, respectively, and TransCanada ranks fourth thanks to its clear-cutting to make way for the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission Line and the Coastal GasLink project.

“While the provincial officials promote their supposed achievements, we are watching more old-growth be destroyed forever,” Kukpi7 Judy Wilson, secretary-treasurer of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, said at the press conference.

Conroy’s statement said only 0.3 per cent of the 2.6 million hectares of proposed deferrals have been harvested since engagements with First Nations began last November.

This destruction affects nations, the environment and future generations for decades to come, said Wilson.

“Old-growth logging has caused floods, mudslides and destruction of our land in our territories, and it has made wildfires worse. These disasters disproportionately impact First Nations, who have been forced to evacuate,” she said.

“It's very important for those ancient forest canopies to remain intact because of the ecological value they have,” Wilson added, emphasizing the role forests play in mitigating the climate crisis.

Back in 2020, the province promised to implement 14 recommendations from an independent old-growth strategic review. Stand.earth says that to date, none of the recommendations have come to fruition.

The province disagreed, saying that it fulfilled recommendation five by releasing the findings and analysis of the independent Old Growth Technical Advisory Panel, including detailed maps of old growth across B.C. based on the latest information available.

At the press conference, Hobart said the province needs to follow through and commit to the 14 recommendations, the most straightforward of which is to temporarily ban logging in the most rare and at-risk old-growth forests.

“You can make excuses or you can make a difference about this. But you can't do both,” Hobart said at the press conference.

With the B.C. NDP’s leadership race underway, he wonders whether the next premier will deliver on old-growth promises or stand by and let industry have its way.

Natasha Bulowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada's National Observer

What Democrats' Staggering Alaska Win Means for The Midterms

Darragh Roche - 12h ago


Democrat Mary Peltola wins Alaska special election.

 Above, Peltola leaves a voting booth while early voting, Aug. 12, 2022, in Anchorage, Alaska.© AP

Democrats scored a significant victory in the special election to fill Alaska's at-large congressional district on Wednesday, as Mary Peltola defeated former Governor Sarah Palin.

Peltola triumphed in an election conducted using Alaska's new ranked choice voting system that allows voters to rank their preferred candidates.

Republican candidate Nick Begich III came in third of the three candidates and after his voters' second preferences were counted, Peltola emerged victorious.

Though Alaska's system is unusual and was approved by voters only in 2020, the result will be seen as a good sign for Democrats heading into crucial midterm elections in November.

A deep red state, Alaska appears to be an unusual place for Democrats to score a victory as President Joe Biden's approval rating remains in negative territory.

Peltola's success could indicate broader political trends, with the Democrat tweeting that she believed "the broad coalition we're building has the real chance of building the momentum we need to win in November."

As poll tracker FiveThirtyEight pointed out in an article on August 24, Democrats have performed well in special elections and may even have exceeded expectations, possibly pointing to a "better-than-expected" midterm for the party.

Democrat Pat Ryan defeated Republican Marc Molinaro in a special election in New York's 19th district on August 23 in a surprise victory for Democrats. Ryan had made abortion a central issue of his campaign.

FiveThirtyEight pointed to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization that overturned the landmark decision in Roe v. Wade and found that abortion is not constitutionally protected.

"There have been four first-past-the-post special House elections since that decision, and Democrats have outperformed their expected margins in those elections by an average of nine points," the poll tracker said.

It remains to be seen how abortion will impact the midterm elections and whether it will be decisive in deciding control of the House, however.

The outcome of Alaska's special House election can now be added to those recent Democratic successes, though it remains to be seen if this trend will carry into the November midterms.

Peltola is seeking a full term in Congress on November 8 and will compete against Palin, Begich and Libertarian candidate Chris Bye in another ranked choice election.

Though Palin's recent defeat has raised questions about Republicans' ability to take back the House, the GOP is still favored to retake the chamber, according to FiveThirtyEight and the University of Virginia (UVA) Center for Politics' Crystal Ball forecast.

The outlook is better for Democrats in the Senate, with FiveThirtyEight rating them as slightly favored to win. That's an improvement, as Republicans were previously favored to take the Senate in FiveThirtyEight's analysis as recently as July 25.

UVA's Crystal Ball forecast shifted two key Senate races (Arizona and Pennsylvania) from toss-up to leans Democratic on Wednesday in another positive sign for President Biden's party.

However, the sitting president's party normally performs poorly in midterm elections and Democrats were expected to face a tough fight this November.

The final results will determine whether Alaska's special election was a sign of positive change for Biden's party.

Canada's spy agency accused of 'nabbing British children and trafficking them' to Islamic State

Ottawa is accused of covering up its handling of a double agent who smuggled British teenagers into Islamic State territory to join the terror group while he was spying for Canada.


An undated file photo of Shamima Begum.

Adrian Humphreys - Yesterday 

National Post

Justin Trudeau, the prime minister, did not deny Ottawa’s work with an operative smuggling Western children to a dangerous battlefield, as outlined in a new book, saying that Canada’s spy agency must “be flexible and be creative” in the war against terrorists.

A book about Western intelligence agencies says that while police in Britain were searching for three schoolgirls who left their homes in London in 2015, Canadian intelligence and diplomatic officials withheld information about where they were and how they got there.

Canada then worked with British authorities to cover up its role, according to allegations on this long-percolating controversy in The Secret History of the Five Eyes by Richard Kerbaj, who was the security beat reporter for Britain’s Sunday Times from 2010 to 2020.

Canada was part of the military coalition fighting the Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq at the time.

The book’s details are igniting alarming headlines internationally.

The information is particularly controversial in Britain because one of those smuggled teens was Shamima Begum, then 15, who remains in a detention camp in Syria fighting to return to Britain after her British citizenship was stripped from her because of her support for IS.

Part of Begum’s argument for returning is that she is a victim of human trafficking.

Tasnime Akunjee, Begum’s lawyer, told National Post that Canada’s actions facilitated human trafficking of minors.

“They have effectively been nabbing British children and trafficking them across the Syrian border for delivery to ISIS all in the name of intelligence gathering,” Akunjee said.

“Britain has lauded its efforts to stop ISIS and the grooming of our children by spending millions of pounds on the Prevent program and online monitoring. However, at the very same time we have been cooperating with a western ally, trading sensitive intelligence with them” as they worked with Mohammed Al Rashed, who claimed to be a spy for Canada.

“The calculation here is that the lives of British children, and the risk of their death, is part of the algorithm of acceptable risk that our Western allies have taken,” Akunjee said.

Begum herself recently told the BBC about Rashed saying: “He organized the entire trip from Turkey to Syria…. I don’t think anyone would have been able to make it to Syria without the help of smugglers.

“He had helped a lot of people come in…. We were just doing everything he was telling us to do because he knew everything, we didn’t know anything.”

Kerbaj said Canada’s role is well documented.

“There is absolutely no doubt that the Canadians worked on this and also it brings into question … about what role Britain played,” Kerbaj told TV news show Good Morning Britain on Wednesday. “The only way to get to the bottom of this is to have an inquiry,” with access to CSIS documents, he said.

Trudeau was asked about the controversy Wednesday.

Canadian intelligence services bound by ‘strict rules’: Trudeau

“We live in a particularly dangerous world,” he said.

“The fight against terrorism requires our intelligence services to continue to be flexible and to be creative in their approaches, but every step of the way, they are bound by strict rules, by principles and values that Canadians hold dear … and we expect that those rules be followed.

“I know there are questions about certain incidents or operations of the past and we will ensure to follow up on this,” he said.

Asked if CSIS went too far and if there would be an inquiry, Trudeau said “rigorous oversight mechanisms” monitor CSIS operations but he would consider “further steps” if needed.

Other Canadian officials, however, remained mute on the subject.

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino, the Department of Public Safety Canada, and Global Affairs Canada all referred questions about their respective roles to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).

CSIS spokesman Brandon Champagne simply replied: “I cannot publicly comment on or confirm or deny the specifics of CSIS investigations, operational interests, methodologies, or activities.”


A 2015 combination of handout CCTV pictures shows, left to right: British teenagers Kadiza Sultana, Amira Abase and Shamima Begum.© Metropolitan Police Service

London’s Metropolitan police also said sensitivity prevented public discussion.

“We do not comment on matters relating to intelligence,” Met spokesman Matthew Russell said.

The issue of Rashed’s role was first revealed in 2015 after the high-profile disappearance of Begum, along with schoolmates Amira Abase, 15, and Kadiza Sultana, 16.

The three left their homes in England and flew to Turkey to join the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, where they were met by Rashed.

Rashed then helped smuggle them into IS controlled territory. He was arrested by Turkish police soon after.

Turkish media reported in 2015 on Turkish intelligence leaks, writing that Rashed carried documents, photos, and videos revealing his activities, including a video — apparently taken by Rashed with a hidden camera — showing him with the missing British girls near Turkey’s border with Syria.

Rashed told Turkish authorities he built a relationship with Canadian officials in 2013 when he sought asylum in Canada. He said in a statement to police at the time he was offered Canadian citizenship in return for information on IS, according to contemporary reports.

Rashed’s police statement said he was working for CSIS and passed information through Canada’s embassy in Jordan. Postmedia reported at the time that the embassy in Amman was run by a former RCMP officer who was Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s former top bodyguard.

Rashed was described as a Syrian dentist, also known as Mohammed Mehmet Rashid and Dr. Mehmet Rashid, who fled from Syria in 2013 during the civil war, moving to Jordan and then sought protection from Canada at its embassy in Amman.

A Turkish pro-government newspaper reported at the time that Rashed then travelled to Canada for several months before returning to the Middle East to work as a spy.

He claimed to have helped 15 people from Western countries travel into IS territory while working with CSIS and being paid by Canada to investigate the flow of foreign fighters to the IS battlefields.

The Secret History of the Five Eyes widens what has previously been published about Canada’s relationship with Rashed. Five Eyes is the name of the intelligence alliance of five countries: Canada, the United States, Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

Kerbaj writes that Rashed sent passport information, luggage details, photos, and other information to Canada, including details on Begum and her friends, according to media accounts of the book.

Canada, however, did not learn details of the girls’ travels until four days after they crossed into Syria, Kerbaj writes.

“For seven years now, this has been covered up by the Canadians,” Kerbaj told The Guardian newspaper .

“I think the cover-up is worse than the offence in many ways here because you would expect human intelligence agencies to recruit members of criminal groups and terrorist groups,” he said.

• Email: ahumphreys@postmedia.com | Twitter: AD_Humphreys

Bank of Canada takes to Twitter to set record straight on 'printing money' claim

Yesterday 

OTTAWA — As the Bank of Canada tries to reign in red hot inflation, the central bank is engaging in another fight: one against misinformation.


Bank of Canada takes to Twitter to set record straight on 'printing money' claim© Provided by The Canadian Press

In recent weeks, the central bank has been using social media to engage the public on the economy, explaining how inflation works and what it's doing to bring inflation back to its two per cent target. However, in its most recent Twitter thread, the bank went beyond explaining economics and took direct aim at a common attack levied against its policy decisions during the pandemic.

“#YouAskedUs if we printed cash to finance the federal gov’t. We didn't,” the Bank of Canada tweeted on Aug. 25, followed by a series of tweets refuting the claim.

While central bank officials normally hold speeches and other events to communicate their thinking and to set expectations, Laval University economics professor Stephen Gordon says its audience has traditionally been smaller than it is today.

“The only people who pay attention are insiders and market experts. And that's usually the only people that they have to talk to,” Gordon said.

Today’s high inflation environment and the politicization of the central bank has led to a wider audience, with more Canadians concerned about rising interest rates and the high cost of living. Alongside this heightened interest has also come a level of distrust of the Bank of Canada's operations and a misperception that it printed money during the pandemic.

Conservative leadership front-runner Pierre Poilievre has been a loud critic of the Bank of Canada, vowing to fire Governor Tiff Macklem if he becomes prime minister. Poilievre has not explained how he plans to fire Macklem given the Bank of Canada Act does not provide the federal government with that power.

He’s also repeatedly claimed that the central bank printed money to finance federal spending and therefore caused inflation.

However, the Bank of Canada and economists say that’s not what happened.

“There's always been this expression of the bank printing money whenever they engage in these kinds of policies, but it's not actually what happens,” said Jeremy Kronick, the director of Monetary and Financial Services Research at the C.D. Howe Institute.

Related video: Inflation and increased demand leave Breakfast Club of Canada with $2M shortfall

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The policy Kronick refers to is quantitative easing, a measure the Bank of Canada attempted to explain in a series of tweets.

“We bought existing gov't bonds from banks on the open market. Why? This helped unblock frozen markets at the start of the pandemic. It let households, companies and governments access funding when they really needed it,” one of the tweets said.

“We did not print cash to pay for the bonds,” the thread went on to say.

Sometimes referred to as QE, quantitative easing is a relatively new tool used to keep money flowing when interest rates are already hovering around zero and can't be cut further. It garnered worldwide attention when it was used by the U.S. Federal Reserve in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.

The Bank of Canada used this policy tool for the first time when the pandemic hit to fight off the risk of deflation. It bought government bonds from financial institutions using settlement balances, or reserves, that it deposited into the accounts of financial institutions and paid interest on. As the bank stated, these reserves are not the same as cash.

“That purchase of the bond lowers the interest rate on that bond and therefore lowers other interest rates, which makes it cheaper to borrow for you and me. So that's really where QE has its impact, not so much from the exchange,” Kronick said.

The Bank of Canada began the process of quantitative tightening, where bonds are sold back to financial institutions or allowed to mature without being replaced, in April of this year. The central bank has opted for the latter option.

While the Bank of Canada’s motivation to speak directly with Canadians and justify its policies is understandable, Gordon says he’s unsure how effective its efforts are given the central bank doesn’t have much experience in this realm.

“They don't have nowhere near the media arsenal of the people who are trying to promote the wrong agenda. So, they're in some sense massively outgunned,” he said.

A recent Angus Reid survey found 46 per cent of Canadians trust the Bank of Canada to fulfil its mandate, while 41 per cent said they don’t. The survey found distrust was higher among people who had voted for the Conservatives or the Peoples Party of Canada.

The online poll surveyed 5,032 Canadian adults and was conducted between June 7 and 13. It cannot be assigned a margin of error because according to the polling industry's generally accepted standards, online surveys do not randomly sample the population.

Looking ahead, the Bank of Canada plans to expand its educational programming on the economy and the bank's role.

Kronick meanwhile says what will ultimately help foster trust in the Bank of Canada is bringing inflation back down to target.

“What matters and what will regain that trust is the bank getting inflation back under control."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 31, 2022.

Nojoud Al Mallees, The Canadian Press

THIRD WORLD U$A

Flooding broke open Jackson's water crisis, but it can't be disentangled from race, experts say

Nada Hassanein, USA TODAY - 

The water crisis in Mississippi’s capital city cannot be disentangled from racial inequities, experts say.

About 150,000 residents in Jackson were without safe water Wednesday. Excessive rainfall led to flooding of the Pearl River and problems at one of the town’s two water-treatment plants, causing the pumps to fail. Low water pressure has left many without water to drink, brush teeth or flush toilets.

Residents in the majority-Black city have been on a boil-water notice since late July, and they have faced water supply problems in the past, from lead concerns to a cold snap last year that left residents without water for weeks.

Jackson, long beleaguered by a water crisis, has struggled with an aging water infrastructure in chronic neglect, experts say, reflecting how communities of color take the brunt of underinvestment. Today's crisis is part of an ongoing one that illustrates how America’s legacy water systems are failing low-income people of color.

“It's shameful. There is no question in my mind that if Jackson was 70% white, there would be a greater investment in water infrastructure,” said Andre M. Perry, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program and author of “Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities.”

Background: Biden approves emergency declaration amid Jackson water crisis

More: How Jackson's water system made it a focus in America's infrastructure crisis

Perry said Black cities are consistently “devalued,” putting communities on the line.

More than 80% of Jackson's residents are Black, the result of a gradual exodus of white, wealthier residents into the suburbs after the racial integration of public schools in 1970. About a quarter of Jackson’s residents live in poverty.

The city has lost tax revenue, and over the years water service has gotten increasingly expensive and the infrastructure harder and pricier to maintain.

“There has been an overall lack of investment in infrastructure,” said Perry, an expert in economic inclusion and equity.

He said infrastructure is a shared responsibility among local and state leaders, which can make it difficult to coordinate investments.

“Inevitable crises, storms will come. However, Jackson always ends up taking two steps back whenever there's a crisis,” he said. “This is the quintessential example of how structural racism plays out in this country."

Earlier this year: Will coronavirus relief money fix Jackson's water and sewer system?

Troubled waters in other cities, like Flint

Aaron Packman, Northwestern University environmental engineering professor, said the problem is systemic and complex. Communities of color are often “systematically undersupported” and see increasing infrastructure failures.

He pointed to a 2016 Government Accountability report that analyzed cities with declining populations and water infrastructure problems. The report cites majority-Black Flint, Michigan, as an example of the consequences of chronic underinvestment in water infrastructure, Packman said.

Flint, where water was discovered to be contaminated with lead after regulatory failures at multiple levels, has also seen white flight and gradual population loss.

The city is not “unique in the challenges it faces,” the report says.

Mississippi's Pearl River floods homes, daycares and roads after heavy rains

View on Watch

“This is a common challenge in under-resourced communities, or especially in communities where the population and the economic base has been decreasing over time. A lot of those communities are communities of color,” Packman said. “It means that we end up with a lot of people of color who are in vulnerable positions, who don't have a strong political voice and who are not able to get the investments that are needed.”

There should be multiple mechanisms in place to protect drinking water supplies, Packman said, so when a crisis like Jackson’s happens, it signifies multiple failures.

In Flint, “people were not listened to,” he said. “And I'm not sure that this importance of governance, of shared responsibility for safe water, has been learned well enough.”

Lingering lead: Biden plan to eliminate old pipes highlights longstanding contamination in communities of color

Warning signs were ignored

Experts such as Perry warned that while the floodwaters allowed for the system to tip over, they weren’t the cause – rather, the latest in a series of payment and management challenges, contamination and climate threats are to blame.

“We had many warning signs as we approached the crisis and points of intervention that could have been taken but were ignored,” said Joan Casey, an environmental epidemiologist at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health.

In the first quarter of 2020, nearly half a billion gallons of raw sewage leaked into the Pearl River, along with close to 6 billion gallons of minimally treated sewage, the Mississippi Clarion Ledger reported.

Overflows have long been a problem for the state's largest city, the newspaper reported. The Environmental Protection Agency has watched Jackson closely and put the city under a consent decree in 2012.

In 2016, the state health department issued a lead warning.

And last year, a cold snap across the South in areas not accustomed to freezing conditions left the town’s pipes frozen and residents without running water for a month. It wasn't the first time.

Natalie Exum, an assistant scientist of environmental health and engineering at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, said the problems with Jackson's water system have been known for a long time.

“This is not a problem that happens overnight,” she said.

Communities that are majority-Black or Hispanic often lack the resources to get those problems fixed, she said.

Climate action is critical for health equity: Community health clinics are key - and need more support.
Climate change threatens to bring more crises

Climate change will continue to test fragile infrastructure in communities of color like Jackson.

“This is not going to be the last time something like this happens in the United States, because we have an increasingly unpredictable climate, and we have aging infrastructure – and we have widening wealth gaps,” she said. “The climate crisis is going to present many additional opportunities for us to learn from the past.”

The nation's water systems are highly fragmented, variable and localized, said Joseph Kane, also a fellow at the Brookings Institution who studies environmental and water infrastructure problems.

That means poorer communities, often those of color like Jackson, struggle to pay for water management and aging systems, especially in the face of climate change. A lack of federal and state aid has led to privatization, which sends costs to ratepayers who see their bills rise, he explained.

That's "no accident," he said.

EPA: People of color face disproportionate harm from climate change

"Places like Detroit or Flint (are) in this category as well, where the infrastructure concerns are inextricably tied to the economic concerns of the jurisdiction," he said. "Jackson is one of the most impoverished areas or cities in the country. And so their ratepayers don't necessarily have the same ability as ratepayers do in some other parts of the country."


Pump failure at Mississippi plant causes water crisis© AP

The federal infrastructure bill passed in 2021 will provide an infusion of financial support. Still, the money will take time to trickle down, and "that isn't going to automatically reverse what's been happening over the last few decades," Kane said.

Perry worries that state leadership will not equitably distribute those federal dollars when they're available.

Epidemiologist Maureen Lichtveld, dean of the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Public Health, said the most important lessons the nation continues to overlook from past disasters are rooted in preparedness investment and strengthening systems to increase community resilience.

Those lessons, she said, could have been learned from past system and regulatory failures – from Hurricane Katrina’s devastation in New Orleans after years of neglecting the city's levee system to regulatory failures in Flint, Michigan.

“The most pronounced lessons not learned continue to be not learned,” she said.

Reach Nada Hassanein at nhassanein@usatoday.com or on Twitter @nhassanein_.

A 'lifetime of burden': Older Black adults die from air pollution three times the rate of white adults, study finds

The health effects of climate change: Study shows health woes following Hurricane Maria

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Flooding broke open Jackson's water crisis, but it can't be disentangled from race, experts say

Gibraltar races to stop 'significant' oil leak from ship collision with gas tanker

Alex Hardie - 1h ago - CNN

A cargo ship that collided with a natural gas tanker earlier this week off Gibraltar has “crumpled” and is leaking a “significant” amount of oil Thursday, according to authorities, who said efforts were underway to salvage the vessel.

A “major incident” was declared in Gibraltar on Wednesday after the OS 35 cargo ship collided with a liquefied natural gas carrier the day before, according to the government.

The cargo ship, which is carrying 215 tonnes of heavy fuel oil, 250 tonnes of diesel fuel and 27 tonnes of lube oil, was beached to prevent it from sinking in the bay of Gibraltar. All 30 people on board, including 24 crew members and 6 surveyors, were evacuated.

The Gibraltar government said Thursday that the oil leak is “significant,” but that the oil is lighter than some other cases and should be easier to clean if any of the oil reaches the shore.

“Analysis from today shows that although this has been a significant leak, the consistency of the low sulphur fuel oil is lighter than during other incidents which have occurred in the Bay and this means it should be easier to dissipate and clean if any of the fuel oil reaches our shorelines,” the government said in a press release.

It is expected that most of the diesel will be pumped out by Friday morning, according to the government statement.

Earlier in the day, the Gibraltar Port Authority (GPA) confirmed that there had been a leak of oil that escaped the perimeter of a boom set up in the wake of the accident.


 Satellite imagery shows the damaged and partially submerged OS 35 cargo

 ship off the coast of Gibraltar. - Satellite image ©2022 Maxar Technologies

Related video: Ship-tanker collision off Gibraltar coast causes oil leak | Satellite pics show extent of spill  Duration 2:27 View on Watch

“The salvage team onboard have identified the source of this leak to two tank vents from the vessel’s bunker tanks. All vents had previously been sealed, but the seal of two vents became loose on the crumpling of the vessel,” the GPA said in a statement.

The statement said divers on scene have been able to re-establish the seals and the GPA was in the process of stopping the release of oil from the vents. Authorities were collecting the free floating oil that has already vented, while booms to absorb the oil were being deployed.

On Wednesday night, the government said there were indications that the cargo ship had “not broken apart as such, but has crumpled,” and that the “first concern” was the offloading of the low sulfur heavy fuel oil it carried as soon as possible, followed by diesel and lube oil.

The government added that there “has been no way to remove the fuels in question from the vessel any sooner in a manner that was not a risk to the environment.”


Diveres worked to fix the seals around several vents on the stricken vessel. 

- HM Government of Gibraltar

Greenpeace told CNN it is worried as the area of the incident is a heavily polluted area due to the volume of ships passing by.

Greenpeace campaigner Francisco del Pozo, who is monitoring the situation, told CNN that “as it is, there is no major oil spillage.”

According to the Gibraltar authorities, it will take around 50 hours of pumping with the operation carried out “under the strictest supervision to seek to avoid any spillage.”

Additional oil spill equipment is expected to arrive in Gibraltar from the UK on Sunday, the statement said.

Gibraltar’s government said the timeframe for salvaging the hull of the OS 35 cargo ship is likely to extend longer than the previous expectation of a few weeks.