Topless sunbather in northern B.C. files complaint against RCMP after being warned of criminal charges

Social Sharing

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Email
• Reddit
• LinkedIn

'It was wrong,' says Prince George, B.C., resident Lynn Blatta

Jason Peters · CBC News · Posted: Jul 06, 2023 

Lynn Blatta is pictured in her backyard in Prince George, B.C. (Lynn Blatta/Submitted)

A Prince George, B.C., woman who sunbathes topless in her backyard has filed a formal complaint against the RCMP after she says an officer knocked on her door and told her she could face criminal charges for going bare-breasted.

Lynn Blatta's experience brings to light a grey area in Canadian law, which contains language around nudity on both public and private property but also leans on provincial court judgments that have found nothing legally wrong with women going topless or nude in public.

Blatta says she has been going topless in her yard since April, taking advantage of warm weather by reclining in her pool.

In the same month, she says she started walking around topless in her yard, which has a fence that ranges from about four feet to six feet in height. Her house is in a residential area and is next to an elementary school.

Blatta says she heard nothing in the way of complaints in April or May. But, on the morning of June 26, she says an RCMP officer paid her a visit.

• Being topless in public is legal, B.C. woman reminds others after police encounter

"I had the RCMP pop over here and knock on my door and tell me that I could be charged criminally for sunbathing topless," Blatta told CBC News.

"It was wrong, and I argued with the police officer at my door … He was telling me I can be pressed with criminal charges, and I'm like, 'I know that's not true.'"

Blatta says the officer kept pressing the issue, pointing out that Blatta's property borders on school grounds.

"I let it go, and I let him leave, and then the next day I tried to bring it up with the detachment but I was not allowed to speak to the officer in charge or the staff sergeant," she said.

Lynn Blatta of Prince George, B.C., is pictured inside her fenced backyard, with an elementary school in the background. (Lynn Blatta/Submitted)

Blatta says she ended up filing a formal complaint against the RCMP.

Cpl. Jennifer Cooper, media relations officer with the Prince George RCMP, said in an email to CBC News that "as there is an open public complaint investigation in relation to this matter, it would be inappropriate for Prince George RCMP to comment further on the subject."

Courts have supported women's rights to go topless

The Criminal Code of Canada says it is illegal to be nude in a public place "without lawful excuse," and also a crime to be nude and exposed to public view while on private property — with nudity being defined as "clad as to offend against public decency or order." That stipulation means a person doesn't have to be completely naked to be charged.

But there is precedent for women being legally allowed to expose their breasts in public. According to the website Criminal Code Help, in 1996, the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled a lower court erred in finding a woman guilty of committing an indecent act after she walked on a city street and sat on her porch with her breasts exposed. 

• Kitchener sisters hold rally for women's topless rights

• Topless breast cancer survivor in N.S. inspires women and finds a bosomless buddy

"No one who was offended was forced to continue looking at her," the website says in reporting the judgment. "Her conduct did not constitute an indecent act."

The website says that sentiment was echoed by a B.C. judge, who noted that "nude sunbathing is not of sufficient moral turpitude to support a charge for doing an indecent act."

• St. Catharines tells firefighters calendar is too steamy, models need to cover up

In 2000, the B.C. Supreme Court also stood behind the right of women to bare their breasts. Linda Meyer had been charged with violating a clothing bylaw after showing up topless at a city-run pool, but the judge in the case wrote that there was no evidence to support "the view that the parks could not operate in orderly fashion if a female were to bare her breasts in a circumstance that did not offend criminal laws of nudity."

In Blatta's case, she says she's waiting to see what happens with her complaint against the RCMP.

"I phoned them again [on Wednesday] and said I would like a clear statement [on the illegality of going topless] because there is none."

BC
Genders of two new southern resident killer whale calves confirmed: researchers

Posted: Jul. 7, 2023

CENTER FOR WHALE RESEARCH
L94 and her new calf L127.

One week after it was confirmed there were two new southern resident killer whale calves in the L pod, the Center for Whale Research has now confirmed the genders.

L127 has been confirmed as a girl, and L126 is a boy, according to the research group.

Additionally, researchers confirmed that L94 — Calypso — is L127’s mother.

“As on the previous day, L127 was sticking closely beside L94, which confirmed that L94 was the mother,” CWR wrote about an encounter on July 1. “The calf was being very social with its mom and sister, spending a lot of time rolled over on top of other whales.”

L119 — Joy — is confirmed as L126’s mom and the two were spotted near each other near Mitchell Bay.

“Moving back towards Mitchell Bay, the team saw a group of whales further in shore, and identified one of the individuals as L119,” CWR wrote on July 1. “Sure enough, when the team got closer they saw that all of the L77s, including the new calf, were together heading north.”

The day before, researchers noted that L126 got “rolled around a lot” and saw that the calf had an open saddle patch, which is the name for markings on orcas.

ALGAE PSYCOPATHS
Toxic algae is causing normally gentle sea lions to become aggressive

Cheryl Santa Maria

Digital Journalist
Published on Jul. 7, 2023

Warm temperatures and favourable water conditions have created an environment for the toxic algae to flourish.

Toxic algae is quickly spreading along sections of the Southern California Coast, fueled by warm temperatures, favourable wave and water conditions, and an excess of agricultural chemicals, among other factors.

The conditions may be behind the deaths of hundreds of sea lions and nearly six dozen dolphins in the first week of June, NOAA reports.

Between June 8 and 14, the Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute fielded more than 1,000 reports of sick or dead marine mammals.





Aggressive sea lions

Sea lions affected by the neurotoxins in the algae are becoming aggressive, with wildlife officials receiving more than 20 reports of sea lions biting beachgoers as of late June.

They appear to have fallen ill after consuming large quantities of domoic acid, present in fish via the algal blooms.

"Sea lions and dolphins eat mostly sardines, anchovy and hake, which are concentrating this toxin," Alissa Demming, Vice President of Conservation Medicine and Science at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center, told NPR.

"We think we're seeing these domoic acid blooms more frequently as well as lasting longer and potentially even producing a higher level of toxin that's resulting in worse clinical signs."

Domoic acid can have an effect on various mammal species. In 1961, dozens of seabirds began acting strangely in Monterey Bay due to an algal bloom, although the cause of their behaviour wasn't known at the time. It is said to be the inspiration behind Alfred Hitchcock's iconic 1963 film The Birds.

Demming told NPR domoic acid can impact brain or heart receptors, causing overexcitement that can lead to seizures or heart damage.

“It literally affects their brains, and the behaviour of sea lions—especially when the concentrations of domoic acid are quite high—is drastically changed,” John Warner, the CEO of the Marine Mammal Care Center, told NBC News.




“They become symptomatic in ways that are just unpredictable in terms of their behaviour—aggressiveness that we don’t normally see.”

The Marine Mammal Centre is just one of several local rescue organizations under strain due to the influx of sick marine animals.

Experts are quick to point out that while beachgoers should be cautious around sea lions, their current behaviour is atypical - under normal circumstances, sea lions are usually gentle creatures that prefer to nap near the shore.

"I don't want people to think sea lions are the new Jaws because they're not," Warner said.

It’s Getting Harder for Fish in the Sea to Breathe

As ocean oxygen levels dip, marine ecosystems face an uncertain future.

Nicola Jones Yesterday

THE TYEE

Yale Environment 360

Atlantic bluefin tuna have been driven into narrower layers of water by oxygen declines. Photo via Shutterstock.

[Editor’s note: This article was originally published by Yale Environment 360. Read the original story.]

Off the coast of southeastern China, one particular fish species is booming: the oddly named Bombay duck, a long, slim fish with a distinctive, gaping jaw and a texture like jelly. When research ships trawl the seafloor off that coast, they now catch upwards of 440 pounds of the gelatinous fish per hour — a more than tenfold increase over a decade ago.

“It’s monstrous,” says University of British Columbia fisheries researcher Daniel Pauly of the explosion in numbers.

The reason for this mass invasion, says Pauly, is extremely low oxygen levels in these polluted waters. Fish species that can’t cope with less oxygen have fled, while the Bombay duck, part of a small subset of species that is physiologically better able to deal with less oxygen, has moved in.

The boom is making some people happy, since Bombay duck is perfectly edible. But the influx provides a peek at a bleak future for China and for the planet as a whole. As the atmosphere warms, oceans around the world are becoming ever more deprived of oxygen, forcing many species to migrate from their usual homes. Researchers expect many places to experience a decline in species diversity, ending up with just those few species that can cope with the harsher conditions.

Lack of ecosystem diversity means lack of resilience. “Deoxygenation is a big problem,” Pauly summarizes.

Our future ocean — warmer and oxygen-deprived — will not only hold fewer kinds of fish, but also smaller, stunted fish and, to add insult to injury, more greenhouse-gas producing bacteria, scientists say. The tropics will empty as fish move to more oxygenated waters, says Pauly, and those specialist fish already living at the poles will face extinction.

Researchers complain that the oxygen problem doesn’t get the attention it deserves, with ocean acidification and warming grabbing the bulk of both news headlines and academic research. Just this April, for example, headlines screamed that global surface waters were hotter than they have ever been — a shockingly balmy average of 21 C. That’s obviously not good for marine life. But when researchers take the time to compare the three effects — warming, acidification and deoxygenation — the impacts of low oxygen are the worst.

“That’s not so surprising,” says Wilco Verberk, an eco-physiologist at Radboud University in the Netherlands. “If you run out of oxygen, the other problems are inconsequential.” Fish, like other animals, need to breathe.

Oxygen levels in the world’s oceans have already dropped more than 2 per cent between 1960 and 2010, and they are expected to decline up to seven per cent below the 1960 level over the next century. Some patches are worse than others — the top of the northeast Pacific has lost more than 15 per cent of its oxygen. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 2019 special report on the oceans, from 1970 to 2010, the volume of “oxygen minimum zones” in the global oceans — where big fish can’t thrive but jellyfish can — increased by between three and eight per cent.

The oxygen drop is driven by a few factors. First, the laws of physics dictate that warmer water can hold less dissolved gas than cooler water (this is why a warm soda is less fizzy than a cold one). As our world warms, the surface waters of our oceans lose oxygen, in addition to other dissolved gases. This simple solubility effect accounts for about half of the observed oxygen loss seen so far in the upper 1,000 metres of the ocean.

Deeper down, oxygen levels are largely governed by currents that mix surface waters downward, and this too is being affected by climate change. Melting ice adds fresh, less-dense water that resists downward mixing in key regions, and the high rate of atmospheric warming at the poles, as compared to the equator, also dampens winds that drive ocean currents.

Finally, bacteria living in the water, which feed off phytoplankton and other organic gunk as it falls to the seafloor, consume oxygen. This effect can be massive along coastlines, where fertilizer runoff feeds algae blooms, which in turn feed oxygen-gobbling bacteria. This creates ever more “dead zones,” including the infamous one in the Gulf of Mexico.

‘Deoxygenation is a big problem,’ says UBC fisheries scientist Daniel Pauly, and if climate change isn’t checked, dead zones in oceans will expand and connect to form larger ones. 

Photo by Alison Barrat, courtesy of the Sea Around Us.

Researchers have even suggested that the rise of microplastics pollution has the potential to exacerbate the low-oxygen problem. This theory predicts that if zooplankton fill up on microplastics instead of phytoplankton — their usual prey — phytoplankton will proliferate, again feeding all those oxygen-gobbling bacteria on their way to the seafloor.

The Global Ocean Oxygen Network — a scientific group set up as part of the United Nations’ Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, 2021-30 — reports that since the 1960s, the area of low-oxygen water in the open ocean has increased by 4.4 million square kilometres. That’s an area a little more than half the size of Canada. By 2080, a 2021 study reported, more than 70 per cent of the global oceans will experience noticeable deoxygenation.

In 2018, hundreds of researchers concerned with oxygen loss signed the Kiel Declaration to urgently call for more awareness of the problem, alongside work to limit pollution and warming. Researchers are now in the midst of establishing a Global Ocean Oxygen Database and ATlas to consolidate and map all the data.

Andrew Babbin, a biogeochemist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who is on the steering committee for GO2DAT, in 2021 mapped out huge areas of extremely low oxygen in the Pacific. “It’s concerning for sure,” says Babbin, who hopes to repeat the mapping exercise in a decade or so to see how things change. One issue, he notes, is that low-oxygen conditions tend to host a class of anoxic bacteria that produce methane or nitrous oxide — potent greenhouse gases.

Modelling the net impacts of the three factors — solubility, mixing and microbiology — has proven tricky. “Any one of those is hard,” says Babbin. “And then you put them all together, and it’s dramatically difficult to make any predictions.”


These Rare and Beautiful BC Reefs Fight Climate Change

READ MORE


In the tropics, for example, one model suggests that a shifting balance of biological factors that deplete oxygen, versus ocean mixing that delivers oxygen, will drive oxygen levels down until about 2150 but then raise them — a spot of potentially good news for tropical fish. On the whole, though, climate models seem to have underestimated changes in oxygen levels, which have been dropping faster than expected.

In general, a hot fish has a higher metabolism and needs more oxygen. Trout, for example, need five to six times more dissolved oxygen when waters are a balmy 24 C than when they are a chilly 5 C. So as waters warm and the oxygen seeps out, many marine creatures take a double hit. “Fish require a lot of oxygen, particularly the large ones we like to eat,” says Babbin.

Right now, there are about six milligrams of oxygen per litre of seawater in the tropics, and 11 milligrams per litre at the colder poles. If levels drop below two milligrams g (a 60 to 80 per cent reduction), as they often do in some patches, the water is officially hypoxic — too low in oxygen to sustain many species. But subtler drops can also have a big impact. Fish already expend tens of times more energy to breathe than people do, notes Pauly, since they must pump the paltry oxygen out of viscous water.

Researchers at the Germany-based GEOMAR Institute deploy equipment to measure ocean oxygen levels. The impacts on marine life are going to be complicated — and not good. 

Photo by Martin Visbeck via GEOMAR.

The effects of low oxygen are well known to mountaineers, who experience headaches and potentially fatal confusion at high altitudes. Fish often try to swim away from low oxygen waters, but if they can’t escape, they become sluggish.

Low oxygen levels affect almost everything across the board, including fish growth, reproduction, activity levels and outright survival. A host of genetic and metabolic changes can help fish conserve energy, but only within limits. In general, larger fish are more affected simply because their body-volume-to-gill ratio is larger, making it harder to feed their cells with oxygen. Overfishing has already had the effect of decreasing the number of large fish in the ocean; deoxygenation looks set to exacerbate that effect, says Verberk.


Species Are Seeking Higher Ground to Escape Climate Change

READ MORE

The long-term chronic effects of slightly decreased oxygen levels are harder to evaluate than the short-term effects of hypoxia, says Verberk, and researchers have urgently called for more research on the subject. “For mild hypoxia over longer terms, there’s not that many studies, but it’s likely to have quite a strong impact,” he says. “If you continually have seven per cent less energy [from seven per cent less oxygen], that’s going to accumulate to quite a large deficit.”

Fish are already moving to find more oxygen. Those living in deeper waters may move down to colder, and therefore more oxygenated waters, while fish living in the top few hundred metres of the water column, like coastal rockfish, may move toward the surface to catch a breath. In a study of California reef fish from 1995 to 2009, 23 species moved up an average of 8.7 metres per decade toward the surface as oxygen levels declined. In the tropical northeast Atlantic, tuna have been driven into a narrower layer of water by oxygen declines; overall, they lost 15 per cent of their available habitat from 1960 to 2010.

While warming and deoxygenation often go hand in hand, the two effects are not completely matched everywhere, all the time, says Verberk. The result is a patchwork of areas too hot or too low in oxygen for various fish to thrive, leading to a mishmash of different escape routes. Researchers are currently trying to map the anticipated effects for different species, studying how temperature and oxygen might restrict their future habitats and how those ranges will overlap with each other.

Bombay duck, a fish that thrives in low-oxygen waters, is now a dominant catch for trawlers in southeast China.

Photo via Wikimedia.

Once in waters where they can breathe, fish will then have to see what food they can find — and what predators they need to avoid. “Low oxygen is going to be a trigger to move to other places, but those other places are not empty,” says Verberk. “They will encounter other animals living there. It’s going to change competitive interactions between species.” Crabs, says Pauly, are currently marching on the Antarctic as those waters warm and will feast on unprotected mollusks. “There will be a mass destruction,” he says.

Meet the World’s Top Fishery Scientist

READ MORE

Over the past century, says Pauly, the greatest pressure on marine life has been overfishing, which has caused huge declines in fish numbers. That could change. If we get overfishing under control, he continues, climate-related pressures will pose the biggest problem for marine life in the coming decades. A 2021 paper showed that the oceans are already committed to a fourfold greater oxygen loss, even if CO2 emissions stop immediately.

If you chart out the trends in warming and oxygen loss, the cataclysmic endpoint for the ocean thousands of years from now would be “a soup that you cannot live in,” says Pauly. The ocean already has sporadic hypoxic zones, he says, “but you could imagine all the dead zones of the world coalescing into one, and that is the end of the thing.” If we don’t get a handle on greenhouse gas emissions, he says, “we have to expect this to happen.”

Nicola Jones is a widely published freelance journalist based in Pemberton, B.C. She serves as the science journalist in residence at UBC. This article first appeared in Yale e360.

Thousands of industry players set to descend on Vancouver for global LNG conference

Nelson Bennett

about 19 hours ago

The LNG2019 conference was held in Singapore four years ago

Vancouver's waterfront will look like a major United Nations event next week, when thousands of policymakers and energy industry executives from around the world -- including the Middle East, Africa and Asia -- converge on the Vancouver Convention Centre for a global liquefied natural gas conference.

The International Conference and Exhibition on Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG2023) conference, which runs Monday through Thursday, is normally held every three years. It has never been hosted in Canada before. 

Vancouver scooped up the event by default after Russia invaded Ukraine last year. This year’s conference was originally scheduled to be held in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

The event is organized by the International Gas Union, the International Institute of Refrigeration and GTI Energy. The Canadian Gas Association is co-hosting the event.

The conference is expected to draw 10,000 to 15,000 attendees, and both the east and west wings of the Vancouver Conference Centre are being used to stage the event, which includes an exhibition of about 100 international companies and four days of information sessions and workshops on a range of topics of interest to the LNG and natural gas industries.

Given that Canada is a new and comparatively small player in the LNG industry, it’s a rare opportunity to showcase B.C.'s unique approach to LNG development, which includes the embracing of electrification of LNG plants and partnerships with First Nations.

“With the conference, we have an opportunity to showcase the tremendous innovations that are making these projects a reality,” Mel Ydreos, executive director for LNG2023, told BIV News. 

“Firstly, is the partnerships that have been established with our Indigenous communities who view resource development as a key contributor to economic reconciliation.  And it’s this partnership that has pushed the developers to innovate in a way that we will produce the cleanest LNG in the world.”

“This is a great opportunity for B.C. and Canada and Vancouver to be on the world stage,” Jason Klein, CEO of LNG Canada, told BIV News. “I think next week we have the opportunity to show the world what can be done in Canada and what we can do with the innovation. I think it’s a great story about role as an energy provider.”

In a Monday morning session, Klein will be speaking about the LNG Canada project in Kitimat, which is now 85 per cent complete and into its final year of peak construction.

Conspicuously absent from the conference's confirmed attendee list are senior Canadian and British Columbian political leaders. While the ministers of energy for Qatar and Trinidad will be at the conference, it appears their Canadian counterpart – Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson – won't be.

“As of this time, we are still in discussions with the federal government regarding representation,” Ydreos said. “Unfortunately there are a couple of domestic and international events that are in conflict with our event.”

Ydreos said that the federal government will be represented by Liberal MPs John Aldag (chairman of the Natural Resources Committee) and Randy Boissonnault,  minister of Tourism and associate minister of Finance.

Nor will B.C. Premier David Eby be attending the conference, though his Energy minister, Josie Osborne, will be attending and speaking at the conference. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith will be attending the conference.

Spotlight sessions at this year’s conference will include financing the next round of LNG projects, LNG’s role in Europe’s long-term energy security, dealing with LNG’s methane emissions and LNG’s role in transitioning to hydrogen and ammonia.

Tickets for the conference are US$4,290 ($5,733.)

LNG Canada throws down gauntlet to BC Hydro

Second phase expansion can be electrified if BC Hydro can supply the power, says CEO

By Nelson Bennett | July 7, 2023

LNG Canada CEO Jason Klein at a site tour in Kitimat last year. | Nelson Bennett

The biggest private sector industrial investment in Canadian history is now in the home stretch.

A sharp drop-off in construction work can be expected next year, as the LNG Canada nears completion, unless the consortium behind the project decides to sanction a second phase expansion before the 6,000-plus workforce is sent home.

The massive natural gas liquefaction plant in Kitimat is now 85 per cent complete, the associated Coastal GasLink pipeline is 90 per cent complete, and the last of the 200 pieces of equipment (modules) needed for the massive processing complex are on their way.

“I’m pleased to say that we have completed successfully our fabrication program in China, and all of our modules have now either been installed in Kitimat or are on the water on their way to Kitimat, and the last module will arrive this month,” LNG Canada CEO Jason Klein told BIV News. “Overall, LNG Canada is now at 85 per cent complete.

There are currently 6,500 workers employed in Kitimat, he said. Once the project is in production in 2025, it will employ 350 people ongoing.

“It’s got a 40-year lifespan, so those are really steady, long-term, well-paying jobs,” Klein said.

The LNG Canada project was estimated to be worth $40 billion – about $17 billion to $18 billion for the Kitimat plant, $6.6 billion for the associated Coastal GasLink pipeline, and the balance in upstream natural gas assets (wells, gathering systems and gas processing plants).

One component of the project has experienced some drastic cost escalations. The Coastal GasLink pipeline is now expected to cost more than $11 billion – nearly double the original estimate. Presumably, the five LNG Canada partners will have to pick up the added costs by paying higher tolls for the natural gas moving on the pipeline from Dawson Creek to Kitimat.

The project currently being built is just the first phase – a two-train plant that would produce about 14 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas per year. But it was approved for a four-train project, which would double that volume.

There are five partners in the LNG Canada project – Royal Dutch Shell, Petronas, PetroChina, Korea Gas Corporation and Mitsubishi – and they would all have to agree to sanction a Phase 2 expansion to four trains.

“With our five joint venture participants, we’re continuing to evaluate the timeline and scope for a second-phase expansion,” Klein said. “We really see an opportunity to build on Phase 1's success and benefits that’s provided to B.C. and Canada, and that includes, of course, more local jobs, more local contracts, and more infrastructure.

“Our decision on Phase 2 will take into account a number of factors: overall competitiveness, affordability, GHG intensity, and of course timelines. But we are encouraged with our discussions with government to date, and premier Eby and his government have acknowledged the benefits that further LNG can offer B.C., including reconciliation.”

LNG Canada is under pressure to electrify the plant to lower its carbon intensity. This can be accomplished by using electric motors instead of natural gas to drive turbines for the chilling process that turns natural into liquid.

That would add costs to the project. But that appears not to be the biggest obstacle. Going electric would require 400 megawatts of additional power, Klein said.

BC Hydro recently announced it will issue a new power call next year. It says it may need 3,000 megawatts of additional power as early as 2028.

But it’s not just generating capacity that’s an issue. Large industrial users like the LNG Canada plant would need beefed up transmission and substations for that amount of power, and it appears BC Hydro can’t guarantee LNG Canada that it could provide that much power and the associated infrastructure in time to make a Phase 2 build-out electric.

“We have identified the potential opportunities to further advance electrification on Phase 2, aligned with the availability of sufficient, reliable power,” Klein said. “We strongly encourage BC Hydro and the provincial government to find the pathways needed to unlock the potential of additional electric power to a number of industries and businesses in the north, including Phase 2.”

Klein said it is possible to build Phase 2 using conventional natural gas turbines, and then switch them for electric-drive when the power and infrastructure becomes available.

“What we have said is, if and when BC Hydro can provide sufficient reliable power, we would swap out those turbines for electric motors,” Klein said. “That would require BC Hydro to make new investments, particularly in transmission infrastructure, to get those electrons down to Kitimat.”

Klein will be speaking at the global LNG2023 conference Monday.

nbennett@biv.com

nbennett_biv

ONTARIO

First Nations won’t back nuclear plant expansion until waste questions are answered

By Matteo Cimellaro |

News, Urban Indigenous Communities in Ottawa

| July 7th 2023

Canada's National Observer

Lester Anoquot, former chief of Saugeen First Nation, and Veronica Smith, chief of the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation, attend a nuclear conference in Ottawa in February. 

Photo by Matteo Cimellaro / Canada's National Observer


Two First Nations near the proposed expansion of Canada’s largest nuclear power plant will not support any new projects until there is a solution to the nuclear waste problem on their territory, the Saugeen Ojibway Nation wrote in a letter to its membership obtained by Canada’s National Observer.

Bruce Power, the operator of the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station, will have to demonstrate safe nuclear waste management, the Ontario government said in a press release announcing the province’s first large-scale nuclear development in three decades. However, the release stopped short of mentioning the development of a deep geological repository set to be the solution for long-term nuclear waste storage for the country.

The Saugeen Ojibway Nation, composed of the Saugeen First Nation and the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation, is one of two possible hosts for the Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s (NWMO) proposed nuclear waste facility, along with Ignace, Ont., located 250 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay.

The NWMO, a Canadian non-profit tapped to address the disposal of used nuclear fuel, will select a site to store Canada’s nuclear waste roughly 500 metres underground — as deep as the CN Tower is high — in a geological repository in March 2024.

“Until the Saugeen Ojibway are comfortable on the plan on how we're going to resolve that waste issue, it's really hard for us to buy into 100 per cent of what the province is doing,” Veronica Smith, chief of the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation, told Canada’s National Observer.

There will be compensation for the communities chosen to host the deep geological repository, Smith added. But it’s unclear if host First Nations might benefit from a nuclear waste facility revenue-sharing model or a lump sum payment. Those conversations haven’t even started between Saugeen Ojibway Nation and the NWMO, Smith said.

It’s also unclear if community members of both First Nations will be comfortable with the NWMO’s plan for a nuclear waste facility. Smith notes community members are the ultimate decision-makers over a proposed agreement to host the waste facility, not the elected chief and council.

What people are reading

Climate action hits speed bump as Trudeau and Smith announce new working group
By John Woodside | News, Energy, Politics | July 7th 2023

Nishnawbe Aski Nation, the political organization that represents 49 First Nations in northern Ontario, has vehemently opposed building the waste facility in the North. In 2022, the organization passed a resolution stating concerns over watersheds that lead up into Hudson Bay.

However, Grand Council Treaty 3, which represents the First nations where Ignace is located, currently has relationship agreements with NWMO.


Within the northern First Nations, there are also worries a nuclear spill from transport trucks carrying waste could cut off the northern communities' winter road access, cutting a vital supply route to several communities.

Two First Nations near the proposed expansion of Canada’s largest nuclear power plant will not support any new projects until there is a solution to the nuclear waste problem on their territory. #BrucePower #onpoli #Ontario

“What is NWMO going to say if both communities say no?” Smith asked.

In its letter to membership, the Saugeen Ojibway Nation also wrote that it wants a resolution and reconciliation over the historical legacy issues of nuclear power on their territory.

In the 1960s, the Bruce Power Station, one of the largest nuclear power stations in the world, was constructed on Saugeen Ojibway Nation’s territory without consultation and consent.

Until recently, there was no revenue sharing between the nuclear power station and the nations.


Now, the Saugeen Ojibway Nation is set to benefit economically after striking a revenue-sharing agreement with Bruce Power, the private proprietor of the nuclear station, to share profits from a new medical isotope used in the treatment of prostate cancer.

— With files from Cloe Logan

Matteo Cimellaro / Canada’s National Observer / Local Journalism Initiative

Saugeen Ojibway Nation Statement On Exploring Bruce Power Site Expansion

Claire McCormack

Jul 6, 2023 | 11:42 AM

Saugeen Ojibway Nation has made a statement with regard to this week’s announcement from the Ontario government in support of exploring the expansion of the Bruce Power nuclear generation site.

The statement is signed by both SON Chiefs, Veronica Smith, Chief of Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation, and Saugeen First Nation Chief Conrad Ritchie.

“Today (July 5th) the Ontario Minister of Energy, Todd Smith will be announcing that the province intends to support a study by Bruce Power to see if the Bruce site is suitable for new nuclear development. The purpose of the study, and review by Canada, is to identify future projects that could meet Ontario’s energy needs. The study and assessment will take many, many years to complete.

“Leadership has been following this closely, and in a recent meeting with the minister, we made clear that although we understand the energy challenges faced by Ontario and the push to plan for new electricity projects, new nuclear projects present a serious challenge for SON and our people.”

“The Saugeen Ojibway Nation has also made it clear that any future decisions on nuclear must include the SON as central participants in the planning process. Ontario has committees to developing new projects only if they are right for the SON and the local communities. They have also recognized the SON must be partners in, and benefit fairly from any future projects in our Territory. Finally, we have stated clearly that SON will not support any new projects until the history of the nuclear industry on our Territory is resolved and there is a solution to the nuclear waste problems that is acceptable to SON and its People.”

“It is critical that our serious and ongoing concerns about the development of the nuclear industry in our Territory be properly addressed by government and industry. Commitments have been made, but now we need to see action. The long overdue resolution of the nuclear legacy issues must occur before any future project is approved. Similarly, we must also have a plan in place that has been agreed to by SON to deal with all current and future nuclear waste before any future projects could go ahead. There are issues that must be worked on in priority long before any new decision on new projects can be made.”

“The Chiefs and Councils have a deep and solemn responsibility to protect this Territory for our People and for all people that share our lands and waters. We take this responsibility very seriously and will continue to work with government and industry to make sure only good and sustainable projects are built and that the future of our People is protected.

“We will continue to provide you with updates on the many issues facing our People. Most importantly, we will bring you information about our progress in resolving legacy issues and dealing with the nuclear wastes in our territory. Finally, we will continue to work with Ontario and Canada to ensure that any study for nuclear is done in a way that protects our rights, interests and way of life and that SON’s voice is heard and respected.”

Ontario is buying three giant nuclear reactors. The province won’t say how much they cost 

The Ontario government is racing to buy nuclear but won’t say how much it’s going to spend.

TORONTO STAR

Just months after starting work on one of the world’s first small nuclear reactors, the province this week announced massive expansions at two nuclear plants, promising more than six gigawatts of new generation – which could power six million Enough to power homes. in the mid-2030s.

Including the three new small modular reactors (SMRs) in Darlington announced on Friday and the new full-size reactors in Bruce announced earlier in the week, the electricity grid will add about 50 percent more nuclear power than is currently online.

In both announcements, Energy Minister Todd Smith declined to say how much these new nuclear reactors would cost.

Critics of Queen’s Park say writing blank checks for nuclear power, which has a long history of cost overruns, is not in line with the government’s promise to keep electricity tariffs down.

“The people of this province want to know what will be the total cost of this project. More importantly, what will be the cost of the electricity generated from these reactors? Who is responsible for any budget excess?” NDP MPP Peter Tabuns said.

For 14 years, Ontario electricity customers paid a debt retirement surcharge on their electricity bills to pay off nearly $20 billion in stranded construction debt for the Darlington nuclear plant, the last nuclear project built in the province. Went way over budget and caused Ontario Hydro to go bankrupt.

SMR, which is supposed to be cheaper and faster to build than a full-sized nuclear plant, is still a relatively untested technology, and has not been put into commercial operation anywhere in the world.

Throughout their history, nuclear plants have faced increasing construction delays and cost overruns, while the cost of renewable energy such as wind and solar has declined rapidly. This has led many to question why Premier Doug Ford is investing in more expensive natural gas plants and nuclear power.

“Ontario is facing an energy crisis. Fortunately, solutions are right in front of us – cheap, safe, clean renewable energy like hydro, wind and solar that can be deployed quickly,” said Mike Schreiner, leader of the Green Party.

Last year, the International Energy Agency said that so far the cost of new solar power projects has declined, solar panels are now the cheapest form of energy in history. This has sparked a global renewables construction spree, where China will install more solar power this year than all the panels installed in the United States combined.

“Global investors are attracted to renewable energy because they are the cheapest, cleanest source of electricity generation. But instead of paying attention, the Ford government is moving in the opposite direction – hurting consumers, the economy and the climate in the process,” said Schreiner.

Smith said building the four SMRs simultaneously at Darlington would adopt a “fleet approach” to keep costs down and build up local expertise.

“Sharing common infrastructure among units will help us reduce costs. And the construction of four units provides more opportunities for Ontario companies to invest in expanding their operations to serve the growing SMR market.

OPG President and CEO Ken Hartwick said Ontario’s commitment to building the first four nuclear technology of its kind “really signals the pace of nuclear development for the future of the grid in Ontario.”

“In the long run, developing this built-in Ontario expertise will mean we can export our know-how to other jurisdictions in Canada and around the world.”

After two decades when more nuclear plants were shut down than built, the technology has attracted renewed interest as a climate change solution, as it could provide abundant carbon-free electricity.

However, critics point out that both building the plants and mining uranium for fuel are carbon-intensive. Furthermore, no long-term storage solutions have been developed to deal with the remaining radioactive waste.

After being elected in 2018, Ford canceled more than 700 renewable energy projects at a cost of $231 million, and the province, once a Canadian leader in building wind and solar power, hasn’t built any since. .

Last year, Alberta added 1.4 gigawatts of the 1.8 gigawatts of renewable energy produced in Canada, according to the Canadian Renewable Energy Association. Ontario added none.

Earlier this year, Ontario announced the expansion of two gas plants and upgrades to four others in an effort to meet short-term energy shortages, as demand begins to rise for the first time since 2005.

New industrial investment by electric vehicle and battery manufacturers, as well as increased public demand due to switching to EVs and electric heat pumps, means Ontario needs to more than double the amount of electricity it needs by 2050, according to the Independent Electricity System Operator. May need it. ,

And carbon-free electricity will be needed to comply with the federal government’s commitment to a coast-to-coast net-zero electricity grid by 2035.

An additional three SMRs are scheduled to come online between 2034 and 2036, subject to regulatory approval. The construction of the first is scheduled to be completed by 2028.

Three for three: Richmond hotel caught scabbing during strike three weeks in a row

Sheraton Vancouver Airport recently got slapped with a third cease and desist from the B.C. Labour Relations Board

Vikki Hui

Striking workers from the Sheraton in Richmond picketing outside the hotel.

UNITE HERE Local 40

Richmond’s Sheraton Vancouver Airport has gotten another cease and desist for using replacement workers during a strike.

Recommended reads for you:

Richmond hotels break labour rules again amid ongoing strike

A quick look at the ongoing strike by British Columbia port workers

The hotel recently got slapped with its third order from the B.C. Labour Relations Board, this time for using replacement workers for concierge work shared between striking employees and management.

This is the Richmond city centre hotel’s third labour law violation since the strike, led by UNITE HERE Local 40 members, started three weeks ago.

The Sheraton was previously ordered to stop using six unlawful replacement workers to do the work of a front desk duty manager, as well as to stop contracting shuttle bus companies and paying taxi drivers for work that was supposed to be performed by striking employees.

Employees have been picketing outside the Sheraton every day from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. since June 14 to demand better pay and working conditions.

“It makes me angry that our managers seem to have no issue breaking laws during our strike and continue to use replacement workers,” said Felisha Perry, banquet server, in a media release.

“(They) refuse to treat us with respect and acknowledge they need their staff to keep the Sheraton Vancouver Airport running as guests expect. My coworkers and I want to get back to work – but we’re not working for less than living wages.”

Meanwhile, the BC Federation of Labour is boycotting the Sheraton along with its sister hotels Hilton Vancouver Airport and Vancouver Airport Marriott.

CANADA

'This can't be the new normal': LGBTQ2S+ advocates call on all levels of government to address hate

Alexandra Mae Jones
CTVNews.ca writer
Published July 5, 2023

Activists are calling on all levels of government to come together to stand against "an alarming rise" of anti-LGBTQ2S+ hate after a Pride month punctuated by an increased number of anti-LGBTQ2S+ protests and attacks.

In a Tuesday press conference in Ottawa, which featured speakers from several local and national LGBTQ2S+ organizations and Ottawa city councillors, advocates called for action that goes beyond words.

"Our queer spaces are under protest, online rhetoric that demonizes our community is on the rise, and I'm hearing from Pride organizers, drag performers and community leaders that they're receiving death threats and other heinous attacks on their identity and their very humanity," Fae Johnstone, president of LGBTQ2S+ advocacy group Momentum Canada, said.


They are asking for more collaboration between levels of government to fight against hate, and for LGBTQ2S+ organizations to be given more funding in order to properly support their communities.

The call comes a week after an assailant stabbed two students and a professor teaching a course on gender issues at the University of Waterloo, in what police say was a hate-motivated attack.

It also follows a string of incidents in Ottawa, including a protest outside of a public school in early June in which participants trampled Pride flags and criticized "gender ideology," and homophobic slurs were hurled at the victim during an assault and robbery last week, according to police.

"Across the country, we know that anti-2SLGBTQIA+ hate is on the rise, from hate-motivated attacks and the stabbing that we saw at the University of Waterloo last week, Pride flags being ripped apart and burned in Halifax in the spring, efforts to rollback inclusion for trans students in schools in New Brunswick," Toby Whitfield, executive director of Capitol Pride in Ottawa, said at the press conference.

"These acts, and especially those targeting events for children and families, are an effort to demonize queer and trans people and our culture." Read more: Rising hate casts pall over Pride, spotlights need for protest along with celebration

The organizations speaking at the press conference had a message for "every level of government," Whitfield said: "We need you to be in solidarity with us, with queer and trans people and communities across this country, and here in Ottawa.

"This cannot be our new normal."

Speaking on CTV Ottawa Morning Live on Tuesday ahead of the press conference, Johnstone said that while different levels of government have different roles, there's a part they could all play together.

"We'd like to see investment in community-based organizations and interventions to address misinformation and support people impacted by hate, and we'd also like to see a strong reflection of queer and trans communities in the upcoming national action plan on combating hate," she said.


"I think we need the federal government to use their convening power, because we're seeing this in every single part of the country, and we need a 'whole of government' and 'whole of society' response."

Johnstone knows from experience how swiftly anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ2S+ rhetoric can escalate to dangerous harassment and calls for violence.

She faced what she described as a "tsunami of death threats" after Tucker Carlson mentioned her in a segment prior to being let go from Fox News, she said in the press conference.

After she was featured as one of five women on a Hershey’s chocolate bar in a campaign for International Women's Day, she received so many threats that the chocolate company assigned security guards to protect her for a week.

"The degree of threats targeting me was so severe that they were worried that it would lead to an in-person altercation," she said.

She told CTV Ottawa many people "don't realize how targeted and personal that kind of hate is when it comes to a trans person. I had my old legal name leaked, I had pre-transition photos of me posted all over, I had horrifying caricatures and memes made about me."

Her worry is less for herself, she said, and more for those in the broader community who witnessed the hate aimed at her.

"What message does this send to other trans people who want to be in public life, who want to run for office, be on shows like yours today, and the risk is rising, and that is what scares me," she said.

PROTESTS, ATTACKS GROWING MORE COMMON

In early June, protestors showed up outside of an Ottawa school claiming that letting children know that transgender people exist amounted to 'indoctrination.' They were met with hundreds of counter-protestors who said they were there to ensure school remained safe for LGBTQ2S+ children. Five people were arrested in connection with the protest.

"It's very difficult to see the amount of hatred against trans kids, especially in front of a school," former Ottawa city councillor Catherine McKenney told CTV News Ottawa at the time.

A few weeks later, graffiti including anti-LGBTQ2S+ messaging was "found across a portable at Manor Park Public School," Whitfield said during Tuesday's press conference.

Ottawa city councillor Laine Johnson spoke at the press conference about an alleged hate-motivated attack occurring in her ward last week.

Three youth have been charged for their role in an assault and robbery, during which "hateful comments were uttered to the victim and with respect to members of 2SLGBTQQIA+ communities," police said.

Johnson said she was "heartbroken," to hear of the incident.

"I am not shocked, but I am … deeply concerned about what is being understood as being a new normal," she said.

"The mainstreaming of this hate should be of concern for all of us because, of course, anti-trans and anti-queer hate is what we see today, but this grows. This is a human rights issue that could affect any one of us or any one of our families. So we must pay attention."

Drag queen storytime at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa has seen protestors several times, including last week, who were outnumbered by community support each time.

Drag storytime events are public events in which drag performers read stories to children at libraries, community centres schools. The events are designed to be family-friendly, but that hasn't stopped protestors from raising their objections at events from Calgary to Halifax, claiming that drag is inappropriate for children.

One protestor who picketed outside a library in Parkhill, Ontario, in late April, told CTV News London that he didn't agree with "sexualizing the outfits that they're wearing while they're reading to kids." The man, 34-year-old Bubba Pollack, then admitted that he had never actually attended a drag queen storytime event. Pollack is now facing charges of criminal harassment connected to his anti-LGBTQ2S+ activism.

A disturbingly common theme in these incidents, according to LGBTQ2S+ activists, is the focus on children and education.

In New Brunsick, Premier Blaine Higgs has faced serious backlash, including from within his own party, for changes to an education policy that makes it so teachers cannot refer to a trans or non-binary student by the pronouns and name they ask for unless they have parental permission. He has framed the changes as bringing "parents back into the equation," but critics have accused him of carrying out a "personal agenda" unfairly targeting trans students.

Debbie Owusu-Akyeeah, executive director of the Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity, said at the press conference that far-right activists are "using young people as that wedge issue." It's one of the reasons that the stabbing at the University of Waterloo was so distressing, she said.

Before the assailant stabbed the professor, he asked what the title and subject matter of the class was, police said last week. His purpose was to "target that subject matter of gender identity and gender expression," Waterloo Regional Police Chief Mark Crowell said.

The professor and one other student sustained serious, but not life-threatening injuries, while a third student sustained non-life-threatening injuries. Geovanny Villalba-Aleman, a 24-year-old who had previously graduated from the school, has been charged in connection with the stabbing.

On Wednesday, six days after the attack, the university said it would be continuing the gender studies course which was targeted.

In a statement released on Twitter Tuesday, University president Vivek Goel said while some may choose not to continue with the course "it is essential that it remain in place."

"A professor and two students were brutally stabbed, and an entire class was terrorized, simply because of the subject that was being taught."

Owusu-Akyeeah said that she felt deeply affected by the stabbing.

"As an individual, as someone who grew her activist wings within the student movement, who is the proud graduate of a woman and gender studies program at Carleton University, these conversations are important and school spaces are critical for us to have these conversations," she said. "Firstly, because historically, they didn't happen. Education was often that tool to determine who belonged in society and who didn't, and so again that fight to ensure that we are talking about these things, the space that post-secondary institutions do and giving us access to certain theory and the opportunity to put that theory into practice, is super key and important."

It's not just universities. Her organization does work nationally, but is headquartered in Ottawa, and she said that they saw an "alarming trend" last fall during municipal elections, with many candidates running for school board trustee with the goal of "disrupting progressive education." Read more: Anti-LGBTQ2S+ groups trying to elect 'god-fearing' and 'anti-woke' school board trustees, group says

It's all part of the greater trend of hate increasing country-wide, she said.

"This government has a responsibility to stop dragging its feet to slow the spread of all kinds of hatred and bigotry in this country."

Fae Johnstone, a transgender activist who was one of five women featured on limited-edition Hershey chocolate bars in March, is seen in an undated handout photo. 

THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Fae Johnstone

ORGANIZATIONS NEED MORE SUPPORT

Another thing advocates called for in the press conference is for more funding for local organizations that support the LGBTQ2S+ community. Organizations that Johnstone says are "struggling on shoestring budgets," utilizing volunteers and working full-time hours at jobs that weren't meant to be full-time.

"The solution to rising hate is to invest in community organizations to help them strengthen their work and to do it in a way that centres those most marginalized."

Khaled Salam, executive director at AIDS Committee of Ottawa, said at the press conference that his is one of the organizations that is "under resourced" and "always forgotten."

"We don't have the resources to provide the kind of services our communities need as is," Salam said. "Rising hate will worsen the already precarious health, safety and wellbeing of our community … embolden harassers and increase the anxiety of our service users."

He added that the City of Ottawa recently turned down their application for funding that they had long relied on.

"It's almost like we're regressing, it feels," he said. "Not only are we not seeing improvement, we're actually seeing that we're taking two steps back."

There has been reaction from governments to push back against the threat of anti-LGBTQ2S+ hate with more funding: in early June, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged $1.5 million for increased security at Pride events this summer in order to ensure they stay safe.

But advocates say security isn't a long-term solution, and that they would like to see funding also being put into community-based alternatives to policing.

Whitfield called on the City of Ottawa at Tuesday's press conference to fund "frontline services to support and respond to community members who are being targeted."

He noted that he's echoing recommendations made in a 2019 report commissioned by the City to identify service gaps for Ottawa’s LGBTQ2S+ community, and that the City is aware these gaps exist.

This is far from the first time that the LGBTQ2S+ community has raised flags around rising hate, however, it's getting more and more dangerous to receive muted responses from governments, activists say.

"I think my worry is that we imagine the homophobes are like our great uncle who hasn't gotten with the times, and we don't do justice to the amount of money and resourcing that is driving the rise in hate around the world," Johnstone said. "There is a global movement here."

Johnstone adds it can be easy to pretend that Canada is exempt from serious homophobic and transphobic rhetoric, particularly when more drastic anti-LGBTQ2S+ legislation targeting education and transgender health is being introduced almost weekly in the U.S., but said we can't be blind to what is happening in our own country.

"We do a disservice to our own communities that have struggled for generations to advance queer and trans inclusion in this country when we imagine it's an American problem. And that Canadian naivete only blinds us from taking rising hate seriously and putting in the resources and supports that our organizations need to tackle this hate head on," Johnstone said.

"It is all too easy to imagine it can't happen here. But in 10 years of advocacy, I've never been as worried about where we'll be in five years as I am today."

Industrial Automation: Who Leads the Robot Race?



Published July 5, 2023
By Marcus Lu
Graphics & Design
Zack Aboulazm

The following content is sponsored by MSCI

 

Industrial Automation: Who Leads the Robot Race?

The advent of industrial robotics has triggered a wave of automation that is progressively sweeping across global industries. Countries that deploy these robots in great numbers are likely to increase their productivity and lower their costs of production.

With this in mind, the graphic above from our sponsor MSCI ranks the top countries by industrial robot installations.

Data and Highlights

This data was sourced from a 2022 report published by the International Federation of Robotics.

It may not be surprising that China leads the world in industrial automation, given its prowess in mass production. In fact, in 2021, China installed more industrial robots than all other countries in the world combined.

According to the IFR report, 56% of the robots that China installed in 2021 were deployed in automotive or electronics-related industries. The same trend can be seen in Japan, with 53% of its 2021 installations also being in those two industries.

America’s installations were more evenly distributed, with 36% dedicated to automotive and electronics. Other major sectors were metals and machinery (11%), plastics and chemicals (10%), and food (10%).

 
Robotics for the Future

Falling birth rates and the aging of the baby boomer generation suggest that many of the world’s biggest economies will eventually experience labor shortages. This is evidenced by the constrictive population pyramids of Japan, the U.S., Europe, and even China.

The IFR believes that robotics can help to solve this problem, not just in manufacturing, but also in critical industries like agriculture and healthcare.

For example, robotics are expected to become more common in the surgery room, where they can perform intricate procedures with the help of artificial intelligence. The market for surgical robots is expected to reach over $20 billion by 2030, up from $4.4 billion in 2020.

Given the vast array of use cases, robotics and AI are two technologies that could rapidly transform our world over the coming decades. Investors can gain insight with the MSCI ACWI IMI Robotics & AI Index, which benchmarks an investable universe of companies associated with automation.