Opinion

China and Russia have achieved naval success off Alaska – where the US Navy has no bases

Tom Sharpe
Tue, August 8, 2023

Most of the time it doesn't come to this - Russia Defence Ministry

Two days ago, eleven Russian and Chinese warships came together off the coast of Alaska in the largest gathering of its kind yet seen. The US Navy sent four destroyers in their direction as a response. All these ships have now dispersed, seemingly with no up-close interaction. There have been similar occurrences previously.

Not too long ago I commanded the Royal Navy’s standby warship tasked with responding to events such as this if they happened in UK waters (they did) and so I have been involved in similar occurrences.

Basically there are two reasons why navies gather and operate together like this, both simple – to influence (task one) and to prepare to fight (task two).


Task one, Naval Influence, covers a vast range of activities that take place around the clock around the world and often unseen. Activities range from patrol vessels visiting ports in the Indo-Pacific, to frigates escorting Russian warships as they transit the Channel, to signalling the Argentinians that a nuclear-powered attack submarine is on its way, to sitting an aircraft carrier off someone’s coast. There are many others but ‘we have this and we’re not afraid to use it’ is the gist of it, a messaging activity that navies spend a lot of their time on.

In this recent instance, the Chinese and Russian message to friend and foe alike was, ‘we can operate together, far from home and with impunity’.

Is that provocative in itself? Not really, and besides, it’s the same message the Royal Navy’s carrier strike group gave during its 2021 deployment to the Indo-Pacific, and the same message US warships send all the time.

Task two is more interesting – preparing for what happens when task one fails. Operating warships together is much harder than Hollywood would have you believe and needs constant practice. Gathering in one place in formation for a photo is one thing: learning how to fight together is something else entirely.

The network required to make ships capable of fighting together extends well beyond the platforms themselves. Intelligence systems, logistics, communications, orders, rules of engagement, all require a high degree of commonality and understanding to work. Nato ships have an advantage here as by and large they all operate using the same rule books but even then it can take days to get everyone on the same communications circuits and operating from the same picture. The first week of the multinational maritime exercise held off Scotland twice a year is called the Integration Phase for a reason – and these are countries that operate warships together all the time.

If you do work with someone where these things don’t mesh as easily, things get complicated quickly. In 2007, HMS Ark Royal sailed from Portsmouth in company with two Chinese naval vessels; the guided missile destroyer Guangzhou and the supply ship Weishanhu. The aim was to conduct a search and rescue exercise. In the end, a formation photo is just about all we could manage. Totally different languages, doctrines and communications systems.

This latest meeting of the Chinese and Russian navies delivered both tasks. My assessment is 80/20 in favour of Influence – here we are talking about it, we have been influenced by the deployment. It will take a lot more practice for China and Russia to be able to fight together, but it’s a start.

The other thing this deployment has done is highlight the strategic importance of Alaska, this vast state purchased by the US from the Russians in 1867 for 7.2 million dollars and only 50 miles from Russian territory even today.

Alaska gives the US its foothold in the High North, a part of the world where conflict at some point feels inevitable despite Nato’s increasing strength there: every Arctic nation except Russia will soon be in Nato. It’s rich in oil and gas and 29 per cent of Alaska is covered by glaciers. The Aleutian Islands, stretching some 1200 miles out to the west, are home to the Cobra Dane radar station, the US’s first line of defence against ballistic missile attack. Though Alaska’s population density is such that if it was Manhattan there would be just 16 people there, it is nonetheless one of the most populated places in the High North. Alaska matters.

The Aleutian islands are relevant here as the Chinese-Russian gathering took place near them rather than mainland Alaska. Legally, the implications are the same: as a practical matter they are not. If the Isles of Scilly stretched halfway across the Atlantic, our response to Russian warships operating there would be different to them anchoring in the Moray Firth.

But what is the right response? The US Navy sent four destroyers this time – which has been met with general approval. The decision to send a single coastguard cutter last September to intercept seven Russian and Chinese warships was not. The appropriate level of response is a hard one as it entirely depends on your philosophical stance. In 2016, conversations in the British Ministry of Defence around the Russian carrier Kuznetsov heading home through the Channel ranged from ‘let it go – don’t stoke their propaganda machine’ to ‘let’s get everything out of the door and give them a show of strength’.

Where you personally sit on this continuum will determine what you think is the right response. Often these philosophical debates resolve themselves when they meet the cold reality of available resources. In this case, the US Navy having four destroyers available for short notice retasking is impressive. Also, it’s not all about navy vs navy – having the intelligence, surveillance apparatus and aircraft in place to detect and track ships and then message to say you are doing both, is just as important.

That the Russians and Chinese are increasing the regularity of these meet-ups is of note when one considers their strategic relationship more generally. Eyes are inevitably drawn to Taiwan when talk of conflict with China comes up but what does any of this mean in the High North or the Middle East, which offers scope for some disagreement between the two in recent months? Will this cooperation alter their discussions about Ukraine? As ever with joint exercises, conversations reach much deeper than just the ships.

And when these questions are answered, will the US military change its posture in Alaska? There are nine US bases there but none belong to the Navy or Marines. The USN has two icebreakers, Russia has fifty-four. Should USN surface combatants operate there more often? Any such move will mean resources inevitably have to be taken from elsewhere, but to me this sort of practical discussion is more interesting than breathless talk of incursions and invasions.

Surface warships meeting and operating with allies is as old as navies, as is exercising one’s legal right to operate on the High Seas. Such deployments influence friends and deter adversaries, and then affords precious opportunities to learn how to fight together if that fails.

My assessment is that Russia and China still have a way to go in this regard. More interesting will be to track what this means to their political relationship and what it means to US operating posture in that part of the world.

Tom Sharpe is a former Royal Navy officer. He commanded an anti-submarine frigate on operations in the Greenland-Iceland-UK Gap, involving live contact with Russian ships and submarines

A Ukrainian making gear for the war says his cheap tech wouldn't work against the US or China, but 'we're fighting the Russians'


Sinéad Baker
Thu, August 10, 2023 

A Russian howitzer fires toward Ukrainian positions at an undisclosed location.Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP

A Ukrainian producer of cheaper headsets for troops said they wouldn't work against China or the US.

"But it doesn't need to. We're fighting the Russians," he said.

The company is part of an incubator that includes 100s of projects making military tech for Ukraine.

A Ukrainian creating technology for soldiers to use on the front lines said devices that wouldn't work against the US or China work just fine against Russia's forces.

Misha Rudominski, the cofounder of Himera Tech, which makes jam-resistant radio handsets, told Bloomberg that his technology "wouldn't defeat US or Chinese electronic warfare systems, but it doesn't need to. We're fighting the Russians."

Himera Tech's headsets make use of readily available chips rather than military-grade ones, which makes them cheaper but less secure.

"We wanted to build a solution that is just good enough," Rudominski said.

Since its invasion, Russia's military has had to resort to using old technology and weapons. This includes decades-old tanks and aged missiles, as well as newer tanks fitted out with older and less sophisticated systems.

Russian troops have also been recorded using civilian phones rather than more secure means of communication.

Ukraine, meanwhile, has benefited from more advanced weapons sent to it by its Western allies.

But in the background, Ukrainians have also started to make or modify their own military equipment.

Himera Tech is part of a Ukrainian government incubator that has hundreds of projects making military technology.

Bloomberg reported that other projects in the incubator, called Brave 1, include a company making power banks from discarded e-cigarettes that can charge drones and night-vision gear, and one making robots that can carry supplies and evacuate wounded troops.

Another is making a web-based test to find warning signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, Bloomberg reported.

Ukrainians are also busy producing cheap, 3D-printed bombs that are already in use on the battlefield.

Himera Tech started working on its headsets after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, trying to make more affordable models for Ukraine's military to use.

According to Rudominski, there are now about 600 of its headsets in use on the front lines, after the first units came off the production line in April. By the end of the year, they expect to be making between 2,000 and 3,000 units a month.

The company also wants to partner with the Ukrainian defense ministry to increase its monthly output to 10,000 units.

It's part of a larger trend that could aid Ukraine's war efforts.

"Our task is to develop military technologies in Ukraine," Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's minister for digital transformation, told Bloomberg.

Read the original article on Business Insider

WHITE SUPREMACY U$A

Survey: Nearly 40% of Republicans believe racial equality efforts have gone 'too far'

Sixty years after the March on Washington, a new survey offers fresh insight into Americans' views of progress on racial equality.

Marquise Francis
·National Reporter
Thu, August 10, 2023 

A Republican voter, left, and cvil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (Robert F. Bukaty/AP; AFP via Getty Images)

Sixty years after civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. gave his monumental “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington advocating for racial equality for all Americans, particularly Black Americans, a new Pew Research survey found that more than one in three Republicans say these efforts have gone “too far.”

The report — based on a survey of 5,073 U.S. adults and conducted April 10-16 online — analyzed Americans' views of progress on racial equality six decades removed from the height of the civil rights movement. Its findings revealed that 37% of Republicans say efforts to ensure equality for all, regardless of race and ethnicity, have gone too far.

In contrast, just 24% of Republicans say these efforts have not gone far enough. Most Democrats, or 78%, agree, compared to just 6% of Democrats who say that efforts have gone too far

“There’s no consensus among Americans on how much progress the country has made in ensuring racial equality in the last 60 years,” Juliana Horowitz, the report’s author, told Yahoo News, noting that views “vary considerably” by race, ethnicity and political affiliation.

Republican and Democratic supporters protest as US President Donald Trump visits the Trump National Golf Club on September 5, 2020, in Sterling, Virginia. 

(Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

‘Democrats and Republicans see the world differently’

Overall, about half of Americans, or 52%, say there’s been a great deal or a fair amount of progress in the last sixty years, while 33% say there’s been some progress and 15% say there hasn’t been much or any progress at all.

For many people, the survey results validate a sense of stagnation they had felt in recent years, particularly in the aftermath of the 2020 murder of George Floyd, where for months millions of people and corporations pledged to combat racial justice. Last month, several leaders of local Black Lives Matter chapters expressed doubt about whether real progress has occurred for Black Americans since 2020.

The results of this Pew survey come just weeks after a Yahoo News/YouGov poll revealed that the majority of Donald Trump voters believe that racism against white Americans has become a bigger problem than racism against Black Americans. More specifically, 62% of Trump voters say that racism against Black Americans is a problem today — while 73% say that racism against white Americans is a problem.

Both sets of data — from Trump voters and self-identified Republicans, overlapping but not identical cohorts — in comparison to Democrats offer insight into how political affiliations shape Americans’ view on issues regarding race.

Between 200,000 and 500,000 demonstrators participate in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Aug. 28, 1963. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

“The idea that there’s partisan polarization in terms of viewpoint is just a general fact of life,” Andra Gillespie, an Emory University political science professor, told Yahoo News. “Democrats and Republicans see the world differently.”

“We also cannot ignore the demographic realities of what the Democratic and Republican coalitions look like, with the Democratic coalition having a disproportionate share of people of color and [a] disproportionate share of Black folks,” she added.
The racial climate in 1963

In 1963, the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation, life for African Americans was bleak: high levels of Black unemployment, little to no economic mobility and the disenfranchisement in every facet of American life was pervasive throughout the country, especially the South. It was this lack of progress that led to frequent boycotts and mass demonstrations.

King's speech at the March on Washington galvanized supporters of desegregation and prompted the Civil Rights Act of 1964. ( AFP via Getty Images)

As King and other Black leaders stood before the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., in front of upwards of 250,000 people, advocating for equitable economic and civil rights for Black Americans, the country was in the midst of the largest civil rights movement it had seen at the time. When Dr. King took the podium on Aug. 28, 1963 and gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, it ultimately served as a rallying cry for Black Americans to press on despite the daily hardships of Jim Crow, a racial caste system in which African Americans were relegated to second-class citizens.

Sixty years later, some believe that, while total progress has not been achieved, the considerable steps forward for Black Americans cannot be understated.

“We would be remiss to deny progress,” Gillespie said. “There has been progress that has been made. On the other hand, it has been uneven.”

“The problem is the problem of narrative,” she added. “We Americans like a nice neat story that we can tie up with a bow. This isn't that story and it's never been that story. The story has actually always been jagged.”

THEY ARE BACK

Male employees seem to really hate it when their companies advertise abortion access—but it makes the job applications roll in

Irina Ivanova
Wed, August 9, 2023 

Getty Images


For a moment last summer, after the Supreme Court ended a federally guaranteed right to abortion by overturning Roe v. Wade, corporate America seemingly leapt to fill the gap.

Hundreds of companies — including household names like Apple, Amazon, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Match Group, Uber, Tesla and Zillow — pledged they would pay for workers to access abortion care if their states denied it in announcements that drew fierce criticism from conservatives.

How did many of these same workers feel about that? Research released Tuesday indicates they were just as polarized as politicians.

Companies that publicly announced an abortion benefit saw a rise in interest from potential applicants, but they also made some existing male workers unhappy, as evidenced by poor ratings of their management.

“The polarization that we currently see, particularly on this topic, is clearly seeping into our jobs,” said Svenja Gudell, chief economist at Indeed Hiring Lab and one of the study’s authors. “You don’t think of yourself as clocking in and out of work anymore; you want to bring your whole self to work,” she added.

The study—conducted by Indeed, the University of Southern California, the University of Maryland, and IZA Institute of Labor Economics—examined 317 companies, 2.5 million postings with wage information, and 6.5 million company reviews, comparing data before and after the Dobbs ruling on June 24 of last year.

Companies that declared their support for reproductive rights saw an 8% increase in clicks on their job postings compared with companies that said nothing, the research found. That’s similar to the increase generated by bumping up advertised pay by 12%, according to Indeed.

The increase was especially pronounced for job postings in female-dominated industries in states that restricted abortion, as well as for jobs located in Democratic-leaning states. Perhaps aware of public reactions, companies became less likely to announce support for abortion access the more workers they had in abortion-restricting states.

“Companies use this to message out into the world something about their workplace, their ideology, their culture and the values they hold,” Gudell said.
Male workers rewarded for their bad attitudes

But that message also generated a backlash: poor reviews from a small group of male workers. Companies that had announced support for abortion care saw an 8% drop in reviews of senior management, compared with companies that stayed silent. The effect was concentrated in male-dominated jobs, such as software engineers, and in high-paying fields.

Companies sought to compensate for this by actually raising pay an average of 4% where management ratings had declined, with firms that saw the biggest attitude problems raising pay the most, Indeed found.

Why the poor rating from male workers? Indeed cites a list of possible reasons, including “cultural beliefs, political views or preferences for businesses not to take a political stance.”

There’s also the likelihood that male employees are less likely than female ones to directly use a reproductive health care benefit, and may feel resentful that others might be getting a generous benefit they can’t use. (The average worth of an abortion-care benefit was pegged at $4,500, based on Indeed’s analysis of corporate announcements.)

Research has demonstrated that abortion access, while painted as a cultural issue, is a huge boost for women’s economic participation. Being able to end an unwanted pregnancy raises women’s pay and makes them more likely to complete college, while reducing the number of children who live in poverty. By comparison, women who seek and are denied abortion are more likely to fall into debt and file for bankruptcy.

For Gudell, the research is an indication that corporate pledges can’t make up for a lack of public policy.

“These benefits that companies offer should not be a substitute for actually having either state or federally mandated access to healthcare,” she said, noting that the higher-paid jobs that offered these benefits employed the people least likely to need financial help when seeking abortion care. “We can already see the issues this will cause.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

Struggling Chinese graduates return to hometowns as job market sags

Ella Cao, Ryan Woo
Wed, August 9, 2023 

Graduation ceremony at Central China Normal University in Wuhan

BEIJING (Reuters) -A growing number of Chinese graduates are abandoning the bright lights of the country's mega-cities, with state media reporting almost half are returning to their hometowns within six months of graduation amid a sagging job market.

Feeling the pinch of rising housing costs and a slowing economy, the jobless graduates are forfeiting cities that have traditionally provided a stepping stone to middle-class wealth. To save money, some have even resorted to sharing a bed with a stranger.

China's youth jobless rate jumped to a record 21.3% in June as offers during the traditional job-hunting season proved limited as the economy struggled and regulatory clamp-downs left the property, tech and education sectors bruised.

In June, a statistics bureau official said that more than 6 million young people were unemployed.

Some 47% of graduates returned home within six months of graduation in 2022, up from 43% in 2018, state-run China News Service reported on Tuesday, citing a private sector survey.

The numbers varied by region, with 59% of graduates in the well-developed east heading home. That compared to 44% in the west and just 24% in the northeast rust belt.

Also pushing the young to return home were soaring rents. Among China's biggest first-tier cities, rents in Beijing climbed 5% from December to June followed by 2.8% gains in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, according to state-run Xinhua news agency.

'SEEKING BEDMATES'

Not everyone is giving up.

After sending 10 copies of her resume to financial companies each month, Joyce Zhang, a 2022 graduate with a masters degree in financial engineering, said she had still not found a job in Beijing but was not going home yet.

"I've considered going back to Inner Mongolia to work, as the financial sector is not doing good recently. But I guess I still want to give it a try," Zhang told Reuters.

Zhang's parents are paying her monthly rent of 2,600 yuan ($361) for a 12-square-metre (129-square-foot) room with a shared kitchen and bathroom.

Policymakers have rolled out measures to support youth seeking work and rental housing, with some more creative than others.

A district in Hangzhou in eastern Zhejiang province offers free rent for eligible people in a nursing home, as long as they spend 10 hours or more a month with the elderly and pay a 300 yuan management fee.

To keep costs down as they stay longer in hope of finding a job, some young mega-city drifters even share their beds with strangers. On China's Instagram-like Xiaohongshu and WeChat groups, "seeking bedmates" posts have become more common.

One such post was looking for a roommate to share one bed in a room "with a huge balcony" in Beijing. The rental fee: 750 yuan ($104) per month.

($1 = 7.2004 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Ella Cao and Ryan Woo; Additional reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Conor Humphries)

RIP
B.C. firefighters honour fallen colleague Zak Muise at memorial and on frontline

The Canadian Press
Wed, August 9, 2023



PENTICTON, B.C. — Firefighters on British Columbia's northern wildfire frontline wore black bandanas Wednesday while others carrying helmets and axes marched in Penticton during a memorial procession to honour colleague Zak Muise.

Muise, 25, died late last month fighting the massive Donnie Creek wildfire in B.C.'s northeast.

First responders, including municipal and forest firefighters, police, paramedics and others formed a procession at the Okanagan city's Skaha Lake Park, followed by an outdoor public memorial for Muise, who grew up in Ontario and was the youngest of six siblings.

Andrew Bird, training officer at the Penticton Fire Department, took part in the honour guard.

Bird said Muise's parents marched in the procession and were presented with a folded Canadian flag.

"We're all here looking out for each other. It was an honour to be there for him and Zak's family," Bird said.

Bird said firefighters from California, Washington state and across the Okanagan took part in the march. He said Muise's firefighting gear was carried during the procession.

Muise is the fourth firefighter to die in recent weeks during what is on track to be Canada's worst forest fire season on record.

The Muise family said the outpouring of support and the memorial have meant a lot as they grieve their loss.

"We are devastated by the sudden and tragic loss of our son, brother and friend," Muise's sister Allison Tackaberry said. "Zak loved life and loved what he was doing. He will be missed by all who knew him."

A celebration of life for Muise will be held Aug. 20 in Simcoe, Ont.

"We are so grateful for the time we had with him," the family said in an obituary. "We are so grateful for all first responders. Our hearts go out to all the families of fallen firefighters, first responders and those left who are still fighting."

Those wanting to make an expression of sympathy can consider a donation to the Canadian Critical Incident Stress Foundation, which provides organizational and family support, education and training for first responders, veterans and their families coping with loss, the family said.

"Rest easy brother," Big Cat Wildfire, the B.C. company Muise worked for as a wildland firefighter, posted on social media.

RCMP said Muise, from Waterford, Ont., died on July 28 when his heavy-duty ATV rolled over a steep drop on a gravel road in a remote area about 150 kilometres north of Fort St. John.

Last month, 19-year-old Devyn Gale died fighting a wildfire near her home in Revelstoke, B.C.; Adam Yeadon, 25, died fighting a wildfire near his Fort Liard, N.W.T. home; and Alberta resident Ryan Gould, 41, died near Haig Lake, 140 kilometres northeast of Peace River, Alta., when his helicopter crashed while fighting another fire.

B.C. Premier David Eby said in a statement following Muise's death: “I am devastated to learn that we have lost another wildfire fighter. My heart goes out to the family, friends and colleagues of this front-line hero. On behalf of all British Columbians, we grieve this terrible news with you."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 9, 2023.

Dirk Meissner, The Canadian Press

Goose Mountain Ecological Reserve, A Hidden Gem West Of The Hills

SWAN HILLS, ALBERTA
Local Journalism Initiative
Wed, August 9, 2023

Nestled within the loftiest expanse of the Swan Hills uplands, the Goose Mountain Ecological Reserve (GMER) is a hidden gem of the local area. Encompassing a substantial 1,246.48 hectares, this ecological reserve stands as a sanctuary, shielded from the intrusion of motor vehicles, specimen collection, and expeditions that might disrupt the delicate local vegetation.

Rising an impressive 600 meters above the encircling lowlands, the area is characterized by broad plateaus that quickly transition to steeply sloping hills. The prevailing vegetative tapestry is that of a coniferous woodland made up of balsam and subalpine fir hybrids, Engelmann and white spruce hybrids, and lodgepole pine with tall clusters of alder and willow flourishing on dampened slopes.

Designated an ecologi­cal reserve means that the area is protected. No overnight camping or open fires are allowed, and the use of motorized vehicles is not permitted.

Ecological reserves contain rare and fragile landscapes, plants, animals and geological features. Their primary intent is the strict preservation of natural ecosystems, habitats, features and associated biodiver­sity. These reserves serve as outdoor laboratories and classrooms for scien­tific studies related to the natural environment, and as such, ecological re­serves are only open to the public for low-impact activities such as photog­raphy and wildlife view­ing

Roughly 43.5 km northwest of the Town of Swan Hills, the GMER is accessible by Goose Tower Road. According to the Town of Swan Hills website, “The Goose Tower Road is a privately owned oilfield road that is subject to weather. The main soil base is clay shale with moisture that quickly turns into greasy mud.” The write-up then aptly suggests that people planning to visit the GMER use a four-wheel-vehicle, monitor the weather, and notify another party of their plans in case they run into difficulty. The passage ends with the warning, “The weather changes quickly and drastically in this area and the roads quickly become impassable.”

Please take these warnings about the road seriously. My wife, Tara, and I drove to the GMER this past weekend, and Goose Tower Road is not for the faint of heart as it approaches the Reserve. In the final 10 km or so, there was a spot where the southern half of the road had partially washed out; someone had lodged about three large branches upright into a hole in the road to mark it for other motorists. There were roughly four areas between this spot and the Reserve where the road became extremely muddy; our truck nearly didn’t make it through the second muddy area, and then we did become stuck in the third. Luckily, we were able to work our way out. We made a point to get out of the vehicle and survey each muddy area on foot before proceeding on the return trip and were able to avoid further issues.

The trip to the GMER made for an incredible drive and a fun adventure. We saw some beautiful flowers along the way and witnessed stunning views of the surrounding landscape through breaks in the treeline along the road. While we came across indications that bears had recently been in the area, including tracks and some very fresh scat, we did not actually see any bears on this outing.

If you would like to visit the GMER, please heed the warnings about Goose Tower Road. Pick a time when the weather has been dry for at least a few days, ensure that you take a sturdy four-wheel-drive vehicle, notify someone of your plans and when they should expect you to return, and take your time to proceed cautiously. Prepare for a hike through the bush in bear country and take precautions to keep yourself safe (make noise as you go, carry bear spray, avoid heading out between dusk and dawn, etc.). And bring a cell phone; we found that we generally had at least one bar of reception throughout the trip. Sturdy footwear and clothing are also recommended; a tank top and flip-flops won’t quite cut it for this type of outing.

Remember, nature is for all to enjoy, leave the site as you found it; don’t pick or dig up the plants, shrubs or trees, and please don’t litter.

Be sure to have fun and stay safe!

Dean LaBerge, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Grizzly Gazette

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/1e0daf0fb81e43f5bdb63831a53b2a14

Swan Hills and Slave Point Formations StoryMap 

The Swan Hills Formation carbonate platform and reef complex is located in the subsurface in the west-central plains of Alberta, and is named after a series of ...

Nova Scotia angler hooks juvenile great white shark and story of a lifetime

The Canadian Press
Wed, August 9, 2023 at 1:35 p.m. MDT·4 min read



FREDERICTON — Rick Austin knew he had hooked a big one as his fishing rod bent and he reeled furiously from his kayak off the Nova Scotia coast, but he never dreamt there would be a great white shark on the end of the line.

On a perfect summer morning July 30, when the wind was just right and the water was calm, Austin anchored his kayak off Kingsport in the Minas Basin, which feeds into the Bay of Fundy. He was looking for striped bass, and he set out his fishing rods with baits.

"I didn't want to get too far out because it was my first time out there, and also I was alone," he said in an interview Tuesday from his home in Eastern Passage, N.S. "When I got there, I anchored, and everything was perfect. It was a perfect scenario."

But after three hours without a single bite, he decided to switch up his bait, putting a live mackerel on a stainless steel hook. "It wasn't very long, just minutes and my reel starts to click," he recalled.

Austin, a retired Royal Canadian Air Force sergeant, said his thoughts went to the 1975 movie "Jaws" because of a scene in which a character's reel is clicking as he prepares for a big catch. "This is exactly what I did. However, I had no idea it was a shark — ever — the entire time it was out there."

He turned on the GoPro camera on his hat and began trying to reel in his catch. "It was quite the adrenalin rush for sure," he said with a laugh. "I sincerely thought it was a dolphin or a huge striped bass."

Then he saw the large, grey fish he had hooked swim near the surface, mere feet from the bow of his kayak. On the video he filmed, he can be heard exclaiming "Holy Lifting!" and a few other choice words, before he decided he would need to cut the line.

He said after being cut loose the shark swam a little distance and breached, then returned to circle Austin's kayak before taking off. "My heart was thumping so fast that I couldn't hear anything — the birds and stuff — if they were even there, I was totally unaware of," he said.

Dr. Chris Harvey-Clark, a veterinarian at Dalhousie University, helped confirm the animal Austin hooked was indeed a great white shark. He said it could be identified by its stocky body profile, distinct dorsal fin and black colouring on its top. The other shark species that are similar in the Bay of Fundy waters are porbeagle and mako sharks, but they are slimmer and bluish, he said.

The shark was a juvenile, between 1.5 and two metres in length, and probably weighed between 45 and 70 kilograms, he said.

"At that age they're kind of like puppies. They have oversized things like their pectoral fins and their tail fins are actually wider."

But Austin did the right thing by cutting the line and letting the animal go, he said.

"One of the things you have to realize is a lot of species of sharks have a bit of a temper," he said. "When you hook them up, they'll come back and wreak vengeance on you. They're quite capable of retaliatory measures … you're messing with animals that are peak apex predators in the ocean. They really rule that world."

An abundance of marine mammal food combined with conservation efforts that have helped population numbers could be attracting more sharks to Canadian waters, Harvey-Clark said.

"I think we're in the sweet spot for the species right now," he said. "It probably means we're going to see an increase in numbers here."

He added that the hook left in the shark would likely not do the animal much harm. "The sharks heal very quickly," he said. "Their metabolic rate is amazing."

Austin, 61, said he hopes the animal has recovered from its ordeal of being hooked.

"It probably was hanging around me for quite a while, which is kind of scary in itself," he said. "Then it finally saw something that it really wanted, which was the live mackerel."

Austin stayed behind that Sunday and fished — still oblivious that the one that got away was a white shark — but he didn't hook anything else. Now that he knows, the story is more than enough.

"I don't want another experience like that," he said, with a laugh. "Thank you very much."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 9, 2023.

— Austin's video of his shark experience can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AQSSzmTjec. Note video contains obscene language.

Hina Alam, The Canadian Press

Butane torch lighters linked to 'unprecedented' rise in Vancouver fire incidents




VANCOUVER — The Vancouver Fire Rescue Service says the first half of 2023 has been a record-breaking period for fire-related incidents in the city, with alarming numbers of calls involving drug users and butane torches with flame-locking mechanisms.

Fire information officer Matthew Trudeau said the service responded to 2,113 calls in the first half of the year, the most in the service's history for the same period and an "unprecedented" 31 per cent increase compared to the first half of 2022.

Trudeau said the pandemic saw many "societal changes" as people were stuck at home and cooking a lot more, and kitchen fires were the primary cause of fire calls for "a number of years."

But now the fire service is seeing more fires caused by tobacco and drug-smoking materials, especially in single-room occupancy buildings.

The fire service said in a statement that the leading cause of fires remains discarded smoking materials including matches, lighters, candles, cigarettes, and drug paraphernalia, causing nearly 60 per cent of all incidents.

The fire service said it was worried about more fires in single-room occupancy buildings as well as a notable spike in outdoor fires.

Trudeau said there have been numerous single-room occupancy fires caused by drug users dropping butane lighters with the flame locked on, setting fire to themselves or their surroundings.

"We're having at least one SRO fire per day, mostly associated with smoking material," he said. "If the drugs weren't bad enough, now we've got this ignition source that's locked on where someone drops it or overdoses and now it's setting the whole room on fire."

The service says four people have died in fires so far in 2023, three of them involving blazes caused by smokers' materials.

"It's turned a bad situation even worse," Trudeau said. "If not for the sprinkler systems containing these fires, we would see a lot more buildings significantly damaged."

The fire service also said more than a quarter of all fires have been the result of arson, which it says is part of an upward trend in suspicious fire incidents.

The fire service is appealing to residents to make sure they have working smoke alarms, while encouraging smokers to properly put out their butts and for people to use battery-powered lights rather than candles.

Trudeau said the increase in fire calls is on top of other calls dealt with by first responders, including overdoses and mental health-related incidents, straining resources and taking a toll on crews.

"Last year we went to a really horrific scene where one of our crews was chased by (someone with) a machete on Granville," he said. "Our crews are very resilient, hard-working people, but we're human beings at the end of the day too, and it's hard seeing some of these really horrific incidents."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 9, 2023.

The Canadian Press

‘We have to say no:’ Community must not tolerate Pride crosswalk vandalism, resident urges

Niagara-on-the-Lake
Local Journalism Initiative
Wed, August 9, 2023 

After four separate vandalism incidents, many Niagara-on-the-Lake residents now just seem to expect that the new rainbow crosswalk will continually be damaged.

Many commenters in public, in letters to the editor and on social media have suggested such vandalism is just a fact of life.

Suzin Schiff thinks that attitude is wrong and people should not accept repeated defacing of the crosswalk as a fact of life.

“That makes me more sad, almost more sad than seeing the vandalism itself,” said Schiff, who works in administration at the Shaw Festival.

She got in touch with the town to organize a group photo at the crosswalk in support of 2SLGBTQI+ community after vandals defaced the crosswalk for a third time on July 31.

“I called the town and I said, ‘I need to talk to someone about this. Do you know that it’s here? What can we do? How can we respond?’ ” she said in an interview.

“It’s not enough to see it and then clean it up,” she said.

She wanted to show her support in-person, she said, and not just through social media or the newspaper — but to stand on the crosswalk where it happened.

“We need to be physically present to feel our feet on the place where this transpired and to physically show people that we stand and support them and to show them that they should feel safe where they live,” she said.

When the crosswalk was first put in, she said “it was very meaningful” to her.

This topic has always been one that’s close to her heart since she has friends and family who are queer, she said, and she’s always been a “strong ally” to the 2SLGBTQI+ community.

The group photo was scheduled last Friday at 9 a.m., barely two days after the damage from the third vandalism was cleaned up.

However, people arrived to find the crosswalk defaced for a fourth time — this time with more hateful comments.

She said it’s “disheartening for queer people or allies of queer people” when this type of vandalism is so routine it is just expected.

She wants to make sure her voice is heard — and believes everyone should be doing the same every time something like this happens instead of just accepting it.

There are plenty of people in the world who are against public expressions like rainbow crosswalks, she said, but the latest vandalism is more than just pushback. In her view, it was a hate crime.

“This is a different level. The people who are doing it have to be stopped,” said Schiff.

Given how many time’s the NOTL crosswalk has been intentionally damaged, it’s probably going to happen again, she acknowledged.

But she’s motivated to continue to stand up for what she believes is right and encourages everyone to contact the town every time it is damaged.

“It’s not about reacting afterwards. It’s about preventing it from happening,” she said.

She hopes by people showing up in person every time, it will eventually “tip the tables.”

“If you want to show your love and support, it has to be a physical action and not just typing or talking to a friend or sitting and thinking about it — it has to have some kind of action,” she said.

“We have to stand. We have to speak. We have to stand on it. We have to say no.”

Somer Slobodian, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Lake Report