ABUSE OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL MULLIGAN 

Ford's use of notwithstanding clause for third-party ads law may backfire: experts

TORONTO — Representatives have returned to Ontario's legislature for an emergency weekend debate on election finance law with implications for free speech that experts warn may backfire on Premier Doug Ford's government.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Debate was scheduled to start overnight into Saturday morning and continue over the next several days on the bill tabled this week using the notwithstanding clause — the rarely-used constitutional tool that allows legislatures to override portions of the charter of Rights and Freedoms for five years.

The bill in question restores rules on third-party ad spending which a provincial judge rejected as unconstitutional earlier this week. The law doubles the restricted third-party ad spending period to 12 months before an election campaign gets underway, but keeps the spending limit of $600,000 the same.

Unions have said the rules infringe on their rights to free speech. The Progressive Conservative government has argued the changes are necessary to protect elections from outside influence, but critics have been quick to label the move a power play aimed at silencing opposition ahead of next June's election.

Western University political science professor Cristine de Clercy said the term “third party” may sound vague, but the legislation has free speech implications for the majority of Ontarians.

“It basically affects all the rest of us, all the people and groups who are not actual political parties,” she said in an interview.

Jeffrey Dvorkin, a senior fellow at the University of Toronto's Massey College, said there are also press freedom issues at stake.

News outlets often rely on the excess revenue from advertisements during elections, he said, and the changes to the Election Finances Act threaten that income stream.

“It’s dangerous politically, and it's dangerous for a free media,” Dvorkin said. "It actually really has a lot of damaging consequences for the state of a healthy and independent media landscape, and I don't think the government has considered this."

At the heart of this weekend's debate is an effort to balance free speech and fair access to political expression, de Clercy said, describing them as complicated issues that Canadian governments and courts have grappled with before.

It’s not usual for courts to find legislation unconstitutional and for governments to respond by re-drafting laws or appealing decisions, but de Clercy said Ford’s drastic methods -- of using the notwithstanding clause and holding an emergency weekend debate to get it done quickly -- stand out.

Video: Ford government uses notwithstanding clause (Global News)

“It sort of underscores the concern that Mr. Ford is moving to expedite this legislation out of partisan self-interest, because he thinks that will help his party in the next election rather than because he thinks it's good legislation that Ontarians need,” she said.

Andrew McDougall, a political science professor at the University of Toronto, said use of the notwithstanding clause is not a politically smart move because the baggage behind the measure often overpowers discussion about other issues.

“As soon as you use the nuclear option of the notwithstanding clause, it changes the entire tenor of the debate to one about civil liberties and how they can be limited, and that's not a great message generally,” he said.

Experts agree that using the notwithstanding clause to push the legislation through will be unpopular. But since Ford's government holds a majority, it’s likely to pass after the weekend of debate unless public pushback grows too strong.

De Clercy noted that Ford appears genuinely worried about third party influence, to the point that he’s willing to face the public after using such an unpopular legislative tool to push through a law deemed unconstitutional. However, she said his methods might contribute to the very problem he hopes to avoid.

“In the very act of trying to perhaps control third party voices against him, he may actually generate more opposition than he can squash,” she said.

McDougall said the government also runs the risk of drowning out news stories that might reflect well on them, such as improvements in COVID-19-related trends and the first stage of the province's economic reopening plan, which took effect on Friday.

“Instead of having that story, we're going to have a discussion about civil liberties, which may not be the best political spin for them right now,” McDougall said. “It’ll be interesting to see how this debate plays out on their numbers.”

Opposition parties have acknowledged that they have limited options for fighting the bill. They began on Thursday by introducing motions on other issues to drag out the process, and have called on Ontarians to voice their concerns.

The vice president of the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario, which was involved in the original court challenge, said on Friday that the union was looking into its legal options.

Karen Brown said at a news conference that no matter the outcome of the marathon weekend debate, voters can still mobilize against the government next June.

"Ford can pass legislation that tramples on our democratic Charter rights, but he will not silence us," she said. "We can replace this government."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2021.

Holly McKenzie-Sutter, The Canadian Press

Saturday's Letters; 

Public pays price for Keystone loss

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has confirmed that the Keystone XL pipeline will be abandoned at a public cost of $1.3 billion — which could have been better spent to sustain schools and universities and to alleviate homelessness.

Meanwhile, during the 14-month period of this ill-conceived subsidy to TC Energy, the majority owner of the pipeline, shares of TC rose from $54.98 to $64.47 and paid dividends of $3.30 — for a total return of 23 per cent. This is the UCP way: Privatize profits, socialize risks.

Ron Chalmers, Edmonton

Saturday's letters: Curriculum ignores Japanese Canadian internment

Alberta has been built through the contributions of its citizens — many who came from distant shores. It is shocking to see that the proposed K-6 curriculum ignores so many groups, as if they never existed. The experience of Japanese Canadians is one example.

© Provided by Edmonton Journal Relocation of Japanese-Canadians to internment camps in the interior of British Columbia. 1942 AND TO  LETHBRIDGE, TABER,  ALBERTA

Many Japanese Canadians arrived in Alberta near the end of the Second World War. These families, who were Canadian citizens, were forced from their homes in British Columbia. Their internment and subsequent re-location were in response to the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Imperial Japan.

These families had no part in this, other than their Japanese heritage. Nevertheless, they lost their homes and possessions, their citizenship and freedom. Most were forced to work in the sugar beet fields of southern Alberta in areas like Taber and Picture Butte in very harsh and primitive conditions. None received compensation for their loss and it was not until 1988 that the federal government apologized for its mistreatment of Japanese Canadians and provided modest redress funds to those who were still alive. The emotional toll still exists today for the survivors and their descendants.

We want our children to learn about the experiences of those from different backgrounds. A truthful and informed understanding is vital for today’s youth to recognize the costly mistakes of the past and embrace a more inclusive and understanding society.

Paul Fujishige, president, Edmonton Japanese Community Association

SEE LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for INTERNMENT 

NDP calls for safe supply of drugs, other actions to curb Alberta's overdose crisis
Anna Junker 

© Provided by Edmonton Journal NDP mental health and addictions critic Lori Sigurdson, right, and NDP MLA Janis Irwin, left, called on the province to tackle the spike in overdoses, Friday, June 11, 2021.

Safe, legal, and regulated pharmaceutical alternatives to street drugs are part of a plan proposed by Alberta’s Opposition NDP to address the province’s current overdose crisis.

On Friday, NDP mental health and addictions critic Lori Sigurdson called on the province to adopt a three-point emergency action plan to tackle the spike in overdoses. The plan includes urgently expanding safe consumption site services not only in Edmonton and Calgary, but other municipalities such as Grande Prairie and Lethbridge.

Along with providing a safe supply of drugs, Sigurdson said the province should also offer drug checking services so individuals can test to see if their drugs are lethally toxic, a practice currently in place in British Columbia and Manitoba.

“When more than four Albertans are killed by an overdose every single day, how can we not do everything in our power to prevent more deaths,” Sigurdson said.

“The government often presents this to Albertans as a false choice — that we can do harm reduction, or we can do treatment and that’s simply not true. We must do both.”

The call comes days after Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Jason Luan announced a nasal Naloxone pilot project for Edmonton .

Edmonton in particular has seen a spike in overdoses. Between May 31 and June 1, emergency medical services responded to 55 opioid-related calls in the Edmonton Zone, prompting an alert to be issued by Alberta Health Services.

According to the latest provincial data, 346 Albertans died of an accidental opioid overdose between January and March this year and of those, 109 were in Edmonton.

During the same time period last year, 160 Albertans died of an accidental overdose. Fifty-three of those deaths were in Edmonton.

Video: Alberta NDP Alleges Contact Tracing Failure (Edmonton Journal)

Lorna Thomas with Moms Stop the Harm holds a photograph of people that have died from substance related issues, waits to talk after Mental Health and Addictions critic Loris Sigurdson and MLA Janis Irwin at a press conference to put pressure on the UCP government to deal with the opioid crisis. Taken on Friday, June 11, 2021 in Edmonton. . Greg Southam-Postmedia

Lorna Thomas, a founder of Moms Stop the Harm, a network of Canadian families impacted by substance-related harms and death said during the press conference Friday that every day she receives messages from bereaved parents.

“Just over the last month in Riverdale in Edmonton where I live, five young people have passed away, all of them were under the age of 32. These deaths are preventable,” Thomas said.

She said the measures proposed by the NDP will help keep people alive.

“Addiction is defined as continuing to use despite consequences. So if we don’t want the consequence of drug use to be death, I implore the UCP government to work with the NDP to implement the recommendations that are being made,” said Thomas.

Justin Marshall, spokesman for Luan, said in a statement the province does not share the same view in offering a safe supply of drugs.

“We understand the Notley NDP wishes to adopt the British Columbia approach of flooding the streets with taxpayer-funded drugs. We do not share this view. Contrary to what some would like to argue, drugs are not ‘safe.’ Period,” Marshall said.

“We are working to establish a full continuum of care for people struggling with addiction, inclusive of prevention, intervention, treatment and recovery. Making dangerous and addictive drugs more available and free is contrary to the ultimate goal of getting Albertans suffering from addiction off drugs.”

He also noted the province would be interested in reviewing evidence from other provinces on drug checking and if it makes a difference in curbing overdoses.

“We will continue to take a city-by-city/site-by-site approach in regard to supervised consumptions services to ensure Albertans who are struggling with addiction get the help they need, while maintaining the safety and security of communities,” Marshall said.

Meanwhile, a recovery community in Red Deer that the province announced last year is moving forward.

In a news release Friday, the province said a 10-acre parcel of land in north Red Deer will be home to the 75-bed recovery community, a form of long-term residential treatment for addiction.

The community is within the Chiles Industrial Park, directly adjacent to Highway 2A and construction is anticipated to begin this fall.

ajunker@postmedia.com

Doctor who faced racism after COVID-19 outbreak sues New Brunswick, RCMP

© Provided by The Canadian Press

A Black doctor who says he faced a barrage of hate and racism after being accused of breaking COVID-19 rules amid an outbreak last year announced Friday he is suing the New Brunswick government and the RCMP.

Lawyers representing Dr. Jean Robert Ngola told reporters the lawsuit alleges an abuse of power, defamation, negligence, malicious prosecution and a breach of the physician's charter rights. They say their client was a victim of systemic racism and anti-Black racism.

Ngola, a family doctor who was working in the northern New Brunswick city of Campbellton, was accused of violating the province's Emergency Measures Act, but the Crown withdrew the charge last week after concluding there was no chance of conviction.

Ngola had driven to Montreal in May 2020 to pick up his daughter, because her mother was travelling to Africa to attend a funeral. He did not self-isolate for two weeks when he returned, as provincial health guidelines direct, but Ngola said that was consistent with the practice of other physicians at his hospital.

He has been seeking an apology from Premier Blaine Higgs, who on May 27, 2020 — without naming Ngola — linked a growing COVID-19 outbreak in the Campbellton area to "one irresponsible individual," a health-care worker, and said the matter was being handled by the RCMP.

The statement of claim filed in New Brunswick Court of Queen's Bench refers to Ngola's "banishment" from the province, which it says was brought on by the premier, the government, a police force and social media. Ngola, a Canadian citizen of Congolese descent, relocated to Quebec last summer and now practises medicine there.

"A Canadian citizen is entitled constitutionally to reside in any Canadian province or territory of choice and should not be shamed and coerced into banishment because of governmental action," the filing reads.

Lawyer Joel Etienne says the situation is unprecedented and so are the remedies being sought, saying the financial compensation is secondary seeing restorative justice measures, a public apology and a system of checks and balances to ensure such a case doesn't happen again.

Video: Charges withdrawn against New Brunswick doctor blamed for COVID-19 outbreak (cbc.ca)
Duration 1:56

"Dr. Ngola does insist on a public apology from the RCMP and the government of New Brunswick, but an apology will not be enough to make sure that such an ordeal is never again visited on a vulnerable citizen," the filing reads. "Dr. Ngola’s experience was a consequence of institutional anti-Black systemic racism."

Higgs has maintained he had done nothing wrong and again Friday he declined to offer an apology. Instead he repeated his call for Ngola to waive his right to privacy so the premier can disclose what he knows about the case. "I would like for all of information to be available to the public and let the public determine," Higgs told reporters outside the legislature, adding that a court case would offer such an avenue.

The lawsuit says there was no scientific evidence to single out Dr. Ngola as a patient zero in the outbreak, but nonetheless news got out that Ngola was the worker in question after his positive COVID-19 status was leaked on social media.

"Dr. Ngola was barraged with death threats (some of which called for his lynching) and racists insults," the court filing claims. It says he was stalked by people "who called him a refugee and told him to go back to Africa."

He had to seek police protection but claims the RCMP engaged in racial profiling, as numerous false tips were sent to police reporting Ngola was breaching his quarantine.

"False sightings of Dr. Ngola, essentially of other black residents, mistakenly observed to be Dr. Ngola, would result in calls to the RCMP, and the RCMP re-attending Dr. Ngola’s home to verify whether he was quarantining," the document read.

The court filing said the premier, who isn't named as a defendant, should have known his comments would lead people to connect the dots to Ngola.

Ngola had planned to remain Campbellton, where he worked at the hospital and had a private practice for eight years. But the lawsuit claims he was told by a security expert it wouldn't be possible to remain in the province and live safely.

The doctor's lawyers had repeatedly called on Higgs to apologize, first after presenting evidence he could not be patient zero in the outbreak and again after the RCMP said no criminal charges would be laid last July. One month later, he was charged violating the provincial health rule.

After the Crown withdrew that charge last week, the lawyers gave Higgs one more week to apologize or face legal action.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2021.

Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press

First Nation declares sovereignty over Saskatchewan River Delta

Cumberland House Cree Nation has declared sovereignty over the largest inland freshwater river delta in North America.

"We see it as a protection of our homeland, and a utilization to benefit our people, to get them out of poverty," Chief Rene Chaboyer said.

The Saskatchewan River Delta stretches over roughly one million hectares along the Saskatchewan and Manitoba border. Its declining vitality is threatening traditional ways of life.

Chaboyer wants to use the declaration as a springboard for greater control of the delta, spurring environmental protections and economic development. However, reversing any possible decline remains murky, he said

"There's uncertainty there. We've had land users, trappers, fisherman, professionals come into our delta and try to figure out the solution to get it back to its natural state," he said.

"We've got to do something to save what's left."

The declaration comes roughly a year after he expressed concern over a lack of consultation on a massive provincial irrigation project at Lake Diefenbaker that he says could affect water flows into the delta. He said he remains hopeful for a solution that could satisfy all parties.

He wasn't alone in urging a seat at the table for the First Nation.

"For too long, (the delta) has been degraded by government policies and decisions that do not consider or include First Nations’ voices — and today that way of doing business comes to an end," Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations Vice Chief Heather Bear said in a prepared statement.

Declaring sovereignty is a milestone, but there's a long way to go, noted Gord Vaadeland, executive director of Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society Saskatchewan, who is offering support for the First Nation's efforts.

The Lake Diefenbaker project remains in its early stages, but it's concerning for its potential "significant impacts" on the delta, he said.

The declaration of sovereignty is invitational — not confrontational — toward the province, he added.

The First Nation is in the process of developing a co-management model for the region. To raise its profile, it's also working toward a designation as a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention, a prepared statement noted.

The ecosystems in the Delta are home to several at-risk plants, birds, and mammals. It has also supported local hunting, fishing, trapping, gathering, ecotourism, medicine gathering, carbon sequestration, sustainable forestry practices and local employment, the statement added.

First Nations-led conservation efforts are unique, but a long-term vision could support economic opportunities around traditional ways of life, eco tourism and carbon storage, Vaadeland said.

Chaboyer said he hopes a push for greater control over his band's traditional lands may be an answer to those challenges.

"There's a lot at stake, and we're going to do what it takes to save it."

Nick Pearce, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The StarPhoenix

‘Heartbreaking’ overdose death of Indigenous teen in B.C. care highlights need for change: report

By Jon Azpiri Global News
Posted June 10, 2021 

VIDEO Global News Hour at 6 BC: B.C. children's advocate has released a scathing report into the death of an indigenous teenager who died of a drug overdose on her 17th birthday. Neetu Garcha reports.

B.C. children’s watchdog is sharing the heartbreaking story of the death of an Indigenous child while in government care.

In a new report titled Skye’s Legacy: A Focus on Belonging, B.C.’s representative for children and youth highlights the short life of an Indigenous teen name Skye and how the system failed her.

VIDEO 1:59 Family calls for public inquiry after Indigenous teen’s death in Abbotsford group home – Oct 15, 2020

Skye spent nearly 12 years in the care of B.C.’s Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) and was moved 15 times. She died of an unintentional overdose in August 2017 on her 17th birthday, less than a year after her mother passed away.

“Skye and her mother deserved much, much better,” Jennifer Charlesworth, B.C.’s representative for children and youth, said.

READ MORE: ‘It doesn’t leave a person’: Residential schools aren’t ‘history’ for many, advocates say

“It’s heartbreaking that neither of them received the kind of foundational supports that might have enabled them to deal with the trauma they had experienced and, at the very least, to have a relationship with each other.”

Skye was removed from her mother’s care when she was five years old, according to the report. Rather than re-establishing a relationship between mother and daughter, Skye was put up for adoption, which resulted in three failed adoption plans and subsequent turmoil and emotional harm, the report said. Skye lived in eight different foster homes, attended eight schools and had 18 social workers during her time in care.

She also lacked opportunities to connect to her Dene culture and visit her home territory in Fort McPherson, N.W.T., despite her requests.

READ MORE: New Indigenous child-welfare law takes effect, but minister says change will be slow

Charlesworth supports the resumption of jurisdiction by First Nations and communities over their own child welfare services, which has been enabled by the passage of Bill C-92.

As that process unfolds, steps are needed to ensure that Indigenous children currently in MCFD care can achieve a sense of belonging, the report said.

Two sides of the same coin: Ex-foster kids identify with residential school survivors

VANCOUVER — As stories of the horrors of residential schools circulate after the Tk'emlups te Secwepemc First Nation announced it had located what are believed to be the remains of 215 children, Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs said he feels a connection with the former students.

Phillip was placed in a foster care system in the 1950s that, to this day, consists of a disproportionate number of Indigenous children, he said. He was raised by white people and he was one of only two Indigenous students at his high school.

There are obvious differences with the residential school system, which was largely run by churches, but Phillip said the child welfare system also shares some similarities in the way that children have been taken from their families, communities and nations.

"You're isolated from your history, your language, your culture, your customs. As a consequence, I don't sing, I don't drum, I don't dance," he said in an interview.

"That may sound like not much to you but to me it's like part of my heart and soul has been ripped out. It really bothers me when I'm in an environment where there's drumming and singing and celebrating because I feel so left out, so isolated, so not belonging."

Children in care are more likely to suffer mental illness, and drug and alcohol addiction, as well as deal with issues associated with trauma, he noted.

"My vision of this is that it's two sides of the same genocidal coin," Phillip said referring to residential schools and the child welfare system.

"They both inflicted enormous trauma on the victims of both systems."

Phillip is among several former foster children, advocates and politicians drawing the link between the two systems and calling for change.

In the House of Commons last week, Inuk MP Mumilaaq Qaqqaq, who represents Nunavut, equated the foster care system with residential schools.

"Children are still being separated from their communities. Foster care is the new residential school system. The suicide epidemic is the new form of Indigenous genocide," Qaqqaq said in an emotional address.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the removal of Indigenous kids from their home communities must end.

In 2019, the Commons passed a bill to counter the overrepresentation of Indigenous children in foster care. Since then, Ottawa has been working to allow Indigenous communities to keep at-risk children and youth in their home communities with their own language and culture, Trudeau said.

Beyond cultural harm, former children in care also have higher death rates than the general public.

A report published three years ago by the BC Coroner Service's Child Death Review Panel found young people leaving government care died at five times the rate of the general population of young people in the province, and a disproportionate number of those fatalities were Indigenous youth.

A death review panel report of First Nations youth and young adults published a year earlier highlighted that culture — and the interconnectedness of individuals, families, communities and First Nations — play an integral role in their health and wellness. Factors like colonialism, historical trauma and poverty were named as detriments to health and wellness.

Phillip said the only hope for Canada is to teach the "absolute truth" in schools about its racist history, including the legislation and policies that created the residential school and child welfare systems. Politicians also need to stop referring to a "dark chapter" in the country's history when the effects of racism are ongoing, and there should be harsher penalties for racist attacks and acts of hate, he said.

Phillip said he gets strength and comfort from his wife Joan and through the advocacy work he does fighting for Indigenous and other rights.

"It's not an occupation or job for me, it's my life."

Phillip's perspective was mirrored by another former foster child, jaye simpson, who uses the pronouns they and them and does not capitalize their name.

"My experiences in care were very restrictive and traumatizing where I didn't have a lot of access to my culture," said simpson, 26, who is Oji-Cree and spent 16 years in foster care in British Columbia and Manitoba.

Although simpson's care was overseen by a delegated Aboriginal agency, simpson said at times there was no opportunity to participate in cultural events or language classes.

The B.C. Ministry of Children and Family Development says online that its practice emphasizes family preservation, when appropriately safe, keeping children and youth from coming into care.

In British Columbia, First Nations make up six per cent of the total population, yet about 45 per cent of youth in care are Indigenous. In Manitoba, nearly nine in 10 youth in care are Indigenous.

After being placed with a "really good" foster family in Kamloops, simpson found kinship and mentorship within the Tk'emlups te Secwepemc community. After aging out of care, simpson remained in Kamloops and worked on the powwow grounds and with community groups.

"To me, Kamloops is a very important place, I had access to a lot of healing and kinship," said simpson, who acts as an advocate for foster kids.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 12, 2021.

Amy Smart, The Canadian Pres

Celebrities react to the 215 Indigenous children’s bodies found at a Canadian residential school



Buffy Sainte Marie speaks up at the Juno Awards

Canadian-born singer/songwriter Buffy Sainte Marie used her appearance at the Juno Awards as an opportunity to speak out against the horrendous treatment of the First Nations Peoples.



..Indigenous people are not surprised....

During her speech at the Junos, Buffy Sainte Marie spoke of how while this news may be shocking to some, for the Indigenous peoples, it is not surprising at all. The 80-year-old performer also said, “The genocide basic to this country’s birth is ongoing, and we need to face it together…And I ask for your compassion.”

(Photo: Instagram@buffystemarie)




Jann Arden: "The Catholic Church is diabolical"

Canadian singer/songwriter Jann Arden shared her disgust and outrage towards the Catholic church regarding the discovery on Twitter. Arden wrote, “The Catholic Church is diabolical. Canada -all of us- has looked the other way too bloody long.

#shameofthecentury

(Photo: Instagram@jannarden)






Jason Burnstick of the Canadian folk music group Burnstick wrote about the release of the film ‘Shin-Chi S Canoe’ on YouTube. The film has been released on YouTube, so it can be viewed free of charge. Burnstick asks that those that view it donate to the Indian Residential School Survivors Society.



SEE /32 SLIDES © The Daily Digest

Ontario First Nation to mark Canada Day as ‘day of mourning’

Keewaywin First Nation in northern Ontario will no longer recognize Canada Day as a celebration and will instead mark it as a "day of mourning" until the federal government investigates the grounds of all former residential schools.

© Provided by Global News A memorial is pictured at the Eternal flame on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, June 1, 2021, in recognition of discovery of children's remains at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Moving forward, the nation said July 1 will be a day to remember the children and families who were affected by residential schools and to recognize the role that the Canadian government and churches played in the "attempted genocide" of Indigenous People.

Read more: As Pope defies calls for apology, residential school statement not ‘enough’: minister

"Residential schools were government-sponsored religious schools that were established to assimilate Indigenous children into Euro-Canadian culture," Keewaywin's chief and council said in a letter Thursday.

"In total, over 130 residential schools operated in Canada between 1831 and 1996. In 1931, at the height of the residential school system, 80 residential schools were operating across Canada."

Keewaywin's decision to no longer celebrate Canada Day comes about two weeks after the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation in Kamloops, B.C. announced that ground-penetrating radar had uncovered the remains of 215 children, some as young as three years old, who were students at the Kamloops Indian Residential School.

Since then, many have expressed public outrage, with experts saying the unmarked burial ground in Kamloops is "the tip of the iceberg." Several Indigenous groups have also called for the search of all residential school grounds in Canada.

Read more: Trudeau vows ‘concrete action’ after discovery of 215 bodies at former residential school site

"In total, an estimated 150,000 First Nation, Inuit and Metis children attended these schools," Keewaywin's chief and council said Thursday.

"The Truth and Reconciliation Final Report concluded that a soldier had a better chance of surviving the Second World War than an Indigenous child had at surviving the residential school system."

More than a week ago, the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Office called on Canada to launch "exhaustive investigations" and "redouble efforts" to find Indigenous children missing from residential schools. UN human rights special rapporteurs also called on Canada and the Catholic Church to conduct prompt and thorough investigations into the findings of the Kamloops burial site.

Read more: Citing role in ‘genocidal policies,’ history professors reach out to First Nations

At a House of Commons meeting on June 1, Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the children found in Kamloops and others who have yet to be found would have been grandparents or great-grandparents.

"They would have been Elders, Knowledge Keepers and community leaders," he said at the meeting. "They are not, and that is the fault of Canada."

Anyone experiencing pain or distress as a result of their residential school experience can access this 24-hour, toll-free and confidential National Indian Residential School Crisis Line at 1-866-925-4419.

-- With files from Global News' Katie Dangerfield, Hannah Jackson, Rachel Gilmore and the Canadian Press

Friday's letters: Prosecute residential school crimes

Edmonton Journal Friday, June 11,2021

It is hard to think about the discovery of children buried in mass grave sites at the Indian Residential School. These kids didn’t die rock climbing, or drag racing, or from some terrible cancer. They died going to school. I grieve for them and their families.© Provided by Edmonton Journal Hundreds of children's shoes remain in place at a memorial outside the Alberta Legislature building in Edmonton on Monday May 31, 2021. A vigil was held Sunday May 30, 2021 in memory of the 215 indigenous children whose remains were discovered on the grounds of a former Roman Catholic church residential school in Kamloops, B.C.

I’m waiting for a politician to pledge that they will ensure that the people responsible will be tracked down and held accountable. But all I’ve heard is crickets. Why is that? There is no statute of limitation on rape, murder, or negligent homicide in Canada.


It’s time good people made noise. How many children in residential schools in Canada died? What were the circumstances? What are their names, ages? 0Will there be justice?

We cannot stay silent on this. Is it ever too late to do the right thing? We have the strength to reckon with our past and build a better future. We must.

Peter Lee, Edmonton

Residential schools a product of racism

The story of the 215 burials found in the Indian school in Kamloops is so tragic that no adjective in the English language can express the hurt it caused.

This was the doing of not a few individuals, whose names are in the press. It was systemic racism for which nations are responsible. It was and still is the idea of “cultural fit.” It was the conception of the time that to be successful in a certain society, people must fit a cultural norm. Indian schools were established to change their culture. Sadly, they lost their own and were not accepted by others.

Video: The efforts to include more about residential schools in Canadian education (cbc.ca)

Many, like Kipling, believed the “white man’s burden” was the duty of white men to bring education and salvation to people around those deemed uncivilized, savages.

I learned about the schools in 1960, coming from India, when I was enrolled at the University of Alberta, in the faculty of education. I recall the discussions where no one saw anything wrong with having Indigenous residential schools, rather students and professors earnestly believed that the schools were for the benefit of the Indigenous people. It is the best that “we” could do for them. That was the sincere and earnest belief of most.

Kuldip S. Riar, Edmonton

SHAME!

NDP push to declare residential schools a genocide defeated in House

Olivia Stefanovich 

CBC NEWS

© The Canadian Press/Chad Hipolito Nipawi Kakinoosit of the Sucker Creek First Nations sings the American Indian Movement song below the steps of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in Victoria on June 8, following a ceremony for what is reported to…

An NDP bid calling on the government to recognize the residential school experience as genocide has been rejected in the House of Commons.

Winnipeg Centre NDP MP Leah Gazan originally pointed the finger at Conservative MP John Barlow for blocking unanimous consent to push the parliamentary motion forward.

The NDP later said some Liberals also voted against the motion, but party whip Mark Holland denied that and said only Conservatives said "nay."

"It is unfortunate that parliamentarians continue to deny the genocide that occurred in residential schools," Gazan said.

"There is no reconciliation in this country without truth. I will continue to work with leadership, Indigenous families, nations, survivors to push for justice."

Reached by CBC News, Barlow declined to say whether he yelled "nay."

Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole's office pointed to a comment O'Toole made last week acknowledging the residential school experience as cultural genocide.

The NDP says that, had the motion received unanimous consent, it would have shown Parliament's willingness to acknowledge genocide and could have had implications in residential school-related litigation.

Gazan said she believes the residential school era meets the definition of genocide drafted by the United Nations, which describes it as an attempt "to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group."

The UN definition cites various forms of genocide: killing members of a group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of a group, deliberately inflicting conditions to bring about a group's physical destruction in whole or in part, imposing measures to prevent births and forcibly transferring children from one group to another group.
Debate continues over use of word

Some experts disagree with using the word genocide to describe the residential school era.

Frank Chalk, a history professor and co-founder the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies at Concordia University, said he does not see evidence of criminal intent, which is required by the UN convention on genocide.

Video: NDP leader continues to press government for action after report of human remains near former B.C residential school (cbc.ca) Duration 1:18

Instead, Chalk said, he sees evidence of criminal negligence in the attempt to strip Indigenous children of their languages and beliefs.

The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick NDP MP Leah Gazan rises during question period in the House of Commons on June 7, 2021.

"All of those steps constitute part of what we call ethnocide — the attempt to destroy a group's culture," Chalk said.

Chalk also said the debate over genocide distracts from work the federal government should be doing to advance Indigenous rights.

"If we quibble endlessly over the legal definition of genocide and how it applies to the victims of the residential schools, we will distract ourselves from concrete measures that we need today," Chalk said.

"The real issue is how do we institutionalize in the future ... respect for Indigenous cultures, land rights, clean environments and jobs, as they choose them, not as we choose them in the colonial sense."

Chalk said he prefers the term "cultural genocide", which was used by the commissioners of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in their final report on residential schools.
'A different kind of genocide'

But Gazan said the word genocide needs to be used because "cultural genocide" does not exist in international law.

Fannie Lafontaine, a law professor at the University of Laval who holds a Canada Research Chair on International Criminal Justice and Human Rights, agrees.

Lafontaine said the TRC didn't have a mandate to decide on legal liability and she believes the residential school experience should be recognized as a genocide.

"You can destroy a group by destroying its social fabric, its social unit, and I think this is what Canada has been doing across decades," Lafontaine said.

"Canada has committed a different kind of genocide."

Lafontaine said the definition of genocide is not limited to massacres and can include events that occur over a long period of time. She pointed to the forced transfer of children from their families to residential schools as an example of a genocidal act.

Lafontaine contributed to the 2019 legal analysis for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which concluded violence against Indigenous women and girls amounts to genocide.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau used that word after he accepted the inquiry's final report and repeated it last week when the national action plan was released.

Lafontaine said there are legal consequences to the government acknowledging genocide — consequences which require full implementation of the inquiry's recommendations and those of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

"It's structural change," she said. "It's recognizing the damage that colonization has done and undoing that by giving back the power to Indigenous nations."

CANADA

MPs move to convene emergency Islamophobia summit before August


OTTAWA — Federal lawmakers are calling on the government to convene an emergency summit on Islamophobia by the end of July.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

In the House of Commons on Friday, MPs gave unanimous consent to an NDP motion demanding the gathering in response to Sunday's deadly attack against a Muslim family in London, Ont.

London-Fanshawe MP Lindsay Mathyssen, who brought forward the non-binding motion, says the Liberal government needs to go beyond expressing condolences.

"A Muslim family went out for a walk, like so many families and people have been doing in this pandemic, and this family didn’t make it back home because of hate. No one should ever feel unsafe in their community and neighbourhood,” she said in a statement.

The motion follows a call for the summit in the form of a petition — it had more than 40,000 signatures as of Friday evening — from the National Council of Canadian Muslims.

"This loss of a family, the loss of a child in our community because of Islamophobia — this is a sorrow that will run deep for a long time. Let that sorrow be the ground where we stand for justice and stand for change," the petition reads.

It references recent attacks against Muslim women in Alberta, the fatal stabbing of a volunteer at a Toronto mosque last September and the Quebec City mosque shooting that killed six Muslim men in 2017.

"We will never be intimidated. We will never stop marching for love, justice and goodness," it states.

New Democrat Leader Jagmeet Singh said Canada must urgently address a problem with white supremacy and far-right radicalization and make policy changes at every level of government to prevent another attack.

Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole said in a Twitter post that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should take "urgent action" in support of Canadian Muslims and convene the summit.

At a vigil attended by thousands in London on Tuesday evening, O'Toole called the devastating attack an act of terrorism and attributed it to growing Islamophobia.

His words mark a change in tone for the Conservatives, most of whom voted along with the Bloc Québécois against a Liberal motion to condemn Islamophobia in 2017. O'Toole, then a leadership candidate, argued "Islamophobia" was used too broadly in the motion and could stifle free speech.

Police allege the attack, which saw four family members driven down and killed on Sunday night, was a planned act that targeted Muslims.

The funeral for the four family members who were run over and killed is set for Saturday afternoon at the Islamic Centre of Southwest Ontario in London.

Relatives have identified the dead as 46-year-old Salman Afzaal, his 44-year-old wife Madiha Salman, their 15-year-old daughter Yumna Salman and her 74-year-old grandmother, Talat Afzaal.

The couple's nine-year-old son, Fayez, was seriously wounded but is expected to recover.

Nathaniel Veltman faces four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder in connection with the attack.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2021.

Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press

POSTMODERN SPACE MYTHOLOGY

Asteroid 16 Psyche Thought to Be Worth $10,000 Quadrillion Could Be a 'Rubble Pile'

Aristos Georgiou 

 An asteroid that scientists have previously estimated to be worth a staggering $10,000 quadrillion due to the potential value of its resources could be a "rubble pile," the lead author of a new study has said

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© iStock An artist’s illustration of the asteroid 16 Psyche. Researchers have found in a study that the asteroid could actually be a rubble pile.

The paper, published in The Planetary Science Journal, indicates that the 140-mile-wide space rock, dubbed 16 Psyche, might not be as metallic or dense as previous research has suggested.

According to the study, which was led by University of Arizona (UA) undergraduate student David Cantillo, the findings suggest that the asteroid's formation may have played out differently to what scientists had previously thought.

It was long thought that the asteroid was the exposed iron core of a small planet that failed to form during the earliest days of the solar system, stripped of its mantle and crust.

But Cantillo and colleagues said that rather than being an exposed intact core of an early planet, 16 Psyche could actually be more similar to a "rubble pile," like the asteroid Bennu.

In astronomy, a "rubble pile" asteroid is one that is made up of many separate components that are weakly held together by their own gravity, rather than a single large piece of material, according to the Southwest Research Institute, based in San Antonio, Texas.

"Psyche as a rubble pile would be very unexpected, but our data continues to show low-density estimates despite its high metallic content," Cantillo said in a UA statement.

In the study, the researchers recreated 16 Psyche's regolith—the loose rocky material on its surface—by mixing together different materials in a lab. They then analyzed how light interacted with these materials until they matched telescope observations of the space rock.

These experiments revealed the potential breakdown of the materials that make up the asteroid. The researchers proposed that 16 Psyche is 82.5 percent metal, 7 percent low-iron pyroxene—a kind of mineral—and 10.5 percent carbonaceous chondrite material.

This latter material was likely delivered to the surface as a result of collisions with other asteroids, the researchers said.

"Having a lower metallic content than once thought means that the asteroid could have been exposed to collisions with asteroids containing the more common carbonaceous chondrites, which deposited a surface layer that we are observing," Cantillo said in the statement.

"This is the first paper to set some specific constraints on its surface content. Earlier estimates were a good start, but this refines those numbers a bit more."

Previous estimates of the asteroid's composition concluded that 16 Psyche could be made up of as much as 95 percent metal. Cantillo and colleagues also proposed that the asteroid is significantly less dense than previously thought.

16 Psyche was first spotted by an Italian astronomer in 1852—becoming only the 16th asteroid ever to be discovered.

In recent times, scientists have become interested in the space rock because it could provide a rare opportunity to study an exposed planetary core close up—if the traditional story of its origin is true. In fact, NASA is planning to a launch a mission to the asteroid in 2022, which is scheduled to reach 16 Psyche in 2026.

"The opportunity to study an exposed core of a planetesimal is extremely rare, which is why they're sending the spacecraft mission there, but our work shows that 16 Psyche is a lot more interesting than expected," Cantillo said in the statement.

Principal investigator for the NASA mission, Lindy Elkins-Tanton, previously estimated that the value of materials on Psyche, which is about the size of Massachusetts, could be around $10,000 quadrillion—that's $10,000 followed by 15 additional zeroes. This amount is greater than the worth of Earth's entire economy.

While NASA has no plans to mine the asteroid, Cantillo said that the latest findings could slightly bring down the estimated value of the asteroid.

HISPANOLA
The 'birth of the racial caste system' started in this island — and endures, documentary shows

Arturo Conde and Nicole Acevedo 

The adjacent countries of the Dominican Republic and Haiti share an island — as well as a troubling history that influenced the Western hemisphere, from as far north as Canada to as far south as Argentina

© Provided by NBC News

“The island for me is the birth of our racial caste system across the Americas,” according to Michèle Stephenson, whose documentary “Stateless” is featured this weekend at the Tribeca Festival.

"It’s where the first Europeans arrived, where the first Africans arrived, where the first genocide took place, and the racial caste system manifests itself on the island before spreading throughout the hemisphere," Stephenson, who is of Panamanian and Haitian heritage, told NBC News.

“Stateless" follows Rosa Iris Diendomi, a young Dominican attorney and immigration advocate of Haitian descent, as she struggles to run for Congress in the Dominican Republic.

© Hispaniola Productions Rosa Iris Diendomi doing community work. (Hispaniola Productions)


The documentary, also known for its Spanish title "Apátrida," shows Diendomi as she visits sugarcane towns known as “bateyes,” where many Haitian immigrants and Dominicans of Haitian descent live. It showcases the struggles of a largely exploited group that was stripped of its rights nearly a decade ago, when the Dominican Supreme Court retroactively took away the citizenship of anyone with undocumented Haitian parents — even those born in the Dominican Republic.

The ruling left more than 200,000 people with Haitian ancestry without a nationality, according to the documentary. Though the government, amid international pressure, took measures in 2014 to allow children born in the Dominican Republic and certain others to apply for citizenship, thousands have been deported from the Dominican Republic, including many with valid claims to Dominican citizenship.

“The court sentence is the reflection of a country that in spite of its mixed racial identity refuses to accept everything that has to do with its African origins,” Diendomi told NBC News.

Throughout her unsuccessful congressional bid, Diendomi was peppered with threats to her and her son’s life, forcing her to eventually flee the country. Since being granted refuge in the U.S., Diendomi has been working with Stephenson to use the film as an opportunity to engage community groups and international organizations on issues of anti-Black racism and migration.

On camera, Stephenson connects the racial tensions from the island’s past with the current racial politics of the Dominican Republic.

The tragic story of a young dark-skinned girl named Moraime bookends the film. Her life is told through a voiceover, while viewers see other children in the bateyes and sugarcane fields. It describes the 1937 Perejil Massacre that executed thousands of Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian decent living in the Dominican Republic.

“On a dark night in October, Moraime had to hide,” Diendomi narrates in a voiceover. “The dictator Trujillo decided to whiten the race and fix the so-called Haitian problem. He murdered many, including Moraime’s mother, because of the color of their skin.”

An Associated Press article published by The New York Times on Dec. 8, 1937, reported that Haitian President Sténio Vincent had charged that “8,000 Haitians had been victims of ‘mass murder’” in the Dominican territory since October. The article also said the Dominican State Department dismissed Haitian reports of slayings as fantasies.

More than 80 years later, the film shows footage of Dominican President Danilo Medina (who served from 2012 to 2020) denying accusations of racism against Haitians.

© Hispaniola Productions People crossing a bridge at the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. (Hispaniola Productions)

“How can the Dominican Republic be a racist country when more than 80 percent of our population is made up of Blacks and mulattos? How can Dominicans be accused of being racist towards Haitians when they live and coexist with us everywhere in our country?” he said.

The former Dominican president would also deny that Dominicans of Haitian decent were being targeted and stripped of their citizenship.

“The number of stateless individuals in the Dominican Republic is zero,” he said.
Beyond the physical and political borders

Despite racial tensions that have existed on the island since Spanish and French colonial rule, Stephenson hopes both Dominicans and Haitians can look back at their history to move past the physical and political borders that divide their countries.

On the eastern side of the island, when Dominicans boast about Santo Domingo, they can say proudly that it’s the oldest European city in the Americas — founded in 1496, over 100 years older than Jamestown (1607) — and that the city’s grid pattern became the blueprint for many future towns and cities in Latin America.

Dominicans can also claim that Thomas Aquinas University in Santo Domingo is the oldest in the hemisphere — founded in 1538, almost 100 years before Harvard University (1636).

And on the western side of the island, Haitians can similarly champion that their country was second only to the U.S. in obtaining independence. But Stephenson pointed out that Haiti actually is the first and only successful slave revolt against a colonial power.

“It’s not just the fact that it’s the second country to get independence on this hemisphere after the United States. But it’s the only ever successful revolt by enslaved people — Blacks who were slaves defeated Napoleon’s army,” the filmmaker said. “And the Haitian Revolution doesn’t even get the credit that should be given next to the American and French revolutions because of the invisibility of the history of resistance.”

It’s also worth noting that Haitian independence was influential in the success of early Latin American democracy, offering el gran libertador (the great liberator) Simón Bolívar refuge and support in his fight against the Spanish Empire.

Both Stephenson and Diendomi agreed that more conversations about race need to happen to break the cycle of discrimination.

“I think that there is a historic reality where people have been educated to think or inherited the belief that there are inferior people depending on their origin or race,” Diendomi said. “And both inside the U.S. and beyond it, when we see the struggle of other marginalized groups, we see the same cycle repeated. It’s a struggle based on race.”

SEE

THE BLACK JACOBINS - Libcom

https://libcom.org/files/charles-forsdick-the-black-jacobins-reader-1.pdf · PDF file

1 The Black Jacobins in Detroit: 1963 dan georgakas 55 2 The Impact of C. L. R. James’s The Black Jacobins mumia abu ­ aj mal 85 3 C. L. R. James, The Black Jacobins, and The Making of Haiti carolyn e. fick 60 4 The Black Jacobins, Education, and Redemption russell maroon shoatz 70 5 The Black Jacobins, Past and Present selma aj mes 73

INSTITUTIONAL RACISM

Judge pauses loan forgiveness program for farmers of color

MILWAUKEE (AP) — A federal judge has halted a loan forgiveness program for farmers of color in response to a lawsuit alleging the program discriminates against white farmers.

U.S. District Judge William Griesbach in Milwaukee issued a temporary restraining order Thursday suspending the program for socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

The program pays up to 120% of direct or guaranteed farm loan balances for Black, American Indian, Hispanic, Asian American or Pacific Islander farmers. President Joe Biden's administration created the loan forgiveness program as part of its COVID-19 pandemic relief plan.

Emily Newton, the lead attorney representing the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the lawsuit, didn’t immediately respond to an email Friday seeking comment on the restraining order.

Minority farmers have maintained for decades that they have been unfairly denied farm loans and other government assistance. Federal agriculture officials in 1999 and 2010 settled lawsuits from Black farmers accusing the agency of discriminating against them.

Conservative law firm Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty filed suit in April arguing white farmers aren’t eligible, amounting to a violation of their constitutional rights. The firm sued on behalf of 12 farmers from Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Missouri, Iowa, Arkansas, Oregon and Kentucky.

The Associated Press

THIRD WORLD USA

Black and Latino communities are left behind in Covid-19 vaccination efforts

Gloria Oladipo

THE GUARDIAN

JUNE 12, 2021

When vaccines became increasingly available throughout America, US health officials moved quickly to try to convince large numbers of Americans to get vaccinated. But amid the mass vaccination rollout, Black and Latino communities, who are disproportionately affected by the pandemic, have been left behind in vaccination efforts, creating racial disparities about who was more likely to get a Covid-19 shot.

© Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Kamil Krzaczyński/Reuters

Stanisha Land receives a Covid-19 vaccine in Chicago.

Amid federal and local efforts to address vaccine disparity, vaccination rates for Black Americans and Latinos lag behind the general population, leaving many communities of color still unprotected against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Among the 57% of Americans for which ethnicity data was available who have had at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, the majority are white while only about 15% are Hispanic and 9% are Black: both lower rates than their proportion of the US population. Fewer than half of US states have vaccinated more than a third of their Black populations, according to data provided by Bloomberg, while more than 40 states have done at least as well with white and Asian people.

While some states, like Mississippi, Georgia, and Maryland, have seen large increases in vaccination rates among Black and Latino residents in the last week, most US states are still trailing behind on vaccinating communities of color.

Related: US racial inequities in vaccination raise risk of new Covid hotspots and variants

The reasons behind continued disparities in vaccine distribution are disparate and complex, ranging from a waning hesitancy towards getting vaccinated to disparities in public health infrastructure that disproportionately impact communities of color. Amid various explanations and some steady progress towards closing the vaccination equity gap, disparity stubbornly remains.

“We have structural inequities in everything else, especially in healthcare. You don’t expect a thing like vaccinations to suddenly [make] that disappear,” said Dr Linda Rae Murray, a Chicago physician and former president of the American Public Health Association (APHA).

In many states, early fumblings in the vaccination process have left lingering disparities in place. Missteps around providing accessible information on Covid-19 vaccines, combined with an ongoing level of distrust in institutions, has created vast amounts of misinformation on the vaccines’ efficacy and safety, resulting in some hesitancy, especially early in the vaccination rollout.

“We still have people that still have not heard the information that they need to make an informed decision and we still have a range of misinformation out there and we still have some people that are purposely giving people the wrong information,” said Georges C Benjamin, executive director of the APHA.

But vaccine hesitancy is only one reason for why many Black and Latino people remain unvaccinated. Polls from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that hesitation to get vaccinated among Black Americans has gone down in recent months while interest in getting vaccinated among Latinos remained high. In fact, white Republicans are more likely to definitively refuse a vaccination. Similarly, even though Black Americans have similar rates of vaccine hesitancy to white people, white people are more likely to get vaccinated.



Beyond individual attitudes, structural inequalities are stifling equitable vaccine access.

Transportation to and from vaccination sites has been an ongoing problem for many attempting to get vaccinated. Many low-income people of color don’t have access to a car or live near public transportation that could get them to vaccinations sites.

Work and family obligations are another barrier that make it difficult for some to access the vaccine. Early on in the vaccination scramble, even if a person could navigate technological difficulties to secure a long-sought vaccine appointment, getting vaccinated often depended on a person’s availability during the day.

For many frontline workers, the majority of whom are people of color, taking time off to get vaccinated is still not possible. Similarly, taking care of young children or elderly relatives can limit a person’s opportunity to go and get vaccinated.

“All of these structural conditions … make it difficult to go out to these mass vaccination places,” said Murray.

Some communities of color also struggle with a lack of health infrastructure, resulting in limited access to information on the vaccine or how to schedule vaccine doses.

© Provided by The Guardian

 Juanita Ortega, left, receives a Covid-19 vaccine from registered nurse Anne-Marie Zamora at a pop-up vaccine clinic in Los Angeles. Photograph: Jae C Hong/AP

In many major US cities including Chicago, Memphis, and Los Angeles, “pharmacy deserts”, a term used to describe a neighborhood with limited pharmacy access, disproportionately impact Black and Latino residents, cutting off access to vaccine appointments at commercial pharmacies. Similarly, as Black and Latino people are less likely to have insurance, they may have irregular contact with a physician who can provide greater information on how to get vaccinated.

Some states and municipalities have taken targeted steps to make the vaccination process accessible. Benjamin noted proposals such as going door-to-door to create vaccine appointments, mobile vaccination clinics, and other attempts to create parity among vaccine distribution in many states. New federal initiatives to boost vaccination rates among minorities also include using Black-owned barber shops and hair salons as pop-up vaccination sites and to promote vaccinations as well as providing free Uber and Lyft rides to Covid-19 vaccination sites.

“It is important to take the vaccine to the community and not have the community [have] to come to the vaccine,” said Benjamin.

Benjamin also described how the federal government has plans in place to help achieve more equitable distribution.“We have states in the United States that historically do poorly on all health statistics. They’re at the bottom of our health outcomes for heart disease, cancer. They have high poverty rates. It’s going to take longer to get them,” said Benjamin.

But as Murray noted, in the absence of any US national health system, states, even ones that historically had poor health outcomes concerning minorities or ones that are still struggling to accurately collect vaccine data on minorities, are tasked with closing the vaccine disparity gap.

Plus, stopgap proposals to boost vaccination rates, especially with a looming 4 July deadline, are temporary solutions in the face of structural issues – like lack of pharmacies in a community – that create and exacerbate vaccine disparity. The use of emergency Covid-19 funding to fund short-term proposals versus sustainable investment in public health infrastructure generally leaves structural inequalities unaddressed in the long-term.

“That’s like saying, ‘We’re going to hire a few more fire departments for the next year, but if you don’t have a fire department five years from now and there’s a fire, you’re still in trouble’,” said Murray.

Ultimately, despite some gains in vaccine rates among communities of color, more work needs to be done – now and in the future – to adequately address health inequities pertaining to the vaccine and beyond.

“There will be another [pandemic] and it won’t be 100 years from now. It will be sooner than that and if we don’t make these investments in our infrastructure now, if we don’t address the racial inequities that exist in our country … then the next pandemic will see the same kinds of inequities,” said Murray.

US closes Trump-era office for victims of immigrant crime


SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Biden administration said Friday it has dismantled a Trump-era government office to help victims of crimes committed by immigrants, a move that symbolizes President Joe Biden's rejection of former President Donald Trump's repeated efforts to link immigrants to crime.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Trump created the Victim Of Immigration Crime Engagement Office, known by its acronym VOICE, by executive order during his first week in office in January 2017.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it was replacing VOICE with a "more comprehensive and inclusive victim support system.”

VOICE will be replaced by The Victims Engagement and Services Line, which will combine longstanding existing services, such as methods for people to report abuse and mistreatment in immigration detention centers and a notification system for lawyers and others with a vested interest in immigration cases.

The new office will add a service for potential recipients of visas designated for victims of human trafficking or violent crimes in the United States.

“Providing assistance to society’s most vulnerable is a core American value. All people, regardless of their immigration status, should be able to access victim services without fear,” said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Stephen Miller, a key architect of Trump’s immigration policies, called the decision to close VOICE a “moral stain on the conscience of our nation."

He likened the new office to the Drug Enforcement Administration opening “a call center to help drug dealers get lawyers and amnesty for their crimes."

The Department of Homeland Security “is a law enforcement agency, not a legal help center for criminals and lawbreakers," Miller said.

The change of tone regarding immigration has been striking between the two administrations.

While there is scant evidence that immigrants perpetuate crime — and studies suggesting they are less likely to commit crime — Trump relentlessly sought to establish a link. He launched his 2016 presidential campaign by portraying Mexicans in the country illegally as violent criminals and frequently highlighted the MS-13 gang, which was started by Salvadoran immigrants.

To advance his immigration agenda, Trump invited “angel families” — people whose loved ones had been victims of crimes by immigrants — to campaign rallies and high-profile speeches.

Trump's office for victims of violent crimes appears to have had little impact.

Its most recent quarterly report posted online for the last three months of 2018 said it fielded 781 calls during the three-month period — and that just 256 of the calls pertained to services it offered. About half were requests on the status of immigration cases, and many of the rest were referrals for assistance, such as social services to help cope with impacts of domestic violence or assault.

The office was used as a platform by the Trump administration to promote a link between immigrants and crime.

“I’ve had to hold the hand of too many mothers who lost a child to a DUI or somebody else who’s been raped by an illegal alien or someone with a nexus to immigration,” Barbara Gonzalez, the then-director of VOICE, told reporters in October 2019. “It is a problem we cannot ignore as a country.

In April, the Biden administration ordered U.S. officials to avoid using terms like “illegal alien” and instead use the phrase “undocumented noncitizen.”

Vice President Kamala Harris drew strong criticism from some of the administration's pro-immigration allies for telling would-be migrants during a visit to Guatemala on Monday, “Do not come ... Do not come," and that they would be denied entry at the U.S. border with Mexico.

_____

Associated Press writer Julie Watson contributed to this report.

Elliot Spagat, The Associated Press

REST IN POWER
Martha White dies, sparked '53 Louisiana capital bus boycott

© Provided by The Canadian Press

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Martha White, a Black woman whose actions helped launch the 1953 bus boycotts in Louisiana's capital city, has died. She was 99.

White died Saturday, her family and others confirmed.

White, then 31, was working as a housekeeper in the capital city of Baton Rouge in 1953 when she took action. After a long day of walking to and from work while seeking to reach her bus stop, she decided to sit in one of the only bus seats available — one designated for white passengers.

When the driver ordered her to get up, White refused and another Black woman sat beside her in solidarity. The bus driver threatened to have the women arrested. Ultimately police, the bus company manager and a civil rights activist, the Rev. T.J. Jemison, showed up. Jemison informed the driver of a recently passed ordinance to desegregate buses in the city, meaning White wasn’t violating any rules.

In response to the ordinance, bus drivers began a strike and the ordinance was later overturned. That prompted a boycott by the Black community in Baton Rouge.

Baton Rouge Mayor Sharon Weston Broome issued a statement Monday recognizing White’s contribution to the city’s civil rights movement.

“Martha White undoubtedly shaped our community in Baton Rouge, and communities across our nation,” Broome said. “We honor her legacy today and every day.”

That boycott later helped provide the framework for the famous effort sparked by Rosa Parks that led to a bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955.

Ted Jemison, the son of the Rev. T.J. Jemison, remembered White as being outspoken and unafraid to share her opinion. He told The Advocate of a conversation he had with her years ago about that day. He recalled her telling him she just wanted to sit in that bus seat because she was tired from being on her feet constantly that day.

”‘Can you imagine working on your feet all day and just wanting to sit down?’” Jemison recalled White as saying. “She was the same way from when she was young to when she was 90 years old. She knew that what she did was for the good of everyone in Baton Rouge.”

“We really lost a true pioneer for civil rights,” said Jason Roberts, co-owner of the Baton Rouge African American Museum, speaking of White’s death, the newspaper reported.

___