INDIA
Mundka Fire: Should We Expect Justice for Those who Lost Their Loved Ones?

The numerous agencies in the city appear to be quick in initiating a probe to fix responsibility, however, as recent history shows, there is only hope and no guarantee.

Ronak Chhabra
16 May 2022

Image Courtesy: ANI


New Delhi: The Mundka factory blaze, which has so far claimed the lives of 27 people while several are still reported to be missing, has brought to the fore the burning controversy surrounding the continuing prevalence of illegal factories on village land in Delhi, the absence of required approvals for the buildings that house them, and overall scant regard for the norms relating to occupational safety of the workers – for yet another time.

Days after a purported short circuit led to an inferno – the worst that the national capital has witnessed in the last three years – in a three-storey building on Rohtak Road in West Delhi’s Mundka, the numerous agencies in the city appear to be quick in initiating a probe to fix responsibility.

On Saturday, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) sought a detailed report, asking the concerned authorities to furnish details on the legality of the said building; the civic body has also ordered detailed surveys in zones that come under its administration, which are tasked to find out within 10 days if any prohibited activity is going on in non-conforming areas.

A magisterial inquiry, to be conducted by the district magistrate (West), which the Delhi government’s home department ordered on Sunday, has received the required approval by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Sunday. The Delhi Police have registered a case under charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, among others, against the two company owners and the property owner – three of whom are arrested as of Monday.

The initial probe has revealed that the “entire building was illegal,” with Delhi Fire Services (DFS) Chief Atul Garg claiming in the media that the factory owners never sought a fire NOC (no objection certificate), nor was their a clearance to the building from the civic authorities. The building that housed a CCTV and WiFi router manufacturing and assembling unit might be on Lal Dora land, according to officials, where commercial activities, apart from those involving small shops, are by and large deemed non-conforming.

And yet, it took the lives of several workers and the heart-wrenching cries of their family members for the above-mentioned agencies to treat the brazen flouting of safety norms and other legal provisions, which proves too costly for those who are made to grind out for a pittance, as a concern.

“The safety of Indian workers is systematically being increasingly jeopardised, as they are forced to make their living working for such firms that have been flourishing and carrying out their production without minimum safety measures,” said the Delhi Chapter of Working Peoples’ Coalition (WPC), a coming together of organisations within the informal sector, in a statement.

More importantly, as pointed out by the platform of Joint Trade Unions in Delhi, the Friday’s fire in Mundka underscores that no lessons from previous such incidents in industrial quarters have been learnt by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) – led government in the national capital which, thereby puts its state Labour Minister “directly responsible for the accident.”

To be sure, soaring cases of accidents in industrial and commercial establishments is not a phenomenon that is restricted to a particular city in the country.

In 2021, the Union Labour Ministry informed the Parliament that at least 6,500 employees died on duty at factory ports, mines, and construction sites in the last five years, with over 80% of the fatalities reported in factory settings between 2014 and 2018. Factory deaths rose by 20% between 2017 and 2018. While, an average of seven industrial accidents per month were reported across the country in 2021, according to the estimates published by Geneva-based IndustriAll Global Union.

As for Delhi, the same organisation reported last year that the national capital recorded the highest number of industrial accidents in the country between 2014 and 2017, with the infamous figure crossing 1,500.

In the last five years, the city has witnessed three deadly inferno cases in which 77 people lost their lives. Seventeen people died after a firecracker warehouse in North Delhi’s Bawana caught massive fire in 2018. The following year, 17 more were killed as fire engulfed several hotel storeys in Central Delhi’s Karol Bagh. Months later, a major blaze in North Delhi’s Anaj Mandi claimed the lives of 43 people.

The Narendra Modi government appears to be addressing the issue of industrial accidents through its reform-oriented four Labour Codes, which, ironically, are flayed by the trade unions for further diluting the existing provisions that empower the labour department to keep an oversight on the workplaces and carry out inspection drives.

Be that as it may, under the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, enacted after amalgamating 13 central labour enactments, the labour ministry set up four expert committees in April last year to review the rules and regulations about safety, fire, and other working conditions in factories, among other workplaces.

However, when it comes to the national capital, there is often more to it than just adherence to legal norms that ensure a lackadaisical approach to ensuring justice, leading to an absence of deterrence against flouting safety protocols, more so those pertaining to fire.

A high-power committee appointed to investigate the Bawana factory fire had concluded that there was a “failure of agencies” that led to the disaster, according to a report by the Times of India. The committee had blamed five agencies – Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC), Labour Department, DFS, NDMC, and Delhi Police – however, it is not clear whether individual officers responsible for the incident were identified or any action was taken against them. Meanwhile, the outcome of the committees constituted to probe the incidents in Karol Bagh, and Anaj Mandi is still unknown.

Likewise, getting bail in such cases also doesn’t seem to pose any difficulty for the alleged wrongdoers, as recent history involving the above-mentioned incidents shows.

Crucially, violations by the factory owners continue in Delhi unabashedly even as there is a Supreme Court order that has directed all the industrial units in the city’s residential areas to be closed because they significantly contribute to polluting the capital’s air and water.

As of 2018, 51,837 such units were operating in the residential areas, which according to one report, “shouldn’t even be there.” Many establishments among them, if not most, are yet to be relocated, as can be rightly assumed by the growing accidents at such illegal units, which also indicate the political patronage that the factory owners enjoy within both the state and the Central government.

On Saturday, the WPC demanded to form a high-level tripartite committee to “review” all industrial units that fall under the Medium, Small, Micro Enterprises (MSME) sector and beyond in light of the fire incident in Mundka. Trade unions in the city have now given a call to protest on Tuesday to press for the resignation of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia. He also holds the charge of the labour ministry.

However, given the crude reality, should we expect justice for the working families who lost their loved ones in Friday’s fire or any change on the ground to prevent such incidents in the future? There is always hope for it, but, sadly no guarantee.

As Planet Warms, Let’s Be Clear: We Are Sacrificing Lives for Profits

Climate change is the result of a deadly calculus: human lives are worth risking and even losing over the profits of global corporations.

Sonali Kolhatkar
16 May 2022

Representational image. : Image courtesy: Flickr

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) recently dropped a bombshell announcement that should have garnered news headlines in the major global and U.S. media, but did not. New WMO research concludes that “[t]here is a 50:50 chance of the annual average global temperature temporarily reaching 1.5 degrees Celsius above the preindustrial level for at least one of the next five years.”

WMO Secretary-General Professor Petteri Taalas explained, “The 1.5 degree Celsius figure is not some random statistic. It is rather an indicator of the point at which climate impacts will become increasingly harmful for people and indeed the entire planet.”

In 2015, the likelihood of reaching that threshold within five years was nearly zero. In 2017 it was 10%, and today it is 50%. As we continue to spew greenhouse gases into the atmosphere in dizzying amounts, that percentage spikes with every passing year and will soon reach 100% certainty.

When average global temperatures hit the tipping point of 1.5 degrees Celsius, climate scientists predict that most of the Earth’s coral reefs will die off. At 2 degrees Celsius, all will die off. This is the reason why United Nations members coalesced around staving off an average global temperature rise of 1.5 degrees Celsius at the last global climate gathering in 2021.

The planet has already heated up by 1.1 degrees Celsius, and the consequences are dire across the globe.

India is experiencing its worst heat wave in 122 years, and neighbouring Pakistan has broken a 61-year-old record for high temperatures. Dozens of people have already died as a result of the extreme heat.

In France, farmers “can see the earth cracking every day,” as a record-breaking drought has thrown the country’s agricultural industry into crisis mode.

Here in the United States, across the central and northeastern parts of the country, there is a heat wave so large and so severe that people from Texas to Maine experienced triple-digit temperatures in May.

Even the wealthy enclave of Laguna Niguel in Orange County, Southern California, is on fire, and dozens of homes have been destroyed. Although moneyed elites have far more resources to remain protected from the deadly impacts of climate change compared to the rest of us, occasionally even their homes are in the path of destruction, indicating that nowhere on Earth will be safe on a catastrophically warming planet.

Ironically, as extreme heat waves become more likely with global warming, humans will burn more fossil fuels to power the air conditioning they need to cool off and survive, thereby fuelling the very phenomenon that leads to more extreme heat waves.

In such a scenario, it is a massive no-brainer for the world to quickly and without delay transition to renewable energy sources. Instead, President Joe Biden in April announced the sale of new leases for oil and gas companies to drill on public lands, reneging on his campaign platform’s climate pledges.

Biden did so apparently in order to increase domestic fuel supplies and thereby lower gas prices. He also raised the percentage of royalties that companies pay the federal government from 12.5% to 18.75%. But no amount of dollars saved by consumers or earned in royalties by the federal government can halt the laws of physics and protect the climate.

The New York Times’s Lisa Friedman explained, “The burning of fossil fuels extracted from public land and in federal waters accounts for 25 percent of the greenhouse gases generated by the United States, which is the planet’s second biggest polluter, behind China.” Here is one area where the federal executive branch has control, and yet financial considerations have been dictating responses rather than existential ones.

After climate activists vocally denounced the move, Biden did finally cancel the drilling leases for Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico. The Interior Department cited a “lack of industry interest” and “conflicting court rulings,” rather than pressure from activists, as the reason for the cancellation. Regardless, it is a small measure of relief for a planet that is on its way to burning to a crisp.

While Biden (and other lawmakers) claim they are driven by rising inflation and the impact of high gas prices on voters’ pocket books, it turns out the public doesn’t actually want a glut of oil and gas to help lower costs.

A new poll by the National Surveys on Energy and the Environment found that there is no longer skepticism among the public that the effects of climate change are real, as 76 percent of respondents—the highest on record since the poll started—“believe there is solid evidence that temperatures on the planet have risen over the last four decades.”

The poll also notably concluded that “Americans continue to favour reducing greenhouse gas emissions as their preferred approach for staving off the worst impacts of climate change,” and that they “remain skeptical of any pivot from mitigation toward climate policy that prioritizes adaptation, use of geoengineering or subterranean carbon storage.”

So, rather than invest in mitigating climate change or adapting to it—which is what market-driven economies favour—people, sensibly, want to stop the planet from warming in the first place.


Still, there is growing concern among climate scientists that it may already be too late for a transition to renewables. In spite of energy sources like solar and wind becoming rapidly cheaper and more accessible, overall energy consumption is increasing about as fast, as per one recent study.

Mark Diesendorf, the author of the study, explained, “it is simply impossible for renewable energy to overtake that retreating target. And that’s no fault of renewable energy. It’s the fault of the growth in consumption and the fact that action has been left too late.”

Because corporate profit-based considerations have constantly dictated our energy use and climate policies, we have effectively decided that major sacrifices of lives—most likely poor people of colour—will be worth the pain of relying on fossil fuels for energy.

There is an analogy to be found in the COVID-19 pandemic. For months, scientists sounded the alarm over prevention, endorsing lockdowns, masks, and vaccines to stop the spread of the deadly virus, just as climate scientists issued warnings against global warming for decades. Both science-based campaigns faced uphill battles, each with its own challenges in recommending the most rational guidelines to maximize public safety in spite of financial sacrifices (closing down most businesses and restaurants and cancelling major sporting and entertainment events, in the case of COVID-19; promoting solar power subsidies, switching to wind energy, and manufacturing hybrid and electric vehicles, in the case of the climate crisis). All the while, corporate interests and right-wing political opportunists successfully pushed their own agenda in the halls of power, insisting that economic growth was the most important consideration.

Today, even as COVID-19 infection rates are skyrocketing, with cases having risen by 58% in the last two weeks alone, mask mandates are being dropped all over the country and COVID-19-related restrictions are ending. This is not because the virus is under control—it is clearly not—but because it’s no longer financially viable for corporate America to sacrifice profits for lives. So, it will sacrifice lives for profit—just as is the case with the climate crisis.

It is worth spelling out this equation so that we know where we are headed.

As the climate changes, we begin to see where the bodies are buried—literally. Water levels in Nevada’s Lake Mead have fallen so dramatically that the remains of at least two human bodies were recently discovered. What other disturbing discoveries are in store for us?

Sonali Kolhatkar is the founder, host and executive producer of “Rising Up With Sonali,” a television and radio show that airs on Free Speech TV and Pacifica stations. She is a writing fellow for the Economy for All project at the Independent Media Institute.

This article was produced by Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute.

INDIA
Power Engineers' Body Wants Centre to Withdraw Directive to Gencos for Coal Imports

State power generation companies are being exposed to risk of overcharging, fudging of GCV values and, having no past experience, will not be able to deal with these matters effectively, said AIPEF

PTI
13 May 2022


New Delhi: All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) has urged the Central government to withdraw its direction to states' gencos to import coal amid the shortage of dry fuel, crippling electricity generation in the country.

"Correct determination of GCV (Gross Calorific Value) is critical to avoid overcharging and over-billing. The government of India while instructing state discoms to import coal has apparently ignored the factor that most of the state gencos/thermal stations have no past experience in coal imports, particularly regarding the procedures for coal quality determination at the loading point," AIPEF (All India Power Engineers Federation) said in a statement.

It explained that these state gencos (power generation companies) have been thus exposed to the risk of overcharging, fudging of GCV values and, having no past experience, would not be able to deal with these matters effectively.

Power engineers (AIPEF) demanded withdrawal of the central government direction to state gencos to import coal, the statement said.

In case states are forced to import coal, the Centre should bear the extra burden (of coal imports), it said and sought the intervention of all the states' chief ministers.

On April 28, the Union power ministry asked state gencos to import 10% of their total coal requirement to tackle the shortage of the domestic fuel.

In a letter sent to Union power minister R K Singh, AIPEF chairman Shailendra Dubey said that if states are forced to import coal then the central government must bear the additional burden of imported coal so that already financially distressed discoms (power distribution companies) and ultimately the common consumer are not over-burdened.

AIPEF has also appealed to chief ministers of all states and Union Territories to take up the issue with the Centre with top most priority.

AIPEF letter said that the present crisis is the result of the policy failure of the Centre and lack of coordination between different ministries.

The letter said the present coal shortage is the combined result of a number of policy errors of the central government, and shortage was made worse due to scarcity of railway wagons.

The decision of the central government to take away the accumulated revenues of CIL (Coal India) of Rs 35,000 crore in 2016 crippled the development of new mines and capacity expansion of existing mines.

Had this surplus been ploughed back into the coal mine sector, the present shortage would not have occurred, it stated.

Keeping the post of Coal India CMD vacant for a year after the term of the incumbent ended showed that the central government was responsible for coal shortage and the additional charges on account of imported coal are payable by the central government and must not be loaded on states as the policy errors were of the Centre, the letter said.

Also, the additional imports must be made available to states at the prevailing CIL rates while the difference should be payable by the Union government, it said.

The power ministry's direction dated April 28, 2022 that seeks to put the financial load of coal imports on the states must be withdrawn as states cannot be penalised for policy lapses of the Centre, it argued.

AIPEF chairman said since most/all of the thermal stations envisaged, designed and constructed over the past decades on the basis of domestic coal from linked mines, there was no arrangement for blending of domestic fuel with the imported coal.

"The risk of temperature variations in boilers due to uneven mixing would increase incidents of boiler tube leakage. The business of coal is a sellers' market where the terms and conditions are made to suit the seller/exporters, particularly in GCV determination. There is no solution if the GCV tested at the thermal plant is lower as compared to the shipping port value," Dubey said.

AIPEF letter said that the state-owned thermal stations are planned and constructed only after obtaining the clearance of railways ministry to move coal from the linked mines to these units.

At this stage it would be unfair to burden the states for the high cost of import of coal when wagon shortage was one factor responsible for prevailing coal shortage, it stated.

The AIPEF, citing the railways ministry data, said that while the daily requirement of wagons for movement of coal is 441 rakes, the availability/placement is only 405 rakes per day.

From 2017-18 to 2021-22 the railways have placed orders for wagons on an average 10,400 wagons per year. For the same period, there was a pendency of up to 23,592 wagons per year, for which the orders have been placed but the wagons not supplied, it stated.

Dubey said that in the past, the process of coal import has been the subject of corruption and malpractices.

"There are recorded instances of over-invoicing of imported coal and in fudging of coal testing/GCV determination at the port of loading. These cases were taken up by the Department of Revenue intelligence (DRI) which is under the finance ministry.

"The DRI pursued these cases before the Bombay High Court and then before the Supreme Court. These cases taken up by DRI deserve to be taken to the logical conclusion. When the government of India is stressing on coal imports, the deterrent measures to prevent fudging and over-charging are nowhere in evidence," he added.

The Unprecedented Rise in Journalist Slayings — and What Can be Done to Stop Them

The shooting of a reporter in the West Bank is among the numerous killings of media workers worldwide. What international protections exist for journalists, and what can be done to make the world safer for the press?

Sonya Angelica Diehn
13 May 2022



Reporters at work are increasingly the target of violence


To maintain freedom of the press, which is essential for democracy, journalists must be able to safely complete their jobs. Yet media workers are increasingly facing danger and even death, particularly in conflict zones and in some countries around the world.

Shireen Abu Akleh, a veteran correspondent reporting for Al Jazeera, was fatally shot Wednesday while covering an Israeli military raid in the West Bank. Abu Akleh's colleague Ali Samoudi was also shot in the back and wounded during the incident, according to Al Jazeera. It was not immediately clear where the gunfire came from.

Abu Akleh's killing has added to a death toll of as many as 28 media staff killed because of their work this year alone, according to the International Press Institute.



Journalists "are coming under increasing attack around the world, and this includes reporting in conflict zones," confirms Scott Griffen, deputy director of the International Press Institute, a global press freedom organization based in Vienna.

In 2021, the group logged a total of 45 journalists killed.

Since the beginning of this year, the International Press Institute has noted an increase in violent attacks against the press.

WHAT INTERNATIONAL PROTECTIONS EXIST FOR JOURNALISTS?

Human rights laws apply to journalists and are intended to protect them, Griffen explains.

"Journalists, like civilians, are never legitimate targets in a conflict zone, and so this would mean that a deliberate attack on a journalist would be a violation of international law and those responsible would need to be held to account."

Pauline Ades-Mevel, spokesperson for Reporters Without Borders, which advocates for journalists throughout the world, adds: "Reporters Without Borders has condemned the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh this morning because it constitutes a breach of the Geneva Convention, as well as Resolution 2022 of the UN Security Council on the protection of journalists."



Shireen Abu Akleh was a well-known journalist, having worked at Al Jazeera since 1997

In addition, there is a large number of resolutions by various UN bodies, along with other fundamental protections for press freedom including international treaties such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, says Griffen.

Whether those perpetrating crimes against journalists, including murder, get prosecuted is another matter altogether.

BREAKING THE CYCLE OF IMPUNITY

The most important thing that can be done in cases targeting media in violent acts is accountability, Griffen says. "It sounds very simple, but it isn't — we know that in at least 90% of cases in which journalists are murdered, those responsible are not held to account."

"The failure to respond quickly to attacks on journalists and to hold those responsible for the initial attacks creates what we call a cycle of violence, a cycle of impunity where those responsible feel that they can act without consequences, and we see it as an open invitation to attack journalists."

Ades-Mevel agrees that ending impunity is crucial to ending the killing of journalists. "If there is no judicial response, the number of killings will continue to grow and grow and grow."



While some reporters are caught in the line of fire in conflict zones by chance or circumstance, others are specifically targeted

Cases may be brought nationally, or even taken to the International Criminal Court, she explains.

When no judicial action is taken, international pressure should be brought to bear, Ades-Mevel says. "International pressure is key in these kinds of cases because it raises awareness throughout the world and forces the state to take responsibility."

But such pressure must be sustained, long-term and meaningful in order to be effective, Griffen adds. "Otherwise, it's just talk."
GLOBAL FOCAL POINTS FOR VIOLENCE AGAINST JOURNALISTS

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, media freedoms in this region are being increasingly curtailed — and violence against journalists is on the rise.



"The situation in Ukraine is extremely worrying right now," Ades-Mevel says. By Reporters Without Borders' count, six journalists of seven killed while working "were targeted deliberately by Russian forces — international, Ukrainian and Russian journalists covering the conflict."

On the dangerous situation for journalists in Ukraine, Griffen again emphasizes the need for accountability. "If some of these journalists were directly targeted, we need to start collecting the evidence for possible war crimes prosecutions."

He also points to Mexico, which has a high number of journalist killings, 11 this year already. He calls the case of Mexico "shocking" and a "bloodbath against journalists," explaining that many deaths are connected to reporting around drug cartels.

"It's an awful situation and it's just unbearable, actually, that the Mexican authorities are unable to get a grip on this."

WHAT CAN JOURNALISTS DO TO PROTECT THEMSELVES?

In light of all the violence targeting journalists, media workers should be well-briefed and prepared, particularly in conflict areas, believe both Griffen and Ades-Mevel.

Media organizations must be sure to adopt safety protocols, allocate enough resources to protect journalists, and ensure proper training of journalists, Griffen says.

"In the case of Ukraine, for example, it is very important that journalists are equipped with helmets or jackets," Ades-Mevel points out, and adds that Reporters Without Borders has provided some such equipment there.

Unfortunately, that did not help Abu Akleh, who, according to Al Jazeera, was wearing a press vest and a helmet when she was fatally shot.

"She was an icon, a famous journalist," says Ades-Mevel. "She is a symbol for lots of journalists in the world — and not only in the Middle East, but absolutely everywhere."

"The whole community of journalists is mourning."

Edited by: Stephanie Burnett

Delhi: Protest Held Against ‘Dastardly’ Killing of Journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by Israel

The Palestinian-American Al Jazeera journalist was shot in “cold blood” by an Israeli sniper while covering a raid on a refugee camp in Jenin on Thursday.

Ravi Kaushal
13 May 2022



New Delhi: Terming it as “dastardly”, citizen groups in the national capital assembled at Connaught Place here on Friday to protest the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

The protest, under the banner of All India Peace and Solidarity Organisation (AIPSO), saw the participation of students, women, political and peace activists. The protesters alleged that Israeli occupation forces deliberately targeted Shireen because she had shown successfully how the Israeli army had uprooted Arab people from their land and grabbed their precious resources.

Shireen, 51, who worked for Qatar-based news network, Al Jazeera, was shot in "in cold blood" in the head during the unrest in the Jenin refugee camp, the channel said on Thursday.

Ayub Khan, a peace activist told NewsClick that the murder should be condemned in the strongest words. “We are organising this protest at a very short notice. We came here to highlight that India should condemn this murder because it has adopted a foreign policy which advocates end to arms race. Besides being land grabber, Israel has played a pivotal role in destabilising world peace and the latest murder of journalist is only one part of it,” he told NewsClick.

R Arun Kumar, head, international relations department of Communist Party of India (Marxist), said that the protest becomes relevant in India because like Shireen, different governments have slapped charges like UAPA against journalists and put them behind bars. “The common thread between India and Israel punishing journalists remains sharing of repressive ideologies of Hindutva and Zionism. Rulers in both countries are bound by their hatred for Muslims. I think extending solidarity to Palestine is a legacy of our freedom struggles and we must reiterate it today,” he said.

Utkarsh Kumar, a student of Global Studies from Ambedkar University said Shireen was reportedly killed by a sniper of Israeli Occupation Forces even when she was wearing a press vest on duty. “For me, it is particularly important to express our anguish because governments across the world have been prosecuting journalists who have been reporting against their them. The ‘bulldozer politics’ that we talk nowadays in our country has its origins in Israel where government demolished the homes of innocent Palestinians who resisted its occupation. Through this protest, we convey our anguish to all oppressors that it will not be tolerated,” he said.

In press statement, AIPSO said an impartial enquiry must be conducted into Shireen’s killing and exemplary punishment must be given to those responsible for this brutal assassination.

“Shireen Abu Akleh, a US citizen, is considered as an ‘icon of Palestinian coverage’. She reported to the world with honesty the brutal deeds of the Israeli occupation forces and the atrocities they commit on Palestinians. This made her a target of the Israeli attack. It is heinous that instead of accepting its responsibility, the Israeli defence forces are laying the blame on Palestinians for the killing – which was rubbished as a blatant lie by the journalists on the ground,” the statement read.

Appalled by the killing, United Nations General Secretary Antonio Gutterres has asked the relevant authorities to carry out “an independent and transparent investigation into this incident and ensure that those responsible are held accountable.”

In a statement, the Secretary-General condemned ”all attacks and killings of journalists and stresses that journalists must never be the target of violence. Media workers should be able to carry out their work freely and without harassment, intimidation or the fear of being targeted.”

The statement added that attack on Abu Akleh has to be seen in the background of the increasing attacks on journalists taking place in many places whenever the ruling forces are bothered with the true representation of facts.

The organisers of the protest in Delhi said:”India too is a witness to such increasing attacks on journalists carried out by Right-wing, authoritarian forces. Hence it is not coincidental that the Zionist forces that killed Abu Akleh and Hindutva communal forces in India leading the attacks on journalists, share deep ideological affinity and friendship. This makes it all the more necessary for Indian people to express indignation at the brutal assassination of Akleh.”

Indian Journalists Write to Israeli PM, Condemn ‘Murder’ of Al Jazeera Reporter

Urging the Israeli PM to strongly condemn both incidents, the Indian journalists demanded an independent investigation to ensure that Akleh gets justice

Newsclick Report
16 May 2022



A group of senior Indian journalists have written to Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett condemning the 'murder' of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by Israeli forces. Akleh, an American-Palestinian, was shot dead in the occupied West Bank while reporting on a raid by Israeli forces, according to Al Jazeera.

The letter mentioned that Akleh, a long-time TV correspondent for Al Jazeera Arabic, was wearing a press vest and was standing with other journalists when she was killed. It said that the journalist’s death underlined the Israeli government's inability to accept independent journalism.It also condemned the Israeli police attacking the pallbearers of the casket at Akleh’s funeral procession and said it come from an environment of impunity where Israeli military targets Palestinians at will.

Urging the PM to strongly condemn both incidents, the Indian journalists demanded an independent investigation to ensure that Akleh gets justice and such targeted attacks and killings are stopped. Read the full letter here:

To

Mr. Naftali Bennett, Prime Minister of Israel, Tel Aviv,

Israel

Through

Mr. Naor Gilon,

Ambassador of Israel to India, New Delhi,

India 16.05.2022

Dear Mr Prime Minister,

We, Indian journalists, are writing to you to express our strong condemnation of the 'murder' of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh who was shot in the face while she was reporting a raid by Israeli soldiers from Jenin. The shocking assassination -- described as such by Al Jazeera -- again underlines your government's inability to accept independent journalism that speaks the truth.

Akleh was known for her independent reporting. She was killed by an Israeli sniper, according to Al Jazeera, even though she was wearing a helmet and body armour marked "Press". Shireen Akleh was standing with other journalists when she was shot in the face. An Al Jazeera producer was shot in the back but survived.

We are also amazed that despite the worldwide condemnation, Israeli police were again directed to stop her funeral procession. And resorted to violence when the Palestinians tried to move forward, with videos recording the brutal attack on the pallbearers that made them nearly drop the casket. The videos also record the police beating and kicking the mourners. We understand that some kind of enquiry has been ordered, as well as an investigation as to whether the well known journalist was shot from an Israeli army jeep.

This attack comes from a deliberately created environment of impunity, where the Palestinians are targetted by Israeli military at will, and the journalists pay the price for independent reportage. We expect strong condemnation from you Sir, as well as a transparent investigation by an independent authority to ensure that she gets justice in death, and that more such targeted attacks and killings are stopped.

Signatories (all are senior journalists from different parts of India):

Abid Shah A.Amaraiah

Amit Prakash Singh
Amit Sengupta
Amitabh Srivastava Amitabha Roychowdhury Amita Verma

Ammu Joseph

Ajaz Ashraf

Ajoy Ashirwad

Anand Sahay

Ananth Nath

Anil Chamadia

Anjali Deshpande

Antara Dev Sen

Anuradha Bhasin

Ashlin Mathew

Bobby Naqvi

Bharat Bhushan

Bharat Sharma Chandrakant Deepak Parvatiyar

Dhanya Rajendran G.Anjaneyulu

Geetha Seshu

Jawed Naqvi

Jigeesh AM

John Cherian

John Dayal

John Thomas

Jyoti Malhotra

Jyoti Punwani

Muniraj

K.Murali

K.A.Shaji

Karuna John

Kavitha Muralidharan

Keya Acharya

K.S.Dakshina Murthy Kumkum Chadha

Kunal Shankar

Kuldeep Kumar

Latha Jishnu

Laxmi Murthy

Madhavan Narayanan Mandira Nayyar

Mannika Chopra

Masoom Moradabadi Meghnad Bose

Mehru Jaffer

Mrinal Pande

Mukesh Kumar

Murali Krishnan

A.Ravooth


N.Kondaiah

Neelam Jeena

Nikita Sharma

Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay

Nirmala Ganapathy Nivedita Jha

Padmaja Shaw

Pamela Philipose Pankaj Srivastava

Paranjoy Guha Thakurta

Paromita S.

Parsa Venkateshwar Rao

Jr. Patricia Mukhim

Poornima Joshi Prakash Dube

Preeti Mehra

Purnima Tripathi

Raghu Karnad

Rahul Bedi

Rajashri Dasgupta Rajalakshmi

Rajeev Khanna

Rathin Das

Rashme Sehgal

Revati Laul

Rita Anand

Rita Manchanda Rukmani Anandani Sandhya Ravishankar Satish Mishra

Seema Chishti

Seema Mustafa

Shaikh Azizur Rahman Sharda Ugra

Shastri Ramachandaran Shobhna Jain

Shubha Singh

Shiv Inder Singh

S.K. Pande

Soma Basu

Sonal Kellogg

Smita Gupta

Sucheta Dalal

Sujata Madhok

Sujata Shakeel

Sujata Raghavan

Sukumar Muralidharan Sunita Aron

Suresh Bafna

Tanushree Gangopadhyay

Teesta Setalvad

Tripta Batra

Uma Kant Lakhera

Urmilesh

V.Sreenivasa Rao Vaishna Roy

Venkat Parsa Venkatesh Kesari

Vidya Subrahmaniam Vijay Lokapally

Vinod Sharma

Vivian Fernandes Wadood Sajid

EXPLAINER: White 'replacement theory' fuels racist attacks

NEW YORK (AP) — A racist ideology seeping from the internet's fringes into the mainstream is being investigated as a motivating factor in the supermarket shooting that killed 10 people in Buffalo, New York. Most of the victims were Black.

Ideas from the “great replacement theory" filled a racist screed supposedly posted online by the white 18-year-old accused of targeting Black people in Saturday's rampage. Authorities were still working to confirm its authenticity.

Certainly, there was no mistaking the racist intent of the shooter.

WHAT IS THE ‘GREAT REPLACEMENT THEORY'?

Simply put, the conspiracy theory says there's a plot to diminish the influence of white people.

Believers say this goal is being achieved both through the immigration of nonwhite people into societies that have largely been dominated by white people, as well as through simple demographics, with white people having lower birth rates than other populations.

The conspiracy theory's more racist adherents believe Jews are behind the so-called replacement plan: White nationalists marching at a Charlottesville, Virginia, rally that turned deadly in 2017 chanted “You will not replace us!” and “Jews will not replace us!”

A more mainstream view in the U.S. baselessly suggests Democrats are encouraging immigration from Latin America so more like-minded potential voters replace “traditional” Americans, says Mark Pitcavage, senior research fellow at the Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism.

WHAT ARE THIS CONSPIRACY THEORY'S ORIGINS?

How long has racism existed? Broadly speaking, the roots of this “theory” are that deep. In the U.S., you can point to efforts to intimidate and discourage Black people from voting — or, in antagonists' view, “replacing” white voters at the polls — that date to the Reconstruction era, after the 15th Amendment made clear suffrage couldn't be restricted on account of race.

In the modern era, most experts point to two influential books. “The Turner Diaries,” a 1978 novel written by William Luther Pierce under the pseudonym Andrew Macdonald, is about a violent revolution in the United States with a race war that leads to the extermination of nonwhites.

The FBI called it a “bible of the racist right,” says Kurt Braddock, an American University professor and researcher at the Polarization and Extremism Research & Innovation Lab.

Renaud Camus, a French writer, published a 2011 book claiming that Europe was being invaded by Black and brown immigrants from Africa. He called the book “Le Grand Replacement,” and a conspiracy's name was born.

Related video: The mainstreaming of the "Great Replacement" theory (MSNBC)



WHO ARE ITS ADHERENTS?

To some of the more extreme believers, certain white supremacist mass killers — at a Norway summer camp in 2011, two Christchurch, New Zealand, mosques in 2019, a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018, a Black church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015 — are considered saints, Pitcavage says.

Those “accelerationist white supremacists” believe small societal changes won't achieve much, so the only option is tearing down society, he says.

The Buffalo shooter’s purported written diatribe and some of the methods indicate he closely studied the Christchurch shooter — particularly the effort to livestream his rampage. According to apparent screenshots from the Buffalo broadcast, the shooter inscribed the number 14 on his gun, which Pitcavage says is shorthand for a 14-word white supremacist slogan.

A written declaration by the Christchurch shooter was widely spread online. If the message attributed to the Buffalo shooter proves authentic, it's designed to also spread his philosophy and methods to a large audience.

IS THE THEORY MAKING WIDER INROADS?

While more virulent forms of racism are widely abhorred, experts are concerned about extreme views nonetheless becoming mainstream.

In a poll released last week, The Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that about 1 in 3 Americans believe an effort is underway to replace U.S.-born Americans with immigrants for electoral gain.

On a regular basis, many adherents to the more extreme versions of the “great replacement” theory converse through encrypted apps online. They tend to be careful. They know they’re being watched.

“They are very clever,” Braddock says. “They don’t make overt calls to arms.”

WHO'S TALKING UP THIS THEORY?

In particular, Tucker Carlson, Fox News’ most popular personality, has pushed false views that are more easily embraced by some white people who are concerned about a loss of their political and social power.

“I know that the left and all the gatekeepers on Twitter become literally hysterical if you use the term ‘replacement,’ if you suggest the Democratic Party is trying to replace the current electorate, the voters now casting ballots, with new people, more obedient voters from the Third World,” he said on his show last year. “But they become hysterical because that's what's happening, actually, let's just say it. That's true.”

A study of five years' worth of Carlson's show by The New York Times found 400 instances where he talked about Democratic politicians and others seeking to force demographic change through immigration.

Fox News defended the host, pointing to repeated statements that Carlson has made denouncing political violence of all kinds.

The attention paid by many Republican politicians to what they see as a leaky southern border along the United States has been interpreted, at least by some, as a nod to the concern of white people who worry about being “replaced.”

House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik's campaign committee was criticized last year for an advertisement that said “radical Democrats” were planning a “permanent election insurrection” by granting amnesty to undocumented immigrants who would create a permanent liberal majority in Washington. Stefanik represents a New York district.

Pitcavage says he's concerned about the message Carlson and supporters are sending: “It actually introduces the ‘great replacement theory’ to a conservative audience in an easier-to-swallow pill."

___

David Bauder, The Associated Press

SEE 

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2022/05/buffalo-shooters-manifesto-shows-folly.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2022/05/blatantly-racist-element-of-society-is.html

'We are ascendant!' Steve Bannon addresses 'replacement theory' after Buffalo shooting
David Edwards
May 16, 2022

Real America's Voice/screen grab

Conservative podcaster Steve Bannon on Monday vowed not to back down in promoting a racist conspiracy theory that was allegedly cited by suspected Buffalo gunman Payton Gendron.

On his daily War Room: Pandemic podcast, Bannon insisted reports about the "replacement theory" were meant to distract the public. Bannon has previously promoted a French book that inspired the theory, which claims that white citizens are being replaced by immigrants.

"Of course, all of the morning shows are all over Tucker Carlson and a few others about the replacement theory," Bannon complained. "They seem to miss the point. And here's what we're not going to back off on. For people who have followed this show from day one, we are inclusive nationalists. Right?"

"OK? So, this is not about race," he continued. "This is about American citizenship! This is about the value of your citizens."

Bannon said that he was "not backing off one inch" despite the shooting.

"This is why we're going to take over every elections board in the nation," he remarked. "This is why we're going to take over every medical board in this nation. This is why we're going to take over state legislatures and D.A.s and attorney generals [sic] and secretaries of state and governors. And we're not going to stop. We are ascendant!"

Watch the video below from Real America's Voice.

Tory leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre denounces 'white replacement theory'

BUT LIKE ALL CONSERVATIVES HE STILL REMAINS RACIST 

OTTAWA — Pierre Poilievre, a high-profile contender in the Conservative party's leadership race, onMonday denounced the "white replacement theory," which was believed to be a motive for a mass shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., as "ugly and disgusting hate-mongering."


 leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre denounces 'white replacement theory'

In a statement provided to The Canadian Press,the longtime Ottawa MP, who has been attracting massive crowds as he campaigns across the country, condemned the attack, in which police say a white gunman shot up a supermarket in a majority Black neighbourhood, killing 10 people and wounding three others.

U.S. law enforcement is investigating the shooter's online posts, which include the conspiracy theory that there’s a plot to diminish the influence of white people.

Believers say so-called "white replacement" is being achieved both through immigration and demographics, with white people having lower birth rates than other populations, and some claim this has been orchestrated by Jews.

Poilievre was responding to a tweet by fellow leadership contestant Patrick Brown pointing out that Pat King, a leader of the February "Freedom Convoy"that clogged up the streets surrounding Parliament Hill for weeks, which Poilievre and many other Conservative MPs supported, has spread the conspiracy theory online.

Brown called on his rival to "condemn this hate."

"For Patrick Brown to use this atrocity is sleazy — even for him,"Poilievre said in his statement Monday. "I supported the peaceful and law-abiding truckers who protested for their livelihoods and freedoms while simultaneously condemning any individuals who broke laws, behaved badly or blocked critical infrastructure.

"I also condemn Pat King and his ugly remarks."

In response to Poilievre's remarks, a spokesman for Brown accused him of "reluctantly giving a statement when asked, rather than shouting denunciation from every platform you have."

"Flirting with these dangerous elements does a disservice to the vast majority of Conservative Party members and will cost us the next election if it is allowed to stand,'" Chisholm Pothier wrote.

Interim Conservative leader Candice Bergen also issued a statement Monday calling racism repugnant.

"The ‘white-replacement’ conspiracy theory is peddled by racists and bigots, Conservatives unequivocally condemn this kind of thinking," she said.

Bergen went on to say that "while Canadians are free to protest and demonstrate, that does not include illegally blocking or occupying infrastructure, nor does it include illegal hate-speech.”

How much support each of the six Conservative leadership candidates running for Erin O'Toole's former job showed to the protesters who descended on the nation's capital as part of the convoy has been a reoccurring feature of the race.

Poilievre discussed his position on the demonstration – which was characterized by local police and political leaders as an occupation – during an hour-and-a-half interview with controversial Canadian psychology professor and bestselling author Jordan Peterson, which aired Monday.

In the interview, which was conducted virtually, Poilievre defended the protest near Parliament Hill as a mostly peaceful endeavour, saying he believed truckers who travelled there would have left had Trudeau acquiesced and removed the federal mandates.

"The media depiction was total nonsense. If you watched it on television you would think that it was Armageddon," Poilievre told Peterson, pointing out MPs who condemned the protest were not blocked from accessing the Hose of Commons.

"It was peaceful. It was most of the time sort of a jubilant-type celebration."

Poilievre did, however, acknowledge the pain it caused to some businesses. Some in the area decided to close during the convoy for reasons that included protesters flouting public health rules and reports of staff being harassed.

"Some businesses were inconvenienced and lost money. They should be compensated."

Poilievre suggested he's also looking at proposing changes to the federal Emergencies Act, telling Peterson he was consulting with legal scholars around curtailing its use, which Conservatives contend was unnecessary to dismantle the Ottawa protest.

Peterson rose to fame after refusing to call trans students by their preferred pronouns and opposing transgender human rights legislation.

These topics were not discussed in his wide-ranging interview with Poilievre, which covered everything from the MP's burgeoning interest in conservativism as a teenager in Calgary and having a sense of humour in politics, to his pledge to defund the CBC and insights into why his rallies were drawing such large crowds.

After the interview aired, fellow Conservative leadership candidates Leslyn Lewis and Roman Baber said on Twitter that they too wanted to be interviewed by Peterson.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 16, 2022.

-- With files from The Associated Press

Stephanie Taylor, The Canadian Press

Canada must confront white supremacist ‘trash’ after racist Buffalo shooting: experts

Saba Aziz and Abigail Bimman - TODAY
Global News

Canadian racism, homegrown extremism also in focus after Buffalo mass shooting

© AP Photo/Matt Rourke

People embrace outside the scene of a shooting at a supermarket a day earlier, in Buffalo, N.Y., Sunday, May 15, 2022. The shooting is the latest example of something that's been part of U.S. history since the beginning: targeted racial violence.

A deadly mass shooting in the United States over the weekend has heightened concerns about anti-Black racism and hate crime in Canada, with Canadian government officials and experts calling for stricter measures to clamp down on extreme white supremacist groups.

The Saturday afternoon shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y., that killed at least 10 people is being investigated as a federal hate crime and a case of racially-motivated violent extremism.

Read more:

Buffalo mass shooting: How should platforms respond to violent livestreams?

The bloodshed in Buffalo has highlighted racism south of the border, but similar hatred exists in Canada as well, Canadian MPs say.

“What our American friends should know is that they are not alone, that Canada is not immune from these challenges,” said Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino.

“So we have to do more to eliminate gun violence, and we also have to do more to eradicate racism, which has no place in our society,” he told Global News in Ottawa on Monday.

Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller said even though Canada has more stringent gun laws and lower gun holding than the U.S., he was worried about threats on Canadian soil.

“White supremacist extreme groups are the biggest domestic terrorist threat in this country, and we still make excuses for them. So I think that's a challenge we need to be focusing on every day,” he told Global News.

Police-reported data shows hate crimes are on the rise in Canada.

According to a Statistics Canada report released in March, there was a 37-per cent increase in hate crimes across the country during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Black and Jewish people were the most targeted groups, representing 26 per cent and 13 per cent of all hate crimes, respectively, StatCan reported.

Read more:

Buffalo mass shooting was act of domestic terrorism, attorney for victim’s family says

Since 2014, seven attacks on Canadian soil have killed 26 people and wounded 40 others due to ideologically motivated violent extremism, according to the most recent report by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) published in March.

Right-wing extremism and terrorism is an international movement that includes groups in Canada, said Mubin Shaikh, a counter-extremism specialist and professor of public safety at Seneca College.

“Canada's far, far better than any other context, but … we still have trash in our yard as well,” he told Global News.

Barbara Perry, a researcher with the Canadian Network for Research on Terrorism, Security, and Society, said there has been a “really dramatic increase” in far-right activism since 2015.

She said her team has identified 300 active right-wing hate groups in Canada, but there are likely tens of thousands of more people drawn to the movement without being affiliated with a group.

“This is the really frightening thing and, I think, surprising thing is that proportionately, if we just talk about the number of groups, it's very similar to the U.S.”

Some organizers of the so-called “Freedom Convoy” that paralyzed the nation’s capital for three weeks have well-documented ties to white supremacists, and there were multiple instances of Nazi flags, Confederate flags and Canadian flags marred by swastikas flown by individuals in the crowd during the demonstrations.

Video: Three generations of Muslim women reflect on hate in Canada

Meanwhile, there are growing concerns about Islamophobia, anti-Muslim hate crimes and discrimination in light of recent events in Ontario and Quebec.

In June 2021, a man intentionally rammed his truck at a Pakistani Muslim family in London, Ont., while they were out for an evening walk, killing four members of the family. A nine-year-old boy was the lone survivor.

In January 2017, six men were killed and 19 others seriously injured in a shooting at mosque in Quebec City.

Confronting extremism in wake of Buffalo mass shooting

CBC

Mubin Shaikh, professor of public safety at Toronto’s Seneca College, talks about his reaction to the alleged motives in the Buffalo mass shooting and what can be done to prevent extremist ideas from turning into violence.

The “great replacement theory” is believed to be a motive in the Buffalo shooting.

It is a racist and antisemitic conspiracy theory about a plot to diminish the influence of white people through immigration.

The theory’s more racist adherents believe Jews are behind the so-called replacement plan.

Read more:

What is white replacement theory? Police probe conspiracy’s role in Buffalo shooting

Ottawa convoy organizer Pat King has espoused that theory in past videos posted online.

In 2021, Canada experienced another record-setting year for antisemitic incidents, with over 733 per cent increase of violent incidents, according to a recent report by Jewish advocacy group B’nai Brith Canada.

In 2020, Jews were the biggest target of hate crimes against religious minorities in the country, StatCan reported.

Marvin Rotrand, national director of B’nai Brith’s League of Human Rights, said the government needs to step up to the plate.

“Clearly, Canada's got to look at hate online and how it can better regulate that,” he told Global News.

Video: Buffalo supermarket shooting: US politicians call for more action on gun control, violent extremism

The Liberals tabled Bill C-36, an anti-hate law, at the tail end of the last Parliament in June 2021, but that died when the federal election was called two months later.

Rotrand said Canada is falling behind European countries when it comes to hate laws.

“We can't sit back and say ‘we're different than the United States, we're not going to have the same thing happen here,'" he said. "It could happen here and … we need to be vigilant."

Read more:

Extremism, hateful rhetoric becoming ‘normalized’ in Canada, spy agency head warns

CSIS says it is boosting resources dedicated to investigating and analyzing ideologically motivated violent extremist threats.

Speaking at the University of British Columbia earlier this month, CSIS director David Vigneault warned the combination of major disruptive events like the COVID-19 pandemic, the ever-increasing influence of social media and the spread of conspiracy theories has created an environment open to exploitation by influencers and extremists.

Under Pressure: Tucker Carlson’s Debunked Conspiracy Theory Cited By Buffalo Shooting Suspect

MSNBC

A white gunman walked into a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, and killed 10 people in the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. so far this year. Almost all of the victims are Black and the FBI is investigating the shooting as a federal hate crime. MSNBC’s Ari Melber discusses the tragedy and how “Replacement Theory” contributes to incidents of violence like this, saying “this weekend another person has drawn on this conspiracy theory… this time committing a mass murder.”

In the House of Commons on Monday, NDP MP Peter Julien introduced a unanimous consent motion to condemn the Buffalo shooter, extend condolences to the victims, and reaffirm commitment to confront racism and white supremacy. This was followed by a moment of silence.

While that was a symbolic gesture, MPs admit stronger measures are needed to tackle the root cause of the problem.

“We have to take this more seriously than we ever have,” said Transport Minister Omar Alghabra.

— with files from David Baxter, The Associated Press and The Canadian Press

Inukjuak men's association teaching the next generation of Inuit hunters

INUKJUAK, Que. — Elder Simeonie Ohaituk sits on a caribou skin on the floor of the Unaaq Men’s Association in Inukjuak, Que., pulling and cutting a stretchy, cylindrical piece of sealskin.

He makes smooth, even cuts, the length of rope piling up on the ground as he pulls and another elder stretches and turns the sealskin over and over. It’s a two-man job, he says, requiring an even stretch each time.

The skin has been carefully cleaned of fat and fur by another elder using an uluk, a woman’s knife with a distinct crescent moon shape.

Ohaituk explains what he’s doing in Inuktitut with Charlie Nowkawalk translating his words into English as about a dozen young boys crowd around to watch.

Within minutes, the patch of skin is a rope more than 30 feet long, consistently the width of a thumbnail. It can be tied in knots before it’s dried into a hardened line that’s strong enough to haul a bearded seal, which weigh up to 800 pounds, from under the ice.

This used to be the only way Inuit could make rope strong enough for hunting and pulling dogsleds. It was also, Ohaituk says, a good excuse for men to spend time together.

“We really admire our elders,” said Tommy Palliser, assistant manager of the men’s association. “They tell us stories about how it has been before and you really can’t learn that anywhere else.”

These elders — men and women — are passing their skills on to young men in Inukjuak, ensuring they have the knowledge to hunt, fish and live on the land.

“We certainly sleep better, knowing that we are helping to provide some time and space for these young men to grow,” Palliser said.

“It makes us very proud, and also humble.”

Unaaq was formed after a number of young men died by suicide in the late 1990s and early 2000s. At a community meeting to talk about the social issues, Nowkawalk said, the women of Inukjuak asked the men, “What are you doing to help?”

It’s precisely this kind of work Mary Simon wanted to highlight during her weeklong visit to Nunavik, which ended Friday. It was a homecoming for the Governor General, who spent time in Kuujjuaq, where she went to school and returned to live as an adult, and Kangiqsualujjuaq, where she was born and close to where her father ran outfitting camps.

The stops along the way were intended to showcase resiliency, reclamation of language and culture, and community-driven solutions to some of the challenges of living in the North.

At the Unaaq Men’s Association, Palliser’s son Ray Berthe said he has been part of the group since he was 12.

“I really want to learn my culture and pass it on to the next generation, start teaching them,” he said.

Berthe, 20, is one of the young men bringing dogsled teams back to Nunavik. His seven-dog team is led by a husky named Sakkuq, which he explains means “bullet” in Inuktitut.

They’re fed a traditional diet as much as possible. Local hunters ensure they have enough to eat by providing scraps of caribou and seal.

Asked what they’ve taught him, Berthe smiles and says, “hard work.”

Dogs have been an important part of life in the North for more than a thousand years.

Dogsleds enabled people to travel further and faster, stretching out hunting and trapping territory. The Canadian Inuit dog is a unique breed descended from the dogs domesticated by the Thule, ancestors of the Inuit. It’s estimated there were 10,000 to 20,000 living in the North in the 1920s, but by the late 1960s the species was extinct.

Tens of thousands of dogs were slaughtered, mainly by the RCMP, under laws that prohibited them from being allowed to run loose. The loss of this important means of transportation was devastating to the Inuit, who were cut off from hunting, trapping and fishing grounds and confined to year-round communities.

In 2019, the Canadian government apologized to the Inuit and committed to funding a sled dog revitalization program.

“Vehicles nowadays, they always have problems,” said Berthe, who recently completed a mechanics course in Kuujjuaq. “But dogs, we don’t need parts or any gas.”

In 2018, Unaaq was awarded a $500,000 Arctic Inspiration Prize to continue its work.

Palliser said they want to get the word out about Unaaq, in the hopes other communities across the Arctic will form men’s groups of their own. That's already happened in two Nunavik communities.

Throughout the Governor General’s journey through Nunavik, she was greeted by cheering crowds. People hugged her and shook her hand, and said how proud they were of her achievements. Teachers, students, elders and organizers called her a role model.

At school visits, Simon told students how important it is to finish their education. She answered their questions — everything from her favourite colour, to whether she’s hunted caribou, to why she accepted her current post.

She told them about her experience with discrimination and talked about her hopes for the next generation of Inuit. Self-determination is the next step toward ending the reliance on fly-in workers from the south, she said, and instead filling the northern labour force with Inuit who have the skills and education needed.

“We need to decide what kind of governing system there’s going to be, and then identify where the gaps might be,” she said in an interview

On a personal level, Simon was able to reconnect with family on this trip.

At the Avataq Cultural Institute in Inukjuak, she said she was “very touched” to be given a copy of her own family tree, tracing back generations of ancestors even she didn’t know of.

"It's been a wonderful experience and feeling of coming home again," Simon said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 13, 2022.

Sarah Ritchie, The Canadian Press

MANITOBA
Flood mitigation in Peguis a complex issue say governments

Dave Baxter Local Journalism Initiative reporter - Friday, May 13,2022

Winnipeg Sun

The federal government says it has made “significant investments” in recent years to reduce the risk of flooding and flood-related damage in the Peguis First Nation, despite the fact the community continues to have no permanent flood protection and has faced flooding five times in the last 16 years.


Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu said on May 6 in Ottawa that the feds will be looking into the issue of flooding in Peguis, now that the community has dealt with its fifth flood in the last 16 years.

Peguis, a First Nations community located more than 150 kilometres north of Winnipeg, continues to deal with devastating flooding this week from the overflowing banks of the Fisher River, and as of Friday, more than 1,900 residents of the community had been evacuated, with many now living out of hotel rooms in Winnipeg and other southern Manitoba communities.

This year’s flood in Peguis, which is Manitoba’s largest First Nations community, and is home to more than 3,500 on-reserve residents, follows previous floods in the community in 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2014.

On Friday, an Indigenous Services Canada spokesperson confirmed to the Winnipeg Sun that the federal government and the province split the cost of a study that was undertaken in 2006 that looked at the reasons for flooding in Peguis and to determine what permanent solutions could be undertaken to mitigate flooding risks in the community.

“In 2006, Canada and Manitoba provided approximately $3.1 million, cost-shared 50-50, for a study undertaken by AECOM Canada to examine the causes of flooding on the Fisher River, and flood protection options for Peguis First Nation,” the spokesperson said.

According to the spokesperson, the study put forth several options for improving flood protection in Peguis, including an option to construct a flood diversion channel, and another to build a series of dikes.

But as of this spring, there continues to be no permanent flood protection in Peguis.

“We have asked for a diversion (channel). We have asked for ring diking. We have asked for elevated roads … but nothing has occurred,” Peguis First Nation Chief Glenn Hudson said in a recent media interview.


© FilePeguis 

First Nation Chief Glenn Hudson said in a recent interview that the community has been asking for permanent flood protection for years, but that so far “nothing has occurred.” Winnipeg Sun file

When asked why none of the possible options listed in the report have been acted upon, the spokesperson would only say that, “the AECOM Canada study concluded mitigation measures were possible, but would likely cost several hundred million dollars, and would likely not prevent all types of flooding such as overland flooding.”

Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) is also saying that they have made what they say are “significant investments” into flood mitigation efforts in Peguis.

“Since 2015, ISC has invested $3,073,243 to assist Peguis First Nation with flood-fighting preparation and response. This includes activities such as sandbagging, ditch clearing, culvert steaming, snow removal, and pumping of water,” the spokesperson said.

“Since 2015, ISC also invested $3,564,159 for long-term flood mitigation at Peguis including wells and septic field protection, repairs for dikes around vulnerable structures, sump pumps, and road inspections.”

In comments made by Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu on May 6 in Ottawa, the minister said that the feds will be looking into the issue of flooding in Peguis, now that the community has dealt with yet another flood.

“There is a history of flooding in this community, and we have some important work to do once we get through this crisis period to talk about the future of supporting Peguis in resiliency efforts,” Hajdu said.

The Winnipeg Sun also reached out to the province asking for comment on the 2006 study and the continued lack of permanent flood protection in Peguis, and in an email, a provincial spokesperson said “this lies with the federal government as they are the decision-makers with First Nations.”

The spokesperson did claim that this spring’s flooding in Peguis will likely lead to “reviews” of the community’s flood mitigation infrastructure by the province, once the floodwaters have receded.

“The levels on the Fisher River this year have reached record levels, and the issues in this area are very complex, and therefore would require flood infrastructure to meet the needs of those complexities,” the province said. “This spring’s run-off event will prompt further reviews and will have to be done post-flood with the First Nation and surrounding communities and with the federal government.

“The province will work in collaboration with communities and the federal government to assist them in providing long-term flood mitigation improvements.”

— With files from the Canadian Press