NO EXPLANATION NEEDED
Family of fallen January 6 officer explains snubbing McConnell and McCarthy: 'This is an integrity issue'

Story by Chandelis Duster • 

The family of fallen US Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick said Wednesday that snubbing GOP leaders during a congressional gold medal ceremony was not for partisan reasons, but an “integrity issue.”

“We were talking about saying something and then we said, ‘No, I think the best way is to just ignore them.’ And we had no idea it was going to blow up like this. We just – we really didn’t. And I’m glad it did because I think it made them think about what they do,” Gladys Sicknick, Brian’s mother, said on “CNN This Morning.”

“Just sitting in the senators’ offices and looking at the pictures of their families behind them and thinking, ‘You know, what do they do when they go home? What do they say to their children and their grandchildren when they go home? You know, what kind of country is this going to be? Do they really want them to live in a country of their making?’” Gladys Sicknick said.

Craig Sicknick, one of Brian’s brothers, said snubbing the lawmakers was not hard to do.

“I really do not hold respect for people who have no integrity. Which is what – this is not a partisan issue, this is an integrity issue. They took an oath to defend and uphold the Constitution. And when somebody challenges it, like Trump, they do nothing,” Craig Sicknick said. “Their silence is deafening. Or worse they keep perpetrating the same policies and lies that caused the insurrection to happen.”



Gladys Sicknick, the mother of the late Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, attends a ceremony to award the Congressional Gold Medal to the United States Capitol Police, the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police and the heroes of January 6th, in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on Tuesday, December 6, 2022. Sicknick died of two strokes a day after defending the Capitol from rioters on January 6th, 2021.

 (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images) 

On Tuesday, Brian Sicknick and other law enforcement with the US Capitol Police and the DC Metropolitan Police Department were honored with the Congressional Gold Medal – the highest honor Congress can bestow – for defending the US Capitol during the January 6 insurrection. Sicknick suffered strokes and died of natural causes one day after the insurrection and suffered strokes. When accepting the gold medal on his behalf, Sicknick’s family refused to shake hands with either Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell or House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy.

Gladys Sicknick previously told CNN she didn’t shake their hands because, “They’re just two-faced.”

“I’m just tired of them standing there and saying how wonderful the Capitol Police is and then they turn around and … go down to Mar-a-Lago and kiss his ring and come back and stand here and sit with – it just, it just hurts,” she said, referring to former President Donald Trump.

McConnell in the past has criticized Trump and condemned him for actions during the January 6 insurrection, while McCarthy has visited the former president at his Mar-a-Lago estate several times.

The Senate minority leader was asked about the snub and told reporters after the ceremony on Tuesday, “I would respond by saying today we gave the gold medal to the heroes of January 6. We admire and respect them. They laid their lives on the line and that’s why we gave a gold medal today to the heroes of January 6.”

Asked if she had a message for McConnell and McCarthy, Gladys Sicknick told CNN on Wednesday, “I just don’t know how they can stand there and talk to the press, talk to the cameras and say what they do knowing what they’ve done in the past.”

CNN’s Daniella Diaz and Kristin Wilson contributed to this report.

MISDIRECTED REACTIONARY PROTEST
Anti-war protesters in Italy denounce La Scala for staging Russian opera

Story by By Sara Rossi • 


Italy's La Scala opens its 2022-23 season in Milan© Thomson Reuters

MILAN (Reuters) - Anti-war protesters demonstrated outside Milan's La Scala theatre on Wednesday before it opened its 2022-2023 opera season with a gala performance of the Russian work "Boris Godunov".


Italy's La Scala opens its 2022-23 season in Milan© Thomson Reuters

Around 20 people waved the Ukrainian flag and held up placards denouncing Russian President Vladimir Putin for the invasion of Ukraine in February.

"Russia must be isolated. We want to be free," said Tatiana Slyusarenko, who is originally from the Ukrainian town of Irpin and has been living in Italy since 2005. She is now hosting her cousin who escaped Irpin when the war broke out.


Italy's La Scala opens its 2022-23 season in Milan© Thomson Reuters

She questioned why La Scala had not changed its programme over the nine months since the war began.

"Russian culture only when the war is over," read one of the placards.

La Scala artistic director Dominique Meyer last month defended its decision to stage the work, written by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky in the 19th century, after protests from Ukrainian exile groups.

Meyer said the programme was drawn up three years ago and it could not be viewed as pro-Putin propaganda.

Climate-change activists had earlier thrown paint at the entrance to the famed opera house ahead of the opening night, a highlight of the Italian cultural calendar.

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, President Sergio Mattarella and the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen were all expected to attend the performance.



Italy's La Scala opens its 2022-23 season in Milan© Thomson Reuters

The three-hour opera, based on a play by Russian writer Alexander Pushkin, recounts the story of Tsar Boris Godunov who went mad and died overwhelmed by guilt over the killing of a young rival for the throne in the late 16th century.



Italy's La Scala opens its 2022-23 season in Milan© Thomson Reuters

(Reporting by Sara Rossi; Writing by Keith Weir, editing by Gavin Jones and Crispian Balmer)

 Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin 

(English: /ˈpʊʃkɪn/;^[1] Russian: Александр Сергеевич Пушкин^{[note 1]}, tr. Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, IPA: [ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn] (listen); 6 June [O.S. 26 May] 1799 – 10 February [O.S. 29 January] 1837) was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era.^[2] He is considered by many to be the greatest Russian poet^[3][4][5][6] and the founder of modern Russian literature.^[7][8]

Pushkin was born into the Russian nobility in Moscow.^[9] His father, Sergey Lvovich Pushkin, belonged to an old noble family.

MIXED RACE

His maternal great-grandfather was Major-General Abram Petrovich Gannibal, a nobleman of African origin who was kidnapped from his homeland and raised in the Emperor's court household as his godson.

REVOLUTIONARY

He published his first poem at the age of 15, and was widely recognized by the literary establishment by the time of his graduation from the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. 

Upon graduation from the Lycée, Pushkin recited his controversial poem "Ode to Liberty", one of several that led to his exile by Emperor Alexander I. While under the strict surveillance of the Emperor's political police and unable to publish, Pushkin wrote his most famous play, the drama Boris Godunov. His novel in verse, Eugene Onegin, was serialized between 1825 and 1832.

Pushkin was fatally wounded in a duel with his wife's alleged lover and her sister's husband Georges-Charles de Heeckeren d'Anthès, also known as Dantes-Gekkern, a French officer serving with the Chevalier Guard Regiment.

How Indigenous-led conservation could help Canada meet its land and water protection targets

Story by Inayat Singh, Alice Hopton • Yesterday 

In the far northwest of Manitoba, the Seal River flows 260 kilometres through the thick boreal forest into Hudson Bay. It's the only major river in northern Manitoba without any dams. No roads lead to the river, and there's only one human settlement in the river's watershed.

That community, the Sayisi Dene, is leading an initiative along with neighbouring Dene, Cree and Inuit communities to protect the 50,000 square kilometres of the watershed. That's an area of untouched wilderness roughly the size of Nova Scotia, which would be protected from industrial development if the community's proposal is accepted.

"It is 99.97 per cent pristine. The watershed is actually fully intact. There are no disturbances, no industrial development in the watershed whatsoever," said Stephanie Thorassie, executive director of the Seal River Watershed Alliance.

"And for those reasons, because of how remote we are, we are a little piece of heaven in the world that is a little bit unnoticed and we kind of like it."

The federal government has noted that Indigenous-led proposals like the Seal River Watershed are crucial for Canada to meet its conservation goals. Canada has pledged to protect 30 per cent of its land and 30 per cent of its oceans by 2030. By the end of 2021, about 14 per cent of each were protected, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada.

With the UN biodiversity conference, COP15, kicking off in Montreal this week, Canada has been behind a diplomatic push to achieve a new global agreement on protecting nature.

And experts say attention will be on Canada's own targets. In just eight years, Canada has to double the amount of land protected in all of the national parks, provincial parks, conservation areas and other protected spaces that were established over the past century.

While it's a tall order, crucially, it's also a chance to do conservation right, by choosing the most ecologically important places and letting Indigenous knowledge and people take the lead, according to James Snider, the vice-president for science, knowledge and innovation at World Wildlife Fund Canada.

"It's through the lens of Indigenous-led conservation, or conservation more broadly, that supports Indigenous rights and objectives, that is the means by which we get to those important targets," said Snider, who has been researching the most carbon-rich and ecologically valuable areas in the country over the past year.

Reconciliation through conservation

The history of the Sayisi Dene vividly illustrates this opportunity.

In 1956, based on flimsy and ultimately disproved evidence, the Manitoba and federal governments decided that the caribou herd was declining, and blamed the Sayisi Dene for over-hunting. The entire community of about 250 people were relocated to just outside Churchill, on Hudson Bay, far away from the lands that had sustained them for centuries.

There, they experienced poverty, racism and lack of adequate housing. Nearly half the community died after the forced relocation, while the caribou population was eventually found to be actually stable.

In 1973, a group of community members left on foot and settled around Tadoule Lake, in the Seal River watershed, to return to their traditional way of life.

Today, 325 people live in the community. The Sayisi Dene survived by returning to their traditional homelands and lifestyles, but some say they are ready to go further.

Related video: COP15 

Governments gather in Canada to boost biodiversity

Duration 1:53 View on Watch

The Importance of Protecting Access to Nature

Warnings climate change is disrupting Indigenous seasonal calendars

The Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA) that they have proposed will — unlike the false environmental concerns that displaced them — show a new scientifically and culturally informed way of protecting biodiversity, according to Thorassie. It will also allow the community to provide employment through eco-tourism, she added.

"I think that utilizing our first peoples to do this work is the right way to go about creating protected spaces," Thorassie said.

"Utilizing the knowledge of our elders and our community members and our land users — that knowledge that they carry is older than universities. It's been here since before Canada was created.

"Being able to have an opportunity to stand and tell the world what's important to us, for our reasons, and to protect it for ourselves, by ourselves, is something that hasn't been done before. That's what's different this time around."

According to a report from the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS), Canada can nearly reach its conservation goal for 2030 with all the dozens of IPCAs already proposed across the country. But provincial governments have to be on board before an area can be protected, and the CPAWS report called out several provinces for dragging their feet on the process.

The report pointed out that Manitoba does not currently have a conservation target. About 11 per cent of the province is protected. But proposals on the table, which include Seal River, and a few other IPCAs, would get the province to 29.1 per cent, according to the report.

"We have enormous leadership on the ground from Indigenous peoples who are identifying areas for protection across the country," said Alison Woodley, senior strategic advisor at CPAWS.

"But we have this blockage in terms of provinces and territories which are not stepping up in most cases to actually adopt and embrace these ambitious targets and support Indigenous-led conservation."

Canada's newest national park

Canada's newest national park, Thaidene Nëné National Park Reserve, is considered a success story. It was established in 2019 along the eastern arm of Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories.

It's part of a larger Thaidene Nëné Indigenous Protected Area, which protects species like moose, bears and wolves, preserves habitat for various migratory birds and protects areas of boreal forest and tundra.


Steven Nitah, who helped negotiate the creation of Thaidene Nëné Indigenous Protected Area, says not all governments and jurisdictions are at the same level of understanding around Indigenous reconciliation.

© Sheldon Alberts/Conservation through Reconciliation Partnership

The national park and surrounding areas are co-managed by the government and the Łutsël K'é Dene First Nation. Along with protecting the ecologically sensitive area, the Indigenous community's vision is to provide employment to community members who will work as guardians and in other job roles in the park, develop infrastructure for visitors and work on conservation and research projects in the area, according to the community's website.

Steven Nitah, the nation's chief negotiator for the establishment of the national park, said that not all governments and jurisdictions are at the same level of understanding around Indigenous reconciliation, leaving challenges for other communities that want to establish IPCAs.

"Indigenous nations that are advancing their own protected and conserved areas really have to drive their agenda," he said. "They have to own what they want to create."

Research shows how valuable Canadian forests are

In recent years, scientific research employing newly available satellite data (among other methods) has painted a clearer picture of just how valuable Canada's forests are. The area of the Seal River Watershed is one of the most carbon-rich landscapes in Canada, part of a swath of carbon-rich forests and wetlands extending from Northern Ontario into Manitoba.

That carbon is tied up in plants, trees, and most importantly, layers upon layers of dead organic material built up over centuries and stored in the soil.

Keeping that carbon where it is, scientists say, is crucial on a warming planet. If that carbon is disturbed and ends up escaping into the atmosphere, it will trap more heat and escalate the climate crisis.

"We have amongst the largest area of intact ecosystems remaining in the world," Snider said.

"We store a tremendous, jaw-dropping amount of carbon. And so there's a responsibility globally, many would argue, in terms of protecting those important places."

Indigenous women call on federal government to act in light of Winnipeg killings

OTTAWA — The daughters of an Indigenous woman police believe to have been the victim of a serial killer urged the federal government on Tuesday to act on what they call an ongoing genocide.


Indigenous women call on federal government to act in light of Winnipeg killings© Provided by The Canadian Press

Police believe Morgan Harris was one of four victims of an alleged serial killer in Winnipeg, but her body has not been found.

Harris's daughters, Cambria and Kera Harris, told a news conference in Ottawa the government needs to do more to end violence against Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people.

Flanked by members of her community and standing in a foyer outside the House of Commons, Cambria said she is heartbroken and shocked.

"Time and time again, our Indigenous women and brothers and sisters have to come here and we have to raise our voices, begging for change and begging for justice for our people," she said.

"That is wrong. I should not have to stand here today. And I should not have to come here and be so mad, and beg and beg, so that you will find and bring our loved ones home."

In 2019, a national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls concluded that the centuries of violence they have endured in Canada amounts to genocide.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was criticized for stopping short of calling it genocide in his initial response to the report, but has since said he accepts the report's conclusion.

Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller said at the news conference that federal governments continue to fail Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people and said it is "an absolute shame" that he "cannot guarantee to people that this will not happen again."

Miller promised to meet with the Harris family Tuesday.

The chief of Long Plain First Nation in Manitoba, where two of the four victims are from, said her community needs more resources, including a safe space for women that operates day and night.


"I know many communities are needing supports and services when it comes to the safety of community members," Kyra Wilson said.

NDP MP Leah Gazan, who represents a Winnipeg riding, met with Wilson, the Harris family and other Indigenous leaders Tuesday before hosting the joint press conference.

"It's time for the government to act," she said.

Gazan called for an emergency debate in the House of Commons on Monday, saying in a letter to the Speaker that "survivors, advocates and community leaders are calling for a national state of emergency to be declared in response to this crisis of violence." She said MPs should help shape the nature of the government's response.

The debate was not granted.

On Tuesday, Trudeau said his government has taken "significant steps" to invest in supports but "there's lots more work to do."

Jeremy Skibicki, 35, has been charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Harris, Marcedes Myran, Rebecca Contois and a fourth woman who has not been identified, but has been given the name "Buffalo Woman" by police and community leaders.

He made a brief court appearance last week and his lawyer said he maintains his innocence.

Skibicki was first charged in the death of Contois, 24, on May 18. Her partial remains were found in a garbage bin near an apartment building, and police later found the rest of her remains in a landfill.

Police believe Harris and Myran were also killed in May, while Buffalo Woman was killed in March.

In a press conference Tuesday, Winnipeg police reiterated that they do not believe it would be feasible to search for the remains of the three women, given the size and topography of the landfill, among other factors.

Harris's daughters say if police won't conduct a search to find their mother, they will.

Kera Harris said the women deserve a proper resting place.

"If you want to respect and honour them, stop making excuses as to why you can't find them," she said.

The Assembly of First Nations, which is hosting a special chiefs assembly in Ottawa, held a moment of silence for the four victims and their families Tuesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 6, 2022.

David Fraser, The Canadian Press

CANADA
AFN assembly kicks off with updates on investigations, little progress on backlogged issues

Story by Brett Forester • Yesterday

The Assembly of First Nations' first gathering since National Chief RoseAnne Archibald survived a bitterly contested non-confidence motion in July kicked off Tuesday with a pledge to address the organization's ongoing internal troubles and an acknowledgment tensions have resulted in a backlog of pressing issues.

"We can't spend another minute, let alone a chiefs' assembly, in turmoil," said Archibald as she welcomed First Nations delegates to downtown Ottawa's Westin hotel in her opening speech.

"Yes, there are still HR and legal matters that we will resolve in the coming months. We will continue to do so in a good way."

Archibald's speech followed a critical welcoming address by Dylan Whiteduck, chief of Kitigan Zibi north of Ottawa in Quebec, who said the assembly compromised its integrity during the July meeting in Vancouver.

Archibald told delegates she believed the challenges can be traced to intergenerational trauma stemming from the horrors Canada's residential school system inflicted on First Nations people.

She announced the AFN's executive committee, which consists of the national chief and regional chiefs, would bring on retired senator and former Truth and Reconciliation Commission chair Murray Sinclair as a mediator to help with conflict resolution.

"In the meantime, I've heard loud and clear from chiefs across Turtle Island, from leadership across Turtle Island, that our important work must continue and not be slowed down by inner conflicts," she said.

Sinclair did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

HR probe at standstill

Before the July assembly, the regional chiefs had attempted to suspend Archibald after four employees, followed by a fifth, filed workplace misconduct complaints against her, which resulted in an ongoing probe.

Archibald hit back, claiming she'd been undermined, discredited and attacked because of her press for an investigation into what she alleges is corruption within the organization, which receives tens of millions of dollars annually through contribution agreements with the federal government.



AFN National Chief RoseAnne Archibald arrived at the annual general assembly in July in Vancouver surrounded by a small group of supporters including First Nations chiefs and grassroots community members.© Ka’nhehsí:io Deer/CBC

Archibald defeated the attempted suspension and convinced the chiefs to order a review of the organization's financial policies and practices before, if necessary, commissioning a forensic audit.

Related video: Assembly of First Nations meets in Ottawa as internal divisions fester
Duration 2:07
View on Watch


The delegates heard updates from both the workplace misconduct probe and financial review as the assembly's first order of business following opening protocols.

Raquel Chisholm, a partner with law firm Emond Harnden, said the national chief had not made herself available for an interview despite investigators' repeated requests to sit down with her between August and now.

"Ultimately, the investigators were only able to meet with the national chief last week on Nov. 29," Chisholm said.

"They were not, however, able to actually interview her. Instead, she expressed, through her lawyer, concerns about the fairness of the process. I had hoped that we would have a report by now, and we do not."

CBC News requested more information from the national chief on her concerns but did not receive a reply.

Audit in early stage

Meanwhile, the chiefs committee charged with conducting preliminary work on the financial probe said they were making progress on three investigations happening alongside the HR probe: an investigative review to end sexual-orientation and gender-based discrimination, the financial policies and practices review, and a governance review.

"The most important piece of the update is that our committee is taking those resolutions seriously, that we are having fulsome discussions to meaningfully work with the executive committee and the secretariat to implement those resolutions," said Khelsilem, chairperson of the Squamish Nation Council.

Khelsilem told delegates the chiefs committee on charter renewal, which examines governance issues, is working to bring in an external financial expert with knowledge of audits to help advise them in their work, which is still in early stages.



Khelsilem is the elected chairperson of the Squamish Nation Council and sits on the chiefs committee on charter renewal.© Ka’nhehsí:io Deer/CBC

He said the committee had already provided a number of resolutions on internal governance and administrative reform for the delegates to consider Tuesday afternoon.

Newfoundland to have own seat on council

Chiefs or their chosen proxies from all 634 First Nations in Canada are eligible to debate and vote on resolutions during these assemblies, which provide the executive chiefs their lobbying mandate.

The chiefs passed a resolution to change the name of the not-for-profit corporation, known as the National Indian Brotherhood, which the AFN maintains to sign funding deals with Ottawa and conduct other business.

The National Indian Brotherhood was the AFN's forerunner, operating until 1982 when the AFN was established in its place.

Chiefs also passed a resolution supporting a new policy governing conflicts of interest and perceived conflicts of interest. They also agreed to give Newfoundland a seat on the AFN's executive council.

The assembly's first day concluded with a presentation from Kimberly Murray, the federally appointed special interlocutor on unmarked graves and burial sites at former residential schools.

More than 60 resolutions dealing with issues like child welfare, residential schools, policing and more are slated to be debated Wednesday and Thursday.

Court intervenes after baby’s parents refuse ‘vaccinated blood’ transfusion

Story by Kathryn Mannie • 1h ago

The New Zealand High Court has ruled that a six-month-old baby at the centre of a controversial blood transfusion case will be taken under the guardianship of health authorities so he can receive a life-saving operation.


File - A view of the Auckland High Court.© Greg Bowker/Getty Images

His parents had been unwilling to proceed with the surgery over concerns he would receive "vaccinated blood," and were seeking a court order for their baby to receive blood from unvaccinated donors.

The parents said in previous interviews that the baby needed surgery "almost immediately," but they were "extremely concerned with the blood (the doctors) are going to use," the Guardian reported. The boy, referred to as Baby W, has a congenital heart defect and will not survive without an urgent operation.

The ruling to temporarily place the boy in the guardianship of his pediatric heart surgeon and cardiologist was met with fierce backlash from anti-vaccine protestors, who demonstrated outside the Auckland courthouse on Wednesday as the decision was handed down, the New Zealand Herald reported. The case has been a rallying point for the anti-vaccine movement in the country.

The presiding judge, Ian Gault, ruled that Baby W's temporary guardianship by health authorities will only last from Wednesday until he recovers from his life-saving surgery, which is expected to be by January 2023 at the latest. Gault emphasized that the boy's parents are still his primary guardians and doctors must keep them informed of his condition and treatment at all times. The parents retain guardianship of the child in all other matters.

The decision came down after a lengthy hearing the previous day when Gault heard arguments from Paul White, lawyer for Te Whatu Ora (Health New Zealand), Sue Grey, who represented the parents, and Adam Ross, a lawyer for the New Zealand Blood Service.

White said that specialists believe the child's heart is suffering damage because of the surgical delays. Baby W is experiencing pulmonary valve stenosis, the narrowing of a heart valve, which is causing a build-up of blood and pressure, he said.

"His survival is actually dependent on the application being granted," White argued.

Meanwhile, Grey requested that the court order the country's blood service to establish a tailored donor service dealing in blood exclusively from unvaccinated people.

The New Zealand Blood Service argued that allowing parents to refuse vaccinated blood would set a dangerous precedent whereby patients could pick and choose where their donor blood comes from. Agency lawyer Ross said this would jeopardize the integrity of the blood service and lead to ethical and clinically bankrupt requests for blood.

Justice Gault ruled that the parents' request for unvaccinated blood was unnecessary and impractical, adding that the operation was in the child's "best interest" and there was "no scientific evidence" that vaccinated blood poses any risk, citing evidence provided by New Zealand's chief medical officer.

The judge also noted that the New Zealand Blood Service presented evidence from the past six months showing a "significant increase in potential blood recipients asking for blood from unvaccinated donors or asking about directed donation. Similar trends have been noted in other countries."

During the hearing, the parents' lawyer cited an affidavit provided by a controversial Canadian academic, Byram Bridle, an associate professor at the Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph. Bridle has been publicly critical of the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, for which he has faced criticism from the scientific and medical community.

Ross, the lawyer for the New Zealand Blood Service, took aim at Bridle's credentials, saying he was a doctor "of the PhD variety," not a medical doctor.

Bridle was recently chosen as an expert witness by a Toronto mother who was engaged in a court battle with her son's father over who should have the final say in their child's vaccinations. Bridle refused to acknowledge that the COVID-19 vaccine prevents serious illness and death, and the judge in the case ruled that he was not qualified to give an expert opinion.

"Respectfully, this is so far removed from the mainstream and widely accepted views of the Canadian and international medical and scientific community that the court cannot accept Dr. Bridle’s evidence on the COVID vaccine as reliable," the judge ruled, as reported by Guelph Today.

"Dr. Bridle acknowledged that he is not a medical doctor. He has never vaccinated a child, he has never treated a child or an adult suffering from a reaction to a vaccine, nor has he ever treated a child or an adult who is suffering from an infectious disease," the ruling reads.

The judge ruled that the father in the Canadian case, who does not have custody of the child, was the best choice to make decisions about his son's vaccinations. The child's mother will retain custody.

FUNERAL TOONIE
New $2 coin honouring life of Queen Elizabeth goes into circulation this month

Story by CBC/Radio-Canada • 

The Royal Canadian Mint has released a new $2 coin to mark the passing of Canada's recently deceased head of state, Queen Elizabeth.


Five million of the coins shown above, commemorating the life of Queen Elizabeth, will go into circulation in Canada this month.© Royal Canadian Mint

The coin, which the mint unveiled on Wednesday, will be similar to the existing toonie coins, with the familiar polar bear design in the middle and an image of the Queen on the obverse side, but instead of the silver exterior around a gold circle in the middle, the exterior will be black nickel.


"Like a mourning band, the black outer ring surrounds the polar bear design at the centre of the coin's reverse," the mint said.

The Queen died in September after more than seven decades on the throne. Nearly five million of the coins will go into circulation this month and will begin appearing gradually as banks restock their $2 coin inventories.

"Queen Elizabeth II served as Canada's head of state for seven decades and for millions of Canadians, she was the only monarch they had ever known," said Marie Lemay, president and CEO of the Royal Canadian Mint. "Our special $2 circulation coin offers Canadians a way to remember her."

The mint is also hosting public coin exchanges at its Ottawa and Winnipeg boutiques on Wednesday and Thursday.

SNAFU

Visa issues exclude Indigenous voices from COP15 biodiversity summit in Montreal

OTTAWA — The COP15 conference on biodiversity loss is underway in Montreal, but hundreds of delegates from developing countries are missing out due to visa issues.


Visa issues exclude Indigenous voices from COP15 biodiversity summit in Montreal© Provided by The Canadian Press

This past summer, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada caused an uproar when it denied visas for multiple African delegates for the International AIDS Conference, also held in Montreal.

The department said it had procedures in place to make sure this month's UN summit goes smoothly, such as issuing special codes for delegates to get fast-tracked visas

Related video: Expert hopes nations will seize opportunity for biodiversity
Duration 1:21
View on Watch

But environmental organizations say people in developing countries are telling them they have been denied, or their applications are still being processed as the conference gets underway.

They say the problems are particularly affecting Indigenous people in countries ranging from Pakistan and Peru to Indonesia.

Advocates say that leaves out the voices of people who are most impacted by the ongoing destruction of ecosystems.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 7, 2022.

The Canadian Press

Federal government awarded RCMP contract to firm with ties to China

Story by Marc Godbout, Richard Raycraft 

 
The federal government awarded a contract to provide and maintain RCMP communications equipment to a company with ties to the Chinese government, Radio-Canada has learned.

The contract has security experts raising concerns about potential Chinese access to RCMP communications and data.

On October 6, 2021, the federal government awarded Sinclair Technologies a contract worth $549,637 for a radio frequency (RF) filtering system. One of the system's purposes is to protect the RCMP's land-based radio communications from eavesdropping.

While Sinclair Technologies is based in Ontario, the company has been controlled by Hytera Communications of Shenzen, China since 2017, when Hytera purchased Norsat International, Sinclair's parent company.

The Chinese government owns approximately 10 per cent of Hytera Communications through an investment fund.

The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) blacklisted Hytera in 2021. The FCC says the company is one of several Chinese firms that pose "an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States or the security and safety of United States persons."

Sales and imports of Hytera equipment are banned in the United States as a result.

Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei also appears on the list. Canada banned Huawei from its 5G network this year.

Hytera Communications is facing 21 charges in an American espionage case. The United States Department of Justice has accused the company of conspiring to steal trade secrets from American telecommunications company Motorola.

The indictment alleges Hytera recruited and hired Motorola employees to obtain confidential business information between 2007 and 2020. Hytera Communications has denied all the charges in the indictment.

Sinclair Technologies' main competitor for the RCMP contract was Comprod, a Quebec-based communications technology firm.

Jawad Abdulnour, Comprod's vice-president of R&D and engineering, said Sinclair Technologies can make equipment cheaper than it did before because some of its components are now made in China, not Canada.

"It's very frustrating, disappointing and worrisome," Abdulnour said in an interview.

"How is it that a government agency just goes with the lowest bidder and will give contracts to companies like that when we're talking about national security?"


A sign outside the Sinclair Technologies office in Aurora, Ont. Since 2017, the company has been controlled by the Chinese telecommunications firm Hytera, which is partly owned by the Chinese government.© Marc Godbout/Radio-Canada

Radio-Canada has confirmed — through several sources with knowledge of the process who were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter — that the difference between the Sinclair and Comprod bids was less than $60,000.

An RCMP spokesperson told Radio-Canada in a media statement that installation work on the systems has started in Ontario and Saskatchewan.

"Most of the time, the RCMP radio support teams carry out the installation themselves," said Cpl. Kim Chamberland in an email.

But the contract's call for tenders requires that the contractor provide maintenance and technical support services after the system is installed.

Chamberland told Radio-Canada that the RCMP is confident the system will remain secure.

"All information, including radio frequencies, is shared securely and only with those with the appropriate level of security," she wrote.

"All contractors who have access to RCMP networks and locations must obtain a security clearance according to the work to be performed."

A spokesperson for Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC), the department that awarded the contract, said in response to Radio-Canada's questions that PSPC did not take security concerns and Sinclair's ownership into consideration during the bidding process.

Sinclair Technologies declined to answer Radio-Canada's questions about whether its equipment contains components made in China, and whether Hytera can access RCMP radio frequencies.

"Due to customer confidentiality, we are unable to provide comment and we respectfully decline your interview invitation," Wee Er, executive general manager of Sinclair Technologies, said in an email.

Experts concerned about security

Conor Healy is a Canadian now based in Washington who serves as director of government research at IPVM, a security and surveillance research group. He said he's concerned about giving a Hytera-owned company access to sensitive RCMP communications.

"If I worked for an intelligence agency, this is exactly the kind of system I'd want to have access to," Healy said.

Healy said the risks include eavesdropping, collection of communications data and jamming or shutting down the radio communications system.

University of Ottawa senior fellow Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, a former senior federal official and a specialist on China's science and technology, said the government should terminate the contract.

"You have to be naïve," McCuaig-Johnston said. "It's like giving the key to Canada's security to Chinese actors.

"It's not just about getting rid of the contract. It's also a matter of ripping out what has already been installed."

The October 2021 decision by the federal government makes Sinclair a preferred vendor for a three-year term. The agreement includes the possibility of a two-year extension option.

BC
Arresting library exhibition pays homage to Sḵwx̱wú7mesh / Squamish culture

Yesterday 

Nestled within the North Vancouver City Library, found among the rows upon rows of crisp books, lies a new exhibition that is at once humble and vivid in its showcasing of Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) culture.

The exhibit, put together in conjunction with the Museum of North Vancouver and running until Dec. 6, comprises a small collection of handcrafted Squamish regalia that have been handmade by Janine Salsi’miya Gonzales, spanning clothing, accessories and musical instruments.

“One thing the library has really tried to do in the last several years is honour the people whose land we’re on, and to make that a bit more visible with the kind of programming and work that the library does,” said Abigail Saxton, spokeswoman for North Vancouver City Library

“This is a great learning opportunity, to understand that this isn’t culture that happened several hundreds or thousands of years ago – this is alive and it is still fascinating, and we really are honoured to celebrate that.”

For years artist Gonzales has been working alongside the library on various projects and endeavours, but it wasn’t until they came together as part of the Semá7maka family – a small gathering of people who navigate the Squamish Nation’s canoe, Semá7maka – that the idea came about for an exhibit.

“Part of Janine’s role in the canoe family is making regalia for other members of the family,” said Saxton.

“We got talking about it one day, and she mentioned how she started doing regalia back in the '90s. When she showed me some of the pieces, I thought they were so beautiful and amazing that I immediately thought we had to find a way to display them at the library.”

Gonzales, who is hard of hearing, studied her craft later in life through a disability program at Capilano University. As a recovering alcoholic and survivor of the residential school system, the classes and the chance to immerse herself in creation provided a way to reconnect with her culture and heal from past trauma.

“It taught me to heal myself from the inside out. It gave me back my strength, my confidence, and my self-esteem to live life the best I can, one day at a time,” she said.

Gonzales said many people all over the world “have creative gifts and talents and potential,” and anyone can do anything once they set their mind to it, “in a very positive way.”

The display comprises many of Gonzales’ favourite pieces: the regalia, with crest designs made from felt, was one of the first she ever made, and the graduation hat presents a symbol of her Squamish Nation.

A hand-woven vest is adorned with a bear and a wolf, each representing family clans, and an eagle, which represents the “spirit which carries our prayers to the oneness,” she said. Sitting alongside them is a stole emblazoned with the symbol of BCANDS, the program that provides disability-related support to Indigenous communities, drums and rattles crafted from deer hide, and a medicine bag used to carry precious stones and tobacco.

“What our community can learn from this exhibit is how we, as First Nations people, were taught to do everything by hand,” said Gonzales.

“It is the oldest teachings from our culture, that teaches us to have patience, compassion, understanding and learning.”

Mina Kerr-Lazenby is the North Shore News’ Indigenous and civic affairs reporter. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.

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Mina Kerr-Lazenby, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, North Shore News