nationalobserver--2020-07-27--Are the Wet'suwet'en on the brink of destruction? I went to find out.

I knew I was journeying into a war zone of sorts .
I had watched from afar — online — following play by play the standoff between the traditional Wet'suwet'en People and a multibillion-dollar pipeline project backed by the B.C .
and federal governments with armed RCMP enforcement .
And I visited this place once before in winter 2019 to meet briefly with a Hereditary Chief named Na ’ Moks , a.k.a .
John Ridsdale .
When I visited last time the conflict from the first wave of the RCMP arresting the Wet ’ suewet ’ en land defenders and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ CGL pipeline had just happened .
There was a raid of the Unist ’ ot ’ en healing camp in January 2019 .
I arrived in March on the heels of the first collision the community had with police .
Back then ‘ Wet ’ suwet ’ en ’ was a new name slipping into the headlines .
For many Canadians it was the first they had heard of the people , and the place .
In the mainstream news they were called protestors .
On social media they were calling them terrorists @ @ @ @ @ @ @ second time .
And this time I came this time when the conflict wasn ’ t dominating the headlines , a sort of calm between uproars .
The COVID-19 pandemic had arrived in the world on the heels of the Wet'suwet'en crisis that shut down Canada in February .
I arrived when humanity around the globe was - literally - sheltering for our lives during the worst pandemic in the last 100 years .
But while the world went on hold the pipeline conflict did n't end , it 's just not in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ahead with its Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline in its quest to feed power from northern British Columbia to its facility in Kitimat and then to Asia across the sea .
I ’ m discovering what ’ s at stake for the Wet'suwet'en .
It ’ s both simple and complex .
It ’ s not an issue someone can understand just by reading an occasional news article .
And the cost is high .
That cost is the livelihood of the sovereign Wet'suwet'en .
You see , Canada , the province , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ terrain of the vast , pristine and extraordinary lands of the Wet'suwet'en are on a path that , unchecked , could wipe them out .
It sounds shocking ?
Not in Canada , right ?
Well , this same struggle for survival has been going on for a couple of centuries here .
But the Wet ’ suwet ’ en , like all our Indigenous relations , know how to survive .
They ’ ve survived through attempted annihilation via genocide ; through colonialism ’ s oppressive assimilation tactics ; land theft ; @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ; and murder via way of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls .
Despite this , from what I ’ ve seen here , the Wet ’ suewet ’ en are thriving .
They are reclaiming .
They are healing .
And they are reviving hope , traditions , and land .
The Wet'suwet'en and its five member nations are divided into clans , houses and traditional leadership systems .
It 's a way of governance they ’ ve used to sustain their culture , laws , language , spirituality , families @ @ @ @ @ @ @ resources since time immemorial .
Chief Na ’ Moks explained to me the Wet'suwet'en are the land and the land is Wet'suwet'en , so if the land is threatened , so are the very lives , spirits and futures of the people whose ancestors walked this land for thousands of years before them .
The water systems here are all connected .
The Morice River , which runs mere metres from the path of the pipeline , connects to the mighty Skeena and Bulkley rivers in Wet'suwet'en territories in northern B.C .
Those @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It ’ s a highway of intricate ecosystems inhabited by various types of migrating salmon that the Wet'suwet'en have always utilized for sustenance .
And the waters flow through other allying tribal territories , such as the Gitxsan Nation .
Those same waters eventually flow to join the salt waters that reach the shores of the Haida People across the ocean .
And in those waters are the salmon that are a part of the land and crucial to the land 's survival .
The Wet'suwet'en have ancestral libraries of knowledge running through @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one way they pass knowledge down is through storytelling .
`` The salmon are in the trees . ''
That ’ s what Na ’ Moks told me when we walked to see the convergence of the Skeena and Bulkley rivers on a cloudy Monday afternoon in early July .
He pointed across the water to an area that ’ s been a gathering place for his relatives in the summertime for as long as their stories have been told him .
He camped there as a child .
It was a celebration @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to harvest fish , trade and feast , sometimes for months on end , he said .
In traditional Wet'suwet'en governance , chief names are given or inherited through the matriarchal line .
Holding a name also requires a sacred obligation to uphold the laws of the Wet'suwet'en and protect the land .
According to the Office of the Wet'suwet'en , “ Before non-native contact , a Wet ’ suwet ’ en heir began their journey to becoming a hereditary chief while still inside the mother ’ s womb .
Elders , shamans @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of an expectant mother and determine if the baby was destined to be a future chief or shaman .
From the time of birth , the child would be groomed or tutored to be a wise , strong and responsible leader.
” When the individual is trained or groomed a decision is made inside the feast hall , which in western world terms may be understood as similar to a parliamentary system , to appoint them to step into their name .
A ceremony is held and from then on , a Hereditary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the responsibilities , the knowledge , the territory assigned to oversee .
It ’ s not taken lightly .
It ’ s a lifelong responsibility with implications that last into the next seven generations .
Na ’ Moks , 63 , is tall , dark-skinned , with slicked-back brown-grey hair , tinted eyeglasses and wears a plaid , button-up cowboy shirt and jeans .
He ’ s well-spoken and easygoing .
“ When my grandmother passed , it was to go to my mother .
She decided her brother was better prepared @ @ @ @ @ @ @ until his death .
He was to train me in his lifetime , which he did , ” explained Na ’ Moks .
“ When it came time for me to lift the name , it was decided by our clan as well as other clans to agree that I was prepared and would carry it properly and protect our territories.
” Since then , Na ’ Moks has travelled across Canada to raise awareness of threats to the lands here .
He helped stop the Enbridge pipeline , and he ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pipeline conflict , although there are four other hereditary chiefs representing the five clans of the Wet'suwet'en .
Na ’ Moks is the type of man who makes friends easy — or puts people at ease , I guess you can say .
His personality is a connector , a storyteller , a joker .
And Na ’ Moks is fiercely proud of where he ’ s from .
He ’ s travelled to the United Nations dressed in his dazzling Tsayu ( Beaver ) Clan regalia adorned with headdress to plead the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with governments about the land disputes here .
He 'll do whatever it takes to help save the Wet'suwet'en from destruction .
Yes , it ’ s that dire of a situation .
Lives are on the line .
The salmon are in the trees “ The salmon are in the trees , ” he told me .
I looked at him puzzled .
He went on .
“ When the eagles catch the salmon from the river , they take them to eat on the land , by the trees , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ overwhelmed with the expanse of the scenery I ’ m standing in .
The diversity is like no other on Earth , he explains .
Here you can find cedar trees , spruce and other deciduous plant life adjoining the ridges of the mountains and rivers .
The smell here is indescribable and something you have to experience to truly understand .
It ’ s green .
It ’ s invigorating .
And your lungs will take in its fresh gift with thanks .
The towering , snow-capped mountains set against a blue @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is a feast for the eyes .
Not to mention the wild flowers and medicines bursting with enchantment and clothing the summer months in their colourful beauty .
The sound of the rushing water , which to Wet'suwet'en and Indigenous cultures is a symbol of life ( “ water is life ” is a common adage we live by ) , is thunderous , gentle , refreshing and pure .
“ When the eagle leaves the salmon bones at the base of the tree , they decompose and go back to the earth.The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ provide nutrients for them , ” said Na ’ Moks .
I had never known that sort of knowledge and it hit me how it was simple to understand once you see it .
When someone explains it to you , your eyes open .
The connection to the circle of life , its sacredness , fragility — the knowledge the First Peoples of their own territories have in their DNA is powerful , it ’ s healing .
The ancestral wisdom passed through the ages to the Wet'suwet'en is crucial to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ waters and everything they ’ re connected to outside here .
Including the people .
Wet'suwet'en traditional leaders like Na ’ Moks stand against the CGL pipeline because it ’ s a matter of life and death .
It ’ s not just one pipeline , Na ’ Moks explains .
Once they come in , it opens a “ Pandora ’ s box ” and other resource developers are waiting in line , he said .
Industry and governments are vying to turn that pipeline route into an energy corridor , he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ resources awaits an incessant hunger for greed , power and unsustainable development to be divided up amongst the world .
It ’ s not a matter of “ if , it ’ s a matter of when ” the pipeline will burst , explained Na ’ Moks as we continued to walk along the river and back towards an ancient , vivid red and black carved Gitxsan village called Ksan that he took me to visit .
Once that happens , the land will be destroyed .
It ’ s not just a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spills , he said .
That ’ s what they ( industry , governments ) will try to make you believe .
But once the land , the ecosystems , the waters are contaminated and “ poisoned , ” it can ’ t be remediated .
These are the last of the territories of the Wet'suwet'en that have n't been stolen by colonial governments who sold off the land to European settlers or auctioned them off to industries such as mining and logging that then stripped the earth of her bounty , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ explained Na ’ Moks .
What ’ s left is worth protecting now and for future generations , he explains .
There ’ s no other place on Earth that has the ecosystems that exist here .
Wet'suwet'en ancestors drank of the same water , they walked trails and trade routes that are still traceable in the woods , along with ancient village sites and gravesites — gravesites that CGL has already bulldozed over in its initial phases of construction .
“ They ( CGL ) don ’ t care .
I would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bulldozed a gravesite .
They 're bulldozing a people … they don ’ t care.
” To protect and stand for the territory .
Na ’ Moks knows about resilience .
When he was 19 , he worked at a sawmill in Houston , about an hour 's drive from Smithers , B.C .
His work ethic got him promoted to foreman , which “ for an Indian '' at that time was a big deal .
Some other workers there didn ’ t like it , he said .
One day after @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” tied him up to the back of a pickup with a rope and dragged him along the hard , frozen ground .
It broke almost every bone in his body .
They left him there to die .
Crawling naked , because his clothes had been ripped off during the dragging , he made his way under a barbed wire fence and into a ditch .
A woman driving who lived nearby came driving along and saw steam rising from the ground .
She pulled over and took her shotgun out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ needing to be “ put out of its misery.
” She aimed and took a closer look — it was John .
She was white , she was a friend , he said .
She got him to the hospital .
Na ’ Moks says he was paralyzed for two years from that incident and had to learn how to walk again .
When he was well , Na ’ Moks used his savings to buy a fishing boat and moved to Prince Rupert , where he became a fisherman like his father @ @ @ @ @ @ @ retired and dedicates all his time to his purpose : “ To protect and stand for the territory.
” He doesn ’ t hold animosity and forgives people who have wronged him .
Like the men who tried to kill him and left him in a ditch .
This is the Wet'suwet'en way , to forgive .
“ That experience I went through is very singular to what those few guys did .
I wouldn ’ t want what I went through to happen to anybody ... they live with the guilt .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ good parents , good grandparents.
” But it doesn ’ t mean “ we roll over and play dead , ” he said .
“ It ’ s our ( Wet'suwet'en ) right to stand here .
If I want to drink that water , I will , because it ’ s clean .
All it takes is one spill and everything collapses .
”

I had watched from afar — online — following play by play the standoff between the traditional Wet'suwet'en People and a multibillion-dollar pipeline project backed by the B.C. and federal governments with armed RCMP enforcement. And I visited this place once before in winter 2019 to meet briefly with a Hereditary Chief named Na’Moks, a.k.a. John Ridsdale.
When I visited last time the conflict from the first wave of the RCMP arresting the Wet’suewet’en land defenders and enforcing an injunction to put through the CGL pipeline had just happened. There was a raid of the Unist’ot’en healing camp in January 2019. I arrived in March on the heels of the first collision the community had with police.
Back then ‘Wet’suwet’en’ was a new name slipping into the headlines. For many Canadians it was the first they had heard of the people, and the place. In the mainstream news they were called protestors. On social media they were calling them terrorists.
Now I was here for a second time. And this time I came this time when the conflict wasn’t dominating the headlines, a sort of calm between uproars. The COVID-19 pandemic had arrived in the world on the heels of the Wet'suwet'en crisis that shut down Canada in February. I arrived when humanity around the globe was - literally - sheltering for our lives during the worst pandemic in the last 100 years.
But while the world went on hold the pipeline conflict didn't end, it's just not in the headlines.
TC Energy is forging ahead with its Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline in its quest to feed power from northern British Columbia to its facility in Kitimat and then to Asia across the sea.
I’m discovering what’s at stake for the Wet'suwet'en. It’s both simple and complex. It’s not an issue someone can understand just by reading an occasional news article.
And the cost is high.
That cost is the livelihood of the sovereign Wet'suwet'en.
You see, Canada, the province, and the pipeline weaving through the mountainous terrain of the vast, pristine and extraordinary lands of the Wet'suwet'en are on a path that, unchecked, could wipe them out.
It sounds shocking? Not in Canada, right?
Well, this same struggle for survival has been going on for a couple of centuries here.
But the Wet’suwet’en, like all our Indigenous relations, know how to survive. They’ve survived through attempted annihilation via genocide; through colonialism’s oppressive assimilation tactics; land theft; residential school; sixties scoop; racism; and murder via way of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
Despite this, from what I’ve seen here, the Wet’suewet’en are thriving. They are reclaiming. They are healing. And they are reviving hope, traditions, and land.
The Wet'suwet'en and its five member nations are divided into clans, houses and traditional leadership systems. It's a way of governance they’ve used to sustain their culture, laws, language, spirituality, families and the caretaking of their lands and resources since time immemorial.
If the lands of the Wet'suwet'en are threatened then so are the lives, spirits and futures of the people says Hereditary Chief Na’Moks. Photo by Brandi Morin.
The land is Wet'suwet'en
Chief Na’Moks explained to me the Wet'suwet'en are the land and the land is Wet'suwet'en, so if the land is threatened, so are the very lives, spirits and futures of the people whose ancestors walked this land for thousands of years before them.
The water systems here are all connected. The Morice River, which runs mere metres from the path of the pipeline, connects to the mighty Skeena and Bulkley rivers in Wet'suwet'en territories in northern B.C.
Those waters flow to the Pacific Ocean. It’s a highway of intricate ecosystems inhabited by various types of migrating salmon that the Wet'suwet'en have always utilized for sustenance. And the waters flow through other allying tribal territories, such as the Gitxsan Nation.
Those same waters eventually flow to join the salt waters that reach the shores of the Haida People across the ocean.
And in those waters are the salmon that are a part of the land and crucial to the land's survival.
The Wet'suwet'en have ancestral libraries of knowledge running through their veins about this land. And one way they pass knowledge down is through storytelling.
Chief Na’Moks walking towards the Hagwilget suspension bridge over the Hagwilget Canyon on the Bulkley River approximately 460 feet above the water overlooking a spot where his Wet’suewet’en ancestors have fished for time immemorial. Photo by Brandi Morin.
The journey of a chief
"The salmon are in the trees."
That’s what Na’Moks told me when we walked to see the convergence of the Skeena and Bulkley rivers on a cloudy Monday afternoon in early July. He pointed across the water to an area that’s been a gathering place for his relatives in the summertime for as long as their stories have been told him.
He camped there as a child. It was a celebration. And clans and families would meet to harvest fish, trade and feast, sometimes for months on end, he said.
In traditional Wet'suwet'en governance, chief names are given or inherited through the matriarchal line. Holding a name also requires a sacred obligation to uphold the laws of the Wet'suwet'en and protect the land.
According to the Office of the Wet'suwet'en, “Before non-native contact, a Wet’suwet’en heir began their journey to becoming a hereditary chief while still inside the mother’s womb. Elders, shamans and chiefs would often feel the womb of an expectant mother and determine if the baby was destined to be a future chief or shaman. From the time of birth, the child would be groomed or tutored to be a wise, strong and responsible leader.”
When the individual is trained or groomed a decision is made inside the feast hall, which in western world terms may be understood as similar to a parliamentary system, to appoint them to step into their name. A ceremony is held and from then on, a Hereditary leader becomes the name, the values, the responsibilities, the knowledge, the territory assigned to oversee.
It’s not taken lightly. It’s a lifelong responsibility with implications that last into the next seven generations.
Na’Moks, 63, is tall, dark-skinned, with slicked-back brown-grey hair, tinted eyeglasses and wears a plaid, button-up cowboy shirt and jeans. He’s well-spoken and easygoing.
Na’Moks received his name 12 years ago.
“When my grandmother passed, it was to go to my mother. She decided her brother was better prepared, so she requested he carry it until his death. He was to train me in his lifetime, which he did,” explained Na’Moks.
“When it came time for me to lift the name, it was decided by our clan as well as other clans to agree that I was prepared and would carry it properly and protect our territories.”
Since then, Na’Moks has travelled across Canada to raise awareness of threats to the lands here. He helped stop the Enbridge pipeline, and he’s been at the forefront of the current pipeline conflict, although there are four other hereditary chiefs representing the five clans of the Wet'suwet'en.
Na’Moks is the type of man who makes friends easy — or puts people at ease, I guess you can say. His personality is a connector, a storyteller, a joker.
And Na’Moks is fiercely proud of where he’s from.
He’s travelled to the United Nations dressed in his dazzling Tsayu (Beaver) Clan regalia adorned with headdress to plead the case of the Wet'suwet'en and helped negotiate with governments about the land disputes here.
He'll do whatever it takes to help save the Wet'suwet'en from destruction. Yes, it’s that dire of a situation. Lives are on the line.
The convergence of the Skeena and Bulkley rivers. This is where Chief Na'Moks shared the stories of his ancestors with the author. Photo by Brandi Morin.
The salmon are in the trees
“The salmon are in the trees,” he told me. I looked at him puzzled.
He went on. “When the eagles catch the salmon from the river, they take them to eat on the land, by the trees,” he points again and my senses are overwhelmed with the expanse of the scenery I’m standing in.
The diversity is like no other on Earth, he explains. Here you can find cedar trees, spruce and other deciduous plant life adjoining the ridges of the mountains and rivers.
The smell here is indescribable and something you have to experience to truly understand. It’s green. It’s invigorating. And your lungs will take in its fresh gift with thanks.
The towering, snow-capped mountains set against a blue sky painted with fluffy, white clouds is a feast for the eyes. Not to mention the wild flowers and medicines bursting with enchantment and clothing the summer months in their colourful beauty.
The sound of the rushing water, which to Wet'suwet'en and Indigenous cultures is a symbol of life (“water is life” is a common adage we live by), is thunderous, gentle, refreshing and pure.
“When the eagle leaves the salmon bones at the base of the tree, they decompose and go back to the earth.The salmon bones feed the trees, they provide nutrients for them,” said Na’Moks.
I had never known that sort of knowledge and it hit me how it was simple to understand once you see it.
When someone explains it to you, your eyes open. The connection to the circle of life, its sacredness, fragility — the knowledge the First Peoples of their own territories have in their DNA is powerful, it’s healing.
The ancestral wisdom passed through the ages to the Wet'suwet'en is crucial to the maintenance and survival of these lands, waters and everything they’re connected to outside here. Including the people.
Wet'suwet'en traditional leaders like Na’Moks stand against the CGL pipeline because it’s a matter of life and death.
It’s not just one pipeline, Na’Moks explains.
Once they come in, it opens a “Pandora’s box” and other resource developers are waiting in line, he said.
Industry and governments are vying to turn that pipeline route into an energy corridor, he said. A powerhouse of untapped natural resources awaits an incessant hunger for greed, power and unsustainable development to be divided up amongst the world.
It’s not a matter of “if, it’s a matter of when” the pipeline will burst, explained Na’Moks as we continued to walk along the river and back towards an ancient, vivid red and black carved Gitxsan village called Ksan that he took me to visit.
Once that happens, the land will be destroyed. It’s not just a “little accident” when a pipeline spills, he said. That’s what they (industry, governments) will try to make you believe. But once the land, the ecosystems, the waters are contaminated and “poisoned,” it can’t be remediated.
Chief Na'Moks' salmon smokehouse in his backyard in the Wet’suewet’en village of Hagwilget. Photo courtesy of Chief Na'Moks
It's heavy. It's heartbreaking.
These are the last of the territories of the Wet'suwet'en that haven't been stolen by colonial governments who sold off the land to European settlers or auctioned them off to industries such as mining and logging that then stripped the earth of her bounty, and they “take too much,” explained Na’Moks.
What’s left is worth protecting now and for future generations, he explains. There’s no other place on Earth that has the ecosystems that exist here.
Wet'suwet'en ancestors drank of the same water, they walked trails and trade routes that are still traceable in the woods, along with ancient village sites and gravesites — gravesites that CGL has already bulldozed over in its initial phases of construction.
“They (CGL) don’t care. I would go to jail if I went and bulldozed a gravesite. They're bulldozing a people … they don’t care.”
It’s heavy. It’s heartbreaking.
To protect and stand for the territory.
Na’Moks knows about resilience. When he was 19, he worked at a sawmill in Houston, about an hour's drive from Smithers, B.C. His work ethic got him promoted to foreman, which “for an Indian'' at that time was a big deal.
Some other workers there didn’t like it, he said.
They were white.
One day after work, they “knocked him out,” tied him up to the back of a pickup with a rope and dragged him along the hard, frozen ground. It broke almost every bone in his body.
They left him there to die.
Crawling naked, because his clothes had been ripped off during the dragging, he made his way under a barbed wire fence and into a ditch.
A woman driving who lived nearby came driving along and saw steam rising from the ground. She pulled over and took her shotgun out because she thought it was an animal needing to be “put out of its misery.”
She aimed and took a closer look — it was John.
She was white, she was a friend, he said. She got him to the hospital.
Na’Moks says he was paralyzed for two years from that incident and had to learn how to walk again.
When he was well, Na’Moks used his savings to buy a fishing boat and moved to Prince Rupert, where he became a fisherman like his father before him. Now he’s retired and dedicates all his time to his purpose: “To protect and stand for the territory.”
He doesn’t hold animosity and forgives people who have wronged him. Like the men who tried to kill him and left him in a ditch. This is the Wet'suwet'en way, to forgive.
“That experience I went through is very singular to what those few guys did. I wouldn’t want what I went through to happen to anybody... they live with the guilt. Right now, they’re probably good parents, good grandparents.”
But it doesn’t mean “we roll over and play dead,” he said.
“It’s our (Wet'suwet'en) right to stand here. If I want to drink that water, I will, because it’s clean. All it takes is one spill and everything collapses.”


nationalobserver--2020-07-27--B.C. refugee society, MPs call for end to ‘unconstitutional’ federal treaty

British Columbia MPs and the East Kootenay refugee society called on the Trudeau government Friday to abandon a Canada-U.S. asylum treaty after a Federal Court judge found it violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms .
The court ruled last week that Canada ’ s enforcement of the 16-year-old Safe Third Country agreement with the United States was “ unconstitutional ” because it was resulting in refugee claimants being imprisoned in the U.S. , depriving them of their charter right to life , liberty and security of the person .
The agreement holds that people seeking refugee status in either @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the country they arrive in first , under the assumption that the U.S. is a safe place for people to seek such status .
But Justice Ann Marie McDonald said she had heard compelling evidence that refugee claimants were being thrown in detention simply for having attempted to make a claim .
The applicants in the case , the Canadian Council for Refugees , Amnesty International and the Canadian Council of Churches , said this refugee claimant imprisonment “ often results in a lack of basic human dignity , lack of medical care @ @ @ @ @ @ @ HAPPENING NOW EVEN IN CANADA : 'It 's embarrassing being American' • Are the Wet'suwet'en on the brink of destruction ?
I went to find out .
McDonald ’ s ruling relays the story of Nedira Mustefa , who tried to enter Canada and was turned away under the provisions of the treaty only to be “ immediately taken into custody by U.S. authorities ” and held in solitary confinement in “ freezing cold ” conditions .
Mustefa , a Muslim , described her experience in an affidavit as “ terrifying , isolating @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was fed pork despite informing guards she could not eat it for religious reasons , and had to skip meals , losing a considerable amount of weight .
“ Canada can not turn a blind eye to the consequences that befell Ms. Mustefa in its efforts to adhere to the Safe Third Country agreement , ” McDonald wrote in her ruling .
“ The evidence clearly demonstrates that those returned to the U.S. by Canadian officials are detained as a penalty.
” This imprisonment , she said , was “ inconsistent with the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ treaty .
On Friday , Shauna Jimenez of the East Kootenay Friends of Refugees Society , a volunteer charity that sponsors refugees to Western Canada , told the National Observer she agreed that Canada should be jettisoning the agreement .
British Columbia MPs and the East Kootenay refugee society called on the Trudeau government Friday to abandon a Canada-U.S. asylum treaty , after a federal court judge found it violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms .
“ I totally agree with abolishing it , I think it ’ s unjust and evil @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ We know the U.S. is not safe.
” Barb Ryeburn , the society 's Cranbrook co-ordinator , said she agreed the agreement needed to be torn up .
“ It targets some of the world 's most vulnerable people and sends then back to the U.S. , which is definitely not a safe place for them , ” said Ryeburn .
“ Critics often describe asylum seekers crossing into Canada from the States as illegal migrants who should follow due process and wait their turn .
( But ) there is no @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , no country of asylum where they can wait ... those fleeing countries where it is possible to follow due process by remaining in refugee camps often wait years or forever due to slow processing times and limited spaces Canada provides for private sponsorships.
” NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan , the MP for Vancouver East , and Green Party immigration critic Paul Manly , the MP for Nanaimo-Ladysmith , also called on the Trudeau government to end the treat , following the judge ’ s ruling .
“ This decision reaffirms what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Democrats , and thousands of Canadians have argued right from the beginning — that the Safe Third Country agreement contravenes the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by putting the lives of asylum seekers at risk , ” said Kwan .
“ Every minute we delay this decision puts more lives in danger , ” said Manly .
Green Party Parliamentary Leader Elizabeth May , the MP for Saanich-Gulf Islands , added that the idea the U.S. was still a safe third country for refugees “ does not hold water.
” McDonald suspended @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to allow time for Parliament to respond .
Conservative immigration critic Peter Kent wants the government to appeal the decision .
Public Safety Minister Bill Blair ’ s office has said the Trudeau government is reviewing the Federal Court ’ s decision .
Blair ’ s office has also noted it does not come into effect until Jan. 22 , 2021 when the six-month period has passed .
A political battle over the asylum treaty has raged for years in Canada , which is a party to the United Nations Refugee Convention that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ penalties imposed on them for the way they enter a country .
The convention is meant to acknowledge that vulnerable people fleeing for their lives may not have had a chance to get their documents in order before they escape , or may have lost them on their journey to safety .
Refugees are people that are fleeting violence , war , terrorism or persecution , and are not the same as immigrants .
People who make a refugee claim at the border do not automatically become refugees ; they must first be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to ensure they are not simply economic migrants .
In March , the Trudeau government announced it had reached a deal with the U.S. to return all “ irregular migrants ” who attempt to cross into Canada anywhere along the Canada-U.S. border .
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at the time he was “ comfortable ” that the new policy was still in line with Canada 's values on the treatment of refugees .
But the director of a prominent refugee organization criticized the decision as “ knowingly creating chaos.
” The Green @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the border from New York state to Quebec in 2019 were women with children , and some of them have been working at long-term care facilities providing relief during the COVID-19 pandemic .

British Columbia MPs and the East Kootenay refugee society called on the Trudeau government Friday to abandon a Canada-U.S. asylum treaty after a Federal Court judge found it violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The court ruled last week that Canada’s enforcement of the 16-year-old Safe Third Country agreement with the United States was “unconstitutional” because it was resulting in refugee claimants being imprisoned in the U.S., depriving them of their charter right to life, liberty and security of the person. The agreement holds that people seeking refugee status in either country have to make their claim in the country they arrive in first, under the assumption that the U.S. is a safe place for people to seek such status. But Justice Ann Marie McDonald said she had heard compelling evidence that refugee claimants were being thrown in detention simply for having attempted to make a claim. The applicants in the case, the Canadian Council for Refugees, Amnesty International and the Canadian Council of Churches, said this refugee claimant imprisonment “often results in a lack of basic human dignity, lack of medical care, and lack of food.”
McDonald’s ruling relays the story of Nedira Mustefa, who tried to enter Canada and was turned away under the provisions of the treaty only to be “immediately taken into custody by U.S. authorities” and held in solitary confinement in “freezing cold” conditions. Mustefa, a Muslim, described her experience in an affidavit as “terrifying, isolating and psychologically traumatic.” She said she was fed pork despite informing guards she could not eat it for religious reasons, and had to skip meals, losing a considerable amount of weight. Billion-dollar land deals in Ontario raise corruption suspicions “Canada cannot turn a blind eye to the consequences that befell Ms. Mustefa in its efforts to adhere to the Safe Third Country agreement,” McDonald wrote in her ruling. “The evidence clearly demonstrates that those returned to the U.S. by Canadian officials are detained as a penalty.”
This imprisonment, she said, was “inconsistent with the spirit and objective” of the asylum treaty. British Columbia MPs and the East Kootenay refugee society called on the Trudeau government Friday to abandon a Canada-U.S. asylum treaty, after a federal court judge found it violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. 'Unjust and evil,' says East Kootenay refugee society On Friday, Shauna Jimenez of the East Kootenay Friends of Refugees Society, a volunteer charity that sponsors refugees to Western Canada, told the National Observer she agreed that Canada should be jettisoning the agreement. “I totally agree with abolishing it, I think it’s unjust and evil and inhumane,” said Jimenez. “We know the U.S. is not safe.” Barb Ryeburn, the society's Cranbrook co-ordinator, said she agreed the agreement needed to be torn up. “It targets some of the world's most vulnerable people and sends then back to the U.S., which is definitely not a safe place for them,” said Ryeburn.
“Critics often describe asylum seekers crossing into Canada from the States as illegal migrants who should follow due process and wait their turn. (But) there is no due process to follow for these folks, no country of asylum where they can wait... those fleeing countries where it is possible to follow due process by remaining in refugee camps often wait years or forever due to slow processing times and limited spaces Canada provides for private sponsorships.” NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan, the MP for Vancouver East, and Green Party immigration critic Paul Manly, the MP for Nanaimo-Ladysmith, also called on the Trudeau government to end the treat, following the judge’s ruling. “This decision reaffirms what advocates, lawyers, academics, New Democrats, and thousands of Canadians have argued right from the beginning — that the Safe Third Country agreement contravenes the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by putting the lives of asylum seekers at risk,” said Kwan.


nationalobserver--2020-07-27--When CERB ends, a wave of food insecurity will hit B.C.'s coast: experts

The risk of people going hungry in small island communities on B.C .
's West Coast is likely to go from bad to worse in the fall as the pandemic and its economic symptoms linger on and COVID-19 relief benefits end , service providers and experts say .
At the start of the pandemic , there was an immediate jump in the number of islanders who needed food hampers , said Samantha Statton , Cortes Island Food Bank co-ordinator .
“ The need definitely increased with people losing their jobs and not knowing how things are going to play out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ run the tiny island ’ s community food bank on a volunteer basis for 19 years .
Cortes — one of the Discovery Islands sandwiched between B.C.
’ s mainland and Vancouver Island ’ s east coast — is a tiny community of about 1,000 permanent residents accessible only by plane , boat , or ferry from the neighbouring island of Quadra .
Besides job loss , one reason more people requested food at the beginning of the pandemic is people could no longer make the two-ferry journey to “ town ” — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Island , where food is significantly cheaper , Statton said .
• HAPPENING NOW EVEN IN CANADA : 'It 's embarrassing being American' • Are the Wet'suwet'en on the brink of destruction ?
I went to find out .
Samantha Statton , Cortes Island Food Bank co-ordinator , worries people will face greater risk of going hungry when Covid-19 federal relief programs wind down in fall .
Photo : courtesy of Samantha Statton .
Demand at the food bank levelled off once federal and provincial relief programs got underway , but Statton is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will surge again when the Canada Emergency Response Benefit wraps up on Oct. 3 .
“ I imagine that things are only going to get worse when CERB is finished , ” Statton said .
“ Demand increased , and I think it will again , even more so.
” During the COVID-19 crisis , almost one in seven Canadians ( 14.6 per cent ) reported living in a household where food insecurity was an issue within the past month , according to a Statistics Canada survey released June 24 .
A significant @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2018 .
Additionally , those absent from work due to COVID-19 were almost three times more likely to be food insecure than those who were working .
Food banks are an ad hoc solution to food insecurity Graham Riches says only one in five households that experience food insecurity will use the services of a food bank .
Photo : courtesy Graham Riches .
There ’ s no doubt food bank numbers will soar with CERB ’ s demise , said Graham Riches , professor emeritus of social work at the University of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and welfare policy .
“ I personally do n't even want to think about what will happen to families here if the CERB stops , '' Desta Beattie , Cortes Island Family Support Program co-ordinator , on how food insecurity will soar when Covid-19 relief benefits end in the fall .
Already , food banks anecdotally are seeing anywhere between a 20 per cent to 40 per cent increase in usage rates , said Riches .
Yet increases in individual and corporate donations paired with the influx of millions in federal support for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ solution to the problem of food insecurity in Canada that existed long before COVID-19 , he said .
It ’ s simple , said Riches , food insecurity is intimately bound to poverty , and a symptom of senior levels of governments ’ long neglect of Canada ’ s social safety net .
The reason households or individuals go without food is they simply don ’ t have enough money in their pocket to buy it .
“ It ’ s not a food problem ; it ’ s an income problem .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t have enough food , or even cheap food , ” Riches said , adding in B.C .
alone , half a million people are at risk of going hungry .
“ We 're finding the purchase of food… is actually either beyond them , or they worry about it .
And I think that 's a matter of concern.
” And senior levels of government supporting food banks , and encouraging others to do so — instead of finding ways to raise income levels — are simply evading their obligations to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which surfaced to deal with the economic recession in the 1980s , have mistakenly become a legitimate tool to reduce poverty in governments ’ view , Riches said .
“ Yet , it ’ s not an effective way to alleviate poverty , ” he said .
“ Only one in five households who are food insecure because of financial constraints actually use food banks.
” The very conception and success of CERB , a form of guaranteed basic income , demonstrates the federal government actually recognizes the best way to prevent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ income levels , said Rich .
Vehicles , such as living wage rates , higher child tax benefits , universal daycare and school lunch programs , as well as increased income assistance and disability rates or guaranteed base incomes are the fixes to hunger , he said .
“ People are beginning to talk about these issues now because we 've got a crisis , ” he said .
“ The pandemic is suddenly revealing all these fault lines in our social safety net.
” Graphic courtesy of BC Centre of Disease Control @ @ @ @ @ @ @ report .
Those most at risk of hunger Canadians living in households with children are more likely to be food insecure , the Statistics Canada survey found .
During the pandemic , 19 per cent of households with children reported being food insecure compared to those without children ( 12 per cent ) .
Households with children were also more likely to be worried about food running out before there was money to buy more , and having difficulty affording to eat balanced meals .
The numbers are likely higher than reported given @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and probably under-represents populations vulnerable to food insecurity , stated Statistics Canada .
Food insecurity is more prevalent among households with low incomes , lone-parent families , those who rent rather than own housing , and that identify as Indigenous or Black .
Desta Beattie , co-ordinator of the Cortes Island Family Support Program ( which helps connect vulnerable families to the food bank ) , said she definitely noticed households with kids needed extra support during the pandemic .
Job loss on the island , with an economy largely dependent on a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ driver .
But the other was simply a continued struggle with inadequate income .
“ It was tourism for the most part , ” she said .
“ But there ’ re also families on income assistance , or people on disability that weren ’ t eligible for CERB.
” Those that could apply for the benefit fared better than people the government had already recognized as vulnerable .
“ I feel like it just really highlights that the government knows that $ 2,000 is kind of a minimum baseline of what people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And yet , we 're expecting people on income assistance to live on just over half of that in some cases.
” Food insecurity was already an issue before Covid-19 due to high food costs on Cortes , as supplies are transported by trucks via ferries to the island that is situated at the end of a very long supply chain , she said .
What people might face in terms of food insecurity once the federal benefits cease was frightening to ponder , Beattie added .
“ I personally do n't even @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to families here if the CERB stops.
” Shelves are stocked for now Amanda Smith , co-ordinator of the Quadra Food bank , on the island neighbouring Cortes , said client numbers jumped by 30 per cent at the front end of the pandemic in March and April before leveling off .
She also credited CERB and other income assistance measures in stemming the upward swing .
The lack of public transit on Quadra was an extra challenge for people without cars , she said .
“ The only problem some clients face @ @ @ @ @ @ @ many are on foot or use bicycles , ” Smith said .
“ And hitchhiking isn ’ t working very well due to the pandemic.
” But due to the consistent generosity of the community , and federal and provincial supports , the food bank has sufficient food and donations to meet demand , she said .
Statton said the Cortes Food Bank is also in good shape thanks to community support and matching donors , she ’ s even been able to provide fresh produce from community farmers in the hampers .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ that will continue , especially later into the fall .
As much as she ’ s always loved her work with the food bank , Statton would be equally happy if it was no longer necessary .
“ It ’ s a joy to be able to help the community .
But I ’ d love not to do this anymore , ” Statton said .
“ It would be really nice if people were food secure.
” “ But , there ’ s still need out there .
”

Besides job loss, one reason more people requested food at the beginning of the pandemic is people could no longer make the two-ferry journey to “town” — the city of Campbell River on Vancouver Island, where food is significantly cheaper, Statton said.
Cortes — one of the Discovery Islands sandwiched between B.C.’s mainland and Vancouver Island’s east coast — is a tiny community of about 1,000 permanent residents accessible only by plane, boat, or ferry from the neighbouring island of Quadra.
“The need definitely increased with people losing their jobs and not knowing how things are going to play out,” said Statton, who has run the tiny island’s community food bank on a volunteer basis for 19 years.
At the start of the pandemic, there was an immediate jump in the number of islanders who needed food hampers, said Samantha Statton, Cortes Island Food Bank co-ordinator.
The risk of people going hungry in small island communities on B.C.'s West Coast is likely to go from bad to worse in the fall as the pandemic and its economic symptoms linger on and COVID-19 relief benefits end, service providers and experts say.
“I imagine that things are only going to get worse when CERB is finished,” Statton said. “Demand increased, and I think it will again, even more so.”
Demand at the food bank levelled off once federal and provincial relief programs got underway, but Statton is concerned food insecurity in her small community will surge again when the Canada Emergency Response Benefit wraps up on Oct. 3.
Already, food banks anecdotally are seeing anywhere between a 20 per cent to 40 per cent increase in usage rates, said Riches.
There’s no doubt food bank numbers will soar with CERB’s demise, said Graham Riches , professor emeritus of social work at the University of British Columbia with expertise in food insecurity and welfare policy.
Additionally, those absent from work due to COVID-19 were almost three times more likely to be food insecure than those who were working.
A significant bump up from 10.5 per cent in 2018.
During the COVID-19 crisis, almost one in seven Canadians (14.6 per cent) reported living in a household where food insecurity was an issue within the past month, according to a Statistics Canada survey released June 24.
The reason households or individuals go without food is they simply don’t have enough money in their pocket to buy it.
It’s simple, said Riches, food insecurity is intimately bound to poverty, and a symptom of senior levels of governments’ long neglect of Canada’s social safety net.
Yet increases in individual and corporate donations paired with the influx of millions in federal support for food bank programs is an ad hoc solution to the problem of food insecurity in Canada that existed long before COVID-19, he said.
“It’s not a food problem; it’s an income problem. It’s not that we don’t have enough food, or even cheap food,” Riches said, adding in B.C. alone, half a million people are at risk of going hungry.
“We're finding the purchase of food… is actually either beyond them, or they worry about it. And I think that's a matter of concern.”
And senior levels of government supporting food banks, and encouraging others to do so — instead of finding ways to raise income levels — are simply evading their obligations to citizens, Riches said.
Food banks, which surfaced to deal with the economic recession in the 1980s, have mistakenly become a legitimate tool to reduce poverty in governments’ view, Riches said.
“Yet, it’s not an effective way to alleviate poverty,” he said.
“Only one in five households who are food insecure because of financial constraints actually use food banks.”
The very conception and success of CERB, a form of guaranteed basic income, demonstrates the federal government actually recognizes the best way to prevent poverty and food insecurity is to raise income levels, said Rich.
Vehicles, such as living wage rates, higher child tax benefits, universal daycare and school lunch programs, as well as increased income assistance and disability rates or guaranteed base incomes are the fixes to hunger, he said.
“People are beginning to talk about these issues now because we've got a crisis,” he said. “The pandemic is suddenly revealing all these fault lines in our social safety net.”
Graphic courtesy of BC Centre of Disease Control: Food Costs in B.C. 2017 report.
Those most at risk of hunger
Canadians living in households with children are more likely to be food insecure, the Statistics Canada survey found.
During the pandemic, 19 per cent of households with children reported being food insecure compared to those without children (12 per cent).
Households with children were also more likely to be worried about food running out before there was money to buy more, and having difficulty affording to eat balanced meals.
The numbers are likely higher than reported given the short time frame of the survey and probably under-represents populations vulnerable to food insecurity, stated Statistics Canada.
Food insecurity is more prevalent among households with low incomes, lone-parent families, those who rent rather than own housing, and that identify as Indigenous or Black.
Desta Beattie, co-ordinator of the Cortes Island Family Support Program (which helps connect vulnerable families to the food bank), said she definitely noticed households with kids needed extra support during the pandemic.
Job loss on the island, with an economy largely dependent on a now defunct tourism season, was one driver. But the other was simply a continued struggle with inadequate income.
“It was tourism for the most part,” she said. “But there’re also families on income assistance, or people on disability that weren’t eligible for CERB.”
Those that could apply for the benefit fared better than people the government had already recognized as vulnerable.
“I feel like it just really highlights that the government knows that $2,000 is kind of a minimum baseline of what people need,” Beattie said.
“And yet, we're expecting people on income assistance to live on just over half of that in some cases.”
Food insecurity was already an issue before Covid-19 due to high food costs on Cortes, as supplies are transported by trucks via ferries to the island that is situated at the end of a very long supply chain, she said.
What people might face in terms of food insecurity once the federal benefits cease was frightening to ponder, Beattie added.
“I personally don't even want to think about what will happen to families here if the CERB stops.”
Shelves are stocked for now
Amanda Smith, co-ordinator of the Quadra Food bank, on the island neighbouring Cortes, said client numbers jumped by 30 per cent at the front end of the pandemic in March and April before leveling off.
She also credited CERB and other income assistance measures in stemming the upward swing.
The lack of public transit on Quadra was an extra challenge for people without cars, she said.
“The only problem some clients face is transporting their food home, as many are on foot or use bicycles,” Smith said. “And hitchhiking isn’t working very well due to the pandemic.”
But due to the consistent generosity of the community, and federal and provincial supports, the food bank has sufficient food and donations to meet demand, she said.
Statton said the Cortes Food Bank is also in good shape thanks to community support and matching donors, she’s even been able to provide fresh produce from community farmers in the hampers.
But she's not sure how long that will continue, especially later into the fall.
As much as she’s always loved her work with the food bank, Statton would be equally happy if it was no longer necessary.
“It’s a joy to be able to help the community. But I’d love not to do this anymore,” Statton said. “It would be really nice if people were food secure.”
“But, there’s still need out there.”
Rochelle Baker/Local Journalism Initiative/Canada's National Observer


nationalobserver--2020-07-25--Tam warning young people to stop spreading COVID-19

Canada 's chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam is doubling down on warnings to young Canadians to stop fuelling the spread of the novel coronavirus .
Tam delivered that pre-weekend warning — one week after her deputy Dr. Howard Njoo did the same — because of the worrying trend of rising infections among people aged 20 to 39 .
Tam says that age group accounted for the highest incidence rates for COVID-19 cases in the past two weeks .
Tam outlined how the daily national case count , based on a seven-day average , is rising again across the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Tam says the seven-day measure is the best way to assess the trend in the number of infections .
• HAPPENING NOW EVEN IN CANADA : 'It 's embarrassing being American' • Are the Wet'suwet'en on the brink of destruction ?
I went to find out .
• When CERB ends , a wave of food insecurity will hit B.C .
's coast : experts She says it stood at a high of 1,800 per day in early May , then dipped to 273 in early July , but in the last seven @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 487 .
The 20-to-39 age group accounted for 60 per cent of those cases , and one-third of them had to be hospitalized , said Tam .
`` I must urge all Canadians , particularly younger adults , to not give in to COVID-19 fatigue , '' she said Friday in Ottawa .
`` This is your generation and your future that is being shaped .
Younger age groups are not invincible against COVID-19 , '' said Tam , who returned to the government 's public briefings after her own summer break .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ counts is worrisome .
We know that we have the means to keep COVID-19 under control , but this is by no means a sure thing .
It is going to take all Canadians doing their part and working together , with public health , to keep the curve down . ''
Tam noted that less than one per cent of the Canadian population has been infected , which means the population remains highly susceptible to getting sick .
Canada 's chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam is doubling down on warnings @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spread of the novel coronavirus .
`` If we let our guard down , the disease will work its way to our parents , and grandparents and other vulnerable people who need to be protected through our actions , '' she said .
`` Now is the chance to be a lifesaver .
We all need to take this disease , and our responsibility to protect others , seriously . ''
Health Minister Patty Hajdu urged Canadians to choose less and safer contact with others , and to avoid smaller spaces .
`` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ weekend , is what I 'm about to do worth the risk ?
Is the worth the risk that I might end up very sick or someone within my circle will ? ''
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 24 , 2020 .

Canada's chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam is doubling down on warnings to young Canadians to stop fuelling the spread of the novel coronavirus. Tam delivered that pre-weekend warning — one week after her deputy Dr. Howard Njoo did the same — because of the worrying trend of rising infections among people aged 20 to 39. Tam says that age group accounted for the highest incidence rates for COVID-19 cases in the past two weeks. Tam outlined how the daily national case count, based on a seven-day average, is rising again across the country after falling earlier this summer. Tam says the seven-day measure is the best way to assess the trend in the number of infections.
She says it stood at a high of 1,800 per day in early May, then dipped to 273 in early July, but in the last seven days the average daily count rose to 487. The 20-to-39 age group accounted for 60 per cent of those cases, and one-third of them had to be hospitalized, said Tam. Billion-dollar land deals in Ontario raise corruption suspicions "I must urge all Canadians, particularly younger adults, to not give in to COVID-19 fatigue," she said Friday in Ottawa.
"This is your generation and your future that is being shaped. Younger age groups are not invincible against COVID-19," said Tam, who returned to the government's public briefings after her own summer break. Canada's chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam is doubling down on warnings to young Canadians to stop fuelling the spread of the novel coronavirus. "The upward trend in daily case counts is worrisome. We know that we have the means to keep COVID-19 under control, but this is by no means a sure thing. It is going to take all Canadians doing their part and working together, with public health, to keep the curve down." Tam noted that less than one per cent of the Canadian population has been infected, which means the population remains highly susceptible to getting sick. "If we let our guard down, the disease will work its way to our parents, and grandparents and other vulnerable people who need to be protected through our actions," she said. "Now is the chance to be a lifesaver. We all need to take this disease, and our responsibility to protect others, seriously."


nationalobserver--2020-07-25--Lost civil servant productivity due to COVID-19 could cost more than $600 million

The federal government has lost at least $ 439 million so far this year in productivity through a policy that allows civil servants to stay home , with pay , during emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic , the country 's budget watchdog said in a report released Friday .
Most of that total was a result of employees at the Canada Revenue Agency staying home , unable to work , between March 15 and May 31 , the Parliamentary Budget Office said .
That one department accounted for just over $ 311 million in paid leave , far ahead @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Canada , at more than $ 33.8 million .
The report says the Canada Revenue Agency told the budget watchdog that limitations on work was the most common reason for taking leave , mostly related to compliance and collection activities being postponed during the pandemic .
The Public Service Alliance of Canada , which represents the majority of federal employees , called the numbers `` modest . ''
• HAPPENING NOW EVEN IN CANADA : 'It 's embarrassing being American' • Are the Wet'suwet'en on the brink of destruction ?
I went to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ compiled at the request of Edmonton Conservative MP Kelly McCauley , who wanted to know the financial impact of the policy , known as pay code 699 .
The policy allows federal employees paid leave for emergencies such as being sick with COVID-19 , having to quarantine , not being able to access the technology they need to complete their work and having to care for dependants .
It does not require employee to first use up other forms of paid leave , such as vacation , family emergencies or accumulated sick leave @ @ @ @ @ @ @ majority of public service employees were able to work at full capacity while only a third were occasionally forced to use 699 leave , '' said PSAC national president Chris Aylward .
The PBO also noted the leave amounted to about one per cent of government salaries for the period .
`` The price of forcing layoffs and trying to rebuild the public service after the pandemic would have cost taxpayers tenfold — let alone the negative impact on our economy , '' Aylward said .
The PBO said 699 costs could be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wide , because the Treasury Board Secretariat , which is responsible for the civil service , only provided information from 62 of the 88 federal public service organizations , representing about 70 per cent of government departments .
The PBO noted that it was not able to find a leave policy of a similar scope in the private sector , although some provinces have offered their employees some pay cushions .
`` Many provincial governments have issued notices requiring managers to provide flexibility and allow employees to draw on future sick leave credits @ @ @ @ @ @ @ report said .
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 24 , 2020 .

The federal government has lost at least $439 million so far this year in productivity through a policy that allows civil servants to stay home, with pay, during emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the country's budget watchdog said in a report released Friday.
Most of that total was a result of employees at the Canada Revenue Agency staying home, unable to work, between March 15 and May 31, the Parliamentary Budget Office said.
That one department accounted for just over $311 million in paid leave, far ahead of the second-costliest department, Correctional Services Canada, at more than $33.8 million.
The report says the Canada Revenue Agency told the budget watchdog that limitations on work was the most common reason for taking leave, mostly related to compliance and collection activities being postponed during the pandemic.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada, which represents the majority of federal employees, called the numbers "modest."


nationalobserver--2020-07-25--Water levels near record high in northern Saskatchewan

Precipitation in northern Saskatchewan is approaching record highs as water rises .
High river and lake water will be a concern for the rest of summer , and in some cases — such as the mainstem of the Churchill River — into the fall and winter , analysts say .
“ The Churchill River system is full… We certainly have n't seen many years like this where the whole basin is filled up , ” Saskatchewan Water Security Agency spokesperson Ron Podbielski told Canada ’ s National Observer on Friday .
According to the agency , northern Saskatchewan has seen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ runoff ) since April 1 , resulting in high flows and lake water across the Churchill River and Lower Saskatchewan River basins .
• HAPPENING NOW EVEN IN CANADA : 'It 's embarrassing being American' • Are the Wet'suwet'en on the brink of destruction ?
I went to find out .
He said that although serious flooding inside communities is not expected to happen as of yet , residents need to stay vigilant .
And this year could see record water volumes as the summer progresses .
Podbielski said an increased variability in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ caused by climate change , will mean the province will have to adapt to a new normal .
“ We ’ re seeing that climate variability that we ’ ve acknowledged in the province is happening in terms of both drought and flood , ” Podbielski said .
“ It looks like the province is going to have to focus on adaptation because of some of these extremes.
” In most areas , flows and water levels are expected to peak , or have peaked , slightly lower than historical highs .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that we ’ ve acknowledged in the province is happening in terms of both drought and flood , ” Ron Podbielski .
However , flows and levels in the Lower Churchill River , including Reindeer River and Churchill River near Sandy Bay , have exceeded these highs .
“ As of ( Friday ) , we are not anticipating any flooding issues .
That said , the situation is always very dynamic , but the wild card in there is that we have another weather forecast which is suggesting a lot of rain @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the province , ” Podbielski said , adding the Churchill Basin is expected to see the most .
A map of the Churchill River ( Hudson Bay ) drainage basin .
Data derived from NASA SRTM , Natural Resources Canada , US Geological Survey , Natural Earth .
Public domain .
“ Generally , communities will look at the drinking water and the wastewater systems just to be sure that they are safeguarded in case of a high water level situation , ” Podbielski said .
About 10 to 20 millimetres of rain @ @ @ @ @ @ @ central part of the Churchill River drainage basin , with localized higher amounts in thunderstorms .
Podbielski said the heavy rainfall means Lac La Ronge and Sandy Bay could peak at a later date — and at a higher volume .
“ Lac La Ronge is under the risk of handling those higher levels for a longer period of time with the wild card of additional wet weather , ” Podbielski said .
Lac La Ronge water levels during 2011 , 2017 , and 2020 along with forecasts for the next fifty days @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ If we go over to Cumberland house lots of the community there , the people in the Cumberland delta , some of those individuals got flooded .
The outfitters for example .
But we ’ re not anticipating the town proper to actually be in the flooding situation.
” He said that in isolated circumstances some people 's homes have been flooded “ in and around some of the communities , but the communities themselves have n't had that situation as of yet.
” “ In addition to recreation , people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their daily business , and there ’ s always a personal safety risk when water levels are extremely high.
” he said .
Although he said northerners are experienced dealing with high water , he said residents should “ practise safety and good awareness .
”

Precipitation in northern Saskatchewan is approaching record highs as water rises. High river and lake water will be a concern for the rest of summer, and in some cases — such as the mainstem of the Churchill River — into the fall and winter, analysts say. “The Churchill River system is full… We certainly haven't seen many years like this where the whole basin is filled up,” Saskatchewan Water Security Agency spokesperson Ron Podbielski told Canada’s National Observer on Friday. Accumulated rainfall in northern Saskatchewan, July 21-23. Graphic: Saskatchewan Water Security Agency. According to the agency, northern Saskatchewan has seen extremely high cumulative precipitation (rainfall and runoff) since April 1, resulting in high flows and lake water across the Churchill River and Lower Saskatchewan River basins.
He said that although serious flooding inside communities is not expected to happen as of yet, residents need to stay vigilant. And this year could see record water volumes as the summer progresses. Podbielski said an increased variability in weather patterns, and more extreme conditions caused by climate change, will mean the province will have to adapt to a new normal. Billion-dollar land deals in Ontario raise corruption suspicions “We’re seeing that climate variability that we’ve acknowledged in the province is happening in terms of both drought and flood,” Podbielski said.
Accumulated rainfall for the Saskatchewan River Basin, July 21-23. Graphic: Saskatchewan Water Security Agency. “It looks like the province is going to have to focus on adaptation because of some of these extremes.” “We’re seeing that climate variability that we’ve acknowledged in the province is happening in terms of both drought and flood,” Ron Podbielski. In most areas, flows and water levels are expected to peak, or have peaked, slightly lower than historical highs. However, flows and levels in the Lower Churchill River, including Reindeer River and Churchill River near Sandy Bay, have exceeded these highs. “As of (Friday), we are not anticipating any flooding issues. That said, the situation is always very dynamic, but the wild card in there is that we have another weather forecast which is suggesting a lot of rain in that central and northern area of the province,” Podbielski said, adding the Churchill Basin is expected to see the most.
A map of the Churchill River (Hudson Bay) drainage basin. Data derived from NASA SRTM, Natural Resources Canada, US Geological Survey, Natural Earth. Public domain. “Generally, communities will look at the drinking water and the wastewater systems just to be sure that they are safeguarded in case of a high water level situation,” Podbielski said. About 10 to 20 millimetres of rain is expected over the weekend in the central part of the Churchill River drainage basin, with localized higher amounts in thunderstorms.


nationalobserver--2020-07-28--Horgan tells drivers with non-B.C. plates to take the bus to avoid harassment

Drivers in British Columbia with out-of-province licence plates , especially those from the United States , should consider taking transit or riding a bicycle if they feel harassed by local residents , says Premier John Horgan .
Horgan also suggested Monday that drivers switch to B.C .
plates to avoid pointed questions from residents who are concerned about the spread of COVID-19 .
`` I would suggest , perhaps , public transit , '' he said at a news conference .
`` I would suggest that they get their plates changed .
I would suggest they ride a bike .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bonnie Henry have said interprovincial travel is allowed and both have stressed that a vehicle 's licence plate does not mean the driver is from outside B.C .
The border between Canada and the United States remains closed to non-essential travel until at least Aug. 21 , when the issue will be reconsidered by the Canadian and American governments .
• Are the Wet'suwet'en on the brink of destruction ?
I went to find out .
• When CERB ends , a wave of food insecurity will hit B.C .
's coast : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ polluters .
Then they got busted by the FBI .
Henry said there are many reasons why people are driving vehicles with out-of-province licence plates and those drivers should be treated with respect .
`` We do not know everybody 's story , and I think we need to pay attention to the fact that we all are in this together , whether our licence plate is from somewhere else , whether it 's from Alberta or whether it 's from California , '' she said .
Henry reported that 81 new COVID-19 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ since Friday , and two more residents of long-term care homes have died .
B.C .
now has a total of 3,500 COVID-19 cases and 193 deaths .
Henry said 3,043 people have recovered from the illness .
She said a berry packing plant near Abbotsford in the Fraser Valley is the location of the most recent COVID-19 outbreak in the province with 15 positive cases .
The outbreak on the remote island of Haida Gwaii has increased to include 14 confirmed cases of COVID-19 , up from 13 cases reported Friday , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with out-of-province licence plates , especially those from the United States , should consider taking transit or riding a bicycle if they feel harassed by local residents , says Premier John Horgan .
A recent jump of infections in B.C .
has been linked to larger gatherings where officials say physical distancing protocols may not have been followed .
Henry said Monday that modifications to the rules around gatherings will now limit the number of people in short-term vacation rentals , including hotel rooms and houseboats , to the capacity of the unit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
remain limited to 50 people or less .
Police around the province have reported disputes that arose when residents questioned drivers about their out-of-province licence plates .
Horgan said he ca n't tell people how to respond when seeing different licence plates , but judging people by where their vehicle is registered does not often tell a complete story .
`` We do n't know why they would continue to have plates that are not consistent with B.C .
and we should act accordingly , '' he said .
Drivers with out-of-province @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
has embraced numerous health restrictions in the effort to reduce the spread of COVID-19 , the premier said .
`` What I can tell these individuals is there 's a high degree of certainty in B.C .
that we want to keep our borders closed until neighbouring jurisdictions get a better handle on COVID-19 , '' he said .
`` Those who are overtly declaring by their licence plates that they 're from somewhere else should be mindful of that . ''
Horgan said British Columbia residents should also consider the individual @ @ @ @ @ @ @ based on their licence plates .

Drivers in British Columbia with out-of-province licence plates, especially those from the United States, should consider taking transit or riding a bicycle if they feel harassed by local residents, says Premier John Horgan. Horgan also suggested Monday that drivers switch to B.C. plates to avoid pointed questions from residents who are concerned about the spread of COVID-19. "I would suggest, perhaps, public transit," he said at a news conference. "I would suggest that they get their plates changed. I would suggest they ride a bike." Horgan and provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry have said interprovincial travel is allowed and both have stressed that a vehicle's licence plate does not mean the driver is from outside B.C. The border between Canada and the United States remains closed to non-essential travel until at least Aug. 21, when the issue will be reconsidered by the Canadian and American governments.
Henry said there are many reasons why people are driving vehicles with out-of-province licence plates and those drivers should be treated with respect. "We do not know everybody's story, and I think we need to pay attention to the fact that we all are in this together, whether our licence plate is from somewhere else, whether it's from Alberta or whether it's from California," she said. Billion-dollar land deals in Ontario raise corruption suspicions Henry reported that 81 new COVID-19 cases have been detected in B.C. since Friday, and two more residents of long-term care homes have died.
B.C. now has a total of 3,500 COVID-19 cases and 193 deaths. Henry said 3,043 people have recovered from the illness. Drivers in British Columbia with out-of-province licence plates, especially those from the United States, should consider taking transit or riding a bicycle if they feel harassed by local residents, says Premier John Horgan. She said a berry packing plant near Abbotsford in the Fraser Valley is the location of the most recent COVID-19 outbreak in the province with 15 positive cases. The outbreak on the remote island of Haida Gwaii has increased to include 14 confirmed cases of COVID-19, up from 13 cases reported Friday, said Henry. A recent jump of infections in B.C. has been linked to larger gatherings where officials say physical distancing protocols may not have been followed. Henry said Monday that modifications to the rules around gatherings will now limit the number of people in short-term vacation rentals, including hotel rooms and houseboats, to the capacity of the unit plus five visitors.
Gatherings in B.C. remain limited to 50 people or less. Police around the province have reported disputes that arose when residents questioned drivers about their out-of-province licence plates. Horgan said he can't tell people how to respond when seeing different licence plates, but judging people by where their vehicle is registered does not often tell a complete story.


nationalobserver--2020-07-28--LNG industry development could create almost 100,000 jobs, says industry report

The LNG Canada website notes that the expansion would double production from 14 million to about 28 million tonnes of LNG per year and result in between 450 and 800 direct jobs at the plant .
The Conference Board of Canada report , funded by the Canadian LNG Alliance , examines a scenario where 56 million tonnes per year of LNG is produced by 2034 , including an expansion of the $ 40-billion LNG Canada project now under construction in Kitimat , B.C .
A report funded by the Canadian liquefied natural gas industry estimates that creating a 56-million-tonnes-per-year LNG @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nearly 100,000 jobs .
The Conference Board says its job creation figure of 96,550 jobs — including 71,000 jobs in British Columbia alone — includes related employment in engineering and construction , retail and wholesale , technical services , mining , oil and gas and manufacturing .
It says the LNG industry would increase the country 's gross domestic product by $ 11 billion per year and , between 2020 and 2064 , more than $ 92 billion in revenue could be generated for provinces and territories in Canada .
Earlier this month @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Energy Monitor said LNG project viability is in question because of growing environmental opposition and global LNG market uncertainty , listing 13 LNG projects in Canada that have been cancelled or suspended in recent years .
`` Canada 's LNG industry holds potential economic benefits for Canada , '' said Roger Francis , director of sustainability at the Conference Board.
, adding , `` Thousands of well-paying jobs could be created and billions of dollars in new revenue could be realized by governments across the country . ''
The Conference Board report is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that estimated developing an LNG industry producing 30 million tonnes per year in British Columbia would add $ 7.4 billion a year to the Canadian economy and 65,000 new jobs over three decades .

A report funded by the Canadian liquefied natural gas industry estimates that creating a 56-million-tonnes-per-year LNG industry in B.C. would result in nearly 100,000 jobs.
The Conference Board of Canada report, funded by the Canadian LNG Alliance, examines a scenario where 56 million tonnes per year of LNG is produced by 2034, including an expansion of the $40-billion LNG Canada project now under construction in Kitimat, B.C.
The LNG Canada website notes that the expansion would double production from 14 million to about 28 million tonnes of LNG per year and result in between 450 and 800 direct jobs at the plant.
The Conference Board says its job creation figure of 96,550 jobs — including 71,000 jobs in British Columbia alone — includes related employment in engineering and construction, retail and wholesale, technical services, mining, oil and gas and manufacturing.
It says the LNG industry would increase the country's gross domestic product by $11 billion per year and, between 2020 and 2064, more than $92 billion in revenue could be generated for provinces and territories in Canada.


nationalobserver--2020-07-28--Craig, Marc Kielburger to testify at Commons committee today

The co-founders of WE Charity are to testify before a House of Commons committee today as part of a parliamentary probe into a $ 912-million student-volunteer program .
Brothers Craig and Marc Kielburger , who helped found the organization two decades ago , are scheduled to speak this afternoon with MPs on the finance committee .
In a statement last week , the brothers said they agreed to testify to set the record straight about their involvement in the Canada Student Service Grant program .
WE Charity backed out of administering the program in early July amid a controversy over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sole-sourced contract despite its close ties to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau .
The controversy for the government has only deepened since , as the federal ethics watchdog has launched probes of Trudeau and Finance Minister Bill Morneau over their involvement in cabinet decisions despite WE 's having paid Trudeau 's family members speaking fees , and Morneau 's familial ties to the group .
• Are the Wet'suwet'en on the brink of destruction ?
I went to find out .
• When CERB ends , a wave of food insecurity will hit B.C @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spent millions to protect polluters .
Then they got busted by the FBI .
Further compounding problems for the finance minister was his admission last week that he had just repaid the organization more than $ 41,000 in travel expenses for WE-sponsored trips he and his family took three years ago .
Opposition MPs have raised multiple questions about the due diligence conducted on the organization , arguing that testimony to date suggests the group had the inside track on the contract to run the program .
Trudeau and his top aide , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scheduled to testify Thursday about the program and deal with WE .
The Canada Student Service Grant program was supposed to roll out before the summer and pay participants up to $ 5,000 based on the number of hours they volunteered before early October .
WE was to administer the program and connect young people with service opportunities through an online platform that would have also paid WE a fee worth $ 43.5 million for up to 40,000 placements .
A copy of the agreement filed with the committee this week noted that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ $ 500 million in grants , even though the Liberals touted the program as having a $ 912-million budget .
The co-founders of WE Charity are to testify before a House of Commons committee today as part of a parliamentary probe into a $ 912-million student-volunteer program .
When the organization backed out of the agreement , it said that things were largely in place for the federal public service to manage .
However , problems have emerged with what WE put in place and the government has yet to announce a timeline @ @ @ @ @ @ @ This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 28 , 2020 .

The co-founders of WE Charity are to testify before a House of Commons committee today as part of a parliamentary probe into a $912-million student-volunteer program.
Brothers Craig and Marc Kielburger, who helped found the organization two decades ago, are scheduled to speak this afternoon with MPs on the finance committee.
In a statement last week, the brothers said they agreed to testify to set the record straight about their involvement in the Canada Student Service Grant program.
WE Charity backed out of administering the program in early July amid a controversy over the Liberals' awarding the organization a sole-sourced contract despite its close ties to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The controversy for the government has only deepened since, as the federal ethics watchdog has launched probes of Trudeau and Finance Minister Bill Morneau over their involvement in cabinet decisions despite WE's having paid Trudeau's family members speaking fees, and Morneau's familial ties to the group.


nationalobserver--2020-07-28--Deutsche Bank won't back any new oilsands or coal projects

Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank is joining a lengthening list of European lenders and insurance companies that say they wo n't back new oilsands projects .
The German bank said Monday its new fossil fuels policy will also prohibit investing in projects that use hydraulic fracturing or fracking in countries with scarce water supplies , and all new oil and gas projects in the Arctic region .
It says its ban on oilsands financing , effective immediately , will include exploration , production , transport or processing , seemingly including oilsands pipelines and upgraders or refineries .
The move was criticized by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers in Calgary .
`` Canadian oil and natural gas is sustainably developed in one of the most highly regulated jurisdictions in the world and the energy sector is the county 's leading investor in environmental protection and innovation , '' he said in an emailed statement .
• Are the Wet'suwet'en on the brink of destruction ?
I went to find out .
• When CERB ends , a wave of food insecurity will hit B.C .
's coast : experts • They spent millions to protect @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the FBI .
`` Attempts to stifle Canadian production by restricting financing can have only one effect ; countries with lower environmental standards — and in many cases lower social , human rights and governance standards — will fill the void . ''
He said an investment in Canadian energy is `` a sustainable choice . ''
Two years ago , Europe 's largest bank , HSBC Holdings plc , announced it would no longer offer financial services for new oilsands projects or pipelines , a move that led to producer Suncor Energy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ HSBC , including in its conventional oil operations in Europe .
`` Deutsche Bank 's updated fossil fuel policy is the latest warning shot telling us that doubling down on coal , oil and gas will sink our economy while destabilizing the climate , '' said Greenpeace Canada campaigner Keith Stewart on Monday .
`` We still have time to protect the workers , communities and regions currently dependent on oil as we navigate this shift and ensure that all Canadians prosper in the new low-carbon economy . ''
Deutsche Bank also said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ transactions involving coal mining by 2025 after achieving a goal last year to reduce its loan exposure to coal-fired power plants by 20 per cent .
It said it wo n't finance any new coal power plants .
Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank is joining a lengthening list of European lenders and insurance companies that say they wo n't back new oilsands projects .
The moves are part of a commitment to align its credit portfolios with the greenhouse gas reduction goals of the Paris Agreement , the bank said .
This report by The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , 2020 .

Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank is joining a lengthening list of European lenders and insurance companies that say they won't back new oilsands projects.
The German bank said Monday its new fossil fuels policy will also prohibit investing in projects that use hydraulic fracturing or fracking in countries with scarce water supplies, and all new oil and gas projects in the Arctic region.
It says its ban on oilsands financing, effective immediately, will include exploration, production, transport or processing, seemingly including oilsands pipelines and upgraders or refineries.
The move was criticized by Ben Brunnen, vice-president of oilsands for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers in Calgary.
"Canadian oil and natural gas is sustainably developed in one of the most highly regulated jurisdictions in the world and the energy sector is the county's leading investor in environmental protection and innovation," he said in an emailed statement.


nationalobserver--2020-07-28--Meng lawyers argue document disclosure wouldn't harm Canada's national security

Lawyers for a Huawei executive facing possible extradition to the United States are disputing the Canadian government 's claim that it ca n't release some documents in the case because it would compromise national security .
Meng Wanzhou is wanted on fraud charges in New York , but she denies the allegations against her .
During a virtual Federal Court hearing on Monday , defence lawyer Ian Carter questioned how releasing the documents could hurt Canada 's relations with China any more than a government affidavit that is already public .
`` If there is a genuine concern from the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ relations between Canada and China , one wonders why this affidavit would have been drafted and filed publicly , '' Carter said .
`` It is a series of propositions and allegations that paint China in a negative light . ''
• Are the Wet'suwet'en on the brink of destruction ?
I went to find out .
• When CERB ends , a wave of food insecurity will hit B.C .
's coast : experts • They spent millions to protect polluters .
Then they got busted by the FBI .
The affidavit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in South Asia alleges that China regularly seeks to blame foreign governments for the consequences of its actions , he said .
Carter also said the Federal Bureau of Investigations in the United States would n't expect any of its correspondences to remain confidential because it is a law enforcement agency , not an intelligence service .
Robert Frater , a lawyer representing Canada 's attorney general in the proceeding , told the judge the defence team is making `` abstract '' arguments because they have n't seen the documents .
The application @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be made in hearings closed to the public because of the sensitivity of the documents , he said .
`` To discuss it in the abstract is not useful , '' Frater said .
`` All of these issues really have to be based on the fuller context that will be provided in the closed hearings . ''
The public and media have been barred from the resumption of the hearing on Thursday .
Lawyers for a Huawei executive facing possible extradition to the United States are disputing the Canadian government 's claim @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the case because it would compromise national security .
Meng is chief financial officer for the Chinese telecommunications giant and the daughter of Huawei 's founder , Ren Zhengei .
She is accused of misrepresenting Huawei 's relationship with Skycom during a presentation to HSBC , putting the bank at risk of violating U.S. sanctions against Iran .
She has been released on bail during the proceedings and is living in one of her Vancouver houses .
Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes of the B.C .
Supreme Court has already tossed out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not be considered a crime in Canada .
Meng 's lawyers are now preparing to argue that her arrest and detention at Vancouver 's airport in December 2018 was unlawful .
Meng 's lawyers are seeking further documents to support their case , pointing to a memo from Canada 's spy agency , the Canadian Security Intelligence Service , as evidence that there are further relevant documents that have not been disclosed .
The heavily redacted two-page memo is evidence that the intelligence service was in on a plan to delay her arrest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Frater told the court Monday that Meng 's lawyers have not proven that the documents they want are relevant to the case .
The attorney general must be generous when it comes to disclosing documents , and it has already looked through a defence lens to consider what could be arguably relevant , he said .
`` When we are asked to collect documents pursuant to a disclosure order , the Crown is obliged to cast a very broad net , '' he said .
He said the Crown will argue `` vigorously @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was subject to an abuse of process during her arrest , when the case returns in the B.C .
Supreme Court .
`` Just so that the record is clear , the attorney general does not accept that there was any conspiracy to deprive Ms. Meng of her rights .
We do not accept that government officials failed to execute the arrest warrant properly .
We do not accept that there was any violation of Ms. Meng 's rights . ''

Lawyers for a Huawei executive facing possible extradition to the United States are disputing the Canadian government's claim that it can't release some documents in the case because it would compromise national security. Meng Wanzhou is wanted on fraud charges in New York, but she denies the allegations against her. During a virtual Federal Court hearing on Monday, defence lawyer Ian Carter questioned how releasing the documents could hurt Canada's relations with China any more than a government affidavit that is already public. "If there is a genuine concern from the ... government of Canada about damage to relations between Canada and China, one wonders why this affidavit would have been drafted and filed publicly," Carter said. "It is a series of propositions and allegations that paint China in a negative light."
The affidavit by Global Affairs Canada's director general in South Asia alleges that China regularly seeks to blame foreign governments for the consequences of its actions, he said. Carter also said the Federal Bureau of Investigations in the United States wouldn't expect any of its correspondences to remain confidential because it is a law enforcement agency, not an intelligence service. Billion-dollar land deals in Ontario raise corruption suspicions Robert Frater, a lawyer representing Canada's attorney general in the proceeding, told the judge the defence team is making "abstract" arguments because they haven't seen the documents.
The application calls for proper arguments that can only be made in hearings closed to the public because of the sensitivity of the documents, he said. Lawyers for a Huawei executive facing possible extradition to the United States are disputing the Canadian government's claim that it can't release some documents in the case because it would compromise national security. "To discuss it in the abstract is not useful," Frater said. "All of these issues really have to be based on the fuller context that will be provided in the closed hearings." The public and media have been barred from the resumption of the hearing on Thursday. Meng is chief financial officer for the Chinese telecommunications giant and the daughter of Huawei's founder, Ren Zhengei. She is accused of misrepresenting Huawei's relationship with Skycom during a presentation to HSBC, putting the bank at risk of violating U.S. sanctions against Iran. She has been released on bail during the proceedings and is living in one of her Vancouver houses.
Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes of the B.C. Supreme Court has already tossed out arguments that the allegations against Meng would not be considered a crime in Canada. Meng's lawyers are now preparing to argue that her arrest and detention at Vancouver's airport in December 2018 was unlawful. Meng's lawyers are seeking further documents to support their case, pointing to a memo from Canada's spy agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, as evidence that there are further relevant documents that have not been disclosed. The heavily redacted two-page memo is evidence that the intelligence service was in on a plan to delay her arrest, Meng's lawyers allege.


nationalobserver--2020-07-28--Senate approves wage subsidy and disability payments for COVID-19

The law extending the federal government 's emergency wage subsidy for employers hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown made it through the Senate Monday .
The package passed by the House of Commons last week also includes one-time payments for people with disabilities facing higher expenses , and extensions to legal deadlines for some court matters the pandemic has made hard or impossible to meet .
Bill C-20 passed on a voice vote without changes .
The extension to the wage subsidy program is the core of the Liberal government 's plan to help the economy get back into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with labour costs so they can operate even if business is slow .
The bill increases the maximum support available to the hardest-hit employers , but starts scaling back subsidies before ending them in December .
• Are the Wet'suwet'en on the brink of destruction ?
I went to find out .
• When CERB ends , a wave of food insecurity will hit B.C .
's coast : experts • They spent millions to protect polluters .
Then they got busted by the FBI .
The special sitting was also a chance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Liberal government to criticize its handling of the months-long crisis .
They cited the possibility of fraud in the signature Canada Emergency Response Benefit , a commercial rent-subsidy program merchants have complained is geared to landlords instead of them , and the complex formula underlying the extended wage subsidy .
They especially noted the aborted deal that handed management of a student-volunteering program to the WE organization .
`` The Canada Student Service Grant is the proverbial icing on the cake on this series of government fiascos , '' said Conservative Sen. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this program ?
Did they truly believe that paying students to volunteer was preferable to them actually working ? ''
Conservative Sen. Larry Smith carried out a dramatic reading of the bureaucratic wage subsidy language , thundering through percentages of revenue declines and maximum top-ups to show how complex the program is .
`` Many people in small businesses , they do n't have the technical capabilities , nor the money , nor , I 'm not going to say the experience , to be able to do something like this , '' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ federal government 's emergency wage subsidy for employers hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown made it through the Senate on Monday , July 27 , 2020 .
`` I 've got a headache , trying to understand this . ''
Others were more generous .
Sen. Scott Tannas , an Alberta senator who was appointed as a Conservative but is now the interim leader of the mixed Canadian Senators Group , said he commended the government for its work , then paused and joked that he was waiting for lightning to strike @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` a bridge '' from pandemic panic to recovery , he said .
`` We have lots of opportunity to criticize , but I think this is an important step , '' he said .
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 27 , 2020 .

The law extending the federal government's emergency wage subsidy for employers hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown made it through the Senate Monday.
The package passed by the House of Commons last week also includes one-time payments for people with disabilities facing higher expenses, and extensions to legal deadlines for some court matters the pandemic has made hard or impossible to meet.
Bill C-20 passed on a voice vote without changes.
The extension to the wage subsidy program is the core of the Liberal government's plan to help the economy get back into shape through the fall, assisting employers with labour costs so they can operate even if business is slow.
The bill increases the maximum support available to the hardest-hit employers, but starts scaling back subsidies before ending them in December.