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Joseph Tokwiroh Norton, a straight-talking, no-nonsense, down-to earth man who spent much of his life fighting for the rights of members of the Mohawk Nation and other Indigenious people in Canada, has died.

Norton, who served for nearly 30 years as the Grand Chief of Kahnawake, across the St. Lawrence River from Montreal, was 70.

The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake confirmed Norton's death shortly after 9:30 p.m. Friday, saying he suffered a fall at his home in the afternoon and had been taken to hospital.

Grand Chief Joe Norton is pictured in Kahnawake on Sept. 18, 2018. (Graham Hughes/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

“He became known as a strong voice for Indigenous solidarity, defiance and determination. As a statesman, he carried a vision in continually striving for the advancement of Indigenous governance," the council said in a statement. 

Following the news of Norton's death, public figures paid tribute to Norton.
Yesterday, we lost Grand Chief Joe Norton, who was a dominant force in First Nations leadership for more than three decades. He was also a wonderful friend and mentor, and was always warm and supportive. My thoughts are with Joe’s family as he journeys to be with our Creator.

— Perry Bellegarde (@perrybellegarde) August 15, 2020


Assembly of First Nations Chief Perry Bellegarde described Norton as “a dominant force in First Nations leadership for more than three decades” as well as a wonderful friend and mentor in a tweet on Saturday.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also tweeted his consoldenes, writing that Norton was a "passionate advocate for his community and served with distinction." 
For three decades, Grand Chief Joseph Norton was a passionate advocate for his community and served with distinction. He leaves behind a remarkable legacy - and my thoughts are with his family, friends, and entire community as they mourn his passing.

— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) August 15, 2020


Former Quebec native affairs minister Geoffrey Kelley remembered Norton as a very determined--but fair--leader.

“Joe Norton defined Mohawk pride,” Kelley told the Montreal Gazette in an interview..

“He was someone who stood up for his community, his people, his nation. He was a man who gave almost his whole life to leadership in his community, and he made a great contribution to Kahnawake and to Indigenous rights and Indigenous causes right across Canada. He was an extraordinary individual.”

Norton first gained public attention as a key Mohawk negotiator during the 1990 Oka Crisis--a 78-day standoff between Quebec Mohawks and Canadian soldiers over the proposed expansion of a golf course near the town of Oka. 

(In 2002, Norton was honoured with a National Aboriginal Achievement Award (now known as Indspire) for Public Service in 2002, for his role as a key negotiator in the Oka crisis.) 

He later negotiated agreements with Quebec government ensuring more power.

Members of the Quebec government and Native leaders talk to the media in Quebec City regarding a preliminary agreement to remove the barricade at Oka. on Aug. 2, 1990. From left are Lauwrence Cantoreille, Joe Norton, Mohawk chief of Kahnawaka, John Ciaccia, minister of Native Affairs, Quebec premier Robert Bourassa and Konrad Sioui, of the Assembly of First Nations. (Clement Allard/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

This past February, Norton spoke out against a court order to dismantle a railway blockade in the community, which had been erected in support of Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs, saying Quebec provincial police and the police service operated by the Canadian Pacific Railway had no place in the community.

A long-time ironworker, a former star lacrosse player and a fluent speaker of Kanien'kéha,

Turkey has said it can no longer support the mass influx of migrants from Syria and elsewhere.

It says it will no longer keep them from attempting to cross into Greece and Bulgaria as they seek to head into European Union countries.

Paul Heinbecker is the Deputy Chair of the The World Refugee Council, and a former Canadian Ambassador to the UN, and Germany.

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As the mass at border crossings with Greece, or attempt to cross the Aegean to Greek islands, the Greek forces are attempting to keep them out.

The Deputy Chair of the The World Refugee Council, and a former Canadian Ambassador to the UN, and Germany (CBC)

Tear gas and piano wire use is prevalent, with heavily armed police and military standing at border points, while patrol vessels forcibly turn back rafts and boats attempting to cross the sea.

Greek patrols were forcing rafts and boats back from attempts to cross the Aegean from Turkey. In some cases warning shots were fired into the water in front of the rafts. (CBC)

Heinbecker says Turkey seems to have a legitimate position as he says the EU has not lived up to agreements with Turkey for funding and resettlement to help that country deal with the almost 4 million migrants now there.

Turkey has been housing almost 4 million migrants, many of whom want to head to the EU countries, and have begun camping out at the borders with Greece and Bulgaria, hoping for a chance to cross (CBC)

Turkey had also wanted to set up a safe zone in Syria where people fleeing the civil war there could go, but Heinbecker says, NATO and the EU seemed not particularly interested.

Greece has moved police and fully armed military into position along its borders to prevent migrants from crossing. (CBC)

Turkey is now reported to have sent 1,000 armed police to the border to stop Greece from forcing the migrants back into Turkey. Athens says it has prevented as many as 35,000 from crossing in the past five days and is said to be preparing to deport hundreds of other who have managed to slip across.

The two countries have a long history of belligerence and so tensions are rising.

Additional information

Al Jazeera: Mar 5/20: Turkish police bolster Greek border to stop migrants' return
BBC: Mar 3/20: EU chief says Greece is Europe's shield in migrant crisis
Thomson-Reuters (via CBC) Mar 4/20: Greek and Turkish police fire tear gas as migrants try to cross into Greece
Associated Press (via CBC) Mar 3.20: Greece PM rips Turkey as thousands of migrants seek entry into Europe

In Canada where the often bitterly heated debate about firearms has been raging on and off for decades, a federal politician decided he needed to be informed by fact, not opinion.

Tako Van Popta is the Conservative Member of Parliament for the riding of Langley-Aldergrove in British Columbia

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Van Popta says he had never held a firearm before taking the required course (and other processes) to obtain a “possession and acquisition licence” (PAL) for firearms.

This also includes paying fees of course, along with written spousal approval and other references, police background check, and daily scrutiny. Interestingly, legal gun owners are the only segment of society subject to daily police checks.

MP for Langley-Aldergrove in British Columbia, Tako Van Popta was challenged by constituents to learn the facts of gun ownership in Canada. Here he takes the instruction course required as a part of the long and somewhat expensive process to obtain a gun licence (supplied)

As a politician who would be involved in debates on the subject, he admitted he knew almost nothing about firearms. He was challenged by constituents to learn first hand and realised that to better understand the situation he would take the mandatory ownership and owners course.

He says he doubts many of the politicians who debated and voted on gun laws like C-71 actually know about the extent and restrictions of current gun laws in Canada.

Hunters and target shooters say they are "easy targets" for increased restrictions and mandatory gun buybacks as they are the ones who obey laws. One expert says the government plan for  (mandatory) buyback of semi-auto rifles will cost billions, not the half million the government claims. Van Popta says that money should be spent on the "real problems" of underfunded social programmes and fighting criminal gangs and gun smugglers instead. (CCFR)

Van Popta also expressed dismay at the Liberal government proposal to create a mandatory buyback of semi-auto rifles through a possible ‘order in council’ which would avoid a debate in Parliament.

He also believes the vast sums spent on such a programme will not make Canada safer, and that the money should instead be spent on policies he says would target the real problem of gangs and illegal gun smuggling.

After taking the course, he is very doubtful he would become a hunter or even buy a firearm, but may accept invitations for target shooting. Van Popta also says it would be a good idea if other politicians informed themselves first hand of Canada’s firearms laws and requirements before taking a position and creating laws which could negatively affect over 2 million legal owners, and the tens of thousands of employees at small businesses throughout the country serving hunters and sport shooters.

Additional information-sources

Fraser Institute: G Mauser;  Jan21.20: Trudeau government’s ‘buy back’ gun program likely a multi-billion boondoggle
Ottawa Citizen: Mar 2/20: S. Yogarnetnam:Proactive policing, not gun buybacks or CCTV cameras: Ottawa Police Service
iPolitics: T. Naumetz: Feb 4/20: Liberal Red Flag plan panned by gun safety advocate and firearm lobby leader
Open Parliament: debates on C-71
Poly Remembers: gun control lobby website
Canadian Firearms Safety Course (mandatory)

Burkina Faso is facing one of the world’s fastest growing displacement crises threatening to engulf the entire West African country and spill over into neighbouring Ghana, Benin, Togo, and Cote d’Ivoire, warns a report by the U.S.-based NGO Refugees International.

Burkina Faso has emerged as the latest epicentre of a conflict that has already consumed much of neighbouring Mali and Niger in Africa’s troubled Sahel region, said Alexandra Lamarche, a Canadian humanitarian worker who authored the report for Refugees International.

And the speed at which the situation in Burkina Faso has deteriorated has caught the country’s government, the international community and aid groups off guard, Lamarche told Radio Canada International in a phone interview from Washington, D.C.

“I was in Burkina in the Fall and they estimated that by the end of the year there’d be about 330,000 internally displaced and instead by Dec. 31 they had reached numbers of 530,000 and now we’re at 613,000,” Lamarche she added.

(click to listen to the podcast interview with Alexandra Lamarche)

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The numbers are expected to climb even higher, she added.

“NGOs are estimating that there might be closer to 900,000 by April but I would be shocked if numbers weren’t actually higher than that,” Lamarche said.
Astounding levels of violence
Source: “Humanitarian Response Plan 2020: Burkina Faso,” OCHA, (January 2020), https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/sites/www.humanitarianresponse.info/files/documents/files/hrp_2020-bfa-fr_abridged-web.pdf

The level of violence and the rapid increase in the number of internally displaced people are “astounding,” especially since Burkina Faso was once known for its relative stability and harmony across ethnic, religious, and linguistic lines, she said.

Intercommunal tensions are on the rise, and the country is grappling with its first major humanitarian crisis in recent history, Lamarche said.

UN food assistance agency warns of escalating crisis in Burkina Faso
Canadian gold mine hit by deadly attack in Burkina Faso won’t reopen in 2019

And increasingly the country’s civilian population is caught in the crossfire as "a motley assortment" of armed groups – jihadist insurgents, criminal elements and local self-defence militias set up to protect rural communities – have plunged the country into violence, Lamarche said.
Grappling to provide services and security
A Burkina Faso soldier patrols at a district that welcomes Internally Displaced People (IDP) from northern Burkina Faso, in Dori on Feb. 3, 2020. (Olympia De Maismont/AFP via Getty Images)

For its part, the government of Burkina Faso is struggling to meet the needs of its population and to provide basic security in large parts of the country, she said.

Meanwhile, aid groups are scrambling to mount an effective response to the crisis, Lamarche said.

Aid groups are hampered by a lack of funding and government policies that prevent them from providing humanitarian assistance to some of the most vulnerable populations who live in huge swaths of Burkina Faso controlled by various insurgent groups, Lamarche said.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) currently estimates that $295 million US ($392 million Cdn) will be required in 2020 to provide humanitarian assistance to those in need, the report said.

International donors, including Canada, will need to quickly ramp up funding to “nip this in the bud” and stop the instability in Burkina Faso from spreading to neighbouring countries, Lamarche said.

“We’re seeing increasing violence by the Togo border, it’s only a matter of time before it goes into Togo,” Lamarche said.

Ukraine's foreign minister says 63 Canadians were among the 176 people killed when a Ukraine International Airlines passenger plane crashed just minutes after taking off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport on Wednesday.

Flight PS752 was en route to Kyiv when it went down.



Ukrainian authorities initially said it appeared mechanical failure was the cause of the crash but later said nothing could be ruled out.

Former pilot and former Transportation Safety Board of Canada crash investigator Larry Vance spoke with CBC News' Suhana Meharchand about the range of possibilities investigators will be looking at to try to figure out why the plane lost its signal after climbing to about 8,000 feet before crashing.

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The three-and-a-half-year-old Boeing 737-800 crashed just hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on Iraqi military bases, housing U.S. soldiers.

Airlines from around the world, including Air Canada, rerouted flights from the area pending further investigations into what happened,

Evin Arsalani and her one-year-old daughter, Kurdia, were among those killed when Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 crashed near Tehran Wednesday morning. (Evin Arsalani/Facebook)

In a statement offering his condolences, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada will ensure the crash is "thoroughly investigated."

In addition to the 63 Canadians, there were 82 Iranians, 11 Ukrainian passengers and crew, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans and three Britons on board.

There were no survivors.

A close friend confirmed to CBC News this to be University of Toronto student Mojtaba Abbasnezhad, a victim of Wednesday's crash. (Mojtaba Abbasnezhad/Facebook)

Canadian Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said he had been in touch with the Ukraine government, tweeting, "Our hearts are with the loved ones of the victims."

Payman Paseyan, a member of the Iranian-Canadian community in Edmonton, said multiple people from the city were on the plane, including many international students.

Meanwhile, CBC News reports that a family of three, a University of Toronto student, and a Greater Toronto Area dentist are among the 63 Canadians who lost their lives.

With files from CBC, CP, AP, Reuters

Mali is on a perilous course, says Alexandra Lamarche.

Nearly eight years after the onset of crisis in the West African country, the international community remains heavily focused on stabilization and counterterrorism, with little to show for its efforts, says the Canadian humanitarian worker.

In fact, the humanitarian situation in parts of the country seems to be getting worse, says Lamarche, who travelled to Mali in September on a fact-finding mission for Refugees International.

In the last three years, the number of Malians displaced from their homes has more than quadrupled, and conflict and displacement is increasingly spreading to previously stable areas of the country, Lamarche says.

Humanitarian organizations are struggling to effectively provide for the 3.2 million Malians in need of assistance this year alone, and aid efforts are hindered by underfunding and a complex security environment, Lamarche says.

Refugees International published her report Mali’s Humanitarian Crisis: Overmilitarized and Overshadowed, last week.

Radio Canada International had a chance to speak with Lamarche for a podcast episode discussing her report and its recommendations for improving the humanitarian situation in Mali, addressing root causes of the conflict, which has now spilled to neighbouring Niger and Burkina Faso, and implementing the terms of the country’s peace agreement.

(click to listen to the podcast interview with Alexandra Lamarche)

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Janine and Ian Maxwell want your money.

Not all of it… But as much as you can spare to help them care for more than 250 orphans and abandoned babies at their orphanage in Eswatini (formerly known as Swaziland) and the 2,500-acre farm that produces food for a network of 30 churches and schools in the tiny Southern African kingdom.

In their quest to feed their orphans, the Maxwell’s and their Heart for Africa charity have partnered with Egg Farmers of Canada, which manages Canada’s egg supply and represents egg producers.

Tim Lambert, CEO of Egg Farmers of Canada, said he was so impressed by the story of the Canadian couple, their work with orphans and their Project Canaan Farm when he first heard it several years ago that he decided to visit them in Swaziland, as the country was known before it changed its name to Eswatini in 2018.

Canadian egg farmers help feed Swaziland orphans

“We were amazed at what they had already achieved with their 2,500-acre farm, with the orphanage for children and also with community feeding programs,” Lambert said in a phone interview from Ottawa, where he was hosting the Maxwells, who are in Canada as part of their month-long fundraising tour of North America.

“Malnutrition in the country is a huge problem, the country has been devastated by HIV/AIDS and within that they’ve lost a generation of adults,” Lambert said. “So there is, if you can believe it, a half a million orphans and vulnerable children in the country, that’s more than half of the population of the entire nation.”

(click to listen to the full interview with Tim Lambert, Janine and Ian Maxwell)

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The partnership between Egg Farmers of Canada and Heart for Africa was announced in late 2014 and since then Canadian egg farmers have helped locals build an entire egg farm from the ground up, Lambert said.

The farm now has 5,000 hens in two houses, offers fresh eggs to thousands of people in the community and is providing a locally produced protein that’s essential for human growth and development, Lambert said.

The Egg Farmers of Canada also got help from other industry partners, such as Sanovo, a Danish company that donated equipment to hard cook and chill the eggs, and the Saskatchewan Eggs Producers donated a delivery truck for the operation, Lambert said.
Lifesaving protein
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AuOhVNZHuw

“We’re able to distribute over 4,000 eggs every day and to date we’ve distributed over five million eggs,” Lambert said.

The eggs are distributed in some of the most remote subsistence farming communities in Eswatini, said Janine Maxwell, who grew up in Northern Ontario.

“We have been in a drought for the last two-and-a-half years and we still don’t know whether the rains are coming so they haven’t even been able to plant their maze crops, which is their staple, for the last few years,” Maxwell said.

“We had already been running this feeding program with these 30 partners and feeding local children but we’re seeing more and more children coming into the program because there is no food at home, and there is no food in the schools.”

Each child gets a hard-boiled egg along with their nutritious MannaPack meals provided by the U.S. charity Feed My Starving Children, she said.

“That protein is so important for their brain development, for their body development,” Maxwell said.
'I knew I couldn't go back to my life leisure and pleasure'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=8MuEzmmhM1E

Maxwell said she was heartbroken hearing the stories of orphaned children during her travels through Africa. A former marketing executive, she travelled to Africa in “search for the meaning of life” after ...

A Canadian ocean conservation group is renewing its calls on the federal government to clamp down on seafood mislabelling, saying its latest investigation provides mounting evidence of a widespread and unchecked seafood fraud problem in Canada.

Oceana Canada says DNA testing of seafood samples from retailers across Montreal revealed that Canada’s second largest city has one of the highest rates of mislabelling found in testing across the country.

The testing showed that 61 per cent of 90 seafood samples from 50 grocery stores and restaurants in Montreal were either a substituted species or didn’t meet the labelling requirements set out by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), Oceana Canada said Wednesday.

The testing in Montreal conducted by Oceana Canada’s investigators in July is part of a national, multi-year investigation of seafood fraud and mislabelling at grocery stores and restaurants in Canada.

Nationally Oceana Canada’s investigation has shown that almost half of 472 samples – 47 per cent – collected in six Canadian cities from 2017-2019 were mislabelled.

Seafood mislabelled along supply chains, say researchers

The conservation group also carried out tests in Victoria, (67 per cent mislabelled), Toronto (59 per cent mislabelled) and Ottawa, (46 per cent mislabelled), Halifax, (38 per cent mislabelled) and Vancouver (26 per cent mislabelled).
A health concern
Josh Laughren, executive director at Oceana Canada, said the investigation found farmed fish served up as wild caught, cheaper species substituted for more expensive ones and fish banned in many countries because of health risks masquerading as another species.

When one fish species is substituted for another, or incorrect information is provided, consumers are put at risk of exposure to parasites, allergens, contaminants, aquaculture drugs and pesticides used in industrial farming operations, or natural toxins found in certain species, Laughren said.

“When you go to a sushi restaurant and get white tuna or butterfish, very often what you’re getting is actually a fish called escolar, which is charmingly nicknamed ‘the laxative of the sea,’ which is probably all I need to say and is banned for sale in some of the countries,” Laughren said in a phone interview with Radio Canada International.

“Yellowtail, one of my favourites, is often actually Japanese amberjack, a much cheaper fish that contains a natural toxin known as ciguatera, which can cause long-term neurological symptoms.”

(click to listen to the full interview with Josh Laughren)

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A pathway for the seafood black market
A customer looks at the seafood counter at a Metro store Monday, Apr. 15, 2019 in Ste-Therese, Que., north of Montreal. Conservation group Oceana Canada is calling on the federal government to institute a traceability system to follow seafood from boats to Canadian stores and restaurants. (Ryan Remiorz/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Seafood fraud also provides a pathway for illegally caught fish to enter the market. In addition, when a cheaper, more abundant fish is mislabelled as a more expensive, less abundant one, it can give consumers a perception that the population is healthier than it actually is, Laughren said.

This undermines efforts to stop overfishing, manage fisheries responsibly and protect areas and animals in need of conservation, the conservation group added.

Canada ratifies UN agreement to deny safe haven to illegal fishing vessels

“We know from some recent studies that illegal fishing that happens has really poor labour standards, including child labour and almost slave labour,” Laughren said. “So for your wallet, for your health and for our oceans it’s a very bad practice.”

As the federal election campaign picks up steam, federal officials should be ready to counter possible Russian disinformation campaigns targeting Canadians, says a Russian expert.

Sergey Sukhankin, a senior fellow with the Jamestown Foundation, a U.S. think-tank, who is teaching at the Concordia University of Edmonton, says Russian and Canadian interests collide in the Arctic, in Ukraine and in the Baltic states, making Canada a likely target for Russian disinformation operations.

“Perceived as one of Russia’s chief adversaries in the Arctic region, Canada is a prime target in the information wars, with Russia potentially even meddling in the October 2019 federal election,” Sukhankin writes in a new University of Calgary study.

“Ottawa should be ready for a new surge in cyberattacks, disinformation and propaganda levelled against Canada in the near future.”

However, Sukhankin said he doesn’t expect the Russian disinformation campaign targeting Canada to be as powerful and far reaching as the Kremlin’s campaigns in Ukraine or the three Baltic states, the United States and the European Union.
Building on Soviet experience
U.S. President Ronald Reagan, right, and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev exchange pens during the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty signing ceremony in the White House on Dec. 8, 1987. (Bob Daugherty/AP Photo/ file)

To understand the Kremlin’s 21st century disinformation campaigns, one has to look back to the campaigns waged by the Soviet Union, Sukhankin said in an interview with Radio Canada International.

“In many ways Russia’s current disinformation campaign against Western countries, including Canada, of course, derives its origins from the Soviet period,” Sukhankin said.

(click to listen to the full interview with Sergey Sukhankin)

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The Soviets used a number of tools that included disinformation, fake stories, release of the kompromat (compromising materials), and a host of other measures, Sukhankin said.

“What is totally different today, what differs Russian disinformation from the Soviet one is that Russia has been able to get rid of this ideological surcharge, which has made Russian propaganda much more flexible and appealing to various sides of respective societies where Russia tries to channel its disinformation,” he said.

“This at the same time makes Russian disinformation much more dangerous and a much more far-reaching phenomenon than it used to be before 1991.”

Canada is seen by the Kremlin as one of the most russophobic countries, Sukhankin said.

“This is quite explicitly visible in various reports, various papers that are issued by Russia’s pro-Kremlin information outlets such as RT, Sputnik, that portray Canada as Russia’s – I wouldn’t say archenemy – but a country that has been progressively anti-Russian and russophobic since at least 2014,” Sukhankin said.

In the eyes of the Kremlin, Ottawa’s full and unconditional support for Ukraine following Russia’s annexation of Crimea has transformed Canada from an ordinary Western adversary into a country that is part of the vanguard of anti-Russian forces in the West, Sukhankin said.
Waging information warfare at home and abroad
Russian President Vladimir speaks during his annual news conference in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Dec. 20, 2018. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)

It’s very important to distinguish critical reporting of Western policies and actions in the Russian media from outright disinformation, but often there is only a faint line separating the two, Sukhankin added.

“What Russian disinformation is it usually has a piece of truth, a tiny, tiny piece of truth at its kernel,” Sukhankin said.

In 1986, Jennie Carignan was a bored teenager looking to do something challenging with her life.

So she decided to join the Canadian Armed Forces and enroll at the Royal Military College of Canada. She was among the first women to enter the Combat Engineer trade after all military occupations were opened to women in 1989.

Today, Maj.-Gen. Carignan is one of the highest-ranking women in the Canadian military and is the first and only woman from a combat arms trade to rise to the rank of general.

And in June of this year, Carignan who commanded 5 Combat Engineer Regiment and led a task force of engineers in Kandahar in 2009-2010 at the height of the Taliban insurgency in the restive Afghan province, smashed through another glass ceiling.

She was appointed to lead the NATO mission in Iraq and promoted to the rank of major-general.

“For me it’s a great honour and a privilege to be able to go out and do this,” Carignan told Radio Canada International in a phone interview from Kingston, where she’s undergoing training ahead of deploying to Iraq this fall.

“That’s why we join the military.”

(click to listen to the full interview with Maj.-Gen. Jennie Carignan)

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Tough-as-nails
Lt.-Col. Jennie Carignan, commanding officer of the Engineer Regiment of Canada's Task Force Kandahar, speaks to area resident Yar Mohammad about a retaining wall project near his village along the Tarnak River in the Dand Distrct of Kandahar province on August 12, 2010. Carignan figures she covered 10,000 km of bomb-riddled, dusty roads in Afghanistan as a combat engineer. (Dene Moore/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Carignan, who will be taking over from another Canadian, Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin, will command about 580 NATO trainers on the ground in Iraq, including the Canadian contingent of about 250 personnel.

Carignan, who currently commands the 2nd Canadian Division and Joint Task Force East in her native province of Quebec, said she never thought that she’d be making Canadian and NATO military history.

“I’ve basically done things one day at a time, going after one challenge at a time, making sure that I did the best I can,” the mother of four said.

Carignan’s experience as a frontline commander in Afghanistan and a former chief of staff of the army, and a reputation of a tough-as-nails leader will come in very handy in Iraq.

The NATO Mission Iraq (NMI) is a non-combat training and capacity-building mission aimed at building up Iraqi national forces to prevent the re-emergence of groups such as ISIS or al-Qaeda.

The trainers focus on educating Iraqi military instructors, who in turn train their own forces in bomb disposal, armoured vehicle maintenance, civilian-military planning and medical care.

The alliance also advises the Iraqi defence ministry on institutional reform.

Canada maintains a separate contingent of special forces troops in northern Iraq, who advise and assist local security forces in counter-terrorism operations against pockets of Islamic State extremists. While they've been defeated on the battlefield, Islamic State is still conducting a guerrilla-style campaign of terror and hit-and-run attacks.

Carignan said she’s been doing a lot of studying to learn about Iraq’s history and culture, and the region’s complex political context.
'We need female and male warriors'
Brig.-Gen. Jennie Carignan speaks with Ukrainian soldiers being trained by members of the Canadian Armed Forces as part of Operation UNIFIER in Ukraine. (2nd Canadian Division)

Despite the challenges the Canadian military has faced in integrating women and stamping out sexual misconduct in the ranks, Carignan said her experience has convinced her of the advantages ...

A female Royal Canadian Navy officer has made NATO maritime history by becoming the first woman to command a multinational naval task force in one of the alliance’s most sensitive areas of maritime operations.

Commodore Josée Kurtz has assumed the command of Standing NATO Maritime Group Two (SNMG2), one of the alliance’s four maritime groups, whose primary area of operations extends to the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.

The eastern Mediterranean off the coast of Syria and the Black Sea, off the coast of Ukraine and Russian-annexed Crimea, are some of the alliance’s most complex areas of maritime operations where NATO warships come into close proximity with the Russian navy in what are essentially conflict zones.

“These four groups provide capability, show presence and demonstrate NATO alliance solidarity and strength in various theatres of operations,” Kurtz said in a phone interview with Radio Canada International on board her flagship, Canadian frigate HMCS Halifax, off the coast of northern Spain.

(click to listen to the full interview with Commodore Josée Kurtz)

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But these groups can be fairly mobile, Kurtz said, pointing out that HMCS Halifax is presently off the coast of Spain heading to Portugal before making their way back to the Mediterranean and the Black Sea and then back to the Atlantic later this year.

“We can be supplementing other standing groups in other areas if that’s where the capability is required,” she said. “It speaks to the agility and the flexibility of those standing groups.”
Exercising with allies and partners
Members of Standing NATO Maritime Group 2, and naval vessels from NATO partners Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine, sail in formation while conducting Maritime Security Awareness (MSA) in the Black Sea during Exercise SEA BREEZE 2019, on July 11, 2019. (MCpl Manuela Berger/Formation Imaging Services Halifax)

Kurtz assumed command of SNMG2 during a ceremony in Souda Bay, Greece, on June 15, while Canadian frigate HMCS Toronto, which became her first flagship, had already been at sea for five months.

Shortly after, the NATO task force led by the Canadian frigate sailed the Black Sea, with British destroyer HMS Duncan, Romanian frigate ROS Regele Ferdinand, and Turkish frigate TCG Turgutreis.

NATO has three allies – Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania – and two partners – Ukraine and Georgia that share the Black Sea with Russia, Kurtz said.

“It makes sense that we show a presence in that area same as we do in other areas where we have NATO allies,” Kurtz said.

NATO’s Arctic dilemma: Two visions of the Arctic collide as NATO and Russia flex muscles

The task force participated in two exercises in the Black Sea, she said.

The first one was a joint Ukraine-U.S. exercise off the coast of Ukraine dubbed Sea Breeze 19.

The Canadian frigate sailed to the Ukrainian port city of Odessa to take part in that exercise, Kurtz said.

Leading Seaman Lyra Michelle Mazerolle a Steward onboard HMCS Halifax participates in a boarding party training exercise during Operation REASSURANCE, in the Atlantic Ocean on July 21, 2019. (Cpl. Braden Trudeau/Formation Imaging Services)

Following the conclusion of that exercise, SNMG2 headed southwest to Bulgaria to participate in the Bulgarian-led exercise Breeze 19, Kurtz said.

“By participating in those two exercises both with programs in port and a program at sea, by the same token we were able to demonstrate a significant NATO presence in the Black Sea area,” she said.

Throughout all that time, the NATO force was shadowed by the Russian navy, Kurtz said.

“From a NATO perspective we exercised freedom of navigation,

Heavily armed police officers are combing through the bush and swamps surrounding the remote Indigenous community of York Landing in northern Manitoba, following a reported sighting of two teenage murder suspects who have been on the run for nearly two weeks.

Officers with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Canada’s national police force, are responding to a tip that two men fitting the descriptions of Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, and Kam McLeod, 19 were spotted Sunday afternoon around 5 p.m. local time in the small Cree community, about 90 kilometres southwest of Gillam, Manitoba, which was the focus of a massive manhunt for the last week.

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“Based on the information received, the RCMP immediately deployed multiple resources to the community, including the Emergency Response Team, police dog services, containment team members, major crime services and air services assets,” RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Julie Courchaine told reporters Monday.

“Officers searched the York Landing area throughout the night and continue their efforts today.”

The Royal Canadian Air Force is also assisting today with the search, she added.

“Officers on the ground have not made contact with the individuals, as such, the RCMP is not yet in a position to confirm that these are the wanted suspects,” Courchaine said.

Police officers do door-to-door searches in York Landing, Man. (Gilbert Rowan/CBC)

It is critical that residents of York Landing remain vigilant and stay indoors as much as possible with their doors locked, and to report anything suspicious by calling their local police immediately, RCMP officials tweeted Monday.

Schmegelsky and McLeod have been charged with second degree murder of Leonard Dyck, 64, and are suspected of gunning down two tourists, Australian Lucas Fowler, 23, and his American girlfriend Chynna Deese, 24, in Northern British Columbia.

The couple’s bodies were discovered on July 15 about 20 kilometres south of Liard Hot Springs, a popular tourist destination in the far north of the province.

Dyck’s body was found July 19 at a highway pullout about two kilometres from a burned-out camper truck, discovered the same day, near the community of Dease Lake, B.C.



Police say the pair then stole a car and drove nearly 3,000 kilometres east before ditching their getaway car in the bush near Gillam.

It’s unclear how the two suspects got from Gillam to York Landing.

Manhunt for fugitive teens moves to wilderness of northern Manitoba

The manhunt switched to York Landing Sunday afternoon after a member of Bear Clan patrol group, an Indigenous neighbourhood protection group, spotting what he believed to be the men near the landfill and water-treatment plant in York Landing.

Travis Bighetty told CBC News he and his partner spotted two "tall, slender individuals" moving very quickly — possibly spooked by the sound of their truck.

"They fit the description of what was given in the RCMP report," Bighetty said. "It didn't click right away, it took a few moments."

Police have asked the public not to disclose on social media where their officers were located.

With files from CBC News

Canada has become the latest country to ratify a UN treaty that seeks to combat the global illegal fishing industry by denying port access to fishing vessels engaged in the multibillion illicit trade, federal officials announced Friday.

The Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing, known as PSMA, enters into force in Canada as of July 20, Fisheries Minister Jonathan Wilkinson and his parliamentary secretary, Sean Casey, announced Friday.

United Nations experts estimate that one in every five fish caught around world every year, about 26 million tonnes of fish, comes from illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, valued at $10 - $23 billion US annually.

“It’s an indicator that we’re part of an international effort to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, which it really is a scourge on our economy,” said Casey in a phone interview with Radio Canada International. “And it’s a scourge on many of the species that are being fished.”

EN_Interview_3-20190719-WIE30Under the terms of the agreement, federal officials are granted additional powers to deny port entry and use of port services for vessels carrying illegally harvested fish, Casey said.

It also allows for sharing of information between states and sets inspection priorities and guidelines for training inspectors, he added.

The PSMA, signed under the auspices of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 2009, entered into force internationally in June 2016.

Canada ratifies international moratorium on commercial fishing in the High Arctic
Ottawa takes aim at illegal fishing and discarded fishing gear

According to FAO, the goal of the agreement is to “prevent, deter and eliminate IUU fishing by preventing vessels engaged in IUU fishing from using ports and landing their catches.”

The agreement reduces the incentive of such vessels to continue to operate while it also blocks fishery products derived from IUU fishing from reaching national and international markets, the UN agency says.

Canada initially signed the agreement in 2010 but it wasn’t until 2015 that the Parliament passed the PMSA Implementation Act, which included various amendments to the federal fisheries legislation, the Coastal Fisheries Protection Act (CFPA), to align it with the PSMA, Casey said.

Josh Laughren, executive director of conservation group Oceana Canada, welcomed the news of ratification.

"Illegal fishing is a serious problem, it's like organized crime, it's a multi-multi-billion dollar industry that both harms ecosystems and depletes resources, hurts honest fishermen and it's a threat to global food security," Laughren told Radio Canada International in a phone interview. "This one important way, a tool that we have to crack down on illegal fishing."

Laughren said he also wants to see Canada's continued support for new technologies designed to track fishing vessels globally, such as Global Fishing Watch.

New tool to track illegal fishing, foster sustainability

"And then if we can match that with things like boat-to-plate traceability, those are the key pillars to help track and crack down and force an end to illegal fishing," Laughren said.

While NATO allies have beefed up their cyber defences, the best guaranty of safeguarding Canada’s upcoming federal elections against possible Russian interference is the country’s free and independent press, the alliance’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Monday.

Speaking to reporters at a Canadian military base near Ottawa, Stoltenberg said NATO has created a centre of excellence in Estonia where in April it conducted the world’s largest cyber security exercise designed to not only learn how to protect the alliance’s cyber infrastructure but also safeguard against interference with democratic institutions.

NATO could invoke collective defence if attacked in cyberspace, Stoltenberg warns
NATO wants to keep the Arctic an area of low tensions, Stoltenberg

The best defence against Russian disinformation campaigns is having a free and independent press that can understand and uncover attempts to spread fake news, Stoltenberg said at a joint press conference with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the Canadian Forces Base in Petawawa.

EN_Interview_3-20190715-WIE30“What we need is critical journalists, who ask difficult questions, who check their sources, and that’s the best way to be able to protect the free and open democratic processes,” Stoltenberg said when asked what NATO can do to assist Canada in safeguarding its federal election in October against Russian interference.

“The best response to propaganda is not propaganda but the best response to propaganda is the truth, and free and independent press is an extremely important part of that,” he added.

Stoltenberg also praised Canada for boosting its defence spending, for its role in leading the NATO battle group in Latvia and the alliance’s non-combat mission in Iraq, which will be led by a female general for the first time.

Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Jens Stoltenberg inspects the troops at Canadian Forces Base Petawawa, Ont. on Monday, July 15, 2019, as he is joined by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. (Sean Kilpatrick/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) will continue commanding a NATO training mission in Iraq until November 2020 to help build sustainable defence and security institutions, the Liberal government announced in June. Canada was originally intended to end its leadership role in the non-combat advisory and training mission this fall.

Brig.-Gen. Jennie Carignan, who will be promoted to the rank of Major-General, becoming the highest ranking woman in combat arms trade, will take command of the mission from Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin this autumn.

Canada extends and boosts its contribution to NATO mission in Latvia
Canada to head new NATO mission in Iraq

Canada and several other NATO nations are facing pressure from the Trump administration to increase defence spending to reach the goal of 2 per cent of defence expenditures as share of the GDP.

Trudeau said Canada has boosted its defence spending by nearly 70 per cent over the last four years.

Despite increases in defence spending by the Liberal government, Canada’s 2019 defence expenditures were projected to be about 1.27 per cent of its GDP, according to the latest statistics compiled by NATO.

Canada also falls significantly short of another key NATO yardstick when it comes to how much money from its defence budget goes to acquiring new equipment. In 2019, Canada was projected to spend 11.2 per cent of its defence budget on new equipment compared to the NATO goal of 20 per cent.

The Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has added two international neo-Nazi groups to Canada's list of outlawed terrorist organizations as part of new measures to combat online hate, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale announced Wednesday.

Blood & Honour and Combat 18, which have a presence in Canada, are the first far-right extremism groups to be included on Ottawa's terror list, Goodale said.

“This is an important step in Canada’s efforts to combat violent extremism in all forms,” Goodale said at a news conference in Regina, Saskatchewan.

“It will help facilitate the laying of terrorism charges against perpetrators and supporters of terrorism and it will also help block the flow of financial resources to terrorist groups when such groups use Canada’s financial system.”

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According to the government list of terrorist entities, Blood & Honour (B&H) is an international neo-Nazi network whose ideology is derived from the National Socialist doctrine of Nazi Germany.

While B&H mostly deals with propaganda, notably by organizing concerts to galvanize supporters and recruit new ones, Combat 18 (C18) represents the armed wing of the movement and has conducted attacks, including bombings and murder, in North America and across Europe.

The number 18 in the group's name stands for Adolf Hitler and corresponds to the numerical position of the letters "A" and "H" in the alphabet.

In January 2012, four B&H members in Tampa, Florida, were convicted of the 1998 murder of two homeless men who were killed because the group considered them “inferior,” according to the federal list.

In February 2012, members of B&H and C18 firebombed a building occupied mostly by Romani families, including children, in Aš, Czech Republic.

B&H was founded in the United Kingdom in 1987 and grew during the 1990s, establishing branches throughout Europe by the end of the decade.

B&H established a fully-fledged Canadian operation in 2010.

Three other groups linked to the Iranian regime — Al-Ashtar Brigades (AAB), Fatemiyoun Division (FD) and Harakat al-Sabireen (HaS) — also have been added to the list.

Goodale also announced $1 million in funding for a United Nations initiative called Tech Against Terrorism, which helps the global information technology industry tackle terrorist exploitation of its tech and supports smaller companies in protecting their users and reputations.

The money will be used to create a digital repository that will notify smaller social media and Internet companies when new terrorist content is detected to help them in quickly removing it, Goodale said.

With files from CBC News

Washington and Tehran have reached a dangerous impasse as U.S. President Donald Trump threatened on Tuesday to obliterate parts of Iran if it attacked “anything American,” with Iranian officials calling White House actions “mentally retarded,” says a Canadian expert on Middle East politics.

Trump on Monday signed an executive order imposing sanctions against Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior figures, with punitive measures against Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif expected later this week.

The moves came after Iran shot down a U.S. drone on June 20 and Trump called off a retaliatory air strike minutes before impact, saying too many people would have been killed. It would have been the first time the United States had bombed the Islamic Republic in four decades of mutual hostility.

On Tuesday, however, Trump tweeted: “Any attack by Iran on anything American will be met with great and overwhelming force. In some areas, overwhelming will mean obliteration.”

Bessma Momani, Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Waterloo, said the latest flare-up in deeply personal attacks is indicative of the escalation between the U.S. and Iran.

“The Iranians obviously want to get relief from the international sanctions,” Momani said in a phone interview.

“At the moment 80 per cent of the country is under economic sanctions, people are struggling, the regime is hurting and all of that is basically pushing them to try and hit, not perhaps the Americans directly, because they are smart enough not to do that, but to provoke the U.S.”

(click to listen to the full interview with Bessma Momani)

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A game of chicken?
FILE - In this Thursday, June 13, 2019 file photo, an oil tanker is on fire in the sea of Oman. A series of attacks on oil tankers near the Persian Gulf has ratcheted up tensions between the U.S. and Iran -- and raised fears over the safety of one of Asia’s most vital energy trade routes, where about a fifth of the world’s oil passes through its narrowest at the Strait of Hormuz. T(AP Photo/ISNA, File)

Provoking the U.S. includes everything from hitting oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, through which up to one-fifth of world’s oil shipments pass, to shooting down a U.S. spy drone, which the Iranians claim was in their international waters, Momani said.

“It’s really a way of trying to hit the Americans but not directly and not militarily in a way that would escalate matters, but in their mind hopefully to induce them to negotiate a way out of the sanctions,” she said. “Of course we see the reverse happening with the Americans: they are pushing for even more sanctions.”

In a televised address on Tuesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the new sanctions against Khamenei would have no practical impact because the top cleric had no assets abroad.

Rouhani, a pragmatist who won two elections on promises to open Iran up to the world, said the White House’s actions were “mentally retarded” - an insult that other Iranian officials have used in the past about Trump, but a departure from Rouhani’s own comparatively measured tone over the years.
Crippling sanctions
President Donald Trump speaks before signing an executive order to increase sanctions on Iran, in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, June 24, 2019, in Washington. Trump is accompanied by Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, left, and Vice President Mike Pence. (Alex Brandon/AP Photo)

The United States has imposed crippling financial sanctions against Iran since last year when Trump withdrew from a 2015 deal between Tehran and world powers under which it curbed its nuclear program and won a removal of sanctions in return.

Human rights activists in Canada say they welcome new guidelines for Canadian diplomats working abroad aimed at enabling the work of human rights defenders around the world by ensuring their safety and security.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, announced Monday the launch of Voices at Risk: Canada’s Guidelines on Supporting Human Rights Defenders.

The guidelines offer practical advice for Canadian diplomats working around the world, and in Canada, to support human rights defenders who seek help.

“In many parts of the world, human rights defenders are at risk as a result of their courageous work and their willingness to speak truth to power,” Freeland said in a statement. “Canada and the international community need to be strong supporters of these brave individuals.”

Human rights defenders must be able to act freely and without any interference, intimidation, abuse, threats, violence or reprisal, she added.
'Welcome first step'
Jackie Hansen, major campaigns and women’s rights campaigner with Amnesty International Canada, said the guidelines update a series of recommendations that were issued by the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2016.

The new guidelines include some stronger details about the expectations of Canadian diplomats to support human rights defenders all around the world, Hansen told Radio Canada International.

“This is so very needed right now because human rights defenders are increasingly under attack all around the world,” Hansen said. “They are subject to smear campaigns, they’re being criminalized, they are subject to arbitrary detention and to violence.”

(click to listen to the full interview with Jackie Hansen)

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Jacqueline Hansen is Amnesty International Canada’s Major Campaigns and Women’s Rights Campaigner. Her work covers a wide range of human rights concerns in Canada and internationally. (Courtesy: Amnesty International Canada)

Knowing that Canada is stepping up its support for these activists is “incredibly welcome,” she said.
Harassed, marginalized and murdered
According to Front Line Defenders Global Analysis 2018, 321 human rights defenders in 27 countries were targeted and killed for their work in 2018.

More than three-quarters of these were defending land, environmental or Indigenous peoples’ rights, often in the context of extractive industries and mega projects.  More than 80 per cent of those killed had previously received a specific death threat.

“Now, that’s only activists who were murdered,” Hansen said.

In addition, thousands of activists around the world have been harassed, marginalized because of their work, and forced to flee the countries of their origin, she said.

“As populism is rising around the world, the space for civil society to peacefully advocate for basic human rights protections is getting smaller and smaller,” Hansen said. “And the activists who continue to do this work to expose human rights violations, and promote protection and respect for human rights are incredibly and increasingly at risk.”

But even in this context some forms of human rights activism are much more riskier than others, she added.

“We know that women’s rights defenders, LGBTI rights defenders, Indigenous rights defenders because of their multiple and intersecting identities are often targeted and at risk of human rights violations both because of who they are and the rights they are defending,” Hansen said.

For Canada’s new guidelines to be effective in helping to protect and support human rights defenders, they will need to be accompanied by a comprehensive implementation plan and increased Canadian funding going directly to human rights defenders and th...

When faced with an existential threat, the humanity will rally together despite geopolitical rivalries and political tensions between superpowers.

That’s the main lesson of a comparative study published in the journal Polar Record, by Michael Byers, Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and International Law at the University of British Columbia.

The article, titled Cold, dark, and dangerous: international cooperation in the Arctic and space, compares Russian–Western cooperation in the Arctic and space, despite ongoing tensions in Ukraine, Syria and Venezuela.

Whether its climate change or the threat of a potentially devastating asteroid collision, the history of Arctic and space exploration has taught us that countries would come together and put aside their differences, Byers told Radio Canada International.

“What my research shows is that when the going gets really tough, when things are really dangerous, countries will cooperate,” Byers said.

(click to listen to the full interview with Michael Byers)

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Extreme environments
A Canadian snowmobile rides along the Arctic ice in March of 2007 as part of annual Canadian Forces military exercises called Operation Nunalivut (Dianne Whelan/The Canadian Press)

The Arctic and space are remote, extreme environments, where human activity is dangerous and expensive, and these factors seem to push towards international cooperation, said Byers.

His interest in the subject was sparked when he realized that despite spiking tensions between Russia and the West following Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, international cooperation in the Arctic continued almost unabated, Byers said.

“And then I noticed that Russian rockets were being used to carry American, European and Canadian astronauts to the International Space Station, which suggested that cooperation in space was also continuing,” Byers said.
'Militarized but not substantially weaponized'
In this photo taken on Wednesday, April 3, 2019, a Russian solder stands guard as Pansyr-S1 air defense system on the Kotelny Island, part of the New Siberian Islands archipelago located between the Laptev Sea and the East Siberian Sea, Russia. (Vladimir Isachenkov/AP Photo)

The paper identifies eight different factors that seem to be contributing to the ongoing Russian-Western cooperation in both the Arctic and in space.

“One of the commonalities between the Arctic and space is that both regions are militarized but not substantially weaponized,” Byers said.

“In other words, both the Arctic and space are used heavily by militaries for surveillance and for communication, and sometimes for the transportation of weapons, but significant weapons systems are not actually based there.”

While nuclear submarines armed with intercontinental ballistic missiles prowl under the Arctic ice and strategic bombers regularly patrol the region, they are not permanently based there, he said.

“And in space we have literally hundreds of military satellites, providing communications and surveillance, and even targeting for advanced militaries,” Byers said, “but as far as we know, there are no anti-satellite weapons based in space nor is space used for the deployment of weapons systems aimed at the surface of the planet.”

This commonality reflects the fact that weaponizing these regions would be extremely expensive, he said.

“It would be a major diversion away from the military investments and deployments that Russia and Western countries do elsewhere in the world,” Byers said.
Reliance on 'soft law'
The heads of the eight Arctic nations’ coast guards take part in the Arctic Coast Guard Forum Academic Roundtable at Coast Guard base Boston, June 9, 2016.

The world’s oceans could lose nearly one-sixth of their fish and other marine life by the end of the century if global warming continues on its current path, a new study says.

Every degree Celsius that the world’s oceans warm, the total mass of sea animals is projected to drop by five per cent, according to a comprehensive computer-based study by an international team of marine biologists published Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

And that does not include effects of fishing.

“What we find is that with the expected climate change under the ‘business as usual scenario’ we are looking into a 17 per cent or more decrease in the ocean biomass at the end of this century,” said study co-author William Cheung, a marine ecologist at the University of British Columbia.

(click to listen to the full interview with William Cheung)

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While warmer water is the biggest factor, climate change also produces oceans that are more acidic and have less oxygen, which also harms sea life, Cheung said.
Impact beyond marine life
If the world’s greenhouse gas emissions stay at the present rate, that means a 17 per cent loss of biomass — the total weight of all the marine animal life — by the year 2100, according to Tuesday’s study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (iStock)

Oceans are crucial for humanity, he said.

“We’re connected to oceans with all aspects of our life,” Cheung said.

The decrease in the abundance of marine life in the oceans will have major impacts not only on the on coastline communities but also on communities far away from the oceans, he said.

However, the negative changes are expected to hit hardest the tropics, Cheung said.

“What we find is that across the tropical oceans, those that are closer to the equator, we see a widespread and large decrease in the animal biomass,” Cheung said. “And that’s because in those areas we’re seeing a particular decrease in availability of food for marine organisms and some of the organisms are particularly sensitive to temperatures as well.”

We’re already experiencing some of the impacts of ocean warming on particular species, he said.

For example, Atlantic cod off Canada’s and the U.S. East Coast is one of the species negatively affected by rising ocean temperatures, Cheung said.

“We also know that Pacific salmon here on the British Columbia coast some of the decrease in their abundance is also related to the warming waters in the oceans and rivers,” Cheung said.

Overfishing in the world’s oceans can further exacerbate the problem, he added.
Reducing carbon emissions is the way to go
The Syncrude plant at Ft McMurray, Alberta. Cutting carbon emissions is the only way to mitigate the impact of climate change for the world's oceans, scientists say.(Jason Franson/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

But if the world reduces carbon pollution, losses can be limited to only about five per cent, the study said.

“If we can commit to a low-carbon emissions pathway, then we can substantially reduce the impacts we’re projecting for marine life in this century,” Cheung said.

“For example, with our study we project a three to four-times decrease in the impacts on marine life if we are able to go with a low carbon emissions pathway, that is close to what the international community committed to under the Paris Agreement, which tried to limit global warming to below 1.5 degree Celsius relative to preindustrial levels.”

With files from The Associated Press

Human rights groups are sounding the alarm over the world’s “most neglected displacement crisis” unfolding in western Cameroon, where government forces and pro-government militias are locked in a deadly spiral of violence targeting the West African country’s anglophone minority.

"The international community is asleep at the wheel when it comes to the crisis in Cameroon," the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Jan Egeland, said in a report issued on Tuesday.

"Brutal killings, burned-down villages and massive displacement have been met with deafening silence."

Two regions in Cameroon are in the grip of an armed campaign by English-speaking militants seeking independence from the francophone-majority country.

On Oct. 1 2017, they declared the creation of the "Republic of Ambazonia," covering the two English-speaking regions incorporated into post-independence Cameroon in 1961.

The declaration went largely unnoticed outside Cameroon, and "Ambazonia" -- named after a bay at the mouth of the Douala River -- has been recognised by no-one.
Violent crackdown
Cameroonian elite Rapid Intervention Battalion (BIR) members patrol the abandoned village of Ekona near Buea in the anglophone southwest region, Cameroon Oct. 4, 2018. (Zohra Bensemra/REUTERS)

The government responded with a brutal crackdown, and the separatists in turn have mounted a campaign of attacks on state buildings, shooting and kidnappings.

According to the International Crisis Group think tank, 1,850 people have been killed, while more than 530,000 people have been forced from their homes, according to UN figures.

A report by the Cameroon-based Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa (CHRDA), and the Montreal-based Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, accused the armed forces of conducting "a deliberate, violent campaign against civilian populations."

Pearl Eliadis, a Canadian human rights lawyer based in Montreal and a co-author of the report, entitled Cameroon's Unfolding Catastrophe, said Cameroon is now the sixth largest source of displaced persons in the world.

Many are fleeing violence as a result of raids on villages and surrounding areas. Men, women, and children have found refuge in forests where they lack hygiene, health services, sanitation, shelter, and food, Eliadis said.

(click to listen to the full interview with Pearl Eliadis)

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The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported in January 2019 that 1.3 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance.

“We are not exaggerating when we say this is a human rights catastrophe,” Eliadis said in a phone interview with Radio Canada International.

Around a fifth of Cameroon's population of 24 million are English-speakers.

Honrne Waba, 40, who has fled the northwestern village of Njinikom because of violence cooks in the courtyard of the house where she is staying in Yaounde, Cameroon, Oct. 3, 2018. (Zohra Bensemra/REUTERS)

Resentment has long festered at perceived discrimination at the hands of the francophone majority in education, law and the economy.

In recent years, growing demands for autonomy or a return to Cameroon's federal structure were rejected by President Paul Biya, prompting radicals to gain the ascendancy in the anglophone movement.

“Those who have been engaged in criminal activity need to be prosecuted, yes, but that does not in any way excuse barring access to humanitarian aid,” Eliadis said.

“The existence of a separatist element does not in any way excuse the government from activities like razing villages, sending soldiers in in reprisal attacks,

The Liberal government accepts the finding of a national commission of inquiry that the murders and disappearances of Indigenous women and girls across Canada in recent decades amount to an act of "genocide," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday.

But Trudeau also urged Canadians to focus on solutions to the ongoing crisis rather than dwell on the past or spend their energy on debates over the definition of genocide.

The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, which presented its final report Monday, found that Indigenous women and girls are 12 times more likely to be murdered or to go missing than members of any other demographic group in Canada — and 16 times more likely to be slain or to disappear than white women.

Canada complicit in ‘race-based genocide’ against Indigenous women and girls: report

The inquiry report described the deaths and disappearances as “a race-based genocide.”

“We accept the findings of the commissioners that it was genocide,” Trudeau told reporters in Vancouver.

“But our focus is going to be, as it must be, on the families, on the communities that have suffered such loss, on the systems that have repeatedly failed Indigenous women and girls across this country.”

Trudeau said his government will present an action plan in coming months to deal with recommendations made in the report.
'A race-based genocide of Indigenous Peoples'
Lorelei Williams, second left, whose cousin Tanya Holyk was murdered by serial killer Robert Pickton and aunt Belinda Williams went missing in 1978, wipes away tears while seated with Rhiannon Bennett, from left to right, Sophie Merasty and Summer Rain Bentham, after responding to the report on the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, along with other Indigenous women and allies in Vancouver, on Monday June 3, 2019. (Darryl Dyck/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Entitled Reclaiming Power and Place, the report, presented at an emotional ceremony at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Quebec, comes with 231 individual “Calls for Justice” – recommendations directed at governments, institutions, social service providers, industries and all Canadians.

“The truths shared in these National Inquiry hearings tell the story – or, more accurately, thousands of stories – of acts of genocide against First Nations, Inuit and Métis women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA (two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex and asexual) people,” the report says.

“This violence amounts to a race-based genocide of Indigenous Peoples, including First Nations, Inuit, and Métis, which especially targets women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.”

The report describes Canada as a country at war, where “Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people are under siege.”

Thousands of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA have been lost to the “Canadian genocide” to date, the report says.
Is it a genocide?
Commissioners Marion Buller (left) and Commissioner Michele Audette prepare the official copy of the report for presentation to the government during ceremonies marking the release of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women report in Gatineau, Monday June 3, 2019. (Adrian Wyld/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

The inquiry’s finding of genocide sparked a debate over the use of the term.

Retired Lt.-Gen. Roméo Dallaire, who oversaw the 1994 UN mission in Rwanda that failed to prevent that country's genocide, told CBC News he has "a problem" with how the inquiry used the word.

"My definition of genocide, I read it very deliberately at the start of the Rwandan genocide, and it was a deliberate act of a government to exterminate deliberately, and by force and directly,

Polar deserts in Canada’s High Arctic are undergoing rapid changes as increases in summer air temperatures lead to permafrost thaw, leaving giant horseshoe-shaped pockmarks on the barren terrain, according to a new study.

The study by McGill University researchers, published recently in Environmental Research Letters, presents close to 30 years of aerial surveys and extensive ground mapping of the Eureka Sound Lowlands area of Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg Islands, Canada’s northernmost Arctic islands, located at approximately 80 °N.

The research focuses on these horseshoe-shaped landforms, also known as thaw slumps, that develop when the ice within the permafrost melts and the land slips down.

Permafrost thawing faster than previously thought: study
Permafrost thaw: more CO2 than previously thought?

While thaw slumps are very common in the lower Arctic latitudes, researchers had assumed the High Canadian Arctic, where average annual ground and air temperatures are -16.5 C and -19.7 C, respectively and the permafrost is over 500 metres deep, would be more immune to the effects of warmer temperatures, said Melissa Ward Jones, the study’s lead author and a PhD candidate in McGill’s Department of Geography.

“For a long time we thought that areas that permafrost areas that are closer to the thawing point… further south were the most sensitive to change because they were closer to that zero degree thawing point,” Ward Jones said in a telephone interview from Fairbanks, Alaska.

“But what my study is showing is that, no, these places aren’t immune to climate change.”

(click to listen to the interview with Melissa Ward Jones)

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Scientists had not expected to see the spread of these landforms, known as retrogressive thaw slumps, in the high Arctic because of the extremely cold ground and air temperatures. (Melissa Ward Jones/McGill University)

Even a slight increase in summer temperatures is enough to trigger a bigger permafrost thaw, she said.

Despite short Arctic summers, the thaw season, which lasts for just 3-6 weeks a year, leads to the development and expansion of slumps, which could have major implications for northern infrastructure, Ward Jones said.

“I think it’s a wakeup call that change is happening in these areas that are really far north,” Ward Jones said.

There has been a widespread development of retrogressive thaw slumps in high Arctic polar deserts over a short period, particularly during the unusually warm summers of 2011, 2012 and 2015, the research shows.

“When we see these widespread increases, these large jumps in numbers going from 100 active slumps to over 200 active slumps, that means something is going on bigger regional scale, so we’re linking this with increases in summer temperatures,” Ward Jones said.

McGill researchers have been studying the high Arctic polar deserts for close to 30 years, mapping the landscape within the Eureka Sound Lowlands, Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg Islands. (Melissa Ward Jones/McGill University)

This happens because the terrain in Canada’s Arctic polar deserts has very little vegetation and organic cover to insulate it from increased summer temperatures, Ward Jones said.

“Where we are on Ellesmere Island permafrost is more in equilibrium with climate, so any increase in summer temperatures if you reach a new maximum summer temperatures, you’re going to have an increase in your thaw depth – the layer of soil at the surface that goes above zero every summer – and if you have ice-rich permafrost, which we do have in these areas, the ice within the permafrost is going to melt,” she said.

Wayne Pollard, a professor in McGill’s Department of Geography and co-author on the study,

It took the federal government 134 years but on Thursday Prime Minister Justin Trudeau finally exonerated a Saskatchewan chief of treason and apologized for the conviction of the Indigenous leader who “made his indelible mark” on Canada’s history.

The exoneration of Chief Poundmaker, also known under his Cree name as Pihtokahanapiwiyin , was announced at the reserve that bears his name -- Poundmaker Cree Nation -- about 200 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon.

Following prayers and traditional drumming, Trudeau told a crowd that the government must acknowledge wrongs of the past and that Poundmaker was unjustly convicted of treason-felony in 1885.

“We recognize that during his lifetime, Chief Poundmaker was not treated justly nor showed the respect he deserved as a leader of his people,” Trudeau told hundreds of people who had joined the reconciliation ceremony on the windy prairie plain.

“We know that the colonial perspectives which dominated relations between Indigenous peoples and the Crown did not allow for open and collaborative dialogue.”

(listen to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's apology)

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'Make right by the Poundmaker Cree Nation'
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau kneels Thursday at the site of Chief Poundmaker's grave. (Bonnie Allen/CBC News)

The federal government has a “duty to take an honest look” at this difficult chapter of Canadian history and “make right by the Poundmaker Cree Nation,” he said.

“It is my sincere hope that by coming together today and taking this important step together as equal partners, we can continue the important work of reconciling the past and renewing our relationship.”

Trudeau to apologize and exonerate an historical Indigenous leader

Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Perry Bellegarde congratulated the federal government for “getting it right.”

“Because this man that we’re honouring he was a diplomat for our people, he was a statesman for our people, he was a chief, a leader and he was a warrior, but he didn’t use a gun to fight he used the pipe and he brought peace,” Bellegarde said.

The exoneration of Chief Poundmaker and the prime minister's apology are an opportunity to address a past injustice and correct the historical record, Bellegarde said.
A diplomat, a statesman and a peacemaker
Chief Poundmaker is credited with saving many lives during the 1885 Northwest Rebellion. (Library and Archives Canada)

In a brief historical discourse, Trudeau reminded the audience of Chief Poundmaker’s achievements and struggles.

According to oral tradition, Chief Poundmaker’s role as an influential leader began in 1873, with the conclusion of peace negotiations between the Cree and the Blackfoot nations.

Known as the “Peacemaker” by the Indigenous peoples of the Northern Plains, Chief Poundmaker had tried to maintain peaceful relations and open dialogue between the Cree and European settlers.

In 1876, Poundmaker was part of the Cree delegation at Fort Carlton where Treaty 6 was concluded with Alexander Morris, Lieutenant-Governor of the Northwest Territories and Treaty Commissioner.

In the years following the signing of Treaty 6, Chief Poundmaker, along with others such as Big Bear or Mistahimaskwa, pushed government officials to live up to the promises and obligations laid out in the Treaty, often with frustrating results, Trudeau said.

But by the winter of 1885, the combination of a depleted bison population, cuts to government aid and fundamental disagreements regarding the implementation of treaty promises resulted in wide-spread dissatisfaction in the Prairies.

“In the push to settle Western Canada,

While much of the world attention has been focused on rapid sea ice reduction in the Arctic, the changes underneath the receding ice in parts of the Arctic Ocean have been no less dramatic, according to a Canadian researcher.

Karen Filbee-Dexter, a research fellow in Marine Biology at Laval University in Quebec City, says while climate change is decimating underwater kelp forests off the coast of western Australia, eastern North America, southern Europe and northern California, the lush forests of large brown seaweeds are thriving in the Arctic.

“The Arctic is one of the most rapidly changing coastal zones in the entire world, it’s warming much faster than the rest of the world, and we’re seeing these really dramatic declines in sea ice,” Filbee-Dexter told Radio Canada International in a phone interview from northern Norway.

“Most of the work in places like Norway, parts of Greenland, as well as some models of what this will look like have suggested that as we get less sea ice and less classic Arctic conditions, that these seaweed forests are actually expanding into our Arctic.”

(click to listen to the full interview with Karen Filbee-Dexter)

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A silver lining
A kelp forest off the coast of the Norwegian Arctic (Karen Filbee-Dexter)

While we tend to think about changes as being negative, having increased algae and increased marine plant presence in the Arctic has a silver lining by making these ecosystems more productive and creating new opportunities, she said.

“Just like forests do on land they, actually, underwater can form these beautiful habitats that are homes for fish and animals, and they grow really fast, they are really quite productive and they’re quite valuable ecosystems,” Filbee-Dexter said.

Kelps are found all throughout cold water coasts but they extend all the way to the Arctic.

They occur on rocky coasts throughout the Arctic “anywhere you get rocks and have sunlight reaching the sea floor,” Filbee-Dexter said.

“They can survive in the coldest water we can find in the Arctic, they can survive in places that get scoured by ice, they can survive underneath the sea ice for most of their life, and grow in a very short burst during a very short window where the ice actually isn’t there and the light can reach the bottom of the ocean,” Filbee-Dexter said.

“They are actually remarkably adapted to live sort of hidden underneath the ice on these very remote Arctic coasts where you don’t have any forests; the whole land is quite barren but then you go under water and suddenly there is underwater marine forest there.”
A double edged sword
However, the rapid warming of the Arctic introduces other variables that can make it more difficult for kelp forests to thrive.

In Canada, Alaska, Greenland, Norway and Siberia, permafrost soils that have been frozen for thousands of years are receding by leaps and bounds every year.

Thawing permafrost and crumbling Arctic coasts are dumping sediments into coastal waters at alarming rates, which blocks light and could limit plant growth. The run-off from melting glaciers will also lower salinity and increase turbidity, which impacts young kelp, Filbee-Dexter said.

“Whether you’re going to have expansion of kelp forests is going depend on a combination of what happens on land and what happens in the sea,” she said.
Underwater forests


The longest kelp recorded in the Arctic measured 15 metres and was found in Canada, and the deepest was found at 60-metre depth in Disko Bay, Greenland.

Kelps forests are similar to their terrestrial cousins in the way they create habitat and modify the physical environment by shading light and softening waves.

As the Democratic Republic of Congo grapples with the second largest ever Ebola outbreak, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) is appealing to Canada and other donors to step up their contributions to help efforts to stop the deadly virus from spreading within DRC and to neighbouring countries.

While the World Health Organization (WHO) is the lead UN agency helping Congolese authorities in containing Ebola, WFP plays a critical role by providing food to people potentially carrying the virus, and by providing crucial logistical services, including flights to remote areas in the eastern regions of the country, said  WFP Senior Partnership Adviser in DRC Arnhild Spence.

The current outbreak is concentrated in the restive eastern provinces of Ituri and North Kivu, Spence told Radio Canada International in a phone interview from capital Kinshasa.

“The situation on the ground is not good,” Spence said.

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The latest outbreak of Ebola, which was declared last August and is Congo’s tenth since the virus was discovered in 1976, is believed to have killed 872 people and infected nearly 500 more in North Kivu and Ituri, Spence said.

“It is the second one we are grappling with in the course of less than one year,” Spence said.
'Community scepticism and fear'
Medical stuff and an Ebola survivor treat Ebola patient Ibrahim Mupalalo inside the Biosecure Emergency Care Unit (CUBE) at the ALIMA (The Alliance for International Medical Action) Ebola treatment centre in Beni, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, March 31, 2019. Picture taken March 31, 2019. (Baz Ratner/REUTERS)

The fact that the outbreak happened in eastern DRC complicates the response to the crisis, she added.

“First of all, eastern DRC has been an active conflict zone for several decades with a multitude of armed groups, which makes it difficult to get access to the people who are affected by Ebola,” Spence said.

But international agencies working to contain the virus, which causes the deadly hemorrhagic fever, are also facing a high degree of “community scepticism and fear,” Spence said.

“It is a population who have felt neglected for decades,” Spence said. “So they are critical of what they perceive as the ‘sudden’ international interest in helping to stop Ebola.”

Many people feel that the international community is getting involved in the Ebola crisis out of narrow self-interest, rather than genuine concern for the well-being of the affected population, she added.

“This is one of the key challenges that this response has been faced with because without the active participation and support of the communities that are affected by Ebola you can’t actually bring it under control,” Spence said.
A crisis within a crisis
Health workers dressed in Ebola protective suits carry a coffin with the body of Congolese woman Kahambu Tulirwaho, who died of Ebola, as it is transported for a burial from the Ebola treatment centre in Butembo, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, March 28, 2019. (Baz Ratner /REUTERS)

The last few weeks have also seen a drastic deterioration of security in Ebola hotspots, further complicating the response and threatening the lives of patients as well as medical workers, Spence said.

Last week a Cameroonian epidemiologist deployed by the WHO, Dr. Richard Valery Mouzoko Kiboung, was killed in an attack on Butembo University Hospital, in North Kivu. Two other people were injured in the attack.

Health workers in Butembo threatened on Wednesday to go on strike as early as next week if authorities don’t do more to protect them.

The Ebola epidemic is a health crisis occurring within the broader humanitarian crisis in the DRC, Spence said.

An overwhelming majority of Canadians supports the federal government’s commitment to set aside at least 17 per cent of Canada’s lands and inland waters as protected conservation areas by 2020, according to a new poll.

Almost nine out of 10 Canadians either strongly support or support the government’s 2010 conservation commitment as part of the Convention on Biological Diversity, according to the poll conducted by Abacus Data for the International Boreal Conservation Campaign (IBCC).

“Canadians want to lead on conservation,” said in a statement Cathy Wilkinson, senior advisor to the IBCC.

“Canada is home to the biggest intact forest left on the planet. We have some of cleanest lakes and rivers. We have huge landscapes that help fight climate change. We still have a chance to protect nature on a grand scale.”
Indigenous stewardship
Edéhzhíe is home to headwater lakes, mature spruce forests, and vibrant wetlands; this diversity supports 36 mammal species, 197 bird species and 24 species of fish. (Bill Carpenter/Dehcho First Nations)

The poll, which was released Tuesday, ahead of a major conservation summit in Montreal, also found that over two-thirds of Canadians back a federal program to support Indigenous protected areas and Indigenous Guardians programs to help manage lands.

Canada will host a Nature Champions Summit in Montreal, from Apr. 24 to 25, 2019.

Many Indigenous Nations are working to create new Indigenous Protected Areas across the country, said Valérie Courtois, director of the Indigenous Leadership Initiative, a partner in the IBCC.

“What we mean by Indigenous-led conservation is when Indigenous Peoples are a part of the design and decision-making on the boundaries and the measures within those boundaries of proposed protected areas and that the push for those areas comes from the Indigenous nations themselves,” said Courtois.

(click to listen to the interview with Valérie Courtois)

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These proposed conservation areas cover over a million square kilometres of protected area, she said.

Ottawa and Dehcho First Nations create Canada’s newest Indigenous protected area

The survey also found that almost all Canadians view land conservation as a way to address climate change.

“Average Canadians are much more conservationist than we give them credit for,” Courtois said. “It’s important if we want to ensure our future as a country, as a Canadian society, that we think about the future of our land.”

David Coletto, CEO of Abacus Data, said conservation is an issue that unites Canadians.

“It’s rare to see this kind of consensus on issues, but people overwhelmingly agree the country should do more to conserve nature,” Coletto said in a statement.

“They want leaders to work together here at home and internationally. And they want to empower Indigenous communities to manage the lands they know so well.”

Alberta premier-designate Jason Kenney says he’ll move fast to repeal the carbon tax legislation adopted by the previous centre-left New Democratic Party government and jump-start stalled pipeline projects, setting the stage for a confrontation with the federal government, neighbouring British Columbia and Quebec.

Kenney, 50, who will be sworn as premier of the oil-rich Western Canadian province on Apr. 30, after his United Conservative Party secured a landslide victory in Tuesday’s election, said his first order of business would be to kill the carbon tax legislation adopted by Rachel Notley’s NDP government.

At the same time Kenney vowed to revive a bill that was passed by Notley’s government but never enacted, threatening to cut oil and gas shipments to B.C. if the provincial government there continues to resist the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion project.

“We are going to act according to the best interests of Alberta,” Kenney said Wednesday, speaking to reporters in Edmonton. “I think the job of the premier of Alberta is to defend our vital economic interests, and for me it means demonstrating to the government of British Columbia and other provincial governments that we mean business.”

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Carrot and stick approach to get the pipelines
A load of pipes originally destined for the Trans Mountain pipeline sits idle on a Kamloops B.C. rail siding. (Dennis Owen/Reuters)

Kenney said he spoke with B.C. Premier John Horgan who called to congratulate him and added that he wants to have one-on-one substantive meeting with his western neighbour.

“I think Premier Horgan knows very well that we are serious about defending our vital economic interests,” Kenney said. “I’ve always said that it’s not our intention to begin with reducing energy shipments to British Columbia but to have the power to do so.”

At the same time, despite disagreements with B.C. over the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline to transport oil from northern Alberta to the Pacific Coast near Vancouver, Kenney said he will continue to seek common ground with the Horgan government on a massive liquefied natural gas project.

In his victory speech on Tuesday, Kenney had also reached out to voters in the French-speaking province of Quebec with a pitch in French for another pipeline expansion project, this one going east towards oil refineries on the Atlantic Coast.

On Wednesday, Quebec Premier François Legault congratulated Kenney on his electoral victory but shot down his idea for more oil pipelines.

“What I am saying is there is no social acceptability for a new oil pipeline in Quebec,” Legault said, while expressing his enthusiastic support for a natural gas pipeline from Alberta to Quebec.
Jason Kenney spoke in French last night to ask for the support of Quebec to build a new oil #pipeline to a Canadian coastline.

François Legault replied in English this morning. Here is what he said about the UCP's big win in Alberta.#ableg #abvote #abvotes pic.twitter.com/GlCAs1APBL

— Geneviève Normand (@GeNormand) April 17, 2019

'Fight for a fair deal'
Alberta’s economy, which depends heavily on the oil and gas industry, has fallen on hard times following the collapse of oil prices in 2008 and then 2014.

Alberta’s economic woes have also been compounded by limited pipeline capacity to pump its crude to world markets, forcing producers to sell their oil at huge discounts.

“Alberta is going to fight for a fair deal in the federation,” Kenney said. “And we don’t think it’s reasonable for other provinces like Quebec to take our equalization money while opposing pipeline projects that will help us pay the bills within the federation.”

Nevertheless,

Alberta woke up to a new centre-right government today after voters in the oil-rich Western Canadian province that has fallen on hard times recently delivered a landslide victory to the United Conservative Party led by Jason Kenney.

Tuesday’s election turned a page on Alberta’s brief experiment with left-of-centre politics as the New Democratic Party led by outgoing premier Rachel Notley suffered a resounding defeat and moved to the opposition benches.

The UCP elected in 63 of 87 seats in the provincial legislature Tuesday night. The NDP held the other 24.

The other two major parties – the Alberta Party (AP), led by Stephen Mandel, and the Alberta Liberal Party (ALP), led by David Khan – failed to elect any MPs to the legislature.

However, the arrival of a new provincial conservative government could have repercussions for federal politics in Canada far beyond Alberta’s borders.

Premier-designate Kenney, 50, a former federal Conservative cabinet minister, who left federal politics to help create the United Conservative Party and bring it to power, vowed to stand up to the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa and “begin to fight back.”

“Today our great province has sent a message to Canada and the world that Alberta is open for business,” said Kenney to cheers. “Help is on the way and hope is on the horizon.”

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Albertans have elected “a government that will be obsessed with getting this province back to work,” Kenney said.

His first step in government would be to repeal the provincial carbon tax introduced by Notley’s government, Kenney has said. The measure would put Alberta on a collision course with Ottawa, which will be forced to introduce a federal carbon levy.


Kenney is also promising to wage war on “foreign funded special interests” who oppose Alberta's oil and gas industry.

“The foreign funded special interests campaigning against Canadian energy have done precisely nothing to stop the doubling of oil production in the United States, or to reduce by one barrel energy coming from OPEC dictatorships, or Vladimir Putin’s Russia,” Kenney said.

“And in Ottawa, we have a federal government that has made this bad situation worse, killing two major coastal pipelines, including Energy East that would have helped Quebec and Atlantic Canada displace foreign oil imports with Canadian energy!”

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Trudeau released a statement in the immediate aftermath of the election, congratulating Kenney.

"Albertans have chosen to elect a majority government led by the United Conservative Party," it read. "I look forward to working with the provincial government to create good, middle class jobs, build infrastructure, and grow the businesses and industries at the heart of Alberta's prosperity so the province can remain competitive in our changing economy."

"Together, we will address issues of importance to Albertans and all Canadians, including supporting canola producers, and taking decisive action on climate change while getting our natural resources to market."

With files from CBC News

A hardy yeast infection has researchers in Canada and around the world worried about the rise of a new generation of drug resistant superbugs.

There are fewer than 20 documented cases in Canada so far but the fungus known as Candida auris has epidemiologists and public health officials concerned.

“The reason that we’re concerned about it is because these organisms seem to be able to transmit between patients very efficiently within hospitals and because they have intrinsic resistance to the antifungal medication that we would typically use for a patient that has an invasive yeast infection,” said Dr. Ilan Schwartz, an infectious disease physician and assistant professor at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.

“The rapid spread of this organism is quite alarming but what’s most alarming is the difficulty that we have in eradicating it from hospitals once it has arrived, and in treating patients that are infected.”

(click to listen to the full interview about Candida auris with Dr. Ilan Schwartz)

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In fact, eradicating the fungus from hospitals is so difficult that last year the Brooklyn branch of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York State had to bring in special cleaning equipment and rip out some of the ceiling and floor tiles to eradicate it.

Candida auris is a yeast fungus that was first described in 2009, when it was isolated from the ear canal of a patient in Japan – hence its name auris, which means ear in Latin, said Schwartz.

“However, the clinical significance of it has since become much more clear and it’s much more fearsome than just something causing ear infections,” said Schwartz, who has been studying the superbug.
Global reach
(Source: CDC)

Over the ensuing decade, Candida auris (C. auris) has spread to 32 countries, including Canada, which reported 19 cases from 2012 to February 2019, according to Health Canada statistics.

There were 6 cases in Central Canada (Quebec and Ontario) between 2012 and 2017, and 13 cases in Western Canada (Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia) between 2014 and February 2019.

C. auris is a relatively new bug and it was traced back to 2006 when scientists with the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) analysed samples of yeast isolates.

“For some reason it really wasn’t around before then,” Schwartz said. “But at the same time scientists at the CDC and elsewhere have analysed the isolates that have been found and determined that they come from at least four different geographic regions and the all seemed to have emerged independently but simultaneously, which is very odd.”
High mortality rate
C. auris usually infects people who are already quite sick, Schwartz said.

“Generally these are patients that are admitted to intensive care units for other reasons, often it’s because of pre-existing problems like cancer or sometimes surgery,” Schwartz said. “These are patients that generally have been in hospital for a long time and end up in the intensive care unit.”

Usually, these patients have already been exposed to a lot of antibiotics and have catheters and intravenous tubes going into their veins, he said.

“Generally these patients do very poorly: the mortality rate is about 30 to 40 per cent for patients for whom the yeast is in the blood stream,” Schwartz said.

The germ is usually contaminated from the skin of patients who become colonized and then transmit it to the environment – the hospital room, various appliances and tools that are used for monitoring and caring for patients, he said.

“Now, there is a process for decontamination of any tools that touch one patient and are going to touch another but because of the particularly hardy nature of Candida auris we have seen ...

A coalition of Canadian humanitarian groups is urging Canadians to show their generousity and donate to a federal matching fund for relief efforts in three southern African countries hit by Tropical Cyclone Idai last month.

Ottawa pledges to match donations made by individual Canadians to Canada’s Humanitarian Coalition and its members between March 15 and April 14, 2019, up to a maximum total of $2 million for relief efforts in flood-hit Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe.

Melanie Murphy, safety lead with CARE Canada, who has just returned from Zimbabwe after spending two weeks in the southern African country following the devastating cyclone, said the need is immense.

The cyclone hit Zimbabwe’s mountainous Manicaland province around 10 pm local time on March 15 and it lasted for about three hours, she said.

The cyclone caused flooding and deadly landslides, particularly in Chimanimani district, where huge boulders rolled down the mountain slopes and leveled houses and everything in their path, Murphy said.

“This was night time and most of the villagers in this area were asleep,” she said. “They really didn’t have time to react.”

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Many of those who managed to escape their houses were swept away by the torrential flood waters, Murphy said.

“Some of their bodies were found as far away as Mozambique while others are still missing,” Murphy said.

Children carry drinking water over debris created by Cyclone Idai at Peacock Growth Point in Chimanimani, on the border with Mozambique, Zimbabwe March 22, 2019. (Philimon Bulawayo/REUTERS)

Cyclone Idai hit an already highly impoverished part of the country. The Chimanimani and Chipinge districts of Manicaland were the hardest-hit, with at least half of the population there affected by the flooding and landslides.

According to preliminary reports by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 10,000 people are living in improvised camps, in public buildings (schools and government buildings), in transit camps and with host families in several districts.

The government of Zimbabwe reported 299 deaths and more than 300 people are still missing.

In Mutare, the cyclone destroyed 584 houses and damaged 1,263 houses. More than 2,200 houses were damaged in Buhera district.

These numbers are likely to increase as more areas become accessible in the hardest hit districts.

“A week and a half after this, when I was there, there were still people out trying to dig for their missing family members,” Murphy said. “It was one of the most heart-wrenching things I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been part of many emergency responses.”

Women wash clothing in the river as they clean up after Cyclone Idai in Chimanimani, Zimbabwe, March 22, 2019. (Philimon Bulawayo/REUTERS)

CARE was one of the first humanitarian groups in Chimanimani and their team began immediately working with community leaders to identify the most vulnerable families and people in need, Murphy said.

“We’ve been distributing life-saving supplies that help with accessing clean water,” she said. “There has been a really extensive damage to the water supply and any time that happens we really worry about diarrheal diseases and cholera, in particular, which has already hit the affected communities in Mozambique.”

So far CARE has reached more than 6,000 people with its emergency response efforts in Zimbabwe, said Darcy Knoll, a spokesperson for CARE Canada.

CARE teams on the ground in Chimanimani and Chipinge provided water purification tablets, jerrycans for clean water and other water, sanitation and hygiene products, Murphy said.

“When I was there,

Canadians jihadists who left the country to fight for ISIS or Al-Qaeda and its offshoots in the Middle East are distinct from other radical Islamists and may be more amenable to rehabilitation and reintegration back into the Canadian society, according to a new report.

Alex Wilner, a terrorism expert at Carleton University in Ottawa and the lead author of the report published this week, by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, said it examines the phenomenon of Canadians joining and supporting terrorist organizations and militant movements associated with ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and other similar groups.

Wilner, who teaches International Affairs at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA), said he and his assistant, Irfan Yar, developed a dataset of Canadian Islamist radicalization in order to provide a detailed sketch of Canadian jihadists and their supporters spanning a decade between 2006 and 2017.

Using open sources - media, government and academic reports - Wilner and Yar were able to find 95 such individuals with ties to Canada.
Uniquely Canadian jihadists?
As ISIS loses its territory and moves underground, questions arise about how to deal with Canadians with links to the group. (THE CANADIAN PRESS)

They also examined existing literature and data on European and U.S. radicalization and compared it to Canadian findings.

“What we found was that the Canadians, generally speaking, are older, they’re more educated, they have less criminal motivation before the radicalization process, they’re more ethnically diverse than their European and American counterparts,” Wilner said.

“I think there is enough evidence there to suggest that there is a Canadian type or a larger Canadian biographical characteristic that informed this process that is distinct from the European and American models.”

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The average age of Canadian jihadists identified by the study was 27, he said.

“When you compare that to the average age of many European cases, it’s quite a few years older,” Wilner said.

“And in terms of enrollment in post-secondary education, over half of our dataset had some enrollment in post-secondary education, including within CEGEP or university studies and graduate studies.”
A chance for rehabilitation?
A video was recently released of Toronto's Mohammed Abdullah Mohammed, after he was captured by Kurdish forces battling ISIS in Syria. (CBC)

The fact that Canadian extremist foreign travellers and foreign fighters are older augurs well for attempts to de-radicalize and rehabilitate them upon their return to Canada, Wilner said.

“There is corroborating evidence in terrorism studies suggesting that motivation in political violence wanes as you get older,” Wilner said. “It’s very much a young person’s activity, not exclusively but often it is.”

The flip side of that coin is that because these Canadian jihadists are older and better educated than their European counterparts, they are also well-suited to assume leadership positions in the global jihadist movement, Wilner acknowledged.

“We know that Canadians have been leaders in certain very dramatic, very damaging terrorist attacks,” he said.

“But all in all, the data would suggest that by and large there is at least potential for an opening for a very unique and a very Canadian-oriented repatriation and rehabilitation process that would be distinct from Belgian or German or American case because we have a Canadian narrative in this phenomenon and you would assume that our response should also have this Canadian lens to it.”

A Canadian conservation group says more research into the impact of vessel traffic on narwhal and other marine life is needed before a regulator in the Arctic territory of Nunavut allows a mining company to expand its production at one of the world’s northernmost iron ore mines.

The Baffinland Iron Mines Corp., which operates the Mary River mine site on Baffin Island, is looking at expanding its production from nearly six million tonnes of iron ore a year currently to 12 million tonnes a year.

Baffinland, a joint venture between Nunavut Iron Ore and ArcelorMittal, would like to see its production rising to 30 million tonnes per year by 2025.

However, that would mean a significant increase in vessel traffic to ship iron ore from northeastern Baffin Island to steel producers in Europe and elsewhere.

According to marine conservation group Oceans North, bulk cargo vessels and supply ships used by Baffinland made nearly 150 trips last summer to resupply the mine and transport over five million tonnes of iron ore.

Iron ore from the Mary River mine operated by Baffinland is loaded onto bulk carrier ships during the ice-free summer season in July through September (Baffinland/Youtube)

If the territorial regulator approves Baffinland’s plans for increased production at the mine, that would more than double the vessel traffic in the area, which until recently saw very little shipping, said Kristin Westdal, marine biologist for Oceans North.

Environmental group welcomes Baffinland’s decision to abandon icebreaking plans

Speaking to Radio Canada International by phone from Vancouver, British Columbia, Westdal said there is simply not enough data to figure out how this increased traffic will affect the population of the iconic narwhal that summer in the area.

"We need to take a precautionary approach,” Westdal said.

“If we don’t know exactly what might happen with this increased with vessel traffic, we need to slow down a minute and really try and understand with the current vessel traffic what those effects are and then try to extrapolate into the future what that might look like.”
A monitoring project
Kristin Westdal (L), Alex Ootoowak (C) Jefferson Killiktee (R) return to base after a successful deployment of multiple hydrophones in Lancaster Sound region (Photo courtesy of Josh Jones)

A monitoring project launched by Oceans North before the mine began its operations shows that the noise produced by vessels overlaps with some of the frequencies used by narwhals for their communications and that these animals might be exposed to almost continuous vessel noise during the short summer shipping season, Westdal said.

(Listen to the interview with Kristin Westdal)

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The project to monitor the impact of vessel traffic on marine life in the area began in 2014 because of concerns by the local hunters’ and trappers’ association in the Inuit community of Pond Inlet, in northeastern Baffin Island, Westdal said.

Narwhals, small Arctic whales with long spiralling tusks in males, are a key Arctic marine species and an important food source for local Inuit communities.

“At that time we weren’t sure when Baffinland was going to start doing any monitoring and if they were going to be able to get in there before the vessels actually started,” Westdal said. “We wanted to jump the gun and do some baseline monitoring before any of the large vessels showed up.”

The researchers wanted to get some basic data on the ambient noise levels and what effect ship noise was having on the narwhal that migrate through the area, she said.

Kristin Westdal, marine biologist with Oceans North Canada (L), Jefferson Killiktee (C) and Alex Ootoowak (R),

Interference by foreign “malign actors” in the upcoming federal election in Canada “is very likely,” Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said Friday.

“We're, we are very concerned.  I think our judgement is interference is very likely,” Freeland told reporters Friday. “And we think there has probably already, there have probably already been efforts by maligned foreign actors to disrupt our democracy.”

Freeland’s comments on the sidelines of a G7 meeting in France are the latest warning from the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about the treat by foreign actors such as Russia, China and others to meddle in the Oct. 21 federal election.

“What I think we're seeing is something that is happening in many liberal democracies, which is the effort is not so much to secure a particular outcome in an election, the effort is to make our societies more polarized and to make us as citizens of democracies, more cynical about the very idea that democracy exists and that it can work,” speaking at a media freedom event on the sidelines of a G7 foreign ministers meeting in France.

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While Freeland did not specifically mention Russia in her comments, speaking to reporters in Toronto, Trudeau was more blunt.

"We have seen over the past number of years an increase in the interference or the implication of foreign actors in democratic processes," Trudeau said. "We saw very clearly that countries like Russia are behind a lot of divisive campaigns, divisive social media."
Best defence is aware citizenry, says Freeland
The top diplomats of the G7 nations – Canada, France, Japan, Germany, Britain, Italy and the U.S., as well as the European Union – are meeting in Dinard, Brittany, where they are expected later to agree on common norms that would seek to prevent foreign powers from destabilizing democratic nations.

Canada has already introduced a number of measures to prepare the country to fight foreign interference in the upcoming election, Freeland said.

“A very important one is just to be sure that Canadians are aware of the danger,” Freeland said. “One of the things we've learned, especially from talking to our friends in the Baltic States and in Ukraine is that probably the most important and most powerful defence is an aware citizenry.”

During Canada’s chairmanship of the G7 last year, Ottawa spearheaded the creation of “a rapid response mechanism to help all of us identify efforts to interfere in our democracies and to support one another where we see those efforts,” Freeland said.
Need for deterrence strategy
Britain's Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland and human rights lawyer Amal Clooney attend a news conference on media freedom as part of the G7 Foreign Ministers' meeting in Dinard, France, April 5, 2019. (Stephane Mahe/REUTERS)

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said it was imperative for liberal democracies to tackle interference by Russia and others.

“We know that states like Russia have got a very active, planned, thought-through strategy to interfere in democratic processes in Western countries and [to sow] dissension and chaos wherever they can,” Hunt said.

“We are getting much better at fending off these attacks when they happen. What we don't do at the moment is deter them from happening in the first place.”

He said the discussions at the G7 on Friday would be aimed at finding a deterrence strategy that imposed a high price for meddling with democratic processes.

Russia’s has strenuously denied interfering in elections in Western countries and has instead accused the West of interfering in Russian politics through direct funding of a number of international and local NGOs,

Former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould was booted out of the Liberal caucus Tuesday despite writing a passionate plea to her party colleagues defending her stance in a political scandal that has hobbled the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Trudeau expelled Wilson-Raybould and former Treasury Board president Jane Philpott from the Liberal caucus, saying that trust with the two former cabinet ministers has been irreparably broken.

"The trust that previously existed between these two individuals and our team has been broken, whether it's taping conversations without consent, or repeatedly expressing a lack of confidence in our government or me personally as leader," he said.

"It's become clear that Ms. Wilson-Raybould and Dr. Philpott can no longer remain part of our Liberal team."
I have just been informed by the Prime Minister of Canada that I am removed from the Liberal caucus and as the confirmed Vancouver Granville candidate for the Liberal Party of Canada in the 2019 federal election. More to come...

— Jody Wilson-Raybould (@Puglaas) April 2, 2019

I ran to be a Member of Parliament for the purpose of improving people’s lives. Nothing will stop me from continuing in that pursuit. More details here: https://t.co/zSoLgR62j8

— Jane Philpott (@janephilpott) 2 April 2019


Earlier in the day Trudeau’s former right hand man released a series of documents designed to poke holes in Wilson-Raybould’s claims that she was moved to a less prestigious cabinet position because she stood up to pressure from the Prime Minister’s Office to intervene in a criminal case against Canadian engineering and construction giant SNC-Lavalin.

Wilson-Raybould resigned from cabinet in February following an explosive report by The Globe and Mail newspaper.

It alleged that she was moved to the less prestigious veterans affairs portfolio in January because she refused to bend to PMO pressure to override the director of public prosecutions and offer SNC-Lavalin a remediation agreement instead of a criminal trial on corruption charges tied to Libya contracts.
'I'm not the one who tried to interfere'
Former Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould testified before a parliamentary hearing into what is being called a case of improper interference into a legal case against SNC-Lavalin . (Adrian Wyld/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

In her testimony to the House of Commons Justice Committee last month Wilson-Raybould, the first Indigenous Canadian to hold the position of justice minister and attorney general, said she felt inappropriate pressure from the PMO and other officials to intervene in the SNC-Lavalin case.

She also reiterated her belief that her demotion to veterans affairs minister was retribution for her principled stance in protecting the independence of the office of the public prosecutor.

Last week she also released a recording of her conversation with the former Clerk of the Privy Council about the SNC-Lavalin affair as another proof of the pressure she faced.

Former attorney general recorded conversation as she faced pressure over SNC-Lavalin file
Canada’s top bureaucrat resigns amid SNC-Lavalin controversy

The seemingly unending political scandal has seriously undermined Liberal chances of re-election in the upcoming federal elections later this fall.

In her letter to her Liberal colleagues, Wilson-Raybould wrote that she understands their anger and frustration.

"I am angry, hurt and frustrated because I feel and believe I was upholding the values that we all committed to,” she wrote. “In giving the advice I did, and taking the steps I did, I was trying to help protect the prime minister and the government from a horrible mess."

As Nunavut celebrates the 20th anniversary of becoming Canada’s northernmost territory, Premier Joe Savikataaq says he wants people in the rest of the country and outside its borders to remember that it is not just an expanse of frozen land and sea.

“We’re up here!” Savikataaq told Radio Canada International. “It’s not just a big wilderness here. We have 25 communities, we’re proud Canadians, we’re resilient and we adapt to climate change and we just want to be treated as equals within Canada.”

Nunavut, which means “Our Land” in Inuktitut, was created on April 1, 1999, when the sprawling northern territory that covers an area of nearly 2 million square kilometres separated from the Northwest Territories (NWT) to become Canada’s third northern territory with its own capital Iqaluit.

“I think the biggest achievement is the fact that our current governments they’re closer to the people now and they’re more responsive to the people’s wants and needs than back when it was NWT and the government seemed like it was so far away from the people,” Savikataaq said.

“We have our Inuit language protection act and any of our laws and legislation or policies have to align with Inuit society values.”

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About 80 per cent of the region’s nearly 38,000 residents are Inuit.
Functioning government and legislature
The Nuvanut Legislature is seen Saturday, April 25, 2015 in Iqaluit, Nunavut. (Paul Chiasson/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Aluki Kotierk, president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., said the creation of Nunavut and its accomplishments have to be seen in the context of the 1993 Nunavut Agreement.

The Nunavut Agreement, the largest land claims agreement in Canadian history signed after nearly two decades of negotiations, set the groundwork for the creation of the territory. Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. was set up to manage the implementation of the agreement.

“Article 4 stipulates the creation of the territory of Nunavut with its own legislative assembly and the government of Nunavut,” Kotierk said in a phone interview from Ottawa.

“When I look at it from that perspective, the mere creation of the territory of Nunavut, altering the map of Canada all very peacefully, is a great accomplishment in itself – that there is a functioning government, that there is a functioning legislative assembly I think are all very key accomplishments.”

The decentralized model of government, which allows to spread government jobs in other communities instead of concentrating all of the territorial bureaucracy in the capital Iqaluit, is another major accomplishment of the last 20 years, she said.

The number of Inuit working for the government has almost doubled, Savikataaq said.
Infrastructure deficit
A view of Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut, Canada. The federal government has promised to spend $700 million over the next 10 years for Canada’s North, with money coming for post-secondary education in the North, new infrastructure and Arctic research. (Sean Kilpatrick/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

And the territory has built about 1,900 public housing units, Savikataaq said.

“We’re still short of what we need but we’ve built a lot of houses,” he said.

Still, Nunavut has to overcome tremendous challenges when it comes to basic infrastructure, social and health services, and education, Savikataaq said.

“Here in Nunavut we’re still far so behind in infrastructure that we’re not even at the start line that Canada has to do some nation-building, whether it be building ports, building roads into Nunavut, fibre optics into Nunavut, or upgrading the runways,” Savikataaq said, adding that the territory has a lot of catching up to the rest of Canada.

White supremacism and Islamophobia are among “the gravest threats” facing the world, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland told the United Nations Thursday.

The terrorist attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, on March 15, when a white supremacist terrorist killed 50 Muslim worshippers at two mosques underlined once again that tragic reality, Freeland said, addressing a UN Security Council debate on terrorism.

The attack in Christchurch was all too familiar to Canadians who had seen another terrorist kill six people in a Quebec City mosque two years ago, she said.

“Neo-Nazis, white supremacists, ‘incels,’ nativists and radical anti-globalists who resort to violent acts are a threat to the stability of my country and countries around the world,” Freeland said.

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No time for euphemisms
Candles are placed to commemorate victims of Friday's shooting, outside the Al Noor mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, Monday, March 18, 2019. Three days after Friday's attack, New Zealand's deadliest shooting in modern history, relatives were anxiously waiting for word on when they can bury their loved ones. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

These attacks need to be at the top of the global agenda during discussions on confronting global terrorism, Freeland added.

And when such violence does occur, the international community must not be afraid to specifically condemn it for what it is: Neo-Nazism, white supremacism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, terrorism, Freeland said.

“We cannot hide behind euphemisms that distract from the truth,” Freeland said. “In fact, doing so puts our citizens, especially those from religious minorities and racialized communities, in greater danger.”

In the wake of acts of terrorism carried out by Muslims, Western countries often call upon Muslim countries and Muslim leaders to condemn those attacks in the name of their people and their faith, she said.

“It should follow that, as the foreign minister of a majority-white and majority-Christian country, I feel a specific and personal responsibility to denounce white supremacist attacks in the same way,” Freeland said.
Collective effort is needed
Women wearing headscarves in solidarity with the victims of the mosque attacks are seen before Friday prayers at Hagley Park outside Al-Noor mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand March 22, 2019. (Jorge Silva/REUTERS)

While hate is eternal, the way it spreads changes with time, she added.

The international community must keep a close watch on how hateful messages spread on the Internet through online forums and on social media, Freeland said.

This work cannot be undertaken in isolation, she added.

“Each of our countries will, of course, address this issue in different ways, but we need to recognize that this is ultimately an international problem, and we need to act collectively to address it,” Freeland said.

“The Internet and social media know no borders and so we must work together to find ways to address online radicalization.”
'We are family'
New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern leaves after the Friday prayers at Hagley Park outside Al-Noor mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand March 22, 2019. (Jorge Silva/REUTERS)

Freeland also took the opportunity to offer Canada’s support and compassion to the people of New Zealand.

“As fellow members of the Commonwealth, Canada and New Zealand have a close relationship, we are more than friends, we are family, and Canadians felt great compassion and real pain following the terrible attacks in Christchurch,” Freeland said.

“In particular, I’d like to salute the moral leadership of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern who has distinguished herself not only to the p...

Chinese officials pressured a Montreal-based human rights research institute affiliated with Concordia University to cancel a conference featuring a prominent exiled Uighur leader, says one of the organizers of the event.

Kyle Matthews, executive director of the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (MIGS) at Concordia University, said he received an email from the Chinese consul general in Montreal on Monday, asking him for an urgent meeting to discuss a planned conference on the Uighur minority in China.

While he chose to ignore the request and went ahead with the conference on Tuesday as planned, Matthews said he later found out that the consul general was also putting pressure on different people in Montreal to get Concordia University to annul the event.

“I think that’s problematic, it goes against freedom of speech, it goes against the right of universities to talk about complex issues and contemporary issues,” Matthews told Radio Canada International on Wednesday.

“This I think shows that a university event attracting 30 people was deemed to be a major foreign policy priority for the Chinese government to disrupt and try to end.”

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Wang Wenzhang, Chinese consul general in Montreal, could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Officials at the Chinese embassy in Ottawa did not respond to Radio Canada International’s request for comment in time for publication.
'A massive internment camp'
A perimeter fence is constructed around what is officially known as a vocational skills education centre in Dabancheng in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China September 4, 2018. This centre, situated between regional capital Urumqi and tourist spot Turpan, is among the largest known ones, and was still undergoing extensive construction and expansion at the time the photo was taken. (Thomas Peter/REUTERS)

Uighurs are a Turkic-speaking Muslim minority in northwestern China who accuse Beijing of religious and political persecution. Beijing, in turn, says Uighur dissidents are leading an Islamic separatist movement.

International human rights groups such as the Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, as well the UN have been sounding the alarm over the situation facing the Uighur minority in Xinjiang, Matthews said.

A UN panel of human rights experts said last August it had received many credible reports that one million ethnic Uighurs in China were being held in what resembles a “massive internment camp that is shrouded in secrecy.”

The institute was approached by the Uighur community in Canada to talk about the situation in Xinjaing, Matthews said.

Dolkun Isa, president of the Munich-based World Uighur Congress, was doing a tour of North America and was asked to speak at the event, Matthews said.

“A lot Uighurs have not heard from family members, UN diplomats have not been able to travel to see the situation, so we thought it was important to talk about this,” Matthews said.

“We talk about situations related to genocide, mass atrocity crimes, and gross human rights violations in many-many countries and we decided to have the president of the World Uighur Congress come and speak to us about what was happening in Xinjiang, China.”
A thorn in China's side
Ethnic Uighur people walk in front of a giant screen with a picture of Chinese President Xi Jinping in the main city square in Kashgar in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, China September 6, 2018. (Thomas Peter/REUTERS)

Matthews said Beijing doesn’t like to talk about human rights and Chinese officials have dismissed what has been happening in Xinjiang as a counter-terrorism operation.

Other Canadian universities that have featured speakers critical of China’s policies in Xinjiang ...

A Filipino woman and her daughter who sheltered U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden while he went into hiding in Hong Kong in 2013 boarded a plane to Toronto Monday after Canada granted them asylum, according to a charity that sponsored the pair.

Ethan Cox, a spokesperson for the Montreal-based non-profit For the Refugees, said Vanessa Mae Rodel, 42, an asylum seeker from the Philippines, and her 7-year-old daughter, Keana Nihinsa, are expected to land at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport around 6 pm (2200 UTC) Monday.

“Vanessa and Keana are coming to Canada as privately sponsored refugees, sponsored by our non-profit, For the Refugees,” Cox said.

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They will then make their way to Montreal where they will be settled with help from For the Refugees.

The charity was set up in 2016 by a group of lawyers in Montreal to support three refugee families also known as “Snowden’s angels,” Cox said.

Rodel and five other asylum seekers sheltered Snowden, at the request of their Canadian-born immigration lawyer Robert Tibbo.

The former National Security Agency contractor retained Tibbo after he revealed his identity as the whistleblower who exposed the U.S. government’s Prism surveillance program.

Snowden, who at that point had become the most-wanted man for U.S. security services, lived with refugee families from the Philippines and Sri Lanka for about two weeks in Hong Kong slums until he was whisked away to Moscow.

Asylum seekers Vanessa Mae Bondalian Rodel, 42, from the Philippines, and Ajith Pushpakumara, 44, from Sri Lanka, who helped hiding Edward Snowden while he was in Hong Kong in 2013, attend a special screening of the film "Snowden" directed by Oliver Stone, in Hong Kong, China, Sept. 30, 2016. (Bobby Yip/REUTERS)

Their role in helping the wistleblower escape capture was featured in Oliver Stone’s 2016 biographical thriller “Snowden,” exposing them to retaliation from the Hong Kong government.

Hong Kong authorities retaliated against the refugees for their role in the Snowden drama, cutting off support payment to them years ago, Cox said.

“The only reason they’re still alive is because our non-profit has been raising money and sending it to them every month to live on,” Cox said.

“There have been reports of agents from the Sri Lankan government coming to Hong Kong, looking for some of these refugees. They have been brought in and interrogated about their role with Edward Snowden by Hong Kong authorities.”

They are in a situation of extreme distress, he added.

“It’s tremendous that the Canadian government has finally brought in Vanessa and Keana and we’re very happy about that and thankful to the Trudeau government for that,” Cox said. “But we also need them to expedite the processing to get the other vulnerable refugees out of a dangerous situation.”

It is exactly this type of situation that is envisaged in the law, allowing Canada’s Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen to step in and expedite the processing of their applications, he added.

“They have suffered a lot for many years and they need to be brought to Canada as soon as possible,” Cox said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada has a rigorous immigration and refugee process that works in large part independent of “political engagement.”

“We trust the professionals who work on various files to make the right decisions,” Trudeau said, speaking to reporters in Maple Ridge, British Columbia.

Speaking to reporters in Washington DC, after a meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said she doesn’t believe that granting asylum to refugees who sheltered Snowden will compli...

British rock star Sting performed a live concert on Thursday as a “gesture of solidarity” with General Motors workers facing layoffs in Oshawa, Ontario.

Thousands of people filled Oshawa’s Tributes Communities Centre for a special acoustic performance by Sting and the Toronto cast of his musical The Last Ship, which is currently playing at Mirvish's Princess of Wales Theatre.

Sting began the concert with a rendition of The Police classic “Message in a Bottle" as the crowd joined in.

The rock legend also performed a selection of songs from The Last Ship, which tells the story of a British shipbuilding town as it grapples with the collapse of the shipbuilding industry that sustained it.

The story is based on the rock star’s hometown Wallsend, England. Sting, 62, wrote The Last Ship's music and lyrics based on his own experiences growing up in Wallsend. The former Police frontman stars in the production as a protest leader fighting to hold the community together by building one last ship.

Sting performs the song "Message in a Bottle," before being joined by the cast of his musical "The Last Ship" to perform in support of General Motors workers in Oshawa, Ont. on Thursday, February 14, 2019. (Chris Young/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

The story of the musical is eerily similar to the realities now faced by GM workers in Oshawa, who are fighting a plant closure expected the end of 2019.

"We felt it was important to show our support for you," Sting told the crowd.

Sting to support Oshawa GM workers

Speaking at a press conference after the show, Sting said it’s important that the auto workers’ story is heard.

“This story is hugely important. This can’t be buried under the political carpet,” Sting said. “The world needs to know, Canada needs to get behind you. It’s important.”

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With files from CBC News

Canada will provide $53 million in aid to help those most affected by the Venezuelan crisis, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday as he hosted a meeting of nearly dozen countries opposed to the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

“Today, Canada is stepping up and announcing $53 million to address the most pressing needs of Venezuelans on the ground, including the almost three million refugees,” Trudeau said in his opening remarks at at the John G. Diefenbaker Building in Ottawa.

“The bulk of the funds will go to trusted partners and neighbouring countries to help them support Venezuela and Venezuelans.”

Since the eruption of crisis in Venezuela in 2017, Canada has provided $2.2 million in humanitarian assistance to help the most vulnerable populations affected by the Venezuelan crisis, according to Global Affairs Canada.

With the additional $53 million announced by Trudeau Monday, Canada’s overall contribution to respond to the effects of the Venezuela crisis now stands at over $55 million.
'A pivotal moment'
Peru's Foreign Minister Nestor Popolizio, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Canada's Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland applaud after Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido delivered a video message during the opening session of the Lima Group meeting in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, February 4, 2019. (Chris Wattie/REUTERS)

Trudeau thanked foreign ministers from most of the Lima Group countries — Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Saint Lucia — for travelling to Ottawa to discuss their response to the political, economic and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela.

Ecuador, the European Union, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, the UK, and the U.S. have also joined the discussions in Ottawa.

Last week, as hundreds of thousands marched in capital Caracas to demand the end of Maduro’s socialist government, Canada joined the United States, the Organization of American States, and ten other Latin American states in recognizing Venezuela’s parliamentary speaker, Juan Guaido, as the country’s interim president.

Trudeau said he spoke with Guaido Sunday and was “pleased to convey Canada’s support personally.”

“This is a pivotal moment for the people of Venezuela: we are observing a widespread rejection of the Maduro regime's illegitimate claim to power following fraudulent elections last May," Trudeau said.

“For years now, we've witnessed the breakdown in democracy in Venezuela and a dictatorship willing to use force, fear and coercion to retain power. The violation of human rights and the complete disregard for the rule of law shown by the regime has been both inexcusable and unacceptable.”

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Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido walks as he speaks to journalists before a news conference at the National Assembly in Caracas, Venezuela February 4, 2019. (Andres Martinez Casares/REUTERS)

Canada has not only called on Maduro to cede power to the “democratically elected” National Assembly but has also imposed sanctions on the socialist leader and his officials, Trudeau said.

“The use of excessive force against peaceful protesters, arbitrary detentions, extrajudicial killings – all have become staples of a dictatorship clinging to power at the expense of their people,” Trudeau said.

Guaido has given hope to countless people around the world, marking a turning point in the ongoing humanitarian, economic and political crisis that has plagued Venezuela for years, Trudeau said.

Venezuela now has “a legitimate interim president and a clear constitutional path forward to free and fair elections,

Slightly more than half of Canadians (52 per cent) say they are dissatisfied with the way Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government have handled the diplomatic crisis with China that followed the arrest in Canada of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou last December, according to a new poll.

The survey from the Angus Reid Institute also reveals that a slight majority of Canadians (55 per cent) think that Canada was right to act on the U.S. arrest warrant for Meng, the chief financial officer of the Chinese telecom giant, while four-in-ten Canadians (44 per cent) said they would like to see the Liberals take a tougher approach with Beijing.

Nearly two-thirds (62 per cent) of Canadians say China’s record on human rights and the rule of law should be a more important consideration than trade and investment opportunities for Canada when assessing the Canada-China relationship, according to the survey.

“I think the most surprising thing for me when looking at these results is the degree to which Canadians have not really made up their minds about what they want or how they want their government to handle this issue,” said Ian Holliday, a research associate at the Angus Reid Institute.

“We see that there is a great deal of dissatisfaction with way the Trudeau government has handled relations with China over the last couple of weeks… but at the same time when we look at an ‘agree-disagree’ statement about [whether] Canada should have resisted the U.S. request and not arrested Meng Wanzhou, the Huawei CFO, in the first place, what we find is that Canadians disagree with that assertion as well.”

That suggests that there is degree of support for the actions the federal government has taken, Holliday said in a phone interview with Radio Canada International.

(click to listen to the full interview with Ian Holliday)

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Facing China's wrath
Chinese officials say Canadians Michael Kovrig, right, and Michael Spavor were arrested for undermining Chinese 'national security,' while Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was arrested 'illegally' in Canada upon U.S. request (Associated Press/ International Crisis Group/Canadian Press)

Meng’s arrest has caused a bruising diplomatic row between Ottawa and Beijing.

Days after Meng’s arrest, Chinese authorities detained Michael Kovrig, who took a leave of absence from Global Affairs Canada to work as the North East Asia analyst for the non-governmental think tank International Crisis Group, and Michael Spavor, a China-based Canadian entrepreneur.

They are accused of “endangering national security” but no official charges have been laid against the two Canadians.

Then on Jan. 14, a Chinese court sentenced a Canadian man to death in a sudden retrial of a drug-smuggling case. Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, 36, had appealed his original 15-year sentence.

Schellenberg death sentence was seen by many in Canada as another attempt by Beijing to apply pressure on Ottawa following Meng’s arrest.

Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, who is out on bail and remains under partial house arrest after she was detained Dec. 1 at the behest of American authorities, leaves her home to attend a court appearance regarding her bail conditions, in Vancouver, on Tuesday January 29, 2019. (Darryl Dyck/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Meng, who is also the daughter of company founder Ren Zhengfei, could face extradition to the U.S. over allegations she was involved in violating sanctions on Iran, with each charge carrying a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

She was released on bail by a Canadian court after she agreed to post a $10-million bail, surrender her passports and abide by more than a dozen conditions.

Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau is denying suggestions by the Parliamentary Budget Officer that the Liberal government may have paid too much to acquire the Trans Mountain Pipeline (TMP) and Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMEP).

The report by the independent parliamentary officer released Thursday estimates that the Trans Mountain Pipeline and the controversial project to nearly triple its capacity have a value of between $3.6 billion and $4.6 billion.

In May 2018, Morneau announced the federal government paid $4.5 billion to purchase the pipeline that runs from northern Alberta to British Columbia’s Pacific Coast in a desperate attempt to salvage the project.

The expansion of the 1,150-kilometre pipeline that currently carries about 300,000 barrels of oil per day from northern Alberta to the oil terminal in Burnaby, a suburb of Vancouver, is seen as critical for Alberta’s and Canada’s economy but has run into stiff opposition from Indigenous and environmental groups, as well as the B.C. government.
'They paid the sticker price'
Pipes are seen at the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain facility in Edmonton, Thursday, April 6, 2017. (Jonathan Hayward/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

The PBO report said the Trudeau government negotiated a purchase price at the higher end of its valuation range.

"If it was a car, we would say they paid sticker price, they didn't negotiate very much, they didn't get that many deals or manufacturers rebates — quite the opposite," Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux told reporters Thursday morning at a press briefing.

"It's a very risky project to have bought something that nobody else in the private sector wanted to acquire."

Liberal government to buy Trans Mountain pipeline for $4.5B

But speaking to reporters in Ottawa Thursday, Morneau said the net price paid by the feds was $4.1 billion, not $4.5 billion as announced last May.

“In fact, the purchase price was $4.5 billion less the amount of tax advantage, which brings it to $4.1 billion,” Morneau said. “That means we paid $4.1 billion net for the Trans Mountain pipeline and the expansion.”

That’s right in the middle of the range that the PBO analysis calculated, he said.

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Project delays
A load of pipe originally destined for the Trans Mountain pipeline sits idle on a Kamloops B.C. rail siding. (Dennis Owen/Reuters)

The PBO report also warned of a financial hit the government and Canadian taxpayers will take if the pipeline construction is delayed or cancelled.

“The worst case scenario is that the Trans Mountain expansion project doesn’t see the light of day, and then the value of the asset that the government has acquired is diminished significantly and the government could lose anywhere between $2-2.5 billion in that worst case scenario,” Giroux said.

B.C. Premier John Horgan has sought to stop the expansion project in court, forcing Ottawa to step in and buy the project.

Indigenous groups have said they were not adequately consulted by the federal government before the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau approved it in 2016.

In August 2018, the Federal Court of Appeal quashed cabinet approvals for the project, citing inadequate consultations and incomplete environmental assessments.

“We believe that it’s important that we respond appropriately to the Federal Court of Appeal decision,” Morneau said. “That’s what we are working through right now in order to make sure that we do this the right way to move forward.”

The government sees a significant commercial advantage in the purchase of the pipeline and the expansion project, which would allow Canada to get its oil to international markets where they can...

With nine month to go until Canadians head to polls to elect the next federal government, Ottawa unveiled a series of new measures aimed at further beefing up Canada's electoral system against foreign interference, and enhancing its ability to defend the democratic process from cyber threats and disinformation.

The new measures unveiled Wednesday in Ottawa by Minister of Democratic Institutions Karina Gould, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale and Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan will focus on four areas.

These include taking proactive measures to combat foreign interference, enhancing citizen preparedness, improving coordination between Canada’s security agencies and calling on social media platforms to take “actions to increase transparency, authenticity and integrity on their systems.”
A new panel and a task force
A woman holding a baby enters a polling station to vote in Calgary, Alberta, October 19, 2015. The federal government setting up a five-person panel of senior bureaucrats to sound the alarm when a serious attempt to meddle in the election by a foreign actor that could threaten the integrity of the electoral process has taken place. (Mark Blinch/REUTERS)

Ottawa is also setting up a five-person panel of senior bureaucrats to sound the alarm when a serious attempt to meddle in the election by a foreign actor that could threaten the integrity of the electoral process has taken place.

The panel will consist of the Clerk of the Privy Council, the federal national security and intelligence adviser, the deputy minister of justice, the deputy minister of public safety and the deputy minister of Global Affairs Canada (GAC).

The government is also setting up a new task force composed of members of Canada's security and intelligence agencies — the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Communications Security Establishment (CSE), along with GAC — to try to prevent clandestine forces from influencing the electoral process.

The Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections (SITE) Task Force, chaired by the CSE, Canada’s signal intelligence agency, will work to identify foreign threats to Canada's electoral process and help the government respond, Goodale said.

(click to listen to Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale's remarks)

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“Whether it’s hacking, intimidation, bribery or whatever, they have the tools and the skills to identify the interference and its source,” Goodale said.
Role for political parties, news and social media outlets
Political parties in Canada bear a particular responsibility for securing their own IT infrastructure against unlawful access by foreign and domestic actors, Goodale said.

To help them in that task, the federal government will provide security briefings to key members of national political parties with appropriate security clearance to warn them of any threats, Goodale said.

The news media also have a key role to play in safeguarding the integrity of Canada’s democratic process, he said.

“Never has journalism been under such pressure from those who would masquerade as legitimate but whose strings are pulled by foreign authorities as they use cyberspace to manipulate,” Goodale said.

Finally, social media giants such as Twitter and Facebook have a very important role to play in ensuring “that they are contributing to and not detracting from political discourse,” Goodale said.

“Individually and through the Five Eyes and the G7 we have challenged the social media operators to help us combat such evils as terrorist propaganda, the sexual exploitation of children and human trafficking,” Goodale said. “More and more insidious foreign interference to subvert democracy is being a...

National security investigators from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have arrested and charged a youth in Kingston, Ontario, with a terrorism-related offence, Canada’s national police force said Friday.

Police have laid two charges against the youth, whose identity cannot be revealed due to Canada’s Youth Criminal Justice Act because he is a minor.

The youth is accused of knowingly facilitating a terrorist activity and counselling another person to "deliver, place, discharge or detonate an explosive or other lethal device” in a public place “with the intent to cause death or serious bodily injury."

Police have also detained and questioned a 20-year-old man but have yet to lay charges against him.

CBC News identified the man as Hussam Eddin Alzahabi, a Syrian refugee whose family was sponsored to come to Canada from Kuwait in 2017.

(listen to the statement by Michael LeSage, a chief superintendent with the RCMP's "O" Division)

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During a press conference Friday, the RCMP said they received a "credible" tip from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in late December 2018 about a planned terrorist attack.

The investigation, which involved several local and federal law enforcement and security agencies, eventually led to the police raids at two homes in Kingston Thursday.
No specific target
Police officers carry evidence after raiding a house in Kingston, Ontario, on Thursday Jan. 24, 2019. (Lars Hagberg/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

"There was no specific target identified but there was an attack planned," RCMP Superintendent Peter Lambertucci told reporters.

Police found trace elements of homemade explosives at one of the residences and had to call in a bomb squad to detonate an explosive substance, Lambertucci said.

"I want to reassure the citizens of the greater Kingston, Ont., area and all Canadians that during the investigation, our primary focus was the safety and protection of the public," said Michael LeSage, a chief superintendent with the RCMP's "O" Division.

Police would not comment on the ideological motivations of the people apprehended or say if they had any ties to foreign elements.
Family dumbfounded
A home in shown in Kingston, Ont., on Friday, Jan. 25, 2019. The RCMP say they have charged a Kingston youth with terrorism. They have also arrested an adult man but have not charged him with anything at this point. Amin Alzahabi, the father of Hussam Eddin Alzahabi, 20, said Friday his son had been arrested but not charged. (Jim Bronskill/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Earlier Friday, Alzahabi’s father told CBC News he was astounded by the arrest of his 20-year-old son.

"They tell me they search about him about terrorists. I know my son, he didn't think about that. He like Canada. He like the safety in Canada. How could he think about that?" Amin Alzahabi told CBC News' Philip Ling in an interview from his home Friday morning.

"It's fake news about my son. I trust my son. I know he cannot do anything against any human, humanity.

"They inspected everything from my house. They didn't find anything. I think this is not good."
No reason to raise terror alert
This photo provided by Neil Aird, taken on Jan. 13, 2019 in Kingston, Ontario shows a police surveillance plane. A surveillance plane has been flying over downtown Kingston since early January, and word of the RCMP plane flying overhead might have prompted police to take action in the arrest. (Neil Aird via AP)

Public Security Minister Ralph Goodale said there is no reason to bump up Canada’s terrorism threat level, which has remained at “medium” since 2014.

“The Government of Canada constantly monitors all potential threats an...

Canada scored high in many categories in a recently released survey of 12 countries comparing attitudes towards attracting highly skilled immigrants.

Canada is in the first place when it comes to the education levels of its immigrant population. Nearly two-thirds of Canadian immigrants (65 per cent) have a college degree compared to only third in the U.S. (36 per cent), according to according to the new Pew Research Center report released this week.

As of 2015, highly skilled immigrants in Canada numbered 4.4 million, second only to the U.S. which had 14.7 million highly skilled immigrants but with an overall population that is ten times larger than that of Canada.

Canada is in the third place when it comes to attitudes towards encouraging the immigration of highly skilled people. Eight-in-ten Canadian adults (84 per cent) support encouraging highly skilled immigration to Canada, compared to 88 per cent in Sweden, 85 per cent in the UK and 78 per cent in the U.S.

Feds unveil pilot project to attract skilled immigrants to rural and northern Canada

Study co-author and senior researcher Phillip Connor said Canada’s success in attracting highly skilled immigrants can be traced back to the introduction of a largely points-based immigration system with the 1967 Immigration Act.

“For example in the 1970s the United States and Canada had about the same level of its immigrant population that was highly educated,” Connor said in a phone interview with Radio Canada International. “But come 2010 we see that being very different, about 63 per cent in 2010 are highly educated in Canada versus 47 per cent in the United States.”

(click to listen to the full interview with Phillip Connor)

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Canada’s opposition leader is calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to fire the country’s ambassador in China over comments he made regarding the case of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou to Canadian-Chinese media outlets on Tuesday.

Speaking with Canadian Chinese-language media in the Toronto suburb of Markham on Tuesday, John McCallum said Meng, whose arrest in Canada at the request of the United States has led to a bruising diplomatic showdown between Ottawa and Beijing, has a strong case to fight extradition.

The chief financial officer of the Chinese telecom giant, has "quite good arguments on her side," McCallum said.

"One, political involvement by comments from Donald Trump in her case. Two, there's an extraterritorial aspect to her case, and three, there's the issue of Iran sanctions which are involved in her case, and Canada does not sign on to these Iran sanctions,” McCallum said in his opening remarks at the press conference. “So I think she has some strong arguments that she can make before a judge."

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McCallum’s surprisingly candid remarks especially unusual since Canadian officials almost never comment on ongoing judicial cases for fear of appearing to undermine the jealously guarded judicial independence set off a firestorm in Ottawa.

"If I were Prime Minister, I would fire John McCallum," said Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer in an interview with CBC’s Power & Politics.
"If I were Prime Minister, I would fire John McCallum," says @AndrewScheer after @HonJohnMcCallum's comments that Huawei executive has 'quite good arguments on her side' #cdnpoli #scheer #MengWanzhou pic.twitter.com/O3YPyQBG4W

— Power & Politics (@PnPCBC) January 23, 2019

'A country of the rule of law'
When asked to comment on McCallum’s comments on Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sidestepped the question sticking to his earlier message that Canada is “a country of a rule of law.”

“We will make sure that the rule of law is properly and fully followed,” Trudeau told reporters during a press conference in La Loche, Saskatchewan. “That of course includes the opportunity for her to mount a strong defence. That is part of our justice system and we are going to apply that justice system in its integrity as all Canadians and indeed people around the world expect us to do as a country.”
Tit-for-tat actions
Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou has been released on bail and is living in one of her two mansions in Vancouver. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press/file)

Meng, who was arrested in Vancouver in December while changing planes, is wanted in the U.S. on charges of violating U.S. sanctions against Iran.

The 46-year-old daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei was released on bail by a Canadian court to await the results of extradition proceedings.

Meng’s case has drawn international attention and triggered a diplomatic row between Canada and China.

Days after Meng’s arrest, Chinese authorities detained Michael Kovrig, who took a leave of absence from Global Affairs Canada to work as the North East Asia analyst for the non-governmental think tank International Crisis Group, and Michael Spavor, a China-based Canadian entrepreneur.

Chinese officials say Canadians Michael Kovrig, right, and Michael Spavor were arrested for undermining Chinese 'national security,' while Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was arrested 'illegally' in Canada upon U.S. request (Associated Press/ International Crisis Group/Canadian Press)

Then on Jan. 14, a Chinese court sentenced a Canadian man to death in a sudden retrial of a drug-smuggling case. Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, 36, had appealed his original 15-year sentence.

Schellenberg death sentence was seen by many in Canada...

Eat vegetables and fruits, whole grain foods and protein foods often, cut out processed meats and foods that contain mostly saturated fat and plenty of sugar. Drink plenty of water. Cook at home and enjoy your meals with family and friends.

That in a nutshell is the federal government’s advice to Canadians for developing healthy eating patterns and maintaining their health.

Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor unveiled Canada's new food guide on Tuesday at a popular market in Montreal.

“It aims to change the way Canadians see food and it begins with a simple idea that eating should be a pleasure,” Petitpas Taylor said. “Canada’s Food Guide reflects an important concept: healthy eating is more than just the food that you eat.”

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The guide, which was first introduced during WWII to help the country cope with wartime rations, gives Canadians the tools they need to eat healthy in the age of smartphones and social media, Petitpas Taylor said.

“It puts more focus on what, when and how we eat and less on food groups and servings,” Petitpas Taylor said.
Practical approach to nutrition
(Source: Health Canada)

Heart & Stroke Foundation applauded Health Canada for its work on the revised Food Guide. The new guide takes a practical approach to nutrition that will make healthy eating easier, simpler and even more fun, with an emphasis on consuming whole foods, cooking at home, and enjoying meals together, said Yves Savoie, CEO of Heart & Stroke.

“With our deep commitment to the health of Canadians and our understanding of the challenges faced by people who want to live healthier lives, we were proud to collaborate with Health Canada on the direction and content of the new food guide,” Savoie said. “It was designed to make preparing and sharing healthy food a pleasure, while improving our health.”
No consumption level recommendations
Bill Jeffery, editor of Food for Life Report, said while the new food guide is a step in the right direction, it “seems unwisely imprecise and too fearful of industry conflict in dropping nearly all quantitative recommendations for various foods.”

“Failing to specify optimum consumption levels for things like whole grains (100-150 grams per day) and nuts (20 grams per day)—which would prevent thousands of deaths each—doesn’t seem like a good way to steer Canadians to get the right amounts,” Jeffery said in statement.

“By contrast, food labels have long set precise but too high daily targets for sugar (100 gram of total sugar instead of 25-50 grams of free sugars) and sodium (2,300 mg instead of 1,500 mg), even higher than Health Canada itself recommends.”
'A rigorous scientific process'
Eating in accordance with the new Food Guide can help Canadians meet nutrient needs, reduce their risk of developing chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and certain types of cancer, and promote overall health and well-being, Health Canada officials said.

Health Canada says it followed a rigorous scientific process to review the best available evidence.

It is the first food guide in decades that has been developed without formal consultations or input from the various agricultural and food industry groups, officials said.

“The safeguards against industry interference did not prevent them from lobbying the colleagues and bosses of the Food Guide scientists,” Jeffery said.

“For instance, according to the Lobbyist Registry, in 2018 alone, the dairy, grocery, cattle, edible oil, chicken, soft drink, meat, and soy industries met with the Minister or her staff while she supervised plans for a national food strategy, front-of-pack nutrition labelling, and the new Food Guide.”
Focus on plant-based foods

With the world increasingly in turmoil – politically, economically and environmentally – Canada needs to remain an oasis of hope, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Sunday at the opening of a two-day caucus retreat for Liberal MPs on Parliament Hill.

“People across the country — and really, around the world — are anxious about what they see happening on the news, and in their communities,” Trudeau told his Liberal troops.

Advances in automation and artificial intelligence are threatening once stable jobs, he said.

Climate change is an increasingly dire threat, with floods and fires “destroying whole towns at a blistering pace.”

“The world's two largest economies are at odds, and our founding European nations are going through unprecedented political turmoil,” Trudeau said, referring to the ongoing trade war between China and the U.S., and political crisis in Britain over Brexit, as well as “yellow vest” protests in France.

“But we have to stay focused. We owe it to Canadians.”

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He took the opportunity to tout the Liberal record, and slam the Conservatives at the same time.

“Our unemployment rate is the lowest it’s been in over 40 years, giving people the chance to get out of poverty and start building a new life for themselves,” Trudeau said to applause from party faithful.

More than 800,000 jobs have been created since the Liberals came to power in October of 2015, he said.

“Make no mistake: The Conservatives pretend to be 'for the people,' but that couldn't be further from the truth. This is still very much the party of Stephen Harper,” Trudeau said, referring to his Conservative predecessor.

Trudeau used Sunday's speech to sharpen what will be his core campaign message when Canadians are expected to go the polls in October in the next federal election.

The Liberals will run on the “hopeful vision of Canada once again,” he said.

Trudeau took several partisan shots at the Conservatives, saying they have no plan for tackling climate change and the economy while citing Liberal gains in lowering taxes and unemployment.

Throughout his eight-minute speech Trudeau never mentioned the left-of-centre New Democratic Party, hinting that the Liberals are gearing up for a two-way race with Andrew Scheer’s Conservatives and do not consider the NDP and its new leader Jagmeet Singh to be a serious threat.

With files from The Canadian Press

A Quebec woman who went missing in Burkina Faso in mid-December is in all likelihood still alive, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday at the conclusion of a cabinet retreat in Sherbrooke, Quebec.

Edith Blais, 34, a native of Sherbrooke, and her Italian friend Luca Tacchetto, 30, have been missing since Dec. 15 and are believed to have been kidnapped.

The pair who were travelling in a car were last heard from in the western city of Bobo-Dioulasso and never made it to capital Ouagadougou.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau, who is also the federal member of parliament for Sherbrooke, met with Blais’ mother and sister on the sidelines of the cabinet retreat on Friday morning.

“First of all our hearts go out to the family of Edith Blais and to the entire community. This is something that has people around here and indeed across the country preoccupied,” Trudeau said.

“The government of Canada takes extremely seriously our responsibility to keep Canadians safe wherever they are and our engagement in the region diplomatically with our partners, our continued efforts to find out more is all part of what we have reassured the family we are continuing to do.”

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responds to questions during a news conference following a cabinet retreat in Sherbrooke, Que. on Friday, January 18, 2019. (Paul Chiasson/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Canadian government officials in Burkina Faso are in contact with local authorities to gather additional information, Global Affairs Canada spokesperson Brendan Sutton said in an email.

He would not comment on reports that Blais and Tacchetto have been kidnapped.

“We will not comment on or release any information which may compromise ongoing efforts or endanger the safety of Canadians,” Sutton said.
A Canadian geologist killed
Kirk Woodman is seen in this undated handout photo from his Linkedin page. Canadian officials are condemning the killers of a Canadian mining company executive whose bullet-riddled body has been found in Burkina Faso. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Linkedin)

Trudeau’s comments came two days after a Canadian man reportedly abducted by jihadists in northern Burkina Faso was found dead.

Kirk Woodman was kidnapped by a jihadist group that raided a mining operation of Vancouver-based Progress Mineral Mining Company near the country’s restive border with Niger and Mali on Tuesday night, according to Burkinabe security officials.

Canada ‘appalled’ by death of Canadian kidnapped in Burkina Faso

His bullet-riddled body was discovered Wednesday by locals in Oudalan province about 100 kilometres from the site of the abduction closer to the Mali border, Radio-Canada reported.

HMCS Ville de Québec is finally heading home after having spent nearly six months at sea in support of NATO operations in the Mediterranean and Northern Atlantic.

The Canadian frigate deployed from its home port of Halifax, Nova Scotia on July 18, 2018 as Canada’s naval contingent to Operation REASSURANCE, said the ship’s captain Commander Scott Robinson in an interview from the mid-Atlantic.

(click to listen to the full interview with Commander Scott Robinson)

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The Halifax-class frigate with Canada’s new CH-148 Cyclone helicopter on board joined Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 (SNMG2) in the Mediterranean Sea.

In fact this was the first deployment for the CH-148 Cyclone helicopter, which officially replaced Canada’s ageing CH-124 Sea King helicopters in 2018, said Maj. Erik Weigelin, air officer at HMCS Ville de Québec.

(click to listen to the full interview with Maj. Erik Weigelin)

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Members of Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) VILLE DE QUEBEC’s deck department receive Ship Without Air Detachment (SWOAD) training from the Helicopter Air Detachment while sailing in the Mediterranean Sea during Operation REASSURANCE on January 4, 2018.(Master Cpl. Andre Maillet, MARPAC Imaging Services)

During the 189-day deployment, HMCS Ville de Québec conducted patrols across the Western, Central and Eastern Mediterranean.

The frigate also joined 63 other NATO and allied warships for Exercise TRIDENT JUNCTURE 18 in the North and Norwegian Seas in what was the largest NATO exercise since the end of Cold War, Robinson said.

NATO's Arctic dilemma: Two visions of the Arctic collide as NATO and Russia flex muscles

“Actually we had the privilege of being the force antisubmarine warfare commander,” Robinson said. “We looked after all that aspect of that area of warfare for countering ‘enemy’ submarines, which was quite a big responsibility.”
Showcasing navy's prowess
Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) VILLE DE QUEBEC’s CH-148 Cyclone helicopter, Avalanche, fires flares while flying over the Mediterranean Sea during Operation REASSURANCE on December 27, 2018.(Master Cpl. Andre Maillet/MARPAC Imaging Services)

HMCS Ville de Québec’s voyage showcases a very successful procurement development for the modernization of the Royal Canadian Navy and should be celebrated, said Canadian defence expert Rob Huebert.

“Ville de Québec was part of the midlife modernization program that came under budget and was actually ahead of time,” Huebert said.

The deployment of HMCS Ville de Québec to participate in Trident Juncture also showed that the Canadian government is once again recommitting to these kinds of exercises in the North Atlantic, Huebert said.

“These NATO exercises quite frankly are designed to respond to an increasingly aggressive Russia,” Hueber said.
'A great opportunity'
Over the course of the deployment, HMCS Ville de Québec conducted operational ports of call in 12 countries, Robinson said.

“It’s a great opportunity for the crew to see a part of the world that they would not have probably seen on their own,” Robinson said.

In Tunisia, the crew got to see ancient Carthage, in Algeria, they got to visit Roman ruins near the capital Algiers, and in Egypt, they got a chance to go to Giza to visit the pyramids, Robinson said.

And just before Christmas, when the frigate made a stop in Haifa, Israel, most of the crew got a chance to visit Jerusalem, he said.

But now the crew is now anxiously awaiting their return home to see families and get some rest before the next deployment, Robinson said.

Weather permitting HMCS Ville de Québec is expected to ret...

Saudi teen Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun who was granted asylum in Canada after fleeing from her allegedly abusive family pledged on Tuesday to fight for the freedom of other less fortunate women in a public statement to media in Toronto.

“Today and for years to come I will work in support of freedom for women around the world, the same freedom I experienced on the first day I arrived in Canada,” said the 18-year-old whose widely publicised battle to escape her family garnered international attention.

Speaking in Arabic at a press conference at a Toronto immigrant and refugee settlement agency, al-Qunun, who now prefers to use Mohammed as her last name after her family disowned her, thanked Canada, Thailand and the UN refugee agency and thousands of well-wishers around the world.

(click to listen to Rahaf Mohammed's full statement read in English by Saba Abbas from COSTI Immigrant Services)

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A lucky break
“I’m one of the lucky ones,” Mohammed said. “I know that there are unlucky women who disappeared after trying to escape or who could not do anything to change their reality.”

Saudi teenager Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, centre, stands with Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland, right, and Saba Abbas from COSTI Immigrant Services, as she arrives at Toronto Pearson International Airport, on Saturday, January 12, 2019. (Chris Young/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Mohammed won global attention last week when she fled her family while visiting Kuwait and flew to Bangkok, Thailand. She barricaded herself in an airport hotel room and launched a Twitter campaign outlining allegations of abuse against her relatives -- accusations her family members have denied.

She landed in Toronto after the Canadian government said it had agreed to resettle her at the request of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. She was personally greeted by Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, who appeared with her arm around the teen.

Granting Saudi teen asylum fits Canadian policy

“As you know, in Saudi Arabia this is the case for all Saudi women except for those who are fortunate enough to have understanding parents,” Mohammed said.

Saudi women can’t be independent and they need the approval of their male guardians for everything, Mohammed said.

Any woman who thinks of escaping or escapes would be at risk of persecution, she added.

“I want to be independent, [I want to] travel, make my own decisions on education, career or who and when I should marry,” Mohammed said. “I had no say in any of this. Today, I can proudly say that I’m capable of making all of those decisions.”
A plea for privacy
Saudi woman Rahaf Mohammed makes her way through a crowd of media after giving a public statement at the COSTI Corvetti Education Centre in Toronto, Tuesday, January 15, 2019. (Tijana Martin/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Mohammed said she is very grateful for all the offers of support for housing and friendship.

“Thank you to everyone for reaching out and making me feel welcome in my new home,” Mohammed said.

But she also asked the public and the media to respect her privacy as she settles into her new life.

“I would like to start living a normal private life just like any other young woman living in Canada,” Mohammed said. “This starts with me getting help in my settlement process and of course learning English.”
Round-the-clock security
Mario Calla, executive director at COSTI Immigrant Services in Toronto, which has taken charge of Mohammed’s case and organized the press conference, said they will help the young woman to find housing and sign up for English language classes.

Mohammed has reported receiving several death threats on social m...

Millions of cubic metres of chemical laden brine produced daily by thousands of desalination plants worldwide threaten marine environments and ecosystems, according to a new UN study conducted in Canada.

Globally desalination plants discharge about 142 million litres of hypersaline brine every day, producing in one year enough of the sludgy by-product of our thirst for fresh water to cover the entire state of Florida under one foot (30.5cm) of brine, says Prof Manzoor Qadir the Canadian-based Institute for Water, Environment and Health, part of UN University system.

And the problem is expected to grow as the number of desalination plants around the world increases, Qadir, the principal author of the study, said in an interview with Radio Canada International.

“We know there will be more and more desalination plants, those will be emerging because of the increasing levels of water scarcity in different parts of the world,” Qadir said.

(click to listen to the full interview with Prof Manzoor Qadir)

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Brine water flows into the Mediterranean Sea after passing through a desalination plant in the coastal city of Hadera May 16, 2010. (Nir Elias/REUTERS)

The study, which was conducted in conjunction with Wageningen University in the The Netherlands and the Gwangju Institute of Science and technology in South Korea, found that nearly 55 per cent of global brine is produced in four countries.

Saudi Arabia accounts for 22 per cent, United Arab Emirates 20.2 per cent, Kuwait for 6.6 per cent and Qatar for 5.8 per cent.

The brine greatly increases the salinity of seawater in the areas where it’s discharged, polluting oceans with toxic chemicals used in the desalination process, Qadir said.

It also depletes oxygen levels in receiving waters, the study showed.

However, the study also shows that this brine could be used to create environmentally friendly and sustainable economic opportunities to farm salt-tolerant fish species, to generate electricity, and by mining it for salts and minerals, including magnesium, gypsum, sodium chloride, calcium, potassium, chlorine, bromine and lithium.

“For example, studies have shown that the fish yield by using that brine is further increased rather than being negatively affected,”Qadir said. “But these are the studies, which have been done on a pilot scale, the key issue would be if we translate those studies on a larger scale.”

Canadian diplomats in China visited for the second time on Thursday one of their former colleagues detained by Chinese security services following the arrest in Canada of a top Chinese telecom executive last month, Ottawa announced.

"Today, Canadian consular officials in China visited with Michael Kovrig," said Global Affairs Canada spokesperson Guillaume Bérubé in a statement.

Canadian consular officials continue to provide consular services to him and his family, and will continue to seek further access to Kovrig, he said.

No further information can be disclosed due to Canada's privacy laws, Bérubé added.

Kovrig, who took a leave of absence from Global Affairs Canada to work as the North East Asia analyst for the non-governmental think tank International Crisis Group, and Michael Spavor, a China-based Canadian entrepreneur, were detained separately by Chinese authorities on Dec. 10.
Payback for Huawei executive's arrest
Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, right, is escorted by a member of her private security detail while arriving at a parole office, in Vancouver, on December 12. (Darryl Dyck/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Their arrest came days after Canadian officials arrested Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of telecom giant Huawei, at the request of U.S. authorities.

Meng, who is also the daughter of company founder Ren Zhengfei, could face extradition to the United States over allegations she was involved in violating sanctions on Iran.

She was released on bail by a Canadian court to await the results of extradition hearings. U.S. authorities have until Jan. 30 to file a formal extradition request, said Canadian justice officials.

Meng's next court appearance is February 6.

Chinese officials said Kovrig and Spavor are being investigated for "endangering national security."

"The Canadian government remains deeply concerned by the arbitrary detention by Chinese authorities of these two Canadians since last month and continues to call for their immediate release," Bérubé said.

The news of the second consular visit with Kovrig came two days after Chinese authorities granted Canadian diplomats a similar visit with Spavor.

“Canadian consular officials continue to provide consular services to Michael Spavor and his family and will continue to seek further access to Mr. Spavor,” Bérubé said.
A welcome sign
Chinese officials say Canadians Michael Kovrig, right, and Michael Spavor were arrested for undermining Chinese 'national security,' while Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was arrested 'illegally' in Canada upon U.S. request (Associated Press/ International Crisis Group/Canadian Press)

Guy Saint-Jacques, Canada's former ambassador in China and Kovrig’s former boss, said the fact that Canadian officials were allowed to see both detained Canadians within three weeks from their first consular visit was a good sign that showed that Ottawa’s approach of mobilizing allies to put pressure on Beijing was working.

Canada has received support from governments including Australia, the European Union, France, Germany, Britain and the United States, and, most recently, the Netherlands, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia in its diplomatic row with Beijing.

"As far as I know, this is the first time where we see such a show of support by Western countries," Saint-Jacques said. "I think it’s the right strategy because it brings more international attention to the case of Mr Kovrig and Spavor, and also, hopefully, it will help to reduce the temptation on the part of China to detain other people."

(click to listen to the full interview with Guy Saint-Jacques)

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'Western egotism and white supremacy'

The federal government has adopted tough new regulations for the use of drones in Canadian airspace, banning drone flights near airports and emergency scenes, as well as operating them while drunk or high on drugs.

The new regulations, which come into effect as of June 1, will also require drone operators to register their drones and pass an online test to receive certification to continue operating them, said Transport Minister Marc Garneau as he unveiled the new rules in Montreal Wednesday.

These new changes apply to drones that weigh between 250 grams and 25 kilograms and are operated within the pilot’s line of sight, regardless of whether the drones are being used for work, research or for fun, Garneau said.

“The government is resolved to improve the security of aviation and of the public,” Garneau told reporters in Montreal. “At the same time we are also resolved to encourage and support the possibilities of innovation and economic growth that drones represent.”

Federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau announces new rules to fly a drone in Canada during a news conference in Montreal on Wednesday, January 9, 2019. (Paul Chiasson/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

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The new rules require drone operators to:

register and mark the drone with its registration number
pass an online exam and get a pilot certificate for basic or advanced operations
be a minimum age of 14 for basic and 16 for advanced operations, unless supervised by a person having proper certificates
fly their drones no higher than 122 metres (400 feet) in the air
stay away from bystanders, at a minimum distance of 30 metres for basic operations
keep away from emergency operations and advertised events
avoid forest fires, outdoor concerts and parades
drones are prohibited within 5.6 kilometres (3 nautical miles) from airports and 1.9 kilometres (1 nautical mile) from heliports
they must keep far away from other aircraft
drone operators are expected to always respect the privacy of others while flying

“This is very serious,” Garneau said. “If you put an object in the air, in the airspace of this country, you are in fact piloting it and if you cause an accident that can have enormous repercussions.”

The new regulations come with steep fines of up $25,000 or even criminal prosecution for certain infractions that endanger safety of other people or aircraft.

It will cost $5 to register a drone, and the pilot exam for basic operations costs $10, while the test for advanced drone operations is $25.

Dozens of drumming and chanting protesters delayed on Tuesday a speech by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at a forum dedicated to relations between Canada’s Indigenous communities and the federal government.

Trudeau finally spoke at the Modern Treaty and Self-Governing First Nations Forum in Ottawa almost two hours late after hundreds of Indigenous protesters marched from Parliament Hill to the forum's venue at Ottawa's old City Hall and entered the building.

The protesters were angry about the intervention by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in a blockade in northern British Columbia to enforce a court injunction ordering the removal of people interfering with a natural gas pipeline project in and around the Morice River Bridge.

Pipeline protests continue: Gas pipeline in northern British Columbia

Members of the Gidimt'en clan of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation have set up a camp and a checkpoint southwest of Houston, B.C., on a forest-service road that leads to the Coastal GasLink construction site.

The company says it has signed agreements with all First Nations along the pipeline route, including the elected chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation, but the agreement is opposed by the hereditary chiefs of Wet’suwet’en.

The RCMP intervention resulted in 14 arrests, sparking protests in several Canadian cities in support of Wet’suwet’en protesters.

Protesters make their way through hallways after entering a building where the Prime Minister was scheduled to speak in Ottawa, Tuesday January 8, 2019. (Adrian Wyld/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Trudeau eventually addressed the convention after the event was moved to another location.

But he did not mention the protests in his seven-minute speech.

Trudeau reiterated that Ottawa’s relationship with Indigenous communities remains the most important relationship for his Liberal government.

But he acknowledged that a great deal of work remains to be done to fix it.

"I don't want to dwell on the past, but you know, and I know, that previous governments and institutions spent years ignoring your communities and your concerns," Trudeau said.

(listen to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's full speech)

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau takes part the Canada - Modern Treaty and Self-Governing First Nations Forum as he sits beside Legislative Chief Peter Hanson, left, and Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Carolyn Bennett in Ottawa on Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019. (Sean Kilpatrick/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

The Liberal government has finally moved the dial on that crucial relationship since coming to power in 2015, he said.

“Take for example the new legislation that we will introduce this year to protect and preserve Indigenous languages or our work with you to reform the child welfare system so the kids stay with their parents and with their communities,” Trudeau said.

Ottawa and self-governing First Nations have also made progress on a new fiscal policy, he said.

“This is just one example of our promise to do things differently and redefine our relationship , working nation-to-nation and upholding  our commitments under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,” Trudeau said.

The Liberal government has also pledged to change the way modern treaties with First Nations are negotiated, Trudeau said.

The government has eliminated loans as a way of funding Indigenous participation in the treaty negotiation process and is working on a way to deal with existing loans that have left many First Nations in debt, he said.

With files from CBC News and The Canadian Press

A pair of Canadian CF-18 Hornets had a close but polite encounter in October with a Russian Su-27 Flanker fighter jet in the international airspace off Romania’s Black Sea coast, according to the Canadian military.

Canada has dispatched five CF-18 Hornets and about 135 personnel mainly from 425 Tactical Fighter Squadron based in Bagotville, Quebec, to Constanta, Romania, to take part in NATO Enhanced Air Policing, a peacetime collective defence mission to safeguard NATO airspace.

Speaking to Radio Canada International from Constanta, Lt.-Col. Tim Woods, commander of the Canadian Air Task Force – Romania, said he happened to be on duty on Oct. 18, when Canadian Hornets were scrambled to intercept an aircraft that was fast approaching the Romanian air defence identification zone.

“Initially we didn’t know what it was,” Woods said. “We intercepted and identified it as a Flanker and proceeded to fly alongside it.”

The interaction with the Russian pilot was very professional, Woods said.

“I waved, he waved, he gave me a thumbs up, I gave him a thumbs up,” Woods said. “He took a picture of the CF-18 with a handheld camera and then and went on his way back to Crimea and we returned to Romania.”

(listen to the full interview with Lt.-Col. Tim Woods)

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Protecting NATO's southern flank
An infrared image from a camera mounted on a Canadian CF-18 Hornet shows a Russian Su-27 Flanker fighter flanked by the smaller CF-18 on Oct. 18, 2018. (DND)

This was the only full intercept of a Russian aircraft since the Canadian task force from Bagotville deployed in Romania in September, Woods said. And no Canadian aircraft have been intercepted by Russian fighters close to Crimea, he added.

The Canadian task force keeps a close watch on tensions between Russia and Ukraine around Crimea and in the Azov Sea, Woods said.

“One of the reasons that we are here in this area of the Black Sea is because of its proximity to Crimea,” Woods said.

“But our area of responsibility tends to be more on the west side of the Black Sea, so the interactions that are happening in the Sea of Azov, we haven’t been directly patrolling in that area, we’re more focused on activity near the Romanian airspace.”
Training with NATO allies
A Canadian CF-18 Hornet takes off from Mihail Kogalniceanu air base in Romania during Operation REASSURANCE on Sept. 7, 2018. (Cpl. Dominic Duchesne-Beaulieu/CAF)

The work that Canadian air crews are  doing in the skies over Romania and the Black Sea is very similar to what they do day in and day out as part of NORAD in Canada, Woods said.

“It’s a very similar role, in fact it’s a little more straightforward for us here because the area of responsibility is smaller but the amount of time that we have to get airborne is a little quicker with some of the tracks that pop up,” he said.

Aside from doing the air policing role, the other task that Canadian air crews are performing is integrating with other NATO countries and training together.

Canadians have been involved in helping the Romanian Air Force to transition from their old Soviet-built MiG-21 fighters to more modern U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets purchased from Portugal, Woods said.

But the Canadians are also learning from their Romanian counterparts, he said.

“Absolutely! They have a streamlined way of doing things sometimes, which I always appreciate,” Woods said. “Also, their controllers are very good at directing intercepts, that’s one of the pieces we really enjoyed working with them. They’re very precise and they have a very good procedural way of doing them, so we’re going to bring some of that back home.”
'Bravo Canada'

Ottawa would be hard-pressed to step in and help fill part of a funding shortage that has forced the United Nations to scale back its support programs to vulnerable families in Palestine, says Canada’s international development minister.

The World Food Programme (WFP) says it is facing a severe funding shortfall in Palestine that will affect some 193,000 of the poorest people in Gaza and the West Bank as of January 2019.

Faced with the funding shortfall, WFP is set to cut aid to 27,000 people in the West Bank while it reduces by 20 per cent monthly assistance to families in the most dire need, the agency said.

WFP says it needs $57 million US to maintain the current level of support to 360,000 people in 2019.

“WFP’s assistance has been a lifeline to tens of thousands of people who have exhausted all their meagre resources while trying to cope with unabated and mounting hardships,” WFP Representative and Country Director in Palestine Stephen Kearney said in a statement. “As the gap between rising food needs and available resources continues to widen, WFP has no alternative but to take these difficult decisions.”

Having visited the Palestinian territories last summer, Canada’s International Development Minister Marie Claude Bibeau said she is saddened to hear the news but noted there is little Canada can do to help.

“Learning that one of our main partners, WFP, will have to cut some basic services for this population is really heart-breaking,” Bibeau said in a year-end telephone interview from her home riding of Sherbrooke, Quebec. “We, obviously, will follow this situation, but Canada cannot always compensate with all these cuts, especially for this region.”

The UN food agency is already the number one recipient of Canada’s international assistance funds, Bibeau said.

(listen to the full interview with Marie-Claude Bibeau as she discusses her government's record in 2018 and plans for 2019 in the field of international development)

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Hope for peace in Yemen
Armed Yemeni men hold their weapons as they gather in the capital Sanaa to show their support to the Shiite Huthi movement against the Saudi-led intervention, on December 19, 2018. - A hard-won truce in the battleground Yemeni city of Hodeida will collapse if rebel violations persist and the United Nations does not intervene, the Saudi-led coalition said on December 19. (Mohammed Huwais/AFP/Getty Images)

On the situation in Yemen, where warring parties have agreed to a ceasefire around the strategically important Red Sea port of Hodeida, Bibeau said Canada is hoping for a peaceful solution to the four-year-old conflict that has brought the country to the brink of a catastrophic famine.

“We have millions of people starving because of a human decision,”Bibeau said. “They’re not starving because of a natural disaster, they’re starving because of the conflict.”

Canada will continue supporting its humanitarian partners in the field in Yemen in the new year, Bibeau said.

“This is one of the most terrible conflicts and humanitarian crises in the world right now,” Bibeau said.
Looking back at 2018
British Prime Minister Theresa May, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, France's President Emmanuel Macron and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wait for U.S. President Donald Trump to join them for a family photo at the G7 Summit in Charlevoix, Quebec, Canada, June 8, 2018. (Leah Millis/REUTERS)

Looking back at 2018, Bibeau singled out the $3.8 billion funding pledges for girls’ education made at the G7 Summit in Charlevoix, Quebec, as the single most important achievement of the Liberal government in terms of international development, especially in light of its feminist foreign an...

As the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) turns 61, it is preparing to confront new threats that include a new generation of long-range and more accurate Russian cruise missiles, hypersonic weapons, as well as drones, says NORAD deputy commander Lt.-Gen. Christopher Coates.

Over the last sixty years NORAD has undergone a few transformations and is on the cusp on another major remake, Coates said in a phone interview from the Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, CO.

“There is this notion that North America is susceptible to threats in new ways that it hasn’t been before,” said Coates who began his military career as a helicopter pilot in the Canadian Forces.

“That’s the big change in NORAD right now as we adjust to new threats to ensure that our homeland is well-protected into the future.”
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A new threat environment
Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi of the Russian General Staff attends a briefing in the Russian Defense Ministry in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017, backdropped by a screen showing a Russian navy's Admiral Essen frigate launching a cruise missile at the Islamic state in Syria. (Pavel Golovkin/AP Photo)

According to Canadian defence experts Andrea Charron and James Fergusson, NORAD is facing a new threat environment shaped by Russian behaviour in Crimea, Ukraine and Syria, a new Russian strategic doctrine, and a new generation of advanced Russian long-range cruise missiles.

“There is a new generation of cruise missiles being developed and fielded and used by Russia,” Coates said. “We’ve seen them used in Syria off of their aircraft and off maritime ship and submarine platforms as well.”

These cruise missiles have much longer range – thousands of kilometres versus hundreds of kilometres in the previous generation – and they are much more stealthy and precise, Coates said.

This combination of long range, stealth and precision presents a new threat to the North American continental defence, he added.

Canada and the United States are examining current and future technologies that might provide them with capabilities to address that threat, Coates said.
360 degrees defence
However, Russia’s deployment of two Tu-160 supersonic strategic bombers on a friendly visit to Venezuela last week also shows that Russia is signalling to the U.S. that it is capable of deploying some of its cruise missile carrying bombers much closer to southern underbelly of the North American continent.

“I can assure you NORAD was very aware of what Russia did with those bombers last week,” Coates said. “NORAD looks 360 degrees. We have had focus from the beginning on the North but that hasn’t stopped us in looking in all directions.”
Two Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers, an An-124 heavy-lift military transport aircraft and an IL-62 plane have carried out a flight from Russia to Venezuela🇻🇪. The flight was carried out in strict accordance with the international regulations on the use of airspace. @MoD_Russia🇷🇺 pic.twitter.com/A9McYRDmvP

— Russia in USA 🇷🇺 (@RusEmbUSA) December 10, 2018


In its 2017 Strong, Secure, Engaged defence policy white paper the Liberal government undertook to work closely with the U.S. to modernize NORAD, Coates said.

Majority of Canadian experts want Ottawa to join U.S. ballistic missile defence system

In the coming year, NORAD commanders in partnership with the U.S. Northern Command and the Canadian Joint Operations Command will continue their discussions on what the future of the defence of North America looks like and what will be NORAD’s role in it, he said.

“It’s an opportunity for us to refresh our understanding how we can best contribute to the defence of Canada and the United States,” Coates said.

Canadian passengers who face flight delays or are bumped from their seat due to overbooking will be eligible for compensation under the federal government’s new proposed regulations for air travel.

Transport Minister Marc Garneau unveiled the first draft of the proposed passenger bill of rights at an event at the Ottawa International Airport on Monday.

Under the proposed regulations, which will apply to all airlines operating in Canada, flying in and out of the country, airlines will be forced to pay up to $1,000 for flight delays and cancellations within their control that are not safety-related.

Airlines will have to book a passenger on a competitor’s flight if the delay exceeds nine hours.

Passengers bumped from flights due to overbooking or scheduled aircraft maintenance can apply for compensation of up to $2,400.

The new regulations also require that passengers be allowed to leave the airplane if a tarmac delay lasts for over three hours and there's no prospect of an imminent take-off.

“Our government’s goal is simple,” Garneau said. “It is to provide air travelers with fair and balanced passenger rights, the ones that they deserve.”

ListenEN_Interview_3-20181217-WIE30
Best in the world
These new draft regulations, fall under Transportation Modernization Act, which became law in May of 2018.

Garneau said Canadian officials studied regulations passed by the European Union and the United States to clarify airline passenger rights.

“We reviewed their regulations and we also undertook our own consultations, right here in Canada in order to act in the best possible interest of Canadians,” Garneau said.

“Canada’s approach when it comes to travelers’ rights is among the most ambitious and the best in the world.”

Once the draft regulations are officially published on Saturday, Canadians will have 60 days to comment and propose changes, Garneau said.

“We want to get this right, this is the last opportunity for people to make comments on it and we think this is the right thing to do to make sure that we get the best passenger rights that are possible for Canadians,” Garneau said.
Treating passengers with respect
Passengers wait in a lineup due to a problem with the baggage system in U.S. departures at Vancouver International Airport in Richmond, B.C., on Saturday April 1, 2017. Under the propose air passenger bill of rights, airlines will have to compensate their passengers for delays, overbooking and lost luggage. (Darryl Dyck/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

An airline ticket is a contract for service, which imposes obligations both on the airline and the traveler, he said.

“Except in circumstances which are beyond their control we are going to make sure that airlines treat their passengers with the respect they deserve and live up to their commitments,” Garneau said. “These regulations establish clear and consistent standards of treatment.”

The final consultation period ends on Feb. 20. After that the officials will look at the comments they have received and will craft the final regulations, which will then have to be approved by cabinet, Garneau said.

Once these regulations are officially published by the government, the airlines will have a few months to prepare to implement these regulations, he said.

Garneau said the government hopes to have the regulations ready by the summer of 2019.

"With the draft regulations announced today, Canadian air passengers are finally close to having the same kind of rights that U.S. and European travellers have had for many years," said Jeff Walker, CAA chief strategy officer. "Gone will be the days when passengers stood at a counter, faced with bad news, and had no idea what their rights were or what they cou...

Canadian officials confirmed Friday that they were granted consular access to former Canadian diplomat detained in China on Monday on suspicion of "endangering national security."

"Today, Canada was granted consular access to Michael Kovrig," a statement by Global Affairs Canada said.

Canada's ambassador to China, John McCallum, met the former Canadian diplomat in Beijing, the statement said.

Kovrig, who was on an unpaid leave of absence from Global Affairs Canada to work as an expert on North-East Asia for the International Crisis Group, was arrested by the Beijing Bureau of Chinese State Security on Monday. He is being investigated for "endangering national security," Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Thursday.

"Canadian consular officials continue to provide consular services to him and his family and will continue to seek further access to Mr Kovrig," the statement said. "Due to the provisions of the Privacy Act, no further information can be disclosed"

Canada continues to press for consular access to Michael Spavor, the second Canadian arrested on Monday, the statement added.

Spavor, who ran a non-profit organization that organized cultural and sports exchanges with Pyongyang, was arrested by the State Security Bureau of Dandong City, Liaoning Province, near the border with North Korea, Lu said.
'They ought to be returned'
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, second from left, and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis right, and their Canadian counterparts Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland, second from right, and Canadian Minister of Defense Harjit Sajjan, left, leave the Benjamin Franklin Room as they conclude their news conference following a U.S.-Canada 2+2 Ministerial at the State Department in Washington, Friday, Dec. 14, 2018. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Photo)

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday that the two Canadians are being unlawfully detained and should be returned to Canada.

Pompeo made the comments in Washington D.C. during a joint press conference with Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, U.S. Secretary of Defence James Mattis and Minister of Defence Harjit Sajjin.

"The unlawful detention of two Canadian citizens is unacceptable. They ought to be returned," Pompeo said.

"The United States has stood for that whether they are our citizens, or citizens of other countries. We ask all nations of the world to treat other citizens properly and the detention of these two Canadian citizens in China ought to end."

(listen to some of comments by Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo)

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'Welcome gesture'
Guy Saint-Jacques, Canada’s ambassador in China from 2012 and 2016 and Kovrig’s former boss, said the granting of consular access to Kovrig was a “welcome gesture” on the part of Chinese authorities. What remains to be seen is how often Canadian officials will be allowed to see Kovrig in the future.

Saint-Jacques said in the case of Kevin and Julia Garratt, Canadian missionaries detained in similar circumstances in 2014 and accused of espionage, Canadian officials were allowed to visit them once a month.

Given Kovrig’s status as an ex-diplomat, Canadian officials might be able to negotiate more frequent visits, perhaps, as often as once every three weeks, Saint-Jacques said.

“I think because of the nature of the case we will want to have regular access to Michael and check on his health, on his situation and I expect the government to continue to press to have this kind of regular access,” Saint-Jacques said.

Chinese delays in granting consular access to Spavor are probably related to the fact that in their eyes Kovrig is considered a much more ...

Chinese authorities had to take "compulsory measures" against two Canadian citizens suspected of "endangering national security," China's Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

China-based social entrepreneur Michael Spavor and former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig were taken into custody on Monday, ministry spokesperson Lu Kang told journalists in Beijing.

Spavor, who ran a non-profit organization that organized cultural and sports exchanges with Pyongyang, was arrested by the State Security Bureau of Dandong City, Liaoning Province, near the border with North Korea, Lu said.

Ottawa lost contact with another Canadian in China, says Freeland
A second Canadian arrested in China as Canada-China spat heats up

Kovrig, who was on an unpaid leave of absence from Global Affairs Canada to work as an expert on North-East Asia for the International Crisis Group, was arrested by the Beijing Bureau of Chinese State Security, Lu said.

“These cases are still under investigation,” Lu said. “The Beijing State Security Bureau and the Liaoning State Security Department have respectively informed the Canadian Embassy in China of these cases.”

The “legitimate rights and interests” of the two detained Canadians are guaranteed by Chinese law, Lu said.

But Lu would not say whether they’ve been given access to lawyers and consular assistance.
Ottawa is 'seized' by these cases
Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland speaks with the media during a news conference in Ottawa, Wednesday December 12, 2018. (Adrian Wyld/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Other than receiving faxed notifications of the arrests of these Canadians, the federal government has had no news from either Kovrig or Spavor, officials said Wednesday.

The Canadian government is “seized” by these cases and has raised them directly with Chinese authorities, Canadian officials said.

They are also providing consular assistance to the families of both detained Canadians, officials said.

News of their disappearance broke after a Vancouver court on Tuesday granted bail to Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Chinese telecom giant Huawei. She is awaiting the outcome of extradition proceedings to the U.S. on fraud charges linked to possible violations of U.S. sanctions on Iran.

Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, talks with a member of her private security detail after they went into the wrong building while arriving at a parole office, in Vancouver, on Wednesday December 12, 2018. (Darryl Dyck/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

“We ask the Canadian side to immediately correct its mistake and release Ms. Meng Wanzhou,” Lu said.

Freeland reiterated Wednesday that as “a rule-of-law country” Canada had no choice but to act on the U.S. request to arrest and extradite Meng, that her case in Canada’s eyes it’s a purely legal matter.

However, in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump torpedoed Canada’s insistence that the matter should not be politicized when he indicated that he was willing to intervene on Meng's behalf if it would serve national security interests or help get a better trade deal with China.

“Whether the Meng Wanzhou case is a legal matter or political matter, the Canadian government knows it better than anyone else,” Lu said Thursday.
Who is Michael Kovrig?
Canadian officials say they are deeply concerned by the reported arrest of former Canadian diplomat and North East Asia expert Michael Kovrig in China. (International Crisis Group)

Kovrig, who speaks fluent Mandarin, was a great foreign service officer and was promoted to the position of first secretary in the political section of the Canadian embassy in Beijing, said former Canadian ambassador in China Guy Saint-Jacques.

A second Canadian might have also been nabbed by Chinese authorities, Canadian officials said Wednesday as they confirmed that a Canadian diplomat on temporary leave to work for an international nongovernmental think-tank has been arrested in China.

Global Affairs Canada officials identified the missing man as Michael Spavor, who ran a non-profit organization that organized cultural and sports exchanges with North Korea.

Spavor came to international prominence in 2013 and 2014 by organizing NBA star Dennis Rodman's visits to North Korea.

"We are aware of a Canadian who got in touch with us because he was being asked questions by Chinese authorities,"Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said Wednesday.

"We have not been able to make contact with him since he let us know about this. We are working very hard to ascertain his whereabouts and we have also raised this case with the Chinese authorities. We are in touch with his family."

Canadian officials also confirmed Wednesday that Michael Kovrig who was on an unpaid leave of absence from Global Affairs Canada to work as an expert on North-East Asia for the International Crisis Group was arrested by the Beijing Bureau of Chinese State Security.

But other than receiving a fax from the Chinese Ministry of State Security notifying Canada of his arrest, the federal government has had no news from Korvig, officials said Wednesday.

Canadian officials don’t know where Kovrig is being held, what charges he faces and had no consular access to him, officials speaking on background said.
'We take this very personally'
The federal government is doing everything to help these Canadians, Freeland said.

“For me, for the prime minister really the issue that probably touches our hearts the most, the thing that keeps you up at night, that you wake up in the middle of the night worrying about is Canadian consular cases,” Freeland said. “It is agonizing when a Canadian is detained outside Canada, we take this very personally, and we work very hard for every Canadian in this kind of difficult situation.”

Canadian officials say they are deeply concerned by the reported arrest of former Canadian diplomat and North East Asia expert Michael Kovrig in China. (International Crisis Group)

In the case of Kovrig, who is still considered an employee of Global Affairs, Canadian officials have been in touch with Chinese authorities, Freeland said adding, that she spoke with the Chinese ambassador about it.

Freeland also said she has spoken to Kovrig’s family.

“It’s important for them to know we’re personally concerned, we are personally engaged,” Freeland said.

Karim Lebhour, a spokesperson for the International Crisis Group, said Kovrig was detained on Monday at 10pm Beijing time by Chinese security officials.

“Crisis Group has received no information about Michael directly since his detention and is concerned for his health and safety,” Lebhour said in an emailed statement. “We do not have confirmation of the exact substance of the charges against him but are working to gather as much information as possible.”

The ICG is working round the clock to ensure his well-being and secure his release, Lebhour said.

Citing Chinese authorities, the Beijing News newspaper reported Wednesday that Kovrig was being investigated for allegedly “engaging in activities that endanger China's national security.”

However, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told journalists in Beijing on Wednesday he had “nothing to offer” regarding Kovrig’s fate.

Lu said the ICG has not legally registered in mainland China and its activities violate the country’s new law governing nongovernmental organizations.

Canadian officials are “sparing no effort” to find out what has happened with a former Canadian diplomat and an expert on North East Asia for International Crisis Group, who was arrested in China, Canadian officials said Tuesday.

"Obviously, obviously we are aware of the situation of the Canadian detained in China," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in brief comments on his way to question period in the House of Commons.

"We have been in direct contact with the Chinese diplomats and representatives. We are engaged in a file which we take very seriously and we are of course providing consular assistance to the family."

Speaking to reporters in Ottawa, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said the federal government is “deeply concerned” by the arrest of Michael Kovrig.

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Guillaume Bérubé, a spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada, said the government is “seized with this case and will continue to speak with the Chinese government.”
Chinese retaliation?
Meng Wanzhou, Executive Board Director of the Chinese technology giant Huawei, attends a session of the VTB Capital Investment Forum "Russia Calling!" in Moscow, Russia October 2, 2014. (Alexander Bibik/REUTERS)

Kovrig’s arrest comes after Canadian authorities arrested on Dec. 1 a top executive of Chinese telecom giant Huawei at the request of U.S. authorities.

It was not clear whether the two cases were connected, but Kovrig’s arrest came after Chinese authorities warned Canada of “grave consequences” if Meng Wanzhou, Huawei's chief financial officer, is not released immediately.

Meng, 46, who is also deputy chair of Huawei’s board and the daughter of founder Ren Zhengfei, could face extradition to the U.S. over allegations she was involved in violating sanctions on Iran, with each charge carrying a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

Meng, who was arrested in Vancouver, is in court fighting to be released on bail while her extradition hearing winds down the Canadian court system.

‘We trust our courts,’ Trudeau tells China

Goodale declined to say whether the government believes Kovrig's arrest was a tit-for-tat retaliation by Beijing for Meng's arrest.

“We’re obviously worried about whenever a Canadian is put in a situation that puts them at some risk or jeopardy, where’s there’s no apparent or obvious cause or trigger for that,” he said.

“So, before we characterize it, we want to make sure we get all the facts. But at the same time we are sparing no effort to do everything we possibly can to look after his safety.”

In a later interview on CBC's current affairs TV show Power & Politics, Goodale admitted that Canadian officials don't know where Kovrig is being held and what is his condition.

The International Crisis Group said in a statement that it is aware of reports that Kovrig has been detained in China.

“We are doing everything possible to secure additional information on Michael's whereabouts as well as his prompt and safe release,” the international think-tank said in a statement.
Distinguished diplomatic career
Kovrig had previously worked as a Canadian diplomat in Beijing, Hong Kong and at the UN headquarters in New York before joining Crisis Group in February 2017 as senior adviser for North East Asia.

His research and analysis focused on foreign affairs and global security issues in North East Asia, particularly on China, Japan and the Korean peninsula, according to Crisis Group.

According to his Linkedin profile, Kovrig, who is fluent in Mandarin, held senior positions at the Canadian embassy in Beijing and the consulate in Hong Kong from 2014 to 2016 and “served as political lead on the successful visit of Prime Minster Trudeau to ...

Canada is a country of law and there will be no political interference by the federal government to secure the release of a highflying Chinese telecom executive arrested by Canadian officials upon the request of the U.S. authorities, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday.

“We live up to our international obligations and we trust our courts to do the right thing,” Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa.

Trudeau was responding to warnings by Beijing that Canada was going to face “grave consequences” if it didn’t release Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Chinese telecom giant Huawei, who was arrested in Vancouver on Dec. 1 while she was transiting from Hong Kong en route to Mexico.

(Listen to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and International Trade Minister Jim Carr respond to questions about Chinese pressure)

https://www.rcinet.ca/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/12/Trudeau-Carr-clips-Huawei_8221894_2018-12-10T18-20-27.451.mp3
China slams 'inhumane treatment'
Meng Wanzhou, Executive Board Director of the Chinese technology giant Huawei, attends a session of the VTB Capital Investment Forum "Russia Calling!" in Moscow, Russia October 2, 2014. (Alexander Bibik/REUTERS)

Meng, 46, who is also deputy chair of Huawei’s board and the daughter of founder Ren Zhengfei, could face extradition to the U.S. over allegations she was involved in violating sanctions on Iran, with each charge carrying a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

On Monday, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang slammed Ottawa's "inhumane treatment" of Meng in detention.

China earlier summoned both the Canadian and U.S. ambassadors in Beijing to discuss Meng's detention.

An editorial in The Global Times, a Chinese government-owned newspaper, said Meng was subjected to degrading and inhumane treatment by being handcuffed and shackled while being moved to a Vancouver hospital for a medical treatment.

“Treating her as a prisoner is not only degrading, but is also a violation of her basic human rights,” the editorial said.

“It does not serve Canada's national interest if it intends to fawn over the U.S. by treating Ms Meng unjustly.”

If Meng is refused bail and extradited to the U.S., Canada will get minimal gratitude from the U.S., but will face maximum opposition from China, the editorial warned.

“Chinese people will take the issue seriously, and will ask the Chinese government to impose severe sanctions on Canada.”

Canadian public interest will definitely be impaired if Sino-Canadian relations are put at a risk of major retrogression, it added.

Canada’s International Trade Minister Jim Carr said Canada’s independent legal system is doing what it’s supposed to.

“We have a sophisticated relationship with the Chinese that dates back decades and will continue,” Carr said.
Long court battle ahead
People wait to enter the B.C. Supreme Court bail hearing of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, who was held on an extradition warrant in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada December 7, 2018. (David Ryder/REUTERS)

Meng's bail hearing began on Friday, but as no decision was reached on whether she should be given bail, the court was adjourned until Monday.

The prosecution said the U.S. Justice Department has flagged her as a possible flight risk and asked the court to deny bail to Meng, citing the enormous financial resources at her disposal.

Meng’s lawyer has argued that given her high profile position in Huawei and in China, his client will never skip bail not to "lose face."

He has also argued that Meng, a former permanent resident of Canada, has strong connections to the country and will remain in Vancouver where she owns two multimillion houses along with her husband an...

As delegates from Yemen’s warring parties meet in Sweden for talks to find a solution to the conflict that has ravaged the country for nearly four years, international NGOs are sounding the alarm over a catastrophic famine facing almost a quarter of a million of Yemenis if the war continues for much longer.

According to a report released Thursday, 240,000 people are living in famine-like conditions in Yemen.

Over 70 per cent of the population – 20 million people – are living in emergency or crisis levels of food insecurity, with 9.8 million in need of immediate assistance.

“The situation that is happening in Yemen right now is catastrophic,” said Maxime Michel, head of humanitarian programs at CARE Canada. “We’re looking at a population of 30 million people where more than two-thirds of the population is in absolutely dire condition and millions of people are going hungry.”

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The areas experiencing catastrophic food insecurity are those affected the most by conflict and fighting, Michel said in a phone interview from Ottawa.

“The war in Yemen has been absolutely devastating to civilians, we hear it every day from our team,” Michel said. “There is a need for a peaceful solution to this crisis for people to stop suffering. It’s just really-really catastrophic what we’re hearing.”
'Every day they'r seeing horrific things'
A nurse looks as he weighs a malnourished girl at a malnutrition treatment center in Sanaa, Yemen October 7, 2018. (Khaled Abdullah/REUTERS)

CARE’s staff in Yemen, most of whom are locals, have been witnessing severe malnutrition, hunger and food insecurity for many months now, Michel said.

“The situation for our staff in Yemen has been absolutely devastating,” Michel said. “Every day they’re seeing horrific things, they’ve been affected by airstrikes or attacks, they’re helping people that are in some absolutely heartbreaking conditions… the issue is that it’s now getting worse for them as well, they’re also starting to struggle to feed their families.”

Many of them have been displaced from their homes by fighting and the general insecurity, she said.
Women and girls bear the brunt
Five-year-old Masar Mohammed Saleh is seen at a malnutrition treatment centre in Sanaa, Yemen November 22, 2018. (Mohamed al-Sayaghi/REUTERS)

However, it’s Yemen’s women and girls, who are bearing the brunt of food insecurity, often giving up meals so that men and boys can eat, Michel said.

Also, as more and more men are killed by the fighting, the country has also seen an increase in female-headed or child-headed households, she said.

Many women have told CARE staff how soaring food prices and insecurity mean they and their families often go days without eating, Michel said.

One woman told CARE field staff that situation is so bad every night she wishes the sun would not rise again, because she just can’t face her hungry children in the mourning without any food to feed them with, Michel said.

According to CARE, there are currently around 1.1 million pregnant or breast-feeding women and 1.8 million children who are acutely malnourished, including 400,000 children under five suffering from severe acute malnutrition.
$4-billion UN appeal
The World Food Programme (WFP) Executive director David Beasley attends a news conference on the food security in Yemen at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, December 4, 2018. (Denis Balibouse/REUTERS)

The release of the IPC report also coincides with the UN’s biggest ever single country appeal. UN agencies say they need a record $4 billion US to help the people of Yemen.

CARE is also calling for an additional $20 million US to be able to scale up its food assistance and other hum...

Premier Rachel Notley is ordering Alberta’s oil industry to cut production by 8.7 per cent, saying the measure is needed to end “the economic and fiscal insanity” of selling Albertan crude at steep discounts compared with the North American benchmark.

The glut of oil created by insufficient pipeline capacity to move Albertan oil to world markets threatens the economic wellbeing of the oil-rich province, Notley said in a televised speech on Sunday.

“Owing to decades of inaction by successive federal governments Albertans are unable to transport much of the oil that we produce to market through modern, well-regulated pipelines,” Notley said in her supper-hour address.

“As a result we must sell our oil at a discounted price. In the last few weeks, this price gap has reached historic highs because we’re producing considerably more product than there is transport capacity.”

It is creating a huge backlog and is forcing Alberta to sell its oil at “ridiculously low levels,” Notley said.

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While the rest of the world sells its oil at about $50 per barrel, Alberta fetches only $10, she said.

“We are essentially giving our oil away for free.”

Fire-sale prices have led to concerns the oilpatch will have to find savings elsewhere in the coming weeks and months by slashing capital spending or jobs.
Short term measure
Notley said the 8.7 per cent reduction begins in January, with the expectation that figure will gradually decrease until the cuts are scheduled to end on Dec. 31, 2019.

“This is a short term measure,” she said.

In the medium term, the province is buying as many as 80 locomotives and 7,000 rail tankers to move the province's excess oil to markets, with the first shipments expected in late 2019.

In the long term, the province is working on diversifying Alberta’s energy sector, attracting new investments to process more of the oil in the province instead of shipping only crude oil, Notley said.

The province is also working to resolve the pipeline bottlenecks that have created the current problem, she said.

The Trans-Mountain line to the B.C. coast is now in legal limbo despite being approved two years ago.

The Enbridge Line 3 project, shipping more oil from Alberta to the U.S. Midwest is expected to come online late next year.
Measures suggested by opposition
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLvrD8tiHIX1J3zaz8E8NUXyNU374RhXQW&time_continue=4&v=WBS_ivisHNw

The Opposition United Conservatives and the centrist Alberta Party had already called for the production cut. Notley thanked them both in her speech.

Opposition United Conservative Leader Jason Kenney said Notley made the right decision.

Alberta Party Leader Stephen Mandel said the government was warned in the spring that this crisis was coming, and should have acted sooner.

Industry feelings prior to the announcement had been mixed.

Cenovus Energy proposed the idea of a production cut last month.

However, Imperial and Husky said Friday they remain opposed to involuntary production cuts.

With files from The Canadian Press

Canada, the United States and Mexico signed a renewed North American free trade pact on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Buenos Aires Friday that once ratified by the legislatures in all three countries will replace the 24-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement.

President Donald Trump attempted to repair strained relations with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and brushed aside difficulties he may have in getting the deal through U.S. Congress, where opposition Democrats will control one of its two chambers.

The leaders of the three countries had agreed on a deal in principle to replace NAFTA after 14 months of sometimes acrimonious negotiations and arm-twisting on Sept. 30.

Trump had vowed to revamp NAFTA during his 2016 presidential election campaign. He threatened to tear it up and withdraw the U.S. completely at times during the negotiation, which would have left trade between the three neighbours in disarray.

President Donald Trump arrives for a signing ceremony of a new trade agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada, on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, Nov. 30, 2018. The USMCA, as Trump refers to it, must still be approved by lawmakers in all three countries. (Martin Mejia/AP Photo)

In a tweet after the signing, Trump said: "The terrible NAFTA will soon be gone. The USMCA will be fantastic for all!"

Trump has insisted calling the new deal the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA).

In his speech during the signing ceremony Trudeau called it the “new NAFTA.”

As is the custom, Canada will change the order of the countries in its legal version of the name, putting Canada first (CUSMA).

“The new North American Free Trade Agreement maintains stability for Canada’s entire economy, stability that’s essential for the millions of jobs in middle class families across the country that rely on strong, reliable trading relationships with our closest neighbours,” Trudeau said in a short speech during the brief and low-key signing ceremony.

(listen to Justin Trudeau's remarks in English during the signing ceremony)

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The new agreement lifts the risk of serious economic uncertainty that lingers throughout a trade renegotiation process, Trudeau added.

“There is much more work to do in lowering trade barriers and in fostering growth that benefits everyone,” Trudeau said. “But reaching a new free trade agreement with the United States and Mexico is a major for our economy.”

Trudeau also used the signing to remind Trump that Canada has no plans to abandon its fight to get the U.S. administration to drop its tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, slammed Trudeau's decision to participate in the signing ceremony while tariffs are still in place, saying it was "one more final humiliation."

"It's clear he capitulated. He signed concession after concession after concession," Scheer said. "The Americans are counting their victories in what they got from Canada and Trudeau is counting his victories in what he didn't have to give away."

With files from CBC News and Reuters

As world leaders gather in Buenos Aires for their annual summit, a group of nine international investors with nearly a trillion dollars in assets under management between them is urging the G20 countries to end fossil fuel subsidies by 2020.

In a signed joint statement, investors warn continued government support for fossil fuels increases the risk of creating stranded assets within the energy sector and can also decrease the competitiveness of key industries, including low-carbon businesses.
"Governments beginning to take stock of their commitment to Paris are falling at the first hurdle if they refuse to factor in fossil fuel subsidies for producers – including tax concessions and placing the burden of decommissioning the sector’s infrastructure on taxpayers," said in a statement Steve Waygood, chief responsible investment officer at Aviva Investors.
"As corporations are being asked to disclose the potential impact of climate risk on their balance sheets, we as investors are also asking governments to disclose the impact that fossil fuel subsidies have at country balance sheet level, providing us with useful information so that we can support economies as they make this important change."
The statement points to a new study published this week by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), Oil Change International (OCI), and Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (FARN).

The report, Stories from G20 Countries: Shifting public money out of fossil fuels, shows examples of some G20 countries, including Canada, that have made progress in reforming their policies to shift support away from fossil fuels and increase taxation of fossil fuels.

However, it also warns this shift must accelerate significantly if the G20 is to meet the Paris Agreement targets and the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

“But fossil fuel subsidy reform is also important because you want a level playing field,” said Philip Gass, senior policy analyst with the Geneva-based IISD, who is originally from Manitoba.

“If fossil fuels are getting subsidized, that means that it’s more difficult to increase renewable energy because renewable energy technology doesn’t have that same benefit.”

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Spend the savings on social programs, says think-tank
IISD also feels that a lot of the money that is spent in supporting fossil fuels could have better benefit for the public if it was spent in education or health care or other areas where the entire economy, the entire country benefits rather than focussing on subsidizing fossil fuels specifically, Gass said in a phone interview from Geneva.

Gass said one of the case studies presented in the report looks at Canada’s experience in phasing out subsidies for the fossil fuel industries.

Since 2011, Canada has either completely phased out or reformed seven policies that subsidised the production of oil, gas and coal, said Gass.

“We estimate over the past several years roughly $260 million worth of reform,” Gass said. “That’s very beneficial but there are still a number of subsidies still in place.”

The report is encouraging Canada to continue to tackle the subsidies that haven’t been addressed, Gass said.

For example, one of the subsidies that the federal government needs to address further is the so-called Canadian exploration expenses (CEEs), which used to reimburse fossil fuel companies 100 per cent of their exploration expenses.

This subsidy was gradually brought down to 30 per cent, but the IISD feels that it could be reduced even further, Gass said.

Another example for policy reform is emissions credits, companies receiving free credits for their greenhouse gas emissions,

Canada is pledging $10.5 million to a United Nations initiative to advance our understanding of oceans and preserve their health, and develop a sustainable “blue economy,” harnessing the potential of our oceans, seas, lakes and rivers, federal officials announced Wednesday.

Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Jonathan Wilkinson made the announcement in Nairobi, Kenya, at the conclusion of the Sustainable Blue Economy Conference, co-hosted by Canada, Kenya and Japan.

This first-ever global conference on the sustainable blue economy attracted more than 17,000 participants from over 150 countries.

According to the United Nations estimates, half of the world’s population lives within 60 kilometres of the sea and three quarters of all large cities are located along the coast.

In Canada, the oceans are a source of approximately 350,000 jobs and generate approximately $36 billion annually in GDP through fisheries and aquaculture, energy, shipping, tourism and recreation, Wilkinson said.

“Oceans are an important economic generator and are going to be an even more important economic generator in the future,” Wilkinson told Radio Canada International in a phone interview from Nairobi. “But there are also areas where we have some very significant environmental challenges.”

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Harnessing the power blue economy
FILE PHOTO: Hundreds of fishing boats sit idle in Aberdeen harbour as Hong Kong fishermen adhere to a temporary ban on fishing for two months, 01 June 2004. (Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images)

These challenges relate to the sustainability of fishing, maritime shipping, offshore oil and gas industries, oceans plastics and expanding tourism and recreational opportunities in the oceans, he said.

“The blue economy is trying to integrate the environment and the economy in a way where we can actually have conversations about how do we see the oceans and pursue the oceans as economic generators for all communities that border on the oceans, but do so in a manner that can be sustainable for us now and for future generations,” Wilkinson said.

To this end the federal government will contribute $9.5 million to advance activities of the UN Decade of Ocean Science, an initiative that will run from 2021-2030, led by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, Wilkinson said.

Canada is also pledging up to $1 million to the World Economic Forum’s Friends of Ocean Action and to support to the office of Peter Thomson, the United Nations Special Envoy for the Ocean.

“A healthy ocean is essential to life on Planet Earth. That health is under threat due to climate change, pollution and harmful fishing practices,” Thomson said in a statement. “I welcome Canada’s leadership in mobilizing action from business, civil society, communities, governments and policymakers to implement the solutions urgently needed to conserve and sustainably use the ocean's resources.”
Setting up a knowledge hub
Researchers from the Mauritanian Oceanography and Fisheries Research Institute (IMROP) sample seawater off the coast of Nouadhibou, the main port in Mauritania, April 14, 2018. Picture taken April 14, 2018. (Sylvain Cherkaoui/REUTERS)

The Canadian delegation, which also included Canada’s envoy to the United Nations Marc-André Blanchard, also heard from developing nations who signalled their need for help in fisheries management, Wilkinson said.

Canada has committed to setting up a knowledge hub where different states can learn from each other in terms of best practices with respect to fisheries management, he said.

“We also recognize that there is capacity building that has to be required and so we’ve made the offer that we’ll work towards exchanges of staff and information with various countries around th...

A global coalition of NGOs working to advance education of children in conflict zones says recent gains in expanding access to education that have allowed millions of Afghan boys and girls to enroll in school are at risk due to growing attacks on students, teachers, and schools.

The numbers of children, particularly girls, who are out of school in Afghanistan are once again rising, according to a report by the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack.

The report entitled Attacks on Education in Afghanistan was released Tuesday to coincide with the Geneva Ministerial Conference on Afghanistan, taking place on Nov. 27 and 28.

“Right now we’re looking at 3.7 million children out of school in Afghanistan, which is a level we haven’t seen since 2002,” said Annie Bodmer-Roy, head of Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns at Save the Children Canada.

Girls make up about 60 per cent of this number or about 2.2 million, Bodmer-Roy said.

“And this increases even more in insecure areas,” said Bodmer-Roy in a phone interview from Ottawa. “So really we’re looking at a country that in general has a lot of security issues but in particular there are insecure areas in places like Kandahar or Uruzgan, where up to 85 per cent of girls are missing out on education.”

ListenEN_Interview_3-20181127-WIE30The Afghan Ministry of Education and international agencies have identified social and cultural attitudes, child marriage, poverty, violence and bullying, lack of educational infrastructure, overcrowding, chronic teacher shortages, and insecurity, as some of the key factors preventing children from going to school, the report says.

But attacks on schools, students and teachers and the military use of schools is the biggest factor of all, Bodmer-Roy said.

Just in the first half of 2018 there have been more attacks on education than in the whole of 2017, she said.

“In fact it’s double what we saw in 2017,” Bodmer-Roy said. “And that just the attacks that we can verify, we think that in reality the number is much higher.”
Attacks increasingly target girls
Afghan school girls receive treatment at a hospital after being poisoned in Kabul August 28, 2010. Seven Afghan school girls were taken to hospital after a suspected gas poisoning attack on their school in the east of Kabul, said Education Ministry official Asif Nang. (Omar Sobhani/REUTERS)

While the attacks on schools in 2018 might have spiked because of the widespread use of schools as polling stations during the recent Afghan elections, there is a growing trend of targeting educational facilities in Afghanistan.

“Over the past six years, the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack has seen a growing proportion of attacks on education in Afghanistan that have targeted girls,” Bodmer-Roy said. “So attacking, for example, girls’ schools, or girls on their way to and from schools, attacking female teachers who are more likely to be educating girls, this is a very significant area of concern for us.”

In conflict or crisis areas worldwide girls are 2.5 times are more likely to be out of school than boys, she said.

“We know that when we educate girls, they are more likely to get a job, to contribute to their communities, they are more likely to put their children through school in the future, and they are more likely to be protected from things like sexual violence in a conflict,” Bodmer-Roy said. “Education in itself is important and it is a right but it is also very protective and it helps to keep children safe.”
Funding education for girls
British Prime Minister Theresa May, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, France's President Emmanuel Macron and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wait for U.S.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faces a tough sales job as he tries to rally world leaders gathering in Buenos Aires on Friday to support Canada’s priorities of advancing gender equality, fighting climate change, protecting oceans and investing in clean energy, says a Canadian expert.

Trudeau, accompanied by Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and Finance Minister Bill Morneau, will attend the summit of the Group of Twenty (G20) leaders in the Argentinian capital from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1, the Prime Minister’s Office announced Monday.

“No matter where we live, our fortunes are in some way tied together. So are the challenges we face,” Trudeau said in a statement. “I look forward to joining fellow G20 leaders in Buenos Aires to build on the progress made at G7 to fight climate change, advance gender equality, and strengthen the middle class and offer real help to people working hard to join it.”

Trudeau will have an even tougher job of selling Canada’s democratic values and respect for human rights to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who will be sitting across the table from him, said John Kirton, director of the G7 and G20 Research Groups at the University of Toronto.

“It’s going to be tough going for Trudeau to keep his priorities on track even if he’ll get good support from President Macron of France and the great G20 veteran Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany,” Kirton said in a phone interview from Buenos Aires.

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Climate change, trade wars, Yemen famine, may trump Argentinian priorities
Summit host Argentinian President Mauricio Macri would like to focus the summit on three priorities Argentina set about a year ago, Kirton said.

Macri’s first priority is creating financial instruments to promote private sector investment in infrastructure projects. Facing a financial crisis, Argentina is also pushing for measures aimed at generating jobs. And Macri’s third priority is food security, Kirton said.

However, the big challenge for President Macri is that none of his top three priorities are top of the mind for the rest of the world, Kirton said.

“The world is really focussed on climate change, the climate crisis in the wake of the recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), other folks have the trade war between Donald Trump and President Xi of China, and indeed Trump’s protectionist assaults on many other countries, including his G7 partners,” Kirton said.

“And then there is the starvation facing eight million people in Yemen, the meltdown in Venezuela, and over the past 24 hours, the eruption of a naval conflict between Russian and Ukraine over Crimea once again.”
Possible meeting with Trump
Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (R) meets with U.S. President Donald Trump during the G7 Summit in the Charlevoix town of La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada, June 8, 2018. Photo taken June 8, 2018. (Christinne Muschi/REUTERS)

Trudeau is also expected to have his first face-to-face meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump following their falling out at the G7 summit in Charlevoix in June and a rather awkward encounter in New York in September, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Kirton said it’s quite possible that Trudeau, Trump and outgoing Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto will officially sign the renegotiated U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) in Buenos Aires, putting some of the underlying tensions behind them.

“But it’s tough politics because these summits are very much about sending a pretty picture to the people back home and Trudeau might not want to appear to stand side by side with Donald Trump not knowing what mood the president is going to be in,” Kirton said.

The Liberal government says it is ready to spend billions to help Canadian companies compete with their U.S. counterparts.

In his fall fiscal update delivered Wednesday, Finance Minister Bill Morneau warned that while the Canadian economy continues to grow better than expected, if faces new challenges requiring the government to step up its support for Canadian businesses even at the price of going deeper into red with no timeline for returning to a balanced budget.

The fall economic statement delivers $17.6 billion in new spending over six years — about $16.5 billion of it in foregone revenue to boost Canadian business productivity.

“We could have ignored the concerns of business leaders, decided not to make the investments and the changes that are part of the fall economic statement, and we would have had a lower deficit as a result,” Morneau said.

"To do so would be neither a rational response nor a responsible one."

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Response to Trump tax cuts
The measures are a direct response to deep corporate tax cuts offered to U.S. businesses earlier this year by President Donald Trump, who slashed corporate tax rates from 35 per cent to 21 per cent.

Andrew Grantham, senior economist with CIBC Capital Markets, said the Liberal government had no choice but to respond to Trump’s moves.

“With Canadian business capital spending growth already lagging the U.S. by 20 per cent since 2009, recent tax reform stateside looking to incentivize further investments there, and the oil sector looking down the barrel of lower prices, something had to be done to try and boost future investments,” Grantham wrote in a research note to clients.

Brian DePratto, senior economist with TD Bank, said the government’s response to U.S. tax changes took the form of two major initiatives.

The first allows firms to write off 100 per cent of the cost of manufacturing equipment, clean energy equipment, and software, DePratto said.

The government also significantly raised the allowance for spending on computers.

The second part of the government initiative effectively tripled the speed at which businesses can write off capital costs not covered in the first change.
'Relatively small fiscal cost'
All these measures come with a price tag, DePratto said. Roughly $16 billion in net new spending is envisioned, with tax changes making up the bulk.

It is estimated that the changes announced by the Liberals will cost the federal treasury around $4.9 billion in 2019/20 and about $3.8 billion in the 2020/21 fiscal year.

“Temporary, targeted tax measures like those introduced today have the advantage of encouraging new investment at a relatively small fiscal cost, particularly when compared with more broad-based tax cuts,” DePratto wrote in a research note.

“While difficult to assess immediately, we expect these changes should be at least marginally positive for business investment in Canada going forward.”

NDP finance critic Peter Julian said the government’s mini-budget had nothing in it for regular Canadians, arguing the new competiveness incentive measures will allow corporations to write-off big purchases like “a corporate jet” or a “plush limousine.”

Conservative finance critic Pierre Poilievre condemned the Liberals for not showing any path back to a balanced budget.

“If the government had not blown all of the good fortune that landed on its lap in the early days, they would be able to provide tax relief to businesses and Canadians without borrowing to pay for it,” Poilievre said.

With files from CBC News and The Canadian Press

Environmental and Indigenous groups hailed Friday progress made by the world maritime body towards developing a ban on the use and carriage of the highly polluting heavy fuel oil in Arctic waters.

As the International Maritime Organization’s Marine Environment Protection Committee’s (MEPC 73) meeting concluded in London, several member states of the United Nations’ specialized agency supported a move to have a technical subcommittee of the IMO begin work on measures to mitigate risks of using and carrying heavy fuel oil in Arctic waters, including an eventual ban.

The move was supported by Austria, Bangladesh, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Poland, and the U.K.

At Canada’s insistence, MEPC73 also discussed methodology of assessing impacts of the potential ban on Indigenous and northern communities as well as industry before referring the matter to the Pollution Prevention and Response subcommittee (PPR6), for its next meeting in February 2019.
Loud calls for a ban
George Edwardson, board member for Inuit Circumpolar Council-Alaska and President of the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope (ICAS) hands the first of three binders holding over 104,000 signatures on an international petition calling for Carnival Corporation to end its use of heavy fuel oil in the Arctic and Subarctic to Tom Strang, Senior Vice President of Maritime Affairs for cruise industry giant. (Jiri Rezac/Stand.earth)

Delbert Pungowiyi, President of the Native Village of Savoonga, Alaska, said a ban must be in place as soon as possible.

“Our Arctic communities, wildlife and ocean need it, as they are already stressed by climate change and increased shipping in the region,” Pungowiyi said in a statement.  “The world depends on and benefits from a healthy Arctic Ocean.”

Greenland joins push to ban heavy fuel oil in the Arctic
International maritime body adopts Canadian proposal on heavy fuel oil in Arctic waters

George Edwardson, president of the Iñupiat community of the Arctic Slope and board member for Inuit Circumpolar Council – Alaska (ICC – Alaska), both the Alaska Federation of Natives and the Inuit Circumpolar Council, the international organization representing the Inuit of Russia, Alaska, Canada and Greenland, have adopted resolutions calling for phase out the use of heavy fuel oil in the Arctic.

“The international maritime community must do the responsible thing and listen to Arctic indigenous peoples who depend on a healthy Arctic marine environment,” Edwardson said.
Canada’s Inuit say they want to see impact assessment
Inuit hunters go out in their boat as the sun prepares to set in Iqaluit, Nunavut, Friday, August 21, 2009. (Jonathan Hayward/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Lisa Koperqualuk, vice president of International Affairs at the Inuit Circumpolar Council Canada (ICC Canada), said the issue of heavy fuel oil was addressed by the Utqiagvik Declaration adopted at the 13th General Assembly of the lnuit Circumpolar Council (lCC) in July of this year in Utqiagvik, Alaska.

One of the points of the declaration calls for a phase out of HFO in the Arctic in order to minimize impacts on marine animals and fish, to protect the environment and to prevent disrupting Inuit harvesting of marine wildlife, Koperqualuk said Thursday in phone interview from London.

(listen to the full interview with Lisa Koperqualuk)

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While the IMO has banned the use of heavy fuel oil in ships operating in the Antarctic waters, the situation in the Arctic is somewhat different, she said.

“This is proper and good for the protection of the environment in the Antarctic where there are no communities,” Koperqualuk said.

The federal government is giving a consortium led by U.S. defence giant Lockheed Martin the first crack at inking a contract to design Canada's $60-billion fleet of next generation warships, officials announced Friday.

Government officials say the group's proposed BAE Type 26 design beat out two rival submissions in what has been a long and extremely sensitive competition to design replacements for the navy's ageing frigate fleet.

“The Canadian Surface Combatant project is the largest, most complex procurement ever undertaken by the Government of Canada,” Public Services and Procurement Canada said in a press release. “These ships will form the backbone of our Royal Canadian Navy and will be Canada's major surface component of maritime combat power for decades to come.”
Long due diligence process
Still, Lockheed executives may not be popping the champagne just yet. Negotiators for both sides as well as Halifax-based Irving Shipbuilding, which will actually build the vessels, must now work out details — including the final cost — before an actual contract is awarded.

Lockheed Martin Canada Inc. must also go through the “due diligence process,” which includes:

negotiations with the company on intellectual property rights
an assessment of combat systems performance
an assessment of the company’s financial capability to deliver the project, together with the verification of various other administrative matters

The stakes will be high for both sides, with hundreds of millions of dollars in play as well as pressure to make up for lost time as numerous delays — including in the design competition — have pushed the schedule for construction.

“It is always difficult to determine if the BAE bid was the best bid,” said Rob Huebert, an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Calgary and a senior research fellow with the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies.

“But I think the thing that I’m most heartened is that we are moving forward and we’re moving forward in a framework that is continuing to utilise the Canadian ship building policy, so that we’re not going back and reinventing the wheel and delaying the process even more needlessly.”

(listen to the full interview with Rob Huebert as he explains what kind of capabilities these new warships will need to deal with emerging threats)

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Irving has warned that it could be forced to lay off hundreds of employees if work on the warships is not ready to start by the time it finishes building the navy's new Arctic patrol ships in 2021 or 2022.

Lockheed's victory is likely to be contentious as the federal government had originally said it wanted a "mature design," which was widely interpreted as meaning a vessel that has already been built and used by another navy.

But the Type 26 frigate, upon which Lockheed's proposal is based, is only now being built by the British government and has not been used on operations.
A warship for the future
The Canadian government is looking for a design that can replace the capabilities in a modern war fighting environment of its existing frigates and destroyers, Huebert said.

“The idea being of course is that for these new surface combatants you will have an anti-air capability to deal with both missile and aircraft threats, they will of course retain an anti-submarine capability and be able to do that in both a friendly environment but also high intensity war fighting environment,” Huebert said.

It’s very unlikely that these new warships will have any ice capability, Huebert said.

“You’d be able to dabble a little bit at the edges, very much like we do know with current frigates,

Thousands of Canadians lined up in queues across the country Wednesday to buy their first legal cannabis as at the stroke of midnight Canada became the first G7 country to legalize recreational use of marijuana and other derived products.

In downtown Montreal, hundreds of people lined up for two city blocks around one of the government-owned cannabis stores to get a chance to buy their first legal pot.

Corey Stone, 32, said he and a friend waited from 2:30 a.m. to be the first ones to buy legal pot in Montreal.

"It's a once in a lifetime experience," Stone said. "It's pretty liberating to kind of come and buy your legal recreational cannabis. It's just feels awesome."

The French-speaking province of Quebec has opted for a government-owned system of stores modelled after the provincial liquor board.

The immaculately stacked shelves behind the counter at the government-owned store on Ste-Catherine street were lined with some 110 cannabis products with names such as Tangerine Dream, Great White Shark and Banana Split.

Cannabis products are seen on the shelves at a new Societe Quebecoise du Cannabis (SQDC) store during a media preview, Tuesday, October 16, 2018 in Montreal. The legal sale of cannabis begins in Canada on Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2018. THE (Ryan Remiorz/CANADIAN PRESS)

The government-owned Societe quebecoise du cannabis (SQDC) hopes to eventually offer a total of about 180 products in the form of dried flower, ground cannabis, pre-rolled joints, oils, oral sprays, pills or gel caps.

"I found it very professional, the store was very well staffed, they were very well trained, the were very open to respond to any questions people had," Stone said.

Michael, a 35-year-old resident of Ottawa who didn't want to give his last name because he often travels to the U.S. where cannabis use is still illegal, said he had driven nearly 200 kilometres from the national capital to witness history.

People wait in line to purchase legal cannabis products outside a government cannabis store in Montreal, Wednesday, October 17, 2018. (Graham Hughes/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

While residents of Ontario can now order cannabis online, Canada's largest province will have no retail stores selling cannabis until April 2019.

"It's a historic day because a series of unjust laws are now gone," said Michael. "And I wanted to be able to say I was a part of this, that I was here the day the prohibition fell."

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Michael said while legalization of marijuana will have little impact on his life and his consumption of marijuana, the move is certainly good for the entire country.

“First, just morally, we’re no longer going to be criminalizing people that aren’t doing anything wrong,” Michael said. “I think it’s going to be good for revenue, there is going to be a lot of tax coming into the government from this. I think it’s going to be good for our justice system, we’re not going to be bogged down, trying people that just want to smoke a joint.”

He dismissed concerns expressed by the critics of the legalization that it sends the wrong message to the youth.

“Just legalizing something is not an endorsement,” Michael said. “It’s just admitting that people are adults and are able to make their own decisions.”

The Canadian Medical Association Journal blasted Monday the plan by the Liberal government to legalize cannabis in Canada as “national, uncontrolled experiment” that pits the profits of cannabis producers and government tax revenues against the health of Canadians.

As of midnight on Oct. 17, Canada will become only the second country in the world after Uruguay to legalize recreational use of cannabis across the country.

Investment in cannabis firms has risen substantially over the past year in anticipation of legalization, with new producers popping up across the country, the CMAJ says.

“Their goal is profit, and profit comes from sales — sales of a drug that, according to Health Canada, will cause a problem in nearly one in three adult users and an addiction in close to one in 10, with higher risks in youth,” says the editorial penned by Diane Kelsall, the CMAJ's editor-in-chief.
Long-term effects of cannabis use not well-understood
In an interview with CBC News, Kelsall said many Canadians simply don’t understand the short- and long-term effects of cannabis use.

“The government by legalizing marijuana has sent a message to Canadians that its use is acceptable,” Kelsall told CBC’s Andrew Nichols. “And as a physician and as a parent I am concerned that the youth of Canada are going to think that this is normal. They are not aware that it could dramatically affect their lives in years to come.”

(listen to CMAJ editor-in-chief Diane Kelsall explain the medical community’s concerns about cannabis legalization to Andrew Nichols of CBC News)

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While short-term effects of cannabis use are fairly well-known, doctors are concerned about longer-term effects, Kelsall said.

The federal legislation sets the minimum age to buy recreational marijuana at 18. Kelsall calls that too young given evidence suggesting that the human brain doesn't mature until about age 25.

“We know that the younger you start using marijuana the more you put yourself at risk of future health effects,” she said. “We know about the mental health problems: if you start when you’re young, you’re at higher risk of psychotic disorders.”

Children who start using marijuana early are less likely to finish school, to hold a job or develop healthy long-term relationships, Kelsall said.

“We know that there are problems with depression, with anxiety, those are some of the ones that we know about,” Kelsall said. “We know it will have effects on the lungs in the future, we know that it’s linked to testicular cancer, we know that it’s linked to changes in the brain on MRI, we know that it’s linked to changes in the chemicals in the brain.”
Commitment to review legislation
Recreational use of dried cannabis and oils will become legal in Canada on Oct. 17, 2018. The Canadian Medical Association Journal is calling on the federal government to review the legislation in a year. (iStock)

Kelsall called on the federal government to take responsibility for the legislation by providing adequate funding for robust monitoring of cannabis use among all segments of society, especially among youth and other populations at particular risk, such as pregnant women.

“We don’t want to find out like we did with tobacco decades down the line that we made a mistake and it actually causes even more adverse effects than we suspect it does,” Kelsall told CBC News.

Research done in the 1980s is outdated, Kelsall said.

“The levels of THC in today’s cannabis are not the ones from the research that was done in the 80s,” Kelsall said. “We know that, for example, our idea of dependence in adults is one in 10 and youth, who start using, about one in six. But that’s based on 80s stats.”

Levels of THC,

Canada has no plans to cancel its multibillion contract to supply Saudi Arabia with advanced armoured vehicles despite ongoing concerns about the kingdom’s human rights record and a global outrage over the disappearance and possible murder of a prominent Saudi journalist, says Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland.

Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and a prominent critic of the kingdom’s mercurial crown prince, walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on Oct. 2 to get paperwork for his upcoming marriage with his Turkish fiancée never to be seen again.

Multiple reports suggest Khashoggi was tortured, killed and dismembered inside the Saudi consulate by a specially dispatched hit squad.

Speaking to reporters in Ottawa on Monday Freeland said that, while as a former journalist she is very concerned about the global climate of insecurity and threats facing reporters worldwide, the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will still honour a deal to sell Light Armoured Vehicles (LAV) to Saudi Arabia signed by the previous Conservative government.

(listen to Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland explain why Canada intends to honour its arms contract with Saudi Arabia)

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“When it comes to existing contracts, our government believes strongly that Canada’s word has to matter and it’s important for Canada’s word to last longer than one particular government,” Freeland said.

The deal to export the LAV 6.0 model produced by General Dynamics Land Systems Canada (GDLS-C) in London, Ontario, is expected to support about 3,000 well-paying jobs in Canada for the next decade, according to the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI).
Phone and Twitter diplomacy
At the same time Canada is gravely concerned about Khashoggi’s disappearance and she has brought up the issue in a phone conversation with her Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir, Freeland said.

She also discussed the case with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as well as her British and German counterparts, she said.

“Canada and our government has a strong record of standing up for human rights around the world, very much including in Saudi Arabia, we’re going to continue to do that,” Freeland said. “It’s important to establish clear facts about what has happened and it’s important for the international community to be clear that those facts need to be established in a clear and transparent manner.”

Trudeau defends government’s handling of relations with Saudi Arabia
Canada plans to toughen arms-export rules but will honour Saudi arms deal: Freeland

On Sunday, Freeland joined calls by the United Kingdom, France and Germany to launch a “credible investigation” into Khashoggi’s disappearance.

In a joint statement released Sunday the U.K., French and German foreign ministers said they “share the grave concern” over Khashoggi’s disappearance.

“Canada strongly supports our allies on this important issue,” Freeland wrote on Twitter, where she retweeted the joint statement by her British, French and German counterparts.
Canada strongly supports our allies on this important issue // Le Canada supporte fortement nos alliés sur cet important sujet: https://t.co/1lLLwCMZw8

— Chrystia Freeland (@cafreeland) October 15, 2018


Relations between Canada and Saudi Arabia went into a tailspin after Freeland criticized the kingdom's human rights record and called for the release of jailed women's rights activists in August.

Saudi Arabia took a number of drastic diplomatic and economic measures designed to punish Canada for what Riyadh said was a “blatant interference” in its internal affairs,

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau defended Canada’s policy vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia as a wave of global outrage is building up about the case of Jamal Khashoggi, a dissident Saudi journalist now missing and feared dead.

Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and a prominent critic of the kingdom’s mercurial crown prince, walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on Oct. 2 to get paperwork for his upcoming marriage with his Turkish fiancée. He hasn't been seen in public since.

Multiple reports suggest Khashoggi was tortured, killed and dismembered inside the Saudi consulate by a specially dispatched hit squad.

Citing unnamed Western intelligence sources, CNN reported Friday that Turkish authorities have "shocking and disgusting" audio and visual evidence of Khashoggi’s murder.

Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi speaks at an event hosted by Middle East Monitor in London, Britain, September 29, 2018. (Middle East Monitor/Handout via REUTERS)

Authorities in the oil-rich kingdom firmly deny any involvement in Khashoggi’s disappearance, claiming he left the consulate that afternoon. However, Turkish police and Khashoggi’s fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, who was waiting outside, say he didn’t re-emerge.

Speaking to reporters in Yerevan, Armenia, Trudeau said he shares the mounting anxiety over Khashoggi's fate.

"This particular case is, of course, of concern, and we join with our allies around the world in expressing serious issues with these reports," he said today during a closing news conference at the Francophonie summit in Yerevan.

"Obviously there is a lot more to uncover on what happened here, so I'm not going to comment too much on this."

Trudeau also pushed back against criticism of his government's handling of diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia, expressed by Canada's former ambassador to Riyadh.

Dennis Horak was expelled from the kingdom in August following a tweet by Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, calling for the immediate release of two jailed women activists.

Saudi Arabia's diplomatic row with Canada had Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, respond with harsh measures, including the forced return of as many as 1,000 of its medical students across Canada .(Cliff Owen/AP)

Saudi Arabia took a number of drastic diplomatic and economic measures designed to punish Canada for what Riyadh said was a “blatant interference” in its internal affairs, including blocking imports of Canadian grain, and ending state-backed educational and medical programs in Canada, as well as cancelling flights to and from Canada.

Canada still seeking clarity on Saudi Arabian sanctions
Trudeau rebuffs Saudi call for apology

In an interview with CBC's The National, Horak, who was on vacation in Canada when the crisis erupted, said he was not impressed with Ottawa’s “Twitplomacy.”

No one from Freeland’s office consulted him about the tweet and he would have advised against such a strong wording that went “a step too far,” said Horak, who subsequently retired after more than 30 years of foreign service.

Trudeau said Canada’s concerns about Saudi Arabia’s human rights record were nothing new.

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“We have been extremely active – both in private and in public – over many years now around our concern for human rights in Saudi Arabia,” Trudeau said. “Regardless with whom, we will always endeavor to do it in a constructive way but we will ensure that people know that Canada is unequivocal in standing up for human rights everywhere, all the time.”

With files from Kathleen Harris, CBC News

The federal government and Dehcho First Nations in the Northwest Territories have agreed to a landmark deal that will protect a “breadbasket” wilderness area from resource development for generations to come.

The agreement signed by Environment Minister Catherine McKenna and Dehcho First Nations leaders in Fort Providence, N.W.T., on Thursday protects from any future development more than half of the Edéhzhíe area, a plateau that rises out of the Mackenzie Valley to the west of Great Slave Lake.

The Edéhzhíe Indigenous Protected Area/National Wildlife Area will conserve 14,249 square kilometres of boreal forest and will be jointly managed by Dehcho First Nations and the federal government.

“Our government has made a historic investment in protecting nature from coast to coast to coast," McKenna said. "By creating the Edéhzhíe Dehcho Protected Area and National Wildlife Area under the leadership of the Dehcho First Nations, we are protecting a very special place in Canada while working in partnership with Indigenous peoples to advance reconciliation.”

Dehcho K’éhodi Indigenous Guardians and the Canadian Wildlife Service will draw on Dene culture and traditional knowledge and western science to carry out on-the ground monitoring and protection activities.

The agreement will promote and encourage the Dehcho Dene way of life in Edéhzhíe, said Dahti Tsetso, resource manager and director of the Dehcho K’éhodi Stewardship and Guardians program that will manage the new protected area.

“My generation, we consider ourselves intergenerational survivors of the residential school impacts,” Tsetso said in a phone interview from Fort Simpson, N.W.T. “And so working actively towards initiatives that help us reconnect with our culture, to our elders and to our language and to the land are such an integral part of our self-identity process on an individual level and then part of a healing process on a wider community and regional level.”

(listen to the full interview with Dahti Tsetso)

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Dehcho breadbasket
Edéhzhíe is home to headwater lakes, mature spruce forests, and vibrant wetlands; this diversity supports 36 mammal species, 197 bird species and 24 species of fish. (Bill Carpenter/Dehcho First Nations)

The area holds great significance for Dehcho culture and identity, she said.

It includes many important spiritual sites and figures prominently in Dene stories.

“It’s been used, our elders say, since time immemorial to harvest fish and wildlife,” Tsetso said. “During times of scarcity they could always relay on Edéhzhíe to provide them with sustenance.”

Dene elders refer to Edéhzhíe as the breadbasket of the Dehcho, because of its natural bounty, Tsetso said.

Edéhzhíe is home to headwater lakes, mature boreal forests and vibrant wetlands that support 36 mammal species, 197 bird species and 24 species of fish.

Boreal caribou and wood bison – both species at risk – roam in its spruce forests, which are also home to populations of many bird species recognized as nationally threatened or of special concern, including Canada warbler, olive-sided flycatcher, rusty blackbird, common nighthawk, and short-eared owl.

The Edéhzhíe area is also very important for their Tłı̨chǫ neighbours, Tsetso said.
A 20-year process
Source: Government of Canada

The agreement, which comes after 20 years of negotiations with Ottawa, sets out mechanisms of the area’s co-management with the federal government as well as a dispute resolution mechanism, Tsetso said.

“We’ve had 20 years to really think it over, 20 years to figure out what areas are important and how we approach management,” she said.

In July,

The federal government says it is open to talks with territorial governments, industry, and Indigenous governments and communities on the future of offshore oil and gas development in the Canadian Arctic, raising hopes among some that Ottawa is ready to review its ban on offshore drilling.

Northern Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Natural Resources Minister Amarjeet Sohi announced Thursday that Ottawa will negotiate a Beaufort Sea oil and gas co-management and revenue-sharing agreement with the governments of the Northwest Territories and Yukon, as well as the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation (IRC).

In 2016, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and then-U.S. president Barack Obama jointly announced an indefinite moratorium on all Arctic offshore energy exploration, subject to a review every five years.

Environmental groups ‘thrilled’ with U.S.-Canada ban on Arctic drilling

Northern fury
Northwest Territories Premier Bob McLeod talks to media after being picked as premier for a second term in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Wednesday, Dec.16, 2015. McLeod says a federal decision to stop issuing offshore oil and gas licences in the Arctic was made without consultation with the people whose economy stands to pay the price. (Bill Braden/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Leaders of Canada’s three northern territories – Nunavut, the Northwest Territories and Yukon – were not consulted by Ottawa prior to the announcement and they were furious, said Heather Exner-Pirot, the managing editor of the Arctic Yearbook and a Research Fellow with the EU Arctic Forum.

In one of his first moves as the newly elected president of the United States, Donald Trump announced plans to reverse the Obama policy and open the American Arctic to drilling.

The joint Trudeau-Obama announcement in 2016 had come as the Liberal government was about to launch its Arctic Policy Framework co-development process, making it very difficult for the federal government to say that they were entering it in good faith, Exner-Pirot said.

(listen to the full interview with Heather Exner-Pirot as she explains what motivated the policy change and why there will be no offshore drilling rigs in the Canadian Arctic for the foreseeable future)

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After a year and a half of consultations and negotiations on the Arctic Policy Framework, the federal government heard again and again about northern dissatisfaction with the unilateral imposition of the moratorium, Exner-Pirot said.
Loud and clear
Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc rises during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa on Thursday, Oct. 4, 2018. (Adrian Wyld/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Leblanc, who visited Yellowknife in August, emphasized that that Liberals heard northern concerns loud and clear.

“During extensive consultations, our partners were very clear: they want to be involved in the management of Arctic offshore oil and gas resources, and they want to see economic prosperity and jobs that will benefit Indigenous peoples and all Northerners in the future without affecting the health of their environment,” LeBlanc said.

Sohi said in a release that the government has been working with both the territories and the energy industry.

“We heard loud and clear that the protection of the Arctic environment and the sustainable, inclusive development of the region for the benefit of Northern residents and all Canadians are critical to growing Canada's economy.”
Welcome news
Northwest Territories Premier Bob McLeod said he welcomes the federal announcement.

“As a resource-rich jurisdiction, the strength of the Northwest Territories economy and the wellbeing of its residents depends on the sustainable developmen...

Canada and several of its key Western allies on Thursday accused Russia’s military intelligence service of a litany of ‘malicious cyber-operations’ including the hacking of the Canadian-based world anti-doping body and an attempt to hack into the chemical weapons watchdog in the Netherlands.

In a coordinated move, the U.S. Justice Department also charged seven Russian military intelligence officers in relation with the 2016 hacking of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) based in Montreal in a bid to delegitimize the anti-doping body.

Russian operatives also targeted a Pennsylvania-based nuclear energy company, according to the U.S. officials.

Three of the seven Russian military intelligence officials accused in the hacking were previously charged by special counsel Robert Mueller, Justice Department officials said during a morning press conference attended by Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Cybercrime Director Mark Flynn.
4 Russian spies expelled
Mark Flynn, Director General for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, left, and Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Demers, attend a news conference, Thursday, Oct. 4, 2018, at the Justice Department in Washington. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo)

(listen to U.S. Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division John Demers announce the reasons for indictments of Russian officers)

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Four of the officers, allegedly working for Russia’s Chief Intelligence Directorate better known under its Russian acronym, GRU, were also charged for cyber-targeting the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons’ (OPCW) network in April.

The OPCW was investigating the nerve agent poisoning of a former GRU officer and his daughter in Salisbury, U.K.

Incidentally, the two suspects in the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, who had betrayed several Russian agents to the British intelligence, and his daughter Yulia were also identified as GRU officers by British authorities.

The GRU’s alleged hacking attempts on the chemical weapons watchdog in April were disrupted by authorities, Dutch Defence Minister Ank Bijleveld said Thursday. Four Russian intelligence officers carrying diplomatic passports were immediately expelled from the Netherlands, said a press release by the Netherlands Defence Intelligence and Security Service (DISS).

In 2014, Dutch authorities also blocked attempts by Russian hackers to gain access to the investigation into the downing of a Malaysian Airlines flight over eastern Ukraine that killed all 298 people on board, Bijleveld said.

In this imaged released and manipulated at source by the Dutch Defence Ministry, Thursday Oct. 4, 2018, four Russian officers of the Chief Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, GRU, are escorted to their flight after being expelled from the Netherlands on April 13, 2018, for allegedly trying to hack into the U.N. chemical watchdog OPCW’s network. (Dutch Defence Ministry via AP)

The British ambassador to the Netherlands said that the men caught with spy gear outside the OPCW building were from the very same GRU section (Unit 26165) accused by American investigators of having broken into the Democratic National Committee’s email and sowing havoc during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

The alleged Russian spies deported from The Hague also planned to travel on to the OPCW designated laboratory in Spiez, Switzerland, said Ambassador Peter Wilson. But this wouldn’t have been the first time they’d travelled to Switzerland.

Intelligence collected from a laptop that belonged to one of the GRU officers caught in The Hague showed that it had connected to WiFi at the Alpha Palmiers Hotel in Lausanne in September 2016 – where a WADA...

Canada, the European Union and eight other countries signed Wednesday a legally binding international accord that will protect nearly three million square kilometres of the Central Arctic Ocean from unregulated fishing.

Once it enters into force, the agreement, which was signed in Ilulissat, Greenland will prevent commercial fishing in the high seas of the world's smallest ocean for at least 16 years while scientific research is conducted to learn more about its marine life and resources.

The agreement includes the so-called Arctic Five – Canada, Norway, Russia, Denmark (Greenland and the Faroe Islands), the United States – as well as the major fishing nations – Iceland, Japan, South Korea, China and the European Union.

Inuit from Canada, Greenland, the Russian region of Chukotka and Alaska represented by the Inuit Circumpolar Council are also part of the agreement.
‘A good news story’
Inuit fishermen rest by their boats on August 30, 2007 in the town of Ilulissat, Greenland. (Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)

“It’s a really important agreement for Canada, for the Arctic Inuit peoples and for all participants,” said Nadia Bouffard, Canada’s chief negotiator at the talks. “And it’s actually a good news story globally for demonstrating cooperation and sustainable development for the Arctic.”

Canada to sign ‘historic’ agreement to protect Central Arctic Ocean

Bouffard said the signing ceremony in Ilulissat was a proud moment for Canada and capped years of hard work to reach “a very strong, proactive” agreement to prevent unsustainable fishing in the Central Arctic Ocean, in an area the size of Ontario and Quebec combined.

“It’s historic because this is the first time that an international agreement of this magnitude has been reached before any fishing has taken place in a region of the high seas,” Bouffard said in a phone interview from Ilulissat.

“Under this agreement all parties have agreed that no commercial fishing will take place in the high seas while we gain a better understanding of the area, of the ecosystem and until we have appropriate conservation measures established to actually regulate that fishery.”

(listen to the full interview with Nadia Bouffard)

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Steve Ganey of the Pew Charitable Trusts, which had advocated for the accord for nearly eight years, said with the agreement in place, the Central Arctic Ocean is now the largest marine area where commercial fishing has been proactively placed off-limits in the interest of precaution.

“As new open waters emerge at the top of the world, international leaders have agreed that it would be risky and unwise to allow commercial fisheries to operate in the Arctic before scientists have established a baseline for monitoring the health of the region’s marine ecosystem,” Ganey said.

(Source: The Pew Charitable Trusts)

The agreement is a great legacy for future generations and, particularly, for the Inuit who rely on the region’s natural resources for their food, cultural and spiritual purposes, Bouffard said.

Protecting fish stocks and marine ecosystems in the Central Arctic Ocean will also help protect marine mammals that rely on these fish stocks and are in turn vital for the Inuit way of life, she said.

“It’s all interlinked and it’s important that we make sure that we go gather the knowledge, because we have very little knowledge of this area,” Bouffard said.

While the Central Arctic Ocean is still covered in ice for most of the year, a new analysis of satellite ice data prepared by Ocean Conservancy, reveals that between 2010 and 2017, the average minimum thickness of sea ice in this region was 60 per cent less than in the 1980s.

At the same time,

A consortium of five international investors has given its final approval for a massive liquefied national gas project in northern British Columbia that has the potential to turn Canada into an LNG export powerhouse.

The partners -- Royal Dutch Shell, Mitsubishi Corp., the Malaysian-owned Petronas, PetroChina Co. and Korean Gas Corp. -- have agreed to the $40-billion joint venture that includes a gas liquefaction plant in Kitimat on B.C.'s Pacific coast and a 670-kilometre pipeline delivering natural gas from Dawson Creek in the northeast corner of the province.

“We believe LNG Canada is the right project, in the right place, at the right time,” said Ben van Beurden, CEO of Royal Dutch Shell, which holds a 40-per-cent stake in the joint venture.

“Supplying natural gas over the coming decades will be critical as the world transitions to a lower carbon energy system.”

Global LNG demand is expected to double by 2035, with much of this growth coming from Asia where gas displaces coal, van Beurden said.

Canada is ideally positioned to benefit from this increased demand as the cost to deliver LNG from Canada into Asian is expected to be structurally advantaged compared to the U.S. Gulf coast, van Beurden said.

Each participating company will be responsible to provide its own natural gas supply and will individually market its share of liquefied gas.

The decision involves two processing units, with the first liquefied natural gas expected before the middle of the next decade.

LNG Canada CEO Andy Calitz said the project received support from the government of British Columbia, local Indigenous communities and the Kitimat community.

"This decision showcases how industrial development can co-exist with environmental stewardship and Indigenous interests," he said in a news release late Monday.
Largest private investment in Canadian history
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, centre, and B.C. Premier John Horgan, left, shake hands as LNG Canada CEO Andy Calitz, back right, watches during an LNG Canada news conference in Vancouver, on Tuesday October 2, 2018. LNG Canada announced that its joint venture participants Shell, PETRONAS, PetroChina, Mitsubishi Corporation and KOGAS made a final investment decision to build the LNG Canada export facility in Kitimat. (Darryl Dyck/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the LNG Canada announcement represents the “single largest private sector investment project” in Canadian history.

“It shows what’s possible when you collaborate and consult with Indigenous and local communities, when you coordinate all orders of government and when people insist on economic, environmental and socially responsible development of our natural resources,” Trudeau said, speaking at the announcement in Vancouver.

The project will mean 10,000 jobs at the height of construction, tens of billions of indirect government revenues and hundreds of millions of dollars in construction contracts for First Nations businesses, Trudeau said.

LNG Canada will have the lowest carbon intensity of any large scale LNG project in the world, Trudeau said.

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“In the 21st century we don’t have to choose between a healthy environment and a strong economy, they must go together,” Trudeau said.

The investment is proof that Canada’s rich natural resources and its talented workforce can make it into an attractive place for investors to do business and support a clean growth economy, Trudeau said.

"Let’s be clear, Shell and its partners did not make this $40-billion investment in Canada as a last resort,” Trudeau said.

“It was a choice. It was a vote of confidence in a country that recognizes the need to develop our en...

The Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau heralded the revamped trade pact between Canada, the United States, and Mexico as an agreement that would be “good for Canadian workers, good for Canadian business and good for Canadian families” when enacted.

Flanked by Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, who led the Canadian team of negotiators throughout the often intense and sometimes dramatic talks over the last 14 months, Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa that the new agreement in principle preserves many of many aspects of the original North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

The new deal, formally called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, removes uncertainty for Canadian manufacturers and investors and improves labour rights for all North Americans, Trudeau said.

(listen to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau explain why he thinks Canada got a 'good deal')

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“A year and a half ago with rising questions about the future of NAFTA, I was asked how we would respond,” Trudeau said.

“My answer was that we’d respond as Canadians always have in uncertain times. We’d be constructive, and reasonable, but we’d also be firm. We’d protect our interests and promote our values. We’d show determination, and also flexibility, and we would remain united and ultimately we’d emerge stronger. That’s exactly what we did.”
Free trade deal but no relief on aluminum and steel tariffs
The agreement, reached on Sunday night just before a midnight deadline imposed by the U.S. to include Canada in a deal reached with Mexico in August, also preserves a crucial dispute resolution mechanism Ottawa had fought hard to protect.

However, while protecting Canada’s automotive industry from potentially devastating U.S. tariffs, the new deal includes no assurance that Washington will lift punitive measures it imposed on Canadian and Mexican steel and aluminum in June.

Trudeau had made clear he felt the tariffs should be removed before the new free trade pact could be signed, but U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has refused to act for now.

“Moving forward on eliminating the tariffs on steel and aluminum remains a priority for us, for Mexico, and is something the Americans have indicated they are more than willing to work on,” said Trudeau.

The United Steelworkers of Canada union called the agreement a “sellout” for steel and aluminum workers.

Business groups largely praised the new agreement, which maintains Canada’s duty-free access to the huge and profitable North American market.

Nearly 75 per cent of Canada’s exports go to the U.S., making access to the American market a matter of critical importance for the Canadian economy.

Some highlights of the USMCA:

A dispute resolution process (formerly Chapter 19 of NAFTA) remains in place.
The U.S. gets access to 3.6 per cent of Canada’s dairy market.
Tariffs on steel (25 per cent) and aluminum (10 per cent) remain under Section 232 national security grounds.
Auto tariff exemptions for 2.6 million Canadian autos exported to the U.S., far exceeding the current export rate of 1.8 million.
Duty-free purchases through e-commerce jump to $150 from the current $20.


'The most important trade deal'
Under the new agreement Canada was also forced to open a portion of its highly protected supply management system for dairy, poultry and eggs to U.S. agricultural exports.

“We had to make compromises, and some were more difficult than others,” Trudeau said, promising full compensation to dairy farmers who might suffer. “We never believed that it would be easy, and it wasn’t, but today is a good day for Canada.”

U.S.

The Prime Minister’s Office is refuting claims by U.S. President Donald Trump who said Wednesday he turned down a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau because he was unhappy with Canada’s stance at the NAFTA negotiating table and Ottawa’s refusal to budge on the issue of dairy tariffs.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference in New York, Trump also appeared to target Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, who is the Trudeau government’s point person in these difficult negotiations.

“We are very unhappy with the negotiations and the negotiating style of Canada. We don’t like their representative very much,” Trump said at a Wednesday news conference, without specifying who he was talking about.

Asked whether he turned down a meeting with Trudeau on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, Trump said: “Yeah, I did… Because his tariffs are too high and he doesn’t seem to want to move and I’ve told him forget about it.”

“And frankly we’re thinking about just taxing cars coming in from Canada. That’s the motherlode. That’s the big one,” Trump added.

(listen to President Donald Trump responding to a question about why he did not meet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the sidelines of the UN General Assembly)

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However, the Prime Minister’s Office said in an email to Radio Canada International: “No meeting was requested. We don’t have any comment beyond that.”
'Awkward interaction'
U.S. President Donald Trump passes by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a working luncheon for world leaders at the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., September 25, 2018. (Carlos Barria/REUTERS)

Speaking to reporters during a press conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York on Wednesday, Trudeau also said observers shouldn’t read too much into an awkward moment he had with Trump at a leaders’ luncheon on Tuesday.

Trudeau was asked by a reporter about an interaction between the two leaders during which he shook hands with the American president who remained seated reading notes on the toast he was about to give at the luncheon and made no effort to stand up to greet Trudeau.

“I was thanking the president of South Africa for his extraordinary speech on Nelson Mandela and I moved around the table to say hello to the prime minister of Italy, and then shook hands with President Trump while he was re-reading his notes for his speech for the toast he was about to give,” Trudeau said.

(listen to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's answer to a question about his "awkward" handshake with President Donald Trump) 

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Trudeau said the interaction with Trump was “quick but cordial. There are all sorts of opportunities for me to speak to President Trump and that was not the time.”
Getting the 'right deal for Canada'
Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, speaks during a news conference at U.N. headquarters during the General Assembly of the United Nations in Manhattan, New York, U.S., September 26, 2018. (Amr Alfiky/REUTERS)

Trudeau also said Wednesday Canada will not be rushed into a bad trade deal with the United States and Mexico but that he remained optimistic it is still possible to strike an accord that is good for all three countries.

“We will keep working as long as it takes to get to the right deal for Canada,” Trudeau told reporters.

On Tuesday, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer complained that Canada was not making enough concessions in bilateral talks to renew the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and said time was running out before Washington proceeded with a Mexico-only deal.

Prime Minster Justin Trudeau said Wednesday Canada will not be rushed into a bad trade deal with the United States and Mexico but he remained optimistic it is still possible to strike an accord that is good for all three countries.

“We will keep working as long as it takes to get to the right deal for Canada,” Trudeau told reporters during a press conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York.

On Tuesday, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer complained that Canada was not making enough concessions in bilateral talks to renew the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and said time was running out before Washington proceeded with a Mexico-only deal.

“We continue to engage in near-continuous negotiations, the conversations are constant and ongoing,” Trudeau said. “We’re very much looking in positive constructive way to getting to a renewed NAFTA that will be a trilateral agreement between Canada, Mexico and the United States."

(listen to PM Trudeau's answer a question from reporter on NAFTA negotiations)

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Canada has at its disposal a broad range of alternatives and paths to get to that goal, Trudeau said.
Linking NAFTA to 'punitive tariffs'
Asked about the challenges posed by a U.S. threat of auto tariffs, Trudeau said Canada would need to feel confident “about the path forward as we move forward - if we do - on a NAFTA 2.0,” including a “lack of punitive tariffs that we consider are unjust.”

Canada pushes back at Trump’s linking of steel and aluminium tariffs to ‘fair NAFTA’

The Trudeau government has already introduced $16.6-billion worth of countermeasures on imports of American steel, aluminum and consumer products after the White House slapped Canada and others with tariffs on steel and aluminum.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland has called Washington’s metal tariffs absurd and illegal because they’ve been applied on the premise that Canada represents a national security threat to the U.S.

However, Washington has threatened to impose even more devastating tariffs on Canada’s auto industry under the same national security grounds of the so-called Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962.

With files from CBC News and Reuters