Latest updates: Canadian Armed Forces deployed to help residents after massive disruption around Vancouver and rest of province
It might seem trivial compared to the devastation caused, but Reuters is reporting that the floods could mean the US might suffer a Christmas tree shortage this year.
Canada is the world’s top exporter of natural Christmas trees, exporting about 2.3 million trees per year, with some 97% going to the US.
Continue reading...Tiny proportion of world’s land surface hosts carbon-rich forests and peatlands that would not recover before 2050 if lost
Detailed new mapping has pinpointed the carbon-rich forests and peatlands that humanity cannot afford to destroy if climate catastrophe is to be avoided.
The vast forests and peatlands of Russia, Canada and the US are vital, researchers found, as are tropical forests in the Amazon, Congo and south-east Asia. Peat bogs in the UK and mangrove swamps and eucalyptus forests in Australia are also on the list.
Continue reading...Aerial footage shows the extent of catastrophic floods in mountain areas of Canada's British Columbia province. A powerful storm dumped a month’s worth of rain in two days across parts of the Pacific north-west in Canada and the US. Concerns are rising over remote mountain areas that have been hit with freezing temperatures
BC alert system criticized for ‘sitting silent’ as heavy rainfall hits western seaboard of Canada and US
These are some of the images emerging of the situation in Abbotsford, where flooding has left thousands of farm animals stranded.
There have been reports of dairy farmers struggling to get their animals to safety after being stranded by the floods.
Continue reading...Water levels show signs of dropping in Washington state while at least one dead in Canada and more fatalities feared
Troops have been deployed to British Columbia to help stranded residents and search areas hit by landslides and floods after a powerful storm dumped a month’s worth of rain in two days across a swath of the Pacific north-west in Canada and the US.
South of the border in Washington state, water levels showed signs of dropping on Wednesday after floods damaged three-quarters of the homes in the border town of Sumas, leaving 1,600 residents without power and forcing hundreds to flee.
Continue reading...Fears death toll will rise after record rainfall destroys highways and leaves tens of thousands in the US and Canada without power
At least one person has been killed and several more are feared dead after a huge storm hit the Pacific north-west, destroying highways and leaving tens of thousands of people in Canada and the US without power.
Canada’s largest port was cut off by flood waters, as emergency crews in British Columbia announced on Tuesday that at least 10 vehicles had been swept off a highway during a landslide.
Continue reading...At least one person has been killed and several more are feared dead after a huge storm hit the Pacific north-west, destroying highways and leaving tens of thousands of people in Canada and the US without power.
Canada’s largest port was cut off by flood waters, as emergency crews in British Columbia announced on Tuesday that at least 10 vehicles had been swept off a highway during a landslide.
The cases have prompted a row between health officials who deny the sicknesses form a true ‘cluster’ and medical experts looking for a link
When Roger Ellis fell ill two years ago, his family rushed to the hospital, fearing he was having a heart attack. Doctors quickly ruled that out, but days later, he suffered from a seizure.
In the following weeks, the retired industrial mechanic, 64, who lived in the east Canadian town of Bathurst, New Brunswick, grew increasingly anxious and disoriented, and often repeated himself.
Continue reading...Communities forced to flee homes again after record downpour as pounding storms also take toll on US Pacific north-west
Communities in western Canada who were forced to flee their homes this summer by wildfires and extreme heat are once again under evacuation orders after overwhelming floods across the region.
Helicopters were dispatched on Monday to Highway 7, more than 100 kilometres (62 miles) east of Vancouver, to rescue about 275 people, including 50 children, who had been stranded on the road since it was blocked by a mudslide late on Sunday.
Continue reading...Aamjiwnaang First Nation in Ontario finally wins access to data charting pollution from local petrochemical facilities
A First Nations community in Canada has learned that levels of a cancer-causing chemical in its air are 44 times higher than is considered safe, after years of fighting for the data.
Aamjiwnaang First Nation in Ontario is surrounded on all sides by petrochemical facilities, and members have long suspected that the facilities in “Chemical Valley” have exposed them to potentially dangerous substances. .
Continue reading...New research shows Tsleil-Waututh practices were destroyed during European colonization, and in recent decades wild salmon populations have collapsed
A First Nations community on Canada’s west coast practiced the sustainable harvest of wild salmon for 1,000 years, before the system was largely destroyed after the arrival of European settlers, a new study has concluded.
The Tsleil-Waututh, an Indigenous community whose traditional territory has been subsumed by the city of Vancouver, were long known to have used large weirs to capture salmon preparing to spawn.
Continue reading...Long-overdue search for unmarked graves at notorious Mohawk Institute prompts renewed calls for full transparency
The yellow tape of the police cordon snapped and fluttered as a chill breeze swept over the grounds of what was once one of Canada’s most notorious residential schools.
The entire 500-acre property is now being treated as massive a crime scene as the long-overdue search finally begins for the children who were sent to live here – but never returned home.
Continue reading...The fight for Rogers Communications has riven one of Canada’s richest families – and began with an accidental butt dial
For weeks, Canadians have been gripped by a messy public feud splintering one of the country’s richest families. Kicked off by an accidental pocket dial that revealed an executive-level coup attempt, the battle has pitted mother against son, ensnared Toronto’s mayor and drawn comparisons to the HBO show Succession.
Two separate groups of directors have proclaimed themselves the rightful stewards of Rogers Communications, a sprawling C$30bn telecommunications and entertainment empire with interests in media, professional hockey, basketball, baseball, football and soccer.
Continue reading...If an ageing pipeline under the Great Lakes spills, it would be devastating. But Canada is trying to block Michigan from shutting it down
Canada would be apoplectic if the US government marched into a Canadian court and argued that the province of Ontario has zero authority over an American company operating an aging, corroded pipeline under Canada’s pristine Georgian Bay. Yet this is the exact approach Canada is taking in US courts by arguing that the state of Michigan has zero authority to order the shutdown of an aging and dangerous pipeline operated by a Canadian company under the Straits of Mackinac – where any spill would have catastrophic ramifications for the Great Lakes.
Canada’s strained position is premised on ignoring the plain text of the 1977 US Canada Pipeline Treaty: “Pipeline[s] shall be subject to regulations by the appropriate governmental authorities … with respect to such matters as the following: (a) pipeline safety … ; (b) environmental protection.”
Lana Pollack was appointed by President Obama to chair the US Section of the International Joint Commission. The IJC was established by the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 to assist the US and Canadian governments in managing and protecting waters shared by the two countries. The views expressed are Pollack’s, not those of the IJC
Continue reading...CBC investigation into Carrie Bourassa has drawn comparisons with case of Rachel Dolezal in US
A Canadian official and academic specialising in Indigenous health issues has been placed on administrative leave from her university after an investigation challenged her claims of Indigenous ancestry.
Carrie Bourassa, a professor at the University of Saskatchewan, has described herself as having Métis, Anishinaabe and Tlingit heritage. In 2019 she appeared at a TEDx talk wearing a blue embroidered shawl and holding a feather, where she identified herself as “Morning Star Bear”.
Continue reading...Tribunal ordered Canadian government to pay compensation to children who suffered discrimination in welfare system
Justin Trudeau’s government has launched a last-minute court appeal against a ruling that would require it pay billions of dollars to First Nations children who suffered discrimination in the welfare system.
Minutes before a court deadline on Friday afternoon, the government filed papers indicating it planned once again to fight a human rights tribunal decision ordering the compensation payment.
Continue reading...Seven generals have so far been implicated in the billowing scandal – can institutional change be effected?
For nearly a year, Canada’s military has been engulfed in crisis, as one senior officer after another has come under investigation over allegations of sexual misconduct or cover-up.
So far, seven generals have been implicated in the snowballing scandal, which has undermined both public trust in the institution and morale within the ranks – and highlighted a lack of transparency over how the military handles allegations of sexual assault.
Continue reading...Mélanie Joly becomes foreign minister and Anita Anand defence minister in gender-balanced cabinet
Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has carried out a major cabinet shuffle, naming women to the foreign affairs and defense posts in his gender-balanced cabinet.
Trudeau named Mélanie Joly as foreign minister and Anita Anand as defence minister. Chrystia Freeland, widely considered a favorite to replace Trudeau at some point, retains her positions as deputy prime minister and finance minister.
Continue reading...Blaze on freighter ship has been largely contained, but officials won’t be able to determine damage amid wind and rain
Emergency crews have largely contained a chemical fire aboard a container ship anchored off western Canada, but warned a looming “bomb cyclone” storm could complicate efforts to fully assess damage to the ship and surrounding marine ecosystem.
The blaze broke out on Saturday aboard the MV Zim Kingston, a freighter ship carrying mining chemicals, including potassium amylxanthate – a hazardous substance used to help separate ores.
Continue reading...Saad Aljabri says Mohammed bin Salman boasted he could kill former ruler King Abdullah
A former senior Saudi intelligence officer has claimed that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is a “psychopath with no empathy” who once boasted that he could kill the kingdom’s ruler at the time, King Abdullah, and replace him with his own father.
In an interview on US television, Saad Aljabri, who fled Saudi Arabia in May 2017 and is living in exile in Canada, also said he had been warned by an associate in 2018, after the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, that a Saudi hit team was heading to Canada to kill him.
Continue reading...