Police say a spate of sudden fatalities in normally temperate Vancouver is being caused by the unprecedentedly hot weather
A searing heatwave that settled over western Canada for several days has been blamed for helping to cause the deaths of dozens of people in the Vancouver area.
With a new record temperature for Canada of 47.9C (118F) set on Monday, police in the Burnaby area of Vancouver said they responded to 25 sudden-death calls in a 24-hour period starting on Monday.
Continue reading...Lawyers will try to persuade Canadian court to permit new documents to be introduced as evidence to clear Meng Wanzhou
US justice department’s battle to extradite Meng Wanzhou from Canada has taken a fresh turn as lawyers for Huawei’s chief financial officer claimed that internal emails and bank documents prove there is no grounds to extradite her to the US.
Meng, 48, was arrested on a US warrant at Vancouver airport in late 2018, and has been battling extradition to the US. Her detention infuriated the Chinese government and has helped drag relations between Beijing and Ottawa to their lowest point in years.
Continue reading...Hundreds of unmarked graves, and testimonies of countless horrors, belie our angelic self-image
It’s not often that Canadians have to apologise for their country. I’ve travelled the world reporting on conflict and human rights and am always greeted positively when I say I’m Canadian. “It is a beautiful country,” I am told. “Your country cares for its citizens.” In Canada, people make sympathetic noises when I retell whatever tragic story I have been working on. “We are so lucky to live in Canada,” they say.
Canadians like the idea of a “good” country full of “good” people. There’s even a name for it: “the angel complex”. Look at all the immigrants and refugees we welcome here, goes the doctrine – we’re not like those American racists, or those European xenophobes. Canada see itself as proudly multicultural, tolerant, peace-loving and polite. A beacon of light to the world.
Continue reading...Until there is truth-telling in Australia about the colonisation process, reconciliation remains superficial
First Nations people across Australia are mourning with Canadian First Nations families as evidence mounts of hundreds of deaths of children at residential schools.
We are standing with our Canadian First Nations brothers and sisters on these recent horrific discoveries.
Continue reading...Two more Catholic churches on First Nations reserves in western Canada have been destroyed by fires that investigators are once again treating as suspicious.
Over the weekend, crews in southern British Columbia responded to early morning blazes at St Ann’s Church on Upper Similkameen Indian Band land, and the Chopaka Church on the lands of the Lower Similkameen Indian Band. Both churches, built from wood and more than 100 years old, were burned to the ground.
Continue reading...British Columbian village sets new record, with most of western Canada subject to heat warning
Canada has set its highest temperature on record after a village in British Columbia reached 46.1C (115F) on Sunday.
The temperature in Lytton, in the south of Canada’s western-most province, surpassed the previous national high of 45C (113F), set in Saskatchewan in 1937.
Continue reading...The man who led the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission insists an independent investigation into decades of abuse of Indigenous children is essential
Canada urgently needs an independent investigation into the deaths of thousands of Indigenous children at church-run residential schools if the country ever hopes to finally confront the horrors of its colonial past, the man who led the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission has told the Guardian.
Murray Sinclair, a former senator and one of the country’s first Indigenous judges, warned that the “undiscovered truths” of the schools are probably far more devastating than many Canadians realize – including the deliberate killing of children by school staff and the likelihood that such crimes were covered up.
Continue reading...• PM responds to discovery of graves at Indigenous schools
• Trudeau stops short of ordering national investigation
Justin Trudeau has said that Canadians are “horrified and ashamed” by their government’s longtime policy of forcing Indigenous children to attend boarding schools where nearly 1,000 unmarked graves have now been discovered – but stopped short of launching a national investigation.
An estimated 751 unmarked graves were recently discovered on the grounds of the former Marieval Indian residential school in Saskatchewan which operated from 1899 to 1997. Last month, 215 remains were reported at a similar school in British Columbia.
Continue reading...As many as 751 unmarked graves, some of which are believed to be of First Nation children, were discovered in Canada’s Saskatchewan province just weeks after a similar discovery in British Columbia, prompting a fresh reckoning over the country’s colonial past.
The graves were found on the site of the Roman Catholic Marieval Indian residential school, and Chief Cadmus Delorme of the Cowessess First Nation has asked for an apology from the pope and the church.
From the 19th century, more than 150,000 First Nations children were forced to attend state-funded Christian schools as part of a programme to assimilate them into Canadian society, many were beaten and verbally abused, and thousands died from disease, neglect and suicide.
Continue reading...A First Nation in Canada’s Saskatchewan province is treating a now-defunct residential school as a “crime scene” following the discovery of 751 unmarked graves just weeks after a similar discovery in British Columbia prompted a fresh reckoning over the country’s colonial past.
Chief Cadmus Delorme of the Cowessess First Nation said that the graves were found on the site of the Marieval Indian residential school, also known as Grayson, after a search with ground-penetrating radar was launched on 2 June.
Continue reading...Canada leads more than 40 countries in voicing concern over Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Tibet, sparking clash at UN
Canada has led more than 40 countries in expressing serious concerns over Beijing’s repressive actions in Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Tibet, prompting a furious response from Beijing over Canada’s colonial history.
The exchange at the UN human rights council on Tuesday marks the latest downturn in relations between Canada and China, which have deteriorated steadily as the two countries clash over human rights, trade and allegations of “hostage diplomacy”.
Continue reading...C-230 would require government to study effect of pollution and industry on marginalized people but conservatives could sink plan
For generations, marginalized communities in Canada have feared that heavy industry is slowly poisoning their air, land and water.
Related: America's dirty divide: how environmental racism leaves the vulnerable behind
Continue reading...Promise to donate 100m doses highlights questions about Canada’s seriousness in helping poorer countries vaccinate
Canada has secured enough potential coronavirus vaccines to fully protect every resident nearly seven times over, even as a global shortage has forced poorer nations to wait.
After initial hiccups with its vaccination plan, more than 65% of Canadians have now received at least one dose, edging ahead of early leaders Israel and the UK, and on Friday, Justin Trudeau said 68m doses will have arrived in Canada by the end of July.
Continue reading...Course in Nova Scotia asked racist questions about residential schools, which forced the assimilation of Indigenous children
A series of racist questions in a high school English course sparked outrage among parents and students and highlighted persistent shortcomings in how Canada teaches the grim legacy of colonialism and its impact on Indigenous peoples.
Students taking a grade 10 correspondence course in the province of Nova Scotia were asked to list the benefits and disadvantages of being placed in one of the country’s notorious residential schools, where 150,000 Indigenous children were sent as part of a campaign of forced assimilation.
Continue reading...Canada’s first black party leader denounces ‘sexist’ and ‘racist’ efforts to oust her after Green MP defected to Trudeau’s Liberals
Justin Trudeau is “no ally and no feminist”, the head of Canada’s Green party has alleged, as she denounced a “sexist” and “racist” campaign to oust her as party leader ahead of a looming federal election.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday afternoon, Annamie Paul said efforts to remove her were being led by a handful of Green party veterans “who are on their way out” and didn’t reflect the majority who elected her as leader in October.
Continue reading...White River First Nation had sought six months in jail for Canadian millionaires Rodney and Ekaterina Baker
The millionaire Canadian couple who chartered a private plane to a remote community and jumped the coronavirus vaccine queue to receive doses intended for elderly Indigenous people have been fined C$2,300 but were not sentenced to jail after pleading guilty to breaking public health rules.
The size of the fine imposed on the former casino executive Rodney Baker and his wife, the actor Ekaterina Baker, on Wednesday prompted frustration amid members of the White River First Nation, many of whom wanted the couple to face stiffer repercussions.
Continue reading...Government seeks to atone for historical abuses as new policy comes after discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves
Indigenous people in Canada who were forced to use European names on official documents can now apply to restore their original names, in a new policy unveiled as the country’s government seeks to atone for historical abuses.
“For far too long, Canada’s colonial legacy has disrupted Indigenous peoples’ Indigenous naming practices and family connections from being recognized,” Marc Miller, minister of Indigenous services, said in a statement, adding that the new policy would allow residents to reclaim “the dignity of their Indigenous names”.
Continue reading...Prosecutors in Canada have laid terrorism charges against a man accused of deliberately running over a Muslim family in London, Ontario, killing four members from three generations.
The prosecution said on Monday that Nathaniel Veltman’s four counts of first-degree murder constitute an act of terrorism and prosecutors have upgraded those charges under Canada’s criminal code. Police allege the incident was a planned and premeditated attack targeting Muslims.
Continue reading...Thousands of people have marched in Canada in support of a Muslim family run over and killed by a man driving a pickup truck. Police have described the incident last Sunday as a premeditated attack motivated by Islamophobia. Crowds in London, Ontario, marched five miles on Friday from the spot where the family was killed to a nearby mosque, the site close to where police arrested the attacker. Candlelight vigils were also held to honour the victims and protest against hatred
Continue reading...Three generations of the same family who migrated from Pakistan 14 years ago died on Sunday after a 20-year-old man drove his pickup truck at them in London, Ontario.
Speaking in parliament after a minute of silence for the family, the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, described it as a ‘terrorist attack, motivated by hatred’
Continue reading...