Canada

[RTH10260]

Canada: Indigenous fishermen left to walk shoeless after officers seized boots
Justin Trudeau says allegations ‘extremely troubling’ after officers arrested First Nations men and confiscated their boots and phones

Leyland Cecco in Toronto
Wed 3 Apr 2024 20.41 CEST

Two First Nations fishermen have said they were forced to walk shoeless for hours in the dark and cold after Canadian federal officers seized their boots and phones.

The prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said the allegations were “extremely troubling” amid mounting anger over the treatment of the Mi’kmaw fishermen, whose ordeal has prompted comparisons with the notorious “starlight tours” in which the police routinely abandoned Indigenous people in the bitter cold.

Blaise Sylliboy of Eskasoni First Nation and Kevin Hartling of Membertou First Nation were arrested by federal fisheries officers on the night of 26 March while fishing for elvers in a river in south-west Nova Scotia.

The season to harvest glass eels is relatively brief, beginning in March and typically running until May. Coveted in China and Japan, where they are grown on farms and harvested for food, the translucent fish command a steep price, with buyers paying $5,000 a kilogram last year.

Canada’s endangered wildlife committee designated the species as “threatened” more than a decade ago, and the federal government has put limits on the harvest. The total allowable catch for 2023 is 9,960kg, unchanged over the last 18 years.

Recently, however, the federal government granted Indigenous communities a growing share of the commercial quota, an industry worth nearly C$50m ($36m). Last year, nations were allocated 14% of the commercial harvest.

But this year, Canada’s fisheries minister refused to open the spring fishery for elvers, amid rising violence and poaching. Officers have arrested nearly 40 people since early March, and seized vehicles, nets and weapons. In one case, officers were struck by a truck fleeing an inspection.

Indigenous nations have grown increasingly frustrated that their treaty rights have not been recognised by the federal government. Canada’s supreme court has previously ruled that Indigenous peoples have a right to harvest from the land and water in order to obtain a “moderate livelihood” – a term the federal government repeatedly failed to define over the years, leading to tense standoffs. Both Sylliboy and Hartling asserted their claim that they have a treaty right to harvest the glass eels.

After the pair were arrested, the officers confiscated their fishing waders – with their boots attached – and their cellphones, a “standard practice” when investigating poaching, the department said in a statement.



https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/ ... t-shoeless

[Volkonski]

10 people in Kingston, Ont., sent to hospital with eye injuries. One patient blames a foam party

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kingston ... press.coop

Ten people in Kingston, Ont., were treated for chemical eye exposure and needed to have their eyes flushed after what one patient says was a foam party gone wrong.

Kingston Health Sciences Centre's Emergency Department treated 10 patients late Sunday and early Monday for "chemical eye exposure," a spokesperson confirmed with CBC News. The hospital would not confirm the patients had attended a foam party, due to patient confidentiality.

But one of those patients told CBC News it all started when she went to a foam party at Stages Nightclub — a bar on Kingston's downtown strip popular with students. At these types of parties, foam is typically sprayed onto a dance floor throughout the night and several feet of foam can accumulate.

The woman and her friends arrived at the club at around 11:10 p.m. Sunday, she told CBC News. Her eyes started burning within the hour, she said. CBC is not naming the woman, a student at Queen's University, because she is concerned that being associated with drinking in clubs could affect her career prospects.

"It was kind of like someone was slashing your eyes almost, with a knife. It was just really painful and not a feeling that would go away even when your eyes were closed," she told CBC News.

CBC News reached out to Stages Nightclub for comment, but has yet to hear back. In an email response from Stages sent to the Queen's student, viewed by CBC News, the club said it was frustrated to hear what happened to its patrons.

"We … want nothing more than to make this right," the email said.

Kingston, Frontenac, and Lennox & Addington Public Health told CBC News it's investigating an increase in patients experiencing eye irritation, "unrelated to the solar eclipse."

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

What’s a foam party?

[keith]

What’s a foam party?

Third paragraph in report above.

[Suranis]

At these types of parties, foam is typically sprayed onto a dance floor throughout the night and several feet of foam can accumulate.

Foamy

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

What kind of “foam”? Fire retardant? Shaving cream?

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

What’s a foam party?

Third paragraph in report above.

Thanks! I missed that sentence.

[qbawl]

We had something similar in the '60s except we used whipped cream and caramel sauce iirc.

[Flatpoint High]

Shall we?

fqdo4apycjtc1.jpeg (224.74 KiB) Viewed 62 times

got this via r/MayorMcCheese. The Mayor has been following the "Axe the Tax" protests up in Canada. he also streams on twitch