Judge rebukes Trudeau for ‘not justified’ use of Emergencies Act to break convoy
Canadian court rules government was ‘unreasonable’ when it used sweeping powers to block truckers protesting against Covid rules
Leyland Cecco in Toronto
Tue 23 Jan 2024 20.57 CET
A Canadian court has ruled that Justin Trudeau’s government was not justified when it used sweeping powers to break up what the prime minister called “illegal and dangerous” protest blockades across the country two years ago.
A federal court found on Tuesday the government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act in response to the so-called freedom convoy protests “was not justified in relation to the relevant factual and legal constraints that were required to be taken into consideration”.
In his decision, Justice Richard Mosley wrote that the move was “unreasonable” and led to infringement of Canada’s charter of rights and freedoms.
In February 2022, truckers and their supporters occupied Ottawa, the Canadian capital, for nearly a month in a protest over public health orders related to the coronavirus pandemic. Protesters also blockaded key border crossings with the US.
Trudeau responded by invoking the 1988 Emergencies Act for the first time in Canada’s history, granting the federal government sweeping powers, including the ability to ban gatherings at certain locations and stop crowdfunding efforts to support the protest.
The prime minister said the measures would be time-limited and only apply to specific geographic regions. “We are not preventing the right of people to protest legally,” he said, adding that the military would not be deployed. “The act is to be used sparingly and as a last resort.”
A public inquiry in February last year found that the government acted appropriately when it invoked the Act.
But the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) and the Canadian Constitution Foundation applied for a judicial review, arguing the government’s use of the Emergencies Act breached the country’s charter of rights and freedoms.
Ewa Krajewska, the lawyer for the CCLA, acknowledged before the federal court’s decision that for many the protests and the government’s moves to break them up were a “distant memory”.
“But when the act can be invoked is important,” she wrote.
The federal court’s decision is meant to give clarity to when future governments might invoke the act, but the ruling was quickly pounced on by Trudeau’s political rivals.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/ ... test-covid
Very cool that you get to work at a) a university, and b) one that's recognized for quality of life. I would have expected the top two on the list to be institutions that drive much of what is unique and wonderful about Canadian culture: Tim Horton's and Canadian Tire. Shows how much I know about Canada...jemcanada2 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 24, 2024 4:28 pm Forbes Magazine just named my employer the 3rd top employer in Canada. In Canada?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelpeac ... 09da92d0b9
They talk about the Bruce Trail going through the university’s property. That’s the trail I’m always talking about hiking on.
You forgot Molsons....johnpcapitalist wrote: ↑Wed Jan 24, 2024 7:10 pm
Very cool that you get to work at a) a university, and b) one that's recognized for quality of life. I would have expected the top two on the list to be institutions that drive much of what is unique and wonderful about Canadian culture: Tim Horton's and Canadian Tire. Shows how much I know about Canada...
... and Hockey Night in Canada! Oh, wait. You watch HNC (and the accompanying Canadian Tire commercials) while eating Tim Horton's and drinking Molsons. Sadly, despite the millions who follow these ritual practices, the Stanley Cup shows no sign of returning to the land of its origin.Frater I*I wrote: ↑Wed Jan 24, 2024 7:51 pmYou forgot Molsons....johnpcapitalist wrote: ↑Wed Jan 24, 2024 7:10 pm
Very cool that you get to work at a) a university, and b) one that's recognized for quality of life. I would have expected the top two on the list to be institutions that drive much of what is unique and wonderful about Canadian culture: Tim Horton's and Canadian Tire. Shows how much I know about Canada...
What about the poor log drivers out doing their waltzingjcolvin2 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 24, 2024 8:06 pm... and Hockey Night in Canada! Oh, wait. You watch HNC (and the accompanying Canadian Tire commercials) while eating Tim Horton's and drinking Molsons. Sadly, despite the millions who follow these ritual practices, the Stanley Cup shows no sign of returning to the land of its origin.Frater I*I wrote: ↑Wed Jan 24, 2024 7:51 pmYou forgot Molsons....johnpcapitalist wrote: ↑Wed Jan 24, 2024 7:10 pm
Very cool that you get to work at a) a university, and b) one that's recognized for quality of life. I would have expected the top two on the list to be institutions that drive much of what is unique and wonderful about Canadian culture: Tim Horton's and Canadian Tire. Shows how much I know about Canada...
You do you but the Stanley Cup BELONGS in Detroit.jcolvin2 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 24, 2024 8:06 pm... and Hockey Night in Canada! Oh, wait. You watch HNC (and the accompanying Canadian Tire commercials) while eating Tim Horton's and drinking Molsons. Sadly, despite the millions who follow these ritual practices, the Stanley Cup shows no sign of returning to the land of its origin.Frater I*I wrote: ↑Wed Jan 24, 2024 7:51 pmYou forgot Molsons....johnpcapitalist wrote: ↑Wed Jan 24, 2024 7:10 pm
Very cool that you get to work at a) a university, and b) one that's recognized for quality of life. I would have expected the top two on the list to be institutions that drive much of what is unique and wonderful about Canadian culture: Tim Horton's and Canadian Tire. Shows how much I know about Canada...
‘I don’t want to cry any more’: Russian sect in Canada to get historic apology
British Columbia to say sorry to Doukhobors for ‘injustices’ including residential schools that shattered pacifist community
Leyland Cecco in Toronto
Wed 31 Jan 2024 12.30 CET
Betty Kabatoff was eight years old when she was rushed from her home and taken into the mountains to hide from Canadian police. She and some other children slept under a shelter made from tree branches, but within days, a helicopter appeared overhead and they were forced to move on.
The ceremony in Kamloops on Monday. More than 200 unmarked graves were discovered last year on the grounds of the residential school in British Columbia.
Kabatoff, a member of a pacifist sect of Russian immigrants known as the Doukhobors, was whisked from one location to another. Eventually she was hidden in a tunnel under her family home in the town of Krestova, British Columbia.
“And then one morning, there was screaming and hollering in the neighbourhood,” said Kabatoff, now 78. “The next thing I saw was somebody standing with black pants with a yellow stripe. They’d found us. I still can’t deal with cops to this day.”
Torn away from her parents, Kabatoff and nearly 200 other children from the group were sent to a residential school, where the government set about stripping away their Doukhobor identity. Few spoke English, but Russian was banned.
Some experienced mental, physical and sexual abuse – degradations that mirrored the experience of the 150,000 Indigenous children forcibly converted to Christianity, given new names, and prohibited from speaking their native languages in government and church-run residential schools.
More than seven decades after what British Columbia acknowledges were “historic injustices”, the government will on Thursday formally apologize for the policies that shattered the Doukhobor community and left a legacy of hurt. Kabatoff will attend the first of three public apologies by BC officials with her husband, children and grandchildren.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/ ... h-columbia
My First Take on the Online Harms Act: Worst of 2021 Plan Now Gone But Digital Safety Commission Regulatory Power a Huge Concern
February 26, 2024
After years of delay, the government tabled Bill C-63, the Online Harms Act, earlier today. The bill is really three-in-one: the Online Harms Act that creates new duties for Internet companies and a sprawling new enforcement system, changes to the Criminal Code and Canada Human Rights Act that meet longstanding requests from groups to increase penalties and enforcement against hate but which will raise expression concerns and a flood of complaints, and expansion of mandatory reporting of child pornography to ensure that it includes social media companies. This post will seek to unpack some of the key provisions, but with a 100+ page bill, this will require multiple posts and analysis. My immediate response to the government materials was that the bill is significantly different from the 2021 consultation and that many of the worst fears – borne from years of poorly thought out digital policy – have not been realized. Once I worked through the bill itself, concerns about the enormous power vested in the new Digital Safety Commission, which has the feel of a new CRTC funded by the tech companies, began to grow.
At a high level, I offer several takeaways. First, even with some of the concerns identified below, this is better than what the government had planned back in 2021. That online harms consultation envisioned measures such as takedowns without due process, automated reporting to law enforcement, and website blocking. Those measures are largely gone, replaced by an approach that emphasizes three duties: a duty to act responsibly, duty to make certain content inaccessible, and a duty to protect children. That is a much narrower approach and draws heavily from the expert panel formed after the failed 2021 consultation.
Second, there are at least three big red flags in the bill. The first involves the definitions for harms such as inciting violence, hatred, and bullying. As someone who comes from a community that has faced relentless antisemitism and real threats in recent months, I think we need some measures to combat online harms. However, the definitions are not without risks that they may be interpreted in an over broad manner and have implications for freedom of expression. Second – related to the first – is the incredible power vested in the Digital Safety Commission, which will have primary responsibility for enforcing the law. The breadth of powers is remarkable: rulings on making content inaccessible, investigation powers, hearings that under certain circumstances can be closed to the public, establishing regulations and codes of conduct, and the power to levy penalties up to 6% of global revenues of services caught by the law. There is an awful lot there and questions about Commission oversight and accountability will be essential. Third, the provisions involving the Criminal Code and Canadian Human Rights Act require careful study as they feature penalties that go as high as life in prison and open the door to a tidal wave of hate speech related complaints.
Third, this feels like the first Internet regulation bill from this government that is driven primarily by policy rather than implementing the demands of lobby groups or seeking to settle scores with big tech. After the battles over Bills C-11 and C-18, it is difficult to transition to a policy space where experts and stakeholders debate the best policy rather than participating the consultation theatre of the past few years. It notably does not include Bill S-210 style age verification or website blocking. There will need to be adjustments in Bill C-63, particularly efforts to tighten up definitions and ensure effective means to watch the watchers, but perhaps that will come through a genuine welcoming of constructive criticism rather than the discouraging, hostile processes of recent years.
https://www.michaelgeist.ca/2024/02/fir ... harms-act/
Pre-Crime: Canada’s Justice Minister Defends “Online Harms Bill” Powers To Place People Under House Arrest, Cut Internet Access
All as part of Canada's new online censorship law.
Didi Rankovic
March 5, 2024
Canada is facing stiff competition from many countries around the world, some of them labeled as “authoritarian,” in the race to institutionalize and normalize, and write into law, some distinctly dystopian concepts, like “pre-crime.”
And unfortunately for Canada’s democracy, its government seems to be doing very well in this aspect.
Justice Minister and Attorney General Arif Virani is currently defending a bizarre provision contained in the country’s “online harms” (C-63) bill that allows the authorities to place people under house arrest out of “fear” they could, at some point in the future, commit a “hate crime.”
Alternatively, citizens singled out in this way will be made to wear a tracking device – an electronic tag.
“Awful and unlawful” is how critics might describe the bill, which, judging by the minister’s comments, the government wants to rush through the parliament. However, Virani is trying to put a positive spin on it by suggesting it is some kind of democratic breakthrough that finds a balance that allows “awful but lawful” content to be kept online.
Meanwhile, what about the people who post it? Some of them will be kept at home or surveilled around the clock, which is the sum total of the provision. And Virani – who, in his role as attorney general, along with a judge, will be the one to decide who qualifies for this treatment – sees nothing wrong with any of it.
“(If) there’s a genuine fear of an escalation, then an individual or group could come forward and seek a peace bond against them and to prevent them from doing certain things,” Virani said of the “suspected future suspects.”
In Canada, according to the Criminal Code, a peace bond is issued “when a person appears likely to commit a criminal offense, but there are no reasonable grounds to believe that an offense has actually been committed.”
Virani explained that such a peace bond could impose restrictions on people approaching “a synagogue or a mosque” (presumably, also a church). Or, their use of the internet, but also somehow behavior could get “restricted,” he continued.
https://reclaimthenet.org/canadas-justi ... net-access
Two men swapped at birth – one Indigenous, one white – finally get apology
Richard Beauvais and Eddy Ambrose lived out each other’s lives, the third known such mistake in Manitoba. Now the premier is reversing a decision to deny responsibility
Leyland Cecco in Toronto
Thu 21 Mar 2024 10.30 CET
For nearly seven decades, two Canadian men lived lives – full of pain, joy and love – meant for the other.
Richard Beauvais, 68, believed he was Indigenous. Eddy Ambrose, who shares the same birthday, always understood that he was of Ukrainian descent.
But that reality shattered four years ago when, after a series of DNA tests, they learned they had been mistakenly switched at birth.
On Thursday, Wab Kinew, the recently elected premier of Manitoba, will apologize to Beauvais and Ambrose in the province’s legislature, reversing a decision by the previous government to deny responsibility for the mix-up. The painful saga, which embodies the damaging effects of Canada’s colonial policies, also highlights the fragile nature of identity and the complex meaning of family.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/ ... ty-apology
Canada's maple syrup reserve almost empty as sap season at risk of becoming another casualty of the winter that wasn't
Will maple syrup always be available for breakfast? A collision of forces have brought the billion-plus dollar industry to an uncertain moment.
Kate-Allen
By Kate AllenClimate Change Reporter
Sunday, March 24, 2024
Throughout what should have been the frigid depths of winter, an unseasonably warm sun beat down on a series of billboards and bus-stop ads across Toronto. The campaign urged passers-by to consume even more of a familiar, maybe even patriotic, household staple: maple syrup.
"It's not just for breakfast," the ads propose.
The implicit assumption of the billboards, and of pancake-eaters nationwide, is that maple syrup will always be available for breakfast. But a collision of forces have brought the billion-plus dollar industry to an uncertain moment.
Quebec's strategic reserve of maple syrup, a trio of vast warehouses that typically hold tens of thousands of barrels, is nearing empty after a couple warm winters collided with a pandemic-era spike in demand. Built to hold 133 million pounds of syrup, the reserve has dwindled to just 6.9 million pounds, a fraction of where it sat just four years ago.
Now, as the sugaring season runs on after a balmy winter-that-wasn't shattered historical records, producers are eyeing taps with concern.
"We really, really need a good production year this year, because we want to not only fill the markets with the product that it needs, but also be able to build back the strategic reserve," said Simon Doré-Ouellet, Deputy General-Manager of Québec Maple Syrup Producers.
Doré-Ouellet said there is no concern of an immediate shortage, and his organization is distributing millions of new taps across the province in an effort to ramp up production over the coming years. Quebec provides roughly 90 per cent of the maple syrup tapped in Canada, and more than two-thirds globally.
But the reserve, the only one like it in the world, exists in part to stabilize supply — and prices — in Canada and beyond. It has also provided the foundation to push Canadian maple syrup into new global markets as distant as Australia and Japan.
"You can go into any Metro or Food Basics or Loblaws or whatever, and you could find maple syrup at a price that's fairly predictable. Well, it might be a lot less predictable if we start to get to the end of the reserve," said Warren Mabee, Director of the Queen’s Institute for Energy and Environmental Policy and an expert on forestry and forest products.
"One of the worst things that could happen would be to have a shortage of product, given how much we're trying to push maple syrup and export it worldwide. So it's really important for us to be able to count on that strategic reserve," said Doré-Ouellet.
In some ways the current stresses are a signpost of success. Maple syrup consumption has spiked in recent years, seemingly driven by sticky pandemic habits.
Syrup sales were rising at respectable, single-digit percentages annually prior to 2020. Then COVID-19 hit, restaurants closed, and people started cooking at home. From 2020 onwards, sales spiked up to 20 per cent annually, and have stayed high.
Sixth behind VT, NY, ME, WI, and MI last year. Michigan syrup is of course noticeably better than Vermont, though Vermont syrup will do in a pinch.AndyinPA wrote: ↑Mon Mar 25, 2024 12:51 pm I need it! While I've brought maple syrup home from Canada many times, I mostly buy Pennsylvania maple syrup. Second in quantity only to Vermont in US, I think. I recently bought a gallon of it, in two half gallon containers. $30 for each container. We didn't have a car and had to carry it. I do not and will not touch the corn syrup crap. I've been known to take my own small maple syrup serving into restaurants.
