A Resolute Bay man charged with first-degree murder appeared virtually Tuesday in an Iqaluit courtroom.

Babah Kalluk, 44, a slim man with close-cut hair and wearing a short-sleeved blue jail robe, joined the proceedings from where he is being held in custody in Iqaluit.

A few members of the public also attended in the courtroom.

RCMP charged Kalluk on Nov. 23 with first-degree murder, assault and indignity to human remains, according to court documents.

Zipporah Kalluk, Babah’s mother, is identified as the victim in court documents. His family identified Zipporah Kalluk as the accused’s mother in a Nov. 29 GoFundMe post raising money for funeral expenses.

Babah Kalluk met with a lawyer Monday and will be represented by defence lawyers Ioannis Yannakis and Matthew Eaton-Kent, Yannakis announced in the courtroom.

The charges are new and “complicated,” Crown prosecutor Christopher McCarthy said, adding that in these circumstances it would take two to three months to gather evidence.

Babah Kalluk is scheduled to appear in court again on March 4.

Regina's Nēwo-Yōtina Friendship Centre has a paramedic on site in case of an overdose.

Canada has told the Assembly of First Nations that Ottawa has no mandate to negotiate nationally after chiefs rejected a $47.8-billion offer to reform the on-reserve child welfare system long term. Instead, the federal government is opting to continue negotiations with First Nations leaders in Ontario to strike a region-specific deal.

Broadview is an independent Canadian media organization and registered charity focused on spirituality, social justice and ethical living. Through our print magazine and online platforms, Broadview challenges and inspires readers across the country. We are currently inviting applications for the Muriel Duncan Broadview Internship, which offers the successful applicant $8,400 to work with the editorial team at Broadview for 12 weeks this summer. The intern will have the chance to pitch and write stories, participate in editorial meetings, copy edit articles, fact-check features, proofread layouts and create digital content.

Candidates must be under 30 and enrolled in a Canadian post-secondary institution at the time of application. They must also be a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident or hold refugee status to qualify. The internship will be remote, with the option of occasional meetings at our Toronto office on Danforth Avenue. Please submit your resumé and cover letter, along with three writing samples and three story ideas that demonstrate your familiarity with the publication, to Jocelyn Bell, Editor/Publisher, at [email protected].

Application deadline: Monday, Feb. 10, 2025.

Broadview is committed to fostering a culture of inclusion, equity and diversity in its hiring practices. Broadview invites applications from all qualified individuals, including from historically marginalized and underrepresented communities. This includes but is not limited to those who identify as Black, Indigenous or people of colour, 2SLGBTQ+ and people living with a disability. Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process. While we sincerely thank everyone who applies, only those considered for an interview will be contacted.

The post Broadview is looking for a summer intern appeared first on Broadview Magazine.

Rod Sykes, mayor of Calgary from 1969 to 1977, is reported to have died in the past few days.

During his three consecutive terms in office, James Rodney Winter Sykes put in motion major projects that continue to benefit Alberta’s largest city, among them development of the iconic Calgary Tower, Calgary’s downtown convention centre, and the city’s sprawling light-rail transit system. He was 95.

A notice of Sykes’ death has not yet been published. 

Andrew Marshall, author of the only biography of  Sykes and a member of the mayor’s staff for three years during a break from his long career as a Calgary Herald journalist, described  Sykes, “despite his thin frame,” as “a larger than life character, who, in the first half of his life, was committed to supporting the regular citizen – young, old, working people, immigrants.”

“I marvelled at the fearlessness, the unvarnished outrageousness of this ectomorphic oddball; not to mention his iron will to complete worthwhile projects,” Marshall wrote in Thin Power: How Former Calgary Mayor Rod Sykes Stamped His Brand on the City … And Scorched Some Sacred Cows, which was published in 2016.

While Sykes became more conservative, even reactionary, in his later years, Marshall told me in a note yesterday about  Sykes’ passing, “during his years as mayor, he loved taking on sacred cows such as the Stampede Board, Chamber of Commerce, University of Calgary, and, of course, our dear Calgary Herald, then a loyal mouthpiece for the Calgary Establishment.” 

“His anti-establishment stances may be the reason that, as far as I know, there is not a single official recognition of his role as three-term mayor,”  Marshall said in his note. “Nothing so modest as a miserable cul-de-sac has been named after him.”

Marshall remembered how it was  Sykes who had the vision of a light-rail system in Calgary, and worked hard to persuade the city to purchase the right of way and rolling stock required for it. 

“Mayor Ross Alger, who followed him, tried to put the brakes on that project, but Alger’s successor, Ralph Klein, continued to push it,”  Marshall wrote in 2016. As a result,  Klein, mayor of Calgary from 1980 to 1989 and later premier of Alberta, often gets the credit that  Sykes deserved. 

Sykes described himself with more than a little justice as “God’s gift to cartoonists.” He was a gift to old-style journalists too, never afraid of a noisy public fight with anyone, including the most powerful members of Cowtown’s establishment – and that inevitably meant many of the people most municipal politicians are too terrified to cross.

Not Rod Sykes. The Chamber of Commerce, the almighty Stampede Board and the Herald, which in those long-gone days saw itself as the Newspaper of Record of Southern Alberta, all felt the sting of his wrath. He once publicly described yet another of my former fellow Herald colleagues as a “chicken-shit operator,” prompting a headline writers to solemnly declare, “Mayor uses fowl language on reporter.”

Despite his blunt language, Sykes was able to build what Marshall called “an amazingly broad coalition of support” that enabled him to overcome the opposition of his powerful and well-connected fellow citizens. For his part, Sykes once explained his aggressive debating style like this: “When you have someone down, don’t walk away with them still breathing.”

Born in Montreal on May 19, 1929, raised on Vancouver island, and an accountant by trade,  Sykes’ “hawk-eyed accountancy skills,” said Marshall, enabled him to spot and root out the cozy financial relationships with government that thrived in those days in Calgary – and will again soon if the United Conservative Party gets its way in the next municipal election. 

Sykes thought subsequent Calgary mayors, including Klein, squandered his legacy by neglecting city services and allowing the mayor’s authority to be diluted to the point that when  Klein became premier, he could declaw mayors’ powers in that year’s revision of the Municipal Government Act.

Sykes also spent a short, unsuccessful period as the leader of Alberta’s Social Credit Party from 1980 to 1982. In that role, Marshall observed yesterday, he presents a cautionary tale for another three-term Calgary mayor, Naheed Nenshi, now leader of the Alberta NDP, about what can happen when mayors turn to provincial politics. 

“Under Sykes’ leadership in the early 1980s, the once-mighty Alberta Social Credit Party collapsed into oblivion.” Marshall said. “He was not a good team player. As a mayor, used to making decisions on his own, he lacked the ability or desire to share responsibilities.”

The post Rod Sykes, mayor of Calgary from 1969 to 1977, dead at 95 appeared first on rabble.ca.

The Ontario government is launching new energy efficiency programs, including the Home Renovation Savings Program, to help families and businesses save money. The programs are part of a new $10.9 billion, 12-year investment in energy efficiency, the largest in Canada’s history.

The new Home Renovation Savings Program will launch on January 28, 2025, and offer rebates of up to 30 per cent for home energy efficiency renovations and improvements, including new windows, doors, insulation, air sealing, smart thermostats, and heat pumps, as well as rooftop solar panels and battery storage systems for people who want to generate and store energy at home. Later in 2025, the program will expand to include rebates for energy efficient appliances, including refrigerators and freezers.

“These new Energy Efficiency Programs that all  residents have access to will lower energy bills, put more megawatts into Ontario’s energy grid, and ultimately put more money back into your pockets,” said MPP Donna Skelly, Member of Provincial Parliament for Flamborough-Glanbrook, in a release.

The government’s Affordable Energy Act, which came into force on December 4, 2024, ensures the new Home Renovation Savings Program, and other program offerings, will be expanded to homeowners who heat their homes by propane and oil, instead of being restricted to those who heat with electricity, as it was under previous governments.

The province is also expanding the popular Peak Perks program with a new program specifically targeted to small businesses, including convenience stores and restaurants. Businesses will receive a financial incentive of $75 upon initial enrollment in the program and $20 per year for each eligible smart thermostat connected to a central air conditioning system or heat pump unit.

In addition to the two new energy efficiency programs, the province will continue to support 12 Save on Energy programs, including the highly popular Retrofit Program for business, as well as other programs geared to low-income households, businesses, municipalities, institutions, the agricultural sector, industry and on-reserve First Nation communities.

The government forecasts that by 2036,the expansion of energy efficiency programs will reduce the province’s peak demand by 3,000 MW – the equivalent of taking three million homes off the grid.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to step down has sparked speculation about who will lead the Liberals into the next election — but his decision to prorogue Parliament could also narrow the timing of when the federal vote will be held.

A significant barrier women face in men-dominated fields, like science and engineering, is balancing work and family responsibilities. While work-family conflict is not unique to these industries, it’s amplified by their long hours and high demands.

To address these challenges, organizations are increasingly offering family benefits, such as extended parental leave. Industries such as finance and technology in the United States and financial services in the United Kingdom are leading the way in offering generous parental leave policies.

However, such policies can have a paradoxical effect: despite their positive intentions in attracting women to men-dominated occupations, they may inadvertently harm women’s careers by reinforcing, rather than solving, inequities.

By comparison, recent research suggests that men may not face negative penalties after taking a parental leave. Moreover, taking a parental leave has been linked to positive impressions of men.

Our recent research suggests that women who take longer parental leaves in men-dominated industries may face penalties, including lower pay and limited promotion opportunities.

Enabling organizations to understand the unintended negative consequences of such policies and counteract them with initiatives that can help working mothers is critical to achieving equity aspirations espoused by leading companies.

Gendered work expectations

Women are often seen as highly communal, characterized by traits like warmth and compassion, while men are viewed as highly agentic, associated with career dedication and ambition.

Agentic qualities are often deemed essential in men-dominated occupations, and these gendered stereotypes create a perceived mismatch between women’s communal traits and the agentic qualities valued in these professions.

To advance in these fields, women must demonstrate agency. However, taking parental leave — a strongly communal act — can undermine perceptions of women’s agency, with longer leaves exacerbating doubts about their commitment and ambition.

Conversely, these negative effects may not arise in women-dominated industries like education and health care, where communal traits align more closely with the skills and values needed for success. In such fields, taking parental leave is less likely to harm women’s salaries or career progression.

Australian parental leave policies

We conducted three studies on Australian parental leave policies using mixed methods, including archival data and experimental studies.

Our first study used archival data from 2001 to 2013 from the Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey (HILDA) published by the Melbourne Institute. Our findings showed that longer parental leave was associated with lower post-leave income for women in men-dominated occupations. No such relationship was observed for women in women-dominated or gender-neutral occupations, like the food trade and horticulture.

Our second study replicated these findings using an experimental design with 311 Australian workers. For women applying to men-dominated roles, taking a 12-month parental leave (compared to one month) resulted in lower recommended salaries. A 12-month leave is a standard and commonly taken length in Australia. This effect was not observed for women applying to women-dominated jobs.

Our third study tested underlying explanations for these outcomes using another experiment with 163 workers and students in Australia. Results revealed that longer parental leaves negatively impacted perceptions of women’s agency, which, in turn, influenced salary recommendations. Longer leaves adversely affected evaluations of leadership effectiveness and promotability into management roles.

The negative outcomes of longer parental leaves in the second and third studies were consistent regardless of the evaluators’ gender.

However, our research has limitations. Because of the nature of the HILDA data, our findings predominantly reflect outcomes for women who are white, cisgender and heterosexual. Future research should examine the impact of parental leave policies in more diverse gender and racial contexts to promote inclusivity in research and the knowledge it generates.

Parental leave is essential

Parental leaves — particularly longer ones — are vital for both women’s health and career progression. Longer parental leaves are linked to improved health outcomes for mothers and babies.

The availability of parental leave plays a crucial role in helping women remain in the workforce and return after childbirth. Thus, parental leave is essential for supporting maternal and infant health while reducing women’s turnover and workforce attrition.

However, if not managed effectively, parental leave can inadvertently harm women’s careers, especially in fields where they are underrepresented. Having a policy alone is not sufficient; it’s equally important to ensure women are fully supported upon their return to work.

At a minimum, managers and decision-makers must recognize that women may face biased evaluations post-leave, even when their qualifications and performance are on par with peers who have not taken leave.

Organizations should implement policies and practices that support mothers during their transition back to work. For instance, keep-in-touch programs can help women stay connected with their workplaces during leave. Such programs can enhance perceptions of women’s agency and mitigating the potential negative impacts of extended leaves.

More broadly, fostering allyship among men in men-dominated workplaces is essential. Men allies can address the career challenges faced by women who take parental leave and reduce the adverse effects of under-representation, particular in STEM fields, by promoting inclusion and respect for women.

Cultural changes are needed

While men-dominated industries often lead in offering generous parental leave policies to attract and retain women, these same policies can unintentionally hinder women’s long-term career success and impede gender equity in these fields. This negative impact is not observed in women-dominated occupations.

Men-dominated industries often prioritize agentic traits — such as long working hours and rigidity — over flexibility and inclusivity, which adversely affect both women and men. This emphasis on agentic traits can persist even when competence and high performance are evident.

To address this, organizations must cultivate leadership, cultures, and norms that value communal traits as much as agentic ones.

Research in the firefighting profession — a traditionally men-dominated field — demonstrates that such cultural shifts are possible. Equally emphasizing both agentic and communal traits in the profession fosters a culture of greater acceptance of women. This rebalancing not only diversifies the field, but also redefines success in a more inclusive manner.

One way for organizations to shift cultures to value communality more would be to measure and evaluate communal aspects of one’s performance. That is, organizations and managers would need to re-define what success looks like and what needs to be measured to assess effectiveness of one’s performance.

Ultimately, meaningful cultural change in men-dominated industries is essential to create workplaces that are more inclusive, balanced and supportive of diverse talent.

Tanya Zarina, Director of HR Strategy at Equinix and an HR consultant, co-authored this article.

Ivona Hideg's research has received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

Raymond Nam Cam Trau receives funding from Grace Papers and the Victorian Government for a research project exploring the support for the transition between parental leave and return to work in the public sector. Both organisations are located in Melbourne, Australia

Anja Krstic and Yujie Zhan do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Hip-hop has a story to tell — from early works like Grandmaster Flash’s The Message to Kendrick Lamar’s Pulitzer-winning album DAMN. and beyond.

As education scholar Bettina L. Loves notes, in hip-hop-based education, young urban and Black children and youth find space to critically reflect on the world around them.

To explore the potential of hip-hop and rap music as a platform for research and translating relevant knowledge related to various types of Canadian law, RISE Edutainment, an arts-based youth organization, piloted their Legal Artivism program.

RISE stands for Reaching Intelligent Souls Everywhere. This longstanding organization is based in Scarborough, Ont., in the Greater Toronto Area, and serves racialized communities throughout the GTA.

Entering into public discourse

Rap music — as one of hip-hop’s four main elements (the other three are DJing, breaking (dance) and graffiti) — can provide young people an opportunity to enter into public discourse using cultural competencies and skills that are familiar to them.

For researchers interested in understanding and studying young people, rap music offers a platform to allow young people to share their lived experiences through more accessible language than surveys or interviews.

Using rap music to discuss research offers a form of arts-based knowledge translation for researchers to share ideas, research findings and information. In this way, research that was previously only in journals and reports is made into music that young people already listen to.

RISE’s Legal Artivism program “promoted access to justice to socioeconomically marginalized and racialized youth, teaching them about their rights, how to navigate justice and education systems, and culturally specific supports available to them.” Through a nine-month residency program, emerging Black artists learned about the Canadian legal system. Through poetry, music and visual art, they shared this information back to their communities. Youth were supported to become “artivists,” or arts-based activists, in the process.

Artistic mentors

Organized in to three parts, the program first taught the artists about all the different types of law in Canada. Artists were exposed to employment law, immigration law, criminal law and entertainment law. Artists picked which area(s) of law most interested them and were paired with a legal expert to help them research their area.

In the second phase of the program, artists were paired with an artistic mentor that helped them draft and edit their art, which included rap music, singing, spoken word poetry and visual art.

In the third phase, artists recorded their track (or perfected their visual art pieces, in the case of one participant) and began performing their pieces for the community.

The artists debuted their pieces at the Centre for Young Black Professionals, a charity that addresses economic and social barriers affecting Black youth, and also performed at several high schools.

Read more: Mentorship is key to improving social and economic outcomes for Black youth

Artists’ identities as knowledge translators

I undertook research and evaluation on the program. As the researcher, I sought to understand how the artists viewed themselves as knowledge translators and “artivists” after this program.

Artists were invited to participate in semi-structured interviews about their relationship to art, activism and the program. Their song lyrics were also analyzed to see how they reflect the sentiments highlighted in the artist interviews. The results mirrored what research tells us about the power of hip-hop culture.

Read more: 50 years of hip-hop: Its social and political power resonates far beyond its New York birthplace

On each performance occasion, the audience discussions highlighted the new legal information gained, and the racism the audience members have similarly witnessed and experienced within the legal system. Through the experience of creating and performing music and art, the artists felt they had gained skills integral to their artistic practice. They also gained a strong sense of resistance identity rooted in Black and racialized communities.

Insights from growing up

One participant, Venesha “Just Venting,” highlighted this in her interview when she spoke about the importance of positive representation of her stigmatized community:

“A lot of my art that I’ve created in the past had to do with growing up in my community. Um, the redevelopment that was happening in my community alongside all the other issues as I had shared before. Um, you know, as a woman, as a black woman, as a Christian woman. Um, so, yeah, a lot of the pieces that I wrote were tied to personal experiences and, you know, identity.”

In her song, “Token to Corporate,” she says:

“Applicants are more than a name to pick and choose/Does it roll off their European tongue like a scroll/put some respect on the surnames of those who’ve paved paths to freedom in cornrow braids/and on dirt grounds that now mark paper with pens in classrooms/I’ve heard teachers butcher more names void of apology as they’ve eaten dreams and regurgitated nightmares of the young, Black, and gifted/it’s no wonder so many have given up”

These lyrics highlight some of the ways Eurocentric education and employment marginalizes and harms Black youth in varied ways. Education scholar Carl James and colleagues note in the report Towards Race Equity in Education: The Schooling of Black Students in the Greater Toronto Area that strategies to address anti-Black racism across many aspects of schooling are needed.

Read more: Dismantling anti-Black racism in our schools: Accountability measures are key

Becoming community leaders

More than simply making art or sharing legal information, participating in translating knowledge transformed these artists into community leaders with a platform and sense of purpose. Participant Jaimie Ivory highlighted this shift in his music after the program:

“I’ve always wanted to figure out how to reach people instead of just making music and putting it out. I thought to myself, how can I evolve through arts and involve myself into more things like community programs, etc.? Because that’s the next level for me. Making an impact and making a difference!”

His song, “Labels,” focusses on legal knowledge needed when facing criminal charges, and how to obtain a pardon.

The song discusses the importance of not allowing past deeds and a criminal record to define one’s life. He addresses racial profiling experienced by Black people, pushes back against stereotypes and uses his music to empower others to build a positive sense of self beyond negative labels. In his chorus, he says: “You want to label me as a criminal/do your background check Mr. Officer/that was seven years ago.”

Using arts-based knowledge translation and hip-hop to engage communities offers a way to share important information in a format that adopts to the needs of community.

Famously labelled “the Black CNN” by rapper Chuck D, hip-hop and rap music have always been an avenue to get important information out.

Anna Lippman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

It’s not known exactly when the next federal election will be, but it will happen in 2025. And as the new year dawns, only a few candidates have put their hats in the ring to run in the northern ridings of Nunavut and Abitibi-Baie-James-Nunavik-Eeyou.

In Nunavut, incumbent New Democratic Party MP Lori Idlout stands alone as the only nominated candidate, as she seeks re-election for a second term.

Representatives from the Liberal party and Conservative party in Nunavut did not respond to requests for comment.

In Nunavik, Bloc Québécois MP Sylvie Bérubé announced in October she will stand for re-election for a third term to represent the riding of Abitibi-Baie-James-Nunavik-Eeyou.

The Conservative party is the only other party with a candidate listed on its website for that riding — Steve Corriveau, who previously made his first run for federal office in 2021.

Liberals in Nunavik said there is no candidate in the riding yet, but with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s announcement this week that he will resign, the priority to name somebody is there, said Lise Kistabish, riding chair for the party in Abitibi-Baie-James-Nunavik-Eeyou.

Nina Amrov, deputy director of communications for the NDP in Nunavik, said the party has not yet set a date to nominate a candidate.

Trudeau announced Monday he will be step down from Canada’s top office and as the leader of the Liberal party as soon as a successor as chosen.

To that end, he received approval from Gov. Gen. Mary Simon to prorogue Parliament until March 24.

According to Canadian election law, the next federal election must be held on or before Oct. 20 this year. But one could be triggered sooner if the minority Liberal government loses a non-confidence vote after MPs return in the spring.

The Liberals had enjoyed the support of the NDP through a supply-and-confidence agreement until NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh pulled out of the deal in September.

Singh then stopped short of supporting three Conservative attempts at toppling the government through non-confidence motions before the Christmas holidays.

The Conservatives were planning to move another motion of non-confidence by the end of January, which Singh had indicated he would support, but those plans are on ice with prorogation.

Satvir Jatana, president and CEO of Manitoba Public Insurance, speaks in Winnipeg on Friday, November 15, 2024. (CHRISD.CA FILE)

WINNIPEG — Manitoba Public Insurance will increase automobile insurance costs by 5.7 percent this year following an order by the Public Utilities Board.

The price increase for basic-rate automobile insurance will take effect on April 1.

MPI had been seeking a 3 percent increase as part of its application, which the Crown corporation filed with the PUB last summer.

The increase will cost the average driver $50.84 more annually or $4.24 per month for passenger vehicle policies. Basic insurance, which is mandatory for Manitoba drivers, is regulated annually by the PUB.

Optional extension products, chosen by 96 percent of MPI customers, will also see a 2 percent rate increase, adding approximately $1.99 per year to the average passenger vehicle policy. These products include additional liability coverage, lower deductibles, and rental vehicle insurance.

Additionally, the PUB has approved a $10 annual increase for driver’s licences, the first adjustment since 1997, to support the province’s Personal Injury Protection Plan (PIPP).

© 2025. This article Manitoba Drivers to See Insurance Rate Increases in 2025 appeared first on ChrisD.ca - Winnipeg News.

Sentencing for a Toronto man believed to be the mastermind of a $36-million cross-border drug trafficking operation that started in Windsor, Ont., is being delayed until July because he's waiting to become a first-time father. His partner was previously given a conditional sentence of two years.

As Canadians, we look back proudly at how our country, in recent years, opened its doors to Syrian and Ukrainian refugees. As Canadian Jews, previous generations of our own people have come to this land as refugees. But we remember Canada’s painful history of antisemitism: in the 1930’s and 40’s, when the Jews of Europe desperately sought refuge from Nazi genocide, Canada closed its borders to them: “None is too many,” a Canadian official remarked. Our religious tradition clearly teaches “welcoming the stranger” as one of its highest values. In other words, the plight of refugees weighs, or ought to weigh, heavily on us as Jewish Canadians.

This is why we signed and helped organize this open letter, signed by over 50 Jewish communal leaders and eight progressive Jewish organizations. It is significant that such a broad cross section of the Jewish community has gotten behind this push.

Unfortunately, both our Canadian government and too many mainstream Jewish institutions have abandoned the Palestinians of Gaza desperately seeking refuge in Canada. January marks one year since the federal government announced a Temporary Residency Visa (TRP) program for Gazans escaping the war. At first they capped the number at 1,000 individuals eligible to be let in to reunite with family in Canada, then it was expanded to 5,000. So far, only a few hundred have made it to Canada from Egypt, yet it is unclear if any made it out of Gaza because of the program. Palestinians stranded in Gaza urgently need safe passage out.

By contrast, Canada has welcomed almost 300,000 Ukrainians. Since October 7, 2023 almost 8,000 Israelis have made it to Canada. Neither group faces the plethora of restrictions and obstacles that the Canadian government imposes on Gazans. Yet Gazans face a humanitarian disaster unimaginable to any Canadian: famine and malnutrition, a broken-down health system that sees war amputations occuring often without proper anesthetic, the vast majority of the population rendered internal refugees (and often displaced multiple times over). According to an analysis by Oxfam: “More women and children have been killed in Gaza by the Israeli military over the past year than the equivalent period of any other conflict over the past two decades.”

Our hearts break for our Palestinian Canadian friends and neighbours who wait with anxiety and anguish for Canada to finally allow in their family members, and for Canada to pressure Israel and Egypt to let the refugees out. As Jews, we have no quarrel with Palestinian civilians. Unfortunately, a rather un-Jewish us-vs.-them mentality has crept into the thinking of some Jewish institutions – as though any concern for Palestinian well-being somehow constitutes a threat to Jews. In recent decades, we thought that the “none is too many” attitude had been relegated to the dustbin of history. But now, government inaction, and the silence of our Jewish institutions, demonstrate an approach that is all too similar.

A version of this article was first published December 13, 2024 in Alberta Jewish News.

The post The Jewish voice of solidarity for Palestinian refuge in Canada appeared first on rabble.ca.

A provincial agency has deemed a proposed mining project in Quebec’s Abitibi-Témiscamingue region unacceptable due to insufficient information on risks and impacts, including concerns about public health, safety and air quality.

A ship that had been stuck in the St. Lawrence River northeast of Montreal since Christmas Eve was successfully refloated on Tuesday.

The Canadian Coast Guard says the MV Maccoa has been escorted by tugboats to a dock at Sorel-Tracy, Que.

A perimeter has been established around the court house and road closures are in effect. 

Three EPS officers applied for a judicial review after they were each suspended without pay, for different reasons, in 2022. A new court ruling includes rarely disclosed details from Chief Dale McFee's reasons for the suspensions, and the police commission's internal reviews.

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An outbreak of the measles in the Fredericton and Woodstock areas is over, say provincial health officials, who urged people to ensure they’re vaccinated against it.

The provincial government issued a news release Tuesday, advising it had declared the outbreak in Zone 3 was over.

Zone 3 includes Fredericton and the upper Saint John River Valley.

“While this outbreak is over, I encourage New Brunswickers to continue to stay up to date on their immunizations,” Dr. Mark McKelvie, regional medical officer of health, said in the release.

“Vaccination is the most effective way to protect yourself and your loved ones against numerous vaccine-preventable diseases, like measles.”

The outbreak was declared Nov. 1 and stemmed originally from a travel-associated case that spread to 50 people in the region, the release said.

“The last case was confirmed on Nov. 26,” it said.

Public health officials reached out to 266 people through contact tracing, conducted active surveillance for new potential cases, provided advice to those who were potentially exposed and urged people to ensure their vaccinations were up to date.

The province reports that as of Jan. 2, health-care providers had immunized 239 people through 30 special immunization clinics.

“This situation is a good reminder that diseases that are happening elsewhere in the world can quickly arrive on our doorstep, and of the importance of being up to date on our immunizations to protect ourselves from these vaccine-preventable infections,” Dr. Yves Léger, acting chief medical officer of health, said in the release.

Most people are protected from measles infection from two vaccine doses. In New Brunswick, the vaccine that protects against measles, mumps, rubella and varicella is part of the routine publicly funded schedule for babies aged 12 and 18 months.

It’s also available free for children who haven’t received two doses and for adults born in 1970 or later, the release said.

The virus is transmitted through the air or by direct contact with an infected person.

The disease can be more severe in adults and infants, the release said, and it can lead to complications.

The Fredericton Independent can be reached by email here.

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PALM BEACH, Florida (AP) — Less than two weeks before taking office, President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday took some of his most audacious claims and promises of the transition period and amped them up to new levels.

Speaking to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, Trump would not rule out using military force to seize control of the Panama Canal and Greenland, citing national security interests. Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark, a longtime U.S. ally and a founding member of NATO. Washington relinquished control of the canal to Panama, another ally, in 1999.

Trump also criticized the late President Jimmy Carter just as his remains were being transported from the Carter Presidential Center in Georgia to Washington for three days of state funeral rites in the capital.

And he escalated his threats against Hamas, warning anew that, “All hell will break out in the Middle East” if the Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza are not returned before he takes office.

Some of the highlights from the press conference:

The new Trump imperialism

Trump ran on an isolationist “America First” agenda, promising to spend more time worrying about America’s problems than the world’s. But since his win, Trump has been increasingly preoccupied with a new imperialist agenda, threatening to seize control of the Panama Canal, Greenland and even Canada, a top U.S. ally and trading partner.

The billionaire Elon Musk, a frequent presence at Mar-a-Lago, even suggested in a survey posted on X that the U.S. “should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government.”

Asked Tuesday whether he would rule out using the military in Panama and Greenland, Trump refused to do so.

“I’m not going to commit to that. It might be that you’ll have to do something,” he said. “The Panama Canal is vital to our country.”

Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., is currently in Greenland, increasing speculation about his father’s intentions.

“We need Greenland for national security purposes,” the president-elect said. He also threatened to impose high tariffs on Denmark, while predicting the people of Greenland would welcome his plan.

“The people are going to probably vote for independence or to come into the United States,” he said.

Trump has also repeatedly talked about Canada joining the U.S. as its 51st state — rhetoric that at first sounded like trolling of outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but that has become increasingly serious.

Trump told reporters he would not use military force to annex the country of more than 40 million people that is a founding NATO partner. Instead, he threatened “economic force,” as he cast the U.S. trade deficit with Canada — a nation rich in natural resources that provides the U.S. with crude oil, cars and petroleum — as a subsidy.

“Why are we supporting a country $200 billion plus a year,” he asked, insisting the U.S. doesn’t need Canadian cars, lumber or milk.

Trump also renewed talk of steep tariffs on both Canada and Mexico in response to their handling of the northern and southern borders.

And, adding something new to the mix, he said he’d move to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.

Mixed transition messages

Trump repeatedly complained that President Joe Biden has been undermining his transition to power, even as other members of his team have offered praise for the current administration’s cooperation.

Trump railed against Biden’s move this week to ban offshore energy drilling on about 625 million acres of federal water, including along the East and West coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and portions of Alaska’s Northern Bering Sea.

Biden’s actions on offshore drilling “will not stand,″ Trump said. ”I will reverse it immediately. And we will drill, baby, drill.” He pledged to take the dispute to the courts “if we need to.”

Trump cast Biden’s effort — one in a series of final actions before the Democrat leaves office — as part of an effort to undermine him.

“You know, they told me that, ‘We’re going to do everything possible to make this transition to the new administration very smooth,’” Trump said. “It’s not smooth.”

Other members of Trump’s team have repeatedly cast the outgoing and incoming administration as working closely together, particularly on foreign policy matters. The Biden administration has also provided access and courtesies to the incoming team that Trump initially denied Biden after the 2020 election.

Trump’s incoming chief of staff, Susie Wiles, told Axios in an interview published Monday that Biden chief of staff Jeff Zients had been “very helpful,” introducing her to former chiefs of staff and hosting her for a dinner at his home.

Trump believes he is now driving force in Gaza hostage talks

Trump set a clear expectation at his press conference: A deal to release the 100 hostages that remain captive in Gaza must be completed by the time he takes office in less than two weeks.

“If this deal’s not done for the people representing our nation by the time I get to office all hell is going to break out,” said Trump, hammering home a threat he’s been making since last month without detailing what those ramifications could mean.

Trump is dispatching his incoming special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, to Qatar this week for additional talks. Witkoff said real progress has been made on the talks, which are centered on a 42-day ceasefire deal in exchange for the release of hostages.

“The red lines he’s put out there — that’s driving this negotiation,” Witkoff told reporters standing next to Trump.

One sticking point in landing a deal has been Hamas’ call for a permanent cessation in fighting to be agreed to at the outset. Witkoff in an exchange with reporters following the press conference said that Hamas’ negotiating position has been weakened.

“I’m not sure they have the leverage to,” Witkoff said. “I mean, they can say what they want.”

Witkoff said he’s been having near daily conversations with Biden’s Middle East adviser, Brett McGurk, who has served as the outgoing administration’s chief interlocutor in the talks. McGurk has also been in Qatar this week for talks.

Witkoff offered praise for the “solid” Biden team’s coordination on the talks. But he also made clear that the specter of Trump’s return to office is changing the dynamic on the efforts to release the hostages that have languished for months. Israeli officials believe at least one-third of those still being held are dead.

“I just think that President Trump’s persona is such that he’s driving the narrative on this negotiation — that it is that relevant that he is coming in,” Witkoff said.

Trump criticizes Carter as the former president’s body lays in state

Carter’s body was transported to Washington from his native Georgia on Tuesday to lay in state at the U.S. Capitol –- but that didn’t stop Trump from making digs at the former president.

Trump said it’s “a disgrace what took place at the Panama Canal. Jimmy Carter gave it to them for one dollar.”

Trump has spent weeks decrying Carter for signing a 1977 treaty that transferred control of the Panama Canal back to its home country in 1999. He argues that Panama is overcharging U.S. ships to use the waterway and has allowed China to increase its influence there.

Trump has long been critical of Carter, making his administration a punchline on the campaign trail as part of a larger dig at Biden for today’s high inflation rates, although he offered some gracious statements upon his death, saying the country owed the former president “a debt of gratitude.”

Current presidents traditionally refrain from sharply criticizing former presidents, offering deference to fellow members of the informal president’s club. But, like so many Washington traditions, Trump hasn’t been afraid to flout that.

“I liked him as a man. I disagreed with his policies,” Trump said when pressed about whether it was appropriate to criticize Carter as his body was on its final trip to Washington.

“This was a question that was asked of me. I didn’t bring it up. I didn’t want to bring up the Panama Canal because of Jimmy Carter’s death,” Trump added. But he had mentioned the canal earlier unprompted.

Itchy heating

As he vowed to expand offshore drilling and energy exploration, Trump also pledged to roll back limits on gas heaters.

Biden, Trump claimed, “wants all gas heaters out of your homes and apartments.” It was an apparent reference to an Energy Department rule published last month that would require so-called tankless water heaters to improve their efficiency by about 13% by 2029.

The updated standards would require products to use condensing technology that wastes less heat, officials said. About 60% of new units now sold meet the new standards, and all major water heater manufacturers sell the more efficient models, according to the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, an advocacy group that promotes energy efficiency.

“I don’t know what it is with electric. This guy loves electric,″ Trump said, referring to Biden.

Gas heat is less expensive than electric heat, Trump said, adding that gas heat “is much better. It’s a much better heat. As the expression goes, you don’t itch. Does anybody have a heater where you go and you scratch an itch? That’s what they want you to have.”

___

Colvin reported from New York and Madhani from Washington.

Jill Colvin, Aamer Madhani And Will Weissert, The Associated Press

L’animatrice des nouvelles nationales, Kim Sullivan, discute avec la directrice de Transit Secours, Anathalie Jean Charles, du service gratuit de déménagement et d’entreposage qu’offre leur organisme aux personnes et familles fuyant la violence.

The post Profil : Transit Secours offre services de déménagement et d’entreposage pour victimes de violence appeared first on APTN News.