By Stephen Maher & Glen McGregor, Postmedia News One year after Canadians first learned of an active Elections Canada investigation into misleading robocalls, the Commissioner of Canada Elections says the probe is making “significant progress” and remains his highest priority. In a rare public statement, released to Postmedia News, Yves Cote called
Groups seek formal probe into Ottawa’s ‘muzzling’ of scientists
MARK HUME VANCOUVER — THE GLOBE AND MAIL The Information Commissioner of Canada is being asked to launch a formal investigation into the federal government’s policy of controlling media access to scientists. The government has been under fire from a number of groups over the past few years for refusing to give
Appeals possible as fractured First Nation band elects new chief
BY ELISE STOLTE, EDMONTON JOURNAL EDMONTON – Members of the fractured Lubicon Cree First Nation have made another attempt to agree on a single chief. A group of unaffiliated members hired an independent election officer, opened the floor to any nomination, and elected educator Billy Joe Laboucan by acclamation. Around 100 eligible
New policy gives government power to muzzle DFO scientists
By Michael Harris iPolitics “Everything has a crack in it; that’s how the light gets in.” Leonard Cohen, take a bow. Another crack has appeared in the Harper government’s surreptitious but merciless war to muzzle Canadian scientists — and just about everyone else. The light entering through this particular crack shines on a disturbing
Mining Industry Targets “Prove It First” Law
by Al Gedick Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative Prior to investing in new resource colonies, multinational mining corporations frequently change a country’s mining laws to remove restrictions on foreign ownership, reduce taxes, ease environmental protections and guarantee access to water supplies needed for mining. During the 1990s, under pressure from the World Bank and
Ottawa ordered to provide all residential schools documents
Truth and Reconciliation Commission took federal government to court over denial of millions of documents CP An Ontario judge has ruled the federal government is obligated to provide the up to five million records in its files on Indian residential schools to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The judge says the feds have an
The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples — Take 2
John Crump CCPA/Behinfd the Numbers “As an ordinary Canadian I feel deeply that this wonderful country is at a crucial, and very fragile, juncture in its history. One of the major reasons for this fragility is the deep sense of alienation and frustration felt by, I believe, the vast majority of Canadian Indians, Inuit
How Ottawa keeps scientists on message
BY MARGARET MUNRO POSTMEDIA NEWS At first, a top Environment Canada official seemed game to discuss “unmuzzling” government scientists during an international science conference earlier this year. “I would be very interested in participating,” Karen Dodds, an assistant deputy minister, said by email to colleagues when she received an invitation to sit on
We natives are deeply divided. There’s nothing wrong with that
HAYDEN KING The Globe and Mail [excerpt] The conclusion of this terse overview of the diverse interests within the movement illustrates that there cannot be a parsimonious message except that federal policies are failing Indigenous peoples. One of the primary reasons for that failure is the continued belief that we’re all the same, which
How facts backfire Researchers discover a surprising threat to democracy: our brains
By Joe Keohane July 11, 2010 It’s one of the great assumptions underlying modern democracy that an informed citizenry is preferable to an uninformed one. “Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government,” Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1789. This notion, carried down through the years, underlies everything from humble political pamphlets
Canadians support grassroots protests like Idle No More: poll
BY SHEILA PRATT EDMONTON JOURNAL With the Idle No More movement by First Nations now marching across the country – including a protest Thursday night outside Vancouver’s convention centre that drew more than 200 people – a recent poll shows Canadians are supportive of such grassroots citizen protests and strongly
Idle No More actions spread across the country
BY KRYSTALLINE KRAUS rabble.ca There is a rich history of resistance against colonialism in North America-Turtle Island. In Canada alone, there are stories of victories from Batchewana Bay First Nation to the Oka uprising to the occupation of the Federal Revenue Agency. Drawn from the deep water of this legacy, the Idle No
Idle No More Is Not Just an “Indian Thing”
Wab Kinew,Director of Indigenous Inclusion, the University of Winnipeg Huffington Post What is “Idle No More“? It is a loosely knit political movement encompassing rallies drawing thousands of people across dozens of cities, road blocks, a shoving match on Parliament Hill between chiefs and mounties and one high profile hunger strike. It is also a
‘For the avoidance of any doubt’: Pinehouse signs ‘collaboration agreement’ with Cameco/Areva
By Scott Harris Council of Canadians Despite opposition from residents in the northern Saskatchewan village of Pinehouse, a controversial “collaboration agreement” has been signed, committing Pinehouse to support uranium giants Cameco and Areva’s mining operations in the region in exchange for monetary payments and promises of preferential workforce and business development opportunities in Pinehouse . The agreement between
Pinehouse residents decry imminent signing of uranium “gag agreement”
Signing ceremony for secretive deal announced despite community opposition Residents of the northern Saskatchewan village of Pinehouse feel betrayed and appalled that a controversial “Collaboration Agreement” between the village and uranium giants Cameco and Areva is set to be signed today, despite community concerns and opposition to the deal. At a community meeting
