The Tilbury Times

Year: 2021

  • The U.S. may implement a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics. Canada should follow, experts say

    If the U.S. government implements a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games to protest China’s human rights abuses, Canada should do the same, former diplomats and experts say.
    “I think that at this late stage, it’s probably the best thing to do,” said Guy Saint-Jacques, who was Canada’s ambassador to China from 2012 to 2016.
    A diplomatic boycott would involve a country refusing to send a political contingent to the Winter Games — scheduled to begin in February — yet allowing its athletes to still participate.
    You have to think about the athletes and about all the years of training that they’ve put in, Saint-Jacques said. At a minimum, in these circumstances, there should be no official delegation that goes to the opening ceremony in Beijing.
    I think it’s important because every time that you capitulate and you say ‘Well, it won’t make any change,’ China is very pleased with this because they say ‘Our strategy is working and nobody dares to criticize us.’
    During a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the Oval Office on Thursday, U.S. President Joe Biden, when asked by reporters, said a diplomatic boycott was something we are considering.
    The question and Biden’s response followed recent media reports that the U.S. may soon announce such a measure. This week, the Washington Post reported  the White House is expected to announce that neither Biden nor any other U.S. government officials will attend the Beijing Games.
    Later, in a late night news conference in Washington, Trudeau would not say whether Canada would also consider a diplomatic boycott of the Games.
    We’ve been engaged with like-minded partners around the world over the past many months on this issue, he said.
    We continue to have those discussions and, as the Games approach, I’m sure there will be more information as to the exact posture Canada and indeed the world will take towards this issue.

    Accused China of genocide

    Human rights activists say China’s oppression of political critics, along with minority groups including Tibetan Buddhists and Muslim Uyghurs and a crackdown in Hong Kong, should prompt athletes and politicians to shun the games. Canada’s House of Commons, the former Trump administration and activists have also accused of China of carrying out a genocide against the Uyghurs.
    The Chinese government has denied accusations of human rights abuses.
    Meanwhile, a number of senior U.S. politicians have called for a diplomatic boycott, including Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Republican Senator Mitt Romney, who oversaw the 2002 Winter Olympics.
    Prohibiting our athletes from competing in China is the easy, but wrong, answer, Romney wrote in an op-ed in the New York Times in March. “Our athletes have trained their entire lives for this competition and have primed their abilities to peak in 2022.”
    Rather than send the traditional delegation of diplomats and White House officials to Beijing, the president should invite Chinese dissidents, religious leaders and ethnic minorities to represent us.
    In a statement to CBC News, David Shoemaker, the Canadian Olympic Committee CEO & Secretary General said members understand and respect that governments will do what they believe is right to make statements or drive change, including a diplomatic boycott of major events.
    The decision whether Canadian government representatives will attend is theirs to make, he said.
    Implementing such a boycott won’t make any difference to China if only one or two countries are involved, said Canadian lawyer and International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Dick Pound.

    Develop consensus

    “You’d have to develop some kind of a consensus among the Europeans and North Americans and whatever it may be,he said. And at a certain point, even the Chinese have to pay attention. But if it’s just Canada or just the United States, they don’t care.”
    Mehmet Tohti, executive director of Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project, said that organization has called for a postponement and relocation of the Olympics. A diplomatic boycott is the minimum that Canadian government officials could do, he said.
    It is not enough, but at least it is important to send a signal to China’s government that we are not part of the Genocide Olympics — that’s what i call it, he said.
    Our politicians should not go there and our government representatives should not go there. This is one step to compel  China to change in the right direction.
    But such action could have some impact, said  Angela Schneider, director of the International Centre for Olympic Studies at Western University.
    The Chinese administration do care, she said. “They are very interested in attendance by diplomatic entourages. And I do think that is a strong statement
    I don’t know that it’s going to change any specific policies, but neither is a full-blown boycott. Absolutely not. And a full-blown boycott will hurt our own athletes. So I would say, let’s make a statement that doesn’t hurt our own people.
    Mac Ross, an assistant professor of kinesiology at Western University in London, Ont., who has written about the issue, said a diplomatic boycott would not only send a message to China but to the IOC about how they select host nations and what the line in the sand is in terms of human rights violations.
    Ross said there should be an attempt to take some of the prestige away from the Games, even if it’s by not sending diplomatic representation.

    ‘Ratchet up the pressure’

    I think it’s still important to make sure that … people around the globe will take note and ask questions about, well, why is the diplomatic boycott happening, he said.
    “I’m not sure why it’s taking so long for the Canadian government to say something meaningful about the Olympic Games.
    It’s really frustrating as somebody who’s kind of been watching every day waiting for some kind of announcement.
    Mark Gollom  · CBC News

  • Ford government says schools will get COVID tests after all

    By: Morgan Sharp, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada’s National Observer
    All elementary and secondary students in Ontario will be able to pick up a box of rapid COVID-19 tests as they head out for winter break, the provincial government said on Thursday as it readies for colder weather to potentially lead to more school infections.
    The Progressive Conservatives also said that the pilot of a PCR self-collection kit from September will now be deployed across the province. Students who are symptomatic or a close contact of a known COVID-19 case can pick up a kit at school, do the lower nasal swab and drop the specimen off at a pharmacy or other location for processing.
    The expansion of testing in schools comes as Ontario topped 700 new active daily cases for the first time in more than six weeks and as 1,200 cases have been reported in schools in the last two weeks.
    “This is a win and a step in the right direction! Now we have acknowledgment that rapid tests are a crucial tool in this pandemic,” the advocacy group Ontario Parent Action Network wrote on Twitter. “Big gratitude and respect to everyone who has been keeping up the pressure on this issue!!”
    The government said boards should remind staff, students and families that international travel over the holidays could mean missing school on return. It also said school-wide elementary assemblies would be conducted virtually starting in January and classroom cohorts maintained at lunch and other breaks.
    The measures are designed to protect those who are still unable to get a vaccine due to their age. A first pediatric COVID-19 vaccine approval is expected from federal health officials imminently.
    Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said the moves extended the Ford government’s “pattern of delays and half measures” in responding to COVID-19 and questioned why rapid tests aren’t made available sooner and for the rest of the school year.
    “While it’s encouraging news that testing is being increased overall, (Doug) Ford’s flip-flopping on rapid and take-home tests in schools has caused disruption to students that could have been avoided,” he said, noting that more than 500 Ontario schools currently have COVID-19 cases and five are closed due to outbreaks.
    Meanwhile, by February, secondary students can expect to be back to the typical four-subject semesters that were abandoned soon after the pandemic upended education back in March 2020.
    Students and staff alike have complained about the difficulty of teaching and learning fewer subjects per week in longer periods, but the move was met with only partial praise from labour representatives.
    “Returning to semesters is a positive step to bring normal timetabling back for teachers and students,” said Chris Cowley, the president of the Ontario Teachers’ Federation. “Another positive step would be to end the hybrid learning model,” he added, referring to teachers being required to teach students in class and online at the same time.

  • Ontario condo developer suddenly cancels years-long sales deal — unless buyers pay $100K more

    The foundation has been poured for Soraya Palma’s first home and she’s finished paying the $40,000 deposit. But the 29-year-old says she now has no choice but to walk away from the Barrie, Ont., development.
    Last Wednesday, she received a letter that left her speechless.
    Pace Developments informed her it’s cancelling their agreement from March 7, 2020, and returning Palma’s deposit even as construction on the walk-up condos continues. That is, unless she agrees to pay an additional $100,000 on top of the original $512,000 purchase price.
    Experts that CBC News spoke to say what Pace is doing is most likely legal, although they caution that they haven’t seen the contracts.
    But that’s little consolation to Palma.
    It’s just ridiculous. I feel completely screwed over, she told CBC News.
    Palma said she made sacrifices to afford the house. She and her partner put off their wedding and she moved in with her parents when she got laid off from her downtown Toronto office job because of the pandemic. She now runs her own business.
    To add another $100,000 onto a home, it’s not pennies, said Palma. I’m unfortunately going to have to walk away from the deal and look for something I can afford.

    Developer blames pandemic

    She and dozens of people who invested in 70 Phase 1 units of Pace’s Mapleview Developments, known as Urban North Townhomes, between 2018 and 2020 were given the same two options by the Richmond Hill developer last week — walk away with their deposits or buy back in for an additional $100,000.
    The developer’s about-face, however, doesn’t affect buyers of townhouses on the same site, who bought more recently at a higher price.
    CBC News spoke to five of the buyers who’d chosen their preferred fixtures, paid extra for upgrades and received assurances from Pace that after years-long delays, their new homes would be ready in 2022. They all say they were blindsided by the letter they received from the developer.
    Due to circumstances beyond our control and despite the vendor’s best intention, our project has been challenged by COVID-19, says the letter dated Nov. 9, 2021, and obtained by CBC News.
    At this time, financing for the project on terms satisfactory to the vendor cannot be arranged … Unfortunately, it will force the project vendor to now cancel your agreement of purchase of sale.
    Pace’s managing director Yvonne Sciavilla told CBC News the company requires more money because of increased costs of raw materials and labour related to the pandemic, sometimes upwards of 60 per cent.
    This situation affects buyers at the earliest stages of this project, which had a scheduled completion date of over a year ago, she said.
    Sciavilla said it would be very difficult to provide a detailed breakdown of price increases because they’re across the board. She said Pace has also faced months-long delays getting building permits from the City of Barrie, which has held up construction and driven up costs.
    But the city disputes that claim.
    Michelle Banfield, director of development services for the city, said there have been no permit or inspection delays for the project, even during the pandemic, and approvals all happened within typical industry timelines.
    She said the city has issued building permits for 133 of the 300 units since June.
    Banfield noted Barrie is ranked first in the Greater Toronto Area as the most efficient, helpful and cost-effective municipality for getting new housing developments approved, according to a 2020 Building Industry and Land Development Association report (new window).

    ‘They’re taking advantage of the housing market’

    Margaret and John Geniole purchased their bungalow unit in 2018 for $442,000 with an estimated closing date in the fall of 2020. They sold their house and moved in with their daughter in the meantime, but the project was delayed twice — before the pandemic began — to the spring of 2022.
    Now they’re faced with the choice of paying the additional $100,000 and hoping to move in next spring or taking their $25,000 deposit back, even though it’s worth considerably less in the GTA housing market than four years ago.
    Home prices have skyrocketed in Barrie, which is about 100 kilometres north of Toronto, in recent years. When Pace first started selling the units in 2017, the average price was $502,755. That’s increased to $876,018 as of this past October, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association.
    They’re taking advantage of the housing market, said Margaret Geniole, 75. I don’t think it’s right. They expect us to honour our contract. We expect them to honour theirs.
    The couple said they feel like they have no choice but to buy back in and hope the developer doesn’t raise the price again.
    To get a lawyer to fight it is going to cost us money that we can’t really afford, Geniole said.
    Wendy Acheson, the CEO of the Home Construction Regulatory Authority (HCRA), said it’s received complaints from buyers in similar situations since it started operating in February.
    In fact, we issued an advisory about that in April to let builders know that we expected them to treat purchasers with honesty and integrity if they’re going to try to renegotiate a contract, said Acheson.
    She said buyers should get legal advice and file complaints with the HCRA. If it determines there’s been misconduct, the developer may be given a warning, or provided with education. In the worst-case scenario, its licence could be revoked and a disciplinary committee could issue a fine of up to $25,000.

    Law is ‘one big grey area’

    While Pace’s tactics seem unfair to buyers, they’re probably legal, according to the experts CBC News spoke with. Most pre-construction contracts allow developers to cancel sales agreements, require more money and delay projects if there are unavoidable reasons, like a pandemic.
    Toronto real estate lawyer Bob Aaron said it demonstrates the considerable power developers have in Ontario and the need for more provincial oversight to better protect buyers.
    This is greed, pure and simple, and the greed is endorsed and supported by the government of Ontario, said Aaron.
    The Ministry of Government and Consumer Services did not respond to a request for comment.
    Even if buyers were to take legal action, the case would be tied up for years, said broker David Fleming. In his 18-year career, he said he never sold pre-construction properties to clients because of high risks and low rewards.
    The developers’ lawyers have spent a lot of time and a lot of effort to make these contracts ironclad, Fleming said.
    It’s still the responsibility of buyers to know what they’re getting into when it comes to buying pre-construction homes, he warned.
    What I tell people is developers have far deeper pockets and far better lawyers than you do. So it really doesn’t matter what’s in the contract. The law is one big grey area until you have a judgment in the courtroom.
    Samantha Beattie · CBC News

  • Hamilton youth charged after $46M in cryptocurrency stolen from U.S. resident was used to get gaming username

    A Hamilton youth has been charged in the theft of $46 million in cryptocurrency after investigators learned some of it was put toward buying a gaming username.
    Local police worked with the FBI and U.S. Secret Service to investigate millions in missing currency stolen via what’s known as a SIM swap attack, said Det.-Const. Kenneth Kirkpatrick from Hamilton Police Service’s cybercrimes unit.
    The three agencies started working together in March 2020 after an American reported the loss.
    On Wednesday, investigators seized $7 million in cryptocurrency.
    Kirkpatrick wouldn’t say the exact age or gender of the youth, or the username that youth bought. He also didn’t say whether the youth was acting alone, saying the case is currently in Hamilton court.
    But he said investigators cracked the case after the name was purchased on the gaming network.
    Police said it’s the largest individual cryptocurrency theft from one person that’s ever been reported.
    The amount, of course, is very surprising, Kirkpatrick said. That’s a large amount of money, and it’s a large amount of money in anybody’s opinion.

    What is a SIM swap attack?

    A SIM swap attack is when someone manipulates cellular network employees to duplicate phone numbers, so that person can use the number to intercept two-step authorization requests.
    In other words, if someone gets a code sent to their phone to recover a password, the thief can intercept that code to get access to the account, says Guy-Vincent Jourdan, a professor at the University of Ottawa’s school of engineering and computer science.
    Kirkpatrick said this is especially potent given that many people use the same password for multiple sites.
    Jourdan, who isn’t involved in this case, said cryptocurrency systems have a lot of weaknesses that can be exploited for fraud and theft.

    Fewer safeguards for crypto

    There’s no regulation, he said. There’s no backup. There’s no guarantee of anything, Jourdan said.
    “If you use the normal banking system, then the banks are regulated. You can say, ‘I didn’t mean to do that transaction.’ You can contact that bank, get the money back. There is centralization. There is control over it. There’s none of that in crypto.
    There are absolutely zero safeguards to give you the possibility to say, ‘Oops.’
    Kirkpatrick said cyber and cryptocurrency crimes are increasingly common. His unit began in 2018, and educates other Hamilton police officers and the public.
    He recommends following the RCMP and Hamilton police for tips on self protection.
    Samantha Craggs · CBC News

  • Catholic Church finally offers apology

    By: Benjamin Powless, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter,  The Nation
    The Roman Catholic Church is responding to renewed criticisms after it was revealed that the church had managed to avoid many commitments to pay residential school survivors as part of the 2005 Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA).
    That agreement, in which the federal government offered a formal apology and compensation to residential school survivors, also obligated the Catholic Church to pay survivors $29 million and offer another $25 million as “in-kind” donations.
    However, a 2015 investigation by CBC and the Globe and Mail unearthed court documents that demonstrated how the church managed to reduce its payment to only $1.2 million. It was able to get out of fundraising obligations after only raising $4 million out of the pledged $25 million.
    The church said it had nonetheless donated $25 million in “in-kind” donations, which included addiction treatment and scholarships, but also questionable items such as Bible study groups and routine travel expenses to send clergy to remote communities.
    The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations and others are calling for a criminal investigation. Part of the concern is over the fact that the Catholic Church in Canada does not have one centralized body. Thus, the legal obligations from the IRSSA were against a corporation formed to represent the Catholic Church in the legal proceedings.
    That corporation was dissolved after 2015, which means no central Catholic entity remains that is responsible for reparations to residential school survivors. The Anglican, Presbyterian and United churches, also parties to the IRSSA, respected their financial obligations – but the Catholic Church ran most of Canada’s residential schools.
    All of this was settled behind the scenes in a 2015 court case, in which federal government officials alleged that the church had spent more than $6.4 million of the fund meant for survivors on legal and administrative fees and other expenses.
    The documents were only unearthed in early October after CBC News and the Globe and Mail won a judicial order to expose the contents of that court case. A further Globe and Mail investigation revealed that the Catholic Church across Canada had combined assets of $4.1 billion, while receiving yearly donations of $886 million, making it the largest charity in the country.
    Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, director of the University of British Columbia’s Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre, told CBC News that the documents showed that the Catholic Church had betrayed survivors, but also that the federal government and courts allowed them to get away with it.
    “From the get-go, this was not something survivors sat in the room and agreed to. Survivors were outside of this,” she said. Turpel-Lafond noted that the Canadian government could re-open the court case.
    After calls to boycott Catholic mass, a petition to end the church’s tax-exempt status, calls by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the Catholic Church to take responsibility, and churches burned down after the unearthing of mass graveyards on the grounds of former residential schools, Catholic bishops from across the country finally issued a public apology to residential school survivors on September 24.
    “We, the Catholic Bishops of Canada, gathered in Plenary this week, take this opportunity to affirm to you, the Indigenous Peoples of this land, that we acknowledge the suffering experienced in Canada’s Indian Residential Schools,” the statement on behalf of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) read.
    “Along with those Catholic entities which were directly involved in the operation of the schools, and which have already offered their own heartfelt apologies, we, the Catholic Bishops of Canada, express our profound remorse and apologize unequivocally.”
    The CCCB also pledged a renewed fundraising effort to raise $30 million over five years, encouraging local parishes to participate. They pledged that funding would be determined locally, in consultation with Indigenous communities in each region.
    Assembly of First Nations National Chief RoseAnne Archibald said in a statement that she welcomed the apology. “However, I am disappointed that the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops did not take the long overdue step of passing a motion/resolution to formally invite the Pope to Canada to offer his apology to First Nations and Indigenous survivors and intergenerational trauma survivors here on Turtle Island,” Archibald added.
    The CCCB told the Nation that the bishops recently committed to engage with the Pope on a potential visit to Canada and highlighted that a delegation of Indigenous leaders would be granted a papal audience from December 17-20 at the Vatican.
    “While we cannot speak for the Holy Father, we are confident in his understanding of the ongoing and historical trauma caused by residential schools, as well as his commitment to playing a constructive role in the healing and reconciliation journey,” the CCCB said in a statement.
    The bishops’ organization said that it believed that the Catholic parties to the IRSSA had met their obligations, but that they recognized there was “widespread disappointment” with the fundraising campaign, and that they were confident their renewed fundraising pledge would be successful in “achieving its financial goal and in delivering meaningful contributions to Indigenous communities and residential school survivors.”
    The Pope had said in June that he was pained by the discovery of children’s remains at residential schools but did not offer an apology at the time, despite offering similar apologies for the church’s role in colonialism and sins committed in Bolivia against Indigenous communities there.

  • Milton Ranks 21 on Municipal Democracy Index

    By: Laura Steiner
    The Ontario Municipal Democracy Index ranks Milton 21 out of 32 for democratic health.  It doesn’t surprise me at all.  Before COVID-19 I attended in-person meetings. The media sat crowded together at a single table in the corner of Council chambers at Town hall.  The table was also  squashed between the audience behind us, and town staff ahead of us.
    Planning Meetings required under the province’s Planning Act are often a big part of the meeting’s agenda.  These are chances for the public to come out, and make their voices heard on development going on in Town.  Residents who choose to speak, are thoughtful, eloquent, and come well prepared with slideshows to illustrate their point.
    There are 3 meetings that stand out.  One is regarding the Durante Group proposal at the northwest corner of Bronte and Main St on the lands formerly known as the TSC store.  More than 20 residents spoke at the first in-person meeting voicing concerns on traffic, parking, building’s shadow.  One person even looked at issues potentially caused by the wind up against the CN rail overpass.  A second meeting was held in the virtual council format raising the same concerns.  The development was approved as it was, and currently is in line for appeal by the residents.
    Another one concerned the three tower high rise development near the Superstore.  Residents along Childs were concerned over building shadow, and potential for seeing into their backyards.  Councilors were concerned over traffic patterns along Thompson Rd.  The development was approved as it was.  The thought process being maybe people who live near transit, and shopping won’t use their car.
    One last example.  The development on the southeast corner of Derry and 25 highway.  Residents, and again councilors raised traffic issues, proximity to transit, and schools.  Again it was approved. What they all have in common besides being approved, is that no resident spoke out against development, but only asked if it was right for that space.
    In all three examples, it was as if council and staff listened, patted residents on the head for their feedback, and did what they wanted despite questions.  I get it, Councilors find themselves in a battle of priorities between the planning goals imposed by the province and the residents who live here.  Shouldn’t the residents be the higher priority?
    There are nine committees listed on the Town website that offer volunteer opportunities for local residents. Looking for information on when they meet is in a task in itself.  The only committee listed on the Town’s meeting calendar is the Committee of Adjustment and Compliance.  The rest take a little bit of digging if they can even be found at all.  The Milton Library Board is the only one lists their meeting on their website as the third Wednesday every second month.   The heritage committee was eliminated at the start of this term, replaced with an ad hoc committee, and the heritage planner left Town Staff.  This in a community where residents value heritage, and some even cite it as a motivating factor for moving to Milton.
    Before the 2018 municipal elections, council did a ward boundary review, and the consultant recommended an increase to 12 councilors plus a Mayor to account for population growth.  That particular council voted to cut wards in half from then eight to four. Fewer voices on council isn’t good for democracy.
    For the second term in a row councilors were looking at a potential ban on election election signs citing the waste they cause, and the elimination “sign wars.”  Both times they were voted down, setting the stage for a campaign where it’s going to be nearly impossible for residents to run if interested.
    Transparency, and the ability to listen are two big parts of democracy.  The survey recognizes that Milton is failing at both.  Now we know about it, it’s time to do something.

  • Inflation rate jumps again to new 18-year high of 4.7%

    Canada’s inflation rate jumped to a new 18-year high of 4.7 per cent last month, led by sharply higher prices for energy.
    Statistics Canada says the 4.7 per cent rate is the highest since February 2003.
    The showing was in line with what economists were expecting but as Doug Porter with Bank of Montreal noted, it’s almost a relief in 2021 when hot inflation readings aren’t even hotter than expectations.
    “While perhaps not quite as eye-popping as the latest 6.2 per cent U.S. headline inflation print , this still marks a massive upswing from inflation of just 0.7 per cent a year ago,” Porter said.
    All eight components that the data agency tracks were higher, but the increase was led by higher transportation costs, which went up by more than 10 per cent in the past year.
    Within that, gasoline was a major factor, as prices at the pump have risen by 41.7 per cent since October of last year.
    Beyond the cost to fill them up, the rising cost of the car itself was also a major driver of inflation. New vehicle prices have risen by 6.1 per cent in the past year, mostly due to an ongoing shortage of semiconductor chips.

    Food prices jump higher

    Food prices continue to creep higher, too. Meat prices have risen by almost 10 per cent, on average, with bacon in particular going up at more than twice that rate. Overall, Canadians grocery bills are going up at a 3.9 per cent annual pace.
    Labour shortages that have slowed down production, ongoing supply chain challenges and rising prices for livestock feed continued to factor into higher prices for meat, the data agency said.
    James Houston, co-owner of Ontario-based food manufacturer Manning Canning kitchens, knows all too well that the cost of just about everything is going up, and fast.
    The maker of jams, jellies and other preserves has seen the price of everything he needs to make his products skyrocket this year, and those costs get passed on to the retail level.
    We use fresh pressed raspberry juice, and that’s gone up 90 per cent, he said in an interview with CBC News. “That’s because most of our raspberries come from B.C. and obviously they had a heat dome and that just killed the raspberry harvest.”
    Beyond the food itself, it’s costing more to package and transport it, too. First he had a hard time getting his hands on enough cans because of a supply shortage early on in the pandemic . Then the skyrocketing price of lumber hit his business, too.
    Pricey lumber also drives the pulp price up and that gets passed along to us, so the price of the cardboard and the packaging went up.
    Houston says small businesses like his can’t absorb higher costs like that forever without eventually passing it on to consumers.
    There’s not much to be done about it, except grin and bear it and take it one day at a time.
    CBC News 

  • Rains to subside as B.C. assesses damage from floods, mudslides

    Torrential rain over the weekend and into Monday left towns flooded and highways closed in B.C., but rains are likely to subside on Tuesday.
    Torrential rain over the weekend and into Monday left towns flooded and highways closed in B.C., but rains are likely to subside on Tuesday.
    An “atmospheric river”  brought heavy downpours for most of southern B.C., leading to the evacuation of the entire town of Merritt, as well as further evacuations in the Fraser Valley , Interior  and Vancouver Island.
    The Abbotsford School District cancelled all classes on Tuesday  as parts of the city remain under evacuation order due to flooding. An evacuation order was also issued Tuesday morning for the entire portion of the Sumas Prairie to the Chilliwack border due to a landslide in the area.
    Residents are asked to leave immediately and register at the reception centre at the Fraser Valley Trade and Exhibition Centre.
     


    Highways throughout the province were also closed due to mudslides and debris flows, with parts of the Coquihalla and Trans-Canada highways washing away in surging rivers (new window). Hundreds of motorists were trapped on the roads, with many being rescued by helicopter (new window) on Monday.
    The Similkameen River didn’t hit the heights town officials had feared, Coyne said, which was a positive development for the small community where 295 homes have been evacuated and another 300 are on alert.
    Most evacuees are with friends and family, said the mayor, noting that he believes about 30 people are at a local reception centre. But Coyne said the community is without natural gas and temperatures are expected to fall Tuesday, with flurries in the forecast.
    We’re going to try to move our evacuees to Kelowna today to try to keep them warm because our … reception centre won’t have heat.
    Coyne said once day breaks on Tuesday, crews and volunteers will be back out with sandbags.

    Waking up on the road

    Some travellers were forced to spend a second night in their vehicles on Monday due to road closures.
    Andrew Clark, a musician from Ladysmith, had been in Kelowna for the weekend to play concerts, but on the way home on Sunday was stuck near Hope with two colleagues.
    He said they are part of a group of people forced to sleep in their vehicles and crowd into local restaurants and gas stations for food and services.
    Everyone’s been very good-humoured, he said. “Everyone knows that we are in the same boat, so that’s all quite good, but I think there’s a sort of general air of disappointment that we can’t find out more information about what’s happening down the road.
    People are a little bit worried about how many nights we might be staying here.
    Jeff Kuhn, the lead pastor at Grace Baptist Church in Hope, B.C., said about 250 people were staying at the church.
    There are also people staying at a local high school or in their cars, he said.
    The community has pulled together, he said, noting that grocery stores and people in town have been sending food and water.
    Kuhn said there’s some hope that Highway 1 west will open later in the day, allowing some people trapped in Hope to start making their way home.
    There is no clear timeline for when the province’s highway network will be functional again, or when evacuation orders will be lifted for those away from their homes.
    owever, Tuesday will see the end of the weather system bringing heavy rain to the province, according to Environment Canada meteorologist Kenneth Chan.
    On Thursday, perhaps, we’ll have another weather system coming, he said.
    But this one should be much weaker and also just mostly to the Pacific Northwest, Washington state. So we won’t be affected by that as much.
    Snowfall warnings remained in place overnight for the Coquihalla Highway, with Environment Canada saying up to 20 centimetres of snow could fall between Hope and Merritt.
    Wind speeds are still expected to be high throughout B.C. Gusts of up to 90 km/h were forecast in parts of the Fraser Valley on Monday.
    On Monday afternoon, Public Safety Minister and acting Premier Mike Farnworth said conditions were in flux throughout the province.
    I would like to thank everyone who is affected for your patience, strength and for doing everything you can to stay safe, he said at a media conference.
    ———————————————————————–
    To find an evacuation centre close to you, visit the Emergency Management B.C.  website.
    Evacuees are encouraged to register with Emergency Support Services online, whether or not they access services at an evacuation centre.
    Road conditions can be checked at DriveBC .
    CBC News · With files from Corey Correia and Jennifer Walter

  • New McMaster course aims to spark conversation about context, history behind ’We The North’

    We The North’ — It’s a phrase that’s familiar to Raptors fans across the country, but a professor is hoping a new course at McMaster University will help students start thinking about the history behind the slogan.
    It’s called Public Memory, Media and African Diaspora Studies and aims to kick start conversations about the history of slavery and how Black freedom struggles are remembered and impact life and politics today, Lyndsey Beutin said.
    A combination of building critical thinking skills and creative thinking skills.
    That’s how the assistant professor of communication studies and media arts at McMaster describes the class.
    I also think that understanding the history of slavery and settler colonialism throughout North America is everyone’s job. she said, adding the course seeks to engage students in that history and its effects on social movements today.
    That’s where #WeTheNorth comes in.

    Thinking about Canada’s ‘nation brand’

    Beutin said she first heard the tagline when she was in the U.S.
    I immediately thought ‘Oh my gosh, this is a reference to the Underground Railroad’ and I started tagging some of my Canadian friends about it and they were like ‘Absolutely not. It has nothing to do with the Underground Railroad,’ she said with a laugh.
    But the professor moved to Canada in 2019 and said since then she’s seen how important being the last stop on the Underground Railroad is to people here, along with the country’s reputation as a multicultural place and a home for refugees.
    That’s the context in which the class will think about the slogan, said Beutin. Not so much about proving it’s linked to slavery and the Underground Railroad, but digging into why The North is something Canada is so proud of.
    This is a nice example of provoking the students to think about … how it infuses Canadian nationalism, Canada’s nation brand, Canada’s sense of self, she said.
    I think that it’s more to get the students thinking about how the concepts of imagining Canada as the northern site of freedom infuses so much of the public sphere, including a fandom for basketball. The symbol of this very diverse community of basketball fans coming together to support the Raptors.

    Learning more than ‘bits and pieces’ of history

    It’s a course Kwasi Adu-Poku said he would have taken had it been offered when he was a student at McMaster.
    Adu-Poku played for the university’s basketball for five seasons and has cheered for the Raptors for years.
    Now a master’s student at Ryerson University in Toronto, he remembers the We The North campaign as something that took Canada by storm during the Raptors NBA championship-winning season in 2019.
    It went from just a Toronto team to a movement that inspired Canadians everywhere. I thought that was amazing, Adu-Poku said.
    As a Raptor’s fan I hear that slogan a lot and if I’m saying that slogan it would be cool and it would be very nice to know a little bit more of a historical context behind it, he said.
    Adu-Poku said history courses sometimes provide only bits and pieces of the story and a class like this offers a chance to go deeper.
    I think programs and courses like this help give us a chance at getting that context to really realize what we’re standing upon and accepting as norms.
    Beutin said the course is designed to support an African and African Diaspora Studies minor.
    Students can still sign up and it doesn’t require any prerequisites, she added.

    It also won’t just focus solely on basketball.
    The class will also spend time studying a sugarcane plantation in Puerto Rico, a slavery exhibit from the Ontario Heritage Trust, and diasporic tourism to slave dungeons in Ghana, the professor said.
    The public memory of slavery and abolition is really the main kind of driver that brought me originally to graduate school, she said.
    I’m excited to be able to teach a class like this and I hope that excitement comes through to the students as well.
    CBC News