Ottawa fighting First Nations groups over compensation for child welfare discrimination
(via CBC News)
Assembly of First Nations argues history of discrimination requires "creative measures" to prevent repeat.
Librarians archiving Alberta’s scientific reports before change in government
(via Global News)
“The problem with everything being online is that when there is a new government or new policies, they just change their websites,” she said in an interview with The Canadian Press. “You can lose access to a lot of their reports or data.”
Province slashing Toronto Public Health funding by $1B over a decade, board chair says
(via CBC News)
"People will die," Coun. Joe Cressy warns, but province says boards will be properly funded.
Guantánamo’s Darkest Secret
(via The New Yorker)
A short man in his mid-thirties stepped into the guards’ area, unshackled. He wore a broad smile and a white jumpsuit, and moved cautiously toward Wood. The detainee introduced himself as Mohamedou Salahi, then reached for a handshake, and said, “What’s up, dude?”
Is prison necessary? Ruth Wilson Gilmore might change your mind
(via The New York Times Magazine)
In three decades of advocating for prison abolition, the activist and scholar has helped transform how people think about criminal justice.
What remains of Yosemite’s Lyell Glacier
(via The California Sunday Magazine)
For the past 148 years, Yosemite’s Lyell Glacier has taught us about the Earth — how it was created, where it was going, and now, how it might end.
Facebook uploaded email contacts of 1.5m users without consent
(via The Guardian)
Company says it has stopped using password verification feature that collected data.
The Baraboo Nazi prom photo shocked the world. The city’s response shocked its residents.
(via BuzzFeed News)
The intentions behind the Nazi salute photograph seen around the world were hardly as sinister as they first appeared. But in Trump and Twitter’s America, as one small Midwestern town discovered, image is everything.
Alberta election sees nearly 70% of eligible voters cast a ballot
(via Global News)
“It’s very, very high,” said Deputy chief electoral officer Drew Westwater. “We haven’t seen numbers this high since the ’80s.”
Civil liberties group launches court action to stop Quayside, says Canadians should not be ‘lab rats’
(via Toronto Star)
The CCLA had threatened to take legal action last month, saying the Quayside project should be halted until all three levels of government have established “digital data governance polices” for the “appropriate” collection, ownership, use and storage of personal information that would be obtained in the smart city.
Ontario launches taxpayer-funded anti-carbon-tax ads, won’t reveal cost
(via The Globe and Mail)
NDP MPP Taras Natyshak, who introduced a private member’s bill on Wednesday that would ban using public money for partisan advertising, called the ads “a blatant misuse of public dollars.”
No Montreal exemption for secularism bill, minister says
(via CBC News)
CAQ government not budging after City of Montreal comes out against Bill 21.
Inside the first Afghan women's ascent of Mount Noshaq
(via Outside Magazine)
In July, a group of Afghan women set out to climb 24,580-foot Mount Noshaq, their country’s highest mountain. No Afghan woman had ever reached the summit, and many challenges stood in their way, from hostile Afghan men who think that women shouldn’t exercise, to the terrorist attack in a district near the peak two days before the climb began. This is their story.
'Fox News brain': meet the families torn apart by toxic cable news
(via The Guardian)
"Growing up, my dad was the one person I knew who taught me to be a critical thinker and to educate myself on topics before I spoke about them. But right around the 2008 election, he became a Fox News talking point machine."
Half of England is owned by less than 1% of the population
(via The Guardian)
Research by author reveals corporations and aristocrats are the biggest landowners.
Instagram memers are unionizing
(via The Atlantic)
They’re hoping to solve some of the new economy’s problems with an old tactic: collective bargaining.
Contempt charges dropped against 14 protesters blocking B.C. pipeline project
(via CBC News)
Crown and Coastal GasLink agree not to proceed, but 1 person charged with assault.
Meet the Indigenous carvers behind three giant welcome posts to be erected in Vancouver
(via Vancouver Is Awesome)
“My vision, my dream, is that these pieces are going to be medicine for our children for the next 150 years,” said Chas Desjarlais, Vancouver’s district vice principal of Indigenous education. “Cedar is looked at as medicine in Coast Salish culture, and I see it as medicine, too. This medicine is going to inform our young people going forward about the strength and resiliency of Indigenous peoples.”
Can a news media that doesn't really oppose fascism ever cover it well?
(via J-Source)
Despite an endless cycle of missteps, call-outs and apologies, Canadian journalism has a terrible track record holding far-right groups to account — whether they’re in the streets or public office. Until there’s a much deeper reckoning, it’s unlikely to get any better.
A day after Facebook banned Canadian white nationalists, some found their way back
(via BuzzFeed News)
A day after Facebook banned six Canadian individuals and groups for spreading hate, two made their way back onto the platform with new pages, while 11 pages with similar names and content remained online despite the ban.
SaltWire sues former newspaper chain owner over revenue 'misrepresentation'
(via CBC News)
Owner of Halifax's Chronicle Herald says Transcontinental "hid material facts" in sale of 27 titles.
What first-quarter fundraising can tell us about 2020
(via FiveThirtyEight)
All candidates must file detailed reports of their fundraising and spending at least once a quarter. This information, which is made public by the Federal Election Commission, allows for a better kind of analysis: one that compares each candidate to all the others. We’re going to help you do that.
How 'liberal' late-night talk shows became a comedy sinkhole
(via Mel Magazine)
"Every single person in late night knows it’s a dumb factory of lazy ideas," one fed-up writer tells us. "I will never be happy with anything I make."
The L.A. Times, once a print-media tragedy, is rising from the near-dead
(via Vanity Fair)
Having survived a foul-mouthed owner, “frat boys,” and new-media loopiness, L.A.’s paper of record is now journalism happy-news, with a passel of prestige hires and a billionaire running it “like a family project.” But not everything is rosy in El Segundo.
Liberals thwart motion to probe leak about dispute between Trudeau and Wilson-Raybould over judge
(via Global News)
The Liberals used their majority on the House of Commons justice committee Thursday to defeat a Conservative motion calling for the committee to investigate the leaks.
McGill dumps Redmen team name after calls from Indigenous community
(via CBC News)
Montreal university makes long-awaited decision regarding name change after lobbying effort.
The moral cowardice of Canadian media is leaving racism unchallenged
(via Maclean's)
Andray Domise: Our cancerous political climate, and all the attendant bigotry that arrived with it, is what happens when the media does nothing.
Climate chaos is coming — and the Pinkertons are ready
(via The New York Times Magazine)
As they see it, global warming stands to make corporate security as high-stakes in the 21st century as it was in the 19th.
Getting the story out: The lawyer standing between the Times and a hostile world
(via Columbia Journalism Review)
Newsroom lawyers tend to occupy an unsavory place in journalism mythology. Stereotypically, they’re the ones who fret incessantly, move to kill stories, and swoop in at the eleventh hour to tell reporters, “No.” At the Times, David McCraw is known for taking the opposite approach.
Amazon employees try a new form of activism, as shareholders
(via Wired Magazine)
“Because it's Silicon Valley, you're giving shares to lots of young millennial types [and] tech-oriented people and they may have very different objectives than very traditional shareholders or even institutional investors,” says Professor David Larcker. He thinks the idea is likely to catch on with tech workers elsewhere.
Fact-checkers vs. hoax peddlers: a fake news battle ahead of Indonesia’s election
(via Reuters)
The Cekfakta (“checkfacts” in Indonesian) initiative brings together the non-profit fact-checking organization Mafindo and 24 news organizations that normally compete fiercely with each other during election campaigns.
South Korean court rules abortion ban must be lifted
( via The Guardian)
Historic decision sparks celebrations in Seoul following decades of campaigning.
In Vancouver, front-line workers are facing ‘a different kind of overdose’ in new synthetic drug
(via The Globe and Mail)
Front-line workers say it has been particularly troubling responding to such overdoses because, unlike a simple opioid overdose, victims do not regain consciousness immediately after being treated with naloxone, as they are still sedated. Naloxone reverses only the effects of opioid overdoses.
'We've got to be bold': Former premier proposes $9.4B 4-track rapid transit line in Metro Vancouver
(via CBC News)
Mike Harcourt wants to see line with 2 express tracks, 2 local tracks from Lougheed Mall to UBC.
One year after B.C. introduced rental-only zoning tool, just 1 city has used it (and it's being sued)
(via CBC News)
Lawsuit against New Westminster could be causing delays as other municipalities monitor its progress.
Fact-checking Maple Ridge mayor's claims about homelessness
(via CBC News)
"Raping and pillaging" statement was rhetorical, but Mike Morden's other comments can be analyzed with data.
Newfoundland to replace its outdated, Victorian-era men’s prison
(via Toronto Star)
“It’s hard to conceive just how old that is. It was two years before Abraham Lincoln was elected, before a civil war was fought. In fact, it was just about a decade before our country achieved Confederation,” Justice Minister Andrew Parsons said Wednesday.
Fraudulent emails used to cast votes in UCP leadership race, CBC finds
(via CBC News)
Lists show members had emails attached to their names that were used to intercept PINs needed to vote.
Katie Bouman: The woman behind the first black hole image
(via BBC News)
A 29-year-old computer scientist has earned plaudits worldwide for helping develop the algorithm that created the first-ever image of a black hole.
Avenatti could face 335 years in prison
(via AP News)
The indictment announced Thursday in Los Angeles alleges Avenattti stole millions of dollars from clients, didn’t pay taxes, committed bank fraud and lied during bankruptcy proceedings.
B.C. attorney general says parents with dependent kids should make will
(via CBC News)
Eby says important decisions such as who would raise children are part of a will, and not having that legal document may lead to potentially time-consuming and costly court action.
Vancouver is quickly losing its music spaces
(via The Runner)
“For a while it seemed like music venues were dropping like flies,” writes Elliot Langford, who says he has been fortunate enough to make a living in Vancouver as a professional musician, in an email to The Runner.
Alberta issues 97% of reclamation certificates without ever visiting oil and gas sites
(via The Narwhal)
Data shows Alberta is visiting far fewer sites for an audit than it has previously indicated, with the vast majority of certificates granted by an automated online system.
$12M government funding for Loblaw attracts outrage
(via CTV News)
News of the funding received a largely negative reaction on social media, with people questioning the merits of giving government money to Loblaw, a company which reported $221 million in profit in its fourth quarter.
Looters likely scouring sunken treasures off Nova Scotia, experts warn
(via CTV News)
Treasure salvagers who once spent millions of dollars exploring such sites say provincial laws are preventing shipwrecks from being scoured in any meaningful way — and that the region has become somewhat of a wild west for so-called pirate divers.
Norway is walking away from billions of barrels of oil
(via Bloomberg News)
To the dismay of the nation’s powerful oil industry and its worker unions, the opposition Labor Party over the weekend decided to withdraw its support for oil exploration offshore the sensitive Lofoten islands in Norway’s Arctic, creating a solid majority in parliament to keep the area off limits for drilling.
What billionaires’ fasting diets mean for the rest of us
(via The Atlantic)
Silicon Valley’s food-centric productivity hacks can be dangerous even for people who don’t practice them.
He filmed the killing of Eric Garner — and the police punished him for it
(via The Verge)
Ramsey Orta filmed the killing of Eric Garner. The video travelled far, but it wouldn’t get justice for his dead friend. Instead, the NYPD would exact their revenge through targeted harassment and eventually imprisonment — Orta’s punishment for daring to show the world police brutality.
Not a single federal police officer is working to bust money launderers in B.C.
(via The Star Vancouver)
David Eby says that despite two years of headlines declaring that organized crime groups are laundering billions in B.C., the only dedicated RCMP presence is a provincially funded team fighting the crime in casinos.
These Daughters of the Vote delegates felt bullied by their peers after they protested Trudeau and Scheer in Parliament
(via National Observer)
While headlines lauded how Daughters of the Vote was a rewarding experience for young women with an interest in politics, Montague was among six women who reached out to National Observer to share stories that present a less-than-rosy image of the event. They describe a series of discriminatory encounters that left them feeling unsafe, unacknowledged and traumatized.
Canada may regulate social media companies to avoid election meddling
(via The Guardian)
Firms are not doing enough to combat potential interference, minister said after report found foreign meddling is "very likely".
Mad at Max: Bernier’s People’s Party of Canada is revolting in British Columbia
(via The Star Vancouver)
Through numerous interviews with current and former members, the Star has learned of an exodus of original People’s Party of Canada (PPC) provincial organizers and followers. They suggest original party faithful are disillusioned and leaving by the dozen. An online petition by PPC members is also calling for the removal of the party’s national co-ordinator.
B.C. public schools must provide free menstrual products for students, government orders
(via CBC News)
"This is a common-sense step forward that is, frankly, long overdue," Education Minister Rob Fleming said in a statement. "We look forward to working with school districts and communities to make sure students get the access they need, with no stigma and no barriers."
Facebook bans Faith Goldy and 'dangerous' alt-right groups
(via CBC News)
The company said it has long-standing policies on extremist content and organized hate groups and is barring the individuals and organizations under its "dangerous individuals and organizations" community standards policy. Goldy was fired from Rebel Media in 2017 after taking part in a neo-Nazi podcast.
The death of an adjunct
(via The Atlantic)
Thea Hunter was a promising, brilliant scholar. And then she got trapped in academia’s permanent underclass.
Inside the fight for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women
(via Splinter News)
Indigenous women, be they in a city or on a reservation, have for decades been among the most unprotected members of North American society. In 2016, the National Crime Information Center recorded 5,712 cases of murdered and missing Indigenous women or girls in America; as was highlighted by the Urban Indian Health Institute’s groundbreaking 2018 MMIWG report, just 116 of those were logged in NamUs, the U.S. Department of Justice’s federal missing persons database.
