SOGI rally turns violent in Abbotsford, protesters say
(via News 1130)
“I was shocked, not only that somebody would hit people trying to help him, trying to help this fellow get into the venue with his cane, but the fact that he almost ran over five people.”
Potential customer for Squamish’s Woodfibre LNG walks away
(via Squamish Chief)
Woodfibre says agreement with Guangzhou Gas was only preliminary; activists say it’s a big setback.
Racehorse owners, trainers left scrambling after surprise raid at Hastings racecourse
(via CBC News)
Trainers and horse owners at Hastings Racecourse say they're shocked at a Monday raid by immigration officials that ended with about two dozen foreign workers being led away in handcuffs.
What 35,000 political ads on Facebook reveal about Canada's election-year message battle
(via CBC News)
As the federal election approaches, industry groups, partisan advocates and unions have spent large sums of money to get their messages in front of Facebook users. But new political advertising rules that came into effect last month seem to have slowed down the spending spree.
Mounties remain silent after raid on neo-Nazi soldier's home
(via Winnipeg Free Press)
The RCMP investigation, as well as a linked Canadian Armed Forces investigation, was launched in the aftermath of a Free Press report identifying Mathews, 26, as a military reserves combat engineer and an active recruiter in The Base, a violent, hate-fuelled, radical paramilitary organization.
Cover-ups, lies ‘a systemic cancer’ in world of oilpatch health and safety breaches: whistleblowers
(via Global News)
He could report what happened and risk being fired for revealing that Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL) had violated safety protocols, or he could lie to save his job. “The reality was that I could have died where that incident occurred, and to sweep something like that under the rug… the next guy was just going to die.”
Oregon has way too much legal weed. This is where it's going
(via Vice)
Politicians were so concerned Oregon was too good at growing cannabis that they were able to get two laws regarding weed supply signed into law earlier this summer. But with an apparently massive oversupply, what happens to all that weed when there's no one to sell it to?
Their mothers chose donor sperm. The doctors used their own
(via The New York Times)
Scores of people born through artificial insemination have learned from DNA tests that their biological fathers were the doctors who performed the procedure.
B.C. family devastated after teen’s death from apparent overdose unfolds on social media
(via The Globe and Mail)
A community tries to understand how a night out for a 14-year-old boy ended in tragedy after his suspected overdose was posted on social media without a single call for help.
Death by a thousand cuts: a comic
(via The Narwhal)
A story of hope and resilience from the Dane-zaa people living in what is now known as northeastern British Columbia.
Pipeline rupture sends 40,000 litres of oil into Alberta creek
(via CTV News)
The regulator says on its website that the incident happened Thursday on a Bonterra Energy Corp. line 14 kilometres south of Drayton Valley, Alta.
The myth of conservative persecution on campus
(via The Hamilton Spectator)
The myth of conservative persecution on campus is a reaction to even modest challenges to outright conservative supremacy. Students ask to be called by their preferred gender pronoun, and conservatives declare the death of the English language, if not the end of free speech. Students ask for greater diversity of voices in the syllabus, and conservatives rail against leftist tyranny, never acknowledging the persistence of traditional thought and codes of conduct all around them.
Even with Trump in office, the climate denial movement Is quietly falling apart
(via Vice)
Behind the scenes, climate deniers are losing funding and succumbing to infighting.
Twitter removes nearly 1,000 accounts tied to China's campaign against Hong Kong protesters
(via The Guardian)
Company also suspends thousands of accounts as it reports “state-backed information operation.”
Far-right Proud Boys found guilty of attempted gang assault in fight with Antifa members
(via New York Daily News)
Proud Boys have been deemed a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Hare and Kinsman were among 10 Proud Boys who were charged in the scrap with four members of the anti-fascist group Antifa. With the verdict, all but one Proud Boy — who will be tried at a later date — have been convicted. All but three pleaded guilty.
'Nightmare' hand statue looms over New Zealand city
(via BBC News)
A giant hand which has been described as a "Lovecraftian nightmare come to life" has been lifted into place atop Wellington's City Gallery in New Zealand.
1st of 47 men arrested in Vancouver police child sex sting operation pleads guilty
(via CBC News)
Those who responded were told by text they were chatting with a girl between 15 and 17 years old. Hotel meetings were set up once age, sex act and fee were established. The men were arrested after showing up to the hotel, only to be met by police officers. Of the 47 arrests, seven men have been charged in the case, and six have pleaded not guilty.
Federal Liberals in B.C. respond to ethics commissioner's report
(via Vancouver Sun)
A day after federal Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion released his report concluding the prime minister violated the Conflict of Interest Act in the SNC-Lavalin affair, most B.C. Liberal MPs avoided public comment, deferring to the prime minister and blaming their busy summer schedules.
Netflix needs to grow, but it’s sacrificing great original series to do so
(via The Verge)
Recently cancelled shows like Tuca & Bertie and The OA have spurred a conversation about whether shows are getting a fair chance at finding an audience. Tuca & Bertie showrunner Lisa Hanawalt called out Netflix’s algorithm as being a big part of the issue her show faced and how it played into the series’s cancellation.
Mulan star Liu Yifei sparks boycott calls amid support of Hong Kong police
(via CBC News)
Her post recirculates the statement "I support the Hong Kong police. You can all attack me now," which is attributed to a reporter for a state-run newspaper, who was allegedly bound and punched by demonstrators during violent clashes at Hong Kong International Airport earlier this week.
How one Colorado suicide prevention program got through to working-class men
(via Mel Magazine)
So how do you provide mental health services to someone who doesn’t want them, or who goes out of their way to avoid using them? You could start by making jokes about their dicks — as well as reference many other manly man things.
Push for ethnic studies in schools faces a dilemma: whose stories to tell
(via The New York Times)
A struggle in California, one of three states creating K-12 ethnic studies materials, highlights some of the fraught questions around the discipline.
In God's country
(via The Washington Post)
Evangelicals view Trump as their protector. Will they stand by him in 2020? "Conservatives for decades have felt bullied by the left, and the default response was to roll over and take it.”
Axios joins media push into software with newsletter product
( via The Information)
Axios wants to sell the software, which it is beta testing, to communications and human resources departments at companies with large numbers of employees, according to several people familiar with the plan. Another potential use is newsletters for company investors and customers, said one of the people. It couldn’t be learned whether Axios plans to play any role in producing the newsletters beyond selling companies the software on a subscription basis.
B.C. youth launches podcast to talk about experiences in the foster care system
(via APTN News)
“I have a story to tell and I want to just inspire other youth to tell theirs too,” says 19-year-old Jordan Williams, who has put out eight episodes of the podcast about her experiences growing up in, and aging out of, B.C.’s foster care system.
Billionaire Koch brothers dump Canada's oilsands leases as foreign exodus continues
(via Vancouver Sun)
Once among the largest landholders in the oilsands, industrial conglomerate Koch Industries Inc. has sold off its upstream leases and abandoned licences in the heavy oil play, joining a stream of foreign companies exiting the bitumen-bearing formation.
Canadian Armed Forces introduce new rules for soldiers with tattoos
(via HuffPost News)
The directive happens to follow a recent incident in Halifax in which a sailor was criticized for sporting a tattoo featuring the word “infidel” in the shape of a rifle. Work on the new rules predated that controversy, said Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) spokeswoman 2nd Lt. Stephany Duval.
RCMP 'sitting on' watchdog report into alleged spying on anti-oil protesters: B.C. civil liberties group
(via CBC News)
The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association says the RCMP has been sitting for two years on a watchdog report into alleged Mountie surveillance of anti-oil protesters.
The 1619 project
(via The New York Times)
American slavery began 400 years ago this month. This is referred to as the country’s original sin, but it is more than that: It is the country’s true origin.
Fighting antisemitism today
(via Briarpatch)
Why would a group of pro-Israel Jews protest an educational event held by another Jewish group? Why is there this struggle over the definition of antisemitism, within the Jewish community and beyond it? Why did we have to defend an antisemitism training from other Jews?
Greta Thunberg's environmentally friendly sailing adventure no pleasure cruise
(via CBC News)
"It's not very luxurious, it's not very fancy, but I don't need that. I need only a bed and just the basic things," 16-year-old Greta Thunberg told The Associated Press. "So I think it will be fun, and I also think it will be fun to be isolated and not be so limited."
Rockaway beach is disappearing and resurgent all at once
(via City Lab)
After Superstorm Sandy, New York City’s oceanfront neighbourhood got a boost of investment. But that hasn’t stopped the waves from stealing the beach.
B.C. taxpayers spending millions to fix 'hugely unusual' problems at Vancouver building
(via Vancouver Sun)
Only nine years after a local company was paid $8.5 million to construct a 51-unit social housing building in Vancouver, provincial taxpayers are on the hook for extensive repairs there expected to cost $4.5 million.
Liberals commit almost $26M to offset Ford's legal aid cuts for refugees, immigrants
(via CBC News)
The move comes after Ford faced criticism for slashing funding for legal aid by 30 per cent. His spring budget cut Legal Aid Ontario funding by $133 million, and said the organization could no longer use provincial funds for refugee and immigration cases.
You must be this conservative to ride: The inside story of Postmedia’s right turn
(via CANADALAND)
New CEO Andrew MacLeod has a plan to muffle moderate voices at Canada's largest newspaper company. It's created confusion and uncertainty in newsrooms across the country.
Doug Ford told people to call him for legal aid. Here's how his office responds
(via HuffPost News)
“We are sorry to read of your difficulties. Please be advised that neither the Attorney General, nor any of her staff, can provide legal advice to you or intervene in any matter on your behalf,” said one response from the office.
American with no medical training ran centre for malnourished Ugandan kids. 105 Died
(via NPR News)
Renee Bach, 30, is being sued in Ugandan civil court over the deaths of children who were treated at the critical care center she ran in Uganda.
How the El Paso killer echoed the incendiary words of conservative media stars
(via The New York Times)
An extensive New York Times review of popular right-wing media platforms found hundreds of examples of language, ideas and ideologies that overlapped with the mass killer’s written statement — a shared vocabulary of intolerance that stokes fears centered on immigrants of color. The programs, on television and radio, reach an audience of millions.
Three years of misery inside Google, the happiest company in tech
(Wired Magazine)
Sexual harassment. Hate speech. Employee walkouts. The Silicon Valley giant is trapped in a war against itself. And there’s no end in sight.
The great land robbery
(via The Atlantic)
The shameful story of how 1 million black families have been ripped from their farms.
Thousands of B.C. nurses call for the province to save lives by decriminalizing drugs
(via The Georgia Straight)
Ending the war on drugs will reduce stigma and help address overdose deaths, reads a declaration issued by the Nurses and Nurse Practitioners of B.C. and the Harm Reduction Nurses Association.
B.C. couple's home raided by RCMP after pot plants spotted on a charity garden tour
(via CBC Radio)
"I'd like to ask them why they felt their intrusive measures were necessary. I'd like to ask them if they really felt they were serving the community by their actions."
Tens of thousands of dollars, then silence: How some 3rd parties spent big in June
(via CBC News)
Two prominent third-party groups, Shaping Canada's Future and Engage Canada, spent tens of thousands of dollars on political Facebook ads this spring, just before they stopped running advertising to stay inside of new election financing rules.
Two-tier schooling has been very important in growing inequality in Australia
(via St. Catherines Standard)
Andrew Scheer’s pledge to support private schools represents an unprecedented federal foray into education policy — traditionally a provincial matter. It is clearly intended to politically mobilize social conservatives and religious fundamentalists, writes Jim Stanford.
'It's crazy': Chase Bank forgiving all debt owed by its Canadian credit card customers
(via CBC News)
Credit card rewards expert Patrick Sojka said Chase likely concluded that debt forgiveness was ultimately cheaper than continuing to collect credit card payments in Canada. "They're still probably paying taxes, paying accountants, and for them, they just probably worked it out and [said], 'Let's just forgive the debt and fully get out of the country.'"
Throughout its history, cottage culture has been about who we want to be seen as rather than who we truly are
(via National Post)
While we tend to link it in our minds to a sentimentality for the past, cottage culture has always been influenced by the values of the times.
How Monsanto's 'intelligence center' targeted journalists and activists
(via The Guardian)
Internal documents show how the company worked to discredit critics and investigated singer Neil Young.
FBI and police monitoring Oregon anti-pipeline activists
(via The Guardian)
Emails show the latest example of environmental groups facing increased surveillance by law enforcement.
Police find 'several items' linked to B.C. homicide suspects along river
(via CTV News)
A number of items "directly linked" to B.C. homicide suspects Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky were found along a riverbank in Manitoba late last week, according to police.
B.C. Court of Appeal deals blow to Jumbo Glacier Resort, rules environmental certificate invalid
(via The Globe and Mail)
A controversial ski resort proposed in southeastern British Columbia is facing a new challenge after the province’s highest court ruled its environmental assessment certificate is invalid.
Hotel Georgia employees set to file human rights complaint against luxury Vancouver hotel
(via HuffPost)
Hotel Georgia employees set to file human rights complaint against luxury Vancouver hotel
Mysterious political robotexts may just be the start in a new era of 3rd-party ads
(via CBC News)
Canada Strong and Proud is just one of many new third-party players entering the scene for the first time this election—and they're a whole different breed from the groups of elections past, according to Duane Bratt, chair of the department of economics at Mount Royal University.
These three racialized women explain how they got fired by Equal Voice
(via National Observer)
Leila Moumouni-Tchouassi, Shanese Steele and Cherie Wong were all fired from Equal Voice on July after spending months raising concerns about racism in the women advocacy organization.
When CSIS comes knocking: Amid reports of Muslim students contacted by spy agency, hotline aims to help
(via CBC News)
Creators of University of Toronto-based student support line say spy agency often on ‘fishing expeditions'.
This is the beginning of the end of the beef industry
(via Outside)
Alt meat isn't going to stay alt for long, and cattle are looking more and more like stranded assets.
The real Ebola “emergency”
(via Slate)
The world is finally paying attention to a deadly outbreak in the Congo, but it’s missing the most important factor: poverty.
