Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
Radar shows 2,000 areas of interest at Saskatchewan residential school
The Star Blanket Cree Nation in Saskatchewan says ground-penetrating radar has discovered more than 2,000 areas of interest and a child’s bone at the site of one of the longest-running residential schools in the country.
Areas for the search were selected after testimonials from former students and elders who witnessed or heard stories of what happened at the school. The jaw bone fragment was identified to be that of a child from about 125 years ago.
“This is physical proof of an unmarked grave,” said project lead Sheldon Poitras, whose team is looking at options, including DNA testing, to confirm what is there. But, he says, they don’t believe all are unmarked graves.
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Russia’s military shuffle shows Putin still in charge, and is doubling down on his Ukraine invasion
Power struggles in Russia, as Winston Churchill is reputed to have said, are akin to bulldogs fighting under a carpet. Onlookers hear only the growls, until a winner finally emerges, senior international correspondent Mark MacKinnon writes
Much is unclear about what’s happening inside Russia’s official structures as President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine approaches the year-old mark. But outsiders can hear the growls from behind the Kremlin walls.
The only thing that’s plain is that it’s still Putin who calls the shots, maintaining his authority by playing factions off against each other so that they see him as the sole arbiter of their disputes.
Developments: Ukraine says its troops were holding out despite heavy fighting on a battlefield littered with bodies around Soledar, a salt mining town in eastern Ukraine, where Russian mercenaries have claimed Moscow’s first significant gain in half a year.
Read more: Russian warships are heading to South Africa in the latest sign of Moscow’s growing presence
A weight-loss drug everyone wants is exposing myths about obesity
After decades of bombardment by commercials, books and social-media ads making false promises about the secret to miraculously shed pounds, scientists have finally discovered a formula that actually works, health reporter Carly Weeks writes. People around the world have taken notice, with demand outstripping supply.
The drug is called semaglutide. A version under the brand name Ozempic was released in Canada in 2018 to treat Type 2 diabetes. Manufacturer Novo Nordisk has created a distinct version in a different dosage, called Wegovy, to target obesity.
Yet there’s been surprisingly little celebration of a drug that has potential to change how obesity is managed. Instead, people living with the condition and clinicians who treat it say the discussion around semaglutide has veered down a toxic road, exposing long-standing biases against people whose health is severely impacted by carrying extra weight.
MPs criticize airline industry over holiday travel chaos
Federal politicians grilled executives of Canadian airlines and airports today over the holiday travel disruptions, calling the wave of cancelled and delayed flights a “disaster” that ruined winter getaway plans and kept families apart. Sunwing was singled out for its widespread failure to bring customers home from resorts.
Meanwhile, U.S. air travel returned mostly to normal today, a day after a computer system that sends safety information to pilots broke down and grounded traffic from coast to coast.
Explainer: How to apply for a Nexus card as Canada deals with backlog
ALSO ON OUR RADAR
China braces for another COVID-19 wave: While coronavirus cases have peaked in many parts of China, officials said this week, another wave of cases could already be on the way, with more than two billion trips expected around the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, which begins on Jan. 21.
Classified material found at Biden home: Documents with classified markings from U.S. President Joe Biden’s time as vice-president were found at his home in Wilmington, Del., the White House said today, days after it was disclosed that sensitive documents were also found at the office of his former Washington institute.
U.S. inflation eases: U.S consumer prices declined for the first time in more than 2½ years in December, on lower costs for gasoline and other goods, offering hope that inflation was now on a sustained downward trend.
Algonquin slashes dividend: Faced with challenges including rising borrowing costs, onetime dividend darling Algonquin Power and Utilities has cut its quarterly payout by about 40 per cent. The company said it will reduce capital expenditures and target about US$1-billion in asset sales, but reiterated its commitment to acquiring Kentucky Power.
Police probe possible link: Toronto police say they have not confirmed whether a group of teen girls who allegedly assaulted several people at public transit stations is the same one that allegedly stabbed a homeless man in the downtown core.
MARKET WATCH
U.S. stocks closed slightly higher today as data showing a fall in consumer prices in December bolstered expectations of less aggressive interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve. Canada’s main stock index also gained, buoyed by strength in the energy and financial sectors
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 216.96 points or 0.64 per cent to 34,189.97, the S&P 500 gained 13.56 points or 0.34 per cent to 3,983.17, and the Nasdaq Composite added 69.43 points or 0.64 per cent to end at 11,001.10.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index advanced 186.15 points or 0.93 per cent to 20,211.20. The loonie traded at 74.83 U.S. cents.
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TALKING POINTS
How much do Alberta’s politicians really care about climate change?
“Alberta has never forgotten what the feds tried to do [with the National Energy Program]: effectively take control over their oil industry. Consequently, anything that smells even remotely like the NEP sets off alarm bells in Wildrose country.” - Gary Mason
Canada’s banking regulator seeks input on proposals that could mean big changes for mortgage lending
“Essentially, OSFI wants to skim another layer of the least-qualified borrowers off of the federally regulated mortgage market. But how they’ll do that is not yet determined.” - Robert McLister
LIVING BETTER
Get ready to serve up Mark Mylod’s The Menu at home: The delicious satire is one of five things to stream this weekend. Ralph Fiennes chews the scenery in this eat-the-rich comedy that is fun but ephemeral, ideal for lazy home viewing.
If Cancon nostalgia is more your thing, check out Doug and the Slugs and Me, which makes its debut on CBC and CBC Gem this Sunday. It comes from Teresa Alfeld, whose lost childhood friendship with one of bandleader Doug Bennett’s three daughters adds another layer to this atypical rock doc.
TODAY’S LONG READ
How a dearth of dental services in Nunavut is leaving many children to suffer in pain
Hamza Jafri, a dentist in Rankin Inlet, Nun., takes care of five-year-old Piujulia Taylor’s teeth on Oct 20, 2022.Fred Lum/the Globe and Mail
Pelagie Sharp couldn’t watch her preteen son suffer any longer when she e-mailed a Government of Nunavut official to ask how soon the boy could be flown out of his home community of Rankin Inlet for dental surgery.
In the summer of 2021, Howard, then 12, was among more than 1,000 Nunavut children waiting for dental work that required sedation or general anesthesia. As of early October, that queue had grown to 1,378 children, according to the territorial government. Many of those children are waiting in pain, as Howard was.
Tooth decay is an enduring problem in Inuit communities, but the longer-than-usual line for children’s dental surgery in Nunavut is another example of the pandemic making a bad situation worse, the territory’s chief dentist said. Read Kelly Grant’s full story.
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