Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
Ottawa loses pair of Federal Court appeals on Indigenous child welfare
The Federal Court has rejected Ottawa’s attempts to overturn a pair of rulings from a human rights tribunal on compensation and eligibility for First Nations children.
In 2019, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal found that Ottawa wilfully and recklessly discriminated against Indigenous children on reserve by failing to provide proper funding for child and family services. The tribunal also ordered Ottawa to provide up to $40,000 to First Nations children who were unnecessarily taken into care on or after Jan. 1, 2006, adding that its orders also cover parents or grandparents and children denied essential services.
The second legal challenge was related to a separate ruling that expanded the scope of Jordan’s Principle, named after five-year-old Jordan River Anderson, who died in hospital in 2005 after a lengthy battle between the federal and Manitoba governments over home care costs. The rule requires that Indigenous children get access to services without delays caused by jurisdictional issues.
The rulings were released just a day before Canada will mark the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a new federal statutory holiday on Sept. 30, and amid widespread reckoning over the country’s treatment of Indigenous peoples after the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves across former residential school sites.
Read more coverage on truth and reconciliation:
- Assembly of First Nations National Chief RoseAnne Archibald still searching for ‘respectful path forward’
- Ontario to add Indigenous content to curriculum for early grades
- Stop, listen and watch: Stories for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
- Opinion: The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is essential for all Canadians to honour
- ‘Reconciliation barometer’ aims to keep Canada on track for justice for Indigenous peoples
Hundreds rally to support judge forced to suspend probe into deadly Beirut port blast
Hundreds of Lebanese, including families of those killed in the Beirut port explosion, demonstrated Wednesday outside the capital’s court of justice to support a judge who was forced to suspend his investigation into the blast.
The investigation was suspended Monday due to a legal complaint by a former cabinet minister, who is a defendant in the case. It’s now up to a court to rule whether the investigating judge, Tarek Bitar, is removed or can continue the investigation.
More than a year since the deadly blast that killed more than 200 people and destroyed large parts of the capital, there are no answers as to what caused it. Investigations by rights groups and local media revealed that most of the country’s senior leadership and security agencies knew of the nearly 3,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate and did little to protect Beirut’s residents against it. And, in their efforts to stymie the probe, senior politicians have closed ranks.
‘Stay home’: Bloc Leader says unvaccinated Conservative MPs not welcome in the House unless they get the jab
Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet says the new session of Parliament should be held in person, but with those who haven’t been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 staying home.
There are still questions about what the return to Parliament will look like for the 338-member House of Commons after the recent federal election saw the Trudeau Liberals re-elected with another minority. Since the onset of the pandemic in March, 2020, and up until the election call, Parliament and committees had been functioning with some MPs working from Ottawa, but many others appearing virtually.
Blanchet said Wednesday he wants to see Parliament resume quickly, but with MPs having to be fully vaccinated in order to be there in person now that COVID-19 vaccines are more widely available.
While the Bloc, NDP and Liberals required their candidates to be fully vaccinated in order to campaign, the Conservatives did not. “They get fully vaccinated or they stay home,” said Blanchet.
More COVID-related coverage:
- Canadian Medical Association urges lockdowns for Alberta and Saskatchewan
- What COVID-19 vaccine passports mean for international travellers
- Provinces differ on advice to businesses about saving customers’ COVID-19 vaccination status
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Chinese battery maker CATL to acquire Canada’s Millennial Lithium in overseas expansion push: Contemporary Amperex Technology said it has agreed to acquire Canada’s Millennial Lithium, as part of a bid to shore up supply of key ingredients for electric vehicle batteries. The Fujian-based company, which supplies carmakers Tesla and Volkswagen, said the acquisition is to secure a stable long-term supply of lithium.
YouTube blocks anti-vaccine content: YouTube announced it will move beyond its ban on false information about COVID-19 vaccines to block posting of all anti-vaccine content, including misinformation about other approved vaccines. The online video platform said it’s also banning channels associated with several high-profile anti-vaccine figures such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Joseph Mercola.
U.S. Senate, House Democrats mobilize to extend government funding, avert looming shutdown: Democrats in Congress on Wednesday said they would vote to avert an imminent government shutdown before funding expires at midnight Thursday, defusing one of several crises they face this week. U.S. President Joe Biden cancelled a Wednesday trip to Chicago in order to lead negotiations with Congress, including a sit-down with centrist Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema, who has expressed deep reservations about supporting the size of Biden’s plans and could block them.
Tickets for 2022 Beijing Olympics to be sold to spectators from mainland China only: The International Olympic Committee said tickets for the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics will be sold to spectators from mainland China only, and athletes and other participants who are not fully vaccinated must adhere to a 21-day quarantine ahead of the Games. The Beijing Games start on Feb. 4.
TIFF co-head leaving for Sundance Institute in New York: After just three years at the helm, Joana Vicente, the Toronto International Film Festival’s executive director and co-head, is leaving to join the Sundance Institute as CEO. In announcing her departure, Vicente cited the challenges brought by the pandemic, including being apart from her family in the United States: “The opportunity to lead the team at Sundance and return to New York feels like the right decision personally and professionally.” She joined TIFF in the fall of 2018 after leading the New York-based Independent Filmmaker Project.
Listen to the latest Decibel: The Globe’s Robyn Doolittle sits down with Marie Henein, one of Canada’s most famous criminal defence lawyers, whose representation of former CBC host Jian Ghomeshi made her a polarizing figure. Her defence of Ghomeshi against sexual assault charges, for which he was acquitted, provoked a backlash. Some even accused her of being a traitor to her gender. In the interview, Henein, who has just published a memoir, discusses what she thinks needs to change in Canada’s justice system, how growing up surrounded by strong women has shaped her and her thoughts on the future of the #MeToo movement.
MARKET WATCH
Wall Street ended firmer on Wednesday in a partial rebound from the previous day’s broad sell-off, with remarks from U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and the ongoing debt ceiling debate keeping a lid on gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 90.93 points, or 0.27 per cent, to 34,390.92, the S&P 500 gained 6.86 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 4,359.49 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 34.24 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 14,512.44. The TSX closed with a very modest loss, with tech and materials stocks weighing on the index. The S&P/TSX Composite index lost 16 points, or 0.08 per cent, to close at 20,158.14.
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TALKING POINTS
Another minority, but little standing in the way of Trudeau’s legacy
“Mr. Trudeau has some room to manoeuvre. Not four years, but maybe two. And it may well be enough to embed a lasting political legacy. Chances are Mr. Trudeau is going to be thinking about that, now that he is in his second minority and third term, pretty soon. When their hold on power starts to fade, PMs tend to start thinking of what will outlast it.” - Campbell Clark
Iran’s downing of Flight PS752 – and the justice that has yet to be served – must not be forgotten
“...More than 20 months since this tragedy, families still have no clear answers. This is a glaring example of Iran’s long-standing flagrant disregard of its international human rights obligations, which has, for decades, been indulged by governments around the world that have failed to hold Iran to account. PS752 joins countless wrenching chapters in a disgraceful history of persecution, violence, and impunity by Iran.” - Irwin Cotler, international chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, Amanda Ghahremani, international human rights lawyer, and Alex Neve, senior fellow at the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.
LIVING BETTER
Thrilling No Time to Die is the Bond we’ve been waiting an entire pandemic for
After multiple delays at the box office due to the pandemic, No Time to Die, Daniel Craig’s send-off as James Bond, is simultaneously eager to distinguish itself from the franchise’s shaggiest shenanigans and also happy to embrace them whenever things threaten to get too heavy, writes film editor Barry Hertz. The result? A lengthy and conceptually loopy thing that works 83 per cent of the time.
TODAY’S LONG READ
Myanmar’s ethnic Bamar majority seeks amends with Rohingya after they, too, face military violence
Rohingya refugees press on after crossing the Naf River, as villages in Myanmar burned in the distance, near Palong Khali, Bangladesh, September, 2017.Adam Dean/The New York Times News Service
In the eight months since a military coup, Myanmar’s ethnic majority has shown unprecedented efforts to build solidarity with long-persecuted minorities, including the Rohingya, and to make amends for failures to stand with them in the past.
Since the military seized power on Feb. 1, its forces have killed more than 1,100 unarmed protesters and bystanders, including at least 75 children. More than 8,300 people have been arrested, some of whom were tortured or forcibly disappeared, human-rights groups say.
Many of these victims were from the country’s Bamar majority.
Experiencing military violence firsthand provoked an outpouring of empathy among Bamar people for Myanmar’s ethnic minorities and the decades of human-rights abuses they have endured. Read the full story by Emily Fishbein.
Evening Update is written by Beatrice Paez. If you’d like to receive this newsletter by e-mail every weekday evening, go here to sign up. If you have any feedback, send us a note.