Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
Crowds streamed into Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium for the Pope Francis’s first mass in Canada, which, with an attendance of roughly 60,000 people, is the first big open-air event on the Pope’s trip and takes place on the day the Roman Catholic Church marks the feast of the grandparents of Jesus.
During the mass, the Pope praised the Indigenous tradition of showing great respect for elders and learning from them, saying their memory must not be lost in modern society’s “fog of forgetfulness.”
Communion was passed around to the tens of thousands in the diverse crowd. This afternoon, the Pope will travel to Lac Ste. Anne to take part in the community’s annual pilgrimage.
Meanwhile, the Métis National Council issued a statement saying yesterday’s apology was “a step forward” on the pathway of truth, justice, healing and reconciliation.
However, Murray Sinclair, chief commissioner of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, has issued a blistering critique of Pope Francis’s apology to Indigenous people, saying “it left a deep hole in the acknowledgment of the full role of the church in the residential school system, by placing blame on individual members of the church.”
Sinclair issued a press release just moments before Pope Francis appeared at Commonwealth Stadium.
In 2015, the commission issued Call to Action #58, asking the Pope to deliver an apology in Canada for the church’s role in the residential school system. Yesterday, seven years later, Pope Francis heeded the call, but apologized for individual Catholics who participated in the schools, not for the church as a whole.
The wording jarred many Indigenous leaders and residential school survivors, who have been pushing for an institutional apology.
Read more:
- Tanya Talaga: Pope Francis’s apology was heartfelt and historic. But it left us wanting more
- Live updates: Keep up to date with the Pope’s latest activities during his Canadian visit
- Annotation: A closer look at Pope Francis’s apology for residential school abuses
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Sport Canada was aware of sexual-assault allegations involving 2018 world junior members, official says
Michel Ruest, a senior director of Sport Canada, says the federal organization was made aware of an alleged sexual assault involving members of Team Canada’s world junior hockey team in late June 2018, but did not follow up with Hockey Canada at the time.
Under questioning at a House of Commons committee today, Ruest also told MPs that Sport Canada, a branch of Canadian Heritage, did not make then-sport minister Kent Hehr’s office aware of the allegations.
Current Sport Minister Pascale St-Onge has said she did not know of the allegations until this year.
Meanwhile, in an open letter issued Tuesday to St-Onge and a group of MPs, 28 academics from 21 institutions in Canada, Britain and the United States say incidents in hockey are not caused by a few “bad apples,” but are rather a “symptom of a deeply rooted culture” that exists in hockey and other sports.
Read more:
- Robyn Urback: Hockey Canada gets dragged, kicking and screaming, into the year 2017
- Jury finds former Canucks forward Jake Virtanen not guilty of sexual assault
Shopify to cut 10 per cent of staff as CEO Tobias Lutke admits he ‘got this wrong’
Shopify Inc. is laying off 10 per cent of its staff – about 1,000 people globally – as it deals with challenges posed by the slowing growth of e-commerce and its weakening financial results amid a broad slowdown in the technology sector.
In a memo to staff on Tuesday, chief executive officer Tobias Lutke said the reduction would take place by the end of the day. Shopify will be announcing second-quarter financial results on Wednesday. Most of the roles impacted are in sales, accounting and recruiting departments. However, across the company, Shopify will also eliminate “over-specialized and duplicate roles,” Lutke said, adding that he is assessing “some groups that were convenient to have but too far removed from building products.”
The Ottawa-based company made big bets on e-commerce growth that surged during the pandemic. It’s why Shopify more than doubled employment levels since early 2020 in order to meet that expected demand. But now, Lutke regrets those decisions. “Ultimately, placing this bet was my call to make and I got this wrong,” he told staff in his memo.
Related:
- Analysts slash estimates for Shopify amid global retreat for tech stocks
- Shopify cancels fall internships, pauses recruiting for further roles amid fallen stock price
ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Russia to pull out of the International Space Station after 2024: Russia will pull out of the International Space Station after 2024 and focus on building its own orbiting outpost, the country’s new space chief said Tuesday amid high tensions between Moscow and the West over the fighting in Ukraine.
- EU members reach agreement to curb gas demand as Russia reduces supply
- Russia says Nord Stream 1 turbine has not arrived yet, a second has defects
Senior Mountie tells inquiry he wanted a quicker warning sent about N.S. gunman’s replica RCMP car: Chief Superintendent Darren Campbell made the comment during testimony before a public inquiry looking into the events of April 18-19, 2020, when a 51-year-old gunman drove the mock patrol car around the province, murdering 22 people.
Britain’s PM defends 2018 meeting with ex-KGB agent who has been sanctioned by Canada: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has defended meeting a Russian oligarch with a KGB past, saying “as far as I am aware” no government business was discussed at the 2018 get-together.
Ontario NDP calls for permanent paid sick days program: Ontario’s New Democrats are calling on the provincial government to establish a permanent 10-day paid sick leave program, saying it would help limit the spread of monkeypox and other infectious diseases.
Trial begins in Infowars host Alex Jones’s Sandy Hook damages lawsuit: The conspiracy theorist repeatedly “lied and attacked the parents of murdered children” when he told his Infowars audience that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax, an attorney for one of the victim’s parents told a Texas jury on Tuesday.
MARKET WATCH
U.S. stocks ended sharply lower Tuesday as a profit warning by Walmart dragged down retail shares and exceptionally weak consumer confidence data also fueled fears about spending.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 131.80 points or 0.69 per cent at 18,972.68.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 228.50 points or 0.71 per cent at 31,761.54. The S&P 500 index was down 45.79 points at 3,921.05, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite was down 220.10 points or 1.87 per cent at 11,562.57.
The Canadian dollar traded for 77.62 cents US compared with 77.81 cents US on Monday.
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TALKING POINTS
Why do some asylum seekers make it into the West quickly – while others have to wait more than a decade?
“Indeed, when I travelled to Ethiopia and visited my uncle this past May, I witnessed first-hand how refugees who don’t look like people who might live next door – who come from places that are not seen as ‘civilized’ – have become forgotten casualties of broken asylum systems.” – Hermona Kuluberhan
Sri Lanka’s plight serves as a lesson to other governments
“When a country’s economic problems are obviously becoming insurmountable, postponing a reckoning through various piecemeal measures will only make matters worse in the end.” – Anne Krueger
LIVING BETTER
Seven ways to make a healthier — and tastier —summer salad
If your go-to summer salad is just mediocre, – for instance, a chicken breast plopped on a bed of baby greens – it’s time to bolster its nutritional value and flavour factor, writes Leslie Beck. The first tip is to trade in the anemic iceberg lettuce for something like romaine, which is an exceptional source of folate, beta-carotene, brain-friendly lutein and bone-building vitamin K. For more fibre and texture, add more veggies, whether they be raw, grilled, roasted or even pickled.
TODAY’S LONG READ
Podcast maestro Marc Maron shuts up just long enough to listen
Marc MaronSupplied
Business is good for Marc Maron, one of the headliners of this year’s Just For Laughs festival in Montreal. Since 2009, the 58-year-old American has taped 1,351 episodes of the podcast WTF With Marc Maron, which averages 55 million listeners a year. As the show’s title suggests, the format is loose: Conversations with everyone from Keith Richards to Ian McKellen to Lena Dunham to Louis C.K. to Barack Obama are lengthy and free flowing, led by an engaging, empathetic host who aims to leave no nuggets behind. The Globe’s Brad Wheeler delves into the art of the interview and Maron’s approach as a comedian and podcaster.
Evening Update is written by Prajakta Dhopade. 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.