Good evening, let’s start with today’s top story:
A graphic dashcam video depicting violent RCMP treatment of a First Nations chief in Fort McMurray in March spurred Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to call today for an independent investigation into the “shocking” incident. The footage of the arrest of Chief Allan Adam – and a similar video that has Winnipeg’s police service reeling – takes on new significance at a time when police interactions with members of racialized groups are under extra scrutiny, especially in the United States.
RCMP commanders were the latest police officials to acknowledge problems of systemic racism within their force today, even as new statistics showed the Mounties’ efforts to diversify their work force in 2018-19 had yielded no significant changes.
In Ontario, the police watchdog has said it will begin collecting data on the race of people who are injured or killed in incidents involving police. And tensions on police conduct continued to simmer in the United States, particularly in Seattle.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Mortgages mire minister: Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer says Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne is “indebted to the PRC” thanks to the two mortgages he has with a Chinese-run bank. Scheer today dismissed Liberal government rebuttals that Champagne disclosed the situation to the ethics commissioner and the information is posted publicly.
Scheme probed: A fraud investigation is under way after promotion letters were sent across Canada in April and May touting small gold mining company Crestview Exploration, whose shares on the Canadian Securities Exchange have gyrated wildly since. Niall McGee and Greg McArthur report.
Police to be replaced: Minneapolis will pursue a community-led solution to protect its citizens and replace the police department following the killing of George Floyd by an officer from that department.
Ivanhoe Mines under scrutiny: Human-rights groups say they are troubled by coronavirus-related lockdown policies at some sites run by the Vancouver-based miner in Congo, where workers were “not given a choice” about the 24-hour confinement “without fear of losing their jobs or other forms of reprisal”. Ivanhoe denies the allegations.
IN COVID-19 NEWS
Concern over second wave casts cloud over provinces’ plans to reopen
As provinces showed signs of advancing to different degrees of recovery from the global coronavirus pandemic today, one look beyond Canadian borders could raise concerns about a probable second wave.
Ontario’s chief medical officer of health announced that residents could form so-called social circles of up to 10 people without physical distancing, even in the higher-risk Toronto area and border regions. Elsewhere, businesses were told the province was now in stage two of its reopening plan, meaning hair salons, restaurant patios and shopping malls could welcome customers.
In New Brunswick, the Education Minister announced how schools would operate for the 2020-21 school year: full-time attendance for younger students and a mix of online and in-class learning for Grades 9 to 12.
Albertans are adjusting to a new normal with trepidation, while in Vancouver the numbers show an increase in short-term rental bookings, to the disappointment of housing advocates who hope for more long-term rental vacancies for residents.
Meanwhile, health officials in many countries want their authorities to be ready to roll back decisions to relax restrictions on social gatherings as new COVID-19 cases stubbornly rise in place like India and the United States.
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MARKET WATCH
North American investors enjoyed a better day today than they had most of the week, though all three major U.S. indexes posted their sharpest weekly declines since mid-March.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 475.69 points, or 1.89 per cent, to 25,603.86, the S&P 500 gained 39.21 points, or 1.31 per cent, to 3,041.31 and the Nasdaq Composite added 96.08 points, or 1.01 per cent, to 9,588.81.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 205.65 points, or 1.37 per cent, at 15,256.57.
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TALKING POINTS
There have always been two Canadas. In this reckoning on racism, both must stand together for Indigenous people now
“Canada’s unique brand of racism can be quiet and loud. It manifests as indifference and it has crept into all public institutions, government agencies, corporations and in the way you look away from the homeless Indigenous man you see sitting on the sidewalk. Both Black and Indigenous people know what it feels to be under the knee of a system that was designed to eradicate your very existence, to keep you down and out of the way.” – Tanya Talaga, Anishinaabe journalist and author of Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City
Racism makes life a constant struggle for Black Canadians
“To this day, our country is not immune to extreme xenophobic movements whose voices find sympathetic resonance, including within certain political parties. It’s a global phenomenon and it calls for the utmost vigilance.” – Michaëlle Jean, former governor-general of Canada, UNESCO special envoy for Haiti and secretary-general of La Francophonie
Our long economic nightmare is just beginning
“It does not really matter if the recession is technically over. All that means is, things aren’t getting worse, for now. But we remain in a very deep hole, perhaps the deepest in a century. Even if the economy begins to grow again soon, it is likely to remain significantly smaller at the end of 2021 than it was at the beginning of 2020.” – Konrad Yakabuski, staff columnist
The ocean is on the brink of collapse. Trump pushed it even closer to the edge
“The [Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument] protected only 1 per cent of the New England coastline from commercial fishing. Now industrial fishing boats will return, scooping up animals with ruthlessly efficient fishing gear. A brief fish boom followed by inevitable bust – this is Mr. Trump’s gift to the New England fishing community and the global ocean at large.” – Laura Trethewey, author of The Imperilled Ocean: Human Stories from a Changing Sea
LIVING BETTER
Canada’s arts industry tries to envision its postpandemic future
With very little known except that audiences will return slowly and at reduced numbers, Canadian artists and entertainers are anxiously planning a return to the spotlight. The big question: How to make enough money to sustain a business based around ticket sales. Do virtual performances hold any promise as a supplementary revenue stream? Kate Taylor reports.
Can Canada’s campgrounds keep up with the growing popularity of RVs?
RV sales were on the rise in North America before the pandemic, but for many people eager to escape the confines of home safely RVs offer the perfect solution: a self-contained way to see parts of their region that have never been less crowded. That sets up a big test this summer for campgrounds, which have been ramping up RV capacity but are expecting greater demand than ever.
TODAY’S LONG READ
Margaret Chan, Director General of the World Health Organization from 2006 to 2017. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP)The Associated Press
Canadian Margaret Chan reshaped the WHO and brought it closer to China
Critics of the World Health Organization and its willingness to support China’s response to the threat from coronavirus may have a Canadian lightning rod. Margaret Chan, an Ontario-trained physician who led the WHO from 2006 to 2017, is credited with, or perhaps blamed for, fostering a “good working relationship” with Chinese presidents Hu Jintao and later Xi Jinping.
It may be one reason why the WHO did not question China when it tried to reassure the world about the threat of the virus that has now infected more than seven million people worldwide.
But while some feel the WHO has veered too far into obeisance to powerful countries since her tenure, just as many explain that the role of the international body is largely technical, not political. Dr. Chan led the organization on that principle, her peers say, and if change is required it’s because the WHO is kept deliberately weak by its member states.
Read the full article by Nathan VanderKlippe here.
Related column: The WHO’s main job is communication. It flubbed that, again
Evening Update is compiled and written weekdays by an editor in The Globe’s live news department. 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.