Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
Justin Trudeau said Friday he is disappointed by the position taken by the Catholic Church on residential schools.
“Truth is at the heart of understanding our past and preventing further damage in the future,” said the Prime Minister, a Catholic himself. “We need to have truth before we can talk about justice, healing and reconciliation.”
Last week, the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Kukpi7 (Chief) Rosanne Casimir said that preliminary findings of a search with ground-penetrating radar discovered the remains of 215 children at the site of the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia. The announcement has received both national and international attention, and has prompted commemorations across the country.
Trudeau said there is still resistance on the part of the Catholic Church to accept its role in the residential schools legacy, adding that now is an important moment to reach out parishes, bishops, cardinals to say there’s an expectation that it steps up.
While the Prime Minister said his government is hopeful the church will change its position, he suggested that Ottawa “has tools” that it can use, without providing specifics.
Read more:
Opinion:
Going for gold under the cloud of COVID-19 makes the Tokyo Summer Games an Olympics like no other. Tokyo Olympics Update is here to help you make sense of it all, with original stories from Globe reporters in Canada and Tokyo, tracking Team Canada’s medal wins, and past Olympic moments from iconic performances.
G7 health ministers won’t commit to timeline for sharing COVID-19 vaccine supply with low-income countries
Health ministers from the G7 countries refused Friday to make a firm commitment to donate doses of COVID-19 vaccines to developing nations.
In a communiqué after a two-day meeting in Oxford, England, the ministers said they were committed to sharing doses through the World Health Organization’s COVAX program, but only when circumstances allowed. Wealthier countries are facing growing pressure from dozens of international organizations and WHO to reverse their stance.
It’s expected to be a hot topic when the leaders of the G7 nations – Canada, Britain, the United States, France, Germany, Italy and Japan – meet next week in Cornwall, England. All but Canada and Britain have agreed to share at least some of their excess vaccine supply, leaving Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson facing increasing pressure to follow suit.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Canada loses 68,000 jobs in May as unemployment rate rises slightly: The economy suffered another bout of layoffs in May, but the situation could turn quickly as provinces begin to shed their pandemic lockdown restrictions. Employment fell by 68,000 last month, following a loss of 207,000 positions in April, Statistics Canada said Friday. The unemployment rate ticked up to 8.2 per cent from 8.1 per cent.
Thomas King wins $15,000 Stephen Leacock Medal for humour writing: The celebrated author, who is of Greek and Cherokee descent, was awarded the prize Friday for his anti-travelogue, “Indians on Vacation.” From HarperCollins Publishers, the title follows a Canadian couple on a peripatetic mission across Europe to recover a family medicine bundle.
France to welcome vaccinated tourists: The government announced Friday that it is removing the need for coronavirus tests for vaccinated Europeans. It also is allowing vaccinated tourists from most of the rest of the world, including the United States, much of Asia, Africa, the Middle East and North and central America to also come back, provided they have a negative test.
MARKET WATCH
Canada’s main stock index closed above 20,000 for the first time Friday, after U.S. and Canadian markets had strong performances following a positive American jobs report.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 87.80 points at 20,029.19.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 179.35 points at 34,756.39. The S&P 500 index was up 37.04 points at 4,229.89, while the Nasdaq composite was up 199.98 points at 13,814.49.
The Canadian dollar traded for 82.75 cents US compared with 82.62 cents US on Thursday.
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TALKING POINTS
China’s three-child policy is a triumph of bureaucracy over logic and humanity
“China has little support for child care. Its health system is largely fee-charging. Getting children into university requires big fees paid to tutoring providers. Companies often don’t hire women of child-bearing age. Having a second or third kid, in other words, is prohibitively expensive. In that regard, China has become a very normal country, with familiar problems.” - Doug Saunders
Is Ottawa prepared to call Big Pharma’s bluff?
“Forcing pharmaceutical companies to slash prices for prescription drugs was a critical part of the plan to reduce the tab for pharmacare. But critics accused the government of failing to conduct a thorough analysis of the potential consequences of the new price regulations.” - Konrad Yakabuski
Why central banks will crush bitcoin
“The concern of central banks is not over the speculative nature of bitcoin and the like, or the volatility of the trading in the cryptocurrency asset class. That’s something for securities regulators to worry over. The concern of central banks is the use of private digital currencies to buy real stuff. That could, over time, crowd out the official currency, which gives central banks their raison d’être.” - Barry Campbell
LIVING BETTER
The Third Eye: South Korean designer comes up with solution for ‘smartphone zombies’
South Korean industrial designer Paeng Min-wook showcases a robotic eye, called "The Third Eye", on his forehead as he uses his mobile phone while walking on street, in Seoul, March 31, 2021.MINWOO PARK/Reuters
A South Korean industrial designer has developed a robotic eyeball he has dubbed “The Third Eye”, which obsessive mobile phone users can strap to their foreheads so they can browse injury-free while walking.
Paeng Min-wook, 28, says his device is a satirical solution for “smartphone zombies” who risk walking into obstacles when they can’t take their eyes away from their screens.
“Phono Sapiens” opens its translucent eyelid whenever it senses the user’s head has been lowered to look at a smartphone. When the user comes within one to two metres of an obstacle, the device beeps to warn of the impending danger.
TODAY’S LONG READ
Real estate boom is feeding family legal disputes
Vancouver has long been the ‘leader’ in Canada’s boom in real estate prices. Along with it has come a rise in family real estate disputes.
As a result, lawyers who specialize in estate litigation are working overtime, and the solicitors who write wills are warning homeowners to take extra measures to lessen the chance of future disputes among relatives.
The legal landscape is also getting more complicated, because parents are increasingly gifting children down payments as part of an early estate distribution, says lawyer Richard Bell. Parents are also putting kids on title as joint tenants to avoid the probate process and fees.
As a result, lawyers in Canada see the potential for a lot more litigation as a result of disputes around property.
Read Kerry Gold’s full story here.
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