19 children, two adults killed by Texas elementary school shooter

Good morning,

A string of mass gun violence events has been sweeping the United States, and yet another shooting unfolded on Tuesday, targeting a Texas elementary school.

A teenage gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School in the town of Uvalde. His motive was not immediately known. Governor Greg Abbott said the suspect was apparently killed by police officers responding to the scene.

Nineteen children were killed and two adults, plus the gunman.

President Joe Biden said the country needs to stand up to the gun lobby. “It’s time to act,” he said Tuesday evening in remarks from the White House. “We can do so much more.”

• Opinion: In a country where mass shootings are the norm, Americans have moved beyond outrage
• Explainer: Here’s what else we know so far

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Technology used by educators in abrupt switch to online school shared kids’ personal information, investigation shows

Millions of students in Canada and in 49 countries worldwide had their personal information sent to advertisers and data brokers when governments made the switch to online learning during the pandemic, according to a new report that reveals safety gaps in educational technology.

The report by Human Rights Watch alleges the online education platforms actively or passively infringed upon children’s rights by collecting and sharing their personal information. The findings, which were provided to The Globe ahead of a public release in June, included data on nine virtual-learning platforms used in Canada.

Coupled with more than a dozen interviews conducted by The Globe, the report suggests privacy expectations that usually apply in physical classrooms have not been firmly established in the virtual space.

Quebec legislature adopts Bill 96 language law despite bitter opposition

The Quebec government has secured the largest expansion of its language laws in more than 40 years, imposing new rules to reinforce the use of French in the public service, education and business despite bitter opposition from the province’s English-speaking minority.

Premier François Legault said he aims to strengthen the place of Quebec’s official language amid what he calls its decline. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau didn’t say whether his government would intervene against Bill 96 in court.

Other critics charge that the law could jeopardize access to essential services in languages other than French. It is still unclear whether the bill exempts health care from the language requirement.

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These Ukrainian refugees fled their country for Newfoundland. Now, they’re eager to put down roots

Three months ago, the Lysychuk family had to abandon their life in Kolomyia, a city of about 40,000 people in western Ukraine. After nearby missile attacks in February, the parents woke their children and told them they needed to leave. The Lysychuks came to Newfoundland thanks to Pastor Fred Penney of Elim Pentecostal Tabernacle church in St. John’s. He paid for their flights to Canada, gave them free rein of his home, lent them his van and began fundraising efforts to get them a vehicle of their own.

Read more about the family, and others like them, as they now face the challenges of setting up a life in Canada.

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ALSO ON OUR RADAR

Investors pulled almost $5-billion out of Canadian mutual funds last month amid market turmoil: The money investors pulled while share prices were falling led to an $87.5-billion decline in total assets for the industry. The drop in assets was mostly owing to stormy markets as inflation and interest rates have begun to shake up the pandemic savings boom. Stock markets surged throughout the pandemic after a slight dip in March, 2020. Now, markets have sharply turned with the S&P 500 falling for the seventh week in a row, the longest streak in 21 years.

Streaming services face ‘subscription fatigue’: Streaming services enjoyed a big boost during the first years of the pandemic, with Canadians spending more time at home, but the rapid growth of subscription services has prompted some to question whether the trend has gone too far.

Uber gets almost everything it wants in Ontario’s Working For Workers Act: From the summer of 2021 up until Bill 88 was passed, Uber lobbyists met repeatedly with provincial policy makers in an effort to obtain a legislative guarantee that its drivers and delivery couriers would not be redefined as employees

Ontario, Quebec picking up pieces after deadly storm: Hydro-Québec reported approximately 120,000 customers from Gatineau to Quebec City still did not have electricity. Hydro One reported nearly 150,000 customers were without power in Ontario. The storm has also prompted concerns among politicians about the intensity of future storms and the need to evaluate infrastructure plans.

MORNING MARKETS

World markets cautious: Global stock markets and the U.S. dollar moved cautiously higher on Wednesday before the latest Federal Reserve meeting minutes. Around 5:30 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 edged up 0.25 per cent. Germany’s DAX slid 0.08 per cent and France’s CAC 40 rose 0.07 per cent. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei finished down 0.26 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.29 per cent. New York futures were little changed. The Canadian dollar was trading at 77.88 US cents.

WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT

Reconciliation can’t be achieved with only symbolic gestures

“It’s a reminder that unless this country can deal with the continuing harms it is causing to generations of Indigenous peoples, reconciliation will only ever be a comforting lie.” -Eva Jewell and Ian Mosby

Infant formula shortages are symptoms of a much larger problem in Canada’s food system

“Canada needs both short- and long-term strategies to stabilize formula supply, and must look to non-commercial distribution methods that ensure dignity and access beyond just piecemeal food bank or charity solutions.” -Lesley Frank

Australia’s ‘teal wave’ is a wakeup call for Canada’s Conservatives

“Worse, the longer Canada’s Conservatives ignore climate science – even as more Canadians feel the effects of climate change in their everyday lives – the less incentive the party has to stick to a sane policy agenda on other critical issues.” -Jillian Oliver

TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON

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LIVING BETTER

As fears of a recession grow, six tips for building your emergency fund

A cash cushion is essential to softening any hits to your income in an economic crisis. And especially if you have a decent income but little or no emergency savings, you should start building or beefing up your financial rescue fund tout suite, experts say.

For example, keep your emergency savings in cash and separate from your day-to-day chequing account. Automate regular deposits into your emergency fund. And don’t forget, emergencies happen – including while you’re building up your emergency fund. Finance reporter Erica Alini has some tips to get you started.

• Also: Are young investors ready to face their possible first major downturn?

MOMENT IN TIME: May 25, 2020

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George Floyd dies

One minute became two, then three as the weight of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin’s body pressed down from his knee into George Floyd’s neck as Floyd struggled, crying out that he couldn’t breathe. After 9 minutes 29 seconds, when Chauvin finally let up, the life had been drained from Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man. Police had arrived at a convenience store after a clerk called to report his suspicions that Floyd had used a counterfeit $20 bill. A concerned crowd had gathered outside the convenience store and witnessed the needlessly violent arrest-turned-murder, and one of them, 17-year-old Darnella Frazier, captured it on her phone. It would be nearly a year before that video became evidence in a trial that ended in Chauvin’s murder conviction, but Frazier’s video went instantly viral online. It stirred up a global political movement for Black lives that defined the summer of 2020, in which millions of protesters took to the streets and mainstreamed the phrase “defund the police.” In 2021, the City of Minneapolis settled a wrongful death lawsuit with Floyd’s family for US$27-million. Dakshana Bascaramurty

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