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Canadian businessman Michael Spavor has been found guilty of espionage by a Chinese court and sentenced to 11 years in prison. According to Canadian officials, Spavor has up to two weeks to file an appeal against this verdict.
Speaking via video link from Dandong, China, after meeting with Spavor, Dominic Barton, Canada’s envoy in Beijing, said “we condemn in the strongest possible terms” the verdict and sentence, which was “rendered without due process or transparency.”
Barton said earlier this week the timing of the decision was “no coincidence.” He was referring to the extradition proceedings of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, which have been playing out in a Vancouver court this week. The Spavor ruling was delivered one day after a different Chinese court rejected an appeal by Robert Schellenberg, a Canadian who faces a death sentence for drug trafficking.
China has demanded that Meng be released unconditionally, saying the push to extradite her is part of a Western plot to suppress its tech industry. U.S. authorities allege that Meng committed fraud to skirt U.S. sanctions against Iran. Not long after her arrest, Beijing detained Spavor and fellow Canadian Michael Kovrig, both of whom have now been imprisoned for nearly 1,000 days.
Guy Saint-Jacques, a former Canadian ambassador to China, said the men are victims of China’s “hostage diplomacy.”
More coverage of Canada-China relations:
- China accused of condemning Robert Schellenberg to death in retaliation for Huawei executive’s arrest
- Federal government argues charges should not be stayed for Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou
- ICYMI: ‘Hold on, please, we’re gonna get you home’: Michael Kovrig’s old punk band joins campaign for his release
A young man holds a sign bearing photographs of Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, outside the B.C. Supreme Court, where Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou was attending a hearing, in Vancouver, Jan. 21, 2020.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
Send a message to Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig as they near 1,000 days in detention in China. The Globe and Mail is inviting readers to send letters that we will forward to the Chinese embassy in Ottawa. E-mail audience@globeandmail.com or send hard copies to The Globe and Mail Toronto office with “Attn: Two Michaels” on the envelope: 351 King Street East, Suite 1600. Toronto, ON, M5A 0N1
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Quebec to bar unvaccinated people from non-essential public places
Under the country’s most sweeping vaccine-passport policy yet, unvaccinated residents in Quebec won’t have access to public spaces such as bars, restaurants and gyms as of Sept. 1. Neighbouring Ontario, meanwhile, has continued to reject calls to implement a similar policy within its borders.
The divide between provinces over whether to mandate proof of vaccination for certain activities will grow wider when Quebec starts testing its passport system at a Quebec City sports bar this week. It’s the first of at least two pilot projects the government has planned to address potential hiccups in the system before the formal, provincewide launch in September.
Quebec Health Minister Christian Dube said the government decided to expand implementation of the system beyond hard-hit parts of the province because of the rapid spread of the Delta variant, a more contagious strain of the novel coronavirus.
“A fourth wave is inevitable in Quebec,” he said. “The idea is to give access to these locations only to people who are fully vaccinated, instead of closing them like we have during the first three waves.”
Catch up on more COVID-19 related news:
- ‘Canada will be ready’: Moderna’s plans to build mRNA vaccine plant to help country brace for future outbreaks, big or small, CEO says
- Globe editorial: Get vaccinated – or find another line of work
- COVID-19 vaccines should be prioritized for poorer countries, not booster shots at home: experts
- Opinion: The summer has brought pandemic freedom. Let’s not risk losing it as students return to school
- Yukon’s chief medical officer to run under Liberal Party banner
Ottawa commits additional $321-million in support of search for unmarked graves
The federal government announced it’s providing $321-million to help Indigenous communities in their efforts to search the sites of former residential schools for unmarked graves and to help survivors heal from their trauma.
Some $83-million will be earmarked for the identification of unmarked graves and memorialization of victims, and $107.3-million will be spent on mental health and community supports, among other commitments. A national advisory committee will be formed to assist with the work.
The Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and Musqueam nations revealed yesterday that they had launched a probe into the fates of children who never returned home after they were sent to St. Paul’s Indian Residential School in North Vancouver, B.C. Other communities are also in the midst of undertaking similar efforts.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo resigns over allegations of sexual harassment: Facing the possibility of impeachment following a report detailing allegations of sexual harassment from multiple women, Andrew Cuomo announced his resignation as governor. Cuomo, appearing both defiant and chastened in his televised address, denied intentionally mistreating women, but said continuing to fight back would drag the state into months of turmoil.
Listen to the latest Decibel: Novelist, journalist and former Globe reporter Omar El Akkad joins the show to discuss experts’ predictions about our climate future in the coming decades, including the possibility of frequent waves of permanent migrations caused by a warming planet.
Future of Canada’s top soldier in limbo despite end to probe into misconduct allegation: Admiral Art McDonald won’t be immediately reinstated to his post as chief of the defence staff, despite the end of an investigation into an allegation of misconduct against him. A spokesperson for the Privy Council Office said “a determination on next steps will be made in due course.”
Canadian Pacific hikes bid for Kansas City Southern to US$27.2-billion: Canadian Pacific Railway raised its cash-and-stock offer for Kansas City Southern to US$27.2-billion, from US$25.2-billion, in a bid to persuade the U.S. carrier’s shareholders to reject CN’s takeover in an Aug. 19 vote. The Calgary railway says its offer comes with greater assurance its deal will pass U.S. regulatory scrutiny.
How to get a view of the Perseid meteor shower: For many, summer isn’t quite complete without catching the annual Perseid meteor shower, which is set to peak this week. It’s the best chance this year to spot a “shooting star” – a misleading term because meteors are not technically stars but rather tiny bits of grit adrift in interplanetary space.
MORNING MARKETS
European stocks move higher: European shares notched another record high on Wednesday as investors looked past rising COVID-19 infections in Asia and awaited key U.S. inflation data. Just before 6 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.47 per cent. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 rose 0.07 per cent and 0.28 per cent, respectively. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei ended up 0.65 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.20 per cent. New York futures were little changed. The Canadian dollar was trading at 79.80 US cents.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
Conservatives may be feeling blue if Erin O’Toole doesn’t have a strong election campaign
“Why has Mr. O’Toole made so little headway? It could be his chameleon-like tendency to become whatever you want him to be.” - John Ibbitson
We must not become inured to the presence of gun violence
“So, here we are today. More police officers, more enforcement, mandatory-minimum sentencing and other measures have not made a dent in gun violence. In any event, these are all measures that come into play only after a gun has fallen in the wrong hands. Prevention continues to be treated as a secondary option.” - Alok Mukherjee, former chair of the Toronto Police Services Board
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
David Parkins/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
A Nova Scotia-based tour operator takes road trips to a new level
Meet the couple behind DreamDrive Vacations, a self-branded “high-end, luxury car cruise,” which gives travellers a front-row seat to the coastal scenery of Nova Scotia. Whether you’re in the mood for some of Annapolis Valley’s wine or you want to explore Cape Breton’s Cabot Trail, Steve Davies and his wife, Erin Horton, have put together four-, five- and seven-day itineraries to give you a sampling of what the province has on offer.
MOMENT IN TIME: Aug. 11, 1922
Canadian author Mavis Gallant is born
Author Mavis Gallant, pictured in Toronto for the 17th annual International Festival of Authors, October 1996.Russell Monk/The Globe and Mail
The road to entering Canada’s literary canon was anything but auspicious for Mavis Gallant. The Montreal-born author was eight when her father died. Her mother remarried, moved to New York, and left her daughter with guardians, who rotated her between 17 schools before she graduated from high school. In her late 20s, after a stint in journalism with the Montreal Gazette, Gallant moved to France to pursue fiction writing. She did not realize the first few stories she sent to The New Yorker had been published – her literary agent was intercepting the news and pocketing the money. Gallant made up for it by writing 116 stories for the publication in her lifetime. Fluently bilingual with French-Acadian roots, she wrote her most acclaimed short stories in English. Her protagonists are often expatriate women dealing with family struggles or career dread. None, said Gallant, reflected her own life as much as Linnet Muir in Home Truths, who wrestles with questions of belonging and identity. Gallant died at 91 as a Companion of the Order of Canada. To Janice Kulyk Keefer, literary critic and author of Reading Mavis Gallant, her writing lives on in part for the “acuity of her intelligence, and the incisiveness of her wit.” Alex Cyr
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