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Two former Myanmar soldiers, who said they were ordered to “kill all you see” during the military operation against the country’s Rohingya Muslim population, are now in The Hague and are expected to play a major role in the International Criminal Court’s investigation into alleged crimes against humanity.
The Myanmar army, known as the Tatmadaw, is believed to have killed more than 10,000 Rohingya and forced another 700,000 to flee from their homes.
One of the two soldiers said his unit killed 30 people and dumped their bodies in mass graves. He also confessed to raping a woman. The other soldier said his unit “wiped out 20 villages” and was told to kill everyone, including children. Canada, along with several other countries, has labelled Myanmar’s actions as genocide.
In this image taken from video provided by the Arakan Army, Private Myo Win Tun provides a video testimony from an undisclosed location somewhere in Myanmar on July 23, 2020. Two soldiers who deserted from Myanmars army have testified on video that they were instructed by commanding officers to shoot all that you see and that you hear in villages where minority Rohingya Muslims lived, a human rights group said Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2020. (Arakan Army via AP)The Associated Press
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B.C. closes nightclubs, banquet halls while Ontario pauses further reopening
British Columbia ordered nightclubs and banquet halls to shut down Tuesday as officials said these facilities are a major reason for the rise in COVID-19 cases over the weekend. The province has recorded 429 new virus cases since Friday along with two deaths at long-term care homes.
Last week, Vancouver Coastal Health announced public exposures at three separate nightclubs on Vancouver’s Granville Street. “Despite weeks of effort by public health teams, these venues are creating significant risk to everyone in B.C., and making it more challenging to protect those who are most vulnerable to serious illness,” the province’s Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said.
Meanwhile, Ontario is suspending any further reopening for at least a month as schools reopen and coronavirus cases rise in Ottawa and the Greater Toronto Area. The province has reported 375 new cases over the past two days.
Energy sector’s drill-less recovery to spawn more takeovers
Canada’s oil patch is witnessing a wave of consolidation as smaller companies deal with major financial pressures and larger players see an opportunity for expansion.
Several deals have already taken place as low oil prices and a reluctance from lenders to continue funding struggling producers makes it harder for lower-tier companies to increase capital spending.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
PEI adjusts curriculum to address academic gaps students face as they return to school: Prince Edward Island is the only province taking measures to address the learning gap that occurred when schools were forced to shut down in the spring because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The province, which has about 20,000 students, moved some of the curriculum from the previous grade and is focusing on specific aspects of the curriculum early on in the year in case students have to move back to distance learning later on.
China defends pressing MPs to avoid meeting Hong Kong dissidents, Dalai Lama: The Chinese embassy says that Canadian MPs who contact the Dalai Lama or pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong are wrong to do so because they are intruding in China’s internal affairs. The embassy defended instances when Chinese officials tried to dissuade Canadian MPs from meeting with leaders of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement in 2017. In 2019, officials advised an Edmonton MP to cancel plans to meet the Tibetan spiritual leader.
How Canada’s longest-serving judge made ‘Campbelling’ part of the legal lexicon for refugee cases: Justice Douglas Campbell was an idealist and an outlier. During his 25 years on the Federal Court, he almost always sided with refugees and immigrants fighting to stay in Canada. Now in his 70s, his inner fire has not dimmed as he continues to discuss issues of social justice. Justice Campbell spoke with The Globe and shared his beliefs on what makes a good judge.
Majority of Canadians unsatisfied with Julie Payette’s job performance, poll finds: A majority of Canadians say Julie Payette is doing a poor job as Governor-General, according to a Nanos Research poll. Canadians from the Prairies and British Columbia are more likely than Quebeckers to say that Payette is a bad Governor-General and men are more likely than women to say that she is doing a poor job. Payette is the subject of a workplace review after she was accused of mistreating former and current employees of Rideau Hall.
MORNING MARKETS
European shares advance: European shares on Wednesday shrugged off heavy losses for U.S. tech stocks and a major drugmaker delaying testing of a coronavirus vaccine, as investors kept faith in an economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Around 6 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.89 per cent. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 gained 0.99 per cent and 0.73 per cent, respectively. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei ended down 1.04 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.63 per cent. New York futures were higher. The Canadian dollar was trading at 75.61 US cents.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
Andrew Coyne: “Whether any of this is enough to warrant [Julie] Payette’s removal may be debated. But it surely does not add up to an ‘excellent’ record; if so, one has to ask what she would have to do to qualify as mediocre. But, of course she is an excellent Governor-General in the Prime Minister’s eyes. She must be, because it was he who appointed her, and entirely on his own initiative, without referring the decision to the advisory committee set up by his predecessor. If she were not an excellent Governor-General, it would mean the Prime Minister had not made an excellent choice.”
The Editorial Board: “No good can come from whitewashing history, or burying wrongs done. But [Sir John A.] Macdonald, flawed though he was, laid the foundation for something that is fundamental to our lives, namely this country itself. It’s an accomplishment so big that it tends to get overlooked. That is why a debate over a Macdonald statue should be very different from the American debate over statues of the leaders of the Confederacy.”
Dr. Reut Gruber: “As we look for ways to reduce the number of interactions between students in schools so that physical distancing is feasible, there is an obvious solution: Follow teens' delayed sleep biology.”
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
Brian GableBrian Gable/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
Take a left at Dublin, then a right at Brussels: A tour of Ontario’s European capitals
Lisbon, Paris, Vienna, Copenhagen – Southwestern Ontario is scattered with cities named after European capitals highlighting the long history of European immigration to this part of the province. Although many of these small cities and villages have seen better days, a trip through this region is well worth the time for anyone wishing to find Ontario’s history on display.
MOMENT IN TIME: SEPTEMBER 9, 1957
Singer Paul Anka, undated. Credit: David Rubinger/Corbis via Getty Images)David RUBINGER/Corbis via Getty Images
Paul Anka’s Diana peaks at No. 1
On this date in 1957, Paul Anka’s keening pop song Diana reached the top of the Billboard sales chart. The 16-year-old Ottawa crooner had faith in the song inspired by an older girl he was sweet on, but others had dismissed it. The first people to hear the song were Chuck Berry and Fats Domino. The precocious Anka had snuck backstage at the Ottawa Auditorium in April of 1957 to peddle Diana to the rock 'n' roll pioneers. Mr. Berry, a songwriting genius, was unimpressed. “You’re too young and she’s too old?” he questioned, misquoting the opening line. “That’s not a song, man, that’s a conversation you have at a Dairy Queen.” Undaunted, Mr. Anka then went to Mr. Domino’s dressing room and auditioned the song for him. “Now that’s sincere,” the Blueberry Hill singer said, before offering some free advice. “You want people to hear that song, you best record it yourself.” A month later, in a New York recording studio, Mr. Anka did just that. The song became a hit, Mr. Anka turned teen idol, and who knows what happened to the girl named Diana? Brad Wheeler
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