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Pangnirtung, a small hamlet on Baffin Island, is grappling with the largest tuberculosis outbreak in Nunavut since 2017, according to data the territorial government released on Thursday after refusing for months to reveal the extent of the disease’s spread.
The Nunavut Department of Health said on Thursday that 139 cases of TB have been identified in Pangnirtung in the past 18 months, 31 of which were active, meaning the patients were sick and infectious. The rest were cases of latent or “sleeping” TB, an asymptomatic version of the bacterial infection that isn’t contagious, but that puts patients at risk of developing active TB in the future, reports The Globe’s Kelly Grant.
In interviews, community leaders have expressed frustration at the lack of official information about the TB outbreak, which Michael Patterson, the territory’s chief public-health officer, first declared on Nov. 25 without providing a tally of cases.
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Gunman entered Texas school unobstructed, police say, as questions rise over response
On the day of the Robb Elementary School massacre in Uvalde, Tex., George Rodriguez waited 6½ hours for word on whether his grandson, a student at the school, was alive or dead. The family went to the town’s Civic Center, where police bused surviving children after securing the school. But 10-year-old Jose Flores never arrived.
Around 6 p.m. that day, he got a call from Jose’s father, who had found the boy at the town hospital. Rodriguez rushed over. By the time he arrived, his grandson had died.
The excruciating time families spent that day, unsure whether their children were alive, has brought scrutiny on the police response to the carnage, which left 19 students and two teachers dead. At a news conference on Thursday, law enforcement officials released the first concrete timeline of the day. But they raised as many questions as they answered, report Adrian Morrow and Molly Hayes.
Read more:
- Texas official faced horror of identifying victims he knew after deadly school shooting
- In photos: Remembering the victims of the Texas elementary school mass shooting
- Gus Carlson: From Sandy Hook to Uvalde: A parent on enduring the tragedy of school shootings
Ukraine grain exports run into series of complications amid Russia’s blockade of Black Sea ports
With Black Sea ports blocked by the Russian navy and the world on the precipice of food shortfalls, Ukraine’s efforts to deliver its grains to market have been snarled by slow border crossings that have created an immense backup on the country’s rail lines.
Ukrainian Railways now counts more than 9,000 grain cars loaded and ready for export to other parts of Europe. But only about 450 cars a day are moving out of the country, and Ukraine’s efforts to double that number have run into a series of problems, reports Nathan VanderKlippe.
Customs and health inspections have delayed cross-border movements already slowed by the need to transload cargoes from Ukraine’s wider gauge track to the narrower European standard. European countries have struggled to marshal sufficient space in granaries and railcars to move the vast quantities of Ukrainian grains. Roughly 20 million tonnes of last year’s harvest remain in Ukraine, and the new harvest will begin soon.
Read more:
- Russian proxies claim control of key town of Lyman in east Ukraine
- Eric Reguly: My father was a war correspondent. The job has changed between his time in Vietnam and what reporters are experiencing in Ukraine today
- Opinion: The painful food truths exposed by Russia’s war in Ukraine
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Battle of Alberta over as Edmonton Oilers take 4-1 series victory over Calgary Flames: The Oilers will now await the winner of the Colorado Avalanche-St. Louis Blues series, with the Avalanche up 3-2 heading into Game 6 of that series Friday night.
Families of Nova Scotia shooting victims boycotting inquiry over RCMP testimony: Angry that senior RCMP officers are being shielded from cross-examination, families of victims killed in the 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia are boycotting the public inquiry probing the tragedy. The families say their hope for police accountability is fading quickly.
OSFI to order banks to give details on climate risks: In a bid to ensure the country’s financial system is protected from the growing risks of a warming planet, Canada’s banking regulator, Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, will demand banks, lenders and insurers provide detailed disclosures about the impact of climate change on their businesses.
Ottawa sets new course for CRTC to encourage competition: The federal government says it will direct the federal telecom regulator, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, to emphasize competition and affordability in the internet and mobile phone markets and to improve its wholesale network access regimes.
Only shipment Canada has seized on suspicion of forced labour released after importer challenge: Despite a commitment in 2020 to bar all imports made with forced labour, Canada has yet to identify and seize a single shipment of foreign goods made under coercion. The only shipment of goods impounded since the ban was later released after the importer successfully challenged the seizure.
Listen to The Decibel: How archaeologists look for unmarked graves: Métis archaeologist Dr. Kisha Supernant, who is one of the people at the forefront of the effort to look for unmarked graves, joins the podcast to explain what happens after potential graves are found and what needs to happen next.
MORNING MARKETS
World stocks head for weekly gain: World stocks were heading for their first weekly gain in eight weeks on Friday on a more upbeat earnings view while the U.S. dollar hit one-month lows after the Federal Reserve’s minutes suggested it could put the brakes on rapid rate hikes later this year. Around 5:30 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.14 per cent. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 were up 0.50 per cent and 0.78 per cent, respectively. Japan’s Nikkei finished 0.66-per-cent higher. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 2.89 per cent. New York futures were positive. The Canadian dollar was trading at 78.48 US cents.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
Jean Charest calls out Pierre Poilievre’s populism, but stopping his bid for the Conservative leadership seems unlikely
“The dynamic is clear now: Pierre Poilievre is the front-runner, campaigning with a populist appeal, opposition to vaccine mandates, support for the trucker convoy and a pledge to fire ‘gatekeepers.’ Mr. Charest is chasing. So he closed the last debate with a warning that the Conservative Party can’t turn itself over to a politician whom he more or less called a judgment-deficient yahoo – and a “pseudo-American.” He might as well have called Mr. Poilievre Donald Trump.” - Campbell Clark
As the U.S. unravels, innocent bystander Canada can’t escape the fallout
“The plight of American democracy is a domestic crisis that likely will only be eased with the de-radicalization of the Republican Party, the party that has made extremism mainstream. Chances of that are slim. In that it has steered clear of the American trajectory of descent, Canada is an innocent bystander in this regard.” - Lawrence Martin
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
Brian Gable/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
Eight high-altitude Canadian attractions to conquer this summer
From cliffside climbing courses to suspended bridges and glass walkways, there’s no shortage of tall thrills to add to your summer plans. If you’d like to test your tolerance for heights, there are plenty of ways to do just that right across the country, whether you’re in the mood for a rural or urban setting.
MOMENT IN TIME: May 27, 1945
Bruce Cockburn is born in Ottawa
Folk singer Bruce Cockburn with his dog on Oct. 24, 1974.Dennis Robinson/The Globe and Mail
Bruce Douglas Cockburn was born in Ottawa on this day, 77 years ago. The boy who would grow up to be a 13-time Juno Award winner and internationally acclaimed guitarist, songwriter and activist listened to records with his parents as a child. “Mostly it was performances of great classics by somewhat second-rate orchestras,” the musician recalled in his 2014 memoir, Rumours of Glory. Everybody’s a critic. In the attic of a house owned by relatives, he discovered a beat-up, no-name musical instrument. He would later refer to guitars as his “holy grail, the North Star and trail guide of my life.” In 1970, Mr. Cockburn released his self-titled debut album and the single Going to the Country, a folksy, finger-picked ode to life in the pastures. It was a minor success; major ones would follow, including Wondering Where the Lions Are and If I Had a Rocket Launcher. The 1984 song Lovers in a Dangerous Time contained the lyric, “Gotta kick at the darkness ‘till it bleeds daylight,” a phrase that encapsulates the spiritually inclined, socially conscious troubadour’s raison d’être that continues to this day. Brad Wheeler
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