Good morning,
In the Nunavut hamlet of Rankin Inlet, a fast-spreading COVID outbreak has led Cathy Towtongie and her neighbours to start a practice they hope doesn’t last: Locking their doors.
“Inuit normally don’t lock their doors,” Ms. Towtongie, a former member of Nunavut’s legislature, explained. “But we have been locking our doors because the spread is so shockingly fast.”
Rankin Inlet, a community of about 3,000 people north of Churchill, Man., is one of 14 fly-in communities in Nunavut grappling with COVID-19 cases believed to be caused by Omicron.
The Arctic outbreaks highlight how Omicron is finding its way into every corner of Canada. Confirmed or presumptive positives have turned up in places as remote as Pond Inlet, on the northern tip of Baffin Island; Sanikiluaq, the only community on the Belcher Islands in Hudson’s Bay; and Whale Cove, a hamlet of about 300 people.
Catch up with our COVID-19 coverage:
- Quebec to expand use of COVID-19 vaccine passports to liquor, pot stores
- Travel industry urges looser testing restrictions as other countries drop requirements
- Ontario to fast-track COVID-19 booster shots for education and child-care workers
- Erin O’Toole urges accommodation for unvaccinated Canadians amid Omicron wave
- Infections slow in Xi’an, but other cities across China face lockdown misery amid new COVID-19 wave
A view of downtown Iqaluit, Nunavut, is shown on Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2020.Emma Tranter/The Canadian Press
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Biden decries Trump’s ‘web of lies,’ warning it sets the stage for another attack on democracy
U.S. President Joe Biden took aim at Donald Trump’s “big lie” that the 2020 election was fraudulent, blaming the former president for inciting a mob of his supporters who “held a dagger at the throat of America and American democracy” during the attack on the Capitol one year ago.
In a speech Thursday outside the House of Representatives chamber, Biden warned that Trump’s “web of lies” was setting the stage for another attempted insurrection. And he called on the country to fight back against Republican-led efforts to give politicians the power to overturn future election results.
The President’s unusually blunt address kicked off a day of commemoration on Capitol Hill of the attack’s anniversary, reports The Globe’s Adrian Morrow. It also marked a concerted effort to stop Trump’s allies from rewriting voting laws, and to refute the former president’s continued promulgation of conspiracy theories.
Read more coverage:
- Analysis: Biden’s speech both rallying cry and cry of despair over the persistence of Capitol riot divisions
- Lawrence Martin: The disturbing reality is that millions of Canadians support Trump
- Demonstrations in the U.S. are 6.5 times more likely to turn violent when protesters are armed, study finds
Thousands of Russian troops descend on Kazakhstan following deadly uprising
In scenes that recalled the crushing of the Prague Spring five decades ago, thousands of Russian soldiers were sent to neighbouring Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic, on Thursday to help prop up that country’s wobbling authoritarian regime.
Dozens of anti-government protesters, as well as at least 18 security officers, were killed in a second day of violent clashes across oil-rich Kazakhstan.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the Russian forces – formally described as “peacekeepers” – were involved in the violence. Their presence was expected to stabilize a kleptocratic and repressive regime that seemed to be on the brink of collapse Wednesday after protesters overran the city hall and main airport in Almaty, the country’s largest city.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Ottawa unable to offer timeline for resettlement of Afghan judges stranded in Greece: Immigration Minister Sean Fraser’s office is unable to say how much time Canada will need to finish processing the resettlement applications of 55 female Afghan judges, prosecutors and their families who are stuck in Greece on expiring short-term visas. They’ve been told that Canada will take them in, but they are still anxiously waiting for updates.
Rogers Communications’ head of wireless unit to exit in wake of tumultuous boardroom battle: Dave Fuller, the president of Rogers’ wireless division, is leaving the company after an explosive boardroom battle that led to the ouster of the company’s then-CEO Joe Natale. Fuller will be replaced by long-time executive Phil Hartling, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Court gives go-ahead to class-action lawsuit over bread price fixing: An Ontario Superior Court judge has approved a class-action lawsuit alleging Canada’s largest grocers and bread makers manipulated bread prices and overcharged consumers by an estimated $5-billion over 16 years. The Dec. 31 decision means legal actions are now in progress in Ontario and Quebec over the issue. The Quebec Superior Court authorized another lawsuit over the alleged scheme in 2019.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and wife welcome baby girl – a ‘birthday present for life’: A day after celebrating his 43rd birthday, the NDP’s Jagmeet Singh welcomed a baby girl on Monday. Calling his newborn “my birthday present for life,” the first-time dad said the baby and his wife, Gurkiran Kaur, are “healthy.” The NDP Leader, who has campaigned for better paternity and maternity benefits for new parents, is planning to take paternity leave.
Listen to The Decibel: The world of Harry Potter, which now encompasses movies, theme parks and a vast array of “fanfic,” has been beloved since the first book was published more than 20 years ago. But in recent years, author J.K. Rowling has been making statements against trans activists, and has sometimes raised the possibility of violence from someone who identifies as trans. Culture critic Stacy Lee Kong joins the podcast to explain how “Potterheads” have reacted to Rowling’s controversial comments, the series’ enduring legacy and how HBO Max dealt with it in its special, Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts.
MORNING MARKETS
Markets await U.S. jobs data: Global shares largely held their ground on Friday after nerves steadied on Wall Street while investors waited to see if U.S. payroll numbers alter the pace of interest rate hikes expected from the Federal Reserve this year. Around 5:30 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 edged up 0.02 per cent. Germany’s DAX was off 0.32 per cent. France’s CAC 40 was flat. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei slid 0.03 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 1.82 per cent. New York futures were slightly higher. The Canadian dollar was trading at 78.69 US cents.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
Canada’s North reveals the limits – and the humanity – of pandemic responses
“Grandiose pandemic plans by governments tend to look ridiculous in the face of the realities of the North. There, emergencies cannot wait for scheduled departmental briefings; twice-weekly committee meetings to analyze ‘submissions for assistance’ are laughable.” - Tanya Talaga
Death of Golden Globes is well deserved, but let’s not bury awards shows quite yet
“The death of the Globes may be well deserved, but its passing will only help accelerate the current and depressing trendline: less adult-oriented fare making its way to audiences, more mechanical franchises that don’t require awards-season word-of-mouth dominating the market.” - Barry Hertz
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
Brian Gable/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
Set a goal this year of updating your estate plan
When it comes to your estate plan, your will is probably the most important document to have drafted. If done properly, you’ll minimize tax obligations, and your heirs will receive more. In his latest column, Tim Cestnick shares what he’s considering as he contemplates his own will.
MOMENT IN TIME: Jan. 7, 1997
Canadian skipper Gerry Roufs sends final messages
Canadian sailor Gerry Roufs gestures aboard his yacht, Groupe-LG2, moments after the start of the third solo-around-the-world Vendee Globe race on Nov. 3, 1996.Daniel Joubert/Reuters
Gerry Roufs was sailing alone in the hostile waters near the “oceanic pole of inaccessibility” – the spot in the Southern Ocean farther from land than anywhere on the planet – when he sent his last radio message: “The waves are no longer waves, they are as high as the Alps.” At the time, the Montrealer was running second in the Vendée Globe, a non-stop and single-handed yacht race around the world. Then, on this day in 1997, his locator beacon went silent. He couldn’t be reached on radio and concern within the race quickly mounted. None of his five emergency transmitters had been triggered, suggesting what befell him was nearly instantaneous. With no one else around, it fell to his closest competitor to conduct a fruitless initial search. A passing freighter and reconnaissance planes also spotted nothing. It was as though he had been erased from the surface of the sea. Only months later did shattered pieces of his boat turn up on the Chilean coast. While what happened will likely never be known, one theory is that he rammed a small iceberg at full tilt. Oliver Moore
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