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Ottawa must decide by Friday whether to appeal a Federal Court ruling that upholds two orders from a human-rights tribunal that could result in billions in compensation for Indigenous children, a choice seen as a test of the Liberal government’s commitment to reconciliation.
The extent of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s personal commitment on reconciliation, a signature pledge of his government since 2015, has also been called into question recently by a number of Indigenous leaders since he vacationed in Tofino, B.C., on the inaugural National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, for which he has apologized.
If Ottawa decides to appeal the decision, it’s expected to be heavily criticized by advocates and opposition parties for being out of step with reconciliation. If it opts to accept the ruling, there are sweeping implications that include the tribunal’s powers to compel government and the billions in compensation dollars to be paid.
Clothes and shoes represent victims of the residential-school system ahead of an event on the eve of Canada's first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, honouring the lost children and survivors of Indigenous residential schools, their families and communities on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Sept. 29, 2021.BLAIR GABLE/Reuters
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Edward Rogers’s reconstituted board reappoints him as chair
Edward Rogers was reappointed chair of Rogers Communications at a Sunday board meeting that was called invalid by three rival family members as well as the five company directors who Edward says he has now replaced.
He is at odds with his mother and two sisters over which independent directors sit on the company’s board. Martha Rogers, one of his sisters, took aim publicly at him and his “Old Guard puppet masters” in a series of tweets on the weekend that called on Edward to resign as the chair of the family trust that controls Canada’s largest wireless carrier.
The family has been engulfed in a bitter feud following an attempt by Edward to replace CEO Joe Natale with the company’s chief financial officer, Tony Staffieri, and oust other executives. In one of her tweets, Martha compared the boardroom battle to the Game of Thrones.
“Like in a bad movie, Ed & his Old Guard literally meet in dark boardrooms,” Martha Rogers wrote.
Read more:
- Listen to The Decibel: Inside the family-fuelled drama at Rogers
- Opinion: A Rogers family drama exposes the illusion of independent governance
- Ted Rogers’s wishes for family control of company have complicated the power struggle
Inside the bid to give the Newfoundland pony a ‘space to call their own’
Imagine an endless expanse of sweet grasses, partridge berries, spruce tips and even chanterelle mushrooms – a place to stumble upon just by following your nose.
If you’re a pony, this pasture an hour’s drive west from St. John’s is about as close to heaven as you can get, writes The Globe’s Greg Mercer. It’s a spot free of predators, and few distractions, except for the odd moose that may make an appearance from the woods.
Picturesque scenes like this were once common in Newfoundland. Back then, thousands of ponies roamed freely, serving as the island’s original tractors and all-terrain vehicles. But today, when there are believed to be just a little over a hundred full-blood Newfoundland ponies left in the province, the scene is like travelling back in time, says Libby Carew of the Newfoundland Pony Society.
“It takes me back to another time,” she said, watching 10 ponies frolic and graze in the pasture. “It’s just magical being here.”
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Sudanese military arrests prime minister in apparent coup: Sudan’s leading general declared a state of emergency Monday, hours after his forces arrested the acting prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok, and other senior government officials in an apparent coup.
Military dismisses reports into causes of death in two Ontario care-home cases The Canadian Armed Forces has dismissed reports from its own staff who said that residents at two Ontario nursing homes died of dehydration and suggested that the “unsubstantiated” allegations stemmed from an “emotionally charged” witness statement. The military says it cannot definitively comment on the cause of death, because it did not conduct forensic investigations or autopsies into the fatalities, according to documents on a subsequent review by the Ontario government into the reports. The government’s review backs up the military’s conclusion.
Egypt’s new capital city rises in the desert: Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is carrying on his predecessors’ penchant for grand projects with an ambitious plan to develop a new city, called the New Administrative Capital, or NAC, in the desert about 45 kilometres east of Cairo. NAC has the potential to emerge as the country’s – maybe the entire region’s – main business hub and the Middle East’s biggest housing project, with apartments and villas for more than six million people. That is, if el-Sisi’s attempt, seen by critics as a vanity project, works.
British envoy appeals to Canada for help at UN climate talks in Glasgow: Britain’s new high commissioner to Canada, Susannah Goshko, is enlisting Canada’s support to get countries to set more ambitious climate targets at the coming UN climate summit in Glasgow. Despite seeing a rise in greenhouse gas emissions domestically in recent years, Goshko said Canada still has shown “huge leadership” internationally. She pointed to the Trudeau’s government’s decision to raise its emissions-reductions targets, which has put pressure on other countries.
‘Sustainable finance’ is a great buzzy phrase, but what does it actually mean? “Sustainable finance” seems to suddenly be on everyone’s lips – no matter the industry or business. But for those who aren’t quite sure what the buzzy phrase means, here’s the gist: it’s just about factoring environmental sustainability considerations into financing decisions. Or, as expert Ryan Riordan puts it, “sustainable finance is the idea that environmental concerns are also financial concerns.”
How a B.C. conservation officer’s decision to spare lives of two bears cubs sparked debate about wildlife management: Six years ago, Bryce Casavant, a former conservation officer in B.C., refused an order to kill two infant bears, each weighing just about 10 pounds. He was fired for declining to kill the cubs – which he named Jordan and Athena – that are now living out their days in the rainforests of northern Vancouver Island. Casavant is now ready to share his story about the decision that prompted British Columbians to wrestle with whether it’s necessary, or ethical, to kill an infant bear.
MORNING MARKETS
World stocks held their ground this morning after eight consecutive sessions of gains, as traders weighed the prospects of strong corporate earnings in the backdrop of widening inflation risks from multi-year high crude oil prices.
European stocks edged higher in early London trading while U.S. stock futures held firm as investors shrugged off the possible impact from news of a pilot property tax in China and ongoing troubles in the sector.
While the broader economic momentum has slowed in recent weeks and market-implied inflation risks have increased with break-even rates on both sides of the Atlantic racing to multi-year highs, equity markets have been broadly unfazed.
MSCI’s broadest index of world stocks steadied below an early September high after notching up eight consecutive sessions of gains, its longest winning streak since late May, according to Refinitiv data.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
For women to be better represented in Canadian politics, they first have to feel safe
“We need to recognize that numerical representation isn’t enough; we don’t just need to elect more women to office or get more young women on the convention floor. We need bold voices that are actually empowered and supported in calling out intersecting systems of oppression that otherwise tokenize women and dispose of them when they demand better from their colleagues and workplaces.” - Arezoo Najibzadeh, founder and managing director of Platform
No one considers Canada’s immigration record to be a big deal, and that’s remarkable
“The COVID-19 pandemic revealed hard truths. One is that some of Canada’s most essential workers aren’t in high tech or trades; they’re supermarket workers and truck drivers and others who keep the wheels turning. Immigration policy must recognize their importance.” - John Ibbitson
Canada will face a new frontier of hesitancy when it’s time to vaccinate kids
“Adults in this country were also made to endure a rollercoaster of evolving recommendations on which vaccines should be taken by whom, so it makes sense that parents would want their kids to sit out at first to avoid being taken along on a similar ride.” - Robyn Urback
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
David Parkins/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
Four new thrillers for the change of seasons
From Hillary Clinton’s novelist debut, State of Terror, which takes readers into the room where decisions get made, to The Apollo Murders, a Cold War adventure from Chris Hadfield, here are a handful of new thrillers to add to your stack of fall reads.
MOMENT IN TIME: Letter carriers, 2012
George Graves-Sampson delivers mail in Toronto on Tuesday, May 1, 2012, the old-fashioned way, but Canada Post is now chasing digital business.Matthew Sherwood/The Globe and Mail
For more than 100 years, photographers and photo editors working for The Globe and Mail have preserved an extraordinary collection of 20th-century news photography. Every Monday, The Globe will feature one of these images. This month, we’re looking at Canada’s postal service.
The first known letter sent from North America was from St. John’s, in 1527 (its recipient: Henry VIII). It wasn’t until a couple of centuries later that a postal system was established, leading to what is now Canada Post. It has both a monopoly on letter delivery and a responsibility to deliver coast to coast to coast. Letter-mail service peaked in 2006 and has been declining ever since in the digital era. Globe photographer Matthew Sherwood captured George Graves-Sampson delivering mail in Toronto in 2012, a year and a half before Canada Post attempted to end home deliveries and move to community mailboxes as a cost-saving measure. The move was controversial and the government blocked it in 2015. But the continued decline of paper mail leaves an open question about Canada Post’s future. Iain Boekhoff
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