Morning Update: Ottawa recommends timelines for access to historical records

Good morning,

The federal government is advising public servants to begin releasing historical records after designated timelines, a significant shift in public policy that for decades has kept information hidden from Canadians.

The Treasury Board announced yesterday that it was introducing “sunset clauses” – which establish a date at which sensitive records can be released, often 20, 25 or 30 years after their creation – for federal records. These clauses are common in democracies around the world.

But Canada had no process in place to open decades-old records that were once deemed sensitive. The situation has led to a crisis for historians, who have had to rely on the public archives of other countries to research Canada.

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McGill University president decries lack of police action against pro-Palestinian encampments

McGill University’s president said Montreal police’s inaction in the face of a disturbing protest was baffling in a note to campus that also announced students had walked away from negotiations to end a pro-Palestinian encampment and escalated their tactics.

At the University of British Columbia yesterday, police moved in to clear an intersection near the campus that was blocked by dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators. The RCMP issued a statement saying one person was arrested.

Encampments remain in place on campuses across the country, part of a wider movement that has gained momentum as the war in Gaza continues. Organizers have been calling for universities to disclose their investments, divest from companies connected to the Israeli military and break ties with some Israeli universities.

• Held hostage by Hamas, Israeli woman surviving a continuous nightmare
• Montreal police investigating after Jewish school hit by at least one bullet
• Israel seizes Gaza’s entire border with Egypt, presses with raids into Rafah

Task force opts to not advise routine breast screenings beginning at age 40

A national task force has updated Canada’s breast screening guidelines, saying people in their 40s should not be routinely screened for the disease, but also shouldn’t be stopped from getting a mammogram if they want one. The Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care released its new recommendations as the debate over the right time to start screening is becoming increasingly polarized.

Earlier this month, the Canadian Cancer Society changed its position, calling for routine breast screening to begin at the age of 40. Newfoundland and Labrador also announced this month that it’s lowering its recommended screening age to 40, after a similar move by Ontario last fall.

Despite the changes, Guylène Thériault, co-chair of the national task force, said panel members and expert advisers didn’t find compelling scientific evidence that would warrant a lowering of the screening age for average-risk individuals.

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Also on our radar

NDP rejects motion on foreign interference legislation: New Democrats rejected a Conservative proposal to allow the House of Commons just two weeks to review new legislation on foreign interference, saying such a short timeline would not allow for MPs to make informed decisions on the bill.

Ramaphosa’s fate uncertain in close South African election: South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress, is heading to its worst-ever election performance, jeopardizing its parliamentary majority and forcing it to seek coalition partners to stay in power, early vote projections from Wednesday’s election show.

Jurors in Trump trial end first day of deliberations: The jury in Donald Trump’s hush-money trial ended its first day of deliberations yesterday without a verdict, but asked to rehear potentially crucial testimony about the alleged hush-money scheme at the heart of the history-making case.

Access to affordable housing should be universal, report says: A new report by the National Housing Council says affordable housing in Canada should be treated the same as health care – universally available. The report calls on the federal government to preserve lower-cost apartments, build more of them and better support renters.

• Editorial: A Liberal position on housing that defies gravity

Minnesota crowned first women’s hockey league champion: Minnesota clinched the inaugural Professional Women’s Hockey League championship with a 3-0 win over Boston in Game 5 on Wednesday, as fans celebrated a new chapter for the women’s game.

Morning markets

Global stocks were mixed as bonds regained some ground after a selloff the day before on bets that global interest rates would stay higher for longer due to stickier inflation readings.

The pan-European STOXX 600 rose 0.34 per cent. Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.21 per cent, Germany’s DAX advanced 0.08 per cent and France’s CAC 40 added 0.24 per cent.

But in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 1.3 per cent lower at 38,054.13, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng sank 1.34 per cent to 18,230.19.

The Canadian dollar traded at 72.86.

What everyone’s talking about

John Ibbitson: “No one is realistically predicting that public disaffection with the Liberals will result in an upset in Toronto-St. Paul’s when the by-election is held on June 24. But the Conservatives appear to be sending a message: The Liberals should not assume there is a safe seat in the land.”

Chris Aylward: “The right to work remotely, where feasible, should be seen as the next great frontier in the fight for workers’ rights. In leading this charge, unions uphold their legacy of securing progressive changes that ultimately enhance the quality of life and work for everyone. This isn’t just a fight for today’s workers but a foundation for future generations in a rapidly evolving world.”

Today’s editorial cartoon

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Living better

Berry season has arrived

June is the start of berry season across the country. Whether you buy them at the grocery store or forage them in forests, berries are fragile and tend to live in a precarious state. These fruits are packed with nutrients and are perfect to make jams, or to use in muffins, cakes and pies. Check out this great recipe for berry upside-down cake.

Moment in time: May 30, 1967

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Gabriel Garcia Marquez publishes One Hundred Years of Solitude

Gabriel Garcia Marquez was en route to a family vacation in Mexico when an idea he’d been mulling for decades suddenly crystallized. He’d long wanted to write a novel about a large family in a small village, based on his maternal grandparents’ house, where he’d grown up. Like a scene in a novel (by a lesser writer), he turned the car around, the soon-to-be famous opening taking shape in his mind. Back home in Colombia, he would spend the next 18 months at his desk writing the epic tale of a fictional family over seven generations, while his wife kept the bill collectors at bay. When he finished 100 Years of Solitude he didn’t even have the 82 pesos to mail it to his publisher and had to send it in two parts after visiting a pawnbroker. His novel, treating the mundane as mysterious (the discovery of magnets or ice) and the supernatural as everyday (a plague of infectious insomnia, a levitating priest), came to define magic realism. The book would go on to sell over 50 million copies in 46 languages and make Marquez, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature in 1982, the world’s most celebrated Latin American author. Alison Gzowski

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