Morning Update: Police arrest convoy organizers Tamara Lich, Chris Barber as Ottawa protesters ignore orders to leave

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Police have arrested two organizers of a three-week protest against pandemic restrictions and set up a perimeter around downtown Ottawa with almost 100 checkpoints to try to bring an end to the blockade, warning demonstrators who remained that “action is imminent.”

Despite the warnings, many protesters continued to defy demands that they leave the country’s capital.

Dagny Pawlak, a spokesperson for the trucker convoy, said Tamara Lich was arrested shortly after making rounds near Parliament Hill. Her lawyer, Keith Wilson, told The Globe and Mail that he did not know the reason for her arrest. Wilson also said that organizer Chris Barber was arrested for alleged counselling to commit mischief, obstruction, and counselling to commit obstruction.

Read more:

• Financial institutions have started freezing protesters’ bank accounts based on RCMP information, Chrystia Freeland says
• Emergencies Act debate to continue through the weekend ahead of vote Monday
• Rita Trichur: Trucker blockades expose the weaknesses of Canada’s anti-money-laundering regime
• Doug Saunders: Our protests are a weak copy of Europe’s. We should learn from their response

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Ukraine says Russian-backed separatists to blame after shelling hits kindergarten

The children of the Fairy Tale Kindergarten had just finished having breakfast when the sounds of war came again to this frontline town in Eastern Ukraine.

Eight years into the war between the Ukrainian army and the Russian-backed separatists who control large swaths of this coal-producing region, the 24 children and their teachers knew what to do. They instinctively sought cover, gathering in a central hallway that is the closest thing to a shelter in their school.

Minutes later, an artillery round struck the sports room, even as it failed to explode on impact. A second shell, perhaps a mortar round, landed amid the climbing equipment in the playground outside. Impact marks suggest the ordinance was fired from somewhere south of Stanytsia Luhanska – almost certainly from the territory controlled by the militia of the unrecognized Luhansk People’s Republic.

More coverage:

• Cyberattacks overload Ukrainian government and financial-institution servers amid wave of disinformation
• U.S. says Russia planning to fake attack as excuse to invade Ukraine
• Canada pressed to offer Ukrainians visa-free access as war looms

For Canadian women’s hockey team, 3-2 victory over U.S. in Beijing shows how ‘creating a culture’ pays off

Each time Marie-Philip Poulin scored, she smiled blissfully, then pointed to another teammate as if to deflect all the credit from herself and shine it on someone else, writes The Globe’s Rachel Brady. Then Captain Clutch would open her arms wide and welcome in the jubilant hugs.

Poulin, by now the world’s most feared female hockey player, added two more goals to her remarkable career in the Canadians’ 3-2 win over their American archrivals to take women’s hockey gold at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

But it was never all about Poulin – and that was precisely why Team Canada thrived in Beijing. Everybody mattered. The Canadians bought into a different style of play, with all five players working interchangeably regardless of position.

More coverage of the Winter Olympics:

• Daily Olympic guide: Canada’s medal count climbs as speed skater Dubreuil takes silver, men’s curling team claims bronze
• Surrounded by scandal, ROC’s Kamila Valieva falls twice to miss podium in women’s final
• Cathal Kelly: Olympic men’s hockey doesn’t matter if the NHL isn’t there

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ALSO ON OUR RADAR

Trump must testify in New York investigation, judge rules: Former U.S. president Donald Trump must submit to questions under oath in New York State’s civil investigation into his business practices, a judge ruled Thursday. Trump and his two eldest children, Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr., must also sit for a deposition within 21 days.

Health Canada approves Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine: Canada’s health regulator has approved use of Novavax’s protein-based vaccine, Nuvaxovid, for people 18 and older. It is the first vaccine of its kind to get the green light in the country. Health Canada said it could spur an uptick in vaccinations among those who remain hesitant.

• Listen to The Decibel: Dr. Bonnie Henry on what B.C. did differently during the COVID-19 pandemic

Canada tries to catch up with global antitrust reforms, but faces domestic pushback: Canada’s Competition Bureau is trying to find its footing in a world where other jurisdictions are using antitrust measures to combat the increasing market power of Big Tech companies, while influential Canadian voices often loudly champion the status quo.

Houses highly unaffordable in many Canadian cities, PBO says: The price for the average house in Canada nearly doubled over roughly seven years, according to an analysis by the Parliamentary Budget Office, which is warning that “household financial vulnerability is elevated” for some recent homeowners.

MORNING MARKETS

Stocks rose cautiously on Friday as investors pinned their hopes on high-level diplomacy next week to avoid a Russian invasion of Ukraine. U.S. stock index futures rose after news that the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken agreed to a meeting with Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, raising the prospect of ending the standoff over Ukraine. Oil was headed for a weekly fall as the prospect of extra supply from Iran returning to the market eclipsed fears of a possible supply disruption arising from a Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Canadian dollar was trading at 78.72 US cents.

WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT

Emergency visas could help journalists in risky countries

“As Russian troops mass on the borders of Ukraine, as Afghan journalists languish in Afghanistan and third countries, access to the safety that coalition members purport to offer journalists remains, for far too many, a months- or years-long immigration nightmare. The time to walk this talk is now. Which country will be the first to step up?” - Rachel Pulfer

Beijing’s Games of Shame show how far China’s government has fallen

“What we were already witnessing in 2001 and 2008 were China’s pervasive assaults on human rights, which fly in the face of the Olympic values of excellence, friendship and respect. What we are seeing today, as China hosts the games for a second time in 14 years, is the utter betrayal and abandonment of the Olympic Charter.” - Irwin Cotler and Yonah Diamond

TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON

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LIVING BETTER

Maintaining an environmentally sustainable diet is a worthwhile goal

If you’re like many people, you’ve committed to make improvements to your diet, perhaps by trimming oversized portions, eating more vegetables and/or cutting back on sugary treats.

Consider another worthwhile dietary goal: shifting to a diet with a lower environmental impact.

MOMENT IN TIME: Feb. 18, 2005

British ban on hunting foxes with dogs comes into effect

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Oscar Wilde once described fox hunting as the “unspeakable in pursuit of the inedible.” But for nearly 500 years, the spectacle of horse riders and their trusty hounds racing across the English countryside in pursuit of foxes has been ingrained in British culture. That is until Tony Blair came along. When Blair became Prime Minister in 1997, he promised members of Parliament a free vote on whether to ban fox hunting. But the issue proved far more complicated and Blair spent the next seven years navigating two powerful forces: His fellow Labour MPs who viewed the sport as barbaric and demanded a total ban; and the House of Lords, whose aristocratic members saw fox hunting as an expression of civil liberty and a key part of rural life. Blair finally managed to push through a partial ban in 2004, but only after invoking a rarely used parliamentary procedure to override the Lords. The legislation came into force on Feb. 18, 2005, but the debate hasn’t ended. Animal rights activists say the law’s many loopholes have allowed hunts to continue while the sport’s enthusiasts have begged the current Conservative government to scrap the legislation. Paul Waldie

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