Morning Update: Pope arrives in Canada for reconciliation visit

Good morning,

Pope Francis landed in Edmonton Sunday to start what he has called his “penitential pilgrimage” across Canada.

Francis was greeted at Edmonton airport by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Governor-General Mary Simon – Canada’s first Indigenous Governor-General – and other political, Indigenous and church leaders from across the country in a subdued gathering.

During his six-day stay in the country, the Pope is expected to deliver an apology for the legacy of physical, sexual and emotional abuse suffered by Indigenous children at Catholic-run residential schools. The Pope’s tour will see him make stops Monday at the former Ermineskin Residential School in Maskwacis, Alta., and the Sacred Heart Church of the First Peoples in Edmonton, a church that blends Indigenous ceremony with Catholic liturgy.

It is Pope Francis’s first visit to Canada, and only the fourth papal visit in Canadian history.

Read More

• How the Vatican encouraged the colonization of Indigenous lands – and enabled the Crown to keep them
• Ailing Pope Francis rises to the occasion as ‘penitential pilgrimage’ begins in Edmonton
• Support workers to aid residential-schools survivors during papal visit
• Explainer: Pope Francis has arrived in Canada. Here’s what to know about his papal visit

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Hockey Canada also used health fund for lawsuits, documents say

Hockey Canada maintains a second multimillion-dollar fund where registration fees have been put toward protecting the organization from liability in lawsuits, without disclosing to parents and players how their money was being used, according to documents obtained in a Globe and Mail investigation.

The discovery of this fund, in which player fees intended for emergency medical and dental coverage have been used to insulate Hockey Canada’s top officials from liability, follows revelations last Tuesday that the organization created a special reserve for settling alleged sexual-assault claims outside court.

The Globe investigation was first to report last week that Hockey Canada built a fund through player registration fees and used that money to settle sexual-assault lawsuits without exposing those cases to outside scrutiny, including from its insurance company.

This reserve was known on Hockey Canada’s books as the National Equity Fund, and exceeded $15-million in recent years, the investigation found, though players and parents were never told how that money was utilized.

Meanwhile, police are investigating two separate alleged incidents of group sexual assault by Canadian Hockey League players from 2018 and 2003.

Five players from the 2003 world junior hockey lineup say they were unaware of an alleged group sex assault involving members of that year’s team. Four of the five are retired NHL players – Jordin Tootoo, Carlo Colaiacovo, P.A. Parenteau and Nathan Paetsch.

Read More:

• Opinion: The Hockey Canada scandal shows a culture in deep need of repair
• Explainer: Hockey Canada faces revolt over its handling of sexual-assault allegations. Here’s what to know

How a coding error caused Rogers outage that left millions without service

Rogers Communications Inc. engineers began the sixth step of a seven-step process to upgrade the core infrastructure that supports the company’s wireless and broadband networks at 2:27 a.m. on July 8.

Two hours and 16 minutes later, a coding error was introduced that triggered a cascade of events, resulting in a massive outage that left millions of Canadians without cellphone, internet or home phone service for at least a day.

Initially, even Rogers itself was unsure what was causing the service disruption. But weeks later, in a detailed submission in response to questions from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, the company gave a full account of its version of events.

Those documents, which were disclosed publicly by the CRTC in redacted form on Friday, give new details on the outage and provide an early glimpse at the set of facts Rogers executives will draw upon on Monday, when they are expected to testify about the incident in a public hearing before the House of Commons committee on industry and technology.

Read More:

• Rogers commits to new testing and oversight to improved reliability of network after outage

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Also on our radar

Former Unifor leader pressed assistant to drop ethics complaint against him: In his final days before retirement, former Unifor national president Jerry Dias used his power and influence to put pressure on the whistleblower to withdraw his ethics complaint that Dias improperly accepted $50,000 from a vendor. These allegations, and other specifics of the events that led up to Mr. Dias’s abrupt retirement this year, are contained in a third-party investigative report reviewed by The Globe.

Canadian recently died in Ukraine, says government: A Canadian has been killed in action in Ukraine, and his family is seeking to bring his remains home, according to Global Affairs Canada. Le Journal de Montreal newspaper identified the man as Émile-Antoine Roy-Sirois, a 31-year-old from Montreal. The newspaper reported that Roy-Sirois was killed on the morning of July 18 in the city of Siversk while, with three other soldiers, trying to evacuate a wounded comrade. The New York Times reported that the other soldiers included two Americans and one Swede.

World Health Organization declares monkeypox a global emergency: WHO activated its highest level of alert for the expanding monkeypox outbreak on Saturday. The virus is now present in more than 70 countries. The declaration could spur further investment in treating the once-rare disease and worsen the scramble for scarce vaccines.

U.S. Capitol attack probe to push forward with new witnesses, Liz Cheney says: The panel probing the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol plans to push its investigation further in the coming weeks, interviewing additional members of Donald Trump’s cabinet and his campaign and U.S. Secret Service members, the committee’s vice-chair said on Sunday. The committee has yet to decide whether to make a criminal referral concerning Trump’s conduct to the U.S. Justice Department.

Thousands evacuated as wildfire near California’s Yosemite expands: Evacuation orders are in place for more than 6,000 people living near the area consumed by a destructive wildfire near Yosemite National Park. The blaze has grown into one of California’s biggest of the year and is being battled by around 2,000 firefighters, along with aircraft and bulldozers, facing tough conditions that included steep terrain and spiking temperatures.

Morning markets

Investors remain cautious: Investors were in a cautious mood early Monday ahead of the Federal Reserve’s two-day policy meeting and what could be the latest central bank signal of an even faster pace of tightening just as signs of a global slowdown mount. Around 5:30 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 edged up 0.13 per cent. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 rose 0.16 per cent and 0.34 per cent. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.77 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.22 per cent. New York futures were modestly higher. The Canadian dollar was trading at 77.67 US cents.

What everyone’s talking about

Robert Joseph: “There is a reason that many survivors are angry. The Church has been stonewalling, and the pressure has built up. But this apology, no matter what form it takes, gives me hope. The reason for this is a simple one: The Pope’s apology is a confession, an admission. As a survivor, I know that if somebody confesses that they abused me, more people will believe my lived experience. That truth becomes the truth.”

Marcus Gee: “We will be all right in the end. Canada is a rich and resourceful country. The current moment is part of an ancient cycle: Things go north, things go south – and back again. In the meantime, though, we find ourselves in a fine mess.”

Robyn Urback: “There is thus an opportunity for a classical type of NDP – one that speaks the language of blue-collar workers, union members, young families and the like – to channel the frustrations of average Canadians who feel left behind: those who are struggling to fill up their gas tanks and stretch their grocery dollars while the Prime Minister samples cherries at a B.C. farm and smiles for pictures at a Scarborough, Ont., church.”

Today’s editorial cartoon

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Living better

What are heirloom tomatoes, and how do I cook with them?

Summer is for tomato lovers. After suffering through the long winter months of dry, flavourless fruit, now is the time to enjoy tomatoes at their finest.

Fruity, sweet and balanced with acid, garden-fresh tomatoes are the perfect pairing for any summer dish – if picked and prepared correctly. Food columnist Lucy Waverman shares her tips for getting the most out of your tomatoes.

Moment in time: African Lion Safari, Aug. 10, 1978

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For more than 100 years, photographers and photo editors working for The Globe and Mail have preserved an extraordinary collection of news photography. Every Monday, The Globe features one of these images. This month, we’re looking at amusement parks.

When is an amusement park not amusing? Perhaps when confined animals are made to perform unnatural stunts for trainers. At African Lion Safari, however, it is the humans who are are confined – to automobiles, or a bus, or a boat, or a train – as they travel through a wildlife park, while untamed animals roam free. In the photo above from 1978, The Globe and Mail’s Rudy Platiel finds the giraffes are particularly interested in car interiors. The 300-hectare park, which opened in 1969 about 100 kilometres west of Toronto, is home to more than a thousand species of exotic birds and animals that live in seven distinct game reserves. But be warned: Occasionally, rapscallion monkeys and baboons will clamber over a car to play violently with mouldings or mirrors – to their amusement, if not the driver’s. Philip King

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