Good morning,
Pope Francis joined Canadians in expressing grief at the discovery of the unmarked graves of 215 children who attended the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia. Though he said the Catholic Church is “humbly” committed to “a path of reconciliation and healing,” the Pope stopped short of issuing an apology for its role in Canada’s residential school system.
“I am following with pain the news that arrives from Canada about the upsetting discovery of the remains of 215 children,” he said. “I join with the Canadian bishops and the entire Catholic Church in Canada in expressing my closeness to the Canadian people traumatized by the shocking news.”
The Pope’s public address from his papal apartment at the Vatican came a day after he met separately with two high-ranking Canadian cardinals, Michael Czerny and Marc Ouellet, and amid calls from political leaders, survivors, their families and many other Canadians for a formal apology from the church.
Cardinal Czerny, in an interview with The Globe and Mail, wouldn’t say why an apology was not forthcoming, noting that such formal overtures would have to come from the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. The national assembly of bishops said in a statement last week that the church “as a whole in Canada was not associated with the Residential Schools, nor was the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.”
Context: Catholic Church ran most of Canada’s residential schools, yet remains largely silent about their devastating legacy
B.C. First Nation that discovered unmarked Kamloops graves joins Trudeau in calling for apology from Catholic Church
The fallout over the federal government’s own role continues in Ottawa, where MPs are set to vote on an NDP motion today urging the Liberals to fast track efforts to document unmarked graves at residential schools and to abandon legal actions against Indigenous people. All opposition parties are expected to vote in favour of it, but the Liberals have been largely silent on their position.
Pope Francis leads a Holy Mass on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ in Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican City, on June 6, 2021. The Pope stopped short of issuing an apology during his address for the Catholic Church's role in overseeing the majority of Canada's residential schools.GIUSEPPE LAMI/AFP/Getty Images
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Trudeau sent Canada’s Beijing envoy to D.C. on secret mission to free two Canadians
Canada’s ambassador to China, Dominifc Barton, spent three weeks in Washington, D.C., in early April to meet with senior American officials, in a bid to seek the U.S.’s help in securing the release of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, three confidential sources told The Globe. The two have been imprisoned in China for more than 900 days. Their detention over espionage charges is widely seen as retaliation for Canada’s co-operation with a U.S. extradition request involving Huawei’s chief financial officer.
The sources said there were discussions about a possible U.S. deferred prosecution agreement for Meng Wanzhou, who is fighting extradition in a B.C. court and is out on bail. They declined to discuss further details, but noted the mission was part of a broader appeal for the U.S. to ratchet up pressure on Beijing.
Explainer: Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor have been in Chinese jails for 900 days and counting. The story so far
Vaccine hesitancy in hard-hit Brampton raising alarms as concerns grow over Delta variant
With the Delta variant – the coronavirus strain first identified in India – making up one-quarter of COVID-19 cases in Peel, political leaders and public-health experts are urging the Ontario government to ramp up the rollout of doses in the region. But even as there’s support for allocating doses to the pandemic-battered area, there are concerns that vaccine hesitancy, logistical hurdles in securing appointments or vaccine shopping may hobble efforts to administer the jab in time.
In L6P, the vaccine campaign got off to a slower start, with relatively few pharmacies in Brampton offering appointments and pop-up and workplace clinics getting set up weeks later than those in Toronto. Overall coverage is a bit lower than the provincial average, despite efforts to boost the area’s vaccine supply and the move to open eligibility to those over the age of 18 earlier.
More from Inside L6P: ‘We did our best to stay strong – but when I tested positive, I lost my emotional strength’
As beauty businesses stay shuttered, Brampton salon owners face losing clients to the underground economy
Catch up with the latest Decibel podcast: The Globe’s investigative reporter Robyn Doolittle joins Tamara Khandaker to discuss how progress at achieving gender parity in academia has stalled – in the latest instalment of the Power Gap series. She and reporter Chen Wang analyzed 20 years’ worth of data on Ontario professors’ salaries to better understand the structural issues that help explain why women find themselves stuck in the lower ranks of professorships at many of Canada’s postsecondary institutions. (See how 15 Ontario universities compare.)
Subscribe to our new newsletter: Going for gold under the cloud of COVID-19 makes the Tokyo Summer Games an Olympics like no other. Tokyo Olympics Update is here to help you make sense of it all, with original stories from Globe reporters in Canada and Tokyo, tracking Team Canada’s medal wins, and past Olympic moments from iconic performances.
Got a news tip that you’d like us to look into? E-mail us at tips@globeandmail.com Need to share documents securely? Reach out via SecureDrop
ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Air Canada senior executives to return bonuses over ‘public disappointment’
The airline said its senior executives would “voluntarily” pay back bonuses and stock awards, citing “public disappointment.” The revelations that executives were given such compensations – first reported by The Globe – came as it was negotiating a multibillion-dollar bailout with the federal government.
Ottawa approves COVID-19 travel exemption for Stanley Cup playoffs
Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino said Sunday that the winner of the NHL’s all-Canadian North Division and an American counterpart can cross the border for the last two rounds of the playoffs. Players’ movements will still be constrained by pandemic restrictions, including being required to quarantine in designated hotels. (The Habs won 5-1 in last night’s game against the Jets and have a series lead of 3-0.)
Meghan and Harry welcome baby girl Lilibet ‘Lili’ Diana
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex officially announced the birth of their second child, Lilibet “Lili” Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, who was born Friday. Her name is an homage to both her great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth II and her maternal grandmother, the late Princess Diana.
Junos crown the Weeknd artist of the year
The Juno Awards celebrated its golden anniversary in a prerecorded virtual ceremony. The Weeknd swept three awards in advance of Sunday night’s fêting of Canada’s brightest music stars and two more, including artist of the year to his haul on Sunday. JJ Wilde took home best rock album earlier, making her the first female winner in 25 years since Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill.
Nigerians defy country’s Twitter ban
Under threat of arrest, many Nigerian politicians and activists are defying the government’s order to ban the use of Twitter – a move that has alarmed human-rights groups and Western governments, including Canada. The ban came in the wake of the social-media giant’s deletion of a post from President Muhammadu Buhari that issued a threat to treat “those misbehaving today” in “the language they will understand” while referring to Nigeria’s 1960s civil war.
Merkel’s party overcomes far-right challenge in state vote ahead of fall election
Outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party handily trumped the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, in a state election Sunday. The vote was viewed as the last crucial test before the general electorate heads to the polls in September.
ICYMI: G7 finance ministers reach historic deal to tax multinationals
Ahead of the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Cornwall, England, this week, member countries’ finance ministers agreed to set a minimum corporate tax rate of 15 per cent on multinational corporations such as Facebook, Amazon and Google. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said such a tax would ensure that Canadian businesses are able to compete on a “level playing field.”
MORNING MARKETS
Global shares range bound: World shares were range bound on Monday as markets digested Friday’s disappointing U.S. jobs report and a global tax deal between the G7 group of countries. Just before 6 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.20 per cent. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 slid 0.06 per cent and 0.03 per cent, respectively. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.27 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.45 per cent. New York futures were lower. The Canadian dollar was trading at 82.73 US cents.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
Barry Campbell, former MP and strategist: Cryptocurrencies will be relegated to where central bankers believe they belong, to being traded as assets unto themselves like expensive watches, bullion or silver.”
Alda Sigmundsdóttir, writer: “If there is one thing that centuries of living on an isolated island with a fierce and volatile nature has taught the Icelanders, it is how to deal with a crisis.”
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
David ParkinsDavid Parkins/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
What is the best action movie of all time?
That depends on who you ask. Globe film editor Barry Hertz and Emmy-nominated filmmaker Warren P. Sonoda of Trailer Park Boys fame duke it out over which films deliver the thrills in a Facebook Live event at 11 a.m. today. (Hertz’s topic pick among a list of 21 is Mad Max: Fury Road.)
MOMENT IN TIME: 1949
Canada's first home-built jet, the Avro C-102 took to the air at Malton Airport on August 11, 1949, on a history-making best flight. It marked the first time this country's aviation industry had turned out a jet-propelled aircraft.Avro Canada
For more than 100 years, photographers and photo librarians have preserved an extraordinary collection of 20th-century news photography for The Globe and Mail. Every Monday, The Globe features one of these images. This month, we’re remembering the golden age of air travel.
The Avro Jetliner first flew in 1949 and was cancelled by the Canadian government in 1951. The Jetliner, North America’s first transport plane with jet engines, was built in Malton, Ont., (now part of Mississauga), near what is now Toronto Pearson Airport, for Trans-Canada Air Lines, later renamed Air Canada. The Jetliner flew the first air-mail run, to New York from Toronto, and was test flown by business magnate Howard Hughes, who was interested in the plane for his own airline. However, the tensions of the Cold War and the need to protect Canadian airspace spurred Ottawa to halt the plane’s production so Avro could focus on the CF-100 fighter jet. It took another 10 years before short- and medium-range transport jets went into commercial service. Just one Jetliner was made, and it sits alongside the Avro Arrow as a pioneering Canadian-made aircraft whose potential was never realized. Eric Atkins
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