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The Assembly of First Nations has voted overwhelmingly to dismiss National Chief RoseAnne Archibald, a stunning rebuke to a leader whose term has been beset by acrimony since she was elected two years ago.
On Wednesday, 71 per cent of the 231 chiefs who voted concluded they had no confidence in her leadership. The Assembly of First Nations is Canada’s largest Indigenous advocacy organization, representing more than 900,000 First Nations people in 634 communities across the country. The national chief plays a key role in influencing government policy of importance to First Nations and deals with federal government officials, including the Prime Minister and cabinet ministers.
AFN National Chief RoseAnne Archibald attends a commemorative ceremony, Raising the Survivors' Flag, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, June 21, 2023.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
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Ottawa confirms Accenture given $208-million sole-source contract for CEBA program
Ottawa’s $208-million outsourcing agreement with consulting firm Accenture Inc. to deliver the pandemic support program for businesses was a sole-source contract, the government has confirmed. Ottawa told The Globe and Mail it chose a sole-source contract because the government believed a formal procurement process would take too long.
The company’s contract to administer the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) program was revealed by The Globe in February. CEBA was the first and most widely used pandemic support for businesses. It was launched April 9, 2020, and provided partly forgivable loans of as much as $60,000 to almost 900,000 businesses.
New class of gravitational waves may come from clusters of massive black holes
The universe is humming, and for the first time, scientists are picking up the tune.
But that hum is not audible; rather, it consists of unimaginably long waves of gravitational energy that alternately stretch and squeeze space as they propagate in all directions. Their suspected source: hundreds of thousands of supermassive black holes swinging around each other like vigorous couples shaking the floor at a cosmic barn dance.
NANOGrav collaboration, a North America-wide effort to search for the elusive low frequency waves published their latest measurements today in co-ordination with teams in Europe, India, Australia and China that have been independently looking for the same signal. All the findings are consistent with the existence of low frequency gravitational waves.
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Also on our radar
U.S. Coast Guard says ‘presumed human remains’ found in wreckage of Titan submersible: Debris from the Titan returned to port in St. John’s yesterday. The submersible imploded last week, killing all five people on board, while on a voyage to see the wreck of the Titanic.
At least 11 killed in attack on popular meeting place for Canadian volunteers in Ukraine: A Russian missile attack that destroyed a popular restaurant, and killed at least 11 people in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, came shortly after Canadian volunteers gathered in the restaurant Tuesday.
Ontario rejects recommendation to label intimate partner violence an epidemic: Declaring an epidemic was the first of 86 action items put forward by the coroner’s jury following a three-week inquest last summer into the murders of three women killed by a mutual ex-partner on a shooting rampage across the Ottawa Valley in September 2015.
Why the merger of Toronto Star owner and Postmedia may not fix the companies’ financial issues: The potential merger of the country’s two largest newspaper chains will lighten a crippling debt load for one of the partners, Postmedia Network Canada Corp., but industry experts say the union would do little to address the media companies’ structural challenges.
Three people stabbed during class at University of Waterloo: Two students and one professor were taken to hospital and treated for injuries after being stabbed in a Philosophy 102 class, described in the university calendar as a course on gender issues. Waterloo police did not provide any information on a possible motive.
Morning markets
World shares were mixed, the U.S. dollar inched higher and gold was at a three-month low today as traders’ attention continued to swing between the battle to lower inflation and speculation about currency market intervention in China and Japan.
In early trading, Britain’s benchmark FTSE index slipped 0.21 per cent, while Germany’s DAX was down 0.15 per cent and France’s CAC 40 advanced 0.39 per cent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slumped 1.2 per cent to 18,934.36. Japan’s Nikkei gave up earlier gains to be up 0.1 per cent at 33,234.14.
The Canadian dollar traded at 75.36 U.S. cents.
What everyone’s talking about
Jen Gerson: “Summiting Everest is a status flex for the rich and the insecure. Nothing more. That is democratization. And that’s the model Titan tried to replicate: a thrilling tourist trap for those wealthy and fit enough to take a selfie at a grave through a porthole.”
Josef Filipowicz and Steve Lafleur: “As Canadians and policy-makers ponder our 40 million demographic milestone, they should give honest consideration to Canada’s worsening housing situation. In the right circumstances, a growing population can bring numerous benefits – economic, cultural and more. By not allowing home building to keep up with population growth, however, governments across the country have hampered prosperity for both existing Canadians and newcomers.”
Today’s editorial cartoon
Illustration by Brian Gable
Living better
Road trip report: A tour of Quebec’s greasy casse-croûtes
Quebec’s casse-croûtes (literally, to break a bread crust, meaning to snack) are kitschy, old-style fast-food eateries that are a well-loved part of the province’s culinary fabric. Sarah Efron writes about the culture behind these eateries and where you can find some of the province’s best.
Moment in time: June 29, 2021
Debris from the June 30, 2021 wildfire in Lytton, B.C., seen from Main Street on July 9, 2021.Jackie Dives/The Globe and Mail
B.C. sets heat record as Lytton reaches 49.6 C
Two summers ago, Lytton, B.C., experienced the hottest temperature ever recorded in Canada. It was an ominous sign of what was to come. The next day, a massive wildfire was sparked and swept through town, destroying most of its buildings and killing two people. It was one of the worst disasters in a particularly bad fire season in British Columbia, in which 8,693 square kilometres were burned. That’s more than double the 10-year average. Insured damage for the Lytton fire was pegged at $102-million, and the cause of the fire remains unclear. Since the fire, the community has struggled to rebuild as it faces challenges with the logistics of replacing most of its infrastructure and dealing with the archeological significance of the area, which has a rich history as a meeting ground for multiple Indigenous bands. In June of this year, hundreds of international firefighters are assisting Canadian wildland firefighters in Alberta and Nova Scotia as the busy season leaves the federal government worried about having enough resources to battle fires while protecting workers from burnout. Salmaan Farooqui
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