Evening Update newsletter: Tina Fontaine, Bruce McArthur, Olympics

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Good evening and happy Friday,

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Missing, mourned, unresolved: Cormier's acquittal leaves Tina Fontaine's family searching for answers

The case that became a catalyst for Canada's national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls ended in an acquittal in Winnipeg Thursday evening when Raymond Cormier was found not guilty of second-degree murder in the death of 15-year-old Tina Fontaine. The death became a flashpoint for relations between Winnipeg's Indigenous people and the wider community: It exposed the city's dark underbelly, the systemic failures and racism that allow First Nations children to fall through the cracks. On Friday, hundreds marched through the streets of Winnipeg in support of the family. Supporters carried signs reading No Justice No Peace, Justice for All and Love for Tina.

Aimée Craft writes that Tina's story shows there is no real justice for Indigenous people in Canada: "These failing systems are rooted in deficiency models, designed around solutions aimed at 'fixing' Indigenous 'problems.' They are not based on the aspirations of Indigenous peoples and what brings wellness to individuals, families, communities and nations."

Police charge Bruce McArthur with sixth case of first-degree murder

Eight years after Skandaraj Navaratnam went missing, family and friends finally have some answers. Toronto police announced Friday that they have charged Bruce McArthur with Mr. Navaratnam's death, the sixth first-degree murder charge laid against the alleged serial killer. Police say more charges are expected and the investigation, which has now expanded to review hundreds of past missing-person files, outstanding murder cases and sudden deaths, could take years.

Court documents, online records and interviews with people who knew Mr. McArthur reveal the 66-year-old landscaper had a history of combining sex and violence.

Lorimer Shenher, lead investigator of Vancouver's missing-women investigation, writes on the similarities with the Robert Pickton case: "Missing marginalized people. Police denial of evidence pointing to a serial killer. Growing community worry. Suspect in custody. Discovery of human remains. Large-scale property search. Mounting murder charges. Police defence of investigative delays. The script echoes a sadly predictable litany, familiar, painful and outrageous. Breaking the script down, we begin with missing marginalized people."

OLYMPICS 2018

Kelsey Serwa and "best bud"/training partner Brittany Phelan took gold and silver in women's ski cross. Marielle Thompson, who won in Sochi and hadn't competed since undergoing knee surgery last fall, was eliminated in an opening heat. Canadian skiers have won all three women's races since the sport was added in 2010.

Kaetlyn Osmond won bronze in women's figure skating, finishing behind two athletes from Russia. In doing show, she earned the 27th Canadian medal of the Games, a record number for Canada at the Winter Games. Canada had 26 total medals in Vancouver. The only time Canada has earned more medals at a Summer Games was in Los Angeles in 1984 (44), when the Soviet Union boycotted.

The Canadian men's hockey team lost to Germany 4-3 in the semi-finals, dashing Canada's hopes for a gold medal. Canada will face the Czech Republic for bronze on Saturday and Germany will face off against the athletes from Russia for gold.

Even though Canada lost in men's hockey, a Canadian still has a shot at gold. Cathal Kelly has the story of Brooks Macek. The son of a German immigrant, he was raised in Winnipeg and drafted by the Detroit Red Wings, but never made the NHL and ended up playing in Germany. Two years ago, he accepted an offer to go to a camp for the German team, which didn't even qualify for the Sochi Games. Now, he has a shot at the gold.

Grant Robertson writes that Canada needs to be willing to play for bronze or nothing: "Bronze-medal games typically have less to do with skill level, and more to do with which team decides to show up for the game."

The Canadian male curlers lost 7-5 to Switzerland in the bronze-medal match. With the Canadian women also not earning a medal, it is the first time since curling returned to the Winter Games in 1998 that Canadian teams didn't finish on the podium in both men's and women's events.

Cathal Kelly writes that inevitably, Canada will treat our Olympic curlers' failure as a national crisis: "[Canadian skip Kevin] Koe will have to wear this loss like sackcloth for years to come. He is the man who put the fly in Canada's Olympic soup. Is Canadian curling in trouble? Of course not. We're the only goddamn people who care en masse about the sport."

After refusing to wear her silver medal during the medal ceremony following the women's hockey final, Jocelyne Larocque has apologized. "My emotions got the better of me," Larocque was quoted as saying.

Russian bobsled pilot Nadezhada Sergeeva failed a doping test the day before the International Olympic Committee's executive board is to decide whether to reinstate the country for the closing ceremony. A Russian curler failed a test earlier in the Games.

During the figure-skating exhibition gala this weekend, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir will skate to the Tragically Hip's Long Time Running. The gala, which is all show and no competition, is beloved by skating fans and tickets for it are some of the highest-priced of the Games.

Medal count (Gold, Silver, Bronze, Total)

• Norway: 13, 14, 10, 37
• Canada: 10, 8, 9, 27
• Germany: 13, 7, 6, 26
• United States: 8, 7, 6, 21
• Netherlands: 8, 6, 4, 18

Coming up (all times Eastern)

• 8 p.m. Feb. 23: Snowboarding (Men’s big air final featuring Canadians Max Parrot and Mark McMorris – who were second and third in slopestyle – and Sébastien Toutant)
• 10 p.m. Feb. 23: (Men’s/Women’s parallel giant slalom)
• 12 a.m. Feb. 24: Cross-country skiing (Men’s 50km mass start)
• 1:35 a.m. Feb. 24: Curling (Men’s gold-medal match)
• 6 a.m. Feb. 24: Speed skating (Men’s/Women’s mass start)

Ex-Trump campaign aide Rick Gates pleads guilty in Russia probe

Rick Gates, a former top adviser to Donald Trump's presidential election campaign, pleaded guilty Friday to federal conspiracy and false statements in the special counsel's Russia investigation. The plea was a strong indication that he is planning to co-operate with special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation as it continues to probe the Trump campaign, Russian election interference and Gates's long-time business associate, Paul Manafort.

U.S. hits North Korea with new sanctions

President Donald Trump said on Friday the United States would impose the "largest-ever" package of sanctions on North Korea, intensifying pressure on the reclusive country to give up its nuclear and missile programs. The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned one person, 27 companies and 28 ships, according to a statement on the department's website. The measures are designed to disrupt North Korean shipping and trading companies, and vessels, and to further isolate Pyongyang.

TD Bank stops letting customers use credit cards to buy cryptocurrency

TD Bank says it is taking a pause on allowing customers to use its credit cards to buy cryptocurrency so it can conduct a review and assessment of the evolving market. The decision follows moves by several U.S. banks to stop allowing credit-card purchases of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

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MARKET WATCH

Canada's main stock index closed at a three-week high on Friday, with energy companies leading gains across the board. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was up 130.28 points, or 0.84 per cent, at 15,638.45. The energy group gained 1.9 per cent as oil prices rose to their highest in more than two weeks. World shares rose broadly on Friday, with technology stocks lifting Wall Street, while gold neared its biggest weekly loss this year as investors shrugged off concerns about interest rate hikes, and the U.S. dollar rose. In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 348.61 points, or 1.4 per cent, to 25,311.09, the S&P 500 gained 43.44 points, or 1.61 per cent, to 2,747.4 and the Nasdaq Composite added 127.30 points, or 1.77 per cent, to 7,337.39.

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WHAT'S TRENDING

There was an armed officer at the Florida school where 17 people were killed when a gunman opened fire with an assault rifle, but the officer "never went in," said the county sheriff. The officer was suspended without pay and placed under investigation and then chose to resign.

TALKING POINTS

The symbolism of Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline

"When a country already has more than 840,000 kilometres of pipeline running through it, the fight over roughly 1,000 new kilometres is symbolic for both sides. But symbols matter. Now Trans Mountain has come to symbolize everything from the oil sands to climate change and reconciliation, and everyone' job is at stake." – Arno Kopecky

Repelled by Ontario PCs as if repelled by rodents

"The point of Brown's appearance was to sell himself as a smeared, unjustly treated chap now regaining possession of his good name, against all odds. An alleged rogue redeemed? Not so fast. To call Patrick Brown a rogue would be an insult to rogues everywhere, an affront to those mere miscreants who use wink-and-nod craftiness to get ahead in life or politics. The brazenness of Brown surpasses that. This man-boy, this playboy not of the great Western world, but of the city of Barrie's bars and nightclubs, has an audacity that is epic. And a talent for evasiveness that is monumental." – John Doyle

A new era for the workplace – shorter work weeks – is starting now

"In much of the developed world, we are at an inflection point for workers. On the labour demand side of the equation, workers are needed because economic activity is strong. On the labour supply side, demographics means that the work force is growing, but growing at a much slower pace than we have seen for decades." – Linda Nazareth

LIVING BETTER

Training to live with pain: What we can learn from Olympic athletes

Pain is a more complex phenomenon than our finger-on-a-hot-stove intuition tells us, and elite athletes have a tangled relationship with it. Studies show that elite athletes seem to have roughly the same pain threshold, they're just willing to endure it at higher levels and for longer. They feel pain like everyone else, but pain offers crucial feedback about how the body is responding to the challenge, such as warning your body to adjust breathing and circulation to deliver more oxygen to tired muscles. Basically, you can't pace yourself or win the race without pain. The gold medalist isn't necessarily the athlete who suffers the most, but the one who uses the pain best.

LONG READS FOR THE WEEKEND

Winter flooding risk in Canada expected to increase as climate warms

The flooding on Ontario's Grand River this week, which is believed to have claimed a toddler's life and caused an evacuation, happened after an ice jam blocking the river released and a surge of water overflowed the banks. A record-breaking spell of mild temperatures earlier in the week, coupled with steady rainfall that melted snow and weakened ice cover on the river set up the conditions for the ice jams which have drastically increased the flood risk. And, as Ivan Semeniuk reports, forecasts suggest that as Canada's climate warms, there could be more ice-jam hazards caused by mid-winter warm spells, particularly in areas where rivers were more likely to stay frozen all winter long.

Researchers map massive global footprint for industrial fishing industry

With the help of big data and technology originally designed to prevent ships from colliding, a team of researchers has stitched together the most detailed map yet of fisheries around the globe, which sheds light on just how intensive industrial fishing has become. Its footprint, which has never before been quantified, is gargantuan. As Jessica Leeder writes, a new report shows more than half of the ocean's surface is blanketed with industrial fishing activity – a spread that eclipses the amount of land tied up in agriculture on the Earth by a factor of four.

Evening Update is written by Jordan Chittley and David Read. If you'd like to receive this newsletter by e-mail every weekday evening, go here to sign up. If you have any feedback, send us a note.