Court Painter comes through again with public service images in aid of society’s desire for a simple two step guide to assist with decision making in health, art investing, severe weather events and fool proof pastry recipes.
“Collect data sets and play the percentages !
Press Attache A Hardon MacKay expressed some hesitation with releasing these images …”it is more complicated and not so simple or common sensical in our pandemic informed digital times”, he sputtered. Court Painter however insists non mathematicians do not have to be Rockette dancers to figure how to follow the simple two step…Collect data sets and play the percentages!
Indigenous peoples can’t even gather together to voice their demands for bettertreatment, without getting an alarmed response from the federal government and the RCMP.
OTTAWA—It must be nice to not to fear the national police. It must be reassuring to have a level of trust in them. That trust is misplaced in the RCMP.
Journalists Amber Bracken and Michael Toledano were arrested along with Sleydo’ and others working to protect the land against the Coastal GasLink Pipeline. The RCMP tracked the two journalists in their active investigations’ database, and destroyed their equipment, according to The Narwhal. Not to mention that the details around use of force by police at Wet’suwet’en to arrest citizens is alarming as it sounds too much like states with issues with, well, police brutality. Tanks, sniper rifles, chainsaws, full tactical gear as if they were going to war.
Indigenous peoples can’t even gather together to voice their demands for better treatment, without getting an alarmed response from the federal government. Let’s ask the Government Operations Centre just how many times it has been activated for Indigenous demonstrations. Sorry, Indigenous protests, let’s use that ‘correct’ term. Wow, we are that scary, eh.
Imagine this. There was talk of building a new bridge between Ottawa and Gatineau at Kettle Island, very close to Manor Park. Imagine if the Manor Park neighbourhood were divided on the issue of building a highway—some supported it and some did not. Imagine if some families demonstrated against the bridge building. Imagine if the police stormed that demonstration in tanks, with sniper rifles that use five-inch long bullets, carrying chain saws to break down any barriers to arrest those Canadians. Imagine if the police blocked cellphones and WiFi to ensure they could do their evil without anybody knowing.
Alarming? Yes, it’s alarming for so many reasons. Because it would be called a demonstration if it happened in Rockcliffe, not a blockade. Because there would be tens of national and international media outlets covering it. Because it would be called an illegal action. The harsh truth is that nesting barn swallows can stop a bridge development in Ottawa (Jockvale Bridge), but First Nations can be brutally taken down when they try to protect their lands.
It seems journalists are now at risk of illegal arrest by the RCMP almost as much as Indigenous peoples. Indigenous journalists should have lawyers on speed dial. When journalists sharing truth are seen as a national risk by the RCMP, every Canadian should be worried.
Canada is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and Article 26 asserts that “all persons are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to the equal protection of the law.” Indigenous peoples don’t receive the same treatment when they demonstrate, as do other Canadians. Canada is a signatory to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which targets racial discrimination under law as well as to guard against discriminatory effects of the law. Indigenous peoples don’t receive the same treatment by the RCMP as non-Indigenous Canadians.
Then there’s the sexual harassment within the RCMP. The 2017 Report into Workplace Harassment in the RCMP says the organization is unable to address the issues—it is a failed institution.
When Global Affairs Canada hosted the Global Conference for Media Freedom in 2019 that led to the Global Pledge on Media Freedom, one wonders if the federal department realized the issue in its own backyard.
When Indigenous peoples are seen as a risk just for speaking up together, democracy is at risk. Let’s be frank here. The RCMP is a failed institution on many fronts, so much so that Canadians should be worried. We are now all at risk.
Rose LeMay is Tlingit from the West Coast and the CEO of the Indigenous Reconciliation Group. She writes twice a month about Indigenous inclusion and reconciliation. In Tlingit worldview, the stories are the knowledge system, sometimes told through myth and sometimes contradicting the myths told by others. But always with at least some truth.
Jason Kenneytweeted that “this incitement to violence by David Suzuki is dangerous, and should be condemned universally. In Canada, we resolve our differences peacefully and democratically, not with threats of terrorism or acts of violence.”
Oddly, that doesn’t seem to apply to one of Kenney’s biggest supporters.
W. Brett Wilson, a former “dragon” on CBC’s Dragons’ Den and current climate change skeptic who got a shoutout from the premier at last weekend’s UCP convention in Calgary, has repeatedlythreatened environmental activists with hanging for “treason.” He tweeted that Ecojustice, a Canadian environmental law charity with an office in Alberta, should “watch your back.” And when given an opportunity to clarify whether his comments about hangings and treason were just a bad joke, Wilson doubled down. “I didn’t joke,” he tweeted. “I was serious about hanging foreign-funded protesters — undermining our nation — for treason.”
So far, neither Kenney nor his environment minister has publicly criticized Wilson for his comments, much less tabled a resolution in the legislature calling for him to be condemned as they have for Suzuki. Funny, that.
There’s both the obvious hypocrisy here and a bit of irony, given Suzuki and Wilson have an awful lot in common. Both can be self-aggrandizing and arrogant blowhards who at times seem more interested in hearing their own voices than using them for good. Both have large followings and a devoted core of supporters, and both have the ability to make news simply by opening their mouths.
And while Wilson remains a member of the petro-conservative inner circle in Alberta, Suzuki is its original bête noire
‘Yesterday, we took our land back. With our Haudenosaunee allies, we enforced our ancient trespass laws and have permanently closed access to our territory. The Morice Forest Service Road has been destroyed and access to Coastal Gaslink is no longer possible.’
The Union of BC Indian Chiefs issued a statement Thursday November 18 objecting to the use of provincial resources to quell pipeline protests rather than addressing the province’s state of emergency in the south.
“We are absolutely outraged that the Province of B.C. authorized a military-style raid on peaceful land defenders in order to allow Coastal GasLink to build their Liquified Natural Gas pipeline, while much of the province is suffering from life-threatening, catastrophic flooding related events,” UBCIC Grand Chief Stewart Phillip said.
“Prioritizing fossil fuel expansion while British Columbians grapple with a climate emergency is an alarming, criminal and incredibly poor decision by Premier Horgan and Mike Farnworth, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General.”
BCCLA is appalled by the increasing and overwhelming presence of militarized RCMP in unceded, un-surrendered Wet’suwet’en territory. We condemn the RCMP for its use of an illegal exclusion zone.
On November 18,the RCMP have taken up where they left off..
The RCMP flew in an unknown number of officers to nearby Smithers on a charter Wednesday.
The RCMP moved onto the road accompanied by heavy machinery to take back the road, clear camps and an occupied drill pad site.
So far, fourteen people are in custody awaiting a bail hearing as aresult of 50 police officers arrived at the Morice West Forest Service Road south of Houston, B.C., to clear the resource road after Wet’suwet’en members opposing the 670-kilometre Coastal GasLink pipeline blocked access to two work camps.
Previous RCMP actions
The 2019 and 2020 police actions and ongoing operations to March 2021 have cost the B.C. government about $20 million, according to records.
The RCMP spent about $13 million in 2019 and 2020, according to records obtained by CBC News under the Access to Information Act.
The Mounties have since spent an additional $5.8 million up to March 2021, according to records first obtained by the Tyee online news organization.
RCMP body cam video, helicopter footage and notes from the 2019 first raid obtained by CBC News reveal the scope, scale and intensity of operations against fortified Wet’suwet’en positions along the forestry road.
In 2019, the RCMP deployed about 51 members, including an emergency response team (ERT) unit, 20 vehicles, a helicopter and drone, according to police notes.
The use of “lethal overwatch” during the operation is mentioned twice in notes and reports obtained by CBC News.
The RCMP has said the use of lethal overwatch, or “sniper observers,” which are part of the ERT units, are used as lookouts, “while other police officers are engaged in other duties which occupy attention.” The RCMP has said it does not imply plans to use snipers to shoot anyone.
The notes also show the RCMP has dogs and pepper spray in its arsenal for potential use, both of which were considered during the 2019 raid.
The US House on Wednesday voted to censure Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) and strip him of his committee assignments for posting a video on Twitter that depicts him attacking President Biden and killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.
Erin and Denise seen posing over delivery of exit paper
Conservative leader Erin O’Toole announced late Tuesday that Saskatchewan senator Denise Batters was being expelled from the Conservative caucus after she launched a petition calling for a referendum on his leadership within six months.
A leadership review is currently scheduled for the party’s national convention in 2023, though MPs did vote in October to give themselves the power to potentially oust him earlier.
Batters in a statement this morning says she is and will always be a Conservative, and says members deserve to have a say on the leadership and direction of the party after an election loss on Sept. 20.
Global warming causes global swarming. Scientists have linked the growth of locust plagues to climate change.
Meanwhile, in Glasgow, fossil fuel industry lobbyists are swarming the United Nations climate summit, known as COP26 .The United Kingdom’s shambolic management of the event, its strict visa requirements and its failure to deliver on its promised, pre-COP vaccination plan for attendees from nations with low vaccine availability have made this summit the whitest, most privileged COP in its 30-year history.While widespread access challenges have prevented thousands from participating, over 500 oil, gas and coal lobbyists have been given the red carpet treatment. If they were a nation, according to a new Global Witness report, they would be the largest delegation at COP26.Pascoe Sabido, Researcher and Campaigner at Corporate Europe Observatory, said to the press. “This is the same industry that has spent the last 50 years denying, delaying and blocking climate action, so how on earth are they still allowed in? The only way we’re going to leave these talks with anywhere near the ambition needed is if we kick these big polluters out.”
Last minute intervention by India waters down language on coal emissions
Oil, gas and coal better represented at the Glasgow summit than the combined representation of the eight countries who have suffered the greatest climate impacts since 2000, research has found
Climate Summit Sets Ambitious Goal To Phase Out Fossil Fuels By Time Earth Runs Out Of Them
GLASGOW—Calling the agreement a historic moment in the fight against the generation-defining threat, world leaders at the COP26 climate conference told reporters Wednesday that they had set the ambitious goal of phasing out fossil fuels entirely by the time the Earth runs out of them. “This conference recognizes the pressing need to take action against the scourge of climate change, and so it brings me great pleasure to announce a strategic initiative to reduce our fossil fuel use to zero once we’ve used up all the fossil fuels on the planet,” said US climate envoy John Kerry, stressing that the pact between 192 nations also ensured that “not a single drop of oil” would be burned in cars or planes once every last drop had been consumed. “Wealthy countries will lead the way here, ensuring we bear the burden of using as much oil as possible in industries ranging from transportation to manufacturing. That will help move up our timeline for the day we can finally no longer physically use oil because no trace of it remains on the face of the earth. After that, of course, we’ll probably have a hundred years of natural gas.” Kerry added that countries had unanimously agreed to impose steep fines on nations using fossil fuels after the date when they no longer exist.
