September 15, 2008

September In Review I

Car accidents $16 billion in "social costs," 800 arrested at RNC, 77,000 Atlantic Canadian households have debts greater than assets

by Dominion Staff

The Dominion - http://www.dominionpaper.ca

[cc 2.0]A sign protesting low wages in Iqaluit. Nunavut's minimum wage increased to $10 per hour this month, making it the highest in the country. Anti-poverty activists, however, say the cost of living is so high in the North that minimum wage should be at least $15 per hour. Photo: Paul Galipeau

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Saskatchewan police shot a man on a northern reserve, the eighth police shooting in the province in the last 12 months. Laurence George, Chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, called for a public inquiry.

Nora Madeline Bernard, a Mi'kmaq elder, was posthumously awarded the Order of Nova Scotia, the province's highest honour, for her work advocating on behalf of residential school survivors.

[cc 2.0] A demonstrator at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. Over 800 people were arrested in protests. Photo: Chad Davis

More than 500 military delegates from 34 countries in the Western Hemisphere met in Banff for the Conference of Defence Ministers of the Americas. Peter McKay hosted the conference, which included discussions on providing armed security for major events such as the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

A study by GPI Atlantic showed that the gap between the rich and poor is growing in Atlantic Canada. There are 77,000 households in Atlantic Canada whose debts are larger than their assets, and the region has the highest rate of bankruptcy in Canada. According to Ron Coleman, co-author of the report, "The poorest 20 per cent of Canadians went deeper into debt during the past decade, but it's during a period of apparent prosperity."

Amy Goodman was arrested along with Democracy Now! producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. They were among 19 journalists arrested at the RNC, of an estimated total of over 800 arrests.

A federal campaign is underway to attract more immigrants to Nunavut. The CBC reported that "of about 238,000 immigrants to Canada between 2006 and 2007, only 11 went to Nunavut, according to Statistics Canada." Anti-poverty activist Bill Riddell criticized Nunavut's $10 per hour minimum wage, stating minimum wage rates speak to "the working poor, and they're very, very poor. They're not eating properly. I know a number of people who have told me that they can't buy the food for their tables that their children need in order to grow up."

Richard Boyd Boughner was killed at Canadian Natural's Horizon's tar sands project north of Fort McMurray, Alberta, when the backhoe he was operating fell into a taillings pond.

Abitibi Bowater proposed a restructuring plan that would cut 171 jobs from their Grand-Falls Windsor paper mill. The Newfoundland mill currently employs 450 people who are part of the Communications Energy and Paperworkers union. Ninety-two per cent of union members voted to reject the company's restructuring plans.

Police from the Montreal, Vancouver and the United States Secret Service arrested four men in Montréal for defrauding a Calgary company of $1.8 million.

Student workers went on strike at the Univeristy of Victoria in British Columbia during the first week of classes. The workers, employed by the Student Society, demanded a wage increase of $1.50 per hour, which would bring their hourly wage to $11.

People rallied in Whitehorse to demand funding from the Yukon government for an emergency youth shelter in the city. The CBC reported, "The youth shelter project is named after Angel Carlick, 19, a Whitehorse woman who went missing in May 2007. Her body was found at the outskirts of the city nearly six months later."

The Atomic Energy Agency of Canada continued to store 45kg of highly enriched uranium at their headquarters in Chalk River, Ontario. The uranium, enough to build a nuclear bomb, was destined for use in the MAPLE medical isotope reactors until the project was canceled in May.

A note by Citizenship and Immigration Canada indicated that diamond smuggling linked to "terrorist organizations and organized crime" may affect Canada's diamond industry. Canada is the world's third largest producer of diamonds.

Israel Defense Force soldiers prevented Palestinian men over 50 and women over 45 from accessing the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

More than 136 Haitians were killed by tropical storms, as Fay, Gustav and Hanna hit the island nation. Haiti's interior minister Paul Antoine Bien-Aime told Reuters, "There are a lot of people who have been on top of the roofs of their homes over 24 hours now. They have no water, no food and we can't even help them." Hurricane Gustav later hit Louisiana, causing 18 deaths.

Canada's first community court opened up in Vancouver's Downtown East Side (DTES). The court will hear cases for crimes committed in the DTES, including "causing a disturbance, driving while prohibited, aggressive panhandling, shoplifting and drug possession," which represent 80 per cent of all offenses committed in the area.

The BC Court of Appeal upheld the 'bubble zone' law, which prevent protests within a certain distance of abortion clinics in the province. The justices noted that the "legislation infringed only minimally on constitutionally protected rights and was justifiable to protect a woman's right to medical services."

Guy Armand Raes, an RCMP officer who pled guilty to sexually assaulting a 17 year old girl that he met through an investigation, was awarded the Governor General's Star of Courage.

The Klondike Gold Panning Association disbanded, citing volunteer fatigue, after 24 years of organizing efforts that included hosting four gold panning world championships in Dawson City.

The US jobless rate reached a five-year high as 84,000 jobs were lost in August and unemployment reached 6.1 per cent. The amount of homes in foreclosure in the United States also hit record highs in the second quarter.

Canada appointed a new ambassador to Afghanistan, Mr. Ron Hoffman. Hoffman's predecessor, Arif Lalani, accepted a position as visiting Fellow at the University of Toronto's Munk Centre for International Studies.

The US led an army raid into the South Waziristan border region of Pakistan, killing 15 people including civilians and drawing international criticism.

Guatemalan environmentalist Yuri Mellini survived an assassination attempt in Guatemala City. Luis Ferraté, Minister of the Environment, and another fifty environmental activists in Guatemala have also received threats over the past months. Vancouver mining giant Goldcorp – by far the largest economic interest in the country – along with Canadian mining company HudBay have had their operations subject to protest by such environmental groups.

The Colombian government upped its persecution of indigenous groups and social organizations, using a laptop allegedly belonging to dead FARC commander Raul Reyes. The government falsely linked economist Héctor Mondragón to the FARC. El Tiempo, Colombia's largest newspaper, published allegations linking broad sections of Canadian society (trade unionists, social organizations and the "left") to the FARC. These strategies are part of the war in Colombia, that has been described as "A strategy of domination, which intentionally justifies and confuses democratic resistance with armed resistance, terrorism with social struggle, and social justice with threats to the institutional order, on the sole premise of eliminating the former by identifying them with the latter."

The Mexican Supreme Court ruled in favour of a worker in a case against Walmart, finding that it is unconstitutional for the retail giant to pay employees with store vouchers. Walmart Mexico's voucher system harkens back to pre-revolutionary times in Mexico, when large farm owners paid their labourers with store vouchers.

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner announced that the country will tap central bank reserves to pay their $6.7 billion debt with the IMF. Argentina has been defaulting on the debt since 2001.

Farmers protested against the Tata Motors plant in West Bengal, India, demanding that their lands be respected by the company. The plant was to produce Nanos, economical cars expected to sell for $2,500.

A federal study estimated the "social costs" of operating cars, trucks, planes, trains and boats across Canada at up to $40 billion a year. Automobile accidents represented the largest single source of social costs. Assuming a human life is worth an average of $4 million and disabling accidents cost an average of $260,000, researchers estimated road accidents accounted for an estimated $16 billion in social costs in 2000.

A consortium of Canada's major TV networks – CBC, Radio Canada, CTV, Global and TVA – decided to allow Green Party leader Elizabeth May to participate in a nationally televised debate, after Stephen Harper and Jack Layton agreed not to boycott the event.

The US national soccer team played a match in Havana, Cuba, for the first time in 61 years.

Saskatchewan labour organisations expressed skepticism over a new federal-provincial agreement that makes changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. The Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program (SINP) "allows the provincial government to select skilled workers and nominate applicants for landed immigrant status." Labour organizers questioned the program, saying more needs to be done to protect foreign workers’ rights rather than simply facilitating their coming to Canada.

An Iranian refugee claimant in Vancouver hoped to present new evidence in court to stop his deportation to Iran, where his lawyer says he will face imprisonment and possibly death for criticizing the country’s government. Hamid Shemshad’s brother was executed in 1988 for opposing the Iranian government.

Five hundred more birds, mostly ducks and swallows, died after landing in an oil spill next to an out-of-service oil well in south-eastern Alberta. Five hundred ducks and waterfowl died earlier this year after landing in a tailing pond in Alberta’s northern tarsands developments. “It really points to the fact that the environment in Alberta is not under good hands or good management right now. Things are really spinning wildly out of control,” said a spokesperson for Greenpeace.

A new study revealed that 43 companies, including three Canadian, are involved in bioprospecting in the Arctic, harvesting organic matter such as genes and enzymes from wildlife and plants for use in products ranging from ice cream and skin care products to medication. Along with Canada, the United States, Norway, China, South Korea, Poland, Germany and India are all vying for new discoveries in the north.

American pop-group Hanson, best known for their infectious 1990s hit “Mmmbop,” kicked off their new Walk Around the World tour in Vancouver. The group has asked fans to walk barefoot with them for one mile before every appearance; for every person that walks with them, the band says they will donate one dollar to charities fighting poverty among African children.

An independent review concluded that the RCMP's development of policies concerning the use of tasers did not include adequate research, relying too heavily on manufacturer information. At least 20 deaths in Canada have been linked to tasers.

Evo Morales declared the US Ambassador to Bolivia persona non grata, accusing Goldberg of meeting with and supporting opposition governors and factions. The United States responded in kind, expelling the Bolivian ambassador to the US. The next day, Morales declared martial law in the province of Pando, after an estimated 15 indigenous supporters of Morales were killed by rightwing opposition in the Amazon.

Hugo Chavez, declaring solidarity with Bolivia, ordered the US Ambassador to Venezuela to leave the country within 72 hours and recalled Venezuela's Ambassador from Washington. Denouncing US meddling in Latin American and national politics, Chavez commented, "That's enough shit from you, Yankees."

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