Data from Alberta’s Ministry of Children and Family Services shows that 89 per cent of young people who have died while receiving child intervention services this summer were Indigenous.

Advocates and frontline workers are urging the Alberta government to take immediate action to protect at-risk children and implement long-term child welfare reforms.

Between April 1 and Aug. 31, 18 children, youth and young adults died while receiving intervention services in Alberta. Sixteen were Indigenous.

Of those who died, two were not currently in care, eight were in care, and eight were receiving post-intervention support, which can be accessed by young adults over 18 who have previously been involved in child intervention.

Nearly all the deaths are still under investigation and the cause is listed as pending in the report from Children and Family Services. One death is listed as accidental, and two are listed as having died by suicide. The Tyee is supported by readers like you Join us and grow independent media in Canada

“When we see that 16 out of 18 deaths are Indigenous, it’s really clear that systemic problems persist, despite the previous interventions and reforms,” said Audra Foggin, associate professor of social work at Mount Royal University and a Sixties Scoop survivor.

“It’s no longer shocking to me, as an Indigenous person, and nor should anybody in Canada be shocked about this. They should be taking action towards this. And I think everybody has a responsibility as a treaty person in Canada to be thinking about how we can address these devastating impacts through Canada’s history,” she said.

Government says the levels plan will result in a 0.2 per cent population decline over next 2 years

Surprised I haven't seen this story here yet. Her name was Gursimran Kaur; she burned to death.

Surprised I haven't seen this story here yet. Her name was Gursimran Kaur; she burned to death.

The federal government says it can’t wait any longer for Ontario to end encampments in its cities and will offer money directly to municipalities, including Toronto, to fix the problem.

In a statement issued Tuesday, Housing Minister Sean Fraser said he sent a letter to every province and territory on Sept. 18 asking them to partner with Ottawa to “urgently” find shelter for the unhoused or those living in tents.

The offer includes a total of $250 million in funding in exchange for matching contributions by the provinces and territories.

However, Fraser said since the offer was made, the feds have not heard back from Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.

British Columbians awaiting a final vote count that will determine who governs their province are understandably anxious. After all, in many ways, the agendas of the NDP and Conservatives are starkly different.

But one group hasn’t felt much concern during the campaign. For the liquefied natural gas industry, the winner made little difference.

Both parties are supportive of the construction of nearly $100 billion worth of LNG terminals, though the BC NDP has set more conditions.

Only the BC Green Party has opposed the economic gamble. As Green Leader Sonia Furstenau stated before she was defeated in her attempt to win the riding of Victoria-Beacon Hill, “neither David Eby nor John Rustad have an economic plan that is rooted in reality.”

A group of Black and Indigenous women say they want a national public inquiry into a recent spate of police-involved deaths after nine Indigenous people were killed in interactions with police in August and September.

About two dozen people gathered on Parliament Hill on Tuesday, including the families of eight people who died.

The families say accountability and justice for the deaths of their loved ones is difficult to get and that concrete actions need to happen to address police brutality and to offer support and resources for the people affected.

Laura Holland, a Wet'suwet'en woman and the mother of Jared Lowndes, said police-involved killings are a state of emergency for Indigenous people.

At some point in 2023, Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources pushed through updates to its map of provincially protected wetlands, and 55 hectares in Ottawa's rural west end were dropped.

Two sizeable wetlands — one on either side of Highway 7 — used to be classified as part of the Goulbourn complex, a group of marshes and swamps that stretch across an area west of the suburb of Stittsville.

Now they are among the first known examples of wetlands to lose their "provincially significant" status since the Ontario government rolled out controversial changes in January 2023 aimed at getting homes built faster.

Rowell Pailan spends his days applying for jobs in factories, in restaurants, in shops. He's ready to take any kind of work.

Last September, Pailan quit his job with the company he came to Canada to work for over what he says are disputes about his treatment, including hours and wages. Now, he can't find an employer willing to do the paperwork to change his closed work permit — a standard part of Canada's Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program that ties workers to specific companies.

He knows the end date on that work permit means time is ticking on his Canadian dream.

"I'm still asking myself, what I am doing here, what I'm doing here in Canada," he said in a recent interview in his Wolfville, N.S., apartment.

The number of amputations due to frostbite in Edmonton reached 110 last winter, the highest level in more than a decade, according to new data obtained by CBC News.

But Calgary marked its second consecutive winter of declining frostbite amputations, counting roughly one-third of Edmonton's procedures last fiscal year.

The frostbite amputation numbers mark a notable shift after years of Alberta's two major centres following similar trends.

Archive: [ https://archive.is/UZxWT ]

What's more, the number of injuries is much higher than the norm. Kibos says that 126 injuries have been recorded since the start of the year, which works out to about 3 injuries a week.

Yet in their press releases, Amazon bosses seem proud of their health and safety policies. Amazon Canada stated, in October 2023, "The safety and health of our employees remains a top priority, and we are pleased with our progress."

In contrast, Trudeau said that "accidents happen because people feel rushed, because there's a rhythm imposed by the machine. The conveyor belt runs, the alarms go off. Then there are the managers who put the pressure on."

According to a survey by the Immigrant Workers Centre (IWC), 69.7% of Amazon workers say that the risk of suffering an accident at work is very high. What's more, 66.6% think it's only a matter of time before their health situation forces them to take a leave of absence or quit their job.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/21139835

The Ford government is promising to pay the cost of removing bike lanes from major city streets that fail to meet its unannounced criteria as it ploughs ahead with a plan to limit biking infrastructure and rip out some routes.

Canada International Trade Minister Mary Ng announced the public consultation on Oct. 16, saying that it aims to strengthen the enforcement of the ban on importing forced labour goods in alignment with the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) and actions taken by allied countries.

During this public consultation, the government will seek feedback on improving enforcement of the import ban, according to a separate release on Oct. 16. Proposed measures include publishing a list of items at risk of being made with forced labour, based on guidelines from the International Labour Organization (ILO). A “minimum traceability” process was also proposed, requiring importers of these items to provide more information about where their products come from.

[...]

Citing an ILO report on modern slavery, Ottawa noted that an estimated 27.6 million people were subjected to forced labour worldwide in 2021, an increase of 3 million since 2016. Children represented about 12 percent of those affected, totalling 3.3 million.

[...]

Forced Labour in China

The announcement comes amid increased scrutiny of forced labour in China.

[...]

The issue has also been studied in recent years in parliamentary committees in Canada, with human rights activists urging more action by Canadian lawmakers to curb China’s forced labour practices.

“The Subcommittee [on International Human Rights] was advised that Canada should adopt a ’reverse‑onus’ policy for companies importing products from Xinjiang, or other parts of China where forced labour is prominent. Such a policy would require importing companies to demonstrate that forced labour was not used in the manufacturing of their products,” reads a March 2021 report published by the subcommittee.

[...]

“The Government of Canada expects companies to take every step possible to ensure that their supply chains conform to Canadian law. It is the responsibility of the importer to exercise due diligence to ensure forced labour is not directly or indirectly used in the production of the goods it imports,” CBSA spokesperson Luke Reimer said on Sept. 26.

One well-known case involved a shipment from China that was intercepted in Quebec in fall 2021, but it was ultimately allowed entry. Reimer said that this decision came after the importer requested a review of the tariff classification. Upon examining the submitted documents, it was determined that the goods did not meet the criteria for seizure related to forced labour.

Canada has imposed an import ban on goods produced by forced labour since an amendment to the Customs Tariff Act took effect on July 1, 2020. The following year, it also launched an analysis of supply chain risks related to forced labour in China.

In January, a law aimed at fighting forced labour and child labour in supply chains came into force. Previously known as Bill S-211, this law requires the head of every government institution involved in producing, purchasing, or distributing goods in Canada or elsewhere to submit an annual report to the minister of public safety by May 31 each year.