cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/57968020

On Nov. 11, 2024, Ontario’s policing oversight body, the Special Investigations Unit, or SIU, reported that a Hamilton police officer and another man were injured after an “exchange of gunfire.” But this later turned out to be false. There were two police officers, both of whom fired a barrage of reportedly 24 bullets that struck Erixon Kabera several times, killing him, and injuring one of the other officers.

I’ve kept up with the subsequent reporting on this incident, and I constantly find myself in awe of the extent to which the Hamilton Police Service and the SIU projected a degree of normality in the face of this calamity. This was the response of an SIU spokesperson, commenting on the agency’s retraction of an earlier statement about an “exchange of gunfire,” as quoted in a CTV News story:

“Based on the information that the SIU initially had, a news release was issued with preliminary details,” [SIU spokesperson Monica Hudon] said. “As the investigation proceeded and as further information came to light, we made it a priority to transparently release that updated information as quickly as possible via email, social media and our website.”

In this quote from a CBC story, Kabera’s family said in a statement: “We find that reversal of crucial facts, a full day after telling the entire world otherwise and painting an image of violence for our very own, to be deeply outrageous and unnerving.”

In a quote from a CP24 story, a Hamilton MP and a Hamilton member of the provincial parliament asked: “Why did the Chief of Police allow false information to be released about Erixon carrying a weapon? Why was the Chief of Police so quick to highlight the gun-related injuries to his officers, when according to the SIU report, Erixon did not shoot at police?”

The Middle East war is impacting something most Canadians may not have expected: the cost of some mortgages.

Last month, three- and five-year fixed mortgages increased by 0.5 per cent in just three weeks, said Marshall Tully, a Toronto-based mortgage broker.

"Unfortunately, it's possible that trend could continue," Tully said.

According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), 1.4 million mortgages will be renewed by the end of the year, representing about 23 per cent of all mortgages. Many of those would have received much lower rates from 2021.

“Many people are coming into their renewals totally blind and thinking that rates just keep coming down or holding," he said.

Tully said fixed-rate mortgages have risen particularly quickly because they are backed by bond yields, which can fluctuate in response to world events like wars. And U.S. President Donald Trump's prime-time address on Wednesday offered little new insight on how long he expects the conflict to last.

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/61935655

Archived link

In March 2026, the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada partnered with the Georgetown Center for Asian Law to host a panel discussion in Vancouver, B.C., on "Foreign Interference in Open Societies: Risks, Limits, and Guardrails."

...

Key insights:

• Foreign Interference (FI) and Transnational Repression (TNR) must be understood as systematic, multi-stage operations involving surveillance, proxy mobilization, and coercion. Interference operations target diaspora communities and, increasingly, non-Chinese nationals, with significant implications for civic participation, social cohesion, and democratic institutions across Canada and other democracies.

• FI is not only a national security issue, but a multi-dimensional challenge spanning human rights, democratic governance, and information integrity. A narrow security framing risks overlooking the cumulative psychological effects of cognitive and coercive tactics on individuals, communities, and democratic institutions.

• China also uses economic leverage strategically in its interference operations. As Canada deepens engagement with China in a period of global economic volatility, it must ensure that commercial considerations do not come at the expense of Canadian values of human rights and democracy.

• Legal measures alone are insufficient. Effective responses must be whole-of-society, value-based, and carefully calibrated to not only avoid stigmatizing diaspora communities but to proactively disrupt operations to prevent harm.

• This approach demands sustained investment, not only in security infrastructure but in the resources, information, and technical support communities need to assess and address FI.

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Panel discussants included Thomas Kellogg, Executive Director of the Georgetown Center for Asian Law; Lynette Ong, Distinguished Professor of Chinese Politics at the University of Toronto and Senior Fellow (non-resident) at APF Canada; Eric Lai, Senior Fellow at the Georgetown Center for Asian Law; and Sze-Fung Lee, Independent Researcher.

The panel was moderated by Elizabeth Donkervoort, Senior Advisor of APF Canada’s China Program.

The Liberal government's second attempt at giving police and spies easier access to Canadians' information includes what's anticipated to be costly demands on a range of private businesses to to change how they manage their data.

But the government says it doesn't yet know how much the companies — or Canadian taxpayers — would have to pay.

"The costs are potentially huge," said Michael Geist, the University of Ottawa’s Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law, and a vocal critic of the bill.

"That has competition-related effects in terms of who bears those costs. Will they exempt certain providers? It gets very messy very quickly."

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An especially challenging aspect of foreign interference, transnational repression occurs when overseas governments, or those acting for them, use harassment, threats and violence to silence critics abroad.

The RCMP statement did not name specific countries, but CSIS has identified China, India, Russia and Iran as the main states conducting espionage and foreign interference in Canada.

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Here is the open letter by the Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project to Canadian PM Mark Carney (pdf)

The Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project (URAP) has published an open letter to Canadian PM Mark Carney to ban the import off goods made with forced labour, calling on the government to adopt a legal presumption that would treat all products from China’s Xinjiang region as tainted by forced labour unless importers can prove otherwise.

"Uyghur Forced Labour is Abhorrent to Canadian Values"

"Canadians do not want to consume goods produced by Uyghur forced labour," the letter reads.

"The gaps in Canada’s enforcement have resulted in products made by Uyghur forced labour entering Canada. This will continue to happen until Canada’s prohibition is enforced in a principled and consistent manner."

"In our view, Chinese EVs can only be sold in Canada for under $35,000 because they incorporate cheap aluminum parts from Uyghur forced labour. It will be critical for importers of EVs to Canada to demonstrate verifiably transparent supply chains that do not track the aluminum processing back to Xinjiang."

The URAP notes that "Uyghurs in China are working in slave labour conditions 12 hours a day under armed surveillance as you read this. This is of grave concern to many Canadians. Screening out such products is a measure of the extent to which Canada’s forced labour implementation is working overall. It is also a measure of the extent to which Canada can trade with China in a manner consistent with Canadian values.

"Of all the countries in the world, China is most known for forced labour. This is true for many products, including fabrics, tomato products and Chinese electric vehicles that are to be imported into Canada."

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Referring to one of Mr. Carney's recent remarks, the letter says that Canada does have legislation to prevent the import of product made by forced labour, but it is "not strong by any international comparison".

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Among the signatories are Mehmet Tohti, executive director of the URAP, and Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, senior fellow at the Institute for Science, Society and Policy at the University of Ottawa.

They detail a series of legal adjustments and secure adequate staffing and resources to enforce a stricter law.

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The wind cuts across an empty stretch of land on the southern edge of London, Ont., where rows of small, cabin-like units sit far from bus routes, shops and the downtown core.

For Tim Magee, who spent years living in a tent in the woods, the move there was supposed to be a step forward. Instead, he says, it feels like being pushed further out.

“I’ll go back to the streets or back to the bush somewhere,” Magee said. “I’ll be more comfortable out there than here.”

Magee said he plans to leave the site, citing isolation, strict rules and the cost of staying there.

“Poverty and homelessness are constantly having rules imposed on them — how they can access things, when they can access them and in what way. In combination with isolation, that can feel too burdensome for day-to-day living.”

Magee said much of that frustration stems from the site’s location on the outskirts of the city, far from transit, services and daily amenities.

“My cheque went from $1,400 down to $466 … I can’t justify that,” he said. “Where is all this money going? I’d like to know, but we don’t get answers.”

I've been thinking about this for a while. If you looks at our major industries that aren't controlled by Canadian oligopolies, we let the US take over and continue to support them. For example, streaming services (Netflix, Spotify, Paramount, HBO, Disney, YouTube, etc...), fast food (McDonald's, Starbucks, Wendy's, Five Guys, Timmies, etc..), home improvement (Home Depot, Lowe's, Rona), retail (Wal-Mart, Amazon, Costco), tech (Google, Apple, Microsoft), credit payments (Visa, Mastercard), food brands (Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson, print media (Postmedia Network, which controls over 130 newspapers across the country), social media (Insta, Snap, TikTok, Facebook, WhatsApp), retail gas (Esso, Ultramar, Chevron, Pioneer) are all US companies. I can keep going on (pharmaceuticals, oil and gas operations in Alberta, and entertainment).

It's ironic when I see Canadians hating on immigrants for not being "Canadian", yet those Canadians copy Americans like no tomorrow. And now we have separatists in Alberta simping for the US and politicians that vocally support Trump (Doug Ford, Danielle Smith, and PP). Wtf is going on?