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Politics, Seniors

New disability benefit would make ‘major difference’ in many people’s lives

By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A government bill aiming to lift Canadians with disabilities out of poverty is working its way through the Senate after MPs voted unanimously to pass it late last week.

If it clears the Senate, the Canada Disability Benefit Act, or Bill C-22, will provide a tax-free, monthly payment to low-income Canadians with disabilities under the age of 65.It would be the first federal guaranteed income supplement for working-age Canadians with disabilities and is meant to top up inconsistent provincial and territorial benefits to bring people at least up to the poverty line.

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Justice

RCMP investigating after woman was found dead on Quadra Island, say it was ‘targeted,’ but ‘isolated’

By Louis Belcourt, CKTZ News, through an LJI grant from Canada-info.ca

An investigation has begun on Quadra Island after a 39-year-old woman was found dead inside her home.

RCMP were conducting a wellness check on Jan. 16 when they found her inside her home, according to press release Feb. 1.

Police have confirmed that the death is criminal based on evidence forensic investigators have collected and believe it was a targeted killing.

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Energy

Coastal GasLink bill climbs to $14.5B amidst continued opposition and environmental woes

By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Environmental and financial woes continue for another Canadian mega-project as TC Energy announces construction costs have ballooned to $14.5 billion for its natural gas pipeline in B.C.

The 670-kilometre Coastal GasLink pipeline originally had an estimated $6.6-billion price tag. The project — which has faced staunch opposition from Wet’suwet’en hereditary leadership and received three environmental fines to date — will transport natural gas from northeastern B.C. to the country’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) processing and export facility in Kitimat, B.C.

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Rivers & Oceans

16 scientists condemn ‘scientific failings’ of ‘flawed’ DFO report

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Editor’s note: The following article is joint letter to the Honourable Joyce Murray, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard

Academic scientists’ critique of DFO Science Response Report 2022/045

Dear Minister,

We are a group of 16 professors and research scientists who, collectively, have extensive research expertise in fisheries, epidemiology, and the environmental consequences of aquaculture. We write to express our professional dismay at serious scientific failings in a recently published DFO Science Response Report (#2022/045) about sea lice on salmon farms and wild salmon in BC. We are deeply concerned with the report’s flaws and its main, unsupported conclusion: that the presence of parasitic sea lice on wild juvenile salmon is not significantly associated with sea lice from nearby salmon farms.

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Women

Women’s Resource Centre breathes sigh of relief with stable 2023 funding

By Greg Osoba, CKTZ News, through an LJI grant from Canada-info.ca

Since its inception in 2019, the Cortes Island Women’s Resource Centre has struggled to find funds to ensure delivery of its basic services, but Director Tanya Henck says 2023 will see stable funding thanks to a number of grants from regional and national organizations. The organization received $42,000 through the Victoria Foundation ($5,000), Cortes Island Community Foundation ($17,000), and the Canadian Women’s Foundation ($20,000).

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