Tag Archives: Gov of Canada

Indigenous Nations, Justice

Incarceration Rates For Canadians Drop While Indigenous Incarceration Rates Rise

Over-representation of Indigenous people in correctional settings remains one of Canada’s most pressing human rights issues, and is evidence of public policy failures over successive decades as no government has been able to stop or reverse this trend,” said the Correctional Investigator.

By Jake Cardinal, Alberta Native News, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

(ANNews) – On December 17, 2021, the Office of the Correctional Investigator released a report detailing Canada’s incarceration rates for Indigenous and non-indigenous people.

It found that First Nation, Metis, and Inuit women are grossly over-represented in the Canadian prison system and will soon comprise 50% of all federally-sentenced women in the country.

Continue reading Incarceration Rates For Canadians Drop While Indigenous Incarceration Rates Rise →
Environment

Feds press on climate in mandate letters, but environmentalists will wait and see

By John Woodside,  National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The cabinet ministers’ mandate letters published last week hint at a whole-of-government approach to tackling the climate crisis, but the devil will be in the details, many environmentalists say. 

Continue reading Feds press on climate in mandate letters, but environmentalists will wait and see →
Seniors

88,000 Seniors cut off from GIS

According to North Island – Powell River MP Rachel Blaney more than 88,000 seniors are being cut off from the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) they received prior to the pandemic. She said this statistic originated with the Parliamentary Budget Officer. Hundreds of people have called Blaney’s office about this, including “people from Campbell River, Comox Valley, Powell River, Quadra Island, Port McNeill.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s every community. This is a widespread issue,” explained Blaney.

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Rivers & Oceans

New fisheries minister wades into fish politics, cutting herring harvest in half

National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

In her first major decision, new federal Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray has reduced the West Coast commercial herring fishery by half.

Wading into the thick of fish politics Thursday, Murray said the decision is based on an abundance of caution given herring are a critical food for endangered salmon stocks — further jeopardized by the double whammy of fire and floods in B.C. this year.

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Rivers & Oceans

Proposed DFO rules put BC’s prized spot prawn fishery in peril again, harvesters say

National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A swell of outrage is rising again as the Department of Fisheries and Oceans revisits regulation changes that independent harvesters say will sink B.C.’s local spot prawn industry.

The newest version of the DFO regulations are equally unworkable for small harvesters, provide big companies exporting products overseas an advantage, and will effectively deny local consumers and communities access to fresh prawns caught sustainably by local fishers, said Sonia Strobel, CEO of Skipper Otto, a community collective of harvesters selling products to local consumers. 

Continue reading Proposed DFO rules put BC’s prized spot prawn fishery in peril again, harvesters say →