A new poll exploring attitudes on racism in Canada found that an overwhelming majority of Canadians do not agree with the statement that “Canada is a racist country.”
The findings were released in a recent report conducted by the organization in association with University of British Columbia researchers.
According to the report, 66% of Canadians disagree or strongly disagree with the statement above. Meanwhile, only 34% of Canadians either agreed or strongly agreed that Canada was racist.
When broken down based on age and sex, the poll discovered that three-quarters of people over the age of 55 disagreed with Canada being racist. Additionally, 54% of women between the ages of 18 and 34 were of the opinion that Canada was racist.
Additionally, the report found that equity and anti-racism “advocates” were more likely to see more racism than what visible minorities were reporting themselves.
“It is notable that only among the Advocates is there majority agreement that Canada is a racist country. Elsewhere, disagreement is the majority response. For Detractors, the statement has no veracity whatsoever,” claimed the Angus Reid Institute.
The poll also discovered that advocates were twice as likely as minorities to say that police were prejudiced towards minorities. In total 83% of people who identify as racial justice advocates said that police were racist while only 42% of visible minorities claimed the same viewpoint.
The poll was conducted in light of a recent national debate on systemic racism and Canada’s history.
The apparent discovery of human remains at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School has led to growing calls by left-wing activists to cancel any historical figure believed to be associated with Canada’s residential school system.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) blasted the Trudeau government’s decision to spend an estimated $5 billion in taxpayer funds to renovate Parliament Hill.
“It’s hard to believe bureaucrats couldn’t find a way to do these renovations for less money after more than a decade of planning,” said CTF Federal Director Franco Terrazzano in a Monday morning news release.
“If we played the would-you-rather game, I’m sure most Canadians could figure out a better way to spend $5 billion.”
According to the CTF, the federal government failed to consider other ways to spend the funds including eliminating boil-water advisories for First Nations communities across Canada.
“This is a huge price tag for a project that will have little benefit for most Canadians. With the feds more than $1 trillion in debt, we need to see a better effort from this government to rein in spending,” added Terrazzano.
Recent reports have indicated that the renovation construction in Ottawa could last until 2030 before it is finally completed.
The CTF is calling on the Parliamentary Budget Officer to release an independent report on the renovations to reveal the total costs of the project.
Renovations to Parliament Hill are happening at the same time that the main cottage residence of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is also being restored.
According to the National Capital Commission, construction at Harrington Lake is expected to cost taxpayers $6.1 million.
Part of the restoration includes a $2.5 million private mansion known as the “Farmhouse” which will serve as a temporary residence on the grounds.
Fully vaccinated Canadians and permanent residents will be allowed to enter the country without quarantining effective July 5.
On Monday, the federal government announced Canadians who have received all doses of Health Canada-approved vaccines can avoid hotel quarantine and end home quarantine after getting a negative test result.
The move comes nearly six months after the federal government imposed mandatory quarantines in hotels in an effort to combat importation of COVID-19 “variants of concern.”
“As we’ve told Canadians all along, easing measures at the border will happen as we see our communities increasingly become safe,” Health Minister Patty Hajdu said.
“If you are planning to travel internationally this summer, remember to check the requirements of the country that you’re visiting.”
The announcement only applies to Canadian citizens and permanent residents. The Canadian border will remain closed to non-citizens and non-residents without an essential reason for entry.
Travelers will be required to provide proof of vaccination through the government’s ArriveCAN app prior to their arrival.
The final dose of vaccine will have to be received at least 14 days before arriving in Canada. Travelers will still be required to submit a quarantine plan on the ArriveCAN app as the government will not grant quarantine exemptions until the traveler arrives in Canada.
The announcement comes as many provinces hit their vaccination targets and several announce plans to fully reopen.
Last week, the Trudeau government announced that the Canada-US border will remain closed for non-essential travel until at least July 21.
“As Canadians continue to get vaccinated, we’ll be carefully monitoring data here and around the world. We will be assessing our own rates of vaccination, cases, hospitalizations, and outbreaks and the disease activity in the rest of the world,” Hajdu added.
“We’ll watch these metrics carefully, as we plan the next phase of changes to border measures.”
As of July 11, Saskatchewan will end all COVID-19 public health restrictions, including ending the province-wide mandatory masking order.
Premier Scott Moe announced on Sunday that 70% of the province’s residents over the age of 18 have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and as a result, Saskatchewan can move to Step 3 of its reopening plan.
“We are able to make this announcement because so many Saskatchewan residents have done their part by getting vaccinated, so I’d like to say thanks to Saskatchewan people,” said the Premier.
“Over the past 15 months, Saskatchewan residents have diligently followed public health guidelines and restrictions, and over the past months they have followed through by getting vaccinated.”
In addition to lifting the province’s mask order, capacity limits on events and gatherings will also end.
Saskatchewan is the second province in Canada to announce the easing of COVID-19 public health restrictions.
Because so many have done their part by rolling up their sleeves & sticking it to COVID, we are able to share some great news.
On July 11, all public health orders will be lifted, including mandatory masking & gathering size limits.
On Friday, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney announced that his province will be lifting virtually all of its COVID-19 related public health restrictions by Canada Day this year.
Once Alberta enters the third stage of its reopening plan, indoor and outdoor gathering restrictions will be lifted. Similarly capacity limits for places of worship and businesses will also disappear.
According to the government of Alberta, mandatory indoor masking requirements will also be lifted, however “limited and specific settings” may still require mask-wearing.
“I never doubted that we would reach this milestone together, that we’d pull together as a province, as a people, and get ‘er done in the true Alberta spirit,” Premier Kenney said.
Sir Winston Churchill has become the latest victim of the deranged woke mob in Canada.
Churchill joins the esteemed club of historical figures who have had their statues defaced or torn down in recent weeks and months in a fit of criminal rage by a nameless, faceless mob.
Canada’s founding Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald, early advocate for universal education Egerton Ryerson, and Canada’s founding monarch Queen Victoria have all become the target of cancel culture and woke leftist vandals.
And while there is feigned condemnation from left-wing leaders over the illegal destruction of property, there is a growing political and intellectual movement that seeks to legitimize the woke worldview.
When news broke that Churchill’s statue in Edmonton had been doused with red paint, Edmonton’s wannabe woke mayor Don Iveson failed to condemn the mob. Instead, he promoted the idea that we should apply today’s hyper-politicized speech standards to historical figures.
Iveson said he welcomed discussions of “addressing historical wrongdoings and inequities like systemic racism,” but simply noted there are better ways to do this than “vandalizing city property.”
Nisha Patel, the City of Edmonton’s Poet Laureate, a taxpayer-funded government position, openly voiced support to the vandals and their political tactics.
She told Global News that the vandalism simply shows that “any attempt at dialogue or outreach has truly failed,” and that “there are angry people with valid feelings who want to express their frustration.” According to Global, “she added it’s important to note the people who vandalized the statue did not harm anyone.”
You get that? If you’re on the far-left, it’s perfectly reasonable to be angry and express your frustration through the destruction of property.
Patel goes on to say: “I think if this is what it takes to reach a critical point, where opposition is taken seriously by people who are bigoted, then this is what we have to do.”
In other words, if you oppose the woke mob tearing down statues and erasing our history, you are a bigot and that only further justifies the woke mob tearing down statues and erasing our history.
Must be nice to be a Poet Laureate.
And of course, Patel is far from the only public figure that seems to hate Canada so much that she wants to destroy every institution in our country.
Last week, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh told us what he really thinks of Canada.
“The reality is that our Canada is a place of racism, of violence, of genocide of indigenous people, and our Canada is a place where Muslims are not safe. They are not. They are not safe. Muslims are not safe in this country.”
That would be news to my husband’s family, who escaped tyranny in Iran and found a peaceful, welcoming home filled with opportunity and freedom in North Toronto. I guess they didn’t get the memo that one politicized tragedy in London, Ontario means that Canada’s one million Muslims are no longer safe in the world’s most diverse, tolerant and open society.
A 27-year-old MP in Singh’s caucus echoed this hatred for Canada in her farewell speech to the House of Commons on Tuesday.
Mumilaaq Qaqqaq, NDP member for Nunavut, blasted Canada as a colonialist hellhole built on the oppression of Indigenous people and whose history is stained with blood.
Her angry rant, filled with baseless accusations and fanatical hyperbole, was applauded and promoted by the legacy media. I’ve yet to see a single public figure counter her radical claims or refute his fever-dream excoriation of our country.
That’s because defending Canada is now passé. It’s much more fashionable to condemn Canada as a uniquely terrible, systemically compromised failed state built by irredeemably horrendous leaders who committed unspeakable atrocities and crimes against humanity.
If that’s your worldview — and it seems that is the view held by cultural leftist elites these days — then it’s no wonder why they want Churchill’s head on a platter. Sure, he beat Hitler and stopped the Nazis. But Canada, and indeed all of Western Civilization, is just as bad.
A rapid rise in Islamist insurgent groups in the West African country of Burkina Faso has resulted in two massacres earlier this month.
Between June 4 and June 5, Islamist insurgents massarced an estimated 174 people between two villages in the far east of the country.
According to media reports, the attackers first targeted local law enforcement before killing residents and burning down buildings. The attackers left multiple improvised explosive devices in the area.
In a statement, international aid group Doctors Without Borders said the recent rise in Islamist violence has left the whole country terrifed.
“People are dying every week. Many are afraid to sleep at night. Some leave their beds and go to hide in the bush for fear of being attacked,” the group said in a statement.
“The conflict and forced displacement are directly impacting people’s livelihoods: many were farmers or herders but have now lost everything and depend almost entirely on humanitarian aid. Their outlook for the near future is very uncertain.”
Doctors Without Borders says Burkina Faso was home to the world growing humanitarian crisis of 2020 as 1 million people were displaced by violence in the impoverished country. Civilians are victims to acts of violence and human rights violations at the hands of extremist groups, who often target Christians and places of worship.
Burkina Faso is a country where Islamist violence was rare until recently. Like other countries in Western Africa, Burkina Faso has seen a huge surge in violence as the region becomes the target of groups fleeing the collapse of ISIS in the Middle East.
Since 2019, fourteen provinces in the country have been in a state of emergency.
In the Open Doors annual ranking of the most dangerous countries for Christians, Burkina Faso rose 33 spots to 28th in 2020.
Over the past year, Islamists have also targeted missionaries and foreign aid workers, with multiple foreigners having either been kidnapped or killed.
The Federal Court has upheld the Trudeau government’s hotel quarantine program as constitutional, saying in a decision issued Friday that even though the program impinges on liberty and results in detention, these limitations are justified by the government’s desire to protect public health.
True North’s Andrew Lawton breaks down the decision.
US Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-D) had some harsh words for the Trudeau government when he learned the Canada-US will remain closed for another month.
On Friday, Public Safety Minister Bill Blair announced the border closure for non-essential travel would be extended until at least July 21. The border has been closed since March 16, 2020.
Higgins, who represents the border cities of Buffalo and Niagara Falls, took to Twitter to say the decision is harmful and disrespectful to residents of both countries.
“There’s no other way to say: another month’s delay is bulls–t,” tweeted the congressman.
At a press conference on Friday, Higgins continued to slam the closure, saying the decision does not follow the science on COVID-19.
“There’s no other word for it other than this is disrespectful toward the people of the United States and Canada not to offer a vision of what you’re going to be doing over the next 30 days to try to develop an opening plan,” he said.
“Nobody’s suggesting that this be done arbitrarily, even though they did that for hockey players. We’re asking that we do a successful and safe opening by following the science.”
In a release, Minister Blair said the closure is still needed to protect Canadians from COVID-19, but added that some select types of travelers may be allowed before July 21.
The border closure has united both Democrats and Republicans, with prominent members of both parties blasting the Canadian government for keeping the world’s longest international border closed.
On Friday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (NY-D) said that high vaccination rates on both sides of the border increasingly make Canada’s closure unjustifiable.
“Instead of endless delays and confusion, we need a concrete plan, based on science and facts, to reopen the northern border for vaccinated individuals,” Schumer said.
“I’ll continue to work with stakeholders on both sides of the border and won’t rest until the northern border is safely and effectively opened for vaccinated New Yorkers.”
Republican Caucus Chair Elise Stefanik condemned President Joe Biden for not pushing harder for a reopening plan. Stefanik previously said that if the two countries do not find a reopening deal the Biden Administration should unilaterally reopen its side of the border.
28 Chinese military aircraft flew into Taiwan’s air defence zone on Tuesday, according to Taiwan’s defence ministry.
Four H-6 nuclear-capable bombers and six J-11 fighters were sighted among the Chinese aircrafts. Anti-submarine, electronic warfare and early warning aircraft were also reported.
The aircrafts flew close to the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands and the southern part of Taiwan as well.
The Chinese mission came only a day after NATO leaders in Brussels warned of the military threat of Communist China, calling its behaviour a “systemic challenge.” Further, G7 leaders called on China to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms,” referencing the ongoing genocide of Uyghur Muslims and the crackdown of pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong.
In recent months, tensions between China and Taiwan have increased as the communist country has regularly carried out flights over Taiwan’s air defence zone.
Earlier this year, Taiwan’s defence ministry reported 25 Chinese aircraft entering its territory.
In May, Taiwan’s foreign minister Joseph Wu issued a stern warning, saying his nation is ready to defend itself until the bitter end in light of China’s increased military aggression.
“All these seem to be preparing for their final military assault against Taiwan. This is our country, this is our people and this is our way of life. We will defend ourselves to the very end,” said Wu.
“Taiwan happens to be on the frontline of China’s expansion of its authoritarian order. And if Taiwan is taken by China, I think the consequences will be global.”
Critics of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have called on the Canadian government to do more to support Taiwan.
A Politico report earlier this year suggested that the Liberals attempted to prevent an international award from being awarded to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.
Following the report’s publication, the government reversed course and Taiwan was awarded the Halifax International Security Forum’s John McCain Prize for Leadership in Public Service.
An Alberta-based application that makes it easy to report rural crime incidents is taking off within communities across Western Canada and the Prairies.
The Lightcatch reporting system was developed and designed in Grande Prairie, Alberta. Most recently, the system has found its way to dozens of rural towns boasting “tens of thousands of users.”
“The County of Grande Prairie was really the first official partnership. We recognized the need for such a service in October 2020 and began to just do it (voluntarily). We basically just picked our core growth areas and just started doing it. Nobody hired us,” said company CEO Darren Boyer.
The reporting system was initially launched in association with crime fighting groups like the Beaverlodge District Rural Crime Watch.
“When we started, to be able to say the results of this program are getting a 56 per cent good outcome for all thefts, (while) areas outside of the program are getting a 22 per cent good outcome, it was such a difference. It made the program value so clear,” said Boyer.
Meanwhile, the Alberta government has also taken up several initiatives to reduce the incident rate of crimes targeting rural residents.
According to RCMP data, the province saw a 17% drop in break-and-enters in 2020, with a 19% decrease in vehicle theft. Rural communities are often the most targeted for property crimes.
At the federal level, Conservative MP Blaine Calkin introduced a Private Member’s Bill, C-289, with the intention of making it easier to prosecute criminals targeting rural residents.
The legislation hopes to change the Criminal Code and add as an aggravating circumstance evidence that a crime was directed at somebody who was “vulnerable because of their remoteness from emergency services.”
“For many rural communities across Canada, crime has reached a crisis point. Rural Canadians too often do not feel safe in their own homes, many are victimized, often they have given up reporting property crime altogether and they cannot get affordable insurance, if they can get any insurance at all. My constituents are tired of being victims,” said Calkins.
