Manitoba to introduce vaccine passports for interprovincial travel

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Manitoba to introduce vaccine passports for interprovincial travel

The Manitoba government is introducing a vaccine passport to allow fully vaccinated Manitobans to travel between provinces without needing to quarantine on return.

According to Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister, immunization and vaccine passports are “the way back” to a time before COVID-19. 

“I’m cognizant that we don’t want to take away rights and freedoms from people, at the same time COVID is doing that for us. The sooner we can get as many as possible vaccinated in Manitoba, the better off we’re all going to be,” said Pallister. 

“The vaccine can help us to get our lives back out if we choose to get it. I encourage everyone to do this… This is the way back to a time when we could see friends and visit with our friends and loved one and when travel was not a privilege given to some.”

Pallister also suggested that vaccine passports should be seen as a benefit for those who want to get the COVID-19 vaccine. 

Civil liberty groups like the Canadian Constitution Foundation and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) have cautioned against the “troubling” implications vaccine passports might have on fundamental freedoms. 

“There are a variety of reasons why the concept of a vaccination passport is a troubling one. First, the science doesn’t support their utility. But beyond that, even if they were perfectly effective, they raise significant risks to rights and freedoms,” writes the CCLA.

This week the federal government also announced it would be easing travel restrictions for fully-vaccinated Canadians and permanent residents. 

According to Health Minister Patty Hajdu, those who have received two shots of an approved vaccine will be able to skip the mandatory hotel quarantine requirement beginning in early July. 

Recently, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau received criticism after it was revealed that he would have a special hotel reserved for him and other Canadian officials upon returning from the latest G7 summit in the UK. 

Liberal Bill C-10 consultation included eight orgs that received government funding

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Liberal Bill C-10 consultation included eight orgs that received government funding

Eight of the media companies and non-profit organizations the Trudeau government consulted on its internet regulation bill have received federal funding.

In response to a question on the order paper in the House of Commons last week, Liberal MP and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage Julie Dabrusin listed nearly two dozen organizations the Liberal government had consulted on Bill C-10.

“In 2018, the government appointed the broadcasting and telecommunications legislative review panel to study Canada’s communications legislation,” said Debrusin. 

“Following the publication of the panel’s report in January 2020, the minister and the department engaged with many stakeholders on the panel’s recommendations through various mechanisms, such as individual stakeholder meetings and roundtables.”

Among the companies Debrusin cited were the Canadian Media Producers Association, Rogers Media, Zoomer Media, Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN), the Indigenous Screen Office, the Canada Media Fund, CBC/Radio-Canada and the Coalition for Diversity of Cultural Expression. 

Publicly available federal grant records revealed that all of the Canadian companies mentioned above had received federal funds since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was elected in 2015. 

The Canada Media Fund – which is a public-private endeavour founded by the Department of Canadian Heritage in 2010 – received a whopping $280,761,077 in federal funds in 2020. 

Private companies like Rogers Media and Zoomer Media also benefited from the Trudeau government’s generosity in recent years. According to official data, Zoomer media received two payments in 2020 totaling $987,971 and $246,993 respectively. The company also received government funding in 2019 worth $987,971 and in 2018 for $1,045,168. 

Meanwhile, Rogers Media, which owns several publications including Maclean’s and Chatelaine, also received a combined total of $3,228,009 in 2018 through the Canada Periodical Fund which is also managed by Canadian Heritage. 

Additionally, APTN received two federal grants worth $800,000 and $7,428 in 2020 while also benefiting from $1,500,000 in federal funds in 2019. 

As previously reported by True North, the Coalition for Diversity of Cultural Expression also received taxpayer dollars in 2019 as well. 

Then there’s also the Canadian Media Producers Association of Canada which got $138,300 in 2020 and $37,907.60 in 2019 from the Liberals.

This is not the first time where the federal government has referenced government-funded groups to bolster their claims of support for Bill C-10. 

In May, Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault spoke of nearly a dozen Canadian organizations that have given support to Bill C-10 without revealing that they were recipients of government funds.

Trudeau won’t stay at a government quarantine hotel. Why should anyone else?

Andrew Lawton
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Trudeau won’t stay at a government quarantine hotel. Why should anyone else?

When Justin Trudeau returns to Canada from the G7 summit in the United Kingdom, he won’t be staying at one of the government-approved quarantine hotels other travellers have to stay at upon arrival. Rather, he’s setting up a special hotel in Ottawa for him and his team. Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner joined The Andrew Lawton Show to discuss her motion in the House of Commons calling on Trudeau to get the same treatment other Canadians do. Also, Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms lawyer Sayeh Hassan joined the show to talk about the constitutional challenge of the hotel quarantine program taking place in Federal Court.

Watch the latest episode of The Andrew Lawton Show.

Winnipeg mulls providing free hygiene products to “menstruating individuals”

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Winnipeg mulls providing free hygiene products to “menstruating individuals”

Winnipeg is studying whether or not it should provide free menstrual products in its civic facilities for “menstruating individuals,” a new report reveals.

The 10-page document by the city’s administration was submitted to the city’s Standing Policy Committee on Property and Development, Heritage and Downtown Development for consideration on June 8, 2021. 

“Access to menstrual products has been deemed a basic human right. However, for various social, cultural,and financial reasons, they may not be easily accessible to menstruating individuals, creating an unfair disadvantage in their daily lives,” reads the report. 

“Furthermore, when these products are available for free, the dignity of menstruating individuals can improve, along with their physical and psychological well being.”

The document goes on to recommend that a one-year Free Menstrual Product Pilot Project be implemented at “civic recreational and library facilities.” The project is expected to cost an estimated $58,500, the report notes. 

The locations currently proposed as sites for the pilot project include Millennium Library, Fort Rouge Leisure Centre, Seven Oaks Pool, Freight House/Central CC, Elmwood Kildonans Pool and Turtle Island Neighbourhood Centre. 

Several submissions in support of the initiative also make reference to politically correct terms like “people who menstruate” instead of simply “women.” 

One letter by Mount Carmel Clinic Executive Director Bobbette Shoffner makes no mention of the term “women” whatsoever.

“We are writing to you today to share our support for the pilot project to get free menstrual products into our civic facility washrooms to reduce barriers for people who menstruate,” writes Shoffner. 

Another submission by Nine Circles Community Health Centre Executive Director Michael Payne insists that the pilot program recognize that not only women menstruate. 

“The pilot program must recognize not only just women menstruate but also many trans, intersex, non-binary and two-spirited people do too, and the program must be accessible to those populations in a stigma-free location,” writes Payne.

As previously reported by True North, a similar motion before the Toronto District School Board made no reference to women and only mentioned “people who menstruate.”

Low recruitment and high gun crime plagued Calgary Police in 2020: Report

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Low recruitment and high gun crime plagued Calgary Police in 2020: Report

As Calgary tackles the issue of defunding its police, a recent report by the Calgary Police Commission reveals that the city’s law enforcement force is struggling to find new recruits while also facing a gun crime problem.

The Calgary Police Service Annual Report is due to be presented before the city’s committee on Community and Protective Services this Wednesday. 

“The COVID pandemic, public health restrictions, and budget uncertainty in 2020 had a significant impact on the Service’s ability to recruit, train and hire new officers. Hiring was far below attrition; by the end of 2020 there were over 100 sworn vacancies resulting in increased workload for existing officers,” writes the Commission. 

Following wide-spread protests and riots in the US and Canada over the death of George Floyd in 2020, Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi spearheaded a push to defund the city’s police force by up to $20 million. 

Nenshi was joined by councillors Evan Woolley, Gian-Carlo Carra and George Chahal in supporting the motion to relocate police funds.

While the motion did not pass in its original form, city council eventually voted to pull $8 million in funds from city reserves and the official police budget submission also included a voluntary $8 million dedication for alternative policing initiatives. 

The Commission’s report also makes mention of Calgary Police’s engagement with “with advocacy groups such as Black Lives Matter (BLM) and Walk for Freedom to promote peaceful and constructive interactions in the community.” 

In 2020, Calgary Police also noted that gun and gang crime in the city “was of particular concern.” 

“There were 112 shooting events, representing a forty percentincrease over the five-year average. The CPS is an active member of the Community Based Public Safety Task Force, formed to address the increase in gun and gang-related violence,” claimed the report. 

“In April 2020, the Firearms Investigative Team (FIT) was created in response to the increase in firearm activity to track, trace, and investigate every crime gun seized by the CPS. There were 1191 guns seized by CPS in 2020 and of those, 507 were deemed to be crime guns.”

Mask Misdirection

Andrew Lawton
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Mask Misdirection

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was caught twice in one week putting on a mask just for the cameras and Justin Trudeau is setting up a special quarantine hotel so he can pretend he’s following public health guidance when he returns to Canada from the G7 summit in the United Kingdom. True North’s Andrew Lawton says it’s clear Canada’s leaders aren’t buying the restrictions they’re imposing, arguing it’s time to drop the charade.

Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner and JCCF lawyer Sayeh Hassan join to talk about hotel quarantine, plus a look at the Liberals shutting down debate on their internet regulation bill, C-10.

Subscribe to The Andrew Lawton Show.

Only a “minority” care about internet freedom, suggested Guilbeault

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Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault says most Canadians are okay with the federal government moderating their content on the internet claiming only a “minority” are opposed to regulation.

According to Blacklock’s Reporter, Guilbeault made the comments during a House of Commons ethics committee meeting on the Liberal government’s promised legislation meant to tackle online harms like “hateful” content and disinformation.

“There are some people out there, a minority clearly, who would advocate that we shouldn’t intervene, there should be no laws whatsoever regarding the internet, and anyways what happens on the internet stays on the internet. Well, it’s clearly not the case,” said Guilbeault.

When pressed by fellow committee members, Guilbeault noted that the government already has the power to tackle illegal online content like hate speech and incitement of violence but claimed that the purpose of the proposed bill is to moderate ordinary content.  

“The bill we’re talking about now deals with the moderation of content,” Guilbeault told his fellow committee members.

“It’s going to be about an entire new ecosystem to help us deal with these harms online in a way we can’t right now.”

Prior to the 2019 election, the Liberal-dominated House of Commons justice committee held hearings on online hate legislation, culminating in a report introducing a bill expanding the government’s ability to address online hate speech.

True North’s Lindsay Shepherd was among those who testified before the committee, though the majority of witnesses called by the committee were pushing for speech restrictions.

The proposed online hate speech bill is separate from Bill C-10, the internet regulation bill currently being pushed through the House of Commons by the Liberals.

While C-10 will deal with expanding the regulatory powers of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to apply to digital content, critics have raised the alarm about the legislation’s threat to free speech. 

During a virtual panel in April, Guilbeault hinted that the incoming legislation meant to tackle online hate speech could go even further and include a “kill-switch” which would allow regulators to force social media companies to remove content they don’t approve of. 

Although the proposed bill has yet to be tabled, Guilbeault has suggested that the law will rely on prior court cases to provide a definition of what constitutes “hate.” Among the precedents cited by Guilbeault was the Supreme Court of Canada’s Whatcott decision, which declared that even truthful statements could be considered hate speech.

Canada’s leaders to attend vigil for murdered Muslim family in London

True North Wire
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Canada’s leaders to attend vigil for murdered Muslim family in London

All of Canada’s major party leaders will be attending a vigil in London, Ont. for a Muslim family police say was intentionally attacked by a driver.

On Sunday evening, a family of five was walking outside when police say a pickup truck drove off the curb and hit them. Four family members died and a nine year-old boy remains in hospital.

The London Muslim Mosque is hosting a vigil for the family in its parking lot.

The Prime Minister’s Office confirmed Tuesday morning Trudeau would be attending the vigil.

Conservative leader Erin O’Toole, Green leader Annamie Paul and Bloc Quebecois will attend the vigil as well, travelling with Trudeau on the federal government’s Challenger jet. Ontario Premier Doug Ford is also planning to attend.

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh and Green leader Annamie Paul have also said they’ll  be at the vigil, though it is not clear whether they are travelling with Trudeau.

Speaking in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Trudeau called the incident a terrorist attack motivated by Islamophobia.

“Their lives were taken in a brutal, cowardly, and brazen act of violence. This killing was no accident. This was a terrorist attack, motivated by hatred, in the heart of one of our communities,” he said.

Also speaking in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Conservative leader Erin O’Toole condemned the attack and shared his solidarity with the community. O’Toole spoke about the surviving family member and how Canada must do more to prevent hateful attacks in the future.

“We grieve for the Muslim community in London and across the country. We have to learn and strive to do better,” O’Toole said.

“Because there’s a nine year-old boy lying in a hospital bed, we have to strive to learn and be better. The Canada of his future needs to be better than the Canada of Sunday evening.”

People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier condemned the “horrific hateful attack” Tuesday as well.

Outdoor gatherings in Ontario are presently limited to five people, though Ford said Tuesday morning that an exemption would be granted to allow the vigil to proceed legally.

Police have charged 20-year-old Nathaniel Veltman with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder in connection with the attack.

The vigil will be held at the London Muslim Mosque on Oxford Street West at 7:00 PM. 

Senior Republican leader calls for re-opening of Canada-US border

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Senior Republican leader calls for re-opening of Canada-US border

New York Congresswoman and GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik has called for the Canada-US border to begin reopening by June 21.

In a letter penned to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Stefanik wrote that Canada’s border restrictions have been largely unfair to Americans, noting that the US allows Canadians much more freedom.

“We should be under no illusion that the current restrictions are either fully synchronized or equitable for U.S. citizens. Canadians have been permitted to fly into the U.S. throughout the pandemic, while Americans remain unable to fly into Canada for non-essential travel,” she wrote.

“Canadians have been able to receive a vaccine when in the U.S., while fully vaccinated Americans are unable even to quarantine on their own properties in Canada, many of which have gone unattended for well over a year.”

As chair of the House Republican Conference, Stefanik is the third highest-ranking Republican in Congress. Her congressional district also covers most of New York’s border with Canada.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau originally closed the border to non-essential travel on March 16, 2020 and has extended the closure each month since. The current border closure order expires on June 21.

Stefanik went on to ask the Biden Administration to work with Canada to begin reopening the border. If an agreement isn’t reached by June 21, Stefanik argues the US should unilaterally reduce restrictions on their side.

Stefanik is the latest American politician to argue for the Canada-US border to reopen. Elected officials from both parties have noted how damaging Canada’s protracted ban on travel has been for both sides.

Last month, US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer argued the Canada-US border should open soon as residents of both countries have suffered from the closure for too long.

Other members of congress and governors of border states have also argued that both countries need to allow for non-essential purposes like meeting with loved ones.

On Monday, Bloomberg reported that the Trudeau government is preparing to ease Canada’s border restrictions for travellers who have been fully vaccinated.

Trudeau laments how Catholic Church doesn’t line up with his progressive views

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Trudeau laments how Catholic Church doesn’t line up with his progressive views

On Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau lamented the fact that the Catholic Church’s positions don’t align with his and other Catholics’ progressive views. 

Trudeau made the comments during the Ryerson Democracy Forum in response to a question by event moderator and journalist Martin Regg Cohn. Cohn who asked the prime minister to recount his 2017 encounter with Pope Francis regarding residential schools.

“I have to say as a Catholic, who, you know, is ever hopeful that the Catholic Church will come to terms with how for many Catholics our faith is really important to us but the distance we feel with the Church on many of its positions that don’t necessarily align with where we think we should be as a society, where we need to move forward,” said Trudeau. 

“There’s always been a bit of a confliction for me as a person of faith with the Church but I continue to call myself a Catholic.” 

True North reached out to the Prime Minister’s Office to seek clarification on which of the Catholic Church’s particular positions the prime minister feels a disconnect with but did not receive a response by the deadline.

Since the discovery of remains claimed to have been discovered at a former residential school near Kamloops, British Columbia, renewed interest has been paid to the Catholic Church’s historical involvement in the system. A preliminary report is expected to be delivered on the findings in mid-June. 

Trudeau has made several claims about the Church’s responsibility since the First Nations government of the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc first reported the find. 

“As a Catholic, I am deeply disappointed by the decision that the Catholic Church has taken now and over the past many years,” Trudeau told reporters on Friday in a separate interview.

In response to Trudeau’s statement, Cardinal and Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Toronto Thomas Collins called the prime minister’s statement “unfair.” 

“I think it’s much more helpful, as we’re all working on this long journey of reconciliation to work together, and not to be making these kinds of unfair attacks upon those who are trying their best to bring about and to work with all the Indigenous people for reconciliation” Archbishop Collins said. 

True North also reached out to the Archdiocese of Toronto for a response to Trudeau’s characterization that the Church’s positions don’t line up with his and “many Catholics'” views but did not receive a response by the time this article was published. 

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