According to the Government of Canada, it’s time to mask up again and get a new booster vaccine to protect ourselves against Covid.
Never mind the fact that cases are at an all-time low across Canada and that everyone has moved on with their lives, or the fact that studies show masks are ineffective in preventing virus spread, Canada’s self-important public health bureaucrats are trying their best to convince the population to just trust them – again.
And if you thought that the media had learned their lesson over the past few years as to how to accurately report on public health guidelines and not become propagandists, think again. Because just like Theresa Tam and the rest of the power hungry public health bureaucrats in Canada, the media are back to their old ways as well.
Here we go again…
Watch the latest episode of Ratio’d with Harrison Faulkner.
The Montreal Gazette has announced that its reporters will boycott Meta on Friday, for one day, in protest of the tech company’s decision to remove news content from its social media platforms, Facebook and Instagram.
Meta removed new content in response to the Online News Act, a bill from the Trudeau government which forces Meta and Google to pay news organizations for content posted on their platforms.
The Gazette’s reporters will be joined in their boycott by several other Quebec journalists, as well as by Quebec City Mayor Bruno Marchand and Longueuil Mayor Catherine Fournier.
“Journalists are fighting for their livelihoods in a once profitable industry that is increasingly being strangled by digital behemoths. All of us are standing up for the importance of local news, the bread and butter of a well-informed society and the lifeblood of democracy,” wrote Allison Hanes, journalist for the Montreal Gazette.
“Google and Meta gobble up about 80 per cent of digital ad revenues in Canada, while traditional media are left with crumbs and struggle, shrink, slash their staffs and risk closure.”
The Montreal Gazette worries that if legacy media outlets aren’t compensated for the content that they post freely on Meta’s various platforms, they not only run the risk of closure, but that a sea of misinformation and disinformation will assume their place.
“Meta is implicitly inviting anyone with a half-baked theory to fill the vacuum left by local news with unverified half-truths, baseless assumptions, rampant conjecture — or worse, outright falsehoods. That happened enough as it was before the ban. But now there’s no counterweight to all that poisonous drivel since there are no stories from professional journalists who check the facts, ask the hard questions, follow the evidence, set the record straight, hold the powerful to account, afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.” said Hanes.
“By choking off local news, Meta is not only abdicating responsibility for its outsize influence over society, it’s now actively contributing to making people stupider, keeping us in the dark and denying us credible information that can help make us good citizens in full possession of our rights.”
Hanes thinks this sort of behaviour is indicative of a company which has acted nefariously in the past, addressing Meta’s involvement with the highly controversial political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.
“Bill C-18 may not be perfect. But at least it attempts to level the playing field with rich multinationals benefiting from the efforts of hard-working scribes toiling in contracting newsrooms to produce real journalism — which, besides being a noble endeavour, costs money,” Hanes said.
The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal has overturned the eight-year sentence of a man convicted of drug trafficking and illegal firearms possession under the Good Samaritan Act, marking one of the first decisions of its kind in Canada.
The Good Samaritan Act, which has been in place for six years, protects people from prosecution if they were charged as a result of seeking assistance for someone in need of medical attention and remaining with them at the scene.
That was the case brought before Saskatchewan Court of Appeal Justice Robert Leurer regarding the conviction of Paul Eric Wilson.
On Sept. 10, 2020, Wilson was arrested while driving a car with three other passengers in Vanscoy, Sask., according to court documents obtained by CBC News.
The Warman RCMP were responding to reports of a drug overdose, called in by Wilson himself. Upon arrival, officers detained Wilson and the other passengers to inspect his vehicle.
“Incidental to the arrest for simple possession, the officers searched the truck and several bags were located therein,” said Leurer.
After searching the vehicle RCMP discovered modified firearms and what were presumably parts for firearms and ammunition. They also found bags with scales, baggies and needles, all the paraphernalia of drug trafficking.
Wilson and the two other passengers were charged with firearm offences and drug trafficking. The remaining passenger was the one suspected of having an overdose due to fentanyl had been rushed to hospital and was not arrested.
“As it turned out, Mr. Wilson was not charged with possession of a controlled substance under s. 4(1) of the CDSA, despite that being the offence underlying his initial arrest, nor with any other offences under that Act,” said Leurer.
Wilson and the two other passengers were brought into police cells in Saskatoon after the search.
The Crown argued that the Good Samaritan Act shouldn’t apply in this case because while it does protect people from being charged or convicted, it doesn’t mean police aren’t able to make arrests and search property. The Crown cited the fact that Wilson was never charged with possession of a controlled substance.
Wilson’s defence argued that the search which led to the discovery of the incriminating items and subsequent charges was incidental to the first arrest which was “prohibited.”
“I agree with the Crown that it was proper for the officers to understand that Mr. Wilson was found committing a crime. However, as I will next discuss, I cannot agree with the Crown’s further submission that this nonetheless justified his arrest,” said Leurer.
Leurer made his decision based on the evidence that RCMP had violated two sections of Wilson’s Charter rights; Everyone has the right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure; Everyone has the right not to be arbitrarily detained or imprisoned.
“It should have been obvious to the officers that no lawful purpose would be served by Mr. Wilson’s arrest,” said Leurer.
The decision marks one of the first times in Canada that the Good Samaritan Act has been applied to overturn a conviction, according to Pierre Hawking, legal counsel for the John Howard Society.
“We see this as the court sending a strong message to both police forces about arresting people in these situations and about training officers in those cases,” said Hawkins, who acted as an intervenor in Wilson’s case.
The purpose of the Good Samaritan Act is to incentivize people to call for help even if they are in a legally ambiguous circumstance. In this case, it was likely that Wilson’s call to paramedics saved the life of the person who had overdosed.
“It is likely that [Wilson’s friend] is alive only because one of her companions called 911. In her case, the objective of the Good Samaritan Act was achieved,” said Leurer.
What makes the Good Samaritan Act different from others is that it “relies on trust,” said Hawkins.
“Drug users have to trust that the police aren’t going to arrest them at the scene. They have to trust that the legislation is going to protect them, and so this decision from the court is a strong signal to them that they can trust that protection and they should trust that protection,” he said.
Pierre Poilievre spoke for less than a minute on a Westjet flight full of Conservative convention-goers four days ago, and his critics haven’t let up. Four days later, CTV is trying to solicit interviews with passengers on the flight, Westjet’s flight attendant union has denounced Poilievre and the airline and demanded apologies from both, and Jann Arden has launched a boycott. True North’s Andrew Lawton says this is a taste of what the next election will look like.
Also, a new grassroots organization has formed to tell Canada’s energy story. Jarret Coels of Energy United joins The Andrew Lawton Show.
Plus, Andrew’s chat with Conservative candidate Jamil Jivani from the Conservatives’ Quebec City convention.
Pierre Poilievre’s use of an airplane PA system to address passengers has made the union representing WestJet’s flight attendants really upset.
Plus, the Ford government is ordering the Peel District School Board to stop removing books for “equity.”
And the BC Conservatives now have official party status in the legislature after a second MLA leaves the BC United Caucus to cross the floor to the Conservatives.
Tune into The Daily Brief with Andrew Lawton and Harrison Faulkner!
The CBC now has 144 corporate directors who make salaries of over six-figures annually, not including expenses and bonuses, according to Access to Information records obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter.
There are 45 executive directors in French-language services, 41 in English-language radio and television, 25 in technology and 10 in “legal services.”
The average director is earning $135,388 before expenses and bonuses.
On April 20, 2021, CBC sent a briefing note entitled, Funding Support For The CBC by the Department of Heritage that read, “The COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges of covering it put immense pressure on CBC’s workforce, operations, finances and systems.”
Susan Marjetti, who served as general manager of news at that time said, “extraordinary times require extraordinary measures.”
Although no details were provided, CBC records revealed that it offered up $156.3 million dollars in income raises during the pandemic, according to Access to Information records.
The Conservative party has vowed to defund the CBC.
“I am going to save a billion dollars defunding the CBC,” said Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, in an interview with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
“I think we need a market-driven media that benefits by subscriptions, advertising, sponsorships and donations rather than government subsidies.”
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault has been ordered by a Federal Court judge to unblock Ezra Levant, founder of Rebel News, from his X account, according to CBC News.
Under the terms of a federal court order, Guilbeault cannot block Levant from his X account (formerly Twitter) for as long as he remains a member of Parliament, ruled Justice Russel Zinn.
“It might sound like a small thing, but if Guilbeault can cut us off from receiving news and other information from the government, what else can he cut off?” wrote Levant on his Rebel News website.
Justice Zinn also ordered the federal government to reimburse Rebel Media’s legal fees, to the tune of $20,000 dollars.
Levant initially filed action against Guilbeault two years ago, alleging that the Liberal minister’s block was in violation of his constitutional rights.
By Guilbeault blocking him from seeing posts on his account, Levant argued, his ability to view and engage with issues of public concern were limited.
On Sept. 7, lawyers in the case agreed to an order acknowledging that Guilbeault and the federal government “do not admit and in fact deny any liability in respect of the allegations made in the application,” however they agreed that Guilbeault must unblock Levant immediately until a time when his account is only for personal use as a private citizen.
The main issue in the case was whether or not Guilbeault’s X account was an official government account or a personal social media account.
Treasury Board Secretariat official Tracey Headley filed an affidavit with the court claiming that Service Canada said Guilbeault’s account was not an official social media account of the Government of Canada.
Levant however, argued that the account operated and looked exactly like an official Government of Canada social media account, claiming that the account’s content was public in nature.
The court concluded that one’s freedom of expression does in fact include the derivative right to access government information in areas that are necessary for meaningful expression.
Posts of Levant calling Guilbeault a “kook,” “thug” and “the stupidest cabinet minister in Ottawa” while he was serving as heritage minister were addressed in court by lawyers, however Levant alleged that Guilbeault had the option to mute him, instead of blocking his account entirely.
Michael Geist, a law professor at the University of Ottawa said that although Justice Ziinn’s order does not affirm a constitutional right, it does send a strong message about the state of the law.
“We do know that government officials are using these platforms all the time for what are official statements and basically the business of government, and that should be accessible to anyone,” said Geist. “It shouldn’t be open to a minister or their staff to decide who has access to publicly available information on a particular platform.”
“I understand that there is abuse online that no one, minister or otherwise, should have to face,” he continued, but since X does offer a mute option, Geist added, “I think it becomes harder and harder to justify outright blocking of individuals.”
The Treasury Board Secretariat and Guilebault’s office have not yet commented on the order.
Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) trustee Donna Dickson is slamming her board for not holding fellow trustee Nili Kaplan-Myrth accountable for what Dickson sees as bullying.
Dickson says Kaplan-Myrth should resign.
Earlier this week, the board held a special meeting to discuss a code of conduct complaint Dickson filed against Kaplan-Myrth over a series of texts she sent to convince Dickson to support her mask mandate motion last year.
In the texts, Kaplan-Myrth tells Dickson, who is black, that she would be siding with white supremacists were she to vote against mandating masks.
To persuade trustee Donna Dickson (who is black) to vote for the mask mandate last year, Nili Kaplan-Myrth allegedly told her that those opposed to it included white supremacists, and hence she should abstain. She followed up by saying “don’t talk to me about equity then.” https://t.co/jTROrvKQa6pic.twitter.com/HupXjibCTR
After a tense meeting during which Kaplan-Myrth angrily interrupted others, seven voted in favour of declaring a code of conduct breach, zero voted against and four abstained. However, eight votes (a two-thirds majority) were needed to declare a breach.
In an exclusive interview with True North, Dickson shared her disappointment with the board – noting that the decision sends a bad message.
“We have four trustees that know the truth and choose to turn a blind eye,” she said.
“We suspend students for bullying, and yet, they’re okay with a trustee bullying. What message are we really sending to our students?… that you can get bullied and you have no right, even though you might be right.”
Amid facing accusations of wrongdoing, Kaplan-Myrth said the latter was politically motivated and came amid her receiving antisemitic hate.
"You have been out to get me from day one!" Nili Kaplan-Myrth angrily interrupts trustee Donna Blackburn, resulting in the chair having to call a recess. pic.twitter.com/n39aohmWeh
“In the face of antisemitism, disinformation, and a campaign by the far-right to see my head roll… I’m on trial with OCDSB,” wrote Kaplan Myrth on X. “The Ottawa public school (board) unfortunately has a toxic pattern of conservative trustees abusing its ‘code of conduct’ process to try to silence progressives. I was warned ahead of time. I’m the 2023 target.”
Dickson said she condemns any hate received by Kaplan-Myrth, but noted that the latter does not justify her intimidating behaviour.
“If you’re the victim on social media, who gives you the right to come and victimize another person, right? If anything, you should have more empathy and understanding.”
“(Nili says) ‘I’m a Jewish woman that’s being prosecuted, I’m getting hate mail’. You know, I get it, but does that give you the right to talk to people the way you want and use that as the reason for talking like that? Can any of us actually go in public and start yelling and then use that?”
“We call them the Karens of the world.”
Dickson believes it would be best if Kaplan-Myrth resigned from her position.
“Her behavior towards the board, towards the public, towards the speakers that we’ve had, when she does not agree with what they have to say, her disrespect, is beyond what it is to be a politician.”
“You can’t do board business, right?”
“She needs to check her own words. If she’s doing that to a minority trustee… as a doctor, what is she doing to her own patients?”
Dickson also criticized the board’s chair, Lyra Evans, for her handling of the process.
“The administration, the director, and Lyra chose not to follow through,” she alleged after she made the complaint. “I had to hound and hound.”
“We need a chair… that will sit there and do their job, so we don’t have the Nilis within the board trying to push other agendas all the time.”
“And all those people that want to support (Nili), power to you. But let’s be real, that means you condone racism, you condone bullying.”
In response to the ordeal, Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce told CTV News “we share the concerns of many parents troubled by the behaviour at, and leading up to, last night’s board meeting.”
“Our government urges the board to focus on the academic achievement of students and get back to basics of what matters most: reading, writing and math.”
“In one of Ontario’s largest school boards, time and resources should be focused on student achievement and wellbeing, not on debates stemming from actions that undermine public confidence.”
Local PC MPPs also criticized the move, including Nepean MPP Lisa MacLeod, who accused some of the trustees of being “so woke that they’re asleep at the switch when it comes to doing the basics of their job.”
NEW: Nepean PC MPP calls out some of the OCDSB trustees for being “so woke that they’re asleep at the switch when it comes to doing the basics of their job.” #OntEdpic.twitter.com/PFpnffnl2I
Dickson told True North “I’m not here to fight with Nili. I’m here for the students, to give them a better space.” However, she is not optimistic that things will get better for the board anytime soon.
Kaplan-Myrth and Evans did not respond to a request for comment from True North.
A Red Deer, Alta. school board trustee says she wasn’t comparing LGBT activists to Nazis in a social media post that got her condemned by her own school board, but rather was making a point about “indoctrination.”
Monique LaGrange, a first time school board trustee for Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools, uploaded to Instagram an archival photo of German children waving the Nazi flag juxtaposed with a contemporary picture of children waving the Pride Progress flag. The post had the caption “brainwashing is brainwashing.”
In an exclusive interview with True North, Lagrange says that she uploaded the picture to social media because she thought the picture was a “great representation of what is happening within our culture and within our schools.”
“The intention was to and always is to bring awareness to protecting the kids. This is why I stepped up, it’s about protecting the kids from agendas that are not healthy. This is something that shouldn’t be in the schools. This should be between kids and their parents.”
Hours after posting the picture, Lagrange said the then-chair of the school board asked her to take it down.
The post drew the attention of the rest of the Red Deer school board, as well as the Alberta Catholic School Trustees’ Association (ACSTA), on which she sat as a director representing Red Deer.
LaGrange was stripped of her position as a director on the ACSTA and was condemned by the ACSTA’s president Harry Salm.
“Our Catholic schools love all students as gifts from God made in His image, irrespective of their sexual orientation and gender expression,” wrote Salm in a statement.
“Removing a representative from our board is not a decision we take lightly, and Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools is invited to select a replacement Director to represent them. Given the manner in which the previous Director’s post has the potential to undermine the charitable learning environment offered by Alberta’s Catholic school system, we consider this to be the most appropriate response.”
Statement from President Harry Salm on behalf of the ACSTA Board of Directors regarding Trustee Monique LaGrange. #abedpic.twitter.com/rHEA8zkUn1
Despite being reprimanded, LaGrange defended uploading the post.
“No, I don’t regret posting it at all. People need to learn,” she said. “This is not about comparing one community to another or saying they’re Nazis, or anything to do with that; this is about indoctrination,” said Lagrange.
Alberta Teachers Association president Jason Schilling condemned LaGrange’s post, calling it “repugnant” and a “form of repression.”
“Not only does it serve to undermine the atrocities of the Nazi regime, but it also acts as a form of oppression to entice further hatred toward members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community,” said Schilling.
“So to see this posting by Ms. LaGrange that is repugnant, vile [and] hate-filled really undermines that safe space that we try very hard to create at schools.”
LaGrange responded by saying Schilling “doesn’t understand history.”
“Obviously he doesn’t understand what has taken place, but that’s okay like he’s obviously still asleep which most people are,” she said.
“I think he doesn’t understand that we’re here to protect our children, I’m here to protect the children and that’s what this is about.”
LaGrange said she has received a lot of negative pushback to her post, especially with early news reporters about it, but that she has already received an outpouring from “hundreds” of people who agree with her message.
The Peel District School Board (PDSB) has been ordered to stop removing books from their school libraries after its equity-based book selection process left the shelves nearly bare.
Students and parents became concerned as they noticed the books on their school library shelves were thinning dramatically, all in response to a provincial directive from the Minister of Education, according to CBC News.
Among some of the notable titles deemed not equitable enough for students are The Diary of Anne Frank, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.
Reina Takata, a 10th grade student at a public school in Mississauga, told CBC in an interview that her school library was full of books last May, but they began to slowly disappear.
“This year, I came into my school library and there are rows and rows of empty shelves with absolutely no books,” said Takata, estimating that only about half the books are left on the shelves now.
Students at Takata’s school were informed by staff that “if the shelves look emptier right now it’s because we have to remove all books [published] prior to 2008.”
While the process of libraries weeding out old books due to mold and torn pages is an old practice, removing books published before the year 2008 is not.
The Peel School Board however, felt it necessary in order to ensure its library books were more inclusive and up to date.
Takata was worried books about Japanese internment camps would be removed for their publication date, erasing a part of history and her heritage.
“I think that authors who wrote about Japanese internment camps are going to be erased and the entire events that went on historically for Japanese Canadians are going to be removed,” said Takata. “That worries me a lot.”
Concerned parents, retired teachers and other Peel community members organized a group called Libraries not Landfills, and they share Takata’s concerns. They are also worried about how subject criteria would be interpreted from school to school.
“Who’s the arbiter of what’s the right material to go in the library, and who’s the arbiter of what’s wrong in our libraries? That’s unclear,” said Tom Ellard, founder of Libraries not Landfills.
“It’s not clear to the teachers who’ve provided us this material, and it’s not clear to me as a parent or as a taxpayer.” he said.
The school board released a written statement in response to the criticism from students and parents, writing, “The Peel District School Board works to ensure that the books available in our school libraries are culturally responsive, relevant, inclusive, and reflective of the diversity of our school communities and the broader society.”
The school board was following guidelines documented in Directive 18 from the Minister of Education’s “equitable curation cycle,” which instructs boards to complete a diversity audit of schools, including library books.
Directive 18 came into place after the PDSB was accused of systemic discrimination and anti-Black racism in a review commissioned by the province in February 2020.
This prompted Education Minister Stephen Lecce to issue a directive ordering the school board to reexamine its policy.
“The Board shall evaluate books, media and all other resources currently in use for teaching and learning English, History and Social Sciences for the purpose of utilizing resources that are inclusive and culturally responsive, relevant and reflective of students, and the Board’s broader school communities,” read the directive.
The libraries must curate their books for an anti-racist and inclusive audit, where books are qualified by “resources that promote anti-racism, cultural responsiveness and inclusivity.”
After an uproar from community members the Ford government has ordered that this practice be stopped.
Unfortunately, thousands of books have already been shipped off to landfills because the directive did not allow for the books to be donated.
In 2019, a similar act of censorship took place when French school board Conseil scolaire catholique Providence burned 30 books during a “flame purification” ceremony in Southwestern Ontario, according to the Toronto Sun.
The ceremony was an act of reconciliation with the Indigenous community where the book’s ashes were then used to plant trees.
Lecce has since written to the PDSB, telling them to stop this process for weeding out old books from their libraries.
“Ontario is committed to ensuring that the addition of new books better reflects the rich diversity of our communities. It is offensive, illogical and counterintuitive to remove books from years past that educate students on Canada’s history, anti-Semitism or celebrated literary classics,” wrote Lecce in a statement to the Toronto Sun.
