Google announced that it’s blocking Canadian news links across its platforms as the fallout from Bill C-18 continues.
The company claims the Trudeau government hasn’t given it reason to believe the regulatory process will improve, which it said sparked the move Thursday afternoon.
“As a result, we have informed the government that we have made the difficult decision that when the law takes effect we will be removing links to Canadian news from our Search, News, and Discover products and will no longer be able to operate Google News Showcase in Canada,” Kent Walker, Google & Alphabet’s president of global affairs, said in a company blog post.
Bill C-18, the Online News Act, would require big tech platforms like Google and Meta to pay news publishers to post their links should either company profit from doing so.
But Walker says that the legislation isn’t fair since other companies post news links free of charge and that it would cause uncertainty for the companies’ products.
Walked added that C-18 “exposes us to uncapped financial liability simply for facilitating Canadians’ access to news from Canadian publishers.”
Google has been threatening for over a year to pull Canadian content from its platforms if it could not agree to more favourable terms with the federal government.
The company says it already supports Canadian journalism through programs and partnerships, and Walker’s blog post said it was prepared to do more.
Through its Google News Showcase program, the company negotiated agreements spanning 150 news media organizations across the country.
“Last year alone, we linked to Canadian news publications more than 3.6 billion times—at no charge—helping publishers make money through ads and new subscriptions,” Walker wrote.
“This referral traffic from links has been valued at $250 million CAD annually. We’re willing to do more; we just can’t do it in a way that breaks the way that the web and search engines are designed to work, and that creates untenable product and financial uncertainty.”
The government hasn’t responded to news Google is scuttling Canadian content across its platforms.
However, earlier this week, Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez said the government will support newsrooms if tech giants go forward with blocking Canadian news.
“We have to make sure that newsrooms are open, that (journalists) are able to do their job and (they) have the resources necessary,” Rodriguez said.
Meta has also stated that it is not in negotiations with the government and that it will also block Canadian news content from its platforms.
On this special episode of the Alberta Roundup, Rachel Emmanuel interviews Sheila Annette Lewis — a Canadian woman who’s been denied an organ transplant because she refused the Covid-19 vaccine. An Alberta appeal court has said it is a virtually certainty Lewis will die without the transplant.
Lewis has recently been given a new hope by an American hospital which has agreed to give her the transplant if testing reveals her body is still healthy enough. But, she’ll need to fundraise $600,000 USD for the surgery. She’s currently crowdfunding through GiveSendGo.
Lewis expresses frustration that the details of her case have been hidden under a publication ban, but also explains why she keeps fighting against all odds.Tune into the Alberta Roundup now!
Waterloo Regional Police (WRP) have charged a 24-year-old international student with multiple offences after he allegedly stabbed three people in a gender-studies class at the University of Waterloo on June 28, 2023.
The suspect, identified as Geovanny Villalba-Aleman, was arrested at the scene and appeared in court for a bail hearing on June 29, 2023.
He is facing three counts of aggravated assault, four counts of assault with a weapon, two counts of possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, and one count of mischief under $5,000.
Police say that the incident was hate-motivated.
“The accused targeted a gender-studies class and investigators believe this was a hate-motivated incident related to gender expression and gender identity,” wrote the Waterloo Regional Police.
Chief of Police, Mark Crowell, will provide an update on the investigation into the multiple stabbing incident that took place at the University of Waterloo on June 28.
Location: WRPS Headquarters Date: June 29, 2023 Time: 2 p.m.
— Waterloo Regional Police (@WRPSToday) June 29, 2023
The class had about 40 students at the time of the attack.
The victims include a 38-year-old professor, and two students, a 20-year-old woman and a 19-year-old man, both from Waterloo.
They suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries and were taken to hospital for treatment.
Police are continuing to investigate the incident with the help of various units, including the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Unit.
They will hold a press conference at police headquarters in Cambridge at 2 p.m. to provide more details.
The University of Waterloo has issued a statement condemning the attack and offering support to the affected students and staff.
“The attack happened in a classroom during a lecture for Philosophy 202 – Gender Studies. Many news outlets and social media sources will share information on the events of Wednesday,” wrote Vice-president Academic and Provost, James W.E Rush.
“I acknowledge that many people will speculate about the motivation for this attack; we must be patient and have confidence in the judicial process.”
The WRP statement also urges anyone who witnessed the incident or has information to contact police or Crime Stoppers.
A public opinion tracking survey commissioned by Global Affairs Canada revealed fewer than half of Canadians think taxpayer money should fund international aid.
Plus, is that a dead crow? The National Capital Commission’s new public art installation is being roasted by Canadians on social media – with many calling it ugly and comparing it to trash.
And ignoring fierce opposition from teachers, parents – and even pupils – British Columbia’s NDP government is abolishing letter grades for all public school students except those in grades 10 to 12.
Tune into The Daily Brief with Rachel Emmanuel and Lindsay Shepherd!
The Assembly of First Nations (AFN)is Canada’s largest and most influential lobby group representing Treaty Indians.
I can’t say I have much use for RoseAnne Archibald, the first female AFN national chief, who again accused her regional chiefs of hypocrisy as they recommend her removal for the second time in a year.
My negative feelings about Archibald are not because of her election on July 8, 2021, after a fifth round of voting with only 50% of ballots cast, an outcome some insiders felt was illegitimate because the AFN charter requires that a national chief be elected with 60% of the vote.
Nor are they grounded in the charges of AFN workplace harassment or other irregularities, which were even preceded by a report dated May 3, 2021 by an independent investigator into bullying and harassment against Archibald when she was Ontario regional chief that involved 10 complaints. Only seven of the complainants agreed to be interviewed and the issue hit dead end after the complainants refused to file formal claims because they said they feared workplace retribution. Although Archibald was not interviewed, the investigator reported that each of the seven complainants was credible and had well-founded concerns about pursuing their complaints further.
As for the first set of AFN charges, they involved bullying and harassment allegations from four of her staff members filed under the organization’s whistleblower policy. A fifth complaint by the former CEO followed sometime later.
In a statement issued June 16, 2022, the AFN confirmed it received the complaints the month before against Archibald and determined the findings supported further inquiry by an external investigator.
In her own statement released the same day, Archibald said she welcomed the investigation while calling for a forensic audit and independent inquiry into the last eight years of AFN operations.
The AFN executive committee and its national board of directors nevertheless voted to temporarily suspend her at full pay the very next day, pending the outcome of the investigation by an external investigator.
Archibald was reinstated on July 5, 2022 at an AFN General Assembly, when the Indian Bands-in-Assembly, the organization’s grassroots ruling body, roundly rejected a resolution calling for her suspension with only 44 voting in support, 252 voting against, and 26 abstentions.
The current call for her removal immediately followed the release of the investigator’s report on April 28. The resolution to remove her stated the investigation found Archibald had breached the AFN’s harassment and whistleblower policy, along with its code of conduct and ethics.
Archibald responded that “The AFN executive committee is out of line and their motion is completely unnecessary as 75% of First Nations-in-Assembly overwhelmingly endorsed [on July 5, 2022] my leadership and approach to create more transparency and accountability at the AFN.”
To her early charges against the AFN establishment, Archibald added the claim of misogyny — the hatred, distrust, marginalization, exploitation or discrimination of women — an accusation with surface credibility given its systemic occurrence among aboriginal peoples.
This misogyny goes back to ancient times, and became more intense on the Plains with the domestication of wild horses following their importation by the first Europeans conquerors, a process that enhanced the economic and political roles of men. Further east, the development of the fur trade had the same effect.
Its most conspicuous current sign is disproportionate violence — including the heinous crime of murder — against indigenous females by indigenous males.
The 11-member AFN executive committee — consisting of the national chief and regional chiefs — met on June 14 to set the agenda for this week’s closed-door assembly concerning the results of the investigation into Archibald’s conduct.
Saying that the meeting did not go well is an understatement with shouted charges and counter-charges flying back and forth between the national chief and the regional ones.
The chiefs-in-assembly met on June 28 to once more address Archibald’s fate in a one-day online Zoom gathering.
Neither the complainants nor the public were permitted to attend Wednesday’s meeting though the AFN granted CBC News access under embargo until it concluded.
Proceedings began with a briefing by Ottawa-based employment lawyer Raquel Chisholm, from the firm Emond Harnden, whose summary of the investigation, released last month, found Archibald harassed two complainants and retaliated against all five.
Archibald then released her own counter-report, disputing the findings.
“I have not been weakened from the attacks,” Archibald told the delegates. “I have been made stronger and better.”
With her political career hanging in the balance, Archibald gave an impassioned speech, arguing the AFN would set a dangerous precedent by firing its first female national chief over what her lawyer called “minor breaches” of human resources policies.
“Many women are watching,” she said. “What’s happening to me would never happen to a male chief. It would never happen to any of my predecessors.”
The non-confidence motion to oust Archibald as national chief needed 60% support from Band leaders in attendance to pass. It eventually secured 71%, or 163 of the 231 votes cast.
While Archibald has cleverly tried to conflate the issue of a hostile workplace with entrenched AFN rot and corruption, the two sets of issues need to be separated even though it may be credible to opine that the harassment occurred because Archibald was determined to root out several possibly intertwined AFN problems such as incompetent administration, worker apathy and poor job performance, inflated salaries, wasteful spending, political patronage, exorbitant payout demands, unaccountability and a lack of transparency, untendered contracts, and related issues.
Exposing these shortcomings and suggesting that hundreds of employees should be dismissed, including dissolving the AFN secretariat — the administrative and operational arm of the organization, which employs about 200 people – must have rocked the glad-handing AFN male-dominated establishment to the core.
But my real concern is not about an organization that has long been regarded with cynical dismissal even by ordinary indigenous people but about national leaders such as the current one propagating outright falsehood about aboriginal issues.
In an interview with Stephen Sackur on BBC’s HardTalk on August 4, 2021, Archibald claimed that the bodies of 1,600 murdered Indian Residential School children had been ‘recovered so far’:
Stephen Sackur: Yeah, but to be clear, RoseAnne, sorry to interrupt, this is very important, that they were not deliberately exterminating First Nations children over the course of a century and a half, were they, this wasn’t designed to kill?
RoseAnne Archibald: Oh, it was designed to kill, and we’re seeing proof of that, ,1600 little children, little ones, innocent children, have been recovered so far. By the time that this process is done, we’ve, we’ve only, we’re only talking about eight of these institutions so far. There were 139 recognized institutions across Canada. There were a total of 1300 institutions in total, so we’re gonna be into the thousands upon ten thousands of children found. I am not sure how you can say that that’s not intentional, and that the recovery of so many little children doesn’t signify what it is, which is genocide. The U.N. calls it genocide. We call it genocide.
It seems the Canadian government didn’t get the memo. Despite Chief Archibald’s confident assertion to Sackur, the government has been completely silent on the alleged recovery of the bodies of 1,600 murdered children.
Ditto for the media. No media outlet in Canada, not even the CBC, has reported the discovery in Canada of the bodies of 1,600 murdered children.
On 25 April 2022, Chief Archibald announced at a UN conference that she was sending a letter to the UN Commissioner for Human Rights.
Did that letter allege that the bodies of 1,600 murdered children had been recovered in Canada? Canadians are not allowed to know, because Chief Archibald has kept that letter secret.
Archibald accusations of corruption, secrecy, unaccountability, even hypocrisy, at the AFN apply to her as well.
The next chief, male or female, is bound to continue these reprehensible practices.
The National Capital Commission (NCC) spent $14,000 on a controversial new public art installation featuring a dead crow made from recycled tires, True North has learned.
NEW: An @NCC_CCN spokesperson tells me their new public art installation along the LeBreton Flats pathway – which is a dead crow made from rubber tires – costed $14,022. The modern sculpture has been subject of harsh criticism on social media. https://t.co/1ZRVBl1pn1pic.twitter.com/OyqKAjGHBe
In a statement, NCC senior manager of strategic communications Valerie Dufour said the When the Rubber Meets the Road sculpture “is being rented by the National Capital Commission from the original artist, Gerald Beaulieu, for a period of one year at a cost of $14,022.”
The NCC’s initiative drew scathing remarks on social media for its garish aesthetic.
“Looks like a dead bird or someone left a garbage bag on the curb. I know this route quite well and this area is screaming for better lighting in the dark. Definitely not this,” said True North’s Rupa Subramanya.
Looks like a dead bird or someone left a garbage bag on the curb. I know this route quite well and this area is screaming for better lighting in the dark. Definitely not this! https://t.co/RIV0qJsOUA
Please tell me the art is a thought provoking poem on the blue sign and not the dead crow/tire fire fusion thing in the foreground. https://t.co/8wxZDOtxFW
Public art is great, cities always need more of it!
But a statute of a pile of tires that looks like a cross between a dead bird and trash someone forgot to clean up, not so much. https://t.co/zWAR0NbOQl
Dufour defended the art installation, and said the cost is aligned with rates recommended by CARFAC (Canadian Artists’ Representation/Le Front des artistes canadiens) for fair compensation of artists. The agreement includes shipment, installation, and insurance for the artwork.
She added that the art aligns with LeBreton Flats’ focus on sustainability.
“This particular artwork was selected for temporary display at LeBreton Flats due to the connections that can be drawn between the piece and the Building LeBreton project,” Dufour said. “The sculpture is made entirely of recycled tires, symbolic of the debris that can be found in the former landfill at LeBreton Flats. The piece also responds to the plan’s guiding principles of Foster Sustainability by re-using materials, and Value Nature through the artwork’s message regarding human impact on wildlife.”
Dufour says Heritage Canada helped facilitate the project by connecting the NCC with suitable options drawn from previous public art selection processes. The dead crow sculpture “was submitted by the artist in 2018 as part of a juried evaluation of existing artworks for temporary display in federally managed locations in Canada’s Capital region.”
Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation Federal Director Franco Terrazzano criticized the NCC in a statement to True North, saying “the NCC once again proves that it is only competent at wasting taxpayers’ money.”
“People are barely scraping by and the NCC thinks it’s a good idea to spend tax dollars on a bunch of tires on the side of the road? The NCC has no sense of priorities.”
The NCC also responded to criticism on Twitter, writing, “glad everyone loves the new art. Now that we have your attention, this piece has quite a profound message. The artwork invites us to reflect on how we impact our environment and the creatures that inhabit our shared spaces.
This large crow lies flat on the ground in a way that resembles roadkill, symbolizing the collision between human and natural worlds.
The crow is made from old tires, which refer to the harm caused by our commuter culture as well as the crow's role as a scavenger of urban waste. pic.twitter.com/Qko5mortBn
— National Capital Commission (@NCC_CCN) June 28, 2023
“This large crow lies flat on the ground in a way that resembles roadkill, symbolizing the collision between human and natural worlds.”
The NCC says on its website that it works every day “to build an inspiring capital that is a source of pride for all Canadians.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is being slammed for his decision to condemn New Brunswick requiring schools to inform parents that their children are transitioning genders and being accused of playing politics in light of his government’s position on other provincial matters like Quebec’s anti-religious freedom Bill 21.
The Prime Minister has opted to label parents concerned with gender ideology in schools as “far-right political actors … trying to outdo themselves with the types of cruelty and isolation they can inflict on these already vulnerable people.”
Trudeau isn’t the only Liberal to step into the debate.
Recently, Minister of Labour Seamus O’Regan blasted Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre for telling Trudeau to “butt out” of what is a matter of provincial jurisdiction.
In a rebuttal to Poilievre, O’Regan claimed that “not all parents are accepting” of their children.
Guys like Pierre Poilievre talk a good game about freedom.
But not all kids are free to be themselves at home.
Not all parents are accepting. Not all homes are safe. Schools can be. Schools should be.https://t.co/7awFKObN4y
However, a poll by SecondStreet.org shows that Canadians overwhelmingly side with New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs when it comes to requiring educators to inform parents on gender transitions and pronoun use at schools.
The Leger survey commissioned by the think tank found that 57% of Canadians agreed with informing parents while only 18% disagreed.
Higgs has even been willing to hang his political future on this issue by raising the possibility of an early election – and public opinion looks increasingly on his side.
“It’s very strange to suggest that because a couple parents may harm their children that schools should therefore keep all parents in the dark. Don’t forget, if schools suspect a parent is abusive, they are already required to report the matter to child welfare agencies,” said SecondStreet.org President Colin Craig in response to O’Regan.
“It’s incredibly cruel to children to keep their parents in the dark. How can parents help their kids through a difficult time if schools don’t tell them what’s going on? What a nasty little game to play on kids.”
According to Craig, Trudeau is picking and choosing what political battles to wage and in comparison to the Liberal government’s muddled response to Quebec’s Bill 21 which would ban religious symbols in public institutions, there’s a level of inconsistency.
“The disconnect between how we see Ottawa treat Quebec versus how it treats other provinces likely boils down to politics. I suspect the Prime Minister’s tone on this issue may change once he realizes most Canadians feel the same way as New Brunswick’s government. Go figure, parents want to know what their kids are up to in schools,” said Craig.
Religious freedom advocates have called on the federal government to intervene on Bill 21, but so far, Trudeau has dashed their hopes of any action from Ottawa.
Although Trudeau has said that he disagrees with the law, he has claimed that he doesn’t want to pick a fight with the province and that the matter should be left up to Quebeckers.
“I think that it’s important, in the first stages of the work that’s being done right now, to not give the excuse of a fight between Ottawa and Quebec,” said Trudeau.
While Poilievre has expressed opposition to the secularism law, he has also stopped short of pledging any heavy handed intervention on the matter if elected Prime Minister.
According to the non-partisan think tank Cardus’ Executive Vice President Ray Pennings, Trudeau’s comments on both Quebec’s Bill 21 and New Brunswick’s education changes ispolitical commentary that betrays a “shallow and narrow” understanding of both issues.
“The federal government hasn’t actually intervened in either issue,” said Pennings.
“Sadly, in both cases, the federal government has expressed a shallow and narrow understanding of religious freedom, which is a fundamental freedom. Without it, our other freedoms whither. At its heart, religious freedom is about the freedom to live a public faith. To force people to privatize their faith in order to advance secularism, or any other system of belief, undermines genuine pluralism.”
On the New Brunswick debate, Pennings pointed to Canada being a signatory to the United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which includes a pledge that public schools “ensure the religious and moral education of their children in conformity with their own convictions.”
“It is unclear whether this will become a ballot issue—and if it does, the results will be unpredictable. However, in a pluralistic society like ours, where different religions, anthropologies, moral, and cultural values co-exist, public discussions need to respectfully engage with difference,” said Pennings.
“Politics isn’t going to eliminate these differences, and those who try to use politics to impose their own arguments and marginalise their opponents set the agenda backwards for all sides. Being forced or silenced isn’t the same as being convinced.”
The Alberta government is vowing to do more to crack down on drug trafficking as drug poisoning deaths spike.
Provincial data from April reveals 179 people died from drug poisoning, up from 45% in April 2022, and marking the deadliest month on record.
Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis said criminal entities across Canada have been increasing their capacity to produce and traffic deadly and dangerous drugs over the past decade, leading to a tragic loss of life.
“The criminal actions of drug traffickers are abhorrent and will not be tolerated by Alberta’s government,” he said in a statement. “We must have zero tolerance for the manufacturing, trafficking and dealing of these deadly and dangerous drugs.”
The development comes amid a renewed push on the United Conservative Party’s recovery-oriented system of care after they formed a majority government for the second time last month.
Mental Health and Addiction Minister Dan Williams said Tuesday that his government has funded services such as naloxone distribution, sterile supplies and drug consumption sites. He also said his government is constructing 11 new recovery communities across the province, including those in partnership with First Nations.
But, Williams urged that it’s clear from the data that more needs to be done to address the addiction crisis.
“Investing in recovery is not a choice that we make, but it is our moral obligation to allow for better futures for those suffering today,” he said in a statement.
During the election campaign, the UCP also announced it would pass legislation to force addicts who are a danger to themselves or others into treatment if re-elected.
The Compassionate Intervention Act would be the first involuntary treatment law in Canada to specifically target addiction. It’s unclear when the province plans to introduce such legislation.
Smith said all the premiers have some programs in place to address addiction and mental health treatment.
“In Alberta, we’ve got a recovery-oriented system of care that forms the basis for how we address mental health and addiction issues,” she said at the western premiers meeting in Whistler, BC on Tuesday.
“But each of the premiers knows that there are two sides to this. Those who are the victims of the disease and the victims of those peddling these poisonous opioids, and those who are on the crime side (of it),” she said.
Ignoring fierce opposition from teachers, parents – and even pupils – British Columbia’s NDP government is abolishing letter grades for all public school students except those in grades 10 to 12.
The government chose to forge ahead despite hosting consultations during which opposition to the letter-grade abolition was fierce.
In lieu of grading with letters A through F, a proficiency scale will assess students as “emerging,” “developing,” “proficient,” or “extending.” The policy will also introduce a new standard by which students can assess themselves.
As reported by The Canadian Press, a 2021 report for the Education Ministry which surveyed over 4000 people found the vast majority disagreed with the policy.
Sixty-nine percent of respondents said they were dissatisfied with the new policy, including 77% of teachers and 68% of students, while only 13% were satisfied.
When asked specifically about the proficiency scale, more than half of teachers objected to it, as did 60% of parents and caregivers, and 83% of students.
However, 60% of school administrators reported high satisfaction with the scale.
“I feel like I have had a hard time transferring between the two due to how vague the proficiency scale is,” Seventh-grader Keon Shahbaz toldGlobal News. “It seems subjective, the criteria are unclear (and) I feel like it’s been messing me up.
“I found it much easier to distinguish myself from my weaknesses in a classroom where letter grades are reported to you.”
The boy’s mother, Mahta Boozari, said that she was “very upset, concerned and also frustrated,” with the move to replace grading with a proficiency scale.
“The system does not allow for a child’s talent to be recognized. The way it’s designed puts all kids in the middle,” she said.
In addition to criticism from the community, the B.C. NDP’s new policy was criticized by John Rustad, leader of the provincial Conservative Party.
“BC parents and teachers agree, this is absurd,” said Rustad. “The Conservative Party of British Columbia will fight to bring back letter grades in schools. Enough with the woke nonsense in schools, it’s time to bring back common sense and get back to basics.”
BC parents and teachers agree — this is absurd.
The Conservative Party of British Columbia will fight to bring back letter grades in schools.
Enough with the woke nonsense in schools — it's time to bring back common sense and get back to basics. #bcpolihttps://t.co/nrXJVmtw8Q
B.C. United MLA Elenore Sturko cautioned that the provincial government shouldn’t ignore parental concerns.
“As B.C. schools end letter grades for K-Grade 9, the NDP must listen to growing concerns from parents,” Sturko wrote on Twitter. “With literacy and numeracy outcomes declining, the NDP should focus on ensuring (the B.C. education) system works in the best interest of student outcomes.”
Rachna Singh, Minister of Education and Child Care, defended the proficiency scale in a statement to The Canadian Press.
“The new scale will give deeper insight into children’s learning and development in a range of skills required in post-secondary and their careers of choice,” she said.
“Students in Grades 10 through 12 will continue to receive letter grades and percentages, with support and feedback to help them transition toward post-secondary or the workforce.”
Singh also said last week that the new system had been tested and adopted by half of B.C.’s school districts. Her office noted that it had consulted parents, teachers and students “to strengthen the policy development and gradual implementation of the proficiency scale.”
In an op-ed for The Epoch Times, Fraser Institute Senior Fellow Michael Zwaagstra criticized the move away from standard letter grades, writing, “marks and grades still matter in school because they provide important feedback to students.
“There’s a world of a difference between an essay that merits an ‘A’ and one that deserves an ‘F.’ Teachers are not doing students any favours when they shield them from feedback that they merit and deserve.”
He added that disusing letter grades might appear innovative, but it’s nothing more than an old education fad.
“Marks and grades have been around for a long time because they work. Teachers should keep on giving students their grades. The ungrading movement deserves an ‘F.’”
Former ethics commissioner Mario Dion took to social media Tuesday and blasted the Trudeau government for its failure to appoint his replacement after nearly half a year.
Dion presided over the malfeasance investigation concerning Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s relationship with SNC-Lavalin, which determined he’d violated federal law by pressuring former Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould into dropping charges against the firm.
“Dozens of (Order in Council) appointments approved last week. Still nothing for my replacement. Annual reports due by law (at the) end of this week to wait until God knows when. Not a priority obviously,” read Dion’s Twitter post.
In the past week alone, the Liberal government has issued new appointments to a variety of offices including a Federal Pay Equity Commissioner, several judicial appointments by the Ministry of Justice, as well as re-appointments to the Copyright Board of Canada, among others.
Since Dion quit, the office has been vacant for the first time in 15 years.
Dion announced his retirement on Feb. 21 due to “persistent health issues.” This is the first time the former commissioner has addressed the lack of action concerning his former post.
“I have been honoured to serve Parliament and Canadians… and am grateful for the confidence Parliament has placed in me. It is my hope that I have contributed in some measure to transparency and accountability in support of Canadian democracy,” Dion said at the time.
“Those in public office have a sacred duty to always act in the interest of the public they serve.”
Dion’s tenure has resulted in citations against Trudeau and other members of his cabinet, including former finance minister Bill Morneau and Minister of International Trade Mary Ng.
Ng was found guilty of violating federal Conflict of Interest laws by failing to recuse herself from a decision to hire her friend and CBC pundit Amanda Alvaro’s firm Pomp and Circumstance for a lucrative federal contract.
While in charge, Dion changed the rules so that his office is required to conclude ethics investigations within a 12-month period.
