The US has finally announced it will end its vaccine requirement for foreign nationals entering the country as of next week.
Officials said Monday the mandate would end by the end of day on May 11 for international air travellers, federal contractors, and federal employees.
The White House said its vaccine requirements bolstered vaccination across the nation while its “broader vaccination campaign has saved millions of lives.”
“While vaccination remains one of the most important tools in advancing the health and safety of employees and promoting the efficiency of workplaces, we are now in a different phase of our response when these measures are no longer necessary,” a White House statement reads.
It further said the US Department of Health and Human Services and the US Department of Homeland Security will “start the process to end their vaccination requirements for … certain noncitizens at the land border.”
“In the coming days, further details related to ending these requirements will be provided.”
Canada ended its requirement for proof of Covid-19 vaccination for all travellers last October.
Democratic Congressman Brian Higgins, whose district includes a Canada-US border, said the White House confirmed to him that the mandate will be lifted for Canadians crossing at the land border. In a press release, he said three years of barriers to cross-border travel has kept families apart and impeded economic recovery.
“While long overdue, this last lifting of pandemic restrictions is certainly welcome news and critically important as we seek opportunities to encourage a robust cross-border exchange that delivers shared prosperity.”
Ontario trucker Harold Jonker must report to Ottawa next week to face four charges for his participation in the Freedom Convoy, which left Ottawa more than 14 months ago. Jonker, who has been an outspoken advocate for the freedom movement, will be charged with mischief, blocking a highway, and two counts of counselling an “uncommitted indictable offence.” Jonker joins True North’s Andrew Lawton live to discuss the charges, which he’s vowed to fight.
Also, as predicted last week, the federal government has folded and is shelling out millions to bring public sector workers back to work.
Plus, True North Alberta correspondent Rachel Emmanuel joins for an update on Alberta’s 2023 election campaign.
As Toronto’s candidates for mayor cris-cross the city announcing their plans to combat surging crime and make Toronto safer Olivia Chow has yet to announce an anti-crime platform.
Toronto’s crime problem has been front and centre for many Torontonians going into the June 26 election, especially with a spate of violent encounters on public transit.
Former NDP MP Olivia Chow announced her candidacy to become the mayor of Toronto in mid-April with a pledge to “build an affordable, safe, and caring city.” However, the Chow campaign has yet to release a platform detailing Chow’s crime prevention plans.
The Chow campaign did not respond to a request from True North inquiring how Chow would tackle the crime wave in Toronto.
Toronto’s former police chief, Mark Saunders, has centred his campaign’s message around making Toronto safer through programs to make the TTC safer and take action on the revolving door bail system.
Saunders released a plan to make the TTC safer that would place 200 more uniformed officers on TTC services, enforce loitering and other disturbances going unenforced, and install ‘assist buttons’ to identify emerging incidents.
Saunders says he’d urge the federal government to reform the bail process if elected mayor.
Mayoral candidate Anthony Furey, who is currently on leave as True North’s vice-president of editorial and content, said he plans to reverse the trend of declining front-line police officers by hiring more cops.
Furey says that he is the only candidate that “hasn’t at some point thrown the police force under the bus,” pointing to Mark Saunders’ 80% disapproval before his resignation as police chief.
Furey also says that he is the only candidate who plans to phase out drug injection sites, instead replacing them with treatment facilities.
Beaches-East York city councillor Brad Bradford has made multiple announcements about Toronto’s crime problem since announcing his candidacy.
Bradford proposed SafeTTC Now, a four-point plan that would see the city install platform edge doors at subway stations, increase safety patrols across the TTC, bring cell reception to subway stations, and create a mental health resources program.
Bradford also wants to establish a bail compliance unit that would consist of 68 new police officers to monitor offenders who have been released on bail by the courts.
Toronto-St.Paul’s city councillor Josh Matlow proposed a plan to address the “root causes of violence,” which he identifies as poverty, racism, and trauma.
Matlow plans to introduce a Community Health & Safety Fund that would expand mental health crisis teams to de-escalate incidents of violence on the TTC, expand mental health programs, and provide recreational resources for youth.
Matlow plans on funding the program by “stabilizing the annual police budget,” colloquially known as defunding the police.
“We cannot arrest our way out of violence. We can make our community safer by investing in community-level support, which will also improve the efficiency of our police force by letting them focus on what they do best,” says Matlow.
Ontario Liberal MPP and former education minister Mitzie Hunter released a five-point plan that would de-emphasize enforcement by transit officers and instead see a more progressive, hands-off approach to community safety.
Hunter’s plan involves hiring social workers, hiring community ambassadors, installing glass sliding doors on subway platforms, listening to TTC riders and data, and listening to TTC staff and employees.
Former deputy mayor Ana Bailão released her plan for safer subways and safer streets calling for increased staff and security camera coverage across TTC services, cell service in TTC subways, and increased mental health supports.
Bailão says she would also support the federal government reforming the bail system so that “repeat offenders are not constantly in a revolving door between courts and city streets.”
In a crowded field of candidates, recent polls have shown that former NDP MP Olivia Chow is currently leading the pack in voter favourability despite failing to release a crime prevention platform.
A Freedom Convoy trucker has been told to turn himself in to the Ottawa Police Service as he awaits four criminal charges.
Harold Jonker, who runs Jonker Trucking Inc. out of Niagara, Ont., has announced that he’ll turn himself in to the Ottawa police on May 10, where he’ll be fingerprinted and have a court appearance.
He faces one charge of mischief for obstructing property; one count of intimidation by blocking or obstructing highway; and two counts of counsel for an uncommitted, indictable offence.
Jonker said he’s surprised that he’s being charged 15 months after the 2022 Freedom Convoy ended.
“I’m definitely scratching my head like, ‘Why now? Why not a year ago?’” he told True North.
The Freedom Convoy protests emerged in winter 2022 over federal Covid-19 restrictions, including the vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers.
In February 2022, Jonker drove up to Ottawa in his semi, along with 12 other trucks from his company. He was featured prominently in the Freedom Occupation documentary about the protest, which was distributed by True North.
While 90% of his trucking business is from the US, Jonker said he participated in the Convoy because the restrictions were impacting everyone.
“It was never just about the truck drivers to us,” he said, adding that some of his drivers attended the protest despite being vaccinated.
He was first contacted about the charges by the Niagara Regional Police Service and received a bond committing to turn himself in to Ottawa later this month.
In a video posted to YouTube on Monday night, Jonker said it was an “emotional week” as he learned he awaited charges for participating in a “beautiful” event.
He called the charges “confusing,” but added, “I think this is what all the other wonderful leaders of the Convoy were charged with.”
Jonker said he’s hoping to have a Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) represent him for the criminal charges.
He’s already working with a JCCF lawyer after an integrity commissioner rule last summer that he broke the municipal code of conduct for participating in the Convoy when he was a part-time councillor for West Lincoln, a township near Niagara Falls, Ont.
Jonker said no one else he knows from the Convoy has been charged recently. He said others are now wondering if charges will come, but they’re not afraid.
“When you have the truth on your side, it’s not that big of a burden,” he told True North.
In November, the Public Order Emergency Commission, which studied Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s invocation of the never-before-used Emergencies Act to remove protesters from Ottawa, found that Trudeau’s was justified in using the powers.
The commissioner also ruled that Trudeau used inflammatory language and worsened the situation when he said protesters were part of a “fringe minority” with “unacceptable views.”
Alberta’s 31st election campaign officially kicked off with UCP leader Danielle Smith promising a flood of tax relief measures if she is reelected while NDP leader Rachel Notley says she’ll protect Albertans’ pensions and fix the healthcare crisis.
Also, a Federal NDP MP tries to cancel a French-British Columbian historical figure Father Edmond Maillard saying that using his name in the title of a new electoral riding is “unconscionable.”
Next, Danielle Smith is declining to say whether she’ll continue to pursue legal action against CBC News after she demanded the state broadcaster retract a story about her office having contact with Justice officials over charges related to the Coutts border blockade.
Lastly, a new report by the Globe and Mail reignites the story on foreign election interference after revelations show that China’s intelligence targeted Conservative MP Michael Chong for condemning the oppression of Uyghur Muslims.
Tune into The Daily Brief with Rachel Emmanuel and Lindsay Shepherd!
“Being forced to take this into my body by a superior officer was like being raped over a desk at basic training all over again.”
This quote from a female member of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) was provided to the National Citizens’ Inquiry (NCI) at the April 26th hearing by Catherine Christianson, a lawyer representing hundreds of members of CAF in their efforts to obtain justice in their fight against Covid-19 policies.
Some of the CAF members Christianson represents refused the Covid shot and have been released or disciplined; others took the vaccine and are suffering disastrous side effects.
“These are previously healthy men and women, now facing medical emergencies and injuries that have left them disabled for life,” Christianson told the Inquiry.
Post-COVID, trust in the Canadian Armed Forces is so low, "Canada sits defenseless" Catherine Christianson told the National Citizens' Inquiry. @Inquiry_Canadapic.twitter.com/x6ImC3FdML
— Road Warrior News (@RoadWarriorNew1) May 2, 2023
During the pandemic, unvaccinated members of the CAF who did not receive exemptions or accommodations for the Covid-19 vaccine faced serious consequences for their careers.
“Additionally, a Canadian Armed Forces member’s unvaccinated status may have additional consequential career implications, including loss of opportunities contributing to promotion, which are outside of Canadian Armed Forces control,” a Department of National Defence (DND) spokesperson told True North in 2021.
“Examples may include the inability to attend career courses, deployments, domestic and international exercises, and OUTCAN (outside-of-Canada) postings owing to domestic and international travel restrictions and other nations’ entry requirements.”
DND defended the mandate, claiming, “Members of the CAF have a duty to maintain their operational readiness and preserve their ability to serve Canadians at home and support our Allies and partners abroad.”
In addition to the men and women who have left the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) since 2020, morale of the remaining soldiers has been decimated by the leadership’s insistence on compliance with the Covid-19 regime.
“Setting up these men and women to be guinea pigs for an experimental medical treatment, and then hiding the damage from it would be a war crime if it was done to prisoners of war,” pointed out Christianson, who founded the Legal Action Center, through which she currently represents 360 military men and women. “There are thousands more,” she noted.
“The members and veterans who voiced concerns about a mandated COVID-19 vaccination program are an outstanding group of people. They’re highly decorated. They’re exceptionally trained and experienced, and they have a moral code that has withstood the ultimate test of ‘just following orders’ mentality that was supposed to die after World War Two. They are the finest Canada has to offer, and they’ve been sacrificed on a political altar.”
Christianson questions where Canada’s military can recover from the current atmosphere of distrust.
“The chain of command can order troops into situations potentially fatal, or have life changing risks. That is without question,” Christianson explained to Commissioners.
Whether or not soldiers who have been willing to lay down their lives for Canada will continue to wish to serve a chain of command they no longer trust is the fallout from their treatment of members during Covid.
“Documentation shows that military leadership were very aware it could not be done, and no doubt understood the risks of a medical treatment decimating the entire Canadian military if something went wrong,” Catherine Christianson told the National Citizens’ Inquiry.
“When trust is gone, there is no military. Canada sits defenceless.”
The NCI’s purpose is to listen, to learn, and to recommend by asking questions such as: “What went right? What went wrong? How can Canadians and our governments better react to national crises in the future in a manner that balances the interests of all members of our society?”
Testimonials have also been provided to the Inquiry in Truro, Toronto, Winnipeg and Saskatoon, and Red Deer. Examples include funeral directors who refused to keep family members separated from their loved ones despite government limits on attendance; health and safety professionals who watched every rule of workplace safety get decimated by employers; and police officers who refused to implement martial law when politicians called for it.
Further hearings are being scheduled for Victoria, Vancouver, Quebec, and Ottawa. The hearings (from 9 am to 5 pm local time in each city) will be broadcast live on the National Citizens’ Inquiry website.
Alberta chapters of the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) are accusing feminists of “anti-trans rhetoric” over criticism of their sister organization’s decision to invite controversial trans activist Fae Johnstone to lecture women.
As previously reported by True North, the Canadian chapter of the Women’s Rights Network (WRN) called out YWCA Regina after they announced that Johnstone, a biological male who now uses “she/they” pronouns, would give a keynote speech at its Women of Distinction awards.
“Women have had enough of these males identifying as women taking our awards, spaces and opportunities,” said the feminist group.
In a statement, YWCA Calgary said it stood firmly “in solidarity with YWCA National Board Member Fae Johnstone and our sister organization YWCA Regina,” adding that “it takes immense bravery to exist in this world as a trans person in the face of bigotry and hate.”
“We also condemn in the strongest possible terms the vicious and dehumanizing anti-trans rhetoric that has been spewed on social media by so-called ‘feminist’ groups,” added YWCA Calgary. “It is a cruel irony that those who claim to champion women’s rights are the very ones who seek to deny the humanity and dignity of trans women like Fae.”
The same statement critical of feminists was also shared by YWCA Edmonton, which describes itself as “a safe space that welcomes and supports all members of the LGBTQ2S+ community.”
YWCA Regina is also standing by its decision to platform Johnstone, with CEO Melissa Coomber-Bendtsen tellingCBC News that “given the current climate that we’re under, it was so important to have the perspective of trans women be given and be shared with our community and Regina.”
“The truth is that we won’t move forward in the feminist movement, we won’t ever reach gender equity, unless we centre and we focus on the needs of the most marginalized people within that group,” Coomber-Bendtsen added.
In response to the YWCAs defending Johnstone, WRN Canada said, “of course the YWCA stands by Fae. We see how casually (they) dismiss women who fight against males who identify as women in prisons, shelters, bathrooms, sports…(They) have been well trained by the gender activists who deny biology.”
Here we go again! Copy and paste from the March 8th support for the chocolate debacle. https://t.co/z0nUsyCaDN
The WRN also tweeted that the awards night Johnstone is intended to speak at is “an event to celebrate women, adult human females” and that “women have to learn to say No.”
Johnstone has become notorious, for, among other things, being a staunch opponent of feminists who are critical of transgender ideology.
The activist has previously claimed that trans-exclusionary radical feminists (TERFs) are “acting as a smokescreen for far right extremism” and has called for these feminists to be “so vilified” that “they don’t dare speak their views publicly.”
Johnstone has also shared support for biological males being allowed in women’s prisons.
In response to the backlash against the planned keynote, Johnstone accused “Twitter transphobes” of “bullying a feminist organization in Saskatchewan.” Johnstone also shared calls to boycott a Regina small business because its female owner shared opposition to the YWCA’s choice of speaker on Facebook.
Johnstone thanked the YWCAs for their supportive statements. “The far right will zero in on us. They’ll talk about how we’re a threat to women and children. But feminist organizations all across Canada, every major feminist organization in this country, recognizes that there is no gender equity without trans women,” the trans activist told CBC News.
The YWCA is a community organization intended to provide support for women and families through programs such as childcare and housing.
True North reached out to both the YWCA Calgary and YWCA Edmonton for comment, but neither responded in time for publication.
It was inevitable the 120,000 strikers within the largest bargaining unit of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) would vote to consider settlement first chance out of the box.
Not a very large contingent wanted the strike in the first place.
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), its 35,000 members still on the picket line, is not so simple.
Different strokes; different folks.
When PSAC president Chris Aylward said at the outset of the job action almost two weeks ago that his union had an “overwhelming majority” voting for a strike mandate, he wasn’t exactly being honest.
Only a third of the union members actually voted on the strike, but it nonetheless pitched 155,000 onto the picket line which made it the largest strike against a single employer in Canadian history.
Some 42,420 PSAC members voted in the strike vote — 20% of them voting no — which left a “minority” of approximately 34,000 members calling the shots to hit the bricks.
No wonder the Treasury Board’s presentation of a “fair, competitive and reasonable” offer moved the union to consider settlement.
They didn’t want the strike in the first place.
Giving each member a pensionable lump sum of $2,500 for essentially bringing the strike to an end was a nice piece of unexpected news for the strikers because it basically covered the salary lost on the picket line.
The Treasury Board’s settlement offer applies to approximately 120,000 members in the four bargaining groups under its purview. They include strikers in the Program and Administrative Services, Operational Services, Technical Services, and Education and Library Science bargaining groups.
It does not apply to workers with the CRA.
Treasury Board President Mona Fortier told reporters Monday that the government’s commitments to the union on work from home have been made outside of the collective bargaining agreement, meaning it will not open the door to grievances over telework.
PSAC had been seeking a 13.5% wage increase over three years. The still-on-strike union representing CRA workers is seeking a 22.5% increase over three years.
The government said the four-year deal is worth 11.5%, while the union said it is worth 12%, or 12.6%, with compounding.
Both sides said the difference between their numbers relates to whether compounding is considered, as well as the accounting of a 0.5% wage adjustment that applies in the third year of the deal.
PSAC president Aylward was happy with the outcome.
“PSAC members held the line together and secured a fair contract that keeps up with the cost of living, increased protections around remote work, and creates safer, more inclusive workplaces,” he said in a statement.
The agreement must still be ratified by PSAC members.
PSAC’s regional vice president for the national capital region Alex Silas said bargaining came right down to the wire.
“What that means is the workers that are lower in the salary scale that’s a bigger boost for them than what their salary scale is. And through this entire fight we’ve been saying we want a standard for fair wages to keep up with the cost of living that will allow workers in the federal public service to not live paycheque to paycheque,” said Silas.
Treasury Board president Fortier said the agreements came after weeks of “hard work, negotiation and compromise.”
“We are deeply grateful for public servants who work hard across the country to serve Canadians and look forward to welcoming them back,” she said. “These deals are fair, competitive, and reasonable, and bring stability to public servants and Canadians.”
The agreement is retroactive until June 2021 and runs until 2024.
During a recent appearance at a federal committee, British Columbia NDP MP Bonita Zarrillo lobbed negative insinuations about local historical figure Father Edmond Maillard in order to get him cancelled, saying it would be “unconscionable” to include Maillard’s name in the title of a new electoral riding.
Maillardville, a historically French-Canadian neighbourhood in Coquitlam, BC, may be included as part of a new “Burnaby–New Westminster–Maillardville” riding that the federal electoral districts commission is proposing.
The community is named after Edmond Maillard, a French oblate who served as a pastor in Coquitlam for two years, from 1909 to 1911.
“I just wanted to note that the commission has suggested that there should be the naming of Maillardville in a new riding,” Zarrillo began.
“Father Maillard was an oblate, he is the founding father of Maillardville, but to perpetuate this name, and to elevate this name in a new riding in 2023 when he was also a principal of a residential school in northern BC seems unconscionable at this point in time.”
“We’ve also learned a lot in the journey since the discovery of the 2,015 [sic] children,” said Zarrillo in reference to the inaccurate narrative that 215 “unmarked graves” (soil disturbances) were found on residential school grounds in Kamloops, BC in 2021.
To some ideologically-invested stakeholders, the soil disturbances picked up by ground-penetrating radar represent unmarked graves of youth who died while attending indigenous residential schools. No excavations have been performed in Kamloops, so there is no way to know whether the soil disturbances actually indicate a burial, nevermind the burial of children.
“We need to be careful not to take for granted that if [Maillard] was a religious Father that he would automatically be a person of concern in the school system,” Joanne Dumas, Executive and Artistic Director of the Société francophone de Maillardville, told True North.
“I have never heard in 27 years of working in Maillardville any comments to that. Also I have met three of his former students from France who have said he was a kind and great teacher.”
Maillard was principal of the Sechelt, BC residential school from 1930–1934, and principal of the St. Joseph’s Mission School in northern BC for at least fourteen years prior to that. He spent the rest of his life in France.
“Whereas years ago it was difficult to get the Indians to send their children to the mission, today they are eager to send them and the mission is quite full up,” reads a 1925 newspaper article in The Province about Maillard’s northern BC school, supplied to True North by the Coquitlam Heritage Society. The article described Maillard’s school as clean, modernized, and complete with its own electric light plant, vegetable garden, and dairy farm.
Joanne Dumas of the Société francophone de Maillardville also told True North, “Again I am not religious in any way but do not believe that people of the clergy are all guilty by association of reprehensible actions. Should we have to remove the names of all religious or community workers on buildings or cities we will have major work ahead and no history for future generations.”
“Decisions should be based on facts,” Dumas stated.
Bonita Zarrillo did not reply to True North’s request for comment.
Last year, Zarrillo suggested that ice hockey arenas should be banned due to the “climate impact of human-made indoor ice.”
It’s official. Justin Trudeau’s censorship legislation, Bill C-11, is now law in Canada. Through the government-appointed CRTC, the government can now force unwatchable, substandard Canadian legacy media content on your social media feeds and suppress high quality, independent journalism that holds the government to account.
Further, despite the fact that the government claims they wont censor user-generated content, the government has refused to accept amendments that would exclude your content from being regulated by the CRTC.
Unfortunately, Bill C-11 is just the beginning of what Trudeau has planned for Canadians. Upcoming legislation might even be worse.
