Government email exchanges exclusively obtained by True North show managers at the Department for Women and Gender Equality fretting over complaints from the public about being misgendered by the federal government.
One member of the public whose name has been redacted wrote to former minister for women and gender equality Maryam Monsef calling on her department to “provide education” to federal departments “so they can stop misgendering me.”
“Can you please provide education to the NSLSC National Student Loans Service Centre so they can stop misgendering me,” the email reads.
“Previously, I have explained my pronouns as (redacted) but they have ignored my request…It was explained I would have to call back because the NSLSC could not help me because my matter is with upper management. I explained calling back I would face even more discrimination on the phone.”
Apparently the matter was of such importance that department managers opened a file on the matter and assigned a worker to it.
“Please open a correspondence docket for this,” wrote federal manager Carolyn Penney.
In a subsequent correspondence, the member of the public complained that they were even misgendered by the Canadian Human Rights Commission, which is tasked with enforcing protections for gender diverse individuals.
“I can not get an answer about my National Student Loans, instead I have been misgendered by National Student Loans and even our own Canadian Human Rights Commission misgendered me,” the email reads.
“I know when I am being treated unfairly,” it continues. “Being misgendered more than a dozen times and having my identity questioned.”
The exchange eventually led to a formal letter sent to the complainant signed by assistant deputy minister for women and gender equality Nancy Gardiner assuring the individual that their concerns were forwarded to former minister of social development Jean-Yves Duclos.
“While I am not in a position to comment on personal situations, I have taken the liberty of sharing your message with the Office of the Honourably Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development. Minister Duclos is responsible for the Canada Student Loans program,” wrote Gardiner.
First requested on June 10, 2020, the documents were finally released by the department under the Access to Information Act on Friday.
As exclusively reported by True North in February, even Global Affairs Canada (GAC) seems to be preoccupied with the nuances of microaggressions and “ambient bigotry.”
Gregory Tobin is the Digital Strategy Director for the Canada Strong & Proud network of pages. Working in graphic design, video editing, social media management and much more. His career has seen him work on numerous political campaigns across the country.
David Suzuki announced he is leaving the Nature of Things on CBC. He’s been hosting the show for 44 years, an impressive achievement. He assured watchers that he’s not retiring, just moving on to do more activism.
But he said something else that was extremely revealing.
“Overall I feel like a failure, being part of a movement that has failed,” Suzuki told the CBC.
I don’t disagree. The eco-radical movement has failed in the modern era. And it failed because it stopped coming up with new ideas a long time ago.
Chants of banning, blocking, cancelling, and taxing were the hip and cool thing back in the 60s and 70s, man. Like the mullet and the 8-track. They had their time, but then society moved on to more advanced technologies. Like decent haircuts and blu-rays.
Unfortunately, we can’t say the same thing about the broader eco-radical movement. They’re still shouting the same slogans, fighting for their same failed ideas, some still wearing the same outfits.
Now to be fair, there were a lot of environmental issues back then that needed addressing. And some of the old-school environmentalists like Suzuki alerted us to important things like maintaining our forests, keeping our oceans clean, and learning to live alongside nature.
But, perhaps ironically, the activism of those like Suzuki ended up forcing the industries they protested against to adapt to a changing world. Rather than shut down, these companies got to work and came up with better, more efficient, cleaner, and more sustainable processes.
But while our industries got so much better at what they did, eco-activists like Suzuki just kept shouting the same things. Demanding our world-class oil and gas industry phase itself out. They refused to see the amazing progress that has been made, and have now become dinosaurs. Outdated, anachronistic, and ultimately unhelpful.
Over the last several years countries all over the world went all-in on the “transition” off of oil and gas. Our own Prime Minister and his CN-tower climbing pal Steven Guilbeault are spearheading the Canadian version.
Blocking all kinds of projects, letting pipelines get cancelled, hampering our essential industries, emissions caps on farmers, taxing the hell out of Canadians. They’ve tried it all – yet it hasn’t done a damn thing to slow down global emissions. And it’s left the world dangerously vulnerable as the invasion of Ukraine has so starkly shown.
Germany shut down all its coal and nuclear power plants, confident they could run their nation on wind and solar. And then the chickens came home to roost, except they got chopped up in the wind turbines on the way there. Now Germany is in the midst of a nation-wide second-guessing experience while they all go out and buy wood stoves.
Across Europe, similar disasters are unfolding for nations who are now realizing their electrical grids can’t rely on energy that goes away when the sun stops shining and the wind stops blowing.
For our part here in Canada, with some of the most abundant oil reserves in the world, we’re looking at, in some cases, tripled energy bills. All thanks to hampered industries, red tape, and carbon taxes from the out-dated ideas coming from our own eco-radical leadership.
While we talk of phasing out our industries, dictators like Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping continue to ignore every accord, agreement, and UN declaration while making all kinds of obviouslyempty “green” promises. And we’re watching Putin make aboatload of money selling his fossil fuels to nations desperate for energy.
I can see why Mr. Suzuki feels so melancholic. But what he fails, or downright refuses, to see is that the solution to a lot of these problems is at our fingertips. Canadian oil and gas is a game changer for the globe. We could get so many countries off of burning coal, wood, and other fuels and on to our natural gas – which the EU is labelling as a sustainable energy source, go figure.
And if we utilise that in combination with emerging carbon technologies, we can make it all low-emissions. Working towards actually reducing global carbon dioxide levels, while simultaneously ensuring we and the rest of the globe have reliable, affordable, and safe supplies of energy for the future.
When Prime Minister Trudeau said last month that he questioned the “business case” of helping our German allies to get natural gas, he was rightly and universally ridiculed for it. His ideology has lost the moral high ground. The emperor’s ideas have no clothes.
72% of Canadians agree that we should be working to produce more energy, so we can help ourselves and our allies at the same time.
While police states grow, and liberties slip away for too many around the world – it is the ethical imperative of nations like Canada to step up and do the morally and economically right thing and provide the world with our premier resources. And we’ll grow our GDP at the same time, win-win.
Not doing so would be a failure. And that, dear reader, is just the nature of things.
Gregory Tobin is the Digital Strategy Director for the Canada Strong & Proud network of pages. Working in graphic design, video editing, social media management and much more. His career has seen him work on numerous political campaigns across the country.
Inflation spares no one. Not the good ones, not the bad.
Contraband, which is the bane of prisons and penitentiaries, has its value arbitrarily jacked up by Correction Services Canada (CSC) to apparently signify its actual value within the institution.
The inflationary markup, in fact, is startling.
On Oct. 18 and 19, 2022, for example, staff vigilance at Quebec’s Drummondville medium-security prison prompted the discovery by correctional officers of contraband which included 558 grams of hashish, one gram of cannabis wax, 878 grams of tobacco, eight cellphones, charging cables and SIM cards.
Now, 558 grams of hashish is almost 20 ounces, which is over a pound, but the value given for all the contraband seized—the hash, the small amount of cannabis wax, the pound-plus of loose tobacco and the cellphones—was pegged at a staggering $102,600.
It was an official example of cooking the books.
Cannabis was also among the contraband confiscated at another federal medium-security facility, Quebec’s Cowansville Institution.
On Oct. 20, staff there found $17,760 in items, including 100 grams of hashish, 38 grams of cannabis, 12 grams of cannabis wax, 50 grams of tobacco, one cellphone and two SIM cards.
Just one day earlier, staff discovered a package containing 87 grams of hashish and 550 grams of tobacco which, combined, had an estimated institutional value of $17,450.
Contraband, of course, is confiscated regularly in CSC facilities. Just recently at the Kent Institution in B.C., about $150,000 in contraband, including cannabis concentrates, was seized.
Earlier this month in Kingston, Ont., correctional officers at Joyceville recovered a package containing 205 grams of tobacco, 215 grams of cannabis, 132 grams of shatter (marijuana concentrate), 110 grams of hashish and an unidentified number of cellphones and related accessories on Oct. 14.
Unfortunately Ontario doesn’t play the “institutional value” game, but the haul at Joyceville would have had a massive value.
“News releases issued in the Ontario Region do not provide a monetary value of any contraband and/or unauthorized items seized,” said Hannah Wilson, a communications official with CSC.
“This is on account of the values changing due to such factors as the geographical location of the seizure and the regional or local trends (including, but not limited to an item’s price, the institution’s security level, and intelligence information available at the time the items are seized).
“Rather, what is included in the news releases is the type of contraband and/or unauthorized items seized and the specific quantity and/or weight of the items,” she said.
“As such, I do not have any information to provide on the value of contraband and unauthorized items seized at (institutions such as) Millhaven, or any other Correctional Service of Canada Institution in the Ontario Region.”
This is a shame.
In the past, drones have been used to drop contraband packages inside the walls of Millhaven, a maximum-security prison, and many of the drops have been substantial — often including weapons (mainly knives) as well as burner cell phones.
But the staples are always drugs and tobacco.
One of the largest dollar-value seizures occurred at Manitoba’s maximum security Stony Mountain Institution on Sept. 1 when $1.8 million worth of drugs and other contraband was seized in a single package along the jail’s perimeter.
Inside the package, corrections staff found methamphetamine, fentanyl, cannabis concentrate and THC concentrate, the news release said.
It also contained cigarettes and rolling papers, as well as cellphones, chargers and SIM cards.
All in all, it was a nice score—just $200,000 shy of $2 million.
On Day 17 of the Emergencies Act hearings, Tamara Lich concluded her testimony and former RCMP officer Daniel Bulford testified as a supporter of the Convoy.
Bulford, who resigned from the RCMP in December 2021 after opposing federal vaccine mandates, joined the Freedom Convoy as the key security advisor and later as a police liaison.
“I spoke out publicly against the federal government vaccine mandate,” Bulford said. He told the commission that pandemic restrictions over the last few years had caused problems for him and his family, and that mandates prevented him from flying to see family.
“We lost neighbours and friends,” he added.
When asked what led to his resignation, Bulford said that he had seen Canada “degenerate” and that he felt that he was not treated as an equal citizen..
“Prior to the Convoy, I was ready to leave the country,” said Bulford.
“Seeing the convoy and the rallying of support behind it all across Canada restored my faith in Canadians. That they weren’t going to let Canada degenerate further.”
Daniel Bulford, Former RCMP Officer, describes his experience witnessing the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa. #POECpic.twitter.com/9bMmQUuVsi
Bulford strongly condemned Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s comments on the unvaccinated in the lead up to the 2021 election.
“The “dehumanization effort had begun” when Trudeau announced federal vaccine mandates, Bulford said. “The Canadian population was led to believe that people who weren’t vaccinated were a threat,” he added.
When asked what his experience of the Freedom Convoy was after the first weekend, Bulford said it was a very emotional experience.
“It was the largest event I had observed in downtown Ottawa,” said Bulford. “It was a festive atmosphere, people were very emotional.”
“Seeing the convoy and the rallying of support behind it all across Canada restored my faith in Canadians,” added Bulford. “ They weren’t going to let Canada degenerate further.”
Bulford was arrested on Feb. 19 for mischief but was never charged. His bank account was also frozen during this time.
Earlier in the day, Tamara Lich continued her testimony from the day before. She said her primary goal was to send a message to the government and to fellow Canadians.
She said she heard many heartbreaking stories about lockdowns and restrictions and even had many Ottawa residents support the protests.
Protesters Maggie Hope Braun and Veteran Chris Deering were asked to take the stand. Deerin, who said he was wounded during his time in Afghanistan, said he came to Ottawa to protest because he felt it was his duty.
Canadian Armed Forces veteran Chris Deering describes his arrest during the police crackdown on the Freedom Convoy protest in Ottawa. pic.twitter.com/rHsokl3oiI
“Seeing what was happening over the last few years was troubling,” Deerin said. “For the last two years, I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t grieve for my comrades in Nova Scotia because I wasn’t allowed to cross the border in my own vehicle by myself to a cemetery.”
Deering said he felt obliged to stay in Ottawa after the Emergencies Act was invoked to help people.
Deering said he spoke to a few officers and told him why he was there. He asked them to be careful with his bad back if they arrest him. However, when asked to describe his arrest, Deering said that police kneed him and punched him in the head multiple times before having his hands zip tied.
“It was the worst pain I had felt since I’d been blown up,” Deering added. “They had no right to do what they did.”
Maggie Hope Braun described feeling frustrated after two years of increasingly restrictive mandates.
“I was just losing hope and really looking for options on how I could find peace and safety for my family,” she said.
On the day of the crackdown, Braun said she had knelt down in front of the police and told them she would not move.
“That was my line in the sand,” she said.
Braun said since her experience in Ottawa she spoke to a therapist and exhibited similar symptoms to PTSD.
Braun and Deering both described being driven out of town and dropped off without shelter after being arrested.
Jeremey MacKenzie also took the stand today by video from the Saskatoon Correctional Centre.
MacKenzie, a founding member of the People’s Party of Canada, was asked to describe Diagolon, a fictitious country he conjured up early on in the pandemic on a live-stream.
He explained that Diagolon was a joke that had turned into a community of fans of his podcast and that he often does meet and greets and barbecues with fans.
The federal government has identified Diagolon as an extremist organization.
Its founder, Jeremy MacKenzie, says Diagolon is entirely fictitious and assertions to the contrary constitute "the single most embarrassing and grotesque intelligence failure in national history." pic.twitter.com/w6GD1N7w1Z
Discussing the Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN), which had described Diagolon as an “extremist group,” MacKenzie became highly critical.
MacKenzie described that CAHN was responsible for spreading a rumour that an alleged antisemitic pamphlet was being distributed to participants of the convoy. The photo shared by a prominent CAHN member had in fact originated in Miami, Florida weeks prior to the protests.
When asked if he was in contact with the main Convoy organizers such as Tamara Lich or Tom Marazzo, he said he spoke to them rarely.
Hearings will resume on Monday November 7 at 9:30 am ET. Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens is expected to testify next week.
True North will continue to have daily coverage of the ongoing Emergencies Act hearings.
Coutts Border blockade organizers Marco Van Huigenbos, Alex Van Herk and George Janzen have requested a jury of peers as they face charges of mischief over $5,000.
The trio appeared in a Lethbridge court on Friday, where the judge granted a Crown attorney’s request for more time to prepare.
Van Huigenbos told True North the day went well, but that “everything takes forever.” The organizers are back in court next month likely for more “administrative” work, he said.
“In my opinion, it’s just delay, delay. And whether there’s any strategy to it, I’m not sure,” he said.
“We know our system is broken, but the amount of time and energy and cost and everything that goes into nothing, in my mind, into proceedings that accomplish little is both frustrating and unacceptable.”
Van Huigenbos also said he’s not sure when organizers will receive an answer on their request to be tried by jury.
Sources on the ground told True North about 800 people travelled to Lethbride for a rally to support the organizers.
In January, demonstrators protesting federal and provincial COVID-19 restrictions like vaccine mandates blocked the Canada-US border for more than two weeks. The blockade ended in February after the RCMP found weapons.
As previously reported by True North, Van Herk was detained by the RCMP in late August. Officers attempted to get Van Herk to sign a conditional release saying he would end contact with Van Huigenbos, but the condition was dropped after hundreds of people showed up to the RCMP detachment to protest Van Herk’s detainment.
True North’s Sue-Ann Levy joins us for our favourite time of the week – it’s Fake News Friday! Here are this week’s awful takes, skewed coverage and the worst examples of fake news in the legacy media.
Elon Musk has taken over Twitter and some Canadian media members are having a complete meltdown over the idea of paying $8 to become a verified user on Twitter. One journalist even went as far as suggesting Musk should pay him to stay on Twitter. What a time to be alive!
And as the Emergencies Act hearings continue, Canadians can depend on the legacy media for their skewed coverage of the inquiry. Plus, as teachers in Ontario refuse to do their jobs and defy the Ford government’s back-to-work legislation, the legacy media suddenly cares about the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Where was the media’s outrage during the pandemic?
It’s Fake News Friday with Andrew Lawton and Sue-Ann Levy! Tune in now!
According to the university, LGBT students have ten hours of dedicated time in the workout room – Wednesdays from 7:00pm to 10:00pm and Saturdays from 3:00pm to 10:00pm.
The University of Windsor’s website describes the multipurpose rooms as spaces “for students and community members to come together to enjoy various recreational programs and services.”
In addition to offering “2SLGBTQIA+ only” hours, the university offers dedicated workout times for women and men.
True North reached out to University of Windsor with questions but they did not respond in time for publication.
University of Windsor is not the only post-secondary institution that offers special workout times for LGBT groups.
Ottawa’s Carleton University offers a “Trans and Allies Fitness Space” three times per week, with the school saying the latter allows transgender people and their allies “to work out with physical and psychological safety.”
Meanwhile, Acacia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia offers a “Women, Transgender, and Non-Binary Gym Time” for the purpose of creating “safer, accessible, and equitable spaces for members of our community.”
Campus Watch keeps an eye on what’s happening at schools across Canada. Do you have a story to share about a college or university near you? Let us know at [email protected].
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre slammed the Trudeau government’s handling of the country’s finances on Friday in a speech at the Empire Club in downtown Toronto.
“The cost of government is raising the cost of living,” Poilievre said.
While dismissing his critics as “pointy-headed experts,” Poilievre took aim at the government’s decision to print billions of dollars to fund its spending during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Quantitative easing is figuratively money printing and is it literally money printing,” he said in response to critics who claim the government and Bank of Canada (BoC) did not print money.
Poilievre compared the Trudeau government’s handling of the country’s finances during the pandemic to how the Harper government handled the 2008 economic crisis, in which Poilievre claims, the government did not print money and kept inflation low in 2008.
"A massive wealth transfer from the ‘have-nots’ to the 'have-yachts,'" @PierrePoilievre slams the Trudeau government's handling of the country's finances during his speech at the Empire Club in Toronto. pic.twitter.com/JloYue4Ajo
The Conservative leader believes as a result of the government’s bungling of the economy, there has been “a massive wealth transfer from the ‘have-nots’ to the ‘have-yachts.’”
Poilievre outlined his plan to fix the economic crisis by focusing on housing, energy and workers, including pledging to repeal Bill C-69 and C-48 – two bills which have discouraged the development of Canadian energy.
"It just warms my heart to think of the wonderful family rolling up in their U-Haul to move their belongings into their beautiful new home in the former headquarters of the CBC," @PierrePoilievre takes a jab at the state broadcaster during his speech at the Empire Club in Toronto pic.twitter.com/fN5mh4Cf4m
The Conservative leader also pledged to build more housing in Canada by removing “government gatekeepers.”
“As prime minister, I’m going to have mayors at my desk every day demanding more housing dollars. And here will be my answer: You will not get housing dollars unless you get housing built,” said Poilievre.
On Thursday, the federal government tabled its Fall Economic Update, projecting a $36.4 billion deficit for the current fiscal year.
Despite warning of a “mild recession in the first quarter of 2023” and “a high degree of uncertainty” in its economic forecast, the government is promising $30.6 billion in new spending over the next six years.
“What we’re announcing today is to strike a balance between necessary compassion and support for Canadians, and fiscal responsibility,” Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said in the House of Commons.
For the sixth time since March, the BoC hiked its benchmark interest rate in an effort to combat the inflation crisis – to 3.75% from 3.25%.
Despite Canada’s inflation rate declining slightly to 6.9% last month, the price of food continued to increase. According to StatsCan, the ongoing rise in food prices has hit a 40-year high.
Couched in the Liberal government’s 2022 Fall Economic Statement is a pledge to throw even more money at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Canadian taxpayers will be on the hook for $42 million more in CBC funding for so-called pandemic recovery funds. The funds will be distributed over two years costing $21 million annually.
Taxpayers already contribute $1.2 billion to the CBC each year.
The Liberals claim the funding is required to “offset revenue losses related to the ongoing impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.” However, the CBC was already struggling well before the pandemic.
Prior to the pandemic, CBC ad revenue shrunk by a whopping 53% when compared to 2014.
“Our objective is not to make money but to provide a service and fulfil our mandate,” Radio Canada Executive VP Michel Bissonnette said in 2020.
Declining revenue is not the only issue facing the CBC, the Crown corporation’s broadcasting programs have also seen a decline in viewership.
In 2020 it was reported that only 0.8% of Canadians were tuning into CBC TV evening newscasts.
The public broadcaster has also been a beneficiary of generous pandemic relief funds. During the 2021 federal election, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s election platform also included a pledge to boost the broadcaster’s funding by $400 million over 4 years.
Despite falling revenues and so-called pandemic disruptions, the CBC has continued to dish out millions in raises and bonuses to its employees.
In 2021, while claiming the broadcaster was under “immense pressure” it handed out $12 million in raises and $15.4 million in bonuses to staff. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has pledged to defund the CBC if elected prime minister. Recent polls show that a majority of Canadians support the idea. In March, the Angus Reid Institute reported that 64% of people said they would vote for the Conservatives in a general election if they promised to defund the broadcaster.
Premier Danielle Smith says Ottawa’s hostility to Alberta’s oil and gas industry emerged from the “extreme left” policies of environmental social governance (ESG).
Her remarks emerged after candidates in the Brooks-Medicine Hat byelection were asked how they would improve Alberta’s ESG rating during a debate on Wednesday night. ESG is increasingly used as a standard socially-conscious investors consider before partnering with a company or region.
Smith pointed to Saskatchewan, which just introduced the Saskatchewan First Act to assert provincial autonomy, and said provinces are catching on to the idea of standing up to Ottawa.
“Ottawa’s hostile policies towards us has been led by the most extreme left on environmental, social and governance ratings that focus so narrowly just on the issue of greenhouse gas emissions and the demonization campaign that has happened against our energy industry, which sadly, the federal government with Steven Guilbeault is aligned with,” she said from the southern Alberta riding.
“And, sadly, the NDP is aligned with the Liberals at the federal level.”
Smith pointed to the federal government’s proposed cap and trade program for Alberta’s oil and gas sector which would mandate the industry reduce its emissions by 42% by 2023. The policy would “devastate” the sector, she said.
“This is the reason we have to stand up to Ottawa. They have no right to regulate our industry.”
Smith said the “Alberta way” of reducing emissions is to export clean LNG to countries still using polluting fuels like wood, coal and dung for home heating and cooking.
“If we do that and get credit for it with the green transfer mechanism, we can reduce global emissions,” she said.
The premier also advocated for Alberta’s hydrogen economy to lower emissions. Alberta is a world leader on carbon tech to capture carbon dioxide and embed it in products or put it underground, she said.
“You will never see Ottawa or Steven Guilbeault defending Alberta in the way that we are going to defend Alberta,” she said. “That’s how we’ll stand up for our ESG rating.”
NDP candidate Gwendoline Dirk was the first to respond to the ESG question. After a long pause, she said, “I have to confess, I’m not too sure how to answer that question.”
“Let me just think for a moment.”
The moderator explained the question further, and Dirk eventually responded, calling Smith’s proposed Alberta Sovereignty Act “anti Alberta,” saying it will scare away investment. She also said the United Conservative Party destroyed tax credits the NDP introduced to grow the economy and tech industry.
“Obviously we need to attract investment to Alberta. Very, very important and get big projects done,” she said.
Dirk said an NDP government would bolster investment in Alberta through a tech investment fund, a venture fund, an investment tax credit, a digital media tax credit and a capital investment tax credit.
