Tag: canada

Canadian Govt Funds $5,000 Bonuses for Employers to Hire Anyone Other Than Straight White Men

A new Canadian government-funded program is offering $5,000 bonuses to British Columbia construction companies to hire apprentices who identify as anything other than a straight white male.

From Western Investor, “B.C. employers get $5,000 more if apprentices ‘self-identify’ “:

B.C. construction companies which hire trade apprentices who self-identify as other than a straight, white male with no disability will receive double a new government incentive, pushing it to $10,000 for the first year of employment.

The $10 million Apprenticeship Services program, being offered by the B.C. Construction Association (BCCA) and announced September 27, provides cash incentives to small and medium-sized construction employers who hire and register first-year apprentices in up to 39 Red Seal trades.

Funding for what the BCCA calls the “most far-reaching construction trade apprenticeship drive ever undertaken in British Columbia” is under the federal government’s Canadian Apprenticeship Strategy, which launched in September 2022.

Since then the project has issued financial incentives for the hiring and registering of 1,329 apprentices and sent payments to more than 700 employers.

The BCCA will pay employers $5,000 for each first-year apprentice they register in any eligible Red Seal trades. However, if an applicant self-identifies as a woman, person with disabilities, Indigenous, racialized Canadian or from the 2SLGBTQI+ community, the incentive doubles to $10,000.

[…] So far, 51 per cent of the project apprentices have declared themselves to be a member of one of an “equity deserving group,” according to a BCCA release.

This takes “train your replacement” to a whole new level!

Keep reading

Canada Issues Further Blow To Free Speech, Forces Even Podcast Platforms To Register With The Government

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has just revealed new draconian regulations, requiring all digital platforms that transmit audio or visual content and meet a certain earnings benchmark to register with the government agency before the end of November.

This new set of rules symbolizes a further restriction on free speech and an encroachment on the principle of internet openness, turning the digital world into an area under government watch.

Under these newly released regulations, a myriad of online platforms – from streaming services to social media and even subscription-based television – will be brought under governmental umbrella if they meet a revenue threshold in Canada.

Traditional radio stations and podcast services that live-stream online will not escape from the regulatory requirement either. However, platforms generating “less than $10 million in annual broadcasting revenues in Canada,” along with video games and audiobook services, will not be subjected to this rule.

This new policy unveiled by CRTC is a part of the agency’s implementation of the controversial Online Streaming Act that also forces private online media companies such as Netflix to financially contribute to Canadian content.

The legislation, also known as Bill C-11, sparked a heated debate when it suggested that user-generated content would come under the control of CRTC. Although the authorities reassured that content managed primarily by social media creators would be spared, the remaining part of the digital world is beginning to feel a heavy governmental hand.

To fulfill the new obligation, the platforms are required to provide the CRTC with their personal information, including their name, address, and contact details. Online broadcasting services offered by these organizations should be exposed to the regulator for inspection as well.

Keep reading

Hundreds of trans teens under 18 have had breasts removed in Canada, new data show

As tensions rise over the medical care of trans children, a new analysis shows hundreds of adolescents in Canada have undergone female-to-male “top surgery” — double mastectomies  — over the past five years.

Hospitalizations and day surgery visits for bilateral mastectomies for gender reassignment surgery have risen sharply, from 536 in 2018-19, to 985 in fiscal 2022-23, according to data compiled for National Post by the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

Of the 4,071 visits in total involving gender-affirming mastectomies or breast reductions reported since 2018, 602 involved youth 18 and under.

Of those, 303 involved teens 17 and younger. The youngest age was 14.

The numbers tell only part of the story. The CIHI data exclude Quebec hospitals as well as surgeries performed in private clinics like the McLean Clinic in Mississauga, which describes its surgeons as “industry pioneers” for top surgery — mastectomies and breast reductions in those assigned female at birth, and breast augmentation for those born male transitioning to female.

One specialist in transgender health issues said that, when applying for OHIP funding for people seeking top surgery, “50 to 70 per cent will go to McLean.”

Female-to-male chest surgery involves removing the breasts to achieve a flatter, more masculinized torso, to better align the person’s physical body with their gender identity and reduce gender dysphoria, defined as the persistent distress that can accompany the incongruence between the gender one identifies with and one’s gender at birth.

Keep reading

Liberal government called on to release still-secret documents on Nazi war criminals living in Canada

A Jewish advocacy group is calling on the Liberal government to release a still-secret 40-year-old report and other documents containing details about alleged Nazi war criminals living in Canada.

The federal government has withheld a second part of a 1986 government commission report about Nazis who settled in Canada. In addition, it has heavily censored another 1986 report examining how Nazis were able to get into Canada. More than 600 pages of that document, obtained by this newspaper and other organizations through the Access to Information law, have been censored.

David Matas, the honorary counsel for B’nai Brith, said the Jewish advocacy organization was also pushing for the release of RCMP and Department of Justice files on alleged Nazi war criminals in Canada. “We’ve run up against a brick wall,” he said of the government’s decision to continue withholding the records.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller said Wednesday that the government could take another look at whether the records should be released. “Canada has a really dark history with Nazis in Canada,” Miller said as he headed into the weekly Liberal caucus meeting.

“There was a point in our history where it was easier to get in as a Nazi than it was as a Jewish person. I think that’s a history we have to reconcile.”

Keep reading

Canada’s honoring of Nazi vet exposes Ottawa’s longstanding Ukraine policy

By celebrating a Waffen-SS volunteer as a “hero,” Canada’s Liberal Party highlighted a longstanding policy that has seen Ottawa train fascist militants in Ukraine while welcoming in thousands of post-war Nazi SS veterans.

Canada’s second most powerful official, Chrystia Freeland, is the granddaughter of one of Nazi Germany’s top Ukrainian propagandists.

In the Spring of 1943, Yaroslav Hunka was a fresh-faced soldier in the 14th Grenadier Division of the Waffen-SS Galicia when his division received a visit from the architect of Nazi Germany’s genocidal policies, Heinrich Himmler. Having presided over the battalion’s formation, Himmler was visibly proud of the Ukrainians who had volunteered to support the Third Reich’s efforts.

80 years later, the Speaker of Canada’s parliament, Anthony Rota, also beamed with pride after inviting Hunka to a reception for Volodymyr Zelensky, where the Ukrainian president lobbied for more arms and financial assistance for his country’s war against Russia.

“We have in the chamber today Ukrainian war veteran from the Second World War who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians and continues to support the troops today even at his age of 98,” Rota declared during the September 22 parliamentary event in Ottawa.

“His name is Yaroslav Hunka but I am very proud to say he is from North Bay and from my riding of Nipissing-Timiskaming. He is a Ukrainian hero, a Canadian hero, and we thank him for all his service,” Rota continued.

Gales of applause erupted through the crowd, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Zelensky, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, Canadian Chief of Defense Staff Gen. Wayne Eyre and leaders of all Canadian parties rose from their seats to applaud Hunka’s wartime service.

Keep reading

Canada’s Speaker Resigns After Honoring Nazi Now-Wanted For Extradition By Polish Minister

The Speaker of Canada’s House of Commons, Anthony Rota, has resigned after leading Parliament in praising a Ukrainian man who moved to Canada after fighting for a Nazi unit.

“I must step down as your Speaker,” Rota said, adding “I reiterate my profound regret.“

Still no opinion on the matter from the ADL… Weird!

Developing…

*  *  *

A high ranking Polish government official is pressing for Warsaw to begin an extradition request for Yaroslav Hunka, the 98-year-old Ukrainian Canadian who served the Nazi SS Galizien formation in WWII. Hunka was hailed as a “Ukrainian hero” and a “Canadian hero” by Justin Trudea’s government days ago, receiving a standing ovation in the House of Commons also as Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky looked on and cheered.

Polish Education Minister Przemysław Czarnek announced on Tuesday he has “taken steps” to initiate the extradition of Hunka to Poland for possible war crimes.

Keep reading

Apologies in Canada for Honoring Ukrainian Nazi

A top Canadian lawmaker apologized on Sunday for honoring Yaroslav Hunka, a 98-year-old Ukrainian man who fought for a notorious Nazi military unit during World War II.

Anthony Rota, speaker of Canada’s House of Commons and a member of the Liberal Party, hailed Hunka during a ceremony late last week as “a Ukrainian hero” and “a Canadian hero” who fought for “Ukrainian independence against the Russians” and “continues to support the troops today.”

Canadian lawmakers in attendance gave Hunka a standing ovation, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — who had just delivered a speech to the House of Commons — “raised a fist during the applause,” NBC News reported.

Rota’s description of Hunka — who fought in the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the Nazi SS — sparked outrage, with the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies saying in a statement that “the fact that a veteran who served in a Nazi military unit was invited to and given a standing ovation in Parliament is shocking.”

Keep reading

Nazi-linked veteran received ovation during Zelenskyy’s Canada visit

A ranking Canadian parliamentarian is apologizing to Jewish communities around the world for a blunder during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit that led to lawmakers honoring a veteran accused of belonging to a Nazi division in WWII.

It followed demands by Canadian Jewish organizations Sunday for an apology after it was revealed members of Parliament across party lines awarded a 98-year-old veteran on Friday with a standing ovation shortly after Zelenskyy addressed Canada’s House of Commons.

Yaroslav Hunka stood and appeared to salute from the public gallery when he was recognized by House Speaker Anthony Rota, who introduced Hunka as a Canadian-Ukrainian war hero from his political district.

“We have here in the chamber today a Ukrainian-Canadian veteran from the Second World War who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians and continues to support the troops today, even at his age of 98,” Rota said Friday, followed by a lengthy round of applause and a wave by Zelenskyy. “He’s a Ukrainian hero, a Canadian hero, and we thank him for all his service. Thank you.”

Jewish advocacy groups the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center and B’nai Brith Canada condemned his honoring as disturbing and “beyond outrageous” because he fought with the First Ukrainian Division — also known as the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division, which served under command of the Nazis.

Jewish news website The Forward reported that Hunka wrote blog posts describing his time in the unit on a Ukrainian-language website run by an association of the unit’s veterans, called “Combatant News.”

In a statement late Sunday afternoon, Rota said he recently became “aware of more information which causes me to regret my decision” to recognize Hunka. He said he takes full responsibility for the seismic gaffe.

Keep reading

What Could Go Wrong When Governments Take Control of Food? We’re About to Find Out.

In another episode of “Have We Learned Nothing from History?” two governments in the past couple of days have decided to take the high prices of food into their own hands.

Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada, wants to heap more taxes on grocery stores to punish them for high prices. And Chicago’s mayor, Brandon Johnson, has proposed city-owned grocery stores.

Some other times the government has taken control of the food supply

Historically, it’s the beginning of the end for people when the government begins to interfere with food pricing, production, and distribution. Just look at some of the rules that were established in Venezuela that led to widespread hunger.  The government took control of food production facilities. They began forcing farmers to produce food for less than the cost of growing or raising it. They rationed food to families. They even began to track people who were growing their own food. In short, every terrible decision it was possible to make, they made. And the people suffered for it.

There’s an article by a friend of mine, Scott Terry, that I always cite when talking about the collectivization of food. He wrote a concerning history of this troubling phenomenon right here in America and it’s well worth a read. His article is specifically about agriculture but the same principles hold true of other governmental controls on food.

Keep reading

‘Empty shelves with absolutely no books’: Students, parents question school board’s library weeding process

Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.

Those are all examples of books Reina Takata says she can no longer find in her public high school library in Mississauga, Ont., which she visits on her lunch hour most days.

In May, Takata says the shelves at Erindale Secondary School were full of books, but she noticed that they had gradually started to disappear. When she returned to school this fall, things were more stark.

“This year, I came into my school library and there are rows and rows of empty shelves with absolutely no books,” said Takata, who started Grade 10 last week. 

She estimates more than 50 per cent of her school’s library books are gone. 

In the spring, Takata says students were told by staff that “if the shelves look emptier right now it’s because we have to remove all books [published] prior to 2008.” 

Takata is one of several Peel District School Board (PDSB) students, parents and community members CBC Toronto spoke to who are concerned about a seemingly inconsistent approach to a new equity-based book weeding process implemented by the board last spring in response to a provincial directive from the Minister of Education. 

They say the new process, intended to ensure library books are inclusive, appears to have led some schools to remove thousands of books solely because they were published in 2008 or earlier.

Parents and students are looking for answers as to why this happened, and what the board plans to do moving forward.

Keep reading