Hello,
Retired Supreme Court justice Louise Arbour is accusing Canadian military leaders of dragging their feet when it comes to fighting sexual misconduct in the ranks.
She delivered the scathing indictment while appearing before a parliamentary committee, some six months after she issued dozens of recommendations to improve the military’s handling of inappropriate, and even criminal, sexual misconduct.
Earlier today, The Canadian Press reports that Defence Minister Anita Anand gave Parliament an update on the military’s progress in acting on those recommendations.
Anand says all of the recommendations have been accepted, but Arbour says there are clear signs that military leaders are resisting many of them.
Arbour says she has seen resistance to removing military jurisdiction over the investigation and prosecution of sexual assault and other related crimes.
The Canadian Armed Forces says military police had to investigate dozens of alleged sexual crimes over the last year after civilian authorities refused to accept 40 out of 97 cases.
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TODAY'S HEADLINES
EXISTENTIAL CRISIS AT HOCKEY CANADA: CROMWELL - Hockey Canada faced an existential crisis this fall after its handling of sexual assault allegations exposed a series of governance failings at the top of the organization, a former Supreme Court judge told federal hearings on Tuesday. Story here.
NG BREACHED CONFLICT ACT: ETHICS COMMISSIONER - The federal Ethics Commissioner has ruled that Trade and Small Business Minister Mary Ng breached the Conflict of Interest Act in relation to two media training contracts awarded to a close personal friend. Story here.
EX-ONTARIO CABINET MINISTER WINS BYELECTION - Former Ontario finance minister Charles Sousa is headed to Ottawa after winning Monday’s federal by-election in Mississauga-Lakeshore. Story here.
CANADA CONTRIBUTES TO REBUILDING KYIV ELECTRICAL GRID - Canada is helping finance the rebuilding of Kyiv’s war-damaged electrical grid from a 35-per-cent tariff that Ottawa levied on imports from Russia and its ally Belarus earlier this year. Story here.
BANK GOVERNOR CITES COST OF HIGHER INTEREST RATES - Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said that higher interest rates are starting to slow the economy and lower inflation, but that the bank remains cautious about doing too little to bring prices under control. Story here.
MORE ARMS TO BE SOLD TO QATAR - Canada will sell more arms to Qatar even as scrutiny of human rights record intensifies. Story here.
TRUDEAU TALKS GUNS AND HAITI IN YEAR-END INTERVIEW - In a year-end interview with The Canadian Press, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said - story here - his government is trying to find the dividing line between guns suitable for hunting and ones that have no place in society because they pose significant dangers in the wrong hands. Mr. Trudeau also said, on another subject, that he wants European nations to join Canada in sanctioning Haiti’s elites over alleged ties to the violent gangs paralyzing that country. Story here.
RIPLEY’S ROLE IN LEGISLATION - Two of the federal government’s flagship bills seem to rely on just one man: the talented and ubiquitous Owen Ripley. Story here.
B.C. MINISTER CALLS ON OWN GOVERMENT TO DO MORE ON GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE - B.C.’s NDP government must do more to ensure the legal system and family court system isn’t causing more harm to victims of gender-based violence, says Katrina Chen, B.C.’s former minister of state for child care, who went public last week with her personal story of facing ongoing trauma. Story here from The Vancouver Sun.
N.W.T. JOINS FIGHT AGAINST FEDERAL LAW - N.W.T. government leaders are defending a decision by the territory’s Attorney-General to join a Supreme Court of Canada challenge of the federal law that gives Indigenous governments power to control their own child and family services. Story here from CBC.
THIS AND THAT
TODAY IN THE COMMONS – Projected Order of Business at the House of Commons, Dec. 13, accessible here.
CARR MEMORIAL - A public memorial for former cabinet minister Jim Carr will be held on Saturday, Dec. 17, at the Centennial Concert Hall in Winnipeg (555 Main St.). The announcement was posted on the twitter account of the Winnipeg South Centre Liberal MP who died this week after a battle with cancer. The tweet said the time of the funeral will be announced soon, and that the family is declining flowers and saying donations in lieu of flowers can be made to the Jim Carr Foundation c/o the Winnipeg Foundation.
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER’S DAY - Chrystia Freeland, also the Finance Minister, is in Paris with a day that included private meetings and attending the Solidarity With the Ukrainian People conference, co-hosted by France and Ukraine. Freeland was scheduled to deliver remarks to the conference and participate in the conference photo of attendees. She was also scheduled to hold a bilaterial meeting with Ukraine Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal., and attend an evening event in support of Ukraine hosted by the Olena Zelenska Foundation and the first lady of Ukraine.
MÉTIS-GOVERNMENT MEETING - Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller and Cassidy Caron, president of the Métis National Council, were scheduled to co-chair a meeting in Ottawa, on Tuesday, to discuss the Canada-Métis Nation Permanent Bilateral Mechanism between federal ministers and Métis Nation Leaders.
PRIME MINISTER'S DAY
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in Ottawa, held private meetings, chaired a meeting of the Incident Response Group on the situation in Haiti, and spoke with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The Prime Minister was also scheduled to attend Question Period.
LEADERS
Bloc Québécois, Leader Yves-François Blanchet took media questions on Parliament Hill, and then attended Question Period.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, in Ottawa, was scheduled to take media questions, attend Question Period and meet with Sean Strickland, the executive director of Canada’s Building Trades Union.
No schedules released for other party leaders.
THE DECIBEL
On Tuesday’s edition of The Globe and Mail podcast, science reporter Ivan Semeniuk explains how NASA hopes to go back to the moon in the next decade, along with help from international partners like Canada, and what hurdles it’ll have to overcome to make the entire Artemis program as successful as its predecessor Apollo. The Decibel is here.
OPINION
The Globe and Mail Editorial Board on how the housing shortage is built on bad planning, but Toronto has a groundbreaking rewrite of the rules: “Toronto risks becoming a city of privilege, like London or San Francisco, instead of what it has been, and should always be: a city of opportunity. “Our competitiveness in attracting talent [and] driving innovation,” the Toronto Region Board of Trade said a year ago, “depends on solving the housing shortfall.” The city may finally be on the cusp of real action, and could blaze a trail for other cities across the country. Mayor John Tory proposes an across-the-board rewrite of the rules to address the root cause of the housing shortage: a deliberately sclerotic planning process that has slowed construction amid a fast-growing population.”
Marsha Lederman (The Globe and Mail) on how a University of Toronto medical school report reveals the shameful results of antisemitism today: “Imagine being afraid to see a doctor. Not because of a deep-seated irrational fear or bad previous experience or because you are worried about a diagnosis … but because of what you’ve heard some doctors at the local medical school say about people like you. In 2021, Ayelet Kuper, an Israeli-born Canadian physician and scientist, was appointed senior adviser on antisemitism by the Temerty Faculty of Medicine (TFOM) at the University of Toronto. The position was created in response to reports of increasing antisemitism affecting Jewish students, staff and faculty. Last week, Dr. Kuper’s report was published in the Canadian Medical Education Journal. And it is shattering.”
Gary Mason (The Globe and Mail) on how our national housing program is an obtuse black hole of spending: “In 2017, the federal Liberal government launched a $70-billion national housing strategy. Among its many goals was to eradicate homelessness by the end of this decade and to reduce the number of Canadian households in a state of “core housing need” (defined as households paying more than 30 per cent of their pre-tax income on shelter) by 530,000. So how has the government done in meeting its goals? How many purpose-built rental units have been erected and at what cost to taxpayers? How many people have been able to take advantage of these new homes and at what rate of rent? What is the demographic makeup of those lucky enough to score one of these “affordable” units? The answer? Who knows.”
Conor Healy and Margaret McCuaig-Johnston (Contributed to The Globe and Mail) on Canada being naive about the risks of Chinese technology: “The RCMP’s decision on Sinclair is the predictable outcome of years of inaction on these issues, beginning with the federal government allowing the sale of Norsat (and therefore its subsidiary Sinclair) to Hytera in 2017 without a full national security review. This was at a time when the federal government hoped to negotiate a free-trade agreement with China, and our ambassador John McCallum wanted “more, more, more” from China. We now know this was a fantasy, and policies should reflect the new reality. The government’s recently released Indo-Pacific Strategy demonstrates a new awareness of China as aggressive and coercive. Surveillance technology is one of China’s many tools, and should not be welcome in Canada.”
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