Former trafficked Tresor-Newrest migrant workers are mobilizing continuously on November 20, 21 and 22 to demand their rights

MONTREAL – B.C. Lions head coach Rick Campbell believes Nathan Rourke is just getting rolling since returning from the NFL last month.

Rourke will make his fourth consecutive start when the Lions (6-6) visit the league-leading Montreal Alouettes (10-1) at Molson Stadium on Friday night.

After a couple rough outings, the Canadian quarterback bounced back last week by going 21-for-30 for 325 passing yards, three touchdowns and one interception in a 38-12 win over the Ottawa Redblacks in his hometown of Victoria.

“He’s going to continue to get better and better as he gets into a groove and gets more comfortable,” Campbell said. “He came out of a situation where he had just been through two NFL playbooks and two NFL training camps, and then kind of got thrown into the fire here.

“It’s good for him to now have a few weeks of being in the same spot.”

QB Vernon Adams, who was having a stellar season before sustaining a knee injury, will suit up for the first time since Aug. 1 as Rourke’s backup.

Campbell said he wouldn’t rule out using both pivots in a game down the line. But as Adams eases back into form, Rourke is the guy.

Rourke also rushed for 29 yards and a touchdown as B.C. snapped a five-game skid against Ottawa.

“They have a little momentum,” Montreal linebacker Darnell Sankey said. “First couple games I don’t think Rourke really performed at his best, but he had a good last game and kind of showed the league what he’s about.”

Alouettes head coach Jason Maas said Rourke is a “proven commodity” in the CFL after he took the league by storm in a record-breaking 2022 season.

“We all know what he can do and what he’s capable of,” Maas said. “We got to play great team defence, tackle well, control the line of scrimmage and hit him and hit the ball carriers and take it away.”

Rourke will match up against the CFL’s top defence with the Alouettes conceding a league-low 18.7 offensive points per game.

Montreal also boasts the league’s second-best offence this season, and has already clinched a spot in the playoffs that won’t begin until November.

Next up, they’re hoping to secure their position atop the East Division.

“We want to clinch that first-round bye. Win one game and you’re in the Grey Cup,” QB Cody Fajardo said. “Clinching is great because we know our ticket is punched, but the job’s not finished, we gotta find a way to get a home game in front of our crowd after a bye week.”

The Alouettes are returning from a bye week, while the Lions are facing a short turnaround after playing Ottawa on the other side of the country Saturday.

Montreal will have to keep stacking wins without wide receiver Austin Mack for now. The Alouettes added Mack to the six-game injured list Friday after he injured his ankle at practice Wednesday.

Mack returned from a stint with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons in Week 12 and signed a four-year extension with the Alouettes last week. He joins a long list of injured receivers, including Tyson Philpot, Kaion Julien-Grant and Tyler Snead.

Campbell still expects the Lions to have their work cut out for them.

“They’re a good team on offence, defence, special teams. They’re good at everything,” Campbell said. “They compete and play hard the way you’re supposed to play, and they have a knack for winning close games.”

The Lions are tied atop a tight West Division. Besides Rourke, they’ve added Canadian defensive lineman Mathieu Betts after he spent training camp with the NFL’s Detroit Lions. Betts will play his second game this season Friday.

Meanwhile, former Alouettes running back William Stanback is in fine form.

Stanback returns to face his former team after five seasons in Montreal, which released the tailback last off-season. Stanback ranks second in the league in rushing yards (810) and had 92 rushing yards and 78 receiving yards in the win against Ottawa, leading B.C. in both categories.

“He’s gonna come out and try to do his thing. Obviously, he used to play here, I’m sure he thinks about that,” Sankey said. “Yeah, he’s a good running back, nothing we ain’t faced before. At the end of the day, it’s just a number.”

The Alouettes had already sold 22,000 tickets as of Wednesday evening and expected a sellout crowd come kickoff Friday. The ticket sales continue a streak of solid attendance for Montreal this season after the team’s Grey Cup championship.

Campbell expects the Lions to have a difficult time play-calling at Molson Stadium.

“While it’ll be hard on our offence at times, I’m glad for the Alouettes and the CFL that it’s going well,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 5, 2024.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei has died at a Kenyan hospital where she was being treated after 80% of her body was burned in an attack by her partner, a hospital official confirmed Thursday. She was 33.

Owen Menach, a spokesperson at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret city, said the long-distance runner died early Thursday, the morning after her organs failed. She had been fully sedated on admission.

Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.

Her father, Joseph Cheptegei, told journalists at the hospital that he had lost a daughter who was “very supportive” and said he hoped to get justice.

“As it is now, the criminal who harmed my daughter is a murderer and I am yet to see what the security officials are doing,” the father said. “He is still free and might even flee.”

Trans Nzoia County Police Commander Jeremiah ole Kosiom said Monday that Cheptegei’s partner, Dickson Ndiema, bought a can of gasoline, poured it on her and set her ablaze during a disagreement Sunday. Ndiema was also burned and was being treated at the same hospital.

Menach said Ndiema was still in the intensive care unit with burns over 30% of his body but was “improving and stable.”

Cheptegei’s parents said their daughter bought land in Trans Nzoia to be near Kenya’s many athletic training centers. A report filed by the local chief said Cheptegei and Ndiema were heard fighting before the attack over the land where her house was built.

The Uganda Athletics Federation eulogized Cheptegei on the social platform X, writing, “We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of our athlete, Rebecca Cheptegei, early this morning who tragically fell victim to domestic violence. As a federation, we condemn such acts and call for justice. May her soul rest In Peace.”

Uganda Olympic Committee President Donald Rukare called the attack “a cowardly and senseless act that has led to the loss of a great athlete.”

Kenya’s Sports Minister Kipchumba Murkomen said that the government would ensure justice for the victim.

“This tragedy is a stark reminder that we must do more to combat gender-based violence in our society, which in recent years has reared its ugly head in elite sporting circles,” he wrote in a statement.

Uganda’s First Lady Janet Museveni called Cheptegei’s death due to domestic violence “deeply disturbing.”

International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach said, “Rebecca’s participation in the Paris 2024 women’s marathon was a source of inspiration, pride and joy.”

The United Nations strongly condemned Cheptegei’s death.

U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric recalled the words of Secretary-General António Guterres who said, “We still live in a male-dominated culture that leaves women vulnerable by denying them equality in dignity and rights.”

Every 11 minutes on average, a woman or girl is killed by an intimate partner or family member somewhere in the world, according to figures from UN Women, the agency promoting gender equality, and the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.

“We of course think that the true numbers are much higher,” Dujarric said.

He said the denial of women’s rights leaves societies less peaceful, economies less prosperous, and the world less just, “but a different world is possible.”

In 2023, Ugandan Olympic runner and steeplechaser Benjamin Kiplagat was found dead with stab wounds. In 2022, Kenyan-born Bahraini athlete Damaris Muthee was found dead and a postmortem report stated that she was strangled. In 2021, long-distance runner Agnes Tirop was stabbed to death at her home. Her husband, Ibrahim Rotich, was arrested and charged with murder, the case is ongoing.

Kenya’s high rates of violence against women have prompted marches by ordinary citizens in towns and cities this year.

Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.

PARIS – Canada earned three medals, with two golds courtesy of two of its biggest names at the Paralympic Games on Day 8.

Wheelchair racer Brent Lakatos earned gold in the men’s T53 800 metres on the track on Thursday, while Aurelie Rivard picked up gold in the women’s S10 400-metre freestyle in the pool. Swimmer Tess Routliffe added bronze in the women’s SB7 100-metre breaststroke.

For the 44-year-old Lakatos, it was career medal No. 13 and his first Paralympic gold since the 2016 Games when he won the 100. The Dorval, Que., native won four silvers at the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021.

“It’s a really great feeling,” said Lakatos, who is competing in his fifth Paralympics. “This has taken a lot of planning. The Canadian support staff have been great.

“We had a great strategy, taking control of the race. We executed the plan and it worked out really well.”

Lakatos now has two medals in Paris, having also taken silver in the 400. But it was a tough road.

“My training has been modified due to a broken rib,” he said. “But I was able to get back for here and I’m obviously in great shape. I had a stress fracture. I was in really great shape then something started hurting at the very end of May.

“Luckily I had just enough time to get back, though I missed the whole competition season. That’s why I’ve got no season’s bests.”

Meanwhile, for the 28-year-old Rivard, it was also career medal No. 13 and her third in Paris. Rivard also earned bronze in the 50 freestlye and silver in the 100 freestyle.

The St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., native became the first Canadian swimmer to win a gold medal in the same event in three consecutive Paralympic Games since Stephanie Dixon won the S9 100 backstroke in 2000, 2004, and 2008.

While calling it a surreal moment, Rivard referenced back to her silver in the 100 freestyle, an event she had won gold in at the previous two Paralympics. She was disappointed and even said she thought of going home after it, adding she had not swam that slow in 10 years.

“I had to find the confidence to show up tonight and deliver,” Rivard said. “It took a lot and I am really proud. I am happy I was able to overcome my fears.”

For Routliffe, it was a long time coming after finishing fourth eight years ago at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.

The 25-year-old was unable to compete at the Tokyo Games in 2021 due to a back injury as well.

“It was a good race. I get in the water and I just want to race the person next to me,” Routliffe said. “That’s exactly what I did. I put my heart into that race and I am happy to be on the podium again.

“Getting on that podium is huge. We’ve been working on that race a lot. Those girls are quick. Just got to get out and race them.”

It’s the second medal of these Games for Routliffe, having also earned silver in the SM7 200-metre individual medley.

In women’s sitting volleyball, Canada will play Brazil for bronze on Saturday. The Canadians fell 3-0 to China on Thursday in the semifinals.

Canada’s men’s wheelchair basketball squad will play Germany for bronze on Saturday.

The Canadians fell 80-43 to the United States in the semifinals on Thursday. Patrick Anderson paced Canada with 16 points.

It’s the first time Canada will play for a medal since winning gold at the 2012 London Games.

Canada fell 6-1 to Thailand in the bronze-medal game in mixed pairs BC4 boccia action.

In judo action, Priscilla Gagne of Sarnia, Ont., lost her bronze-medal match against Argentina’s Paula Karina Gomez.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 5, 2024.

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