Nova Scotia RCMP say human remains were found in a burned car in Pictou County

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Hundreds lined the streets at the National War Memorial in downtown St. John’s on Monday, bowing their heads as a cannon blast signalled the start of two minutes of silence to honour the country’s departed veterans.

David Moore was in awe at the sheer size of the crowd. His father fought in the Second World War with the 166th Newfoundland Field Regiment and later in the Korean War, and Moore lays a wreath for him every year at the city’s Remembrance Day ceremony.

Moore, 77, said his father never spoke about his time in the military. “And he never went to any of the ceremonies,” he said in an interview. “I tried to talk him into it, but he didn’t go to the legions, and he never, ever mentioned it to any of us … he never even wore his medals.”

Moore wondered if the massive crowd in St. John’s on Monday, and the newly refurbished National War Memorial monument, would have changed the mind of his father, who died of cancer at the age of 60.

The ceremony was the first to take place alongside the tomb of an unknown Newfoundland Regiment soldier who died in battle in France during the First World War and was reinterred at the National War Memorial earlier this year.

Morgan MacDonald, the sculptor who made the bronze forget-me-not flowers decorating the soldier’s tomb, attended Monday’s events in part to honour his great-grandfather, who also fought with the Newfoundland Regiment.

“It’s an incredibly special and moving thing to be entrusted with,” MacDonald said about being asked to create the flowers.” Just to be selected to do that is a very special thing for my family, and my brothers and my parents, just to know that I had that small role to play in this whole ceremony, which is so important to the people of the province.”

In Halifax, a few hundred people gathered around the downtown cenotaph in rain and high winds, many in raincoats or carrying umbrellas. The event began with a ceremonial smudging from Mi’kmaq elder Marlene Companion.

Joanne Geddes, district commander of the Nova Scotia and Nunavut legions, said she was touched that many Nova Scotians braved the stormy weather to pay their respects.

Hearing the bands play and the cannons ring out gave her chills, Geddes said.

“I get goosebumps. I well up. It’s emotional in a good way, in a sad way,” she said. “It just warms the heart to know that people will still come out to honour and pay tribute to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice, and to those that are still serving.”

Remembrance Day events were also held in Charlottetown, in front of Province House, and in Fredericton, at the downtown cenotaph.

In St. John’s, Moore laid a green wreath bearing his father’s name at the foot of the National War Memorial, before its towering bronze statue of a woman holding aloft a flaming torch. He then stood straight, looked up at the statue and raised his hand to his head in a firm salute.

“It’s very important to do this and continue to do it as long as I can,” he said. “Not only for my father … but for all those men and women who served and those who gave their lives. It’s an important day for all of us. I’ve yet to miss one … and I’ll do it as long as I can.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 11, 2024.

— With files from Lyndsay Armstrong in Halifax

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Business groups are raising concerns about the broad effects of another round of labour disruptions in the transport sector as Canada faces shutdowns at its two biggest ports.

Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters president and CEO Dennis Darby said the twin work stoppages in Vancouver and Montreal come at a challenging time as businesses face a year-end crunch, while the U.S. election results have heightened the need to be seen as a reliable trading partner.

“We find ourselves in a very tough situation,” he said on Monday.

The shutdowns come after operations at Canada’s two main railways were halted in August until the government stepped in, while B.C. ports and the St. Lawrence Seaway were disrupted last year, leading Darby to say the country needs a new approach to the sector.

“We just can’t keep repeating this because it puts you at a disadvantage.”

He said the incoming U.S. administration will be about America first, and looking for partners who help drive its economy, so Canada needs to be especially aware of the wider implications of disruptions like this.

Between $400 million and $800 million per day in goods aren’t moving because of the strikes, creating risks throughout the economy, said Darby. Last year’s 13-day port strike in B.C., for example, noticeably cut into GDP growth, he said.

The disruptions will have more immediate effects on manufacturers relying on critical parts coming into Canada, he said, while consumers will feel it if it drags on.

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce estimates the total value of goods disrupted is even higher at over a billion dollars per day, said Pascal Chan, senior director of transportation, infrastructure and construction. He added that the twin port shutdowns also hurt the country’s reputation.

“With simultaneous disruptions underway at our largest East Coast and West Coast ports, we are effectively advertising to the world that Canada is closed for business,” he said in a statement.

Chan called on the government to intervene and put an end to the disputes.

Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon said last week that both sets of negotiations were progressing at an insufficient pace, while on Monday he urged all involved to work something out.

“The parties must understand the urgency of the situation and do the work necessary to reach an agreement. Canadians are counting on them.”

The Maritime Employers Association locked out longshore workers Sunday night after the unionized workers voted almost unanimously to reject a contract offer tabled last week.

The Port of Montreal said essential services will continue, with liquid bulk terminals and the grain terminal among those remaining open.

The shutdown in Montreal comes after a separate labour dispute halted container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports last Monday.

Negotiations in B.C. resumed on Saturday but talks were quickly cut off with no progress made, said the BC Maritime Employers Association.

Because grain shipments are not affected by the strikes, there is less political pressure to intervene, said Barry Prentice, director of the University of Manitoba Transport Institute.

But the shutdowns, coming as part of a string of disruptions, could hit longer-term investment decisions, he said.

“If you have a reputation of being unreliable, then that’s not good for people wanting to think about investing in this country or doing business with this country.”

Port of Montreal chief executive Julie Gascon warned the shutdown will have “catastrophic” consequences if it is allowed to drag on, and that shippers will turn away from Montreal in favour of U.S ports.

“It’s our reputation that’s at stake,” she said.

— With a file from Lia Lévesque in Montreal.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 11, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

MONTREAL – Private Martine Roy was only 20 years old in 1984 when she was arrested, interrogated and dismissed from the Canadian Armed Forces for being what was then termed a “sexual deviant.”

After fighting for the right to be recognized as a veteran, she laid a wreath at Montreal’s Remembrance Day ceremony Monday on behalf of survivors of the wave of persecution that has become known as the LGBT Purge.

“I was arrested twice, then sent to a psychiatrist and then finally dismissed,” she said of her experience. “That was really, really hard for me.”

Roy was one of the lead plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit that led to a $145-million settlement and a 2017 federal apology for decades of discrimination against members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities.

According to the website of the LGBT Purge Fund, between the 1950s and mid-1990s, LGBTQ+ members of the Armed Forces, the RCMP and the federal public service were followed, interrogated, abused, traumatized and often fired “as a matter of policy and sanctioned practice.”

Roy, a Montreal native, enlisted in 1983 to become a medical assistant. After a stint in Quebec she was sent to Borden, Ont., where she was arrested the first time after someone found out she was dating women as well as men.

While she was allowed to finish her course and move to the now-closed National Defence Medical Centre in Ottawa, she was arrested a second time and discharged in December 1984.

She said her removal from the Armed Forces at such a young age affected every aspect of her life, and she struggled for years with shame, drug use and fear that she would be subjected to further discrimination in the workplace.

“I was 20, I didn’t know if I was gay or not. I don’t think it was important at that moment,” she said. “So kicking me out like this, I didn’t want to tell anybody. I was ashamed.”

She said the trauma went so deep that she didn’t return to Ottawa until 2014. For years, she and others like her weren’t recognized as veterans at all.

Over time, Roy went on to have a stable career and became an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and better inclusion in the workplace. She began to feel like the federal government’s decision to reverse its official policy of discrimination in 1992 wasn’t enough.

That’s when she got involved in the class action and, later, as a board member for the LGBT Purge Fund. In 2023, she was appointed a member of the Order of Canada for her decades of advocacy for diversity, inclusion and equity.

On Monday, under drizzly skies, Roy joined Premier François Legault and other dignitaries who gathered at a downtown square for Montreal’s Remembrance Day ceremony. She laid a wreath on behalf of LGBTQ+ veterans alongside fellow purge survivor Peggy Hayes.

Roy said attending Remembrance Day ceremonies allows her to feel like a part of the military as a veteran, and to commemorate others who had similar experiences but are no longer living.

Laying wreaths is meaningful, she said, “because we are important, and the queer people that fought for Canada are important.”

She said that for many purge survivors, memories of service is “kind of a double thing:” a mixture of pride over serving their country, and the knowledge that they were let go for something that had nothing to do with skills.

“We did that to over 9,000 people,” she said of the purge. “We destroyed their family and their life, so this is why today is so important.”

She said some of the money from the court settlement is being used for initiatives that honour the contribution of Canada’s LGBTQ+ veterans, including a monument in Ottawa dedicated to purge survivors. The LGBT Purge Fund is also collecting and preserving records of the purge, working on an exhibition at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg and making recommendations on how to improve LGBTQ+ inclusion in the public service.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 11, 2024.