Transport Minister Marc Garneau said today that pushing for compensation for the families of Canadians killed when Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 was shot down a week ago in Iran is a priority for the federal government.
“One of the requirements from Canada’s point of view, along with justice, is compensation. Compensation to be provided by those that stand guilty of playing a role in this tragic accident. But let’s do the homework first,” Garneau told a news conference in Ottawa this afternoon.
“While we can’t bring back their loved ones, we can make sure that they receive compensation to help them navigate this difficult time.”
Liberal MP Omar Alghabra, who has been tasked with working directly with the families, said the government also is providing financial supports to those affected.
For starters, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada is waiving and reimbursing all visa and immigration-related fees for those affected by this tragedy. The department also is expediting requests for visa and other required travel documents, said Alghabra, parliamentary secretary to the prime minister.
“We are working hard to provide legal resources to grieving families,” he said. “Families should not feel pressured into making legal claims immediately while they are in mourning and attending to the returning of remains of their lost ones and funeral arrangements.”
Canada and allies meeting in London tomorrow
After days of denial, officials in Tehran admitted last week that Ukraine International Airlines Flight PS752 was shot down unintentionally by Iranian missiles. Canadian transportation investigators and consular officials are in Iran this week as the investigation into the crash gets underway.
Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne tweeted this morning that consular officials are reaching out to banks and insurance companies to help the families of the victims, and have reached out to airlines to begin discussing their travel to and from Iran.
Transport Minister Marc Garneau is giving an update today on the federal government’s response to the airliner crash outside Tehran a week ago that killed 57 Canadian citizens. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)
Garneau said Canada is still seeking official status in Iran’s investigation, which would allow Canadian officials to take part in the analysis of the flight recorders’ data.
Today’s update in Ottawa comes as Canadian officials and other international allies prepare to meet in London Thursday to push Iran for justice for the families of the victims.
Iran’s judiciary spokesperson Gholamhossein Esmaili said earlier this week that “extensive investigations have taken place and some individuals are arrested.”
His statement on the judiciary’s website did not name the arrested individuals or say how many had been detained.
Meanwhile, a new video uploaded to YouTube from Iran appears to show the moment Flight PS752 was hit by two missiles. CBC has not independently verified the video, but the New York Times reported it has confirmed the video is security camera footage that shows two missiles striking the airliner.
WARNING: Some viewers might find this disturbing. A new video uploaded to YouTube from Iran that appears to show the moment Flight PS752 was hit by two missiles. CBC has not indepedently verified the video, but the New York Times reported it has confirmed the video is security camera footage that shows two missile striking the airliner. 0:42
The plane crash happened just hours after Iran launched air strikes against two military bases in Iraq where U.S. forces, and some Canadians, were stationed. The attack was ordered in retaliation for the Trump administration’s targeted killing of Iran’s top general, Qassem Soleimani, the week before.
PARIS (AP) — French judicial authorities are investigating the disappearance of two Paralympic athletes from Congo who recently competed in the Paris Games, the prosecutor’s office in the Paris suburb of Bobigny confirmed on Thursday.
Prosecutors opened the investigation on Sept. 7, after members of the athletes’ delegation warned authorities of their disappearance two days before.
Le Parisien newspaper reported that shot putter Mireille Nganga and Emmanuel Grace Mouambako, a visually impaired sprinter who was accompanied by a guide, went missing on Sept. 5, along with a third person.
The athletes’ suitcases were also gone but their passports remained with the Congolese delegation, according to an official with knowledge of the investigation, who asked to remain anonymous as they were not allowed to speak publicly about the case.
The Paralympic Committee of the Democratic Republic of Congo did not respond to requests for information from The Associated Press.
Nganga — who recorded no mark in the seated javelin and shot put competitions — and Mouambako were Congo’s flag bearers at the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games, organizers said.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A linebacker at Division II West Virginia State was fatally shot during what the university said Thursday is being investigated by police as a home invasion.
The body of Jyilek Zyiare Harrington, 21, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was found inside an apartment Wednesday night in Charleston, police Lt. Tony Hazelett said in a statement.
Hazelett said several gunshots were fired during a disturbance in a hallway and inside the apartment. The statement said Harrington had multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police said they had no information on a possible suspect.
West Virginia State said counselors were available to students and faculty on campus.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Jyilek’s family as they mourn the loss of this incredible young man,” West Virginia State President Ericke S. Cage said in a letter to students and faculty.
Harrington, a senior, had eight total tackles, including a sack, in a 27-24 win at Barton College last week.
“Jyilek truly embodied what it means to be a student-athlete and was a leader not only on campus but in the community,” West Virginia State Vice President of Intercollegiate Athletics Nate Burton said. “Jyilek was a young man that, during Christmas, would create a GoFundMe to help less fortunate families.”
Burton said donations to a fund established by the athletic department in Harrington’s memory will be distributed to an organization in Charlotte to continue his charity work.
West Virginia State’s home opener against Carson-Newman, originally scheduled for Thursday night, has been rescheduled to Friday, and a private vigil involving both teams was set for Thursday night. Harrington previously attended Carson-Newman, where he made seven tackles in six games last season. He began his college career at Division II Erskine College.
“Carson-Newman joins West Virginia State in mourning the untimely passing of former student-athlete Jyilek Harrington,” Carson-Newman Vice President of Athletics Matt Pope said in a statement. “The Harrington family and the Yellow Jackets’ campus community is in our prayers. News like this is sad to hear anytime, but today it feels worse with two teams who knew him coming together to play.”
DETROIT (AP) — Joe Schmidt, the Hall of Fame linebacker who helped the Detroit Lions win NFL championships in 1953 and 1957 and later coached the team, has died. He was 92.
The Lions said family informed the team Schmidt died Wednesday. A cause of death was not provided.
One of pro football’s first great middle linebackers, Schmidt played his entire NFL career with the Lions from 1953-65. An eight-time All-Pro, he was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1973 and the college football version in 2000.
“Joe likes to say that at one point in his career, he was 6-3, but he had tackled so many fullbacks that it drove his neck into his shoulders and now he is 6-foot,” said the late Lions owner William Clay Ford, Schmidt’s presenter at his Hall of Fame induction in 1973. “At any rate, he was listed at 6-feet and as I say was marginal for that position. There are, however, qualities that certainly scouts or anybody who is drafting a ballplayer cannot measure.”
Born in Pittsburgh, Schmidt played college football in his hometown at Pitt, beginning his stint there as a fullback and guard before coach Len Casanova switched him to linebacker.
“Pitt provided me with the opportunity to do what I’ve wanted to do, and further myself through my athletic abilities,” Schmidt said. “Everything I have stemmed from that opportunity.”
Schmidt dealt with injuries throughout his college career and was drafted by the Lions in the seventh round in 1953. As defenses evolved in that era, Schmidt’s speed, savvy and tackling ability made him a valuable part of some of the franchise’s greatest teams.
Schmidt was elected to the Pro Bowl 10 straight years from 1955-64, and after his arrival, the Lions won the last two of their three NFL titles in the 1950s.
In a 1957 playoff game at San Francisco, the Lions trailed 27-7 in the third quarter before rallying to win 31-27. That was the NFL’s largest comeback in postseason history until Buffalo rallied from a 32-point deficit to beat Houston in 1993.
“We just decided to go after them, blitz them almost every down,” Schmidt recalled. “We had nothing to lose. When you’re up against it, you let both barrels fly.”
Schmidt became an assistant coach after wrapping up his career as a player. He was Detroit’s head coach from 1967-72, going 43-35-7.
Schmidt was part of the NFL’s All-Time Team revealed in 2019 to celebrate the league’s centennial season. Of course, he’d gone into the Hall of Fame 46 years earlier.
Not bad for an undersized seventh-round draft pick.
“It was a dream of mine to play football,” Schmidt told the Detroit Free Press in 2017. “I had so many people tell me that I was too small. That I couldn’t play. I had so many negative people say negative things about me … that it makes you feel good inside. I said, ‘OK, I’ll prove it to you.’”
