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Governor General: Climate change, Indigenous issues transcend boundaries with Russia

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Gov. Gen. Mary Simon says Canada needs to find a way to continue cross-polar collaboration while holding Russia accountable for its invasion of Ukraine.

“In terms of Indigenous Peoples and research and climate change, these are issues that transcend boundaries, really,” Simon said in an interview following her state visit to Finland.

“It’s a very difficult situation.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sent Simon to Helsinki in early February to mark the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Canada and Finland, alongside a delegation of Arctic research and government officials.

Finland has been actively seeking closer military ties with other western countries following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Finland shares a 1,340-kilometre border with Russia. The country has maintained a strong military in recent decades, but avoided any official alignment with the NATO military alliance.

That is until last year, when both Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO, with Canada being the first country to vote in support of both joining the group.

Last October, the Finnish government tweaked the Arctic strategy it had released a year prior, saying that the Ukraine invasion meant a new Cold War was underway.

The report calls for Finland to try to keep a “functioning relationship” with neighbouring Russia on matters like climate change and Indigenous Peoples, but little else.

“There will be no return to the prewar reality,” reads the report’s English summary, which urged Finland to examine everything with Russia through a security lens. “Even chaos is possible.”

In an interview, Simon said it’s clear Canada will need to still collaborate with people within Russia and all Arctic countries on issues like climate change and Indigenous Peoples.

“Something that’s important in each of the countries is to figure out how you can continue working together when a terrible war is going on (which is) contradictory to the rules-based international order,” she said.

Simon stressed that this doesn’t mean deep ties with Russia.

“For Canada, we take our responsibility very seriously to defend our northern sovereignty. And we will definitely continue to protect Canadian interests at home and abroad,” she said.

“What happens in the North impacts the world, and when you look at security issues and climate change, the world is paying attention more than ever,” said Simon, an Inuk who grew up in northern Quebec.

Before becoming viceregal, Simon did the heavy lifting on Canada’s Arctic and Northern Policy Framework, leading dozens of consultations throughout Northern Canada.

Before that, she was Canada’s ambassador to Denmark, a role with a large focus on collaborating with the Inuit of Greenland.

Simon noted that the Far North has generally avoided geopolitical conflicts through the decades, but is facing increasing attention as a venue for resource extraction and shipping routes.

“The Arctic … has historically been the region of co-operation. And safety and security challenges have recently emerged as the region’s strategic importance grows,” she said.

The tension has been particularly notable at the intergovernmental Arctic Council forum, which has been largely on hiatus since Russia’s invasion.

The body, which Simon helped found, co-ordinates circumpolar research, shipping routes and search-and-rescue services among eight countries as well as Indigenous nations.

But all members except Russia have pulled out and started side projects involving things like fisheries without any input from Moscow.

Simon noted the tricky situation the Arctic Council faces.

“The sea level rising is having a direct impact,” she said of the region.

“These are things that we have to continue to work together on.”

While in Helsinki, Simon met with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö to discuss security and climate change.

Simon then headed up to the Arctic Circle to meet with officials working in education and those representing the Indigenous people of the region, the Sámi.

She noted Finland’s moves toward truth and reconciliation with Sámi people, which she described as being “at the beginning stages,” while also holding lessons for Canada on engaging Indigenous youth.

Finland’s coalition government recently attempted to incorporate an existing Sámi legislative assembly as part of the country’s governance, though the legislation collapsed this week over uncertainty of what role the council would hold.

Simon also said Finland’s renowned education system might hold lessons for Canada, in reaching higher graduation levels across the country.

Meanwhile, Simon said she wants to maintain frank discussion with Canadians, a few weeks after Rideau Hall closed down the comment section of all social media accounts, citing harmful vitriol.

“These are difficult decisions we have to make sometimes,” she said.

“We support constructive criticism; I’ve always been very supportive of that. If people don’t agree with me, I like to hear about it. But it should be done in a very respectful way; it’s important to do that.”

Simon declined to elaborate on how the comments affected her personally, but said her staff had coped for “a long time” with a deluge of inappropriate comments.

“We’re not trying to block anything here, but I think it’s important to realize that we also can’t let abuse, harassment and misogyny that is harmful in our space continue.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 28, 2023.

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Port of Montreal employer submits ‘final’ offer to dockworkers, threatens lockout

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MONTREAL – The employers association at the Port of Montreal has issued the dockworkers’ union a “final, comprehensive offer,” threatening to lock out workers at 9 p.m. Sunday if a deal isn’t reached.

The Maritime Employers Association says its new offer includes a three per cent salary increase per year for four years and a 3.5 per cent increase for the two subsequent years. It says the offer would bring the total average compensation package of a longshore worker at the Port of Montreal to more than $200,000 per year at the end of the contract.

“The MEA agrees to this significant compensation increase in view of the availability required from its employees,” it wrote Thursday evening in a news release.

The association added that it is asking longshore workers to provide at least one hour’s notice when they will be absent from a shift — instead of one minute — to help reduce management issues “which have a major effect on daily operations.”

Syndicat des débardeurs du port de Montréal, which represents nearly 1,200 longshore workers, launched a partial unlimited strike on Oct. 31, which has paralyzed two terminals that represent 40 per cent of the port’s total container handling capacity.

A complete strike on overtime, affecting the whole port, began on Oct. 10.

The union has said it will accept the same increases that were granted to its counterparts in Halifax or Vancouver — 20 per cent over four years. It is also concerned with scheduling and work-life balance. Workers have been without a collective agreement since Dec. 31, 2023.

Only essential services and activities unrelated to longshoring will continue at the port after 9 p.m. Sunday in the event of a lockout, the employer said.

The ongoing dispute has had major impacts at Canada’s second-biggest port, which moves some $400 million in goods every day.

On Thursday, Montreal port authority CEO Julie Gascon reiterated her call for federal intervention to end the dispute, which has left all container handling capacity at international terminals at “a standstill.”

“I believe that the best agreements are negotiated at the table,” she said in a news release. “But let’s face it, there are no negotiations, and the government must act by offering both sides a path to true industrial peace.”

Federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon issued a statement Thursday, prior to the lockout notice, in which he criticized the slow pace of talks at the ports in Montreal and British Columbia, where more than 700 unionized port workers have been locked out since Nov. 4.

“Both sets of talks are progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved,” he wrote on the X social media platform.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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‘Disgraceful:’ N.S. Tory leader slams school’s request that military remove uniform

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HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.

Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.

A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”

Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.

“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.

In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”

“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”

Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.

Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.

Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.

“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.

“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.

“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.

“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”

“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Sides in B.C. port dispute to meet in bid to end lockout after talk with minister

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VANCOUVER – Employers and the union representing supervisors embroiled in a labour dispute that triggered a lockout at British Columbia’s ports will attempt to reach a deal when talks restart this weekend.

A spokesman from the office of federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon has confirmed the minister spoke with leaders at both the BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514, but did not invoke any section of the Canadian Labour Code that would force them back to talks.

A statement from the ministry says MacKinnon instead “asked them to return to the negotiation table,” and talks are now scheduled to start on Saturday with the help of federal mediators.

A meeting notice obtained by The Canadian Press shows talks beginning in Vancouver at 5 p.m. and extendable into Sunday and Monday, if necessary.

The lockout at B.C. ports by employers began on Monday after what their association describes as “strike activity” from the union. The result was a paralysis of container cargo traffic at terminals across Canada’s west coast.

In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint against the employers for allegedly bargaining in bad faith, a charge that employers call a “meritless claim.”

The two sides have been without a deal since March 2023, and the employers say its final offer presented last week in the last round of talks remains on the table.

The proposed agreement includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term along with an average lump sum payment of $21,000 per qualified worker.

The union has said one of its key concerns is the advent of port automation in cargo operations, and workers want assurances on staffing levels regardless of what technology is being used at the port.

The disruption is happening while two container terminals are shut down in Montreal in a separate labour dispute.

It leaves container cargo traffic disrupted at Canada’s two biggest ports, Vancouver and Montreal, both operating as major Canadian trade gateways on the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

This is one of several work disruptions at the Port of Vancouver, where a 13-day strike stopped cargo last year, while labour strife in the rail and grain-handling sectors led to further disruptions earlier this year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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