Indigenous-related capital markets activity set to grow significantly, report says

OTTAWA – Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly is asking members of the United Nations to counter growing political polarization.

Joly is addressing the UN General Assembly on behalf of Canada after the annual gathering of leaders and ministers in New York.

Joly says countries need to work together to uphold rules on sovereignty and human rights, or the world will slip into more crises like those in Haiti and Afghanistan.

She also says liberal democracies need to reclaim the word “freedom,” which she says is being used to spread hate speech and justify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Joly is reiterating Canada’s stance on issues in the Middle East, while calling out the Israeli government for opposing the eventual creation of a Palestinian state.

Joly also says it’s “unacceptable” that the UN hasn’t been led by a woman in the nearly eight decades of its existence.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 30, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

MONTREAL – McGill University is threatening to cancel law school classes for the rest of the semester if it can’t reach an agreement today with a faculty union that has been on strike since August.

The university says it will drop its legal challenge of the faculty’s right to unionize — a key demand of the Association of McGill Professors of Law — if the union agrees to negotiate working conditions collectively with other employee associations at the school.

McGill’s administration sent an email to law school students this morning saying the union must agree today to end its strike or the university will cancel courses taught by union members as of Oct. 1.

The university says it’s not plausible that classes could begin two months into the semester and still finish on time.

The McGill Law Students’ Association says the university’s offer is “nothing more than smoke and mirrors,” and says both McGill and the union need to be more flexible.

Quebec’s labour tribunal certified the law professors’ union in November 2022, but the union has yet to secure its first collective agreement.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 30, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

LONDON (AP) — Actor Damian Lewis drove a flock of sheep across the River Thames on Sunday in homage to a centuries-old tradition.

Lewis is among thousands of people granted the honorary title of Freeman of the City of London, which in medieval times came with the right to bring livestock across the river to market without paying tolls.

More than 1,000 freemen exercised that right on Sunday in the annual London Sheep Drive, many wearing black hats and red cloaks. Lewis wore his grandfather’s wool coat and carried a crook as he led the throng herding the animals over Southwark Bridge.

“It was fabulous,” said Lewis, star of “Band of Brothers,” “Homeland” and “Wolf Hall.”

Lewis was asked to represent the Worshipful Company of Woolmen, a trade guild dating to the 12th century. He said he was pleased to be part of “this eccentric, very British day, honoring an old tradition.”

Manny Cohen, Master Woolman at the Worshipful Company of Woolmen, said the ancient sheep-driving tradition was revived about 15 years ago and has become a major charity fundraising event.

There are no plans to bring back other ancient freemen’s privileges such as the right to carry an unsheathed sword in public and to be escorted home if found drunk.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.