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Memorial University chair resigns after sharing pro-Palestinian email with alum’s dad

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ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – The chair of the board of regents at Memorial University in Newfoundland and Labrador has resigned after he was criticized for forwarding a pro-Palestinian campaign email he received from an alumna to her father.

Glenn Barnes’ resignation took effect on Thursday. In a statement on the university’s website, the board said members held a special meeting Tuesday during which they concluded Barnes had breached their code of conduct when he shared the email in June.

“The board thanks Mr. Barnes for his seven years of service and steadfast commitment to Memorial as a regent since 2017 and as chair since 2022,” the statement said.

“As previously indicated, the privacy breach associated with this incident has been reported to the provincial Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner as per legislative requirements.”

Becky Winsor sent a campaign email to Barnes on June 21 that said she stood with the activist group MUN Students for Palestine and their calls for the university to divest from “weapons manufacturing companies implicated in the genocide in Gaza,” in reference to the Israel-Hamas war. She sent the email by clicking on a link supplied by the group.

In emails shared with The Canadian Press, Barnes forwarded Winsor’s message to her father at 3:44 a.m. the next day, writing, “90 so far. This is personally intrusive and insulting to a volunteer board!”

Winsor’s father wrote back, advising Barnes to raise the issue directly with the alumna. Barnes replied that he had received more than 100 such emails.

“I am telling parents that I know just what their kids are doing,” Barnes wrote. “They need to grow up.”

After investigating, the university’s privacy office concluded last month that a member of the board of regents had made an “unauthorized disclosure” of a third-party email. It recommended privacy training and said the matter had been referred to the province’s privacy watchdog.

Earlier this month, the province’s Opposition Progressive Conservative party called for Barnes to be removed. The union representing the school’s faculty followed suit, saying Barnes should at least be ousted until the code of conduct investigation was complete.

The board of regents is responsible for the conduct, management, administration and control of the university’s property, revenue and business, according to the school’s website. Its chair is appointed by the province’s lieutenant-governor.

Krista Lynn Howell, the Liberal education minister, said in a news release Thursday that her department will “work expeditiously” to have a new chair appointed.

“I accept the resignation of Mr. Barnes,” Howell said. “This has been a challenging time of change at Memorial, but I have seen positive enhancements and a willingness to improve transparency at the university and for the overall student experience.”

The email gaffe comes after a difficult few years for the school, which included a controversial tuition hike, a faculty strike and the departure last year of its former president, Vianne Timmons, after questions arose about her claims of Indigenous heritage.

Barnes did not respond to a request for comment Thursday. He has previously said he did not wish to speak publicly on the matter.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 15, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Canada’s Denis Shapovalov wins Belgrade Open for his second ATP Tour title

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BELGRADE, Serbia – Canada’s Denis Shapovalov is back in the winner’s circle.

The 25-year-old Shapovalov beat Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic 6-4, 6-4 in the Belgrade Open final on Saturday.

It’s Shapovalov’s second ATP Tour title after winning the Stockholm Open in 2019. He is the first Canadian to win an ATP Tour-level title this season.

His last appearance in a tournament final was in Vienna in 2022.

Shapovalov missed the second half of last season due to injury and spent most of this year regaining his best level of play.

He came through qualifying in Belgrade and dropped just one set on his way to winning the trophy.

Shapovalov’s best results this season were at ATP 500 events in Washington and Basel, where he reached the quarterfinals.

Medjedovic was playing in his first-ever ATP Tour final.

The 21-year-old, who won the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF title last year, ends 2024 holding a 9-8 tour-level record on the season.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Talks to resume in B.C. port dispute in bid to end multi-day lockout

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VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.

The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.

The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.

The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.

The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.

MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.

In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.

“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.

“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”

In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.

“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.

The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.

“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”

The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.

The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.

A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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The Royal Canadian Legion turns to Amazon for annual poppy campaign boost

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The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.

Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.

Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.

Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.

“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.

“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”

Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.

“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.

Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.

“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”

But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.

Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.

“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.

Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.

The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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