Special interlocutor calls for 20-year probe into missing Indigenous children

OTTAWA – A final report is set to be released today by Canada’s special interlocutor for missing children and unmarked graves associated with residential schools.

Kimberly Murray, who has been serving in the role for two years, will speak with Justice Minister Arif Virani at a gathering in Gatineau, Que.

More than 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend residential schools, the last of which closed in 1996.

An estimated 6,000 children died in the schools, though experts say the actual number could be much higher.

In recent years, communities have been searching the grounds of former residential schools in hopes of bringing their missing children home.

In an interim report last year, Murray documented attacks from denialists on communities exploring possible discoveries of unmarked graves, and her final report is expected to deliver recommendations on how communities can be supported in their work.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 29, 2024.

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MONTREAL – A legislature member with the Coalition Avenir Québec government is closing her riding office north of Montreal indefinitely because she fears for her safety and the safety of her employees.

Sylvie D’Amours says that for years she and her team have been victims of threats and mischief, adding that most recently “projectiles” were fired through her riding office windows.

There has been a notable rise in vulgarity and other types of harassment against Quebec politicians in recent years, and D’Amours says she thinks the government’s plan to update flood zone maps may be tied to the violence against her team.

In a lengthy Facebook post today, the representative for Mirabel says communities like hers are working off outdated flood maps and that climate change has increased flooding risks across the province.

D’Amours says that a lot of misinformation is circulating online about the government’s plans, and she called on residents to be respectful and not to give in to panic.

Quebecers are worried that their properties will be included in the new flood maps, making it more difficult to obtain insurance and leading to other financial headaches.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 29, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Militants attacked a health center used in an ongoing anti-polio campaign in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, triggering a shootout that left two police officers dead, local authorities said. Three of the attackers were also killed in the exchange of fire.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in Orakzai, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban.

Local police officer Adnan Khan said the attack happened in the morning as health workers were gathering ahead of leaving for the door-to-door campaign along with police, who escort polio teams for their safety.

No polio worker was harmed in Tuesday’s attack but another police officer who was wounded later died at a hospital, Khan added.

The attack drew condemnation from the country’s top political leadership, including President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who paid tributes to the slain officers for bravely responding to the attack.

Also Tuesday, militants stormed a health center in North Waziristan, another former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, snatched guns from officers and warned health workers who had gathered there not to take part in the anti-polio campaign, local police officer Shoib Khan said.

The attackers then left with the weapons they seized, he said, without offering more details.

Militants in Pakistan often target police and health workers during campaigns against polio, claiming the vaccination drives are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where the spread of polio has never been stopped.

In severe cases, polio can cause permanent paralysis and death.

Pakistan on Monday launched another nationwide polio drive to vaccinate 45 million children under age 5 after a surge in new cases. The campaign is the third this year.

Pakistan has recorded 41 cases across 71 districts so far this year, mostly in the southwestern Balochistan and southern Sindh provinces, as well as in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and eastern Punjab province.

In Afghanistan, local health authorities said Monday that vaccinations have started in 16 of the country’s 34 provinces. The campaign will last three days and target 6.2 million children under the age of 5, according to spokesperson Sharafat Zaman.

There have been 23 confirmed cases in Afghanistan this year, according to the World Health Organization.

Insurgents and separatists also target security forces and civilians in various parts of the country.

In the latest attack, gunmen on Monday night fatally shot five construction workers assigned to repair a dam in Banjgur, a district in the southwestern Balochistan province, according to a government statement. It provided no further details, and it was not clear who was behind the attack.

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Associated Press writer Abdul Sattar in Quetta, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

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