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Trudeau welcomes talk of Russia’s action in Ukraine as genocide

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OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has weighed in on growing calls to declare Russia’s actions in Ukraine as genocide, saying it is “absolutely right” that the term is being used given rampant allegations of war crimes and other human rights violations.

Trudeau made the comments during a news conference in Laval, Que., on Wednesday, after U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters the previous day that Russia’s conduct in Ukraine appeared to his eyes to be a genocide.

While both North American leaders said it will be up to lawyers to determine whether Russia’s actions meet the international standard for genocide, they were nonetheless united in welcoming use of the term.

“As President Biden highlighted, there are official processes around determinations of genocide,” Trudeau said. “But I think it’s absolutely right that more and more people be talking and using the word ‘genocide’ in terms of what Russia is doing.”

The prime minister went on to list a series of war crimes and human rights violations allegedly perpetrated by Russian forces under the direction of President Vladimir Putin, including deliberate attacks on civilians and the use of sexual violence.

“They’re attacking Ukrainian identity and culture,” Trudeau said. “These are all things that are war crimes that Putin is responsible for. These are all things that are crimes against humanity.”

He went on to say that Canada has dispatched RCMP investigators to help the International Criminal Court collect evidence to ultimately hold Putin and other Russian leaders to account.

Biden last week had stopped short of saying Russia’s actions amounted to genocide, but reversed course in a speech on Tuesday.

“Yes, I called it genocide,” he told reporters in Iowa shortly before boarding Air Force 1 to return to Washington. “It’s become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being a Ukrainian.”

The U.S. president said it would be up to lawyers to decide if Russia’s conduct met the international standard for genocide, as Ukrainian officials have claimed, but added, “it sure seems that way to me.”

“More evidence is coming out literally of the horrible things that the Russians have done in Ukraine, and we’re only going to learn more and more about the devastation and let the lawyers decide internationally whether or not it qualifies,” he said.

A United Nations treaty, to which Canada and the U.S. are parties, defines genocide as actions taken with the “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.”

Canadian experts were united Wednesday in their belief that Russia’s actions do qualify as genocide given public comments from Putin and other Russian leaders denying the existence of a Ukrainian culture and identity.

Yet world leaders have often dodged formally declaring bloody campaigns such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as genocide, hesitating to trigger an obligation that requires countries to intervene once genocide is formally identified.

In 1994, that obligation was seen as blocking former U.S. president Bill Clinton from declaring Rwandan Hutus’ killing of 800,000 ethnic Tutsis as a genocide.

Kyle Matthews, executive director of the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies at Concordia University, said there remains a debate around whether a formal legal finding of genocide is required for intervention or not.

“Some legal scholars will want to say: ‘It has to go through a legal process,’” Matthews said. “Others will say: ‘No, actually, if there are certain things that we’re seeing … then we can consider it as possible genocide and we must take action to at least halt that.”

Even then, the exact action remains undefined.

University of Ottawa professor Errol Mendes, who previously served as a lawyer at the International Criminal Court, suggested talk of genocide could be used to justify further actions to punish and isolate Russia and additional support to Ukraine.

That includes further bans on the purchase of Russian oil and gas, particularly in places like Germany, Mendes said, and the provision of additional heavy weapons to the Ukrainian military.

“There’s a lot of questions that should be asked now by the leaders who are willing to use the word genocide,” he said. “And you can’t just say ‘genocide’ without doing anything further.”

The U.S. last year formally accused the Chinese government of genocide in its treatment of Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities, which has led to a series of American sanctions against Beijing.

While Trudeau and his cabinet abstained from a House of Commons motion along the same lines in February 2021, Matthews noted the abstentions coincided with efforts to free two Canadians who had been detained by China. They were later freed.

Biden’s allegations that Russia’s actions in Ukraine appear to constitute genocide have drawn praise from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who had encouraged Western leaders to use the term to describe Russia’s invasion of his country.

“True words of a true leader,” he tweeted Tuesday. “Calling things by their names is essential to stand up to evil. We are grateful for U.S. assistance provided so far and we urgently need more heavy weapons to prevent further Russian atrocities.”

French President Emmanuel Macron declined to take his rhetoric that far in comments Wednesday.

“I am prudent with terms today,” Macron said. “Genocide has a meaning. … I look at the facts, and I want to continue to try the utmost to be able to stop the war and restore peace. I’m not sure if the escalation of words serves our cause.”

Macron added that it’s been established the Russian army has committed war crimes in Ukraine.

Russia, meanwhile, announced new sanctions Wednesday against 87 Canadian senators, banning them from being able to enter the country, in an apparent tit-for-tat retaliation after Canada took aim at Russian senators last month.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 13, 2022.

— with files from The Associated Press

 

Lee Berthiaume, The Canadian Press

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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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