Emergencies Act inquiry, sport abuse complaints in limbo: In The News for Oct. 20

Ferguson is expected to tell the commission about challenges and internal disputes within the police service during the convoy, and how policing efforts were impacted as a result.

And it is anticipated that Abrams will provide a candid view of policing operations during the protests, and some insight into how the different police forces were interacting with one another.

Documents filed with the inquiry show that police intelligence reports warned the protesters were prepared to stay for a “long time” after their arrival in the capital Jan. 28.

The federal Liberals declared an emergency under the act on Feb. 14, granting police extraordinary temporary powers in an attempt to clear the protesters occupying downtown streets outside Parliament Hill.

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Also this …

Canada’s new sport integrity commissioner says she can’t investigate most of the complaints she has received so far, because the sporting organizations involved haven’t signed on to work with her office.

Sarah-Ève Pelletier says that affects 16 of the 24 complaints filed with her office since it began receiving complaints in June.

Sport Minister Pascale St-Onge has given all national sporting bodies until April to formally agree to work with the integrity commissioner.

Pelletier says she believes more organizations will join the system this fall, and the complaints she has received will be held so they can be investigated when that happens.

Pelletier is also working to launch larger assessments looking for systemic issues of abuse in specific organizations.

Liberal MP and former sport minister Kirsty Duncan wants the government to hold a public inquiry to look at the issue as a whole rather than a sport-by-sport process.

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And this too …

The Supreme Court of Canada will announce today whether it plans to hear a case of residential school survivors who have fought a years-long battle against Ottawa to release thousands of records.

The group of survivors from St. Anne’s residential school in northern Ontario is looking to the country’s highest court after spending the last decade fighting the federal government to hand over documents.

The survivors say that the government is in breach of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement because it withheld documentation of abuse when deciding upon their compensation.

The 2006 agreement between the federal government, residential school survivors, the Assembly of First Nations and churches governed what financial recompense survivors would receive.

Documentary evidence was supposed to help determine the payments made to those who suffered physical and sexual abuse while being forced to attend the church-run, government-funded institutions.

St. Anne’s operated in Fort Albany First Nation until 1976 and is remembered for horrific stories of abuse.

Edmund Metatawabin, a survivor and former chief of the First Nation, said that children at the school were sexually abused, punished with shocks delivered by electric chairs and forced to eat their own vomit.

In its fillings, the group of St. Anne’s survivors alleges that “there have been significant procedural and jurisdictional gaps exposed in the administration and enforcement of Canada’s mandatory disclosure obligations” to each claimant under the residential schools settlement agreement.

In 2014, about 60 claimants successfully challenged the federal government for not disclosing the transcripts of criminal trials, investigative reports from the Ontario Provincial Police and civil proceedings about child abuse as part of the compensation process.

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What we are watching in the U.S. …

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Police at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday arrested a Georgia man who they say had several guns in his van and claimed to be in Washington to deliver documents to the Supreme Court.

Tony H. Payne, 80, of Tunnel Hill, Georgia, was arrested on charges of possessing an unregistered firearm, possessing unregistered ammunition, and carrying a pistol without a license.

His arrest came after police surrounded his van _ which officials said was illegally parked _ and shut down several streets around the Capitol and Supreme Court for hours.

Police said Payne’s van came to their attention shortly before 4 p.m. as a “suspicious vehicle” that was illegally parked on Capitol grounds.

Police initially detained Payne and two other people when Payne admitted to having guns in the white van. The other two people were released without charges.

Inside the van, police found two handguns and a shotgun, authorities said.

The people detained by police told investigators they “were here to deliver documents to the U.S. Supreme Court,” police said.

Investigators conducted an extensive search of the van after they found “a pipe and containers” inside, but the vehicle was eventually cleared.

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What we are watching in the rest of the world …

JERUSALEM (AP) _ Jewish West Bank settlers stormed through a Palestinian town in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli military said Thursday, throwing stones at Palestinian cars and using pepper spray on Israeli troops who were trying to disperse the settlers.

The settler rampage late Wednesday comes days after a similar incident in the same area and as Israeli-Palestinian tensions are surging over Israeli raids in the West Bank and an uptick in shooting attacks by Palestinians.

The rampage took place near Huwara, a Palestinian town in the northern West Bank near the city of Nablus, where a group of disaffected youth has taken up arms against Israel and in frustration with the Palestinian leadership’s close security ties to it.

Palestinian militants in the area have carried out several roadside shootings in recent weeks. The area is home to a number of hard line settlements, whose residents often intimidate Palestinians and vandalize their property.

Critics accuse Israel of turning a blind eye to settler violence against Palestinians and treating them with impunity, while being heavy-handed with Palestinian assailants or protesters. Settler violence has in the past also led to confrontations with soldiers which often sparks condemnations from politicians but rarely leads to a solution to the problem.

The military said dozens of settlers ran through the town, throwing rocks at Palestinian cars. The settlers used pepper spray on the battalion commander as well as another soldier. The settlers sprayed another two soldiers at a nearby checkpoint, the military said.

The violence comes as tensions between Israelis and Palestinians have surged in recent months.

More than 120 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli-Palestinian fighting in the West Bank and East Jerusalem this year, making 2022 the deadliest year since 2015.

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On this day in 1992 …

The first World Series game outside the United States was played in Toronto between the Blue Jays and the Atlanta Braves. The Jays won 3-2 and went on to take the series in six games.

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In entertainment …

Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard is set to be sentenced today after being found guilty earlier this year of sexually assaulting an Ottawa woman.

The Crown is seeking a sentence between six and seven years behind bars while the defence wants three to four years.

The prosecution argues Hoggard is a risk to the public while the defence points to a psychiatric report that says he is a low risk to reoffend.

The 2016 sexual assault took place in a Toronto hotel room and the Ottawa woman told Hoggard’s sentencing hearing that what happened will haunt her for the rest of her life.

Hoggard had also been charged with sexual assault causing bodily harm in the case of a teenage fan, as well as sexual interference involving that complainant but was found not guilty on those offences.

The 38-year-old Hedley frontman had pleaded not guilty to all charges.

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Did you see this?

One of two candidates running for the British Columbia NDP leadership has been disqualified, clearing the way for former attorney general David Eby to become premier of the province.

A news release Wednesday following a meeting of the NDP executive and issued on behalf of party president Aaron Sumexheltza said Anjali Appadurai is out of the running for the leadership as a sanction for violating the rules.

A report by NDP chief electoral officer Elizabeth Cull obtained by The Canadian Press concluded Appadurai “engaged in serious improper conduct” by working with third parties for membership drives on her behalf.

The report concluded that the harm from the misconduct can’t be remedied with anything short of disqualification of the Appadurai Campaign.

Sumexheltza’s statement said the party executive voted to support the chief electoral officer’s recommendations.

He said this has been a challenging period for members of the party and he thanked Cull and the party’s table officers and the executive for their dedication.

“I know they did not make this decision lightly.”

Board members met for several hours Wednesday night before releasing the decision.

“As there is only one approved candidate in the leadership race, the CEO is considering moving up the election date and will have more to say on this tomorrow,” the statement said.

Eby will replace Premier John Horgan, who said he would leave his post for health reasons in December when the leadership vote was scheduled.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 20, 2022

The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Emergencies Act inquiry, sport abuse complaints in limbo: In The News for Oct. 20

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