The Department of Social Development in Access To Information research says Indigenous people overall are eleven times more likely to use a homeless shelter than other Canadians. The data “mark the first time this issue has been investigated to this depth”, wrote staff.
The people of Hamilton
look at Ottawa
with envy.
Ottawa has a Light Rail Transit.
Hamilton does not,
and would not have any
in the near future.
The Province promised them
one billion dollars for the project,
then cancelled it.
“That’s a betrayal,”
says Mayor Eisenberger.
Now Hamiltonians
are stuck with buses.
The people of Ottawa
look at Hamilton
with envy.
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)
Cabinet yesterday gave no indication it will quickly recall Parliament from its holiday recess after blaming Iran’s military for killing 63 Canadians. “Just wondering if the government considers this an act of war?” a reporter asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “I think it’s too early to draw definitive conclusions like that one,” replied Trudeau.
Library and Archives Canada paid a fifty percent premium for a Hitler book without verifying it was authentic, according to Access To Information records. The same volume was withdrawn from sale at a U.S. auction in 2011: “Fake Hitler ex libris stamps are abundant.”
The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has ordered a British Columbia First Nation to pay $30,000 after its chief called a woman councilor a “white bastard”. The Tribunal described the incident as outrageous: “Discrimination is not usually committed openly.”
The Bank of Canada has polled public preparedness for rising interest rates. In-house research showed few Canadians lock in rates for terms longer than five years and “could be at risk”, said a report: “Borrowers may be exposed.”
A billion-dollar corporation received the largest grant to date under a federal program to compensate the dairy industry for impacts of free trade, according to Access To Information records. Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau had described subsidies as aid to small business: “The fund is helping.”
Cabinet yesterday approved another increase in stamp prices effective January 13. Successive hikes over the past decade have raised the cost of mailing a letter in Canada from 54 to 92¢, a seventy percent increase: “Businesses won’t walk away from Canada Post, they’ll run.”
A Nunavut commissioner is urging an immediate ban on government use of Gmail accounts. It follows the accidental disclosure the head of a territorial board used Gmail instead of a government email server to conduct public business: ‘There are legal obligations with respect to records.’
Federal employees who mistakenly get double their paid vacation days cannot bank the benefit, says a labour board. The ruling came in an appeal by a Coast Guard employee twice credited for the equivalent of three weeks’ holiday: “There was a significant error.”
The Privy Council Office billed taxpayers $12,450 for a Hollywood-style cocktail party honouring “excellence” by communications staff, according to Access To Information records. Plans for the three-hour event included red carpeting, velvet ropes and a master of ceremonies in a tuxedo. The Privy Council yesterday did not comment: “We would love to have a purple carpet, if possible, and balloons.”
Cabinet rejected a historic plaque for a 19th century Newfoundland bishop after a federal panel concluded his objective was to “grow the Catholic Church”, according to Access To Information records. The veto followed the Church’s rejection of a request by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that it apologize for Indian Residential Schools: “Nothing can be immune from review.”
Municipalities are annually dumping nearly 400 billion gallons of raw sewage, says the Department of the Environment. Québec led all other provinces in discharging sewage that failed to meet federal regulations for water safety: “Why do we have them if they are not regulated?”
The Federal Court of Appeal has brought a quiet close to fourteen years of litigation by a grief-stricken family in an immigration case. Judges dismissed a claim for $300 million in damages by Chinese parents who lost their only son to suicide hours after he was ordered deported from Canada: “Schizophrenia is one of the most widely misunderstood and feared illnesses in society.”
Cabinet’s signature ecological program is so haphazard federal agencies did not spend millions budgeted to enforce it, says a Department of Transport audit. The $1.5 billion Oceans Protection Plan was launched in 2016; auditors counted numerous staff meetings but few results: “We could not verify who attended meetings.”
