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Watchdog Warns DOGE Cuts to FAA Make Next Airline Disaster 'More Likely'
"Maybe in the DOGE boys' video game simulations, it doesn't matter if they lay off hundreds of staff from the FAA. In the real world, however, it will make flying less safe," said Public Citizen's Robert Weissman.
Feb 17, 2025
As the Trump administration began firing hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration employees amid a surge in plane crashes, a leading U.S. consumer advocacy group warned Monday that the slash-and-burn approach of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency is making the "next air travel disaster more likely."
While Musk recently said that DOGE will "aim to make rapid safety upgrades to the air traffic control system," critics have countered that the Trump administration's termination of FAA personnel, including critical air traffic control maintenance staff, poses major risks.
"Maybe in the DOGE boys' video game simulations, it doesn't matter if they lay off hundreds of staff from the FAA. In the real world, however, it will make flying less safe," Public Citizen co-president Robert Weissman said in a statement. "Just like having fewer people safeguarding the nation's nuclear arsenal will make the risk of a nuclear accident much greater."
Elon’s DOGE rampage will be a wake up call for what a decimated government really means. Cuts to FAA? Higher risk of plane crashes. Cuts to Forest Service? Higher fire risk. Cuts to the CDC? Higher pandemic risk. Cuts to the EPA? Higher toxic exposures risk — and on and on.
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— Public Citizen (@publiccitizen.bsky.social) February 17, 2025 at 11:03 AM
Weissman continued:
The Musk rampage through government is making it virtually certain that we will suffer through otherwise avoidable health, safety, and economic catastrophes. Cutting the Forest Service increases fire risk, cutting the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and blocking information-sharing risks worsening infectious disease outbreaks, cutting the [Consumer Financial Protection Bureau] guarantees Big Bank and predatory loan ripoffs, cutting [Food and Drug Administration] staff increases the risk for dangerous devices, drugs, and food additives, cutting the [Environmental Protection Agency] will increase the risk of mass toxic exposures, and on and on.
"If permitted to proceed, the mindless Musk-Trump governmental annihilation is going to touch every American community, imposing tragedy upon tragedy," Weissman added.
In a Monday social media post, U.S. Congressman Don Beyer (D-Va.) said that "mass firings of FAA workers—at a time when they already have serious staffing problems—would be dangerous at any time," but "Musk and Trump doing this weeks after the deadliest crash in years is stupid beyond belief."
Public Citizen's warning came on the same day that a Delta Air Lines flight from Minneapolis to Toronto crashed and overturned on landing. The FAA said all 80 people aboard the flight were rescued. At least a dozen people were injured in the crash, three of them critically, according to the Toronto Star.
While the FAA firings were not a factor in Monday's accident, the Toronto crash was the latest in a recent surge in air disasters. Last month, 67 people were killed when an American Airlines jet and an army helicopter collided at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C. According to initial reports, only one air traffic controller was working both civilian and military flights when the crash occurred.
On January 31, seven people died when a medical transport jet crashed near Philadelphia, 10 people were killed in a February 6 Bering Air commuter flight crash in Alaska, and one person died when a private plane belonging to Mötley Crüe singer Vince Neil crashed during landing in Arizona last Monday after its landing gear failed to properly deploy.
We condemn the decision to fire these safety inspectors. Everywhere I go I am asked, “is it safe to fly?” My response is yes because thousands of frontline workers ask that all day long. If federal workers can’t do their jobs, we can’t do ours. 1/2 www.passnational.org/index.php/ne...
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— Sara Nelson (@flyingwithsara.bsky.social) February 15, 2025 at 1:59 PM
David Spero, national president of Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, the union representing more than 11,000 FAA and Defense Department personnel who install, inspect, and maintain air traffic control systems, said in a statement Saturday that the Trump administration's terminations "will increase the workload and place new responsibilities on a workforce that is already stretched thin."
"This decision did not consider the staffing needs of the FAA, which is already challenged by understaffing," Spero added. "Staffing decisions should be based on an individual agency's mission-critical needs. To do otherwise is dangerous when it comes to public safety. And it is especially unconscionable in the aftermath of three deadly aircraft accidents in the past month."
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55,000 Ontario Education Workers Strike Despite 'Draconian' New Anti-Labor Law
"Doug Ford and his government are once again telling workers across the province that their rights don't matter," said one Canadian labor leader.
Nov 04, 2022
Defying new legislation fast-tracked by right-wing Ontario Premier Doug Ford outlawing strikes, more than 55,000 education workers in the Canadian province hit the picket lines Friday, vowing to stay in the streets for "as long as it takes" to secure a contract they feel is fair.
"We need our voices to be heard and for the government to realize this is not acceptable."
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) launched what it called "a wake-up call and a call to arms for organized labor across Canada" after Ontario's Progressive Conservative government on Thursday enacted Bill 28--the Keeping Students in Class Act--which imposes contracts on CUPE members and prohibits them from striking on pain of a $3,000(USD) daily fine per employee and up to a $371,000(USD) penalty for the union.
The new law also utilizes the notwithstanding clause to shield against constitutional challenges. The controversial legal mechanism has only been invoked twice in Ontario's history--both times under Ford.
Liberal Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called Bill 28 an "attack on one of the most basic rights available, that of collective bargaining."
CUPE national president Mark Hancock said in a statement that "this isn't just about education workers, this is about the rights of all working people across the country."
"The message from our leaders here in Ontario is clear," Hancock added. "Our members are united, and they intend to fight--and they have Canada's largest union in their corner and we are going to fight alongside them."
CUPE national secretary-treasurer Candace Rennick said that "now is a moment for us to ask ourselves what kind of union we want to be, in the face of the worst piece of legislation we've ever seen leveled at the labor movement."
"Our members have spoken," she added. "They are prepared to fight. They aren't part of the largest union in the country for nothing. We are going to have their backs, and we'll stand with them for as long as it takes."
According to the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL):
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms enshrines Canadians' right to a free and fair collective bargaining process, and the Supreme Court of Canada has found that the right to exercise economic sanctions (i.e., the right to strike) forms an integral part of that process. In addition to violating workers' constitutional right to strike, the Keeping Students in Class Act enforces a concessionary contract on Ontario's 55,000 education workers--the lowest paid workers in the education system--many of whom are women workers and workers of color.
The bill unilaterally imposes woefully low wage increases--well below inflation--on low-income employees who have previously been subjected to three years of 1% increases... inadequate protections against job cuts; no paid prep time for education workers who work directly with students; a cut to the sick leave/short-term disability plan; and many other imposed terms which penalize employees. All told the imposed compensation changes amount to a mere $200 in the pockets of workers earning on average $39,000 and facing 7% inflation.
Karen Brown, president of the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario, said that by enacting a law that forces a contract on CUPE members, the Ford administration has chosen the "most draconian manner of legislating away two fundamental rights protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: the right to bargain collectively, and the right to strike."
"The Ford government has signaled it is uninterested in reaching collective agreements that are negotiated freely and fairly," she added. "And its oppressive use of the notwithstanding clause is another flagrant abuse of power--one that continues to attack democracy by trampling on Ontarians' constitutional rights."
Thousands of demonstrators turned out in Toronto's Queen's Park on Friday to denounce the Ford administration and show solidarity with the striking workers.
"We need our voices to be heard and for the government to realize this is not acceptable," Maria Gallant, a school secretary, told CBC News. "We are just asking to be paid what we deserve, nothing more."
Protesters also rallied outside the office of Education Minister Stephen Lecce in Vaughan.
"You cannot rip away the rights of workers and expect... that we are just going to take it sitting down," Laura Walton, president of CUPE's Ontario School Board Council of Unions, told Global News.
Others expressed support for the strike on social media.
Birgit Uwaila Umaigba, an intensive care unit and emergency room nurse who is also clinical course director at Centennial College in Toronto, dropped by a picket line to "protect our democracy."
"Doug Ford and his retrogressive conservative government crossed the line by enacting Bill 28 and banning 55,000 CUPE members from exercising their fundamental right to strike," she tweeted.
OFL announced a "Solidarity Saturday" day of action in the province, calling Bill 28 "a full-frontal attack on basic labor freedoms in Ontario."
"Today is a dark day for Ontario workers. By introducing this legislation before education workers have even exercised their charter-protected right to strike, the Ford government is attempting to short-circuit the bargaining process and strip workers of a fundamental freedom," OFL president Patty Coates said in a statement.
"Doug Ford and his government are once again telling workers across the province that their rights don't matter," she added.
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Canadian Activists Pour 'River of Blood' on Israeli Consulate Steps to Symbolize Devastation Across Palestine
"The death and destruction inflicted by Israel in Gaza, as well as the heightened violence by Israel across Palestine, cannot be washed away."
May 21, 2021
Jewish Canadians and allies on Friday symbolically poured a "river of blood" on the steps of the Israeli consulate in Toronto to represent the human carnage in Gaza over recent days--and across historic Palestine for decades--as they demanded the Canadian government end its support for the Israeli government's violent policies.
The demonstration was led by World Beyond War, Independent Jewish Voices, Just Peace Advocates, and the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute.
"We are making the violence of Israel's brutal occupation, military attacks, and ethnic cleansing visible right here on the consulate's doorstep."
--Rachel Small, World Beyond War
The protest came a day after diplomats brokered a ceasefire between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Hamas--a temporary reprieve that was desperately needed following an 11-day assault in which more than 230 Palestinians, including 65 children, were killed and nearly 2,000 wounded. According to Israeli authorities, 12 people were killed in recent days by Hamas rockets.
While the ceasefire was welcomed by Canadian advocates for Palestinian rights, Rabbi David Mivasair of Independent Jewish Voices said, "the ceasefire doesn't end the injustice and oppression."
"It can no longer be business as normal at Israel's consulates in Canada," said Mivasair. "The death and destruction inflicted by Israel in Gaza, as well as the heightened violence by Israel across Palestine, cannot be washed away. This belligerence is the latest in an ongoing aggressive 73-year settler-colonization project by Israel across historic Palestine."
"Red paint streaming from the Israeli consulate onto the street in Toronto represents the blood of massacred innocent Palestinian civilians, the blood on Israel's hands," said the groups in a joint statement. "As Canadians, we demand that our government holds Israel accountable for war crimes and stops the Canada-Israel arms trade."
Canada has exported $57 million in weapons to Israel since 2015, including $16 million in bomb-making materials. The Canadian government also recently signed a contract to buy drones from the same Israeli company that supplies 85% of the drones used by the IDF to surveil and attack Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
"Jews in our communities in Canada are overcome with grief and anger," said Mivasair. "Many of us stand in solidarity with our Palestinian siblings. We say loud and clear, 'not in our name.' Israel can no longer continue to commit these atrocities in the name of the Jewish people."
By pouring red paint on the steps of the Israeli consulate, said Rachel Small, an organizer with World Beyond War, "We are making it impossible for anyone to enter and exit Israeli government offices here without directly confronting the violence and bloodshed they are complicit in."
"We are making the violence of Israel's brutal occupation, military attacks, and ethnic cleansing visible right here on the consulate's doorstep," Small said.
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The Birth of a Bill, the Death of an Activist
Regan's viewpoint, known as intersectionality, is the theory that all forms of oppression, discrimination, domination etc., intersect and influence each other.
Jul 18, 2020
On June 19, a protester was killed. Perhaps her death was obscured by the din of headlines that Friday--it was Juneteenth, a day marking the end of slavery.
Protests against systemic racism catalyzed by the death of George Floyd juxtaposed with a Trump rally scheduled on the anniversary and in the location of the worst incident of racial violence in the U.S. Tensions were high.
Her name was Regan Russell and while participating in a scheduled vigil outside of Fearmans slaughterhouse in Burlington, she was run down by a transport truck carrying pigs on their way to slaughter.
In the news covering this event, and in conversations I've had with friends and family, it seems the significance of a protester being run down by the very thing she was protesting has been missed. It seems many wonder what she was doing there.
A local news story gives the following account from someone who witnessed the event from a distance: "Then I saw a woman ... I assumed the truck driver thought he was clear to go and didn't see that last protester."
Ironically, being seen is an important goal of the vigils held by animal rights groups at slaughterhouses--one way to create more visibility in an industry that would prefer to keep its practices hidden. And Regan was unignorable.
But she was also there that day to protest Bill 156--a new ag-gag law that had been passed two days earlier. Criticized as unconstitutional, Bill 156 is handcrafted to stifle damning evidence of the cruelty that is endemic to animal agriculture, with provisions that are distinctly anti-whistle-blower and anti-free-speech.
Like its counterpart, Bill 27 in Alberta, Bill 156 represents the influence of a powerful farming lobby desperately trying to limit exposure of something that can harm their bottom line -- visibility into how the animal agriculture industry works. These sections don't serve to protect the animals or reinforce biosecurity; they serve the sole purpose of controlling information.
The day before she died, Regan wrote on social media: "Bill 156 has passed. Now anytime an animal is suffering on a farm in Ontario, no one, not even an employee, has the right to expose it. This decision is evil. Animal ag is evil. Cancel animal agriculture."
I'm so sorry that you didn't get a chance to meet Regan Russell yourself. You would have loved her. I only hope that, in clearing up some of the questions about vigils, I can do her justice.
Regan didn't look like what I suppose you'd expect a vegan to look like. At 65, Regan still possessed the qualities that decades earlier had made her a model -- that is to say, her outer beauty was undeniable. But on the inside -- well, that was truly special. She was funny and fast-witted, kind and patient.
She vibrated on a high frequency, if you are familiar with the concept. She was cynical, in a wise way, yet optimistic enough to try to make a difference. For 40 years, she had tried to make a difference. A week prior to her death, she had marched at a Black Lives Matter rally.
You see, Regan's viewpoint, known as intersectionality, is the theory that all forms of oppression, discrimination, domination etc., intersect and influence each other. One of the signs she frequently brought to vigils read: "If you were in this truck, we'd be here for you too." And you know what? She would have.
Personally speaking, up until two years ago, I wouldn't have considered being an activist myself, despite being vegan for several years. It was my then 10-year old son -- frustrated because he had been forbidden to talk about animal agriculture at school, who begged me and his dad, also vegan, to take him to a vigil. It became our church. Every Sunday morning we went to bear witness at Fearmans -- sometimes with just a handful of people, sometimes in a group of 20 or more. Regan was almost always there too.
This leads me to an important point about Regan's experience -- as an activist, and specifically attending vigils at Fearmans, which she had done for years. This translates to hundreds of vigils, stopping thousands of transport trucks, bearing witness to the final moments of hundreds of thousands of pigs.
Regan understood the risks -- after all, rogue aggressive drivers had been encountered in the past. In fact, this issue was the impetus for a petition created by Toronto Pig Save on change.org urging Michael Latifi, the CEO of Fearmans/Sofina Foods Inc., to create a safety agreement allowing activists to safely protest. Although the request has been ignored to date, other efforts had been made by both Toronto Pig Save and another activist group, New Wave Activism, to liaise with police, work with security and establish rapport with drivers.
Safety protocol is reviewed regularly with the group. Every vigil is timed. Roles are assigned to protestors to improve safety. Regan had one of those roles that day -- standing at the entrance, just on the other side of the pedestrian sidewalk, with her now iconic bright neon sign that read ALL ANIMALS NEED PROTECTION UNDER THE LAW.
Although, thanks to the newly passed Bill 156, the ability to legally protect animals would soon be more difficult. It is a bill that exemplifies prioritization of commerce over our rights as Canadians and specifically seeks to punish animal activists. This reality was certainly top-of-mind for Regan and the other activists there that day -- as much as it was likely on the radar of those who profit from animal agriculture.
As you can imagine, losing Regan has been a devastating loss to the activism community, to Toronto Pig Save and New Wave Activism and to the many individuals who Regan touched with her beauty, wisdom and compassion. Personally, there hasn't been a day since that I haven't cried a tear or two hundred -- for the loss of a friend, and the loss of innocence, as I see for the first time just how unforgiving the machine we stand against can be.
And in the wake of Regan's death, we are emboldened to articulate our demands in her name:
Justice for Regan Russell; the creation of a universal safety protocol for all future vigils; the repeal of Bill 156; greater visibility into farms where animals are kept and slaughterhouses via 24/7 video; monitoring that can be accessed by the public; the conversion of Fearmans Pork into an exclusively plant-based facility focused on the manufacture of plant protein; and the defunding of animal agriculture.
On the captivity, Regan said: "They say we're breaking the law by storming? How do you think women got the right (to vote)? How do you think slavery was abolished? People stood up and broke the laws! Because they're stupid laws."
Let's stand up to this stupid law.
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'Against Colonial Violence and Land Theft,' Indigenous Activists and Allies Target Mining Industry Convention in Toronto
Demonstration held "in solidarity with every community that has found itself staring down the barrel of a gun for daring to oppose Canada's ongoing colonial project through resource extraction."
Feb 29, 2020
Hundreds of people led by Indigenous land defenders and a coalition of environmental groups worked to shut down a large mining industry convention in downtown Toronto on Sunday, blockading the entrances to the building where the meeting was taking place as they protested against "the extractive industry's violence, ongoing colonization, and complete disregard for the future of life on this planet."
Sunday's action--aimed at the Prospectors and Developers of Association of Canada (PDAC)--is the latest solidarity demonstration aligned with the Wet'suwet'en First Nation nation that remains locked in a fierce battle with the Canadian government over the controversial "Coastal Gas Link" fracked gas pipeline through unceded territory in northern British Colombia.
"From coast to coast we are rising up in solidarity with the Wet'suwet'en nation and against colonial violence and land theft," said Vanessa Gray, Anishinaabe Kwe Land Defender from Aamjiwnaang First Nation and one of the organizers of Sunday's demonstration. "It's clear that Canada is a state built on the removal of Indigenous people for resource extraction."
Organizers said the convention deserves to be targeted as the biggest one of its kind in the world, with PDAC drawing an estimated 25,000 people each year as it brings people from resource extraction companies together with funders and suppliers as well as law firms, politicians, and diplomats engaged in the industry. "The conference," said Mining Injustice in a statement, "is sponsored by mining giants known for their significant human rights and environmental abuses around the world."
According to Gray, "The very companies and people who provide the economic and political support for Coastal Gas Link are inside PDAC this year, and so are representatives from hundreds of other companies that are enacting violence around the world."
Not just for the Wet'suwet'en, she said the direct action was "in solidarity with every community that has found itself staring down the barrel of a gun for daring to oppose Canada's ongoing colonial project through resource extraction."
As the demonstrators attempted to blockade the entrance to the convention center, Toronto police stepped in:
"We want to make our voices heard and our presence seen because there are communities that this conference is directly impacting," Gray said. "The industry is doing mare harm than good for our future, our environment."
Kirsten Francescone, a member of MiningWatch Canada, told reporters ahead of the action: "I think, every day, the ecological crisis gets worse."
"We definitely cannot think that more destructive mines that violate human rights and destroys people's environments is our way out of that ecological crisis," Francescone added. "I am really concerned that the mining industry is using this space to say that we need mining to save us from climate change. We're here to say that shouldn't be the case. We want other kinds of ways forward for a better future for all of us."
While Francescone warned that the world is in "a moment of global ecological crisis, and unchecked resource extraction is a major cause," her fellow activist Rachel Small, who works with the Mining Injustice Solidarity Network, said the tide is turning.
"More and more people are seeing the colonial violence all around us for what it is, and recognize that PDAC and everything it stands for is fundamentally incompatible with the world we need to build," said Small. "From coast to coast people are also recognizing our collective power to fight back."
Along with First Nation allies and others, Small said: "We won't let Canada and the extractive industry at its helm continue to propel us towards a planet that is unlivable. We demand an end to all extractive violence that enables colonization of Indigenous land, forced displacement, violent repression, and wide scale contamination of land, water, and air. And that starts with disrupting PDAC today."
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Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, Advocate for Justice, Dies at 76
Wrongly convicted of murder by an all-white, famous ex-boxer became advocate for other prisoners
Apr 20, 2014
Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, the famous professional boxer who was wrongly convicted of murder by an all-white jury in 1967 but later exonerated, has died in Toronto at the age of 76.
"If I find a heaven after this life, I'll be quite surprised. In my own years on this planet, though, I lived in hell for the first 49 years, and have been in heaven for the past 28 years... To live in a world where truth matters and justice, however late, really happens, that world would be heaven enough for us all."
--Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter (1937-2014)
His death was confirmed by family friends close to the man whose journey of racially-charged imprisonment helped fuel the prisoner rights movement while becoming the subject of books, a famous Bob Dylan 70's protest song, and a feature Hollywood film.
According to the Associated Press:
He had been stricken with prostate cancer in Toronto, the New Jersey native's adopted home. John Artis, a longtime friend and caregiver, told The Canadian Press that Carter died in his sleep.
Carter spent 19 years in prison for three murders at a tavern in Paterson, N.J., in 1966. He was convicted alongside Artis in 1967 and again in a new trial in 1976.
Carter was freed in November 1985 when his convictions were set aside after years of appeals and public advocacy. His ordeal and the alleged racial motivations behind it were publicized in Bob Dylan's 1975 song "Hurricane," several books and a 1999 film starring Denzel Washington, who received an Academy Award nomination for playing the boxer turned prisoner.
Following his ultimate and final release from prison, Carter dedicated much of his life to helping other prisoners, working with the Canada-based Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted for which he served as executive director from 1999 to 2005.
In a statement, the AIDWYC expressed being "deeply saddened" by Carter's passing but celebrated his commitment to the cause of justice:
Rubin made it his life's mission to help others who had been wrongly convicted after his own exoneration for crimes he did not commit, but for which he spent 19 years in prison. Rubin's celebrity status as a championship boxer and his wrongful conviction generated significant media attention worldwide which helped draw attention to his work in Canada with AIDWYC. Rubin spent many years supporting the work of AIDWYC by reviewing cases, attending inquiries, participating in press conferences, supporting the wrongly convicted (both in Canada and abroad), and encouraging important changes in the Canadian and American criminal justice related to wrongful convictions. Rubin was the "face" of AIDWYC for many years and was devoted to raising awareness of these grave injustices. Rubin promoted and participated in every AIDWYC event and brought worldwide attention to our mission.
Rubin will be remembered by those at AIDWYC who were fortunate enough to have worked with him as a truly courageous man who fought tirelessly to free others who had suffered the same fate as he. We are honoured that Rubin played a significant role in the history of our organization. We will continue to fight against wrongful convictions, a battle that Rubin valiantly fought until the day he died.
Rest in peace Rubin, your battle is over but you will never be forgotten.
In an op-ed earlier this year--written from what he described as his literal "deathbed"--Carter said that his "single regret in life is that David McCallum of Brooklyn -- a man incarcerated in 1985, the same year I was released, and represented by Innocence International since 2004 -- is still in prison."
On McCallum's case and his own wrongful conviction, Carter wrote:
I was freed from a living hell by the brave Judge H. Lee Sarokin, after I was given help from dedicated people who did so for no payment beyond the thanks I was able to give.
McCallum was incarcerated two weeks after I was released, reborn into the miracle of this world. Now I'm looking death straight in the eye; he's got me on the ropes, but I won't back down.
I ask Thompson to look straight in the eye of truth, a tougher customer than death, and not back down either.
Just as my own verdict "was predicated on racism rather than reason and on concealment rather than disclosure," as Sarokin wrote, so too was McCallum's. My aim in helping this fine man is to pay it forward, to give the help that I received as a wrongly convicted man to another who needs such help now.
If I find a heaven after this life, I'll be quite surprised. In my own years on this planet, though, I lived in hell for the first 49 years, and have been in heaven for the past 28 years.
To live in a world where truth matters and justice, however late, really happens, that world would be heaven enough for us all.
The Bob Dylan version of the Rubin Carter story--titled "Hurricane" and released on his 1976 album Desire--helped the story rise to national prominence:
Bob Dylan - Hurricane 1975 [Live]Bob Dylan - Hurricane 1975 [Live]
And the film "Hurricane," starring Denzel Washington, was released in 1999:
The Hurricane (9/10) Movie CLIP - Rubin's Final Plea (1999) HDThe Hurricane movie clips: https://j.mp/15vNM9N BUY THE MOVIE: https://amzn.to/trwOw0 Don't miss the HOTTEST NEW ...
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Train Line Blockaded: Action Demands Justice for Missing, Murdered Women
Demonstration by Tyendinaga Mohawks highlights lack of federal action on deaths of over 800 aboriginal women
Mar 19, 2014
Similar actions have been held recently in response to a parliamentary report that failed to call for a full public inquiry into the deaths.
Wednesday's action by Tyendinaga Mohawks is taking place in the Napanee area of Ontario, and is affecting trains on the Toronto - Montreal and Toronto - Ottawa routes, according to a statement issued by VIA Rail.
Twitter user Jerome Lessar/ @JL1Intell was documenting the action on Twitter:
Presenting his annual report, James Anaya, UN Special Rapporteur on indigenous rights, warned in October that "there is a crisis in Canada when it comes to indigenous issues," and said he backed a federal inquiry into the "disturbing phenomenon" of missing and murdered aboriginal women.
Winnipeg-based writer Don Marks wrote last week that new research showing that "824 of our fellow citizens disappear[ed] without a major countrywide alarm or crisis" was "a complete indictment of our society."
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Canadian Govt Targets Environment NGOs
TORONTO - Job cuts totalling 1,000 at Environment Canada's climate change division this month means there will be even fewer government scientists onboard to monitor the impact of the extraction, development and transportation of crude oil from the carbon-intensive oil sands in Alberta.
Mar 17, 2014
The oil sands are a major source of fossil fuel emissions which are heating areas of the planet, including the Arctic.
"These audits are clearly designed to intimidate and disrupt their work." --Dennis Howlett
Ironically, this same department, just weeks earlier, produced new research confirming that toxic chemicals from oil sands tailing ponds covering 176 square kilometres in northern Alberta are leaching into the local groundwater and seeping into the Athabasca River.
But two experts on Canadian environmental policy say they expect fewer such studies to be financed by a Conservative government in Ottawa focused on the development of the Alberta oil sands.
"This government is taking out specific forms of [research] capacity and those are the kind of things we need to have if we are ever going to tackle climate change," said John Bennett, executive director of Sierra Club Canada.
"[With] any government that comes into power in the future, it's going to take them two or three years to get the staff, to review what they have to do," he told IPS.
Picking up the investigative slack but without the same amount of resources are the environmental NGOs such as the David Suzuki Foundation and the Pembina Institute, said Mark Winfield, a professor in the faculty of environmental studies at Toronto's York University.
"These functions of NGOs in the public policy process have become even more important as the capacity to provide evidence-based analysis -- contrary to what the current government wants to hear -- continues to be diminished in Ottawa," Winfield said in a recent blog post.
Enemies of the state?
Another aspect of this story, adds the Sierra Club's John Bennett, is the tendency by the Conservative government to direct unfounded "slurs" against the environment charities, the result of which could hurt their ability in the long term to get donations from philanthropic foundations, another significant source of funding.
In his lead-up to the February federal government 2014 budget, Minister Jim Flaherty told reporters, "There are some terrorist organisations, there are some organised crime organisations that launder money through charities, and make donations to charities."
But upon the budget release, no further details were offered by Flaherty with regards to his charges.
"We have never had ministers of crown accuse us of illegal activity without evidence," said Bennett.
"We have a very different situation under the present regime. It sees public interest organisations and not just environment ones [as] as political opponents, rather than contributors to public policy," he added.
Another aspect of this story, adds the Sierra Club's John Bennett, is the tendency by the Conservative government to direct unfounded "slurs" against the environment charities, the result of which could hurt their ability in the long term to get donations from philanthropic foundations, another significant source of funding.
In his lead-up to the February federal government 2014 budget, Minister Jim Flaherty told reporters, "There are some terrorist organisations, there are some organised crime organisations that launder money through charities, and make donations to charities."
But upon the budget release, no further details were offered by Flaherty with regards to his charges.
"We have never had ministers of crown accuse us of illegal activity without evidence," said Bennett.
"We have a very different situation under the present regime. It sees public interest organisations and not just environment ones [as] as political opponents, rather than contributors to public policy," he added.
He points for instance to a report by the Pembina Institute that offers evidence of a "significant increase" in fossil fuel emissions if a proposed west-east pipeline from Alberta to New Brunswick carrying crude oil from the oil sands is built.
Both Suzuki and Pembina are among several leading environmental organisations that have charitable status under Canadian tax regulation and thus are able to provide tax receipts for Canadians donating money for research into climate change, oil and gas development and other pollution issues.
However, since the 2011 federal election when Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative party won a parliamentary majority, these same NGOs have faced the prospect of losing their charitable status for allegedly straying past the legal 10 percent budget limit for political activity.
The federal government's rhetoric heated up when natural resources Minister Joe Oliver in early 2012 warned publicly of "radical" environmentalists "threaten[ing] to hijack our regulatory system to achieve their radical ideological agenda," with their opposition to proposed oil pipeline projects.
Oliver stated then that these same groups rely on funding from "foreign special interest groups."
Mark Winfield worries that CRA is raising "profound issues about the rights of Canadians," by its actions.
The scorecards that NGOs introduce at election time to compare the positions of the various political parties on specific environmental issues including climate change may represent a crossing of the fine line between research and political advocacy, said Philippe Brideau, a spokesperson for the Canada Revenue Agency.
"In general, the CRA would likely consider a charity that rates political parties to be carrying on a partisan political activity."
University of Toronto political scientist Nelson Weisman is not adverse to some restrictions, although he is uncomfortable with some of the government's rhetoric directed towards the NGOs.
"I think it is perfectly okay to publish data. But I am not sure it is proper to get tax money and get up and say 'the Conservatives are killing the environment,'" he told IPS.
At the same time, Weisman said he is not sure that Canadian organisations taking foreign money is necessarily illegal or even a bad thing.
"If there is some group that arises and wants to build democracy in the Ukraine, we want to give them some money. It could be illegal according to Ukrainian law. I suspect it is not illegal here."
Recently revealed internal documents indicate that the Canada Revenue Agency is investing 12 million dollars (U.S.), more than then the 7.2 million previously announced, in an ongoing multi-year audit until 2017 of environmental NGOs with legal charity status.
CBC TV recently reported that CRA is investigating the following environmental charities -- David Suzuki Foundation, Tides Canada, West Coast Environmental Law, The Pembina Foundation, Environmental Defence, Equiterre and the Ecology Action Centre -- for possibly exceeding the allowable 10 percent for political activity.
John Bennett at the Sierra Club, which is not being currently audited, said the political restrictions were never an issue for the NGOs until the Harper government came along and unleashed the CRA.
"There are things that groups have been doing for years and years and are now being told those are not qualified activities," he explained.
Environmental NGOs, for instance, have historically worked with corporations within an industry like forestry to establish a sector-based code of conduct that respects the land, water, flora and fauna during any resource extraction activity.
Now, under a "retroactive" interpretation of political activity for charities by the CRA, that kind of consultation is being disallowed, said Bennett.
"This is the kind of activity which we thought was very positive, so trying to say that we can't do that anymore is a way to get us out of the business of being an influence for change in society," he said.
Philippe Brideau at the CRA counters that the issue of a code of conduct is not as clear-cut with regards to consultation. "It depends on whether the actual activity fits the definition of political activity," he said.
But Dennis Howlett, executive director for Canadians for Tax Fairness, argues that the Harper government is using the CRA to conduct a political "witch-hunt," against NGOs daring to criticise public policy.
He notes that a similar form of "intimidation" of ongoing auditing is also occurring with organisations focused on international development.
"These audits are clearly designed to intimidate and disrupt their work, so instead of going in and auditing and saying, 'no everything's fine,' they keep the audit open, and they don't conclude the audit. They don't come to any resolution; they just keep the charities hanging... I know of audits that have been going on for a year."
Furthermore, Howlett points to the reported staff cuts at the Canada Revenue Agency over a three-year period totaling close to 3,000, plus another approximately 100 jobs lost in the units assigned to investigate overseas tax evasion and aggressive tax planning, and finally the disbanding of a special unit devoted to organised crime.
"These would be the more experienced trained auditors, forensic accountants, people with a fair high level of education and training and experience," Howlett told IPS.
"CRA has lost a lot of key staff and their ability to investigate both individuals using tax havens to hide their money, as well as corporations who are shifting profit through tax havens to reduce their product and their tax bill."
Brideau counters that the CRA "takes its commitment to detecting and addressing non-compliance with Canada's tax laws seriously." He denies that any auditors have been cut in his department.
"Reductions in staff are limited to individuals performing programme or corporate support functions," he told IPS.
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Line 9 Will 'Snake' Across Ontario and Quebec Waterways
The National Energy Board's (NEB) announcement of its approval of Enbridge's Line 9B pipeline is generating outrage among environmental activists across Ontario and Quebec.
Mar 10, 2014
With more and more toxic substances being moved across waterways, Mattson is also concerned about the normalization of shipping hazardous substances by pipeline, rail and over water. "There is a certain creeping normality here, where we just keep accepting these incremental changes and Ontario isn't looking at the larger reality."
How Line 9 was approved
Of equal concern is the approval process. The NEB's mandate allows it to approve projects without consultation with provinces or municipalities. In fact, most communities along the pipeline don't even know that it exists, never mind that it will be carrying highly toxic substances, under high pressure, along a leaky 38-year-old pipeline. Created to be an independent review panel, the NEB is made up of energy industry leaders, and it no longer (if ever) operates at arms length from the government.
The NEB certainly didn't broadcast its hearings and allowed only two weeks for individuals and groups to fill out a lengthy application to attend the hearings. Waterkeeper submitted recommendations to improve the safety of Line 9, but none of the recommendations were included in the NEB's announced terms and conditions laid out for Enbridge. "The terms and conditions set out by the NEB are very weak, very disappointing."
Two very basic conditions the NEB could have given Enbridge, double-insulating the pipeline where it crosses waterways and installing safety shutoff valves on either side of rivers, apparently were not considered. The NEB was not, at the time of the writing of this article, available for comment.
"There are regulations in place now that gas stations holding tanks be double-insulated and they're not even on drinking water," says Mattson. "I don't know how many emergency shutoff valves they have along the six or seven hundred kilometre stretch of pipeline, but there aren't nearly enough to even think you're minimizing the damage (in the event of a spill)." The NEB did ask Enbridge to do hydrostatic testing for leaks and weaknesses, something that should have been done before the proposal was submitted, should have been documented for the hearings, but Enbridge is being asked to do it after the proposal has already approved, and whether or not it's done and done thoroughly is anyone's guess. The terms and conditions of the NEB are self-enforcing, and Enbridge has a long history of ignoring the rules at the expense of the environment.
There are some compelling reasons that independent review boards are so weak and have such narrow scope. "We've appointed cheerleaders for industry to the review boards," says Mattson. Even at that, there is constant pressure from industry and government. Government sends out very clear signals to independent review boards: approve the projects we want, or you're done.
That's just what happened to Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission president Linda Keen. After working for years to make industry more responsible, Keen ordered a nuclear reactor shut down for safety reasons in September 2008. She was fired the next day. "It's a very clear message, and I don't think anyone appointed to these boards forgets it." Community groups and activists, however, are not so easily shut down.
Who's afraid of a big black snake?
Roberta Cory, a London, Ontario artist/activist and chair of the local chapter of the Council of Canadians, has come up with a novel way to express pipeline dissent. She built a 30 foot snake. "It was really a group effort," says Cory. "We set up a work table at the East Village Arts Collective, and people dropped by to help over a period of three days." When the NEB decision was made public and an emergency rally was called in Toronto for the next day, Cory had just hours to complete it. "I was up until 11 o'clock the night before the rally. Then we had to get up early on Friday to take it to Toronto."
The 30 foot black snake is meant to represent the Line 9 pipeline, and has the words, "Enbridge: 800 spills so far, not worth the risk, protect our water, our land, our health. Stop line 9" stitched on its side. Other pipeline rallies and protests have featured giant model pipelines for visual impact, but the Council of Canadians wanted something more portable. "We came up with the black snake, and designed it to be collapsible. We needed to be able to ship it around the province, to be used at other Line 9 protests. All you need in 10 puppeteers, one at the head and nine along the body. We marched the snake around in circles throughout the Queen's Park rally. It was a great success." The next stop for the snake is likely to be a protest rally in Guelph.
As the snake travels the province, it will be getting the word out about Line 9 to its impacted communities. As previously mentioned, part of the reason the Line 9 proposal has made it this far is that most people don't even know the pipeline exists, never mind that it'll be carrying highly toxic dilbit so close to home. Here's hoping that when the general population finds out about this disastrous plan, the shit will hit the proverbial fan.
Toronto350, the group that published the community report on Line 9, "Not Worth the Risk", is insisting on an environmental assessment. They call the federal government, "morally bankrupt" where environment and climate policy is concerned. Given, that the Harper government is stripping Canada of environmental protection legislation faster than you can say "tar sands," it's abundantly clear that Ottawa has no interest in environmental protection or the potential poisoning of water, land, people and wildlife.
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Journalists Hold Global Day of Action for Detained Al Jazeera Staff
#FreeAJStaff sparks social media protest
Feb 27, 2014
The journalists could face up to 15 years in prison for what many say was the simple act of reporting on the actions of the Egyptian state.
Journalists Peter Greste, Mohamed Fadel Fahmy and Baher Mohamed pleaded not-guilty in a Cairo court last week in the case which has been described as a "trial of journalism itself." The three were detained in December in Egypt among a group of 20 journalists facing similar charges related to the case. Nine of those journalists work for Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera Arabic's Abdullah Elshamy has been detained without charge since 14th August 2013, and has been on hunger strike in protest since 23rd January. Two others, Abdullah Al-Shami and Mohammed Badr, have been detained in Egypt since last year. Three others will stand trial absentia.
Al Jazeera organized a massive online campaign calling for the Egyptian state to free the prisoners, spawning the global day of action Thursday.
Protesters gathered in roughly 30 cities across the world including Sydney, Manila, Islamabad, Doha, Amman, Nairobi, Ankara, Berlin, London, Rio, Toronto, Washington DC and San Francisco, posting pictures of their demonstrations using the #FreeAJStaff hashtag on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr in a 2pm GMT "thunderclap."
"Al Jazeera hopes through the attention of the world's media and partners, pressure can be brought to bear on the Egyptian authorities to hasten the release of Peter Greste, Mohammed Fahmy, Baher Mohamed and Abdullah Al Shamy by reminding them in a united voice, that journalism is not a crime," the media network said on Wednesday.
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