Canada

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has certified a class-action lawsuit against the federal government regarding the use of provincial jails for immigration detainees.

The suit represents 8,360 people who were detained in 87 provincial and territorial jails by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) between 2016 and 2023.

In the decision issued Friday, the court rejected each of the 15 objections raised by the federal government's lawyers who were trying to stop the action from proceeding.

"Immigration detainees were incarcerated in provincial prisons and encountered the same conditions as criminal inmates, including co-mingling with violent offenders, use of restraints such as shackles and handcuffs, strip searches, and severe restrictions on contact and movement," wrote Justice Benjamin Glustein.

Conservative MP Michelle Ferreri is praising the Peterborough Police Service for arresting a man accused of hurling homophobic slurs and burning a Pride flag — a move that drew the ire of some social media users who condemned her as a "fake" Conservative.

A 48-year-old man was arrested last week on two charges of criminal harassment after he was accused of stealing a Pride flag, burning it and — according to police — "screaming" anti-gay epithets.

The arrest demonstrates that "hate has no place in our community and our country and will not be tolerated," Ferreri said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Friday.

Dozens of social media users responded to Ferreri's praise of the arrest with a stream of homophobic slurs. Others said the man's arrest was unjustified and that as a member of a party that supports free speech, Ferreri was out of line.

One social media user, Shawn Quenneville, told Ferreri in an online post that "they're pedophiles" — an apparent reference to members of the LGBTQ community.

The study that is mentioned: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/382073071_Linguistic_Diversity_and_Public_Servants'_Turnover_Intentions_Theory_and_Analysis_from_a_Multilingual_State

But not all is well at the moment with Canada’s federal public service. In a forthcoming study to be published in the Review of Public Personnel Administration, my co-researcher and I find that the inability of both French and English-speaking federal public servants to work in their official language of choice is pushing them to consider quitting their jobs.

Approximately 40 per cent of English and French-speaking public servants, citing a low ability to use their official language at work, said they intended to quit their jobs for something else within the public service, whereas the probability of quitting was only 26 per cent among public servants expressing a high ability to use their official language at work.

In a video message posted on X on Monday, Premier Doug Ford announced the release of the tech tool that allows Ontario residents to locate stores, other than the LCBO, selling alcohol.

“Our new interactive map shows thousands of convenient options where you can still buy beer, wine, spirits and other drinks across the province.”

The release of the map comes days after LCBO workers walked off the job prompting  province-wide closures of the government-run liquor store.  The announcement is stirring up angry reactions from many residents and city officials, who accused Ford of union busting and failing to address pressing socio-economic issues.

“While the Ford government wastes billions of tax dollars, schools need fixing, hospital wait times need attention, cities need support for transit, services & infrastructure, the science centre needs saving and people struggle to make ends meet. Yet, this guy’s priority is beer,” Councillor Josh Matlow wrote on X on Monday.

“You’re using public dollars to break a strike, undermine workers rights and to destroy an agency that generates $2.5 billion for healthcare and other services. But this app looks cute. Why didn’t you use this kind of tech to save lives from COVID19 or to find ERs,” one X user wrote.

“Can I get a map of where I can find emergency clinics that are open?,” another person said.

Premier Danielle Smith in her letter acknowledges the CDCP has led to more Albertans becoming eligible for coverage under the new federal plan.

Take individuals seeking coverage under the Alberta Adult Health benefit, for example. To qualify, a couple with four children would have to see a maximum net household income of $46,932.

"I think [$46,932] is really low for a threshold," said Ameera Shivji with Vibrant Communities Calgary, a poverty reduction organization.

"That [$46,932] doesn't cover a lot of people that would be in real need for this program."

Given the CDCP's $90,000 adjusted family net income threshold, more families would be captured above the Alberta Adult Health benefit's cutoff.

"This has never been seen before," said Dieter Cazon, looking out at the water from his office as land and resources manager for the Liidlii Kue First Nation at Fort Simpson, N.W.T.

"We've asked elders, 'Does anybody have stories about water being this incredibly low?' Nobody has these stories."

The for sale sign in front of Heather Mulryan's Hamilton townhouse is a constant source of dread.

The 41-year-old single mom of two boys has rented her home on Hamilton's Mountain for 14 years but said she received a surprise letter from her landlord, DiCenzo Management, in April.

The letter, delivered to all tenants, said the landlord will be selling the 36 units on Anna Capri Drive — and Mulryan's was among the first on the market.

Mulryan also learned for the first time that the townhouses, built in 1981, are actually condominiums, she said. DiCenzo Management said it's therefore allowed to sell each unit to individual buyers, rather than the complex as a whole to a landlord.

"After 40 years we have decided that the time has come to proceed with individual dwelling sales on a unit-by-unit basis," said the letter signed by president Anthony DiCenzo.

Late last month, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith sent a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, stating that Alberta would pull out of the federal government's dental care plan by 2026.

Instead, the province would seek a negotiation to secure Alberta's share of federal funding to reshape dental care coverage as it sees fit.

Though Alberta is seeking to secure the funds allocated to that program, there is actually no agreement signed with Alberta. The federal program is administered by Sun Life Financial, and dentists who sign up under the CDCP are reimbursed by Sun Life.

It suggests that the number of Albertans who have already signed up for the program — more than 100,000, according to Matthew Kronberg, a press secretary for federal Health Minister Mark Holland — illustrates why it is necessary.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/24623281

the first public look at the Canvas rewrite

The event is happening in roughly 4 days from now 🎨

🔗 You can now create template URLs to figure out where you want your group's template to go (settings -> template) make sure the switch is on, then you can copy the URL of the website

🌎 https://canvas.fediverse.events

🔽 Post your group details w/ your template link below so people can find and join your group! (Template link, Matrix, Discord, Lemmy Community, etc) 🤝

Even Stephen Harper — a member of an evangelical church himself — avoided public association with evangelical Christians due to political considerations.

https://youtu.be/oeg0ISE0HTg?si=zx8K58Ejfna2ZcNh

Although it has been a month since the deaths of Nakoda and her cubs, Stevens said the loss was still "incredibly difficult" for parks staff, especially those who spent "hundreds and hundreds of hours" monitoring Nakoda, who she described as a "super special" bear.

Archive: [ https://archive.is/sEZIL ]

Coal accounted for 80 per cent of Alberta’s electricity grid in the early 2000s and it still amounted to 60 per cent just 10 years ago. When phasing out coal was just an idea being batted around, many said it couldn’t be done. This is not dissimilar to the rhetoric today around decarbonizing the grid. But Alberta’s experience phasing out coal shows environmental progress of this magnitude is possible.