Canada

Some police services in Canada are using facial recognition technology to help solve crimes, while other police forces say human rights and privacy concerns are holding them back from employing the powerful digital tools.

It's this uneven application of the technology — and the loose rules governing its use — that has legal and AI experts calling on the federal government to set national standards.

"Until there's a better handle on the risks involved with the use of this technology, there ought to be a moratorium or a range of prohibitions on how and where it can be used," says Kristen Thomasen, law professor at the University of British Columbia.

As well, the patchwork of regulations on emerging biometric technologies has created situations in which some citizens' privacy rights are more protected than others.

Despite more than $239-million in provincial and federal funding committed to help rebuild, so far only five homes in the village that was home to around 250 people are close to completion, and about 15 building permits have been approved.

Only a handful of people have returned to the village after a catastrophic fire reduced Lytton, B.C., to ash on June 30, 2024.

According to the press secretary for the Minster of Indigenous Services Patty Hajdu, more than $120 million of that money went to Lytton First Nation to support recovery, plus an additional $1.3 million to fast-track 20 homes and help construct more than 175 homes using the Housing Accelerator Fund.

B.C. Auditor General Michael Pickup is investigating how provincial recovery money — more than $41 million — was spent and why the rebuild is taking so long. That report is due Sept. 1.

In an update to members obtained by The Canadian Press, the union negotiating committee cited the Charter of Rights and Freedoms’ protection of collective action.

It also said the industrial relations board had not expressly barred strikes and lockouts while the tribunal undertook arbitration following Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan’s directive.

“Because the referral by the minister was silent on the issue, AMFA members’ constitutional right to strike must prevail,” the union committee claimed.

The article highlights a growing crisis where more older adults in Canada, particularly in Toronto, are experiencing homelessness and relying on shelters. Doctors and shelter workers report a significant rise in seniors seeking shelter due to housing affordability challenges and health crises. The existing shelter system is struggling to meet the complex needs of aging individuals, leading to calls for better collaboration between health, housing, and community services. The issue underscores a broader housing crisis impacting vulnerable older populations, urging for targeted support and policy interventions.

Might be kind of stringy.

It said Wednesday the airline asked the government to quash its strike notice without notifying its negotiators.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/24028242

"Assisted dying is the focal point for this case. But the case has implications beyond that," said Jocelyn Downie, a professor emeritus in the faculty of law and medicine at the University of Dalhousie, who has spent years researching health delivery at religious-run health networks across Canada.

"Canadians need to recognize that they can be denied care much beyond assisted dying," Downie said.

"There's all kinds of care that they could be denied because governments are allowing faith-based institutions that are publicly funded… to deny care based on their religious beliefs and values."

Missaghi and Samira Yousefi were shot and killed at Missaghi's Toronto office last week by a man named Alan Kats, who then killed himself. Kats's widow, Alisa Pogorelovsky, said her husband "could not handle losing our life savings, and that is what led to this tragic event."

Earlier this year, the couple sued Missaghi, Yousefi and others after losing $1.28 million in an alleged mortgage fraud.

CBC Toronto reviewed hundreds of pages of court records and found two dozen lawsuits against Missaghi and others claiming more than $90 million over 20 years, as well as police reports, criminal fraud charges and that two of Missaghi's lawyers had lost their licences. Despite all this, Missaghi was never convicted, sanctioned or found liable of any of his alleged serial frauds before his death.

Peter Smiley, a Toronto civil lawyer who started working on cases against Missaghi in 2018, said last week's tragedy "was the almost-inevitable result of decades of institutional inaction."

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• Since 7 October, a variety of Chinese official state actors and Chinese state-affiliated media have been sharing narratives about the Israel-Hamas conflict. These narratives seem designed to seed anti-US and anti-Western sentiment by presenting Canada and the United States as key enablers of the conflict in Gaza.
• Pro-CCP (Chinese Communist Party) actors have also sought to present China as a peacekeeper seeking to create harmony and cooperation between countries. This is part of the CCP’s broader communication strategy to promote a ‘multipolar’ world in which China has a more significant foreign policy role.
• Canadian alternative media outlets such as the Canada Files and various influencers have published a high volume of content about the Israel-Gaza conflict. Many of their narratives have previously appeared in Chinese state media or could be labelled as ‘China-friendly’.
• The Canada Files (X: 8K followers, Facebook: 2.1K followers, Instagram: 556 followers, Telegram: 521 subscribers, TikTok: 15 followers) is an alternative media outlet which claims to pursue “anti-imperialist journalism challenging the ‘Canadian empire’” and to provide unique investigative reporting on the country’s foreign policy.
• ISD research has found that it has published articles conveying narratives similar to those previously found on Chinese state-affiliated media. ISD has also observed that its posts were shared by Chinese diplomats.

Poliquin led the NML during a tumultuous time. CBC News first broke the story in 2019 of two staff scientists who were investigated and later fired after one of them sent a shipment of deadly viruses to China, sparking a political firestorm over concerns of espionage and laboratory security.

Eight minutes into a corporate phone call Liam Iliffe, a B.C.-based political staffer turned industry executive, starts to outline strategies he says the multinational fossil fuel company uses to influence provincial, federal and state governments in Canada, the United States and Mexico. The corporation employs lobbyists and analysts in key political centres including Ottawa and Washington D.C. In 2023, TC Energy posted earnings of $11 billion.

Speaking for 42 minutes, Iliffe goes on to claim TC Energy has surreptitiously influenced many major policy decisions.

“We’ve had some really remarkable results in terms of our message being repeated back to us by key decision makers in government,” he says, adding “we’ve been given opportunities to write entire briefing notes for ministers and premiers and prime ministers and it gets stuck on government letterhead.”

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/westjet-flight-cancellations-work-stoppage-1.7248086

This guy is seriously delusional.

Olienick rejects the allegation he would threaten officers, but qualifies it by saying, "unless you guys are shooting at us first."

"But it wouldn't be you guys," he adds. "It would be UN guys or Chinese."

The UN and/or China are going to invade Canada?

Seriously?

"I'm not going to be the first guy who's going to do it. I'm going to be the guy that's going to end it if it happens."

These people watch way to fucking many US made one hero goes on a killing rampage and saves the day movies. Remember Ashli Babbitt? She and her angry mob were going to overthrow the US government and hang Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi right up until a bullet ripped through her chest and everyone else went, "Holy fuck, they're shooting white people! We're all going to fucking die!" and the insurrection ended with a single shot.

People like this should never, ever, EVER be allowed to own guns. They aren't going to save the country from tyrants. They're going to start some shit because of a delusional collective fever dream and get themselves and likely innocent people killed.

This guy is seriously delusional.

Olienick rejects the allegation he would threaten officers, but qualifies it by saying, "unless you guys are shooting at us first."

"But it wouldn't be you guys," he adds. "It would be UN guys or Chinese."

The UN and/or China are going to invade Canada?

Seriously?

"I'm not going to be the first guy who's going to do it. I'm going to be the guy that's going to end it if it happens."

These people watch way to fucking many US made one hero goes on a killing rampage and saves the day movies. Remember Ashli Babbitt? She and her angry mob were going to overthrow the US government and hang Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi right up until a bullet ripped through her chest and everyone else went, "Holy fuck, they're shooting white people! We're all going to fucking die!" and the insurrection ended with a single shot.

People like this should never, ever, EVER be allowed to own guns. They aren't going to save the country from tyrants. They're going to start some shit because of a delusional collective fever dream and get themselves and likely innocent people killed.

This guy is seriously delusional.

Olienick rejects the allegation he would threaten officers, but qualifies it by saying, "unless you guys are shooting at us first."

"But it wouldn't be you guys," he adds. "It would be UN guys or Chinese."

The UN and/or China are going to invade Canada?

Seriously?

"I'm not going to be the first guy who's going to do it. I'm going to be the guy that's going to end it if it happens."

These people watch way to fucking many US made one hero goes on a killing rampage and saves the day movies. Remember Ashli Babbitt? She and her angry mob were going to overthrow the US government and hang Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi right up until a bullet ripped through her chest and everyone else went, "Holy fuck, they're shooting white people! We're all going to fucking die!" and the insurrection ended with a single shot.

People like this should never, ever, EVER be allowed to own guns. They aren't going to save the country from tyrants. They're going to start some shit because of a delusional collective fever dream and get themselves and likely innocent people killed.

This guy is seriously delusional.

Olienick rejects the allegation he would threaten officers, but qualifies it by saying, "unless you guys are shooting at us first."

"But it wouldn't be you guys," he adds. "It would be UN guys or Chinese."

The UN and/or China are going to invade Canada?

Seriously?

"I'm not going to be the first guy who's going to do it. I'm going to be the guy that's going to end it if it happens."

These people watch way to fucking many US made one hero goes on a killing rampage and saves the day movies. Remember Ashli Babbitt? She and her angry mob were going to overthrow the US government and hang Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi right up until a bullet ripped through her chest and everyone else went, "Holy fuck, they're shooting white people! We're all going to fucking die!" and the insurrection ended with a single shot.

People like this should never, ever, EVER be allowed to own guns. They aren't going to save the country from tyrants. They're going to start some shit because of a delusional collective fever dream and get themselves and likely innocent people killed.