With China now being appointed to the Human Rights Council and the 'consultative group’ there is concern by several countries that human rights abuses will not be investigated or properly condemned.

China has itself has regularly been accused of abuse and this could now further increase concerns that the Council has become as politicized and ineffective as its predecessor.

Colin Robertson is a former Canadian diplomat to China and to the U.N.

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Critics of China’s human rights record accuse the country of efforts to derail human rights resolutions whether directed at them or at others.

Colin Robertson, now with the Global Affairs Institute, is a former Canadian diplomat to China and to the U.N. (supplied)

In July last year, 22 western nations signed a letter to the U.N about China’s arrests and incarceration of  Uyghurs, and dissenters. This was followed by a letter from 37 nations, including N. Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia and others, many of whom have human rights abuses of their own people with accusations of the ‘politicization’ of human rights issues and supporting China’s actions.

Robertson says this latest appointment is part of a systematic programme of the Chinese government to seek influential positions and influence wherever it can. This is to push their global strategy of expanding Chinese interests globally beyond current aspirations in the South and East China sea, limit international criticism, and extend their power.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has been aggressively promoting Chinese influence at the U.N. where it can shape policies  (Thomas Peter-Reuters)

In an email to RCI he also wrote “The UN is the global parliament and it reflects national interests. We had hoped after the fall of the Soviet Union that the liberal international order would become the norm for all but it has not and it was naive to think it would.  Russia and China see global affairs in traditional terms: as a concert of great powers each with their own spheres of influence with tributary and vassel nations within that sphere”.

He says it is unfortunate that the U.S has backed away as it leaves a vacuum and weakens the international concept of multilateralism and western ideals of ‘rule of law’.

With China now at the head of four of 15 specialized U.N. committees, there are concerns that China will not move towards a more westernized mindset, but that the world will be influenced more towards a Chinese mindset, which some critics have long said runs counter to western ideals. Germany’s foreign minister once said for example in  February 2018 at the Munich security conference, ““China is developing a comprehensive system alternative to the Western one, which, unlike, our model, is not based on freedom, democracy and individual human rights”.

Additional information

The Conversatio: Matthews/ McCuaig-Johnston: China must now shape the future of human rights at the U.N.

The Diplomat: E.Albert: Apr.8/20: China appointed to influential human rights council panel- concern about agenda

The Conversation: A. Faiz: Jul.18/19: China is building a global coalition of human rights violators to defend its record in Xinjiang – what is its endgame?

The Economist: D.Bell: Jun 12/18: China’s political meritocracy vs Western democracy

CBC; G.Reaume: Nov 27/219: China is on a mission to re-make the world

Stock markets are tumbling, people are losing huge value on their investments as panic selling sets in.

The drop in value is such that automatic systems have halted trading on at least a couple of stock markets.

But what should people do in this most unusual situation?

Jessica Moorhouse (AFCC) is Millennial Money Expert, Financial Counsellor & Podcast Host

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Several situations have converged in the last many months.

Jessica Moorhouse, financial consultant (supplied)

Jessica Moorhouse, financial consultant (supplied)

We have ongoing conflicts in some areas, trade disputes, notably the U.S and China, as well as China and Canada, there’s the Brexit uncertainty, recently the oil war between the Saudis and Russia which has drastically cut the price of oil, but the latest big uncertainty affecting domestic and global economies is the corona virus pandemic from COVID-19.

Stock markets took another hit this morning as panic continues.

The rapid decline in market value triggered and automatic halt to the TSX this morning, other markets also fell in Monday trading. (TSX-twitter)

Moorhouse says, it is not wise to panic sell, but probably also not the time to take your savings and invest in hopes of making a better return as the stocks eventually rise. She says if you have regular contributions to your investment set up, that is something that you should keep doing.

As to when the economy and stock values might “eventually” recover, she says that could take months or even a year or more as recovery could be slow once the virus risk fades and that itself is an unknown and might not be for weeks or months. Thus a full recovery might be a couple of years away.

She also suggests that If you don’t have a high interest savings account, that is something you should set up as an emergency fund to cover such things as job loss, or a cut back in hours.

additional information

NY Times: Mar 16.20: Wall Street Plummets Despite the Fed’s Support: Live Updates

With the declaration of a Covid-19 pandemic, and the first recorded death from the virus in Canada, the federal government pledged a billion dollars to both fight the virus and mitigate the effects on society.

Ian Culbert, is the executive-director of the Canadian Public Health Association. He explains how the money will be used, and the unique aspects of this ‘new’ virus.

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The government plan includes money sent to the provinces to purchase medical supplies and cope with increased needs in hospitals and other institutions.

Ian Culbert, executive-director of the Canadian Public Health Association

Some $275 million has been earmarked for research into such things as anti-virals to combat COVID-19.

Culbert points out that although there are many types of corona virus, such as the ones causing the common cold, they are nonetheless distinct. As such an anti-viral that may work to fight one virus, may very likely not work to combat another.

He notes that this virus which originated in an animal source and has jumped to humans is an entirely new virus of the corona family.

For a biology professor in Winnipeg, an interest in history has become almost equivalent to a full-time passion.

Gordon Goldsborough (PhD) is a professor of biological sciences at the University of Manitoba, and president of the Manitoba Historical Society.

Away from the university he’s usually on the road to obscure places in the western province to record vestiges or 'ghosts' of the past. Either that or he's in the archives somewhere trying to discover more about a once important or popular place, a place now abandoned and often in ruins or with mere vestiges left of what once was there.

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Manitoba like most Canadian provinces is huge, in this case bigger than all of France. As settlers moved in and development began, buildings and institutions sprang up across the province. But times and needs and culture change and places are left to the elements.

Gordon Goldsborough (PhD), University of Manitoba biology, and amateur historian (supplied)

Goldsborough’s goal is to record such places with photos and GPS both as a permanent record of what was, and as a way for like minded historians and history buffs to locate them for themselves.

The giant dredge of Port Nelson on Hudson Bay. Built in 1913 it arrived on site the next year in an ambitious project to create a northern shipping port.  After WWI, the government decided Churchill was a better location for a port. In 1924 a vicious storm pushed the dredge up onto the artificial island it had created from dredging, where it has remained since a remnant of a grand and expensive idea (Gord Goldsborough)

His work has been recorded in two books already with a third on the way.

He doesn’t merely record images of the place and the remnants but in his books delves into the history of the place, what it was, why it was where it is, and its fate.

Gordon Goldsborough's first book. The second book More Abandoned Manitoba is out with a third in the works (McNally-Robertson Publishing)

He says many communities sprang up along rail lines, once the main, if not the only means of travel for any distance in the huge province. As road building took over it became easier to move about and many of the feeder rail lines become unprofitabale and were shut down and  communities slowly died out.

Ghost of another era. "Crabby Steve's Dance Hall". With great distances to travel, rural residence had few places to go for entertainment so dance halls (barn dances) sprang up to serve the need. Crabby Steve's was built only in 1947, but was a very popular locale for a few decades until times changed and it was abandoned in the 1980's. (Gord Goldsborough)

Some places only existed until the resource ran out, or the major construction project completed or abandoned, while in other cases, there might be a sadder story of a failed enterprise or farm.

Lake of the Woods grain elevator, believed to be the oldest in the province dating from approximately 1897. (Gordon Goldsborough)

But with so many places to choose from, he said the places chosen for his books are the ones with more interesting stories about them.

With an insulated floor and standing on piles above shifting permafrost is the abandoned remains of a Cold War surveillance post near Churchill (Gordon Goldsborough)

His hobby has led to him becoming a popular public speaker with dozens of presentations every year and a weekly appearance on the public broadcaster CBC weekend morning show.

Additional information

Winnipeg Free Press: D. Speirs: Mar 6/20: Mapmaker for memories

CBC: Oct 23/16: New book uncovers places left behind in Manitoba's past

McNally-Robinson Publishing: (books)Abandoned Manitoba; More Abandoned Manitoba

For too long, women’s voices and perspectives have been silent in much of world.

The Canadian group Journalists for Human Rights is changing that. The group is launching an ambitious multi-year programme in several African countries to train female journalists and to get their voices heard in editorial decision making.

Rachel Pulfer in Toronto is the Executive Director of Journalists for Human Rights.

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The programme is called ' Canada World: Voice for Women and Girls'. The current effort is to empower women in journalism in Syria, Jordan, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Rachel Pulfer, Executive-Director in Toronto for the NGO Journalists for Human Rights (supplied)

Helped by over $11 Million in federal government funding, the programme is currently in a set-up phase to establish infrastructure and settle other needs, with the first of the Canadian media experts to be sent in June.

Editor at the Juba Monitor in South Sudan, Anna Nimiriano in the newsroom (JHR)

The programme is expected to run from this year for the next four years.

Pulfer says it’s important for 50 per cent of these populations to hear voices similar to theirs and report on topics of importance to them and to society that are often not covered, or to cover them from a new and different perspective.

Journalist Sarafina Paul interviewing a female divorce lawyer in South Sudan (JHR)

Additional information

Journalists for human rights

Global News: May 3/19: Ottawa announces $11.7M in funding for Journalists for Human Rights

Globe and Mail: R. Pulfer: May 3/19: How Syrian journalists took on sexist violence – and won change, through a fatwa

As the world fights a battle with the Covid-19 virus, researchers point out that deaths from air pollution constitute a lesser realised but very serious chronic threat worse than most diseases.

Researchers estimate that some 8.8 million premature deaths annually are due to air pollution. The study says the loss of life expectancy (LLE) exceeds that of tobacco smoking.

Breaking it down further, they say that about 75 per cent of that figure is due to human-generated pollution, or some 5.5 million deaths.

Dr Courtney Howard (M.D.)  is president of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment

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A study in Lancet in April 2011 showed that some 20 per cent of new cases of asthma in children in the big urban centre of Toronto was related to air pollution from vehicle traffic

The studies suggest air pollution can shorten lifespans by up to three years.

Dr. Courtney Howard (MD, CCFP-EM) is president of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, and an emergency room doctor in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. She notes that climate change is bringing new animals and insects into the north where they've never been seen before, along with their new pathogens, some of which have the possibility of transfer to humans ( Pat Kane)

Dr Howard notes that not only is air pollution a worldwide health issue for individuals, but negatively affects the economy through increased hospital visits and medical resource requirements and through loss of workdays as adults are off work, or have to take time off to care for children who are ill.

Haze in the city of Montreal under a smog alert Dec. 2019. Residents of Canadian cities are not exempt from air pollution, with Toronto often registering as having one of the higher rates of childhood asthma (CBC)

She points out that as these tiny particulates are so small they cross over into the bloodstream where the can influence inflammation with resultant issues of heart disease, lung infections, stroke, diabetes, and high blood pressure.

She says the news of the direct health affects of air pollution should help raise awareness of situation she says we as humans have the ability to control and add to the concern about air pollution’s affect on climate.

Additional information-sources

The Lancet: Apr. 2019: Global, national, and urban burdens of paediatric asthma incidence attributable to ambient NO2 pollution: estimates from global datasets

Fast Company: Mar 2/20: K/. Toussaint: The world is facing an air pollution pandemic

Science Alert: C. Cassella: Mar 7/20:The World's Facing a Silent 'Pandemic' More Dangerous Than Most Viruses: Air Pollution

National Observer: D Carrington: Apr 11/19: Canada has third highest global rate of new childhood asthma cases from traffic pollution

Toxicology.org: R. Burnett et al Global Exposure Mortality Model, GEMM: Application of a new risk estimator for health impact assessment of air pollution

NOTE: updated March 10: the original article said the data was from the World Health Organisation, In fact it came from a study based on WHO information. The study was published in the science journal Cardiovascular Research March 3. 2020 entitled "Loss of life expectancy from air pollution compared to other risk factors: a worldwide perspective" Jos Lelieveld et al.

A U.S.-based conservation group has chosen a site off the Nova Scotia coast to build a retirement home for entertainers who have brought joy to hundreds of thousands at the expense of their own mental and physical health.

Ladies and gentlemen, those entertainers--beluga or orca whales--will now have a place to live out their days in relative peace--in a place where they belong, not in an aquarium.

It will be the first whale sanctuary in North America and  a million light years from the lives the whales led before.

Tourists at Marineland in Niagara Falls, Ont., lined up at a viewing area to see a small pod of beluga whales. (Scott Dunlop/TheCanadian Press)

The Whale Sanctuary Project wants to provide a home for about eight whales in a 40-hectare inlet southeast of Sherbrooke, N.S. at Port Hilford on the province's rugged north shore, about 200 kilometres northeast of Halifax.

According to Charles Vinick, director of the non-profit, the project involves--among other things--installing nets to enclose an inlet.

That will create an area where a retired whale is free to swim and dive deeply, while still being cared for by humans.

The project still requires provincial and federal permits, but if all goes according to plan, Vinick says the $12 to $15 million project will be up and running by the end of next year.

In this Jan. 18, 2014, file photo, a southern resident female orca leaps from the water while breaching in Puget Sound, west of Seattle, Washington. The Whale Sanctuary Project wants whales who have spent their lives in captivity to get a taste of similar freedom off Canada's East Coast by the end of next year. (Elaine Thompson/AP Photo/File)

For some perspective, consider that more than 300 beluga whales and 60 orcas remain captive in aquariums around the world.

And it's hard to imagine anyone who has fought harder to get them sprung from those aquariums and to try to make sure no future whales will be subjected to the indiginities they face that Camille Labchuk, the executive director of Animal Justice, an Ottawa based animal rights group.

Labchuk and Animal Justice were instrumental in finally building up enough public pressure to force Canada's House of Commons last June to ban keeping whales, dolphins and porpoises in captivity.

I spoke by phone with Labchuk at her Ottawa office about the project.

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With files from CBC, CP, The Guardian, The Weather Network

Turkey has said it can no longer support the mass influx of migrants from Syria and elsewhere.

It says it will no longer keep them from attempting to cross into Greece and Bulgaria as they seek to head into European Union countries.

Paul Heinbecker is the Deputy Chair of the The World Refugee Council, and a former Canadian Ambassador to the UN, and Germany.

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As the mass at border crossings with Greece, or attempt to cross the Aegean to Greek islands, the Greek forces are attempting to keep them out.

The Deputy Chair of the The World Refugee Council, and a former Canadian Ambassador to the UN, and Germany (CBC)

Tear gas and piano wire use is prevalent, with heavily armed police and military standing at border points, while patrol vessels forcibly turn back rafts and boats attempting to cross the sea.

Greek patrols were forcing rafts and boats back from attempts to cross the Aegean from Turkey. In some cases warning shots were fired into the water in front of the rafts. (CBC)

Heinbecker says Turkey seems to have a legitimate position as he says the EU has not lived up to agreements with Turkey for funding and resettlement to help that country deal with the almost 4 million migrants now there.

Turkey has been housing almost 4 million migrants, many of whom want to head to the EU countries, and have begun camping out at the borders with Greece and Bulgaria, hoping for a chance to cross (CBC)

Turkey had also wanted to set up a safe zone in Syria where people fleeing the civil war there could go, but Heinbecker says, NATO and the EU seemed not particularly interested.

Greece has moved police and fully armed military into position along its borders to prevent migrants from crossing. (CBC)

Turkey is now reported to have sent 1,000 armed police to the border to stop Greece from forcing the migrants back into Turkey. Athens says it has prevented as many as 35,000 from crossing in the past five days and is said to be preparing to deport hundreds of other who have managed to slip across.

The two countries have a long history of belligerence and so tensions are rising.

Additional information

Al Jazeera: Mar 5/20: Turkish police bolster Greek border to stop migrants' return

BBC: Mar 3/20: EU chief says Greece is Europe's shield in migrant crisis

Thomson-Reuters (via CBC) Mar 4/20: Greek and Turkish police fire tear gas as migrants try to cross into Greece

Associated Press (via CBC) Mar 3.20: Greece PM rips Turkey as thousands of migrants seek entry into Europe

The agency which tracks all types of fraud in Canada estimates the cost of mass marketing fraud, (phone, internet, mass mailing, e-mail, personal contact) to be almost $130 million per year. This is what is reported, but apparently only a small percentage is actually reported. Still The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) says that’s about a 30 per cent increase since 2017. They also say some 27,000 Canadians are victims of identity theft annually, another number that’s likely under-reported.

A recent consumer survey by Equifax Canada found a fairly high degree of complacency among Canadians about checking credit activity to spot identity theft. Equifax Canada is one of the two major credit-rating bureaus in Canada. Julie Kuzmic is their director of consumer advocacy.

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The Equifax survey found that only 29 per cent of survey respondents checked their credit report as a means to help protect their personal data over the last 12 months and again, only a relatively small number ( 38%) said they would report it to a credit bureau.

Julie Kuzmic, Equifax Canada director of consumer advocacy.

The numbers of people saying they felt vulnerable to identity theft has also diminished since surveys were taken in 2017 and 2019. This is in spite of other statistics showing fraud and identity theft is increasing.

Equifax Canada

Jeff Thomson, a senior RCMP intelligence analyst with the CAFC, notes that “More and more fraudsters are not only seeking access to victims’ hard earned money but also their personal information. While data breaches and phishing emails still remain the top reported attack methods, Canadians also need to remain diligent to not provide personal or financial information to unknown callers.”

Equifax Canada

Some 60 per cent of millennials and 47 per cent of other respondents agreed with the statement, “If someone committed fraud in my name or with my identity, I would not know what to do to fix it.”

Kuzmic suggests checking your credit reports at least once a year. These checks are free in Canada from either Equifax or TransUnion

Additional information

Equifax: identity theft education

TransUnion: online disclosure

CBC MarketPlace: Feb 22/19: Credit freezes are one easy way to protect against identity fraud — but they're not available in Canada

Ontario Govt: How to avoid or recover from identity theft

Canadian Bankers Assoc. Fraud Prevention Learn the signs of identify theft and how to protect yourself

In Canada where the often bitterly heated debate about firearms has been raging on and off for decades, a federal politician decided he needed to be informed by fact, not opinion.

Tako Van Popta is the Conservative Member of Parliament for the riding of Langley-Aldergrove in British Columbia

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Van Popta says he had never held a firearm before taking the required course (and other processes) to obtain a “possession and acquisition licence” (PAL) for firearms.

This also includes paying fees of course, along with written spousal approval and other references, police background check, and daily scrutiny. Interestingly, legal gun owners are the only segment of society subject to daily police checks.

MP for Langley-Aldergrove in British Columbia, Tako Van Popta was challenged by constituents to learn the facts of gun ownership in Canada. Here he takes the instruction course required as a part of the long and somewhat expensive process to obtain a gun licence (supplied)

As a politician who would be involved in debates on the subject, he admitted he knew almost nothing about firearms. He was challenged by constituents to learn first hand and realised that to better understand the situation he would take the mandatory ownership and owners course.

He says he doubts many of the politicians who debated and voted on gun laws like C-71 actually know about the extent and restrictions of current gun laws in Canada.

Hunters and target shooters say they are "easy targets" for increased restrictions and mandatory gun buybacks as they are the ones who obey laws. One expert says the government plan for  (mandatory) buyback of semi-auto rifles will cost billions, not the half million the government claims. Van Popta says that money should be spent on the "real problems" of underfunded social programmes and fighting criminal gangs and gun smugglers instead. (CCFR)

Van Popta also expressed dismay at the Liberal government proposal to create a mandatory buyback of semi-auto rifles through a possible ‘order in council’ which would avoid a debate in Parliament.

He also believes the vast sums spent on such a programme will not make Canada safer, and that the money should instead be spent on policies he says would target the real problem of gangs and illegal gun smuggling.

After taking the course, he is very doubtful he would become a hunter or even buy a firearm, but may accept invitations for target shooting. Van Popta also says it would be a good idea if other politicians informed themselves first hand of Canada’s firearms laws and requirements before taking a position and creating laws which could negatively affect over 2 million legal owners, and the tens of thousands of employees at small businesses throughout the country serving hunters and sport shooters.

Additional information-sources

Fraser Institute: G Mauser;  Jan21.20: Trudeau government’s ‘buy back’ gun program likely a multi-billion boondoggle

Ottawa Citizen: Mar 2/20: S. Yogarnetnam:Proactive policing, not gun buybacks or CCTV cameras: Ottawa Police Service

iPolitics: T. Naumetz: Feb 4/20: Liberal Red Flag plan panned by gun safety advocate and firearm lobby leader

Open Parliament: debates on C-71

Poly Remembers: gun control lobby website

Canadian Firearms Safety Course (mandatory)