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Assorted devils might pop up in the details over the coming week as the people of Calgary decide if they want to support a deal between their city fathers and owners of the National Hockey League Flames that would result in a spanking new arena along with a whole new part of town.

Bear in mind that less than a year ago, city residents voted down a potential bid to bring the 2026 Winter Olympics back to the city that hosted them in 1988 so nothing is certain.

But if approval is forthcoming, the team stays put in Calgary.

A rendering, right, shows the proposed events centre that would replace the Saddledome, left, in Victoria Park in Calgary. (CBC, City of Calgary)

The proposed deal would have the city and the team split the cost of a new $550-million hockey arena, to replace the Scotiabank Saddledome, which depending on how you count, is now the third oldest arena in the NHL, trailing Madison Square Garden, home of the New York Rangers and the building generally known as Nassau Country Coliseum, sometime home of the New York Islanders.

The deal comes after years of wrangling--sometimes civil, sometimes way less so--and includes provisions for the Flames' owners to develop the area around the new arena, north of the Saddledome and east of downtown near the Stampede grounds.

Construction on the new 19,000-seat building would begin in 2021 and take three years to complete.

After years of wrangling, Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, right­, and Flames' president Ken King appear to have their eyes set the same prize. (CBC)

Ken King, head of Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corp., which owns the team, says the design has not been completed.

Calgary Mayor Naheed Nesshi said once city council approves the financing, the design will follow.

That's assuming the whole thing goes through.

Council votes on it next Monday.

Bruce Dowbiggin, a long-time resident of Calgary, is a well-known author, journalist and broadcaster and host of the website Not the Public Broadcaster. His most recent book is "Cap in Hand."

I spoke to him Tuesday.

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The annual report from Statistics Canada on police-reported crime in 2018 came out today and it shows an increase for the fourth consecutive year, but other crimes are, on the contrary, on the decline.

Police-reported crime is measured by both the crime rate and the crime severity index (CSI). The CSI tracks the severity of police-reported crime and takes into account how much crime is reported and its seriousness.

In 2018, these crimes increased by two percent, but this figure is still lower than the crime rate of 10 years ago.

Seven provinces and territories saw an increase in their crime rate (Prince Edward Island, Ontario, Manitoba, Nunavut, Northwest Territories, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador).

On the opposite, four (Yukon, Saskatchewan, Quebec and Nova Scotia) saw a decrease and two (Alberta and British Columbia) were stable in 2018.

To understand what drove this two percent increase in police-reported crime, we spoke to Rebecca Kong, Chief of Policing Services Program at Statistics Canada:

Rebecca Kong gives the main factors behind the increase in police-reported crime. (Photo: Darryl Dyck/THE CANADIAN PRESS)EN_Interview_1-20190722-WIE10

The increase in the number of reports was also linked to better options for reporting fraud online explains the agency.

As Kong said, in addition to fraud, sexual assault was one of the main drivers of this increase.

Police departments across Canada saw an increase in the number of reported sexual assaults. 2018 saw more than 28,700 police-reported sexual assaults, marking the fourth consecutive annual increase in the rate of sexual assault.

The vast majority of reported cases were classified as level one, meaning they didn't involve a weapon or evidence of bodily harm.

It is good to know that these figures only take into account incidents that came to the attention of police, while many crimes go unreported.

"The number of sexual assaults reported by police is likely an underestimation of the true extent of sexual assault in Canada, as these types of offences often go unreported to police," said the report.

"There were notable increases in police-reported sexual assaults in 2017 and 2018, corresponding in timing to the growing public discussion of issues around sexual violence."

Homicide rate down

Unlike police-reported crimes, homicides in Canada have decreased by four percent, as Rebecca Kong explains:

Rebecca Kong talks about homicide rates in Canada (Photo: Andrew Lahodynskyj/ THE CANADIAN PRESSEN_Interview_2-20190722-WIE20

If we look at homicides among Indigenous peoples, the rate was five times higher in 2018 than among non-Indigenous people.

Decrease in hate crimes

The report also shows a 13 per cent decrease in hate crimes at national level, from 2,073 incidents to 1,798.

However, it should be noted that in 2017, Canada had a particularly high rate so even if 2018 went down, it was still higher than what we saw since 2009.

Still at the national level, the number of hate crimes against the Muslim population fell by 50 percent after reaching a peak in 2017. In 2018, there were also fewer police-reported hate crimes targeting Black communities (down 12 percent) and fewer crimes targeting sexual orientation (down 15 percent).

The 2018 decrease can mostly be attributed to declines in Ontario explains the Agency.

If we look at the cities with the highest crime rates in the country, Lethbridge, Alberta, ranks first as Kong explains:

Rebecca Kong gives the cities with the highest crime rate in the country in 2018 (Photo: Jeff McIntosh/THE CANADIAN PRESS)EN_Interview_6-20190722-WIE60

The full report can be viewed on Statistics Canada’s website

It ranks as one of the darkest moments of Canadian history.

As the Second World War unfolded, marked by Japanese invasions of British Hong Kong and Malaya and the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, some 22,000 Japanese Canadians were stripped of their homes and businesses and sent to internment camps and farms in British Columbia and across Canada.

Young Japanese Canadians being located in British Columbia in 1942. (Library and Archives Canada/C-057251)

Their homes and businesses were confiscated and sold by the federal government.

And unlike prisoners of war, who are protected by the Geneva Convention, Japanese Canadians had to pay for their own internment as their movements were restricted and their mail censored.

Japanese Canadian Fishermen having their boat confiscated. (Library and Archives Canada/PA-11239)

It took until April 1, 1949 before they were given back full citizenship rights, including the right to vote and the right to return to the West Coast.

Thirty-nine years later, on September 22, 1988, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney apologized and announced a $300 million compensation package.

It included $21,000 for each of the 13,000 survivors, $12 million for a Japanese community fund and $24 million to create a Canadian race relations foundation, to ensure such discrimination never happens again.

The signing of the Japanese Canadian Redress Agreement by Art Miki, chairman of the National Association of Japanese Canadians and Prime Minister Brian Mulroney took place in 1988. The NAJC is continuing efforts to build on that agreement and an apology by the British Columbia government in 2012 to bring more healing to the pain Japanese Canadians suffered then and continue to suffer to this day. (Canadian Race Relations Foundation)

Twenty-four years after that, on May 7, 2012, British Columbia offered an apology that it pretty much kept it to itself--not involving the Japanese community.

"We weren't informed about the apology so it was a surprise to us," Lorene Oikawa, president of the National Association of Japanese Canadians, told Canadian Press.

With a new provincial government in place, members of the Canada's Japanese community are holding meetings across the country to discuss how the B.C. apology can result in some meaningful action for those past wrongs back in the 1940s.

The president of the National Association of Japanese Canadians, Lorene Oikawa, is seen in Cumberland. B.C. in June for the unveiling of new interpretive signage for #1 mining townsite - pre-1942 Japanese Canadian community and Royston Lumber Mill exhibit launch. (Facebook)

When the discussions are completed, recommendations will be presented to the province.

I spoke by phone on Monday with Oikawa, whose family were among the victims.

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A new survey on how much a person has to earn to afford rent in Canada shows a near crisis.

The survey says rental costs for a 2-bedroom apartment in almost all major cities in Canada are beyond was it considered a reasonable level for low to medium income workers, in other words, basically unaffordable .

David Macdonald is a senior economist with the independent think tank, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. He authored to report which looks at the relationship between wages and ability to meet rental costs.

David Macdonald, senior economist, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives- report on rents across Canada related to wagesEN_Interview_1-20190719-WIE10

The CCPA analysis is called “Unaccommodating: Housing Rental Wage in Canada”.

It showed that rental costs are high and rising, seemingly beyond the reach of many minimum and low wage earners in Canada’s major cities

The standard level for rent payments is deemed to be about 30% of a person’s gross wage.

The survey showed that in six of Canada’s major cities, Vancouver and Victoria in west coast British Columbia,  Calgary in Alberta, and in Ontario Toronto, Ottawa, and Barrier, one would have to be earning more than $25/hour to afford rent. In places like Vancouver and Toronto, hourly wage would have to be earning $35 and $34/hr respectively to afford a 2 bedroom apartment.

However, a rental service company, Padmapper, recently released its survey of its cross-Canada listings for this month and found the average price for a 1-bedroom in Toronto was $2,290, with a 2-bedroom averaging $2,850, while in Vancouver, the rents were $2,200 and $3,200 respectively.

The CCPA study examined statistics not just city to city, but various neighbourhoods within each city to a total of 795 neighbourhoods across the country and found there are only 24 neighbourhoods (3%) in Canada where a full-time minimum wage worker can afford to rent an average two-bedroom apartment, and in only 70 neighbourhoods (9%) can they afford a one bedroom. One in four Canadians earn within $3 of their province’s minimum wage.

Developers are more interested in building condos, a move driven in part by investors. (Aaron Harris-Reuters)

As to what is driving the rental prices, a variety of factors are at play. One is that as house prices rise, it drives more people out of the buying market and into renting creating demand. Another is that developers are building condos and not apartments, and the condos tend to favour more of the one bedroom and bachelor units being sought be investors.

While there are new policies from the federal government to encourage low cost housing, and financial help for low income earners. Macdonald feels these won’t relieve the current rental stress.

He says the situation is likely to get worse before the programmes begin to show relief. With a federal election looming, he says the parties may also propose policies to encourage developers to create more rental units along with other policies to help the situation for renters.

additional information-sources

CCPA:Unaccomodating- housing rental wage in Canada

CCPA- wage/rent interactive map of Canada

Padmapper; July 2019 Canadian rent report

CBC: P Evans: Jul 18/19: Next to impossible to pay rent for minimum wage earners

Global News: M Shah: Jul 18/19: $22/hr is average wage needed to rent a 2-bedroom apartment in Canada (+video)

Did you hear the one about the little First Nation that really--REALLY--could, just like that famous little steam engine?

In a story that continues to unfold--as well as amaze and impress--the We'koqma'q First Nation in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia and fish farming giant Cooke Aquaculture of New Brunswick have agreed to a partnership that is going to bring Down East trout to customers around the world.

A match made in Heaven?

Maybe, but only if you believe--like a lot of people do--that Cape Breton's beauty really is out of this world.

For those who lean to the more prosaic, call it big-deal business success story delivered in a gorgeous setting.

The Whycocomagh arena, which sits on 2.5 hectares of land west of the community, was purchased at a tax sale by We'koqma'q First Nation a little ove a year ago. The band now uses the building to store equipment for its nearby trout farm. (Google Streetview)

With gorgeous results.

The final details are still being worked out, but last week, Cooke, which sells a billion pounds of fresh seafood around the world every year, and the members of the We'koqma'q--call them the Mi'Maq community of Waycobah--agreed that the time had come to join forces.

The company is always looking for product.

The band is only to happy to supply it--in ever-increasing numbers.

How increasing?

Consider this: in 2015, the Waycobah First Nation employed eight people at its fish farm.

The We'koqma'q band expects to harvest over a million trout worth up to $12 million this year. (CBC)

But the company just kept growing.

Now, a workforce of 86 is set to harvest a million fish worth $10 to $12 million this year.

That expansion and success is due in no small measure to Rod Googoo, a human dynamo, who was elected chief in 2011.

I spoke to Chief Googoo on Friday and began by asking him how this whole thing started.

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Whether they come from there or not, Halifax, Nova Scotia, has long served as an important spiritual touchstone for members of Canada's black population, though some may differ about the extent.

A likeness of a Halifax native who became a civil rights icon, Viola Desmond, now graces Canada's $10 bank note.

Wanda Robson, centre, sister of Viola Desmond, is surrounded by friends and family while posing next to the new $10 bank note featuring her sister following the bill's unveiling in Halifax in March 2018. Desmond is the first Canadian woman to be featured on a regularly circulating bank note. The first-ever Halifax Black Summer Festival, celebrating the city's past and present, is set to begin Aug. 1. (Darren Calabrese/Canadian Press)

And many, many others with deep ties to the city have left their marks, among them civil rights activists Darryl Gray and Burnley Allan (“Rocky”) Jones and actor and producer Anthony Sherwood.

Enter Fabienne Colas and the Fabienne Colas Foundation.

In 2017 Colas, who has launched seven festivals celebrating black culture in Canada, the U.S. and Haiti, created the Halifax Black Film Festival.

Expansive by nature, this summer she is going for more, with a bit of help from Global News, who are providing some sponsorship.

Fabienne Colas has launched seven festivals celebrating black culture in Canada, the U.S. and Haiti. (Courtesy: Fabienne Colas Foundation)

The Halifax Black Summer Festival aimed at celebrating black culture and diversity in Nova Scotia is set to being August 1 and run for four days.

The Saturday Outdoor Music Celebration, held in collaboration with the Halifax Busker Festival, will feature some of the province's top performers, including among others, Reeny Smith and Jeremiah Sparks.

I spoke by phone with Colas on Thursday.

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This week, many are celebrating and remembering a momentous event in human history, when man landed on the moon.

U.S President Trump has said he'd like to see Americans back on the moon by 2024, and there's talk of the Gateway project, a lunar base from which a manned-mission to Mars might launch.

Space and science journalist Andrew Fazekas (the Night Sky Guy) talks about the history of Apollo missions and the future.

Andrew Fazekas, science and space columnist on the future of lunar missions and beyond.EN_Interview_1-20190718-WIE10

While all the excitement is about remembering the first lunar walk 50 years ago this week, we might forget there were several subsequent missions and a total of 12 men have walked on the moon.

Several lunar missions have occurred which have helped to understand the origins of both the moon and the Earth. (NASA)

Fazekas says the missions brought back valuable scientific information about the formation of both the moon and the Earth. He says that the the challenge of a return to the moon is extremely challenging given the short time span of just five years.  He notes the participation of private industry will be critical to further space exploration whether to meet the 2024 date, which he says sees as a 50 per cent possibility, or in future.

Apollo 15, July 26,1971, While we remember the first lunar landing, Apollo 11, this week 50 years ago, Several other missions followed with 12 men having walked on the moon, It is entirely possible that a Canadian may be among the select lunar group, perhaps within the next decade or two, (NASA)

He also says space is no longer just a U.S- Russian exploration area, with newcomers like Japan and India amongst others, with China announcing its own ambitious plans for a space station around Earth, and a lunar orbiter and a lunar landing on the dark side of the moon.

He also notes Canada has long played a vital role in the U.S. space programme in a variety of areas from designs, to engineering to manufacturing, control, navigation to astronauts themselves. He is quite sure that will continue and suggests that a Canadian might indeed be among those on a future lunar mission. While the Canadian made lunar lander on Apollo 11 was the first to touch the moon and leave a "footprint", a Canadian could well be among the crew of a future lunar mission to leave a Canadian human footprint on the moon,

As for longer stays in space such as a Mars mission, much has still to learned about the physical effects of space travel and weightlessness on the human body.

Andrew Fazekas- The Night Sky Guy- Facebook

There’s a quiet trend happening in connection with psychedelic drugs like LSD, magic mushroom, and others.

It’s called “microdosing”. The idea is that just a little can improve focus and creativity, and your overall mood.

Norman Farb ( PhD) is an associate professor of psychology at the University of Toronto-Mississauga and director of the Psychedelic Studies research programme.  His lab conducted an online study of the effects of microdosing.

Professor Norman Farb (PhD) on the University of Toronto initial study into the practice of microdosing psychedelic drugsEN_Interview_1-20190717-WIE10

The idea of microdosing is not to take a “trip” by getting a hallucinogenic effect, but in taking just a tiny amount one might get a sense of well-being similar in some ways to that of meditation.  Proponents also say in addition to anxiety and/or stress reduction it helps them to focus on tasks and can improve creativity. While there have been some studies on full dose psychedelics related to previously untreatable post traumatic stress disorder and severe depression, the researchers say that given the fact the drugs are illegal, there has been very little research done on the topic of microdosing and use by people who are otherwise healthy..

The researchers conducted an online survey and after weeding out responses still had several hundred replies from which to draw some initial conclusions.   Most of the  respondents, generally younger people and educated reported that their mood has improved and they were able to focus more on their tasks, and were more creative.  However, Farb notes that there may be a placebo effect here in that people want to feel these effects.

Others did report some side effects, and of course as Farb points out, because the drugs are illegal, there’s no guarantee of what they are actually consuming.

Farb says they are presently working through the bureaucratic process in order to create a controlled and proper scientific study of microdosing psychedelic drugs.

He says they are about a year away from trials.

Additional information

U of T News- microdosing study

As we ponder the topsy-turvy world of climate change, let us now take a closer look at the top of the world.

Travel with me please to Canadian Forces Station Alert, located at the northeastern tip of Ellesmere island, just 817 kilometres from the North Pole, in Nunavut, one of Canada's three northern territories.

CFS Alert is the most northerly continuously inhabited place on Earth, located at the tip of Ellesmere Island. (Google Maps)

At any given time, as colleague Marc Montgomery reported in January, roughly 75 people from the Canadians Forces and some civilian contractors at the high-security listening post and weather station are keeping an eye on a lot of things, including the weather outside.

And it's a pretty safe bet right now that those Alert residents have never seen the likes of what's going on this summer in their northern neighbourhood.

Nunavut is experiencing a heat wave.

A September sunset in Alert, which sits just 817 kilometres from the North Pole and is experiencing balmy temperatures this summer. (Kevin Rawlings)

And it's not just a little one.

This past Sunday, temperatures at CFS Alert hit a record 21 C.

The following day temperatures hit 20. Same thing the next day.

That was warmer than Victoria, B.C., Canada's winter and summer playground for Canadian seniors who like their weather warm.

Environment Canada's weather station at Alert, is at the northeastern tip of Ellesmere island, just 817 kilometres from the North Pole. A test station there is seen in a 2006 photo. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)

That 21 degrees was 14 degrees above average.

That 21 degrees was the equivalent of a daytime high of 42 C in Toronto.

And it's not just happening in Alert.

Data on ice, snow and atmospheric conditions collected at Alert is valuable to researchers and weather forecasters around the world because it has been gathered for so many decades in a part of the world where very few other measurements are taken. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press)

On July 9, 2,000 kilometres to the south, the temperature hit 23.9 in Nunavut's capital, Iqaluit.

And it's pretty much the same over to the west in Alaska, which just had its second warmest June on record.

What. one wonders, is going on and what are the ramifications?

David Phillips is Environment Canada's senior climatologist. (cbc.ca)

Questions like this are best reserved for David Phillips, Environment Canada's senior climatologist.

I spoke to him by phone Wednesday.

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Editor's note: An earlier version of this story listed the distance from Alert to Iqaluit as 2,000 miles. The distance is, in fact, 2,000 kilometres (2,091 km, to be exact). RCI apologizes for the errror.

It’s known that extremely loud noises can damage your hearing, but we’re becoming aware that constant levels of noise below damaging levels can have other health effects.

Tor Oiamo (PhD) is an assistant professor, Ryerson University in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies  in Toronto.

Ryerson University professor Tor Oiamo (PhD) on ambient city noise and health effectsEN_Interview_1-20190716-WIE10

Cities have become noisy places, and in many areas, 24 hours a day. There’s, traffic of course, but loud conversations at night, cars with extra loud amplifiers and bass booming, leaf blowers, construction, aircraft, subway systems, music in stores, and on and on, it all adds up to constant loud ambient noise, with occasional sudden louder bursts, emergency sirens for example it all adds up.

Around 20 per cent of Canadians say they are annoyed by noise in the cities, but professor Oiamo who studies such things, says constant noise levels are now being shown to result in increased risk of high blood pressure and heart disease and other health issues.

Motorcycles have often come under fire for excess noise. While bikers will say loud pipes add to their safety, although straight pipes have always been illegal. Many cities have regulated bike exhaust levels to 93 decibels, but it seems enforcement is not rigorous. (via Radio-Canada)

There are for example also concerns about noise interrupting sleep patterns and the health risks associated with that.

There is a limited amount of mitigation that cities can do, other than better planning of traffic routes, although even the material used on roadways can make a difference.   Adding more parks and green spaces can mitigate sound levels, but on a personal level. Sadly that too often comes into conflict for the current trend for greater density in cities and city desires for ever more tax generation from housing and business which competes for any available land.

Edmonton tried regulating noise with an electronic indicator at four of eight locations. They had to turn off the LED indicators due to resident's complaints as apparently people were revving engines to see just how loud they could register on the electronic signs, the exact opposite of the sign's intent (CBC)

Oiamo says what is needed are provincial or a national plan or guidelines on noise reduction.

In the meantime he says, being aware of noise and its effects may help you take measures to avoid excess exposure.

Additional information

World Health Organisation: 2018: Noise guidelines for Europe

CBC: P Lee-Shanok: Jan 28/19: Toronto consults on cutting down noise

CBC: Dr B Goldman: Nov 19/18: How loud noise can affect your heart

Canadian Hearing Society” Position paper on noise pollution

Hearsmart.org: Decibels and damage

Journal BioMed Central: study: 2017- Noise exposure while commuting in Toronto