Palestine flag removed from ‘sacred mountain' Stawamus Chief
The flag was removed by members of the Squamish Access Society on Sunday night.
The First Nation had requested those responsible to come and remove the flag, calling their plea not politically motivated, but rather an ask to respect the sacred mountain.
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy
In a statement, the Squamish Access Society said it 'was supporting the Squamish Nation in their request to have the flag removed and we were not making a political statement by our actions.'
'We want to express how deep, concerning and disrespectful it is to that connection we have to the mountain and, you know, I feel for our people today and over the past week of feeling disrespected and we want to utilise this time to be able to educate people about that deep, deep connection and sacredness that it has to our Sk̲wx̲wú7mesh people,' Wilson Williams, elected councillor and spokesperson for the Squamish Nation, told Global News.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Global News
3 hours ago
- Global News
Calgary rezoning debate heats up as more neighbourhoods explore restrictive covenants
Residents in a northwest Calgary neighbourhood are exploring the use of restrictive covenants to pushback on citywide rezoning as the debate over the policy continues with a looming election. Several new and proposed developments under the zoning policy in Charleswood and Brentwood have a coalition of area residents frustrated. 'We do need some housing development,' said Valerie Laferriere, who chairs the Brentwood Charleswood RC Initiative. 'But this mid-block, high-density, 60-per cent lot coverage, 12-metres-high stuff I think everybody is done with.' The group is now exploring the use of restrictive covenants to 'take back their communities,' and 'control what kind of development they want to see now and in the future,' according to Laferriere. A restrictive covenant is a legally binding agreement on a property title that limits how a property is used or developed, even after it is sold to a new owner. Story continues below advertisement Brentwood and Charleswood would be joining residents in 11 other communities looking to use the legal tool, according to lawyers at Carbert Waite, including Varsity, Lakeview and Lake Bonavista. View image in full screen A map showing the communities exploring restrictive covenants in Calgary. Global News 'I do think restrictive covenants were here long before this council, they'll be here long after this council,' Laferriere said. 'I think it does give a tool back to property owners to exercise their property rights.' Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy She said the proposed developments in the area have raised concerns for residents over potential impacts to parking, privacy, and property values. The citywide rezoning policy took effect on Aug 6, 2024, after Calgary city council voted in favour of a bylaw to change the city's default residential zoning, to allow a variety of housing types including single-detached, semi-detached, duplexes and rowhouses on a single property. Story continues below advertisement It's expected to be a hot button issue ahead of the next municipal election in October, with three candidates running for mayor vowing to repeal it including Jeromy Farkas, Sonya Sharp and Jeff Davison. This week, the Calgary Real Estate Board (CREB) reaffirmed its opposition to the policy in its YYC Votes 2025 campaign, aimed at highlighting several housing related issues to voters and candidates. CREB, which represents nearly 8,800 realtors in Calgary, outlined its support for sustainable community growth and responsible municipal spending, while looking for an alternative to the citywide rezoning policy. 'In that opposition, we believe that grassroots, community-focused engagement is important for all these communities,' said Christian Twomey, chair of CREB's government relations standing committee. However, Ward 8 Coun. Courtney Walcott said he feels CREB's policy stance and the real estate board's own data is conflicting. 'They're trying to appease the reality that the only way to make sales in a housing crisis is for housing to be affordable, but then, on the other hand, the way to make the most money is to have exclusivity in the housing sales and you see this throughout their bullet points,' Walcott told Global News. Walcott pointed to Calgary's benchmark housing price of $586,200 in June, which is down nearly four per cent year-over-year. Story continues below advertisement CREB data shows inventory for rowhouses jumped 22 per cent since June of last year, with semi-detached inventory climbing just shy of 20 per cent. It also shows the benchmark price of a rowhouse in Calgary is $450,300, down 3.1 per cent. The real estate board's June update said while all property types reported gains in inventory, both row and apartment-style homes reported inventory levels 'over 30 per cent higher than long term trends.' Recent city data shows 271 applications were submitted for new homes in established communities in the first quarter of 2025, a 59-per cent increase over the same time period last year. Thirty-one per cent of those applications were rowhouses and townhomes, a 163-per cent increase from the same quarter in 2024, while citywide rezoning enabled nearly half or 45 per cent of all new low-density housing development permits in established neighbourhoods. 'If affordability is the goal, why stray off the path that's working?' Walcott added. CREB is defending its position, and said other factors are contributing to lower sales and home prices including no decline in lending rates, economic uncertainty and price concerns. 'To say that blanket rezoning is the cause of prices going down and the increase of supply is just patently false,' Twomey said. Story continues below advertisement Walcott, who is not running for re-election, also raised a concern with the growing trend of communities seeking restrictive covenants. 'While I respect everyone's right to do what they want with their own property, I do think it sets a negative precedent that people are using a 100 year old tool to stop their community from having more neighbours,' he said. The next municipal election is on Oct. 20, 2025.
Global News
4 hours ago
- Global News
LeBlanc ‘encouraged' after latest U.S. talks as Trump tariff deadline looms
Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Thursday he's feeling 'encouraged' after meeting with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and American lawmakers in Washington ahead of next week's tariff deadline. But LeBlanc also suggested that a new economic and security arrangement with the United States may not materialize in time for U.S. President Donald Trump's latest deadline of Aug. 1. 'Canadians expect us to take the time necessary to get the best deal we can in the interest of Canadian workers,' LeBlanc said outside the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. 'So we are only going to be in a position to accept a deal when the prime minister decides that it is the best deal we can get in the interest of Canadian workers and the Canadian economy.' Trump has sent letters to multiple nations, including Canada, saying that if no deal is made by Aug. 1, he will impose high tariffs on imports to the United States. Story continues below advertisement While Trump's letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney threatened Canada with 35 per cent tariffs, the White House has said the levies will not be applied to imports that comply with the Canada-U.S-Mexico Agreement on trade. Canada is also being hit with Trump's tariffs on steel, aluminum and automobiles, and will be affected by copper duties that are also expected to kick in on Aug. 1. 5:23 WA state senator says Trump doesn't understand effects of trade war The Trump administration has announced only a handful of trade deal frameworks with other nations since the president first threatened his so-called 'Liberation Day' tariffs in April. Trump this week said his administration made deals with Japan and the Philippines, adding to previous agreements with Indonesia, Vietnam and the United Kingdom. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy While many details of the frameworks remain vague, all of them include some level of tariff – and it's not clear whether they would shield countries from Trump's plan to impose further sectoral duties on things like semiconductors and lumber. Story continues below advertisement LeBlanc said 'complex negotiations' are continuing between Canada and the United States and he will be returning to Washington next week. He described his meeting with Lutnick as productive and cordial. LeBlanc, who was joined in the meetings by Canadian Ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman, also had face time with Republican senators Kevin Cramer, Roger Marshall, Shelley Moore Capito, Todd Young and Tim Scott. LeBlanc said they discussed border security and defence issues and the American lawmakers shared a 'desire to see more stability and predictability in the relationship with the United States.' 'My conversations have focused on how we share so many priorities of President Trump's administration that we should be able to figure out together a deal that's in the best interest of Canadian workers, and obviously they are going to do their side of the table in terms of the American economy and American workers,' he said. 1:55 'Only the best deal for Canada': Carney on negotiating tariffs, trade with Trump Federal officials have remained tight-lipped about what Trump's team has said it wants from Canada. Story continues below advertisement After this week's trade deal frameworks were announced, Trump boasted on social media that he would only consider lowering tariff rates if countries open their markets to the United States. The president also said Japan would invest $550 billion in the U.S. at his 'direction.' Trump said Thursday that Japan 'bought it down basically,' referring to the lower tariff rate. 'I would let other countries buy it down,' he said. 2:05 'Largest trade deal in history': Trump finalizes US trade pact with Japan, cuts tariffs to 15% When Trump first threatened Canada with tariffs, he claimed it was due to the cross-border flow of deadly fentanyl. Ottawa responded with a boosted border plan and named a 'fentanyl czar.' Ottawa walked back its digital services tax last month after Trump threatened to halt all trade talks. Carney last week announced measures to stop China from dumping steel in Canada. Story continues below advertisement Hillman said those efforts help Canada in its ongoing negotiations. 'In our discussion with the American senators this week, the American administration, the measures that Canada has taken on steel in particular… are some of the strongest in the world,' she said. 'And that has been recognized and very much appreciated. So we are making some positive progress.' Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski joined a bipartisan group of American lawmakers in Ottawa last week. The Republican said Thursday that 'we would all like to get to a better place with our trade relationship with Canada' but suggested it's not likely to happen before Aug. 1. Canada cannot be treated 'as yet one more country that we need to reconcile tariffs on' because of shared economic and national security issues, she said. 'I wish that I could say, 'It feels good,' that this is all going to be taken care of before the first of August, but I'm not sensing that,' she said.
Global News
4 hours ago
- Global News
Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell meets with U.S. DOJ official in prison
The U.S. Justice Department's No. 2 official met Thursday with Ghislaine Maxwell, the imprisoned former girlfriend of financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The meeting in Florida, which Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Tuesday he was working to arrange, is part of an ongoing Justice Department effort to cast itself as transparent following fierce backlash from parts of President Donald Trump's base over an earlier refusal to release additional records in the Epstein investigation. 'Ms. Maxwell answered every single question. She never stopped, she never invoked a privilege, she never declined to answer. She answered all the questions truthfully, honestly and to the best of her ability,' attorney David Oscar Markus told reporters outside the federal courthouse in Tallahassee, where Maxwell met with Blanche. In a social media post Tuesday, Blanche said that Trump 'has told us to release all credible evidence' and that if Maxwell has information about anyone who has committed crimes against victims, the FBI and the Justice Department 'will hear what she has to say.' Story continues below advertisement Markus said his team was 'thankful' the deputy attorney general came to question Maxwell, calling it a 'good day.' Asked if his client could potentially receive a pardon or see her prison term reduced, Markus said: 'There's no promises yet. So she's just answering questions for now.' The House Committee on Oversight issued a subpoena Wednesday for Maxwell to testify before committee officials in August. 1:49 U.S. DOJ in talks to interview jailed Epstein conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence and is housed at a low-security federal prison in Tallahassee, Florida. She was sentenced three years ago after being convicted of helping Epstein sexually abuse underage girls. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Officials have said Epstein killed himself in his New York jail cell while awaiting trial in 2019, but his case has generated endless attention and conspiracy theories because of his and Maxwell's links to famous people, including royals, presidents and billionaires. Story continues below advertisement Earlier this month, the Justice Department said it would not release more files related to the Epstein investigation, despite promises that claimed otherwise from Attorney General Pam Bondi. The department also said an Epstein client list does not exist. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Bondi told Trump in May that his name was among high-profile people mentioned in government files of Epstein, though the mention does not imply wrongdoing. Trump, a Republican, has said that he once thought Epstein was a 'terrific guy' but that they later had a falling out. 3:51 'Release the damn files': Republicans join with Democrats to demand Trump release Epstein files A subcommittee on Wednesday also voted to subpoena the Justice Department for documents related to Epstein. And senators in both major political parties have expressed openness to holding hearings on the matter after Congress' August recess. Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, has introduced legislation with bipartisan support that would require the Justice Department to 'make publicly available in a searchable and downloadable format all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials' related to Epstein and his associates. Story continues below advertisement House Speaker Mike Johnson and the Republican majority leader, Rep. Steve Scalise, both of Louisiana, have said they will address whatever outstanding Epstein-related issues are in Congress when they return from recess. Epstein, under a 2008 non-prosecution agreement, pleaded guilty in Florida to state charges of soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution. That allowed him to avert a possible life sentence, instead serving 13 months in a work release program. He was required to make payments to victims and register as a sex offender. In 2019, Epstein was charged by federal prosecutors in Manhattan for nearly identical allegations.
