Transcript: Crime Story, Episode 84
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National Observer
an hour ago
- National Observer
Canada steers global push to quell ocean noise pollution at UN summit
Canada is launching an international effort to tackle the swell of ocean noise pollution harming marine life across the globe — sparking hope among conservation groups for quieter Canadian waters. At the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France, delegates from Canada and Panama partnered this week to launch the high-ambition Coalition for a Quiet Ocean, the first global declaration devoted solely to reducing human-caused ocean noise. The voluntary declaration, with 35 other nations on board, suggests turning down the volume underwater by reducing noise in marine-protected areas (MPAs), sharing data and building global knowledge, protecting vulnerable ocean life and pushing for quieter ships through new rules at the International Maritime Organization. 'The declaration sends a really important message that a quiet ocean is important, and it shows [a global] intention we want to move forward on addressing it,' said Susanna Fuller, vice president of conservation projects at Oceans North. But Canada will have to follow up its international rhetoric with concrete action at home, she added. Canada is ahead of some countries with existing tools — such as the Oceans Protection Plan and minimum protection standards for marine protected areas — that it can build on to curb noise pollution in a timely way. It should take the next step by setting noise thresholds in marine protected areas, Fuller said. 'We have the existing tools and I think it's an exciting opportunity for Canada in particular, because we know in the Arctic we have to start dealing with ocean noise, before shipping increases exponentially.' The federal government is heading an international coalition to protect marine life from rising underwater noise, but domestic action lags behind. Until now, Arctic waters have benefited from low levels of shipping traffic and industrial activity. However, global warming is occurring four times faster than the global average in the Canadian Arctic, causing the rapid retreat of sea ice. This means shipping traffic is on the rise and activities like deep-sea mining could move in to disrupt and harm marine life, like the narwhals and belugas that Inuit communities rely on for their food and culture. Ocean noise pollution — mostly from commercial shipping — is now widespread, intensifying and largely unregulated. Sound travels in salt water more than quadruple the speed it does in air, reaching vast distances and disturbing a range of marine animals, like shrimp, fish, seals and whales. It disrupts their ability to communicate with each other, hunt for food, find mates and avoid predators. Ocean noise requires ambitious global cooperation, Transport Minister Chrystia Freeland said in a statement. 'Through this coalition, we are demonstrating Canada's commitment to international leadership on ocean conservation and inviting our partners to join us in restoring a quieter, healthier ocean for future generations — while supporting sustainable economic activity.' Beatrice Frank, conservation scientist and executive director of the Georgia Strait Alliance, echoed support for an international commitment to reduce noise. But she hopes it also signals new ambition by Canada to produce a more robust ocean noise strategy, expected to be finalized this year. When the federal government rolled out the draft strategy last summer, scientists and marine conservation groups panned the blueprint as lacking substance or detailed measures to reduce underwater noise pollution. Even staff at Fisheries and Oceans Canada worried it lacked substance. One email obtained by Canada's National Observer observed that 'there is only one actual noise management or reduction measure within the entire strategy,' and questioned whether it should be called a 'strategy' at all. 'While having an ocean noise strategy is positive, we didn't see the strength of the framework and how it can really result in changes on the ground,' Frank said. There need to be measures such as no-go or low-noise zones for vessels in key habitats for at-risk species such as southern resident killer whales and noise thresholds in heavily trafficked areas like the Salish Sea, she said. Despite a longstanding push by marine conservation groups on the West Coast, the federal government's recent seasonal protection measures for southern resident killer whales didn't align with US regulations that prohibit recreational or whale-watching vessels, Frank said. To better protect the endangered whales, the federal government and the Port of Vancouver instigated a mix of voluntary and mandatory guidelines , which include seasonal vessel slow-down zones and sanctuary areas for the whales along with some fishing area closures for the past seven years. The measures have resulted in some limited noise reductions, but the cumulative effects of increasing activity in the region — like the spike in oil tanker traffic following the completion of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion and an expected surge of shipping activity if the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 expansion project gets approved — aren't being addressed, Frank said. 'I'm hoping this new commitment from Canada isn't just [a reach for] low-hanging fruit, but that it's a way to make the strategy a leading document that brings changes to underwater noise levels.'
CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
As Toronto teen lay dying, witness says health centre ignored cries for help
Moments after he was shot in Toronto's Weston neighbourhood Saturday night, a teenage boy lay bleeding out in front of a local health-care centre — and one witness says her repeated cries for help at the facility's front door were ignored. Now, Dacota Carriere says she is speaking out to draw attention both to the lack of assistance the teen — identified by police Wednesday evening as Jakhai Jack — received at West Park Healthcare Centre, and to join other witnesses in lamenting long 911 wait times that night as the life slipped from the 15-year-old's body. "The boy was fighting up until his last moments," Carriere told CBC News Wednesday. "I truly believe if first responders had come immediately when they were needed, or he got the attention he needed right away, I truly believe he would have survived with the amount of fight he had in him." Carriere was at the health-care centre at 170 Emmett Ave. Saturday night around 10 p.m. She and some friends, who are car enthusiasts, were taking photos of their vehicles in the parking lot because of its recently renovated lighting. The University Health Network-run facility is not a hospital, but instead provides specialized rehabilitation care after life-altering illness or injury like amputation, stroke and lung disease, according to the UHN website. A spokesperson told CBC News in an email the facility doesn't have emergency care facilities and during evening hours nurses provide care to inpatient units, while doctors are on call but not routinely on site. "Should there be an emergency on the property, our first response would involve the attendance of security personnel and/or a call to 9-1-1," Ana Fernandes said in a statement. WATCH | Neighbour recounts trying to help shooting victim: Neighbours say they were on hold for several minutes while shooting victim was still alive 2 days ago Duration 2:35 Carriere said she and her friends were hanging out in the parking lot when they first heard five gunshots in the distance. Shortly after, a young male came running past and said he had been filming a music video down the street when a shooting happened. He asked for a ride, but the crowd declined without knowing if the situation was safe, and the male ran off, she said. Then, about five minutes later, a grey Nissan abruptly pulled into the parking lot with an injured teen in the back seat. Cries for help ignored The driver and two other teens got out and pulled the injured boy onto the ground. The driver said he didn't know the boy and then drove away, Carriere said. A neighbour previously told CBC News that he had helped get the victim into a vehicle so that he could be driven to a nearby health facility. Panic broke out, and Carriere and her friends started pulling microfibre towels out of their trunks in an effort to stop the bleeding. While the boy's friends applied pressure to his chest wound, she ran to the front door of the health centre hoping to find help. "I understood that it was a health-care centre and not a hospital who has an emergency department — but still, putting two and two together, there has to be nurses there," Carriere said. "I see nurses in the lobby, I see security guards. I even made eye contact with many of them. And despite me clearly being in distress, none of them — not one — came outside to help." Fernandes, UHN's spokesperson, referred questions about the situation to Toronto police, citing the ongoing investigation. "UHN joins the community in expressing our deepest condolences to the young man's family and loved ones mourning this heartbreaking loss," she said. Emergency crews arrive One of Carriere's friends was eventually able to wave down a passing police car, and emergency crews arrived soon after, she said. Toronto police confirmed Wednesday that paramedics transported Jack from the health-care centre to a trauma centre on Saturday night, where he was later pronounced dead. No suspect information has been released. Jack was still conscious, talking, and trying to stand when he was first dropped off at the health centre, Carriere said. "He had honestly a surprising amount of energy," she said. But by the time Jack was loaded into an ambulance, he appeared to be unconscious. "His eyes were closed and his mouth was open. He was no longer moving, but the police informed us when they loaded him in the ambulance that he was still breathing," she said. City to review incident Carriere said that days later, she still can't stop thinking about the incident — compounded by the fact that she was also stuck on hold with 911 for several minutes that night. A neighbour previously shared a similar story with CBC News. "I believe the aid to this boy was primarily by bystanders, which saddens me, especially because we are right outside a health-care centre," she said. In a statement, Toronto police spokesperson Stephanie Sayer told CBC News that the first call about gunshots linked to this incident came in at 10:01 p.m. Saturday night after waiting on hold for six minutes and 43 seconds. Emergency responders found the boy by 10:11 p.m., she said. "This was too long, and we're not suggesting otherwise. But it's also important to understand the broader context," Sayer said, adding that "major incidents" can cause a surge of 911 calls about the same event and cause "temporary delays" in the call queue. Toronto police's 911 communications centre is the busiest in Canada, Sayer said, and police are trying to improve response times through hiring and modernizing its systems. So far this year, the average wait time to reach an operator is one minute and two seconds, according to police. "We understand the concern and are committed to ensuring that emergency calls are answered and actioned as quickly as possible," Sayer said. City of Toronto officials have pledged to review the emergency services response in the wake of the incident.
CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
3 plead guilty in network of temp agencies that hid asylum seeker's work accident
Three people accused of running fraudulent temp agencies that exploited asylum seekers — and who attempted to conceal a work accident later uncovered by a 2018 CBC investigation — have pleaded guilty. Quebec's Labour Ministry has called the scheme the "largest fraud ever committed" against it and has estimated government losses at about $635,000 as a result of the operation. Hector Hair Rodriguez Contreras, 56, Hector Lopez Ramos, 51, and Beatriz Adriana Guerrero Munoz, 45, were all initially charged with fraud of more than $5,000 against the Quebec and Canadian governments and conspiracy to commit fraud of more than $5,000. Rodriguez Contreras pleaded guilty to those charges in April, roughly three weeks before his trial in Quebec Court was set to begin. The trio, led by Rodriguez Contreras, ran a number of temp agencies that hired asylum seekers without work permits and paid them below minimum wage in cash or cheques addressed to false identities they assigned to them. Court documents filed after the guilty pleas state that Quebec's Labour Ministry launched probes into the temp agencies following CBC's investigation. Asylum seeker still in pain The story had revealed an asylum seeker was severely injured on the job after being recruited at a Montreal Metro station by a shadowy network of temp agencies. He was given a former worker's name and social security number to work under the table at a meat processing plant outside the city. Prosecutor Geneviève Bélanger said part of the group's operations were legitimate, making it difficult for the government to detect the fraud. "That was part of the scheme. For part of their business, if you will, they would do things in order, while for another part, they wouldn't — which also allowed them to fly under the radar," Bélanger said in an interview last week. The asylum seeker testified at the trial of Lopez Ramos and Guerrero Munoz in May before Quebec Court Judge Rose-Mélanie Drivod. The top of his hand was sliced off by a meat slicer, that, he told CBC at the time, he had not been properly shown how to use. In an emergency surgery, doctors performed a skin graft taken from his thigh to reconstruct his hand. He told the court that years later, he's still in pain. The temp agency that hired him did not declare the accident to Quebec's workplace health and safety board, until the latter intervened following CBC's story and forced the company to compensate him. The man, who is now 39 years old, said in court he'd planned to work in construction in Quebec, when he came to Canada in August 2017 and would have made a good wage that way, but instead has been working as a commercial security guard for more than five years. He and his wife have three children with them in Montreal. 2 pleaded guilty to reduced charges Three days into the trial and soon after the worker's testimony, Lopez Ramos and Guerrero Munoz pleaded guilty to reduced charges of using forged documents, including tax statements, against the Quebec government. Bélanger said the worker's testimony was emotional and powerful. "It clearly demonstrated the risk this type of thing poses when agencies don't respect [work] standards," she said. The statements of facts filed in court say that the Labour Ministry's probe, dubbed TARMAC, revealed that more than 400 of the companies' workers had also been claiming some form of unemployment benefits — many of them new immigrants who had little knowledge of Quebec's work standards and protections. "The leaders of the network took advantage of the vulnerability of some of the workers," the facts read. Martin Subak, Lopez Ramos's lawyer, says pleading guilty after a trial has begun "is commonly done to kind of test a little bit the evidence." He said part of the reason his client and co-accused ended up being handed lesser charges was because "their roles were subservient" to Rodriguez Contreras. The charges against them could lead to a maximum of two years in jail, while the fraud charges against Rodriguez Contreras carry a 14-year maximum imprisonment.
