Latest news with #OnTheCoast
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Planning to dredge the Burrard Inlet to maximize oil shipments is underway
An ocean pollution researcher and at least one First Nation are raising concerns about the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority's (VFPA) plan to dredge the Burrard Inlet. Dredging is when the bed of a body of water is dug out to make way for ships or for construction or cleaning purposes. Ocean researcher Juan José Alava told CBC's On The Coast that periodic dredging is common for navigation maintenance in the Inlet. However, he says he was surprised to hear that the port is planning to dredge for the purpose of maximizing oil tanker capacity. The VFPA plan is to maximize oil shipments from the port. Currently, Aframax tankers, a specific size of oil tanker, with a deadweight ranging from 80,000 to 120,000 metric tonnes, can carry loads up to 80 per cent, with the goal of increasing capacity to 100 per cent. However, doing so carries the risk of hitting the sea bottom. According to Alava, another risk is environmental harm. LISTEN | Burrard Inlet could be dredged to maximize oil shipments: Alava is the principal investigator for the Ocean Pollution Research Unit at the University of British Columbia, and says that this development is deeply concerning because of the potential effect on water quality, aquatic life, and First Nations culture in the area that is dependent on the Inlet and the Second Narrows channel. "At what environmental cost, for a single tanker, do you want to dredge the Burrard Inlet? What about the First Nation communities that are living there?" He says that as a scientist who studies marine toxicology, the risk of dredging to increase oil tanker capacity can have a drastic impact on the environment if there is an oil spill, citing lessons learned from the Exxon Valdez southern Alaska spill 36 years ago. Alava says that you can still find oil remnants in B.C. from that spill today, so environmental impact assessments and Indigenous consultation are necessary. Tsleil-Waututh Nation's Chief, Jen Thomas, said in a written statement on May 8, that no formal engagement has happened about dredging the Burrard Inlet that runs past the nation. Thomas says that the nation firmly opposed the Trans Mountain Expansion Project, adding that the Government of Canada built it despite the nation's informed decision not to consent to the project. "Tsleil-Waututh has a sacred, legal obligation to protect, defend and steward our Inlet. We hold inherent and Constitutionally-protected Indigenous title and rights to this area." Under UNDRIP, the B.C. government has a duty to obtain free, prior and informed consent from First Nations when pursuing projects in their territories. Thomas says that the nation will have more to say about the matter once it reviews the proposal and says that it looks forward to meeting with agencies in the future about any projects that may affect Tsleil-Waututh Nation rights and title. Despite concerns from environmentalists and First Nations, B.C. Energy and Climate Solutions Minister Adrian Dix is supportive of the project, pending it meeting environmental assessment and consultation requirements with First Nations. In a report from the Canadian Press released on May 11, Dix says that the province spoke with the Tsleil-Waututh Nation before expressing views about the project to the federal government. The plan, floated by Prime Minister Mark Carney in early May, comes at a time when Canada is looking to diversify energy exports away from the United States. Dix stressed that the dredging would be a federal project, not provincial and that the project "would allow for less traffic at the port and better utilization" because ships could fully load. The dredging project's preliminary stages of environmental assessment and First Nation consultation began on May 20.
Yahoo
04-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
For the first time, MPs born in the 21st century are headed to the Hill
Canadians elected a total of 112 new MPs this week — including for the first time a handful born this century. Three incoming Liberal MPs — Jake Sawatzky in B.C., and Amandeep Sodhi and Fares Al Soud in Ontario — were all born in the early 2000s. Sawatzky, a 25-year-old master's student in counselling psychology, upset longtime NDP MP Peter Julian. Sawatzky told CBC Radio's On The Coast that he wanted to get into politics to address mental health and addictions issues. "There's a lot of people that just really aren't receiving the treatment they really desperately need, and I was thinking, one person can only do so much — this is more of a policy thing now," he told host Gloria Macarenko. WATCH | First-time Liberal candidate unseats longtime NDP MP Peter Julian: Sawatzky, who was only four when Julian was first elected, said it was also important for him to put his name forward to represent his generation. "The House of Commons should be representative of all people, including young Canadians," he said. "You can have youth committees and that sort of thing, but the best way to have young people represented is to have young people in government." The 21st century club almost had (and still could have) a fourth member. Initial results showed Liberal Tatiana Auguste had won a close race in the Quebec riding of Terrebonne, but the validation process later revealed that the Bloc incumbent had won by 44 votes. That margin is close enough to trigger an automatic judicial recount, meaning it's possible that the riding could flip again in Auguste's favour. Either way, there are signs the House is getting younger overall. Conservative Eric Melillo from Ontario also won re-election this week. Born in 1998, he became the first Gen Z MP to be elected to the House when he initially won his riding in 2019. Sukhman Gill won a seat in B.C. after Monday's vote and will join Melillo as another Gen Z Conservative. The Conservatives are also adding a handful of new MPs with ties to the sporting world. Helena Konanz from B.C. is a former world-ranked professional tennis player and coach, having previously competed in such highly touted tournaments as the U.S. Open and Wimbledon. She's joined by two incoming Conservative MPs from Quebec who have ties to the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. Jason Groleau is a former member of both the Hull Olympiques and Victoriaville Tigers, while Gabriel Hardy was previously a personal trainer for the Quebec Remparts. A number of incoming MPs have plenty of political experience, making the transfer from provincial politics into the federal sphere. Among the more notable names is Roman Baber who was removed from Ontario Premier Doug Ford's caucus in January 2021 over his opposition to pandemic health measures. He would later run for the federal Conservative leadership in 2022 and finish fourth. Other Conservatives joining Baber are Mike Dawson, a former New Brunwsick MLA, and Éric Lefebvre, a former MNA in Quebec Premier François Legault's government. Ellis Ross was also elected for the Conservatives. He had previously served as a minister under former B.C. premier Christy Clark. On the Liberal side, Carlos Leitão is one of the more recognizable figures making the leap from provincial to federal politics. The former Quebec MNA served as the province's finance minister from 2014 to 2018. Braedon Clark, a former Nova Scotia MLA, will also come to Ottawa as a new member of the Liberal caucus. Other incoming MPs have shed their provincial NDP stripes to join the federal Liberal team. Buckley Belanger was initially a Saskatchewan Liberal MLA before switching to the provincial NDP. He's now back in the Liberal fold as he heads to the House of Commons. Similarly, Stephanie McLean, a former Alberta NDP MLA and minister, ran for the Liberals and won a seat in B.C. Incoming Liberal MP Tom Osborne was a longtime Newfoundland and Labrador MHA, serving as a minister for both the provincial Progressive Conservative and Liberal parties. He was also Speaker of the House of Assembly for a time. Among the other new MPs coming to Ottawa is Sima Acan, the first Turkish-Canadian elected to the House of Commons. Incoming Liberal MP David Myles is also bringing his Juno Award-winning musical talents to the Hill. Kent McDonald from P.E.I., David Bexte from Alberta and Emma Harrison from Ontario join a long list of farmers who have been elected to the House going back to the very first Parliament.
CBC
03-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Is a recession on the way? What this could mean for your mortgage
Mark Ting, a partner with Foundation Wealth and On The Coast's personal finance columnist, says the Canadian market is in a weak environment, and the new government will have to step in to stop a recession. He says he's leaning towards a variable mortgage for his own personal situation in the current economic climate.
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Yahoo
How bayanihan is grounding Filipino Canadians in 'ethics of care' after Lapu-Lapu Day tragedy
"It was meant to be a day filled with music, dancing, food, laughter." Rev. Expedito Farinas choked up as he addressed mourners on Sunday at Vancouver's St. Mary the Virgin South Hill, an Anglican church with a largely Filipino congregation just a 15-minute walk away from where tragedy had occurred the night before. The Lapu-Lapu Day Block Party began as a day of "great celebration honouring our heritage, our culture, our tradition," Farinas told CBC Radio's On The Coast. Hundreds of people sang along to artists like Black Eyed Peas' Filipino vendors and food trucks lined the streets to serve the tens of thousands of people who visited throughout the day. WATCH | 'It turned out to be a traumatizing day': But in moments, the scenes of joy turned to devastation as an SUV drove into the crowd Saturday evening, killing 11 and injuring dozens more. Chaos ensued. Eyewitness videos show bodies lying limp on the pavement, held by distraught community members waiting for paramedics to arrive. "There are so many," one man says in Tagalog amid the cries for help, before pointing the camera to the end of the street. "It goes all the way until there." The accused attacker, 30-year-old Kai-Ji Adam Lo, was arrested and charged with eight counts of second-degree murder, with more charges likely to come. Dubbed the "darkest day" in Vancouver's history by interim police chief Steve Rai, the Filipino community has been gathering to mourn with the nation at large. This past week, dozens of vigils, memorials and spaces to grieve have been organized, with at least 23 in the Vancouver area alone and 10moreacrossthecountry. That support shows how the Filipino community has been unified by a spirit of bayanihan. The term comes from the Tagalog word bayan, which refers to one's town as well as the Filipino motherland and people as a whole, and reflects communal unity and the practice of providing help without expecting reward that is inherent to Filipino culture. It signifies how the "community is grounded in ethics of care," says York University politics professor Ethel Tungohan, whose work focuses on Filipino migration and activism. "This is testament to the community's ability to care for each other and to recognize the importance of showing up and holding space for each other." Bayanihan has been a "lifeline" for the grieving Filipino community, says Leny Rose Simbre, secretary of the board for Kababayan Multicultural Centre in Toronto. "In the past few days I've seen how the spirit has taken shape," said Simbre, who is also chair of Migrante Ontario, which co-organized an emergency vigil on Sunday night. For many, that has meant holding each other close as victims' families reel from the senseless violence, and comforting the survivors who witnessed the evening's horrors. Kris Pangilinan, a Filipino-Canadian journalist and founder of one of the festival vendors, Kalamansi Collective, remembers speaking with a mother just before the incident took place. "She came to my booth immediately after the concert," Pangilinan tearfully recounted at a Toronto vigil on Tuesday. "If I only talked to her for a bit longer, she wouldn't have been hit." That woman was 43-year-old Christi-Ann Watkins, who was struck while in line for a food truck. She sustained a range of injuries, including a punctured lung, and remains in hospital. As of Thursday afternoon, four of the surviving victims remained in critical condition and two in serious condition, according to the Vancouver Police Department. By Friday afternoon, donors had given more than $2.3 million across 20 GoFundMe campaigns to support victims and their families. Beyond financial support, Vancouver chef T.J. Conwi also created a food hub for families of the victims and anyone else in need of meals. Mourners have also gone beyond leaving flowers and lighting candles, with many opting to eat and sing together. In Toronto, one vigil ended with music, including a song called Bayan Ko, meaning "my homeland," which is often considered the unofficial second Filipino national anthem. Partaking in food and song together is an "act of care and collective resistance," said Simbre. Prime Minister Mark Carney used the term in his expression of condolences to the Filipino Canadian community, where he highlighted its "strength and resilience." "[Bayanihan] captures the Filipino spirit of community, of co-operation and unity to achieve a common goal," said Carney at a press conference the day after the attack. "It's this spirit upon which we must draw in this incredibly difficult time." While she appreciates the expressions of solidarity, Tungohan worries the Filipino community won't receive the support it needs from governments because of its perceived resilience. "Sometimes the term 'resilience' is used to appease people," she said. "Why are we jumping into resilience mode when we need time and space to grieve?"Tungohan further states the sense of loss is amplified by the fact that the attack happened in a space that should have been a site of "refuge, subversion, resistance and joy" for a diaspora that can feel isolated from the cultural practices of their motherland. Last Saturday's festival commemorated the anniversary of the Battle of Mactan, where in 1521 Indigenous Philippine chieftain Lapu-Lapu defeated explorer Ferdinand Magellan, setting back the advance of Spanish colonization. "That's why the attack was so horrendous for many of us, because it wasn't just an attack on a party," she said. "It was an attack against this moment of coming together and celebrating … in spite of all of the difficulties and challenges that the Filipino community as a whole has faced." Speaking at a vigil outside Toronto City Hall on Tuesday, spoken word artist Patrick de Belen expressed a similar sentiment. "Filipino resilience is ultimately a beautiful thing, but not if it prevents us from feeling heartbroken or weak, vulnerable, sad, angry," he said. In a poem titled the garden on fraser and 41st read by a community member at the same event, Vancouver-based teacher and poet Sol Diana likewise writes, "Bitter taste on my tongue when I call my own people 'resilient.' I prefer to call us by something else: kapwa; 'a shared self' ... when one falls, we all fall. Conversely, we rise together." Cordelia Mejin, a clinical counsellor and grief therapist, says the expression of "love through practical ways, not just through emotions" is shared across many Asian cultures. "When you have people coming alongside it almost feels like people are carrying that way together with you," said Mejin, who has offered free therapy to the Filipino community and survivors of the festival. "It doesn't erase the grief, but it actually makes it more bearable." Eliezer Moreno, a B.C.-based grief counsellor, says resilience is about honouring what happened and finding agency through it, not burying or forgetting about the grief. "We don't want to feel helpless. We want to feel like we have power and can choose, make choices, turn what we are feeling into something, knowing that we have strength and that we are going to be stronger together in this," said Moreno, who is Filipino. Moreno says when other counsellors asked him to add his name to a list of professionals helping those impacted, he agreed right away. "My mind just went to, 'This is my community. I need to help,'" he said, describing it as a way to channel his own difficult feelings into helping others. Clinical psychologist Dr. Kenneth Miller says a healthy recovery process means embracing, not ignoring, the grief. "Resilient doesn't mean that you don't have any pain; resilient means that you recover from your pain, that you bounce back and don't go on to develop long-term problems," said Miller, a counselling professor at the University of British Columbia. Moreover, social supports that "make people feel seen and supported and heard," Miller adds, can help prevent long-term impacts, such as acute stress disorders, which he says are typically developed by 20 to 30 per cent of survivors of a mass killing. "The initial period, the first few weeks following this kind of event — that's when community-level interventions become so, so, so important," said Miller. "They are actually more important for most people than any kind of mental health professional intervention or professional mental health care." WATCH | Community interventions integral: That community care and support may be especially important for Filipinos, who are bound by a strong sense of shared culture that embraces both joy and anguish as a collective. "It's the nature of the Filipino community to love one another," said Mejin. "When you love, then there's the grief that comes when you've lost, as well." For his part, Moreno is hopeful that the Lapu-Lapu Day Festival and the Filipino community will endure in a way that will "celebrate our own culture and our resilience and our strength." "It will be a mark that's kind of left on that festival. But … they are going to use that mark that was left and continue to honour those that we've lost and to show the resilience that's part of the community."
CBC
03-05-2025
- CBC
How bayanihan is grounding Filipino Canadians in 'ethics of care' after Lapu-Lapu Day tragedy
Social Sharing "It was meant to be a day filled with music, dancing, food, laughter." Rev. Expedito Farinas choked up as he addressed mourners on Sunday at St. Mary the Virgin South Hill, an Anglican church with a largely Filipino congregation just a 15-minute walk away from where tragedy had occurred the night before. The Lapu-Lapu Day Block Party began as a day of "great celebration honouring our heritage, our culture, our tradition," Farinas told CBC Radio's On The Coast. Hundreds of people sang along to artists like Black Eyed Peas' Filipino vendors and food trucks lined the streets to serve the tens of thousands of people who visited throughout the day. WATCH | 'It turned out to be a traumatizing day': A celebration of culture ended in trauma, says Anglican pastor 5 hours ago Duration 0:49 But in moments, the scenes of joy turned to devastation as an SUV drove into the crowd Saturday evening, killing 11 and injuring dozens more. Chaos ensued. Eyewitness videos show bodies lying limp on the pavement, held by distraught community members waiting for paramedics to arrive. "There are so many," one man says in Tagalog amid the cries for help, before pointing the camera to the end of the street. "It goes all the way until there." The accused attacker, 30-year-old Kai-Ji Adam Lo, was arrested and charged with eight counts of second-degree murder, with more charges likely to come. Dubbed the "darkest day" in Vancouver's history by interim police chief Steve Rai, the Filipino community has been gathering to mourn with the nation at large. This past week, dozens of vigils, memorials and spaces to grieve have been organized, with at least 23 in the Vancouver area alone and 10 more across the country. That support shows how the Filipino community has been unified by a spirit of bayanihan. The term comes from the Tagalog word bayan, which refers to one's town as well as the Filipino motherland and people as a whole, and reflects communal unity and the practice of providing help without expecting reward that is inherent to Filipino culture. It signifies how the "community is grounded in ethics of care," says York University politics professor Ethel Tungohan, whose work focuses on Filipino migration and activism. "This is testament to the community's ability to care for each other and to recognize the importance of showing up and holding space for each other." A community 'lifeline' Bayanihan has been a "lifeline" for the grieving Filipino community, says Leny Rose Simbre, secretary of the board for Kababayan Multicultural Centre in Toronto. "In the past few days I've seen how the spirit has taken shape," said Simbre, who is also chair of Migrante Ontario, which co-organized an emergency vigil on Sunday night. For many, that has meant holding each other close as victims' families reel from the senseless violence, and comforting the survivors who witnessed the evening's horrors. Kris Pangilinan, a Filipino-Canadian journalist and founder of one of the festival vendors, Kalamansi Collective, remembers speaking with a mother just before the incident took place. "She came to my booth immediately after the concert," Pangilinan tearfully recounted at a Toronto vigil on Tuesday. "If I only talked to her for a bit longer, she wouldn't have been hit." That woman was 43-year-old Christi-Ann Watkins, who was struck while in line for a food truck. She sustained a range of injuries, including a punctured lung, and remains in hospital. As of Thursday afternoon, four of the surviving victims remained in critical condition and two in serious condition, according to the Vancouver Police Department. By Friday afternoon, donors had given more than $2.3 million across 20 GoFundMe campaigns to support victims and their families. Beyond financial support, Vancouver chef T.J. Conwi also created a food hub for families of the victims and anyone else in need of meals. Mourners have also gone beyond leaving flowers and lighting candles, with many opting to eat and sing together. In Toronto, one vigil ended with music, including a song called Bayan Ko, meaning "my homeland," which is often considered the unofficial second Filipino national anthem. Partaking in food and song together is an "act of care and collective resistance," said Simbre. Prime Minister Mark Carney used the term in his expression of condolences to the Filipino Canadian community, where he highlighted its "strength and resilience." "[ Bayanihan ] captures the Filipino spirit of community, of co-operation and unity to achieve a common goal," said Carney at a press conference the day after the attack. "It's this spirit upon which we must draw in this incredibly difficult time." 'When one falls, we all fall' While she appreciates the expressions of solidarity, Tungohan worries the Filipino community won't receive the support it needs from governments because of its perceived resilience. "Sometimes the term 'resilience' is used to appease people," she said. "Why are we jumping into resilience mode when we need time and space to grieve?" WATCH | Memorials let us 'witness each other's grief': Religious rituals can restore 'safety and comfort' after man-made disasters, says psychologist 5 hours ago Duration 1:13 Dr. Kenneth Miller, a clinical psychologist and counselling professor at the University of British Columbia, says community and religious interventions that reduce isolation can normalize feelings of grief and help restore a sense safety and comfort following a disaster. Tungohan further states the sense of loss is amplified by the fact that the attack happened in a space that should have been a site of "refuge, subversion, resistance and joy" for a diaspora that can feel isolated from the cultural practices of their motherland. Last Saturday's festival commemorated the anniversary of the Battle of Mactan, where in 1521 Indigenous Philippine chieftain Lapu-Lapu defeated explorer Ferdinand Magellan, setting back the advance of Spanish colonization. "That's why the attack was so horrendous for many of us, because it wasn't just an attack on a party," she said. "It was an attack against this moment of coming together and celebrating … in spite of all of the difficulties and challenges that the Filipino community as a whole has faced." Speaking at a vigil outside Toronto City Hall on Tuesday, spoken word artist Patrick de Belen expressed a similar sentiment. "Filipino resilience is ultimately a beautiful thing, but not if it prevents us from feeling heartbroken or weak, vulnerable, sad, angry," he said. In a poem titled the garden on fraser and 41st read by a community member at the same event, Vancouver-based teacher and poet Sol Diana likewise writes, "Bitter taste on my tongue when I call my own people 'resilient.' I prefer to call us by something else: kapwa; 'a shared self' ... when one falls, we all fall. Conversely, we rise together." Community makes grief 'more bearable': mental health experts Cordelia Mejin, a clinical counsellor and grief therapist, says the expression of "love through practical ways, not just through emotions" is shared across many Asian cultures. "When you have people coming alongside it almost feels like people are carrying that way together with you," said Mejin, who has offered free therapy to the Filipino community and survivors of the festival. "It doesn't erase the grief, but it actually makes it more bearable." Eliezer Moreno, a B.C.-based grief counsellor, says resilience is about honouring what happened and finding agency through it, not burying or forgetting about the grief. "We don't want to feel helpless. We want to feel like we have power and can choose, make choices, turn what we are feeling into something, knowing that we have strength and that we are going to be stronger together in this," said Moreno, who is Filipino. Moreno says when other counsellors asked him to add his name to a list of professionals helping those impacted, he agreed right away. "My mind just went to, 'This is my community. I need to help,'" he said, describing it as a way to channel his own difficult feelings into helping others. Clinical psychologist Dr. Kenneth Miller says a healthy recovery process means embracing, not ignoring, the grief. "Resilient doesn't mean that you don't have any pain; resilient means that you recover from your pain, that you bounce back and don't go on to develop long-term problems," said Miller, a counselling professor at the University of British Columbia. Moreover, social supports that "make people feel seen and supported and heard," Miller adds, can help prevent long-term impacts, such as acute stress disorders, which he says are typically developed by 20 to 30 per cent of survivors of a mass killing. "The initial period, the first few weeks following this kind of event — that's when community-level interventions become so, so, so important," said Miller. "They are actually more important for most people than any kind of mental health professional intervention or professional mental health care." WATCH | Community interventions integral: Why we gravitate to vigils in times of loss 5 hours ago Duration 0:54 That community care and support may be especially important for Filipinos, who are bound by a strong sense of shared culture that embraces both joy and anguish as a collective. "It's the nature of the Filipino community to love one another," said Mejin. "When you love, then there's the grief that comes when you've lost, as well." For his part, Moreno is hopeful that the Lapu-Lapu Day Festival and the Filipino community will endure in a way that will "celebrate our own culture and our resilience and our strength." "It will be a mark that's kind of left on that festival. But … they are going to use that mark that was left and continue to honour those that we've lost and to show the resilience that's part of the community."
