Latest news with #SuzanneRoy
CTV News
4 days ago
- General
- CTV News
Gender identity committee: LGBTQ2S+ community slams Quebec for leaving them out of report
A handful of protesters tried to enter a news conference by Quebec's committee on gender identity. (Jean-François Poudrier / Noovo Info) Quebec is coming under fire from the LGBTQ2S+ community, which says it was not able to review a report on gender identity before its public release – against government promises. The Conseil québécois LGBT (CQ-LGBT), which represents around 80 community organizations in the province, says it was told it would be able to review the report and reassure its members, but that never happened. The CQ-LGBT says it has been wary of the committee since it was first announced in December 2023, as it did not represent the community. The committee was mandated to identify public policies, practices and guidelines in Quebec and elsewhere, to analyze their potential effects on Quebec society, and 'help ease social tension' at a time when groups opposed to teaching gender identity in schools and pro-LGBTQ2S+ groups clashed in hostile demonstrations. The three-member committee, led by Family Minister Suzanne Roy, also includes Diane Lavallée, former president of the Fédération Interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ) and the Conseil du statut de la femme, Dr. Jean-Bernard Trudeau and human rights lawyer Patrick Taillon. Although none are experts on LGBTQ2S+ issues, the government stated that the committee would work closely with the community. Despite its opposition, the CQ-LGBT agreed to contribute 'in a constructive spirit.' 'We hope that no other vulnerable group will have to go through what our communities have been experiencing,' said Executive Director Magali Boudon in a news release. 'It is unthinkable to have a committee of men ruling on abortion. At a time when LGBTQ+ people are seeing their rights rolled back across the globe, the government has prolonged the anxiety and violence of this process until the very last minute.' At first glance, the report relies 'more on persistent stereotypes than on scientific data and the expertise of community groups, which are clear and consistent' on issues like the inclusion of trans women in sports, prisons, toilets, changing rooms and emergency shelters, said the CQ-LGBT. Protest at National Assembly A handful of protesters gathered in Quebec City Friday morning to denounce the government for excluding them from discussions on their rights, dignity and living conditions. They said they wanted to be allowed into the news conference, reserved for journalists. 'Women's rights groups can't meet the government either. Civil society groups are completely cut off from decision-making processes at the government level. We know who has access to the government … we're in a plutocracy,' activist Judith Lefebvre told Noovo Info. 'We have no choice but to keep showing up to make ourselves heard because we don't have access to our elected officials.' Lefebvre said the community wants a public audience on the issue rather than discussions held behind closed doors. The protesters were removed, and the news events were pushed back. With files from Noovo Info.
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Deaths of burros in Utah under BLM's care raise questions
The Bureau of Land Management is continuing to take precautionary measures following the deaths of 25 burros at a Axtell holding facility in Utah. The animals were removed from Canyonlands Herd Management Area in Wayne County earlier this year. During routine handling for vaccination, equine infectious anemia testing and preparation for the adoption process, the agency said caregivers observed several lethargic burros exhibiting signs of respiratory illness. The first deaths were reported on March 11. Veterinarians worked with the Utah Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory on postmortem examinations. Necropsy results identified the cause of death as bronchopneumonia, complicated by a secondary infection with the Streptococcus equi subspecies zooepidemicus bacterium. The underlying viral infection causing the death of the animals was identified as a gammaherpes virus. The BLM said all living affected animals are receiving medical treatment, including antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medications to manage symptoms and reduce fever. As a precaution, exposed burros received a long-acting antibiotic to reduce the risk of secondary infections. The burros were quarantined from other animals at the facility until they recover and receive a clean bill of health from the attending veterinarian. No other burros at the corrals displayed any symptoms — indicating that it is not spreading beyond the recently gathered animals. Wild horse advocates said the deaths point to the need for reforms in the agency's wild horse and burro program. The close quarters and stress from roundups create the unfortunate conditions that lead to disease outbreaks. This incident is not isolated. In 2023, multiple burros from Nevada died at the same Utah facility. The majority succumbed to hyperlipidemia, a blood disease linked to stress-induced anorexia. American Wild Horse Conservation said the deaths at the Axtell holding facility underscore a systemic problem faced by the agency — it spends tens of millions of dollars annually to hold over 68,000 wild horses and burros in government corrals, something it says is an unsustainable system. 'The BLM's roundups are confining these animals in feedlot-like conditions where disease spreads rapidly and unnecessarily,' said Suzanne Roy, the group's executive director. 'We are heartbroken for these burros who tragically lost their lives as a result of this program and are calling for true reform that prioritizes in-wild conservation and habitat protection, not more suffering behind corrals.' Roy said the deaths are an example of why the agency should shift its on-range management practices, including fertility control programs. Continuing the current practices will only perpetuate disease outbreaks, animal suffering and escalating costs, the group added. The advocacy group runs a sophisticated fertility control for wild horses on state land in Nevada. But the BLM has said in the past that a singular focus on that type of herd management would not work in many rugged and remote places in Utah.
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Feds Planning to Gather Whole Herds of Free-Roaming Horses in Checkerboard Region of Wyoming
The Bureau of Land Management is seeking public comment for its plan to gather and remove more than 3,000 wild horses from a checkerboarded region of Wyoming that covers around 2 million acres. Those roundups would start in July, and they would be the first step toward permanently removing two herds and a portion of a third herd in the southwestern part of the state near Rock Springs. The roundups could be delayed, however, as the legal battle over Southwest Wyoming's free-roaming horse herds goes back more than a decade. The BLM now finds itself trying to balance conflicting mandates for wild horse management while simultaneously defending its plan from legal challenges. The updated plan for the BLM's Rock Springs and Rawlings Field Offices was first announced by the agency in a 2023 Record of Decision. In that announcement, the agency said the amended plan was spurred by a 2013 settlement with a local grazing group, and that it sought to resolve conflicts between public and private land sections within the checkerboarded area. The key amendments to the plan focused on four Herd Management Areas that fall within the checkerboard and are overseen by the two field offices. HMAs are designated areas where the BLM tries to manage a sustainable number of horses and burros while keeping rangelands healthy for other uses, like recreation and grazing. Under the new plan, the Salt Wells Creek and Great Divide Basin HMAs would be eliminated and managed for zero horses going forward. The Adobe Town HMA would be allowed to persist, but with a much smaller population goal of around 225 to 450 horses. Because of the current populations of the three HMAs — around 1,125 in Salt Wells Creek, 737 in Great Divide Basin, and 2,438 in Adobe Town — meeting these goals would require the removal of an estimated 3,371 horses over a period of several years. The new plan also mentions the White Mountain HMA, which would be managed as a 'non-reproducing' herd going forward, with a target population of 205 wild horses. A coalition of wild-horse advocacy groups filed two lawsuits against the BLM in response to its 2023 ROD. A U.S. District Court Judge ruled in the BLM's favor in August 2024, but the groups appealed that decision. Their appeal is still pending in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, according to WyoFile. 'This is just the latest lawsuit in a 12 or more year legal battle to save these horses. We've litigated four or five times about this issue,' Suzanne Roy, executive director of American Wild Horse, told the Wyoming news outlet Tuesday. Roy said she was optimistic about their appeal, since they 'have prevailed in the 10th Circuit previously on this issue.' Roy added that if the BLM's plan does move forward, it would be the first time the agency removed wild horses or burros from a landscape without demonstrating ecological reasons for the roundups. (Competition with native wildlife, damages to vegetation, and other negative impacts to local ecosystems are often cited as the primary reasons for removing the non-native grazers.) She claimed it could also set a dangerous precedent across the West by allowing private landowners to dictate the presence of free-roaming horses on a shared landscape. The BLM did not immediately respond to a request for comment in response to Roy's claims or to confirm other details about its plans. Wild horse management is inherently controversial in the West. But the 'issue' that Roy alludes to is complicated further by the unique checkerboard landscape in Southwest Wyoming, where public and private parcels interlock in a checkerboard pattern, and by the BLM's conflicting management mandates under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burro Act. Section 3 of the Act directs the BLM to protect and properly manage wild, free-roaming horses and burros on public lands where they were present at the time the Act became law. While Section 4 requires the BLM to remove wild, free-roaming horses and burros that stray onto private land at the landowner's request. 'This dual mandate is difficult to implement in the checkerboard where every other section of land is private, and wild horses constantly drift between private and public land,' the BLM explained in the ROD. Read Next: Beasts of Burden: Wild Horses and Burros Are Dying Hard Deaths in the West In the past, the BLM was able to manage wild horses on the aforementioned HMAs because the Rock Springs Grazing Association allowed the horses to be there. As the largest private landowner in the checkerboard area, the local ranching group consented to the presence of up to 500 horses when the HMAs were first established. But in 2010, the RSGA withdrew that consent, citing the unchecked growth of horse populations as the primary reason, according to the BLM. The RSGA subsequently sued the agency in 2011 for failing to remove the wild horses quickly enough. This led to a 2013 settlement, or 'consent decree,' requiring the BLM to amend its management plan within the checkerboard, which spurred the creation of the current plan that is now accepting public comment. That comment period closes April 30.
