In The News for Feb. 15 : Trudeau visits Caribbean Community summit in Bahamas

His office says the trip will allow leaders to consider political, security and humanitarian assistance to Haitian people and “Haitian-led solutions to the ongoing situation.”

The country is embroiled in crisis, with violent gangs jockeying for territory in capital Port-au-Prince and international watchdogs reporting rampant sexual assault, kidnappings and a worsening health emergency.

Haiti’s unelected prime minister Ariel Henry, who is expected to participate in the Nassau meeting, has asked for a foreign military intervention — and the United States has suggested that Canada lead one.

But the Canadian government has so far kept its powder dry, instead searching for a “consensus” on the ground and levying economic sanctions against elites accused of supporting gang activity.

Emmanuel Dubourg, Canada’s only Haitian-born federal member of Parliament, suggested in an interview that the government is not leaving anything off the table as it considers how to help.

“We are trying our best to have that consensus to have a diplomatic solution,” the Liberal MP said.

“But we also heard that the national police is under-armed, and the situation, it’s really difficult there. So we are discussing all types of options to help people in Haiti.”

Dubourg added that a discussion about Haiti is likely to play into Trudeau’s conversations with U.S. President Joe Biden in March, when he is expected to visit north of the border.

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Also this …

StatCan numbers reveal the percentage of permanent residents who become Canadians has plummeted over the past 20 years.

The Institute for Canadian Citizenship says Statistics Canada data points to a 40 per cent decline in citizenship uptake since 2001.

The group’s CEO, Daniel Bernhard, calls the drop alarming and says it should serve as a “wake up call” to improving the experience newcomers have in Canada.

In 2021, nearly 45.7 per cent of permanent residents who’d been in Canada for less than 10 years became citizens.

That’s down from 60 per cent in 2016, and 75.1 per cent in 2001.

The StatCan data did not identify reasons for the drop, but Bernhard suggests Canada’s cost of living and job prospects are likely factors.

The federal government has said it wants to boost immigration by adding 1.45 million permanent residents over the next three years, starting with 465,000 in 2023 and increasing to 500,000 in 2025.

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What we are watching in the U.S. …

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio _ The Ohio village upended by a freight train derailment and the intentional burning of some of the hazardous chemicals on board has invited affected residents to a town hall meeting Wednesday evening to discuss lingering questions.

And there are still plenty _ about the huge plumes of smoke, the persisting odors, the reports of sick or dead animals, the potential impact on drinking water, all the cleaning up. Even as school has resumed and trains are rolling by again, things aren’t the same.

In and around East Palestine, near the Pennsylvania state line, people are asking whether the air and water around them is safe for people, pets and livestock. They want assistance navigating the financial help the railroad offered hundreds of families who evacuated, and they want to know whether it will be held responsible for what happened.

Rail operator Norfolk Southern announced Tuesday that it is also creating a $1 million charitable fund to help the community of some 4,700 people while continuing remediation work, including removing spilled contaminants from the ground and streams and monitoring air quality.

“We will be judged by our actions,” Norfolk Southern President and CEO Alan Shaw said in a statement. “We are cleaning up the site in an environmentally responsible way, reimbursing residents affected by the derailment, and working with members of the community to identify what is needed to help East Palestine recover and thrive.”

No one was injured when about 50 cars derailed in a fiery, mangled mess on the outskirts of East Palestine on Feb. 3. As fears grew about a potential explosion, officials seeking to avoid an uncontrolled blast had the area evacuated and opted to release and burn toxic vinyl chloride from five rail cars, sending flames and black smoke billowing into the sky again.

A mechanical issue with a rail car axle has been identified as the suspected cause of the derailment, and the National Transportation Safety Board said it has video appearing to show a wheel bearing overheating just beforehand. The NTSB said it expects its preliminary report in about two weeks.

Misinformation and exaggerations spread online, and state and federal officials have repeatedly offered assurances that air monitoring hasn’t detected any remaining concerns. Even low levels of contaminants that aren’t considered hazardous can create lingering odors or symptoms such as headaches, Ohio’s health director said Tuesday.

Precautions also are being taken to ensure contaminants that reached the Ohio River don’t make it into drinking water.

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What we are watching in the rest of the world …

SEOUL, South Korea _ South Korea on Wednesday said that it’s still premature to determine whether the recently unveiled daughter of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is being groomed as her father’s successor.

Speculation about the status of Kim’s daughter, reportedly named Kim Ju Ae and aged about 10, has further intensified since she recently took center stage at a massive military parade in Pyongyang and appeared in soon-to-be-released postal stamps _ both events with her all-powerful father.

During a parliamentary committee meeting in Seoul, Unification Minister Kwon Youngse, South Korea’s top official on North Korea, questioned a belief that she’s being primed as the North’s next leader. Kwon cited Kim Jong Un’s relatively young age _ Kim turned 39 last month _ and North Korea’s male-dominated power hierarchy.

“There are views that (her appearances) are aimed at talking about a hereditary power transition. But considering Kim Jong Un’s age and the fact that North Korea has a much more patriarchal nature than ours, there are also lots of questions about whether North Korea having a woman (prepared to) inherit power now is indeed right,” Kwon told lawmakers.

Kwon said the girl’s repeated appearances in recent months were more likely meant to shore up public support of Kim’s ruling family and prepare for a future hereditary power transfer.

South Korean media have speculated Kim Jong Un also has a son who is older than Kim Ju Ae and a third child, likely a daughter. But Kwon said only Kim Ju Ae is her father’s officially confirmed child.

North Korea disclosed Kim Ju Ae in November by announcing she watched an intercontinental ballistic missile test with her father. She’s since made four other public appearances, including last week’s military parade.

State media have called her Kim’s “most beloved” or “respected” child and published a slew of photos and video showing her closeness with her father. She was seen touching Kim’s cheek at an observation stand for the military parade and sitting in the seat of honour at an earlier banquet while being flanked by her parents and generals, in what observers say had been unimaginable in North Korea because Kim is the subject of a personality cult that treats him like a god.

Since its foundation in 1948, North Korea has been successively ruled by male members of the Kim family. Outside studies show only a fraction of top North Korean officials are women, including Kim Jong Un’s younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, and Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui. Before Kim Jong Un took power in late 2011, his father Kim Jong Il governed for 17 years, and before him, his father and state founder, Kim Il Sung, ruled for 46 years.

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On this day in 1996 …

At a Flag Day ceremony in Hull, Que., prime minister Jean Chretien was wandering through a crowd of people when he was confronted by a tuque-clad protester (Bill Clennett). Chretien grabbed him by the throat and pushed him into the arms of police officers. The incident was dubbed “The Shawinigan Handshake,” named in honour of Chretien’s hometown.

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In entertainment …

FALMOUTH, Mass. _ Rare and in some cases never before publicly seen video of the 1986 dive through the wreckage of the Titanic is being released Wednesday by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

The more than 80 minutes of footage on the WHOI’s YouTube channel chronicles some of the remarkable achievements of the dive led by Robert Ballard that marked the first time human eyes had seen the giant ocean liner since it struck an iceberg and sank in the frigid North Atlantic in April 1912. About 1,500 people died during the ship’s maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City.

A team from Massachusetts-based Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, in partnership with the French oceanographic exploration organization Institut francais de recherche pour l’exploitation de la mer, discovered the final resting place of the ship in 3,780 metres of water on Sept. 1, 1985 using a towed underwater camera.

Nine months later, a WHOI team returned to the site in the famous three-person research submersible Alvin and the remotely-operated underwater exploration vehicle Jason Jr., which took iconic images of the ship’s interior.

The release of the footage is in conjunction with the 25th anniversary release on Feb. 10 of the remastered version of the Academy Award-winning movie, “Titanic.”

“More than a century after the loss of Titanic, the human stories embodied in the great ship continue to resonate,” ocean explorer and Canadian filmmaker James Cameron said in a statement. “Like many, I was transfixed when Alvin and Jason Jr. ventured down to and inside the wreck. By releasing this footage, WHOI is helping tell an important part of a story that spans generations and circles the globe.”

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Did you see this?

A volunteer search and rescue team that self-deployed to Turkey’s earthquake zone has returned to Vancouver to a hero’s welcome after spending days combing through the rubble as part of the international lifesaving efforts.

The 10-person Burnaby Urban Search and Rescue team, comprised of mostly first responders from the city’s fire department, flew to Turkey with the blessing of the country’s government.

Arriving in Vancouver on a flight from Istanbul, members of the team touched down Tuesday afternoon following a weeklong deployment in the Turkish city of Adiyaman.

A large group from Vancouver’s Turkish community waved Canadian and Turkish flags, breaking out into applause and chants of “welcome home USAR” as the team emerged from the arrivals gate.

Norm MacLeod, a deputy chief with the White Rock Fire Department who led the team in Turkey, said he’s grateful to be home after being surprised by the scale of the devastation.

MacLeod said his team had honed their skills in Nepal in 2015, a “disaster in its own right,” saying that the destruction in Turkey was “much larger” in scale.

The Canadian government pledged $10 million in aid soon after the quakes, and collection campaigns for food, clothing, and monetary donations soon popped up in multiple Canadian cities.

The team deployed a day after the Feb. 7 quakes that rocked Turkey and Syria, killing more than 35,000 people and levelling thousands of buildings.

Taylan Tokmak, Turkey’s Consul General in Vancouver, said the quake has united Canada’s Turkish community that may feel a sense of survivor’s remorse being so far away from the disaster.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 15, 2023.

The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

In The News for Feb. 15 : Trudeau visits Caribbean Community summit in Bahamas

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