[R-G] Fwd: September in Review (part I)

[Anthony Fenton]

We've moved toward releasing our compilation of underreported stories  
every two weeks. Enjoy!

You can read Fortnight in Review online: http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/2087

Looking for election coverage? Check out the Dominion Weblog or  
Rabble.ca's election blog.

--

Saskatchewan police shot a man on a northern reserve, the eighth  
police shooting in the province in the last 12 months. Laurence  
George, Chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, called  
for a public inquiry.

Nora Madeline Bernard, a Mi'kmaq elder, was posthumously awarded the  
Order of Nova Scotia, the province's highest honour, for her work  
advocating on behalf ofresidential school survivors.

More than 500 military delegates from 34 countries in the Western  
Hemisphere met in Banff for the Conference of Defence Ministers of the  
Americas. Peter McKay hosted the conference, which included  
discussions on providing armed security for major events such as the  
2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

A study by GPI Atlantic showed that the gap between the rich and poor  
is growing in Atlantic Canada. There are 77,000 households in Atlantic  
Canada whose debts are larger than their assets, and the region has  
the highest rate of bankruptcy in Canada. According to Ron Coleman, co- 
author of the report, "The poorest 20 per cent of Canadians went  
deeper into debt during the past decade, but it's during a period of  
apparent prosperity."

Amy Goodman was arrested along with Democracy Now! producers Sharif  
Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar at the Republican National  
Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. They were among 19 journalists  
arrested at the RNC, of an estimated total of over 800 arrests.

A federal campaign is underway to attract more immigrants to Nunavut.  
The CBC reported that "of about 238,000 immigrants to Canada between  
2006 and 2007, only 11 went to Nunavut, according to Statistics  
Canada." Anti-poverty activist Bill Riddell criticized Nunavut's $10  
per hour minimum wage, stating minimum wage rates speak to "the  
working poor, and they're very, very poor. They're not eating  
properly. I know a number of people who have told me that they can't  
buy the food for their tables that their children need in order to  
grow up."

Richard Boyd Boughner was killed at Canadian Natural's Horizon's tar  
sands project north of Fort McMurray, Alberta, when the backhoe he was  
operating fell into a taillings pond.

Abitibi Bowater proposed a restructuring plan that would cut 171 jobs  
from their Grand-Falls Windsor paper mill. The Newfoundland mill  
currently employs 450 people who are part of the Communications Energy  
and Paperworkers union. Ninety-two per cent of union members voted to  
reject the company's restructuring plans.

Police from the Montreal, Vancouver and the United States Secret  
Service arrested four men in Montréal for defrauding a Calgary company  
of $1.8 million.

Student workers went on strike at the Univeristy of Victoria in  
British Columbia during the first week of classes. The workers,  
employed by the Student Society,demanded a wage increase of $1.50 per  
hour, which would bring their hourly wage to $11.

People rallied in Whitehorse to demand funding from the Yukon  
government for an emergency youth shelter in the city. The CBC  
reported, "The youth shelter project is named after Angel Carlick, 19,  
a Whitehorse woman who went missing in May 2007. Her body was found at  
the outskirts of the city nearly six months later."

The Atomic Energy Agency of Canada continued to store 45kg of highly  
enriched uranium at their headquarters in Chalk River, Ontario. The  
uranium, enough to build a nuclear bomb, was destined for use in the  
MAPLE medical isotope reactors until the project was canceled in May.

A note by Citizenship and Immigration Canada indicated that diamond  
smuggling linked to "terrorist organizations and organized crime" may  
affect Canada's diamond industry. Canada is the world's third largest  
producer of diamonds.

Israel Defense Force soldiers prevented Palestinian men over 50 and  
women over 45 from accessing the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem during  
the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

More than 136 Haitians were killed by tropical storms, as Fay, Gustav  
and Hanna hit the island nation. Haiti's interior minister Paul  
Antoine Bien-Aime told Reuters, "There are a lot of people who have  
been on top of the roofs of their homes over 24 hours now. They have  
no water, no food and we can't even help them." Hurricane Gustav later  
hit Louisiana, causing 18 deaths.

Canada's first community court opened up in Vancouver's Downtown East  
Side (DTES). The court will hear cases for crimes committed in the  
DTES, including "causing a disturbance, driving while prohibited,  
aggressive panhandling, shoplifting and drug possession," which  
represent 80 per cent of all offenses committed in the area.

The BC Court of Appeal upheld the 'bubble zone' law, which prevent  
protests within a certain distance of abortion clinics in the  
province. The justices noted that the "legislation infringed only  
minimally on constitutionally protected rights and was justifiable to  
protect a woman's right to medical services."

Guy Armand Raes, an RCMP officer who pled guilty to sexually  
assaulting a 17 year old girl that he met through an investigation,  
was awarded the Governor General's Star of Courage.

The Klondike Gold Panning Association disbanded, citing volunteer  
fatigue, after 24 years of organizing efforts that included hosting  
four gold panning world championships in Dawson City.

The US jobless rate reached a five-year high as 84,000 jobs were lost  
in August and unemployment reached 6.1 per cent. The amount of homes  
in foreclosure in the United States also hit record highs in the  
second quarter.

Canada appointed a new ambassador to Afghanistan, Mr. Ron Hoffman.  
Hoffman's predecessor, Arif Lalani, accepted a position as visiting  
Fellow at the University of Toronto's Munk Centre for International  
Studies.

The US led an army raid into the South Waziristan border region of  
Pakistan, killing 15 people including civilians and drawing  
international criticism.

Guatemalan environmentalist Yuri Mellini survived an assassination  
attempt in Guatemala City. Luis Ferraté, Minister of the Environment,  
and another fifty environmental activists in Guatemala have also  
received threats over the past months. Vancouver mining giant Goldcorp  
– by far the largest economic interest in the country – along with  
Canadian mining company HudBay have had their operations subject to  
protest by such environmental groups.

The Colombian government upped its persecution of indigenous groups  
and social organizations, using a laptop allegedly belonging to dead  
FARC commander Raul Reyes. The government falsely linked economist  
Héctor Mondragón to the FARC. El Tiempo, Colombia's largest newspaper,  
published allegations linking broad sections of Canadian society  
(trade unionists, social organizations and the "left") to the FARC.  
These strategies are part of the war in Colombia, that has been  
described as "A strategy of domination, which intentionally justifies  
and confuses democratic resistance with armed resistance, terrorism  
with social struggle, and social justice with threats to the  
institutional order, on the sole premise of eliminating the former by  
identifying them with the latter."

The Mexican Supreme Court ruled in favour of a worker in a case  
against Walmart, finding that it is unconstitutional for the retail  
giant to pay employees with store vouchers. Walmart Mexico's voucher  
system harkens back to pre-revolutionary times in Mexico, when large  
farm owners paid their labourers with store vouchers.

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner announced that the  
country will tap central bank reserves to pay their $6.7 billion debt  
with the IMF. Argentinahas been defaulting on the debt since 2001.

Farmers protested against the Tata Motors plant in West Bengal, India,  
demanding that their lands be respected by the company. The plant was  
to produce Nanos, economical cars expected to sell for $2,500.

A federal study estimated the "social costs" of operating cars,  
trucks, planes, trains and boats across Canada at up to $40 billion a  
year. Automobile accidents represented the largest single source of  
social costs. Assuming a human life is worth an average of $4 million  
and disabling accidents cost an average of $260,000, researchers  
estimated road accidents accounted for an estimated $16 billion in  
social costs in 2000.

A consortium of Canada's major TV networks – CBC, Radio Canada, CTV,  
Global and TVA – decided to allow Green Party leader Elizabeth May to  
participate in a nationally televised debate, after Stephen Harper and  
Jack Layton agreed not to boycott the event.

The US national soccer team played a match in Havana, Cuba, for the  
first time in 61 years.

Saskatchewan labour organisations expressed skepticism over a new  
federal-provincial agreement that makes changes to the Temporary  
Foreign Worker Program. The Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program  
(SINP) "allows the provincial government to select skilled workers and  
nominate applicants for landed immigrant status." Labour organizers  
questioned the program, saying more needs to be done to protect  
foreign workers' rights rather than simply facilitating their coming  
to Canada.

An Iranian refugee claimant in Vancouver hoped to present new evidence  
in court to stop his deportation to Iran, where his lawyer says he  
will face imprisonment and possibly death for criticizing the  
country's government. Hamid Shemshad's brother was executed in 1988  
for opposing the Iranian government.

Five hundred more birds, mostly ducks and swallows, died after landing  
in an oil spill next to an out-of-service oil well in south-eastern  
Alberta. Five hundred ducks and waterfowl died earlier this year after  
landing in a tailing pond in Alberta's northern tarsands developments.  
"It really points to the fact that the environment in Alberta is not  
under good hands or good management right now. Things are really  
spinning wildly out of control," said a spokesperson for Greenpeace.

A new study revealed that 43 companies, including three Canadian, are  
involved in bioprospecting in the Arctic, harvesting organic matter  
such as genes and enzymes from wildlife and plants for use in products  
ranging from ice cream and skin care products to medication. Along  
with Canada, the United States, Norway, China, South Korea, Poland,  
Germany and India are all vying for new discoveries in the north.

American pop-group Hanson, best known for their infectious 1990s hit  
"Mmmbop," kicked off their new Walk Around the World tour in  
Vancouver. The group has asked fans to walk barefoot with them for one  
mile before every appearance; for every person that walks with them,  
the band says they will donate one dollar to charities fighting  
poverty among African children.

An independent review concluded that the RCMP's development of  
policies concerning the use of tasers did not include adequate  
research, relying too heavily on manufacturer information. At least 20  
deaths in Canada have been linked to tasers.

Evo Morales declared the US Ambassador to Bolivia persona non grata,  
accusing Goldberg of meeting with and supporting opposition governors  
and factions. The United States responded in kind, expelling the  
Bolivian ambassador to the US. The next day, Morales declared martial  
law in the province of Pando, after an estimated 15 indigenous  
supporters of Morales were killed by rightwing opposition in the Amazon.

Hugo Chavez, declaring solidarity with Bolivia, ordered the US  
Ambassador to Venezuela to leave the country within 72 hours and  
recalled Venezuela's Ambassador from Washington. Denouncing US  
meddling in Latin American and national politics, Chavez commented,  
"That's enough shit from you, Yankees."