🇭🇳Canada and Honduras discussed bilateral cooperation

Honduran Secretary of State Cindy Rodriguez received Canada's representative to Honduras Jacqueline Delima to discuss bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

Cindy Rodriguez expressed gratitude for Canada's support for Honduras through pro bono joint projects aimed at job creation, human rights, women's rights, including those related to health and reproductive health.

In addition, she stated that Honduras wants to strengthen cooperation on the environment, climate change and migration, which are also high on the government's agenda.

#Honduras

@maplechronicles

Trudeau says clear action plan needed to address Haiti crisis

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it is necessary to work out a clear plan of action before any mission to help Haiti goes forward.

At the same time, he hasn’t said anything specific on whether Canada is going to deploy its armed forces in Haiti.

#Haiti

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Liberals accuse Facebook of ‘robber baron tactics’

Canadian Liberals have accused Facebook of “modern-day robber baron tactics” after its administration claimed it could block access to news sites in Canada unless Ottawa makes changes to a proposed law that would require it to compensate media outlets for their work.

Last week Meta published a post that says Canada’s proposed Online News Act falsely presumes that it “unfairly benefits from its relationship with publishers.”

The Online News Act compels online platforms like Facebook and Google to share revenue with the publishers they aggregate their news from. The goal of the bill is to ensure news outlets are fairly compensated for their work.

@maplechronicles

🇺🇸Canadian activists foiled Blinken-Joly meeting

Protesters gave a broadside at the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken who arrived to Montreal to meet Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly. While Blinking was getting by, activists accused him of supporting state terrorism in Ukraine and of dragging the US into nuclear war.

#USA

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🇷🇺Canada imposed sanctions against Russian energy companies

Canada has imposed sanctions against six Russian companies and 35 Russian citizens. Among the legal entities on the list are Lukoil, Transoil and Sogaz.

In total, more than a thousand individuals and 250 legal entities from Russia are under Canadian sanctions.

#Russia

@maplechronicles

🇺🇦Canada launches new program ‘to support ukrainian scientists’

Minister of Natural Resources, Jonathan Wilkinson, has announced a new initiative ‘to help Ukraine preserve and restore its natural resources science and research capacity’.

Under the Canada-Ukraine Science Partnership, scientists from Ukraine wishing to come to Canada can now submit their CVs through a newly created website. This program will provide temporary employment for Ukrainian scientists, utilizing the regional network of laboratories, links to academia and existing relationships with Ukrainian scientific institutes.

The ministry is willing to connect scientists with temporary research positions in Canada where they can bring their expertise to natural resource sectors, including but not limited to oil and gas, critical minerals, forestry, marine geoscience and earth observation.

#Ukraine

@maplechronicles

Canada to formalize euthanasia for the mentally ill

In March 2023, Canada will expand medical assistance in dying (MAID) and extend its eligibility to those with a mental illness. Charles Camosy, Creighton School of Medicine professor, said the bill C-7 would allow "mature minors" to be euthanized by state doctors without the consent of their parents.

Previously, MAID eligibility was based on having a "grievous and irremediable medical condition".

The upcoming amendment has already become a source of anger for many Canadians who don’t want minors to have an opportunity to ask for euthanasia ‘just because they’re depressed’.

@maplechronicles

🇺🇦Canadian ACSV for Ukraine arrive in Europe

According to the official statement, the 39 armoured combat support vehicles (ACSVs) Canada announced for Ukraine in June have started to arrive in Europe. The supply is expected to be fulfilled by the end of November.

At the moment, Ukrainian forces are being trained to operate new equipment. Since February 2022, Canada has allocated over $600 million in military assistance to Ukraine.

#Ukraine

@maplechronicles

Canada ran a $90.2 billion deficit last year

It's one of the largest peacetime deficits in Canadian history. The $90.2 billion was contained in the latest edition of the Public Accounts of Canada, the final version of which was just tabled to the House of Commons last week.

From April 1, 2021, to March 31, 2022, the Government of Canada took in $413.3 billion in revenue and spent $493.3 billion. This worked out to a total shortfall of $90,212,000,000.

@maplechronicles

Filipino-owned agency wins $1B contract to supply workers to Ontario hospitals

Premium Healthcare Providers won the bid to supply healthcare workers to 19 hospitals across the province with an estimated contract value close to a billion dollars. With thousands of job vacancies to fill, the company is relying on international students and internationally educated workers.

@maplechronicles

🇮🇷Canada expanded the Iran sanctions list

The Canadian government expanded the Iran sanctions lists, adding four more individuals and two more organizations, according to a document published on October 31 on the website of the Canadian Foreign Ministry. Particularly, the sanctions will now affect Al-Mustafa International University.

#Iran

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‼️Shooting in school in Toronto

Shots were fired outside a school in Toronto, Canada. Casualties reported.

According to the local police, one person, a man, died in hospital. The injured teenager was taken to a trauma centre.

The suspect managed to flee the scene. Police are investigating the circumstances of the incident, "the school has been isolated," law enforcement officials noted.

@maplechronicles

Poll: Canadians’ attitude towards the increase of immigration levels

The Environics Institute has released data from a survey on Canadians' views on immigration.

The survey found that Canadians support increased immigration levels more than ever. Nearly 70 per cent of Canadians say that this indicator is not ‘too high’ at all. This is the highest level of support for immigration in the 45-year history of the poll.

In all responses, as in previous years, support for immigration and immigrants is often linked to a person's political views. Since 2021, overall support for immigration has increased among supporters of the federal Liberal Party (79%, up 4), the NDP (85%, up 4) and the Green Party (84%, up 19). Conversely, 43% of Conservative supporters think immigration is too high, but that's still 1% less than in 2021.

Besides, more than 50% of Canadians polled believe Canada needs more immigrants to increase its population.

@maplechronicles

Canada to bring 1.45 million immigrants by 2025

Canada is planning to bring in 1.45 million permanent residents in the next three years. The main reasons for such decision are labor shortages and population ageing.

Justin Trudeau’s government aims to welcome 465,000 permanent residents next year, 485,000 in 2024 and 500,000 in 2025, according to Immigration Minister Sean Fraser.

Over the past several years, Canada’s open-door immigration policy has helped its population grow at the fastest rate among G7 countries. But some immigrants have accused the government for using them as a form of “cheap labor” and many still face challenges finding jobs that match their skills and qualifications.

@maplechronicles

Bill 21 offends the constitutional provision of neutrality to religion

The next chapter in the court battle over Quebec’s Bill 21 – a law that forbids a range of professionals and public servants in that province from wearing religious symbols at work – will unfold in November when Quebec’s highest court considers its constitutionality.

The government of Quebec says that Bill 21 is immune from claims rooted in Charter rights such as freedom of religion. Many commentators agree with this position, even if they believe the law to be disturbingly discriminatory.

However, some believe that Bill 21 is unconstitutional. As groups challenging the law have argued, no government in Canada, federal or provincial, is empowered to enact legislation that mandates religion or irreligion as a precondition for participation in public life.

@maplechronicles

Since 2023, foreigners will not be allowed to buy realty in Canada

Starting from January 1, 2023, only citizens or permanent residents will be able to buy apartments and houses in Canada (with few exceptions).

Exceptions:
the buyer is a temporary resident of Canada under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act who meets the conditions set out in the Act;
buyer is a protected person under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (subsection 95(2));
purchaser is a non-Canadian individual who is purchasing residential property in Canada with his or her spouse or common-law partner if the spouse or common-law partner is a Canadian citizen, Indian or permanent resident of Canada;
purchaser is an Indian or permanent resident of Canada.

@maplechronicles

🇬🇧Quebec's elected officials must swear oath to King Charles to sit in National Assembly

"As the law currently stands, this oath is not optional," Speaker Francois Paradis wrote in his ruling.

Shortly after an election on Oct. 3, Parti Quebecois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, stated that he and the two other elected members of his party would not swear an oath to the King. 11 elected members of Quebec Solidaire followed the same. Both parties advocate independence from Canada for Quebec.

The Quebec Solidaire co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois described the oath to the King as "colonial, archaic and outdated".

#Quebec

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🇪🇸Spanish companies seek business in Canada and Colombia

Canada and Colombia have been the destinations of the foreign promotion actions organized by the Chamber of Commerce of Murcia (Spain) in the last two weeks of October.

Food and agricultural technology, along with furniture, are the sectors with which the Murcia Chamber of Commerce has worked to expand or initiate its international projection.

Thus, from October 24 to 28, seven companies have travelled to Canada, developing a work agenda in the main cities of two provinces of the country: Montreal (Quebec) and Toronto (Ontario), where they met with importers, distributors and chain stores and supermarkets to try to bring their products to the Canadian market.

Some of them already had previous contacts in the Canadian market and had some export experience, but for most of them it has been the first contact with this country, which has one of the most open economies in the world.

#Spain

@maplechronicles

Report finds 252 school personnel accused of sexual offences in Canada over 5 years

A report from the Canadian Centre for Child Protection says 252 current or former school personnel committed or were accused of committing offences of a sexual nature against 548 children over a five-year span. It says another 38 personnel were criminally charged for child pornography-related offences during the same time frame of 2017 to 2021.

The report includes any person working in a school environment, including teachers, administrators, bus drivers and custodial staff.

Since education falls under provincial and territorial jurisdiction, most bodies responsible for overseeing discipline of school employees are not required to make the outcomes of investigations public.

A newly formed group called Stop Educator Child Exploitation (SECE), formed by survivors of sexual abuse "at the hands of school personnel," recommends independent bodies be established to receive and investigate complaints. It also suggests disciplinary records around these offences be made public and that all school personnel complete child protection training programs.

@maplechronicles

🇨🇳Canada considers Chinese investment a national security threat and bans it

According to Francois-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, Canadian authorities have demanded that three Chinese companies cancel their investments in Canadian companies to extract essential minerals on national security grounds.

"While Canada continues to welcome foreign direct investment, we will act decisively when investments threaten our national security and our critical minerals supply chains," Champagne said. He added that the Canadian government conducted a thorough vetting of companies before banning their investments.

The Chinese companies in question are Sinomine, Chengze Lithium and Zangge Mining. The first two were asked to sell their shares to others, while the latter was required to leave the Canadian market.

#China

@maplechronicles

Quebec premier disagrees with feds' plans to bring more immigrants

Quebec Premier François Legault says the province cannot accept more than 50,000 immigrants a year, despite Ottawa's plans to significantly increase immigration in the country.

As he put it, the federal government needs to understand that Quebec has a "special challenge" to preserve the French language.

Quebec's immigration agreement with Ottawa allows the province to accept a percentage of newcomers equal to its demographic weight in the country, 23%, which would amount to about 115,000 people if Canada accepted 500,000 immigrants a year.

The highest number of immigrants the province can normally integrate is 50,000 a year, Legault said, adding that even the most ambitious plan presented by a political party during the recent provincial election sets a maximum target of 80,000 newcomers.

#Quebec

@maplechronicles