An International Longshore and Warehouse Union worker pickets outside of the BC Maritime Employers Association Dispatch Center after a 72 hour strike notice and no agreement made on the bargaining table in Vancouver, on Saturday, July 1, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns
Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed on what you need to know today…
B.C. port strike still unresolved
The strike at more than 30 British Columbia ports enters its fourth day this morning.
Talks between the B.C. Maritime Employers Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada stalled yesterday.
The employers say the union’s demands were “outside any reasonable framework for settlement,” and the union claims the employers have “sabotaged the process.”
A key issue for the 7,400 striking port workers appears to concern the definition and scope of maintenance work.
Former AFN chief seeking reinstatement
The former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations wants her job back — and she’s calling on supporters to tell their chiefs and councils to make it happen.
RoseAnne Archibald posted a five-minute video to Facebook on Monday from her car in a parking lot on B.C.’s north shore.
She said she wants to be reinstated to her job as national chief, and for members to ensure a forensic audit of the national advocacy organization goes forward.
Archibald claimed the pushback she’s been receiving is because she’s been fighting corruption at the AFN since October of 2020.
Here’s what else we’re watching …
Corrections head flagged Bernardo move
The head of Canada’s federal prison system asked bureaucrats to explain whether they had informed Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino about notorious serial killer Paul Bernardo’s transfer to a medium-security prison.
Documents obtained by The Canadian Press show that Correctional Service of Canada Commissioner Anne Kelly had flagged the transfer to Public Safety Canada’s top public servant, and then followed up when Mendicino suggested he hadn’t been informed about the move.
Kelly also emailed Mendicino directly after he tweeted the decision was “shocking and incomprehensible,” which he posted one week after she had informed his department about the move.
The Opposition Conservatives have been demanding that Mendicino resign as details have emerged over the past month about the timeline of the prison transfer, and who knew what when.
Lac-Mégantic mayor fears another rail disaster
Ten years after a runaway train derailed and killed 47 people in Lac-Mégantic, Que., residents are still waiting for a promised railway bypass, and they fear the increasing number of railcars carrying hazardous materials through their town will lead to another disaster.
Mayor Julie Morin says the trains transporting such things as propane, diesel and sulphuric acid have got longer, threatening to turn the city’s downtown area once again into a mess of charred ruins and twisted metal.
On July 6, 2013, a train carrying 72 tank cars filled with crude oil derailed in the area and exploded, killing 47 people and destroying entire city blocks.
Quebec forest fire situation continues to improve with rain but risks remain
Quebec’s wildfire prevention agency says recent rain has been improving the forest fire situation in the province, but risk remains high in dry areas along James Bay.
The agency says rain that fell in the past few days over southern and eastern Quebec has helped contain some of the fires and control some others in two small parts of the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region and in the province’s northwest.
But it adds the large fires still burning are immense, including one near the twice-evacuated city of Lebel-sur-Quevillon that covers 4,000 square kilometres.
Nationally, the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre says there are currently 615 active wildfires burning in Canada tonight, with 320 considered out of control.
Evacuation alerts end for Kelowna, B.C., residents as wildfire under control
Evacuation alerts and a state of local emergency caused by a wildfire on Knox Mountain in Kelowna, B.C., have ended.
A statement from the Central Okanagan Emergency Operations Centre says the fire is now under control at 6.5 hectares and emergency crews are still on scene managing several hot spots.
Residents in the Poplar Point, Knox Mountain, Magic Estates and Clifton areas near the fire were under an evacuation order on Canada Day that was later downgraded to an alert as crews fought the flames
Kelowna RCMP assisted with an evacuation of more than 400 properties.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 4, 2023.
