Chris Barber speaks with his lawyer Diane Magas as he walks to court with his wife on the second day of the trial for "Freedom Convoy" organizers Barber and Tamara Lich, Wednesday, September 6, 2023 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed on what you need to know today…
Defence to show different side of ‘Freedom Convoy’
Defence lawyers for two “Freedom Convoy” organizers are expected to show the court a more peaceful view of the protest as they cross-examine the officer assigned to social media evidence in the case.
Chris Barber and Tamara Lich are on trial for their role on the protest that gridlocked Ottawa for three weeks in 2022.
The Crown has taken the court through several days of social media evidence from Barber’s TikTok account and the “Freedom Convoy 2022” Facebook page, though the defence plans to argue some of that is irrelevant.
On Wednesday, Barber’s defence lawyer began showing videos that were not gathered by police, showing Barber calling for protesters to remain peaceful and to respect police and Ottawa residents.
Earlier in the trial, Lich’s lawyer said if the Crown shows evidence of the negative side of the protest, the defence is entitled to show “the other side.”
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Here’s what else we’re watching …
Moe mulls override clause for school pronoun rule
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe is standing by a new rule requiring parental permission for transgender and nonbinary students to use different names or pronouns at school.
And he tells The Canadian Press that he is ready to use the notwithstanding clause to protect the education policy, which his provincial government plans to enshrine in legislation coming this fall.
The notwithstanding clause is a provision in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms that allows federal, provincial and territorial governments to pass laws that override certain Charter rights for up to five years.
Debate around its use has heated up in recent years as provincial governments in Ontario and Quebec have invoked it pre-emptively, effectively preventing anyone from launching a legal challenge.
An L-G-B-T-Q organization based at the University of Regina is challenging the school policy affecting students younger than 16 in court, arguing it could harm children who are not ready to share their identity with parents.
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Credit card balances reach all-time high: Equifax
Equifax Canada says credit card balances hit an all-time high of $107.4 billion in the second quarter of 2023, in a sign financial stress continued to build in the face of inflation and rising interest rates.
The agency says total Canadian consumer debt reached $2.4 trillion during the second quarter.
Vice-president of advanced analytics Rebecca Oakes says non-mortgage debt growth was largely due to substantial growth in credit card balances and a notable increase in debt among subprime and deep subprime consumers.
The report by Equifax Canada said average non-mortgage debt per credit-active consumer edged up to $21,131.
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Number of E. coli cases rises, but fewer patients
The number of E. coli cases linked to an outbreak at several Calgary daycares continues to rise, but doctors say there are fewer patients in hospital with serious complications.
There were 310 lab-confirmed cases of the bacterial infection as of Wednesday, since the outbreak at 11 Calgary daycares was declared on Sept. 4.
Dr. Tania Principi, section chief of pediatric emergency medicine at Alberta Children’s Hospital, says the increase in overall case numbers is mostly due to a delay in getting lab results.
She says there has been a decrease in the number of children with serious illness showing up at the emergency departments and 14 patients have been discharged from hospitals since the beginning of the outbreak.
Twenty-one children are still receiving care at Alberta Children’s Hospital, 20 of whom have hemolytic uremic syndrome, a complication affecting the blood and kidneys.
Seven patients are on peritoneal dialysis, which is a way to remove waste products from the blood and a treatment for kidney failure.
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Drug deaths almost doubled in Ont. during pandemic
A new report says the number of accidental drug and alcohol deaths almost doubled in Ontario during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Ontario Drug Policy Research Network and Public Health Ontario say almost 3,000 people died from drug or alcohol toxicity in 2021, compared to nearly 1,600 people in 2018.
Senior author Tara Gomes says that’s an average of eight deaths every day in 2021.
She says the number of deaths involving multiple substances surpassed deaths from one substance alone.
Those substances include opioids, stimulants such as cocaine or meth, benzodiazepines and alcohol.
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Juno Awards introduce new AI guidelines
The Juno Awards are laying out new submission rules to ensure that a fake Drake or other robot-led songs don’t land nominations in the future.
Organizers at the Canadian music awards show introduced an “AI Eligibility” section of its submission guidelines which specify that while musicians in eligible recordings can use artificial intelligence, it can’t be the “sole or core component” of the project.
The criteria come as the music industry grapples with a fast-evolving technology that’s flooded the internet with “deep fake” songs which use computer-generated voices that sound like famous musicians.
One of the most popular examples is “Heart on My Sleeve,” a track created by a U.S. producer who calls himself Ghostwriter and uses vocals that sound like Canadians Drake and The Weeknd.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2023.
