Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:
Federal legislation aimed at combatting foreign interference in Canada includes a new a registry of foreign agents and proposes giving Canada’s spy agency more authority to combat threats.
Long-awaited legislation unveiled by the Liberal government today would create a Foreign Influence Transparency Commissioner, who would be appointed after consultation with House of Commons and Senate leadership.
The individual would hold investigative powers and oversee a new mandatory registry of names for people conducting “influence activity” for foreign entities in provincial and federal politics and governments, as well as in Indigenous governments or councils.
The Countering Foreign Interference Act follows a federal inquiry into the issue that found foreign interference may have impeded the last two federal elections in Canada, though it didn’t change the overall outcome. Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue in a report last week called in foreign meddling a threat to Canadian democracy, and called for measures to tackle it.
It’s unlikely the foreign registry announced Monday will be in place for the next federal election in 2025, the government said.
Israel rejects ceasefire proposal accepted by Hamas as Rafah invasion looms
Israel appeared poised to launch a long-threatened invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza, against the urging of humanitarian aid groups and allies, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government rejected the terms of a ceasefire accepted by the Hamas leadership.
Videos and photos show long lines of Palestinians departing the city that had previous been declared a safe zone after the Israeli military used text messages and leaflets to warn residents in eastern Rafah to leave the area.
Hours after Israel sent the evacuation warning, Ismail Haniyeh, the Qatar-based political leader of Hamas, said he had accepted a ceasefire brokered by Egypt and Qatar. Any deal would involve the release of some of the 100 hostages Hamas has been holding in Gaza since Oct. 7. Netanyahu’s office said it would carry out the military operation in Rafah in parallel with negotiations.
Humanitarian groups have reacted with alarm to the evacuation order. Meanwhile, families some of the Israeli hostages are calling on their government to explain why the ceasefire negotiations fell apart.
Displaced Palestinians who fled Rafah after the Israeli military began evacuating civilians from the eastern parts of the southern Gazan city travel on a vehicle in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on May 6, 2024.Ramadan Abed/Reuters
Manitoba man admits to killing four women, defence to argue he is not criminally responsible
The Winnipeg trial of a man accused of killing four First Nations women and dumping their bodies in a landfill will hinge on his mental state and the intention behind the killings.
Jeremy Skibicki’s lawyers told a Manitoba superior court today that their client killed the women in 2022, and they intend to argue he was not criminally responsible because of mental illness. The defence’s legal strategy means the trial will be heard in front of a judge alone, rather than a jury, when arguments get under way on Wednesday. The 12-person jury selected to hear the case will be dismissed.
Police have alleged that Skibicki is a serial killer who murdered 26-year-old Marcedes Myran, 39-year-old Morgan Harris, 24-year-old Rebecca Contois, and an unidentified woman whom Indigenous elders have named Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, or Buffalo Woman. Skibicki was arrested in 2022 for the killings.
The development in the high-profile case comes a day after Red Dress Day, marked annually to bring awareness to the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada.
Fines mounting for violations in Canada’s temporary foreign worker programs
The federal government set a record high for fines related to non-compliance with Canada’s temporary foreign worker rules in 2023 – and this year is shaping up to be even worse, according to a Globe analysis of government figures.
Infractions include wage theft and workplace abuse. Ottawa handed out $2.7-million in penalties against non-compliant employers last year, with an average fine of $13,800 per decision.
So far in 2024, the average fine is nearly $29,000, according to data reviewed by The Globe as of late April. That’s significantly higher than the roughly $3,200 average fine from 2019.
Canadian companies have been hiring temporary foreign workers in greater numbers in recent years, aided by policy changes aimed at addressing labour shortages. But the trend has sparked concerns about the potential for worker exploitation.
ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Campus protests: Columbia University is cancelling its main graduation ceremony after weeks of protests over the war in Gaza. The Ivy League school, one of several postsecondary campuses across Canada and the United States where pro-Palestinian protests have popped up, says it will hold smaller, school-based graduation events. Meanwhile, Ontario’s premier says universities should start clearing protest encampments.
Government procurement: Ottawa went years without launching after-the-fact audits of companies that received contracts from an Indigenous procurement program.
Mining: Panama elected a pro-business president over the weekend and the outcome is raising hopes for Canadian mining company First Quantum. The company’s financial situation has deteriorated after its Cobre Panama copper mine – which used to account for half its revenue – was ordered closed by the country’s departing president last year.
Fish farms: Canada’s Public Sector Integrity Commissioner is launching an investigation into allegations that federal fisheries officials tried to silence scientists who were researching environmental threats related to open-net fish farms in the Pacific Ocean.
Keffiyeh ban: The Speaker of the Ontario legislature has partially eased a ban on the keffiyeh, allowing it to be worn inside Queen’s Park, but not in the legislative chamber. The Speaker banned the checkered scarf this year, arguing it is being worn to make a political statement about the Israel-Gaza war. Independent member Sarah Jama was asked to leave Question Period today after putting on the scarf inside the chamber.
MARKET WATCH
North American stock markets rise on renewed U.S. rate cut bets
Markets in Canada and the U.S. closed higher on Monday on fresh hopes of a potential U.S. rate cut.
Canada’s main stock index closed its highest in over three weeks, boosted by energy stocks and renewed bets from investors on U.S. rate cuts some time this year.
U.S. stock indexes also ended higher on their third straight session of advances, though they underperformed the S&P/TSX composite index, which closed up 312.06 points, or 1.42 per cent, at 22,259.47.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 176.59 points or 0.46 per cent to 38,852.27, the S&P 500 gained 52.95 points or 1.03 per cent to 5,180.74 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 192.92 points or 1.19 per cent to 16,349.25.
The Canadian dollar was trading at 73.18 US cents.
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TALKING POINTS
In the beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar, no one’s a winner
“This beef is no longer about who’s at the top of the rap game. It’s about who can race to the bottom fastest.” - Adrian Lee
Ontario’s keffiyeh ban dares to define the scarf’s meaning for everyone
“Asking a Palestinian to remove the keffiyeh is like asking a Muslim woman to remove her hijab or an Indigenous person to remove their headdress. It is an article of clothing deeply embedded with one’s culture and identity.” - Sheema Khan
Putting migrants in federal prisons is unjustified and unjust
“Rather than using more humane (and less expensive) alternatives to detention that allow for people to live in the community, the CBSA opted to detain thousands of migrants, even though every year, the agency monitors thousands of people in the community, and it is rare that any of them abscond.” - Lloyd Axworthy and Allan Rock
In Canada, we bank where we buy
“Participating in slick marketing programs that allow you to engage in lite banking activity seems contradictory and foolish. It’s a little bit silly, just like Canadian Tire money was.” - Vass Bednar
Ukraine’s push to conscript men abroad won’t do much to win the war
“Ukrainians living abroad who are opposed to fighting are unlikely to be lured back, in particular those who were already in other countries before the war started and children who are coming of age abroad. Instead, many may choose to cut ties with Ukraine entirely.” - Lidiia Karpenko
LIVING BETTER
Need more fibre? Add these six high-fibre foods to your diet
There are two types of fibre: soluble and insoluble. Both are present in varying proportions in different foods, but some foods can be rich in one or the other.Ted Johns/Getty Images/iStockphoto
Fibre is an oft overlooked nutrient that comes with a whole host of health benefits. A diet high in fibre is associated with a lower risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, colorectal cancer, breast cancer and diverticulitis. Research suggests that eating fibre-rich food can help you live a longer life in good health. Read more here on how to up the fibre in your daily meals.
TODAY’S LONG READ
At war with the censors
Late at night on Sept. 3, 1939, crowds of Torontonians waited outside the Globe and Mail building to read the latest news about Britain’s declaration of war on Nazi Germany. Canada followed suit a week later, with a war proclamation from Ottawa that appeared in the Sept. 11 Globe.The Globe and Mail
In the Second World War, the first global war of a truly mass-media era, The Globe and Mail took some of the first steps in defying the federal government’s censorship machinery. The Globe’s publisher at the time, George McCullagh, even risked a prison sentence in the paper’s fight for the right to report on military blunders. Read more about the chapter of history here.
This is an excerpt from A Nation’s Paper: The Globe and Mail in the Life of Canada, a collection of history essays from Globe writers past and present, coming this fall from Signal/McClelland & Stewart.
Evening Update is written by Holly McKenzie-Sutter and Maryam Shah. If you’d like to receive this newsletter by e-mail every weekday evening, go here to sign up. If you have any feedback, send us a note.