Good morning,
These are the top stories:
Adam Capay, who spent 1,636 days in solitary, has been released
A Thunder Bay judge issued a stay of proceedings as a remedy for multiple breaches of Capay’s Charter rights. A publication ban on all decisions and evidence in the case is in place until the window for appeals closes on Feb. 27. But by pointing to four Charter violations, the ruling suggests a rare finding that the harm caused by the state’s treatment of Capay in prison outweighs the seriousness of his alleged crime – first-degree murder.
Normally, judges only grant a stay if it’s no longer possible to give a person a fair trial. Experts say the reasoning behind Capay’s stay may be unprecedented in Canadian law.
While the decision brought many in Capay’s family to tears, it proved difficult for those close to his alleged victim, Sherman Quisses. One person stormed out of the court loudly criticizing the judgment.
Adriel Weaver, a member of Capay’s legal team, said: “The state has not only deprived Adam Capay of his rights but also deprived the Quisses family of an opportunity for justice. I’m hopeful this will result in real systemic change, that this will not happen to anyone ever again.”
Earlier this month, B.C.'s top court granted the federal government a five-month extension to overhaul solitary laws. That echoed a decision from Ontario’s appeals court, which said Ottawa must change the practice of isolating inmates for 22 hours or more a day without meaningful human contact after declaring it unconstitutional.
For further reading: Our 2016 story on Capay’s dark journey through Canada’s prison system, plus a look at how four people’s stories have changed hearts, minds and laws on solitary.
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The U.S. alleges Meng Wanzhou was part of a 10-year Huawei conspiracy to skirt sanctions
Officials have unveiled an indictment against the CFO, her firm and two of its subsidiaries on 13 charges ranging from fraud to money laundering to obstruction of justice in a plot they allege began in 2007 to obscure Huawei’s business in Iran. Huawei, prosecutors say, falsely claimed it had transferred ownership of its subsidiary Skycom to an unrelated company, saying it had no direct dealings with Iran.
Meng is accused of falsely telling an executive with one of Huawei’s banks in the summer of 2013 that her company was complying with sanctions on Iran, and misrepresenting the nature of a subsidiary.
As he announced the charges, acting U.S. attorney-general Matthew Whitaker said that “those who do business in the United States can also be certain the Department of Justice will protect them from criminals, no matter how powerful or influential they are.”
The indictment comes as the U.S. formally filed its request to extradite Meng, whose arrest in Vancouver sparked apparent Chinese retaliation against Canada. The U.S., meanwhile, continues to urge Canada and other Western countries to bar Huawei’s 5G equipment over national-security concerns. And as U.S. and Chinese officials negotiate this week in an effort to end their trade war, Whitaker insisted the Huawei case was completely unrelated.
China’s foreign ministry responded Tuesday, saying it will defend its companies and demanding that the U.S. “stop the unreasonable crackdown” on Huawei.
Campbell Clark argues that “Canada can now expect more Chinese wrath. Detaining Canadians hasn’t been a brilliant PR move for Beijing, so it might find other means. But Ottawa is more firmly stuck in the middle.”
Nathan VanderKlippe writes from Beijing that in the indictments, there are traces of a broader conflict.
Quebec’s government has asked schools whether they have data on teachers who wear religious symbols
Teachers’ unions and school boards are denouncing the effort by Premier François Legault’s government as discrimination. “It looks like a witch hunt,” Catherine Harel Bourdon, the chair of Montreal’s main francophone school board. “We don’t enumerate people by religion in the school system. It’s aberrant – and against the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”
A deputy education minister reached out to school officials last Friday in search of the information, which comes as Legault prepares a bill that would ban public servants in positions of authority such as judges, prison guards, police officers and teachers from wearing visible religious garments or jewellery.
Climate change is leading to disappearing lake ice in Canada and the world
That’s according to a new study by an international team of researchers that found about 35,300 lakes stand to lose their annual winter ice cover should worldwide temperatures increase by 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Thousands of inland waters already no longer freeze over in the winter. And as the problem exacerbates under current warming trends, everything from ice roads for remote communities to games of shinny stand to be affected.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
TransCanada has hired RBC to manage the planned sale of a majority stake in the Coastal GasLink pipeline project. The move comes amid opposition to the natural-gas project from Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and environmentalists. (for subscribers)
A “significant development” in the Bruce McArthur case is expected today. Police wouldn’t say whether a guilty plea is possible for the man accused of murdering eight men with ties to Toronto’s Gay Village.
MORNING MARKETS
Stocks mixed
Gold climbed to a seven-month high on Tuesday as markets opted for caution before three major macro events and a blizzard of big tech company earnings in the coming days, starting with Apple later. Despite the upcoming action - a key Brexit vote in the U.K. , Wednesday’s U.S. Federal Reserve decision and Thursday’s conclusion of the latest Sino-U.S. trade talks - European and Asian stocks held up relatively well. Tokyo’s Nikkei gained 0.1 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.2 per cent, and the Shanghai Composite shed 0.1 per cent. In Europe, London’s FTSE 100 was up 1.3 per cent by about 6:55 a.m. ET, ahead of the Brexit vote, with Germany’s DAX and the Paris CAC 40 up by between 0.1 and 0.6 per cent. New York futures were down. The Canadian dollar was below 75.5 US cents.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
Searching for answers, two years after the mosque massacre
“Two years on, this country still has no clear strategy for addressing online hate. We know now that [gunman Alexandre] Bissonnette was consuming Islamophobic and anti-immigrant rhetoric spewed by a coterie of online propagandists. And while a parliamentary committee recommended increased funding for law enforcement to investigate online hate speech, we’re still waiting for concrete action.” – Amira Elghawaby, writer and human rights advocate based in Ottawa
Parliament’s temporary homes are Bland Canada
“The temporary chambers are, each, far more boring than the permanent ones. The two temporary projects combine painstaking heritage restoration with a deeply conservative modernist language. Each chamber reflects an admirable reverence for Canada’s shared past – but also, equally, a lack of imagination about how the country’s identity can or should evolve.” – Alex Bozikovic (for subscribers)
People with mental illness don’t need more talk
“It’s nearly Bell Let’s Talk Day. You know, the one day of the year when social media is flooded with messages urging us to talk about mental health and to feel good about doing it. But as the father of a young adult who has experienced mental illness, campaigns like this make me want to scream.” – Philip Moscovitch, who writes frequently on mental health and mental illness
LIVING BETTER
A new study is linking excessive screen time to developmental delays in children
Toddlers and preschoolers who spent high amounts of time in front of televisions, computers and other digital devices were less likely to reach various milestones for communication skills, motor skills and problem-solving by age five, the study found.
The debate over the impacts of screen time has seen some point to the “chicken or egg” question: In other words, children with developmental delays may be more likely to be given screen time as a way to cope with challenging behaviours.
But the author of this study says the findings indicate excessive screen time is likely a key contributor to research that showed one in four Canadian children aren’t prepared for learning when they start school.
MOMENT IN TIME
Oprah Winfrey is born
(John McConnico/Associated Press)JOHN MCCONNICO/AP
Jan. 29, 1954: In the 1970s, a Baltimore TV station promoted one of its newscasts by asking viewers “What is an Oprah?” Today, it would be an absurd question, because there’s not a person around who doesn’t know who she is. Oprah, born 65 years ago today, won a total of 16 Daytime Emmys for the Oprah Winfrey Show, launched multiple careers and made some of the most memorable moments in television history. (Who could forget the episode when she gave everyone in the audience a Pontiac G6 or the one when a love-crazed Tom Cruise jumped up and down on her yellow couch?) She has also built a strong humanitarian record. In 1997, she started “Oprah’s Angel Network,” which helped build more than 55 schools in 12 countries, provided more than US$1-million worth of school supplies to 18,000 South African children and helped build or restore nearly 300 homes after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. When her show ended in 2011, viewers wondered what they would do without her, but she’s stayed in the public eye, winning the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes last year and eliciting speculation that she might run for president, to which she said, “It would kill me.” – Mira Miller
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Arik Ligeti