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A deputy minister’s recent departure from the federal public service occurred just weeks after a national Indigenous organization privately called for his resignation over an e-mail dismissing its description of colonialism.
Timothy Sargent’s nearly three-decade career in the federal public service ended without a public explanation. Internal e-mails and letters obtained by The Globe and Mail through Access to Information reveal his departure followed a dispute over an e-mail he wrote in May, 2022.
It all began when Sargent was invited to a launch of the National Indigenous Economic Strategy for Canada. The letter of invitation said “one of colonialism’s most nefarious objectives was the deliberate exclusion of Indigenous people from sharing the wealth of our country. This strategy is a path forward towards economic reconciliation that is both inclusive and meaningful.”
Sargent responded: “I shall certainly not attend an event which is premised on a gross misreading of history.”
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Police officers attend the scene of a shooting outside of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Sahib temple, in Surrey, B.C., Monday, June 19, 2023.Jennifer Gauthier/The Canadian Press
Sikh leader slain outside B.C. temple was warned by CSIS of threats
The president of a Sikh temple in Surrey, B.C., who had been warned by Canada’s spy agency that he was in danger, was shot and killed on the gurdwara grounds on Sunday.
At a news conference Monday, RCMP confirmed Hardeep Singh Nijjar was found in a truck outside the Guru Nanak Gurdwara suffering gunshot wounds. He died at the scene.
Bhupinder Singh Hothi, the general secretary of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Society, said Nijjar had previously received death threats because of his support for a separate Sikh state of Khalistan, in India.
Rejection of key Senate change to Bill C-18 may pave way for Facebook news block
Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez has rejected a key Senate change to Bill C-18, the online news bill, dismissing a last-ditch attempt to prevent Facebook from restricting Canadians’ access to news. Rodriguez accepted most of the Senate’s amendments to the bill, but rejected an amendment that was considered a compromise to try to keep tech platforms on board.
The bill would make Google and Facebook compensate news organizations for posting links to their work. Facebook has warned it would take away Canadians’ ability to access and share news on its platform if the bill passes without significant changes. Google has said it has yet to decide whether it would do the same. Both have tested restricting access for more than a million Canadians while Parliament has been considering the bill.
New book explores the history of Black baseball in Canada
Fergie Jenkins, Sr, Andy Harding, and Ross Talbot in Crystals and CYO uniforms.Courtesy of the University of Windsor, Archives and Special Collections/Handout
In recent years, the sport has worked to try reconciling with its racist past by shining a belated spotlight on American Negro Leagues. And while those efforts are important, they unintentionally obscure Canada’s own rich – and fraught – history of Black baseball.
One of the best known Canadian stories is of the Chatham Coloured All-Stars and their emergence in 1934, seemingly out of nowhere, to win the Ontario Baseball Amateur Association championship (Intermediate B division). That’s the focus of Heidi L.M. Jacobs’ new book 1934: The Chatham Coloured All-Stars’ Barrier-Breaking Year.
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Also on our radar
Search and rescue: A submersible expedition to chronicle the decay of the Titanic wreck has gone missing off the coast of Newfoundland, prompting a massive search operation by U.S. and Canadian authorities to find the vessel and its five crew members before they run out of oxygen.
Manitoba bus crash: RCMP say there are typically numerous eyewitnesses during a tragedy of this nature, but all witnesses in this crash were on board the minibus that was struck by the semi-trailer last Thursday. “That’s why it’s taking so long,” said Superintendent Rob Lasson, in charge of major crime services, the department handing the investigation. “This is a very unique situation.”
U.S.-China relations: Chinese President Xi Jinping met with top U.S. diplomat Antony Blinken in Beijing on Monday, with the two superpowers saying progress has been made after relations were derailed by a Chinese spy balloon.
Real estate analysis: With soaring rents a plague on solo seniors, here’s how one Ontario woman fought back
Politics: Early results from a federal by-election show the Tories cruising towards victory in a race that pitted Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives against Maxime Bernier’s People’s Party of Canada.
Morning markets
European, Asian markets struggle: European and Asian stocks mostly fell on Tuesday after China cut interest rates by less than expected and markets awaited more details on Beijing’s plans to shore up a stuttering economic recovery. Around 5:30 a.m. ET, Britain’s edged up 0.07 per cent. Germany’s DAX lost 0.70 per cent while France’s CAC 40 slid 0.36 per cent. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed up 0.06 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slumped 1.54 per cent. New York futures were negative. The Canadian dollar was slightly lower at 75.64 US cents.
What everyone’s talking about
Is Calgary still an oil and gas town or has it moved on?
“Calgary is creating an investment environment that commits to emissions reduction, new energy sources and being a global source for responsibly produced energy. This city has long had a certain brand, but it is capable of more than just one thing.” -Jyoti Gondek, mayor of Calgary
New Brunswick’s Policy 713 is not an attack on parents’ rights
“I fully respect and sympathize with the challenges of parenthood, and understand concerns about the divisive discourse. Indeed, I recall two friends expressing some of their frustration when they said, ‘No one has a more binary attitude to life than a non-binary 12-year-old.’ So, yes, let’s support and respect the authority of parents. But not at the expense of the basic well-being and dignity of LGBTQ children.” -Christopher Brittain
Today’s editorial cartoon
Editorial cartoon by Brian Gable.Illustration by Brian Gable
Living better
Financial scams are evolving. Here are three tips to protect yourself
- Awareness: Share information on how these scams operate.
- Create a challenge and passphrase, or an AI safe word: Come up with a challenge question and response to help you determine if they caller is who they say they are.
- Practise: Use your challenge and response phrase periodically when you have a call with family so you won’t forget them.
Read the full story on how even you might fall for a scam.
Moment in time: June 20, 1975
Crowds line up outside movie house to see "Jaws."Bettmann/Getty Images
Jaws premieres, considered first summer blockbuster
Before Steven Spielberg unleashed a bloodthirsty shark on a small seaside town, Hollywood treated the sweltering summer months as it would any other season, releasing films in a piecemeal fashion: Major cities would get the big films first, before they slowly, cautiously expanded to other regions across North America. But when Universal Pictures executives realized just what they had on their hands with Jaws, the studio made a big bet. It would release the film in as many theatres as possible at the same time, with a massive marketing campaign aimed at getting people outside of the water and inside a cinema. Today, the summer season is synonymous with blockbusters: big, loud, tremendously expensive cinematic spectacles, each title competing with the other to chomp as much of the box office as possible. Mr. Spielberg, who encountered tremendous challenges while making Jaws (namely, getting the mechanical shark to actually function), could not have possibly known at the time just what kind of beast he was unleashing. But the filmmaker rode the waves of his own innovation, eventually becoming king of the summer thanks to a slew of hits – E.T., Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jurassic Park – that have defined American moviemaking. Barry Hertz
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