Morning Update: Federal watchdog sounds alarm over treatment of Indigenous inmates

Good morning,

Efforts to improve conditions for Indigenous inmates have stagnated over the past decade, the federal prisons watchdog says, perpetuating the disadvantages of a group that is vastly overrepresented in the prisoner population.

Correctional Investigator Ivan Zinger found that facilities established specifically to meet the needs of Indigenous prisoners, called healing lodges, are sitting half empty. Construction of new healing lodges has stalled, with just one created in the past decade, according to his annual report, released yesterday.

Also, the Correctional Service of Canada has yet to fulfill a decade-old demand from his office to create an executive-level position for a commissioner of Indigenous corrections – a recommendation that has earned support from many task forces over the years, and from federal Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino.

• Despite new laws, inmates still face time in solitary confinement

Open this photo in gallery:

This is the daily Morning Update newsletter. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for Morning Update and more than 20 other Globe newsletters on our newsletter signup page.

Ontario pushes ahead with bill to ban CUPE strike

Ontario Premier Doug Ford pushed forward with a bill that would use the notwithstanding clause to impose a contract on education support workers and ban their right to strike, as the federal government suggested it might intervene in the dispute.

The Progressive Conservative government ordered MPPs to attend the legislature at 5 a.m. yesterday in order to start fast-tracking the bill, known as Bill 28. It says the draft legislation is needed to avert a strike as early as Friday that would shut schools and disrupt the learning of two million students who suffered from pandemic closings. The bill was expected to pass within days.

But Ken Marciniec, a spokesman for the union at the centre of the dispute, told The Globe and Mail yesterday afternoon that informal talks were taking place between the parties at a downtown Toronto hotel.

• Ontario families scramble to secure child care ahead of potential school closings
• Robyn Urback: Parents are in no mood for a school strike. Doug Ford knows it
• Construction union that once endorsed Ford government, now wants it to revoke back-to-work bill
• Opinion: Ontario’s use of the notwithstanding clause for strike-busting is bad business across the board

Ottawa aims to welcome 500,000 immigrants per year by 2025

The federal government is increasing immigration targets for the next three years, aiming to admit almost 1.5 million new permanent residents to Canada by the end of 2025, in an effort to address significant labour shortages and an aging population while attracting newcomers to rural communities.

The numbers are in Ottawa’s annual immigration plan, which Immigration Minister Sean Fraser released yesterday. The plan calls for next year’s group of newcomers to include 266,210 economic immigrants, who are typically skilled workers. Among the rest would be 106,500 people coming to Canada to reunite with their families and 76,305 refugees and other protected people.

Japan’s hope of reclaiming Kuril Islands sinks as Russia’s war in Ukraine raises animosity in the Pacific

As his fishing boat pushes out into the frigid waters off Hokkaido in northern Japan, Tsubasa Ito keeps his eye on the radar.

It’s just before midnight, and he is heading about 20 kilometres from shore with his crew, looking for flatfish and cod. But Ito, 25, isn’t hoping to spot a catch – he’s worried about being caught himself. These waters, despite being within sight of the Japanese coast, are controlled by Russia.

The Soviet Union invaded the southern part of the Kurils chain, a chain of islands stretching 1,300 kilometres from Japan to Kamchatka in the Russian far east, in August, 1945, and the islands have been controlled by Russia ever since.

Thousands of Japanese were expelled after the seizure, and a dispute over sovereignty has prevented Tokyo and Moscow from ever signing a peace treaty officially ending their war.

And with the war in Ukraine souring relations between Japan and Russia, the already slim chances of a settlement are now vanishingly small.

• Russia says it will resume participation in Ukraine grain deal after suspending involvement

Got a news tip that you’d like us to look into? E-mail us at tips@globeandmail.com Need to share documents securely? Reach out via SecureDrop

Also on our radar

Convoy protest organizer says other leader’s violent comments not a concern: Convoy protest organizers were aware of incendiary comments from one of their leaders but wanted to keep him in the fold because of his social media following, the Emergencies Act inquiry was told yesterday, as the first organizer to testify maintained the Ottawa protests weren’t disruptive or disrespectful.

• Shannon Proudfoot: Two Chris Barbers came to the public emergency commission: a self-professed internet troll and a wide-eyed naif
• Court hears arguments on whether Ontario premier needs to testify at Emergencies Act commission

Federal outsourcing spiked 24 per cent last year: Ottawa’s annual spending on outsourcing contracts has climbed by 24 per cent, records show, even as total federal expenditure eased last year from its pandemic peak. Outsourcing increased to $14.6-billion, 74-per-cent higher than when the Liberals promised in 2015 to cut back on the use of external consultants.

MPs will see secret documents on firing of two scientists: The federal government and the three main opposition parties have agreed to set up a special committee of MPs that will have unfettered access to all national security documents related to the firing of two infectious disease scientists at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg.

Competition Bureau wants full block of Rogers-Shaw deal: The Competition Bureau says it will only accept a full block of Rogers Communications’ acquisition of Shaw Communications, despite a federal judge suggesting that the watchdog and the telecoms find common ground before an appeal hearing starts Nov. 7.

Netanyahu appears to hold lead in election: Former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to hold a narrow lead in Israeli elections, according to exit polls, potentially paving the way for a return to power thanks to a boost from an extreme right-wing ally known for inflammatory anti-Arab comments.

Bolsonaro agrees to transition of power: Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro avoided conceding defeat yesterday in his first public remarks since losing Sunday’s election, but said that he would follow the country’s constitution, which stipulates a transition of power on Jan. 1.

Morning markets

Markets await Fed: Global shares were mostly higher Wednesday ahead of a decision by the U.S. Federal Reserve on an interest rate increase to curb inflation. Around 5:30 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 dipped 0.06 per cent. Germany’s DAX slid 0.20 per cent while France’s CAC 40 was up 0.05 per cent. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed off 0.06 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped. New York futures were positive. The Canadian dollar was higher at 73.54 US cents.

Today’s editorial cartoon

Open this photo in gallery:

Living better

Holster your HELOC, borrowers. Rising rates make them too expensive

Home equity lines of credit are the sharpest tool in the shed. But the Bank of Canada’s campaign to pound down inflation using interest rate hikes raises the cost of using the HELOCs and everything else in the borrowing toolshed. The heyday of the HELOC is done for now – they’re too expensive to be our handy way to borrow for fun and profit any time soon. Have a HELOC, but keep it behind glass. Use it only for emergencies or situations where you know you’ll be able to repay what you borrowed in a matter of months.

Moment in time: Nov. 2, 1947

Open this photo in gallery:

Spruce Goose has its first and last flight at Long Beach, Calif.

Howard Hughes had a lot to prove. The American business magnate was being investigated by a U.S. Senate committee, which was trying to determine whether the Hughes Aircraft Company’s prototype H-4 Hercules flying boat, derisively nicknamed the “Spruce Goose,” had been a worthwhile use of wartime public funds. The plane, by then completed but untested, was the largest ever built at that point. Although it was undoubtedly a boondoggle, it was also a majestic engineering feat – designed to land and take off on water, theoretically capable of carrying hundreds of troops, and made mainly of laminated birch (not spruce) to comply with wartime restrictions on metal use. With the Senate hearings resuming in a few days, Mr. Hughes held what were supposed to be a series of taxi tests, where the plane would tool around the harbour in Long Beach, Calif., without taking flight. On the day’s third taxi run, with Mr. Hughes at the controls, the colossus lifted off, to the astonishment of onlookers. The flight lasted for only about a mile. Mr. Hughes told reporters afterward he had spontaneously decided to fly. For reasons still unclear, the Spruce Goose would never fly again, though Mr. Hughes would keep and maintain it for the rest of his life. Steve Kupferman

Read today's horoscopes. Enjoy today's puzzles.

If you’d like to receive this newsletter by e-mail every weekday morning, go here to sign up. If you have any feedback, send us a note.