Morning Update: Psychiatrists call on Ottawa to delay expansion of MAID

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The association representing the lead psychiatrists at Canada’s 17 medical schools is calling on the federal government to delay the expansion of assisted dying to people with mental illness, joining an increasingly vocal group of doctors who say proper safeguards are not yet in place.

A statement to be released today by the Association of Chairs of Psychiatry in Canada says more time is needed to develop high-quality standards of care, doctor training and expert consensus, before allowing Canadians to apply for a medically assisted death with mental illness as their sole condition.

In mid-March, Canada will become one of only a few countries that allows euthanasia for mental disorders – a step that will make the country’s assisted dying legislation among the most liberal in the world.

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Canada wants answers from China about alleged secret police stations

The Canadian government has summoned China’s ambassador to explain reports of Chinese-run police stations operating illicitly in Canada, and is warning of further steps if Beijing does not adequately address Ottawa’s concerns about foreign interference, MPs have been told.

Weldon Epp, a senior official from the federal Department of Global Affairs, told MPs Tuesday night that Canada has formally raised objections in response to allegations that China is operating secret overseas police stations in more than 50 locations around the world. According to research by Safeguard Defenders, a Spain-based human rights group, the outposts are engaged in covert and illegal policing operations, including efforts to force Chinese people living overseas to return home. The group says there are three stations in Toronto.

The Chinese embassy in Canada has denied Beijing has police stations on Canadian soil. But it said last month that governments in China have set up “service stations” in Canada to help Chinese citizens process paperwork and obtain Chinese driver’s licences.

• Opinion: Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy is finally out. Now the hard work begins

“We got him”: How a DNA investigation solved the cold cases of two 1980s Toronto murders

Twenty years after the murders of Erin Gilmour and Susan Tice, Gary Ellis, who had assisted with the initial investigation into Gilmour’s murder, was head of homicide with the Toronto Police Service. The case had never left him. Out of curiosity one day in 2003, he asked the cold-case unit what, if anything, was going on with Gilmour’s file. What he learned floored him. DNA found in her apartment had matched a sample collected from another unsolved murder committed just four months before Gilmour was killed: Susan Tice.

The discovery that the two murders were the act of one man was made possible after the creation of a data bank in 2000 maintained by the RCMP to store and match genetic material from convicted offenders to unsolved crimes. Detectives were already working the case, Ellis learned, trying to flush out new leads.

The DNA link reignited hope that the perpetrator would be found.

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Also on our radar

Trudeau says he doesn’t want fight with Alberta on sovereignty act: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he doesn’t want a fight with Alberta over its sovereignty act – but he isn’t ruling out options for dealing with it. The legislation, tabled by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, would give the province’s cabinet the ability to rewrite laws and order government agencies, police, cities and universities to disregard federal legislation that the Alberta government deems unconstitutional or harmful to the province.

• Andrew Coyne: Don’t worry, Alberta isn’t defying Canada’s constitution. It’s just rewriting it
• Gary Mason: Albertans are being played for fools – by their own government
• John Ibbitson: Trudeau is partly to blame for Smith’s sovereignty act. How will he respond?
• Explainer: Alberta’s sovereignty act has been introduced by Premier Danielle Smith. Here’s what you need to know

Canada’s work force has become more educated and racially diverse: Canada’s work force became more educated, racially diverse and skilled over the past five years, with a greater proportion of immigrants employed, significant growth in the number of people in professional white-collar jobs and a surge in the number of university graduates.

• David Parkinson: Demographics distinguish us from that ‘70s show

Ukrainians’ countryside getaways have become energy-saving alternatives: As Russia intensifies its missile attacks on Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, many Ukrainians have taken to the countryside and started living off the land in a bid to stay safe.

• Heaviest Ukraine fighting rages in east, NATO seeks to sustain support against Russia

Ontario’s vaccine rollout caused ‘confusion,’ auditor says: The Ontario government handed out COVID-19 vaccine clinic contracts to companies, including one run by large Progressive Conservative Party donors, that wasted shots or delivered just a fraction of their expected doses, the province’s Auditor-General said in her annual report released yesterday.

• Editorial: Troubling questions about Doug Ford’s move into the Greenbelt

Bankman-Fried says he ‘didn’t ever try to commit fraud’: Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, attempted to distance himself from any suggestion of fraud in his first public appearance since his company’s collapse stunned investors and left creditors facing losses totalling billions of dollars.

• FTX collapse hits Gadze Finance, crypto fund led by Top Hat founder Mike Silagadze

UN puts baguette on cultural heritage list: The humble baguette – the crunchy ambassador for French baking around the world – is being added to the UN’s list of intangible cultural heritage as a cherished tradition to be preserved by humanity.

Morning markets

Fed comments lift sentiment: The bulls were enjoying the good life in Europe on Thursday after the world’s most influential central banker, Jerome Powell, signalled this year’s frantic pace of U.S. interest rate hikes could be about to slow. Around 5:30 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.11 per cent. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 gained 0.38 per cent and 0.03 per cent, respectively. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei finished up 0.92 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.75 per cent. New York futures were modestly lower. The Canadian dollar was little changed at 74.51 US cents.

What everyone’s talking about

Lawrence Martin: “So as the killing-field nation that is America reels from its latest cluster of mass shootings, why aren’t all the woke culture warriors coming to the rescue? What’s extraordinary is the impact that the liberals are having on so many social norms: on race, equality, ethnic stereotyping, gender identity. But on a critical issue – the culture that has pitched the U.S. into a cauldron of gunfire – the woke culture appears to be snoozing.”

Cathal Kelly: “A lot has been made here and more will be made in the next four years over what sort of team the Canadian men’s program should look like. Morocco – that’s who Canada should look like.”

Today’s editorial cartoon

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Living better

Holiday gift guide: Thoughtful items for everyone on your list, at every budget

No matter how particular the people that make up your holiday to-gift list are, we have clever options for a range of budgets. And if you need more inspiration, shopkeepers from across the country share tips for tracking down perfect presents.

Moment in time: Dec. 1, 1918

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Fred Loft organizes League of Indians

When Fred Loft returned to Canada after serving in the First World War, he found a country that was in many ways indifferent to the sacrifices he and other Indigenous veterans had made. The benefits they received were paltry in comparison to those given to other former soldiers. For Loft, a career civil servant, long-time Indigenous activist and Mohawk chief, this was just the latest in a litany of injustices. Indigenous peoples were generally barred from voting in federal elections, and Loft had spent years decrying the dangerous and deplorable conditions at residential schools. Years earlier, in a letter published in The Globe, he had proposed a “grand council” of Ontario First Nations, where “we could exchange our ideas and views … bearing as they do closely upon national importance.” After the war, he revived his proposal on a national scale. The organization he founded, the League of Indians, was an early attempt to unite Indigenous groups from across Canada. It would advocate for land rights and improved education. Although the league had declined by the time of Loft’s death in 1934 and would soon cease to exist entirely, his leadership inspired future groups, including the modern Assembly of First Nations. Steve Kupferman

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