愛污传媒

Politics

    • NDP MP urges feds to create 'Red Dress Alert' for missing Indigenous women

    Share
    OTTAWA -

    Ottawa should establish a system that would send the public a phone notification when an Indigenous woman goes missing to ensure that their disappearances stop being "normalized," says an NDP member of Parliament.

    Leah Gazan penned a letter to Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino on Friday urging the government to fund what she and other advocates call a "Red Dress Alert" program. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    Gazan says that while details of the program would have to be negotiated, she imagines it would operate similarly to the Amber Alert, which is an emergency notification people receive on their phones when a child in their region has been abducted or is believed to be in danger.

    "We shouldn't have to beg for our safety," Gazan said in an interview Wednesday. "In Canada, we are still begging for safety and to live in dignity as Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people."

    Research from across the country, including the 2019 final report from the National Inquiry into Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls, shows that Indigenous people, and women in particular, disappear at a higher rate than people who are not Indigenous.

    Gazan said that for years, advocates and the families of missing and murdered women and girls have said there needs to be a faster response by police and other authorities in their cases.

    And because Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has recognized the crisis in missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls as a genocide, he must act urgently to better protect them, Gazan said.

    It's "almost as if our disappearances (have) become so normalized that nobody looks for us," she added.Setting up a specialized alert system, she said, "acknowledges the urgency."

    The Winnipeg MP said that if the public is better informed when Indigenous women and girls disappear, it will increase the likelihood that they are found.

    "We know that the sooner cases start, the sooner searches start when somebody goes missing, the more likely they are to be found," she said, pointing to the success of emergency notification programs for children.

    Calls to set up a "Red Dress Alert" in Canada are not new, and some advocates have established grassroots-led efforts on their own, such as the Aboriginal Alert website, which publishes timely information and photos of Indigenous people who are missing.

    Last year, Washington state established the "Missing Indigenous Person Alert System," adding it to an existing alert system in place to broadcast the disappearances of children and seniors.

    While its state patrol says that not every Indigenous person who is missing will qualify for the program, those that do are individuals who go missing under unexplained or suspicious circumstances and appear to be vulnerable due to reasons such as age and health.

    In her letter sent last week, Gazan pointed to the disappearances and deaths of at least four First Nations women who Winnipeg police believe were murdered by the same man.

    Jeremy Skibicki has been charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran, Rebecca Contois and an unidentified woman whom local Indigenous leaders have been referring to as Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe, or Buffalo Woman.

    This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 22, 2023.

    IN DEPTH

    Opinion

    opinion

    opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike

    When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.

    CTVNews.ca Top Stories

    Emotions boiled over after a judge acquitted two out of three defendants in a manslaughter case, while the third accused has since died.

    A Toronto senior says she can鈥檛 believe that two roofers took advantage of her, despite knowing she was recently widowed and suffering from a painful disability.

    A B.C. couple is getting desperate 鈥 and creative 鈥 in their search for their missing dog.

    Canada

    • A Toronto senior says she can鈥檛 believe that two roofers took advantage of her, despite knowing she was recently widowed and suffering from a painful disability.

    • A Saskatoon mom is desperately fighting eviction after she discovered mould in her suite and reported it to her landlord.

    • The federal government announced 14 new properties will be added to the Canada Public Land Bank, the list of federal properties that could be turned into new homes, including seven in Ottawa and two in Gatineau, Que.

    • A wildlife rescue in B.C. is caring for two orphaned bobcat kittens who have become as inseparable as 'real sisters' even though it's highly unlikely they are actually from the same litter.

    • Quebec provincial police (SQ) and the Bolo Program is offering up to $250,000 for information on Saguenay man All Boivin, 34, who is wanted on a Canada-wide warrant for drug trafficking.

    • To get between Churchill, Manitoba, Canada -- the polar bear and beluga whale capital of the world and a tourist hot spot for northern adventure tourism -- and Winnipeg, Manitoba, there are only two options: A $1,100 one-way plane flight that takes two-and-a-half hours or a scenic 45-hour to 49-hour much cheaper train ride.

    World

    Politics

    Health

    Sci-Tech

    • A British-Canadian researcher has won the Nobel Prize in physics for work developing the foundations of machine learning and artificial intelligence. The University of Toronto's Geoffrey Hinton was awarded the prize Tuesday morning, along with Princeton University researcher John Hopfield.

    • 5 Nobel-worthy discoveries that haven't won the prize

      The best minds in science will be thrust from academic obscurity into the spotlight this week when the Nobel Prizes in physics, chemistry, and physiology or medicine are announced. However, there is no shortage of Nobel-worthy discoveries: Here are five breakthroughs that haven't resulted in a life-changing call from Stockholm 鈥 at least not yet.

    Entertainment

    Business

    Lifestyle

    Sports

    Autos

    • A Pickering, Ont., student going to college to be a mechanic is shocked the engine in his two-year-old car will not be repaired under warranty after the dealership claimed he had been 'over-revving' the engine.

    Local Spotlight

    A B.C. couple is getting desperate 鈥 and creative 鈥 in their search for their missing dog.

    Videos of a meteor streaking across the skies of southern Ontario have surfaced and small bits of the outer space rock may have made it to land, one astronomy professor says.

    A unique form of clouds made an appearance over the skies of Ottawa on Sunday evening.

    Bernie Hicks, known as the 鈥楤atman of Amherst,鈥 always wanted to sit in a Batmobile until a kind stranger made it happen.

    Bubi鈥檚 Awesome Eats, located on University Ave West took to social media to announce the closure on Friday.

    Weeneebayko Area Health Authority and the Government of Ontario have awarded a $1.8 billion fixed-price contract to design, build and finance a new Far North hospital.

    Manitobans are in cleanup mode after intense winds barreled through southern parts of the province this weekend.

    Avry Wortman, 13, scored two touchdowns on Sunday during her team's win in the under 14 Greater Moncton Football Association.

    A gargantuan gourd 鈥 affectionately named 鈥極rangina鈥 by the urban gardeners who grew it in the front yard of their Vancouver home 鈥 earned the massive honour of being named B.C.鈥檚 heaviest giant pumpkin Saturday.

    • Vancouver Fire Rescue Services were called to a blaze affecting multiple houses on the 1000 Block of East Pender St.

    • The leaders of B.C.'s three main political parties will be facing off Tuesday evening for their first and only televised debate ahead of the Oct. 19 election. Here's what viewers can expect.

    • A wildlife rescue in B.C. is caring for two orphaned bobcat kittens who have become as inseparable as 'real sisters' even though it's highly unlikely they are actually from the same litter.

    • Hurricane Milton is already causing flight disruptions at Pearson International Airport in Toronto as it barrels towards Florida鈥檚 Gulf Coast.

    • Convenience stores in Ontario will soon be permitted to sell fortified wines like port and sherry, 愛污传媒 has learned.

    • A Toronto senior says she can鈥檛 believe that two roofers took advantage of her, despite knowing she was recently widowed and suffering from a painful disability.

    • Calgary police are investigating after several shots were fired in the northeast community of Saddle Ridge.

    • Calgary's police chief said a tribunal that looked into the conduct of Const. Mike Oakey evaluated all the evidence and made the determination he would not be fired or criminally charged.

    • A home in the southeast Calgary community of Deer Ridge was destroyed in a fire and while a woman and her children living there escaped safely, two of their pets perished.

    • BREAKING

      BREAKING

      An Ottawa man who stabbed his wife to death in an attack that also injured his daughter in Ottawa's west end has been found guilty of first-degree murder and attempted murder.

    • The federal government announced 14 new properties will be added to the Canada Public Land Bank, the list of federal properties that could be turned into new homes, including seven in Ottawa and two in Gatineau, Que.

    • Ontario Provincial Police say the westbound lanes of Hwy. 417 are closed between Innes Road and Highway 174 following an overnight collision.

    • Quebec coroner G茅hane Kamel will preside over a public enquiry into the deaths of L茅onor Geraudie, 43, and her seven-year-old daughter V茅rane, who were killed in a fire in a heritage building in Old Montreal on Oct. 4 that also left two people injured.

    • Montreal police (SPVM) arrested a 15-year-old in connection with an alleged arson in Saint-Leonard that occurred on the weekend.

    • Heavier pressure tactics could soon begin in family daycare, as 9,000 workers have just voted in favour of a pressure tactics mandate that calls for services to open later and later, up to and including a strike day.

    • WEATHER

      WEATHER

      The upper ridge continues to dominate the weather pattern over Alberta.

    • Provincial ministers testified before the House of Commons on Monday, asking the federal government to pay for the cost of the Jasper wildfire.

    • NEW

      NEW

      Nova Scotia is creating an international medical graduate assessment centre to recruit and fast-track more internationally-trained physicians to work in the province and address the doctor shortage.

    • The price of diesel jumped nine cents overnight in Nova Scotia after the province鈥檚 Utility and Review Board (UARB) invoked its interrupter clause.

    • Former Liberal MP Andy Fillmore is still the frontrunner in the Halifax Regional Municipality mayoral race, but Waye Mason is gaining ground, according to one poll.

    • Manitoba health-care support workers will not be hitting the picket line on Tuesday morning.

    • After concerns were raised in the summer, it appears some 7-Eleven stores in Winnipeg may be shutting down because of crime.

    • One man was taken to the hospital on Sunday after an argument on a transit bus ended with a stabbing.

    • Regina resident Murray Yagelniski says a city-owned tree on his property is the root of the issue behind his basement flooding.

    • The Saskatchewan NDP says the province's troubled payment and scheduling system for healthcare is only half implemented and has costed taxpayers nearly triple its original price tag so far.

    • The John Howard Society of Saskatchewan will appear in front of the Supreme Court of Canada on Tuesday challenging a regulation that it says lets correctional workers discipline inmates without sufficient proof.

    • In September, 愛污传媒 Kitchener reported on Sandvine's deals with autocratic governments, including Egypt, where its tech reportedly helped inject spyware into the devices of government critics.

    • The penalty hearing for Guelph Police constable Corey McArthur has heard from two character witnesses, both supporting an eventual return to policing for the officer who has admitted to assaulting a teen who was handcuffed to a hospital bed.

    • A Saskatoon mom is desperately fighting eviction after she discovered mould in her suite and reported it to her landlord.

    • Saskatoon鈥檚 Prairie Harm Reduction (PHR) says a staff member arrived to work on Thursday morning to find someone at its doorstep, unresponsive from a suspected drug overdose.

    • A 36-year-old woman accused of sexually assaulting, physically assaulting and threatening residents at a Saskatchewan care home, was not in court when her matters were spoken to Monday afternoon.

    • Ontario Provincial Police are investigating a fatal crash of a side-by-side off-road vehicle east of Parry Sound that killed one and injured another Friday.

    • A Toronto senior says she can鈥檛 believe that two roofers took advantage of her, despite knowing she was recently widowed and suffering from a painful disability.

    • A teacher working on a First Nation in northwestern Ontario has been charged with sexually assaulting a minor.

    • A 20 year old is charged with two counts of fail or refusal to comply with demand made by peace officer cause bodily harm, two counts of dangerous operation causing bodily harm, two counts of impaired operation cause bodily harm and transport cannabis

    • Police in Woodstock have charged the driver of a black Volkswagen Jetta after it was seen leaving the scene of a crash. Around 5:20 p.m. on Monday, police were called to the scene of a two-vehicle crash at the intersection of Dundas Street and Waterloo Street.

    • One person was rescued after being trapped in a vehicle that was involved in a multi-car crash in Orillia late Monday afternoon.

    • The fate of a Barrie man charged with the death of a young mother 30 years ago now rests in the hands of a jury.

    • Police are driving attention to an unsolved homicide that happened in broad daylight over a year ago in Tay Township in hopes someone holds the key that can move the case forward.

    • A 45-year-old Lakeshore man is facing impaired driving charges after a member of the public reported a traffic complaint.

    • Delays are to be expected Tuesday morning after a crash in Essex County. According to OPP, the crash happened at Walker Road and Highway 3 in Tecumseh.

    • The Windsor Utilities Commission (WUC) has begun the decommissioning of its old Water Treatment Plant.

    • The leaders of B.C.'s three main political parties will be facing off Tuesday evening for their first and only televised debate ahead of the Oct. 19 election. Here's what viewers can expect.

    • Major crime investigators have been called to the scene of a suspected homicide in the northern Vancouver Island community of Port Hardy.

    • Child care was front and centre Monday for the BC NDP, its leader David Eby promoting the party's campaign promises.

    • Nearly two years after a man was stabbed to death in downtown Kelowna, RCMP have made an arrest in the case.

    • NDP Leader David Eby is promising to offer a $75-million loan forgiveness program to entice doctors, nurses and heath professionals to expand health-care services in rural British Columbia.

    • Three young suspects have been arrested in connection with a swarming attack on a teenager in B.C.'s Okanagan last week 鈥 and authorities have asked the public to stop circulating disturbing videos of the incident.

    • A Lethbridge police officer involved in a scandal involving former Lethbridge New Democrat MLA Shannon Phillips has been reprimanded.

    • Lethbridge police say a man who escaped from a psychiatric ward at the Chinook Regional Hospital has been found.

    • While the summer may be over, construction season in Lethbridge is not.

    • The Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) is the latest organization to call on the Doug Ford government to re-open dialogue with an airline service that transports lower-income Canadians to crucial medical care far from home.

    • For decades, Mississauga First Nation has known that human remains from their land were at the Canadian Museum of History.

    • Greater Sudbury in partnership with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, is hosting the organization's annual mining conference.

    N.L.

    Stay Connected
    Follow 愛污传媒