Good morning,
These are the top stories:
Tyendinaga Mohawks have maintained their blockade despite an OPP order
Members of the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory are seen early on Monday. (Cole Burston/The Globe and Mail)
The rail blockade near Belleville, Ont., remains in place despite the Ontario Provincial Police warning demonstrators they could face an investigation or possible charges if the site wasn’t cleared by midnight. (Go here for the latest developments.)
The police message to protesters, which was delivered on behalf of Canadian National Railway, follows Justin Trudeau’s call on Friday for the blockades to come down. “We can’t have dialogue when only one party is coming to the table,” the Prime Minister said.
Wet’suwet’en hereditary leaders have said protests and blockades will continue until the RCMP and Coastal GasLink workers leave their traditional territory in Northern B.C.
Here’s a look at what else is happening:
- A second Wet’suwet’en hereditary subchief is denouncing the hereditary leaders at the heart of the dispute.
- Business groups say they anticipate increasing layoffs and shortages of consumer goods should the blockades continue.
- Despite the pipeline tensions, Indigenous leaders will still be meeting with B.C. officials this week as the provincial government looks to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
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Teck Resources is pulling its application for the proposed Frontier oil sands mine
The decision to nix the project comes the same week as a planned federal cabinet decision on Frontier and days after Teck reported disappointing financial results.
Teck’s CEO cited the need for Canada to finalize a framework that “reconciles resource development and climate change” as the reason for its decision.
Even if it was approved by Ottawa, analysts had expressed skepticism about the economic viability of the Teck project amid concerns about oil prices and pipeline capacity.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, who had made Frontier’s approval a key demand of the Trudeau government, called Teck’s decision a “grave disappointment.”
Sex-abuse allegations against L’Arche founder Jean Vanier have sparked a reckoning over his legacy
Revelations that Vanier sexually abused at least six women over the course of 35 years are leading to widespread discussions in Canada about the legacy of the man who founded a global network of communities for intellectually disabled people.
There are at least 13 elementary and high schools named for Vanier in Canada, and at least one already started to field questions about a name change.
Vanier died at the age of 90 last May; the L’Arche report reached its conclusions based on testimony from women, new Vatican files and Vanier’s previously unseen correspondence. None of the abused women were intellectually disabled.
L’Arche international director Stephan Posner said he expects “we will hear about other stories” once the findings are fully released.
The organization has been designing E-Z Read pictograms and other methods to help share the news with its intellectually disabled residents in Canada’s 29 L’Arche communities.
As Northern Italy shuts down, concerns mount about the spread of the coronavirus
More than 50,000 people in a dozen Italian towns are on lockdown after the country’s infection count reached 155, including four deaths since Friday. Those were the first non-tourist deaths in Europe; Italy also has 26 people with the virus in intensive care.
In Iran, the death toll from the virus has now reached 50 people. South Korea reported hundreds more cases over the weekend as some workers at giants like Hyundai and Samsung opt to self-quarantine.
Canada has recorded 10 cases of the virus.
What if it can’t be contained? One mathematical model suggests that two-thirds of virus cases that have been exported from China have yet to be detected. André Picard says key questions include whether any of the existing hot spots develop into independent, self-sustaining outbreaks. “What becomes really important now is surveillance – identifying cases promptly – then aggressive case-based follow-up,” he writes.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
What’s next after Sanders’s big win: The Vermont senator has cemented his front-runner status in the Democratic presidential primary race with a double-digit win over his closest competitor, Joe Biden, in the Nevada caucuses. He’ll be looking to build on that success this weekend in South Carolina and on Super Tuesday March 3.
Push for probe into Rwandan singer’s death: International pressure is building for an investigation into the death of Kizito Mihigo while in police custody. Opposition groups have accused the police of torturing and killing Mihigo, a hugely popular musician and peace activist.
MORNING MARKETS
Global stocks sink as coronavirus spreads, investors head for safety: Global share markets and oil fell on Monday, safe-haven gold surged and U.S. Treasury yields reached their lowest since mid-2016, as coronavirus cases spread outside China, darkening the outlook for world growth. Just after 6 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 3.47 per cent. Germany’s DAX dropped 3.71 per cent. France’s CAC 40 lost 3.77 per cent. In Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended down 1.79 per cent while the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.28 per cent. New York futures were sharply lower. The Canadian dollar was trading at 75.18 US cents.
Looking for investing ideas? Check out The Globe’s weekly digest of the latest insights and analysis from the pros, stock tips, portfolio strategies and what investors need to know for the week ahead. This week’s edition includes surging dividend stocks, RRSP strategies and conservative portfolio gains.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
My parents were against vaccines. Getting immunized as an adult shouldn’t have been so hard
Alice Fleerackers: “I thought that, by making the decision to become vaccinated, I had overcome the hardest part of the journey. I had expected the medical system to welcome me with open arms, ready to answer all of my questions. But instead, I was bounced from medical practitioner to medical practitioner, each of whom seemed less sure of what I should do than the last.” Fleerackers is a freelance writer and a doctoral student at Simon Fraser University.
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
(David Parkins/The Globe and Mail)
LIVING BETTER
Fitness has become a luxury item. It doesn’t have to be
Personal trainer Paul Landini writes that “society is being duped into believing you need a Fitbit, compression shorts and a $200 pair of lifting shoes to get in shape, when a notebook, sweatpants and Chuck Taylors will do just fine.”
For more fitness tips, nutrition advice and wellness news, sign up for The Globe’s new weekly Health & Wellness newsletter, launching next Monday.
MOMENT IN TIME
For more than 100 years, photographers have preserved an extraordinary collection of 20th-century news photography for The Globe and Mail. Every Monday, The Globe features one of these images. This month, we’re looking at love.
Love your pet, 1961
(Erik Christensen/The Globe and Mail)
Anyone who has ever had a pet knows the lasting bond between a human and an animal. It is a love that is unconditional, requited and, upon the death of a pet, truly heartbreaking. Animals have been domesticated and loved for thousands of years; in ancient Egypt, pharaohs were frequently buried with their beloved four-legged friends. Pets can show their love through myriad ways, including occasionally sloppy kisses, snuggles, grunts, purrs, barks, meows or, if jealous, even a cautious growl. In the 1961 photo above, Globe and Mail photographer Erik Christensen shows owner Marjorie Buckner holding her seal point Siamese at a cat show, while another patron, Linda McLaughlin, demonstrates her affection for the oblivious feline. The cat’s aloofness is not entirely surprising. As many pet owners say, "Dogs have masters; cats have servants.” – Philip King
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Arik Ligeti