Evening Update: Mary Simon installed as 30th Governor-General

Good evening, let’s start with today’s top stories:

Mary Simon was installed as Governor-General on Monday, becoming the first Indigenous person to serve as the Queen’s representative in Canada at the federal level.

In a speech that included Inuktitut, English and French, Ms. Simon said she was honoured to assume the position. The official installation in the Senate included a limited number of participants because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I have heard from Canadians who describe a renewed sense of possibility for our country and hope that I can bring people together,” Ms. Simon said. “I have heard from Canadians who have challenged me to bring a new and renewed purpose to the office of the governor-general to help Canadians deal with the issues we are facing.”

Ms. Simon said the discoveries of unmarked graves on the grounds of former residential schools has horrified her, along with all Canadians. She said her view is that reconciliation is a “way of life” and requires work every day. “Reconciliation is getting to know one another,” she said.

More:

• Photos of Mary Simon installed as Canada’s 30th Governor-General
• ‘A very gentle soul’: Inuit react to Canada’s first Inuk Governor General
• John Ibbitson: Mary Simon may be the Governor-General that makes a difference for Canada

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Canada looks for more success in the swimming pool at Tokyo Games

Kylie Masse of LaSalle, Ont., will swim for gold Tuesday morning in Tokyo (9:51 p.m. ET Monday). A medal for Masse would continue a strong showing by Canada’s women in the pool. Maggie Mac Neil won her second medal of the games – Canada’s first gold medal – in the 100-metre butterfly Monday morning in Tokyo, and 14-year-old Summer McIntosh came fourth in the 400m freestyle. That followed a silver over the weekend in the 4x100 freestyle relay.

Events to watch tonight include: the women’s Triathlon Final with Canadians Joanna Brown and Amélie Kretz (5:30 p.m. ET, CBC/TSN); Men’s Rugby, Canada vs. Japan (8 p.m. ET, CBC); Canadians Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson take on Argentina’s Ana Gallay and Fernanda Pereyra in women’s Beach Volleyball (10 p.m. ET, CBC); Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard and Antoine Valois-Fortier will take to the mat for the Round of 32 in Judo, 63kg and 81kg, respectively. (10 p.m. ET and 10:19 pm ET, CBC/TSN); Women’s Softball, Canada vs. Mexico: Bronze Medal Game (12 a.m. ET, CBC/TSN).

Also:

• Today’s daily Globe and Mail Olympic guide
• With Olympics under way, China is on guard for potential insults

The Delta COVID-19 variant upends assumptions about the coronavirus

Virologists and epidemiologists say the Delta variant is changing assumptions about the disease even as countries let up on restrictions and open their economies.

Evidence is mounting that the Delta variant, first identified in India, is capable of infecting fully vaccinated people at a greater rate than previous versions, and concerns have been raised that they may even spread the virus, these experts said.

As a result, targeted use of masks, social distancing and other measures may again be needed even in countries with broad vaccination campaigns, several of them said.

Read more:

• SARS-CoV-2: From secret life to global pandemic
• André Picard: The time for debating COVID-19 vaccine passports is over
• Quebec offers third COVID-19 vaccine dose to AstraZeneca recipients who want to travel
• The Decibel: A restaurateur and a researcher say a vaccine certificate can be secure, fair and be helpful to public health.

ALSO ON OUR RADAR

Beijing urges U.S. to drop extradition case against Meng Wanzhou: At a meeting with deputy secretary of state Wendy Sherman on Monday, Chinese officials called on the U.S. to abandon its attempt to extradite Ms. Meng from Canada, where she has been held since 2018. Shortly after her arrest, two Canadians – Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor – were both detained in China.

Inter Pipeline ends merger attempt with Pembina Pipeline: The move could lead to a possible deal with rival bidder Brookfield Infrastructure Partners. The battle for Inter Pipeline has been heated from the very beginning, with Brookfield and Pembina taking each other to court, and filing arguments against each other with the Alberta Securities Commission.

More than 160 dead in India from torrential rains, dozens trapped in landslides: Rescue teams were digging through thick sludge and debris on Monday to find people trapped in landslides caused by torrential monsoon rains. The western states of Maharashtra and Goa, as well as Karnataka and Telangana in the south are the most affected by heavy rains that have flooded croplands over thousands of hectares and forced authorities to move more than 230,000 people to safer places.

BioNTech aims to develop mRNA-based malaria vaccine: The German-based company, which developed the first widely approved coronavirus shot together with U.S. partner Pfizer, aims to begin clinical trials for a “safe and highly effective malaria vaccine” by the end of next year. BioNTech said it is also seeking to establish an mRNA vaccine production facility in Africa, which is among the regions that have struggled to get sufficient supply of COVID-19 vaccine doses.

MARKET WATCH

North American stock markets were relatively quiet Monday in advance of a flood of earnings reports from major U.S. and Canadian companies expected later this week.

The S&P/TSX composite index was down 23.47 points at 20,164.96.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 83.16 points at 35,144.71. The S&P 500 index was up 10.44 points at 4,422.23, while the Nasdaq composite was up 3.72 points at 14,840.71.

The Canadian dollar traded for 79.69 cents US compared with 79.52 cents US on Friday.

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TALKING POINTS

If Ontario really is in a war against COVID-19, our former military officers let us down

“As it turned out, the former military officers were not so ‘awesome’ at their part of the job, and their mistakes became costly in terms of credibility for the Ford government, public confidence in their social services and, most importantly, time, which resulted in unnecessary deaths.” - Ken Hansen

A passive approach won’t solve the issues with urban coyotes

“Beyond identifying and securing food attractants, an important pro-active tool for co-existence with coyotes is hazing. Similar to aversive conditioning, a process for teaching animals to mistrust and fear people in order to lessen opportunities for close contact and conflict, hazing has been extensively and successfully used for grizzly bears and elk in the mountain parks of Alberta for the past two decades.” - Colleen Cassady St. Clair

LIVING BETTER

Trying to control your waistline? Add whole grains to your diet

Researchers at Tufts University in Boston say eating whole grain foods on a daily basis can help you manage your waist size, blood sugar (glucose) and blood pressure as you age.

The even-better news from the study suggests it doesn’t take a lot: Three whole grain servings each day.

Repeated studies have linked higher whole grain intakes to protection against heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and obesity. The latest findings, published earlier this month in the Journal of Nutrition, suggest that whole grains guard against chronic disease by reducing increases in risk factors that occur over time.

TODAY’S LONG READ

Extreme weather renews focus on climate change as scientists update forecasts

Open this photo in gallery:

Scientists about to gather online to share updates on global climate research say recent extreme weather events across the globe highlight the need for more research to understand how climate change will play out, especially locally.

Over the next two weeks, top scientists with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will finalize the first instalment of its sixth Assessment Report, which will update the established science around greenhouse gas emissions and projections for future warming and its impacts.

The list of extreme weather in just the last few weeks has been stunning: Unprecedented rains followed by deadly flooding in central China and Europe. Temperatures of 49 C in British Columbia, along with devastating wildfire, and tropical heat in Finland and Ireland.

“Global warming was well projected, but now you see it with your own eyes,” said Corinne Le Quere, a climate scientist at the University of East Anglia. Scientists had long predicted such extremes were likely. But many are surprised by so many happening so fast – with the global atmosphere 1.2 degrees Celsius warmer than the preindustrial average.

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