Good morning,
The Armenian government is in possession of pieces of a Turkish-made military drone that includes air strike-targeting gear manufactured in Canada, The Globe and Mail has independently confirmed.
This equipment is at the centre of allegations that Azerbaijan is using drones, in the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, that contain restricted Canadian military technology originally approved for export to Turkey but then diverted to Azerbaijan.
The Globe sent a photographer to an Armenian military compound Thursday to take photos of the pieces of the downed drone to obtain first-hand evidence of what exactly the Armenians have obtained.
Closeup of metal plate on side of airstrike targeting gear that includes the name of L3 Wescam, an older operating name for a Burlington, Ont. manufacturer of this gear which now operates as L3 Harris Wescam and the model number CMX-15D . Armenia says this gear was on a drone captured in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.Neil Hauer/The Globe and Mail
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 more Globe newsletters on our newsletter signup page.
Families of victims to RCMP shootings in Nunavut want second review of cases
The mayor of a small hamlet in Nunavut whose son was killed in a police shooting earlier this year is telling residents to film their interactions with the RCMP for protection.
Jerry Natanine’s son Abraham was about to welcome his fifth child and was studying to be a plumber. His girlfriend, Michelle Illauq, says the force used against him was unnecessary and his death could have been prevented. She also alleges she was treated improperly after the shooting.
- Last week: the government of Nunavut tabled legislation to allow investigations of serious police incidents to be contracted out to an independent agency, as is done in much of the rest of Canada.
- Previous reporting: The father of an Inuk man shot dead by an RCMP officer in Nunavut is challenging key aspects of the Mounties' version of events.
Abraham Natanine is pictured with his youngest daughter in an undated family photo. He was shot dead by police on May 5, in Clyde River, Nunavut.Courtesy of Michelle Illauq
Remembering ‘Halloween apples’
As you approach a house, you reach your old flowered pillowcase or plastic pumpkin bucket skyward and say – Wait, what do you say?
If you grew up in a certain time, in a certain place, you might call out, in a sing-songy cadence: “Hallo-ween ap-ples!” If you grew up in a different time, in a different place, you probably have no idea what this is about.
Jana G. Pruden writes an ode to “Halloween apples,” a bygone Prairie tradition.
People go trick or treating in the rain on Halloween in Ottawa, on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin TangJustin Tang/The Canadian Press
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
Macron says France ‘has been attacked’ after three killed at a church in Nice: The church’s caretaker and two women became the latest victims in what President Emmanuel Macron cast as a struggle between Islamic extremism and the secular ideals of the French state.
National crime relatively steady in 2019 compared with 2018, statistics show: According to Statistics Canada’s latest report on police statistics on crime, violent crime – as well as crime across the board – was up slightly in 2019 compared with 2018, but still lower than it was a decade earlier.
China cracks down on those who ‘illegally access international networks’ online: Using a 1996 law formulated at the dawn of the internet in China, authorities have escalated a campaign against censorship circumvention tools, arresting people for using popular services such as Astrill and Lantern to access YouTube, Twitter, Wikipedia and other websites.
MORNING MARKETS
World stocks slip: World stocks slipped further on Friday and safe havens got a boost as jitters over a rising global COVID-19 infection rate and next week’s U.S. presidential election weighed on sentiment. Just before 6 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE was down 0.16 per cent. Germany’s DAX fell 0.07 per cent while France’s CAC 40 edged up 0.32 per cent. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.52 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed down 1.95 per cent. New York futures were lower. The Canadian dollar was trading above 75 US cents.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
The Minister of Finance sets course resolutely for who knows where
Andrew Coyne: "But as to what Chrystia Freeland is actually for, on that we remain scarcely more enlightened after her debut speech as Finance Minister than we were before – other than to say that she is very much in favour of maintaining the fiscal course the government is now on. Whatever that may be.”
White, suburban women will likely determine Trump’s fate
Elizabeth Renzetti: “Those women, alienated by Mr. Trump’s bullying, lies, corruption and disastrous handling of the COVID-19 crisis, have been organizing across the country.”
In the winter of COVID, we need to get intentional about physical activity
Josh Fullan: “What’s missing from the guidelines is an urgent warning that the old complacency around physical activity will no longer do if we want to avoid a second, downstream public-health crisis.”
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
Brian Gable/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
All that excess screen time parents were told not to worry about at the start of COVID-19?
Jody McKenzie and Doug Grozelle watch their daughter Mackenzie Grozelle, 6, as she rides her bicycle near their home in Binbrook, Ont., on Tuesday, October 27, 2020.Tijana Martin/The Globe and Mail
Experts told parents this past spring not to fret about allowing their children more screen time than usual. We all had to do what we had to do to make it through those early months. But now, seven months in to the pandemic, experts are sounding the alarm bells.
It’s time to rethink our children’s dependence on technology, especially as we head in to the winter when it will be all too tempting to stay indoors in front of screens.
MOMENT IN TIME: Oct. 30, 1995
The Quebec referendum vote
Quebec Premier Jacques Parizeau gestures during his speech to Yes supporters after losing the referendum in Montreal Monday night, Oct. 30, 1995. Sunday marks the 10th anniversary of the Quebec sovereignty referendum vote that was held on Oct. 30, 1995.RYAN REMIORZ/The Canadian Press
For a heady 30 minutes after the ballot boxes had been opened, it looked like there would be a new country in North America. That was the night when the Canadian federation came closest to ending. For the second time, Quebeckers voted on whether to remain in Canada, capping five stormy political years that saw the failures of the Meech Lake and Charlottetown constitutional accords and the resurgence of separatist feelings. The second referendum campaign started tepidly for the independentist camp but midway through, Jacques Parizeau, the leader of the “Yes” side, yielded the spotlight to his more popular federal rival, Lucien Bouchard. The leader of the Bloc Québécois brought to the hustings the aura of someone who came back from a near-death experience with illness and a matchless ability to stir the crowds and lift their emotions. The night of the vote, the “Yes” side took an early lead but then faded and lost by the narrowest margin. Speaking to his supporters, Mr. Parizeau uttered his infamous remark blaming the result on “money and ethnic votes,” then announced his resignation the next day. Mr. Bouchard would succeed him but the momentum was gone and there would not be a third referendum. Tu Thanh Ha
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.
Sierra Bein