THURSDAY,AUGUST1,2019 | THEGLOBEANDMAILO A
Thunder Bay Police Service an-
nounced Wednesday the names
of legal experts, outside investi-
gators and First Nations leaders
who will review flawed investiga-
tions into the deaths of nine In-
digenous people.
The 16 appointments are part
of a response to a 2018 report,
conducted by the Office of the In-
dependent Police Review Direc-
tor (OIPRD), a civilian oversight
agency, released amid allegations
of racism in the TNPS. The report
described nine sudden-death in-
vestigations conducted by police
in Thunder Bay as “problematic,”
saying they needed to be looked
at again.
In June, the TBPS said a three-
tiered team made up of local First
Nations leaders and outside in-
vestigators would be appointed
to review the deaths and the in-
vestigations that followed.
Now that the reviewers have
been named, the teams can get to
work in the coming weeks, says
Chris Adams, communications
director for the TBPS.
Among the team overseeing
the entire process are Thunder
Bay Police Chief Sylvie Hauth
and Nishnawbe Aski Nation
Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler.They’re joined by Justice Stephen
Goudge, Dirk Huyer, chief coro-
ner of Ontario, and Michael Pol-
lanen, chief forensic pathologist
and deputy chief coroner of On-
tario.
The second team, called the
investigative resource commit-tee, will review the response to
the deaths and decide if addi-
tional resources need to be called
upon, Mr. Adams said. It is made
up of legal professionals includ-
ing Kimberly Murray, former ex-
ecutive director of the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission.Lastly, an investigative team
will look directly into the deaths.
It’s made up of a retired Ontario
Provincial Police detective super-
intendent, a Nishnawbe Aski Po-
lice Service detective constable
and five Thunder Bay police offi-
cers who were not involved in
the initial death investigations.
The nine deaths to be re-
viewed are those of: Christine
Gliddy, Shania Bob, Marie
Spence, Aaron Loon, Sarah Moo-
nias, Jethro Anderson, Curran
Strang, Kyle Morrisseau and Jor-
dan Wabasse.
Celina Reitberger, chair of the
Thunder Bay Police Services
Board, the group that oversees
the municipal police, said she
thinks the members of the re-
view team were chosen well and
respond to the needs of the com-
munity.
“I’m anxious for them to get
going so people who care about
these things can get some an-
swers,” she said, adding she’s op-
timistic their work will help the
communities heal.
The OIPRD’s report, titled Bro-
ken Trust, Indigenous Peoples
and the Thunder Bay Police Ser-
vice, was released one month af-
ter another scathing report by
Senator Murray Sinclair found a
deep disconnect between the In-
digenous community in Thunder
Bay and its police force.Teamof16toreviewThunderBaydeaths
City’spoliceservicesays
appointeeswillassess
ninesudden-death
probespreviously
deemed‘problematic’
MATTHEWLAPIERRE
CelinaReitberger,chairoftheThunderBayPoliceServicesBoard,holdsatalkingfeatherataneventheldto
formallyapologizeafterareportfoundsystemicracismwithinThunderBaypolice.Ms.Reitbergersaysshe’s
optimisticthatthereviewteam’sworkwillhelppeopleheal.DAVIDJACKSON/THEGLOBEANDMAILCommodore Josée Kurtz, a 31-
year veteran of the Royal Cana-
dian Navy, says she hopes her his-
toricappointmenttoleadaNATO
fleet inspires more young people
to join the armed forces.
Since mid-June, Cmdre. Kurtz
has been in charge of Standing
NATO Maritime Group Two, one
of the alliance’s four naval
groups. The 51-year-old Navy offi-
cer from Joliette, Que., became
thefirstwomantobegivensucha
command in the history of the
North Atlantic Treaty Allicance.
“I do think it sends a really
strong signal to the newer gener-
ation of young people who want
to do a military career, and I say
that whether they are women or
men, or any minority group,”
Cmdre. Kurtz said, in a telephone
interview Wednesday from
aboard HMCS Halifax off Rota,
Spain.
Cmdre. Kurtz said her appoint-
ment reflects the spirit of diversi-
ty in the alliance.
“This appointment speaks to
the value of diversity at the sailor
end – at the people level,” she
said. “I think it’s a tremendous
opportunity and I hope that it
sends a positive signal.”
Cmdre. Kurtz said her family
hadnoconnectiontothemilitary
before she signed up to the navy
in 1988. She said she wasn’t even
sure what branch of the military
interested her, but joined the na-
vy at a time when it was just
“opening its doors to women at
sea.”THECANADIANPRESSCanadian
becomesfirst
womantolead
standingNATO
navalgroup
KEITHDOUCETTEHALIFAXThe Canada Research Chairs program is
committing to new measures to close the
long-running equity gaps among the pres-
tigious academic positions, including for
the first time a focus on professors who are
LGBTQ.
The CRC program awards funding for
more than 2,000 top researchers at a time.
A2006legalsettlementbetweenthefeder-
al government and eight female research-
ers required the program to set targets for
how many of the award recipients were fe-
male,Indigenous,visibleminoritiesorhad
a disability.
Intheyearssince,universitieshaverare-
ly met or exceeded the equity targets that
sought to make sure that the diversity of
those who received the awards reflected
the diversity of those who were eligible to
receive them.
On Wednesday, the three main federal
granting councils, the Canadian Associ-
ation of University Teachers and the Cana-
dian Human Rights Commission an-
nounced an addendum to the 2006 settle-
ment that would set more ambitious tar-
gets for representation in the program.
The three granting councils are the So-
cial Sciences and Humanities Research
CounciltheNaturalSciencesandEngineer-
ingResearchCouncil,andtheCanadianIn-
stitutes of Health Research.
Malinda Smith, a political science pro-
fessorattheUniversityofAlbertawhoison
the program’s equity advisory committee,
said she’s cautiously optimistic that the
newsettlementwillincreasetheurgencyin
the research community to promote more
diverse scholars.
“If it ensures more credible commit-
ment, more credible outcomes, that’s a
good thing,” Dr. Smith said.
A Canada Research Chair comes in two
tiers: Tier 1 chairs are given $200,000 an-
nually for seven years, while Tier 2 chairs
are given $100,000 annually for five years.
A chair can be renominated for a second
term.Universitiesaregivenanumberofre-
search chairs to fill based on a calculation
that includes how much other federal
funding the institutions receive.
Thenewtargetsaretobebasedonthose
groups’ representation in the general Can-
adian population, as opposed to their
numbers in the hiring pool of academics.
Thatmeansthatin10years,50.9percentof
research chairs are to be given to women;
22percenttovisibleminorities;7.5percent
topeoplewithdisabilities;and4.9percent
to Indigenous scholars.
The federal program also committed for
the first time to monitoring the level of
LGBTQ representation among both those
eligible to get the awards and those who
successfully receive them. The program
said it would encourage universities to im-plement initiatives to boost the number of
LGBTQ academics, but it is not yet setting
targets for that group.
The current representation among Can-
ada Research Chairs, according to May,
2019, data, is that 33.5 per cent were wom-
en; 15.9 per cent are visible minorities; 1.
per cent were people with disabilities; and
2.1 per cent were Indigenous people.
Those equity numbers are actually his-
toric highs for the program. Universities
began nominating more diverse recipients
for the program starting in 2016, after a
push by some academics to see more re-
sultsafteradecadeofslowprogressandaf-
teraseriesofstoriesinTheGlobeandMail.
Federal Science Minister Kirsty Duncan
told university leaders in May, 2017, that
theprogramcouldstartwithholdingfunds
in the future if they did not improve their
equity numbers. Other reforms of the pro-
gram followed, including new term limits
and a requirement that universities pub-
lish equity action plans.
AmirAttaran,alawprofessorattheUni-
versityofOttawawhoheldaresearchchair
for 10 years, said he is concerned that the
language in the settlement does not bind
the program to withhold funds from uni-
versities who don’t meet their equity tar-
gets, as it says only that they “may” do so.
“Since 2006, meeting targets has been
optional and thegovernment has failed.
And in 2019 they remain optional. This is a
blueprintforfailure,”hesaid.Dr.Attaranis
currently pursuing a separate complaint
before the Canadian Human Rights Tribu-
nal about the equity gaps in the program.
The eight women who drove the settle-
ment efforts were: Marjorie Griffin Cohen,
Louise Forsyth, Glenis Joyce, Audrey
Kobayashi, Shree Mulay, Susan Prentice
and the late Wendy Robbins and Michèle
Ollivier.CanadaResearchChairstoincreaseequitytargets
CHRISHANNAYOTTAWA
MalindaSmith,memberofCanadaResearch
Chairs’equityadvisorycommittee.Top executives of three Calgary-based oil
sands companies published an “open let-
ter” Thursday that urges Canadians to sup-
port the much-criticized sector when they
go to the polls in the national election due
this October, an ad blitz that is part of a
wideroilindustrycampaigntoelectasym-
patheticgovernment.
Presidents at Cenovus Energy Inc., MEG
Energy Corp. and Canadian Natural Re-
sources Ltd. took out ads in 30 newspapers
across the country on Thursday, touting
their industry’s record and encouraging
Canadians to push all political leaders to
“help our country thrive by supporting an
innovative energy industry.” The letter did
not explicitly support any of the federal
parties.
In an interview, Cenovus president and
chiefexecutiveofficerAlexPourbaixinsist-
edtheletterwasnon-partisaninnature,al-
though the Conservative Party has been
the most supportive of industry positions
inthepast.Mr.Pourbaixsaidtheoilandgas
industry has failed to effectively defend its
recordinthenationaldebateandtheexec-
utives want voters to understand its issues
when they assess their choices in the Octo-
ber election.
“We’re encouraging Canadians to take
thetimetolookattheparties’platformsas
they relate to the industry and be
thoughtful about what they do and how
they vote,” Mr. Pourbaix said. “But it really
was a focus [of the open letter] that we
think we have not done a good enough job
of communicating to Canadians all
elements of our business.”
The Canadian Association of Petroleum
Producers (CAPP) pursued a similar cam-
paign in last spring’s Alberta election with
amessageitclaimedtobenon-partisanbut
was widely seen as favouring the United
Conservative Party and its Leader and now
Premier Jason Kenney. CAPP has vowed to
launch a similar initiative for the federal
election while, separately, some of its
board members from non-oil sands com-
panies were part of an April strategy ses-
sion that included Conservative Party
Leader Andrew Scheer and some top party
organizers.
Cenovuswaspartofanaggressiveindus-
try lobbying effort to overhaul the Liberal
government’s Bill C-69, which was pro-
claimed into law in June and provides
stronger protections for the environment
andFirstNations’interestswhenreviewing
major resource projects. Conservative sen-
ators pushed to adopt a series of amend-
ments proposed by CAPP and the Cana-
dian Energy Pipeline Association that
wouldhavetiltedthebalanceofthelegisla-
tiontowardsquicker,morefavourableout-
comes.
After the C-69 vote, CAPP chairman and
Birchcliff Energy Ltd. chief executive Jef-
frey Tonken accusedthe Liberalgovern-
mentof“positioningitselftolettheenergy
industry die so they can get votes to get re-
elected.”
The Liberals have a mixed record when
it comes to the oil sector’s priorities – ap-
proving pipelines and even spending $4.5-
billion to purchase the Trans Mountain
pipeline and keep the expansion project
alive, while imposing regulatory burdens
that the industry consider onerous. The oil
sands companies have generally endorsedcarbon pricing – which is favoured by the
LiberalsandopposedbytheConservatives.
The New Democratic Party and Green
PartyofCanadatakethehardestlineonthe
oil and gas industry, each with a platform
that would dramatically increase efforts to
cut emissions, oppose oil export pipelines
and end all subsidies and incentives for in-
dustry.
In an interview, Green Party Leader Eli-
zabeth May denounced the political advo-
cacy of the executives and of CAPP more
broadly, saying they are misleading Cana-
dians about the need for urgent action
amid the growing climate emergency.
“For them to promote a campaign of
self-interest and deception on this scale in
an election year is beyond despicable,” she
said.
The executives’ open letter sought to
counter the argument that growth in the
oil sands is inconsistent with the progress
of climate change. Mr. Pourbaix said Ceno-
vus has reduced the greenhouse gas emis-
sionsassociatedwitheachbarrelofcrudeit
produces by one-third over the past 15
years,whiletheindustryasawholehascut
its per-barrel emissions by 30 per cent. It is
developing technology that will not only
help Canada reduce emissions, but will be
availabletotheindustryaroundtheworld,
it said.
However, the sector remains the fastest-
growing source of carbon emissions in
Canada, as rapidly expanding production
more than offset the per-barrel improve-
ments. Canada has committed to reduce
GHG emissions by 30 per cent below 2005
levels by 2030. The latest Environment
Canada emissions report projects the oil
sands emissions will have tripled to 106
megatonnes by 2030 from 2005 levels.OilsandsCEOspenletterurgingvoterstosupportindustry
SHAWNMcCARTHY
GLOBALENERGYREPORTER
OTTAWA
THIRD CAMH PATIENT TO GO
MISSING IN A MONTH HAS
HISTORY OF SEX OFFENCESTORONTOA man who has
become at least the third de-
tained patient to disappear
from a Toronto mental-health
treatment centre in the past
month has a long history of
sexual offences against strang-
ers and is considered a risk to
the public, documents on his
case show.
Anthony Murdock, who
walked away from the Centre
for Addiction and Mental
Health on Tuesday, was found
not criminally responsible on a
sexual assault charge in 2002
and was also previously con-
victed counts of forcible con-
finement and sexual assault.
According to documents
from the Ontario Review Board- which conducts annual as-
sessments of those found not
criminally responsible – all of
the offences involved unknown
women and, in one case, at
least one young girl.
THE CANADIAN PRESS
NEWS |