Canada

IN JUNE 2021, an Atikamekw artist named Catherine Boivin posted a video on TikTok. It begins with a clip of a woman who goes by Isabelle Kun-Nipiu Falardeau describing “une femme Métis de l’Est,” or an Eastern Metis woman. In French, Falardeau explains that such women are “wild . . . you let them loose in a forest and they won’t have a problem,” that they have “hunter husbands” and don’t wear makeup. Falardeau was speaking generally, but she also calls herself la Métisse des Bois—the Metis woman of the woods. The video then cuts to Boivin, a mascara wand hovering near her eyelashes. “Do we tell her or not?” she says to the viewer in French.

Boivin’s question captures the growing frustration among many Indigenous people who have seen their identities not only co-opted for profit but reduced to cheesy stereotypes. Expert estimations place the number of people who have fabricated Indigenous identities at tens of thousands to possibly over a hundred thousand. Some of these so-called pretendians have made the headlines—singer Buffy Sainte-Marie, author Joseph Boyden, filmmaker Michelle Latimer—but the vast majority are not notable enough to warrant a media exposé detailing their deceptions.

In early May, Boivin found herself in a Quebec courtroom with Falardeau, who is suing her for defamation over a number of social media posts—what Falardeau has called a “smear campaign”—that, in turn, allegedly spurred an onslaught of cyberbullying. (Falardeau responded to fact-checking questions but declined to provide evidence or details regarding her ancestry.)

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• The European Union and Canada are expected to sign a security and defense partnership on Monday, which will pave the way for Canada and EU members to join together on military purchases.
• Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is seeking to strengthen Canada's global and economic position by forging stronger trade and security ties with non-US allies, following President Donald Trump's trade war and threats to Canada's sovereignty.
• The EU and Canada will launch negotiations for a digital trade agreement and discuss areas for coordination, including tweaks to their existing trade deal, and Canada's potential participation in the EU's joint military procurement loan fund, SAFE.
• Other non-EU nations, including the United Kingdom, have already struck their own strategic agreements. Australia signalled last week it has started negotiations on a deal with Europe.

The federal government is doing management’s bidding by undermining CUPW and forcing a vote on a substandard offer.

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Canada’s cybersecurity agency said Chinese-backed hackers were likely behind recent malicious activity targeting domestic telecommunications infrastructure, warning that three network devices registered to a Canadian company were compromised in the attacks.

The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation urged Canadian organizations to take steps to harden their networks against the threat posed by Salt Typhoon, a group linked to the Chinese government, in a bulletin issued late on Friday.

“The Cyber Centre is aware of malicious cyber activities currently targeting Canadian telecommunications companies,” the center said. “The responsible actors are almost certainly PRC state-sponsored actors, specifically Salt Typhoon,” it said, referring to the People’s Republic of China.

Separate investigations that revealed overlaps with malicious indicators consistent with Salt Typhoon suggest the cyber campaign “is broader than just the telecommunications sector,” it said.

The hackers will “almost certainly” continue efforts to infiltrate Canadian organizations — especially telecom providers — over the next two years, the agency said.

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The cost for diesel is up across Canada, and gas prices are also climbing, with an eye-popping 18 cents per litre hike in northern Ontario with a national average increase for the past week of 5.7 cents.

The ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel continues to cause market instability, which is affecting supply and demand for oil.

“For now, the trend will remain upward until there is either a halt in escalations or de-escalations,” said petroleum analyst Patrick De Haan. “I think the market may find some stability here as this has been ongoing for a week, so the market is no longer shocked by new developments.”

Iran’s nuclear programme is a grave threat to international security, and Canada has been consistently clear that Iran can never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon.

While U.S. military action taken last night was designed to alleviate that threat, the situation in the Middle East remains highly volatile. Stability in the region is a priority.

Canada calls on parties to return immediately to the negotiating table and reach a diplomatic solution to end this crisis. As G7 leaders agreed in Kananaskis, the resolution of the Iranian crisis should lead to a broader de-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East, including a ceasefire in Gaza.

(With apologies for the Twitter link, this post doesn't seem to have been copied over to Bluesky.)

PEN Canada joins 39 organizations and 132 individuals in a joint letter demanding a complete withdrawal of Bill C-2. The following letter was sent this week to Canadian authorities…