Canadian soldiers help a comrade, center, get on a helicopter after he was injured in an IED blast during a patrol outside Salavat, in the Panjwayi district, southwest of Kandahar, Afghanistan, Monday, June 7, 2010. The Canadian military says 18 service members died by suicide last year. The findings are contained in a report published today by the surgeon general of the Canadian Armed Forces. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Anja Niedringhaus
Highlights from the news file for Wednesday, Nov. 23
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MILITARY REPORTS 18 SUICIDES IN 2015: The federal government will spare no expense in caring for Canada's military personnel, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan said Wednesday after a new report revealed 18 service members took their own lives in 2015. The report, compiled and published by the top medical officer in the Canadian Forces, also concluded that many of the 18 military personnel had sought some type of mental-health treatment shortly before their deaths. Brig.-Gen. H.C. MacKay's report also found growing indications that army members are more likely to take their lives than those in the navy or air force, as are soldiers who served on missions overseas, such as in Afghanistan.
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BUSINESS COUNCIL OF __canada PRESIDENT SAYS TRUMP POSES ECONOMIC THREAT: A former Liberal cabinet minister and leader of a major Canadian business group says Donald Trump's impending presidency poses an economic threat to __canada that's on par with the 9/11 attacks on the United States. John Manley, the president of the Business Council of Canada, says the Liberal government needs to respond to Trump's anti-trade rhetoric in order to keep goods and people flowing across the busiest border in the world. Manley, a Liberal cabinet minister during 9/11, says the TPP is now dead and can't be resurrected, but he says he has urged the government to move quickly to preserve Canada's trading relationship with the U.S. under NAFTA.
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FEDS TO INTRODUCE DEMOCRATIC REFORM BILL: The Trudeau government is poised to introduce a bill Thursday that will deliver on some key Liberal promises to reform Canada's election laws, even as suspicion lingers that they may renege on the biggest: replacing the country's first-past-the-post voting system. The bill is expected to restore the right to vote to expatriates who've lived outside the country for more than five years. Liberal MP Mark Holland, parliamentary secretary to Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef, said Wednesday that the bill "is going to deal with ensuring that as many Canadians as possible have the right to vote, looking at some of the ways in which Canadians have been disenfranchised." That suggests the bill will also restore the use of voter information cards as valid pieces of identification at the polls, as promised by Trudeau during last year's election.
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AUTHOR STEVEN GALLOWAY APOLOGIZES FOR CONDUCT: Author Steven Galloway has issued his first statement since he was suspended a year ago by the University of British Columbia over what it has only described as "serious allegations." He was fired as creative writing chairman in June under a veil of secrecy. He said in the statement issued Wednesday by his lawyers that the "harm flowing from UBC's conduct" has reached such a level that he asked his counsel to provide clarity. Galloway confirms that he was accused of sexual assault but says the only complaint substantiated by a former judge's investigation was that he had an affair with a student. "Mr. Galloway profoundly regrets his conduct and wishes to apologize for the harm that it has caused. He does not seek to minimize it or to hide from it," the statement says.
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CROWN OPENS CASE IN TRIAL OF 3 CONNECTED TO POLYGAMOUS SECT: A Crown lawyer at a trial involving three people with connections to a polygamous sect in southeastern B.C. says he'll describe what is expected of girls and women in the isolated religious community. In his opening statement, special prosecutor Peter Wilson told a court in Cranbrook, B.C., that the group's beliefs about sex and plural marriage would prove intent to transport girls across the United States border for sexual purposes. Brandon Blackmore, Gail Blackmore and James Oler are each accused of unlawfully removing a child from Canada over allegations that date back to 2004. Wilson is set to call up to eight witnesses.
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RALLY CALLS FOR END TO WEIGHT DISCRIMINATION: Some two-dozen people rallied outside the Manitoba legislature to call for human rights protection for overweight people. The rally was in support of an effort to amend the province's human rights code to ban discrimination based on physical size and weight. Lindsey Mazur, a dietitian, says some overweight people are being denied health care, job promotions and other items because of their size. Liberal legislature member Jon Gerrard is putting forward an opposition private member's bill to add weight discrimination to the human rights code.
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CBC SHOULD REFOCUS ITS MANDATE, BERNIER SAYS: Conservative leadership hopeful Maxime Bernier wants the CBC to refocus its mandate with fewer cooking shows, sporting events and Canadian knockoffs of popular U.S. programs. The Quebec MP says the Crown corporation should stick to its mandate by upgrading public affairs programming, and not just from Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa. Bernier also suggests modifying the Broadcasting Act to get the CBC out of running advertising, moving towards the U.S. funding models of PBS or NPR, which are partly financed by public donations and foundations. A Bernier-run Conservative government would cancel the $150 million annual boost to CBC funding introduced by the governing Liberals, bringing public financing for the network to about $1 billion.
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WOMAN TOLD TO REMOVE HIJAB IN COURT APPEALS RULING: A Montreal woman who was told to remove her hijab by a judge is appealing a ruling that declined to clarify whether Quebecers have a right to wear religious attire in court, her lawyer said Wednesday. Rania El-Alloul had sought a legal clarification from Quebec Superior Court after she was denied an appearance in a lower court because she was wearing a hijab. Superior Court Justice Wilbrod Decarie ruled last month that the Quebec court judge's decision went against the principles of Canadian law protecting freedom of religion. But he could not guarantee she would be allowed to wear her hijab during future court appearances. One of El-Alloul's lawyers said this case-by-case approach creates insecurity for his client and anyone else who may need to access the justice system while wearing religious attire.
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BRIGHT SPOT IN TOUGH WEEK FOR VANCOUVER AQUARIUM: The Vancouver Aquarium says despite recent challenges, as staff cope with the death of one beluga whale and the critical illness of another, some new residents of the aquarium are helping to raise spirits. In a tweet, aquarium officials say names have been selected for the two rescued Alaskan sea otter pups that arrived at the facility on Nov. 1. The male pup, found stranded in Kachemak Bay, Alaska, has been named Mak, after his rescue site. The female pup, found by the U.S. Coast Guard on a beach southwest of Anchorage has been named Kunik, which is the Inuktitut word for a traditional Inuit greeting, or "kiss."
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