Canada will invest up to $1.7 billion over 12 years to attract and support more than 1,000 leading international and expatriate researchers, including Francophone researchers. Recruitment will target individuals who are advancing world-leading research in critical fields that will deliver direct economic, societal and health benefits for Canadians.

This initiative has four streams:

• The Canada Impact+ Research Chairs program offers $1 billion over 12 years to support institutions in attracting world-leading researchers. New chairs and their teams will advance transformational research projects that can be applied and/or commercialized by connecting with receptors in industry, government and society, while also developing the next generation of highly qualified personnel. Importantly, the program funds both researcher salaries and supporting infrastructure, ensuring comprehensive support for recruited researchers.
• $120 million over 12 years is being provided for institutions to attract international early career researchers (ECRs) through the Canada Impact+ Emerging Leaders program. This program will add more global talent to the Canadian research ecosystem, bringing in fresh ideas, diverse perspectives and significant potential.
• Another $400 million will be used to create the Canada Impact+ Research Infrastructure Fund over six years to establish a complementary stream of research infrastructure support to ensure the recruited research chairs and ECRs have the world-class facilities they need to achieve their research goals.
• The Canada Impact+ Research Training Awards will invest $133.6 million over three years to enable top international doctoral students and post-doctoral researchers to relocate to Canada.

...

Sara Seager, a Canadian astrophysicist and professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is among those leaving - she will join the University of Toronto in September, as reported by Reuters.

“There (are) many reasons why I’m returning to Canada, and one of them is the budget cuts and also the huge uncertainty in science funding in the U.S.,” Seager told Reuters.

Four of Canada’s leading universities told Reuters they are stepping up efforts to recruit top academic talent from abroad in response to Prime Minister Mark Carney's budget plan to attract over a thousand highly qualified international researchers over the next decade or so to make the country more competitive.

I knew at the time and had a lengthy discussion with the reporter who first reported this back when it happened that the 'facts' were strongly 'modified' to sensationalize the accident. They had the bus driver running the stop sign, and had the bus going in the wrong direction. The photos did not line up with the 'facts' in the story. The fact that no charges will be laid lends credence to my arguments.

I knew at the time this accident was first reported the news media had all the details wrong. They outright had the bus driver running a stop sign, which I seriously doubted, and they had the bus going the wrong direction. That no charges will be laid is very strong evidence they had their facts completely wrong when they tried to sensationalize it.

From the bill ^[1]^:

[…] It amends the Criminal Code to, among other things, […] (g) criminalize the distribution of visual representations of bestiality; […] ^[1.3]^

(3.‍1) Every person commits an offence who knowingly publishes, distributes, transmits, sells, makes available or advertises any visual representation that is or is likely to be mistaken for a photographic, film, video or other visual recording of a person committing bestiality. ^[1.1]^

(3.‍4) Every person who commits an offence under subsection (3.‍1)

(a) is guilty of an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than five years; or

(b) is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction. ^[1.2]^

For context, from the Criminal Code:

(7) In this section, bestiality means any contact, for a sexual purpose, with an animal. ^[3]^

The Department of Justice's rationale is that it is "online sextortion" ^[2]^, and that it is known to be used to manipulate children for sexual purposes ^[2]^.

The bill also expands limits on demonstrations by banning protests around community, cultural, and religious centres, regardless of the activities taking place inside. Critics warn that creating “bubble zones” around such places restricts freedom of speech and peaceful assembly, and could effectively criminalize lawful protest that is not hate-motivated—for example, when Palestine solidarity protesters (many of them Jewish) protested outside synagogues hosting non-religious events promoting the illegal sale of Palestinian land in the West Bank.

The federal government says these new restrictions aim to make Canada safer and better able to fight hate crimes. But, in a joint letter, 37 diverse civil society organisations stressed their opposition to the bill. The signatories demanded that Parliament withdraw the bill, saying it would worsen systemic inequities and undermine Canada's commitments to freedom of expression.

Some legal infrastructure defining criticisms of Israel as hate speech is already in place. In 2019, the federal government adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which broadens the definition of antisemitism to include some criticisms of Israel. According to the federal government's document on the subject, referring to "the existence of the state of Israel is a racist endeavor" is anti-semitism. The document's list of examples of hate-speech includes phrases such as "you can't be antiracist and Zionist" and that "Zionism is a racist & violent settler-colonial project." Independent Jewish Voices (IJV) criticized the definition, saying it was being used to "suppress and even criminalize pro-Palestine speech and activism."

Archived link

Canada signed a partnership to develop a multibillion dollar military satellite system with the country’s biggest satellite operator, Telesat Corp., and its biggest space technology manufacturer, MDA Space Ltd.

Both Ontario-based companies said Tuesday they would create a multi-frequency Arctic military satellite network for the Canadian Armed Forces. Procurement for the project will be led by a defense investment agency started by Prime Minister Mark Carney in October and led by former Royal Bank of Canada executive Doug Guzman.

The system is called Enhanced Satellite Communications Project – Polar. The exact amount of the investment was not disclosed.

The companies said the new capability would boost the country’s sovereignty over its vast Arctic, enhancing the air force and wider armed forces’ abilities. It bolsters Canada’s commitments to North American Aerospace Defense Command, Norad — the joint military command with the US — and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Telesat said.

...

"Flint And Feather" is a book of poems that I picked up when visiting the author's birthplace and childhood home on the Six Nations Reserve, near Hamilton, Ontario. The house, Chiefswood, still stands as a National Historical Site which gives excellent tours during the summer.

Johnson was born in 1861 to Mohawk Head Chief Onwanonsyshon (G.H.M. Johnson) of the Six Nations, and Emily S. Howells a British woman from an established family.

Her poems reflect this mixing of worlds. She was a prolific author, having published almost 300 poems from 1883 to 1913. She wrote about both her heritages, and about Canada, having travelled extensively across the country. Her writing is fierce about her indigenous roots, and evocative about the lands she visited. Though of course, her language is a product of the time, and her Christian upbringing features in some of her work.

Tekahionwake succumbed to breast cancer in 1913 at the age of 51, in Vancouver. Her public funeral was the largest in Vancouver history at the time. Her ashes were placed in Stanley Park, where a memorial still stands.

The poetry is now in the public domain, and available online: https://pressbooks.library.torontomu.ca/flintandfeather/

Her acrostic "Canada" still rings true.

"Canada" - Tekahionwake
Crown of her, young Vancouver; crest of her, old Quebec;
Atlantic and far Pacific sweeping her, keel to deck.
North of her, ice and arctics; southward a rival's stealth;
Aloft, her Empire's pennant; below, her nation's wealth.
Daughter of men and markets, bearing with her hold,
Appraised at highest value, cargoes of grain and gold.

Op-ed by Benoit-Antoine Bacon, the University of British Columbia’s 17th president and vice-chancellor.

Archived link

...

Across the country, collaborations ... are showing how universities can contribute to both economic resilience and social progress. But our innovation system remains fragmented. Partnerships between universities, industry, and government are often too ad hoc, funding cycles are short, and incentives are often misaligned. Thanks to support from provincial and federal governments, Canada’s research universities have built world-class capacity in discovery and innovation. The next step is to better align these strengths with national priorities. That means sustained public investment in research, stronger pathways to move discoveries into practice, and policies that foster long-term collaboration across sectors rather than short-term competition.

The next decade will test this country’s capacity to adapt. Whether we succeed will depend on how boldly governments and industry choose to partner with Canada’s universities, which generate the knowledge, talent, and innovation on which our prosperity and sovereignty depend.

...

[Op-ed by Maria Popova and Anastasia Leshchyshyn, both researchers at McGill University.]

When Canadians think about our neighbours, we generally think only of one: the United States. But we also have a neighbour to the North: Russia, whose proximity has only been enhanced by the effects of climate change on the Arctic.

And we need to shift our assumptions quickly. With the terms of Ukraine’s future now being determined, the kind of Russia that emerges from the Russo-Ukrainian war is the one Canada will meet in the Arctic.

...

However, despite our mental maps fooling us otherwise, the North does not end with us; the Russian neighbour just across the Arctic Circle is much closer than we tend to realize.

Last week’s speech by CSIS Director Daniel Rogers should jolt Canadians from their North American preoccupations and reorient our attention to Canada’s Arctic with warnings that Russia and China have “significant intelligence interests” in the region.

Word of Russian prowling in the Arctic is far from revelatory, and it has been suggested that Rogers’ address was a timely effort to shore up public support for the Carney government’s recent increases in defence spending. Yet “significant” was also the adjective selected by Rogers to describe Russia’s military presence in the Arctic, and the state itself was notably characterized as remaining “unpredictable and aggressive.”

...

In a speech delivered in Kyiv on Ukraine’s Independence Day in August 2025, Prime Minister Mark Carney offered an assessment of Russia’s imperial ambitions in Ukraine: “We see this war clearly, as a horrific act of aggression, a maniacal quest to recreate a history that itself was filled with injustice, and we know that peace will only come through strength.”

Canadians are perhaps not as clearsighted in comprehending their own country’s proximity to this same aggressor, and even less so in their ability to predict or imagine how exactly Russian aggression might manifest to undermine Canadian interests.

...

To call Russia our neighbour would be to recognize that the outcome of the Russo-Ukrainian war has direct implications for Canadian security, and that support for Ukraine is a direct investment in our own defence, rather than a donation to a distant cause.

To call Russia our neighbour would be to induce a shift in Canada’s broader political calculus, by illuminating the scope of our susceptibilities and expanding our understanding of what the defence of our interests entails.

...

If Ukraine is defeated, Canada risks dealing with an emboldened, expansionist neighbour — and not just the one to our south.

...

The plaque beside this landing pad starts to say; As mankind stands on the threshold of intergalactic travel, let us not forget our failures on Earth. That part of the story I found interesting. Click the link to read more.https://flippen.ca/st-paul-alberta-ufo-landing-pad/

L’ex-ministre de l’Environnement Steven Guilbeault juge sévèrement l’entente sur l’énergie récemment conclue entre son patron, Mark Carney, et la première ministre de l’Alberta, Danielle Smith.

Did the premier of Alberta attack the constitutional role of the courts in Canada’s democracy? Yes, she did, and in no uncertain terms.

“The will of Albertans is not expressed by a single judge appointed by Justin Trudeau and never faces any kind of recall campaign, never faces any kind of election,” stated Danielle Smith on Dec. 6.

She continued by saying, “The people have told us through our consultation, through our elections, the kinds of things they want us to do, and then we go and do them, and then the court can override it. And again, most of the judges are appointed by Ottawa and not by us. An unelected judge is not synonymous with democracy. Democracy is when elected officials who have to face the electorate every four years get to make decisions. That’s what democracy is.”

If you listened only to Smith, you’d think Canada is ruled by a shadowy cabal of “unelected judges” bent on bending “the people” to their progressive whims.

The family of a 15-year-old boy who was fatally shot by police on Montreal’s South Shore in September will hold a news conference this morning.

This comes as the investigation, conducted by the Bureau des enquêtes indépendante (BEI), continues into its third month.

Nooran Rezayi, a high school student, was shot and killed after police responded to a 911 call reporting a group of armed people in a Longueuil neighbourhood.

His family says he was unarmed and carrying only a backpack filled with school books. The BEI has since confirmed that no firearm was recovered from the teen.

Since its creation in 2016, the BEI has opened more than 450 investigations, including 52 involving fatal police shootings.

Only two cases have ever resulted in charges of any kind, and none of the fatal shooting files have led to criminal prosecution so far. The BEI has faced criticism for the near-zero charge rate resulting from its investigations.

Web archive link

Here is the official release by the Canadian government and the EU's official statement.

...

Canada's Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation Evan Solomon held two press conferences on the first day of the two-day meeting in Montreal — one on a new partnership with Germany and the other on a new agreement with the European Union.

The agreement with Germany is meant to increase collaboration on AI, quantum technology, digital sovereignty and infrastructure. Solomon also announced the signing of two agreements with the EU — one focusing on adoption and responsible development of AI and the other on co-operation on digital credentials.

The European Union has been a proponent of AI regulation, while the United States under the Trump administration has opposed regulation. In Montreal, Solomon faced questions from reporters about that dynamic.

"Canada and Europe have both very much been aligned on finding a place where we have the balance between privacy, safety, and AI safety, not just with AI, whether it's with deep fakes and other issues, but also making sure we don't constrain innovation," Solomon said.

...

At the press conference with [executive vice-president of the European Commission for technological sovereignty, security and democracy, Henna] Virkkunen, he said one of Canada's goals is to broaden trade relationships, including digital trade relationships with Europe. He noted Canada's digital partnership with the EU began in 2023.

...

When Solomon was first named artificial intelligence minister, he said Canada would not "over-index" on regulation and cited U.S. and Chinese disinterest in such efforts.

A month ago, at the Govern or Be Governed conference in Montreal, the European Union’s democracy commissioner said he wouldn't "lecture" Canada or any other country as the EU pushes ahead on regulating tech platforms and artificial intelligence. AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio told the same conference Canada should partner with allies like the European Union.

...

Archived

Chinese government circulated sexually explicit deepfakes of dissident Yao Zhang.

Yao Zhang says she doesn’t have any friends, yet every week, thousands of her 175,000 YouTube subscribers tune in to her channel to listen to her live takes on Chinese current affairs.

“China isn’t a democratic country. Everyone suffers in that regime,” Zhang told Radio-Canada during an interview held somewhere between Montreal and Quebec City.

Concerned for her safety, the 39-year-old guards any information that could give away her location.

And for good reason: the Quebec YouTuber, who refuses to be silenced, has been the target of an intimidation campaign by the Chinese government for over a year.

“I have to be very, very careful,” she said. “I stopped all communications with the Chinese community because I don’t know who I can trust.”

[...]

Trained in accounting at McGill University, Zhang did a 180 during the pandemic and began offering news commentary on YouTube, which she continues to do today. The Communist Party of China and president Xi Jinping are often the subjects of her criticisms.

“I’m with Taiwan, I’m with the Uyghurs, I’m with Hong Kong. I’m against the Chinese government,” said the pro-democracy activist.

It was in September 2024 that Zhang first noticed sexually explicit AI-generated images of herself circulating online.

“It wasn’t just one photo. There were many, many of them,” she remembered with disgust.

Shared by anonymous accounts, the images were published on social media under posts of official accounts belonging to the Canadian government and then prime minister Justin Trudeau.

[...]

For the YouTuber, there was no doubt the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was behind what she was seeing. And she was right.

In March, Global Affairs Canada (GAC) released a statement blaming the PRC for a new "spamouflage" campaign using sexually explicit AI-generated images to target individuals in Canada. Zhang says the government told her she is the first documented case of the campaign.

“This new campaign employs various tactics to intimidate, belittle and harass individuals based in Canada who are critical of the PRC,” reads the statement.

Notably, Zhang and members of her family have been doxed. Her date of birth, phone and passport numbers all appear on a doxing website that labels her as a “traitor.” The site, which is still accessible to this day, also uses degrading language to spread defamatory sexually explicit statements about her.

[...]

Though the YouTuber benefits from a certain degree of protection in Canada, she can’t say the same for her family in China.

In 2024, after a trip to Taiwan to support the island’s independence, Zhang said China's national police put pressure on her aunt and grandmother living there in an attempt to silence her.

The strategy is a well known one, detailed in a report published earlier this year by the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions.

“[The PRC] employs a wide range of tradecraft to carry out its activities, one of which is to use a person’s family and friends living in the PRC as leverage against them,” it reads.

[...]

Zhang says she’s received death threats against her and her family and is worried about retribution if she were to ever return to China.

“I’ll go to prison,” she said. “I’ll be like all those who have wanted to change China.”

[...]

Transnational repression is a “genuine scourge” in the country, concluded Marie-Josée Hogue, who presided over the public inquiry into foreign interference. The threat it poses “is real and growing,” adds the report.

The former Canadian ambassador to China, Guy Saint-Jacques, who occupied the function from 2012 to 2016, says budgets allocated to cracking down on dissent “increased substantially” after Xi came to power in 2012.

[...]

Notably, an Enquête investigation revealed that a Chinese dissident found dead in British Columbia in 2022, Hua Yong, was the target of an espionnage operation led by the Chinese secret police.

[...]

Zhang says she is at peace and hopes that more Chinese people in Canada and elsewhere in the world will speak out.

“I am using my life for something very important,” she says.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/46972708

[...]

A man who spent a decade and a half working as a Chinese spy has shared details of some of his missions with Radio-Canada, including what he knows about a Chinese dissident who died in B.C., Canada, in 2022.

"From 2008 to 2023, my real job was to work for China's secret police. It's a means for political repression," said "Eric," who was interviewed in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. "Its main targets are dissidents who criticize the Chinese Communist Party."

Eric shared a variety of documents — including financial records, secret money transfers and the names of spies — with journalists from the Australian Broadcasting Corp. and the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, of which CBC/Radio-Canada is a partner.

The records give an unprecedented glimpse at the inner workings of China's overseas spy operations.

[...]

For 15 years, Eric worked for the 1st Bureau at China's Ministry of Public Security, a unit that specializes in surveillance of dissidents abroad. He previously told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that he spied on a Japanese-based cartoonist and a YouTuber exiled in Australia. Often, he said, his cover was working for real companies in the countries where he was deployed — companies that collaborated with China's secret police.

[...]

In 2020, Eric said he was tasked with snooping on a dissident named Hua Yong, an artist and hardcore opponent of China's Communist Party who eventually ended up on B.C.'s Sunshine Coast.

[...]

After several failed attempts to flee China, Eric finally succeeded in 2023. The former spy wanted to go to Canada to claim asylum but ended up in Australia because he was able to get a tourist visa there.

The world has a right to know what China's secret police are up to, Eric said, adding that revealing it publicly actually buys him a measure of protection.

Meanwhile, the police investigation into Hua's death isn't officially closed because three years later, the B.C. Coroners Service still hasn't completed its report, which normally takes about 16 months.

Eric said he's had no contact with Canadian police but that he did confidentially send some documents to the Hogue commission, Canada's public inquiry into foreign interference.

"There are some strange aspects to this case that demand further investigation," he said.

Archive: [ https://archive.is/j4Eak ]

Archive: [ https://archive.ph/8OuhA ]