Winnipeg Free Press Posted:
Good morning.
Manitobans are waiting to learn whether pandemic restrictions will be eased or extended. Provincial health officials are expected to announce the latest COVID-19 numbers at a live-streamed news conference this afternoon. In Washington, continued chaos marks the waning days of Donald Trump’s presidency. And the late Alex Trebek’s final episode of
What’s happening today
Chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin (left) and Premier Brian Pallister (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press files)
Restrictions set to expire: The provincial government is expected to make an announcement about COVID-19 restrictions that are set to expire at midnight. Deputy chief provincial public health officer Dr. Jazz Atwal wouldn t speculate Thursday about whether the current critical-level orders will be extended or relaxed. Carol Sanders reports.
(Photo: Submitted)
Mi’kmaq and Wolastoqiyik Chiefs are calling for the resignation of Arlene Dunn, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and MLA for Saint John Harbour, after she opposed a public inquiry into systemic racism in the justice system.
The call came a day after the Legislative Assembly debated a motion endorsing the Chiefs’ long-standing call for that public inquiry.
Minister Dunn, on behalf of the Higgs government, removed any reference to an inquiry in the motion.
“We are outraged by the actions of the Progressive Conservatives yesterday. They gutted a motion calling for an inquiry, completely removing its purpose,” said Chief Ross Perley of Negotkuk in a release. “Removing the reference to the inquiry but then trying to pretend they want to address systemic racism is disgraceful.”
UN’s Indigenous Rights Declaration Means Apartheid
UNDRIP is a death sentence for Canada s indigenous marginalized
Commentary
For a burgeoning underclass of marginalized indigenous youth, legislation to implement the U.N.’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) is a death sentence. They live in squalor in remote settlements and urban slums. Here’s a statement from the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples’ 1995 report on suicide, “Choosing Life”:
“Aboriginal youth described both exclusion from the dominant society and alienation from the now-idealized but once-real “life on the land” that is stereotypically associated with aboriginality. The terrible emptiness of feeling strung between two cultures and psychologically at home in neither has been described … in testimony given before the Commission. If they have few positive role models or clear paths to follow, Aboriginal youth may be forced to turn to one another, building tight bonds agai