Canada

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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s trip to Beijing this week—the first trip by a Canadian prime minister in more than eight years—signals a high-stakes attempt to reset Canada-China relations. This visit comes as pro-democracy publisher Jimmy Lai’s mitigation hearing reaches an end and as Ottawa looks to expand Canada’s oil exports to China.

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Beijing is seizing upon tensions in the United States–Canada relationship to provide a fig leaf to the Canadian government—and much of the rest of the world—presenting itself as an alternative trusted partner in trade and investment. Carney shouldn’t accept that offer without conditions, including the release of the Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai, which he has already said he supports. Lai’s mother was a Canadian citizen, and his sister, nieces and nephews are Canadian citizens and residents of Ontario. Lai’s companies also employ more than 1,500 people in Canada.

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If Canada won’t stand up for a 78-year-old journalist imprisoned for running a newspaper, what red line will Beijing have to cross for Ottawa to act? Lai’s case is also part of Beijing’s broader campaign of transnational repression, with Hong Kong issuing bounties on Canadian citizens and activists worldwide for speaking up in defence of democracy.

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Canada can use tools it has deployed elsewhere. The Canadian Parliament has passed motions on the Uyghur genocide and imposed sanctions on officials in Belarus for human rights abuses and political imprisonment. Hong Kong’s crackdown on democracy deserves a similar response. Canada should coordinate with Britain and the US at the G7 in June to present a unified front and not make any new concessions until Hong Kong political prisoners are released. Britain is already pursuing humanitarian release for Lai, who holds British citizenship.

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This isn’t about severing ties with China; it’s about ensuring those ties don’t come at the cost of Canada’s values. Carney has something Beijing wants: access to Canadian markets, minerals and investment. He should use that leverage.

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Apparently the US Department of ~~Defense~~War thinks that they can order non-US citizens not resident in the USA to cease and desist from mailing things.

Uh…

Hilarity of the items involved aside, the gall of the US military postal service to give orders to civilians not under their command and not even of their nation is shocking.

"[...] a small group of rich Canadians will get far richer by collaborating with the Americans. Consider all of the Canadian companies doing business with the Department of Homeland Security, taking advantage of free trade to set up shop in a country that puts children in cages. But these companies and their CEOs aren’t pariahs derided for collaborating with an authoritarian government. Rather, they are considered pillars of the business community, lauded for their charitable works, written about glowingly in our mainstream media and connected to our most powerful politicians."

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/53463841

Before the cameras were installed four years ago, roughly 17 per cent of motorists followed the posted speed limits. ... In the last year before the cameras were banned, compliance reached 87 per cent.

Within a week of the cameras’ removal, that fell to 62 per cent, and three weeks later, it had dropped to 50 per cent.

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Carlucci says it’s time for drivers to reflect and consider one simple question.

“Why are you speeding in a school zone?”

Canada's Armed Forces personnel have joined the ranks of local tradesmen and volunteers to begin to repair hundreds of homes damaged n Pimicikamak Cree Nation in the aftermath of a power outage last month.

The power outage left the community, 530 kilometres north of Winnipeg, without electricity for five days, while frozen pipes damaged much of the community's water and system.

Seven soldiers arrived on Jan. 11 to help local workers assess damage to homes and infrastructure. Three more will be arriving in the community on Wednesday.

The emergency marked the third time in the past year that residents have had to evacuate the area. The community issued two evacuation orders in summer 2025 as wildfires approached.

Most of the estimated 1,300 homes in the area have seen at least some damage.

The Toronto man identified as a "chief money launderer" for fugitive Ryan Wedding tried to flee to the Bahamas before his recent arrest, according to U.S. prosecutors.

What's more, they allege it was the FBI's seizure of an ultra-rare Mercedes — purportedly purchased on Wedding's behalf — that prompted Rolan Sokolovski to leave Canada in a hurry.

Sokolovski, 37, is asking an Ontario court to release him on bail while he faces extradition to the United States on conspiracy charges related to money laundering and cocaine trafficking. The jeweller and former professional poker player appeared before a judge in a downtown Toronto courtroom on Wednesday for a third straight day.

The new allegations are contained in a letter from Los Angeles-based assistant U.S. attorneys Lyndsi Allsop and Kenneth R. Carbajal, who claim Sokolovski is a flight risk and that he "poses a danger to the community" as a member of Wedding's purported murderous drug ring.

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TL;DR

• 298,000 Ukrainian refugees have arrived in Canada under the CUAET (Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel) programme. However, data on how many may have already left the country isn't publicly available.
• 80 per cent of recently arrived Ukrainians are employed. It is still difficult, however, to assess their career and whether they are working in the same industry and occupation as in Ukraine, as labour market integration takes time.
• Around 92 per cent of those who arrived express a desire to apply for permanent residency and consequently stay in Canada permanently. Ukrainian refugees are not legally recognized as refugees or asylum seekers in Canada. Instead, they hold temporary resident status under the CUAET programme, meaning they must obtain permanent residency through economic pathway or family reunification.
• As the war and, consequently, insecurity in Ukraine continue, Ukrainian diaspora organizations – particularly the Ukrainian World Congress – are calling for pathways to permanent residency for Ukrainian refugees.

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As a side note, there are Canadian people working in Ukraine, as April Huggett, a Canadian combat medic supporting the Ukrainian Forces.

[Edit typo.]

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As Prime Minister Mark Carney gears up for a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week – the first visit to the country by a sitting prime minister since 2017 – an expert warns that the stakes are high and hypervigilance is advised.

Carney announced the trip last week, saying that the decision was made because Canada is looking to build a “competitive, sustainable and independent economy.”

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Vina Nadjibulla, the vice-president of research and strategy at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, called this meeting a significant test of Carney’s “pragmatic diplomacy.”

“He will have to strike a difficult balance between pursuing economic engagement with China, especially in sectors like energy, with the serious national security and economic securities that we still have to manage when it comes to China,” Nadjibulla told CTV News Channel on Monday.

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Nadjibulla, an expert on international security and peace-building, emphasized that the prime minister must find a way to avoid strategic dependence on this single trading partner.

“With China, we have a history of economic coercion,” Nadjibulla added. “China uses economic dependence, like in the case of canola, for political leverage.”

While Nadjibulla says it is important that Carney engages with China pragmatically, she points out that it will be “interesting” to see how he will navigate the conversation surrounding both Canada’s national and economic security.

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We should not confuse economic engagement with trust or with strategic alignment,” Nadjibulla said, calling Canada’s relationship with China “complex.” She added there are several economic opportunities to explore like oil, gas and agriculture.

“Pragmatic engagement is fine. Diplomatic amnesia would be a mistake,” she said.

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[Nadjibulla] says that despite this being Carney’s attempt to diversify Canada’s economic engagement, it is imperative to keep in mind that most of the Asia and the Indo-Pacific exists outside China.

“We need see China as part of that broader Indo-Pacific strategy, rather than as the totality of our engagement with Asia,” Nadjibulla said.

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Looks like someone is taking a vacation to play one of the many victim's of cancel culture.... While they tour the country doing speaking engagements and podcasts!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/48982152

The Vancouver Society in Support of Democratic Movement signed an open letter and to stand with members of the Canadian Coalition on Human Rights in China.

"We wish to express our deep concern regarding Prime Minister Carney’s forthcoming visit to China," a statement reads

At a time of escalating human rights abuses and transnational repression, we believe it is imperative that Canada’s highest political leadership place human rights at the forefront of all high-level engagement with the Chinese government.

Canadian PM Mark Carney is on a state visit in China. Back in April, Mr. Carney said China is the largest threats with respect to foreign interference in Canada and is an emerging threat in the Arctic.