Six stories in the news for today, Nov. 1

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JEWISH GROUPS QUESTION CENSUS RESULTS

The size of the country’s Jewish community appears, on the surface, to have seen its most dramatic decline in decades, with newly released census data on the country’s ethnic makeup suggesting a 56 per cent drop in numbers over a five-year period. The decline to 143,665 in 2016 from about 329,500 in 2011 — a drop of almost 186,000 people — is the largest such drop for any ethnic group recorded in the census data released last week. The noticeable drop raises questions about whether the finding is an accurate portrait of the Jewish population. “Obviously, the Jewish community didn’t shrink by more than half in the past five years,” said Shimon Fogel, CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.

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INDIGENOUS INQUIRY TO GIVE PROGRESS REPORT

The commissioners of the inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls will issue an interim update later today on the progress they’ve made to date. The interim report on the inquiry, which has been plagued by complaints from families and internal staffing struggles, is also expected to shed light on how much more time and funding will be required. Chief commissioner Marion Buller has said the inquiry is going to need additional resources, but she hasn’t laid out specifics. The federal Liberal government has already earmarked $53.8 million over two years for the inquiry’s work.

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FAMILY WANTS MAN KEPT ON LIFE SUPPORT

The family of a Toronto man who was declared brain dead after suffering an asthma attack is fighting to keep him on life support, saying he is not dead under the rules set out by his religion. Shalom Ouanounou’s family is asking the court for an injunction to keep him on a ventilator and feeding tube while it pushes to have his death certificate revoked. A notice of application filed by Ouanounou’s father and substitute decision-maker shows he seeks to challenge the Canadian guidelines on brain death on grounds that they do not accommodate religious beliefs.

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ONTARIO GOVERNMENT TO INTRODUCE MARIJUANA LEGISLATION

Ontario is set to introduce legislation today that would regulate the sale and distribution of recreational marijuana. The province was the first to announce detailed plans last month for cannabis once the federal government makes it legal in July 2018. The drug will be sold in up to 150 stores run by the Ontario Liquor Control Board — separate from outlets selling alcohol — and illegal dispensaries will be shut down. Sales will be limited to those 19 and older, and consumption of marijuana will not be allowed in public spaces or workplaces.

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NWT PREMIER WANTS SOUTH OUT OF NORTHERN DEVELOPMENT

Northwest Territories Premier Robert McLeod says it is offensive and patronizing for southern Canadians to tell northerners they can’t benefit from oil and gas development because it’s time to save the planet. McLeod is in Ottawa this week hoping to start a national debate about the future of the North, a year after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced at least a five-year ban on new oil and gas development in the Arctic because an oil spill in the region would be “cataclysmic.” McLeod has criticized the decision as one-sided and ill-informed from the start and says, with that one decision, “everything we have built is in jeopardy.”

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The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press