By Canadian Press

In the news today, June 25

Jun 25, 2019 | 5:49 AM

Five stories in the news for Tuesday, June 25

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SAINT-JACQUES RETURNS FROM SPACE MISSION

David Saint-Jacques returned to Earth on Monday after more than six months aboard the International Space Station. The native of Saint-Lambert, Que., has set a record for the longest single spaceflight by a Canadian at 204 days. The Canadian astronaut was joined by NASA astronaut Anne McClain and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko aboard a Soyuz capsule that landed in Kazakhstan. NASA described the landing as “picture perfect” as the capsule descended in Kazakistan at 10:47 p.m. ET. Saint-Jacques was the last to be carried out of the capsule and he gave a thumbs-up sign as he emerged. The crew were offered water and fresh fruit as they sat in chairs about 15-feet away from the capsule before being taken away for initial medical checks. 

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NEW HEARING FOR FERTILITY DOC WHO USED WRONG SPERM

A fertility doctor previously disciplined for artificially inseminating several women with the wrong sperm is set to appear before Ontario’s medical regulator today to face additional allegations, including that he used his own sperm in certain procedures. Dr. Bernard Norman Barwin admitted to committing professional misconduct when he appeared before the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario’s discipline committee in 2013, saying errors in his practice had left three patients with children whose biological fathers were not the ones they intended. The committee suspended him from practising medicine for two months, but Barwin gave up his licence the following year.

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BLACK CIVIL SERVANTS NOT GETTING PROMOTED: MP

Qualified black Canadians are being passed over for promotions to senior positions in the federal government due to systemic racial barriers, says Independent MP Celina Caesar-Chavannes. Caesar-Chavannes, who is not running for re-election in October, used her final act in the House of Commons last week to shine a light on what she says is discrimination in the civil service. She says in all of Canada’s history, no black person has been appointed as a federal deputy minister, the bureaucratic head of a department. She also says there has been a “thinning out” of visible minorities at the assistant-deputy-minister level.

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INDIGENOUS SPEAKERS GATHER IN VICTORIA

Sto:lo Nation educator Ethel Gardner is confident that the fate of the Coast Salish language Halq’emeylem is looking up, despite its classification as critically endangered by UNESCO. She says the language is alive. Gardner, who also goes by her First Nation’s name Stelomethet, served as an elder-in-residence at Simon Fraser University, where she wrote her dissertation on the relationship between Halq’emeylem, pronouced halk-ah-may-lem, and Sto:lo communities of B.C.’s Fraser Valley. She says decades of arduous work to preserve Halq’emeylem is paying off as more people begin to learn the language.

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WICKENHEISER WAITS FOR POSSIBLE HALL CALL

Canada’s Hayley Wickenheiser is one of the headliners among eligible players for selection into the Hockey Hall of Fame today. The class of 2019 will be announced this afternoon. Wickenheiser is a 40-year-old native of Shaunavon, Sask. She was one of the top players on four Olympic champion Canadian women’s teams. She retired as the country’s all-time leading scorer after 23 years on the national team and now works at the assistant director of player development for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

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ALSO IN THE NEWS:

— Environment Minister Catherine McKenna makes an announcement on how the federal government will allocate a portion of the proceeds collected as a result of carbon pollution pricing, and holds a media availability.

— Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan makes an announcement in partnership with the Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative on the Vancouver Principles on Peacekeeping and the Prevention of the Recruitment and Use of Child Soldiers. A media availability follows.

— Trial for Tasha Mack who faces second-degree murder charges in the death of her boyfriend Joey Crier’s 19-month-old son. The toddler was found outside an Edmonton church in April 2017.

— Conference to celebrate Indigenous languages from around the world in support of language revitalization.

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The Canadian Press