Five stories in the news for Wednesday, May 29
———
O’REGAN TO VISIT MERCURY-DAMAGED GRASSY NARROWS
Indigenous Services Minister Seamus O’Regan is being urged to ensure a long-awaited visit to an Ontario First Nation is substantive and not a pre-election photo opportunity. O’Regan is set to visit Grassy Narrows First Nation today — a community poisoned by mercury after industrial waste was dumped in the English-Wabigoon river system, causing symptoms in residents including impaired peripheral vision, hearing, speech and thinking. Help for the community seemed to be on the way when the federal government promised a specialized treatment facility on the reserve in November 2017 and a feasibility study was produced last fall outlining costs and design ideas. But Grassy Narrows Chief Rudy Turtle has said there has been little action on the project since then.
———
CENTRAL BANK TO MAKE INTEREST-RATE DECISION
Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz is widely expected to leave his trend-setting interest rate unchanged today — and he appears in no hurry to move the rate any time soon. The policy announcement will come at a time when the economy is starting to show signs of picking up its pace after a winter deceleration that was largely caused by a drop in oil prices. Last month, Poloz held the rate at 1.75 per cent for a fourth-straight policy decision and set aside talk of hikes — at least until the economy rises from what he’s described as a temporary slowdown. The sudden down shift has also forced the central bank to cut its 2019 growth forecast — a reduction that comes after the economy ran at close to full tilt for most of 2017 and 2018.
———
HUMAN TRAFFICKING HOTLINE LAUNCHES IN CANADA
A national hotline to help victims and survivors of human trafficking is now taking calls, with the organization behind the service saying it hoped the new resource would also fill crucial gaps in public knowledge about the issue. The multilingual, accessible hotline, an initiative of the Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking, which will be launched at 7 a.m. ET today. The centre’s chief executive officer said the line is meant to serve as a one-stop shop for everyone from victims seeking help, to tipsters wanting to flag a potential case, to members of the public wanting to learn more about the subject.
———
B.C. MAN SAYS EVEREST CLIMB NOT FOR EVERYONE
A Victoria man who was part of a group caught at the top of Mount Everest says there were too many inexperienced climbers trying to scale the mountain, endangering lives. Chris Dare has climbed mountains on seven continents, but last week he feared he wouldn’t have mad it down the peak without his sherpa. Dare, who’s 35 and an officer in the Canadian Armed Forces, says he stood at the peak for just a few minutes last Thursday before realizing the weather had changed. The final leg up and down the peak should have taken him 12 hours, but he says it took 17. Another man on his team struggled with the climb and Dare says he was found dead in his tent the next day.
———
$100M FUND ENDOWMENT CREATED FOR HAMILTON INSTITUTIONS
A Hamilton philanthropist couple plans to create a $100-million endowment fund to support health research at two hospitals and a university in the city. Charles and Margaret Juravinski say their gift, in the form of an investment, will mean McMaster University, Hamilton Health Sciences and St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton collectively receive up to $5 million per year in perpetuity after their deaths. The institutions say the money will create the Juravinski Research Centre to further examine cancer, mental health, lung and respiratory care, and diseases of aging.
———
ALSO IN THE NEWS:
— Quebec judge will determine today if the criminal case against SNC-Lavalin proceeds.
— The International Grand Committee on Big Data, Privacy and Democracy hears from Amazon.com, Microsoft Canada, Mozilla Foundation and Apple.
— A court appearance is scheduled today for the lawyers of Maxim, Alexander and Oxana Berent, who are accused of staging an anti-Semitic attack in their Winnipeg cafe.
The Canadian Press
