Taber-Vauxhall RCMP said in a release Thursday afternoon that they began receiving reports shortly before 8 a.m. that day of ostriches on the road in the area of Highway 36 and Township Road 94 just south of Taber, a town of about 9,000 people.

It was later found that “approximately 20” ostriches had got loose from their enclosure, RCMP said, adding that one of the birds “was hit and killed on the roadway.”

Several of the flock made their way into Taber town limits, where a local retail worker, identified by Alberta media as Destiny Nanaquewetung, shot the now-viral video of RCMP vehicles attempting to cordon and capture one ostrich on the street.

The video shows a person riding in the passenger seat of a moving RCMP vehicle — later identified by RCMP as the birds’ owner — briefly reaching through the window to grab one of the ostriches at the neck in an attempt to capture it, before the bird wriggles free.

“Over the last several hours, RCMP have supported the farmer in locating and capturing the loose birds,” the Mounties said in their release Thursday.

Taber Police Service said on Facebook that its members “assisted the RCMP in confining the birds so the owners could safely capture them.” TPS said several of the birds that entered the community then headed back out of town, “where they created traffic hazards.”

As of about 12:30 p.m. Thursday, RCMP said in their release, “all but a couple” of the ostriches have been captured and the Mounties “continue to support the owner in locating and capturing the remainder.”

Town of Taber officials said Friday on Facebook the “majority of the ostriches made it home safe after some serious work by all the authorities involved.”

Videos and still photos from the chase were widespread on multiple social media networks Thursday, and town officials sought to capitalize on the social media attention by mounting a #FlightlessBirdsforFoodBanks challenge to encourage charitable donations.

In the midst of the ostrich-related memes from various social media users, Taber officials also took the opportunity Thursday to release an ad (see below) they said they’ve “legitimately had… in draft form for a few months” to encourage residents to volunteer for open spots on community boards.

Alberta was ground zero for the launch of ostrich farming in Canada in the late 1980s, as ranchers sought low-cost alternatives to beef cattle production, according to a 1999 report from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

By 1999, however, prices for breeding stock were well off their peaks and markets for meat and other ostrich products remained underdeveloped, forcing existing producers to either specialize their operations or leave the industry, AAFC said at the time.

In Statistics Canada’s 1996 agriculture census, Alberta was home to 330 ostrich farms out of 788 across the country; by 2006, however, those numbers had declined to 23 out of 78 respectively. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

Updated, Nov. 25: Article updated with newer figures from StatCan.

(Town of Taber via Facebook)

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In a release Tuesday, RCMP at Bashaw — about 80 km northeast of Red Deer, in Camrose County — said they and members of the RCMP’s Central Alberta Crime Reduction Unit (CAD CRU) responded on the morning of Sept. 28 to a report of a “significant amount of canola” stolen from a farm in the county.

RELATED: Tips to prevent grain theft on your farm

RCMP said they then received a report at about 1:30 that afternoon of “suspicious individuals” attempting to sell canola to a Hutterite colony in the area. That report led the Mounties to locate both a grain truck and a second vehicle suspected in the theft.

The CRU, with Bashaw and Stettler RCMP, “attempted to do a traffic stop” on the grain truck, but its driver failed to stop, police said.

A spike belt was then used to stop the grain truck and its driver was arrested with help from RCMP helicopter and police dog services, police said.

A “significant amount” of canola and a grain auger were recovered in the investigation, RCMP said in their release.

RCMP couldn’t quantify Wednesday exactly how much canola was reported to have been taken at the affected farm or how much of it police recovered, but an RCMP spokesperson said the canola reported missing from the farm had an estimated value of between $7,000 and $8,000.

The driver of the second vehicle was arrested in Mirror, about 20 km southwest of Bashaw, and a loaded 12-gauge shotgun was found in a search of that vehicle, RCMP said.

Jesse MacDonald, 33, and Tristan Ruby, 36, both of Stettler, now face 14 and 16 charges respectively. Both were remanded into custody and have since appeared Tuesday in Provincial Court in Red Deer, RCMP said.

A court representative said both individuals’ cases have been adjourned to Oct. 13 in Provincial Court in Stettler.

Charges against both include trafficking in property obtained by crime and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, RCMP added, noting Ruby also faces nine counts of being unlawfully at large. All charges laid have yet to be proven in court. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Several media outlets on Monday quoted organizers of the blockade at the Canada-U.S. border crossing at Coutts, Alta. as saying they would leave the area Tuesday morning.

Protestors in vehicles including commercial trucks, pickups and farm tractors formed a blockade halting traffic through the Coutts crossing, southeast of Lethbridge, and its sister crossing at Sweetgrass, Mont. starting Jan. 29. Single lanes of traffic later reopened but were blocked again Friday.

That blockade was formed in tandem with a demonstration still underway in Ottawa concerning current COVID-19 vaccine mandates for cross-border truckers, among a number of grievances related to pandemic-related public health policy and federal politics generally.

The Ottawa protest and Coutts blockade — along with several other blockades formed at major Canada-U.S. crossings across the country, including at Windsor, Ont. and Emerson, Man. — on Monday became the subject of the federal government’s declaration of a “public order emergency” under the Emergencies Act.

According to the government’s release Monday, the declaration allows it to regulate and prohibit “public assemblies, including blockades, other than lawful advocacy, protest or dissent” and to designate and secure places where “blockades are to be prohibited” such as at international borders or approaches to same. It also blocks foreign nationals from entering Canada with “intent to participate in or facilitate a prohibited assembly.”

The declaration is effective for up to 30 days and subject to confirmation from both houses of Parliament.

The protestors’ stated plan to leave Coutts also comes amid damaging reports of violence at the blockade, plus 13 arrests Monday among those attending.

Specifically, Alberta RCMP said Monday, “a large farm tractor and a semi truck, both involved in the blockade, attempted to ram a police vehicle” on Sunday evening.

The RCMP member involved “was able to reposition and avoid the collision” and both the tractor and semi truck alleged to be involved in that incident have since been seized.

On Monday afternoon, RCMP said, a northbound semi approached the Mounties’ checkstop north of nearby Milk River when “the driver accelerated and drove towards our members.” The driver of that vehicle “swerved at the last moment” and was later arrested nearby “for Criminal Code offences.”

Also on Monday, RCMP said they “became aware of a small organized group within the larger Coutts protest” and had received information “that this group had access to a cache of firearms with a large quantity of ammunition… (and) a willingness to use force against the police if any attempts were made to disrupt the blockade.”

RCMP on Monday morning carried out a search warrant on “three trailers associated to this criminal organization” and seized handguns, 13 long guns, a “large quantity of ammunition,” high-capacity magazines, “multiple sets” of body armour and a machete.

Eleven people were arrested at that time, RCMP said; another person was arrested later Monday after being stopped by police on the highway en route to the protest site, at which time “two weapons were seized.”

RCMP said Monday they would “resume efforts to end the illegal blockade” at Coutts and “encourage all participants who are involved in this illegal action to leave immediately or relocate to the designated site for the legal protest.”

“Our objective was to be here peacefully,” Marco Van Huigenbos, a protest organizer at Coutts, was quoted by CBC as saying later Monday. “To keep that message going, we want to peacefully leave Coutts and return to our families.”

‘Serious risks’

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, writing Monday on Twitter, made note of the arrests of people “believed to be involved in a potentially violent cell at the Coutts blockade” and hailed the “tactical operation that neutralized this potentially violent threat without incident.”

Also, Kenney wrote Monday, in spite of “threats and intimidation directed at tow truck operators and dealers, (the province) has successfully procured and staged the heavy equipment needed to remove commercial vehicles” at the protest site.

Kenney reiterated to remaining protestors that “it’s time to go home” and that their “continued violation of the rights of your fellow Albertans will not be tolerated.”

Separately, federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said in a statement Monday that she met with “meat industry representatives from across Canada” to talk about the blockades’ impact on “the transportation of live animals and beef exports, the movement of feed for livestock and the overall food supply for Canadians.”

The industry reps on the call “told me that the blockade is having a significant impact on the livelihood of Canadian farm families and businesses who cannot sustain any more delays,” she said, and that “shipments of animals are being delayed and cancelled, which is creating serious risks to animal welfare.”

Allowing animals, feed and feed ingredients to again flow across the border “is essential to support producers and protect the welfare of animals travelling between Canada and the U.S.,” she said, noting border transit delays “also heighten the risk of spoilage of perishable goods” such as fruit and vegetables.

With the public order emergency now declared, she said, cabinet officials “are monitoring the situation closely and working with our federal and provincial partners to identify and mitigate disruptions.”

In a joint statement last week, several national- and provincial-level transport, trade, manufacturing and distributing groups warned that “hundreds of millions of dollars in cross-border trade” including perishables and other goods, “are being impacted or lost because of ongoing blockades.”

Farmer and food processor groups including the Canadian Federation of Agriculture, Canadian Agri-Food Trade Alliance, Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, National Cattle Feeders’ Association, Canadian Pork Council, Canadian Meat Council, Canadian Produce Marketing Association and Canadian Horticultural Council made a separate joint statement Friday calling for “immediate action by all parties to fully reopen Canada’s trade corridors.”

Canadian federal rules for cross-border travel by truckers and other essential workers were updated effective Jan. 15. Those rules currently require any Canadian truckers and other essential workers who are unvaccinated against COVID-19 and returning to Canada to follow the same quarantine protocols as other unvaccinated Canadians returning to Canada. Unvaccinated foreign truckers attempting to enter Canada are to be turned away.

The U.S. government has had the same rules in place for foreign unvaccinated truckers since Jan. 22 — with the effect of prohibiting unvaccinated Canadian truckers from bringing freight into the United States. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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In response to “concerned citizens in the area of Coutts,” participants in a blockade of vehicles in place at the local border crossing “made the decision to open a lane going northbound and southbound on Highway 4 near the Coutts border,” Alberta RCMP said in a statement Wednesday afternoon.

The passage “allows for area residents to have freedom of movement, school bussing that was impacted to be reinstated, emergency services to provide full services, border access and the flow of goods and services to resume,” RCMP said.

Alberta RCMP “acknowledges the work that is being done,” and noted they have been “actively engaging with participants of the blockade” since the weekend to re-open lanes of traffic.

However, the Mounties said they “remain on scene and our efforts continue to be focused on fully reopening services.”

As of 7 p.m. MT Wednesday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s website, providing the wait times at Canada-U.S. land crossings, listed its facility opposite Coutts at Sweetgrass, Montana as having no delay at that time, but an average wait time of 12 minutes.

As of 6 p.m. MT, the Canada Border Services Agency still listed the wait time at its Coutts facility as seven hours, both for commercial and non-commercial vehicle traffic.

The Mounties said Tuesday on Twitter they were also “aware of other blockades that have appeared in the immediate surrounding area of the Coutts border crossing,” adding those sites “will be monitored with the full support of other Alberta law enforcement partners.”

The Canada-U.S. border crossing at Coutts, about 100 km southeast of Lethbridge, is the province’s only 24-hour land crossing into Montana.

RCMP had said Tuesday they would begin enforcement at the blockade to allow traffic to resume, but appeared to be stymied by the arrival of farm tractors and other vehicles setting up new blockades.

The protest at Coutts was mounted in tandem with a demonstration still underway in Ottawa concerning current federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates for cross-border truckers, among other grievances related to pandemic-related public health policy and federal politics.

Canada’s rules for cross-border travel by truckers and other essential workers were updated effective Jan. 15. Those rules now require any Canadian truckers and other essential workers who are unvaccinated against COVID-19 and returning to Canada to follow the same quarantine protocols as other unvaccinated Canadians returning to Canada. Unvaccinated foreign truckers attempting to enter Canada would be turned away.

The U.S. government has had the same rules in place for foreign unvaccinated truckers since Jan. 22, effectively prohibiting unvaccinated Canadian truckers from bringing freight into the United States. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Protestors in vehicles formed a blockade Saturday on Highway 4 leading to the province’s only 24-hour Canada-U.S. border crossing, at Coutts, Alta., about 100 km southeast of Lethbridge.

Their protest was mounted in tandem with a demonstration still underway in Ottawa concerning current federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates for cross-border truckers, among other grievances related to pandemic-related public health policy and federal politics.

As of 8 p.m. MT on Tuesday, the website for U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported its Sweetgrass, Montana facility had one lane open for southbound commercial truck traffic, with an average wait time of seven minutes.

At the same time the Canada Border Services Agency facility at Coutts continued to report the wait time for northbound commercial and non-commercial vehicles as seven hours, the same time frame reported all day Monday.

Listed wait times aside, commercial trucks with vaccinated drivers and other traffic seeking to cross into Montana were reported Monday to have been delayed indefinitely since the blockade began.

The protest has also snarled traffic on the U.S. side of the crossing, where according to Alberta Transportation Minister Rajan Sawhney “between 50-100” Alberta truckers had reportedly been stuck since Saturday.

“Some haven’t eaten, others have medical issues,” she wrote Monday on Twitter.

The Canadian Meat Council, which represents Canada’s meatpacking industry, had tweeted Monday that there were over 150 truckloads of southbound Canadian beef unable to pass at Coutts.

Other drivers seeking to cross into the U.S. were reportedly being asked to divert to another crossing at Carway, Alta., about 130 km west. That crossing is usually only open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. MT.

“What may have begun as a peaceful assembly quickly turned into an unlawful blockade. While the Alberta RCMP has been in a position to conduct enforcement, we have been engaged with protesters at the Coutts border crossing in an effort to find a peaceful and safe resolution for all involved,” RCMP said in their statement Tuesday morning.

“We thought we had a path to resolution,” RCMP said Tuesday, without providing details., However, the police said, “the protesters eventually chose not to comply.”

Starting Tuesday morning, RCMP said, “further action is being taken… as this blockade continues to impede the ability for emergency agencies to provide full services to area residents. It has also negatively impacted the flow of goods and services, and impedes the public’s freedom of movement.”

Anyone who “actively blocks” a highway or “aids, counsels or directs a highway to be blocked” may be arrested and charged under the province’s Critical Infrastructure Defence Act, RCMP said.

Anyone participating in the blockade at Coutts or on nearby roads “can also expect enforcement of any contraventions” of the federal Criminal Code and the provincial Traffic Safety Act and regulations, the Mounties added.

“As far as I know, the RCMP are telling people they have to move or their vehicles will be towed and they’ll be arrested,” Coutts Mayor Jim Willett was quoted as saying on CBC Tuesday afternoon.

In a press conference later Tuesday, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said RCMP had “done what they can over the past four days” to reach an “agreed-upon approach” with protestors to resolve the matter before starting in with enforcement.

However, he said, “the approximately 100 remaining individuals participating in that process have currently refused to negotiate in good faith with the RCMP about an acceptable way forward.”

Kenney also said he had received reports about “people allied with the protestors” assaulting RCMP officers and in one case trying to ram RCMP leading to “a collision with a civilian vehicle in the area.”

Alberta Beef Producers said Monday it was “aware of the situation evolving” at the Canada-U.S. border crossing.

“Our focus remains on the people who are impacted by immediate delays to the beef supply chain and ensuring the welfare of animals traveling through the border,” ABP vice-chair Jason Hale said Monday in a statement.

“The reliability of a stable supply chain is essential to Canadian beef production,” Canadian Cattlemen’s Association president Bob Lowe was quoted as saying Monday on ABP’s site.

“Early in the pandemic, food production and the food supply chain were labelled essential services and critical infrastructure in Canada. Transportation delays can severely impact the beef supply chain on everything from animal feed through to the transport of cattle.”

“I will always stand for Canadians’ democratic rights to peaceful protest, but blockades of critical infrastructure cross the line,” acting provincial Justice Minister Sonya Savage said Tuesday on Twitter. “This blockade must end.”

However, she emphasized in separate tweets, operational enforcement decisions at the site are the responsibility of police services — and the pursuit of charges against any of the protest participants will be an independent decision by Crown prosecutors.

Canada’s rules for cross-border travel by truckers and other essential workers were updated effective Jan. 15. Those rules now require any Canadian truckers and other essential workers who are unvaccinated against COVID-19 and returning to Canada to follow the same quarantine protocols as other unvaccinated Canadians returning to Canada. Unvaccinated foreign truckers attempting to enter Canada would be turned away.

Canada’s rule for unvaccinated Canadian truckers re-entering the country was made moot effective Jan. 22, however, when the U.S. government imposed the same vaccination requirement for foreign truckers and other essential workers entering the U.S. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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The protest on Highway 4 at the Coutts, Alta. border crossing, about 100 km southeast of Lethbridge, began Saturday in tandem with a major protest in Ottawa concerning current federal COVID-19 vaccine mandates for cross-border truckers.

News reports late Sunday afternoon said the border crossing remained blocked at Coutts and motorists needing to cross were being diverted to another Alberta/Montana crossing at Carway, Alta., about 130 km west.

The Carway crossing, however, is usually open only from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. MT, while the Coutts crossing is usually open to traffic 24/7.

As of 1:05 a.m. MT on Monday, the Canada Border Services Agency’s web page for current border wait times listed the crossing at Coutts as experiencing “no delay” for either commercial trucks or other motorists. As of 12:01 p.m. MT Monday, however, the same page listed the wait time at Coutts as “7 hours” for both commercial and non-commercial travel.

Canada’s rules, in place since Jan. 15, require any Canadian truckers and other essential workers who are unvaccinated against COVID-19 and returning to Canada to follow the same quarantine protocols as other unvaccinated Canadians returning to Canada. Unvaccinated foreign truckers attempting to enter Canada would be turned away.

The rule for unvaccinated Canadian truckers re-entering Canada was rendered a moot point effective Jan. 22, however, as the U.S. government imposed the same vaccination requirement for foreign truckers and other essential workers entering the U.S.

Alberta RCMP on Sunday afternoon asked motorists to “continue to stay away” from Highway 4 south of Lethbridge to the Coutts border crossing as “traffic continues to remain immobilized in both the (northbound and southbound) directions. At this time, no motor vehicles are able to access the border for entry/re-entry.”

In a separate statement later Sunday afternoon, RCMP said they’re “working with truck drivers who are attempting to disengage from this event so that they are able to do so; however, current conditions have traffic immobilized.”

When an event becomes “unlawful,” RCMP added, “we utilize a measured approach, which ultimately includes enforcement. This event is unlawful and we are asking those who are involved to clear the area.”

Everyone has a right to peaceful freedom of expression, the Mounties added, but “the general public, local residents and businesses also have the right to a safe environment and freedom of movement.”

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney echoed the RCMP’s concerns in a separate statement Sunday, calling on protestors on Highway 4 to end their blockade “immediately” and “not to create road hazards which could lead to accidents or unsafe conditions for other drivers.”

The blockade, he said, violated the provincial Traffic Safety Act and was causing “significant inconvenience” for other drivers, but also “could dangerously impede the movement of emergency service vehicles.”

“While I respect everyone’s right to protest peacefully, we need the blockaders to disperse as quickly as possible,” provincial Transportation Minister Rajan Sawhney said in a separate statement Sunday.

“Not having a dedicated route in or out of the area is a safety hazard and is preventing commercial truckers from delivering goods that support our supply chain.”

For example, CBC on Sunday quoted one vaccinated long-haul trucker as saying he was taking meat from the JBS slaughter plant at Brooks, Alta. across to Portland, Oregon, but was halted by the blockade and diverted to wait at nearby Milk River, Alta.

The Canadian Meat Council, which represents the meatpacking sector, took to Twitter Monday afternoon to report “over 150 loads of Canadian beef stuck” at the Coutts crossing. “Our members are going to have to slow down production  if this keeps up.”

“The blockade of emergency vehicles to Albertans in need, and the disruption in the flow of vital goods through our major transportation corridor, is both dangerous and disgraceful. It puts lives at risk, hurts our economy, and hurts families,” Rachel Notley, leader of Alberta’s opposition New Democrats, said in a separate statement earlier Sunday.

“To put it bluntly, a small group first claiming to be concerned about the possibility of grocery shortages have now most assuredly caused them.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network

UPDATE, Jan. 31 — Article updated to include estimated border wait times at Monday noon.

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“It depends on whether employees that aren’t vaccinated will get vaccinated, or would they leave their jobs,” Wade Sobkowich, executive director of the Western Grain Elevator Association (WGEA) said in an interview Thursday. “In that case do we end up in a deficit of human resources to keep the grain supply chain functioning?”

The Canadian government will “make vaccination mandatory in federally regulated workplaces,” including grain elevators, through regulations under Part II of the Canada Labour Code, it announced in a news release Tuesday.

“The government will consult with key stakeholders, including representatives of small and medium-sized employers, as it works expeditiously to finalize the new regulations, which would come into force in early 2022,” the release says.

Why it matters: Vaccination rates are generally lower in rural areas where most grain elevators are. When new federal regulations require all elevator employees be vaccinated against COVID-19 or lose their jobs it’s possible some facilities will be short-staffed.

The WGEA wants more details about Ottawa’s new vaccine mandate, but as of Thursday Sobkowich said he understood ongoing COVID testing would not be allowed in lieu of vaccination.

That’s Hugh Wagner’s interpretation too. The general secretary of the Grain and General Services Union also believes, based on legal opinions, if enacted with a clear, consistent policy and allowing workers time to get vaccinated, employers can demand workers be vaccinated.

“(I)f an employer goes about it the right way, following those steps that I have just laid out, then they likely can implement a mandatory vaccination policy and the employees will have to adhere to it if they want to continue to their job,” Wagner, whose union represents about 800 workers, mainly in Saskatchewan working at some Viterra and Richardson facilities, said in an interview Thursday.

“We have also advised union members that there may be situations… be they medical or reasons of religion, where an individual can raise a question or a challenge as to an exemption, but that is a very high bar to overcome.

“I’ve told people very explicitly that you might say it’s against your religion but actually with all the major religions on board with vaccinations, what you’re really saying is it’s your interpretation of your religion. That won’t get you a get-out-of-jail-free card.”

Asked if he thought grain companies can implement the vaccine mandate with a minimum of disruption, Sobkowich replied: “I hope so. It depends on the region. It depends on how employees react. It’s difficult to predict at this point.”

There are a number of elevators in Manitoba’s Southern Health District where the following six municipalities have the lowest vaccination rates in Manitoba:

(Source: Manitoba Health)

As of Dec. 8 more than half of the COVID-infected patients in Manitoba intensive care units (ICU) were from Southern Health, which accounts for just 15 per cent of Manitoba’s population. Of those infected patients 92 per cent were either not vaccinated or had just one dose.

Meanwhile, the number of ICU cases continues to grow forcing Manitoba Health to cancel more surgeries and diagnostic procedures. Doctors Manitoba puts the backlog of 152,000.

“The (WGEA) member companies are fully supportive of as many Canadians receiving the vaccine as possible,” Sobkowich said.

“The grain companies continue to promote vaccinations among workers. It’s a sensitive issue and one that needs to be approached considering the perspectives of all the stakeholders. There are a number of questions that really need more fleshing out. In the midst of getting on board with the government’s mandate there are a number of questions that need to be answered.”

Some of them include rules around employers asking employees about their vaccination status, he said.

Vaccination is the best line of defence against COVID-19, the government release says.

“It not only protects those who are vaccinated, but it protects vulnerable populations like young children who aren’t yet able to get vaccinated,” the release says. “To finish the fight against COVID-19, protect workers and their families, and ensure businesses can get back up to speed, we need to do everything we can to keep public spaces safe, particularly as we continue to face new variants.”

Mandatory vaccination is already required for employees working in the federally regulated air, rail, and marine transportation sectors, and travellers using these modes of transportation.

There are about 18,500 employers in federally regulated industries, including federal Crown corporations, which together employ 955,000 people. That’s about six per cent of all Canadian employees.

The majority (87 per cent) work in companies with 100 or more employees, the release says.
These figures exclude the federal public service.

Including the federal public service, there are approximately 19,000 employers and 1.3 million employees, which represents about 8.5 per cent of all employees in Canada.

All federal public servants in the Core Public Administration, including RCMP members and reservists, must be vaccinated against COVID-19.

This requirement applies whether employees are teleworking, working remotely or working on-site. More than 95 per cent of employees have attested to being fully vaccinated and approximately 98 per cent have had at least one dose.

“Employers who do not comply with their obligations under the Canada Labour Code may be subject to compliance and enforcement measures, including administrative monetary penalties,” the release says.

“In recognition of Indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination and self-government, Indigenous governing bodies and First Nation band councils will be exempted from the new requirements. The government of Canada will work with Indigenous partners to provide information on the new measures should they wish to follow the same approach, however, doing so will be at their discretion. This is also in line with the Government’s commitment to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”

A copy of the consultation paper on the new vaccination mandate may be requested from the Labour Program by email.

— Allan Dawson is a reporter for the Manitoba Co-operator.

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The TSB on Thursday said its investigation, launched in early July, “has not revealed any evidence to link railway operations to the fire” on June 30 that destroyed “the majority of the structures” in downtown Lytton, B.C., about 160 km southwest of Kamloops.

Thus, unless new information turns up to show that a “TSB-reportable” event took place, “no further work will be performed and no TSB investigation report will be produced,” the agency said.

Apart from traffic halted by damage to Canadian National Railway’s (CN) rail bridge at Lytton, the June 30 fire led to a temporary halt in rail traffic through the area.

Tighter inspections and slower speed limits then followed in July for Class 1 railways’ trains rolling through any areas in Canada deemed to be at “extreme” fire risk.

Those rules — which apply to both CN and Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) — were put in place in July by order of federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra, and remain in place until the end of this month.

According to the TSB’s report Thursday, the fire in the late afternoon of June 30 was first reported near Mile 98.14 of CN’s Ashcroft subdivision, just west of Lytton, and “grew rapidly due to the extreme hot and dry conditions combined with high-velocity winds.”

The last train through that area passed by about 18 minutes before the fire was reported — a loaded CP coal train of 157 cars, operated by a CN crew, as per a “directional running agreement” between the two railways — travelling at about 40 km/h with “low to moderate throttle,” the TSB said.

The TSB sent its investigator to the area on July 9, based on information from RCMP and B.C. Wildfire Service (BCWS) — and also “in light of the presence of rolling stock in the immediate vicinity of the fire within minutes of the fire first being reported.”

However, the agency said, its inspection of the off-loaded train in Burnaby found no signs of “hot bearings, burnt brake heads, built-up tread (or) other potential fire-creating causes.”

The TSB said it also confirmed with CN and CP that no rail grinding activities or other track work had taken place in the area that day or in the days before the June 30 fire.

Also, “no anomalies were observed or reported” from the TSB’s interviews with rail workers and maintenance staff in the area, nor in any of the video or data from recorders on the lead and tail-end locomotives.

All three locomotives in the train were also subjected to stationary load testing, in which the diesel engines are cycled up to maximum operating r.p.m., and no sparking was seen from any of the locomotives. The locomotives’ exhaust stacks were also found to be “clear of carbon buildup.”

The BCWS had “expressed interest” in samples of a “black, carbonaceous coal-like substance” found on the west side of the track near Mile 98.14 as a “possible source of ignition” and ran a lab analysis of it, the TSB said.

The TSB also collected samples of the substance and ran its own lab analysis comparing it to samples gathered from a locomotive exhaust stack and a rail grinder vehicle. Spectral results found the three analyzed samples “have little in common.”

With no link found between railway operations and the fire, “further effort (by the TSB) is not warranted” unless some new information shows an incident involving rolling stock took place, the agency said.

That said, the fire is still under investigation by the BCWS, and the RCMP are running a preliminary inquiry “to determine the need for a parallel criminal investigation,” the TSB said.

B.C. RCMP said July 11 their investigation was “looking at all movements and actions of any individuals, vehicle traffic and a southbound freight train that were all in the area around 4:30 p.m.” on June 30.

Two people were confirmed to have died during the fire and the exact circumstances of their deaths were also under investigation, RCMP said.

A Vancouver law firm, Gratl and Co., filed a notice of civil claim in August for a proposed class action lawsuit against both CN and CP over the Lytton fire, with a Lytton resident as its representative plaintiff.

The law firm, on its website, said at the time that while government-led investigations “have yet to conclude,” legal counsel believe “eyewitness evidence, train schedules and the burn pattern converge” to support a claim against the railways. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Brooks RCMP said Monday they’re investigating after a transport truck that was subcontracted to haul a full load of beef from the JBS plant to the U.S. “failed to make its delivery” on Aug. 30.

It’s since been found that the truck was allegedly operating not only under fraudulent documents but a “fraudulent name,” listed as “Transport Pascal Charland” out of Chateauguay, Que., RCMP said.

Police described the truck as a burgundy semi with a large bunk, pulling a white refrigerated trailer.

Their suspect is described as a “slightly balding” Caucasian male with short brown hair, tall with a heavy build and wearing blue jeans, a black T-shirt, yellow fluorescent vest and a surgical mask.

The same trucking company name and location were alleged to have been given in a separate case involving disappearing hot tubs, Thorsby RCMP said in a separate release on Sept. 4.

A numbered company name, 10036218 Canada Inc., was also given in that case, RCMP said.

A flat-deck trailer, hitched to an unmarked white Volvo semi, is alleged to have been loaded up on Sept. 2 with seven Arctic Spas hot tubs “without legal authority” and driven off from the Arctic Spas manufacturing plant at Thorsby, about 50 km southwest of Edmonton.

Thorsby RCMP described their suspect as a Caucasian male aged 30-40, about five feet six inches tall with a heavy build and short brown hair.

Anyone with information on the vanishing beef is asked to call Brooks RCMP at 403-794-4400 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477. Anyone with information on the missing hot tubs is asked to call Crime Stoppers at the same number or call Thorsby RCMP at 780-789-3613. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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It’s amazing how much can change in just a few days.

Canada’s Agriculture Day on Feb. 11 brought together a wide variety of people involved in the sector during the early stages of what has now grown into an apparent national crisis.

As producers, advocates and others working in agriculture gathered in Ottawa for the main event there was without doubt a general recognition of the blockade’s existence, most notably when CN’s executive vice-president Sean Finn made mention of the protests during his brief remarks at the celebratory conference.

Absent from the room was any panic or major concern over the protests that had begun just five days prior.

Perhaps nobody predicted where the country would be a few weeks later, with politicians overreachingly stating the country is (again?) in a state of crisis, while farm groups decry the economic impact of the rail stoppages.

There’s no denying the very real effects on farmers. The ships currently waiting in port put 2020 on track to match the disastrous winter of 2013-14 for grain shipments. Farmers and other small businesses are caught in the middle on this one, just as they are when unions and employers can’t reach agreement.

However, suggesting trains being stopped for a few weeks is a “national crisis,” as Conservative leader Andrew Scheer and others have, overstates the issue and perhaps undermines instances of true crisis where imminent danger is threatening or present.

It can also encourage inflammatory, knee-jerk reactions from those involved. It is difficult to imagine anything less helpful when it comes to finding a solution for the country’s current predicament with the rail blockades.

Driving a vehicle through a group of people blocking your path because you disagree with them will only harden their resolve. Vigilantes who take the law into their own hands by attempting to remove a blockade will only embolden the protestors to make their next barricade stronger.

Both actions are also illegal, discrediting the popular and fair “rule of law” argument that the protests should end because they, too, are illegal. Two wrongs don’t make a right.

At the heart of the protests are hereditary Wet’suwet’en chiefs in B.C. who oppose the Coastal GasLink project travelling through their traditional territory.

Of course, wanting urgent action to get trains moving is a reasonable request, given that a majority five of the six band councils making up the Wet’suwet’en Nation support the pipeline’s construction, alongside 20 other First Nations’ band councils.

But there needs to be a recognition from all involved that a deep breath with a side of good thinking is needed, in spite of the still-untold number of economic losses arising from weeks of grain trains being cancelled and passengers unable to travel.

Perhaps some of that good thinking can consider how a relatively small group of people can threaten the country’s economy in such a direct way, and how to prevent it from happening again.

In short, the goal of protesting is to inconvenience people to gain attention for a particular cause.

According to the Office of the Wet’suwet’en, the official organization representing the hereditary chiefs, there are seven chiefs listed.

While there are varying reports on the number of hereditary chiefs (some reporting suggests as many as 13), a small group of people is demonstrating how easy it is to mobilize supporters and significantly demobilize the day-to-day lives of thousands of Canadians, including farmers nervously wondering how their grain will get shipped.

Having RCMP officers crash-and-bang away at the protestors will only bolster further support of the protestors’ actions and threatens to look Oka-esque when the historians take over.

Canadians have an opportunity to instead turn this so-called national crisis into a national epiphany by recognizing how necessary reconciliation is with First Nations’ communities.

Perhaps the First Nations fuelling the protest can in turn recognize the need for democratic decision-making and rule of law within Canada.

Genuinely listening to concerns and taking steps to address them is needed.

Also needed is acknowledgement of the cost to those who have done nothing to cause the standoff, but find themselves caught in the crossfire.

Should farmers be mad at the protestors or should their anger be focused at the governments behind the systemic injustices that give rise to these sorts of protests?

Unfortunately for farmers, they are left to suffer from the actions of both.

— D.C. Fraser writes for Glacier FarmMedia from Ottawa.

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