In The News is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to kickstart your day. Here is what's on the radar of our editors for the morning of Feb. 17 ...
What we are watching in Canada ...
A federal commission is to report today on the Liberal government's use of the Emergencies Act against protests that paralyzed the streets around Parliament Hill and jammed several Canadian border points early last year.
Justice Paul Rouleau's report will address whether the government's emergency declaration was justified and make recommendations likely to spark lively debate about how to update the legislation.
The Public Order Emergency Commission report, to be tabled in Parliament, draws on about 300 hours of testimony and some 9,000 documents entered into evidence over seven weeks.
The inquiry heard from more than 100 witnesses, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and several other cabinet members, senior bureaucrats, protest participants, police, and City of Ottawa officials.
Rouleau's keenly anticipated findings are the culmination of a mandatory review that takes place after invocation of the Emergencies Act, which replaced the War Measures Act in 1988.
Trudeau told reporters Thursday evening that he doesn't expect the findings to change his government's credibility with the public.
"For a lot of Canadians, the credibility of government, the credibility of institutions, relied on us being able to assure the free flow of goods across our borders, the ability for citizens to go home or go to work unimpeded by illegal protests and occupations," he said in the Bahamas.
One year ago, downtown Ottawa was filled with protesters, many in large trucks that rolled into town beginning in late January. Ostensibly a demonstration against COVID-19 health restrictions, the gathering attracted people with a variety of grievances against Trudeau and his government.
---
Also this ...
A Ukrainian mother in Warsaw says the government gave her permission to come to Canada seek refuge from the war months ago, but she is still waiting to find out if her six-year-old son will be allowed into the country.
Iryna Mishyna left Ukraine after Russia invaded the country almost one year ago with her son Nikita.
Last summer she applied for an emergency immigration program that allows Ukrainians and their families to come to work in Canada for three years while they wait out the war, and she had her visa by September.
But after six months, Nikita is among the nearly 279,000 Ukrainians who are waiting for a response.
The founder of Pathfinders for Ukraine, Randall Baran-Chong, says he's heard of other mothers in the same situation, and some of them applied as far back as March and April.
Mishyna feels lucky to have an apartment and a job in Poland, but says some families are not so fortunate.
---
What we are watching in the U.S. ...
MEMPHIS, Tenn. _ Five former Memphis police officers were scheduled to make their first court appearance Friday on murder and other charges in the violent arrest and death of Tyre Nichols.
Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Desmond Mills Jr., Emmitt Martin III, Justin Smith and their lawyers were expected to appear before a judge in Shelby County Criminal Court. The officers were fired after an internal Memphis Police Department investigation into the Jan. 7 arrest of Nichols, who died in a hospital three days later.
In addition to second-degree murder, the officers also have been charged with aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression. They are all out on bond.
Nichols' death is the latest police killing to prompt countrywide protests and an intense public discussion about police brutality. Nichols, 29, was Black. All five officers charged in his death also are Black.
Nichols was stopped for an alleged traffic violation and pulled out of his car by officers who used profanity, with at least one brandishing a gun, records showed. An officer hit Nichols with a stun gun, but Nichols ran away toward his nearby home, according to video released by the city.
Officers who were part of a crime-suppression team known as the Scorpion unit caught up with Nichols and punched, kicked and slugged him with a baton as he yelled for his mother.
After the beating, officers stood by and talked with one another as Nichols struggled with his injuries on the ground, video showed. One officer took photos of Nichols as he was propped up against an unmarked police car, according to video and records. Nichols was taken to a hospital in an ambulance that left the scene of the beating 27 minutes after emergency medical technicians arrived, authorities said.
Police said Nichols had been suspected of reckless driving, but no verified evidence of a traffic violation has emerged in public documents or in video images. Memphis Police Director Cerelyn "CJ'' Davis has said she has seen no evidence justifying the stop or the officers' response. She disbanded the Scorpion unit, which she created in November 2021, after Nichols' death.
---
What we are watching in the rest of the world ...
SEOUL, South Korea _ South Korean and United States militaries will hold a tabletop exercise at the Pentagon next week to hone their joint response to a potential use of nuclear weapons by North Korea, Seoul officials said Friday.
The one-day computer simulation set for Wednesday comes as the two countries push to strengthen their 70-year alliance in the face of North Korea's increasingly aggressive nuclear doctrine.
The exercise is meant to focus on measures against North Korean nuclear threats and discuss how to boost a U.S. extended deterrence _ America's ability to use its full capabilities, including nuclear, to deter attacks on its allies, South Korea's Defense Ministry said in a statement.
It said the exercise would set up possible scenarios where North Korea uses nuclear weapons, explore how to cope with them militarily and formulate crisis management plans.
Worries about North Korea's nuclear program deepened in South Korea after the North conducted a record number of missile tests in 2022 and adopted a law that authorizes the pre-emptive use of nuclear weapons. Many of the missiles tested were nuclear-capable weapons that place South Korea within striking distance.
In response to the intensifying North Korean threats, South Korea and U.S. militaries have expanded their joint drills and stepped up pressure on the North to abandon its nuclear program. In January, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that the U.S. would also increase its deployment of advanced weapons such as fighter jets and bombers to the Korean Peninsula.
During their annual meeting in November, Austin and South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-Sup also agreed to conduct tabletop exercises annually and further strengthen the alliance's information sharing, joint planning and execution. Austin reiterated a warning that any nuclear attack against the U.S. or its allies would result in the end of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's regime.
North Korea has previously slammed military drills between its rivals as an invasion rehearsal and responded with its own weapons tests, and could make an angry response to next week's South Korea-U.S. tabletop exercise.
Some experts say North Korea has used some of the South Korea-U.S. drills as a chance to test and perfect its weapons systems. They say North Korea would eventually aim to use its enlarged nuclear arsenal to win international recognition as a legitimate nuclear state and win sanctions relief and other concessions.
---
On this day in 2000 ...
The federal government scrapped the $1,000 bill, saying it was used mainly for money laundering.
---
In entertainment ...
NEW YORK _ Nearly a year after Bruce Willis' family announced that he would step away from acting after being diagnosed with aphasia, his family says his "condition has progressed.''
In a statement posted Thursday, the 67-year-old actor's family said Willis has a more specific diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia.
"While this is painful, it is a relief to finally have a clear diagnosis,'' the statement read. "FTD is a cruel disease that many of us have never heard of and can strike anyone.''
Last March, Willis' family said his aphasia had affected his cognitive abilities. The condition causes loss of the ability to understand or express speech.
In Thursday's statement, his family said communication challenges were just one symptom of frontotemporal dementia.
The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration describes FTD as a group of brain disorders caused by degeneration of the frontal and/or temporal lobes of the brain that affects behaviour, language and movement. Aphasia can be a symptom of it. The association describes frontotemporal degeneration as "an inevitable decline in functioning,'' with an average life expectancy of seven to 13 years after the onset of symptoms.
"Today there are no treatments for the disease, a reality that we hope can change in the years ahead,'' the family's statement read, adding that it can take years to get a proper diagnosis. "As Bruce's condition advances, we hope that any media attention can be focused on shining a light on this disease that needs far more awareness and research.''
The statement was posted on the website for the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration and signed by Willis' wife, Emma Heming Willis, his ex-wife Demi Moore, and his five children, Rumer, Scout, Tallulah, Mabel and Evelyn.
Over a four-decade career, Willis' movies had earned more than $5 billion at the worldwide box office. While beloved for hits like "Die Hard'' and "The Sixth Sense,'' the prolific actor had in recent years primarily featured in direct-to-video thrillers.
---
Did you see this?
One of just four endangered spotted owls known to be in the wild in British Columbia is now recovering from an injury after being found along some train tracks.
Jasmine McCulligh, the facility coordinator for theNorthern Spotted Owl breeding program, says the bird had been released last August along with two others in forests near the Spuzzum First Nation, about 200 kilometres northeast of Vancouver.
She says they believe the owl may have hit a train and it had a broken wing and a scratched eye but is recovering at the breeding centre.
McCulligh says the provincial government is consulting with First Nations, although there is no official timeline for when or if the injured owl will be returned to the wild.
She says the other two owls are doing well.
All three of the freed birds are male and were released in the same area as a lone female that experts know is in the woods.
Protection of spotted owls has fuelled decades-long disputes between environmental groups and the forest industry as the bird's future is often tied to saving old-growth forests where they live.
---
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 17, 2023.
The Canadian Press
