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Wildfire forces evacuation of Canada’s Fort McMurray

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Massive blaze sweeps through oil sands region and prompts biggest evacuation in the history of Alberta state.

wildfire

by Al Jazeera

The entire population of the Canadian city of Fort McMurray was ordered to leave their homes late on Tuesday as a massive wildfire swept through Alberta province’s oil sands region.

More than 80,000 residents were ordered to flee after an earlier evacuation order was extended to tens of thousands more people as flames continued to make their way into the city.

No casualties have been reported but damage has been extensive, with petrol stations exploding and a hotel and one of the town’s many motor home parks going up in flames, local media said.

The air over the city was thick with black smoke.

“All of Fort McMurray is under a mandatory evacuation order,” Alberta emergency services said, after previously indicating that the northern edge of the fire was “growing rapidly”.

Scott Long, of Alberta Emergency Management, said the flames had burned a number of structures, but couldn’t say how many.

The airport was still open but the hospital had to close.

Alberta Premier, Rachel Notley, said officials were doing all they could to ensure people’s safety and said they were looking into the possibility of an airlift for residents with medical issues.

“I know that it’s a very scary time,” Notley told a press conference.

“Our focus is completely and entirely right now on ensuring the safety of people, of getting them out of the city and ensuring that they are safe and secure.”

Authorities urged residents to head towards evacuation centres as the city reeled from what Notley called the province’s largest ever evacuation.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that he had called Notley to offer federal aid to the province.

“My thoughts are with people affected by the fire in Fort McMurray tonight. Stay safe and remember to follow evacuation orders,” he tweeted.

Helicopters and firefighters

Long lines of cars travelled north via the city’s main highway, while flames ravaged the embankment on the side of the road. Police closed the southbound lanes.

“Be patient, drive safely and please give way to emergency vehicles,” an evacuation notice read.

The fire, which was contained south of Fort McMurray until Monday, was pushed towards the city by 50km/hr winds and quickly reached homes, helped by a drought in Alberta.

The province saw record temperatures of nearly 30C.

The fire quickly expanded, with blazes forming in several places, forcing the city’s evacuation.

Bruce Mayer, assistant deputy minister of agriculture and forestry, said nine air tankers, a dozen helicopters and about a hundred firefighters were battling the flames, with reinforcements on the way.

Some 160 police officers were mobilised to implement the evacuation, according to Notley.

Oil companies, crucial to the region’s economy, set up emergency shelters in their huge bungalow communities for Canadian and foreign workers.

Canada to end ISIL air strikes within weeks

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Ottawa to pull jets from Syria and Iraq but instead will triple number of special forces training Iraqi Kurdish forces.

As well as training Kurdish forces, Canada will arm them with weapons such as assault rifles, machine guns and light mortars

As well as training Kurdish forces, Canada will arm them with weapons such as assault rifles, machine guns and light mortars

by Al Jazeera

Canada is to end its participation in air strikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group in Syria and Iraq within two weeks, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced.

Following up on campaign promises he made last year to withdraw Canada’s jets, Trudeau said on Monday that his country’s contribution to the fight against ISIL would be extended until the end of March 2017 – but would be “a non-combat mission”.

“It is important to understand that while air strike operations can be very useful to achieve short-term military and territorial gains, they do not on their own achieve long-term stability for local communities,” Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa.

“We will be supporting and empowering local forces to take their fight directly to ISIL so that kilometre by kilometre they can reclaim their homes, their land and their future.”

Training support

Trudeau said Canada will triple the number of special forces deployed to train Iraqi Kurdish forces on the ground over the next two years.

As well as training them, Canada will also arm the Kurdish forces with light weapons such as assault rifles, machine guns and light mortars, as well as optical systems for the weapons and ammunition.

The number of elite Canadian commandos helping to train Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in northern Iraq will also jump from 69 to 230, bringing the total of Canadian soldiers deployed in the region from about 650 to about 830.

Canada will also provide $CAD840m ($609m) in humanitarian assistance over three years, and has allocated  $270m to “build local capacity” in Jordan and Lebanon, which are hosting more than two million Syrian refugees.

While the country will pull its six CF-18 Hornet fighter jets from the bombing mission, it will keep its aircrew and support personnel for one CC-150 Polaris aerial refuelling aircraft and up to two CP-140 Aurora spy planes.

‘Step backward’

The US had asked coalition members to boost their military contributions in Iraq and Syria against ISIL after the deadly attacks in Paris in November. However, Trudeau, who was sworn in last November, had already promised to withdraw his jets during his election campaign.

Trudeau promised to put the new policy to a debate in parliament when the House of Commons resumes next week.

Rona Ambrose, leader of the official opposition and interim leader of the Conservative Party, denounced the plan to withdraw the fighter jets as “a step backwards for Canada”.

Helene Laverdiere, foreign affairs spokesperson for the left-wing New Democratic Party, said Canada should focus on stopping the flow of arms, funds and foreign fighters, including improving anti-radicalisation efforts at home.

“We are concerned that the Liberal government has chosen to place Canadian Forces personnel deeper into an open-ended combat military mission in Iraq – a mission that fails to even define what success would look like,” Laverdiere said.

US President Barak Obama “welcomed Canada’s current and new contributions to coalition efforts and highlighted Canada’s leadership in the coalition”, the White House said in a statement without specifically mentioning Canada’s decision to halt air strikes.

Canada’s opposition wins historic elections

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Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party sweeps to power, ending nearly a decade of Conservative Party rule.

Trudeau has pledged to run small budget deficits and spend on infrastructure to stimulate economic growth [Reuters]

Trudeau has pledged to run small budget deficits and spend on infrastructure to stimulate economic growth [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Justin Trudeau is set to become Canada’s new prime minister after his Liberal Party swept to power in general elections, ending nearly a decade of Conservative Party rule.

The Liberals seized a parliamentary majority, an unprecedented turn in political fortunes that smashed the record for the number of seats gained from one election to the next.

The Liberals had been a distant third place party in parliament before this election.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper conceded defeat, ending his government’s nine-year run in power and the 56-year-old’s brand of fiscal and cultural conservatism.

Trudeau, 43, the son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, pledged to run a $7.7bn annual budget deficit for three years to invest in infrastructure and help stimulate Canada’s anaemic economic growth.

This rattled financial markets ahead of the vote and the Canadian dollar weakened on news of his victory.

Trudeau has said he will repair Canada’s cool relations with the Obama administration, withdraw Canada from the combat mission against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group in favour of humanitarian aid and training, and tackle climate change.

Trudeau vaulted from third place to lead the polls in the final days of the campaign, overcoming Conservative attacks that he is too inexperienced to govern and to return to the prime minister’s residence in Ottawa where he grew up as a child.

“When the time for change strikes, it’s lethal,” former Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney said in a television interview.

“I ran and was successful because I wasn’t Pierre Trudeau. Justin is successful because he isn’t Stephen Harper,” Mulroney added.

The Conservatives were projected to become the official opposition in parliament, with the left-leaning New Democratic Party in third.

Liberal supporters at the party’s campaign headquarters broke into cheers and whistles when television networks projected that Trudeau would be the next prime minister.

“A sea of change here. We are used to high tides in Atlantic Canada. This is not what we hoped for,” said Peter MacKay, a former senior Conservative cabinet minister.

The 11-week campaign was considered too close to call for nearly two months, a virtual tie between the Conservatives, Liberals and left-leaning NDP.

Trudeau, who took over a party in shambles in 2013, trailed early in the campaign, brushed off by his opponents as being more style than substance and an intellectual lightweight who was not ready for the job.

But a bold pledge to run a budget deficit and boost spending to spur the economy, as well as a positive message and his gregarious nature, helped the Liberals engineer a turnaround.

Up to 26.4 million electorates were eligible to vote in 338 electoral districts. About 3.6 million had already cast a ballot in advance voting a week ago.

Amid the issues raised during the campaign was a record influx of refugees fleeing war in Syria, a court ruling quashing a veil ban and a recession – crises that gave Canadians a chance to assess parties’ reactions in near-real time.

Scientists from Japan, Canada win Nobel Prize in Physics

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Takaaki Kajita Arthur B McDonald

by Don Melvin, CNN

London: Two scientists have won the Nobel Prize in Physics for their groundbreaking work showing that neutrinos — electrically neutral subatomic particles — have mass, contrary to what had been thought.

The prize was awarded to Takaaki Kajita and Arthur B. McDonald, the Nobel Committee said Tuesday, “for the discovery of neutrino oscillations, which shows that neutrinos have mass.”

Kajita works at the University of Tokyo, in Kashiwa, Japan. McDonald works at Queen’s University, in Kingston, Canada.

The Nobel Committee said the discovery — arcane to nonscientists — has changed our understanding of matter, and may yet change our view of the universe.

“The Nobel Prize in Physics 2015 recognizes Takaaki Kajita in Japan and Arthur B. McDonald in Canada, for their key contributions to the experiments which demonstrated that neutrinos change identities,” the Nobel Committee’s statement said. “This metamorphosis requires that neutrinos have mass. The discovery has changed our understanding of the innermost workings of matter and can prove crucial to our view of the universe.”

A neutrino is “an elementary particle which holds no electrical charge, travels at nearly the speed of light, and passes through ordinary matter with virtually no interaction,” according to the physics.about.com website.

Scientists say that neutrinos, because they interact weakly with other particles, can probe environments that other kinds of energy, such as light or radio waves, cannot penetrate.

Last year’s Nobel winners in physics were two scientists in Japan and one at the University of California, Santa Barbara for helping create the LED light, a transformational and ubiquitous source that now lights up everything from our living rooms to our flashlights to our smart phones.

Since 1901, the committee has handed out the Nobel Prize in Physics 108 times. The youngest recipient was Lawrence Bragg, who won in 1915 at the age of 25. The oldest physics laureate was Raymond Davis Jr., who was 88 years old when he was awarded the prize in 2002.

John Bardeen was the only physicist to receive the prize twice, for work in semiconductors and superconductivity.

In the coming days, the Nobel committee also will announce prizes in chemistry, literature, peace and economics.

On Monday, three scientists shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine for their work on parasitic diseases.

Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel created the prizes in 1895 to honor work in physics, chemistry, literature and peace. The economics prize, established in 1968 as a memorial to Nobel, was first awarded in 1969.

Drowned Syrian toddler was denied asylum in Canada: report

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A Turkish police officer carries a young boy who drowned in a failed attempt to sail to the Greek island of Kos. Photograph: Reuters

A Turkish police officer carries a young boy who drowned in a failed attempt to sail to the Greek island of Kos. Photograph: Reuters

by Tamar Pileggi, The Times of Israel

The toddler whose body washed up on a Turkish beach Wednesday was a Syrian-Kurdish refugee whose family was desperately trying to reach North America, even though Canada had rejected their request for asylum.

The image of a policeman cradling the body of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi on a Turkish beach has triggered horrified reactions as the tragedy of Europe’s burgeoning refugee crisis hits home.

Another 15 people were rescued from the boat, including the father of the family, Abdullah. According to the report, he said he now wishes to return to bury his family in their hometown.

Canadian legislator Fin Donnelly told The Canadian Press that a Vancouver-area woman had sought to sponsor the mother and two children but that her request was turned down by immigration officials.

The Ottowa Citizen quotes Aylan’s aunt, who immigrated to Vancouver over two decades ago, as saying that the Kurdi family’s privately funded refugee application had been rejected by Canadian Citizenship and Immigration Department in June, due to the catch 22-like dilemma displaced Syrians face.

Like thousands of other refugees in Turkey, they were not registered as refugees by the UN refugee agency, and the Turkish government does not to grant exit visas to unregistered refugees without valid passports.

“I was trying to sponsor them, and I have my friends and my neighbors who helped me with the bank deposits, but we couldn’t get them out, and that is why they went in the boat. I was even paying rent for them in Turkey, but it is horrible the way they treat Syrians there,” Teema Kurdi said.

Aylan and his family were traveling on a tiny boat built for four people but thought to have been carrying 15 refugees. The family is believed to be from the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani to have fled to Turkey last year to escape Islamic State extremists.

While the escalating migrant crisis has exposed deep divisions in the EU’s policy, the plight of Syrian refugees took center stage on the Canadian campaign trail this week, with Prime Minister Stephen Harper insisting that he would do more to help if his Tories are re-elected.

Harper has come under fire for not welcoming more Syrians fleeing their country’s deadly conflict. Canada agreed to resettle 20,000 refugees, but, as of late July, had only welcomed 1,002, according to government figures.

“As long as we have organizations like ISIS or the so-called Islamic State, creating literally millions of refugees and threatening to slaughter people all over the world, there is no solution to that through refugee policy,” Harper said. “We have to take a firm and military stance against ISIS and that’s what we’re doing.”

Canada joined the US-led coalition fighting the extremist group in November 2014, adding airstrikes on targets in Syria the following year.

Canadian government charged with 'cultural genocide' over indigenous schools

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Truth and Reconciliation Commission report says historic government program was central in plan to ‘eliminate aboriginal people as distinct peoples’

Residential school children students in a typical classroom. An estimated 6,0000 of Canada’s indigenous children died in residential schools that failed to keep them safe from fires, protected from abusers, and healthy from deadly disease, a Commission report found. (Photo: Anglican Church Archives)

Residential school children students in a typical classroom. An estimated 6,0000 of Canada’s indigenous children died in residential schools that failed to keep them safe from fires, protected from abusers, and healthy from deadly disease, a Commission report found. (Photo: Anglican Church Archives)

by Lauren McCauley, Common Dreams

The Canadian government’s historic practice of forcibly removing Indigenous youth from their homes and sending them to “residential schools”—where tens of thousands were subjected to abuse, malnutrition, substandard education, illness, and often death—amounts to nothing short of “cultural genocide,” charged the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which on Tuesday released its years-long investigation into the program.

The culmination of six years of research and 6,750 survivor and witness statements, the report argues that the Canadian government operated the school program with the explicit purpose of breaking children’s link “to their culture and identity,” and describes a “lonely and alien” existence, where students’ native languages and practices were suppressed and neglect and abuse were common.According to the report:

Buildings were poorly located, poorly built, and poorly maintained. The staff was limited in numbers, often poorly trained, and not adequately supervised. Many schools were poorly heated and poorly ventilated, and the diet was meager and of poor quality. Discipline was harsh, and daily life was highly regimented. Aboriginal languages and cultures were denigrated and suppressed. The educational goals of the schools were limited and confused, and usually reflected a low regard for the intellectual capabilities of Aboriginal people. For the students, education and technical training too often gave way to the drudgery of doing the chores necessary to make the schools self-sustaining. Child neglect was institutionalized, and the lack of supervision created situations where students were prey to sexual and physical abusers.

“These measures were part of a coherent policy to eliminate Aboriginal people as distinct peoples and to assimilate them into the Canadian mainstream against their will,” the report states. Further, the Commission argues that the government “pursued this policy of cultural genocide because it wished to divest itself of its legal and financial obligations to aboriginal people and gain control over their land and resources.”

Over the course of 150 years, an estimated 150,000 Indigenous children spent time in roughly 80 residential schools throughout the country. Approximately 80,000 survivors are still alive today.

The Commission lays out 94 calls for action, which it says are the “first steps” toward addressing the legacy of injustice and advancing the process of reconciliation.

Among the recommendations are efforts to protect child welfare, preserve language and culture, promote legal equity, and strengthen information on missing children. The report also emphasizes the important role that education can have in the healing process and calls for Canadian governments to work towards eliminating the education gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children, as well as develop curriculum on residential schools.

“The children who attended these schools were severely punished for practicing their cultural ceremonies, for speaking their family’s language,” said TRC Commissioner Dr. Marie Wilson. “Reconciliation rests on building aboriginal culture back up, and preserving the languages and ceremonies that the schools tried to eliminate.”

The report also calls on governments across Canada to adopt and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (pdf), which the Commission says will also help achieve successful reconciliation.

“One hundred years from now, our children’s children and their children must know and still remember this history, because they will inherit from us the responsibility of ensuring that it never happens again,” the report says.

The TRC was established in 2007 as a result of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.

Omar Khadr, former child prisoner at Gitmo, granted bail

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Once the youngest detainee at Guantanamo Bay, 28-year-old Canadian-born Khadr will be allowed to leave prison after 13 years

Canadian-born Khadr was taken to Afghanistan by his father, a senior al Qaeda member who apprenticed the boy to a group of bomb makers who opened fire when U.S. troops came to their compound. Khadr was captured in the firefight, during which he was blinded in one eye and shot twice. (Photo: freeomar.ca)

Canadian-born Khadr was taken to Afghanistan by his father, a senior al Qaeda member who apprenticed the boy to a group of bomb makers who opened fire when U.S. troops came to their compound. Khadr was captured in the firefight, during which he was blinded in one eye and shot twice. (Photo: freeomar.ca)

by Nadia Prupis, Common Dreams

Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen who was 15 when he was shot and captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan in 2002 and sent to Guantanamo Bay, was granted bail on Thursday after a judge in Alberta rejected a final effort by the Canadian government to keep Khadr in jail.

Court of Appeal Justice Myra Bielby granted the bail after announcing on Tuesday that she would need more time to make a decision on whether to release Khadr, now 28, as he appeals his Guantanamo Bay conviction.

The courtroom reportedly burst into cheers after Bielby announced her decision and said, “Mr. Khadr, you’re free to go.”

A lower court judge granted Khadr bail last month.

Toronto-born Khadr spent a decade in Guantanamo Bay after his capture. At 15, he was once the youngest detainee at the prison.

Khadr pleaded guilty in 2010 to killing an American soldier in Afghanistan eight years earlier, as part of a deal that would allow him to avoid a war crimes trial and be moved to a Canadian prison. He later recanted that admission, saying that it had been made under duress. Khadr said that he was tortured during numerous interrogations at Guantanamo Bay and the U.S.-operated Bagram Prison in Afghanistan, where he was briefly imprisoned before being sent to Cuba.

According to Reuters: “Khadr claims that during at least 142 interrogations in Afghanistan and Guantanamo, he was beaten, chained in painful positions, forced to urinate on himself, terrorized by barking dogs, subjected to flashing lights and sleep deprivation and threatened with rape.”

The Associated Press reported:

Khadr’s long-time lawyer Dennis Edney and wife have offered to take him into their home. Among the bail conditions imposed were that Khadr wear a tracking bracelet, live with the Edneys, observe a curfew between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., and have only supervised access to the Internet. Also, he can communicate with his family in Ontario only while under supervision and only in English.

“He’s met very few people outside a jail cell,” said Nate Whitling, one of Khadr’s lawyers.

“It’s going to be a major adjustment for him, but I’m sure he’s up for it.”

Canadian judge grants freedom to Omar Khadr, once held as child at Gitmo

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The Canadian government, which news outlets note ‘has consistently opposed any effort to free the one-time child soldier,’ said it would appeal the decision.

Canadian-born Khadr was taken to Afghanistan by his father, a senior al Qaeda member who apprenticed the boy to a group of bomb makers who opened fire when U.S. troops came to their compound. Khadr was captured in the firefight, during which he was blinded in one eye and shot twice. (Photo: freeomar.ca)

Canadian-born Khadr was taken to Afghanistan by his father, a senior al Qaeda member who apprenticed the boy to a group of bomb makers who opened fire when U.S. troops came to their compound. Khadr was captured in the firefight, during which he was blinded in one eye and shot twice. (Photo: freeomar.ca)

by Deirdre Fulton, Common Dreams

At long last, a Canadian judge has granted bail to Omar Khadr, who was just 15 years old when he was shot and captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan in 2002, and who subsequently became the youngest detainee in Guantanamo Bay prison.

According to the Toronto Star, Alberta Justice June Ross released her 23-page verdict Friday, a month after Khadr, now 28, appeared in an Edmonton court appealing for bail while his Guantanamo conviction is being challenged in a Washington, D.C. court.

The Canadian government, which Reuters notes “has consistently opposed any effort to free the one-time child soldier,” said it would appeal the decision.

Commenting after the decision, one of Khadr’s attorneys Nathan Whitling said, “Omar is fortunate to be back in Canada where we have real courts and real laws.”

And Maher Arar, a fellow Canadian whose case also galvanized human rights groups worldwide, tweeted of the verdict:

Sent as a teenager from the detention center at Bagram U.S. air base in Afghanistan to Guantanamo Bay naval base in 2002, Khadr has said he was severely mistreated at both facilities.

According to Reuters: “Khadr claims that during at least 142 interrogations in Afghanistan and Guantanamo, he was beaten, chained in painful positions, forced to urinate on himself, terrorized by barking dogs, subjected to flashing lights and sleep deprivation and threatened with rape.”

In 2010, Khadr pleaded guilty to killing an American soldier while he was a young teenager as part of a deal that allowed him to avoid a war crimes trial. He later recanted the admission. The plea agreement also made it possible for him to be moved from Guantanamo to a Canadian prison in 2012.

Upon his transfer to Canada, Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) legal director Baher Azmy said in a statement:

Khadr never should have been brought to Guantanamo. He was a child of fifteen at the time he was captured, and his subsequent detention and prosecution for purported war crimes was unlawful, as was his torture by U.S. officials.

Like several other boys held at Guantanamo, some as young as twelve years old, Khadr lost much of his childhood. Canada should not perpetuate the abuse he endured in one of the world’s most notorious prisons. Instead, Canada should release him immediately and provide him with appropriate counseling, education, and assistance in transitioning to a normal life.

Khadr’s lawyers have said that at his appeal in the United States, “the defense will argue that Khadr is not guilty of a war crime, and only made his admissions under extreme duress,” CBC News reports.

The Canadian Press has a full timeline of Khadr’s legal saga. The conditions of Khadr’s release will be set May 5, 2015.

Protesters at Vancouver mark endnote for Modi's visit

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Vancouver_Protest-Modi

Vancouver: Slogan-shouting and placard-waving protesters greeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday at Canada’s oldest gurdwara in Vancouver and a temple, the only sore points during a three-nation tour which resulted in ground-breaking agreements across several vital sectors.

The protests outside the Ross Street gurdwara and also the Laxminarayan temple in Surrey saw people from different communities raising issues ranging from secularism to the 2002 Gujarat riots.

The 500-odd protestors, some armed with bullhorns, claimed to represent various Indian religious groups, and held up placards relating to the 2002 Gujarat riots, which took place when Modi was the chief minister of the state.

Slogans like “Modi, Go Back” rent the air though the protest was peaceful amidst heavy police deployment and road blocks.

Some among the protesters were objecting to the presence of Canadian PM Stephen Harper for a new anti-terror law that gives sweeping powers to the police and security agencies.

Modi prayed at the gurdwara and also remembered the 1914 Komagata Maru incident when Canada did not let in hundreds of Sikhs, a community acknowledged as a major contributor to the country’s economy today.

“The Sikh community has worked hard and has earned the respect of the people of Canada. India is respected in Canada and this is due to your efforts. Wherever we are, let us do things that bring pride to our nation,” Modi said while addressing devotees at the Khalsa Diwan gurdwara.

Later, Modi and Harper were gifted Sikh ceremonial swords by the gurdwara committee.

“This is a very significant visit. Modi is the third Indian prime minister to come here, after Jawaharlal Nehru in 1949 and Indira Gandhi in 1973,” Khalsa Diwan society president Sohan Singh Deo said.

Modi’s trip to Canada is the first bilateral visit by an Indian prime minister in 42 years.

Later, the two leaders went to the Laxminarayan temple, where the number of the protestors grew as Surrey has a sizable South Asian population.

The protests evoked sharp response from supporters of Modi who chanted “Modi, Modi” while waving flags of India and Canada.

The Prime Minister also prayed at the temple, with the priest applying tika on his forehead.

“I bring greetings from 1.2 billion Indians to the 1.2 million Indians living in Canada. In India, the Supreme Court gave a superb definition for Hinduism: they said that it is not a religion but a way of life: how to live in synchrony with nature,” the Prime Minister said.

The official Twitter account of the Prime Minister’s Office said he also bowed in remembrance to the 1914 Komagata Maru incident, where hundreds of Sikh passengers were not allowed to alight on Canadian soil due to their Asian origin.

The Komagata Maru was a Japanese steamship, which was sailing from Hong Kong to Vancouver with 376 passengers from Punjab on board, a majority of whom were Sikhs. Only 24 were admitted to Canada, while the rest were forced to return to India.

Modi wrapped up his engagements in Canada with a state banquet hosted by the Canadian Prime Minister.

Talking business

Earlier, top executives at Canada’s largest banks, insurers and pension funds sounded bullish over investing in India after meeting Modi who held a roundtable with the heads of major Canadian financial institutions in Toronto.

Modi said he understood the need for consistency in regulation and that India has learnt from its past missteps.

The message resonated with Canadian business heads, some of whose firms have already lined up, or raised funds to invest in India.

“It’s great to see a leader who’s focused on reducing red tape, reducing roadblocks, and encouraging development,” said Dean Connor, chief executive of insurer Sun Life Financial Inc that has had a presence in India for over 15 years.

Connor, noting that Modi clearly expressed that his government would not pursue retrospective application of tax rules, which has been a problematic issue for investors in the past.

Scotiabank CEO Brian Porter felt India had “great growth potential” and have been “encouraged by the significant reforms Prime Minister Modi has achieved less than one year after taking office.”

(Agencies)

India defeat Canada 5-3 in Azlan Shah

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india-hockey-azlan-shah

Ipoh: The Indian hockey team finally managed their first win of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup, defeating Canada 5-3 at the Azlan Shah Stadium here on Thursday.

The first quarter saw fights for ball possession but India grabbed their opportunities to open their account. Drag-flicker Rupinder Pal Singh made full use of his penalty corner chance and converted in the 13th minute. Canada earned two penalty corners but failed to capitalise on them.

Making some swift moves, India earned another penalty corner but wasted it as Rupinder hit the ball way above the net.

With the change of sides and just two minutes into the third quarter, V.R. Raghunath converted a penalty corner (32nd minute) to double the lead.

By this time Canada started making some desperate attempts and their efforts finally bore fruit when Oliver Scholfield (43rd) scored.

The last quarter rained goals. Within two minutes of the restart, India extended their lead to 4-1 as Ramandeep Singh scored a brace (46th, 47th). Canada bounced back when Jagdish Gill converted a penalty corner in the 49th minute.

Only a few seconds later, India retaliated with Satbir Singh scoring a field goal. Canada added another goal to their tally as David Jameson made no mistake in netting the ball in the 52nd minute.

With both the teams unable to add any further goals, India won 5-3.

India, who are already out of the title race, will play their final league match against reigning World Champions Australia on Saturday.

They had earlier drawn 2-2 against South Korea, lost 1-2 to New Zealand and gone down 2-3 to Malaysia.

(IANS)

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