SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
quebec
'The Pyrocene Is Well and Truly Here': Climate Crisis Made Eastern Canada's Fires 2 Times More Likely
Seasons like this one will only become more likely and intense if policymakers allow global temperatures to rise by 2°C above preindustrial levels.
Aug 23, 2023
The hot, dry conditions that fueled eastern Canada's unprecedented wildfire season were made at least two times more likely by the climate crisis, the latest study from World Weather Attribution has found.
The study, published Tuesday, also found that, by the end of July, Quebec's fire season was 50% more intense than it would have been without the human-generated release of greenhouse gas emissions.
"The Pyrocene is well and truly here, thanks to our continued burning of fossil fuels," study co-author and Imperial College London physicist Friederike Otto tweeted.
Canada's wildfire season has been the worst on the record books since late June, but the weather conditions that fueled it began the month before. The entire May to July period was the nation's warmest since 1940, according to World Weather Attribution (WWA). As of August 16, the Canadian government calculated that 5,753 fires had ignited to burn a total of 13.7 million hectares—that's 123% more fires and 602% more land burned than normal.
The fires have had a devastating impact on human communities, killing at least 17 people, damaging at least 200 buildings, and forcing more than 150,000 to flee their homes, WWA said in a statement.
"The wildfires had disproportionate impacts on Indigenous, fly-in, and other remote communities who were particularly vulnerable due to lack of services and barriers to response interventions," WWA wrote.
"Now we are able to put the number or an estimate on to what extent those conditions that we have seen this year are caused actually by climate change—and the numbers are very high."
The dangerous smoke from all this combustion has menaced the air quality in cities from Ottawa and Toronto to Washington, D.C. and New York City, where pollution neared a record June 7 with an air quality index of 341.
"The consequences from the wildfires reached far beyond the burned areas with displaced impacts due to air pollution threatening health, mobility, and economic activities of people across North America," WWA added.
For the study, the Canada-, U.K.- and Netherlands-based team looked specifically at the fires in eastern Canada, which were particularly abnormal and contributed the most to the smoke that drifted down over the U.S. East Coast and Midwest. They studied the daily severity rating, which defines how hard it is to put out a particular fire. To establish how extreme the season was at its peak, they also looked at the year's highest seven-day moving average of the fire weather index.
"Climate change made the cumulative severity of Quebec's 2023 fire season to the end of July around 50% more intense, and seasons of this severity at least seven times more likely to occur," the study authors concluded.
They also found that this peak fire weather was at least twice as likely and around 20% more intense.
Yan Boulanger, one of the study authors who works as a research scientist for Natural Resources Canada, told CBC News that the results were "shocking."
"We know that those extreme fire-prone weather conditions are occurring more frequently," he said. "Now we are able to put the number or an estimate on to what extent those conditions that we have seen this year are caused actually by climate change—and the numbers are very high."
The study authors also found that seasons like this one will only become more likely and intense if policymakers allow global temperatures to rise by 2°C above preindustrial levels.
"Until we stop burning fossil fuels, the number of wildfires will continue to increase, burning larger areas for longer periods of time," Otto toldThe Guardian.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Quebec Premier Vows Health Tax for the Unvaxxed
"We heavily tax cigarettes and alcohol," said one Canadian doctor. "So makes sense."
Jan 12, 2022
As the Omicron-driven surge in coronavirus infections strains their nation's healthcare resources, Canadian progressives are balancing urgent public health concerns with respect for civil liberties after the province of Quebec said Tuesday that it would begin levying fines on residents who refuse Covid-19 vaccinations.
"I think the government has still not exhausted other alternatives that are more equitable and more fair."
CBC reports Quebec Premier Francois Legault announced that "adults who refuse to be vaccinated for non-medical reasons" will be hit with a "health contribution" of an indeterminate but significant amount--believed to be more than $50-$100--after the policy is set "in the coming weeks."
"These people, they put a very important burden on our health-care network," Legault said of the unvaccinated. "I think it's reasonable a majority of the population is asking that there be consequences."
The Canadian Medical Association responded to Legault's announcement by tweeting"the measures announced today in Quebec demonstrate how precarious the situation is. Get the vaccine. It is still the best tool we have in our arsenal."
Around 90% of Quebecers have received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccination.
\u201cWe heavily tax cigarettes and alcohol... So makes sense... https://t.co/7SbTNmjlIM\u201d— James Heilman, MD \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@James Heilman, MD \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1641960096
There is, however, pushback against the punitive policy among civil libertarians in terms of the way such a penalty could impact divergent segments of those choosing to remain unvaccinated.
Universite de Montreal bioethics professor Vardit Ravitsky noted that a flat penalty--a regressive tax, in other words--"that targets all these groups the same... has a harder time respecting the principle of equity and justice compared to other measures the government could choose."
Unlike other parts of the world, like the 27-nation European Union, "we still have not implemented vaccine passports for all non-essential services," she told CBC.
\u201c.@VarditRavitsky says equity is an ethical concern when it comes to a tax on the unvaccinated: \u201cIt's not that I have issues with increasing the pressure on those who are not vaccinated ... but I think the government still has not exhausted other alternatives.\u201d\u201d— Power & Politics (@Power & Politics) 1641947290
Ravitsky addressed the equity issue during a Tuesday interview on CBC's "Politics & Power" program.
She said that "$100, $500, may not be a terrible price to pay for you or I, but for some families, it's a huge amount of money."
"It's not that I have issues with increasing the pressure on those who are not vaccinated by choice to go get the vaccine," Ravitsky clarified. " But I think the government has still not exhausted other alternatives that are more equitable and more fair."
Cara Zwibel, director of the fundamental freedoms program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association--which opposes the tax--says the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects individual bodily and medical autonomy.
"Allowing the government to levy fines on those who do not agree with the government's recommended medical treatment is a deeply troubling proposition," she told CBC, calling the tax "divisive and constitutionally vulnerable."
\u201cNEW: Statement from the CCLA on the @GouvQc's proposed health tax \ud83d\udc47\ud83d\udc47\n\n(via @CaraZwibel) \n\n#cdnpoli #AssNat\u201d— Canadian Civil Liberties Association (@Canadian Civil Liberties Association) 1641953962
The new policy comes as coronavirus infections have thinned the ranks of Quebec's public health personnel, with CBC reporting some hospitals have canceled up to 80% of non-urgent and semi-urgent surgeries so that staff can care for Covid-19 patients.
Julius Grey, a Montreal-based constitutional and human rights attorney, told Global News that the proposed penalty could be contested in court.
"Discriminatory taxes can be challenged but I'm not sure that's what this is," he said. "What Premier Francois Legault is trying to do is make vaccination obligatory."
On one hand, the government could argue that the benefits of fighting the Covid-19 pandemic--which is threatening to overwhelm the healthcare system--outweigh concerns over the erosion of individual liberty.
"On the other hand," said Grey, "people would say this is very serious violation of the Charter. It touches your personal integrity, physical integrity, by doing things to people they are not willing to have done."
Some European nations levy fines on people who refuse to submit to Covid-19 vaccination.
Austria currently imposes the most severe penalties--up to EUR3,600, or about $4,115--for unvaccinated people over age 14.
Greece has enacted a EUR100 ($115) monthly fine for unvaccinated people older than 60.
In Italy, people age 50 and older face fines as high as EUR1,600 ($1,830) if they enter their workplace while unvaccinated.
These measures come as the highly contagious Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is driving an unprecedented surge in Covid-19 cases in many nations.
According to Johns Hopkins University's Coronavirus Resource Center, there were more than 17.1 million new reported infections worldwide on January 9, a nearly 300% increase from about a month ago. Over that same period, daily reported deaths around the world have declined by about 20%.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Remembering the Islamophobic Attack on Quebec City Mosque: Why Have So Many Canadians Forgotten?
The willful denial of anti-Muslim racism secures and maintains this national amnesia surrounding the 2017 Québec mosque massacre.
Jan 29, 2021
On January 29, 2017, six Muslim men were shot dead in a Quebec City mosque. An armed white nationalist terrorist went on a shooting rampage in the Islamic Cultural Centre in Laval, Quebec, just after evening prayers. It remains the worst mass murder in a house of worship in Canada's history.
A halal grocery store owner, a professor at Universite Laval, three civil servants and a pharmacy worker were slain by Alexandre Bissonnette. These men originally came from Morocco, Algeria and Guinea. The murder victims were: Ibrahima Barry, 39; Mamadou Tanou Barry, 42; Khaled Belkacemi, 60; Aboubaker Thabti, 44; Abdelkrim Hassane, 41; and Azzedine Soufiane; 57. Nineteen other worshippers were injured, including Aymen Derbali, who was paralyzed in an attempt to stop Bissonnette.
The federal government has now announced that January 29 will become a National Day of Remembrance for the victims of the mosque attack and that it will be used to promote action against Islamophobia.
This unprecedented act of violence has fallen prey to willful forgetting and national amnesia rather than being a part of our collective remembrance and commemoration as a nation.
Bissonnette had browsed websites linked to white nationalist ideologues. He also made more than 800 online searches of U.S. President Donald Trump. Bissonnette later confessed to police that he had been motivated by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's message of welcome to refugees following Trump's travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries.
Bissonnette was sentenced to 40 years with no parole. The sentence angered Quebec's Muslim community, which sought a harsher penalty. The Quebec Court of Appeal recently ruled that Bissonnette's sentence violated Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms and would subject him to "cruel and unusual" punishment. He will now be eligible for parole in 25 years.
The court's decision prioritized the rights of the perpetrator over justice for the victims, adding further insult to injury.
National amnesia
The documentary "The Mosque: A Community's Struggle" shares the stories of the survivors, victim's families and the local community. Some of those interviewed spoke of how they felt "forgotten," especially by the government and politicians, in the aftermath of this tragedy. This unprecedented act of violence has fallen prey to willful forgetting and national amnesia rather than being a part of our collective remembrance and commemoration as a nation.
Using the hashtag #IRememberJanuary29, the Canadian Muslim Forum (FMC-CMF) and Canadians for Peace and Justice in the Middle East (CJPME) launched a campaign for the federal government to recognize January 29 as a National Day of Remembrance and Action on Islamophobia and other forms of religious discrimination. In addition, more than 70 Muslim organizations and dozens of community partners called upon the federal government to commemorate the attack.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault rejected a proposal to have January 29 declared a Day of Action Against Islamophobia, saying there was "no Islamophobia in Quebec." He later backtracked by qualifying that discrimination exists but is not widespread. Statistics Canada found that hate crimes against Muslims in Quebec tripled to 117 in 2017 from 41 in 2016.
Montreal Imam Hassan Guillet characterized Legault's comments as "voluntary blindness." The willful denial of Islamophobia and anti-Muslim racism secures and maintains this national amnesia surrounding the Quebec mosque massacre.
Canada officially designated December 6 the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women to commemorate the murders of 14 young women at Polytechnique Montreal on Dec. 6, 1989. The day has become an important part of our collective memory as a nation.
Canadian Islamophobia
It took four years for the federal government to commemorate this tragedy and address the Islamophobia that led to it.
The lack of support for commemorating the mosque massacre was underscored by negative public attitudes toward Canadian Muslims. A 2017 poll revealed that 46 percent of Canadians held unfavourable views of Islam as compared to other faiths.
Commemorating the Quebec mosque massacre with a national day of remembrance ensures that we will not forget the lives that were lost and the communities that are affected by this violence.
A Radio-Canada poll that coincided with the mosque attack found 23 percent of Canadians favored a ban on Muslim immigration. The level of support rose to 32 percent in Quebec.
In the aftermath of the Quebec mosque attack, Liberal MP Iqra Khalid tabled Motion 103, calling on the government to address systemic racism and religious discrimination. This proposal was met with virulent Islamophobic rhetoric and hate. A parliamentary committee held hearings on the motion and wrote a report in response.
The report makes 30 recommendations, and only two of these reference Islamophobia. The report did recommend a national day of remembrance, yet it largely remains silent on specific action against anti-Muslim racism. A 2018 survey found that more than half of Canadians acknowledge that Islamophobia is "an increasingly disturbing problem in Canada." Sixty percent agreed that the government "must take action to combat Islamophobia" in Canada.
Last year, Quebec City inaugurated a memorial entitled "Vivre Ensemble" in honor of the victims of the mosque shooting. The monument, located near the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec in the city's Ste-Foy district, includes the names of the six murdered men and is adorned with intricately patterned aluminum leaves inspired by their countries of origin.
This poignant tribute is an important site for healing and reflection upon this tragedy and the Islamophobia that led to it.
Commemorating the Quebec mosque massacre with a national day of remembrance ensures that we will not forget the lives that were lost and the communities that are affected by this violence.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular