Don't censor teachers, Vanier College says after Quebec investigation into tensions at CEGEPs
Benoit Morin says the investigation exacerbated tensions at Vanier College, which has been under scrutiny since last fall after complaints that the Israel-Hamas war created an unsafe atmosphere on campus.
The Quebec Education Department published a report last week about Dawson and Vanier colleges that found the schools have little control over course content, including language classes focused on Palestinian culture.
The report says the Quebec government should pass a law to regulate academic freedom in the college system.
But Morin says it would be a mistake to create an environment in which teachers censor themselves, and says teaching staff should be trusted.
The report also found that prayer rooms in colleges can foster radicalization and divisions between students, but Morin says he has not seen that at Vanier.
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CBC
33 minutes ago
- CBC
Hamas says it's given 'positive' response to latest ceasefire proposal
Hamas says it has given a "positive" response to the latest proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza but said further talks were needed on implementation. It was not clear if Hamas's statement meant it had accepted the proposal from U.S. President Donald Trump for a 60-day ceasefire. The militant group has been seeking guarantees that the initial truce with Israel would lead to a total end to the war, now nearly 21 months old. In a statement issued late Friday, Hamas said it has "delivered the response to the mediators, which was positive." "The movement is ready in all seriousness to enter immediately into a round of negotiations on the mechanism to implement this framework," it said, without elaborating. Meanwhile, the United Nations human rights office says it has recorded 613 Palestinians killed within the span of a month in Gaza while trying to obtain aid. Most were killed while trying to reach food distribution points run by an Israeli-backed American organization, while others were massed waiting for aid trucks connected to the UN or other humanitarian organizations, it said. WATCH | Aid organizations call for immediate change in Gaza: Palestinians caught between starvation and danger at aid sites 3 days ago Duration 2:07 Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said the rights office was not able to attribute responsibility for the killings. But she said "it is clear that the Israeli military has shelled and shot at Palestinians trying to reach the distribution points" operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). In a message to The Associated Press, Shamdasani said that of the total tallied, 509 killings were "GHF-related," meaning at or near its distribution sites. "Information keeps coming in," she said. "This is ongoing and it is unacceptable." The GHF has denied any serious injuries or deaths on its sites and says shootings outside their immediate vicinity are under the purview of Israel's military. In a statement on Friday, GHF cast doubt on the casualty figures and accused the UN of trying "to falsely smear our effort." The army says it fires warnings shots as a crowd-control measure or opens fire if its troops are threatened. The Israeli military also issued new evacuation orders on Friday in northeast Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, and urged Palestinians to move west ahead of planned military operations against Hamas in the area. The new evacuation zones pushed Palestinians into increasingly smaller spaces by the coast. 20 people killed Friday while seeking aid Since the GHF began distributions in late May, witnesses have said almost daily that Israeli troops open fire toward crowds of Palestinians on the roads leading to the food centres. To reach the sites, people must walk several kilometres through an Israeli military zone where troops control the road. Officials at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis said at least three Palestinians were killed on Friday on the way to GHF sites in the area of Rafah, in southern Gaza. On Friday, in reaction to the UN report, the Israeli military said it was investigating reports of people killed and wounded while seeking aid and that it had given instructions to troops in the field based on "lessons learned" from reviewing the incidents. It said it was working at "minimizing possible friction between the population" and Israeli forces, including by installing fences and placing signs on the routes. Separately, witnesses have said Israeli troops open fire on crowds of Palestinians who gather in military-controlled zones to wait for aid trucks entering Gaza for the UN or other aid organizations not associated with the GHF. The crowds are usually made up of people desperate for food who grab supplies off the passing trucks, and armed gangs have also looted trucks. On Friday, 17 people were killed waiting for trucks in eastern Khan Younis, in the Tahliya area, officials at Nasser Hospital said. Three survivors told the AP they had gone to wait for the trucks in a military "red zone" in Khan Younis and that troops opened fire from a tank and drones. It was a "crowd of people, may God help them, who want to eat and live," said Seddiq Abu Farhana, who was shot in the leg, forcing him to drop a bag of flour he had grabbed. "There was direct firing." Airstrikes also hit the Muwasi area on the southern end of Gaza's Mediterranean coast, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians driven from their homes are sheltering in tent camps. Of the 15 people killed in the strikes, eight were women and one was a child, according to the hospital. Israel's military said it was looking into Friday's reported airstrikes. It had no immediate comment on the reported shootings surrounding the aid trucks. UN investigates shootings near aid sites In its statement reacting to the United Nations rights office report, the GHF accused the UN of taking its casualty figures "directly from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry" and of "promoting Hamas' false propaganda." Shamdasani, the UN rights office spokesperson, told the AP that the data "is based on our own information gathering through various reliable sources, including medical, human rights and humanitarian organizations." Rik Peeperkorn, a World Health Organization (WHO) representative for the Palestinian territories, said Nasser Hospital, the biggest hospital operating in southern Gaza, receives dozens or hundreds of casualties every day, most coming from the vicinity of the food distribution sites. The overwhelmed hospital has become "one massive trauma ward," he said. WHO supports Nasser Hospital and other health facilities. The International Committee of the Red Cross also said in late June that its field hospital near one of the GHF sites has been overwhelmed more than 20 times in the previous months by mass casualties. It said people had been on their way to the food distribution sites, and "the vast majority of patients suffered gunshot injuries." Also on Friday, Israel's military said it was investigating after two soldiers were killed in combat in the north of Gaza. More than 860 Israeli soldiers have been killed since the war began, including more than 400 during the fighting in Gaza. The Health Ministry in Gaza said the number of Palestinians killed in the territory has passed 57,000. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says more than half of the dead are women and children. The ministry is run by medical professionals employed by the Hamas government, and its numbers are widely cited by the UN and international organizations. The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 hostages.
Global News
an hour ago
- Global News
B.C. quadruples size of hate crimes team as incidents surge by 23%
The British Columbia government is quadrupling the size of the province's hate crimes policing unit, amid surging reports of incidents motivated by race, religion and sexual orientation. Public Safety Minister Gary Begg announced the expansion Friday, which will take the unit, which is a part of the B.C. RCMP, from two officers to a team of eight. 2:16 Speech at Vancouver pro-Palestine protest investigated as hate crime The province is providing $734,000 in new funding, which will be used to hire five new RCMP officers and one intelligence analyst. Story continues below advertisement 'We cannot ignore the reality that acts of hate have been on the rise in recent years,' Public Safety Minister Gary Begg said. 'Over the past year alone, we have seen reprehensible acts of violence here in our province. Places of worship have been vandalized, treaty offices have been defaced, and innocent people have been targeted while going about their daily activities.' Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy According to provincial data, police-reported hate crimes in B.C. surged by nearly a quarter (23 per cent) between 2022 and 2023. Hate crimes motivated by race or ethnicity were up by 12 per cent, while incidents linked to religion spiked by over 50 per cent and incidents related to sexual orientation were up 43 per cent. 1:39 B.C. updates hate crime policies 'Hate has no place in British Columbia. It only deepens fear, it creates division, erodes public safety, and stands in direct opposition to everything we value and believe in,' Begg said. Story continues below advertisement 'As community leaders, we have a responsibility to protect those who are targeted simply because of who they are.' Begg said the new funding will help ensure prosecutors have the necessary evidence to win convictions on hate crimes charges, and bolster court proceedings by providing expert testimony and support for witnesses and victims. The B.C. Hate Crimes Team is the only RCMP provincial hate crime team in Canada. Chief Supt. Elija Rain, Officer in Charge of the B.C. RCMP Major Crimes Section said the unit has been facing a growing workload. 6:11 Vancouver police say Israel-Hamas war has fuelled rise in hate crime He said the team is currently reviewing more than 100 files per week where hate could be a motivating factor, and provide guidance and oversight to both RCMP and municipal police forces. Story continues below advertisement 'Whether it is hate-motivated crime, hate propaganda or non-criminal but deeply harmful incidents involving hate or bias, we recognize the impact these incidents have on victims and communities. We also recognize the importance of investigating hate-related files,' he said. 'The B.C. Hate Crime Team provides operational support and expertise to all policing agencies across the province, which means the positive impacts of expanding this team will be felt in every region of British Columbia.' Along with the expanded hate crime team, the province says it has received $4 million from the federal government through the Shift B.C. program, which works to prevent radicalized violence by supporting people at risk.
National Post
4 hours ago
- National Post
Adam Zivo: With Iran defeated, Israelis look for peace in Gaza
Article content 14-year-old Tania also supported the strikes on Iran, but worried that they had made people 'kind of forget about the war in Gaza.' She was concerned about the hostages still being held by Hamas, and was distressed about the well-being of Palestinian civilians who 'are getting hurt and killed every day.' Her friend, Masha, concurred: 'It's not gonna be normal until the hostages will come back from Gaza.' Article content They directed me to a table crowded with older students, where I met 18-year-old Itamar, who will soon be commencing his mandatory military service. 'We did what we have to did, and we did it fast. We did it quickly. We didn't hurt that much people, and we stick to the mission,' he said proudly. Yet, he believed that the Islamic Republic would inevitably attack again — perhaps in 20 or 30 years. Article content 'If Iran stops all the war all over the world, the civilians in Iran can live a wonderful life, and they can do whatever they want. They have a lot of money. They have a big space. They have good people — very smart people. If they want, they can live a wonderful life,' he said. Article content Two days later, tens of thousands of Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv's Hostages Square to rally in support of Hamas' captives. These weekly demonstrations had begun shortly after October 7th, but were paused during the conflict with Iran, when public gatherings were banned. The crowds this evening were noticeably larger than they had been a month earlier — an ocean of discontent that stretched as far as one could see. Article content 'We were patient for two weeks, and now that the threat is gone, we know that this is the time to fight back as hard as we can and demand that all the hostages be back and to end the war,' said Lee Hoffmann Agiv, a social activist. Article content According to her, many volunteers who normally advocate for the hostages temporarily pivoted towards helping families impacted by the Iran war instead — for example: by gathering essentials for those who'd lost their homes. However, Agiv and her colleagues tried to keep the hostages on the national agenda during this period, often by using social media. 'We did our best in making the families feel like they're not forgotten, and to be with them and to send the message that we think about them all the time,' she said. Article content Or Keshet, another demonstrator, found it 'depressing' that no Gazan ceasefire had been signed, and believed that 'political, cynical motivations' were causing the Israeli government to unnecessarily prolong the war. 'You know, the Iran war took 12 days, and after 12 days, the war was finished. The war in Gaza is lasting already, you know, 631 days. It doesn't make sense,' he said. Article content Shai and Gil Dickmann — a brother and sister duo whose cousin remains in captivity — were similarly disapproving of the government's prosecution of the war. They believed that if Israel could sign a ceasefire with Iran, wherein the Ayatollah remained in power, then the same could be done in Gaza, too. Perhaps fully eradicating Hamas was not strictly necessary. Article content 'For 12 days, the square was empty, and people were focused on the war with Iran, and right now to see it full of people, that means that we hadn't forgotten about the hostages, and they should know that we will not give up until they're all home,' said Gil.
