A hotter future is already here — and Canada is not ready | CBC News:

A hotter, more dangerous world

Adaptation will
require much greater action from governments — and learning some of the
lessons of the other public health crisis we’ve spent the past year and a
half fighting.

The institute’s report estimates that increased
economic, social and health care costs related to several of the effects
of climate change — ground-level ozone (smog), soaring heat and the
spread of Lyme disease — will amount to billions of dollars by
mid-century, even in a “low-emission” scenario. Damages and costs will
only increase if emissions are not reduced.

But because some
costs are difficult to project, researchers didn’t model all potential
impacts — on mental health, for instance, or the effects of poor air
quality due to wildfires, or weather-related threats to health care
facilities.

A hotter future is already here — and Canada is not ready | CBC News: A hotter, more dangerous worldAdaptation will
require much greater action from governments — and learning some of the
lessons of the other public health crisis we’ve spent the past year and a
half fighting.The institute’s report estimates that increased
economic, social and health care costs related to several of the effects
of climate change — ground-level ozone (smog), soaring heat and the
spread of Lyme disease — will amount to billions of dollars by
mid-century, even in a “low-emission” scenario. Damages and costs will
only increase if emissions are not reduced.But because some
costs are difficult to project, researchers didn’t model all potential
impacts — on mental health, for instance, or the effects of poor air
quality due to wildfires, or weather-related threats to health care
facilities.Read More

‘Most homes’ in Lytton, B.C., destroyed by catastrophic fire, minister says | CBC News: More than 1,000 people living in and around Lytton, B.C., northeast of Vancouver, were forced to leave with little notice Wednesday. They raced out of town as smoke and flames virtually decimated the entire community in one of the most destructive fire emergencies in recent memory.

The province said Thursday the loss includes “most homes” and structures in the village, as well as the local ambulance station and RCMP detachment. The local member of parliament said 90 per cent of the village is gone.

Conditions in Lytton were dangerously hot, dry and windy on Wednesday. The area endured the highest temperature ever seen in Canada on three consecutive days during an extreme heat wave earlier this week, topping out at 49.6 C on Tuesday.

‘Most homes’ in Lytton, B.C., destroyed by catastrophic fire, minister says | CBC News: More than 1,000 people living in and around Lytton, B.C., northeast of Vancouver, were forced to leave with little notice Wednesday. They raced out of town as smoke and flames virtually decimated the entire community in one of the most destructive fire emergencies in recent memory.The province said Thursday the loss includes “most homes” and structures in the village, as well as the local ambulance station and RCMP detachment. The local member of parliament said 90 per cent of the village is gone.Conditions in Lytton were dangerously hot, dry and windy on Wednesday. The area endured the highest temperature ever seen in Canada on three consecutive days during an extreme heat wave earlier this week, topping out at 49.6 C on Tuesday.Read More

‘Decisive’ decade in climate change fight needs lending surge: Governments and companies are working to cut greenhouse-gas emissions
and limit the increase in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
To reach that, Irena, the United Nations climate change and renewable
energy adviser based in Abu Dhabi, estimates that private lenders and
capital markets will have to boost funding for renewable energy projects
nearly fourfold this decade to about $3.2 trillion a year.

Markets are already pushing a shift to renewables as costs for
projects such as solar and wind power have fallen while demand for
energy from carbon-emitting sources has dropped, according to Irena
Director General Francesco La Camera. Oil demand has already peaked and
construction of power plants using renewable energy sources are
consistently outpacing additions of generators using traditional fuels,
he said.

‘Decisive’ decade in climate change fight needs lending surge: Governments and companies are working to cut greenhouse-gas emissions
and limit the increase in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
To reach that, Irena, the United Nations climate change and renewable
energy adviser based in Abu Dhabi, estimates that private lenders and
capital markets will have to boost funding for renewable energy projects
nearly fourfold this decade to about $3.2 trillion a year.Markets are already pushing a shift to renewables as costs for
projects such as solar and wind power have fallen while demand for
energy from carbon-emitting sources has dropped, according to Irena
Director General Francesco La Camera. Oil demand has already peaked and
construction of power plants using renewable energy sources are
consistently outpacing additions of generators using traditional fuels,
he said.Read More

When Chinese in Canada Were Numbered, Interrogated, Excluded | The Tyee: Racial profiling and border control in the late-1800s and early-1900s
wasn’t done by computers or through facial recognition tech, but what
the government did use to target Chinese people was considered cutting
edge at the time — for example, certificates with photo ID. And as late
as 1950, border officials used X-rays on young Chinese as a way of ensuring they weren’t cheating the age limits for family reunification programs.

And there was the paperwork. Systemic racism, as it turned out, required a lot of paperwork.

Chinese immigration certificates were the
government’s way to monitor and contain the Chinese people who remained
in Canada after the transcontinental railway was completed in 1885.
There were different certificates for different purposes, from ID to
travel authorizations. Each was known by a “C.I.” code in the header.

When Chinese in Canada Were Numbered, Interrogated, Excluded | The Tyee: Racial profiling and border control in the late-1800s and early-1900s
wasn’t done by computers or through facial recognition tech, but what
the government did use to target Chinese people was considered cutting
edge at the time — for example, certificates with photo ID. And as late
as 1950, border officials used X-rays on young Chinese as a way of ensuring they weren’t cheating the age limits for family reunification programs.And there was the paperwork. Systemic racism, as it turned out, required a lot of paperwork.Chinese immigration certificates were the
government’s way to monitor and contain the Chinese people who remained
in Canada after the transcontinental railway was completed in 1885.
There were different certificates for different purposes, from ID to
travel authorizations. Each was known by a “C.I.” code in the header.Read More

What happened in residential schools was genocide. But what really matters is justice.: Canada wasn’t killing Indians because of our cultures; it was
killing Indians to get rid of the “Indian problem” as Indian Affairs
officials kept referring to it. Commentators often refer to Duncan
Campbell Scott’s quote regarding Indian policy in Canada as proof that
the intention was assimilation and not elimination. Scott was the deputy
superintendent general for the Department of Indian Affairs from 1913
to 1932, who explained in 1920:

“I want to get rid of the Indian problem….Our objective
is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has
not been absorbed into the body politic and there is no Indian question
and no Indian Department.”

However, there is more to the story than this. In 1907, Dr. Peter Bryce, the Chief Medical Officer for the federal government, wrote a report on the conditions in residential schools that detailed the astounding number of deaths of Indian children in those schools.

The government’s own lawyer also warned Canadian officials in 1907:

What happened in residential schools was genocide. But what really matters is justice.: Canada wasn’t killing Indians because of our cultures; it was
killing Indians to get rid of the “Indian problem” as Indian Affairs
officials kept referring to it. Commentators often refer to Duncan
Campbell Scott’s quote regarding Indian policy in Canada as proof that
the intention was assimilation and not elimination. Scott was the deputy
superintendent general for the Department of Indian Affairs from 1913
to 1932, who explained in 1920:“I want to get rid of the Indian problem….Our objective
is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has
not been absorbed into the body politic and there is no Indian question
and no Indian Department.”However, there is more to the story than this. In 1907, Dr. Peter Bryce, the Chief Medical Officer for the federal government, wrote a report on the conditions in residential schools that detailed the astounding number of deaths of Indian children in those schools.The government’s own lawyer also warned Canadian officials in 1907:Read More