The full “Link” team is together again this week, Lynn, Wojtek and Marc, to present another look at some of the highlights this past week.
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Canada has an extremely interesting history, which includes several armed rebellions.
One of the them was in western Canada where Metis were fighting the brand new country of Canada over the issue of recognizing their land rights.
In 1885 there was a major battle at a village called Batoche in what later became the province of Saskatchewan
Recently musician Matt Dorgan discovered that he had Metis ancestry and that his great-great-grandfather fought with the Metis against soldiers and was killed in the battle.
He has since produced a music video, and Wojtek spoke to him about his discovery and the push to make the video.
The US company says using its genetic testing kit can give people information on over 100 health conditions and on ancestry information.
Canadians will soon be able to send a sample of their saliva off to the company in California to get the results.
The trouble is these American genetic testing kits available to Canadians, have been banned in the US. There, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says the company has failed to prove the tests were supported by science, and that inaccurate results could cause customers to get unnecessary or ineffective medical treatment.
To get some informed opinion on the kits Lynn spoke with Stuart Nicholls, a post-doctoral fellow in medicine at the University of Ottawa.
With great ceremony, Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper and representatives of the European Union parliament signed a finalized text of a major free trade deal.
It’s known by its anacronym, CETA, which stands for the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement. It proposes to give greater access to markets for Europeans and Canadians.
The deal has not been without substantial controversy.
It was negotiated for years in close secrecy, which many objectors say is not the way of democracy.
In addition, farmers in Canada and in Europe are very concerned about other aspects which they say give transnational agri-business giants too much control over seeds and the food supply, and even subverts basic law which provides for presumption of innocence until proven guilty in court.
Marc spoke to Jan Slomp, a dairy farmer in Alberta who is also president of the National Farmers Union.
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