The Canadian government will contribute $8-million over four years to the international effort to improve worker safety in Bangladesh. The money will help the International Labour Organization give technical support to the Bangladesh government’s effort to improve conditions in factories.… »
Lynn Desjardins
Born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, Lynn has dedicated her working life to journalism. After decades in the field, she still believes journalism to be a pillar of democracy and she remains committed to telling stories she believes are important or interesting. Lynn loves Canada and embraces all seasons: skiing, skating, and sledding in winter, hiking, swimming and playing tennis in summer and running all the time. She is a voracious consumer of Canadian literature, public radio programs and classical music. Family and friends are most important. Good and unusual foods are fun. She travels when possible and enjoys the wilderness.
Arts & Entertainment, International
Quebecer of Haitian origin wins French prize
Author Dany Laferrière has become the first Haitian and resident of Canada’s French-speaking province of Quebec to be elected to the prestigious Academie française in France. Laferrière joins the ranks of literary greats Victor Hugo and Eugene Ionesco in receiving… »
Philippine aid moves from rescue to rebuilding
Shelter is becoming a key issue, according to the relief agency. Over one million homes were destroyed and only 10 per cent of emergency shelter needs have been covered. But Oxfam also wants to help Filipinos rebuild permanent homes that… »
Food banks reduce hand outs
In the past year, more than a third of the 1,300 food banks surveyed by the umbrella group, Food Banks Canada cut the amount of sustenance doled out because they lacked supplies. One out of 10 ran out of food… »
Montreal wants to open safe drug injection sites
An experimental program would give intravenous drug users access to safe places and equipment for their injections in the city of Montreal, but first the city needs funding and approval from higher governments. The western Canadian city of Vancouver was… »
International, Politics, Society
Canada fails most vulnerable refugees: advocates
“We’re seeing, unfortunately, a closing of the doors in Canada to refugees,” says Janet Dench, executive director of the Canadian Council for Refugees. Controversial changes to Canada’s refugee determination system were implemented last December. A report by the council says… »
Gay stabbing prompts anti-homophobia campaign
Scott Jones was stabbed in the back and had his throat slashed after leaving a bar in October, and he thinks it was because he is openly homosexual. Paralyzed and in a wheel chair, Jones is thankful for an outpouring… »
Healthy food in schools effort fails
It’s something rueful parents know but Ontario’s auditor general has documented—the initiative to have school cafeterias serve only healthy foods is less than successful. Rather than eat the vegetables, fruits and lean meat on offer at school students simply leave… »
International, Politics, Society
Afghan law to protect women weakly enforced: UN
Canadian activist furious The United Nations says authorities in Afghanistan have registered more reports of violence against women in the past year, but prosecutions and convictions under the law remained low. The Law on the Elimination of Violence against Women… »
Arts & Entertainment, International
Munro books sell like hotcakes after Nobel prize
Sales of books by Canadian short-story writer Alice Munro have spiked in Canada and around the world since she won the Nobel Prize for literature. Sales increased by 4,424 per cent in Canada according to a study released by BookNet… »
The world in pictures
Canada in pictures
