1. Up to 53 children in Manitoba Mennonite community apprehended by Child Family Services
Four adults in an Old Order Mennonite community in Manitoba have been charged with multiple counts of assault and all but one 17-year-old has been taken away by Child and Family Services. Approximately 70 people, including 54 children, usually live there and the community avoids the use of electricity, telephones and has no Internet access. An unconfirmed report has said the alleged assaults were related to discipline and the three men and one woman who have been arrested were released on bail after appearing in a Brandon court on Tuesday. [Winnipeg Free Press]
2. Still no resolution for Nigerian students living in asylum in Regina
Two University of Regina students from Nigeria still face deportation after living in asylum in church basement for over one year. Victoria Ordu and Favour Amadi were admitted into Canada on student visas which also permitted them to work but only on the university campus. The two women said they were unaware of the restriction and began working at Wal-Mart and in 2011, after learning that they were working illegally, they stopped immediately and were ordered to leave the country. [CBC][Spectator Tribune]
3. Historical Métis bell set to ring again
A storied and secretive Métis artifact, the Bell of Batoche, is scheduled to be officially unveiled on July 20 at the Saint-Antoine-de-Padoue Church in Batoche, SK. The Bell of Batoche was installed in the church’s steeple in 1884 and after the final battle of the Northwest Rebellion between Métis and Canadian troops at Batoche in 1885, Canadian troops took the bell back east as a “war trophy.” The bell resurfaced in 1930 in Millbrook, ON where it found a home in a fire station but cracked when the fire station burned down. The bell then was then displayed in a Royal Canadian Legion in Millbrook until 1991 before it disappeared again while rumours of the bell’s whereabouts have circulated ever since. On Friday, the Union Nationale Métisse Saint-Joseph du Manitoba will announce official details of the bell’s unveiling. [Winnipeg Free Press]
4. Winnipeg set to test new, more expensive biological fogging agent for mosquito spraying
If fogging is warranted this summer, Winnipeg will use the biological agent Pyrocide ULV 7067 instead of malathion, which is approved for use as a pesticide but is considered toxic to many invertebrates. Pyrocide, four times more expensive than malathion, is considered less harmful because it breaks down more quickly in the environment and a smaller amount is required to be effective. Taz Stuart, Winnipeg’s etymologist, has been set to test Pyrocide since 2011, but the amount of mosquitos didn’t warrant fogging that summer or last year. [Winnipeg Free Press]
Around Canada:
5. Montreal to name new interim Mayor next Tuesday
Montreal city council will vote next Tuesday on their new interim mayor at a special meeting – their third mayor in under a year. Former Mayor Michael Applebaum stepped down yesterday after he was arrested because a series of corruption charges on Monday. [Globe and Mail]