National
Auditor general calls for immediate action to protect children and youth in Nunavut

Canada’s auditor general Karen Hogan says early findings in an audit of child and family services in Nunavut were so alarming, her office immediately raised concerns with the territorial government. Hogan participates in a news conference, in Ottawa, on Monday, March 27, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
Iqaluit
Canada’s auditor general says early findings in a review of child and family services in Nunavut were so alarming that her office immediately raised concerns with the territorial government.
A report by Karen Hogan released Tuesday found the territory is failing to protect vulnerable children and youth and to provide support to families, front-line workers and communities.
“This report is more than statistics, trends and a compilation of facts — it is an urgent call to action,” Hogan said during a news conference Tuesday in Iqaluit.
Among the findings were that the territory inadequately responded to reports of suspected harm, did not complete many investigations, did not sufficiently monitor the welfare of children in care, failed to meet obligations for the health and safety of employees, and could not provide accurate numbers of children in its care.
In a sample of 26 children placed in 15 foster homes, for example, the report found many cases where staff from the Department of Family Services failed to check in every six weeks as required. The report noted gaps between six to eight months for eight children in four homes. For 10 children in six homes, the department did not check in for at least a year.
The report said those gaps meant the department did not know about the children’s well-being, whereabouts or the kind of care they were receiving. In the case of two children who the department had not contacted in four months, they were no longer living in their foster placement. The department also did not know two children were living with a parent who had a lost custody until a month after they moved back.
The report said there was also no evidence the department took action when it became aware 10 children in foster care were experiencing suicidal thoughts or had attempted suicide or were at risk of sexual abuse or physical harm.
The report also found many cases where the department had not carried out care plans for children and youth in need of protection.
In one case, a young child needing protection due to physical abuse by a parent was allowed to remain in the home while the parent was required to attend mental health counselling. The department, however, did not follow up for more than a year an a half, until it received another report of physical abuse. The child was then placed in foster care, but the report said the department again failed to follow up.
This is the third time in the past 12 years that the auditor general’s office has raised serious concerns about services for children, youth and families in Nunavut.
A 2011 auditor general report found the territorial government was not adequately fulfilling its key responsibilities for the protection and welfare of children. Its recommendations included ensuring adequate staffing, training, managing workloads, complying with standards, collecting and analyzing information on children in care, and community engagement.
A 2014 report following up on those recommendations found some progress had been made, but there were still serious gaps when it came to complying with key child protection standards. It said the territory was also still not consistently collecting basic information on children in care and had done little to engage parents and communities in the development of its child welfare strategy.
The new report found several root causes have contributed to “this persistent and chronic crisis.” They include long-standing issues with funding, housing and office space for employees, and timely training for front-line workers compounded by poor information management practices.
“I’m a mom of two, so to hear this at first I was very sad and then I was very mad by the fact that you know this could go on for so long and not be addressed,” Hogan said.
Rather than giving formal recommendations, the report called for an immediate whole-of-government approach to address the challenges.
“We felt that our previous recommendations have not yet been addressed and that the typical approach was not the right one,” Hogan said.
Nunavut Minister of Family Services Margaret Nakashuk said her department takes full responsibility for the report.
“It’s a very heavy report, but we also have to take this opportunity to see what we can do as a government to improve the services for Nunavummiut,” she said, adding supports are needed from all departments.
Premier P.J. Akeeagok said it will require systemic change to address the problems outlined in the report.
“It’s our job as the government to look after the most vulnerable. And when we’re dealing with children, we have to do everything within our powers to provide that support,” he said.
Also Tuesday, Hogan released a report on COVID-19 vaccinations in Nunavut. It found several territorial departments worked together to quickly and equitably deliver vaccines across Nunavut, on average taking two weeks to deliver doses from the time they arrived in the territory.
The auditor general found, however, that efforts were hampered by the lack of a pandemic plan and insufficient monitoring and reporting systems. It said the lack of an inventory management system meant the Department of Health could not account for 19,500 doses, or 16 per cent, meaning while it reported 15 per cent of doses had been wasted, actual wastage was as high as 31 per cent.
“To strengthen its response to future pandemics and mass vaccination efforts, the Government of Nunavut needs to set up proper information systems, including an inventory management system,” Hogan said.
“This would also improve the delivery of health-care services to Nunavummiut and reduce the burden on an overstretched workforce.”
The Nunavut government has accepted the recommendations .
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 30, 2023.
— By Emily Blake in Yellowknife
Business
Cost of living: Pepsi and Coca-Cola absent in meeting with federal industry minister

Innovation, Science and Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne speaks to reporters in the foyer of the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023. Canada’s industry minister made a point of calling out Pepsi and Coca-Cola for not sending representatives to a meeting he convened on Monday with manufacturing companies to discuss stabilizing grocery prices. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Canada’s industry minister made a point of calling out Pepsi and Coca-Cola for not sending representatives to a meeting he convened on Monday with manufacturing companies to discuss stabilizing grocery prices.
François-Philippe Champagne singled out the two companies when asked by a journalist what the consequences would be if major industry players did not succeed in stopping high inflation.
“This morning, (their CEOs) did not attend the meeting,” Champagne said of beverage giants Pepsi and Coca-Cola.
“I intend to call on them and I will continue to do so. … I don’t stop,” he told reporters.
The Canadian leaders of seven international manufacturing companies, including Nestlé and Kraft Heinz, met with Champagne.
He summoned them to answer to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s call earlier this month for Canadian grocers to come up with a plan to stabilize prices by Thanksgiving.
If major grocers fail to deliver ideas, Champagne said, “the consequence is for all 40 million Canadians because we will be able to see who is taking action and who is not.”
A government source told The Canadian Press that the CEOs of Pepsi and Coca-Cola responded to the federal government summons by stating they were not available Monday. The source was granted anonymity because they were not allowed to speak publicly about the matter.
It’s unclear, however, whether another meeting between major food companies and the government will take place.
Monday’s meeting brought together top Canadian executives from McCain, Unilever, Nestlé, Lactalis, Lassonde, Kraft Heinz, and Smucker Foods.
All avoided speaking with journalists. The CEO of the Food, Health & Consumer Products of Canada association, Michael Graydon, attended the meeting and agreed to answer questions on their behalf.
Graydon called the meeting “very productive.”
”We’re very much about co-operation and support, collaboration,” he said. “It’s an industry that needs to align and work collectively to find a solution.”
He said manufacturers want to collaborate with other players in the supply chain, such as major retailers like Loblaw and Costco, whose leaders Champagne met with one week earlier.
In a statement, Pepsi said it is open to meeting with Champagne.
“We are pleased that our industry association, FHCP, led a productive conversation with the government and representatives from industry today,” it said.
“We were not able to attend today’s meeting, but we offered to meet with the minister. We are committed to collaborating with the government to identify solutions during this challenging time for Canadians.”
Trudeau has said that if the government isn’t satisfied with what major grocers come up with to stabilize prices, he would intervene, including with tax measures.
Graydon said it remains to be seen how detailed the plans will be by the government’s Thanksgiving deadline.
”We’ll have to see whether, you know, the detail of how much completeness can be done by that time. But I think everybody’s working very hard to achieve that,” Graydon said.
Champagne said he is happy Graydon “wants to do something,” because “it’s a gain for Canadians.”
“It’s clear that what’s important is that we have timelines, work plans, and obviously concrete actions,” the minister said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2023.
Alberta
Regulator rules in favour of Trans Mountain route deviation

Workers place pipe during construction of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion on farmland, in Abbotsford, B.C., on Wednesday, May 3, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
By Amanda Stephenson in Calgary
The Canada Energy Regulator has approved Trans Mountain Corp.’s application to modify the pipeline’s route, a decision that could spare the government-owned pipeline project from an additional nine-month delay.
The regulator made the ruling Tuesday, just one week after hearing oral arguments from Trans Mountain and a B.C. First Nation that opposes the route change.
It didn’t release the reasons for its decision Tuesday, saying those will be publicized in the coming weeks.
By siding with Trans Mountain Corp., the regulator is allowing the pipeline company to alter the route slightly for a 1.3-kilometre stretch of pipe in the Jacko Lake area near Kamloops, B.C., as well as the construction method for that section.
Trans Mountain Corp. had said it ran into engineering difficulties in the area related to the construction of a tunnel, and warned that sticking to the original route could result in up to a nine-month delay in the pipeline’s completion, as well as an additional $86 million more in project costs.
Trans Mountain has been hoping to have the pipeline completed by early 2024.
But Trans Mountain’s application was opposed by the Stk’emlúpsemc te Secwépemc Nation, whose traditional territory the pipeline crosses and who had only agreed to the originally proposed route.
In their regulatory filing, the First Nation stated the area has “profound spiritual and cultural significance” to their people, and that they only consented to the pipeline’s construction with the understanding that Trans Mountain would minimize surface disturbances by implementing specific trenchless construction methods.
The Stk’emlúpsemc te Secwépemc argued that Trans Mountain never said its originally proposed construction method was impossible, only that it couldn’t be done in time to meet a Jan. 1 in-service date for the pipeline.
The First Nation didn’t respond to a request for comment by publication time.
The Trans Mountain pipeline is Canada’s only pipeline system transporting oil from Alberta to the West Coast. Its expansion, which is currently underway, will boost the pipeline’s capacity to 890,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 300,000 bpd currently.
The pipeline — which was bought by the federal government for $4.5 billion in 2018 after previous owner Kinder Morgan Canada Inc. threatened to scrap the pipeline’s planned expansion project in the face of environmentalist opposition and regulatory hurdles — has already been plagued by construction-related challenges and delays.
Its projected price tag has since spiralled: first to $12.6 billion, then to $21.4 billion and most recently to $30.9 billion (the most recent capital cost estimate, as of March of this year).
Keith Stewart with Greenpeace Canada said it’s alarming to see the regulator over-rule the wishes of Indigenous people in order to complete a pipeline on deadline.
“Every Canadian should be outraged that our public regulator is allowing a publicly owned pipeline to break a promise to Indigenous people to protect lands of spiritual and cultural significance,” Stewart said.
The federal government has already approved a total of $13 billion in loan guarantees to help Trans Mountain secure the financing to cover the cost overruns.
Trans Mountain Corp. has blamed its budget problems on a variety of factors, including inflation, COVID-19, labour and supply chain challenges, flooding in B.C. and unexpected major archeological discoveries along the route.
Given the Canadian regulatory system has a reputation for being slow and cumbersome, it was surprising to see the Canada Energy Regulator rule so quickly on Trans Mountain’s route deviation request, said Richard Masson, executive fellow with the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy.
“It’s a challenging decision to have to make, when you’ve got a $30 billion pipeline that needs to be completed,” Masson said.
“If there’s no feasible way to do that tunnel, then I guess you have to allow for this.”
Masson added that if the regulator had denied Trans Mountain’s request, it would have been bad news for taxpayers as well as the federal government, which is seeking to divest the pipeline and has already entered into negotiations with several interested Indigenous-led buyers.
It also would have been bad news for Canadian oil companies, who have been eagerly anticipating the pipeline’s start date to begin shipping barrels to customers.
“If this can result in the pipeline being completed by year-end and started up in the first quarter, that’s good news. The world is still looking for oil, and oil prices are up at US$90 a barrel,” Masson said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 25, 2023.
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