Mark Winfield, York University, Canada

Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s extraordinary reversal on his decision to open the Greater Toronto Area’s Greenbelt for housing development flows from two colossal political miscalculations.

The first was failing to recognize the Greenbelt, established by the previous Liberal government in 2005, had acquired an iconic status in the minds of residents of the region.

The Greenbelt was based on earlier Niagara Escarpment and Oak Ridges Moraine conservation plans, both adopted by Progressive Conservative governments. It was deeply embedded in municipal plans throughout the region.

Over time, the Greenbelt became a symbol in Ontario of efforts to protect prime farmland and key natural heritage sites from the region’s sprawling urban growth.

The government, however, refused to let go of the idea of opening the Greenbelt to development despite a complete lack of evidence that the land was required to meet the region’s housing needs.

According to the province’s integrity commissioner, it then allowed a “madcap process” to unfold around the actual removal of lands, which turned out to offer the potential for billions in profits to well-connected developers.

Ford’s future now in doubt?

The second blunder was to try to double down on the Greenbelt removal decision in the aftermath of harshly critical reports from both the province’s auditor general and integrity commissioner.

Even after the resignations of the housing minister and his chief of staff at the height of the scandal, Ford wouldn’t back down.

It took more than a month of a series of damning and embarrassing news reports — leading to the resignation of yet another cabinet minister, Public and Business Service Delivery Minister Kaleed Rasheed — for Ford to relent.

But the political damage suffered by the government through this period is starting to seem profound and the fallout is certain to continue:

1. The RCMP is considering an investigation into the Greenbelt deal-making;
2. Rasheed has admitted to misleading the integrity commissioner under oath during inquiries into the Greenbelt decision;
3. The auditor general is planning a follow-up audit on the whole episode;
4. Freedom-of-information requests from the media, and leaks from other sources, are likely to lead to further revelations in the weeks and months to come.

Although the next provincial election is nearly three years away, the Greenbelt scandal has raised serious questions about the viability of Ford’s own future as premier.

Greenbelt is out of the woods

Ironically, one almost certain outcome of the entire episode is that it’s probably ended any possibility of Ford’s intention to dismantle the Greenbelt.

The political fallout so far almost ensures no politician in Ontario will make similar moves against the Greenbelt for a generation or more.

The Greenbelt scandal has also vividly illustrated how badly the province has mishandled housing and development issues.

The province’s land-use planning system — including the Greenbelt and growth plans for the Greater Toronto Area — was once the subject of international acclaim for how it managed intense growth pressures while protecting farmland, housing affordability and natural heritage areas.

The Greenbelt debacle has demonstrated how that system had degenerated into an instrument wielded by the province to serve the wishes of well-connected developers.

Undoing the damage

A complete overhaul of the land-use planning system is now needed to undo the damage done by the Ford government, restore the system’s credibility and address the province’s housing needs effectively. Evidence backed by expert research, reason and basic democratic principles of transparency and accountability all need to be returned to the system.

Although the Greenbelt appears to be safe for the time being, attention now needs to turn to the government’s handling of the redevelopment of existing urban areas,

So far the government’s approach to “transit-oriented communities” — ideally communities developed within a short distance of transit lines — has been to declare these areas free-for-all zones where the development industry can do as it wishes.

Predictably, the results of that approach in midtown and downtown Toronto, Richmond Hill, Markham and Mississauga have been an overwhelming focus on high-rise condominium developments, a lack of infrastructure and services of all forms, no mixing of uses (for example, significant new employment locations) or housing types, no attention paid to affordability and significant losses of existing affordable rental housing to “redevelopment.”

This is the polar opposite of the “complete communities” and urban development centres envisioned in the 2006 growth plan to guide urban redevelopment that accompanied the announcement of the Greenbelt.

Challenges ahead

The province has trampled on efforts by municipalities and communities to support more development along transit lines. The Ford government has apparently been intent on dismantling the growth plan as well as the Greenbelt.

The challenges facing the Greater Toronto Area are multi-dimensional and complex, including:

— Housing needs, particularly at the lower end of the income scale;

— Structural economic transitions and increasingly polarized labour markets;

— The impacts of a changing climate;

— A fiscal crisis, particularly for the city of Toronto, driven in large part by provincial downloading.

The Greenbelt fiasco has been an enormous distraction from these challenges — and it remains doubtful that the Ford government can significantly change its approach to governance to address them effectively.

Mark Winfield, Professor, Environmental and Urban Change, York University, Canada

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

The Indian government has warned its citizens living in Canada to exercise “extreme caution” due to a “deteriorating security environment” in the country.

The warning came after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Canadian police were investigating “credible allegations” of the Indian government’s involvement in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

On June 18, 2023, 46-year-old Nijjar, who migrated to Canada in 1997 and became a Canadian citizen in 2015, was shot dead by two masked gunmen in the parking lot of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, B.C.

The Indian government has denied any involvement, and as a result of the allegations, both countries have expelled diplomats from the other.

In late 2022, the Canadian government spoke of building a stronger partnership on the shared tradition of democracy between the two countries. But now, after a brief interlude of bonhomie, the Indo-Canadian relationship has reverted to a deep chill.

Canada correctly points out that the involvement of any foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is a violation of its sovereignty. India insists that Canada, particularly Trudeau’s Liberal government, has consistently ignored so-called terrorist activities against India by supporters of the Khalistan movement.

The Khalistan movement

The Sikh population in India is estimated to be about 22 million (1.7 per cent of the population), the majority of whom reside in the northern state of Punjab. The demand for a separate independent homeland for Sikhs — Khalistan — can be traced back to the 1940s when the British partitioned India and created Pakistan.

The movement was quiet until the 1970s, largely as a result of the Indian government dividing Punjab into a Punjabi speaking majority Sikh state (Punjab) and a Hindi-speaking state (Haryana) in 1966.

However, during the 1970s and 1980s, Punjab was engulfed in a violent political mass movement. Demand for a separate independent homeland was driven by the need to protect the Sikh religion and identity from the assimilationist policies of the Indian state, the need to address the rising unemployment in the agricultural community and Sikh youths.

The violence came to a head in June 1984. Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ordered the army to storm the Golden Temple in the city of Amritsar, the most sacred and central pilgrimage site for Sikhs, where the leaders of the Khalistan movement had taken refuge.

After a week of fighting, not only was the temple desecrated, but more than 400 people were killed — including the leaders of the movement — and hundreds more were injured.

The Sikh community was deeply shocked both within and outside India. Just four months later, in October 1984, Gandhi was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards. Her Congress party’s Hindu workers led anti-Sikh riots that killed thousands of Sikhs.

For the Sikh diaspora, many of whom left India after the riots, the suffering of their community has remained etched in their memories.

The Indian state has taken little action to convict those behind the violence against the Sikh community or to enter into a truth and reconciliation process with the community.

Khalistan activists killed

Nijjar’s murder is the third targeted killing of Khalistan leaders outside India.

In May, Paramjit Singh Panjwar, head of the Khalistan Commando Force, was shot dead by two identified gunmen in Lahore, Pakistan. In June, Avtar Singh Khanda of the U.K.-based Khalistan Liberation force was suspected of death by poisoning.

Nijjar was head of the Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) as well as an active member of the United States-based group Sikhs for Justice (SFJ); both organizations are pursuing an independent Sikh homeland. Since 2022, SFJ has been conducting referendums in Canada and elsewhere in support of Khalistan.

In 2016, The Times of India reported that, according to intelligence officials in Punjab, Nijjar had taken over as the “operational head” of the KTF and was forming groups to launch attacks.

It also claimed that Nijjar frequently visited Pakistan and was in contact with Pakistani intelligence. There have also been allegations that Nijjar was running a camp near Mission, B.C., to carry out an attack in Punjab.

Mission Mayor Randy Hawes says that report is not credible. Ralph Goodale, then Canada’s public safety minister, would not comment at the time when asked if there was any basis to that allegation.

In an open letter to Trudeau, Nijjar pointed out that allegations against him were “factually baseless and fabricated.” He added:

“Because of my campaign for Sikh rights, it’s my belief that I have become a target of an Indian government media campaign to label my human rights campaign as ‘terrorist activities.’”

The Nijjar episode is the latest in the ongoing saga between India and Canada over the Khalistan movement. The Indian government claims that Canada’s failure to ban groups like KTF and SFJ compromises India’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and security.

Canada has so far refused to stop the referendums. Meanwhile, India’s current Hindu populist regime remains intolerant of any dissenting voices — especially from minority communities.

Reeta Tremblay, Adjunct and Professor Emerita, University of Victoria

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Michelle Stewart, University of Regina

Summer in Canada means highways filled with tourists and travellers. For many summers now, some travellers move with a specific mission on those highways: to raise awareness about social issues facing Indigenous Peoples and the ongoing harmful impacts of Canada’s Indian Residential School program.

This summer, the Dubois family from the Pasqua First Nation in Saskatchewan is taking that walk. As they march from Regina to Ottawa, their hope is to raise awareness about the vulnerabilities and systemic inequalities faced by Indigenous boys, men and Two-Spirit People.

Specifically, the Dubois family is hoping to get some care and raise attention about what happened to two of their deceased family members. They are also demanding a national inquiry into missing, murdered and neglected Indigenous boys, men and Two-Spirit People.

My research focuses on racialized justice and settler colonialism. I first came to know the Dubois family in 2016 when Richelle was parked outside a Regina police station in -40 C weather demanding accountability in the investigation of her son’s death. We have since become friends and colleagues. I met up with the family as they began their walk.

Stories from fellow travelers

The cars leading the Dubois walk are covered with blue hand prints and photographs of deceased family members, Haven Dubois and Steven Dubois. The family’s march calls attention to the death of their loved ones, but also to all Indigenous people who face institutional neglect.

Constance Dubois, 59, is marching for her brother Steven who she says was mistreated at their local hospital in Regina. She also walks for her grandson, Haven, who she believes was murdered.

As they walk, the family has met many others on the road with similar stories.

Constance says the stories from fellow travellers have had a significant impact on her and her family: “The stories coming out while we are on the road makes us more determined to take their stories to Ottawa.”

Richelle Dubois, 42, is Haven’s mother. She says the stories have a common theme: “a lack of investigation and accountability.”

Haven Dubois, searching for justice

In 2015, Haven Dubois was 14 when he died. It was a school day and according to his school, he was on a school field trip. But instead he was found by his mother, unresponsive in a local shallow ravine in Regina.

According to his family, Haven was a strong swimmer.

The family believes Haven was murdered, and that his murder has not been investigated because it was prematurely deemed an accident. According to them, Haven had been subjected to gang recruitment and bullying prior to his death.

They see a flawed police investigation and modified coroner’s reports.

Intimidation and disrespectful care

After they rushed their son to the hospital, they say police declared their son’s death an accident before they left that day. Following his death, the Dubois family say they faced community intimidation and disrespect from police.

In the eight years since Haven’s death, the Dubois family has been fighting for a robust police investigation, exploring multiple mechanisms of police accountability. The family has seen two coroner’s reports, but believe they have not seen justice.

Just before they left on their walk, the Dubois family finally received a notice from the Saskatchewan coroner saying an inquest will be called in 2024 to investigate the circumstances of Haven’s death.

The inquest will focus on the cause of death, but will not look at how the investigation was originally handled.

The Dubois family feels they have demonstrated connections between other flawed investigations into the deaths of Indigenous people during the same time period.

Canadian-based sociologists Jerry Flores and Andrea Román Alfaro note the role between police inaction and settler colonialism and argue it is “through their (in)actions — what they say, tell, and do or do not do — that police affirm the disposability of Indigenous bodies, constraining the survival of Indigenous communities and consolidating settler colonialism.”

Steven Dubois, ‘ignored to death’

Steven Dubois, 47, was a partner and father of three when he died on Feb. 8, 2022.

His family believes Steven received substandard care at their local hospital. Steven had been previously diagnosed with a liver disease and the family says this diagnosis impacted his care.

Over the course of one week, they said Steven was taken by ambulance to the emergency room three times and was released back to his family despite being in medical distress. It was only when his family refused his return by ambulance and insisted that he receive medical care that he was admitted to the hospital.

Once there, the family says they received mixed messages about his care and how to manage his pain. Staff said Steven was alert and responsive, but it was clear to the family he was not — he was declining rapidly. Family members can only speculate had he been adequately cared for, he may have lived longer.

After his death, his partner, Amanda Snell, who had maintained diligent daily logs while Steven was in hospital, wrote to health care officials demanding information.

The correspondence she received indicate that Steven could have received medication as frequently as every 30 minutes to manage his pain, but he received it two to six times in a 24-hour cycle.

Amanda says the hospital confirmed hygiene protocols were not met.

His daughter, Avery Snell, said: “The very people who were meant to provide care and comfort made my dad endure excruciating pain…It is now our time to stand up and seek change for injustices that Indigenous families face every day in our society. Shame on our health systems.”

According to research, Steven’s story is one of many across Canada’s health-care system in which Indigenous people are subject to a “pattern of harm, neglect and death in hospitals.” Essentially, they are “ignored to death,” according to Manitoba law professor Brenda Gunn.

Rising voices

Critical theorist Sherene Razack writes that “although Indigenous people repeatedly register the connection between colonial violence and accountability, their voices are seldom heard.”

This summer, the Dubois family have added their voices to an increasingly large demand for further inquests by the Canadian government to continue to examine the impacts of colonial violence and racism on policing, justice and health-care practices.

The family’s next major town will be Sault St. Marie, Ont. They anticipate arriving in Ottawa by mid-September when they are hoping to meet with representatives from the Assembly of First Nations and the federal government. To find up-to-date details of their walk, visit their social media page.

Michelle Stewart, Associate Professor of Gender, Religion and Critical Studies, University of Regina

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.