City in brief
The 68th annual Santa Claus Parade gathered tens of thousands of Montrealers on Saturday. Over 20 floats participated in the parade, and the Christmas mood was set with a fresh layer of snow.
The Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport has launched a Pet Squad—made up of 30 dogs and handlers—to walk through the terminal as a form of pet therapy for travellers, according to the Montreal Gazette. It is the airport’s solution to help fight travel stress.
A 42-year-old woman was injured on Sherbrooke St. E on Saturday morning by an SPVM cruiser during a car chase, according to TVA. The Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes has opened an investigation into the incident. The chase began on the Jacques Cartier Bridge when a driver refused to pull over.
The trials for Montreal priest Brian Boucher have begun following allegations of him sexually assaulting teenagers. While a witness was testifying against Boucher, CTV reported the judge reprimanded the priest for making faces. The witness, a 23-year-old man, had filed a complaint in 2013 against the priest. Boucher has worked at more than a dozen catholic churches in Montreal.
Nation in brief
The new Canadian $10 bill is now in circulation in Winnipeg. One side of the bill features civil rights activist Viola Desmond and the other features the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg. Desmond is the first Canadian woman to be featured on a banknote that will stay in circulation, according to CBC.
On Wednesday, Quebec Superior Court Justice Pierre-C. Gagnon approved a class action lawsuit against McDonald’s Canada for marketing its Happy Meal to children, according to Global News. This is due to the fact that the Happy Meals in stores are placed at children’s eye level, and toys that come with the meal are advertised at McDonald’s. This allegedly violates a Quebec law that doesn’t allow merchants to advertise their products to children under 13-years-old.
Ottawa is investing up to $153 million into ocean superclusters as part of Ottawa’s Innovation Superclusters Initiative, according to the National Post. These superclusters involve businesses, non-profit groups, and post-secondary institutions working towards innovative and economic growth in Canada’s oceans.
On Thursday, Premier Doug Ford’s government announced the closing of the Ontario Child Advocate’s office, handing over its duties to the ombudsman’s office, according to The Huffington Post. This government cut means that children in Ontario who are injured or die in the foster care system will not have an advocate investigate their case.
World in brief
One person was killed and a dozen were injured at a protest in France on Saturday, when a driver accelerated into the crowd out of panic, according to BBC. Roughly 250,000 people were protesting the increasing price of diesel, the most commonly used fuel in France. Diesel is at its all time high of the century—the price increased by 23 per cent in the last year.
Two ex-presidents in Madagascar are set to fight for votes in a run-off on Dec. 19, as neither candidate received the 50 per cent of votes required to win the first round of elections, according to France 24. The voter turnout was at 54.3 per cent and the current president only secured 8.84 per cent of the votes in the first round.
On Friday, a boat carrying 106 suspected Rohingya people in the south of Myanmar, was stopped. Everyone on board was arrested by immigration authorities, according to Al Jazeera. The Myanmar army has been accused by the UN of “genocidal intent” and ethnic cleansing.
On Thursday, Édouard Fritch, the French-Polynesian president, admitted in front of his national assembly that he and other leaders lied to their people. Fritch revealed previously hidden impacts on the environment and people’s health due to the nuclear tests carried out from 1960 to 1996, according to The Washington Post.
Two of Tanzania’s biggest donors are withholding aid money after the country made questioning official statistics a crime, and also passed a policy that bans pregnant girls from attending school, according to NBC News. The World Bank withdrew $300 million and Denmark is threatening to withhold $10 million due to Tanzania’s human rights abuse and homophobic comments made by a government official.
Graphic by @spooky_soda.
