BRAMPTON, ONTARIO — Editors Note: A photo for this release will be available on the Canadian Press picture wire via Marketwire.

Today, the Honourable Steven Blaney, Minister of Veterans Affairs, and Eve Adams, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs, joined with the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada, parliamentarians, youth and other dignitaries at a memorial service to commemorate the 58th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice.

Prime Minister Harper and Minister Blaney laid wreaths at the Korea Veterans National Wall of Remembrance. Minister Blaney later spoke at a reception about the importance of remembering the sacrifices of all Veterans who served in the Korean War.

“The selfless sacrifice of those who accepted the challenge helped establish Canada’s reputation as a nation that will fight against injustice and repression beyond its borders,” said Minister Blaney. “As one of Canada’s most significant armed engagements of the 20th century, we must remember the sacrifices of those Veterans who gave so much in the defence of freedom and democracy and ensure that their legacy is preserved for future generations.”

From 1950 to 1953, more than 26,000 Canadians served in Korea, working to restore peace and stability to the area. An additional 7,000 Canadians served between the signing of the armistice and the end of 1955, with some Canadian troops remaining until 1957. In total, 516 brave Canadians made the ultimate sacrifice while serving with the United Nations forces.

Many gather each year at the Korea Veterans National Wall of Remembrance in Brampton, as the monument honours all Canadians who fought in the Korean War.

More information on Canada’s role in the Korean War and the Community Engagement Partnership Fund can be found on the Veterans Affairs Canada Web site at veterans.gc.ca.

© MarketWire 2011

Article source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43914112

Canada completed its campaign at the FIBA under-19 women’s world basketball championships with a 70-52 victory over France on Sunday.

Canada finishes the tournament in fifth place, despite going 8-1. The Canadians had won six straight games — including an upset of the U.S. — before losing in the quarter-final against Spain.

Nirra Fields of Lachine, Que., led Canada with 18 points, four rebounds and five steals. Edmonton’s Michelle Plouffe had 14 points and six rebounds, while twin sister Katherine Plouffe chipped in with seven boards.

The six-game undefeated streak marked a first for a Canadian team in the preliminary round of any world basketball tournament.

Canada’s best finish at the tournament was a fourth-place showing two years ago in Bangkok, Thailand.

© The Canadian Press, 2011

Article source: http://www.cbc.ca/sports/basketball/story/2011/08/01/sp-u19-basketball.html

OTTAWA – Canada strongly condemned on Sunday “the brutal attack” in Hama by Syrian security forces “against peaceful protestors.”

“The use of military force, including tanks, by the Assad regime to suppress the Syrian people’s calls for democratic reform is utterly indefensible,” said Prime Minister Stephen Harper in a statement.

According to activists, Syrian forces killed nearly 140 people on Sunday including at least 100 when the army stormed the flashpoint protest city of Hama to crush dissent on the eve of Ramadan.

Harper added that Canada is concerned about reports that a key opposition official has been arrested and Harper said his government “calls for the immediate release of this individual, along with all others detained because of peaceful protests.”

Opposition figure and chief of one of the country’s largest clans, Nawaf Al-Bachir was arrested Saturday afternoon according to the Syrian League for the Defense of Human Rights.

“The use of military force, including tanks, by the Assad regime to suppress the Syrian people’s calls for democratic reform is utterly indefensible,” said Harper.

“The status quo is not acceptable. The Syrian President is faced with a clear choice: deliver the reform that the Syrian people are asking or get out of the way so others can deliver it,” he added.

The Syrian president replaced the governor of Hama after a record 500,000 protesters rallied in the opposition bastion on July 1 calling for the fall of the regime.

At least 1,583 civilians and 369 members of the army and security forces have been killed since mid-March in Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Article source: http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/World/Story/A1Story20110801-292064.html

It may seem perfectly natural for Jann Arden to be lobbing zingers as part of a panel of judges on a reality TV talent show.

She’s a singer. She’s a storyteller. She’s funny, opinionated and quick with a one-liner. But when asked if she was eager to lend her talents to a typical Idol-type program, she’s fairly blunt.

“Oh God, no,� says the Calgary native. “Are you crazy? Are you a crazy person?�

Apparently, Arden is not a fan of the format. Which is fine. Because despite its somewhat generic title, Canada Sings strays from the tried-and-true model of exposing fame-seeking wannabes to the withering critiques of celebrity judges.

Certainly the reality-show infrastructure seems in place. Arden is joined at the judge’s table by Simple Plan vocalist Pierre Bouvier and Rob Van Winkle, the set-trashing reality-show veteran formerly known as Vanilla Ice. Amateur singers attempt to win their favour by performing and there’s a prize at the end.

But that’s where the similarities end. Mixing a Glee-inspired approach to ensemble singing with a charity-minded competition, Canada Sings finds ordinary Canadians forming singing groups with their co-workers and competing for $10,000 in cash to go to the charity of their choice.

So the series, which debuts Wednesday on Global, pits impromptu glee clubs made up of firefighters, zookeepers, software technologists, hospital workers and other unlikely vocalists against each other.

They are helped along by vocal coaches and choreographers as we follow their progress from shaky amateurs to polished ensemble. Each week, two will compete for the charity money.

“Initially I had said no,� Arden says. “But then I understood that it really wasn’t about the fame game, which makes me sick, and I want nothing to do with that stuff.

“This is really about people raising money for great causes and having fun doing it. It’s all about singing and dancing. These people suck when they start. They’re terrible. And you would not believe how good they get. You think ‘How in the hell did they pull this off?’�

While Arden may not have been yearning to star in a new TV show, this latest side project seems further proof that the musician is intent on conquering all streams of media.

A new album recorded with Michael Buble and Bon Jovi’s A-list producer Bob Rock is due out Nov. 1, as is a book she wrote chronicling her early years growing up in Alberta.

There was the televised one-hour documentary, Jann Arden: Free, which aired last year, and her narration duties for the CMT show ER Vets. On top of that, Arden has an hour-long CBC Radio 1 show called Being Jann, which is airing throughout the summer and finds her welcoming guests such as Buble and Stevie Nicks. She tweets, she blogs, she once wrote an advice column for Elle magazine and has done TV spots for Rick Mercer and Corner Gas.

But Arden doesn’t seem particularly comfortable with the suggestion she is rapidly becoming Canada’s queen of all media.

“I like trying different things,� she says. “But I really don’t think I’ve reached saturation or anything like that. I walk down the street and nobody knows who I am. It’s very cute of you to say that. But believe me, I live a pretty quiet life.�

As for Canada Sings, it has an appropriately Canadian gentleness to it when it comes to the judges’ interaction with the contestants. There’s no Simon Cowell on this panel.

“We’re more commentators, it’s not really about judging and we’re not really critiquing their performances,� she says. “It’s not the format to do that. It’s one thing if a person is vying for a record deal, but it’s not that kind of a competition.�

And, as a side benefit, the contestants who go through the long process seem inspired to adopt a seize-the-day, climb-every-mountain mantra similar to Arden’s.

“This is about overcoming fears and obstacles and, for myself, it was very inspiring,� she says. “Not one of these people left this experience without saying ‘I can do anything. I can do glass-blowing, or creative writing, or skydiving or rock climbing.’ A lot of them are saying, ‘Why haven’t I tried stuff before?’ In that way, it’s very entertaining; it’s touching. It’s not Little House on the Prairie cute, there’s great drama, great backstories.�

Calgary Herald

evolmers@calgaryherald.com

Article source: http://www.montrealgazette.com/Jann+Arden+makes+foray+into+reality+with+Canada+Sings/5186909/story.html

In May — the most recent month for which figures are available — same-day and overnight trips by Americans to Canada totalled just under 1.1 million, according to seasonally adjusted figures from Statistics Canada. Five years ago, the figure was more than 1.8 million. In the first four months of this year, U.S. crossings to Ontario decreased by 5.2 per cent.

At the same time, more Canadians are taking advantage of the dollar’s buying power to travel to the U.S. In May, nearly 3.4 million Canadians travelled by car to the U.S., about 600,000 more than the same month five years ago.

For tourism operators, it’s a double-whammy.

Leisure air travel is the only exception to the general decline in American visitors to Canada. It was up by 12 per cent in May compared to May of 2010, and has risen 3.6 per cent year to date.

Klassen says air travellers are “much more resilient� than tourists who drive. They tend to be wealthier, they already have passports and, if they live some distance from the Canada-U.S. border, they’re probably not particularly aware of the exchange rate, he says.

That worked to Canada’s disadvantage when the dollar was low and this country was a low-cost destination for Americans. “We had a hard time communicating that value proposition to them because they don’t typically spend their days, like we do, looking and seeing what the exchange rate is,� Klassen says. But that same lack of awareness may be helping now.

The weak American market hasn’t had much of an effect on the nation’s capital, according to Ottawa Tourism’s Jantine Van Kregten. “About 90 per cent of our visitors are Canadian. Only about five per cent are American.

“Of course we would like to see those numbers go up,� she adds, “but it’s not as dire a situation as some border communities might face.� Ottawa Tourism is working with the CTC and Ontario Tourism to market the capital in New York and Boston, Ottawa’s two key markets in the U.S.

Based on overnight accommodation, visits to Ottawa were up marginally in May, Van Kregten says. But she’s expecting a bounce when the June numbers come in. “With the royal visit, we know there will be a nice little spike around Canada Day.�

The CTC has largely moved out of the U.S. leisure travel market, though it remains active in the meeting and convention sector. Along with its scaled-down efforts in the U.S., it now focuses its marketing in 10 countries: Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, South Korea, Mexico and the UK.

China, expected to generate 100 million internationally travellers worldwide by 2020, is Canada’s biggest emerging market, Klassen says. The CTC launched its first major advertising campaign in China in February, after Canada won coveted Approved Destination Status there a year ago.

So far, the returns are encouraging. As of May, year-over-year visits by Chinese citizens to Canada were up 18 per cent. “We’re very aggressively marketing in that particular market,� says Klassen.

Article source: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/Tourism+officials+look+parlay+Will+Kate+visit+into+global+bonanza/5186805/story.html

BY JASON CLEMENS

While the U.S. remains mired in debt and slogs through a subpar economic recovery, Canada is moving ahead steadily. Its unemployment rate peaked at a little over 8.5% and is now 7.4%, and there were no bank bailouts. Real GDP growth is expected to be roughly 3% this year.

Now with the first majority government since 2004, and the first Conservative majority since 1993, the country has an opportunity to vault forward. The Conservatives led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper have a chance to build on the reforms begun under previous Liberal governments that Americans can only look at with …

Article source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904800304576476402881011290.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

SHANGHAI – An illegal kick cost Canada a top-six finish in the women’s 4×100-metre relay at the world swimming championships Saturday.

The United States, led by Rebecca Soni, won gold in a time of three minutes 52.36 seconds, not far off the world mark of 3:52.19 that China set in Rome in 2009 before high-tech bodysuits were banned.

The Chinese finished second in 3:55.61, while Australia took bronze in 3:57.13.

The Canadians initially thought they had tied Britain for sixth, but officials ruled Calgary’s Jillian Tyler performed a double fly kick off the wall during the breastroke leg of the race. Swimmers are only allowed one kick.

That meant heartbreak for the team of Tyler, Sinead Russell of Oakville, Ont., Quebec City’s Katerine Savard and Julia Wilkinson of Stratford, Ont.

Swimming Canada CEO and head coach Pierre Lafontaine said he agreed with the call but wondered why a similar infraction by Tyler in the preliminary round went unnoticed.

“We went through the race analysis right after they got disqualified,” Lafontaine said on a conference call. “Not only did (Tyler) do the double fly kick, but we went back to look at other races and she did one on (Saturday) morning too.

“The discussion (with officials) was ‘Why was the call not made this morning, but was made tonight?’”

Lafontaine said the good news for Canada is the country’s time in the preliminary round still stands as the seventh-best in the world this year to date.

Meanwhile, Victoria’s Ryan Cochrane earned a spot in Sunday’s final of the men’s 1,500-metre freestyle.

Cochrane clocked 14:55.86 for the fifth fastest time to stay in contention for a second medal at the championships. He won the silver in the 800-metre freestyle and was also fifth in the 400-metre freestyle.

“I’m happy to get in the final and I think it’ll be that much better hearing the crowd and being in the excitement of a final,” said Cochrane, the Olympic bronze medallist in the event.

In semifinal swims Saturday, Winnipeg’s Chantal Van Landeghem and Montreal’s Victoria Poon ranked 14th and 15th, respectively, in the women’s 50-metre freestyle and did not advance. Montreal’s Charles Francis was 16th in the men’s 50-metre backstroke semifinal.

Van Landeghem had qualified seventh from the preliminary round. The 17-year-old is one of the many emerging young Canadian stars on this year’s team. In 2009, Canada had 24 top-16 results. Going into the final day of competition in 2011, that number stands at 33.

“It’s a very exciting situation for us,” Lafontaine said of the Canadian youth movement. “But there is still a lot of work ahead. The investments we have made in the youth development programs are really starting to pay off. But this progress would not be possible without the leadership of our veterans as well.”

Article source: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/us-wins-medley-relay-world-swimming-championships-120923374.html

OTTAWA  - 

Canada’s Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is logging a lot of miles this week talking human smuggling with foreign officials.

On Friday, Kenney left for New Zealand, where he was expected to meet with Prime Minister John Key and members of his cabinet as part of a bilateral fellowship program between the two countries.

Top of mind for both countries is human smuggling.

“Canada and New Zealand have many shared experiences when it comes to citizenship and immigration. As highly prosperous and free nations, we are sought after destinations for immigrants, both those who obey rules and enter legally, and those who do not,” Kenney wrote in an e-mail Sunday.

In mid-July, a migrant ship carrying 87 Tamils from Sri Lanka was intercepted off the coast of Indonesia. While the migrants themselves claimed to be heading to New Zealand, Kenney said there is evidence to suggest the boat was actually heading to Canada.

Following his official visit in New Zealand, Kenney will travel to Thailand to meet with unspecified officials there. The ruling Democrat Party was ousted in Thailand’s general election earlier in July, and it was not made public which officials Kenney would meet with in Thailand.

But the southeast Asian country has long been seen as a transit country for human smuggling operations, and Canada has increased its police and intelligence presence there in an effort to nip migrant ships in the bud before they set sail for Canada.

Kenney said he would be offering Thai officials and Canadians working in Thailand a “thank you” for the work they’ve been doing to combat human smuggling.

“Building partnerships and participating in exchanges with our key allies helps us achieve greater security, improved integrity of our immigration systems and safer communities within our borders,” Kenney wrote.

The feds have re-introduced legislation that, if passed, would allow thea government to detain migrants who arrive en masse — even legitimate refugees — for up to one year. They would also be prohibited from becoming landed immigrants or sponsoring their family members to come to Canada for five years.

The government says the move would deter people from using criminal human smuggling rings, but critics say it’s wrong to punish the refugees themselves.

In Oct. 2009, the MV Ocean Lady arrived on Canada’s west coast, carrying 76 Tamil migrants who all sought refugee status. Less than a year later, the MV Sun Sea landed in B.C. carrying nearly 500 Tamils.

bryn.weese@sunmedia.ca

Article source: http://www.torontosun.com/2011/07/31/canada-talks-human-smuggling-in-new-zealand-and-thailand

AMMAN (Reuters) – Syrians began the Muslim Ramadan fast in somber mood Monday after troops stormed into Hama, scene of a 1982 massacre, in one of the bloodiest days in a five-month-old revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.

Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/canada-deports-peruvian-suspected-war-crimes-205329449.html

From The Star:

Last week, in Geneva, Harper’s government refused to put chrysotile asbestos on a United Nations list of hazardous exports. It was the third time Canada has stepped in to prevent placing asbestos on a list of exports that would have to include warnings of health hazards to recipient countries. Those countries could then refuse the asbestos imports if they believed they were unable to handle the product safely on their soil. The cost of protecting Quebec mining jobs has been high. We are alone in the world, an international pariah. The Canadian position on asbestos exports has been condemned by virtually every health advocacy, environmental, medical and labour organization in this country. We have been ridiculed, scorned, shamed, accused of hypocrisy — even called merchants of death. We have been pilloried in the world’s most prominent medical journals. Protesters have brought their concerns from Asia to Quebec, and our embassies have been picketed by those who say we are exporting death. Prominent journalists — including the Star’s Jennifer Wells and the CBC’s Mellissa Fung — have travelled to India to chronicle in detail the toxic export from Quebec. The World Health Organization says as many as 107,000 people die each year from asbestos-related illness. The Harper cabinet has hidden, shrugged and delivered zombie-like message track answers on the matter, ducking behind the word chrysotile. Harper has defiantly maintained that chrysotile, one of the fibres comprising asbestos, is much less dangerous than the other asbestos fibre, which Canada does not export. Still, this stubborn resistance to common sense and scientific evidence remains a mystery.

The resistance to asbestos riddance sounds sadly familiar, a case of the conservatives in power standing up for the business interests of the “asbestos industry”, regardless of the consequences:

…the Conservative Party chief was defiant when challenged on the subject.

He said it’s not fair to deny a Canadian enterprise export markets for a product that’s in demand elsewhere. And he declined though to reconsider a ban on using asbestos in homes and schools.

“We have no plans to do that but chrysotile, specifically, is permitted internationally under conditions of safe and controlled use,” Mr. Harper said.

“Canada is one of a number of exporters of chrysotile and there are many countries, in which it is legal, where there are buyers,” he said.

“This government will not put Canadian industry in a position where it is discriminated against in a market where sale is permitted.

Conservatives contend that the substance is safe when used properly.  Ironically, the nation’s parliamentary building began a billion-dollar project to rid asbestos from its government halls, putting ‘do as I say, not as I do’ leadership — all too familiar around the globe — on display:

The project will take six years to complete but, in the meantime, Canadian government agents are still pushing exports of the fibre. Canada even has gone so far as to argue a challenge at the World Trade Organization that a proposed French ban on asbestos imports would be an illegal trade practice.

Despite recent warnings that asbestos was the cause of 500,000 cancer victims in western Europe alone, Canadian asbestos producers continue to promote and sell their fibre worldwide – especially to developing nations.

The issue became so contentious this year that The Daily Show did a well-titled piece on it: “Ored to Death.”

An interesting parallel has been drawn, by asbestos opposers, between Canada’s exporting of asbestos and its refusal to partake in the gruesome diamond trade with Zimbabwe:

The Canadian government has inadvertently allowed an uncomfortable parallel to be drawn between the controversial export of diamonds from Zimbabwe and chrysotile asbestos from Quebec.

It seems more than a little two-faced to fight diamond shipments because of the barbaric treatment of miners, while at the same time defending Canadian exports of a product likely to kill some labourers who work with it on foreign construction sites.

Good news may be on the way, however.  Canada’s asbestos mine industry could disappear by the end of 2012 according to a confidential memo acquired and published this week:

According to a confidential memo issued by the Canadian federal government, the country’s last fully functional asbestos mine is about to die, raising the possibility that the controversial industry may just disappear on its own in Canada.

The Natural Resources Canada memo, which has been released under the Access to Information Act, estimates that the life of the Lac d’aminate du Canada mine in Quebec will likely end in 2012.

Canada’s controversial asbestos industry has nearly disappeared in recent years, mostly due to concerns over the material’s connection to cancer. While the Canadian government continues to insist that its type of asbestos, chrysotile, is safe when used properly, many opponents still call it immoral for Canada to export asbestos to developing countries, especially when the use of the materials was been almost completely banned in Canada.

And according to government assessments, the Lac d’amiante du Canada mine could be gone within months.

“The open-pit Lac d’amiante du Canada (LAC) operation will be the last remaining chrysotile mine in Canada, with an estimated mine life of two to four years,” said the February 2008 government assessment.

Perhaps the collective Canadian conscience will at long last be able to breathe easy…

Article source: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/07/31/1001027/-Canadas-Asbestos-Export-Problem?via=siderecent