Tuesday, November 17, 2009
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Youth swing Sikh temple vote A youth slate seeking a return to more traditional customs claimed victory in the election at the Guru Nanak Sikh Temple in Surrey, B.C. THE CANADIAN PRESS
No need to say sorry, says immigration MP No apology forthcoming for abused migrant kids Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says there’s no need for Canada to apologize for abuse and exploitation suffered by thousands of poor children shipped here from Britain starting in the 19th century. Australia has apologized for its part in the mistreatment of the so-called home children and the British
government has announced it will issue a formal apology next year. Kenney says he supports a private member’s motion to declare 2010 the year of the home child, in remembrance of the “sad period” in Canadian history. But he says there’s limited public appetite for official government apologies for tragic events of the past
and no demand for one in this particular case. From 1869 to 1939, an estimated 100,000 orphaned or abandoned youngsters were taken off the streets of Britain and sent to Canada and other former British colonies with the promise of a better life. Many were abused physically and mentally or put to work. THE CANADIAN PRESS
Nova Scotia Torch relay STEVE WADDEN/THE CANADIAN PRESS
Special Olympian Lynette Sampson, of Sydney River, N.S., holds the Olympic torch high for a large crowd gathered at the Sydney waterfront for the start of the Cape Breton leg of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic torch relay, yesterday in Sydney.
Book accuses China of abuses FALUN GONG A
new book says China is still harvesting organs from Falun Gong prisoners for medical transplants. The book by former Liberal MP David Kilgour and lawyer-activist David Matas, is an update of two previous reports they produced on the Chinese organ trade. It says Falun Gong practitioners are held in labour camps by the tens of thousands and killed for their organs. THE CANADIAN PRESS
AIDS vaccine closer: Experts Researchers say they are closer than ever to finding a vaccine against HIV/AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) thanks to people who have had contact with the virus but haven’t become infected. Case studies were shared at a gathering of about 75 international experts in Winnipeg yesterday with the hope of getting another step closer to beating the virus that attacks the immune system. Dr. Frank Plummer, director of Winnipeg’s NaHEALTH
tional Microbiology Laboratory, said he expects to see a vaccine in his lifetime. “I’m confident that we will get there eventually,” Plummer said. “It’s not a simple problem. If it was, we would have done it already.” In September, researchers announced that a two-vaccine combination cut the risk of becoming infected with HIV by more than 31 per cent in a trial of more than 16,000 volunteers in Thailand. THE CANADIAN PRESS