In The News is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to kickstart your day. Here is what's on the radar of our editors for the morning of April 20 ...
What we are watching in Canada ...
Statistics Canada will say this morning how quickly prices increased in March, just one month after the rising cost of gasoline and groceries pushed the annual inflation rate to its fastest pace in more than 30 years.
The annual inflation rate hit 5.7 per cent in February which marked the biggest increase to the consumer price index since August 1991, according to Statistics Canada.
Pushing the rate higher were prices for gasoline and groceries, which further climbed in March after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
RBC economists Nathan Janzen and Rannella Billy-Ochieng' say the war in Ukraine has added to global supply chain disruptions and continued to broaden price pressures.
The duo say the annual inflation rate could hit six per cent for March pushed higher by soaring gas prices as energy surged higher on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Also expected to fuel inflation last month are price increases in the country's hot housing market.
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Also this ...
A Saskatchewan First Nation says it plans to release details today about "possible burials found" at the site of a former residential school.
Chief Byron Bitternose, following months of work, is to outline the first findings of a ground search on the George Gordon First Nation.
Sarah Longman, spokeswoman for the chief, says the search has been challenging for the community and for those who attended George Gordon Indian Residential School.
It was first established by the Anglican Church of Canada in 1888 and operated until 1996, making it one of the longest- running residential schools in the country.
The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation has a record of 49 student deaths there.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report called the George Gordon school one of the worst run in the entire residential school system.
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And this too ...
Labour minister Seamus O'Regan says making Canadian companies ensure they're not using slave labour or exploiting child workers overseas is a priority for the government.
He says he's preparing to bring in a "comprehensive" bill making Canadian firms check their supply chains to make sure overseas workers are not being forced to work in appalling conditions to make their products -- or components.
He says there's widespread support in Parliament, including among Liberal and NDP MPs, for outlawing the use of forced labour.
Similar laws are already in place in countries such as Britain, France, Germany and Norway.
A House of Commons committee report said 4.3 million children were involved in forced labour in 2016.
That interferes with their education, and can involve working in hazardous conditions, with toxic substances or at extreme temperatures.
It can also include confinement at work sites and indentured labour, where whole families are forced to work to repay debts.
O'Regan said he's examining four private members' bills that are before Parliament on the issue, and hasn't decided whether he will modify one of those or introduce a new bill.
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What we are watching in the U.S. ...
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. _ Heavy winds kicked up a towering wall of flames outside a northern Arizona tourist town Tuesday, ripping through two-dozen structures and sending residents of more than 700 homes scrambling to flee.
Flames as high as 30 metres raced through an area of scattered homes, dry grass and Ponderosa pine trees on the outskirts of Flagstaff as wind gusts of up to 80 kph pushed the blaze over a major highway.
Coconino County officials said during an evening news conference that 766 homes and 1,000 animals had been evacuated. About 250 structures remained threatened in the area popular with hikers and off-road vehicle users and where astronauts have trained amid volcanic cinder pits.
The county declared an emergency after the wildfire ballooned from 40 hectares Tuesday morning to over 23 square kilometres by evening, and ash rained from the sky. The fire was moving northeast away from the more heavily populated areas of Flagstaff, home to Northern Arizona University, and toward Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, said Coconino National Forest spokesman Brady Smith.
"It's good in that it's not headed toward a very populated area, and it's headed toward less fuel,'' Smith said. ``But depending on the intensity of the fire, fire can still move across cinders.''
Authorities won't be able to determine whether anyone was injured in the wildfire until the flames subside. Firefighters and law enforcement officers went door to door telling people to evacuate but had to pull out to avoid getting boxed in, said Coconino County Sheriff Jim Driscoll.
He said his office got a call about a man who was trapped inside his house, but firefighters couldn't get to him.
The fire started Sunday afternoon 22 kilometres northeast of Flagstaff. Investigators don't know yet what caused it and have yet to corral any part of the blaze.
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What we are watching in the rest of the world ...
KYIV, Ukraine _ Russia hurled its military might against Ukrainian cities and towns and poured more troops into the war, seeking to slice the country in two in a potentially pivotal battle for control of the eastern industrial heartland of coal mines and factories.
The fighting unfolded along a boomerang-shaped front hundreds of miles long in what is known as the Donbas. If successful, it would give President Vladimir Putin a victory following the failed attempt by Moscow's forces to storm the capital, Kyiv, and heavier-than-expected casualties.
In Mariupol, the devastated port city in the Donbas, Ukrainian troops said the Russian military dropped heavy bombs to flatten what was left of a sprawling steel plant _ believed to be the defenders' last holdout _ and hit a hospital where hundreds were staying.
The Ukrainian General Staff said Wednesday that Russia was continuing to mount offensives at various locations in the east as its forces probe for weak points in the Ukrainian lines. The General Staff said in a statement that defeating the last resistance in the Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol remains Russia's top priority.
Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said that there was a "preliminary'' agreement to open a humanitarian corridor for women, children and the elderly to leave Mariupol west to the Ukraine-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia on Wednesday afternoon.
She said on the messaging app Telegram that civilians in Mariupol were facing a "catastrophic humanitarian situation.'' Ukraine and Russia have frequently blamed each other for obstructing evacuations from Mariupol or firing along the agreed route, which has typically only been open to people travelling using private vehicles.
Vereshchuk previously said no agreement had been reached with Russia on an evacuation route on each of the past three days. There was no immediate confirmation from the Russian side, which issued a new ultimatum to the Ukrainian defenders to surrender Wednesday after a previous ultimatum was ignored.
The Russian Defense Ministry said those who surrender will be allowed to live and given medical treatment. The Ukrainian troops have repeatedly vowed not to give up.
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On this day in 1989 ...
The last Canadian $1 bill was printed by the Canadian Bank Note Company.
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In entertainment ...
Allison Russell says she hopes the process of writing a memoir about her abusive upbringing in Montreal will help reclaim a piece of herself she lost along the way.
The Nashville-based folk singer-songwriter is in the midst of scouring old journals and photographs to jog her memory of a time she'd rather forget.
She first shared her life story on her Grammy- and Juno-nominated debut album "Outside Child," recounting years of childhood sexual abuse that lasted until she left home as a teen and found refuge among friends and a "chosen family."
"Outside Child" brought Russell two nominations at the Juno Awards set for May — one for songwriter of the year and another for contemporary roots album of the year.
The 42-year-old musician says she considers the memoir a companion piece to "Outside Child," and that it will be written around more vivid memories in consultation with people she knew.
She says she hopes to revisit Montreal as part of the research, as she's been "feeling the pull to return" with her partner and young daughter.
"I had inescapable feelings of threat, fear and danger whenever I was there that it took a long time to have that worked through," she says in an interview last month.
"But the first time I went with my daughter when she was three, I really felt like it was my city again. I didn't have that same fear."
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Did you see this?
OTTAWA _ Family and supporters of a Mexican activist who was killed after opposing a Canadian company's mining project are asking the Supreme Court of Canada to review a federal ombudsman's decision not to investigate the matter.
The case stretches back to 2007 when Calgary-based Blackfire Exploration Ltd. opened a barite mine in Chiapas, Mexico, prompting local opposition, demonstrations and a blockade of a route to the project.
After being beaten and threatened with death for leading protests over the mine's environmental and social effects, activist Mariano Abarca was fatally shot outside his home in November 2009.
Members of Abarca's family and organizations concerned with mining abuses presented information to the public sector integrity commissioner in 2018, asking him to probe whether there was wrongdoing by members of the Canadian Embassy in Mexico.
Federal Court Justice Keith Boswell ruled three years ago that it was reasonable for the commissioner to decide not to investigate on the basis the embassy had broken no code of conduct.
Earlier this year, the Federal Court of Appeal upheld the integrity commissioner's decision not to begin a probe.
The Supreme Court will decide in coming weeks whether to hear the case.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 20, 2022.
The Canadian Press
