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“I understand the heartbreak of those who were not able to get out,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said to reporters on Thursday as the last Canadian evacuation flight left Kabul, capping weeks of effort.
Hours after the flight departed, two suicide bombings struck civilians and American soldiers outside Kabul’s airport, inflicting multiple casualties and disrupting the final days of the U.S.-led evacuation mission.
Those who lost their lives included children and 13 U.S. troops. Afghan health officials were quoted as saying at least 90 civilians died, but it was not clear whether that was a complete count.
From half a world away, Sarina Faizy, an Afghan human rights activist who worked alongside Canada’s embassy in Kabul for about five years, has spent a month working to help her family leave Afghanistan as the Taliban take over.
Faizy’s voice trembled as she recounted a phone call from her brother, who said her family was close to a plane that would take them to safety. “They waited three days and three nights without food, just water, with all kids,” Faizy told The Globe’s Janice Dickson through tears.
Her seven siblings – who range in age from 4 to 26 – her nephew, her father and his wife are now on their way to Canada.
On Thursday, The Globe’s Robert Fife and Steven Chase report, the Canadian government advised those left behind in Kabul to “shelter in place” as “no further Canadian evacuation flights are being planned.”
Adrian Morrow: Biden vows to complete Afghanistan evacuation despite deadly Kabul bombing
Kiran Nazish: We said we would help them. Now, Canada has abandoned the Afghans who helped us
Explainer: Afghanistan is under Taliban control. How did we get here?
A person wounded in a bomb blast outside the Kabul airport in Afghanistan on Thursday, Aug. 26, 2021, arrives at a hospital in Kabul.Victor J. Blue/The New York Times News Service
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Ryerson University decides to change name amid reckoning on Indigenous residential schools
When a wave of reckoning with colonization and the commemoration of controversial historical figures swept across the country, Ryerson University set up The Standing Strong Task Force (known as Mash Koh Wee Kah Pooh Win, in Cree) to examine the legacy of its namesake, Egerton Ryerson.
A leading figure in 19th-century Ontario education who has been linked with the design of the Indigenous residential school system, Ryerson “is increasingly recognized as a symbol of colonialism,” wrote the task force in its report, which it delivered this week.
The task force concluded the university should be renamed to better reflect the values and diversity of the institution. The renaming was one of 22 recommendations in the report, all of which were approved by the university’s board of governors.
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Contracting COVID-19 increases risk of rare blood clots more than getting vaccine, study shows: The study, led by a team at the University of Oxford in Britain, found that people infected with COVID-19 are at least nine times more likely to develop potentially deadly blood conditions, compared with those who have received either the Oxford-AstraZeneca or the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccines.
Chinese ambassador to Canada denounces Meng Wanzhou’s ‘arbitrary detention’ as 1,000-day mark nears: While a judge considers the verdict in Meng’s extradition case – a process that could take months – China’s ambassador to Canada, Cong Peiwu, said in a statement that his country “strongly condemns the wrong actions” of Canada.
Legault lays out Quebec’s demands: Premier François Legault inserted himself into the federal election campaign on Thursday, making health care and immigration his priorities while party leaders made pocketbook pitches from the campaign trail.
Canada’s biggest long-term care home chains will require staff to be vaccinated: A coalition including Chartwell, Extendicare, Responsive Group, Revera and Sienna said in a joint news release Thursday that staff who are not fully vaccinated by Oct. 12 will be placed on unpaid leaves of absence, with one chain saying those who refuse to get jabbed risk losing their jobs.
O’Toole says Canadian flags lowered following reports of unmarked graves at residential schools should be raised: “Reconciliation will be important for me, as will be pride in Canada,” Conservative Party Leader Erin O’Toole said Thursday. The other major federal parties rejected the idea, and some Indigenous leaders said the flags shouldn’t be raised until more work has been done.
The Globe’s Canadian federal election 2021 explainer: Election issues to watch ahead of the Sept. 20 vote.
MORNING MARKETS
World markets steady: Global shares held steady near record highs on Friday as investors caught their breath ahead of a much-anticipated speech by U.S. Fed chair Jerome Powell that could give clues about when the central bank will start tapering its bond-buying program. Just before 6 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.03 per cent. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 gained 0.02 per cent and 0.03 per cent, respectively. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed down 0.36 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slid 0.03 per cent. New York futures were higher. The Canadian dollar was trading at 78.90 US cents.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
Why aren’t we talking about Indigenous communities during Canada’s election campaign?
“Our lost children and the wicked fallout from the country’s foundational policies of extermination should be the first and last issue every single leader tackles in this election.” - Tanya Talaga
Federal public health leaders are staying silent during the election as fourth wave intensifies
“The law is clear on this: The essential work of government must continue even when candidates are out on the campaign trail, and one would be hard-pressed to imagine something more essential than public health communication during a pandemic.” - André Picard
An angry public is forcing timid governments to get tough with COVID-19 vaccine resisters
“There is increasingly little tolerance for the mollycoddling on display toward the vaccine-hesitant, the ones prolonging a full recovery from the crisis.” - Gary Mason
Canada needs a national vaccine passport, now. Quebec has the answer
Where is the plan currently at, now that Mr. Trudeau has put the government of Canada on hold until some time after the Sept. 20 election?” - The Globe Editorial Board
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
Brian GableBrian Gable/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
Tykes on dirt bikes: Motocross sees an unlikely youth boom during the COVID-19 pandemic
This year, at the most important event in the Canadian amateur motocross season, the TransCan Grand National Championship, there were more kids in the 50 cc dirt-bike class than there had been in seven or eight years.
Dressed in snazzy neon pants, plastic boots, goggles and too-large helmets that made them look an awful lot like bobblehead figurines, a group of roughly 30 young motocross racers – some of whom are still in kindergarten – revved tiny engines at the starting gate of the 2021 TransCan, set to start the biggest race of their short careers, writes Matt Bubbers.
MOMENT IN TIME: AUG. 27, 1873
Modern dance pioneer Maud Allan born in Canada
Canadian-born dancer Maud Allan in costume for her solo dance, 'The Vision of Salome', c. 1910.Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Toronto-born Maud Allan is considered one of the earliest forerunners of modern dance. She grew up in San Francisco, but by 25 she was living in Berlin and studying piano when her brother was hanged for murder. The event was said to have traumatized her. She turned to a new means of self-expression: interpretive dance. In Vienna, she moved to the music of Bach, Schubert and Mendelssohn, but she made headlines for Vision of Salomé in 1906. Allan danced barefoot in beads and a long, flowing translucent skirt, which scandalized audiences at the time. Her notoriety bolstered her popularity, and triggered a series of imitators and the “Salomania” phenomenon worldwide. On a tour of the U.K., she gave 250 performances in under a year. By 1918, and already controversial, Allan attracted more disdain when a British MP implied that she had been a lesbian spy for the Germans during the First World War. Allan sued, unsuccessfully, for defamation. After this scandal, she adopted a quieter lifestyle, teaching dance and serving as an airplane draftswoman during the Second World War. She died in 1956, at the age of 83, in Los Angeles. - Irene Galea
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