Confronting Pope Francis, Monkeypox experience : In The News for July 22

“It’s going to be awesome to see the Pope because he was made out to be the very authority of the Roman Catholic Church. A lot of things will be going through my mind.”

He’ll welcome Pope Francis. But Irniq, on behalf of all Inuit who were taken to residential schools, will have a few things to say as part of the official delegation meeting the pontiff.

“I’m going to say what happened to us.”

He doesn’t mince words. He calls what happened kidnapping and rape.

And a simple papal apology, no matter how heartfelt, isn’t going to be enough.

“His church is very rich. He should be providing money for loss of culture, loss of language.”

Irniq wants the church to pay to help rebuild the culture it damaged, and for the Pope to help in returning priests facing abuse charges back to Canada.

The Pope apologized earlier this year to Indigenous people in a ceremony at the Vatican.

But Irniq says it’ll be much more important to hear the apology where the wrongdoing took place.

He hopes the papal visit will give all Canadians a chance to heal and move forward.

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Also this …

A 28-year-old Toronto resident says monkeypox caused him the worst pain of his life.

Peter Kelly was recovering from a bout of COVID-19 when he came down with high fever, chills and swollen lymph nodes.

When his fever broke after three days, he says he developed a painful rash.

He describes the simple act of rolling over as “excruciating.”

But it was when the rash started to turn into boils that Kelly says the pain became unimaginable, and he recalls it feeling like electric shocks.

Apart from visits to hospitals and clinics, Kelly remained quarantined in his tiny Toronto apartment for three weeks, which he says made him feel helpless at times.

He says there is stigma attached to contracting the virus and though he initially worried about how people would react he wants to be open about his experience so it might help others.

Canada has recorded more than 600 cases of monkeypox, most of them in Quebec and Ontario.

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What we are watching in the U.S. …

WASHINGTON _ Members of the security detail protecting U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence from the mob of protesters storming Capitol Hill last year were so fearful for their lives that they asked colleagues to say goodbye to their family members, the Jan. 6 committee heard Thursday.

A White House security official, their identity obscured for safety reasons, described in recorded testimony the chaotic, emotionally charged and “disturbing” radio traffic they were hearing as protesters began to focus their rage on the vice-president.

The riot was rapidly escalating, and security officials quickly realized they might soon have no means of escaping the Capitol, the witness testified in recorded audio testimony.

“It sounds like we came very close to service either having to use lethal options, or worse,” the official said.

“We didn’t have visibility … if they’re screaming and saying things like, ‘Say goodbye to my family,’ the floor needs to know this is going to a whole other level soon.”

Meanwhile, Donald Trump was watching the turmoil unfold on television from the comfort of his private White House dining room, ignoring pleas from close advisers _ including his own family members _ to publicly demand the rioters to stand down.

He spent much of the three-hour window calling senators to urge them to reject the electoral votes being counted in a joint session of Congress that day. Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville had to hang up on Trump in order to be evacuated.

During those three hours, as thousands of protesters milled angrily on the lawns surrounding the building, hundreds overran outmatched Capitol Police officers, smashing through doors and windows and terrorizing staffers inside while lawmakers were hustled away to safety.

The disruption proved temporary. By 4 a.m. the next morning, those same members of Congress had reconvened with Pence to finish the job of counting the electoral votes and officially certifying President Joe Biden’s election win.

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What we are watching in the rest of the world …

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka _ An ally of the Rajapaksa political family was appointed Friday as Sri Lanka’s prime minister, hours after security forces cleared the main protest site occupied for months by demonstrators angry at the Rajapaksas over the country’s economic collapse.

New President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was elected by lawmakers and sworn into office earlier this week, appointed his school classmate Dinesh Gunawardena to succeed himself. Gunawardena is 73 and also belongs to a prominent political family.

Sri Lankans have taken to the streets for months demanding their leaders resign over an economic crisis that has left the island nation’s 22 million people short of essentials like medicine, food and fuel.

The protests forced out former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa last week. His family has ruled Sri Lanka for most of the last two decades, but public outrage over the economic crisis forced several family members to leave ministry posts earlier in the crisis.

Before dawn, security forces made several arrests and cleared a protest camp near the presidential palace in the capital, Colombo, where demonstrators have gathered for the past 104 days. Army and police staff arrived in trucks and buses around midnight, removing tents and blocking roads leading to the site. The overnight raid occurred even though protesters had announced they would vacate the site on Friday voluntarily.

Security forces were seen beating up at least two journalists. At least two lawyers also were assaulted when they went to the protest site to offer their counsel, said the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, the main lawyers’ body in the country. It also said one lawyer and several journalists were arrested.

The lawyers’ association called for a halt to the “unjustified and disproportionate actions” of armed forces targeting civilians. It called on Wickremesinghe to ensure he and his government respected the rule of law and citizens’ rights.

On Monday, when he was acting president, Wickremesinghe declared a state of emergency that gave him broad authority to act in the interest of public security and order. Authorities have broad power to search premises and detain people, and Wickremesinghe can change or suspend any law. On Friday, he issued a notice under the state of emergency calling out the armed forces to maintain law and order countrywide.

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On this day in 2013 …

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Kate, welcomed the birth of their first child, George Alexander Louis. He would be known as His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge.

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In entertainment …

R&B vocal powerhouse Deborah Cox, retail executive Heather Reisman and the late multi-faceted athlete Lionel Conacher are among the names joining Canada’s Walk of Fame this year.

The first round of 2022 honourees was named at the organization’s annual Music Under the Stars fundraiser on Thursday night at Casa Loma in Toronto.

The three influential Canadians join the induction of comedy brand Just For Laughs and a special recognition given to Hamilton rock band Arkells, who receive the Allan Slaight Music Impact Honour for their contributions to music.

Organizers say further inductees will be announced in the coming weeks.

All of them will be celebrated at an in-person gala that takes place on Dec. 3 at Beanfield Centre in Toronto.

Of this year’s inductees, Cox is best known for her 1990s R&B hits, including the dance remix smash “Nobody’s Supposed to Be Here,” while for years Reisman was a rare female executive in Canada’s business world, building a book and homeware empire as chief executive of Indigo.

Conacher, who died at age 54 in 1954, won the Canadian light-heavyweight boxing championship in 1920, a year before he led the Toronto Argonauts to a Grey Cup victory, accounting for 15 points in their 23-0 win over the Edmonton Eskimos.

Just For Laughs is an “international comedy institution” with its festivals, TV programming and other ventures.

Canada’s Walk of Fame is a national not-for-profit organization that’s grown from honouring inductees with engraved sidewalk stars in Toronto’s Entertainment District to a yearlong national series of programs and celebrations.

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Did you see this?

VANCOUVER _ Former Vancouver Canuck Jake Virtanen has taken the stand in British Columbia Supreme Court to deny that he sexually assaulted a woman nearly five years ago.

Virtanen told the jury trial that the woman, who has testified she repeatedly told him “no” before the alleged assault, had been an “enthusiastic participant.”

Questioned Thursday by one of his defence lawyers, Colleen Elden, Virtanen disputed the woman’s testimony and denied that he used his body weight to pin her down on the bed in his Vancouver hotel room in September 2017.

Virtanen appeared to take time to compose himself and briefly put his head in his hands before describing the moment he first heard about the allegation.

He said through tears that he was in “utter disbelief” when his agent told him in April 2021 that a woman was going to publicly accuse him of sexual misconduct.

Virtanen, who is now 25, was charged with one count of sexual assault in January following an investigation by Vancouver police.

His testimony is set to continue Friday.

The Crown has finished calling evidence in the trial.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 22, 2022.

The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Confronting Pope Francis, Monkeypox experience : In The News for July 22

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