Top Global News

Just like each prior month, it was difficult to narrow down global stories to highlight in June. There was the stupid spectator who fled the country after causing one of the goofiest pile-ups in Tour de France. Related with last month’s top global news story, Israel swore in a new coalition government, ending former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s historic 12 year reign. The new Prime Minister and part of one (Yamina) of three parties making the coalition government, Naftali Bennett, will lead the nation with allies who might only agree that Netanyahu had to go. See the Associated Press article for more information about the new government. There’s also the ruling by a Moscow court that labelled followers of Alexei Navalny’s movement an “extremist” group, essentially categorizing it with true extremists like al-Qaida. Currently, those who support Navalny cannot be persecuted, but recent legislation in some regions have barred Navalny allies from running for office. See Politco’s summary for additional information on what this means for Putin’s power. Another story of similar political strife was also highlighted. In Nicaragua, opponents to President Daniel Ortega have been arrested, suspiciously months before elections are to be underway. As of June 2nd, five potential presidential candidates (all critics of Ortega’s rule) have been detained, there names are Miguel Mora (journalist), Felix Maridiaga (academic), Juan Sebastian Chamorro (economist), Christiana Chamorro (politician and daughter of ex-President) and Arturo Cruz (former ambassador). Check out BBC’s brief synopsis of the situation. However, with Canada Day arriving tomorrow, what I personally believe deserves the most attention are the hundreds of unmarked graves of Indigenous children found buried in old Catholic residential schools. This might be hard to read (it was for me). When you think of Canada, what do you normally think of? What’s your impression of the country as a whole? Of course, today’s Canada is much different than its historic past, as hopefully most countries see themselves down this morally improved trajectory. It has never pained me to be born Canadian, and I have never been ashamed of the country that accepted myself and my family. Not until recently. This has likely been brought up in the past by Indigenous groups, but on May 27th the CBC reported that unmarked graves of 215 children were found at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, where the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nations Tribe say ground-penetrating radar was used to locate their remains. These deaths are undocumented, meaning that their families were never notified of what happened to them. As stated in the CBC article, “The Kamloops Indian Residential School was in operation from 1890 to 1969, when the federal government took over administration from the Catholic Church to operate it as a residence for a day school, until closing in 1978 […] Up to 500 students would have been registered at the school, according to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR). Those children would have come from First Nations communities across B.C. and beyond.” This prompted a government response to support groups to search at other old First Nations residence schools, to shed more light on the truth about what was deemed as “cultural genocide”. And then, on June 23rd, the National Post reported hundreds of more unmarked graves (very likely children) at the Marieval Indian Residential School in Saskatchewan. They state three times as many children were buried here, with some estimates reported by the New York Times and BBC putting that figure to 700+. Canada, just like any colonial/european-ized country, is not exempted from its brutal, horrific past. That’s what we should remember this year, if anything. Be aware that no matter where you are from, acknowledge the past, and be better than they were, while striving to build a society that was better than yesterday.