The Tuesday news briefing: An at-a-glance survey of some top stories

Highlights from the news file for Tuesday, June 20

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ONE IN TWO CANADIANS WILL GET CANCER, REPORT SAYS: A new report by the Canadian Cancer Society predicts that almost one in every two Canadians will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime and one in four Canadians will die from the disease. The report estimates that more than 206,000 Canadians will be diagnosed with some form of cancer this year and almost 81,000 will die of a malignancy. Canadian Cancer Society epidemiologist Leah Smith says the number of new cases is a reflection of Canada’s growing and aging population. Smith says about 90 per cent of all the cancers expected to be diagnosed in 2017 will be among those aged 50 and older. Four cancers — prostate, breast, lung and colorectal — continue to top the list of the most common malignancies, which together are expected to account for more than half the cancer diagnoses in 2017. Lung cancer — predicted to cause 21,100 deaths this year — continues to be the most deadly, exceeding the 19-thousand-200 deaths expected from all three of the other cancers combined.

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BILL CREATES NEW SECURITY SUPER-WATCHDOG: A super-watchdog to oversee the full array of federal intelligence services would be created under legislation introduced Tuesday. The measure is part of a package of national security changes tabled by Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government. Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale says the new expert body — the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency — would keep an eye on intelligence services across government. The idea is to ensure a more seamless and comprehensive approach to reviewing Canadian security agencies. The 150-page bill also follows through on Liberal campaign promises to repeal some elements of omnibus security legislation brought in by the Conservatives after a gunman stormed Parliament Hill in 2014. The Conservatives gave CSIS explicit authority to derail terrorist threats, not just gather information about them. The new legislation would require CSIS to seek a warrant for any threat reduction measure that would “limit” a right or freedom protected by the charter and it clarifies that a warrant can only be issued if a judge is satisfied the measure complies with the charter.

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CANADA GOING ON OFFENSIVE ON CYBERWARFARE: Canada is going all-in when it comes to cyberwarfare. Weeks after giving the military permission to start developing cyberweapons and other offensive capabilities, the Trudeau government wants to issue a similar directive to Canada’s electronic spy agency. New national security legislation unveiled by the Liberals on Tuesday would, among other things, let the Communications Security Establishment launch cyberattacks against foreign targets. Those would include potential threats ranging from hackers and terrorists to countries and governments. The 70-year-old agency’s existing mandate includes protecting computer systems that are deemed critical by the federal government, and only allows for the collection of information from foreign targets. Those responsibilities would continue under the proposed legislation.

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OPIOID DEATHS MAY BE A FACTOR IN TRANSPLANTS: Amid the growing death toll of Canada’s ongoing opioid epidemic, there’s evidence of a correlating increase in the number of healthy human organs available for transplant. The agency that manages organ donations and transplants in British Columbia recently began tracking the data after physicians there began to see more organs coming from patients who died of drug overdoses. B.C. Transplant says one-quarter of the organs transplanted in the first six weeks of this year were donated by a patient who died of a fentanyl overdose. The agency also says out of the 51 people in B.C. who donated at least one organ after death between Jan. 1 and June 8, 25 had a positive toxicology test. Not all died of an overdose, nor did they all use opioids, but the spokeswoman for B.C. Transplant says the agency is definitely seeing an increase in organs from opioid-related deaths and is continuing to track and analyze the data.

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SUSPECT SHOT AFTER BRUSSELS STATION EXPLOSION: Belgian authorities say soldiers “neutralized” a person at a main Brussels train station amid media reports of explosion-like noises there. Belgium’s Crisis Centre, which monitors security threats in the country, said via Twitter that “soldiers had to neutralize an individual” at the Central station on Tuesday. Brussels prosecutor’s office spokeswoman Ine Van Wymersch tells VRT network there was a small explosion at the station, one of the nation’s busiest, but the damage was limited. Van Wymersch said authorities were on the scene quickly and a person was shot. She says at first sight no one else appears to have been wounded. Photos posted on social media showed a small fire in the station, which was evacuated along with the main Brussels square.

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MPs PRESS LIBERALS FOR ASYLUM REFORM: Opposition MPs are using the occasion of World Refugee Day to pressure the Liberal government to make good on a promise to retool Canada’s asylum system. Conservatives and NDP members alike want the Liberals to take a closer look at the Canada-U.S. border, where upward of 3,000 people have entered the country between legal crossing points since January in order to claim asylum. Canada’s so-called Safe Third Country agreement with the U.S. has been blamed for the problem, but newly released data shows people are still trying the legal route. Immigration Department numbers show that over six days in March, 123 people arrived at Canada-U.S. border crossings and requested asylum. Sixty-six were allowed in, while 57 were turned away. A total of 342 asylum claims were filed in Canada in those six days. In total, 3,440 claims were filed in Canada in March. Worldwide, the UN now says there were 65.6 million people displaced from their homes in 2016, and of that number, 22.5 million were refugees at end of the year.

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CANADIAN PROF SAYS HE’S TARGET OF POLISH HATE CAMPAIGN: An eminent Canadian historian whose writings on the Holocaust in Poland have attracted death threats said Tuesday that fierce criticism of his research is an unjustified attack on academic freedom. In an interview, University of Ottawa Prof. Jan Grabowski, 55, said he would not allow the “campaign of hate” to distract him from delving into what he called an ugly, but little-told, piece of history. The history professor, who has spent years studying the Holocaust in Poland, maintains many Poles who killed Jews were not simply forced to collaborate with the Nazis, who occupied the country during the Second World War. While no stranger to controversy over his views, what’s changed recently is that his critics are no longer content to denounce him in Poland. Now, he said, they have brought their criticism to Canada by writing directly to the university where he has worked for almost 25 years to accuse him of lying and fabricating historical evidence.

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COSBY TRIAL ACCUSER THANKS SUPPORTERS FOR LOVE, KINDNESS: The woman whose police complaint led to Bill Cosby’s sexual assault trial is thanking supporters in the wake of the jury deadlock. “Thank you for the outpouring of love & kindness & support. I am eternally grateful for the messages I have received in recent days,” Andrea Constand said in a tweet Tuesday. Constand, 44, of Toronto, accused the aging comedian of drugging and molesting her at his home near Philadelphia in 2004, when she worked at his alma mater, Temple University. News outlets will ask Judge Steven O’Neill at a hearing Tuesday afternoon to release the jurors’ names. They deliberated for 52 hours over six days before announcing they were deadlocked on all three charges. It is not yet clear why jurors could not reach a verdict, or how close they came. Cosby, 79, has called the sexual encounter consensual. Prosecutors vowed to retry him, and O’Neill said he would hear the case within four months.

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JUSTICE WORKERS FACE TRAUMATIC STRESS, UNION SAYS: A federal union representing 16,000 employees says public safety and justice workers exposed to graphic materials detailing horrific crimes are at risk of suffering psychological injuries. The Union of Solicitor General Employees says more than three-quarters of public safety workers surveyed have experienced nightmares, insomnia, emotional or physical difficulties and marital problems. They include employees at prisons, RCMP detachments, courts and the Parole Board of Canada, doing jobs that routinely exposed them to violent criminal histories, victim statements and stomach-turning evidence. The union says the toll that witnessing trauma takes on frontline workers such as police, paramedics and firefighters is widely recognized, but public safety and justice workers receive almost no training or preparation, few protections and little recognition for their injuries. It’s calling for recognition of operational stress injury for federal public servants regularly exposed to both direct and second-hand trauma, access to specialized trauma counsellors and enhanced resiliency and emotional preparedness training.

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RCMP OFFICER STOPS TRAIN, SAVES THE DAY: A quick-thinking, off-duty RCMP officer is being credited with helping avert a tragedy in Saskatchewan by managing to stop a moving train. Police say the officer was heading home after a night shift in Yorkton on the weekend when she spotted a vehicle that had crashed. The vehicle ended up on the railway tracks and when the officer approached to help, she heard a train lumbering toward the crash site. RCMP say the officer grabbed her flashlight and started running toward the train to get it to stop. Her signalling worked and the train was able to brake just before it reached the crash. The person inside the vehicle was taken to hospital for treatment.