Couple randomly attacked, 1 stabbed, by group of teens in Toronto, police say
A man has been transported to hospital after police say he was stabbed in a random attack carried out by a group of teens in Toronto on Friday night.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that Canada will align with its allies and boycott the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, joining the U.K.,U.S., Australia and Lithuania in their recent decisions to withhold diplomats over alleged human rights abuses by China.
The move puts the discussion of politics’ place in sport back in the spotlight.
Despite the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) many regulations on political expression and the neutrality of the Games, the Olympics have a long history of being an arena for major politically, socially and culturally relevant moments.
Describing the Games as something that “exists separately from politics” in a recent publication of the IOC Olympic Charter, the IOC said that a “fundamental principle” at the Games is that sport is neutral.
And Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter states “no kind of demonstration, political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.” A similar rule is in place for Paralympic athletes.
However, throughout history the Games have served as a major platform for historical events, social commentary and protest.
Here is a brief timeline of some of those events:
When the Nazi Party rose to power in Germany in 1933, proposed boycotts of the Games were called in many countries as Berlin had been voted to host the 1936 Olympics in 1931. Forty-nine countries attended, but it was American sprinter and long jumper Jesse Owens, and his four gold medals, that many remember as a distinct rebuttal to the Nazi’s Aryan-superiority propaganda.
The Games have been cancelled due to world events several times. Once during the First World War, and twice during the Second World War, including the 1940 Olympics that were called off after host-city Tokyo forfeited its position when Japan invaded China a few years prior.
The first Olympics hosted in London after the Second World War saw both Germany and Japan banned from participation. The Soviet Union was invited but declined to send a team.
The Summer Olympics in 1968 was the stage for both protest and state violence. Ten days prior to the opening ceremonies, Mexican students staged a protest of the government’s use of funds for the Games rather than social programs, converging in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas.
The Mexican Army surrounded the protesters and opened fire, killing more than 200 and injuring more than 1,000 in an event that would be referred to as the Tlatelelco massacre.
American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos, while on the podium for the men’s 200-metre medal ceremony, both raised a fist while wearing black gloves in protest of the U.S.’s treatment of Black citizens. The image quickly became an iconic moment of the Games, but led to both Smith and Carlos being banned by the IOC and the U.S. Olympic Committee.
On September 5, 1972, eight terrorists affiliated with the Black September organization snuck into the Olympic Village and killed two members of the Israeli Olympic team and took nine others hostage in an attempt to bargain for the release of 200 Palestinian prisoners. After a standoff with German police, all the hostages were killed, five of the eight terrorists were killed by police, and one German officer was killed.
Organized by Tanzania, 22 African countries boycotted the 1976 Olympics to protest New Zealand’s rugby team touring South Africa, despite its ban from the Olympics due to its apartheid legislation.
Taiwan also boycotted the games after Canada refused to recognize them or let them compete as the Republic of China.
Less than a year after the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan, 65 countries, including the U.S., Canada, Israel, China and then-West Germany, boycotted the Moscow Summer Games in 1980 and refused to send their athletes.
Ten athletes were chosen to compete for the first-ever Refugee Olympic Team at the 2016 Rio De Janeiro Summer Olympics, created by the IOC to bring attention to the global refugee crisis. Athletes originally from Syria, South Sudan, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo were chosen and trained in a host country.
More than 150 athletes, academics and advocates signed an open letter urging the IOC to amend Rule 50 of the Charter and to refrain from imposing sanctions against athletes that protest at the Olympics.
American shot putter Raven Saunders made an “X” with her arms above her head while on the podium to receive a silver medal, in a move she said was representative of the “intersection of where all people who are oppressed meet.” American fencer Race Imboden displayed an “X” on his hand in a nod to Saunders while he received his bronze medal, and American hammer thrower Gwen Berry raised her fist twice in protest after a similar gesture in the 2019 Pan American Games led to her being put on probation by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.
A man has been transported to hospital after police say he was stabbed in a random attack carried out by a group of teens in Toronto on Friday night.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
He once said he would take a bullet for Donald Trump. Now Michael Cohen is prosecutors' biggest piece of legal ammunition in the former president's hush money trial.
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
For decades, North Bay, Ontario's water supply has harboured chemicals associated with liver and developmental issues, cancer and complications with pregnancy. It's far from the only city with that problem.
Israeli forces were battling Palestinian militants across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, including in parts of the devastated north that the military said it had cleared months ago, where Hamas has exploited a security vacuum to regroup.
Thousands more civilians have fled Russia's renewed ground offensive in Ukraine's northeast that has targeted towns and villages with a barrage of artillery and mortar fire, officials said Sunday.
Amid significant criticism from advocates, Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities Minister Kamal Khera is defending her government's long-promised, newly unveiled Canada Disability Benefit, calling the funds an "initial step," but without laying out a timeline for future expansion of the program.
RCMP commissioner Mike Duheme says he wants the government to look at drafting a new law that would make it easier for police to pursue charges against people who threaten elected officials.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.
The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.