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In the news today, April 4

Manitoba Environment Minister Rochelle Squires responds to a question during a news conference after a Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment meeting in Vancouver on Friday, November 3, 2017. After decades of silence and frequent self-blame, Squires, now Manitoba's minister for the status of women, has come forward about being a survivor of sexual assault so she can help others realize there is a way to heal.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Original Publication Date April 04, 2018 - 1:16 AM

Six stories in the news for Wednesday, April 4

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CABINET MINISTER SHARES SEXUAL ASSAULT STORY

Manitoba's minister for the status of women says she was raped at the age of 13, and is telling her story now in the hope of helping other victims. In an exclusive interview with The Canadian Press, Rochelle Squires says she blamed herself for the sexual assault, never went to police, and stayed silent for two decades.

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CARBON PRICE MISUNDERSTOOD, SAYS NEW SURVEY

More than four in 10 Canadians recently surveyed about climate change said there is conclusive evidence climate change is real, that it is being caused by people and that they believe addressing the problem should be a top government priority. However, even among this group only two-thirds see a carbon price as the best way to curb greenhouse gas emissions, and fewer than half express confidence that they even know what carbon pricing actually is.

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SENTENCING ARGUMENTS TODAY IN SEXUAL ASSAULT CASE

A man who beat a woman so viciously during a sexual assault that she had to learn how to walk and talk again is scheduled to face a sentencing hearing today. Denzel Dre Colton Bird, 21, was charged after the 25-year-old woman was struck from behind with a metal pipe, dragged into an alley and sexually attacked while she was walking to work in Lethbridge, Alta., in September 2016.

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PM's SECURITY ADVISER TO GIVE INDIA BRIEFING

Justin Trudeau's national security adviser is offering to give an unclassified briefing to MPs on a Commons committee about the prime minister's trip to India, in addition to a more in-depth classified briefing to Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer. Scheer has agreed to the offer of a classified briefing from Daniel Jean — but with strings attached. He said he wants journalists and Conservative MPs to be able to sit in on the non-secret portions of Jean's briefing.

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CALGARY COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS NO PUBLIC POT USE

A Calgary city council committee is recommending a recreational pot policy that would largely ban anyone from lighting up anywhere but in their own homes. The committee says marijuana use should be banned in public, except for those who need it for medical reasons. The recommendation is expected to be debated by council later this week. The federal government plans to legalize the recreational use of marijuana by adults later this year.

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CANADIANS WASTE A LOT OF FOOD, SAYS REPORT

An international environmental group says Canada is one of the biggest wasters of food on the planet. The Commission for Environmental Cooperation found that from farm to table, 396 kilograms of food annually are wasted or lost per capita. That's compared with 415 kilograms in the United States and 249 kilograms in Mexico. The agency says reducing Canada's colossal food waste would be a smart business move and good for the environment.

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ALSO IN THE NEWS TODAY:

— Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will meet in Ottawa with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

— The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls holds hearings in Richmond, B.C.

— New Brunswick Health Minister Benoit Bourque will make an announcement about advanced care paramedicine.

— Veterans Affairs Minister Seamus O'Regan will hold a town hall meeting in Kingston, Ont.

— Kelly Craft, U.S. Ambassador to Canada, delivers a keynote speech at an Empire Club of Canada in Toronto.

— B.C. Housing Minister Selina Robinson will make an announcement about affordable rental housing.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2018
The Canadian Press

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