National

Dr. David Egilman, a professor at Brown University, says McGill University’s study on asbestos safety is flawed.

According to the Canadian Press, Egilman, a health activist and long time industry critic, said the study lacked transparency and contains manipulated data.

The study followed the health of 11,000 miners and mill workers between 1966 and the late 1990s in Quebec.

Egilman has been conducting research on asbestos for over twenty years says the industry decided to do its own research in the 1960s when the dangers of asbestos became more known.

For that purpose, they hired Dr. John Corbett McDonald at McGill University's School of Occupational Health.

The McGill researchers suggested in a 1997 study that cases of mesothelioma, cancer of the lining of the lung, occurred in "most, if not all," miners who had a greater exposure to tremolite.

McDonald believed that chrysotile, found alongside tremolite and white asbestos in the mines, was essentially innocuous.

But Egilman argues that chrysotile is responsible for mesothelioma and asked for the release of the McGill study’s data.

Other experts also doubt the data and want to see it.

Asbestos was formerly used for its insulating properties and heat resistance, but it is now banned in over 40 countries.

Last April, prime minister Stephen Harper said that this government will not put Canadian industry in a position where it is discriminated against in a market where it is permitted.

Asbestos is still commonly used in developing countries like India and Vietnam.

According to the CBC, a Montreal woman has been sentenced to 16 years in federal prison.

34-year-old Tara Hayes was caught trying to smuggle over seventy thousand ecstasy tablets in to the United States. She was convicted in August but only recently sentenced.

Border patrol officers found the drugs inside Hayes’ rental car’s gas tank. Her lawyer argued Hayes did not know the drugs were there. They had an estimated value of up to two million dollars.

The Shafia trial is finally over. 

According to the CBC, Mohammad Shafia, his wife Tooba Yahya and their son Hamed were all convicted Sunday of first-degree murder.

They were accused of killing Shafia’s three daughters and his first wife in a polygamous marriage. 

The bodies of the four drowned women were found in a car at the bottom of the Kingston Mills lock.

They have been sentenced to life imprisonment with no chance of parole for 25 years. 

The trial took almost three months to complete and the verdict came after only 15 hours of deliberations. 

The three individuals maintained their innocence until the very end. The son’s lawyer told The Canadian Press his client would appeal the ruling.

It seems like the internet will become more friendly to francophones. The Canadian Press reports domain names ending in .ca might allow French letters with accents.

A consultation by the Canadian Internet Registration Authority went into its final step last week. They say this change is part of a global movement. Other alphabets have already been approved.

French letters with accents might be approved in nine to eighteen months. France already finished its consultation and will allow letters with accents soon.