Ottawa: Canada has taken official steps by requesting consultations with the World Trade Organization (WTO) to dispute US import duties on steel and aluminum products from Canada, according to a statement issued by the trade organization.

The request was circulated to WTO members Thursday, said the statement.

Canada argued that US measures, which ceased its exemption and increased duties, contravene US obligations under GATT 1994, Xinhua news agency reported.

Mary Ng, minister of export promotion, international trade and economic development, said Wednesday that Canada was seeking formal consultations with the US regarding tariffs on steel and aluminum.

“Canada is deeply disappointed that the US has chosen to reimpose these unjustified tariffs that hurt workers and businesses on both sides of the border,” Ng said in the statement. “These unilateral tariffs violate the United States’ obligations under both the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) and the WTO Agreement.”

Francois-Philippe Champagne, minister of innovation, science and industry, made a statement Thursday that Canadian steel and aluminum form the basis of North America’s critical infrastructure and manufacturing base, while supporting vital US industries, including defense, shipbuilding and automotive.

The industry minister said he directed Industry Canada to prioritise funding of projects that use predominantly Canadian steel and aluminum.

Canada announced Wednesday reciprocal tariffs on US steel and aluminum imports worth 29.8 billion Canadian dollars ($20.7 billion). This trade move came in response to US President Donald Trump’s 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports coming into effect on the same day.

February 10, US President Donald Trump signed proclamations to raise tariffs on aluminum from 10 per cent to 25 per cent, aligning them with the existing tariff rate for steel.

He also decided to eliminate duty-free quotas, exemptions, and exclusions for steel and aluminum tariffs. These measures were set to take effect March 12.

March 11, Trump announced a plan to double tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum imports to 50 per cent in response to tariffs on electricity exports from the Canadian province of Ontario. But the plan was reversed later that day after Ontario dropped the electricity export tariffs affecting three US states.

IANS

Toronto: Canadian police have named two of the eight people, including four Indians, whose bodies were found in a marshland area along the US-Canada border, amid an investigation into the circumstances of their deaths.

Bodies of eight persons were recovered last week from the marsh on the riverbank near Akwesasne, a community which straddles Quebec, Ontario and New York state.

Police say the deceased — believed to be two families of Indian and Romanian descent — were trying to cross into the US from Canada. Among them were two children under the age of three, both Canadian citizens.

Saturday, police said that four Indian nationals, who they believed were a family attempting to cross into the US, have not been identified.

Citing a source with the police in India, CBC News reported that at least three of them are family members from Gujarat.

The source said the family members include a man in his 50s and a woman and man in their 20s. The age and gender of the fourth Indian national is unknown at this time, the report said.

The identities of other people recovered of Indian descent have not been released, pending identification and notification of next of kin, the Montreal Gazette newspaper reported.

“The circumstances of their deaths continue to be investigated,” the paper added.

“However, it is known that these families were attempting to enter the United States illegally from Canada,” Akwesasne Mohawk Police said.

Akwesasne officials have named two family members of Romanian descent — including a man holding his two children’s passports — who were among eight bodies recovered from the St. Lawrence River, near the Quebec-Ontario border.

“One man has been identified as 28-year-old Florin Iordache. Police said he had two Canadian passports in his possession — one for his two-year-old child and another for his one-year-old infant whose bodies were recovered,” the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported.

“One woman — Florin’s wife and the children’s mother — has also been identified as 28-year-old Cristina (Monalisa) Zenaida Iordache,” the report said, quoting the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service statement.

Police found the bodies of five adults and one infant in the marshland Friday. Another infant and an adult woman were located later. One of the children was a Canadian citizen.

Akwesasne police are working with Immigration Canada to assist with identifying the victims and notifying the next of kin. They are also increasing surveillance on the river.

“Our hearts are with the families of these victims as we try to work through our own grief for precious lives lost in our territory. Our culture and traditions are based heavily around family and it is difficult for us all to imagine the dreams these families had and the sadness of their deaths.

“This heart-wrenching event profoundly demonstrates the human qualities we all share,” said the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne.

Grand Chief Abram Benedict said the department is committed to understanding how this tragedy occurred and “how we can work with our police department and partners to prevent it from ever happening again.”

Valene Gray, the owner of the Three Feathers Cafe, said the community has been shaken by the tragedy.

“In the past couple of days, it’s been very heavy, very emotional, customers coming in and they’re sad. You could tell they were upset, you could tell they were hurting,” Gray said Saturday.

Wanting to offer support to her community, Gray said it was an honour to be hired by the Mohawk council to make sure all of the volunteer searchers were fed.

She said the cafe has provided breakfast sandwiches for the past two days and supper Friday.

Akwesasne police say there have been 48 incidents of people trying to cross illegally into Canada or into the United States through the Mohawk territory since January, and most of them have been of Indian or Romanian descent.

In January 2022, the bodies of four Indians, including a baby, were found frozen in Manitoba near the Canada-US border.

In April 2022, six Indian nationals were rescued from a sinking boat in the St Regis River, which runs through Akwesasne Mohawk Territory.

PTI

Toronto: Two Indian students injured in an accident in Canada are out of danger and another had a lucky escape, India’s envoy here has said in an update on the horrific road crash.

Five Indian students were killed in a road accident in Canada’s Ontario province March 12. The accident between a passenger van and a tractor-trailer took place Saturday on Highway 401 in the Quinte West city in Southern Ontario.

India’s High Commissioner in Canada Ajay Bisaria, in an update on the accident, said that two of the injured persons are still in hospital while another student escaped unhurt.

“Update on a tragic accident in which 5 Indians were killed near Toronto on Sat: two injured still in hospital, mercifully out of danger. One other student in the van carrying 8 persons escaped unhurt. @IndiainToronto team is in touch with friends/family for all help. @MEAIndia,” Bisaria tweeted on Monday.

Harpreet Singh, 24, Jaspinder Singh, 21, Karanpal Singh, 21, Mohit Chouhan, 23 and Pawan Kumar, 23 were pronounced dead at the scene.

They all studied in the Montreal or Greater Toronto areas, GlobalNews reported.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday mourned the death of the five Indian students and said the Indian mission in Toronto will provide all necessary support and assistance.

A spokesman from Canada College, a Montreal school that caters to international students, said at least three of those who died and one of two injured survivors studied at the school.

John David Couturier said the school administration is devastated by the loss and is scrambling to support students and arrange to send the victims’ bodies back to India, the report said.

“We’re all in a state of shock,” the spokesman said.

“I can only imagine the families in India, they’re so far away, and now there are two students in the hospital that don’t have their families here.”

Couturier said most of the victims associated with the school had been studying business administration.

Dr. Shivendra Dwivedi, who heads an organisation called Canada India Global Forum, said the community is shaken by the loss.

“We’re very sad with this tragedy, and we feel very, very bad for the families and the students that lost their lives,” he said. “It’s a horrible tragedy, and I think the community is grieving,”

Dwivedi said his group was mobilising resources to provide grief counselling for the victims’ friends in Canada.

While he did not know the victims personally, he said many Indian students who come to Canada to attend private colleges in the hopes of gaining permanent residency are young and far from their support systems.

“They’re doing it because they want a chance to come to Canada. Really hard-working, very dedicated students trying to make a better life for themselves,” he said.

He said his group is also working with officials in Toronto and Ottawa to ensure the wishes of the families in India are carried out.

The passenger van with eight people aboard was travelling west on Highway 401 Saturday morning when there was a collision with a tractor-trailer at around 3:45 a.M. Near Quinte West, Ont., Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) said.

OPP spokeswoman Maggie Pickett said on Monday that police believe the van was stopped by the side of the highway when the crash occurred. The investigation into the crash is continuing, and no charges have been laid.

One passenger who had exited the van, as well as the tractor-trailer driver, were uninjured, Pickett said, while two of the van’s occupants were taken to hospital in serious condition.

It’s unclear where the students were heading, but Couturier said it’s common for Canada College students to travel frequently between Quebec and Ontario because the week’s classes are condensed over two or three days.

He said about 70 per cent of the school’s 2,500 students are from India, and they tend to form close bonds as they work their way toward graduating and obtaining permanent residence.

“Many of them are from Montreal, some of them are from Belleville, Brampton, Ontario,” he said. “And so they’ll come for the weekend classes and stay at a friend’s house or whatever. It’s really a community, you know?”

Couturier said Canada College has offered to repatriate the bodies to India and pay the cost of its students’ funerals, the report added.

Every year, thousands of Indian students visit Canada for higher education.

The number of Indian students attending Canadian universities rose from 76,075 in 2016 to 1,72,625 in 2018, an increase of 127 per cent, according to a report published last year quoting the Canadian Bureau for International Education.

The road accident is the second tragic incident involving Indian nationals in Canada in three months.

In January, four Indians, including an infant, were found dead near the Canada-US border in Manitoba. According to Canadian authorities, the family from Gujarat died due to exposure to extreme cold. PTI AKJ

IANS

Toronto: Three Punjabis were appointed as Ministers in a Cabinet reshuffle in Canada’s Ontario province.

Moga-born Parm Gill, 47, was Friday appointed as Ontario’s new Minister of Citizenship and Multiculturalism.

Prabmeet Sakaria, who in 2019 became the first turban-wearing minister in Ontario when he was appointed Associate Minister of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction, now gets a full Cabinet rank as President of the Treasury Board.

“It is an honour to be sworn in as Ontario’s President of the Treasury Board. I am dedicated to working hard with Premier Ford and my colleagues to support Ontarians,” Sarkaria said after his elevation.

Nina Tangri, whose family comes from Bilga near Jalandhar, has been made Associate Minister of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction.

Till now, she was serving as Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade.

“Excited to be sworn in as the Associate Minister of Small Business & Red Tape Reduction. Thank you to Premier,” Nina said.

But it is the appointment of Gill as Minister of Citizenship and Multiculturalism that surprised many in the Indo-Canadian community.

Gill himself seemed to be surprised when he said: “Who would have thought a young boy who immigrated from India to Canada at a young age, raised by a single mother, would today be sworn in as Minister of Citizenship and Multiculturalism for the Province of Ontario.”

He had previously served as an MP in the House of Commons.

With the Ontario elections exactly a year away, Premier Doug Ford has elevated three Punjabis in his Cabinet with an eye on Indo-Canadian votes in the so-called 905 region around Toronto, including Brampton and Mississauga.

The 905 region, named after the area code, has the biggest concentration of the Punjabi community in Canada.

IANS 

Toronto: Researchers have found that the rate of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) among women living with HIV was 54 per cent higher than that of HIV-negative women.

The study, published in the journal CMAJ Open, also showed that people in Ontario living with HIV had a 34 per cent (COPD) and were diagnosed with the disease about 12 years younger than HIV-negative individuals.

“As people with HIV live longer, it is important to understand how common other illnesses are to ensure that prevention, screening and treatment strategies can be developed,” said study researcher Tony Antoniou from St. Michael’s Hospital in Canada.

COPD affects over 380 million people worldwide and is projected to become the fourth leading global cause of death by 2030. It is potentially preventable and is strongly associated with smoking.

For the findings, the researchers analysed incidences of COPD among adults 35 years and older who were living with and without HIV between 1996 and 2015 in Ontario – where over 40 per cent of Canadians living with HIV reside.

People with HIV were diagnosed with COPD at a mean age of 50 years old compared with 62 for HIV-negative individuals, the research added.

“We wanted to understand how common COPD is in Ontario residents with HIV because COPD is a disease that generally worsens with time, can worsen a person’s quality of life and is strongly linked to smoking,” Antoniou said.

In a sensitivity analysis, the higher prevalence of smoking in people with HIV appeared to explain the higher risk of COPD in these patients.

“While other factors may contribute to the development of COPD in people with HIV, our work highlights the importance of trying to help our patients with HIV quit smoking to prevent COPD in the first place and prevent further lung damage in people who are already diagnosed with COPD,” Antoniou said.