news // no. 4 Free Meng Wanzhou protests held in Vancouver >» Huawei CFO arrested in 2018 for going against US sanctions in Iran Jessica Berget Assistant Editor QO: December 1, Vancouver is Awesome reported that “Free Meng Wanzhou” protests were taking place in Vancouver to contest her extradition. Indeed, the “Free Meng Wanzhou” campaign is organized by left-leaning groups such as Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War, World Beyond War, and the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute. According to their website, protests are being held in seven other Canadian cities as a “Cross Canada Campaign to Free Meng Wanzhou.” Wanzhou was the Chief Financial Officer for Huawei Technologies and was arrested in the Vancouver International Airport on December 1, 2018. Her arrest was requested by the US citing fraud in international sanctions against Iran and they want to see her extradited to the US. Within the same month, she made her $10 million bail and is now under house arrest in her property in Vancouver. Nine days after her arrest, Chinese authorities arrested and detained Michael Spavor, a Canadian entrepreneur, and Michael Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat who now faces charges for allegedly spying. Both are being held in jails in China. Many believe this was done in retaliation for Wanzhou’s arrest. Another Canadian, Robert Schellenberg, was sentenced to death in China one month after her arrest for alleged drug smuggling charges, though he has maintained his innocence since his arrest in 2014. The Hamilton Coalition website states the protest in Vancouver was held at 2112 West Broadway outside of Liberal MP’s Joyce Murray’s office. They also claim the Vancouver Peace Council and Red Braid Alliance attended the protest making 20 participants in total. The group claims that releasing Wanzhou would improve China and Canada’s relationship and steer Canada away from a possible cold war with China. Protests were held on December 1 to commemorate the day Wanzhou was arrested. That’s not the only “Free Meng Wanzhou’ protest to happen this year. In January, a similar protest was held at the BC Supreme Court. It was later revealed that the protestors were actually paid actors who were told they were to be playing background extras in a movie. It was when reporters showed up and started questioning them that they understood what was going on. “A CBS reporter approached me and my friend and she started interviewing us. And it was in those moments and questions where | started realizing, okay, if this was background work, they wouldn't need detail on background people,” said Julia Hackstaff in a CBC article, one of the paid actors who participated in the protest. “And then I started realizing, wait, no one called ‘action.” In November, there were also online events known as “Zoom to free Meng Wanzhou” held with theotherpress.ca SSG Rpts eet political leaders such as Green Party’s Paul Manly and NDP’s Niki Ashton in attendance as a speaker. On November 24, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he stands behind Canada arresting Wanzhou. “Do I regret that Canada followed its laws? Do I regret that Canada lived up to a long-standing extradition treaty with our closest ally? Absolutely not.” Have a merry Christmas despite COVID-19 » Christmas tree shortages, vaccines, and public health orders extended this holiday season Jessica Berget Assistant Editor M any items have experienced shortages throughout the course of this pandemic. First, it was toilet paper—now, Canada is facing a Christmas trees shortage just in time for the holiday season. Because of the high demand causing a shortage, Christmas trees will be more expensive this year as well. Farmers report they’ve also had to raise their prices up to $5 more. Because of this, farmers also anticipate that this will be a record year for them. For instance, the Canadian Christmas Tree Growers’ Association says they struggle to keep up with the demand and that’s something that goes back to the 2008 recession. Because of the recession, the demand for trees then was not as high and less trees were planted as a result. The demand has now since doubled from $53 million in 2008 to $100 million in 2020. The grower’s association did not predict ~ may) 0% 9 N 3 a o o rs 9 3 o c £ we) 9° a + 20 o£ mo this increase which is a cause for concern considering how long it takes to grow these trees, according to the tree association’s executive director Shirley Brennan. “It takes 10 years to grow a tree,’ she said in an article to CBC. “When the demand is up, we just can’t plant them fast enough.” On top of that, Christmas and New Years will also be vastly different this year as Bonnie Henry has also extended the ban on social gatherings order to January 8, 2021 on account of the rise in reported active cases. Henry acknowledges the impact this will have on many people’s celebrations but encourages them to connect with families virtually. Henry also says the first Pfizer COVID vaccines are coming to BC and could be here as early as next week. The vaccine will be free in Canada, not mandatory, and available to whoever wishes. It requires two doses, one taken 21 days after the first and it said to have a 95 percent effectivity rate, as claimed by the company. It is unclear how long the vaccine will protect people for. “We cannot say anything about that, because the only track or monitoring of this vaccine has been for two, three months,” says UBC professor in the infectious disease division Horacio Bach in a CTV News article. “We know that people that already recover from the disease... the level of protecting antibodies is fading and disappearing in around six months. That is in general.”