The timing could not be worse Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here to get it delivered weekday mornings. Of all the times in history for the RCMP to actively try and not kill an unarmed Indigenous man, one would think this month is it. And yet that's precisely the tragedy that struck New Brunswick's Mi'kmaq First Nation community on Friday night, after officers were called to the home of a pastor to remove a 48-year-old father of three, Rodney Levi, who was allegedly suffering a mental-health episode (but not acting violently). Because New Brunswick does not have its own police oversight agency, a watchdog organization from Quebec is investigating the case. Levi was tasered and shot to death by RCMP officers mere days after 26-year-old Indigenous woman Chantel Moore was shot and killed by an Edmundston Police Department officer in the same province. According to the Globe and Mail, that makes six Indigenous Canadians who've been killed by police since March. The wave of Indigenous deaths, and protesters' angered responses, have cast an uncomfortable light on systemic racism in police forces. If you recall, last week the phrase "systemic racism" seemed fuzzy to RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki. Don't worry, though—she now claims a proper understanding of the term. "I did acknowledge that we, like others, have racism in our organization, but I did not say definitively that systemic racism exists in the RCMP," she said in a statement released Friday. "I should have." What changed? Well, besides Prime Minister Justin Trudeau taking a stab at defining the term Thursday, it turns out Public Safety Minister Bill Blair confronted Lucki about it directly during one of their regularly scheduled meetings. Details are scarce, but a government source tells CBC News that the pair's conversation sparked a larger one within the RCMP. Writing about the race conversation south of the border, Adnan R. Khan notes in Maclean's that there was a clear moment during a recent Black Lives Matter protest in Boston that proved violent extremists will not succeed in hogging the media attention. Specifically, he noticed a white man in a Joker costume try and watch the world burn—only to be quickly ignored. It feels as if the moment for meaningful change has finally arrived. Over the past two weeks, those who have proved themselves to be extremists are the police forces themselves, and law and order politicians like Donald Trump who have a vested interest in the status quo. Their use of violence has been arbitrary and chaotic, purposeless, anarchic, or in the case of Trump, perhaps even fascist. Call locally, shop globally. The leadership campaign of Conservative candidate Erin O'Toole, who has loudly advocated for Canadian workers, confirmed they turned to a U.S.-based call centre to contact Conservative party voters in May. Downplaying the issue, a campaign spokesperson explained the outsourcing was only for "one small project where they needed overflow capacity in a short amount of time," and they only hired Americans because all the Canadian voter-contact companies that would typically handle Conservative traffic were contracted by O'Toole's big rival, Peter MacKay. In another bit of O'Toole news, the National Post noticed that the candidate removed his promise to end fossil fuel subsidies from his campaign platform, just one day after releasing said platform on Wednesday. The platform initially committed to end the subsidies, calling them "a form of corporate welfare." But the next day, the phrase was removed and replaced by a more vague promise to simplify the tax code "to create confidence in the resource sector and support its actions toward emission reduction." Red-coloured glasses. Continuing the trend of Liberal popularity amid the pandemic, the Grits have continued their polling prowess with strong numbers across the country. In his latest 338Canada column, Philippe J. Fournier breaks down the results by region, giving a rough estimate of how big the Liberals would win if an election were held today. Of course, an election won't be held today, nor should one be held for the rest of the year; however, Fournier notes an election before next year's budget may be too tempting for opportunistic party members to resist. Up in Simcoe County, Gerry Hawes, a former Liberal Party candidate who ran unsuccessfully in the riding of Simcoe North in the most recent election, has been charged with possessing and accessing child pornography. The Ontario Provincial Police have confirmed that the arrest, which happened Thursday night, had been planned for four months. Hawes will appear at the Ontario Court of Justice in Orillia on Aug. 25, 2020. On Friday night, between 150,00 and 190,000 litres of crude oil spilled out from a Trans Mountain pipeline in Abbotsford, B.C. The company spent much of Sunday cleaning the area to restart the line before Monday, and said there was no risk to the public because the spill site was "contained". On Sunday, the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs noted the oil actually did seep into a nearby field that is also owned by Trans Mountain and leased for agricultural purposes. Who doesn't love a fixer-upper? In an effort to curb homelessness, the federal government is considering buying distressed buildings and refurbishing them into affordable units. Carleton University professor Steve Pomeroy, who consults the government and housing groups, is pushing for the idea, which could see the government spending $1 billion annually in loans and grants to buy and renovate about 7,500 units. These units could be apartments, houses and larger abandoned office and retail spaces, like old malls, which could be converted into residences. The idea has the backing of several housing groups, while Social Development Minister Ahmed Hussen has said he's open to it. Read the room, people. A Calgary-based purveyor of creamy goodness, Righteous Gelato, created a chocolate flavour (with mint chips) called Black Lives Matter, which launched Friday to thunderous disapproval. The company planned to donate the product's profits to organizations that promote diversity, but that didn't seem to convince members of the public who saw, basically, a fancy ice cream company transparently co-opting a civil rights movement for capitalist profit. On Facebook, Righteous CEO James Boettcher admitted the decision was "ignorant," adding, "while our intentions were from a place of love, we truly failed, and we are wholeheartedly sorry." —Michael Fraiman | 