Hundreds of unmarked graves found Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here to get it delivered weekday mornings. The Cowessess First Nation will hold a news conference this morning after the “horrific and shocking discovery” of hundreds of unmarked graves near the former Marieval Indian Residential School, east of Regina, the National Post reported Wednesday evening. “The number of unmarked graves will be the most significantly substantial to date in Canada,” says an advisory published Wednesday evening by the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, which represents 74 First Nations in Saskatchewan. The remains are in unmarked graves in a communal gravesite first used in 1885 but eventually taken over by the Marieval Indian Residential School, founded and operated by the Roman Catholic Church beginning in 1899 on what was then the Marieval Reserve. Polling shows the discovery of the remains at Kamloops has shaken Canadians, the CBC's Aaron Wherry reported earlier in the day. Seventy-seven per cent of respondents to a recent poll by Innovative Research Group said they were "very familiar" or "somewhat familiar" with the reports of human remains. That level of impact vastly exceeds what Innovative Research found in years past when it asked about other major tragedies. Shortly after the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls released its final report in 2019, just 48 per cent of poll respondents claimed to be familiar with the issue. In 2015, only 41 per cent said they were familiar with the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on residential schools. Canada Day? A day after Justin Trudeau signalled an election is coming by complaining about opposition obstructionism, hours before the House rose for the summer, Erin O’Toole gave an election-style speech to his caucus, standing up for Canada Day, which some activists have suggested should be cancelled this year after the discovery of the unmarked graves of 215 children on the grounds of a former residential school in Kamloops. O’Toole pledged that a Tory government would be dedicated to a renewed relationship with Indigenous Peoples, but said he would stand up for Canada, the Canadian Press reports. “I’m concerned that injustices in our past, or in our present, are too often seized upon by a small group of activist voices who use it to attack the very idea of Canada itself.” Acting against the Speaker: The Trudeau government is going to court to block MPs from getting their hands on documents related to the firing of two scientists from a federal lab in Winnipeg, the Canadian Press reports. The documents name Speaker Anthony Rota, a Liberal MP, as the respondent. On Monday, Rota reprimanded Public Health Agency of Canada head Iain Stewart, calling him to the bar of the House, where he stood for 30 minutes while MPs exchanged heated remarks. Opposition parties have joined forces to demand the documents in hopes that they'll shed light on why scientists Xiangguo Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng, were escorted out of Winnipeg's National Microbiology Laboratory in July 2019 and subsequently fired last January. They are also seeking documents related to the transfer, overseen by Qiu, of deadly Ebola and Henipah viruses to China's Wuhan Institute of Virology in March 2019. Stewart and the Liberals say the documents must be kept secret to follow the law and protect national security. The Conservatives say Parliament's supremacy is at stake. The National Post reported Wednesday that Qiu collaborated with Chinese government scientists on inventions registered in Beijing, but closely related to her federal job: The federal Public Servants Inventions Act states that the federal government owns all inventions “made by a public servant that resulted from or is connected with his duties or employment.” Delta worries: The Delta COVID variant is “unfortunately reshuffling the deck for us,” says epidemiologist David Fisman. There are 92 active cases of COVID-19 in Yukon, representing nearly half of the territory’s cumulative tally since the pandemic began, Patricia Treble writes in Maclean's. What makes this outbreak a reality check for the rest of the country is that Yukon has the highest vaccination rates in Canada. Sixty-one per cent of Yukon’s entire population is fully vaccinated, with 71.4 per cent having at least one dose. If it were a country, then it could take the No. 1 spot on pretty much any vaccination list in the world (Israel has fully vaccinated 57 per cent of its population with 61 per cent having at least one dose). And yet, the virus was able to spread there. Border closed: The border between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick is closed by protesters angry about travel restrictions imposed by the government of Nova Scotia. A Progressive Conservative MLA seems to be largely responsible for the huge mess, which has left travellers stranded for long periods. Poilievre sweeps survey: Pierre Poilievre took the top spot in The Hill Times’ 27th annual Politically Savvy Survey as the best public speaker, the most effective Conservative member during Question Period, the best opposition MP in scrums, and a host of others. Poilievre, who is often touted by right-leaning Conservatives as a potential future leader of his party, gets millions of views on his YouTube channel, featuring videos with provocative titles like “Here is the clip the CBC didn’t want you to see.” Payette school renamed: A school in the Kanata suburb of Ottawa will no longer carry the name of former astronaut and governor general, Julie Payette, Radio Canada reports. The school was named in 2017, the year Payette became GG. She resigned in January after a report found a toxic work environment at Rideau Hall. — Stephen Maher | 
