00:00:00.000Prime Minister Mark Carney said he wants to quote salute President Donald Trump for his
00:00:09.600role in brokering a peace deal between Hamas and Israel. Vancouver city officials are apologizing
00:00:16.000after facing backlash from trans activists for approving a Harry Potter themed attraction at
00:00:22.560the city's Stanley Park. Ontario's education minister is condemning a Toronto high school
00:00:28.020after it replaced Oh Canada with an Arabic version of the anthem on the second anniversary of the
00:00:34.600October 7th terror attack. Hello Canada it's Friday October 10th and this is the True North
00:00:40.380Daily Brief. I'm Cosmin Georgia. And I'm Clayton DeMille. We've got you covered with all the news
00:00:45.980you need to know. Let's discuss the top stories of the day and the True North exclusives you won't
00:00:51.460hear anywhere else. Prime Minister Mark Carney lauded US President Donald Trump's decisive
00:00:59.940leadership in brokering a historic peace agreement between Israel and Hamas, hailing it as a pivotal
00:01:07.860breakthrough after years of conflict in Gaza. It is a day for optimism. I want to salute of course
00:01:15.960President Trump whose decisive leadership has made this possible. Mr. Kushner, Mr. Witkoff, the Qataris,
00:01:22.540the Egyptians, Turkey, who've been essential to getting to this moment. The next 48 hours are crucial.
00:01:31.680We urge the parties, particularly Hamas, to follow through, release all the hostages and
00:01:36.860including the deceased hostages. The President and I discussed in the White House how Canada
00:01:45.500can support this process. We are supporting with humanitarian aid. There's other mechanisms that
00:01:51.120we can do to support it. And I urge, as I say, I urge all parties. We're encouraged. We're encouraged,
00:01:59.500but it's the first phase and there's more to come. Thank you.
00:02:01.940His comments followed a statement from Trump on Wednesday confirming that Israel and Hamas had both
00:02:08.120quote, signed off on the first phase of a US brokered peace plan. The agreement Trump said will see all
00:02:14.680hostages released and Israeli forces withdraw to quote, an agreed upon line as part of the first steps
00:02:21.740towards a strong, durable and everlasting peace. Trump said quote, this is a great day for the Arab and
00:02:29.000Muslim world, Israel, all surrounding nations and the United States of America. Blessed are the peacemakers.
00:02:36.540Carney's written statement Wednesday congratulated Trump for his quote, essential leadership and thanked Qatar,
00:02:43.580Egypt and Turkey for their mediation efforts. He said quote, after years of intense suffering, peace finally feels
00:02:50.740attainable. Canada calls on all parties to swiftly implement all agreed terms and to work towards a just and
00:02:58.320lasting peace. Conservative leader Pierre Polyev also commended the US broker deal, calling it a
00:03:04.360quote, monumental achievement towards generational peace. Polyev said in a statement Wednesday quote,
00:03:11.480congratulations to President Trump on negotiating a peaceful end to the Israel-Hamas war. We look
00:03:18.140forward to and pray for the return of all hostages and the end of this bloodshed so all can thrive in a
00:03:24.240lasting peace. Clayton, one of the questions that comes to mind for me is how much has Carney and the
00:03:30.520Canadian government actually contributed to this? Canada has a long standing reputation as being
00:03:37.040a middle power, this negotiating country that can achieve disputes. I mean, that's how we made our name
00:03:45.340historically. And now the liberal government is pledging to support this peace process established by
00:03:52.600Trump, including with humanitarian aid. But what has Carney done in the lead up to this? How has his
00:04:00.580government supported the peace deal and negotiations? Well, Cosmin, it's unlikely this deal would have been
00:04:09.600made without President Trump. Carney, the UK, Australia and France all said they would grant Palestinian
00:04:16.420statehood. And Carney initially stated stipulations that Hamas wouldn't be involved in governance and that
00:04:23.720they would return the hostages along with other stipulations. But the countries, including Canada,
00:04:30.560decided to officially recognize a Palestinian state while Hamas was still in power. There was no
00:04:37.420incentives for Hamas to actually relinquish power. And Hamas even claimed a victory that the state
00:04:42.640recognition was the, quote, fruits of their deadly terrorist attack on Israel on October 7. Many critics
00:04:50.920at the time, including conservatives and the Israeli president, Benjamin Netanyahu, criticized the move,
00:04:57.940saying it was just rewarding terrorists and giving legitimacy to the terror attacks, which killed over
00:05:05.3201,200 Jews and led to the kidnapping of over 250 hostages, 50 of which are estimated to still be in
00:05:15.300captivity. So without Trump, there likely wouldn't have been a peace deal or a ceasefire that led to
00:05:22.300Hamas's surrender. While all those Commonwealth and European countries would have opted to instead give
00:05:29.620terrorist credibility. But another possible way of looking at it could be without these Western countries
00:05:35.880granting statehood to Palestine without getting anything in return, maybe Trump wouldn't have been
00:05:42.020able to push for this so soon. The alternative of terrorists controlling the region and having global
00:05:48.600recognition could have pressured the U.S. and Israel to do something and fast. I just want to say there's a lot of
00:05:55.760emphasis on Hamas being out. But the Palestinian Authority, which are expected to hold elections once they become
00:06:02.700a state, are funders of terrorism. Mahmoud Abbas is a Holocaust denier, and the Palestinian Authority has
00:06:11.900terrorism funds that promise to pay the families of so-called martyrs who die or get arrested after committing
00:06:18.780terrorist attacks on Jews. So with them still in the picture, it's still very much a
00:06:25.520pro-terror government involved in the region, regardless if it has state recognition.
00:06:35.240Ontario's education minister has condemned a Toronto high school for broadcasting O Canada in Arabic on the
00:06:42.200second anniversary of the October 7th Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel, warning that disciplinary action
00:06:48.440could follow. The broadcast at Earl Hague Secondary School, confirmed earlier this week by a staff member who spoke to True
00:06:56.780North, has now drawn sharp criticism from Education Minister Paul Calandra, who said he will act if school boards,
00:07:05.080quote, choose not to respect our national symbols and federal legislation. Calandra's statement said, quote, it is hard to
00:07:14.060believe that no one recognized the significance of this day. School boards should be focused on creating safe learning
00:07:21.240environments for all students, never at the expense of one community over another. The minister cited the National Anthem Act,
00:07:29.280which stipulates that the official lyrics of O Canada are available in both English and French. He said, quote, if school boards choose not to
00:07:37.780respect our national symbols and federal legislation, then I will take action. A source at Earl Hague told True North that the
00:07:59.500The principal reportedly apologized to Jewish students and staff later that day, calling the decision, quote, an oversight. The Toronto District
00:08:09.900School Board has since confirmed that it has instructed all schools to play O Canada, only in English, French, or instrumental versions. So, Cosmin, we have a lot of
00:08:20.480people are extremely upset about this, and there was a number of different events held across Canada, particularly in
00:08:29.240Ontario in Ontario in the GTA, that were honoring martyrs or, you know, doing otherwise inappropriate
00:08:38.120homages to Palestinians or Muslims during a time when people are supposed to be remembering the people killed on October 7th in Israel. What are the underlying
00:08:54.760ideologies at play here that have allowed Canadian schools to replace the anthem with other languages that are foreign to Canada?
00:09:03.640Yeah, Clayton, I think what you're seeing here isn't just a one-off mistake. It's the result of years of this type of thinking creeping into the education system, into politics, and getting
00:09:17.160youth to be indoctrinated in this program. And schools themselves have been taught to prioritize
00:09:26.600inclusion, DEI principles, and representation over shared national identity. Back in the day, you used to learn about Canada's rich history,
00:09:39.080history, all the people that composed Canada and created it, its origins, and we were told to cherish our national anthem and symbols, but that's not the case anymore.
00:09:51.560So instead of seeing O Canada as something that unites everybody from coast to coast, no matter where you come from in this country, educators themselves who go through training and universities and teachers'
00:10:06.360colleges now see it as something to decolonize or reinterpret because this thinking has permeated
00:10:15.720post-secondary education and now it's seeping into elementary schools, high schools, you name it.
00:10:23.880And that mindset comes from this progressive-rooted push to view everything through this lens of diversity,
00:10:32.520politics, politics, identity, rather than civic and national unity. Canada is a historical thing with shared
00:10:41.640languages, with a shared identity, and they're trying to tear that down. In a sense, it's also an extension of
00:10:49.960this idea of multiculturalism that was established by Pierre Elliott Trudeau. It was Pierre Elliott Trudeau who
00:10:58.280passed laws hearkening Canada as a multicultural place, but this has been taken to an extreme.
00:11:05.160It's no longer just French, English, indigenous identities. This has been taken to the extreme
00:11:12.680by people with political agendas, and additionally by groups that are vying
00:11:19.960to assert their own beliefs on everybody else.
00:11:24.360So it goes beyond language. It's about what the symbolism means when national symbols get treated
00:11:31.080like optional cultural props that can be used in whatever way, interpreted or even torn down.
00:11:38.920It shows how far we've actually drifted from teaching kids to be proud of being Canadian.
00:11:45.400A Harry Potter-themed holiday attraction in Vancouver's Stanley Park approved by the Vancouver Park Board
00:11:55.720has stirred controversy and prompted an apology from city officials due to backlash from the city's
00:12:02.200quote, transgender and gender diverse communities. The Vancouver Park Board apologized after approving the
00:12:09.480Harry Potter a forbidden forest experience following strong backlash from members of the city's so-called
00:12:15.640transgender and gender diverse communities. Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to apologize
00:12:21.800and to strengthen consultations with the city's LGBT advisory committee for future events that could carry
00:12:29.560quote, equity or human rights implications. The immersive event created by Werner Brothers Discovery Global
00:12:37.160themed entertainment allows visitors to walk through a light-filled quote, forbidden forest inspired by the
00:12:43.480Harry Potter series. Tickets start at about $50 for children and climb to more than $80 for adults.
00:12:51.240The criticism stems from the event's association with author,
00:12:55.080J.K. Rowling, who has faced years of backlash for remarks about transgender policies and sex-specific
00:13:02.600spaces for women. Members of the Park's board have promoted such an event quote,
00:13:08.040will never happen again, with some news articles on the event suggesting the attraction goes against the
00:13:14.120city of Vancouver's 2016 transgender gender diverse two-spirit action plan. It's insane that this is even a
00:13:22.760discussion or something you have to apologize over. But honestly, having lived near Vancouver and visiting there
00:13:29.880quite frequently, I'm not surprised that this is coming out of that city. What are some critics saying of this
00:13:36.520apology and how the park board chose to handle this? Why did they even have to make a statement?
00:13:43.720So, I guess the only way to answer the second part of that is because they're ideologically driven.
00:13:49.320But in terms of what the critics are saying about this, Amy Hamm, a former BC nurse who has faced a
00:13:57.960three-year regulatory battle over her public comments supporting J.K. Rowling and who True North has,
00:14:04.680of course, reported on, called the park board insane and mocked the board for their public denouncement
00:14:12.440and how they were, quote, sharing tears and felt that they needed to rebuild public trust for such a benign
00:14:20.040action. Megan Murphy, a social media influencer, similarly mocked the board questioning what they
00:14:27.320thought they were apologizing for. She said the park board had a, quote, pathetic, gross, and shameful
00:14:34.280response, noting J.K. Rowling's extensive history of advocating for women's rights and sex-specific
00:14:43.000spaces. Other commentators, such as Andy Lee on Acts, said the city had its priorities all wrong
00:14:50.600while people are overdosing on mass and the streets are generally unsafe due to flagrant drug use.
00:14:58.680She also noted how the Harry Potter exhibit, which was meant for kids, boasts that it planted over 65,000
00:15:06.200trees from the exhibit. And this exhibit, I'd be interested for someone to point out one thing that's
00:15:13.560transphobic about it. The Harry Potter franchise has nothing in itself that even resembles what activists
00:15:20.840are calling transphobia. It's obviously just a crusade against the author, J.K. Rowling,
00:15:27.400for not agreeing with everything the mob wants her to capitulate to on X. And, you know, how exactly is
00:15:34.920this exhibit meant for kids harming trans activists, who are all likely adults? If you don't like it,
00:15:42.280you could just not bring your kids there, if many of these activists complaining even have kids. And
00:15:48.040just as a side tangent, it was interesting to see that one of the franchise's flagship projects,
00:15:53.240Hogwarts Legacy, a video game, even put a transgender character in the game. And it was voiced by a
00:15:59.240person who identifies as a trans woman, and still activists weren't happy with it. And many of the
00:16:04.760trans rights activists even complained that the voice actor of the trans character sounded like a man,
00:16:10.120but it was a trans identifying person. Many such activists will only be happy once the Harry Potter
00:16:17.000franchise is completely irrelevant and wiped out or never enjoyed by anyone again.
00:16:23.400That's it for today, folks. Thanks for tuning in. You can stay on top of new episodes every weekday by
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