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Category: Americas

  • MIL-OSI Global: During the American Revolution, Brits weren’t just facing off against white Protestant Christians − US patriots are diverse and have been since Day 1

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Adam Jortner, Goodwin Philpott Eminent Professor of Religion, Auburn University

    A detail from the Washington Monument in Philadelphia, sculpted by Rudolf Siemering. PHAS/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

    In 1770, Barnard Gratz of Philadelphia wrote to a friend complaining about a recent speech by King George III. Gratz, an American patriot, wrote that the speech “was such narishkeit” that it was “not worth the postage.”

    Narishkeit is Yiddish for “nonsense.”

    Gratz was one of hundreds of Jews who joined the American Revolution as soldiers and leaders: Gershom Seixas led his synagogue out of New York when the British invaded and led what was probably the first Jewish prayer group in Connecticut. Solomon Bush earned the rank of lieutenant colonel in the American army; at the time, no Jew in Europe could serve as a military officer. At the battle of Beaufort, one of the patriot militias was nicknamed “the Jew Company” because 28 of its 40 members were Jewish.

    Yet belief persists that the American Revolution was somehow a Christian event – and that the country it created is therefore a Christian nation. This is a position usually defended with vague statements about what the Founding Fathers wanted. The general idea is that back in the day, everyone was Christian and so, of course, the founding was Christian. Yet neither the Declaration of Independence nor the Constitution refer to a “Christian nation” or a church. They don’t even mention Jesus Christ.

    Gershom Mendes Seixas, painted around 1784.
    Secret Egypt/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

    But as a historian, I didn’t want to get caught up in these kinds of arguments. I wanted to know something about the people who actually did the fighting in the war.

    What I discovered is that when it came to fighting Britain, there were plenty of Jewish patriots signing up. America’s revolutionaries were not a uniform bunch of Christian white guys. The Revolution was a religiously diverse place, from Jews and religious skeptics to Catholics and Christian dissenters. And that matters for how the U.S. defines itself and its freedom today.

    Jews join the cause

    When the war started in 1775, the roughly 2,500 Jews in the Colonies did not have religious freedom. British law allowed them to practice, but they were classified as “residents” rather than subjects. They could live there, but they had no say in the laws under which they lived. For the most part, only property-owning Protestant men could elect or be elected to their legislature. Jews were simply not considered people the way Protestant Christians were.

    So when the break with Britain arrived, American Jews flocked to the standard of liberty. Here at last was a chance to become citizens.

    Under British rule, anyone who exercised political authority had to take an oath affirming their Christian faith. The pro-independence groups and militias that sprung up amid the war had no such rules. Mordecai Sheftall, who lived in Georgia, was one of the few people there who had pledged to resist the Coercive Acts: Britain’s efforts to blockade Boston and place Massachusetts under military rule after the Boston Tea Party. When the war broke out, Sheftall became chairman of Georgia’s de facto government, in defiance of British rule.

    Jewish residents took up arms for independence, too. A South Carolina writer praised American Jews fighting for liberty, saying they were “as staunch as any other citizens of this state.” One signer of the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Rush, believed “the Jews in all the states” were patriots. So did royalist Gov. James Wright of Georgia. When the British seized Savannah, Wright banned Jews from the province, calling them “violent rebels and persecutors of the King’s loyal subjects.”

    When the war ended, Philadelphia hosted a parade and all the clergy of the city were invited, including Jewish leaders. There was even a kosher table set out for them after the celebration.

    ‘Second-status’ Christians

    Nor were Jews the only marginalized group to join the cause. Roman Catholics also signed up. Like Jews, Catholics were barred under the British from serving in public office. As a Catholic, Charles Carroll could not have served in the royal government of Maryland, but he went on to sign both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

    Charles Carroll, painted in the 1760s by Joshua Reynolds.
    Yale Center for British Art via Wikimedia Commons

    The Baptists of Virginia were also held in second-class status. The Colony’s state church did not recognize the Baptists, and they had to pay fines for preaching and even for holding Baptist weddings without state sanction. Virginia Baptists promised their support to the Revolution only if Virginia would offer them religious freedom. The Virginia Legislature complained but suspended its state church to build whatever support it could find. Virginia Baptists joined the fight in droves.

    Baptists, Catholics and Jews were not put off by any of the Revolution’s radical deists: a mostly unorganized group of religious thinkers who believed in God and reason, but not revelation or miracles. Their ranks included military officer Ethan Allen of Vermont, who later wrote a book denying the divinity of the Bible. The Revolution did not ask its members how they prayed.

    The urge for liberty spread beyond questions of religious differences. Although George Washington did not originally want to enlist Black men in the army, he realized the Revolution was doomed without them, and thousands of Black Americans joined the cause in the hope that liberty would mean the end of slavery. Women such as Deborah Sampson wore men’s clothing to take up arms against the British. The revolutionaries even had a Muslim ally in the form of Hyder Ali and his armies. The Muslim ruler of the kingdom of Mysore, in southern India, Ali fought with France against Britain in the 1780s, and American revolutionaries named a ship after him.

    Retired Marine Corps Col. Jonathan de Sola Mendes commemorates members of Shearith Israel, the congregation led by Gershom Seixas, who served in the American Revolution.
    Akiva123/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

    Here from the start

    In recent years, violence and anger have risen against minority groups, including Jewish and Muslim Americans. Part of the false rhetoric about these groups has been that they are “new”: that they appeared after America was created and are not really part of the American experiment. In fact, they were here from the beginning. They also fought for the Revolution. Their patriotism is as old as anyone else’s.

    Not only were the people who founded the nation not all Christian, but after independence was secured, religious freedom actually increased.

    States with synagogues all lost the Christian requirement for public office by 1792. Virginia created full religious freedom in 1786. And Washington wrote, “It is our boast, that a man’s religious tenets will not forfeit the protection of the laws, nor deprive him of the right of attaining and holding the highest offices that are known in the United States.”

    Calls for a Christian nation are historically false. They are not a reversion to something old; they are something new. Religious diversity in America, and the freedom of different religions to be full Americans? That’s old. As old as the Revolution.

    Adam Jortner does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. During the American Revolution, Brits weren’t just facing off against white Protestant Christians − US patriots are diverse and have been since Day 1 – https://theconversation.com/during-the-american-revolution-brits-werent-just-facing-off-against-white-protestant-christians-us-patriots-are-diverse-and-have-been-since-day-1-238482

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: What the history of blasphemy laws in the US and the fight for religious freedom can teach us today

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Kristina M. Lee, Assistant Professor, University of South Dakota

    U.S. blasphemy laws reflect a complex fight for the freedom of religion and speech Getty Images

    Some 79 countries around the world continue to enforce blasphemy laws. And in places such as Afghanistan, Brunei, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, violation of these measures can result in a death penalty.

    While the U.S. is not among those countries, it also has a long history of blasphemy laws. Many of the U.S. colonies established blasphemy laws, which became state laws. The U.S. Supreme Court did not rule that blasphemy was a form of protected speech until 1952. Even then, it has not always been protected.

    As a scholar of religious and political rhetoric, I believe the history of U.S. blasphemy laws reflects a complex fight for the freedom of religion and speech.

    Early US blasphemy laws

    U.S. colonies often developed legal protections for Christians to practice their religion. These safeguards often did not extend to non-Christians.

    Maryland’s Toleration Act of 1649, for example, was the first Colonial act to refer to the “free exercise” of religion and was designed to protect Christians from religious persecution from state officials. It did not, however, extend that “free exercise” of religion to non-Christians, instead declaring that anyone who blasphemes against God by cursing him or denying the existence of Jesus can be punished by death or the forfeiture of their lands to the state.

    In 1811, the U.S. witnessed one of its most infamous blasphemy trials, People v. Ruggles, at the New York Supreme Court. New York resident John Ruggles received a three-month prison sentence and a US$500 fine — about $12,000 in today’s money — for stating in public that “Jesus Christ was a bastard, and his mother must be a whore.”

    Chief Justice James Kent argued that people have freedom of religious opinion, but opinions that were malicious toward the majority stance of Christianity were an abuse of that right. He claimed similar attacks on other religions, such as Islam and Buddhism, would not be punishable by law, because “we are a Christian people” whose country does not draw on the doctrines of “those imposters.”

    Several years later, in 1824, a member of a debating society was convicted of blasphemy by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court after saying during a debate: “The Holy Scriptures were a mere fable, that they were a contradiction, and that although they contained a number of good things, yet they contained a great many lies.” In this case — Updegraph v. Commonwealth — the court argued that it was a “vulgarly shocking and insulting” statement that reflected “the highest offence” against public morals and was a disturbance to “public peace.”

    By the end of the 19th century, a prominent free thought movement that rejected religion as a guide for reason had begun to emerge. Movement leaders embraced the public critiquing of Christianity and challenged laws that favored Christians, such as blasphemy laws and mandatory Bible readings in public schools.

    Unsurprisingly, as historian Leigh Eric Schmidt has noted, speakers and writers in the movement regularly faced threats of blasphemy charges.

    By this time, however, even in cases where freethinkers were convicted of blasphemy, judges appeared to offer leniency.

    In 1887, C.B. Reynolds, an ex-preacher who became a prominent free thought speaker, was convicted of blasphemy in New Jersey after he publicly doubted the existence of God. He faced a $200 fine and up to a year in prison. The judge, however, only fined Reynolds $25, plus court costs.

    While it is unclear why Reynolds was offered leniency, historian Leonard Levy suggests that it may have been to avoid making Reynolds a martyr of the free thought movement by imprisoning him.

    Protecting blaspheme as free speech

    Growing calls for religious equality and freedom of speech increasingly swayed blasphemy cases in the 1900s.

    In 1917, for example, Michael X. Mockus, who had previously been convicted of blasphemy in Connecticut for his free thought lectures, was acquitted in a similar case in Illinois.

    While expressing dislike for blasphemy, Judge Perry L. Persons argued that the court’s job is not to determine which religion is right. He said “the Protestant, Catholic, Mormon, Mahammedan, the Jew, the Freethinker, the Atheist” must “all stand equal before the law.”

    Then, in 1952, the U.S. Supreme Court heard the case of Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson after New York rescinded the license for the film “The Miracle.” The film was deemed sacrilegious because of its supposed mockery of the Catholic faith.

    The high court ruled that states could not ban sacrilegious films. That would be a violation of the separation of church and state, it ruled, and an unconstitutional restriction on freedom of religion and speech.

    Even after the Supreme Court decision, Americans continued to occasionally face blasphemy charges. But courts shot the charges down.

    In 1968, when Irving West, a 20-year-old veteran, told a policeman to “Get your goddam hands off me” after getting in a fight, he was charged with disorderly conduct and violating Maryland’s blasphemy law. When West appealed, a circuit court judge ruled the law was an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment.

    Despite these rulings, in 1977, Pennsylvania enacted a blasphemy statute banning businesses from having blasphemous names after a local businessman tried to name his gun store “The God Damn Gun Shop.” It was not until 2010 that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court deemed this statute unconstitutional.

    The decision followed a case in which the owner of a film production company sued the state after his request to register his company under the name “I Choose Hell Productions, LLC” was denied on the grounds that it was blasphemous. Citing the 1952 Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson case, the judge ruled that the statute was a violation of First Amendment rights.

    A sign of democratic freedom

    As historian David Sehat highlights in his book “The Myth of American Religious Freedom”, since America was founded there have been strong disagreements over what religious freedom should look like. Blasphemy laws have been a key part of this clash.

    Historically, many Americans have viewed the laws as justifiable. Some believed Christianity deserved special protection and reverence. Others, including some Founding Fathers such as John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, have viewed the same laws as unconstitutional restrictions of free speech and religious expression.

    There has recently been growing attention to the rise of Christian nationalism, the belief that the United States is or should be a Christian nation. Amid this rise, there have been attacks on free speech, such as the increase in book bans and restrictions on public protests. I believe it’s important that we, as Americans, learn from this history of the fight for the freedom of religion and speech.

    Kristina M. Lee is a board member for the Secular Student Alliance

    – ref. What the history of blasphemy laws in the US and the fight for religious freedom can teach us today – https://theconversation.com/what-the-history-of-blasphemy-laws-in-the-us-and-the-fight-for-religious-freedom-can-teach-us-today-238173

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Hemingway, after the hurricane

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Verna Kale, Associate Editor, The Letters of Ernest Hemingway and Associate Research Professor of English, Penn State

    Rescue workers search debris for victims of the Labor Day hurricane of 1935, a Category 5 storm that devastated parts of the Florida Keys. Bettman/Getty Images

    The 2024 hurricane season has been especially disastrous, and the casualties and widespread damage from flooding and high winds in towns like Cedar Key, Florida, call to mind another historic hurricane, the Labor Day hurricane of 1935.

    As one of the editors of “The Letters of Ernest Hemingway Volume 6 (1934-1936),” with Sandra Spanier and Miriam B. Mandel, I am reminded of the eyewitness account that the writer, then a resident of Key West, Florida, gave of the catastrophic storm that leveled Upper Matecumbe Key and Lower Matecumbe Key and took the lives of more than 400 people, many of them World War I veterans.

    Then, as now, the aftermath of a natural disaster included political finger-pointing.

    Today the debates center around how resources from the Federal Emergency Management Agency are allocated or how climate change contributes to the intensity of the storms.

    Back then, Hemingway had a different beef with the government, blaming the deaths of hundreds of World War I veterans on the failure to evacuate Upper Matecumbe Key and Lower Matecumbe Key ahead of the storm.

    The calm before the storm

    Hemingway was no stranger to hurricanes.

    A serious deep-sea angler who fished the waters off Florida, he kept an eye on weather patterns. Hurricane season was an anticipated, if dreaded, annual event.

    “Now the lousy hurricanes are starting,” he wrote his friends Jane and Grant Mason in June 1934. “Wish we would get lots of east wind and current … and then have a fine july and august without hurricanes.” Knowing that these conditions were unlikely, he jokingly asked the Masons “and what do you want for xmas Mr. and Mrs. Mason yourselves?”

    Ernest Hemingway was an avid fisherman. Here he poses with a marlin in Havana Harbor, Cuba.
    Ernest Hemingway Collection. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston.

    In a Sept. 30, 1934, letter, he wrote friends Gerald and Sara Murphy with hopes that he would get through the rest of hurricane season without incident: “no hurricanes yet […] if we get through the next 20 [days] are all right,” and he was glad that he “can fish without having to tie [the boat] up somewhere up some creek.”

    The next day, he wrote to fellow novelist John Dos Passos, “Hurricane months if you dont get a hurricane are fine.”

    ‘Not a building of any sort standing’

    But the following year, when the hurricanes did come, it was not fine.

    Over Sept. 2-3, 1935, a hurricane made landfall in the Florida Keys. Occurring in the days before storms were given names, the Labor Day hurricane, as it is commonly known, was the first recorded Category 5 hurricane in the U.S.

    It remains the third-most intense storm on record in the Atlantic basin, with a barometric pressure drop to 892 millibars and wind gusts exceeding 200 mph. Much of its damage was caused by the storm surge, and the Overseas Railroad, which had been completed in 1912 and connected the Florida Keys to the mainland, was destroyed and would not be rebuilt.

    After the storm, Hemingway wrote to his editor, Maxwell Perkins, describing its aftermath.

    Though communications were down and the island was cut off from the mainland, Key West had sustained relatively little damage.

    Upper Matecumbe Key and Lower Matecumbe Key, however, were a different story.

    “Imagine you have read about it in the papers but nothing could give an idea of the destruction,” Hemingway writes. “The foliage absolutely stripped as though by fire for forty miles and the land looking like the abandoned bed of a river. Not a building of any sort standing. Over thirty miles of railway washed and blown away.”

    Worse yet were the human casualties: He notes that the last time he witnessed so many dead in one place was in Europe during World War I as a Red Cross ambulance driver, adding, “We made five trips with provisions for survivors to different places and nothing but dead men to eat the grub.”

    A corpse floats in the aftermath of the hurricane.
    Ernest Hemingway Collection. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston.

    Many of the victims were veterans, employed by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration to work on the Overseas Highway construction project. Outraged by the federal government’s failure to send a train to evacuate the workers in time, Hemingway tells Perkins that the veterans “were practically murdered.”

    Federal administrators, he adds, “had all day Sunday and all day monday to get those vets out and never did it. If they had taken half the precautions with them that we took with our boat not a one would have been lost.”

    The letter contains graphic descriptions of the hundreds of dead bodies, rapidly decomposing in the Florida sun as they awaited transport to Arlington, Virginia, to be buried.

    ‘That smell you thought you’d never smell again’

    Hemingway would repeat many of these same details in an article published in the Sept. 17, 1935, issue of the leftist magazine The New Masses.

    The article, which Hemingway titled “Who Killed These Men?,” and which was re-titled by the editors as “Who Murdered the Vets?,” criticized the federal government for not evacuating the workers.

    “Who sent nearly a thousand war veterans … to live in frame shacks on the Florida Keys in hurricane months?” Hemingway asks.

    Hemingway, no stranger to the sight and smell of the dead from his experiences during World War I, was disgusted not merely by the bodies “swollen and stinking” but by what brought the veterans to the work camps to begin with.

    Skeptical of the various government programs of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, Hemingway saw the Federal Emergency Relief Administration work camps as a way for Washington to conveniently rid itself of hundreds of down-on-their-luck veterans, many of whom were experiencing what we would now call post-traumatic stress disorder.

    “I would like to make whoever sent them there carry just one out through the mangroves, or turn one over that lay in the sun along the fill, or tie five together so they won’t float out, or smell that smell you thought you’d never smell again, with luck,” Hemingway writes.

    This impassioned response to the disaster in 1935 still resonates. Hemingway recognized that while storms are inevitable, mass casualties do not have to be. The government can’t control the weather, but it can fulfill an obligation to protect the most vulnerable in the path of the storm.

    Verna Kale works for the Hemingway Letters Project, which has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom.

    – ref. Hemingway, after the hurricane – https://theconversation.com/hemingway-after-the-hurricane-241103

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA News: Readout of President  Biden’s Meeting with Chancellor Olaf Scholz of  Germany

    Source: The White House

    President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. met today with Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany at the Chancellery to discuss the longstanding U.S.-German relationship, grounded in our shared democratic values.  The two leaders coordinated on support for Ukraine in its self-defense against Russian aggression; efforts to counter antisemitism and other forms of hate at home and abroad; the Middle East; amongst other global issues.  President Biden expressed his appreciation for Chancellor Scholz’s leadership in increasing Germany’s investment in NATO’s collective defense and in securing the release of wrongfully detained Americans, along with other human rights activists and political dissidents from Russian prison, earlier this year. He also underscored the U.S. commitment to continue working together to address the challenges of today and tomorrow and deliver results for both our peoples.

    ###

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI: Canadian Banc Corp. Monthly Dividend Declaration for Class A & Preferred Share

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    TORONTO, Oct. 18, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Canadian Banc Corp. (The “Company”) declares its monthly distribution of $0.14238 for each Class A share and $0.06625 for each Preferred share. Distributions are payable November 8, 2024 to shareholders on record as at October 31, 2024.

    Under the distribution policy announced in November 2021, the monthly dividend payable on the Class A shares is determined by applying a 15% annualized rate on the volume weighted average market price (VWAP) of the Class A shares over the last 3 trading days of the preceding month. As a result, Class A shareholders of record on October 31, 2024 will receive a dividend of $0.14238 per share based on the VWAP of $11.39 payable on November 8, 2024. The yield will remain stable at 15.00% (based on the VWAP) under this distribution policy.

    Preferred shareholders will receive prime plus 1.50% with a minimum rate of 5.00% and a maximum rate of 8.00%. 

    Since inception Class A shareholders have received a total of $22.80 per share and Preferred shareholders have received a total of $10.77 per share inclusive of this distribution, for a combined total of $33.56. 

    The Company invests in a portfolio of six publicly traded Canadian Banks as follows: Bank of Montreal, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, National Bank of Canada, Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Nova Scotia, Toronto-Dominion Bank. Shares held within the portfolio are expected to range between 5-20% in weight but may vary at any time. To generate additional returns above the dividend income earned on the PRESS RELEASE portfolio, The Company engages in a selective covered call writing program.

    Distribution Details  
       
    Class A Share (BK) $0.14238
       
    Preferred Share (BK.PR.A) $0.06625
       
    Record Date: October 31, 2024
       
    Payable Date: November 8, 2024
       

    Investor Relations:
    1-877-478-2372
    Local: 416-304-4443
    http://www.canadianbanc.com
    info@quadravest.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: FINANCIAL 15 SPLIT CORP. Monthly Dividend Declaration for Class A & Preferred Share

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    TORONTO, Oct. 18, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Financial 15 Split Corp. (“Financial 15”) declares its regular monthly distribution of $0.12570 for each Class A share ($1.51 annualized) and $0.07708 for each Preferred share ($0.925 annually). Distributions are payable November 8, 2024 to shareholders on record as at October 31, 2024.

    Since inception Class A shareholders have received a total of $26.31 per share and Preferred shareholders have received a total of $11.97 per share inclusive of this distribution, for a combined total of $38.28.

    Financial 15 invests in a high quality portfolio consisting of 15 financial services companies made up of Canadian and U.S. issuers as follows: Bank of Montreal, The Bank of Nova Scotia, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, National Bank of Canada, Manulife Financial Corporation, Sun Life Financial, Great-West Lifeco, CI Financial Corp, Bank of America, Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group, JP Morgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co.

    Distribution Details
       
    Class A Share (FTN) $0.12570
    Preferred Share (FTN.PR.A) $0.07708
    Record Date: October 31, 2024
    Payable Date: November 8, 2024
       

    Investor Relations: 1-877-478-2372
    Local: 416-304-4443
    http://www.financial15.com
    info@quadravest.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: DIVIDEND 15 SPLIT CORP. II Monthly Dividend Declaration for Class A & Preferred Share

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    TORONTO, Oct. 18, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Dividend 15 Split Corp. II (“Dividend 15 II”) declares its monthly distribution of $0.10000 for each Class A share and $0.04792 for each Preferred share. Distributions are payable November 8, 2024 to shareholders on record as at October 31, 2024.

    Since inception Class A shareholders have received a total of $15.30 per share and Preferred shareholders have received a total of $9.67 per share inclusive of this distribution, for a combined total of $24.97.

    Dividend 15 II invests in a high quality portfolio of leading Canadian dividend-yielding stocks as follows: Bank of Montreal, Bank of Nova Scotia, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, National Bank of Canada, CI Financial Corp., BCE Inc., Manulife Financial, Enbridge, Sun Life Financial, TELUS Corporation, Thomson Reuters Corporation, TransAlta Corporation, TC Energy Corporation.

    Distribution Details
       
    Class A Share (DF) $0.10000
    Preferred Share (DF.PR.A) $0.04792
    Record Date: October 31, 2024
    Payable Date: November 8, 2024

    Investor Relations: 1-877-478-2372
    Local: 416-304-4443
    http://www.dividend15.com
    info@quadravest.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: FINANCIAL 15 SPLIT CORP. Monthly Dividend Declaration for Class A & Preferred Share

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    TORONTO, Oct. 18, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Financial 15 Split Corp. (“Financial 15”) declares its regular monthly distribution of $0.12570 for each Class A share ($1.51 annualized) and $0.07708 for each Preferred share ($0.925 annually). Distributions are payable November 8, 2024 to shareholders on record as at October 31, 2024.

    Since inception Class A shareholders have received a total of $26.31 per share and Preferred shareholders have received a total of $11.97 per share inclusive of this distribution, for a combined total of $38.28.

    Financial 15 invests in a high quality portfolio consisting of 15 financial services companies made up of Canadian and U.S. issuers as follows: Bank of Montreal, The Bank of Nova Scotia, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, National Bank of Canada, Manulife Financial Corporation, Sun Life Financial, Great-West Lifeco, CI Financial Corp, Bank of America, Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group, JP Morgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co.

    Distribution Details
       
    Class A Share (FTN) $0.12570
    Preferred Share (FTN.PR.A) $0.07708
    Record Date: October 31, 2024
    Payable Date: November 8, 2024
       

    Investor Relations: 1-877-478-2372
    Local: 416-304-4443
    http://www.financial15.com
    info@quadravest.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Canadian Banc Corp. Monthly Dividend Declaration for Class A & Preferred Share

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    TORONTO, Oct. 18, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Canadian Banc Corp. (The “Company”) declares its monthly distribution of $0.14238 for each Class A share and $0.06625 for each Preferred share. Distributions are payable November 8, 2024 to shareholders on record as at October 31, 2024.

    Under the distribution policy announced in November 2021, the monthly dividend payable on the Class A shares is determined by applying a 15% annualized rate on the volume weighted average market price (VWAP) of the Class A shares over the last 3 trading days of the preceding month. As a result, Class A shareholders of record on October 31, 2024 will receive a dividend of $0.14238 per share based on the VWAP of $11.39 payable on November 8, 2024. The yield will remain stable at 15.00% (based on the VWAP) under this distribution policy.

    Preferred shareholders will receive prime plus 1.50% with a minimum rate of 5.00% and a maximum rate of 8.00%. 

    Since inception Class A shareholders have received a total of $22.80 per share and Preferred shareholders have received a total of $10.77 per share inclusive of this distribution, for a combined total of $33.56. 

    The Company invests in a portfolio of six publicly traded Canadian Banks as follows: Bank of Montreal, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, National Bank of Canada, Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Nova Scotia, Toronto-Dominion Bank. Shares held within the portfolio are expected to range between 5-20% in weight but may vary at any time. To generate additional returns above the dividend income earned on the PRESS RELEASE portfolio, The Company engages in a selective covered call writing program.

    Distribution Details  
       
    Class A Share (BK) $0.14238
       
    Preferred Share (BK.PR.A) $0.06625
       
    Record Date: October 31, 2024
       
    Payable Date: November 8, 2024
       

    Investor Relations:
    1-877-478-2372
    Local: 416-304-4443
    http://www.canadianbanc.com
    info@quadravest.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: DIVIDEND 15 SPLIT CORP. II Monthly Dividend Declaration for Class A & Preferred Share

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    TORONTO, Oct. 18, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Dividend 15 Split Corp. II (“Dividend 15 II”) declares its monthly distribution of $0.10000 for each Class A share and $0.04792 for each Preferred share. Distributions are payable November 8, 2024 to shareholders on record as at October 31, 2024.

    Since inception Class A shareholders have received a total of $15.30 per share and Preferred shareholders have received a total of $9.67 per share inclusive of this distribution, for a combined total of $24.97.

    Dividend 15 II invests in a high quality portfolio of leading Canadian dividend-yielding stocks as follows: Bank of Montreal, Bank of Nova Scotia, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, National Bank of Canada, CI Financial Corp., BCE Inc., Manulife Financial, Enbridge, Sun Life Financial, TELUS Corporation, Thomson Reuters Corporation, TransAlta Corporation, TC Energy Corporation.

    Distribution Details
       
    Class A Share (DF) $0.10000
    Preferred Share (DF.PR.A) $0.04792
    Record Date: October 31, 2024
    Payable Date: November 8, 2024

    Investor Relations: 1-877-478-2372
    Local: 416-304-4443
    http://www.dividend15.com
    info@quadravest.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Government of Canada investing nearly $50,000 in Algoma-area textile industry

    Source: Government of Canada News

    News release

    FedNor funds will help support the expansion of Masters Fibre Mill and Alpaca Farm

    October 18, 2024 – Richards Landing, Ontario – Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario – FedNor

    Terry Sheehan, Member of Parliament for Sault Ste. Marie, and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Labour and Seniors, today announced an unconditionally repayable FedNor investment of $47,752 in the Masters Fibre Mill and Alpaca Farm. The announcement was made on behalf of the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Indigenous Services and Minister responsible for FedNor

    The funds will be used to acquire new machinery and hardware and to receive relevant training, and to upgrade facilities. Specifically, Masters Mill will purchase an automated 3D knitting machine, which will allow the business to expand product offerings, increase revenues, and reach new markets. The equipment will support the creation of products such as knit sweaters, toques, and mitts, making Masters Mill the only company in Canada producing those items using only Canadian fibre.

    The FedNor funds announced today are provided through the Targeted Manufacturing Initiative for Northern Ontario (TMINO), which helps existing Northern Ontario manufacturers upgrade and improve capital equipment used in manufacturing processes, including information and communications technology, to improve their competitiveness and productivity.

    Quotes

    “Small business like Masters Fibre Mill and Alpaca Farm in Northen Ontario are essential to the Canadian economy and critical to supporting communities across the country. By investing in small businesses like these, the Government of Canada is building a stronger economy that works for everyone.”

    –       The Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Indigenous Services and Minister Responsible for FedNor

    “St. Joseph Island is a highlight of Algoma region and attracts visitors from across Northern Ontario. By supporting Masters Mill, these FedNor funds are supporting a local small business, and small businesses support communities. This project will help create new opportunities while serving tourists and customers from near and far.”

    –       Terry Sheehan, Member of Parliament for Sault Ste. Marie, and Parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Labour and Seniors

    “The work we do at Masters Fibre Mill and Alpaca Farm is a labour of love. This project will allow us to create farm-to-fashion garments, which will help turn Canadian fibres into 100% designed and made-in-Canada finished products. We are proud to partner with FedNor in growing our business, and look forward to the future opportunities their investment will help create.”

    –       Lorna Masters, Owner, Masters Fibre Mill and Alpaca Farm

    Quick facts

    • Masters Fibre Mill and Alpaca Farm, located on St. Joseph Island, mills fibre from sheep and alpaca into finished products, such as yarn. They also maintain a small herd of alpacas to produce fibre.

    Associated links

    Contacts

    Jennifer Kozelj
    Press Secretary
    Office of the Minister of Indigenous Services and Minister responsible for FedNor
    jennifer.kozelj@sac-isc.gc.ca

    Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario
    Media Relations

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Some people love to scare themselves in an already scary world − here’s the psychology of why

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Sarah Kollat, Teaching Professor of Psychology, Penn State

    A controlled scary experience can leave you exhilarated and relaxed afterward. gremlin/E+ via Getty Images

    Fall for me as a teenager meant football games, homecoming dresses – and haunted houses. My friends organized group trips to the local fairground, where barn sheds were turned into halls of horror, and masked men nipped at our ankles with (chainless) chain saws as we waited in line, anticipating deeper frights to come once we were inside.

    I’m not the only one who loves a good scare. Halloween attractions company America Haunts estimates Americans are spending upward of US$500 million annually on haunted house entrance fees simply for the privilege of being frightened. And lots of fright fans don’t limit their horror entertainment to spooky season, gorging horror movies, shows and books all year long.

    To some people, this preoccupation with horror can seem tone deaf. School shootings, child abuse, war – the list of real-life horrors is endless. Why seek manufactured fear for entertainment when the world offers real terror in such large quantities?

    As a developmental psychologist who writes dark thrillers on the side, I find the intersection of psychology and fear intriguing. To explain what drives this fascination with fear, I point to the theory that emotions evolved as a universal experience in humans because they help us survive. Creating fear in otherwise safe lives can be enjoyable – and is a way for people to practice and prepare for real-life dangers.

    Fear can feel good

    Controlled fear experiences – where you can click your remote, close the book, or walk out of the haunted house whenever you want – offer the physiological high that fear triggers, without any real risk.

    When you perceive yourself under threat, adrenaline surges in your body and the evolutionary fight-or-flight response is activated. Your heart rate increases, you breathe deeper and faster, and your blood pressure goes up. Your body is preparing to defend itself against the danger or get away as fast as possible.

    This physical reaction is crucial when facing a real threat. When experiencing controlled fear – like jump scares in a zombie TV show – you get to enjoy this energized sensation, similar to a runner’s high, without any risks. And then, once the threat is dealt with, your body releases the neurotransmitter dopamine, which provides sensations of pleasure and relief.

    In one study, researchers found that people who visited a high-intensity haunted house as a controlled fear experience displayed less brain activity in response to stimuli and less anxiety post-exposure. This finding suggests that exposing yourself to horror films, scary stories or suspenseful video games can actually calm you afterward. The effect might also explain why my husband and I choose to relax by watching zombie shows after a busy day at work.

    Going through something frightening together – like a haunted house attraction – can be a bonding experience.
    AP Photo/John Locher

    The ties that bind

    An essential motivation for human beings is the sense of belonging to a social group. According to the surgeon general, Americans who miss those connections are caught up in an epidemic of loneliness, which leaves people at risk for mental and physical health issues.

    Going through intense fear experiences together strengthens the bonds between individuals. Good examples include veterans who served together in combat, survivors of natural disasters, and the “families” created in groups of first responders.

    I’m a volunteer firefighter, and the unique connection created through sharing intense threats, such as entering a burning building together, manifests in deep emotional bonds with my colleagues. After a significant fire call, we often note the improved morale and camaraderie of the firehouse. I feel a flood of positive emotions anytime I think of my firefighting partners, even when the events occurred months or years ago.

    Controlled fear experiences artificially create similar opportunities for bonding. Exposure to stress triggers not only the fight-or-flight response, but in many situations it also initiates what psychologists call the “tend-and-befriend” system. A perceived threat prompts humans to tend to offspring and create social-emotional bonds for protection and comfort. This system is largely regulated by the so-called “love hormone” oxytocin.

    The tend-and-befriend reaction is particularly likely when you experience stress around others with whom you have already established positive social connections. When you encounter stressors within your social network, your oxytocin levels rise to initiate social coping strategies. As a result, when you navigate a recreational fear experience like a haunted house with friends, you are setting the emotional stage to feel bonded with the people beside you.

    Sitting in the dark with friends while you watch a scary movie or navigating a haunted corn maze with a date is good for your health, in that it helps you strengthen those social connections.

    Consuming lots of horror as entertainment may make some people more resilient in real life.
    Edwin Tan/E+ via Getty Images

    An ounce of prevention = a pound of cure

    Controlled fear experiences can also be a way for you to prepare for the worst. Think of the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the films “Contagion” and “Outbreak” trended on streaming platforms as people around the world sheltered at home. By watching threat scenarios play out in controlled ways through media, you can learn about your fears and emotionally prepare for future threats.

    For example, researchers at Aarhus University’s Recreational Fear Lab in Denmark demonstrated in one study that people who regularly consumed horror media were more psychologically resilient during the COVID-19 pandemic than nonhorror fans. The scientists suggest that this resilience might be a result of a kind of training these fans went through – they practiced coping with the fear and anxiety provoked by their preferred form of entertainment. As a result, they were better prepared to manage the real fear triggered by the pandemic.

    When I’m not teaching, I’m an avid reader of crime fiction. I also write psychological thrillers under the pen name Sarah K. Stephens. As both a reader and writer, I notice similar themes in the books I am drawn to, all of which tie into my own deep-rooted fears: mothers who fail their children somehow, women manipulated into subservience, lots of misogynist antagonists.

    I enjoy writing and reading about my fears – and seeing the bad guys get their just desserts in the end – because it offers a way for me to control the story. Consuming these narratives lets me mentally rehearse how I would handle these kinds of circumstances if any were to manifest in my real life.

    Survive and thrive

    In the case of controlled fear experiences, scaring yourself is a pivotal technique to help you survive and adapt in a frightening world. By eliciting powerful, positive emotions, strengthening social networks and preparing you for your worst fears, you’re better able to embrace each day to its fullest.

    So the next time you’re choosing between an upbeat comedy and a creepy thriller for your movie night, pick the dark side – it’s good for your health.

    Sarah Kollat does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Some people love to scare themselves in an already scary world − here’s the psychology of why – https://theconversation.com/some-people-love-to-scare-themselves-in-an-already-scary-world-heres-the-psychology-of-why-240292

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI China: Senior Chinese, Brazilian officials meet on advancing ties

    Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News

    Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, meets with Rui Costa, chief of staff of the Presidency of Brazil, in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 18, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]

    BEIJING, Oct. 18 — Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang met with Rui Costa, chief of staff of the Presidency of Brazil, on Friday in Beijing.

    Ding, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said both China and Brazil are important representative countries of the Global South, calling the two countries like-minded good friends and good partners marching forward hand in hand.

    Ding noted that under the strategic guidance of the two countries’ leaders, the China-Brazil comprehensive strategic partnership has shown vigorous development momentum, with political mutual trust being constantly consolidated and new progress made in exchanges and cooperation of various fields.

    China is ready to work with Brazil to earnestly act on the important consensus reached by the two countries’ heads of state, and take the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations as an opportunity to constantly expand the depth, width and height of mutually beneficial cooperation, and promote bilateral ties to a new high, said Ding.

    Costa said Brazil highly values China and takes China as a reliable long-term partner, expressing the hope to make joint efforts with China to make bilateral relations more strategic and comprehensive.

    MIL OSI China News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Statement by the Prime Minister on Persons Day

    Source: Government of Canada – Prime Minister

    The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today issued the following statement on Persons Day:

    “Today, we celebrate Persons Day, an important milestone for women’s rights and participation in Canadian political life. On October 18, 1929, Canada’s highest court of appeal recognized women as ‘persons’ and granted them the right to be appointed to the Senate.

    “The Famous Five – Emily Murphy, Nellie McClung, Irene Parlby, Louise McKinney, and Henrietta Muir Edwards – won a hard-fought, two-year-long battle in the landmark Persons Case. While their victory did not benefit all women and girls in Canada equally, it helped change the course of history and laid the foundations for a fairer Canada.

    “Nearly a century after the Famous Five’s victory, Canada continues to eliminate barriers that still exist for women. We introduced $10-a-day child care to give every child the best possible start in life while helping parents, especially moms, build their careers. Our work making contraception medications and devices free will give women more affordable choices to make decisions about their bodies, their health, and their future. We are also accelerating our efforts through the Federal Pathway to address the national crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ people. And through the National Action Plan to End Gender-Based Violence, we continue to address the root causes of gender-based violence and strengthen supports for victims, survivors, and their families. This is all part of our work to make sure that no woman in Canada faces barriers to what she can achieve.

    “As we celebrate Persons Day and Women’s History Month, I encourage all Canadians to learn more about the Famous Five and their important contributions to women’s rights and equality.”

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI: Dividend 15 Split Corp. Monthly Dividend Declaration for Class A & Preferred Share

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    TORONTO, Oct. 18, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Dividend 15 Split Corp. (The “Company”) declares its monthly distribution of $0.10000 for each Class A share ($1.20 annualized) and $0.04583 for each Preferred share ($0.550 annually). Distributions are payable November 8, 2024 to shareholders on record as at October 31, 2024.

    Since inception Class A shareholders have received a total of $27.30 per share and Preferred shareholders have received a total of $10.95 per share inclusive of this distribution, for a combined total of $38.25.

    Dividend 15 invests in a high quality portfolio of leading Canadian dividend-yielding stocks as follows: Bank of Montreal, Bank of Nova Scotia, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, National Bank of Canada, CI Financial Corp., BCE Inc., Manulife Financial, Enbridge, Sun Life Financial, TELUS Corporation, Thomson Reuters Corporation, TransAlta Corporation, TC Energy Corporation.

    Distribution Details  
       
    Class A Share (DFN)  $0.10000
    Preferred Share (DFN.PR.A) $0.04583
    Record Date: October 31, 2024
    Payable Date: November 8, 2024

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Dividend 15 Split Corp. Monthly Dividend Declaration for Class A & Preferred Share

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    TORONTO, Oct. 18, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Dividend 15 Split Corp. (The “Company”) declares its monthly distribution of $0.10000 for each Class A share ($1.20 annualized) and $0.04583 for each Preferred share ($0.550 annually). Distributions are payable November 8, 2024 to shareholders on record as at October 31, 2024.

    Since inception Class A shareholders have received a total of $27.30 per share and Preferred shareholders have received a total of $10.95 per share inclusive of this distribution, for a combined total of $38.25.

    Dividend 15 invests in a high quality portfolio of leading Canadian dividend-yielding stocks as follows: Bank of Montreal, Bank of Nova Scotia, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, National Bank of Canada, CI Financial Corp., BCE Inc., Manulife Financial, Enbridge, Sun Life Financial, TELUS Corporation, Thomson Reuters Corporation, TransAlta Corporation, TC Energy Corporation.

    Distribution Details  
       
    Class A Share (DFN)  $0.10000
    Preferred Share (DFN.PR.A) $0.04583
    Record Date: October 31, 2024
    Payable Date: November 8, 2024

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Press Release by U.S. Attorney Relating to November 2024 General Election

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime News

    KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The United States Attorney’s Office announced today that Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) Mac D. Heavener, III will lead the efforts of the Office in connection with the Justice Department’s nationwide Election Day Program for the upcoming November 5, 2024, election. AUSA Heavener has been appointed to serve as the District Election Officer (DEO) for the Eastern District of Tennessee, and in that capacity is responsible for overseeing the Office’s handling of election day complaints of voting rights concerns, threats of violence to election officials or staff, and election fraud, in consultation with Justice Department Headquarters in Washington.

    The Department of Justice has an important role in deterring and combatting discrimination and intimidation at the polls, threats of violence directed at election officials and poll workers, and election fraud.  The Department will address these violations wherever they occur. The Department’s longstanding Election Day Program furthers these goals and also seeks to ensure public confidence in the electoral process by providing local points of contact within the Department for the public to report possible federal election law violations.

    Federal law protects against such crimes as threatening violence against election officials or staff, intimidating or bribing voters, buying and selling votes, impersonating voters, altering vote tallies, stuffing ballot boxes, and marking ballots for voters against their wishes or without their input.  It also contains special protections for the rights of voters, and provides that they can vote free from interference, including intimidation, and other acts designed to prevent or discourage people from voting or voting for the candidate of their choice.  The Voting Rights Act protects the right of voters to mark their own ballot or to be assisted by a person of their choice (where voters need assistance because of disability or inability to read or write in English).   

    In addition, the FBI will have special agents available in each field office and resident agency throughout the country to receive allegations of election fraud and other election abuses on election day.  The local FBI field office can be reached by the public at (865) 544-0751.

    “Every citizen must be able to vote without interference or discrimination and to have that vote counted in a fair and free election,” said United States Attorney Francis M. Hamilton III.  “Similarly, election officials and staff must be able to serve without being subject to unlawful threats of violence.  The Department of Justice will always work tirelessly to protect the integrity of the election process.  AUSA/DEO Mac Heavener will be on duty in this District while the polls are open.  He can be reached by the public at the following telephone numbers: (423) 823-5009 or (423) 218-6652.”

    Please note, however, in the case of a crime of violence or intimidation, please call 911 immediately and before contacting federal authorities.  State and local police have primary jurisdiction over polling places, and almost always have faster reaction capacity in an emergency.

                                                                                                                     ###

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Joint Statement on Arctic Security and Defence

    Source: Government of Iceland

    Under the auspice of the Northern Defence Dialogue meeting held on the margins of the NATO Defence Ministers’ Meeting on 17 October 2024, the defence ministers of Canada, Denmark together with the Foreign Minister of the Faroe Islands and a representative from Greenland, Finland, Norway, and Sweden, and representatives from Iceland and the United States reaffirm their shared commitment to enhanced collaboration on security and defence in the Arctic.

    In a rapidly changing geopolitical landscape marked by new challenges, the region has become a growing global point of focus. Climate change is having profound effects on the strategic and operational environment and growing access to the Arctic’s resource potential is enticing new non-Arctic actors to the region. Potential adversaries are rapidly developing their militaries’ ability to operate both in the High North and the circumpolar Arctic region. Among its many negative consequences, Russia’s illegal and unprovoked further invasion of Ukraine has caused grave impediments to international cooperation and degraded the Euro-Atlantic security environment.

    These unprecedented challenges underline the need to foster deepened collaboration among the like-minded Arctic states. The accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO significantly strengthens NATO’s collective defence posture and capabilities in the region. As all like-minded Arctic states now belong to the Alliance, we affirm our leading role in NATO’s work relating to the region and stress the importance of maintaining a credible deterrence and defence in the entire Euro-Atlantic area—including our northern regions—as well as cooperation with our other NATO Allies to this end.

    At this Northern Defence Dialogue meeting, building on the work of and aiming to also strengthen NATO, we discussed:

    • Our situational awareness of the threat environment in the Arctic, and opportunities to enhance information and intelligence sharing in order to establish a common operating picture;
    • Emerging threats, risks, and geopolitical challenges from potential adversaries at both the national and international level;
    • Our capabilities to deter and, if necessary, defend against threats posed by our potential adversaries in the region, and our commitment to mutual participation in joint operations and exercises to enhance interoperability; and,
    • Ways to increase collaboration to address common threats and challenges posed to the region.

    Our countries’ common ambition to maintain low tension in the region has served as the foundation of our multilateral Arctic relations and will continue to guide our cooperation in the future. Guided by the core principles of multilateral cooperation, territorial integrity, and maintaining the rules-based international order, we are committed to strengthening our collaboration to address complex global challenges and maintain the Arctic as a stable, peaceful, and prosperous region.

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Government of Canada launches call for proposals in support of Black mental health

    Source: Government of Canada News

    News release

    October 18, 2024 | Ottawa, ON | Public Health Agency of Canada

    Black communities in Canada continue to face significant barriers to accessing mental health services and supports, including the cost of care, a history of negative experiences related to bias, and overall lack of culturally representative and responsive mental health professionals.

    Today, the Honourable Ya’ara Saks, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health, is launching an open call for proposals to allocate $1M under the Mental Health of Black Canadians Fund. Community-based organizations can apply for up to $100,000 to support projects that seek to build organizations’ capacity to develop and deliver programs that promote the mental health of Black people in Canada. The deadline to submit a proposal is November 15, 2024.

    To be eligible to receive funding, projects must be Black-led, benefit and be delivered to Black communities in Canada. The following activities are eligible for funding:

    • Building and strengthening community-based engagement, networks, collaborations and partnerships;
    • Gathering and analyzing data and information from diverse sources;
    • Consolidating knowledge of what works through knowledge synthesis, mobilization of evidence and/or community resources and assets, and analysis of relevant data;
    • Assessing past and present mental health promotion programs for lessons learned and promising practices; and
    • Developing the design and/or methodology for novel, culturally focused mental health programs.

    This open call for proposals is part of the $4M committed in Budget 2024 for the Promoting Health Equity: Mental Health of Black of Canadians Fund. This funding is designed to support community-based, culturally focused projects that aim to increase health equity and address the underlying determinants of mental health, including anti-Black racism.

    For more information on eligibility for this open call and how to apply, visit the website.

    Quotes

    “When people find the courage to ask for help, they deserve to be met by mental health service providers who see them, and can offer resources that reflect their reality. The Mental Health of Black Canadians Fund is helping make this happen by investing in Black-led community-based organizations that are dedicated to improving the mental health of their community members and the factors that influence it, such as anti-Black racism. Working alongside Black community leaders and organizations is key to paving the way to better health outcomes .”

    The Honourable Ya’ara Saks
    Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health 

    Quick facts

    • Between 2018 and 2024, the Mental Health of Black Canadians Fund has provided support for 32 projects, including through the Supporting the Health of Those Most Affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic Fund.  

    • People who experience discrimination due to racism, socio-economic status and/or social exclusion face more difficulties than others in accessing mental health care and supports.

    • The Inequalities in mental health, well-being and wellness in Canada report examines inequalities in mental health. The first of its kind, the report examines how a combination of social, economic and environmental factors can influence the health of individuals.

    • The Distress Line Equity Fund supports projects that address gaps related to equity, diversity and inclusion within Canada’s distress line sector. Distress lines are a vital part of Canada’s public health approach to suicide prevention, and this fund is helping will help ensure distress lines and centres are able to respond to the needs and experiences of everyone who calls.

    • The 9-8-8: Suicide Crisis Helpline is available across Canada for anyone thinking about suicide or self-harm, grieving someone who died by suicide, or worried about someone else who may be thinking about suicide. Canadians can call or text 9-8-8 to access 24/7, bilingual, trauma-informed, and culturally appropriate suicide prevention support. 

    • In 2018, Canada endorsed the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent, which runs from 2015 to 2024. On February 7, 2024, the Prime Minister announced a domestic extension, until 2028, of the federal government’s efforts within these frameworks, to promote equity, empower Black Canadians, and strengthen their leadership in business, social justice and community. Last April, Canada announced its commitment to support the call for a second international decade.

    Associated links

    Contacts

    Yuval Daniel
    Director of Communications
    Office of the Honourable Yaara Saks
    Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health
    819-360-6927

    Media Relations
    Public Health Agency of Canada
    613-957-2983 
    media@hc-sc.gc.ca

    Public Inquiries:

    613-957-2991
    1-866-225-0709

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Government of Canada invests in supply chain projects in the province of Quebec to help make life cost less

    Source: Government of Canada News

    News release

    October 18, 2024            Sorel-Tracy, Québec            Transport Canada

    The Government of Canada is investing in strategic infrastructure projects to strengthen supply chains and make life cost less.

    Today, the President of the Treasury Board and Minister of Transport, the Honourable Anita Anand, announced up to $38 million for seven projects under the National Trade Corridors Fund. These investments will reduce capacity constraints and bottlenecks, making it easier for goods to move quickly.

    By enhancing infrastructure and improving efficiency, these investments will also support economic growth in the province of Quebec and in the regions along the St. Lawrence River. Projects include:

    • The Montreal Port Authority will increase export capacity for Canadian containerized grains
    • QSL International Ltée will develop an industrial-port zone in the cities of Sorel-Tracy and Saint-Joseph-de-Sorel thereby increasing trade volumes
    • The Quebec Port Authority is undertaking several key projects, including:
      • Expanding the terminal storage space at Pier 103
      • Relocating essential infrastructure for the electrical supply of the L’Anse au Foulon sector (Pier 104 and 105)
      • Enhancing the capacity and efficiency of the estuary rail yard
      • Finalizing an agreement for the development of a new dry bulk and cargo terminal behind pier 108 in the Anse au Foulon sector
    • The Saguenay Port Authority will establish a new storage area in the southwest sector of the Terminal

    The Government makes investments to strengthen the country’s supply chains, promote economic growth, and enhance the opportunities for our businesses to expand into global markets, which helps make life cost less for Canadians.

    Quotes

    “By enhancing connectivity and reducing bottlenecks in Quebec and the areas along the St. Lawrence River, consumers, workers, and small businesses will benefit from efficient and reliable supply chains. This, in turn, supports economic growth and helps make life cost less for Canadians and Quebecers.”

    The Honourable Anita Anand
    President of the Treasury Board and Minister of Transport

    “This conversion of a former industrial site into a port terminal is a concrete example of sustainable development that we are proud of. The financial support from the federal government is a key milestone in the completion of this project in partnership with the City of Sorel-Tracy. This new infrastructure will allow us to better serve local farmers and businesses while minimizing environmental impact thanks to innovative floating dock technology.”

    Robert Bellisle
    President and CEO of QSL

    Quick facts

    • An efficient and reliable transportation network is key to Canada’s economic growth. The Government of Canada, through the National Trade Corridors Fund, is making investments that will support the flow of goods across Canada’s supply chains.

    • The National Trade Corridors Fund is a competitive, merit-based program designed to help infrastructure owners and users invest in the critical transportation assets that support economic activity in Canada. A total of $4.1 billion has been committed to projects since 2017.

    • Through the National Trade Corridors Fund, Transport Canada is supporting improvements to Canada’s roads, rail, air, and marine shipping routes to foster domestic and international trade.

    Related products

    Contacts

    Laurent de Casanove
    Press Secretary
    Office of the Honourable Anita Anand
    Minister of Transport, Ottawa
    laurent.decasanove@tc.gc.ca

    Media relations
    Transport Canada, Ottawa
    613-993-0055
    media@tc.gc.ca

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: National Ocean Service helps reopen Florida ports after Hurricane Milton

    Source: US National Ocean Service News

    A NOAA survey boat examines Tampa Bay’s shipping channels in the wake of Hurricane Milton Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. (Credit: NOAA National Ocean Service/Douglas E. Jessmer)

    In the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, the National Ocean Service’s Office of Coast Survey conducted hydrographic survey operations to help reopen Port Tampa Bay and SeaPort Manatee. As part of the response effort, Coast Survey deployed teams, including a contract surveyor, in cooperation with the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

    The routes of two NOAA navigation response teams, Fernandina and Gulfport, as they conducted hydrographic survey missions Friday and Saturday, Oct. 11-12, 2024, to assist with the reopening of Port Tampa Bay after Hurricane Milton. The contracted R/V Thunder surveyed the approaches to Tampa Bay. (Credit: NOAA National Ocean Service/Nicolas Alvarado)

    “We very much appreciate the close-knit relationship the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has with both the U.S. Coast Guard and the NOAA,” said Col. Brandon Bowman, Jacksonville District Commander, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “This enables our federal agencies to quickly respond, survey and reopen vital federal channels for navigation to aid in delivering supplies and minimize impact to the shipping industry.”
    Hurricane Milton made landfall as a Category 3 storm at approximately 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, October 9, near Siesta Key, just south of Sarasota, Florida. In the aftermath of the storm, the U.S. Coast Guard prioritized surveying SeaPort Manatee, to ensure safe passage for cargo ships carrying fuel to the region. 
    “Reopening the ports is critical,” said Dr. Nicolas Alvarado, NOAA Navigation Manager for Florida, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. “The faster we can get the necessary information to our partners so the port can be reopened, the better. The navigation response teams are heroes — they work around-the-clock to get the surveying done.”

    From left, physical scientist John Gray, NOAA Corps Lt. Robert Sobelsohn, and physical science technician Michael Coughlin surveyed Tampa Bay’s shipping channels Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in the wake of Hurricane Milton. This NOAA survey crew and their boat were part of the agency’s collaborative response to help open Port Tampa Bay quickly for commerce and navigation. (Credit: NOAA National Ocean Service/Douglas E. Jessmer)

    When hurricanes make landfall, they often bring stronger-than-normal ocean currents that can shift navigational channels and bring debris that can threaten the ability of vessels to navigate safely along the coast and into ports. NOAA’s navigation response teams use multibeam and sidescan sonar to detect any dangers in the water and speed the reopening of ports and waterways.
    Coast Survey strategically places navigation teams around the country. While 80% of their time is spent acquiring data for routine nautical chart updates, they also maintain a state of readiness for rapid response mobilization after emergencies.

    Navigation response team Gulfport in the foreground when oil/chemical tanker Golden State enters Tampa Bay’s shipping channels in the wake of Hurricane Milton Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. Thanks to NOAA’s hydrographic expertise, the channel was surveyed to update navigational charts and to ensure safe navigation in the hurricane’s wake. (Credit: NOAA National Ocean Service/Nicolas Alvarado)

    According to the American Association of Port Authorities “2024 Port and Maritime Industry Economic Impact Report,” U.S. ports’ contribution to the U.S. Gross Domestic Product totals almost $311 billion. Port Tampa Bay receives approximately 33 million tons of cargo a year, while more than 11 million tons of cargo move through SeaPort Manatee annually. Delays in shipping, even minor ones, can cost the economy millions each year.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Seven projects funded under the National Trade Corridors Fund in Quebec

    Source: Government of Canada News

    The National Trade Corridors Fund supports infrastructure projects in Canada. These projects include improvements at airports, ports, railways, transportation facilities, and access roads.

    The National Trade Corridors Fund supports infrastructure projects in Canada. These projects include improvements at airports, ports, railways, transportation facilities, and access roads. $4.1 billion has been committed to projects since 2017.

    The National Trade Corridors Fund supports projects that:

    • improve the flow of goods and people in Canada;
    • increase the flow of trade in and out of Canada;
    • help the transportation system to:
      • withstand the effects of climate change; and
      • better adapt to new technologies and innovation;
    • address the transportation needs of Arctic and northern communities.

    On October 18, 2024, the President of the Treasury Board and Minister of Transport, the Honourable Anita Anand, announced up to $38 million for seven projects under the National Trade Corridors Fund. By supporting our supply chains, the Government of Canada is ensuring that goods move faster and cheaper, making life cost less for Canadians.

    The funding recipients and project details are below.

    1. Montreal Port Authority – Increased export capacity for Canadian containerized grains
      The Government of Canada is investing $12,500,000 in this project to increase the Canest Terminal’s capacity by 20%, significantly improving its efficiency in handling goods. Additionally, the terminal will expand and optimize its operational space, substantially boosting container storage capacity. These upgrades will enable Canadian producers to expand exports to international markets by easing constraints and eliminating a major bottleneck in the supply chain.
    2. QSL International Ltée – Development of the port terminals in the cities of Sorel-Tracy and Saint-Joseph-de-Sorel
      The Government of Canada is investing $13,613,683 in this project to increase the fluidity of supply chains in the steel and agriculture sectors. By increasing the annual volume of import-export goods, it will support the local and regional economy while significantly reducing the number of days ships spend waiting offshore and the time required for unloading. Additionally, the initiative will mitigate environmental impacts by minimizing vessel diversions to other ports and decreasing the reliance on short-haul trucking.
    3. Quebec Port Authority – Increase the terminal storage space at Pier 103
      The Government of Canada is investing $1,198,185 in this project to reduce interruptions between storage areas, making operations more efficient. Warehouse 103 will serve as a backup storage area to help manage congestion in the logistics chain during busy times. Additionally, the project will help consolidate more goods at QSL terminals, especially in the agri-food, transportation, and construction industries.
    4. Quebec Port Authority – Relocation of a strategic and essential infrastructure for the electrical supply of the L’Anse au Foulon sector (Pier 104 and 105)
      The Government of Canada invested $1,638,500 in this project to increase storage capacity by approximately 3,000 m². This expansion has boosted the terminal’s overall storage capacity by about 15%, allowing it to handle new traffic while securing existing operations. Additionally, it reduces waiting times for ships unloading cargo at the terminal.
    5. Quebec Port Authority – Project to increase the capacity and efficiency of the estuary rail yard
      The Government of Canada invested $723,600 in this project to alleviate bottlenecks during peak times by creating additional space for railcars, expanding the Estuary Yard with about 380 linear meters of new track, reducing the time needed for snow clearing on the tracks, and improving unloading efficiency by minimizing operational delays.
    6. Quebec Port Authority – Agreement for the development of a new dry bulk and cargo terminal behind pier 108 in the Anse au Foulon sector
      The Government of Canada is investing $6,800,000 in this project to enhance intermodal connectivity through the construction of a new terminal that supports ship-to-truck and truck-to-ship logistics. It will also streamline operations by adding two new access roads to improve terminal and area accessibility. Additionally, the project will free up capacity at other deep-draft terminals, optimizing their use for handling and storage.
    7. Saguenay Port Authority – New storage area in the southwest sector of the Terminal
      The Government of Canada is investing $1,261,343 in this project to enhance trade flow by providing additional storage space in the St. Lawrence-Great Lakes maritime system, reducing long-distance transport needs. It will also support the logistics chain for bulk raw materials and promote short-distance maritime transport.

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI: North American Financial 15 Split Corp. Monthly Dividend Declaration for Class A & Preferred Share

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    TORONTO, Oct. 18, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — North American Financial 15 Split Corp. (The “Company”) declares its regular monthly distribution of $0.11335 for each Class A share ($1.3602 annualized) and $0.07917 for each Preferred share ($0.950 annually). Distributions are payable November 8, 2024 to shareholders on record as at October 31, 2024.

    Since inception Class A shareholders have received a total of $17.06 per share and Preferred shareholders have received a total of $11.54 per share inclusive of this distribution, for a combined total of $28.60.

    The Company invests in a high quality portfolio consisting of 15 financial services companies made up of Canadian and U.S. issuers as follows: Bank of Montreal, The Bank of Nova Scotia, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, National Bank of Canada, Manulife Financial Corporation, Sun Life Financial, Great-West Lifeco, CI Financial Corp, Bank of America, Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group, JP Morgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co.

    Distribution Details
       
    Class A Share (FFN) $0.11335
    Preferred Share (FFN.PR.A) $0.07917
    Record Date: October 31, 2024
    Payable Date: November 8, 2024

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: North American Financial 15 Split Corp. Monthly Dividend Declaration for Class A & Preferred Share

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    TORONTO, Oct. 18, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — North American Financial 15 Split Corp. (The “Company”) declares its regular monthly distribution of $0.11335 for each Class A share ($1.3602 annualized) and $0.07917 for each Preferred share ($0.950 annually). Distributions are payable November 8, 2024 to shareholders on record as at October 31, 2024.

    Since inception Class A shareholders have received a total of $17.06 per share and Preferred shareholders have received a total of $11.54 per share inclusive of this distribution, for a combined total of $28.60.

    The Company invests in a high quality portfolio consisting of 15 financial services companies made up of Canadian and U.S. issuers as follows: Bank of Montreal, The Bank of Nova Scotia, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto-Dominion Bank, National Bank of Canada, Manulife Financial Corporation, Sun Life Financial, Great-West Lifeco, CI Financial Corp, Bank of America, Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group, JP Morgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co.

    Distribution Details
       
    Class A Share (FFN) $0.11335
    Preferred Share (FFN.PR.A) $0.07917
    Record Date: October 31, 2024
    Payable Date: November 8, 2024

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Prime Dividend Corp. Monthly Dividend Declaration for Class A & Preferred Share

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    TORONTO, Oct. 18, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Prime Dividend Corp. (The “Company”) declares its monthly distribution of $0.05992 for each Class A share and $0.06667 for each Preferred share. Distributions are payable November 8, 2024 to shareholders on record as at October 31, 2024.

    Under the distribution policy announced on July 17, 2014, the monthly dividend payable on the Class A shares is determined by applying a 10.00% annualized rate on the volume weighted average market price (VWAP) of the Class A shares over the last 5 trading days of the preceding month. As a result, Class A shareholders of record on October 31, 2024 will receive a dividend of $0.05992 per share based on the VWAP of $7.19 payable on November 8, 2024. The yield will remain stable at 10.00% (based on the VWAP) under this distribution policy.

    Preferred shareholders will receive prime plus 2.35% with a minimum rate of 5.00% and a maximum rate of 8.00%.

    Since inception Class A shareholders have received a total of $13.83 per share and Preferred shareholders have received a total of $10.76 per share inclusive of this distribution, for a combined total of $24.59.

    The Company invests in a portfolio of high yielding Canadian Companies as follows:

    Banks Investment Management Life Insurance Utilities & Other
    Bank of Montreal AGF Management Ltd. Great-West Lifeco Inc. BCE Inc.
    Bank of Nova Scotia CI Financial Corp. Manulife Financial Corporation TransAlta Corp.
    CIBC IGM Financial Inc. Sun Life Financial Inc. TC Energy Corp.
    National Bank of Canada     Power Financial Corp.
    Royal Bank of Canada     TMX Group Inc.
    Toronto-Dominion Bank      
     
    Distribution Details  
       
    Class A Share (PDV) $0.05992
    Preferred Share (PDV.PR.A) $0.06667
    Record Date: October 31, 2024
    Payable Date: November 8, 2024
     

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Prime Dividend Corp. Monthly Dividend Declaration for Class A & Preferred Share

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    TORONTO, Oct. 18, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Prime Dividend Corp. (The “Company”) declares its monthly distribution of $0.05992 for each Class A share and $0.06667 for each Preferred share. Distributions are payable November 8, 2024 to shareholders on record as at October 31, 2024.

    Under the distribution policy announced on July 17, 2014, the monthly dividend payable on the Class A shares is determined by applying a 10.00% annualized rate on the volume weighted average market price (VWAP) of the Class A shares over the last 5 trading days of the preceding month. As a result, Class A shareholders of record on October 31, 2024 will receive a dividend of $0.05992 per share based on the VWAP of $7.19 payable on November 8, 2024. The yield will remain stable at 10.00% (based on the VWAP) under this distribution policy.

    Preferred shareholders will receive prime plus 2.35% with a minimum rate of 5.00% and a maximum rate of 8.00%.

    Since inception Class A shareholders have received a total of $13.83 per share and Preferred shareholders have received a total of $10.76 per share inclusive of this distribution, for a combined total of $24.59.

    The Company invests in a portfolio of high yielding Canadian Companies as follows:

    Banks Investment Management Life Insurance Utilities & Other
    Bank of Montreal AGF Management Ltd. Great-West Lifeco Inc. BCE Inc.
    Bank of Nova Scotia CI Financial Corp. Manulife Financial Corporation TransAlta Corp.
    CIBC IGM Financial Inc. Sun Life Financial Inc. TC Energy Corp.
    National Bank of Canada     Power Financial Corp.
    Royal Bank of Canada     TMX Group Inc.
    Toronto-Dominion Bank      
     
    Distribution Details  
       
    Class A Share (PDV) $0.05992
    Preferred Share (PDV.PR.A) $0.06667
    Record Date: October 31, 2024
    Payable Date: November 8, 2024
     

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: Dividend Select 15 Corp. Declares Monthly Dividend

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    TORONTO, Oct. 18, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Dividend Select 15 Corp. (The “Company”) declares its monthly distribution of $0.05442 per Equity share. The distribution is payable November 8, 2024 to shareholders on record as of October 31, 2024.

    Under the distribution policy announced in September 2014, the monthly dividend payable on the Equity shares is determined by applying a 10.00% annualized rate on the volume weighted average market price (VWAP) of the Equity shares over the last 3 trading days of the preceding month. As a result, Equity shareholders of record on October 31, 2024 will receive a dividend of $0.05442 per share based on the VWAP of $6.53 payable on November 8, 2024. The yield will remain stable at 10.00% (based on the VWAP) under this distribution policy.

    Since inception, Equity shareholders have received a total of $10.65 per share inclusive of this distribution.

    The Company invests in a portfolio of 15 Canadian companies selected from the following 20 company universe which are among the highest Canadian dividend yielding stocks.

    Bank of Montreal Great West Lifeco Inc. TELUS Corporation
    BCE Inc.  Loblaw Companies Limited The Bank of Nova Scotia
    CIBC  National Bank of Canada The Toronto-Dominion Bank
    CI Financial Corp.  Ovintiv Inc. Thomson Reuters Corporation 
    Cenovus Energy Inc. Power Corporation of Canada TMX Group Inc.
    Enbridge Inc.  Royal Bank of Canada TransAlta Corporation
      Sun Life Financial Inc. TC Energy Corporation
    Distribution Details 
       
    Equity Share (DS) $0.05442 
    Record Date: October 31, 2024
    Payable Date: November 8, 2024
       

    Investor Relations: 1-877-478-2372        
    Local: 416-304-4443        
    dividendselect15.com        
    info@quadravest.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI: M Split Corp. Monthly Dividend Declared for Class I Preferred Shares

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    TORONTO, Oct. 18, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — M Split Corp. (“M Split”) declares its monthly distribution of $0.03125 per share ($0.375 annually) for Class I Preferred shareholders. The Class I Preferred share dividends are paid at an annual rate of 7.50% based on the $5 notional issue price. Distributions are payable November 8, 2024 to shareholders on record as at October 31, 2024.

    M Split invests in common shares of Manulife Financial Corporation, the largest life insurer in Canada offering financial products and wealth management services.

    Distribution Details  
       
    Class I Preferred Share (XMF.PR.B) $0.03125
    Record Date: October 31, 2024
    Payable Date: November 8, 2024
       
       

    Investor Relations: 1-877-478-2372
    Local: 416-304-4443
    http://www.m-split.com
    info@quadravest.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Five recipients of the Quebec Fisheries Fund receive more than $830,000 in contributions from the Government of Canada and the Government of Quebec

    Source: Government of Canada News

    Five projects in the Gaspé Peninsula and the Lower St. Lawrence funded by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and the Ministère de l’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation du Québec (MAPAQ) under the Quebec Fisheries Fund.

    October 18, 2024

    Newport, Quebec

    Overview

    Five projects in the Gaspé Peninsula and the Lower St. Lawrence funded by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and the Ministère de l’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation du Québec (MAPAQ) under the Quebec Fisheries Fund.

    A total of $583,515 in financial contributions from DFO. 

    Details

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Five beneficiaries of the Quebec Fisheries Fund receive over $830,000 in contributions from the Government of Canada and the Government of Quebec

    Source: Government of Canada News (2)

    News release

    October 18, 2024

    Newport, Quebec – Quebec’s fish and seafood industry is facing increasing competition and the need to adapt to an ever changing market. Working together through the Quebec Fisheries Fund (QFF), the Government of Canada and the Government of Quebec are helping the industry to innovate and reach its full potential.

    Today, the Honourable Diane Lebouthillier, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, announced over $830,000 in QFF funding for five projects in the Gaspé Peninsula and the Lower St. Lawrence. The Government of Canada’s contribution to these projects is $583,515, while the Government of Quebec is contributing $250,077.

    Launched in 2019, the QFF supports innovation-driven projects in the areas of commercial fisheries, aquaculture, seafood harvesting and processing, and science partnerships. The funding announced today will help create opportunities and enhance the market value of high-quality, sustainable fish and seafood in Quebec.

    Quotes

    “The projects financed through the Quebec Fisheries Fund demonstrate the Government of Canada’s commitment to the sustainability of marine resources and support for local communities. This funding will provide significant support for the Gaspé Peninsula and Lower St. Lawrence fishing industry. By investing in innovation and the preservation of our maritime heritage, we are ensuring a prosperous future for our fish harvesters and the regions.”

    The Honourable Diane Lebouthillier
    Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard

    “I am pleased with this financial support, which will enable businesses in the Gaspé Peninsula and Lower St. Lawrence to modernize their facilities and adopt technologies that will promote greater competitiveness. It is a priority for your government to contribute to the vitality of the maritime regions, particularly by supporting the fisheries and aquaculture sector. I wish all the projects the best of success!”

    André Lamontagne, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and Minister responsible for the Centre-du-Québec Region

    Quick facts

    • To date, 175 projects have received a total of $26.5 million from the Quebec Fisheries Fund.

    • Today’s announcement of over $830,000 will support three projects in the Gaspé Peninsula ($638,414) and two in the Lower St. Lawrence ($195,178).

    Related products

    Associated links

    Contacts

    Andrew Richardson
    Acting Director of Communications
    Office of the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard
    andrew.richardson@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

    Media Relations
    Fisheries and Oceans Canada
    Quebec Region
    418-648-5474
    media.qc@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

    Sophie J. Barma
    Press Secretary
    Office of the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and Minister responsible for the Centre-du-Québec Region
    Cell.: 581 993-5016
    sophie.jacques-barma@mapaq.gouv.qc.ca

    Stay connected

    MIL OSI Canada News –