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  • MIL-OSI: Duos Technologies Group Reports 4th Quarter and FY 2024 Results

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Issues guidance following a transformative year with the Company adding two new business lines, significantly strengthening the Balance Sheet and demonstrating enhanced operational capabilities for additional services and consulting related to the fast power business.

    JACKSONVILLE, Fla., March 31, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Duos Technologies Group, Inc. (“Duos” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: DUOT) a provider of machine vision and artificial intelligence that analyzes fast moving vehicles, Edge Data Centers and power solutions, reported financial results for the fourth quarter (“Q4 2024”) and full year ended December 31, 2024.

    Fourth Quarter 2024 and Recent Operational Highlights

    • Signed Asset Management Agreement (“AMA”) with New APR Energy and Fortress Investment Group value at up to $42 million to manage 850MW of Gas-Powered Turbines. This agreement includes a 5% equity stake in the parent of New APR Energy and is the largest contract in the Company’s history.
    • Secured a $5 million advance payment for future services related to the AMA providing low-cost interim working capital as the Company grows.
    • Initiated marketing campaign targeted at the Tier 3 and Tier 4 data center markets for the provision of Duos Edge AI Edge Data Centers (“EDC”s).
    • Acquired six EDCs for initial deployments to Texas Regional Schools as “anchor” locations for service provisions.
    • Installed an initial EDC site in Amarillo, Texas with contract to include primary power for the support of installation site in addition to backup power.
    • Developing a high-density Data Center Park in Pampa, Texas in cooperation with New APR Energy and the Pampa Energy Center. The project includes the deployment of two Edge Data Centers and up to 500MW of bridging and permanent power, to support growing AI hyperscalers and HPC demands.
    • Added further intellectual property with patents covering the Railcar Inspection Portal (“RIP®”) and issued potential “IP Infraction” letters to a Class 1 railroad and its technology partner.
    • Scanned almost 10 million railcar images on over 700,000 unique railcars for the full year. This metric encompasses all railcars scanned at locations across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, representing approximately 44% of the total freight car population in North America.
    • Entering 2025, the Company estimates $50.5 million of revenue in backlog including near-term extensions.
    • Completed an At-The-Market (“ATM”) capital raise for approximately $7.5 million with an average price of greater than $5.00 per share and low issuance costs.

    Fourth Quarter 2024 Financial Results
    It should be noted that the following Financial Results represent the consolidation of the Company with its subsidiaries Duos Technologies, Duos Edge AI, Inc., and Duos Energy Corporation.

    Total revenue for Q4 2024 decreased 4% to $1.46 million compared to $1.53 million in the fourth quarter of 2023 (“Q4 2023”). Total revenue for Q4 2024 includes approximately $1.43 million in recurring services and consulting revenue, an increase of 9% over the same period. The increase in recurring services and consulting revenues was driven by new revenue from power consulting work, which was not present in the comparative period.

    Cost of revenues for Q4 2024 increased 47% to $1.79 million compared to $1.22 million for Q4 2023. The increase in costs year-over-year stems from $548,121 in amortization expenses recorded in Q4 2024 to offset site revenue related to a nonmonetary transaction for the new services and data agreement signed during the second quarter of 2024. The Company also generated $415,580 in services and consulting revenue from power consulting work, which was provided at cost, further increasing the cost of revenue for services and consulting, which was also not present in the corresponding period of Q4, 2023.

    Gross margin for Q4 2024 decreased 209% to negative $330,000 compared to $303,000 for Q4 2023. The decline in margin during the quarter was a direct result of lower business activity timing in the technology systems area of the business as well as $415,580 in services and consulting revenue from power consulting work, which was largely provided at cost, and had a onetime dilutive effect on gross margin. These same project revenues and subsequent margin impacts were absent during Q4, 2023.

    Operating expenses for Q4 2024 decreased 21% to $2.76 million compared to $3.48 million for Q4 2023. The decrease in expenses is attributed to reductions in development and administrative costs due to the completion of certain activities and the impact of previously implemented cost reductions. The decrease in operating expenses was slightly offset by additional investments in sales resources for expansion of the commercial team in preparation of the business expansions planned for Power and Data Centers. Beginning in late Q3 2024 and throughout all of Q4 2024 the Company allocated personnel costs, typically recorded under operating expenses, to costs of revenue associated with power consulting efforts, allowing the Company to recover costs that it would not have otherwise allowing the Company to maintain certain key resources required for anticipated business growth.

    Net operating loss for Q4 2024 totaled $3.09 million compared to net operating loss of $3.18 million for Q4 2023. The decrease in net operating loss was as a result of planned reductions in operating expenses offset by anticipated lower revenues which resulted in an overall decrease in operating loss compared to the same quarter in 2023.

    Net loss for Q4 2024 totaled $3.41 million compared to a net loss of $3.16 million for Q4 2023 as a result of higher interest costs related to the acquisition of 3 Edge Data Centers.

    Cash and cash equivalents at December 31, 2024 totaled $6.27 million compared to $2.44 million at December 31, 2023. As of year-end, the Company had an additional $0.40 million in receivables, bolstering its liquidity position to approximately $6.67 million. Duos also had an additional $0.80 million of inventory as of December 31, 2024, consisting primarily of long-lead items for future RIP installations.

    Across January and February of 2025, the Company issued an aggregate of 633,683 shares of common stock at a weighted average price of $6.24 per share through its ATM offering program, generating total net proceeds of approximately $3,836,032.

    Full Year 2024 Financial Results

    Total revenue for the full year 2024, decreased 3% to $7.28 million, down from $7.47 million for 2023. Much of the decrease in overall revenues was due to ongoing customer-driven delays beyond the Company’s control related to the deployment of two high-speed transit-focused Railcar Inspection Portals (RIPs). Although the systems were largely ready in 2023, installation was delayed due to customer site preparation issues, which has prevented the Company from recognizing the next phase of revenue. However, in 2024, the Company secured an equitable adjustment as partial compensation for those delays and increased the total contract value by $1.4 million, a substantial portion of which was recognized during the year. The customer is now nearing completion of site preparation, and field installation is expected to progress in 2025 with anticipated completion in 2026. Meanwhile, the Company continued its transition toward a greater focus on AI software and support services. Services and consulting revenues increased by 31% compared to 2023, driven by the addition of new AI and subscription customers, higher service contract pricing, and $921,562 in new revenue from power consulting work, all which was not present in for the full year in 2023. Underlying recurring revenues also continued to grow as new maintenance contracts are being established on installations coming online during 2025. The Company anticipates continued growth in service revenue from both new and existing customers, supported by upcoming renewals, a growing backlog, and the next generation of technology systems currently in production and expected to be completed in 2025.

    Cost of revenues for the full year 2024, increased 11% to $6.81 million, up from $6.16 million in the same period of 2023. The increase in cost of revenues was driven by $1,569,311 in amortization expenses recorded in 2024 to offset site revenue related to a non-monetary transaction for the new services and data agreement signed during the second quarter of 2024. The Company also generated $921,562 in services and consulting revenue from power consulting work, which although was provided at cost, was partially performed by existing Duos staff. Part of the work was the retention of outside consultants further increasing the cost of revenue for services and consulting, which was also not present in the corresponding period of 2023, but prepared the Company for the signing of the Asset Management Agreement and expected significant revenue increases in 2025 and beyond. The Company continues to put into service additional artificial intelligence algorithms and maintenance and support services which are high margin and represent only marginal increases in the requisite costs to deliver these services. Cost of revenues on technology systems decreased during the period compared to the equivalent period in 2023 in line with the decline in project revenues. The decline in costs generally follows the same year-over-year trend as project revenues due to timing differences in major project work. This is primarily related to the procurement and manufacturing of transit-focused RIPs. As we are near the end of the manufacturing cycle and begin preparations for field installation in 2025, the cost of revenues for technology systems decreases accordingly. In contrast, during the same period in 2023, the Company was still progressing through the advanced stages of procurement and manufacturing for these RIPs.

    Gross margin for the full year 2024, decreased 64% to $469,000, down from $1.31 million in the same period of 2023. As noted above, the decline in margin was primarily driven by the timing of business activity related to the two high-speed, transit-focused Railcar Inspection Portals. In 2024, activity centered on the advanced stages of procurement and manufacturing for these systems, but customer driven delays in installation deferred the recognition of higher-margin revenue. Additionally, the Company generated $921,562 in services and consulting revenue from power consulting work that was provided at cost, which further diluted overall gross margin. These power consulting revenues, and their margin impacts were not present in 2023. The gross margin for 2024 was approximately 6%, compared to 18% in 2023. This decline also reflects the fixed nature of certain departmental costs and the evolving stage of project completion. When comparing year-over-year results, the timing of manufacturing and installation milestones should be taken into consideration, as they can significantly impact the gross margin profile in any given period.

    Operating expenses for the full year 2024, decreased 10% to $11.45 million, down from $12.76 million in the same period of 2023. There was a 43% increase in sales and marketing driven by continued investment in the commercial team, including the addition of professionals with extensive experience and leadership across the rail, Edge data center, and power industries. Research and development expenses declined by 16%, primarily due to lower personnel costs allocated to R&D and reduced testing as a result of completion of certain activities for prospective technologies. General and administration costs decreased by 18%, influenced by reductions in headcount and related personnel expenses, as well as a decline in non-cash amortization charges associated with the forfeiture of approximately 781,323 share options during 2024. Further contributing to the decrease were reductions in consulting and legal expenses compared to 2023.

    Net operating loss for the years ended, December 31, 2024 and 2023 were $10,983,526 and $11,446,566, respectively. The decrease in losses from operations during the year was the result of planned decreases in operating expenses, which offset the impact of lower revenues recorded in the period as a consequence of delays in going to field for the two high-speed RIPs for a passenger transit client, and the short term lower gross margins from the impact of the initial power industry consulting.

    Net loss for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023 was $10,764,457 and $11,241,718, respectively. The decrease in overall net loss was primarily attributable to a decrease in operating costs. Net loss per common share was $1.39 and $1.56 for the years ended December 31, 2024, and 2023, respectively, an improvement of $0.17 per share (basic). 

    Financial Outlook
    At the end of 2024, the Company’s contracts in backlog represented approximately $50.5 million in revenue, of which approximately $22.6 million is expected to be recognized in calendar 2025 not including an estimated $8.0 – $9.0 million in expected near-term awards and renewals. The remaining contract backlog consists of multi-year service and software agreements, along with project revenues extending through fiscal 2025, related to Duos Technologies, Duos Edge AI, and Duos Energy.

    Based on these committed contracts and near-term pending orders that are already performing or scheduled to be executed throughout the course of 2025, the Company is in a position to reinstate revenue expectations for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2025. The Company expects total revenue for 2025 to range between $28 million and $30 million, representing an increase of 285% to 312% from 2024. Duos expects this improvement in operating results to be reflected over the course of the full year in 2025.

    Management Commentary

    “Over the past several months, we have made significant progress across all three of our business lines—rail, edge computing, and power—while also expanding our investor base and analyst coverage,” said Duos Chief Executive Officer Chuck Ferry. “Our Railcar Inspection Portal continues to gain traction, with growing interest from both rail operators and government agencies, despite the industry’s slow adoption cycle. Meanwhile, Duos Edge AI is scaling quickly, with strong demand for our Edge Data Centers, particularly in underserved rural areas. We remain on track to deploy 15 pods by the end of 2025 and are actively exploring opportunities to accelerate that growth. At the same time, Duos Energy is capitalizing on unprecedented demand for behind-the-meter power solutions, securing contracts for 390MW in just the first three months of operation, with additional deals in negotiation. The synergies between our power and edge computing businesses have exceeded expectations, opening doors to new opportunities across both sectors. With strong execution and a diversified portfolio, we are well-positioned for continued growth and profitability in 2025 and beyond.”

    Conference Call
    The Company’s management will host a conference call today, March 31, 2025, at 4:30 p.m. Eastern time (1:30 p.m. Pacific time) to discuss these results, followed by a question-and-answer period.

    Date:  Monday, March 31, 2025
    Time:  4:30 p.m. Eastern time (1:30 p.m. Pacific time)
    U.S. dial-in:  877-407-3088
    International dial-in: 201-389-0927
    Confirmation:  13751912
       

    Please call the conference telephone number 5-10 minutes prior to the start time of the conference call. An operator will register your name and organization.

    If you have any difficulty connecting with the conference call, please contact DUOT@duostech.com.

    The conference call will be broadcast live via telephone and available for online replay via the investor section of the Company’s website here.

    About Duos Technologies Group, Inc.
    Duos Technologies Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: DUOT), based in Jacksonville, Florida, through its wholly owned subsidiaries, Duos Technologies, Inc., Duos Edge AI, Inc., and Duos Energy Corporation, designs, develops, deploys and operates intelligent technology solutions for Machine Vision and Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) applications including real-time analysis of fast-moving vehicles, Edge Data Centers and power consulting. For more information, visit www.duostech.com, www.duosedge.ai and www.duosenergycorp.com.

    Forward- Looking Statements

    This news release includes forward-looking statements regarding the Company’s financial results and estimates and business prospects that involve substantial risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Forward-looking statements relate to future events and typically address the Company’s expected future business and financial performance. The forward-looking statements in this news release relate to, among other things, information regarding anticipated timing for the installation, development and delivery dates of our systems; anticipated entry into additional contracts; anticipated effects of macro-economic factors (including effects relating to supply chain disruptions and inflation); timing with respect to revenue recognition; trends in the rate at which our costs increase relative to increases in our revenue; anticipated reductions in costs due to changes in the Company’s organizational structure; potential increases in revenue, including increases in recurring revenue; potential changes in gross margin (including the timing thereof); statements regarding our backlog and potential revenues deriving therefrom; and statements about future profitability and potential growth of the Company. Words such as “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “should,” “plan,” “aim,” “will,” “may,” “should,” “could,” “intend,” “estimate,” “project,” “forecast,” “target,” “potential” and other words and terms of similar meaning, typically identify such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and there are important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern, the Company’s ability to generate sufficient cash to continue and expand operations, the competitive environment generally and in the Company’s specific market areas, changes in technology, the availability of and the terms of financing, changes in costs and availability of goods and services, economic conditions in general and in the Company’s specific market areas, changes in federal, state and/or local government laws and regulations potentially affecting the use of the Company’s technology, changes in operating strategy or development plans and the ability to attract and retain qualified personnel. The Company cautions that the foregoing list of risks, uncertainties and factors is not exclusive. Additional information concerning these and other risk factors is contained in the Company’s most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K, subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, recent Current Reports on Form 8-K, and other filings filed by the Company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), which are available at the SEC’s website, http://www.sec.gov. The Company believes its plans, intentions and expectations reflected in or suggested by these forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions. No assurance, however, can be given that the Company will achieve or realize these plans, intentions or expectations. Indeed, it is likely that some of the Company’s assumptions may prove to be incorrect. The Company’s actual results and financial position may vary from those projected or implied in the forward-looking statements and the variances may be material. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of the particular statement. We do not undertake or accept any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect any change in our expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any forward-looking statement is based, except as required by law. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements concerning the Company or other matters attributable to the Company or any person acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements above.

    DUOS TECHNOLOGIES GROUP, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
    CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
           
           
      For the Years Ended
      December 31,
      2024   2023
           
    REVENUES:      
    Technology systems $ 2,252,357     $ 3,618,022  
    Services and consulting   5,028,528       3,853,176  
           
    Total Revenues   7,280,885       7,471,198  
           
    COST OF REVENUES:      
    Technology systems   2,818,078       4,352,247  
    Services and consulting   3,993,592       1,810,070  
           
    Total Cost of Revenues   6,811,670       6,162,317  
           
    GROSS MARGIN   469,215       1,308,881  
           
    OPERATING EXPENSES:      
    Sales and marketing   2,138,431       1,493,309  
    Research and development   1,531,390       1,812,951  
    General and administration   7,782,920       9,449,187  
           
    Total Operating Expenses   11,452,741       12,755,447  
           
    LOSS FROM OPERATIONS   (10,983,526 )     (11,446,566 )
           
    OTHER INCOME (EXPENSES):      
    Interest expense   (286,114 )     (7,159 )
    Change in fair value of warrant liabilities   245,980       0  
    Gain on extinguishment of warrant liabilities   379,626       0  
    Other income, net   (120,423 )     212,007  
           
    Total Other Income (Expenses), net   219,069       204,848  
           
    NET LOSS $ (10,764,457 )   $ (11,241,718 )
           
           
    Basic and Diluted Net Loss Per Share $ (1.39 )   $ (1.56 )
           
           
    Weighted Average Shares-Basic and Diluted   7,736,281       7,204,177  
           
    DUOS TECHNOLOGIES GROUP, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
    CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
         
             
        December 31,   December 31,
        2024   2023
             
    ASSETS      
    CURRENT ASSETS:      
      Cash $ 6,266,296     $ 2,441,842  
      Accounts receivable, net   403,441       1,462,463  
      Contract assets   635,774       641,947  
      Inventory   605,356       1,526,165  
      Prepaid expenses and other current assets   176,338       184,478  
      Note Receivable, net   –       –  
             
      Total Current Assets   8,087,205       6,256,895  
             
      Inventory – non current   196,315       –  
      Property and equipment, net   2,771,779       726,507  
      Operating lease right of use asset – Office Lease   4,028,397       4,373,155  
      Financing lease right of use asset – Edge Data Centers   2,019,180       –  
      Security deposit   500,000       550,000  
             
    OTHER ASSETS:      
      Equity Investment – Sawgrass APR Holdings LLC   7,233,000       –  
      Intangible Asset, net   9,592,118       –  
      Note Receivable, net   –       153,750  
      Patents and trademarks, net   127,300       129,140  
      Software development costs, net   403,383       652,838  
      Total Other Assets   17,355,800       935,728  
             
    TOTAL ASSETS $ 34,958,677     $ 12,842,285  
             
    LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY      
             
    CURRENT LIABILITIES:      
      Accounts payable $ 969,822     $ 595,634  
      Notes payable – financing agreements   17,072       41,976  
      Accrued expenses   373,251       164,113  
      Operating lease obligations – Office Lease -current portion   798,556       779,087  
      Financing lease obligation – Edge Data Centers – current portion   367,451       –  
      Notes payable, net of discount – related parties   1,758,396       –  
      Contract liabilities, current   11,805,018       1,666,243  
             
      Total Current Liabilities   16,089,566       3,247,053  
             
      Contract liabilities, less current portion   11,016,134       –  
      Operating lease obligations – Office Lease, less current portion   3,867,042       4,228,718  
      Financing lease obligation – Edge Data Centers, less current portion   1,724,604       –  
             
      Total Liabilities   32,697,346       7,475,771  
             
    Commitments and Contingencies (Note 12)      
             
    STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY:      
      Preferred stock: $0.001 par value, 10,000,000 authorized, 9,441,000 shares available to be designated    
      Series A redeemable convertible preferred stock, $10 stated value per share,   –       –  
      500,000 shares designated; 0 and 0 issued and outstanding at December 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively,
      convertible into common stock at $6.30 per share      
      Series B convertible preferred stock, $1,000 stated value per share,   –       –  
      15,000 shares designated; 0 and 0 issued and outstanding at December 31, 2024    
      and December 31, 2023, respectively, convertible into common stock at $7 per share    
      Series C convertible preferred stock, $1,000 stated value per share,   –       –  
      5,000 shares designated; 0 and 0 issued      
      and outstanding at December 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively,      
      convertible into common stock at $5.50 per share      
      Series D convertible preferred stock, $1,000 stated value per share,   1       1  
      4,000 shares designated; 1,299 and 1,299 issued      
      and outstanding at December 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively,      
      convertible into common stock at $3.00 per share      
      Series E convertible preferred stock, $1,000 stated value per share,      
      30,000 shares designated; 13,500 and 11,500 issued      
      and outstanding at December 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively,   14       12  
      convertible into common stock at $2.61 and $3.00 per share, respectively,      
      Series F convertible preferred stock, $1,000 stated value per share,      
      5,000 shares designated; 0 and 0 issued      
      and outstanding at December 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively,   –       –  
      convertible into common stock at $6.20 per share      
             
      Common stock: $0.001 par value; 500,000,000 shares authorized,      
      8,922,576 and 7,306,663 shares issued, 8,921,252 and 7,305,339   8,921       7,306  
      shares outstanding at December 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively    
      Additional paid-in-capital   76,777,856       69,120,199  
      Accumulated deficit   (74,368,009 )     (63,603,552 )
      Sub-total   2,418,783       5,523,966  
      Less: Treasury stock (1,324 shares of common stock      
      at December 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023)   (157,452 )     (157,452 )
    Total Stockholders’ Equity   2,261,331       5,366,514  
             
    Total Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity $ 34,958,677     $ 12,842,285  
             
    DUOS TECHNOLOGIES GROUP, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES
     CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
     
      For the Years Ended
      December 31,
       2024     2023 
           
    Cash from operating activities:      
    Net loss $ (10,764,457 )   $ (11,241,718 )
    Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash used in operating activities:      
    Depreciation and amortization   2,161,722       550,201  
    Stock based compensation   108,981       710,047  
    Stock issued for services   165,000       143,065  
    Amortization of debt discount related to warrant liabilities   184,002       –  
    Fair value of warrant liabilities   (245,980 )     –  
    Gain on settlement of warrant liabilities   (379,626 )     –  
    Amortization of operating lease right of use asset – Office Lease   344,757       316,776  
    Amortization of lease right of use asset – Edge Data Centers   50,820       –  
    Provision for credit losses, accounts receivable   76,037       –  
    Provision for credit losses, note receivable   161,250       –  
    Write off of inventory   126,703       –  
    Changes in assets and liabilities:      
       Accounts receivable   982,985       1,955,800  
       Note receivable   (7,500 )     (153,750 )
       Contract assets   6,173       (216,225 )
       Inventory   52,700       (97,804 )
       Security deposit   50,000       50,000  
       Prepaid expenses and other current assets   414,091       744,771  
       Accounts payable   374,188       (1,694,756 )
       Accrued expenses   209,138       (289,209 )
       Operating lease obligation – Office Lease   (342,206 )     (232,007 )
       Lease obligation – Edge Data Centers   22,055       –  
       Contract liabilities   2,760,480       708,245  
           
    Net cash used in operating activities   (3,488,687 )     (8,746,564 )
           
    Cash flows from investing activities:      
        Purchase of patents/trademarks   (9,535 )     (69,327 )
        Purchase of software development   –       (527,896 )
        Purchase of fixed assets   (1,831,763 )     (496,686 )
           
    Net cash used in investing activities   (1,841,298 )     (1,093,909 )
           
    Cash flows from financing activities:      
       Repayments on financing agreements   (430,855 )     (520,529 )
       Repayment of finance lease   –       (22,851 )
       Proceeds from notes payable, related parties   2,200,000       –  
       Proceeds from warrant exercises   899,521       –  
       Proceeds from common stock issued   3,544,689       –  
       Stock issuance cost   (220,183 )     (25,797 )
       Proceeds from shares issued under Employee Stock Purchase Plan   166,265       230,400  
       Proceeds from preferred stock issued   2,995,002       11,500,000  
           
    Net cash provided by financing activities   9,154,439       11,161,223  
           
    Net increase in cash   3,824,454       1,320,750  
    Cash, beginning of year   2,441,842       1,121,092  
    Cash, end of year $ 6,266,296     $ 2,441,842  
           
    Supplemental Disclosure of Cash Flow Information:      
    Interest paid $ 3,865     $ 7,159  
    Taxes paid $ 20,126     $ 29,085  
           
    Supplemental Non-Cash Investing and Financing Activities:      
    Debt discount for warrant liability $ 625,606     $ –  
    Notes issued for financing of insurance premiums $ 434,883     $ 487,929  
    Transfer of inventory to fixed assets $ 545,091     $ –  
    Intangible asset acquired with contract liability $ 11,161,428     $ –  
    Equity Investment – Sawgrass APR Holdings LLC $ 7,233,000     $ –  
    Right of use asset and liability for Edge Data Centers $ 2,070,000     $ –  
           

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c2f0eb27-5f9e-4015-9a56-d69465f6e1fd

    This press release was published by a CLEAR® Verified individual.

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Sacred land return, agreement advance reconciliation between Semá:th First Nation and B.C.

    Source: Government of Canada regional news

    Sumas First Nation (Semá:th) and the Province are strengthening their relationship through the return of the sacred Lightning Rock site.

    After purchasing it last year, the Province has now successfully returned the 36-hectare Lightning Rock site to the Nation. This land holds deep cultural and spiritual significance to Semá:th and serves as a repository of traditions and narratives passed down through generations.

    “The return of this sacred place is of great significance to the Semá:th, the Stó:lō, the Salish, and to First Nations people in general,” said Semá:th Chief Dalton Silver. “The respect and recognition evident here with this agreement is something our peoples have sought for too long. I’m thankful for the support from so many who’ve all played a part in making this a reality.”

    The site contains a transformer stone that came to be known as Lightning Rock and is one of more than 100 sites where Stó:lō history says ancestors were transformed to stone. The site also holds the ancestral burial place of smallpox victims dating back to the 18th century.

    Semá:th and the Province have worked in close collaboration to chart a path forward for the site’s protection since signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in 2017. In March 2024, the Province announced the purchase of the Lightning Rock site as part of ongoing negotiations with the intention to transfer the lands to Semá:th First Nation.

    Now, the Province is returning the land to Semá:th First Nation. To make this historic moment possible, the Province and Semá:th signed a reconciliation agreement and a road agreement last fall. Since then, the Province and Semá:th First Nation have been working together to finalize the terms of the land transfer and engage with local interest holders so the agreement and the Lightning Rock return could be announced at the same time.

    “Semá:th First Nation has spent decades advocating for this sacred land to be protected, and I am grateful to Chief Silver for his leadership in getting us to this point on our shared reconciliation journey,” said Christine Boyle, Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation. “This agreement is helping to protect this site, making a real difference for Semá:th members and providing certainty for everyone in the region.”

    Through the reconciliation agreement, the Province and Semá:th First Nation have reaffirmed their commitment to building a strengthened government-to-government relationship and protecting the Lightning Rock site.

    Part of the agreement includes a commitment for the Province and Semá:th First Nation to establish a special initiative to plan for the stewardship of Sumas Mountain. This initiative will be co-ordinated under the S’ólh Téméxw Stewardship Alliance – British Columbia (STSA-BC) Collaborative Stewardship Forum, a partnership between B.C. and 17 Stó:lō First Nations.

    Other terms of the agreement include:

    • transferring ownership of the Lightning Rock site to Semá:th First Nation;
    • working together to formally protect the Lightning Rock site;
    • facilitating discussions between Semá:th First Nation and quarry operators about quarrying activity and potential economic opportunities; and
    • supporting the development of a cultural education and healing centre through a $1-million provincial contribution.

    In addition to a reconciliation agreement, the Province, Semá:th First Nation and the City of Abbotsford have finalized a road agreement to explore alternative routes for the quarry access road that runs through the Lightning Rock site. The access route is used by gravel-hauling vehicles travelling to and from five quarries on Sumas Mountain and Highway 1.

    “We are pleased to celebrate this significant milestone with Semá:th First Nation as these lands transfer from the Province today,” said Ross Siemens, mayor of Abbotsford. “As neighbours, the City of Abbotsford remains committed to working closely with Semá:th First Nation to address ongoing considerations in this culturally significant area in Semá:th traditional territory.”

    The Province, Semá:th First Nation and the City of Abbotsford have agreed to contract a third party that will investigate the potential for mutually acceptable alternate routes for the access road. This process is expected to begin this year.

    Learn More: 

    To learn more about Semá:th First Nation, visit:
    https://sumasfirstnation.com/

    To learn more about the STSA-BC Collaborative Stewardship Forum, visit:
    https://thestsa.ca/stsa-operations/csf/

    To learn more about agreements between the Province and Semá:th First Nation, visit:
    https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/natural-resource-stewardship/consulting-with-first-nations/first-nations-negotiations/first-nations-a-z-listing/sumas-first-nation

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: HKSAR Government strongly condemns US for intimidating Central Authorities and HKSAR officials safeguarding national security through so-called “sanctions”

    Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

    The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) today (April 1) strongly condemns the United States (US) for including six Central Authorities and HKSAR officials in a so-called “sanctions” list in an attempt to intimidate the relevant officials safeguarding national security. It, once again, clearly exposed the US’ barbarity under its hegemony, which is exactly the same as its recent tactics in bullying and coercing various countries and regions. The HKSAR despises such so-called “sanctions” and is not intimidated by such despicable behaviour. The HKSAR officials will continue to resolutely discharge the duty of safeguarding national security. The HKSAR Government will make every effort to protect the legitimate rights and interests of all personnel. 

    A spokesman for the HKSAR Government pointed out, “The specified absconders mentioned in the US statement are wanted and have arrest warrants issued by the court against them not because they ‘exercised their freedom of speech’, but because they have been at large in the US, the United Kingdom (UK) and Australia, etc. and continue to blatantly engage in activities endangering national security, including inciting secession and requesting foreign countries to impose ‘sanctions’ or blockade and engage in other hostile activities against the People’s Republic of China and the HKSAR. The US, however, gives cover for them who have committed these evil deeds. It is therefore necessary for the HKSAR to take all lawful measures in accordance with the law, including measures specified under section 89 of the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, to strongly combat such acts. The specified measures aim at addressing, combating, deterring and preventing acts of abscondment by suspects, and procuring the return of the absconded persons to Hong Kong to face judicial proceedings. All specified measures align with human rights requirements; and quite a number of countries including the US, the UK and Canada would also impose such measures on wanted criminals. The US deliberately smeared and spread irresponsible remarks on the measures and actions taken by the HKSAR Government in accordance with the law in an attempt to mislead the public. The HKSAR Government strongly disapproves of such acts.”

    The spokesman also pointed out, “The fact is that the US has been ignoring the non-interference principle under international law, interfering with other countries’ internal affairs, grooming agents, instigating ‘colour revolutions’, creating social unrest and multiple humanitarian disasters through economic and military coercion, causing suffering to people in many countries. With the Central Authorities having enacted the Hong Kong National Security Law and the HKSAR having completed the legislative exercise to implement Article 23 of the Basic Law, Hong Kong has strengthened the legal regime in safeguarding national security and prevented the US from succeeding. The false accusation thereafter against the HKSAR personnel safeguarding national security dutifully, faithfully and in accordance with the law and, on top of that, the imposition of the so-called ‘sanctions’ in the guise of defending human rights and democracy indeed constitute a demonstration of shameless hypocrisy with double standards on the part of the US.

    “The HKSAR Government has the responsibility to pursue, in accordance with the law, those who are suspected to have committed offences endangering national security and absconded overseas. The HKSAR law enforcement agencies have been taking law enforcement actions based on evidence and strictly in accordance with the law in respect of the acts of the persons or entities concerned, which have nothing to do with their political stance, background or occupation. The Department of Justice of the HKSAR is in charge of criminal prosecutions under Article 63 of the Basic Law, with all its prosecutorial decisions made on an objective analysis of all admissible evidence and applicable laws.”

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI: Wendel completes the acquisition of a controlling stake in Monroe Capital LLC, a transformational transaction in line with its strategic roadmap

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Wendel completes the acquisition of a controlling stake in Monroe Capital LLC, a transformational transaction in line with its strategic roadmap

    • Wendel’s Asset Management platform now represents c.€34 billion1 of AuM in private assets and is expected to generate, on a full year basis, c.€160 million2 of Fee Related Earnings and c.€185 million of total pre-tax profit in 2025

    Wendel (MF-FP) today announced that it has completed the definitive partnership agreement including the acquisition, together with AXA IM Prime, of 75% of Monroe Capital LLC (“Monroe Capital” or “the Company”), and a sponsoring program of $800 million to accelerate Monroe Capital’s growth, and will invest in GP commitment for up to $200 million.

    As part of the initial transaction, Wendel has invested $1.133 billion to acquire 72% of Monroe Capital’s shares (from Monroe Capital management and Bonaccord Capital Partners which owns is a minority interest in Monroe Capital) together with rights to c.20% of the carried interest generated on past and future funds. The sellers will continue to own 25% of the Company post-closing of the initial transaction.

    AXA IM Prime, through its GP4 Stake strategy, has completed the acquisition alongside Wendel, of a minority equity stake in Monroe Capital. This investment is made in conjunction with Wendel’s acquisition of its majority stake in Monroe Capital and reflects AXA IM Prime’s robust relationship with both managers.

    This initial transaction involving 75% of Monroe Capital would be complemented by an earn-out mechanism with a maximum amount of $255 million, subject to Fee Related Earnings (“FRE”) performance thresholds (Max if CAGR above c.26%) in the period, and if achieved would be paid in cash in 2028.

    Wendel will have a path to purchase the remaining 25% of Monroe Capital’s shares in subsequent transactions (put / call mechanisms) that would take place in three instalments over 2028 and 2032 and be payable in cash. The purchase of the remaining 25% shares would be valued through variable purchase multiples determined depending on realized FRE growth.

    A private credit leader in the U.S. middle market with a demonstrated strong track record across market cycles

    Founded in 2004 by Ted Koenig, Monroe Capital provides private credit solutions to borrowers in the U.S. and Canada, managing more than $205 billion of assets across 45+ investment vehicles. Monroe Capital’s strategic verticals are Lower Middle Market Direct Lending, Alternative Credit, Software & Technology, Real Estate, Venture Debt, Independent Sponsor and Middle Market CLOs. Each vertical has demonstrated strong investment performance and offers potential for significant organic growth.

    Through December 31, 2024, Monroe Capital has directly originated over 800 transactions, has invested over $47 billion and has earned c.10% gross unlevered IRR6 for its directly originated transactions. Monroe Capital’s LP base is very broad and diversified, including public pensions, insurance companies, family offices and high net worth investors from across the globe.

    The firm, which is headquartered in Chicago maintains eleven locations. Monroe Capital has grown to a team of over 275 employees, including 115 investment professionals. The firm currently has employees in the United States, South Korea, Australia and United Arab Emirates.

    Wendel Third Party Asset Management Platform has reached a meaningful scale alongside its historical Principal Investment activity

    Wendel’s ambition is to build a sizeable Asset Management platform managing investments in multiple private asset classes, alongside its historical Principal Investment activity. The development of the third-party Asset Management platform will provide Wendel with recurring and growing cashflows as well as exposure to multiple and high performing asset classes. As a result, Wendel’s dual business model is expected to generate an attractive and recurring return to shareholders.

    With IK Partners and Monroe Capital, Wendel’s third party private asset management platform will reach c.€34 billion in AUM7, and on a full year basis, c.€ 455 million revenues, c.€160 million pre-tax FRE8 (c.€100 million in pre-tax FRE (Wendel share) by 2025 and has the objective to reach €150 million (Wendel share) in pre-tax FRE by 2027 .

    This evolution of Wendel’s business model is designed to enable the development, over time, of a value-creating platform with the potential to generate operational synergies.

    The third-party Asset Management platform will be developed alongside Wendel’s Principal Investment strategy, with the objective of generating double-digit Total Shareholder Return.

    Laurent Mignon, Wendel Group CEO, commented:

    “This acquisition marks an important step forward for Wendel’s asset management platform, which we are committed to scaling. Wendel is now becoming an asset manager alongside our decades-long activity as a long-term equity investor. Monroe Capital, founded by Ted Koenig in 2004, is a terrific company that has consistently delivered strong performance across various market cycles in North America, bolstered by a surge in demand for private credit solutions and with the scale to capitalize on the growing opportunity set we see in private credit. Monroe Capital is strategically positioned to capitalize on this increasing demand, attracting both institutional and retail investors. We are thrilled to collaborate with Ted Koenig, Chairman and CEO, Zia Uddin, President, and their talented teams to support their success and their ability to deliver robust financial performance over the coming years.

    It will be also a great privilege for Wendel to partner with such a renowned investor as AXA IM Prime. This first partnership with a leading global player such as AXA IM is for us a strong sign of confidence in the model we are building in private asset management.

    Wendel is executing its strategic plan with determination, rigor and financial discipline, as demonstrated by this transformational acquisition, while also focusing on premium assets in our principal investment activities. Our transformation to a dual-strategy model is now well-grounded, with top partners in asset management such as IK Partners in private equity and now Monroe Capital in private credit. Our priority for the near future will be to build our platform and to work on the rotation of our Principal Investment assets.

    I would like to express my gratitude to the Wendel teams for their unwavering dedication and to the Supervisory Board of Wendel for its constant support in driving this ambitious strategy forward.” 

    Theodore L. Koenig, Chairman & CEO of Monroe Capital commented:

    “”We are proud to finalize our partnership with Wendel and AXA IM Prime, a milestone achievement in our two-decade journey. Together, we are eager to collaborate and align our efforts to deliver exceptional results for our investors and clients worldwide.”  

    Gilles Dusaintpère, Head of AXA IM Prime GP Stake Investments at AXA IM said: “We are proud and excited to partner with two institutions we know well and to further strengthen our existing relationship with Monroe, a franchise we have been investing with foryears and that we are now happy to accompany as a minority shareholder. Our GP Stake strategy aims to partner with best-in-class private markets players and we look forward to supporting Monroe and its team, alongside Wendel, to help further grow its impressive platform.”

    UBS acted as exclusive financial advisor to Wendel and Kirkland & Ellis LLP acted as legal counsel to Wendel. Wendel was also assisted by Fenchurch Advisory for this transaction. Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC acted as exclusive financial advisor to Monroe Capital, and Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP acted as legal counsel to Monroe Capital.

    About Monroe Capital

    Monroe Capital LLC (“Monroe”) is a premier asset management firm specializing in private credit markets across various strategies, including direct lending, technology finance, venture debt, alternative credit solutions, structured credit, real estate and equity. Since 2004, the firm has been successfully providing capital solutions to clients in the U.S. and Canada. Monroe prides itself on being a value-added and user-friendly partner to business owners, management, and both private equity and independent sponsors. Monroe’s platform offers a wide variety of investment products for both institutional and high net worth investors with a focus on generating high quality “alpha” returns irrespective of business or economic cycles. The firm is headquartered in Chicago and has 11 locations throughout the United States, Asia and Australia.

    Visit our website: http://www.monroecap.com

    About AXA IM Prime

    Launched in 2022, AXA IM Prime is the Private Markets Enabler and Hedge Funds platform of AXA IM with c. €40 billion of assets under management as at the end of September 2024. It offers global and diversified private market solutions through primaries, secondaries and co-investments across private equity, infrastructure equity, private debt and hedge funds.

    As both a principal investor and a General Partner, AXA IM Prime holds a deep understanding of client needs and offers a differentiated, global perspective of the investment world. It aims to create sustainable value for its clients, integrating ESG practices and encouraging ESG best practices within the industry.

    Visit our website: https://www.axa-im.com/prime

    Agenda

    Thursday, April 24, 2025

    Q1 2025 Trading update – Publication of NAV as of March 31, 2025 (post-market release)

    Thursday, May 15, 2025

    Annual General Meeting

    Wednesday, July 30, 2025

    H1 2025 results – Publication of NAV as of June 30, 2025, and condensed Half-Year consolidated financial statements (post-market release)

    Thursday, October 23, 2025

    Q3 2025 Trading update – Publication of NAV as of September 30, 2025 (post-market release)

    Friday, December 12, 2025

    2025 Investor Day

    About Wendel

    Wendel is one of Europe’s leading listed investment firms. Regarding its principal investment strategy, the Group invests in companies which are leaders in their field, such as ACAMS, Bureau Veritas, Crisis Prevention Institute, Globeducate, IHS Towers, Scalian, Stahl and Tarkett. In 2023, Wendel initiated a strategic shift into third-party asset management of private assets, alongside its historical principal investment activities. In May 2024, Wendel completed the acquisition of a 51% stake in IK Partners, a major step in the deployment of its strategic expansion in third-party private asset management and also announced in October 2024 the acquisition of 75% of Monroe Capital. Pro forma of Monroe Capital, Wendel manages more than 33 billion euros on behalf of third-party investors, and c.7.4 billion euros invested in its principal investments activity.

    Wendel is listed on Eurolist by Euronext Paris.

    Standard & Poor’s ratings: Long-term: BBB, stable outlook – Short-term: A-2 

    Wendel is the Founding Sponsor of Centre Pompidou-Metz. In recognition of its long-term patronage of the arts, Wendel received the distinction of “Grand Mécène de la Culture” in 2012.

    For more information: wendelgroup.com

    Follow us on LinkedIn @Wendel 

    1 As of December 2024

    2 c.€100m of FRE expected in 2025, Wendel share. EURUSD @ 1.05

    3 This amount includes usual closing adjustments

    4 General Partner

    5 Committed and managed capital (as of December 31, 2024)

    6 Across fully exited companies

    7 As of December 2024

    8 EURUSD @1.05

    Attachment

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How to talk with children about Canada-U.S. tensions

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Jean-François Bureau, Professor, School of Psychology, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa

    Mainstream public discourse in the first months of 2025 have been dominated by tensions between Canada and United States. These include references to Canada becoming annexed as the 51st American state and the trade war, with threats and the application of tariffs by the U.S. and counter-tariffs by Canada.

    While this political climate brings uncertainty at an international level, it comes with fear of job loss for many Canadians at a time when the cost of living is already straining many families’ finances.



    Read more:
    Canadians are feeling increasingly powerless amid economic struggles and rising inequality

    These topics may appear to be concerns for adults, but children may also feel the effects. As psychology researchers studying parent-child relationships and child mental health, we believe it is important to consider children’s potential fears and anxiety in the current political climate.

    Here, we explain why it’s important to address this topic with children, and how parents can do so in a reassuring and informative manner.

    Children’s concerns and emotions

    While the economy and politics could seem like topics that children would not really care about, recent research suggests that many children and youth actually worry about these topics.

    Back in 2020, American parents of children aged six to 17 years old were asked to rate their child’s anxiety about political news, in terms of voting issues covered in media since the 2016 election. According to the study by psychology researcher Nicole E. Caporino and colleagues, 36 per cent of children worried about the U.S. getting into war, and 37 per cent worried about their family’s finances.

    Studies suggest children worry about issues affecting their families.
    (Shutterstock)

    Similarly, studies elsewhere suggest children and youth worry about issues affecting their families. Based on these numbers, we can assume that many Canadian children also worry about the current Canada-U.S. political climate.

    Of course, it’s worth remembering not all families experience political and economic events in the same way. For example, children whose families face economic precarity are likely already living with stressors affecting their households like unemployment or food insecurity. Current tensions may also exacerbate children’s existing concerns.

    Given that children may be concerned and worried, some parents may intuitively seek to avoid the topic with children to avoid provoking more distress. However, discussing a stressful event can actually decrease the distress felt towards it.

    When children are able to talk about what concerns them with their parents, they learn important emotional regulation and coping skills. For example, they learn how to identify and understand their emotions, and how to regulate those emotions. Discussions between parents and children also help foster a climate of trust, in which children feel like they can rely on their parents in moments of need.

    Noticing, tackling children’s anxiety and fears

    Children may not always have the words to articulate their concerns in the same way that adults do. Parents should watch for anxiety symptoms in their children, which may manifest in various ways, including having mood changes, being more irritable or sad, having difficulty sleeping, being more clingy than usual, or withdrawing from activities. There are also signs that may be harder to spot.

    We present five ways to address the situation with your children:

    1. Use direct questions to understand how children feel. Direct questions can help understand how children feel. For example, you may ask: “What have you heard about what’s happening?” or “How do you feel about it?” These questions can help understand what specifically is scary to them.

    Children could be worried about no longer seeing family in the U.S., or some may even fear a military clash.
    (Shutterstock)

    This is especially important given that children tend to worry about different things than adults. For example, younger children with family in the U.S. may worry they will no longer be able to see their family members anymore. Older children may be worried about a parent losing a job, the country’s economic instability or environmental impacts. Some children may even fear a military clash.

    2. Be sensitive to how the conflict is presented. In the media, it is common to refer to the diplomatic and economic tensions as a “trade war.” While adults understand that trade wars do not involve military attacks, this concept is much more abstract for children.

    Hearing the word “war” may trigger difficult images for them, including armed soldiers, weapons and devastation. This is especially true for children with lived experience of war, political conflict or displacement.



    Read more:
    Coronavirus isn’t the end of ‘childhood innocence,’ but an opportunity to rethink children’s rights

    It’s important to reframe the conflict in ways that children can understand. For example, parents can compare the conflict between two children. Parents might say: “You know when there are two children upset with each other at school, and they have a big disagreement. Sometimes it can take a lot of time to find a solution that works for everyone. The conflict between Canada and the U.S. is a bit like that. It could take a lot of time and trouble to find a solution.”

    3. Avoid misinformation. When discussing these topics, parents should seek to clarify any misinformation and provide reassurance. They should also help ensure children receive information from credible sources rather than social media or peers, who may sensationalize or misinterpret events. Providing factual but age-appropriate explanations is a key ingredient in mitigating fear and uncertainty.

    4. Focus on co-operation and opportunities instead of boycotting.

    Many Canadian families are choosing to boycott American products. In order to ease the emotional burden on children, it can be helpful to reframe the boycott as an opportunity for co-operation. For instance, parents can highlight how they are trying to support local businesses.

    Similarly, for families with resources to travel, changes in travel plans can be framed as a way to discover new places. A parent might frame it as: “This year, instead of going to the beach, we’re going to be exploring some incredible places closer to home. We’re going to have so much fun trying new things!” This approach creates curiosity and control, not anxiety. It can also be beneficial for children’s development to learn to be more flexible with change.



    Read more:
    When Canadian snowbirds don’t flock south, the costs are more than financial

    5. Create a sense of normalcy and routine. As important as it is to validate children’s fears, it is equally important to help them maintain a sense of normalcy. Families should strive to balance discussions about the trade war and its potential ramifications with more light, mundane topics. Similarly, limiting the time that children watch the news or when it is audible can help limit further concerns from developing.

    Routines are also beneficial for children’s development and well-being. Maintaining a predictable schedule, such as a bedtime routine, can help children feel safe and less anxious. Focus on adding fun and soothing activities to the daily routine. This lets children know life goes on.

    Navigating turbulent times

    As the trade war with the U.S. plays out, parents should consider how it may impact their children’s emotions and sense of safety. Even serious conflicts such as this one don’t last forever, and solutions will come.

    In the meantime, parents can help children cope with these challenging times by offering age-appropriate explanations and encouraging resilience.

    Jean-François Bureau receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and the Consortium National de Formation en Santé.

    Audrey-Ann Deneault receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and the Centre de recherche universitaire sur les jeunes et les familles.

    – ref. How to talk with children about Canada-U.S. tensions – https://theconversation.com/how-to-talk-with-children-about-canada-u-s-tensions-252435

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Baldwin Leads Colleagues in Laying Out Worker-First American Trade Policy

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Wisconsin Tammy Baldwin

    WASHINGTON, D.C. –  As the Trump Administration plans to reshape the nation’s trade policy, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) is leading her Midwest colleagues, U.S. Senators Gary Peters (D-MI) and Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), in laying out a vision to prioritize American workers in trade policy, re-establish the United States as a world leader in manufacturing, and strengthen national security. Senator Baldwin has long worked against trade deals that undermine American workers, including opposing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) with China, and other deals that are a race to the bottom. Since 2001, flawed trade policies have contributed to the loss of 4.3 million manufacturing jobs in the U.S. 

    “For too long, the deck has been stacked against workers and has benefited trade cheats like China and the corporate fat cats in board rooms. Workers are the ones who make our economy go around and they are the ones we need to prioritize. Right now, we have a real opportunity to level the playing field for American workers and crack down on trade cheats, grow our Made in America economy, and ensure workers get the pay they deserve to live a good, middle-class life,” said Senator Baldwin.

    “We need trade policies that provide a level playing field for American workers to compete and succeed,” said Senator Peters. “For far too long, American businesses and workers have paid the price of a trade landscape that benefits countries like China who blatantly cheat the system and undercut our businesses without being held accountable. Now is the time to take a real, comprehensive look at our trade policies to ensure we are putting American workers first and preventing good-paying jobs from being shipped overseas.”

    “For 30 years we’ve been outsourcing our supply chains way too far, and too many Michigan workers have suffered because of it,” said Senator Slotkin. “Democrats, especially in the Midwest, need a vision for a 21st century trade policy. To me, that strategy isn’t rocket science. It should strengthen the Middle Class and protect American manufacturing and jobs, provide certainty for American businesses and farmers, and recognize that the U.S. has powerful economic levers to wield against our adversaries.”

    In the letter to President Trump, Baldwin and her colleagues outline the details of a trade agenda that would center workers, stand up to trade cheats like China, and grow the American manufacturing sector, including:

    • Advocating for a Complete Reimagining of Relationship with People’s Republic of China (PRC): The plan calls for revising our trade relationship with China. By allowing China to join the World Trade Organization, the United States opted to treat China like a market economy. China’s non-market practices, rampant abuses of labor and human rights, and government-sponsored trade cheating call for a complete rethinking of our economic relationship, including Permanent Normal Trade Relations.
    • Review & Revise Free Trade Agreements: Baldwin calls for reviewing and revising each of the United States’ 14 free trade agreements with 20 countries, including the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), to ensure the best outcomes for American workers.
    • Strengthen Trade Enforcement Mechanisms: Baldwin looks to strengthen trade enforcement mechanisms to curb cheating and manipulation by foreign countries. Baldwin identifies bipartisan legislation, such as the Leveling the Playing Field 2.0 Act to strengthen trade remedies, Fighting Trade Cheats Act to empower private companies to hold bad actors accountable, and efforts that can be addressed by executive action, like closing the de minimis loophole, which results in lost tariff revenue and the importing of counterfeit products and contraband drugs like fentanyl.
    • Support for Workers Who Lost Jobs Due to Short-Sighted Policies of the Past: Baldwin also calls for the strengthening and reauthorization of the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) to provide critical support for American workers who lose their jobs due to the short-sighted policies of the past, so those workers can access job training benefits and quickly return to the workforce.

    Full text of the letter can be found here and below.

    Dear Mr. President:

    Your Administration has announced that it is undertaking a comprehensive review of our nation’s trade policy, an action that is welcome and long overdue. Free trade and globalization have left us with offshored manufacturing, devastated communities, workers out of a job or in jobs with lower wages, and supply chains overly dependent on our adversaries in too many areas. Our states have suffered disproportionately, and we write to share policy solutions informed by that experience and to urge you to implement a pro-American worker trade policy.

    The current global and domestic economic landscape is the result of deliberate policy choices. Now is the time to break the cycle and boldly set a new standard for how we design, implement, monitor and enforce our trade policies. Presidents of both parties have failed Americans on trade policy, and Congress has validated their mistakes—often, in close votes. Misguided decisions like granting Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR), which paved the way for China’s accession into the World Trade Organization (WTO), along with the passage of NAFTA and CAFTA, as well as support of the Trans Pacific Partnership, are part of a misguided narrative that free trade and liberalization would improve economic growth and living standards, which for many communities has proven false. Since 2001, flawed trade policies have contributed to the loss of 4.3 million manufacturing jobs here in the U.S. We have fought for a pro-American worker trade policy, and would strongly support reforms that are reasoned, strategic, and durable. Our goal should be a combined pro-U.S. worker trade agenda and proactive industrial policy and strategic use of tariffs that secures supply chains, revitalizes communities, creates good-paying, union jobs and re-establishes the United States as a leader in world manufacturing.

    First and foremost, we must drastically revise our trade relationship with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). By allowing China to join the WTO, the United States opted to treat the PRC like a market economy. Proponents claimed this would bring market reforms. That has proven a naïve and misguided approach. China still embraces a state-directed approach to trade and targets entire sectors and industries for global domination. China’s non-market practices, rampant abuses of labor and human rights, and government-sponsored trade cheating call for a complete rethinking of our economic relationship, including PNTR.

    Each of the United States’ 14 free trade agreements with 20 countries, including the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), must be reviewed and revised where necessary, in order to ensure the best outcomes for American workers. While your Administration oversaw the negotiations of the USMCA, which contained the strongest labor standards of any free trade agreement thus far, there are urgent issues to be addressed during the upcoming review. The PRC has increasingly located facilities in Mexico to take advantage of proximity to the United States and preferential treatment of goods under USMCA. It has also failed to fundamentally change a core challenge facing American workers: the continued offshoring of good manufacturing jobs because of wage suppression, union busting and weak regulations in Mexico. There are long-standing challenges to the U.S. economy that USMCA’s dispute mechanism has failed to address, such as Canada’s treatment of the United States dairy sector. Separate from USMCA, the United States is part of agreements about government procurement, through the WTO or negotiated separately, that result in a losing deal for Americans. All such agreements must be thoroughly reviewed and recalibrated to level the playing field.

    The ultimate goal of our trade enforcement mechanisms should not be to react to injury, it must be to deter and prevent cheating in the first place. Foreign entities will continue to transship, evade trade remedies, and create new ways to cheat and take advantage of the United States, and stopping problems as they come up in a “whack-a-mole” fashion is a reactive strategy. Strengthening trade enforcement mechanisms will curb cheating and manipulation by foreign countries. There are substantive bipartisan efforts in this area, such as the Leveling the Playing Field 2.0 Act to strengthen trade remedies and the Fighting Trade Cheats Act to empower private companies to hold bad actors accountable. Furthermore, there are some bipartisan efforts that can be addressed by executive action, like closing the de minimis loophole, which your Administration acknowledges results in lost tariff revenue and the importation of counterfeit products and contraband drugs like fentanyl. The loophole also puts American manufacturers and retailers at a disadvantage. In addition, critical support for American workers who lose their jobs due to the short-sighted policies of the past, such as Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), must be reauthorized and strengthened as we try to right the ship on trade policy, to allow those workers to access job training benefits and quickly return to the workforce.

    Tariffs are important tools for leveling the playing field when they are enacted in a strategic, deliberate, and durable way, but it can take months and years for supply chains to adjust. The positive impact of tariffs and trade policy must be bolstered by a robust industrial policy to create and sustain good-paying jobs with efforts such as investments, Buy America requirements, tax incentives, and other programs like those included in Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act. To be successful, we must also keep corporations in check with equitable tax rates and strong antitrust laws to prevent price gouging. Critically, we must empower workers to join unions and earn fair wages to support a middle class lifestyle and be able to save for a safe and secure retirement.

    Lastly, we want to emphasize this proposal is critical to workers and communities in our states, as well as to our national security and emergency preparedness. Re-evaluating American trade policy and securing supply chains will strengthen our national security and better position the United States to defend itself if faced with conflict. During World War II, United States automakers shifted from producing civilian passenger vehicles to producing military equipment and weapons like tanks, engines, and aircraft. More recently, global events like the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine exposed the risks of our fragile supply chains. Now is the time to learn from these lessons and prioritize a trade policy that puts American workers first.

    Thank you for your consideration of this most important issue.

    Sincerely,

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Threat of system shock remains for Alberta electricity market, with ‘hurricane brewing’ amid current calm

    Source: – Press Release/Statement:

    Headline: Threat of system shock remains for Alberta electricity market, with ‘hurricane brewing’ amid current calm

    “The calm in Alberta’s electricity market will be related to how much new demand we allow to connect to the system in the very near future,” said Vittoria Bellissimo, CEO of the Canadian Renewable Energy Association. Read more.
    The post Threat of system shock remains for Alberta electricity market, with ‘hurricane brewing’ amid current calm appeared first on Canadian Renewable Energy Association.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-OSI Economics: Rooftop solar in Canada: everything you need to know – CanREA on Energi Talks Podcast

    Source: – Press Release/Statement:

    Headline: Rooftop solar in Canada: everything you need to know – CanREA on Energi Talks Podcast

    Energy journalist Markham Hislop interviews Phil McKay of Canadian Renewable Energy Association about the newly released annual Go Solar Guide. It’s the go-to resource for Canadians looking to install solar on their property. Watch now.
    The post Rooftop solar in Canada: everything you need to know – CanREA on Energi Talks Podcast appeared first on Canadian Renewable Energy Association.

    MIL OSI Economics –

  • MIL-Evening Report: Menthol cigarettes will be banned from April 1. Here’s why – and what else is changing

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Becky Freeman, Professor in Public Health, University of Sydney

    patpitchaya/Shutterstock

    New laws come into effect in Australia today that change the look, ingredients, and packaging of tobacco products.

    The Australian government passed the package of tobacco laws in late 2023, which include:

    • standardised tobacco pack and cigarette stick sizes, no more novelty pack sizes or cigarette lengths

    • updated and improved graphic health warnings and quitting advice inserts within all tobacco packs

    • warnings printed directly on cigarettes

    • banning ingredients that make tobacco taste better and easier to smoke, including menthol.

    Retailers have a three-month grace period to sell any old stock already in their stores by July 1.

    Here’s what’s behind these changes – and what needs to happen next.

    Packs warn about the harms of smoking.
    Department of Health and Ageing

    New graphic health warnings

    Cigarette packaging requirements have been stagnant since 2012, when Australia introduced plain packaging laws that banned the use of all on-pack logos and branding. This was a world-first.

    While large graphic health warnings are effective in both preventing smoking uptake and aiding quitting smoking, the effects wear out if warnings are not refreshed and varied.

    New warnings replace those from 2012.
    Department of Health and Ageing

    Cigarette packages must carry one of ten new health warnings. Fresh warnings that smoking doubles the risk of cervical cancer and leads to diabetes will be new information for many smokers.

    There are also warnings for roll-your-own, cigar, bidi and shisha tobacco packaging.

    Warnings on cigarettes

    Cigarettes themselves must now include one of eight health warnings printed directly on the filter paper.

    Canada was the first country in the world to adopt similar requirements in 2023.

    The size, shape, and colour of cigarettes has also been standardised to prevent tobacco companies from using unique cigarette designs to attract new users. Long, thin cigarettes, for example, have been marketed to women as a fashion accessory and diet tool for nearly a century.

    Warnings will now be on the sticks themselves.
    Department of Health and Ageing

    The ingredients permitted in cigarettes are also changing, with ingredients that enhance the flavour of tobacco being now banned. The long list of prohibited ingredients includes everything from cloves, to sugar, to probiotics and vitamins.

    Until now, the tobacco industry has had free reign to add ingredients that increase the palatability and attractiveness of cigarettes. This banned list also captures menthol and any ingredients that mimic the cooling properties of menthol.

    Why ban menthol?

    Menthol masks the harshness of smoke. Just like cold lollies that contain menthol to soothe sore throats and tame coughs, menthol in cigarettes prevents inexperienced smokers from reacting to the rough effects of tobacco smoke in the throat. This helps to make smoking a more pleasant experience that young users will return to.

    The introduction of crushable menthol capsules in cigarette filters has proven very popular with Australian teenagers. Teens who use these products are more likely to have recently smoked and have higher smoking intentions in the future. The new laws also explicitly prohibit these “crush balls” or “flavour beads.”

    Other counties that have banned menthol have seen drops in tobacco sales and use and increases in quitting behaviours.

    No similar reforms for the United States

    Menthol cigarettes have been heavily marketed to African American people since at least the 1950s and make up one-third of the total US cigarette market share. Tobacco control groups in the US have been advocating for a menthol ban for well over a decade.

    The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed a rule banning menthol in 2022, and a 2024 US Surgeon General report highlighted that menthol products increase addiction and are:

    disproportionately used by Black people, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander people, women and people who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual.

    Under the Biden Administration, the FDA delayed issuing the final rule which meant the ban was not properly enacted before Trump was elected.

    In January 2025, the Trump administration completely withdrew the ban.

    A menthol ban in the US was predicted to reduce total smoking by 15% and the number of smoking attributable deaths among African Americans by up to 238,000.

    Reforms needed to stamp out our illicit market

    Organised criminals are operating in Australia’s tobacco supply chain to illegally import and sell tobacco products. Government action to step in and gain control of that supply system is long overdue.

    Until this year, Australia’s two most populous states didn’t even require tobacco sellers to be licensed, and Queensland only introduced licensing last year.

    Australia will need to change how tobacco is sold. It should not be so easy and commonplace to sell such an addictive and deadly product.

    Both state and national governments need timely and transparent reporting on the size and scope of the illicit market, and strict licensing of the entire tobacco supply chain.

    Businesses that sell illicit tobacco must face real consequences – not only large fines and loss of licences to operate, but also criminal charges.

    All aspects of the tobacco supply chain – from wholesalers to retailers – must be tightly controlled.

    Becky Freeman is an expert advisor to the Cancer Council tobacco issues committee and a member of the Cancer Institute vaping communications advisory panel. She has received relevant competitive grants from the NHMRC, MRFF, NSW Health, the Ian Potter Foundation, VicHealth, and Healthway WA.

    – ref. Menthol cigarettes will be banned from April 1. Here’s why – and what else is changing – https://theconversation.com/menthol-cigarettes-will-be-banned-from-april-1-heres-why-and-what-else-is-changing-251920

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Thanks to social media platforms, election interference is more insidious and pervasive than ever

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Andrew Buzzell, Postdoctoral Fellow, Rotman Institute of Philosophy, Western University

    Seemingly innocuous conversations, informed by online campaigns, could interfere with elections. (Matt Quinn/Unsplash), CC BY

    Election interference is a much broader phenomenon than is often assumed. Once limited to intimidation, voter fraud or hacking, election interference includes more mundane, pervasive and ubiquitous interactions. A seemingly innocuous and casual chat with a neighbour or barista could now be considered part of a hostile influence campaign.

    From this perspective, interference is less about how ballots are cast and more about shaping the motivations, intentions and contexts in which voters think about politics. Yet those same processes, debates, persuasions and messy arguments are integral to democracy.

    If “election interference” encompasses all efforts to influence opinion, do we risk diluting its meaning, creating a new hollow accusation like “fake news?” More importantly, if this broad view is right, it raises difficult new challenges beyond the narrow measures of election law.

    Blurred lines

    Germany recently accused Elon Musk of meddling in their February election, claiming that his prominent endorsement of the Alternative for Germany party on X was an illegal foreign donation. During the 2022 Brazilian election, misinformation on WhatsApp and Telegram swayed voter intentions, and the Superior Electoral Court frequently requested that content be taken down.

    Much of this content was homegrown, produced, endorsed and circulated by Brazilians themselves. If such content was traditional journalism, existing laws and standards could be applied. But when it resembles ordinary political speech, many see takedowns as censorship. Blurred lines between citizen speech and journalism complicate the laws and policies designed to address clearly defined electioneering.

    During the 2020 Taiwan elections, officials worried that pro-unification memes came not only from Chinese-controlled bots and paid posters (itself a form of election interference), but were trending because the TikTok algorithm systematically prioritized it.

    And in the United States, the legislative push to ban TikTok gained momentum alongside political concern that an apparent uptick in anti-Israel sentiment was caused by covert manipulation of TikTok’s algorithm.

    Broader concerns

    Concerns about election interference should extend the focus beyond the ballot to include information vulnerabilities. Politicians of all stripes have called for action on deceptive speech, but there is little agreement on the nature of the problem, especially across partisan divides

    Complaints about fake news are as likely to be strategic as sincere. News isn’t just about facts, it’s about what matters and why, and as such, media regulation should not solely be determined by the legal system. There is the risk that any effort to control content used to interfere with elections (propaganda, disinformation, fakes) will be inescapably partisan, thus unacceptable in democracies.

    The European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA) notes some of these concerns. The act indicates that monitoring and reporting about societal risks and public transparency databases will be required. It establishes “trusted flaggers” (experts and civil society groups) to help moderate content. It doesn’t mention elections, but voices concerns that platforms may be “used to disseminate or amplify misleading or deceptive content, including disinformation,” which can undermine fundamental rights.

    The DSA is new but already facing friction. The U.S. has indicated that enforcement may undermine free speech. Other issues include the absence of funding, the lack of standards for transparency databases and growing mistrust in the very idea of flagging. Flagging posts has been criticized for conflating editorship with censorship

    Free speech

    There are two schools of thought in competition with each other pertaining to free speech. The first defines it as freedom from interference with the media environment, and the view that the response to bad speech should be more and better speech, not censure.

    Currently, too much speech is circulating, along with the power given to algorithms and human moderators to make sense of it. This suggests a different ideal — the freedom to be informed and in control of our information environments, to feel authentically represented and to have fair dealings with speech platforms. Translating these to policies and slogans is much harder than a hands-off approach to media regulation.

    Overwhelmed with information, consumers favour brands, curators, editors, tastemakers, vibes and tribes that align with their personal values. If there is a shift in values, consumers cancel, unfollow and disconnect — and then replace the source.

    Trust-breaking disrupts the systems we use to filter, verify and contextualize information. This is exemplified in “firehose of falsehood” tactics and hack-and-leak operations that simultaneously sow distrust and weaponize predictable reactions.

    Scales of influence

    For every internationally important election or referendum, there are hundreds of local contests, municipal elections, internal party nominations and the like that shape political realities just as meaningfully. Influencers operating at small scales can have outsized effects that ripple through broader constituencies. A post on a local forum might spark a thousand invisible offline conversations.

    These broad concerns about vulnerabilities in our media systems matter all the time, not just during elections. Political representation requires trust in the media that inform us about what other people and communities think and care about. These reflections are distorted by online social media platforms and messaging apps.

    We will have to eventually consider something like a “made in Canada” Digital Services Act that can give voters a voice in the kind of information environment they want. There’s much to be learned from the EU’s early lessons, especially as they respond to American tech companies that control so much of the online information space.

    Andrew Buzzell received funding from SSHRC.

    – ref. Thanks to social media platforms, election interference is more insidious and pervasive than ever – https://theconversation.com/thanks-to-social-media-platforms-election-interference-is-more-insidious-and-pervasive-than-ever-251764

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How Beijing plans to bounce back against Trump’s tariffs

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Chee Meng Tan, Assistant Professor of Business Economics, University of Nottingham

    China’s president Xi Jinping recently held a meeting with 40 leaders of multinational companies, including BMW and AstraZeneca.

    In contrast to Donald Trump’s rhetoric, Xi told the top level executives that globalisation was not going away. Xi is attempting to boost foreign investment in China, which has dropped in the last few years, and build new relationships that will offset Trump’s tariffs on many Chinese goods.

    In the March 28 meeting, Xi “vowed to improve market access” and assured corporate leaders that “lines of communication” between them and the Chinese government are open.

    Xi is hoping to build on an anti-Trump bounce and inspire businesses to back Beijing as some signs emerged that China’s economy was doing a little better than expected in early 2025. Industrial production went up by 5.9% in January and February. Credit growth, which measures the amount of loans banks give out, also appears to be picking up, suggesting that businesses might be growing in China.

    Retail sales, which are a major economic marker indicating consumer spending, has risen by up to 4% in January and February this year, compared to last year.

    Beijing is also willing to create further stimulus packages to sustain China’s economic growth, which might lift consumer confidence further.

    But this is hampered by a real estate crisis that began in 2021. What followed was an already high local government debt that was exacerbated by the property crisis, and high youth unemployment that existed since 2023.

    The big question then is what are the factors that could lead to a more buoyant outlook in China’s economic fortunes?

    Beijing’s policy resolve

    According to a Bloomberg report, China has traditionally relied on cheap loans and subsidies to boost economic sectors in infrastructure, manufacturing, and the property market. However, those times are over.

    The problem is China has produced more goods to sell than people are willing to buy. In the past, Beijing relied on the west to purchase its products, but with rising protectionism and looming tariffs stemming from a Donald Trump-led US, US consumption of Chinese goods is likely to fall.

    And if another key market in the form of the EU were to take a cue from Trump’s economic playbook and impose more tariffs on China, then Chinese hope for sales in the west for economic growth may not materialise.

    Beijing’s surest way of boosting sales is through domestic consumption. This isn’t easy as China’s domestic spending remains relatively low at 40% of the country’s GDP, which is about 20% lower than the global average. And if Beijing wants cautious consumers to spend amid a relatively weak economic outlook, it needs to do more to raise consumer confidence.

    Although China did introduce a stimulus package in September 2024, it has resolved to do more. In an early March 2025 speech in the Chinese parliament, Chinese premier Li Qiang promised a “special action plan” to vigorously raise domestic consumption for 2025. Several weeks later Li reiterated in the China Development Forum that Beijing would roll out more stimulus packages when the need arose.

    These assurances are likely to have helped improve market sentiment, and the fact that China’s GDP growth target was also set at an ambitious level of around 5%, might signal Beijing’s confidence and resolve that the economy will improve.

    China’s AI revolution

    In the past, China was considered a copycat nation known for manufacturing shanzai, or fake and pirated products. This difficulty in innovating and reliance on the designs of others largely lay with an education system steeped in rote learning, and a top-down culture with a conformist approach.

    This is why experts thought China would struggle when the US decided to introduce restrictions on Chinese access semiconductor and AI technologies. However, despite these restrictions, China has managed to develop a highly capable AI model of its own in the form of DeepSeek, which was unveiled early this year, and immediately boosted China’s image as an innovator.

    Unlike other AI models, DeepSeek was apparently made at a fraction of the cost of other traditional AI models such as ChatGPT, and may have a more efficient coding scheme that allows for quicker problem solving. This has prompted Donald Trump to coin DeepSeek’s development as a wake-up call for the US tech industry.

    Many AI startups in China are now revamping their business models to compete with DeepSeek, following widespread adoption of the latter’s technology. As the AI revolution in China could potentially reduce costs and thereby boost efficiency in the financial sector.

    Following Trump’s return to the Oval Office, investors across the globe have been trying to reduce their reliance on the US by looking for investment opportunities elsewhere. This isn’t entirely surprising given Trump’s knack for the unpredictable, and how new US tariffs have been applied to a host of US allies such as Mexico, Canada, and the European Union.

    While Trump is striking an increasingly protectionist tone, China is taking the opposite approach. Trump’s penchant for tariffs and disregard for the economic interest of US allies may mean Beijing might not need to do too much to attract more nations and businesses to consider turning towards Chinese markets.

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

    – ref. How Beijing plans to bounce back against Trump’s tariffs – https://theconversation.com/how-beijing-plans-to-bounce-back-against-trumps-tariffs-253086

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Holyrood — Holyrood RCMP investigates mischief at CBC building, seeks public assistance

    Source: Royal Canadian Mounted Police

    Holyrood RCMP is investigating damage to a CBC building and satellite dish in St. Vincents suspected to be caused by a firearm.

    On March 26, 2025, an employee of CBC discovered the damage to the building, which police suspect may have been completed with the use of a firearm. About a month ago, they also discovered damage to a satellite dish that appears to have been completed with the same weapon. It is unknown when the crimes occurred.

    The investigation is continuing.

    Anyone having information about this crime or the identity of the suspects is asked to contact Holyrood RCMP at 709-229-3892 or, to remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers: #SayItHere 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), visit www.nlcrimestoppers.com or use the P3Tips app.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: West Dover — Update: Police seek information regarding home invasion

    Source: Royal Canadian Mounted Police

    The RCMP/HRP Integrated Criminal Investigation Division continues to seek the public’s assistance in relation to a home invasion in West Dover.

    On December 13, at approximately 7:35 p.m., RCMP Halifax Regional Detachment responded to a report of a home invasion on West Dover Rd.

    During the course of the investigation, a light-coloured vehicle of interest that was present at the time of the incident was identified.

    The investigation, led by the General Investigative Section of the RCMP/HRP Integrated Criminal Investigation Division, continues.

    Anyone with information about the vehicle or this incident is asked to contact police at 902-490-5020. To remain anonymous, call Nova Scotia Crime Stoppers, toll-free, at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), submit a secure web tip at www.crimestoppers.ns.ca, or use the P3 Tips app.

    File #: 24-169864

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: B.C. eliminates carbon tax

    Source: Government of Canada regional news

    The B.C. government is cancelling the carbon tax by introducing legislation to drop the rate to $0, effective Tuesday, April 1, 2025.

    “British Columbians are doing everything they can to reduce their emissions. But people shouldn’t have to choose between climate action and being able to afford their bills,” said Premier David Eby. “That’s why we are eliminating the consumer carbon tax, which has become divisive at a time we need to be united. We will help people with costs and fight climate change by ensuring big polluters continue to pay, encouraging industry to innovate and giving British Columbians affordable options to make sustainable choices.”

    The reduction of the tax to $0 is an immediate step to align B.C.’s carbon tax rate with the new federal carbon tax rate. The elimination of the carbon tax means people in British Columbia will no longer be required to pay the consumer carbon tax, taking approximately 17 cents per litre off the cost of fuel and approximately 15 cents per cubic metre for natural gas on their home heating bill.

    The climate action tax credit, developed to help offset the impacts of the consumer carbon tax on people and families, will also be cancelled. The final payment will be distributed in April 2025.

    “The carbon tax has been an important tool in B.C. for over a decade and half, but it has become too politically divisive and a distraction from the important issues we are tackling,” said Brenda Bailey, Minister of Finance. “While this is a significant shift for our province, we will offset the impact while focusing on growing the economy during these challenging economic times.”

    Cancelling the tax and the credit will have an estimated impact of $1.99 billion in the coming fiscal year. The Province will restructure programs funded by carbon tax revenue to minimize the impact on B.C.’s budget, while supporting people in British Columbia in achieving climate goals.

    The Province will continue to ensure big polluters pay through the B.C. output-based carbon pricing system. The system supports decarbonization efforts, incentivizing industry to lower their emissions to avoid paying the tax.

    “We remain committed to driving down emissions while making life more affordable,” said Adrian Dix, Minister of Energy and Climate Solutions. “We are continuing to invest in practical solutions, such as home heat pump rebates for those who need them most and energy-efficiency upgrades, so people can lower their energy costs and reduce emissions without bearing an extra financial burden.”

    The Province has made notable progress in promoting the adoption of zero-emission vehicles, expanding public charging infrastructure, and enhancing energy efficiency in homes and buildings. These efforts contribute to emission reductions, support economic growth by creating jobs in clean-energy sectors and help lower energy costs for people in British Columbia.

    Quick Facts:

    • B.C.’s carbon tax will be eliminated the same day as the federal carbon pricing requirement.
    • Natural gas retailers will be required to provide credits or refunds to customers who were erroneously charged the carbon tax on or after April 1, 2025.
    • The average amount of carbon tax that would have been paid by families in B.C. is approximately $410 in 2025-26.

    Learn More:

    For more information about B.C. legislation, visit: https://strongerbc.gov.bc.ca/Legislation

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Banking: Apple Intelligence comes to Apple Vision Pro today with visionOS 2.4

    Source: Apple

    Headline: Apple Intelligence comes to Apple Vision Pro today with visionOS 2.4

    March 31, 2025

    UPDATE

    Apple Intelligence and new spatial experiences come to Apple Vision Pro today with visionOS 2.4

    Alongside the first set of powerful Apple Intelligence features, users can discover new content with Spatial Gallery and the Apple Vision Pro app for iPhone, and share the magic of spatial computing with enhancements to Guest User

    visionOS 2.4 is available today, bringing the first set of powerful Apple Intelligence features that help users communicate, write, and express themselves on Apple Vision Pro — all while taking an extraordinary step forward for privacy in AI.1 With the new Spatial Gallery app, users have access to a curated collection of spatial content spanning art, culture, nature, sports, and more. visionOS 2.4 also introduces the Apple Vision Pro app for iPhone to help users easily find new content and apps, and enhancements to Guest User make sharing Vision Pro experiences even easier.

    Apple Intelligence on Apple Vision Pro

    With Writing Tools, users can refine their words by rewriting, proofreading, and summarizing text nearly everywhere they write, including Mail, Notes, and many third-party apps. With Rewrite, users can adjust the tone of their text to make it more friendly, professional, or concise, or specify the change they’d like to make using Describe Your Change. Proofread checks grammar, word choice, and sentence structure, and provides suggested edits. Users can also select text and have it recapped in several formats with Summarize. With Compose, users can ask ChatGPT to generate content for anything they are writing about from the systemwide Writing Tools.2

    Image Playground allows users to easily create fun and unique images from themes, costumes, accessories, and places. Users can add their own text descriptions, and can even create images in the likeness of a family member or friend using photos from their photo library. The experience is integrated directly into apps like Messages and Freeform, and is also available as a dedicated app for Apple Vision Pro.

    Apple Intelligence takes emoji to an entirely new level, offering users the ability to create original Genmoji by simply typing or speaking a description into the emoji keyboard. Genmoji can be added inline to messages, shared as a sticker, or sent as a Tapback.

    Smart Reply in Messages and Mail provides suggestions for a quick response, and will identify questions to ensure everything is answered.

    With natural language search in the Photos app, it’s even easier to find a specific photo or moment in a video just by describing it. Create a Memory Movie lets users create the movies they want to see by simply typing a description. Using language and image understanding, Apple Intelligence will pick out photos and videos based on a user’s description, craft a storyline with chapters based on themes identified from the photos, and arrange them into a movie with its own narrative arc. As with all Apple Intelligence features, user photos and videos are kept private, and are not shared with Apple or anyone else.

    visionOS 2.4 also includes support for Priority Messages in Mail, Mail Summaries, Image Wand in Notes, Priority Notifications in Notification Center, and Notification Summaries. The initial set of Apple Intelligence features is available in visionOS 2.4 for users with their device and Siri language set to U.S. English.

    Apple Intelligence uses on-device processing whenever possible to protect users’ privacy. For requests that require access to even larger models, Private Cloud Compute extends the privacy and security of Apple products into the cloud to unlock even more intelligence. When using Private Cloud Compute, users’ data is never stored or shared with Apple; it is used only to fulfill the request. Independent experts can inspect the code that runs on Apple silicon servers to continuously verify this privacy promise, and are already doing so.

    Curated Spatial Content with Spatial Gallery

    Spatial Gallery, a new app for Apple Vision Pro, features spatial photos, spatial videos, and panoramas curated by Apple, and gives users a window to captivating and powerful moments spanning art, culture, entertainment, lifestyle, nature, sports, and travel, with new content released regularly.

    At launch, users can discover stories and experiences from iconic brands including Red Bull, Cirque du Soleil, and Porsche; go behind the scenes with Apple Originals like Severance, The Studio, and The Morning Show; and listen to conversations with top artists like Bad Bunny, Charli xcx, and Keith Urban.

    The Apple Vision Pro App for iPhone

    The Apple Vision Pro app for iPhone offers a new way for users to discover new spatial experiences, queue apps and games to download, easily find tips, and quickly access information about their Vision Pro, all from their iPhone.

    The Discover page features recommendations for new and notable experiences on Apple Vision Pro, from popular apps like Explore POV and JigSpace, to Apple Arcade games like Gears & Goo, to Apple Immersive experiences like Metallica, which gives viewers unprecedented access to the band through a remarkable storytelling format only possible on Vision Pro.

    The My Vision Pro page helps users get the most out of their Apple Vision Pro, offering tips and key information such as their current visionOS version and device serial number. Users with vision correction needs can now store and view the App Clip code for their ZEISS Optical Inserts in the Apple Vision Pro app.

    New Enhancements to Guest User

    visionOS 2.4 lets users start a Guest User session on Apple Vision Pro with their nearby iPhone or iPad. To make it easier to guide a guest through the Vision Pro experience, users can now choose which apps are accessible to their guests and start View Mirroring with AirPlay from their iPhone.

    New Apple Immersive Video Content

    VIP: Yankee Stadium premieres this Friday, April 4, featuring an all-encompassing look at how elite athletes, die-hard fans, dedicated staff, and epic moments make the Bronx ballpark legendary. Bono: Stories of Surrender pulls back the curtain on the deeply personal experiences that have shaped Bono as a son, father, husband, activist, and U2 frontman. The groundbreaking film from Apple TV+ premieres May 30, and will be available in 2D and in Apple Immersive Video.

    Availability

    • visionOS 2.4 is available today as a free software update for Apple Vision Pro. For more information, visit apple.com/visionos/visionos-2. Some features may not be available in all regions or languages.
    • Apple Vision Pro is available in Australia, Canada, China mainland, Hong Kong, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, the UAE, the UK, and the U.S.
    • Apple Intelligence will be available in beta on Apple Vision Pro with visionOS 2.4. The first set of features will be available for Vision Pro users with their device and Siri language set to U.S. English. Feature availability varies by region; Apple Intelligence is subject to regulatory approval and not yet available in China.
    • The Spatial Gallery app will be installed with visionOS 2.4 for users in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, the UAE, the UK, and the U.S. It can be downloaded from the App Store for Vision Pro.
    • The Apple Vision Pro app for iPhone will be available with iOS 18.4. The app will be available to download from the App Store, and will automatically appear on a user’s iPhone once they update to iOS 18.4 and have both devices associated with the same Apple Account.
    1. The first set of features will be available for Apple Vision Pro users with their device and Siri language set to U.S. English.
    2. Integration with ChatGPT is available only in regions where the ChatGPT app and service is available. Refer to Open AI for Chat GPT availability.

    Press Contacts

    Corey Nord

    Apple

    cnord2@apple.com

    Andrea Schubert

    Apple

    a_schubert@apple.com

    Apple Media Helpline

    media.help@apple.com

    MIL OSI Global Banks –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: CBSA officers at Vancouver International Airport seize 148 kg of methamphetamine hidden in suitcases 

    Source: Government of Canada News

    March 31, 2025                        Vancouver, British Columbia            Canada Border Services Agency

    Today, the CBSA announced the interception and seizure of a combined 148.8 kilograms of methamphetamine, representing an estimated street value of $500,000, in six separate occasions at Vancouver International Airport. In all instances, the narcotics were concealed in passengers’ suitcases and bound for export.

    • On January 18, 2025, CBSA border services officers intercepted 35.7 kg of methamphetamine destined for export to Hong Kong. The narcotics were wrapped in gift wrap and hidden in two suitcases.
    • On January 31, 2025, border services officers intercepted 28.5 kg of methamphetamine destined for export to Hong Kong. The narcotics were concealed in coffee bags and hidden in two suitcases.
    • On February 16, 2025, border services officers intercepted 23.5 kg of methamphetamine destined for export to Australia. The narcotics were concealed in packages wrapped in towels soaked with vinegar and cayenne pepper in an attempt to mask the smell.
    • On February 19, 2025, border services officers intercepted: 
      • 16.4 kg of methamphetamine destined for export to Australia. The narcotics were infused within various articles of clothing.
      • 19.2 kg of methamphetamine destined for export to Australia. The narcotics were infused within various articles of clothing.
      • 25.5 kg of methamphetamine destined for export to New Zealand. The narcotics were concealed in vacuum sealed packaging with a mixture of coffee and pepper substance.

    On all six instances, the travellers were arrested and taken into custody by the RCMP’s Federal Police  Pacific Region unit.

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Minister Joly to attend NATO Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Belgium

    Source: Government of Canada News

    March 31, 2025 – Ottawa, Ontario – Global Affairs Canada

    The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, today announced that she will be travelling to Brussels, Belgium, to attend the NATO Foreign Ministers’ Meeting from April 3 to 4, 2025.

    In Brussels, she will meet with Allies and partners to discuss threats and challenges to Euro-Atlantic security.

    During the meeting, the foreign ministers will also mark NATO’s 76th anniversary and celebrate decades of cooperation and historic achievements in security. 

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: IAM Reaches Strong Tentative Agreement with NCCC Rail Carriers

    Source: US GOIAM Union

    IAM District 19 has reached a tentative agreement covering approximately 4,900 freight rail members with the National Carriers’ Conference Committee (NCCC).

    The NCCC tentative agreement covers IAM members at BNSF, Norfolk Southern, Canadian National, Belt Railway, Terminal Rail, Consolidated Rail, Indiana Harbor Belt, New Orleans Public Belt, and Palmetto Railways.

    “Our membership asked us to stand strong for a contract that includes no takeaways and makes improvements to pay, vacation and healthcare – and that’s exactly what we’ve delivered,” said IAM District 19 President and Directing General Chair Reece Murtagh. “We strongly recommend acceptance of this agreement.”

    This historic tentative agreement ensures members will receive their first pay increase on time and as scheduled.

    “District 19 continues to stand strong for industry-leading contracts,” said Josh Hartford, IAM Special Assistant to the International President for the IAM Rail Division. “Together, we are remaking this industry and giving every rail worker the respect they’ve earned.”

    Members will soon receive more information on the tentative agreement. An electronic ratification vote will take place between Friday, April 25 and Wednesday, April 30, 2025.

    Share and Follow:

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Elisapie’s Juno-winning album: Promoting Inuktitut through music

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Richard Compton, Professor, Department of Linguistics, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)

    Singer Elisapie’s fourth album, Inuktitut, was nominated for adult alternative album of the year and album of the year at the 2025 Juno Awards, and won best adult alternative album at the Juno Awards Gala, March 29.

    The album features covers of 10 pop and classic rock songs, including the Rolling Stones’s “Wild Horses” and Metallica’s “The Unforgiven,” re-imagined in Inuktitut. Inuktitut is the first language of 33,790 Inuit in Canada, according to the 2021 Census.

    Elisapie’s nomination offers a good opportunity to reflect on the situation of Inuktitut and how creative work, including music, helps promote it.

    Our work touches on the inter-generational transmission of Inuktitut. We share perspectives as a Qallunaaq (non-Inuk) linguist (Richard) and as an Inuk school teacher (Sarah) in Nunavik, with Sarah’s personal experiences in the community highlighted.

    Together, we have co-taught courses for Inuit teachers in Puvirnituq and Ivujivik. We are also both affiliated with a research group focused on Indigenous education based at Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue.

    Elisapie’s ‘Isumagijunnaitaungituq’ (The Unforgiven)

    Music in Inuktitut

    Sarah notes that:

    I was amazed that [Elisapie] could make the long words in Inuktitut fit with the rhythm of the music; she did it so precisely. It took me back to the 1980s, when I was growing up. It would have been nice if songs like these had been interpreted back then. It’s been a long time coming, but it shows that nothing is impossible. The songs sound so natural in Inuktitut.

    On the day we talked about this story, Sarah remembered:

    I was at the Snow Festival yesterday [in Puvirnituq], and some of the teenagers knew all the words to her songs and were singing along. We didn’t have that when I was growing up.

    She remembers first seeing Elisapie sing in the early 1990s at one of the first snow festivals in Puvirnituq.

    Elisapie’s album has also sparked interest outside of Canada, with stories in such venues as Rolling Stone, Vogue and Le Monde.

    Beyond how Elisapie beautifully interprets the songs, creative choices like using throat singing on the first track, “Isumagijunnaitaungituq (The Unforgiven),” and stunning music videos showcasing life in the North brings the language to a wider audience.

    The album’s cover art features the word Inuktitut, ᐃᓄᒃᑎᑐᑦ, in syllabics — a writing system originally use for Cree and adapted to Inuktitut, where the individual symbols represent consonants and the way they point represents vowels.

    Elisapie’s ‘Taimangalimaaq’ (Time After Time)

    Diversity of the Inuit language

    The word Inuktitut itself means “like the Inuit,” and is the name for part of a wider language continuum spoken across the North American Arctic. This language continuum includes Iñupiaq in Alaska, Uummarmiutun, Sallirmiutun and Inuinnaqtun in the Western Canadian Arctic, Inuktitut in the Eastern Arctic, Inuttut in Labrador and Kalaallisut in Greenland.

    This abundance of names reflects a diversity of varieties, each with their own pronunciations and differences in grammar and vocabulary stretching across Inuit Nunangat, the Inuit homeland.

    Speakers in each community look to their Elders as models of how the language should be spoken. While this multiplicity of dialects poses challenges for translation and creating teaching materials, each variety marks local identity and links generations.

    This diversity also fascinates linguists, as each variety attests to a different way of organizing the unconscious rules of grammar in the human mind.

    For instance, Inuktitut has a rich system of tense markers on verbs, signalling events that just happened, happened earlier today, before today or long ago. Inuinnaqtun, to the west, lacks most of these tense markers, but instead allows more complex combinations of sounds.

    A role model for youth

    Sarah stresses the importance of Elisapie’s music for the language:

    It’s so impressive that people like Elisapie are doing such amazing things with the language. She grew up around the same time as me and when I was in school there were so few teaching materials in Inuktitut, and we focused more on speaking than reading and writing. Even if her main goal might not have been to promote the language, she’s doing it, because kids listen to her. More teenagers are willing to sing in Inuktitut now because they have role models like her and Beatrice Deer.

    Deer is an Inuk and Mohawk musician from Quaqtaq, Nunavik, who also sings in Inuktitut, as well as English and French.

    Indigenous language education rights

    In Canada, all levels of government have failed to provide adequate access to education in Indigenous languages, even in regions where Indigenous Peoples form the majority.

    In Nunavik, where Elisapie is from, 90 per cent of the population (12,590 out of 14,050) identifies as Inuit and 87 per cent (12,245 out of 14,050) report Inuktitut as their first language. And yet Inuktitut is only the primary language of instruction up until Grade 3.

    About promoting Inuktitut, Sarah says:

    We’re lucky that in most of the villages in Nunavik, the language is still strong. But it’s still concerning that some people have started speaking in English to their kids. What we really need to promote it is to have school in Inuktitut from kindergarten to the end of high school [secondary 5 in Québec]. That’s why a group of Inuit teachers, including me, visited Greenland to learn more about their education system. They’ve had schools in their language for almost 200 years. We just started in the ‘50s.

    While bilingualism may bring economic benefits, the lack of support for Indigenous languages often results in a situation where bilingualism robs children of the chance to fully develop in their first language.

    Right to education in Indigenous language

    In addition to violating Indigenous Peoples’ inherent right to get an education in their language (see the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples), current education policies also go against recommendations of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

    UNESCO recommends that Indigenous minority languages be taught as the primary language in school for the first six to eight years, as this has been shown to contribute to children’s well-being and self-esteem.

    Unfortunately, Canada’s official language laws continue to place the two colonial languages of English and French above Indigenous languages, particularly in education funding.



    Read more:
    Ancestral languages are essential to Indigenous identities in Canada

    New challenges have also emerged for maintaining and extending the domains in which Inuktitut is used. Once cut off from high-speed internet, new satellite technology has brought access to more Inuit communities, along with new economic opportunities.

    However, this connectivity also brings an avalanche of English content, from viral videos and streaming platforms to social networks and mobile games.

    Vital for promoting Inuktitut

    It is in this changing linguistic and media landscape where Inuktitut language and cultural production, like Elisapie’s album, are vital for promoting Inuktitut.

    Children and teenagers need content that speaks to them — things they see as new, fun, cool and representing their generation. This includes music, comic books, novels, video games and even Hockey Night in Canada in Inuktitut.

    So whether Elisapie’s music is being played in community radio stations, featured in an episode of CBC’s North of North or streamed as a music video on social media, it serves the added role of taking up a little more space for Inuktitut in people’s daily lives.

    This is an updated version of a story originally published on March 28, 2025. It clarifies Elisapie was nominated for two awards and won best adult alternative.

    Richard Compton receives funding in the form of research grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. He holds the Canada Research Chair in Transmission and Knowledge of the Inuit Language.

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

    – ref. Elisapie’s Juno-winning album: Promoting Inuktitut through music – https://theconversation.com/elisapies-juno-winning-album-promoting-inuktitut-through-music-251774

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Governments must ensure caregivers have support to keep doing their vital work

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Heather Aldersey, Professor and Canada Research Chair (Disability Inclusive Development), Queen’s University, Ontario

    People with disabilities and their families often have an even greater need for support over time, especially if a disability is progressive or family members experience their own health challenges. (Shutterstock)

    April 1 marks National Caregivers Day in Canada. The day is meant to recognize the carers who provide vital care and support to those in need.

    We all need care and support to navigate challenges in life. Help can come from formal support (paid professionals and government programs), and from natural support networks (family, friends and neighbours).

    People with disabilities and their families often have an even greater need for support over time, especially if a disability is progressive or family members experience their own health challenges due to aging.

    The Canadian Centre for Caregiving Excellence (CCCE) released its National Caregiving Strategy on Feb. 18, stating that caregiving is the next frontier in Canadian public policy. As the CCCE’s executive director, Liv Mendelsohn, said: “Millions of Canadians are navigating caregiving with minimal support, and it’s simply unacceptable.”

    This article’s co-author, Donna Thomson, is a caregiver, author and educator. She is the mother of two grown children, one who has severe cerebral palsy and medical complexity. Thomson also helped care for her mother who lived with dementia until she passed away in the summer of 2018 at the age of 96.

    Family caregivers often need support themselves in order to keep working both inside and outside of the home. Parents of adult children with developmental disabilities in Canada are hardly ever asked: “What do you do for your son or daughter that paid helpers cannot?” Even less often, that question might be followed by: “Wow, that’s a lot. Would you like some support to continue doing those things?”

    With a federal election on the horizon, Canadians can call on their governments to improve support for caregivers.
    (Shutterstock)

    Importance of natural caregivers

    Our research recognizes that both formal and informal supports are essential in enabling people with disabilities and their families to live their best lives. We want to understand how individuals, families, organizations and communities can best come together to get people with disabilities and their families the types of supports they need and want, when they need and want them.

    Over the course of our research, we conducted a document and literature review, alongside interviews and focus groups with people with disabilities, family members and formal disability support providers. We identified that family or friend caregivers often support a person they care for with a sense of love and commitment to a depth that is rare in formal support relationships.

    Unbound by professional obligations, safety standards or employer/funder priorities, these natural supporters can often be vocal advocates for the best interests of those they are supporting.

    However, sometimes finding and sustaining natural support in the community doesn’t come easily for people with disabilities and their families. In those instances, organizations and facilitators (formal supports), can help broker the creation and maintenance of natural support networks.

    Community organizations offering formal supports and supporting the creation and maintenance of natural supports can sometimes be beholden to funder obligations. This can limit the flexibility and adaptability required to best meet the needs of those they support.

    Additionally, organizations are often constrained by safety considerations, aversion to risk or the challenges posed by overly bureaucratic systems. Sometimes, this can mean the support provided to a person or family does not directly respond to what the individual or family needs. Even more frustrating is that waiting times can be so long to access formal supports that identified needs or priorities change in the meantime.

    Sometimes, finding and sustaining natural support in the community doesn’t come easily for people with disabilities and their families.
    (Shutterstock)

    CCCE’s caregiving strategy

    The CCCE strategy is a recognition that care work makes all other work possible. It echoes our research findings that both paid and unpaid caregivers need financial support as well as targeted programs and services.

    The strategy calls upon the Canadian government to make caregiving a priority while ensuring a sustainable care provider workforce.

    Supports are also a provincial issue. For example, in Ontario, the Ministry for Children, Community and Social Services has published a framework that offers a long-term vision for transforming developmental services so people with developmental disabilities fully participate in their communities and are supported to live their lives.

    Care and support can also be a gender issue, given that in Canada and around the world the majority of both formal and informal support is being provided by women and girls.

    Missing perspectives

    Our research also highlighted a notable gap in the research landscape. Research on natural support in Canada is often not explicit about or does not incorporate understandings of natural support from the perspectives of Indigenous, Black, rural, LGBTQ+ and other marginalized groups.

    People belonging to these groups may have their own needs and experiences that relate to navigating natural and formal support systems in Canada. Future-focused research agendas into natural supports, such as those proposed in the CCCE strategy’s recommendations, must intentionally seek to understand support and care experiences from these perspectives.

    At the Global Disability Summit taking place this week in Berlin from April 2-3, we will join voices from around the world to call on national leaders and decision-makers to ensure disability policies translate into tangible actions and inclusive practices.

    Our research shows the deep, important impact of federal and provincial policy and funding both for formal and natural supports to flourish. With a federal election on the horizon, Canadians can call on their governments to improve support for caregivers, ensure support systems are in place and flexible enough to respond to individual and family needs, and enable natural support networks to flourish.

    This is important, because the care we give to each other, regardless of age or ability, is what will sustain us as families.

    This article was co-authored by Donna Thomson, a caregiver, author and educator.

    Heather Aldersey receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Universities Canada, and the Mastercard Foundation.

    – ref. Governments must ensure caregivers have support to keep doing their vital work – https://theconversation.com/governments-must-ensure-caregivers-have-support-to-keep-doing-their-vital-work-249829

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Global: Violent attempt to set fire to Muslim woman in Ajax exposes persistent Islamophobia in Canada

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Nadiya N. Ali, Assistant Professor, Sociology, Trent University

    The National Council of Canadian Muslims’ senior advocacy officer Fatema Abdalla read the survivor’s statement about what happened at a news conference last week. ‘I don’t feel safe for my daughters,’ the statement reads, ‘all of whom wear hijab.’ NCCM/Instagram

    A 25-year-old woman recently attempted to set a Muslim woman on fire in Ajax, Ont.

    Afterwards, the survivor provided a statement, which was read for her at a news conference. In it, she described her visit to her “favourite quiet corner of the library” as ordinary and routine. This ordinary moment, however, turned nightmarish and extraordinary in an instant.

    According to the survivor, the attacker attempted to yank her hijab off. She hurled objects at her head, including scissors and a metal object. The attacker then poured an unknown liquid on her hijab and flicked her lighter several times, allegedly attempting to light the fabric ablaze. Library staff and security intervened before any more harm could take place.

    Afterwards, the survivor, a mother of two girls, explained that she’s unable to quell her terror. She said: “I can’t stop thinking: what if the lighter had worked? What if my hijab had caught fire?” But most of all, she’s terrified for her hijab-wearing daughters’ safety in public spaces.

    No one should feel unsafe in public spaces. However, for racialized people, public space in North America is fraught with heightened risks. It’s shaped by a deep undercurrent of white anxieties propping up the racial order of society.

    This incident is not an isolated act of violence. It is situated within a broader social climate that normalizes the policing of how racialized people “should” enter and occupy public spaces.

    We are two scholars and community organizers who have long been working on issues related to Islamophobia and racism. The traumatic event in Ajax highlights the persistent and deeply ingrained nature of gendered Islamophobia in Canada and beyond.

    Whether through horrific displays of public violence like this one, or legislative action like Bill 21 in Québec, the bodies of Muslim women have long been battlegrounds for white supremacist anxieties and ideologies.

    White panic

    While we don’t yet know the attacker’s affiliations or what inspired her to commit this act of terror, this incident echoes racist aspirations for “purity.”

    Racial anxiety about the inflow of multiple generations of Muslims is integral to the way Islamophobia channels white supremacist panic over the growing population of Muslims in Canada — and the attack in Ajax is no exception.

    White supremacist anxieties about demographic changes are articulated most clearly and directly in the “Great Replacement Theory” (and variations of it) that vilifies racialized people, asserting a drive to preserve “white innocence,” tied to eugenic fantasies of purifying North America and Europe.

    Muslims, in this racist ideology, figure as foreign invaders, a demographic threat and as “provocateurs” who are trying to overtake the white population through immigration and reproduction — or as some white supremacists call it, “baby Jihad.”

    The changing demographics of Ajax

    Over the past decade, Ajax — in Durham region east of Toronto — has seen significant demographic changes, with an overall growth rate of about 15 per cent. The town is home to more than 125,000 people and about 14 per cent of them are Muslim.

    The growth of Muslim communities is situated within a broader shift. A substantial portion of the population increase has been driven by a diverse group of racialized communities so that now, 65 per cent of the total population of Ajax would be considered racialized.

    The new population has infused new life to Ajax, and the Durham region more broadly. It seems, however, that not everyone is happy about this growth.

    Gendered Islamophobia

    The bodies of Muslim women have long been objectified, serving as a site where white racial anxieties are projected and enacted. Taken up as a sort of Trojan horse, their perceived ability to give birth and reproduce culture is weaponized against them. After all, they hold the power to propagate this “dangerous other,” and dislodge the order of whiteness.

    Jasmin Zine, a critical Muslim studies scholar, has used and developed the term “gendered Islamophobia” to explain the way the bodies and practices of Muslim women are produced as racial problems. Muslim women in public spaces are constructed as hazardous cultural contaminants, polluting the public square and threatening the purity of the (white) nation with their very existence.

    The responses to this perception of contamination take multiple forms. In Québec, for instance, Muslim women are being aggressively foreclosed from participation in public spaces and institutions with laws like Bill 21 and Bill 94.

    ‘Unprovoked attack:’ Racism in public life

    The Durham Police are calling this an “unprovoked attack.” But the provocation is precisely what needs to be named. Of course, the victim did not actively provoke the attacker. But it’s important to ask how our social arrangements prime and sustain the currents that produce Muslim women as provocations on sight.

    This phenomenon of “unprovoked” attacks on visibly Muslim women in public spaces is far too common in Canada. These have ranged from a devastating physical assault in a mall parking lot in Edmonton to a knife attack on the TTC in Toronto, the fatal act of terror in London, Ont. against a family simply taking a walk together to this recent attack in Ajax. Muslim women around the country are rightly asking if public spaces are safe for them.

    Racialized individuals must navigate what Black studies scholar George Lipsitz describes as “privileged moral geographies.”

    For instance, the frame of “disorderly conduct” often serves as a common tool to mark the “wrong ways” in which racialized individuals assert their presence in public settings. This includes the regulation of what foods are deemed appropriate for public consumption, the enforcement of norms around personal space, noise and loitering.

    The catch, however, is that when you are already racialized as a “cultural pollutant,” “conduct” merely fuels the racist climate that already marks you as an improper subject by sheer existence.

    Have another samosa?

    Standard sociological contact theory says greater exposure to diversity breeds opportunity for intergroup contact, which is presumed to foster tolerance.

    Canadians like to believe in our multicultural country — that another samosa party or heritage night is all we need to confront intolerance and prejudice.

    However, what contact theory frames get wrong is the assumption of the public as a neutral site of engagement where people all have equal access to participation.

    Public space is already and always infused with racial logic that neutralizes and naturalizes certain bodies while amplifying and bloating other bodies with objectifying scripts. This perpetually and always produces them as out of place — and as problems that disrupt the order of the public square.

    Until we confront the entrenched racialized ideas that govern public space, creating a landscape where some are seen as natural occupants while others are made alien, true inclusivity and safety will remain out of reach.

    Kaley-Ann Freier, age 25, of Ajax has been charged with assault with a weapon for the attack.

    Nadiya N. Ali has received funding from The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)

    Nadia Hasan receives research funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

    – ref. Violent attempt to set fire to Muslim woman in Ajax exposes persistent Islamophobia in Canada – https://theconversation.com/violent-attempt-to-set-fire-to-muslim-woman-in-ajax-exposes-persistent-islamophobia-in-canada-253002

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: New learning pathway to a career as a truck driver

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    Starting April 1, drivers are required to complete Class 1 driver’s licence training through the new made-in-Alberta Class 1 Learning Pathway, which uses a flexible, apprenticeship-style approach to training. The complete Class 1 Learning Pathway includes up to 133 hours of instruction, including air brake training, offering more hands-on skills and safety training than the former 113-hour Mandatory Entry Level Training Program. Enhanced in-cab training will provide learners with more hands-on experience and practical, competency-based learning.

    Budget 2025, if passed, invests $54.1 million over three years in the Class 1 Learning Pathway grant program to support training and transferability, and to attract and retain new commercial drivers in Alberta. The new grant program uses an employer-driven and industry-led model that will help employers invest in their workforce and build capacity in the transportation industry to address challenges related to the commercial driver shortage in the province.

    “Alberta needs more truck drivers. With this historic investment, we are ensuring Albertans get the training they need to become highly skilled commercial drivers, increasing safety on our roads, and helping them build long-lasting careers.”

    Devin Dreeshen, Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors

    “Alberta relies on its commercial truckers to deliver goods from one corner of the province to the other, representing a crucial component of our economy. This investment will ensure that Alberta continues to attract and retain reliable, safe and educated commercial truckers that have the right training and skills to continue driving our province forward.”

    Rick Wilson, MLA for Maskwacis-Wetaskiwin

    The competency-based Class 1 training includes content specific to the unique terrain, weather, cargo and equipment in Alberta’s commercial driving industry. Safety, wellness and responsibility are also foundational to the new Class 1 training curriculum, with additional content focused on personal health and well-being, workplace safety and incident response.

    The Class 1 Learning Pathway also focuses on improving safety on Alberta’s roads through enhanced accountability to increase consistency in how licensed driver training schools, carriers, instructors and examiners meet training, examination and operational standards. The new accountability framework includes oversight measures, as well as a progressive discipline policy for cases where one of these entities is not providing training to an acceptable standard. 

    “The new learning pathway will not only develop new Class 1 drivers but also strengthen industry-specific training, preparing them for diverse employment opportunities. Equipping drivers with the skills needed for Alberta’s transportation demands, this program will support a more resilient commercial driving workforce.”

    Darryl Addison, general manager, SATO Canada Inc.

    “The new Class 1 Learning Pathway establishes a clear path for those new to the industry to receive regulatory and employable skill training that leads them to economically secure commercial driving careers. As a result, this pathway will help put more women behind the wheel, helping ensure Alberta’s economy keeps rolling. Women Building Futures is grateful for the government’s collaborative approach in the pathway design and looks forward to a continued partnership.”

    Carol Moen, president and CEO, Women Building Futures

    A total of $30 million over three years is allocated for the Employment Pathway Grant which provides funding for eligible employers in the commercial driving industry to cover the costs of training and onboarding for new and future Class 1 drivers, leading to the direct employment of new Class 1 drivers in Alberta’s commercial transportation industry.

    The Industry Advancement Grant will provide $24.1 million over three years in funding for eligible projects from organizations in the commercial transportation industry to support industry-driven solutions to increase employment, attraction and retention. These projects will provide solutions while improving employer hiring practices and building partnerships with Indigenous communities. This funding also includes $1.5 million over three years for education grants to support Class 2 and Class 4 school bus driver competencies.

    “Alberta’s new Class 1 Learning Pathway and grant program mark a significant step forward for the province’s commercial transportation industry. This is a great opportunity for Alberta to develop a highly skilled workforce, create jobs and enhance road safety while making commercial driving more accessible and affordable.”

    Carmela Gennaro, president/general manager, Gennaro Transport Training, Gennaro Express Lines Ltd.

    “Alberta is an economic engine in this country, and our economy depends on the safe, efficient delivery of goods. Through this enhanced focus on training, oversight and improved road safety, the province is taking an important step forward to ensure the commercial trucking sector will thrive and grow. The additional financial support for new commercial drivers will help incentivize employment and create new opportunities for drivers in this important profession.”

    Tim Morrison, director of government relations western and pacific, Insurance Bureau of Canada

    Additionally, Alberta’s government is increasing access to training and testing for Class 1 commercial drivers’ licences and Class 6 motorcycle drivers’ licences through a reciprocal agreement with the Northwest Territories. The agreement allows for reciprocal training and testing for Class 1 (including air brake) and Class 6 drivers’ licences starting April 1, 2025. Northwest Territories residents who take Class 1 driver training and testing in Alberta will also be licensed in the Northwest Territories. Albertans can also take Class 1 driver training and testing in the Northwest Territories and be licensed in Alberta.

    Budget 2025 is meeting the challenge faced by Alberta with continued investments in education and health, lower taxes for families and a focus on the economy.

    Quick facts

    • Application intake for the Employment Pathway Grant will open on April 1. This program will:
      • reimburse eligible employers for up to $10,000 for their training costs for new Class 1 drivers
      • offer an onboarding incentive of up to $10,000 for hiring new Class 1 drivers with less than two years of experience in a Class 1 driving position
      • provide an additional $5,000 for Class 1 driver professional development to ensure Alberta’s commercial drivers are the best on the road
    • The Industry Advancement Grant launches April 15, with the 2025 call for expressions of interest closing May 16.  
      • Eligible industry projects targeting Class 3 commercial driving are included in this grant stream as Class 1 drivers often begin their careers driving Class 3 trucks (vehicles which have three or more axles).
      • An education grant of $500,000 is included in this program to support Class 2 and 4 school bus driver competencies.
    • There are more than 149,000 licensed Class 1 drivers in Alberta, yet only 31 per cent are employed as truck drivers.
    • According to Statistics Canada, there are 4,260 commercial truck driver vacancies in Alberta (Quarter 3, 2023) which accounts for 20 per cent of the vacancies in Canada.
    • As of the end of January 2025, we have 19,431 commercial carriers:
      • operating federally: 6,782
      • operating only in Alberta: 12,649

    Related information

    • Class 1 Learning Pathway

    Related news

    • New learning pathway for Class 1 drivers (March 27, 2024)

    Multimedia

    • Watch the news conference

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: SIRT Concludes Investigation into in Custody Death in Wilkie

    Source: Government of Canada regional news

    Released on March 31, 2025

    On December 6, 2023, the Saskatchewan Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) was notified of an in-custody death at the Wilkie RCMP Detachment. SIRT’s Civilian Executive Director accepted the notification as within SIRT’s mandate and directed SIRT to investigate. 

    SIRT has completed its investigation into this matter and the Civilian Executive Director’s public report can now be accessed online:

    publications.saskatchewan.ca/api/v1/products/125884/formats/147330/download.

    SIRT’s mandate is to independently investigate incidents where an individual has died or suffered serious injury arising from the actions of on and off-duty police officers, or while in the custody of police, as well as allegations of sexual assault or interpersonal violence involving police.

    For additional information:
    SIRT Investigates Death at Wilkie RCMP Detachment | News and Media | Government of Saskatchewan.

    -30-

    For more information, contact:

    Kerri Ward Davis 
    Justice and Attorney General
    Regina
    Phone: 306-787-8621
    Email: jumedia@gov.sk.ca

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Global: How to talk to children about the Canada-U.S. tensions

    Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Jean-François Bureau, Professor, School of Psychology, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa

    Mainstream public discourse in the first months of 2025 have been dominated by tensions between Canada and United States. These include references to Canada becoming annexed as the 51st American state and the trade war, with threats and the application of tariffs by the U.S. and counter-tariffs by Canada.

    While this political climate brings uncertainty at an international level, it comes with fear of job loss for many Canadians at a time when the cost of living is already straining many families’ finances.



    Read more:
    Canadians are feeling increasingly powerless amid economic struggles and rising inequality

    These topics may appear to be concerns for adults, but children may also feel the effects. As psychology researchers studying parent-child relationships and child mental health, we believe it is important to consider children’s potential fears and anxiety in the current political climate.

    Here, we explain why it’s important to address this topic with children, and how parents can do so in a reassuring and informative manner.

    Children’s concerns and emotions

    While the economy and politics could seem like topics that children would not really care about, recent research suggests that many children and youth actually worry about these topics.

    Back in 2020, American parents of children aged six to 17 years old were asked to rate their child’s anxiety about political news, in terms of voting issues covered in media since the 2016 election. According to the study by psychology researcher Nicole E. Caporino and colleagues, 36 per cent of children worried about the U.S. getting into war, and 37 per cent worried about their family’s finances.

    Studies suggest children worry about issues affecting their families.
    (Shutterstock)

    Similarly, studies elsewhere suggest children and youth worry about issues affecting their families. Based on these numbers, we can assume that many Canadian children also worry about the current Canada-U.S. political climate.

    Of course, it’s worth remembering not all families experience political and economic events in the same way. For example, children whose families face economic precarity are likely already living with stressors affecting their households like unemployment or food insecurity. Current tensions may also exacerbate children’s existing concerns.

    Given that children may be concerned and worried, some parents may intuitively seek to avoid the topic with children to avoid provoking more distress. However, discussing a stressful event can actually decrease the distress felt towards it.

    When children are able to talk about what concerns them with their parents, they learn important emotional regulation and coping skills. For example, they learn how to identify and understand their emotions, and how to regulate those emotions. Discussions between parents and children also help foster a climate of trust, in which children feel like they can rely on their parents in moments of need.

    Noticing, tackling children’s anxiety and fears

    Children may not always have the words to articulate their concerns in the same way that adults do. Parents should watch for anxiety symptoms in their children, which may manifest in various ways, including having mood changes, being more irritable or sad, having difficulty sleeping, being more clingy than usual, or withdrawing from activities. There are also signs that may be harder to spot.

    We present five ways to address the situation with your children:

    1. Use direct questions to understand how children feel. Direct questions can help understand how children feel. For example, you may ask: “What have you heard about what’s happening?” or “How do you feel about it?” These questions can help understand what specifically is scary to them.

    Children could be worried about no longer seeing family in the U.S., or some may even fear a military clash.
    (Shutterstock)

    This is especially important given that children tend to worry about different things than adults. For example, younger children with family in the U.S. may worry they will no longer be able to see their family members anymore. Older children may be worried about a parent losing a job, the country’s economic instability or environmental impacts. Some children may even fear a military clash.

    2. Be sensitive to how the conflict is presented. In the media, it is common to refer to the diplomatic and economic tensions as a “trade war.” While adults understand that trade wars do not involve military attacks, this concept is much more abstract for children.

    Hearing the word “war” may trigger difficult images for them, including armed soldiers, weapons and devastation. This is especially true for children with lived experience of war, political conflict or displacement.



    Read more:
    Coronavirus isn’t the end of ‘childhood innocence,’ but an opportunity to rethink children’s rights

    It’s important to reframe the conflict in ways that children can understand. For example, parents can compare the conflict between two children. Parents might say: “You know when there are two children upset with each other at school, and they have a big disagreement. Sometimes it can take a lot of time to find a solution that works for everyone. The conflict between Canada and the U.S. is a bit like that. It could take a lot of time and trouble to find a solution.”

    3. Avoid misinformation. When discussing these topics, parents should seek to clarify any misinformation and provide reassurance. They should also help ensure children receive information from credible sources rather than social media or peers, who may sensationalize or misinterpret events. Providing factual but age-appropriate explanations is a key ingredient in mitigating fear and uncertainty.

    4. Focus on co-operation and opportunities instead of boycotting.

    Many Canadian families are choosing to boycott American products. In order to ease the emotional burden on children, it can be helpful to reframe the boycott as an opportunity for co-operation. For instance, parents can highlight how they are trying to support local businesses.

    Similarly, for families with resources to travel, changes in travel plans can be framed as a way to discover new places. A parent might frame it as: “This year, instead of going to the beach, we’re going to be exploring some incredible places closer to home. We’re going to have so much fun trying new things!” This approach creates curiosity and control, not anxiety. It can also be beneficial for children’s development to learn to be more flexible with change.



    Read more:
    When Canadian snowbirds don’t flock south, the costs are more than financial

    5. Create a sense of normalcy and routine. As important as it is to validate children’s fears, it is equally important to help them maintain a sense of normalcy. Families should strive to balance discussions about the trade war and its potential ramifications with more light, mundane topics. Similarly, limiting the time that children watch the news or when it is audible can help limit further concerns from developing.

    Routines are also beneficial for children’s development and well-being. Maintaining a predictable schedule, such as a bedtime routine, can help children feel safe and less anxious. Focus on adding fun and soothing activities to the daily routine. This lets children know life goes on.

    Navigating turbulent times

    As the trade war with the U.S. plays out, parents should consider how it may impact their children’s emotions and sense of safety. Even serious conflicts such as this one don’t last forever, and solutions will come.

    In the meantime, parents can help children cope with these challenging times by offering age-appropriate explanations and encouraging resilience.

    Jean-François Bureau receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and the Consortium National de Formation en Santé.

    Audrey-Ann Deneault receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and the Centre de recherche universitaire sur les jeunes et les familles.

    – ref. How to talk to children about the Canada-U.S. tensions – https://theconversation.com/how-to-talk-to-children-about-the-canada-u-s-tensions-252435

    MIL OSI – Global Reports –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Strengthening rural health care facilities

    [.

    To further these goals, Budget 2025’s new Rural Hospital Enhancement Program will improve rural health care facilities to better address rural health challenges and provide greater access to essential health services. If passed, Budget 2025 will provide $15 million to support project planning, which includes conducting facility and functional assessments of rural hospitals to determine what capital planning solutions and services are required to maximize each facility’s potential and better meet the needs of rural communities.

    “Rural Albertans should be able to access the health care services they need close to home. The new Rural Hospital Enhancement Program will ensure we are continuing to make data-driven decisions, and that resources are being appropriately deployed to address the areas with the greatest need.”

    Adriana LaGrange, Minister of Health

    Once project plans for each facility are developed, they will be used to inform future capital planning discussions and funding decisions for new projects. This program will expedite the time between planning and construction, so projects are completed sooner to support rural communities.

    “As an MLA from rural Alberta, I know first-hand how important it is to have access to high-quality health care facilities close to home. This investment in projects in rural communities across Alberta will enhance care and strengthen our communities. I cannot wait to get to work on these critical projects.”

    Martin Long, Minister of Infrastructure

    Alberta’s government is also supporting existing capital programs and projects that will maximize the potential of rural health care facilities and enhance health care for rural Albertans. These investments will ensure that rural patients can receive care in the communities where they reside, reducing the need for long-distance travel to urban centres for essential medical services. By enhancing infrastructure and expanding services, the province aims to improve access to timely and high-quality care. These efforts will help alleviate pressure on larger hospitals and support the overall well-being of Albertans living outside major cities.

    “Our government is investing in health facilities and programs to ensure we are meeting the needs of rural Albertans. This includes much-needed planning funds to replace the Cardston Health Centre, one of the oldest health facilities in the province.”

    Justin Wright, parliamentary secretary for rural health (south)

    Through Budget 2025, Alberta’s government is continuing to support capital projects that will deliver value to and maximize benefits for rural Albertans. These projects include:

    • $25 million to complete projects approved under the Rural Health Facilities Revitalization Program
    • $20 million in planning funds for primary care centres in rural, remote and Indigenous communities
    • $80 million to develop the La Crete Maternity and Community Health Centre
    • $1 million in planning funds for the Cardston Health Centre
    • $18 million to fund furnishings, equipment and information technology infrastructure for the Mountview Health Complex in Beaverlodge
    • $170 million in capital lease costs for the Mountview facility

    “More Albertans are choosing to live in rural communities, and we’re improving their access to health care services while planning for the future. We’re making major investments in northern Alberta, including in La Crete and Beaverlodge where residents travel too far to access care.”

    Ron Wiebe, parliamentary secretary for rural health (north)

    “Budget 2025 enables Covenant to continue partnering with the Alberta government in refocusing the health care system. We are grateful for the opportunity to develop plans to complete capital projects at our rural facilities and expand access to quality health care for every Albertan.”

    Patrick Dumelie, CEO, Covenant

    Through Budget 2025, Alberta’s government will continue to improve health care facilities across the province to ensure that all Albertans can get the care they need, when and where they need it.

    Budget 2025 is meeting the challenge faced by Alberta with continued investments in education and health, lower taxes for families and a focus on the economy.

    Quick facts

    • More than 18 per cent of Albertans live in rural and remote communities.
      • Alberta’s rural population is expected to grow by 20 per cent, from 1.06 million in 2023 to 1.27 million by 2051.
    • The first phase of planning under the Rural Hospital Enhancement Program will evaluate 20 facilities across the province:
      • Myron Thompson Health Centre in Sundre
      • Whitecourt Healthcare Centre
      • Brooks Health Centre
      • Hinton Healthcare Centre
      • William J. Cadzow – Lac La Biche Healthcare Centre
      • St. Joseph’s General Hospital in Vegreville
      • Drumheller Health Centre
      • Slave Lake Healthcare Centre
      • Edson Healthcare Centre
      • Killam Health Care Centre
      • Drayton Valley Hospital and Care Centre
      • Pincher Creek Health Centre
      • Athabasca Healthcare Centre
      • Valleyview Health Centre
      • Barrhead Healthcare Centre
      • Northwest Health Centre in High Level
      • Peace River Community Health Centre
      • Central Peace Health Complex in Spirit River
      • Lacombe Hospital and Care Centre
      • Milk River Health Centre
    • The Rural Health Facilities Revitalization Program was created in 2021 with total funding of $140 million to execute 44 projects in rural communities across the province.
      • The $25 million in 2025-26 will complete the remaining projects being supported by this program.

    Related information

    • Budget 2025 Capital Plan
    • Rural Health Action Plan

    Related news

    • Refocusing emergency services (March 10, 2025)
    • Budget 2025: Increasing hospital capacity | Budget de 2025 : Augmenter la capacité d’hospitalisation | alberta.ca (March 6, 2025)
    • Delivering care close to home in La Crete (Feb. 25, 2025)
    • Enhancing health care services in Beaverlodge (Nov. 25, 2024)
    • Improving health care in rural and remote Alberta (Oct. 3, 2024)

    Multimedia

    • Watch the news conference

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Saskatchewan Contributes $100,000 to the Queen Elizabeth Scholars Program

    Source: Government of Canada regional news

    Released on March 31, 2025

    The Government of Saskatchewan is investing in the next generation of global leaders by contributing $100,000 to the Queen Elizabeth Scholars program. This funding will support educational exchange opportunities and real-world experiences for students.

    “Our government is proud to invest in initiatives that support a strong and collaborative global community and enhance opportunities for our students,” Advanced Education Minister Ken Cheveldayoff said. “This program provides valuable research-based global education and leadership experiences that will benefit Saskatchewan students, post-secondary institutions and communities.”

    The Queen Elizabeth Scholars program is led by the Rideau Hall Foundation in collaboration with Universities Canada. It provides funding for students to participate in educational exchange programs, offering them the opportunity to gain invaluable experiences that will help shape their futures as global leaders.

    Approximately 227 students from the University of Regina and University of Saskatchewan have benefited from the program since its inception in 2012. 

    “We are honoured to have the Province of Saskatchewan invest in the Queen Elizabeth Scholars program,” Rideau Hall Foundation President and CEO Teresa Marques said. “This investment means more students from the province’s colleges and universities will benefit from global learning experiences, while attracting talent from abroad into Saskatchewan as well – all of which positions the province for success in the global economy.”

    For more information on the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship, including how to apply, visit: https://queenelizabethscholars.ca/.

    -30-

    For more information, contact:

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI: Momentum launches new DEX on Sui with major trading competition

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    SAN FRANCISCO, March 31, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Momentum has emerged from stealth mode to launch the world’s first ve(3,3) decentralized exchange (DEX) combined with a token launch platform on the Sui blockchain.

    Inspired by the success of Aerodrome and purpose-built to turbocharge the growth of Sui, Momentum’s ve(3,3) DEX will leverage the $500M total value locked (TVL) in Momentum’s multi-signature liquidity layer to drive the next wave of DeFi innovation and user adoption. Trading is now live on https://app.mmt.finance/, with greater volume and liquidity set to coincide with the launch of an upcoming LFG Ramp-Up Liquidity Phase and WAGMI Trading Competition. (details below).

    Unlike traditional DEX models that prioritize liquidity providers, the ve(3,3) tokenomics model ensures perfect alignment among all stakeholders – liquidity providers, traders, and protocols – by structuring incentives so that 100% of emissions, trading fees, and rewards flow directly to Momentum users creating a flywheel effect.

    “We believe Sui is now entering a hyperbolic growth phase driven by BTCFi,” says Momentum CEO and co-founder ChefWEN (@ChefMMT_X), a founding engineer of Meta’s Libra project. “Momentum is excited to kick off the new phase of DeFi on Sui. Traders and liquidity providers will soon gain access to the lowest fees and highest APRs, powered by the ve(3,3) liquidity model.”

    The ve(3,3) system was created to align incentives so that all participants benefit:

    • Protocols boost liquidity and optimize APR by offering token incentives
    • Voters receive 100% of trading fees and bribes
    • Liquidity providers earn 100% of MMT emissions
    • Traders enjoy lower trading fees and reduced slippage

    Positioned as a cornerstone Sui ecosystem public good, Momentum’s launch of the ve(3,3) DEX will make on-chain trading more accessible to traders, retail investors, and institutions seeking deeper liquidity, less slippage and lower fees for superior user experience.

    Sui’s on-chain TVL has soared to over $2.08 billion between December 1, 2023, and January 5, 2025 — reflecting an impressive 1,261% growth in just 13 months. This explosive momentum is supported by a growing ecosystem of stablecoin integrations, including Agora USD (AUSD), First Digital USD (FDUSD), and Ondo Finance (USDY). Notably, Momentum is responsible for minting 100% of the supply for these stablecoins on the Sui blockchain, positioning it as a key infrastructure player. As DeFi on Sui accelerates, Momentum is poised to lead the next wave of adoption and liquidity expansion across the ecosystem.

    To accelerate the DEX debut, the LFG Ramp-Up Liquidity Phase launches on 31 Mar with a target of $50M TVL, followed by a 12 weeks WAGMI Trading Competition. Backed by key liquidity providers from Momentum’s investor networks, as well as protocols integrated with Momentum’s multi-sig solutions, the competition will reward early adopters with veMMT based on trading volume and liquidity provisioning ahead of the Token Generation Event (TGE).

    Over the past two years, Momentum has forged deep ties with Sui ecosystem partners, collaborating with the Sui Foundation, Agora Finance, AlphaFi, Bluefin, Bucket Protocol, Cetus Protocol, First Digital, Navi Protocol, Ondo Finance, Scallop, SpringSui, Suilend, Turbos Finance, Volo and more.

    In a recent strategic funding round led by Varys Capital, Momentum received support from well known institutional investors bringing the total raise to $10M, among them Coinbase Ventures, Circle Ventures, Sui Foundation, Aptos Foundation, Gate Ventures, Amber Group, Selini Capital, Jump, Arcanum Capital, WAGMI Ventures, DeWhales, MonkeVentures and Mysten Labs’ cofounder Adeniyi Abiodun.

    “The Sui ecosystem is at an inflection point, and we see Momentum as a key player in pushing its adoption forward,” said Darius Askaripour, Managing Partner at Varys Capital. “Their work is building the foundation for transparent liquidity mechanisms, allowing markets to be more accessible and fluid, and we’re thrilled to support them in this journey.”

    Varys Capital’s latest fund is backed by MBS Global, the family office for H.H. Sheikh Nayef Bin Eid Al Thani of Qatar’s ruling royal family, and Aquanow Ventures, Canada’s most prominent digital integration provider.

    About Momentum

    Momentum is the leading Move Central Liquidity Engine with solutions including Multi-Sig Treasury Management, Token Vesting, and Liquidity Provisioning. With over 35,000 active wallets, $500M in Total Value Locked (TVL), and $1.8B in Transaction Volume, Momentum is set to redefine the landscape with the launch of the first Move ve(3,3) DEX. Momentum was co-founded by ChefWEN (@ChefMMT_X), one of the founding engineers contributing to the Libra project at Meta.

    About Sui

    Sui is a first-of-its-kind Layer 1 blockchain and smart contract platform designed from the ground up to make digital asset ownership fast, private, secure, and accessible to everyone. Its object-centric model, based on the Move programming language, enables parallel execution, sub-second finality, and rich on-chain assets. With horizontally scalable processing and storage, Sui supports a wide range of applications with unrivaled speed at low cost. Sui is a step-function advancement in blockchain and a platform on which creators and developers can build amazing user-friendly experiences.

    For more information about Sui, please visit https://sui.io.

    For more information about Momentum, visit: Website | X | Linkedin | Telegram

    For media inquiries, please contact: team@mmt.finace and media@sui.io.

    Disclaimer: This press release is provided by Momentum. The statements, views, and opinions expressed in this content are solely those of the content provider and do not necessarily reflect the views of this media platform or its publisher. We do not endorse, verify, or guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any information presented. This content is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial, investment, or trading advice. Investing in crypto and mining related opportunities involves significant risks, including the potential loss of capital. Readers are strongly encouraged to conduct their own research and consult with a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions. However, due to the inherently speculative nature of the blockchain sector–including cryptocurrency, NFTs, and mining–complete accuracy cannot always be guaranteed. Neither the media platform nor the publisher shall be held responsible for any fraudulent activities, misrepresentations, or financial losses arising from the content of this press release.Speculate only with funds that you can afford to lose.Neither the media platform nor the publisher shall be held responsible for any fraudulent activities, misrepresentations, or financial losses arising from the content of this press release. In the event of any legal claims or charges against this article, we accept no liability or responsibility.

    Legal Disclaimer: This media platform provides the content of this article on an “as-is” basis, without any warranties or representations of any kind, express or implied. We do not assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information presented herein. Any concerns, complaints, or copyright issues related to this article should be directed to the content provider mentioned above.

    A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2395ab7f-3801-4ed8-95ee-a72bda67d298

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Lower Ship Harbour — RCMP seeking information about hate motivated crime in Lower Ship Harbour

    Source: Royal Canadian Mounted Police

    RCMP Halifax Regional Detachment is investigating hate motived crime that occurred at a property in Lower Ship Harbour.

    On March 25, at approximately 11:10 a.m., RCMP Halifax Regional Detachment received a report of mischief at a residential property on West Ship Harbour Rd. RCMP officers learned that a Pride flag and an Every Child Matters flag located at the end of a driveway had been vandalized sometime the previous day.

    The mischief is considered to have been motivated by hate based on race, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression.

    Investigators are asking for the public’s assistance to identify a person of interest who has grey hair and was wearing a black jacket, black pants and grey shoes at the time of the incident.

    The RCMP takes incidents of hate with the utmost seriousness and condemns these criminal acts.

    The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information about this incident, or who can identify the person of interest, is asked to contact police at 902-490-5020. To remain anonymous, call Nova Scotia Crime Stoppers, toll-free, at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), submit a secure web tip at www.crimestoppers.ns.ca, or use the P3 Tips app.

    File #: 25-40728

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI: Middlefield Canadian Income PCC – Notice of AGM

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    Middlefield Canadian Income PCC (the “Company”)
    Including Middlefield Canadian Income – GBP PC (the “Fund”), a cell of the Company
    Registered No:  93546
    Legal Entity Identifier: 2138007ENW3JEJXC8658

    NOTICES OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGS

    In accordance with Listing Rule LR 6.4.1 the Company has submitted notices of the Company’s and Fund’s AGMs to be held on Thursday, 19 June 2025 at 11.30 a.m. onwards, to the National Storage Mechanism and they will shortly be available for inspection at https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism

    The notices are also available from the ‘Trust Documents’ section of the Company’s website:
    https://middlefield.com/funds/uk-funds/middlefield-canadian-income-trust/

    Hard copies of the notices and forms of proxy for use at the AGM will be posted to all shareholders, together with hard copies of the Company’s annual financial report, the publication of which was announced on 25 March 2025.

    Enquiries:

    JTC Fund Solutions (Jersey) Limited
    Secretary
    Tel.: 01534 700000

    Dean Orrico
    President
    Middlefield International Limited
    Tel.: 01203 7094016

    END OF ANNOUNCEMENT

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-OSI USA News: ONDCP Recognizes Law Enforcement’s Work to Stop Drug Traffickers

    Source: The White House

    class=”wp-block-heading has-text-align-center”>National High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Awards Ceremony Recognizes Excellence Across 14 Key Categories

    Washington, D.C.—Last night, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) recognized individuals and initiatives of the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) Program at the 2025 National HIDTA Awards Ceremony for their critical work to combat the national security threat posed by drug traffickers, including those who traffic deadly illicit fentanyl in the United States, killing tens of thousands of Americans each year.  

    The Trump Administration is taking the fight to the cartels and drug traffickers in order to save American lives. The HIDTA Program plays a key role in disrupting and dismantling drug trafficking organizations and provides assistance to federal, state, local, Tribal, and territorial law enforcement agencies operating in areas determined to be critical drug trafficking regions across all 50 states. Last year, the 33 HIDTAs seized 4.1 million pounds of fentanyl and other drugs and denied drug traffickers $17.7 billion in illicit profits. For every dollar invested in the HIDTA Program, the American people get $68.07 in benefits, making HIDTA an effective and efficient use of taxpayers’ money, and an important tool in the nation’s effort to stop drug traffickers and save American lives.  

    The following awards were presented March 27 to individuals and initiatives of the HIDTA Program for their efforts to reduce the supply and trafficking of dangerous drugs in communities across the country: 

    INVESTIGATIVE COLLABORATION

    Chicago HIDTA, Chicago HIDTA Counternarcotics and Cryptocurrency Task Force

    Created to identify, disrupt, and dismantle transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), the Chicago HIDTA Counternarcotics and Cryptocurrency Task Force (CNCTF) targeted one of the largest, fastest-growing dark net markets in the world – Nemesis Market. This marketplace facilitated drug trafficking, fraud, hacking, and other illicit activities responsible for more than $20 million in illicit transactions to more than 150,000 registered users around the world. Led by DEA and comprising an array of federal and local partners, CNCTF undertook Operation Keyboard Warrior, which received designation by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF). In March 2024, CNCTF, working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the German Bundescriminalamt, disrupted Nemesis Market by executing simultaneous, multinational search and seizure warrants on critical technological infrastructure. The warrants resulted in nearly $1 million in frozen and seized cryptocurrency-related assets, twelve computer servers, various electronic devices, and terabytes of data containing financial records and personal information of more than 1,000 vendors trafficking in drugs and engaging in fraud, hacking, and forgeries on the marketplace. CNCTF leveraged this information to effect arrests and warrants in eight U.S. federal districts, and provided investigative leads to foreign law enforcement counterparts in multiple countries using international treaty-based disclosure agreements that were novel to cyber cases.

    PROSECUTION

    South Florida HIDTA, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kevin Gerarde and Sean McLaughlin

    With the support of the South Florida HIDTA and assistance from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Assistant United States Attorneys (AUSAs) Kevin Gerarde and Sean McLaughlin secured a jury verdict against the Premier of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) for drug trafficking. Andrew Fahie, who was elected as the Premier in 2019, was accused of assisting the Sinaloa Cartel in transporting loads of cocaine weighing three metric tons from the coast of Colombia through the BVI en route to the United States for distribution. In exchange for his assistance, Fahie allegedly received a 12 percent cut of the proceeds when the cocaine was sold in the United States. After an extensive undercover operation conducted with the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency and the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force, DEA arrested Fahie. In prosecuting Fahie, AUSAs Gerarde and McLaughlin overcame a variety of evidentiary challenges, including United Kingdom and BVI foreign law determinations regarding the applicability of U.S. money laundering statutes. On February 8, 2024, the jury returned a verdict finding Fahie guilty on all counts, and he was subsequently sentenced to 135 months imprisonment.

    PUBLIC HEALTH/PUBLIC SAFETY COLLABORATION

    Texoma HIDTA, Caprock Drug Initiative

    The Texoma HIDTA’s Caprock Initiative launched a program at the behest of local officials to address alarming increases in fentanyl overdoses in and around Lubbock, Texas. Since its inception, the program has reached nearly 26 thousand individuals from all walks of life. Undertaken with substantial support from the United States Attorney’s Office, the Texas Anti-Gang Center, and the Lubbock County District Attorney’s Office, the program has become the most requested fentanyl awareness presentation in the South Plains region. It has been presented to numerous local schools, including to the Texas Tech football team. The program provides candid, factual information from people in recovery, overdose survivors, and families of overdose victims. It is credited with raising public awareness and contributing to a reduction in overdoses in the region.

    HIDTA SUPPORT

    Atlanta Carolinas HIDTA, Lydia Sheffield

    Lydia Sheffield has served the Atlanta Carolinas HIDTA for two decades, providing continuity with her outstanding support to three executive directors. In addition to her myriad duties as the Executive Assistant, Ms. Sheffield is the primary Performance Management Process (PMP) Coordinator for the HIDTA, and has established herself as an expert user of PMP. In that role, she has generously provided training to PMP users from multiple other regional HIDTAs at the behest of the National HIDTA Assistance Center and to National HIDTA Program staff. Ms. Sheffield has drawn upon her own background and experience as a skilled trainer to develop curriculum materials to support trainings to both peer PMP coordinators and initiative commanders across the United States.

    INVESTIGATION INVOLVING INNOVATIVE APPROACHES

    Gulf Coast HIDTA, Mobile Baldwin Major Investigations Team

    In 2023, the Mobile Baldwin Major Investigations Team (MBMIT) began investigating a deactivated DEA confidential source who was coordinating large shipments of methamphetamine, fentanyl, and cocaine from Texas and Georgia into the Mobile, Alabama area. Because the former source was familiar with law enforcement communication and investigative techniques and was still being used by local law enforcement agencies, the source was emboldened to conduct illicit drug-related transactions via an end-to-end encrypted phone app. MBMIT agents successfully executed a search warrant to clone the source’s phone and initiated real-time Title III intercepts of the encrypted app. This was the first time an end-to-end encryption application was successfully intercepted in the New Orleans Division and only the third time this type of intercept had been conducted worldwide within DEA. The success of this investigative technique enabled 120 electronic and voice Title III intercepts resulting in 24 state and federal arrests, the seizure of 19 kilograms of cocaine and 20 kilograms of methamphetamine, and the seizure of over $500,000 in cash, jewelry, and vehicles. Additionally, these intercepts lead to the identification and follow-on investigation of regional drug traffickers in the United States with links to multiple Mexican TCOs.

    INTELLIGENCE AND INFORMATION SHARING

    Nevada HIDTA, Investigative Research Assistant Phillip Scichilone

    In early 2024, the Nevada Highway Patrol received a tip regarding a suspicious trucking company suspected of transporting illicit drugs from northern Nevada across the county, and subsequently passed the tip to Investigative Research Assistant Phillip Scichilone. Mr. Scichilone provided Northern Nevada Interdiction Task Force members with key intelligence related to the travel patterns of the vehicle involved, suspicious financial activity of the trucking company, and identification of the suspected owner and driver of the vehicle. The task force used this information to interdict the vehicle involved, resulting in the seizure of approximately $1 million and the identification of the driver and passenger, who were suspected of being linked to a known terrorist organization. After conducting follow-up analysis linking the suspects to out-of-state DEA and FBI investigations, Mr. Scichilone connected representatives of both agencies to deconflict and share information and then worked with both agencies to pass on key intelligence information.

    INTERDICTION

    New England HIDTA, Greater Boston HIDTA Task Force

    The Greater Boston HIDTA Task Force, co-led by the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), initiated an investigation targeting a California-based drug trafficking organization (DTO) involved in large-scale illicit drug smuggling, distribution, and transportation from the Southwest Border to destinations throughout the United States and Canada. The initial phase of this ongoing investigation resulted in the disruption of a large-scale criminal enterprise with two arrests and the interdiction of 32 kilograms of methamphetamine and 490 kilograms of cocaine from a tractor trailer that traveled cross country to meet with undercover law enforcement agents in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts State Police have claimed this to be the largest seizure of narcotics from a tractor trailer in New England history, and the ongoing investigation has wide-ranging impact on DTO operations in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

    INVESTIGATION INVOLVING A VIOLENT ORGANIZATION

    Texoma HIDTA, ATF Oklahoma City Violent Crime Initiative

    The ATF Oklahoma City Violent Crime Initiative led interagency Operation Sonic Boom that used information from the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) to overlay maps of Oklahoma City with shooting incidents to identify critical, high gun violence areas to deploy additional resources. In a 60-day operation, ATF Confidential Sources and Undercover Agents conducted 117 undercover firearm purchases that led to the indictment of 64 defendants and the seizure of 110 firearms, 83 machinegun conversion devices (MCDs), 53 kilograms of methamphetamine, 5 kilograms of cocaine, and more than 1.5 kilograms of fentanyl tablets. Highlighting the critical links between the undercover operations in this case and the ongoing violent crime investigations in Oklahoma City, twelve of the firearms purchased by undercover agents had confirmed links in NIBIN to open shooting and homicide cases by violent criminal gangs in the greater Oklahoma City area. From a HIDTA perspective, the case was also a statistical success, with investigators identifying eight separate Drug Trafficking or Money Laundering Organizations and disrupting six of them during the course of the operation. 

    COMMUNITY IMPACT INVESTIGATION

    Northwest HIDTA, DEA Bellingham Regional HIDTA Task Force

    Over the past year, the DEA Bellingham Regional HIDTA Task Force (BRHTF) initiated an investigation that resulted in a substantial impact concerning public safety and health on the greater Lummi Nation Tribal Lands. Over a one-year period, BRHTF, along with partner agencies, seized over 850,000 fentanyl pills, seven kilograms of fentanyl powder, seven kilograms of cocaine, 29 illicit firearms, over $120,000 in U.S. currency, and disrupted a centralized DTO responsible for trafficking and distributing fentanyl and other drugs in the Lummi Nation within Whatcom County, WA. This investigation resulted in a notable decrease in both fentanyl availability and overdose deaths on Lummi Tribal Lands.

    OVERDOSE REDUCTION

    South Texas HIDTA, Laredo DEA HIDTA Task Force

    In 2023, the DEA Laredo District Office created a HIDTA Overdose Task Force initiative to address the dramatic rise in overdose deaths in Laredo, Texas, and its surrounding communities. The City of Laredo experienced 21 overdose deaths in 2021, rose to 41 overdose deaths in 2022, and was on pace to experience nearly 100 overdose deaths in 2023, when the task force was launched. Formed with multiple local and federal agencies and comprising six task force officers, the task force proved to be effective, with Laredo reporting 73 deaths in 2023, well short of the expected numbers. Throughout 2024, Laredo and its surrounding communities experienced 40 overdose deaths, and preliminary data indicate the city is on pace for a remarkable 45 percent decrease.

    INVESTIGATION

    Arizona HIDTA, Metro Intelligence Support and Technical Investigative Center (MISTIC)

    Throughout 2024, the Phoenix Police Department (PPD) Drug Enforcement Bureau’s (DEB) Conspiracy Squad and the DEA Phoenix Field Division’s Financial Investigations Group (FIG) conducted a long-term, complex investigation that targeted a TCO responsible for the trafficking and distribution of bulk quantities of illicit drugs, as well as for money laundering. Investigators conducted 2,000 hours of surveillance, utilized 225 court orders and search warrants, and initiated 35 wire intercepts targeting TCO members. Through the course of this investigation, detectives identified, disrupted, and dismantled the international drug trafficking activities of both foreign and United States-based sources of supply, load coordinators, couriers, stash house operators, and distribution coordinators, while also dismantling metropolitan Phoenix-based DTO operations.

    TASK FORCE OF THE YEAR

    Appalachia HIDTA, Appalachia HIDTA Diversion Task Force

    In response to an influx of counterfeit pharmaceuticals flooding southeastern Kentucky that were contributing to a rise in drug poisoning deaths, investigators with the Appalachia HIDTA Diversion Drug Task Force initiated an investigation into a dark net market distributor operating under the name GreenBeansUSA. This investigation was conducted jointly with the Appalachia HIDTA DEA London Task Force in coordination with the FBI, Internal Revenue Service, and U.S. Postal Inspection Service under the OCDETF Operation “Loyal Business.” Investigators identified GreenBeansUSA as a global supplier responsible for the sale and distribution of over 16 million counterfeit pharmaceutical pills, and the receipt of over $11 million in drug proceeds in the form of illicit cryptocurrency. In the course of the operation, investigators issued more than 200 grand jury subpoenas, 47 pen registers, 8 ping orders, Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) requests, IP analysis, blockchain and cluster analysis, 2703(d) orders, undercover purchases, undercover money laundering operations, pole cameras, and electronic search warrants to multiple telecommunications and technological entities. Their efforts resulted in federal indictments of six key members of the organization, the seizure of 11 kilograms of controlled pharmaceuticals (nitazene, benzodiazepine, and ketamine), six pill press machines, and approximately $1.2 million in assets.

    HIDTA AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE

    Ohio HIDTA, Sergeant Breck Williamson, Ohio State Highway Patrol

    Sergeant Breck Williamson has distinguished himself as both a prolific and successful interdictor of illicit drugs transiting the nation’s highways, and as an expert instructor and mentor to other officers conducting highway interdictions. Since October 2023, Sergeant Williamson has personally seized over 405 pounds of methamphetamines, 11 pounds of fentanyl, 141 pounds of cocaine, 3,203 pounds of marijuana, and $135,000 in U.S. currency. He also serves as an instructor for both the El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC) and the Drug Interdiction Awareness Program (DIAP), sharing his expertise with hundreds of students throughout the past year. In addition to his day-to-day supervisory and highway interdiction duties, Sergeant Williamson is a DEA task force officer and is regularly called upon by DEA offices nationwide to advise on interdiction tactics and techniques.

    HIDTA OF THE YEAR

    SOUTH FLORIDA HIDTA

    The South Florida HIDTA has demonstrated an exemplary capacity for multidimensional vision and leadership. Through its Executive Director and Executive Board, it has targeted emerging threats, such as synthetic drugs, while remaining steadfastly committed to the interdiction of metric tons of cocaine destined for the United States from South America. It has inspired national efforts, like the launch of Crime Gun Intelligence Centers in HIDTA regions across the United States, without losing focus of the core HIDTA mission to disrupt and dismantle DTOs and while maintaining deep and sustaining partnerships at the local level. It has launched enterprising collaborations with law enforcement partners, such as partnering with the Federal Aviation Administration to access radar interdiction operability and records of straw registration of aircraft, while embracing public health initiatives focused on overdose reduction and drug use prevention.

    Among its many accomplishments, in 2023 South Florida HIDTA initiatives dismantled or disrupted 54 DTOs, of which 19 were international in scope and nearly 20 percent were OCDETF-designated or linked to consolidated or regional priority organization targets. Task forces seized illicit drugs with a total estimated value of $748 million, including 23 metric tons of cocaine, 248 kilograms of methamphetamine, and 224 kilograms of fentanyl. South Florida HIDTA initiatives also seized more than $105 million in cash and other assets, delivering a return on investment of $56.22 for every dollar financed by the National HIDTA Program. Finally, in pursuit of one of its most vital functions – ensuring officer safety – the South Florida HIDTA provided deconfliction services to all its partners, preventing more than 400 “blue on blue” incidents.

    MIL OSI USA News –