Friday Briefing – The New York Times

We cover the discovery of hundreds of unidentified graves of Aboriginal children in Canada, and the frightening Covid outbreak in Sydney.

Another discovery of the remains of aboriginal children in Canada

The remains of 761 people, most of them Aboriginal children, It was discovered on the site of a former school In the province of Saskatchewan, a group of Indigenous Canadians said. It was the largest discovery of its kind to date.

Less than a month ago, the remains of 215 children were found in unmarked graves on the grounds of another former boarding school in British Columbia. Many wonder how many children could end up in these burial places.

“This was a crime against humanity, an assault on a First Nation people,” Bobby Cameron, president of the Federation of Indigenous Sovereign Nations, said during a news conference on Thursday. “The only crime we committed as children was giving birth to aborigines,” he said.

Context: In 2015 a federal commission found that the boarding school system aims to forcibly absorb Aboriginal children It was a form of “cultural genocide”, The students were mistreated by the clergy and dealt with disease, death and danger.

What’s Next: The latest findings are likely to deepen debate in Canada over its history of exploiting indigenous people and refocus attention on the horrors of schools, a stain on the history of a country that has often been seen as a bastion of progressivism and multiculturalism.

Related: The United States announced this week that it will be looking for federal boarding schools Possible burial sites for Native American children.

Wearing a mask again is mandatory several months after the Covid community has moved close to zero. People have been asked to work from home, and gatherings are limited.

NSW health officials have been scrambling for more than a week to contain the outbreak, which began when a limousine driver at Sydney Airport tested positive for Delta. He has not been vaccinated, in violation of public health guidelines, and is believed to have contracted the infection while transporting foreign flight crew.

very contagious Some cases arise from transient contact, with only a few seconds of shared air in a store or café. Officials said they expect more issues and challenges to emerge.

Citeable: “Since the pandemic began, this has been perhaps the most terrifying period that NSW has been through,” said state Premier Gladys Berejiklian.

Here Latest updates And the pandemic maps.

In other developments:

spears He told a Los Angeles judge on Wednesday She has been drugged, forced to work against her will and banned from removing her birth control device for the past 13 years.

“I was in denial. I was in shock. I just want my life back,” Spears, 39, said in a 23-minute phone speech broadcast in the courtroom.

“I really think this guardianship is offensive. I don’t feel like I can live a full life,” she said. Here it is. full copy her statement and important moments.

Interactions: supporters From all over the country gathered outside the courtroom. One said, “The reality is worse than we expected.” Many have called #FreeBritney for years. In the middle of Wednesday’s hearing, singer Mariah Carey urged her to “stay strong” in a message on social media. Lise Ver wrote that declaring a woman “crazy” to control her assets was “the oldest hoax in the patriarchal rulebook.”

latest news

In The Times’ Climate Issue, opinion writer Ezra Klein Talk to the experts On the limits of politics in the face of the threat of climate change. “We knew how to make rockets, we knew where the moon was,” said one expert. “We don’t know all the answers to where we’re going.”

arts and ideas

year other than Hong Kong

Next week marks the first anniversary of the National Security Act that gave Beijing more control over Hong Kong. Our morning newsletter spoke to Vivian WangReporter about how the city has changed.

What happened in Hong Kong in the past few months?

Much has changed, all in line with the general trend: an increasingly strict and public crackdown on rights that has made Hong Kong different from mainland China. The annual vigil was banned on June 4, to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre against pro-democracy protesters in Beijing.

What does Chinese censorship of popular culture in Hong Kong mean?

Historically, Hong Kong has had a strong film industry, and has been trying to transform itself into an arts hub. but with New rules around film censorship, and recent attempts to get it Works of art banned from museumsIt’s hard to imagine how a city can maintain the reputation it wants. There are still attempts to keep Hong Kong’s cultural world alive, but the mainland Chinese market is so big that many creatives, especially in the corporate world, don’t want to alienate it.

What is the mood within the pro-democracy movement?

Still bleak. Some people say the protesters will come out again when the pandemic is completely over and social distancing rules can no longer be used to ban public gatherings. But a lot of people I’ve spoken to say they are really scared.