The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Vancouver - An alliance of environmentalists, First Nations and industry is attempting an ambitious end-run around conflict, hoping to preserve Canada's vast boreal forest. If it works, the Canadian Boreal Initiative would see at least half the boreal forest preserved through a coast-to-coast network of interconnected protected areas. The rest would be open to development using sustainable resource-management techniques. The area amounts to 90 per cent of the country's remaining large, intact forests - spruce, pine, aspen, poplar and larch - and about 25 per cent of the world's intact forest. Ottawa - The HIV-AIDS epidemic continues to rage on in Canada with a record 56,000 people now infected despite two decades of prevention efforts and hundreds of million of dollars spent battling the scourge. The sobering statistic marks a 12 per cent jump in cases since 1999, says Health Canada's sixth annual report on HIV-AIDS which was released Monday to coincide with World AIDS Day. Gay men remain the hardest hit, accounting for 40 per cent of new human immunodeficiency virus infections. Aboriginals, injection drug users, prisoners and people from countries where AIDS is prevalent are among the other groups most affected. The federal government also marked AIDS day by announcing $100 million over five years to fight the disease in Africa.
