AFN

• HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam, Dec. 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Ho Chi Minh City, attracting 4.6 million visitors in the first 11 months of 2023, continues to stand out as Vietnam's top destination.
• Recognizing the significance of cuisine in tourism, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism has launched the campaign "Ho Chi Minh City - All you can eat", taking transformative cuisine as the highlight to spread cultural and culinary values.
• Mr, Le Truong Hien Hoa – Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Tourism shared: "Ho Chi Minh City Tourism has been implementing many activities to promote the city's tourism.
• Address: 140 Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street, Vo Thi Sau Ward, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

• With demand for portable grain handling equipment in Australia and New Zealand growing, Ag Growth International Inc. (TSX: AFN) (AGI) is expanding its manufacturing capacity at their India-based AGI Bengaluru facilities to accommodate production of its flagship AGI Westfield and AGI brands.
• “This initiative will increase our manufacturing capabilities in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region and helps to lay the foundation for ongoing growth,” said Paul Householder, AGI President and CEO.
• The AGI Westfield STX2 and the AGI XTA truck augers will be the first to roll off the lines at AGI Bengaluru.
• AGI has manufacturing facilities in Canada, the United States, Brazil, India, France, and Italy and distributes its product globally.

• Indigenous activists and supporters gathered to protest the province’s decision not to fund a search for the bodies of Indigenous women believed to be at Prairie Green landfill north of Winnipeg.
• Only the remains of one of the victims, Rebecca Contois, were recovered from the city-owned Brady Road landfill.
• Indigenous women in Canada are 12 times more likely to be murdered or go missing than other women, according to the report.
• In opposing the search, the Manitoba premier does not acknowledge the larger issue of the ongoing violence towards Indigenous women.

Technical issue?

• Instead, the reasons provided by the Manitoba government to not search the landfill site centre on both technical concerns as well as financial considerations.
• Indigenous leaders, including the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) and the AFN, are not buying the province’s rejection of the search as a technical problem or safety concern.

High price tag?

• Supporters have countered the potentially high price tag of the search (which could cost $184 million) by pointing out that in at least one other search — the 2021 search of a landfill near London, Ont.
• for the remains of Nathaniel Brettell — the total cost of the search was neither publicly contemplated nor calculated in advance by policymakers and neither was it communicated by any media.

Lack of political will

• It would seem that they believe a lack of institutional will is a factor.
• It was not so long ago that federal Conservative Leader Stephen Harper also refused to consider the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people as a broader issue that warranted political action.
• Such narrow framing and choosing not to deal with the issue through better policy decisions points to an ongoing lack of political, institutional will.
• It would seem that where there is a political will, there is a way.

• Working in partnership, the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) and Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) continue to take significant steps toward improving education infrastructure for First Nations communities across Canada.
• supports lifelong learning as First Nations adults are included in new school designs that supports education upgrading and language learning.
• These are the best school standards in Canada, and First Nations continue to be a global leader in Indigenous-led school standards.
• The Government of Canada has committed $2.34 billion up to 2024–2025 in First Nations school facilities, which includes $860.5 million from Budget 2021.