NEWS FOR WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13TH 2017

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LOCAL
By Patricia Petit Liang

Montreal has added a white pine tree to its coat of arms to recognize the contribution of Indigenous people to the city.

According to CBC News, the city will also be changing the name of Amherst Street, as it was originally named after British general Jeffrey Amherst who advocated the use of biological warfare by using smallpox blankets to kill Indigenous communities.

The white pine tree is a symbol of unity of the nations of the Haudenosaunee confederacy.

NATIONAL
By Patricia Petit Liang

Councillors in the City of Richmond, British Columbia unanimously voted to formalize a policy directing municipal officials to push business owners for signage that is at least 50 percent English.

According to CTV News, the mother tongue of more than 40 percent of Richmond residents is either Cantonese or Mandarin, with only 33 percent of residents with English as their first language.

The policy has been in effect since 2014 but will be put into writing in the near future.

INTERNATIONAL
By Patricia Petit Liang

More than 370,000 Rohingya Muslims have been fleeing Myanmar's Buddhist-majority state, Rakhine, since August.

According to BBC News, Rohingya Muslims are fleeing violent persecution by crossing the border into Bangladesh.

Myanmar's government denied carrying out such horrific atrocities after the United Nations accused them of ethnic cleansing on Monday.