Online portfolio of journalist, writer, producer and translator Levon Sevunts
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Eye on the Arctic is nominated for a Webby
Today nominees for the 16th annual Webby Awards were announced. We here at Eye on the Arctic found out that our Arctic Health Series: Bridging the Divide has been nominated for an award in the News and Politics: Series category. The Webby Awards is the leading international award honouring excellence on the Internet. The health crisis in the Arctic has become one of the most pressing issues in the world’s circumpolar countries but receives relatively little media and political attention next to issues like climate change and Arctic sovereignty. When Radio Canada International set…
I’m a Webby Award Honoree
My short documentary Seal Ban: Inuit Impact has been named Official Honoree in the News & Politics: Individual Episode category of the 15th Annual Webby Awards.
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EXCLUSIVE: Canadian defence deal with Azerbaijan raises new questions about arms export controls
A deal by a Canadian company to export armoured personnel carriers to Azerbaijan and set up a joint production of these military-style vehicles in the oil-rich former Soviet republic is once again raising questions about the efficacy of Canada’s defence export controls. Toronto-based INKAS Armored Vehicle Manufacturing has signed a deal with Azerbaijan’s interior ministry under which the company has already delivered “a few” Canadian-made armoured personnel carriers (APCs). The privately owned company has also set up a joint venture with an Azerbaijani firm to produce APCs in Azerbaijan,…
Budding Macron-Trudeau ‘bromance’ driven by necessity
Similar in age and both telegenic, the leaders of Canada and France have formed a fast friendship. Some observers say Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron need one another to face US President Donald Trump at events like the G20. Montreal (dpa) – When G20 leaders meet in Hamburg later this week, many observers will be watching the budding ‘bromance’ between France’s newly elected President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The G20’s two youngest leaders – Macron is 39, Trudeau 45 –…
Canada forced to cope with increase in refugee crossings from US
An increase in the number of asylum seekers arriving in Canada from the US has those north of the border looking closely at Donald Trump’s immigration policies. Canadian politicians are at loggerheads about how to deal with the new flow of migrants. Montreal (dpa) – It’s not a spring flood yet but it is a rising tide that has officials in Canada’s capital, Ottawa, worried. The growing number of asylum seekers crossing illegally from the United States into Canada has Canadian leaders concerned that they might…
Trudeau’s meeting with Trump to be a test of charm and mettle
Trade is likely to top the agenda when Justin Trudeau meets Donald Trump for the first time on Monday, with the Canadian premier also under pressure to stand up to the new US president on immigration and human rights. Montreal (dpa) – When Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau steps off his plane in Washington on Monday for his first meeting with President Donald Trump, he’ll need to marshal every ounce of his considerable charm to win over his new southern neighbour. He might also need to…
Rail oil transport risks remain, 12 months after Quebec disaster
A long train brimming with crude from one of North America’s burgeoning shale oil fields derailed and exploded on July 6, 2013, in a sleepy Quebec village, killing 47 people. On the anniversary of the conflagration in Lac-Megantic, safety improvements in flammable rail freight remain slow to implement, while the amount of oil on the tracks soars further.
Runaway train rips heart out of Quebec town
Maude Verreault owes her life to a cigarette.
The 36-year-old waitress at Musi-Cafe restaurant in central Lac-Megantic was taking a short smoking break last Saturday night when a runaway tanker-train careened into the town and exploded near where she was standing.
Magazine Articles Portfolio
Sisters in arms
Lt. Chantal Tétreault stood in the crew commander’s hatch of her Bison light armoured vehicle surveying the dusty road ahead. She gripped the handle of a loaded machine gun, ready to fire. From hatches behind her, two Canadian soldiers scanned the nearby fields and the village’s mudcaked walls, their fingers tense on the trigger guards of their rifles.
How safe is Canada’s energy infrastructure?
HOMELAND SECURITY SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2005 SINCE SEPT. 11, 2001, CANADA HAS TAKEN NUMEROUS STEPS TO BOLSTER ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE SECURITY. BUT HAS ENOUGH BEEN DONE? By Levon Sevunts Christian Latreille couldn’t believe his eyes as he entered one of the world’s largest hydroelectric stations, the LG-2, a sprawling underground facility 600 feet beneath the frozen wilderness in Quebec. Latreille, a hard-hitting journalist with the French-language public broadcaster Radio-Canada, and his cameraman had just literally walked into what should have been a secure facility. Yet to their astonishment,…
Wireless Wonder: How a Canadian telco exec brought cellphones to war-torn Afghanistan.
Canadian Business by Levon Sevunts | In Kabul 2005-08-15 Karim Khoja knew that operating a wireless phone company in Afghanistan would require negotiating some tricky political, business and cultural minefields. But he wasn’t counting on finding himself in the middle of a real one. Soon after arriving here from Vancouver three years ago, Khoja, the Canadian CEO of Roshan, Afghanistan’s largest telecommunications company, learned the meaning of the ubiquitous red and white painted rocks. “I was driving from Kabul to Mazar,” recalls Khoja. “We had…
Clinging to life in Darfur
Hawa Bashi was sure that her son, Hari, would die soon.
An emaciated two-year-old with the resigned gaze of a life-weary elder, Hari had lost his appetite. Even worse, he seemed to have lost the will to live.
