Long before he became The Wizard of New Zealand, Ian Brackenbury Channell spent a year training as a Royal Air Force navigator in Manitoba learning lessons that he says gave him the wisdom to become a wizard.

Channell, who was born in England but became a New Zealand citizen in the 1970s, was officially appointed the country’s wizard in 1990 by the prime minister, allowing him to wear the regalia and conduct jobs such as casting out evil spities and cheering the population.

He said his journey to becoming a wizard began in 1952 during his time in Portage la Prairie, Man.

As the 87-year-old gets ready to pass on his staff to his apprentice, he recalled his time in Canada and the “craziness” of navigating without a radar over the tundra.

“This is so crazy,” he said with a laugh in a recent telephone interview from New Zealand.

“I’m trying to navigate using a sextant, a bubble sextant, flying over territory which there are no maps because it’s tundra and the floods change the shape of the lakes. … It was absolutely ridiculous. But I loved doing it. I think it was a great lesson.”

As New Zealand’s official wizard, he said he navigates people’s thinking by opening their minds to different points of view with an element of fun.

He gets an annual honorarium of C$14,000 from the Christchurch city council.

He gives speeches in the city’s Cathedral Square using an approach that he said is similar to Cicero’s oratory style in ancient Rome on subjects ranging from free speech in universities to patriarchy.

“I never claimed what I’m saying is true or false. Do you enjoy the speech? Do you enjoy what I’m saying? Do you enjoy thinking of these things, playing with words?”

He described himself as more like Gandalf from “The Lord of the Rings” or the “very famous” English wizard John Dee from the Elizabethan period than Dumbledore in the Harry Potter books.

He loves magic.

“Magic is not religion. It’s not science. It’s a mixture of all sorts of things.”

Channell, who also goes by Jack but prefers to be called The Wizard, landed in Canada because of his surname.

His instructors announced that the top 20 names on a list were going to Canada to be navigators. He was near the top of the alphabetical list because his name was Channell.

After the Second World War, England had strict rationing because of food shortages, but there was plenty to eat in Manitoba, where he found the climate “very strange.”

“Extremely cold and extremely hot. Just the snow and the snow and the snow. And mosquitoes in the summer.”

There was also a group of sailors from the French navy sharing the barracks.

“Now you can’t get further from the sea than in Winnipeg,” he said between fits of laughter.

“So the fact that they were there was very strange.”

In Portage la Prairie, he remembers visiting record shops.

“I’m very fond of classical music,” he said. “It was pretty good. For a young man of 19 it was pretty exciting.”

What also stands out was an “absolutely stunning” train journey from London, Ont., to Winnipeg.

“I can never forget that incredible journey with all that snow. Unbelievable.”

The Wizard’s adventures also included hitchhiking by air across North America, with stops in Edmonton and Florida before arriving in California.

Some of the flights he took as he hitchhiked his way across the continent were “enormous” cargo planes with just him in the hold.

“It was like time travelling or like Dr. Who or one of those things in this time machine.”

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — When Aya Al-Umari faces her brother’s killer in the dock, she intends to tell him that his hatred stole away her best friend, her guardian, her hero. That she still wants to pick up the phone and tell her brother all about her day, because he’s the only one who would understand.

Al-Umari is one of more than 60 survivors and family members who this week in court will confront the white supremacist who committed the worst atrocity in New Zealand’s modern history, when he slaughtered 51 worshippers at two Christchurch mosques in March 2019.

The gunman, 29-year-old Australian Brenton Harrison Tarrant, pleaded guilty in March to 51 counts of murder, 40 counts of attempted murder and one count of terrorism — the first terrorism conviction in the nation’s history.

Tarrant has dismissed his lawyers and intends to represent himself during the four-day sentencing starting Monday, raising fears he could try to use the occasion as a platform to promote his racist views. He can choose to speak once the victims have spoken, although the judge will likely shut down any attempts he makes to grandstand.

Tarrant could become the first person in New Zealand to be sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. New Zealand abolished the death penalty for murder in 1961, and the longest sentence imposed since then has been life imprisonment with a minimum 30-year non-parole period.

The attacks targeting people praying at the Al Noor and Linwood mosques shocked the nation and prompted new laws banning the deadliest types of semi-automatic weapons. They also prompted global changes to social media protocols after the gunman livestreamed his attack on Facebook, where it was viewed by hundreds of thousands of people.

Some victims have travelled from abroad to attend the court hearing and have completed a mandatory 14-day quarantine imposed because of the coronavirus.

Virus distancing requirements mean the number of survivors in the main courtroom will be limited to 35 at any one time. But the hearing will also be streamed to seven adjacent courtrooms, which can hold another 200 or so people.

Judge Cameron Mander said he realized the court process had been “exhausting and frustrating” for many of the victims. “Finality and closure is considered by some as the best means of bringing relief to the Muslim community,” he wrote in a court memo.

Mander is not allowing live reporting from the sentencing and has reserved the right to ban some things that are said in court from being broadcast or published. The victims also can choose to remain anonymous.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who was praised around the world for her empathy and leadership after the attacks, said she would be monitoring the hearing closely. She said the sentencing would be hard for the victims.

“I don’t think there is much that I can say that is going to ease just how traumatic that period’s going to be,” she said.

Andrew Geddis, a law professor at the University of Otago, said the case was unprecedented in New Zealand, both in the magnitude of the crime and the number of victims involved in the sentencing.

He said it was likely the judge would impose the first all-of-life sentence, with two possible mitigating factors being Tarrant’s guilty plea and his young age. Geddis said if Tarrant shows any remorse during the hearing, it may factor in his favour, while any attempt he makes to promote his racist agenda will likely count against him.

Tarrant moved to New Zealand in 2017 and kept a low profile in the university city of Dunedin. He frequented a gym, practiced shooting at a rifle club range and built up an arsenal of weapons. He didn’t appear to be employed, and said in some online posts that he’d inherited a significant amount of money when his father died.

Tarrant appeared to have a fascination with religious conflicts in Europe and the Balkans, and visited a number of sites in Eastern Europe in the years before he committed the massacre. After his attack at the second mosque, Tarrant was driving, possibly to carry out a shooting at a third mosque, when two police officers rammed his car off the road, dragged him out and arrested him.

Al-Umari’s 35-year-old brother Hussein was among those killed at the Al Noor mosque. In her victim impact statement, which she shared with The Associated Press ahead of the sentencing, she says that she mourns not only the loss of her brother, but also the loss of his hopes and goals, and that she will never have any nieces or nephews.

“There are no words that do justice to explain what it is like to go from having lunch with your brother on one day to burying him on another,” she writes.

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — The poetic words of love from a daughter to her murdered father brought many people to tears in a New Zealand courtroom Wednesday during the sentencing hearing for the white supremacist who killed 51 worshippers at two mosques.

Sara Qasem said she wonders if, in his last moments, her father was frightened or in pain, and wishes she could have been there to hold his hand. She told the gunman to remember her dad’s name, Abdelfattah Qasem.

“All a daughter ever wants is her dad. I want to go on more road trips with him. I want to smell his garden-sourced cooking. His cologne,” she said. “I want to hear him tell me more about the olive trees in Palestine. I want to hear his voice. My dad’s voice. My baba’s voice.”

Qasem spoke on the third day of a four-day sentencing hearing for Brenton Harrison Tarrant, who carried out the attacks during Friday prayers in March 2019. The 29-year-old Australian has pleaded guilty to murder, attempted murder, and terrorism.

The hearing has given a chance for some of the survivors and family members to confront Tarrant. Many have asked the judge to impose the maximum possible sentence — life without the possibility of parole.

Tarrant has shown little emotion during the sentencing. He has watched the speakers, occasionally giving a small nod or smirking at jokes made at his expense.

Qasem said Tarrant made a choice.

“A conscious, stupid, irresponsible, cold-blooded, selfish, disgusting, heinous, foul, uninformed and evil choice,” she said.

She said she pitied Tarrant’s coarse and tainted heart, and his narrow view of the world that couldn’t embrace diversity.

“Take a look around this courtroom,” she said to the gunman. “Who is the ‘other’ here, right now, is it us, or is it you? I think the answer is pretty clear.”

Qasem said that love will always win.

Tarrant is noticeably thinner than when he was first arrested. At the current hearing, he hasn’t shown the brazenness he did at his first court appearance the day after the attacks, when he made a hand gesture sometimes adopted by white supremacists.

Tarrant is representing himself during the sentencing and can choose to speak once the survivors have spoken, although the judge will likely shut down any attempts he makes to grandstand.

The attacks targeting people praying at the Al Noor and Linwood mosques shocked New Zealand and prompted new laws banning the deadliest types of semi-automatic weapons.

They also prompted global changes to social media protocols after the gunman livestreamed his attack on Facebook, where it was viewed by hundreds of thousands of people.

Also speaking at Wednesday’s hearing was Ahad Nabi, whose father Haji was killed. An imposing man, Ahad Nabi stared at the gunman and gave him the finger with both hands.

“Your father was a garbageman and you have become trash of society,” Nabi said.

He said Tarrant was a sheep who wore a wolf’s jacket for 10 minutes of his life and that only fire awaited him.

A statement from the father of the youngest victim, 3-year-old Mucaad Ibrahim, was also read to the court.

The boy’s father said his son loved playing in the mosque and made friends with all the worshippers, young and old. Mucaad loved to run around at home and dress up as a police officer, his father said, and they wondered if he would one day join the force.

“Your atrocity and hatred did not turn out the way you expected,” the father said in the statement. “Instead, it has united our Christchurch community, strengthened our faith, raised the honour of our families, and brought our peaceful nation together.”

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — The white supremacist who killed 51 worshippers at two New Zealand mosques was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The judge imposed the maximum available sentence on 29-year-old Australian gunman Brenton Harrison Tarrant, the first time the sentence has been imposed in New Zealand.

Judge Cameron Mander said Tarrant’s crimes were so wicked that a life time in jail could not begin to atone for them. He said they had caused enormous loss and hurt and stemmed from a warped and malignant ideology.

“Your actions were inhuman,” Mander said. “You deliberately killed a 3-year-old infant as he clung to the leg of his father.”

The March 2019 attacks targeting people praying at the Al Noor and Linwood mosques shocked New Zealand and prompted new laws banning the deadliest types of semi-automatic weapons. They also prompted global changes to social media protocols after the gunman live-streamed his attack on Facebook.

During the four-day sentencing hearing, 90 survivors and family members recounted the horror of the attacks and the trauma they continue to feel.

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Some chose to yell at the gunman and give him the finger. Others called him a monster, a coward, a rat. Some sung verses from the Quran or addressed him in Arabic. A few spoke softly to Tarrant, saying they forgave him.

Tarrant had earlier fired his lawyers and told the judge that he didn’t wish to speak at the hearing. A standby lawyer appointed by the court told the judge that Tarrant did not oppose a sentence of life without parole.

Tarrant in March had pleaded guilty to 51 counts of murder, 40 counts of attempted murder and one count of terrorism, reversing his earlier not guilty pleas.

Prosecutors said Tarrant had flown a drone over the Al Noor mosque and researched the layout as he meticulously planned his attacks. He arrived with six guns including two AR-15s.

Crown prosecutor Mark Zarifeh said he’d aimed to kill as many people as possible.

“The offender’s actions are a painful and harrowing mark in New Zealand’s history,” he said.

Tarrant was noticeably thinner in his sentencing hearing than when he was first arrested. He didn’t show the brazenness he did at his first court appearance the day after the attacks, when he made a hand gesture sometimes adopted by white supremacists.

Dressed in a gray prison tracksuit, Tarrant showed little emotion during his sentencing. He watched the speakers, occasionally giving a small nod or covering his mouth as he laughed at jokes, often made at his expense.

Sara Qasem spoke Thursday during the four-day hearing about her beloved father Abdelfattah, who was killed in the attacks.

“All a daughter ever wants is her dad. I want to go on more road trips with him. I want to smell his garden-sourced cooking. His cologne,” she said. “I want to hear him tell me more about the olive trees in Palestine. I want to hear his voice. My dad’s voice. My baba’s voice.”

AUCKLAND (NEWS 1130) – A number of significant earthquakes struck off the coast of New Zealand within several hours of each other Friday morning.

Another seismic event was reported by the U.S. Geological Survey just before 9:30 a.m., local time. This is the third earthquake to hit near the Kermadec Islands — about 178 kilometres northeast of Gisborne — Friday morning.

The magnitude 6.5 earthquake was the fourth overall near New Zealand within hours of each other.

About an hour before, around 8:30 a.m., a magnitude 8.1 quake was reported near the Kermadec Islands.

This is the third earthquake to hit off the coast of New Zealand this morning. This latest seismic event is where the first was detected. https://t.co/rCAKDgmr0g

— NEWS 1130 (@NEWS1130) March 4, 2021

The first significant earthquake to hit the region Friday morning was reported just before 2:30 a.m., also near the Kermadec Island. A second, 7.4 magnitude earthquake followed just about four hours later, though it was located about 1,000 kilometres from the country’s North Island.

New Zealand’s National Emergency Management Agency says a tsunami warning is in place following the third seismic event. People along sections of the northeast coast are being asked to move to higher ground or as far inland as possible immediately.

TSUNAMI WARNING: Areas that need to evacuate are indicated on this map. Evacuate these areas even if you did not feel the earthquake. DO NOT WAIT. A damaging tsunami is possible. More info at https://t.co/ccVFYQQoBr pic.twitter.com/bnEgZy8ikF

— National Emergency Management Agency (@NZcivildefence) March 4, 2021

“People in all other areas who felt a LONG or STRONG earthquake should MOVE IMMEDIATELY to the nearest high ground, out of tsunami evacuation zones, or as far inland as possible,” a tweet reads. “People evacuating should walk, run or cycle if possible to reduce chance of getting stuck in traffic. Do not return until all-clear is given by Civil Defence.”

On Feb. 22, 2011, 185 people were killed when a magnitude 6.3 earthquake hit Christchurch. Much of the city’s downtown area was destroyed.

This is a developing story. Check back for the latest.

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Canada should follow other countries and give families time to mourn their loss after a miscarriage, local advocates say, but there doesn’t seem to be much political appetite to do so.

New Zealand has just passed a bill allowing for three days’ bereavement at full pay for mothers and fathers after a miscarriage.

“Canada, I believe, is behind a lot of nations. We’re one of the only developed nations in the world that does not have a national bereavement strategy,” Joshua Dahling of the Camp Kerry Society said.

He says there are some efforts underway towards getting bereavement leave for parents who experienced a miscarriage.

“There are a number of organizations that have banded together we have the National Bereavement Alliance, who are working together to try and normalize conversations,” Dahling said.

Dahling says he’s reached out to the federal and provincial government.

“Basically, the response was there is no funding for bereavement care, and I presume that provincial governments are waiting on the federal government to introduce some changes,” he said.

The bill in New Zealand passed with unanimous support in the legislature, and includes leave for parents planning to have children. The New Zealand legislation also includes leave for parents planning to have children through adoption or surrogacy.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand authorities said Friday they shot and killed a violent extremist after he entered a supermarket and stabbed and injured six shoppers.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern described the incident as a terror attack. She said the man was a Sri Lankan national who was inspired by the Islamic State group. She said he was well known to the nation’s security agencies and was being monitored around the clock.

She said that by law, the man was not allowed to be kept in prison.

Auckland is in a strict lockdown as it battles an outbreak of the coronavirus. Most businesses are shut and people are generally allowed to leave their homes only to buy groceries, for medical needs, or to exercise.

One bystander video taken inside the supermarket records the sound of ten shots being fired in rapid succession.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand’s government acknowledged Monday what most other countries did long ago: It can no longer completely get rid of the coronavirus.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced a cautious plan to ease lockdown restrictions in Auckland, despite an outbreak there that continues to simmer.

Since early in the pandemic, New Zealand had pursued an unusual zero-tolerance approach to the virus through strict lockdowns and aggressive contact tracing.

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Until recently, that elimination strategy had worked remarkably well for the country of 5 million, which has reported just 27 virus deaths.

While other nations faced rising death tolls and disrupted lives, New Zealanders went back to workplaces, school yards and sports stadiums safe from any community spread.

But that all changed when the more contagious delta variant somehow escaped from a quarantine facility in August after it was brought into the country from a traveler returning from Australia.

Despite New Zealand going into the strictest form of lockdown after just a single local case was detected, it ultimately wasn’t enough to crush the outbreak entirely.

One factor may have been that the disease spread among some groups that are typically more wary of authorities, including gang members and homeless people living in transitional housing.

The outbreak has grown to more than 1,300 cases, with 29 more detected on Monday. A few cases have been found outside of Auckland.

Ardern said that seven weeks of lockdown restrictions in Auckland had helped keep the outbreak under control.

“For this outbreak, it’s clear that long periods of heavy restrictions has not got us to zero cases,” Ardern said. “But that is OK. Elimination was important because we didn’t have vaccines. Now we do, so we can begin to change the way we do things.”

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New Zealand began its vaccination campaign slowly compared to most other developed nations. Rates rocketed in August after the outbreak began but have dropped off significantly again since then.

About 65% of New Zealanders have had at least one dose and 40% are fully vaccinated. Among people age 12 and older, about 79% have had at least a single jab.

Under Ardern’s plan that starts Tuesday, Aucklanders will be able to meet outdoors with loved ones from one other household, early childhood centers will reopen and people will be able to go to the beach.

The dates for a phased reopening of retail stores and later bars and restaurants have yet to be decided.

Ardern said the elimination strategy had served the country incredibly well but the government always intended to eventually transition to the protection of vaccines, a change hastened by the delta variant “game changer.”

The government’s elimination approach had been broadly supported by New Zealanders but was facing increasing criticism. Over the weekend, hundreds of people turned out to rallies protesting the lockdown.

Opposition lawmaker Chris Bishop said the government had no clear strategy to deal with the outbreak other than total surrender.

But Ardern said that most measures would remain in place to keep the outbreak under control, including exhaustive contact tracing and isolating those who got infected.

“There’s good cause for us to feel optimistic about the future,” Ardern said. “But we cannot rush.”

New Zealand’s government believes it has come up with a unique plan to end tobacco smoking — a lifetime ban for those aged 14 or younger.

Under a new law the government announced Thursday and plans to pass next year, the minimum age to buy cigarettes would keep rising year after year.

That means, in theory at least, 65 years after the law takes effect, shoppers could still buy cigarettes — but only if they could prove they were at least 80 years old.

In practice, officials hope smoking will fade away decades before then. Indeed, the plan sets a goal of having fewer than 5% of New Zealanders smoking by 2025.

Other parts of the plan include allowing only the sale of tobacco products with very low nicotine levels and slashing the number of stores that can sell them. The changes would be brought in over time to help retailers adjust.

Because the current minimum age to buy cigarettes in New Zealand is 18, the lifetime smoking ban for youth wouldn’t have an impact for a few years.

In an interview with The Associated Press, New Zealand’s Associate Health Minister Dr. Ayesha Verrall, who is spearheading the plan, said her work at a public hospital in Wellington involved telling several smokers they had developed cancer.

“You meet, every day, someone facing the misery caused by tobacco,” Verrall said. ”The most horrible ways people die. Being short of breath, caused by tobacco.”

Smoking rates have steadily fallen in New Zealand for years, with only about 11% of adults now smoking and 9% smoking every day. The daily rate among Indigenous Maori remains much higher at 22%. Under the government’s plan, a taskforce would be created to help reduce smoking among Maori.

People who are aged 14 and under when 2027 comes will never be able to buy cigarettes in their lifetime.

Find out how New Zealand is stubbing out smoking for good: https://t.co/alG2KyK8dr pic.twitter.com/WNwy5j7nnv

— World Economic Forum (@wef) December 10, 2021

Big tax increases have already been imposed on cigarettes in recent years and some question why they aren’t hiked even higher.

“We don’t think tax increases will have any further impact,” Verrall said. “It’s really hard to quit and we feel if we did that, we’d be punishing those people who are addicted to cigarettes even more.”

And she said the tax measures tend to place a higher burden on lower-income people, who are more likely to smoke.

The new law wouldn’t impact vaping. Verrall said that tobacco smoking is far more harmful and remains a leading cause of preventable deaths in New Zealand, killing up to 5,000 people each year.

“We think vaping’s a really appropriate quit tool,” she said.

The sale of vaping products is already restricted to those aged 18 and over in New Zealand and vaping is banned in schools. Verrall said there was some evidence of a rise in youth vaping, a trend she is following “really closely.”

New Zealand’s approach to ban the next generation from tobacco smoking hasn’t been tried elsewhere, she said.

But she said studies have shown youth sales decrease when minimum ages are raised. In the U.S., the federal minimum age to buy tobacco products was raised from 18 to 21 two years ago.

While public health experts have generally welcomed the New Zealand plan, not everybody is happy.

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Sunny Kaushal said some stores could be put out of business. Kaushal chairs the Dairy and Business Owners Group, which represents nearly 5,000 corner stores — often called dairies in New Zealand — and gas stations.

“We all want a smoke-free New Zealand,” he said. “But this is going to hugely impact small businesses. It should not be done so it is destroying dairies, lives and families in the process. It’s not the way.”

Kaushal said the tax increases on tobacco had already created a black market that was being exploited by gangs, and the problem would only get worse. He said smoking was already in its twilight in New Zealand and would die away of its own accord.

“This is being driven by academics,” he said, adding that stakeholders hadn’t been consulted.

But Verrall said she didn’t believe the government was overreaching because statistics showed the vast majority of smokers wanted to quit anyway, and the new policies would only help them achieve their goal.

She said the pandemic had helped people gain a new appreciation for the benefits of public health measures and rallying communities, and that perhaps that energy could be harnessed not only to tackle smoking but also diseases like diabetes.

Verrall said she had never smoked herself but her late grandmother did, and it likely compromised her health.

“It’s a really cruel product,” Verrall said.

New Zealanders are set to face new COVID-19 restrictions after nine cases of the Omicron variant were detected in a single family that flew to Auckland for a wedding earlier this month, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Sunday.

The so-called “red setting” of the country’s pandemic response includes heightened measures such as required mask wearing and limits on gatherings, and the restrictions will go into effect on Monday.

All of New Zealand will move to Red at 11.59pm tonight, 23 January, in order to slow down and manage the spread of Omicron in the community. pic.twitter.com/TpG1z7aNLK

— Unite against COVID-19 (@covid19nz) January 22, 2022

Ardern stressed that “red is not lockdown,” noting that businesses can remain open and people can still visit family and friends and move freely around the country.

“Our plan for managing Omicron cases in the early stage remains the same as delta, where we will rapidly test, contact trace and isolate cases and contacts in order to slow the spread,” Ardern told reporters in Wellington on Sunday.

New Zealand had been among the few remaining countries to have avoided any outbreaks of the Omicron variant, but Ardern acknowledged last week that an outbreak was inevitable given the high transmissibility of the variant.

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The country has managed to contain the spread of the delta variant, with an average of about 20 new cases each day. But it has seen an increasing number of people arriving into the country and going into mandatory quarantine who are infected with Omicron.

That has put strain on the quarantine system and prompted the government to limit access for returning citizens while it decides what to do about reopening its borders, angering many people who want to return to New Zealand.

About 93% of New Zealanders aged 12 and over are fully vaccinated and 52% have had a booster shot. The country has just begun vaccinating children aged between 5 and 11.

We need to go into emergency mode to bring peace to a world that sees too little of it.

The @UN will always stand with and protect those caught up in fighting & work to build stronger, more resilient & peaceful communities. pic.twitter.com/cVxSctLXBO

— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) January 22, 2022

The family from the Nelson-Marlborough region attended a wedding and other events while in Auckland, with estimates suggesting they came into contact with “well over 100 people at these events,” Ardern said.

“That means that Omicron is now circulating in Auckland and possibly the Nelson-Marlborough region if not elsewhere,” she added.

The move to the red setting also impacts Ardern personally. The prime minister was planning to get married next weekend, but as a result of the new restrictions the celebration will be postponed.

“I just join many other New Zealanders who have had an experience like that as a result of the pandemic and to anyone who’s caught up in that scenario, I am so sorry,” she said.