Darren the puppy is definitely in his happy place. Cuteness overload!
EDMONTON — Alberta’s Opposition says Premier Jason Kenney is sowing distrust by recounting misleading anecdotes to illustrate COVID-19 policy decisions. “I think this is about trust. I think this is about telling the truth,” NDP critic Sarah Hoffman said Friday. “I think we’ve seen many examples where the premier tries to bolster his own narrative. “This is a trend of being dishonest, and I think it really does call into question what trust and confidence we can have in the things the premier says and does.” Hoffman’s comments came a day after Kenney’s office confirmed the United Conservative premier “misspoke” when he used an anecdote about a super-spreader birthday party in Athabasca as a key driver of recent soaring COVID-19 rates in the town north of Edmonton. Kenney used the party as an example of how super-spreaders are not necessarily driven by in-school transmission but by social gatherings. "Apparently the virus had a 100 per cent attack rate at that birthday party. All of the kids who came to that birthday party got sick,'' Kenney said Monday. He repeated the same information at a news conference again Tuesday. An official with Alberta Health later said there was no data to suggest there had been an outbreak from a children's party in the community. Athabasca Mayor Colleen Powell said the publicity the community of 13,000 people has received since the premier's comments is not the kind it wants. "Why are you saying these things when you don't know?" Powell asked in an interview. "I had a couple of people get in touch with me (asking) who held the party. News spreads like wildfire." Just over 100 people, including students and a dozen staff, from three different schools in Athabasca tested positive for COVID-19 and its variants. Kenney’s spokesperson, Jerrica Goodwin, responded Friday in a short statement. “The premier was using the very real example to illustrate a point of the serious nature of COVID-19 and ease of transmission. As we've acknowledged, he misspoke on the specific location,” said Goodwin. “All the NDP's ridiculous criticism shows is that they can only attack and criticize.” Kenney has used anecdotes before to illustrate the rationale for COVID-19 policy decisions taken by his government. In late November, he cited an impromptu encounter with a food court kiosk owner — a refugee from Venezuela — as an example of the devastating impacts that COVID-19 health restrictions can have on businesses. “She came up to me, and she broke down in tears in front of me saying, 'Sir, I put my entire life savings as a refugee into this business. We're struggling to pay the bills. If you shut me down, I'm going to lose it all, everything, and I'll be in abject poverty,’” Kenney recounted at the time. When reached later by a reporter, the owner, Carolina De La Torre, said Kenney accurately recounted her core concerns of balancing health and the economy. But she dismissed the colourful drama, saying she did not cry and did not approach him, rather it was Kenney who approached her. Earlier this week, the premier came under criticism for challenging a radio host for saying Kenney once downplayed COVID-19 as the flu, telling the host he had never done so. Hansard, the official record of house debate, recorded Kenney calling the virus “influenza” multiple times during debate on May 27, 2020. In late February, just before Kenney’s government released its first COVID-era budget, he announced that due to oil and gas revenues the revised forecast deficit for the 2020 fiscal year would be about $14 billion — a third lower than expected. Treasury officials refused reporter requests to confirm the accuracy of that figure and, two days later, the budget revealed the 2020 deficit forecast was $20 billion. This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 16, 2021. — With files from Fakiha Baig in Edmonton Dean Bennett, The Canadian Press
VANCOUVER — A mineral exploration company with provincial permits to work in Tahltan territory in northwestern British Columbia is treading on sacred grounds, an elected leader in the nation's government says. Vancouver-based Doubleview Gold Corp. is developing claims in an area north of Telegraph Creek that occupies an important place in Tahltan oral histories, said Chad Norman Day, president of the Tahltan Central Government. There's "no way" the Tahltan would ever support a mine there, he said. "The Sheslay area was a major village site in pre-contact times and even nowadays we have many elders who were born in the Sheslay area. Many of our ancestors are buried out there," Day said in an interview. "British Columbia, Doubleview, we should all just save ourselves a lot of time, energy and conflict and get Doubleview out of there," he said. Doubleview has 10 mineral tenures covering about 63 square kilometres where "an aggressive 2021 exploration program is being planned," the company said in an update posted online in February. It said it expected to give shareholders a more complete assessment of the deposit's value after verifying the results of metallurgical sample analysis. The Tahltan Central Government accuses Doubleview of failing to act in a manner consistent with both Tahltan protocols for the mining sector and with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Tahltan made "many reasonable attempts to work with Doubleview in a respectful manner," the central government said in a statement in March. But the company has a "track record of being disrespectful ... including unsuccessfully taking legal action against Tahltan leaders and elders in 2015," it said. Doubleview "regrets the poor relationship that we have established" with the Tahltan, lead director Andrew Rees said in an email when asked about the conflict, and the company offered an apology letter after the nation's public statement. "Doubleview strives to be a responsible steward of the areas in which we live and operate, and continues to seek a positive, collaborative, productive, and mutually beneficial relationship with the Tahltan Central Government." The Mines Ministry said Doubleview was first granted a multi-year permit in 2012 in a process that included consultation with the Tahltan Nation. Laws and legal precedents concerning Indigenous rights and title have changed since then, said Day. The B.C. government is now in the early stages of aligning its laws with the UN declaration after adopting it through legislation. It requires governments to obtain free, prior and informed consent before taking actions that affect Indigenous Peoples and territories — which would include decisions on proposed mines and future exploration work permits. The statutory adoption of the UN declaration means industry and the B.C. government must start building "processes that seek a genuine consent from Indigenous governments, communities and people," Day said. "And there's a huge difference between having a conversation and calling it consultation versus having a robust consultation process that is aiming to get consent from Indigenous people." The Tahltan Nation has "excellent relationships" with the majority of mining and mineral exploration companies operating in its territory, Day noted. There are three active mines — Red Chris, Silvertip and Brucejack — and the nation has impact benefit agreements with each of the companies. "When you have Tahltan title and rights over 11 per cent of the province and you have jurisdiction over an area the size of Portugal, you don't need to be supportive of projects that are in really culturally sensitive areas," Day said. The Tahltan has communication agreements with more than two dozen mining and mineral exploration companies allowing it to check in on their work as necessary, he said. Day said Doubleview had refused to sign, though Rees said the company is now waiting to hear back from the nation after sending a written response about a communications and engagement agreement. "We acknowledge that it has taken us much longer to do so than we would have liked and attribute the delay to internal miscommunication and lack of expert resources," the Doubleview statement said. "Our utmost priority right now remains getting back to the table ... and doing so in a respectful and collaborative manner so that we can continue understanding Tahltan Nation's ongoing concerns, which will allow us to collaboratively develop appropriate mitigation measures." Day, however, said the company has "chosen a path of conflict" with the Tahltan and he would oppose any further permits. This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 17, 2021. This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship. Brenna Owen, The Canadian Press
VICTORIA — The B.C. government has reached an agreement to give Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs $7.2 million in funding to support the implementation of their rights and title. The government says in a statement the three-year funding will support the chiefs' efforts to reunify members of the Wet'suwet'en nation, which includes six First Nations. It will also support the revitalization of Wet'suwet'en governance structures in areas like water stewardship and wildlife programs, and renovations at a former school that will be used as a governance and administration centre. The provincial government says it has also reached an agreement with the neighbouring Lake Babine Nation to accelerate the distribution of $22 million previously planned over several years. The government says the lump-sum payment means the nation can make larger-scale economic development and forestry investments sooner and create a wealth plan to grow the investment. The government says it's a new, flexible model for future agreements between Canada, British Columbia and First Nations. This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 16, 2021. The Canadian Press
Ontario's new COVID-19 rules and restrictions - from cutting outdoor gatherings to extending police powers - have drawn out mass criticism and condemnation by medical experts, residents.
OTTAWA — Conservatives have moved to quash a government bill that mandates Ottawa set legally binding targets to hit net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 over a lack of representation from the oil and gas sector on an outside advisory panel. Tory House Leader Gerard Deltell put forward the motion during the fourth debate of Bill C-12. It asks the House not to give the legislation a second reading, where it could be approved in principle and sent to a committee for further study. The Conservatives' motion says C-12 fails to implement a plan that addresses climate change while protecting Canadian jobs and economic growth. It says the Liberal government failed to work with other parties as to who would be part of an outside group advising the environment minister on how to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Environment and Climate Change Minister Jonathan Wilkinson expressed disappointment with the move and questioned the Tories' commitment to fighting climate change. "This move comes the day after Erin O'Toole released a climate pamphlet that made no commitment to get Canada to net-zero emissions by 2050," Wilkinson said in a statement. The Conservative motion said Liberals appointed "climate activists" to the outside panel and if the government acts on their advice it would destroy the oil and gas sector, as well as other industries, and weaken national unity. "What bothers us with regard to this bill is that yet again, the Liberals have a hidden agenda," said Conservative MP Joel Godin in French. "They're already making appointments — they've identified people who would be on the advisory body. Can we not respect all industries in Canada?" The government announced in February that 14 people had been appointed to the advisory group. Among those were the president of the Canadian Labour Congress and executive director of Climate Action Network Canada. The Yukon regional chief for the Assembly of First Nations and former president of SaskPower also make up the advisory panel. "Conservatives wanted to work with the Liberals on their plan to reach net-zero, but the Trudeau government has broken their promise to work with representatives from oil and gas companies and their organizations," Tory environment critic Dan Albas said in a statement. He said the panel doesn't include anyone from oil and gas or associated groups, even though the natural resources minister has said the country can't achieve net-zero emissions without the sector. "The body is filled with individuals who are actively working to hurt Canada's energy workers and against oil and gas projects." The Conservative motion comes after Wilkinson sent a letter to opposition leaders urging they end the debate over C-12 and move it onto the next legislative stage. He asked that if leaders didn't allow the debate to wrap, that they consider supporting the government's use of what he called "the parliamentary tools available" to move the bill forward. The NDP and the Bloc Québécois say the bill needs to be strengthened while the Liberals say they are open to making amendments. NDP environment and climate change critic Laurel Collins said the bill doesn't include any accountability mechanisms for the next 10 years and wants it include a 2025 milestone target. "The Conservatives have not been treating climate change seriously and it's clear that they're not interested in getting this bill into law. But the Liberals need to stop blaming everyone else for their failure to address climate change." The push to move C-12 to committee comes a day after O'Toole unveiled his long-promised plan to combat climate change, which Wilkinson has dismissed as convoluted, inconsistent and ineffective. O'Toole, who campaigned for his party's leadership with a promise to scrap what he calls the Liberals' carbon tax, is now proposing to levy his own price on carbon, the money from which would be put into personalized savings accounts which individuals could tap to make green purchases. The bill would require the federal environment minister to set rolling, five-year targets for cutting carbon emissions starting in 2030 and ending in 2050, when the Liberal government has promised to achieve net-zero emissions. It does not specify what those targets would be and would not require an actual number — or a plan to get there — until at least six months after it becomes law. The only penalty for failing to meet the targets would be a public admission of failure. — With files from Joan Bryden This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 16, 2021. Stephanie Taylor, The Canadian Press
A Peel police officer has been suspended and an internal investigation has been launched after a Global News reporter recorded him hugging unmasked people who were protesting against the closure of a Mississauga gym. Peel Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah said he became aware of the incident, which took place outside the gym, Friday afternoon after he saw various social media posts. "Upon learning of the incident, I immediately directed that the sergeant be suspended and commenced an Internal Affairs investigation," he wrote in a statement. "Peel Regional Police are committed to ensuring the safety of our members and the public. Our officers will enforce municipal and provincial regulations as required." According to reporting by Global News, one of its reporters was at Huf Gym near Cawthra Road and Dundas Street East on Friday to report on continuing protests against the Ford government's COVID-19 restrictions, which have temporarily shuttered gyms. There, the reporter, identified as Sean O'Shea, recorded himself as an unmasked protester aggressively approached him wearing a sweater with the words, "hugs over masks." O'Shea, still recording, approached a Peel police officer at the scene and asked if he condoned that behaviour. The officer in the video can be heard telling the journalist that he was agitating the crowd. The same officer, not wearing a mask or any COVID-19 protective gear, can later be seen hugging some of the protesters and posing for pictures. None of the demonstrators can be seen physically distancing or wearing any protective equipment. Duraiappah's statement says members of the force continue to follow advice issued by local public health officials "while using the appropriate safety precautions, including all available Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)." Under current COVID-19 restrictions, all gatherings and protests must follow provincial laws. Tickets may be issued to individuals or organizers who do not comply with this order, the statement reads.
ATHABASCA, Alta. — The mayor of a town in northern Alberta says Premier Jason Kenney shouldn't have commented about an outbreak of COVID-19 among school students and staff if he didn't know the circumstances. Kenney said during two news conferences this week that the outbreak in Athabasca, Alta., was one of the worst in the entire province and had stemmed from a birthday party. "Apparently the virus had a 100 per cent attack rate at that birthday party. All of the kids who came to that birthday party got sick,'' he said. An official with Alberta Health subsequently said there was no data to suggest there had been an outbreak from a children's party in the community. A spokeswoman for Kenney said he misspoke about the location of the party and was using it as an example of how easily COVID-19 can spread. Mayor Colleen Powell says the publicity the town of 13,000 people has received since the premier's comments is not the kind it wants. "Why are you saying these things when you don't know?" Powell asked in a phone interview. "I had a couple of people get in touch with me (asking) who held the party. News spreads like wildfire." Just over 100 people, including students and a dozen staff, from three different schools in Athabasca tested positive for COVID-19 and its variants. But students and teachers are feeling confident about returning to classrooms on Monday after a week of spring break and two weeks of self-isolating, said the superintendent for Aspen View Public Schools. "We feel like we've mitigated the risk, and we feel like it's time to go back and give it a shot," said Neil O'Shea. "Some of the cases within the town and the county have gone down. We've deep-cleaned all of our schools. We've adjusted a little bit of our protocols around masking. Our phys-ed classes are going to be held outside." The area had 155 active cases on Friday. O'Shea said he first heard about an outbreak near the end of March at Edwin Parr Composite School, where about 700 students in Grades 7 to 12 are enrolled. Students from two more schools started showing symptoms and the school board shut them all down, he said. "We went all the way from kindergarten to Grade 12 online for the three weeks, just because of the interconnectedness of our communities and families and transportation and workplaces." Powell said that earlier in the pandemic, she kind of agreed with some who said rural towns shouldn't face the same public health restrictions because they are smaller. But with the rapid rise in cases, she doesn't feel that way anymore. "It's been a lesson." Anne Karczmarczyk is a school board trustee and the mother of two girls who tested positive in the Edwin Parr Composite outbreak. She said she has heard nothing about a birthday party and the premier's comments came as a surprise to her. "My own daughters contracted the variant and they got it from school. I know for a fact that all of the cases were at our school and not all from a birthday party," Karczmarczyk said. "It sets an uneasy feeling when you hear that, especially as a parent who had children with COVID ... I just know my kids did not receive it from a birthday party." Karczmarczyk said the two other schools that were shut down were a primary school and a middle school. "There were probably contacts from busing, or contacts from siblings or family members ... that sort of thing. That would basically (be) how it travels everywhere else." She said the community has been working hard to bring down cases. "It's an eye-opener, hopefully, for people to be more vigilant," Karczmarczyk said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 16, 2021. — By Fakiha Baig in Edmonton ___ This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship. The Canadian Press
In November, the Canadian government said it would make it easier for Hong Kong youth to study and work in Canada in response to new security rules imposed by China on the former British colony. "In the first three weeks that the program was open (Feb. 8 to Feb. 28), IRCC (Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada) received 503 applications for work permits and 10 applications for work permit extensions," press secretary Alexander Cohen said in an emailed statement.
SANTA FE, N.M. — The 300-million-year-old shark’s teeth were the first sign that it might be a distinct species. The ancient chompers looked less like the spear-like rows of teeth of related species. They were squatter and shorter, less than an inch long, around 2 centimetres. “Great for grasping and crushing prey rather than piercing prey,” said discoverer John-Paul Hodnett, who was a graduate student when he unearthed the first fossils of the shark at a dig east of Albuquerque in 2013. This week, Hodnett and a slew of other researchers published their findings in a bulletin of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science identifying the shark as a separate species. He named the 6.7-foot (2 metre) monster Dracopristis hoffmanorum, or Hoffman’s Dragon Shark, in honour of the New Mexico family that owns the land in the Manzano Mountains where the fossils were found. Hodnett says the area is rife with fossils and easy to access because of a quarry and other commercial digging operations. The name also harkens to the dragon-like jawline and 2.5-foot (0.75-meter) fin spines that inspired the discovery’s initial nickname, “Godzilla Shark.” The formal naming announcement followed seven years of excavation, preservation and study. The 12 rows of teeth on the shark's lower jaw, for example, were still obscured by layers of sediment after excavation. Hodnett only saw them by using an angled light technique that illuminates objects below. Hodnett is now the paleontologist and program co-ordinator for the Maryland-National Capital Parks and Planning Commission’s Dinosaur Park in Laurel, Maryland. His fellow researchers come from the New Mexico museum, as well as St. Joseph’s University in Pennsylvania, Northern Arizona University, and Idaho State University. The recovered fossil skeleton is considered the most complete of its evolutionary branch —ctenacanth — that split from modern sharks and rays around 390 million years ago and went extinct around 60 million years later. Back then, eastern New Mexico was covered by a seaway that extended deep into North America. Hodnett and his colleagues believe that Hoffman’s dragon shark most likely lived in the shallows along the coast, stalking prey like crustaceans, fish and other sharks. New Mexico's high desert plateaus have also yielded many dinosaur fossils, including various species of tyrannosaurus that roamed the land millions of years ago when it was a tropical rain forest. ___ Attanasio is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for Americ a is a non-profit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues. Follow Attanasio on Twitter. Cedar Attanasio, The Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS — The former employee who shot and killed eight people at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis was interviewed by FBI agents last year, after his mother called police to say that her son might commit “suicide by cop,” the bureau said Friday. Coroners released the names of the victims late Friday, a little less than 24 hours after the latest mass shooting to rock the U.S. Four of them were members of Indianapolis' Sikh community. The attack was another blow to the Asian American community a month after six people of Asian descent were killed in a mass shooting in the Atlanta area and amid ongoing attacks against Asian Americans during the coronavirus pandemic. The Marion County Coroner's office identified the dead as Matthew R. Alexander, 32; Samaria Blackwell, 19; Amarjeet Johal, 66; Jaswinder Kaur, 64; Jaswinder Singh, 68; Amarjit Sekhon, 48; Karli Smith, 19; and John Weisert, 74. The shooter was identified as Brandon Scott Hole, 19, of Indianapolis, Deputy Police Chief Craig McCartt told a news conference. Investigators searched a home in Indianapolis associated with Hole and seized evidence, including desktop computers and other electronic media, McCartt said. Hole began firing randomly at people in the parking lot of the FedEx facility late Thursday, killing four, before entering the building, fatally shooting four more people and then turning the gun on himself, McCartt said. He said he did not know if Hole owned the gun legally. “There was no confrontation with anyone that was there,” he said. “There was no disturbance, there was no argument. He just appeared to randomly start shooting.” McCartt said the slayings took place in a matter of minutes, and that there were at least 100 people in the facility at the time. Many were changing shifts or were on their dinner break, he said. Several people were wounded, including five who were taken to the hospital. “You deserved so much better than this,” a man who identified himself as the grandson of Johal tweeted Friday evening. Johal had planned to work a double shift Thursday so she could take Friday off, according to the grandson, who would not give his full name but identifies himself as “Komal” on his Twitter page. Johal later decided to grab her check and go home, and still had the check in her hand when police found her, Komal said. “(What) a harsh and cruel world we live in,” he added. Smith, the youngest of the victims, was last in contact with her family shortly before 11 p.m. Thursday, family members said in social media posts late Friday. Dominique Troutman, Smith’s sister, waited hours at the Holiday Inn for an update on her sister. “Words can’t even explain how I feel. ... I’m so hurt,” Troutman said in a Facebook post Friday night. Weisert had been working as a bag handler at FedEx for four years, his wife, Carol, told WISH-TV. The couple was married nearly 50 years. President Joe Biden said he had been briefed on the shooting and called gun violence “an epidemic” in the U.S. “Too many Americans are dying every single day from gun violence. It stains our character and pierces the very soul of our nation,” he said in a statement. Later, he tweeted, “We can, and must, do more to reduce gun violence and save lives.” A FedEx employee said he was working inside the building Thursday night when he heard several gunshots in rapid succession. “I see a man come out with a rifle in his hand and he starts firing and he starts yelling stuff that I could not understand,” Levi Miller told WTHR-TV. “What I ended up doing was ducking down to make sure he did not see me because I thought he would see me and he would shoot me.” Paul Keenan, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Indianapolis field office, said Friday that agents questioned Hole last year after his mother called police to say that her son might commit “suicide by cop.” He said the FBI was called after items were found in Hole’s bedroom but he did not elaborate on what they were. He said agents found no evidence of a crime and that they did not identify Hole as espousing a racially motivated ideology. A police report obtained by The Associated Press shows that officers seized a pump-action shotgun from Hole’s home after responding to the mother's call. Keenan said the gun was never returned. McCartt said Hole was a former employee of FedEx and last worked for the company in 2020. The deputy police chief said he did not know why Hole left the job or if he had ties to the workers in the facility. He said police have not yet uncovered a motive for the shooting. Police Chief Randal Taylor noted that a “significant” number of employees at the FedEx facility are members of the Sikh community, and the Sikh Coalition later issued a statement saying it was “sad to confirm” that at least four of those killed were community members. The coalition, which identifies itself as the largest Sikh civil rights organization in the U.S., said in the statement that it expected authorities to “conduct a full investigation — including the possibility of bias as a factor.” Varun Nikore, executive director of the AAPI Victory Alliance, a national advocacy group for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, said in a statement that the shootings marked “yet another senseless massacre that has become a daily occurrence in this country.” Nikore remarked that gun violence in the U.S. "is reflective of all of the spineless politicians who are beholden to the gun lobby.” FedEx Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Frederick Smith called the shooting a “senseless act of violence.” “This is a devastating day, and words are hard to describe the emotions we all feel,” he wrote in an email to employees. The killings marked the latest in a string of recent mass shootings across the country and the third mass shooting this year in Indianapolis. Five people, including a pregnant woman, were shot and killed in the city in January, and a man was accused of killing three adults and a child before abducting his daughter during at argument at a home in March. In other states last month, eight people were fatally shot at massage businesses in the Atlanta area, and 10 died in gunfire at a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado. Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett said the community must guard against resignation and “the assumption that this is simply how it must be and we might as well get used to it.” ___ This story has been edited to correct the spelling of several names. ___ Associated Press reporters Michael Balsamo and Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report. Casey Smith is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a non-profit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Casey Smith And Rick Callahan, The Associated Press
New Ontario COVID-19 restrictions are giving police the power to stop and question people who are outside of their homes and ask for their address. The option to increase police powers is a bit alarming and dishevelling to Chris Rudnicki, a partner and legal counsel at Rusonik, O'Connor, Robbins, Ross, Gorham and Angelini, who admitted he's concerned there could be some overstepping by police and are constitutionally concerning.
KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent — La Soufriere volcano shot out another explosive burst of gas and ash on Friday as a cruise ship arrived to evacuate some of the foreigners who had been stuck on a St. Vincent island coated in ash from a week of violent eruptions. The explosions that began on April 9 forced some 20,000 to flee the northern end of the eastern Caribbean island for shelters and contaminated water supplies across the island. Friday morning's blast “wasn’t a big explosion compared to the ones that we last weekend, but it was big enough to punch a hole through the clouds," said Richard Robertson, lead scientist at the University of the West Indies Seismic Research Center, in an interview with local NBC radio. “Probably got up to 8,000 metres (26,000 feet)." During a comparable eruption cycle in 1902, explosive eruptions continued to shake the island for months after an initial burst killed some 1,700 people, though the new eruptions so far have caused no reported deaths among a population that had received official warning a day earlier that danger was imminent. Meanwhile, British, U.S. and Canadian nationals were being evacuated aboard Royal Caribbean Cruises' Celebrity Reflection from the harbour in the Kingstown, capital of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The ship was due to arrive Saturday in Dutch Sint Maarten. Dozens of foreigners toting luggage descended from tour buses and cars at the port terminal in Kingstown and patiently waited in a line that began in the parking lot and reached deep into the terminal. They included students from the Trinity School of Medicine along with stranded tourists, including families with young children in arms. “As of right now, we are being evacuated for our safety and to keep the island as safe as possible," said LLeah Ransai, a Canadian student at Trinity. "Between the school, the government and the embassies of the US and Canada, we’re being evacuated now.” The U.S. Embassy said those aboard would have to make their own travel arrangements home. It also noted in an official statement that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had recommended against travel on cruise ships because the chance of getting COVID-19 and said people who had been in close contact with suspected COVID-19 cases were barred from the trip. All aboard were supposed to have a negative rapid antigen test taken within 24 hours of boarding. Meanwhile, thousands of locals were stuck n emergency shelters with no idea when they might be able to return home. Levi Lewis, 58, a retired public servant from the town of Fancy, said the eruption had left him trying to get by with practically nothing. “I just reusing clothing cause i didn't walk with much," he said. "Plus water is an issue, so I’m trying to conserve it still.” “I want to go back home, or to whatever is left of it," he added. A few people, however, never left, defying evacuation orders. Raydon May, a bus conductor in his late 20s who stayed in Sandy Bay throughout the eruptions, said he had always planned to stay if the volcano erupted and was trying to protect properties in the community while making occasional trips outside the evacuation zone to pick up water and supplies. He said so much ash had fallen that the roofs of houses were collapsing under the weight. “One roof might get on like three truckloads of sand," he said. “We trying to help ... but we can’t help everybody.” Kristin Deane, The Associated Press
Calgary's hospitals are filling up with COVID-19 patients once again as an unrelenting third wave — driven primarily by the B117 variant first identified in the U.K. — rages through Alberta. The number of COVID-19 patients in Calgary has jumped by 51 per cent in just over two weeks, from 112 on April 1 to 169 on Friday. At the start of the month, 28 people were in ICU, compared with 42 on Friday. COVID-19 wards are fully operational across the city. As of Thursday afternoon, roughly 128 of the 188 designated beds on these units were full. An additional 25 intensive care unit beds have been added to deal with the influx — bringing the total in Calgary's four adult hospitals to 91. With those surge beds, the city's ICUs were running at 80 per cent capacity as of Thursday. And health-care workers have — yet again — been redeployed to care for patients in those ICU surge beds and on the COVID wards. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't tremendously frustrated," said Dr. Peter Jamieson, an associate medical director with Alberta Health Services, Calgary zone. "We all just desperately want this to be over.… And I think within the walls of the hospital, we all have those same kinds of feelings and frustrations." Many staff already reassigned to vaccination clinics Jamieson has been watching as the number of COVID-19 patients swells all over again. He says Calgary's hospitals have the capacity to expand further, and he's confident patients can be cared for. But, he warns, this will come at a cost. "In order to do that, we're at … significant risk of having to slow down other services to free up the staff in order to look after the COVID patients," he said. Surgeries and outpatient services may have to be put on hold yet again. And the third wave brings with it a new complication, according to Jamieson. Many of the workers who will be needed have already been redeployed to provide vaccinations. "So a big surge in COVID patients means that we may need to cut back on our usual services and it may lead to stresses in being able to deliver the other important COVID services like vaccinations." Dr. Daniel Niven is an intensive care physician at Peter Lougheed Centre and assistant professor in the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary.(Erin Brooke Burns) Patients younger, sicker A Calgary intensive care specialist, Dr. Daniel Niven, says there has been a steady increase in patients coming to the intensive care unit at the Peter Lougheed Centre over the past few weeks. "There's no doubt that there's been a rise and we're seeing more of these patients everyday," he said. "While we're still seeing patients that are 60 or 70 years of age with a few well controlled medical problems, we're seeing a number of younger patients who come in with no medical problems and then have severe COVID-19 and need to be placed on a ventilator for life-support." Patients also appear to be deteriorating more rapidly. "There seems to be a higher rate of younger people getting severely ill and getting severely ill very quickly," said Jamieson. He says young people can progress from having initial symptoms to critical illness — potentially requiring a ventilator — in just days. All this leaves Jamieson with a plea for Albertans. "For our health system to continue to deliver all the services that we want it to, we desperately need the public health measures to be effective, and we really, really need the people of Calgary and Alberta to hang in there and stick the landing on, hopefully, this last wave of public health measures."
VANCOUVER — The B.C. Supreme Court says lawyers for Meng Wanzhou are applying to adjourn the final three-week leg of her extradition case set to begin April 26. The court says in a statement that the Huawei executive's legal team will bring the application before the court on Monday but it doesn't explain the reasons. The hearings are expected to cover a final branch of abuse of process allegations from Meng's team before moving on to arguments over remedy and the actual extradition hearing. Meng was arrested in 2018 at Vancouver's airport on a request by the United States, where she faces fraud charges that both she and the telecom company deny. She is accused of lying to HSBC about Huawei's control of another company doing business in Iran, putting the bank at risk of violating U.S. sanctions. A Hong Kong court approved a document-sharing agreement last Monday that Huawei claimed would allow it to obtain information from HSBC that would prevent her extradition. A Huawei spokesman did not immediately respond to a question about whether the ruling is linked the application to adjourn the planned hearings, saying only that the reasons would be disclosed in court. This story by The Canadian Press was first published April 16, 2021. The Canadian Press
This family bought their puppy a mini Golden Retriever sensor-activated toy that moves and barks. Check out the reaction!
Yukon's mining regime needs a major overhaul, according to the final report from an independent panel appointed by the territorial government. The Yukon Mineral Development Strategy report was released on Thursday, and it includes 95 wide-ranging recommendations for how to modernize the mining industry and ensure it's socially and environmentally sustainable, and beneficial to local communities. Recommendations include updating mining legislation — namely the Quartz Mining Act and the Placer Mining Act — streamlining land use planning and revamping the royalty system to make it more equitable. Math'ieya Alatini, one of the three panel members appointed to draft the report, said the overall goal is to "move the industry forward," in co-operation with the Yukon government and First Nations. "Not just the industry, but the entire relationship, [moving] forward in a holistic manner — so really that was our approach," she said. "[It's] a very pragmatic approach to how we can do better, by working together." A central tenet of the strategy is ensuring First Nations rights are respected and that the mining sector's competitive edge isn't dulled. "The whole of Yukon government must embrace the principles of reconciliation and work to build the trust and respect of Yukon First Nation governments, and the entities and agencies borne of the modern treaties and agreements," the strategy states. The timing of the release — just days after the territorial election and before the next government is sworn in — was strategic, Alatini said. '[It's] a very pragmatic approach to how we can do better, by working together,' said Math'ieya Alatini, one of the three independent panelists who drafted the Mineral Development Strategy. (Philippe Morin/CBC) It's meant to show that the panel and its work are independent of government, she said — but it also puts it on the front-burner for the next territorial government, as well as First Nations. "In the report, there are priorities and, to us, there are some clear first steps. But it will really be up to the governments to have that discussion and to come up with the top priorities and how those top priorities are going to be implemented," she said. The report is the culmination of about 16 months of work by the three-person panel. That panel was appointed after the Yukon government and First Nations governments signed a memorandum of understanding on mining in 2017. A draft strategy was released late last year for public review and Thursday's document is the final product. 'Social sustainability' The strategy "fulfills the desire of many engagement participants for a bold, transformative approach to Yukon mineral development now and into the future," it reads. One of the goals is to move the industry toward "social sustainability," the report says. That would mean moving the territory farther away from how mining was approached in the past, when the North was plundered for resources to send south, and benefit other regions. "Recognition that the adverse effects of resource development are borne locally, while many of the benefits are exported outside the Yukon, is crucial to social sustainability." Recommendations in the report include: overhaul or replace Yukon's century-old Quartz Mining Act and Placer Mining Act with new legislation ensure that First Nations can capitalize on resource development projects change royalty and tax structures to ensure more money comes to Yukon implement a profit-based placer gold royalty introduce a payroll tax on out-of-territory workers in Yukon implement a First Nation Resource Charge, to help First Nations cover the costs of reviewing and monitoring mining and exploration projects introduce a new tax for all industrial water users accelerate the land use planning process across Yukon Lewis Rifkind of the Yukon Conservation Society welcomed the report and recommendations, saying it's time to fix Yukon's "ecological horror show." "Now, we don't agree with all of [the recommendations], but by and large what the panel is proposing will be a great improvement on what we currently have," Rifkind said. 'It's not going to be a perfect improvement, and there's a lot of room for changes and a lot of room for devil-in-the-details,' said Lewis Rifkind of the Yukon Conservation Society.(CBC) Rifkind said an overhaul of Yukon's mining legislation is overdue, but the panel's recommendation to complete that work by 2025 might be unrealistic. "That's ambitious," Rifkind said. "Rewriting one of the three major pieces of legislation of the Yukon government may take longer than that … but it does need to be redone." Rifkind also questioned whether a profit-based placer mining royalty would have any real benefit for Yukon, since mining companies typically reinvest any profits into further developing their operations. Still, he said, the report's recommendations need to be considered seriously. "It's not going to be a perfect improvement, and there's a lot of room for changes and a lot of room for devil-in-the-details." CBC News also requested an interview with Ed Peart, president of the Yukon Chamber of Mines, about the newly-released strategy, but was told Peart wanted time to review the document before commenting. CBC also sought comment from Chief Roberta Joseph, of Dawson City-based Tr'ondek Hwëch'in First Nation, but she was not available.
Saturday marks the first day of at least six weeks of enhanced policing powers in Ontario in an attempt to curb an exponential rise in COVID-19 cases. However, several police forces across the province have already said they do not intend to make use of additional powers that allow them to ask anyone outside their residence — including stopping vehicles — to indicate their purpose for leaving home and provide their address. A ticket if individuals refused would cost roughly $750. Peterborough Police and London Police Service tweeted "we will not be randomly stopping people." Both Waterloo Regional Police Service and Niagara Regional Police Service similarly tweeted, "We will not be conducting random vehicle or individual stops." The president of the Peel Regional Police Association also took to Twitter to urge the government, "Don't make cops the bad guys here!" In a statement, the Ottawa Police Service said it will also not be conducting random checks. "We are very mindful of the perception of the broader public as well as within our more marginalized, racialized and/or Indigenous/Aboriginal/Inuit peoples," said Ottawa police chief Peter Sloly. "We do not want these powers to impact public trust," Sloly said. While Toronto police initially said it needed more time to review the changes, the force tweeted on Saturday morning that it "will continue to engage, educate and enforce, but we will not be doing random stops of people or cars." "Prior to any change in our enforcement strategy we will notify the public on how we plan to implement the new provincial orders," its spokesperson said. Shortly thereafter, Hamilton Police Service released its own statement, saying it will also not be randomly stopping citizens. Police officers "remain committed to providing the highest quality of policing services and want to assure Hamilton citizens that our members will not be conducting arbitrary vehicle and person stops for the sole purpose of enforcing the Stay-at-Home order," the statement reads. Windsor Police and Cornwall Police Service both added their name to the growing list of police forces that say they will not conduct random checks. "Members of the CPS will not be conducting random pedestrian or vehicle stops. We will continue to respond to complaints on a calls-for-service basis, using officer discretion, with the objective of gaining compliance," reads a statement from Cornwall police. "Officers will not be randomly stopping people or vehicles," Windsor police tweeted. "We all need to do our part for the health and safety of our community. Everyone has a role and a responsibility to keep our City safe. Stay home and do not gather with people outside your household." The London Police Services Board says it has "serious concerns" about whether the provincial government's expanded police powers are even constitutional. "We cannot enforce our way out of the pandemic," said the board's chair Dr. Javeed Sukhera in a statement released Saturday morning. Sukhera said the board "would encourage the Provincial government to shift their focus to stabilizing the health system, ensuring equitable access to vaccines, and following the advice of health experts." CBC News has reached out to the solicitor general's office for comment but has yet to receive a response. The expanded police powers have quickly raised alarm bells across the province. "It's a Black Friday of rights slashing by Queen's Park," said Michael Bryant, executive director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association in a statement. "A hodge-podge of pandemic restrictions cannot be policed like this because overzealous enforcers overshoot the mark, based on Canada's 1st Wave experience," Bryant's statement said. He called random police stops "unconstitutional" since they wouldn't be "indiscriminate, stopping everyone in a single location" like a RIDE program does. "Blanket powers for police to stop vehicles like this bends our constitutional freedoms too far, and will cause a rash of racial profiling," Bryant said. "These new restrictions… may face a court challenge." Guelph Mayor Cam Guthrie tweeted his own reaction, saying he'll be "checking out our Charter [of Rights and Freedoms]" and that the city will be reviewing it. "I'm concerned about this," his tweet said. "Either way, we're not going to be policing our way out of this pandemic, that's for sure." In Toronto, Mayor John Tory tweeted that he was "very concerned about arbitrary stops of people by police at any time." He later tweeted his gratitude that Toronto police will not be conducting random stops.
Ontario needs at least a six-week stay-at-home order with an average of 100,000 vaccinations per day to get the third wave of COVID-19 now gripping the province under control, a panel of experts said Friday. "Without stronger system-level measures and immediate support for essential workers and high-risk communities, high case rates will persist through the summer," Ontario's COVID-19 science advisory table said in its latest update, echoing recommendations it has been making for months. This latest update came on the same day as new provincial restrictions were introduced extending the stay-at-home order by two weeks, promising more vaccines for harder-hit neighbourhoods, and limiting inter-provincial travel. Adalsteinn Brown, co-chair of the group of experts that advises the government on its pandemic response, presented the table's latest modelling at a news conference this afternoon. He was joined by Dr. David Williams, Ontario's chief medical officer of health. You can read the full presentation at the bottom of this story. On course for 10,000 cases per day by May Cases of the illness are rising in most of the province's 34 public health units, and the province-wide test positivity rate has climbed to 7.9 per cent. That figure is higher than 10 per cent in Toronto, Peel and York regions. Charting out Ontario's current trajectory — with what Brown describes as "moderate" public health restrictions in place for four weeks, along with approximately 100,000 vaccines administered per day — Ontario could see more than 10,000 new cases per day by late May, and 15,000 by late June. The pace of vaccinations is simply not enough on its own to contain increasing transmissions of the virus, he continued. In fact, even with stricter public health measures in place and about 300,000 vaccinations administered per day, it could take until the end of June to see cases counts drastically reduced. "It really requires everyone to pull together," Brown said. He did note that things could have been worse, saying that without the measures that are currently in place, Ontario could have been on track to see more than 30,000 new infections per day by the end of May. Growth in ICU numbers 'baked in' for 2 weeks Hospitalizations and ICU levels are also at all-pandemic highs, "compromising care" for all Ontarians and causing the backlog of surgeries and procedures to grow, said Brown. "Notice that our hospitals can no longer function normally. They are bursting at the seams, we are setting up field hospitals," he said, alluding to a field hospital in the parking lot at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto. "Our children's hospitals are admitting adults. This has never happened in Ontario before. It's never happened in Canada before." Many intensive care units in particularly hard-hit areas of the province were never able to fully recover from the second wave of the pandemic that peaked in January, Brown added. They are now approaching a breaking point. Health-care workers move through the intensive care unit (ICU) at Scarborough Health Network’s Centenary Hospital, in north-east Toronto, on Apr. 8, 2021. The number of COVID-19 patients in Ontario ICUs reached an all-time high this week. (Evan Mitsui/CBC) Under any scenario, ICU admissions are expected to top 800 in the coming weeks. With only the current measures in place, admissions will still likely exceed 1,000, Brown said. Continued impacts for critical care units are now "baked in" for at least two weeks given growth in overall cases. The "longer and stronger" public health measures remain in place, Brown said, the more it will drive down admissions to intensive care. Dr. Kali Barrett of the University Health Network, reacting immediately after the province's presentation, called the numbers that were unveiled "catastrophic." "The health-care system is now buckling down and going to the trenches to fight the battle of our lifetime," she said. Where Ontario went wrong after Christmas Part of the problem, Brown explained, is that Ontario began easing public health measures during the brief lull between the second and third waves of the pandemic. During this time, the prevalence of variants of concern — which are more transmissible and increase the risk of both hospitalization and death — exploded. The science table reported as early as late January that if the spread of variants was not brought under control, Ontario was facing a potential "disaster" scenario. Revised projections published in March built on those concerns, forecasting up to 8,000 cases per day by the end of April if action was not taken. "This is what we were expecting moving forward if we relaxed public health measures" coming off the second wave, Brown said. Ford and his government imposed a month-long stay-at-home order on April 8, one week after moving the whole province into a "shutdown." Another key issue is mobility. The current stay-at-home order has reduced how much people are moving around, based on cell phone data, but not nearly as much as the order that kicked in Boxing Day 2020. What restrictions would help? Brown offered several key recommendations for curbing the ongoing third wave, many of them measures the science table has repeatedly called for without corresponding action from the government. Among them is a paid sick leave program for essential workers that offers easier, quicker access to money than the federal option currently in place. Ford and his cabinet have thus far refused to offer such a program. Other recommendations to the province include: "Double down" on vaccinations in the highest-risk communities. Limit what businesses are allowed to stay open and enforce the rules. Limit mobility into Ontario and within Ontario. Make essential workplaces safer The province did say Friday it would limit travel, reduce the capacity of essential stores to 25 per cent, and promised to give 25 per cent more vaccines to hot-spot areas. You can read more about those restrictions here. When asked Friday why the province would not consider closing some non-essential warehouses, manufacturing, and other large workplaces, Premier Doug Ford responded that shutting down one manufacturing workplace would affect Ontario's supply chain and prevent the province from making the products it needs. Both Brown and Dr. David Williams also made appeals to individual Ontarians — though they were notably different in tone. "I know we're tired, I know we're demoralized, and I know some of us are heartbroken," said Brown, before asking people to stick to the basics of not seeing others indoors, mask-wearing and distancing, and getting a vaccine as soon as you are eligible. "There's been a sense among the public that this pandemic really is not such a big deal," said Williams during his turn to speak. "You really have to take this seriously now."
CALGARY — Doctors say the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine should be offered to Canadians in a wider age range as COVID-19 infections soar in many parts of the country. Provinces limited eligibility for that vaccine to those 55 and older after a small number of cases of an unusual and serious blood-clotting condition appeared in younger people — mostly women — who had received a shot. The odds of someone getting the syndrome — dubbed vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia — has been estimated at between one in 100,000 and one in 250,000. By comparison, about one in four people hospitalized with COVID-19 will experience a blood clot, Alberta's chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw noted this week. "Certainly based on risks, most people are much better off with a vaccine," said Dr. Daniel Gregson, an associate professor at the University of Calgary's Cumming School of Medicine. "You can certainly drop it easily to 45, if not 35." Gregson, who specializes in infectious diseases and medical microbiology, said uncertainty has been planted in peoples' minds about getting AstraZeneca, but they do things that are just as risky on a daily basis without a second thought. Dr. Susy Hota, medical director of infection prevention and control at Toronto's University Health Network, said she would also support dropping the age limit, so long as no other worrying side-effects arise and recipients are aware of the risk, however small. "I think it's an important strategy we need to consider," said Hota, also an associate professor of infectious diseases at the University of Toronto. "The case counts are going up too fast and they're going to a point where it's hitting the hospitals in a way that we've not experienced before, ever." Hota suggested one approach could be offering the shot to younger men, since the rare side-effect seems to be more prevalent in women. Health Canada has deemed the AstraZeneca vaccine safe, saying the benefits outweigh the risks. The National Advisory Committee on Immunization has not yet changed its recommendation that the shot only be offered to those 55 and up, but the decision ultimately rests with provinces. In Quebec, where AstraZeneca is available to those between the ages of 55 and 79, Health Minister Christian Dube said provincial public health authorities were considering whether to expand access. Alberta is also considering a change, Hinshaw said. "I also know that some who are younger than 55 are interested in getting the protection that this vaccine offers," she said Thursday. "Given the Health Canada assessment, we will be discussing this question with our Alberta Advisory Committee on Immunization this week to get their perspective." In the meantime, Hinshaw is urging anyone who is already eligible to get their AstraZeneca dose without delay. Walk-in vaccinations are available at 26 pharmacies in Calgary and Edmonton and Alberta Health Services is opening walk-in vaccination clinics this weekend in both cities. "While not getting vaccinated may feel like a way to protect your health by avoiding the rare risk of a blood clot following vaccine, waiting can actually increase your risk of getting sick, or worse," Hinshaw said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published on April 16, 2021. Lauren Krugel, The Canadian Press
ATLANTA — Former Democrat Vernon Jones crowd-surfed across adoring Trump supporters in October after speaking at one of the former president's campaign rallies. Now the scandal-plagued politician hopes to surf their discontent to a Republican primary victory over Gov. Brian Kemp. Jones announced Friday that he would challenge the incumbent governor, a frequent Trump target, in 2022. “You’ve seen me stand right beside Donald Trump, just like you. I have done more as a conservative fighting side by side for you and for our elections, and for America first, then the governor and all those RINOs combined," Jones said. The former legislator faces plenty of obstacles to mounting a campaign capable of toppling a sitting governor. But his bid ensures, at the least, that Kemp will continue facing questions about his refusal to help Trump overturn President Joe Biden's narrow election victory in Georgia. Jones was a state representative on the outs with his party when he shot to prominence in Republican circles as an African American Democrat who endorsed Trump's reelection campaign. He's doubled down since then in support of Trump's false claims of election fraud. Jones said Friday that Kemp cost Republicans the White House and two Georgia Senate seats that put Democrats in control. Kemp said he was legally required to certify Biden's slate of presidential electors once a final tally was certified. Jones, 60, served multiple terms in the Georgia House, sandwiching a troubled turn in charge of Atlanta's suburban DeKalb County, before proclaiming himself a Republican in January as his last term expired. “I have left the plantation,” he declared when he switched parties. Last week, he tweeted that Kemp “still hasn’t discontinued the use of Dominion voting machines in the state of Georgia. I’ll do it on Day One,” alluding to false claims that the machines flipped Trump votes to Biden. Jones said his platform includes school choice, support for police, low taxes, less regulation and environmental conservation. And because he's Black, like Stacey Abrams, he said he can do better against the potential 2022 Democratic nominee if she challenges Kemp again. “We are fed a false narrative based on race-baiting, identity politics and propaganda fed to the masses,” Jones said. Jones has posted video and pictures of himself interacting with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. But it’s unclear whether Trump will support him. As DeKalb executive, Jones faced investigations of an expensive security detail, and a woman accused Jones of raping her in late 2004. She dropped the charges, but never recanted. Jones said they had a consensual sexual encounter. Jones oversaw hundreds of millions in capital projects as CEO, but a special grand jury later alleged he was part of an endemic culture of “incompetence, patronage, fraud and cronyism.” He later lost races for U.S. Senate, U.S. House and county sheriff. “Vernon Jones has historically been a very effective campaigner, so you can't underestimate him,” said state Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, a Democrat from Decatur who has long tangled with Jones. “However the likelihood of him running an honest and well-respected administration with competent staffers is remote.” Those close to Kemp acknowledge the anger among some conservatives, but they see Jones as an ideal primary challenger — able to generate an attention-getting primary campaign, but lacking the established high profile of, say, former U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, who has topped the wish list of Trump supporters. Kemp's strategy will be "to remind grassroots activists that he’s been a champion for life, for economic growth and opportunity, expanding access to health and now leading the fight against cancel culture,” said Ryan Mahoney, his top campaign consultant. Fending off Jones could help Kemp raise more money and shore up his standing among Republicans ahead of a rematch against Abrams, who can raise money nationwide and won't likely face significant opposition from Democrats. Kemp's first test has begun, with county Republican parties holding annual conventions. Trump allies want to censure the governor and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger for certifying Biden's win. Murray and Whitfield counties adopted censures last week. Dozens of other local GOP committees consider similar measures on Saturday. Jeff Amy And Bill Barrow, The Associated Press
