Canadian astronaut swaps his spacesuit to work on the frontlines of the pandemic

Canadian Space Agency astronaut Dr. David Saint-Jacques talks about swapping his spacesuit for scrubs to work as a doctor on the front lines of the pandemic.

Latest Stories

  • Regina sisters create shirts to combat rise of Asian hate

    Anti-Asian hate is something that Alison Singharath knows all too well. From anti-Asian hate over COVID-19 to the shooting in Atlanta that left six people of Asian descent dead, it seems like there has been a surge of anti-Asian hate over the past year. However, 30-year-old Laos descendant Singharath says that anti-Asian hate is something she's always experienced. "These issues within the Asian community have been around for a long time," she said. "I would get made fun of because of my eyes. There were many times growing up I didn't want to be different with the shape of my eyes or the colour of my skin. That took away from me wanting to be me and embracing my culture and tradition." As an adult, she said she no longer experiences name-calling, but the lack of education and stereotypes about the Asian community often leaves her "speechless." "People will often assume that we are from China or assume that we eat certain foods," she said. Singharath and her sisters, Melissa Phillips and Rita Hurrell, have decided to reclaim their power by doing something about this new wave of Asian hate. They are producing and selling t-shirts that carry powerful messages such as "Hate is a virus," "Asian Proud" and "Stop Asian Hate." The profits from the shirt goes to support local Asian businesses and communities in Canada. "We've just been seeing too much violence and attack and we kind of hit a breaking point," she said. "We couldn't just sit by and not try to help in some way, so within less than a week we thought the best way we could help take a stand was these t-shirts." The three shirts made by Alison Singharath and her sisters.(Submitted by Alison Singharath) According to Singharath, the response to the shirt has exceeded her expectations. For her and her sisters, this shows them that "there are people out there that want to support and are helping us raise awareness which makes us grateful that we are taking one step forward and making a change," she said. Local Asian businesses in Regina like the Great Asian Market, Hoa An Market and Ngoy Hoa Asian Foods will be beneficiaries of profits from the shirts. Alison and her sisters, Melissa Phillips and Rita Hurriell, have decided to reclaim their power by doing something about this new wave of Asian hate.(Submitted by Alison Singharath) The sisters will also be donating the foods purchased from the businesses to the community fridges in Regina. Money for the shirts will also be going toward the Chinese Canadian National Council, a non-profit organization. Production of the shirts stopped last Friday but they may start again soon.

  • Pope asks US bishop to resign after coverup investigation

    ROME — A bishop in Minnesota resigned Tuesday at the request of Pope Francis after he was investigated by the Vatican for allegedly interfering with past investigations into clergy sexual abuse, officials said. The Vatican said Francis accepted the resignation of Crookston Bishop Michael Hoeppner and named a temporary replacement to run the diocese. Hoeppner is 71, four years shy of the normal retirement age for bishops. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Crookston said the pontiff asked Hoeppner to resign following the Vatican probe, which it said arose from reports that the bishop "had at times failed to observe applicable norms when presented with allegations of sexual abuse involving clergy." The Vatican and U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops simultaneously announced Hoeppner’s resignation and the appointment of the Most Rev. Richard E. Pate, the retired bishop of Des Moines, as a temporary administrator without commenting on the reason for the change. The diocese of Crookston counts nearly 35,000 Catholics in northern Minnesota. The Vatican had tasked St. Paul-Minneapolis Archbishop Bernard Hebda with conducting a preliminary investigation. Last year, Hebda's office announced that the Holy See had authorized a more in-depth probe. Hoeppner is accused of stating that a priest was fit for ministry despite allegedly knowing the priest had abused a 16-year-old boy in the early 1970s. The victim, Ron Vasek, later sued the diocese, alleging that Hoeppner blackmailed him into retracting his allegations against Monsignor Roger Grundhaus. The lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed sum in 2017. Hoeppner was the first bishop known to be investigated by the Vatican under a 2019 law that Francis approved laying out the procedures to conduct preliminary investigations against bishops accused of sex abuse or coverup. He has said in sworn testimony that he was trying to protect the victim's confidentiality by stating that Grundhaus was fit for ministry. He has said Grundhaus continues to deny Vasek's allegations. Hebda's office said the investigation took 2,000 hours, involved interviews with 38 people and that Hoeppner was interviewed more than once. The resulting reports totalled 1,533 pages, including recommendations, and were reviewed by two lay experts who determined the probe was thorough and had been “conducted in a fair and impartial manner," the archdiocese said. A survivor advocacy group, SNAP, said it was pleased with the outcome, but said Francis could have simply fired Hoeppner rather than asked him to resign. “While the result is the same, we feel that a stronger message would have been sent by ousting Bishop Hoeppner instead of asking him to leave, as there is a difference in forcing someone out versus asking them to remove themselves," SNAP said. Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press

  • Alberta's top doctor says new restrictions loom as COVID-19 cases continue to spike

    EDMONTON — Alberta’s chief medical officer of health says new public-health restrictions might be needed if high daily COVID-19 case counts continue. Dr. Deena Hinshaw says high numbers of infections usually start affecting hospitals three to four weeks afterward. She said it’s imperative not to overwhelm hospitals so that they can still handle other emergencies and surgeries during the pandemic. “We don’t have, right now, the level of vaccine protection to prevent people who get sick from needing to go to hospital,” Hinshaw said Tuesday. “We have to make sure that we’re watching within the coming week to 10 days about what those cases look like and consider -- if our trajectory continues on a steep upward climb -- whether those additional measures will be needed.” Hinshaw declined to speculate on what the restrictions could be. She said that would depend on data and other factors. Hinshaw reported 1,081 new cases on Tuesday, the seventh consecutive day of counts above 1,000. The rise is being driven by more contagious variants, which now make up 52 per cent of the province's 15,087 active cases. There were 402 people in hospital, 88 of them in intensive care. The numbers are inching into the red-line territory reached before Christmas when total active cases soared past 21,000 and there were close to 900 people in hospital. That forced health officials to cancel surgeries, move patients, double-bunk critical care cases, and prep a field hospital at the University of Alberta. Currently, Alberta does not allow indoor social gatherings and outdoor get-togethers are capped at 10 people. Retail store customer capacity is at 15 per cent and restaurants are closed to dine-in service, although patios remain open. Entertainment venues, including casinos, museums, movie theatres and libraries, remain closed. Gyms cannot hold group fitness activities. Premier Jason Kenney faces opposition from some quarters — even within his own caucus — and is being pressed to ease up on public-health measures on the grounds they are onerous and unnecessary. Kenney said restrictions need to be in place a bit longer until vaccination rates reach critical mass. Alberta has delivered 970,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses. “We’ve ramped up our vaccination campaign to deliver up to 40,000 doses a day and we’ll soon be able to deliver as many as 70,000 a day,” Kenney said earlier Tuesday. “With natural immunity from those who have already been infected and the protective shield of vaccines, we will hopefully be able to see a return to normal by summer.” Kenney, answering questions from the Opposition NDP in the house, also announced that COVID-19 had reached into his office. “I’m aware of two members of my staff who have tested positive and are in self-isolation, as are their close contacts,” said Kenney. “They’re rigorously following all of the appropriate protocols.” Kenney also announced businesses affected by COVID-19 shutdowns will soon be able to apply for more aid -- another payment of up to $10,000 from the Small and Medium Enterprise Relaunch Grant program. That is on top of the maximum $20,000 made available under previous phases of the program. The money will also be available to businesses that began operating since March 2020, as well as to hotels, taxis, and ride-hailing services. NDP Leader Rachel Notley said the money is not enough, pointing out that Ontario offers up to $40,000 per business. “(Alberta’s program) is a mile wide and an inch deep,” Notley told the house. Kenney countered by saying his government has provided other supports, such as deferring and freezing property taxes, and deferrals for utility payments and workers' compensation premiums. This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 13, 2021 Dean Bennett, The Canadian Press

  • Failed fitting caused 190,000-litre spill at Trans Mountain site in B.C.: TSB

    VANCOUVER — A Transportation Safety Board report says the failure of a fitting on a section of narrow tubing at a Trans Mountain pumping station in British Columbia was the cause of a crude oil spill last year. The investigation report into the spill on June 12, 2020, at the Trans Mountain Sumas pump station in Abbotsford confirms as much as 190,000 litres of crude, roughly 1,200 barrels, leaked when the fitting separated on the one-inch tube. A board report released Tuesday says tests show the compression fitting was not properly tightened when it was installed in 2015 on a tube that carries a small amount of oil to a section of the pump station for analysis. The pipeline was shut down within an hour of the spill at Trans Mountain's control centre in Edmonton, but the report says it took another four hours to find and manually close valves to the tube, spilling oil into a culvert, the water table and a neighbouring agricultural field. No one was hurt and no evacuation was ordered, but the safety board report says a "multi-year remediation plan" will be needed to recover contaminants in the area surrounding the pump station. Trans Mountain's post-spill improvements include remotely operated closure valves and a lined containment area around the above-ground tubes, along with development of a system to check the condition of existing tubing systems. A safety message at the end of the report says it's "important" that pipeline companies inspect tubing systems to ensure proper installation. "In the event of an unplanned product release, it is essential that station (remote shutdown) and isolation systems be properly configured to minimize the quantity of the release," the report says. It also says secondary containment systems, such as the oil-water separator that was overwhelmed at the Sumas pump station, "must have a means of isolation in order to prevent any off-site migration of the released product." Many of the upgrades planned for the Sumas pump station are expected to be complete by this summer, the report says. This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 13, 2021. The Canadian Press

  • First Nation's council and chief ask '3rd-party' activists to stand down in B.C. logging dispute

    The chief and council of a Vancouver Island First Nation at the centre of a protest over old-growth logging are asking outside activists to stand down and leave the community to decide how to use local forestry resources. In a statement issued on Monday, Pacheedaht Hereditary Chief Frank Queesto Jones and Chief Coun. Jeff Jones addressed the blockade in the nation's traditional territory in the Fairy Creek area of the southern island. "All parties need to respect that it is up to Pacheedaht people to determine how our forestry resources will be used," reads the statement. "We do not welcome or support unsolicited involvement or interference by others in our territory, including third-party activism. Pacheedaht needs to be left in peace to engage in our community-led stewardship planning process, so that we can determine our own way forward as a strong and independent Nation." Since August, dozens of people have blocked access to logging activities in Fairy Creek to prevent Teal Cedar, a division of the Teal-Jones Group, from logging certain areas of its 595-square-kilometre tenure. The logging company has signed agreements with the Pacheedaht, and the nation signed a revenue-sharing agreement with the province in 2017 for all timber cut on its land. In early April, the B.C. Supreme Court granted Teal-Jones an injunction against the protesters. In his written decision, Justice Frits Verhoeven said police enforcement terms would be required since "there appears to be little or no likelihood that the injunction order will be respected otherwise." Monday's statement from Pacheedaht chief and council expresses concern about the "increasing polarization" over forestry within the First Nation's territory. It says the nation is currently developing a plan for stewardship of its resources, which will guide future logging. While that plan is being developed, the Pacheedaht leaders say they have secured agreements from tenure holders and the B.C. government to suspend third-party forestry activities in certain areas. "Pacheedaht has always harvested and managed our forestry resources, including old-growth cedar, for cultural, ceremonial, domestic and economic purposes. Our constitutional right to make decisions about forestry resources in our territory, as governing authority in our territory, must be respected," the statement says.

  • Premier says more restrictions possible as B.C. records 873 new cases of COVID-19 and 2 more deaths

    B.C. health officials announced 873 new cases of COVID-19 and two more deaths on Tuesday, as Premier John Horgan suggested more restrictions could be coming to stem the third wave of the pandemic. In a written statement, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Health Minister Adrian Dix said there are 9,756 active cases of people infected with the disease caused by the novel coronavirus in B.C. A total of 377 people are in hospital, with 117 in intensive care. Hospitalizations, which typically lag behind spikes and dips in new cases, are up 15 per cent from a week ago, when 328 people were in hospital. The news came not long after Horgan told reporters that the possibility of travel restrictions will be discussed Wednesday by the provincial cabinet and those talks will also likely examine the status of bookings for hotels, bed and breakfasts and camping sites. "We've not taken anything off the table, but practicality is first and foremost in our mind," said Horgan. "We will use the tools that are available to us if we believe they are effective, but deployment of those tools is a challenge. We haven't taken travel restrictions off the board, quite frankly." The premier said Henry will provide any update of possible new restrictions Thursday during a briefing where the province's latest COVID-19 modelling data will be presented. Horgan said he's troubled by the recent COVID-19 case counts in B.C. and is looking to Thursday's release of information for a better sense of where the province stands. As of Tuesday, 1,148,993 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in B.C., including 87,785 second doses. Earlier this week, Dix noted that the province has the capacity to deliver many more doses daily than it is right now, but the supply is not there yet. "We are adapting our vaccine delivery in step with our supply and will continue to do that moving forward. If needed, we will pivot, pause or shift our delivery to maximize protection to as many people as possible," Henry and Dix said Tuesday. The provincial death toll from the disease to date is 1,515 people out of 113,702 confirmed cases. Public health is actively monitoring 16,290 people across the province who are in self-isolation because of COVID-19 exposure. B.C. has now recorded 5,221 cases that involve variants of concern — the majority have been the B117 variant first reported in the U.K. On Monday, Dix said high occupancy rates are beginning to affect the surgical capacity of local hospitals in the Vancouver Coastal Health region and that while there is still space in intensive care units provincewide, things are starting to get tight in the Lower Mainland. Spike in cases complicates work of contact tracers. Also on Tuesday, the B.C. government once again extended the provincial state of emergency that has been in place since March 18, 2020. "With the vaccine program well underway, we can see hope on the horizon, but higher case numbers and variants mean that we need to draw back in some places instead of opening up," Horgan said in a news release. The state of emergency will now remain in place until at least April 27. The recent surge in cases has made the job of contact tracers at Fraser Health increasingly complicated, according to team leader Dr. Amir Bharmal. Over the last weekend alone, 1,957 cases were confirmed in the region. "It's not only the increased volume, but it's also the fact that we have just a lot more complexity and diversity in terms of the places where people can get exposed to COVID." he told Stephen Quinn, host of CBC's The Early Edition. "On any given day, we're dealing with over 150 clusters that are occurring in different workplaces." The average number of close contacts for each infected person has stayed relatively stable at between 2.5 and three, Bharmal said. Right now, his team is able to trace about 80 per cent of new positive tests to previously known cases. Vaccine rollout continues B.C. is currently vaccinating eligible adults in transmission hot spots like Whistler and Prince Rupert, while the age-based program slowly rolls on. The province has announced dates for those aged 40 and older to register for their vaccine: Monday, April 12 — born 1966 or earlier (55+) Wednesday, April 14 — born 1971 or earlier (50+) Friday, April 16 — born 1976 or earlier (45+) Monday, April 19 — born 1981 or earlier (40+) Registering for a vaccine is not the same as booking the appointment to get your shot. Once registered, users receive a confirmation code, followed by an email, a text or a call telling them when they're eligible to use the code to make an appointment. You can register to get vaccinated here. The information on this page is available in 12 languages. If your prefer to register by phone, the number to call is 1-833-838-2323. Service by phone is available in more than 110 languages.

  • Opposition bill against coal mining in Alberta's Rockies can proceed in legislature

    EDMONTON — An Opposition bill that would preserve Alberta's Rocky Mountains from open-pit coal mines could be debated in the legislature after a government-dominated committee on Tuesday gave unanimous consent for it to move forward. NDP Leader Rachel Notley, the bill's sponsor, immediately challenged government members to approve a motion to debate the bill next Monday instead of letting it die on the order paper. "Are they just going through the motions or are they really prepared to do what it takes and stand up for and represent the views of their constituents?" Notley asked after a meeting of the committee that screens private members' bills and decides which of them goes ahead. Earlier in the day, the committee voted unanimously to send Notley's proposed Eastern Slopes Protection Act to the legislature for further debate. All six United Conservative members and four New Democrats supported the recommendation. Committee clerk Warren Huffman confirmed it's the first Opposition-sponsored private member's bill the committee hasn't rejected since the UCP came to power in 2019. The bill calls for the cancellation of leases issued after the government scrapped a policy last May that once protected a vast swath of summits and foothills down the western spine of the province. If passed, the bill would also stop the province's energy regulator from issuing development permits. Open-pit mines would be permanently prohibited in the most environmentally sensitive areas and mines elsewhere would not receive the go-ahead until a land-use plan for the region was developed. The government has already sold coal exploration leases for vast tracts of the area, a landscape close to the hearts of many Albertans and the source of much of the province's fresh water. Public backlash forced it to reinstate the policy and stop sales, but drilling and road-building continue on leases already sold. Notley said that backlash was probably behind Tuesday's recommendation. "Even UCP members had to understand the degree to which their own constituents don't want to see this happen." But she said that under current scheduling, the bill wouldn't come before the house before the end of the sitting and would quietly disappear. Paul Hamnett, spokesman for government house leader Jason Nixon, said private members bills are scheduled by the legislature. "Private members bills are assigned based on a random draw to be heard on Monday in the order they are drawn," he said. The legislature is currently on private member's Bill 207. The proposed coal legislation is Bill 214. Notley said the NDP will ask for a unanimous vote to move the bill up for debate. "They can absolutely do that if they truly want to give voice to their constituents' concerns." The government is asking Albertans to complete a survey on how, or if, they want development on the land in question. It has also struck a committee to seek input. It is expected to report in November. That's not quick enough, said Notley. "While that so-called consultation is winding its way down whatever road it may take, development and exploration is ongoing, jeopardizing the very integrity that so many Albertans are desperate to see us protect." While some coal companies have said they will suspend this summer's exploration program, others have not, saying their leases require them to complete work within two years. Cabin Ridge Project Ltd. plans to drill 96 holes in its leases north of Coleman, Alta., near the British Columbia boundary. That work is to begin in May. This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 13, 2021. — Follow @row1960 on Twitter Bob Weber, The Canadian Press

  • NTSB: Pilot error likely caused vintage bomber's fatal crash

    HARTFORD, Conn. — Pilot error probably caused the 2019 crash of a World War II-era bomber in Connecticut that killed seven people and wounded six others, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a report released Tuesday. It also cited inadequate maintenance as a contributing factor. The four-engine, propeller-driven B-17G Flying Fortress bomber with 13 people aboard crashed at Bradley International Airport, north of Hartford, during a travelling vintage aircraft show on Oct. 2, 2019. The pilot, Ernest “Mac” McCauley, reported a problem with one of the engines shortly after takeoff, and the plane crashed into a maintenance building and burst into flames after striking the runway lights during a landing attempt. The NTSB said the flight data indicated that the landing gear was extended too early, adding drag that slowed the plane, and it was travelling too slow on its return to the airport. “The B-17 could likely have overflown the approach lights and landed on the runway had the pilot kept the landing gear retracted and accelerated to 120 mph until it was evident the airplane would reach the runway,” the NTSB said. In the report, there was also a call on the Federal Aviation Administration to adopt tighter regulations on vintage aircraft flights offered to the public. McCauley, 75, of Long Beach, California, was a veteran pilot who colleagues said had great skills flying the B-17G. He and co-pilot Michael Foster, 71, of Jacksonville, Florida, were killed in the crash, along with five of the 10 passengers. The plane's mechanic, Mitchell Melton, of Hawkins, Texas, was the only crew member to survive. The NTSB said there was a power loss in two of the four engines during the flight, a problem it blamed on McCauley's “inadequate maintenance." McCauley also served as the maintenance director of the plane's owner, the Collings Foundation, based in Stow, Massachusetts. The NTSB also said the Collings Foundation had an ineffective safety management system that failed to identify hazards, including the inadequate maintenance of the plane. Investigators said the system, as well as the FAA's ineffective oversight of the system, also contributed to the accident. The Collings Foundation said in a statement Tuesday that it is reviewing the NTSB's findings. It did not directly address the NTSB's findings. “We knew Ernest “Mac” McCauley to be the most experienced B-17 pilot in the world who was passionate about the care and condition of all aircraft,” the foundation said. “Responsible flight and maintenance operations have always been a top priority of the Collings Foundation, reflected by over thirty years’ worth of a safe operating record, and always will be.” Melton, the mechanic, from Hawkins, Texas, told investigators the No. 4 engine began losing power after takeoff and McCauley shut it off, despite Melton telling him there was no need to shut if off, according to NTSB documents. Lawyers for relatives of people killed in the crash and survivors said in a statement that the NTSB report will help the families get some closure and prevent similar tragedies. The families and survivors are suing the Collings Foundation over the deaths and injuries. The foundation has denied wrongdoing. “Unfortunately, our clients’ lives were forever changed when the Collings Foundation’s B-17 crashed at Bradley International Airport,” the lawyers said. “At the appropriate time ... we will present evidence to a Connecticut jury that the Collings Foundation’s failures as detailed in the NTSB report, caused the horrific injuries and deaths suffered by our clients.” The passengers killed in the crash, who paid $450 apiece for the flight, included Gary Mazzone, of East Windsor, Connecticut; Robert Riddell, of East Granby, Connecticut, James Roberts, of Ludlow, Massachusetts; David Broderick, of West Springfield, Massachusetts; and Robert Rubner, of Tolland, Connecticut. After the crash, the foundation suspended its flights and tour for the rest of the year. In March 2020, the FAA revoked the Collings Foundation’s permission to carry passengers aboard its World War II-era planes because of safety concerns stemming from the Bradley accident. The FAA said in a statement Tuesday that it has a number of initiatives under way to improve the safety of vintage aircraft flights offered to the public. It has issued new guidance to safety inspectors, required them to inspect all operators of such flights by Sept. 30 and will be issuing new rules for operators' safety management systems. U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, called on the FAA to immediately implement the NTSB's recommendations. Dave Collins, The Associated Press

  • 2 of 3 puppies still missing after weekend break-in, say Surrey RCMP

    One of three American bulldogs that were stolen during a break-and-enter in Surrey has been recovered, according to Surrey RCMP, but the dogs' owners are still trying to find the other two puppies. The theft happened Saturday afternoon at a house on 8 Avenue, near 176 Street, while the residents weren't home. According to police, a member of the public got in touch after realizing the puppy they bought at a car show in Mission over the weekend was one of the stolen dogs, Rosie. "We're glad that we got this one puppy back for the family," said Sgt. Elanore Sturko. "We're grateful that this person who had the puppy reached out to us." Sturko said the person also provided further information to investigators, and it's possible the two dogs that remain at large were also sold at the car show. Anyone with information is asked to contact Surrey RCMP or Crime Stoppers if they wish to remain anonymous.

  • Parents of teen with autism want to know why the province is telling them to give up custody

    The parents of a Nova Scotia teen with autism who has complex care needs want to know why some families are being told by the Department of Community Services to give up custody of their children in order to get them into group homes. The option is used in only a handful of cases, but can present a devastating choice for those families. "That was the shock of our lives that we would have to potentially give up our parental rights to give our child the care that they needed," the teen's mother said. "We adamantly, adamantly want to participate in his care." The teen's mother says she doesn't believe the Nova Scotia system has the flexibility to support families who have children with high-care needs while retaining their parental rights. The family wants to keep custody of their son, not only because they love him but because they want to continue to be his advocate and be involved in any decision-making while he's in a group home. Because he is a child in the care of the province, neither the teen in this story nor his parents can have their identities published by CBC News. The teen's mother says she doesn't believe the Nova Scotia system has enough flexibility to accommodate families with children with high care needs while retaining their parental rights. (David Laughlin/CBC) The boy's parents say they were able to care for him at home until he was 14, but he became aggressive and would sometimes scratch or hit people. "There's other family members, pets, people in the household, and they weren't necessarily safe," the teen's mother said. There were times when she said her son would run out of the house and into the street unless he was watched constantly. "You're in the kitchen washing dishes, and there's no reasonable way that you can supervise a child that intensely [in order] to keep everybody safe," she said. In September 2020, the family made an agreement with the Department of Community Services to place their son in a group home where he could receive specialized care. However, the parents say they made it clear to department staff they were not prepared to sign away their custodial rights. 3 options According to regulations attached to the province's Child and Family Services Act, families with children who've been diagnosed as having physical or intellectual disabilities that prevent them from living at home may enter into a "special needs agreement" with the department. There are three options under the regulations, according to an emailed statement from the Department of Community Services. "We work with the family throughout this process to determine what type of special needs agreement would be most appropriate," the statement said. "This could mean agreeing to transfer care and custody of the child to the minister, [the family] retaining care and custody of the child while the child is placed in a child-caring program, or receiving supports and services while the child remains home with their family." The statement said the department's goal is always to ensure children and youth are protected and families are supported. "We know children do better if they can stay in a loving home with people they already know, but in some cases, when a child has high-care needs and requires specialized care, a placement may be necessary." The options presented to the family may depend on whether there's a spot open at a licensed facility and what sort of support the parents can continue to offer a child while they're in care, the statement said. Community Services Minister Kelly Regan and her department are responsible for children in group homes if custody is turned over to the province.(Craig Paisley/CBC) The parents of the teen say they feel that provincial staff pressured them to accept the option to give up custody. But the family pushed back until department staff eventually agreed to the option to retain custody, the parents told CBC. The mother says her understanding is that it would be easier for the department to fund the teen's placement if the family turned over custody. Under the regulations, the period of agreement for transferring the care and custody of a child to the Minister of Community Services cannot be longer than one year, although the agreement can be renewed. 'It was mortifying' For a few months after the teen was placed in a group home last September things went well. His parents say he was "thriving" and making friends. But in the last few months the home began to have some challenges getting enough staff to fill all the shifts required to supervise their son, his parents say. Just before the Easter weekend they were told that the boy would have to return home, but the family says they responded that they weren't able to safely take him home with the support they currently have in place. "There's just myself and my husband here. We have another child, and our house isn't a secured facility," his mother said. She said her husband instead volunteered to work at their son's facility to supplement his care. The mother says at that point they again felt pressured to give up custody of their son. "We were at that point again, where they were telling us that we would have to do that potentially to provide him with support," she said. "It was mortifying. Because it's not like we didn't want to [provide support]. We desperately wanted to. We made that abundantly clear." The mother says their son was moved twice in the days around the Easter weekend, and they were not told where he was going. They spent the weekend making repeated calls and sending emails to find out where their son was. They didn't learn of his whereabouts until the Tuesday following the long weekend, according to the family. CBC asked the Department of Community Services for a breakdown on how many special needs agreements have been made in each category and received the following breakdown of current cases: Transfer care and custody to the Minister while placed in a facility: 3. Placed in a facility but custody retained by parents: 2. Services provided in child's home: 654. CBC reached another family with a child with high-needs autism who was also presented with the choice of giving up rights to their child to gain a placement in a group home. In that case, they also did not give up custody of their daughter. Planning for the future The teen's mother acknowledges her son's care needs are complicated; he needs two employees to supervise him at all times. She and her husband worry if their son does not receive intensive care when he's young, he may not develop skills that could help him live more independently later in life. "If your child needed to be on a ventilator and have complex medical issues, physical medical care, they would be in a hospital without question, with specialists and support," she said. "But because it's autism, and it's behavioural, it's viewed very differently." MORE TOP STORIES

  • Hospitalization of 3 vaccinated COVID-19 patients 'a bit surprising,' says epidemiologist

    An epidemiologist says it's "a bit surprising" three people hospitalized in New Brunswick for COVID-19 had been vaccinated, including someone who had two doses before the onset of symptoms. Raywat Deonandan, an associate professor at the University of Ottawa, says the clinical trials showed some vaccinated people still got sick, but that the vaccines "had a 100 per cent chance of keeping vaccinated people out of the hospital." But clinical trial numbers are always more optimistic than real-life situations, he said, noting the COVID-19 vaccines were tested on only tens of thousands of people, and now they're being distributed to tens of millions of people globally. So some hospitalizations were "bound to happen eventually," said Deonandan. Three hospitalizations out of the more than 120,000 adult New Brunswickers who received at least one dose as of last week — or roughly 0.002 per cent — is about the rate he would expect, he said. Deonandan anticipates a "vanishingly small number" of vaccinated people may also eventually die from COVID-19. "This is all about probability, not certainties," he said. "What we have done a poor job of explaining is vaccines are not bulletproof vests." They're merely a mitigation tool. And until we achieve so-called herd immunity, with between 70 and 90 per cent of the population inoculated to protect others who aren't immunized, they're the best one we've got. "The message is, if you get vaccinated, your probability of anything bad happening to you, COVID-related, is now vanishingly small, but not zero." Have a question or something to say? CBC News is live in the comments now. Dr. Jennifer Russell, the province's chief medical officer of health, said the risk of hospitalization, ICU admission and death from COVID-19 are greatly reduced by the vaccine, but all New Brunswickers will continue to be at risk until around June 15, when the province hopes to have everybody vaccinated with one dose.(Government of New Brunswick) It's a message the province's chief medical officer of health has stressed in recent days since she took many people by surprise by announcing last Thursday that three hospitalized COVID patients were vaccinated. It takes two to three weeks for the vaccine to take effect and for the person to build up immunity, Dr. Jennifer Russell had said. "I don't want people to get a false sense of security that they're immune to COVID-19 once they've had a vaccine," she told CBC News on Friday. "And even after two doses of vaccine, we know that the risk of getting COVID is not zero." People need to continue to follow Public Health guidelines, such as wearing a mask and physical distancing, even if they've been vaccinated, she said. On Saturday, when CBC News asked how many of the hospitalized patients had been fully vaccinated, Russell confirmed the even more surprising news that one person had received both doses. On Tuesday, pressed for clarification on conflicting information, Department of Health spokesperson Bruce Macfarlane said the person received the first dose more than 14 days before the onset of symptoms, but the second shot was less than seven days prior to symptom onset. "In this case the second dose is not considered active yet, so the person still has the equivalent of one dose protection," Macfarlane said in an email. The other two people had received a single dose each — one of them more than 14 days before symptom onset and the other, less than 14 days prior, he said. 'Very unlikely' 3 are young, healthy Michael Grant, a professor of immunology and associate dean of biomedical science at Memorial University in St. John's, acknowledged it's "a concern" people are still being hospitalized when the vaccine rollout is underway. And it comes when there's already "skepticism" about vaccines, he said. "It's been a bit of a public relations nightmare with the AstraZeneca vaccine, with what would appear to be a bit of flip-flopping as better information becomes available." But Grant thinks it's "very unlikely" these cases are due to a vaccine failure in young, healthy people. He contends there's "very little evidence anywhere else" that people who have been fully vaccinated and developed immunity from that vaccination are at risk for severe infection. "So unless there's something very peculiar occurring in New Brunswick, I don't think there should be any sort of generalization that people can be fully vaccinated, develop a good immune response and still be at risk for severe illness," said Grant. Dr. Michael Grant, a professor of immunology at Memorial University in St. John's, said it's been a 'hard psychological blow' for the population to be told once everybody's had the vaccine, we can start to go back to to a normal life, and then to hear some restrictions may have to remain in place even after most people have been vaccinated. (CBC) Why some vaccinated people are ending up in hospital and what kind of people this happens to is more difficult to nail down, however. Grant noted the vaccine studies were conducted on otherwise healthy individuals, so it's still too soon to know how some groups of people will respond. But there is some evidence that older people do not respond as well to the vaccine, so they may remain "somewhat susceptible" to the coronavirus, he said. If people are taking immunosuppressive or anti-inflammatory medications to treat certain conditions at the time they receive the vaccine, the drugs can reduce the response they make against the vaccine, said Grant. A couple of studies with cancer survivors who are on some form of maintenance therapy or whose immune system hasn't recovered from chemotherapy have shown they respond "very poorly" to one dose of the vaccine. "And there will be very, very rare cases where people do make an immune response against the vaccine and still get infected with the virus somehow and develop illness," he said. No vaccine's perfect Deonandan said all vaccines have a failure rate. He pointed to the annual flu vaccine, which usually has an efficacy of 40 to 70 per cent. "And yet we never complained when we got the flu vaccine and saw hey, some people got the flu," he said. "But, you know, people aren't afraid of the flu because we don't hear about the thousands who die every year of the flu." The probability of vaccine failure — or the probability of detecting vaccine failure — increases as the prevalence of the disease increases, said Deonandan. Every vaccinated person still has a very small chance of transmitting and getting the disease. This may increase with the highly transmissible COVID variants, including the two now confirmed in New Brunswick — the variant first reported in the U.K. and the variant first detected in South Africa. But they have to be exposed to the disease first. Their chance of being exposed varies with the prevalence of the disease in the community. So if the prevalence is high, then the risk of exposure is high. "So this is all a population game. This is getting sufficient immunity into a sufficient number of people with the understanding that not everybody is going to be perfectly immune." Interpret numbers carefully How we interpret and communicate the numbers is important, said Deonandan. He offered as an example a high school of 100 people, where 99 of them are vaccinated against the measles with a vaccine that has a one per cent failure rate. If an outbreak infects the one person who didn't get vaccinated and the one person whom the vaccine failed to protect, half of those two people were vaccinated. "So you could look at that statistic and say, 'Oh, my God, I've got a 50-50 chance of getting measles if I got vaccinated," he said. But that's incorrect. "You have a one per cent chance of getting measles if you got vaccinated. So it depends on how you view the numbers. This is really important." A couple of months after more than half the population has been immunized, Deonandan expects the probability of community transmission will be so low that the vaccine failure rates will be "irrelevant." Grant encourages people to continue to get immunized. "The vast majority of cases, there's very strong evidence that having the vaccine is going to protect you against developing severe illness," he said. Have questions about this story? We're answering as many as we can in the comments.

  • Bolsonaro refuses to lockdown as Brazil approaches grisly milestone

    As COVID-19 cases continue to surge, experts say Brazil’s death toll from COVID-19 will likely exceed that of the U.S., but President Jair Bolsonaro refuses to implement a lockdown.

  • Indigenous leaders, experts urge Ottawa to quickly pass UNDRIP bill before election

    OTTAWA — It's been over 40 years since Chief Wilton Littlechild of Alberta began fighting for recognition of Indigenous rights in Canada, but he says he's waiting to see these rights passed into federal law before he can finally rest. Littlechild was part of a team of human rights and legal experts who took part in a 1977 Indigenous delegation to the United Nations, and later also worked on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted by the body in 2007. Speaking to a House of Commons committee Tuesday, Littlechild expressed cautious optimism about the Liberal government's Bill C-15, which would harmonize Canada's laws with the declaration, also known as UNDRIP. But he said he won't be able to fully exhale until the bill finally passes. "I have to withhold my emotion and my horse races inside me until I hear the words 'royal assent,' " Littlechild said. "I feel positive that we are going in the right direction. After all, we didn't go to the United Nations or to the Organization of American States to cause anyone any trouble. We went there because our treaties were being violated on a daily basis and it was our elders and our leaders who instructed me to bring this ... to the global arena." Littlechild was one of several Indigenous leaders and legal experts who appeared Tuesday before the committee studying Canada's bill. They urged federal lawmakers to ensure the bill doesn't end up once again on the cutting room floor. This will mark the third attempt to see a bill passed in Canada's Parliament recognizing the UN declaration. Retired New Democrat MP Romeo Saganash introduced two private member's bills to implement UNDRIP. The first in 2014 was defeated at second reading, and the second, known as Bill C-262, came close to passing, but died after stalling in the Senate just before the 2019 election. Perry Bellegarde, National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations said he fears this newest bill could get tangled in legislative limbo before Parliament rises for the summer or is dissolved for a possible early federal election. This would be a step backward on the road to reconciliation, Bellegarde said. "Canada has made commitments to the Indigenous Peoples of the world that it would implement the declaration," he told the committee. "What we still lack, however, is the legislation that implements the declaration and sets us on a course of recognition of rights and provides the framework for reconciliation. "It is important for First Nations, and I believe it is important for all Canadians, to seize this opportunity now. We need to hear the words 'royal assent' before the end of June." The UN declaration, which Canada endorsed in 2010, affirms the rights of Indigenous Peoples to self-determination and to their language, culture and traditional lands. It also spells out the need for free, prior and informed consent from Indigenous Peoples on anything that infringes on their lands or rights, but C-15 does not include a definition of such consent. The Liberal government introduced its UNDRIP legislation in December after a 2019 campaign promise to do so. It is now being put through the legal and political paces of Parliament. The AFN is proposing some tweaks, including speeding up a proposed action plan to implement the bill from three years to two and adding clear references to "racism" long endured by Canada's Indigenous Peoples. The Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, which represents Canada's 65,000 Inuit, are also proposing amendments to the legislation, including one that would establish an Indigenous Human Rights Commission. But Conservatives have been raising concerns over language in the legislation they believe could give First Nations a "veto" over controversial resource development projects. Several Tory MPs put these concerns to witnesses Tuesday, including the party's Crown-Indigenous relations critic, Jamie Schmale. "It's not that we, as Conservatives, believe that UNDRIP or C-15 will mean that bill is against development. What we're asking is, because there is no clear definition, when a First Nation says no to a project … does that mean it's dead?" Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, a former judge who helped draft British Columbia's successful UNDRIP 2019 legislation, called the notion of a blanket veto on development projects "fearmongering." The bill will simply put into operation policies and processes to ensure First Nations are involved at the outset when it comes to decisions regarding their existing land, title and human rights, she explained. Many legal experts believe this could lead to fewer conflicts and less litigation, especially on issues of resource development, she added. "This is not removing any (government) authority and powers, but what it is doing and saying is: we want to end the process of this very colonial approach to taking Indigenous people's lands, supporting projects and developments on those lands without their consent, engagement and involvement and to operationalize a different set of practices," Turpel-Lafond said. "The powers of government are well-known. The issue is how they get exercised and hopefully this bill will help us shift into a more positive direction." The bill is expected to be brought to the House of Commons for first debate later this week. This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 13, 2021. Teresa Wright, The Canadian Press

  • NDP court challenge could affect balance of power, especially if others follow suit, lawyer says

    Lyle Skinner is a constitutional lawyer who specializes in parliamentary law.(CBC) Lyle Skinner, an Ottawa-based constitutional lawyer based who specializes in parliamentary law, has been following Newfoundland and Labrador's election from its start. He says how it ends may depend on whether anyone else wants to join NDP Leader Alison Coffin in taking the election process to court. "This is part of the accountability mechanism. If anybody has any questions on if the election was conducted in a fair manner, then they can go to the court and ask the court to judicate that," Skinner said. Coffin and St. John's resident Whymarrh Whitby jointly filed a court challenge on Monday against Elections NL, arguing that the most recent general election discriminated against voters based on ethnicity, age or disability, while also excluding people without internet access and those in Indigenous communities. The application is separate from a challenge that Coffin filed earlier this month requesting a recount in her former district of St. John's East-Quidi Vidi, where she lost by 53 votes. This challenge is more bold: it asks that the Supreme Court to void last month's election results entirely. The Elections Act holds that a candidate or voter of a particular district can bring forward an application over an irregularity, Skinner said. The application filed on behalf of Coffin and Whitby lists 28 specific "irregularities," including Chief Electoral Officer Bruce Chaulk's hand-delivery of ballots to former PC leader Ches Crosbie and Liberal cabinet minister Siobhan Coady. Voiding election through a single application But Skinner said it appears Coffin's application is attempting to use a Charter of Rights and Freedoms argument to attempt to void all 40 districts through a single application. "Whether or not that will be successful will be for a judge to determine before they would consider the merits of the particular case, as it may be," he said. NDP Leader Alison Coffin and a resident in St. John's jointly filed a court challenge on Monday against Elections NL.(CBC) If the challenge is successful, and all 40 of the province's districts are void, Skinner said a second election will be issued, but it will be different than a regular general election. "The premier at any time can advise the lieutenant governor to dissolve the assembly. So in this case the assembly would still exist, it just wouldn't have any MHAs which from my research would be somewhat unprecedented," he said. If results are void for one district, Skinner added, it could still have a significant impact. A new election would be issued for that district, and if the incumbent is not returned there could be a cabinet shuffle and impacts on voting in certain committees. The possibility that all 40 districts will become void, in turn causing another election, may depend on the number individuals who feel there was an irregularity with this year's election, said Skinner. He said Monday's application may only be the first, and there's a window of two months since the day after a polling day in which people can bring forward their own applications. Balance of power may be affected Elections NL announced the results March 27. Voting had been suspended on the eve of the scheduled Feb. 13 election because of an outbreak of the COVID-19 virus variant B117. Chaulk pushed the province to mail-in ballots, although he adjusted the deadline to participate several times. WATCH | Lawyer Lyle Skinner tells Carolyn Stokes about the implications of a new NDP court challenge: "So it really depends on how many districts are being challenged, and again — even if there's only one or two, that might affect the balance of power," Skinner said. Andrew Furey's Liberals won 22 of the 40 seats in the House of Assembly. The Tories won 13 seats, the NDP won two, and three Independents were elected. "If the government goes into a minority government situation, the premier is within his prerogative to make an appeal to Newfoundlanders and Labradorians and advise dissolution and commence an election in that way," Skinner said. "It doesn't have to be through the legal process through all 40 districts. There's also a political constitutional avenue as well." In 1993, the results for the district of Placentia were marked invalid because 55 voters, who didn't have proper documentation with respect to making an oath, totalled more than the 21-vote difference between candidates. Tory Nick Careen defeated Liberal incumbent Bill Hogan in that election. "The court said that when a situation materially affects the results such as that, that no other factors are really considered. It's that the irregularity could potentially affect the outcome," said Skinner. "In that case, because there was no further evidence produced, the results were voided and a second election occurred subsequent." Read more articles from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador

  • Will F1 return to Montreal this June? Answer unclear as negotiations continue

    Formula One officials are appealing to various levels of government to invest $6 million to bring the Canadian Grand Prix back to Montreal in June but it's unclear how Ottawa will respond. The race was first postponed and then nixed last year, and now F1 needs the money to offset the costs of presenting the event this year without spectators on site. The race usually attracts thousands of tourists from around the world, but with the third wave of COVID-19 picking up steam, bringing all those people together in one place to watch cars zip around the Gilles-Villeneuve track is out of the question. F1 officials are also asking to bypass the mandatory 14-day quarantine for the hundreds of staff, crew members and drivers. They would instead rely on private medical staff to keep COVID from spreading among the personnel. Radio-Canada has learned that Quebec public health would be ready to authorize the holding of the Grand Prix without spectators if certain measures are applied. For now, the event is scheduled for June 13, but it is still up to upper levels of government to approve and fund it. Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante has made it clear that the city can't invest. Premier François Legault said "nothing is settled" on Tuesday. "We are told that because there will be no spectators, there should be compensation from the government, when we have already given a lot," he said. If it weren't for the concern over the 2022-2029 agreement with F1, Legault said, "I don't see why we need this — the Grand Prix — here this year." Legault said the Grand Prix is an important event with real economic benefits "because it is money that comes from abroad and is spent here in Quebec." He said the event is the subject of discussion at the moment. Trudeau not committing just yet Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau remained vague on the subject. "I know that talks are underway right now, but at every stage, our priority is the health of Canadians. And that is the basis on which we will make the decisions," said Trudeau. Even if there are no spectators, the health concern is that hundreds of F1 staff will arrive on scene, most flying in from Baku, Azerbaijan, where a race is scheduled the weekend before. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal has other uses when high-performance race cars aren't roaring around the track.(Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press) Quebec Public Health Director Dr. Horacio Arruda said on Tuesday it could be possible to hold the event safely but there is much to discuss beforehand. He said the study of ways to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is underway. "There is a way to hold it in terms of public health with well-thought-out protocols," he said. "As for the importation of the virus by people who come from outside without quarantines, these are discussions that are taking place between Quebec and Canada." F1 says it can be done safely F1's top brass has made it clear that holding events without spectators isn't financially feasible as the organization relies on ticket sales. On March 27, F1 group president Stefano Domenicali challenged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's office on the issue of mandatory quarantine for travellers flying into the country. In a letter that Radio-Canada has obtained a copy of, the F1 boss outlines the measures put in place to prevent outbreaks of COVID-19 throughout the season. In 2020, 78,000 PCR tests were carried out and only 78 tested positive. The F1 president says that is a rate of 0.1 per cent. If Montreal loses the annual event, F1 has already picked Istanbul, Turkey, to host it in the future instead.

  • Man sentenced to 15 years without parole for murder of Burnaby woman

    A judge has sentenced a Vancouver man to life in prison with no eligibility for parole for 15 years for stabbing and killing a 34-year-old woman in 2018. Jan Poepl, 31, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Nicole Porciello. She was killed when Poepl, her ex-partner stabbed her and then crashed the vehicle they were riding in into a light pole on the Barnet Highway in November 2018. "The nicest word that I can say is probably disappointing," said Porciello's cousin Gina Iuliano outside the Vancouver courthouse after the sentence was handed down Tuesday afternoon. "I'm trying to understand what it takes to get a life sentence in Canada [without parole] based on the horrific circumstances of what happened to Nicole. Even the judge described it as something horrific." Porciello, who worked at Templeton Secondary School in Vancouver, left behind a 10-year-old son. The judge also ordered a lifetime firearm prohibition for Poepl. Over the course of the sentencing hearings that began in March, the judge heard victim impact statements from Porciello's family and friends — all of which had a similar theme, according to her cousin. "She was pure love. She was fierce. She was smart. She was intelligent. She believed in everybody," Iuliano said. Porciello's brother has previously said that she and Poepl had an on-and-off relationship but Nicole had broken things off in the months before her death. Family members also noted on Tuesday that they hope to see a societal change that puts an end to violence against women. Iuliano says there were signs before Porciello's murder that Poepl was dangerous. "If we had done something in advance of this Nicole would still be here because we would have seen the behaviours that Jan exuded and brought us to the situation today."

  • Cuba to enter post-Castro era at pivotal 2021 party congress

    Cuba is poised to enter the post-Castro era with Raul Castro due to step down as head of the ruling Communist Party at its congress this week, which will also address the island's severe economic crisis, pandemic response and signs of growing dissent. Castro, 89, and his late older brother Fidel have successively ruled Cuba ever since leading a 1959 revolution that toppled a U.S.-backed dictator and installed a Communist-run country on the doorstep of the United States. The congress, which takes place every five years, is the Communist party's most important meeting electing party leadership and setting policy guidelines.

  • COVID-19 in Sask.: Bubbles limited to immediate households as variants rise in Saskatoon and elsewhere

    The Saskatchewan government is tightening some public health rules across the province and also expanding access to vaccines as the number of coronavirus variants continues to increase in several regions, particularly in Saskatoon, where a bar was flagged late Tuesday as a potential site of coronavirus variant exposures. Effective immediately throughout the province, bubbles are limited to people's immediate households, no matter the region. Previously, that tightened rule was only in place in Regina. There are "limited exceptions for co-parenting arrangements, caregivers and service people," Health Minister Paul Merriman said. "Be very cautious if we work outside the home," added Dr. Saqib Shahab, Saskatchewan's chief medical health officer. In another step, as of Friday all churches and other places of worship will be limited to 30 people. Some stricter measures in Regina are not being extended elsewhere, including a strong recommendation to avoid unnecessary travel in and out of the city, and limiting restaurants to take-out service. Merriman said he's hopeful the case numbers in Saskatoon will stabilize even without those extra steps, based on what's happened in Regina. "I think we've done a very good job in Regina," he said. "Residents have done an extremely good job of adhering to [the rules] because the numbers haven't gone anywhere near where they were projected to go." Vaccine access widened to new groups The province is also opening up vaccine access to people by lowering the age requirement for walk-in appointments to 52 from 55. That change will kick in on Wednesday. More vulnerable groups are also being added to the priority vaccine queue and are therefore immediately eligible for vaccination: All pregnant women. 16- and 17-year-olds who are considered clinically extremely vulnerable. Everyone over the age of 40 in the province's far north. Pregnant women and vulnerable 16- and 17-year-olds will receive an eligibility letter from their physician and will need to use the 1-833-SASK-VAX telephone number to book. The changes come as some areas continue to see a rise in coronavirus variants. The Saskatoon area in particular stood out on Tuesday as it reported a cumulative 302 virus variant cases, up from 181 on Monday. Shahab said if the numbers don't improve soon in Saskatoon, more restrictions will be necessary there. He said the proportion of cases in the area that are coronavirus variants has risen in recent weeks to between 30 and 40 per cent, and called that trend "very concerning." "Saskatoon really has to work hard to avoid following Regina's trajectory," Shahab said, pointing to the rapid initial rise of variants in the latter city several weeks ago. Saqib Shahab, chief medical health officer, speaks at a COVID-19 news update.(Michael Bell/The Canadian Press) Variant cases in the Regina, southwest, south central and southeast areas increased day-over-day Tuesday by 82, seven, 20 and 23 cases, respectively. Merriman noted that Regina's daily variant numbers have settled at a worryingly high level. The Saskatchewan NDP said the changes announced Tuesday came too late. "Scott Moe saw the modelling and knew the variants were on the rise. Instead of acting to win the race between the vaccines and the variants, he gave the variants a head start," the party's chief health critic, Vicki Mowat, said in a statement. "Just like in November, we are seeing a premier unwilling to take serious steps when they are needed." 2 more deaths reported in Regina area Health officials reported a total of 288 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, based on 3,007 tests, while two more deaths were reported. Both deaths were recorded in the Regina area: one person in their 30s and one in their 60s. The new cases were found in the following areas: Far northwest: four. Northwest: 31. North central: five. Northeast: three. Saskatoon: 44. Central west: two. Central east: 22. Regina: 117. Southwest: 18. South central: 17 Southeast: 17 Pending residence information: eight. Seven cases with pending residence information have been assigned to the North central (two), Saskatoon (one), Regina (one), South central (one) and Southeast (two) areas. (CBC) There are 202 people with COVID-19 in hospital, including 41 people under intensive care. On the vaccine front, 7,846 more doses were administered on Monday. That's well below the daily rate that a recent CBC News analysis found is needed in order for the province to meet its new target of getting all adults aged 18 and over access to their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine by mid-May.

  • First Nations denounce New Brunswick government's move to end tax agreements

    FREDERICTON — New Brunswick First Nations say the province's announcement Tuesday that existing tax collection agreements will not be renewed is an insult and a crushing attack on their economic viability. "The decision to tear up these tax agreements is unfair and offensive when the premier has yet to show First Nations any morsel of fairness throughout his tenure as leader of this province," Madawaska Chief Patricia Bernard said in a statement on behalf of the Wolastoqey Nation in New Brunswick. She said the government's only interest is to see "how much more money it can leech from our resources, be it natural or financial." The decision to end the agreements follows a court ruling last month that said the province has an obligation to share with First Nations carbon tax revenues collected and remitted by on-reserve retailers. Premier Blaine Higgs said Tuesday the province won't appeal that ruling but added the current tax agreements are outdated and have proven to be unfair. "The existing tax agreements are independent of Aboriginal and treaty rights and were developed before (Harmonized Sales Tax) and carbon tax," Higgs said at a news conference in Fredericton. "No other province in Canada has tax agreements, and this is completely unique to New Brunswick." The agreements date back to 1994 and were intended to provide tax fairness for businesses on and off reserve. Before that, businesses on First Nations land were not collecting taxes from non-Indigenous customers. Under the agreements, the province would rebate 95 per cent of the first $8 million collected in provincial sales tax on tobacco, gasoline and other fuels, and 70 per cent on amounts above $8 million. In the late 1990s, the agreements were refunding approximately $28,000 annually, but they have grown at a rapid rate, hitting a peak of $47 million in 2019-20. Higgs said about $44 million will be refunded to First Nations communities this year, but it is not spread equally among them. The premier said nearly 40 per cent of that money will go to just two per cent of the First Nation population. "This is money that would have gone to support hospitals, schools, social programs and roads to benefit all New Brunswickers, including First Nations," Higgs said. "Our existing arrangement is clearly unsustainable, and our province cannot afford to ignore it any longer." Some of the agreements will expire in 90 days and others end next year, and Aboriginal Affairs Minister Arlene Dunn said the government is committed to working with First Nations on what she called modern economic partnerships. She said that might include revenue sharing from natural resources or partnerships on issues such as housing and economic development. Dunn admitted the method of informing all the chiefs of the decision was not ideal. "I'm hoping they'll come to the table and pick up the phone and call me," Dunn said. The chiefs say they need to discuss the situation and decide how to proceed. But they were not impressed by how the news was delivered. Mi'kmaq leaders said the government has hit a new low in its relationship with Indigenous people in the province. A statement from Mi'gmawe'l Tplu'taqnn Inc., which represents the province's nine Mi'kmaq communities, said media were briefed on the news before Finance Minister Ernie Steeves held a brief phone call with the chiefs. "Minister Steeves read a statement, refused to take questions and hung up on the chiefs," their statement said. One chief, George Ginnish of Natoaganeg, called the treatment by the government "completely disrespectful." Green Leader David Coon says Higgs should have addressed concerns through a renegotiation of the tax agreements. “The premier is rejecting them, just as he rejected the need for an inquiry into systemic racism, or the need to write Indigenous rights into the Crown Lands and Forests Act," said Coon. "Under this government, any hope for reconciliation has evaporated." This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 13, 2021. Kevin Bissett, The Canadian Press

  • Yukon's election shows why every vote matters — especially for Justin Trudeau's Liberals

    It can't get much closer than this. Yukon's territorial election on Monday ended in a tie — in more ways than one. Premier Sandy Silver's Yukon Liberals and the opposition Yukon Party under Currie Dixon finished the night with eight seats apiece. Kate White's Yukon New Democrats won two seats. That leaves one seat left to be decided: the northern riding of Vuntut Gwitchin, where the Liberal and NDP candidates each wound up with 78 votes. If a recount doesn't decide the outcome, a random draw will. Either way, the Liberals will get the first crack at governing and the NDP will hold the balance of power in an almost evenly-divided minority assembly. It's hard to find a more complete demonstration of why every vote matters. It's something the federal Liberals might want to think about too, as they work to keep Yukon's single federal riding in their column. Elections in Yukon have been quite close lately. The margin between the first and third parties has been shrinking over the last four territorial elections. In 2006, the conservative Yukon Party finished first with 40.6 per cent of the vote, with the NDP in third at 23.6 per cent — a gap of 17 points. That margin decreased to 15 points in 2011 and 13 points in 2016. The unofficial count from Monday has the Yukon Party in first with 39.4 per cent of the nearly 18,000 ballots cast, with the Liberals at 32.3 per cent and the NDP at 28.2 per cent. Just over 11 percentage points divide first from third. Things have been tight at the federal level as well, with two of the last three elections being decided by fewer than 200 votes. Liberal Leader Sandy Silver (centre) watches results pour in from outside the Liberal Party HQ in Dawson City, Yukon, Monday night.(Julien Gignac/CBC) There hasn't been a huge amount of variation in party support over the last few Yukon territorial elections. The Yukon Party has registered between 39 and 41 per cent of the popular vote in four of the last five elections — the one exception being when it lost power in 2016. The NDP has scored between 26 and 33 per cent in five of the last six elections, putting Monday's result well within their average over the last two decades. The Liberals, however, have swung from as little as 25 per cent of the vote in 2011 to 43 per cent in 2000. Before 2016's election brought Silver to the premier's office, the Liberals had only ever won a single election in Yukon. Whether they win re-election as a territorial government for the first time in the party's history will depend on that count in Vuntut Gwitchin. Result bodes well for Erin O'Toole's Conservatives A territorial election can't tell us much about a federal election. If Silver's Liberals do secure that ninth seat, they'll be the fifth incumbent government to be re-elected during the pandemic. (While Silver might continue governing even if he ends up tying the Yukon Party in seats, it wouldn't quite count as an election "win".) If Prime Minister Justin Trudeau decides to call a federal election this spring or summer, it will be because he thinks his government can be the sixth to win re-election. In that sense, the Yukon result could turn out to be part of a broader pattern. More specifically, however, the results in the territorial vote can tell us a little bit about what to expect in the next federal vote in Yukon. Consider this historical fact: the party that won the most votes in a territorial election in Yukon has won the Yukon riding in the subsequent federal election 60 per cent of the time. The Conservatives last won the federal Yukon seat in 2011, but came up just 153 votes short in the 2019 federal election. After a good showing for the conservative Yukon Party in Monday's territorial election, Erin O'Toole's Conservatives will hope to take the seat when a federal vote is next held.(Sean Kilpatrick / Canadian Press) That winning record improves to 67 per cent if we exclude Audrey McLaughlin's victory in 1993, when she was both the MP for Yukon and the federal NDP leader. The Yukon Party (which had changed its name to disassociate itself from the Progressive Conservatives) was in government at the time. The winning record of parties sharing a political brand improves to 78 per cent (or 88 per cent, excluding the McLaughlin case) in cases where territorial and federal elections were held within about a year of each other. So history suggests that Erin O'Toole's Conservatives could be the favourites to win Yukon if a federal election is held in the next few months. The result in the federal riding was close in 2019, when the Liberals' Larry Bagnell defeated the Conservatives' Jonas Jacot Smith by only 153 votes. Between the 2016 and 2021 territorial elections, the net swing from the Liberals to the Yukon Party was nearly 2,500 votes. The federal Conservatives need just a fraction of that to defeat Bagnell. One seat is unlikely to make that much of a difference in a national federal election. But Trudeau's Liberals can't afford to lose any seats if they are hoping to win a majority government. The CBC's Poll Tracker estimates the Liberals would win around 174 seats if an election were held today — just four more than they need for a majority government. With such a slim margin for error, the Liberals can't really afford to lose any of the seats they hold now — in Yukon or anywhere else.