B.C. family being evicted from Ronald McDonald House due to vaccine status

Harley Sims
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B.C. family being evicted from Ronald McDonald House due to vaccine status

A young Kelowna family says it is being evicted from Ronald McDonald House (RMH) in Vancouver where their 4-year-old son is fighting leukemia because they don’t have COVID shots.

“My wife Lindsey was crying on the bed,” Austin Furgason told True North on Tuesday night. “I told her, I’m going to go ask the manager about this because this isn’t even real.”

“I said, this couldn’t be real.”

RMH is a charity that provides families with a place to live while their children fight serious illnesses at nearby hospitals. They have locations around the world.

Furgason provided True North with a copy of the policy given to his family by RMH on Monday.

“Beginning January 17, 2022, everyone five years and older who are working, staying or visiting our facilities (both the House at 4567 Heather St. Vancouver and at the Family Room in Surrey Memorial Hospital) must show proof of full vaccination (two doses), in addition to completing our existing screening, unless an Accommodation has been sought and has been explicitly approved and granted by RMHC (Ronald McDonald House Charities) in writing,” it reads.

The notice, signed by Senior Director of Family Services Leslie Louie, adds that families already staying at RMH have until Jan. 31 to get their first COVID shot.

Furgason, who just earned his electrician’s ticket over Christmas, pleaded with RMH staff in a seven-minute-long video posted to Facebook on Tuesday. In the video, he tells RMH staff that the COVID shots do not stop transmission and that his family’s eviction was an affront to the country’s national anthem.

He told True North that Canada is a country that doesn’t exclude people.

“No matter what people’s beliefs are, everyone donates to this place because everyone wants to save dying kids,” he said. “If there was anything left to unite our country, this would have been it. And still, they find a way to segregate us and divide us even more.”

“I’m broken inside for our country just how fast this has accelerated.”

Furgason’s family of 4 has been staying at RMH since October, when their 4 year-old son Jack began treatment for leukemia.

“Our kid’s been doing really good,” Furgason said. “God’s been doing miracles for our kid. His hair was supposed to fall out 2 months ago, and it never did. He’s got lots of energy, he’s super positive. Everything was going great.”

Furgason said that after getting the notice, he was up all night thinking about what to do.

“I felt like God was in my heart telling me, you have to address this as a man, you have to expose this for what it is,” he told True North. “There’s no way they can just do that. It’s evil.”

In the Facebook video, Furgason tells RMH staff that his family has all their other immunizations but decided not to take the COVID-19 vaccine. Furgason reiterates that his family are not “anti-vaxxers” and that he is most concerned about the safety of the recently approved vaccine for children.

“They just approved (the COVID vaccine) for kids,” he told True North. “And even if you’re a vaccinated adult, like Ben Shapiro for example, he says, ‘get vaccinated,’ but he says he’s not going to vaccinate his kids – they don’t need it.”

Furgason says his son’s cancer treatments will hopefully be over in June and is asking anyone who might know somewhere in Vancouver his family could stay to get in touch with him. A friend also launched a GoFundMe page in October on the family’s behalf.

True North reached out to Ronald McDonald House in Vancouver and will update this story when a response is received.

Canadians donated almost $9 million dollars to Ronald McDonald House in 2020 through cash box donations and happy meal purchases.

Canada and Taiwan reach foreign investment agreement as China threat grows

Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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0
Canada and Taiwan reach foreign investment agreement as China threat grows

Canada is strengthening its ties with Taiwan as the island nation’s existence falls deeper under threat from belligerent mainland China. 

On Monday, Canada’s international trade minister Mary Ng revealed that the two governments would pursue a foreign investment agreement stemming from a Sunday phone call with Taiwanese minister John Deng.

“The ministers discussed the need for Canada and Taiwan to continue to work together to further promote supply chain resilience and mutually beneficial commercial opportunities, as well as to increase collaboration on science, technology and innovation, education, Indigenous affairs, and the green economy,” a statement by Ng’s office claimed. 

According to Global Affairs data, Taiwan is currently Canada’s sixth-largest trading partner in Asia. As of 2020, investment between the two countries has reached $813 million. 

The Chinese government of Xi Jinping has ramped up its threats towards the neighbouring island state. China considers itself to be the owner of Taiwan despite the nation having a government independent of Beijing. 

Shortly after the New Year, a Chinese official with the Taiwan Affairs Office threatened the nation with “drastic measures” should it continue to seek further independence. 

“If separatist forces in Taiwan seeking independence provoke, exert force or even break through any red line, we will have to take drastic measures,” said Ma Xiaoguang. 

In a New Year’s address, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen pleaded for a peaceful resolution to the recent heated conflicts. 

“We must remind the Beijing authorities to not misjudge the situation and to prevent the internal expansion of ‘military adventurism’,” Tsai said. 

“The military is definitely not an option for solving cross-strait disagreements,” Tsai added. “ Military conflicts would impact economic stability. Our two sides jointly shoulder the responsibility of maintaining regional peace and stability.”

Taiwan has been seeking help from Canada to increase its support from abroad. In October, Taipei Economic Cultural Office Director General Lihsin Angel Liu urged the Canadian government to help Taiwan join more international organizations. 

“We hope that Canada can continue to give us more support regarding our meaningful participation in the [world] public health agency,” said Liu.

Brampton hospital closes urgent care centre due to staffing shortages

Jonathan Bradley
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Brampton hospital closes urgent care centre due to staffing shortages

The urgent care centre at Peel Memorial Centre for Integrated Health and Wellness in Brampton, Ont. will be closed due to “extreme capacity and staffing shortages,” according to a statement by William Osler Health System on Monday. 

“Due to increasing volumes in our emergency departments, further compounded by our extreme capacity and staffing pressures, Osler has made the very difficult decision to temporarily close its urgent care centre at Peel Memorial until at least Feb. 1, 2022,” said the health authority.

Osler said closing the urgent care centre would “help to direct the highly skilled staff and physicians to where demand is the greatest.”

Osler enacted a mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy for its hospitals on Nov. 7. The policy required all staff, volunteers, and physicians to be vaccinated, with no option for negative testing. As exclusively reported by True North, at least 1650 health care workers have lost their jobs in Ontario due to vaccine mandates.

Osler is only the latest Ontario health authority to announce problems due to staffing shortages. Last week, Niagara Health announced that it was pausing its own mandatory vaccine policy in order to free up personnel for the Omicron surge.  

Osler declared a code orange on Jan. 3 because of an increase in COVID-19 patients and staffing shortages. 

“Osler has enacted all contingency planning and has reached Stage 2 of a code orange, which is typically used when demand outpaces capacity to ensure internal and external resources are deployed efficiently,” said Osler president and CEO Naveed Mohammad. 

The code orange allowed patients to be transferred to neighbouring hospitals to provide more space. This measure was called off on Jan. 5. 

Brampton-area NDP MPPs Sara Singh, Kevin Yarde and Gurratan Singh issued a statement condemning the closure of the urgent care centre on Monday. 

“The temporary closure of Peel Memorial’s urgent care centre is a scary development for patients and their families,” said the statement. “No one should have to worry that a loved one might not get the care they need in an emergency.”

The statement continues by calling on the Ontario government to end the pay cap for salary increases for nurses established under Bill 124, provide health care workers with danger pay and bring in the Canadian Armed Forces to provide emergency staffing in hospitals that need it across Ontario. 

New York academic slams Trudeau for dehumanizing the unvaccinated

Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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0
New York academic slams Trudeau for dehumanizing the unvaccinated

A New York academic and historian has penned an op-ed slamming Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and others for their extreme and divisive rhetoric when talking about millions of unvaccinated men, women and children.  

In the article published by the Brownstone Institute, SUNY Cortland Assistant Professor Jared McBrady outlined how Trudeau and other leaders including French President Emmanual Macron were “othering” the unvaccinated. 

McBrady described “othering” as the “process of dehumanizing through marginalizing a group of humans as something different, less than, and other. Such othered groups become an easy target to scapegoat, unfairly bearing the blame for a society’s ills.”

A French-language interview from September recently resurfaced in which Trudeau accused those who refused to be vaccinated as “misogynists”, “extremists” and “racists.” Trudeau’s comments brought him a wave of international condemnation. 

“History is replete with examples of othering,” McBrady wrote. “The Ancient Greeks othered based on language, labeling those who did not speak Greek barbarians. In the United States, chattel slavery and segregation were sustained through othering based on skin color. In Nazi Germany, Hitler othered based on religion, casting Jewish people as enemies of the state.” 

“Now, some politicians are othering the “unvaccinated.” These politicians attempt to scapegoat and marginalize this minority group, despite knowing that vaccinated and unvaccinated persons alike can contract and spread COVID-19.” 

McBrady isn’t the only one who has joined the chorus of international figures speaking out against Trudeau. 

Most recently, the UK outlet talkRADIOTV featured a segment on Trudeau’s comments in which guest and broadcaster Tonia Buxton shamed  the prime minister for his recklessness. 

“That is the leader of Canada coming out with such polarising things,” said Buxton. “You know we are not allowed to say this but certain things happened during the Second World War and how did they happen? It’s like this.”

Buxton was joined by fellow Englishman GB News host and documentary filmmaker Neil Oliver, who said Trudeau’s statements were “borderline criminal.” 

“He’s setting people up as being lesser, as being other, as being despicable, as being guilty of things that are socially unacceptable: misogyny, racism,” said Oliver. “And to put those crimes onto people who are hesitant about an experimental medical procedure? I think it’s a disgrace, I think it’s borderline criminal.” 

Academics slam Quebec curfew as having a “sledgehammer effect”

Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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Academics slam Quebec curfew as having a “sledgehammer effect”

A group of academics has written a scathing open letter to the Quebec government in opposition to “ineffective and harmful” curfews. 

In December, Quebec premier François Legault imposed a province-wide curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. in response to the COVID-19 Omicron variant. 

The thirteen academics who signed the document called for the government to reverse course, saying that curfews were an inappropriate tool to deal with the virus. 

“Despite what the Legault government … will say in the media, we have several reasons to doubt that the curfew is an appropriate tool to manage a pandemic,” the letter claimed, “even if the sledgehammer effect to which it is associated with giving the government an undeniable impression of ‘taking action.” 

Those who signed the letter included Jean-Sébastien Fallu, Ph.D., Associate professor, School of psychoeducation, Université de Montréal, and researcher at the Centre de recherche en santé publique and Vincent Duclos, Professor in the Social and Public Communications Department at UQAM among others.

The letter also blasted curfews for being ineffective in reducing spread when compared to provinces that have not introduced curfews. 

“In addition, the peak of the second wave was reached long before the curfew could take effect, the reproduction rate falling below the value of 1 as of Dec. 29, 2020,” the signatories wrote. “What is more, the epidemiological curves followed the same pattern in the other Canadian provinces, which did not impose a curfew.” 

“In short …no effect of the curfew was visible.” 

“Harm reduction and education around the risks associated with indoor contact, accompanied by available tools (N95 masks, rapid tests, air purifiers) and promoting empowerment, this should take precedence over control, repression and drastic measures, with the potential to produce effects contrary to those expected or collateral damage for certain segments of the population.”

Despite the call for a more sensible approach, Premier Legault announced Tuesday that Quebec would be making COVID shots mandatory under threat of financial penalties.

“There are consequences on our health care network and it’s not up to all Quebeckers to pay for this,” said Legault.

Legault did not specify how much the charge would be, saying only that it would be “significant.”

Legault announced Quebec’s mandatory vaccination policy less than 24 hours after Quebec’s public health director Horacio Arruda resigned, citing “an erosion of public support” over government pandemic restrictions.

Quebec makes vaccination mandatory under threat of “significant” fees

Harley Sims
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Quebec makes vaccination mandatory under threat of “significant” fees

Quebec is the first province in Canada, and only the second government in the western world, to make vaccination mandatory for adults under threat of financial penalties.

Quebec premier François Legault announced Tuesday that unvaccinated Quebecers would be charged a fee for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine.

“The vaccine is the key to fight the virus,” said Legault. “This is why we’re looking for a health contribution for adults that refuse to be vaccinated for non-medical reasons. Those who refuse to receive their first dose in the coming weeks will have to pay a health contribution.”

Legault says the amount of the fee has not yet been determined but that it should be “significant” enough to convince the unvaccinated to get the shots. He said that $50 or $100 is not enough.

When asked about the legal and ethical challenges of the rollout, Legault admitted the policy was a “big deal” and that everybody is trying to “find a solution.”  

“Right now, these people put a very important burden on our health care network, and I think it’s normal that the majority of the population is asking that there be a consequence,” he said.

“It’s a question of fairness for the 90% of the population who made some sacrifices. I think we owe them this kind of measure.”

Ninety percent of eligible Quebecers have received at least one shot, with 82% fully vaccinated.

Legault added that he would be looking at expanding vaccine passports in Quebec. Last week, Quebec became the first Canadian province to announce that its passports would require a third dose.

Quebec also becomes only the second government in the western world to make vaccination compulsory for all adults. Austria committed to the measure for everyone 14 years and older, on threat of fines every three months equalling more than $4000 per adult. The policy is set to begin February.

Italy brought in fines in January for those 50 and older who have not been vaccinated, while Greece will be following suit in February.

Legault announced Quebec’s mandatory vaccination policy less than 24 hours after Quebec’s public health director Horacio Arruda resigned, citing “an erosion of public support” over government pandemic restrictions.

The announcement also comes days after Trudeau government health minister Jean-Yves Duclos said provinces should have a “conversation” with the feds about forcing Canadians to get COVID shots.

People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier, who marched with thousands in Montreal on Saturday against Quebec’s lockdowns, told True North that mandatory vaccination was already the case in Canada and that Legault is scapegoating.

“Governments started by imposing a vaccine passport and denying access to certain public areas for unvaccinated people,” Bernier said. “Now Quebec is willing to go much further and impose what is essentially a costly fine to peaceful citizens who refuse a health intervention. And if these citizens refuse to pay it, at the end of the day, there are always policemen with guns who will enforce the rule.”

“We are quickly becoming a police state, a fascist state where the government can decide to abrogate our fundamental rights and freedoms based on a mass hysteria that they’ve created,” Bernier added. “They are scapegoating a minority of the population as the cause of all of society’s problems, and they are willing to persecute them.”

“It’s all extremely disturbing.”

Every Canadian needs to push back against forced vaccinations

Candice Malcolm
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Every Canadian needs to push back against forced vaccinations

Canada continues to creep into unventured territory with regards to the powers we’ve given our government in the last two years. What was a conspiracy theory only a few months ago is now becoming reality – the CBC and the Trudeau government are suddenly talking about forced vaccine policies.

The Trudeau government continues to demonize the unvaccinated and claim that the only way out of this pandemic is through vaccinations. But as hospitals fill up with vaccinated and unvaccinated Canadians, it’s clear this is no longer the pandemic of the unvaccinated.

As Candice Malcolm explains on The Candice Malcolm Show, this must be our red line. Every Canadian needs to push back against this insane and radically authoritarian idea.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE CANDICE MALCOLM SHOW

Opposition MPs to hold hearings on Liberal government spying on Canadians

Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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0

When the House of Commons returns, MPs will be taking the Liberal government to task for spying on the devices of 33 million Canadians.

In December, Blacklock’s Reporter revealed that the federal government had secretly collected a massive swath of mobility data using cellphone towers. 

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), the data was part of a study to better understand the movement of COVID-19. 

Since the story broke, Conservative and Bloc Québécois MPs have pushed for an emergency Commons ethics committee meeting to hold further hearings on the matter. 

“This was done in secret,” said Conservative MP John Brassard. “No Canadian among the 33 million Canadians who were being followed through their cellphone data knew this was happening.”

“It is vital we do not allow the Covid response to create a permanent backslide of the rights and freedoms of Canadians including their fundamental right to privacy. There are rightly some questions that need to be asked of the Agency as it relates to privacy, security, the data that are being collected, what it’s being used for.” 

PHAC has since claimed that the data collected was anonymized and cleaned of any way to identify the end users. However, experts are not convinced by the federal government’s assurances.

In an exclusive interview with True North, Ontario’s former privacy commissioner and Executive Director of Global Privacy and Security by Design Ann Cavoukian said that Canadians should have “zero trust” in the government’s claims. 

“They are collecting all of this mobile data. 33 million mobile devices and mobile devices are usually linked to personal identifiers, and you have to take some measures to remove them and de-identify the data in a strong way so it can’t be reidentified. We have no assurances to that effect whatsoever,” Cavoukian told True North. 

“I don’t trust any of this. Zero trust, that’s where we have to start and we have to have some privacy commissioner’s office go in and take a look at this under the hood. Audit what they’re doing.”

In his own comments, Brassard echoed Cavoukian in accusing the Liberals of failing to provide “parliamentary scrutiny to determine what this information has been used for.” 

“What measures are being put in place to protect de-identified information from being re-identified?” asked Brassard. 

A date for the first hearing has not yet been set.

With shortage of substitutes, Ontario government looks to retired teachers

Jonathan Bradley
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With shortage of substitutes, Ontario government looks to retired teachers

The Ontario government has reached an agreement with the Ontario Teachers’ Federation (OTF) to almost double the number of days that retired teachers can work. 

Ontario education minister Stephen Lecce released details in a statement on Monday. The agreement with the OTF will increase the number of days that retired teachers can work from 50 to 95. It will come into effect June 30.

Lecce claimed school boards were reporting high rates of teachers taking days off even before the arrival of the Omicron variant. 

“We need staff in order to continue providing live teacher-led remote learning and safely operate our schools when students return to in-person learning,” said Lecce. “That is why we have now secured an agreement with the Ontario Teachers’ Federation that will deliver access to thousands of teacher-qualified educators that will help keep schools open and safe.”

Lecce said Ontario is continuing to go beyond public health requirements by “providing non-fitted N95 masks as an optional alternative for all staff, accelerated access to booster shots for education and child care staff and are supporting school-focused vaccination clinics.” 

As with health care and other sectors, schools have lost significant numbers of staff due to vaccine mandates.

The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) put 95 permanent staff on unpaid leave for not disclosing their vaccine status in November. Another 609 occasional staff with the TDSB failed to disclose their vaccine status and have been put on unpaid leave. 

There are 1,016 additional staff who said they were unvaccinated and at risk of being put on unpaid leave. 

Ontario will be investing $304 million to hire more than 2,000 additional staff, according to Lecce. He added that Ontario will be increasing access to second-year teacher candidates. 

“Through enhanced ventilation and masking, more funding to hire additional staff, and new access to thousands of retired educators, we are helping to stabilize the workforce to ensure students receive the mental, physical, and academic benefits to support their learning,” he said. 

The shortage of supply teachers is expected to hit 7,000 across all Ontario school boards, according to data provided by the boards in fall 2021. 

Government figures show that about 40% of school boards have 25% of teacher absences unfilled by a supply teacher, and close to 20% of them report up to 50% of teacher absences being unfilled by a supply teacher. 

Alberta NDP health critic open to forcing people to get vaccinated

Harley Sims
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0
Alberta NDP health critic open to forcing people to get vaccinated

Alberta’s New Democratic Party health critic has said he’s open to the idea of forcing Canadians to get COVID-19 shots.

Edmonton NDP MLA David Shepherd made the comments on Monday when asked about Federal Liberal health minister Jean-Yves Duclos saying that provinces might want to have a “conversation” with the feds about making vaccines mandatory for Canadians.

“Certainly, we have put forward a number of critiques regarding the (United Conservative Party) government’s decisions on how it has rolled out vaccinations,” Shepherd said. “Certainly, we have proposed a number of things that this government could be doing to increase uptake of vaccinations.”

“Certainly, we have called for vaccine clinics in schools and access to be there for it to be as ridiculously easy for Albertans as possible to access the vaccine. I think those are steps we need to take first and then the other discussions would take place after.”

Shepherd’s eagerness to consider forced vaccinations focused on Albertans’ “low vaccine uptake,” especially among young children.

“Certainly, we see that Alberta as amongst the lowest – I think, one of the two lowest – provinces in Canada in terms of uptake, in terms of the paediatric vaccine for those aged 5 to 11, and that is deeply concerning,” said Shepherd.

Alberta premier Jason Kenney vowed on Friday that his government would entertain no discussions of forcing Canadians to get vaccinated.

“Alberta’s Legislature removed the power of mandatory vaccination from the Public Health Act last year and will not revisit that decision, period,” Kenney tweeted. “While we strongly encourage those who are eligible to get vaccinated, it is ultimately a personal choice that individuals must make.”

John Carpay with the Calgary-based Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) told True North that Shepherd’s position on vaccination is not only unconstitutional but also unscientific.

“It’s profoundly disrespectful of fundamental Charter rights to bodily autonomy,” Carpay said. “Every Canadian has a right to decide for herself what will or will not be done to her body, and every citizen has a right to determine what will or will not be injected into them.”

“There is no medical or scientific basis for violating that Charter right because we all know that the vaccines don’t stop the spread.”

Carpay also warned that even though Kenney has removed the power of mandatory vaccination from Alberta’s Public Health Act, a newly-elected NDP government could just as easily restore it.

“That legislation can be changed at the drop of a hat by whichever party has a majority in the Alberta legislature,” he said. “That can be done quite easily.”

A Leger poll for Postmedia in December put the Alberta NDP 11 points ahead of the UCP in Alberta, with 43% of decided voters opting for Rachel Notley over Kenney.”

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