Fired support worker one of thousands struggling to feed family

Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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Fired support worker one of thousands struggling to feed family

A Windsor, Ontario personal support worker who served the elderly for nearly 20 years is now struggling to put food on the table after being terminated for refusing to declare her vaccination status.

According to estimates by True North based on government and media reports, approximately 10,000 healthcare workers have lost their jobs across Canada as a result of vaccine mandates. 

Melissa Marlein is one of them. A mother of three, she was fired from Huron Lodge by the City of Windsor for refusing to get a COVID-19 shot. 

According to Marlein, without the prospect of receiving employment insurance or severance pay, her family faces a bleak future in the coming months.

“It’s a lot tighter right now,” she told True North. “I’m very thankful that my husband does have a source of income. My husband is disabled so he’s on Ontario disability as well as Canada pension disability, so with three children it’s very tight.”

“I’m not sure how we’re going to manage birthdays or Christmas. I don’t know what that’s going to look like in the future, but right now we’re just struggling to make sure that there’s food in our house.” 

Marlein’s troubles began after Windsor implemented a mandatory vaccination policy for city workers. Prior to being fired, Marlein claims that she and other unvaccinated staff were forced to reveal their medical status in an open setting. 

“That’s where the division began. You would come to work, be asked your vaccination status in front of everybody, then you would be forced to sign a clipboard stating that you would get your PCR test or your rapid test and that clipboard was also left for all to see with your information on there so everybody knows who is and who isn’t vaccinated, which is against Ontario privacy legislation,” said Marlein.  

A few days after her last day of work, Marlein said she drove by her former workplace only to find a police officer standing guard.

“He wasn’t at the door, mind you, where you think he would be to make sure that people aren’t coming in that are unvaccinated. No, they had him posted at the front window just standing there staring out the front window almost like for the intimidation factor,” Marlein told True North. 

As of Jan. 4, every unvaccinated worker at the long-term care home has been terminated, and Marlein received her termination letter over the weekend. True North was shown a copy of the letter signed by Windsor’s Chief Administrative Officer Jason Reynar. 

“According to our records, you did not provide any documentation as of this date showing that you are partially or fully vaccinated nor do you have a human rights exemption in place that has been approved by the City,” Reynar wrote. 

“Your manager will contact you for any items you have belonging to the Corporation. We are saddened by having to end our relationship in this manner, but we wish you all the best in your future endeavours.” 

With very little help from her union, Marlein says she’s stuck in limbo while she looks for another job.

“It was basically a big waste of our time because the only thing that our union told us was that we would lose in arbitration, so we’re not going to challenge the vaccination policy and basically told us that there’s nothing they can do for us until we’re fired,” said Marlein. “When I asked my union president about that he said that we won’t be entitled to severance pay because we are being terminated with cause.” 

“I’m basically sitting in limbo. I can’t get EI, it’s on the second adjudicator now so I’m sure that’s not going very well, and my union hasn’t done anything in the meantime.” 

Elections Ontario not requiring vaccine passports to vote

Jonathan Bradley
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Elections Ontario not requiring vaccine passports to vote

Elections Ontario will not be requesting people show vaccine passports when they cast their ballots, despite the claim of an Ontario People’s Party of Canada (PPC) candidate. 

Former Windsor West PPC candidate Matt Giancola made the claim on Friday. 

“Elections Ontario now has a vaccine passport policy for entry to all locations, including field locations (i.e. polling stations),” said Giancola in a tweet. “People without a vaccine passport will not be able to vote in person at the 2022 Ontario provincial election.” 

Elections Ontario said in a since-deleted webpage that it had implemented a mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy to stop the spread of the virus. Vendors, consultants and visitors would have to show vaccine passports and identification when they entered Elections Ontario locations. 

People who could not prove they were fully vaccinated would be denied entry. 

Elections Ontario said in a statement emailed to True North on Monday that people would not be required to show vaccine passports to vote. 

“Elections Ontario’s COVID-19 vaccination policy applies to all vendors, consultants and visitors entering its corporate office facilities to conduct in-person business,” it said. “It does not apply to voters wishing to cast their ballot at voting locations in Ontario.” 

Elections Canada does not require voters to be fully vaccinated. However, voters have to wear masks when they enter polling stations or risk being turned away. 

While unvaccinated Canadians are still free to vote in person in general elections, the situation is more complicated for legislative votes. For example, the House of Commons imposed a mandatory vaccination policy for MPs Nov. 22. 

Unvaccinated Ontario MPPs could also be prevented from entering the Legislative Assembly of Ontario unless they have tested negative for COVID-19. New Blue MPP Belinda Karahalios was kicked out of the Ontario legislature for violating COVID-19 protocols in December. 

Speaker Ted Arnott asked Karahalios to leave multiple times before ordering her to be escorted out of the Ontario legislature.While no democratic country has yet banned unvaccinated people from voting altogether, MPs in Latvia who have not been vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19 will have their pay suspended and no longer be able to participate in parliamentary votes.

Hamilton reports 35% turnover rate among temporary nursing staff

Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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0
Hamilton reports 35% turnover rate among temporary nursing staff

A City of Hamilton plan to deal with a shortage of health care workers reveals that its temporary nursing workforce has seen a turnover rate of 35% due to COVID-19 “challenges.” 

The Interim Plan to Improve Staff Recruitment and Retention was submitted by Hamilton’s Public Health Services to the city’s Board of Health on Monday. 

“The turnover of temporary new staff hired for COVID-19 since Jan. 1, 2020 has presented staffing challenges for PHS. The most significant turnover has occurred for the temporary nursing workforce at a rate of approximately 35% of all nurses hired for the COVID response,” the report states. 

“This situation is not unique to Hamilton; health human resources continue to be strained across the province and beyond,” the report continues.  “Currently, there are unprecedented labour shortages as a result of both increased competition across all settings and an increasing number of staff facing burnout and mental health challenges as a result of the prolonged emergency response.”

The report blames “high demand” as one of the difficulties in retaining workers but makes no mention that as of October, 1,500 hospital staff in Hamilton faced losing their jobs after refusing to get a COVID-19 shot.  

“Several key positions and skillsets within the public health sector are in high demand making it a challenge to recruit and retain staff,” the report reads. “Many organizations in response have decided to recruit additional permanent staff in response, making temporary jobs unattractive.”

Most recently, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton revealed that those who are not fully vaccinated by Feb. 21 would be terminated. 

True North reached out to the City of Hamilton to confirm whether the firing of unvaccinated workers had impacted the turnover rate for temporary nursing staff. The city’s Public Health Services replied that when it came to their own staffing, “much” of the information contained in the report “is related to the fact a number of jobs were categorized as temporary and had finite terms.”

“When it comes to the policies of local hospitals, you will have to reach out to those organizations directly.” 

As exclusively reported by True North, media and government reports indicate that nearly 10,000 unvaccinated healthcare workers have been sacked by provincial and territorial governments. 

B.C. and Ontario had some of the highest numbers of terminated staff with each province reporting 3,325 and 1,665 fired healthcare workers respectively. 

While Ontario Premier Doug Ford has not mandated vaccines for the province’s health care workers, hospitals and public health units have taken it upon themselves to require COVID-19 shots for their staff.

Is Justin Trudeau losing his grip on reality?

Candice Malcolm
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Is Justin Trudeau losing his grip on reality?

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau continues to vilify Canadians who don’t agree with him. 

Recently, he’s upped his rhetoric against the unvaccinated – calling them “extremists, misogynists and racists” and blaming them for the unintended consequences of heavy-handed government lockdowns. 

Is Trudeau coming unhinged? Why isn’t the legacy media addressing his hateful message and calling him out for dividing Canadians and scapegoating the unvaccinated?

Today on The Candice Malcolm Show, Candice speaks to seasoned journalist Lorrie Goldstein about Trudeau’s strategy, his rhetoric, and his grasp on reality, as well as the general failings of the Canadian media to inform the public and hold the government to account.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE CANDICE MALCOLM SHOW

LEVY: The decisions of school trustees prove Ontario doesn’t need them

Sue-Ann Levy
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LEVY: The decisions of school trustees prove Ontario doesn’t need them

The Ontario Public School Boards Association (OPSBA) and Ontario’s trustees have become so out of touch with students and so dismissive of parents that many have come to realize they achieve very little, and that the provincial government could easily get rid of them. 

There was a time when the OSBA was middle-of-the-road politically and made a sincere effort to represent the concerns of all parents in Ontario’s school board system.

But after ex-Premier Kathleen Wynne threw a huge pot of money at boards and teachers to keep them happy, the trustees who sit on the OPSBA turned into advocates for every “woke” cause imaginable.

One has to look no further than the 22 progressives who sit on the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) who voted 13-4 last Thursday to make mandatory vaccines for all students a condition of returning to school on Jan. 17.

OPSBA has in fact led the charge for mandatory vaccines. They’ve even been calling for them for school kids aged 5-11 since August, long before the vaccine was even approved for use in that age group.

In a recent statement, OPSBA president Cathy Abraham – serving her fifth term as trustee –  makes it very clear that they support adding COVID-19 to the list of designated diseases under the Immunization of School Principals Act.

Thankfully, all of this requires provincial approval.

Long-time TDSB trustee Shelley Laskin, also serving her fifth term, helped ensure any debate was shut down by the few trustees truly concerned about the moral and ethical ramifications of such a move. 

Laskin sniffed imperiously that the board was merely following the guidance of Toronto public health and OPSBA. What she didn’t mention is that Toronto school trustees sit on both the health board and OPSBA, making it a very incestuous group of decision-makers.

That incestuousness came out loud and clear two days after the TDSB vote, when Laskin took to Twitter to complain that she’d received e-mails pushing back on the board’s decision containing “Nazi analogies.”

She didn’t provide any examples or clarify any further.

Of course using Nazi analogies to describe the draconian decisions of school trustees is inappropriate and offensive.

Yet, being tone-deaf, educrats, teachers and trustees reacted in a way that was entirely predictable. When I suggested to Abraham and other trustees on Twitter that while the use of the word “Nazi” was wrong, perhaps it showed that parents felt very strongly about being mandated to give their kids vaccines.

The communications flak with OPSBA, T.J. Goertz, went so far as to block me on Twitter.

This is entirely the problem with the progressives who run Ontario’s school system. It’s their way or the highway.

Those who dare try to engage or criticize their decision are blocked, like this woman:

Parents are so frustrated with not being heard, they’ve had to turn to petitions like this one.

That brings me back to my original statement: Are trustees really needed in Ontario’s school system if these are the decisions they are making?

I believe not.

Judge hands refugee 44th conviction, asks why he has not been deported

Jonathan Bradley
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Judge hands refugee 44th conviction, asks why he has not been deported

A Niagara area judge is questioning why a violent refugee who has received more than 40 convictions since arriving from Syria has not been deported, according to the Niagara Falls Review. 

“He has lived a life in Canada of persistent criminality,” said Judge Joseph De Filippis in the Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines on Thursday. “As an aside, and respectfully, I don’t understand why he’s still in Canada.” 

Mohammed Al-Samaneh, a 32-year-old man who came to Canada as a Syrian refugee, has 44 convictions for multiple violent crimes such as assault and forcible confinement. Al-Samaneh had been placed on the National Flagging System, which identifies high-risk, violent criminals. 

Al-Samaneh most recently pleaded guilty to committing an indecent act and failing to comply with probation. He had been charged with criminal harassment. 

The court heard that a young woman was cleaning a Niagara Falls, Ont., restaurant in 2020 when she was approached in the reception area by an unknown male. The woman told the man that the restaurant was closed and asked him to leave. 

He ignored the request and followed her around the restaurant. He told her that she was “cute,” asked for a hug and masturbated in front of her. 

The woman attempted to walk away but he kept following her while continuing to masturbate. 

Al-Samaneh was arrested later that day. 

The court heard that the defendant was born in Iraq and spent time in a refugee camp in Syria before immigrating to Canada. 

“Mr. Al-Samaneh has had a very difficult life, more difficult than many of us could imagine, leaving a wartorn country and then going to another area which is often a place of conflict,” said De Filippis. “I can’t imagine how difficult it was for him but, that said, at the age of 32, he’s amassed 44 convictions.” 

Defence lawyer Mark Evans said that his client was on drugs when he went into the restaurant, so “his recollection of what happened on that occasion is foggy as a result.” 

Evans requested Al-Samaneh not receive any jail time because he had spent about eight months in pretrial custody. 

De Filippis disagreed with Evans, sentencing Al-Samaneh to 10 months in jail. He received credit for spending time in pretrial custody, so he will have to serve only two months in jail. 

Al-Samaneh has been put on probation and ordered to stay away from his victim and the restaurant where she worked. He has also been banned from possessing weapons for life. 

Permanent residents can lose their status and face deportation from Canada under the Immigration Refugee and Protection Act if they are found guilty of committing serious crimes. 

Children’s doctors call online learning harmful, tell Ontario govt. to reopen schools

Jonathan Bradley
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Children’s doctors call online learning harmful, tell Ontario govt. to reopen schools

The Canadian Paediatric Society, the Pediatrics Section of the Ontario Medical Association and the Pediatricians Alliance of Ontario issued a joint letter on Friday calling for the Ontario government to reopen schools. 

“Online learning is harmful,” the doctors wrote. “Social isolation and prolonged in-person school closures have precipitated increases in unhealthy behaviours such as excessive screen time, reduced physical activity and substance use.” 

The paediatrics groups said that school closures have prohibited children from engaging in healthy behaviours such as hanging out with friends, playing sports and celebrating milestones. 

They added that online learning has contributed to pediatricians seeing increases in depression, anxiety, suicidality, eating disorders, learning problems and delayed development. The declining health and well-being of children and youth is a “public health emergency,” according to the letter. 

School closures, the doctors said, have disproportionately affected racialized children, those living in single-parent or low-income households and those with pre-COVID mental illnesses and disabilities. 

The letter claimed that schools provide essential programs, which have been disrupted in the past two years, arguing that “(i)n-person learning is one of the only near-universal measures available to help children and youth.” 

The doctors go on to recommend that governments avoid shutting down schools “given the data we now have on the harms of school closures and the abundance of virus mitigation resources at our disposal.” 

The letter urges Ontario to restart in-person learning no later than Jan. 17 and not to close schools for the rest of the 2021-2022 school year. 

The Ontario government announced on Monday a slew of measures that included all schools moving to online learning until Jan. 17 because of high COVID-19 case counts stemming from the Omicron variant. 

“As we continue with our provincial vaccine booster efforts, we must look at every option to slow the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant,” said Ontario premier Doug Ford. “Putting these targeted and time-limited measures in place will give us more opportunity to deliver vaccines to all Ontarians and ensure everyone has maximum protection against this virus.”

A study done in British Columbia by the Canadian Medical Association Journal revealed that while COVID-19 case-counts in schools were similar to the level of the virus in the community, there were few transmissions in schools.   

FUREY: Are Canadians finally fed up with lockdowns?

Anthony Furey
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FUREY: Are Canadians finally fed up with lockdowns?

Are we witnessing a societal shift in Canada?

The milder Omicron variant has resulted in thousands of COVID cases in recent weeks. Many Canadians know of others who have tested positive but have very mild symptoms – with only a small percentage of people having to go to the hospital.

As a result, many Canadians are starting to wonder why we’re in lockdown yet again.

Anthony Furey discusses.

Dr. Bonnie Henry calls B.C. hospitalizations “an overestimation” of COVID burden

Harley Sims
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Dr. Bonnie Henry calls B.C. hospitalizations “an overestimation” of COVID burden

British Columbia has joined Ontario in admitting its COVID hospitalization numbers don’t tell the whole picture when it comes to who is actually sick with COVID and who simply tested positive for it.

With fear of the Omicron variant having overwhelmed B.C.’s COVID testing system, B.C. health officer Bonnie Henry was asked on Friday how accurate hospitalization statistics are.

Henry said that right now, B.C. is counting everyone in the hospital with a COVID positive test as a hospitalization.

“We’re trying to tease apart people who are in hospital from COVID, people who are in hospital with COVID, and people who are in hospital because COVID exacerbated one of the underlying conditions,” she said. “It’s not easy to do that, except by going and looking at every individual chart.”

Henry said that the province is working on streamlining the tracking of hospitalization data, but that automation will miss key specifics.

“So it is an overestimation of the burden that Omicron is causing, but it is a number that we get,” Henry said. “It’s not 100% accurate every single day because it relies on people counting who’s in every single hospital and then collating that information.”

B.C. health minister Adrian Dix also revealed Friday that the province’s hospital beds – currently at 95.1% capacity under COVID – operated at nearly a 10% higher capacity even before the pandemic began.

Dix said that during the winter flu season before COVID in 2019, hospital beds were at 103.5%.

“It’s not just an issue of we have this many beds available,” he said. “It’s also a significant staffing issue, which is why we are taking the steps we are taking.”

The steps Dix referred to involved the pre-emptive cancellation of surgeries in order to free up beds for an ever-expected flood of COVID-19 patients, as well as the possibility of staff being unavailable due to illness.

On Friday, B.C. health officials announced 349 people in hospital with COVID-19 with 93 in intensive care. 3,144 new cases had been reported since Thursday.

As Anthony Furey reported on Dec. 30 in the Toronto Sun, Ontario’s officer of health Kieran Moore admitted that about 50% of that province’s COVID hospitalizations were incidental – that is, they indicated people who happened to test positive for COVID upon arriving at the hospital, but who had checked in for other reasons.

UK media pummels Trudeau for rant against “racist, misogynist” unvaxxed

Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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0
UK media pummels Trudeau for rant against “racist, misogynist” unvaxxed

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s divisive remarks about unvaccinated Canadians have the international media once again raising their eyebrows about his judgment and leadership. 

On Wednesday, UK outlet talkRADIOTV castigated the prime minister for referring to nearly ten million unvaccinated Canadian men, women and children as “racists, misogynists and extremists.” 

“That is the leader of Canada coming out with such polarising things,” said guest and broadcaster Tonia 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.” 

Trudeau made the remarks on Sep. 16, 2021 during an interview on the French-language program La semaine des 4 Julie. 

“They are extremists who don’t believe in science, they’re often misogynists, also often racists,” Trudeau said of the unvaccinated. “It’s a small group that muscles in, and we have to make a choice in terms of leaders, in terms of the country. Do we tolerate these people? Or do we say, hey, most of the Quebecois people – 80% – are vaccinated. We want to come back to things we like doing. It’s not those people who are blocking us.” 

Yesterday, the prime minister also suggested that people were “angry” with the unvaccinated. 

“People are seeing cancer treatments and elective surgeries put off because beds are filled with people who chose not to get vaccinated; they’re frustrated. When people see that we’re in lockdowns, or serious public health restrictions right now because [of] the risk posed to all of us by unvaccinated people, people get angry,” said Trudeau. 

Buxton was not the only broadcaster to criticize the prime minister for his divisive way of looking at things. GB News host and presenter Neil Oliver called Trudeau’s remarks “borderline criminal” in a segment earlier this week. 

“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.”

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