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Tuesday, July 8, 2025

Kenney rejects mandatory vaccination for Albertans

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

Premier Jason Kenney has vowed not to force mandatory vaccinations on Albertans after federal Liberal health minister Jean-Yves Duclos said he wanted to discuss such a mandate with the provinces. 

Duclos announced the idea Friday, saying mandatory vaccination “is a conversation which I believe provinces and territories, in support with the federal government, will want to have over the next weeks and months.”

In a tweet responding to Duclos’s plans, Kenney stated that the province had already removed the power to force vaccines into Canadians from its Public Health Act. 

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

According to Duclos, the decision to “open the conversation” on mandatory vaccination was made due to alleged burdens on Canada’s health care system. 

“What we see now is that our health care system in Canada is fragile, our people are tired, and the only way that we know to get through COVID-19, this variant and any future variant, is through vaccination,” said Duclos. 

According to Duclos it would be up to the provinces to decide how or whether they would be implementing a mandatory vaccine policy for their citizens. 

Duclos did not specify what he meant by “federal support” for the matter. Canadian military were recently posted to Quebec to help “speed up vaccination” in that province. 

Several countries in Europe have already trod the path of forcing every citizen to get a COVID-19 shot. 

Austria has pledged to make vaccination mandatory by February, meaning unvaccinated Austrians could face up to $4,071 in fines every three months. 

As it stands, approximately 30% of Austria’s population is not fully vaccinated against COVID-19. 
European Commission Chief Ursula von der Leyen has also stated that she wants to open up the conversation on forced vaccination with all EU nations.

Niagara Health pauses its mandatory vaccination policy over Omicron

By
Jonathan Bradley
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Niagara Health is pumping the brakes on its mandatory COVID-19 vaccination program for staff because of the Omicron variant, according to a press release on Thursday. 

Niagara Health’s executive team says it decided to “pause implementation of the program” due to the intensity of the fifth wave and the urgent need for staff. 

They took care to stress that the policy has not been reversed.

“We remain committed to a fully vaccinated workforce at our hospital, and we will proceed with the implementation at a later time to be determined,” said Niagara Health president and CEO Lynn Guerriero.

Unvaccinated health care workers at Niagara Health will be required to participate in regular rapid antigen testing, and its occupational health and safety team will be “working with them.” 

According to the press release, staff will be required to complete screening before every shift and follow infection prevention and control protocols. 

Niagara Health’s mandatory vaccine policy was set to be enacted on Jan. 27. 

The health authority has not reported any job losses because of the mandatory vaccine policy. 

Niagara Health also runs a long-term care home in Welland, Ont., which has followed the mandatory vaccine order from the Ontario Ministry of Long-Term Care. Four staff at the home have reportedly been terminated for noncompliance. 

“Mandating full vaccination is in the best interest of our hospital and community,” said Guerriero in October. “It is the natural next step to protect our people, patients and operations against the threat of COVID-19.”

At the time of this announcement, 92.8% of Niagara Health staff had reportedly been fully vaccinated. 

True North estimates that about 10,000 unvaccinated health care workers across Canada have been placed on unpaid leave or terminated by health authorities as of Dec. 16. This number comes from official provincial government data and media reports over the past few months. 

Ontario has not implemented a mandatory vaccine policy for hospitals, leaving individual facilities to adopt their own plans. However, long-term care homes have required their staff to be vaccinated. 

Ontario reports that 1,665 health care workers have been removed from their positions for not complying with mandatory vaccination policies. 

Trucking industry warns feds to reverse vaccine policy for truckers

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

The trucking industry is urging the federal government to reverse its plans to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for truckers or risk severe damage to supply chains.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that truck drivers will be required to show proof of vaccination beginning on Jan. 15. 

According to estimates by the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA), the mandate could take 10% to 20% of Canadian truckers off the road. That would equal approximately 12,000 to 22,000 essential workers who would have to leave the job if Trudeau’s edict comes into effect. 

The impacts of the mandate could have consequences across the whole continent and significantly hit smaller businesses, spokespeople have warned. 

“We’ll be seeing shortages of goods in stores,” said President of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce Perrin Beatty. 

CTA president Stephen Laskowski warned that “this is not a trucking issue at all. This is a supply chain issue that can have severe ripple effects throughout the entire North American economy.” 

“It hasn’t been easy, but the Canadian trucking industry has continued to move the economy through the global pandemic as efficiently as possible despite continuous challenges and obstacles,” Laskowski added. “We have done that by working with governments and health care experts to implement health and safety protocols that keep our workforce safe while also ensuring factories keep operating and store shelves remain full.”

On Thursday, Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole took the Liberals to task, accusing them of jeopardizing the integrity of Canada’s already struggling supply chains. 

“We will be short tens of thousands of truckers if the government doesn’t very quickly address this issue,” said O’Toole.  “That doesn’t mean that I don’t think people shouldn’t be vaccinated; it means we have to deal with the reality of the fact that there will be a small number of unvaccinated.” 

“I don’t think shaming and causing division is the way to address hesitancy – that’s Mr. Trudeau’s approach. Our approach is actually getting people back to work, not dividing people on health.” 

Conservative MP and Transport Critic Melissa Lantsman also urged her counterpart Transport Minister Omar Alghabra to reverse course in a letter this week to avoid the negative impacts such a decision would carry. 

Canada’s supply chains have already been under stress in recent months while inflation rates continue to skyrocket. 

The country has been racked with the worst inflation levels since 2003. According to polls, 87% of Canadians are worried about the current price spikes. 

Foreign service opposed Conservative pledge to relocate embassy in Israel to Jerusalem

By
Andrew Lawton
-
Source: Wikipedia

Officials stationed at Canada’s missions abroad were opposed to the Conservative Party of Canada’s 2019 campaign commitment to relocate the embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, True North has learned.

Documents classified as secret obtained by True North under an access to information request filed in 2019 show that foreign service staff were preparing for the possibility of a Conservative election victory and the need to implement then-leader Andrew Scheer’s campaign promise, but hoped they would not have to do so.

“I hope none of this comes to pass, but we need to plan for every exigency,” said an Oct. 3, 2019 email from Douglas Proudfoot, then the head of Canada’s diplomatic mission to the West Bank and Gaza in Ramallah.

A section marked “security implications” was redacted, but under the “diplomatic consequences and mission mandate” section, Proudfoot goes on to question whether an embassy move would be worth the risk.

“What would be the purpose of incurring the additional risk?” he said. “Our basic purpose is to support a two-state solution, but (if) Canada takes a policy stance which goes against that goal, the raison d’être of the mission no longer applies.”

Proudfoot says in the communique that public servants have a duty to “give our political masters our best advance, and then to do everything we can to achieve the successful implementation of whatever decisions they ultimately take.”

“We are duty-bound to point out the political, commercial, development and security consequences of such a decision,” Proudfoot added.

Proudfoot theorized that moving the embassy to Jerusalem would mean shutting down the Canadian mission in Ramallah, though the incoming Canadian representative in the West Bank, Robin Wettlaufer, said in a reply that no party had proposed such a closure.

Wettlaufer said in her message that her office would not support a Canadian government looking to the “US operations’ model,” though a line defining what is meant by that is redacted.

Despite the reluctance, officials were putting together transition plans as early as Oct. 1, while the federal election was underway, starting from security protocols they would put in place after the election if the Conservatives won.

These protocols included a ban on personal travel by diplomatic staff in the West Bank, no business travel outside of Ramallah, Bethlehem and Jericho, and daily security assessments.

The Conservatives did not win the 2019 election, though in 2021, Conservative leader Erin O’Toole similarly pledged to move the embassy were his party to form government.

Foreign service opposed Conservative pledge to relocate embassy in Israel to Jerusalem by True North on Scribd

Durham school board apologizes after blast email containing list of unvaccinated staff

By
Andrew Lawton
-

The Durham District School Board (DDSB) is apologizing to employees after “erroneously” sending out a blast email containing a list of unvaccinated employees and those who have not disclosed their vaccination status.

Documents provided to True North reveal the school board scrambled to urge employees to delete an email sent Wednesday morning containing a spreadsheet with the names, employee numbers and workplace locations of employees who have not provided proof of vaccination to the board. The spreadsheet also noted which employees have medical exemptions from vaccination against COVID-19.

“You received an email this morning on Rapid Testing Requirements,” said a follow-up message sent later Wednesday morning. “The email erroneously contained an attachment that you should not have received and that contains confidential information. Please do not open the attachment. Please delete the email and then delete it from deleted.”

The DDSB said previously it has approximately 800 employees who have identified as unvaccinated or opted not to disclose their status, as required by the provincial government. A formal letter sent out to staff Wednesday said the spreadsheet was sent to 399 employees within that group “through inadvertence.”

“We sincerely apologize for this incident,” said the letter from Heather Mundy, the DDSB’s superintendent of people and culture. “We take our responsibility to protect your information very seriously.”

In a statement to True North, a spokesperson said the school board is taking steps to ensure such an event does not occur again.

“This accident should not have happened and the DDSB has both notified and apologized to the employees impacted by this,” the statement said.”We take our responsibility to protect the personal information of all employees very seriously and sincerely regret that this inadvertent mistake occurred.

Mundy’s letter said the board’s IT department was able to access recipients’ inboxes to delete the email but noted there were “a few incidents where the attachment was opened prior to deletion.”

“We have discussed this incident with DDSB staff involved to ensure there is a clear understanding of the critical importance of verifying that emails do not contain attachments of this nature and of the need to protect this type of information,” she said.

“Fighting to stay alive” – gym-owners plead for members’ mental health

By
Harley Sims
-

With fitness facilities across Canada again shutting down or facing new restrictions, some gym-owners are saying they must stay open at any cost because their members are thinking about suicide.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, an Ontario gym-owner told True North on Wednesday that he was going to be invoking an Ontario disabilities law to stay open for existing members who provided a note from a licensed physician, chiropractor or physiotherapist.

“I thought it would be the older guys that would be most afraid (of Omicron),” the owner said. “But it was the older ones who came to me and said they needed this because they’d been thinking about suicide.”

The owner said it had nothing to do with his bottom line and that he was already deeply in debt. He added he has no legal training and that he was offering the service on a trial basis. All other COVID protocols would continue to be followed.

“I don’t want to get into any trouble,” he said. “But for some people, working out is the only thing to do in their lives right now.”

The owner echoed the concerns of some experts that it made no sense to shut down gyms, especially with the pre-existing restrictions. He said that with only 15-20 people at a time in his 10,000 square-foot facility, there was plenty of distancing, and cleaning was diligent.

Fitness Industry Council of Canada president Sara Hodson agrees.

“According to the data that we have – the only data that we have seen and can rely on – we have seen that our COVID transmission rate in fitness facilities is 0.06%,” Hodson told True North on Wednesday. “We have yet to see any other data.”

Hodson represents more than 6,000 facilities and six million gym members. She is also president and CEO of Vancouver-based LIVE WELL Exercise Clinic and says that gym-owners have done everything they possibly can to keep their staff and their members safe.

Hodson told True North that the fitness industry is reacting differently this time around than they did during the last lockdown.

“We are physically, emotionally and financially exhausted and depleted. People are fighting for their businesses, but it is more than that. They’re fighting for something that is their life purpose, their life savings and the livelihoods of themselves and their families.”

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) has condemned the latest round of lockdowns, saying that gyms have been especially hard-hit.

CFIB spokesperson Julie Kwiecinski told True North on Wednesday that she has heard from gym-owners who have done everything to keep their gyms sanitary and have not had one case of COVID.

“There’s resignation in their voice,” she said. “It’s totally disheartening for them.”

Most gyms have closed as ordered, but some have publicly defied the new lockdowns while others have quietly stayed open. Still others have sought to interpret health orders in ways that would allow them to keep operating.

Hodson told True North that these actions are understandable given the plight people are in.

“The very unfortunate components of these vague orders is that people are making their own decisions for the betterment of their business and for the betterment of their community, their members.”

Hodson says that the current crisis represents the biggest opportunity the fitness industry will ever have to be recognized as an essential part of health care because research proves that exercise functions in ways “equal to an anti-depressant medication.”

“But when people are in dire straits and have their back up against the wall,” she adds, “people start making different decisions.”

“But this is indicative honestly of an industry that’s fighting to stay alive.”

LEVY: Toronto school trustees vote 13-4 to make vaccination mandatory for students

By
Sue-Ann Levy
-

Canada’s largest school board is pushing to make mandatory vaccination a condition of returning to the classroom on Jan. 17.

In less than an hour on Thursday, Toronto District School Board trustees voted 13-4 to have the COVID-19 vaccine made compulsory under the Immunization of School Pupils Act.

Efforts by trustee Chris Tonks to have “substantial debate” about what he characterized as a “moral and ethical” decision were quickly and vociferously shot down.

“There is a lot of anxiety among parents around immunizing children (aged) 5-12,” Tonks said.

Clearly perturbed with efforts to derail the compulsory vaccination efforts, long-time trustee Shelley Laskin insisted the board had already supported the move – via a letter from the chairman in September – as had the Ontario Public School Boards Association (OPSBA).

“We follow the direction of public health,” she said, a sanctimonious tone to her voice. “We don’t consult the world on public health measures.”

Former board chairman Robin Pilkey insisted they had to do whatever they could “so students come back safely.”

TDSB spokesman Ryan Bird said if the vaccine is included in the Immunization of School Pupils Act, students “could be suspended” for not having it.

Although Bird mentioned that there are “accommodation/exemption provisions” under the Act relating to one’s conscience or religious belief, he also said parents would be required to file an affidavit that the immunization “conflicts with (their) sincerely held convictions based on the parent’s religion or conscience.”

Despite the board’s vote, the final decision would ultimately rest with the chief medical officers of health for Ontario and Toronto – Keiran Moore and Eileen DeVilla, respectively – and from there require government approval. 

DeVilla is already on record saying vaccines should be mandatory for school kids, but she hasn’t referred specifically to the 5-11 age group. Vaccines for that cohort were just approved for use in late November of last year.

Moore indicated in October that he would not be adding the COVID vaccine to the Act, but that was before the Omicron virus caused the latest provincial lockdown.

Look, we all know that this measure is more about pacifying the board’s hysterical teachers and their unions than keeping kids safe. This includes the entire TDSB COVID-19 Pandemic Recovery Plan, which includes a request for funding for N95 masks for kids. 

Far too many teachers and even principals spent New Year’s weekend taking to social media to express their alleged “panic” and to pressure the government into keeping classrooms closed.

But more than that, it is absolutely outrageous that a group of trustees – most of them leftist and union-backed – should be able to dictate that young children need to be vaccinated with a new vaccine that could cause complications as it has with so many adults (myself included).

It is highly unethical and tantamount to child abuse. And one knows that if the TDSB is able to do it, other boards will follow suit.

We don’t live in Communist China just yet, but I’m starting not to recognize my Canada anymore. 

Quebec becomes first province to announce three-dose vaccine passports

By
Jonathan Bradley
-

Quebec will be expanding its COVID-19 vaccine passport system to require a third dose, said Quebec health minister Christian Dubé at a press conference Thursday. 

Dubé did not provide an exact date for the change but said it would be made once all Quebecers were eligible for a third dose. 

Currently, Quebec’s general population can receive a third dose only if they are 50 years old or older. All adults will be able to get a booster shot effective Jan. 17. 

Dubé added that people would need to show vaccine passports to buy alcohol at the province-run Société des Alcools du Québec or cannabis at the Société Québécoise du Cannabis as of Jan. 18. 

He said these measures come as Quebec ramps up its efforts to slow down hospitalizations from COVID-19. According to Dubé, they are necessary in order to protect unvaccinated people. 

Dubé also announced that the government would be expanding vaccine passports into other non-essential businesses such as personal care services. This announcement would be made in the coming days. 

“By limiting the places (the unvaccinated) can go, we’re limiting their contacts,” said Dubé. “If you don’t want to get vaccinated, stay home.”

According to Dubé, PCR tests have been limited to high-risk populations, and more people are using home test kits. This, he claimed, means the province’s daily case count is an underrepresentation of the spread of COVID-19. 

Quebec is looking at allowing people who use rapid test kits at home to go online and declare their positive tests to create a more accurate epidemiological snapshot. 

Dubé said this online system should be ready by next week. 

Taxpayers paying to renovate massive $20,000/month UK apartment for Foreign Affairs

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

The Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development has put out a tender notice for a complete renovation of a five-bedroom London apartment for the Canadian High Commission.

The Request for Proposal lists the 46 Hanover House property at 3,277 sq ft (304.5 sq m), or approximately three times the size of the average 3-bedroom rental in Canada. 

“The renovation of the apartment includes updating the electrical, heating, plumbing, and flooring,” the project description notes. 

In 2019 Foreign Affairs awarded a similar contract for complete overhauls to several London properties including 7 Hanover House (2,690 sq ft), 20 Hanover House (2,917 sq ft) and 40 Hanover House (3,100 sq ft). 

According to that year’s tender notice, the property in question is located at St John’s Wood High Street, London, UK.

Local real estate listings put the cost of renting a five-bedroom apartment at Hanover House at $19,408 CAD (£11,267) per month. 

Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) Federal Director Franco Terrazzano blasted the federal government’s renovation plans in a statement emailed to True North.

“Many families are struggling right now so why are the feds prioritizing a fancy apartment in London over tax relief for Canadians?” asked Terrazzano. “Ottawa has a long track record of wasting our tax dollars overseas and this sure looks like another project that wouldn’t be a priority for Canadian families who are footing the bill.”

“Canadians deserve to know how much money the feds are spending and why bureaucrats think this is a good use of our tax dollars right now.”

Contractors who wish to bid for the notice are being asked to provide procurement specialists with proof that they have completed at least three projects with a minimum value of $172,000 CAD (£100,000 GBP). 

A floor plan of the suite reveals that the property has five bedrooms, three bathrooms including one powder room, a sitting room, a living room and a dining room. 

“Hanover House was constructed as an apartment block in the 1930’s,” the Request for Proposal reads. “The internal layout of the apartments has not changed since it was first built. The electrical and plumbing infrastructures have not been upgraded since the 1970’s. Currently, several of the apartments in the building share the same continuous plumbing system.”

True North reached out to Global Affairs Canada for further details on the project as well as to ask who would be residing at the property. No response had been provided by deadline.

Armed forces bringing in genderless uniforms so “all members feel safe and protected”

By
Jonathan Bradley
-

The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) will be bringing in gender-neutral uniforms to allow members “to choose the uniform that makes them the most comfortable,” according to a briefing note obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter. 

The Department of National Defence (DND) told Blacklock’s on Wednesday that it is unsure when the dress code will be rewritten. 

“We will continue to work hard to build a defence team where all members feel safe and protected,” said the DND. 

The briefing note, called “Diversity and Inclusion,” said new guidelines will end gender-specific accessories like the bowler cap for women in the Navy. This update will also “eliminate binary uniform and appearance choices.”

The CAF is looking into feminine options for ranks in French because all of them are exclusively masculine. “Non-binary members” would be able to wear whichever variations they choose. 

These proposals follow the DND’s creation of the Advisory Panel on Systemic Racism and Discrimination in 2020. The panel was established to “support Indigenous, Black and people of colour along with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, two-spirit community and women.”

A final report from the panel is due on Jan. 31. The department did not tell Blacklock’s if the document would be made public. 

The CAF has no official count of transgender or “non-binary” members. A report titled “Beyond the Gender Binary” noted a 2016 Statistics Canada questionnaire commissioned by the Canadian military. The report found that out of 104,000 members at the time, about 3,000 (2.8%) said they were gay and 200 (0.2%) identified as transgender. 

“Beyond the Gender Binary” goes on to explain that “gender binary is the limiting concept of viewing gender as consisting of two opposing categories, male and female, with no other possibilities for gender to exist and where everyone must be one or the other.” 

“Gender spectrum,” said the report, “is the concept beyond the binary where gender exists on an infinite continuum between male and female.”

“Individuals may identify nearer to one end of the spectrum or the other while others may move fluidly along the range and some may not identify on the spectrum at all,” it added.

The uniform catalogue for the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) started to move away from gender categories toward universal size and fit in 2020. All labels on CCG uniforms are now gender neutral. 

“Right now our uniforms are labelled as Style A and Style B,” said CCG College director of studies David Gerbasi. “It’s not only here at the Canadian Coast Guard College, but in the coast guard in general.”

Gerbasi said the change meant people would not have to be restricted to identifying as male or female. 

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