205 members of the Toronto Police Service (TPS) have been forced off the job for not complying with the service’s COVID-19 vaccination requirement. According to a TPS media advisory, the members have “rendered themselves unable to perform their duties and are being placed on an indefinite unpaid absence.”
The members include 117 uniformed officers and 88 civilians. This number represents 2.7% of Toronto Police staff. The axed members will not be allowed to return to work, nor to enter a TPS building or facility, until they disclose full vaccination status.
The Toronto Police announcement comes with the reassurance that “the Service will approach any requests for accommodation in a manner that complies with Ontario’s Human Rights Code.”
These losses come at a time when Toronto is seeing a 20% rise in homicides year-to-date, including a rash of shootings in October. According to Statistics Canada, the number of murder victims in Toronto over the past three years has doubled and even tripled that of Montréal or Vancouver.
Despite the rise in crime, Chief James Ramer has said that losing 205 members will not affect frontline services.
“I want to assure the public that the Service is doing its part to protect the communities we serve and thank our members who have been vaccinated,” he said.
Toronto Police had announced in late August that it would be requiring its members to provide proof of vaccination. In October, the Service updated the policy to specify the consequences of non-compliance. In addition to staff being placed on leave, members who did not show proof of vaccination immediately would be ineligible for promotion to a supervisor or management position.
In August, the union representing Toronto Police members – the Toronto Police Association (TPA) – had opposed the mandatory vaccination policy in a press release, claiming that it “is missing critical details that are central to understanding the impacts, timelines or potentially alternative options available to our members.”
No further announcements from the TPA have followed.
Black Lives Matter Canada came out in support of the illegal Coastal GasLink pipeline protesters, according to a Facebook post from Friday.
“We unequivocally stand in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en Land and Water Defenders,” said BLM Canada. “We know there is no Black Liberation without Indigenous Sovereignty.”
BLM Canada then reposted a solidarity statement from Black Lives Matter Vancouver which stated:
“We support Indigenous people in their pursuit of Land Back and advocate for the abolition of all state and militarized violence, including the police and RCMP! We kindly ask that you read through the demands and take action!”
According to BLM Vancouver, the construction of Coastal GasLink is in direct contravention of the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People. The group encourages people to support the protesters by hosting “solidarity rallies,” pressuring governments, banks and investors, and “com(ing) to camp.”
They go on to state that Canada needs to “defund, dismantle and abolish policing institutions” to create a future that is free of state-sanctioned violence.
BLM Vancouver said the expansion of fossil fuel projects is in direct opposition to climate justice and that arresting protestors during climate change is “morally repugnant.”
The RCMP recently cleared a blockade erected by protestors at a Coastal GasLink site after more than 500 pipeline workers were stranded with no access to food and water.
The Mounties revealed on Nov. 18 that they would be enforcing a court-ordered injunction on the site.
“We were hoping that a solution would be reached without the need for police enforcement,” they said in a statement. “However, it has become very clear to us that our discretionary period has come to an end and the RCMP must now enforce the (court) orders.
BC Liberal MLA and leadership candidate Ellis Ross has repeatedly spoken in defense of Coastal GasLink, arguing that the democratically elected chiefs and councils of every band along the pipeline route have signed onto the project. He points out that the protesters only represent a small band of hereditary chiefs.
“They’re quietly dismantling our economy … under the guise of the United Nations Declarations of Indigenous Peoples,” said Ross.
A new report reveals that thousands of Canadians died because COVID-19 restrictions delayed their surgeries and medical procedures.
The report, titled “A Struggling System,” was conducted by Deloitte for the Canadian Medical Association (CMA).
It reveals that over 4,000 preventable deaths took place between August and December 2020.
Researchers also found that it would cost taxpayers $1.3 billion to end growing hospital backlogs in critical areas and return to a pre-pandemic state by June 2022.
Statistics Canada data shows 19,501 excess deaths from March 2020 to July 2021, which is “5.2% more deaths than what would be expected were there no pandemic, after accounting for changes in the population, such as aging.” In comparison, 25,465 deaths during that period were “directly attributed to COVID-19.” The number has since risen to 29,680.
CMA President Dr. Katherine Smart told the Toronto Star that governments relied on “temporary Band-aid type solutions (and) this sort of hope that things are just going to fix themselves.”
“Instead, what we have is a system that’s continuing to decline,” said Smart “We’re not really hearing from any level of government an actual plan about how to fix it.”
“One of the issues is that the system needs more investment. But I think it’s also quite clear that the system itself is broken in many ways, and it needs to be reimagined for the modern times … Otherwise, it’s going to be Canadians who pay the price with their health, and that’s obviously what’s already happening.”
According to the report, hospital visits and specialist appointments remain at an all-time low. In January, visits by patients with hypersensitive heart disease will remain 60% lower than the standard. Additionally, those struggling with diabetes have come to the hospital 87% less than before the pandemic.
Ontario cancer screenings are also behind schedule, including 389,347 Pap tests, 307,617 mammograms and 297,299 fecal tests for colon cancer.
Researchers also noted backlogs in breast cancer surgeries, coronary artery bypass grafts, CT scans, MRI scans and other procedures.
“It is impossible to understate the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on health care delivery and, in consequence, on patients,” said the group Health Charities Coalition of Canada.
An advisory released last week by the governing body for Ontario teachers calls on its members to take “urgent action” on “anti-black racism” (ABR) by reflecting on how their position, power and privilege are used to “maintain systems of oppression and colonialism.”
The Ontario College of Teachers (OCT), which is the regulatory, licensing and disciplinary body for the province’s 126,465 teachers, maintains in the 11-page professional advisory that educators must demonstrate “empathy, respect and understanding” of the “lived experience” of students, “particularly those who identify as black.”
The document does not refer to the “lived experiences” of any other minority groups, whether Muslim, Asian, South Asian, LGBT or transgendered. According to OCT’s website, no professional advisories have been issued for any others either.
The document’s authors contend that they too are jumping on the ABR bandwagon because it is an “ideal time” to do so. The lead writer of the advisory, Amorell Saunders N’Daw, is a long-time equity and diversity consultant who works for an academic headhunting firm.
It should therefore come as no surprise that the document is full of woke-speak and the requisite anti-racism terms such as oppression, marginalization and decolonization. Not even the province’s governing body for teachers, it seems, understands how racist that is. But then, as I’ve found, a pool of like-minded and highly paid educrats appear to regularly gravitate from administrative positions to positions spreading the same woke-speak.
Taking a page from the very dangerous critical race theory now espoused by the Toronto District and Peel District School boards, the document claims “anti-black racism” is deeply embedded in Canadian institutions, policies and practices — so much so that it is “normalized or deemed invisible to the larger white society.”
The professional advisory lists several examples of anti-black racism. This list, its authors say, will make teachers more aware when teaching, marking, disciplining and supporting black students.
One such example is the apparent “hyper-surveillance of black students” involving a proliferation of security cameras inside and outside of school, the appearance of hall monitors and regular police presence.
(It is interesting to note here that since the TDSB got rid of their school resource officers in 2017 — following protests and outrageous advocacy by Desmond Cole — crime has increased in its schools).
Another example, according to the advisory, is the excessive use of white, patriarchal teaching materials in all subject areas of the curriculum — materials that “reinforce white supremacy” by disregarding the experiences of other races, including blacks.
The advisory claims that school uniform policies and “restrictive dress codes” — which ban hats, do-rags or coats in classrooms — prevent black students from culturally expressing themselves.
Too bad they don’t realize that having a dress code is simply an attempt to foster respectability.
But the most outrageous example is the idea that because of racism, black students are subjected to more detentions, suspensions and expulsions.
The advisory makes it clear that educators should strive to be competent in “anti-racist practices” to address anti-black racism. But it also warns its members that professional misconduct under the Ontario College of Teachers Act (1996) now includes making remarks or engaging in behaviours that expose any person or class of persons to hatred. That could include off-duty and electronic conduct, or remarks made to anyone.
Yes indeed, Big Brother is watching.
The advisory encourages teachers to create “safe spaces” for black students and urges their families to reach out to discuss their academics and well-being. It also tells them to actively listen to the concerns of black students, to commit to learn more about anti-black racism and to “unlearn” practices or conscious biases that cause harm to black students.
This policy document blames systemic oppression and racism for the normalization of “low educational performance” of black students and the number of male black youths who drop out of school.
“(They) consider staying in school more harmful to their sense of worth than leaving,” the advisory claims. “They do not find the schools to be welcoming.”
The more I write about these anti-black racism initiatives, the more I realize how divisive and racist they really are. No other minority community is receiving this kind of attention, which seems to imply that racism only affects the black community.
How will treating students with kid gloves, dumbing down the curriculum or not giving suspensions when discipline is warranted improve performance? I’m betting it will have the opposite effect.
The University of Toronto’s Scarborough Campus Student Union (SCSU) passed a motion pledging to order from kosher food suppliers that “do not normalize Israeli apartheid,” according to a meeting agenda that came out last Wednesday.
This motion called on the SCSU to reaffirm its commitment to the Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement by advocating for pro-Palestinian causes.
The SCSU will refrain from engaging with organizations or holding events that support Israel.
Advocacy group Jewish on Campus said in a tweet on Friday that people should note that only kosher food is mentioned.
“It is only Jews who are subjected to the anti-Israel litmus test- in this case just in order to eat,” the group said. “The resolution purposefully targets and isolates Jewish students for their Jewish identity and connection to Israel.”
Jewish on Campus said this resolution is another example of why BDS motions are rooted in antisemitism.
U of T President Meric Gertler condemned the SCSU’s motion in a statement on Friday.
“The motions are specifically focused on Israel in a way that is troubling to many members of the community,” said Gertler. “Such motions would be no more acceptable if focused on another country, or if a student organization in which members are enrolled by their registration were to take multiple stands on a wide variety of issues.”
Gertler said it is unacceptable to impose political tests on kosher food suppliers and Jewish student groups. U of T committed to following up with SCSU to address the university’s concerns.
Jewish student organization Hillel U of T called Gertler’s statement “excellent” in a subsequent Instagram post.
“Our sincere thanks to the President for his leadership on this matter,” the organization stated. “Hillel U of T looks forward to continuing to work with the U of T administration to ensure the campus remains a safe and inclusive environment for all students.”
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney made a case for his plan to introduce a provincial police force while at the Rural Municipalities of Alberta convention over the weekend.
According to Kenney, any added costs to policing would not be the responsibility of municipalities to bear.
“We won’t make any changes without careful consultation with municipalities because it affects you so much, and more broadly with Albertans,” said Kenney during his keynote address.
“And if we propose any model, any incremental costs would be adopted exclusively by the province and not by municipalities.”
Advocates of the provincial model claim that the plan will help reduce slow response times in rural communities and better equip those municipalities to handle things like high rural crime rates.
“We should at least look at the possible benefits of rural Alberta experiencing the same kind of local community policing that Edmonton and Calgary and some of the mid-sized cities in Alberta,” said Kenney.
Kenney’s speech comes at a time when the UCP government continues consultations with rural residents and community leaders on issues such as policing and the economy.
In October, Minister of Justice Kaycee Madu completed a marathon tour consulting Albertans on rural crime in over 60 town hall events. Participants included both local residents and law enforcement officers.
“I want to thank the many Albertans who shared their concerns about rural crime. What you told us will help inform our ongoing work to ensure Albertans feel safe and protected in their homes, no matter where they live,” said Madu.
“We know the federal government must step up by enacting laws that put a stop to the revolving door justice system that allows repeat offenders to victimize law-abiding citizens over and over again, and we echo the call of Albertans for them to act quickly on this.”
A separate consultation on the economy is ongoing and is expected to wrap up in December.
“Supporting local businesses and attracting new investment to Alberta is key to the success of our economic recovery after the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the global collapse of energy prices and the worst economic downturn in almost 100 years,” said Associate Minister of Rural Economic Development Nate Horner. “All Albertans, urban and rural, should benefit from Alberta’s Recovery Plan.”
Toronto Public Health (TPH) will be presenting a report to its board that recommends drugs be decriminalized to combat the opioid crisis, the City of Toronto stated Monday.
If accepted by Health Canada, it would mean that people found possessing drugs in Toronto would not be subjected to criminal penalties. All activities associated with drug trafficking would remain illegal.
The report calls for a “public health approach” to drug use in Toronto. Recommendations include increased federal and provincial investments in critical health and social supports, a national framework to decriminalize possession of drugs for personal use, and an approach to decriminalization within Toronto boundaries that maintains criminal penalties for drug trafficking.
A public health approach helps drug users by bringing them into an environment where they feel “acknowledged and safe,” according to TPH. This approach allows for “harm reduction peers or workers” to make connections with people who are most at risk of overdosing.
“The current approach to the drug poisoning crisis is not working and we continue to see tragic outcomes that are preventable,” said Eileen de Villa, Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health. “Treating substance use as a health challenge, rather than a criminal act, will help create pathways to support and save lives.”
TPH said decriminalization alone will not address the opioid crisis. It must be accompanied by new spending, as well as expanded access to safer supply, harm reduction, and treatment services.
This report will be considered at the Dec. 6 Board of Health meeting.
Vancouver City Council took a similar approach by voting in November to support a program that would provide drugs to people at risk of overdosing.
Vancouver City Council voted 10-0 in favour of the motion.
The Drug Users Liberation Front and the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users have applied to the Canadian government for an exemption under Section 56(1) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to allow them to distribute drugs in the city.
Nova Scotia’s Department of Health and Wellness has confirmed to True North that there’s no minimum age for minors to consent to a COVID-19 vaccine without their parent’s approval.
“Mature minors” can consent to vaccination if a vaccine provider finds them capable of doing so. This is according to the department’s Media Relations Advisor Marla MacInnis.
“Nova Scotia does not have a minimum age for giving consent for health care decisions,” MacInnis told True North. “It is recommended that parents or guardians and their children discuss consent for COVID-19 immunization … However, parental/guardian consent is not required for mature minors and consent given by mature minors cannot be overturned by parents or guardians.”
“A mature minor is a person under the age of 19 who is able to understand the purpose of the immunization, the benefits and possible reactions of the COVID-19 vaccine and the risk of not getting immunized. Mature minors can legally book an appointment and consent to or refuse immunizations.”
MacInnis goes on to say that it’s up to those who give the injections to decide if the child is mature enough to receive them.
“In order to be considered a mature minor the immunization provider must assess the youth’s ability to consent and ability to understand the information given,” she added. “If the youth is assessed as being unable to give informed consent, a substitute decision maker must be involved, for example, a parent or guardian.”
Currently, Nova Scotia is not administering vaccines through schools, but clinics have been set up at the IWK Health Centre and Nova Scotia’s children hospital for those between the ages of five and 11.
A Nova Scotia Health Authority draft public health manual on school immunization clinics states that health officials do not need to share a child’s vaccination records with parents or guardians if the child doesn’t want them to know.
“Sharing of Personal Health Information (where consent of a minor was granted for immunization): If a student is assessed as capable of providing informed consent for immunization, the record of such immunization should be provided directly to the student. No further communication with the parent or guardian about the immunization should occur without the consent of the student.”.
Health Canada had approved COVID-19 vaccination for children between the ages of five and 11 earlier this month, and vaccines are currently being rolled out across the country.
CBC News is calling on Canadians to censor their own speech for allegedly racist and discriminatory terms like “spirit animal” and “spooky.”
On Monday, the outlet published a piece titled “Words and phrases you may want to think twice about using.”
According to CBC News, the list of words was compiled by CBC employees and vetted by “anti-racist and language experts.”
Among the words cited by the outlet as being “racist, sexist or ableist” are “brainstorm,” “blindsided” and “tone deaf.”
“More important is the stigma that it will effectuate about … disorders [like] epilepsy for example,” anti-racist trainer Jas Karla told CBC News.
Other terms like “spirit animal” and “tribe” were considered to be anti-Indigenous and could be a painful insult, according to associate language studies professor Ai Taniguchi
With regard to the popular phrase “first-world problem,” CBC called it a “classist description that can dehumanize people in certain areas of the world.”
The article is part of CBC News’ “Being Black in Canada” initiative, which aims to put “anti-racism” stories front and centre.
Politicians including Liberal MP Jenica Atwin have also suggested that Canadians alter their speech to avoid racist connotations.
While still an MP for the Green Party, Atwin wrote on Twitter that “harmful and oppressive” words should be erased from the English language. Of the word “tribal,” Atwin wrote:
“So sorry. We have allowed many harmful, oppressive words and phrases into our vernacular and they must be rooted out and discontinued. This is a prime example and while the intent to harm may not have been there, we must be accountable for what we put out into the world.”
Recently CBC also quietly edited an article by an Elections Canada worker who painted white Conservatives as racists. The article was altered after it had received public condemnation.
According to its annual financial statements, the CBC receives $1.2 billion in funding from taxpayers.
For months, the legacy media in Alberta told us Premier Jason Kenney’s days were numbered. They said he was finished and that the United Conservative base hated him. It turns out they were completely wrong.
At the recent UCP convention, there was no caucus revolt and no backlash from the grassroots members. Instead, the premier received a hero’s welcome and it was clear to anyone watching, Kenney had the support of the base and the party was united.
Conservative strategist Vitor Marciano joins The Candice Malcolm Show to discuss the UCP convention, the future of Kenney in Alberta and why the media misled Albertans. Tune into The Candice Malcolm Show!
