Category Archives: Social
Liberals’ two-year-old pledge to revamp EI, CPP appeals body delayed due to COVID-19
OTTAWA — COVID-19 has all but stalled a promised shift in how Canadians appeal rulings on their requests for federal income supports. The department overseeing the work, Employment and Social Development Canada, says the change won't happen as original...
Former Vancouver hotel to be converted to 65 units for homeless people by the fall
VANCOUVER — A former hotel on the Vancouver's eastside has been purchased to create about 65 units to accommodate homeless people. The City of Vancouver, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. and the federal government say the former Days Inn on
U.S. vaccine rollout vastly outpacing Canada’s: what can we learn from American push?
Canadians perusing social media may be coming across photos of their American peers bearing wide smiles and vaccination cards that show they've been inoculated against COVID-19. A recent ramping up of the United States's vaccine rollout has it vastly o...
B.C. public health rules discriminate against churches, lawyer argues
VANCOUVER — A lawyer for a group of British Columbia churches that are challenging the province's COVID-19 rules prohibiting in-person religious services argued Monday the orders reflect a "value judgment." Paul Jaffe said provincial health officer Dr....
Ontario surpasses 300,000 COVID-19 infections, allows vaccines for homeless
TORONTO — Ontario has expanded the first phase of its COVID-19 vaccination drive to include residents experiencing homelessness, its largest municipality announced on Sunday as the province eclipsed 300,000 total infections since the onset of the glob...
Inuit midwives say they left after experiencing years of mistreatment
IQALUIT, Nunavut — Cas Augaarjuk Connelly and Rachel Qiliqti Kaludjak never wanted to stop working at a Nunavut birthing centre, but they say years of mistreatment, racism and a lack of support from their government left them no choice. Both are
‘We need this:’ Getting COVID-19 vaccine to remote and urban Indigenous populations
Chief Chris Moonias looked into a web camera as he prepared to get a COVID-19 vaccine just after precious doses arrived in his northern Ontario community. “I’m coming to you live from Neskantaga First Nation community centre where our vaccines will
NDP calls on Saskatchewan government to fund North Battleford homeless shelter
NORTH BATTLEFORD, Sask. — Saskatchewan's Opposition NDP is calling on the provincial government to help maintain a homeless shelter in North Battleford that is to close April 1 due to lack of funding. Don Windels, executive director of Lighthouse Supp...
Address anti-Indigenous racism in health care before expanding MAID: advocates, MP
OTTAWA — The federal government should not expand access to medical assistance in dying to those suffering solely from severe mental illness while Indigenous people live in conditions linked to higher rates of mental illness and suicide, says Tyler Whi...
Doctors, caregivers push for in-home COVID-19 vaccinations for housebound seniors
TORONTO — At age 86, diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and prone to falls, John Bedborough would seem to be at the front of the line amid high-risk Canadians prioritized for a COVID-19 vaccine. But it’s those frailties that make it unlikely
