Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth never thought this would be part of the story that is the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.
The online hate and harassment she and her colleagues have received over the last 20 months has been distressing, and it reached a tipping point for the Ottawa-based family doctor last week.
On Nov. 1, Kaplan-Myrth said she received an emailed letter disguised as a complaint to Ontario’s physicians’ regulator. In it, was a threat. She said the sender threatened to kill her for her work vaccinating her patients and advocating for inoculation.
“When the pandemic first started, we were worried about whether or not we would live because we feared we would get COVID just doing our work,” Kaplan-Myrth told Global News, adding she’s felt pride for getting so many vaccinated throughout the pandemic.
But that “relief then gets sort of crushed by this horrible feeling that there’s somebody out there … sending a letter saying that I should be killed.”
Kaplan-Myrth is among a number of Canadian doctors facing continuous hate and harassment online, stemming from COVID-19 and vaccine advocacy. Many are calling on governments to increase protection for health-care workers.
Dr. Naheed Dosani, a palliative care physician in Toronto, told Global News he has been the target of racist attacks online. He’s noticed the messages have become more vitriolic as policies, like Ontario’s recent decision to not mandate vaccination for health-care workers, have come into effect. The mandate was something Dosani had been a vocal advocate for.
“I have to say that there is an association with the anti-vaccine movement and the racist comments and hatred that I receive,” he said.
“Being called racial slurs, being told that I need to watch my back … This isn’t fair, because if this happens to any health worker, it means that our entire industry, our entire sector, is at risk.”
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In Brighton, Ont., Dr. Michelle Cohen told Global News she has had to change her notification settings on social media to avoid seeing hateful messages.
“I’ve had some very nasty trolling, just repeated comments about, ‘How are you a doctor? I feel so sorry for your patients, you must be doing things that are terrible, you’re a horrible person,’ and there are lot of misogynistic and antisemitic smears, in particular, that are targeted to me personally,” she said.
“And then there are vague threats like, ‘You’re going to be punished.’ (There’s a) misunderstanding of the history around the Nuremberg trials. A lot of threats like, ‘You’re going to be first against the wall when the Nuremberg trials restart,’ and those sorts of vague kind of threats.”
In Whitehorse, Yukon, pediatrician Dr. Katharine Smart, who is also president of the Canadian Medical Association, told Global News she feels the majority of Canadians still see them as health-care heroes, but the vocal minority is “distressing.”
“I’ve received multiple messages … both on Twitter and Instagram, calling me names, accusing me of harming people, threatening me, and of course, this generally relates to tweets or Instagram posts that promote vaccination,” she said.
“That’s again, unfortunately, what brings that anti-vax movement out – when you’re out there trying to educate the public, trying to provide accurate information, and then these people come out in droves and it can be quite relentless at times and it’s very distressing.”
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Smart and other doctors are calling on governments to introduce legislation that protects health-care workers from harm.
After his summer re-election, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters in September that among the priorities for his new minority government is to bring in laws to protect health-care workers from harassment and intimidation through changes to the criminal code.
The promise came after rallies were held outside several Canadian hospitals on Sept. 13 by supporters of a group called Canadian Frontline Nurses, which organized the protests to stand up to the “tyrannical measures and government overreach” of the most recent public health measures including vaccine passports.
Some of the protests attempted to block entry to hospitals, putting both the employees and patients at risk.
Provinces have made promises similar to Trudeau’s — both the Ontario NDP and Liberals introduced bills to create safety zones around institutions such as hospitals to protect them from anti-vaccine harassment, and Nova Scotia recently passed legislation to establish a 50-metre “safe access bubble” around hospitals and other facilities, such as doctors’ offices, where protests won’t be permitted.
Moreover, several officials spoke out against the Sept. 13 demonstrations, including Ontario Premier Doug Ford who called the protesters “selfish, cowardly and reckless” in a tweet the day before.
That same month, British Columbia Premier John Horgan said protesters demonstrating outside hospitals weren’t welcome.
The doctors who spoke to Global News said they appreciate the support and intention from governments to protect health-care workers, but that it’s time for action — now.
“We need clear messaging from governments that any harassment or bullying of health-care professionals or anyone is unacceptable,” Smart said.
“We’ve seen some talk about legislation to make these things illegal, and I think that needs to move forward. We need safe zones around hospitals, but we also need clear legislation saying that online harassment and bullying is not acceptable in this country and it will not be tolerated.”
9:56 Canadian government needs to take action on online hate, says expert
Canadian government needs to take action on online hate, says expert – Jun 13, 2021
To avoid seeing hateful messages, Kaplan-Myrth says she no longer allows people to comment on her Twitter page unless she follows them.
She also said she’s grateful to her colleagues for the support she’s receiving.
“We’re not going to stop advocating. I’m certainly not going to stop immunizing my patients, I’m not going to be cowering from bullies but I am exhausted and scared and that’s not OK,” she said.
“What I should be feeling is hope because we’ve got the vaccine, we’re going to be able to immunize kids soon, and it’s going to be the next step towards ending this pandemic.”
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
