Visitors driving into La Crete are greeted by a wooden welcome sign declaring it “Alberta’s Last Frontier.”
The small town about 670 kilometres north of Edmonton — a tidy patch of light-coloured homes and orderly looking businesses — made headlines during the pandemic for its resistance to public health orders, and a number of its residents continue to defy them.
On a late November day, with temperatures hovering around -20 C, people rushed from vehicles into the post office, grocery stores, banks and other businesses with little evidence that anyone was wearing a mask.
More than two months after Alberta brought in its version of a vaccine-passport program, several restaurants in this community refuse to enforce it and continue to flout masking and capacity rules. At least one under a closure order was still open for dine-in service, with staff and customers unmasked.
La Crete is one of a handful of small towns in Mackenzie County, a massive stretch of farmland and forest in northwest Alberta that covers an area bigger than New Brunswick.
The CBC visited these three communities in Mackenzie County to hear residents talk about why the region’s vaccination rates are some of the lowest in Alberta. (CBC)
A year into Alberta’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout, the county makes up the bulk of what is the province’s least-immunized health region.
Just 29.6 per cent of the roughly 25,000 residents are fully immunized. It’s the only health region in Alberta where less than 30 per cent of the total population have had both doses — far lower than the provincewide total of 72 per cent.
Still, attitudes about COVID-19 and immunization in this vast region are not homogenous, and those diverse views have created challenges for those who live there.
At odds with neighbours, church
Daniel Wall, 35, has come to hate going into town.
His life on his farm with his wife and two young daughters is largely self-sufficient. A wood stove warms their living room, a cow provides more than enough milk for the family of four, and crates of vegetables for Wall’s market garden business are piled high in the room where his wife teaches music lessons.
Daniel Wall goes through the produce he has harvested from his small market garden near La Crete, Alta. (Paige Parsons/CBC)
He travels into La Crete about once a week to pick up other things they need.
Like most Canadians living in places with public health restrictions, he pulls on a mask when he goes into stores. In La Crete, he’s often the only one.
“I know what people are thinking: ‘You’re scared of the disease,'” Wall said in a recent interview.
Wall and his family are Mennonite, like many families who live in the farming community. But unlike some of their friends, relatives and neighbours, they try, for the most part, to follow the provincial public health restrictions in place to limit the spread of COVID-19.
Evidence from around the world has shown that masks reduce transmission of the coronavirus and that people who are immunized have far greater protection against COVID-19 and severe outcomes than those who are not.
“We essentially stopped going to church because the pandemic restrictions were that they were limited to a certain size — and none of the local churches that we know of were respecting that,” said Wall.
Wall feeds the cattle that keep him and his family sustained on their farmstead, located just outside of La Crete. (Paige Parsons/CBC)
In December 2020, one local church, Grace Bible Fellowship, published a recording of a sermon by Pastor Mike Hovland where he described the province’s public health restrictions as “tyranny” and suggested church members should ignore them.
“Each of us need to answer these questions for our own selves, but I say our fellowship and our worship is much too important for us to obey these mandates,” Hovland said.
Wall said he has wrestled with the question of whether to fully follow public health restrictions, especially as his family members don’t have any medical conditions that put them at greater risk of severe illness or death from COVID-19.
But he also said he doesn’t buy into the conspiracy theories about the virus and vaccines that have been circulating among some residents of his community. He decided to get vaccinated and says he trusts health officials when they say people sick with COVID-19 have been overwhelming hospitals in urban centres.
“I have not felt that I have a freedom of conscience to go against the restrictions just from the limited perspective of what we have here,” Wall said.
The La Crete Health Care Centre is in the middle of the small community. (Paige Parsons/CBC)
Rate of COVID-19 remains high
Early in the pandemic, a high per-capita case rate and climbing deaths from COVID-19 in Mackenzie County worried health officials. By August 2020, Alberta Health Services was doing targeted outreach in La Crete, trying to dispel myths and rumours about the virus and encouraging people and businesses to follow public health restrictions.
In an interview this summer, Mackenzie County Reeve Josh Knelsen told CBC that some residents were taking precautions, but others weren’t.
“People here realize that bills must be paid. You can’t put life on hold, and you protect those that you can,” he said.
WATCH | Meet the people in the region with Alberta’s lowest vaccination rate:
Inside the community with Alberta’s lowest vaccination rate
4 hours ago
Duration 3:43
The rural community of La Crete has Alberta’s lowest COVID-19 vaccination rate, just 29 per cent of its total population is fully immunized, and many residents who ignore public health guidelines. It’s put the community at risk and left those taking the pandemic seriously feeling isolated. 3:43
The per-capita case rate in the region has been among the highest in the province at times. Of the 3,328 recorded cases, there have been 53 deaths caused by COVID-19. In the city of Grande Prairie, which has twice the population and has had more than twice the number of cases, there have been a similar number of deaths: 55.
Wall attributes the resistance to public health measures and vaccines to a number of factors.
Resentment about economic impact is part of it, he said, but it’s been further fuelled by a belief that limits on church capacity curtailed religious freedom and what some see as government overreach.
“That really gave impetus to conspiracy theories and all of that stuff, saying that they’re just trying to restrict our rights and move us towards a communist state,” he said.
Cash vaccine incentive raised questions for some
Danny Friesen, 34, a Mennonite farmer and businessman in nearby Fort Vermilion, got COVID-19 himself last February. But it didn’t convince him to get vaccinated.
Despite evidence from health authorities around the world showing vaccines are safe and highly effective, and side-effects rare, news about breakthrough cases made Friesen question how well they work.
Also driving his skepticism is the provincial government’s offer of a $100 incentive to get vaccinated. Facing the lowest vaccination rate in Canada, Alberta introduced the incentive in early September for anyone who got either a first or second dose by Oct. 14.
“If they’re paying you to take a shot, something doesn’t quite add up,” Friesen said, standing on the banks of the Peace River in Fort Vermilion.
Danny Friesen stands along the shore of Peace River in Fort Vermilion, Alta. (Paige Parsons/CBC)
Friesen said when he contracted COVID-19, he stayed home for two weeks. But he doesn’t think the government has any business imposing quarantine rules and other public health restrictions, describing the rules as “two-faced.”
“You got the small business — it’s trying to implement the rules. And then you see [Premier] Jason Kenney and all these other big shots sitting with no masks on, no restrictions, Learjetting all over the world, crossing borders,” said Friesen, whose wife owned a restaurant in Fort Vermilion until recently.
The public health rules have meant Friesen has missed three funerals over the course of the pandemic due to capacity limits.
Currently, the province has prohibited indoor weddings and funerals unless the venue has adopted Alberta’s restriction-exemption program, which requires proof of vaccine or a negative test. Even then, they are limited to 50 per cent capacity.
But the province has allowed events such as NHL games to go ahead at 100 per cent capacity, as long as the venue has the restriction-exemption program in place.
Friesen finds it frustrating he has to miss important events while tens of thousands of people are allowed to gather in stadiums.
“Everybody has a story of it, and everybody’s getting sick of it,” he said.
Frank conversations a way to increase uptake
As the pandemic stretches on, though, the number of Mackenzie County residents willing to get vaccinated has slowly started to climb. Thirty-five per cent of all residents have at least one dose, up from 26 per cent in mid-November.
Pharmacist Keyur Shah said he saw a bump in people seeking vaccination at his Fort Vermilion pharmacy when the $100 incentive was announced in September. And he said it’s been steady since the introduction of Alberta’s restriction-exemption program.
“What our government is doing seems like it’s working,” he said.
Keyur Shah, standing inside his pharmacy in High Level, Alta., says vaccinations at his clinic are slowly starting to rise. (Trevor Wilson/CBC)
When Shah talks to vaccine-hesitant patients, he said, they often have concerns about side-effects or questions around if it’ll work.
“I urge the patient, ‘Please get the vaccine, just to prevent any kind of hospitalization,'” he said.
Conversations about vaccines with local health-care workers whom residents already know and trust is a cornerstone in AHS’s efforts to increase vaccine uptake in the area, said Dr. Kathryn Koliaska, the medical officer of health for the north zone.
“It really is a conversation,” Koliaska said. “As the conversation evolves with the pandemic — and, quite frankly, as the pandemic evolves, too — different questions come up. And so to the best of our knowledge, to the best of the scientific evidence available, we will listen to questions and then answer them and respond to them.”
AHS staff want to hear the specific worries people have about the vaccine — whether it’s a rumour they’ve heard or something they saw on social media, Koliaska said.
“If someone has that in the back of their mind, any of the other information we present, does it really help until we’ve answered the question that someone’s really worried about?” she said.
Asked about the apparent widespread disregard for public health restrictions in La Crete, Koliaska acknowledged that legal options for enforcement exist. But it’s a “very, very challenging question,” she said.
AHS is better at education and service delivery, Koliaska said, and turns to enforcement only in a limited number of cases.
“Ultimately, what we care about in Alberta Health Services is about keeping people healthy and keeping people safe, keeping people out of hospital,” she said. “That’s what’s actually really important.”
When entering the Dene Tha’ First Nation in Bushe River, Alta., signs direct you to wash your hands to help control the spread of COVID-19. (Paige Parsons/CBC)
A diverse community
Alberta’s Ministry of Health declined to provide a breakdown of immunization rates for different municipalities and First Nations within Mackenzie County, but visits to different communities across the county suggest attitudes about COVID-19 vary.
While there is a large Mennonite population, particularly in and around La Crete, the area is diverse. A Métis settlement and several First Nations call the region home, and between agriculture, forestry and oil and gas, many others come to the area for work.
One large sign near the Dene Tha’ First Nation band office at Bushe River encourages handwashing. Another directs workers arriving from outside the First Nation to check in for COVID-19 screening. Handwritten signs at a nearby convenience store post updates on case counts in surrounding communities.
In the community of High Level, masking in businesses is de rigueur, and local restaurant staff check for proof of vaccination.
The town is a hub for accommodations for workers, whose steady presence has helped restaurants and hotels in the northern town stay afloat, said Tareq Morad, president of his family’s hospitality company, which operates five hotels and attached restaurants in High Level.
A chef at the Best Western Mirage in High Level, Alta., prepares dinner for local customers. (Paige Parsons/CBC)
When Alberta lifted nearly all public health restrictions over the summer, Morad said there was a surge in business as locals made their way back to his dining rooms.
But then came the restriction-exemption program, which requires restaurants to check for proof of vaccine if they want to open for indoor dining.
“Local traffic and demand really, really diminished due to low vaccination rates in our area,” Morad said.
Morad’s businesses enforce health restrictions, but he has empathy for people he’s spoken with who have various reasons for not wanting to be immunized. He feels for provincial decision-makers, too, he says.
“It’s a tough one,” Morad said. “There was no playbook for this, right?”
Wall and his family, meanwhile, are debating whether or not to stick to the rules and face another lonely winter without social gatherings.
“At some point we’re also humans, we have social needs,” he said.
Skinstitut Holiday Gift Kits take the stress out of gifting
Toronto, October 31, 2024 – Beauty gifts are at the top of holiday wish lists this year, and Laser Clinics Canada, a leader in advanced beauty treatments and skincare, is taking the pressure out of seasonal shopping. Today, Laser Clincs Canada announces the arrival of its 2024 Holiday Gift Kits, courtesy of Skinstitut, the exclusive skincare line of Laser Clinics Group.
In time for the busy shopping season, the limited-edition Holiday Gifts Kits are available in Laser Clinics locations in the GTA and Ottawa. Clinics are conveniently located in popular shopping centers, including Hillcrest Mall, Square One, CF Sherway Gardens, Scarborough Town Centre, Rideau Centre, Union Station and CF Markville. These limited-edition Kits are available on a first come, first served basis.
“These kits combine our best-selling products, bundled to address the most relevant skin concerns we’re seeing among our clients,” says Christina Ho, Senior Brand & LAM Manager at Laser Clinics Canada. “With several price points available, the kits offer excellent value and suit a variety of gift-giving needs, from those new to cosmeceuticals to those looking to level up their skincare routine. What’s more, these kits are priced with a savings of up to 33 per cent so gift givers can save during the holiday season.
There are two kits to select from, each designed to address key skin concerns and each with a unique theme — Brightening Basics and Hydration Heroes.
Brightening Basics is a mix of everyday essentials for glowing skin for all skin types. The bundle comes in a sleek pink, reusable case and includes three full-sized products: 200ml gentle cleanser, 50ml Moisture Defence (normal skin) and 30ml1% Hyaluronic Complex Serum. The Brightening Basics kit is available at $129, a saving of 33 per cent.
Hydration Heroes is a mix of hydration essentials and active heroes that cater to a wide variety of clients. A perfect stocking stuffer, this bundle includes four deluxe products: Moisture 15 15 ml Defence for normal skin, 10 ml 1% Hyaluronic Complex Serum, 10 ml Retinol Serum and 50 ml Expert Squalane Cleansing Oil. The kit retails at $59.
In addition to the 2024 Holiday Gifts Kits, gift givers can easily add a Laser Clinic Canada gift card to the mix. Offering flexibility, recipients can choose from a wide range of treatments offered by Laser Clinics Canada, or they can expand their collection of exclusive Skinstitut products.
Brightening Basics 2024 Holiday Gift Kit by Skinstitut, available exclusively at Laser Clincs Canada clinics and online at skinstitut.ca.
Hydration Heroes 2024 Holiday Gift Kit by Skinstitut – available exclusively at Laser Clincs Canada clinics and online at skinstitut.ca.
LONDON (AP) — Most people have accumulated a pile of data — selfies, emails, videos and more — on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?
It’s wise to draft a will spelling out who inherits your physical assets after you’re gone, but don’t forget to take care of your digital estate too. Friends and family might treasure files and posts you’ve left behind, but they could get lost in digital purgatory after you pass away unless you take some simple steps.
Here’s how you can prepare your digital life for your survivors:
Apple
The iPhone maker lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. The company says it’s a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system — iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.
For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.
You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.
Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on — including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.
Google
Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.
When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait — from three to 18 months — before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.
You can write a message informing them you’ve stopped using the account, and, optionally, include a link to download your data. You can choose what types of data they can access — including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.
There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.
Facebook and Instagram
Some social media platforms can preserve accounts for people who have died so that friends and family can honor their memories.
When users of Facebook or Instagram die, parent company Meta says it can memorialize the account if it gets a “valid request” from a friend or family member. Requests can be submitted through an online form.
The social media company strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also has to have a Facebook account.
You can also ask Facebook or Instagram to delete a deceased user’s account if you’re a close family member or an executor. You’ll need to send in documents like a death certificate.
TikTok
The video-sharing platform says that if a user has died, people can submit a request to memorialize the account through the settings menu. Go to the Report a Problem section, then Account and profile, then Manage account, where you can report a deceased user.
Once an account has been memorialized, it will be labeled “Remembering.” No one will be able to log into the account, which prevents anyone from editing the profile or using the account to post new content or send messages.
X
It’s not possible to nominate a legacy contact on Elon Musk’s social media site. But family members or an authorized person can submit a request to deactivate a deceased user’s account.
Passwords
Besides the major online services, you’ll probably have dozens if not hundreds of other digital accounts that your survivors might need to access. You could just write all your login credentials down in a notebook and put it somewhere safe. But making a physical copy presents its own vulnerabilities. What if you lose track of it? What if someone finds it?
Instead, consider a password manager that has an emergency access feature. Password managers are digital vaults that you can use to store all your credentials. Some, like Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access their keys in case of an emergency such as a death.
But there are a few catches: Those contacts also need to use the same password manager and you might have to pay for the service.
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Is there a tech challenge you need help figuring out? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your questions.
The Canadian Paediatric Society says doctors should regularly screen children for reading difficulties and dyslexia, calling low literacy a “serious public health concern” that can increase the risk of other problems including anxiety, low self-esteem and behavioural issues, with lifelong consequences.
New guidance issued Wednesday says family doctors, nurses, pediatricians and other medical professionals who care for school-aged kids are in a unique position to help struggling readers access educational and specialty supports, noting that identifying problems early couldhelp kids sooner — when it’s more effective — as well as reveal other possible learning or developmental issues.
The 10 recommendations include regular screening for kids aged four to seven, especially if they belong to groups at higher risk of low literacy, including newcomers to Canada, racialized Canadians and Indigenous Peoples. The society says this can be done in a two-to-three-minute office-based assessment.
Other tips encourage doctors to look for conditions often seen among poor readers such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder; to advocate for early literacy training for pediatric and family medicine residents; to liaise with schools on behalf of families seeking help; and to push provincial and territorial education ministries to integrate evidence-based phonics instruction into curriculums, starting in kindergarten.
Dr. Scott McLeod, one of the authors and chair of the society’s mental health and developmental disabilities committee, said a key goal is to catch kids who may be falling through the cracks and to better connect families to resources, including quicker targeted help from schools.
“Collaboration in this area is so key because we need to move away from the silos of: everything educational must exist within the educational portfolio,” McLeod said in an interview from Calgary, where he is a developmental pediatrician at Alberta Children’s Hospital.
“Reading, yes, it’s education, but it’s also health because we know that literacy impacts health. So I think that a statement like this opens the window to say: Yes, parents can come to their health-care provider to get advice, get recommendations, hopefully start a collaboration with school teachers.”
McLeod noted that pediatricians already look for signs of low literacy in young children by way of a commonly used tool known as the Rourke Baby Record, which offers a checklist of key topics, such as nutrition and developmental benchmarks, to cover in a well-child appointment.
But he said questions about reading could be “a standing item” in checkups and he hoped the society’s statement to medical professionals who care for children “enhances their confidence in being a strong advocate for the child” while spurring partnerships with others involved in a child’s life such as teachers and psychologists.
The guidance said pediatricians also play a key role in detecting and monitoring conditions that often coexist with difficulty reading such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, but McLeod noted that getting such specific diagnoses typically involves a referral to a specialist, during which time a child continues to struggle.
He also acknowledged that some schools can be slow to act without a specific diagnosis from a specialist, and even then a child may end up on a wait list for school interventions.
“Evidence-based reading instruction shouldn’t have to wait for some of that access to specialized assessments to occur,” he said.
“My hope is that (by) having an existing statement or document written by the Canadian Paediatric Society … we’re able to skip a few steps or have some of the early interventions present,” he said.
McLeod added that obtaining specific assessments from medical specialists is “definitely beneficial and advantageous” to know where a child is at, “but having that sort of clear, thorough assessment shouldn’t be a barrier to intervention starting.”
McLeod said the society was partly spurred to act by 2022’s “Right to Read Inquiry Report” from the Ontario Human Rights Commission, which made 157 recommendations to address inequities related to reading instruction in that province.
He called the new guidelines “a big reminder” to pediatric providers, family doctors, school teachers and psychologists of the importance of literacy.
“Early identification of reading difficulty can truly change the trajectory of a child’s life.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2024.
