A total of 18 cases of COVID-19 are reported in Ontario and eight in British Columbia. One presumptive positive case has been reported in Quebec.
Here is a timeline of cases in this country.
Jan. 25:A man in his 50s who arrived in Toronto from Wuhan, China, the epicentre of the outbreak, becomes the first “presumptive” case of the new coronavirus in Canada. The man called 911 as soon as he got sick with relatively minor symptoms and was placed in isolation in Toronto’s Sunnybrook Hospital.
Jan. 26: The wife of the Toronto man who was Canada’s first “presumptive” case of the new coronavirus becomes the second presumptive case. The woman is kept in home isolation.
Jan. 27: The National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg confirms that a man in quarantine in Sunnybrook Hospital is Canada’s first documented case of the new coronavirus.
Jan 28: Health authorities confirm Canada’s second case of the novel coronavirus. The woman had recently travelled to Wuhan with her husband, who was the first case confirmed in Canada.
Jan 28: Health officials in British Columbia say a man in his 40s is presumed to have the new coronavirus and is doing well as he recovers at his Vancouver home. B.C.’s health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, says the man often works in China and voluntarily isolated himself upon returning to Canada.
Jan. 28: The presumed case of the new strain of coronavirus in B.C. is confirmed by the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg.
Jan. 31: Toronto man hospitalized with the novel coronavirus is well enough to go home. Sunnybrook Hospital says he’ll continue to recover at home, where his wife is also in self-isolation.
Jan. 31: Ontario’s third case of the new coronavirus is confirmed. The patient, a woman in her 20s, had travelled to the affected area in China. The London university student initially tested negative for the virus, but a subsequent test at the national lab in Winnipeg was positive. Health officials say her symptoms are minor.
Feb. 4: Health officials announce another presumptive confirmed case in B.C. Henry says the woman had family visiting from China’s Hubei province and she is in isolation at her home.
Feb. 5: British Columbia’s second case of coronavirus is confirmed by the National Microbiology Lab.
Feb. 6: Henry announces two new cases of COVID-19 in B.C., noting both people were in the same household as the woman diagnosed with the province’s second case.
Microscopic image of virus that causes COVID-19. (Beth Fischer/U.S. NIAD-RML/Canadian Press)
Feb. 12: Ontario health officials say the woman from London, Ont., no longer has the novel coronavirus in her system. It marks the first time a case of the illness has been resolved in Canada.
Feb. 14: Officials in B.C. announce the province’s fifth case of COVID-19. The woman in her 30s who lives in B.C.’s Interior recently returned from Hubei province.
Feb. 19: Henry announces that the person diagnosed with B.C.’s first case of the new coronavirus has recovered. It’s the first time this has happened in the province.
Feb. 20: A woman who recently returned from Iran is diagnosed with British Columbia’s sixth case of COVID-19. She’s the first person in the country diagnosed with the illness who did not recently visit China. Meanwhile, in Ontario, the man who had Canada’s first case of the virus is cleared after testing negative for the illness twice in 24 hours.
Feb. 21: The last known case of coronavirus in Ontario is resolved.
Feb. 23: Officials in Toronto announce Ontario has a new case of coronavirus — the fourth to be diagnosed in the province. The woman arrived in Toronto from China several days earlier.
Feb. 24: Henry announces a seventh person in B.C. has been diagnosed with the new coronavirus. The man in his 40s was in close contact with the woman who has the province’s sixth case of the illness.
Feb. 26: Ontario officials announce a fifth diagnosis in the province: a woman in her 60s who recently travelled to Iran.
Feb. 27: Quebec public health officials report the province’s first presumptive case, a woman from the Montreal region who recently returned from Iran. Ontario officials also confirm a sixth case of COVID-19 in the province. They say the man in his 60s is the husband of Ontario’s fifth patient with the virus.
Feb. 28: Ontario reports a seventh confirmed case — a man in his 50s who had travelled to Iran. The man arrived in Toronto on Tuesday, Feb. 25 and went to the emergency department of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre the next day. It also reports its eighth case: a man in his 80s with a travel history to Egypt. Officials said he arrived in the city on Feb. 20 and went to the Scarborough Health Network’s General Hospital’s emergency department on Thursday.
Feb. 29 Health officials in British Columbia say a woman in her 60s who travelled from Iran is the eighth case of COVID-19 in the province. Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says the woman has a relatively mild case and she is in self-isolation at home. Health officials in Ontario report another three cases — two women who had recently made separate trips to Iran, and the 69-year-old husband of one of those women, who had no recent travel history.
March 1: Ontario officials diagnose four new cases — three in York Region and one in Toronto. All four patients had recently travelled abroad. One had travelled to Egypt with a man who was later diagnosed with the virus, while the rest had recently been in Iran.
March 2: Ontario health officials are reporting three new cases bringing the total in the province to 18.
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.
