Thousands of Canadians have answered the federal government’s call for volunteers to assist in the fight against the novel coronavirus.
Health Canada is building a database of specialized volunteers that provinces and territories can draw on to collect case data, help track down people who have been in contact with positive cases, as well as provide surge capacity at overwhelmed hospitals.
A spokesperson for the agency said the need for specific skills was identified through consultation with the provinces.
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Coronavirus outbreak: Trudeau says Canada has tested ‘significantly more’ people in total than U.S.
“Other call-outs may be issued as jurisdictions identify new areas requiring assistance. As needs evolve, support in other areas requiring assistance will be provided,” the spokesperson said.
Health Canada said as of Thursday, more than 27,600 Canadians have signed up. Applications launched on April 6 and will remain open until April 24.
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The agency was unable to say how many of those registered would be helping with contact tracing specifically.
Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, said the effort is vital in the fight against the virus, especially if cases continue to increase and those on the front line become overburdened.
She said the pool of volunteers will be particularly helpful in a “surge” situation.
“We’ll be monitoring and forecasting. So say, if there’s an increase in cases, then that means an increase in contacts. We’re there to support the surge if needed,” she said.
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She noted that some provinces and territories are already doing this and have created databases of their own.
In Ontario, for example, the provincial government has created an online portal aimed at matching skilled front-line health-care workers with employers needing support during the pandemic. Retired or non-active health-care professionals, internationally educated health-care workers, volunteers with experience and medical students are all allowed to apply.
All the positions will be paid, the government said.
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Tam said the federal database will be an added safety net.
“Some jurisdictions have already put in for that surge. For others, should they require it, we have that cadre of surge being pulled together as well.”
The tactic does, however, come with some privacy concerns, which Tam acknowledged. She said Canada is looking into a “range of applications” to assist — some for contact tracing and some focused on sending alerts to phones and devices.
“We’re pulling together a group amongst the provinces and territories to gauge interest — and I do believe there’s a significant amount of interest,” she said. “But there’s a lot of innovators, and we need to look at each of those innovators, in particular, how it pertains to things like privacy.”
In Alberta, Premier Jason Kenney announced a number of new measures the province plans to introduce to contain the virus, including expanded tracing of infection sources.
The plan, which includes using smartphone technology to enforce quarantines, has garnered some concern.
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During trying times, most Canadians would understand the rationale behind the move, Sharon Polsky, president of the Privacy and Access Council of Canada, told the Canadian Press, but the execution needs to be transparent.
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“They would be more inclined to trust these privacy-invasion measures if they had some certainty that these temporary measures would have a finite end,” she said.
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.
