Dog rescue organizations in Canada hope the federal government will have a change of heart over its ban on street dogs from more than 100 countries.
In June, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) announced that commercial dogs — dogs intended for resale, adoption, fostering, breeding, exhibition and research — at high risk for rabies will be banned from entering Canada starting Wednesday, Sept. 28, regardless of when import permits were issued.
Rabies is a viral disease that attacks the central nervous system of mammals, including humans, the government’s website notes. The CFIA said dog rabies kills 59,000 people every year in countries affected by the ban, including Afghanistan, Ukraine and mainland China.
“It’s very disheartening,” said Baladi Dog Rescue of Ontario co-founder Lindy Lystar. The London, Ont., group has been working with a rescuer in Cairo and has flown some 30 dogs to the region.
They’re a little bit scared, so they do need some extra care and love and training, but they’re great dogs.– Lindy Lystar, Baladi Dog Rescue of Ontario co-founder
“We have some very close friends in Egypt that are out there on the street every day and they see the horrors that these dogs have to go through,” said Lystar.
“She’ll come out of her house and there’s 10 or 20 dogs poisoned on the street, and she feels so helpless,” she said, referring to just one of the horrible ways street dogs are treated generally.
Most of the regions affected by the ban are in Africa (including Egypt), Central and South America, Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
Lindy Lystar, co-founder of Baladi Dog Rescue of Ontario, adopted a dog from Cairo named Louise. (Submitted by Lindy Lystar)
“It doesn’t make a lot of sense,” said Lystar about Canada’s ban.
The dogs in Egypt are given vaccinations — including against rabies — their blood is tested for diseases, and they’re spayed or neutered before making the trip to Canada, Lystar said, adding there’s also a requirement that they be tested to assess a dog’s immunity to rabies before they leave Egypt.
“They’re a little bit scared, so they do need some extra care and love and training, but they’re great dogs,” said Lystar who has her own Egyptian dog, a short-haired, pointy-eared blond pet named Louise.
“They’re loyal dogs. They’re protective. They’re so intelligent.”
Rescuers rush to bring dogs to Canada before ban
2 months ago
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Animal rescuers are rushing to bring dogs into Canada before a ban on importing dogs from 113 countries considered high risk for rabies comes into effect.
CBC News reached out to the CFIA and hadn’t received a response at time of publication.
In July, the agency said Canada did not have any active cases of “dog rabies,” a strain different from the rabies typically found in wildlife such as skunks, foxes, raccoons and bats. However, it noted, in 2021, dogs with rabies were imported into Canada, prompting the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and provincial public health authorities to ask the CFIA to take action to address the risks from imported dogs.
Vet association’s past president says ban needed
Canine rabies has become a growing concern in Canada since the U.S. implemented a similar ban last year, prompting some rescue groups to redirect their efforts to send more dogs to Canada, Louis Kwantes, past president of the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association, told The Canadian Press.
“We always knew that the risk was there,” Kwantes said. “But when it’s actually in your country, that theoretical risk becomes a real and present danger.”
While the CFIA’s stance may seem severe, Kwantes said he believes it’s warranted given the risks that canine rabies and other contagions that are endemic to other countries pose to Canada’s human and dog populations.
Two cases of rabies in dogs imported from Iran — one of the banned countries — have been confirmed in Ontario since July 2021, according to the province’s Agriculture and Food Ministry.
Both dogs had received rabies vaccines that aren’t licensed in Canada before their arrival, Ontario officials said. A total of 49 people who came into contact with the dogs received rabies post-exposure prophylaxis, a type of treatment that is estimated to cost about $2,000 per person.
Kwantes said these cases are illustrative of the danger posed by even a single case of canine rabies making its way into the country. While dogs are routinely vaccinated against rabies, most Canadians are not, he said. Given the close relationship between them, the canine variant is cause for concern, he said.
Many of the banned countries don’t have robust veterinary systems, said Kwantes, raising concerns about fraudulent vaccine certificates or inadequate inoculation.
Ways dogs treated ‘breaks your heart’
Ahead of the government’s ban that begins Wednesday, Fida Kablawi of London, Ont., returned with nine dogs from Egypt after a two-month stay in the capital city.
“I’m an animal lover, and it breaks your heart, and there’s so many of them.
“It’s sad. It’s surprising, shocking sometimes,” she said. “There’s a lot of poverty. [People] have so many other problems to deal with that to them a suffering dog on the street is not a priority.”
Kablawi first visited Cairo in 2020 on a work trip, and was so taken by the city’s street dogs that she’s returned multiple times to fly dogs back with her. She works with Baladi Dog Rescue and through fundraising, pays for the dogs’ medical bills, the paperwork and the flights.
The dogs are only allowed to leave the country once Egypt’s Ministry of Agriculture checks them out and signs off on the paperwork, said Kablwai.
Kablawi recently travelled from Cairo to London, Ont., with nine Egyptian street dogs. (Submitted by Fira Kablawi)
“Most of the ones that we pick have had a really rough time — they’ve been neglected or they’ve been tied to a roof and chained and starved,” she said. “The ones with the tough stories, the ones that we feel need the most love, the ones who have had it the worst, we try to bring over to give them a better life.
“I do believe Canada will change this [the ban] with just maybe some stricter laws when the dogs enter the country,” she said.
Rescuers have been calling for better regulations, including quarantining, vet checks and behavioural assessments, to ensure the safety of both the dogs and families who will home them.
BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. (AP) — Lions coach Dan Campbell is selling his suburban Detroit home to get more privacy.
“There’s plenty of space, it’s on two acres, the home is beautiful,” Campbell told Crain’s Detroit Business. “It’s just that people figured out where we lived when we lost.”
He didn’t elaborate.
Campbell and wife Holly listed the 7,800-square-foot house in Bloomfield Hills for $4.5 million this week. A deal was pending within 24 hours, Crain’s reported.
Campbell was hired by the Lions in 2021. After a 3-13-1 record that season, the team has become one of the best in the NFL, reaching the NFC championship game last January.
Campbell’s home was built in 2013 for Igor Larionov, a Hockey Hall of Fame member who played for the Detroit Red Wings.
The likely buyers are “huge” Lions fans, said Ashley Crain, who is representing Campbell and the buyers in the sale.
Ariella Kimmel and Mandi Johnson were grabbing a bite to eat in Vienna, when their August trip to the Austrian capital was upended.
The Canadian duo had travelled to the city to see Taylor Swift in concert only to learn her shows would be cancelled because of two men plotting to launch an attack on fans outside the venue, Ernst Happel Stadium.
While Kimmel and Johnson were disappointed they weren’t going to be able to see Swift perform, they made the most of the remainder of their trip. However, the experience serves as a buyer’s beware for Canadians considering jet setting to see their favourite artists or teams.
“If you’re travelling to these concerts, it’s really hard to protect yourself,” said Kimmel, a Toronto-based vice-president at a public affairs firm who had previously travelled with Johnson to see Swift in Las Vegas, Nashville and Stockholm.
Such trips can make lifelong memories when they go off without a hitch, but cancellations and rescheduled events are common because of artist illnesses, poor ticket sales, security threats, unruly weather and natural disasters.
In the last year alone, Jennifer Lopez and the Black Keys scuttled touring plans after tickets had been sold, while Bruce Springsteen, Usher and Pink had to tell fans they couldn’t take the stage mere hoursbefore show time.
Between airfares, hotels, travel expenses and tickets, last-minute cancellations can leave globe-trotting eventgoers out hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars.
“Regrettably, unpredictability has always been a reality of the industry but it’s increasingly common that there might be things that are going to interrupt your plans, especially plans that you’re really excited about,” said Jenny Kost, the Calgary-based global director of strategic sales initiatives at Corporate Traveller Canada.
“It’s a tricky one because the airline or hotel understands the reason behind your travel but its likelihood of happening or not happening is a little bit outside of their purview.”
Because Swift is known to power through shows even when sick, Kimmel never imagined a concert she was headed to would ever be cancelled, but she always booked plane tickets and hotels that could be rescheduled or refunded — a move she recommends to others travelling for events.
“It’s like common sense, you never know what’s going to happen,” Kimmel said.
However, making use of the rescheduling and refund options her hotel booking and airline tickets had weren’t an option for Kimmel this time because she had already been in Austria for a few days and had very little of her stay left when Swift cancelled.
Had the show been nixed before Kimmel left home, the flexibility baked into the bookings would have been useful, though Kost said such arrangements aren’t cheap.
“There is a cost associated with that that’s not insignificant,” she warned, estimating these kinds of bookings can add hundreds of dollars to your bill and have lots of quirks in the fine print.
The better bet is travel insurance, Kost said. It’s often cheaper than flexible fares and hotel bookings and can reimburse customers for accommodations and flights they have to drop or swap when an event gets cancel or an emergency strikes.
Kost opted for such insurance when she journeyed to Paris to see Swift over the summer and bought it again in a cab on her way to Mexico for a wedding. The insurance cost her about $150 for a week, but when she had to extend her stay because she fell ill, it covered the cost of all of her accommodations.
She doesn’t encourage people to wait until the last minute to buy the insurance like she did because buying it early can provide some reprieve when an event you’re travelling to is cancelled well in advance.
Travel costs aside, people heading out-of-town for events that wind up cancelled also have to consider whether they will get the money they spent on entry fees and tickets back.
In Kimmel and Johnson’s case, they paid Ticketmaster about $300 per seat. They learned just after the cancellation that they would be refunded — but not for an $85 transaction fee they were charged when purchasing the tickets.
“We paid $85 to not see her but I guess that in the grand scheme of what we were going to pay, it’s not a lot at all,” Kimmel said.
They did not opt to buy insurance on their tickets, which Ticketmaster offers through Allianz Global Assistance for $8, plus tax. Allianz’s vice-president of marketing and insights Dan Keon said the insurance offers coverage up to $1,000 per ticket.
In addition to offering refunds if an event is cancelled by a venue or promoter, the coverage can provide a reimbursement for a variety of situations. Those include if you are facing a serious medical issue or death, have a family member in life-threatening condition, are summoned by the military or are delayed in arriving at the venue because of a common transportation carrier.
If you’re going to opt into the insurance, Keon said review the terms ahead of time, so you understand exactly what scenarios you will be covered in.
The insurance, for example, can’t be used in the event of a pandemic, war or natural disaster.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Losing a loved one is never easy, and the legal steps that follow can add even more stress to an already difficult time.
For years, families in Vancouver (and Canada in general) have struggled with a complex probate process—filled with paperwork and legal challenges.
Thankfully, recent changes to Canada’s probate laws aim to make this process simpler and easier to navigate.
Let’s unearth how these updates can simplify the process for you and your family.
What is probate?
Probate might sound complicated, but it’s simply the legal process of settling someone’s estate after death.
Here’s how it works.
Validating the will. The court checks if the will is legal and valid.
Appointing an executor. If named in the will, the executor manages the estate. If not, the court appoints someone.
Settling debts and taxes. The executor (and you) pays debts and taxes before anything can be given.
Distributing the estate. Once everything is settled, the executor distributes the remaining assets according to the will or legal rules.
Probate ensures everything is done by the book, giving you peace of mind during a difficult time.
Recent Changes in Canadian Probate Laws
Several updates to probate law in the country are making the process smoother for you and your family.
Here’s a closer look at the fundamental changes that are making a real difference.
1) Virtual witnessing of wills
Now permanent in many provinces, including British Columbia, wills can be signed and witnessed remotely through video calls.
Such a change makes estate planning more accessible, especially for those in remote areas or with limited mobility.
2) Simplified process for small estates
Smaller estates, like those under 25,000 CAD in BC, now have a faster, simplified probate process.
Fewer forms and legal steps mean less hassle for families handling modest estates.
3) Substantial compliance for wills
Courts can now approve wills with minor errors if they reflect the person’s true intentions.
This update prevents unnecessary legal challenges and ensures the deceased’s wishes are respected.
These changes help make probate less stressful and more efficient for you and other families across Canada.
The Probate Process and You: The Role of a Probate Lawyer
(Image: Freepik.com)
Working with a probate lawyer in Vancouver can significantly simplify the probate process, especially given the city’s complex legal landscape.
Here’s how they can help.
Navigating the legal process
Probate lawyers ensure all legal steps are followed, preventing costly mistakes and ensuring the estate is managed properly.
Handling paperwork and deadlines
They manage all the paperwork and court deadlines, taking the burden off of you during this difficult time.
Resolving disputes
If conflicts arise, probate lawyers resolve them, avoiding legal battles.
Providing you peace of mind
With a probate lawyer’s expertise, you can trust that the estate is being handled efficiently and according to the law.
With a skilled probate lawyer, you can ensure the entire process is smooth and stress-free.
Why These Changes Matter
The updates to probate law make a big difference for Canadian families. Here’s why.
Less stress for you. Simplified processes mean you can focus on grieving, not paperwork.
Faster estate settlements. Estates are settled more quickly, so beneficiaries don’t face long delays.
Fewer disputes. Courts can now honor will with minor errors, reducing family conflicts.
Accessible for everyone. Virtual witnessing and easier rules for small estates make probate more accessible for everyone, no matter where you live.
With these changes, probate becomes smoother and more manageable for you and your family.
How to Prepare for the Probate Process
Even with the recent changes, being prepared makes probate smoother. Here are a few steps to help you prepare.
Create a will. Ensure a valid will is in place to avoid complications.
Choose an executor. Pick someone responsible for managing the estate and discuss their role with them.
Organize documents. Keep key financial and legal documents in one place for easy access.
Talk to your family. Have open conversations with your family to prevent future misunderstandings.
Get legal advice. Consult with a probate lawyer to ensure everything is legally sound and up-to-date.
These simple steps make the probate process easier for everyone involved.
Wrapping Up: Making Probate Easier in Vancouver
Recent updates in probate law are simplifying the process for families, from virtual witnessing to easier estate rules. These reforms are designed to ease the burden, helping you focus on what matters—grieving and respecting your dead loved ones’ final wishes.
Despite these changes, it’s best to consult a probate lawyer to ensure you can manage everything properly. Remember, they’re here to help you during this difficult time.
