Canadian Paralympians double up on silver, still search for gold in Paris after Day 4 | Canada News Media
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Canadian Paralympians double up on silver, still search for gold in Paris after Day 4

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PARIS – Canada doubled up on silver for a second consecutive day at the Paralympics, but is still in search of its first gold after Day 4.

Aurelie Rivard got her second medal in Paris in the pool, while wheelchair racer Brent Lakatos earned Canada’s first para athletics medal on the track. Canada’s first four medals were bronze before the run of four straight silvers.

Rivard, who was born with an underdeveloped left hand, fell just short of a third consecutive gold medal in the women’s S10 100-metre freestyle and took silver.

The 28-year-old from Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., was out-touched in a duel to the wall with Frenchwoman Emeline Pierre, to the roars of host-country fans at La Defense Arena.

Fourth at the turn, Rivard’s time of one minute .82 seconds was off her world record of 58.14 seconds set three years ago in Tokyo, and just over three tenths of a second back of Pierre.

“I should have done a much faster race time-wise, so that’s where I’m a lot more disappointed than the medal,” Rivard said. “I really died in the last 15 metres.

“It’s hard to be sad while being here with the crowd. I also love to see that people are just as excited for Paralympic sport as they were for the Olympics, especially in France.

“It’s never going to be a negative thing having so much noise, so much people.”

Rivard collected her 12th career Paralympic medal and second in Paris after a 50-metre freestyle bronze to open the meet.

“That’s pretty cool,” Rivard said. “My first Paralympics were 12 years ago. I never thought that I’d reach that amount of medals. I can’t be disappointed about that.”

Lakatos, a 44-year-old from Dorval, Que., also won his 12th career Paralympic medal in his fifth Games on Sunday at Stade de France.

He finished with a season-best time of 47.24 seconds in the men’s T53 400-metre final behind Paralympic and world-record holder Pongsakorn Paeyo of Thailand who struck gold in 46.77 seconds.

“At the end of the corner, he was slowing down and I could sense that I was going at the same speed,” Lakatos said. “I was thinking down the final 100m, ‘I’m going to catch him, I’m going to catch him’. But the line came up too soon. It often does that in the 400m.

“He’s a really strong starter and a really good competitor. I think my best shot will be in the 800m.”

Lakatos, who was the leading qualifier in Heat 2 earlier Sunday with a then-season best of 49.04 seconds, had entered the Games having dealt with a rib injury this season.

“This is the first Games where I have had a serious injury coming in and so my preparation wasn’t perfect,” he said. “There were lots of questions in my head about whether I could do it, and what my form would be like. So I’m glad to say I can answer those questions. It’s going quite well so far.

“You’re always chasing the gold but a silver in those circumstances – I can’t complain too much about it.”

In women’s goalball, Canada tied South Korea 0-0 in Pool D preliminary action.

Peter Isherwood lost 3-1 to Poland’s Tomasz Jakimczuk in the round of 32 of para table tennis men’s MS2 singles action.

Canada’s wheelchair rugby squad earned a 56-46 win over Denmark in the placing playoff on Sunday. The Canadians finished group play with a 1-2 record on Saturday and now look ahead to playing for fifth place on Monday against host France.

Kyle Tremblay of Deep River, Ont., fell in the men’s individual compound open para archery quarterfinals to India’s Rakesh Kumar in a shoot off after tying 144-144.

In women’s preliminary wheelchair basketball action, Canada continued its winning ways by thumping Spain 81-49 in the final group game on Sunday.

Kady Dandeneau led the way with 36 points in 35 minutes of play. Arinn Young added 23 points, while Cindy Ouellet contributed another 14.

The Canadians were coming off a 63-54 win over Great Britain on Saturday after falling to China 70-65 in Friday’s opener.

“This is the best our team has felt in a long time,” Dandeneau said. “(I feel) a really good energy from everybody. Everyone is really locked into what we’re doing, what we’re trying to do.

“It’s really cool. It’s really nice to feel that from the team.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 1, 2024.

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Canada’s Denis Shapovalov wins Belgrade Open for his second ATP Tour title

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BELGRADE, Serbia – Canada’s Denis Shapovalov is back in the winner’s circle.

The 25-year-old Shapovalov beat Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic 6-4, 6-4 in the Belgrade Open final on Saturday.

It’s Shapovalov’s second ATP Tour title after winning the Stockholm Open in 2019. He is the first Canadian to win an ATP Tour-level title this season.

His last appearance in a tournament final was in Vienna in 2022.

Shapovalov missed the second half of last season due to injury and spent most of this year regaining his best level of play.

He came through qualifying in Belgrade and dropped just one set on his way to winning the trophy.

Shapovalov’s best results this season were at ATP 500 events in Washington and Basel, where he reached the quarterfinals.

Medjedovic was playing in his first-ever ATP Tour final.

The 21-year-old, who won the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF title last year, ends 2024 holding a 9-8 tour-level record on the season.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Talks to resume in B.C. port dispute in bid to end multi-day lockout

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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 Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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The Royal Canadian Legion turns to Amazon for annual poppy campaign boost

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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.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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