Hikers and other nature lovers are being urged to be on the lookout for ticks as they return to trails and forested areas across the country this summer.
Tick season runs from a peak in spring and early fall until late into October and the Nature Conservancy of Canada is urging people to take precautions against blacklegged or deer ticks that can carry various bacterial diseases, including Lyme disease.
John Foley, an Atlantic region vice president with the Nature Conservancy, said ticks are becoming more common throughout the four Atlantic provinces as well as most other provinces in Canada with the exception of Saskatchewan.
Foley said since the climate has become warmer, several species of ticks have made the journey from the U.S. and have adapted to cooler northern areas of Canada in recent years.
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1:58 Albertans reporting fewer ticks amid social distancing; risk still there
Albertans reporting fewer ticks amid social distancing; risk still there
“Ticks in general are really increasing in numbers,” said Foley.
“It wasn’t that long ago Nova Scotia was really the only province in Atlantic Canada that had traces of deer ticks and now you can find them in every province including Newfoundland.”
Ticks are arachnids from the same family as scorpions, spiders and mites. They hide in the shade, in wooded areas and in long grasses, and can be carried from place to place by migratory birds. Unaided they can travel anywhere from 20 to 40 kilometres in a year.
The tick grows from approximately 0.3 centimetres when unfed to 0.6 centimetres when partially fed. Fully fed, the egg-shaped tick can grow to one centimetre in length.
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Steve Schofield, an entomologist who is also a senior scientific adviser to the Department of National Defence and lives just outside Ottawa, said he first started noticing ticks in his large backyard about five years ago.
In fact, Schofield said Ottawa is now considered a “hyperendemic area” meaning simply that there are a lot of ticks and their infection rates are fairly high.
2:01 Queen’s University masters student looking into tick and lyme disease to help eliminate misdiagnosis
Queen’s University masters student looking into tick and lyme disease to help eliminate misdiagnosis
“That’s the general pattern you are seeing through much of Ontario,” he said. “It’s still fairly patchy but it’s coalescing into a wider distribution.”
Schofield said while people don’t need to be alarmed, they have to be aware that there is a risk associated with blacklegged ticks in particular.
“If you go for a walk in the woods you are probably not going to get a hundred ticks on you, you might get a couple of ticks on you, but those couple of ticks are sufficient to be able to transmit the pathogen,” he said.
Schofield said checking for ticks after a hike or walk in the woods is an important habit because early removal can prevent the transmission of things like Lyme disease. That’s because a tick, unlike a mosquito, feeds on its host for five or six days.
Foley said there are a number of steps people can take to minimize the risk of exposure from tick bites, including wearing bug repellent containing Deet.
It’s recommended that hikers stay in the centre of a trail when exploring and that people sit on a rock instead of the ground when they need a break.
4:20 Tick talk
Tick talk
People should wear light coloured clothing in order to enable them to see any ticks that have attached themselves.
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The clothing should include long-sleeved shirts and long pants to keep skin protected and they should cover their head with a hat. There is also clothing available that has tick repellent material.
And tucking pants into socks or boots can offer extra protection, because ticks are usually found close to the ground.
And after returning home it’s recommended that people check their body, equipment and pets before going indoors.
Foley said with people emerging from their homes as COVID-19 restrictions loosen, the idea of the warning is not to scare people.
“People should still go outside and enjoy nature,” he said. “But they should take precautions more than in the past.”
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.
