People in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick will see more COVID-19 restrictions eased next week, said officials, who pointed to signs of a waning Omicron wave.
In Nova Scotia, Dr. Robert Strang, the province’s chief medical officer of health, cautioned that the health system is still under “tremendous pressure” but noted that hospital admissions for COVID-19 have peaked.
Premier Tim Houston said the next shift will happen on Feb. 14, with the return of sports, arts and cultural events. Gathering limits for informal events will increase, and a range of businesses will be allowed to increase capacity.
The shift is happening because of “our high vaccination rates” and strong booster dose campaign, said Houston.
“It’s also happening because we know the need to balance between restrictions and the risk of COVID in terms of our overall public health.”
More restrictions will be lifted through a phased approach, Houston said.
In New Brunswick, Premier Blaine Higgs announced restrictions would be eased as of Feb. 18, including increased capacity at a range of businesses and increased limits on the number of people who can come together at household gatherings.
Dr. Jennifer Russell, the province’s chief medical officer of health, said while many people in the province are still being infected and hospitals are still under strain, the province is seeing signs that the Omicron wave is slowing.
“Today, there are 139 New Brunswickers in hospital due to COVID-19,” Russell said at the briefing on Wednesday, a decline from the peak of 165 a week earlier. The number of health workers off sick or isolating is also decreasing, which means hospitals are better positioned to handle current cases, as well as any increases, she said.
Hospitalizations as of Thursday stood at 140, with 15 people in New Brunswick’s intensive care units, according to the province’s COVID-19 dashboard.
Higgs said the end of mandates in New Brunswick is in sight — provided certain conditions are met, including hospitalizations declining as projected. When the province makes that decision, he said, “it will be based on science, as all of our COVID-19 decisions have been.”
“I am hopeful we’ll see the end of the emergency order, and further restrictions and mandates, by the end of March,” the premier said as he outlined the changes.
Horizon Health Network, a key health-care provider in New Brunswick, said Thursday that non-urgent procedures and surgeries are resuming. The update noted that hospitals are still under strain, but the organization “is now able to safely resume” procedures delayed by measures imposed to control the Omicron wave.
In Newfoundland and Labrador, the province’s top doctor also unveiled an easing of some restrictions, including loosening rules around gatherings and sporting events.
Canadians weigh travel concerns ahead of March break
14 hours ago
Duration 1:48
A continued advisory against non-essential travel and COVID-19 testing requirements have some Canadians reconsidering international travel over March break and some experts questioning the value of the restrictions. 1:48
With lab-based testing capacity deeply strained and increasingly restricted, experts say true case counts are likely far higher than reported. Hospitalization data at the regional level is also evolving, with several provinces saying they will report figures that separate the number of people in hospital because of COVID-19 from those in hospital for another medical issue who also test positive for COVID-19.
For more information on what is happening in your community — including details on outbreaks, testing capacity and local restrictions — click through to the regional coverage below.
In Central Canada, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health is set to hold a pandemic briefing later Thursday. Dr. Kieran Moore’s weekly COVID-19 news conference comes a day after the province’s health minister said Ontario will keep its mask mandate and vaccine certificate system in place for now.
Moore’s news conference also comes after the province began making rapid test kits available for free at grocery stores, pharmacies and other sites.
Ontario on Thursday reported 1,897 people in hospital with COVID-19 — down by 162 from a day earlier — and 445 patients in intensive care. The province also reported 44 additional deaths.
In Quebec, the interim public health director said Wednesday that the province’s vaccine passport program is expected to stay in place until mid-March. The decision to stop using vaccine passports will be linked to the COVID-19 situation in the province, said Dr. Luc Boileau.
“We’ll see then if it’s still a lever that has all the efficacy it has had in the last few months,” Boileau said of the passports. “Mostly it’ll be related to the epidemiological situation and the progression of this wave.”
Health officials in Quebec on Thursday said COVID-19 hospitalizations stood at 2,312 — down by 36 from a day earlier — with 173 people in ICU.
In the Prairie provinces, Manitoba is hoping to lift all restrictions by spring, but Dr. Jazz Atwal, the province’s deputy chief public health officer, said the plan will be dictated by science — not the decisions of other jurisdictions or demands from protesters.
“Just because one province is doing something doesn’t mean we’re necessarily going to do that,” Atwal said Wednesday. Manitoba recently announced slight easing of COVID-19 restrictions, including allowing for larger gatherings.
The remarks came after major shifts in restrictions from officials in Saskatchewan and Alberta.
In the North, the latest COVID-19 wave hit the territories later than the rest of Canada, said Dr. Andre Corriveau, the deputy chief public health officer for the Northwest Territories. That means any opening plans will also lag behind, he added.
“The goal is still there,” Corriveau said. “The intent is that the public health emergency will be gone in the next couple of months.”
British Columbia is still working through the details of its public health orders and Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said more information will be provided next week about the “gradual process” of lifting restrictions. She said COVID-19 remains a severe illness and British Columbia’s resources are still stretched thin.
-From The Canadian Press and CBC News, last updated at 11:15 a.m. ET
What’s happening around the world
As of early Thursday morning, more than 403.3 million cases of COVID-19 had been reported worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus tracker. The reported global death toll stood at more than 5.7 million.
In Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, said 85 per cent of Africans had yet to receive a single dose of vaccine, and uptake needed to be significantly accelerated.
“A steady supply of doses is now reaching our shores, so the focus needs to be on translating those into actual shots in people’s arms,” she said.
In Europe, Paris police on Thursday banned road blockades threatened by groups organizing online against COVID-19 restrictions, in part inspired by protesters in Canada. Citing “risks of trouble to public order,” the Paris police department banned protests aimed at “blocking the capital” from Friday through Monday. Police will put measures in place to protect roads and detain violators. The vast majority of French adults are vaccinated against COVID-19.
In the Asia-Pacific region, South Korea will begin offering Novavax Inc.’s COVID-19 vaccine at hospitals, nursing homes and public health centres next week, adding another tool to fight a fast-developing Omicron surge. The country reported a record 54,122 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, but officials are expressing cautious hope that the country’s high vaccination rate will prevent an explosion in serious illnesses and deaths.
They say Novavax’s protein vaccine, which is similar to shots used for years against diseases including the common flu and hepatitis B, could appeal to people who are hesitant to use other COVID-19 vaccines designed with newer technologies.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has said she is deeply sorry and anxious about long queues at coronavirus testing centres and isolation facilities after a record number of new cases left authorities scrambling.
A long queue of people snakes down a road for a mobile COVID-19 testing station in Hong Kong on Thursday. (Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images)
In the Americas, the governors of New York and Massachusetts announced on Wednesday that they would end certain mask mandates in their states, joining a growing list of state leaders planning to lift face-covering rules as the latest COVID-19 surge eases.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said her state would stop requiring people to wear a mask or prove they had received a COVID-19 vaccine when entering most indoor public places, starting on Thursday, thanks to a decrease in COVID cases and hospitalizations.
“This is what we have been waiting for: tremendous progress after two long years,” Hochul, a Democrat, said at a news conference. “We’re not done, but this is trending in a very, very good direction.”
In New York City, the country’s most populous city, a requirement that people show proof of vaccination to enter restaurants, gyms, theatres and other indoor places will remain in effect for the time being, the office of Mayor Eric Adams said.
In Massachusetts, students, teachers and staff will no longer be required to wear masks in schools after Feb. 28, Gov. Charlie Baker said at a news briefing on Wednesday.
Baker, a Republican, said Massachusetts had “far more tools available to us to deal with the pandemic than we had at the beginning,” noting that children are unlikely to get seriously ill from COVID-19 and that his state has the country’s second-highest child vaccination rate.
In the Middle East, countries have seen a rise in coronavirus infections in the last six weeks because of low vaccination rates, officials at the WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office said.
-From Reuters, The Associated Press and CBC News, last updated at 9:15 a.m. ET
EDMONTON – Canada’s Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault is apologizing after shifting claims about his Indigenous identity came under scrutiny.
The Liberal member of Parliament said at an unrelated announcement in Edmonton on Friday that he’s sorry he wasn’t as clear as he could have been “with everything that I know now.”
“I apologize that I wasn’t as clear as I could have been about who I am and my family’s history,” he said, adding that he’s still learning about his family’s heritage “in real time.”
Boissonnault has previously referred to himself as “non-status adopted Cree” and said his great-grandmother was a “full-blooded Cree woman.”
He said Friday he’ll have to confirm his great-grandmother’s status, but his mother and brother are citizens of the Métis Nation of Alberta.
“I apologize if that particular way of referring to myself — I apologize that it was inaccurate.”
It comes after the National Post reported that a company co-owned by Boissonnault unsuccessfully bid on two federal contracts in 2020 while identifying itself as Indigenous and Aboriginal-owned.
The government has pledged to award five per cent of its procurement contracts to Indigenous-owned businesses.
Since that story’s publication last week, Boissonnault has said the family he was adopted into has Indigenous ancestry and his adopted mother and brother are status Métis.
Boissonnault said Friday he never claimed any Indigenous status to his business partner, Stephen Anderson.
“Mr. Anderson should never have claimed that on the particular contract application, and no contract was awarded,” he said.
Boissonnault has previously sat as a member of the Liberal Indigenous Caucus, but he said he joined it as an ally representing many Indigenous people in his community.
When asked about the Liberals’ past claims about his Indigenous identity, he said he corrected the party and asked for the descriptions to be changed as soon as he became aware.
“I never asked the party to refer to me as an Indigenous person. I never clicked any box in any form with the Liberal party. I have never put (an) Indigenous claim to any contract or any application in my entire life,” he said.
The Conservative party has said it wants Boissonnault to testify before the ethics committee so he can “answer truthfully for these serious allegations of fraud.”
“This is even more urgent given the new allegations that his company fraudulently claimed to be Indigenous-owned while applying for government contracts,” said Conservative MP Michael Barrett.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 15, 2024.
The Internet’s most powerful ability is its propensity to spread. This holiday season, amidst the hustle of shopping, party planning, and reflections, let’s use this power to spread joy and generosity. This December, I invite you to transform your social media feeds into a canvas of goodwill, reminding your followers and communities that even small acts of kindness can create waves of joy and inspiration.
Before you dive into creating festive holiday content, it’s crucial to set the stage by updating the aesthetics of your social media profiles to mirror the holiday season. Using Canva (www.canva.com), refresh your banner/cover photo on Facebook, X/Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc. with holiday-themed images. Change your profile picture to one that captures the festive spirit, such as wearing a Santa hat, standing next to a Christmas tree, or under Christmas lights, or wearing a Christmas sweater.
Once your social media profiles reflect your festive mood, consider the following suggestions to inspire others to get into the holiday spirit.
The 12 Days of Kindness Challenge
The English Christmas carol, “The 12 Days of Christmas,” inspired this suggestion, a “12 Days of Kindness” challenge. Starting 12 days before Christmas, or whenever you want, commit to doing one act of kindness daily. It could be paying for someone’s coffee, leaving a heartfelt note for a neighbour, donating to a local charity, or dropping off baked goods at a senior home. Post pictures of each act on your social media channels with the hashtag #12DaysOfKindness. Encourage your followers and tag your friends to do the same, thereby creating a chain reaction of goodwill that spreads far beyond your immediate circle.
Support Local Charities with a Virtual Fundraiser
Use your social media clout to raise money for a local charity by hosting a virtual fundraiser. Invite your followers and friends to join you in a fun activity, like a virtual trivia night or bake-off. Promote donations to a charity of your choice and share updates on the progress. In addition to building community spirit, promoting local causes demonstrates the power of collective action.
Random Acts of Kindness Bingo
Create a bingo card, which you can use Canva to create, filled with random acts of kindness, such as “compliment a stranger,” “donate clothes,” or “help a neighbour.” Once created, post the card on your social media and invite others to join you in completing the challenges throughout the month. As you check off your squares, share photos or stories of your experiences, tagging friends and followers to keep the momentum going. The visual aspect of a bingo card makes it fun and engaging, encouraging participation.
Gratitude and Kindness Posts
Incorporate gratitude into your kindness initiatives by encouraging your followers to share posts about something they’re thankful for and how they plan to pay it forward. Use a specific hashtag, like #ThankfulAndKind, to unify these posts. As people share their gratitude and commitment to kindness, you’ll create a powerful positivity narrative that inspires others to reflect on their lives and actions.
Acts of Kindness Story Swap
Engage your audience by hosting a ‘kindness story swap.’ Invite your followers to share their stories of kindness—either acts they’ve done or experiences they’ve had. Create a specific day for these stories and use a designated hashtag like #KindnessSwap. By facilitating the sharing of stories and uplifting your followers, you’ll be connecting people and building a sense of community, which is what social media should be used for.
Kindness Challenge Videos
Challenge your followers to create short videos showcasing their acts of kindness. This could include anything from helping a neighbour with groceries to volunteering at a local shelter. Encourage them to tag you and others in their posts using a hashtag like #KindnessChallenge. Sharing video content is an effective way to spread your message while inspiring others to get involved.
Holiday Cards for Seniors
During the holidays, seniors living in retirement homes often feel isolated. Initiate a “Holiday Cards for Seniors” campaign by encouraging your followers to create and send handmade holiday cards to local retirement homes. List several local retirement homes on your social media and encourage your followers to share photos of their card-making. This simple act will not only brighten someone’s day but also foster cross-generational connections.
Kindness knows no boundaries. In addition to spreading joy, social media offers a powerful tool to foster community and encourage acts of kindness. No matter how small, each act of kindness contributes to a larger narrative of compassion, which the world desperately needs more of. Imagine the joy on a senior’s face when they receive a holiday card or the warmth in a neighbour’s heart when they receive a compliment. Creating and hosting these kindness challenges and sharing your acts of kindness experiences—giving and receiving—will enrich your life and strengthen your community.
This December let’s embrace the spirit of kindness—online and offline. Your social media feeds can become a gallery of kindness, with posts and shares illustrating the joys of doing acts of kindness, making this holiday season a time of connection, generosity, and lasting impact.
HACHINOHE, Japan – Ivanie Blondin helped Canada to a team sprint gold medal before picking up an individual bronze Friday as Canada opened the long-track speedskating season with three medals at the ISU Four Continents championships.
Ottawa’s Blondin combined with Carolina Hiller of Prince George, B.C., and Béatrice Lamarche of Quebec City to win the women’s team sprint in a track record time of one minute 27.87 seconds.
Lamarche used the slingshot technique to launch Blondin into the final lap, which helped the trio maintain their speed. While the move worked, Lamarche said it could be improved.
“The slingshot move felt better yesterday in practice, but it was not at high speed. Maybe we looked smooth, but I personally felt weird and rushed throughout the entire process,” Lamarche said. “I’m excited to try it again during the World Cup in China because I think it can be better.”
South Korea was 1.39 seconds off the pace for silver, while Kazakhstan was 2.49 seconds back of the winners to take bronze.
Later, the 34-year-old Blondin took bronze in the women’s 1,500 metres with a time of 1:57.99.
Japan’s Miho Takagi (1:54.86) and China’s Mei Han (1:56.53) took gold and silver, respectively.
“I feel pretty good about my 1,500,” Blondin said. “I was not able to warm down following the team sprint as we went straight to the medal ceremony. By the time that was over I had to put my skin suit on and get back on the ice.”
“I didn’t have the pop that I normally would — but midway through the race I realized things were going well and my legs were actually feeling pretty decent,” she added. “I was happy with the end time.”
Canada reached the podium for a third time as Anders Johnson of Burnaby, B.C., Laurent Dubreuil of Lévis, Que., and Yankun Zhao of Calgary, Alta., finished third in the men’s team sprint.
The United States (1:19.43) and China (1:19.78) finished ahead of Canada, the defending world champion and world record holder in the discipline.
“I think it was a good race for us,” Johnson said. “It was a new setup for our team today and we executed well and skated well. We’re happy with the result and excited to see what comes in the future.”
The championships continue Saturday with Blondin, Dubreuil, Calgary’s Ted-Jan Bloemen, Valérie Maltais of La Baie, Que., and Ottawa’s Isabelle Weidemann looking to add to Canada’s medal total.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 15, 2024.
