UPDATE — Oct. 24, 2021: Dwayne Binette said doctors performed a C-section Saturday on his wife, Krystal, who delivered a healthy baby weighing just over three pounds. Krystal remains in an induced coma.
EARLIER STORY:
A former self-described “anti-vaxxer” says he regrets not listening to the science as his pregnant wife lies in a medically induced coma 800 kilometres from home.
Now he’s speaking out in the hope he can convince other vaccine-hesitant people to change their minds before it’s too late.
Dwayne Binette, 43, lives in Fort St. John, B.C., with his 39-year-old wife and two children, aged 11 and 3. There, he says, he was surrounded by people who didn’t take the risks of COVID-19 seriously.
Under 60 per cent of eligible people in northeastern British Columbia are fully vaccinated, and patients in need of critical care are being transferred to other parts of the province to reduce stress on local hospitals.
Binette says he and his wife had started talking to their doctor about vaccination when their 11-year-old came home with mild flu-like symptoms on Oct. 4. Soon after, both he and his wife tested positive for COVID-19.
His wife, a member of the Prophet River First Nation who is 27 weeks pregnant, deteriorated and by Oct. 11 had to be taken to hospital. She is now in a medically induced coma in New Westminster, roughly an 800 kilometre flight or 1,200 km drive from Fort St. John.
She is hooked up to an ECMO machine, which replaces lung function in a bid to try to save her life.
Binette says his children, 11 and 3, are having a hard time understanding why their mother isn’t home. (Dwayne Binette)
Binette says doctors are uncertain about the survival chances of his wife or their unborn baby and every day he wakes up hoping they are still alive.
“When you’re away from your wife who’s dying in the hospital and you’re under quarantine and your kids are asking where mom is, I mean, it’s pretty tough,” he said.
Binette spoke to CBC News about why he didn’t believe the science of COVID-19 vaccines and how he hopes other people can have their mind changed. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Dwayne, you said that before all this, you were a pretty open anti-vaxxer. That’s how you described yourself. Can you tell me about that?
Yes, you’re correct, I was. I was pretty much against this thing.
“Is this safe? Is this safe for my pregnant wife?” I was pretty dug in. I was going to wait and see. Obviously, I made the wrong choice.
WATCH | B.C.’s provincial health officer debunks myths about the vaccine and pregnancy:
No risk to pregnant women from COVID vaccine: Dr. Bonnie Henry
1 month ago
B.C. provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry is encouraging people who are pregnant, planning to get pregnant or breastfeeding to get vaccinated against COVID-19. 0:58
Why is it that you didn’t believe it when the government said everybody should get vaccinated, and there were news reports saying the safest thing is to get vaccinated — why didn’t that connect with you?
I think in my area there’s a lot of distrust toward the government. We haven’t had a fair shake out here. So I think that plays a part. Also, there’s a large amount of misinformation out there, especially with social media. It seems to play off of that and instead of doing the right thing and talking to the health professionals — doctors and nurses dealing with this pandemic — people seem to want to be able to just believe what they read on the internet, which isn’t a correct way to do things.
I mean, if I could go back and change things, I definitely would. I was pretty set in my ways against getting this vaccination. I had multiple arguments with the family, with people on social media. It turns out that vaccination is a life-saving thing.
When you talk about not getting a fair shake, what are you talking about?
There’s quite a few things in this region and the north, we seem to be left out. We’re a smaller population than bigger cities, so it doesn’t feel like our opinion counts. So when you have a lot of the decisions being made about our area from a different location, it’s sometimes hard to accept.
As well, government doesn’t seem to consider how it affects us up here. They seem to want to make decisions without even knowing how that will affect us in this area.
So that just turns into a knee-jerk, you don’t believe anything they tell you?
Exactly.
You’ve changed your mind because of this tragic situation. But there were tragic situations you could have heard about and it didn’t change your mind. So what would have changed your mind aside from your wife getting really, really sick?
I think having so much misinformation out there is a big thing.
I think having government do things in a way that is more comforting to people, so that they can explain things, in a way, and not just come down and order it to be done or else there is going to be consequences. This would make a real big difference.
You would know people who didn’t believe [COVID] was a problem and, unfortunately, there’s some people who might listen to your story and still not change their mind. They’ll just think it’s another bit of media hype.
I would suggest to them this is a life-saving measure. If you see a speeding truck about to hit one of your family members, you would jump into action and save their life. This is the same thing we have. We have a chance to save our friends’ and families’ lives, and we need to take that opportunity to do that. We need to get vaccinated.
This is for real. This is a life-saving measure. They’re not guaranteeing that you won’t get COVID [after] being vaccinated, but what they’re saying is this will save your life. You won’t end up in such a serious condition as my wife is in. So, if I could go back in months, I would have our whole family vaccinated and her life would be saved right now. I am sure of it.
Listen to the interview below:
Daybreak North7:35‘I was wrong’: Former anti-vaxxer on why he and his wife didn’t believe in getting shots until it was too late
A former self-described anti-vaxxer says he regrets not listening to the science as his pregnant wife lies in a medically-induced coma 1,200 km from home. 7:35
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.
