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'It's time for the hammer' to get second wave under control: Dr. Sharkawy – CTV News
OTTAWA —
After a week of record-high case counts in several provinces and a series of regionally-specific adjustments to public health restrictions, CTV Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Abdu Sharkawy thinks the time has come for a national uniformed approach to get the second wave of COVID-19 under control.
“We’re in a pretty dire situation right now, I think it’s becoming abundantly clear: this is a nationwide crisis,” he said in an interview on CTV’s Question Period.
“We need the hammer, and that hammer needs to be applied with conviction. It needs to be applied with some assertiveness, and we need to apply the support that’s necessary from an economic point of view to the people that would suffer if that hammer is laid down,” he said.
Speaking from a Toronto hospital, Sharkawy gave the example of Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s week of moving the goalposts around the colour-coded zoning system the province has been moved under, as an example of the “dissonance” being shown as of late between politicians and health experts in terms of what measures are needed to respond to a surging second wave of the pandemic.
“The principles of containment need to be uniformly applied across Canada. I think the error that we’ve made is going through this piecemeal approach of wait and see, going through a nuanced dance if you will, of COVID-19,” Sharkawy said. “The dance isn’t working anymore; we’re breaking each other’s legs. We’re doing it economically, we’re doing it in terms of lives that are lost,” he continued.
Trudeau said Friday that Canada has to reverse its accelerating growth trends now, or the federal government and the country could be facing a series of hard choices about where to deploy resources to respond to an overwhelmed healthcare system and hurting economy.
“We’re seeing a really troubling surge across the country, the fact that Dr. Tam is highlighting that modelling predicts 10,000 cases a day across the country by early December if we do not bend the curve should be a wake-up call for everyone,” he said.
“The federal government will always be there to help, but… our resources are not infinite.”
As has been his position during the peak of the first wave, despite there now being far more new daily cases in Canada, Trudeau remains resistant to invoke what many have seen as ‘the hammer’: The Emergencies Act.
The federal law would supersede provincial jurisdiction to grant “extraordinary powers” to Ottawa to enact certain nationwide security measures.
Trudeau has said that because the severity of the pandemic is not being felt equally across the country, locking down the territories and Atlantic Canada with the deployment of this act wouldn’t be proportional to the situation on the ground in that region.
While he has asked broadly for provinces to “do the right thing,” he hasn’t outright called out one premier or another for not doing enough to contain the virus’s spread.
However, in an interview on this Sunday’s episode, cabinet minister and Ontario MP Marco Mendicino said he’s heard from his constituents that Ontario has not gone far enough.
“They’d like to see Ontario move more quickly when it comes to fighting COVID-19,” he said.
“At the same time, you have seen a very healthy degree of collaboration between the federal government and all of our provincial and territorial partners… but there is definitely a moment right now that we are experiencing. We’re in the midst of a second wave, and we do need to act decisively,” said Mendicino.
‘CIRCUIT BREAKER’ INEVITABLE?
Though, as Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi noted in a separate segment, he’s not sure the provinces’ messages are being heard, and said he was troubled by the narrative that it’s a choice between public health and the economy.
“Here’s a crash course in Canadian federalism: Your powers and authorities vary by province,” he said, calling it “particularly frustrating,” for him as he’d have gone further this week than Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s government has.
He said that while it’s not yet inevitable that some form of “circuit breaker” will need to be flipped, it’s looking “extremely likely.”
“Government policy really matters, but what really, really matters is individual action. Don’t wait for the government to tell you what to do,” he added. “Don’t wait for government to act, especially not here in Alberta. Make those decisions yourself today and we still have the ability to flatten that curve. It’s not a huge chance and it’s a very limited window, but we’ve got to do it.”
HOW WOULD EMERGENCIES ACT WORK?
Formerly known as the War Measures Act, the current iteration passed in 1988 and has never been used. It allows for actions to combat urgent and critical but temporary situations that seriously threaten some aspect of Canadians’ lives, and that cannot be effectively dealt with under any other law of Canada.
There are four types of emergencies listed under the Act: a public welfare emergency; a public order emergency; an international emergency; and a war emergency.
It’s likely that the COVID-19 pandemic would be deemed a “public welfare emergency” as it fits the bill of an emergency caused by “disease in human beings,” which is listed in this category alongside natural disasters and pollution.
And, as it may result in “a danger to life or property, social disruption or a breakdown in the flow of essential goods, services or resources.”
The Act explicitly states the requirement for parliamentary oversight on an emergency declaration. In addition to consulting premiers, an explanation of the reasoning for declaring an emergency would have to be presented within seven days to both the House and Senate.
Operating on the expectation that the government’s interpretation of the Act would be to view the novel coronavirus pandemic as a “public welfare emergency,” here’s some of what the government could do:
- Regulating or prohibiting travel within any area within the country;
- Evacuating people and removing or requisitioning personal property;
- Directing any person to render essential services they are qualified to provide;
- Regulating the distribution of essential goods and resources;
- Making emergency payments and compensating those who experience loss as a result of actions taken under the Act; and
- Imposing fines between $500 and $5,000 or jail time between six months and five years, for contravening any order or rule set under the Act.
Putting the country under these kind of restrictions is something that would likely be met with resistance. Premiers have advocated that they are able to decide what degree of public health measures are appropriate for their regions based on the COVID-19 situation on the ground, and small business advocates have cautioned that more closures could be “fatal.”
The head of one of Canada’s largest police forces met with a Sri Lankan inspector general of police who two weeks earlier had been found by the South Asian country’s highest court to have “participated in the torture” of an arrested man.
Photos published by Sri Lankan media, including the Ceylon Today, an English-language daily newspaper, show Peel Regional Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah in uniform posing alongside senior Sri Lankan officers on Dec. 29, 2023 at police headquarters in the capital Colombo – a visit a Peel police spokesperson says Global Affairs Canada and the RCMP had been made aware of ahead of time.
One of the law enforcement officials in the photos was the inspector-general of Sri Lankan police, Deshabandu Tennakoon, who earlier that month was ordered to pay compensation for taking part in “mercilessly” beating a man.
Peel Regional Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah signs a guestbook at Sri Lankan police headquarters in Colombo, as the country’s inspector general Deshabandu Tennakoon stands behind him. Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court found he took part in the torture of an arrested man. (Credit: Ceylon Today).
Ceylon Today
On Dec. 14, 2023, Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court ruled Tennakoon was involved in the brutal arrest of a man suspected of theft, holding him in what the court called the “torture chamber” of the police station for more than 24 hours, striking and suffocating him, and rubbing chili powder on his genitals.
Dr. Thusiyan Nandakumar, a physician who also runs the London, U.K.-based outlet the Tamil Guardian, called it a “stain on Canada’s reputation.”
“To see someone of (Duraiappah’s) stature receive a guard of honour from that very same institution that’s responsible for so many abuses was shocking, to say the least,” Nandakumar said.
Duraiappah declined Global News’ request for an interview. In a statement, a Peel Regional Police spokesperson called his trip to Sri Lanka “personal” and said there is “no ongoing initiative or collaboration between Peel Regional Police and any organization in Sri Lanka.”
Peel Regional Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah wears his uniform and walks by Sri Lankan soldiers in a visit Peel police describe as a “personal” trip. (Credit: Ceylon Today).
Ceylon Today
Duraippah was photographed multiple times during his visit wearing his Peel police uniform.
Rathika Sitsabaiesan – a former NDP MP and Canada’s first Tamil member of Parliament – says when someone wears a uniform, “you’re representing the organization for which you are the chief.”
Duraippah is the only police chief of Sri Lankan descent outside the South Asian nation, according to Peel police, which operates in Mississauga and Brampton, Ont.
“(It’s) very harmful to me as a Canadian, as someone who grew up in the region of Peel, and all the people who continue to live in Peel and who identify as Tamil, in my opinion,” Sitsabaiesan said.
The Peel spokesperson said Duraiappah accepted an invitation from Sri Lankan police officers while he was on a family vacation to the country of his birth.
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The spokesperson would not confirm when asked if Duraiappah had met directly with Tennakoon beyond the photos, which show them holding a plaque together and Tennakoon standing behind Duraiappah while he signed a guestbook.
It’s not clear whether the event photographed was the only meeting or whether any additional ones were held, including whether Duraiappah and Tennakoon met outside of the moment they were photographed together.
Another Peel spokesperson added that “the Chief discussed the requests for meetings received with Global Affairs Canada and the RCMP.”
The RCMP says the force provided information to Duraiappah about Tennakoon, including about the recent court ruling, ahead of time.
“The Government of Canada did not organize the visit, which was considered a personal visit. However, given the RCMP’s close working relationship with Peel Regional Police, the RCMP Liaison Officer for Sri Lanka offered to facilitate Chief Duraiappah with arrangements involving police agencies in Sri Lanka,” an RCMP spokesperson said in response to questions from Global News.
“Information was provided to Chief Duraiappah for his situational awareness about recent developments in Sri Lanka, including the Sri Lankan Supreme Court’s ruling on Chief Tennakoon.”
Global Affairs Canada also said the visit was “personal.”
“The Government of Canada did not organize the visit” and “as is customary for meetings with high-level officials, staff from the High Commission of Canada to Sri Lanka accompanied the Chief as a courtesy,” Global Affairs Canada spokesperson Marilyn Guèvremont said.
Sitsabaiesan says “alarm bells should have gone off” given the country’s human rights record.
In October 2022, Canada adopted a United Nations Human Rights Council resolution calling on Sri Lanka to address the “human rights, economic and political crises” in the country.
The following year it sanctioned four government officials for “human rights violations on the island” and commemorated the Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day for the first time – marking the deaths of tens of thousands of Tamils during the country’s 26-year civil war.
“Canada is well-versed in the crimes that took place. It’s not something that Ottawa is blind to,” Nandakumar said.
While it’s not unusual for western officers to visit, collaborate or train police forces in developing countries, some have recently distanced themselves from Sri Lankan authorities.
In 2021, Scotland ended its training program for officers in the country over allegations of human rights abuses.
In January of this year, the United Nations criticized Sri Lankan police for their “heavy handed” anti-drug crackdown, with reports of arbitrary arrests, torture and public strip searches.
Tennakoon’s recent appointment as police chief shows “much about how law enforcement authorities in the island operate with impunity,” Neil DeVotta, an expert on South Asia and politics professor at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, said in an e-mail to Global News.
Nandakumar says the Peel chief’s visit to the Sri Lankan police headquarters raises questions about judgement.
“When a senior Canadian official goes to meet with forces accused of such egregious crimes … to see something like that take place, it was very disconcerting.”
“I think an apology is needed,” he said.
The RCMP say a body that was recovered by authorities in Washington state is believed to be one of two kayakers reported missing off Vancouver Island on Saturday.
Const. Alex Bérubé said the identity of the body found on San Juan Island, just south of the border, is still to be confirmed by the coroner.
A search has been underway in the waters off Sidney, B.C., about 25 kilometres north of Victoria, since the two kayakers were reported missing.
RCMP previously said Daniel MacAlpine, 36, and Nicolas West, 26, went missing while kayaking from D’Arcy Island to View Beach on Saturday afternoon. They were in a teal blue, fibreglass, two-person kayak.
Police said members of the Central Saanich Police Department and Peninsula Emergency Measures Organization search and rescue were involved in the search, and the Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre and Canadian Coast Guard were also assisting.
Digital WritersThe Weather Network
Updated on Apr. 23, 2024, 1:30 PM
Prepare for multiple rounds of April snowfall this week, as Labrador braces for wintry conditions. This onslaught of snow is expected to blanket the region, potentially leading to hazardous travel conditions and disruptions throughout the week
As we march even deeper into the heart of the spring season, many parts of Canada are finding it tough to find any consistent signs of warming weather. Add to the mix periods of snow and wintry precipitation, and it’s safe to say the winter season is certainly not going out without a strong fight.
This week, parts of the East Coast will bear the brunt of the winter weather, with multiple rounds of April snowfall stacking up in Labrador. The chances for snow flurries will stick around all week long, bringing as much as 25 cm for some.
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Although 25+ cm of snow in April may seem extreme, for this part of the country, it’s definitely nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, the month as a whole brings about 40-50 cm of snow to Labrador on average.
Some communities, including Nain, even have snowfall chances stretch all the way into June!
“This week will be a little bit different however, as some regions could reach about half of Labrador’s monthly averages alone,” says Rachel Modestino, a meteorologist at The Weather Network. “The first round on Tuesday will pack quite the punch, with heavy snow and gusty winds stretching from Labrador city to the coast.”
Winds will be gusting between 70-90 km/h at times, and travel conditions will likely deteriorate quickly due to potential whiteouts and reduced visibility.
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