Canada reached another grim milestone in its fight against the pandemic Monday as COVID-19-related deaths in the country surpassed 15,000.
The mark was reached after another 37 deaths were reported in Quebec Monday. To date, a total of 15,121 people have now succumbed to the virus.
Another 3,304 cases were also reported, though the increase in infections is limited by several provinces and territories withholding their data over the holidays. As of Monday evening, there have been 554,780 lab-confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in Canada, while over 466,000 infections are now considered resolved and a total of 18 million tests have been administered.
Health Minister Patty Hadju’s office also confirmed that the Moderna vaccine was set to arrive in the Yukon and Northwest Territories Monday, with both receiving 7,200 doses each.
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NEW: Health Minister @PattyHajdu’s office tells @globalnews Moderna vaccine is arriving in Yukon and Northwest Territories today – 7,200 doses each. No word on when exactly Nunavut gets its doses. Rest of >168,000 doses will be delivered to provinces & territories “this week.”
The less stringent temperature requirements of transporting the vaccine, which was approved last week, have made it the main choice to be administered in rural areas and long-term care homes. No information was provided yet on when Nunavut — the territory with the most COVID-19 cases — would get the vaccine, though the government said that the rest of the 168,000 doses would be delivered to provinces and territories “this week.”
Another province also identified another case of the new COVID-19 variant, with health authorities in Alberta linking it someone who recently arrived arrived from the U.K. To date, British Columbia and Ontario have both reported cases caused by the new variant, with several health experts warning that the new mutation has most likely already spread to other provinces.
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The Ontario government also faced criticism Monday after it said that it cut back on administering their coronavirus vaccines during the Christmas holidays. According to the province’s ministry of health, the cut was due to staff shortages over the holidays.
4:55 Coronavirus: Dr. Caroline Quach on COVID-19, vaccines as 2020 draws to a close
Coronavirus: Dr. Caroline Quach on COVID-19, vaccines as 2020 draws to a close
“As with any holiday season, ensuring proper staff coverage can be challenging,” the ministry said in a statement. “Schedules for vaccination clinics were adjusted over the holidays to ensure that there was no impact on staffing levels within the long-term care homes or for the hospitals operating the clinics.”
The province did not report any new case data on Monday, with cases and deaths there standing at 171,416 and 4,377, respectively.
Alberta also marked over 1,000 deaths from the virus on Monday after health authorities announced that 112 people had died between Dec. 23 to Dec. 27. The province’s caseload also stands at 98,269 after 917 new cases were announced over the last 24 hours.
“This tragic milestone is more than a number or statistic,” said Alberta Premier Jason Kenney in a statement. “It represents more than 1,000 mothers, wives, fathers, husbands — empty spaces around the table that can never be filled.”
Quebec added another 2,265 cases of the coronavirus on Monday as well, pushing it’s total infections to 194,930. Another 37 deaths were reported, while Monday marked the second day in the row the province logged more than 2,200 new cases.
Manitoba added another 107 cases of the virus, while both B.C. and Saskatchewan did not release new data due to the holidays.
In Atlantic Canada, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia added one new infection while Newfoundland and Labrador reported another two cases.
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2:05 Is the new coronavirus variant in Quebec?
Is the new coronavirus variant in Quebec?
Nunavut added on new lab-confirmed infection, though both the Northwest Territories and the Yukon did not release new data.
To date, over 81,247,000 people have been infected with the novel coronavirus worldwide according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University. A total of 1,772,869 people have since succumbed to the virus, with the U.S., Brazil and India continuing to lead in both cases and deaths.
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.
