A series of protests — against vaccine mandates and other COVID-19-related public health measures — held outside hospitals across Canada on Monday was condemned by politicians and health-care organizations as unacceptable and unfair to staff and patients.
The group says the “silent vigils,” expected in all 10 provinces, are meant to critique public health measures put in place to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Organizers oppose what they call “tyrannical measures and government overreach,” adding that they are not encouraging nurses to walk out on their shifts or abandon patients.
One of the group’s founders, registered practical nurse Sarah Choujounian, was at the Toronto protest.
“We have thousands with us across Canada, but obviously, we’re only a few speaking because we’ve been fired,” said Choujounian, who formerly worked at a local long-term care home.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, whose government drew similar protests after he announced plans for a proof-of-vaccine system, condemned the latest round on Sunday in a tweet, describing such events as “selfish, cowardly and reckless.”
WATCH | Protesters opposed to vaccine mandates rally outside hospitals:
Protesters rally against vaccine mandates, passports outside hospitals
9 hours ago
With neither popular opinion nor science on their side, protesters rallied against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and passports outside hospitals across the country on Monday, making access difficult for patients and health-care workers. 2:35
The Registered Nurses Association of Ontario and Ontario Medical Association issued a joint statement “strongly condemning” the disruptions and calling for designated safe zones around health-care facilities to protect staff and patients — a proposal the province’s New Democrats have also floated.
“Nurses, doctors and other health-care workers have been working around the clock on the front lines of the pandemic for 18 months helping to keep our communities safe,” the joint statement said.
The University Health Network, which runs Toronto General Hospital, said staff who have cared for people dying of COVID-19 are particularly disheartened, noting health-care workers have been caring for COVID-19 patients for 18 months despite risks to themselves and their families.
“To see protests in front of hospitals is demoralizing for all who work here but particularly for the staff who have cared for the people dying of COVID-19, often without all of their family and loved ones around them,” the network said in a statement.
Dozens of people in Calgary also took part in a protest against COVID-19-related public health measures. (Nancy Walters/CBC)
‘COVID-19 heroes’ need support, doctor says
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney condemned the protests at hospitals in Edmonton and Calgary, saying peaceful demonstrations are a constitutional right but they also have limits.
In a statement, he raised the possibility of the protesters facing legal action, “including the potential use of the Critical Infrastructure Defence Act,” an act passed in 2020 which allows fines against anyone who blocks, damages or enters without reason any “essential infrastructure.”
Dr. Kwadwo Kyerementang, head of critical care at The Ottawa Hospital, said it’s important to not let the small numbers who are protesting undermine the positive reaction health workers have received from most Canadians.
“I don’t want the select few to be the loud voice,” he said. “Our staff, they’ve hustled, they’ve put in the extra mile there. And I know most of Canadians, most of Ontarians, most of the people in Ottawa are so appreciative of our efforts. We hear it daily.”
“These COVID-19 heroes need the resources and supports to continue the battle — now in the thick of a fourth wave. They cannot and must not be distracted, or worse, discouraged by protests at the doorsteps of their workplaces.”
WATCH | Head of Canadian Nurses Association speaks about protests:
Tim Guest, president of the Canadian Nurses Association, joins Power & Politics to discuss the protests that took place at hospitals around the country. 4:57
At least one Toronto emergency nurse agrees.
“There’s been harassment and bullying,” said Vikky Leung, who created a petition over the weekend also calling for the creation of safety zones around hospitals.
“There’s been emails telling my colleagues not to wear scrubs or anything that identifies them as health-care workers and I think that’s truly upsetting and scary.”
Leung is on maternity leave, but said she has felt fear and frustration after hearing from her colleagues about their experiences.
“People [are] stressed out and disheartened and really feeling unappreciated,” she told Metro Morning on Monday.
WATCH | Trudeau says hospitals should be free of threats:
Trudeau vows to criminalize healthcare protests
15 hours ago
Liberal leader Justin Trudeau announces that, if elected, his government would make it ‘a criminal offence to block access to buildings that provide healthcare’ or to threaten or intimidate healthcare workers. 0:50
“It’s hard to see that, when you’re going into work and leaving work, these people spending their time and energy to promote that kind of propaganda.”
Meanwhile, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau vowed to criminalize blocking access to hospitals amid the protests, saying in a tweet: “There is no place for intimidation or threats at our hospitals and clinics.”
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh agreed it is wrong to protest at hospitals.
“No health-care worker, no patient, no one seeking health care should in any way be limited or have a barrier to getting the care they need,” he said while campaigning in Sioux Lookout, Ont.
Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole also expressed frustration.
“This type of harassment and protest in front of hospitals is completely unacceptable,” he said.
Past protests have centred on both public health measures and the prospect of proof-of-vaccination systems that would limit access to many public settings for those who have not been immunized against COVID-19.
British Columbia’s system took effect on Monday, while Ontario’s is set to launch on Sept. 22.
Quebec’s rolled out earlier this month, Manitoba began issuing vaccine cards in June, and both Nova Scotia and Yukon have said proof-of-vaccination systems are in the works.
Demonstrators stood outside of Victoria Hospital in London, Ont., to protest the province’s vaccine mandate. (James Chaarani/CBC)
Protesters are shown demonstrating in front of the Manitoba Legislative Assembly in Winnipeg on Monday afternoon. (Jaison Empson/CBC)
Protesters rally outside The Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus. (Francis Ferland/CBC)
The protests we’re seeing outside of hospitals are selfish, cowardly and reckless. Our health care workers have sacrificed so much to keep us all safe during this pandemic. They don’t deserve this kind of treatment — not now, not ever. Leave our health care workers alone.
There is no place for intimidation or threats at our hospitals and clinics. That’s why we’ll make it an offence to obstruct access to any building providing health services. We’ll also make it an offence to intimidate/threaten any health care worker or anyone seeking treatment.
MONTREAL – The employers association at the Port of Montreal has issued the dockworkers’ union a “final, comprehensive offer,” threatening to lock out workers at 9 p.m. Sunday if a deal isn’t reached.
The Maritime Employers Association says its new offer includes a three per cent salary increase per year for four years and a 3.5 per cent increase for the two subsequent years. It says the offer would bring the total average compensation package of a longshore worker at the Port of Montreal to more than $200,000 per year at the end of the contract.
“The MEA agrees to this significant compensation increase in view of the availability required from its employees,” it wrote Thursday evening in a news release.
The association added that it is asking longshore workers to provide at least one hour’s notice when they will be absent from a shift — instead of one minute — to help reduce management issues “which have a major effect on daily operations.”
Syndicat des débardeurs du port de Montréal, which represents nearly 1,200 longshore workers, launched a partial unlimited strike on Oct. 31, which has paralyzed two terminals that represent 40 per cent of the port’s total container handling capacity.
A complete strike on overtime, affecting the whole port, began on Oct. 10.
The union has said it will accept the same increases that were granted to its counterparts in Halifax or Vancouver — 20 per cent over four years. It is also concerned with scheduling and work-life balance. Workers have been without a collective agreement since Dec. 31, 2023.
Only essential services and activities unrelated to longshoring will continue at the port after 9 p.m. Sunday in the event of a lockout, the employer said.
The ongoing dispute has had major impacts at Canada’s second-biggest port, which moves some $400 million in goods every day.
On Thursday, Montreal port authority CEO Julie Gascon reiterated her call for federal intervention to end the dispute, which has left all container handling capacity at international terminals at “a standstill.”
“I believe that the best agreements are negotiated at the table,” she said in a news release. “But let’s face it, there are no negotiations, and the government must act by offering both sides a path to true industrial peace.”
Federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon issued a statement Thursday, prior to the lockout notice, in which he criticized the slow pace of talks at the ports in Montreal and British Columbia, where more than 700 unionized port workers have been locked out since Nov. 4.
“Both sets of talks are progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved,” he wrote on the X social media platform.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.
Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.
A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”
Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.
“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.
In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”
“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”
Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.
Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.
Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.
“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.
“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.
“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.
“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”
“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Employers and the union representing supervisors embroiled in a labour dispute that triggered a lockout at British Columbia’s ports will attempt to reach a deal when talks restart this weekend.
A spokesman from the office of federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon has confirmed the minister spoke with leaders at both the BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514, but did not invoke any section of the Canadian Labour Code that would force them back to talks.
A statement from the ministry says MacKinnon instead “asked them to return to the negotiation table,” and talks are now scheduled to start on Saturday with the help of federal mediators.
A meeting notice obtained by The Canadian Press shows talks beginning in Vancouver at 5 p.m. and extendable into Sunday and Monday, if necessary.
The lockout at B.C. ports by employers began on Monday after what their association describes as “strike activity” from the union. The result was a paralysis of container cargo traffic at terminals across Canada’s west coast.
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint against the employers for allegedly bargaining in bad faith, a charge that employers call a “meritless claim.”
The two sides have been without a deal since March 2023, and the employers say its final offer presented last week in the last round of talks remains on the table.
The proposed agreement includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term along with an average lump sum payment of $21,000 per qualified worker.
The union has said one of its key concerns is the advent of port automation in cargo operations, and workers want assurances on staffing levels regardless of what technology is being used at the port.
The disruption is happening while two container terminals are shut down in Montreal in a separate labour dispute.
It leaves container cargo traffic disrupted at Canada’s two biggest ports, Vancouver and Montreal, both operating as major Canadian trade gateways on the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
This is one of several work disruptions at the Port of Vancouver, where a 13-day strike stopped cargo last year, while labour strife in the rail and grain-handling sectors led to further disruptions earlier this year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
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