As job losses mount and self-isolation continues, half of Canadians say their mental health has gotten worse during the COVID-19 pandemic, with 10 per cent reporting it has deteriorated “a lot,” according to a new survey.
Less than 20 per cent of Canadians polled reported being optimistic when asked to survey their life in the past couple of weeks, and 16 per cent described themselves as depressed, according to the online survey released Monday by the Angus Reid Institute.
Eleven per cent said they were untroubled, 14 per cent reported feeling normal and nine per cent felt numb. Six per cent were happy, according to the survey conducted between April 15 and 17. The survey was conducted among a representative randomized sample of 1,912 Canadian adults carrying a margin of error of +/- 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
“The conversation around mental health has been percolating since the shutdown occurred,” Angus Reid Institute’s executive director Shachi Kurl told CBC News.
“When you have half of Canadians saying that their own mental health has deteriorated in the past several weeks and a significant segment of that group saying it has worsened a lot, that finding really jumps out.”
Despite reporting a decline in mental health, three-quarters of Canadians believe it’s too soon to begin lifting restrictions on businesses and public gatherings, the survey said.
(CBC)
Albertan impact
Angus Red’s COVID-19 Impact Index places Canadians into four categories: those who are managing well mentally and financially, those who are mentally struggling, those who are financially struggling and people who are hardest hit feeling severe effects in both the mentally and financially struggling categories.
At least 20 per cent of Canadians from all regions fall into the hardest hit category, with Alberta having the highest number at 32 per cent and Quebec the lowest at 20 per cent.
Alberta’s economy has been battered by low oil prices leading to “financial instability and uncertainty” for households, Kurl said, which could explain why people in the province have been particularly impacted by worsening mental health during the pandemic.
About one-quarter of people in the hardest hit group said their relationships at home have suffered since the COVID-19 outbreak began, compared to six per cent in the managing well group.
(CBC )
While two-in-five Canadians report feeling worried or anxious, one-in-three also say they felt grateful.
“This likely speaks to the overwhelming praise Canadians have offered for their public health officials and front-line workers,” Angus Reid reported.
30% are simply bored
Of the emotions associated with the pandemic, about 30 per cent of Canadians say they’re simply bored.
While mental health effects from the pandemic are common among every age group and gender, men age 55 and over said they were least affected, while women between 18 and 54 were most likely to report mental health impacts.
“Women are among those most likely to say their own mental health is deteriorating,” Kurl said, citing increased emotional work in the household caring for kids or parents due to the pandemic as possible explanations.
Isolation has also affected relations between housemates, although for the most part cabin fever is not leading roommates to turn on each other.
One-quarter of respondents said their relations with roommates have improved, and 14 per cent say these relationships have worsened. A majority reported no change at all.
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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.
