The collection of proof of vaccine is how the vaccination policy is implemented, judge rules A court injunction filed by five Western University students to block the London, Ont., institution’s COVID-19 booster shot mandate has been rejected by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, according to court documents. In a written decision, Justice Kelly Tranquilli stated that as an independent, autonomous, and self-governing institution, Western can govern its affairs separate from the province, and collecting personal health data from staff and students is its way of implementing the vaccination policy. “The collectionRead more

Complaint sparks discussion over whether organizations can be held liable for virus spread in buildings A Vancouver mother has filed a regulatory complaint against the Vancouver School Board (VSB), asking for a professional engineer’s assurance that her children are protected against COVID-19. Tracy Casavant, who has two children attending elementary school, filed the complaint with Engineers and Geoscientists B.C. (EGBC) last week. Casavant says she reached out to the school board asking for an authenticated document by a registered engineer — something required as part of regulatory codes — underpinning the school board’s decisions around ventilationRead more

Training sparked by Joyce Echaquan’s death called ‘superficial’ and ‘cringe-worthy’ As the second anniversary of Joyce Echaquan’s death approaches this week, Indigenous health professionals say the measures taken by the Quebec government to address racism and discrimination in medical facilities have been inadequate. Echaquan, a 37-year-old Atikamekw mother of seven, died in a Joliette, Que., hospital in 2020 after filming herself being subjected to insulting comments from staff. Quebec’s ministry of health and social services (MSSS) developed compulsory training for all its health-care workers after a coroner’s report found racismRead more

The giant planet can be seen from anywhere, including in light-polluted cities You may have noticed a bright “star” in the eastern sky after sunset, but that’s no star: it’s the mighty planet Jupiter, and it’s almost at its peak brightness. Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, is reaching opposition, an event that occurs when a celestial object rises in the east as the sun sets in the west, putting both the sun and the object on opposite sides of Earth. But what also makes this special isRead more

At the West Island hospital, a pandemic flashpoint, doctors and nurses say help is long overdue On its busiest days, the Lakeshore General Hospital emergency room is so stretched for space that patients on gurneys line not just every hallway, but even the narrow passageway in front of the nursing station. “You can imagine that’s not a great place for a sick patient,” said Tim Heely-Ray, the hospital’s chief ER co-ordinator, on a rare tour of the ward at the only hospital in Montreal’s West Island. It’s unusually quiet on thisRead more

Hundreds of poplars growing on their own, thousands of trees planted at NCC off-leash dog park The towering eastern white pines planted as a monoculture more than a century ago — the hallmark of Bruce Pit and Arlington Woods — snapped like matchsticks. Four years later those scars still show, but they’re beginning to fill in. Poplars shoot up naturally The fallen trees exposed the woodland floor at Bruce Pit to light, and hundreds of balsam poplars sprang up on their own. Four years later, they are 4.5 to six metres tall and too dense to walk through. TheRead more

Supreme Court Justice Shannon Smallwood was named N.W.T. Supreme Court chief justice Thursday N.W.T. Supreme Court Justice Shannon Smallwood has been named the court’s chief justice. She replaces former chief justice Louise A. Charbonneau who retired on July 11. Smallwood’s appointment took effect Thursday. Smallwood was the first Dene (K’ashógot’įne) person to be named to the N.W.T. Supreme Court when she was appointed in 2011, and is now the first Indigenous person to serve as the court’s chief justice. Smallwood is from Fort Good Hope, N.W.T., and went to law school atRead more

Lori Ward told the inquiry there are a number of things ‘the RCMP wishes it could go back in time and change’ A lawyer for the RCMP and the federal government became emotional on the final day of a public inquiry into the Nova Scotia mass shooting as she acknowledged the police response to the massacre was “far from perfect.” Lori Ward, counsel for the attorney general of Canada, gave a final oral submission Friday before the Mass Casualty Commission in Truro, N.S., which has been hearing from lawyers and participantsRead more

Oilsands organization says expecting final decisions while regulatory frameworks pend is unrealistic Canadian oil and gas companies are not using their record profits to invest in decarbonization and are instead pursuing share re-purchases and dividend payments, according to a new analysis from the Pembina Institute, a renewable energy think tank. In June of last year, five of Canada’s largest oil producers — Canadian Natural Resources, Cenovus Energy, Imperial, MEG Energy and Suncor Energy — announced they were forming the Oil Sands Pathway to Net Zero Alliance, with a goal to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions fromRead more

Date for casting ballots is Oct. 24, the main day for the religious festival of Diwali Some Hindus and Sikhs in Ontario are not pleased with the date of this year’s municipal election, especially some of the candidates, because people are set to cast ballots on the main day for the religious festival of Diwali in October. “Decision-makers have to be more concerned with inclusivity and take diversity into consideration,” said Fazle Baki, a candidate for trustee in the Greater Essex County District School Board for Wards 1, 2 andRead more