Canada considering drug decriminalization to fight overdose crisis

By Anna Mehler Paperny

© Reuters/JESSE WINTER A man injects street drugs in an alley in Vancouver

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's federal government is considering decriminalization of the possession of opioids and other illicit drugs in its efforts to tackle a spiraling overdose crisis, a government official said this week, even as data show the number of charges rising.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government is facing pressure to rein in drug overdoses, though it has previously downplayed decriminalization.

Vancouver has asked the federal government to exempt the city from part of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of drugs within city boundaries. A spokesman for Health Minister Patty Hajdu said on Wednesday that decriminalization was under consideration and that discussions with Vancouver were under way but would not comment further

That could subject people caught with small amounts of drugs to fines or mandatory treatment.

Canada's opioid toxicity death rate for the first half of 2020, 14.6 per 100,000, was the highest since national data began to be collected in 2016, according to the federal government.

The number of people charged with drug possession of non-cocaine, non-heroin drugs in Canada more than tripled to 13,725 in the past decade to 2019, according to Statistics Canada. The number of people charged with heroin possession almost quintupled, to 1,043.

"The idea that we're kind of becoming more tolerant isn't borne out by the data," said Neil Boyd, director of the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted illicit drug supply chains, making for a more toxic supply; it has also lessened supports and driven people to use alone, health advocates say.

Health Canada's move to discuss decriminalization "comes at a time when the overdose crisis in our city has never been worse," Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart said in a statement Wednesday.

Many health experts argue decriminalization would encourage drug users to use in safer spaces where they can access medical care.

Trudeau dismissed decriminalization last year, telling the Canadian Broadcasting Corp it was not a "silver bullet."

Portugal decriminalized illicit drug possession and consumption in 2001. In the 2020 election Oregon voted to decriminalize.

This week Montreal's city council also voted to support decriminalization. The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police came out in support of the move last summer.

(Reporting by Anna Mehler Paperny; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

Calls to decriminalize drugs grow louder during pandemic
VIDEO Duration: 07:47 
Advocates in British Columbia have long been calling on the federal government to decriminalize drugs, yet action has been slow. Decriminalization means those who are found with small amounts of drugs would no longer face criminal charges, something advocates say would reduce the death toll of the worsening opioid crisis.

Opioid deaths highlight need to decriminalize hard-drug possession, police chiefs say

TORONTO — The scourge of overdose deaths underscores the need for Canada to decriminalize simple possession of hard drugs, the head of the national chiefs of police association said on Thursday

.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

In urging action, Bryan Larkin noted that overdose deaths are outpacing those from the COVID-19 pandemic and homicides in British Columbia and likely Ontario.

"Over the last six years, 18,000 Canadians have lost their lives to drug addiction," Larkin said. "If 18,000 people lost their lives in traffic collisions, our country and our communities would not accept that. There would be outcry."

Larkin, president of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, made his comments at a virtual forum called "Policing 2021." The issue of decriminalization — as was the case with cannabis — is "polarizing" both within society and within police ranks, he said.

Like many others, Larkin said he was raised to believe "drugs are bad and people who use drugs are criminals." But criminalization, he said, has disproportionately affected the marginalized and people of colour, and there's now an awareness that addictions are a mental health issue.

"Nobody wakes up wanting actually to have an addiction," said Larkin, chief of Waterloo Regional Police Service. "The opioid overdose crisis in Canada doesn't discriminate."

Antje McNeely, who is Larkin's Ontario counterpart, said that changing the mindset of police officers when it comes to dealing with drug abusers was also important.

"We've been hard-wired," said McNeely, police chief in Kingston, Ont. "It is a mind change for the front line and the rest of us as well."

The national chiefs association raised eyebrows last year when it first began advocating for decriminalization of possession. Discussions on the topic were spurred by the legalization of cannabis and the mounting opioid death toll now exacerbated by the pandemic.

In response, the federal government has been looking at Canada's drug policy, with a view to reducing opioid-related deaths during the pandemic. Prosecutors were instructed last year to prosecute only the most serious drug-possession offences.

Larkin, who said he has been encouraged by Ottawa's response, noted the nexus between addictions and mental health, saying more than 10 people kill themselves each day in Canada. That is not something police can fix, he said.

Peter Sloly, chief of the Ottawa Police Service, agreed police need to become a "diminishing" element when it comes to dealing with people in mental health crises.

While police will always have some role in such responses, there needs to be a different model that takes in social services, education and the health-care sector, he said.

"We've been not just the last resort, but often the first resort on these types of incidents," Sloly told the forum. "We've become a bit of a Swiss Army knife."

Sloly cited a program in Eugene, Ore., where up to 90 per cent of mental health calls are handled without hard police intervention. Such changes take years to implement successfully and he warned against moving too quickly.

"There's a group of people out there who believe that police should have nothing to do with mental health services," Sloley said. "I just don't think it is practical."

The chiefs also acknowledged systemic racism in policing but said the issue was no longer being swept under the rug. At the same time, Sloly said simply addressing the issue within police services won't fix the wider problem.

"We're still going to have the conditions that produce crime and victimization, marginalization and discrimination," he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 28, 2021

Colin Perkel, The Canadian Press

NO ONE SAID IT WAS A CURE ALL
Panel report says basic income in British Columbia is no cure-all

VANCOUVER — A government-commissioned panel has rejected the idea of introducing a basic income for all in British Columbia, saying the billions of dollars would be better spent patching holes in the social safety net.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The panel's report, co-authored by academics at the University of B.C., Simon Fraser University and the University of Calgary, said a basic income is not the cure-all that some advocates believe.

The 500-page report released Thursday says there are far more effective ways of helping people, and that its recommendations would help B.C. be a more "just society."

David Green, the panel's chair and a professor at the Vancouver School of Economics at UBC, said a basic income project is also not as simple as many believe.

"If we want to address poverty, what simpler way (is there) to proceed than to send everybody a cheque that is equivalent to the poverty line?" he said. "The problem is when you get close to it and you ask, 'How would I actually implement that?'"

Many Canadians don't file taxes or aren't known to the tax system, and a basic income program needs a system that can track people down to ensure they're receiving the proper amounts, Green said.

The report says conducting a pilot project for a basic income would not provide useful information and raises ethical concerns.

"A basic income would not be the panacea that some advocates believe, with many of the claims about the social issues that a basic income would address unlikely to be true in practice — or at least, it is unclear that a basic income would be the best way to address the issues, if justice is the objective," the report says.

The report says a more successful strategy would be to reform current policies and programs, while providing targeted basic income for youth aging out of care, women fleeing domestic violence and those with disabilities.

"The top one would be the youth aging out of care. This is a group of great concern and movement could be made on that in every bit as short a time frame as implementing a pilot (project)," Green said.

Improving disability supports could also be done with the sweep of a pen, Green added.

If B.C. adopted the most straightforward form of basic income, where those living at the poverty line are sent a cheque, Green said it would cost the government $52 billion.

That would double B.C.'s budget and would be less cost-effective than implementing the panel's recommendations estimated at $3.3 billion to $3.5 billion, he said.

The report makes 65 recommendations ranging from extended health supplements to adjusting tax system-delivered benefits, such as aiming B.C.'s child opportunity benefit toward families with children living in poverty.

"We have some hope that some of these will be implemented," Green said.

The panel's report says that many of the proposals it makes would be needed even if a basic income program were adopted.

Nicholas Simons, the minister of social development and poverty reduction, said in a statement that his government is reviewing the report.

"The panel has recommended changes to B.C.’s existing social supports and services to address the complex needs and unique circumstances of individuals and families instead of pursuing a basic income model or pilot," he said.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us how important a strong social safety net is to protect people and the economy."

The B.C. government commissioned the panel in July 2018 to examine the issue as part of the New Democrats' minority government confidence and supply agreement with B.C.'s Green party.

Green party Leader Sonia Furstenau called on the provincial government to implement the panel's recommendations in the upcoming budget.

"These reforms are necessary steps that can be taken immediately towards the goal of establishing a society where no one is left behind, and where everyone has their basic needs met," she said in a statement.

Floyd Marinescu, the founder of UBI Works, a universal basic income advocacy group, said the report frames the debate in what he called an "old school" view.

"We take the position a basic income is about much more than reducing poverty, it's also about economic reform," he said in an interview.

A basic income would lead to economic reforms that could reduce poverty, he said.

"We see basic income in the context of this massive disruption in how our economy works and as a solution to ensure that particularly the bottom half of earners ... are getting their share of an economy that is growing without them."

LIKE WAGES FOR HOUSEWORK

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 28, 2021.

Nick Wells, The Canadian Press

2 Canada Post workers in Regina suspended after refusing to deliver Epoch Times

Two Canada Post workers in Regina were temporarily suspended earlier this month after they refused to deliver the latest sample edition of the Epoch Times.

The head of the local CUPW union that represents postal workers said both mail carriers were escorted from the building when they informed their supervisors they were unwilling to deliver the publication. They were suspended without pay for three days.

According to its sample issue, the Epoch Times was created to "bring honest and uncensored news to people oppressed by deception and tyranny in communist China."

The paper sells subscriptions in dozens of countries and makes some content available free on its website, which, according to the paper, gets about 5.7 million readers per month in Canada. It occasionally mails out free, unsolicited sample editions through Canada Post as advertising mail.

The paper was founded in the U.S. in 2000 by Chinese-American followers of the Falun Gong spiritual practice, who have been persecuted by the Chinese government. In the past, it has broken stories about human rights abuses in China.

Epoch Times content runs the gamut from articles about health and wellness to science, politics and technology. But its main focus has been news and current affairs stories that are critical of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

© Kirk Fraser/CBC News Regina mail carrier Ramiro Sepulveda was recently suspended for three days after he refused to deliver a free edition of the Epoch Times. Sepulveda says he objects to some of the paper's coverage and feels he shouldn't have to deliver it.

In recent years, it has expanded its coverage of U.S. politics and gained traction among some supporters of former U.S. president Donald Trump by covering topics such as Spygate, the QAnon conspiracy theory and unfounded allegations of election fraud.

On its site, the paper describes itself as non-partisan and "independent of any influence from corporations, governments or political parties."

In its sample issue, the Epoch Times says it has a "reputation for independent, fact-based traditional journalism" and its goal is "to serve the public benefit and be truly responsible to society."

'I'm not for censorship'

Ramiro Sepulveda, one of the suspended postal workers, told CBC News he objects to the insinuations in some of the paper's past coverage of the origins of the coronavirus, which the paper calls "the CCP virus."

"I'm not for censorship. I'm not against freedom of speech," he said. "What my thing is, is there is no disclaimer stating that this was theory."

He says he went straight to his supervisor when he saw the free editions that were set to be delivered earlier this month.

"I said, 'That Epoch Times, I'm not delivering it. It goes against everything I believe in.'"

The second worker, Linying Su, who was born in China, said she felt uncomfortable delivering the paper because she feared its coverage of the Chinese government could contribute to anti-Chinese and anti-Asian sentiment in Canada and misconceptions around the origins of the coronavirus.

"This is not just about Chinese Canadians; it's about all Asian Canadians," she told CBC News in a conversation through Facebook. "The unjustified discrimination against Chinese Canadians would turn to discrimination against all Asian Canadians….

"I may not be able to stop other people from delivering these papers, but I can stop myself from doing things that betray my own belief."

Readers can judge for themselves, says publisher

In an email to CBC News that was also posted on the paper's website, the publisher of the Canadian edition of the Epoch Times, Cindy Gu, said sending out free copies is a "common practice in the news industry to grow business."

"Canada is a country that believes in freedom of the press, and we believe readers are wise enough to judge for themselves whether we are reporting truthfully," Gu said. "This is a free country. Readers deserve the chance to know different styles and types of reporting."

Gu said the majority of feedback to the recent edition has been positive.

"If people do not wish to read our sample newspaper, then treat it like other promotional material," she said.

"If the delivery of mail is up to the individual carrier to decide based on his/her impression of 'hatred,' no one can trust the post office any more. If Canada Post were to block us, that would be the government censoring an independent media outlet. This would violate the Charter of Rights, which guarantees freedom of the press."

© Pauline Dantas The Epoch Times sells print and digital subscriptions in dozens of countries and occasionally mails out free sample editions as advertising mail through Canada Post.

Gu said the fears that some of the paper's content could be misconstrued as anti-Asian are unjustified.

"We are a media started by Asian immigrants. There is no way we would publish content that is anti-Asian," she said.

"In reporting the facts, we may contradict some commonly accepted narratives, including about China. Reading us can be a liberating experience."

Other postal workers have objected to delivery

The Regina workers aren't the first postal workers to complain about the publication. In April 2020, some mail carriers in the Greater Toronto Area objected to having to deliver it, and their union local filed a request with the federal government asking for an interim order to stop delivery of the newspaper. That request was denied.

The national branch of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers says it is currently in discussions with Canada Post about this matter.

Canada Post said letter carriers are obligated to deliver any mail that is "properly prepared and paid for."

The union agrees, but William Johnson, president of the CUPW local in Regina, said there needs to be a better solution than suspension for workers who are uncomfortable delivering the publication.

© Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press The government has said the paper's content does not meet the criteria of 'non-mailable matter,' and Canada Post and its employee union both agree that the postal service cannot refuse to deliver mail that has been 'prepared and paid for.'

"What I don't want to see is this happening. If this is going to be a publication that comes out every month — that we go through this process every month. That's not good for morale," Johnson said. "It's a really stressful time for the employees. And so I think there has to be some sort of alternative as to how we deal with this situation."

Canada Post said in an emailed statement to CBC News that it understands "this is a difficult situation."

"The courts have told Canada Post that its role is not to act as the censor of mail or to determine the extent of freedom of expression in Canada," it said. "This is an important distinction between Canada Post and private sector delivery companies."

Doesn't fit criteria of non-mailable matter

To refuse delivery, material would have to meet Canada Post's definition of "non-mailable matter," which includes items that are prohibited by law, such as illegal, obscene and fraudulent items.

Those who want to opt out of receiving the Epoch Times sample editions must opt out of all ad mail, including grocery and retail flyers and other promotional material.

A spokesperson for Anita Anand, the minister in charge of Canada Post, said the minister "is actively reviewing the rules relating to the circulation of the Epoch Times."

One Ontario resident who wrote to her local MP to complain about the free edition after it turned up in her mailbox in Mississauga earlier this month said she supports such a review

.

© Tina Mackenzie/CBC News Mississauga, Ont., resident Pauline Dantas wrote to her local MP to complain about the unsolicited edition of the paper she received this month.

"I think it's important for politicians to really take a look at this and just say, 'Is this what we want a Crown corporation to be delivering?" said Pauline Dantas.

Dantas was told by the outreach co-ordinator for Gagan Sikand, the Liberal MP for Mississauga-Streetsville, that the content of Epoch Times does not meet the criteria of non-mailable matter.

"Anyone concerned with the contents of the Epoch Times can contact the publisher directly, file a complaint through the appropriate institutions or place the item in the recycling box," Sarah Hleyhel wrote in an email to Dantas.

'A pretty decent view on what's going on'

Tony Phillips, a retiree in Debert, N.S., skimmed the special edition when it arrived in his mailbox.

He thinks calls to ban delivery of the paper through Canada Post are "nanny state-ish."

Phillips said while he doesn't agree with all the views expressed in the paper, he's interested in hearing them.

"I'm kind of interested in seeing what people think," Phillips said. "I just find it, kind of, part of the human zoo, and I just, kind of, enjoy it."

"I just like to get an idea of the social landscape in a sense … I think there's a danger that you can just listen to yourself or people who think the same way as you do."

He said he wasn't bothered by getting an unsolicited copy of the paper any more than he would be to get a community flyer or pamphlet that might turn up at one's door.

"It didn't loom large, really. It was just interesting, an interesting blip," he said.

Candice, a southwestern Ontario mother of four who asked that her last name be withheld because of fears of being harassed for her views, said she liked the paper so much she subscribed to it two months ago.

"This newspaper gives a pretty decent view on what's going on," she said. "They're obviously not shying away from the fact they are anti-communist, and some people don't like that. Some people think that they're out to lunch. But I'm not one of those people."

© Mark Schiefelbein/The Associated Press Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in September. Epoch Times coverage has been critical of the Chinese government's handling of the coronavirus, which the paper refers to as the 'CCP virus' in reference to the ruling Chinese Communist Party.

Candice said she doesn't think the paper stokes racist sentiments and likes the variety of the content.

"I see it as being hard to get diverse thoughts, especially when now, the catch phrases of misinformation, disinformation get thrown around over a multitude of topics," she said. "I'd rather know more about what's going on rather than hiding from it."

She is able to find coverage she can't find elsewhere, she said, such as stories about positive changes made by the Trump administration.

"Mainstream media would be more like, 'We hate Trump, so we're going to … write about that,'" she said. "I don't hate Trump."
Trump rhetoric on China helped raise profile

Sonya Fatah, an assistant professor of journalism at Ryerson University in Toronto, says she thinks most people who encounter the publication in Canada will realize it's not a typical newspaper.

"It's quite obvious that it's very much focused on a specific mission, which is to bring down the CCP (Chinese Communist Party)," she said.

"What is interesting is that people are reacting to it very strongly. And I think the reaction is giving more space to the Epoch Times than perhaps we need to."

Fatah said the paper's profile has increased in the last four years, in part because its own stated goals were aligned with some of Donald Trump's rhetoric on China.

"It's been a little surprising, I think, for a lot of people who've kind of seen it as a fringe player," Fatah said.

"Trump was, in a way, an excellent mouthpiece for the cause. He was out there calling the virus a 'Chinese flu,' the 'Chinese virus.'"

ONTARIO

How much longer can cash-strapped tenants dodge evictions?

© Submitted by Karrie Anderson 

Karrie Anderson lives in a one-bedroom apartment which is operated by Medallion Corporation.

A London, Ont., woman's struggle to pay her rent amid the COVID-19 pandemic is one small example of the growing problem of people facing eviction, a tenant advocacy group says.

"I am behind in rent because of COVID," said Karrie Anderson, who owes her landlord, Medallion Corporation, $10,000 for the months of rent she's missed.

Before the pandemic hit, Anderson, who has a two-decade career in the restaurant industry, left her job as a cook in the hopes of finding a better gig. Then the pandemic struck, and that prospect dwindled.


Anderson's case was before the Landlord Tenant Board (LTB) just before Christmas. Then in mid-January, the formal eviction notice arrived in her mailbox, with orders to vacate the apartment by the end of the month.

Ontario temporarily pauses residential evictions for length of emergency declaration

"People have lost their jobs, or they're self-employed, and they just can't find any source of income," said Nawton Chiles, the leader of the London chapter of Acorn Canada, an advocacy group that works on behalf of low-income tenants.

"We're going to keep fighting for economic justice and keeping everyone in a home, no matter what."

There's a bit of a reprieve for Anderson and others facing eviction.

On Jan. 26, the Ontario government issued a 14-day emergency order that hits pause on the enforcement of all residential evictions until Feb. 9. The orders themselves, though, can still be issued, adding stress to already stressful times.

Though Medallion Corporation spokesperson Danny Roth wouldn't comment on Anderson's case specifically, he confirmed the company would not be enforcing evictions before Feb. 9.

The moratorium on evictions could continue if the province issues another emergency order.

© Google Maps Karrie Anderson lives at this apartment building on Kipps Lane. She's been unable to pay her rent for months, and owes $10,000.

While Anderson said she has tried to work with the property management company to come up with a payment plan, Medallion Corporation spokesperson Danny Roth said in a statement, "Our property managers actively engage tenants facing rent arrears and work diligently with these tenants to create unique payment plans that lessen the burden, where possible."

"In the case of tenants disinclined to join with us in creating a fair and responsible payment plan, or those who are simply unwilling to pay anything toward their rent, we must maintain the ability to pursue the lawful mechanisms available to us through the LTB," said Roth.
What happens after the emergency order ends?

Next month, Anderson begins a new part-time job as as a cleaner with facilities management company Sodexo, which has the contract to clean LHSC's hospitals. She starts Feb. 1.

The job could be too little too late.

ACORN London hopes the province extends the emergency order until the pandemic is over.

"Stay-at-home orders are in place and it's very difficult to stay at home when you don't have a home to stay at. Housing for everyone is one of the most effective public health measures," said Chiles.

"We know that the Ontario provincial government has money saved for contingencies like this. So that's one of ACORN's demands in our campaign, is that we create or rent forgiveness and relief program to help someone like Karrie."

Anderson figures the provincial moratorium on eviction enforcement buys her a bit of time although so far, she hasn't found a new home.

"I'm still looking. There's nothing out there. I can't I can't find anything," she said.

"The most I can do right now is put all my stuff into storage and go couch surf on friends' couches."

Hundreds protest Amazon expansion in France

Hundreds rallied in several French towns in protests against Amazon called by anti-capitalist and environmental groups, including at one site where the US e-commerce giant plans a massive warehouse

.

© Sylvain THOMAS Some protesters planted shrubs in the waste ground at the Fournes site

© Sylvain THOMAS Several hundred joined the protest at the site of the planned warehouse at Fournes

Amazon plans to set up a 38,000-square-metre (400,000-square-feet) facility in the small southern town of Fournes near the Pont du Gard, a Roman aqueduct bridge that is a World Heritage site.

  

© RAYMOND ROIG Demonstrators also gathered in the southern city of Perpignan

A crowd police said numbered around 800 and which organisers estimated at 1,400 rallied at the site, planting shrubs in front of huge banners reading "Stop Amazon" and "Not here or anywhere".

They formed a human chain to show the size of the project, while multicoloured balloons floated 18 metres (60 feet) up to indicate the height of the planned five-storey facility.

"It's two years that the citizens of Fournes and its surroundings have fought against the installation of a giant Amazon warehouse," said Raphael Pradeau, spokesman for French citizens' activist group Attac.

"At the start they were a bit alone against everyone, but they have succeeded in halting the project thanks to legal recourse."

"We want to show that these are not small isolated fights and that we can mobilise hundreds of people who are ready to return to stop the work", said Pradeau.

- 'Precarious jobs' -

Sarah Latour, 38, came with her two sons aged eight and six, and the family planted a shrub in waste ground, where vines had once grown.

"These plants, these shrubs that we are planting today are a symbol of life that contrasts with the concreting that Amazon practises," she said.

"I came with my children because I don't want this destructive model for them."

About 200 people also rallied outside an Amazon facility in Carquefou, a suburb of the western city of Nantes, organisers said.

"We condemn Amazon for destroying more jobs than they create, and that these are insecure jobs," said Sophie Jallier, a spokeswoman for the organisers in Carquefou.

In the eastern town of Ensisheim, about 100 people gathered to protest a plan to build a giant warehouse on a 15-hectare site of former agricultural land.

Bannners read "Amazon, Fiscal Vampire" and "No mega warehouse."

"Today, we condemn an economic system that is at the end of its rope and which is using the planet," said Isabelle Schaeffer, a member of an environmental group in the Sud Alsace region.

Other protests were held in Augny, in the eastern Moselle region, and in Perpignan in the south.

Amazon practices "unfair competition with regard to businesses that pay their taxes in France", Eric Barbier of the environmental group Alteratiba said in Perpignan.

In addition, "most workers are on precarious contracts, hired during peak periods such as Black Friday or Christmas and are then thrown out".

il/mdm/wdb/har

Vaccine rollout faces challenges in France's poorest region


SAINT-DENIS, France — Samia Dridi, who was born, raised and works as a nurse in Saint-Denis, fears for her impoverished town, recalling how the coronavirus cut an especially deadly path through the diverse area north of Paris, a burial place for French kings entombed in a majestic basilica

.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Dridi and her sister accompanied their frail 92-year-old Algerian-born mother to a vaccination centre for the first of two shots to protect against COVID-19 days after it opened last week for people over the age of 75.

While red tape, consent requirements and supply issues have slowed France's vaccination rollout nationwide, the Seine-Saint-Denis region faces special challenges in warding off the virus, and getting people vaccinated when their turn comes.

It is the poorest region in mainland France and had the highest rise in mortality in the country last spring, largely due to COVID-19. Up to 75 per cent of the population are immigrants or have immigrant roots, and its residents speak some 130 different languages. Health care is below par, with two to three times fewer hospital beds than other regions and a higher rate of chronic illnesses. Many are essential workers in supermarkets, public sanitation and health care.

The coronavirus was initially widely seen as the great equalizer, infecting rich and poor. But studies have since shown that some people are more vulnerable than others, notably the elderly, those with other long-term illnesses and the poor, often living on the edges of mainstream society, like immigrants who don’t speak French.

Dridi, 56, a nurse for more than three decades, feels relieved there is currently “no significant evolution” of the virus in her town. But she doesn’t forget what happened when the pandemic first hit.

“We had entire families with COVID,” she said. Many have multiple generations living together in small apartments, something experts say is an aggravating factor common in the region.

Despite those grim memories, local officials grapple with special challenges getting out word about vaccines to a population where many don't speak French, lack access to regular medical care and, like in much of France, distrust the vaccine's safety.

Next month, a bus will travel through the region, notably visiting street markets, to provide vaccination information. In addition, about 40 “vaccination ambassadors” who speak several languages are to be trained to reach out, starting in March, about vaccinations as well as “fake news” surrounding them.

A case in point is Youssef Zaoui, 32, an Algerian living in Saint-Denis.



“I heard the vaccination is very dangerous, more than the virus,” said Zaoui, sitting in the shadow of the basilica. His proof that he need not worry about the virus: the butcher down the road and the man selling cigarettes nearby. They were there at the beginning of March “and they’re still here. ... Me, I’m still here,” he said.

Is there a chance the vaccine could turn the tide on the inequality reflected in death statistics for the region?

“Before the vaccine becomes a great equalizer, everyone must be vaccinated,” said Patrick Simon, who co-authored a study last June on the vulnerability of minorities in Seine-Saint-Denis to COVID-19. But he said the challenges for marginalized communities to access health care continues, “so these inequalities will also be reproduced for the vaccine.”

While the French health care system is meant to provide accessible medical treatment for all, the bureaucratic demands and co-payments often scare away new immigrants or the very poor. Government health guidance doesn't always reach those outside the system.

As a nurse at a municipal health centre, Dridi sees up front the poverty that translates into vulnerability to the coronavirus.

“I’m giving an injection, a shot, putting on a bandage ... and some say, ‘I live in a car, I’m in the street,’” she said.

That misery was not apparent at the vaccination centre where Dridi's mother got her shot — among 17 opened across the region last week and where Saint-Denis' more fortunate, who live in private homes, were seen on a recent visit. Some made their way into the centre on canes or held by an arm. One couple showed up on a scooter. All were eager to be vaccinated.

They were among the lucky ones. Appointments were cut back after allotments of doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were diminished, like elsewhere in France and Europe.

“I’m lucky to get vaccinated today,” said one woman, who then broke down in tears. She was infected with COVID-19 during treatment at a private clinic in April and lost her mother in October to the virus after she contracted it in a hospital where she was treated after a fall.

The woman, who declined to give her name, told Dridi and her sister to take care of their mother because “she is your treasure.”

For Dridi, seeing people die of COVID-19 can be a game changer.

“Some people say no (to getting vaccinated) because they have no contact with death,” said Dridi. But death, “that’s what makes you react.”

By Elaine Ganley, The Associated Press

END BLASPHEMY LAWS

Nigeria sentences teenage boy to 10 years in prison for blasphemy, prompting outrage

Child rights agency UNICEF has condemned the sentencing of a teenager to 10 years in prison for blasphemy in northern Nigeria.

© CNN CNN's Stephanie Busari speaks with Omar Farouq, the Nigerian teen who was freed after his 10-year prison sentence for blasphemy was overturned. Farouq was convicted in a Sharia court in Kano State in northwest Nigeria after he was accused of using foul language toward Allah in an argument with a friend.

Omar Farouq was convicted in a Sharia court in Kano State in northwest Nigeria after he was accused of using foul language toward Allah in an argument with a friend.

He was sentenced on August 10 by the same court that recently sentenced a studio assistant Yahaya Sharif-Aminu to death for blaspheming Prophet Mohammed, according to lawyers.

Farouq's punishment is in violation of the African Charter of the Rights and Welfare of a Child and the Nigerian constitution, said his counsel Kola Alapinni, who told CNN they filed an appeal on his behalf on September 7.

© AFP/AFP/AFP via Getty Images A team of Islamic sharia enforcers called Hisbah on patrol in the northern Nigerian city of Kano.

Farouq was tried as an adult because he has attained puberty and has full responsibility under Islamic law.

Alapinni told CNN he or other lawyers working on the case have not been granted access to Farouq by authorities in Kano State.

He said he found out about Farouq's case by chance when working on the case of Sharif-Aminu, who was sentenced to death for blasphemy at the Kano Upper Sharia Court.

"We found out they were convicted on the same day, by the same judge, in the same court, for blasphemy and we found out no one was talking about Omar, so we had to move quickly to file an appeal for him," he said.

"Blasphemy is not recognized by Nigerian law. It is inconsistent with the constitution of Nigeria."

The lawyer said Farouq's mother had fled to a neighboring town after mobs descended on their home following his arrest.

"Everyone here is scared to speak and living under fear of reprisal attacks," he said.

UNICEF Wednesday issued a statement "expressing deep concern" about the sentencing.

"The sentencing of this child -- 13-year-old Omar Farouq -- to 10 years in prison with menial labour is wrong," said Peter Hawkins, UNICEF representative in Nigeria. "It also negates all core underlying principles of child rights and child justice that Nigeria -- and by implication, Kano State -- has signed on to."

Kano State, like most predominantly Muslim states in Nigeria, practices Sharia law alongside secular law.

CNN contacted a spokesman for the Kano State governor for comment but had not heard back before publication.

UNICEF has called on the Nigerian government and the Kano State government to urgently review the case and reverse the sentence, the organization said in a statement.

"This case further underlines the urgent need to accelerate the enactment of the Kano State Child Protection Bill so as to ensure that all children under 18, including Omar Farouq are protected -- and that all children in Kano are treated in accordance with child rights standards," Hawkins said.

Indian farmers begin hunger strike amid fury against Modi

NEW DELHI — Indian farmers taking part in more than two months of protest against new agriculture laws began a daylong hunger strike Saturday, as they sought to reaffirm the peaceful nature of their movement following recent violent clashes with police.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Farmer leaders said the hunger strike was timed to coincide with the death anniversary of Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, who was famed for his nonviolent resistance to colonial rule. Nevertheless, the protesters said they remained furious at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government.

“The way the government is spreading planned lies and violence is condemnable," said a statement from the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, or United Farmers’ Front, a coalition of farmers’ unions.

Tens of thousands of farmers have been camped on the edge of New Delhi since November, seeking the repeal of laws passed in September that they say will favour large agribusiness and corporations, devastate the earnings of many farmers and leave those with small plots behind.

Modi and his allies say the laws are necessary to modernize Indian agriculture. Multiple rounds of talks between the two sides have been unsuccessful.

The protests had largely been peaceful but violence erupted on Tuesday, India’s Republic Day, when tens of thousands of farmers riding tractors and marching on foot knocked out police barricades and stormed New Delhi's 17th century Red Fort in a brief but shocking takeover.

The clashes left one protester dead and nearly 400 police officers injured. Officials did not say how many farmers were injured, but many were seen bloodied after police in riot gear hit them with batons and fired tear gas.

Tensions have remained high since, with sporadic clashes between protesters, police and unidentified groups shouting anti-farmer slogans. On Friday, a group of around 200 people barged into one protest site despite heavy security, threw stones at farmers and damaged their tents.

The group demanded that farmers vacate the area and said they had “insulted” the national flag during their tractor parade on Republic Day. The farmers alleged that the vandals were largely made up of members of a Hindu nationalist group that has close ties with Modi’s party.

On Saturday authorities blocked mobile internet services at three protest sites, a favoured tactic of the Modi government to thwart protests. India’s Home Ministry said internet services would remain suspended until Sunday to “maintain public safety.”

Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait said the government was “in delusion if it feels our movement will be weakened” by suspending the internet.

“The more they try to crush the voice of the farmers, the greater this movement will become,” Tikait tweeted.

The protests pose the biggest challenge to Modi since he took office in 2014 in part because farmers are the most influential voting bloc in the country and a key part of the economy. In a rare show of unity, 16 opposition parties boycotted a parliamentary address by the ceremonial president Ram Nath Kovind, who is from Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party.

Both sides appeared to be growing more entrenched.

Rather than try to lower the temperature after Tuesday's clashes, the government has filed cases against journalists, activists and opposition politicians, accusing them of sedition and inciting violence.

The farmers, meanwhile, have seen their ranks swell by thousands more new protesters since a video of Tikait breaking down in tears while talking to reporters was shared widely on social media on Thursday.

“Our movement has gained strength after the Republic Day rally. We have decided that we won’t go back," said Sukhdev Singh, another farmer leader who was taking part in Saturday's hunger strike. “If we are to die, we will die here.”

___ Associated Press video journalist Shonal Ganguly contributed to this report.

Sheikh Saaliq, The Associated Press

Canadian Sikhs worry for families in India as farm protests turn violent

For several days, Karan Singh has been frantically checking the latest news from India where his father and other farmers have been demanding the government repeal new agriculture laws that open more space for private investors.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The 25-year-old from Sudbury, Ont., says concern for his father — who farms cotton, wheat and sugar cane in India's northern Punjab state — started in September. That's when Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced three bills that farmers say will reshape agriculture in the region, and Singh's father and friends joined protests.

One of the bills allows farmers to forge deals with companies to produce a certain amount and to sell their crops directly to private buyers instead of to the Indian government at a regulated price.

Modi's government argues the new laws will bring growth. But smaller farmers like Singh's dad fear that the removal of state protections that they already consider insufficient will leave them at the mercy of greedy corporations.

Singh says his stress peaked two days ago when Modi's government shut down internet in parts of New Delhi where protesters were gathering. Singh lost touch with his father and friends for about two hours as they made their way to India's capital.

"It was really critical hours," Singh said about the wait while protesters on horses and tractors stormed India’s historic Red Fort. They broke through police barricades into the nearly 400-year-old landmark after weeks of peaceful sit-ins and rallies — a deeply symbolic act that revealed their determination in challenging Modi’s government.

"I didn't know where he was. I was worried and praying that hopefully those that I know will not be there in harm," Singh said.

"Then there was a news that there was a death of one of the farmers in the protest and I was sad and couldn't focus on work."

It turned out his father was a few kilometres away and was safe. He has since returned to his farm, away from the protests, Singh said.

Canadian Sikhs with family in India say they are worried about the brewing tension in the country during a global pandemic.

"Sikhs are a significant part of our communities and a lot of our volunteers have family in India. We have volunteers in India as well, who are working with the farmers," Jindi Singh, national director of the World Sikh Organization of Canada, said from his home in Victoria.

"What we've seen is that the police presence has increased exponentially, so there is increased concern about safety."

Since the protests began, videos have emerged of police hitting farmers with water cannons, releasing tear gas and beating them with batons. Negotiations between farmers and the Indian government have been in a deadlock.

In late November, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke in support of Punjabi farmers and said his government had reached out to Indian authorities to highlight concerns.

Canadians must do more to pressure the federal government to continue doing that, said Jindi Singh.

"On a Friday night, if you're having butter chicken and basmati rice, if this morning you got up and you had a turmeric latte, if on the weekend you're going to cook and you're going to use Indian spices ... all of those items have come from an Indian farmer."

Sikhs across Canada have been holding weekly protests in solidarity with the farmers.

"The thing is, we physically are here in Canada, but emotionally we are still in those struggles because, as a son of a farmer, you can feel the pain," Jindi Singh said.

"Agriculture is not a job that we do. Agriculture is also our culture. It's a part of who we are."

— With files from The Associated Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 29, 2021

———

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship