By curating news feeds, people unknowingly group selves online, study finds

People inadvertently create online '"echo chambers" when they curate news feeds to include preferred sources, according to a new study. Photo by Pixelkult/Pixabay

Dec. 6 (UPI) -- People unknowingly group themselves with like-minded others online, fueling political polarization across the United States simply by curating their news feeds, a study published Monday by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found.

In a model of online information spread, when people are less reactive to news, their online environment remains politically mixed, the data showed.

However, when users constantly react to and share articles of their preferred news sources, they are more likely to create a politically isolated network, the researchers said.

By effectively sorting themselves into these polarized networks, they essentially develop "epistemic bubbles," according to the researchers.

RELATED Liberals and conservatives get their news from different sources

"Our study shows that, even without social media algorithms, coverage from polarized news outlets is changing users' social connections and pushing them unknowingly into so-called political 'echo chambers,'" study co-author Christopher Tokita said in a press release.

In these echo chambers, "they are surrounded by others who share their same political identity and beliefs," said Tokita, a data scientist at cybersecurity startup Phylum.

Once users are in these bubbles, they actually miss more news articles, including those from their preferred media outlets, according to Tokita.

RELATED Study: Political polarization often exaggerated, not as strong as people think

Users avoid what they deem as "unimportant" news at the expense of not seeing subjectively important news, Tokita said.

"Whether a user chooses to react to or ignore certain news posts can help determine if their social network will become ideologically homogenous or remain more diverse," he said.

The research adds to existing knowledge of "information cascades," or the process of individuals observing and mimicking the actions of others so that a wide online shift occurs.

This phenomenon is not unlike the collective behavior seen in schools of fish or insect swarms, the researchers said.

Political liberals and conservatives in the United States obtain their news from different sources, earlier research indicates.

Although political polarization has been a problem nationally in recent decades, some studies suggest it may be exaggerated.

For this study, the team built a theoretical model and tested its predictions with data from real social networks on Twitter, examining 1,000 followers of each of four news outlets: CBS News, USA Today, Vox and the Washington Examiner.

To track hints of political ideology and shifting social networks, the researchers used the complete follower network of users to record who followed and unfollowed each other over a six-week period during the summer of 2020, they said.

The follower demographic of CBS News and USA Today was more ideologically diverse than those Vox and the Washington Examiner, which, according to the researchers, tend to provide more politically slanted news coverage, the data showed.

The followers of Vox and the Washington Examiner tended to lose political and ideological diversity among their own online connections faster than those who followed CBS News and USA Today, the researchers said.

In addition, depending on the source, the sharing of viral news stories on social media can lead people to conclude that some of the "friends" they follow are misrepresenting the news as reported by their own preferred outlets, according to the researchers.

When people "unfollow" connections they deem untrustworthy, they effectively curate their online social spheres and unintentionally sort themselves into polarized networks, the researchers said.

Conversely, people who consume and share fake news might be isolating themselves inadvertently from everyone else who follows mainstream sources, they said.

Although online interactions are not solely responsible for the divisive shift occurring in U.S. politics, they have substantially influenced human behavior and relationships, according to the researchers.

Blatant knowledge of political ideology or alignment is not necessary for social networks to become politically segregated for users, they said.

"It's not hard to find evidence of polarized discourse on social media, but we ... show that polarization of online social networks emerges naturally as people curate their feeds," co-author Andy Guess said in a press release.

"Counterintuitively, this can occur even without knowing other users' partisan identities, said Guess, assistant professor of politics and public affairs at the Princeton University School of Public and International Affairs.

TRUE GRIFT

Rep. Devin Nunes to resign, take role as CEO of Trump Media & Technology Group

Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., announced Monday that he will resign from Congress and take a role as CEO of Trump Media & Technology Group, founded by former President Donald Trump. File Photo by Tasos Katopodis/UPI | License Photo

Dec. 6 (UPI) -- Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said Monday he will depart the U.S. House of Representatives early next year to become CEO of a new company founded by former President Donald Trump.

Nunes, who has served in the House since 2003 and is ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence as well as a member of the Ways and Means Committee, said in a statement he would leave office by Dec. 31 to head Trump Media & Technology Group, or TMTG, in January 2022.

"I'm writing to let you know I've decided to pursue this opportunity and therefore will be leaving the House of Representatives at the end of 2021," Nunes said in an emailed statement to constituents. "I will deeply miss being your congressman. It's been the honor of a lifetime to represent you and I thank you for the trust you put in me through all these years."

In a separate statement shared by TMTG, Nunes said he was "humbled and honored" that Trump asked him to take on the executive role.

"The time has come to reopen the Internet and allow for the free flow of ideas and expression without censorship," he said. "The United States has made the dream of the Internet a reality and it will be an American company that restores the dream."

In October, Trump announced the launch of TMTG, a new publicly traded media company.

The company plans to launch a social media network called TRUTH Social in the first quarter of next year followed by a subscription-based video-on-demand service that will feature "'non-woke' entertainment programming, news, podcasts and more."

In a statement Monday, Trump described Nunes as "a fighter and a leader," adding he will make an "excellent" CEO of the company.

"Devin understands that we must stop the liberal media and Big Tech from destroying freedoms that make America great. America is ready for TRUTH Social and the end to censorship and political discrimination," said Trump.

Data proved what Pittsburgh's Black leaders knew: Racial disparities compound COVID-19 risk

By Christine Spolar, Kaiser Health News

Tiffany Gary-Webb, associate dean for diversity and inclusion at the University of Pittsburgh, oversees Black Equity Coalition’s data team.

Photo by Martha Rial/Kaiser Health News

LONG READ

Dec. 7 (UPI) -- Black researchers, medical professionals and allies knew that people of color, even before COVID-19, experienced bias in public health policy.

As the deadly virus emerged, data analysts from Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh, foundation directors, epidemiologists and others pooled their talents to configure databases from unwieldy state data to chart COVID-19 cases.

Their work documented yet another life-threatening disparity between White and Black Pittsburgh: People of color were at higher risk of catching the deadly virus and at higher risk of severe disease and death from that infection.

More than 100 weeks after advocates began pinging and ringing one another to warn of the virus' spread, these volunteers are the backbone of the Black Equity Coalition, a grass-roots collaboration that scrapes government data and shares community health intel.

About a dozen members of its data team of 60 meet twice weekly to study hospitalization rates and employment statistics. Social media advisers turned health equity into a buzzy online effort, with videos and weekly Facebook town halls, to encourage vaccinations. Local ministries are consulted, and volunteers take surveys at pop-up clinics, sponsored by other groups, at barbershops and hair salons. Elected lawmakers seek its counsel.

"We came together because we were concerned about saving lives," said Tiffany Gary-Webb, associate dean for diversity and inclusion at the University of Pittsburgh, who oversees the data effort. "It evolved, with us realizing we can do more than address COVID."

COVID-19 ravaged communities across the United States -- more than 787,000 Americans have died, including Colin Powell, the first Black secretary of state and a decorated Army general -- and laid bare how marginalized populations lose out in the scrum for public health dollars and specific populations were left vulnerable.

Months before the pandemic began, the Rev. Ricky Burgess led the Pittsburgh City Council to declare racism a public health crisis.

"Institutional racism is for real," the councilman said in a recent interview. "You are talking about generational disproportional investment and generational disproportional treatment. And it impacts all that you see."

The COVID-19 pandemic proved how structural inequities have been missed or ignored, Burgess said.

"I've lost friends, family and a lot of church members. My son had COVID. For me, it's personal," he said. "I knew immediately it would have a disproportionate effect."

In 2020, COVID-19 reduced overall U.S. life expectancy by 1.5 years, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Black and Hispanic people fared the worst, losing more than three years in life expectancy. White people saw a 1.2-year drop.

Using county data, the Black Equity researchers found a sobering racial gap in the Pittsburgh area: Black residents of Allegheny County saw disproportionate hospitalization rates -- and were more likely to land in the ICU or on a ventilator -- in the pandemic. Weekly hospitalization rates were higher during surges of infection in April, July and December 2020 and again in March and October 2021. Deaths, too, were disproportionate but fluctuated after December 2020.

For much of the pandemic, death rates were higher for African Americans than for other racial groups, the coalition said.

'It's all a shade of bad'

Kellie Ware has long considered health inequity a deadly problem. She graduated from Pittsburgh public schools, left for law school in Boston, and months before COVID-19 began its global assault, she was working in her hometown mayor's office as an equity and diversity policy analyst.

Ware was at her desk in late 2019 when her phone started ringing. A damning report, compiled by university sociologists and the city's gender commission, had yet again detailed glaring disparities.

The blandly titled report, "Pittsburgh's Inequality Across Gender and Race," jolted emotions in the city of 303,000 people -- and underscored how health disparities track with income.

Among the findings: Black people in Pittsburgh earned far less than their White neighbors and suffered far worse from disease. For every dollar White men earned, the report found, Black women earned 54 cents, making them five times as likely to live in poverty as White men.

With notably higher cardiovascular disease and cancer rates, Black residents' life expectancy was about eight years less than White Pittsburghers'.

The report sparked a furor, which Ware met with perspective shaped over years away from the former steel town. "The report was factual," Ware said, "but I know this: There's not a ton of places where it's great to be a Black woman. Those earnings? It's 54 cents to a dollar for women in Pittsburgh. It's 68 cents nationally. It's all a shade of bad."

The first signs of the pandemic supercharged Ware and others. As COVID-19 devastated New York in March 2020, Karen Abrams, a program officer at the Heinz Endowments, a foundation in Pittsburgh that spends $70 million a year on community programs, began connecting the dots in texts and calls with nonprofits, business owners and university researchers.

COVID-19 spread quickly in dense multigenerational households and in Black neighborhoods in Chicago, Washington, New Orleans and Detroit. Abrams was among the advocates in Pennsylvania who watched county and state health systems race to prepare and who feared that Black residents would be underserved.

In Philadelphia, early on in the pandemic, volunteer doctors in mobile units began distributing protective equipment and COVID-19 tests in Black neighborhoods. In Pittsburgh, Abrams asked tech-minded allies to document the reality of COVID-19 infection in Pittsburgh. "We intuitively knew what was happening," she said. "But without that data, we couldn't target our attention and know who needed the help most."

Within days, volunteers were on daylong rounds of video calls and appealing to county and state bureaucrats for more race-based statistics to bolster their research.

Fred Brown, president of the nonprofit Forbes Funds, and Mark Lewis, who heads the nonprofit Poise Foundation, were stalwarts of a "huddle," a core of longtime advocates who eventually founded the coalition.

Brown emphasized pulling labor statistics to show that the essential workers keeping the city running -- among them nursing homes aides and home care staff -- were overwhelmingly Black or Latino.

Mapping COVID-19 testing centers and analyzing data proved sobering, he said. It turned out that the people most likely to be tested lived in Pittsburgh's predominately White neighborhoods. Largely employed in tech, academia and finance, they could easily adapt to lockdowns. They had round-the-clock Internet at home and could afford food deliveries to limit the chance of infection. Later, they could access vaccines quicker.'

"The communities that had the most tests were the affluent ones," Brown said. And those with the fewest "were the most resilient, the people who had to go out there and work."

Lewis, a certified public accountant who spent years as a corporate auditor, focused on standards. County and state health professionals worked mightily to control the spread of COVID-19 but didn't always gather data to ensure fairness in distribution, he said. "We realized that, as testing was done, it was not being recorded by race," Lewis said. "Why? A lot of the issue was -- at the state and the local level -- there was no requirement to collect it."

Gary-Webb said researchers had a sense of where the inequities would be found because they knew the neighborhoods. They first layered in percentages of Black families in poverty, as well as data on the locations of federally qualified health centers to advise health authorities on where and when to increase testing.

University and nonprofit researchers found anomalies as they worked. For instance, race was noted on some testing data, with patients designated as Black, White or, inexplicably, unknown. The "unknowns" were a significant percentage. So researchers began layering additional census, labor and ZIP code data, to identify neighborhoods, even streets, at risk.

The ZIP code data took months to shake loose from state databases, largely because government software was slow in the fast-moving pandemic and government data was not updated regularly or formatted in ways that could be easily shared.

Their efforts paid off: The group was able to winnow down Allegheny County records that omit race to 12% of positive COVID-19 cases; 37% of statewide records are missing race details, the coalition reported.

Robert Gradeck, who manages the Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center, a nonprofit data collaborative, said COVID-19 should play a lasting role in improving public health reporting. "We kept thinking: What can we learn from this?" Gradeck said. "It's not that you can't answer questions. But you can answer only part of them."

Among the top recommendations to health authorities: Adopt software practices to ensure that race and other demographic data must be entered into electronic records. And then refine how to share data among counties, states, research institutions and the public.

The coalition attracted support in monthly calls with state Health Secretary Rachel Levine, recently sworn in as a four-star admiral in charge of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, which responds to health crises on behalf of the federal government.

"I thought what they did was critically important," Levine said, noting that officials recognized the coalition's research as revelatory. With "a diverse group of professionals, they were able to use and collect data in a very effective way."

Their early research found the COVID-19 rate among Black people in Allegheny County, which encompasses Pittsburgh, was three times the rate of White people. Hospitalizations among Black people have been as high as seven times the rate of White people, according to "Missing Our Shot," the coalition's 2021 report.

Vaccine clinic campaign stop

Ed Gainey, a state legislator from Pittsburgh, was among the first politicians to say African Americans in his hometown were missing out on COVID-19 protections. Last month, Gainey was elected the city's first Black mayor, after winning a primary, within months of the murder of George Floyd, that pointed to inequities in healthcare and policing.

A Democrat who worked for two Pittsburgh mayors, Gainey admits he and other Black elected officials were somewhat ill-equipped in the first weeks of the pandemic.

"I fought hard to get the vaccine into the community last year, but I really didn't know the language -- the health language -- to be able to get it," Gainey said during an interview at a pop-up vaccine clinic in the city.

Vaccinations have risen because of community efforts, he said, but children are still a source of worry. Gainey, who grew up in a low-income housing complex, said he understands when some youngsters shrug when asked about COVID-19 risks. "But I will tell you I know this: If you can make a kid believe in Santa Claus, you can make them believe in the vaccine. And you know, I understand some of the young kids' reluctance. I didn't grow up going to the doctor regularly either," he said. "I came from the same kind of environment."

As the 2019 report made clear, many of the benefits of Pittsburgh's tech-based economy -- a vaunted "ed-and-meds" renewal against the industrial decline of the 1980s -- still was largely bypassing African Americans.

The first year of COVID-19 was an iterative process of trying to stay ahead of the virus. Gary-Webb, who earned a doctorate from Johns Hopkins' public health school, said it was also a time for Black residents to be heard about what they knew and saw in their neighborhoods.

The coalition, sustained by thousands of volunteer hours, attracted some funding earlier this year, notably for outreach and to pay for running datasets. Last month, the Poise Foundation was approved for a three-year, $6.99 million grant, federal money to be administered by the state health department to support an array of health partnerships in the region and, notably, to improve COVID-19 vaccine uptake in ZIP code areas the Black Equity Coalition identified as vulnerable. Among its goals: demographic messaging, data analysis on COVID-19 testing and education outreach in dozens of counties.

Gary-Webb counts herself among a group of "boomerang" Pittsburghers who have lived other places -- in her case, Baltimore, New York and Philadelphia -- and COVID-19 has helped them recalibrate how Black residents can participate in public health.

As she put it: "The health planners were saying, 'Help us get out the message.' We said, 'No, we are not just getting out the message. We want to be talking about equity at the same time.'"

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

MEDICARE FOR ALL

Death rates declined in states that expanded Medicaid in 2014, study shows

By HealthDay News

States that expanded Medicare in 2014 under programs of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, have seen declines in their death rates, according to a new study. Photo by TBIT/Pixabay

In a sign that the expansion of Medicaid has really worked, new research finds that death rates have declined in states that expanded the public health insurance program.

Medicaid expansion began in 2014 as part of the Affordable Care Act -- also known as "Obamacare" -- and has provided health coverage for an additional 12 million Americans. Expansion is optional, and nearly one-quarter of states have not yet expanded access to Medicaid.

In this study, researchers at the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine assessed the impact of Medicaid expansion by analyzing 2014 to 2018 data from 32 expansion states and 17 non-expansion states.

Medicaid expansion was associated with nearly 12 fewer deaths per 100,000 U.S. adults annually, and expansion may lead to an overall 3.8% decline in adult deaths each year, according to the study published this month in The Lancet Public Health journal.

"We found that Medicaid expansion exerts an influence on mortality rates - and the magnitude of benefit is correlated with the magnitude of expansion," said lead researcher Dr. Brian Lee. He is an assistant professor of clinical medicine at the Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles.

Medicaid expansion-related declines in deaths varied by state and by disease.

"The reduction in all-cause mortality was most associated with the number of women and non-Hispanic Black residents in each state. States that have chosen not to expand [Medicaid] have higher proportions of poor and Black residents, so they may have the most to gain from adopting Medicaid expansion," Lee said in a university news release.

RELATED  ACA slowed healthcare out-of-pocket spending growth, study says

"We showed that Medicaid expansion led to fewer cardiovascular and respiratory deaths, which makes sense: More access to specialty care and prescription drugs likely means fewer deaths related to chronic diseases," Lee explained. "At the same time, the data reveal that expanding Medicaid did not impact cancer-, infection- or opioid-related deaths, which may not be as influenced by preventative care."

The findings could help guide health-related policy decisions, the researchers suggested.

"Continued Medicaid expansion may be a tool for policymakers to address ongoing wealth- and race-disparities, providing a ladder to improved health outcomes and social mobility for these underserved populations," Lee said.

RELATED ACA's Medicaid expansion helped find undiagnosed cases of HIV

More information

Find out more about Medicaid expansion at HealthCare.gov.

Copyright © 2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

COLD WAR 2.0

Spy agency warned Trudeau China's media tactics becoming more 'sophisticated ... insidious'

Catharine Tunney 

© Kazuhiro Nogi/pool via Reuters China's President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attend a working session at the G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan on June 29, 2019.

As Canada's spy agency warns that China's efforts to distort the news and influence media outlets in Canada "have become normalized," critics are renewing calls for Ottawa to take a far tougher approach to foreign media interference.

The warning is contained in briefing documents drafted for Canadian Security Intelligence Service Director David Vigneault in preparation for a meeting he had with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earlier this year.

That meeting focused on the rise of foreign interference in Canada — something CSIS says has become "more sophisticated, frequent, and insidious."

One way foreign states — including the People's Republic of China (PRC) — try to exert pressure on other countries is through media outlets, say the documents, obtained through an access to information request.

"In particular, PRC media influence activities in Canada have become normalized," it reads.

"Chinese-language media outlets operating in Canada and members of the Chinese-Canadian community are primary targets of PRC-directed foreign influenced activities."

CSIS spokesperson John Townsend said foreign states target both mainstream media outlets — print publications, radio and television programs — and non-traditional online outlets and social media channels to pursue their goals.

"Mainstream news outlets, as well as community sources, may also be targeted by foreign states who attempt to shape public opinion, debate, and covertly influence participation in the democratic process," he said.

"Considering Canada's rich multicultural makeup, foreign states may try to leverage or coerce individuals within communities to help influence to their benefit what is being reported by Canadian media outlets."
China has an effective influence network, report finds

It's a tactic former Conservative MP Kenny Chiu said he knows all too well. He said he was targeted during the recent federal election by a misinformation campaign run through Chinese language media outlets and social media.

"If that's the normal behaviour, then we should really become concerned," he said.

Chiu said he was attacked online as anti-Chinese after introducing a private member's bill that would require agents of foreign governments to register and report on their activities. He lost the B.C. riding of Steveston-Richmond East to Liberal Parm Bains by almost 3,000 votes.

"I just felt, first of all, very sad. I feel ridiculous. I feel sad because some of my fellow Canadians of Chinese descent, why would they even believe in this information?" he said.

Earlier this year, Alliance Canada Hong Kong — an umbrella group for Hong Kong pro-democracy activists in this country — released a report alleging the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) runs a sophisticated network that inserts Beijing-friendly narratives into various media outlets.

The report says China has been exploiting a lack of oversight in short-staffed newsrooms to push the party line abroad.

It says China sometimes pushes those narratives in the open — through sponsored posts or advertorial inserts written by Chinese party-state media — while groups closely tied to Chinese authorities buy digital or print ads parroting party rhetoric.

"It's meant to portray that it's indicative they're the group that speaks on behalf of all Chinese folks, all the Canadian Chinese, which is just not true," said Ai-Men Lau, an adviser with Alliance Canada Hong Kong.

China also uses its toehold in Canadian ethnic Chinese media to keep journalists in line, she said.

"For years, reporters in ethnic media are often required to self-censor themselves or face uprisings. We've seen journalists being fired. If they take a certain line, they don't get their columns posted anymore in ethnic media," she said.

Alliance Canada Hong Kong's report says Beijing influences voices in mainstream media outlets as well.

"In the mainstream media, vocal supporters wooed through elite capture deliver Beijing's messages in op-eds and media appearances, helping to sway popular perceptions," says the report.

The CSIS briefing note said a number of countries (their names are blacked-out in the note) work to undermine Canada's political processes at the federal, provincial and municipal levels, and within Indigenous governments.
'Persistent targeting' ongoing says CSIS

The heavily redacted document says that politicians and party riding associations are targeted by these foreign influence operations, along with members of Chinese-Canadian communities.

Earlier this year, CSIS reported that foreign states were looking to bribe or blackmail voters and politicians. That same report said some such operations also rely on flattery, money and even romantic entanglements to push their agenda.

Ai-Men Lau said she expects to see China's harassment of dissidents abroad continue.

"You see out of Hong Kong, people are leaving and they're leaving because of the national security law. It's kind of like baggage — whether you want it or not, it follows you," she said.

"So that's something that I think Canadian officials or decision makers and policymakers and politicians need to think of when we talk about addressing these issues ... It's going to stay with us for a while."

Townsend said CSIS is reaching out to communities under pressure.

"While I cannot speak in detail about the specifics of our assessments and investigations, I can say that CSIS has observed persistent targeting of specific communities here in Canada, both in person and through the use of online campaigns, by foreign state actors," he said.

'Sunlight' policy needed: Vigneault

In his meeting with Trudeau, Vigneault said Canada has a role to play in calling out media influence tactics in public.

"Canada can make use of a policy that is grounded in transparency and sunlight in order to highlight the point that foreign interference should be exposed to the public and clandestine practices are not equivalent to public diplomacy," the CSIS briefing documents said.

"Various state actors are currently using foreign interference activities with limited impunity to undermine Canada's interests."

Chiu said he wants to see a stronger approach from the federal government.

"The Chinese government controls WeChat, has a monopoly on many Canadians' lives and their ears and their brains ... we need to find a solution to that," he said.

"We also need to monitor and make sure that our regulators ... make sure that ... broadcasters and the commentators are held responsible for this information they help spread, especially during the election or before the election."

Ai-Men Lau also called for more oversight to make sure China isn't manipulating media and threatening journalists.

CSIS said it recently increased its investigative efforts and triggered threat reduction measures — a term referring to its broad legal powers to reduce threats to the security of Canada.

The main restriction on CSIS's threat reduction powers is that the service can't intentionally — or by criminal negligence — cause death or bodily harm, violate sexual integrity or willfully obstruct justice.

Canadians launched hundred of wireless and internet complaints against telecom giants to watchdog: report

Increasing numbers of Canadians are lodging complaints against telecom providers for the services they offer, according to the annual report published by the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS).

© Provided by MobileSyrup 

Canadians launched hundred of wireless and internet complaints against telecom giants to watchdog: report

MobileSyrup 

20 hrs ago

When a customer and telecom or TV service providers have a dispute they can’t resolve, consumers have the option to go to the CCTS for further assistance. Between August 2020 and July 2021, the CCTS accepted 17,000 complaints from Canadians over internet, phone, and TV services.

This is a nine percent increase from the year prior, largely driven by the increase in complaints about internet services.

More than 42,000 issues were examined, as one complaint can have a number of issues. 10 brands received more than 80 percent of the complaints.

The most complained about category was wireless services. Disclosure issues were the leading complaint for this service, occurring nearly 6,000 separate times. The report states disclosure is breached when information isn’t clearly provided.

Bell has the most disclosure issues with 1,487 complaints. This was a 34 percent decrease from last year. Rogers had 944, a 24 percent increase. The biggest increase was Videotron, at 75 percent with 770 issues.

The second most complained about category is the internet. Quality of service was the leading issue, with 2,532 complaints, likely because of the world’s increasing dependence because of pandemic

TV was in third place, and for the second time in the last three years, had seen a decline in complaints. Incorrect charges were the leading issue, with 827 complaints, a 12 percent decrease from the year prior.

Bell represented 20 percent of all complaints, an eight percent decrease from the year prior. Rogers was in second with 13.9 percent, Fido in third with 10 percent, and Telus in fourth with seven percent complaints.

Nearly 9 out of every 10 complaints, or 88 percent, were resolved by the CCTS. However, 23 percent of complaints lead to a full investigation where service provider conduct was examined.

This is measured in four aspects: wireless code for mobile wireless services, deposit and disconnection (D&D) code for home phones, television service provider (TVSP) for subscription TV services, and the internet code for all fixed internet services provided by the largest 10 internet providers.
Wireless code

This aspect guards the rights and obligations of customers with contracts in wireless voice and data services.

After investigations, this category was confirmed to have 96 breaches, a 48 percent

decrease from the year prior.

The report notes this is driven by a specific decline from Telus-owned Koodo. Last year the provider had 101 breaches of the wireless code and this year it only had four.

The biggest year-over-year change was seen in the “clarity” section. This occurs when a service provider fails to provide accurate information when communicating with customers. There were 14 confirmed breaches. In the year prior, there was only one.

The most breaches were seen in the “contracts and related documents” section, with a total of 29 complaints.

Bell had the most wireless code breaches with a total of 29. They had 27 last year.

Rogers also saw an increase, with 25 breaches this year, compared to 17 last year.

Freedom Mobile had the biggest year-over-year increase (400 percent) with a total of five complaints.

Fido, Telus, and Koodo all saw a decrease in this section.
Internet code

This was the first full year of the CCTS examining the Canadian Radio Television and Telecommunications Commission’s (CRTC) internet code.

It ensures people are informed of their rights and responsibilities, and understand the contracts, plans, and promotions internet providers bring forward.

There were 18 confirmed breaches of the code this year: 14 from Bell, and one each from Eastlink, Rogers, Shaw and Virgin Plus.
TVSP code

This code focuses on helping Canadians understand service agreements and applies only to residential customers.

In total there were five confirmed breaches, a decrease from the seven reported last year. Bell and Videotron had two breaches each and Rogers had one.
D&D code

This specifically applies to consumers who use home phones. The code aims to provide protection in the event a telecom company cuts off service.

Five confirmed breaches were reported. Three of these came from Bell and two from Comwave.

“We encourage providers to continue listening to consumers and actively work with their customers to fix problems as they arise. When they are unsuccessful, we are here to help consumers resolve disputes with their service provider,” Howard Maker, commissioner and CEO of CCTS, said in a statement.

Source: CCTS

Canada indigenous visit to Vatican postponed over Omicron fears


Children's shoes and stuffed animals sit on the steps as a tribute to the missing children of the former Mohawk Institute Residential School, in Brantford, Canada, November 9, 2021 (AFP/Cole Burston)

Tue, December 7, 2021

A Canadian indigenous delegation announced Tuesday it is postponing a trip to the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis to discuss abuses at church-run residential schools, due to Omicron fears.

"Particularly for many elderly delegates as well as those who live in remote communities, the risk of infection and the fluid nature of the evolving global situation presents too great a threat at this time," the group said in a statement.

Along with Canadian bishops, the Assembly of First Nations, Metis National Council and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami said they hoped to reschedule the visit "to the earliest opportunity in 2022."

Pope Francis has also said he would visit Canada at an unspecified date as the Catholic Church seeks to rebuild bridges with the country's indigenous communities after more than 1,300 unmarked graves were discovered at three schools attended by indigenous children as part of a government policy of forced assimilation.

Some 150,000 Indian, Metis and Inuit children were enrolled from the late 1800s to the 1990s in 139 of the residential schools across Canada, spending months or years isolated from their families, language and culture.

Many were physically and sexually abused by headmasters and teachers, and thousands are believed to have died of disease, malnutrition or neglect.

A truth and reconciliation commission concluded in 2015 the failed government policy amounted to "cultural genocide."

amc/to

Anti-mask, anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist among 3 arrested during demonstration at West Edmonton Mall

CBC/Radio-Canada 

© Getty Images The West Edmonton Mall's mask mandate is in accordance with the city's mask bylaw. There are few exceptions where people can be inside the mall without a mask.

An Ontario-based anti-mask and anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist, his wife and a third person were arrested Saturday, as a result of an anti-mask demonstration at the West Edmonton Mall, police say.

Chris Saccoccia — who goes by Chris Sky — organized a demonstration where people would shop for toys at the mall for a Christmas toy drive, without wearing masks, regardless of vaccination status.

All mall-goers have to wear a mask when inside, with very few exceptions, in accordance with the City of Edmonton mask bylaw.

The Edmonton Police Service knew of the planned anti-mask demonstration, according to an EPS news release issued Saturday.

Saccoccia was already wanted on several outstanding warrants, including uttering threats and public mischief, police say. But he and his wife, Jennifer Saccoccia, were arrested Saturday regarding an injunction banning them from the West Edmonton Mall.

A third person was also arrested for breaching the injunction, police say.

All three people will remain in custody until they speak to the charges in Court of Queens Bench Monday morning, police s

B.C. First Nations concerned with provincial logging process


(ANNews) - First Nations in B.C. are concerned with the government’s old-growth deferral process, believing that the province isn’t doing enough to protect forests.

In November, the government approached First Nations with 26,000 square kilometres of old-growth forests at risk of loss of permanent biodiversity. They then gave the First Nations 30 days to decide if they supported logging deferrals in those areas.

Many Indigenous people, including the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, believe that 30 days is not enough time to make such a decision, as Grand Chief Stewart Phillip said it was a “critically important discussion.”

“The issue of old growth is, in many ways, the metaphor for the absolute neglect of the forest lands in B.C. for the last 50 years,” said Phillip.

“The forest industry itself has traditionally been the piggy bank for the provincial government, no matter what political stripe, they may be."


Supporters of the First Nations believe that the government actions are not consistent with free, prior and informed consent, which is a major aspect of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples — legislation that passed in B.C. in 2019.

Elected chairperson of the Squamish Nation, Khelsilem, said that 97 per cent of all old-growth forrest have been logged in Squamish territory.

Asking for consent to defer, but not asking for consent to log, is a total about-face and a misalignment on (the province’s) values when they say they want to partner with First Nations and they want to respect Indigenous rights,” Khelsilem said.

Jacob Cardinal, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Alberta Native News

The First Nation opioid crisis In Canada

(ANNews) – In 2020, Canada’s chief medical health officer Dr. Theresa Tam released a report detailing the state of public health and the worsening opioid crisis amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report said the reason for the increase in opioid-related deaths was because of the amount of fentanyl in illegal drugs — with extreme concentrations of fentanyl being found in 14 per cent of opioid deaths.

Now a year later, the crisis has only gotten worse.

Ontario

In late November 2021, the Chiefs of Ontario, in collaboration with the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network, released two reports documenting the increase in opioid-related poisonings during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the need to address the opioid-crisis in regards to First Nations communities.

The amount of opioid-related deaths in the province has more than doubled during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Chiefs of Ontario attributed the rise in opioid-related poisonings to the growing presence of fentanyl in the unregulated drug supply and the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The COVID-19 pandemic emerged amid an opioid crisis in our communities. The findings in these reports reinforce what First Nations leadership, families and communities have been demanding for decades,” said Ontario Regional Chief Glen Hare. “More needs to be done, and we must act now.”

“First Nations have been disproportionately affected by the overdose crisis. The use of opioids and other substances continues to surge during the COVID-19 pandemic, producing conditions that further increase overdoses and deaths,” said Regional Chief Hare.

The reports note that 116 First Nations people died due to opioid poisoning between March 2020 and March 2021, compared with 50 people in the previous year.

That’s a 132 percent increase, compared to a 68 percent increase of opioid-related deaths among the rest of the population in the province.

First Nations people were identified in the report using the Indian Registry System database, which includes people who are eligible for Indian Status under the Indian Act.

Neither the Ontario Ministry of Health or Indigenous Services Canada have provided a comment.

The Rest of Canada

However, opioid usage and poisonings have been felt nationally, especially in Western Canada, with the provinces of B.C. and Alberta seeing an increase in opioid-related deaths in the recent past.

Now Saskatchewan and the Yukon have begun seeing an increase as well.

The Saskatchewan coroner’s service recently released statistics outlining opioid-related deaths in the province. So far in 2021, there have been a total of 364 suspected and confirmed drug-related deaths.

In 2020 there were 330.

As for the Yukon, the territory reported alarming opioid death statistics in September, claiming that 14 overdose deaths have occurred since Jan. 1.

Yukon’s chief coroner Heather Jones said of the 14 deaths that occurred this year, six people were First Nations.

All of the 14 deaths “involved opioids in various formats of fentanyl and in combination with other illicit drugs and/or alcohol,” the report said.

“More and more Yukon families are being left with a devastating reality found in the wake of these lost lives.

“This is a pain that is now close to so many of us.”

, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Alberta Native News

Alberta government firm on recovery-oriented care as province on track for deadliest year for drug poisonings

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Province announced 8,000 addiction treatment beds have

been funded annually since 2019 promise of 4,000

CBC News · Posted: Dec 04, 2021 5:26 PM MT | Last Updated: December 5

The newly funded treatment spaces include 2,184 spaces annually at Alpha House Society in Calgary. (Calgary Alpha House Society/Facebook)

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Mike Ellis announced Saturday the Alberta government has doubled the number of addiction recovery beds that it promised in 2019 would be funded.

They also encouraged people to use an app, the Digital Overdose Response System, that they hope will help dispatch ambulances to people overdosing in their homes. It is already in use in Calgary, Edmonton and surrounding communities.

Alberta is on track for its deadliest year on record for fatal drug poisonings. As of August, more than 1,000 people had died from drug poisonings. Just less than 1,300 people died in 2020, which was the highest single-year total so far.

Ellis says there is no one answer to the crisis.

• Fatal drug poisonings top 1,000 as Alberta on track for deadliest year on record

"We're exploring a lot of options, but right now we are completely focused on recovery," he said.

In 2019 the government announced funding for 4,000 new annual treatment spaces that those struggling with addiction can access without fees. Kenney said the government has doubled that goal, making 8,000 beds available each year instead.

• Financial hurdle gone: Alberta first province to eliminate fees for addiction recovery programs

He also announced Saturday an integrated software to connect different recovery facilities across the province that will be launched in 2022.

Focus remains on recovery-oriented care

Kenney said a lack of access to recovery services is "unacceptable."

"The bottom line is this: if a single-minded focus on so-called harm reduction, including so-called safe supply, really worked, then how do we explain the total disaster of the Downtown Eastside in Vancouver?"

Lori Sigurdson, NDP critic for addictions and mental health, said in a statement that though more addiction recovery beds are a good thing, there should be more emphasis put on harm reduction services, such as supervised consumption sites.

• Alberta government to close Calgary's supervised consumption site, replace it with new locations

• At Canada's former busiest supervised consumption site, anxiety over what comes next

"The government's response to this crisis cannot be measured in beds opened or dollars spent, but must be measured by lives saved," said Sigurdson. "By that measure the UCP's failure is a tragic one."

She said Kenney has mischaracterized harm reduction services, stigmatizing people who need to access them.

JUNKIES ONLY HAVE THEMSELVES TO BLAME 

"We don't think facilitating deadly addictions is the safe or responsible approach," said Kenney Saturday about pushes for safe supply.

Trust needed for people to use app for overdoses: health policy expert

The majority of drug users are in their own homes in the suburbs, not at safe consumption sites, Ellis said.

He and Kenney encouraged people to use the Digital Overdose Response System app, which has a timer that is set before a person uses a drug. If a person doesn't respond within a certain time after the timer goes off, an ambulance is dispatched to their home.

Concerns about privacy or police showing up might stop some people from using the app, though, said Elaine Hyshka, an assistant professor at the University of Alberta's School of Public Health.

"What we've seen in other jurisdictions that have had these apps for much longer, like British Columbia, is that they're useful for some people but they're not really widespread — there isn't widespread uptake," Hyshka said.

"It's not a bad thing to have an app. I actually think it's really important to try new things we haven't done before to get on top of the situation, but we just have to do a lot of due diligence to ensure it works well for people."