FIGHTING TWO TIER HEALTHCARE
Major appeal decision coming in constitutional challenge to B.C.'s public health-care law

Thu, July 14, 2022 

Dr. Darius Viskontas, left, prepares to remove a cyst from a male patient's knee, with assistance from Dr. Anne Wachsmuth, centre, and Miwa Holm, an operating room registered nurse, at the Cambie Surgery Centre in Vancouver on Aug. 31, 2016. The clinic is at the centre of a constitutional challenge to B.C.'s health-care laws.

 (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press - image credit)

B.C.'s highest court is set to rule this week in an appeal of a landmark decision on a challenge to public health care.

On Friday morning, the B.C. Court of Appeal will release its judgment on the constitutional challenge launched by private health-care advocate Dr. Brian Day, the owner of Vancouver's Cambie Surgery Centre.

Day is appealing a 2020 B.C. Supreme Court decision dismissing his claims that patients have the charter right to pay for private care when wait times in the public system are too long.

Justice John J. Steeves found that while some patients are not receiving care in a timely manner, in violation of their right to security of the person, B.C.'s limits on private health care are justified under the principles of fundamental justice.

In reasons for judgment that run more than 800 pages, the judge said the legislation Day objects to is meant "to preserve and ensure the sustainability of a universal public health-care system that ensures access to necessary medical care is based on need and not on an individual's ability to pay."

Steeves went on to write that introducing a parallel system of private health care would seriously damage equitable access to care.

"Further, the evidence suggests that duplicative private healthcare would increase demand and costs overall while also reducing capacity in the public healthcare system. There is a genuine risk that both the sustainability of the universal public system and equitable access to healthcare would be undermined," Steeves said.

The decision was hailed as a "historic win" for public health care, but Day has long said that he expects to fight all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Health-care system strained across the country

When the appeal court's judgment is made public on Friday, it will land in a very different world from when Day began his legal crusade against the province in 2009.

The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically altered the health-care landscape in B.C., and the strains on the public system have become glaringly obvious.

Recent months have seen a slew of reports from across the province about long wait times for cancer treatment, health-care workers burning out and leaving their jobs and hospital emergency rooms closing because there aren't enough doctors and nurses to staff them.

It's not just a B.C. issue though. Earlier this week, Canada's premiers ended a two-day summit in Victoria by calling on the federal government to sit down with them to discuss the future of health-care funding, as resources across the country are stretched thin.

Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press

Day opened the Cambie Surgery Centre in 1996, billing privately for a variety of different procedures, including orthopedic surgeries, screening colonoscopies and oral and plastic surgery. From 2004 to about 2013, the clinic contracted with health authorities to provide some services through the provincial Medical Services Plan.

Day's legal challenge, filed with four patients as co-plaintiffs, sought to have sections of the Medicare Protection Act declared violations of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The trial lasted 194 days and heard evidence from 17 patients, 36 doctors and 17 representatives of health authorities and the province. A total of 590 exhibits were admitted on the record, including 40 expert reports.

In his 2020 judgment, Steeves wrote that he saw nothing to suggest unrestrained private health care would reduce wait times in the public system.

"There is expert evidence that wait times would actually increase," the judge said. "This would cause further inequitable access to timely care."

He acknowledged that long wait times have caused prolonged pain and suffering for some patients but said a two-tiered system could encourage "perverse incentives and unethical behaviour by healthcare providers" to direct some patients toward private health care.

"There is a real and substantive risk that the public system and its patients would be worse off as a result of allowing duplicative private health care," Steeves wrote.

The B.C. Court of Appeal is expected to post its judgment on the appeal online at about 10 a.m. PT Friday.

Crippling health care staff shortage now top priority for N.W.T. health board

CBC, Thu, July 14, 2022 

Julie Green, the N.W.T. health minister, in the CBC News studio in Yellowknife. Green said Thursday that her department is

As some health centres in the N.W.T. move to emergency-only services and others reduce their levels of service, the heads of the N.W.T.'s health authorities say solving the staffing crisis that's crippling some health services is their top priority.

In an extraordinary statement issued Thursday afternoon, they said they are "deeply concerned" about the "critical situation".

"Across the country, we are seeing health systems calling for help in a growing issue that threatens the ability to provide the care, services and access that people deserve and depend on," they wrote. "This is a problem that needs solutions at every level, nationally, territorially and locally."

On Wednesday, the territorial government announced immediate health service reductions in many communities, as well as in Stanton Territorial Hospital's operating room, which will have emergency-only services between July 18 and 22.

The service reductions are being driven in large part by a shortage of staff across the territory's health system.

Thursday's statement came from Jim Antoine, the chair of the N.W.T. Health and Social Services Leadership Council; Ted Blondin, the chair of the Tłı̨chǫ Community Services Agency; and Brian Willows, the public administrator for the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority.

"We know we need action and solutions now to address the urgent need for health professionals in our communities," the statement reads.

They noted many tools for attracting health workers would need the agreement of other government or stakeholder bodies, and pointed to a special task team they have set up to bring forward immediate recommendations for solutions.

"Immediate and focused collaboration will be the path to solving these issues," they wrote.

Some day-to-day care 'not available'

Speaking with CBC's Loren McGinnis Thursday on The Trailbreaker, N.W.T. Health Minister Julie Green says she hopes the situation won't get worse.

"What we're doing here is really robbing Peter to pay Paul to make sure that Stanton is fully staffed for emergent and urgent care. That has meant, in some cases, pulling in medical staff from other places like the primary health clinic in Yellowknife," Green said.

"There's no question that at this point, in order to make sure we have the emergency care covered, there's some day-to-day care that is not available."

Liny Lamberink/CBC

Green said her department often faces staffing challenges in the summer, but this summer seems to be worse than usual.

"The fallout, I'm sorry to say, is for the residents of the N.W.T., where emergency services in many places are the only services available," she said.

While her department is actively working to recruit doctors and nurses, Green said the worker shortage creates a "vicious cycle" for remaining staff, who have to work harder to cover the gaps in the system. Some have had to consider whether to postpone much-needed holidays; others may need those holidays in order to keep from burning out.

"We don't want people to burn out, we want them to have holidays, but at the same time we need them to work in order to provide the services. So I appreciate it puts people into a real dilemma," Green said.

"They need to make the best choice for themselves."

Looking for solutions

One recent measure her department has taken is paying a premium to locums in order to make the rate more competitive with the rest of the country. The department also continues to hire workers from health care agencies to help increase the size of the workforce.

Green said her department is also looking at whether paramedics could supplement nursing care in health centres — "unconventional approaches to ensure services continue to be provided."

Aside from the staff shortage, Green said the strain on the health care system also appears to be coming from people who put off going for medical attention during the pandemic.

She said she toured Stanton a couple months ago and was told that "people are sicker for longer than before the pandemic" — and though her department is still firming up the data on that, it appears that greater demand for health services is colliding with a decreased ability to meet those demands.

Wednesday's announcement of service reductions are among several recent health care-related shortfalls. Late last month, the laboratory at the Primary Care Centre closed and won't reopen until Sept. 5. That same month, Hay River residents were told to expect intermittent physician services for the summer starting July 5.

It also follows the dramatic, weeks long closure of obstetric care in Yellowknife, which forced dozens of families to leave the territory for births.

The shortage of health care workers is being felt across the country, and the N.W.T. government has developed a task team to come up with some short-term solutions.

A boost to federal health transfers wouldn't be enough for N.W.T., says Premier Cochrane

Thu, July 14, 2022 

Northwest Territories Premier Caroline Cochrane responds to a question from the media on the final day of the summer meeting of Canada's Premiers at the Fairmont Empress in Victoria, B.C., on Tuesday. (Chad Hipolito/The Canadian Press - image credit)

How much would it cost to make Northwest Territories' health-care system comparable to systems in southern Canada? More than an extra $32 million, says Premier Caroline Cochrane.

Canada's premiers met in Victoria this week for the Council of the Federation summit, and strains on the country's health-care systems were a top agenda item.

The premiers called on the federal government to increase the amount of provincial and territorial health-care costs covered by Ottawa through the Canada Health Transfer, from 22 per cent to 35 per cent, in a joint statement released Tuesday.

The Canada Health Transfer is the largest transfer payment the federal government makes to provinces and territories.

In the Northwest Territories, such an increase as suggested by the premiers, would amount to an additional $32 million, Cochrane said at a media briefing Wednesday.

"While this would help support our already struggling health-care system, it doesn't fully address the gaps that currently exist — additional investment from Canada will be required," she said.

It's hard to put a dollar figure on exactly how much more money the N.W.T. needs, especially amid the evolving COVID-19 pandemic, said Cochrane, but "we do need more."

Health and Social Services regularly runs a deficit

The Health and Social Services Department regularly runs a deficit, said the premier.

"I hate to say it but I often call [Health and Social Services] the poor cousin because other departments are diligently trying to make sure they come within budgets, but how do you say no to health care?" she said.

"As cabinet, we all recognize that although they have a budget, that it will be overextended."

The territory estimates that this year, more than $594 million – nearly 29 per cent of its budget – will be spent on health and social services. Close to $54 million is set to come through the Canada Health Transfer.

In their case for increasing federal health-care transfers, the premiers allude to nation-wide health-care staff shortages, a problem the Northwest Territories is all too familiar with.

This summer, a staff shortage forced the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority to cut lab and diagnostic imaging services in Yellowknife, and physician availability in Hay River. The health authority also blamed a staff shortage for the suspension of birthing services at Stanton Territorial Hospital last winter.

Chad Hipolito/The Canadian Press

Staff shortages adding to health care costs, says MLA

Lesa Semmler, MLA for Inuvik Twin Lakes, worked as a nurse, and in other health care roles, in the N.W.T. for 17 years. She said ongoing health staff shortages are costing the territory even more money.

"We have such a shortage in staff that the majority of the staff are always working overtime … and that's something that's not budgeted," she said.

"In my experience in the past, you can't budget for overtime, so it's always just an added expense."

Cochrane said the territory has long struggled to recruit health-care professionals, despite offering attractive salaries and benefits.

The pandemic made things worse, as southern jurisdictions enhanced wages and benefits to draw more health-care workers into their over-burdened systems, chipping away at the N.W.T.'s competitive position.

Cochrane said in response, the territorial government pushed harder to recruit and retain health-care staff, and that this push is now yielding results.

"Just within the last 30 days we're seeing an increase in nurses coming into the Northwest Territories," she said.

"It's a start, but it's something that we're going to have to put a strong focus on, probably for the next couple of years."

Semmler said she hadn't heard about the new nurses, and questioned whether they're permanent or locums.

"Because we've had lots of locum nurses, and that, also, is an extra expense on the health-care system: covering the cost for travel, and the per diems, and all of the other expenses that go along with flying in and out nurses for short terms," she said.

"We need to figure out a way to secure more nurses, and long-term, because the health of the people of the Northwest Territories will only get better when our health practitioners live here and know the people."

Semmler said the ongoing staff shortage isn't the only pressure on the N.W.T.'s health-care system. The territory deals with numerous, exceptional health-care expenses, from medevacs, to medical travel, to out-of-territory long-term care and addictions treatment.

CANADA HEALTHCARE CRISIS

'What century are we in?' Man waited 4 days in Ontario hospital hallway for surgery to fix shattered leg

CBC, Thu, July 14, 2022

Ron Prickett of Sault Ste Marie, Ont., is shown in better days. The 76-year-old broke a femur in a cycling accident, and was on a stretcher in the hallway of Wiarton Hospital for four days, awaiting surgery in London, Ont. (Submitted by Liselle Prickett - image credit)

A 76-year-old man with a shattered leg bone who had been languishing on a stretcher in the hallway of a small-town hospital since Sunday is now getting his badly needed surgery in London.

Ron Prickett of Sault Ste. Marie was in a cycling accident in Sauble Beach. He fell after swerving on a gravel road to avoid a motorcycle and his tire slipped on loose stones.

Prickett was taken by ambulance to Wiarton Hospital, part of Grey Bruce Health Services. He was in excruciating pain in a tiny makeshift room in one of the facility's hallways, with nothing to distract him and no ability to turn the lights on or off.

"I have a fluorescent light over my head that is operated externally down the hall," he told CBC News on Wednesday before learning he's finally been accepted in London. "It's got plastic sheeting on the walls. It's not a proper bed. There's no TV or anything, just bare bones."

On Thursday, Liselle Prickett, Ron's daughter, told CBC News her father was scheduled for surgery in the morning at London Health Sciences Centre.

"I hear that he might be sent back to Wiarton to recover. Let's hope he won't be in the hallway again," she said via text message.

Bed shortage left patient stranded in Wiarton

Prickett feels he should have been transferred on the day of his accident to London Health Sciences Centre, the largest hospital in southwestern Ontario. It has the facilities and surgical expertise he needs to repair his leg — except, he said, a bed shortage in London had prevented him from leaving Wiarton.

Colin Butler/CBC

"It blows my mind that in Ontario, we have these facilities and I can't get a broken bone fixed. I have to lie around with a broken bone in my body for four days," he said Wednesday. "It's so frustrating. I have no control.

"My family is doing as much as they can for me, but there's nothing for them to do. It's all happening in some board room down in London."

A spokesperson for London Health Sciences Centre said the hospital has "been challenged with close to 100 per cent occupancy for months," but did not specify why Prickett was being forced to stay in Wiarton for four days.

Mary Margaret Crapper, chief of communications and public affairs for Grey Bruce Health Services, told CBC News by email on Wednesday that the hospital could not discuss Pricket's case due to "privacy reasons."

She said Wiarton Hospital is "at capacity" and "experiencing staffing shortages," and finding a bed can "take time."

"Those who are waiting in our care for transfer to another facility are closely monitored. We recognize this wait can be stressful for patients and for their families."

Prickett's experience is the latest example of a provincial health system straining under staff shortages and capacity issues, as fed up and underpaid hospital workers quit from the exhaustion of battling the COVID-19 pandemic in an underfunded health system for more than two years.

'Get it done,' says patient to Ford government

Earlier this month, Premier Doug Ford called on the federal government to open its wallet and deliver more health-care spending to the provinces. But Ontario's opposition puts the blame squarely on the premier, arguing his penny-pinching policies caused the problem in the first place.

Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press

Prickett, who was still lying on the same stretcher paramedics brought him on to the hospital on Sunday when interviewed this week, borrowed a well-worn phrase from Ford's recent election campaign to urge politicians to put politics aside and fix the problem.

"Get it done. Support the nurses, support the doctors and monitor it, make it accountable so these things don't happen. What century are we in? It's insane," he said in a recorded telephone message he asked CBC News to deliver to Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones.

CBC News sent the audio message by email to communications staff at the Ontario Ministry of Health on Wednesday.

Anna Miller, a senior communications adviser with the ministry, wrote in an email that the message was passed on to the health minister's office, but it was not made clear if Jones listened to it.

Miller said in the email that the province is making "historic investments," including an additional $3.3 billion to hospitals in 2022-23, to end hallway health care.

HEALTHCARE CRISIS IN CANADA

 New Brunswick

132 ER doctors warned officials last year of 'major risk to patient safety'

Thu, July 14, 2022 

Last August, 132 emergency room doctors warned that an ER crisis, caused in part by staffing shortages, was leading to 'excessively long waits' and was a 'major risk to patient safety.' (Hannah McKay/Reuters/Pool - image credit)

More than 100 emergency room physicians warned Health Minister Dorothy Shephard and the two regional health authorities a year ago about the "major risk to patient safety" at ERs across New Brunswick, a letter obtained by CBC News shows.

The doctors expressed "grave concern" about the "unimaginably long waits and poor outcomes" patients face on a daily basis.

They also accused the Horizon and Vitalité health networks of misleading the public about "high patient volumes" causing the long waits in emergency departments, when volumes were actually starting to return to pre-pandemic levels.

"The current overwhelming combination of staffing shortages, access block and systemic misuse of EDs by our health care system has resulted in a provincial emergency care crisis that none of us have ever seen before," said the letter dated Aug. 26, 2021.

Without urgent intervention, the doctors said, they feared "the complete failure of emergency care services in New Brunswick is inevitable."

The revelation comes after a patient died in the waiting room of the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital's emergency department early Tuesday morning while waiting for care.

Joe McDonald/CBC

Witness John Staples said the man, a senior, had been waiting alone in a wheelchair, in visible discomfort for hours when he appeared to fall asleep. It was only during a routine check of people in the waiting room that a hospital employee realized the man had stopped breathing, he said.

Some people had been waiting at least eight hours, said Staples, and he saw a few people leave without being treated while he was there.

The Horizon Health Network has confirmed "an unexpected patient death took place" and says a review is underway.

Opposition politicians are calling for the resignation of the health minister and an immediate coroner's inquest.

Shortages 'untenable' says medical society

In the six-page letter, the 132 emergency room doctors requested an "urgent focus" on the ER crisis with clear direction and support for innovative solutions and process improvements within both health authorities.

They identify four major issues facing emergency services, in order:

Nursing shortages due in part to high turnover, including a 42 per cent one-year loss at one major ER.

Recruitment and retention of certified emergency physicians.

Keeping admitted patients in the ER while they wait for a hospital bed.

Use of ERs for non-emergency purposes, stemming from poor access to alternatives in the community for unscheduled care.

The Department of Health, Horizon, and Vitalité did not immediately respond to requests for comments, including what, if any, actions were taken to address the concerns and criticisms raised in the letter.

The New Brunswick Medical Society, which was copied on the letter, shares the concerns expressed by the ER doctors, said president Dr. Mark MacMillan.

New Brunswick Medical Society

"The health human resource shortage has reached an untenable point — we need to act immediately and collaboratively with all health-care stakeholders and communities to address the challenges facing the health system," he said in an emailed statement.

MacMillan also offered sincere condolences to the family and loved ones of the patient who died.

"While we can not speak directly to the circumstances involved, losing a patient while they are waiting for care is tragic and concerning," he said.

"We trust the health authority will use its review to learn more about what happened and how to keep this type of situation from occurring again."

Rise in patients leaving without being seen

According to the letter, an increasing number of patients were leaving emergency rooms without being seen or treated last summer.

There were "numerous" days when more than 40 patients left single ERs without being seen. On June 6, for example, 52 patients left the Saint John Regional Hospital's ER, and another 32 patients left the following day, according to the letter.

"A growing number of these patients are deteriorating and returning with serious complications due to delayed assessment."

Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press

Although the public messaging from the regional health authorities on social media attributed ER delays to "high patient volumes and staffing challenges," the average daily attendance numbers were no higher than they were in 2019, according to the doctors.

The number of patients requiring acute care and hospital admission, however, continues to grow, they said.

"Our waiting rooms are full and ambulance stretchers line our corridors waiting to offload patients, many of whom have serious medical problems and will require admission." Some patients wait in hallways for hours, which also ties up paramedics and creates problems for Ambulance New Brunswick providing responses to 911 calls.

'Dangerously overstretching themselves'

Nurse staffing challenges are a "major issue," the doctors said. ER nurses are highly skilled and require years of training, they noted, and some emergency patients require one-to-one nursing.

"When nurse staffing levels drop below required numbers on a shift, emergency assessment beds are forced to close and undifferentiated emergency patients wait longer to be assessed."

The weekend before the letter was written, the shortage of ER nurses in Moncton reached a crisis with only four or five nurses available to cover each shift instead of the usual 15.

Many other ERs had to rely on a "below critical workforce" of one nurse and one licensed practical nurse while remaining fully open, putting patients and themselves "at serious risk," the doctors said.

"This situation is placing enormous pressure on remaining staff, potentially resulting in significant adverse events and further loss of our valuable nursing resources," they warned.

"ED physicians are dangerously overstretching themselves in order to avoid closures, with many having to work shifts of 24 to 36 hours and a weekly hour workload that is triple our norms."

The shortage of ER doctors and nurses forced some ERs to reduce services or even temporarily close during the summer months, they noted — a situation that has occurred again numerous times already this summer.

Many ER beds occupied by admitted patients

Another part of the problem, according to the doctors, is the number of ER beds occupied by patients who have been admitted to hospital but are waiting for a hospital bed.

In Saint John, for example, there are 24 monitored ER beds. In the month prior to the letter being sent, there were frequently more than 20 admitted patients occupying those beds, which are actually examination stretchers and not designed to be occupied for more than a few hours.

Some of the patients remain in the ER for more than three days, which leaves only a handful of monitored beds to see about 100 acute-care patients per day, of which on average 22 will be admitted.

Lengthy ER stays.have been shown to increase the risk of poor outcomes, according to the letter. The "hectic, noisy, brightly lit environment of the ED is not conducive to caring for admitted patients," it said.

Community hospital ERs have had admitted patients stay for weeks, the letter said.

"Emergency departments are designed and staffed to rapidly screen, assess, investigate and treat patients with undifferentiated serious illness and injury."

Patients should be moved out in a timely manner to free up resources to deal with the next patients.

But the ERs have "over time become a failing system's default waiting area, urgent outpatient clinic, discharge lounge, pre- and post-operative care ward, outpatient overflow and extramural extension as well as primary care default access and community elderly care referral centre." the doctors contend.

Nova Scotia model encouraged

They urge the government to follow the lead of Nova Scotia, which had recently introduced a ministerial directive of patient flow and ambulance offloads.

Admitted patients must be moved to inpatient units within 12 hours of registration and ambulance patients must be offloaded within 30 minutes of arrival at an ER. The president and CEO of health authorities must report on adherence on a monthly basis.

"This directive will ensure that hospital administrators prioritize initiatives that improve patient flow in their EDs which have a direct impact on improving patient outcomes," the doctors contended.

They called on the government to provide the appropriate resources to ensure its success.

"None of these issues can be solved by the emergency medicine leadership alone — so we need the help of our colleagues in primary care, inpatient services, hospital administration and government to enable us to provide the emergency services our society expects and deserves.".

Cape Breton-born country star creates fund for LGBTQ youth in rural N.S.

CBC, Thu, July 14, 2022

Country singer Drake Jensen won a Hats Off award in 2012 from Fondation Émergence, an organization working to fight against homophobia and transphobia. (Facebook - image credit)

Growing up LGBTQ in rural Nova Scotia wasn't easy for country singer Drake Jensen, so he created Soaring Eagle Fine Arts Grants to help youth like him who want to be involved in the arts.

The 52-year-old Glace Bay native has partnered with the Rural Communities Foundation of Nova Scotia to support three local initiatives with $1,000 grants announced Wednesday.

"One thing I always wanted to do is help LGBTQ2 people in the arts who have struggled like myself," said Jensen, who is known for breaking down barriers in the country music scene.

Jensen says he knew he wanted to be a country music star at age four after performing Country Roads at his nursery school graduation, but later backlash from the community about his sexuality made it difficult.

Jensen was assaulted for being different, which led him to stop going to school after Grade 8, finally finishing high school in his 40s. The Canadian singer only came out publicly after he toured for a year promoting his first album.

Ann Allain/Corvidae Studio

Since then he has amassed a large following by using his music to bring attention to LGBTQ issues.

"I think it's really important for there to be things out there ... that LGBTQ people can resource because I haven't seen a lot of minority grants for LGBTQ people," Jensen said.

Funding for the arts grants is provided from the profits of his new single Rise Again and donations from fans worldwide.

Pop-up workshops in rural N.S.

The MacPhee Centre for Creative Learning was one of the recipients of the $1,000 grants. The Dartmouth-based facility uses art and creative learning to address social issues for youth in the Halifax area. The grant will allow it to expand services to rural Nova Scotia.

The MacPhee Centre has run three pop-up workshops in the Annapolis Valley and plans to host sessions in Cape Breton later this summer.

The workshops involve making protest posters and quilting to honour those who suffered during the HIV/AIDS crisis. These workshops often involve professional artists who are part of the LGBTQ community.

Submitted by Courtney Connor

"The goal is to have youth to see their queer elders, adults and folks so that they realize the full potential of who they might grow up into," Courtney Connor, the MacPhee Centre's 2SLGBTQ+ project lead said.

2SLGBTQ+ stands for two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning/queer plus.

"We want to show that adult queer and trans lives are livable in their communities."

Pays for supplies

Connor says the pop-up workshops wouldn't be possible without the grant money.

"We need transit, we need gas, we need art supplies and creative supplies," Connor said.

"We also pay our professional artists facilitators, it's really important to us that we are contributing to the arts economy and that we show the youth across the province they can make a living in a creative economy."

Submitted by Courtney Connor.

The two other recipients of initial funding are Mackie's Mobile Studio and the Antigonish Culture Alive.

Jordan Mackie, who is part of the LGBTQ community, provides a portable studio to people across the Maritimes to record from their homes.

Antigonish Culture Alive is using the funding to pair up youth with mentors to get involved in the arts.

Jensen says there will likely be three more grants awarded in the fall and hopes to come talk at schools in rural Nova Scotia in the future. He wants to get other notable LGBTQ in the province involved and hopes further fan donations can help.

"This project is really part of my life's work and I want to continue to grow it for the rest of my musical career."

Cape Breton community pantries struggle to stay stocked amid growing demand, fewer donations

CBC, Thu, July 14, 2022 

Jodi McDavid stands next to a pantry at Wentworth Park in Sydney, N.S. She says the pantries are getting harder to fill as food and fuel prices continue to rise.

 (Brittany Wentzell/CBC - image credit)

Community pantries in Cape Breton that offer free food and other goods are struggling to keep their shelves stocked as the rising cost of groceries leads to a greater demand for the service and fewer donations from Good Samaritans.

"The pantries are getting cleared out a lot," said Jodi McDavid, executive director of Cape Breton Transition House, a shelter in Sydney for women and children.

"There's probably a lot more people accessing them … but on the other hand, I think a lot of people who used to buy extra groceries and support them are no longer able to do that either."

McDavid is part of the Northend Sydney Food Pantry Group on Facebook, which is dedicated to keeping two of the pantries in the north end of Sydney as full as possible.

With more than 500 members, the group is full of posts from volunteers and organizations letting each other know when the cupboards are bare, which seems to be more often than not in recent months.

"I put stuff in ... one on Friday, but there were five people there for food so the stuff didn't last long," wrote one member on June 26. "The fridge was empty and there was only a package of pasta and two cans of some kind of beans."

Statistics Canada said the price of food — everything from fresh vegetables to meat to cooking oil — jumped 9.7 per cent in May compared to the previous year. That matches the rise in April.

A survey released last month by Food Banks Canada found almost a quarter of Canadians reported eating less than they should because of affordability issues.

Waiting for food

Megan Henderson, a nutrition student at Mount Saint Vincent University, is interning at the Better Bite Café and community kitchen. The café, which is located in New Dawn Enterprises, often fills the pantry and community fridge located on site.

On several occasions, Henderson has found people waiting outside for the pantry and fridge to be stocked.

"It's really sad or unfortunate to know that they're here waiting for people to deliver food, and that's crazy to me because we fill it every single day and it's gone every single day," she said.

"That sort of speaks to how often it's used … and how much it's needed."

Brittany Wentzell/CBC

Last Friday evening, Ann Marie Wells was one of the people waiting at the nearby picnic table for Henderson to come out with leftover sandwiches, wraps, cookies, and other goods that were being distributed for free.

"You go in the store with a $20 bill and you're coming out with a few things and you've got nothing," said Wells. "It's unbelievable."

Wells said it was her first time visiting the site. She's been looking for alternatives to Feed Nova Scotia's food box delivery program, which is due to end next month.

The program launched during the pandemic to help people who were stuck at home and couldn't get to a food bank. But last month, Feed Nova Scotia said the program, which cost $2.1 million a year, was no longer sustainable.

"You cannot solve the food insecurity business through food charities. It just can't be done," Nick Jennery, Feed Nova Scotia's executive director, said at the time.

The non-profit has said it will provide additional food and funds to agencies in high-need areas to help fill the gap left by the program.

Anonymity key

Although there are several food banks in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, volunteer Jay Duguid said the community pantries play an important role in the community.

"Food banks give out weekly or biweekly, so people are in between," said Duguid, who is also a member of the Facebook group monitoring the pantries and helps organize food drives.

Besides bridging the gap between when people get food, the pantries are anonymous, which Duguid said is appealing for many people.

"People forget about the working poor, people working on minimum wage that are just struggling to pay rent and oil … they're very proud, and the anonymity is the best part of the program."

Duguid said he is seeing more minimum wage workers accessing the pantries and food drives as well as international students struggling to find work and pay rent.

Brittany Wentzell/CBC

Duguid often purchases items for the pantries himself, but he said he's had to cut back due to the price of groceries.

"I haven't had the resources to do as much as I'd like to do," said Duguid.

Premier Tim Houston said last month that his government was looking at ways to help people struggling with the rising cost of living, but has not yet announced any additional aid.

CANADA
Surprise! These emails about returning CERB payments aren't scams

CBC, Thu, July 14, 2022

Strange-looking emails from Service Canada, stating that recipients had to pay back some of their CERB money, were mistaken by many as a scam. But Service Canada says the emails are legitimate, and those people really must pay up. 

(Christian Milette/Radio-Canada - image credit)

Recipients noticed what seemed like red flags as soon as they opened the emails from Service Canada, demanding repayment of pandemic benefits.

The government logo looked strange, or was broken. The text was grey, instead of the black typically used in official government correspondence. Some were written in French first, followed by English, which to many seemed unusual.

"You were paid more benefits than the amount for first you were eligible," said one such email, seen by CBC News.

There was a link and a 1-800 number.

Some immediately dismissed it as another scam by fraudsters purporting to be from a government agency.

Others discussed the emails online, recounting attempts to get straight answers from Service Canada. One recipient claimed an agent hung up on them when they called to ask.

CBC

On Twitter and Reddit, they said the formatting looked vastly different from government correspondence they'd received in the past. One wrote that the government logo looked "horrible," as if it had been made with the no-frills app MS Paint.

Others thought it was suspicious to be contacted via email, rather than a secure message.

More than 100 people reported the emails to the national fraud watchdog.

But Service Canada says the emails are no hoax, and those who receive them really do have to pay up.

The agency uses the email address in question — EI-AE.ServiceCanada@canada.gc.ca — to contact people about employment insurance and emergency benefits. It has sent 26.2 million emails from that address since March 2020, including emails about the $2,000-per-month Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), which the government launched that month for workers who were laid off or had their hours cut significantly during lockdowns.

It's not clear how many variations of the repayment letter have gone out.

MTPROJECTS/Reddit

Some emails seen by CBC News say recipients must repay a portion of their CERB, but don't state how much.

Recipients are told to call a 1-800 number or click a link to share information "that could modify our decision and impact the amount you owe" within 30 days. After that, the email says, they will receive a letter in the mail detailing their debt and how to repay it.

Service Canada says 1.7 million Canadians have been or will be contacted about debts related to the $2,000 advance payments they received after applying for CERB, because they wound up being ineligible for the full amount.

The agency says people can verify its emails are legitimate by calling 1-800-622-6232.

The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre says it has received 166 reports about the emails since March 2020, which a spokesperson attributed to "large number of scams circulating, and [because] in some cases, it is difficult to know if the email is legitimate or not."

Giordano Ciampini/The Canadian Press

Good to stay vigilant

One expert says Canadians should be extra vigilant about any emails that demand a payment, given how many sophisticated scams are operating in Canada, including multiple scams relating to CERB repayments and Service Canada.

"I think individuals, given just how easy it is for them to be victimized, and all the steps that they have to go through [if their accounts are compromised] are overly cautious in some cases," said Ritesh Kotak, a cybersecurity expert in Toronto.

"Anyone can spoof an email [address] — it looks like it's from a particular individual but it's not, and it's relatively simple to do. And hackers and fraudsters know this."

Kotak says Service Canada should reconsider whether email is the best way to contact people about repayments, when it could send secure messages or letters by mail instead.

"Clearly there are ways that the government can communicate in secure methods, and they should leverage that."

In a statement, a Service Canada spokesperson said the content and format of its emails were informed by privacy, legal and communications experts, and were in line with government policies. The emails sent with French before English originated from its Quebec offices, the agency said.

Asked whether the agency would consider making changes to avoid such confusion, a spokesperson said: "We continuously review client feedback about all of our communications, and this feedback informs the way we exchange information with clients."

H5N1 MOVED FROM BIRDS TO MAMMALS
Avian flu may be killing Quebec harbour seals, scientists say

Thu, July 14, 2022 

Thus far, 12 harbour seals in Quebec have tested positive for H5N1, also known as the avian flu. It would be the first known case in Canada of bird-to-marine-mammal transmission. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press - image credit)

Months after avian flu was first detected in Quebec's birds, it's now affecting a new population: seals.

Quebec scientists say they've found traces of avian flu in dead harbour seals that are washing ashore in the St. Lawrence estuary, a 250-kilometre long ecosystem that runs from just north of Quebec City to the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Stéphane Lair, the Quebec regional director with the Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Health Centre and a wildlife health specialist at the Université de Montréal, said they have noticed a spike in harbour seal mortalities this season compared to previous years.

"This week we got some preliminary results that suggest that this virus is probably the cause," he explained.

Thus far, he said 12 seals have tested positive for H5N1. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is currently validating the results.

According to Fisheries and Oceans Canada, it would be the first known case in Canada of H5N1 being passed from North American wild birds to marine mammals.

Lair said that lesions found on the dead seals' internal organs suggest they are "not just carrying the virus," he said.

"The virus is probably killing these seals," he said.

Sunbathing could be cause

One question is how the seals are getting infected. Lair said they're not sure how it's happening, as harbour seals aren't known to eat birds and ducks — but they have a theory.

"We really think it's just by direct contact," Lair said. "These seals will use rock formations to all hang out. And those are the same rocks where you can find common eiders and other ducks."

If the seals are in close proximity to the carcasses of birds that died of the avian flu, that could explain how they're catching the disease, he said.

Radio-Canada

While it's the first time the avian flu has been reported in Quebec seals, the infection is not without precedent. There have been outbreaks in seals reported in Europe and the eastern United States, including recently in Maine, so it was "not a big surprise" to see it happen here, Lair explained.

It "hopefully" won't affect the area's whales, dolphins and other marine wildlife, because unlike seals, they won't get sick even if they are carrying the virus, he said.

As for the seal population, Lair said it's not the first time they've faced a viral epidemic.

"They'll be able to cope with this. It's going to be most likely associated with the decrease of the population [short-term], but in the long term, they should be okay."

Fisheries and Oceans said thus far, no other known cases of H5N1 in harbour seals have been reported in Canada.

Quebecers who find seal carcasses are advised not to approach or let any household pets, such as dogs, near the dead animal, as it could be potentially infected.

Dead seals should be reported to the Quebec Marine Mammal Emergency Response Network (QMMERN) by calling 1-877-722-5346.

N.B. wastewater data suggests some COVID-19 cases went undetected in 2021

Thu, July 14, 2022

Gen Erjavec conducts COVID-19 wastewater monitoring outside Risley Hall, a residence at Dalhousie University. The City of Moncton has been doing its own COVID-19 wastewater testing in partnership with Dalhousie University since fall 2020. (Submitted by Graham Gagnon - image credit)

Public Health officials have raised questions around whether some COVID-19 cases in New Brunswick went undetected in early 2021, after an apparent mismatch between the amount of COVID-19 appearing in wastewater and the province's own COVID-19 testing.

The wastewater data shows four apparent spikes of COVID-19 in 2021: on Feb. 8, March 18, April 29 and June 28, all times when there were "minimal cases or positive tests" reported and PCR testing was widely offered.

The wastewater testing is conducted by the City of Moncton, which has a partnership with Dalhousie University, and is provided to New Brunswick Public Health. CBC News obtained a copy of the test results, and discussion within the Department of Health about the results, through access to information.

Emails from this past April show health officials tried to find an explanation for the differences in the 2021 data, such as increased occupancy at hotels around March break, a difference in the boundaries between the health zone and the area covered by the wastewater treatment plant, and the role of temporary foreign workers who were quarantining in local hotels.

But they couldn't find an easy answer.

'Things do not seem to be lining up'

"The points that you have mentioned are all things that we have considered, but things do not seem to be lining up," Shannon LeBlanc, the manager of surveillance for the Department of Health, wrote in an April 7, 2022 email.

"We have taken into accounts cases in areas outside of Moncton, and cases among the temporary foreign worker population. It is possible that we had cases that went undetected (how many is not clear)."

Duk Han Lee/CBC News Graphics

No one from Public Health was made available for an interview to explain the apparent mismatch.

In an emailed statement, Department of Health spokesperson Valerie Kilfoil said the government is still assessing the benefits of the wastewater testing pilot in Moncton.

"The materials provided to you should be considered working documents – not a formal surveillance program by the province," Kilfoil wrote.

She didn't provide any explanation about why the data seemed to show some cases of COVID-19 went undetected.

Raywat Deonandan said the province shouldn't dismiss the wastewater results.

"It is so objective, more so than PCR testing, that I think we have to hang our hats on it more confidently," said Deonandan, who is an epidemiologist and associate professor in the faculty of health sciences at the University of Ottawa.

Without widespread random testing, which can capture people who are asymptomatic, Deonandan said it's common to under-detect COVID-19 cases.

"If random testing is not being done, as it isn't anywhere frankly, the PCR testing is not a good indication of the true extent of disease burden," Deonandan said.

"That's why I would err on the side of wastewater data to get a true sense of prevalence, not on PCR testing data."

Most provinces in Canada aren't detecting the full scope of COVID-19 infections because there's not enough testing being done, according to Tara Moriarty, an associate professor and infectious disease researcher at the University of Toronto.

New Brunswick offered widespread PCR testing in early 2021, but PCR tests are now only available to people over age 50 or under age two, people who are pregnant or immunocompromised, or people who work in a vulnerable setting, such as a hospital.

"We tend to prioritize testing for people who are higher risk," Moriarty said.

"So that means that we sometimes do have quite a few more infections than we think, as would be suggested by wastewater data. But we're simply not capturing them because we're not testing enough."

Kilfoil said the province is "no longer seeking to confirm and detect every single case occurring in the province or within specific communities."

Province considering COVID-19 wastewater monitoring

Dalhousie University's Centre for Water Resources Studies has been measuring COVID-19 in wastewater in partnership with the City of Moncton for about 18 months, according to Graham Gagnon, the centre's director.

He said it's not surprising to see a mismatch between the wastewater data and public health's testing data. The two bodies aren't coordinating when collecting their data, so there could be differences in how they're collecting information and reporting it.

CBC

"For the wastewater work that we've done in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, it's been a research scheme, not a public health reporting mechanism," Gagnon said.

"As a result, it was never intended to be coordinated, so you end up with gaps from a wastewater standpoint."

Last month, Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Jennifer Russell said the province is considering implementing COVID-19 wastewater monitoring, but didn't provide any details on who will conduct the testing and whether it will sample the entire province or just certain centres.

Other jurisdictions, such as Ottawa Public Health, post results of their COVID-19 wastewater data online. The federal government also has a COVID-19 wastewater surveillance dashboard, but it doesn't include data from New Brunswick.

Deonandan, the epidemiologist, sees value in sharing wastewater testing data with the public.

"This is the kind of thing that should be made publicly available, because we're in an era now where there's so much distrust of authority, that the only way forward is maximum transparency at all times."

Old computer technology points the way to future of quantum computing


Thu, July 14, 2022 



VANCOUVER — Researchers have made a breakthrough in quantum technology development that has the potential to leave today’s supercomputers in the dust, opening the door to advances in fields including medicine, chemistry, cybersecurity and others that have been out of reach.

In a study published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, researchers from Simon Fraser University in British Columbia said they found a way to create quantum computing processors in silicon chips.

Principal investigator Stephanie Simmons said they illuminated tiny imperfections on the silicon chips with intense beams of light. The defects in the silicon chips act as a carrier of information, she said. While the rest of the chip transmits the light, the tiny defect reflects it back and turns into a messenger, she said.

There are many naturally occurring imperfections in silicon. Some of these imperfections can act as quantum bits, or qubits. Scientists call those kinds of imperfections spin qubits. Past research has shown that silicon can produce some of the most stable and long-lived qubits in the industry.

"These results unlock immediate opportunities to construct silicon-integrated, telecommunications-band quantum information networks," said the study.

Simmons, who is the university's Canada Research Chair in silicon quantum technologies, said the main challenge with quantum computing was being able to send information to and from qubits.

"People have worked with spin qubits, or defects, in silicon before," Simmons said. "And people have worked with photon qubits in silicon before. But nobody's brought them together like this."

Lead author Daniel Higginbottom called the breakthrough "immediately promising" because researchers achieved what was considered impossible by combining two known but parallel fields.

Silicon defects were extensively studied from the 1970s through the '90s while quantum physics has been researched for decades, said Higginbottom, who is a post-doctoral fellow at the university's physics department.

"For the longest time people didn't see any potential for optical technology in silicon defects. But we've really pioneered revisiting these and have found something with applications in quantum technology that's certainly remarkable."

Although in an embryonic stage, Simmons said quantum computing is the rock 'n' roll future of computers that can solve anything from simple algebra problems to complex pharmaceutical equations or formulas that unlock deep mysteries of space.

"We're going to be limited by our imaginations at this stage. What's really going to take off is really far outside our predictive capabilities as humans."

The advantage of using silicon chips is that they are widely available, understood and have a giant manufacturing base, she said.

"We can really get it working and we should be able to move more quickly and hopefully bring that capability mainstream much faster."

Some physicists predict quantum computers will become mainstream in about two decades, although Simmons said she thinks it will be much sooner.

In the 1950s, people thought the technology behind transistors was mainly going to be used for hearing aids, she said. No one then predicted that the physics behind a transistor could be applied to Facebook or Google, she added.

"So, we'll have to see how quantum technology plays out over decades in terms of what applications really do resonate with the public," she said. "But there is going to be a lot because people are creative, and these are fundamentally very powerful tools that we're unlocking."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 14, 2022.