Replacing Canada's crumbling water, road infrastructure would cost more than $300B: Statistics Canada

ITS NOT A COST ITS AN INVESTMENT

CBC
Mon, October 21, 2024 

Workers stand in a flooded street after a water main break in Montreal on August 16, 2024. (CBC / Radio-Canada - image credit)


It would take hundreds of billions of dollars to replace Canada's crumbling road and water systems, says Statistics Canada.

On Monday, the national statistics agency released the results of a 2022 survey of government agencies responsible for public infrastructure. Statistics Canada estimates that it would take $356.7 billion to replace road or water systems the survey says are in "poor" or "very poor" condition.

That cost estimate has jumped by more than $100 billion since 2020, the first year the survey was conducted.


The agency defines "very poor" items of infrastructure as those posing a public health or safety hazard and needing immediate replacement of "most or all of the asset." It defines infrastructure in "poor" condition as items that need "substantial work" but do not pose an immediate health or safety risk.

Water infrastructure — which includes drinking water, wastewater and stormwater pipes — has become a key area of concern due to widespread flooding over the past year.

Record-breaking rainfall in North Vancouver overwhelmed the stormwater system over the weekend, causing significant flooding across the district.

A major water main break in Montreal in August triggered flooding and a boil-water advisory. Calgary declared a state of local emergency in June and called on residents to cut their water consumption after the city's main water feeder pipe failed.

Major storms that caused massive floods in the streets of Toronto this summer raised questions about whether city infrastructure is built to withstand heavy rainfall.

The Statistics Canada survey suggests that more than a tenth of Canada's water systems are considered to be in "poor" or "very poor" condition. It estimates that replacing those systems would cost $106.5 billion.

But the agency notes that 29,000 kilometres of new water pipes were installed between 2020 and 2022 — an average of 9,700 km per year — to keep up with record high population growth.

"These distances of pipes were added at a faster pace than the 57,576 km installed from 2010 to 2019 (5,758 km per year) and the 72,015 km installed from 2000 to 2009 (7,202 km per year)," Statistics Canada said.

It would take $250.2 billion to replace road infrastructure considered to be in "poor" or "very poor" condition, the survey suggests. Statistics Canada includes bridges, tunnels, public transit systems, sidewalks and bike paths in its road infrastructure calculation.

But the agency is warning that 17 per cent of public transit infrastructure and 42 per cent of "active transportation assets" — which include bike paths and sidewalks — were in unknown condition.

Local and regional governments oversee the vast majority of road infrastructure, Statistics Canada said.

The agency estimated it would take $2.6 trillion to replace all of Canada's road and water infrastructure, including the systems that are considered to be in good condition.

MLAs highlight use of traditional knowledge in N.W.T. firefighting efforts

CBC
Mon, October 21, 2024 

A wildfire burning near Hay River, N.W.T., in September 2023. The territory's director of forest management services said fire detection will mostly rely on technology rather than staff in towers. (NWT Fire - image credit)


While it's been done in the past, the N.W.T. won't be relying on staff in towers to detect fires on the landscape.

That's according to Mike Gravel, the director of the N.W.T. government's forest management division.

His comment was in response to Dehcho MLA Sheryl Yakeleya during a committee meeting Monday to discuss the Department of Environment and Climate Change's response to the 2023 wildfire season.


Yakeleya said she'd like to see a return to the use of towers as a detection method.

Dehcho MLA Sheryl Yakeleya first brought forward the motion calling for a public inquiry in 2023.

Dehcho MLA Sheryl Yakeleya said having staff in towers to detect fires is more reliable, in her opinion. (Julie Plourde/Radio-Canada )

Gravel, however, said there's been an industry-wide shift away from the practice because of safety concerns.

"Fortunately in the Northwest Territories, we have not had serious accidents or fatalities," he said. "Not us, but in this industry, we've had tower people that were killed by bears at their sites. We've had people fall while climbing up the ladder and hanging there suspended in air. It's also with risk."

He explained that wildfire detection is moving toward the use of technology, which is available "24/7."

"Having people in remote sites is probably not a direction we're going to go towards that I can see," he said. "The way we hope to go with the technology is, every single town has cameras around them providing views of any potential fire."

Traditional knowledge plays 'big role': minister

The question was part of a larger conversation around the use of Indigenous traditional knowledge in fighting fires and forest management.

"Traditional knowledge plays a big role in how we fight fire in the Northwest Territories," said Jay Macdonald, minister of Environment and Climate Change. "Over the last number of years … it was noticeable that you could see we were starting to lose that traditional knowledge."

That realization, he said, was especially apparent during the 2023 season when he said there were fewer experienced firefighters in the territory to rely upon.

The after-action review report also highlighted how some staff served in roles for which they had insufficient training.

Now, he said the department is working on additional training and knowledge-transfer for staff "to ensure that remains a strong part of the program."

Jay Macdonald, the territory's minister of environment and climate change, in the fall of 2023.

Jay Macdonald, the territory's minister of environment and climate change, in the fall of 2023. During Monday's committee meeting he said the department is working to have better training to transfer traditional knowledge. (Liny Lamberink/CBC)

Monfwi MLA Jane Weyallon Armstrong said Indigenous communities are willing to help fight fires.

"Indigenous people love their land," she said. "If they have the resources, they will take preventative measures to put it out as soon as it started."

Gravel said the department is also considering mitigation measures that draw upon traditional knowledge: controlled (or prescribed) burns around communities.

"There's opportunities to reintroduce cultural burning," he said. "Indigenous people long used fire as a tool on the landscape, prescribed fires in and around communities to remove the risk and to have a fire in a controlled state rather than that uncontrolled state."

He added that some communities have reached out to the department interested in doing those controlled burns.

"Carrying out prescribed fire around a community obviously requires a lot of planning, a lot of communication, a lot of engagement, a lot of education so that people understand what it is we're doing and why and what the end results will benefit the majority of people."

For now, he said it's part of the department's long-term planning.

Yakeleya said controlled burns used to happen near her home community of Fort Providence, N.W.T.

"Growing up, my dad was a firefighter and he used to burn the grass around the community and it was all controlled because the firefighters were there," she said. "They didn't have the big machines that we have today. They had little pumps with a water bag behind them and they were controlling the burn."

One of the review's 25 recommendations also called on the territorial government to consult Indigenous governments to update its "values-at-risk" list with culturally-significant sites.

In Ontario, you can train hunting dogs by letting them chase penned animals. Is that fair? 

NO!!

CBC
Tue, October 22, 2024

Ron Lounsbury, 80, currently has about 30 hound dogs, a breed known as the Trigg Foxhound. He says he brings them to a training facility near Smiths Falls, Ont., about once a week. (Submitted by Ron Lounsbury - image credit)


For the first time in more than 25 years, Ontario is accepting applications from operators who want to create new fenced-in training facilities stocked with coyotes, foxes, rabbits and hares — specifically designed to teach dogs to pursue live animals and also to host competitions.

"[The dogs] have a nose — they find the game, they flush the game and they keep the game moving," said hunter Ron Lounsbury, 80, who lives on a farm outside Brantford, Ont., and has been breeding and raising Trigg Foxhounds, a hound dog breed, for more than half his life.

He calls them his babies.



You don't need living beings to be bait for this kind of training. - Leslie Sampson, Coyote Watch


Lounsbury currently has 30 of his own dogs and regularly brings them to a training facility near Smiths Falls, Ont.

"It's a big, rugged, well-maintained, well-kept pen. The game's in great shape," he said.

In Ontario, it's still legal for hunters to train their dogs in these wildlife pens, but they've become increasingly controversial. Firearms are not permitted inside the facility.

"Contact between sporting dogs and wildlife is actively avoided and strict protections are in place to maintain safety," Lounsbury said.

There are now 33,000 members in the Ontario Sporting Dog Association, which lobbied the government over the past year on the training and trialing licenses.

There are now 33,000 members of the Ontario Sporting Dog Association, which lobbied the government over the past year on the training and trialling licences. (David McNew/The Associated Press)

Applications for new pens open

In 1997, then Ontario Conservative premier Mike Harris began phasing out "train and trial areas." The province stopped licensing new pens and didn't allow existing ones to be transferred to anyone else.

At the time, there were 60 facilities in Ontario. Today there are 22, according to the province, but that could soon change now that Ontario is accepting applications for new pens until Dec. 29. Non-residents can also apply.



People say it's a pen, a confined area — but it's a huge area. You don't know you're in a pen. - Ron Lounsbury, hunter

"Train and trial facilities prepare sporting dogs and their handlers for animal tracking and competitions while ensuring a safe environment that protects both dogs and wildlife from public areas," said Melissa Candelaria, senior communications adviser for Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources.

The number of licences the province grants will depend on how much interest there is, she said.

"I think it's a good idea," said Lounsbury. "It's governed, it's controlled. They protect the game. The people who own them and run them are dedicated people and they work very hard at what they do."


Ron Lounsbury of Paris, Ont., is the president of the Canadian Trigg Association. He's been raising hound dogs for 50 years and regularly runs his dogs at a training facility in eastern Ontario.

Lounsbury is president of the Canadian Trigg Association. He's been raising hound dogs for 50 years and regularly runs his dogs at a training facility in eastern Ontario. (Submitted by Ron Lounsbury)

Facility operators must meet certain provincial standards before they can open. For instance, facilities housing coyotes must have a pen of at least 80 hectares for training purposes and 160 hectares if the pen is used to host competitions, which involve judges awards points to dogs for their ability to track and flush out animals.

"People say it's a pen, a confined area — but it's a huge area. You don't know you're in a pen," said Lounsbury.

The rules also lay out how many refuge areas must be included in each pen, including culverts, dens and brush piles; when dogs are allowed in the pen (only during months when there's sufficient foliage cover, for example); and how many dogs are allowed in each fenced-in area at once (it depends on the size of the pen and the prey, but dozens of dogs can be inside simultaneously).

A cyclist was bitten on the arm by a coyote, similar to the one seen in this stock photo, while on the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton Highlands National Park on Wednesday.

The pens are stocked with rabbits, hares, foxes and coyotes. One animal rights group says the coyotes are forced to run for hours at a time and are often injured or even killed by the dogs. (Harry Collins Pho/Shutterstock)

Pens 'sickening,' 'barbaric,' say animal rights groups

"We are dead against it," said Leslie Sampson, executive director of the animal advocacy group Coyote Watch. "We know what happens within the captive fenced-in areas."

Sampson said the coyotes are forced to run for hours at a time and are often injured or even killed by the dogs.

"The government has completely ignored what Ontarians want and don't want," she said. "They have basically bent to a small extremist group of individuals that want to have access to these really sickening, barbaric ways of making money. "

According to the province, operators can source wildlife by purchasing animals from licensed trappers. They can also be bred in captivity.

"It's wildlife trafficking in Ontario," said Sampson.

There are other ways to train a hunting dog, she said.

"You don't need living beings to be bait for this kind of training," she said. "There's lots of ways to train animals, but it's not as exciting for the dog handlers and the money that they're making."

Sampson also worries the province doesn't have the means to ensure the operators are following all the rules. "What they have in there — it all looks fancy on paper, but to actually enforce all of this, there's not enough conservation officers."

Lounsbury admits there are some unethical hunters out there, but he doesn't support them — and he said the pen operators want nothing more than to protect the wildlife inside its fences.

"For the guy that owns the facility, the most expensive thing for him is his game," he said. "The last thing he wants is it killed."

Ron Lounsbury's dogs relax after running in a training facility. He says some of them will run nearly 50km in five hours.

Lounsbury's dogs relax after running at a training facility. He says some of them will run nearly 50 kilometres in five hours. (Submitted by Ron Lounsbury)

Concerns over spreading disease

When dogs interact with coyotes, foxes and other wildlife inside a fenced area, there are other things to consider.

The coyotes may be carrying tapeworms such as echinococcus multilocularis, said Jan Hajek, infectious diseases doctor at Vancouver General Hospital.

"Coyotes can defecate and when the animals are chasing them, they can come in contact with the defecation," he said.

The dog might pick up the tapeworm as a result.

"That dog could transmit that parasite from their stool to other humans, other dogs, other environments," warned Hajek.

RIP

Coroner's recommendations 'too late' for firefighter Adam Yeadon, sister says

CBC
Tue, October 22, 2024 

Firefighters walk down a dozer line in this 2023 photo. (NWT Fire - image credit)

The sister of a young man who lost his life fighting wildfires near Fort Liard, N.W.T., last year hopes recommendations released by the territory's chief coroner help save lives in the future.

But for her brother, 25-year-old old Adam Yeadon, they "came too late."

"It's good that the coroner investigator did do all these recommendations," said Donna Deneyoua from her home in the hamlet on Friday. "I don't want another family to go through this pain, like it's hard to get through."


The N.W.T. Coroner Service issued nine recommendations for Yeadon's employer, the Department of Environment and Climate Change (ECC), last week. The coroner service is not allowed, by law, to lay blame for deaths. Instead, it tries to prevent a similar type of circumstance from happening again.

ECC accepts recommendations

Mike Westwick, the territory's manager of wildfire prevention and mitigation, said Friday that ECC accepted all of the coroner's recommendations. He said they were either already part of the territory's fire program, or were in the process of being carried out.

For example, Westwick said the department was working on a manual of standard personal protective equipment for its forest management division and that it was also procuring firefighting helmets the coroner described as more protective.

Westwick said recommendations about when to use the incident command system and what type of firefighters carry out different activities were already part of its operations. He said making sure all crew leaders had 'danger tree assessor' training was done for the 2024 fire season.

Westwick said danger trees are any tree or any part of a tree that could fail because of a defect or damage. He said the territory had moved from a half-day awareness course on the topic to a full-day assessment course.

Family's questions

Though the coroner's recommendations give Deneyoua some hope a death like her brother's won't happen again in the future, she said her family is still grappling with questions about what happened.

For example, Deneyoua said Yeadon had learned how to operate a chainsaw as a teenager and had always been cautious while helping her husband with his wood hauling business.

"They say that Adam said 'we're walking into a bad area.' Like I don't know why they kept going because every time we're falling trees and cutting wood, every time Adam would say like this doesn't look safe, and then we'll walk away."

Deneyoua also said the family had thought Yeadon was a "trainee" firefighter and was under the impression he had been laid off just days before he was killed by a falling tree out in the field.

Westwick said Yeadon had not been laid off and that he had been a Type 1 firefighter.

"He was part of our key crews out there. He wasn't an extra firefighter," he said.

Forests and fires behaving differently

Garth Eggenberger, the territory's chief coroner, said in an interview with CBC News the recommendations highlight the struggles firefighters face — and the intense environment they work in.

He sees what happened as a learning opportunity for firefighters themselves and for the territorial government as well.

"We're in an era of climate change and the forests are reacting differently," he said.

"The conditions on the ground that [firefighters are] working in are way different than even five, 10 years ago."

Potential location identified in revival of Iqaluit hydro project

CBC
Tue, October 22, 2024

An aerial shot of the Kuugaluk River (McKeand River South), looking into the northeast direction. Nunavut Nukkiksautiit Corporation wants to explore the viability of the river for hydro power. (Submitted by Tetra Tech - image credit)

An Inuit-owned clean energy developer is reviving plans for hydro energy in Iqaluit, and it's found a potential site.

Nunavut Nukkiksautiit Corporation (NNC) wants to explore the viability of the Kuugaluk River (McKeand River South), situated 60 kilometres northeast of Iqaluit.

It held community consultations last year about 16 possible locations for clean energy, including hydro.


The Kuugaluk site, director Heather Shilton said, came out on top, as there is little land, water and resource use in the area. Though she said there will be some impacts, like on nearby snowmobile trails, which will need further study.

"There are impacts with continuing to stay on diesel. There's going to be impacts when we're looking at a renewable energy project as well," she said.

"Our job is just to make sure that there is enough information that Iqalummiut can weigh those options and make a decision about what their energy future looks like."

The Iqaluit hydroelectric project was previously under the territorial government's Qulliq Energy Corporation (QEC).

It was put on hold in 2014 due to the high capital costs, which went beyond QEC's funding and borrowing ability.

A map of the different locations NNC identified for clean energy options, including hydro, based off the the Qikiqtani Inuit Association's Tusaqtavut Study. Green indicates good options considering techno-economic factors, social/cultural factors, and environmental factors. Yellow indicates some concerns. Red indicates an area not ideal for development.More

A map of the different locations NNC identified for clean energy options, including hydro, based off a study done by the Qikiqtani Inuit Association. Green indicates good options considering techno-economic factors, social/cultural factors, and environmental factors. Yellow indicates areas where there are some concerns. Red indicates an area not ideal for development. (Submitted by Heather Shilton)

Potential to replace diesel use

If successful, Shilton believes the hydroelectric project could replace the use of diesel in Iqaluit.

"In Nuuk [Greenland] for instance, there's a hydro facility there that is their prime power, but they still have a diesel plant as backup… I think something similar could be done here," Shilton said.

In a written statement, QEC said it's "aligned with NNC on the significant benefits of this renewable project, based on the research and information we've received thus far."

If the project progresses further, Iqaluit Mayor Solomon Awa says the city will play a role in approving the land for construction, and connecting any power lines.

He said it's still too early for those discussions at this stage, but he's optimistic hydro power can help ease the burden on residents.

"As a homeowner, we pay a lot of electricity each month and hopefully that will reduce the cost," he said.

Nunavut Nukkiksautiit Corporation conducted a series of community consultations in Iqaluit in November 2023 about possible clean energy sites.

Nunavut Nukkiksautiit Corporation conducted a series of community consultations in Iqaluit in November 2023 about possible clean energy sites. (Submitted by Heather Shilton)

There are also questions about how much NNC scales up the project, such as whether to include the electrification of heat, which is currently 100 per cent run on diesel.

"That would grow the demand on electricity pretty significantly," Shilton said.

Financing the $500M project

The current price tag for the project is roughly $400 to $500 million, similar to the previous estimates when it was under the Government of Nunavut.

The territory had already spent $10 million on preliminary studies, which identified two other potential locations for the project.

Shilton said that money did not go to waste, but NNC has to do more studies given the advancements in technology since then. It's received federal funding for the first stages of their research.

She believes NNC is better positioned financially to get the project over the line because as an Inuit-owned private company, it can access more funding streams and take on more debt than a government-owned entity like QEC.

But she sees room for an economic partnership with QEC.

"I think there's some potential for us to collaborate and understand what this ownership structure could look like," she said.

NAKBA 2.0

On the edge of Gaza, Israeli settlers want back in

Mon, October 21, 2024 
By Janis Laizans and Michal Yaakov Itzhaki

NEAR BE'ERI, Israel (Reuters) - Jewish settlers, including ministers in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet, gathered on the border of Gaza on Monday, where they called for settlements Israel evacuated two decades ago to be re-established in the war-torn Palestinian enclave.

Israel withdrew its military and settlers from Gaza in 2005 after a 38-year occupation, and Netanyahu has said it does not intend to maintain a permanent presence again.

But as Israel's war on the enclave's Hamas rulers has entered a second year, Netanyahu has yet to provide clarity on who he sees governing Gaza after the war. Some of his government allies, however, have been explicit about their own endgame.

"If we want it, we can renew settlements in Gaza," National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir told the hundreds who gathered for a two-day outdoor conference titled 'preparing to resettle Gaza,' held about 3 km (2 miles) from the enclave.

Smoke could be seen rising in Gaza and the loud bangs of artillery sounded in the distance.

Ben-Gvir also called for Israel to "encourage emigration" of Palestinians from Gaza. "It's the best and most moral solution, not by force but by telling them: 'We're giving you the option, leave to other countries, the Land of Israel is ours'," he said.

'CRITICAL DAYS'

The conference was organised by members of Netanyahu's Likud party and the Nahala organisation, a group of ideological settlers in the occupied West Bank, who see themselves as pioneers redeeming Biblical heartland promised by God.

Most world powers deem settlements built in territory Israel seized in the 1967 war as illegal under international law and their expansion as an obstacle to peace, since they eat away at land the Palestinians want for a future state.

Israel disputes this view and cites Biblical and historical ties to the land, as well as security needs.

The settler movement has cast Israel's 2005 withdrawal from Gaza as a fatal mistake that led to Hamas taking the territory over, enabling it to use Gaza as a base to fire thousands of rockets from it at Israel over the years and mounting last year's devastating Oct. 7 attack.

"In these critical days, while the state of Israel is looking to the day after, we want to raise awareness that only settlements will bring about the security we had 20 years ago," said Itzik Fitoussi, who was evicted from Gaza's settlements in 2005 and lost his soldier son on Oct. 7, 2023.

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people in the attack, and took 251 hostages back to Gaza, triggering an Israeli offensive that has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians, laid much of the enclave to waste and displaced most of its population.

Avivit John, from nearby Kibbutz Be'eri, which lost a 10th of its residents in the Oct. 7 attack, was demonstrating against the settler conference. "We are against settlements in Gaza," she said. "We want to live in peace with our (Palestinian) neighbours."

(Writing by Maayan Lubell; Editing by James Mackenzie and William Maclean)

War has knocked Gaza back to the 1950s, UNDP says

Updated Tue, October 22, 2024 

Aftermath of Israeli strikes on houses and residential buildings, in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip


By Thomas Escritt

BERLIN (Reuters) -The war between Israel and Hamas has devastated the Palestinian economy and left nearly all of Gaza's population in poverty, with quality of life indicators such as health and education knocked back 70 years, the United Nations' development agency said on Tuesday.

Launching a study on the war's socioeconomic impacts, the UNDP's Chitose Noguchi said the economy of the Palestinian territories - the Gaza Strip and the Israeli-occupied West Bank - was now 35% smaller than it was at the start of Israel's invasion of Gaza a year ago.


By some measures the poverty level in Gaza was now approaching 100% as a result of the disruption, with unemployment now at 80%, Noguchi said.

"The state of Palestine is experiencing unprecedented levels of setbacks," she told a U.N. press conference in Geneva over a sometimes crackling line from Deir Al-Balah. "For Gaza, reversing development by an estimated 70 years to 1955."

Even under optimal conditions, with international aid remaining at current levels and flowing into Gaza and the West Bank unhindered, it would still take at least a decade for economic output to recover to pre-war levels, she said.

The war, launched by Israel after attacks by Hamas on Israeli territory on Oct. 7 last year that killed about 1,200 people, has brought immense destruction to the Gaza Strip.

Schools, hospitals and other essential infrastructure have been razed to the ground. Nearly 43,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to health ministry figures.

Some 3.3 million Palestinians, 2.3 million of them in Gaza and 1.5 million of them children, need urgent humanitarian assistance, the report said.

The cost of repairing damaged infrastructure was expected to run to $18.5 billion, almost the entire annual economic output of the Palestinian territories in 2022.

The war had taken a similarly severe toll on human capital, the report added, with 625,000 students in Gaza having no access to education at the end of September and 93% of school buildings severely damaged.

The situation was similar with regard to healthcare. A total of 986 health workers had been killed by the end of September, and less than half of primary healthcare centres were even partially functional.

(Reporting by Thomas Escritt, Editing by Rachel More and Angus MacSwan)

UN report: Gaza faces seven-decade setback and acute hunger crisis amid ongoing conflict

Tamsin Paternoster
Tue, October 22, 2024 

UN report: Gaza faces seven-decade setback and acute hunger crisis amid ongoing conflict


Development in Gaza has been set back by as much as 69 years, according to an assessment made by a UN-backed report.

Poverty in Palestine is also set to rise by 74.3% in 2024, impacting a further 2.61 million people who are newly impoverished.

The impact of the year-long war has caused acute hunger, with around 86% of the population experiencing crisis levels of hunger, according to the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UNESCWA).

Efforts to get food supplies into the territory have been hampered by Israel's blockade, as well as ongoing fighting and the breakdown of law and order.

High numbers of displaced mean that thousands of people are packed into squalid tent camps or buildings repurposed as shelters.

In August, Gaza began a campaign to vaccinate children against polio as fears rose the disease would spread with the majority of the territory's healthcare system destroyed.

The UNDP says that the Palestinian economy could be put on a restorative track to align with its pre-war development goals in 10 years, but this would require a comprehensive recovery and reconstruction plan which combines humanitarian aid and strategic investment in recovery and reconstruction.

The report says that lifting economic restrictions is also essential to Gaza's recovery.

FILE - Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip, in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, on July 4, 2024. - AP Photo

Gaza has been under closure by land, sea and air since 2007. Restrictions on the movement of people, goods and technology imports have long impacted its economy before the intensification of Israeli strikes.

The UNDP estimates that Gaza's gross domestic product (GDP) will contract by 35.1% in 2024 with unemployment rising to 49.9%.

Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed over 42,000 people, as stated by the Hamas-run Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.
Crucial humanitarian aid

The organisation added that humanitarian aid specifically allocated to Gaza's early post-war recovery would be crucial in its development.

“The assessment indicates that, even if humanitarian aid is provided each year, the economy may not regain its pre-crisis level for a decade or more. As conditions on the ground allow, the Palestinian people need a robust early recovery strategy," ESCWA Executive Secretary Rola Dashti said.

“Our assessments serve to sound the alarm over the millions of lives that are being shattered and the decades of development efforts that are being wiped out,” Dashti added.

Israel has said its war in Gaza is essential to wipe out Hamas and that its strikes and ongoing blockade are intended to target the militant group rather than civilians.

It has still faced increasing pressure from the UN and its key ally, the US, to address the current humanitarian situation.

Last week, the Biden administration warned that Israel could lose access to weapons funding if it did not increase the amount of humanitarian aid it is allowing into Gaza.

Related

Second round of emergency polio vaccinations begins in Gaza


US threatens to cut military aid to Israel over Gaza humanitarian crisis

The UN sounded an alarm in early October that the amount of aid entering the Gaza Strip was at its lowest level in months, with the only three hospitals in northern Gaza facing severe shortages in key supplies.

Israel is currently targeting northern Gaza in an offensive it says is necessary to combat Hamas fighters who have regrouped in the territory's northern part.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that 85% of requests to get food into Gaza's north were denied by Israeli authorities.

COGAT, the Israeli-run body facilitating aid crossings into Gaza, has denied that crossings to the north have been closed.


‘Utter ruin’: Gaza economy would take 350 years to return to pre-conflict level, UN says

Larry Elliott Economics editor

THE GUARDIAN
Tue, October 22, 2024 

Palestinians walk near rubble and destroyed buildings in Khan Younis. The UN report said that, by the end of July 2024, 88% of school buildings had suffered some damage and more than 62% of residential buildings were damaged or destroyed.Photograph: Mohammed Salem/Reuters


Gaza’s economy has been left in “utter ruin” by the year-long war between Israel and Hamas, and it would take 350 years to return to its pre-conflict levels, the United Nations has warned.

In a report on the economic costs of the war prepared by its trade and development wing (Unctad), the UN said the fighting since Hamas killed more than 1,000 Israelis on 7 October last year had devastated the remnants of Gaza’s economy and infrastructure.

The report, presented to last month’s UN general assembly, said economic activity across Gaza – which had been weak before the war – had ground to a halt, apart from minimum humanitarian health and food services provided under conditions of severe water, fuel and electricity shortages, and significant access constraints.

Construction output was down by 96%, agriculture output by 93%, manufacturing by 92% and services sector output by 76%. Meanwhile, unemployment reached 81.7% in the first quarter of 2024, a rate the UN said was likely to worsen or persist for as long as the military operation continued.

“The intense military operations in Gaza resulted in an unprecedented humanitarian, environmental and social catastrophe and propelled Gaza from de-development to utter ruin,” the report said.

“The far-reaching repercussions will linger for years to come, and it may take decades to return Gaza to the status quo ante.

“Once a ceasefire is reached, a return to the 2007–2022 growth trend would imply that it would take Gaza 350 years just to restore GDP to its level in 2022.”

The report said the past 12 months of military action had followed a period between 2007 and 2022 when the economy of Gaza had been severely affected by restrictions imposed by Israel on the movement of goods and people.

The UN said the income loss caused by the restrictions and military operations was “staggering”.

“According to thorough estimations described in the present report, in the absence of those constraints, by the end of 2023 it is estimated that Gaza’s gross domestic product (GDP) would have been, on average, 77.6% higher than its actual level.

“This implies a conservatively estimated cumulative loss of $35.8bn of unrealised GDP potential during the period 2007–2023 – equivalent to 17 times the GDP of Gaza in 2023.”

In the first three-quarters of 2023 – before the war began – the Gazan economy was contracting at an annual rate of about 3%. It contracted by 22.6% in 2023 as a whole, with 90% of that drop coming in the fourth quarter.

The report said that, by the end of July 2024, 88% of school buildings had suffered some damage, 21 out of 36 hospitals were out of service and 45 out of 105 primary health facilities were non-operational. More than 62% of residential buildings were damaged or destroyed, and more than 59% of the water, sanitation and hygiene sector infrastructure was heavily damaged, with an impact on water and sanitation services.

Unctad said in the fourth quarter of 2023, Gaza registered its largest economic slump in recent history. GDP contracted by 80.8% compared with the third quarter of 2023, while GDP a head fell by 81.4% over the same period.

Former University of Ottawa resident booted over Palestine posts reflects on Gaza struggle, one year later: 'It's the most professional thing to be calling out war crimes...'

After his suspension, Yipeng Ge travelled to Gaza to provide medical care and witness the Palestinian humanitarian crisis firsthand

Corné van Hoepen
·Editor, Yahoo News Canada
Tue, October 22, 2024 

Dr. Yipeng Ge pictured while on a weeklong assignment in Rafah, southern Gaza during Feb. 2024. (Image courtesy: Yipeng Ge)

A former resident physician at the University of Ottawa’s faculty of medicine says his life has changed in unimaginable ways after being suspended from his program over a series of pro-Palestinian posts shared on his social media.

Dr. Yipeng Ge, 29, says the university disciplined him in November 2023 following multiple complaints about posts in which he used terms such as "apartheid" and "settler colonialism."

READ MORE: ‘Limits of allyship’ and the ‘Palestine exception’: Canadians advocating for Palestine reveal how their lives changed after Oct. 7, 2023

"They quoted a concern over professionalism when I think it's the most professional thing to be calling out war crimes and attacks on hospitals and healthcare workers," said Yipeng Ge in an interview with Yahoo News Canada.

Suspension over pro-Palestine social media posts

At the time of his suspension, Ge says he was a fourth-year public health and preventive medicine resident, completing a residency at the Public Health Agency of Canada.

With most of his research focused on anti-racism and decolonization, Ge says it was important for him to be a voice for the Palestinian cause, while also recognizing that criticism of Israel in Western countries often comes with heavy consequences.

“I was careful about how I engaged on social media after October 7... I only liked and retweeted content I believed accurately portrayed the Palestinian issue,” said Ge.

Screencaptures from Ge's Instagram account in November 2023 show a post with an individual holding up a poster with the phrase "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," along with stories with text reading "If the phrase free Palestine makes you feel uncomfortable then you probably benefit from the oppression of Palestinians."


Screengrab from Dr. Yipeng Ge's Instagram story posted in Nov. 2023. (Courtesy: Yoni Freedhoff/Substack)

According to the American Jewish Committee, the phrase "From the river to the sea" is anti-Semitic and is a rallying cry for terrorist groups and their sympathizers, from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) to Hamas, which called for Israel’s destruction in its original governing charter in 1988.

Palestinian activists, however, say it’s a call for peace and equality after 75 years of Israeli statehood and decades-long, open-ended Israeli military rule over millions of Palestinians, according to an explainer published by the Associated Press.

When Ottawa community physician Yoni Freedhoff shared screenshots of Ge's posts on Substack, along with captions reading, "Look at this person, they are so hateful and so anti-Semitic," Ge says that's when the university stepped in.

Screengrab from Dr. Yipeng Ge's Instagram account in November 2023. (Courtesy: Yoni Freedhoff/Substack)

In response to Ge's suspension, a petition was circulated calling for his reinstatement and an inquiry into the program. The petition urged the University of Ottawa to "reverse the suspension of Dr. Yipeng Ge and issue an apology for failing to follow due process in the investigation." It garnered more than 100,000 signatures.



I got a phone call at 8 o'clock in the morning from someone within the Faculty of Medicine to tell me I've been immediately suspended.Yipeng Ge, former resident physician at the University of Ottawa

Ge says an internal investigation by the school of medicine recommended his immediate reinstatement.


"At the first sign of inconvenience, they kicked me out, and when none of the claims against me held up, they welcomed me back without an apology," Ge said. "I feel incredibly harmed by this process."

After his experience and witnessing the penalization of fellow residents who spoke out for Palestinian rights, Ge says he could no longer, in good conscience, remain at the institution.
'The people of Gaza need a tsunami of aid': Ge travels to war zone

In the wake of Hamas attacks across Israel on October 7, 2023, ongoing Israeli strikes have killed over 40,000 people and wounded nearly 100,000 more — nearly half being children — over the past year, according to Gaza's Hamas-led health authority.

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As conditions continued to deteriorate amid ongoing strikes, Ge says his suspension from his medical program presented a window of opportunity to offer life-saving measures on the ground in Gaza in February.

He connected with an aid group called Humanity Auxilium and travelled with a team of Canadian doctors to Rafah, which had been ravaged by war and under threat of an Israeli ground offensive.



The way we entered the country was completely out of the history books.Dr. Yipeng Ge

Ge says a significant number of patients he treated at the primary care clinic he was based in came seeking treatment for burns from bombings — many of them children.

Starvation due to lack of aid flowing into the region was resulting in rampant malnutrition across Gaza, he explains.

"The most striking thing was the severe malnutrition and dehydration that the majority of children had," said Ge. "I took care of patients aged nine and 10 that previously were walking that no longer were able to."

Dr. Yipeng Ge treating patients out of a Rafah primary care clinic in Gaza. (Image courtesy: Yipeng Ge)

Ge says his team brought "many suitcases" filled with medications, but it was "drop in the ocean" compared to what the need was.

"The people of Gaza need a tsunami of aid," said Ge.


Canadian officials issued fresh calls last week condemning Israel Defence Forces (IDF) attacks on civilian infrastructure in Gaza and calling for aid distribution to Palestinians.

"The increasingly dire humanitarian situation is unacceptable and continues to deteriorate due to a significant decrease of aid allowed into Gaza. An increase in humanitarian aid is desperately needed to end this suffering," reads a statement from Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly.

FILE - Palestinians line up for a meal in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair, File)

Ge also described the experience of providing medical aid to a region under constant Israeli siege, saying air strikes and seeing tanks on the ground was "normalized."

"The resilience, the courage, the perseverance that I've seen and even the joy that I've experienced with them is unparalleled," said Ge in an interview with CBC News.

Despite the challenging conditions he faced while in Gaza, Ge says he hopes to return for a second mission to the war-torn nation.

Nearly one year following his suspension from his residency at the University of Ottawa, Ge said his priorities remain the same.

"One thing is clear... I need to continue to centre people who experience social oppression — the people of Gaza, the people of Palestine," said Ge

 

Opinion: Israel's war on Gaza has killed my family. I owe it to them to tell their stories.

Dana Afana, Detroit Free Press
Mon, October 21, 2024

Four days after Oct. 7, 2023 – days after the Israeli military began its deadly retaliation in Gaza – I met with my new editor.

I have family in Gaza, where my parents were born, but in this meeting, I expected to hold back and talk about my reporting on Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s political dynamic with the White House. But as my editor walked into the room, he asked how I was doing.

Tucking my head into my hands, I broke down.

I could barely catch my breath or speak. Just before our meeting, I had learned from a cousin that the Israeli military was launching airstrikes in his neighborhood and that countless bombs were dropping near his home. My parents came to the United States in the late 1980s, leaving behind big families on both sides. Before this war began, we had visited many times. I thought this would be the last time I spoke to my cousin, that I was going to lose someone I loved.

I felt helpless. My family had nowhere to go – Israel and Egypt wouldn’t allow most Palestinians in Gaza to leave, and thwarted aid from flowing in. Israel controls the borders out of the Palestinian territories. The Rafah border crossing south into Egypt has been blockaded since at least 2007, opening only periodically, and was closed early in the war.

I couldn’t escape the feeling that my family needed me. But I was here, in Detroit, mentally defeated as I watched my family in Gaza in peril.
I couldn't turn away from the horrors in Gaza

An armoured vehicle drives as damaged buildings are seen in the background, amid the ongoing ground operation of the Israeli army against Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in the Gaza Strip, September 13, 2024.

I had hoped the horrors wouldn't last. But the soul-crushing images from Gaza were endlessly flooding my social media and news feeds, and I couldn’t look away, fearing I’d see a familiar face. I needed to know if my family was alive.

The impact of it all became physical. I wasn’t eating well, and some days, I felt sick, nauseous and in pain. I felt a knot in my neck every time I saw a news update. My heart would palpitate. My stomach would cramp.

Often, I had the appetite only for small snacks – cheese, crackers, a little fruit and a bowl of popcorn became a normal dinner some nights.

I lost several pounds, and my doctor demanded I gain weight. I impulsively dropped money on a hardcore personal trainer and nutrition coach – I’ve gained 10 pounds and can now lift more than my body weight.

And then it happened.

Who I lost in the Israel-Palestine conflict

In December 2023, two months after the attack, I received links to videos posted on social media of a gentleman on a stretcher with his index finger pointed to the sky – a gesture Muslims make while professing faith in God and His Messenger – and a limping woman with blood dripping down her face and neck, forcing her eyes shut as she clutched her son to guide her out of an ambulance truck and into the hospital.

Children around them were coughing from the giant plumes of dust that rose as they fled their crumbling apartment building, blood on their faces, telling the videographer how their home had been bombed as one of the younger children lay on a hospital floor, being treated by medical staff.

I cried out – a loud noise I had never made before – and froze.

Opinion: As Israel bombs everywhere around me in Gaza, my rooftop garden keeps us alive

Those were my relatives. My uncle – my mother’s brother – on the stretcher, my aunt beside him, my cousins around them, people I love as though they are my own father, mother, brothers and sisters – injured and bleeding, simply for existing.

This was the only time I would be confronted with a video, but it was not my only loss.

My aunt and uncle and their children survived, but their home was gone.

They moved in with another uncle in central Gaza, but temporarily – in early March, that house was bombed, too. My younger cousin was injured as the building collapsed, his entire right side covered in casts.

I couldn’t put my phone down until my cousins updated me on his condition. With hospital resources running dry, he couldn’t be treated in Gaza. It was nearly two months before he was finally allowed to leave for treatment outside of Gaza – he lost an appendage, and his shoulder was badly damaged.

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When I learn from family or the news which areas the Israeli military is attacking, I try to mentally prepare for the worst, and pray a little extra.

In April, six months into the war, my aunt – my father’s sister – and uncle were killed. They were at home when an airstrike destroyed multiple homes on their block.

I had spent months knowing this could happen, but when it did, I was too shocked to believe the news, too shocked to cry. All I wanted was to check on my father and spend time with my family as we processed his sister's loss. My aunt was the funny one, the bighearted one who made us feel loved, even an ocean away. I think back and laugh a little – like the time she threw a wedding in her living room with her girlfriends for my brother because she couldn’t travel to the United States to celebrate with him. Moments like those may be why I couldn’t, and cannot, believe she’s gone.

But that wasn’t the end of it.

Palestinians inspect a school, which was sheltering displaced people, after it was hit by an Israeli strike, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Gaza City, September 21, 2024. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Early in the war, my mother’s sister and her family had been displaced from their home in the south of Gaza, and were displaced again and again from places across the territory they had sought refuge. The chaos can make it hard to record dates. In July, they had to move twice. In early August, her son, my cousin, had gone back to the south. He was with a friend there when a blast hit.

His friend, injured, crawled to safety and notified my family that my cousin had been killed. My aunt was a mess emotionally, and it didn’t help that they couldn’t immediately find his body.

As I struggled to process another loss, my editor urged me to put my personal needs first. But my thought in that moment was to wrap up a story I was writing on Detroit’s political future – to get it off my plate while I had some mental capacity left – so I could be home with family again, and away from everything else.
Stories like those of Palestinians matter

It is a struggle to navigate the ethical and professional boundaries that discourage journalists like me from speaking publicly about the news, whether we’re covering it or not, and dealing with the death and destruction in my second home.

Opinion: Israel has killed more than 41,000 people in Gaza. Biden can end this massacre.

As a journalist, my duty is to seek and report the truth at all costs.

I entered the industry to tell stories like those of Palestinians – whose voices are often suppressed – the truth of the daily violence and oppression they face at the hands of the Israeli government and its decadeslong occupation of Palestine.

As a journalist, and as a human being, I owe that to my family and all those who are strategically undervalued.

I can’t get those images of my family and others in Gaza malnourished, displaced – or worse, dead – out of my head.

My family is like many others in Gaza. They love to cook maqluba and mandi. And my late aunt, the chef extraordinaire – may God have mercy on her soul – made the most crispy and savory fried sardines I’ll ever have. My cousins love to play soccer, and fiercely, but humorously compete at card games. My aunts and uncles love to bring home toys and candy for their grandchildren, relishing their smiles and laughter. All of them love to sit on Gaza’s breezy beaches, scattered with seashells, sipping on tea and dunking each other in the salty Mediterranean Sea. They love to look after each other.

Their lives matter. Their stories matter.

And as I watch the resilience of those who haven’t been killed try to survive Israel’s brutal decimation of Gaza, it’s a reminder that we need to work even harder to tell their stories – and the world needs to listen.

Dana Afana is the Detroit city hall reporter for the Free Press, where this column originally appeared. Contact: dafana@freepress.com. Follow her: @DanaAfana.

You can read diverse opinions from our USA TODAY columnists and other writers on the Opinion front page, on X, formerly Twitter, @usatodayopinion and in our Opinion newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Opinion: Israeli, Palestinian conflict stole my family's lives in Gaza

11 pro-Palestinian protesters are arrested after occupying building at University of Minnesota

Jack Dura And Michael Goldberg
Tue, October 22, 2024 

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Police arrested about a dozen pro-Palestinian protesters Monday at the University of Minnesota after a group of students entered an administrative building, university officials said.

The Monday afternoon protest prompted an alert from school officials. “Protestors have entered Morrill Hall on the East Bank, causing property damage and restricting entrance and exit from the building," the alert said. “If you are currently in Morrill Hall and able to safely exit the building, please do so immediately. Others are advised to avoid this area until further notice.”

Ryan Mattson, a media liaison with the university's chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, said some protesters who were inside the building were arrested. He did not initially know how many were arrested, but university officials released a statement saying 11 people were taken into custody less than two hours after they entered Morrill Hall.

Merlin Van Alstein, an organizer with the group, earlier said about 30 protesters occupied Morrill Hall, while a larger group gathered outside.

The group renamed the building “Halimy Hall,” in remembrance of 19-year-old Palestinian TikTok content creator Medo Halimy, who died in August in an apparent Israeli airstrike. The Israeli military said it was not aware of the strike that killed Halimy.

The protesters were equipped with tents and supplies, and said they planned to stay until their demands are met. They were demanding that the university divest from Israel and repeal its political neutrality agreement. Video posted online showed chairs and other patio furniture stacked in front of an exterior window of the building.

“We plan to stay until they forcibly remove us,” Van Alstein said before the arrests. “The people inside aren’t going to leave until they meet our demands or they are forced to leave.”

The university said that once inside the building, protesters covered lenses of internal security cameras with spray paint, broke some interior windows, and barricaded entrances and exits.

Earlier Monday afternoon, the group shared a video to Facebook of a speaker's announcement that its members were occupying the building but not restricting anyone from exiting or entering.

The speaker appeared in front of a large sign reading, “Money for education, not for bombs & occupation." Other campus protests around the U.S. in response to the Israel-Hamas war have included the divestmentcall.

The protests, including earlier this year at University of Minnesota campuses, raised issues of free speech and antisemitism as students demanded that their universities cease doing business with Israel or companies they said supported the war in Gaza.

The university's homecoming week began Monday.

___

Dura reported from Bismarck, North Dakota.

Jack Dura And Michael Goldberg, The Associated Press

Frostbite amputations reached new high in Edmonton, decreased in Calgary last winter

CBC
Tue, October 22, 2024 

Edmonton police inspect a homeless encampment in January 2024.

 (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press - image credit)

The number of amputations due to frostbite in Edmonton reached 110 last winter, the highest level in more than a decade, according to new data obtained by CBC News.

But Calgary marked its second consecutive winter of declining frostbite amputations, counting roughly one-third of Edmonton's procedures last fiscal year.

The frostbite amputation numbers mark a notable shift after years of Alberta's two major centres following similar trends.


It is not clear what caused the sharp divergence.

But doctors and homeless advocates point to two key differences between the two cities that may have played a role: Edmonton's aggressive encampment eviction policy, and the use of a more assertive frostbite treatment protocol in Calgary's emergency departments.

"I do think that houselessness and substance abuse are certainly contributors to it, but I think there's multiple things that may be contributing," said Dr. Scott MacLean, an emergency physician at Edmonton's Royal Alexandra Hospital.

What the numbers show

According to data from Alberta Health Services, the Edmonton health zone saw 110 amputations with a diagnosis of frostbite during the fiscal year of 2023-24.

That's up from 71 the previous year, and surpasses the previous record of 91 amputations in 2021-22.

The Calgary zone counted roughly one-third of Edmonton's numbers last year.

The health zones include areas well beyond the two cities. Banff and Claresholm are in the Calgary zone, while the Edmonton zone includes Morinville and Evansburg.

AHS does not release health statistics between one and nine on privacy grounds, arguing that an individual could potentially be identified from such a small group.

Because Calgary had one month in the past fiscal year where the number of frostbite amputations was less than 10 but greater than zero, the annual total is only known to be between 32 and 40.

The sharp divergence between Edmonton and Calgary is unusual, as data going back to 2011 shows that the two cities have largely followed the same trends without any significant difference in annual numbers.

Reasons for the discrepancy are not clear.

Weather data from Environment Canada shows that while Edmonton was slightly colder than Calgary, the two cities had similar winters overall last year.

Edmonton saw 21 days below –20 C last winter while Calgary had 17.

The number of frostbite or excessive cold diagnoses in emergency departments didn't change much in either zone — up nine per cent to 895 in Edmonton, down 17 per cent to 630 in Calgary.

Enumerating homelessness

Frostbite amputations disproportionately affect people experiencing homelessness. While Edmonton's numbers rose 55 per cent from the previous year, the increase among unhoused patients was 87 per cent.

More than half of such procedures in both cities last winter were performed on patients recorded as homeless.

While Calgary's homeless population was significantly larger than Edmonton's a decade ago, the two cities have found comparable figures in recent counts.




The last point-in-time count — conducted on a single day and including people without shelter as well as those seeking services — was in 2022. Edmonton found 2,519 people experiencing homelessness and Calgary had 2,782.

Both cities conducted their 2024 counts this month, but the results won't be released for several months.

Another method used in Edmonton is the "by name list" count, which is based on data from agencies and only includes people seeking services. That method counted 4,011 people in July.

Homeward Trust did not respond to a request for comment.

Contentious approach to encampments

Edmonton's 2023-24 winter season saw a series of court rulings, police actions and public protests over the decision to evict residents of encampments and dismantle the makeshift communities.

In December 2023, a Court of King's Bench judge granted a request from the Coalition for Justice and Human Rights for a temporary injunction against the City of Edmonton to stop an imminent plan for police to conduct a widespread sweep and dismantling of encampments.

In January, the injunction was removed and an earlier CJHR lawsuit related to encampments was dismissed due to the court's finding that the group did not have legal standing to represent the interests of people experiencing homelessness.

The decision allowed the city and the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) to move aggressively to dismantle encampments, removing nearly 50 in two weeks.

At the same time, the provincial government launched a navigation centre where unhoused and vulnerable people could receive help accessing services ranging from shelter to acquiring identification to financial assistance. A navigation centre for Calgary was announced in June and opened in July.

Chris Wiebe, counsel for CJHR, said he sees a direct connection between the encampment removals and the spike in frostbite amputations. He said he felt "intense sadness" at the numbers.

"Unfortunately, that's consistent with what the coalition's expert witnesses said would happen — that encampment evictions increase the risk of of exposure to cold weather and thus increase the risk of cold-related illnesses like frostbite," said Wiebe.

He took issue with the line from officials that tents are inadequate shelter in winter.

"Nobody's saying the tents are enough shelter," said Wiebe. "They're clearly inadequate." But, he said, they provide at least some protection for people unable to safely access shelters, whether due to fear of violence and theft or policies against allowing couples and pets.

Official response

"Any instance where individuals are sheltering outdoors during extreme cold is an emergency," a City of Edmonton spokesperson said in a written statement.

"While the statistics on frostbite amputations are concerning, they highlight the broader, systemic challenges of homelessness that extend beyond the city's direct control."

In statements, EPS and the provincial ministry of Seniors, Community and Social Services both said tents are not sufficient protection from winter, and highlighted that nearly 4,000 people had engaged with the provincial navigation centre in Edmonton.

Both statements indicated that the encampment removal policy would continue this winter.

"Removing people from freezing cold tents to warm shelters does not contribute to an increase in frostbite," said the ministry's statement. "Alberta will not tolerate a return to allowing dangerous encampments to remain."

EPS said that part of the spike in Edmonton's frostbite amputation numbers "may be due to greater intervention by EPS encampment response teams, who regularly found people needing medical assistance for exposure, hypothermia and frostbite."

The City of Calgary and the Calgary Homeless Foundation declined to comment on the data.

More aggressive treatment

Another major difference between Calgary and Edmonton is how frostbite cases are treated.

Since 2019, Calgary has used a more aggressive approach, according to Dr. Catherine Patocka, department head of emergency medicine at the University of Calgary's Cumming School of Medicine.

The approach is based on a protocol developed by doctors in Yukon.

"Looking at the data [of declining frostbite amputations], I certainly find myself wondering if what we're seeing is the impact of that protocol," said Patocka.

A key part of the approach is iloprost, a medication that can reduce the risk of amputation in severe frostbite cases. The use of it for frostbite is off-label, meaning it hasn't received regulatory approval for that particular purpose.

Iloprost has been used in Calgary through a Health Canada special access program, but its use in Edmonton is rare, according to MacLean, the Edmonton emergency doctor who is part of a University of Alberta group studying its use.

"It's almost never given in Edmonton ... whereas in Calgary it's quite commonly given," he said.

"When I look at the last three years of severe frostbite in Calgary, almost every case has received iloprost."

It isn't known how much iloprost might account for the the discrepancy between the two cities' experiences with frostbite cases, or how often the use of iloprost avoided the need for amputation. The use of iloprost in Calgary began in 2019, but the city still saw a major increase in frostbite amputations in 2021-22.

To determine iloprost's efficacy, MacLean and his colleagues have been comparing outcomes between frostbite cases in Edmonton, which did not involve iloprost, with similar cases in Calgary that did use the medication.

He said he expects the treatment to be more widely available to Edmonton doctors this year.

He said the increasing numbers for frostbite and amputations in Edmonton tracks with his own experience in the emergency department.

While MacLean agrees that a tent is inadequate protection from frostbite, and better long-term solutions are needed, he doesn't see Edmonton's encampment eviction policy as a good approach.

"I don't think that taking away limited shelter when inadequate shelter spaces are available has been helpful."