CATHOLICS LOVE BOOK BURNINGS

Book burning at Ontario francophone schools as 'gesture of reconciliation' denounced

Tyler Dawson 

© Provided by National Post Outdated history books, such as two biographies of French explorer Jacques Cartier, as well as others with

A book burning held by an Ontario francophone school board as an act of reconciliation with Indigenous people has received sharp condemnation from Canadian political leaders and the board itself now says it regrets its symbolic gesture.

The “flame purification” ceremony, first reported by Radio Canada , was held in 2019 by the Conseil scolaire catholique Providence, which oversees elementary and secondary schools in southwestern Ontario. Some 30 books, the national broadcaster reported, were burned for “educational purposes” and then the ashes were used as fertilizer to plant a tree.

“We bury the ashes of racism, discrimination and stereotypes in the hope that we will grow up in an inclusive country where all can live in prosperity and security,” says a video prepared for students about the book burning, Radio Canada reported.

In total, more than 4,700 books were removed from library shelves at 30 schools across the school board, and they have since been destroyed or are in the process of being recycled, Radio Canada reported.

Lyne Cossette, the board’s spokesperson, told National Post that the board formed a committee and “many Aboriginal knowledge keepers and elders participated and were consulted at various stages, from the conceptualization to the evaluation of the books, to the tree planting initiative.”

“Symbolically, some books were used as fertilizer,” Cossette wrote in an email.

The project, entitled Redonnons à la terre — “give back to the earth,” in English — was intended “to make a gesture of openness and reconciliation by replacing books in our libraries that had outdated content and carried negative stereotypes about First Nations, Métis and Inuit people.”

The school library, she said, is constantly updated, and the library books on shelves have “positive and inclusive messages about the diverse communities within our schools.”

“We regret that we did not intervene to ensure a more appropriate plan for the commemorative ceremony and that it was offensive to some members of the community. We sincerely regret the negative impact of this initiative intended as a gesture of reconciliation,” Cossette wrote.

Asked about the book burning, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau said it’s not up to non-Indigenous people “to tell Indigenous people how they should feel or act to advance reconciliation.”

“On a personal level, I would never agree to the burning of books,” Trudeau said.

Yves-François Blanchet, leader of the Bloc Québécois, said “we don’t burn books,” at a press conference.

“We expose ourselves to history, we explain it, we demonstrate how society has evolved or must evolve,” he said.

Asked about the report, Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole said, “Reconciliation is important for all Canadians and we have to have a system that does not discriminate.”

Later, O’Toole tweeted: “A Conservative government will be committed to reconciliation. But the road to reconciliation does not mean tearing down Canada. I strongly condemn the burning of books.”

Jagmeet Singh, the NDP leader, said the news calls for reflection.

“I have seen negative images, cartoons, and presentation that do not respect the dignity of Indigenous communities. So I think we really need to change our approach to teaching our children,” Singh said.

A 165-page school board document includes analysis of all the books removed from shelves, Radio Canada reported.

Among them are classic titles, such as Tintin in America, which was withdrawn for its “negative portrayal of indigenous peoples and offending Aboriginal representation in the drawings.”

Also removed were books that allegedly contain cultural appropriation, as well as outdated history books, such as two biographies of Jacques Cartier, a French explorer who mapped the St. Lawrence, and another of explorer Étienne Brûlé.

André Noël, a Quebec journalist, noted on Twitter that his book, Trafic chez les Hurons, published in 2000, was among those removed from shelves. In a Twitter thread, Noël wrote in French that the removal of his book “surprises me and seems excessive.”

“But I fear that this controversy will distract us from the real scandal, which we have not yet fully measured: the destruction of Indigenous lands and the oppression of Indigenous peoples by Europeans and their descendants, including in Canada and in Quebec,” he wrote.

Beading obsidian brings on the future

​“Doctrine of Discovery” is Kaska-Dene artist Sho Sho Belelige Esquiro’s first solo exhibit. It is meant to honour Indigenous strength while confronting and addressing the legacy of colonial atrocities.

In the multimedia exhibit, Esquiro’s art weaves together honour and prayer with themes of genocidal colonial practices, theft of resources and the murder of Indigenous women and children.

“These are things that have affected myself and my family from these policies that are upheld within Canada.”

“Doctrine of Discovery” premieres at the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art from Sept. 22 and runs until June 5, 2022.

Esquiro has been crafting couture that celebrates connection to land, family and Indigenous community for 11 years. She works with a wide range of materials, including recycled and ethically sourced wool, fur, leather, and minerals. The result is an exhibit rich in paintings, photography, textiles and couture gowns.

Esquiro is from Tulidlini, where two rivers meet, also known as Ross River, Yukon. It’s a beautiful and grounding place for her, from which she has drawn peace and energy.

Many of her materials come from her lands: fox pelt, beaver tail, and shells. A fur from her Uncle Amos appears in her art.

“He’s our national treasure. He’s 95 and he still traps. He’s in the hospital with COVID-19 right now, so we’re calling for prayers.”

Although some techniques and materials are rooted in her heritage, Esquiro doesn’t call those materials “traditional.”

“I don’t like to think of our Kaska art as stagnant. We’re growing,” she says. “And so I incorporate other materials that wouldn't be found in that area. We used to trade for dentalium shells on the coast. We used to trade for seal skins.”

Esquiro has had family and community support, mentors, and she keeps them close to her heart as her audience. She shares ideas and plans with family. She provides as an example, her dad. She talks with him as a residential school survivor, listening to learn if an idea she has will be too triggering. With themes of genocide and resource theft core to her art, it was important that Indigenous people as viewers were considered, first and foremost, she says.

The show at Bill Reid Gallery will attract school tours, tourists and people who are new to this country.

“I'm hoping that people come and all colours, creeds, religions can really take something away, or it brings something up in them to keep these conversations going.

“It's for a non-Indigenous person to come in and get a glimpse. This is not historical, like ‘forget about it. Get over it already.’ No. This is still happening.”

Miranda Belarde-Lewis is a Zuni-Tlingit assistant professor at the University of Washington and curator of this exhibit. She says the show’s intent is to craft conversation starters, although she’s a big fan of unintended conversation.

“Everybody's bringing their own experiences into the gallery and who knows what they're going to bring. They're going to bring their own joy, their own eyes, their own trauma. And you just never know what people are going to talk about.”

This show was five years in the making, growing and shifting during pauses brought on by gallery renovations, pandemic, cancer and loss.

The foundation originated with Layers of Love: The Wearable Arts, a show with “amazing, trail-blazing artist Clarissa Rizal. It was like working with a rock star,” says Esquiro. Rizal had cancer and she passed just after the original show was meant to open at the Bill Reid Gallery in October 2016. “It was heartbreaking, just heartbreaking.”

The Bill Reid Gallery closed for renovations afterward, and that was followed by the pandemic restrictions.

“This show has had every possible hurdle,” says Belarde-Lewis.

The pauses allowed time and space for themes to crystallize, themes that included murdered and missing Indigenous women and men, residential schools and resource theft.

The timing now feels like confirmation to Esquiro to use her special gift to continue awareness building, as the painful recoveries from unmarked, undisclosed graves at former residential schools continue.

Esquiro prayed long and hard over how to create from these themes, she says. The healing process is woven into the show’s pieces, and for Esquiro, art and spirituality are one thing.

“Prayer guides my process.”

Similar to people bringing signage to protests, Esquiro has incorporated text in her recent work. One piece uses an infamous quote by an originator of Native American boarding schools in the United States, Richard Pratt.

“Kill the Indian to spare the man.” It’s heavy, Esquiro acknowledges.

“It’s been emotional. I mean, who wants to bead that quote? But it’s also been healing.”

Esquiro is concerned about the fading attention to the thousands of children’s graves recovered at residential schools. What happened to the uproar, she asks, when the first 215 children were recovered in Kamloops? It’s a conversation her show aims to continue. She is the first generation in her family to not be forced into residential schools.

“Sho Sho is capturing this widespread feeling of Indigenous peoples across the Americas through her fashion, which is such a unique viewpoint and unique expression that lures you in,” says Belarde-Lewis. “It's like a fish hook. You know, you see these shiny beads and you see the furs.”

The audience is drawn in, close, the materials are so tactile, she says. Memories and current events begin to rise, and conversations emerge.

“The last time Pope Francis refused to apologize, I saw so many people in my community so hurt,” says Esquiro. “It brought it all back for them. I just cried. It broke my heart. All the other churches apologized.”

Esquiro was invited to a fashion show in Paris, and she took her pieces NO APOLOGY NECESSARY, including a jacket with an image of Pope Francis placed on it upside down to express distress like inverted flags do. She took it to Notre Dame, one of the most famous symbols of Catholicism in the world.

“It would be amazing to get an apology,” said Esquiro, “but if we don’t get it, our healing isn’t going to be dependent on it. So that’s what I meant by no apology necessary.”

“Sho Sho’s not waiting for people to come to her so she can give them a piece of her mind,” says Belarde-Lewis.

After the Notre Dame event “I was referred to as an activist and I've never called myself that. So it was uncomfortable at first, because I'm not on the front line at all by any means,” says Esquiro. “And this collection is really honoring people that are on the front lines.

Protest Kokum is a piece created in tribute of the power in grassroots activism, communicated through leather, text, font and beadwork.

A piece called Land Back was created from copper beads, 24 karat gold beads, raw black diamonds, birchbark, black seed beads, obsidian, dentalium, ostrich feathers, home tanned moose hide, porcupine quills, and acid washed lambskin.

Curator Belarde-Lewis describes another piece, a child’s dress, to honour children who had to go to residential school. They got stolen from their families, from their land.

She considers the generations of women who crafted regalia for their loved ones with keen attention to detail. Not all had the privilege of owning regalia, or having Elders to learn from.

Through systematic oppression, connections to family and land were deliberately removed, Belarde-Lewis says. In describing the meticulous beadwork, her mind turns to the seven generations, and she passes along a teaching she received.

“We're always talking about the seven generations, whether that’s us being in the middle of seven generations, or we're planning for seven generations from now. We've endured 500 years of intense colonial oppression and we're still doing our thing. It's not going to be what it was 500 years ago. And that's okay. We can't romanticize the future as if it is something 500 years in the future. That veil between us and what the future is is thin. It really is just a veil. That future is just on the other side of that veil.”

“Whether we think about the responsibility of educating our allies or educating ourselves as a future project, we can’t wait,” said Belarde-Lewis. “We need to be part of that conversation right now. And so, interventions into public education like this exhibition are part of shaping that conversation right now.”

Esquiro takes her opportunity to use her voice seriously and passionately. She’s only 41, and to be offered a solo show is a tribute. She’s working day and night to ensure the best of her skill and talent are in this show, she says.

“I’m honoured to have this platform and talk about these issues that are important to myself, and in Indian country. I feel my work is my legacy, and nobody's promised another day. This collection is my life's work up to this point.”

“I believe Creator blesses you with a gift, and I feel like it's your responsibility to utilize that gift and to share that gift, and then make space for other people with your gift. Not just let it stop at you.”

​Windspeaker.com

By Odette Auger, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Windspeaker, Windspeaker.com

AYN RAND HERO PROTAGONIST

Jeff Bezos, 57, reportedly invests in life-prolonging startup


Amazon ex-CEO Jeff Bezos has been looking to space for humanity's future. But the world's richest man is also trying to extend humanity's lifespan here on Earth, according to a report in MIT's Technology Review. 

© Tony Gutierrez / AP Blue Origin Bezos

Bezos, who is worth an estimated $200 billion, is one of several investors in Altos Labs, a Silicon Valley startup working on technology to rejuvenate cells and potentially prolong life, the Technology Review reported. The startup also counts Yuri Milner, a Russian tech billionaire and founder of the $3 million Breakthrough Prizes, as a backer.


Altos Labs is working on what's called reprogramming technology, a method of reverting adult, specialized cells into stem cells, which have the potential to turn into any kind of cell, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Technology Review.

Scientists say reprogramming holds great potential to treat vision loss, spinal cord injuries, brain injuries and other age-related bodily degeneration. In a 2018 study, the Salk Institute biocmemist Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte declared it "the elixir of life" and said that "aging is not an irreversible process." The following year, Izpisua Belmonte was part of a team working in China that created monkey-human hybrids called chimeras, drawing criticism from medical ethicists.

Now, Izpisua Belmonte is set to join Altos Labs, according to the Technology Review. Other preeminent scientists are also joining the startup's staff, including Steve Horvath, a University of California geneticist who developed a way to detect the aging of cells from their molecular markers. Shinya Yamanaka, who received a Nobel prize for his work on reprogramming in 2012 will head Altos Labs' advisory board., Technology Review reported.

Stopping disease and prolonging life seems to be a key interest for Bezos. In his 2020 letter to Amazon shareholders, the 57-year-old Amazon founder quotes extensively from British evolutionary biologist, Richard Dawkins, writing to his investors: "Staving off death is a thing that you have to work at. … if living things didn't work actively to prevent it, they would eventually merge into their surroundings, and cease to exist as autonomous beings. That is what happens when they die."

Concluded Bezos in his shareholder letter: "Never, never, never let the universe smooth you into your surroundings."

Bezos Expeditions, the billionaire's investment firm, did not reply for a request for comment from CBS MoneyWatch.

The multi-billionaire holds stakes in several other startups conducting cellular research, according to Bezos Expeditions, including Nautilus Biotechnology, Sana Biotechnology, Denali Therapeutics and Juno Therapeutics (now part of Bristol Myers Squibb).

Along with fellow tech billionaire Peter Thiel, Bezos has also invested in Unity Biotechnology, a startup developing technology to delay aging at the cellular level.

The project of staving off death is a popular one in Silicon Valley. In 2013, Google launched Calico, a research and development lab to treat aging. One year later, the Palo Alto Longevity Prize offered $1 million for researchers who could turn old organisms young or extend a living creature's lifespan by 50%. Today, researchers from 50 countries can take a crack at some $30 million in prizes available through the National Academy of Medicine's "healthy longevity" challenge.

Nir Barzilai, director of the Institute for Aging Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, expects $4.5 billion to be invested in life-extending science this year, he told the New York Post.

NUKE FLUSH

IAEA seeks Japan transparency in release of Fukushima water


TOKYO (AP) — Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency asked Japan on Tuesday for full and detailed information about a plan to release treated but still radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant into the ocean.

The three-member team, which is assisting Japan with the planned release, met Tuesday with government officials to discuss technical details before traveling to the Fukushima Daiichi plant for an on-site examination Wednesday. They will meet with Japanese experts through Friday.

Lydie Evrard, head of the IAEA's Department of Nuclear Safety and Security, said transparency and a full disclosure about the water and its treatment is key to ensuring safety for the project, which is expected to take decades.

The government and the plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, announced plans in April to start releasing the water in the spring of 2023 so hundreds of storage tanks at the plant can be removed to make room for other facilities needed for its decommissioning.

The idea has been fiercely opposed by fishermen, local residents and Japan’s neighbors, including China and South Korea.

TEPCO plans to send the water through an undersea tunnel and discharge it from a location about 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) away from the coastal power plant after further treating and diluting it with large amounts of seawater to bring it below releasable limits.

Evrard said her team wants to monitor the release to make sure it meets IAEA radiation and environmental safety standards, and proposed a discussion of monitoring methods and other details.

Government and TEPCO officials say tritium, which is not harmful in small amounts, cannot be removed from the water, but all other isotopes selected for treatment can be reduced to safe levels. Controlled release of tritium from normal nuclear plants is a routine global practice, officials say.

IAEA and Japanese officials on Tuesday discussed tritium monitoring methods.

Japan has requested IAEA’s assistance to ensure the discharge meets safety standards and to gain the understanding of the international community.

Trade and industry minister Hiroshi Kajiyama told reporters Tuesday that IAEA's involvement will help build trust in the Japanese effort. He said Japan will fully cooperate.

A massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011 severely damaged three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, causing contaminated cooling water to leak. The water has been stored in about 1,000 tanks which the plant's operator says will reach their capacity late next year.

Japanese officials say disposal of the water is required for the decommissioning of the plant, and that its release into the ocean is the most realistic option.

Mari Yamaguchi, The Associated Press

SWITCH THEM WITH SCOTUS

Mexico Supreme Court rules abortion criminalization is unconstitutional

Mexico's Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that penalizing abortion is unconstitutional, in a decision expected to set precedent for the legal status of abortion nationwide.

© Ulises Ruiz/AFP/Getty Images Activists supporting the decriminalization of abortion in Mexico march in Guadalajara, Mexico, on September 28, 2019.

By Karol Suarez and Sharif Paget, CNN

"Today is a historic day for the rights of all Mexican women," said Supreme Court Chief Justice Arturo Zaldivar.

The court ruled Tuesday against a law in the state of Coahuila, which threatened women who undergo abortions with up to three years prison and a fine.

The law, according to Coahuila Penal Code Article 196, allowed prosecution of both a woman seeking an abortion and the person who "causes her to have an abortion with her consent."

"I'm against stigmatizing those who make this decision [to undergo an abortion] which I believe is difficult to begin with, due to moral and social burdens. It shouldn't be burdened as well by the law. Nobody gets voluntarily pregnant thinking about getting an abortion later," said Supreme Court Justice Ana Margarita Ríos Farjat, one of only three women among the court's 11 justices.

The top court's decision against such penalization is "a historic step," Justice Luis Maria Aguilar said.

"Never again will a woman or a person with the capacity to carry a child be criminally prosecuted," he added. "Today the threat of imprisonment and stigma that weigh on people who freely decide to terminate their pregnancy are banished."

Elsewhere in Latin America, Argentina's Senate approved a bill to legalize abortion in December 2020. The Senate voted 38-29 to give millions of women access to legal terminations under the law supported by President Alberto Fernández.

The vote comes as US states just north of the border move to restrict abortion access, most notably in Texas

Volkswagen signals higher transition cost from autonomous shift


By Christoph Steitz and Jan Schwartz

© Reuters/Fabian Bimmer FILE PHOTO: 

Volkswagen CEO, Diess, chairman of the supervisory board Poetsch, Lower Saxony's PM Weil and head of VW works council, Osterloh, address the media in Wolfsburg

MUNICH (Reuters) - Volkswagen may have to spend more to deliver its planned transformation, the German carmaker's supervisory board chairman said, particularly a shift towards autonomous driving.

The world's second-largest automaker, which plans to invest 150 billion euros ($178 billion) in its business by 2025, has repeatedly said that it can fund the transition towards electric vehicles and autonomous driving based on current cash flows.

"We are in a phase where substantial free cash flows are being generated. That means we can pay out good dividends as well as comfortably fund our business going forward," Hans Dieter Poetsch told Reuters at the IAA Munich car show.

"But of course we are in an environment in which we cannot rule out that larger sums, for example in the field of autonomous driving, have to be invested," Poetsch, who is also chief executive of Porsche SE, which is Volkswagen's largest shareholder.

"It is therefore recommendable to think one or two steps ahead," Poetsch added, without specifying details.

Toyota Motor Corp said on Tuesday it expects to spend more than $13.5 billion by 2030 to develop batteries and a battery supply system as the world's largest automaker moves to deliver its first all-electric line-up next year.

Poetsch declined to comment on a potential initial public offering of luxury car division Porsche AG, which sources told Reuters in May is a scenario Volkswagen has contemplated should it require more money to pay for its strategy.

"From today's point of view our financial situation is relatively comfortable. And as part of our planning rounds, which we are holding each year, we are regularly reviewing where there is a need," Poetsch said.

Analysts reckon that a partial IPO of Porsche, speculation over which has regularly lifted Volkswagen's stock, could value the unit at 45 billion euros to 90 billion, a major lever Volkswagen could pull to fill its coffers.

"The clever finance executive will always have a list with options for how to provide extended financial flexibility for the company," Poetsch added.

($1 = 0.8421 euros)

(Reporting by Christoph Steitz and Jan Schwartz; Editing by Emma Thomasson and Alexander Smith)

Are There No Prisons? Are There No Workhouses? The Knowledge of Charles Dickens



​Charles Dickens knew poverty and child labor. He knew these things.

Raised in a middle-class home, Charles was educated, not merely schooled. In fact, his formal schooling was mediocre, like most of the limited formal education available in early 19th century England. He learned anyway, because of the learning that comes by osmosis from a family in a literate household. And above all, he learned because he read voraciously.

And then, before he had a chance to find his own voice, disaster.

Charles' father, a spendthrift clerk, is shut up in the Marshalsea, London's infamous debtors' prison. Young Charles has been sent out to work in a soul-destroying job, pasting labels and paper lids onto jars of shoe polish.

He pastes a paper lid. He sticks it on. It demands just enough attention to stop his mind from wandering. And too little to be stimulating. He takes another lid. He picks up the fishy-smelling pastebrush. Again. And again. And again. And again.

He is only 12 years old.

But Charles Dickens is old enough to understand the implications of this turn of events: His future is destroyed. His life of joyful learning has given way to ten hours a day in a crumbling, rat-infested warehouse, doing work that is precise enough to demand his full attention, and mind-numbing enough to stifle his imagination. There is no hope of escape. No place to go. Nothing to hope for.

And yet, as we know, escape he did.

Was Charles liberated from the boot-blacking factory because of his superior intelligence? No. Because of his superior education? No.
Because powerful Victorians saw the light, and freed children from exploitation and misery? No. Because he worked hard at his humble job? Emphatically, no. There is no reward for hard work, only punishment for falling behind, for any reason.

Charles is made free because his family is middle class: His father came into a large inheritance from Charles' great-grandmother. He is sprung from prison, and so is young Charles.

But the adult Charles Dickens knew that he was both fortunate and privileged. He knew that most people were not. His anger at selfishness, greed, and callousness shines through his novels: What more bitter a statement than Scrooge's vicious response to those who solicit a charitable donation from him: Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses? When the Christmas spirits educate Scrooge by showing him historical context--past, present, future-- nobody is made more happy than the enlightened Ebenezer Scrooge himself. He's delirious. His excitement, interpreted so beautifully onscreen in 1951 by Alastair Sim in Scrooge (US: A Christmas Carol), in a performance that has never been bettered. But then Sim knew something or childhood misery himself. For the rest of his life, he tried to rescue other lads from it, starting with George Cole.

Charles Dickens needed no such liberation of the soul. His concern and compassion for others came through in his lifetime, not only in his fiction, but also in his cogent criticisms of mid-Victorian society, including education. He attacked as the heartless attitudes of the day evinced in the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act, which forced the poor to choose between destitution, and prison-like workhouses where their families were forced apart.

He also attacked soulless factory-like teaching methods. Dickens supported the efforts of working men to pursue a life of the mind, but he offered fewer prescriptions for good education than he did criticisms, perhaps sensing (as do those of us who follow in his footsteps today) that good teaching is really about caring and sharing one's own life of the literate mind, not obeying bureaucratic instructions.

In every way, Charles Dickens rose above his lower middle-class circumstances to embrace a generous vision of life, precisely because he had stared into the void of a miserable, meaningless existence at a vulnerable age. Perhaps because, even after the family's windfall came, his own mother, shockingly to us, pondered leaving him in the factory. A miserable youth and successful adulthood do not necessarily lead to empathy. But a good education should. Dickens believed in education because he did not want others to suffer as he had. Above all, as he knew, education ought to mean saving oneself and others from learning the hard way.

There is a reason his voice is still relevant today. Indeed, it is growing more relevant than at any time in the past century. Confronting Scrooge (and us) with ignorance and want in the guise of two wretched children, Dickens does not offer as a solution prisons and workhouses, joyless instruction and punishment by bureaucracy. He offers aid and education, not for the few, but for all. His message is both simple and complex, and it is urgent.

Enjoy this? Join Dr. Annette Laing, the renegade historian and Brit in the US at Non-Boring History (for adults. Don't tell the kids, or they'll want to read it too) US and UK History, the interesting bits, for busy adults who are tired of doomscrolling internet clickbait while waiting at the doctor's office or in a queue. 

Few U.S. Workers Know About COVID Sick Leave Protections

© Provided by HealthDay

© Provided by HealthDay

TUESDAY, Sept. 7, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- While the United States is one of the only developed nations without universal sick leave, workers with COVID-19 can take paid emergency leave -- at least for now.

Problem is: Fewer than half of U.S. workers know it's available, according to a new study. And, the researchers add, cases of sick employees who couldn't take time off have tripled during the pandemic.

"When the government does not ensure that people have access to paid sick leave, people go to work sick," said study author Nicolas Ziebarth, an associate professor at Cornell University's Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy. "And when you have a virus going on – it could be the flu or coronavirus, it doesn't really matter -- then the sick people at work infect coworkers who go on to infect other people."

In March 2020, the U.S. government introduced the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) to provide federally funded emergency paid sick leave due to COVID-19.

The researchers analyzed data from a nationwide survey conducted between October and December of last year and found that about 8 million U.S. workers took advantage of paid leave in the policy's first six to eight months.

The study found that part-time and foreign-born workers were most likely to be unaware of the program. Awareness of the COVID sick leave was especially low among service and hospitality workers.

Women had a 69% higher risk of unmet sick leave needs than men, which suggests that universal paid leave can improve gender equity, according to Ziebarth.

"One reason the unmet needs for women is so much higher is that they are overrepresented in the hospitality and service industries," Ziebarth said in a university news release. "Another is that women tend to have a higher burden of work. They are still more likely to be the primary caregiver for children and have to balance paid work, chores and child care."

Providing paid sick leave has broader benefits for society, he added. If an infection spreads to kids in the household and they go to school sick because adults can't afford to stay home with them, disease spreads quickly.

"The point is that you have more virus infections in the population, which is bad for population health," Ziebarth said.

His team's findings were recently published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A previous study by Ziebarth found that FFCRA prevented 15,000 new infections a day in March and April 2020. The policy, which was set to expire in March 2021, was extended through the end of September.

More information

To learn more about the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, go to the U.S. Department of Labor.

SOURCE: Cornell University, news release, Aug. 30, 2021

U.S. workers are changing jobs more often and demanding better wages -NY Fed survey

By Jonnelle Marte

© Reuters/ANDREW KELLY FILE PHOTO: Signage for a job fair is seen on 5th Avenue after the release of the jobs report in Manhattan, New York City

(Reuters) - More U.S. workers are switching jobs and asking for higher wages as the labor market continues to heal from the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, according to a survey released Tuesday by the New York Federal Reserve.

Expectations about the labor market also continued to improve, with the expected likelihood of receiving a job offer in the next four months and the wages expected for that offer both rising, according to the report.

The share of workers who became unemployed in the previous four months dropped to 0.4% in July from 10.5% in July 2020 and is now below the 0.5% seen in November of 2019 before the pandemic. The percentage who moved to a new employer rose to 5.9% in July from 4.4% a year earlier.

The survey, which polled about 1,000 consumers about how their finances changed over the past four months, illustrates how much stronger the labor market is than a year ago, when millions more were unemployed because of the coronavirus pandemic and vaccines were not yet available to the general public.

But the latest data released by the Labor Department last week showed the jobs recovery may be stalling amid a resurgence of COVID-19 infections, driven by the Delta variant of the virus.

The New York Fed survey showed workers also raised their expectations for how much they should be paid. The average reservation wage, or the minimum annual wage consumers said they needed before they would even consider accepting a job offer, increased sharply from a year earlier to $68,954 in July 2021.

That was down from the series high of $71,403 reached in March of this year, but still above the $64,226 seen in July of 2020. The increase was largest for workers above age 45 and for people without college degrees.

(Reporting by Jonnelle Marte; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

Volvo workers in Virginia say the labor shortage helped them score a 12% pay rise: report

gdean@insider.com (Grace Dean) 

 Business across the US are struggling to find workers, causing some to slash operating hours, limit operations, and raise prices. Adam Ihse/TT News Agency/via Reuters

Volvo workers in Virginia said the labor shortage helped them get a 12% pay rise, AP reported.

Striking workers rejected two offers from Volvo before reaching a better deal, per AP.

The labor shortage is forcing some companies to hike wages and improve benefits.

Workers at Volvo's largest truck-manufacturing plant got a 12% pay rise spread over six years, and say it's partly thanks to a US labor shortage that has left companies scrambling to retain staff, according to a report by AP.

The 2,900 union members - nearly 90% of total staff at the New River Valley assembly plant in Dublin, Virginia - went on strike in the spring after negotiations with Volvo failed to produce a new contract, AP reported.

The automaker offered pay raises, signing bonuses, and lower-priced healthcare to the striking workers, AP reported, but workers rejected this proposal and a second one, despite leaders from the United Auto Workers union telling them to accept.

Workers eventually accepted a third offer that included better benefits, AP reported. They will now get 12% pay raises over the six-year contract, the publication reported.

The deal will also phase many union workers out of a two-tier pay scale that gives long-time workers more money, and instead give all current workers the top hourly wage of $30.92 after six years, AP reported.

Workers will get a six-year price freeze on healthcare premiums, the publication reported.

Workers felt more confident demanding a better contract because Volvo was trying to fill vacancies at the plant, Mitchell Smith, regional director for the United Auto Workers in the South, told the publication.

Volvo told AP that it had struggled to find workers for the Dublin plant, but said that it offered a strong pay and benefits package "that also safeguards our competitiveness in the market."

Insider contacted Volvo and United Auto Workers for comment, but did not immediately hear back.

Travis Wells, a forklift driver at the plant, told AP that staff were "emboldened by the labor shortage."

"The cost of recruiting and training a new workforce would've cost Volvo 10 times what a good contract would have," he said.

Businesses across the US are struggling to find workers, causing some to slash operating hours, limit operations, and raise prices.

Other union officials said that the labor shortage had helped staff get better contracts elsewhere, too. Martin Rosas, a union leader for the United Food and Commercial Workers in Kansas, Missouri, and parts of Oklahoma, told AP that some meat-packing workers had negotiated pay rises for some skilled positions.

The labor shortage is putting more power into workers' hands because companies are desperate to recruit new employees and retain existing ones. Susan J. Schurman, a professor of labor studies at Rutgers University, told AP that this shortage had given bargaining power to workers at levels not seen since the 1980s.

Companies including McDonald's, Starbucks, and Chipotle have hiked up wages, while other companies have rolled out better benefits packages, such as improved healthcare, education benefits, and more bonuses.

Ted Cruz told the millions of Americans who lost their unemployment benefits on Labor Day to 'um, get a job?'

"Are there no prisons?" asked Scrooge. "And the Union workhouses?" demanded Scrooge. "Are they still in operation?"

insider@insider.com (Cheryl Teh) 

© Provided by Business Insider Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, asks a question during the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Tuesday, March 9, 2021. 

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Cruz tweeted "Um, get a job?" in response to news that unemployment benefits expired for jobless Americans.

Twitter users criticized Cruz for his insensitivity and his lack of understanding of the situation.

It is estimated that more than 7.5 million Americans were affected when three federal pandemic-aid programs ended.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz reacted to news that millions of Americans lost their unemployment benefits on Labor Day by telling those who are out of work to "get a job."

Cruz tweeted on Monday night, sharing an article by ABC News which carried the headline "Jobless Americans have few options as benefits expire."

"Um, get a job?" Cruz wrote in his tweet. "There are millions of vacancies, and small businesses across the Nation are desperate for workers."

Three federal unemployment-aid programs ended as of Monday, September 6. The programs are the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program, and a program that provided people with $300 a week in Federal Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation.

The programs were scheduled to end by Labor Day.

The ABC article that Cruz retweeted and critiqued reported that these very relief efforts allowed Americans who lost jobs during the pandemic to afford essentials like food, gas, and rent, and enabled them to pay their bills.

"The end of the pandemic unemployment benefits will be an abrupt jolt to millions of Americans who won't find a job in time for this arbitrary end to assistance," said Andrew Stettner, a senior fellow at think tank The Century Foundation, to ABC.

It is estimated that at least 7.5 million Americans lost their unemployment benefits over the weekend, per reporting from Insider's Juliana Kaplan and Joseph Zeballos-Roig.

Many Americans have been left in the lurch with their benefits expiring, per CNN. The news outlet interviewed a Detroit optician named April Stokes, who said she received $1,152 in unemployment benefits per week, but saw her "lifeline" evaporate over the weekend. Stokes has had difficulty finding a job in her area that will enable her to work around her children's schedules.

"The government is not leaving us with any options," Stokes told CNN. "There are a lot of single moms out here that are really panicking right now and don't know what to do."
Read the original arti

ECOCIDE
First-Ever Spill of 'Frankenstein Fuels' Occurred Last Year, Researchers Find

Molly Taft 


A new analysis takes a look at what the authors say is the environmental impact of the first-ever spill of a new kind of marine fuel oil. The fuel was developed in response to regulations intended to lower sulfur emissions from the dirty shipping industry but is raising more environmental questions as it’s more widely adopted.

© Photo: Gwendoline Defente/EMAE (AP) 

Oil leaks from the MV Wakashio, a bulk carrier ship that ran aground on a coral reef off the southeast coast of Mauritius, last August.

The study, published Tuesday in Marine Pollution Bulletin, looks into fuel spilled during the crash of the bulk carrier MV Wakashio, which ran aground on a coral reef off the Mauritian coast in July of 2020. About a month after the crash, the Wakashio began leaking oil from cracks in its hull. Satellite images showed dark plumes of fuel ballooning out into the crystal blue Mauritian coastline, which is home to a wide variety of marine life living on its coral reefs and in mangrove forests. Two weeks after the crash, the government declared a “state of environmental emergency.”

Since the crash, there has been heavy speculation that the Wakashio, which had 4,000 tons of fuel aboard, was carrying a new type of fuel that’s causing concern among the environmental community. The government of Mauritus’s murky response to the disaster included no analyses of the type of oil spilled, which fueled more speculation.

The new study confirms that a sample of residue from the coastline taken (8 km) from the wrecked ship was fuel from the ship and that it was the new type of low-sulfur fuel. “Since the grounding of the Wakashio on a coral reef, there has been much speculation in the media about what oil was spilled, including headlines about so-called ‘Frankenstein fuels’, so we wanted to obtain a sample for research and analysis,” the study’s lead author, Alan Scarlett, a research associate at Curtin University’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said in a news release.

While it may sound like a cinematic exaggeration, “Frankenstein fuels” are a growing concern among those keeping an eye on the shipping industry’s environmental impact. The phrase was coined as a derogatory term to refer to what’s known as Very Low Sulfur Fuel Oil, or VLSFOs, a relatively new type of fuel blend that’s gaining prominence in ships across the world.

In January of 2020, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) instituted new regulations that required shipping companies to substantially lower the amount of sulfur in their fuels, to try and cut shipping’s whopping contribution to air pollution around the world. The industry began to quickly favor VLSFOs, thanks in large part to their lower price point compared to other options. VLSFOs, as the name suggests, have far less sulfur than the fuel traditionally used in shipping, and thus it fits the IMO’s new guidelines.

But since they’re such a new form of fuel, VLSFOs have raised a whole host of other chemical questions—and may help the shipping industry cut down on sulfur emissions while upping other harmful side effects. The Clean Arctic Alliance, a coalition of nonprofits that includes Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, and the World Wildlife Foundation, has sounded the alarm that heavy use of VLSFOs could make black carbon emissions from the shipping sector even more pronounced. (Black carbon, also known as plain old soot, is a greenhouse gas that experts say is incredibly damaging to sensitive environments—especially the Arctic—over the short term.)

The conversation around VLSFOs reached a head last August when the wreck of the Wakashio began leaking in Mauritius, and the new study provides some much-needed answers. First, some preliminary good news about this particular spill: in the sample of VLSFO collected from the ship’s wreck, researchers found lower levels of toxins dangerous to marine mammals than are usually present in traditional shipping fuels with higher concentrations of sulfur. Thus, “the impacts on marine organisms from exposure to toxic compounds in the oil may be less severe than with previous spills that involved older types of marine fuel oil,” Scarlett said.

But because VLSFOs are so new, Scarlett cautioned that this sample couldn’t paint a whole picture of the entire fuel class. “When we analysed several other Low Sulfur Fuel Oils, we found some contained higher concentrations of toxic components than the oil discharged in the Mauritius spill, so more research will be needed before we can conclude that all the oil types within this new class pose less of a threat to marine ecosystems than heavy fuel oils,” he said.

Ultimately, it’s crucial to research the impact of this fuel on marine environments as well as air pollution, as more and more ships use VLSFOs in accordance with the new standards.

“Unfortunately, oil spills from ships continue to be a frequent occurrence, so it is likely we will see further spills involving Very Low Sulfur Fuel Oils,” Scarlett said.

ECOCIDE

U.S. probing nearly 350 reports of oil spills in Gulf of Mexico after Hurricane Ida

By Staff Reuters
Posted September 6, 2021 

Hurricane Ida: Parts of US northeast cleanup, as national guard helps Louisiana residents

The U.S. Coast Guard said on Monday it was investigating nearly 350 reports of oil spills in and along the U.S. Gulf of Mexico in the wake of Hurricane Ida.

Ida’s 150 mile-per-hour (240 kph) winds wreaked havoc on offshore oil production platforms and onshore oil and gas processing plants. About 88% of the region’s offshore oil production remains shut and more than 100 platforms unoccupied after the storm made landfall on Aug. 29.

The Coast Guard has been conducting flyovers off the coast of Louisiana looking for spills. It is providing information to federal, state and local authorities responsible for cleaning the sites.

Flights on Sunday found evidence of a new leak from an offshore well and reported another leak responsible for a miles-long streak of oil was no longer active. A third report of oil near a drilling platform could not be confirmed, it said.

READ MORE: Agencies investigating reports of oil, chemical spills resulting from Hurricane Ida

Offshore oil producer Talos Energy Inc, which hired divers and a cleanup crew to respond to an oil spill in Bay Marchand, said old pipelines damaged during the storm were apparently responsible.

The source of the Bay Marchand leak remains unknown, said Coast Guard spokesman Lieutenant John Edwards. A Coast Guard-led team “will be looking at all potential sources in order to ensure any future risk is mitigated,” he said.

The spill off the coast of Port Fourchon, Louisiana, had decreased substantially since it was first discovered last week, Talos said. The company is not the owner of the pipelines and had ceased production operations in the area four years ago, said spokesman Brian Grove.

An offshore well belonging to S2 Energy was discharging oil about five miles (8 km) away from the Bay Marchand site, the Coast Guard said. The company told the Coast Guard it has secured the wellhead and it was no longer discharging oil.

S2 did not immediately reply to a request for comment

Talos Energy denies it owns leaking pipeline ruptured by Hurricane Ida

Divers at the site found a one-foot-diameter pipeline moved from a trench on the ocean floor at about 34 feet of depth

Reuters
Publishing date:Sep 06, 2021 •

In a satellite image, an oil slick is shown on Thursday south of Port Fourchon, La. 

PHOTO BY MAXAR TECHNOLOGIES VIA AP

HOUSTON — The U.S. Coast Guard said on Monday it was investigating nearly 350 reports of oil spills in and along the U.S. Gulf of Mexico in the wake of Hurricane Ida.

Ida’s 240 kph winds wreaked havoc on offshore oil production platforms and onshore oil and gas processing plants. About 88% of the region’s offshore oil production remains shut and more than 100 platforms unoccupied after the storm made landfall on Aug. 29.

The Coast Guard has been conducting flyovers off the coast of Louisiana looking for spills. It is providing information to federal, state and local authorities responsible for cleaning the sites.

Flights on Sunday found evidence of a new leak from an offshore well and reported another leak responsible for a miles-long streak of oil was no longer active. A third report of oil near a drilling platform could not be confirmed, it said.

Offshore oil producer Talos Energy Inc, which hired divers and a cleanup crew to respond to an oil spill in Bay Marchand, said old pipelines damaged during the storm were apparently responsible.

The source of the Bay Marchand leak remains unknown, said Coast Guard spokesman Lieutenant John Edwards. A Coast Guard-led team “will be looking at all potential sources in order to ensure any future risk is mitigated,” he said.

The spill off the coast of Port Fourchon, Louisiana, had decreased substantially since it was first discovered last week, Talos said. The company is not the owner of the pipelines and had ceased production operations in the area four years ago, spokesman Brian Grove said in a statement issued Sunday evening.

Divers at the site said the 1-foot-diameter pipeline was moved from a trench on the ocean floor at about 34 feet of depth and ruptured.

The area where the spill is located is a latticework of old pipelines, plugged wells and abandoned platforms left behind by decades of oil and gas drilling, the Associated Press reported on Saturday.

An offshore well belonging to S2 Energy was discharging oil about five miles (8 km) away from the Bay Marchand site, the Coast Guard said. The company told the Coast Guard it has secured the wellhead and it was no longer discharging oil.

S2 did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) said it is working with the Coast Guard and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to require companies responsible for any spills to halt and clean up the discharges.

“If necessary USCG and/or the EPA can open federal funding streams to cover mitigation costs,” LDEQ said. (Reporting by Arpan Varghese and Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru, Gary McWilliams in Houston and Stephanie Kelly in New York Editing by Marguerita Choy and Matthew Lewis)

.

The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) said it is working with the Coast Guard and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to require companies responsible for any spills to halt and clean up the discharge

“If necessary USCG and/or the EPA can open federal funding streams to cover mitigation costs,” LDEQ said.

The EPA also said it was working with LDEQ and the Coast Guard.

“EPA has received 39 reports relative to the Hurricane in our Area Of Responsibility and has been evaluating those reports and following up with responsible parties to ensure they are being addressed,” the agency said in a statement.

(Reporting by Arpan Varghese and Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru, Gary McWilliams in Houston and Stephanie Kelly in New York Editing by Marguerita Choy, Matthew Lewis, Peter Graff)

An oil leak off the coast of Louisiana spread for miles and no one knows who is responsible

When Talos Energy was notified of an oil spill off the Louisiana coast after Hurricane Ida, the company said, it sent a response team to the site

.

© Satellite image © 2021 Maxar Technologies Oil slicks on the water near the East Timbalier Island National Wildlife Refuge and the area south of Port Fourchon, Louisiana.

By Theresa Waldrop, CNN 

Divers found the leaking pipe in Bay Marchand on Sunday, and on Monday, Talos put a containment dome on it, "which allows for the recovery of the release and transfer to surface vessels" of the oil, Talos said in a Tuesday release.

Talos says its operations were not the source of the oil. The company said it had been contacted because it was a prior lessee of the block where the leak was, although it had stopped production there in 2017 and had isolated its wells and removed all its infrastructure.

So who is responsible for the spill? That has yet to be determined.

And that shouldn't be a big surprise, given the number of old pipelines and abandoned wells in the Gulf of Mexico, according to Wilma Subra, a chemist and technical adviser at the nonprofit Louisiana Environmental Action Network.

"If you would look at all the pipelines, on a map, offshore, it looks like spaghetti, you just threw spaghetti in there. Pipelines everywhere, everywhere, everywhere," Subra said.

"There are lots of pipelines out there, lots of old pipelines as well as newer ones, and ones like Talos has gotten rid of over the years," she said.

According to a Government Accountability Office report released this year, "the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement has allowed the offshore oil and gas industry to leave 97% of pipelines (18,000 miles) on the seafloor when no longer in use," since the 1960s. "Pipelines can contain oil or gas if not properly cleaned in decommissioning."

The bureau "does not have a robust oversight process for ensuring the integrity of approximately 8,600 miles of active offshore oil and gas pipelines located on the seafloor of the Gulf of Mexico," nor does it have "robust process to address the environmental and safety risks posed by leaving decommissioned pipelines in place on the seafloor."

CNN reached out to the BSEE on Tuesday but did not immediately hear back.

In a letter to the GAO in response to its report and attached as an appendix to it, a Department of the Interior official wrote that the "Department generally agrees with the report findings."

"BSEE has begun to implement GAO's recommendation to further develop, finalize, and implement updated pipeline regulations to address long-standing limitations regarding its ability to (1) ensure active pipeline integreity and (2) address safety and environmental risks associated with decommissioning," wrote Laura Daniel-Davis, principal deputy assistant secretary, Land and Mineral Management, at the US Department of the Interior.

Members of the US Coast Guard National Strike Force who flew over the Bay Marchand area Sunday saw no visible discharge of oil in the area, according to Lt. John Edwards.

"What was observed was an unrecoverable, dissipating rainbow sheen that was approximately 11 miles in length," Edwards said in an email to CNN. The source of the discharge is unknown, though, he said.

Talos said it observed pipelines owned by other companies that were likely impacted by Ida, including a 12-inch pipe that it says appeared to the source of the release.

"Talos conducted both physical inspections and subsea sonar scans that confirmed Talos assets were not the source or cause of the release," the company said.

Finding the responsible party will be part of the investigation, Coast Guard Petty Officer Gabriel Wisdom said.

Talos said it is working with the Coast Guard and other state and federal agencies to determine ownership of the damaged pipeline and to organize a coordinated response to the spill.

In the meantime, the USCG said it is "prioritizing" approximately 350 oil spill "incidents for further investigation by state, local, and federal authorities" in the wake of Hurricane Ida, which hit the gulf coast as a powerful Category 4 storm.

Those are incidents reported by the general public and range from "minor to potentially notable pollution reporting," Wisdom said.

While they could be duplicate reports of the same thing, "right now we treat them all individually," and they will all be inspected, he said.

For Subra, the Bay Marchand leak is an example of "the potential out there to happen every time there is a hurricane or even a weather front that disrupts the Gulf and disrupts the waters near the bottom" because of the numerous old pipelines and abandoned wells there, many that haven't been plugged, she said.

On the day Ida made landfall, more than 95% of the Gulf of Mexico's oil production facilities were shut down, regulators said.

The BSEE said Tuesday that its hurricane response team "continues to monitor offshore oil and gas operators in the Gulf as they return to platforms and rigs after the storm."

WHERE IS MY $100 I GOT VACCINATED

Alberta's vaccine lottery had little effect on boosting vaccination rates, doctors say
Stephanie Dubois 

© Chris Schwarz/Government of Alberta Back in June, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and Minister of Health Tyler Shandro promoted the idea of a vaccine lottery to boost vaccination rates.

Doctors say vaccine incentives like Alberta's "Open for Summer" lottery and the recently announced $100 gift cards for people who get their first and second doses aren't enough to boost COVID-19 vaccination rates in the province.

As of Monday, Alberta has the lowest percentage of eligible people with a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in the country, according to CBC's vaccine tracker.

Physicians in the province say a vaccine passport or stronger restrictions on access to public spaces for those not vaccinated is needed to boost vaccine rates in the province — not more incentives.


"The lottery really didn't have a particularly significant effect. And so I'm not sure that an individual incentive will make a huge difference, either," said Dr. Stephanie Smith, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Alberta Hospital.
Did the lottery boost vaccine rates?

An analysis of Alberta Health daily vaccine data shows that after the $3 million vaccine lottery was announced on June 12, and travel prizes a few days later, there was an increase in first-dose rates.

But by mid-July, when outdoor prizes were added to the lottery, first-dose vaccination numbers had largely plateaued.

Number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered by day in Alberta

"When we think about incentivizing vaccine uptake, we would expect that it would really be the first dose that should jump up if people were going to be incentivized by a lottery," said Smith.

"There really was not any kind of indication that the lottery made a huge difference."

Premier Jason Kenney and Health Minister Tyler Shandro justified the province's lottery by citing Ohio's vaccine lottery and an increase in vaccine rates.

"The early evidence is in and lotteries can help boost vaccination rates," Shandro said on June 14.

It was reported that vaccine uptake after the lottery announcement increased, but a study published July 2 in the medical journal JAMA Network found no evidence "that a lottery-based incentive in Ohio was associated with increased rates of adult COVID-19 vaccinations."

The study's authors noted a vaccine uptick in Ohio and other states without a lottery when 12- to 15-year-olds became eligible for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

In addition to the lottery, Alberta is now turning to $100 gift cards in hopes of sparking demand for vaccines, Kenney announced on Friday.

"We tried the lotteries. We saw an uptick. It helped a bit. And we're going to try this. And we don't know if it will work or not," Kenney said Friday, adding the incentive is cheaper than the cost of COVID-19 hospitalizations.
Vaccine passports

Doctors in Alberta say the answer to increasing vaccine rates is not more incentives, but a vaccine passport or mandate that will restrict those without a first or second dose from visiting certain public places.

© Scott Neufeld/CBC 

Dr. Shahzeer Karmali, a general surgeon at Edmonton's Royal Alexandra Hospital, says stronger measures to promote vaccinations are needed.

"We realize that there's different ways to generate acceptance of vaccinations. One of them is obviously a proactive idea of a lottery, but we realize that it's not working as well as we want it to," said Dr. Shahzeer Karmali, a general surgeon at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton.

"We have to look at stronger measures to promote vaccinations. Other provinces, other countries have definitively introduced a vaccine passport or an idea that if you're unvaccinated, then there's limited access to society, because this is where we're at."

In B.C., government officials saw a massive increase in interest in the COVID-19 vaccine since announcing a new program to require proof of vaccination.

Smith said Alberta should take note.

"When we look at the places that have created those vaccine passports or made those mandates … there has been an increase in vaccine uptake," Smith said.

"I think that there's a much stronger indicator that that is effective compared to incentivizing with gift cards or lotteries.

Edmonton Journal 

Tuesday's letters: 

Give the unvaccinated fines instead of bribes

On Friday, Mr Kenney announced that the unvaccinated would be given $100 if they obtain the vaccine. True, the hospitals are facing overloads, staff are overworked, and ICU beds may have to be shared (or something), but this is wrong!

© Provided by Edmonton Journal Premier Jason Kenney announces the province’s new COVID restrictions at McDougall Centre in Calgary on Friday, Sept. 3, 2021.

The majority of us have been vaccinated, though some can not be, and we should not be asked to devote our tax dollars to bribe the recalcitrants. If pressure is needed, and if $100 makes a difference, let it be in the form of a fine for those who are not yet part of the solution. Furthermore, impose a prohibition against them for attendance at multi-person events.


Certainly offer a clear vaccine certificate that can be easily checked so that those of us who do the right thing need not have to bribe the lazy, the inconsiderate, the anti-vaxxers, the fearful misinformed, and the main developers and spreaders of variants.

Peter Willott, Seba Beach

Should unvaxxed hold out for more?

Premier Kenny made an opening bid of $100 for the unvaccinated to roll up their sleeve and get the COVID-19 vaccine. I am just wondering if these individuals should be holding out for a higher bid? $200? $500?

When the next pandemic arrives, as it surely will, is the lesson here not to be an eager beaver but to hold out as long as possible for best financial inducements? Sure, it is a gamble but we already had two vaccine lotteries with prizes up to a million dollars so precedents have been set. Thank you Premier Kenney. Great to know that your government is willing to gamble away people’s lives and the economy of the province.

Richard McFarlane, Edmonton

Data shows vaccine experts were right

With the most recent data showing that over 80 per cent of hospitalizations are those that are unvaccinated, it has become more apparent than ever that — surprise — the medical community was correct in their efficacy numbers, and the real-world data supports what they’ve said all along.

The goal of the vaccinations are to reduce the long-term and serious effects of COVID, with less chance of spreading it being a secondary benefit. Why has it become so difficult for us to care about the well-being of others and trust our experts? It’s depressing how people don’t trust health-care providers, but will go to them if they are unable to breathe from COVID, or have negative side effects from trying unproven deworming medication.

Can’t have it both ways. People need to wake up and exit their social-media echo chambers. You are not the star of your own personal movie.

Ryan Black, Edmonton

Alberta’s vaccine record system unworkable

Seems this province is in the Middle Ages. I registered with Alberta Health to access my immunization record and get a proper document that I am fully vaccinated. Guess what? The website does not work properly and spits out error messages. A phone call to their help line advised me that the wait time on the phone is — hold on — 10.5 hours!

Only option left is to see my GP to get a print out from her. I have an appointment in two weeks. Does anyone agree that this is absolutely ridiculous?

Karin Fodor, Edmonton

Anti-vaxxers free to stay at home

Anti-vaxxers do have a choice. They have the freedom to remain unvaccinated and not travel, not go to concerts or sporting events, not work in essential-service jobs, not attend universities and secondary schools, not go to public indoor spaces.

They can enjoy their private, non-compliant, freedom bubble; just keep away from those children, immunocompromised, vulnerable people and hospitals that care for the health of the entire society.

Maxine Newbold, Edmonton

COVID skeptics don’t need medical care

What bothers me is with all the anti-maskers, anti-vaxxers and COVID deniers, once they do get COVID, they go running off to the hospital like little wheezing babies. That plugs up hospitals resulting in other procedures being cancelled.

Come on you people, tough it out at home. It is “just the flu,” right?

Niel Johnson, Edmonton

Liberal job plan ensures better opportunities

Re. “Liberals deserve to be shut out of Alberta,” Opinion, Sept. 2

Mr. Marciano is misleading the public about the Liberal plan for job creation in Alberta. See the facts for yourself in our detailed, comprehensive, and — unlike the Conservatives — fully costed platform.

Our job creation plan is focused on ensuring energy workers and communities have even greater opportunities than they do today. I have knocked on thousands of doors in the last several weeks and heard repeatedly from folks who understand that while traditional oil and gas jobs won’t completely dry up overnight, we must start transitioning to greener jobs that are already in demand globally. Unlike Mr. Marciano, Mill Woods residents understand that Alberta is losing jobs due to global economic forces beyond our control — and we’ve got to act quickly. That is why the Liberal government is committing $2 billion to a futures fund for Alberta and other oil and gas-dependent provinces. Meanwhile, Jason Kenney spent nearly $2 billion on a dead-end pipeline.

If the Conservative plan for jobs was credible, it would be working in Alberta. Clearly, it is not. Instead of fear-mongering and not-so-subtly implying that they are entitled to hold office here, Alberta’s Conservatives need to start earning their votes with ideas that will ensure our city’s economic future is resilient and thriving.

Ben Henderson, Liberal party candidate for Edmonton Mill Woods

A tough year for Mother Nature and farmers

For any of our urban cousins who think farmers are nothing but whiners, here’s a message from a rural cousin. Stock up! Buy extra flour, oats, barley, flax, canola oil and any other grain you may use. Also spices and rice that come from abroad. This year Mother Nature has shown herself to be suffering from bipolar disorder. Her fields look like burnt toast. Grass did not grow in pastures and failed crops have been cut for silage to be used as feed for animals.

Her heat dome stretched from sea to sea. Fish died in rivers and lakes. Her hot flashes were felt by every living thing. If she is going through menopause, we are in for some more troubled years.

Nancy Mereska, Two Hills