Catherine the Great smallpox letter echoes Russia's pandemic woes

The Empress was the first person in Russia to be vaccinated against smallpox. EVEN BEFORE PUTIN

In the 18th century letter, Empress Catherine II provided detailed instructions on how to organise an effective inoculation campaign (AFP/Dimitar DILKOFF)More

Ola CICHOWLAS
Fri, November 19, 2021

A rare letter written by Russian Empress Catherine the Great urging for her subjects to be vaccinated against smallpox has been unveiled in Moscow, as Russia's current leadership struggles with its own vaccination drive more than two centuries later.

In the letter, dated April 20, 1787 and addressed to a count, the German-born ruler who expanded Russia's territory provides detailed instructions to authorities in present-day Ukraine on how to organise an effective inoculation campaign.

Auction house MacDougall's, which specialises in Russian art, put the letter and a portrait of Catherine on public display in Moscow on Friday, before the pieces go on sale in London.

The document and portrait are estimated to have a joint worth of up to 1.2 million pounds ($1.6 million).

Held until now in an anonymous private collection, they will be shown at a Moscow gallery until November 30 and will go up for auction in London on December 1.

"One of the most important (tasks) should be the introduction of inoculation against smallpox, which, as we know, causes great harm, especially among ordinary people," Catherine wrote to Count Pyotr Rumyantsev, reportedly on a trip to Crimea.

"Such inoculation should be common everywhere," she wrote in neat Cyrillic, signing "Catherine" in large script.

She goes on to provide details on how to make vaccinations widely available, including by setting up temporary accommodation in monasteries for those who fall ill after being jabbed.

The Empress was the first person in Russia to be vaccinated against smallpox.

"In today's conditions, we should be very proud of Catherine," the auction house's co-director and Russian art expert Yekaterina MacDougall told reporters during a press viewing on Thursday.

While President Vladimir Putin says he was vaccinated with Russia's home-grown Sputnik V vaccine, he took months into the pandemic to do so -- and some have criticised him for not doing so on camera.

- 'Barbarism' not to get jab -

The Empress had organised an "unreal" propaganda campaign to encourage her subjects to be jabbed against smallpox, which was decimating populations across Europe at the time.

But, "as a very intelligent woman", MacDougall said Catherine stopped short of mandating vaccinations. "She knew that the Russian people would rebel against this."

During the Covid-19 pandemic, many Russians have also rebelled against Kremlin instructions, refusing to vaccinate themselves against the virus.

Despite repeated pleas from Putin, only 40 percent of Russians are fully vaccinated.

Catherine's letter is "unique, especially given this situation we are all in," historian Oleg Khromov told reporters via video link, adding that it was a "miracle" that it had survived.

Catherine, scared of dying of smallpox like many around her, had a doctor come from England to give her the smallpox vaccine.

Khromov said doctors used a sample from a child to inject Catherine with the disease. The youngster was later rewarded with a title.

She was then sick for some time and when she recovered, imperial authorities put out a decree saying the Empress was feeling well and urged others to follow her.

But Khromov said that despite her efforts to convince Russians to get vaccinated, "people were scared, it was new and unusual."

When France's Louis XV died of smallpox in 1774, Catherine reportedly said it was "barbarism" to die of the disease in the enlightened 18th century.

"I very much hope that one day, maybe in the near future, we can say: 'What barbarism to die of Covid in the 21st century'," Yekaterina MacDougall said.

Catherine is Russia's longest-ruling female leader, occupying the imperial throne between 1762 and 1796.

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50 migrant workers died in Qatar in 2020: report

Agence France-Presse
Posted at Nov 19 2021 

Fifty migrant workers died in Qatar last year and over 500 were seriously injured, the UN's International Labor Organization said Friday, as the Gulf nation readies for the 2022 World Cup.

The report comes amid criticism of working conditions for hundreds of thousands of migrant laborers -- including those who built the stadiums for the World Cup.

The ILO report, entitled "One is too many", said that the top cause of fatalities were falls -- with most happening at the workplace.

Qatar, which has made a series of labor reforms since being selected to host the football tournament, welcomed the report saying it "highly values" its collaboration with the ILO.

"Severe occupational injuries were most commonly caused by falls, followed by road traffic injuries, falling objects and machinery," the report read.

"Thirty (deaths) occurred pre-hospital and 20 occurred in hospital," it added, which ILO says is the most comprehensive picture ever of work-related deaths in the country.

The ILO said that there were 506 recorded severe injuries -- an average of 42 a month -- with 37,600 people suffering mild to moderate injuries.

Most of those injured came from Bangladesh, India and Nepal, and worked mainly in the construction industry.

The report said it also identified gaps in data collection.

"It's not collected in a systematic way," said Max Tunon, head of the ILO project office in Qatar, with the report calling for a "national integrated platform" to collate injury data.

"Another key recommendation is to better investigate death that hadn't been categorized as work-related -- but could be work-related," Tunon said.

Qatar welcomed the report, saying it reflected its commitment to transparency on labor rights, and was reviewing the recommendations.

"Qatar... will continue working with the ILO to ensure that labor reforms are implemented effectively, and that Qatar is continuously improving labor practices and increasing safety for all workers," a government statement read.

Qatar has issued a string of reforms to its employment regulations since being selected to host the World Cup, including introducing a $275 monthly minimum wage and simplifying the process for changing employers.

More than two million foreigners work in Qatar, many employed directly or indirectly on vast infrastructure projects for the World Cup.

Qatar hiding migrant worker deaths, says labour agency
Reuters
-November 19, 2021

Qatar has faced scrutiny over worker conditions in the run-up to it hosting the 2022 World Cup next year. (AP pic)

DOHA: Qatar is not adequately investigating and reporting worker deaths including unexplained fatalities among seemingly healthy labourers, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) said today.

The small but wealthy Gulf state, where foreigners make up the majority of the population, has faced scrutiny over worker conditions in the run-up to it hosting the 2022 World Cup next November.

Data collected at government-run trauma centres and ambulances in 2020 showed 50 workers died and more than 500 were severely injured, the ILO said.

“Most were suffered by migrant workers from Bangladesh, India and Nepal, mainly in the construction industry. Falls from height and road traffic accidents were the top causes of severe injuries, followed by falling objects on worksites,” the report said.

The ILO said numbers could be higher as authorities don’t classify all work-related deaths as such, including unexplained deaths among healthy workers and heat-related fatalities.

That data gap should be addressed, with better injury investigations, Max Tunon, head of the ILO’s Qatar office, told Reuters.

In August, Amnesty International criticised Qatar for failing to investigate thousands of unexplained deaths.

A widely-reported Guardian newspaper analysis in February concluded 6,500 South Asian migrants had died in Qatar since 2010.

However, Tunon cautioned that Qatar worker death data is frequently reported without necessary nuance.

“The (Guardian’s) number includes all deaths in the migrant population … without differentiation between migrant workers and the general migrant population, let alone fatalities that resulted from occupational injuries,” the ILO said.

Qatar has introduced several labour reforms in recent years, including tougher rules designed to protect workers from heat and raising the minimum wage.

“No other country has come so far on labour reform in such a short amount of time, but we acknowledge that there is more work to be done,” the Qatar government press office said, adding it was reviewing the ILO recommendations.

U.S. charges church founder and Duterte associate with sex trafficking


Philippines President Photo courtesy of Philippines Presidential Communications Operations Office/Website

Nov. 19 (UPI) -- Federal prosecutors have charged Apollo Quiboloy, the leader of a Philippines-based megachurch and a purported friend and advisor to the archipelago nation's president, Rodrigo Duterte, of trafficking women and girls as young as 12 for his own sexual pleasure.

The Justice Department announced Thursday that Quiboloy, 71, and two administrators of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, The Name Above Every Name church have been charged with conspiring to traffic young women and girls for sex.

According to the court document, the trio -- which includes administrators Teresita Tolibas Dandan, 59 and Felina Salinas, 50 -- coerced young women and girls between 12 and 25 years of age within the church to work as personal assistants known as "pastorals" to Quiboloy, who's referred to as The Appointed Son of God.

The pastorals would prepare Quiboloy's meals, clean his residences, give him massages and travel with him internationally including to the United States, the document states, adding that they would also have scheduled sex with him in what they referred to as "night duty."

"Defendant Quiboloy and other KOJC administrators coerced pastorals into having 'night duty' -- that is, sex -- with defendant Quiboloy under the threat of physical and verbal abuse and eternal damnation by defendant Quiboloy and other KOJC administrators," it said.

The document adds that the trio told the girls and women that it was God's will and a privilege to perform night duty for Quidboloy "as well as a necessary demonstration of the pastoral's commitment to give her body to defendant Quiboloy as 'The Appointed Son of God.'"

Those who satisfactorily performed their duty would be rewarded gifts, the prosecutors said, including trips to Disneyland, flights on private jets, use of cell phones and yearly payments they called honorariums.

Prosecutors identified Dandan of Davao City, Philippines, as the international administrator of the church and an overseer of its operations in the United States and Salinas of Kapolei, Hawaii, of being responsible for collecting and securing passports and other documents from church workers in the state.

The three were among nine people named in a superseding indictment that was returned Nov. 10 but unsealed Thursday.

The superseding document adds six defendants and expands upon charges from a one-count indictment announced in February of last year charging three top church administrators of conducting a labor trafficking scheme that forced church members to solicit donations for a fraudulent charity called the Children's Joy Foundation USA.

While the bogus charity's workers raised funds purportedly to aid impoverished Filipino children, prosecutors said most of the money went to finance the lavish lives of the church leaders and finance the religion's operations.

The three defendants were arrested on accusations of bringing workers for the charity to the United States through student visas or arranging sham marriages with other U.S. citizen church employees.

The indictment announced Thursday identifies three minors who were victims of the church's sex trafficking operation and states the conspiracy began in 2002 and continued until at least 2018.

Three of the six newly added defendants to the indictment have been arrested, including Salinas. Quiboloy, who is a purported friend of Duterte, is believed to be in the Philippines.

 

Remains of 'very rare' dinosaur species discovered in Brazil

This handout picture released by the National Museum of Rio de Janeiro on January 25, 

2021, shows archaeologists recovering fossils of a previously unknown species of 

dinosaur discovered in southern Brazil.

Remains of a toothless, two-legged dinosaur species that lived some 70 million years ago has been discovered in Brazil, researchers said Thursday, calling it a "very rare" find.

The small dinosaur, which measured about a meter (three feet) long and 80 centimeters (two and a half feet) tall, is a theropod, a group whose members were almost all believed to be carnivores.

But puzzlingly, the new species—dubbed Berthasaura leopoldinae—has a beak-like mouth with no teeth.

"That was a real surprise," the paleontologists who made the find said in a statement released by Brazil's National Museum.

They published their findings in the journal Nature, calling the discovery "one of the most complete dinosaurs found from the Cretaceous period in Brazil."

"The toothless part raises doubts about what kind of diet this animal had," said researcher Geovane Alves Souza, one of the study's authors.

"It doesn't necessarily mean it didn't eat meat, though. Lots of birds, such as falcons and buzzards, eat meat with beaks. Most likely, it was an omnivore living in an inhospitable environment where it had to eat whatever it could."

The fossilized skeleton was found along a rural road in the southern state of Parana between 2011 and 2014.

Analysis revealed it was an entirely new species that lived between 70 million and 80 million years ago.

The species was named for Bertha Lutz, a revered Brazilian scientist and feminist who died in 1976, and for Maria Leopoldina, Brazil's 19th-century empress, who was a patron of the sciences.Desert-dwelling carnivorous dinosaur found in Brazil

More information: Geovane Alves de Souza et al, The first edentulous ceratosaur from South America, Scientific Reports (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-01312-4

Journal information: Nature  , Scientific Reports 

© 2021 AFP

'Squid Game' director Hwang Dong-hyuk: World is facing 'limits of capitalism'

By Thomas Maresca

Hwang Dong-hyuk, director of the hit Netflix show "Squid Game," said at a forum on Thursday that he felt 21st-century capitalism had reached its limits, a concept he explored in his series. Photo courtesy of Netflix

SEOUL, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- Hwang Dong-hyuk, director of the chart-topping Netflix series Squid Game, said Thursday he made the show to raise questions about a modern system of capitalism that makes many people "feel like they are standing on a cliff every day."

"In the 21st century, I thought that maybe we were seeing the limits of capitalism," Hwang said at the Seoul Digital Forum, a one-day event held in the South Korean capital. "Everybody is now in this huge competition, and once you fail at the competition, then you cannot ever recover from it. You're pushed more and more to the bottom of society."

Squid Game, which is the most-viewed series ever on the streaming giant, centers around 456 people playing a series of children's games for a $40 million cash prize -- with death as the consequence for losing.

Hwang said the show's protagonist, Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), is left asking questions about who is behind the cruel game, and why it is being played.

"I wanted to ask the same question to all of us," the 50-year-old director said. "Not just in Korea, but in other capitalist societies, to everybody living in the 21st century experiencing so much pain and enduring difficulties...Who has created this system of competition, who has pushed us into a system that makes us feel like we are standing on the edge of a cliff every day?"

The nine-episode series, which premiered in September, swept to the top of the Netflix charts in all 83 countries where it was available. Squid Game was viewed for more than 1.65 billion hours over its first 28 days, according to a new tracker launched by the company this week, more than twice as much as its nearest competitor, the steamy period drama Bridgerton.

Named after a real-life Korean children's game, Squid Game focuses on desperate, debt-ridden characters and those living on the margins of society, including a factory worker from Pakistan and a North Korean defector. While many details of the show are specific to South Korea, Hwang said he consciously tried to depict scenarios that would resonate all over the world.

"Immigrant workers, the elderly, the unemployed -- these characters represent the underdogs, not just in Korea," Hwang said. "[They are] representatives of the marginalized groups that other countries can relate to."

The director also revealed some personal details behind the hit series, including which Squid Game competitor he most closely identifies with.

Hwang said he saw parts of himself in the two main characters: Gi-hun, who strives to hold onto his humanity throughout the brutal game, and Cho Sang-woo (Park Hae-soo), a disgraced businessman who is ultimately willing to do anything to survive. It was the more ruthless Sang-woo that Hwang believed most people, including himself, would emulate if forced to play the game.

"Sang-woo is not a bad guy, but a realistic guy, and he is the closest to people of today," Hwang said. "In that sense, I think I'd be closest to Sang-woo once I was in the game."

The director confirmed last week that a second season of Squid Game is on the way. On Thursday, he also teased what social issues are on his mind for his next project.

"For my next work, I want to focus on the aging population and the conflict between generations," Hwang said. "I'm interested in those issues, so I may want to talk about that."

Biden meets Canada's Trudeau, Mexico's AMLO in 1st 'three amigos' summit in 5 years


United States President Joe Biden (C) walks with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (R) and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (L) as they arrive for the North American Leaders' Summit on Thursday. Photo by Chris Kleponis/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 18 (UPI) -- President Joe Biden on Thursday hosted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador at the White House for the first North American summit in five years.

The leaders were all physically present at the White House as they individually met with Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to discuss a range of issues, such as trade and COVID-19.

"As leaders, we share an innate understanding that our diversity is an enormous strength, that we are best able to reach our potential when we unleash the full range of our people's talents," said Biden.

Speaking alongside Trudeau, Biden described the partnership between the United States and Canada as "one of the easiest relationships you can have as an American president and one of the best."

United States Vice President Kamala Harris meets with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on a balcony of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House on ThursdayKleponis/UPI | License Photo

RELATED Canadian PM Trudeau arrives in U.S., will push Congress on electric vehicle tax rebate

Biden hailed the work the two nations have done together on climate change, COVID-19, infrastructure and economic recovery.

"We see an opportunity not only to enhance the prospects of a better life for people around the world, but we can do it by the Build Back Better world, Build Back Better effort -- that we can provide for the health needs as well," he said.

Trudeau said early this week that the administration's "buy American" strategy stifles economic cooperation with Canada.

"It's an issue that I've already underlined very often with President Biden and it will certainly be part of important conversations that we'll have later this week," Trudeau said, according to The New York Times.

Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau (L) and President Joe Biden meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. Pool Photo by Doug Mills/UPI | License Photo

Asked about similar concerns expressed by the prime minister over a tax credit for electric vehicles included in his Build Back Better Act, Biden said the two leaders would discuss the issue, noting the plan has not yet been approved by Congress.

"I don't know what we're going to be dealing with, quite frankly, when it comes out of legislation. So, we'll talk about it then," he said.

Biden was expected to raise border issues with Mexico after thousands of Haitian refugees traveled through Mexico to cross the border in Texas in September.

United States Vice President Kamala Harris (L) meets with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the Vice President's Ceremonial Office of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI | License Photo

Speaking with Obrador, Biden said he viewed the United States and Mexico as equals, while Obrador praised Biden's plan to provide citizenship for more than 11 million undocumented migrants living in the United States.

"President Biden, no President in the history of the United States has expressed, as you have, such a clear and certain commitment to improve the situation of the migrants. And thus, I wish to express my acknowledgment," he said.

Obrador also called on the two nations to accept immigrants in order to ease their labor issues.

"We should no longer reject immigrants because, in order to grow, you need workforce -- the workforce that you do not necessarily have -- nor in the U.S., nor in Canada," he said. "Why not study the workforce demand, the labor demand and open the migrant flow?"

MIGRANTS CAN'T GET TO CANADA BECAUSE THE USA SHUT THE MEXICO BORDER DOWN

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meets Wednesday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Photo by Tasos Katopodis/UPI

Biden on Thursday also said the United States was "considering" a boycott of the 2020 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

The three were also expected to affirm the Trump-era trade agreement that supports labor rights and pledge to share COVID-19 vaccines with poorer Latin America and Caribbean countries.

Thursday's meeting was the first "three amigos" summit since former President Barack Obama held one in 2016. Former President Donald Trump never staged the summit during his time in office.

"North America is a platform that is critical to both our domestic economic success and -- as well as a partnership that can play a really critical role in resolving regional and global challenges," a senior administration official told reporters.

"What you can expect ... is that as we seek to deepen and expand our economic cooperation and security partnership with both countries, the president will also have separate bilateral meetings with each leader."


Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau (L) and President Joe Biden meet in the Oval Office of the White House on Thursday, ahead of the two meeting with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Pool Photo by Doug Mills/UPI | License Photo

 A major Canadian city risks turning into a lake
Tristin Hopper 1 day ago


A major Canadian city faces the very real prospect of reverting to its prior status as a lake . Although the heavy rains that lashed B.C. earlier this week have largely ceased, in Abbotsford they’ve caused the overwhelming of a local pumping station that authorities warned Tuesday could prompt a “catastrophic” rush of water that would pose a “significant risk to life .” Much of Abbotsford sits in the footprint of a former lake that was drained in the 1920s and flooding has compromised the usual defences that keep the area drained. One of the more heartbreaking aspects of an evacuation order issued Tuesday night was the requirement for farmers to abandon their livestock ; a directive likely to result in death for tens of thousands of Fraser Valley cattle and horses.

 

B.C. Provincial Archives A 1922 photo of Sumas Lake, a body of water drained in the late 1920s to make way for much of modern Abbotsford.

Liberals set to bring in tougher version of bill to ban conversion therapy

OTTAWA — The Liberal government is set to introduce a tougher version of its earlier bill to ban conversion therapy, which failed to pass before Parliament was dissolved for the election

.

Nicholas Schiavo of the advocacy group No Conversion Canada says he has spoken with the federal government about the new bill, and that it will "leave less room for loopholes."

The coming proposed legislation would make it illegal to try to change someone's sexual orientation or gender identity through a discredited practice known as conversion therapy.

A previous bill, known as C-6, would have made it a criminal offence to force adults to undergo conversion therapy against their will.

The Liberals promised to reintroduce a version of the bill within the first 100 days of a new mandate, which began when cabinet ministers were sworn in last month.

A spokeswoman for Justice Minister David Lametti said the government is committed to a "complete ban" on conversion therapy.

Schiavo said his organization expects the new version of the bill to be stronger than the last.

“Our expectation — what we have heard — is that upcoming legislation will introduce a complete ban on conversion practices without any loopholes for age, gender identity or faith," he said.

Bill C-6 was heavily amended and opposed by more than half the Conservative caucus the last time around. It was strongly supported by other parties.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 18, 2021

The Canadian Press

O'TOOLE'S KENNEY MOMENT
Conservative senators defy O'Toole on expulsion of senator who challenged leadership


OTTAWA — Sen. Denise Batters may no longer be welcome in the Conservatives' national caucus but she's still a member of the party's Senate caucus.

Conservative senators have chosen to keep Batters in their fold, notwithstanding party leader Erin O'Toole's decision Tuesday to kick her out of the national caucus after she challenged his leadership.

Karine Leroux, spokeswoman for Conservative Senate leader Don Plett, confirmed Thursday that "Sen. Batters is still a current member of the Senate Conservative Caucus."

She declined to elaborate, saying that "would encroach on caucus confidentiality."

The decision to keep Batters in their caucus suggests Conservative senators are defying O'Toole, who warned Wednesday that anyone supporting her attempt to force an early confidence vote on his leadership would be kicked out of national caucus for not being a team player.

When former leader Andrew Scheer kicked Sen. Lynn Beyak out of the national caucus in 2018, the Conservative Senate caucus immediately followed suit.

Beyak was turfed over her defence of residential schools and her refusal to take down posts on her senatorial website that were deemed racist towards Indigenous Peoples. She resigned from the Senate last January before senators could vote on a motion to remove her from the chamber entirely.

Plett himself tweeted his support Tuesday for O'Toole's decision to give Batters the boot.

“As always, I continue to support Erin O’Toole’s strong and principled leadership to unite the Conservative Party of Canada,” he wrote.

But the other 17 Conservative senators evidently had other thoughts on the matter. After meeting separately to discuss it, they've decided to keep Batters in the fold.

Batters could not immediately be reached for comment.

But she has said she had a lot of support from senators and MPs alike for her decision to launch a petition Monday aimed at forcing a referendum on O'Toole's leadership within six months, rather than wait for a scheduled leadership review at the party's national convention in 2023.

And she has questioned why O'Toole dumped her when he did nothing about fellow Conservative Sen. Michael MacDonald, who has also challenged O'Toole's fitness to lead.

Before the first national caucus meeting after the Sept. 20 election, MacDonald wrote Conservative MPs urging them to give themselves the power to oust the leader.

"The status quo under the present circumstances is a mistake and a gift to the Liberals that this party and this country cannot afford,” he wrote.

Like Batters, MacDonald said O'Toole's bid to present a more moderate, centrist party was a failure, resulting in a loss of seats in the election and none of the promised breakthroughs in Central Canada.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 18, 2021.

Joan Bryden, The Canadian Press

Another Conservative has gotten fired for publicly opposing the leadership of Erin O’Toole . This happened in October to a member of the Conservatives’ national council who called for a leadership review into O’Toole. And now it’s happened to Conservative Senator Denise Batters after she spearheaded a similar drive to force O’Toole’s leadership to a vote. As a member of the Red Chamber who is only 51 years old, it’s basically impossible to fire Batters before she reaches mandatory retirement in 2045. However, on O’Toole’s orders she was kicked out of the Conservative caucus and will now sit as an independent. Batters was not taking the dismissal well. In a tweet she vowed to “not be silenced by a leader so weak that he fired me VIA VOICEMAIL.”

Wetaskiwin mayor ‘grateful’ for Alberta funding for homeless, waiting for details

While it was late, the government of Alberta's funding announcement Wednesday detailing more support for emergency homeless shelters and isolation sites was "definitely not too late," according to Mayor Tyler Gandam.

 Jason Franson, The Canadian Press A homeless encampment set up in Wetaskiwin, Alta., is shown on Saturday, Oct. 9, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

"We'll take all the support we can get," he said Thursday.

"I'm really grateful the province is coming out with the funding for the homeless. I'm looking forward to seeing how that's going to impact our homeless population and what we can do moving forward for a long-term solution."

Read more: Alberta provides $21.5M to extend COVID-19 supports to emergency homeless shelters

On Wednesday, the province announced it was providing $21.5 million for additional beds and isolation sites at emergency homeless shelters and emergency women’s shelters. The provincial funding will extend COVID-19 supports to shelters until March 2022.

Of the $21.5 million, $13 million will go towards emergency homeless shelters "in Edmonton, Calgary, Red Deer, Grande Prairie, Medicine Hat, Lethbridge, Lloydminster, Drayton Valley, Leduc, Slave Lake and Wetaskiwin;" $6.5 million for 10 isolation facilities "in Calgary, Edmonton, Fort McMurray, Grande Prairie, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Red Deer, Wetaskiwin, Peace River and Lac La Biche;" and $2 million for emergency women's shelters.

Read more: Number of homeless Edmontonians has doubled; city facing lack of shelter space this winter

Gandam is still waiting for details on how much Wetaskiwin will be receiving and how exactly the money will be spent.

The top priority is an emergency shelter.

"The city doesn't have the means financially to provide a shelter, especially a city our size. We're just under 13,000 people and per capita we're dealing with a homeless population that would rival any other big city in North America," Gandam said.

Read more: Wetaskiwin encampment to get temporary warming shelters amid demands for permanent housing

Several dozen people have been staying at a homeless encampment outside a big box store in Wetaskiwin.

The city was scrambling to find temporary accommodations for the winter months.

Gandam said a $150,000 federal grant plus $35,000 from the city and possible support from the province will fund warming trailers at the site, but that's a very temporary solution and not intended for daytime use.

"Right now, we're waiting for trailers for a warming shelter," the mayor said Thursday.

"Our vulnerable population is currently spending the day in tents in behind Walmart and the Samson outreach team is transporting them back and forth between Wetaskiwin and Maskwacis. They've got an overnight shelter there that they've been utilizing the last two nights."

Video: Homeless outreach group at odds with Wetaskiwin council over homeless camp

In addition to addressing the immediate shelter need over the winter months, Gandam is hoping Wetaskiwin will be part of Alberta's long-term plans for a housing solution.

"We still need ongoing collaboration and conversations with the government of Alberta and the federal government to make sure we find a long-term solution for the vulnerable population.

"If we're not addressing the root of the problem, if we're not looking after the mental health and addictions, then no amount of money and no amount of supports that we're going to have for our homeless population or for our shelter is going to change anything. It's going to be a homeless shelter forever, with no end in sight."

Read more: ‘Step up or shut up’: Wetaskiwin mayor frustrated over lack of help with homeless

The city simply doesn't have the capacity -- or the resources -- to address this issue on its own, Gandam stressed.

"That's why it's so important that the province is coming with the money for the homeless population. We need to be in those conversations and we need to be getting the supports from them as well."

Last winter, he said a social agency ran a hub and shelter in the civic building downtown. They saw between 60 to 70 people a night at that shelter space, Gandam said.

"If we see those kinds of numbers again this winter, without the supports in place from the government of Alberta or the federal government, we're going to be at a loss and there's going to be people that are going to be desperate trying to find shelter."