Why some older workers fared worse during Covid-19 than the Great Recession

Lorie Konish 

CNN 3/5/2021

AMERICAN HOWEVER THE GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT AGE RELATED TO RETIREMENT IS THE SAME IN CANADA

The Covid-19 pandemic has not disproportionately impacted older workers.
Yet when compared with the Great Recession, some ages 50 and up may have been hit harder than others.

New research finds that low earners in that age cohort are slightly worse off amid Covid-19 compared with the Great Recession.

Meanwhile, high earners age 62 and up are more likely to retire now compared with 2009.

© Provided by CNBC

It's no secret that the Covid-19 pandemic has hurt workers of all ages.

Yet when it comes to older workers — those ages 50 to 62 and up — some may have fared worse than they did during the Great Recession, according to recent research from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.

Just how older workers were affected depends on their age cohort, and whether they are ages 50 to 61 or 62 and up, according to the analysis of data from the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey.

For those ages 50 to 61, the data shows that Covid-19 was harder on low earners than high earners.

Nineteen percent of those in the lowest earnings tercile were no longer working in 2020 compared with one year earlier, the data reveals. In comparison, in 2009 during the Great Recession, 17% of people in that category were no longer working.

Meanwhile, 9% of the highest earnings tercile were no longer working in 2020, compared with 11% in 2009.

"The big thing that stands out about any recession, including the Covid recession, is just the extent to which it hurts lower-income people more," said Geoffrey Sanzenbacher, research fellow at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.

Despite the negative consequences for people in this age cohort, there was not a noticeable increase in how many consider themselves to be retired. Part of that may be due to the fact that they are not yet 62, and thus unable to claim Social Security retirement benefits.

VIDEO What workers want post-pandemic

For those ages 62 and up, it's a different story.

Lower earners in that age cohort were still more likely to be not working. Yet when compared with the Great Recession, the unemployment rate was about the same, 38% in 2020 versus 37% in 2009.

However, high earners ages 62 and up were more likely to be unemployed. In 2020, 22% of those in the highest earnings quartile were no longer working compared with a year earlier, versus 18% who fell into that category in 2009 during the Great Recession.

High earners retired at a greater clip during Covid-19 than in the Great Recession. In 2020, 15% of that cohort were retired a year after working, versus 10% in 2009. Yet the rate at which lower earners retired stayed about the same, 26% in 2020 versus 25% in 2009.

The results compare data from December 2020 to December 2019. There would likely have been a more dramatic difference in unemployment rates had the data measured for earlier months in 2020, Sanzenbacher said.

Admittedly, the health risks tied to Covid-19 could have prompted some employers to encourage workers to retire.

"From the data, we can't really tell whether it's pure choice on the part of the employee or whether it's a joint decision of some kind," Sanzenbacher said.

As the pandemic wears on far longer than many expected, some workers who at first identified as unemployed may now say they are retired.

That decision could also prompt them to claim Social Security benefits early, which is a concern, Sanzenbacher said.

Generally, if you claim at 62, the earliest age at which workers are generally eligible, you take permanently reduced benefits. Ideally, workers will wait until full retirement age to get 100% of their benefits, or up to age 70 to get enhanced benefits by waiting to claim.

"The best thing you can do to have a retirement where you have a high income is to delay claiming Social Security," Sanzenbacher said.

First-ever image of COVID-19 variant supports faith in current vaccines, says UBC


VANCOUVER — The first images of a mutation on a COVID-19 variant of concern have been captured by researchers at the University of British Columbia who say the photos offer some reassurance about how the virus strain may react to current vaccines.© Provided by The Canadian Press

The University of B.C. says the researchers are the first to publish structural images of the mutation found on one portion of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.

The spike protein is the part of the virus that opens the door to infection, while the mutation is the change believed partly responsible for the rapid spread of the variant first identified in the United Kingdom.

A team led by Dr. Sriram Subramaniam, professor in the department of biochemistry and molecular biology at UBC's faculty of medicine, found the images show localized placement of the mutation allows it to enter human cells more easily.

The team's analysis, recently published in PLOS Biology, reveals that, once inside, the mutation can still be sidelined by antibodies from current vaccines.

Researchers say that adds to growing evidence that most antibodies generated by existing vaccines are likely to remain effective in preventing mild and severe cases of the B.1.1.7 variant.

The statement says its researchers are also using beams of supercooled electrons in powerful microscopes to visualize the detailed shapes of other COVID-19 variants that are 100,000 times smaller than a pinhead.

"It’s important to understand the different molecular structures of these emerging variants to determine whether they’ll respond to existing treatments and vaccines and ultimately find ways to control their spread more effectively," the statement says.

Variants under study at UBC include those first identified in India, California and South Africa, as well as the P.1 variant of concern first found in Brazil, which along with the B.1.1.7 mutation has accounted for a growing number of infections in Canada.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 3, 2021.

The Canadian Press

ONTARIO LTC SCANDAL

Fullerton says lessons from SARS were ‘forgotten’ in response to long-term care report
Duration: 00:39 

Ontario’s Long-Term Care Minister Merrilee Fullerton on Monday addressed the damning final report from the Ontario Long-Term Care COVID-19 Commission, stating that the report “makes it clear that many of the lessons learned from SARS were forgotten.”

#ENDCUBAEMBARGO

Cuba hopes to become smallest country to develop Covid vaccines

Ed Augustin in Havana

THE GUARDIAN

MAY THE FOURTH

 BE WITH YOU


Hit by the double whammy of US sanctions and a pandemic, Cuba is going through its gravest economic crisis since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Pharmacy shelves are barren. People queue for hours to buy chicken. It’s hard to find bread.

© Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Yander Zamora/EPA

And yet this island under siege could become the smallest country in the world to develop its own coronavirus vaccines. Of the 27 coronavirus vaccines in final stage testing around the world, two are Cuban.

“To have our sovereignty we need our own vaccines,” said Dr Vicente Vérez, director of the Finlay Institute, which has developed Sovereign 2, the most advanced of the country’s five vaccine candidates. “In nine months we have gone from an idea to a vaccine in phase three clinical trials.”

44,000 volunteers in Havana are currently participating in phase three trials for Sovereign 2. A similar number in the eastern city of Santiago are volunteering for phase three for Abdala, a vaccine named after a poem by José Martí, the island’s official “national hero”.

Running alongside the clinical studies is an “interventional study” in which 150,000 health workers in Havana are now being vaccinated.

Cuba’s “Biological Front” was established in 1981 – just five years after the incorporation of the world’s first biotech company, Genentech. At the heart of today’s drive for a vaccine are the island’s top scientists, many of whom were trained in the former Soviet Union. These internationally mobile polyglots have every opportunity to emigrate (and many do); those who chose to work on the island are almost invariably old school believers.

© Photograph: Yander Zamora/EPA Havana, Cuba.

At a recent press conference Dr Vérez explained what drives him by quoting Ernesto “Ché” Guevarra. “The true revolutionary,” he said, “is guided by a great feeling of love”.

Dr Gerardo Guillén, who heads up development of two vaccines at the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, is a chocoholic who has had to do without his favourite fix for over a year (there is none in the shops). His £200 a month salary is a hundred times less what he could earn abroad.

“We do have offers,” said Dr Mitchell Valdés-Sosa, a Chicago-born neurologist who sits on the country’s Coronavirus Task Force. “But we prefer to stay because we feel a commitment to the development of our country. We’re not working to make some CEO obscenely rich; we’re working to make people healthier.”

Such idealism is no protection from bitter geopolitical realities.

Related: Cubans lose access to vital dollar remittances after latest US sanctions

The US embargo on Cuba restricts the medical equipment the island can import. The different Cuban research teams working on the vaccines share just one spectrometer – a machine essential for quality control – powerful enough to analyse a vaccine’s chemical structure. But since the spectrometer’s British manufacture, Micromass, was bought out by an American firm, Waters, they haven’t been able to buy spare parts directly.

While UN human rights rapporteurs called on the US to lift sanctions on the island during the pandemic, over the last twelve months the embargo has been ramped up.

And since the outgoing Trump administration put Cuba on the US list of state sponsors of terrorism in January, just finding a bank willing to process payments has become a major problem.

“The US is trying to starve Cuba into submission,” said Valdés-Sosa. “It’s not only that it’s difficult to buy things directly from the US. It’s also that all these sanctions that the Trump administration put in place have dried up many sources of revenue.”

Cuba reported 12,225 confirmed cases and 146 deaths last year – among the hemisphere’s lowest case and mortality rates. But in November came a blunder when commercial flights finally resumed after seven long months, for a few weeks the government did not require visitors to take PCR tests before boarding planes. The effect was lethal: thousands of Cuban Americans came from Covid hotspots like Florida to hug, kiss and dance with their families over the Christmas period, leading to a surge in cases.

More cases were reported January alone than in the whole of 2020, and the island is now averaging 1,000 confirmed cases a day.

With around 100,000 Cubans having received the jab so far, the island is behind the average Latin American vaccine rollout of 12% of people having received at least one dose. And with no vaccine yet fully approved for use by the island’s regulator, critics say the Communist party’s decision not to join Covax, the UN-backed mechanism to distribute Covid-19 doses fairly around the world, was arrogant and has left them needlessly exposed.

Cuba aims to manufacture 100m doses of Sovereign 2 this year – enough for the population with a surplus to export.

If and when production hurdles are cleared, the logistics of distribution should be a strong point: the island has a well-developed infrastructure of local community clinics, and the highest doctor to patient ratio in the world.

Cuban scientists are confident the widespread vaccination will be attained this year, and say Cuba will be among the first countries in the hemisphere to achieve this.

“When you have everything, you don’t have to think so much.” said Dr Guillén, “But when you have difficulties, you have to think up new ways to innovate.”

Not available in Canada: A look at COVID-19 vaccine tech from China, India and Cuba

Emily Chung 

CBC 

MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU

© Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana/Reuters A healthcare worker prepares a dose of China's Sinovac Biotech vaccine for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at a drive-thru vaccination station, as a mass vaccination program continues in Jakarta, Indonesia, April 30, 2021. I

COVID-19 vaccines developed in China are already being used in several countries around the world. And some developed in India, Kazakhstan and Cuba have been in use domestically for their own populations even before completion of Phase 3 trials.

Vaccines being made in some of those countries (including the Serum Institute of India's Covishield version of the AstraZeneca vaccine) use the viral vector technology or mRNA technologies used to inoculate Canadians. But other vaccines developed domestically are quite different.

Here's a closer look at two kinds of COVID-19 vaccines —inactivated and conjugate protein vaccines — developed in middle-income countries and not available in Canada.
Inactivated Vaccines

Vaccines of this kind have been developed by , headquartered in Shanghai China and , in Beijing, China, in Hydrabad, India and in Zhambyl, Kazakhstan.

This is a tried and true strategy used in many vaccines against diseases including hepatitis A and rabies. It involves growing up whole viruses — in this case, SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 — and then inactivating them so they can't cause infection. For SARS-Cov-2, the inactivation is typically done with a chemical called beta-propiolactone. The virus is injected with an adjuvant, typically aluminum-based, to boost immune response. Unlike mRNA vaccines, these vaccines also don't require ultra-cold storage. A regular fridge will do.

© CBC News How inactivated vaccines for COVID-19 are made and how they work.

The frontrunners are the Chinese inactivated vaccines, already approved for emergency use and being used in mass vaccination in dozens of countries around the world on nearly all continents. They were being evaluated by the World Health Organization for Emergency Use Listing this spring. Bharat Biotch released interim Phase 3 results for its Covaxin vaccine in March and April, and the vaccine has been in use in its home country since January, when it was approved for emergency use there. Similarly, the Research Institute for Biological Safety Problems rolled out its vaccine QazVac on April 23, about halfway through the completion of its Phase 3 trials.

None have released final results of their Phase 3 trials, but all results so far surpass the World Health Organization's minimum of 50 per cent efficacy:

Sinopharm has said its vaccine has a 79 per cent efficacy, and the U.A.E. said its trials of the vaccine showed it had 86 per cent efficacy.

Bharat Biotech has reported interim efficacy as 79 to 81 per cent.

© Anupam Nath/The Associated Press People wait to receive Bharat Biotech's COVAXIN vaccine for COVID-19 at an indoor stadium in Gauhati, India, Thursday, April 22, 2021. The inactivated vaccine has been in use in India since January. It released interim results of Phase 3 trials in March and April.

Colin Funk, an adjunct professor with Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., and biomedical consultant with Vancouver-based Novateur Ventures co-authored a paper in the journal Viruses earlier this year comparing all the frontrunning vaccines around the world, including Sinovac's and Sinopharm's.

"They are working, but not as well for sure as the mRNA vaccines," he said. Pfizer and Moderna both reported efficacy of more than 94 per cent. Funk said it's been difficult to get reliable information as the Chinese companies haven't published their final results. Since they're in use in many countries, though, he added that it should become clear in a few months how well they work.

While officially these vaccines' efficacy is lower, they do have an advantage — fewer side effects, especially fever. That's the side effect which can cause the most concern, said Craig LaFerriere, head of vaccine development at Novateur Ventures, who co-authored the paper with Funk. Fever appear in less than two per cent of those vaccinated with inactivated vaccines, compared to 15 per cent of those who receive mRNA and viral vector vaccines.

Conjugate vaccines

There are at least two Cuban vaccines of this type, billed as the only COVID-19 vaccines of their kind: Soberana 02 (the name means "sovereignty"), made by the Finlay Institute of Vaccines in Havana; and Mambisa, developed by the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB).

Conjugate protein vaccines are a special type of protein subunit vaccine made with an antigen (a substance that can cause an immune response) from the target disease bound to a strong antigen from another disease to boost the immune response. A common one that you have probably been vaccinated with is Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib), a standard childhood vaccine against meningitis, which includes the sugar coating or polysaccharide from Hib linked to a diphtheria, meningococcal or tetanus protein. In the case of Soberana 02, the receptor binding domain from the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 is bound to a tetanus toxoid, Cuban doctors reported in global healthcare journal BMJ . A second Cuban conjugate vaccine, Mambisa, contains the same coronavirus protein and a Hepatitis B protein. Protein-based vaccines can be stored in a regular fridge.

© CBC News How conjugate vaccines for COVID-19 work and how they're made.

Soberana 02 is one of two Cuban vaccines listed by the World Health Organization as being in late-stage Phase 3 clinical trials right now (The other is Abdala a traditional protein subunit vaccine with an aluminum-based adjuvant). It's already being used in Havana as part of an "interventional study," that doesn't involve double-blind testing or placebos. Mambisa, designed to be administered as a nasal spray instead of an injection, started Phase 1 trials in March.

We don't know. Data from the trials have not been released or published, although there are some preclinical results published on a preprint server. Vicente Vérez Bencomo, director-general of the Finlay Institute told the journal Nature in April that Phase 1 and 2 trials of Soberana 02 showed 80 per cent of people who received two doses had an antibody response. Some were given an additional booster in the form of Soberana Plus, a version of the vaccine targeted at those who have previously had COVID-19 and 100 per cent of them showed an antibody response, he added.

 Ramon Espinosa/Pool Photo/The Associated Press Healthcare workers run testing on volunteers of the Soberana-02 COVID-19 vaccine as part of Phase 3 of one of two experimental Cuban vaccines in Havana Wednesday, March 24, 2021.

But Cuba has successfully made a Hib vaccine based on this technology, and has decades of experience with it, said Helen Yaffe, a lecturer in economic and social history at the University of Glasgow who has studied Cuba's state-owned biotechnology industry. "I think most of the world takes Cuba's biotech products very seriously," she said. Funk of Queen's University agreed that Cuba does very good research, and said of Soberana 02, "For sure I think that would be a candidate that might advance and could be used in certain countries around the world," Funk said. "We'll just have to see."

US fights new deadline for rare plant protections in Nevada

Mon., May 3, 2021, 



RENO, Nev. — The Biden administration says a U.S. judge exceeded his authority when he gave federal wildlife officials a May 21 deadline to decide whether to formally propose endangered species protections for a rare desert wildflower at the centre of a fight over a proposed lithium mine in Nevada.

Lawyers for the Interior Department filed an emergency request in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas last week asking Judge James Mahan to reconsider his order regarding the fate of the only Tiehm’s buckwheat plants known to exist in the world — about 220 miles (354 kilometres ) southeast of Reno.

The department says the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service intends to comply with the order to reach a finding by May 21 on whether the flower should receive protections under the Endangered Species Act.

But it says it will be impossible to decide by then whether to designate critical habitat that conservationists want for the plant in an area where Australian mining company Ioneer Ltd. wants to dig for lithium and boron.

The judge on Friday granted the government’s request to block his order until he can rule on the merits of the arguments. Mahan ordered the Center for Biological Diversity, which sued over the plant, to respond by Tuesday and the government to reply by Thursday. He expects to issue a formal ruling on May 17.

The Fish and Wildlife Service was supposed to decide last October whether to list the plant as endangered. It had said staff and budget constraints would prevent it from deciding until Sept. 30, 2021. Environmentalists first petitioned for the listing in 2019.

Mahan said in his April 21 ruling that “more than enough time has passed” to complete the required yearlong review.

“By its own admission, FWS has violated the ESA by failing to issue a timely 12-month finding as to whether it intends to list Tiehm’s buckwheat as an endangered species,” he wrote. “This court finds no reason to grant additional time for FWS to make its admittedly overdue finding.”

Patrick Donnelly, the Center for Biological Diversity's Nevada director, said the government’s emergency motion is its latest attempt to stall while it tries to reach a conservation agreement with Ioneer. He said wildlife officials are “spending more energy fighting our litigation than they are protecting” the plant.

“They have the gall to claim that their appeal of a ruling they consider unfavourable constitutes an emergency, while Tiehm’s buckwheat is out here hanging by a thread, with Ioneer’s destructive mine looming over it,” he said.

Government lawyers said in the emergency motion last week that Mahan’s order requires the Fish and Wildlife Service to effectively skip a step in the listing process — the completion of a 12-month finding — and immediately proceed to another step — proposed rules — without first determining whether it's warranted.

“Not only does this put the cart before the horse, but it also constrains FWS’s discretion to only one substantive outcome at the 12-month finding stage — i.e., listing is warranted,” the motion says.

Government attorneys said that while it is possible the Fish and Wildlife Service may ultimately reach that outcome “based on its review of the best available science," the Endangered Species Act “provides for three possible outcomes" after the yearlong review and gives the agency the power to make that choice “based on its own expert judgment.”

Scott Sonner, The Associated Press

Liberals' sweeping budget bill includes $15 minimum wage and election-law changes

Mon., May 3, 2021



OTTAWA — The federal Liberals' bill to enact parts of their budget includes changes to emergency aid, taxes and a $15 national minimum wage alongside other items such as an election-law amendment.

The change to the Canada Elections Act would specify that it is illegal to "knowingly" make false statements about a candidate or party leader.

There are also provisions in the bill to give the National Research Council a mandate to produce "drugs and devices" to protect or improve Canadians' health.

Other measures in the bill were supposed to have been in an implementation bill last year, but weren't when the Liberals eschewed tabling a budget due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among those measures are changes to the Social Security Tribunal that adjudicates Canadians' appeals of rulings on their requests for employment insurance and Canada Pension Plan benefits.

Another such change is easing access to a benefit for parents of murdered or missing children, and doubling to 104 weeks the leave available to them under the Canada Labour Code.

A spokeswoman for Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said all the measures in the legislation were detailed in the April 19 budget. Katherine Cuplinskas said in a written statement that the government hoped other parties would back the bill.

The fate of the minority Liberal government rests on getting support from one major party in the House of Commons, without which the government would fall and trigger a process that would likely lead to an election campaign.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said there were several measures in the bill that were positive, pointing to the $15 minimum wage that his party had pushed for during the 2015 federal election before Singh became leader.

At the time, the Liberals under Justin Trudeau panned the New Democrat proposal because it left out the majority of workers whose hourly wage floor is set by provinces.

The bill would set the minimum wage at $15 per hour, or the corresponding provincial minimum if it is higher, with annual increases to keep up with inflation.

But Singh noted it wouldn't come into effect for six months until after the bill becomes law, which he called an unnecessary delay.

He also said he was concerned that the bill didn't address issues around paid sick leave that experts have cited as a key measure to slowing the spread of COVID-19 through workplaces.

"In general, this is what we've seen with the Liberal government: They signal some right, good things and then say some good announcements, but when it comes down to the actual work being done, they're not doing the work necessary," Singh told reporters on Parliament Hill.

Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole called the budget a "major letdown" that didn't deal with the issues of the pandemic, including work on funding for provincial health-care systems.

He also said the budgetary plan "spends in a way that is threatening the future prosperity of Canadians."

Budget forecasts estimate the national debt will rise to $1.4 trillion on the back of consecutive deficits over the next five years.

"We will continue to examine the budget and the implementation act, hold the government to account on it and propose alternatives to secure a future for Canadians," O'Toole said during a news conference.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 3, 2021.

Jordan Press, The Canadian Press

MORE CRAZY CHRISTIANS

Manitoba churches in court to fight against COVID-19 restrictions

WINNIPEG — A religious leader has told court he cannot force worshippers attending his Manitoba church to follow public-health orders aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19 because it is "God's jurisdiction."

Jesus said unto them, Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's. And they marveled greatly at him. 

https://biblehub.com/mark/12-17.htm

 Provided by The Canadian Press

"We have no authority scripturally based and based on Christian convictions to limit anyone from coming to hear the word of God," said Tobias Tissen, a minister at the Church of God Restoration.

Seven Manitoba churches are in Court of Queens 's Bench in Winnipeg this week to fight the province's COVID-19 restrictions.

Chief Justice Glenn Joyal said it's an important case because of intense public interest and the issues involved.

RIGHT WING LOBBY 
The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, a Calgary-based group representing the churches, has said the restrictions are unjustified violations of charter-protected freedoms.

The churches are arguing their right to worship and assemble has been breached, which has caused "a crisis of conscience, loneliness, and harm to their spiritual well-being."

Under current health orders, in-person worship services in Manitoba are restricted to 10 people or 25 per cent capacity — whichever is less — and everyone is required to wear a mask.

Tissen, who is a minister at the church just south of Steinbach in rural Manitoba, was the first person to be questioned at the hearing, which is to take place over two weeks.

Tissen and his church have been fined numerous times for violating the restrictions.

Videos of services at the Church of God in January were entered in court and show people singing, hugging and going without face masks despite restrictions in place at the time that required churches to remain closed.

Denis Guenette, a lawyer for the province, also questioned Tissen's presence as a speaker at multiple protests against restrictions in Manitoba and other provinces.

Images shown in court of the rallies depict hundreds of people standing close together without wearing masks.

Video: Several Manitoba churches launch challenge to COVID-19 restrictions (cbc.ca)  

 Video: Saskatoon church in apparent violation of public health guidelines again (Global News)

   
Following his testimony Monday, Tissen joined at least 100 protestors in support of the legal challenge outside the courthouse. Health orders restrict public outdoor gatherings to a maximum of 10 people.

In a previous hearing, provincial lawyers told court it's within the bounds of the legislature to grant the chief provincial public health officer authority to impose reasonable restrictions.

Court also heard from Jay Bhattacharya, a professor at Stanford University Medical School who has become known for speaking against lockdown measures in the United States. He has also criticized chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci's support of restrictions.

He provided an affidavit to court for the churches saying governments could have less intrusive restrictions.

Bhattacharya, who testified by video from California, was questioned about his expertise and whether it should be applied to the case.

Heather Leonoff, a lawyer for the province, pointed out that while Bhattacharya has a PhD in economics and a medical degree, he is not licensed to practice medicine.

The often-confrontational cross-examination went through Bhattacharya's published research and Leonoff questioned whether he had any specific understanding of the situation in Manitoba, specifically with COVID-19 outcomes among Indigenous people.

Bhattacharya was also questioned about his argument that asymptomatic spread is rare and that that's a reason for why restrictions should be loosened.

The hearing will continue Tuesday.

The constitutional challenge is the latest in a string of attempts by churches across the country to quash COVID-19 restrictions on religious gatherings. The Justice Centre has filed similar challenges in British Columbia and Alberta.

In December, Joyal rejected a case brought by Springs Church in Manitoba to hold drive-in services while there were restrictions on public gatherings and in-person religious events.

That church faced more than $32,000 in fines for services at the time of the hearing.

Drive-in church services are now allowed under the province's health orders.

In Alberta, a pastor is currently on trial for violating public health orders in that province.

Pastor James Coates, of GraceLife Church, spent a month in remand for violating a bail condition not to hold church services. He was released in March.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 3, 2021.

Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press

CRAZY CHRISTIANS ENDANGER US

'Compliance with AHS is noncompliance with God:' Alberta pastor testifies at trial

Jesus said unto them, Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's. And they marveled greatly at him. 

https://biblehub.com/mark/12-17.htm

EDMONTON — An Alberta pastor accused of leading church services in violation of public-health orders says the COVID-19 pandemic has been blown out of proportion by the government and the media.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Pastor James Coates of GraceLife Church testified on the first day of his trial Monday and complained multiple times about how difficult it was to speak with a mask on.

The 41-year-old, who was born and raised in Scarborough, Ont., spent a month in the Edmonton Remand Centre after he violated a bail condition not to hold church services that officials have said ignored measures on capacity limits, physical distancing and masking.

He was released March 22 after pleading guilty, and was fined $1,500.

Coates challenged the one charge he still faces of violating the Public Health Act during his cross-examination.

He says provincial regulations meant to curb the spread of COVID-19 not only infringe on his and his congregants' constitutional right to freedom of religion and peaceful assembly, but he's convinced they are an overreaction.

"It's the government that's practicing civil disobedience and, at this point in time, there seems to be no accountability," he said.

"The government has been able to essentially do whatever it wants and you've got the media that just fearmonger the people into believing the COVID narrative, and the supreme law of the land, the Charter, is being ignored. The long-term ramifications of that toward this promising country are deeply concerning to me."

Coates testified that he believes masking is a violation of his charter right to worship and gather because it has hindered his speaking and made it difficult for him to be a pastor. He said having services online or capping the congregation at 15 per cent also altered the true meaning of worship.

"We determined that complying with AHS meant noncompliance with God so we decided, 'OK, well, who would you rather be (in) noncompliance with? God, or AHS?' And I think the choice is pretty simple."

A Crown prosecutor, whose identity is under a publication ban due to security concerns, called only one witness.

Janine Hanrahan with Alberta Health Services testified earlier Monday that she observed multiple "risky" behaviours at the Edmonton-area church in Spruce Grove, Alta., from November 2020 to December 2020.

On Nov. 22, she said she arrived at the church before the service had begun and said there were a few people inside. Only some had masks on, she said.

Hanrahan said she made several recommendations to the church's pastor about what they could do to reduce the spread of COVID-19 -- such as signage on the door to remind people about physical distancing, wearing masks and using hand sanitizer.

She also recommended the church have separate entrance and exit lanes for congregants passing through its double doors.

On Dec. 13, Hanrahan said more complaints about the church prompted Alberta Health Services to return, but that time she arrived with two RCMP officers because she was concerned for her safety.

She said she saw 200 congregants of GraceLife Church singing, cheering and clapping next to each other and dozens of people standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the lobby of the building, which has capacity for 600 people. The 15 per cent limit that was in effect by the government allowed a total of 92 people to be inside the building.

Hanrahan testified that was also the day she heard the pastor tell an RCMP officer that Alberta's chief medical officer, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, was a dictator and Premier Jason Kenney was hiding behind her.

On Dec. 20, Hanrahan said a ticket was issued to Coates for breaching the 15 per cent capacity limit.

Coates, who is represented by lawyers with the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, testified the church followed regulations in the beginning of the pandemic after two members of the congregation tested positive. He said others got tested to make sure the virus hadn't spread.

"They all came back negative," he said.

The church also held services online last June, but Coates said he heard Premier Jason Kenney call the pandemic an over-reaction and compare the virus to influenza as the pandemic progressed.

Coates said he then became convinced the public health measures were excessive.

He said the church had 37 Sunday services without any positive cases before it was shut down and fenced off in April.

The pastor said the church has continued holding services since then and they have seen an increase in congregants.

Coates will continue his testimony Tuesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 3, 2021.

---

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

Fakiha Baig, The Canadian Press

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier version said GraceLife Church was in Stony Plain, Alta.

Brazilian indigenous leaders subpoenaed for criticizing government


BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's indigenous affairs agency Funai has called on a top indigenous leader to explain her criticism of the right-wing government of President Jair Bolsonaro and the impact its handling of the COVID-19 crisis has had on native people.

© Reuters/UESLEI MARCELINO FILE PHOTO: Indigenous people call for the demarcation of their lands and the resignation of the Minister of Environment, Ricardo Salles

Federal police have subpoenaed Sonia Guajajara, head of Brazil's largest indigenous umbrella organization APIB, to testify on her statements at the request of Funai, which was set up in 1967 to defend the interests of indigenous people.

Guajajara said she was summoned to explain her documentary series published on Internet called "Maracá - Indigenous Emergency" which denounces the lethal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Brazil's 850,000 indigenous people and accuses the government of genocide for not protecting them.

© Reuters/UESLEI MARCELINO FILE PHOTO:

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"The persecution by this government is unacceptable and absurd! They will not shut us up," Guajajara said in a Twitter message on Friday.


Another indigenous leader from the state of Rondonia, Almir Suruí, head of the Metareilá Association, was also summoned to testify.

Funai's role is to coordinate and implement the Brazilian government's policies to protect the indigenous population, especially their isolated and recently contacted people.

That function has been curtailed under Bolsonaro who has criticized indigenous people for having too much reservation land and advocates commercial mining on their lands. Bolsonaro named a policeman, Marcelo Xavier, to run the agency.

Funai declined to comment on the subpoenas and said it does not comment on matters under police investigation.

APIB rejected the move to silence the indigenous leaders.

"In yet another act of political persecution and authoritarianism, President Bolsonaro's government is trying to criminalize the indigenous movement and its leaders," it said in a statement.

APIB said the attacks come from a federal agency that should be defending the rights and promote the autonomy and freedom of expression of indigenous people.

(Reporting by Ricardo Brito; writing by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)