It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Sunday, October 03, 2021
Saskatoon
Advocates shocked by Catholic list claiming $28M of 'in-kind' help for residential school survivors
CBC News has obtained a ledger revealing details of the Catholic Church's $25-million worth of in-kind compensation to residential school survivors. Critics say many items are designed to convert Indigenous people rather than allow them to restore their own culture and spirituality. (Gerald Herbert/The Associated Press)
Questions are being raised about the Catholic Church's claim it provided $28 million worth of "in-kind" compensation to residential school survivors.
CBC News has obtained the log detailing the in-kind claims for dozens of Canadian Catholic entities party to the landmark 2005 Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement (IRSSA).
Survivors and advocates interviewed say they're shocked, as many of the listed services are nothing more than attempts to evangelize and convert Indigenous people.
The list includes bible-study programs, placement of priests and nuns in remote northern communities, services under the frequently used label of "religiosity" and religious-document translation.
"It's distressing to see this. This is ordinary church religious work repackaged as in-kind services and reconciliation. This is not legitimate," said Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, a former judge and director of the University of British Columbia's Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre.
Some of the items include several hundred thousands of dollars for an Ottawa scholarship program for Indigenous students and support for a Regina drop-in centre for mainly Indigenous women and children.
Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, a former Saskatchewan provincial court judge and director of UBC's Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre, said the vast majority of $25 million claimed by the Catholic Church as an in-kind service to survivors is 'not legitimate.' (Mike McArthur/CBC)
But Turpel-Lafond and others say millions more are questionable and some contradict the spirit of reconciliation. The following contributions are among those made between 2007 and 2010, according to the log:
$696,000, by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Mackenzie-Fort Smith, for community work and presence in the Northwest Territories by religious sisters and fathers.
$600,000, by the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of James Bay, for community work and presence by persons ministering in three communities in northern Ontario, in addition to work that can be classified as "religiosity."
$540,000, by the Sisters of Instruction of the Child Jesus, for community work and presence in First Nations reserves and urban environments in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and B.C. by religious sisters. A variety of services was offered in addition to work that can be classified as "religiosity."
$465,150, by Les Oeuvres Oblates de l'Ontario, for community work and presence by pastors.
$360,000, by Les Résidences Oblates de Québec, for translation of Jewish and Christian scriptures into Innu.
$263,900, by the Missionary Oblates of Grandin, for a biblical studies program in Alberta; university courses offered by a team that explore culture and faith, God's love, social justice, women in scripture, sexuality, hope, healing, etc.
$256,800, by OMI St. Peter's Province, for community work and presence in two Mi'kmaq communities in Nova Scotia by a pastor and one assistant.
When asked for comment, Regina-based lawyer James Ehmann, who has represented various Catholic entities in court matters over the years, said he can no longer speak for them. The corporation formed by the churches to oversee the 2005 deal has since been dissolved.
Ehmann noted in an email that the Catholic Church's claims were evaluated by a committee that included members from Catholic entities, the federal government and the Assembly of First Nations. It's unclear whether that committee approved the items in the document obtained by CBC News.
Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation elder A.J. Felix says the Catholic Church and other groups should disclose every document in their possession related to the residential school system immediately. He says Indigenous people should be given the resources to heal themselves. (Jason Warick/CBC)
Residential school survivor and Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation Elder A.J. Felix said these claims should have been flagged and rejected — and Catholic officials should have known it was wrong to even make them.
"Because of the misery that we had, the hardship that we had, the violence that we experienced, the sadness and the deaths that we went through, somebody has to be accountable," Felix said.
The in-kind services were one of three promises made by the Catholic Church entities in the IRSSA. They also promised to give "best efforts" to raise $25 million for support programs, though stopped after raising less than $4 million, and they promised to contribute a lump $29-million cash payment, but came up millions short.
The Church has repeatedly declined to provide details of the $25-million promise of in-kind services, other than to state publicly that the amount was exceeded.
Earlier this week, bishops from across Canada issued an apology to residential school survivors and promised a renewed $30-million fundraising campaign to provide support programs and other initiatives.
Felix, Turpel-Lafond and others say while it appeared the Catholic Church was taking some steps forward, the latest revelations show the truth is still being hidden — and those gestures are not enough.
"We've had apologies before. If it took money to destroy us, to destroy our way of life, it's going to take money to rebuild what we've lost. Our plan is to regain what we lost," Felix said.
While leading Alberta's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Premier Jason Kenney has encountered opposition, including protestors claiming their freedoms have been violated. (Jason Franson, Todd Korol)
Many who oppose COVID vaccine passports adamantly insist such programs infringe upon rights and freedoms — often citing the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
It has been mentioned again and again, in Alberta and across the country, as protestors opposed to vaccine passports yelled abuse at health-care workers in front of hospitals, marched in the streets by the thousands, likened mandates to the horrors suffered by Jewish victims of the Holocaust, and harassed staff at participating businesses until some temporarily closed.
But they'd likely face tough odds if they tried to use the charter to challenge vaccine passports — except, perhaps, in rare and specific circumstances, some legal experts say.
Meanwhile, governments that delayed passports and stricter health measures to keep from infringing upon our rights may be vulnerable to possible — albeit improbable — challenges that inaction on COVID-19 violated those rights, instead.
Here's a look at how the charter might help or hinder legal arguments for both sides of the debate.
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms — heavily promoted by then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau — was eventually entrenched into the Canadian Constitution in 1982, and protects many rights and civil liberties.
But there's a common misunderstanding of how the charter works, says Carissima Mathen, a professor of law at the University of Ottawa who specializes in the Constitution.
The charter does not apply to everything that happens in Canada.
It applies only to governments, their agents and their laws.
Canada reached a historic milestone Nov. 5, 1981, with Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and every province but Quebec agreeing on ways to give the nation an independent constitution embracing a charter of rights and an amending formula. (Ron Poling/The Canadian Press)
"[The charter] is a way to hold the state accountable for laws and decisions that may be oppressive," Mathen said.
This means charter challenges to a vaccine mandate could apply only if that mandate was implemented by the state, and only government employees can bring charter challenges directly against their employers.
In other words, if a business required employees to get vaccinated because it was following a government rule, the employees couldn't challenge the company directly under the charter — they'd have to go after the government for its policy.
But this stipulation has not stopped the charter from being cited, at times indiscriminately, by protestors. And some sections come up more often than others.
Life, liberty and security of the person
The charter's Section 7 has been heavily referenced by some in their challenge against vaccine mandates.
It protects the right to life, liberty and security of the person.
However, it includes a critical, and seemingly overlooked, limitation.
A valid claim under Section 7 can be made only if it can be proven that the life, liberty or security of the person was violated in a way that contravenes principles of fundamental justice, says Jennifer Koshan, a professor in the faculty of law at the University of Calgary.
"If a person was going to try to make a claim that a vaccine passport violated their freedom, violated their liberty, they would have to show that that was done in a way that was arbitrary, or that went too far," Koshan said.
With the charter's application to the state in mind, how would Section 7 fare against vaccine mandates?
Let's look at some examples in Alberta.
Proof of vaccination in Alberta
The UCP government's restrictions exemption program began Sept. 20. It offers non-essential businesses like restaurants a choice: opt in, ask patrons for proof of vaccination, and duck health restrictions — or opt out, and adhere to measures such as capacity limits and curfews.
The City of Calgary, on the other hand, implemented its own vaccine passport bylaw on Sept. 23 that legally requires non-essential businesses to ask patrons for proof of vaccination.
'A lot of businesses felt that leaving it up to them, making it sound like they were the ones making the decision, was leaving them open to belligerent and angry people. Now they can say it's a city bylaw, they have no choice,' Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi said about the bylaw. (Mike Symington/CBC)
In these instances, patrons of businesses enforcing mandates could argue their liberty is being infringed upon by the government policies under the charter — but it would be unlikely to amount to a violation of the principles of fundamental justice, Koshan says.
If mandates do not require that the employees of participating businesses be vaccinated — such as those under Alberta's restrictions exemption program and Calgary's vaccine passport bylaw — there is nothing for staff to challenge under the charter.
And if a private employer were to independently opt to require its employees to be vaccinated, it would not be an action taken by the state — and so the charter would not apply there, either.
Coercion and occupation
Challenges that would be more viable under the charter could be levied at government employers such as Alberta Health Services and the City of Calgary, which have mandated employees be fully vaccinated by Oct. 31, 2021.
But as with all vaccine mandates in Canada, these employees aren't being forced to get the jab — they are still being presented with a choice.
They can choose to work somewhere else.
"The question would be whether that's still a form of coercion, even if it's indirect," Mathen said.
"You might be able to get over that hurdle and show that the state is putting pressure on you to make a certain kind of decision."
Images of purported firefighters and police officers linking arms outside of City Hall circulated online after an anti-vaccination demonstration on Sept. 7. Fire Chief Steve Dongworth later said the department was 'completely embarrassed and ashamed.' (@JaneQCitizen/Twitter)
But under Section 7 alone, Mathen says, this would still likely not be enough for vaccine-mandated employees to be successful.
The courts have been very clear that it does not include a right to a specific occupation, she said.
"You'd have to make a broader argument that is unrelated to the mere fact that you want to work in a particular place," Mathen said.
"The one other possible right I would see that as being most implicated by a vaccine mandate could be an equality argument."
Equality rights under the charter
The equality rights protected under the charter's Section 15 emphasize the right to be free of discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.
In order to argue that your rights under the charter's equality guarantees have been violated, a person would have to show a link between the mandate and one of these personal characteristics, Mathen said.
"It can't just be you're being treated differently from other people because you don't want to get vaccinated," she said.
In Montreal, thousands of people gathered on Aug. 28 protesting public health measures, including the province's vaccination passport system and mandatory vaccines for health-care workers. (Jean-Claude Taliana/CBC)
However, Alberta's restrictions exemption program and Calgary's bylaw both seem to accommodate potential disability challenges by accepting documentation of a medical exemption for vaccines.
"I also think that raising general concerns about equity would be difficult because, you know, [vaccines are] widely available, they're free," Mathen said.
"The state has made a lot of efforts, I think, to ensure access to the vaccine as much as possible."
But another essential component of the charter would present yet another hurdle to clear.
Even rights and freedoms under Section 15 are not absolute — and are likely to be constrained when pitted against the broader interests of society.
Reasonable limits
The charter's Section 1 states that all of its rights and freedoms are subject to reasonable limits.
Although the charter's purpose is to protect the individual from the majority's wishes in many circumstances, Mathen says this gets analyzed differently when upholding individual charter rights would present a clear risk to public health.
And while people have the right to behave as though COVID isn't a big deal for themselves, Mathen said, they don't have the right to behave as though it isn't a big deal for everyone else.
"In the case of vaccine mandates by state employers, there'd be pretty strong protection for those decisions … given everything we've gone through," Mathen said.
"With all of the evidence we have about the harms of COVID … and the particular challenges posed by [the delta variant], I would think that the balance would probably be on the side of [upholding mandates as] a reasonable limit."
For the fourth day in a row, hundreds gathered outside Calgary's McDougall Centre on Aug. 2 to protest the Alberta government's decision to largely drop health restrictions for COVID-19. (Julie Debeljak/CBC)
Indeed, Alberta is now well-versed in the harms of COVID and challenges of delta.
The province currently accounts for almost half the active cases in Canada, despite only having about one-tenth of the nation's total population.
And when considering the landscape of COVID in Alberta now — and what led to this point — a different question emerges about the charter and its purpose to hold governments accountable.
The province's COVID inaction
When Alberta dropped virtually all health restrictions on July 1, reported cases of COVID-19 in Alberta soon skyrocketed.
A wave of hospitalizations and delayed surgeries followed. And on Sept. 23, Alberta Health Services CEO Verna Yiu said the reason ICU beds have remained available at all is because each day enough are vacated by the dead.
In fact, it was reported on Sept. 28 that Albertans are dying from COVID-19 at more than three times the average Canadian rate.
As Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta's chief medical officer of health, admitted in a Zoom conference with Primary Care Network Physicians on Sept. 13, the province is in crisis — and it's because the provincial government did not maintain health restrictions that could have kept its citizens safe.
WATCH | Number of ICU patients the highest in the province's history
Dr. Verna Yiu, president and CEO of Alberta Health Services, says there are 310 Albertans in ICU, of which 226 patients have COVID-19. Yiu says it's tragic that they can only keep pace with ICU admissions because some have passed away. 1:18
According to the federal government, under the charter's Section 7, the right to life can be engaged when state action imposes death or an increased risk of death, either directly or indirectly.
Security of the person, meanwhile, can be engaged when state action has the likely effect of seriously impairing a person's physical health.
Could those who became seriously ill during COVID's unfettered fourth wave — or whose surgeries were delayed, or whose family members died — challenge the state under Section 7?
"That's a very interesting question, and it really gets to the essence of how we perceive our rights and freedoms in Canadian society," Koshan said.
Vriend vs. Alberta
It deviates, Koshan says, from the traditional view that rights and freedoms are there to protect us from government action that could infringe on them.
But sometimes, government inaction can violate rights and freedoms. An examplehappened in Alberta during the 1990s, when sexual orientation was not protected in human rights legislation.
Back then, if someone was discriminated against on the basis of their sexual orientation — say, fired from their job— they were not able to bring forward a human rights complaint, Koshan says.
WATCH | April 2, 1998: Discrimination based on sexual orientation ruled illegal
After college instructor Delwin Vriend was fired for being gay, he successfully sued the Province of Alberta, a case that set a precedent for sexual orientation rights in Canada. 1:40
"There was a case that went to the Supreme Court of Canada called Vriend in 1998, which decided that in the circumstances of that case, government inaction did amount to a breach of the equality rights of the charter," Koshan said.
The argument this time, Koshan said, could be that the government's inaction resulted in deprivations of security of the person and, in some cases, their right to life.
So, let's lastly review some of the timeline of the government's response to Alberta's fourth wave.
Section 7 and a life-and-death crisis
The province lifted most public health restrictions on July 1, after more than 70 per cent of eligible Albertans received their first dose of vaccine.
Some doctors cautioned at the time that reopening was risky, and the plan had been drafted before the arrival of the highly transmissible delta variant.
By the end of July, health and infectious disease experts began raising the alarm that COVID was already spreading faster in Alberta than at the peak of its third wave.
Hinshaw told the media on Sept. 15 that the government began to realize in early August that its reopening plan — which hinged on the decoupling of COVID cases and hospitalizations — wasn't working.
Yet that realization was followed by a weeks-long disappearance from public pandemic updates by Premier Jason Kenney, then health minister Tyler Shandro and Hinshaw until a collective COVID announcement on Sept. 3 — over a week after new daily cases climbed past 1,000.
Resisting mounting pressure to implement a vaccine passport system, Kenney instead offered unvaccinated Albertans a $100 incentive to get the shot, and reintroduced some mandatory masking restrictions and a liquor curfew.
Amid a raging fourth wave and looming ICU bed shortages by Sept. 15, Kenney declared a state of public health emergency and announced the restrictions exemption program.
Both the Canadian Medical Association and the Alberta Medical Association issued calls on Sept. 29 for short lockdowns to protect the province's crumbling health-care system.
Though members of the Canadian Armed Forces and Canadian Red Cross will be sent to assist Alberta's hospitals, the government is not currently considering additional health measures, Kenney said Sept. 30.
The Canadian Press's Dean Bennett asked why Kenney still feels he has the luxury of time and isn't giving doctors the lockdown they're asking for.
"The crisis that we are dealing with comes overwhelmingly from the unvaccinated population," Kenney said.
"We need to address that, which is what the current measures seek to do. We will take additional action if it is necessary."
Drawing a link
Like claims against vaccine mandates, pursuing a charter claim against the province would have its challenges.
For one thing, courts have historically been more reluctant to find charter breaches because governments have done too little, rather than too much, Koshan says.
For another, it would have to be proven that the rights protected under Section 7 were violated in a way that contravenes principles of fundamental justice.
"I find it an intriguing argument, but I'm doubtful that the courts would go there," Mathen said.
And a third challenge would likely be an evidentiary one, Koshan said.
"That comes down to a question of whether you would have enough scientific evidence, as well as causal evidence, to draw a link between the inaction and the harms that were ultimately done," she said.
And if that link could be drawn?
"There's certainly some argument to be made," Koshan said, "if governments … aren't taking proper actions to protect their populations."
A living nightmare’: Alberta’s former CMOH says current COVID-19 situation was ‘preventable’
by caracampbell POSTED OCT 3, 2021 Medical devices are seen at Ochsner Medical Center in the New Orleans suburb of Jefferson, La., on Tuesday, Aug.11, 2021. (AP Photo/Stacey Plaisance)
CALGARY (CityNews) ─ Two Alberta doctors are calling the province’s COVID-19 strategy “cold blooded,” and an experiment on the people of Alberta.
Dr. James Talbot, Alberta’s former chief medical officer of health, and Dr. Noel Gibney penned an open letter to the province, saying Albertans have a right to know what the next few months of modelling data looks like.
“You think you’ve fallen asleep, and you’re having this nightmare, and you try to wake up from it, and you can’t,” said Talbot. “It’s like a living nightmare.”
Alberta is dealing with a COVID-19 crisis that has seen well over 1,000 new cases a day for weeks while filling intensive care wards to almost twice normal capacity.
The province’s health delivery agency has had to scramble and reassign staff to handle the surge of intensive care patients far above the normal capacity of 173 beds.
Talbot describes what it’s like watching the COVID-19 situation unfold in Alberta as a medical professional.
“You know, I have friends, family, people I care about who are on the front lines,” he said. “I get a steady stream from them that people don’t seem to understand, and the government doesn’t seem to understand how unbearable this situation is for them.”
In recent days, doctors have called for a swift lockdown or a “firebreak” to immediately reverse the tide of COVID-19 patients.
That would mean a mass shutdown of schools, non-essential businesses and mass gatherings.
Intensive care physicians, emergency ward doctors, the executive of the Alberta Medical Association and the Canadian Medical Association have issued such pleas in recent days.
Talbot says based on the decisions made by the Jason Kenney government, the strategy seems to be to let COVID-19 run its course.
“We think that they should come clean with that and let us know,” said Talbot. “Are they prepared to let this number of people die for two more weeks, two more months, for four more months?”
Other researchers support the open letter, saying it’s important that the models are available for scientific scrutiny and to check for accuracy.
That’s something that didn’t happen before this summer. “Alberta made mistakes,” said Gosia Gasperowicz, a developmental biologist at the University of Calgary. “The chief medical officer of health (Dr. Deena Hinshaw) and the government had absolutely wrong assumptions. Had they been put under scrutiny, the mistake could have been caught early in the summer. And other scientists could say, ‘hey, you’re assumptions are wrong, let’s not go this way.’”
Added Talbot: “Knowing that it’s all preventable, just makes it more horrible.”
In a statement to CityNews, Alberta Health said: “Recently, the Premier cited Alberta Health Service’s ‘early warning system’, an internal capacity-planning tool. This is not modelling data. It shows a wide range of potential scenarios at a given time, updated constantly based on the latest trends. The worst case informs contingency planning but, as the Premier said, government is working to ensure that does not happen.”
—With files from The Canadian Press
'Cold-blooded' handling of the pandemic, say prominent Alberta doctors in letter taking aim at UCP government
Author of the article: Hamdi Issawi, Anna Junker Publishing date: Oct 01, 2021
Dr. James Talbot, co-chair of the Edmonton Zone Medical Staff Association strategic COVID committee. Postmedia, file
On Friday, an open letter from prominent Alberta doctors requested the province share its predictive modelling for the fourth wave of a pandemic that’s crippling Alberta’s health-care system, criticizing the government’s “cold-blooded” handling of the pandemic.
Co-written by Dr. James Talbot, Alberta’s former chief medical officer of health, and Dr. Noel Gibney, a former critical care department head for the province’s health authority in Edmonton, the letter questioned the modelling that led the provincial government to previously decline assistance from Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey, which they say is “badly needed and welcome.” Alberta changed its mind Thursday, saying a small team from Newfoundland and Labrador would be heading west to help out in Fort McMurray.
“Like most Albertans, we would like to know how long the fourth wave is going to last, how many more Albertans are projected to die and when we can expect elective surgeries to begin and ICUs to return to normal,” the letter read.
According to predictive modelling from University of Victoria professor Dean Karlen, the letter notes, Alberta’s fourth wave will peak near mid-October, but ICU admissions will continue to increase through to the end of the month.
By failing to share its own predictive modelling, the doctors argue, the government denied Albertans the opportunity to make good decisions and protect themselves.
In sharp contrast to Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s promise of a “best summer ever,” the letter notes that the deadly fourth wave meant the “last summer ever” for 350 Albertans and more who continue to die from the disease.
The doctors recommend seven medium-term and short-term actions to bring down the province’s case count, including patient transfers to ICU facilities in Ontario, the use of vaccine passports and employment mandates to increase immunizations, renewed contact tracing efforts and measures to prevent indoor transmission.
Even with Alberta’s enhanced ICU capacity, doctors say that the province doesn’t have enough trained professionals to care for critically ill patients, which makes a “fire break” crucial to reducing transmission.
Alberta reported 1,630 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday after 15,857 tests were completed over the last 24 hours for a positivity rate of about 10.3 per cent.
Across the province, there are currently 20,215 active cases of COVID-19, a decrease of 40 from Thursday.
There are 1,066 Albertans hospitalized with the virus, a decrease of 17. Of those, 263 are in intensive care units, which remains unchanged from Thursday.
Fourteen more deaths from COVID-19 raised the provincial death toll to 2,731.
Of Albertans aged 12 and older who are eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccine, 83.8 per cent have received one dose, while 74.5 per cent are fully vaccinated.
About 63 per cent of Alberta’s total population is fully immunized against the virus.
Meanwhile, the third and final winner of Alberta’s $1 million vaccine lottery was announced Friday.
Hayley Hauck, of Sherwood Park, was awarded the prize after her name was drawn from more than 1.9 million entries that were received between June 10 and Sept. 23.
A total of 623 Albertans have received lottery prizes for getting immunized against COVID-19.
Military aid for Alberta to arrive Monday; doctors say provincial ‘fire break’ is more impactful step Morgan Black
Critical care nurses are set to arrive in Alberta on Monday -- reinforcements sent by the Canadian military in an effort to help the province's drowning medical system.
"The Canadian Armed Forces is preparing to provide up to eight critical care nurses to assist in intensive care units in hospitals in Alberta," read a statement from Bill Blair, the minister of public safety and emergency preparedness.
Kenney said eight to 10 staff from the Canadian Armed Forces will be coming, likely to CFB Edmonton, along with up to 20 trained staff from the Canadian Red Cross, who will likely be deployed to the hard-hit Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre.
He said his government is in the process of finalizing plans to bring in a medical team from Newfoundland, likely to be deployed to Fort McMurray’s hospital. Alberta Health Services confirmed to Global News the process will likely happen this week.
“These contributions may help us to staff four or five additional ICU beds,” the premier said, noting that every little bit helps.
"Alberta Health Services is grateful for the assistance of the Canadian Armed Forces and the Canadian Red Cross in providing additional medical personnel to help alleviate the increased pressure on our health system as a result of COVID-19," read a Sunday statement from AHS.
"Specific details of where these medical personnel will be deployed is still being finalized, but it is expected the Canadian Armed Forces will be stationed in Edmonton."
Blair's statement said the initial team will be "in position" by Monday and will seek to confirm where and how the nursing officers will be integrated into the Alberta health-care system.
The release said the Canadian Red Cross is planning to provide up to 20 medical professionals with "some intensive care unit experience" to augment or relieve existing staff working in Alberta hospitals.
Dr. Darren Markland, an intensive care physician, said this move does not address the problem of hospitals being overrun and surgeries being an "afterthought."
"This is not a solution. It's appreciated, but we really need to focus our political will on things that will make a difference," he said.
Markland cited the need for a "fire break" -- something major medical groups have been calling for at the provincial level for weeks.
That measure would include the reintroduction of more sweeping restrictions for Albertans.
"If we don't do this soon... what is in my job description for next week is to be involved in looking at making choices for triage," Markland said. "We aren't there yet, but eventually, we are going to pay a price." 'It's not enough'
Danielle Larivee with the United Nurses of Alberta said though she can't give enough thanks to those coming to assist on the front lines, the reality is that there would need to be hundreds of nurses sent to the front lines to make a difference.
"It's very welcome, but it's not enough. We need to stop the flood of ill people into the hospitals," Larivee said. "Our health-care system is actively collapsing."
A request for federal assistance is initiated when an emergency event overwhelms or threatens to overwhelm the resources of a province or territory and federal government help is needed to support the region.
"The Government Operations Centre is working closely with federal and provincial partners to co-ordinate the federal response to the situation in Alberta," read a release from the federal government.
"Short term, this is appreciated. In the long term, we don't see an end to this with the way it is now. We need to stop community spread," Larivee said.
The healthcare industry was already understaffed before vaccine mandates hit.
Now hundreds of hospital beds across the US are lying empty because there isn't enough staff to treat patients.
gdean@insider.com (Grace Dean)
Healthcare staff say they're feeling burned out and emotionally exhausted after working during the pandemic.
Mario Tama/Getty Images
Hospitals are limiting how many patients they admit because of the labor shortage.
At one hospital in Massachusetts, nearly a quarter of beds are empty due to understaffing.
Its CEO warned that the hospital's vaccine mandate could cause more staff to quit too.
Hospitals across the US are having to limit the number of patients they admit because there aren't enough staff to treat them.
At the TaraVista Behavioral Health Center in central Massachusetts, nearly a quarter of its 116 beds are empty, CEO Michael Krupa told Bloomberg.
He said that across the state, there were hundreds of empty beds, and "the reason is exclusively staff."
Krupa said that the hospital had struggled to find nurses and lower-paid aides in the past, but that this hadn't limited its intake of patients before.
Just over 20 million people across the US worked in the healthcare and social assistance industry in August, per preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). This is around 746,000 fewer workers than in February 2020.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed an executive order Monday declaring a "disaster emergency" due to "severe understaffing" in hospitals and healthcare facilities across the state. She warned that this could affect people's ability to get adequate medical treatment.
The shortage of staff comes as some hospitals and healthcare facilities are mandating COVID-19 vaccines for their staff. Some states, like New York, are mandating the shot for healthcare staff, too.
Houston Methodist Hospital said in June that it had lost 153 workers who either quit or were fired over its vaccine mandate. Novant Health, which has 15 hospitals and more than 350 physician practices across North Carolina, said this week that it had fired around 175 members of staff who refused to get vaccinated.
Kevin Smith, president of Massachusetts-based healthcare agency Best of Care, told CNN in August that he wanted to mandate the jab for his team, but that the policy "puts you at risk of alienating the staff, if not losing them to a competitor."
"No one can afford to do that," he added.
TaraVista's vaccine mandate comes into effect on November 1, and Krupa warned that it could exacerbate the hospital's understaffing.
"I am hopeful we will not lose many staff," he told Bloomberg. "But I know we will lose some."
Connecticut has mandated the vaccine for state staff, and its governor warned that he could even call in the National Guard to replace workers who don't comply to prevent staffing shortages.
Hospitals are boosting pay in an effort to attract more workers. One hospital in South Dakota is offering a $40,000 bonus for intensive-care and operating-room nurses. Krupa told Bloomberg that TaraVista and its sister hospital were investing an extra $1 million a year in pay, improved benefits, and bonuses for 310 staffers.Expanded Coverage Module: what-is-the-labor-shortage-and-how-long-will-it-last Read the original article on Business Insider
Senegal's old capital on the frontline against rising sea
Issued on: 04/10/2021 -
The Senegalese city of Saint-Louis is building a wall along the coast to try to keep the sea at bay
JOHN WESSELS AFP
Saint-Louis (Senegal) (AFP)
In the northern Senegalese city of Saint-Louis, excavators are ripping up the beach to lay giant blocks of basalt, in an eleventh-hour effort to keep the sea at bay.
When work is finished, a black sea wall will stretch for kilometres along the coastline of the West African country's former capital, famed for its colonial-era architecture.
Dire warnings about the risk of rising sea levels due to climate change are already a grim reality in Saint-Louis, where seafront residents are abandoning their homes to the encroaching Atlantic Ocean.
But the sea wall is a stopgap. And some are sceptical that the historic city of 237,000 people can be saved at all.
Saint-Louis has "already been wiped off the map," said Boubou Aldiouma Sy, a geography professor at the city's Gaston Berger University.
Its unique position -- near the mouth of the Senegal River, with both the swollen waterway and the ocean on its shorelines -- means that its long term existence has always been in doubt, he said.
Saint-Louis lies near the mouth of the Senegal River, with both the swollen waterway and the Atlantic Ocean on its shores
JOHN WESSELS AFP
"The role of man is to accelerate the process," Sy added.
Founded by the French on an island in the mid-17th century, Saint-Louis became a hub for European traders, playing an important economic and cultural role in the region.
It served as the capital of the French colony of Senegal until the capital moved to Dakar shortly before Senegal’s independence in 1960.
From the original island, the city spread on both sides, onto a long, thin sandy strip of land known as the Langue de Barbarie to the west and eastwards onto the mainland.
Its colourful, historic balconied houses and double-storied villas have helped make the island a UNESCO world heritage site and the city hosts a renowned annual jazz festival.
But Saint-Louis stands only a few metres above sea level.
Saint-Louis was the capital of the French colony of Senegal and its colonial-era architecture helped make the island a UNESCO world heritage site
SEYLLOU DIALLO AFP/File
Long a problem, floods have become more severe in neighbourhoods such as Guet Ndar, a packed fishing district where brightly painted wooden canoes line the shore.
Coastal erosion is also eating away at the shoreline.
Many locals have had little choice but to move to a displacement camp inland as their homes have been swallowed up by the raging sea, the erosion and the crumbling ground beneath them.
The sea barrier is Senegal's attempt to manage the compounding problems.
But experts point out that while it can protect against freak surges, it cannot stop the rising sea. - Night terrors -
Mareme Gueye, a Guet Ndar resident, told AFP that all the suffering she'd experienced since childhood "has been caused by the sea".
Six of the seven rooms in her house are gone, washed away by the ocean.
In her one remaining room, she removed the door to ensure that no one gets trapped inside during floods.
Destructive flooding has increased since 2010, according to the 43-year-old, who said that she can no longer sleep at night for fear of the intemperate waters.
Mareme Gueye, 43, says six of the seven rooms in her house are gone, washed away by the ocean JOHN WESSELS AFP
In one harrowing instance, floodwaters swept her parents from her house and dragged them out to sea.
They miraculously survived.
Free-for-all construction in Saint-Louis -- known as Ndar in the local Wolof language -- has worsened coastal erosion.
The city is a particularly acute example of problems common across several coastal metropolises in West Africa, Sy said, pointing to Ivory Coast's main city and economic hub Abidjan, or Guinea's capital Conakry.
Erosion is causing the coastline to recede by some 1.8 metres (yards) a year across the region, according to a 2019 World Meteorological Organization report.
Likewise, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said this year that sea levels on the West African coast are rising by between 3.5 and four millimetres (0.14 and 0.16 inches) annually.
The colossal sea barrier will run 3.6 kilometres (2.2 miles) along the coast
JOHN WESSELS AFP
With its unique layout surrounded by water, Saint-Louis is on the front line.
Nearly two decades ago, an ill-fated attempt at flood control after heavy rainfall saw authorities widen a water channel on the Langue de Barbarie between the river and sea.
But from its initial four metres, the canal unexpectedly grew to several kilometres wide as the salt water of the Atlantic gushed into the river, causing further disruption to the natural order of things and transforming the landscape. - Displacement camps -
The encroaching sea has already caused severe damage.
Flooding in 2017 and 2018 left more than 3,200 people homeless -- about 1,500 of them now live in a displacement camp in Djougop, further inland.
The disaster prompted Senegal to begin building the sea wall in 2019, partly financed by France.
Flooding in 2017 and 2018 left more than 3,200 people homeless -- about 1,500 of them now live in a displacement camp in Djougop, further inland JOHN WESSELS AFP
The project is worth some 100 million euros ($117 million) and also includes a rehousing programme.
Building is due to finish by the end of this year, when the colossal barrier will run 3.6 kilometres (2.2 miles) along the coast.
However, the project also requires home demolitions in a 20-metre-wide strip behind the barrier.
Between 10,000-15,000 people in total are set to be uprooted, said Mandaw Gueye, an official working on the project.
Many locals have had little choice but to move to a displacement camp inland as their homes have been swallowed up by the raging sea, coastal erosion and the crumbling ground beneath them
JOHN WESSELS AFP
Some will end up in Djougop and nearby neighbourhoods where the World Bank is co-funding the construction of 600 homes, he said.
Other project officials stressed that the displaced would be compensated.
But residents appear decidedly unenthusiastic about the prospect of Djougop -- a bland expanse of blue-roofed bungalows built in the desert, far from the sea.
Their seaside fishing district is poor, and one of the most densely populated urban areas in Africa, but tales of the fate of those already displaced have circulated.
The sea barrier is a short-term emergency measure -- the government says it is studying more durable solutions
JOHN WESSELS AFP
Fishermen in Djougop, whose livelihoods already are physically demanding, must rise even earlier in the morning to reach the distant sea.
Those fishermen who stayed on Guet Ndar often leave without them.
"They are very tired," says 65-year-old local resident Thiane Fall.
- 'Human ingenuity' -
The sea barrier is a short-term emergency measure and not even designed to be impermeable.
The government says it is studying more durable solutions.
Experts stress that while the sea wall can protect against freak surges, it cannot stop the rising sea JOHN WESSELS AFP
Sy, the geographer, suggested structures called groins, built perpendicular to the shoreline, which force sediment to settle in such a way as to reverse coastal erosion.
Ensuring coastal areas are lush with plant life can also slow the trend.
Alioune Badara Diop, one of Saint-Louis' deputy mayors, said these options remain viable.
But the government did not pursue them initially because of their "relatively high cost," he said.
With its unique layout surrounded by water, Saint-Louis is on the frontline against rising sea levels and coastal erosion
JOHN WESSELS AFP
He isn't convinced that his city has met its end, however, highlighting Senegal's nascent oil and gas sector and all its potential.
"We will have the means, and human ingenuity will make it possible to build structures that will protect the coast," Diop said.
Flooding in 2017 and 2018 left more than 3,200 people homeless -- about 1,500 of them now live in a displacement camp in Djougop, further inland JOHN WESSELS AFP
