Canada has a dental assistant shortage. Experts worry it’ll only get worse

"shortage of almost 5,000 dental assistants" 

A dental assistant works on teeth cleaning for a young Syrian girl 

who has never been to a dentist before.

© Sarah Kraus / Global News

Story by Katie Dangerfield • Global News

 Apr 18, 2023

A shortage of dental assistants across Canada may cause a backlog in oral health care and could impact dentists' capacity to take on new patients, experts warn.

The dental assistant shortage has been happening for years now, according to Lynn Tomkins, president of the Canadian Dental Association (CDA), and with the federal government's new dental care plan for Canadians, she worries that without proper staffing, many dentists may not be able to meet the patient demand.

"The shortage of dental assisting is the number one issue for dentists across the country," she said. "So dentists have had to alter their hours, in some cases reduce their hours because they don't have the support staff, just like operating rooms and hospitals. They don't have the nurses, you can't do the treatment."

Even before COVID-19 hit the health-care system, there was a shortage of dental assistants in Canada, she said.

The CDA states that in 2019, up to a third of Canadian dental offices were looking to add a dental assistant to their staff.

"COVID-19 exacerbated this problem," Tomkins said, noting that the pandemic pushed the Canadian health-care system to the brink, causing front-line staff workers, including dental assistants, to leave the profession.

"People have perhaps gone into other areas to work remotely and dentistry cannot be done remotely," she said.

Tomkins estimates that there is a current "shortage of almost 5,000 dental assistants" in Canada.

A 2022 survey conducted by the Canadian Dental Assistants Association (CDAA) and shared with Global News highlighted this problem amid the pandemic.

The survey found that during the height of the pandemic, around 57 per cent of dental assistants said their work environment became increasingly stressful and difficult and around 21 per cent felt the expectations of their employer became unreasonable.

The survey also showed that during the height of the pandemic, around 42 per cent of the respondents said they felt unfairly compensated given the higher level of risk they experienced at work.

One of the main drivers behind the shortage of Canada's dental assistants is a lack of proper compensation and benefits, said Kelly Mansfield, a board member of the CDAA.

Mansfield, who worked as a certified dental assistant for more than 30 years, said the shortage isn't because dental assistants are not graduating, it's that many are choosing to leave the profession.

"It's very hard to raise a family on a dental assistant salary. I was a certified Level 2 assistant for over 10 years and worked in private practice and I left because I just couldn't live on the salary of a dental assistant," she said.

"So I did take my oral health education and I went into a different profession."

There are other professions a dental assistant can go into, rather than working at a dentist's office, she said, such as working in dental insurance, sales or public health.

"There are many jobs that you can use the dental assisting profession, that will offer you better benefits and better compensation," Mansfield said.

Whether it's patient care, assisting with a dental procedure, sterilizing equipment or taking X-rays, Tompkins said the role of a dental assistant is crucial.

"We do rely on them a great deal," she said. "In many cases, they're like a surgical scrub nurse, working right beside the dentist, mixing materials, handing instruments, keeping the material dry. So it is actually quite a challenging job."

Without proper staffing, Mansfield and Tomkins believe dental offices may not be able to run at full capacity.

The risk is that many Canadians won't be able to receive oral health care, as "dentists cannot work without dental assistants," Mansfield warned.

"Although the biggest risk would be that dentists are hiring untrained individuals that are being hired to fill the role. This is a significant concern to dental assistants and a significant concern to the general public," she said.

And now that the federal government plans to roll out its Canadian Dental Care Plan, Tomkins said there is even more of a need for dental assistants.

In its March budget, the federal Liberals announced plans to expand its dental plan to provide coverage for an estimated nine million uninsured Canadians with an annual family income of less than $90,000, with no co-pays for those with family incomes under $70,000, by the end of 2023.

With an expected increase in demand for dental appointments because of federally funded dental coverage, Tomkins said the CDA wants to ensure the staffing capacity is there.

Video: Calgary dentists raise concerns about new federal dental benefit

Earlier this year, the CDA published a policy paper asking the government to develop an oral health staffing strategy in preparation for the increased dental service for nine million more Canadians.

"There will be a gradual rollout of this national dental care program. And it will give us some opportunity to increase our capacity. But we do need to recruit more dental assistants. We need to find ways to make them stay in the field," Tomkins said.

She said other ways to recruit and keep dental assistants in the office are to provide more mental health support services and give the option of distance learning in order to reach people in remote communities.

"We also need to make dental assisting aware to new Canadians, because it's a relatively short educational path, six months to nine months to a very good job that's very much in demand."

Feel sick when you play VR? It's pretty common and this Waterloo researcher wants to know why

Story by Kate Bueckert • Saturday, May 13, 2023

When Zubi Khan has friends over to play virtual reality video games, it's not unusual for someone to feel a little sick to their stomach.

"I've had friends come over where they would put a headset on and then, like, almost immediately they'd feel like that sense of vertigo and then they have to take it off," Khan said in a phone interview from a park near his Toronto home.

"For me, I use a motorized wheelchair to get around, so I think part of that has made me kind of, like, immune to getting motion sickness because I'm used to being stationary while I'm moving," said the avid VR gamer and content writer for comic and gaming CGMagazine.

"The only time where I'll feel vertigo or feel kind of dizzy is if I haven't used [VR] in a long period of time."

Feeling sick after entering a VR environment is not uncommon. Similar to motion sickness, it's dubbed cybersickness.

People who get cybersickness may experience a headache, vertigo (when you feel what's around you is moving or spinning) disorientation, eye strain or nausea.

One study published in June 2021 in the journal Nature that looked at predictors of cybersickness reported between 22 and 80 per cent of people who use VR may experience it. The percentages varied widely, depending on the intensity of the game and the headset the person was wearing.

What's not as clear is who will get cybersickness and who won't.

But that's something Michael Barnett-Cowan, a researcher at Ontario's University of Waterloo (UW), wants to figure out because the technology isn't just about gaming. Virtual reality can be used for other applications, such as therapy or training.

Research into why some people get sick

Barnett-Cowan is an associate professor in the university's department of kinesiology and health sciences, and director of the Multisensory Brain and Cognition Lab. For their research, he and his team collected data from 31 participants, and assessed how the subjects perceived the orientation of vertical lines — or the subjective visual vertical.

"What we basically found in our research was that after being exposed to a fairly nauseating game in VR, people change the way that they process sensory information," Barnett-Cowan said.

The participants were given a task before playing VR to test how they use different cues for their sense of orientation in the world. Then they'd play a game in virtual reality for 30 minutes and be retested.


Michael Barnett-Cowan, an associate professor in kinesiology and health sciences at the University of Waterloo, is also director of the Multisensory Brain and Cognition Lab, which seeks to determine how the brain integrates multisensory information.

© Kate Bueckert/CBC

"Those that change the way that they process sensory information … those were the ones that didn't get as sick," Barnett-Cowan said.


"Those that were really stubborn … so the way that they do this task before VR is the same as the way they do it after VR, those guys got fairly sick."

Barnett-Cowan said the researchers were "pretty excited" to make that discovery, because the findings of this study, which has been published in the journal Virtual Reality, could prove to be "invaluable" for developers and designers of VR experiences.

William Chung is co-author of the study and a former UW doctoral student who is now a postdoctoral fellow at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute.

Chung said their test significantly predicted the severity of cybersickness symptoms.

"By understanding the relationship between sensory reweighting and cybersickness susceptibility, we can potentially develop personalized cybersickness mitigation strategies and VR experiences that take into account individual differences in sensory processing and hopefully lower the occurrence of cybersickness."

But Chung also cautioned this finding is only a first step and "there is still much to be explained."

People worry VR will make them sick

Such research is good news for Robert Bruski, chief executive officer and co-founder of Ctrl V, a virtual reality arcade that was started in Waterloo and has grown to include locations in Ontario, Alberta, Delaware and Texas.

It concerns Bruski when some people tell him they won't even try VR because they're afraid of getting sick.

"The vast majority of our content doesn't induce nausea," he said, noting staff put the games through a "very rigid 26-step vetting process" before people use them.

It means most people can feel confident putting on a headset to shoot orcs in Elven Assassin, slice up watermelon in Fruit Ninja or mess up an office in Job Simulator, he said.

For Bruski, research that will help everyone feel more comfortable entering a virtual reality environment is great, because along with the gamers who use his arcade, companies bring in workers to learn how to operate heavy equipment, schools have students use VR to learn chemistry or astronomy, and seniors use the technology to visit with gorillas or take a walk in Paris.

But even as researchers work on determining why some people experience cybersickness, Bruski said, that shouldn't keep anyone from trying VR now.

"The motion sickness is determined by the game itself and specifically the locomotion in the game. So if you have a good virtual reality provider or if you are aware of what causes it, then you can completely eliminate that possibility."

Khan said it's pretty simple — if you start to feel sick, take off the headset and wait a bit, but don't give up.

When his friends take off the VR headset, "I'll put it back on, and then they'll watch me play, and then I'll be having fun and we'll try it again."

ONTARIO
Not everyone loves Marineland. Park offers 'educational' shows but local schools aren't going

Story by Cara Nickerson • CBC

Tuesday, May 16, 2023

Marineland, which for years has faced allegations about its treatment of marine mammals and their use for entertainment purposes, is still offering field trips to schools.

But instead of going on these outings, students at some Ontario schools, including in Brantford and Hamilton, are engaged in curriculum that teaches them about controversies involving the Niagara Falls, Ont., theme park.

Marineland's website says the park offers educational activities and resources based on the Ontario curriculum.

The theme park did not respond to CBC Hamilton's request for an interview and updated its website following the request, removing a page about its educational video and worksheet series.

The updated website says trips to Marineland help teachers "bring science curriculum to life for your students in a memorable and exciting way."

Still, the school boards CBC Hamilton contacted say they're not taking field trips to Marineland, although it's not clear if that has anything to do with Marineland's controversial past.

What some school boards are saying

The Niagara public school board said schools in its district haven't gone on field trips to Marineland for seven years and it's "unaware" of any Marineland trips planned for this year.

The Niagara Catholic school board's spokesperson, Jennifer Pellegrini, said schools in her district went on trips to Marineland before the pandemic began early in 2020, but added no trips are planned for the end of this school year.

Pellegrini did not say why the school board isn't sending students, but said all trips in the district "must have a direct and enhancing relationship with the curriculum of the classroom."



In 2014, a concerned parent petitioned to stop her children's school, which was part of the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board, from going on a field trip to Marineland. The class went to the Royal Botanical Gardens instead.

© Dan Taekema/CBC

In 2014, a parent with children at Mountain View Elementary School in Stoney Creek, part of the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board, petitioned and stopped the school from going to Marineland.

The Hamilton-Wentworth public school board said no trips to the theme park are planned for this year.

Marnie Jadon, communications officer with the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board, said, "While we don't have details, we expect some would have [gone to Marineland] years ago."


She also said no trips have been planned for this year.

In the past, schools in Brantford's Catholic school board visited the park, but the board also said no trips are scheduled for this year.

Brantford's public school board said it could not confirm whether its schools went on trips to Marineland in the past, and said no trips are planned for this year.

Last year, students in Grades 5 and 6 at Forest Run Public School in Vaughan created a website about returning Kiska, the last killer whale held in captivity in Canada, back to her natural habitat.

Earlier this year, students at Bayview Glen Public School in Thornhill, Ont., created a video for World Whale Day. The school tweeted the video and thanked the Grade 2 and 3 students for advocating for Kiska.

Kiska died on March 10 at age 47. Two months later, a beluga whale and bottlenose dolphin also died at the park.

'Not an actual learning experience'

Catherine Boutzis, a kindergarten teacher and animal rights activist in Waterloo, Ont., told CBC Hamilton that Marineland is an "attraction," not a conservation area, and doesn't teach children about animals in their natural habitats.

"It's there purely for [the kids] to bang on the glass and be entertained. It's not an actual learning experience."

She said she has had conversations with her students about Marineland, African Lion Safari and other animal theme parks.

"I've talked to them quite frankly about some of the things they use to train those animals and how those animals were taken from their natural habitat," she said.

"They're not living the life that was intended for them with their families."

Former Marineland trainer speaks out

Phil Demers, a former Marineland trainer and whistleblower, said that "for as long as I worked at Marineland, there was exactly zero emphasis on education and even less on conservation."

Under a section of the Canadian Criminal Code introduced in 2019, captive cetaceans — large sea mammals like dolphins — cannot be used "for performance for entertainment purposes" unless the performance is authorized with a licence from the Ontario government.

The new law was part of Bill S-203 passed in 2019 that, after years of debate, banned the captivity of cetaceans. It included a grandfather clause, however, for animals that were already in captivity.

In December 2021, Marineland was charged with using dolphins and whales to perform and entertain without authorization, Niagara police told CBC Hamilton in December 2022. The Crown stayed those charges on Dec. 21, 2022.

Demers told CBC Hamilton he has watched recent videos of dolphin performances. He said he had to review hours of taped dolphin performances when Niagara police were investigating the park in the fall of 2021 and he watches "countless" social media videos of the park when it's open to monitor the well-being of the animals.

He said the current "educational trainer talk" at King Waldorf Stadium, as advertised on Marineland's website, is still based on a show he designed himself 15 years ago.

He said the original show "was exclusively based on entertainment. Nothing's changed except for some of the stuff they say over the microphone."

MPs and activists push back as Ottawa pitches expansion of nuclear energy

Story by John Paul Tasker • Apr 25, 2023

Anti-nuclear activists and a cross-partisan group of MPs urged the federal government Tuesday to drop its support for nuclear energy projects, calling the energy source a "dirty, dangerous distraction" from climate action.

Nuclear power has long been an important part of Canada's energy mix. In Ontario, for example, an eye-popping 60 per cent of the province's power needs are met by nuclear generation — a non-emitting energy source that industry groups and some politicians view as fundamental to the net-zero transition.

Other provinces — notably New Brunswick (which already has a nuclear power plant), Alberta and Saskatchewan — have expressed interest in "small modular reactors" (SMRs), which have been billed as more affordable, less complex and easier to operate than traditional, large-scale nuclear plants.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, a UN-affiliated organization, has said SMRs could be crucial to the clean transition because, unlike renewable energy sources like wind and solar, these smaller nuclear plants don't depend on the weather or the time of day.

SMR boosters also say the technology can help high-polluting, industrial economies ween themlselves off dirtier fuel sources like coal.

But SMR technology is still in its infancy and it isn't widely used around the world.

As of 2022, there were only three SMR projects in operation — one each in Russia, China and India — according to the International Energy Agency.

There are dozens of others under construction or in the design and planning phase — including one at Ontario Power Generation's Darlington nuclear site.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland's recent federal budget included a generous tax credit to spur clean energy development, including SMRs.

The industry lobby group, the Canadian Nuclear Association, has said the 15 per cent refundable tax credit is a recognition by Ottawa that nuclear power is "a fundamental and necessary component of Canada's low carbon energy system."

Susan O'Donnell, a professor and a member of the Coalition for Responsible Energy Development in New Brunswick, said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet are getting bad advice about nuclear energy.

"The nuclear industry, led by the U.S. and the U.K., has been lobbying and advertising heavily in Canada, trying to convince us that new SMR designs will somehow address the climate crisis," O'Donnell told a press conference on Parliament Hill on Tuesday.

She said SMRs will produce "toxic radioactive waste" and could lead to serious "accidents" while turning some communities into "nuclear waste dumps."

She also said there's "no guarantee these nuclear experiments will ever generate electricity safely and affordably," since SMRs are still relatively untested.

"Canada is wasting time that must be urgently spent on genuine climate action," she said. "This is a dirty, dangerous distraction. We don't need nuclear power."

Asked how Canada would meet its baseload power requirements — the power that is needed 24 hours a day without fluctuation — without nuclear power or fossil fuel sources like natural gas, O'Donnell pointed to promising developments in energy storage technology.

Liberal MP Janica Atwin was also on hand for the anti-nuclear press event.

"I want to be clear, I'm here as an individual, a concerned individual and a mother," she said — before launching into remarks that raised questions about the "associated risks" and "many unknowns" of nuclear energy development, which is expected to see a sharp increase in activity due to her government's proposed tax policies.

"When it comes to nuclear, there's no margin for error," Atwin said. "This is a time of action. We don't have the luxury of waiting to see if things will pan out."

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, who once sat in caucus with Atwin before she decamped to the Liberals, said government funding for nuclear projects is a "fraud."

"It has no part in fighting the climate emergency. In fact, it takes valuable dollars away from things that we know work, that can be implemented immediately, in favour of untested and dangerous technologies that will not be able to generate a single kilowatt of electricity for a decade or more," May said.

The SMR that is under construction in Darlington, Ont., is expected to be finished by 2028 — five years from now.

The project's proponents say this SMR, once operational, will deliver 300 megawatts of electricity — enough to power 300,000 homes in the country's largest province.

To address concerns about the reliability of clean energy sources, May said Canada should build a national grid, which could "essentially be a giant battery" — storing excess energy when solar panels and wind farms are producing electricity and feeding it back into the grid when they're not.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Canadian Nuclear Association said that "Canadians deserve to be told the truth, and the truth is that there is no easy path to net zero for Canada."

"It is disingenuous to suggest that we can easily decarbonize through wind and solar alone, while at the same time doubling or tripling our total electricity demand to 2050," said Christopher Gully.

"Contrary to the statements made today by MP May and others, the changes necessary to support a fully renewables grid in Canada would be absolutely massive, including tens or even hundreds of billions in grid upgrades, fundamental changes to interprovincial power markets, and extremely long timelines for the necessary transmission corridors to be permitted and built. While that may be feasible in a research paper, it is more of a dream than a possible reality."

NDP and Bloc MPs were also on hand for the press conference. NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice said the government's recent support for nuclear power is the result of of heavy lobbying efforts.

He said Natural Resources Canada has somehow been infiltrated by pro-nuclear proponents. "They don't have to knock on the door to get into the house because they own the house," he said.

Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, who was an environmental activist before jumping into federal politics, has a history of anti-nuclear campaigning.

In 2018, Guilbeault tweeted that "it's time to close Pickering #Nuclear Plant and go for #renewables." Before running for federal office, he was involved with Greenpeace for ten years and was a founding member of Équiterre, two organizations that oppose nuclear energy.

Since his election, however, Guilbeault has been less vocal.

Late last year, he also decided that a proposed small nuclear reactor project at Point Lepreau in New Brunswick will not undergo an extra federal impact assessment.


A test engineer at TerraPower, a company developing and building small nuclear reactors, works on a project in Everett, Washington.© AP

Speaking at an event Monday in Ottawa with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Trudeau said Canada is "very serious" about reviving nuclear power.

With Canada attracting substantial new industrial development, Trudeau said there's a need for new, cleaner energy sources.

"As we look at what baseload energy requirements are going to be needed by Canada over the coming decades, especially as we continue to draw in global giants like Volkswagen, who choose Canada partially because we have a clean energy mix to offer ... we're going to need a lot more energy," he said.

"We're going to have to be doing much more nuclear."

Trans Twitch star files human rights complaint against police after swatting arrest in London, Ont.

Story by Isha Bhargava • Apr 24, 2023

Transgender activist Clara Sorrenti has filed a human rights complaint against the London Police Service and the London Police Services Board, following her controversial arrest in August, 2022.© Michelle Both/CBC

Atransgender activist arrested at gunpoint in her London, Ont. home in a swatting hoax has launched a human rights complaint against the local police for discriminating against her based on her gender identity and expression.

Clara Sorrenti is asking the London Police Service (LPS) to change its record management, procedures, and policies to accommodate transgender people, including wearing body cameras when interacting with them. She also wants mandatory human rights training for every officer that emphasises interacting with trans people.

"LPS hasn't done nearly enough to start addressing the systemic issues that led to the encounter last year that left me in significant emotional and mental distress," Sorrenti said.

In a statement of claim filed to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario on April 10, Sorrenti is seeking $75,000 in damages for injury to her dignity, feelings, and self respect, plus an additional $50,000 for loss of income and other special damages incurred as a result of the swatting incident.

London police declined Sunday to comment on the matter.

The 29-year-old Twitch streamer, known as 'Keffals', was arrested at gunpoint by LPS officers in August after someone used her name and address to send threats to London city councillors. Police also received information that she confessed to a murder, Sorrenti said.

The person who called in the threats misgendered Sorrenti and referred to her with her birth name, which she said she changed more than a decade ago.

Five months before police came to her door, Sorrenti said she contacted the LPS to tell them she worried she'd become a swatting victim.

"There is simply no excuse for the LPS's records to have Ms. Sorrenti's old name and gender. She has had multiple interactions with them prior to the events in question to seek protection from the risks she faced due to her important work," said her lawyer Justin W. Anisman.

"It's concerning that they appear to have ignored her concerns, failed to update her records, or make appropriate notes which could have protected her."

Former police chief, Steve Williams, did order an internal review and determined that officers acted appropriately given the limited information they had during Sorrenti's arrest. However, several changes were made as a result of the incident.

Williams acknowledged that police records weren't updated to include her changed name. The London force also created a new system to flag locations or persons who have been the subjects of previous swatting attacks.

In September, the London Police Services Board (LPSB) drafted a policy called the 'Search and Detention of Transgender People' mandating officers to be sensitive to human rights, privacy issues, and to refer to individuals by their preferred pronouns.

Traumatic encounter

Sorrenti left Canada due to harassment and threats she received after going public with her story, and as a result, hasn't been able to stream and interact with her followers in months, she said.

Sorrenti says the encounter was traumatic and she's still reeling from its impact all these months later.

"It's been incredibly difficult for me to trust law enforcement and it's been really hard for me to feel safe in my own home after what happened," she said.

Anisman and Sorrenti say their ultimate goal is to sit down with LPS leadership to talk about her experiences and the shortcomings in systemic policies so they can collectively find a way to improve them and ensure that everyone feels safe.

"I know that unless something changes, the chances of this situation happening to another member of the community is fairly high but another person who goes through this might not be as lucky as I am," she said.

RIP

Brian McKenna, a founding producer of CBC's The Fifth Estate, dead at 77

Story by Erika Morris • May 6, 2023

Brian McKenna, a founding producer of CBC's The Fifth Estate, died Friday night 

at the age of 77.© Submitted by Conor McKenna

Brian McKenna, an acclaimed Montreal-born documentary filmmaker and a founding producer of CBC's The Fifth Estate, died Friday evening at the age of 77.

McKenna is remembered by his family as "passionate," an "incredible role model" and "somebody who was willing to ask difficult questions about the history of our country."

The family said McKenna had suffered a short illness.

His daughter, Robin McKenna, said her father had a great love of family and she remembers lots of laughing, joking and teasing. A filmmaker herself, she said her father was a great inspiration.

"We had a lot of adventures with him and he was inspiring as a father, I got to go along on many of his film shoots when I was young," she said.

"He had a big love of poetry and art and a sense of the sublime that he passed on to me. Dinner conversations were always spirited, we were encouraged to have our own opinions and disagree."

Award-winning career

McKenna's career started when he was editor-in-chief of his college newspaper, Loyola News, before joining the Montreal Star and later CBC.

He was best known for the award-winning series The Valour and the Horror. The three-part series examining Canadian involvement in three battles during the Second World War was the subject of controversy after its release and led to a five-week investigation by the Senate, a CRTC hearing, a $500 million lawsuit and a CBC ombudsman's report.

McKenna's most commended work delved deep into Canada's role in various wars over the last few centuries — having directed over 20 films on the subject — but he is also remembered for local Montreal news like the controversy surrounding the 1976 construction of the Olympic Stadium.

He also co-authored an unauthorized, bestselling biography of former Montreal mayor Jean Drapeau with his first wife Susan Purcell in 1980.

"He was a great father," said his son Conor McKenna, the host of The Morning Show on TSN 690.

"It left me with massive shoes to fill that I certainly don't think I could ever begin to do. But much to aspire to, much to live up to as both a father and a professional."

The filmmaker received 40 award nominations in Canada and internationally and won the 1993 Gordon Sinclair Award For Broadcast Journalism.

He received the Governor General's History Award for Popular Media in 2007 for "his exceptional ability to tackle the challenges of communicating history through a modern media with originality, determination, and a deep respect for those whose stories he tells."

McKenna was also an advocate for the freedom of the press and against the kidnapping of journalists and co-founded a group that later became the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE).

His family also cited dining with Fidel Castro, filming in North Korea, sharing Montreal dinners with Pierre Elliott Trudeau and drinking vodka in the Soviet Union with Wayne Gretzky and Vladislav Tretiak among the other notable feats in his life.

He is survived by his life partner Renée Baert; his children Robin, Katie, Conor and their mother Susan Purcell; Emma and Tess and their mother Anne Lagacé Dowson; his grandchildren Leo, Aedan and Dylan; siblings William, Joan, John and Terence; and his lifelong friend Stephen Phizicky.

Free menstrual products will be available at federal workplaces later this year

Story by Saba Aziz • May 10, 2023

Various menstrual products are seen, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019, in Kennesaw, Ga. 

Georgia's legislature is joining a nationwide effort to provide menstrual products for public school students in need.© (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Employees in federally regulated workplaces will begin to have free access to menstrual products later this year.

The federal government made the announcement Wednesday, saying starting Dec. 15, 2023, employers will be required to make menstrual products available at no cost to public servants.

This means putting pads and tampons in washrooms or other places so that any worker who needs them while on the job has access, Employment and Social Development Canada said in a news release.

“Tampons and pads are basic necessities. So we’re making sure they’re provided to workers at no cost, because it’ll make for healthier and safer workplaces,” Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan Jr. said in a statement with the release.

Employers will have flexibility on how they implement the new rules.

A pilot project will roll out in the coming months and guidance material will be developed in consultation with employers and made available online prior to the rules coming into effect, the government said.

This comes after the Liberal government created a public consultation process in 2019 on providing menstrual products in federally regulated workplaces that came to a close in September 2021.

The Liberals pledged to provide free tampons and pads in federally regulated workplaces in their 2021 election campaign.

VIDEO Should Canadian employers offer paid menstrual leave?

Monthly periods affect all women differently; some barely notice the side effects while others go through debilitating symptoms. As Sharmeen Somani reports, some experts say employers need to be more flexible and offer support. 

The changes would apply to nearly 1.3 million workers in the federal labour force, a group that includes banks, telecommunications and transport workers and makes up about eight per cent of the nation’s workers.

Of those workers, the rules would affect about 35 per of them — or about 455,000 workers, the government says.

The initiative is part of Ottawa's push to improve equity, reduce stigma around periods and make workplaces more inclusive.

The federal government removed the Goods and Services Tax from menstrual products in 2015 — also known as the "pink tax" — and other jurisdictions in Canada and the United States have followed suit.

At the same time, there has been a growing movement to provide free feminine hygiene products on campuses and in schools.

The cost of menstrual products varies significantly across the country.

A 40-pack of tampons in northern and remote communities can cost upwards of $15.

-- with files from The Canadian Press

Why is there an increase of violence in Canadian public libraries?

Story by globalnewsdigital • Apr 22, 2023

Video: The rise of violence in Canada’s public libraries

The random acts of violence that are happening on our streets and in our transit systems in cities across Canada are also making their way into public libraries.

Local branches of all sizes are reporting an increase in verbal and physical violence. And for some, the pandemic made it even worse.

Over the past two years, one person died and six others were injured in a mass stabbing in a public library in North Vancouver. Last December, 28-year-old Tyree Cayer was killed during a visit to Winnipeg’s Millennium Library. Four teenagers were charged in his death. And two branches of the Saskatoon library were closed temporarily because of concerns about staff safety.

Cameron Ray, a supervisor librarian with Toronto Public Library, said he has lived the experience first hand — and several times.

“I did have one year where every three months I was assaulted. This guy chased me around the branch with a pair of hair scissors, like, 'I’m going to stab you,'" he says. "That was terrifying.”

Ray and colleague Eila McLeish met when they worked together at the Toronto Reference Library. McLeish has been screamed at, sworn at, and even stalked by a disgruntled patron.

“I’ve come across overdose victims, people who are unconscious.”

McLeish came across a dead body in a library washroom. “That was pretty horrible,” she adds.

McLeish changed to a smaller branch, but she says it got worse. She has received counselling and was on sick leave for a year before returning to work in April.

Experts say libraries are a reflection of the world around them. And society’s problems are finding their way inside their doors.

“People are coming into the library and they have really significant needs,” says Siobhan Stevenson, a professor with the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto.

“There are all kinds of social crises, humanitarian crises, in our cities: homelessness, the opioid epidemic, random acts of violence … a social safety net that’s been so diminished,” she told Global News’ The New Reality.

That’s left many people with complex needs with often nowhere to go for support. Public libraries, by their very nature, are committed to being welcoming and inclusive.

“Individuals come to our locations because they feel that it's a safe place that they can come into," says Brian Daly, chief human resources officer at the Toronto Public Library, the largest library system in North America in terms of branches.

"Because of that, we need to be able to provide the services to them here on site because this is where they come.”

He also points out that only a tiny fraction of visits to Toronto’s library branches turn violent.

“About 20 of our branches have high numbers of violent or disruptive incidents out of our 100. And of nine and a half million visits, there were about 300 that involved a violent incident,” Daly says.

“But having said that, if you're the person who is experiencing that incident as a worker or as a customer of ours, even one incident is too many.”

Toronto trains library staff on how to deal with people who have experienced trauma.

Toronto also spends $3 million a year on security guards who are assigned to 40 of the system's 100 branches.

But Daly believes that’s only one piece of the puzzle.

“It's not a matter of just adding more and more guards. That's not the answer to this. We don't want to create an environment where people feel intimidated coming into our branches.”

Video: Millennium Library reopening Monday with security measures

Related video: Canadian premiers look to address public safety (Global News)

View on Watch

Community Crisis Workers

Libraries across the country are grappling with finding a balance between supporting those with complex needs and keeping all visitors and staff safe.

The Edmonton Public Library recognized early on that there was a gap between the needs of some of its more vulnerable clients and the services the library was providing. So it brought in people who were most equipped to help: social workers. It was the first library in Canada to do so.

The outreach workers are now a vital resource, connecting people with the services they need, such as accessing information on where to find a shelter or a hot meal or how to obtain an I.D. card.

“People started to learn that the library was the place you could come for those supports. They could sit. They could be comfortable. They were welcomed,” says Sharon Day, the executive director of customer experience at the Edmonton Public Library.

Hilary Kirkpatrick is a social worker at the Edmonton Public Library. She says providing these services works because the space is accessible, clients are treated with respect and they don’t feel judged.

“We’re able to really meet clients where they’re at and serve their needs,” Kirkpatrick says.

Social workers have also become an important part of the team at other libraries including Halifax, Calgary, Winnipeg and London.

Toronto is launching its own pilot programs to support vulnerable visitors. In addition to connecting them with resources, they will also help identify and deal with problems on the floor before they escalate.

“These are social workers. These are individuals with mental health backgrounds who can come in and talk to individuals who are in distress,” Daly says.

Toronto is also hiring six library safety specialists who will work not only with clients who need help, but with staff who are often on the receiving end of verbal or physical assaults.

“Most of the time it is someone who has been spit up, chewed up and spit out by society and they’re at the end of their rope,” Ray says.

He and McLeish believe libraries need these kinds of programs because librarians and staff are not always equipped to handle these potentially volatile situations.

“It’s so hard when you can’t actually help someone,” Ray says. “As much as we would love to be able to have relationships with all these people and help them, we can’t because I’m trained on Dewey Decimal.”

Stevenson has studied the use of social workers in libraries and seen firsthand the difference they can make. But she worries they will be seen as an easy solution that will justify the further dismantling of social programs.

“It’s a much bigger policy problem,” she says.

The opioid crisis has also contributed to the rise in violence. The Toronto Public Library found a connection between the location of the branches with the most incidents and suspected opioid overdose hotspots in the city.

“There's a lot of correlation with the kind of challenges we're experiencing more broadly in society,” Daly says.

The Edmonton Public Library also saw an uptick in drug-related incidents. “We saw 99 poisonings in our branches in 2022, which is the biggest difference in what we would see pre-pandemic,” Day says.

Edmonton's library system brought in an opioid response team and added washroom attendants at its most affected branches.

Security Measures

In response to the death of Tyree Cayer, the Millennium Library in Winnipeg installed a metal detector and added a regular police presence. It wasn’t the first time visitors were checked on their way in.

In 2019, handheld detectors were used to screen visitors. But they were removed one year later after community groups protested they kept out the people who needed library services the most.

Tania Cayer, Tyree’s mother, feels the opposition to the extra security measures is misplaced.

“People who do not work at that library, I do not believe should even have an opinion on whether a metal detector is put up or not,” she says. “It is to keep those people safe.”

Tania doesn’t blame the library. She believes there are bigger issues at play.

“Winnipeg is struggling with youth crime. It's struggling with drugs. There are a million and one issues. This is just one of them.” she says.



Tania Cayer’s son, Tyree died from a fatal stabbing at Winnipeg’s Millennium Library in December 2022.© Provided by Global News

Still, many libraries are against the addition of entrance barriers because of the concern it will discourage vulnerable clients from coming through their doors.

“There are always going to be challenges when you’re in a public space dealing with every kind of person,” Day says. “The beautiful thing about it is that everybody’s welcome here, but it’s also one of the hard things about it as everybody’s welcome here.”

The Library of the future: community hub

If you haven’t been to a public library lately, chances are you’ll be surprised by what you see. It’s not just about books anymore.

Libraries are a mirror, reflecting people in communities and their evolving needs. That means big changes at public libraries everywhere.

They are constantly adapting to meet these new challenges, at the same time, taking learning to a whole new level, with 3-D printers, recording studios filled with instruments, community kitchens —even places to try the latest video games. There are wide open spaces to relax and study.

“Think of your community library, your local library … as the community's living room. A third space. It's not work. It's not home. It's this other space,” Stevenson says.

A library of the future that looks nothing like the library of the past.

Almost 90% of N.S. teachers believe school violence on the rise: survey

Story by Alex Cooke • Apr 27, 2023

Police monitor the situation at Charles P. Allen High School, in Halifax, Monday, March 20, 2023. A 15-year-old student accused of stabbing two staff members at a Halifax-area high school earlier this week remains in custody and is to return to court next month.

© THE CANADIAN PRESS/Riley Smith

A new survey from the Nova Scotia Teachers Union indicates most of the province's teachers believe school violence is on the rise, and more than half have been the victim of a violent act or threat while at work.

In a release, the union said 87 per cent of teachers and educational specialists who responded to the survey believe school violence increased since 2018, and 92 per cent said they've witnessed violence first-hand at school.

As well, 55 per cent of respondents said they were the victim of a violent act or threat while at work.

“All too often I receive phone calls and emails from teachers who are upset and concerned about a violent event they witnessed or experienced at school,” said NSTU president Ryan Lutes in a statement.

“Incidents between students are becoming more frequent, more severe and alarmingly more dangerous. Teachers and school staff members are often kicked, bit, hit, punched, threatened and verbally abused.

"Unfortunately, these incidents frequently go unaddressed or are characterized as just part of going to school. This is unacceptable.”

The online survey was conducted between March 27 and April 13, and a total of 2,534 NSTU members completed it. There are more than 9,000 total NSTU members in the province.

A further 52 per cent of respondents said they were "very concerned" about the current level of violence in their school, and 38 per cent said they were "somewhat concerned."

In an interview, Lutes said the results of the survey are "absolutely really concerning."

"It's really troubling, and at the same time, it's not a surprise from the conversations that I've had with teachers," he said. "The conversations anecdotally and the evidence we're getting from the survey are matching up."

Of the respondents who witnessed violence in schools, 84 per cent said the incident involved student-toward-student violence, and 79 per cent witnessed violence from students toward teachers or school staff.

Twenty-one per cent said they witnessed violence from other adults -- such as a parent or caregiver -- toward school staff. Respondents were allowed to choose more than one option.

Only 17 of the teachers surveyed -- less than one per cent -- believed that violence levels in schools were on the decline.

More than 13,000 violent incidents last year

According to data from the provincial government, there were 13,776 physical violence incidents in Nova Scotia schools in the 2021-22 school year.

With a total of 125,124 enrolments last year, that represents an incidence rate of 11 per cent – though the report said students are often responsible for more than one incident, so the number of students involved is “much less.”

Physical violence is defined as “using force, gesturing, or inciting others to use force to injure a member of the school community.”

Further provincial data obtained under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act indicates there have been tens of thousands of violent incidents in Nova Scotia schools over the last five years:

13,991 incidents in the 2017-18 school year (representing 11.76 per cent of total enrolment)

14,864 in 2018-19 (12.32 per cent)

10,386 in 2019-20 (8.43 per cent)

11,132 in 2020-21 (9.6 per cent.)

While the numbers were lower in 2019-20 and 2020-21, those years were impacted by school shutdowns during COVID-19.

The issue of violence in schools was pushed further into the spotlight last month, after two staff members were stabbed at Charles P. Allen High School in the community of Bedford.

The 15-year-old student accused in the stabbings was charged with two counts of attempted murder and was recently found to be fit to stand trial.

Lutes said violence in schools has long been an "evolving conversation" among teachers, but the recent incident at Charles P. Allen High "highlighted the issue."

That "made us want to get more data from our members about what they're seeing on the ground in schools every day," he said.

Last month, Global News spoke with a former educational program assistant, who recently quit due to burnout and said staff are ill-equipped to deal with violent incidents involving students.

Data from the Workers Compensation Board of Nova Scotia indicates that those in the education sector covered by the WCB report a “relatively high” number of workplace injuries caused by violence.

From 2013 to 2022, there were a total of 6,303 injuries reported to the WCB from education administration workers, which includes educational assistants, educational program assistants, administrative assistants, caretakers and custodians. Teachers were excluded from that data as they are covered by another insurer.

Of those 6,303 WCB claims, 787 – or about 12 per cent – were attributed to incidents of violence. And 189 of those cases (24 per cent) were time loss claims, which means the injuries were severe enough to cause the worker to miss three or more days of work.

For comparison, injuries due to incidents of violence accounted for 15 per cent of reported injuries for security and investigation services workers, 14 per cent for covered local police forces, 14 per cent for correctional services, nine per cent for nursing home workers and six per cent for employees at general hospitals.

Video: Halifax police detail ‘traumatic’ school stabbing after student charged with attempted murder

Lutes, the NSTU president, said violence in schools is a "complex issue," and he believes part of it stems from a lack of support for students.

"Our classrooms in schools have become more complex, and staffing in our schools has not kept up with that complexity," he said.

"I've got to believe, as a teacher and as a dad, that most students, if they are being violent in our schools, they don't want to be. They are reaching out for help, they're reaching out for support that they're not getting."

Lutes is calling on the provincial government to do more to address school violence. He said the union has shared the information gathered through the survey with the province and is prepared to work with the government.

"We need a wholesale, provincial-wide, all-hands-on deck approach to this, because we can't have kids learning in schools that aren't safe, and we can't have teachers and school staff working in schools that aren't safe," he said.

'Any violent incident in a school is concerning'

In a statement, Education Minister Becky Druhan said the province is committed to ensuring school safety by "providing foundations to strong relationships, maintaining the code of conduct, and through a commitment to continuous improvement."

She said she met with the NSTU regarding the survey results, and will continue to work with the union, the Nova Scotia Public School Administrators Association, and other organizations.

"Any violent incident in a school is concerning for students, staff, and families. Schools reflect their communities, and the challenges of the communities make their way into schools," she said. "We can’t separate schools from their communities. What we can do is continue to provide programs, resources, and professional supports to help teachers and other staff to help children."

Druhan said the province has added wraparound supports, with more than 1,000 inclusive education programs and positions to the public school system over the last five years, including behaviour and autism specialists, school psychologists, social workers, and mental health clinicians.

"We will continue to support the professional learning of teachers and provide training to respond to complex needs and individual circumstances," Druhan said.

Last month, Druhan told Global News the province has increased the education budget by $122 million from last year, and added 63 teachers and 68 inclusive education positions within HRCE alone.

“We are continuing to add resources and support to the system to grow and to meet our student’s needs,” she said.

Druhan said safety is a “fundamental priority” for the province and there is work underway to help students develop and build better relationships. She noted that there is a provincial code of conduct for all educators and administrators to prepare for the “unfortunate and serious incidents that sometimes do occur.”

She added that there is an emergency response plan in every school.

“Having said all that, we can always do more,” said Druhan.

SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC CANADA

Most Canadians want universal mental health care. What would that look like?

Story by Katie Dangerfield 

GLOBAL NEWS

May 1, 2023

Teenage girl has psychotherapy session with her therapist via video call. She has a rubber band on her wrist to prevent anxiety.© Getty Images

As Canada continues to grapple with a mental health issue exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, a new poll shows that a vast majority of Canadians want the government to provide universal access to systems such as therapy, medication and support groups.

The survey released Monday by the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) based on an online survey of 1,626 adult Canadians conducted between April 6 and April 10, found that 87 per cent of Canadians want universal mental health care and 69 per cent believe the country is in a mental health crisis.

"If you break your leg, you know that you can go anywhere in the country and you're going to get the same level of treatment and care. But we can't say that about mental health," Margaret Eaton, national CEO for the CMHA told Global News.

The idea of universal mental health care is that services are funded through public health insurance and are free to all Canadians, Eaton said.

"We think it's wonderful that Canadians also want universal mental health care because it's been something we've been talking to the federal government and to provinces about for some time now," she said.

"A great percentage of Canadians, especially vulnerable Canadians, children and youth, the LGBTQ community, and racialized people were really affected by the pandemic and their mental health continues to suffer."

For example, a study published in Jama Pediatrics on Monday found an increase in depression and anxiety symptoms among youth, especially girls after the pandemic.

And a Calgary-based study published in the Lancet in March, said the pandemic increased mental distress for kids, leading to a sharp increase in emergency department visits for attempted suicide and suicide ideation among children and adolescents under the age of 19 years old.

"Universal access to mental health care is so important," Sheri Madigan, a professor of clinical psychology based in Calgary, said, noting the influx of mental health issues that arose among youth during the pandemic.

"So we need greater access to mental health care, and that can happen by making it universally accessible," she said.

Nearly 90% of Canadians want universal mental health care survey shows

The CMHA survey found that of the 35 per cent of Canadians who have had a mental health concern in the past year, one-third have not reached out for help, primarily because it is too expensive or because they don’t know where to find it.

A majority of Canadians who receive counselling for mild-to-moderate illnesses pay out of pocket or through private insurance plans through their employer, a 2018 CMHA report found. Even if counselling is covered under insurance, the CMHA reported that it is limited, with coverage ranging from $400 to $1,500 anually.

And then there are individuals with more complex mental illnesses, which can face even greater barriers. These can range from long wait times and a lack of access to a primary physician or psychiatrist making many rely on emergency departments as their source of care, the CMHA said.

"If you don't have an employer plan that offers you some free psychotherapy, or if you live outside of a major urban centre, you're going to really struggle to find care for your mental health," Eaton said.

"So Canada really doesn't do a good job of making sure that whether you live in Nunavut or St. John's, Newfoundland or even downtown Toronto, that you've got the same level of care and access to the same quality of mental health care."

Video: Sounding alarm on mental illness in children & youth

But universal health care access could change this.

Whether it's talk therapy, education in mindfulness or training for mental health first aid, Jean Clinton, a clinical professor in the Department of Psychology, Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences at McMaster University, said the key is that anyone can access it.

She believes that Canada is in a mental health crisis that was exacerbated by the pandemic, and many people are burnt out.

"I think universal mental health care is a very, very good step in the right direction, but it needs to be comprehensive," she said, adding that offering free talk therapy may not be enough.

Talk therapy, although beneficial, can cause huge amounts of wait time, she stressed.

For example, a 2020 report by Children’s Mental Health Ontario found the longest wait for community mental health child and youth services can reach 2.5 years in the province.

"With the numbers we're talking about taking, we will never have enough clinicians to treat ourselves out of this problem," she stressed.

She believes if a universal mental health system was implemented in Canada, it should also involve a public health campaign and more mental health training in schools.

Training teachers, coaches and even peers in mental health first aid could help reach many young Canadians who need immediate support, Clinton stressed.

Funding is one of the biggest barriers to implementing a universal mental health care strategy, Eaton said.

"We really believe that that notion of universal mental health care must become something that all levels of government commit themselves to," she said.

"We were very excited to see the creation of a possible mental health transfer from the federal government, which would be funded just like the Canada Health transfer, but they would be set aside just for mental health."

In 2021, the Trudeau government made an election promise to create a new $4.5 billion Canada Mental Health Transfer that would be sent to provinces and territories over five years. However, there is still no information on when the transfer is happening.

"Making mental health care a full and equal part of our universal health care system is a key priority of ours, and we will continue to do whatever it takes to ensure that Canadians are able to access appropriate and timely care, by the most appropriate provider at the most appropriate place, including virtually, wherever they live," a spokesperson for Carolyn Bennett, Canada's minister of mental health and addictions, told Global News in an email Monday.

Another barrier is mental health stigma, Clinton said.

Global News
Canada election: Trudeau promises to fund mental health supports with nearly $6.5 billion if re-elected 2021 

"I think a huge barrier is a mentality that mental health problems are brought upon by your own deficit thinking," she said.

"But it's an illness, it's not a character defect," she added, arguing that education on destigmatizing mental health issues is key.

Some provinces, like Nova Scotia, have efforted to give their residents better access to mental health resources in the absence of a universal plan.

In 2022, the province announced it was funding an online mental health coaching program aimed at supporting people experiencing mild or moderate depression and anxiety.

The online program offers weekly one-on-one virtual coaching alongside cognitive behavioural therapy resources, which is free for all residents over the age of 16 without a referral.

The province estimated it will cost between $340,000 and $510,000 annually for the service.

Other countries have also implemented similar strategies.

The United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS) provides free mental health care services to all residents, including counselling, psychotherapy, and medication management.

The strategy, which was implemented in 2008, proved successful. According to the NHS, after more than a decade of this free service, about 50 per cent of patients with depression or anxiety were reported to recover and an average of seven sessions with a therapist.

Eaton says the influx of mental issues coupled with the high cost of living in Canada makes the need for better access to mental health care more important than ever.

"I feel like Canadians need to have relief from their psychological suffering," she said. "And one way to do that is really by offering universal mental health care, free care for everyone who needs it, where they need it, and when they need it."

MPs ask whether pulp giant's revamped board is Canadian enough

Story by Elizabeth Thompson • CBC

Monday, May 15,2023

Members of Parliament are raising concerns after Canada's new pulp and paper giant dismissed the previous board of directors of Resolute Forest Products and replaced it with a board dominated by longtime Paper Excellence executives.

They are also questioning whether the new board satisfies the commitment Paper Excellence gave the federal government when it approved its takeover of Resolute — that it would "maintain" a Canadian presence on Resolute's board of directors.

"I think Canadians are waking up to the fact that a company that has very unclear ownership, that has ties directly to Shanghai and to Indonesia, may be controlled by a family that has massive control over international pulp and paper markets, is now sitting on top of and in control of 22 million hectares of Canadian forest," said NDP natural resources critic Charlie Angus.

"We need to know who's making the decisions here. They were allowed to take over Resolute, they made promises about the takeover of Resolute, that this was going to remain very much Canadian."

Seth Kursman, spokesperson for Resolute Forest Products, confirmed that the company's previous board of directors is no longer in place. He said two of the three current directors have Canadian citizenship and "all members of the Resolute executive team are also Canadian."

Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne won't reveal what the company promised the federal government regarding what percentage of Resolute's board have to be Canadian citizens, saying he has to respect the Investment Canada Act. He said his department will be watching to ensure that the company keeps the promises it made when it acquired Resolute.

"Canadians know me by now. I'm a hawk on these things," Champagne told CBC News. "We have a sophisticated process and we have always made sure that whatever undertakings that people (make) to the government of Canada, we follow up and we make sure that they are respected."

Bloc Québécois Natural Resources critic Mario Simard said he has concerns about the deal to acquire Resolute and wants to know more about the promises the company made to the government.

Simard said he plans to table a motion with the House of Commons natural resources committee calling on the committee to ask Paper Excellence's owner Jackson Wijaya to waive the confidentiality of discussions the company had with the government "regarding the company's ownership structure and business relationships in the Canadian pulp and paper industry."



Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne says the government will hold Paper Excellence to the commitments it made.© Alex Panetta/CBC News

Champagne's comments come after Domtar, owned by Paper Excellence, acquired Resolute Forest Products earlier this year — a deal that consolidated Paper Excellence's dominance of Canada's wood pulp industry.

In March, CBC News took part in a months-long investigation of the global forestry industry with 40 media outlets under the umbrella of the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. That investigation raised questions about who is behind Canada's new pulp and paper powerhouse.

The people behind or associated with Paper Excellence appear to have a pattern of using thickets of corporations — including some in tax havens — effectively shielding transactions and assets from public and government scrutiny.

The company has also been tight-lipped about its past financing, some of which was facilitated by the China Development Bank, which is owned by the Chinese government.

CBC's investigation also found leaked records and insider accounts that show that, at least until a few years ago, Paper Excellence appeared to have been closely and secretly co-ordinating business and strategy decisions with Asia Pulp & Paper.

Asia Pulp & Paper is one of the world's biggest pulp and paper players and has a track record of environmental destruction.

The company maintains that Paper Excellence is independent of Asia Pulp and Paper and is owned by Wijaya.

Related video: Trudeau pitches Canadian manufacturing to influential New York audience (cbc.ca)

The Prime Minister talked up Canada to its southern neighbour.

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In the wake of the investigation, the House of Commons Natural Resources committee voted to call witnesses to testify about the company and its ownership. Those hearings have been plagued by committee meeting cancellations for technical reasons and problems scheduling Paper Excellence representatives to appear.

On Tuesday, committee Chairman John Aldag said Paper Excellence officials are now scheduled to appear May 30.

But the committee is still having difficulty getting Wijaya to testify. In a letter dated May 1 obtained by CBC News, Wijaya told the committee he was unable to appear "due to extensive global business commitments."

Wijaya told the committee that Paper Excellence and its subsidiaries "are owned solely and exclusively by me and are wholly separate and independent from any other company, including Asia Pulp and Paper and the Sinar Mas group."

Asia Pulp and Paper is part of the Sinar Mas group, owned by the Wijaya family.

Wijaya also shed new light on a $1.25 billion US demand debenture from the China Development Bank in 2012.

"Relying in part on connections that I had developed through family and other relationships, Paper Excellence sought financing to make major capital investments in three Canadian mills," Wijaya wrote. "Based on these goals, our team successfully negotiated a loan and credit facility from China Development Bank (CDB), which was actively sourcing international project financings in many parts of the world, including Canada, at that time.

"This was a standard commercial loan and we paid that financing down over the succeeding years and subsequently fully paid it off in 2020. We have no relationship today with CDB or any other Chinese bank."

CBC's investigation found the company subsequently obtained financing from two Indonesian banks which registered mortgages on mill properties in B.C and Saskatchewan.


The Resolute Forest Products' pulp and paper mill in Thunder Bay, Ont.

© Matt Prokopchuk/CBC

The latest questions being raised centre on the deal to acquire Resolute, which provides Paper Excellence with mills, power generating facilities and wood supplies in Ontario, Quebec and the U.S.

When the federal government approved the deal, the company gave assurances it would maintain Canadian participation on the board of directors. Prior to the acquisition, seven of the eight directors on Resolute's board lived in Canada.

However, after the deal to acquire Resolute closed, the previous board was removed, with the exception of company president Remi Lalonde, and two new board members were added — Sugiarto (Awie) Kardiman and Peter (Hardi) Wardana.



Sugiarto (Awie) Kardiman (left), Peter (Hardi) Wardhana (centre) and Remi Lalonde.

© Credit: PaperExcellence.com, PRPeak.com, Resolute Forest Products

Filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission for Domtar in 2022 say Wardhana has been with Paper Excellence since its inception and was a director of Paper Excellence B.V. and the company's global head of mergers and acquisitions. They say Wardhana, a former consultant with McKinsey & Co., earned a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering from Columbia University, a master of science in engineering-economic systems from Stanford University and a master in finance from the London Business School.

A 2010 Globe and Mail article said he previously worked with Sinar Mas. As recently as 2017, corporate filings listed an address in Indonesia, although the newest filings for Resolute list his domicile as Paper Excellence's corporate offices in Richmond, B.C.

Kursman said Wardhana is not a Canadian citizen and did not say where he lives.

Kardiman worked for Paper Excellence from 2010 to 2013, according to his LinkedIn profile, then rejoined the company in November 2020 after working for two other companies. Kardiman did his BA in accounting in Indonesia and, in early corporate documents for Paper Excellence companies, listed an address in Indonesia. Kursman said Kardiman has Canadian citizenship and lives in Coquitlam, B.C.

Green Party co-leader Elizabeth May said she doesn't think Resolute's current board satisfies the terms of the assurance the government was given.

"With a board of directors with key players from outside Canada who come from Paper Excellence culture, Paper Excellence background, it's worrying to see people come on the board whose ties are to Indonesia," she said.

Shane Moffatt of Greenpeace said Resolute's board of directors has tended to play an important role in setting the company's direction.

"When it comes to Resolute Forest Products, I have certainly seen their boards be a significant force within the company and I would be surprised if the appointment of new Paper Excellence representatives was not intended to ensure some new perspectives around the direction of the company," he said.

Moffatt, who is among those scheduled to testify before the Natural Resources committee, said it is important for Wijaya to appear before MPs.

"I really think it is so critically important for public trust in what's happening in the forests for Jackson Wijaya to show," Moffatt said. "I can't possibly imagine him not showing up and thinking that's going to be acceptable to anyone."