Racism common in health system says head of Native Women's Shelter of Montreal

© Provided by The Canadian Press

MONTREAL — The executive director of the Native Women's Shelter of Montreal says racism against Indigenous people is so common at local hospitals that her organization escorts clients to medical visits.

“Every time we have to bring someone to a hospital, we escort them, because we know that there will be racist comments toward them,” Nakuset, who uses only one name, said in an interview Wednesday. “We have a form because we anticipate what’s going to happen.”

That form, she said, has a checkbox for racist comments because she said they’re so common.

On Monday, Joyce Echaquan, an Atikamekw woman, filmed nurses making derogatory comments to her as she lay dying in a hospital bed in Joliette, Que., northeast of Montreal.

Nakuset said the video reveals the nurses thought they could get away with talking like that. “If Joyce didn’t have a camera, this wouldn’t be a story."

Dr. Alika Lafontaine, an anesthesiologist in Grande Prairie, Alta., who is of Cree and Anishinaabe heritage, said Indigenous people regularly experience discrimination in Canada's health-care systems.

"Patients experience this every single day, to varying degrees," he said in an interview Wednesday.

The Quebec government has promised two investigations into Echaquan's death, one by the coroner, the other by the regional health centre. And while Dr. Lafontaine said those investigations are important, they won't solve larger systemic problems because these kinds of racist incidents often don't get reported, he said.

“If we're really going to fix the system, we have to not just unpack the racial events that happened, but also the reasons why this person would think that it was okay to act this way,” he said. These experiences lead people feeling disempowered in medical environments and reduce trust, Lafontaine said.

As a result, he said people won't share information with medical providers and "they may delay going to access treatment, because they need to be really, really sick in order to deal with, kind of, that level of discomfort, or hostility, and that all leads to worse outcomes."

Echaquan's death took place almost a year to the day after a public inquiry, known as the Viens Commission, released 142 recommendations aimed at improving Indigenous peoples' access to government services.

The commission's report concluded it is “impossible to deny” that there is systemic racism against Indigenous people in Quebec.

Richard Budgell, professor of Inuit and northern health promotion at McGill University, says Indigenous people need to be meaningfully involved in the governance of health institutions.

“Because the only way you eliminate systemic discrimination is giving the people who have been discriminated against a role in those institutions,” he said in an interview Wednesday.

While Premier Francois Legault was quick to denounce the comments made by the nurses in the Joliette hospital as racist, he has maintained that systemic racism doesn't exist in Quebec.

Quebec's Indigenous Affairs Minister Sylvie D'Amours said Wednesday in a news release highlighting the one-year anniversary of the Viens Commission's report, that 51 of those recommendations have been adopted or are in the process of being implemented.

But Nakuset said she hasn’t seen any signs that that’s the case.

Liberal Opposition Leader Dominique Anglade called D'Amours news release insulting and said it shows she is no longer fit to be a cabinet minister.

D'Amours released another statement later Wednesday offering her condolences on behalf of the province to Echaquan's family and community.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 30, 2020.

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

Jacob Serebrin, The Canadian Press

Canada: outcry after video shows hospital staff taunting dying Indigenous woman


Leyland Cecco in Toronto

© Photograph: Canadian Press/REX/Shutterstock People attend a vigil in front of the hospital where Joyce Echaquan died in Joliette, Quebec, on 29 September.

A shocking video showing hospital staff in Canada taunting a dying Indigenous woman has left a community in mourning and renewed calls for the country to confront the realities of systemic racism.

Joyce Echaquan, a 37-year-old Atikamekw woman, arrived at a hospital in the Quebec city of Joliette on Monday, complaining of stomach pain.

The mother of seven had previously suffered similar issues and told staff she had a heart condition. Echaquan started livestreaming her experience on Facebook as her pain escalated, and staff at the hospital appeared indifferent to her pleas for help.

In the footage, Echaquan is seen grimacing as nurses call her “stupid as hell”. “Are you done acting stupid? Are you done?” asked one nurse in French as Echaquan moaned in pain.

“You made some bad choices, my dear,” another nurse said. “What are your children going to think, seeing you like this?”

“She’s good at having sex, more than anything else,” the first nurse said.

Indigenous leaders say the video exposes the grim realities of systemic racism that have long gone ignored throughout the country.

“Discrimination against First Nations people remains prevalent in the health care system and this needs to stop,” the Assembly of First Nations national chief, Perry Bellegarde, said in a statement.

The Quebec premier, François Legault, condemned the actions of the staff, telling reporters at least one of the nurses had been fired.

But the premier rejected the notion that Echaquan’s death was representative of a broader problem of racism within Quebec, despite a public inquiry concluding the opposite.

“I really don’t think we have this kind of way of dealing with First Nations people in our hospitals in Quebec,” he said.

The province’s coroner office has announced an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Echaquan’s death. The local health board is also investigating.

‘‘We will not tolerate any remarks of that type from our personnel,” the board said in a statement.

Related: Violence against indigenous women is woven into Canada’s history | Jaskiran Dhillon and Siku Allooloo

Marc Miller, federal Indigenous services minister, extended his condolences to the community who were traumatized by the “gut-wrenching” video.

“This is the worst face of racism,” Miller told reporters. “This is someone who is at their most vulnerable. And they are dying, having heard racist words expressed towards them.”

Contrary to remarks by Legault, however, Miller said Echaquan’s death was reflective of broader barriers Indigenous peoples still face in Canada.

“This is not an isolated event,” said Miller, pointing to the case of a hospital in British Columbia, where staff allegedly bet on the blood alcohol content of incoming Indigenous patients.

For those who have experienced similar treatment to Echaquan’s, the video marked a jarring reminder of the inequities present within the country’s healthcare system.

“I’m not sure I can adequately explain how watching the video of #JoyceEchaquan’s last moments is weighing on me. As an Indigenous woman w/ chronic illnesses the treatment she endured is my ultimate fear,” tweeted Frances Elizabeth Moore, an outreach worker from Timiskaming First Nation.

“I always need to advocate for myself. At times, I’ve brought others to appointments b/c I did not feel safe going alone. This isn’t new. This isn’t unheard of. You just haven’t been listening. I hope some serious reform comes from Joyce’s heroic actions. Rest well sister.”

Que. nurse fired, coroner to investigate after dying Indigenous woman taunted in hospital

Stephanie Marin

Joyce Echaquan, an Indigenous mother of seven, filmed a nurse insulting her as she lay dying in a Quebec hospital.

The Canadian Press Tuesday, September 29, 2020 

MONTREAL -- A nurse has been fired after an Indigenous woman who was dying Monday night in hospital was subjected to degrading remarks, Quebec's premier said Tuesday.

The Quebec coroner's office confirmed it will investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of Joyce Echaquan, a mother of seven who had gone to the hospital in Joliette, Que., northeast of Montreal, complaining of stomach pains.

Before the Atikamekw woman's death, she filmed herself from her hospital bed while she was in clear distress and pleaded for help.

Toward the end of the video, two female hospital staff can be seen entering her room and are heard making insulting comments, saying she's "stupid as hell," that she's only good for sex and better off dead.

Amid protests from Echaquan, a staff member tells her she made poor choices and asks what her children would think to see her in that state.

"That's why I came here," Echaquan can be heard replying quietly.

The video circulated widely on the internet, prompting widespread indignation and a call from the Quebec chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Ghislain Picard, for the government to address a culture of racism.

"A coroner's inquest should not be an opportunity for the government to shirk its responsibilities," Picard said Tuesday. He made the comments during a virtual news conference, during which he presented his organization's plan to address racism and discrimination in the province.

"A coroner's report will not change anything about the racism displayed by nurses. It is a question of attitude and a question of culture."

The Council of the Atikamekw Nation said discrimination in public services is unfortunately still far too prevalent and the video shot by the deceased woman "reveals disturbing condescension and racist remarks" from staff.

"It is unfortunate that in 2020 such behaviours can still occur," Grand Chief Constant Awashish said in a statement. "It is everyone's responsibility to denounce them, especially in the context of health services and whose ethics should protect us from the discomfort of racism."

Verna Polson, the leader of the Anoshnabeg Nation, said the video left her angry.

"I am also sad at the thought that her children this morning no longer have a mother," she said Tuesday at the news conference with Picard. "This systemic racism that exists today in Quebec, we, the Aboriginal women, live it every day."

Legault offered his condolences to the family Tuesday in Quebec City, confirming a nurse at the hospital had been fired. And while he admitted racism exists in the province, he would not qualify the situation as an example of systemic racism.

"What happened is totally unacceptable," Legault said. "There will be two inquiries and the nurse did something unacceptable and she has been fired."

Legault said in addition to the coroner, the regional health authority will investigate the death.

In Ottawa, Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller said his thoughts were with the family and community members.

"The best case scenario is this person died at the hands of a racist and the worst case scenario is much worse, it makes you think about criminality and it's why we need to get a full inquest into what happened."

Miller said what happened wasn't an isolated event.

"What is gut-wrenching about this, is someone who is in their most vulnerable and they're dying, having heard racist words expressed towards them," Miller said.

"I can only imagine the impact that can have on Indigenous communities and it's part of a pattern that's existing and we have to eliminate that pattern, we have to keep fighting against that pattern."

Edmonton virtual workshop highlights 

anti-Black racism, lack of education on Canadian Black history


Lauren Boothby

© Provided by Edmonton Journal Young Black women discuss experiences with racism during a Zoom call as part of a virtual event Sept. 29, 2020 hosted by Edmonton-based Empowering Black Girls Lets Talk About It: Anti-Black Racism.

Timiro Mohamed says being Black in Canada means seeing racism on a daily basis, all while having her experience erased.

The narrative of Canada as an accepting country gets in the way of reconciling with racism, Mohamed said in a new video featuring young Black women on their experiences. The video was featured as part of virtual event Tuesday hosted by Edmonton-based Empowering Black Girls Lets Talk About It: Anti-Black Racism.

“Canada is this benevolent, peaceful country, and so part of that … means there’s this refusal to own up to the current reality, the present reality of racism, not racism as a distant reality, but as a constant, every day thing that people experience … and that can be really frustrating,” Mohamed said in the video.

Video player from: YouTube (Privacy Policy, Terms)

Anti-Black racism includes prejudice, attitudes, beliefs, stereotyping and discrimination directed at people of African descent and is rooted in an experience of enslavement and colonization, facilitator Christabel Khumalo said at the beginning of the virtual talk on Tuesday.

Khumalo polled viewers as to whether they had been taught about Canadian Black history in schools, and 71 per cent said they had not.

Edmonton-Meadows MLA Jasvir Deol, NDP critic for multiculturalism, spoke after a short history lesson saying history is written by powerful, and in this case, white people.

“But I have never heard about Black history, not only that, the huge incidents like the Komagata Maru,” he said. “I don’t think students in classes ever heard about those incidents.”

Some Black participants who were not born in Canada spoke in the seminar about how they experienced barriers, differential treatment because of their accents and knowledge of local history.

As to what to do to address it, Khumalo said it’s important to speak out against it racism when you see it.

“Staying silent is communication … So whatever you can find (to use) your voice to intentionally speak on it, use it, because staying silent communicates something, it’s also taking a position that does not help anti-racism,” she said.

“Speaking up and against racism starts with an individual, self-reflecting … understand (your emotions), unpack them, address them introspectively.”

She said it’s important to be aware of your biases , stay educated, learn and to seek to intentionally teach yourself and those in your care about racism, white privilege, and colour-blindness.

Empowering Black Girls offers mentorships, workshops and runs community projects aiming to empower Canadian girls of African and Caribbean descent, funded by the federal government.

Another First Nation in Nova Scotia set to start self-regulated lobster fishery

© Provided by The Canadian Press

HALIFAX — A First Nation in southern Cape Breton is set to become the second Indigenous band in Nova Scotia to launch a self-regulated commercial lobster fishery that will operate outside the regular season.

The Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Chiefs issued a statement Wednesday saying fishers from the Potlotek First Nation plan to head out on St. Peters Bay on Thursday.

"The Mi’kmaq Nation celebrates the community of Potlotek as they take to the waters for their Netukulimk livelihood fishery and the many communities that will be taking similar steps in the near future," the assembly said in a statement.

Netukulimk refers to the ability of a community to meet its nutritional and economic needs without jeopardizing the environment.

Potlotek Chief Wilbert Marshall said his First Nation has drafted its own fisheries management plan, which it has submitted to Ottawa.

"Our community-developed plan will provide those in our community . . . with the opportunity to provide a means of support for themselves and their families," he said in a statement.

Marshall said the harvesters plan to exercise their inherent right to fish for a moderate livelihood, as spelled out in a 1999 Supreme Court of Canada decision.

"We're not looking to get rich off of it," Marshall told CBC last month. "We just want to make a decent living."

Marshall has said about 10 licensed Indigenous fishers were expected to each use about 70 traps on Thursday.

Most of the non-Indigenous lobster harvesters in the area are represented by the Richmond County Inshore Fishermen's Association, but no one from that organization was willing to offer comment Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Sipekne'katik First Nation in western Nova Scotia has faced protests from non-Indigenous fishers after the band launched its own self-regulated lobster fishery on Sept 17.

That First Nation has now entered into talks with the Federal Fisheries Department to settle its dispute with non-Indigenous harvesters.

"We had a very positive discussion (and) they recognized this is a nation to nation matter," Sipekne'katik First Nation Chief Michael Sack said Wednesday in a statement.

"We have agreed to reconvene in the coming weeks after everyone has had an opportunity to review our plan and regulations."

On Thursday, the province celebrates its annual Treaty Day, which recognizes the signing of peace and friendship treaties between the Mi’kmaq and the Crown in the 1700s.

Those treaties formed the basis of the 1999 Supreme Court ruling.

In that historic decision, the court decided that Donald Marshall Jr. had a treaty right to fish for eels when and where he wanted, without a licence.

The Marshall decision also said the First Nations in Eastern Canada could hunt, fish and gather to earn a "moderate livelihood," though the court followed up with a clarification two months later, saying the treaty right was subject to federal regulation.

That additional ruling is at the crux of the argument being made by some non-Indigenous fishers, who say First Nations must abide by Ottawa's conservation measures.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 30, 2020

Michael MacDonald, The Canadian Press

Mi'kmaq parliamentarians call for new body to deal with conflict over lobster fishery


Olivia Stefanovich

Three Mi'kmaq parliamentarians are proposing a new approach to the conflict over the lobster fishery in Atlantic Canada that would bypass Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

In a letter addressed to federal ministers and Indigenous leaders, Liberal MP Jaime Battiste of Nova Scotia, Progressive Sen. Brian Francis of Prince Edward Island and Independent Sen. Daniel Christmas of Nova Scotia call for the creation of an Atlantic First Nations Fisheries Authority.

They say the authority would allow First Nations to work directly with the Crown to set up new fisheries, instead of dealing with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans on a band-by-band basis.

"It's a partnership approach rather than a paternal approach," Battiste told CBC News.

"That's what reconciliation is about. It's about moving forward together, hearing each other and figuring out how we can best find win-win, collaborative approaches to solving difficult situations."

Their suggestions come after Sipekne'katik First Nation launched its own Mi'kmaq-regulated, rights-based lobster fishery in St. Marys Bay, about 250 kilometres west of Halifax. It's believed to be the first of its kind in Nova Scotia.

In response, hundreds of non-Indigenous commercial fishermen confronted the Indigenous fishermen two weeks ago and removed Mi'kmaw lobster traps.

"I just hope that we get this resolved and underway and we can mend the bridge that's there with the commercial fishermen ... in the area," said Sipekne'katik Chief Mike Sack, who welcomed the suggestions from parliamentarians.

"Hopefully, they know where we're coming from. We're not here to interfere, we're just here to make our presence and have a better life."

© Norma Jean MacPhee/CBC Liberal MP Jaime Battiste of Sydney-Victoria in Nova Scotia got together with the only two other Mi’kmaq parliamentarians in Ottawa to pen a letter to federal ministers offering ideas on how to resolve the lobster conflict.

Battiste, Francis and Christmas call their idea to resolve the dispute a "fresh approach to implementing the Marshall decision" — a 1999 Supreme Court of Canada ruling in the case of Donald Marshall Jr.

That landmark decision affirmed the Mi'kmaq right to earn a "moderate livelihood" from fishing but did not explain how that fishery would work. The high court later said the federal government could regulate the Mi'kmaw fishery and must justify any restrictions it placed on it.

"If the current system was fine, Mi'kmaq communities wouldn't be in poverty," Battiste said.

"If the current system was fine, we probably wouldn't have the violent clashes we were having on the water. We need someone to encourage dialogue and create incentives for dialogue."
Quotas may be needed

The parliamentarians acknowledge some Mi'kmaq and Maliseet communities may still prefer to assert their fishing rights on their own.

Although they say that approach is understandable, they warn it could lead to hostilities and government intervention. They say Ottawa may need to explore the possibility of implementing a catch quota for all fisheries.

"If the overall concern is conservation and the safety of industry and people are willing to take vigilante justice on this, then we have to do something, as a government, to keep people safe," Battiste said.

"While it's not our first option in this … we need people to know that this is something that we may need to explore."

The model that the parliamentarians are suggesting is based on the educational sectorial self-government agreement of Mi'kmaw Kina'matnewey, which Battiste helped develop.

The parliamentarians say their proposal would be optional for First Nations, so financial incentives might be required to encourage them to participate.

Battiste said their ideas were developed after discussions with MPs in Nova Scotia, First Nation chiefs, Fisheries and Oceans Minister Bernadette Jordan, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett and Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller.

Alberta's disaster risk assessment plan in poor shape: auditor general

2014 LAST YEAR OF THE PC'S AFTER 44 YEARS OF THE ONE PARTY STATE

© Provided by The Canadian Press

EDMONTON — Alberta is doing a poor job of anticipating and preparing for disasters despite increasing risks from factors such as climate change, says the province's auditor general.

In a report released Tuesday, Doug Wylie said Alberta doesn't have a plan for evaluating threats it faces from floods and wildfires.

"It's a foundation of an emergency management system that there be a provincial risk assessment," Wylie said.

"We have seen an increase in disasters, both in their frequency and severity. Disaster costs have been increasing in the province."

Wylie's report — which was completed before the current COVID-19 pandemic — noted that the Alberta Emergency Management Authority began preparing a provincial risk assessment in 2014.

But when that agency took its assessment to other ministries, there were questions over who was responsible for what.

"There were concerns raised by various ministries regarding the role of (the authority) in relation to the ministry's role and in relation to local authorities' role," Wylie said.

"Who has overall responsibility for the emergency management system? I guess that was a big part of the issue."

As well, the assessment didn't consider interactions between risks, such as between wildfires and heavy smoke.

The issues were never resolved and Wylie said the risk assessment remains in its 2015 draft form. Its recommendations were never implemented.

The report also points out that municipalities — the level of government that would respond first to a disaster — have risk assessments that vary widely in quality.

Nearly one-quarter of municipalities don't have one at all. Of those that do, 24 per cent have assessments "with most of the essential steps," the report says.

Edmonton doesn't have a formal protocol for hazard identification. Calgary does.

"Alberta has 300 municipalities," said Wylie. "I would suggest there would be significant variability between those municipalities as well."

Wylie's report makes two recommendations: develop a plan to evaluate the threats that Alberta will face in the coming years and decades; and improve reporting recommendations from previous disaster reviews.

Alberta Municipal Affairs Minister Tracy Allard said improvements to reporting after a disaster are to be implemented in the fall and a new risk assessment is to be available early next year.

Because the report was completed before the pandemic, the province's response to COVID-19 will be evaluated separately, she said.

"We will be reviewing our response to the COVID-19 pandemic when we are through, and will add the data to provincial preparedness."

Disaster costs are growing, says the report.

Disasters in Alberta cost governments, insurers and other parties $329 million between 2003 and 2009. Over the following seven years, the cost was $9 billion.

Scientists have long pointed out that climate change is increasing the chances of extreme weather and other conditions conducive to wildfires. Alberta is also shouldering a larger portion of the costs as the federal government backs away, the report says.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 29, 2020.

Bob Weber, The Canadian Press

Long-term care study credits fewer COVID deaths in B.C. than Ont. to funding, policy

© Provided by The Canadian Press

TORONTO — A new study says quicker, more decisive action against COVID-19 in British Columbia is one of the reasons the province has suffered far fewer long-term care deaths than Ontario.

Analysis published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal also points to less funding, more privatization and less co-ordination between homes and hospitals as factors that drove spread of the novel coronavirus among Ontario's most vulnerable.

One of the paper's authors, Dr. Irfan Dhalla of St. Michael's Hospital and the University of Toronto, says there's already been a worrying rise in infections as parts of Ontario grapple with a second wave.

And despite lessons learned from the first wave of the pandemic, Dhalla says front-line workers say the province is still not adequately prepared for a new influx of long-term care cases.

"Long-term care has been somewhat neglected and somewhat underfunded across the country," Dhalla said Wednesday, nevertheless commending B.C. for acting decisively to limit cases and deaths.

"All of these factors mean that when the pandemic hit, the chances of a better outcome — or a less worse outcome — in British Columbia, were more favorable."

As of Sept. 10, Ontario reported 1,817 resident deaths from COVID-19, compared to 156 deaths in B.C. The number of cases among LTC residents in Ontario totaled nearly 6,000 compared to 466 in B.C.

The study was published Wednesday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

This week, Ontario Premier Doug Ford pledged more measures to rein in COVID-19 at long-term care homes, including restrictions to visitors in provincial hot-spots starting Monday.

Ford also announced $540 million to help long-term care homes support staff, pay for renovations and bolster infection control.

But the Ontario Long Term Care Association, which represents home operators, has said homes are reeling from a staffing crisis and need more support.

Dhalla says B.C.'s system entered the pandemic with several advantages, including better co-ordination between long-term care, public health and hospitals, more money for long-term care, fewer shared rooms and more comprehensive inspections.

He also credited B.C. provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry with quicker action to address staffing and infection prevention and control, as well as harness public support with clear, consistent messages.

"Bonnie Henry has received worldwide acclaim for her leadership, the compassion that she demonstrates from the podium, her willingness to act decisively," says Dhalla.

In particular, he says B.C. announced in March that long-term care staff could only work in a single home, about three weeks earlier than Ontario.

Dhalla says Ontario was also a month behind B.C. in comprehensive efforts to send out infection control teams.

The paper noted other differences:

-before the pandemic, 63 per cent of Ontario residents shared a room compared to 24 per cent in British Columbia;

-in 2018–2019, the average combined funding per resident per diem was $222 in British Columbia compared to $203 in Ontario;

-58 per cent of LTC homes in Ontario are for-profit compared to 34 per cent in British Columbia;

-and some estimates suggest B.C. residents received 3.25 daily hours of direct care before the pandemic versus 2.71 daily hours in Ontario.

Dhalla acknowledges some Ontario regions and facilities did better than others because of quicker COVID response, "but that didn't happen across the province."

Dhalla also notes that the pandemic hit just as Ontario's health system was in a state of flux.

At the time, regional health networks and several provincial agencies were merged into a single agency called Ontario Health, says the paper.

That saw the departure of several senior leaders who have yet to be replaced, and came amid budget cuts for Public Health Ontario and individual public health units.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 30, 2020.

Cassandra Szklarski, The Canadian Press

5

Two residents die in COVID-19 outbreak at Mill Woods care home run by Shepherd's Care


Dylan Short , Lauren Boothby
POSTMEDIA

© Provided by Edmonton Journal Two residents of a Mill Woods care home have died amid a COVID-19 outbreak, the sixth time an outbreak has been declared at a facility run by Shepherd's Care in Edmonton.


Two residents of a Mill Woods care home have died amid a COVID-19 outbreak, the sixth time an outbreak has been declared at a facility run by Shepherd’s Care in Edmonton.

Twenty-four people, including 19 residents and five staff, have tested positive at Millwoods Long Term Care Centre on 28 Avenue NW, according to the company’s website . All affected residents live on the same floor. One staff member has recovered.

Tom McMillan, spokesman for Alberta Health, said two men, one in his 80s and another in his 90s, died at the facility.

Zachary Penner, spokesman for Shepherd’s Care Foundation, said staff follow health protocols and do not interact with other staff or residents on other floors. He attributed this most recent outbreak to a visitor.

“The message needs to go to the general public to take this pandemic seriously … as long as cases in the general public keep rising, we will unfortunately see outbreaks in care homes,” he wrote in a statement.

The company is looking to “COVID-proof” its facilities in the long-term care centre by upgrading to MERV-13 air filtration systems, potentially purchasing a new building, and renovating existing facilities to limit large common spaces and shared rooms.

Sabrina Atwal, spokeswoman for Alberta Health Services, said AHS is conducting contact-tracing, testing and monitoring staff, and are working on-site and virtually to help manage the outbreak.

At her Monday update, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said a man in his 60s from the Edmonton Zone and a man in his 70s in the Calgary Zone also died over the weekend.

The latest deaths bring the provincial total to 265.

Edmonton Catholic Schools (ECS) announced an additional case at H.E. Beriault Junior High School that is causing 49 people to isolate and has pushed the school into an outbreak. The school identified a previous case on Sept. 21 that saw 42 people enter isolation.

AHS defines a school outbreak as two or more cases confirmed within a 14-day period, where the individuals visited the school while infectious and multiple people have to self-isolate as a result.

ECS also announced a single case each at Cardinal Collins Mill Woods, Archbishop Joseph MacNeil, St. Catherine and St. Joseph over the weekend. Two cases were identified at Archbishop MacDonald.

Edmonton Public Schools announced four additional outbreaks Monday. Lillian Osborne School, Millwoods Christian School and Northmount School each had second positive cases confirmed while three individuals from Oliver School tested positive.

Single cases were identified at Kameyosek School, Kim Hung School and Allendale School.

There are active alerts or outbreaks at 113 schools across the province with 210 active cases among those schools. Forty-seven schools are under the outbreak designation while six are on the province’s watch list for having five or more cases. Twenty-two Edmonton schools fall under one or both of those categories.

About five per cent of schools in the province are under an alert or an outbreak, and the province has identified nine schools where in-school transmission is likely.

Alberta’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw provides an update on COVID-19 on Sept. 28, 2020, from her home in Edmonton.

Making her Monday announcement from home while self-isolating with a sore throat, Hinshaw announced that 406 new cases of COVID-19 were identified in Alberta over the weekend.

Provincial labs identified 60 cases on Friday, 184 on Saturday and 162 cases on Sunday. There are currently 1,549 active cases in the province — including 779 in the Edmonton Zone, which continues to have the most cases of any region.

Alberta hospitals are currently treating 63 COVID-19 patients, 15 of whom are in intensive care.

Provincial labs reached a new milestone over the weekend as 1,001,638 Albertans have been tested for COVID-19 at least once. There have been 1,320,550 completed tests since the beginning of the pandemic.

Health Minister Tyler Shandro called the milestone a “remarkable accomplishment” for the province’s health-care system.

“We’ve developed the strongest and most dynamic testing program in the country,” said Shandro. “While other provinces have faced massive lineups, or consistently narrow testing criteria, Alberta has been a leader.”

Meanwhile, Hinshaw said taking a herd immunity approach to stop COVID-19 is not appropriate, as current estimates say between 50 and 70 per cent of people would need to become infected to be effective and the health-care system could become overrun.

“Serology studies in Canada have estimated that we are only at about one per cent or less of our population who has been infected,” said Hinshaw. “Adopting a herd immunity approach would have a serious and deadly impact on our population.”

Across the country, 153,125 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 9,268 related deaths have been confirmed, according to numbers from Health Canada. Globally there have been 33,034,598 confirmed cases and 996,342 deaths, the World Health Organization reports.

© Provided by Edmonton Journal

Seagram's heir faces sentencing in branded sex slave case

© Provided by The Canadian Press

NEW YORK — A wealthy benefactor of Keith Raniere, the disgraced leader of a self-improvement group in upstate New York convicted of turning women into sex slaves who were branded with his initials, faced sentencing Wednesday in the federal conspiracy case.

Seagram’s liquor fortune heir Clare Bronfman appeared in federal court in Brooklyn. The stakes are high. Her lawyers want a judge to give her three years' probation instead of prison time, while prosecutors say she deserves five years behind bars.

Bronfman, 41, admitted in a guilty plea last year that she harboured someone who was living in the U.S. illegally for unpaid “labour and services” and that she committed credit card fraud on behalf of Raniere, leader of the group called NXIVM.

In a letter to the court last month, Bronfman wrote that she “never meant to hurt anyone, however I have and for this I am deeply sorry.” Still, she said that she couldn’t disavow Raniere because “NXIVM and Keith greatly changed my life for the better.”

At trial, prosecutors told jurors the 60-year-old Raniere’s organization, NXIVM — pronounced NEHK-see-uhm — operated like a cult whose members called him “Vanguard.” To honour him, the group formed a secret sorority comprised of brainwashed female “slaves” who were branded with his initials and forced to have sex with him, the prosecutors said.

Bronfman’s lawyers have argued she deserves leniency because she had no direct involvement in the most disturbing allegations and has a health condition that could put her at greater risk for a coronavirus infection if incarcerated. But in court papers, prosecutors argued she deserved a serious punishment since, “There can be little doubt that Raniere would not have been able to commit the crimes with which he was convicted were it not for powerful allies like Bronfman.”

The defendant had long been affiliated with NXIVM, giving away tens of million of dollars to bankroll Raniere and his program of intense self-improvement classes. She also paid for lawyers to defend the group against a lawsuit brought by its critics.

Along with Bronfman, Raniere’s teachings won him the devotion of Hollywood actresses like Allison Mack of TV’s “Smallville.” Mack also has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.

As part of a plea agreement, Bronfman agreed to forfeit $6 million from a fortune prosecutors have said is worth $200 million. They also are seeking a $500,000 fine.

Tom Hays, The Associated Press

Epcor contractor fires worker, contributes to $30,000 donation after racist smudge ceremony encounter at school

Dylan Short

© Provided by Edmonton Journal A construction company contracted by Epcor has fired the employees who disrupted a smudging ceremony outside Edith Rogers School last week.

A construction company contracted by Epcor has fired an employee after workers disrupted a smudging ceremony outside a southeast Edmonton school last week.

Wilco Contractors Northwest, issuing a statement on the company’s official Twitter account Tuesday, said employees working on a dry pond project near Edith Rogers School made racist comments and disrespectful actions towards participants at the ceremony.

On Saturday, a Twitter user identifying as a teacher at Edith Rogers School, said construction workers “revved their engines and yelled racial insults at staff and students” while the school hosted a smudging ceremony Friday.

“ On September 25, we let down the community,” the company tweeted Tuesday. “We apologize unreservedly to the students and staff who were hurt by these actions. We take full responsibility for what occurred, and we are taking concrete action to ensure this never happens again.”

The company said it undertook an internal and external review and terminated a staff member who was involved. It also announced it will be implementing cultural and Indigenous awareness training.

“T o support the broader community, we are pleased to be joining Epcor and Sureway Construction Group in jointly funding a $30,000 donation to the Edmonton Public School Board’s Amiskwaciy Academy,” read the Twitter statement.

Arthur Mann, president and CEO of Wilco Contracting, said the company has terminated one staff member and are continuing to review documentation of the event.

He said the company has sent a personal apology to the school, students and parents involved as well as Grand Chief Billy Morin.

“We have asked for meetings with them for further in-person apologies, but also to work with Grand Chief Morin and his team in terms of what we can do as a company with his guidance towards reconciliation,” said Mann.

Epcor issued its own statement Tuesday thanking the students and staff at Edith Rodgers for bringing the workers’ actions to them.

“Epcor took immediate action to shut down the construction site until an investigation could be completed, and we have been in communication with school officials, witnesses, the contractor for the site, and the sub-contractor,” said the statement.

Edmonton Public Schools previously said the smudging ceremony was part of its efforts to teach students about reconciliation with Indigenous people. Smudging is a type of ceremony practised by certain Indigenous cultures. It typically involves the burning of sweetgrass, sage, tobacco or cedar, according to the Canadian Encyclopedia .

In a statement over the weekend the board called the incident “deeply unsettling and unacceptable for our staff and students who were participating in the smudging ceremony.”

EPSB representatives said they will provide an updated statement Wednesday.


— With files from Jonny Wakefield

Black Appalachians find hope in national reckoning on race

The Associated Press

© Provided by NBC News

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Dayjha Hogg has known racism her entire life, but until recently she thought she and her family had to face it on their own.

Hogg, 19, lives in Whitesburg, Kentucky, a town of 2,000 people in the heart of Appalachia. She is biracial — born to a Black father and a white mother — and can recall times when she and her brothers were targets of racial slurs, suspicious glances and rude comments.

But in the wake of this year’s nationwide protests against institutional racism — sparked by George Floyd’s killing in Minnesota — Black Appalachians have found an opportunity for their history and struggles to be recognized more widely. Though the national reckoning on racism has raised awareness about the issue for many white Americans, that it is also echoing in the hills of Appalachia is particularly striking in a region that isn’t known for its diversity.

Hogg saw how the message of the protests — which were also fueled by the police killing of Breonna Taylor in Kentucky — was resonating when she organized a rally in her home county of Letcher, where 2 percent of the population of about 20,000 is Black. She thought only a few people would show up, but roughly 200 did, most of them white.

“This is my home,” Hogg said. “All my friends and all these young people, they’re ready to fight.”

The experience helped transform Hogg’s own idea of her community in eastern Kentucky.

Though the majority of Black Kentuckians live in the metropolitan areas of Louisville and Lexington, many have resided in the mountains in the east for generations. However, pervasive stereotypes of Appalachia — that its residents are predominantly white, poor and, at best, ignorant about race relations and, at worst, racist — ignore the presence of Black people in the region and the history of multiracial coalitions that marched for racial justice and workers’ rights there, notes University of Tennessee at Knoxville sociologist Enkeshi El-Amin.

“Invisibility is a major part of the experience of Black folks in Appalachia,” said El-Amin, who also co-hosts the Black in Appalachia podcast. “You don’t think of a movement like Black Lives Matter of being something that is vibrant in a region like this, right? Because you don’t think of Black people when you think of this region.”

But many are working to increase the visibility of Black people in the region — and the demographics are changing as well: Racial minorities made up nearly half of Appalachia’s population growth in the past two decades.

This year, a Black lawmaker from Louisville nearly pulled off an upset in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate with a campaign built around the slogan, “From the hood to the holler.” State Rep. Charles Booker bet his campaign on the idea that concern about injustices done to Black Americans by police mattered to people everywhere, and he nearly defeated a heavily bankrolled opponent.

Mekyah Davis, a 24-year-old who grew up not far from the Kentucky border in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, has also been trying to change perceptions about Appalachia and the Black community’s place in it. At the STAY Project, a multiracial youth coalition, he organizes programs for young Black Appalachians that educate them about their history and encourage more community involvement.

Davis long felt his blackness made him an outsider in Appalachia, and that he had no choice but to leave. If economic prospects were already bleak, racism seemed to exacerbate those challenges.

But working with STAY has given him hope about his future in his hometown.

“It made me realize that I don’t have to make this exodus from the region to be successful, to thrive,” he said. “I never would have thought about identifying as Appalachian before that.”

This summer’s protests have him feeling optimistic about the work he has been doing, trying to alleviate the impact of racism on Black people and confronting the prejudices he sees in everyday interactions.

The protests also made him feel more connected to the larger Black experience in the U.S., despite the different challenges faced by urban and rural communities.

“If you’re Black in America, you’re Black in America,” he said. “It may not be overt police brutality caught on camera, sometimes it’s a lot more covert, a lot more malicious.”

In Kentucky, Booker is trying to show people of different racial backgrounds that they’re connected, too. His Senate campaign particularly focused on economic inequality, in a state rife with poverty.

Out of the 80 Appalachian counties designated as “distressed” by the Appalachian Regional Commission in 2019, nearly half are located in Kentucky.

Since his loss, he’s founded an organization called “Hood to the Holler” to continue discussing this issue as well as democratic participation and climate change.

While some Appalachians — like Americans elsewhere — have rejected the ongoing protests as a threat to their way of life and interest has waned for others, Hogg is still hopeful for the future. And though she’s disappointed that no officers were charged in the killing of Breonna Taylor, she doesn’t see it as a reason to give up. Some close friends and family haven’t been as supportive as predicted, but she’s inspired by the encouragement she’s received, especially from Whitesburg artists who have used their work to spread awareness.

“Don’t get me wrong, there are people that need to change,” Hogg said. “I’m hopeful that we’ll change a few more hearts.”

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Louisville woman is suing the city and two officers alleging she was shot with a rubber bullet while peacefully protesting

By Julian Cummings and Christina Maxouris, CNN

4

© Shannyn White A Louisville protester is suing the city and two police officers alleging she was unarmed and shot with a rubber bullet in the face.

A 24-year-old woman is suing the city of Louisville, Kentucky, and two of its police officers after allegedly getting shot in the face with a rubber bullet while peacefully protesting in May.

Shannyn White was out on May 29, protesting the killings of Black Americans, such as George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, at the hands of police, according to the lawsuit, which was filed Monday.

Demonstrations in Louisville have been ongoing since spring and were reignited after last week's announcement from Kentucky's attorney general that no officers were charged in Taylor's death. Louisville police reportedly responded to protesters with rubber bullets in September, a Daily Caller reporter covering the demonstrations previously told CNN.

The officers in the lawsuit are not named. The Louisville Metro Police Department declined to comment on the lawsuit and its allegations.

The lawsuit says White was standing unarmed with about 20 other people while videotaping the protesters' chants on her cell phone when "suddenly, with no warning and for no legitimate reason," Louisville officers fired projectiles at the group.

The lawsuit says White was shot in the face. One of the unnamed officers in the suit is being sued for allegedly shooting White, and the other for purportedly giving the order to shoot.

White dropped to her knees, unable to see, and other protesters attempted to stop the bleeding from "a large wound to her head," the suit says. No LMPD officers approached to help White with her injuries or to call emergency services, the suit alleges.

According to the lawsuit, other protesters helped White get to a nearby hospital where she was treated for her injury. She experienced dizziness and had "issues with her vision" for two days after the incident and has a large scar on her forehead, photographic exhibits included with the lawsuit show.

"The Defendants' actions were carried out in such a manner and with such a significant amount of unnecessary actions that they shock the conscience, and unreasonably restrained Ms. White of her freedom," the lawsuit says.

White claims her First, Fourth and 15th Amendment rights were violated and is suing for damages in "excess of $15,000," according to the lawsuit.

Black residents nearly four times as likely to be cited by Los Angeles police, report finds


Sam Levin in Los Angeles

© Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images

The Los Angeles police department (LAPD) gave 63% of its citations for “loitering while standing” to Black residents in recent years, despite African Americans making up just 7% of the city’s population, a new analysis of public records has revealed.

A report released on Wednesday by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights analyzed low-level infractions in California between 2017 and 2019 and found that LAPD and police agencies across the state disproportionately target Black residents. The advocacy group collected data on the most minor municipal offenses and tickets (outside of traffic citations) – including standing or sleeping outside, owning a dog without a proper license, jaywalking and entering a park after dark – and found a pattern of severe racial disparities in major cities and regions throughout the state.

Key findings include:


Overall, Black residents in California are 9.7 times more likely to receive a citation for local infractions than white residents in their jurisdictions, and Latinx residents were 5.8 times more likely to be cited than their white neighbors.


Black residents in LA were 3.8 times more likely to be cited for minor infractions compared with white residents, accounting for 30% of all low-level infractions.


Despite being only 7% of the adult population, Black Angelenos accounted for 27% of “drinking in public infractions”, 33% of “sleeping or sitting” loitering tickets; and 63% of “loitering while standing” citations.


There were similar patterns of disparate treatment of Black residents in liberal and more conservative regions of the state, including in the Bay Area, the Central Valley, Kern county, San Diego and other municipalities.

The report comes amid growing scrutiny of police violence and harassment, with advocates arguing that the enforcement of these offenses can lead to brutal and even deadly interactions with officers. The citations also disproportionately target unhoused people, and can lead to devastating fines and debts that can escalate to warrants, arrests and jail time.

Related: Black people in California are stopped far more often by police, major study proves

The analysis suggests that in some neighborhoods and communities, “it’s illegal to be Black in public”, said Elisa Della-Piana, legal director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights (LCCR) of the San Francisco Bay area, and co-author of the report. “It causes lasting trauma, especially to be stopped repeatedly by police when you were doing nothing wrong, as is the case with ‘loitering’ and ‘sleeping’.”

People are regularly fined between $250 and $500 for these types of offenses, and the state currently has more than $10bn in uncollected infraction debts, meaning thousands of people could face arrest due to these minor violations, LCCR said. While some jurisdictions use these laws to target homeless residents, other municipalities enforce these ordinances as a way to collect revenue, according to the report.

“What started as, ‘I’m here in a public space minding my own business not harming anyone’, can quickly become a trap that causes financial and physical harm,” Della-Piana said, adding that she was struck by the comparable trends in different parts of California: “There are similarities across the state in how banal the behaviors are that we’re punishing with very serious consequences.”

© Provided by The Guardian Protesters march on the 110 freeway in Los Angeles in protest over the shooting of Dijon Kizee. Photograph: Apu Gomes/AFP/Getty Images

In Long Beach, south of LA, Black residents face significantly higher rates of citations for jaywalking, riding a bike on a sidewalk, and smoking at a bus stop, for example. (A spokesperson for the department said “racial profiling is unacceptable and against the law and our policies”, and noted that the city was reviewing enforcement trends as part of a racial equity initiative.)

In Modesto in the Central Valley, a majority of dog-related citations appeared to go to Latinx residents, even though they are a minority in the city.

Between 2017 and 2019 in Hayward, east of San Francisco, every single citation for marijuana possession was to a person of color, the majority of them Black, despite the fact that white people comprise 34% of the population and Black residents 11.9%. (Marijuana possession is legal in California, but not for people under 21, which is probably why these citations are still happening.)

Often the disparities are a result of officers overpolicing Black and immigrant communities, Della-Piana said. In LA in particular, there have been numerous recent examples of the potential deadly consequences. Last month, two deputies with the Los Angeles sheriff’s department fatally shot a bicyclist, 29-year-old Dijon Kizzee, who was fleeing after officers tried to stop him for allegedly riding in the wrong direction.

LAPD and other police agencies did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the report. In the face of data analyses last year showing significant disparities in stops and searches, LA police and city leaders argued that aggregated data does “not define or describe the circumstances of each stop or search” or “prove” racial profiling, and pointed to reform efforts, such as implicit bias training.

Activists, however, say these ordinances for minor violations are rooted in racist laws and anti-homeless policies passed with the explicit purpose of targeting certain demographics.

As calls to “defund police” have continued to spread since George Floyd’s death, Della-Piana said she hoped local legislators would look at this category of citations as a starting point. “This is a really straightforward place to say there should not be police contact, and we should not risk police violence over this kind of everyday behavior. We can repeal these laws.”

Alberta Justice Minister condemns 'sad losers' for taking part in apparent white supremacist rally in north Edmonton


Anna Junker

© Provided by Edmonton Journal At about 8 p.m., Edmonton police attended a

Alberta’s justice minister is condemning the “sad losers” who took part in an apparent white supremacist rally Tuesday night in Edmonton.

At about 8 p.m., Edmonton police attended a “demonstration involving opposing groups” in a parking lot near 118 Avenue and 82 Street, spokeswoman Cheryl Voordenhout said in an email. There were about 100 people in attendance.

Voordenhout said while interactions between the groups were mostly verbal, officers had to separate some individuals who began physically fighting. A 39-year-old man was arrested and later released without charges.

According to CTV News , a group calling themselves “patriots” accused the other group as being “anti-fascists” while those on that side called the first group Nazis.

After about one hour, both sides left the area. No tickets were issues and no injuries were reported.

In a series of tweets Wednesday morning, Justice Minister and Solicitor General Kaycee Madu said he condemns any demonstration of bigotry and racism.

“Last night, a small group of sad losers organized what has been described as some as a white supremacist rally in a grocery store parking lot in North #YEG,” Madu said. “And while all Canadians have a right to free expression, I absolutely condemn any demonstration of bigotry and racism.”


He added he condemns any group that relies on race, ethnicity or colour of skin to discriminate against anyone and groups who seek to divide or encourage violence on the basis of race.

“We cannot allow ourselves to be divided on the basis of race, religion, or creed. I’m confident that the overwhelming majority of Albertans want nothing to do with such nonsense,” Madu said.

“And to any racists who seek to divide our great province, your hateful views are not welcome in Alberta.”

Don Iveson

@doniveson

Racists are NOT patriots & hate speech is NOT acceptable in #YEG. White folks aggressively spitting “all lives matter” inelegantly proves the point that Black, Indigenous & People of Colour’s lives have not yet been universally afforded equal value in our society. STOP IT.

Muna Saleh

@DrMunaSaleh

Let me fix your headline for you ⁦@ctvedmonton⁩: Anti-Racists Disrupt White Supremacist Rally in North Edmonton. https://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/race-related-fight-involving-about-100-people-erupts-in-ne-edmonton-1.5125925…

9:35 AM · Sep 30, 2020

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Mayor Don Iveson also took to Twitter to condemn the rally and said racists are not patriots and hate speech is not acceptable.

“White folks aggressively spitting ‘all lives matter’ inelegantly proves the point that Black, Indigenous & People of Colour’s lives have not yet been universally afforded equal value in our society. STOP IT,” Iveson said.

This latest rally comes after violence erupted at an anti-racism rally in Red Deer on Sept. 20. RCMP have since launched a criminal investigation .

Kaycee Madu

@KayceeMaduYEG

Last night, a small group of sad losers organized what has been described by some as a “white supremacist rally” in a grocery store parking lot in North #YEG. And while all Canadians have a right to free expression, I absolutely condemn any demonstration of bigotry and racism.

9:37 AM · Sep 30, 2020

Kaycee Madu

@KayceeMaduYEG

·

Sep 30, 2020

Last night, a small group of sad losers organized what has been described by some as a “white supremacist rally” in a grocery store parking lot in North #YEG. And while all Canadians have a right to free expression, I absolutely condemn any demonstration of bigotry and racism.

Kaycee Madu

@KayceeMaduYEG

I condemn any group that relies on race, ethnicity or colour of skin to discriminate against anyone, including groups who described themselves as white supremacist with similar objectives. I also condemn groups who seek to divide us or encourage violence on the basis of race.

9:37 AM · Sep 30, 2020

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