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Fighting systemic racism, extremism will be Canada locks in thousands more early COVID-19 vaccine doses priority for next military chief: Trudeau OTTAWA -- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says one of the top priorities for the next commander of the Canadian Armed Forces will be tackling systemic racism and rooting extremism from the ranks. The comments are the first from the prime minister since Gen. Jonathan Vance announced in July that he was preparing to step down after more than five years as Canada’s chief of the defence staff. While multiple sources have told The Canadian Press that other senior commanders were interviewed for the job in September, the Liberal government has yet to name Vance’s successor. Some have suggested that the government may be taking its time in appointing a replacement in part because of the military’s involvement in distributing COVID-19 vaccines across the country. In an interview with The Canadian Press, Trudeau indicated without providing details that a new defence chief will be named soon, and the prime minister laid out what he is looking for in the next commander of the Canadian Armed Forces. “Someone who brings obviously significant operational and strategic skills, but someone who will be very much focused on the institutional transformations that are necessary,” Trudeau said. That includes fighting systemic racism and creating what Trudeau described as a more
inclusive military “where there is less of the concerning, troubling reports of extremism that continue to bounce up every now and then.”Such reports have included a number of high-profile cases in recent years, including one former Canadian Army reservist who was an alleged recruiter for a neo-Nazi group and is now in custody on firearms charges in the U.S. The military is also investigating the 4th Canadian Ranger Group over concerns some members are associated with right-wing groups. One member was arrested in July after allegedly driving a truck through the gates of Rideau Hall with a loaded weapon and uttering threats against Trudeau. Military intelligence has previously identified dozens of other active service members as belonging to hate groups or having made racist or discriminatory statements. ............. Source: .ctvnews.ca
OTTAWA -- Canada will be receiving up to 200,000 more doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine next week and potentially up to 168,000 Moderna vaccine doses by the end of December. This means thousands more Canadians will be vaccinated before the end of the year.“Canada has secured our second agreement for early doses of COVID-19 vaccines,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday, announcing that a second vaccine could be available for use in this country within days. The federal government has updated its contract with Moderna, to secure delivery of an initial tranche of doses of its vaccine candidate within 48 hours of Health Canada approval. The first 168,000 doses are expected to arrive in a series of shipments, and would be the first of what was expected to be two million Moderna doses contracted to arrive in Canada by the end of March 2021. Overall, Canada has secured access to 20 million Pfizer doses—four million of which are set to land by the end of March— and 40 million Moderna doses, with options to buy thousands more from each manufacturer if needed. Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require two doses, with Pfizer’s shots to be given 21 days apart, and Moderna’s to be given 28 days apart. This news comes on the second day of the
largest mass vaccination effort in Canadian history, as more health-care workers and seniors begin receiving their immunizations with the Pfizer shot, which arrived in this country on Sunday and was in the first arms by midday Monday. Canada made a deal to receive 249,000 Pfizer doses this month, and by next week 230,000 of those doses will have landed. There are currently 14 sites across the provinces that are up and running, receiving the initial doses. Trudeau said Tuesday that by next week the number of places able to handle and administer Pfizer shots will grow to 70, meaning an additional 56 will be added across the country. “As with the early shipments of the Pfizer vaccine, this moves us even further forward on getting Canadians protected as quickly as possible,” Trudeau said. ............ “All Canadians who want one, will get a free vaccine in the coming months of 2021,” Trudeau said. Source: ctvnews.ca
Ontario homeowner slapped with $880 fine after hosting Hospitals-in-a-box to be deployed in B.C -- Three “alternate care birthday party that’s now linked to COVID-19 outbreak .VANCOUVER sites” prepared in the spring are being sent TORONTO -- An Ontario homeowner who hosted a birthday party that nearly two dozen people attended is now facing an $880 fine after it was revealed that 11 COVID-19 cases have been connected to it, authorities said. According to York Region Public Health, the birthday party was held at a private residence on Dec. 6 in the City of Vaughan. Officials said a total of 22 people attended the party. When the party was held, York Region was placed in the red zone, where indoor gatherings were limited to five people. To date, there have been 11 COVID-19 cases in people between the ages of three and 54 associated with the party. Nine of the cases are from York Region while two are from Toronto. “Of the 22 attendees, seven were identified as high-risk contacts and four are considered low-risk contacts with the remaining 11 attendees confirmed cases,” York Region Public Health said in a statement. Individuals were considered low risk if they dropped presents at the door and stayed outside.
Attendees who went inside have been deemed high risk and have been advised to isolate and self-monitor for signs and symptoms of COVID-19 until Dec. 21. The health unit said the homeowner is now facing a $750 fine with an additional $130 surcharge. “This serves as a reminder how social gatherings, including birthday parties and holiday celebrations, may seem harmless but they have the potential to spread COVID-19 to children and vulnerable adults,” York Region Public Health said. Source: bc.ctvnews.ca
VANCOUVER -- The last thing Paramjit Masutta did before she died was push her twin daughters to safety. The 48-year-old mother was walking with her girls in Surrey, B.C. on Tuesday when a runaway delivery van suddenly veered in their direction. At the last moment, Masutta, who had been holding her daughters’ hands, managed to push the girls out of the way. By all accounts, she saved their lives ”I would expect that,” said Masutta’s brother-in-law, Daljit Banga. “Paramjit was a beautiful mother, she was always very protective of the children.” Grieving relatives returned to the scene on Wednesday, including the victim’s eightyear-old daughters. The family said the girls are struggling to accept what happened, still wanting to believe their mom will be coming home.“They still have that thought, but one
of the girls just saw the flowers and it really broke her down,” Banga said. Firefighters and paramedics tried to resuscitate Masutta, but were unable to save her life. She would have turned 49 on Christmas Eve. Surrey RCMP are still investigating how the delivery van ended up rolling down the hill
Family in mourning after runaway delivery van kills mother of two.
to different areas of the province where the portable units will be ready to transform empty spaces into makeshift hospitals, CTV News Vancouver has learned. The three units are essentially hospitals in a box. They’re shipping containers packed with 40 beds, various hospital equipment and the supplies to treat people needing basic medical attention to those with urgent, life-threatening conditions. The units were special paramedic team tasked with helping equipped and set up at the same time the transport a surge of new patients. Vancouver Convention Centre was con- On Thursday afternoon, the Minister of verted into a makeshift hospital with the Health gave the latest numbers on provinceinstallation of 271 beds and related equip- wide hospital usage rates, which vary greatly. ment in three exhibition halls in early April. “In terms of our regular bed capacity, that B.C.’s health ministry says the first unit is occupancy is 88.8 per cent in regular beds being “pre-positioned” on Vancouver Island and 78 per cent in ICU beds,” said Adrian on Friday, Dec. 18 while planning is under- Dix. “Obviously, in some regions and in way for the other two units “with Northern some places it’s more of a challenge and I want to shout out to the extraordinary work Health and Fraser identified as priority.” The boxes essentially allow the province to done by health-care workers at the Universet up pop-up hospital services where there sity Hospital in northern British Columbia.” may not be enough capacity at the moment Dix also emphasized there’s plenty of capacity in emergency rooms, which has con— or where there’s none at all. “Those supplies are then used to set up a cerned doctors since spring. Doctors believe care space in a building of opportunity, such people needing medical attention may be as surge space within a hospital, a commu- avoiding it out of the misplaced belief hospinity centre, gymnasium,” said a ministry tals are too busy with COVID-19 patients or spokesperson. “Patients are not cared for in that there’s a risk of contracting the virus if they go; they warn there could be “collateral the container.” Newly-available data pinpointing COV- damage” if the trend continues. ID-19 hotspots in the province show what “We had 4,992 emergency room visits yesterhealth authority-based data has roughly day, that’s less than normal,” Dix said. “Our approximated for weeks: the Nechako and acute-care facilities, their occupancy when Central Okanagan are seeing a spike in cas- you count surge beds, is 69.9 per cent of es. As well, pockets in communities like Fort overall beds and 53.6 per cent of ICU beds.” St. James have prompted a response from a Source: bc.ctvnews.ca on 144 Street without anyone behind the wheel. It’s unclear whether the vehicle was left in neutral. “Certainly they will be looking to see exactly what the driver’s actions were and what they were doing immediately before and during the incident,” Cpl. Joanie Sidhu said. The vehicle struck at least one other car before jumping the sidewalk near 61A Avenue. The driver, a contractor hired by Amazon, has been co-operating with the RCMP’s investigation. Police said he is devastated by what happened. Amazon released an emailed statement to CTV News late on Tuesday saying the company is also “working with law enforcement and the delivery service partner as they investigate.” “Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with the family and loved ones during this difficult time,” said spokesperson Owen Torres. Surrey RCMP are appealing for witnesses, particularly any drivers who may have dash cam video from the area around the time of the crash, as they try to piece together the events that led to Masutta’s tragic death. Source:bc.ctvnews.ca
