A bill creating a statutory holiday to commemorate the tragic legacy of residential schools in Canada received royal assent Thursday after passing unanimously in the Senate.
The swift passage of Bill C-5 means Sept. 30 will become the first of what is to be an annual national day for truth and reconciliation.
Both houses of Parliament were prompted to fast-track the bill after last week’s grisly discovery of what are believed to be the remains of 215 Indigenous children in unmarked graves at a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C.
The bill creates a statutory holiday for employees in the federal government and federally regulated workplaces.
Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault told the Senate on Thursday that the objective is to create a chance for Canadians to learn about and reflect on a dark chapter in their country’s history and to commemorate the survivors, their families and their communities — as called for by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Indigenous leaders.
The “terrible” discovery of children’s remains in Kamloops is “a stark reminder of the heavy toll of our colonial past,” Guilbeault said in French.
“Addressing the consequences of colonial violence needs to go beyond words … Bill C-5 is an important step in the path towards reconciliation, which won’t be achieved in the blink of an eye.”
Over the course of more than 100 years, some 150,000 Indigenous children were ripped from their families and forced to attend church-run residential schools, where many suffered physical and sexual abuse, malnutrition and neglect. More than 4,000 are believed to have died.
Although unanimously supported in the Senate, Guilbeault did face some questions about the cost of creating a new national holiday and whether it is simply an empty symbolic gesture.
Conservative Senate leader Don Plett noted that the government has been slow to implement the 94 calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, including those dealing with locating and commemorating grave sites at residential schools.
“Why, minister, did you choose to focus on this call of action (to create a national day for truth and reconciliation) and not on other ones?” Plett asked.
“Minister, is it because it’s easier to give bureaucrats (a holiday), because really it’s bureaucrats that get the day off here, than to work on the more pressing but difficult issues that are facing Indigenous communities every day of the week?”
Plett further questioned how the government can ensure it is day of commemoration and not simply a “day to stay home and put up our feet and watch TV.”
Guilbeault acknowledged that the government can’t force people to use the day to reflect on the trauma caused by residential schools. But he expressed hope that it will be similar to Remembrance Day, creating an opportunity to educate and remind Canadians about the history of residential schools, honour the victims and celebrate the survivors.
“Let’s use that day as a day of reflection but also a day of learning,” he said.
Guilbeault could not offer any details of federal plans to mark the first truth and reconciliation day on Sept. 30. Commemorations should be Indigenous-led, he said.
Officials estimated that the day off will cost the federal government almost $166 million each year, mainly in lost productivity, and another $223 million for federally regulated employers.
Are patios coming sooner than expected? It remains unclear, but Premier Doug Ford’s office says the province will not be entering Step 1 of their reopening plan this weekend.
Ontario’s health hinister did provide a little more insight into the government’s plans when it comes to their reopening tentatively slated for June 14.
“I don’t have a specific date. I don’t think it would be a week earlier but it may be a few days earlier that we may be able to proceed,” Christine Elliott said.
The Premier’s office tells 680 NEWS that “plenty of notice” would be given to businesses so they will be ready to reopen.
Step 1 of the province’s roadmap to reopening requires 60 percent of adults be vaccinated with one dose with hospitalizations, ICU occupancy and new admissions down.
Outdoor settings would expand to 10 people with up to four people able to dine together at a patio per table. Essential retail would be capped at 25 per cent capacity and non-essential retail – such as malls – would resume at 15 per cent capacity.
On the subject of reopening ahead of time, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams said the “data is less promising at this time,” pointing to a concerning rise in cases over the last few days.
On Wednesday, Ford said admitted he is cautiously optimistic the province could reopen just ahead of schedule but denied putting the economy first and ahead of students and teachers.
“I’m so hopeful that as things are going, we may be able to enter Step 1 safely earlier than June 14,” Ford said.
He then backtracked saying that the province would “stick to the plan” in light of the growing delta (B.1.617) variant being reported in Ontario.
Some critics accused the premier of prioritizing the economy over schools – the opposite of the approach championed by the province’s top doctor, who has said repeatedly that he believes schools should be the last to close and the first to open during the pandemic.
“Today [Wednesday], Doug Ford chose patios over schools. Patios over people,” Liberal house leader John Fraser said.
The first dose vaccination rate for eligible residents in Ontario is currently at 66 per cent, beyond where the province said they needed to be for Step 1 of the reopening plan to begin.
Ford says it’s not just vaccination rates that the government is looking at to determine the reopening timeline.
“We’re going to be opening up but we’re going to be opening up cautiously and carefully, very cautiously and very carefully because I do not want to happen what happened before and all of a sudden the cases go up.”
Ontario is reporting 870 new cases of COVID-19 today and 10 more deaths linked to the virus.
Health Minister Elliott says there are 225 new cases in Toronto, 167 in Peel Region and 49 in the Porcupine Health Unit region.
With files from 680 NEWS business editor Richard Southern
An Amber Alert has been issued for an 11-month-old Ottawa infant.
The Ottawa Police Service issued the alert shortly before 4 a.m. Friday for Abby Mathewsie, whom they allege has been abducted. They say she was last seen around 2 a.m. in the area of Carling Avenue and Pinecrest Road.
The Amber Alert names the suspect as a 70-year-old woman named Miriam, approximately 5 feet 6 inches tall and 130 pounds, with grey hair. She was last seen wearing a light winter coat.
They describe the child as an Indigenous female, with short black hair, and having a feeding tube attached to her nose and wearing a navy-blue Montreal Canadiens “onesy.”
“The Ottawa Police are treating this missing incident as suspicious,” read the public advisory issued by police.
https://twitter.com/DutyInspector/status/1400719086687076353
With just over three weeks left in the school year, the Ontario government has announced students will not be returning to schools for in-class learning until September.
Premier Ford said despite the COVID-19 science tables saying schools could open on a regional basis, they could not tell him it wouldn’t lead to thousands of new cases, adding their modelling showed thousands of new cases were possible if students and teachers returned to school prior to being fully vaccinated.
Ford said there was also a risk of spreading new variants.
“As your premier, these aren’t risks I’m willing to take,” he added.
The province says the decision was made in order to preserve other children’s activities this summer including day camps and sports.
The premier is encouraging schools to hold in-person outdoor graduations ceremonies at the end of the school year for students to be able to reconnect outside. Ford said these ceremonies should not be limited to just Grade 8 and Grade 12, but all grades so all students can see their classmates.
Ontario hopes to have as many youth aged 12-17 fully vaccinated by the start of the school year in September. Ford said Wednesday they would not be making the COVID-19 vaccine mandatory in order to attend school for anyone eligible, but “strongly encouraged” people get their shots.
Ford also said there is a possibility the province could enter Stage 1 of the reopening plan earlier than June 14, but is waiting on advice from the Chief Medical Officer of Health.
Ontario’s stay-at-home order has been lifted, but the Ford government said all COVID-19 restrictions will remain in place until the province enters Stage 1.
The province’s COVID-19 Science Advisory Table has said it believes schools can reopen safely on a regional basis for in-person learning for the last month of the school year.
Last week, Ford sent a letter to various stakeholders, including the advisory tables, health officials, school boards and teachers, asking for advice on whether it would be safe to reopen for in-person learning.
When Ford was asked directly why he decided to do the opposite of what the science table and the Medical Officers of Health recommended, he said they didn’t come to a consensus and didn’t answer the questions he asked.
“What they refused to answer was how many cases,” remarked Ford.
The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) said Ford has failed students by ignoring recommendations that would have made schools safer.
“This advice included repeated calls for smaller class sizes, improved ventilation, and adequate personal protective equipment for educators,” read a statement President Sam Hammond.
“They also, negligently, refused to acknowledge schools as primary drivers of COVID-19 transmission.”
Hammond urged Ford to create an education advisory table to ensure a safe return to schools in September.
A group of children’s health organizations, including SickKids Hospital, said it was disappointed in the government’s decision and called for planning to ensure children are prioritized during the pandemic recovery.
“For many kids, decisions by government will impact their learning, development, physical and mental health not only now but for years to come,” the Children’s Health Coalition said in a statement.
The head of the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario, however, said she supported the premier’s cautious approach.
“We fully understand the importance of school for children’s mental health and academic development,” Doris Grinspun wrote on Twitter. “However, the risk of a wave four is too high. We fully support (Ford’s) decision to keep schools closed until September.”
MONTREAL (NEWS 1130) – The federal government continues to feel pressure to re-open the border with the U.S., but Canada’s foreign affairs minister says our country isn’t ready.
Marc Garneau says he’s very aware Canadians are growing impatient about the ongoing shutdown of the Canada-U.S. border.
Travel across the land border remains restricted to most non-essential traffic, as has been the case for more than a year.
In a virtual conversation with the CEO of Montreal’s chamber of commerce, Garneau declined to offer a set of criteria to determine a re-opening plan.
He says he and his cabinet colleagues are discussing the matter with the provinces, but says authorities are wary of opening the flood gates to a potential fourth wave of COVID-19.
Garneau says predictability remains the watch word, while acknowledging the situation a month from now is hard to predict.
The border restrictions were first brought in in March of last year, when COVID-19 began to spread rapidly in both countries.
The closure has been extended on a monthly basis, most recently until at least June 21 of this year.
Anyone who already has an appointment can rebook. Any appointments already booked will not be cancelled unless a new and earlier appointment is confimed.
The region is just under two weeks ahead of the province’s plan to allow residents to book their shots at an earlier date.
Ontario will be allowing those 70+ to book their COVID-19 second doses as of June 14.
High risk health care workers, those with the highest risk health conditions and Indigenous individuals are also eligible for their second doses.
As of May 26, 70 per cent of adults in York have been partially vaccinated and 4.2 per cent have been fully vaccinated.
In Ontario, 66 per cent of all eligible residents have received their first COVID-19 vaccine.
Housing and tenant advocates are calling on Ontario to reinstate a ban on residential evictions that lifted Wednesday as the province’s stay-at-home order expired.
They argued that losing housing during the pandemic would put lives at risk, and suggested evictions be suspended as long as provincial COVID-19 restrictions remained.
“Keeping everyone housed is one of the most important public health measures during a pandemic,” ACORN Canada, an advocacy group for low and moderate-income families, said in a statement. “We know that the pandemic is far from over.”
The government halted all residential evictions when it imposed the stay-at-home order amid soaring COVID-19 cases in April. While that order ended Wednesday, along with the eviction ban, the vast majority of public health restrictions remain.
Emina Gamulin, a tenant facing an eviction order, said the lifting of the ban was highly concerning.
“It’s been stressful,” she said, adding that a number of her neighbors are also facing eviction orders and are still without work. “For those people who have lost work, it’s going to be very hard for them to catch up.”
Eviction hearings have been ongoing even while the ban has been in place. The end of the ban means sheriffs can once more enforce eviction orders.
Tenant advocacy group Keep Your Rent, which Gamulin is a member of, said the end of the ban will likely result in a wave of evictions.
One Toronto legal clinic said the lifting of the eviction ban suggested the province did not have its priorities straight.
“The province’s decision to now continue nearly all public health restrictions except the suspension of eviction enforcement represents a clear prioritization of landlords’ financial interests over the health and safety of low-income and racialized tenants, their families, and their communities,” Lawyer Benjamin Ries of Downtown Legal Services said in a statement.
Ries also suggested Toronto’s top doctor could suspend residential evictions in the city if she thinks such measures are necessary to prevent the spread of COVID-19, hospitalization, and death.
But Dr. Eileen De Villa said her power to act on the issue under the Health Protection and Promotion Act was limited.
“There’s not a lot of latitude for medical officers of health,” she said.
A spokesman for the ministry of municipal affairs and housing said the government has taken action to protect and support tenants, including freezing rents for the vast majority of renters and providing municipalities with $765 million to support housing and homelessness programs.
“Throughout the pandemic, the government has encouraged landlords and tenants to work together and the vast majority have done so,” spokesman Matt Carter said.
The Ontario government confirms all COVID-19 restrictions will remain in place when the stay-at-home order expires Wednesday until the province enters Stage 1 of its reopening plan.
Currently, Stage 1 is expected to go into effect on June 14.
The restrictions include a ban on indoor gatherings, restricting non-essential retail to curbside pick-up and restricting restaurants and bars to take-out and delivery.
Outdoor recreation and outdoor gatherings of up to five people will still be allowed.
Emergency orders that enforce the restrictions have been extended to June 16, except for the emergency order banning residential evictions. The ban on residential evictions will expire on June 2.
The stay-at-home order, which has been in effect since April 7, requires all Ontario residents to remain at home except for essential purposes set out in the order.
Premier Doug Ford is expected to make an announcement on whether schools will reopen this school year in the next couple days.
Sources say Ford will meet with his cabinet on Wednesday and it remains unlikely a decision comes before then.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business has called on the government to adjust their reopening plan and allow the economy to open up immediately.
OTTAWA – Canada’s vaccine panel has updated its recommendation on mixing different kinds of COVID-19 vaccines.
The National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) said Tuesday that people who have been given the viral-vector AstraZeneca shot can be given a Pfizer or Moderna mRNA shot as their second shots.
However, NACI says that if you had an mRNA shot as your first dose, you should be given an mRNA as your second shot.
Pfizer and Moderna can be interchanged if the same vaccine is not available as a second shot.
The committee says while you can mix and match if needed, you should still try to get the same vaccine for your second shot that you did for your first.
A study in the United Kingdom reported last month that mixing AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech as first and second doses led to more reports of short-lived side-effects like fevers and fatigue but was otherwise safe.
The Spanish study concluded a second dose of Pfizer after a first dose of AstraZeneca produced more than twice the antibodies as a second dose of AstraZeneca.
All provinces paused the use of AstraZeneca for first doses in May as reports of vaccine-induced blood clots rose, but are anxiously waiting for the NACI advice on what to do with second doses.
Manitoba didn’t wait for the advice, with health officials in that province announcing Monday they would start offering Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna as a second dose to AstraZeneca recipients.
READ NACI’S FULL REPORT:
There are 41 confirmed or suspected cases of vaccine-induced blood clots following an AstraZeneca vaccination in Canada, including five deaths.
Almost 2.2 million Canadians received the vaccine for their first dose, out of 21.8 million people now vaccinated with at least one dose.
The vaccine board also says that as people across the country get their second shots as rollout expands, provinces should prioritize high-risk groups, like the elderly and people with underlying conditions.
But, while NACI says second shots can be given as soon as possible, it still encourages provinces to extend the dose intervals where possible to make sure supply doesn’t dry up too quickly.
The statue of Egerton Ryerson outside of the Toronto university has been defaced once again after the bodies and remains of 215 children were found buried on the grounds of a residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia.
The statue has been a point of contention for several years, with Indigenous student groups and other activists demanding it be removed given Ryerson’s role in designing the model for residential schools.
Ryerson was an engineer of Canada’s residential school system, intended to remove Indigenous children from the influence of their culture and make them conform to white Canadian societal norms.
The statue was covered in red paint and graffiti that reads “show the world how many of us you have murdered”, “dig them up” and “land back.”
Mayor John Tory opened the meeting of his executive committee Tuesday with comments about the 215 Indigenous children and residential schools.
“I think what’s important for us to focus on is the trauma being experienced, the renewed trauma, the repeated trauma now being experienced by the survivors and by their families and by the Indigenous people in Canada,” he said.
Tory, who studied Canadian history in university, says the system is an under-discussed part of the country’s history, adding that he hopes the current curriculum has changed.
On Monday, a small group of people rallied in front of the statue on campus to stage a sit-in mourning the 215 children found buried on the BC school’s grounds.
Ryerson was a Methodist Minister, educator and politician in the 1800s.
In June 2020, Ryerson graduate Maaz Khan started a petition to have the statue removed.
The Ryerson statue, and statues of other historical figures both in Canada and the U.S., have been a common target of protesters in the last year or so.
In July 2020, Toronto police charged three people with mischief and conspiracy to commit a summary offence after pink paint was splashed on the Ryerson statue, along with statues of John A. Macdonald and King Edward VII.
In late August, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was “profoundly disappointed” after vandals in Montreal toppled and beheaded a statue of John A. Macdonald.
University’s journalism program votes to change name of masthead publications
The university announced on Tuesday that it has voted to change the names of its masthead publications in time for the new academic year.
As such, the school’s well known publication “The Ryersonian,” will be no more.
“The School’s decision to rename the publications came following a unanimous vote at our School Council meeting on May 18, but it was a process that began last fall,” said the university.
“Last year, journalism students started the conversation about renaming the school masthead publications. They felt the horrific legacy of the residential school system, declared cultural genocide by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and detailed in its The Survivors Speak report, was too great to continue using the Ryerson name. Egerton Ryerson, for whom the school titles were named, was indisputably one of the chief architects of the system.”
The school says it “does not take this decision lightly,” adding that students understand the responsibilities that come with it.
“We are proud of the students, alumni and faculty who have worked under the banners of our masthead publications for many decades. Plans are being made for that archival work to be preserved under those award-winning titles. Those articles and photos will not be wiped from history, but history they are.”
The Ryersonian is staffed and operated by final-year undergraduate and graduate students in the university’s School of Journalism.
With files from Dilshad Burman
