The Tilbury Times

Year: 2021

  • COVID19 Exposure: Oliver’s Steakhouse, Oakville

    By: Laura Steiner
    Halton Region Public Health has declared an outbreak of COVID-19 at Oliver’s Steakhouse Restaurant located at 141 Lakeshore Rd E, Oakville. Patrons who dined at the restaurant between March 8 and March 13 have been exposed to a COVID-19 variant of concern.
    Halton Public Health is attempting to call these patrons. In the interest of time, the Region asks all patrons who dined in the restaurant during that five day period to self-isolate for 14 days after their visit.  Halton Public Health also recommends patrons get tested for COVID-19. Patrons can call 311 for more information.
    As COVID-19 and COVID-19 variants continue to circulate in the community, Halton Region Public Health is stressing the important role that Halton residents play in supporting contact tracing efforts.  The Region reminds all residents to continue  following public health direction and reducing virus spread.
    For more information on COVID-19, including instructions on how to self-isolate and how to seek testing, please visit our COVID-19 Information and Guidance page via halton.ca/COVID19.

  • Bishop Reading High Student Invites Others to “Speak Your Piece”

    By: Laura Steiner
    COVID-19 has left many feeling unproductive, and drained.  It was these feelings combined with a lack of social interaction as well heightened anxieties that prompted Bishop Reading Grade 11 student Adya Dutt to create a virtual public speakers’ workshop.
    “Watching the world learn to adapt to these circumstances- whether that be teachers guiding students through online platforms, or frontline healthcare workers risking their lives encouraged me to help others learn as well,” Dutt said in an interview done via email.
    The subject resonates with the grade 11 student because of her own journey with public speaking.  “When I was younger, my presentation skills were often very jumbled, and I would experience stage fright at times,” she said.  She’s since learned how to organize her ideas in a more convincing thoughtful manner.  Something she applies to clubs, and extra-curricular  activities.   “The most notable realization I have gained from my “journey” is the power of effective communication,” she added.
    She created the Speak Your Piece workshops as a a series of four workshops Dutt hopes will leave attendees with an understanding of how crucial communication skills.  “Since the start of creating these workshops, I knew I wanted “Speak Your piece to be a safe and non-judgmental environment, and that is what I will strive to do,” she said.  She charges $10 for the sessions, with the proceeds going to the Re:Soul Youth centre in Milton.  For more information email: contactspeakyourpiece@gmail.com.  The final sessions go this weekend.
     

  • Nurse fears transgender patients will ‘fall through the cracks’ as Brampton clinic faces shut down

    By: Angelyn Francis, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Toronto Star
    When Erin Ziegler first had a patient disclose their gender transition in  2013, she welcomed them, but Ziegler also realized she had some learning to  do.
    The nurse practitioner at Wise Elephant Family Health Team (WEFHT), a medical  clinic in Brampton, sought training from Rainbow Health Ontario on providing  gender affirming care. Within a few years, the transgender medicine program  became official and in 2018, every worker at WEFHT was trained to serve the  trans community.
    “That one patient … opened my eyes to the needs of this community,” said  Ziegler, director of WEFHT’s transgender medicine program.
    But in December 2020, the province of Ontario sent a letter to WEFHT pulling  its funding and directing it to close at the end of March 2021. The matter is  now in court with a hearing set for April 28 to decide the fate of the  clinic.
    If the family health team closes, Brampton will lose one of its only health  clinics offering gender affirming care for the trans community. Not to mention  the total 7,000 patients WEFHT serves every year who also have to find a new  clinic.
    Family health teams are unique and are staffed by a variety of health-care  workers — registered nurses, nurse practitioners, dietitians, social workers and  psychologists — in order to provide wraparound service and help vulnerable  populations.
    The pending closure hasn’t stopped the need for WEFHT’s gender care  program.
    “We are continuing to get referrals every week for our program,” Ziegler told  the Star in early March. “I got two today.”
    “I worry for my patients that if our clinic is not there, where will they  go?” Ziegler said. “I think a lot of the patients would get lost in the system  or fall through the cracks.”
    Leaders at WEFHT are worried that the province doesn’t understand that it’s  not as simple as moving the transgender medicine program, and its other programs  to another location, should WEFHT close.
    Ziegler has been having conversations with her patients about their options  should WEFHT close, and she says she’s been met with “worry,” “anxiety” and  “stress.”
    When she’s suggested linking them with another provider, patients will ask,  “Well, is that provider in a safe place. I trust you. How am I supposed to trust  somebody else?” she said.
    Tripp Smith, 32, has been a patient of Ziegler’s for four years.
    “Being able to see Erin and her helping me along my journey, 110 per cent  saved my life,” he said.
    Smith heard about WEFHT from a friend and says he “lucked out” finding a  place that has made him feel so comfortable and safe.
    He and five others in his life who also use the trans health program are at a  loss for what they will do if it shuts down at the end of the month.
    “We have no idea where we’re going to go,” Smith said. “It’s hard enough for  us — for anyone — to really find a family physician.” But looking for something  so specific makes matters even more difficult.
    Over the years, Ziegler said she has seen more than 300 patients through  WEFHT’s trans program from all over the province. There is no catchment area for  the program, which has made it an accessible option for people from Brampton and  beyond.
    Currently, 150 patients use the trans program, which offers gender affirming  care through hormone therapy and surgery, but also provides information for  people who may just be contemplating taking these steps. Of the 150, fewer than  10 have a regular family doctor according to Ziegler.
    Valerie, 16, had been looking for a place to talk about transitioning since  she was 14.
    “There was definitely a point where I was considering, like, OK, how do I get  to Toronto and get back within one day on my own?” she said.
    But when a counsellor referred her to WEFHT, it only took a 10-minute bus  ride.
    Valerie isn’t out to her parents as yet, so there were limits to the kind of  gender care she could receive, but the staff at WEFHT has helped her take steps  — from blood tests, to answering questions.
    “It was definitely … freeing from this idea that I had to deal with my care  on my own,” Valerie said. “They were at least partially giving me a piece of  that puzzle.”
    “It’s an unbelievable privilege to go on the journey with them,” Ziegler  said, “and see them grow and develop and become confident and live their true  selves.”
    Several patients have written testimonials calling the clinic  “indispensable,” and saying it is the only place they trust to do their  transition.
    And amid the province’s decision to pull funding for the clinic, the trans  community in Brampton will lose an accessible and safe health-care program.
    In December 2020, when WEFHT chair of the board Elaine Moore received the  letter to close from the province, she was surprised.
    “We were quite taken aback,” said Moore, a former Brampton city  councillor.
    One issue that is on the table is family health teams must be affiliated with  a physician group to operate. The founding physicians of WEFHT left  in 2019.
    In order to remedy this, WEFHT asked to create a new agreement with the  province, so that it can rebrand under a new name and form a partnership with  new physicians. According to the clinic, the province did not respond to those  requests.
    Instead, the province has decided to have WEFHT close. In the letter, the  ministry cites a section of the funding agreement that allows it to terminate  without cause with 90 days notice.
    As the matter is still being dealt with by the divisional court, the Ministry  of Health would not comment on this story.
    Lawyers representing WEFHT and the ministry will be back in court on April  28.
    “We’re concerned about the ministry’s approach of cannibalizing this program,  all of our programs, quite frankly. They are unique,” said Moore, who was a  patient of WEFHT prior to joining the board.
    In addition to gender care, WEFHT also serves members of the homeless  population and others who for whatever reason do not have a primary  physician.
    “You have a group of highly vulnerable patients that could very well choose  not to seek health care,” Moore said.

  • Trials for the ‘Two Michaels’ being held in China are set to begin Friday

    By: Terry Haig
    Two Canadians arrested and jailed over two years ago in China on espionage charges appear set to have their days in court–beginning tomorrow.
    Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat, and Michael Spavor, a businessman, were arrested in December 2018.
    Their detention came just days after police in Vancouver arrested Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies, at the request of the United States, who said the telecommunications giant had evaded sanctions against Iran.
    Relations between Ottawa and Beijing have spiraled downhill ever since–with few indications that any resolution was in sight.
    A poll released Tuesday found that more than three-quarters of Canadians said relations between China and Canada cannot improve until Kovrig and Spavor, who have become known as the Two Michaels, are released.
    Earlier this month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called Beijing’s charges against Kovrig and Spavor “trumped up” in an effort to apply political pressure on Canada to release Meng.
    On Wednesday evening, there was movement.

    Saying Canada wanted immediate access to Spavor and Kovrig, Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau announced that the Canadian Embassy in Beijing had been notified earlier in the day that Spavor’s court hearing will take place Friday and Kovrig’s will take place Monday.
    “Canadian officials are seeking continued consular access to Mr. Spavor and Mr. Kovrig, in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and the China-Canada Consular Agreement, and have also requested to attend the proceedings,” Mr. Garneau said in a statement.
    “The arbitrary detention of Mr. Kovrig and Mr. Spavor is a top priority for the government of Canada and we continue to work tirelessly to secure their immediate release,” Garneau said.
    “We believe these detentions are arbitrary, and remain deeply troubled by the lack of transparency surrounding these proceedings.
    “Canadian officials will continue to provide consular support to these men and their families during this unacceptable ordeal.”
    Garneau’s announcement came as U.S. and Chinese officials were set to meet today in Alaska–a meeting that Canadian officials are hoping may open the door to the release of Kovrig and Spavor.

    The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that China planned to use the meeting to ask the U.S. to lift sanctions imposed by the Trump administration on certain Chinese nationals and entities, including Huawei.

    The newspaper also reported that China will propose a meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on the margins of next month’s global conference in Lisbon on climate change.
    At his virtual summit with Trudeau in February, Biden indicated that he was ready to help Canada secure the release of the two Canadians.
    “Human beings are not bartering chips,” said Biden, who did elaborate on how he would help.
    “We’re going to work together to get their safe return. Canada and the United States will stand together against abuse of universal rights and democratic freedoms.”

    Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou will be in B.C. Supreme Court hearings until mid-May. A decision on extradition is not expected until later this year. (CBC/Ben Nelms)

    She has denied the U.S. charges and is fighting extradition.
    The hearings are expected to conclude in May, but appeals could extend the process for years.
    Trials in China, meanwhile are regularly completed in a single day and result in conviction nearly 100 per cent of the time.
    Kovrig and Spavor each face a maximum penalty of life in prison.
    With files from CBC News (Peter Zimonjic, Earvin Solitario, Vassy Kapelos) The Canadian Press·(James McCarten), Reuters (Steve Scherer, Tony Munroe), Associated Press (Rob Gillies)

  • Halton Begins Vaccinating Residents over 75, Indigenous over 55

    By: Laura Steiner
    Halton continues to rollout its COVID-19 vaccination plan.  Beginning March 19, residents 75 years of age and older, as well as Indigenous adults over 55 years of age will be able too book appointments.
    “This is another important step in our plan to get our most vulnerable  Halton residents vaccinated as quickly as possible as supplies are available,” Halton Regional Chair Gary Carr said.  The federal government is responsible for approving, and distributing the vaccines to the provinces, which in turn distribute to the Public Health Units (PHU’s).
    The additional groups are in line with the province’s vaccination plans. “As our vaccination program ramps up, I want to remind residents that the COVID-19 virus and the transmission of the variants is still very concerning,” Halton Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH) Dr. Hamidah Meghani said. As of March 16, the Region detected 261 total variant cases, with 240 screened as positive.   Milton has 72 cases of variants of concern, with 61 screened as positive.
    “Please continue to stay home as much as possible, limit close contact to people you live with, and go out for essentials only.  These everyday decisions are critical over the next few weeks and months to prevent the severity of a third wave and will help get us back to normal sooner,” Meghani added.
    Clinics have now opened in all Halton municipalities.  To book an appoint visit the Region’s online booking system.  There are no walk-in appointments.

  • Few Canadians want an election before fall

    By: Lynn Desjardins
    While it seems increasingly likely that there will be a federal election in Canada in 2021, few people would want a vote before fall, between September and the end of December. A new public opinion survey suggests that 77 per cent would consider an election March or April to be too soon. A fall election would be acceptable for 67 per cent of respondents.
    Canada is still in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic. Provinces and territories only started rolling out mass vaccination campaigns starting in mid-March and the prime minister has promised that everyone who wants to be vaccinated will be by the end of September 2021.

    Minority governments don’t last long

    An election is expected because the current Liberal government does not have a majority of seats in the House of Commons and rules with the support of members of Parliament from other parties. Typically, a so-called minority government lasts less than two years, the average being one year plus 140 days. The Liberals were elected in October 2019.
    The survey suggests that 49 per cent of Canadians think it is time to change governing parties. Not surprisingly, the numbers vary depending on which party the respondents support. Of Conservative voters, 88 per cent favour a change, as do 39 per cent of New Democratic Party (NDP) voters. Of Liberal voters, 17 per cent are ready for change. Of all voters, 35 per cent do not favour a change in government.
    Currently, the governing Liberals have 35 per cent of support when it comes to voter intention. The Conservatives have 31 per cent and the left-of-center New Democrats have 19 per cent.

    Conservative leader faces challenges

    The Conservatives face some headwinds in terms of the popularity of their leader. After six months as leader, Erin O’Toole garners the support of only 29 per cent of Canadians compared to the leader of the NDP Jagmeet Singh who viewed favourable by 46 per cent. Liberal leader and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has the support of 45 per cent of respondents.
    The Conservative Party is holding a three-day virtual policy convention now and O’Toole will try to muster support for himself. He also faces a challenge in uniting his party. As he tries to move the right-leaning party more toward the centre there are social conservatives who are mightily opposed.
    The online survey of 5,004 Canadians was conducted between February 26 and March 3, 2021 by the Angus Reid Institute.

  • Working women stressed, depressed

    By: Temur Durrani, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Winnipeg Free Press
    “Anxious, stressed and depressed.”
    Those are just some of the words Canada’s working women are using to describe their deteriorating mental health, as COVID-19 continues to persist.
    A new cross-country tracking poll by the Prosperity Project and CIBC found women are much more likely than men to feel the mental toll of the pandemic’s second wave compared to the first, while also bearing the brunt of their household finances and worrying about repaying debts.
    These feelings are even higher among working mothers, who reported experiencing higher levels of stress (at 52 per cent), anxiety (47 per cent) and depression (43 per cent), compared to working women without children (at 36, 38 and 29 per cent, respectively). In working fathers, stress levels were at 37 per cent, anxiety at 40 per cent and depression at 27 per cent.
    On top of worries about helping with schoolwork and their children’s safety, mothers are more likely to feel guilty about not spending time with their children. And that’s been causing more of them to turn down jobs or promotions, suggests polling.
    During the second wave, more women were likely to consider quitting their job, ask for reduced working hours or take a position with different working conditions, data show.
    Pamela Jeffery, who founded the non-profit Prosperity Project to ensure Canadian women are not left behind in the COVID-19 recovery period, said the pandemic has caused fear and has affected families.
    “It has also created a worrisome third F- word: frozen,” she said in a statement. “Many working mothers are feeling trapped. They don’t see a way out, so they often end up having to sacrifice their careers.”
    Around half of all respondents who are women also believe they will face an economic recession and lack of job prospects once the pandemic is over. That’s more common in women from visible minorities (at 41 per cent) than women who are white (29 per cent). Four in 10 respondents among both women and men said they’ve had to use their savings during the pandemic to make ends meet.
    Jeffery believes renewed efforts for better childcare will help mitigate an abundance of these concerns.
    “Child care will improve women’s employment. It will improve their mental health. It will improve family flexibility — for women and men,” she said, imploring the federal government to implement a long-promised national childcare program. “This absolutely needs to happen.”

  • Mi’kmaq couple help bring their language to the small screen

    By: Ardelle Reynolds, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Cape Breton Post
    ESKASONI – The Mi’kmaq language is on display for all to hear in a popular historical drama produced for the History channel – and a couple from Eskasoni First Nation helped make it happen.
    Vikings, a series set around 800 AD, follows the legendary Norse chieftain Ragnar Lothbrok and his crew, and later his sons, through six seasons. The final season focuses on, among other storylines, the Vikings’ expeditions across the ocean to North America, and their encounters with the now extinct Beothuk tribe of Newfoundland.
    The producers, historians, and anthropologists that work on the show chose Mi’kmaq as the closest language to what would likely have been spoken by the Beothuk, since it is also part of the Algonquian family of languages and the two tribes would have interacted.
    That’s where Tom and Carol Anne Johnson come in.
    The Toronto company Take 5 Productions began a search for help with the language and eventually connected with Cape Breton University. Through that contact they were put in touch with the Johnsons, who are both fluent Mi’kmaq speakers, and have done other language work, including the Mi’kmaq overdubbed version of the Dreamworks movie Chicken Run.
    Tom says they were first approached to do some translations of the script.
    “We have a little recording studio in the garage, so we said, ‘Why don’t we record some audio, in terms of how they pronounce it, they can listen to it and practice.’ So, Carol Anne wrote it out phonetically and we sent the audio file,” he says.
    Carol Anne says it wasn’t long before they were contacted again, this time to go to Ireland where the show was being filmed, and in November 2018, the couple flew in to spend two weeks on set as voice coaches for the actors.
    They worked closely with producer Liz Gill, and the show’s creator, Emmy-winning screenwriter and producer, Michael Hirst, as well as the four main Indigenous actors, who were all from Canada. They also tutored well-known Swedish actor, Gustaf Skarsgard, who plays one of the main characters, Floki, a Viking who picks up the language from the Beothuk people.
    This was the first time both Tom and Carol Anne had visited the United Kingdom, and the first time they’d been on the set of a show, so it was a big adjustment to the early mornings and long days on set in the damp, cold climate of Ireland in late fall.
    “(The actors) are just really incredible. You’ve got to love what you do to actually be involved in these things because what you see on TV makes it look easy, but it’s hard work,” says Carol Anne.
    “We were very happy to have been asked to come there, we don’t take anything for granted. We’re always very grateful … It was nice of them to reach out and to include an authentic Indigenous language in the show.”
    She says the producers were very respectful and dedicated to being culturally and historically accurate, down to the smallest details, and as a teacher, she was very serious about getting the translation and pronunciation right.
    “We wanted to portray our people, our language in the best way possible,” she says.
    After the Johnsons returned home, they continued to contribute to the show with some voice work recorded with Jamie Foulds at Soundpark Studio in Coxheath. They worked with other Mi’kmaq speakers in Unama’ki to record some background conversation sounds. Carol Anne’s voice even makes a cameo appearance in the final episode.
    Tom has a whole folder of photos on his computer of the experience, and is happy to show them now that the season has aired on the History channel in Canada. Before that, the Johnsons were asked to keep any details about the show under wraps.
    They watched the episodes they were a part of with a group of friends and family, and they laugh about hearing the results of their work.
    “You’re always your own biggest critic,” says Tom, but he’s proud to hear his language spoken, and to know it will be heard by people around the world.
    The couple, along with their community of Eskasoni First Nation, are thanked in the final credits on the show, but the Mi’kmaq language is not mentioned anywhere, so it takes a keen ear to pick it out.
    Tom says it’s taken some people by surprise.
    “We’ve had a couple of people say, ‘Did you guys hear the Vikings, it sounds like they’re speaking Mi’kmaq’. And they are!”

  • Cambridge Restaurant using TikTok to reach customers

    By: Bill Doucet, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Cambridge Times
    Locally owned and operated businesses are the social, cultural and economic heart of a community. Unfortunately, this past year has left many unsure if they can continue. In this weeklong series, we look at the vital role local businesses play in our communities, the financial pressure they are under due to COVID-19 and what we can do to help them survive.
    Mario Gonsalves bucked the trend.
    With small businesses either pivoting their plans during the pandemic to remain financially viable or succumbing to the lost revenue and closing shop, the owner of The Local Option eatery opened for business.
    He started negotiations on the former Mr. Sub site on Main Street in downtown Galt in January 2020, before talks of COVID-19 took hold and before the virus itself arrived in Canada. Then March came along and everything stopped, he said.
    The first shutdown gave him time to think and reinvigorated his plan for the healthy, fast-food concept he had for his restaurant. With limited seating, customers could come in and grab a quick meal to go.
    “I was just, it’s a great corner, a great unit, I really like my concept and it was something I had been thinking about for a while. I just said if everything goes to crap anyway, is my lease really going to matter,” Gonsalves said.
    The Local Option opened in October and he was happy with how his clientele was building, even when Waterloo region was allocated in the red operating zone. His business plan fit the current climate.
    “We saw decent numbers and sales were climbing. Covering our niche into the market was nice and we had a good time with that.”
    Then the stay-at-home order was instilled on Boxing Day. Residents could go in to order takeout at restaurants but were ordered to make only essential trips. That shifted people’s thinking, Gonsalves said.
    Despite confusing government messaging and fear instilled by media, he said, customers are slowly starting to come back.
    “You have to be extremely light on your feet. It’s really testing businesses at this point,” he said.
    While Gonsalves said he is in good shape, more local businesses will permanently fold the longer COVID-19 restrictions remain in place, a small business advocate says.
    Ryan Mallough, director of provincial affairs for Ontario at the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), said a survey of its members found one in six are considering closing up shop, which represents about 75,000 businesses in Ontario. That rate is one in three in the hospitality sector.
    “When you lose a small business in a community, it’s not just the economic loss, it’s not just the business owner’s livelihood being pulled away, the employees’ livelihood, you’re losing a little bit of your community’s soul. You’re losing that meeting spot. Those things make our neighbourhoods unique and really make main street what it is,” Mallough said.
    Gonsalves said he did his best during the stay-at-home orders to keep his establishment in people’s minds, making Tik Tok videos and posting them, along with photos, on social media.
    “Guests are on their phone and computer and on three or four major social media outlets and you can reach them through there. Being more active on social media and having fun with that and be creative with that has been helpful,” he said.
    Those strategies are important for small businesses, as the establishments are integral to a community.
    Mallough noted brick-and-mortar businesses pay local municipal taxes that fund area services, while e-commerce retailers do not. Also, 88 per cent of CFIB’s members employ locally; 84 per cent donate goods and services to charities and causes; and 39 per cent sponsor a sports team.
    “That dollar, when you spend it online, at an international or multi-national company, that money is just gone. When you spend it locally, it just goes so much further,” Mallough said.
    With a prediction of doom for local businesses should there be a third shutdown, Gonsalves thinks businesses may still survive.
    “Unfortunately, we’re used to it.”
    With files by Dominik Kurek

  • Milton Retirement Homes to Receive Funding for COVID-related expenses

    By: Laura Steiner
    Milton Retirement homes are getting $135,700 in funding for additional protection against COVID-19.  The money comes from a $30 million overall investment covering the hiring of additional staff, and the purchase of supplies to contain, and stop the spread of infection.
    “We are making sure our seniors are protected and cared for is part of our plan to do whatever is necessary to defeat COVID-19,” Milton MPP Parm Gill said.  The investment follows an announcement of $756, 400 in funding given to Allendale and Mount Nemo Christian Nursing Home.
    The funding will be split among three private-run retirement communities:

    • Birkdale Place Seniors Community is receiving $43,700
    • Martindale Gardens Retirement Residence is receiving $35,800
    • Seasons Milton is receiving $56,100

    15,000 staff, 35,000  residents have received both doses COVID-19 vaccine to-date.  As of March 15, there are 0 outbreaks in Milton-based institutions according to the Region of Halton’s website.