Canadian Politics: Is that a Light at the End of the Tunnel?

[Fragile Bird]

7 hours ago, Fury Resurrected said:

I wonder how many dollars per kidnapped child that is, and if they get more if they were killed. I bet it’s a very small number. 
 

But- next time anyone wonders why I’m such an angry sq**w on indigenous issues, this is why. My grandmother was a boarding school kid. She’s still here.

I don’t know what the minimum payments are but the maximum is $275,000. More than 38,000 claims have been paid. But more than just the payments, the process of the Truth and Reconciliation hearings was praised as a healing process, allowing thousands of people to tell their stories. While thousands of children suffered abuse, many more didn’t, they’ve told their stories as well, and those people have not applied for or received compensation.
 

As for whether or not that was enough money, in comparison how much money has been paid out in the US? I don’t remember any nation-wide hearings being held, have individual US states held hearings? I assume some have, the US usually does this stuff before Canada has.

Eta: I don’t know if the issue of children who died has been dealt with. The sad thing is, compensation for dead children in Canadian courts (and I’d hazard a guess in US courts as well) has always been very small, not much more than burial costs, because, you know, they were just children. They were just a cost to their parents.

[Fury Resurrected]

3 hours ago, Fragile Bird said:

I don’t know what the minimum payments are but the maximum is $275,000. More than 38,000 claims have been paid. But more than just the payments, the process of the Truth and Reconciliation hearings was praised as a healing process, allowing thousands of people to tell their stories. While thousands of children suffered abuse, many more didn’t, they’ve told their stories as well, and those people have not applied for or received compensation.
 

As for whether or not that was enough money, in comparison how much money has been paid out in the US? I don’t remember any nation-wide hearings being held, have individual US states held hearings? I assume some have, the US usually does this stuff before Canada has.

Eta: I don’t know if the issue of children who died has been dealt with. The sad thing is, compensation for dead children in Canadian courts (and I’d hazard a guess in US courts as well) has always been very small, not much more than burial costs, because, you know, they were just children. They were just a cost to their parents.

There were payouts in the sixties and seventies to a government trust. However, the US government never paid out that trust and “lost” it. So nobody ever got anything out of it unless they sued individually. The US ended the boarding schools much sooner than Canada did (I think it was 1976), but has done basically nothing. My grandmother certainly didn’t see shit for having been kidnapped and abused by the government.

[Fragile Bird]

Flags at Parliament Hill and at all federal facilities will fly at half mast in memory of the 215 children in Kamloops and for all children who passed away at residential schools.

[Fragile Bird]

Update 

May    24Mo  25Tu  26We  27Th  28Fr  29Sa  30Su  31Mo

BC        293     289    250     378   317    258    238    212        

AB        452     387    390     513   512    406    391    263 

SK        103     111    151     118   122    179    171    113

MB       353     259    312     297   497    357    292    303

ON     1446   1039  1095   1135 1273  1057  1033    916

PQ       433     346    308     436   419    410    315    276

NB         15        9       10        9       9       10       9      12

NS         49      54       37       33     40       33     20     17

PE            1       0         0         0        2         0       0      2

NL           5      11        4         6       14        9       7       2

North      1        1        7         0         1        0       0       2

Total   3150  2506  2564   2925  3206  2319  2192  2118 

Ontario finally dropped below 1,000 new cases, hooray! Looking over the numbers from the last few weeks, Mondays are usually a high number day. I was thinking they'll probably go over 1,000 again tomorrow, but, if the pattern holds true, Tuesday should be lower. Quebec, in the meantime, had the lowest number of new cases since September, fantastic news. Manitoba had a decent number today, but they said they think they've under-reported because they had data issues. I heard today that most of the Nunavut cases have been at one mine, and a third of the miners come from Ontario and live in 32 of the 33 health districts, so if people who rotated out have the virus they may be spreading it this very minute. Apparently we have a hot spot at a mine in Northern Ontario as well.

Vaccination wise, we now have 57.3% of the country vaccinated with first doses, and 5.5% fully vaccinated. In terms of eligible person, 12 and up, 65.6% are vaccinated with one dose and 6.3% fully vaccinated. In some good news, Pfizer is bumping up weekly shipments to 2.9 M doses, which means 14.5 M doses arriving this month instead of 12 M. We've received 26 M so far, so that means 40.5 M doses from Pfizer alone, plus whatever we get from Moderna. And Health Canada is expected to announce it's okay for people who originally were vaccinated with AZ to get their second dose from either the Pfizer or Moderna supply. Manitoba jumped in first and already announced they would start.

Speaking of Manitoba, I heard an interesting story on the CBC today about vaccinations in the province. 54% of the province have received their first doses, and 63.6% of those over 12. And they have several communities with very low rates, only 25% of Winkler is vaccinated and only 10% of another southern Manitoba community. A doctor who was interviewed told a now familiar story of people dying in hospital and denying they had Covid-19 right to the bitter end, and families demanding autopsies because they don't believe their loved ones had the virus. I also recently heard about a few communities in Alberta with 10% vaccination rates.

[SpaceChampion]

 

[maarsen]

1 minute ago, SpaceChampion said:

 

There are some people you just can't help. Even before Rob Ford became known for his crack and alcohol addictions, I was stuck being part of a long conversation with him and a relative. The man lied through his teeth constantly and consistently for over an hour, because he knew my relative wanted to hear this shit. Now we get the widow doing the same. I imagine the kids will have a burdensome life.

[Fragile Bird]

This is real? Holy crap. I wonder if she’s been vaccinated or if she’s part of the microchip crowd?

[Fragile Bird]

I'm happy to report that the Ontario pattern held true and we only had 699 cases reported today. I think that means we will potentially be below 1,000 all week. And even though Manitoba thought they were underreporting yesterday, their number today is lower, so unless they have continuing data issues, maybe (fingers crossed) they have broken the back of the third wave. Quebec's number was lower as well, 208, I don't know how far back that takes them now, let's see, on Sept. 7 they had 216 cases, on Sept. 6 they had 205. That was the start of their numbers starting to spike up.

Ontario hasn't had such a low number since Oct. 18, when we had 658 new cases. The next day we had 704. I thought we might have dipped lower in February, but we jumped up and down between the 700s and the 900s for two weeks or so, and then blasted off into the third wave.

We're just slightly above the US rate now, even without 40% of the country being fully vaccinated. Quebec will hit 70% of those over 12 vaccinated with one shot tomorrow, and Ontario should be there by the weekend. The second vaccination numbers are climbing rapidly as well, we'll get to 10% next week. We should easily hit the 20% goal by month end, maybe even 25%.

In other news, Edmonton has announced the Edmonton Eskimos will now be known as the Edmonton Elks. That means they don't have to ditch their supply of stuff with "EE" on it. I guess the other teams will be talking about going Elk hunting in the future. Think of the cartoons we'll see!

[Paxter]

On 6/1/2021 at 8:02 PM, Fragile Bird said:

We're just slightly above the US rate now, even without 40% of the country being fully vaccinated.

Yeah this is what I'm most happy about. We should be able to kill our curve much quicker than the US given that lockdowns have helped us get back on track, even with a small number of people fully vacced. 

Bring on the second doses now. 

[Lord of Oop North]

9 hours ago, Paxter said:

Yeah this is what I'm most happy about. We should be able to kill our curve much quicker than the US given that lockdowns have helped us get back on track, even with a small number of people fully vacced. 

Bring on the second doses now. 

So exciting, my parents got theirs today!

[Fragile Bird]

Update 

May       28Fr  29Sa  30Su  31Mo  1Tu   2We   3Th   4Fr

BC          317    258    238    212    184   194   199   183    

AB          512    406    391    263    209   410   296   244     

SK          122    179    171    113      86   130   131     89

MB         497    357    292    303   232   267   360   329

ON       1273  1057  1033    916   699   733   870   914

PQ         419    410    315    276   208   288   267   279

NB             9       10       9     12       5      12    16     10

NS           40       33     20     17      12     17    25     15

PE             2         0       0        2       0       0      2       0

NL           14        9       7        2        6     17      6      2

North        1        0       0        2        0      0       0      1

Total    3206  2319  2192  2118  1641 2067 2172 2066 

As predicted, Ontario stayed below 1,000 new cases all week. I'm hoping we start seeing days below 500 cases next week. Everyone else had decent numbers. The health officials are all attributing it to the vaccines. Nova Scotia is well past their third wave break-out, although NL had a bit of a pop in the most populated part of the province. The big worry now is the Delta variant hitting the unvaccinated. Ontario has reported 100 cases so far, many in the Peel region where there is a large Indian population. Health officials assume it came in before flights from India were stopped. Instant tests don't pick it up because it doesn't have the same "markers" as the other versions of Covid-19 we've seen so far. That variation also lets it get through the vaccine barrier more easily, when someone has had only one dose. Two doses do seem to provide good protection, better than 80%.

As of today, Sunday, more than 61% of Canada's population has received a first dose, which is more than 70% of the population over the age of 12. The fully vaccinated numbers are 7.3% and 8.4% respectively. I said Ontario would have to average 55k second doses a day to hit 20% by the end of the month. Since I said that we've averaged more than 65k second doses a day, so the goal certainly seems in reach. We crossed 1 M fully vaccinated people yesterday. The time between doses has been reduced from 16 weeks to 12, so I should be able to book an appointment in two weeks. Most provinces have done the same, although Quebec said people who received the AZ vaccine can get their second dose after 8 weeks if they want.

Biden made a big announcement about 80 M doses of vaccine being distributed to more than a dozen countries. They are supposed to send 6 M to Canada, but I haven't heard what vaccines they are. Frankly speaking, 60 M are AZ doses, which we don't need now. Vaccines no one in the US will touch with a 10-foot pole. Also, as far as I can tell they all come from the Emergent plant, I heard they expire at the end of June, and nobody knows whether or not they're actually safe. Batches are being tested, and Health Canada officials went down to the plant. We received 300,000 J&J doses from the Emergent plant several weeks ago, and Health Canada has not yet approved them for release. They were "tested", yes, but is it worth the risk to distribute them? Remember the big announcements from Manitoba and Saskatchewan, about truckers being able to cross the border and get vaccinated? The vaccines, from what I read, are J&J, presumably from the Emergent plant. 

The most bizarre story I've heard all week is that the mayor of Windsor, ON has been negotiating with Michigan officials (the mayor of Detroit?) to take vaccine doses that are about to expire and be destroyed and use them for Canadians. The plan is to shut down the Windsor-Detroit tunnel, as it is owned by each municipality, paint a line at the border (there are signs there), and have US medical personnel stand on one side of the line and have Canadians stand on the other side and stick their arms out for a vaccine shot. I kid you not. More than 1300 Canadian medical personnel, nurses and doctors, cross the border every day to work in US hospitals, and they have been horrified to see how many vaccine doses are being destroyed as they expire. 35,000 doses were destroyed last week alone. Michigan hasn't even hit 50% with first doses as of today, though they do have 42.8% fully vaccinated. No word if Health Canada has approved this wacky vaccine distribution scheme.

[Fragile Bird]

Ontario reported 525 new cases this morning, our lowest number since September. Let’s hope that the pattern holds true, Monday is often the highest day of the week.

I took a look at the second vaccine rules and I can book my second dose right now. It’s been 9 weeks since my first dose and I’m wondering if I should wait until 12 weeks have passed, which my brother says he’ll do. My friend starting chemo today got his second shot on Thursday, he said it was less that 8 weeks and he felt fatigued and a bit achy. Decisions, decisions.

I just saw that pharmacies are getting 150 doses and are complaining it’s just not enough, the demand is so high for second shots it’s crowding out first shots.

Update on the vaccine appointment. I could get an appointment somewhere out in Mississauga but I booked my shot at Cloverdale Mall on the 4th of July. It was the only day available that was nearby, although I did not check out any pharmacies. That’s 12 weeks and 6 days after my first. With millions of people eligible for second shots now, I should have tried booking first thing in the morning. But I’m ok with the 4th, 3 weeks ahead of my originally scheduled date.

[Fragile Bird]

Update 

June       31Mo  1Tu   2We   3Th   4Fr  5Sa  6Su  7Mo  8Tu

BC           212    184   194   199   183   217  131  133   165   

AB           263    209   410   296   244   293  231  127   139     

SK           113      86   130   131     89     99    73    68     90

MB          303   232   267   360    329   276  221  169   237

ON          916   699   733   870    914   744  663  525   469

PQ          276    208   288   267   279    228  179  193  149 

NB            12        5     12    16     10        9      3      1      1

NS            17      12     17    25     15      18     12    14    17

PE              2        0       0       2       0        0       0      0      0

NL             2        6      17      6       2        5       5      2      3

North        2        0       0       0       1        0       0      0      1

Total     2118  1641 2067 2172 2066  1889 1518 1232 1271 

I wonder if we could possibly get below 1000 cases in Canada some time this week. Everybody is looking better. Here in Ontario we'll move to the first level of re-opening on Friday at 12:01 am. I bet the bars in my neighborhood will open up after midnight. Non-essential stores can open at 15%  capacity, patios can open with limitations, churches can open at 15% capacity and outdoor services can have 50 people. We must stay at Level 1 for at least 21 days before moving to the next level. Only the Porcupine Health Unit will not move to Level 1, that's the area that includes Timmins. They reported 40 new cases today.

We hit a new record of sorts today in vaccinations. It's the first time, I think, we've had more second dose vaccines administered than first doses, in Ontario and in Canada as a whole. 351,297 were administered across the country, 162,414 first doses and 188,883 second ones. I expect that number will continue to go up (it was148,068 yesterday) and even if we only stay at an 188k average we'll hit 20% of the country fully vaccinated by the end of June and more than 23% of those over 12 years of age fully vaccinated by the end of the month. I think though, that the numbers could be higher. As for first doses, we're over 62% and 71% now. We'll easily hit 75% of those over 12 by the end of the month, we'll do that by next week, and I'd say it looks good for us possibly getting to 80% and over 70% of the population as a whole. It is possible, though, that the crush for 2nd doses overwhelms the people still looking for 1st doses.

And still I read Conservatives bitching about what a failure our Covid-19 vaccine program has been.

[Paxter]

Looks like US-Canada travel will soon be permitted (almost) quarantine-free for vacced travellers.

I'm fine with that, provided the various Governments ramp up testing capacity at the land borders and airports. The current testing infrastructure won't be able to keep up if they let people travel in larger numbers. When I arrived at Pearson in April there were maybe a dozen testing booths. That's not going to work when multiple crowded flights land...

ETA: Should have said all int'l travel; not just US.

[Zorral]

Due to family health crisis, a friend just flew to Maine from Tucson with a layover of 2 hours in-between.  She said both the flights and the airports were packed.  No empty seats. She devoutly hoping her Moderna vaccine (the same as I got) is doing the job!

 

[Fragile Bird]

Update 

June        4Fr  5Sa  6Su  7Mo  8Tu   9We 10Th  11Fr

BC          183   217  131  133   165   148   153    180   

AB          244   293  231  127   139   313   178    170     

SK            89     99    73    68     90     57     77      81

MB         329   276  221  169   237   250    251   223

ON         914   744  663  525   469   411   590    574

PQ          279   228  179  193   149   178   189   180

NB            10       9      3      1      1      13      3       1

NS            15     18     12    14    17     13     15      8

PE              0        0       0      0      0      0       0       0

NL             2        5       5      2      3       3       5       3

North        1        0       0      0      1       4       5       5

Total     2066 1889 1518 1232 1271 1390 1466 1425

I guess I got way ahead of myself wondering if we could drop below 1,000 cases a day some time during the week. Maybe next week. But at least the 7-day average has dropped, from 2,082 last Friday to 1,456 this Friday. Three weeks ago it was 3,120. The Delta variant has sharpened the urgency for vaccinations though, we don't want to see numbers going up in three weeks now that everyone is loosening restrictions.

And speaking of vaccines, Alberta and Manitoba have both announced lotteries to get more people out for their first doses. They haven't been wildly successful in the US, let's see what happens in those provinces. They do have some extremely hard-core anti-vax communities, though, with first vaccination numbers at 10-15%. Ontario is steaming ahead with 2nd doses, but we are at 73% for first doses for those over 12 and 14% for fully vaccinated, while Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta are at 16.3%, 19.3% and 19.4% for second doses but their first doses are around 70%. Alberta and Saskatchewan always used to be above the Canadian average in terms of first doses and now they're below the 74% Canada is at.

I said if we stay at an average of 188k 2nd doses a day we'll easily hit 20% fully vaccinated by the end of the month. In the 4 days since we hit that number we administered 237k, 296k, 332k and 215k 2nd doses, so we seem well on our way. As I write this, without all provinces reporting yet, the fully vaccinated number is 11.6% of the population and 13.2% of those over 12.

We are almost 15% ahead of the US in terms of first doses, but you need to keep in mind the fact that the US had so many more cases of infections than we did they have a large population with natural immunity. In fact, that may become an issue in the US because many events are advertising proof of being fully vaccinated is required for entry, which those who have had Covid-19 consider unfair. Entry for travelers into Canada may also depend on being fully vaccinated. In the meantime, I think Quebec said they were only going to give one dose of vaccine to people who have recovered from Covid-19, because they don't need two doses. I wonder if they will change that policy, because that would presumably affect the ability to travel and attend events like concerts.

We are now going to get our Moderna vaccine from the US instead of Europe, with 7M doses being delivered over the next month.

Trudeau announced we will be donating 13M excess vaccine doses and providing funds to purchase 87 M vaccine doses to make up our total of 100M vaccine doses being donated. The 13 M doses are not supposed to have an effect on our roll-out schedule.

[SpaceChampion]

Booked my second dose for Canada Day at Brampton Civic.  If there ain't any fireworks I'll be slightly miffed.

[Fragile Bird]

17 minutes ago, SpaceChampion said:

Booked my second dose for Canada Day at Brampton Civic.  If there ain't any fireworks I'll be slightly miffed.

Many communities across the country are muting or even cancelling Canada Day celebrations this year in light of the discovery of the 215 unmarked graves in Kamloops. A somber Canada Day this year, a good idea.

[SpaceChampion]

2 minutes ago, L'oiseau français said:

Many communities across the country are muting or even cancelling Canada Day celebrations this year in light of the discovery of the 215 unmarked graves in Kamloops. A somber Canada Day this year, a good idea.

I meant at the hospital, while getting jabbed!

[Fragile Bird]

1 minute ago, SpaceChampion said:

I meant at the hospital, while getting jabbed!

Lol, I figured as much, but it was too good an opportunity to pass up for comment!