Tag: Quebec

Published by: CTV News
Published on: March 4, 2024
By Amy Luft

Quebec public health officials are urging people to get themselves and their young children vaccinated for measles, a highly contagious disease that is making a comeback several years after its eradication.

Quebec’s public health director Luc Boileau, Montreal public health director Mylene Drouin, and pediatrician, microbiologist and infectious disease specialist Caroline Quach-Thanh are holding a news conference in Montreal Monday afternoon.

So far about 10 cases have been detected in the province, mainly in Montreal, but Boileau warns that it could be just the beginning.

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vaccines

Fall COVID-19 vaccine cut illness risk by half overall

Published February 22, 2024

Published by: Globe and Mail
Published on: February 22, 2024
By Kelly Grant

The fall COVID-19 vaccine cut the risk of COVID-19 illness by about half overall, and by 67 per cent for those with a previous infection, according to new research from the Canadian network that has long tracked the performance of the annual flu shot.

This is the first time the Canadian Sentinel Practitioner Surveillance Network, which is comprised of hundreds of primary care providers in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec, produced mid-season estimates of the effectiveness of immunization against COVID-19.

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convoy occupation

Ottawa Bylaw says police warned officers not to ticket ‘Freedom Convoy’ demonstrators due to ‘risk of escalation’

Published February 21, 2024

Published by: CTV News
Published on: February 21, 2024
By Ted Raymond

The City of Ottawa’s general manager of emergency and protective services says there is no double standard when it comes to how Ottawa Bylaw issues tickets to protesters who violate things like noise bylaws.

His comments come after the city announced this week that bylaw tickets were not issued to protesters in Ottawa for the “Freedom Convoy” anniversary rally on Saturday, despite the fact that a group of protesters set off fireworks in a parking lot on Queen Street, in violation of the city’s fireworks bylaw.

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Ottawa-Gatineau community update | 2024‑02‑15

Photo of Parliament Hill, the Supreme Court, and the Ottawa River in Ottawa. There is snow on the ground and part of the river is covered with snow and ice. It’s a sunny day, with a blue sky.

Ottawa-Gatineau

Ottawa-Gatineau community update | 2024‑02‑15

Published February 15, 2024

📈 The COVID-19 wastewater viral signal for Ottawa is very high. The signal has decreased substantially since a peak around January 12, 2024. Levels are still about 1,050% higher than the value during a low point on July 12, 2023. The signal has increased during the first week of February 2024.

⚠️ The percent positivity is high (9.39% in Ottawa; 12.0% in the Outaouais).

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convoy occupation

Convoy organizers claim Ottawa police board should pay damages in proposed class-action lawsuit

Published February 8, 2024

Published by: Ottawa Citizen
Published on: February 8, 2024
By Aedan Helmer

Convoy protest organizers defending a proposed class-action lawsuit now argue the Ottawa Police Services Board should be on the hook for any potential damages to be paid out, claiming protesters were following police directions when they parked hundreds of trucks in downtown Ottawa during the 2022 demonstration.

“None of the defendants … had originally expected to park any vehicles on the streets of downtown Ottawa as part of the protest,” according to a new third-party claim filed by the lawyer for the defendants, which include organizers Tamara Lich, Chris Barber and Pat King.

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convoy occupation

Judge tosses motion to dismiss proposed class-action lawsuit against convoy participants

Published February 6, 2024

Published by: Ottawa Citizen
Published on: February 6, 2024
By Aedan Helmer

Downtown Ottawa residents and business owners who launched a proposed class-action lawsuit against organizers of the 2022 convoy protest moved one step closer to having their day in court as a judge tossed a defence motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

“There is sufficient basis to conclude that the plaintiffs have a meritorious case,” Superior Court Justice Calum MacLeod said in his ruling, released Monday.

“There is evidence that certain plaintiffs were subjected to what they contend to have been extreme amounts of noise, horn honking, incessant diesel fumes and other pollution, blockage of the streets and intimidation.

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convoy occupation

Lawsuit against convoy organizers moves forward

Published February 6, 2024

Published by: CBC News
Published on: February 6, 2024
By David Fraser

There is evidence that certain plaintiffs were subjected to what they contend to have been extreme amounts of noise, horn honking, incessant diesel fumes and other pollution, blockage of the streets and intimidation. There is evidence that plaintiffs had difficulty accessing their properties and that business was disrupted, reservations cancelled, and revenue negatively impacted.

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Ottawa-Gatineau

High COVID levels persist as other illnesses dip

Published January 25, 2024

Published by: CBC News
Published on: January 25, 2024
By Andrew Foote

Flu numbers dropped again over the last week, according to the latest data from Ottawa Public Health (OPH), and RSV trends did the same. Flu levels remain high and RSV’s are more moderate.

The COVID-19 picture remains generally high and stable.

Meanwhile, both the number of respiratory-related and overall emergency room visits in the city have dropped for three straight weeks.

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convoy occupation

Federal government’s decision to invoke Emergencies Act against convoy protests was unreasonable, court rules

Published January 23, 2024

Published by: CBC News
Published on: January 23, 2024
By Catharine Tunney

A federal judge says the Liberal government’s use of the Emergencies Act in early 2022 to clear convoy protesters was unreasonable.

“I conclude that there was no national emergency justifying the invocation of the Emergencies Act and the decision to do so was therefore unreasonable and ultra vires,” Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley wrote in a Tuesday decision. “Ultra vires” is a Latin term used by courts to refer to actions beyond the scope of the law.

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters at a cabinet retreat in Montreal that the government plans to appeal the decision.

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Quebec

Quebec judge OK’s class-action suit over COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care homes

Published January 23, 2024

Published by: CBC News / The Canadian Press
Published on: January 24, 2024

A judge has authorized a class-action lawsuit against the Quebec government on behalf of all residents of public long-term care homes that experienced major COVID-19 outbreaks during the pandemic’s first year.

The lawsuit in Superior Court alleges that the province’s response to the first two waves of COVID-19 was improvised and that a pre-existing pandemic plan was ignored until it was too late.

Members of the class action include anyone living in a public long-term care centre that experienced a COVID-19 outbreak that infected at least 25 per cent of residents between March 13, 2020 and March 20, 2021.

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Quebec

COVID-19 en CHSLD : la Cour supérieure autorise une action collective

Published January 23, 2024

Published by: Radio-Canada
Published on: January 23, 2024
By Daniel Boily, Davide Gentile

Following numerous representations, a group represented by lawyer Patrick Martin-Ménard has obtained authorization to proceed with a class action against the Government of Quebec on behalf of residents of long-term care facilities (CHSLDs) that experienced COVID-19 outbreaks during the first two waves of the pandemic, and on behalf of the families of those who died.

The main complainant in this application originally filed in April 2020, Jean-Pierre Daubois, had lost her 94-year-old mother, a resident of the Sainte-Dorothée CHSLD in Laval. During this first wave, nearly half of the residents infected with COVID-19 in this facility had died.

According to the judgment consulted by Radio-Canada, nearly 120 public CHSLDs will be included in the class action.

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pandemic response

Montreal university study describes COVID-19 sanitary measures as ‘generally effective’

Published January 21, 2024

Published by: CBC News / The Canadian Press
Published on: January 21, 2024
By Laurie Trottier

A study aimed at countering online misinformation finds that health measures taken by governments to protect against COVID-19 helped save lives and reduce the number of people hospitalized in 2020.

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Quebec

Video | COVID longue : une personne sur dix serait touchée

Published January 15, 2024

Published by: Radio-Canada
Published on: January 15, 2024
By Téléjournal Montréal

About 10% of people infected with COVID-19 would still experience symptoms after three months. This is called long COVID. For some, it’s much longer. They suffer from extreme fatigue, pain, problems with concentration, and they just can’t get back to a normal life. Report by Jacaudrey Charbonneau.

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Quebec

La COVID-19 et la « tempête des virus respiratoires »

Published January 10, 2024

Published by: Radio-Canada
Published on: January 10, 2024
By Mélanie Meloche-Holubowski

SARS-CoV-2 may not be the only virus on the loose, but it is certainly one that continues to hit hard. The new data on COVID-19 and respiratory diseases from the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ), published on Wednesday, tend to confirm this.

Everyone talks about the fact that they are constantly ill, that their family and friends are ill. Yes, it could be a cold or RSV [respiratory syncytial virus], but in many cases it’s probably COVID-19, says Dr Raywat Deonandan, epidemiologist and associate professor at the University of Ottawa.

According to the INSPQ, in the week of December&nbs;24, there were 983,000 cases of respiratory infections, a number that has continued to rise since mid-October.

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Quebec

Pas de répit dans les urgences du Québec

Published December 30, 2023

Published by: Radio-Canada
Published on: December 30, 2023

Hospital emergency rooms in Quebec are overflowing again, after a calmer period at Christmas. The resurgence of respiratory viruses is sending many Quebecers to emergency rooms.

In healthcare facilities in the Montreal area, average occupancy was over 100% on Saturday night. Other regions were also particularly affected, such as Laval and Laurentides, where occupancy rates were close to 140%, according to Index Santé.

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Quebec

Débordements dans des salles d’urgence d’une majorité de régions du Québec

Published December 27, 2023

Published by: Le Devoir / The Canadian Press
Published on: December 27, 2023
By Jean-Philippe Denoncourt

The fall in occupancy rates in Quebec’s emergency rooms that began on 19 December ended on Tuesday.

The Index Santé website noted that this average rate had risen to 95% on 26 December, before jumping to 112% on Wednesday morning, shortly before 6 a.m., which was considered very high.

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Ottawa-Gatineau community update | 2023‑12‑20

Ottawa-Gatineau