|
Paramedics feel the pressure as a city runs out of ambulances
CBC News | August 22, 2022
Paramedics Colin Waterhouse and Josh Picknell are in their ambulance in Ottawa on a Friday afternoon when the call comes in: a Code 4, which means they need to get there fast.
With lights flashing and sirens blaring, they race to the call's address and assess the patient; he needs to go to the hospital. Moving quickly, the drive to the Queensway Carleton Hospital, in Ottawa's west end, is fast. But as the paramedics arrive at the hospital, the rush of activity stops.
There are six ambulances already parked outside and the emergency room is packed.
The two paramedics will have to wait with their patient, monitoring him, until his care can be transferred to the hospital. "Essentially, we're stuck here," said Waterhouse.
The experience is known as an "offload delay." It means their ambulance will stay parked at the hospital for now, rather than head back out on the road, where it can respond to other incoming 911 calls.
Bilingualism bonus won't be extended to federal employees who speak an Indigenous language
CTV News | August 23, 2022
The federal Treasury Board says it has no plans to expand a bonus -- now paid to employees who speak English and French -- to those who know an Indigenous language.
The bilingualism bonus is an extra $800 employees receive a year if they work in a position designated as requiring language skills in English and French, Canada's two official languages.
Expanding it to compensate employees who speak an Indigenous language was among the suggestions senior civil servants proposed late last year as they discussed ways to address language concerns held by some Indigenous public servants.
Greens reject leadership candidate who refuses to take a French test
CBC News | August 23, 2022
Green Party leadership hopeful Najib Jutt says he's refusing to take a French language test required by the party — which has rejected his application as a result.
Jutt, who worked on former leader Annamie Paul's election campaign, posted a statement on his website saying he will "not be participating in any language testing by a party that professes to stand for the principles of respect for diversity and social justice." He said he plans to appeal the party's rejection of his candidacy.
In the post, he calls the language requirement "the most egregious rule of the contest" and "an artificial barrier created to, unintentionally or not, move the goalposts for many equity-deserving leadership hopefuls."
"No former leader or interim leader of the Green Party of Canada has been required to take such a test," he wrote.
"The requirement to be proficient in both official languages is not a constitutional or legislative requirement for a party leader or prime minister. It isn't even a convention.
Universities, colleges taking varied approaches to COVID-19 as students set to return to campus
CBC News | August 26, 2022
Early this week, Western University in London, Ont., announced an updated vaccine requirement — mandating a primary series of shots plus one booster for everyone returning to campus — along with resuming masking indoors for the fall.
The news garnered an immediate reaction from students.
Ethan Gardner, president of Western's University Students' Council, has been fielding a barrage of communications from his peers. While some are upset with the timing — "They feel like it was short notice for the upcoming school year" — others have protested "the consistency of the announcements over the last year, including this summer," he said.
"Some students just want a definitive reasoning as to why this decision was made, backed by some body of science."
As students make their way onto Canadian post-secondary campuses for a new term, some may be facing starkly different pandemic protocols than when they last left.
|
