Sep 11 2019 — Camille Bains, The Canadian Press — VANCOUVER — A doctor with an expertise in public health says he will soon be dispensing opioids through a vending machine in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside in order to prevent overdoses from fentanyl-laced street drugs. Dr. Mark Tyndall said the machine that's been created in Toronto would scan a patient's hand for identification before dispensing a pre-programmed number […]
Sep 10 2019 — Camille Bains, The Canadian Press — VANCOUVER — Rising youth suicide rates have prompted doctors at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto to launch a clinical trial aimed at testing whether involving families in treatment could prevent such deaths across the country. Child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr. Daphne Korczak and Dr. Yaron Finkelstein, staff physician in pediatric emergency medicine, are part of a team behind […]
Sep 6 2019 — Camille Bains, The Canadian Press — VANCOUVER — A coalition of nine taxi companies has asked British Columbia Supreme Court to quash policies it says were illegally created for ride-hailing companies but the province's transportation minister says she doesn't expect the legal challenge to halt the start of the services. The Metro Vancouver cab companies say in their petition that the Passenger Transportation Board had no authority to set binding […]
Sep 3 2019 — Camille Bains, The Canadian Press — VANCOUVER — A British Columbia man who glorified terrorism by the Islamic State group in multiple Facebook posts has been ordered released from immigration detention by the Federal Court nearly a year after the Immigration and Refugee Board deemed him inadmissible and a security risk to Canada. The court upholds a decision made in August by the immigration […]
Sep 1 2019 — Camille Bains, The Canadian Press — VANCOUVER — Teachers in British Columbia will be returning to the classroom without a contract despite the help of a mediator who spent 13 days this summer at the bargaining table with their union and the employer. A six-year agreement expired in June, followed by five days of talks in July after the BC Public School Employers' Association requested the […]
Jul 26 2019 — Camille Bains, The Canadian Press — VANCOUVER — The chief medical health officer of Vancouver Coastal Health is calling for the urgent regulation of illicit drugs so substances could be sold or provided for free to those at high risk of overdose through a framework similar to policies on marijuana, alcohol and tobacco. Dr. Patricia Daly said limits on who could access the […]
Jul 23 2019 — Camille Bains, The Canadian Press — VANCOUVER — Japanese Canadians across the country are meeting to discuss how an apology by the British Columbia government could be backed by meaningful action for those who were placed in internment camps or forced into labour because of racist policies during the Second World War. The federal government apologized in 1988 for its racism against "enemy aliens" after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor […]
Jul 18 2019 — Camille Bains, The Canadian Press — NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. — Chiefs who gathered in New Westminster, B.C., to commemorate an Indigenous leader's wrongful trial and execution 154 years ago say they see signs of reconciliation from the federal government but their struggle for recognition continues in the courts. Chief Ahan was hanged in the city's downtown on July 18, 1865, and a ceremony memorializing his exoneration […]
Jul 9 2019 — Camille Bains, The Canadian Press — VANCOUVER — Six First Nations that have filed another legal challenge against the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion say Canada's ownership of the corporation behind the project created a bias that prevented full consultations as ordered by the Federal Court of Appeal. Chief Leah George-Wilson of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation said Canada had an opportunity to "get it right" but failed to take […]
Jul 8 2019 — Camille Bains, The Canadian Press — VANCOUVER — Three women who shared their stories of sexual harassment as part of a class-action lawsuit against the RCMP have shown great courage so others who may have endured similar experiences can come forward, a lawyer said Monday. Lawyers for Cheryl Tiller, Mary Ellen Copland and Dayna Roach reached a settlement that opens the door to potential claims from thousands […]
Jun 13 2019 — Camille Bains, The Canadian Press — VANCOUVER — Smoking marijuana containing low levels of the drug's main psychoactive ingredient does not increase most drivers' risk of a crash even though Canada's impaired-drug laws would penalize them, says the lead investigator of a study that analyzed THC amounts in the blood samples of more than 3,000 people who were injured behind the wheel. Dr. Jeffrey Brubacher, associate professor in the […]
Jun 1 2019 — Camille Bains, The Canadian Press — BURNABY, B.C. — The mayor of Burnaby, B.C., says he met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to discuss his concerns about the risk of a fire at a tank farm in his city, which would be the terminus of an expanded Trans Mountain pipeline. Mike Hurley said he told Trudeau on Saturday that the facility on Burnaby Mountain is within […]
May 16 2019 — Camille Bains, The Canadian Press — VANCOUVER — When a British Columbia woman experiencing fever, headaches and weight loss for two months finally went to her doctor, a blood test revealed she'd contracted a contagious disease from a dog she'd rescued in Mexico. Dr. Elani Galanis, an epidemiologist and public health physician at the BC Centre for Disease Control, said the case was surprising because […]
May 8 2019 — Camille Bains, The Canadian Press — VANCOUVER — Researchers who have estimated future rates of 30 different types of cancer hope their study serves as a road map for policy-makers to introduce prevention programs that would help Canadians reduce their risk through positive lifestyle choices. The study, which included epidemiologists and experts in environmental and occupational exposure to carcinogens such as asbestos, says as many as four in 10 […]
May 2 2019 — Camille Bains, The Canadian Press — VANCOUVER — A Canadian psychiatrist is advising doctors to help address the needs of mentally ill Muslim patients whose medication regimen could be affected by fasting during the upcoming religious observance of Ramadan. Dr. Zainab Furqan, a psychiatry resident at the University of Toronto, said about a billion Muslims around the world participate in Ramadan each year but […]