Articles by Michelle McQuigge, The Canadian Press

Sep 23 2020 — Michelle McQuigge, The Canadian Press — Several Indigenous groups are taking the Ontario government to court over recently rescinded environmental protections, arguing the province's move violates their constitutional rights. The claim comes in a notice of application filed this week by nine northern Ontario First Nations and associations. The application states that Premier Doug Ford's government reversed decades of environmental progress and protections for […]

Sep 21 2020 — Michelle McQuigge, The Canadian Press — A seasoned police officer who failed to provide medical help for an Indigenous woman following a deadly drug overdose will be spending the next 12 months in jail, a southern Ontario judge ruled Monday. The sentence against Const. Nicholas Doering comes nearly a year after he was deemed responsible for the death of Debra Chrisjohn, who died while in the London, […]

Sep 20 2020 — Michelle McQuigge, The Canadian Press — The steady rise in Ontario's COVID-19 caseload continued on Sunday, though at a slightly slower pace than the previous two days, when diagnoses reached levels not seen for months. The province recorded 365 new COVID-19 cases and one new death over the past 24 hours. The daily tally, while still considerably higher than numbers the province was […]

Sep 20 2020 — Michelle McQuigge, The Canadian Press — Officers who broke up a massive gathering in a Hamilton parking lot hours after the provincial government tried to clamp down on such events won't hesitate to lay charges in the case, police warned Sunday as they announced an investigation was underway. Hamilton Police Supt. Will Mason said the hundreds of people that congregated in the Ancaster […]

Sep 19 2020 — Michelle McQuigge, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Ontario took a step back in its COVID-19 recovery on Saturday as Premier Doug Ford reimposed restrictions on social gatherings across the province in a bid to curb what he described as an "alarming growth" in new cases. In rolling back limits on the number of people who can assemble both indoors and […]

Sep 17 2020 — Michelle McQuigge, The Canadian Press — The arrival of COVID-19 has taken the concept of telemedicine from a pipe dream to a fixture across Ontario, with many doctors expressing the hope that the change is here to stay long beyond the pandemic. Patient advocates describe the shift as a double-edged sword, saying the increased health-care access that remote care can provide […]

Sep 17 2020 — Michelle McQuigge, The Canadian Press — The arrival of COVID-19 has taken the concept of telemedicine from a pipe dream to a fixture across Ontario, with many doctors expressing the hope that the change is here to stay long beyond the pandemic. Patient advocates describe the shift as a double-edged sword, saying the increased health-care access that remote care can provide […]

Sep 14 2020 — Michelle McQuigge, The Canadian Press — Toronto police say they're investigating the possibility that the stabbing death of a volunteer caretaker at a west-end mosque is linked to another recent homicide in the city. Insp. Hank Idsinga, head of the force's homicide unit, says both cases involve brown-skinned victims who died of stab wounds after sudden, vicious attacks that took place within […]

Sep 14 2020 — Michelle McQuigge, The Canadian Press — A growing number of Ontario students are opting for online education in the coming academic year, prompting both school boards and universities to bolster their e-learning offerings in the face of rising demand. Efforts to provide more online learning opportunities come amid an ongoing spike in COVID-19 cases across the province, with 313 new diagnoses recorded […]

Sep 10 2020 — Michelle McQuigge, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Ontario's surgeons may be asked to start working weekends in order to clear a major backlog of procedures delayed by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the premier said Thursday as he pledged funding to help tackle the issue. Doug Ford's comments came nine days after modelling research painted a stark picture of surgery […]

Sep 4 2020 — Michelle McQuigge, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — A region west of Toronto comprising roughly three per cent of Ontario's population currently accounts for nearly half of the province's new COVID-19 diagnoses, Premier Doug Ford said Friday as he raised the prospect of rolling back reopening measures to contain the situation. The latest figures showed Peel Region, a long-standing hotspot for the novel […]

Sep 3 2020 — Michelle McQuigge, The Canadian Press — A pair of newly released reports collectively argue Canada was failing to provide healthy, safe childhoods prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, setting kids up to be hit particularly hard by the global outbreak. New rankings from the Canadian chapter of UNICEF say Canada's children have worse physical and mental health than their peers in most […]

Sep 2 2020 — Michelle McQuigge, The Canadian Press — TORONTO — Veronica Gerber was set to go before Ontario's human rights tribunal on Monday in a bid to see her mother more often during the COVID-19 pandemic. But three days before the case was to be heard, Dorothea Gerber, 82, died at the Toronto long-term care facility where she had lived for more than […]

Sep 1 2020 — Michelle McQuigge, The Canadian Press — Police forces across Canada have already begun using technology to predict who may become involved in illegal activity or where crimes might take place, an expert group warned Tuesday as it called on the federal government to protect residents from the potential perils of such tactics. A report developed by the University of Toronto's Citizen […]

Aug 29 2020 — Michelle McQuigge, The Canadian Press — The technical glitches and occasional outages that will almost certainly be part of this year's virtual school experience in Ontario may also prove to be teachable moments for educators and students alike, according to various experts in the field. School boards, teachers and researchers say recent failures of key online learning platforms demonstrate the volatility […]