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nova0000scotia · 3 years

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SWEET JESUS... Shame on you Canada! training chinese police? @NewsNetCanada The Chronicle Herald The Toronto Star The Globe and Mail The Epoch Times Valley Journal #NovaScotia #Canada CTV News Accessible Media Inc. APTN National News Global News CBC News BBC News Euronews English SHAME.... Chinese police training in B.C. an espionage risk, critics say: Glacier Investigates Justice Institute of British Columbia has partnered with China’s Public Security Bureau to facilitate a one-way exchange of students to Canada that critics say is ripe for espionage and contrary to Canadian values.By Graeme Wood | January 25, 2021, 11:30am Heavily armed Hong Kong police patrol the streets as protests rage across the city on October 20, 2019. Pro-democracy citizens view the city’s police force as one that serves Beijing’s interests and under strict control of the Chinese Communist Party. The Justice Institute of B.C. could be certifying officers tasked to subdue freedom of expression, critics say. Nikada/Getty Images photo.British Columbia’s police academy has a growing international police-training program tailor-made for China’s Public Security Bureau that critics say is a threat to the country’s security and common values. The Justice Institute of B.C. (JIBC) has accepted close to 2,000 Chinese law enforcement students, recruits and officials, plus dozens of Chinese state judges, to its purported education and training programs, since 2013. Yet, despite JIBC partnering with some of the world’s most undemocratic countries, whose criminal justice systems enable widespread human rights violations — such as Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and China — its international law enforcement studies (ILES) program has operated with limited guiding principles and oversight for such considerations, despite being tailor-made for Chinese police academies. The ILES program is offered to Chinese police academy students, who are China’s future police officers, border agents and prison guards — handpicked by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The program, critics charge, is at best a questionable source of revenue that does nothing to achieve its stated goal of reforming the authoritarian police regime or, at worst, a Trojan horse chock-full of national security threats, such as foreign influence activity, espionage and further offshore human rights violations. “To think for a second that the Chinese aren't capable of policing their own people is ridiculous when they have a 99.9% conviction rate,” suggests intelligence analyst and transnational organized crime expert Scott McGregor. “If you compare the criminal justice system of Canada with the criminal justice system of the People's Republic of China, you're going to find the Grand Canyon,” said Simon Fraser University criminologist Rob Gordon. However, said JIBC president Michel Tarko, hosting Chinese judges, police officials and future Chinese police and law enforcement officers in B.C. provides “exposure to the Canadian criminal justice system to broaden their perspective and their understanding of a different system of law enforcement. “Everything that we do around programming, in the sense of our training, or education, is about looking for safer communities or promoting safer communities in a more just society, not just in Canada, but around the world,” said Tarko, adding he is “not at liberty to comment” on how Chinese police operate in China, particularly toward political dissidents, journalists and minorities. “I'm not a police expert. I don't have expertise in law enforcement,” said Tarko, who has taken multiple trips to Chinese police academies in an administrative role. And so, unlike the recent cancellation of Chinese military training in Canada, JIBC intends to continue educating Chinese recruits and their accompanying officials. 2 The Chinese Communist Party chooses police and military recruits at a young age. WeChat photo. JIBC ‘internationalized’ to Public Security Bureau’s satisfaction Tarko, who said he wasn’t aware of China’s impeccable conviction rate, told Glacier Media, in a 30-minute interview, the institute has engaged with China dating back 30 years. In reviewing open source JIBC documents — annual reports, strategic reports, accountability plans, financial statements and board meeting minutes — dating back to 2012, it is clear the scope of the international law enforcement program grew exponentially starting in 2013. JIBC reports international contract revenue (including non-law enforcement studies, such as for firefighters and paramedics) nearly quadrupled from $600,000 in 2014 to $2.3 million in 2018. In that same period, international students increased more than six-fold. “It's important that we can invest in programs, curriculum development and build further capacity in other areas of the organization,” said Tarko of the revenue. Political events in China and B.C. in 2013 set a course for such internationalization at JIBC. General Secretary of the CCP Xi Jinping became president of the PRC and embarked on more centralized state authority at home while expanding Chinese state influence abroad, including in Canada, with its CCP branch, the United Front Work Department. Meanwhile, in B.C., Christy Clark of the BC Liberal Party was elected to her first full term as premier. Clark ambitiously pushed to intertwine the two economies, culminating in a May 2016 memorandum of understanding with Guandong Province on China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a Xi blueprint for foreign economic and cultural expansion. The MOU included an agreement to expand international student exchanges, signed by then-Advanced Education Minister Andrew Wilkinson, whose ministry controls JIBC. The Ministry of Advanced Education is also responsible for the BC Council for International Education (BCCIE), a Crown corporation formed by the Clark government in 2012 with the stated goal of “internationalizing” the province’s education system. (BCCIE’s board is comprised entirely of private- and government-funded education executives, including Tarko and Coquitlam School District superintendent Patricia Gartland, who operates a Confucius Institute, funded by the Chinese government) During the 2013-2014 school year, JIBC brought more than 300 “Chinese officials” to B.C. on more than two dozen, two-week training programs. As well, 19 judges from the Higher People’s Court of Jiangsu received “an introduction to the Canadian legal and justice system.” It was in 2014 when the world became acutely aware of policing issues in China, with Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement for democracy formed in the face of repressive police tactics. Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported worsening conditions for minorities (non-Han) in the country, aided and abided by Chinese law enforcement and a corrupt criminal justice system. “The Chinese Communist Party maintains authority over all judicial institutions and coordinates the judiciary’s work through its political and legal committees. The Public Security Bureau, or police, remains the most powerful actor in the criminal justice system,” stated HRW. The Chinese, stated JIBC, showed “great interest” in the student exchanges and the following year, 400 police recruits came from China, including those from the People’s Public Security University of China, known for its elite training under direct control of the Ministry of Public Security of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), also known as the Public Security Bureau. In 2017, the heightened demand resulted in JIBC launching a new four-month, 15-credit (ILES) program “piloted and developed over several years through educational partnerships with Chinese police colleges.” ILES was promoted in one JIBC document as being “highly regarded by (Chinese) officials.” Sending recruits to Canada for the ILES have been: Henan Police College, Railway Police College, Shanxi Police College, Chongqing Police College, Jiangxi Police College, Guangxi Police College, Hunan Police Academy, Sichuan Police College, and Jiangsu Police Institute. The Chinese police recruits are instructed in JIBC classrooms in New Westminster or at a dormitory in Chilliwack that the institution opened for them exclusiveky in 2017. Terry Yung Vancouver Police Department Const. Terry Yung embraced by PRC Consulate General Tong Xiao Ling at a public event in 2019. Ina Mitchell photo. Chinese recruits become familiar with local police detachments The Chinese recruits take tours of local police detachments, such as Burnaby RCMP and the Vancouver Police Department (VPD). JIBC states the recruits have “gained hands-on training and learned from officers from specialized units of several local municipal police departments.” Specifically, VPD officers help train the recruits through the JIBC. VPD Chief Adam Palmer is pictured at numerous graduation ceremonies, and often alongside VPD Constable Terry Yung, a program instructor. Yung, whose wife is Vancouver city councillor Sarah Kirby-Yung, is particularly familiar with Vancouver’s Consulate General, having attended many of its local events, not unlike a liaison for the department, research provided to Glacier Media from documentary filmmaker Ina Mitchell shows. In May 2018, Yung was part of a four-officer ceremonial brigade at the 9th Conference of the World Guangdong Community Federation trade conference, hosted by China’s consul general Tong Xiaoling at the Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre. Before the massive event, attended by pro-Beijing B.C. politicians, more than 200 intended attendees from China were denied entry visas, reported the Globe and Mail. The brigade stood at attention to the Chinese and Canadian flags and anthems. Xi Jinping thought ‘Xi Jinping Thought’ begins at a young age for those selected to enforce Chinese Communist Party laws. WeChat photo. Chinese interested in studying Canadian police, but only in Canada JIBC offers offshore international training in several fields (such as firefighting) but when asked how many Chinese recruits are educated as “offshore students” back in China with JIBC material, Tarko said none are, meaning the Chinese are only interested in coming to Canada. As such, China’s interest in studying Canadian police in Canada raises two possibilities by which JIBC’s program may facilitate espionage, experts and observers of China and the CCP suggest. First, the Chinese police academies represent an immediate intelligence-gathering threat, said former chief of Asia Pacific for Canada Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) Michel Juneau-Katsuya. “First of all, they will be handpicked and have the duty to report on everything happening and everyone they are meeting,” he said. “You think bringing a few cadets to the academy is going to help change their mind? This naivety is borderline stupid, in my point of view,” however it is a product of decades of engagement by the Canadian government dating back to Pierre Trudeau’s rapprochement with China in the 1970s, said Juneau-Katsuya. Gordon echoes Juneau-Katsuya. “These would be young men and women, mostly men, who have been selected for their ideological purity to come to Canada and pick up some information and then trot back with it to the People's Republic,” he said. Gordon said SFU has faced similar pressure from China. The Chinese recently wanted open access to high-level cyber-security courses for its nationals but Gordon said he led a push to block the course to international students outside the Five Eyes group of countries (New Zealand, Australia, United Kingdom and the United States). “We were particularly concerned about the fascination that was clearly playing out… through their embassy. “And that was in part because of concerns about people from the police service in China and the People's Liberation Army (PLA) coming in and grabbing all sorts of information and then finding out how we did things,” said Gordon, a former Hong Kong police officer before the 1997 British handover. McGregor also ties the PLA to what is occurring at JIBC. McGregor is a former military intelligence advisor, once stationed in Afghanistan, and has recently advised the RCMP Federal and Serious Organized Crime unit and B.C. attorney general’s office on the intersection of money laundering and foreign state actors, such as China. “There is a number of things [the Chinese police recruits and senior officials] can be doing while they're on the ground in a host nation. And that's the concern, because we don't really have that much insight into what exactly that activity is,” he said. Scott McGregor Intelligence analyst and private investigator Scott McGregor views the JIBC program for Chinese police recruits as a threat to national security. Chung Chow photo Some Chinese students denied visas JIBC reported how some Chinese students were denied study visas during the 2018-2019 school year, which saw a record 280 Chinese ILES students attend JIBC. Tarko said he was not provided details as to why some students were denied entry and it’s unclear if the denials followed the Vancouver arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou and subsequent arbitrary detention of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor by Chinese officials. Tarko said he’s never been briefed on matters such as espionage or national security from CSIS or the RCMP; Mounties themselves have visited China in the past and invited the Chinese to their police academy in Regina, in 2013, Chinese state media has reported. Global Affairs and Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) declined to explain why Chinese JIBC students were denied entry, citing privacy reasons for the Chinese nationals. CSIS stated it does not comment on such matters. The Consulate General did not reply to Glacier Media’s query, either. McGregor said the denial could be for a host of reasons but if it was for national security grounds, he says Canada is late in addressing these sorts of arrangements. “To be honest, I didn't realize the level of infiltration. I knew they had done some community police stuff, which was very obvious what they're trying to do. I didn't know they had gotten into JIBC at the level they have. I’m a bit taken aback,” he said. “No one is looking at internal security within law enforcement; very, very few. So you're able to do all these different things; maybe you're just reporting on the port; maybe you're finding out information about how best to get a certain product into the country. “They can facilitate transnational organized crime by exposing information,” said McGregor. Or, “maybe they integrate into society, and who they integrate into society with can be important.” 6 Vancouver Police Department officers show use of force tactics to Chinese international students. JIBC photo International students to become future local law enforcement? The second manner by which the JIBC’s program could facilitate espionage, critics suggest, is by helping the CCP integrate into local law enforcement. After all, the JIBC views its international programs as a mechanism to “meet B.C.’s rising labour force demand for diverse and highly-skilled workers.” “Why do we have to gather recruitment from international students? Why can’t we just get the recruitment from our own citizens?” asks Ivy Li, a core member of Canadian Friends for Hong Kong, a pro-democracy group. “I don't understand this. We have lots of Canadian students with different ethnic backgrounds. They are Canadians,” said Li. Tarko said he could not envision today’s Chinese police academy student becoming tomorrow’s local community police officer. “I really can't see that happening,” said Tarko. In B.C., Tarko explained, local detachments first hire recruits, who are then sent to JIBC’s domestic police academy for certification. CCP-loyalists can gain citizenship, apply to a local police department using spotless credentials, possibly citing JIBC education, and then become dormant until called upon by the CCP, McGregor, Juneau-Katsuya and Gordon all suggest. But McGregor said it needn’t be a JIBC program participant; the CCP will choose its best candidates and, using the information it has on the police recruitment process, it will send the “sleeper agent” abroad. “They will know every single aspect of it that there is. You need this requirement, this requirement, this requirement. You need these documents. So then they figure out, ‘Who do I have to bribe to get those documents?’ Or, ‘Is there a way that we can get them legitimately?’ They're very good. They have unlimited resources when it comes to money,” said McGregor. “The one thing about the People's Republic [of China],” said Gordon, “is that they're immensely patient. They will install individuals or groups of individuals in useful positions and let them sleep until such time as they're needed. “Having a bunch of people installed that you described is perfectly feasible,” Gordon told Glacier Media. “Now, to get into a police service, they would have to become citizens, right — but that's hardly a difficult task, isn’t it?” suggested Gordon. JIBC also accepts international students on an individual basis in the Post Baccalaureate Diploma in Law Enforcement Studies (PBDLES), a 60-credit, two-year program that Tarko said is a pathway to permanent residency and thus citizenship. Tarko said it’s more likely PBDLES could be used by international students as a merit for any future application to domestic law enforcement. It’s notable that JIBC students may also enter private security jobs. Recently, the B.C. government issued a security license to alleged money launderer and convicted criminal Paul King Jin, raising serious questions about oversight of that field. Ivy La Ivy Li, a core member of Canadian Friends for Hong Kong, a pro-democracy group, demonstrates outside the PRC Consulate General in an undated photo. Handout photo Chinese-Canadian concerns have fallen on deaf ears The prospect of CCP infiltration at any level of local law enforcement frightens ILi. “The more they (CCP) understand how we operate in here, our legal system, the more they can manipulate our system to their advantage, given that they are known for espionage, surveillance, and also on stealing sensitive information,” suggests Li. Two key motives for infiltration include facilitating transnational crime in the interests of China, said McGregor, and facilitating threats and harassment against Canadians within B.C. communities, who speak out against Chinese communist ideology or the Chinese government. McGregor suggests crimes by pro-Chinese government people can be perpetrated out of ideology for the party, by bribery, including promises of business opportunities or coercion (such as threats to family members in China). Subversive Chinese “sleeper agents” within Western law enforcement is not without its examples. In 2005, CBC News reported Chinese defector Hao Fengjing, a low-ranking Chinese intelligence officer, said he had worked in a group in the Chinese Public Security Bureau known as the 610 office, a special unit created in 1999 to monitor and disrupt the activities of the Falun Gong overseas. Hao told of how Canada has more spies operating in it than any other country. The Chinese Embassy in Ottawa called Hao’s allegations “pure fabrication” at the time. Then there is a more recent high-profile alleged spying event within the New York Police Department (NYPD). Last September, the U.S. Department of Justice issued charges of espionage against an NYPD officer, who claimed to be Tibetan but, as alleged, was a CCP informant against Tibetan dissidents living in the city. Li says the case of NYPD officer Baimadajie Angwang is concerning to Canadians who are politically vocal against the Chinese government and the CCP, particularly as it relates to matters of religious freedoms, Tibet, Hong Kong and Taiwan — or simply opposing authoritarianism. Li fears CCP infiltration in B.C. police forces could result in concerns and complaints by CCP dissidents and pro-democracy activists, such as her, being silenced and likely secretly documented. The Chinese, in effect, could build a much more robust dossier on Canadians and Chinese nationals living here, says Li. Although, similar concerns already exist, as evidenced by testimony at the House of Commons Special Subcommittee on Canada-China Relations. Those openly opposed to the Chinese government testified how their complaints have not led to investigations by police across the country. Amnesty International and activists from the Canadian Coalition on Human Rights in China (CCHRC) have called for police to take Chinese government actors seriously and for the federal government to conduct a review of Canadian laws to address foreign agents and political influence campaigns. Last month, the National Observer reported how Canada’s Public Safety Minister Bill Blair issued a letter to MPs outlining the threat of foreign influence in Canadian society and within its institutions. CSIS had already revealed much of this activity in past consultative public reports. And international observers had been noting this activity before Blair’s Liberals took power in October, 2015. That CSIS calls China a “threat nation” and the B.C. government is facilitating tours of its police detachments by Chinese officials makes no sense to Li. “Our Constitution is officially anti-authoritarian and anti-dictatorship. And now you have handpicked future police, current police students, under the supervision of the Chinese Consulate embedded and trained by our police,” said Li. Li said she is concerned about the extent of the relationship between the VPD and the Chinese government. “We should ask, the question is, does this relationship get in the way of our police force? Is it able to look at and investigate all the cases objectively and without bias?” JIBC graduates JIBC international students with VPD Chief Adam Palmer, sixth from left, and JIBC President Michel Tarko, sixth from right, in second row at a ILES graduation ceremony. JIBC photo. Courting Chinese dollars discredits B.C.’s policing institution: Critics Another aspect for the JIBC to consider — which it appears to have not, until last year — is how the Chinese may be using Canadian credentials, said Li. Tarko said JIBC does not track how the Chinese could market their police forces abroad; say in Africa or South Asia where China is exerting more influence with Chinese-built infrastructure. Or, as Li asks, are these Canadian-educated officers committing human rights violations in China? Are they ending up in Hong Kong, where the democratic government has effectively been dismantled by Beijing with the support of police actions? Could they work in Xinjiang to arbitrarily detain Muslims in “re-education camps” in the name of anti-terrorism initiatives? May they suppress freedom of thought in Tibet? Or, could the recruits facilitate the disappearance of journalists and businessmen who fall out of favour with a corrupt official? As Gordon suggests, they may end up guarding Kovrig and Spavor. JIBC has no accountability plan to gauge if the ILES program is achieving its goal of creating a safer and more just society in China. “I think the brick over the head here is, without a shadow of a doubt, the hypocrisy of, on the one hand, trying to protect the two Michaels and, on the other, inviting Chinese criminal justice agents to come here and receive education training. This has not been thought through by the various agencies,” said Gordon. “I'll be quite candid. I think it's disgraceful that we've got two people being held in a mediaeval fashion as hostages in the People's Republic of China and those who are around them and keeping them have been, in some way, trained at the Justice Institute of British Columbia. What’s wrong with that picture?” asked Gordon. “Oh, you know, they say they're trained to understand human rights issues. No they’re not.” The JIBC board of directors raised human rights as it relates to the international programs in June 2018. “The board encouraged management to ensure more critical thinking when looking to work with countries that may have noted problems regarding human rights violations,” stated the meeting minutes. It’s not stated anywhere by the JIBC of what critical thinking has been done since June 2018. Yet, since then there is international consensus that China’s human rights violations have only worsened to the point the parliamentary subcommittee declared last October that China is committing acts of genocide in Xinjiang, facilitated by mass surveillance systems operated by the Public Security Bureau. In March 2020, “Discussion took place on international contracting and having a clear understanding of international guiding principles or a statement of principles as we enter into negotiations around international contract training” The board determined it would “discuss” creating “guiding principles on international contracts” at its fall 2020 retreat. “So with that, we are in process right now working on a policy that will guide decision making, at the request of the Board of Governors,” said Tarko. Board chair Stephen Gamble, Township of Langley’s fire chief, did not reply to Glacier Media’s offer to comment. The past board chair Sukhminder Virk did reply to Glacier Media but said he did not care to comment. According to the B.C. government, “the role of a board in guiding its institution takes place within a broader context of serving the public interest and advancing overall public policy objectives.” Palmer also declined to speak about his detachment’s involvement with the international program. Furthermore, Minister of Advanced Education Anne Kang declined an offer from Glacier Media to speak about the program. Wilkinson, the former minister of advanced education, also declined to speak specifically to the unique agreement he signed with China, as well as oversight of JIBC. “What's going on, of course, is the lure of the international students and bags of cash that hang around their necks.” said Gordon. “Shut it down,” he said. [email protected] @WestcoastWood With research from Ina Mitchellhttps://biv.com/article/2021/01/chinese-police-training-bc-espionage-risk-critics-say-glacier-investigates

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jasonlawson0 · 4 years

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Lawsuit against B.C., pharmacists' college, drug company over medication switch

VANCOUVER — A drug user "forced" to switch to a reformulated methadone treatment introduced in British Columbia six years ago has filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against the provincial government, the college of pharmacists and a pharmaceutical company.

Laura Shaver was among an estimated 18,000 people given Methadose instead of methadone, a change she said Friday was done without consultation and puts patients who relapse at risk of death from illicit street drugs that could contain fentanyl.

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Shaver and others taking compounded methadone as part of a daily treatment program to try and quit opioids such as heroin have maintained that Methadose is a weaker medication and causes painful withdrawal symptoms for a high proportion of people who end up seeking street drugs to cope.

"I hadn't used heroin in four years or something," she said. "Within six days I was a raging injection junkie again. The things I went through, the sweats, the shakes. I don't even know where to start."

Shaver, who heads the B.C. Association of People on Methadone, said the withdrawal symptoms were so severe she took illicit drugs and overdosed eight times.

"They did not give me or anybody else a choice," she said of the province's decision, adding despite awareness that Methadose caused an increase in relapses, overdoses and deaths, it refused to allow access to methadone as part of a change she believed saved money.

The Health Ministry, which is named as a defendant in civil claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court, made the switch to Methadose in 2014 but the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions was created two years later as overdose deaths related to fentanyl were increasing and the province declared a public health emergency.

A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions said the province had not yet been served with the court document.

The ministry did not immediately provide comment on the allegations.

Drug company Mallinckrodt Canada ULC, and its parent company Mallinckrodt Plc, are also named in the court document but neither returned a request for comment. The College of Pharmacists of British Columbia said it did not wish to make any comments about the change to Methadose, which is dispensed by pharmacists.

"The defendants knew or ought to have known that restricting patient access to compounded methadone and granting Mallinckrodt the right to distribute Methadose as the exclusive (therapy) medication in British Columbia could result in relapse and harms associated with relapse," the court document says.

It says the province, the drug company and the college exaggerated the relative efficacy of Methadose and asserted that patients who switched from methadone should expect no adverse effects and downplayed or denied the risks associated with the change.

All three defendants are liable for making negligent, inaccurate and misleading representations to Shaver and members of the proposed class action, as well as pharmacists and doctors, the statement of claim says.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.

The lawsuit also alleges the charter rights of Shaver and other proposed members of the class action were infringed as a result of the "forced switch" to Methadose.

Shaver is claiming damages, restored access to methadone and costs.

The BC Centre on Substance Use recommends Suboxone as the first-line treatment for opioid use disorder because it has fewer side effects, is safer and can be taken home instead of being taken in front of a pharmacist. Methadose is recommended next, followed by slow-release morphine.

Jason Gratl, a lawyer representing Shaver in the lawsuit, which a judge must certify as a class action, said people who relapsed on methadose deserve compensation to try and restore their "shattered lives."

"Numerous individuals and organizations have come forward to try to persuade the province and the college of pharmacists to restore access to compounded methadone," he said, adding the change would be without cost.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 5, 2020.

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vsplusonline · 4 years

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Lawsuits over COVID-19 handling in nursing homes raise questions about standard of care

New Post has been published on https://apzweb.com/lawsuits-over-covid-19-handling-in-nursing-homes-raise-questions-about-standard-of-care/

Lawsuits over COVID-19 handling in nursing homes raise questions about standard of care

TORONTO — As the deadly toll of COVID-19 on Canada’s nursing homes gives rise to a growing number of proposed class-action lawsuits, some legal experts say the cases will turn on what’s considered reasonable care during a pandemic.

The ongoing global health crisis that has disproportionately affected the elderly poses a unique and unprecedented backdrop for such civil actions, which have emerged in Ontario and Quebec in recent weeks, experts say.

While nursing homes can’t be blamed for the pandemic, they can be held accountable for unnecessary and preventable deaths, said Michael Smitiuch, a Toronto-based lawyer who previously led a successful negligence lawsuit against a Brampton, Ont. facility for seniors.

“A crisis like this does not give nursing homes a free pass to neglect the elderly. So I think what will happen is…we’re going to look back at this through a lens of what was reasonable under the circumstances,” he said.

“The interesting question will be, what is the standard of care during a pandemic?”

The courts will likely look to the requirements and guidelines issued by health ministries, the World Health Organization and other similar bodies in gauging whether any defendants were negligent, Smitiuch said.

The novel coronavirus has ravaged private and government-run seniors’ homes, particularly in Canada’s two largest provinces, causing a large proportion of the country’s more than 3,000 deaths.

Rules and standards for nursing homes have evolved rapidly as public health officials respond to the crisis, with several provinces now banning staff from working in multiple facilities.

However, a number of proposed class-action lawsuits allege negligence on the part of governments or nursing home operators in their handling of the virus.

In Quebec, the son of a 94-year-old woman who died of COVID-19 at one of the province’s hardest-hit facilities has filed a class-action application against the government-run CHSLD Ste-Dorothee.

A Toronto law firm, meanwhile, has served the provincial government with notice of a proposed class proceeding on behalf of all Ontarians in long-term care homes.

It alleges the province’s failures in overseeing the facilities have resulted in widespread, avoidable illness and death during the pandemic.

Another such lawsuit launched by two Ontario men whose mothers died from COVID-19 targets Revera, a privately owned nursing home company.

None of the cases have been certified as class actions so far and their claims have not been tested in court.

Scott Stanley, a personal injury lawyer in Vancouver, said these lawsuits and any others that surface in the coming months will face multiple hurdles in meeting the criteria for negligence.

First, he said, it may be difficult for plaintiffs to show the actions of the operators or government caused the deaths.

“If the theory is, well, workers were able to go from one home to the other and transmit the virus — that’s a theory, but you have to show factually that that actually caused other people to be affected or infected,” he said.

It may also be challenging to demonstrate that the care given fell below established standards, particularly when suing governments, since they are measured against the standards they created, Stanley said.

Governments could also introduce legislation to protect themselves against COVID-19 related lawsuits, although there is a “very live debate” over whether they can preclude cases involving breaches of charter rights, he said.

Such laws are generally “very unpopular” politically, he said.

Even if any of the proposed class actions are successful, plaintiffs may be shocked to find the damages they receive are minimal, he said.

“People are not compensated for the loss of companionship, the loss of friendship, from an older person that’s deceased,” he said.

“You’re basically compensating for the loss of economic benefits they brought to you. And most older people are not in a position where they’re providing economic benefits…so in many instances those claims are actually worth nothing.”

In truly egregious cases, a nursing home could face punitive damages, which are meant to deter certain conduct, said Smitiuch, the Toronto lawyer.

Governments should also consider an inquiry into how care homes responded to the crisis, he said.

“It would be something that would be valuable for the future, because no doubt we’ll be facing something like this sometime in the future,” he said.

Three professional orders in Quebec have said they will hold a joint investigation into the situation at seniors’ homes and long-term care centres since the COVID-19 pandemic struck.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on May 2, 2020.

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hencoplumbingservices · 5 years

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Public meetings for week of March 24

Find out how to get the best plumber in Vancouver Washington

Monday

Educational Service District 112 Board of Directors, ESD 112, 2500 N.E. 65th Ave., Vancouver.

• 8:30 a.m., board retreat.

Port of Ridgefield Board of Commissioners, 111 W. Division St., Ridgefield.

• 10 a.m., special meeting: executive session to discuss litigation, no action will be taken.

Vancouver City Council, City Hall, 415 W. Sixth Street.

• 4 p.m., workshop: multifamily tax exemption proposals for Waterfront Block 20 and Nicholson Duplexes.

• 4:30 p.m., workshop: Westside Bike Mobility Project update

• 6:30 p.m., public meeting: Evergreen Airpark sewer improvements, bid award for West Curb Ramps, Four Seasons South development, citizen forum.

Battle Ground Public Schools Board of Directors, Lewisville Campus, 406 N.W. Fifth Ave., Battle Ground.

• 4:30 p.m., workshop: Presentation of a school safety audit of district campuses.

• 6 p.m., regular board meeting: Agenda includes request to waive snow makeup days at northern campuses and approval of AP Computer Science A.

Washougal City Council, City Hall, 1701 C St.

n 5 p.m., workshop: ordinance to accept donations, Schmid Fields interlocal agreement with Washougal School District and set public hearing for Hickey/Nesbitt/Farrell annexation.

• 7 p.m., public hearing: River Watch-Spyglass Hill development agreement extension.

Camas School District Board of Directors, District Office, 841 N.E. 22nd Ave.

• 5:30 p.m., regular meeting: Camas Association of Office Educational Professionals contract.

Woodland Public Schools Board of Directors, Room 2203, Woodland High School, 1500 Dike Access Road, Woodland.

• 5:30 p.m., regular meeting: jury duty and subpoena leave, city request for $5,000 contribution to Safe Walking grant.

Evergreen Public Schools Board of Directors, Administrative Service Center, 13501 N.E. 28th St.

• 5:30 p.m., workshop: quarterly bond update; no official action will be taken by directors at this event.

Hockinson School District Board of Directors, district office board room, 17912 N.E. 159th St., Brush Prairie.

• 6 p.m., regular meeting: 2019-20 budget staffing plan process, public disclosure transparency report, hire Steven Marshall as next superintendent; executive session to discuss qualifications of an applicant to follow.

Tuesday

Educational Service District 112 Board of Directors, ESD 112, 2500 N.E. 65th Ave., Vancouver.

• 8:30 a.m., business meeting: agenda includes proposed fiscal year 2019-2020 employee work calendar and Early Head Start salary schedule.

Board of Skamania County Commissioners, Skamania County Courthouse, 240 N.W. Vancouver Ave., Stevenson.

• 9:30 a.m. regular meeting: executive session on current or potential litigation; updates from the Columbia River Gorge Commission, Mount Adams Ranger District, Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument and Wind River Advisory Board.

Clark Regional Wastewater District Board of Commissioners, 8000 N.E. 52nd Court, Vancouver.

• 3 p.m., regular meeting: Agenda includes for the most part, regular reports from district staff.

Vancouver Public Schools Board of Directors, Robert C. Bates Center for Educational Leadership, 2921 Falk Road, Vancouver.

• 3 p.m., board work session: Discussion of school design progress.

• 5:15 p.m., board work session: Agenda includes adoption of new instructional materials, update to district policies and approval of an agreement for architectural services for Jason Lee Middle School.

Ridgefield School District Board of Directors, Ridgefield Administrative and Civic Center board room, 510 Pioneer St.

• 5 p.m., regular meeting: accepting resignation of board member Steve Radosevich, approve work for portable relocation and Ridgefield High School administration/media portable install.

Evergreen Public Schools Board of Directors, Administrative Service Center, 13501 N.E. 28th St.

• 5:30 p.m., regular meeting: budget update, executive session reviewing the performance of a public employee.

Washougal School District Board of Directors, district office, 4855 Evergreen Way

• 6:30 p.m., regular meeting: executive responsibilities.

Green Mountain School District, 13105 N.E. Grinnell Road middle school classroom, Woodland.

• 7 p.m., regular meeting: accept resignations of Louise Kimball and Dawn Shinn and approve issuing of early notice separation incentive stipends of $10,000 each, approve school calendar for 2019-2020.

Wednesday

Clark County Public Board of Health, sixth floor, 1300 Franklin St., Vancouver.

• 9 a.m., Clark County Board of Health public meeting: measles update, influenza update, legislative update.

Clark County Council, Public Service Center Room 698, 1300 Franklin St., Vancouver.

• 12:30 p.m. council time.

Port of Ridgefield Board of Commissioners, 111 W. Division St., Ridgefield.

• 3 p.m., regular meeting.

La Center City Council, City Hall, 214 E. Fourth St.

• 6:30 p.m., regular meeting: Minihan annexation ordinance, temporary need housing ordinance, procurement bid approval for Public Works mini-excavator.

La Center School District, La Center High School library, 725 N.E. Highland Ave.

• 7 p.m., regular meeting: capital facilities plan and school impact fees.

• executive session to follow to discuss bargaining strategies for classified and certified staff.

Thursday

Vancouver Housing Authority, board room, 2500 Main St., Vancouver.

• 10 a.m., regular meeting: Main Street office HVAC system, amendments to admissions and continued occupancy policy, Columbia House relocation plan, administrative plan change.

Ridgefield City Council, Ridgefield Administrative Civic Center, 510 Pioneer St.

• 6:30 p.m., regular meeting.

[Read More …]

Find out how to get the best Vancouver Washington plumber

#Plumber #Plumbing Contractor

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Presidents Day 2018: what’s open, what’s closed; parking meters free in Portland

TriMet buses and MAX light-rail trains will be on regular schedules Monday, Feb. 19, 2018. (

Here’s a sampling of what’s open and closed in the Portland area for Presidents Day, Monday, Feb. 19, 2018.

Federal offices and courts: Closed.

Oregon and Washington state offices and courts: Closed.

Multnomah, Clackamas, Washington and Clark county offices, city of Portland and Vancouver offices, Metro regional center: Closed.

Transit:

TriMet buses, MAX and WES; C-Tran: On regular schedules.

Portland Aerial Tram: No service. The tram is undergoing regularly scheduled maintenance.

Libraries:

Multnomah County: Closed.

Clackamas County: Closed.

Washington County: Most locations closed.

Fort Vancouver Regional Library District: Closed.

U.S. Postal Service offices: Closed, no regular mail service.

Banks: Closed, some in-store branches may be open.

Portland parking meters: Free, but meters enforced in Washington Park, the Oregon Zoo and Willamette Park.

Oregon Zoo: Open.

Oregon Museum of Science & Industry: Open.

— The Oregonian/OregonLive

Driver smashes into patrol car stopped to help another Hillsboro-area crash

A driver crashed into the back of a Washington County Sheriff’s patrol vehicle while the deputy was responding to a separate snow-related crash south of Hillsboro.

KATU-TV reports there were no reports of serious injuries from the collisions.

Emergency crews were initially called out just after 9 a.m. Sunday on reports of a crash on SW Bald Peak Road at the SW Laurel Road intersection.

Officials say a driver went off the snow-covered road and into a ditch.

As deputies, firefighters, and paramedics were responding to that crash, a second driver slid on the slick road and crashed into the back of a sheriff’s office vehicles. The driver told KATU he tried to stop, but he couldn’t due to the snow.

— The Associated Press

Limiting winter fires helps Portland’s toxic air, and it’s the law: Guest opinion A new Multnomah County law limits the use of wood fires, both inside and out, during the worst air quality days in winter.

By Sharon Meieran and Jessica Vega Pederson

The Portland area has a problem with air pollution. Hazardous pollutants come from old diesel engines dumped here from states with stricter emissions regulations, a growing number of cars and trucks on the roads, industrial plants and forest fires like last summer’s Eagle Creek Fire. And a surprising amount of particulate matter — one of six common air pollutants tracked by the Environmental Protection Agency — actually comes from wood stoves and fireplaces.

With so many different sources of pollution, we need more than a single solution. State lawmakers must see to it that dirty diesel engines are removed from our roads and construction sites. Polluters must start paying for their pollution, as well as the monitoring necessary to check their compliance with health standards.

There’s also a lot we can do in our own lives, including changing the way we burn wood.

Like most readers, we enjoy the ambiance and warmth of a wood fire. But wood smoke contains tiny particles that get deep into our lungs when we breathe, making it one of the largest sources of cancer-causing chemicals in our air. Smoke particles make people who suffer from heart and lung diseases sicker. And the particles can cause breathing difficulties and eye irritation in healthy people as well.

What’s more, our region is bumping up against federal pollution limits established as part of the Clean Air Act. If we don’t control our emissions, the federal government could impose onerous rules that may harm business and limit economic development opportunities.

That’s why we took action locally. Last month, Multnomah County passed a measure to ban wood burning on the worst air quality days during the fall and winter. When the County calls a "wood smoke curtailment" day, neither individuals nor businesses will be allowed to burn wood, unless it is a household’s primary source of heat, used for food preparation or for ceremonial reasons, or if there is an unexpected emergency, such as a power outage.

Low-income households are also exempt, as are households with EPA certified stoves. The new rules went into effect last week, and will be in effect each year from Oct. 1 through March 1. Residents can get current air quality information on the county website, register wood-burning complaints by emailing [email protected] or ask questions by calling 503-988-0035.

We hope people will comply with these new rules, considering the most vulnerable among us before burning wood on the worst air quality days of winter. We also hope everyone will go further and take action on the other major sources of air pollution. Call or write to your state lawmaker and voice your support for legislation to get dirty diesel engines off our roads and make industry pay for the Cleaner Air Oregon program.

We all have a role to play in keeping our air clean, reducing our risk of cancer and ensuring the health and wellbeing of everyone in our state. Together, we can make a difference.

Sharon Meieran is an emergency room physician and serves as a Multnomah County Commissioner representing District 1. Jessica Vega Pederson has served in the Oregon House of Representatives and is currently a Multnomah County Commissioner representing District 3.

Submit your essay of 800 words or less on a highly topical issue or a theme of particular relevance to the Pacific Northwest, Oregon and the Portland area to [email protected]. Please include your email and phone number for verification.

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