Relaunch of the economy in Toronto: ‘We hope to be able to keep pace with the province’ - Italian5/5/2020 PRINT - Corriere Canadese - Toronto, 04/05/2020 - NEWS, Italian Image Source: Corriere Canadese website Summary Translation: No byline - Toronto Mayor John Tory says he hopes that the City will be able to follow the same timetable as the rest of the province with respect to relaunching the economy. Cautious optimism is the word, in his opinion. Tory said that a one-time tax to help pay the Toronto Transit Commission's financial losses could help, but he hopes that the other levels of government can present a financial platform to lend a hand to the municipalities after the pandemic.
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PRINT - MidWeek - Mississauga, 28/04/2020 - NEWS, p. 6 Image Source: http://southasiandaily.com/ Summary: No byline - A Brampton teen held a fundraiser for healthcare and other frontline workers and aims to raise $100,000. Mayor Patrick Brown, Mayor Bonnie Crombie and Peel Police supported the event. Fourteen-year-old Shreya was adamant on organizing a fundraiser to help local hospitals and non-profit organizations that have been working around the clock to serve people during a national crisis. A virtual birthday party was organized too, which saw over 2,000 people in attendance through Zoom and Facebook Live. The virtual get together was addressed by Mayor Brown, Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie, MPs Maninder Singh, Rameshwar Sangha, and Iqra Khalid, Associate Minister Prabhmeet Sarkaria, MPPs Deepak Anand, Gurratan Singh, and Sara Singh, Peel Police Board Chair Ron Chatha, provincial liberal leader Steven Del Duca, and Councillor Gurpreet Dhillon. The raised money will be donated to William Osler Healthcare Foundation, Trillium Health Foundation, Mississauga Food Bank, long term care homes and some other nonprofit organizations.
TV - Zee TV Canada - GTA Round Up - Toronto, 01/05/2020 - FEATURE, Punjabi Image Source: http://www.zeetvcanada.ca/zeetv/ Translated Summary: Ontario Minister of Transportation Caroline Mulroney launched a 511 app that will inform truck drivers of rest areas, construction, and road closures. Mulroney said Ontario's truck drivers are working hard to keep our supply chain strong and our shelves stocked throughout the COVID-19 outbreak. She said the 511 app makes it easier for drivers to find information about rest areas, construction, and road closures while travelling. The app is easy to use and customizable and features a drive mode that activates automatically. She said the Ontario government is committed to supporting the trucking industry. In a later segment, Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath called for help for the media. She said ethnic and community media are more important than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic. They have been doing their part to provide the facts and stories people need. However, many ethnic and community media outlets are struggling without support and without much advertising revenue from the government. The Ontario NDP believes the provincial government should help by creating a stabilization fund for ethnic and community media and dedicating advertising dollars.
TV - Prime Asia TV Facebook - Brampton, 01/05/2020 - INTERVIEW, Punjabi Translated Summary: Nitin Chopra and MPP Deepak Anand - Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced plans for a gradual re-opening of the economy. Prime Asia TV interviewed MPP Deepak Anand. Anand referenced several stories to emphasize that unity is strength. Host Chopra said it was First Responders Day. Anand said a hero is someone going above and beyond, and first responders have been thinking of others first rather than thinking about themselves or their families. Many caregivers are living in basements as a precaution, so it is not an easy job. The host said Ford has made announcements about the re-opening of the economy. Anand said the first requirement was to protect Ontarians, but there will be a day when we need to balance health and safety with the economy. He said the magic number is 7.5%; if the increase in cases is over 7.5%, the outbreak is out of control, whereas below, the outbreak can be controlled. The recent increase was 2.6%. The rate of increase has been declining, so the premier has announced the opening of garden centres, landscaping, essential construction projects, car washes, and auto dealerships for May 4. Chopra said the Province had ignored the ethnic media. He asked where the funding is. Anand said the ministries work with an independent agency to distribute the funds. He said they have seen more coverage in the ethnic media. He said they will continue to advocate for the ethnic media. He acknowledged the ethnic media are rendering a community service and hanging on even though they are not sustainable. Chopra addressed the situation of taxi drivers. Anand said they are in touch with the airport to waive the airport fees for taxis, since the number of passengers has drastically declined. Chopra addressed insurance company fees. Anand said there is a need to balance people's needs and avoiding dictatorial powers for government. However, he had talked to the finance minister and they acknowledge that insurance companies have savings because people are driving less, and people are in financial need. But it was unclear how much of a compensation is enough. Chopra said there was a raise for essential workers, but some essential workers were not included. Anand said grocery store workers were included, but home care and paramedics were initially not included. But the government went back and took swift action to include them. Chopra said a lot of charities are helping seniors. Anand replied that the seniors built this country, and we owe them support. Their income has not changed much, the government has increased their benefits, but they are isolated, and they need food and medication deliveries. He praised the community organizations who came forward to help the seniors.
TV - PTN 24 North America News - Mississauga, 27/04/2020 - NEWS, Punjabi Image source: PTN24 website Translated Summary: Gurinder Singh - The Ontario government announced that all publicly funded schools will remain closed until the end of May. Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie said that Mississauga parents and teachers might be feeling stressed and anxious with school closures being extended until the end of May. While it’s the right thing to do, it doesn’t make it easy. With all the uncertainty out there, it’s ok to not feel ok, she said. She urged parents who are stressed and worried about this decision to contact the Canadian Mental Health Association for help.
By Muskan Sandhu Photo by Artur Tumasjan on Unsplash As the war against COVID-19 rages on, Canada is being forced to consider enlisting soldiers its systems have deemed misfits in the past. The Ontario government’s decision to issue a 30-day license to foreign-trained doctors so that they can share the burden of the times has ignited enthusiastic discussions in various ethnic media outlets. These stories go on to shed light on the dull but recurring ache of immigrants who are unable to fully integrate into their new home owing to the lack of acceptance of their credentials; as if their professional training is an irretrievable suitcase left behind in the former homeland.
The conversation often begins with what is seen as a long-standing injustice of the system against doctors and other professionals with foreign credentials. An editorial in the Caribbean Camera, a weekly Caribbean newspaper in Toronto, wrote: “Many in Toronto's Caribbean community may at some time or other have met ‘overqualified’ immigrant cab drivers or security guards...Many immigrants from places such as the Caribbean, Africa or India still recall their disappointment when they first tried to find work in their specific fields in Canada. They were often told that they lacked ‘Canadian experience,’ and others were turned away with the news that they were ‘overqualified.’” Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown noted in an interview with the Punjabi Channel Y Special TV program that, “These brilliant minds who have passed all Canadian exams are working in packaging plants, driving taxis, or delivering pizzas. They are not even allowed to volunteer.” Similarly, Councillor Charmaine Williams in an interview with Prime Asia TV, a Punjabi channel from Brampton, pointed out the issues faced by doctors who do clear Canadian equivalency exams: “Many people are foreign trained and have gone through all of the Canadian qualifications, but they are in limbo because they are waiting for a residency position. Canada seeks out the best of the best for immigration, and doctors are highly favoured. But when doctors come here, they have to take tests, which are not frequent, and then they have to wait for a residency. Only about 350 foreign-trained doctors were given a residency last year, out of 1,700 who applied.” In this context of feeling undervalued by the system in pre-corona days, Ontario’s decision to give these doctors a chance to join the fight against COVID-19 has drawn a response of elation and optimism from several media outlets. The Mandarin Fairchild Radio FM 96.1 radio program in Vancouver deemed Ontario’s move “Good news!” worthy of reference. Current affairs expert Manan Gupta from Toronto’s Punjabi CIAO AM 530 Frontline Radio described Mayor Patrick Brown’s demand for permitting foreign-trained doctors to help out during the crisis as “very positive in the current scenario.” Host Harjinder Thind from Vancouver’s Punjabi Red FM 93.1 Harjinder Thind Show appreciated the letter written by city councillors to the BC health minister, urging him to allow foreign-trained doctors to help out in the pandemic and perhaps permit them to continue practicing later on. He called the councillors’ approach “far-sighted.” The media also reports of individuals who see this opportunity as a chance to show gratitude to Canada. The Toronto Chinese newspaper New Star Net highlighted a refugee who “worked as an obstetrician and gynecologist in Syria” and who “after learning about this measure in Ontario...plans to apply so that he can pay back Canada, the country that gave him another chance to survive.” Amidst the appreciation for the step forward by Ontario, the oddity of a licence that expires after 30 days is not lost on the media. Will the doctors who prove themselves during the pandemic revert to being misfits after helping out for 30 days? A headline in the Toronto Polish newspaper Goniec simply asked, “Temporary doctors?” As if elaborating on this precise question, immigration Lawyer Dr. Jagmohan Sangha commented on the TV program OMNI News: Punjabi Edition that: “Policies need to change if the government ever wants foreign-trained professionals, including doctors, lawyers, teachers and nurses, to practice in Canada. Doctors are not seasonal workers, to be given 30-day licenses. Professionals come to Canada and work in other fields and their talent goes to waste.” As with other things, time alone will tell if 30 days will transform into years of service for these doctors, or if their degrees will go back to gathering dust in the archive of lost dreams. WEB - Pride - Ajax, 24/04/2020 - COMMENTARY, English The many Black people working in essential jobs do not have the luxury of staying home during the pandemic. Photo credit: Piron Guillaume/Unsplash. Summary: Beverly Bain, OmiSoore Dryden, Rinaldo Walcott - Effectively, anti-Black racism has already ensured that Black people and undocumented residents are less than citizens in late modern capitalist Canada. Yet, the people who are likely most at risk are the ones who are being asked to sacrifice their lives. Collectively, Black people in Canada find themselves among the most disadvantaged in all indicators of what is considered a “good life.” Public health has historically been an extension of policing for Black people that has positioned us as suspicious and nefarious in our actions and movements. In our current state of emergency, this union of policing and public health has led to more Black people being arrested, detained and physically restrained in the name of public health protection. In a section on disavowing the data, the article notes that on April 10, Ontario’s Chief Medical Health officer, David Williams, said as the province fights to contain the coronavirus, disaggregated race-based data is not necessary. While some provincial public health officers in Canada claim to be concerned about all citizens and committed to everyone’s health, they simultaneously declare that now is not the time to address the social determinants of health nor to begin the collection of disaggregated race-based data. In other words, they refuse to address how racial discrimination negatively impacts the health of Black people. Black lives are further in peril in a time of COVID-19. Subject to death on both the public health and policing fronts, we will not be silent.
PRINT - Corriere Canadese- Toronto, 22/04/2020 - NEWS, Italian Image Source: Corriere Canadese website Translated Summay: No byline - According to the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario, the province must do more to protect the most vulnerable. CEO Doris Grinspun said residents of long-term homes, the homeless, and Indigenous communities require greater protection in the battle against COVID-19. We are ensuring that long-term care residences have the personal protective equipment they need, Premier Doug Ford said Monday. Meanwhile, Toronto Medical Officer of Health Eileen de Villa is continuing to put pressure on the province to conduct further testing in facilities that host large numbers of people, like refugee shelters.
RADIO - CIAO 530 AM Morning Awaz with Aman Deep - Toronto, 22/04/2020 - COMMENTARY, Punjabi Image Source: Facebook profile picture Translated Summary: Host Amandeep Benipal talked about homemade non-medical masks to stay safe during the COVID-19 Pandemic. He said that some community members in a collective effort to fight COVID-19 are preparing these masks. He has contacted Peel Police and Brampton Transit about these masks. These are not medical masks, but can help people to protect themselves. The use of these masks by common people can increase the availability of N95 masks for health workers. He said that the Health Canada website and Canada’s Chief medical officer Dr. Theresa Tam say that non-medical masks can help people to stay safe. The masks are free.
WEB - Netolko News - Vaughan, 19/04/2020 - NEWS, Russian Image source: Netolko News https://netolkonews.com/ Translated Summary: Some diseases, as is well known to scientists, more often than others affect representatives of various racial groups, acting "selectively", but Canada is not going to conduct racial profiling based on statistics on the incidence of coronavirus. In the United States, where such data are collected, it was found that, for example, in Chicago, the proportion of black people infected with COVID-19 is higher than average. Latin Americans can be considered another “risk group”. Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, told CBC reporters this week that her agency does not intend to collect “social data” (including race, income, or education) that might be related to coronavirus. To the same question, Dr. David Williams, Ontario's chief health officer, noted that the current disease is especially dangerous for the elderly, people with certain health problems or weakened immune systems. Racial differences do not matter for his department.
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