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As workers suffer from injuries, many turn to narcotic painkillers to cope. However, a Globe investigation now reveals that some workers are pushed into addiction amid the ongoing overdose crisis in Canada.
Due to entrenched flaws in provincial workers’ compensation boards (WCBs), they are required to return to work quickly despite needing more time to heal, leading them to increased substance use. Some also have to turn to potentially deadly street drugs when they run out of opioid prescriptions.
The Globe comes to these findings following interviews with 64 people who have firsthand knowledge of these agencies, including 28 workers or their family members. The paper also reviewed 284 appeal decisions from 2019 involving WCB claimants who used opioids.
Stephen Alward is photographed in a Cambridge, Ont. hotel room, on Feb 25 2020. In April 2017, Alward injured his back when he was trying to lift some pallets and he's been in a three-year fight with WCB over his treatment. The 36 year old father of five has nerve damage in his left leg and has been working with a Cambridge-area clinic to manage his pain.Fred Lum/the Globe and Mail
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Huawei hires lobbyists to expand artificial intelligence research in Canada
While Huawei told The Globe and Mail recently that it is no longer planning to create a dedicated Artificial Intelligence (AI) centre in Canada, the company is still looking to expand its Canadian presence. It has already partnered with a number of research-intensive universities and hired researchers across Canada to advance AI work.
The Chinese government considers AI technology development to be highly strategic for its economy, social governance and national defence. Critics are concerned that Huawei’s deepening presence in the country would create intelligence vulnerabilities for Canada.
Nova Scotia families propose lawsuit against RCMP for failing to protect community in mass shooting
A number of families affected by the Nova Scotia mass shooting in April are alleging that the RCMP left them vulnerable by making numerous mistakes before and throughout the incident. The class-action lawsuit is still waiting for a court certification to continue.
Family members of people killed during the Nova Scotia mass shooting are seeking to launch a class action against the RCMP and the province, arguing police failed to provide adequate protection and information to the public during the attacks. A woman pays her repects at a roadblock in Portapique, N.S. on Wednesday, April 22, 2020.Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press
Other RCMP forces have also recently been under significant criticism for their conduct. Last week, RCMP in New Brunswick fatally shot Rodney Levi, a Mi’kmaq father of three. Earlier this month, Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation came forward with an allegation of police brutality. A video shows that an RCMP officer forcefully threw the chief to the ground and then punched him.
RCMP data obtained by The Globe and Mail also shows a steady rise in the use of force by the Mounties between 2017 and 2019.
Read more
- Atlanta officer who shot Rayshard Brooks charged with felony murder
- N.B. Premier won’t commit to inquiry into police shootings of Indigenous residents
- Toronto mayor calls for expanded mental-health teams, more anti-racism training in police force
Opinion (Ian Scott and Kent Roach): “The public is entitled to see the rule of law applied fairly to all. But these are symptoms of larger problems – including the RCMP’s ad-hoc and inadequate accountability mechanisms and its archaic and undemocratic form of governance.”
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ALSO ON OUR RADAR
Jagmeet Singh defends calling Bloc MP racist: The NDP Leader criticized Bloc MP Alain Therrien, after the Bloc declined to support a motion that would recognize and scrutinize systemic racism in the RCMP. The Speaker of the House then kicked Singh out of the House of Commons after he refused to apologize.
First of two back-to-back Conservative leadership debates: The debate, which started more than 30 minutes late because of technical difficulties, exposed Erin O’Toole’s and Peter MacKay’s challenges in French, according to various political analysts. The English debate takes place today.
Ontario pivots on testing strategy for migrant workers: Using mobile-testing units at farms is a tactic that the government believes may result in more widespread swabbing for the workers, who are vulnerable to the novel coronavirus because of their living and working conditions.
China passes draft of controversial Hong Kong security law: China’s legislature on Thursday passed a draft of a national security bill for Hong Kong that has been strongly criticized as undermining the semi-autonomous region’s legal and political institutions.
MORNING MARKETS
Global stocks drift as second wave virus fears mount: Global stocks drifted on Thursday as rising coronavirus cases in some U.S. states and China tempered hopes of a quick global economic comeback from the pandemic. Just before 6 a.m. ET, Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.24 per cent. Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 were up 0.18 per cent and 0.17 per cent, respectively. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei slid 0.45 per cent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng ended down 0.07 per cent. New York futures were modestly higher. The Canadian dollar was trading at 73.88 US cents.
WHAT EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
Clawing back pandemic pay for grocery workers is a grotesque, predictable outcome
Robyn Urback: “So while these grocers might feel confident in their carefully crafted messages about normalcy returning to their stores, the reality is that in many regions, grocery-store workers will still continue to get sick. The difference is, they will now get sick while back on minimum wage.”
With Stephen Miller pouring poison into Trump’s ear, the uncivil war rages on
Lawrence Martin: “Mr. Miller has had Mr. Trump’s ear since day one, and is still pouring poison into it. Mr. Miller is a blank-faced, cold and uncompromising bigot. In most everything written about him, the word evil or something synonymous can be found.”
The pandemic has revealed the value of undercover work. Yet governments are making that illegal
Jessica Scott-Reid: “Both Bill 27 in Alberta and Bill 156 in Ontario were allegedly created in much part to “protect” farm owners from activists seeking to expose their operations to the public. What this type of legislation actually does, however, is further conceals truths and further silences those in need.”
TODAY’S EDITORIAL CARTOON
Brian GableBrian Gable/The Globe and Mail
LIVING BETTER
Full Stream Ahead: Six dad-centric films to stream this Father’s Day
Before you celebrate Father’s Day this Sunday – either in your own 10-person social bubble or over Zoom/Facetime/Google Meet/that ancient device known as the telephone – here’s a guide to the best dad-centric cinema available to stream. With a wide range of genres, picks go from Parasite to The Irishman to Fences.
MOMENT IN TIME: June 18, 1990
South African anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela raises his arms as he is acknowledged by prime minister Brian Mulroney and other members of Parliament in Ottawa, June 18, 1990.FRED CHARTRAND/CP
Nelson Mandela visits Canada
Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison for conspiring to overthrow the apartheid government of South Africa. On Feb. 11, he finally walked out of prison a free man and in a speech before a massive crowd of supporters declared: “I greet you all in the name of peace, democracy and freedom.” Despite all those years of incarceration, Mandela was not bitter. Instead, he focused on rebuilding a South Africa free of institutionalized racial discrimination. Four months later on this date, Mandela visited Canada – a country that had steadfastly supported sanctions against the white government. Then-prime minister Brian Mulroney gave the former political prisoner the privilege (as a non-head of state) to speak from the floor of the House of Commons where Mandela thanked Canadians for having “reached out across the seas … to the rebels, the fugitives, and the prisoners” of the anti-apartheid regime. Four years later, Mandela, then 75, became the country’s first Black president. He visited Canada twice more, and each time, was greeted by throngs who wanted to be near the man who had become a global symbol of peace, forgiveness and reconciliation. Gayle MacDonald
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