Awareness: Ontario farms under bird flu quarantine

Canadian Press
Twenty-nine poultry farms in Ontario were under quarantine on Sunday after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency established an avian influenza control zone in the wake of the disease being found on a turkey farm in the province earlier this month.

The agency had said last week that H5 avian influenza was found on a farm in Woodstock, Ont. It had placed the infected premises and eight other farms under a quarantine.

That quarantine was broadened over the weekend as a new control zone — stretching out in a 10 kilometre radius from the infected farm in southwestern Ontario — was established.

19 yrs Old Canadian Student Missing For Weeks, Located

A York University student who went missing on her 19th birthday in late March has been found and is safe, police are reporting.

Amina Lawal went missing on March 20 after going to meet a study group for school. Lawal is a student at York's Schulich School of Business.

Al Shabaab Threatens to Attack Malls in the Canada, US & UK

Somalia-based terrorist group Al Shabaab, has threatened to attack malls in the Canada, United States, and United Kingdom.

The group made the threats via a video released over the weekend, NBC News reports.

In the video, the group’s lethal 2013 attack of the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya in which 60 people died, was referenced. The terrorists reportedly stated that the purported impending attacks would be similar to that of Westgate.

The group is said to have specifically listed Minnesota’s Mall of America, which is reportedly America’s biggest mall, as a target.They also threatened to attack the West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, Canada. A specific UK target was not stated.

The management personnel from both of the aforementioned malls have announced heightened security measures.

Deplorable State Of Survival In Nunavut As Food Program Flops

Israel Mablick, an Inuk father of five who can’t afford food to feed his family, looks shows the sparse selection inside his fridge. CP

Steve Rennie  The Canadian Press

Israel Mablick opens the door of his refrigerator and takes stock of its meagre offerings.

“This is all we have for food,” he says, gesturing to the mostly empty shelves.

There is a small pot of leftover seal meat on the second shelf, next to a tub of margarine and a couple of slices of bread. There’s juice, a bag of milk, some water and a carton of eggs, plus condiments and a small bag of shredded cheese.

In his freezer, there are a few bags of frozen vegetables next to a carton of Chapman’s ice cream. Two cereal boxes — Corn Pops and Corn Flakes — are the only items in one of his cupboards.

“That’s all we have,” Mablick says, “and there’s six kids.”

The 36-year-old Inuit man shares a small, two-bedroom Iqaluit apartment with his wife and their five kids, his mother, his sister and his young nephew. His is the face of hunger in Nunavut, the bare cupboards and empty fridge emblematic of a long-standing problem that even today’s government programs don’t address.

The federal government’s $60-million food subsidy, Nutrition North, is only the latest of the proposed solutions that has stumbled under mismanagement and the enormity of the hunger problem.

New Study Shows Black Women Are More Likely To Die From Breast Cancer

Helen Branswell, The Canadian Press
Race may influence whether women diagnosed with breast cancer will survive, suggests a new study which found black women are more likely to die even when their tumours are found when they are small and theoretically easier to treat.

The study, which is based on U.S. data, said that even when breast cancer is diagnosed at Stage 1, black women have a higher risk of dying than women of Japanese ethnicity or white women.

Senior author Dr. Steven Narod said it had long been thought differences in outcomes between white and black women with breast cancer related to access to quality health care in the United States, where before the Affordable Care Act came into effect more black women may have been without health insurance.

But he said that by mining a large U.S. database that registers breast cancer cases by stage at diagnosis, income status, race and ethnicity, he and his colleagues concluded that isn't the case.

"The assumption that we're going to eliminate differences in cancer outcomes by eliminating differences in health care is not that well founded," said Narod, a leading breast cancer researcher who is based at Toronto's Women's College Hospital.

"There may be intrinsic biological differences that account for some of the differences in outcomes that cannot be eliminated."

Narod said he thinks similar results would be seen if a matching study was done in Canada, but without doing the work he cannot be sure.

Canadians going to US for long stays need to be mindful of changes, says MP

Canadian border guards are silhouetted as they replace each other at an inspection booth at the Douglas border crossing on the Canada-USA border in Surrey, B.C., August 20, 2009

CBC - A BC. MP is warning people about a new information-sharing agreement between Canada and the United States that could put travellers who spend a lot of time in the U.S. at risk of significant consequences.

The Entry Exit Initiative allows officials to track how many days Canadians have spent in the U.S. Prior to the agreement, the country could only track re-entry dates, not exit dates.

"We were specially wanting to alert people that this could potentially be a problem for them if they were being careless about their travel," said Gail Hunnisett, constituency assistant for Alex Atamanenko, MP for B.C. Southern Interior.

Hunnisett said she's been fielding a lot of calls since her office put out the information.

World Must Condemn Use of Girls as Suicide Bombers by BokoHaram - Gordon Brown, UN

The UN Special Envoy for Global Education, Gordon Brown, on Thursday, said the world must unite to condemn Boko Haram’s new barbaric and evil use of young girls as suicide bombers to carry out their murderous attacks.

This is contained in a statement from the Office of the Envoy in New York.

Brown recalled that there were three attacks over the past week where girls were used as suicide bombers.

He said that, in contravention of international law, children were now being used as easy targets by Boko Haram.

Brown said they were also exploited as slaves and sex objects and deployed as suicide bombers.

He stressed that “as we approach the first anniversary of the kidnapping of more than 200 Nigerian girls from their Chibok school, we must resolve to do more against Boko Haram.

“We must ensure that children are better protected by supporting President Goodluck Jonathan‘s Safe School Initiative.

Canada revenue agency tightens tax volunteer checks

The T1 General 2010 form is pictured in Toronto on April 13, 2011. The federal revenue agency is stepping up scrutiny of volunteers who help prepare income-tax returns after a suspected fraudster was spotted at a tax clinic. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

Jim Bronskill The Canadian Press
The federal revenue agency is stepping up scrutiny of volunteers who help prepare income-tax returns after a suspected fraudster was spotted at a tax clinic.

The Canada Revenue Agency is phasing in new screening measures over two years, including a mandatory police records check for the 2016 tax filing season.

For more than 40 years, the agency’s community volunteer income-tax program has helped low-income Canadians and others who need assistance filling out their tax forms.

The agency sponsors and promotes the program, but organizations and volunteers are not formally affiliated with the federal department.

PM Warns 'Jihadists Have Declared War On Canada'

A woman holds a poster reading 'Je Suis Charlie (I Am Charlie)' during a tribute for victims of a terror attack on French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in Paris that left 12 dead, at the Restauradores square in Lisbon on January 8, 2015. Getty Images

Torstar News Service
The jihadist movement has declared war on Canada and other democratic countries and there’s no option but to “face that head on and deal with it,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in response to the massacre in Paris.

“They have declared war on anybody who does not think and act exactly as they wish they would think and act,” Harper said of the jihadists Thursday.

“And we may not like this and wish it would go away, but it is not going to go away and the reality is that we are going to have to confront it,” he told the media after an announcement on apprenticeship programs in British Columbia.

Apple hikes price on all apps in Canada

A shopper ltries out the new Apple iPhone 6 at the Apple Store on the first day of sales of the new phone in Germany on September 19, 2014 in Berlin, Germany.  Sean Gallup/Getty Images

 Michael Oliveira The Canadian Press $1.19 is the new .99 on Apple’s App Store in Canada.

Late Thursday, price increases that Apple blamed on the falling loonie began taking effect throughout the electronic marketplace.

The lowest-priced 99 cent apps are now 20 per cent more expensive.

Aubagio pill approved in NovaScotia to treat multiple sclerosis

Aubagio approved in Nova Scotia to treat MS

CBC

Nova Scotia has become the first province in Atlantic Canada to cover the cost of a new drug for multiple sclerosis, a pill called Aubagio.

Dorothyanne Brown currently uses a daily injection to treat her form of the disease called relapsing remitting MS.

“It’s sneaky,” she said. “You inject it and then the liquid burns. It does tissue damage.”

Brown is one of the 3,400 Nova Scotians living with the disease.

FYI, Transgender crisis hotline launches in Canada

Trans Lifeline is run by volunteers, all of whom identify as trans. (Greta Martela)

The Early Edition, CBC News
A crisis hotline for transgender people has expanded to Canada, offering counselling from transgender volunteers.

Trans Lifeline was launched in San Francisco by Greta Martela, who is a transgender woman.

She told Rick Cluff of CBC Radio Vancouver's The Early Edition the idea began while she was working for another non-profit organization.

"We were just a social organization, but we did have a 1-800 number and I would get calls from all over the country for people who were in crisis," she said.
"The fact that that phone number would be the best choice for anyone — I found really upsetting."

The hotline had a soft launch in the U.S. in September, with its official launch on the Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20.

Q&A On How To Survive Canadian Flu Season

 In this Nov. 27, 2014 file photo, Walgreens pharmacist Chris Nguyen gives a free flu shot to Sandra Bazaldua in Houston, Texas

Helen Branswell, The Canadian Press

It's official — flu season is in full swing in many parts of Canada.

Health authorities were warning all fall that this could be a bad flu season, because of the type of virus that is most commonly infecting people and the fact that this year's flu vaccine doesn't offer optimum protection against it.

Other viruses are circulating too, adding to the general confusion about what influenza actually is and how much of the illness being seen at the moment is due to flu viruses.

We asked some experts to explain what they are seeing this flu season:

Question: Is this year worse than other recent years?

This seems to be shaping up to be a pretty active influenza season.

It started early, with a lot of virus around in December.

Flu seasons that start to pick up before Christmas can take off, because the multi-generational mixing at family gatherings is a perfect way for influenza to transmit from toddlers and tykes to grandmas and grandpas — and mums and dads as well.

Canada In Full Winter Mode

CBC
The holiday season might be nearing its end, but the winter season is just starting to flex its muscles as a messy assortment of winter warnings and special weather statements are in place in nine provinces in Canada.

Here’s a breakdown from coast to coast:

British Columbia

Environment Canada is advising British Columbians to postpone non-essential travel due to "hazardous winter conditions" brought by a strong winter storm.

The weather agency issued winter storm warnings and watches for some parts of the province as multiple types of severe winter weather are expected to occur at the same time.

The Gulping Pay Gap Between Canada Business CEOs And Workers

A masked protestor marches during the Occupy Vancouver group assembly in Vancouver on Oct. 15, 2011. Demonstrators protesting corporate greed and social inequality are packing a one-block square behind the Vancouver Art Gallery. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Geoff Howe

Andy Blatchford, The Canadian Press
Canada's top-paid CEOs saw their compensation climb at double the rate of the average Canadian between the depths of the recession and 2013, a new study has found.

The country's 100 highest remunerated chief executive officers pulled down an average of $9.2 million in 2013, about 25 per cent more than the $7.35 million they amassed in 2008, said an analysis released Thursday by the left-leaning Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

By comparison, the average Canadian income in 2013 was $47,358, about 12 per cent more than the 2008 level.

"It's a sort of a highly visible manifestation of growing income inequality in Canada," said the study's author, Hugh Mackenzie, who crunched the numbers on the CEOs of 240 publicly listed Canadian corporations on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

New anti-doping program for Canadian athlete

CBC
For athletes New Year's day is also when the new anti-doping code takes effect.

The revised Canadian Anti-Doping Program has some changes for specific drugs, sanctions and test procedures, but it also has a new offence: athletes are not permitted to work with coaches, trainers, physicians or other athlete support personnel who are ineligible because of an anti-doping rule violation.

The statute of limitations on doping goes from eight years to 10 years, so a decade-old violation of anti-doping rules can result in sanctions.

Administered by the non-profit Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, the changes are designed to ensure Canada is in compliance with the World Anti-Doping Code.

Canada Welcomes Fast Track Immigration Program

CBC
Skilled workers who want to immigrate to Canada will be able to apply through a new "express entry" system that launches Jan. 1.

Would-be immigrants with a job offer go to the front of the line, as do applicants 20-29 years old with a PhD, language proficiency and past work experience in Canada.

With express entry, qualified applicants will be invited to become permanent residents, and Ottawa is promising the processing time for that should be about six months, compared to the current wait of about two years.

The government says giving preference to "only the candidates who are most likely to succeed — not simply the first to submit their application" — will better meet local labour market needs. Provinces and employers will be able to select people from the pool of applicants created by this new system.

Critics like immigration lawyer Richard Kurland say the government will now be deciding who the winners and losers will be in a system without "transparency, oversight, or accountability."

Quebec will not take part in the express entry system.

10 Most In-Demand Jobstop In Canada In 2014, According To Workopolis

Cooks were the most in-demand workers in Canada in 2014.

Canada is known for having a resource-based economy, but looking at the country’s most in-demand jobs, you wouldn’t know it.

In fact, Canada looks like a lot like a service economy. Which makes sense, because that's what Canada's economy is really about. Three-quarters of working Canadians are employed in services.

So it makes sense, then, that cooks were the most in-demand workers in Canada in 2014, according to data compiled by job search site Workopolis, followed by sales reps.

The ten most in-demand jobs in online job postings:

1. Cooks 
2. Sales Representatives 
3. Babysitters, Nannies and Parents’ Helpers 
4. Retail Salespersons and Sales Clerks
5. Truck Drivers

Citizenship and Immigration Canada hiking fees for second time in a year

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander responds to a question during question period in the House of Commons. Adrian Wyld

Torstar News Service
Ottawa will raise the citizenship application fee — the second time in less than a year — to $530 per adult, making Canadian citizenship further out of reach for many of marginalized communities.

In February, Citizenship and Immigration Canada already increased the fee from $100 to $300 in order to recover its administrative costs. The upcoming raise means it will now cost applicants five times the money for their citizenship applications within a year. Successful candidates must also pay another $100 rights of citizenship fee to become citizens.

Officials said the fee changes are necessary to pay for the more stringent citizenship process introduced by the government to clear a backlog it created with the “residence questionnaire,” which is used to scrutinize if applicants have physically spent enough time in Canada to qualify for citizenship.

New Study Shows The Power of Hugs To Ward Off Stress And Infections

AFP
It may sound strange, but hugs can protect stressed individuals from getting sick, according to researchers at Carnegie Mellon University who say hugging represents a close relationship and a source of social support.

“We know that people experiencing ongoing conflicts with others are less able to fight off cold viruses,” says lead study author Sheldon Cohen. “We also know that people who report having social support are partly protected from the effects of stress on psychological states, such as depression and anxiety.”

Working with 404 healthy adults, the researchers determined each participant’s perception of social support by means of a questionnaire.

Over the course of two weeks, they held nightly telephone interviews with each participant to assess the frequencies of interpersonal conflicts in their lives and how often they received hugs.