People interested in ecological sustainability while doing some “glamping” this summer may want to look to Lyndhurst, Ont.
Tucked away down a long gravel road is a 57 acre property comprised of wetlands, meadow and pastures.
It’s called Number 9 Gardens, an eco-sustainability centre, tourism attraction and education facility.
Andrew Davies, executive director for Number 9 Gardens, said the idea sprang from he and his wife’s background in architecture and their passion for sustainability and helping out.
“What we’ve tried to do is create a space where people can learn how to grow food, learn how to cook that food, and then live in some off-the-grid structures and see what that experience is like,” he said.
The facility boasts a sizeable garden in which it grows a variety of fruits and vegetables as well as acres of wetland and forestry that can be hiked and biked, kayaking space, and weekend workshops.
It even has yurts that can be reserved through AirBnb.
“Going back to that idea, how do I find out about living sustainably? Well, this is a place that you can come and experience that for a few days or maybe even a week if you want.,” said Davies.
Visitors can participate in off the grid “glamping”, workshops on sustainable living, picking their own vegetables and learning to cook from seed to table.
Number 9 Gardens has also hosted grade school students for sustainability workshops but the garden doesn’t just give back through education, it also services charitable endeavours too.
“We have four garden beds. We originally started with just one but we grow mostly (to donate), so we (give) to different meal-prep places as well as food banks in Kingston and the rural region here,” added Emily Pope, Manager at Number 9 Gardens.
Davies said the future involves expanding to include chickens, hosting more events and expanding its partnership with the office of indigenous initiatives at queen’s university.
The near future is busy for the crew at Number 9.
On Saturday, Aug., 6, the crew are hosting an eco-art exhibition including eight art installations by various artists, all themed on sustainability. On Sept., 17, there’s the Cloud 9 Music festival, featuring eight electronic music DJs from across the country.
The Keremeos Creek wildfire burning north of Keremeos, B.C., on July 29.HO/The Canadian Press
Hundreds of Interior B.C. residents were on evacuation alert over the weekend as two wildfires in the province grew after a week of dry conditions during a heat wave in Western Canada.
The Keremeos Creek fire was first discovered on Friday about 23 kilometres south of Penticton in the Okanagan Valley. More than 300 properties were under evacuation alert as of Sunday afternoon, and 25 households were under an evacuation order that was being assisted by the RCMP.
Meanwhile, a large wildfire continued to burn near Lytton, a B.C. town east of Vancouver that was almost entirely destroyed by a fire in 2021. Fortunately most of the fire’s activity was taking place away from the town.
The BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) said the Keremeos blaze had grown to more than four square kilometres in size after “aggressive and erratic fire behaviour” on Saturday, which was aided by high temperatures in the area that reached 40 degrees in recent days. There was minimal growth on Saturday night, but BCWS spokesperson Melanie Bibeau said on Sunday morning that conditions pointed toward the fire intensifying as temperatures rose throughout the day.
B.C.’s wildfire season got off to a slow start in the southern half of the province thanks to low temperatures, rainy weather and a robust snowpack in late spring and early summer. However, Ms. Bibeau said residents should be prepared now that persistent dry and hot conditions throughout the province have led to increased fire risk.
Forty BCWS members were fighting the Keremeos Creek fire on Sunday, and one helicopter was assisting ground crews. The service said heavy smoke was preventing another three helicopters from being used, and the terrain wasn’t currently suitable for an air tanker to douse the wildfire.
Meanwhile the fire near Lytton, dubbed the Nohomin Creek fire, has been burning since July 14, and is now estimated to be more than 29 square kilometres in size. The fire threatened communities on the west side of the Fraser River, which is opposite to the main town of Lytton on the east bank.
However, BCWS spokesperson Karley Desrosiers said most of the activity was now taking place on the northwest end of the fire, meaning that it was moving away from the areas where people live toward the south and east ends of the blaze.
The Thompson Nicola Regional District and Lytton First Nation have rescinded evacuation orders for some properties, but still instructed residents in the vicinity of the fire to be ready to evacuate if the situation changes. Roughly thirty other addresses in the Lytton area remained under evacuation order.
Eighty-nine firefighters and 11 helicopters were working to control the blaze on Sunday. Crews were working to extinguish remaining hot spots in the eastern side of the fire.
High temperatures are expected to persist in the Okanagan Valley, with highs at or above 30 degrees forecasted for most of the coming week in both Penticton and Lytton.
Ms. Desrosiers said those temperatures will at least be lower than the previous week in Lytton, when highs of 40 degrees were forcing crews to take 15 or 20 minute breaks every hour to stay hydrated and avoid heat exhaustion.
“Once we get up to the 40 degree temperatures it becomes a health and safety concern,” said Ms. Desrosiers, who said those temperatures are both favourable for fire growth and create a difficult environment for firefighters to work in.
Daniel Mundall, who lives in the Lytton area and had his shop and barn burn down in the Nohomin Creek fire last year, said people have been able to breathe a bit easier as the fire moves away to the north.
“There’s always a potential that something could flare up and there’s still stuff smoldering here and there, but it’s definitely calmed down a bit here compared to what it was,” said Mr. Mundall, who was already working on rebuilding the parts of his property that burnt.
“We’re going to start cleaning up here; we’ve got an excavator. We’re not wasting any time or waiting for help, it’s a matter of getting going and making things happen.”
Elsewhere, a large fire in northern Manitoba continued to burn, but the province’s wildfire service said favourable weather conditions were reducing the risk to a nearby First Nation. The Mathias Colomb Cree Nation has been evacuated for weeks because of its proximity to the blaze, which is estimated to be larger than 500 square kilometres. Another 42 wildfires were burning in the province, but the wildfire service said no other fires were posing a threat to communities.
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A wildfire burning southwest of Penticton, B.C., more than tripled in size in a day, according to officials Saturday evening.
The Keremeos Creek wildfire, which was sparked Friday, has grown to 4.3 square kilometres as of 6 p.m. PT, B.C.'s wildfire service said.
Residents of four more properties have been ordered to leave their homes.
"Today the wildfire displayed aggressive and erratic fire behaviour," the service said in a tweet just before 6 p.m.
The new evacuation orders came after officials announced at least one structure has been destroyed. The fire is burning 21 kilometres southwest of Penticton.
Twenty-five properties are under evacuation order and the Penticton Indian Band has activated its emergency operations centre.
B.C.'s wildfire service categorizes the blaze as an interface fire, meaning it has the "potential to involve buildings," in addition to burning areas of forest or other vegetation.
Evacuation orders are shown as red boxes on a map of the area roughly 21 kilometres southwest of Penticton, B.C., where the Keremeos Creek wildfire has been burning since Friday. (Submitted by Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen)
The destroyed structure was described as a small non-residential building by Erick Thompson, communications coordinator with the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS), during a livestreamed emergency briefing Saturday afternoon.
"If you haven't yet, if you're under evacuation order or alert, you should register with our emergency support services," he said.
Thompson said it's been difficult to find rooms for evacuees, given the fire broke just before a long weekend.
"We understand that there is very little in the way right now of available accommodations in the Okanagan region for obvious reasons, very popular in the summer, very challenging to find a place," he said.
WATCH | Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen gives wildfire update on Saturday:
The blaze, which started Friday, is among a large number of fires that were sparked across the province after a week of extreme temperatures. Of B.C.'s 73 active wildfires, 46 were started in the last two days.
The fire near Penticton is now burning across an area of 1.5 square kilometres, up 50 per cent from Friday night. Most of the growth was seen after the fire jumped east across Green Mountain Road, according to the B.C. Wildfire Service.
The cause of the fire hasn't yet been determined.
Earlier Saturday, wildfire officials said the weather would continue to impact operations. A smoky skies bulletin has been issued for the region.
"We are going to continue to see hot and dry conditions throughout the next few days as this wildfire unfolds," said Aydan Coray, a fire information officer. "While the fuels have been dry, they will continue to dry out as we see [relative humidity] decrease even further, and the hot and dry weather continues."
Coray said it's difficult to forecast where the fire will grow, and whether it will move toward Penticton, given how volatile the situation is.
"We are witnessing some pretty erratic fire behaviour due to shifting winds," said Kaitlin Baskerville, manager of the Kamloops Fire Centre. "We're now doing planning to anticipate growth that could go east, west, north, south given the erratic behaviour that we're witnessing."
EOC Update: Evacuation ORDER issued for Electoral Area I Sheep Creek Road July 30, 2022, 4:30 pm <a href="https://t.co/2zbEsVi00a">https://t.co/2zbEsVi00a</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/BCGovFireInfo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BCGovFireInfo</a> <a href="https://t.co/kZRmeLJyWk">pic.twitter.com/kZRmeLJyWk</a>
The Keremeos Creek wildfire is the second "fire of note" in B.C., which means it is particularly visible or poses a threat to public safety.
The first one of the season, the Nohomin Creek fire northwest of Lytton, continues to burn over an area of 29.1 square kilometres after it started on July 14. Lytton was all but destroyed by a raging wildfire a little over a year ago.
The Nohomin Creek fire has resulted in nearly 100 people being ordered to leave their homes, and at least 10 structures being destroyed. Some of the evacuation orders issued by local authorities have been downgraded, but many remain in place as of Saturday.
The Nohomin Creek wildfire burns on Lytton’s west side on July 15. The wildfire service say growth is only likely on the fire's northwest flank. (Maggie MacPherson/CBC)
Karley Desrosiers, a fire information officer, said significant growth isn't anticipated for the fire due to suppression efforts, but fire activity is still being seen in the northwest flank of the blaze.
"We are seeing an expected decrease in the humidity today [Saturday] compared to yesterday," she said. "That will likely influence fire behaviour and it might be burning more active than yesterday, but that's not unexpected."
The fire has also resulted in the closure of the nearby Stein Valley Nlaka'pamux Heritage Park. Without a sustained cooling trend, Desrosiers says the fire is likely to continue burning.
"I would say the biggest challenge at the moment, here and elsewhere, is the heat," she said.
Thousands of lightning strikes
According to the wildfire service, the province saw nearly 4,000 lightning strikes over the last two days, a majority of which were in the Interior.
Currently, 45 per cent of B.C.'s wildfires this season were started by lightning, with 48 per cent due to human activity. Most of the province is at a "high" fire danger rating as of Saturday.
While open fire bans are in place throughout the province, small campfires are still permitted, which means keeping fires under half a metre high and wide, and keeping water or a tool close by to keep them under control.
Fire information officer Jean Strong said Friday it is unusual to not have a campfire ban in place this late into the summer. Fire centres are monitoring the situation closely, Strong said, and a ban could be put in place if conditions change in the coming weeks.
Along with ongoing heat warnings for nearly every section of the province, barring the far north, there are also five air quality statements for five regions.
The Fraser Valley and Metro Vancouver are under an air quality advisory for ground-level ozone, while smoky skies bulletins have been issued for the Fraser Canyon, plus the South Okanagan and South Thompson.
This First Person article is written by Shirley Nicholson who lives in Winnipeg. For more information about CBC's First Person stories, please seethe FAQ.
My son was just an addict.
That's what some people say. He was nothing but an addict. Like he planned this. Like he really didn't want to live.
But he was so much more than his addictions. He was our son. He was someone's brother. He was someone's grandson, nephew and cousin. He was loved so much. He loved us.
Shirley and Lloyd Nicholson share a laugh with their daughter Carly and son Darrell in an outdoor family portrait taken in 2014. (Submitted by Shirley Nicholson)
Yes, he made some really bad choices in his life, and he paid for them dearly. He had spent time in both provincial and federal prisons. But he made parole and started a new life. We thought he was well on his way, but addictions are cunning and baffling diseases.
Just sitting in the background.
Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.
Until you have a good day.
Until you have a bad day.
Until it's just any day.
Then it strikes.
From everything I've learned about my son's addiction to alcohol and drugs, the craving, the need and the desperation to have that fix never goes away. Some can work past it. Some can go to Narcotics Anonymous or a rehab program and work their way through it. The need to stay sober must be stronger than the need to get a fix.
People say it's a choice. What I saw from my son's behaviour is that addicts don't really have a choice. The addiction has the control, the power, the say in whether they use again.
Darrell Nicholson was captured in this photo taken during a fishing day trip two days before he died. (Submitted by Shirley Nicholson)
We lost our son six hours after he wished his dad happy birthday.
"I'll see you tomorrow," he promised.
But he died from an overdose early the next morning. And just like that, our family was lessened by one. Our lives changed forever.
People say to me:
"You're so strong."
"You're so tough."
"You're so brave."
I'm none of those things. My husband is none of those things. Our son's sister is none of those things. We didn't have a choice on whether or not we got to be brave, strong or tough. We just became parents of a dead child; sister to a dead brother. We didn't get to choose.
Darrell Nicholson, age 4, smiles for the camera. (Submitted by Shirley Nicholson)
From the moment the police came to our door and gave us the horrific news, we're just putting one foot in front of the other, one step at a time. Some days we get through with relative ease and only a few moments of utter desolation. On other days, we can barely crawl out of bed to face the day.
There was a lot of paperwork, administration and things to get done when a loved one dies. I faced it all like a job.
Sort through pictures and write the obituary. Advise the car insurance. Advise the health department. Advise Service Canada. Advise the Canada Revenue Agency. Send letters. Send forms. Re-send this, the "i" wasn't dotted. Re-send that, because the car insurance supervisor was being prickly. Just get it done.
But if I let myself stop and go back to that moment — the moment the police said, "I'm sorry to tell you…" — I break down in sobs. Wrenching sobs I cannot control. I can't breathe. I can't think. If I can, I hold onto something, so I don't end up on my knees right then and there. If I don't go "there," I can make it through most days.
We spread his ashes here, there, in places we thought he'd like, in places he liked to hang out, in places he'd never been. We held his small but meaningful memorial at the Winnipeg Folk Fest campground.
We went to the Dominican Republic in March. One morning at breakfast, my husband mentioned scattering his ashes in the Caribbean, where our son had never been and I broke into heart-wrenching sobs, again. Just a mention of him, and I cry uncontrollably. One day, I may be in the condiments aisle looking at Frank's RedHot sauce. He would laugh and recite the commercial line, "I put that s**t on everything!" And I fall apart.
He'd laugh at us scattering his ashes everywhere. I know he'd say, "What the f**k, Mom! I don't care about that!"
But we do. We're just trying to show respect to his memory.
A couple of months after his death, my daughter suggested we go somewhere for Thanksgiving. It was also Darell's birthday, but that was the unspoken part. I said, "Sure!"
So, we left the province for a trip to Victoria.
It was the best way to get past that first milestone — his first birthday without being with us on this earth.
My daughter planned so many activities, we didn't have time to think. We just enjoyed each moment with our daughter and son-in-law. They both have been our strength and our rock in these tough times through his addiction and then death.
And we got past the dreaded day.
Darrell Nicholson is embraced by his sister, Carly. (Submitted by Shirley Nicholson)
If love could have saved our son, he would surely be alive and well today. If love could have … but it didn't. He was our beautiful boy. Our energetic little guy who could make best friends at the playground. He was our handsome young man who could charm the girls.
He had ideas, plans, dreams and a motorcycle test appointment the next week.
He didn't plan to die at 27. He was more than his addictions. He was our son, our brother, our grandson, our nephew, our cousin and we all loved him so.
Do you have a similar experience to this First Person column? We want to hear from you. Write to us at firstperson@cbc.ca.
University of Toronto researchers have designed a new way to grow cells in a lab that enables them to better emulate cancerous tumours. The platform – based on a type of material known as a hydrogel, a soft jelly-like substance – opens new ways to advance treatment options for cancer.
By investigating the natural molecules found in breast cancer tissue, Alexander Baker, a post-doctoral researcher in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering, and Laura Bahlmann, a PhD student at the Institute for Biomedical Engineering, were able to design a more compositionally defined and reliable alternative to the standard material typically used by cell biologists known under the brand name, Matrigel. Their findings were recently published in Materials Today.
The new biomimetic hydrogel is composed of hyaluronan, which is found in healthy tissue and increases during the progression of many cancers, including breast, lung, brain, prostate, ovarian and pancreatic but is notably absent from Matrigel. These materials also contain laminin, a protein that is abundant in breast tissue.
Together, these two ingredients resulted in a hydrogel that closely mimics native tissue. It has all the beneficial properties of Matrigel, but it goes further by facilitating communication between cells and the surrounding tissue.
When comparing lab-grown patient biopsy cells in the presence of their new hydrogel versus Matrigel, the team observed different cancer cell growth rates and responses to drugs. When they took the same hydrogel and injected the patient cells to produce an animal model of the disease, they observed differences in the immune response, where Matrigel seemed to bias the results, thereby confounding researchers’ understanding. However, the new hydrogel provided an unbiased canvas to study how tumour growth impacts the host immune cellular response.
“With our increasing understanding of the immune system in cancer, the importance of unbiased results cannot be overstated,” says Shoichet.
These results suggest that the new hydrogel can produce outcomes that are more like those typically observed in human cancer tumours. One example is the ability of breast cells to self-assemble into 3D structures with key components oriented in a certain direction, a process known as polarization.
“When working on drug screening, it’s important to be able to grow diseased cells because those are the ones you want to kill,” says Baker, who co-led the study with Bahlmann.
Before a new cancer therapeutic can be approved for human use in Canada and the United States, Health Canada and the FDA require it passes in vivo animal studies. This includes patient-derived xenograft studies, which are models of cancer where the tissue or cells from a human tumour are implanted into immunodeficient mice. These models allow researchers to better emulate human cancer growth and can be used to study the effects of treatments on clinically relevant patient cancer cells.
But in some instances, the time required to produce these animal models for cancer research is too long. A lab-based approach to grow these valuable patient cells in a more defined material can accelerate the screening process.
The new hydrogel was designed to emulate the cancer cell microenvironment, creating a highly reliable system for cancer studies. The researchers were able to control the inputs, resulting in controlled mechanical and biochemical properties relevant to the tissues they were emulating.
“The long-term goal for cancer research is to move away from animal studies,” says Bahlmann. “If we could eventually say that our platform is predictive of the in vivo response, there would be a lot of advantages, including reducing the amount of time it takes to get results from a study.”
The team collaborated with Dr. David Cescon, an oncologist and clinician-scientist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in the University Health Network, to obtain the patient breast cancer cells used in the study. And while much of the study was focused on breast cancer, they also used the platform to grow eight other cancer types – brain, colon, leukemia, lung, lymphoma, ovarian, pancreas and prostate – and expanded their research to study cell invasion.
“We are working to understand the processes of cell invasion: when the cancer becomes more aggressive, harder to treat and it starts to infiltrate different microenvironments within the body,” says Bahlmann.
The researchers hope to show that by growing other cancer cells in their hydrogel, they can discover new targets and new drugs for the treatment of breast and other cancers.
“I think we are moving towards the era of precision medicine, and if we can screen a patient’s cells quickly and effectively, then we should be able to identify the best therapies for that individual,” Shoichet says. “Our new hydrogel starts us down this journey of drug discovery.”
Audrey Spieker says she watched on her security camera's footage as a woman set fire to her coat in front of Wonderland Tattoo last week.
The woman appeared to use some kind of an accelerant and torch, Spieker says.
"What happens if she were to light the building on fire?" Spieker said. "Like, maybe not on purpose, but what if her bottle of accelerant dumps over and she's high on drugs? We're watching her smoke crack. She's not making good choices."
For Spieker, the fire was the latest in many instances of vandalism and harassment since people began living in tents in regionally owned property beside the plaza where Wonderland Tattoo is located.
"We've been having safety concerns here since the spring. We've had people with knives outside. We get death threats at the building for asking somebody smoking crack at our door to leave," she said.
"I don't think that's acceptable. I don't think I need to tolerate that."
Audrey Spieker owns Wonderland Tattoo Studio, which is in a plaza next to the Kitchener encampment. She says she's called the region to demand 24-hour security after someone set fire to a coat in front of their shop last week. (Kate Bueckert/CBC)
A few doors down, Jessica Harrison at The Cake Box says they've had weekly occurrences of damage to property, harassment and garbage.
She says she's made calls to the region, the city, the security company hired to be at the site 16 hours a day and police.
She said the region has said they can change the hours of security, but can't commit yet to 24 hours a day.
"We're not getting the security that we need," she said.
"Money has come out of our pockets to install our own security cameras to put in new measures. I had to replace the lock on my door because it was vandalized with somebody trying to break in, so there are monetary losses of our sales, not just for me, but the other businesses as well in this plaza here."
Region has heard concerns
One person moved onto the vacant lot at Victoria and Weber streets in January. The encampment began to grow in March and now more than 60 people live at the site.
Tents now fill the lot at the corner of Victoria and Weber streets in downtown Kitchener. The region has said more than 60 people live at the site. (Kate Bueckert/CBC)
Peter Sweeney is the commissioner of community services at the Region of Waterloo and he says he has heard concerns from local businesses.
He said regional staff are reviewing the request for 24-hour security at the encampment site, but in the meantime, have offered to move the hours security is on site to cover more of the overnight hours.
He said the safety of people living in the encampment and the people who live and work nearby is the region's "top priority."
He said staff go into the encampment three or four times a week to work with people living there and ensure they have access to services. The region makes sure there's access to washrooms and clean water and there's garbage cleanup at the site. A dumpster has been placed at the encampment and it's emptied daily, he said.
Sweeney said he empathizes with the business owners, who have told him they made it through the COVID-19 lockdowns and "now they're challenged with some circumstances and situations beyond their control."
A security vehicle is seen parked beside the encampment at the corner of Victoria Street and Weber Street in downtown Kitchener on Tuesday. Currently, security guards are at the site for 16 hours a day, but regional staff say they're considering increasing it to 24-hours a day. (Kate Bueckert/CBC)
The encampment at 100 Victoria Street "is representative of a larger societal problem" in the region, he said.
A point-in-time count last September found more than 1,000 people were experiencing homelessness, with nearly half chronically homeless.
"At a regional level, we spend every day helping and supporting people through income support and rent subsidy support and building affordable housing units to try to stem the tide of this challenge," Sweeney said.
"My ask of the community is that we think about this as a systemic community challenge that is going to require all levels of government, civil society and private and public sectors to work together."
'We want to see them housed'
Ayman Eldesouky runs Worth A Second Look, a thrift store across the street from the encampment. The store is a project of The Working Centre. It's also in the same building as St. John's Kitchen, which provides meals and 24-hour access to washrooms to the people living at the encampment. The building also has security.
He says they haven't experienced many problems in the store beyond some shoplifting and they've heard news of overdoses, which is upsetting.
Ayman Eldesouky runs Worth A Second Look, a thrift store across the street from the encampment. He says people don't need to be afraid of people living at the encampment and he feels many of the people just need someone to listen to them. (Kate Bueckert/CBC)
He sympathizes with the businesses that are facing problems, but also urges people not to be afraid of people living in the encampment.
"They need someone to listen to them," he said.
"From the store, if they need anything, we can give it to them. They are part of the community, right?"
The fact that they're part of the community is exactly why Spieker says she wants to see them get help.
"This seems to be put out in the public [and] media as, this is an affordable housing crisis, but we have a front row seat and this is a substance abuse issue and I don't see any help for their substance abuse issues," she said.
"We want to see these people get the help that they need. We want to see them housed," Spieker added.
"When they're doing well, they're great people. But when you're on drugs, you're unpredictable and you're not always nice, so it's a problem for us."
Sometimes seen as the 'enemy'
The Waterloo Regional Police Service said on Wednesday that since July 1, there had been 16 calls in total for the area near the encampment — the equivalent of a call every 1.6 days. Of those 16 calls, five were proactive calls initiated by officers.
Harrison says it's "very important to not misconstrue a lot of what the businesses are saying" to mean they don't care.
"There's no proper hygiene. The rodents and the bugs and them living out in the open there. They're hurting each other and they're hurting the community," she said.
Jessica Harrison is owner of The Cake Box, which is located in a plaza beside the encampment. She says she wants people to know that her calls to the region to do something about the encampment is because she cares about the people living there and she's worried about their safety. But she's also worried for her employees' and her own safety as well as her business, which has seen vandalism and break-in attempts. (Kate Bueckert/CBC)
"I think that sometimes they see us as like the enemy, that we're just a business that doesn't care about the people when we should be doing more. And that's not the case at all," Harrison said, but added she also cares about her staff and ensuring their safety.
"It's because I care about my community that we've been pushing the region to do something."
More B.C. weather records were broken on Wednesday, with 10 places setting new daily highs amid this week’s continuing heat wave.
“A strong high-pressure that has been dominant for the past few days will hold through Sunday,” Global BC meteorologist Mark Madryga said.
“Afternoon high temperatures will continue to soar in most of B.C., with some in the Southern Interior likely to top 40 C over the next couple of afternoons.”
Heat warnings remain in effect for most of the province, including Greater Victoria, Metro Vancouver, Howe Sound and the Fraser Valley plus the Okanagan, South Thompson, Similkameen, Shuswap, and Boundary regions.
Regions coloured red are under heat warnings for Thursday, July 28. Environment Canada
“Lower Mainland readings will consistently soar into the low 30’s away from the ocean over the next few days,” Madryga said.
“In addition, an air quality advisory is in effect for most of Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, due to build-up of low-level ozone combined with the heat and mostly stagnant air.”
With scorching high heat, many longstanding B.C. heat records were broken on Wednesday:
In the Vancouver area, a new record of 30.4 C was recorded, breaking the old record of 29.9 C set in 1998.
In the Bella Bella area temperatures tied the record of 29.6 C set in 2009.
In the Cache Creek area, a new record of 40.8 C was recorded, breaking the old record of 39.5 C set in 1998.
In the Clinton area, a new record of 34.1 C was recorded, breaking the old record of 32.9 C set in 2009.
In the Dawson Creek area, a new record of 32.2 C was recorded, breaking the old record of 30.5 C set in 2009.
In the Fort St. John area, a new record of 31.7 C was recorded, breaking the old record of 30 C set in 1935.
In Lytton, a new record of 42 C was recorded, breaking the previous record of 40 C set in 1939.
In the Mackenzie area, a new record of 33.3 C was recorded, breaking the old record of 32.5 set in 2009.
In the Nelson area, a new record of 38 C was recorded, breaking the previous record of 37.8 C set in 1944.
In the Puntzi Mountain area, a new record of 34.9 C was recorded, breaking the old record of 34.3 C set in 2009.
The risks posed by extreme heat are more significant for young children, pregnant women, older adults, people with chronic illnesses and people working or exercising outdoors.
Some of the effects of heat illness include swelling, rash, cramps, fainting, heat exhaustion, heat stroke and the worsening of some health conditions.
Last week, the province’s public safety minister, Mike Farnworth, said a new warning system is ready to go with new protocols on how to issue heat alerts.
The protocol lays out the daytime maximum and nighttime minimum temperatures that would trigger the heat bulletins.
If a region is expected to exceed those ranges for two consecutive days, it will trigger a heat alert, while if it is expected to last three or more days it will trigger a heat emergency, Farnworth said.
The public is also being urged to visit the province’s PreparedBC website for more resources on how to manage extreme heat.
Health Matters: Managing heat stress at work
Health Matters: Managing heat stress at work
— With files from Global Okanagan’s Kathy Michaels
KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan men's soccer team and head coach Chad Wiseman have announced the additions of Hunter Morse, Matt Lockwood, Praise Maduekwe and Noah Dietrich to the 2022 team.
Hunter Morse | GK | Graduate Transfer | 6'3 | Belleville, Mich./Michigan State
Morse was a three-year starter and recorded 10 career wins with the Spartans and five shutouts in 38 career games. During his sophomore season he was first in the Big Ten with 75 saves and fifth in goals against average with 1.24.
Coach Wiseman on Morse – "Hunter is a very talented GK with a ton of college and high level experience. He is a great shot blocker who is fearless in the box. His range and measurements for a keeper are next level. Hunter is very mature player that loves to compete. He has strong distribution skills, both with his feet and arm and has great command of his box. I believe he is one of the best goalkeepers in the Midwest and capable of being one of the best in the entire country."
Matt Lockwood | D | Graduate Transfer | 5'10 | West Jordan, Utah/Utah Tech (formerly Dixie State)
Lockwood played four seasons at Dixie State/Utah Tech. During his senior season (2021), he helped the program transition to the Division I level by playing in and starting all 13 games with two goals. For his career, he played in 55 career games, scoring six goals and five assists.
Coach Wiseman on Lockwood – "Matt has an engine that simply does not stop. He is extremely fit and willing to outwork his opponents and does so consistently. At Dixie State he was there captain, helping them make the transition from D2 to D1, we expect those leadership traits to follow him to Kalamazoo. He has incredible vision when picking out a ball to play in the final third. Matt is a sound one-on-one defender, very quick and can handle his own when it comes to physicality."
Praise Maduekwe | MF | Graduate Transfer | 5'10 | Murrieta, Calif./University of San Diego
Played in 33 career games for the Toreros, making appearances in the midfield and on the back line. Maduekwe comes to Kalamazoo after making a career-best eight starts last season and playing in a career-high 13 games.
Coach Wiseman on Maduekwe – "Praise is a talented central midfield, who has the versatility to play in the backline as well. He is clean on the ball and very capable of dictating how the game is played. He has the ability to bring players into the game and get players in good spots with the ball. With a strong soccer IQ, he has an inordinate feel of when to switch the point of attack and can do so with a collection of different balls he can strike. He is a mature player that will fit in great with our returners."
Noah Deitrich |GK | Freshman | 6'3 | Stevensville, Mich./Lakeshore High School
Deitrich participated in football, baseball, wrestling and track and field along with soccer. He played his club soccer for Kalamazoo Kingdom on the 2003 team with fellow incoming freshman AJ Boucher.
Coach Wiseman on Deitrich – "Noah is a late bloomer in the recruiting cycle. He has grown physically in the last 10 months. He is bigger, stronger, and more explosive than most players his age playing the GK position. His work ethic is unbelievable, he is a very goal-oriented person and when he puts his mind to something, he is very successful. He will have much to learn at our level but has a great foundation to start with. More than anything, Noah is just a great young man to be around.
The trio join AJ Boucher, Jonathan Robinson, Stephen Belanger, Carson Hodgson and Tanner Hodgson as new additions for the upcoming season.
Conservative leadership hopeful Pierre Poilievre takes part in a debate at the Canada Strong and Free Networking Conference in Ottawa on May 5.BLAIR GABLE/Reuters
Stephen Harper’s public endorsement of Pierre Poilievre as the next leader of the Conservative Party means very little, but also a lot.
Very little, because Mr. Poilievre probably had the leadership sewn up even without the former prime minister’s imprimatur.
A lot, because Mr. Harper is clearly hoping to preserve party unity and win over uncommitted voters in support of a candidate he believes has a clear shot at becoming prime minister.
But for that to happen, Mr. Poilievre must square a circle. He opposes mandatory vaccinations, a policy that during the pandemic saved many thousands of lives, perhaps including yours.
Mr. Poilievre is going to have to offer a convincing explanation for that opposition, if he wants to become prime minister. Simply saying it’s all about “freedom” won’t cut it.
One reason Mr. Harper publicly endorsed Mr. Poilievre was to make absolutely certain that Jean Charest never leads the party. The former Quebec premier is ideologically too much of a wet, as the late Margaret Thatcher used to say, for Mr. Harper’s liking.
He may also want to reassure anyone who supported him, but who is wondering whether Mr. Poilievre is too ideologically extreme, that he believes the Carleton MP can be trusted to lead the country.
In truth, most of Mr. Poilievre’s policies aren’t that extreme. He would fire the Governor of the Bank of Canada. If your salary is flatlined, even as the price of everything skyrockets, you might want Tiff Macklem fired, too.
As for his vow to defund the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, there will be too much opposition for that to happen. And who cares about his conspiratorial mutterings about the World Economic Forum?
His opposition to the carbon tax is, sadly, no longer politically damaging. That tax is a useful tool in reducing carbon emissions, but economic issues trump environmental issues, these days.
Only in his opposition to vaccine mandates is Mr. Poilievre dangerously extreme. It is an incredibly irresponsible stand to take.
When Mr. Poilievre declared his support for the protesters who occupied Ottawa last winter, he was expressing solidarity with people who opposed the policies of the federal, provincial and municipal governments, along with most employers, who said anyone who refused to be vaccinated against COVID-19 could lose their job.
That policy was essential to contain the pandemic. And it worked.
Canada has lost just over 45,500 people, or 1,120 people per million of population, to COVID, one of the lowest rates in the developed world. The United States, which had much less rigorous vaccine enforcement and a substantially lower level of vaccination, lost 3,050 people per million of population.
There are other factors in play as well, but it is reasonable to assert that mandatory vaccination saved tens of thousands of Canadian lives that would have been lost had we adopted the more laissez-faire American approach.
In June, Mr. Poilievre introduced Bill C-278, legislation that would prohibit the federal government from imposing vaccine mandates on its employees or on travellers.
And lest you think the legislation would apply only to the current situation, he explicitly declared on Twitter that he would “scrap all vaccine mandates & ban any and all future vaccine mandates.”
Mr. Charest missed the point when he said that Mr. Poilievre disqualified himself from becoming leader because he supported an illegal protest. Politicians on the left support illegal protests all the time.
But opposing vaccine mandates is, or should be, disqualifying.
If COVID-19 came roaring back, or a new pandemic arrived, when Mr. Poilievre was prime minister, would he keep vaccinations entirely voluntary? Would he be willing to sacrifice thousands of lives in defence of what he calls freedom but most of us would call reckless and dangerous behaviour?
And if his judgment is so unsound on this all-important issue, how can we trust him on other issues?
This may not matter at election time. The pandemic may be well and truly in the rear-view mirror by then, with economic issues front and centre.
But there is the ebb and flow of politics, and then there is right and wrong. Mr. Poilievre’s stand on vaccines is so wrong that it undermines the case for his becoming prime minister. Mr. Harper’s endorsement doesn’t change that in the least.
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The chair of Halifax's police board says more clarity is needed around the city's policy for extra duty employment, a program where officers are paid an hourly rate by private companies, public bodies or events to work security in full uniform outside their working hours.
The Halifax Examiner first reported last week that police — armed and in uniform — have been patrolling Superstore locations in Halifax Regional Municipality outside of their regular shifts in recent weeks. Some customers voiced their concerns to CBC.
Coun. Lindell Smith, chair of the board of police commissioners, said Halifax police working private security outside their regular shifts has been happening for years. "We're used to seeing police doing extra duty related to street closures and events."
He said an increase in theft has led more businesses to opt into the extra duty program.
"I can understand there are definitely demographics who would be concerned walking into a store and seeing police," Smith said. "But I'm not aware of where police were being hired to do extra duty and monitor where issues have come out of that."
Coun. Lindell Smith says, as someone who has been racially profiled in stores, he doesn't think the presence of extra duty officers will increase the chances of it happening. (CBC)
Nova Scotia's police act stipulates that municipal police boards establish a written policy for extra duty employment, but HRM's policy isn't publicly available.
Smith said more public information on the details of the policy is needed to understand the limitations of the extra duty program, like whether they are empowered to use force and who can hire them.
Cst. John MacLeod, HRP's public information officer, said extra duty officers cost $79.78 per hour.
"Business, organizations, public and private events can place requests for officers to conduct policing duties on or near their facilities and are responsible for the associated costs," he said.
Extra duty 'pervasive' but public awareness low
Kevin Walby, a criminal justice researcher at the University of Winnipeg, said virtually every police service in North America has an extra duty program, but they don't widely advertise.
"Private buyers or sometimes even public buyers, they'll call that office and they'll say, 'I need some extra duty officers for the football game or the hockey game or a parade,'" Walby said, adding that members of the public often aren't aware the officers aren't on normal duty.
"Increasingly, we see big box stores calling them and saying, 'No, rather than private security, I want public police."
He said, for example, an officer could work 50 regular hours in a week and take on an additional 20 hours of extra duty.
"When are they sleeping?" he said. "Do we want people who aren't sleeping walking around with guns and being in charge of life and death decisions?"
Walby said the extra duty employment is "pervasive" and in some cases, represents as much as half of an officer's income.
Earlier this year, Halifax Regional Council narrowly approved a $1.2-million budget increase for HRP after Chief Dan Kinsella told the police board that people in the department were "overworked" and "exhausted."
Smith said the number of hours officers work off duty is the "most concerning aspect" of extra duty policing.
Officers posted at NSLC locations, too
The NSLC has also posted officers in several of its Halifax and Dartmouth stores, citing a 130 per cent increase in thefts in the area in the last two years.
"The primary driver behind this is the safety and the well-being of our employees," NSLC spokesperson Beverley Ware said, adding that employees have expressed feelings of stress and anxiety due to "increasingly aggressive" behaviour from certain customers.
"This is an approach that we had taken a number of years ago when we had also experienced a dramatic increase in thefts."
Ware said theft numbers will be monitored to assess the success of the program.
Frustration among 'buyers'
Walby said interviews with 200 buyers of extra duty across North America suggested there was a lot of frustration among buyers of extra duty police officers, who thought they would be more effective than private security guards.
"They said, 'Okay, we'll pay more for public police, but then the public police get there and they can't tell them what to do," he said, adding that he's doubtful more police in stores leads to less theft.
"If you need safety, why not go to the root cause of the transgression, you know, hunger, poverty?" he said. "They have needs that aren't being met by our society. Police aren't going to meet those needs."
Smith said he hopes to get more clarity on HRP's extra duty policy at the next board of police commissioners meeting early next month. He said he'd like to see the extra duty policy be made available online for the public.
Walmart on Monday cut its quarterly and full-year profit guidance, saying inflation is causing shoppers to spend more on necessities such as food and less on items like clothing and electronics.
That shift in spending has left more items on store shelves and warehouses — forcing the big-box retailer to aggressively mark down items that customers don't want.
The company's stock fell more than 8% at the open Tuesday. Shares of other retailers, including Target and e-commerce giant Amazon, also fell.
Walmart said it now anticipates adjusted earnings per share for the second quarter and full year to to decline around 8% to 9% and 11% to 13%, respectively. It had previously expected them to be flat to up slightly for the second quarter and to drop by about 1% for the full year.
Walmart, which is the biggest grocer in the U.S. and often considered a bellwether for the overall economy, said more customers are turning to its stores, which are known for low prices, to fill their pantries and fridges. But they are skipping over general merchandise that they can live without.
Walmart said it now expects same-store sales in the U.S. to rise by about 6% in the second quarter, excluding fuel, as customers buy more food at its stores. That's higher than the 4% to 5% increase that the company previously expected.
However, that merchandise mix will weigh on the company. Groceries have lower profit margins than discretionary items, such as TVs and clothing.
"The increasing levels of food and fuel inflation are affecting how customers spend, and while we've made good progress clearing hardline categories, apparel in Walmart U.S. is requiring more markdown dollars," CEO Doug McMillon said in a news release.
He said the company is seeing strong back-to-school sales in the U.S., but anticipates people will pull back on buying general merchandise in the second half of the year. That could be warning sign for retailers ahead of the holiday shopping season.
The sharp change in consumer spending could jeopardize other aspects of Walmart's strategy, too. The company wants grow its subscription service, Walmart+, but that could be a tougher sell if Americans scour their bills for fees to cut. It has launched a growing number of general merchandise brands, particularly in apparel and home, which could now wind up on the clearance rack.
Yet McMillon has said Walmart can gain market share and more of customers' wallets during the inflationary period by emphasizing good value. Over the past several quarters, he has stressed that the discounter will keep prices low.
Target also slashed its forecast for the second quarter. Last month, the retailer said its profit margins would take a hit as it canceled orders and marked down merchandise. The company largely attributed the revised forecast to having too much merchandise, including a lot of bulky items such as small home appliances that saw a drop in demand.
Walmart will report its fiscal second quarter results Aug. 16.
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