Government

The Liberal government taking steps toward promised changes to federal drug policy, while looking at how to reduce opioid-related deaths during the pandemic. The federal government launched a national consultation on supervised-consumption sites this week, saying they would be seeking comments from a variety of Canadians, including those who operate the sites—and those who use them.

An outbreak of COVID-19 at a Cargill meat-processing plant in Calgary appears to be under control. Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta's chief medical health officer, reported last week that five cases of the novel coronavirus had been recorded at Case Ready Meats, a Cargill plant that readies meat products for sale in western Canadian supermarkets.

As a member of the Equity in Medicine team, I volunteered to discuss the gender pay gap in Canada for an online hour-long session on a weekday evening in early July. I thought the attendance in the summer would be around a dozen people if we were lucky. The response was incredible, enough to make me hope (faintly) that women physicians in this country may finally have had enough of being treated so unfairly when it comes to remuneration and angry enough to push hard for justified change.

A human rights adjudicator has ruled that the Manitoba government discriminated against a disabled Indigenous boy by not providing adequate health care. The province has been ordered to pay the boy and his mother $42,500. The case centres on Alfred (Dewey) Pruden, who was 16 years old when his human rights complaint was heard last year.

The Winnipeg Free-Press and the CBC have reported that the CEO of St. Boniface Hospital is not self-isolating after travel in apparent violation of Manitoba's current public health orders. A spokesperson for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority told CBC that Martine Bouchard returned to work at the hospital in Winnipeg on Aug. 10 from her home in Quebec where she'd gone in April and worked remotely.

This past weekend marked the fourth anniversary of the defeat of the 2016 tPSA (tentative Physician Services Agreement) at the Ontario Medical Association (OMA). It marked the culmination of the efforts to mobilize almost two-thirds of the membership to vote against the deal, despite heavy pressure from the then board to approve it. In the aftermath of that agreement, there have been some significant and rather seismic changes at the OMA, and it’s worthwhile looking back to see what’s different, and what still needs to be done.

The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations wants answers after an elder says she suffered burns to her arm at a Saskatchewan hospital. Janette Sanderson said last month she went to the Victoria Hospital in Prince Albert after tripping in her hotel washroom and injuring her ankle.

The dean of a newly launched pandemic institute at the University of Toronto says the initiative will help bring together the school's vast resources to effectively research and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Institute for Pandemics will study the impact of the coronavirus as well as the ensuing recovery efforts, while also helping to prepare for future pandemics, Adalsteinn Brown said.