Dryden, ON, Canada / CKDR
Feb 25, 2021 12:00 PM
The Ontario Human Rights Commission says it’s aware of reports of businesses and organizations in Kenora refusing services to Indigenous people and of social media posts spreading racist comments and misinformation.
This comes as Wabaseemoong First Nation fights an outbreak of COVID-19.
The Commission stresses discriminatory action against individuals who are Indigenous or who have, or are perceived to have, COVID-19 is a violation of the Ontario Human Rights Code.
Officials are calling on businesses to follow the requirements and advice of health authorities and apply them equally to all customers.
Customers in turn should also follow the rules including wearing masks and physical distancing or self-isolating when required.
Residents, including Chief Wilfred King, far right, stand at a checkpoint restricting access to their community to slow the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in their remote First Nations community of Gull Bay, Ontario, Canada April 27, 2020. PHOTO BY DAVID JACKSON /Reuters PNimg
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If Canada’s Indigenous population was its own nation, it would rank five spots ahead of Canada on Bloomberg’s world vaccine tracker, which compares countries based on how many doses of a COVID-19 vaccine have been administered per 100 people.
That’s how successful the vaccination program has been in northern and remote Indigenous communities that have been prioritized in the rollout, despite the unique challenges of isolation and a history of vaccine hesitancy born of a mistrust of Canadian health care.
A major Montreal synagogue was vandalized with anti-Semitic graffiti Wednesday afternoon, an act quickly condemned by Jewish groups and the Prime Minister of Canada. Rabbi Adam Scheier of Shaar Hashomayim, one of the largest synagogues in Montreal, said in a letter to members of the congregation that a man had spray-painted swastikas on the doors of the temple around 2 p.m. Scheier said the man was quickly detained by a security guard, and.
MONTREAL One man is in police custody after one of Montreal s largest synagogues was vandalized with anti-Semitic symbols on Wednesday. Swastikas were painted onto the doors of Westmount s Congregation Shaar Hashomayim. Adam Scheier, the synagogue s rabbi, said the suspect had also brought a gasoline canister with him. I was actually walking to another meeting and was maybe 100 metres away from the synagogue, said Scheier. I quickly turned around and when I got there, the perpetrator had already been put in the back of a police car. The rabbi said he reviewed security footage which showed the man putting the can of gasoline down and [taking] out the spray paint. That was the first thing he did and thankfully the last thing.
Swastikas were painted onto the doors of Westmount s Congregation Shaar Hashomayim. Adam Scheier, the synagogue s rabbi, said the suspect had also brought a gasoline canister with him.