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Ontario records 841 COVID-19 infections despite new measures

Sep 17, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Ontario hit its highest number of COVID-19 cases since setting a record two weeks ago despite new measures banning indoor dining and closing indoor dining and drinking in hot zones on the Thanksgiving weekend.

The Ministry of Health reported 841 new infections Thursday, up from 719 the previous day and the most since 939 on Oct. 9 with a 20 per cent increase in testing over the previous day. There were nine deaths for the second day in a row.

“If we hadn’t taken any measures our numbers would be even higher than they are now,” said Health Minister Christine Elliott, referring to the modified Stage 2 restrictions in Toronto, Peel, York, and Ottawa.

“While we take some solace in that, we have not driven down the numbers,” chief medical officer Dr. David Williams told reporters, urging Ontarians to take pandemic precautions more seriously.

Toronto had 335 new infections, has been above 300 all week and the percentage of people testing positive is up to 4.4 from 3.2 per 100 a week ago.

“We’ve seen some improvement in Ottawa’s numbers. Not the same in Toronto and Peel,” said Williams, who is keeping an eye on the statistics to gauge the impact of the new restrictions, which weren’t imposed on until Monday.

“If we need to take further measures, of course, we will do so,” Elliott said.

Peel had 162 new infections, York 106 — an increase of 30 from the previous day — and Ottawa 72.

Meanwhile, pressure is building for Premier Doug Ford to axe liability protections covering for-profit nursing homes facing lawsuits from families with loved ones who died of COVID-19 in their care.

All three opposition parties said from Attorney General Doug Downey limiting suits to cases of gross negligence goes too far when it comes to profit-oriented long-term-care chains.

They’re making money,” said Liberal House Leader John Fraser, comparing them to nursing homes operated by not-for-profit corporations, charities and municipalities. “There’s a distinction there.”

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said for-profit corporations in long-term care — which she has promised to bar from the sector if elected premier in 2022 — should not be “off the hook” for some of the “horrors” in nursing homes under the bill.

The legislation has been criticized by families who lost parents and grandparents to the virus in questionable circumstances for limiting lawsuits to cases of “gross negligence,” meaning many cases would be dismissed.

“The Ford government’s made a mistake,” said Green Leader Mike Schreiner, who added he supports that level of immunity for non-profit nursing home operators but not for the profit-oriented chains.

Downey told a news conference it’s appropriate for the government to take a “broad approach” because liability protections are needed for all sorts of businesses, charities and volunteer organizations that made “good faith” efforts to prevent the inadvertent spread of COVID-19.

Ford said the terrible examples of lapses in care cited in a following the emergency deployment of military medical teams to the hardest-hit nursing homes — along with pending reports from the government’s long-term care commission, Ontario Ombudsman Paul Dubé and Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk — could attract the attention of police.

“If police have to do investigations, God bless ‘em,” the premier told a news conference, pledging more action when those reports come out.

“There will be justice.”

The Ontario Long-Term Care Association, which represents nursing home operators, has warned many are having trouble getting their liability insurance renewed and hefty lawsuits could put some out of business, leaving their thousands of residents in limbo.

“We’ve got a sector that’s on the precipice,” said executive director Donna Duncan, noting 60 per cent of the province’s nursing homes are run by for-profit operators, including major chains like Revera.

“This whole notion we’re going to single out 60 per cent of the system, how is that OK?”

Another 25 residents and four staff in nursing homes tested positive for COVID in what has been a steady climb of cases since the end of August,more rapid spread could return, although the number of outbreaks dropped by six to 80 facilities. The virus has killed 1,984 long-term-care residents.

The number of patients requiring hospital care for COVID-19 grew by 10 to 270 people, with 74 in intensive care and 48 of them on ventilators to breathe.

There were 74 more cases in schools across the province and 501 schools reported having students or staff with infections. Outbreaks have forced the temporary closure of five schools.

Rob Ferguson is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics for the Star. Follow him on Twitter:

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Sarah Valiquette-Thompson has resigned from Severn council

Sep 2, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Severn councillor Sarah Valiquette-Thompson resigned from council Nov. 4. Valiquette-Thompson moved to Nova Scotia with her family earlier this year.

“On behalf of council, I extend sincere thanks to Sarah for her service to the community. It’s been a pleasure working alongside her these past couple of years. We wish the Valiquette-Thompson family all the best,” said Mayor Mike Burkett.

Severn Township has formally declared the Ward 5 seat vacant. When there’s a council vacancy, the municipality can hold a by-election or appoint a person who agrees to accept the position.

“Council considered the cost and timeline of both options and unanimously supported filling the position by appointment,” said township communications officer Lynn Racicot.

Interested individuals may apply by Dec. 4 at 4 p.m. Candidates must be eligible to vote in Severn to qualify for the position.

Council will interview candidates and select the new councillor Dec. 10 at 9 a.m. The successful candidate will be sworn in Dec. 16 at 9 a.m. Due to the pandemic, the meetings will be held electronically. The public can attend the meetings by phone or video.

Applications are available online at
 

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This Toronto plumber is selling candy chutes for Halloween to raise money for the Daily Bread Food Bank. The demand has been overwhelming

Aug 31, 2021 , , , , by shlf

What do you do when the long-standing trick-or-treating Halloween tradition is possibly in jeopardy amid the pandemic?

If you are plumber Geoff Burke, you put your building skills to use by making and installing candy chutes outside people’s homes.

“Kids are definitely having a tough year with school cancellations, not being able to see their friends and all that, so I thought, why not provide a little bit of life for these kids who have missed out on so much already this year,” said Burke, a resident in Toronto’s west end and owner of Watermark Plumbing Services Inc.

“Along with what the experts are saying, this is one of the safer holidays that we can celebrate safely outside.”

Canada’s top public health official Dr. Theresa Tam, told reporters on Tuesday that Halloween need not be cancelled altogether. According to Tam, public health leaders believe it’s possible to strike ” between risk and fun if outdoors.

Tam urged community members to observe existing safety measures — such as masking up, using hand sanitizer and observing physical distancing — while out on the candy hunt.

Toronto, Ottawa and Peel region are Ontario’s hot zones, but Ontario’s medical health officer Dr. David Williams said, as of Tuesday, recommendations for Halloween in those spots haven’t yet been finalized.

Meanwhile Burke, 32, has come up with a creative solution to pandemic trick-or-treating: distributing candy through makeshift chutes installed in front of people’s homes.

The idea came to him a few weeks ago when he read a story about a man in Ohio who created a candy chute as a means to distribute candy to kids during Halloween while safely observing physical distancing guidelines. Burke’s own two-year-old daughter is at an age when she’s starting to enjoy the outside activities and it would be hard to explain to her why trick-or-treating is not happening, he said.

When he put out a call over the Thanksgiving weekend, the community response was swift and overwhelming. He had to stop the requests after getting 400 of them.

“It was quickly getting out of hand,” he said about people’s interest.

The chutes are made from drainage pipes, which have been donated by Burke’s supplier, . The pipes are then painted orange and decorated just to give them an extra festive look.

The plan is to use volunteers from Daily Bread Food Bank to help put them up, starting next week.

Burke only asks that for each chute installed, a minimum $25 donation be made to help the food bank. Earlier in April he used his plumbing services to raise over $4,500 for the same initiative, after realizing COVID-19 was leaving many people out of food options.

“To me, it’s just a way to help people get out there, stay socially distanced and have a little bit of fun. It’s been a difficult time for everybody for too long,” he said.

Burke is not the only person to think outside the box while trying to find a way to celebrate this upcoming Halloween.

On his front porch in Brooklin, north of Whitby, Scott Bennett has installed a candy slide through which he’s planning to drop candy straight into the bags of trick-or-treaters on Halloween.

He has on how to build one such slide on his YouTube channel where he usually posts various projects of his craft in woodworking. With “as few tools as possible” he hopes people will quickly learn to do it and safely take part in Halloween.

“I think our kids are going through enough change right now, and adults are potentially stressed about things,” he said, noting Halloween is a magical time of the year and at this stage of the pandemic it’s really important that people get a chance to see some change in their routine.

“I don’t want to be in my house with the lights off. I want to be out on the porch talking to my neighbours, celebrating with everyone.”

With files from Tonda MacCharles

Gilbert Ngabo is a Star breaking news reporter based in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter:

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Court rejects injunction to prevent Toronto from enforcing encampment prohibition in city parks

Aug 30, 2021 , , , , by shlf

An Ontario court has denied a request for an injunction that would have prevented Toronto from enforcing its prohibition on tents in city parks for the rest of the pandemic.

In the decision released Wednesday, Judge Paul Schabas cautioned that he wasn’t directing the city to remove the homeless encampments in city parks, and urged it to recognize that the situation was evolving.

“My decision is based on evidence that dates from the summer months when the incidence of COVID-19 was low, the weather was warm, and the city had specific concerns about particular group encampments,” Schabas wrote.

He also noted that the city had taken “significant steps” to respond to the threat of COVID-19 in shelters since the pandemic struck.

The city has to consider how and when to enforce its bylaws now, he wrote, based on the availability of safe shelter spaces and the impact of encampments on parks and the public.

While Schabas accepted that some of the applicants — a group consisting of several current and former encampment residents, the Toronto Overdose Prevention Society and the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty — feared being exposed to COVID-19 in shelters, he ruled the evidence before the court didn’t satisfy that “broad relief” was justified, even temporarily.

Calling homelessness an “unfortunate reality,” he said the city needed tools to address situations where public health and safety was jeopardized, or where the public’s use of parks was limited or prevented. Encampments, he wrote, impaired the use of park spaces — particularly during the pandemic when outdoor spaces were needed for activities that couldn’t be done indoors.

Arguments over the potential encampment injunction were , the same day as a separate hearing about distancing standards in Toronto’s shelter system. That case , with the city found by a judge to have breached its obligations under a settlement about COVID precautions in its homeless shelters.

Lawyers representing the applicants in the encampment suit argued that encampments alleviated stress and uncertainty for homeless people, by providing consistency around where they got their meals, relieved themselves, charged phones and slept at night. They argued encampments offered more consistent access to pharmacies, safe consumption sites and medical care.

The city meanwhile argued that the encampments posed “serious dangers” to those living in them, as well as city staff and the public.

“The city has made a policy decision to invest its scarce resources in making safer indoor spaces available to as many people as possible, rather than building infrastructure to support living within parks,” it wrote in submitted materials.

The city told the court it hadn’t taken steps to dismantle encampments since the case started, though it continued to make efforts to move people into shelters or other indoor housing.

Zoe Dodd, co-founder of the overdose prevention society, said she was disappointed to see Schabas’ decision. She said that the separate court ruling last week had shown the city wasn’t meeting safe distancing standards in its shelters.

She said it didn’t make sense that people in Toronto were advised not to see their families on Thanksgiving, nor celebrate Halloween, while the city was downtown this winter.

The applicants’ lawyers were deciding whether an appeal was possible, she said.

Dodd specifically took issue with Schabas’ conclusion that encampments impaired the public’s use of parks, arguing that those experiencing homelessness are part of the public.

In a statement, the city said it would continue trying to create capacity for those living in encampments to move indoors. According to the city, since March more than 948 people had been moved from encampments to indoor spaces — with 62 encampments cleared this year.

“Today’s ruling does not order the city to clear encampments,” according to the city’s statement, “rather the ruling does not prevent the city from clearing an encampment when shelter and housing options become available to those living in encampments or as required by the circumstances.”

Following the ruling, Mayor John Tory told reporters he understood that people needed better housing options in the city, and pledged to provide “as broad a range of options as possible” to those currently living in encampments — especially as the winter months approach.

With a file from Francine Kopun

Victoria Gibson is a Toronto-based reporter for the Star covering affordable housing. Her reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. Reach her via email:

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Tiny Township firefighters grow moustaches, raise $19,000 for men’s health

Aug 27, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Firefighters in Tiny Township joined forces and helped raise funds and awareness for men’s mental health during November.

Thirty members of the local fire department — which has around 90 firefighters in total — decided to grow moustaches and fundraise for Movember, one of the leading men’s mental health charities.

“This year, with COVID-19 being a prevalent issue for everybody, this seemed like a community rallying point; something people could get behind and participate in,” said Steffen Walma, a firefighter at Station 2 in Wyevale and Tiny Township’s deputy mayor.

Firefighters in Tiny Township have participated in the campaign in the past, but it had always been an individual station effort. 

This year, Walma pitched the idea of a joint effort and encouraged everyone in the department to participate.

“I tried to rally everybody. They took up the torch and it went crazy from there,” said Walma.

The 30 fundraisers came from across the department’s five fire halls and over the course of the month. Walma led the way with $2,410. Samantha Barnett was a close second, raising $2,030, despite not being able to grow a moustache. She set fitness goals and raised money that way. 

“I never imagined that we would raise as much as we did. It is a testament to our firefighters and a testament to the community,” said Walma.

The Balm Beach Bar and Smokehouse chipped in and donated 10 per cent of sales from the month to the cause. 

Movember’s connection to mental health and suicide prevention is what resonates with firefighters.

“The driver from the fire service perspective has been post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the stigma that if you are a firefighter you have to be manly,” said Walma. “On top of the fundraising, we are also trying to make men’s health a priority and break that stigma, so that guys who need help seek it.”

In Canada, three out of four people who die by suicide are men, according to the website. By raising awareness, the campaign hopes to reduce the rate of male suicides by 25 per cent over the next 10 years.

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‘It’s like, wow, it’s real now’: Orillia swim coach on recreation facility

Aug 25, 2021 , , , , by shlf

When the city opened its long-awaited recreation centre on the morning of Oct. 26, it wasn’t the splashy event that one would have expected after years of anticipation.

With a pandemic underway and strict safety protocols in place, the municipality is gradually phasing in its use to protect visitors and staff from the spread of COVID-19.

The typical splash of an opening-day celebration was instead replaced by the sound of Orillia Channel Cats Swim Club members slicing through the waters of the new eight-lane pool.

“It’s pretty amazing,” head coach Meredith Thompson-Edwards told Simcoe.com. “It’s like, wow, it’s real now.”

Just as the city is phasing in use of the building, the Orillia Channel Cats are likewise taking a go-slow approach.

The club is limiting the number of members in the pool at one time and dividing the pool into four, double-sized lanes to allow for greater distance between swimmers.

“With the Y closing, we haven’t been able to train at all,” Thompson-Edwards said. “We have done some dry land (training) to keep them as active as they can, but to actually dive in, they were pretty excited.”

For the time being, the building at 255 West St. S. will be open to the public for time slots at the fitness centre, pre-registered drop-in aquatics, fitness and sports programming, registered programs, and user groups.

The gradual approach to opening includes modified schedules to allow for monitoring of building capacity, proper cleaning protocols and contact tracing.

All participants must arrive dressed and ready for their program of choice, as change rooms are not currently available.

Masks must be worn in common areas and in designated programs.

The facility’s opening represents “a pivotal point” for the community, Mayor Steve Clarke said.

“Although the opening is very different than we had imagined, and there will be no grand opening celebration – yet – this facility is something the entire city can be extremely proud of,” Clarke added.

Memberships, known as ‘Fun Passes’ can be purchased through the city’s online portal, , which also serves as the registration point for drop-in programming.

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Ontario reports 625 new cases of COVID-19 amid worries we are headed for 1,000 a day

Aug 20, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Ontario reported 625 new cases of amid warnings the province is on track for 1,000 daily in a couple of weeks — surpassing the recent high of 700 — depending on the impact of recent restrictions including shorter hours for bars and restaurants.

The next targets could be trouble spots for transmission such as banquet halls, indoor group fitness classes and workplaces with lax attitudes on allowing employees to come to work sick or to skip quarantines, chief medical officer Dr. David Williams said Wednesday.

“We need to tighten the belts…or we’re going to see a lot more cases,” he told a briefing at Queen’s Park.

Cases are doubling every 10 to 12 days, top provincial health officials said in presenting new computer modelling on the likely trajectory of the pandemic which shows Ontario on the same path as neighbouring Michigan and the Australian state of Victoria, where an overnight curfew starting at 8 p.m. was enacted for Melbourne.

“We are starting to see that sharp upward curve,” said Dr. Adalsteinn Brown, dean of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto.

Premier Doug Ford said his cabinet is discussing the province’s next moves to slow the spread of the highly contagious virus because of the “deeply concerning” projection, but added “we aren’t rolling back today” as opposition parties called for quicker action.

“If these numbers keep rising we’ll see 200 to 300 patients in ICU (intensive care) beds per day. Folks, we have to work together to turn the tide in this fight,” the premier acknowledged after four deaths were reported for the second day in a row.

While the province is waiting a few more days to gauge the effect of shuttering strip joints and ordering earlier closures for bars and restaurants along with a Sept. 19 reduction in the maximum size of public gatherings to 10 indoors and 25 outdoors, “we’re going to start looking at other venues that are a problem,” said Williams.

Some banquet halls and workplaces are being “less than stringent” on enforcing guidelines such as crowd limits, mask wearing, physical distancing and staying home when sick, he added, with group fitness classes a problem because people are “breathing hard, working hard” in close quarters.

The briefing followed Monday’s spike to 700 new cases and another 554 Tuesday in a September surge that has seen daily infections rise from around 100 daily through August, raising concerns about how long schools will be able to remain open with cases rising in classrooms as well.

The Ontario Hospital Association, along with a number of doctors and epidemiologists have called on the government to take stricter measures before the spread of COVID-19 gets further out of hand, warning hospitals could eventually be swamped. The OHA, for example, is pushing for a return to Stage 2 in urban hot spots like Toronto.

While the trend has been for the majority of cases in people under 40, that growth is helping to spread the highly contagious in older age groups more likely to require medical care and hospitalization, provincial officials said. They cautioned that could limit the capacity to perform surgeries and other procedures backlogged from the first wave.

“We have seen this same pattern play out in Florida, France, Spain,” University of Toronto epidemiologist Dr. David Fisman said on social media. “You need leadership that understands these patterns and has the political courage to act when things don’t yet look horrible.”

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath echoed that, saying “we need to do it now.”

Ford and Williams said they are aiming for targeted actions based on provincial and local data to avoid widespread shutdowns unless absolutely necessary.

“You have to measure the impacts on peoples’ livelihoods,” Ford told reporters.

Ontario Health chief executive Matthew Anderson said several regions in the province outside larger cities have no or very few new cases, whereas hot spots like Peel and Ottawa are in situations where three per cent of people being tested are positive for COVID-19. Fisman said four per cent of people in their 20s being tested are positive.

The government’s fall preparedness plan released Wednesday states positivity rates should be kept below three per cent.

Officials at the briefing said hospitals can remain close to normal with fewer that 150 COVID-19 patients in intensive care but capacity is increasingly limited beyond that with 350 coronavirus ICU patients making normal operations “impossible,” meaning surgeries have to be postponed.

Hospitalizations have doubled to 150 in the last two weeks and there were 35 patients in ICU in Wednesday’s daily report, including 17 on ventilators. Intensive care patients peaked just below 300 in early April before the province hit a then-high of 640 new daily cases later in the month.

Another 52 cases of COVID-19 were reported in schools with the number of schools with cases rising by 32 to 282, with three schools closed temporarily.

Rob Ferguson is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics for the Star. Follow him on Twitter:

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Health units can respond faster than the province to protect long-term-care residents, minister says

Aug 20, 2021 , , , , by shlf

With outbreaks of COVID-19 taking deeper and more deadly hold in nursing homes, the cabinet minister in charge is urging local medical officers of health to step in quickly with any “necessary” protections.

“Our measures take somewhat longer,” Long-Term Care Minister Merrilee Fullerton said Monday as the government reported 1,487 new cases in the wake of Premier Doug Ford’s warning Ontario is

Another 123 nursing home residents and 23 staff have been infected in the last two days in addition to deaths of 24 residents, including at a handful of . There are outbreaks in 107 of Ontario’s 626 nursing homes, an increase of six.

Fullerton’s comments, which came without specific advice for local health units, prompted criticism from NDP Leader Andrea Horwath and others, given there have been 250 nursing home deaths in the second wave of the pandemic this fall.

“She can’t pass the buck,” Horwath said, citing an “empty promise” from Ford earlier this year to put an “iron ring” of protection around nursing homes.

“It looks like she’s preparing to scapegoat the public health units.”

While the province has limited the number of visitors to nursing homes in general, and in hot spots is allowing only two designated “caregivers” in to see loved ones, Fullerton said local medical officers of health have more “tools to use” under the Health Protection and Promotion Act, such as banning visitors to keep potential infections out.

“In some cases, that is happening,” she told reporters after the legislature resumed sitting following a one-week break. She noted that 92 per cent of nursing homes have no COVID-19 cases among residents.

Liberal MPP Mitzie Hunter (Scarborough-Guildwood) said that was an attempt to minimize the dangers of the virus in the close confines of long-term care, where it spread rapidly last spring and has now killed more than 2,000 residents and eight staff since March.

“What you’re doing in hot spots is not working because people are dying,” Hunter said in the legislature’s question period.

Kennedy Lodge nursing home in Scarborough has had 30 residents die since an outbreak began Oct. 2, while has had seven dead, along with 136 residents and 65 staff infected. Both are getting assistance from hospitals in the Scarborough Health Network.

Fullerton acknowledged “testing isn’t perfect” for nursing-home employees because some are staff are unwittingly going to work infected, which can “wreak havoc” among vulnerable residents, and said new rapid testing kits coming soon will help that situation.

“It’s coming in through the staffers, it’s coming in through the visitors,” Ford told reporters, saying front-line health care staff need COVID-19 test results back within 24 hours, not “three or four days.”

It’s not clear why it is taking that long for staff to get test results because, most days, labs are processing tests at a level below their daily capacity of about 50,000.

Ford also announced the creation of an agency called Supply Ontario to provide centralized procurement and bulk purchasing of personal protective equipment and other supplies for the government and related agencies.

Monday’s tally of 1,487 new cases province-wide was almost 100 short of a record set Saturday, but nevertheless lifted the seven-day moving average of new cases to an all-time high of 1,443, almost double the level of a month ago.

“The trends are concerning,” said chief medical officer Dr. David Williams. Recommendations requested by Ford on the need for any new pandemic restrictions will come by week’s end, he added.

Just two of Ontario’s 34 public health units had no new cases, a sharp contrast with the 18 or 20 that would typically report no infections back in August, when Ontario went almost a week with fewer than 100 cases daily.

On average, every person who catches COVID-19 now is infecting another 1.2 people according to the effective reproduction rate.

Although more than one-third of Ontario’s hospitals did not report their latest statistics, Monday’s report from the Ministry of Health still showed the number of people requiring hospital care for the virus jumped by 21 to 500 patients.

There were 125 patients in intensive care, an increase of seven and a level not seen since June 3, and 70 of them on ventilators, up three. Just a week ago, there were 367 people in hospital with 84 in intensive care.

Provincial health officials warned last week that ICU numbers are due to surpass 150 within the next 10 days, pinching the ability of hospitals to perform non-emergency surgeries and other procedures.

Most of Ontario’s new cases were in the GTA, with 508 in Toronto, 392 in Peel, 170 in York, 45 in Durham and 46 in Halton.

Rob Ferguson is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics for the Star. Follow him on Twitter:

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WARNING: Certain Kawartha Dairy ice cream flavours recalled due to possible metal pieces

Aug 20, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Before you add a scoop of ice cream to your favourite treat, make sure to check the label first.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency for certain Kawartha Dairy ice cream flavours sold in Ontario because there may be metal pieces in them.

Kawartha Dairy is recalling the items.

There have been no reported cases of anyone getting sick or being injured by eating the ice cream.

ice cream

Kawartha Dairy cookie dough ice cream is among the flavours being recalled. | Canadian Food Inspection Agency photo

However, customers should not eat the products and retailers, restaurants, and institutions should not sell or use the following recalled items:

• The 1.5-litre size of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream with the UPC code 0 62229 08950 1

• The 11.4-litre size of Choc. Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream with the UPC code 0 62229 08150 5

• The 1.5-litre size of Mint Chip Ice Cream with the UPC code 0 62229 08917 4

• The 11.4-litre size of Mint Chip Ice Cream with the UPC code 0 62229 08117 8.

Check to see if you have the recalled products in your home or business.

Recalled products should be thrown out or returned to the location where they were purchased.

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‘Substantial danger’: Class action claim alleges negligence after salmonella outbreak leaves hundreds of Canadians sick and dozens hospitalized

Aug 19, 2021 , , , , by shlf

The producers of onions that triggered multiple food recalls and public health warnings and are believed to have caused a over the summer were negligent and failed to properly test their products, ultimately putting the public’s safety at risk, according to allegations in a class action claim filed in Ontario Superior court.

None of the allegations against California-based Thomson International, which produced most of the onions in question, have been proven in court and efforts to contact the management team of the large crop producer have been unsuccessful.

A message left with Nancy Thomson, the company’s accounting executive, on Saturday hasn’t been returned.

The statement of claim, launched by law firm Siskinds LLP who represent Saskatchewan resident Amber Furniss and London, Ont. resident Noreen Raja — both of whom became sick from eating onions — asks the court to certify the legal action as a class proceeding.

The claim alleges Thomson was “negligent in the manufacturing, testing, packaging, promoting, marketing, distributing, supplying, labelling, and/or selling of the contaminated onions,” among other accusations.

It is seeking an unknown amount of damage costs for Furniss, Raja and other Canadians who may have been impacted by the outbreak.

“The claim seeks damages for physical injury and financial losses associated with the recall, which are likely very significant,” Siskinds LLP lawyer James Boyd said in an email to Inside Halton.

The legal action arises from a believed to have been caused by contaminated onions from Thomson International, the claim, launched Sept. 30, alleges.

In total, there were linked to this outbreak in the following provinces: British Columbia (121), Alberta (293), Saskatchewan (35), Manitoba (26), Ontario (14), Quebec (25) and Prince Edward Island (1), according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Individuals became sick between mid-June and late-August 2020.

Seventy-nine individuals were hospitalized, the Agency said, and three people died, but salmonella did not contribute to the cause of these deaths.

On or after July 1, Furniss said, she bought some of the recalled onion products.

On or about July 24, 2020, she consumed some of the onion product and became ill, according to the claim.

“Amber’s symptoms included abdominal pain, nausea, and dizziness,” the action alleges.

On or about July 31, 2020, Furniss consumed more of the recalled onion product and again became ill with similar symptoms before throwing the onions away in early August after learning of the outbreak and recalls.

“The defendant had a duty or care to compensate the plaintiffs and class members for pure economic losses suffered as a result of the supply of products that present a real and substantial danger to the public,” the claim charges. “The contaminated onions posed a real and substantial danger to the public, including, but not limited to, a danger to the health and safety of the public through the risk of exposure to salmonella.”

If you or someone you know has consumed or purchased recalled onion products in 2020, or disposed of “unidentifiable” onion products as a result of learning about the recalls, the law firm is asking you to