Rising instances of COVID-19 have been under the microscope recently, as Toronto, Ottawa and Brampton deal with large outbreaks.
In Mississauga, bound to Brampton by Peel Public Health, businesses and residents are in danger of being punished for a problem they did not cause.
After students were welcomed back into classes last week, a total of five schools in the Peel District School Board have now confirmed cases of COVID-19, as the region and other parts of Ontario experience a resurgence of the viral spread. The high COVID numbers and latest school cases come as PDSB saw 10,000 students opt to switch out of in-class learning in favour of online education, forcing the board to delay its live virtual offerings to students.
The Premier and Ontario’s Health Minister said Monday that if Peel and other regions, such as Toronto and Ottawa, continue to see dramatic increases in COVID-19 cases, they will be forced to again shutdown facilities and services that were allowed to reopen under Stage 3 of the province’s pandemic response plan.
Mississauga’s mayor says her city should not be punished if other parts of Peel are the problem.
The region’s largest school board sent a message to families Saturday, informing them that due to increased demand for virtual learning, instead of the in-class option, additional time will be required ahead of this week’s plans to engage students more directly online. Starting Monday, until the end of the week, elementary students will have to work independently, while the board puts its plan in place to begin a more directed, teacher-led virtual learning experience. High school students will not get live online learning for another week.
Brampton East’s beleaguered former MP Raj Grewal who left the Liberal caucus in 2018 after gambling problems derailed his political career, is facing a number of charges laid by the RCMP Friday in relation to his suspicious financial transactions and the use of government funds for his personal benefit.
It’s unclear if any of the charges relate to Grewal’s role in a controversial Brampton land deal that saw him receive confidential information about the transaction before a company bought the property and sold it to the City for $1 million more than expected.
The City of Brampton, led by a push from Mayor Patrick Brown, wants to tunnel a portion of the proposed Main Street LRT extension into the city centre. It would cost as much as $1.3 billion more than a surface alignment.
The Government of Ontario’s plan to tunnel a large section of the Eglinton West LRT Extension from Toronto to Mississauga will achieve marginally shorter journey times.
But these expensive alignments raise questions about investment in other Peel transit projects and the opportunity to create more dense, walkable communities.
As Brampton’s skyrocketing case numbers continue to alarm residents, and with Peel Region currently experiencing the highest number of active COVID-19 cases in Ontario, a new Cold & Flu screening facility was announced Wednesday. But details around the planned clinic are scarce.
It’s not clear how it will help curb the alarming local COVID-19 rate. Woefully low testing levels are not being addressed and residents will have to wait to learn if the clinic will have any impact on Brampton’s current crisis. Meanwhile, Mayor Patrick Brown and the CEO of the city’s hospital network responsible for testing, are pointing a finger elsewhere and say they are doing a great job.
Now that schools are in session, protocols for how to handle viral spread in classrooms are top of mind for many, especially with numbers in Brampton rising rapidly. Teachers at one Mississauga school temporarily walked off the job Tuesday.
Discussions on Ontario’s back-to-school plans have seen opposition since they were first announced, with teachers and parents arguing safety is suffering. Some are questioning if the measures implemented by both boards will be enough to keep students and educators safe.
An analysis of the geographic spread of COVID-19 in the Region of Peel by The Pointer shows 60 schools in Brampton are located in neighbourhoods with around double, or higher, the rate of COVID-19 compared to the provincial per capita figure.
There are just 10 in Mississauga.
New cases in the city are causing alarm among residents and provincial officials, but neither of the two public school boards have indicated classes will be delayed.
Unlike other neighbouring boards that have pushed the first day of in-class learning back by a week, to get a better handle on the situation and prepare for a worst case scenario, Brampton families will be sending their children back into classrooms starting this Tuesday for some high school students and Wednesday for the first groups of elementary students, with the city currently recording the worst COVID-19 rates of any municipality in the country.
In June, the City of Brampton announced it will hand out thousands of masks to transit riders in the city.
A month later, a mandatory mask policy came into effect, marking the start of an ongoing problem for riders who say many are not following the rules.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford zeroed in on Brampton’s alarming rate of COVID-19 cases at a news conference Friday, after the city accounted for nearly 40 percent of the province’s total on Wednesday.
It’s a shocking trend that has continued since Brampton entered Stage 3 near the beginning of August. Ford expressed concern over the local management of the pandemic and offered to send extra testing, but could not get a hold of Mayor Patrick Brown.
The City of Brampton took part in the annual Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference virtually this year, with City officials and staff meeting provincial counterparts over two days to discuss the city’s needs.
Brampton won’t get much help from higher levels of government if Mayor Patrick Brown continues with his tax freezes, instead of budgeting for the city’s share of key projects such as a new hospital and expanded transit.
Mississauga’s Lebanese community has stepped up to help their loved ones back home.
Initiatives for those suffering from the blast have made a difference, but as the days pass, fallout from the massive explosion spreads and more support is needed.
The National Council of Canadian Muslims and Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie have criticized Peel police union president Adrian Woolley for his “dog-whistle” politics and “divisive” use of social media to stoke racial and religious tension in one of Canada’s most diverse regions.
Woolley, who was convicted of drunk driving last year, represents frontline officers in Ontario’s third largest police force.
Days before the novel coronavirus was declared a pandemic, the William Osler Health System completed the first part of its plans to expand Peel Memorial into a full-service hospital.
The document was delivered to the province months after initially scheduled, putting a delay on discussions. The COVID-19 pandemic could push things back even further.
This year’s Terry Fox Run will include a virtual walk in response to the world-wide pandemic. On September 1, 40 years ago, he ended his Marathon of Hope. Two months earlier, he was running down Main Street in Brampton. And on July 13, 1980, Fox made his way along Lakeshore Rd., passing Hwy. 10 at around 3:30 p.m. He was wearing a City of Mississauga T-shirt. On that day, the city’s residents donated $17,103 to the Canadian Cancer Society in his honour. Many ran out of their homes as he passed by to drop money into a pledge box.
Fox ran 5,373 kilometres across the country to raise money for cancer research.
Ontario’s largest teachers’ unions are taking the provincial government to the Ontario Labour Relations Board, challenging the efficacy of the school reopening framework, claiming it creates an unsafe working environment.
In Peel, where a large proportion of Ontario’s COVID-19 cases continue to be recorded in Brampton, it’s more important than ever to reopen safely.
With students set to go back into classes, Peel’s second largest city continues to see alarmingly high infection rates. Public health officials have not detailed the causes of Brampton’s inability to get the virus under control for months. If the spread of the novel coronavirus throughout parts of the city continues at the current rate, will Brampton residents face a return to isolation measures including shutdowns imposed earlier in the pandemic?
Brampton’s street urchin was a person who suffered horrible abuse. This is the inside story of a life badly lived, of a young boy denied hope and the former policeman and Big Brother who was recently charged after 50 years. He was entrusted with the boy’s care. This man will now face the kind of justice that eluded Kevin Dickman all his life.
For the past two years, Brampton residents didn’t see an increase on the City’s portion of the property tax bill.
Mayor Patrick Brown, who has demanded a freeze since his election in 2018, has not made a firm commitment for another one next year, as the pandemic continues to cause major problems for the City’s already stretched finances.
Key administrative staff at the long-term care home vacated their positions before and after the Canadian Armed Forces recently released its exit report on the facility, which was hit hard by COVID-19.
The report highlights many positive changes made in the home, a stark contrast to the original report the military released upon its arrival at several Ontario long-term care homes ravaged by the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Announcements from the federal and provincial governments and Peel District School Board have shed further light on plans for a return to school.
New details include how local health units will contain outbreaks and when students in Mississauga and Brampton will be back in the classroom.
Stage 3 of reopening in the province is proving to be a challenge, with case counts spiking and Brampton posing a particular problem. The opening of establishments such as bars and restaurants has caused COVID-19 cases across North America and other parts of the world to rise, raising questions about whether efforts to kick start the economy are being made at the expense of safety, possibly plunging jurisdictions into a second wave of the pandemic.
Teachers who are at high risk of serious complications from COVID-19 or caring for someone immunocompromised have the option to apply for online teaching only, but unions say some staff may be denied on a situational basis.
Those who are not in the high risk category but are older might have to take an unpaid leave of absence, or resign. It’s late August and many teachers are scrambling to decide what to do.
A Census tract subdivision in the Cooksville area of Mississauga has an infection rate that is 14 times higher than the overall rate in Peel, strongly connected to the presence of a hard-hit long-term care home. Yet, a look at Census tract data reveals other key demographics linked to high COVID rates in particular Mississauga and Brampton neighbourhoods.
Here is a breakdown of the neighbourhood, which shows some of the demographic patterns.
The province’s fourth largest city continues to pose a problem, with infection rates that have been far higher than those seen in other parts of Ontario since Brampton was allowed to enter Stage 3 at the end of July. With parents already anxious about sending children back into schools at the start of September, the city’s inability to control the virus creates an added layer of concern.
Under provincial rules, the Peel District School Board says it’s allowed to use up to $36.6 million from its reserves to hire additional staff and meet other additional needs resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure a safe return for students in the fall.
With the board refusing to provide information that other Ontario school boards have freely disclosed, it remains unclear whether PDSB has enough money to get through this pandemic.
A “good soul” lost to violence. A candle-light vigil and march were held Saturday in Brampton for a young man killed in a vicious robbery.
Surajdeep Singh’s family is in shock and the city’s massive Sikh community is shattered. Members are demanding justice and change as more and more youth die from brazen acts of violence.
In the final story of this three-part series, The Pointer looks at the death of Caleb Harrison and how the ensuing homicide investigation shed new light on the deaths of his parents, forcing Peel Police officers to accept their own missteps. Bill and Bridget Harrison’s son might still be alive if trained investigators had done their job.
Signing into the conference call that would determine the decision, several family members of the victims declared their name and relationship to their deceased relatives, a mother and her three young daughters, for the record. About an hour later, when the bail decision for Brady Robertson was made, they cried in relief.
A statement of claim alleges both parties are “liable” for the alleged assault that took place in November. Councillor Dhillon denies the allegations laid out in the statement of claim and says he will “vigorously defend” himself against the lawsuit. Peel police have confirmed with The Pointer that Turkish authorities are currently conducting a criminal investigation.
The advocacy group says irreversible damage to the environment, increases in emissions and a failure to reduce congestion will result from the construction of the highway being pushed by developers and the Doug Ford PC government. Instead of “sinking” taxpayer money into the project the group is asking the province to take another look at better alternatives for transportation through the area.
Three family members were killed inside their Mississauga home four years apart. Despite obvious signs of foul play, Peel Regional Police didn’t pursue a homicide investigation in the first two deaths. How was this allowed to happen?
In Part 2 of a three-part series, The Pointer looks at the death of Bridget Harrison and how egregious lapses in police judgement and poor management led to the entire Harrison case getting shelved, in the face of glaring clues.
Reopening frameworks for school boards include little mention of seating arrangements for school buses, which could be filled to capacity, a concern for parents and drivers, while it remains unclear how students in class half-time will be provided transportation to and from school.
The federal government has offered support to business owners, but many have fallen through the cracks and see no future as entrepreneurs. Loans for some have been hard to come by and rent subsidies have not reached many commercial tenants, as property owners have the final say.
When schools reopen in weeks nothing will be normal for families across the province. But for parents struggling to figure out how they will make ends meet if forced to leave a job, their reality is vastly different.
These dilemmas are compounded by a scenario that could become common: areas across Peel hardest hit by the virus also have the lowest average incomes, meaning schools in neighbourhoods with the greatest risk of infection might face more challenges because many parents can’t afford to keep children at home, increasing the likelihood of viral spread in larger classes.
Guns smuggled across the border from Canada’s southern neighbour have posed a dilemma around controlling criminal activity. One advocate says police need to take a harder look at what’s happening along the country’s borders. Illegal guns are being used more often for crime in Peel.
There was ample evidence of wrongdoing in the systematic execution of three family members in four years inside their Mississauga house. In the first of a three-part series, signs of incompetence within Peel police are revealed, one of many underlying tragedies behind the Harrison family murders.
After Peel Region was allowed to enter Stage 3 of the province’s reopening schedule case numbers in Brampton initially trended in the right direction, but for more than a week the number of COVID-19 cases in the city has been on a steady climb. Meanwhile, the rest of the region continues to show signs of progress in fighting the disease.
Hundreds of women in Ontario have lost their lives at the hands of abusive partners over the last 15 years, the majority while they were trying to break away.
Studies have shown that most men who commit domestic assault will do it again and again. So why can’t the courts keep them behind bars, and protect women like Darian Henderson-Bellman, who was tragically failed by the system?
The City of Brampton is promoting its Heritage Heights master plan to accommodate more than a hundred thousand new residents in the western portion of the sprawling suburb over the coming decades. It is a modern, complete community design featuring a grand boulevard concept rather than a congested 400-series mega-highway. The only problem is the Government of Ontario says the proposed boulevard design for Heritage Heights, to accommodate the planned GTA West Highway corridor, is not allowed. Why didn’t the City ensure its visionary plan is even feasible before time and money was spent putting it together?
The money is part of a larger $1.6 billion allocation to municipalities across the province.
The much needed funding from Ottawa and Queen’s Park is the first envelope for municipalities struggling with deficits incurred because of the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The province continues to dump information on families and school boards about plans for September.
At the same time, anxiety among parents, students and educators has been expressed on social media as details from the PC government only seem to muddy the waters. The clock is counting down and questions about distance learning, in-class education, transportation and safety protocols are still swirling.
Contrary to claims by Donald Trump, studies have proven that known drug hydroxychloroquine is not effective in the fight against COVID-19.
Yet, Brampton’s Dr. Kulvinder Gill, a self-styled medical leader, continues to promote the drug to fight the novel coronavirus, even claiming a vaccine is not needed, but she’s now being taken to task for misleading the public.
After Toronto released ethno-racial data on COVID-19 infections, Peel Public Health has produced similar research showing the same outcomes: visible minorities are being hit harder by the dangerous virus.
The data is not surprising in another area that was also looked at, as those in occupations deemed essential have been disproportionately infected compared to people able to work remotely.
The rule in the Public Vehicles Act states no more than a certain number of people can be standing on a bus leaving the confines of the city.
Common overcrowding on such routes would be a violation of this rule.
The Brampton mayor was shown in a video by Rebel News at a City-run indoor ice rink last week, not wearing a mask, accompanied by a staffer and offering details of his visit that he has since contradicted.
The video raises questions about why the mayor was there, if he was allowed to play hockey throughout July and why his story doesn’t match certain facts around what was shown in the recording, which has been viewed more than 180,000 times since Saturday.
Recommendations to accommodate smaller class sizes from Peel’s public health department come after Toronto Public Health announced its stance on the Ford government’s back to school plans.
A petition demanding the province reduce class sizes and increase funding has gained more than 205,000 signatures as Ford and Minister of Education Stephen Lecce continue to ignore outcry from parents, unions and educators across the province.
After a volatile 12 months, the Peel District School Board has a new leader, Colleen Russell-Rawlins, who now has to steer the troubled organization out from choppy waters. Systemic discrimination and a culture of intolerance have permeated a board whose students are overwhelmingly non-white, while its teachers and administrators do not reflect the communities they serve.
