 Here’s what you need to know to get the day started: | | | Want to sue your doctor? You'll be up against a powerful group with billions of dollars | | |  | The Canadian Medical Protective Association spends millions of dollars every year defending doctors against lawsuits, professional discipline and hospital complaints. (Shutterstock) | | | On the stand in one of his recent medical negligence trials, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Tracy Hicks addressed his unrelated appeal of a decision to limit his privileges at a Metro Vancouver hospital.
"I didn't really want to win one way or the other," he said of his legal battle with Peace Arch Hospital in White Rock, B.C., according to a 2020 court transcript.
"I wasn't really interested or not. I just thought I would do it — and it was financed by CMPA [the Canadian Medical Protective Association]."
Hicks ultimately lost his challenge at B.C.'s Hospital Appeal Board, sealing his removal from Peace Arch's emergency on-call schedule. He would also lose the negligence trial and be ordered to pay damages to an elderly woman who suffered months of pain because of his care for her broken hip.
Because of the CMPA, doctors are shielded from the financial and reputational blows of court losses and professional discipline like this, malpractice lawyers say.
Patients and lawyers who've gone up against CMPA-funded legal teams say they find themselves profoundly overmatched by the organization's considerable resources, and they question how the public can seek true accountability under these conditions.
The CMPA is a unique 122-year-old institution that defends doctors accused of wrongdoing. As of 2021, it sits on assets valued at more than $6 billion, and spends hundreds of millions of dollars every year defending physicians, according to the latest annual report.
"The CMPA is a Goliath of an entity, and they will do whatever they need to do to protect their physicians," said Stacey McKee, a B.C. woman who recently won another negligence lawsuit against Hicks.
Clarification: a previous version of this newsletter omitted important context about the CMPA. It has been updated. | | | | | Toronto Raptors' season over after blowing 19-point lead in loss to Chicago Bulls | | |  | (Andrew Lahodynskyj/Getty Images) | | | | Zach LaVine of the Chicago Bulls shoots over Toronto Raptors forward OG Anunoby during their play-in game on Wednesday in Toronto. LaVine scored 39 points to help Chicago overcome a 19-point deficit and defeat the Raptors 109-105 to advance in the NBA play-in tournament. Read the full story here. | | | | | | | | | In brief | | | Megan Plumtree and her partner have been looking for a place to rent in Calgary since January, but she has run into situations where very sensitive information was being requested to view a property. "We're being asked for a social insurance number. We're being asked for photocopies of our driver's licence, our banking information, like account details," she said. Plumtree said they were told by landlords that the information was needed to verify their identity and to weed out potential bad tenants. Plumtree calls the practice "an overreach," and said that when she has declined to provide that information to a landlord, she does not hear back from them. Drew McArthur, the former acting information and privacy commissioner for B.C., said privacy laws require individuals be told what the purpose is of collecting their personal information and said that those purposes must be reasonable. "To be asking for sensitive personal information such as financial, banking information, passport — that's among the most sensitive personal information. That doesn't seem to make sense in the circumstances of just wanting to view a rental property," he said. Read more on this story here.
The RCMP has agreed to change its prisoner-handling policy after it was chastised by its watchdog for preventing a woman from showering while in custody for nearly a week. The Civilian Review and Complaints Commission (CRCC) also said the Mounties breached the woman's privacy by filming her using the toilet without letting her know. The CRCC's report, completed last year and recently obtained through an access to information request, doesn't represent the first time the watchdog has called out the RCMP for denying shower access. According to the report, the woman — whose name is redacted in the documents released to CBC News — was arrested in Grand Prairie, Alta., following a "dog-biting incident." The woman argued she had not been given any information about her charges and refused to sign a release document promising to appear at a later date, said the report. Police kept her in custody for nearly a week awaiting a release hearing. Read the full story here.
A new surge of job action by Canadian employees may stand in the way of Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem's plan to get inflation down to his two per cent target. In the past week, more than 155,000 federal public servants in two unions have voted in support of strike mandates. Speaking to reporters at Wednesday's monetary policy press conference, where the Bank of Canada once again held interest rates steady at 4.5 per cent, Macklem reiterated his expectations that inflation would fall to three per cent this year and roll back to two per cent in 2024. But some economists say that worker anger over their shrinking spending power may mean higher wage demands, not just during current labour disputes, but in years to come. Read more analysis here from CBC’s Don Pittis.
The early bird gets the worm, the old saying goes. That's even truer today due to climate change, as many birds return to Ontario too late to catch their favourite meals. While trees leaf out and insects emerge in response to temperature, birds start their migration from down south mainly in response to the length of the day. Although climate change means spring temperatures tend to arrive earlier, the days don't get longer any faster. This creates a mismatch between when insects or other food sources are most available and when the birds are around to eat them. "That balance of when insects are available for birds and for their chicks gets thrown off," said Jonathan Chu, a PhD student at the University of Guelph who has researched bird migration. Now scientists are racing to determine which species will be able to adapt and which will need support — and they need your help to do it. Read the full story here.
Now for some good news to start your Thursday: On the really tough days, when James Takkiruq felt like quitting law school, he'd look over at his five-year-old son and remember why he had to keep going. "He was a big support," said Takkiruq, recalling the four years he spent going through the Nunavut Law Program in Iqaluit. "I wouldn't have been able to make it here without [that] support." Takkiruq was the youngest member of the 25-person cohort to go through that program — 17 years old when he started. He graduated, along with 21 of his fellow students, last October in Iqaluit. Now 23, Takkiruq was called to the bar on March 29. "If you think age matters, it doesn't really. As long as you have the knowledge, as long as you're confident in yourself and that you have people around you, that's the important part," said Takkiruq, who is from Gjoa Haven and who has spent the past six years in Iqaluit. Read more on his story here. | | | FIRST PERSON | The neighbourhood I now call home is helping me learn the language I gave up | | | Florence McCambridge moved to Toronto's Greektown because a home came up in her budget. Re-learning her language was an unexpected surprise. Read her column here. | | | | | | |  | | | The unfinished work of Northern Ireland's peace process | | | Northern Ireland’s Good Friday Agreement brought peace after decades of deadly violence. However, 25 years later, divisions between unionists and nationalists remain.
Listen to today's episode | | | Today in history: April 13 | | | 1900: Ottawa becomes the first Canadian city to get telephone service that did not require hand cranks and batteries on phones in homes. The change meant a caller could reach an operator just by picking up the receiver.
1964: Sidney Poitier becomes the first Black person to win an Oscar for best actor, for Lilies of the Field.
1995: The CBC cancels Front Page Challenge. The current events game show had been an institution on Canadian television since 1957.
2003: Mike Weir of Bright's Grove, Ont., wins the Masters — becoming the first Canadian man to win a major golf tournament. Weir took the win in a one-hole playoff over Len Mattiace. | | | (With files from CBC News, The Canadian Press, The Associated Press and Reuters) | | | | |  | CBC NEWS APP | The most convenient way to get your news
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