 | Wednesday, November 11, 2020 – by John McHutchion | | Here’s what you need to know to get the day started: | | | How technology — and a global pandemic — are transforming Remembrance Day | | | Three years ago, Ryan Mullens sat next to the grave of a long-dead soldier in the Canadian military cemetery at Groesbeek, Holland. Lt. James Koester of the Regina Rifles was killed on March 30, 1945 while trying to take a nearby German town.
Mullens looked down the long rows of granite headstones stretching into the distance and thought about the stories buried there — the thousands of young people whose heroic acts, tragic ends and moments of grace have been lost to living memory.
"It came into my mind — how do we use the technology we have now in order to give people that connection that I just experienced at Koester's grave?" he said.
He started researching and building. Now, Mullens and a partner are on the cusp of launching a smartphone app called Faces of Valour that will allow users to unearth the long-buried histories of those who fought and died.
It's just one part of a digital wave that promises to transform the act of remembrance. Inarguably, the trend was underway before coronavirus — but it has been accelerated by pandemic-driven lockdowns.
Some of our annual rituals of commemoration are going virtual in a way that could make the experience deeper and richer. In addition to the Faces of Valour app — which links gravestones to military records and photos — there are virtual walls of remembrance where ordinary people can share the individual stories of soldiers.
"As human beings, we relate to the stories of other human beings," said Peter Francis, an executive at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Maidenhead, U.K., west of London. "I think this pandemic, if it's done one thing, it's shown us that perhaps now is the time to start to have those debates about, well, do we need to do something different to engage that [younger] generation? Do we need to embrace technology?"
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission, founded amid the carnage of the First World War, is encouraging families and even interested strangers in Britain, Canada and other Commonwealth countries to post videos and tributes on a virtual wall of remembrance to honour the individual soldiers buried in its 23,000 cemeteries around the world. It has even launched a program to name stars in the night sky after fallen soldiers. | | | | | Remembering the fallen | | |  | (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press) | | | | A poppy is placed on the Tomb of The Unknown Soldier following a Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa on Nov. 11, 2019. Ceremonies around the country this year will be smaller and, in part, virtual because of pandemic precautions. CBC will have live coverage of today's Remembrance Day ceremony at the National War Memorial in Ottawa. You can watch our special on CBC TV and CBC News Network, or stream it on CBC Gem or our CBC News app. You can also listen to our radio special on CBC Radio One or the CBC Listen app. Click here for more information on how and when to watch or listen. | | | | | | | | | In brief | | | Despite promising COVID-19 vaccine candidates on the horizon worldwide, experts say Canada needs to overcome major hurdles before it can develop rollout strategies to get the right shot into Canadians' arms. Determining who should get a vaccine first is extremely challenging without specific data on who it would help most. "The rollout is going to be the most difficult part of this vaccine and that's the part I think everyone is starting to think of today," said Dr. Zain Chagla, an infectious diseases specialist at St Joseph's Healthcare in Hamilton, Ont. "If the vaccine data shows that the highest risk populations also have the highest reasonable benefit here, I think that prioritization scheme works very well and hopefully that's the target for the first 10 million doses." But who is most at risk of severe illness and transmission of COVID-19 is still in question, meaning Canada might need to develop several contingency plans. "If we decide to start with health-care workers, it's going to be a completely different strategy than if we start by vaccinating the elderly in long-term care facilities," said Dr. Caroline Quach, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist and chair of the National Advisory Committee on Immunization. Read more here about rolling out a vaccine.
Jurisdictions across Canada implemented new restrictions while others committed to existing measures to counter a spike in COVID-19 cases on Tuesday. Toronto is moving into the "red" level of Ontario's colour-coded coronavirus shutdown system and adding stricter measures on top of that as the country's largest city reported 520 new cases on Tuesday, setting a record for new infections for the second day in a row. Toronto will continue to enforce takeout-only dining options; require that meeting and event spaces — including bingo halls, casinos and other establishments — remain closed; and prohibit indoor group fitness classes. Manitoba is also imposing new measures and moving to its red alert level, prompting business closures and travel restrictions. The restrictions call for sweeping closures, including a pause on in-person religious services, the closure of personal service businesses such as hair salons, closure of in-store shopping at non-essential retail and the closure of restaurant dining rooms. "We are truly at a crossroads in our fight against this pandemic," Chief Provincial Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin said. Read more on the pandemic developments here.
Four former employees of Toronto MP Yasmin Ratansi — who left the Liberal caucus this week after admitting she employed her sister for years on the public dime — allege she repeatedly made offensive comments and created a "toxic and verbally abusive" environment at her office.
The former staffers say Ratansi mistreated employees by yelling at them, insulting their appearances and publicly ridiculing their work. "It was like walking on eggshells every single day," said a former employee. "You'd come into work knowing that she was going to yell ... She was going to cut someone down and you just hope it wasn't you." CBC News agreed to protect the identities of the sources, who say they fear harm to their careers and retaliation by Ratansi herself after speaking out. The government's chief whip, Mark Holland, said his "understanding is Ms. Ratansi is disputing" the allegations about her statements and treatment of staff. Now that Ratansi is an Independent MP, he said, it's up to the House of Commons' chief human resources officer to "adjudicate" the matter and Holland encouraged employees to report their complaints formally. Read more on this story here.
A little over two months into the school year, the fear of a widespread shutdown like Canada experienced in the spring has not materialized. At the same time, schools have also not been immune to COVID-19. Though health and safety measures seem to have helped, health experts are raising additional concerns, especially as winter approaches. According to the Public Health Agency of Canada's (PHAC) most recent weekly COVID-19 epidemiology report, schools and child-care centres accounted for the highest number of outbreaks in September, and the second-highest in October (after long-term care and retirement residences). British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec have all had school outbreaks, while New Brunswick has also seen a few individual school-related cases. PHAC considers it an outbreak in a school or child-care centre when there are two or more cases reported, and has noted that 64 per cent of schools with COVID-19 cases had only a single case reported. Read why an epidemiologist says schools can't relax their infection prevention measures.
For politicians and other women of colour in Canada, the election of Kamala Harris to the second-highest political office in the U.S. is an inspiration not just to dream but to recognize their own potential to achieve their dreams. When the U.S. election was called for Joe Biden last Saturday and it became clear Harris would be the next vice-president of the U.S., Annamie Paul thought of the importance of the moment for her 84-year-old mother. "I don't think she ever believed that she would live to see this day," said the recently elected leader of the Green Party, the first Black woman to head up a Canadian federal party. "Whenever a woman of colour is elected to an office that she has never occupied, it's really not an overstatement to say that it makes people dream," she said. While Harris's win won't fix everything about gender and race discrimination, seeing her on stage on Saturday delivering her first speech as vice-president-elect was a powerful symbol, said former politician Yolande James, the first Black woman elected to Quebec's National Assembly in 2004. "It's one thing to say that it's possible, but when you see her, it's like, now you know it," she said. Read more on why women of colour say Harris's win is the "beginning of something important."
Now for some good news to start your Wednesday: The timing may never have been better for a newly released book by Victoria-based children's book author Monique Gray Smith. Smith's When We Are Kind celebrates simple acts of everyday kindness and encourages kids to explore how they feel when they initiate and receive acts of kindness in their lives. The writer said the book was in the works long before anyone had heard of COVID-19, but that given the current pandemic, everyone can use a little stress relief and acts of kindness can help with that. "Kindness is a passageway to inclusivity and I think we are craving a society where there is a greater sense of belonging ... kindness is one of the ways to foster that," Smith said. The book is intended to help "little citizens" understand the benefits of being kind to one another and Smith said she hopes by hearing the messaging now, they will still be mindful of being kind to one another when they are 15, 20 or 50 years old. Read more about the book here. | | | | |  | Everything you need to know about Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine | This week, as COVID-19 cases continue to climb across the country, there is a glimmer of hope for returning to normal life: a vaccine. Pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and BioNTech say that results from a Phase 3 study of their vaccine candidate look promising and that immunity could last a year.
Today, we hear from CBC science and technology reporter Emily Chung on what we know about the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine that early results show is 90 per cent effective in preventing COVID-19.
Listen to today's episode | | | Today in history: November 11 | | | 1813: British and Canadian troops stop American invaders at the Battle of Crysler's Farm, near Cornwall, Ont.
1918: The First World War officially ends on Armistice Day and hostilities end at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. Following the Second World War, Armistice Day was changed to Remembrance Day, which commemorates all the Canadian men and women who died in the Boer War, two world wars, the Korean War and in other actions for the United Nations.
1966: Canada is elected to a two-year term on the United Nations Security Council.
1992: Members of the Canadian Auto Workers vote to forego $15 million in wage increases over the next three years to support the survival efforts of Canadian Airlines International.
2004: Canadian author Alice Munro wins her second Giller Prize for her collection of short stories, Runaway. | | | (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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