Front-line service workers shoulder burden of vaccine mandates

Friday, September 24, 2021 – by John McHutchion

Here’s what you need to know to get the day started:

'I feel more like a bouncer than a hostess': Front-line workers shoulder burden of vaccine mandates

Service industry workers in Canada say they're bearing the brunt of anger, frustration and general confusion from clients over new vaccine mandates that they had nothing to do with creating, but are now responsible for enforcing.

At the entrance to Wienstein & Gavino's, an Italian restaurant in downtown Montreal, hostess Abigail Trevino stands at the ready to greet clients and ask them for their proof of vaccination.

"I try to defuse the situation usually with a joke, saying that I feel more like a bouncer than a hostess these days," said Trevino. "Usually people laugh at that and it's enough to break the tension."

For the most part, she said, people have been understanding of Quebec's vaccine passport system, which came into effect on Sept. 1. Occasionally she's had customers who were annoyed or frustrated, but no one who was outright aggressive.

The challenge, more than anything, has been the extra work. "It's basically doubled the workload," Trevino said.

From troubleshooting technical issues with smartphone QR codes and apps, to answering phone calls from people asking what kind of proof is accepted, Trevino said her responsibilities as a hostess have suddenly expanded.

While she agrees with the vaccine passport in principle, she'd like to see more recognition from the government about the added burden it places on businesses and their employees, when they're already dealing with staff shortages.

In Hamilton, Ont., The Hearty Hooligan, a vegan restaurant, warned customers last week through its Instagram account about provincial vaccine certificate requirements that began Wednesday.

Head chef Matthew Miles said they've faced an onslaught of angry comments from people accusing them of everything from discrimination to supporting tyranny.

When the mask mandate first came into effect, Miles said they had customers enter the restaurant without masks, arguing about their rights. They're bracing for more of that type of attitude. To help protect staff, the restaurant installed a bell near the front till that rings directly to the kitchen, so that employees can call for extra help if there's a conflict.

More on this issue

Restaurant staff seeking proof of vaccination receive threats, verbal abuse.

Watch: B.C.’s vaccine passport comes into effect.

Goodbye chancellor

(Fabian Bimmer/Reuters)

Workers remove an advertisement showing German Chancellor Angela Merkel with a slogan that reads "Mother of Nation - Thanks For 16 Years of Hard Work" today in Hamburg. German voters go to the polls on Sunday in a national election to determine who will succeed Merkel. Read more on the upcoming vote here.

In brief

Alberta hospitals are seeing their highest-ever number of patients being admitted for critical care — and part of the reason they're able to keep up is because of a high number of deaths from COVID-19, says the head of Alberta Health Services (AHS). Over the past five days, the average number COVID-19 intensive care unit admissions has been over 23 per day, AHS president and CEO Dr. Verna Yiu said at a Thursday news conference. There are currently 310 people in ICU across the province, including 226 with COVID-19. "We have never, ever had that number of total patients in ICU before. Never with the prior waves and never in the history of this province," she said. Alberta reported another 17 deaths on Thursday as COVID-19 continues to strain its hospitals. There are now 1,058 hospitalized cases of COVID-19 across the province. Alberta's Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, said all new ICU admissions were among Albertans who had no immunization, and she once again pushed Albertans to get vaccinated. Read more on the COVID-19 situation in Alberta.

Britain is signalling its interest in working with the Canadian military in the Arctic by offering to take part in cold-weather exercises and bring in some of its more advanced capabilities — such as nuclear-powered submarines — to help with surveillance and defence in the Far North. In a recent exclusive interview with CBC News, the United Kingdom's top military commander said his country is "keen to co-operate" and learn more about how to survive and fight in a cold, remote setting. Gen. Sir Nick Carter said Britain would also like to "co-operate in terms of helping Canada do what Canada needs to do as an Arctic country." The offer was quietly floated months ago in government circles. Experts say, however, that successive Canadian governments have been reluctant to allow anyone — even close allies — to become too deeply embedded in the region. Read more on Britain's Arctic offer to Canada.

Canada's premiers sent a message to recently re-elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Thursday: they want the federal government to increase its share of health-care spending, and soon. Premiers from 10 provinces and two territories participated in a Council of the Federation teleconference to discuss a range of issues, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic recovery. Health-care funding dominated their discussion. Nunavut is in a caretaker period because of an election in that territory and did not participate. British Columbia Premier John Horgan, who is chair of the Council of the Federation, called the demand urgent. "Provincial and territorial health-care systems are facing serious challenges and there is an urgent need to act," Horgan said in a media release. "To address these challenges effectively, the newly re-elected federal government needs to work with premiers to put in place an immediate and ongoing increase in health-care funding through the Canada Health Transfer.” Read more on the provincial calls for more health-care dollars.

Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole's failure to end Justin Trudeau's government is inspiring some frustrated partisans to call for his replacement. Bert Chen, a two-term member of the party's elected national council, has launched a petition and is collecting signatures from members to pressure the party to initiate a recall and try to oust O'Toole. While that's never been done before, the Conservative constitution has some provisions that allow for non-binding referendums to survey the will of party members. "The feedback I have gotten over the past several months, and further reinforced since Monday evening, is that Mr. O'Toole has failed as a leader," Chen told CBC News. As of Thursday afternoon, some 2,100 people had signed Chen's petition. Not everyone in the party thinks O’Toole should be removed as leader. Andrew Brander, a long-time party organizer who served as chief of staff to former deputy Conservative leader Lisa Rait, said dumping O'Toole after just one election loss would set "a pretty dangerous precedent." Read more about the divided positions on O'Toole's leadership.

Canada’s rural-urban divide wasn’t nearly so pronounced in decades past. But our electoral system has progressively siloed rural and urban areas in their respective echo chambers, writes Colin Walmsley of Fair Vote Alberta in an opinion column for CBC. Though you wouldn't know it by looking at a map of our election results, we aren't quite as divided as our land-centric electoral system would make it seem. Millions of rural Canadians regularly vote for progressive parties, just like millions of urban Canadians vote for conservative ones. First-past-the-post obscures this fact by giving one politician in each riding 100 per cent of the power with a simple plurality of the vote, denying any representation to minority voices. A proportional voting system would instead showcase the diversity of opinions across Canada by allowing the election of both conservative and progressive voices in every region, urban and rural. Read more from Walmsley’s opinion column here.

Students across Canada are back in class this month, but some say there's a critical topic missing from their lesson plans: climate change. Sophia Bi, a Grade 12 student at Lord Byng Secondary in Vancouver, and Aishwarya Puttur, a Grade 11 student at Bluevale Collegiate in Waterloo, Ont., are working to change that. Both are involved in campaigns to improve climate curriculum in Canadian public schools. While the subject comes up in science classes, Bi said she can't recall hearing about systemic issues such as climate policy or the need for an energy transition. Ellen Field, an assistant professor in the faculty of education at Lakehead University in Orillia, Ont., said climate change education is uneven from province to province. Her research, currently under review with the Journal of Curriculum Studies, shows that most climate change education is found in Grade 11 and 12 elective courses. Some provinces include climate change in mandatory science or social studies courses, but it's not well integrated in various subjects or in the different grades. Read more about this from our environmental newsletter What on Earth.

Now for some good news to start your Friday: A 15-year-old Waterloo, Ont., student has impressed judges at a prestigious international science fair with his project: a telehealth platform that he hopes will make eye care cheaper and more accessible. Hardit Singh's platform, called Speculor, won second prize at the European Union Contest for Young Scientists. Countries from around the world send their best science fair projects to the competition, which was held earlier this month in Salamanca, Spain. "There are so many great projects, and to be recognized among them, I feel honoured and proud," said Singh, who is a Grade 10 student at Cameron Heights Collegiate and attended the competition remotely. Speculor uses a portable imager to take photos of the eye and artificial intelligence to screen for disease. It costs about $300 — far less than the closest comparable medical device, which can cost up to $5,000. Read more on Singh's project.

From Hotel Rwanda to a Kigali prison

Rwandan hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina and President Paul Kagame were both once viewed as heroes who stood up against the country's 1994 genocide.

Now, they each insist the other is a fraud.

Rusesabagina, who had been living in Texas, was convicted of terrorism charges this week — in a trial that human rights advocates say flouted international norms, and that started with an extrajudicial rendition from Dubai.

Journalist Anjan Sundaram says Rusesabagina is not alone. Sundaram explains the lengths to which Kagame will go to control the narrative about his country — and he argues Canada needs to do more to protect its residents from the reach of this regime.
Listen to today's episode

Today in history: September 24

1988: Canadian Ben Johnson sets a world record of 9.79 seconds to win the 100-metre sprint at the Summer Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea. But several days later, Johnson is stripped of his gold medal after testing positive for banned anabolic steroids.

1991: Theodore Geisel, who wrote under the pen name Dr. Seuss, dies at age 87.

1998: South African President Nelson Mandela becomes the first foreign leader to receive the Order of Canada. He was cited as being a universal symbol of triumph over oppression, and a towering figure in the transition from apartheid to democracy in South Africa, emerging as one of this century's greatest statesmen and humanitarians.

2007: Parti Québécois Leader Pauline Marois wins a byelection in the Charlevoix riding of Quebec, securing a seat in the National Assembly. In 2012, she would became the first female premier of the province.