 | Thursday, June 16, 2022 – by John McHutchion | | Here’s what you need to know to get the day started: | | | What a human rights complaint by Alberta's only female cardiovascular surgeon says about sexism in surgery | | | For more than three decades, Dr. Teresa Kieser has served patients at the Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary as Alberta's only female cardiovascular surgeon. She's been recognized globally for her work and had several medical and research papers published.
But as her career nears its end, Kieser wants Canadians to think about a different part of her journey: the gender-based discrimination she alleges she faced during her 34 years in the position.
"I just thought, 'I cannot just fade into the sunset having gone through all this, without bringing the light of day onto it,'" she told The Current's Matt Galloway.
Last month, Kieser filed a complaint with the Alberta Human Rights Commission against her employer, Alberta Health Services (AHS). She claimed she faced a lack of respect and complaints about her operating speed — all because of her gender.
"This has gone on for a long time, and … I just [ignored] it and took the high road. Because as a woman in a male-dominated field, you don't want to rock the boat," she said. "You're so happy to be doing what you're doing, and you make it this far."
So this human rights complaint, Kieser said, is to "shed light on the conscious and unconscious bias toward women in the workplace."
In an email to The Current, AHS said it cannot comment on specific complaints due to privacy concerns, but said it is "committed to creating safe and secure workplaces for all physicians, staff, patients and families. Any form of harassment or violence is not tolerated."
Kieser's case is not unique in medicine. Last year, Dr. Irene Cybulsky, the former head of cardiac surgery at Hamilton Health Sciences, won a gender discrimination case against the hospital network after the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario found that gender bias had played a role in her ousting from that post.
According to a Canadian Medical Association survey of female physicians and medical students at the 2020 Canadian Women in Medicine Conference, 77 per cent of respondents said they had experienced gender inequity in their training or practice setting. | | | | | Colorado Avalanche take Stanley Cup final opener in OT | | |  | (John Locher/The Associated Press) | | | | Colorado Avalanche left wing J.T. Compher, left, celebrates after an overtime goal by teammate Andre Burakovsky in Game 1 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup final on Wednesday in Denver. Read more from the game here. | | | | | | | | | In brief | | | Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will deliver her first major speech since the budget today to outline the programs her government has introduced to deal with rising inflation. "The deputy prime minister's address will focus on the global challenge of inflation and the real, tangible steps that the federal government is taking to make life more affordable for Canadians," Freeland's press secretary Adrienne Vaupshas said in an email. Freeland is expected to use her speech to the Empire Club in Toronto to deliver her assessment of the state of the economy and explain how she sees the measures introduced by her government helping Canadians make ends meet. Those measures include increases to the Canada Child Benefit, Old Age Security, the Canada Housing Benefit and the Canada Workers Benefit. An official speaking on background said the changes to the Workers Benefit could increase annual payments by up to $2,400 for low-income workers. The official said the speech also will discuss the role of the Bank of Canada in keeping the economy stable, and the government's plans to manage debt and increase competitiveness and productivity in the medium term. Read more on this story.
Dr. Neeja Bakshi, an internal medicine physician based in Edmonton, runs a post-COVID-19 clinic out of her private practice to help patients with long COVID. Since it opened last fall, Bakshi says demand is so high that patients getting referrals now have to wait until November to get their first appointment. She's getting five referrals per day for post-COVID-19 treatment, which is double what her clinic gets for general internal medicine. She's also getting referrals from other provinces: B.C., Ontario and Manitoba. "It feels great that I'm providing a service that can help so many people," said Bakshi. "But it's also an incredible pressure because I know that I can't see everybody and I know that I'm not going to be able to provide the care that I want if I'm burnt out." Doctors say demand is growing for specialized clinics to treat post-COVID condition, also known as long COVID, in part due to increased awareness of what symptoms are. While clinics have opened in a number of locations, the wait-lists are also growing. With a lack of funding and staffing, physicians say they can't keep up. Read the full story here.
The RCMP is updating its statement of "core values" for the first time in a quarter century by adding references to "reconciliation," "diversity," "honour" and "empathy." Insp. Alex Laporte, the RCMP ethics officer leading the team working on the new guiding principles, said the document is meant to act as a foundation for the entire organization and could influence RCMP policies — even recruitment. He said it's no coincidence that the first change to the RCMP's core values statement since 1997 is happening at a time of fierce political debates about the role of police. "So society's changed, [the] policing landscape has changed. So for us, it only made sense to revisit and renew our core values," he told CBC News. "We're aware of a number of trust-altering events throughout the world, and as well in Canada, that [have] eroded and affected public trust in policing." The change was ordered by RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki and also follows recommendations from the RCMP's management advisory board, an outside body that provides advice on institutional transformation and workplace well-being. Read more on this story here.
Calgary Nose Hill MP Michelle Rempel Garner says she is giving "serious consideration" to a leadership bid for Alberta's United Conservative Party. In a Twitter thread on Wednesday night, Rempel Garner said she has been encouraged to seek the leadership of the UCP and will no longer be participating in the federal Conservative leadership race. Rempel Garner's comments come nearly a month after Alberta Premier Jason Kenney announced his intention to resign as UCP leader though he is staying on until a new leader is chosen. Rempel Garner was co-chair of Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown's campaign for the federal Conservative leadership. "I owe it to Albertans to give this critical decision my full and complete attention," wrote Rempel Garner. Read more here.
Patients in emergency rooms around Ontario are waiting record lengths of time to get admitted to hospital, a situation medical professionals say only appears to be getting worse. The trend is particularly worrisome for hospitals because it's happening despite a diminishing COVID-19 caseload, and because it comes at a time of year when the burden on emergency departments usually eases. More than two years into the pandemic, the wait times are a sign of just how chronically strained the province's hospitals have become. "Our emergency departments are under more stress than I've ever seen in my career," said Dr. Howard Ovens, who has worked in the ER at Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital for nearly 40 years and chairs the province's emergency services advisory committee. Read the full story here.
Now for some good news to start your Thursday: Chloe Primerano,15, has made history. She is the first female skater to be drafted into the Canadian Hockey League. “My mom was driving me home from school and I just saw [it] on my phone and I was just shocked and I was, like, amazed,” said Chloe, describing the moment she found out about her selection. The Vancouver Giants used their final selection to pick the defender in Round 13 of the 2022 Western Hockey League prospects draft, 268th overall, on May 19. Chloe appeared in 30 games last season with the Burnaby Winter Club’s U15 prep program, where she scored two goals and added 17 assists for 19 points. “Chloe’s play this season in the top U15 league in Canada made her fully deserving of this selection today,” said Vancouver Giants general manager Barclay Parneta on the day of the draft. Read more on the young hockey player. | | | FIRST PERSON | The future I'm saving up for keeps moving further out of reach | No matter how much I rise and grind, skip the Starbucks order or say no to avocado toast — it seems like there is just no catching up, writes Audrey Meubus. Read the column here. | | | | | | |  | Did Google make conscious AI? | Earlier this week, Blake Lemoine, an engineer who works for Google's Responsible AI department, went public with his belief that Google's LaMDA chatbot is sentient.
LaMDA, or Language Model for Dialogue Applications, is an artificial intelligence program that mimics speech and tries to predict which words are most related to the prompts it is given.
While some experts believe that conscious AI is something that will be possible in the future, many in the field think that Lemoine is mistaken — and that the conversation he has stirred up about sentience takes away from the immediate and pressing ethical questions surrounding Google's control over this technology and the ease at which people can be fooled by it.
Today on Front Burner, cognitive scientist and author of Rebooting AI, Gary Marcus, discusses LaMDA, the trouble with testing for consciousness in AI and what we should really be thinking about when it comes to AI's ever-expanding role in our day-to-day lives.
Listen to today's episode | | | Today in history: June 16 | | | 1891: Sir John Abbott becomes Canada's third prime minister, remaining in office for 17 months. He was the first Canadian-born prime minister, and the first senator to become PM.
1963: Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, 26, becomes the first woman in space.
1981: Ken Taylor, Canada's former ambassador to Iran, becomes the first non-American to be awarded the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal. He received the medal from President Ronald Reagan for sheltering and engineering the escape of six Americans from Iran in 1980, during the hostage crisis.
1998: The American Film Institute announces its choices for the top 100 films in the first century of cinematic history. The top five, in order, were Citizen Kane, Casablanca, The Godfather, Gone With The Wind and Lawrence of Arabia. | | | (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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