Several Carcross/Tagish First Nation citizens want self-government jobs to be more accessible
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CTV News
16 minutes ago
- CTV News
N.S. reform of care of people with disabilities behind in housing ‘complex' cases
HALIFAX — There's been a surge in the number of Nova Scotians with complex disabilities stuck in temporary housing, according to recent figures released by the province. This rise in what are called 'temporary shelter arrangements,' or TSAs, operated by for-profit and non-profit agencies has occurred despite a plan by the province to decrease their use over the past two years. The Department of Social Development describes the temporary housing as being needed whenever a person with a complex disability is in urgent need of housing, and options for a permanent home have been 'explored and exhausted.' Usually, the person is placed in an apartment, with one-on-one care, but without a long-term plan to improve their lives. 'The infrastructure to shift away from the temporary model is slow. It's not happening as quickly as anticipated,' said Harman Singh, director of Breton Ability Centre — a non-profit agency in Sydney, N.S. that houses people with disabilities, which has been asked to oversee eight people in temporary shelters. The province introduced a sweeping, five-year reform plan for the care and housing of people with disabilities in 2023. It was the result of a landmark court decision that found there was systemic discrimination against people with disabilities. The plan called for a sharp decrease in the number of people with disabilities in temporary housing arrangements by 2025 but the opposite has occurred. The recent government update on the plan, referred to as 'The Remedy,' indicated there were 89 people in the temporary arrangements in early 2024, but as of April 1 this year, there was a 49 per cent increase to 146 people. This contrasts with the plan's target of reducing the number of people in temporary housing by 40. Singh said Breton Ability is gradually closing down its larger facility with 68 residents but has been asked to increase temporary shelter arrangements. Some of the arrangements are lasting for years, she added. The lack of permanent solutions isn't working well, as it makes it difficult to attract staff or to spend money needed to ensure the housing arrangements are suitable, she said. For example, Singh said in one case her agency has been housing a person in a temporary apartment since 2021, but it has been unable to invest in much-needed upgrades due to uncertainty about whether they are expected to stay there permanently. If the arrangement were permanent, 'we could look at long-term renovations to the house, seek grants from different departments and we would look to raise funds to make the backyard more suitable ... we would look at all these different factors and make it better,' said Singh. Data released to The Canadian Press through the Freedom of Information Act from January 2024 to last month show the majority of temporary shelter arrangements were provided by five private-sector agencies for 94 people. They received $34 million in 2024, and $20 million for half of 2025, according to the documents. Some people in TSAs cost about $150,000 to up to about $500,000 annually, the records say. However, a separate freedom of information response from the Department of Social Development to The Canadian Press for the same period says there were no records of 'audits or reports on safety and quality of care' done on these private agencies. They also said they wouldn't provide estimates of how long people are remaining in the TSAs. In its recent annual report on the plan, the province said it wasn't meeting deadlines for decreasing the numbers because there had been delays in hiring and training staff to oversee the conversion of the system. The department said in an email Friday that so far 24 of the 146 people in the temporary shelter arrangements — about 16 per cent of the total — have been assigned staff to plan their future care and placements in the community. Maria Medioli, director of the provincial disability support program, said in an interview Thursday that the five-year plan — which has committed over $200 million in spending over the first two years — is the first major effort to deal with the TSA issue. Medioli said some of the growth in TSA numbers has been the result of people with 'deeply complex issues' being discharged by a care home or a hospital without any destination, and the alternative is homelessness. Asked about oversight of service providers, Medioli said the department receives financial statements from the private-sector service providers but doesn't 'generally audit providers unless there is a reason.' She added there has been one complaint of financial irregularities by a private-sector provider that is being investigated, but no complaints of safety or quality problems. 'I don't like them (TSAs). They are temporary. ... It was done in an emergency and we didn't have the infrastructure to make it anything but temporary. Through the (plan) we're building that infrastructure,' she said. However, Kim Long, vice chair of the Disability Rights Coalition, said in an interview Thursday that her group is concerned by the growing numbers. 'I'd like to know where (the government) is in the process of establishing a baseline of health and safety. ... The thing that we're most concerned about is what is that experience (of living in a temporary shelter arrangement) like?' Long said her advocacy organization wants to hear directly from families and people in temporary shelter arrangements, to learn how the arrangements work and 'what they are experiencing.' 'We need to hear in order to get the full story behind the numbers,' she said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 28, 2025. By Michael Tutton
Globe and Mail
16 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
The state of Canadian tourism in the ‘elbows up' moment
Travel to the U.S. has plummeted ever since President Donald Trump started talking about annexing Canada and imposing tariffs on us. Politicians on this side of the border are embracing the moment, encouraging people to take trips closer to home. So how is it all working out for Canadian tourism? The Globe's Jason Kirby, who writes for the Report on Business, joins us to talk about what this summer looks like for Canada's travel sector. Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@
CTV News
16 minutes ago
- CTV News
Lawyer calls on Canada to speed up visa approvals as situation worsens in Gaza
ST. JOHN'S — A Toronto immigration lawyer says family members of Canadians are dying in Gaza as the federal immigration department drags it heels approving visas through a special program launched in 2024. Debbie Rachlis said Canada must speed up the approval process for the temporary special measures visa it is offering to members of Palestinian Canadians' families who are trying to flee the violence in Gaza. Rachlis represents dozens of applicants to the program and said she is involved with 'at least five cases' in which people have died waiting for word on their visa. She lobbied for the special measures program as a member of the Gaza Family Reunification Project. 'We are all aware of many, many situations where people who were waiting for visas to come to Canada have died and have been killed,' Rachlis said in a recent interview. That includes people who have died of starvation, or injuries from bombings, and people who have been killed while lining up to get rations, she said. 'They are all preventable and terrible deaths.' Canada opened the multi-step program offering temporary residents visas to members of Canadians' families trapped in Gaza on Jan. 9, 2024. It closed on March 26, after the program's cap of 5,000 visa applications had been accepted for processing. Fewer than 1,200 visas had been granted as of June 21, said Jeffrey MacDonald, a spokesperson for the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. That's less than a quarter of the visas Canada said it would hand out. Eight hundred and forty-one people had arrived in Canada from Gaza as of June 8, MacDonald said in an email. The visa program requires applicants to submit biometric information — including fingerprints and photos — collected in-person at an IRCC office. There is no such office in Gaza. The Canadian Press has spoken to several Palestinian Canadians who paid thousands of dollars for their family members in Gaza to pay private agents for passage across the border in Cairo, where there is a Canadian immigration office to collect biometric data. The Rafah border between Gaza and Egypt has been closed since May 2024. 'The primary challenge continues to be the ability for people to exit Gaza,' MacDonald said. 'Movement out of Gaza remains extremely challenging and may not be possible at this time, as countries and other actors set their own entry and exit requirements.' 'We continue working closely with local authorities — at every level — to facilitate the exit of people in Gaza and to advocate for their safety,' he added. Rachlis noted that other western countries have dropped the biometrics requirement. She wondered why Canada wouldn't do the same, especially as the situation for Palestinians in Gaza worsens. Food experts have warned for months of the risk of famine in Gaza, where Israel has restricted aid because it says Hamas siphons off goods to help bolster its rule, without providing evidence for that claim. Images emerging from Gaza in recent days of emaciated children have fanned global criticism of Israel, including by close allies who have called for an end to the war and the humanitarian catastrophe it has spawned. Last week, Prime Minister Mark Carney condemned the Israeli government for its 'failure to prevent the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian disaster in Gaza' and criticized its handling of humanitarian aid in Gaza as a 'violation of international law.' On Sunday, the Israeli military on began a daily 10-hour pause in fighting in three areas of Gaza, to 'increase the scale of humanitarian aid' entering the territory. Health officials in Gaza said at least 37 Palestinians were killed in separate strikes from late Saturday into Sunday, including 22 people seeking aid. The situation in Cairo is also precarious for those waiting for visas, Rachlis said. She has many clients who managed to get to Cairo and complete the biometrics requirement. They've been waiting for a year or more for word on their visa application status, she said. They have no medical care in Egypt and their children cannot go to school, she said. They are largely living off the fundraising efforts of charities and their families in Canada. 'We need to speed up processing for folks who are in Egypt,' she said, adding that she believes much of the delay stems from the 'intense scrutiny' applicants to the visa program are subject to. Applicants are asked to supply their social media accounts, details about scars and other marks on their bodies, information on everyone they are related to — including through marriage — and every passport they have ever had. Last year, The Canadian Press obtained a letter sent to an applicant by a Canadian immigration officer which asks if they had 'ever provided medical care to injured Hamas members.' It is a violation of the Geneva Convention for medical workers to deny care to someone injured in a war zone. Rachlis said families need quicker information about their applications so they can make arrangements and get to safety. 'Families need answers,' she said. 'They need answers about what happened with this program and why it seems to have been set up to fail.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 28, 2025. — With files from The Associated Press Sarah Smellie, The Canadian Press
