Izan Almansa throws down the alley-oop!
The lifeguard shortage in B.C. has seen improvement, with the Lifesaving Society of B.C. & Yukon finding there are more lifeguards than during the pandemic years. But as Renée Lukacs reports, municipalities are still facing staffing challenges, and some say younger generations' prioritization of work-life balance is why.
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Yahoo
21 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Moncton man still waiting for a refund 6 months after meter mix-up discovered
After paying the wrong power bill for more than four years and six months after discovering the unusual error, a Moncton man is still waiting for his refund. "It shouldn't take six months to figure out," Darren James said. "It's very frustrating ... we're still putting money away for the power bill. But at the same time, we don't know if it's enough, if it's too much." James moved into a newly built duplex in August 2020, with his neighbours moving in shortly afterwards. Neither realized that when their power meters were installed, they were tied to the wrong address. WATCH | This man has waited 6 months for a refund on his N.B. Power bill: James quickly found that his power bills were higher than he expected and they kept rising, no matter what he did to try and cut consumption. "It seemed a reasonable amount, but then at the end of the year it increased by a significant amount. So we're like, OK, we'll scale back on what we're using, keep the heat a little lower, maybe use baseboards less, use the heat pump a bit more and try and keep it so that we're comfortable and it's affordable," he said. "Then we get our end of the year bill. We're below again, we owe more. It continued on like that for four years." Meanwhile his neighbours — who were receiving James's bill — saw their bill continue to fall while not changing their power consumption habits. The mistake was found in January when a technician arrived to install new smart meters. But now, nearly seven months later, New Brunswick Power has yet to correct the billing mistake or even change the meters to ensure they are properly tied to the two units. "No one's reached out to us from N.B. Power to say once we get this sorted out, you can get your smart meters," he said. "They haven't set anything up to correct the problem." N.B. Power maintains that meter issues are rare, but with 280,000 meters changed in the last few years as part of the province-wide smart meter rollout, mistakes do happen. The utility told CBC News that when an issue is discovered they work with the customer to correct it and provide an appropriate remedy. "If a meter mix-up is detected we strive to correct it within a 30-day billing cycle," said spokesperson Elizabeth Fraser. "Depending on the length of time and complexity of the situation, the correction may take longer. If a mistake does happen, we work with the customer to make it right and aim to keep them informed." James says he's been frustrated by the lack of proactive communication since the mistake was discovered. He says each time he's called in the last three months, customer service representatives told him that these types of mistakes take time to fix. "They know where the two meters are," James said. "If they couldn't locate one of them, that would be understandable; if there was a problem with the billing system, but the bills came on time for five years." In many cases, when meters are mixed up, customers receive credits on their account. But James says he wants to be paid the difference. "We don't really want a credit from N.B. Power because we've paid that money. I want my money back," he said. "I might not necessarily stay in this area. I might leave the province, then I've got a credit from N.B. Power. If I had my money back, I could use that for whatever I wanted to use it for."
Fast Company
an hour ago
- Fast Company
Forget Gen-Z's micro-retirements. Try micro-joy
Some days, 'Have a great day!!!' is just too much to ask. You might even be tempted to respond to this effusive well-wisher: 'Have you seen the news?' 'Have you seen my to-do list?' 'Have you seen my team's numbers?' 'Have you seen my sleep score?' Some days, you might just settle for 'Having a day.' And yet, that doesn't feel great either. It would be nice to do more than get through the week, to do more than endure. I have guided many leaders whose company cultures were built on endurance. I have endured many days myself. I know how easy it is to paint a day or week as categorically 'hard' or 'bad.' But calling a whole day 'bad' is like calling a gravel driveway 'flat.' Sure, from a distance it's flat-ish, but from an ant's point of view, it might as well be a mountain range. What we sometimes miss is that even on aggressively bad days, there is often an hour or two that is kind of okay. Or maybe every single last hour is hard, but within an hour, there is a minute when you laugh at a colleague's joke or check out your good hair day in the mirror. Even if you're in a meeting when every last minute is painful reviewing your business's financials, you still have access to a delicious five seconds of deeply breathing in the smell of your coffee. Or in other words: You can thin-slice your joy. Because the last thing harried, overworked people need is to add 'learn meditation' to their to-do list. Similarly, deciding to focus on fewer things sounds nice, but your boss may respectfully disagree. It would also be good to distance yourself from people who stress you out and demand your attention unfairly, but you know what? Sometimes those people are your kids. In these moments, you can thin-slice your joy in two ways: savoring the joy already present in your day, and creating new moments of micro-joy. Savoring your daily joys Like scarfing down a meal while watching TV or getting some work done, it's easy to anesthetize ourselves to pleasure without realizing it. The good news is that it takes the same amount of time to chew mindlessly as it does to savor the taste of your food—it simply requires attention. Here are three no-time-required actions you can take to bank more joy from your day: Appreciate a quirk. In your next meeting, look around the room (2D or 3D) and identify one quirky thing you like about a colleague. Maybe someone throws their head back when they laugh and it's joyful. Or another person drums their fingers when they're about to share a good idea. It's an appreciation of their humanity and individuality, which makes us feel closer to them. Smell first. Before sipping your coffee, tea, or other beverage, take three seconds to smell it first. Risk looking indulgent: close your eyes and breathe in for three seconds—then sip. If it's a particularly rough day, sprinkle some cinnamon on that cappuccino. This practice is especially useful when you feel 'in your head.' Reconnecting with our senses brings us back to the present moment. Revel in your work. The next time you write a particularly funny Slack message, a compelling email, or create some bit of work that's better than your average, take one minute to simply stare at it and enjoy how clever you are. We're so often on to the next thing—and when we do review our work, we often do so with a critical eye—that we miss the part where we feel pleased with ourselves! Even enjoying a cute turn of phrase in an email is plenty to savor. Creating new micro-joys It would be lovely if we all had the time, energy, and budget to take up new hobbies, make new friends, and take two-hour lunch breaks. And if you can, you should! But also, joy is not all-or-nothing. A good thought experiment to get you dreaming about micro-joys is to consider what sort of habits, experiences, or moments bring you the most joy—and then identify their smallest viable unit. Here are three micro-joys to try this week: Ask a random question. The next time you see a colleague you like, take two minutes to get to know them a bit better. You could say, 'Random question: What's your middle name?' or 'Random question: Do you have siblings?' Longitudinal studies of human happiness are very clear about what matters—and that's the quality of our relationships. And yet, how often do we work with people and not know even the most basic facts about them? These questions shouldn't be a long diversion from your work—even a minute of knowing someone better and that person feeling seen can be a high point of joy in your day. Do a doodle a day. Spend two minutes on a simple doodle. Maybe you draw a different timepiece each day (watch! clocktower!). Maybe it's an abstract shape or a hand-lettered word. Maybe you draw a family of ducks, one day at a time. Bonus points if you do each doodle on a Post-it and then create a collection at your desk. We benefit from art, play, and self-expression during the workday, but maybe you'd garner some side-eye if you set up an easel in the office. If you love art, then a daily doodle can be your version of a micro-joy. Misbehave. Mischief at work can give us a much-needed shot of adrenaline, connection, and adventure. This might look like rearranging the office furniture, using Comic Sans font in your next presentation, or playing a quick round of 'guess that tune' with your colleagues as you hum your favorite throwback song. At best, work is steak: rich, juicy, delicious. But sometimes it's just not—sometimes work is broccoli. On those days, your job is to throw some cheese on it. Never gonna give you up . . . never gonna let you down. . . take it, reader! Louder, so coworkers can hear!
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Commemorations for 12 Quebec children lost in drownings become space for healing
More than 70 years later, the journey to heal from one of Canada's worst boating tragedies is far from complete — in many ways, it's just beginning. Every year, there's a commemorative ceremony to pay tribute to the 12 children who drowned in 1954 after a motorboat capsized in the Lake of Two Mountains in Île-Bizard, a neighbourhood in Montreal's West Island. But according to Gail Millington Grant, whose sister Paula was among the children who died, those annual gatherings were often bookended by long stretches of silence among those who were most affected. "I was in my late teens and I remember asking more and more questions and my father always said 'leave that alone, stop bothering your mother, that's something we don't want to talk about,'" recalls Millington Grant, who was only two years old at the time of the drownings and is now 73. As recently as last year, her older brother, who was 10 years old in 1954, shared personal details he had never disclosed to her before about how he found out about the tragedy and how it made him feel. In addition to the loss of loved ones, it's those missing pieces and the feeling that history is being swept under the rug as a result of deafening silence, that those left behind continue to struggle with. On July 13, 1954, more than 60 children attending the Negro Community Centre in the city's Little Burgundy neighbourhood went out to Île-Bizard for a picnic. A man offered to take the children on a motorboat ride. He took two groups of children on round trips without incident. During the third ride, however, 17 children between the ages of six and 11 piled onto the boat designed for seven adults. The boat's motor flooded and a wave swept over it, causing the younger children to panic and jump into the water. None of them had life jackets and most of them didn't know how to swim. Some of the children were saved, but 12 of them didn't make it. In the years that followed, talking about what happened, the feelings of grief or even happy recollections of those who died, was discouraged, Millington Grant said. She credits her grandmother who, thanks to a meticulously curated scrapbook of newspaper clippings and family photos, not only helped her to get some answers about the tragedy but learn more about who her sister was. For the 40th anniversary, The Montreal Gazette contacted Millington Grant for an interview. When she reached out to her parents for more information, they forbade her from speaking to the publication. For decades, Millington Grant's brother, Rodney Millington Jr., didn't want to open up about losing their sister Paula. When the drownings occurred, Millington Jr. was at a different camp — the Red Feather sleepaway camp. His go-to reply to questions from his sister Gail: "I don't remember." Around the time of the 50th anniversary, Millington Grant got some answers during a conversation with a family friend, Howard Blanchette. "Howard said he cried most of the night," she said, referring to her brother's reaction to the news his sister had died. "He was very upset." Blanchette also told her the family decided to leave her brother at the camp for two more weeks after their sister died. "He never went to the funeral and he never got to say goodbye," said Millington Grant. The same year she had that conversation with the family friend, her father passed. Shortly after, she went to her mother, pleading with her to share her feelings about what happened in 1954. "We need to do something about this," Millington Grant recalls telling her mother. "We need to talk about it. There's so many people who don't know about it even in our own family." Her mother opened up, and her daughter noticed how it seemed to bring her some relief — a sort of therapy her father might have learned to appreciate. Every year, a special ceremony is held to honour the memory of the victims — to speak their names: Denzil Alleyne, Margo and Marilyn Fonseca, Brenda Kelly, Carol and Alan Leek, Leon Nealey, Edwin and Diane Springer, Doreen and Estelle Walton as well as Paula Millington. Family and friends attend an annual service at Union United Church, an institution in the heart of Little Burgundy neighbourhood where many of the families called home. Last year, during the boating accident's 70th anniversary, a plaque was installed at the site of the tragedy. This past Saturday, during the commemoration for the 71st year, the King Charles III Coronation Medal was awarded to David Tagieff — who was 12 years old when he paddled out to the capsized boat and saved two children from drowning. The medal recognizes individuals who have made a significant contribution to a particular province, territory, region or community in Canada. For his part, Tagieff still can't really explain how he had the presence of mind to act so decisively. Although he doesn't like to dwell in regret, he does wonder how the situation might have been different if he'd been able to use a speedboat to get to the children faster. "You can't go back," he said. "Crying over it isn't going to solve it so you got to sort of say, well, it's a tragedy and hopefully we learn from this." Millington Grant speaks up about what happened to make sure the names of the 12 children lost are recorded in history books and to promote water safety. "The children need to know how to swim, but they also need to know the dangers of the water, that things can change in a split second and the respect of the water is the most important," she stressed. Last year, the West Island Black Community Association (WIBCA) made a commitment to raise awareness about the 1954 accident. Additionally, the organization is facilitating access to vital therapy. Two counsellors, Seeta Ramdass and Rosetta Sowkey have offered their services for free. "It's never too late to heal, " the organization's president, Joan Lee, noted. WIBCA is also working with the borough of Pierrefonds-Roxboro to provide swimming lessons. In the days leading up to last Saturday's ceremony, Millington Grant grew tearful when asked about what it would mean to be present for Tagieff's recognition. With her voice cracking with emotion, she said: "Even if he had only saved one — and he saved two — it's by the grace of God that those families didn't have to go through what the rest of our families went through." For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of.
