I don’t understand how Canadian schools never teach about Sir Frederick Banting. Like I like Terry Fox as much as the next canuck, but how can you make me run a marathon every year and never even mention the man, a Canadian, who isolated insulin, the current to this day treatment for diabetes, looked at the literally fortune in his hands, and walked into the children’s ward of a hospital that was full of children in diabetic comas on the brink of death surrounded by their families that were saying goodbye, to hand it out for free. That’s a Canadian hero we should hear about.
If Riya was a white girl named Rebecca this sort of reaction would probably not have happened. If she was a white little girl people would have been all worried and calling her father a monster, writing think pieces on child abuse ect. These people lacked the empathy to be concerned over this little girl because she was brown instead of white girl. Some white woman even had the nerve to tweet there was no concern cause she was with her father.
I hope every ugly in the GTA who complained about this amber alert feels guilty. Because your one night of sleep being ruin is nothing compared to this girl’s life being taken away.
Google’s futuristic development on the eastern waterfront, Quayside, is only the first step in an expansive and ambitious plan to build new neighbourhoods — and new transit — throughout the entire Port Lands, the Star has learned.
In return for its investment in this vision, Sidewalk Labs wants a share of the property taxes, development fees and increased value of city land that would normally go to city coffers.
Internal documents obtained by the Star show Sidewalk Labs plans to make the case that it is “entitled to … a share in the uptick in land value on the entire geography … a share of developer charges and incremental tax revenue on all land.”
This is unbelievably hideous, and to make it even worse, we found out on the same day this news broke that Google has hired Mary-Margaret McMahon as a community director to “sell the vision to Torontonians.”
During her two terms as a city councillor, McMahon voted against the interests of community housing residents (2C, 1), homeless people (6A, 6B-6), and those of us who rely in general on tax-funded services - tax money that she’s now advocating for Google to steal. She doesn’t have even a passable understanding of what Toronto needs, and yet she’s now in charge of convincing us that this nightmare will be beneficial.
When it comes to celebrating his family name, Dave Assman refuses to take no for an answer.
After Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) denied his latest request for an ‘ASSMAN’ vanity licence plate, the Melville man had an oversized decal designed to replicate the plate in question and then placed the decal on the tailgate of his white Dodge Ram pickup truck.
Assman — pronounced OSS-men — said he appealed SGI’s decision on Tuesday and received a message around four hours later that his request had once again been rejected. Then the railroad worker took action.
“I could have got a plate for the front but I really wanted a vanity plate on the back of my truck!” Assman wrote in a social media post showing off the decal.
“See, I hate to say it but I’m kinda a sarcastic ass and well I just wanted to go big!” he said later via direct message.
“Rainbow Railroad receives hundreds of requests for help every year from countries where LGBT individuals are open targets of violence.
Because the volume of requests is so high, we focus our efforts on assisting LGBT people who have faced physical violence or face an imminent threat of violence, imprisonment, or death.
We have been successful in helping individuals from the Caribbean, Africa and Middle East where we have local networks to support and validate cases.”
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO HELP?
“The costs range as every case is unique. Sometimes the individual has the resources to help themselves and they just need information and support from us to make a move. In these cases, the cost to Rainbow Railroad is staff and volunteer time to research and provide information. In cases where they need financial support to get to safety, it costs about $5000 to cover flights and other related costs.”
Rowan Burdge says she’s spent more than $70,000 over the last 10 years just to keep herself alive with the insulin she needs to treat her Type 1 diabetes.
She has extended health benefits through her job, but that plan excludes insulin and her additional insurance is capped at $7,000 annually for her treatment needs.
So Burdge is forced to pay out of pocket for something that provides “just the baseline of not dying.”
“It’s terrifying. It’s overwhelming. I know if I make a mistake with my insulin shots, I could die quite quickly, which is horrifying,” she said.
Burdge made the comments at a media event in Burnaby South Wednesday evening, as reporters and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh listened. She was one of three local residents who told stories of struggling to afford the medication they need to survive before Singh touted his party’s plan to implement a national universal pharmacare plan.
Rowan says she’s spent $70,000 on medication to treat her diabetes. She has coverage through her work but her insulin isn’t covered. #cdnpoli
Singh, who is running in a Feb. 25 byelection in Burnaby South, said Burdge’s story is common across Canada and only the New Democratic plan will properly address the issue.
According to Reuters, the Liberals will soon announce a limited plan to cover some drug costs and plan to campaign on the policy during the October general election.
“What the Liberals are proposing and Mr. Trudeau is proposing is a patchwork system which will not help out all Canadians,” Singh said. “It might help out the Bay Street insurance companies that profit to the tune of billions of dollars.”
