How a small-town B.C. council meeting became a source of COVID-19 disinformation worldwide
CBC
The city of Dawson Creek, B.C., home to about 12,000 people near the B.C.-Alberta border, has removed a previously published portion of a recent city council meeting video after it began circulating in COVID-19 disinformation groups worldwide.
The incident illustrates why everyone — including small communities — need to think more deeply about who they give a platform to, says a disinformation expert.
The portion of the video that was removed featured several speakers at the council meeting making false or misleading statements about COVID-19 vaccines and their effectiveness.
The speakers arrived at city hall ahead of the council meeting to protest the B.C. government's recent announcement of a vaccine card program, which limits access to non-essential recreational and social activities to people who could provide proof of vaccination.
The meeting, held Sept. 2, was called to clarify how the program would impact city facilities such as the pool and curling rink, said Mayor Dale Bumstead, not to debate the merits of the vaccine card or the vaccination itself.
But outside city hall, about 100 people angry about the vaccine card held placards and demanded a chance to speak.
So council decided to let some of them make short presentations ahead of the regular meeting. Bumstead said it was not an effort to endorse their ideas, but to allow them to be heard as members of the community he was elected to represent.
Police services across northern Ontario say most illicit drugs circulating in their communities are being transported from southern parts of the province, while prescription drugs diverted into the illegal market continue to pose a serious and ongoing threat.
The case of a child who was killed by his mother shortly after being returned from foster care has shed a rare and needed spotlight on the child welfare system, say experts in the field.
G.E. Barbour may be best known for its King Cole tea, but the Sussex company’s peanut butter is apparently what everyone wants overseas.
Seven years into an early onset Alzheimer’s diagnosis, Sandra Demontigny's home is full of reminders.
A blizzard gusting across southern Manitoba is leaving a long list of highway and school closures.
While a blizzard threatened outside, Saskatoon city council endured an icy blast inside city hall from a Riversdale business leader over its homeless initiatives.
This is a story about fire, faith and marshmallows.
Alberta’s population bucked the trend that almost every other Canadian province and territory experienced last quarter, Statistics Canada population estimates suggest.
A U.S. judge on Wednesday blocked Michigan from enforcing a 2020 order to shut down Enbridge's Line 5 oil pipeline running beneath a channel linking two of the Great Lakes, ruling that pipeline safety is a federal responsibility.
When retired RCMP constable Jason Hydamacka heard the news that the insurance money for his amputated leg was coming, he sat in his truck and cried.
As Neskantaga First Nation’s youngest band councillor, Lashaunda Waswa says she wants to inspire the next generation to protect the community’s land, water and wildlife.
Toronto has seen a drop in crime rates across the city, but its police chief says youth crime rates continue to be a cause for concern.
Cambridge council has voted to request a pedestrian safety review of Cedar Street from the region after two back-to-back collisions last week, one of which killed a three-year-old girl.