Quebec still plans to reopen schools Jan. 17
CBC
Quebec will distribute seven million rapid tests to preschools and elementary school students and staff, and says it's sticking to the plan of reopening schools in two weeks.
The return to online learning in the province has been chaotic, as parents and teachers scramble to make sure students have the right materials.
Education Minister Jean-François Roberge says the province will provide students without internet access at home with LTE sticks they can plug into their computers. He said school service centres and boards can request computers from the government if they need some to provide some to children who don't have any.
Roberge provided an update Wednesday afternoon on the school situation as most students' holiday break is now over. Public Health Director Dr. Horacia Arruda joined him at the news conference.
The pair said they are not planning on further delaying the return to in-person learning, which is scheduled for Jan. 17. It was delayed from Jan. 10 last week.
"I'm pretty confident that we will go back to in-person teaching and learning Jan. 17, but I can't be sure 100 per cent, of course, because COVID is COVID and we have to listen to public health," Roberge said, adding that public health experts have said they are in favour of reopening as soon as possible because of the negative effects keeping schools closed can have on children and their development.
Arruda agreed, saying, the province "would have to be in high crisis" to close schools again.
Roberge and Arruda also announced the period of isolation for students under the age of 12, as well as teachers, would be reduced to five days instead of 10. Earlier this week, the province reduced the isolation period for all Quebecers with two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine from 10 to five days.
School daycare services will remain open, but will continue to prioritize the children of essential workers, such as health-care workers, unless a parent is an exceptional situation and needs the help.
Several parent and teacher committees have said they don't see how schools can reopen in two weeks, as the number of hospitalizations in the province threatens to overwhelm the health-care network.
Wednesday, Quebec reported 158 new COVID-19 patients in hospital, totalling 1,750 across the province.
They also expressed concern there wouldn't be enough staff out of isolation for schools to function properly.
Roberge said he hoped the reduced isolation time would remedy part of that problem and that he preferred have to close some individual classrooms temporarily, rather than all of them.
Half of the seven million at-home rapid tests are expected to be handed out when students return to school and the other half in February.
Prospectors staked claims around Nova Scotia in high numbers this year after Premier Tim Houston unveiled his new open-arms approach to natural resource development.
The Holt Liberals have found a way to keep their promise of lower gas prices just days before Christmas.
A man convicted of human smuggling last year has asked a United States court to continue his appeal without a lawyer, in a case where a family from India froze to death near the Manitoba-U.S. border in 2022.
The dream of those who wanted to breathe new life into Saskatoon’s bus barns in Caswell Hill is expected to come tumbling down next year.
Jill Finn is still haunted by the voice.
P.E.I.'s deputy premier Bloyce Thompson is expected to be sworn in as the province's next premier one day after Rob Lantz announced his resignation from the role and his bid for the permanent leadership of the province’s Progressive Conservative Party.
WARNING: This article may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone affected by it.
The Ontario government has sided with the City of Hamilton in its push to continue a long-delayed James Street N., housing redevelopment, which proposes the creation of several hundred homes in the north end.
There's still no timeline on the official designation of an Ojibway National Urban Park — and a Parks Canada representative is asking the community to adjust its expectations.
As the cost of groceries continues to increase, one Edmonton organization is harnessing the power of bulk buying to ensure its members aren’t going hungry at a critical time every month.
A drug alert has been issued in Thunder Bay, Ont., over a toxic substance first found in Toronto earlier this fall.
Ontario’s municipal affairs minister says the province will move forward with a much-delayed mandatory review of the Greenbelt, but opposition critics say there's still no word on when the study of the ecologically sensitive zone will take place or who will conduct it.
A three-year-old girl is dead and a 31-year-old woman suffered serious injuries after they were hit by a vehicle near a Cambridge, Ont., plaza on Thursday afternoon.