Toronto parents set up school rapid-testing program as city reports 11 COVID-19 outbreaks
CBC
Some Toronto elementary school parents have built their own rapid testing program from scratch — finding a supplier in the Waterloo region, driving there and back to pick up the kits multiple times a month and spreading the news by word of mouth.
So far this school year, their efforts mean 280 students at Earl Beatty Junior and Senior Public School and some siblings, are participating in the twice-a-week testing regime, completing close to 1,000 tests to date, said founder Sam Kaufman. His eight-year-old son Asa is a student there and taking part.
"The idea of this kind of screening is to catch cases early," Kaufman, a data scientist, told CBC News.
"You may not be able to prevent a classroom from going home, but hopefully you prevent many kids from getting sick and the outbreak getting out of control."
The tests were donated by the Waterloo Region-based Stay Safe program, which helps businesses and communities scale up rapid testing.
Kaufman say he's frustrated at the Ontario government's refusal to spearhead rapid testing efforts in schools, especially as he sees outbreaks mount. The City of Toronto is reporting 11 schools are currently experiencing outbreaks and a Durham Region school has closed for at least two weeks with students going back to online learning.
"I don't understand why we wouldn't use every tool we have to try to keep COVID out of our schools," he said.
A man who terrorized women in St. John's in 2012 is now suing the federal government, saying he'll never walk again after being stabbed at a prison in Renous, N.B.
When help finally came for snowmobiler Dave Metcalfe, he'd almost given up hope it was coming at all.
The City of Montreal is asking residents to stay home as much as possible until Monday evening, as crews work to clear a second round of snow dumped on the city by Sunday's winter storm.
An internal government report warned a year ago that allowing "the trend of negative rhetoric" about the security of the Canada-U.S. border could lead to a thickening of the 49th parallel, adversely affecting trade and travel.
Saskatchewan RCMP says it's investigating three stabbing incidents on Big River First Nation.
Police in Surrey, B.C., say they have arrested a suspect believed to be involved in two unprovoked stranger assaults last week.
Liberal leadership candidate and former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney said on Sunday that former prime minister Stephen Harper asked him to join his cabinet as finance minister in 2012.
WARNING: This story contains details of experiences at residential schools.
The sudden closure of Yellowknife's Great Slave Animal Hospital has left both pet owners and animal care non-profits in the N.W.T. scrambling to find veterinary care.
Nearly the entirety of Alberta is in for a bout of frigid temperatures beginning Saturday, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC).
Seemingly never-ending snow, extreme cold, and a mix of ice pellets and freezing rain. Across much of Canada, it's been a nasty holiday weekend for weather.
A Sunday storm is brewing, and it's also set to usher in Islander Day with a mixture of snow, ice pellets, freezing rain and wind across P.E.I.
A winter storm warning has been lifted for London and Middlesex County as residents continue to dig themselves out from the region's second major snowfall in less than a week.