Provincial police say they have located the owners of the llama spotted on Highway 400 Wednesday evening.
Crews were forced to block off all lanes except the HOV of the southbound 400 approaching King Road as they attempted to catch the animal.
The llama was eventually captured and was uninjured.
OPP later tweeted the animal was reunited with its family.
Ontario is reporting 384 new COVID-19 cases and 12 additional deaths on Wednesday.
There were nearly 28,100 tests completed in the last 24-hour period.
The province is reporting a test positivity rate of 1.5 per cent, down from 2 per cent one week ago. It is the lowest positivity rate reported since Oct. 3.
Locally, there are 71 new cases in Waterloo, 60 in Peel, 54 in Toronto, 23 in Middlesex-London and 21 in Ottawa. It marks the fewest new cases in Toronto since early September.
There were another 722 resolved cases, dropping the active case count once again. Resolved cases have outnumbered new infections each day since mid-April.
The province’s active case count has dropped below 5,000 for the first time since Oct. 1.
The province reported 296 cases and 13 deaths on Tuesday.
The rolling seven-day average has dropped to 475, reaching the lowest point since late September.
There are now 438 people hospitalized in the province with 377 in the ICU. Hospitalizations are down nearly 150 since one week ago and ICU numbers have dropped nearly 100 in the last week.
There were 202,984 vaccine doses administered in the last 24-hour period.
As of 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, 11,732,414 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered and 73.7 per cent of Ontarians over the age of 12 have received at least one dose, while 17 per cent of residents are now fully vaccinated.
Premier Doug Ford tweeted on Wednesday morning that the province had set a new record for daily vaccines administered by surpassing 200,000 for the first time.
Ontarians continue to flood the province’s booking portal, and line up outside pop-up clinics, in hopes of securing a second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Toronto opened up 30,000 more appointments Wednesday morning for the Moderna vaccine, but many reported on social media that the appointments were quickly snatched up when the booking opened.
Many have expressed frustration at their inability to book vaccinations after the province accelerated second doses in areas where the Delta variant is spreading.
Before Step 2 of the province’s reopening plan can begin on July 2, 70 per cent of Ontario adults need to have received at least one dose, and 20 per cent need to have received both doses. The province has already surpassed the first vaccination threshold and is on pace to reach 80 per cent by early July.
Based on current daily vaccinations, Ontario is on pace to meet the 20 per cent fully vaccinated threshold by the week of June 21.
Ontario’s interprovincial borders with Quebec and Manitoba have now fully reopened.
Travel between the regions was limited to essential reasons such as health care services, work and custody or compassionate grounds like attending a funeral. The restrictions also allowed law enforcement to stop and question people about their reasons for entering Ontario.
Waterloo Region leads province for new COVID infections as Delta variant cases rise
A region in southwestern Ontario reported the highest number of new COVID-19 cases in the province on Wednesday, with local health officials saying an extremely transmissible variant of the virus was likely behind a recent surge in infections.
Waterloo Region recorded 71 new infections, surpassing the 60 reported in Peel Region and 54 in Toronto.
Local officials said the majority of cases are associated with close contacts and social gatherings, and area politicians called on the provincial government to help.
“We need help to put this fire out IMMEDIATELY,” NDP legislator Catherine Fife, who represents Waterloo, wrote on Twitter Wednesday.
Fife and Kitchener Centre legislator Laura Mae Lindo wrote to the premier and health minister earlier this week asking for support. They raised concerns about infections outpacing more densely populated areas of the province and said their region hasn’t received an equitable allotment of vaccine doses.
“Constituents remain concerned that our region continues to be shortchanged, exacerbating our situation locally,” they wrote.
Ontario’s overall COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have been declining in recent weeks, but Waterloo’s figures appear to be moving upward.
The region, which includes the cities of Waterloo, Kitchener and Cambridge, reported 494 active cases as of Wednesday afternoon. Local officials have also noted an increase in hospitalizations and intensive care admissions.
The region’s public health unit said the highly contagious Delta variant is behind the pattern.
“We are concerned that our trends are not improving as they are in other communities in Ontario because of the Delta variant,” Dr. Julie Emili, associate medical officer of health, said in a community presentation Friday.
As of Wednesday, there were 32 confirmed cases of the variant in Waterloo Region – the third-highest count in the province, after Peel and Toronto.
Provincial health officials have noted, however, that the process of confirming Delta variant cases is slow and cases may actually be higher.
An outbreak among homeless people in a congregate setting amounted to 87 cases as of Tuesday, Waterloo said. Emili said that particular outbreak had seen “a large number of cases, over a short period of time when compared to other outbreaks.”
Ontario’s science advisors have said the Delta variant is about 50 per cent more transmissible than the Alpha variant, which drove the punishing third wave of infections this spring. People with one vaccine dose are also less protected against the Delta variant.
The variant has also been linked to a dramatic spike in cases in the northeastern Porcupine Health Unit, the only region that didn’t lift health restrictions on businesses and gatherings last week as it battles the surge.
The province designated Waterloo Region as a Delta hot spot last week, prioritizing people there for accelerated second vaccine doses. However, the region warned that those requesting a new second-dose date might be in for a long wait.
“Depending on the volume of requests and vaccine supply, it may take 2-4 weeks to be contacted about an earlier second-dose appointment,” a Tuesday news release said. “Please be patient.”
The University Health Network says the Toronto General Surgical ICU does not have any COVID-19 patients for the first time since March 26, 2020.
A video posted on their Twitter account shows staff enthusiastically celebrating the news, saying they were “very grateful for the extraordinary MSICU [Medical Surgical Intensive Care Unit] team!”
COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have been dropping dramatically as vaccinations continue to rise.
Toronto set a record this week administering on average 44,675 total doses a day. Almost 75 per cent of adults have at least one dose while 20 per cent are fully vaccinated.
In the province, there are currently 438 patients hospitalized and 377 in the ICU. At the peak of the third wave, there were almost 2,000 people hospitalized. There are 178 people in the ICU in Toronto.
Ontario has been slowly resuming normalcy in hospitals with the resumption of non-urgent surgeries last month and allowing patients who have undergone non-emergency surgeries to remain hospitalized overnight.
The Ontario government is offering $10 million in funding for Indigenous communities to locate and investigate burial grounds surrounding the province’s 18 residential schools.
The funds come after the bodies of 215 Indigenous children and youth were located in unmarked graves outside a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C., just last month.
Last week, Chief Mark Hill of Six Nations of the Grand River called on the federal government for the funding to help locate bodies outside of the Mohawk Institute, near Brantford.
To date, the federal government has offered $27 million in funding for all First Nations communities to help identify and investigate marked and unmarked burial grounds near residential schools.
“We watched in horror as a nation saw this on the news. This discovery is unacceptable on every level,” Minister of Indigenous Affairs Greg Rickford said. “And my conversation with the Premier was very pointed. We both agreed that Ontario had to take a leadership role in responding to this for the benefit of survivors, their families and their communities.”
According to a confidential information deck obtained by CityNews, the money is considered an “initial investment” and is expected to flow over the next three years. Rickford said they are taking a “ready, set, go” approach to implementation, suggesting the rollout will be relatively quick.
It’s a three-phase plan, with mental health supports and information gathering starting immediately, and burial site identification and fieldwork commencing shortly thereafter.
Phase three will involve death investigations, repatriation and commemoration. Indigenous communities will have the option to work in conjunction with Ontario specialists, such as experts from the Centre of Forensic Sciences and the Office of the Chief Coroner/Ontario Forensic Pathology Service, but Rickford said there will be an option to retain private sector support “in case the provincial capacity becomes limited at some point.”
The overall approach will be based on Indigenous-led decision-making, with “flexibility for communities to proceed in the manner and at a pace they determine,” according to the confidential deck.
The document also states that new legislation may be introduced to help with the three-pronged plan, including a potential provincial day of remembrance and site-protection requirements.
“This goes all the way back to the Indian Residential Schools (Settlement) Agreement itself, which I was as a lawyer then a signatory to that agreement on behalf of thousands of Ontario survivors. So I’ve been given an opportunity by the Premier to step into this space based on a lot of knowledge and a huge network of survivors and put something together that we think most definitely is going to help the survivors of Ontario, the families of Indigenous families of Ontario. And to the extent that the federal programme may miss that mark or be under significant pressure, which I think they’re going to have to revisit, we’re going to be there for those people.”
A big emphasis is placed on trauma-informed mental health supports for survivors, but also entire communities — something Rickford believes can be deployed rapidly.
“A trauma-informed, culturally relevant response of mental health and wellness supports are a critical component of phase one and phase two,” Rickford explains.
He points to work already underway in providing mobile mental health and addictions resources to remote and isolated Indigenous communities, and the province’s ability to tap into that network.
“We’re going to be able to leverage their mobility and their access to communities to expand that offering specifically for these kinds of issues around burial sites known, unknown, and unmarked burials to support families. I think just the shock to the community that this is an unanswered question in the most general sense (mental health assistance) is going to be available to them.”
Rickford said the plan is the product of extensive research and planning, with considerable input from Indigenous leaders.
“I’m grateful that the Ontario government is answering my call and the call of all Chiefs in Ontario to provide funding and work in a respectful manner with local leadership and Knowledge Keepers to search the grounds of all former Residential School sites in Ontario,” Ontario Regional Chief Roseanne Archibald states in a media release.
“Our little ones need to be found, named, and where possible, returned to their families and communities. Memorial sites must go up across Ontario to remind us that we can never let this happen to our children again, ever.”
Chief Hill echoes Archibald’s enthusiasm, writing: “With the Government of Ontario committing to a full investigation of burial sites, Six Nations is encouraged in the hope that we will find all of our missing children and bring to light what happened to them. This is a step towards justice.”
“We feel that we’ve got a proposal here, a programme that will meet the needs of survivors, families and the communities as they endeavour to reconcile and deal with a lot of profound and disturbing, quite frankly, unanswered questions,” Rickford added.
Support is available for those affected by their experience at residential schools and those who are impacted by recent news coverage. People can access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-hour national Indian Residential School Crisis Line: 1-866-925-4419.
Toronto police say two suspects have been arrested after attempting to break into the Islamic Institute of Toronto (IIT) Tuesday.
Police were called to the Institute just before 12 p.m. and allege a man and woman made threats to staff while attempting to enter the building. They were believed to be under the influence of drugs.
Officers say they did not have any weapons or explosives on them at the time. Both were arrested at the scene.
The IIT also published a statement on Facebook, detailing the security incident.
“As some of you have heard, there was an incident at the Islamic Institute of Toronto earlier today,” they wrote. “Police were called when two individuals attempted to access the building illegally, and uttered threats when confronted. They have been arrested and are in police custody. We are in contact with the police and will have more to say later.”
No injuries were reported.
The mosque acknowledges that there is “heightened concern” following the hate-motivated attack in London, Ont. where a 20-year-old is accused of murdering four family members and seriously injuring a fifth in a hit-and-run incident allegedly influenced by Islamophobic ideologies.
“If there are Islamophobia-related aspects to the incident, we will let the community know ASAP,” the IIT continued. “In the interim, we urge our community not to speculate as the investigation moves forward.”
Police added the Hate Crime Unit has been notified, but “there is no evidence to suggest this is hate-motivated at this time.”
The investigation is still ongoing.
A Toronto man is accusing his building’s property management of being discriminatory after receiving a notice to take down his Pride flags.
Alex Nadar has been living at his North York residence for just over a year and his experience has not been as welcoming as he had hoped.
“I am one of the only openly coloured gay individuals in my building,” said Nadar in an interview with CityNews.
In the spirit of Pride month, Nadar decided to express his pride by displaying flags on his balcony, like many residents and store fronts have done across the city.
Within less than 24 hours, Nadar discovered a letter left at his front door.
“We have noticed that you have a flag or flags hanging from your balcony” read the notice, “Although we can appreciate their purpose, it is strictly against the condominium rules, which we have listed below.”
The letter Nadar shared with CityNews he received from property management:
Nadar was left baffled, pointing out that other residents have flags showing support for their teams during the Euro and Latin America soccer championships, as well as planters fixed to balcony railings, something not permitted as per the notice Nadar received.
“You should be penalizing everybody that is not following the guidelines. And not just someone who is publicly supporting Pride. This is Toronto. We know what June is,” said Nadar.
To avoid a potential fine, the Toronto resident decided to remove the flags now instead of at the end of the month.
“Pride is much bigger than me. It’s so upsetting because we have fought for so long to have our voices heard and just to be silenced like that, it’s ridiculous,” Nadar added.
The federal government published data Tuesday in relation to LGBTQ2+ community across the country to mark Pride season that points to concerns in relation to acceptance, mental health and well-being.
Canada is home to approximately one million people who are LGBTQ2+, accounting for 4 per cent of the total population aged 15 and older in 2018.
CityNews has reached out to Brilliant Property Management for comment but did not receive a response in time of publication.
Concerns are being raised about online safety after a hacker was able to enter a Toronto District School Board (TDSB) virtual classroom and expose himself to a group of Grade 4 students — an incident in which the TDSB took almost a week to alert police.
The incident happened last Tuesday when students from two classrooms were online doing independent work, led by an occasional teacher.
TDSB spokesperson Ryan Bird said it was a parent who noticed the hacker was exposing himself and flagged down a teacher.
“When it was brought to the teacher’s attention, obviously, they were kicked off immediately and they talked with the students. We sent home an initial notification to parents of the impacted classrooms to let them know what happened.”
“We then followed up with staff about safety features in virtual classrooms. We talked to students in a school-wide assembly to discuss online safety,” added Bird. “This is disgusting, inappropriate, [and] It shouldn’t have happened.”
The virtual exposure was not reported to Toronto police until Monday, six days after it happened and the same day CityNews began contacting the TDSB about the incident.
When asked why the TDSB did not alert police immediately, Bird claimed it was due to a delay in speaking with staff and “a bit of a misunderstanding.”
When questioned further, he said: “I think the concern was in the initial communication that people were not aware it was a man that had done it, as opposed to a young student, so it was initially treated a bit differently. But, I can tell you, once all the people essentially got on the same page and understood what had happened, we made sure to immediately notify Toronto police and Children’s Aid Society.”
The Toronto police’s Cyber Unit has now been assigned to this indecent exposure case. Const. David Hopkinson is encouraging everyone who works or does school online to adjust their privacy settings.
Hopkinson said the so-called “zoom-bombing” is happening more often and the virtual attacks are becoming more disturbing. “The allegations are disturbing. We are seeing, you know, more and more of this occurring.”
“It’s not just a distasteful picture, but pictures and video that border on hate crime material, that are child sexual abuse and pornography. These images and videos are criminal and we will investigate,” said Hopkinson.
The CFL is going ahead with its 2021 season.
The league’s board of governors have voted unanimously in favour of an amended collective bargaining agreement and starting the ’21 campaign Aug. 5.
The CFL did not play in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The league unveiled plans in November for a full 18-game season that was to have started in June but later pushed back the start to August and reduced the number of games to 14.
The Grey Cup game was also pushed back from Nov. 21 to Dec. 12 in Hamilton.
More to come
The Ford government says it will not extend the closure of Ontario’s borders with Manitoba and Quebec past it’s current expiry date of June 16.
Solicitor General Sylvia Jones said the order will expire at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday “at which time individuals will be able to enter Ontario via its interprovincial land and water borders.”
“Those entering Ontario must continue to follow the public health measures in place in the province,” she added.
Jones said the decision comes after the province’s successful transition to Step One of the “Roadmap to Reopen” plan and was approved by the chief medical officer of health.
The closure went into effect on April 19 and prohibited travel into Ontario from Manitoba and Quebec with some exceptions, including if the person’s principal residence was in Ontario, the person was moving to Ontario or the person was working or studying in the province.
Toronto police have identified the victims in a deadly shooting incident in the Danforth Road and Thicketwood Drive area Sunday night.
Police said they were called to the area at around 10:36 p.m. for a report of gunfire.
When officers arrived, police said they found two people with life-threatening injuries. They both died at the scene.
Police have identified the two shooting victims as Daniel Fung, 25, and Mohamed Moallim, 23, both from Toronto.
Investigators said they arrested three people at the scene, but later said in a news release on Monday the arrests have nothing to do with this particular investigation.
These deaths mark the city’s 26th and 27th homicides of 2021.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the police directly. Tips can also be left anonymously with Crime Stoppers.
