“And by the time you get home, you’ve just got nothing in the tank”: Perlita Stroh, “Stress, anxiety a heavy burden for people who can’t work from home or isolate properly,” CBC News, May 12, 2020, https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/covid-19-front-line-workers-stress-1.5561984.
Loblaws, which said it had spent $180 million on extra wages, clawed back wages first: Susan Krashinsky Robertson, “Loblaws profit falls as pandemic costs offset surging grocery revenue,” Globe and Mail, July 23, 2020, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-loblaw-profit-falls-as-higher-costs-offset-grocery-revenue-surge/; https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-grocery-executives-defend-decision-to-cut-covid-19-pay-premiums-for/?utm_medium=Referrer:+Social+Network+/+Media&utm_campaign=Shared+Web+Article+Links.
“We’re being called essential workers,” she said. “Well, you can’t take away essential”: “Scrapping $2 hourly bonus for grocery store workers ‘a slap in the face’: Loblaw baker,” As It Happens, June 16, 2020, https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-tuesday-edition-1.5614169/scrapping-2-hourly-bonus-for-grocery-store-workers-a-slap-in-the-face-loblaw-baker-1.5614541.
“That would be the right thing to do”: Steven Chase, “Grocery executives defend decision to cut $2-per hour ‘hero’ pay for workers,” Globe and Mail, July 10, 2020, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-grocery-executives-defend-decision-to-cut-covid-19-pay-premiums-for/?utm_medium=Referrer:+Social+Network+/+Media&utm_campaign=Shared+Web+Article+Links.
In late August, eleven Loblaw-owned grocery stores in Newfoundland went on strike: “Loblaw-owned Dominion grocery store workers in N.L. on strike over low wages, end of pandemic pay,” Globe and Mail, August 23, 2020, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-loblaw-owned-dominion-grocery-store-workers-in-nl-on-strike-over-low/.
That same week, a Loblaws distribution centre in Surrey, B.C., announced a new outbreak: Kathryn Tindale, “COVID-19 outbreak at Surrey Loblaws warehouse, 80 new cases in B.C.,” CityNews 1130, August 20, 2020, https://www.citynews1130.com/2020/08/20/80-cases-outbreak-at-loblaws/.
A significant number of workers who briefly gained higher (but not high) “hero” wages were women, many of them women of colour: Campbell Robertson and Robert Gebeloff, “How Millions of Women Became the Most Essential Workers in America,” New York Times, April 18, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/18/us/coronavirus-women-essential-workers.html.
She started to feel ill on Thursday, April 16, but finished her eight-hour shift, sitting on cold metal as an: https://www.facebook.com/ActionDignity/; Licia Corbella, “Corbella: Cargill worker who died was jolly, sweet and unprotected,” Calgary Herald, May 5, 2020, https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/corbella-cargill-worker-who-died-was-jolly-sweet-and-unprotected.
The day after that she was gone; Nguyen didn’t even have a chance to say goodbye: Kathy Le, “ ‘I am so, so sad’: Grieving husband speaks out after wife, a Cargill employee, succumbs to COVID-19,” CTV News, May 4, 2020, https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/i-am-so-so-sad-grieving-husband-speaks-out-after-wife-a-cargill-employee-succumbs-to-covid-19-1.4924500.
Almost half of the plant’s 2,000 workers had tested positive for COVID-19: Licia Corbella, “Corbella: Cargill worker who died was jolly, sweet and unprotected,” Calgary Herald, May 5, 2020, https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/corbella-cargill-worker-who-died-was-jolly-sweet-and-unprotected.
The explanation for this disastrous record was both terrible and simple: Kathryn Blaze Baum, Carrie Tait, and Tavia Grant, “How Cargill became the site of Canada’s largest single outbreak of COVID-19,” Globe and Mail, May 2, 2020, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-how-cargill-became-the-site-of-canadas-largest-single-outbreak-of/.
Multiple employees told the Globe they were cleared to return despite symptoms: Kathryn Blaze Baum, Carrie Tait, and Tavia Grant, “How Cargill became the site of Canada’s largest single outbreak of COVID-19,” Globe and Mail, May 2, 2020, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-how-cargill-became-the-site-of-canadas-largest-single-outbreak-of/.
One Calgary Herald columnist described the announcement, thusly: “It’s a doozy filled with whoppers”: Licia Corbella, “Corbella: With record COVID-19 outbreak Cargill’s safety measures in question,” Calgary Herald, April 30, 2020, https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/corbella-with-record-covid-19-outbreak-cargills-safety-measures-in-question/.
“We put people first,” it added: “Statement on safety in Cargill’s North American protein facilities,” Cargill.com, July 15, 2020, https://www.cargill.com/story/statement-on-safety-in-cargill-north-american-protein-facilities.
Combined with its other plant in Guelph, Ontario, Cargill has cornered more than 50 per cent of the beef processing market in Canada: “Meat processing,” Cargill.com, https://www.cargill.ca/en/meat-processing.
“How are you making the most of the disruption?” one company update asked the workers: Sara Mojtehedzadeh and Jennifer Yang, “More than 180 workers at this Toronto bakery got COVID-19—but the public wasn’t informed. Why aren’t we being told about workplace outbreaks?” Toronto Star, August 10, 2020, https://www.thestar.com/business/2020/08/10/more-than-180-workers-at-this-toronto-bakery-got-covid-19-but-the-public-wasnt-informed-why-arent-we-being-told-about-workplace-outbreaks.html?source=newsletter&utm_content=a01&utm_source=ts_nl&utm_medium=email&utm_email=3781EA08CD6F62E3775467109EAF689C&utm_campaign=lng_28933.
By early June, more than 420 migrant farm workers had tested positive for COVID-19 across six operations in Ontario: Tavia Grant and Kathryn Blaze Baum, “Migrant farm workers detail dangerous pandemic conditions,” Globe and Mail, June 8, 2020, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-farm-workers-detail-dangerous-pandemic-conditions/.
Again, people reported testing positive for COVID but being told to keep working with others who’d also tested positive: “Unheeded warnings: COVID-19 and migrant workers in Canada,” Migrant Workers Alliance, June 2020, https://migrantworkersalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Unheeded-Warnings-COVID19-and-Migrant-Workers.pdf.
Chilblains are caused by the inflammation of small blood vessels and can cause itching, swelling, blistering, and red or purple patches: Roni Caryn Rabin, “What is ‘covid toe’? Maybe a strange sign of Covid infection,” New York Times, May 1, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/01/health/coronavirus-covid-toe.html.
In the coming months, there would be considerable medical controversy over “COVID toes,” with some studies denying the connection and others supporting it: Wiley, “Study supports link between COVID-19 and ‘COVID toes,’ ” ScienceDaily, July 2, 2020, https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200702113716.htm; Brooklyn Neustaeter, “New study finds evidence between COVID-19 and ‘COVID toes’ symptom,” CTV News, July 5, 2020, https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/new-study-finds-evidence-between-covid-19-and-covid-toes-symptom-1.5011460.
In such cases, the SARS-CoV-2 virus was found in patients’ sweat glands: C. Galván Casas, et al., “Classification of the cutaneous manifestations of COVID‐19: A rapid prospective nationwide consensus study in Spain with 375 cases,” British Journal of Dermatology 183, no. 1 (July 2020): 71–77, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/bjd.19163; Wiley, “Study supports link between COVID-19 and ‘COVID toes,’ ” EurekAlert!, July 2, 2020, https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-07/w-ssl070220.php.
Three: Communities Come Together
Or, they’ll pass the recently renovated St. Thomas United Baptist Church: Julian Abraham, “The Novascotian: Listen to the heartbeat of North Preston,” Chronicle Herald, April 9, 2020, https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/lifestyles/local-lifestyles/the-novascotian-listen-to-the-heartbeat-of-north-preston-435890/; Sherri Borden Colley, “Newly renovated North Preston church reopens this weekend,” CBC News, September 7, 2017, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/fire-church-blacks-grand-reopening-pastor-st-thomas-united-baptist-church-north-preston-1.4277615.<
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As she and other community members watched the case counts climb across the country: Tim Bousquet, “Daily COVID-19 update: Possible community spread case likely related to a St. Patrick’s Day celebration held in Lake Echo,” Halifax Examiner, March 26, 2020, https://www.halifaxexaminer.ca/province-house/daily-covid-19-update-possible-community-spread-case-likely-related-to-a-st-patricks-day-celebration-held-in-lake-echo/.
As one community member would put it, “We don’t get much help at all. The little we do have, we have done it ourselves”: Robert Devet, “Miranda Cain on COVID-19 and the Prestons: ‘The little we do have, we have done it ourselves.” Nova Scotia Advocate, April 10, 2020, https://nsadvocate.org/2020/04/10/miranda-cain-on-covid-19-and-the-prestons-the-little-we-do-have-we-have-done-it-ourselves/.
“And while we are using resources, doubling down on testing, and trying to keep people healthy, the reckless and selfish few in these communities are still having parties”: El Jones, “Daily COVID-19 update: Coronavirus hits the Black community, with a predictable racist response,” Halifax Examiner, April 7, 2020, https://www.halifaxexaminer.ca/province-house/daily-covid-19-update-covid-19-hits-the-black-community-with-a-predictable-racist-response/; “Cape Breton woman in her 70s is Nova Scotia’s first death related to COVID-19,” CBC News, April 7, 2020, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/covid-19-death-nova-scotia-1.5524447.
North Preston residents called out the premier’s statements for what they were, and he refused to apologize: Haley Ryan, “Preston group upset premier singled community out for COVID-19 criticism,” CBC News, April 8, 2020, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/preston-covid-19-premier-mcneil-nova-scotia-stigma-1.5526032.
“And now we’re fighting the battle of being from North Preston and Black and with an infectious disease”: Robert Devet, “Miranda Cain on COVID-19 and the Prestons: ‘The little we do have, we have done it ourselves.” Nova Scotia Advocate, April 10, 2020, https://nsadvocate.org/2020/04/10/miranda-cain-on-covid-19-and-the-prestons-the-little-we-do-have-we-have-done-it-ourselves/.
Given the area’s harsh history and continued maltreatment, many people understandably distrusted the system: Emma Smith, “Preston community leaders work to get more people tested for COVID-19,” CBC News, April 16, 2020, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/east-preston-cherrybrook-preston-covid-19-response-team-testing-clinics-1.5534889.
The release announcing the program said the cash would help people “put food on the table and keep a roof over their head”: “Canada Emergency Response Benefit to launch on April 6,” Government of Canada, April 1, 2020, https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/news/2020/04/canada-emergency-response-benefit-to-launch-on-april-6.html.
A group of Vancouver activists established a survival fund to dole out no-questions-asked increments of twenty-five to one hundred dollars: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-covid19-coming-together-vancouver?utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer&utm_campaign=p_lico+share-sheet.
An Indigenous artist named Lianne Spence raised funds to help buy and deliver groceries to elders in the Prince Rupert area: Lee Wilson, “With her own work on hold, B.C. artist raises grocery money for elders during pandemic,” APTN National News, April 8, 2020, https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/with-her-own-work-on-hold-b-c-artist-raises-grocery-money-for-elders-during-pandemic/.
Two men had attacked a Toronto woman: Dario Balca, “Toronto woman creates online network to help those vulnerable when travelling alone,” CTV News, November 23, 2015, https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/toronto-woman-creates-online-network-to-help-those-vulnerable-when-travelling-alone-1.2671708.
Justin Trudeau tweeted about the movement, saying, “We’re only going to get through this by pulling together”: https://twitter.com/justintrudeau/status/1244820327051546630.
Barack Obama called it “a great example of the kind of community spirit we need to get through this”: https://www.facebook.com/YMHECanada/photos/a-shout-out-to-all-the-canadian-caremongering-and-neighborhood-groups-organizing/1276260225904051/.
In April, the Oxford English Dictionary’s senior editor called caremongering her favourite word to emerge from the pandemic: Patricia Treble, “Tracking COVID-19’s evolving language, from ‘self-isolation’ to ‘social distancing,’ ” Maclean’s, April 16, 2020, https://www.macleans.ca/news/tracking-covid-19s-evolving-language-from-self-isolation-to-social-distancing/.
The former pointed out that Canada is “a country whose inhabitants are stereotyped in the media as being kind to a fault”: Tom Gerken, “Coronavirus: Kind Canadians start ‘caremongering’ trend,” BBC News, March 16, 2020, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-51915723.
The latter deemed caremongering “the antithesis in name and spirit to fearmongering”: David Moscrop, “In Canada, an inspiring movement emerges in response to the coronavirus,” Washington Post, March 24, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/24/canada-an-inspiring-movement-emerges-response-coronavirus/.
That realization, she said, came when a group in Malaysia helped three hundred stranded Rohingya refugees: Erin Blakemore, “Who are the Rohingya people?” National Geographic, February 8, 2019, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/people/reference/rohingya-people/.
Though Human Rights Watch has condemned Malaysia’s treatment of the thousands: “Figures at a glance in Malaysia,” UNHCR, https://www.unhcr.org/figures-at-a-glance-in-malaysia.html.
“While there is an upside to this solidarity, it is often short-lived and romanticized by both media and politicians”: Yvonne Su, “The COVID-19 crisis has spawned a movement of helpers, but that doesn’t relieve the government of its responsibility to protect the vulnerable,” Policy Options, April 14, 2020, https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/april-2020/caremongering-and-the-risk-of-happy-washing-during-a-pandemic/.
For others, it made only slight or no impact: Kate Allen, Jennifer Yang, Rachel Mendleson, and Andrew Bailey, “Lockdown worked for the rich, but not for the poor. The untold story of how COVID-19 spread across Toronto, in 7 graphics,” Toronto Star, August 2, 2020, https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/08/02/lockdown-worked-for-the-rich-but-not-for-the-poor-the-untold-story-of-how-covid-19-spread-across-toronto-in-7-graphics.html.
Compared to the least diverse areas, the rate of hospitalization there was four times higher and the rate of death was twice as high: Aaron Wherry, “One country, two pandemics: What COVID-19 reveals about inequality in Canada,” CBC News, June 13, 2020, https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/pandemic-covid-coronavirus-cerb-unemployment-1.5610404.
In addition, Toronto discovered that newcomers and those living below the poverty line had higher case and hospitalization rates: Ibid.
Such dismal patterns were echoed in other cities: Martin C. Barry, “Ongoing COVID-19 raises spectre of homelessness worsening,” Laval News, August 25, 2020, https://www.lavalnews.ca/ongoing-covid-19-raises-spectre-of-homelessness-worsening/.
When you’re making sixty-two cents for every dollar a white man is paid, it’s hard, if not impossible, to build an income cushion: Erika Beras, “For Black women, the pay gap persists,” Marketplace.org, August 13, 2020, https://www.marketplace.org/2020/08/13/pay-gap-black-womens-equal-pay-day/.
To afford housing, many lower-income families also live together in smaller dwellings: Aaron Wherry, “One country, two pandemics: What COVID-19 reveals about inequality in Canada,” CBC News, June 13, 2020, https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/pandemic-covid-coronavirus-cerb-unemployment-1.5610404; Leah Nairn, “The disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black women,” COVID-19 Women’s Initiative, June 5, 2020, https://covidwi.com/2020/06/05/the-disproportionate-impact-of-covid-19-on-black-women/.
in May, one shelter went from handing out three or four hundred meals a week to well over six hundred: Jennifer Ferreira, “The toll COVID-19 is taking on Canada’s homeless,” CTV News, May 22, 2020, https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/the-toll-covid-19-
is-taking-on-canada-s-homeless-1.4950722.
Plenty of them are also over sixty-five, the age at which COVID-19 health outcomes become more perilous, more grim: Melissa Perri, Naheed Dosani, and Stephen H. Hwang, “COVID-19 and people experiencing homelessness: challenges and mitigation strategies,” cmaj.ca, June 29, 2020, https://www.cmaj.ca/content/192/26/E716.
All across the country, many of the services vulnerable populations relied on, including safe consumption sites, day programs, and food banks, were temporarily or permanently shuttered: Jennifer Pagliaro, “City’s busiest supervised injection site to reopen after month-long closure over COVID-19,” Toronto Star, April 16, 2020, https://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2020/04/16/citys-busiest-supervised-injection-site-to-reopen-after-month-long-closure-over-covid-19.html; Alexandra Harvey, “Canadian food banks struggle to stay open, just as demand for their services skyrocket,” Globe and Mail, April 11, 2020, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/toronto/article-canadian-food-banks-struggle-to-stay-open-just-as-demand-for-their/.
Fentanyl overdose deaths rose, and many shelters, including those who serve youth, reported being unable to access health care for those who were symptomatic: Amanda Buchnea, Mary-Jane McKitterick, David French (2020). Summary Report: Youth Homelessness and COVID-19: How the youth serving sector is coping with the crisis. Toronto, ON: Canadian Observatory on Homelessness Press and A Way Home Canada, https://www.homelesshub.ca/sites/default/files/attachments/COVID-19_SUMMARY_REPORT%20%281%29_0.pdf; Amanda Coletta, “Canada’s other health crisis: as overdoses surge, officials call on government to decriminalize illicit drugs,” Washington Post, August 16, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/canada-drug-overdose-coronavirus/2020/08/15/559dabbe-dcd9-11ea-b4af-72895e22941d_story.html.
In Toronto, a cluster of those hotels were located in the city’s higher-income neighbourhoods; protestors rallied to denounce the “criminal element”: Muriel Draaisma, “Opposing groups demonstrate on same city street, to express views on midtown homeless shelters,” CBC News, August 15, 2020, https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/midtown-toronto-shelter-two-opposing-groups-protests-dual-rallies-1.5687994.
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