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Cafetalk Tutor's Column

Tutor Zach McLaughlin 's Column

What’s new in Canada?

Dienstag, 8. Juni 2021, 23:47

The Covid-19 situation has been steadily improving in Canada, and the third wave seems to be coming to an end. Canada reported only 1,231 new cases on Monday and just 525 in Ontario (compared to over 4,000 per day in Ontario during the peak of the third wave). Over 70% of Canadians over the age of 12 have received their first dose of vaccine, and 8% have had two doses. Ontario will start to move into stage 1 of its reopening plan this Friday, and non-essential retail will be able to open again.


While the Covid-19 situation is settling down, the weather has been quite wild! On May 28th it snowed in Toronto. Less than two weeks later we started breaking heat records with temperatures well over 30 degrees (feeling as hot as 38 degrees with the humidity). Temperatures vary across the country, though, and as I’m writing this, it’s only 7 degrees out west in Calgary!  


In hockey news, the Montreal Canadiens eliminated the Winnipeg Jets, winning four straight games to sweep the series. Considering that they entered the playoffs with the fewest points of any team, Montreal’s performance this year has come as a huge surprise to hockey fans. 


Speaking of hockey surprises, despite losing their first three games at the IIHF world championship, team Canada pulled off a miraculous comeback to win gold in the finals by beating Finland 3-2 in overtime.


In more serious news, Canada’s controversial history with residential schools has again become a major story in recent days. Indigenous Canadians were forced to attend these schools, and many of them suffered, lost their culture, and even died in very poor conditions. Recently, the remains of over 200 children who had died were found near one of these schools. 


In Toronto, there was a large protest at the university near my home, which is named Ryerson University after Egerton Ryerson. Because Egerton Ryerson helped to create the residential school system that hurt so many people, his statue was torn down and many people want to change the name of the university. This is a dark part of Canada’s history that is still with us today.


This column was published by the author in their personal capacity.
The opinions expressed in this column are the author's own and do not reflect the view of Cafetalk.

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