When her 77-year-old mother called back again, less than an hour later, Lazarakos’s heart sank — but this time, something had shifted.
“Mum’s voice was completely altered. She said, ‘Rick, Rick! I think there was an angel in my room!’” Lazarakos recalled. thestar.com/news/gta/2021/…
"She said he handled her like a baby. He changed her, he cared for her, and then he sat down and he took her hand and he prayed with her.”
After that second call, Lazarakos turned to her husband, and said she wanted to thank this man. thestar.com/news/gta/2021/…
“I wish I could find out who that was,” she lamented.
All she knew was that his name was Samuel, he was African, and he referred to her mother as Shalom, the Hebrew word for “peace.” thestar.com/news/gta/2021/…
But Samuel was just one of countless personal support workers who had parachuted into the home, which reached out to 19 different temporary worker agencies for help during its staffing crisis. thestar.com/news/gta/2021/…
But serendipity or coincidence — or God, if you ask Lazarakos — intervened four months later, when the family came across an article in the Toronto Star.
COVID kept her from helping her mother the day she got that terrible phone call. Which is why Lazarakos was so appreciative of a stranger named Samuel. thestar.com/news/gta/2021/…
“He was like a son to my mother, when I couldn’t be there,” she said.
“He restored her dignity; it was profoundly peace-instilling … It was no small thing.” thestar.com/news/gta/2021/…
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Annamie Paul can save herself from party operatives trying to oust her — if she takes responsibility for the loss of a Green MP who defected to the Liberals, her chief rival in last year’s Green leadership race says
In an interview with the Star, Dimitri Lascaris said he believes Paul can “rehabilitate her standing with the party’s members” who were outraged by how she handled the controversy last month. thestar.com/politics/feder…
New Brunswick MP Jenica Atwin left after Noah Zatzman, one of Paul’s top aides, accused unnamed Green MPs of anti-Semitism and pledged to defeat unnamed politicians in the next federal election. thestar.com/politics/feder…
Former Scarborough councillor Jim Karygiannis was “disrespectful” and “abusive” by entering constituents’ homes without invitation and taking their photos without their consent as he sought to document potential bylaw infractions, a city watchdog found. thestar.com/news/gta/2021/…
After the Star reported Karygiannis was aggressively policing his own constituents for perceived bylaw offences, integrity commissioner Jonathan Batty launched an investigation. thestar.com/news/gta/2021/…
The report does not recommend any punishment because Karygiannis is no longer in office and it would serve no practical purpose, Batty wrote. thestar.com/news/gta/2021/…
Two women ticketed for drinking coffee at a picnic table in Trinity Bellwoods.
A boy with special needs and his mother punished in Sherwood Park.
Zero tolerance over COVID-19 rules in parks led to racial profiling, ‘unfair’ enforcement: city watchdog thestar.com/news/gta/2021/…
On March 25, 2020, the city closed all city-owned playgrounds and many park amenities, followed by rules in early April requiring different households to keep two metres apart in parks and public squares. thestar.com/news/gta/2021/…
The enforcement of COVID-19 rules in Toronto’s public parks was unfair, training for enforcement officers was lacking and the dispute process was unclear, according to newly released findings by a city watchdog. thestar.com/news/gta/2021/…
Lexy Rudnick's newborn needed surgery and regular checkups. He left his corporate job.
“I just knew I wanted to be with him and my wife and my daughter.”
He’s since started a business selling educational books and music, and performing live. thestar.com/life/parent/20…
Although the wage gap and other factors mean women are more likely to downshift their careers to their obligations at home, dads who take kid-related career pivots reflect a shift in values toward more equitable parenting than that of previous generations. thestar.com/life/parent/20…
With his spare time, Rudnick has had an album reach No. 1 on Canada’s children’s music charts and self-published 14 children’s books.
As a primary caregiver, his main gig is“taking care of the kids and making sure my wife (can) focus on her career.” thestar.com/life/parent/20…
Jason Kenney said nurse compensation is, on average, 5.6 per cent higher than the rest of Canada and that “we have a $16-$17 billion deficit.”
The head of the nurses union called the wage rollback plan “incredibly insulting” to an “exhausted workforce.” torstar.co/ij8W50FsvYK
After 15 long pandemic months during which health-care workers were largely heralded as front-line heroes, the news this week that Alberta wants to roll back wages for nurses landed with a thud. thestar.com/news/canada/20…
Premier Jason Kenney’s government is proposing a three per cent wage rollback for nurses as part of long-running and contentious contract negotiations.
One political observer said Kenney is trying to make cuts like it’s the 1990s.
Dr. Tara Kiran knew she was close. The family physician had spent weeks trying to convince her patients, a mom and daughter who lived and worked in a COVID-19 hot spot in Toronto, to get vaccinated. thestar.com/news/gta/2021/…
The hesitation Esther and Alice felt placed them among the roughly 21 per cent of Ontario adults who remain unable or unwilling to get the vaccine. thestar.com/news/gta/2021/…