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Justin Chandler (he/him) Profile picture
Justin Chandler (he/him)
@mr_lois_lane
@CBCHamilton reporter 🧑🏻‍💻 | @CMGLaGuilde union organizer ✊🏻 | Ex: @TheAgenda/@TVO 📺, @CBCRadio, @RFKrypton 📻 | DM for Signal | 🎧🎮📚🥾🧗🏻🏒🧘
Aug 19, 2022 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
On the morning of August 19, 1942, Allied troops took part in Operation Jubilee, an amphibious assault on the French port of Dieppe. In nine hours, enemy fighters killed 907 Canadians, wounded 2,460, and captured 1,946. [1/4] The Allied force included 582 soldiers from the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry — close to 300 were wounded or captured, and 197 died. Today, #HamOnt's Dieppe Veterans Memorial Park is holding a memorial service to commemorate the 80th anniversary. [2/4]
Jun 15, 2022 • 9 tweets • 4 min read
🦠👀⛱️With mask mandates largely lifted and many Ontarians with multiple doses, I asked health officials, including @mustafahirji and @twpiggott, what kind of summer the province has in store — and how public-health units will be spending it.
tvo.org/article/hot-vi… #HamOnt The Hamilton, Niagara and Peterborough health units are all seeing less transmission as well as fewer hospital admissions and outbreaks than in the last few weeks and months. They expect relatively low transmission probably until fall. [2/9]
Jun 7, 2022 • 6 tweets • 5 min read
🪶🏩Eighteen stories up in downtown #HamOnt, four peregrine-falcon chicks are preparing to attempt their first flights. When they’re ready, a team of volunteers—Hamilton's Falconwatch—will watch from the street and try to keep them safe. [1/6] tvo.org/article/up-up-… I wrote about the watch last year (tvo.org/article/how-ha…) but then, there were no new chicks in town for them to monitor. Now, after a particularly dramatic year, there's a big family and plenty of excitement expected. The four chicks were banded on May 27 and I attended. [2/6]
Jun 2, 2022 • 60 tweets • 18 min read
I'll be live-tweeting updates on the #OnElxn in #HamOnt and #Niagara tonight for @TheAgenda. Check out TVO (on TV), go to TVO.org, or cruise our social media for live coverage starting at 8 p.m. ET.
Here are the ridings I'm watching: Haldimand-Norfolk, where polling aggregators are predicting a win for PC candidate Ken Hewitt, mayor of Haldimand County
niagarafallsreview.ca/local-haldiman…
May 31, 2022 • 9 tweets • 5 min read
When it comes to preventing homelessness and supporting unhoused people in Ontario, “we’ve known what the solutions are for a very long time,” says @JesseJenkinson (@MAP_Health). “It’s just whether or not anyone’s going to finally do something about it.” #OnElxn #OnPoli [1/9] The pandemic exacerbated homelessness but things were bad before. A 2021 Statistics Canada study concluded homelessness in Ontario has been worsening over time, affecting younger cohorts, and shifting to smaller but rapidly growing municipalities. www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/82-003-… [2/9]
May 24, 2022 • 7 tweets • 4 min read
🏙️🏡In recognition of rapidly rising rents, the four major parties in Ontario are promising some big changes for renters, including rent control and vacancy control. I talked to two housing experts about what impact those policies could have. #OnPoli #OnElxn [1/7] Ontario units built pre-2018 are subject to rent control, meaning landlords can raise rent by only a set amount each year (typically between 0.5 and 3 per cent). However, landlords can apply to make "above-guideline increases" to recover costs. [2/7]
Apr 12, 2022 • 12 tweets • 6 min read
🌬🏫Good ventilation reduces the risk of COVID-19 transmission. So what’s being done to improve the air kids breathe in schools? I asked the Ministry of Education, Niagara's public school board (@dsbn) and acting MOH, @mustafahirji, and HVAC engineer @joeyfox85. #OnPoli [1/12] Prior to the pandemic, public health in Niagara didn’t play much of a role in ventilation, Hirji says. But that changed as “we realized that this virus actually spreads through the air, and ventilation can be one of the tools that stops its spread." publichealthontario.ca/-/media/Docume… [2/12]
Mar 29, 2022 • 10 tweets • 5 min read
🏫🧑‍🏫😷With about 1/3 of Ontarians age five-11 twice vaccinated against COVID-19 and ineligible for third doses, there has been much debate about letting students be unmasked in class. I spoke to two teachers and a principal about the choices and challenges facing schools. [1/10] While the @HWDSB continues to mandate masking (thespec.com/news/hamilton-…), Hamilton’s Catholic board and the public and Catholic boards in Niagara have followed provincial guidance — and, last week, staff and students were in a position to decide whether or not to mask. [2/10]
Mar 3, 2022 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
Sitting on top of a filing cabinet in Father William Makarenko’s office is a statue of the Ukrainian writer Lesia Ukrainka. One of her most famous poems, Makarenko notes, is titled “Contra Spem Spero!“ — Latin for “hope against hope.”
tvo.org/article/pray-a… [1/4] As the parish priest at St. Vladimir’s Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral in #HamOnt, hope is on Makarenko’s mind: hope that Ukraine will withstand the ongoing Russian invasion and hope that Canada will help the more than 1 million civilians who have fled the state. [2/4]
Feb 24, 2022 • 11 tweets • 5 min read
🧑‍⚕️🤷Medical officers of health have at times drawn ire (and praise) for criticizing provincial health measures and implementing their own, often stricter sets. I broke down who makes the public-health calls in Ontario — and what happens when they disagree with one another. [1/11] In Ontario, the chief medical officer of health (today Dr. Kieran Moore) reports to the deputy minister of health but has the authority to independently report on any health issue. The CMOH can issue directives or orders to individuals, groups, regions, or the province. [2/11]
Jan 28, 2022 • 12 tweets • 5 min read
💉🏥Despite the Omicron surge, Hamilton Health Sciences has terminated 178 employees (slightly > 1 per cent of its staff) who had not complied with its vaccination policy. Nearby, Niagara Health opted to defer its mandate, citing staffing pressures. [1/10] Most Ontario hospitals have vaccine mandates, which are intended to prevent transmission, and apply to workers who’ve failed to receive at least two doses of vaccine. But, as staffing shortages mount, some ask: Should unvaccinated workers be terminated? [2/10]
Jan 18, 2022 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
🧑‍🔬🚽🦠With case counts now offering a less reliable indication of spread, some Ontario experts are advising we look to the sewers for a clearer sense of COVID-19 trends. Throughout the pandemic, wastewater testing has been as a complementary tool to track transmission. [1/10] Wastewater testing is seen as independent from clinical testing, because people with COVID-19 poop into the sewer system and shed the virus, whether or not they get tested. This is why proponents say it could be so useful now to show trends. [2/10] Text reading: Public-health officials have been testing wast
Jan 7, 2022 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
🦠📈🤷Ontario's COVID-19 testing is now severely limited. With that, many experts say daily case counts are undercounting the real reach of the virus. I asked physician/scientist @DrJeffKwong about data gaps — and which indicators we should be watching. Some takeaways:
Last week, Hamilton’s medical officer of health told reporters public health would focus less on COVID-19 case counts and more on hospitalizations, ICU admissions, deaths, outbreaks and the percentage of positive tests. [1/5]
Dec 13, 2021 • 12 tweets • 6 min read
🏫A #HamOnt school board is using an “Indigenous process” to select a new name for a school named after Egerton Ryerson. As a Halton school board and Toronto university do the same, I asked Indigenous students what an inclusive renaming process should/shouldn't look like. [1/12] The decision to rename these schools came after the discoveries of unmarked graves on the grounds of former Indian residential schools around the country. Egerton Ryerson (docs.google.com/document/d/1_Q…) is considered one of the architects of the system (). [2/12]
Dec 10, 2021 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
Highlights from my Q&A with Dr. @mustafahirji:
Hirji says travel to the U.S. is a likely vector for Omicron getting to Niagara. "I think it’s almost certain that there’s a significant amount of Omicron variant circulating in the U.S., which they are just not aware of." [1/8] He says current border measures aren't likely doing much to limit the spread of infection. A U.S. traveler to Niagara had Omicron that was only detected by random testing on entry, the results of which came through after they had already left. stcatharinesstandard.ca/news/niagara-r… [2/8]
Dec 8, 2021 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
Pat Mandy says she wasn’t looking to become #HamOnt's police-board chair, but she took the opportunity when it came. “In my journey in life, I keep getting pushed into these directions,” she says. We discussed her exp., policing in Hamilton, and building relationships. [1/7] Image Mandy took on the role in November (cbc.ca/news/canada/ha…). The board provides direction and oversight to police services, and the chair's job is "bringing folks together, encouraging discussion among them, and keeping them on track toward their vision," she says. [2/7]
Nov 24, 2021 • 10 tweets • 6 min read
🚑🧑‍⚕️Imagine you’re in medical distress and need an ambulance. You call 911 and, within 15 minutes, paramedics arrive. They put you on a stretcher, load you in, and take you to a hospital. Then you wait. And wait. And wait. [1/10]
If it takes more than 30 min for hospitals to assume care of a patient from paramedics, that's considered an offload delay. This has become increasingly common in Niagara and throughout Ontario, according to experts. Kevin Smith, @NiagaraEMS chief, calls it a crisis. [2/10] Seen from the back, an ambulance has its doors open, showing
Nov 12, 2021 • 11 tweets • 5 min read
💻🧑‍💼While survey and polling data show most people working from home feel productive and healthy, some remote workers have ended up feeling burned out — and that has researcher @newerakate worried. The @BrockCPCF professor says now's the time to reassess remote work. [1/11] In a policy brief for the Niagara Community Observatory (brocku.ca/niagara-commun…), Cassidy and her coauthor pose a series of questions for employers to ask to determine if they can support work from home. A centrepiece to the discussion is relationships, she says. [2/11]
Nov 2, 2021 • 11 tweets • 6 min read
📈💲 Inflation is the highest it’s been in 18 years. But ODSP rates haven’t gone up in three. I spoke with advocates and a researcher about the problems this poses for people who rely on the Ontario Disability Support Program. [1/11] Protesters hold a sign calling for the ends of homelessness “The rates are too low, and if you're not even giving people a meagre increase, that's just not going to work,” @hatalaandrea, who volunteers with the @ODSPAction says. Inflation rose 4.4 per cent year-over-year in September. [2/11]
Oct 20, 2021 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
🐕🩹This month, rescuers from all around Ontario took in 52 dogs from a home near Brantford. Three ended up with Heather Watling of 4Champ Animal Rescue in Sudbury. She says many will require care for physical injuries but that she’s most worried about their mental health. [1/7] Trauma affects dogs differently, Watling says. "Some will have anxiety disorders. Some will completely shut down. Others will redirect their anxiety or depression toward people or other dogs. Some dogs won’t display anything until later." [2/7] A black dog looks up
Oct 7, 2021 • 13 tweets • 7 min read
💉📲 On Oct. 22, Ontario is set to launch a new vaccine certificate and verification app. Receipts will be available in the form of QR codes. In the coming months, Ontario will also release another credential called Digital ID. I asked experts about usability and security. [1/12] Some vaccination-credential apps have been criticized for how they handle users’ information (see the private PORTpass app: cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…) but generally, cybersecurity experts say systems like Quebec's (similar to what Ontario is doing) should be secure. [2/12]