An inquest in Ontario is expected to expose the high rates of prescription painkiller-related deaths in Canada.
Ann Silversides
HIV and hepatitis C: Diseases that run rampant in Canadian prisons
In April, the Corrections Service of Canada released a report which revealed considerably higher rates of HIV infections among inmates in federal prisons than had been previously officially acknowledged. Indeed, the reported rate of 4.6 per cent, based on a 2007 survey of prisoners, was more than twice the previous official estimates, and the reported rate of hepatitis C -- a staggering 31 per cent of prisoners -- was also higher.
'If a town of that size had rates like these, it would be treated like a public health emergency,' says Seth Clarke, federal community development co-ordinator with the Prisoners' HIV/AIDS Support Action Network.
How CBC's move to digital TV will hurt rural Canada
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) is scheduled to shut down its remaining analog TV transmitters -- more than 630 of them across the country -- on July 31, a year ahead of the original schedule.
The move will affect millions of Canadians, particularly those in smaller cities and rural areas. (Cable and satellite subscribers in Canada will not be affected.)
Some of the larger impacted centres include London, Saskatoon, Lethbridge, St. John, Moncton, as well as Sherbrooke, Quebec City, Trois Rivieres and Chicoutimi, according to Angus McKinnon, CBC manager of media relations.
Montreal conference on changing nature of journalism
With a mandate to "make democracy work better," Montreal-based OpenNorth.ca built an online database of contracts awarded by the City of Montreal and programs to allow citizens to scrutinize local budgets and identify their political representatives.
This fall, the non-profit plans to create a portal so citizens can more easily file Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to access information gathered by governments at public expense, Alexandre Cayla-Irigoyen told the Montreal conference JournalismStrategies.ca last weekend (April 19 to 21).
Changing nature of journalism
Fractured health-care system sets scene for drug deaths
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Prescription opiate abuse now a public health crisis in Ontario
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Canada's prescription drug problem
An Ontario coroner's inquest into the prescription painkiller related deaths of a 19-year-old man and a 41-year-old woman that begins later this week is expected to draw much needed attention to rising death rates associated with this class of drugs.
These pharmaceuticals, especially when mixed with alcohol, anti-anxiety drugs (benzodiazepines) and anti-depressants, are proving lethal for more and more Canadians.
One of the latest high-profile victims was 28-year-old NHL player Derek Boogaard of Regina, who had been playing with the New York Rangers. His death earlier this month from a combination of oxycodone and alcohol was ruled accidental by a Minnesota medical examiner.
The Persistent Plague
Plane crashes get attention. Full-blown plagues at the height of their fury may also get attention. But illnesses that quietly kill poor andmarginalized people do not.
Here in North America, twenty years after its first official notice, thedeath rate of AIDS has slowed and the disease has become one that affectsprimarily the poor and disenfranchised. That means less attention.
