1098 Results

Additional Details of Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy and Enhanced Summer Jobs Program Released

After making its initial announcement about the significantly expanded Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) program, the federal government announced on April 8, 2020, that it is introducing additional flexibility to the CEWS, and provided additional details about how the program will operate.

Emergency Order Allows First Responders Access to COVID-19 Information

The Ontario government has made an order under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act (EMCPA) which allows specified first responders to have access to “COVID-19 status information” about persons with whom they are coming into contact in the course of their duties. The government announced that the information will be used solely for the purpose of permitting first responders “to take appropriate safety precautions to protect themselves and the communities they serve.”

Ontario Launches Portal to Match Health Care Workers with Health Care Employers

On April 7, 2020, the Ontario government announced that it is launching the “Health Workforce Matching Portal”. The Portal will enable available health care workers to assist in the province’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic by matching those workers with employers, such as hospitals, clinics and assessment centres, to help, for example, in public health functions such as case and contact management.

Significant Staffing and Deployment Flexibility Provided to Developmental Services Agencies to Alleviate the Effects of COVID-19

On April 3, 2020, the Ontario government issued an order under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act (EMCPA) that applies to service agencies which provide services and supports to adults with developmental disabilities. Under the terms of the order, service agencies shall and are authorized to take, with respect to staffing and work deployment, any reasonably necessary measures to respond to, prevent and alleviate the outbreak of COVID-19.

OMHRA Spring 2020 ECHO Newsletter Features Articles Authored by Hicks Morley Lawyers

The Spring 2020 issue of OMHRA’s ECHO newsletter features two articles authored by Hicks Morley lawyers. In the article “Court Upholds Decision Finding Firefighter’s Heart Attack Was Not Work-related,” Jessica Toldo and Amanda Cohen discuss a recent decision of the Ontario Divisional Court, where it dismissed an application for judicial review of a decision by the Workplace Safety and Insurance Tribunal (WSIAT) denying benefits under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997 to the estate of a firefighter who died of a heart attack in 2010.

Retirement Homes Given Staffing Powers in Light of COVID-19

On April 2, 2020, the Ontario government issued an order under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act authorizing every retirement home and licensee (within the meaning of the Retirements Homes Act, 2010) to take all reasonable steps necessary to respond to, prevent and alleviate the outbreak of COVID-19 in a retirement home.

Extraordinary Times – Limitations on Liberty and Privacy under the Health Protection and Promotion Act

On April 1, 2020, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer urged his local public health counterparts to order COVID-19 patients and their contacts into quarantine. The situation, according to the Chief Medical Officer, is such that measures need to be put in place in order to manage this pandemic. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures and implementing the broad order-making powers of medical officers of health under the Health Protection and Promotion Act (HPPA) may be where we are headed. This means placing limitations on a person’s liberty and privacy.