It is my understanding that many nonprofit housing providers and care homes funded by B.C. Housing and the regional health authorities are part of a coordinated effort to receive PPE procured by the government, and many have received supplies.
I am concerned that senior’s care homes who are not operated and funded by B.C. Housing and the health authorities are still struggling to obtain PPE for their staff. In particular, Vancouver Grace Seniors Home (333 E Pender St, Vancouver, BC V6A 1V1), a care home in my riding, has reached out to me to inform me that they have been unable to obtain PPE for their staff.
Canadian activists detained by Israel last month while taking part in an aid flotilla trying to reach Gaza say Canada isn’t doing enough to call out treatment by Israeli officials that Ottawa has called appalling.
While Israel has rejected claims of abuse, flotilla participant Ehab Lotayef said Wednesday Israeli officials beat him on the chest and ribs, put him in uncomfortable positions for long periods and slashed his hand when he tried to help a fellow detainee.
“We felt that we were let down by Canada before anybody else, to be honest, because the Canadian government knew all that was happening,” Lotayef told a news conference on Parliament Hill.
“When we needed them was when we were being tortured — and the whole world knew that that was happening.”
Activist flotillas have tried repeatedly to reach the Gaza Strip to draw attention to tight restrictions on humanitarian supplies for Palestinians. Israel has intercepted these boats, often in international waters.
Lotayef was one of 12 Canadians among 420 flotilla activists detained by Israeli authorities last month. Their detention gained international notoriety when Israel’s Public Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir posted a video of himself taunting the detained activists.
