EDMONTON – A Beaumont bakery owner says she’d rather lose her business than stick her nose into that of her customers.

“I refuse to ask for the vaccine passports. It’s not any of my business,” Jen Foster from Bake My Day told CTV News Edmonton Wednesday.

An Alberta Health Services closure order was posted on her front door – next to an owner-posted note saying the business is still open.

“If you wish to sit at a table, please talk to a staff member so we can stop being harassed by AHS,” the note said.

AHS suspended Bake My Day’s food handling permit on Oct. 8, alleging violations of COVID-19 safety rules.

Foster acknowledges she let customers sit and eat without asking for their vaccination records.

“I’ll let my business go out of business before I ask for somebody’s vaccination records,” she said.

“Everything in me just said that this is absolutely wrong, because we all know that vaccinated people can still get COVID, can still pass it along.”

But vaccinated people are a lot less likely to get the COVID-19 and end up in hospital when they do, Alberta government statistics show.

On Thursday, government data attributed 67 per cent of active cases and 72 per cent of hospitalizations to unvaccinated people.

Seventy-six per cent of eligible Albertans over 12 had received two doses.

Foster said AHS visited her location three times asking her to comply. The third time she was given a closure notice.

An inspector has checked on her business twice since then, Foster said.

CUSTOMERS STILL COMING TO ‘CLOSED’ BAKERY

But the doors haven’t been barricaded, so she’s still making food and will keep serving it via takeout, delivery and curbside pickup.

“I’m trying to support my fellow small business person, and I feel like it’s OK to be open right now to everyone,” customer Kathy Austin said, declining to comment on pandemic safety specifically.

“I’m really happy that they’re open and that they’ve decided to not exclude anyone.”

In one of the orders that Foster is accused of breaking, Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw writes that the rules are in place because COVID-19 “poses a significant risk to public health.”

“I have the authority to take whatever other steps that are, in my opinion, necessary in order to lessen the impact of the public health emergency,” CMOH Order 44 said.

But Foster doesn’t agree it’s a business owner’s responsibility to check vaccine records.

She doesn’t know what AHS will do next to enforce the order, but insists she’s not changing her mind.

“It’s stressing everybody out. No matter which way you go with this, small businesses aren’t winning. We’re not coming out on top,” Foster argued.

On Thursday, Foster closed her shop to indoor dining only in hopes she’d be allowed to stay open.

CTV News Edmonton contacted AHS to see if that means she is now compliant, but a response was not immediately received.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s David Ewasuk

EDMONTON – The family of a 14-year-old Alberta boy who recently died doesn’t want his nine-month cancer fight overlooked because he tested positive for COVID-19 shortly before dying.

Nathanael Spitzer’s death on Oct. 7 was reported by the province several days later as Alberta’s youngest COVID-19 fatality.

But Nathanael’s siblings say doctors found an inoperable tumour on their brother’s brain months earlier.

“It was a high-grade glioma and the doctors, they didn’t even give him the nine months. They didn’t give us an exact number but they really suggested that five months, six months, maybe,” Jonatan Spitzer told CTV News Edmonton.

“Basically, the whole nine months he was fighting for cancer, and then two days before his death, it was just a COVID case,” Simone Spitzer, Nathanael’s sister, added.

“We just want to get the story straight.”

‘NOT LIKE HE HAD ALL THIS TIME THAT WAS TAKEN AWAY’

Nathanael spent his last months in hospital, always with one parent beside his bed.

Jonatan said he watched his brother grow weaker by the day.

Days before Nathanael — or Nati, as his family called him — passed, he tested positive for COVID-19.

Jonatan said he immediately began to worry his brother’s cause of death would be classified as coronavirus: “What if they’re going to write it off?”

“I assured my parents, like, there’s no way they’re going to do that. That would just be ridiculous. There’s no way they could do that.”

Five days later, Alberta’s top government and health officials delivered the provincial COVID-19 update in a live news conference. Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw reported 33 deaths due to COVID-19 over the Thanksgiving long weekend.

“This includes the death of a 14-year-old who had complex, pre-existing medical medical conditions that played a significant role in their death,” she said before continuing, “I extend my deepest condolences to the loved ones of all of these individuals.”

The Spitzer family in Ponoka believes Alberta was wrong for reporting Nati’s death as caused by COVID-19, and was upset by subsequent headlines.

“It’s not like he had all this time that was taken away from him,” Jonatan said.

In his last days, Simone said not even the pain stopped Nathanael from having a smile on his face and a quip on the tip of his tongue. She called him sunshine.

“All of his fighting was now swept under the table, and he’s just another COVID case.”

‘I APOLOGIZE FOR THIS’

Hinshaw started her Thursday remarks with an apology to Spitzer’s family.

“The pain of losing a child is terrible enough without having that loss compounded by a public debate about the circumstances. I’m sorry if the way that I spoke about that death made your grief worse,” she said.

Hinshaw went on to explain Alberta Health’s death review process, or how it determines whether COVID-19 was a primary or secondary cause.

In its COVID-19 reporting, Alberta Health classifies all related deaths as those in which COVID-19 was a direct or contributing factor.

COVID-19 is ruled a primary cause when it directly led to death, Hinshaw explained, whereas it being labelled as a secondary cause means the disease worsened a severe pre-existing condition that results in death. The province considers cancer — among diabetes, dementia, chronic kidney disease and others — as pre-existing health conditions.

However, a review of Spitzer’s death after Tuesday’s announcement found COVID-19 did not play a primary or secondary role in his death, Hinshaw said.

“While initial report of the death of the 14-year-old included COVID as a secondary cause, we have now received additional information that indicates COVID was not a cause of death.”

Alberta Health will no longer publicly report COVID-19 deaths in anyone under the age of 18 until the review process is completed.

“We will prioritize accuracy over timeliness in these cases,” Hinshaw said.

Spitzer’s death was removed from Alberta’s COVID-19 death count.

Simone told CTV News that while the Spitzer family appreciates the new change in protocol, the feeling of betrayal is still there.

“Dealing with this situation right after losing Nathanael to cancer has caused a lot of frustration within family and friends,” Simone said.

Alberta Health has before removed deaths from its total count when a post-mortem review concluded COVID-19 was not a direct or major factor in the person’s passing. The most recent example is from Oct. 7, when the department removed three deaths from the provincial total after determining they were unrelated to COVID-19. 

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Jeremy Thompson and Matthew Black

EDMONTON – Amarjeet Sohi is the only top-polling mayoral candidate who says Edmonton may have to raise taxes under his watch.

The others — Mike Nickel, Kim Krushell, Michael Oshry and Cheryll Watson — all want taxes frozen or even cut.

“That would be fantastic, but we cannot do that at the cost of reducing services,” Sohi said in an interview with CTV News Edmonton.

Sohi believes tax freezes and cuts in the 1990s hurt Edmonton long term.

“That led to deteriorating infrastructure, that led to reduction in programs and services, and we’ve struggled to recover from those deep budget cuts,” he argued.

Sohi is promising to keep any increases below the rate of inflation.

But Oshry thinks Edmontonians can’t afford to pay any more right now because of pandemic layoffs and a struggling economy.

“My tax plan is to have a zero per cent property tax increase in year one, negative decrease one to two per cent in year two, and then followed by two more zeros,” he promised.

Watson agrees there should be no increase, and she’s urging the city to focus on the basics.

“Roads, sidewalks, transit, and really start there, and then everything else that is not our job should be below the line,” she said.

Krushell worries a tax raise could mean the end for some local companies. So she won’t support one if elected.

“These taxes are going to be creating a situation where we’re going to have a lot of boarded-up businesses because of COVID compounding everything,” she said.

Nickel is promising to save millions of dollars a year by cutting back on consultants and creating an independent office that reviews major projects for savings.

“These are not my ideas. These are coming from the labour community, and these are coming from the business community, and so at the end of the day we are easily on track to save $100 (million) to $110 million a year,” he argued.

Edmontonians saw in 2020 a property tax freeze for the first time in more than 20 years.

The outgoing council set the 2021 increase at 1.6 per cent, but that will be reviewed after the election.

Diana Steele, Brian “Breezy” Gregg, Augustine Marah and Vanessa Denman are also running for mayor. Rick Comrie and Abdul Malik Chukwudi have both dropped out of the race.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Jeremy Thompson 

WETASKIWIN, Alta. – An outreach worker and a nurse lean over an orange mesh fence to speak to a woman on the other side as tents flap in the cold wind at a homeless camp in central Alberta.

Someone is in trouble. He’s described as bloated, purple and losing consciousness. Workers with the Open Door Association risk being fined if they enter the camp, which was set up in August on a plot of land owned by the City of Wetaskiwin.

One of the workers calls for an ambulance. They debate whether or not to jump the fence.

Wetaskiwin’s only emergency housing shelter, the Open Door 24/7 Integrated Response Hub, was closed after the city terminated its lease.

Its clients then set up camp outside a local food bank. The city shut that down, too, and agreed to move the vulnerable population to land behind a Walmart on the city’s outskirts.

While some health workers and community members can access the camp, the city singled out Open Door as not being allowed to provide on-site support.

In mid-September, Alberta Health Services notified the city that the encampment, where about 60 people sleep each night, did not meet minimum housing standards under the Public Health Act.

The health agency directed the city to provide lighting and a plan to deliver firewood. The city said neither was possible, but agencies would be allowed to deliver wood from the landfill.

A senior employee with AHS, who asked not to be named, described the site as “worse than a refugee camp.”

There is no running water. Two portable toilets are close to overflowing. Trash and belongings are scattered. Tents are tethered to the ground with shards of wood and COVID-19 poses a constant threat.

As the sun lowers, people huddle together around fire pits. Some burn whatever they can find – cardboard boxes and trash. It’s cold and expected to get colder. Temperatures dip to below 0 C overnight.

“They are trying to kill us,” said Kristen Anderson, 41, who lives in one of the tents. “I know that’s a blunt word but there has already been people who have passed away in this camp.”

Since the camp was erected, Open Door executive director Jessica Hutton said four clients have died. One died by suicide on the nearby train tracks. Two died from untreated medical conditions and another overdosed on drugs.

When Open Door opened the Hub in a downtown civic building last November, it provided a range of services including medical care, housing and addictions supports, food and shelter. Its data shows about 74 per cent of clients were Indigenous with complex medical needs.

Wetaskiwin Mayor Tyler Gandam said council voted to close the shelter after receiving complaints from residents and businesses about crime, open alcohol, drug use and assault.

He said Open Door failed to mitigate harms to the community. The city now refuses to work with the association and its workers will be ticketed for trespassing if they go in the camp.

Hutton did not say if staff have entered the camp, but said none have been ticketed yet. She added the city’s concerns are exaggerated.

AHS spokesman Kerry Williamson said the health authority is part of a group focused on finding solutions for the homeless in Wetaskiwin, but it does not direct municipal legislation.

In a video of a special council meeting about homelessness on Aug. 19, one Wetaskiwin councillor said he wants to know what other communities unhoused individuals are coming from.

“I feel we’re opening the door to ‘hey free food, free party in Wetaskiwin – let’s go,”’ said Coun. Joe Branco.

Gandam said the city hopes to secure provincial funding to open a warming shelter when winter comes.

Justin Marshall, press secretary to Alberta’s minister of community and social services, did not say whether funding has been secured but that progress has been made to “advance a solution for shelter services.”

RCMP Const. Shaun Marchand in Wetaskiwin said crime in the downtown had been trending down in August, with a slight increase in shoplifting.

Hutton with Open Door said the downtown location was never ideal. The group had attempted to purchase a more suitable building, she said, but the city defeated a zoning change, effectively severing the private sale.

“People are dying and we have their medication,” she said.

A landowner whose county property backs onto the camp allows Hutton and her staff to make the 10-minute drive through a bumpy field to reach the fence at the camp.

They pass water, food and medication across the barrier while trying to connect clients with supports.

Hutton said they can’t do any proactive work to thwart domestic disputes, confrontations and medical emergencies.

Gangs prey on people in the camp, she added. Some in the camp say community members drive by and yell racial slurs. Some also have weapons – guns and knives – to protect themselves.

Anderson said living in the Hub was 10 times better.

“There was staff constantly on site. We had warmth, we had food,” he said. “It wasn’t overly elaborate, but it was a fairly safe place being homeless.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 13, 2021.

EDMONTON – Mike Nickel became the second Edmonton mayoral candidate to release a list of campaign donors Wednesday night, revealing nearly $415,000 in campaign fundraising.

He had promised earlier Wednesday to release the data to the public.

The list of more than 900 contributions ranges in value from $5 to $5,000.

In a social media post, he gave his “sincere thanks & appreciation for every nickel donated.”

The total fundraised may place Nickel on equal footing with frontrunner Amarjeet Sohi; Sohi did not disclose exact donation amounts but rather tallies of donations under funding levels. At minimum, he had fundraised $400,000, and possibly up to $1 million, 10 days before the Oct. 18 election.

Sohi has promised to update the list before Monday.

Sohi and Nickel’s seven remaining opponents are required to release a final list of contributions and expenditures to Edmonton Elections before March 1, 2022.

CTV News Edmonton reached out to the other leading candidates; Kim Krushell, Micheal Oshry and Cheryll Watson’s teams have all promised to release their lists before election day.

“We’ll definitely be releasing it. It’s part of my transparency and accountability and we have no problem in releasing it, so it’ll be this week,” Krushell said.

Outgoing mayor Don Iveson raised $618,000 in 2013 and $396,000 in 2017, according to statements he released. 

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Sean Amato