Category Archives: CarletonDataJournalism2021_2

Ottawa dog bite reports paced for most in six years

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A woman hugs a dog in a sandy area with tall grass.
Ingrid Van Overbeke, a pet trainer and behavioural specialist, hugs her dog, Lua. Van Overbeke is dealing with some less friendly and more stressed dogs in 2021. [Photo courtesy of Ingrid Van Overbeke]
Dog bites are up in Ottawa and trainers say it’s because of stressed puppies and loosened COVID-19 restrictions.

According to an analysis of Ottawa’s 311 service, the city received 485 reports for dog bites in 2021 up until the end of September. That is 50 more reports than the same period in 2020 and the highest count in at least six years when Open Ottawa data started specifying dog bite calls, according to the analysis.

Dog trainers and the city’s bylaw director say the reason for the increase is more adopted puppies during the COVID-19 pandemic and the quick transition from isolation to socialization.

“I think there’s a lot of very young dogs around that haven’t necessarily been provided exposure to normal non-COVID life,” says Heather Laundry, owner of Carolark in Stittsville.

Urban and suburban wards saw some of the highest counts and increases in dog bites from 2020. Rideau-Vanier and Rideau-Rockliffe wards had the most reports while Barrhaven and Somerset wards had the largest increases.

“When you’re walking down an urban sidewalk, everything coming in the opposite direction is headed right at you,” says Laundry. “It’s louder, there’s more traffic, (and) everything is closer together.”

In some cases, residents report an incident multiple times, which means each complaint does not represent an individual dog, according to Roger Chapman, director of bylaw and regulatory services for the City of Ottawa.

Pet behaviour expert Ingrid Van Overbeke says she mostly sees fear-based aggression from dogs in most cases.

“The dog bites because they have very high stress levels, and they have the feeling they need to go to the bite because that’s the only thing that’s helping them,” she says.

It’s been busier as a result for Van Overbeke and her one-person company, Pet Counsellor. Most of her appointments are for behavioural training.

“Once there is a bite, people panic a little bit,” Van Overbeke says. “Then they think, ‘Oh we really need help to work on this issue.’”

Van Overbeke says she’s seen more people adopting puppies and rescue dogs as a companion during the COVID-19 pandemic. So has Laundry who says she’s mostly busy running puppy training programs.

Dogs lacked those simpler moments during non-pandemic times where they could explore their curiosity with new people and environments at an easier pace.

“Two years ago, if I was going to the pet store to get pet food and I had time to do it, I would’ve taken a dog with me,” Laundry says. “We would’ve sniffed the store and then picked up our food and gone home.”

Ottawa bylaw investigates reports of dog bites to determine the severity, says Chapman. The usual scenario is to fine the owner and order the dog to wear a muzzle and leash when outside of the residence, he says.

In cases with more severe bites or repeat offences, bylaw officers may apply to the Ontario Court of Justice for the dog to be euthanized.

“The apparent increase in requests for service relating to dog bites could be attributed to increased pet adoption rates during the COVID pandemic,” Chapman said in an email, agreeing with the dog trainers.

The trainers say it’s important for owners to understand their dog’s body language and realize when they are uncomfortable in a social situation. There are many minor signs of discomfort that dog trainers recognize, including tension in the face, panting, and a tail wagging high and quickly.

“I see that a lot of dog owners don’t recognize these stress signals and then the dog escalates, goes higher and higher in stress level, and then at a certain point, you get that bite,” says Van Overbeke.

Ottawa’s lower-income areas are seeing a rise in needle and syringe complaints

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Ottawa’s lower-income areas are seeing a rise in needle and syringe complaints

By: Cindy Tran

The Rideau-Vanier ward had the highest number of needle and syringe complaints in Ottawa, according to an analysis of data the city uses to track complaints.

Residents in the Rideau-Vanier are calling the Ottawa 311 line about needles and syringes being littered around the area. Since 2016 the area has seen a 23 per cent increase in the number of needle and syringe complaints.

(Hover the cursor over the blue dots to see the number of complaints per year.)

Some experts are saying that there are not enough clinicians to match the rise in the number of people who are suffering from substance abuse – specifically injections.

Monnica Williams is the Canada Research Chair for Mental Health Disparities at the University of Ottawa whose work focuses on ethnic minorities’ mental health as well as drug abuse. She says that with the rise in mental health decline, more people could be turning towards substance abuse which is problematic because Canada is in the middle of an opioid crisis.

“One thing we’ve seen across the board is a decline in mental health,” she says. “A lot of people who are already receiving services had to stop receiving those mental health services because of all the changes and so that added to the difficulties people were having.”

Canada Public Health released Canada-wide statistics based on data from the paramedic services – Emergency Medical Services, which shows a 62 per cent increase in responses to suspected opioid-related overdoses since March 2020. A number of factors have likely contributed to the overdose crisis including increased isolation, stress and anxiety.

“The prolonged periods of isolation also contributed to mental health problems, because we know that social connection is really one of the best cures and preventative measures … and so it’s no surprise that more people are using substances to cope,” says Williams.

(To see the number of complaints per ward hover the cursor over the coloured blocks.)

Some residents in the Rideau-Vanier ward like Myriam Villeneuve have also expressed their concern for what they’ve seen in the area. Villeneuve recently graduate from the University of Ottawa and has been living in the area for five years. She says that although there are many low-income areas it remains safe to live in.

“A lot of houses and buildings are old and could be in better condition, although it’s not the case for every building. Being affordable, Vanier became a hub for lower-income people, and got this long-standing negative image,” says Villeneuve.

The stigma that surrounds the Rideau-Vanier area has been perpetuated throughout the city of Ottawa. Geranda Notten is a professor at the University of Ottawa whose research looks at poverty measures and public policy.

“What I see at a higher level when I analyze poverty data is that poverty often coincides with a whole bunch of other issues it could be mental health issues could be substance abuse issues, it could be there’s a whole list of social problems,” says Notten.

In response to the opioid crisis, the Ontario HIV Treatment Network released a study about the importance of supervised consumption sites. Rob Boyd the Oasis program director at Sandy Hill Community Health Center says that even for them to get a safe injection site – they had to go through several steps.

Some pharmacies in the area are offering naloxone kits which are portable pouches that contain an opioid antidote that can revive an unresponsive person who is overdosing – allowing time to access emergency services.

“It took a lot of commitment to make it happen…Health Canada has made it much easier [since we did it] but it’s still a long process,” says Boyd.

 

Canadian diamond mining has a reliable client in Belgium

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The Ekati Diamond Mine in the Northwest Territories. Opened in 1998, it was the first of Canada’s diamond mines. Photograph courtesy of SkyTruth on Flickr.

Since 2019, 44 per cent of Canadian diamond exports have been to Belgium, according to an analysis of  Statistics Canada’s Canadian international merchandise trade data by industry.

At 4.6 percent of Canada’s exports to Belgium, diamonds are the largest single product exported to the country. Belgium is Canada’s 8th largest European trading partner, and 13th overall.

Maxim Ramon, a counselor at the Belgium Embassy in Canada, says Belgium has a long history in the diamond trade.

“The city of Antwerp has been the world capital of diamonds for over five centuries,” Ramon says.

Ramon says this doesn’t just come from the city’s appetite for diamond products, but from its long history of cutting and refining rough diamonds.

Ramon and Fabienne De Kimpe, a trade commissioner at the Canadian Embassy in Belgium and Luxembourg, estimate that approximately 80 per cent of the world’s diamonds pass through Belgium.

De Kimpe has worked in Canadian-Belgian relations for over 20 years and was part of the group that oversaw Canada’s first foray into the international diamond trade in the late nineties. She says the diamond market is unique in that diamond producing countries such as Canada often have the upper hand.

“With other products, it’s the producer who is trying to sell,” she says. “But for diamonds, it’s the contrary: the buyer is trying to buy.”

De Kimpe and Ramon say the landscape is changing. Belgium does not have the monopoly it once had, as other competing countries enter the industry.

Ramon singles out India in particular as a rising power in the diamond trade. India is the second largest importer of Canadian diamonds and accounts for 33% of Canadian diamond exports according to an analysis of the Statistics Canada data. Ramon says India and other competing countries are largely focusing on importing rough stones, like the ones Canada exports, to be cut, so the number of polished stones coming to Belgium remains largely unaffected.

Since the opening of the Northwest Territories’ Ekati Diamond Mine, Canada’s first diamond mine, in 1998, the Northwest Territories has been the major force in Canadian diamond mining, as it is the home of most of the country’s mines. The territorial government is aware of the position this places them in and knows they have to consider the greater impact of mining.

Dianna Beck, a senior socio-economic specialist for the Government of the Northwest Territories, says the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act, passed in 1998, the same year the Ekati Diamond Mine opened, enforces environmental protections, as well as Indigenous rights, another major area of concern for the government.

This is done through a number of environmental assessments the sustainability of the mines, as well as consultation with Indigenous people to receive permission to use the land for resource extraction, according to the government’s mandate. The government is aiming to finish updating these frameworks in 2022 and 2023.

Beck says all new mines in the Northwest Territories undergo an assessment not just of their environmental and economic impact, but on how they will impact Indigenous people who live near the mine. Beck says this includes water and land rights as well as employment opportunities. The government’s 2019 mining employees report says that almost one third of all mine workers from 2009-2019 identified as Indigenous.

Internationally, the industry has changed in the past two decades with the introduction of the Kimberley Process.

The Kimberley Process is an agreement by 82 countries to regulate and end the sale of what Ramon calls “conflict diamonds” or “blood diamonds.”

According to its website, the Kimberley Process has reduced the sale of these diamonds by 99.8 per cent since its inception in 2000.

De Kimpe says most of these diamonds came from Africa and Canada played a leading role in developing and implementing the Kimberley Process, but the increased attention in ethical mining has made many countries reevaluate their mining industries.

The process is based around inspections of diamond mining and trade in order to provide a certificate for diamonds that meet the standards. This proves to the buyer that the diamond is “clean.”

De Kimpe says diamonds are so important to Belgium that at the Antwerp World Diamond Centre, where most diamonds that come to Belgium arrive, there is a customs centre where these certificates are given.

At its annual plenary, held digitally from Nov. 8 to 12 this year, the Kimberley Process began discussing how to digitize these certificates.

The Kimberley Process, increasing environmental concerns, and the rise of other countries in the global diamond trade all make for a very complicated and changing industry.

For Ramon, the Belgian government needs to keep meeting these challenges to “keep Antwerp where (it’s been) for so long.”

“And hopefully longer,” he adds.