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The Canadian Parvasi - Issue 20

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<strong>The</strong> International News Weekly india<br />

November 10, <strong>20</strong>17 | Toronto 10<br />

Canada's first HIV-positive restaurant opens in Toronto<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Canadian</strong> Press<br />

TORONTO: While working<br />

as a sexual health educator in<br />

Calgary several years ago, artist<br />

and activist Mikiki would<br />

often gently correct clients<br />

who said they had never met<br />

a gay person. Actually, you<br />

probably have but just didn't<br />

know it, Mikiki would explain.<br />

Today, living and working<br />

in Toronto, Mikiki says<br />

similar conversations happen<br />

frequently about HIV.<br />

"When people say, 'I don't<br />

know anybody who's HIVpositive,'<br />

I'm like, 'If you live<br />

in Toronto, you actually do,'"<br />

says Mikiki.<br />

"You've totally met people<br />

who are living with HIV. Do<br />

they feel comfortable to come<br />

out to you about their HIV status?<br />

Probably not."<br />

Mikiki is one of 14 HIVpositive<br />

chefs who developed<br />

the menu and cooked the food<br />

at June's HIV+ Eatery, a popup<br />

restaurant organized by<br />

Casey House, a Toronto hospital<br />

for people living with HIV<br />

and AIDS.<br />

<strong>The</strong> restaurant is named<br />

after the late June Callwood,<br />

one of the hospital's founders,<br />

who was inspired to provide<br />

comfort and empathy to<br />

young men dying of AIDS after<br />

her <strong>20</strong>-year-old son Casey<br />

was killed by a drunk driver.<br />

June's is billed as Canada's<br />

first HIV-positive restaurant<br />

and was launched to help<br />

dispel outdated myths. <strong>The</strong><br />

idea came after a recent study<br />

found that half of <strong>Canadian</strong>s<br />

said they wouldn't knowingly<br />

eat or share food prepared by<br />

someone who is HIV-positive.<br />

Many incorrectly believed<br />

HIV could be transmitted<br />

through skin-to-skin touch,<br />

saliva, or by sharing glasses<br />

or cutlery.<br />

"<strong>The</strong> numbers are kind of<br />

staggering, but it wasn't overly<br />

surprising," says Joanne<br />

Simons, CEO of Casey House.<br />

"For the clients that Casey<br />

House serves, that stigma is<br />

very real on a very daily basis."<br />

At the restaurant, the<br />

chefs wear aprons emblazoned<br />

with myth-busting<br />

slogans like "Kiss the HIV+<br />

cook," and "I got HIV from<br />

pasta, said no one ever."<br />

Matt Basile, chef at Toronto's<br />

Fidel Gastro, came on<br />

board to train the cooks and<br />

help them develop the menu.<br />

<strong>The</strong> experience level in<br />

the kitchen ranges "from the<br />

good to the bad to the ugly,"<br />

says Guy Bethell, one of the<br />

chefs on the crew, who has<br />

been living with HIV for 30<br />

years. "I'm a soup and stew<br />

guy, I keep it pretty easy. But<br />

everybody had something to<br />

bring to the table, and Matt<br />

was able to pull threads from<br />

all of us."<br />

June's quickly sold out its<br />

two-night run and organizers<br />

hope to hold similar events in<br />

the future. Medical advancements<br />

related to HIV have<br />

changed dramatically in the<br />

last 30 years: once a terminal<br />

illness, it can now be treated<br />

with a combination of medications.<br />

But Simons says in<br />

many ways, public perception<br />

is stuck in the 1980s.<br />

"When it was a death sentence<br />

there was a lot of fear<br />

and a lot of misunderstanding<br />

about the disease," she says.<br />

"We really need to take the opportunity<br />

to make sure people<br />

are educated about HIV and<br />

what it means today."<br />

Shocking revelations in Canada's<br />

love triangle murder case<br />

Agencies<br />

TORONTO: A retired forensic<br />

officer has testified that<br />

two man accused of killing a<br />

Toronto woman whose body<br />

has not been found were<br />

discussing the purchase,<br />

installation and testing of a<br />

massive animal incinerator<br />

around the time of her disappearance.<br />

Jim Falconer,<br />

a former detective sergeant<br />

with the Ontario Provincial<br />

Police, says Dellen Millard<br />

and Mark Smich discussed<br />

the use of the incinerator in<br />

the weeks before and after<br />

Laura Babcock vanished in<br />

early July <strong>20</strong>12. <strong>The</strong> Crown alleges<br />

Millard, 32, of Toronto,<br />

and Smich, 30, of Oakville,<br />

Ont., killed Babcock because<br />

she was the odd woman out<br />

in a love triangle with Millard<br />

and his girlfriend.<br />

Prosecutors say Millard<br />

and Smich burned the<br />

23-year-old woman's remains<br />

in an incinerator that was<br />

later found on Millard's farm<br />

near Waterloo, Ont. Both men<br />

have pleaded not guilty to<br />

first-degree murder charges.<br />

Falconer has been methodically<br />

going through the massive<br />

trove of data, including<br />

text messages, photographs<br />

and videos, found on three<br />

computers seized at Millard's<br />

home.<br />

He told court that on June<br />

18, <strong>20</strong>12, Millard asked a man<br />

named "Shaner" to order an<br />

animal incinerator that could<br />

burn a 250-pound animal.<br />

"Cost on small 250 lb incinerator<br />

is 11390. Next model<br />

is 500 lb and sells for 13440.<br />

Tax and shipping extra," Shaner<br />

wrote to Millard.<br />

"Put an order in for the<br />

larger one. Use the red Visa,"<br />

Millard wrote.<br />

Shaner sent Millard a<br />

message with a photograph<br />

on July 5 when the incinerator<br />

was delivered. Photos and<br />

texts show Millard and Smich<br />

working on a trailer, which<br />

was later hooked up to a blue<br />

truck, court heard.<br />

On Wednesday, Falconer<br />

guided court through a number<br />

of text messages and photographs<br />

that showed Millard<br />

and Smich discussing burning<br />

bones in a homemade<br />

incinerator about a month<br />

before Babcock disappeared.<br />

Families of 2 brain dead persons<br />

want death certificates revoked<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Canadian</strong> Press<br />

TORONTO: Two Ontario<br />

court cases involving people<br />

deemed brain dead are raising<br />

questions about whether<br />

what constitutes death<br />

should be clearly spelled out<br />

under <strong>Canadian</strong> laws.<br />

<strong>The</strong> issue is at the crux<br />

of separate legal battles to<br />

keep 27-year-old Taquisha<br />

McKitty of Brampton, Ont.,<br />

and 25-year-old Shalom<br />

Ouanounou of Toronto on<br />

life support. Both cases involve<br />

religious objections to<br />

the concept of brain death.<br />

<strong>The</strong> lawyer representing<br />

both families argues the<br />

absence of a legal definition<br />

of death creates somewhat<br />

of a grey area, particularly<br />

when it comes to issues<br />

such as religious accommodation.<br />

Only Manitoba has legislation<br />

that explicitly defines<br />

death, which it says takes<br />

place "at the time at which<br />

irreversible cessation of all<br />

that person's brain function<br />

occurs." Most other provinces<br />

and territories allude<br />

to the matter in legislation<br />

surrounding organ donation,<br />

typically by saying<br />

death will be determined<br />

according to accepted<br />

medical practices, without<br />

specifying what those are.<br />

But some legal and medical<br />

experts say enshrining the<br />

definition of death in law<br />

wouldn't change much, nor<br />

would it necessarily prevent<br />

future court challenges.<br />

And imposing a rigid<br />

definition could create issues<br />

down the road, they<br />

say.<br />

"A lot of this stuff is not<br />

precisely defined for the<br />

simple reason that there<br />

are medical standards and<br />

medical expertise that in<br />

some cases evolve," said Dr.<br />

James Downar, who serves<br />

on the board of the <strong>Canadian</strong><br />

Critical Care Society,<br />

an association representing<br />

critical care physicians.<br />

"<strong>The</strong> fact that something<br />

is not defined in law does<br />

not mean that it doesn't<br />

have legal backing, as a<br />

concept. <strong>The</strong>re are many<br />

(instances in law) where it<br />

makes reference to accepted<br />

medical standards."<br />

Hilary Young, a law professor<br />

at the University of<br />

New Brunswick, said it's extremely<br />

rare for the nature<br />

of death to be at the heart of<br />

a court case, partly because<br />

brain death is widely recognized.<br />

In Quebec, the court<br />

was called to weigh in on<br />

the issue in the early <strong>20</strong>00s<br />

in a case involving a fatal<br />

car crash. <strong>The</strong> court had to<br />

decide exactly what constitutes<br />

brain death in order to<br />

figure out whether a woman<br />

or her toddler had died first,<br />

which would then determine<br />

who would inherit.<br />

It found that the baby<br />

boy had briefly outlived his<br />

mother based on the fact that<br />

he was able to breathe autonomously<br />

for a short time after<br />

the crash, which showed<br />

some brain stem function,<br />

documents show.<br />

<strong>Canadian</strong> medical guidelines<br />

define brain death<br />

as the irreversible loss of<br />

the capacity for consciousness<br />

combined with the irreversible<br />

loss of all brain<br />

stem functions, including<br />

the capacity to breathe autonomously.<br />

Cementing<br />

something as fundamental<br />

as death in law can be<br />

tricky, Young said, noting<br />

that Manitoba lawmakers<br />

were careful to ensure their<br />

wording would survive any<br />

changes in diagnostic tools<br />

and allow physicians to exercise<br />

some discretion, particularly<br />

when working outside<br />

of a hospital setting.<br />

"My view is that legislation<br />

might be helpful<br />

but I don't think it would<br />

change anything, assuming<br />

the standard legislated was<br />

brain death," she said.<br />

Even allowing for religious<br />

accommodation,<br />

like the states of New York<br />

and New Jersey have done,<br />

wouldn't actually change<br />

the definition of death, she<br />

said. It lets patients deemed<br />

brain dead stay on a respirator<br />

until their heart fails,<br />

which "buys the family a<br />

little time," she said. "<strong>The</strong> accommodation<br />

is not, 'you get<br />

to decide for yourself what<br />

death means,'" she said.<br />

"Even without legislation, I<br />

expect hospitals sometimes<br />

accommodate religious belief<br />

by allowing the ventilator<br />

to remain on until cardiac<br />

death occurs."<br />

Ouanounou's family is<br />

seeking to keep him on a<br />

respirator until his heart<br />

fails, which is how Orthodox<br />

Judaism defines death, their<br />

lawyer Hugh Scher has said.<br />

McKitty's family, which<br />

is Christian, is seeking to<br />

retain a new expert who can<br />

assess whether her movements<br />

are spinal reflexes or<br />

something more. An expert<br />

previously hired by the family<br />

was disqualified from testifying<br />

after telling the court<br />

he does not believe in brain<br />

death.

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