COVID keeps hitting harder for these Ontarians

Plus, the problem with how some search warrants are obtained, and facing the States' latest mass shooting [The Star] First Up [By Ashley Okwuosa] By Ashley Okwuosa Good morning. Here’s the latest on police violating Charter rights to obtain search warrants, how COVID-19 affects different communities across Ontario, and America’s attempts at healing after its latest mass shooting.  DON’T MISS Manny Rodrigues for The Star unchartered part 4 [Police across Canada are misleading courts and violating suspects’ rights to obtain search warrants]( Search warrants are among the most powerful investigative tools available to police, allowing them to invade people’s privacy and seize evidence. But a Star investigation uncovered dozens of cases over the last decade where police have misled courts to obtain search warrants that were later found to have violated the Charter rights of those facing charges. “It undermines our confidence in the justice system when the police are securing search warrants that allow them to bring down your front door and essentially trash your house, relying on false or misleading information in the first place,” said a Toronto defence lawyer. [Read more in the latest instalment of the Star’s Unchartered investigative series](. - Why it matters: Police can use search warrants and production orders to gain access to homes and vehicles, search premises and personal possessions, and obtain bank records, phone logs, text messages and internet data. In one case, an officer deliberately misstated information with the hopes of getting a warrant to obtain a driver’s blood samples and hospital records. - By the numbers: In Ontario, police reliance on search warrants and production orders has increased. There was a 22 per cent rise in applications for search warrants and production orders from 2017 to 2020. The number of warrant applications filed by phone, fax or electronically jumped even more significantly — a 46 per cent increase from 2017 to 2020. - Wait, what? The investigation found only two cases out of 42 decisions across Canada where an officer was formally disciplined or criminally convicted for misconduct related to search warrants. Canadian Press/Chris Young pandemic inequality [Low-income Ontarians are more likely to get sick and die from COVID]( Two years into the pandemic, data continues to show that COVID-19 is not an equal opportunity illness. Researchers at the University of Toronto found the death rates in Ontario’s lowest-income neighbourhoods have been roughly double those in the province’s wealthiest areas throughout the pandemic. The research also shows Ontario’s working poor, racialized and immigrant populations have not only suffered disproportionate rates of infection, they’ve had inequitable access to testing, treatment and vaccines. [Here’s how your income, race, and geographic location impacts how you experience COVID-19](. - What we know: Data collected earlier this year showed neighbourhoods like northern Peel Region and Toronto’s northwest corner, which bore the heaviest burdens of the pandemic, still had some of the lowest rates of third-dose vaccine uptake. [Here’s why](. - Context: One expert said the “structural realities” facing residents of lower-income neighbourhoods — including housing that doesn’t allow for physical distancing and the need to take public transit for work — has contributed to higher rates of COVID infection. - Another angle: Adding to the problem is the fact that lower-income Ontarians can’t afford to be off work when they get sick. A group of more than 160 physicians, nurses and health-care workers sent an [open letter to Premier Doug Ford last week calling for 10 permanent sick days to be legislated for all workers](. Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune gun violence [America is a nation on edge after a Fourth of July mass shooting]( Alexander Sandoval began the day on July 4 celebrating America’s 246th anniversary of independence with his family and others in Chicago’s Highland Park suburb. By the end of the day, he was hiding his son in a dumpster so he could search for his wife and their six-year-old daughter, who he was separated from when a rooftop shooter opened fire on the crowd, killing seven people and injuring over 30 others. A common sentiment this week is that no place in the U.S. feels safe from this kind of violence, writes the Star’s Washington Bureau Chief Edward Keenan. [Read his latest dispatch from across the border](. - What we know: “It was chaos,” one parade goer recalled. “People didn’t know right away where the gunfire was coming from, whether the gunman was in front or behind you chasing you.” [Read witness accounts of the shooting in one of America’s safest towns](. - By the numbers: More than half of America’s roughly 45,000 annual firearm deaths are from suicide. Mass shootings — defined as the deaths of four or more people, not including the shooter — have killed from 85 to 175 people each year over the past decade. [Read more about America’s gun violence trends](. - Now what: “Everybody talks about Canada,” said one lifelong Highland Park resident. “We may be up there.” [Here’s why some are contemplating leaving America after the Fourth of July shooting](. WHAT ELSE Patrick Brown has been [disqualified from Conservative leadership race](. … [and he’s already fighting back](. The [Bank of Canada has a “zero per cent success rate” of quickly raising interest rates]( without causing a recession, a new study found. Hospital staff shortages will worsen unless the Ontario government [tackles rising violence against female workers](. [The woman set on fire in a random “hate-motivated” attack on a TTC bus last month has died](. Other countries and provinces have transitioned from routine pap tests to HPV testing. [Why hasn]( Ontario?]( [The city promises change after more than 100 Sikh security guards lost their jobs]( to a “clean-shave” policy. As more flights are cancelled, advocates say [some airlines may not be fulfilling their legal obligations](. [TTC, parks and roads are among the projects that’ll be affected]( by Toronto’s $300 million in capital budget cuts. [A COVID-19 vaccine for children between six months and five years old]( could be approved as soon as this month. [A Ukrainian governor is urging 350,000 residents to evacuate]( after Russia declared victory in Donetsk province. A plan to separate out high-risk inmates is [leading to violence at a Toronto jail](. GET THIS McKenna Deighton/The Star [This 30-year-old makes $35,000 a year and is embarrassed to be living with parents. Can he pay off his OSAP loan and move out?]( CLOSE-UP AFP via Getty Images MECCA: Muslim worshippers pray around the Kaaba at Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mosque on July 5, 2022. One million people, including 850,000 from abroad, are participating in this year’s hajj — a key pillar of Islam that all able-bodied Muslims with the means are required to perform at least once — after two years of drastically curtailed numbers due to the coronavirus pandemic. Thanks for reading. You can reach me and the First Up team at [firstup@thestar.ca](mailto:firstup@thestar.ca?source=newsletter&utm_source=ts_nl&utm_medium=emailutm_email=6C53B63A8E3FAD70AD4EF13004527437&utm_campaign=frst_133085). I’ll see you back here tomorrow. [The Star]( If you're not enjoying these emails, please tell us how we can make them better by emailing newsletterfeedback@thestar.ca. Or, if you'd prefer, you can unsubscribe from this newsletter by clicking the first link below. [Unsubscribe From This Newsletter]( [Sign Up for More Newsletters and Email Alerts]( [Become a Star Subscriber]( [View in Browser]( [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [Twitter]( Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. 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