Star news to know on Tuesday, November 29

Oliver2022-11-29

Hello. This is the Tuesday, November 29 edition of First Up, the Star’s daily morning digest. Sign up to get it earlier every day, in your inbox.

Here’s the latest on an arrest in two cold 1983 cases, the puzzling decision to add a city to the Greenbelt, and the urgency around flu vaccinations.

DO NOT MISS :

Joseph George Sutherland was arrested for the 1983 murders of Erin Gilmour and Susan Tice in Toronto

Police have admitted they have « no suspects » after the 1983 sexual assault and murder of Susan Tice, a 45-year-old mother and social worker. Four months later, the same was true when 22-year-old aspiring designer Erin Gilmour suffered the same grim fate. Now, thanks to DNA technology, police have finally identified a suspect for both cases: Joseph George Sutherland, 60, who lives in a community far from where the Toronto murders took place. Wendy Gillis and Jennifer Pagliaro explain how genetic genealogy solved cold cases.

Family word: ‘It’s a day that I – and we – have waited for almost a lifetime,’ said one of Gilmour’s brothers, adding that for nearly four decades his sister’s killer had been a ‘ghost’ .

To watch: The charges against Sutherland have not been proven in court. He is due to appear on December 9.

Meanwhile: Police are investigating Sutherland’s whereabouts over the past 39 years to determine if he is linked to other crimes.

Doug Ford’s plan to suddenly add this small town to the Greenbelt intrigues critics and residents

When the provincial government announced the controversial decision to open 7,400 acres of Greenbelt land for housing development, it also pledged to bring another 9,400 acres into the Greenbelt as part of a land swap. Most of this land is part of Erin, a small farming town west of Caledon, where critics and town staff are now wondering: why this ground? Due to existing municipal protections for farmland in the area, city staff said its addition to the Greenbelt was « unnecessary. » Noor Javed reports on questions raised around what critics say was a decision with little scientific consultation or justification.

Indicate: Ontario’s proposal says the land was chosen because it lies within the Paris Galt Moraine, a 130-kilometre environmentally sensitive area created by glaciers that provides drinking water to thousands of people. ‘Ontarians.

Counterpoint: « For the Paris Galt Moraine to be truly protected, the most recent discussion called for at least 40,000 acres to be protected, » a Greenbelt West Coalition spokesperson said. Erin’s planning director, meanwhile, said the province’s proposed Greenbelt expansion doesn’t match his own mapping of the moraine, while the provincial Green Party leader, who has twice introduced a private member’s bill to protect the moraine, said it is unclear. why only this « small piece » is added.

Flu vaccination rate ‘stubbornly low’ as older Canadians miss targets

In Canada, the flu is the cause of approximately 175,000 emergency room visits, 12,200 hospitalizations and 3,500 deaths each year. Already one of the leading causes of death in the country, influenza poses a greater threat to the health of Canadians this year as the healthcare system faces a « triple threat » of influenza, COVID and RSV . Yet vaccination rates for seniors over the past two flu seasons have only reached about 70%, 10 percentage points below the Public Health Agency of Canada’s target. Alessia Passafiume reports on the risk Canadians are facing right now and the measures that advocates say would increase adoption.

After: « Getting vaccinated this flu season will be very important both to reduce the risk of being infected with influenza, COVID-19 and RSV at the same time – and to suffer the potentially serious complications that could arise », reads- on in a National Institute report on Aging That Raises Concerns About Vaccination Rates.

Even more: “The best way to get people out of the ER is to get them vaccinated to start with. It’s the most effective thing we can do,” said the CEO of CanAge, a national seniors advocacy organization.

WHAT ELSE:

Point of view :

Rob Ford has a heated exchange of words with mayoral candidate John Tory asking for clarification on what Tory said during a radio interview during the mayoral debate at the Royal Canadian Legion in Etobicoke in this photo from 2014 archive.

What if Rob Ford had ‘strong mayor’ powers?

CLOSE:

On the back of this photo:"The author's merry companions on the ice floe: Pumook, David Ford, Kooshhoak and Tommy Bluce."

THE ARCTIC: On the back of this photo – one of a collection that belonged to a man descended from a British fisherman who lived among the Inuit – reads: « The author’s merry companions on the ice floe: Pumook, David Ford, Kooshhoak and Tommy Bluece. Now the photo belongs to a Port Hope woman who shares how she came to own a collection of Inuit art and artifacts and why she wants to put it back in Inuit hands.

Thanks for reading First Up. You can reach me and the First Up team at firstup@thestar.ca