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CFIA Says Don’t Plant ‘Unsolicited Packages Of Seeds’ Received In Mail | CTV News

July 29, 2020July 29, 2020 mdbincbi

TORONTO — The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is warning Canadians not to plant packages of “unsolicited” seeds. The agency said in a statement that these seeds can contain invasive species and can be harmful to agricultural and natural areas. “Do not plant seeds from unknown origins,” the CFIA wrote in the statement. “Unauthorized seeds could be the seeds of invasive plants, or carry plant pests, which can be harmful when introduced into Canada.” In a tweet, the Ontario Provincial Police said the foreign seeds are typically sent from China or…

Nearly 5,000 U.S. Citizens Have Tried To Enter Canada For Shopping, Recreation Despite COVID-19: CBSA | CTV News

July 16, 2020July 16, 2020 mdbincbi

OTTAWA — According to new data from the Canada Border Services Agency, more than 10,000 U.S. citizens have been turned away at the Canadian border during the pandemic — and almost half of them were hoping to enter Canada to shop, go sightseeing or simply for recreation. While half of the U.S. citizens were turned back for “other” reasons, which the CBSA did not expand on, a little over 2,700 citizens had to turn back when they said they were hoping to cross the border for “tourism” or “sightseeing.” More…

Thousands Of Tourists, Shoppers Still Trying To Enter Canada Despite COVID-19 Travel Ban | CTV News

June 19, 2020June 19, 2020 mdbincbi

VICTORIA — Canadian border agents have turned away more than 7,500 foreigners – mostly Americans – trying to visit Canada for non-essential purposes, including sightseeing, shopping and recreation, since pandemic restrictions on travel were imposed. The latest data available from the Canada Border Services Agency reveals that 7,639 foreign nationals were denied entry to Canada under the discretionary travel ban between March 22 and June 16. Americans accounted for 87 per cent of those denied entry, with 6,615 U.S. citizens being sent home by Canadian border agents. The remaining 1,024…

Some Living In U.S. Eye Canada For Health Care, But Not Everybody Can Get In | CBC News

June 14, 2020June 14, 2020 mdbincbi

Deborah Millar-Jervis and husband Robert Jervis were faced with a choice. They could continue paying roughly $1,600 US a month for health insurance or leave the United States and move to Canada. The staggering, and rising, cost of their insurance did not include doctors visits, dental care, prescriptions or the deductible amount they had to meet before accessing coverage. So, four years ago, the couple packed up their home in Blaine, Wash., and moved four hours north to Penticton, B.C. “We loved living there [in the U.S.], we had a…

Canada-U.S. Border Closure To Be Extended Beyond June 21, Sources Say | CBC News

June 10, 2020June 10, 2020 mdbincbi

The Canada-U.S. border closure to all non-essential traffic will be extended beyond the June 21 date set last month, sources tell CBC News. Sources with direct knowledge of the situation have confirmed to CBC News that Canada and the United States are holding talks about extending the border restrictions but the agreement has yet to be signed. Both countries reached an agreement in March to temporarily close the border to non-essential travel — meaning no recreational visits — while keeping it open to commercial traffic and essential workers who cross…

House Lawmakers Question Homeland Security Over Protester Surveillance | CNET

June 8, 2020June 8, 2020 mdbincbi

House Democrats on the Oversight Committee on Saturday called for the Department of Homeland Security to explain how it has conducted surveillance of protesters demonstrating against racial discrimination and police violence. “This Administration has undermined the First Amendment freedoms of Americans of all races who are rightfully protesting George Floyd’s killing,” said lawmakers in their letter to acting Department of Homeland Security Chad Wolf. “The deployment of drones and officers to surveil protests is a gross abuse of authority and is particularly chilling when used against Americans who are protesting…

ACLU Outlines Privacy Concerns For Contact Tracing Tech | Engadget

April 17, 2020April 17, 2020 mdbincbi

As Google and Apple prepare to team up on surveillance tech to help track the spread of Covid-19, privacy watchdogs at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) are urging the government and tech companies to take a tougher stance on privacy. The ACLU published a lengthy white paper outlining privacy concerns they say need to be taken into account in order for contact tracing tech to be effective. Apple and Google’s proposal would use bluetooth data to detect phone owners’ potential exposure to people who have tested positive for Covid-19.…

Facebook Begins Sharing More Location Data With COVID-19 Researchers And Asks Users To Self-Report Symptoms | The Verge

April 6, 2020April 6, 2020 mdbincbi

The company’s Data for Good program is expanding. Facebook is expanding a program that grants researchers access to data about movement patterns in an effort to help improve our understanding of the spread of COVID-19, the company said today. Data for Good, which uses aggregated, anonymized data from Facebook’s apps to inform academic research, will now grant access to three new maps for forecasting the disease’s spread and revealing whether residents of a given region are staying at home. The company will also prompt Facebook users to participate in a…

Broadband Speeds Fall In Dozens Of Big US Cities During Pandemic | Ars Technica

March 27, 2020March 27, 2020 mdbincbi

Home-Internet download speeds have fallen during the COVID-19 pandemic in dozens of the biggest US cities as millions of Americans stay home due to school and business closures. However, typical download speeds remain high enough to support normal broadband-usage patterns, with the vast majority of cities still above the Federal Communications Commission’s 25Mbps standard. In 88 of the 200 most populous US cities, Internet users “experienced some degree of network degradation over the past week compared to the 10 weeks prior,” BroadbandNow said in a report released Wednesday. Of those,…