Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Just like the rest of us, Canadian Olympic gold-medalist swimmer Maggie Mac Neil has been laughing at the memes showing her squinting to see how she placed in the 100-metre butterfly final.
“As long as I can see the wall, I’m good as far as swimming goes,” the 19-year-old told CTV News Channel in a joint interview with her Olympic relay teammate Sydney Pickrem.
Mac Neil, who won Canada’s first gold medal of the Tokyo Games last week, had a tough time seeing the scoreboard at the time, because she’s near-sighted but doesn’t wear contacts or prescription goggles when swimming.
“I don’t think I’m into the whole contacts thing,” she said. “I’ve just never tried to try them out and, as a swimmer, I feel like that’s a pretty good decision to make.”
Races often end in a blur for Mac Neil, and photos of her squinting to see where she placed quickly spread online shortly after her big win, with millions of people online sharing the image.
“That meme has been sent to me by at least 50 of my friends,” Mac Neil laughed, adding that she often had to tell them she’d already seen the photos.
Pickrem, who was part of the bronze-medal-winning Canadian 4x100-metre medley relay team on Sunday, chuckled alongside Mac Neil.
Pickrem performed the breaststroke part of the race, which isn’t her specialty. She said she was only focused on making her teammates proud: “I just wanted to be a team player. And this was such a cool experience for me in swimming and it’s given me a whole new perspective at these Olympic Games.”
She has high hopes for both the Canadian women’s and men’s swimming team in the near future and said in “2024, we’re definitely someone to look out for.”
The pair also discussed their mental health challenges -- a conversation U.S. gymnast Simone Biles and Japanese tennis pro Naomi Osaka have brought into the forefront this year.
“I think there’s a lot of reasons I didn’t swim in the 400 IM [individual medley] and that’s definitely a big factor,” Pickrem said, referring to her mental health. “I made the best decision for me.”
Mac Neil said the pandemic, the delays to the start of the Games, and the rejigging of her training regimen all affected her.
“I think we learned to live in the moment, and I think that was a very important takeaway from the last year and a half,” she said. “I think it’s definitely a struggle to stay motivated and keep training."
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.