Most of Canada to receive emergency alert test today
The federal government will test its capacity to issue emergency alerts today, with the exception of Ontario, where the test will take place on May 15.
The founder of the multinational Hillsong Church told CNN that COVID-19 vaccines are a "personal decision for each individual to make with the counsel of medical professionals" after a congregant who publicly refused inoculation died of complications from the disease.
Hillsong Church global senior pastor Brian Houston had announced the death of Stephen Harmon, who attended Hillsong in California, on social media this week.
Harmon had said on social media that he would not receive the vaccine, even when he was fighting COVID-19 in a hospital this month.
"Stephen was just a young man in his early 30s," Houston wrote, announcing Harmon's death on social media. "He was one of the most generous people I know and he had so much in front of him."
Houston expanded on his social media posts in a statement to CNN, saying that "any loss of life is a moment to mourn and offer support to those who are suffering and so our heartfelt prayers are with his family and those who loved him."
"On any medical issue, we strongly encourage those in our church to follow the guidance of their doctors," Houston said, emphasizing that the church's focus was on spiritual well-being.
"While many of our staff, leadership and congregation have already received the COVID-19 vaccine, we recognize this is a personal decision for each individual to make with the counsel of medical professionals," Houston's statement reads.
Hillsong Church, founded in Australia, has congregations around the world. Harmon attended Hillsong in Los Angeles, CNN affiliate KCBS reported.
CNN sought comment from the Harmon family but did not receive a response.
Prior to him saying he was infected with COVID-19, Harmon made two posts on Twitter on June 3 in which he parodied Jay-Z's "99 Problems" lyrics -- saying he had 99 problems but "a vax" wasn't one.
Just over a month later, Harmon had pneumonia as a result of COVID-19 infection and was sitting in a hospital bed in a COVID ward, according to his Instagram posts.
He had been hospitalized with COVID-19 complications since at least June 30, according to his social media posts. Throughout his hospitalizations, social media posts show that Harmon kept in frequent contact with Houston.
Even while in a hospital, Harmon was adamant that he would not receive the vaccine, posting he wasn't "anti-vax" but was "pro information."
"i'm not against it, i'm just not in a rush to get it," he wrote in a July 8 Instagram post. "Ironically, as I continue to lay here ... in my COVID ward isolation room fighting off the virus and pneumonia."
He added he wouldn't get a vaccine even after recovery.
"Biden's door to door vaccine 'surveyors' really should be called JaCOVID Witnesses. #keepmovingdork," Harmon wrote the same day on Twitter.
On Friday, after his death was announced, Harmon's Instagram account was made private.
The federal government will test its capacity to issue emergency alerts today, with the exception of Ontario, where the test will take place on May 15.
Canadian immigrants threatened by hostile regimes are urging parliamentarians to quickly pass the 'Countering Foreign Interference Act' so they can feel safe living in their adopted home.
Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, has made headlines with his recent arrival in the U.K., this time to celebrate all things Invictus. But upon the prince landing in the U.K., we have already had confirmation that King Charles III won't have time to see his youngest son during his brief visit.
A long-simmering feud between hip-hop superstars Drake and Kendrick Lamar reached a boiling point in recent days as the pair traded increasingly personal insults on a succession of diss tracks. Here’s a quick overview of what’s behind the ongoing beef.
The Israeli military said Wednesday that it has reopened the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza, a key terminal for the entry of humanitarian aid that was closed over the weekend after a Hamas rocket attack killed four Israeli soldiers nearby.
An Ontario woman said it would have been impossible to buy a house without her mother – an anecdote that animates the fact that over 17 per cent of Canadian homeowners born in the ‘90s own their property with their parents, according to a new report.
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.