'A beautiful soul': Funeral held for baby boy killed in wrong-way crash on Highway 401
A funeral was held on Wednesday for a three-month-old boy who died after being involved in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 in Whitby last week.
A 31-year-old disabled Toronto woman who was conditionally approved for a medically assisted death after a fruitless bid for safe housing says her life has been "stabilized" by an outpouring of support after telling her story.
"It's ... mind-blowing and inspiring," said Denise, in a phone interview.
Her voice sounded considerably stronger than in April when she last spoke with CTV News about her pending approval for MAID, a decision she said she made, in part, because she was suffering from severe chemical sensitivities in an apartment filled with smoke and fumes that made her ill.
She told CTV News at the time that she had spent months trying to secure housing with cleaner air and essentially gave up and was cleared by two doctors as qualifying for an assisted death.
But now she's found a temporary home, is no longer struggling for every breath and her extreme suffering has lessened, her application for MAID is on pause. However, Denise says she has not cancelled the MAID application outright as she still has several other pain-causing chronic health issues that haven't been properly addressed.
But because she does not have a permanent solution, if the hotel she is currently staying in is booked, she says she needs to return to the apartment that makes her sick.
After the story garnered worldwide attention, supporters set up a GoFundMe campaign that has now has amassed over $65,000 in donations from nearly 1,000 people along with countless emails of encouragement.
"These are strangers saying they do not want this to happen. I am even struggling to find the words," Denise said.
She says she is now staying in a hotel room in Toronto that uses low-scented cleaning chemicals, and has windows that open on a ravine, providing fresh air.
"I am no longer focusing on just survival," she told CTV News. "Mentally, I am more clear to put things in place to put a more liveable life."
She is working to find long-term subsidized housing and is hoping to help others with chemical sensitivities.
The "irremediable suffering" that qualified her for a medically assisted death was fixable, said Dr. Riina Bray, the medical director of the Environmental Health Clinic at Women's College Hospital in Toronto, and one of Denise's physicians.
"It says these patients can easily return to wellness if they are given the right environment to live. It's a simple equation," she said.
Denise, who asked CTV News not to use her real name to protect her identity, was diagnosed with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS), which trigger rashes, difficulty breathing, and blinding headaches.
Research shows that people with multiple chemical sensitivities often improve in chemically cleaner environments.
She is also a wheelchair user after a spinal cord injury six years ago.
But her only income comes from Ontario’s Disability Support Program (ODSP) which pays $1,169 a month plus $50 for a special diet. That made it impossible for Denise to pay for a better apartment away from smoke and chemicals.
When repeated requests for subsidized apartments in healthier locations went unanswered by housing officials she applied for MAID, "essentially, because of abject poverty," she told CTV News in April.
She was approved by two doctors and was asked for documentation on funeral preparations by a third.
Denise's supporters are calling for a closer look at how and why she was approved for MAID when what she needed was housing that didn't aggravate her symptoms.
"We're calling for an investigation .... into physicians who are improperly applying the (MAID) legislation," said David Fancy a professor at Brock University and one of Denise's supporters.
Denise says the doctors who offered medical assistance in dying discussed her suffering, not solutions. "During the assessment, very little was focused on what services I had, what I needed to achieve some level of normal. Nothing was offered in terms of support," she said.
The Well Earth collaborative, which is fundraising for Denise, is also applying to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation for funding to build special housing for others with environmental sensitivities, with a 50-acre plot of land in a rural region north of Toronto identified as a possible site.
Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (MCS) is a recognized disability under the Canadian Human Rights Act. It’s believed to be caused by exposures to chemicals, or other environmental exposures that cause physical symptoms, although it is a controversial diagnosis in the medical community.
Her story is disturbingly similar to one reported by CTV News earlier in April. Sophia also suffered from Multiple Chemical Sensitivities. She received a medically assisted death in February, after many attempts to get an apartment away from the smoke and chemicals in her building.
Canadian statistics suggest that at least 700,000 people in the country suffer from sensitivities to chemicals.
A funeral was held on Wednesday for a three-month-old boy who died after being involved in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 in Whitby last week.
There has been a "sophisticated" cybersecurity breach detected on B.C. government networks, Premier David Eby confirmed Wednesday evening.
Toronto police say a man was taken into custody outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion Wednesday afternoon after he tried to gain access to the residence.
U.S. President Joe Biden said for the first time Wednesday he would halt shipments of American weapons to Israel, which he acknowledged have been used to kill civilians in Gaza, if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a major invasion of the city of Rafah.
Rookie goalie Arturs Silovs will start in net for the Canucks as Vancouver kicks off a second-round series against the Edmonton Oilers Wednesday night.
One of the Indian nationals accused of murdering British Columbia Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar says in a social media video that he received a Canadian study permit with the help of an Indian immigration consultancy.
Pfizer has agreed to settle more than 10,000 lawsuits about cancer risks related to the now discontinued heartburn drug Zantac, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the deal.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault is defending his comments about a new history museum after he was accused by a prominent First Nations group of trying to erase their history.
Independent U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had a parasite in his brain more than a decade ago, but has fully recovered, his campaign said, after the New York Times reported about the ailment.
The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.
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.
A P.E.I. lighthouse and a New Brunswick river are being honoured in a Canada Post series.
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.