Tag: ABC News

Dua Lipa in the streets of Italy. Charli XCX at her wedding. Singer Clairo snapping selfies. Heated Rivalry stars Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams out on the town.

These are just a few of the world’s biggest celebrities who’ve recently appeared in dozens of photos on Instagram and TikTok, looking impossibly cool while doing something notoriously unhealthy: smoking cigarettes.

“It’s almost like they’re glamorizing smoking again,” said Carolyn Baglole, an associate professor with McGill University’s department of medicine.

But even with celebrities caught puffing and influencers hyping the habit, data suggests tobacco use has long been trending downward. Still, if we want it to stay that way, experts say online content glamourizing the habit shouldn’t be ignored.

WATCH | Many people don’t realize just how bad smoking is:

Global study found many people don’t understand the dangers of smoking

A global study led by a University of Waterloo researcher found that many smokers worldwide are still unaware of the dangers of tobacco use. The study followed around 240,000 people from 46 countries over two decades. Geoffrey Fong, the principal investigator of the International Tobacco Control Policy Evaluation Project and a professor at the University of Waterloo, explains his research.

No amount of smoking is safe: experts

Dedicated accounts to smoking culture have popped up online, including @cigfluencers, which boasts more than 100,000 followers on Instagram and posts pictures of celebrities smoking.

Meanwhile, posts normalizing “cigs” abound online.

Like the one that jokingly declares cigarettes don’t count if you smoke them with your morning coffee or overseas. In another video, a woman defends influencer Alix Earle for smoking a cigarette with the caption, “Let a girl smoke a cheeky cig!” In another, the content creator says cigarettes don’t count “if you’re in the middle of writing.”

However, experts warn that this is the kind of behaviour that can lead to addiction. 

“Nicotine is so highly addictive,” said Rob Cunningham, a senior policy analyst with the Canadian Cancer Society. “A small number of cigarettes can lead to addiction and cravings.”

According to Health Canada, tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of premature death in the country, and can lead to more than 40 debilitating and potentially fatal illnesses, including cancers and heart disease.

That hasn’t stopped some people from posting about trends like “social smoking” — the practice of only smoking with friends or peers — while others even claim that smoking could “cure the loneliness epidemic” or help people make friends.

Though some of these posts may be facetious or played off as jokes, experts told CBC News no amount of smoking is safe.

“Even smoking socially, you don’t want to risk a nicotine addiction,” Baglole said. “If that happens and you become a life-long smoker, the risk of developing a chronic disease such as lung cancer, is so much higher.”

Jared Oviatt is a smoker who runs the @cigfluencers account. Despite the popularity of his content, he previously told CBC Life that he doesn’t believe we’re in a smoking renaissance.

“I don’t see the comeback of cigarettes in celebrity culture as a true return to smoking as a mainstream habit,” Oviatt said.

“Are we seeing it more often? Yes. However, I also think we’re already nearing the peak of that trend.”

Smoking on a downward trend

Cunningham confirmed that smoking isn’t on the rise, at least not yet.

“So far, we have not seen an increase in smoking and that’s good,” he said.

Recent data from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health shows a significant downward trend between 1999 and 2025. For students in grades 7-12 in Ontario, smoking tobacco cigarettes decreased from 28.4 per cent in 1999 to 3.5 per cent by 2025.

According to the federal government, smoking rates have steadily declined across the country. About 300,000 Canadians who smoked in 2023 reported that they quit smoking in 2024, with just 11 per cent of adult Canadians reporting smoking that year.

“We want to keep that trend going downward,” Baglole told CBC News. “I would hate to see that trend reversed in any way and in any age demographic. Smoking is just so bad for you.” 

WATCH | U.K. lawmakers introduce tobacco ban for everyone born in 2009 onwards:

U.K. lawmakers approve lifetime tobacco ban for anyone born in 2009 or after

A new law in the United Kingdom will ban purchasing tobacco smoking and vaping products to everyone born on or after Jan. 1, 2009, meaning affected age groups face a lifetime ban. The law is due to receive royal assent next week.

Cunningham says the habit damages teeth, skin and causes bad breath.

“It’s also very costly once you’re addicted,” he said. In Canada, a pack of cigarettes can cost anywhere from $14 to $26 Cdn.

He also warned that the content on social media that glamourizes smoking is harmful. 

“The positive depictions by influential people on social media is extensive and concerning,” he said.

“Actors or influential people or celebrities do have influence — outsized influence — on the people they’re exposed to.” 

Cunningham says he believes celebrities and influencers have a responsibility to protect their fans. 

“They wouldn’t want their kids or grandkids to smoke, and they should realize their behaviour can influence vast numbers of young people.” 

Lawyers are asking a Quebec Superior Court judge to authorize a class-action lawsuit against American fruit giant Driscoll’s.

It comes after CBC News reported on allegations that the company had sent millions of pounds of berries to Canada with non-compliant levels of chemical residues between 2022 and 2024. 

The lawsuit was lodged on behalf of a Quebec woman who consumes Driscoll’s berries. 

The filing alleges the American multinational fails to inform consumers who purchase its berries of the presence of pesticide residues or other chemical substances exceeding the maximum limits permitted in Canada. 

“The failure to disclose this crucial information regarding berries marketed in Quebec is compounded by misleading representations concerning these products,” lawyers wrote. 

The suit seeks to cover any individual who purchased Driscoll’s brand berries — including strawberries, raspberries, blackberries or blueberries — since Jan. 1, 2022.

“Through these proceedings, the plaintiff seeks to represent all class members in order to obtain a reduction in their obligations and punitive damages aimed at denouncing and penalizing the company’s highly reprehensible practices.”

In Quebec, it could take at least a year for a judge to determine if a lawsuit meets the legal criteria for authorization.

Driscoll’s denies allegations

The allegations made by former Driscoll’s employee David Harada sparked concern about food safety among Canadians.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) confirmed to CBC News it conducted several inspections on Driscoll’s berries sold in grocery stores across the country between 2022-24 and found chemical levels above the legal limit in Canada. 

The chemicals include bifenthrin, iprodione and captan: fungicides and insecticides.  

However, the CFIA says the inspections did not lead to recalls, or a corrective action was implemented and the investigations were closed.

Harada sued the company in California for unlawful retaliation after he alleges he was retaliated against for speaking up about his findings. 

Driscoll’s denies the allegations in Harada’s lawsuit, saying, “at all times, Driscoll’s took any concerns David raised seriously. We investigated the allegations he raised, followed the facts, and addressed any issues that needed to be addressed.” 

Driscoll’s has said that it amended its controls to comply with Canadian standards, adding the company has never knowingly shipped products it believed to be unsafe.

In response to the proposed class action, Driscoll’s says it’s aware of its filing in Quebec and disputes the allegations.

“[Driscoll’s] welcomes the opportunity to address these claims through the legal process, where the underlying facts, data, and expert analysis can be fully examined,” the company wrote in an email to CBC. 

“We are confident that Canadians will see that Driscoll’s maintains comprehensive food safety and compliance programs and that the allegations do not reflect the reality of how our business operates.” 

The company adds it invests significant resources to ensure the safety and quality of its berries.

“For more than 100 years, we have worked to earn the trust of consumers by communicating responsibly about our products and growing practices, and we remain committed to earning the trust of Canadian consumers every day through safe, high-quality products and compliance with Canadian laws and regulations.”

A Toronto hospital network is set to greatly expand its unique permanent housing program that largely serves homeless people who visit hospital emergency departments an inordinate amount of time.

The University Health Network’s Dunn House has seen great success in the early days for its 51 residents, a model that will expand to help 300 people. 

The modular build opened in Toronto’s west end in 2024. Federal and provincial governments, along with the city, announced earlier this year they would help build a similar 54-unit building, dubbed Spring House, which is geared to seniors who are struggling with homelessness.

Now, the plan is for three more buildings in Toronto. 

“It gives me a lot of hope that we can rally behind a solution that is more humane and cost-effective,” Dr. Andrew Boozary, the executive director of the Gattuso Centre for Social Medicine at UHN, said in an interview.

Preliminary data has shown that 48 residents of Dunn House visited emergency rooms 52 per cent fewer times a year after they moved in, along with a 79 per cent drop in the length of their hospital stays when they were admitted.

The 48 patients racked up $2.1 million in hospital costs over 12 months before moving into Dunn House, and in the year after the hospital saved $1.66 million.

Housing project has direct access to doctors, nurses

The project will again be a partnership between the federal and provincial governments, along with the city and the hospital.

The federal government will invest more than $25 million to get the third building up and running, with units for about 80 people. The City of Toronto will contribute $19 million while UHN Foundation will pony up $20 million for the broader build.

The province is set to provide support for health services and health-care workers.

The housing project features direct access to doctors, nurses and a host of other health professionals with the goal of improving their health and alleviating pressure on the hospital.

“Investing in the Dunn House model is critical to solving the housing crisis across the continuum,” federal Housing and Infrastructure Minister Gregor Robertson said in a statement.

The Canadian Press has previously spoken to more than a dozen residents, all of whom loved their new homes. Many said they have since turned their lives around, some have weaned themselves off drugs and got jobs while others have returned to school.

The homes are permanent so residents do not have to leave when their health improves.

Dunn House helps people ‘stay off the street,’ mayor says

It’s a win for the city, said Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow.

“The Dunn House model is working. It’s helping people build stable lives, access vital resources, and stay off the street and out of the emergency room,” she said in a statement.

The city is looking to invest a further $27 million in the project, which will be subject to council approval.

“It’s not sensationalist to say that this is going to be matters of life and death,” Boozary said.

“When you look at the data in the country that people who are chronically unhoused live half as long as the general public, that they’re losing 20 to 30 life years, that a chronically unhoused woman in Toronto’s average life expectancy is 42, it’s a moral failure and it’s damning.”

A Montreal hospital has lifted emergency isolation measures after a suspected Ebola case was determined to be a false alarm, officials said.

The female patient arrived at the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM) late Thursday afternoon exhibiting signs of the deadly disease.

Earlier in the day, Irène Marcheterre, a spokesperson for the CHUM, said that as soon as the suspicious symptoms were identified, the hospital immediately enacted its required isolation protocols.

She said all necessary safety measures were put in place, and insisted there was no risk to the public.

Just before 8 p.m., another spokesperson, Ellen Caracas, told CBC News that the patient tested negative for Ebola and emergency protocols were lifted.

The suspected case came amid an ongoing and deadly Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where thousands have died in recent months. 

Marcheterre could not confirm whether the patient had recently travelled from the region, stating she did not know the woman’s travel history.

Lisa Driscoll, a woman who stole other people’s nursing credentials to gain employment in Newfoundland on multiple occasions, has once again avoided sentencing.

She was a no-show in provincial court on Thursday in St. John’s after being ordered by Judge Bruce Short at her last appearance to be there in person. In a twist of fate for the convicted fake nurse, the judge was also absent from the courtroom on Thursday.

Judge Paul Noble presided over the appearance on Short’s behalf. Driscoll’s new lawyer, Philip Warren, was asking for an adjournment regardless, saying Driscoll claimed to be sick and was either in the hospital, or on the way to the hospital.

“This is the sixth request for a postponement,” Crown prosecutor Deidre Badcock said before pulling out her notebook to quote Short from the last appearance in July.

“He said, ‘You be here unless it is life or death,’” Badcock read. “‘The court has given you great leeway and ample opportunity to comply and you continue to not. You will not get any further appointments or adjournments. You will be sentenced on Oct. 1.’”

But that wasn’t the case.

Badcock then asked the judge for an arrest warrant, saying the only way Driscoll will be present for her sentencing is if she is held in custody until her next court date.

“I just find it really harsh, I really do,” Warren said.

Noble decided against issuing a warrant for Driscoll’s arrest, instead making an order that she be present in person for her next appearance.

Badcock said it’s become routine for Driscoll to seek delays, without providing any evidence to support her applications for adjournment.

“I trust what [Warren] says his client has told him, but I don’t trust anything his client tells him because we’ve consistently been told she’s in the hospital, or she’s having surgery or she’s having X or having Y. And she has not been able to produce a single piece of paper, not even a printout from her actual online health-care app, which we all have.”

The case will be called again on Oct. 7 at 9 a.m. to find a new date for sentencing.

Driscoll first pleaded guilty to her charges on May 12, 2025.

She’s fired two lawyers in 2026, which also led to significant delays.

Driscoll used fake names, licences to get jobs

Lisa Driscoll, who also went by the name Lisa Strickland at times, was convicted of criminal negligence causing death in relation to the 2017 death of her four-year-old son in Ontario.

That conviction and subsequent prison sentence left her unable to pass a code of conduct check in Ontario.

Driscoll came back to Newfoundland, where she hails from, and used the legitimate licence number of a licensed practical nurse with a similar name to get a job at Chancellor Park, a nursing home in St. John’s, in March of 2021.

While working there, Driscoll used the same stolen licence to get a second job at Kenny’s Pond retirement home in St. John’s. 

Alarm bells were raised when Driscoll applied for another job with Lane’s Retirement Homes in July of 2022. The College of Licensed Practical Nurses got a call from a representative of the company, looking to check her licensing information. They found none of her information matched the information of the person who held the legitimate licence in the system. 

Police began investigating, and reached out to the province’s health authority, which confirmed it also had a job application on file from Driscoll in which she used the licence number of another nurse with a similar name.

After being fired from her positions in St. John’s and while the investigation was still ongoing, Driscoll was discovered to be working at a retirement home in Gander — this time as a travel nurse.

Driscoll was accused of stealing medication from that home in Gander, but was acquitted in March of 2026. 

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