Ontario paramedic fired for criticizing Israel on social media hopes to be reinstated
Global News
York Region said last month that officials launched an investigation into an employee's “concerning comments on social media” on June 19, which led to a dismissal.
A York Region paramedic says she was looking forward to working in the field again after a six-year union leave, but she was abruptly fired last month over a Facebook comment criticizing Israel’s military actions in the Middle East.
“I was about to be back on an ambulance at the end of July,” Katherine Grzejszczak said Thursday in her first public comments about the case.
“I was actually really excited and looking forward to going back out, to being a paramedic.”
Instead, the veteran paramedic said she was fired on June 20 after she criticized Israel’s bombing of Gaza and several countries, and accused the country of starving Palestinian children and killing health-care workers in a comment on a union social media post.
The Regional Municipality of York said last month that officials launched an investigation into an employee’s “concerning comments on social media” on June 19, which led to a dismissal.
“I think it’s extremely unfortunate that we are here,” said Grzejszczak, who served on the Canadian Union of Public Employees Ontario’s executive board.
“It’s not a good time, it has been an extremely emotionally difficult time for me.”
Grzejszczak told reporters that the comment she made was in line with her “professional obligations” as a health worker.
Regina police disciplined an officer for repeatedly accessing personal data of six citizens without authorization 67 times throughout the course of three years.
The list was chosen based on the scale of the devastation, the number of Canadians affected and the financial toll, with wildfires taking the top spot.
Manitoba RCMP say a fisherman is missing after his side-by-side went through the ice.
The population boom recorded in Nova Scotia since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic appears to have come to an end.
New data suggests the majority of Canadians support efforts to expand oil and gas development, including expanding and building pipelines — but within that, their support differs.
Hamilton police say they have arrested 21 people in connection with hundreds of 'organized retail thefts' at multiple Shoppers Drug Mart locations across Ontario, Quebec and B.C.
In October, U.S. President Donald Trump cancelled trade talks with Canada after Ontario aired an anti-tariff ad featuring former U.S. president Ronald Reagan.
Operations are set to resume Friday at the K3 potash mine in Esterhazy, Sask., after a fatal incident earlier this week.
Toronto is seeing a sharp 54.3 per cent decline in homicides and violent crimes this year, but police and a community leader warn the progress is fragile.
Data shared with Global News by the city shows Toronto is currently tied into eight separate private security contracts, predominantly for services relating to homelessness.
A Saskatoon woman has used naloxone kits multiple times to stop overdoses. Some experts say the kits are significantly helping decrease fatality in overdose cases.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told members of Congress this week that next year's joint review 'will depend on the successful resolution' of several issues.
The Appeal Court's three-judge panel has declared the Oath of Allegiance requirement unconstitutional and of no force or effect, meaning it is no longer required in Alberta.