Tomorrowland says Canadian woman has died after attending music festival in Belgium
Debby Wilmsen says in an emailed statement that a 35-year-old Canadian woman fell ill at the festival on Friday.
She says the woman was given first aid and then taken to University Hospital of Antwerp, but festival organizers were told Saturday morning that the woman had died.
Wilmsen says the Antwerp public prosecutor's office is investigating the cause of death. The Antwerp public prosecutor's office did not respond to requests for information on the woman.
Global Affairs Canada says it is aware of reports that a Canadian woman has died in Belgium but said it would not release information due to privacy considerations.
Sabrina Williams, spokeswoman for Global Affairs Canada, says it is in contact with local authorities.
A massive fire engulfed the main stage two days before the annual music festival began Friday in the town of Boom, north of Brussels.
Weekly
A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene.
Tomorrowland draws tens of thousands of visitors from around Europe and runs across two weekends, ending July 27.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 19, 2025.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
21 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Motorcyclist killed in highway crash with SUV in Abbotsford, B.C.
ABBOTSFORD – A motorcyclist has been killed in a crash in Abbotsford, B.C. The crash happened in the early morning in the northbound lanes of Highway 11 near Townshipline Road. Police say the crash involved a Kawasaki motorcycle and a Jeep Compass SUV. The motorcyclist died at the scene, while the SUV driver suffered non-life-threatening injuries. The northbound lanes of the highway between Old Clayburn and Harris roads were closed but slated to reopen later in the morning. Investigators believe speed and alcohol contributed to the crash. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 31, 2025.
Winnipeg Free Press
2 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Supreme Court won't hear case of Ontario man who fatally shot Indigenous man
The case of an Ontario man found guilty of manslaughter in the fatal shooting of an Indigenous man has come to a close after Canada's top court declined to hear it. The Supreme Court of Canada has rejected a leave to appeal request from Peter Khill, who shot and killed Jonathan Styres after finding the man breaking into his truck in the early morning hours of Feb. 4, 2016. As is its standard practice, the high court did not give reasons for its decision to not hear the case. Khill was charged with second-degree murder and pleaded not guilty, testifying that he acted in self-defence and in accordance with his military training. In 2022, a jury found him not guilty of second-degree murder but guilty of the lesser offence of manslaughter. He was sentenced to eight years behind bars. Earlier this year, the Court of Appeal for Ontario dismissed his appeal regarding his conviction but reduced his sentence to six years. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 31, 2025.
Toronto Sun
3 hours ago
- Toronto Sun
Some Ontario hospitals offering hefty incentives for locums amid doctor shortage
Travelling physicians fill roles on a temporary basis, often as a way to prevent emergency department closures Published Jul 31, 2025 • 5 minute read Physician Dannica Switzer is shown in this handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout As a travelling physician in northern Ontario, Dannica Switzer is acutely aware of the health-care crisis in underserved communities. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account 'It's sad to see how much worse things can get,' said Switzer, who works as a locum, filling roles on a temporary basis in rural or remote areas. Switzer has been in high demand since returning to locum work after quitting her family practice in Wawa, Ont., due to burnout more than two years ago. Rural and northern Ontario hospitals are competing to recruit locums by offering hefty financial incentives amid a severe shortage of doctors that has plagued the health-care system. The hospitals are vying for doctors from a relatively small pool of locums, often as a way to prevent emergency department closures that have become more common in recent years. 'But the reality is that most people are booked,' Switzer said in a recent interview. 'And even if you really want to go help that town out to prevent the closure, you can't because you're already working somewhere else.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Hospitals' fierce competition for locum recruitment has triggered concerns about equitable access to health care, with some doctors and experts saying it leaves smaller communities and hospitals vulnerable because they may not have the financial resources needed to entice physicians. While funding mainly comes from provincial programs, some hospitals top up the pay for locum shifts by tapping into their operating budgets or money that's available due to vacant staff positions. But Mike Cotterill, a physician in Wawa and one of Switzer's former colleagues, said that approach is not ideal. 'If you top up with X dollars, then the next town down the road will top up with X plus, you know, X plus Y,' he said in an interview. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'So, it's a competition that is bad for hospitals and bad for towns. It really shouldn't have to happen.' He said the Lady Dunn Health Centre, where he works, has so far avoided having to top up the pay for locums and its 'excellent' recruiter has been able to ensure a steady supply of such physicians. But that's not the case at some other hospitals. Timmins and District Hospital is currently offering up to $18,500 for hospitalist medicine locums to work there for one week in August, according to an ad posted on the hospital's social media page. The North Bay Regional Health Centre pays up to $2,700 per eight-hour shift for emergency medicine locums, according to its website. Manitoulin Health Centre's Little Current site offers $250 per hour to physicians who take ER shifts in July and August. The hospital receives around $160 per hour from the Health Ministry for night and weekend shifts and tops up that amount so it can stay 'competitive,' using funds from unfilled positions at the hospital, said lead physician Anne McDonald. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The generous pay, flexible scheduling and less administrative work that comes with being a locum may impede some hospitals' recruitment and retention of full-time doctors, some experts say. The financial incentives for locums, which can also include accommodation, flights, car rentals and other expenses, are unaffordable in the long run, they add. The goal should be to make permanent positions more appealing so that doctors stay in communities, Switzer said. 'We cannot recruit our way out of a retention crisis,' she said. Still, doctors agree that locums play a vital role in rural and northern areas of the province. 'We absolutely need the locum and the local program,' said Dr. Anjali Oberai, who works in Wawa alongside Cotterill, her husband. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'We need to support locums but if the support is such that it de-incentivizes working and living in community, yeah, then we have a problem.' Oberai and Cotterill worked for nearly two years as locum doctors to take advantage of the lifestyle before settling down in Wawa in 1998. But 'the locum landscape was quite different back then,' Oberai said. They worked mainly during the summer, covering for doctors who were on vacation or other short-term leaves. But locums are now often used to fill vacant positions, and they've helped Wawa keep its hospital and primary care centre operational during a worsening physician shortage in the community in recent years. McDonald, the lead doctor at Manitoulin Health Centre's Little Current site, said rural doctors are under a lot of pressure, taking care of patients who are often their neighbours, friends or relatives due to physician shortages. Some cannot handle that workload and become locums instead. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'I really think the locum lifestyle is less about the money exactly and more about the lack of burden of ongoing responsibilities that weighs physicians down,' McDonald said. There are more than 350 physician vacancies in northern communities, according to the Ontario Medical Association. That shortage might get even worse as nearly half of the doctors there are expected to retire in the next five years. The association always advocates for a system that encourages doctors to provide reliable and continuous care at a specific location, OMA president Zainab Abdurrahman said. But the doctor shortage is so acute that locums have become an essential part of the system. 'It's not that having a locum means you're not hiring and you're not actively trying to recruit,' she said. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Some new medical school graduates want to take time to explore their options as the financial cost and administrative burden of setting up a practice holds them back, she said, while others want to become locums to help underserved communities. While financial incentives offered by some hospitals do lead to inequities, they are just a symptom of a larger issue, Abdurrahman said. 'The utilization of these kind of extra incentives is really a reflection of the desperation in the health-care system,' she said. 'People are making choices to be competitive because they're feeling the constraint.' The Health Ministry says its Rural Emergency Medicine Coverage Investment Fund, which replaced the Temporary Locum Program in April, is helping hospitals improve access to emergency care throughout the year by offering them the flexibility to hire locums and improve their capacity to recruit permanent doctors. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. That commitment came out of negotiations between the government and the OMA for a new Physician Services Agreement. Ministry spokesperson Ema Popovic also pointed to the province's investments aimed at connecting every Ontarian with a primary care provider by 2029, and efforts to add hundreds of seats in medical schools. Many doctors say that other incentives, such as improving access to education, more vacation time and less administrative paperwork, are also needed to recruit and retain full-time physicians. For Switzer, being a locum gives her more control over her schedule but that comes with a cost. 'I have a house, I'm not at it. I have a garden. I'm not there … I miss a lot of moments with my family,' she said. Toronto & GTA Celebrity Canada Canada Sunshine Girls
