St. Patrick's Day

British Columbia's bars and restaurants have high hopes for their first St. Patrick's Day virtually unencumbered by COVID-19 restrictions since the pandemic ...

We have a few spaces for lunch and a few spaces for the evening. For a lot of people it will be their first true coming out.” “We do want people to go about their partying responsibly,” Const. Tania Visintin said. Despite that, Heather said St. Patrick’s Day 2022 is a chance to reflect on what’s kept them going through two difficult years. People didn’t know what the hell was going on,” Heather said. We’ll probably have about 600 people through the door, and that’s a lot of business.

Ezra Avenue will stay fenced off until Monday. Officials with Grand River Hospital said their emergency department treated between 20 and 30 people because of ...

10 hr ago 10 hr ago 10 hr ago 3 hr ago 3 hr ago 10 hr ago 3 hr ago 3 hr ago 9 hr ago It was done very respectfully, so I think we’re pretty proud of the students letting off steam, but doing it in a very respectful way.” In total, 241 patients came through GRH's emergency department Thursday. In terms of riot control, there wasn’t anything crazy.”

With Ezra Avenue blocked off with fencing, party-goers crammed onto Marshall Street instead.

There was also a heavy police presence in the area. said general manager Terry Meyer. "Lucky to be Irish for a day." "I'm from Dublin and it's also very messy on St. Patrick's Day." A trial started Monday morning for a man charged with manslaughter in the death and disappearance of 59-year-old Eduardo Balaquit. The family of two children who were struck and killed by a vehicle in their own driveway in Vaughan, Ont. last year said they 'lost faith in the systems that are supposed to keep us safe' after the teenage driver of the vehicle was sentenced to one year in an open custody youth facility. Police are working to determine what caused a woman’s death after her body was found in the middle of a west Toronto street early on Tuesday morning. All the kids are all over the road and they're charging for the drinks. - 'Lost faith in the systems': Family of children killed by teen driver react to sentencing The archbishop of Edmonton says the apology from Pope Francis for the role the Roman Catholic Church played in the residential school system is just the first step on the road to healing. A teen driver who struck and killed a young brother and sister playing at the edge of their driveway last spring was sentenced to one year in an open custody youth facility on Monday. "I think this is disgusting," one woman said. They're missing their friends, they're missing seeing everybody.

Waterloo Region Police Chief Bryan Larkin issued an open letter Thursday morning asking area residents to avoid large gatherings on St. Patrick's Day.

As your Police Service, our top priority is ensuring your safety and the safety of the entire Waterloo Region community.” “Large gatherings continue to pose both a health and safety risk. “I think we can all recognize that after two years of celebrating virtually and celebrating in our homes, that many individuals – with the reopening of pubs and bars and the other institutions – that we likely will see people celebrating,” he said.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, tens of thousands of people would flood Ezra Avenue in Waterloo, Ont. for an unsanctioned street party.

Officials fenced off the street, & students say they feel “caged in” and feel fencing is a safety hazard. While Ezra Avenue is empty, the street over, Marshall Street, is not. Anthony Checcha, a fourth year student at WLU who lives on Ezra Avenue, has seen the temporary fencing go up on his street in previous years and hoped this year things would have gone differently. Students say they’re taking the party elsewhere. It’s quiet this morning on Ezra Avenue in Waterloo where thousands of students previously gathered for St Patrick’s Day street parties. There was also a heavy Waterloo regional police presence with dozens more officers and cruisers patrolling the area. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, tens of thousands of people would flood Ezra Avenue in Waterloo, Ont. for an unsanctioned street party. The message from the universities, police and the city has been to celebrate St. Patrick's Day responsibly and deter students from attending large unsanctioned gatherings. "I can't have the kids out to play ... it's a nice day and I can't even have them outside to enjoy the day," said Brown. "There have been several house parties and some students have moved on to the street on Marshall Street," said Cherri Greeno, a spokesperson with Waterloo regional police. But with most of the street fenced off this St. Patrick's Day, students moved the party a block away to Marshall Street instead. This St. Patrick's Day, students took the party a block away to Marshall Street

After 33,000 university student revelers packed the city's Ezra Avenue on St. Patrick's Day 2019, the street fell silent on that date for the next two years ...

If this was only the last St. Patrick’s Day bash to sully the streets of Waterloo. If only it was meant to be a one-off farewell to two unwanted, unprecedented years not just on campus but everywhere else. Yet after all we’ve been through over the past two years and despite the trepidation we share looking forward, thousands of local students were squeezed together like sardines in a giant tin on St. Patrick’s Day. The phrase “social distancing” might as well have been in a foreign language. We get that the pandemic has been hard on the 18-to-24-year-old demographic. Perhaps the day’s most revelatory quote came from fourth-year WLU student Jim Brown who insisted: “We deserve and have a right to celebrate coming out of this pandemic.” If there’s any tradition we wish two years of COVID-19 had put to rest, it’s the annual day of madness that takes over much of Waterloo every March 17th. As the region’s medical officer of health, Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, said Friday, “COVID-19 continues to be with us and will likely present future challenges.”