Three doctors from Saudi Arabia are suing the University of Ottawa and several of its officials for more than $100 million.

The suit claims racial discrimination, conspiracy to injure, defamation, breach of contract, and negligence, among other allegations.

Dr. Waleed AlGhaithy, Dr. Khalid Aba-Alkhail, and Dr. Manal Al-Saigh announced they’ve filed a joint action on Monday.

“We think it’s justified,” said Aba-Alkhail.

“We hope that we can prove, as we’ve claimed, that we’ve been treated unfairly and that whatever happens with us will never happen to anyone else in the future, as a student.”

The lawsuit comes almost a year after the trio filed a human rights complaint against uOttawa alleging racial discrimination and intimidation.

“There were all sorts of comments and differential treatment towards these Arabic students,” said Mireille Gervais from the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa.

“This is indeed a systemic issue.”

According to Gervais, they were treated “in a demeaning way, in class, in front of peers, and it escalated to a point where they’ve all either withdrawn from the program or been placed on probation, in no way, pursuing their studies as they normally should be.”

Individual defendants affiliated with the Ottawa Hospital or the University of Ottawa Heart Institute include: Dr. Jacques Bradwejn, Dr. Paul Bragg, Dr. James Worthington, Dr. Eric Poulin, Dr. Thierry Mesana, Dr. Richard Moulton, Dr. Fraser Rubens, and Dr. John Sinclair.

An Ottawa Hospital spokesperson declined comment Monday, saying the matter is still under investigation.

AlGhaithy was a neurosurgery medical resident while Aba-Alkhail and Al-Saigh were specializing in cardiac surgery.

All three are not currently practicing.

They are still in Ottawa and have filed internal appeals.

“Waleed has been completely dismissed. He’s gone. He’s not a student anymore,” said Gervais.

He was four weeks shy of completing his program.

“It has been there for a long time, this dream to become a neurosurgeon,” said AlGhaithy, describing the situation as “difficult.”

“But (the lawsuit) it’s a must for me, and I think, for my colleagues. So it’s no option, and we had to proceed with it, but it’s stressful,” said AlGhaithy.

Lawyers Douglas Christie and Barbara Kulaszka are representing the doctors.

Gervais says the doctors have been “blacklisted” and likely will never work as surgeons.

The uOttawa media relations department did not return the Sun’s request for comment Monday.

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She works in a downtown office and rides OC Transpo Route 232 from Vars, in Russell Township.

“Rural buses are not the easiest thing,” said Yakibonge.

The fixed schedule, with three runs during each rush hour, means she has to pencil in her life around the bus departure and arrival times.

“By the time it leaves Vars, it’s full,” she said.

Yakibonge used to drive, however, “I used to spend almost $400 on parking and gas just to go to work,” she said.

Taking the bus costs about $120 each month.

While the bus is saving her a lot of cash, it comes with its own cost: Worry.

She’ll have to spend a fortune to get home if there’s an emergency during the middle of the day.

“If the school is to call me if my son is sick, I have to take a bus to St. Laurent and then a cab,” she said.

“And I don’t know how much that would cost me. It’s a long drive.”

She said she’d like to see more runs added.

“The first bus is at 3:40 p.m. If you have to come back before that, you’re screwed,” she said.

Back in the fall, ridership on Route 232 was a little under two-thirds full, said Pat Scrimgeour, manager of transit service design at OC Transpo.

That number could be higher now, but adding more runs is “pretty unlikely” unless the buses are getting closer to full, said Scrimgeour.

Service began in 2002, “and at that point it was one trip in the morning, one trip in the afternoon,” he said.

Overall, “ridership has grown quite a bit and the service has been increased.”

Route 232 is run by OC Transpo, thereby funded by Ottawa taxpayers, whereas the 500 series routes are contracted out to rural partners.

“They don’t compete with OC Transpo because they pick up people outside OC Transpo boundaries,” said Scrimgeour.

Any routes servicing Russell Township are paid for by those taxpayers.

“Each municipality is going to make their own decisions about service level, fare, times of day, things like that,” said Scrimgeour.

So Yakibonge will have to deal with the reality of working one hour away from home.

On the bright side — unlike other lots in Ottawa — there’s ample parking at the Vars Park and Ride.

“I can’t complain about that,” she said.

http://www.ottawasun.com/2012/01/29/single-mom-tied-to-transpo

Freezing rain wasn’t keeping Mark Debruyn and his sons from attending the NHL Fan Fair on Friday.

“We’re a hockey family,” said Debruyn, from Nepean.

His boys, Caleb, 8, and Lucas, 5, had the day off from school and it was the first All-Star experience for the family.

“We’re going to walk around, buy a couple of souvenirs, and try out all the neat stuff,” he said.

Hundreds took part in various All-Star activities at the Ottawa Convention Centre.

Caleb Debruyn was excited about the possibility of meeting his favourite player, Senator Jason Spezza.

“I have his stick, so I’m a big fan of him,” said Caleb Debruyn.

But there were also Leafs jerseys in the house.

“You don’t change your team,” said Byward Market resident Carolyn MacMillan, proudly wearing her blue jersey.

“When I started watching hockey, there was no Senators team, so I didn’t change when they came in.”

Gary and Carter Blake from Aylmer were representing both teams.

“My son’s a Senators fan, and I’m a Leaf fan. Don’t hold that against me,” joked Gary Blake.

They were squeezing in some fun before Blake had to go to work in the afternoon.

“It’s a once in a lifetime experience for him,” said Blake, as they made their way through various skills zones.

On a different floor, Kanata resident Pam Hooper was strolling with her son and daughter.

“Well, it’s a snow day today, so what else would I do with the kids but to come here all day?,” she said.

“It’s entertaining.”

She’s got plenty of family fun planned for the weekend, including going to the game on Sunday.

Others aren’t so lucky, but were still having fun.

“I’ve never seen the Stanley Cup before, so that was nice,” said MacMillan.

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 http://www.ottawasun.com/2012/01/27/bad-weather-dont-keep-fans-away

“The court has upheld the sentence,” his fiancee, Zainab Ahmed, told the Sun from Bahrain Wednesday.

“I’m very sad.”

Al Raas could be arrested at any time.

“He’s in hiding right now. He’s supposed to be in jail,” she said.

The 29-year-old went to a pro-democracy rally in Bahrain last March.

Shortly after, Al Raas says he was abducted from the airport then allegedly tortured underground for a month.

Three months ago, Al Raas was convicted in civilian court for “gathering” and “spreading false news.”

“I feel terrified,” Al Raas told the Sun in November.

“It means my death. I can’t take all that torture again.”

On Monday, 12 out of 13 defendants were acquitted and Al Raas is the only one facing jail time.

“We’re disappointed that he wasn’t acquitted along with everyone else,” said John Babcock, spokesman for Minister of State of Foreign Affairs Diane Ablonczy.

“We’re going to continue working through our diplomatic channels.”

Ahmed is worried about his heart and lung problems.

“I can’t let Naser go back to jail again,” she said.

“His health can’t take that again. They have to drop all the charges. It’s not fair.”

@ottawasunkroche

http://www.ottawasun.com/2012/01/25/ottawa-man-faces-prison-in-bahrain

With baby boomers retiring, fewer jobs will be up for grabs for police across the country, who didn’t hire at the end of the ’90s and early 2000s, warns a Carleton University business professor.

“A lot of our older cops are going to be leaving all at once,” said Dr. Linda Duxbury, who expects to see changes, “big time,” in the next three to five years.

Ottawa deputy police chief Gilles Larochelle says retirement is tracked and planned for because officers “either advise us ahead of time, or it’s their retirement date.”

In 2011, the expectations were for 40 retirements and 10 resignations.

“What actually happened was 40 people retired, as planned, and seven resigned,” said Larochelle.

For 2012, they’re expecting 20 and 10, respectively.

Due to a tight police budget, “we won’t be hiring additional (officers),” said Larochelle.

“The 20 that will retire, we’re going to be hiring 20 right from the young recruits.”

Across the board, many new cops simply don’t have enough experience to fill the roles, said Duxbury.

“We’re being forced to promote them too quickly…police have to be exposed to a whole bunch of situations before they move up the ladder,” she said.

“You don’t just start day one, murder investigations. You have to get your feet wet.”

The wide gap could mean young recruits won’t have proper guidance.

“We don’t have people between say, 35 and 45 who are in that succession planning pipeline: the sergeant, the staff sergeant, the inspector, who are ready to do the coaching, the mentoring, the management, et cetera,” she said.

The quality of middle-staffers will directly affect the ability to keep younger folks around.

“We can’t manufacture these people now, because they needed to be hired and started to be developed 10, 15 years ago. So what is going to happen is everyone is going to start stealing from each other, and that is hugely expensive for a police force, if in fact, they lose their talent pool.”

Police Chief Vern White was recently appointed to Senate and leaves next month.

Hiring externally, Duxbury says, signals , ‘we don’t have the talent here, we’ve got to go elsewhere,’ which means that our talent will go elsewhere, too.’”

When two boomers leave, “we’re going to need three younger people to replace them, and we’ve only got one,” she said.

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Another condominium, The Galleria 2, is currently under construction at 238 Besserer St., right behind the church.

“Now that the new building is there, you can just see it, how close it is,” said Keith Nuthall from community group Neighbours of St. Alban’s.

They fear the move will bring conflict.

The Anglican Diocese of Ottawa is relocating the centre from 216 Murray St. to St. Alban’s, from its original home, on King Edward Ave. between Besserer St. and Daly Ave.

The move was supposed to take place by Christmas.

It’s being postponed due to construction at the church.

“We’re in the process of tendering,” said Canon Bill Prentice.

“There’s some general restoration of the 150-year-old building.”

Prentice said they’re aiming to be in the building by late spring or early summer.

Nuthall and other residents are hoping the church will reconsider and “keep Centre 454 where it is,” noting the twenty-somethings and retirees who have moved into the flourishing neighbourhood could volunteer at the church, which has a new congregation after a recent split from the Diocese.

“We have about 100 people now,” said Rev. Mark Whittall, estimating half live within walking distance.

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http://www.ottawasun.com/2012/01/25/homeless-centres-relocation-delayed

It’s also resulting in them being less loyal and less engaged in their work,

The news doesn’t come as a surprise to Ottawa police brass — they asked for the report after officers made it clear they’re feeling overburdened.

“When the investigators brought forward concerns, I think it would’ve been detrimental not to act, or not do research, or not say we’re going to look into it,” said deputy police chief Gilles Larochelle.

The Criminal Investigations Directorate Enhancement Project began in 2009 and was presented at Monday’s police services board meeting.

The OPS Role Overload study led by Dr. Linda Duxbury, a business professor at Carleton University, was conducted over a 10-month period and included focus groups, a survey, and individual interviews.

Roughly 80% of criminal investigators and managers in CID took part in the anonymous survey.

Almost two dozen recommendations have already been implemented by police, said Larochelle.

Key changes involve supervision.

“Essentially, sergeants needed to be sergeants. They assumed too much the role of an investigator, as opposed to a supervisor,” said Larochelle.

When officers are given a case, “Often, there’s that pressure you put on yourself to ensure that you succeed. So that’s why a sergeant is so important to supervise and say, ‘you’re on the right track’ or ‘you need to look at this or that,’” he said.

In addition to helping the investigators, the study also provides better quality to the victims, said Larochelle.

Providing more support is expected to eventually alleviate some of the overload on investigators.

“I can’t say we’ve seen changes immediately,” said Larochelle.

He’s expecting a turnaround in about two years.

Duxbury says the mental health of police officers and work intensification and overload is an issue for police across Canada, “because city governments are trying to do more with less and they’re trying to economize, and police services is one of their more expensive budget items, but they can’t stop policing,” she said.

At the same time, “you can’t keep pushing police officers. And the problem is, that we want a safe city but we don’t want to pay for it.”

Duxbury applauds Ottawa police for taking what she calls a leadership role in addressing the issues.

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http://www.ottawasun.com/2012/01/24/cops-stressed-out-drinking-more-study

Joseph Leafloor, 31, was driving the snowmobile and crashed while attempting a U-turn.

“It will take a couple of weeks before we find out exactly what happened, but we think alcohol and speeding was involved,” said MRC des Collines Sgt. Louis Piche.

Police were called to the scene around 9:30 p.m. and Leafloor died later in a Shawville hospital.

Family and friends were devastated to learn of his passing.

“It’s not a very good day,” said Leafloor’s business partner, Taylor MacDonald, 27.

Leafloor’s parents gave MacDonald the news over the phone. MacDonald was shaken up as he described his buddy.

“He’s known for his upbeat, bubbly personality,” said MacDonald.

“He’d bring energy into a room. He was well-liked, well-loved.”

The men worked in construction. Last July, they started a business called Solid Masonry.

“We were just taking it step by step,” said MacDonald.

Leafloor attended Algonquin College and Ecole des Metiers de la Construction de Montreal.

Police said Leafloor was alone on the machine and there were no witnesses.

Leafloor had been ice fishing with friends “and then he went from there alone with his snowmobile and then this happened,” said Piche.

The investigation continues.

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http://www.ottawasun.com/2012/01/22/snowmobile-dies-after-striking-river-bank

The CE Centre, located near the Ottawa Airport, had an estimated 7,000 people go through it Friday, the first of three days of a lululemon warehouse sale and a Home Renovations Show.

That was the good part.

The not-so-good was the traffic the events created, causing backups on Uplands Dr. all the way to Hunt Club Rd. during the morning and afternoon rush hours Friday, adding congestion to an already jam-packed east-west corridor.

CE Centre general manager Josh Zaret was on the defensive Saturday when asked whether the battered two-lane road leading to the facility is being overwhelmed.

“People were waiting about 10 minutes on Uplands, so we put our plan in place and right after that, everybody started coming on the Airport Parkway, and there were no traffic issues,” said Zaret.

The centre has 2,000 parking spaces, and overflow parking on Uplands Dr. with a shuttle bus.

The centre, boasting 220,000 sq. ft. of floor space, with four exhibit halls, meeting rooms, and banquet facilities, is touted to be a huge tourism draw for trade shows.

It’s privately owned, but leases the land from the Ottawa Airport Authority.

Zaret said he isn’t concerned about affecting traffic flow to and from the airport.

“We ran two huge events this weekend and we didn’t even have to use the overflow lot, so clearly, it’s not an issue at all,” he said.

Airport Authority spokeswoman Krista Kealey also said she has “no concern whatsoever,” about a backlog of cars.

“I went out myself (Friday),” she said. “I had smooth sailing every single time.”

Kealey said she hasn’t heard any customer complaints, and if there are any, “it’s certainly not been brought to my attention.”

But she was quick to say, “it’s certainly something that we would want to watch carefully.”

While Friday saw hardcore shoppers lining up at 3 a.m., the scene was anything but chaotic Saturday.

It took “probably 10, 15 minutes” to get in, said Carolyn Courtney from Orleans.

Courtney brought her daughter, Allison, 16, who estimates saving $100 on clothes.

They weren’t oblivious to the traffic snarls.

“I’m going to the airport three weeks from today,” said Allison. “There better not be a lululemon sale because I would miss it, and I would miss my flight, so that would just be bad.”

Next weekend will be another traffic test when the Ottawa Wedding Show sets up camp Saturday and Sunday.

http://www.ottawasun.com/2012/01/21/new-ce-centre-jams-them-in

“It’s awesome that he took the time to do it,” Helene Campbell said Saturday. “That’s really encouraging.”

Campbell, 20, reached out to teen heartthrob Justin Bieber on Thursday.

“Hey @justinbieber! I BELIEB you should use that Canadian voice of yours and help save lives like mine,” she tweeted around 8 a.m., with hashtags #beanorgandonor and #giveblood.

Last summer, Campbell was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis — unexplainable scarring or thickening of the lung tissue — and is currently in Toronto receiving treatment at the General Hospital awaiting a double-lung transplant.

In Ontario, that can take six months to two years, she said.

Campbell didn’t have to wait long to hear back from Bieber, who responded not once, but four times.

“He replied at 3 a.m. (Saturday),” said Campbell.

First, he re-tweeted the message, reaching 16.6 million followers, writing, “@alungstory i got the word … you have amazing strength. i got u.”

Bieber added the hashtag #BeAnOrganDonor.

But it didn’t end there.

Bieber promoted her site, writing, “help spread the word for @alungstory alungstory.ca,” then sent another tweet reminding her to “NEVER SAY NEVER,” referencing his hit song and movie.

On Saturday, Campbell wrote back, “@justinbieber you have made a huge impact, not only on my life, but for many others in need of the gift of life now and in the future!”

Within no time, he replied, “glad to be able to help. best part of what i do.”

Campbell said she’s happy Bieber is helping bring worldwide attention to a worthy cause.

“I didn’t do this for myself. I did this to help others,” said Campbell.

She attended College catholique Franco-Ouest in Bells Corners, and also worked at the Dairy Queen “for a long time.”

But now, “I can’t really do too much,” she said.

Her mother, Manon, is with her in Toronto. “It’s good to have her with me,” said Campbell.

She remains positive, and patient, about being on a waitlist for new lungs.

“My lungs kind of look like they’ve been smoking for 60 years,” Campbell said, emphasizing she has never smoked. “When it’s my time, it’s my time.”

kelly.roche@sunmedia.ca

@ottawasunkroche

http://www.ottawasun.com/2012/01/21/justin-beiber-answers-womans-call-for-help