COVID-19: What are the political and moral impacts of the anti-vaccine protests in hospitals? | The Canadian News

Protesters were stationed outside hospitals in Alberta’s largest cities again on Monday, holding signs, shouting at patients and healthcare workers and angrily expressing their opposition to mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies.

Demonstrations across the country have drawn a great deal of criticism in recent days, with political leaders, health professionals, and health advocates condemning the decision to not only demonstrate outside of acute care facilities, but also interfere with patients and staff arriving at hospitals. .

Amy Kaler, assistant director of the sociology department at the University of Alberta, said that while people have been protesting various facets of the province’s COVID-19 response for months, the shift to protesting in front of hospitals marks a change in the feeling.

“When you go from demonstrating and protesting, which is the right of people, to interfere with hospitals, you have crossed a line that cannot be crossed,” he said.

“I find it really demoralizing and … I’m not a healthcare worker.”

According to Lorian Hardcastle, associate professor of health policy and law at the University of Calgary, the nature of these protests shows how tense things have gotten in Alberta when it comes to COVID-19.

“I think the approach to the pandemic has been quite polarizing here, and I think these protests are just proof of that,” he said.

“In some ways, the government’s message has contributed to the tension, polarization and protests that we have seen in Alberta.

“We have heard a lot of discussion from the government about individual rights and not much about the facts that we can limit individual rights where it is reasonable and when it is justified and where it is proportionate.”

The Alberta government, the Edmonton and Calgary health authority and police forces have condemned the act of protesting in front of a hospital and stressed that intensive care centers are places where people seek medical care and should not be interfered with.

In an emailed statement, Prime Minister Jason Kenney said that while Canadians have the right to protest, blocking people’s access to hospitals “is definitely not a peaceful protest.”

“Today’s protests must in no way obstruct the important operations of our hospitals, including the arrival and departure of emergency vehicles and workers,” Kenney said, adding that law enforcement agencies have the power to enforce the law in a timely manner, including through the Critical Infrastructure Law.

“While Canadians have the right to protest peacefully, the atrocious judgment of those protesting across the country today can still be questioned,” the prime minister said.

“It is outrageous that a small minority feel it is appropriate to protest in hospitals during the pandemic as our healthcare workers continue to fight tirelessly against the global threat of COVID-19.”

Hardcastle said that if the fines are handed out under Bill 1, the Critical Infrastructure Defense Act, it could be problematic for them to be upheld due to the fact that the law could be considered unconstitutional. He said he could “normalize” law enforcement against other less polarizing protests, such as those by groups like Black Lives Matter.

“On the other hand, if they use their ordinary powers under criminal law to prevent physical violence, to prevent threats, to prevent harassment, those are well established criminal charges that exist, and I think they are much more likely to stick. ,” she said.

Kaler said he would like to see a stronger response from the UCP government in terms of stopping these protests and making it clear that the message is not welcome in Alberta.

“If I was properly masked and so forth in a hospital saying, ‘I’m here with the doctors and nurses, I’m with them. Those of you out there, I don’t want you to vote for me. I don’t want to have anything to do with you. I want you to go home. I think that could give a little boost to morale, ”he said.

Hardcastle said he believes the government will have to introduce more measures in the coming days or weeks to lighten the burden that hospitals face, both with growing COVID-19 patients and now protests outside their doors.

“I just don’t think they can let the hospital situation develop as it has now. I think our hospitals are too narrow, ”he said.

“I think the government is going to have to implement something, be it vaccine passports or trade restrictions, collect restrictions, and I think that, time and time again, we have seen the government do it quite late, particularly when compared to other provinces.”

Alberta Health Services said they were “extremely disappointed” by the protests at the hospitals.

“We do not tolerate bullying or harassment from our patients, AHS staff or physicians and we consider such behavior to be abhorrent,” AHS said.

The health authority said it was working closely with AHS police and protective services to ensure patients and staff can safely access health care facilities, adding that fences will be put up to keep safe people if necessary. Patients and employees are also encouraged to use the SafeWalk service.

“If you object to masking, vaccines or any other measure that is taken to prevent the transmission of COVID-19, it is your right. But attacking healthcare workers with anger and vitriol is not acceptable, particularly now, ”he said.