Coroner Géhane Kamel has promised to respect the parliamentary privilege of former Quebec Health Minister Danielle McCann.
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Former Quebec Health Minister Danielle McCann will appear Thursday as a witness in an investigation into deaths that occurred at the province’s long-term care facilities during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
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It is rare for a sitting cabinet minister to appear before a coroner’s investigation. However, the unprecedented scale of the pandemic forced the coroner to seek answers at the highest levels of government.
Coroner Géhane Kamel has promised to respect McCann’s parliamentary privilege, a promise that prevents him from raising questions about cabinet deliberations.
On Wednesday, Kamel heard from Yvan Gendron, who was deputy health minister at the time, and said that he asked the CHSLD network in January 2020 to prepare for the COVID-19 outbreak.
Gendron and McCann were removed from the health portfolio during a cabinet change in June 2020 in a move that Quebec Prime Minister François Legault said was aimed at giving a “second wind” to the Health Ministry.
McCann is now minister of higher education.
This story will be updated.
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