Former Quebec health minister corrects 'certain facts' about how she managed COVID-19 pandemic

MONTREAL -

Accused by Quebec citizen’s protection agency of having ignored long-term care facilities at the beginning of the pandemic, the Legault government is defending itself and maintaining that it too action in January 2020.

On Wednesday, former health minister Danielle McCann held a news conference to “correct certain facts.” She stated that she did not like "what is being said about me in the public space.”

Reading from a written statement, McCann repeated what she had said to the coroner last Thursday: the CEOs of the CISSS and CIUSSS were "informed of the presence of a new coronavirus" as early as Jan. 22.

She held up a letter dated Jan. 28, 2020, which she said attests to the fact that the government did ask the health network to take action.

The letter stated that the civil security coordinators of the institutions were to “activate (their) civil security cell by mobilizing the stakeholders of the sectors concerned.”

They were also to "ensure that information flows smoothly within your institution."

Nowhere are they specifically asked to prepare long-term care facilities.

“It's a comprehensive plan," McCann said. “It says, 'You have to prepare all of your facilities,' including CHSLDs.”

Instead, on March 12, a "very general" preparation guide was sent to the CISSS and CIUSSS, noted Ombudsperson Marie Rinfret, when she presented her report on Tuesday.

And it was only in mid-April, when outbreaks and deaths were multiplying in the CHSLDs, that “action was taken,” she said at a press conference.

OPPOSITION PARTIES REJECT MCCANN’S VERSION

On Wednesday, the opposition parties criticized the fact that there are two versions of events: the Legault government’s and the Quebec ombudsperson’s.

During question period, they rejected the government's version and again called for a public inquiry into how the pandemic was managed.

“How is it possible (...) that the government did not take any action for the CHSLDs before April?" questioned Liberal leader Dominique Anglade.

“Quebec was the first place in Canada to confine Quebecers, to put measures in place. We were the first," replied Premier François Legault. “How can she say: 'We took time to act?’”

“The CHSLDs have been forgotten. Seniors have been abandoned," said Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, Québec Solidaire’s parliamentary leader.

PQ member Lorraine Richard wondered if the government was refusing to launch a public inquiry because it was "afraid we would learn too much about your bungling."

The epicentre of the health crisis was supposed to be hospitals, in Quebec City's eyes, so everything was done at the beginning of the pandemic to free up as many beds as possible, McCann said earlier.

“Hospitals were our biggest fear," she said. “We saw Italy; the problem was in the hospitals. They were choosing which patient to intubate and which to leave untreated.”

The former health minister went on to say that she wanted to make another “correction.” She reiterated that fewer than 1,000 seniors (865) had been transferred from hospitals to long-term care facilities at the beginning of the crisis.

The ombudsperson reported 1,700 after adding to the 865 people who left their homes to go to a CHSLD.

“The fact remains that 1,700 more seniors came to the CHSLDs in March 2020, establishments that were not at all equipped or prepared to manage this new fragile clientele," said Ms. Rinfret.

McCann said she would live with the consequences of the decisions made in 2020 “for the rest of her life.” She defended herself for not having been sensitive to the needs of the residents of the CHSLDs.

During the first wave of the pandemic, between February and June 2020, the vast majority (69 per cent) of people who died from COVID-19 in Quebec lived in CHSLDs, nearly 4,000 people. 

-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Nov. 24, 2021.