By Nadine Wilson MLA Saskatchewan Rivers.
Premier Scott Moe bestowed a glimmer of hope upon Saskatchewan residents on Feb 8th when he announced the gradual lifting of mandates. A collective sigh of relief was reflected via social media as he spoke. My office received dozens of cc’d emails which thanked the Premier for finally taking this step and recognizing that we are dealing with an endemic.
However many of those emails also contained questions about the aftermath not addressed by the Premier.
Questions like, what will this mean to post-secondary students, who were prevented from taking their classes as they were faced with vaccinated-only policy, with no option to test, even if they had already paid their tuition?
What of people who lost their jobs both in public and private sector? Will they be reinstated? Will they be compensated for the harm done to their careers and families? Who will be responsible?
The Friday previous to the announcement, the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) was presented with a comprehensive set of questions in the form of a Freedom of Information request by a Regina legal firm.
The 27 page document, (link is at the end of this column) asks the SHA questions that have come across my desk from residents for months.
A few of those questions (summarized) are,
- What evidence did the SHA use to refuse to recognize natural immunity?
- Did the SHA record any deaths as a covid death, even if they died of something else but tested positive?
- What payments, fees or other incentives do hospitals and/or doctors receive relating to COVID-19?
- Is it true that the SHA used an elevated Ct level for PCR tests beyond what the World Health Organization or CDC recommend?
- Did the SHA follow the 4 Pillars of Pandemic Response already established?
- Is there a feedback loop for physicians who are treating COVID-19 in Saskatchewan to advise the SHA what is working and what is not?
- Given that monoclonal antibodies were approved for use under the Emergency Authorization process in November of 2020, why was the implementation of this treatment delayed for nearly a year?
- What role did the SHA play in ensuring Saskatchewan’s doctors spoke only in a manner consistent with the established narrative regarding COVID-19?
- What communications were sent to doctors regarding granting medical exemptions with respect to COVID-19?
- Given that the “vaccine” mandates encroach upon the civil liberties as described by our Privacy Commissioners, please identify how the SHA satisfied the “careful consideration” test.
These are but a few of the questions the SHA is being asked to provide answers to.
In the coming days, the people of Saskatchewan will watch closely to see what response the SHA, and the government, will provide. As our province tries to move ahead in unity and hopefully begin healing, the time has come for honest, transparent accountability to the people.
Read the FOIP document online at the following link or see the document below. (The document was revised in March 2022)
https://docs.google.com/file/d/1usgmxDBfAgyQFC1TX_diGYg_XPbSkS4e/edit?filetype=msword
