Ontario School Safety

This small but mighty grassroots organization, Ontario School Safety, was at Queen's Park Wednesday, on Clean Air Day, to plead for clean air in schools and school buses. They unmasked as they spoke with a CO2 monitor on the podium never getting beyond the 400 range of ppm, which means being in that room is like being outdoors. Here's the 20 minute video and a highlighted transcript for easy skimming, but it's pretty much in full. MJ Nabuurs, of the brilliant ReSisters podcast, also spoke briefly, but just while Kate was getting to the podium.

First up, Dr. Heather Hanwell:

I'm here on National Clean Air Day when the air outdoors is certainly anything but clean. I'm here to speak on behalf of the Grassroots non-profit that I helped to found, Ontario School Safety. Speaking of clean air, which is what this event is all about, I'm comfortable removing my mask indoors to speak today because the ventilation and air filtration here at Queen's Park is excellent, and it's just a couple minutes long. It's my privilege to be joined by one of our spokespeople and founding members, Mary Jo Nabuurs and our esteemed legal counsel, Dr Douglas Elliott. Our mission at Ontario School Safety is simply to ensure that everyone has clean air to breathe in Ontario schools and on school buses. 

You might wonder why are we concerned about air quality after all the government boasts of the $665 million allocated towards a 100,000 HEPA filters and school ventilation upgrades as well as $1.4 billion to address infrastructure maintenance. Well, first off, investments were necessary. The government putting any funding into air quality improvements signals that they know that better indoor air quality matters. But although the amount they spent might sound impressive, compared to the $16.8 billion maintenance backlog, it's horrendously inadequate. You could say it's a little bit like showing up with a little red shovel to dig a city out of a snowstorm. 

And the thing is, it's not just financially inadequate. We have no idea what these millions of dollars actually did in terms of improving air quality in schools. There's been no measurements of success, and as far as we know, nothing's been done to address the air quality on school buses. Thanks to the efforts of the public and a few school boards, we know that in many instances ventilation is wildly insufficient and air quality is still very poor. The pandemic revealed just how unhealthy the air is in schools and on school buses. It's estimated that around 70% ofhousehold spread during the pandemic happened because Covid came home from school with kids. In other words this means that kids get it and spread it in schools and at home. Schools are a major site of community transmission for illnesses that debilitated our health care system this past fall. 

But it doesn't have to be this way, and it never did. We believe students and workers have a right to breathe clean healthy air in schools, and we already know what to do thanks to well-recognized organizations like the American Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers and the Ontario Society ofProfessional Engineers. Their recommendations need to be implemented to ensure clean air. It's already being done elsewhere by conservative governments, and globally people are seeing the benefits of improving indoor air quality. 

Recently we asked to meet with the premier, the chief medical officer of health, and the ministers of health, education, and labor to ask for expert informed action on indoor air quality in schools and buses, but that request went ignored. So Ontario School Safety is asking again to be heard by our elected representatives and for them to commit to properly addressing air quality in schools and on school buses. This government talks about getting back to basics in education. What's more basic than having clean air to breathe? Let's get it done, and let's make this down payment on our future let's protect the students of today and the leaders of tomorrow. Our future depends on it.

Next up, Kate Laing, writer, parent, and chair of Ontario School Safety:

I'm chair of the board of Ontario School Safety, but today I'm mostly here in the capacity of a mom of two kids. My family has been ravaged by illness since the beginning of the school year, so I had a lot of doubt that I'd be able to stand here today. Would my kids be healthy enough for me to be here? I owe the privilege of standing here maskless to my colleagues who have all rapid tested prior to attending today, to this air filtration systems, and to the Ford government that has invested in upgrading the ventilation system here at Queen's Park. The indoor air quality at Queen's Park is stellar, unfortunately I can't say the same for my child's classroom and neither can many other Ontario parents. We can't say that because we either don't know or it simply isn't true, which begs the question: Why is it more important to protect politicians than it is to protect our own kids, our education workers? 

My husband and I kept our kids home as long as we could thinking that the government would act and make in-person education safe for them by addressing indoor air quality as Minister Lecce promised for September of 2020, but by making investments without consulting the appropriate professionals and simultaneously removing protections, the Ontario government attempted to pawn off their legal duty to protect our kids onto the school boards and education workers. The government didn't even give me and my family a chance of avoiding infection after keeping my kids healthy for two years. We lasted three days into the school year before Covid came home. 

My nine-year-old sometimes feels responsible even though he did everything right. He wore an N95. He asked his classmates for space as he ate his lunch, and he had the broken skin to prove just how often he was washing his hands. This is too much responsibility to put on a nine-year-old kid especially when improving air quality in schools can happen behind the scenes, putting the responsibility on our government where it belongs, and allowing our kids to be kids, especially because the government knew it mattered. Why else would they have invested $665 million? Despite my kid's best efforts to not get sick, he did. At school. And I remind him always that it wasn't his responsibility; it was ours, and more than that it was the government's job to provide a safe stable in-person learning environment, a responsibility they have abandoned. 

He came through the acute phase well, but as a parent I of course worry about his future: one in four kids getting long Covid and the risk seeming to increase with each infection. More distressing is my two-year-old who has now had Covid at least twice. I can't be certain because our access to PCR testing has disappeared. Since his initial Covid infection he's had pneumonia twice, sinusitis twice, and a chronic wet cough for about eight months and counting. He's being investigated for a sleep or seizure disorder. I've ridden with him in an ambulance while he screamed with a fever measuring 109°F on their infrared thermometer. 109! I sat with him in hospital in the middle of the night holding him down while a respiratory therapist used suction to get him out of respiratory distress. Every day my formerly active and rambunctious toddler tells me upwards of 10 to 20 times that he's tired and he wants to go home, and he wants to go to bed at 8 30 a.m on the way to daycare after a full night's sleep, and at 4 pm after his two hour nap. His fatigue is never completely gone. We suspect he suffers with long Covid.

My family and thousands of families like mine who have kids undergoing chemo or immunosuppressed due to organ transplants or medications they take or those who are neurodiverse or have pre-existing conditions like cystic fibrosis, reactive airways, and asthma were excluded from getting a high quality safe and stable in-person education. We shouldn't have to choose between the health of our kids and the quality of their education. We expect the government to provide clean water for them to drink. Why is it so strange to expect them to provide clean air for them to breathe. Clean air isn't political. Clean air isn't radical. Clean air is a human right, and it's just plain common sense. We have the tools. We know how to get this done. Getting sick at school may be common, but it's not normal, and it's definitely not necessary. All we're asking from the government is for them to listen to us and act on the science: address indoor air quality in schools and on buses once and for all. Get it done! Now is the time to create an air quality committee with experts on facilities management, infectious disease, public health, and ventilation. Now is the time for Ontario to be a leader in our country. Now is the time for our government to lead the Clean Air Revolution. Now is the time. 

Our kids can't wait, which is why we at Ontario School Safety have retained legal representation from Doug Elliott of Cambridge LLP to advise us on our legal options to make sure that Ontario schools have safe, breathable indoor air that keeps our students and our education workers safe while at school. Dr Elliott is well known for his work on landmark constitutional cases such as same-sex marriage and is also a leader in the field of class action litigation. He's been counseling class factions involving some of the largest recoveries against the crown in Canada, so I will turn it over to him so he can give you his remarks.

Dr. Douglas Elliott, legal council:

We've taken appropriate precautions to make sure that we're keeping each other safe, and that's what we're asking the Ontario government to do this morning. My name is Douglas Elliott, and I'm a lawyer and a partner in the law firm of Cambridge LLP, and I am delighted to have been retained by Ontario School Safety to advise them about the rights of parents and caregivers in this situation and their possible legal options. I should acknowledge I'm simply the leader of a legal team that includes other talented lawyers such as my longtime friend Joanna Radbord. Many of you know me from my work on class actions and human rights; however, I have long been keenly interested in infectious disease and public health. Covid-19 was not my first epidemic. As a gay man I witnessed first hand how government neglect allowed AIDS to ravage our community. This neglect was well documented by the Krever Inquiry, an inquiry where I had the honour to represent the Canadian AIDS Society, of which I'm a director today. This led to serving as a volunteer advisor to the then federal health minister on his science advisory board, so I have witnessed epidemics and public health failures at close range. 

Experts have identified a tragic fear-apathy cycle, or panic-neglect cycle that has led to poor social and government responses to infectious disease epidemics. Indeed some of us have called it the epidemic failure cycle. Ontario should have avoided the trap of this epidemic failure cycle. We did not. In Ontario we have rapidly shifted into apathy and neglect. It's why Covid-19 is not over. It's still with us. Over 16 000 people in Ontario have died from Covid-19. That's like wiping out the entire town of Gravenhurst, and yet we no longer promote sensible precautions to mitigate the transmission of Covid-19 and other potentially deadly respiratory infections. Virtually all of the measures that used to be taken in Ontario to gather information, share data, and seek the advice of top experts have been rapidly and completely dismantled and abandoned by our provincial government. They have dismantled our entire Covid-19 information and protection strategy. It seems to me that there is a clear political motivation for this don't worry be happy approach. As the old saying goes, where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise. Premier Ford may be hoping that he'll be retired before the next problem arises, but in fact the problem is here and now. He's just sweeping it under the carpet and trying to blame it on others. 

Let's be clear: there's no need for panic; there's no need to close schools; however, we cannot ignore the fact that people are still dying from and being disabled by Covid-19 in Ontario, and some people are at special risk. Children deserve better. When it comes to children, we as adults must help protect them because they are less able to protect themselves. They cannot do anything at all about air quality in our schools and on school buses. The safety of children is one of the oldest and most fundamental obligations of the crown. Ontario is ultimately legally responsible for the health and safety of children in our schools. I want to acknowledge in this regard the great work that has been done by the unions representing teachers and education workers and their lawyers in fighting for safe conditions in schools. It is time for parents and caregivers to step up to join in that struggle. 

A good place to start would be for Premier Ford, Minister Lecce, and their colleagues to meet with Ontario School Safety to talk about effective solutions. They should not be downloading this problem onto overstretched school boards or dumping this hot potato into the lap of their bureaucrats. When government refuses to carry out its responsibilities, the legal system can hold them to account. If the provincial government continues to stick their head in the sand, we will be advising Ontario School Safety about their legal options to make sure our kids are as safe as reasonably possible in September. Our kids deserve to breathe the safest possible air. Safe, clean air is not a luxury; it's a right! 

Back to Dr. Hanwell to close:

"The people of Ontario rightly expect their government to work with others in common cause and in service of delivering real solutions." These are the words of our Premier in his most recent throne speech last August. We agree with him, and we want to work together, and we want them to deliver real solutions. For those who are recognizing the importance of clean air, and I'm sure many of us are given the conditions outside right now, Ontario School Safety is asking people to support our fight to protect kids and education workers in our communities and their futures by visiting OntarioSchoolSafety.com. Please volunteer, share your own story, and donate towards our few our GoFundMe because access to justice doesn't come cheap.