BMJ: The World Expected More of Canada

The British Medical Journal is a highly credible journal with a focus on improving health worldwide, and they're calling out Canada in a series of articles by Canadian experts in the field It's not that we're the worst when it came to Covid, not by a long shot! It's that we present ourselves as a country that would have done much, much better than we did. 

At two years in, we had lower cases and deaths and higher vaccination coverage than most G10 countries. But...

"Despite a universal healthcare system, communities experiencing social and economic marginalisation in Canada were hardest hit. . . . its hoarding of vaccination doses and failure to fully support multilateral efforts to share vaccination doses globally led to global vaccine inequity. Lessons from a previous outbreak of SARS-CoV-1--which in 2003 impacted more Canadians than anywhere else outside of Asia--went unheeded and left the country's government and health authorities ill prepared for Covid-19. An independent, national inquiry is needed to review Canada's Covid-19 response, draw lessons, and ensure accountability for the past and future pandemic preparedness." 

Here's the gist of it all from here:

There's one article on how predictable the crisis in our Long Term Care Homes was, particularly in Ontario, which has privatized services. 

And an excellent article on how First Nations peoples handled Covid in the wake of HINI, particularly in Manitoba:

"During the HINI crisis the government sent body bags to First Nations communities and denied sanitisers to some communities, implying that alcohol based sanitisers were open to substance misuse. [!!!] These actions created mistrust between First Nations communities and the federal government and led to a desire to embed First Nations leadership in the Covid-19 pandemic response. To accomplish this, the Manitoba chiefs assembly passed a resolution to create the Manitoba First Nations Pandemic Response Coordination Team. The team includes leaders with primary care, nursing, and public health expertise. Their experience was critical for the logistic planning of the healthcare workforce, rapid tests, and vaccination deployment."

They had rapid response teams and accommodations to isolate people with Covid-19, deployed testing equipment, and vaccinations leading to over 90% vaccine uptake.