Quebec Government's Callous Disregard for Life, Health and DignityThe Integrated Centre for Health and Social Services for the Outaouais region (CISSSO) recently revealed that in one long-term care centre (CHSLD), Lionel-Émond, a public institution, there had been 30 infections and six deaths among the residents and 21 cases among the health care workers. On the other hand, in a private CHSLD, Champlain de Gatineau, belonging to the Toronto company All Seniors Care Living Centres, there are active cases but, in spite of that, the CISSSO recently told a local newspaper that it had decided not to divulge the number of cases "out of respect for the owners." In Quebec's daily count, how many such cases are not being made public?
Long before the pandemic, the situation was such in the seniors' homes that in July 2018, the Conseil pour la protection des malades took up a similar class action in which it gave many examples of degrading living conditions. It denounced the systemic negligence and ill treatment of patients in the CHSLDs. The class action involved no less than 34,000 people who had experienced such conditions since July 2015. It raised the lack of personnel and work overload for health care workers as being a part of the problem. The government at the time tried to quash the lawsuit, under the pretext that a "living environment" as raised by the claimants was "difficult to define." The judge upheld the class action in 2019 on the basis that matters of living conditions and those of adequate quality of health were identical, rejecting the government's argument. This is just one of many instances where governments, which are supposed to defend the public good, instead, acting on behalf of private interests, attempt to quash collective legal efforts to defend the rights of workers and Indigenous peoples. Now, on May 26, in the midst of the pandemic,
the Quebec government made a "global offer" to
various health care workers' unions in
negotiations for new contracts that embodies
this callous disregard for the life, health and
dignity of the workers and people. None of the
workers' demands for working conditions that
ensure their health and safety, and the
well-being of their patients, are addressed.
Consequently, the offer was rejected with
contempt. Not only do such offers refuse to meet
the needs of public service workers, they
pointed out, but the hardships the workers and
people are going through at this time are
precisely a result of this refusal. (Photos: FIQ)
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In some cases,
people are presently resorting to legal action.
For example, on April 17, a class action suit
was launched against the Herron CHSLD in Dorval
where 31 people lost their lives. The litigants
are seeking punitive damages for the inhuman and
degrading treatment of the seniors who live
there. The action is being taken for the 130
residents because of everything they have been
through. The Kasata Group, the owners of Herron,
are being held responsible for not having given
their health care workers the proper personal
protective equipment, nor ensuring that the
surroundings were safe and had adequate sanitary
conditions. They are also held responsible for
having abandoned their residents with the most
callous disregard for their life, their health
and their dignity by treating them in an inhuman
and degrading way. On one specific day, the
claimants point out, there was one nurse and two
aides for the 130 residents.