Advocating for improving Thunder Bay’s Covid-19 response

 Monday, March 15, 2021

Dear Honourables Michael Gravelle, Judith Monteith-Farrell, Patty Harju and Dr. Marcus Powlowsky. 

My name is Laura Jean Rutherford, and I am currently a resident at AgeCare-Skypointe Community Care facility in Calgary, Alberta on a Long Term Care unit. I have lived in Calgary since March 2005. I was born, grew up and lived in Thunder Bay for 34 years (Sept 1970 to March 2005). You must be wondering why I am writing to the politicians representing NWO constituents in both the federal and provincial governments. There is a simple reason - you are all failing the citizens during this second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, who live in the NWO communities including the city of Thunder Bay. I might not live in Thunder Bay now, but I care what is happening to my hometown as my parents and friends still live there. I am writing this letter advocating for my dad (82 years old), my mom (78 years old) as well as being a voice to any citizen of Thunder Bay and in other NWO communities who do not have a voice. My parents are following the restrictions in place, so they are facing isolation from friends and they are awaiting their Covid vaccinations. I worry as their daughter, about their health and safety as they have pre-existing conditions along with their age, contracting Covid-19 could have a fatal outcome, which I would like to avoid. 

As I shared, I live in a community care facility; so when I heard of the outbreaks at Southbridge facilities Rosewood and Pinewood early this year - I knew exactly what those residents were facing as I was going into my 3rd month of being quarantined to my room to a Covid outbreak at my facility. Suffering through weeks of residents and staff contracting the Covid-19 virus, some needing hospitalizations and residents dying due Covid-related complications. With facilities locking down to outside visitors, these residents face day after day in isolation or being quarantined to their rooms, not able to do anything. The only in person contact was the nursing staff, who has no time at all for those little things that would bring joy to their day. Video chats were not a common place in community care facilities, so residents were totally cut off from loved ones for weeks or months. Reading about the conditions facing the residents at Southbridge-Rosewood left me heartbroken. Why wasn’t the Thunder Bay Reserves called in to assist with the long term care facilities in Thunder Bay to temporarily provide sufficient staffing levels to give all these residents the dignity and respect they deserve in receiving their daily basic care needs. 

As the Covid-19 cases continued to grow in Thunder Bay in January 2021 and preceded to spike in February and March 2021, I watched week after week, nothing was being done from Premier Ford’s PC government to Thunder Bay to assist in controlling the surge in cases. MLA Gravelle and MLA Monteith-Farrell - why do I only hear from Honourable Andrea Horwath who has been fighting for Thunder Bay citizens to get resources and tools to help your constituents? MLA Gravelle, you have served Thunder Bay-Superior North since 1995, why haven’t I heard your voice fighting for your constituents? MLA Monteith-Farrell, I see you are new to the role of representing Thunder Bay-Atikokan. I ask you the same question - why haven’t I heard your voice fight for your constituents? You both represent the NWO communities in the Ontario Legislature, why aren’t you holding Premier Doug Ford accountable on his government’s Covid response plan? Why hasn’t anyone ask Premier Ford why he sat on millions of dollars of federal Covid-relief funds for months and months, while Ontario’s citizens were suffering and dying? Why hasn’t anyone asked Premier Ford why he sat on over a million rapid agent Covid tests since fall 2020 and only distributed them to varies parts of Ontario in 2021? I have sent multiple letters to Premier of Alberta Jason Kenney and Alberta’s Minister of Health Tyler Shandro asking these same questions since July 2020. It is unfortunate, my UCP government has not relied to one of these letters. I hope the Ontario MLAs do not treat their constituents who send letters of concern the same way. Please show your constituents you have their backs. They elected you to your position to go to the Ontario Legislature Assembly to fight and protect for them, no matter the final outcome. Something to think about next time you are in the Ontario Legislature Assembly for discussions. 

Minister Harju and MP Dr. Powlowsky, all I can say is I am disappointed in you both. Yes, you represent the Thunder Bay and NWO communities on the federal level, but why haven’t I read how you are fighting for your constituents in Thunder Bay? Is your reasoning for you not fighting for your constituents? Is it that Health is a provincial jurisdiction, so you decide not to bring your voice to the discussion? Dr. Powlowsky, you worked in TBRHSC’s emergency department before entering politics, so you know first hand what an infectious outbreak could mean if resources at TBRHSC are at capacity. Last week, TBRHSC called Code Grey, which means the hospital is at capacity and cannot take any new patients from Thunder Bay as well as from any NWO communities. Covid patients had to be transferred to Southern Ontario hospitals who are facing the same situation as TBRHSC. The last time I remember a Code Grey being called was when TBRHSC first opened as there are insufficient number of beds at TBRHSC to serve the NWO region. Everyone has seen the devastation in Southern Ontario when politicians delay action such as lockdowns where hospital resources are so maxed out; it impacts the lives of Ontario citizens. Minister Harju, not only are your constituents in Thunder Bay hurting and dying from Covid-19, but you are Canada’s Minister of Health. Are you not responsible to provide oversight of the province’s health response to Covid-19? You must see the hurt and frustrations your constituents are facing daily during this global health pandemic. Minister Harju, have you reached out to Ontario’s Minister of Health Christine Elliott to see what you could do to provide resources for Thunder Bay and NWO communities to fight this virus? Minister Harju, I would like point out to you, you have been sent every letter I have sent to Premier Jason Kenney as well as Minister of Health Tyler Shandro about their damage to Alberta’s healthcare system and in their lack response to Covid-19 surge in Alberta. Sad to say, I now am seeing the same playbook Covid response in Ontario’s Premier Doug Ford as I do in Premier Kenney. Is this a consequence as they are both Conservative governments and they blame everyone else for their problems instead of themselves? Something to thing about in the future in your role as Canada’s Minister of Health. 

Premier Ford, Minister Elliott, Dr. David Williams and Minister Fullerton - all have played a part of the current health crisis in Thunder Bay and NWO communities, such as the current lockdown in Sudbury. Minister Elliott and Dr. David Williams must receive daily data from all Ontario’s healthcare regions, so they would have saw the crisis building at TBRHSC starting in January 2021. Why did Premier Ford and his PC government wait until TBRHSC was at over capacity to put Thunder Bay in another lockdown in February 2021? Why didn’t Minister Fullerton as Ontario’s Minister of Long Term Care act when the Southbridge facilities Rosewood and Pinewood had sizeable Covid outbreaks occurring as well as having over 20 deaths at the Rosewood facility alone. The military was brought in to assist the community care facilities in Southern Ontario, why didn’t Minister Fullerton ask the Thunder Bay Reserves to come in to assist especially after hearing of the neglect to residents occurring during their facility outbreaks. These residents deserve the same dignity, respect, kindness and compassion in their daily care just as the Southern Ontario residents received in these facilities.

To the federal and provincial officials who represent the Thunder Bay and NWO communities - I ask this one last request and a reminder. Stop ignoring those citizens who live outside your “little bubbles”! To all the Ontario Premiers (past & present) from the Conservatives and Liberal parties  - as Premier, your riding elected you as the Premier, but you are responsible for ALL Ontario citizens, not just a few. Show it in bills/policies you pass or in the distribution of funding monies you care for all Ontario citizens. Decade after decade, NWO communities including Thunder Bay have been ignored, an afterthought when comes to be given resources, such as infrastructure projects or job creation. Case in point, the recent sudden closures of 4 Correction facilities in NWO, 2 being in Thunder Bay alone. Does the Ford government even realize the impact it makes to the Thunder Bay community, or what it means to have those people, who are suddenly taken away from their families as they were transferred to a Southern Ontario facility? Same with the federal government, unless you live in the bubble of “Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal-Quebec City” corridor, you are ignored. I have seen it when I lived Thunder Bay all those years but I see it now in Calgary. Show your constituents you are fighting for them. If you are in the Federal Cabinet, you need to fight not only for your region’s constituents but also you need to fight for ALL Canadian citizens. 

I thank you for your time and consideration on this matter. I hope I will see improvements to Thunder Bay’s Covid Response from the provincial and federal governments to keep the citizens in NWO communities safe and healthy. Looking forward to hearing from you all with any comments or any questions. 

Sincerely yours, 

Laura Jean Rutherford, CHIM

Cc’d:

Honourable Doug Ford, Premier of Ontario

Honourable Erin O’Toole, Federal Leader of CPC, Leader of the Opposition 

Honourable Andrea Horwath, Ontario NDP leader, Leader of the Opposition 

Honourable Christine Elliott, Ontario’s Minister of Health

Honourable Raymond Sung Joon Cho, Ontario’s Minister of Seniors and Accessibility 

Honourable Merrilee Fullerton, Ontario’s Minister of Long Term Care

Honourable Steven Del Luca, Ontario Liberal Leader

Honourable France Gelina, Ontario NDP Critic of Health

Honourable Sara Singh, Ontario NDP Critic of Seniors and Long Term Care

Honourable Jamie West, NDP MLA for Sudbury 

Honourable Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, Leader of the Liberals Party

Honourable Jagmeet Singh, Federal Leader of NDP party of Canada

Mr. Bill Mauro, Mayor of Thunder Bay, Ontario 

Retired General Hillier, Ontario Vaccination Task Force