Chief Medical Officers ignore death toll of surgeries cancelled by lockdowns

CALGARY: The Justice Centre today expressed disappointment in the refusal of Canada’s Chief Medical Officers and provincial and territorial Health Ministers to answer questions about the harms inflicted on Canadians by the cancellation of medically necessary surgeries pursuant to lockdown measures.

In letters sent on September 8, 2020 to provincial and territorial Health Ministers and Chief Medical Officers across Canada, the Justice Centre asked the following questions:

1. How many scheduled surgeries, physician consultations, diagnostic imaging procedures, blood tests and surgeries were cancelled and postponed?
2. What types of surgeries were postponed or cancelled? How many of each type?
3. Of those patients whose aforementioned medical procedures were postponed or cancelled, how many have died as of August 31, 2020? Of these, how many would not have died if their medical procedure had not been cancelled?
4. How many of the medical procedures that were cancelled were rebooked, and how many of those have now been completed?
5. How many of the medical procedures that were cancelled were rebooked, and how many of those have now been completed?
6. By what date will the backlog of postponed and cancelled medical procedures be fully cleared?

To date, the Justice Centre has received only one response to these letters, from Manitoba. This letter failed to provide answers to the questions that were asked. None of the other Health Ministers and Chief Medical Officers have responded to the Justice Centre’s questions, nearly two months after they were asked.

“Politicians and health officials continue to tell the public that lockdowns are doing more good than harm,” states John Carpay, president of the Justice Centre, “but politicians have yet to show us the evidence.”

“The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms requires Chief Medical Officers and elected officials to justify the violation of our fundamental rights and freedoms. The onus is on government—not citizens—to prove that lockdown measures prevent more harms than they cause,” continues Carpay.

“The failure of health ministers and Chief Medical Officers to come clean on potentially deadly or life-shortening lockdown harms caused by cancelled surgeries speaks volumes. COVID is not the only thing killing people,” concludes Carpay.