Several Toronto hospitals are preparing to suffer the repercussions of the demonstration of truckers planned from Saturday, near the Ontario parliament, in Toronto. Contingency plans are already in place, learned The duty.
Several groups of truckers met at noon on Saturday in front of Queen’s Park – the seat of government – which is located about 100 meters from several hospitals, including Women’s College Hospital. According to a message sent internally Thursday by the hospital’s CEO, Heather McPherson, and whose The duty obtained a copy, the Toronto police recommend among other things that employees wear street clothes to go to work.
“If you are working weekends and need to be accommodated because you fear for your safety or due to transportation concerns, please contact your manager,” asks the CEO in his message. “Considering what we saw in Ottawa and our proximity to the demonstration, we are taking the necessary measures to ensure the safety of everyone at the hospital,” said hospital spokesperson Tracy Chisholm. Access points will also be reduced, but the hospital does not expect this to have a significant impact on patient care.
Many healthcare workers commute to work by public transit. But no decision on additional security measures at Queen’s Park station, very close to the parliament, has yet been taken, according to Stuart Green, spokesperson for the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC).
According to the message from the CEO of Women’s College Hospital, Toronto police will be responsible for maintaining order and the flow of emergency vehicles, such as ambulances, police cars and fire trucks. firefighter. More security guards will also be deployed at the hospital, the message said. The Toronto Police Service would not comment on the details of the letter to employees.
Hospital collaboration
The four hospitals near Queen’s Park — Women’s College, University Health Network, Sinai Health System and Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) — are working together to protect their employees. A contingency plan is also being prepared at Public Health Ontario for its laboratory on University Avenue, also a stone’s throw from the Ontario parliament.
Mount Sinai Hospital expects the protests to impact access to the building for patients, families and staff. “We are working on many safety messages for our employees and our patients”, describes a spokesperson for the establishment. University Health operates two centers within a block of Parliament Buildings, Toronto General Hospital and Princess Margaret Hospital, where cancer patients are treated.
In a statement posted to social media on Thursday morning, Toronto Mayor John Tory said the “protests absolutely cannot block access to hospitals near Queen’s Park.” A meeting was held Thursday between the mayor, the chief executive of the city of Toronto and police chief James Ramer to prepare for the protest.
Impact of Bill C-3
A demonstration organized among others by the anti-containment group Canadian Frontline Nurses – which openly supports truckers stationed in Ottawa – took place in September in front of these same hospitals, near parliament. Toronto police had not reported any incident where access to the hospital had been blocked.
However, the Canadian government has since passed Bill C-3, which amends the Criminal Code and adds offenses of intimidation of health care workers and obstruction of access. “These may include threats or other forms of violence intended to instill fear, hinder the activities of the health worker or prevent a person from receiving health services,” the government said at the time.
But the new bill won’t have a big impact on the protest in Toronto, suggests Me. Michael Spratt, a criminal lawyer in Ottawa. “There are already laws that prohibit harassment and public mischief,” he notes. The police have only to apply them, says the lawyer, who criticizes the “performative” nature of the bill. Charges could already be brought against a demonstrator who blocked the entrance to a hospital, before Bill C-3, confirms Me. Lindsey Board, lawyer at the Toronto firm Daniel Brown Law. “Our criminal code already gives police and prosecutors all the tools they need to prosecute these crimes,” she says.
According to the two lawyers, it may even be more difficult to prove the new charge of intimidating health care workers than that of uttering threats, since the new offense asks the prosecutor to prove the intention of the person accused. .
This story is supported by the Local Journalism Initiative, funded by the Government of Canada.