Page - 13 - in VULNERABLE - The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19

13Introduction prevent First Nations families from complying with physical distancing.48 It would be a mistake to speak of these as discrete phenomena, however. To do so would risk obscuring how the current situation is the predictable outcome of policy choices made by governments. The pandemic is not a natural disaster or an “act of God.” The effects of COVID-19 are the result of choices: to tax and spend in ways that benefit some and disadvantage others;49 to intervene or not intervene in the economy when market forces prevent individuals from meet- ing basic needs; to regulate in particular ways; to view health as the product of a combination of luck and personal choices rather than the product of colliding social, economic, and political factors; and to adopt particular foreign policies toward international cooperation, including foreign aid. The theme of vulnerability also touches domestic and inter- national institutions. The pandemic is a stark reminder of the fragility of democratic governance, the rule of law, and fundamental rights.50 Governments in both new and established democracies have quickly dispensed with normal procedures to respond to the pandemic. While there is no doubt that governments must respond quickly in a public health crisis, some balance must be found between the need for dis- patch and the need for considered and accountable policy responses. The closure of courts for a period of months for all but urgent matters is unprecedented and demonstrates the degree to which the judicial system has until now continued to be reliant on in-person hearings and paper filings.51 48. Craft, McGregor & Hewitt, this volume, Chapter A-2; Levesque & Thériault, this volume, Chapter D-6. 49. See generally Attiya Waris, Tax  and  Development:  Solving  Kenya’s  Fiscal  Crisis  Through  Human  Rights (Nairobi: Law Africa, 2013). 50. Vanessa MacDonnell, this volume, Chapter B-1; Gerald Daly, “Democracy and the Global Emergency – Shared Experiences, Starkly Uneven Impacts” (15 May 2020), online (blog): Verfassungsblog <https://verfassungsblog.de/democracy-and-the- global-emergency-shared-experiences-starkly-uneven-impacts/>; Steve Paikin, “Liberty vs Security in a Pandemic” (2 April 2020), online (video): Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/TheAgenda/videos/liberty-vs-security-in-a- pandemic/2691840667581128/>. 51. Aedan Helmer, “‘There Is No Going Back’: How COVID-19 Forced Courts into the Digital Age”, Ottawa  Citizen (17 May 2020), online: <https://ottawacitizen. com/news/local-news/there-is-no-going-back-how-covid-19-forced-courts-into- the-digital-age>; Paola Loriggio & Liam Casey, “COVID-19 Pandemic Forces Ontario Justice System ‘Stuck in the 1970s’ to Modernize”, CP24 (29 April 2020),