Page - 98 - in VULNERABLE - The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19

VULNERABLE98 health arrangements can be a new federal presence in support of pro- vincial delivery of public health.”14 SARS led to the creation of a new branch of the federal govern- ment, the Public Health Agency of Canada, but as we discuss in the next section, PHAC has utterly failed to solve the federal-provincial data schism, which places Canada in violation of international law. According to WHO’s International  Health  Regulations passed after SARS, Canada must share epidemiological information with WHO, including: … clinical descriptions, laboratory results, sources and type of risk, numbers of human cases and deaths, conditions affecting the spread of the disease and the health measures employed.15 Not one of these things is now being exchanged reliably between the provinces and PHAC, to say nothing of Canada being able to supply it to WHO. Simply put, Canada failed to learn the lessons of SARS. The Public Health Agency of Canada PHAC was originally created under the Liberal government in 2004, although the legislation formalizing its creation was left to the incom- ing Conservative government.16 As the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health explained: First, the Public Health Agency of Canada must have specific reg- ulatory authorities for the collection, management, and protection of public health information to ensure that the agency can receive the information it needs. As the SARS outbreak clearly showed, it is important for the government to have the ability and the means to assess accurate information… This is of particular importance because of the growing threat of an influenza pandemic or other public health emergencies… The bill provides that authority.17 14. Ibid. 15. World Health Organization, “International Health Regulations”  (2005) art 5, annex 1, online: World  Health  Organization <https://www.who.int/ihr/publications/ 9789241580496/en/>. 16. C-5,  An  Act  Respecting  the  Establishment  of  the  Public  Health  Agency  of  Canada  and  Amending  Certain  Acts, 1st Sess, 39th Parl, 2006 (assented to 12 December 2006). 17. House of Commons Debates, 39-1, Vol 141, No 039 (13 June 2006) at line 1605, online: House Publications <https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/39-1/ house/sitting-39/hansard>.