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481Occupational
Health and Safety and COVID-19: Whose Rights Come First in a Pandemic?
social workers and speech therapists, after two hours training, to work
in seniorsâ homes where COVID-19 was raging. If they refused, they
were threatened with dismissal.36 Workers who accepted jobs in the
hot spots were often the most vulnerable; unsurprisingly, the commu-
nity spread is greatest in the poorest neighbourhoods, where precari-
ous migrants are recruited as personal support workers (PSWs), often
by temporary employment agencies (TEAs), to work in long-term care
facilities where COVID-19 is rampant.37
Who Gets the Equipment When There Isnât Enough
to Go Around?
We hear of workplaces where supervisors38 or doctors39 wear the pro-
tective equipment to which the nurses and PSWs donât have access,
although they are the ones in closest proximity to the residents suf-
fering from COVID-19. Evidence provided in the Eatonville injunc-
tion proceedings showed that N-95 respirators were kept under lock
and key and that employers refused to rely on nursesâ professional
judgment as to the need for equipment, forcing them to comply with
complex procedures to obtain permission to access a mask, a process
that precluded effective access in a timely manner.
The day after a clear statement was issued by Quebec profes-
sional associations representing doctors, nurses, respiratory thera-
pists, and nursesâ aides, demonstrating that they were not legally
obliged to care for a patient suffering from COVID-19 without the
36. Kate McKenna, âMontreal Speech Therapists, Social Workers Threatened with Firing
if They Refuse to Work in Seniorsâ Homesâ, CBC News (25 April 2020), online: <https://
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/physios-social-workers-redeployed-
montreal-1.5545292>.
37. Ămilie Dubreuil & Romain SchuĂ©, âCovid-19: âCâest un peu hors de contrĂŽleâ
Ă MontrĂ©al-Nordâ, Radio Canada: Ici Grand MontrĂ©al (28 April 2020), online:
<https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1698270/coronavirus-cas-montreal-nord-
quebec-covid-tests>; AgnĂšs Gruda, âPrĂ©posĂ©es aux bĂ©nĂ©ficiairesâ : la filiĂšre
Roxhamâ, La Presse (2 May 2020), online: <https://www.lapresse.ca/debats/
editoriaux/202005/01/01-5271799-preposees-aux-beneficiaires-la-filiere-roxham.
php>.
38. Sara Mojtehedzadeh, ââFrontline Workers Do Not Have N95s but Supervisors
are Wearing Themâ: Troubling Allegations Emerge at Care Homes Hit by
COVID-19â, The Star (22 April 2020), online: <https://www.thestar.com/business/
2020/04/22/frontline-workers-do-not-have-n95s-but-supervisors-are-wearing-
them-labour-board-documents-allege-shortages-exhaustion-and-fear-amongst-
nursing-home-staff.html>.
39. Hachey, supra note 32.
VULNERABLE
The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Title
- VULNERABLE
- Subtitle
- The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Authors
- Vanessa MacDonnell
- Jane Philpott
- Sophie Thériault
- Sridhar Venkatapuram
- Publisher
- Ottawa Press
- Date
- 2020
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 9780776636429
- Size
- 15.2 x 22.8 cm
- Pages
- 648
- Categories
- Coronavirus
- International