Health Committee on Feb. 3rd, 2020

[Denis Vinette]

Thank you for the question. This one has been in the media more recently.

First and foremost, our officers, from the time they're hired through their training in Rigaud, go through extensive sensitivity training with regard to cultures and how they will come into contact with people from all over the world.

This particular situation, notwithstanding all the training they undertake, is really a public health situation, so all individuals entering the country now at 10 airports are questioned. It is not discriminatory in terms of nationality. It is for all travellers arriving from abroad.

Our officers are very well trained. We have strong supervision. We have training that reinforces that at all times. In practice now, we are trying to determine whether someone has perhaps been in a zone that has had some exposure. Right now we are concentrating on Wuhan in Hubei province and identifying those individuals so we can do the health assessment that's expected of us at the border, and if it is deemed necessary, we can refer to the Public Health Agency of Canada.

It's something that our officers have been attuned to in practice, and it is certainly something that we have been reinforcing in light of the particular events of this day.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Okay.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

It is now over to you, Mr. Thériault. You may go ahead for six minutes.

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Welcome to you all. Thank you for being here to reassure all members of the public about this epidemic, which is primarily affecting China.

In a crisis like this one, the capacity to coordinate efforts to the utmost and facilitate the seamless flow of information among stakeholders is paramount. During a press briefing this morning, Quebec's health and social services minister, Ms. McCann, indicated that she wanted to bring home Quebeckers who were in China but that she didn't know exactly how many were there. Are you able to tell us how many Quebeckers are in China?

Why isn't there better communication between the Quebec government and your organization, when only Wednesday, everyone was telling us that the level of co-operation and coordination in response to the crisis was unprecedented? I'd like to hear your comments on that.

[Heather Jeffrey]

There are several different levels of coordination with the provinces and with provincial representatives. With regard to Global Affairs Canada, our mission, our embassy in Beijing, is in close contact with its counterparts from the Government of Quebec. Our efforts in assisting Canadians are really focused around those, in terms of the coronavirus, who are experiencing difficulties in leaving areas due to quarantine.

Currently, no Canadians have sought consular assistance because they are ill, so we've really been focused on providing assistance with transport to leave areas into or out of which the Chinese government has decreed there can be no transit.

We are working closely with the provinces on that. All Canadians are receiving consular service, and we're working closely with them as well in terms of the duty of care to our staff who work together in China on different issues.

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

You aren't able to tell me, then, how many Quebeckers want to return to the country.

Mr. MacKinnon, you said that, as of February 2, a total of 791 travellers had answered yes or had been questioned, shall we say. That means the measures you've been taking since the beginning have helped you to identify 791 individuals, 18 of whom were experiencing symptoms or felt unwell.

What do you do next? Of course, you check the source of the illness, but since we are talking about contact tracing, I'd like to know whether you're able to track down the people who may have been in contact with those 18 individuals. Practically speaking, what steps do you take?

[Paul MacKinnon]

Thank you very much for your question. It's quite a good one.

That's something we discuss frequently with our colleagues and other agencies.

If we get word from the province or a health care provider that somebody has been diagnosed positive for the coronavirus, if they provide us that information, we can go into our databases. Working with our colleagues at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, we can look at databases to see, for instance, whether you applied for a visa or whether you have a Canadian passport. We can find those individuals who were sitting within proximity of that individual on the plane; I think it's within two metres that we're concerned about on a plane.

The quick answer to your question is that, if we get the name of the positive individual, we can take that information through our databases. We can identify who was within close proximity on the plane when they arrived in Canada.

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

I gather, then, that you haven't had to do that yet, since there haven't been any infection-related symptoms.

If there were, how long would it take to do that?

[Paul MacKinnon]

On our end, we can move very quickly.

Denis, I think you told me that within about a couple of hours, if we had information, if we had the name of the positive person, we could retrace those steps through our databases.

It would be very quick, Mr. Chair.

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

How much time do I have left, Mr. Chair?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

You have 40 seconds, Mr. Thériault.

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

I have a question I'm going to keep for later, because it can't be answered in 40 seconds.

Recently, we've seen that some employees are worried. At least that's the case among unionized employees. What additional steps have you taken to reassure your staff?

[Paul MacKinnon]

We're working really closely with the union. We speak to them practically on a daily basis. From my side, I ask questions daily: How are things going with the employees? Are we giving them all the briefings they require? Do they know what's happening? Do they have the latest information?

Thus far, we've been doing everything possible to make sure all our employees fully understand the situation as it relates to their health.

I would say that, for us, the union is a really important player in this, to ensure that we're in close communication with our employees.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Mr. Thériault.

Mr. Davies, you have six minutes.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses for being here.

What is the government's current position on asymptomatic transmission?

[Paul MacKinnon]

Mr. Chair, this is not to frustrate you and your members, but without medical people here, I don't think any of us are in a position to answer that question.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Let me put it into some context. I would take it that across your departments, you're trying to coordinate bringing Canadians back. It seems to me that there is a very important question. When people get on that plane—you've already talked about them being pre-cleared as not exhibiting signs of illness—we need to know whether or not those people who are asymptomatic....

Are we assuming that they're capable of spreading the coronavirus or not? Do you not have any particular position on that, at this point?

[Paul MacKinnon]

Again, Mr. Chair, I just don't think we should tread into areas that are clearly health-related, so we'll stay within our area of expertise, if we can.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Fair enough.

Now, in a Global Affairs Canada media release that went out yesterday, I think, this was stated:

The Government of Canada has chartered a plane that is standing by. It will land in Hanoi...and deploy to Wuhan, where the airspace is currently closed, once the Government of China has given authorization to land.

The release also said that “[w]ork is...underway to comply with other Chinese requirements, including providing manifest details in advance of the flight departure and further documentation on the Canadians wishing to depart”.

My research, unless I'm mistaken, is that right now, as we speak, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, France, Indonesia and Germany have already begun the process of actually evacuating their citizens. My question would be, why has the Government of Canada failed to secure those necessary requirements? Why is it taking us longer than our allies to comply with these requirements?

[Heather Jeffrey]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

In our case, many of those other countries had missions on the ground in Wuhan and very large resident national populations. We did not have a mission in Wuhan. It requires us to send our standing rapid deployment team into the city in order to stage and prepare for that departure. We also required the visas and overflight clearances, etc., to access that territory, from Beijing and also from outside. Those are the processes that we've put into place.

As airspace closures shift and as countries impose other travel restrictions, we've been addressing those challenges and working with our international partners. We are in constant touch with Canadians on the ground during that process.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Okay. Thank you.

In your view, has the Government of Canada's strained relationship with the Chinese government negatively impacted our negotiations in any way?

[Heather Jeffrey]

In terms of this response, I can say that we've had very good and close co-operation with Chinese authorities as we seek to have exchanges about addressing some of the challenges related to transit, travel, etc. We have to gather a lot of information from Canadians in order to prepare the manifests and arrange for their departures. We've been working with the Government of China. I have no evidence, as of this time, to suggest that there has been any impediment on their part.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

I guess the question on everybody's mind right now is, when will Canadians be evacuated from China? What is your best estimate of when that's going to actually happen?

[Heather Jeffrey]

Minister Champagne spoke earlier today. He indicated that in a matter of hours, not days, the flight would be in motion, but given the pending landing and overflight clearances from China, we're not in a position to comment specifically on timelines for that flight at this moment. We are working very hard to make it happen as quickly as possible.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Okay.

Given the numbers we've talked about, how many flights do you think we'll end up needing? Will the single chartered flight be enough to bring home from China everybody who wants to come?