Health Committee on Feb. 28th, 2022

[Stephen Ellis, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Along that same line, Mr. Chair, we said that 50% of masks and 25% of gowns are produced domestically. Can the officials from PHAC tell me where the rest are made?

[Laila Goodridge]

They would be sourced internationally. I don't have the specifics on each of the other contracts. They would come from a number of countries, including the U.S.

[Stephen Ellis, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Can we have that in writing, please, which countries they come from? Will you follow up on that, please?

[Laila Goodridge]

Mr. Chair, we'd be pleased to provide available information to the committee in writing.

[Stephen Ellis, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Thank you.

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Wetaskiwin, AB]

Mr. Chair, on a point of order, many commitments have been made to get further info. I just want to ensure that as a committee, we follow up on those commitments and get that information that's been promised.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Yes.

Dr. Powlowski, please, for six—

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

On a point of order, Mr. Chair, may I just add to Mr. Lake's suggestion by asking if we could have that information within seven days?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Ms. Evans, is seven days a reasonable turnaround for the information you've undertaken to provide?

[Laila Goodridge]

Mr. Chair, certainly we'll undertake to provide all information possible within that seven-day time frame and follow up.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Davies and Mr. Lake.

Dr. Powlowski, for five minutes.

[Marcus Powlowski, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Thank you.

The Minister of Health requested an independent review of Canada's global public health surveillance system, the global public health intelligence network, so I want to ask something about the GPHIN.

It seems that it was working at the time of COVID, and I think someone from PHAC told us that in fact there had been a warning that it had been detected and that there was an outbreak of pneumonias in China. However, the problem seems to be, from the report, that nobody was listening. If I can draw an analogy from medicine, there was a monitor on the patient, but nobody was looking at the monitor.

I'll quote from the report of the independent review. They said:

A governance structure was in place for oversight of surveillance activities from April 2017 to March 2019. However, key leadership responsibilities were not redistributed following the elimination of the...position.

Later on, they talk about the Centre for Emergency Preparedness and Response lacking information on how information on events is shared, particularly with senior management. Later on, they say it was not always clear who was responsible for what in the flow of information, risk assessment and chain of decision-making.

Again to use that analogy, there was information coming in. You did have a monitor on the patient, but nobody was watching the monitor.

In that independent review, they suggest more effective links between the global public health intelligence network and the Public Health Agency of Canada, the need for a whole-of-agency approach. What has the Public Health Agency of Canada done to address this shortcoming?

[Laila Goodridge]

Mr. Chair, the external independent panel announced by the Minister of Health in November 2020 released its final report in July 2021. A number of the key findings are, as has been mentioned, that the GPHIN did what it was designed to do, and it also confirmed that it had never been shut down. The GPHIN did identify the outbreak in Wuhan and allowed PHAC leadership to take immediate action, so I would say the leadership was listening and did act immediately.

We notified officials across the government, followed by the public health officials across Canada by January 2. Therefore, very early on, the system was sensitized. Our response effectively began on the first days of 2020. The panel saw no evidence that any earlier identification by the GPHIN of the outbreak would have been possible, based on their assessment of other open-source data systems.

There were 64 recommendations from the independent panel on three different themes: GPHIN roles and purpose; the organization and flow of information; and technology. As has been stated, there were some broader recommendations, including looking at broadening our approach to risk assessment. In that regard, the agency has implemented, in December of the previous calendar year, a centre for integrated risk assessment so that we can move forward on those important recommendations.

I'll just pause and see if my colleague Mr. Allison would like to add anything with respect to the broader surveillance question you've raised.

[Michael Barrett]

Thank you, Cindy; and Mr. Chair, thank you for the question.

Not only is there, as Cindy mentioned, the Centre for Integrated Risk Assessment being stood up in December 2021, but also the development of a new branch, the corporate data and surveillance branch, which is responsible for working with partners, including the GHPIN network, and looking at things a bit more holistically, seeing how we can improve our overall surveillance, data integration processes and how we can get to the better public health outcomes that we're all looking for. CIRA, the Centre for Integrated Risk Assessment, is starting to look at these issues now and is developing the frameworks and processes that we need to move forward and do better, both through this pandemic that is ongoing and also into the future.

[Marcus Powlowski, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Thank you. I want to get in another quick question.

I think the Public Health Agency of Canada ought to appreciate the essential work that GPHIN does. The Public Health Agency of Canada must know that the international health regulations are being reviewed and that the WHO has initiated a process in writing a new treaty on infectious disease. It certainly must appreciate the importance of these kinds of early warning systems and the fact that many poor countries do not have the resources to do such monitoring.

Certainly many people feel that an essential part of a revision to the international health regulations and a new treaty on control of infectious disease would require developed countries to financially assist developing countries in doing such monitoring. Has PHAC considered this issue and does it have a position with respect to it?

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Answer very briefly, please.

[Laila Goodridge]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

As I mentioned, GPHIN continues to be an important source of information, amounting to 20% of the feed-in to the World Health Organization's open-source data system.

We are very interested in the international discussions on updates and potential changes to the international health regulations, and Public Health Agency officials will be participating in those discussions and certainly are actively interested to follow those.

We agree with the independent review panel's recommendation that GPHIN should continue to include both domestic and international objectives with regard to providing that information.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Ms. Evans, and Dr. Powlowski.

Mr. Thériault, you have the floor for two and half minutes.

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The latest report from the Office of the Auditor General of Canada states that the agency did not have a record of stay for 75% of those arriving in Canada by air.

The agency therefore did not know whether people who were required to quarantine themselves in a government-approved hotel had done so. There were several failures to follow up on the quarantine of travellers.

Ms. Diogo, given these failures, are we to understand that the measures you thought you were taking to protect us were more like window dressing to reassure the public, not truly effective public health measures?

[Brigitte Diogo]

Thank you for the question.

You just referred to the findings of the Office of the Auditor General of Canada. From the agency's perspective, we have different levels of intervention in place, whether it's before people arrive in Canada, when they arrive, or after they enter the country.

As for travellers who had to go and do their quarantine in a hotel, we designed the program so that they could comply with it from the start because...

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

Excuse me for interrupting you.

[Brigitte Diogo]

Yes, Mr. Thériault?

[Luc Thériault, Bloc, Montcalm, QC]

What was the cause of the failures in monitoring quarantines? Was it due to a lack of resources? If not, what was the cause? Once you have determined the cause, what will you do in the future to correct the situation?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

I will ask you to answer quickly, if possible, Ms. Diogo.

[Brigitte Diogo]

Yes.

Based on our data, we do not reach the same conclusions as the Office of the Auditor General of Canada. Non-compliance with quarantine requirements at the hotel...