Public Safety Committee on March 10th, 2021

[Brigitte Diogo]

Since the beginning of the pandemic, close to 6,000 people have gone through our facilities, and this is the first incident of this kind, which we regret completely.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

I have another question. Four days after the hotel quarantine rules started, a public health employee at an airport told a family to go home because all the hotels were booked. I wonder if you know why that would have happened, who would have decided, and how many other times has it happened.

How are Canadians supposed to have confidence in the program if home quarantine was clearly sufficient in that case, according to the public health employee at the airport, just because the hotels were all booked?

[Brigitte Diogo]

When someone arrives and doesn't have a hotel room pre-booked as required by the regulations, there are two things that can happen. They can be asked to book a room on arrival, and opportunities are provided to do that, or the person is sent to a designated quarantine facility.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

This family was sent home, but okay.

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Thanks very much. I'll take the next two minutes.

Dr. Kochhar, you mentioned these incredibly tragic instances as “unforeseeable events” and “lessons learned”. That language is very troubling.

Briefly, because there are a couple of questions I want to get through, I'm curious as to whether you can provide any information about any inspections that would have been done prior to Canadians being told to go to these facilities.

[Dr. Harpreet S. Kochhar]

My colleague Brigitte already mentioned that before these DQFs are authorized, we have inspections. They are on-site inspections, and based on that, those facilities are approved. That is one of the clear guidelines we have in place.

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Thank you very much for that.

I'll ask the same question to the Public Health Agency of Canada: Were inspections completed in these facilities prior to Canadians being forced to quarantine in them?

[Brigitte Diogo]

Just to reiterate, hotels were invited to apply, based on a set of criteria.

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

I understand that. It's really a yes-or-no question: Did the Public Health Agency of Canada inspect these facilities prior to Canadians being forced to quarantine in them?

[Brigitte Diogo]

Yes, the Public Health Agency did a site visit prior to designating these hotels on our list.

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Thank you very much.

I have a final question, and I'm hoping you will be able to provide information because there was certainly some ambiguity from the minister about whether Canadians are informed of their rights and various things.

Would the Public Health Agency of Canada and CBSA be able to provide copies to the committee of any literature that is provided to Canadians, one, when they are going across the border, and two, when they are sent into these facilities?

I'd certainly like to see the copies of the literature in both official languages, please.

[Dr. Harpreet S. Kochhar]

Mr. Chair, that information can be provided. There is a welcome kit that is provided, so we can provide that from our side.

Denis, do you want to add anything from the border services side?

[Denis Vinette]

Probably.

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Also, could I ask, especially from the CBSA, for any training material and guidance that is given to officers? If that could also be provided as evidence to the committee, that would be very helpful as we study this very serious issue.

Thanks.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

I assume that you still want an answer from Mr. Vinette.

Mr. Vinette.

[Denis Vinette]

Yes, thank you.

Really quickly, I can say that we do have handouts that we give to every arriving traveller that inform them of their requirements as it pertains to in quarantine or exempt, as well as a different form for symptomatic or asymptomatic. As well, for the committee, we would be pleased to look at the materials we've put together and issued to our front lines.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you, Mr. Kurek.

The clerk will regard those undertakings as undertakings to the committee.

Madame Khera, you have five minutes, please.

[Kamal Khera, Liberal, Brampton West, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll be sharing my time with my colleague, Ms. Damoff, as well, but I'll start.

First and foremost, I want, on behalf of all my constituents, to thank all the officials and Dr. Bogoch for being here.

Thank you for the incredible work that you all have been doing for the last year or so in the midst of this pandemic.

I do want to talk a bit about some of the concerns and complaints that I've heard directly from some of my constituents. I represent the riding of Brampton West, and certainly there have been people who have travelled and have raised concerns with regard to delays in bookings, difficulties in getting meals or water in a timely manner, and the public health measures' not being followed or enforced. I know that a lot of them are legitimate, but I also know that there is a lot of misinformation out there.

I know that this is a new territory for everyone. We're working together with so many different agencies and jurisdictions, with actors such as the Hotel Association of Canada and even third party contractors.

My question is for PHAC. Can you talk a bit about how these concerns are being addressed so that Canadians can have confidence that their concerns are being taken seriously?

[Dr. Harpreet S. Kochhar]

In reality, as the program was rolled out, there was, sometimes, an overwhelming of the hotels. In reality, what happened was that there was, at times, a little bit of a wait in between, until the time when the people got into their rooms. That has been a focus of our attention, as I mentioned earlier, and we are working with the Hotel Association of Canada to make sure that these things don't happen again—providing people with food at the proper time—as well as to make sure that all the requirements that the hotels are supposed to provide to the incoming guests are actually taken care of.

As I mentioned earlier, we also do spot checks. We do the calls and contact with the clients who are in the hotels to make sure that the things are in proper shape. We continue to work with the hotels. We continue to work with the incoming passengers by giving them the welcome kit and all the numbers so that if they have any issues, they can connect with the proper contacts. That's what we have been trying to do.

Overall, at this point, we see that the hotels have been able to get the clients in a spot where we don't hear any more of those complaints. Those are the things that we have tried to put in place so that this can be a successful program for the people who are actually going into these government-approved accommodations.

[Kamal Khera, Liberal, Brampton West, ON]

Thank you.

Ms. Damoff.

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

Thank you so much.

Dr. Bogoch, you're one of the most recognized and respected doctors in the country. You've been guiding us through the pandemic from the beginning, providing Canadians with advice they can trust. I'd like to give you the opportunity to answer the question that was put to you by one of the Conservatives about whether or not the quarantine policy is actually an experiment on the Canadian public.

[Dr. Isaac Bogoch]

Thank you for that opportunity. I don't think it's an experiment at all. I think this is what you do in the face of an unknown threat. This is a very reasonable and well-trodden path from a public health standpoint.

Of course, it means you learn with time and you pivot when you have appropriate data to pivot, but I don't think it's fair to suggest that anyone would have data at their fingertips to guide an initial decision. That's why you're guided by the precautionary principle. We learned that from SARS as well. This is, again, a well-trodden path in the public health world.

Of course, no one's suggesting that an approach like these quarantine hotels is a long-term strategy. As you learn more, as the data gathers and as you gather evidence to pivot from that, you can. I think it was not an unreasonable recommendation, especially with the emergence of the variants of concern and the certain unknown threat that that posed at the time.

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

Thank you very much.

I think I only have about eight seconds left, Mr. Chair, so I'll end it there.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Colleagues, that completes the third round. I have to be guided by the clerk here on how many minutes are left in the two-hour time slot that's been set aside.

Is it your wish to go back to a round one and complete the time allotted?

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

How much time is that, Chair?