Mr. Speaker, today marks the sombre one-year anniversary of COVID-19's claiming its first life in Canada, a resident of Lynn Valley Care Centre in north Vancouver. Since then, over 14,000 more seniors have perished due to the virus in long-term care centres, representing over two-thirds of the total COVID-19 deaths in Canada, and undoubtedly the biggest calamity of this pandemic.
This has hit very close to home, with west Vancouver's Capilano Long Term Care Home tragically experiencing one of the deadliest outbreaks in British Columbia this past winter.
With all long-term care patients and workers now vaccinated in B.C. and enough vaccines on the way for all eligible Canadians to get their first dose by early summer, we can look forward to better days ahead, but in the process, we must not forget the many neighbours and loved ones we have lost along the way and remember the tireless work of our health care professionals and front-line workers who have sheltered us from the worst of this pandemic.