Former Quebec health minister deflects blame from coroner’s inquest into long-term care home deaths

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Former Quebec Health Minister Danielle McCann testified today that cuts by the previous Liberal government may have hampered the ability of local health agencies to ensure retirement homes were prepared for a pandemic .

McCann told a coroner’s inquest into the deaths of seniors in long-term care homes during the first wave of the pandemic that local health agencies were ultimately responsible for health and safety of their residents.

The survey covers the thousands of deaths that occurred in retirement homes in the spring of 2020.

McCann is the only elected official who will testify at the inquest, where she is forced to defend the province’s preparations for the first wave.

A few months after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, McCann was replaced as Minister of Health by Christian Dubé. She is now the provincial minister of higher education.

At the start of her testimony, McCann told Coroner Géhane Kamel that the work of the inquest was “very important” and that she would answer all questions.

McCann says local agencies were responsible for pandemic preparedness

During McCann’s testimony, Kamel noted at one point that most long-term care homes were not ready when the pandemic struck.

“Who did this responsibility belong to?” asked Kamel.

“CEOs,” McCann replied, referring to heads of local health agencies across the province.

“The CEOs had to put the plan into action and have all the things that are included in the plan, to have the equipment,” McCann said.

“They were well placed to redeploy resources from other areas of their agencies,” she continued.

Liberal health reforms blamed

Kamel also noted earlier testimonies from frontline healthcare workers in long-term care residences, who said they had not received much counseling or training during the height of the crisis, and that ‘there was no clear “chain of command”.

McCann said she too had heard this from workers in the field.

“The fact that there is not a sufficient hierarchical level of manager dedicated to these CHSLDs was an important factor for me,” she says.

But McCann said the previous Liberal government was to blame for it.

She said when the Liberals reformed the administrative structure of the health care system in 2015, they cut 2,000 middle management positions.

McCann said these managers could have filled the void that contributed to poor communication and lack of leadership in long-term care homes during the crisis.

Warning email lost in bureaucratic reshuffle

McCann was also asked about when she first became aware of the serious issues at the Herron long-term care home on the West Island of Montreal.

McCann said she first learned of staff shortages on March 29, 2020, when the local health agency (CIUSSS) stepped in to take control of the residence.

McCann testified that in the days that followed, there was a lack of cooperation from the owners of Herron, in that they refused to share patient records with the CIUSSS.

And she testified – as previous witnesses have done – to a discrepancy in the number of deaths reported to Herron, saying she only learned on April 11 that 31 residents had died, far more than the ministry. didn’t know at the time.

Investigation attorney Dave Kimpton then showed McCann a copy of an email sent to him from the owners of Herron dated April 9, 2020.

The email was a cry for help and an offer to fully cooperate with the CIUSSS. He also referred to the owners being aware of 23 deaths at that time.

McCann testified that she didn’t remember the first time she saw this email, but it wasn’t until a few days later, sometime after April 11.

She said it was sent to a general email address in her office and that she believed a member of her staff forwarded the email to the office of Minister Responsible for Seniors Marguerite Blais.

Blais was supposed to testify at the inquest, but when she took sick leave last month, McCann replaced her as a witness.

“Disgusted” with the blame game

Moira Davis, whose father Stanley Pinell died in Herron in the first wave, said she was “absolutely disgusted” by McCann’s testimony.

“I’m very, very, very sick and tired of the way every witness blames someone else,” Davis told CBC in an interview Thursday.

She said from McCann until the end, most witnesses at the inquest suggested someone else was to blame for what happened.

“Nobody said ‘yeah, we really messed up’,” Davis said.

She said she was skeptical that the final investigation report would result in any substantial change.

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