Visiting Filipino nurses in Winnipeg. Winnipeg Free Press, Feb. 13, 1960.
Jon G. Malek
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only created health and economic crises across the world, but has exposed systemic problems that have long existed in Canadian society. One issue that COVID-19 has highlighted, institutional barriers to recognizing the credentials of foreign trained professionals, is complicating provincial responses across the country. In Winnipeg, healthcare professionals and public school teachers have become vocal in their concerns to how their institutions are coping. A letter by a group of 200 doctors and scientists in Manitoba to Premier Brian Pallister (to which Health Minister Cameron Friesen accused of “causing chaos”) declared the province’s health system overwhelmed and called for emergency funding to handle a dramatic, sustained spike in cases. A week later, a letter signed by almost 500 public school staff, including teachers, educational assistants, and school leaders, claimed that the education system, too, was on the verge of collapse, a plea echoed by the Manitoba Teachers’ Society. Both the healthcare and educational sectors have made similar pleas for adequate access to personal protective equipment (PPE), funding for sick time and employee mental health services, and more staffing.
Staffing has been an issue since the second wave of COVID-19 cases hit Manitoba, when provincial testing sites became overwhelmed, and schools were given new directives to support social distancing in the limited classroom space. Since November, case loads have stressed hospitals across the province, filling intensive care unit (ICU) beds and causes many non-urgent surgeries to be cancelled as staff resources are reallocated. In October, Red River College, based in Winnipeg, opened a tuition-free micro-degree program that would rapidly train groups of healthcare students and professionals in COVID-19 sample collection procedures. The province has also responded to the shortage in staffing by encouraging recently retired nurses and teachers to re-enter the work force; however, many are reportedly – and understandably – reluctant due to increased susceptibility to COVID-19 that has been identified in older individuals. Now that COVID-19 vaccines are beginning to be rolled out, the province is calling on dentists to help administer inoculations. After years of gutting the healthcare system and leaving high rates of unfilled vacancies in hospitals, the provincial government has even issued calls for volunteers on the front-lines, revealing a bewildering reluctance of the Pallister government to spend money to respond to the pandemic.
Following the loud and public pleas from both the healthcare and educational sectors, attempts to hire more staff support have been made. But the problem is, who is there to hire? The province recently committed to hiring 100 teachers and twenty educational assistants for a remote learning support centre – finally utilizing federal funding announced back in August – but one might wonder if this will be enough, or, indeed, where the staff will come from. The Winnipeg School Division, Manitoba’s largest division, had all of its 1200 substitute teachers assigned to classes throughout the first week of November. Some divisions have responded, too, that if qualified individuals were available to hire, they would have been already.
And yet, such a body of needed labour exists in Canada. Continue reading
In 1935, a group of Ottawa social workers came together to form the Eastern Ontario Branch of the Canadian Association of Social Workers. Over the next 85 years, the group underwent a number of changes, including becoming part of the Ontario Association of Social Workers, but its role in representing the social work community never wavered. Whether it was organizing social events, pushing for professional recognition, or organizing social justice campaigns, social workers and their clients have benefited from the Eastern Branch’s work.
In what has been a most challenging year, any moments of fun and joy have been incredibly valuable. For me, musical soundtracks have offered a great respite from the real world. Not only can they offer some upbeat music and positive messages, but since most of them are about an hour long, they’re great for the work day. Once you get to the end of a soundtrack, it’s a reminder to get up and move around and take a short break. This year I learned that a lot of my colleagues at Parks Canada feel similarly about musical theatre, which has led to plenty of discussion and debate about the relative qualities of musicals.
The students of HIST 5210, Carleton University