Morgan Hoffarth, RN, MScN, President, Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO)ĭr. Amy Tan, MD, MSc, CCFP(PC), FCFP Palliative Care & Family Physician, Clinical Associate Professor, University of British Columbiaĭr Seema Dosaj MD, CCFP, FCFP-Family Physician, Courtesy Staff, UHN, Toronto.ĭebra Lefebvre, RN, BN, MPA – Registered Nurse, Kingstonĭr David N Fisman, MD, MPH, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto Una Ferguson, RN, BScN, RNAO Board of Directors, Region 10 (Ottawa).ĭr. Angela Cooper-Brathwaite, RN, MScN, PhD, Immediate Past-President, RNAO Doris Grinspun, RN, MSN, PhD, LLD(Hon), Dr(hc) FAAN, FCAN, O.ONT – CEO, RNAOĭr.
Alika Lafontaine, MD, FRCPC, President-Elect, Canadian Medical Associationĭr Ann Collins, MD, Past President Canadian Medical Associationĭr. Please, now, take care of us.ĭr Nili Kaplan-Myrth, MD, CCFP, PhD, Family Physician, Ottawaĭr Katharine Smart, MD, FRCPC, President, Canadian Medical Associationĭr. Thank you, for everything you’ve done to take care of each other. It is about ensuring that we are safe while we care for you. We appeal to the Prime Minister, to each of our Premiers, to the Mayors of all cities, to elected provincial and federal officials, to all community leaders, to all business owners and heads of organizations – and to ALL Canadians – to have our backs. This includes urgently improving access to vaccines globally. Globally, also, we have a responsibility to ensure that safety is not a privilege, but a right for every person. Infants, young children, disabled people, elderly or immunocompromised people, people who work in high-risk jobs. But there are still many people in Canada who are vulnerable.
We are doing everything we can to take care of you, to use all the tools that we have – vaccines, better masks, better ventilation in schools, curbing our activities – to get there. We want our children to be in school, businesses to be open, for life not to be dictated by a virus that is threatening the world. We want the pandemic to be over, just as you do. Please treat us with the same respect and compassion that we offer to you. We will not, however, tolerate any hate directed at us or at any marginalized community. We will continue to provide quality care to each of you, whether you have followed our medical advice or not, because that is our commitment to you as physicians, nurses & healthcare workers. The recent amendment to the Criminal Code, with Bill C-3, must be enforced to support healthcare workers and protect patients. We will run our vaccine clinics, without fear, knowing that legislation in Canada prevents harassment or intimidation of healthcare workers or patients seeking care. We will wear our scrubs in public, without fear, knowing that you – Canadians – have our backs. We cannot and will not allow disinformation to undermine science, nor will we tolerate groups that are organized around hate to undermine healthcare policy or services. We cannot and will not allow racism, antisemitism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism or any other form of hate or discrimination towards any person facing oppression in Canada, to stop us from doing our work. Some of us are Black, Asian, First Nations, Metis, Inuit.Īll of us believe strongly in social justice, equality, respect, and caring for one another in a community. Some of us identify as transgender, some as non-binary. Some of us are Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh, Baptist, Protestant, Catholic, atheist. Some of us have families that are refugees or migrants to Canada from other wars and violations of human rights. Some of us have grandparents who fled Nazis during the Second World War. We, the undersigned physicians, nurses, healthcare workers, and public health scholars across the country, will NOT hide out of fear of violence from hate-fueled convoys.