Dr. Theresa Tam has come under sustained criticisms from some Canadians and politicians in issues from delay in closing the Canadian border, use of face masks and many others. Politicians including Premier Kenney has gone as far as saying to CBC News’ Power and Politics, that the Canadian Chief has been recycling Chinese talking points even though the Canadian Medical Chief has coordinated with all Chief Medical Officers across Canada, including Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, who has voiced the same measures to stardom in Alberta.
This gets some Canadians asking the obvious questions, which are our questions of the week:
Will the criticisms on Dr. Tam be the same if her heritage was different?
Is Premier Kenney feeling the pressure of Albertans turning away from the premier’s handling of the pandemic, reflected in falling poll numbers, desperate to take on low hanging fruits like a defenseless bureaucrat to regain support?
Please share your opinions on Diversity Magazine Facebook page below the post with selected opinions to be shared on Diversity Weekly Online this Friday.
So who is Dr. Theresa Tam?
Dr. Tam acted as Chief Public Health Officer of Canada before appointed to the position of Chief Public Health Officer of Canada and head of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) in 2017.
She was a pediatric infectious disease specialist, who held a number of leadership positions at PHAC, such as Assistant Deputy Minister of the Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Branch. Tam experience, expertise and leadership has been in Canada’s response to public health emergencies including severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), pandemic influenza H1N1, Ebola and now COVID-19 pandemic.
Amnesty Internation Edmonton: Definitely not. The premier is disgusting
Jones Funwi Can the Premier explain why care homes do not have enough PPE, yet it is all over the news that Alberta has excess PPE and is sharing w other provinces? How does PPE move from AHS to companies providing home care services and how long does it take? Is the gov’t just out to make political gains at the expense of the health and perhaps the lives of Albertans?
Keri-Lynn Gibbs: “It is overwhelmingly clear that Dr Tam has ignored her own earlier research in advising the government on the Covid-19 virus. It is heartbreaking to see Canadians suffer because of politically motivated rhetoric. She lost the moral authority to say what information is true or not by flip flopping so much in her advise in order to parrot talking points, and the recent move to “protect Canadians from misinformation” instead of trusting us to use our critical thinking skills is draconian and unnecessary given all the other regulations we already have regarding health claims. The early hateful rhetoric suggesting that criticism of Dr. Tam is motivated by racism is shockingly un-Canadian and highly disappointing. It suggests manipulation to shutdown much needed dialogue that could help improve the overall response to this pandemic. Dr Tam is a known representative of WHO and not acting in Canada’s best interests. Shrugging off responsibility to an international organization is encroachment on our sovereignty”.
