“History will unfortunately remember that in Quebec, it was the seniors in accommodation who paid the heaviest price during the first wave of COVID. These words, true, are those of coroner Géhane Kamel.

It yesterday presented its report on the first killer wave in Quebec. His survey focused on seven "walks of life", including the private nursing homes Herron, but its findings and recommendations apply to the entire tragedy.

In this, his relationship is both the most human and the most political. Me Kamel first made sure to place the thousands of Quebecers who died of COVID-19 in abominable conditions at the very heart of an immense drama which, in a so-called civilized society, should never have happened.

She then recognized the dedication of employees in the midst of a storm. She praised the resilience of families cruelly cut off from their loved ones. Their hope being, she said with emotion, that theirs will never be forgotten.

The responsibility, she said clearly, is shared between the government, the Ministry of Health (MSSS), the CIUSSS and the owners of Herron.

The purpose of the report is to avert another carnage. But above all, to give the most vulnerable among us living and care environments where it would finally be possible to live with respect and dignity.

Neglect

Because behind the failure of the management of the first wave in CHSLDs, at all decision-making levels, there were also decades of neglect.

Not to mention, during the first wave, she noted, the bewildering “trivialization” of death, in suffering and loneliness, of thousands of men and women. Dehumanized to the point of being reduced day after day to simple statistics without faces, without stories and without names.

In fact, how many times, during the first wave, were we told that with the “exception” of CHSLDs, things were going well in the “rest of society”?

However, to take up the observation of the coroner, while the CIUSSS, the MSSS and the owners of Herron sent the buck to each other by email, residents were dying in atrocious conditions.

This sums up the incompetence of the CIUSSS, many of whose CEOs have failed in their deontological, ethical and moral duty to protect. Me Kamel also recalled the mind-blowing disconnect between these CEOs, the MSSS juggernaut and what is timidly called “the field”, i.e. the users and the staff on site. The real world, what.

Consequent policies

The fact is that, for decades, “living environments”—private or public CHSLDs, intermediate resources for people with disabilities, etc. — languished in the blind spot of the MSSS and the Treasury Board.

Looking to the future — and still inhabited by her deceased, as coroner Kamel says it with great respect — she says she hopes that decision-makers will have learned the importance of rediscovering their own humanity.

However, only public policies and substantial resources will be able to tell. Real home support. The application of the Action Plan for long-term accommodation of Minister Marguerite Blais. Really accountable CEOs and decentralized CIUSSS. Etc.

But nothing will happen if the citizens themselves do not show themselves to be much more demanding on behalf of all those who – and our time will also come – are losing their precious autonomy or have never had it.

Basically, isn't Géhane Kamel's real message this?