News Archive

The government of Canada is full of good intentions but in the global race to find a COVID-19 vaccine, Doctors Without Borders says that’s not good enough. CHLPE's Dr. Jason Nickerson, a population health expert who’s worked in some of the world’s toughest hot spots, says the Canadian government needs to back up its words. In the Toronto Star.‍

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Researchers are investigating the effects of nicotine on COVID-19, the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and evidence for a surprising hypothesis: Cigarette smokers are less likely than non-smokers to contract the virus... CHLPE Advisory Committee Chair David Sweanor contributes.‍

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COVID-19 has been labelled “the great equalizer”, affecting all groups within society. While it’s true that the impact of the pandemic is widespread, there are individuals and communities that are more affected than others. The frail and elderly, those in crowded conditions while incarcerated, remote Indigenous communities and those who are homeless, suffering from mental illness, addiction, and poverty will suffer the consequences of COVID-19 more than others. Physical distancing, self isolation, good hand hygiene and access to high-quality health care are beyond the grasp of these and other vulnerable and disadvantaged communities... Dr. Jeff Turnbull writes in the Globe and Mail.‍

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Professor Colleen Flood is a member of the C.D. Howe Institute's COVID-19 Crisis Public Health and Emergency Measures Working Group, mandated to provide expert insights to help Canadians and Canadian policymakers navigate the COVID-19 crisis. Meeting weekly, this group discusses policy ideas for addressing various aspects of the COVID-19 crisis, and publicly communicates the results of its discussions. Read its communiqué on healthcare for the elderly population in the context of COVID-19, discussing high mortality rates in institutional care settings and some of the underlying causes.‍

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A big congratulations to the first cohort of our Health Law specialization within the University of Ottawa J.D. (Law)! The cohort graduated this May—ironically in unprecedented times, when expertise in health law and policy has never been more in the spotlight and more needed.

Beginning July 1 for one year, CHLPE Director Colleen Flood will be going on sabbatical. We are excited to announce that the acting Director for the Centre will be Professor Jennifer Chandler. Professor Chandler is a member of the Faculty of Law (Common Law section) and has been a core member of CHLPE since its inception, leading its work on multidisciplinary bioethics. She holds the University’s Bertram Loeb Chair and serves on external committees like CIHR’s Institutional Advisory Board for Neuroscience, Mental Health Addictions. She chairs the Canadian Society of Transplantation’s Ethics Committee and leads the international research and policy group Neuroethics Panamericana.  Her research focuses on intersections between neuroscience/psychiatry and the law as well as issues of organ donation law and policy. She can be seen recently speaking in our Café Scientifique on Organ Donation in February (click to watch).

We are excited to announce that Maureen McTeer is joining the Faculty of Law and CHLPE as a Visiting Professor for two years. As an expert on health and medical law and public policy, Maureen has lectured at universities in North America, and has presented at conferences on the key current legal and policy issues raised by science and technology in the fields of clinical health and research. She is the author of four books, including “Tough Choices: Living and Dying in the 21st Century”; and was a member of the Global Commission on Pollution, Health and Development, whose report appeared in the Lancet in 2017.

Professor David Sweanor is co-author on a new study that investigates recent trends in the sale of cigarettes in Japan versus the sale of heated tobacco products (HTPs). The findings show that an accelerating decline in cigarette-only sales tracks growth of HTP sales.‍

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‍Canadians are deeply worried about wait times for health care. Entrepreneurial doctors and private clinics are bringing Charter challenges to existing laws restrictive of a two-tier system. They argue that Canada is an outlier among developed countries in limiting options to jump the queue. This book explores whether a two-tier model is a solution. In Is Two-Tier Health Care the Future?, leading researchers explore the public and private mix in Canada, Australia, Germany, France, and Ireland. They explain the history and complexity of interactions between public and private funding of health care, and the many policies found in different countries used to both inhibit and sometimes encourage two-tier care.‍

Open access PDF free / Print copy for sale >

Since the start of the pandemic, federal and provincial governments have promised to make decisions based on science and evidence. Yet almost everywhere in the country, access to health data is inadequate. Professor Michael Wolfson comments in CBC.‍

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On CBC The Current: Former federal health minister Jane Philpott is on the COVID-19 frontlines working at a home for disabled adults. She tells Matt Galloway it's time to rethink how we treat the vulnerable. CHLPE Director Colleen Flood discusses the funding we need to improve access and quality in long-term care and the challenges we have in pulling it off.‍

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Business re-openings mean employees across the country will be asked to return to work—but what if you don’t feel safe to do so because of COVID-19? Can you refuse to return to work, or will you lose your job? CHLPE Professor Katherine Lippel comments in Global News.‍

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The virus hasn't changed, but the message has. For weeks Canadians have seen alarming headlines describing COVID-19 horrors. The majority of Canadians are not at risk of dying and many won't even show symptoms—but stories of people who recover easily don't tend to make headlines. So Canadians could be forgiven if they're not keen on getting back out there. CHLPE Professor Katherine Lippel comments in CBC News.‍

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An Ontario emergency order which compels public health authorities to give requested COVID-19 data to first responders lacks built-in transparency or accountability measures, says Teresa Scassa, Professor at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law. In the Law Times.‍

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The idea of a passport to allow work, entry to events and travel for those with COVID-19 immunity is controversial. CHLPE member Dr. Kumanan Wilson argues such a digital badge will allow a faster return to the life we knew before the pandemic, an urgent goal given the devastating effects of the lockdown on many Canadians and citizens worldwide. But Law professors Sophia Moreau and Sabine Tsuruda argue the moral and ethical risks are too high to take. In the Toronto Star.‍

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Quebec has recorded hundreds of deaths so far related to COVID-19. Did we fail to anticipate the crisis? Rereading Horacio Arruda's past statements certainly shows a gap between what the authorities expected and what has happened. But it was inevitable, say experts. Professor Patrick Fafard is interviewed in Le Devoir.‍

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Canada’s national data collection capacity will be critical for the next stage of the pandemic, when relaxing the stringent physical distancing measures can begin. Yet our data collection infrastructure is proving woefully inadequate. Michael Wolfson writes.‍

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Professor Colleen Flood weighs in on CBC Radio on the challenges facing long-term care homes during the COVID-19 crisis.

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The coronavirus pandemic particularly affects seniors and could be a great opportunity to rethink the relationship our societies have with them, notes Martine Lagacé, Professor in the Department of Communication.

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Politicians should base their decisions during the COVID-19 crisis on science and medical advice over economics, according to 82% of Canadians who responded to a study by York University researchers. Professor Patrick Fafard is interviewed on CBC Radio.

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Read a CBC article on the survey >

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Professor Sarah Berger Richardson is interviewed on CBC Radio in a look at how COVID-19 is affecting the supply chain for meat.

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Both Canada and the U.S. share similar challenges—and pitfalls—in determining who gets care when there’s not enough to go around. And the problem is that even our best evidence-based, data-driven triage protocols still reflect and exacerbate historic and systemic inequities outside the hospital. Fulbright Visiting Scholar to CHLPE Jennifer Herbst writes in iPolitics.

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Public funds are the backbone of the underlying science that’s needed to develop the medical tools that we need and use. But today there is little indication—and no requirement—that the billions of public dollars being spent will result in a vaccine or treatment for COVID-19 that is affordable. Instead, governments appear poised to let the private market sort out the details of who gets access and at what price. Jason Nickerson writes in The Conversation.

More information >

• Why has Canada’s data collection lagged so far behind?
• CHLPE professor on COVID-19 policy groups
• COVID-19 disruption challenges our meat supply
• Solo delivery a risk to the health of women and children
• Pieces from other faculty
• South Korean court delivers latest blow to e-cigarette makers