Public Health Agency admits lack of preparedness put Canadian lives at risk

The "lives of Canadians" were put at risk by lack of pandemic preparedness at the Public Health Agency, managers acknowledged in an internal memo. Executives privately issued the stark warning even as they reassured the public their work was in hand.

Tina Namiesniowski, president of the Agency, in an urgent April 1 memo to cabinet said they were so short of supplies, warehouse stockpiles and staff they required the army's help. "Delays in finding suitable space and personnel for the above will have a negative impact and jeopardize Canada's response to managing Covid-19," said the Memorandum To The Minister Of Health.

An unsigned letter to the Minister of Public Safety stated: "Delays in finding suitable space and personnel for the above will have a negative impact across the nation, putting lives of Canadians at risk due to unavailable testing kits and other supplies supporting the front line health care workers."

The Agency's Namiesniowski in March 31 testimony at the Commons health committee one day before she wrote the memo reassured MPs there were no difficulties. "Our health system is adjusting on an ongoing basis," said Namiesniowski.

"There has been a focus on testing within Canada," testified Namiesniowski. "We are working hard, collectively across the country with all jurisdictions, to advance testing."

However in her April 1 memo Namiesniowski warned the Agency was so short of supplies its National Microbiology Laboratory was pleading with the army for warehouse space, staff, forklifts and trucks to meet urgent demands. "Time is of the essence," Namiesniowski wrote the health minister. "The Agency is urgently seeking your concurrence on this recommended course of action."

"The Agency's Winnipeg warehouses cannot support the quantities of supplies, fast turn-around time to get goods out to the provinces and space needs for sorting and repackaging materials," wrote Namiesniowski. "No immediate warehouse space that would have all the elements needed is available within the federal inventory."

Namiesniowski in her public testimony made no mention of the emergency calls for help from the Canadian Armed Forces, or the fact frontline health care workers lives were "at risk" due to shortages of supplies. "Since the outset the National Microbiology Laboratory has been working extremely closely with all provincial health labs across the country," she said. "From the very beginning they have been working together to ensure there was a common approach across the country in terms of a commitment to testing."

The Agency prior to the pandemic closed three of nine warehouses stocked with emergency supplies, including a Regina depot shuttered in 2019 with the landfilling of millions of high-grade N95 masks and other personal protective equipment. The Agency to date has not disclosed how many supplies it threw away prior to the outbreak of Covid-19.