CANADA ANGER AT 'FLU BODY BAGS' !
Canada's health minister has ordered an investigation after body bags were sent to aboriginal reserves as part of supplies to deal with swine flu.
The body bags were delivered this week to First Nation communities in Manitoba province which were hard hit by a swine flu outbreak a few months ago.
Community leaders said they were "horrified" when they saw the bags.
Health officials have apologised for any alarm caused and say the bags were just sent as routine restocking.
Ordering an inquiry, Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said the actions of the Health Canada department were unacceptable, insensitive and offensive.
"As minister of health and as an aboriginal, I am offended," she said in a statement on Thursday.
"To all who took offence at what occurred, I want to say that I share your concern and I pledge to get to the bottom of it."
The body bags were delivered this week to First Nation communities in Manitoba province which were hard hit by a swine flu outbreak a few months ago.
Community leaders said they were "horrified" when they saw the bags.
Health officials have apologised for any alarm caused and say the bags were just sent as routine restocking.
Ordering an inquiry, Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said the actions of the Health Canada department were unacceptable, insensitive and offensive.
"As minister of health and as an aboriginal, I am offended," she said in a statement on Thursday.
"To all who took offence at what occurred, I want to say that I share your concern and I pledge to get to the bottom of it."
First Nations leaders said dozens of body bags had been sent to remote northern indigenous communities, which have suffered a disproportionate number of severe cases of swine flu.
"I was very disturbed and actually frightened that they're actually shipping that number of body bags to the communities," Manitoba Grand Chief Ron Evans told the Associated Press.
"I thought they were preparing for what the experts were predicting."
Jim Wolfe, the regional director of the First Nations and Inuit branch of Health Canada, said that the body bags had been sent to reserves as part of general medical supplies for winter.
"We really regret the alarm this incident has caused and it was unintended. We order these supplies as a matter of routine business and... this was part of a very normal restocking process," he said.
Ties were already strained between aboriginal communities and the government, after Health Canada delayed sending hand gel to some reserves amid concerns it would be abused by alcoholics.
Health Canada has recorded 76 deaths across the country attributed to the H1N1 virus.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Labels: Canada Body-Bags Swine-flu Manitoba H1N1 Virus Alarm
2 Comments:
I don't believe this... Hundreds of body bags are sent across the whole country to every little hospital and every little town because when they're needed you need to have a reasonable amount of them in stock. So why would someone be offended by this? I really don't understand that. Will they be offended when Health Canada starts sending out flu shots because it applies they are sick? Sometimes it boggles my mind how people think...
Take care, Ella
Certainly I can understand that flu body bags perhaps don't look really optimistic and the fact of sending them as a prevention might even seem a little bit cynical but there are expectations the outbreak is to result in a loss of many lives so we wouldn't help it with closing our eyes just because it is not pleasant to see. It is just a part of a preparation. Lorne
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