A BC-based non-profit organization says there's "already troubling signs ahead of us” regarding the future of COVID-19 policy in the province..Anticipating “renewed hysteria,” the Canadian Society for the Advancement of Science in Public Policy (CSASPP) — an organization spearheading several legal actions against the provincial government for COVID-related matters — says it is important to reflect on the coming months..“The potential for a historical replay does not appear to be limited to British Columbia,” said Kip Warner, CSASPP’s executive director in a release..“Ultimately we may have only ourselves to blame. When people have short attention spans, they lack the capacity for adequate memory and, by extension, an ability to learn from their own history.”.In addition to a period of sweeping restrictions on businesses and social interactions, it was required in BC to show proof of vaccination against COVID-19 to access a wide range of services from Sept. 13, 2021 to April 8, 2022..Under a provincial health order, BC healthcare workers in hospitals, long-term care, and community care settings must still be vaccinated against COVID in order to work..The BC Public Service Agency also requires its 30,000 employees to have been twice injected, and the province has not provided a timeline for when the workers will be allowed to return..However if you’re not a healthcare or public service worker stripped of a job, and if you haven’t been subject to quarantine while returning to Canada, the last few months have likely seemed relatively normal in contrast to recent years..“In my view, a collective degradation of people’s attention spans is the greatest threat humanity is facing,” said Warner..CSASPP filed its class action suit against Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry on January 26, 2021..Not to be mistaken with CSASPP’s forward-moving vaccine passport petition and petition for healthcare workers, the class action aims to hold Henry accountable for the province’s COVID-related measures implemented in March of 2020, when Henry, as PHO, declared a state of emergency..Last week the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention loosened its COVID guidance, however BC Health Minister Adrian Dix told Global News that changes south of the border will have no bearing on BC..“Our path is our path,” he said..Dix’s words for Global are consistent with what he’s been saying for months..Raising concern of sub-variants and a potential surge, Dix recently said the province is preparing for a “very challenging” fall, reiterating no options are off the table..READ MORE: Dix talks fall boosters and COVID surge, says 'no option excluded'.“Everyone should be planning to get another dose in the fall, everybody,” said Dix in July..Henry previously said mandates, such as mandatory masking and vaccine passports will never be abandoned, but rather “kept in our back pockets for times we may need to use them again.”.The province’s currently acting Provincial Health Officer Dr. Martin Lavoie has also alluded to "keeping an eye” on the need to reinstate measures..“Your future is in your hands. If we abandon stomping out the python, it will inevitably come back to bite us,” said Warner..“Closure for us means court orders that prevent history from repeating itself. If you are in agreement, it is critical that you continue to replenish our war chest so we finish the job you tasked us with completing.”.When asked about circulating concerns regarding another BC-based organization’s use of donor funds, and why donors should trust CSASPP, Warner previously told the Western Standard his team will continue to offer financial transparency for donors wanting to look at its books — further reiterating the organization’s stringent oversight of its retained counsel.."The client must be diligent in the supervision of a lawyer’s work, and part of that responsibility includes the obligation to remain cognizant that a lawyer is as capable of a conflict of interest as any other person, even with the lawyer's mechanical recitation of the Code of Professional Conduct," writes CSASPP on its website..READ MORE: Henry's counsel abandons appeal of CSASPP's public interest standing
