Two Alberta cabinet ministers have fired off a letter to the feds demanding changes to how they detain people in COVID-19 isolation centres..Health Minister Tyler Shandro and Justice Minister Kaycee Madu wrote a letter to their federal Liberal counterparts saying two Western Standard stories had them concerned about “the lack of clear communication [that] created confusion and fear about ‘unlawful detention.'”.Addressed to Public Safety Minister Bill Blair and Health Minister Patty Hajdu, the letter implored the federal government to disclose detainment facilities’ locations and provide those detained with an opportunity to contact a family member immediately before taken to any designated quarantine facility..Two recent cases highlighted in Western Standard stories had family members in tears at the Calgary airport as their relatives were whisked away in a van to undisclosed locations where they were held until obtaining a negative COVID-19 test. Families were not allowed to communicate with their loved ones..Rebekah McDonald‘s experiences, a Red Deer mother, and Nikki Mathis, an Edmonton woman, stirred up anger across the West to the situation..Premier Jason Kenney tweeted calling for the feds to show more transparency..McDonald and Mathis both received incorrect COVID-19 tests while stateside and were forced to isolate at an undisclosed hotel, under guard, despite showing no symptoms related to the respiratory illness..Travellers who did not know their PCR test results within 72 hours of their departure were transferred to acting federal quarantine facilities for three nights at their expense..While acknowledging airports are a clear jurisdiction of the federal government, Alberta’s letter said the pandemic “has strained everyone’s patience and tested the very foundation of Canada’s peaceful, democratic society..“With the federal government’s coming expansion of air travel quarantine requirements, clear communication will become even more important – especially being that some Canadians who left our country earlier may be returning to a much different airport screening regime,” said the letter read..“On behalf of the people of Alberta, we respectfully request that the federal government ensures that it clearly communicates the federal quarantine requirements for travellers arriving in Canada, as well as the consequences for travellers who do not comply with those federal requirements.”.Dhaliwal is the Western Standard’s Edmonton based correspondent
Two Alberta cabinet ministers have fired off a letter to the feds demanding changes to how they detain people in COVID-19 isolation centres..Health Minister Tyler Shandro and Justice Minister Kaycee Madu wrote a letter to their federal Liberal counterparts saying two Western Standard stories had them concerned about “the lack of clear communication [that] created confusion and fear about ‘unlawful detention.'”.Addressed to Public Safety Minister Bill Blair and Health Minister Patty Hajdu, the letter implored the federal government to disclose detainment facilities’ locations and provide those detained with an opportunity to contact a family member immediately before taken to any designated quarantine facility..Two recent cases highlighted in Western Standard stories had family members in tears at the Calgary airport as their relatives were whisked away in a van to undisclosed locations where they were held until obtaining a negative COVID-19 test. Families were not allowed to communicate with their loved ones..Rebekah McDonald‘s experiences, a Red Deer mother, and Nikki Mathis, an Edmonton woman, stirred up anger across the West to the situation..Premier Jason Kenney tweeted calling for the feds to show more transparency..McDonald and Mathis both received incorrect COVID-19 tests while stateside and were forced to isolate at an undisclosed hotel, under guard, despite showing no symptoms related to the respiratory illness..Travellers who did not know their PCR test results within 72 hours of their departure were transferred to acting federal quarantine facilities for three nights at their expense..While acknowledging airports are a clear jurisdiction of the federal government, Alberta’s letter said the pandemic “has strained everyone’s patience and tested the very foundation of Canada’s peaceful, democratic society..“With the federal government’s coming expansion of air travel quarantine requirements, clear communication will become even more important – especially being that some Canadians who left our country earlier may be returning to a much different airport screening regime,” said the letter read..“On behalf of the people of Alberta, we respectfully request that the federal government ensures that it clearly communicates the federal quarantine requirements for travellers arriving in Canada, as well as the consequences for travellers who do not comply with those federal requirements.”.Dhaliwal is the Western Standard’s Edmonton based correspondent
