The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) published a report raising awareness about excess Canadian deaths in 2020 to 2022 and suggests they might have been caused by lockdowns. .“As we approach the two and-a-half-year mark of the COVID pandemic in Canada, it is important Canadians critically evaluate the responses of their governments to the pandemic,” said JCCF President John Carpay in a Thursday press release. .“These responses have seen Canadians denied their vital healthcare services, prevented from seeing their loved ones in nursing homes, removed from their places of work, education, worship, and recreation, and forced into isolation.” .The report said any evaluation of the success of the Canadian government’s COVID-19 response should consider the harms caused by it. .The report went on to say high vaccination rates, high public compliance, and low COVID-19 mortality rates are cited as reasons why Canada’s COVID-19 response has been successful. It added this narrative of success is cited as a model for future policy responses. .In the report, the JCCF challenges this narrative, saying any assessment of Canada’s response must mention the excess deaths caused by lockdowns. .It said there were about 8,000 excess deaths in the second half of 2021. During almost every week of this period, the number of non-COVID-19 excess deaths was greater than those from the virus. .The report alleges the deaths were likely caused by drug overdoses and delayed and cancelled surgeries brought on by lockdowns. .This analysis was corroborated by the Canadian Medical Association, Deloitte, and Statistics Canada. .SecondStreet.org said in 2021 hundreds of thousands of Canadians had their surgeries delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic..READ MORE: Canadians suffered ‘incalculable’ damage because of delayed surgeries in pandemic.“When COVID emerged, governments postponed hundreds of thousands of non-COVID surgeries, procedures and consultations with specialists,” said SecondStreet.org President Colin Craig. .“Not only has that increased waiting lists, but it also caused tremendous patient suffering, sometimes even resulting in death.”.Carpay said to say Canada’s COVID-19 response has been successful is “to ignore the immense social and medical harms experienced by Canadians.”.“There is still time for Canadian governments to craft responsible and humane policy responses to COVID,” he said.
