KLASSEN: The COVID crisis can't be over until we know what lockdowns cost us

Policy analyst Benjamin Klassen is Education Coordinator at the Justice Centre for Constitutional FreedomsFreedom is never self-sustaining. Freedom is never more than one generation away from being lost and must be continuously protected. Any government restriction on our freedoms should be clearly justified with evidence that the benefits outweigh the costs — even in times of crisis.In response to COVID-19, Canadian governments repeatedly imposed lockdowns without conducting cost-benefit analyses to justify such restrictions on our freedoms. They acted on assumptions, despite mounting evidence that lockdowns did little to save lives but instead caused Canadians a great deal of harm.Five years later, the data reveals the true cost of lockdown policies..The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms has just released a new report documenting the immediate and long-term harms of lockdowns. The report, “Five years on: tracing the cost of lockdowns,” reveals that lockdowns came at a great cost to Canadians' mental, physical, social, and economic well-being. As lead author of the report, the findings were sobering.As expected, the stress, social isolation and disrupted schedules caused by lockdowns took a significant toll on Canadians’ mental health. In 2019, 67% of Canadians rated their mental health “very good or excellent.” By 2023, that number had dropped to just 54%. Young people were hit especially hard, with declines in physical activity, increased screen time, and up to 70 percent increases in depression, anxiety, and other serious mental health issues.Particularly disturbing was the 72 percent spike in opioid overdose deaths in the first year of lockdowns. Opioid deaths continued to rise into 2023, when 8,606 Canadians succumbed — more than double the five-year average before lockdowns. .Canadians' physical health and access to health care also deteriorated. During lockdowns, thousands of scheduled diagnostic visits and surgeries were delayed or cancelled, resulting in more deaths and longer wait times. Wait times for medical treatment increased by 43 percent from 2019 to 2024, including significant increases for critical cancer surgeries. Since 2018, more than 74,000 Canadians have died while waiting for surgery or diagnosis.Non-COVID death rates also rose considerably in several categories, including disease categories associated with sedentary lifestyles and improper diets exacerbated by lockdowns. While Canadians under the age of 45 were at minimal risk from COVID-19, they were especially affected, experiencing a 22 percent increase in non-COVID-19 deaths.One very sad example was the stark rise in euthanasia numbers. In 2019, 5,665 Canadians opted to end their lives at the hands of doctors; by 2023, it was 14,721. Many of these were cases where deaths were not reasonably foreseeable..These numbers represent real people.Lockdowns also brought a spike in crime rates, including homicides and cybercrime. For example, cases of online child sexual exploitation were significantly above trend, while cases of identity theft and fraud more than doubled from 2019. Economically, lockdowns led to unprecedented job losses, disproportionately affecting low-wage workers while leaving the “laptop class” largely unscathed. The expansion of public spending and government debt contributed to rising inflation, exacerbating financial hardships for Canadian families by driving up the costs of food, housing, and other essentials.These, among other findings in the report, underscore the high cost of lockdowns. And yet, no Canadian federal, provincial, or territorial government has bothered to conduct the kind of cost-benefit analysis needed to justify their lockdown restrictions..But why not?According to a Blacklock’s Reporter article, following the purchase of vaccines, many pandemic managers were compelled to sign secret oaths promising not to disclose information that “may result in embarrassment” for the government. Canadian governments were simply not prepared to be transparent about their Covid policies.The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms requires governments to “demonstrably” justify with persuasive evidence any health order, vaccine mandate or other law that violates any of our Charter freedoms. Governments must show that any freedom-violating policy brings about more good than harm. This requires governments to identify and monitor lockdown harms and weigh them against any potential benefits.Five years after the first lockdowns, no government in Canada has conducted an honest and transparent analysis of their lockdown policies.While the Justice Centre’s analysis of lockdown harms is no substitute for the thorough review governments have refused to conduct, it makes an important effort in documenting the harms and calling for transparency and accountability.One thing is clear: Canadians’ rights and freedoms must never again be suspended without careful, honest, and evidence-based justification.Policy analyst Benjamin Klassen is Education Coordinator at the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms..Due to a high level of spam content being posted in our comment section below, all comments undergo manual approval by a staff member during regular business hours (Monday - Friday). Your patience is appreciated.

KLASSEN: The COVID crisis can't be over until we know what lockdowns cost us

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