NDP revives minority-rights bill, Tories call for inquiry into ER deaths to open spring session at legislature

The spring legislative session kicked off Wednesday with the NDP reviving a bill that aims to protect minority rights and Progressive Conservatives calling for a public inquiry into deaths that followed long emergency-room waits.

The Manitoba government introduced Bill 4, the Constitutional Questions Amendment Act, which would require that future government legislation invoking the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to override the rights of protected groups — including religious minorities and the LGBTTQ+ community — be referred to the Manitoba Court of Appeal within 90 days.

The same government bill was introduced late last session and failed to receive royal assent.

“We’re reintroducing it because we think it’s an important standard,” Premier Wab Kinew told reporters Wednesday.

Quebec used the notwithstanding clause in 2019 to pass its secular law, Bill 21, which bans public servants from wearing religious symbols, such as crosses or hijabs, on the job.

In September, Manitoba submitted its legal arguments as an intervener against the Quebec law when the case is argued at the Supreme Court of Canada, starting March 23.

Kinew has said that although the notwithstanding clause has been used by other provinces, courts across Canada should still be able to review a law such as Quebec’s.

“Quebec’s Bill 21 is very much about targeting religious minorities, and in a province with tons of people, I think, who would identify as being part of a religious religious minority — whether you’re Mennonite, Hutterite, Punjabi, any number of religious denominations,” Kinew said.

“I think it’s important that we stand up.”

The Tories, meanwhile, called on the NDP to launch a public inquiry into the recent deaths of four Manitobans who had prolonged waits in emergency rooms.

Genevieve Price, 82, died Nov. 22 after waiting at the Grace and St. Boniface ERs for 30 hours. Stacey Ross, 55, died on Jan. 16 after waiting 11 hours during her second visit to the St. Boniface ER, which is where Judy Burns, 68, died on Jan. 21. Six-month-old Luca Teng died Jan. 13 at the Children’s Hospital ER after waiting 10 hours.

Manitobans are demanding answers about what went wrong, Tory Leader Obby Khan said Wednesday

“Will the premier listen to the families and commit to a public inquiry today so no more Manitobans need to die waiting for health care under this NDP government?”

Kinew said the province is in a “transition period” and hiring back health staff cut by the former PC government to ensure that care is available, while also working with grieving families to answer their questions.

“On behalf of province of Manitoba, I want to take the time to extend our deepest sympathies and condolences to the family members and the folks who are very passionately asking for answers to what happened,” Kinew said in the chamber.

“Sympathies and condolences are not a public inquiry,” responded Khan, who said routine critical incident reviews conducted in such cases aren’t fully public, don’t go far enough to address systemic problems and can be “censored” by the government.

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When asked about the scope of an inquiry, and if he had concerns it could take too long and become unwieldy, Khan deferred to PC health critic Kathleen Cook.

“A public inquiry can take a very long time and we would need to focus in on what the issues are,” she told reporters after question period.

“If we’re talking about these most recent deaths, those all happened in Winnipeg ERs. We should be looking at the systemic issues that lead to long wait times because it’s very easy for a politician to go out and say, ‘We’re going to do this and I’m going to fix wait times,’ but do they actually understand where the issues are?

“Is it bed block? Is it a lack of access to primary care? Is it staffing? Likely it’s all of those things and more, but to what extent and what are the solutions? I think the public needs an opportunity to come and tell their story about their experiences in ERs and it all needs to be made public — recommendations included.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter

Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.

Every piece of reporting Carol produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.