A knee-jerk reaction

Opinion

Late last year, Manitoba Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara ordered the province’s health authority, Shared Health, to kill a tongue-in-cheek poster campaign aimed at increasing breast-cancer screening.

The poster, part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, featured bird names that are slang for breasts — “be an early bird… check your tits, your boobies, your hooters.”

The minister’s office had apparently received complaints about the posters, leading to the minister ending the campaign.

“Breast cancer is a serious diagnosis and publicly funded awareness campaigns should reflect that level of seriousness. I believe it’s possible to find marketing that connects with all communities and even uses humour while being respectful of women,” Asagwara said in a story in the Free Press (Health minister cancels titillating breast cancer ads, Nov. 13, 2024).

It’s understandable that some would be offended by the posters, others would find them humorous and some would be motivated to schedule a breast-screening mammogram. The Free Press reported that some were disappointed, and perhaps offended, that the poster campaign was halted.

Similar cheeky breast-cancer screening programs have been rolled out around the world. The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation ran a cheeky ad encouraging women to check their “melons” in a campaign specifically targeting younger women. The Guatemalan Fundación Amigos Contra el Cáncer mounted a creative campaign called “Taboobs de Lola” to counter misinformation and societal taboos about breast-cancer screening.

Is it appropriate for Manitoba’s minister of health to delve into the programmatic details and interfere with CancerCare Manitoba’s breast-cancer screening operations?

In a single word, no.

The role of government is to govern, not to direct day-to-day operations. In other words, governments should steer, not row, the boat.

The way Asagwara ordered the posters be taken down remains a mystery.

A freedom of information request related to “all written communications, electronic or otherwise, between the Manitoba Minister of Health and their office and CancerCare MB, Shared Health, or the WRHA related to directing the removal of the posters referenced in the above referenced (Winnipeg Free Press) news article” garnered the following response:

“Health, Seniors and Long-Term Care has searched its records and can advise that it did not locate any records that were responsive to your request as direction was not provided in written correspondence. Therefore, your request for access to these records is refused because they do not exist.”

Where is the due process?

Where is the transparency?

Where is the accountability?

There should be written records related to how and why Asagwara directed the poster campaign be killed.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, with one in eight women being afflicted in their lifetime. It is estimated that more than 30,000 Canadian women were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2024. Breast-cancer screening programs are the only practical path to early detection and long-term survival.

I agree with Asagwara that breast cancer is a serious diagnosis. Any campaign, including tongue-in-cheek or provocative posters, that increases breast-cancer screening is a positive in my books.

In this case, I believe the ends justified the means.

And, yes, although uncommon, men can get breast cancer as well, but not frequently enough to benefit from current screening practices.

After living in four provinces, I have observed that the smaller the province, the more politicians tend to meddle in day-to-day operations. Regardless of the issue, someone is likely to be offended and knee-jerk reactions by government ministers are irresponsible. Such decisions subject Manitobans to the moral compass of a single elected official without due process or debate.

Dr. Sandor Demeter is a Winnipeg nuclear medicine physician, an associate professor in the department of community health sciences at the University of Manitoba and a graduate of the Dalla Lana School of Public Health Global Journalism Fellowship at the University of Toronto.