A planned trucker protest in Toronto this weekend against vaccine mandates and COVID-19 restrictions has prompted concerned health-care workers to organize a counter protest.
Organizers said they want to "establish a street presence during the convoy protest" to send a message that "access to health care should never be compromised."
"We want to ensure that health-care services remain available to anyone who needs them and to defend the right of health-care workers to show up for work in their hospitals and clinics free of harassment. We want to keep our streets open so that sick people can safely get the help they want and to reassure them that health-care workers stand with them," they said.
The truckers’ protest is expected to be held at Queen’s Park, near many of the city’s busiest hospitals. On Friday, Toronto police closed a portion of University Avenue to protect Hospital Row.
Ahead of the protest, hospitals sent out memos to their staff on their plans in preparation for the protest, with some closing a number of services and rescheduling appointments. Some were also told not to wear any clothing that would identify them as health-care workers when they report for work.
"We would always encourage our staff actually not to wear scrubs because of infection control reasons. But in this case, we particularly heard from our Ottawa colleagues that there were some health-care staff who felt harassed. So we really wanted to encourage our staff not to demonstrate that they were, in fact, health-care workers until they were at their respective hospitals," University Health Network President Kevin Smith told CP24 Friday afternoon.
He shared that coming to the hospital was a completely different experience with the police blockades that have been erected around the area.
"Unfortunately, people are already feeling the consequences of these demonstrations. And while we respect the constitutional right for people to demonstrate peacefully, it really is unfortunate that it is having a negative impact on exhausted health-care workers and very ill patients," Smith said.
On the planned counter-protest by health-care workers, Smith said he is grateful that they are standing up for xjmtzywtheir co-workers and patients but said there’s no need for more protesters in the downtown core.
"So, you know, really, again, appreciate the sentiment. But bringing more people to that very congested part of the city, when we are already really experiencing challenges with traffic and with access, it is very much a mixed perception," Smith said.
He hopes that this weekend’s protest will be peaceful and short so that hospitals can resume services on Monday so patients can get the care they need.
Smith added that if the protest gets extended like the one in Ottawa, contingency plans are ready.
"We are doing the very best we can. We obviously have fallen behind because we’ve had to cancel a great deal of activity because of the need to treat our COVID patients," Smith said.
"We have a command center for critical care that involves ambulance services as well. We also have the opportunity to look at the potential to shift patient activity elsewhere."
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Queen’s Park is seen in the background as a healthcare worker crosses University Avenue, where major hospitals provide health-care for people in Toronto, Friday, Feb. 4, 2022. A truck convoy protesting public health measures taken to curb the spread of COVID-19 is reportedly happening this coming weekend and police and City of Toronto officials are concerned about this section of University Avenue due to the presence of hospitals and health-care workers. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
