B.C. public health is being hijacked by woke agenda: Jerome Gessaroli in the National Post – MLI
September 24, 2024
The B.C. government is pursuing a misguided experiment to improve public health by trying to dismantle racism, social and economic inequities, and “other forms of oppression.” However, by turning the quest into an ideological pursuit, with controversial concepts like equity, colonialism, and supremacy, the ministry of health risks diverting attention from proven public health measures.
In the guiding document, British Columbia’s Population and Public Health Framework: Strengthening Public Health, the long-term agenda is to “promote population health and eliminate inequities” by addressing social determinants of health, Indigenous reconciliation and equity-based actions.
In analyzing the document’s language, critical functions — including population-level disease monitoring — are eclipsed by vague, unmeasurable, politically-laden concepts. Social justice terminology appears almost as often as health-care terms. Words like equity appear 44 times, climate 41, and reconciliation 34 times, while key health terms like disease prevention and influenza are mentioned far less. Politically contentious terms like colonialism and supremacy appear 19 times. Overall, there are 380 health-care terms and about 320 social justice-related terms in the report.
