Body Bag Scandal Theatre

Wednesday - body bags arrive in some Manitoba Reserves in packages that also contain hand sanitizer and face masks, the latter of which are part of flu season preparations, sent by Health Canada.

Then the grandstanding began on all sides.

Grand Chief David Harper, who represents northern First Nations, says body bags send the wrong message and no one can understand why Ottawa would do such a thing.

Don't send us body bags. Help us organize; send us medicine.

A message for the Grand Chief; the seasonal flu kills thousands of people every year, body bags are standard medical supplies, there is no "message" being sent, only the one that you infer. Oh, and the flu vaccines won't be available in Canada until November, so what medicine do you expect to be sent to you to deal with the flu?

Thursday - The Federal Health Minister orders an inquiry. I find that this is the reaction to any "scandal', an inquiry. What would an inquiry look like in this case?

"Hey Jimbo, did you send body bags to those reserves"?
"Yep"
"Why did you do that"
"They're routine medical supplies and they need to stock up for the winter".
"Oh, O.K."

A 2 minute conversation, but now government will spend thousands of dollars, take a few months to investigate and generate some long winded report than will be ignored and not really do anything meaningful.

Then the Liberals (the opposition, surprise surprise) demand that an apology be made.

"What kind of message does this send to our fellow citizens of aboriginal descent and what kind of message does it send to other Canadians — other Canadian families worried about the swine flu epidemic, worried about their kids going to school?"

Also Thursday - In the most asinine, useless, grandstand move of this whole story, Wasagamack Chief Jerry Knott spent money from his reserve budget to fly to Winnipeg and return the medical supplies back to Health Canada!

"Is the body bags a statement from Canada that we as First Nations are on our own?" Knott asked.

No, they are routine medical supplies.

Jim Wolfe, regional director with the First Nations and Inuit health branch, said the bags were meant to be used over the winter for death by all causes, and were not "linked exclusively to H1N1."

The body bags were in a shipment of hand sanitizers and face masks that Health Canada sent to reserves that were hit by H1N1 flu last spring.

"We really regret the alarm this incident has caused and it was unintended," Wolfe said.

"We order these supplies as a matter of routine business and ... this was part of a very normal restocking process."

Chief Knott apparently didn't call ahead to check out Health Canada's hours though, because they were closed when he arrived. And this is First Nations leader?

Later Thursday - Health Canada apologizes.

"We regret the alarm that this incident has caused," said a statement issued late Thursday afternoon. "It is important to remember that our nurses are focused entirely on providing primary health-care services under often-trying circumstances."

Wolfe said in regards to reserves being sent these supplies that;

their remote geography was part of the reason he asked nursing stations in those communities to stock up for the winter.

So, the offended parties got their apologies, the Chiefs got to make it look they stood up for their people, everybody is happy right?

Well, none of this did a thing to address real problems like the dependency of Reserves on the Federal Government to take care of them, the real threat of H1N1 flu in these isolated communities and the needless, useless posturing and pandering of politicians and this theatre of making it look like they are "doing something".

A commenter on the CTV article summed it up nicely.

I work in a northern community and shipments of materials are so difficult and expensive that you are required to pack as much as you can into every delivery. (winter clothing in the dead of summer, bug spray in January) Body bags may be an unpleasant delivery but they are needed.

Has anyone asked if the community, perhaps, did not have enough for normal death rates? Even if they were sent specifically because of H1N1.... lets face it some people will die from it (just like the normal seasonal flu) and if there are not enough body bags to go around you may be compounding a serious problem.

Every one needs to get off your high horse and realize that as unpleasant as it may be body bags get shipped to every hospital and community in Canada for an obvious reason.... people die.