Niagara Centre NDP MPP Jeff Burch Demands Ontario’s Education Minister Take Action to Stop COVID Outbreaks in Niagara Schools
A News Release from the Constituency Office of Niagara Centre NDP MPP Jeff Burch
Posted October 7th, 2021 on Niagara At Large
Niagara Centre NDP MPP Jeff Burch
QUEEN’S PARK – The minister of education must take action now to stop COVID infections in Niagara schools. Outbreaks have already shut down 15 classrooms and made an entire family with small children very sick, said NDP MPP Jeff Burch (Niagara Centre) during question period Thursday (October 7th).
“Haley Bateman and her family did everything right. They did their part, got vaccinated, observed all the COVID-19 guidelines,” Burch told the legislature.
“Just three days into school, Haley and her partner received a notice that there was a COVID-19 exposure in their child’s classroom. A few days later, the entire family was ill.
“Haley’s three children are 4, 4, and 5. Their symptoms were not mild, and ranged from vomiting, fevers of 40, extreme fatigue and hallucinations. Haley believes that her children were exposed through an unvaccinated staff member.
“Haley said that no one will take accountability for the policy failures that led to her children becoming so ill and she said, ‘in the end, only children are left with the consequences of the adults in charge.’
St. Catharines resident Haley Bateman. She and her young family have been paying a price for the lack of strict vaccination rules in Ontario schools
“Will the minister take responsibility, listen to families like Haley’s and implement common-sense proposals to ensure no more children get ill at school?”
Burch said Haley’s children are also missing weeks of school and that her family’s case is not the only one in Niagara. There are 15 classrooms closed in the District School Board of Niagara after COVID-19 cases were identified.
“Children under 12 cannot get vaccinated, our class sizes are still overwhelmingly large, and this government is continuing to put our children at risk by not mandating vaccines for education workers,” said Burch.
“We are 19 months into the pandemic, nine months into the life-saving vaccine. We have the tools to ensure children like Haley’s don’t suffer, but this government continues its barrage of cuts.
“The minster needs to step up, do the right thing, and make schools safer with smaller class sizes, improved ventilation and mandatory vaccinations for teachers and education workers.”
A Footnote from Niagara At Large reporter and publisher Doug Draper –
Any teacher in Niagara or elsewhere in the province who fails or refuses to get vaccinated for reasons other than legitimate health impacts around vaccination that they can prove with a doctors note, is not fit to be in a classroom with young children.
To Ontario Premier Doug Ford – If you dislike public school teachers and staff as much as some think you do, then why can’t you at least order all of them to get vaccinated now or lose their jobs. Other jurisdictions in North American have already done that.
Part of the consequences they should pay for their refusal to be vaccination should be the termination of their job. No if, ands or buts!
And shame on the Government of Ontario and school boards across the province for not making teachers and other school staff adhere to the same standards that we have to if we want to go to a gym or an indoor restaurant.
And, and, and, if you are a teachers’ union that wants to protect a teacher that might be let go for refusing to get vaccinated in a pandemic that has so far destroyed more Canadian and American lives combined than World Wars One and Two put together, then make our day.
For related reports on this issue, click on the following links –
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/covid-19-school-family-1.6200094
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