Many of us will remember Deena Hishaw well. That would be Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health during the COVID pandemic. Her almost daily briefings were viewed by not just Albertans, but by Canadians right across the country.
The reason for this is important. Dr. Hinshaw gave daily updates on the status of COVID within Alberta, calm, informative, reasoned, and reassuring at a time of fear and uncertainty as a previously unknown virus attacked us when we were virtually defenceless against it. It was a pandemic, it had already claimed hundreds of lives, and would go on to claim tens of thousands more, causing our society to buckle under its spread and impact.
We all lived through the various counter-measures taken to blunt the spread of the virus, and many of us remained glued to television or other media to get a better sense of how the virus was tracking across the country and to hopefully hear anything that might indicate that COVID was going to somehow just fade away, just to give us some hope and peace of mind as we grappled with the new realities of everyday life. Hinshaw, along with her counterpart Bonnie Henry in British Columbia, were the calming voices of reason through all of this, for Canadians throughout the country. Our own CMO in Ontario, Dr. David Williams, also did media, but he was indecipherable, albeit well-meaning I’m sure. But his press briefings were convoluted, contradictory, ambiguous, and confusing. With Hinshaw and Henry we got a much better picture, and as the virus seemed to spread from west to east, Ontarians could watch these two and get a kind of scouting report as to what we might expect in Ontario.
In any other circumstances, both Hinshaw and Henry would be considered heroes, two of many in the public health field who stepped up under impossible circumstances to be the front line against this deadly scourge.
Bonny Henry still has her job in British Columbia. Deena Hinshaw does not in Alberta. In fact, Dr. Hinshaw no longer has any job in Alberta. That’s because she was chased out of town by her vindictive provincial government populated by anti-vaxxers, anti-maskers, and COVID-deniers. Today, Dr. Deena Hinshaw is the Deputy Provincial Health Officer for the province of British Columbia, ironically serving under Dr. Bonnie Henry. So today, British Columbia has two blue chip doctors serving the province as leadership in an important area of BC’s public health services. Alberta has Dr. John Cowell, a political hack and mouthpiece for the odious right-wing fringe government of the chief disrupter, Premier Danielle Smith.
Hinshaw was fired by Smith not long after the last provincial election lifted Smith to the top job in a wave of dissent that toppled both former premier Jason Kenney of the same UCP party, and the New Democratic opposition led by former premier Rachel Notley. Smith is bought and paid for by the voters of Alberta, who once again select an anti-everything crusader to be their premier. Want to get a really bad taste of what politics is all about? Go to Alberta. Just don’t tell them you’re from eastern Canada if you know what’s good for you.
Hinshaw’s great crime? She did her job, and did it well. She told the same truth that all CMO’S across the country were telling (or trying to in the case of Ontario’s Williams) and in turn provided advice to her province’s political leadership, the ultimate decision-makers.
In March of 2020, based upon the advice of Hinshaw, then premier Kenney declared a public health state of emergency for Alberta. It was the beginning of the end for both their careers as Alberta public servants.
Nowhere in Canada was COVID denialism as rampant as it was in Alberta, and mask and vaccine mandates went way over the acceptable line for much of the population of libertarians who feel their rights are trampled anytime somebody even has the slightest look of “telling them what to do.” Thus, both Hinshaw and Kenney trampled on Albertan’s right to do whatever the hell they want, however they want, whenever they want. Doing so was akin to stomping on their “freedoms,” no matter the cost in human lives and no matter the cost to legitimate and universally recognized scientific evidence. That American revolutionary flag of a snake with the words “Don’t tread on me” perfectly reflects this conspiracy-driven demographic, and in fact, that very flag would be seen at protests both in Alberta and in Ottawa when an Alberta-originated convoy occupied the nation’s capital and intimidated/terrorized the local population for two weeks.
Upon her dismissal, (firing was the word used, purposely, the right-wingers like that forceful-sounding and humiliating word) Hinshaw didn’t raise a stink. No press, no appearances, no taking the opportunity to protest against such an egregiously unfair way to treat a public health official who had done her duty diligently, valiantly, and with integrity. No, Deena Hinshaw quietly packed her stuff, got out of the way, and attempted to move on with her professional life.
Dismissed in November 2022 as CMO for Alberta, Hinshaw in early 2023 put her name into the mix for the position of Public Health and Preventive Medicine Lead with Indigenous Wellness Core, a position she eventually successfully obtained in June 2023. The hiring committee hired Hinshaw because they wanted a public health physician and Hinshaw was uniquely positioned as having extensive experience in public health policy while also having what was viewed as an excellent relationship with Alberta’s indigenous community. In short, she was a real “catch” for the organization.
Just one thing, though. The Indigenous Wellness Core operates under the auspices of AHS, or Alberta Health Services, the organization she was recently CMO of and recently fired from. The UCP base (United Conservative Party) absolutely flipped and were outraged that this “traitor” was again working with Alberta public health. Those protests went quickly to the office of the premier, Danielle Smith. Quickly, quietly, Hinshaw’s hiring was revoked. Two important members of the Indigenous Wellness Core, including Dr. Esther Tailfeathers, a prominent indigenous physician, and Dr. Braden Manns, a former senior executive member of AHS, resigned in protest. Both called for the intervention of the Office of the Ethics Commissioner.
Hinshaw conducted herself as usual, with the quiet dignity that serves as one of her hallmarks. After the rescinding of the the Indigenous Wellness position, British Columbia swooped in and snapped up one of the top public health minds in the country. Good for BC. Bad for Alberta.
This is a story of an apolitical public servant politically assassinated by her own government, and by extension, her own people. Alberta was home to Hinshaw, growing up in Sylvan Lake and graduating high school at H.J. Cody High School as the class valedictorian. She obtained an undergraduate degree at Augustan University College in Camrose, Alberta before moving on to and graduating from medical school at the University of Alberta. She followed that up with her masters in public health, also from the University of Alberta. She’s an Alberta girl through and through and rendered her province yeoman service in the interests of public health and wellness.
What she got was humiliation, intimidation, and threats from her own people. Then she was chased out of the province.
I hope she’s happy in British Columbia. Her job, while still temporary, is in a field of her expertise and experience. She appears to be not one to complain, at least publicly anyway, which adds a certain appeal to her already impressive personage. Outside of Alberta she was viewed with the utmost respect as Canadians everywhere (just not Alberta) appreciated her calm candour and reassurance in the face of a unique adversity. Canadians (just not Albertans) trusted her.
Should she ever wish to work in Ontario, we would roll out the red carpet.
As an aside, I wonder whatever happened to the the guy who used to provide sign-language support for Hinshaw when she delivered her daily public health briefings. That cute little guy was almost half the show, he was just so pleasant-looking. Together with Deena, he gave viewers (just not in Alberta) a good feeling, if such was possible, in a very difficult time.
Goodness, I hope they haven’t run him out of the province , too, for spreading the truth to Alberta’s populaton of hearing challenged. Wherever he is, I wish him the best.
NEWSMAGRENFREW 