The National Citizens’ Inquiry (NCI) into COVID-19 is taking shape, fostering anticipation for its opportunity to answer questions, document history, and heal divisions.
The inquiry will look into the appropriateness and efficacy of federal and provincial governments’ unprecedented COVID policies and determine what lessons can be learned for the future, the NCI’s website says.
Podcaster and journalist Trish Wood, who is doing communications for the inquiry, said the leadership team is enthused as it navigates through challenges.
“We’re moving forward and everybody is extremely enthusiastic. It’s an important project, and there are a lot of really, really dedicated people working on it,” Wood said in an interview.
“For us, and the people who are working so hard on this, the COVID-19 response by all levels of government and public health is something that needs a good look. So it’s a great way to do it.”
Hearings will begin in mid-March and wrap up in mid-May. Three days of hearings will be held in each location of Moncton, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Red Deer, and either Victoria or Vancouver. A live stream will be provided, though Wood hopes many will attend in person.
“One thing I’ve found in some of the events I’ve been involved in around COVID is that when people get together at these things, it’s really good for them psychologically, because I think people have felt helpless. Going to an event or supporting an event like this makes them feel that they can do something,” she said.
“I hope that the commission itself will bring people together and answer the kinds of questions people have. And they are deep questions. They’re not just about science and medicine and quarantining, and lockdowns, they’re also deep philosophical questions about medical ethics and our connections to each other.”
John Graff, who along with Nadine Ness is coordinating the hearings in Saskatchewan, hopes the inquiry will “bring truth out” and leave “the general public” in Canada better informed.
“There’s misunderstanding regarding the effects of government decisions. There is a misunderstanding of what the governments—plural—knew prior to their decisions. There’s probably a gap in many facts and an understanding of what the rights of the people and the restrictions on government action actually are in this country. There’s misunderstanding of the core of what Canada is, I think,” Graff told The Epoch Times.
‘Purest Form of Democracy’
Preston Manning, founder of the Reform Party and a former MP and Opposition leader, announced the launch of the NCI at a press conference on Parliament Hill on Nov. 2, 2022.Graff said he was first inspired by Manning’s emphasis on democratic participation decades ago when he led the Reform Party. His involvement in the NCI inspired Graff once more.
“What got me excited about the National Citizens’ Inquiry is this is one of the purest forms of democracy that you can see. The idea that the citizen can speak and testify directly to the issues before the country—it’s a critical part of democracy, where the people can be heard,” he said.
“Both sides are able to testify—the sides that feel that the response by the government was a positive thing [or that it] was a negative action. We have to recognize there’s people in the country that feel that everything went just like it should.”
Former Newfoundland premier Brian Peckford bowed out of the inquiry, believing his strident stance against government actions could compromise the even-handedness of the endeavour.
Douglas Allen, an economics professor at Simon Fraser University, said he also declined to participate to avoid a negative perception.
“I’ve been asked twice by different people if I would volunteer as a commissioner on the NCI. I’ve said no both times because I think I would come across as someone of bias. I was very much opposed to what happened,” Allen said in an interview.
“I’m certainly willing to be a witness for the NCI or for any other inquiry that comes along.”
‘The More, the Better’
Allen believes it’s healthy for Alberta to have its own inquiry alongside the NCI, and doesn’t believe it will be a problem for Manning to be involved in that one and the NCI as well.“There’s no such thing as an unbiased inquiry, which is why it’s probably good to have a government do one, a citizens group do one, maybe a provincial one, a federal. The more, the better. Competition tends to bring out the truth,” he said.
He believes having a record of what happened is important.
“We need a record for when it comes back again, right? And that’s the thing, it will come back in one way or another. It might be another virus—who knows what other existential threat we’ll face. But we need a record, even if it’s just for history, for posterity, or for academics.”
What concerns Allen is that some from the government and public might prefer to steer clear.
“Omicron infected almost everybody and led to this endemic state, and the government could very quickly declare victory. And now it certainly doesn’t want to go back and revisit anything or talk about it,” he said.
“For so many people it’s such a bad memory, and I totally understand why they want to move on. It was all-consuming at the time, and now it is just a dark hole in your life, and you don’t want to go back there.”
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