No tolerance for harassment of health-care workers, says Porcupine Health Unit

The Porcupine Health Unit's medical officer of health says she is "incredibly troubled and concerned" at the growing trend of harassment and aggressive behaviour directed at health-care workers in the Ontario region.

In a call to media on Tuesday, Dr. Lianne Catton said the tone around vaccination clinics has changed recently, and her staff have faced more abusive behaviour in person and online.

"It's not appropriate for my staff, my team who has given up their house, their time, their family dinners, their events for the last two years to work diligently and wholeheartedly, to protect our communities, to have to see, read and respond to the types of comments that we've been seeing," she said.

Due to online harassment, Catton said the health unit, which has its head office in Timmins and serves Cochrane District and the town of Hornepayne, had to turn off comments on its social media posts. 

"However, we'll continue to have that important healthy dialogue with individuals who send their messages through the appropriate channels with an approach in an appropriate manner," she said.

Catton said that while people can have differences of opinion around vaccination mandates, health-care workers should be treated with respect at all times.

For the last couple of months, she said, the health unit has shared its vaccination clinic schedules with security and enforcement officers. But because the health unit catchment area is so vast, some communities don't have security firms to provide support.

Last week, the Timmins Police Service reported an increase in harassment incidents at vaccination clinics.

Police spokesperson Marc Depatie said the incidents started to occur when the province created vaccination mandates for certain businesses, such as restaurants, bars and gyms.

"This apparently has given rise to a number of people who were, I suppose, initially reluctant or refused to be vaccinated," he said. "Now they feel compelled to do so in order to enjoy certain retail aspects of our community. So with that, when they attend the vaccine clinics, they also bring their point of view with them."

Public Health Sudbury and Districts has hired security for its vaccination clinics, but a manager with the health unit said she was not aware of specific incidents where staff were harassed.

"Some clients have expressed feelings of frustration to our staff at clinics related to Ontario's vaccine policy," said health unit manager Krista Galic. 

Sudbury police have said they have not laid any charges at vaccination clinics since the province introduced the passport system for non-essential services.

But there was an incident in June, involving a couple of people who wanted to use the washroom but would not wear masks. Police said they were given provincial offence notices and escorted off the property.