Quebec's health commissioner will investigate health system's failings during 1st wave

The Quebec government has asked the province's health and welfare commissioner to investigate the devastating toll the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic took on the province's elderly.

Health Minister Christian Dubé, who announced the mandate Wednesday, specified that it does not amount to a public inquiry, but that the government would approve one if the commissioner, Joanne Castonguay, deems it necessary.

"It's up to her to decide the level of research that is required," Dubé said. "If in the end she decides she wants a public inquiry, that's her choice."

Thousands of people in the Quebec's long-term care home died as a result of COVID-19 during the first few months of the pandemic as the disease spread rapidly through residences, many of which were understaffed and ill-prepared.

Focusing on the elderly population, Castonguay is being asked to examine the health system's response to the first wave of COVID-19 from four perspectives: performance, capacity, delivery of care and governance.

"We know there were many difficulties in caring for the elderly in our system, and the crisis exacerbated the issues," Dubé said. "Not only for our government, but for Quebecers, it's important to shed a light on what happened." 

Her work will be "deep and complementary to the other inquiries that are in progress," Dubé said, citing the Quebec coroner's public inquiry into deaths in long-term care homes and an investigation by Quebec's ombudsperson.

Castonguay's investigation will look at how the entire health-care system functioned in caring for the elderly during the crisis, he said.

The commissioner will begin the investigation immediately and will submit her report no later than September 1, 2021, Dubé said.

Castonguay will be supported by two experts: health economist Anne Lemay and Jean-Louis Denis, a professor at the Université de Montréal's school of public health.