Ottawa healthcare workers sign pro-Palestine petition to pressure hospitals
'This is when they choose to break their silence? They have not said anything meaningful and this is when they choose to make their stand?' Ge said.
Close to 400 healthcare workers have signed an open letter holding Ottawa hospital CEOs accountable for their decision to withdraw from Capital Pride events. Following this, both The Royal and Hôpital Montfort announced their withdrawal from official participation as well.
"As health-care workers at CHEO, TOH, and in the Ottawa area, we recognize that advocacy is a core tenet and duty of our roles," stated an open letter published online Monday. This letter followed the announcements from CHEO and The Ottawa Hospital, which cited concerns about safety and inclusivity, and the Jewish Federation of Ottawa, which expressed that it could not endorse an event that "marginalizes Jewish 2SLGBTQ+ individuals and the broader Jewish community."
The Jewish Federation of Ottawa and the University of Ottawa were both among the dozens of organizations that held their own Pride celebrations after pro-terror, anti-Israel comments made by the organizers of Capital Pride.
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The Royal Hospital Monfort would later say that they too would be dropping out of official participation, reports the Ottawa Sun.
"We have watching in horror as Gaza’s health-care system has been decimated, besieged and blocked from receiving medical supplies," the letter, which had 374 signatures by Friday afternoon, read.
"Then to witness the CEOs of the largest hospitals in the nation’s capital dehumanize Palestinians in such an overt, grievously public manner — while also managing to cause immense harm to 2SLGBTQIA+ people in the process — has sent shockwaves through our communities."
Dr. Angela Caron, a clinical psychologist, said that the open letter came together "organically and swiftly."
When the hospitals' decisions to withdraw were made public, Caron noted that a sense of disbelief and betrayal was felt by many in the health-care community: "At the same time, we felt great concern for the Palestinian, Arab and also 2SLGBTQIA+ peoples within our care," she said.
Primary-care physician Dr. Yipeng Ge added, "This is for the community to know there’s a group of healthcare providers who say, 'These hospitals don’t speak for us.'"
Ge had previously been suspended in November 2023 for making pro-Palestinian social media posts while he was a University of Ottawa medical student. Ge would later be reinstated.
Ge expressed his disappointment on Friday, stating that Ottawa’s hospitals had failed to speak out against attacks on health care in Gaza.
"This is when they choose to break their silence? They have not said anything meaningful and this is when they choose to make their stand?" Ge said.
The open letter also demands an apology from the hospital CEOs.
"We implore these CEOs to have the self-reflective abilities to recognize that their actions are unacceptable, and unrepresentative of our community, and that they have weaponized their publicly funded power to cause further harm to profoundly marginalized people."
Both The Ottawa Hospital and CHEO declined to provide further comments on Friday, instead referring to their original statements.
"Whatever our different opinions about the 'why' behind these events, in a health-care environment and a workplace, we must remain focused on our one shared mission: caring for kids and families," CHEO president and CEO Alex Munter said in a memo to staff on the morning of Aug. 16.
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"Please remember that this means, when we are at CHEO, or when we are associating ourselves with CHEO in the broader community, we are all expected to uphold CHEO’s values, in particular that everyone belongs and that we provide safe and supportive spaces for all."
The open letter, signed by physicians, nurses, social workers, researchers, and mental health workers, remained open for additional signatories on Friday. The plan is to present a printed version to the hospital CEOs.
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