Hon. Judith G. Seidman: Therefore, honourable senators, in amendment, I move:

That the motion in amendment be not now adopted, but that it be amended by:

1. adding, after point (b) in the amendment, a new point (c) as follows:

“(c)a letter from Dr. Theresa Tam, Chief Public Health Officer of Canada, outlining how the Senate sitting in person only would contravene guidelines issued by her office”; and

2.changing the designation of points (c) and (d) in the amendment to points (d) and (e).

Hon. Judith G. Seidman: Honourable senators, I rise today to speak to Senator Plett’s amendment on the motion concerning hybrid sittings in the Senate.

I support this amendment because I value evidence-based decision making. We all may have our own viewpoints and preferences about hybrid sittings or in-person sittings, but it is science that should guide our decisions.

This is what Senator Plett’s amendment is asking for — the data which will provide information to draw the necessary guidelines. Only armed with this data can we be more certain that we are making the wisest decisions.

As an epidemiologist, I take seriously the research — ever-evolving — that informs public health around COVID-19 health protocols and precautions. These are essential tools, always based on science, that provide the input to our decision making, yet are often updated. And these protocols are meant to protect Canadians from the pandemic’s worst outcomes: severe illness and death.

Often, we hear criticism of COVID guidelines because they have changed over time. However, that is the essence of science. In the case of COVID-19, more than two years ago, we started with a novel coronavirus, essentially an unknown quantity.

We have experience with pandemics that could have better informed our decision making. In 2010, the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology conducted a comprehensive review of Canada’s response to the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. As a member of that committee, I had the opportunity to participate in this study.

The final report, Canada’s Response to the 2009 H1N1 Influenza Pandemic, published in December 2010, provided 17 key recommendations to strengthen Canada’s future pandemic preparedness plan. Although the H1N1 pandemic did not have the same global impact as the COVID-19 pandemic, the lessons learned are invaluable.

I would like to reiterate that it is true that scientific research on any given issue evolves over time with an ever-growing body of evidence. It is also true that there are studies that contradict each other. There are always studies that are outliers. But public health cannot afford to wait for science to evolve when delivering effective approaches to detect and manage a pandemic. They have to operationalize in an ongoing way, using the ever-growing cumulative body of evidence that provides the best information we have at the time.

This does not mean that tomorrow or next week will be the same because public health must be nimble enough to continuously update their advice.

During this pandemic, we have seen public health transform their advice repeatedly. At the outset, we were advised that masks were not necessary. However, after more evidence accumulated, we were told that they provided an important layer of protection. We have even received updated information on the types of masks we should use, depending on the circumstance.

Two years ago, we were told to disinfect surfaces because the virus could live on some surfaces for long periods of time. To protect themselves, individuals would even disinfect their groceries. As evidence built, it became clear that we should worry about aerosol transmission as opposed to fomite transmission.

This is an example of how public health works. You must make decisions based on the best available evidence at the time. It is a constant process of evidence-building and probabilities. Frankly, it is rare that we have certainty, yet we have to accept this and make important decisions.

Even now, after more than two years of this novel coronavirus circulating globally, we know that we are still accumulating more uncertainties about COVID-19 — effectiveness of vaccine boosters, length of immunity periods and the infectiousness and deadliness of Omicron and all its variants. What we do see now, though, in cumulative data is that the Omicron variant has less serious health consequences, fewer hospitalizations, fewer cases in intensive care and fewer deaths. We will continue to see updated public health advice as a result.

You may also be hearing now that the case incidence rates in regions across Canada for this sixth wave are flattening. Some say that as much as 30% of the Ontario population, for example, have had Omicron. But we know that these are all estimates because testing has not been consistent. In fact, most of us are using rapid tests now, which are not reported to public health at all.

So the pandemic of today is not the pandemic of last year. Public health officers across the country in every province and territory have been modifying their best advice in accord with changing research and data. But colleagues, there isn’t yet sufficient evidence to support with overwhelming certainty that we are at the end of the pandemic, so we continue to base our decisions on the accumulation of data.

Colleagues, given these crossroads, I do believe there is something that we should add to this amendment. Thus, I would like to propose a subamendment.

As we are all aware, Canada has a Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Theresa Tam. As the Chief Public Health Officer, she is the federal government’s lead public health professional and has helped to guide us through this pandemic. Dr. Tam’s role is to provide advice to the Minister of Health and the president of the Public Health Agency of Canada on health issues. She also works with other governments, jurisdictions, agencies, organizations and countries on health matters and provides an annual report to the minister on the state of public health in Canada.

Her office and responsibilities require her to be well informed on the latest health data and to provide advice on how this should be translated and operationalized in a practical manner to navigate the waters of this pandemic.

In my view, her advice to us would be invaluable.

My subamendment simply asks that as part of our data collection to inform our current decision making, we invite Dr. Tam to provide us any advice she may have on the risks and timing of the Senate’s return to in-person sittings exclusively. This amendment simply ensures that before making our decision about hybrid sittings, we access the advice of the highest public health official in the country.