Hon. Kim Pate: Thank you for joining us, minister. According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, the poorest in Canada are twice as likely as those more well off to die of COVID-19.

The issues at the root of the siege of this city right now are not so much about vaccine and mask mandates, but really about many people feeling disenfranchised and being drawn to populist messages that incite division and violence.

The debate around these mandates has obscured decades of evisceration of social, health and economic supports that put people collectively at risk, and most have succumbed to an emphasis on individualized responsibility for protecting one’s own health.

How will the government redress systemic health as well as social and economic inequities and marginalization, in particular given the destructive forms of populism that we are witnessing?