Evidence of Second Alleged Sexual Assault at COVID Quarantine Hotel: Document

A person is seen in a room at a government-authorized COVID-19 quarantine hotel in Richmond, B.C., Canada, on Feb. 28, 2021. Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press

Evidence has emerged of a second alleged sexual assault case previously occurring in one of Canada’s former COVID-19 quarantine hotels at which air passengers returning to Canada and awaiting a COVID test result were required to stay for a period of several months during 2021.

In an Inquiry of Ministry tabled April 13 in the House of Commons, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) says it is “aware of two sexual assault complaints filed by travellers while abiding by the government’s hotel quarantine measures since March 1, 2020.”

PHAC wrote that the first complaint stemmed from February 2021 when “an individual was charged by local police with sexual assault, break and enter, and harassment at the Sheraton Montreal Designated Quarantine Facility.”

The victim of the alleged assault was a quarantined traveller. PHAC acknowledged the assault at the time and said it was “reviewing its processes internally ... to ensure the health and safety of all returning travellers to Canada,” according to CBC News in February 2021.

However, the Inquiry document noted a second incident that occurred in May 2021 when police arrested and charged with sexual assault a “hotel employee within the housekeeping department at a Toronto Government Authorized Accommodation” who allegedly assaulted “a traveller staying at the hotel.”

“The hotel is no longer using the services of this employee,” PHAC says in the Inquiry document.

‘Warrants Attention’

The Inquiry information tabled by PHAC was in response to an order paper filed by Conservative MP Michelle Rempel-Garner in April, questioning the federal government on “how many sexual assaults, physical assaults or harassment complaints have been filed” since March 2020.

The mandatory COVID hotel quarantine requirement for certain returning air passengers came into effect in February 2021 and lasted until August of that year.

Rempel-Garner wrote in a Substack article on June 5 that the alleged sexual assault complaint stemming from the incident in May 2021 was previously not addressed by the federal government, despite the separate incident in February 2021 being acknowledged.

Rempel-Garner said that then-Minister of Health Patty Hadju had “assured the House of Commons that these incidents were being thoroughly investigated and that processes had been put in place to prevent future assaults from occurring.”

The Conservative MP was referencing comments Hajdu made in the House on March 8, 2021, when she said Ottawa “takes these allegations very seriously.”

“They are being fully investigated, and we have put into place processes to ensure this does not happen again,” Hajdu said at the time.

Hajdu, who is now the minister of indigenous services, did not address the May 2021 allegation when it happened. The Epoch Times reached out to PHAC for comment on the matter but did not hear back before press time.

Rempel-Garner wrote in her article that the allegations “raise questions about how Hadju, the Minister in charge of the [previous hotel quarantine] program, still has a seat in cabinet.”

“A sexual assault allegedly occurring against a traveller who likely had a duty of care owed by the federal government warrants attention,” Rempel-Garner wrote. “Particularly since it occurred after the government knew it had a problem.”

Isaac Teo contributed to this report.