Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis is questioning the federal government’s bid to have the World Health Organization (WHO) include climate change in its definition of a pandemic emergency.
“As countries prepare to finalize the WHO Global Pandemic Accord in May, the Liberals have been lobbying the WHO to include climate change in the definition of a pandemic emergency,” Ms. Lewis said in a Jan. 8
post on X (formerly Twitter).
In her post, Ms. Lewis included an undated excerpt in a table format from a government response she received after filing an access to information request.
The excerpt on the left-hand side mentions a WHO Global Pandemic Accord
objective seeking to establish “appropriate governance arrangements to address and support pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, rooted in the WHO Constitution.”
On the right-hand side of the table is a Canadian government recommendation in reaction to the WHO objective.
It states: “While we recognize that the initial and main focus of work will be on infectious disease, the new instrument should be inclusive and defined by an all-hazards approach in alignment with the IHR [International Health Regulations].”
It adds that other global health threats could result in a global health emergency, such as “climate change impacts,” which would not be covered by an instrument with a narrow focus on infectious disease.
Ms. Lewis’ office provided the document she cited to The Epoch Times. It consists of a May 13, 2022, email from a health counsellor within Canada’s permanent mission to the United Nations in Geneva. It is addressed to the secretariat of the WHO’s
International Negotiating Body of the pandemic treaty and includes recommendations on two treaty objectives.
Ms. Lewis’ office did not indicate when it received the information from Global Affairs Canada.
Information Request
Ms. Lewis formally
asked the government in a mid-October order paper to disclose what rationale the government is using to recommend the WHO include climate change within the scope of a pandemic instrument. She also asked what criteria the government wants to use for the WHO to decide when climate change impacts reach a pandemic threshold.
The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) responded on Dec. 11,
stating, “The Government of Canada recognizes that other global health threats, such as climate change, can impact pandemics, and we incorporate these broader considerations in our domestic pandemic, planning, preparedness and response activities.”
“The scope of the Pandemic Instrument includes pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response,” the agency added. “Climate change and other global health threats are not within the scope of the Pandemic Instrument.”
The WHO’s
Pandemic Instrument is under development until at least later this year. Critics such as Ms. Lewis say that Canada will lose sovereignty after its adoption, paving the way for more government responses seen during COVID-19 such as lockdowns and mandates.
The treaty is to be legally binding, but PHAC has
said that Canada “will remain in control of any future domestic decisions about national restrictions or other measures related to pandemics.”
The
draft treaty presented last year is vague on the issue of sovereignty, saying that states have the right to determine their own approaches to public health in accordance with rules of international law, “provided that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to their peoples and other countries.”
Ms. Lewis has expressed
skepticism in the past toward various global entities, including the UN and WHO. She sponsored in October a
petition with the House of Commons that calls for Canada’s withdrawal from the UN and its organizations. It has attracted in excess of 76,000 signatures, ranking it first among the petitions currently open for signature.
