Evidence of second sexual assault of a traveller at quarantine hotel emerges

The government promised to prevent sexual assaults at quarantine hotels. New evidence shows they failed, and raises questions why the Minister in charge still has a job.

In February 2021, the federal Liberal government was rocked by reports that a man had been charged with sexual assault in an incident involving a traveller at a Montreal area quarantine hotel. A separate incident involving a quarantine screening officer was also reported at the same time.

In the furor that ensued, former federal Minister of Health Patty Hadju rejected ending the program. She 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. 

But it turns out that another assault against a traveller did allegedly happen.

This week, in response to an Order Paper Question I filed, the government revealed that a second sexual assault against a traveller allegedly occurred at a government quarantine hotel nearly three months later, in May 2021.

The response reads as follows (but you can read the official document in the link above):

“In May 2021, a hotel employee within the housekeeping department at a Toronto

Government Authorized Accommodation (GAA) was arrested and received one charge of sexual assault. The victim was a traveller staying at the hotel. The hotel is no longer using the services of this employee.”

This incident has never been reported in any mainstream media outlet. (I’m happy to be proven wrong).

Regardless, the May 2021 incident came three months after Hadju had assured the House of Commons that she had taken action to prevent future assaults. Given that the person arrested was a housekeeping employee of the hotel, this raises questions about how employees interacting with people legally unable to leave their rooms were vetted and the overall efficacy (or existence) of policies designed to prevent sexual assault.

This assault also allegedly occurred around the same time the federal government’s COVID-19 Testing and Screening Expert Advisory Panel recommended ending the hotel quarantine program (keep in mind the government would likely have received the Panel’s report well before its release to the public). This report came months after government officials appeared before the federal Standing Committee on Health and could not provide any data to show that the quarantine hotel program prevented the spread of COVID-19 from returning travellers any better than someone quarantining in their own home.

Yet the government did not end the hotel quarantine program until August 2021, again, months after the arrest of a hotel employee in yet another alleged incident of sexual assault.

All these points raise questions about how Hadju, the Minister in charge of the program, still has a seat in cabinet. 

Although many people in Canada are weary of discussing anything related to the pandemic, a sexual assault allegedly occurring against a traveller who likely had a duty of care owed by the federal government warrants attention - particularly since it occurred after the government knew it had a problem.

If you agree, I encourage you to write to the current Minister of Health, Jean-Yves Duclos, to suggest the same.

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