Taking health care to the streets in December
It’s been a December of grassroots actions for public health care.
The month began with pickets against buying and selling plasma outside the Canadian Blood Services (CBS) headquarters in Ottawa. Pickets were also held at CBS offices in Edmonton and Dartmouth on December 1.
So proud to stand w @HealthCoalition board members and allies to support our wonderful voluntary blood & plasma system – and decry Cdn Blood Services’ awful deal w Grifols Corp #cdnpoli @NUPGE @OPSEU @CanadianLabour @Ottawalabour @NSGEU @hsabc @HSAAlberta @BloodWatchOrg pic.twitter.com/zO40DJT0kl
— StevenStaples (@StevenStaples) December 1, 2022
LL2797 stands in solidarity with the NS Health Coalition to protest privatization and paid plasma collection. Sue LeBlanc (NDP) MLA Dartmouth North joined the protesters outside the Burnside CBS building at noon today. @iamawcanada #nspoli @MachinistsUnion pic.twitter.com/PxNKX0PXjw
— IAM2797 (@IAM2797) December 1, 2022
Thanks to folks who braved the cold today to stand up for our public, voluntary blood & plasma system ✊🥶
— Friends of Medicare (@FriendsMedicare) December 1, 2022
Health care advocates across the country are sending a message today: our veins are NOT for profit!https://t.co/y7w4cvnCoR pic.twitter.com/35BmEF74BM
Dr. Michèle Brill-Edwards, blood safety expert and Canadian Health Coalition board member, spoke to Co-op Radio following the December 1st actions to explain why we should oppose paid plasma.
#RT @redeyeradio: Saturday | 11:05 AM PT
— Co-op Radio 100.5 FM (@CoopRadio) December 2, 2022
Canada’s voluntary blood supply is under threat. Dr. Michèle Brill-Edwards walks us through paid plasma for profit, and why we must fight against it now. @HealthCoalition @StevenStaples #cdnpoli @NUPGE @OPSEU @Ca… pic.twitter.com/ib55al8x3R
On Friday, December 9, the Ontario Health Coalition rallied in Ottawa to call on the Ford government do something to fix the crisis in Ontario’s hospitals. On the same day, people in the Niagara region rallied with the same demands across the street from the St. Catharines Hospital. Protests followed in Toronto, Waterloo and Windsor on Monday, December 12.
Piling on the pressure @fordnation to finally do something about the hospital crisis. pic.twitter.com/WYjiiZnbWE
— OntarioHealthCoal’n (@OntarioHealthC) December 15, 2022
On Friday, December 16, the New Brunswick Health Coalition rallied outside the Champlain Place Mall in Moncton. They called on the Higgs government to invest in public health care and stop using private companies, including Medavie Blue Cross, to deliver health care services. Medavie manages the province’s extra-mural home health services program, Ambulance NB, Tele-Care NB and NB Health Link programs.
We’re on Champlain Street in Moncton rallying for the GNB to invest in our public health care system!
— Common Front Commun NB (@front_nb) December 16, 2022
Nous sommes au rassemblement sur la rue Champlain à Moncton pour exiger le GNB d’investir dans notre système public de santé! #nbpoli pic.twitter.com/gJRNqPeedo
“This government is using the present health crisis to try to convince citizens that there are no other alternatives. We beg to differ,” read the New Brunswick Health Coalition media release.
2023 promises to be another year of action for public health care.
Cover photo: A picket against paid plasma at the CBS office in Edmonton, Alberta on Dec. 1, 2022. Photo from Friends of Medicare.
Tracy Glynn is the National Director of Projects and Operations for the Canadian Health Coalition
