Hutterite leader demands province stop naming colonies with COVID, threatens human-rights action

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This article was published 22/07/2020 (1575 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A leader of a western Manitoba Hutterite colony has scolded the provincial government for identifying positive cases of COVID-19 among members of the cultural-minority group.

“We just want it to stop. We want to be part of the count,” Paul Waldner, CanAm Hutterite colony president and minister, said. “Why do they need to be identified? Why can’t they be a part of a geographic area and a number?”

Waldner wrote Health Minister Cameron Friesen and Premier Brian Pallister Wednesday requesting provincial public health officials refrain from naming specific affected colonies.

He requested the province immediately stop identifying “religious affiliations” of individuals who have tested positive for the virus or their residences, or the colony would file a complaint with the Manitoba Human Rights Commission.

“As a result of these public announcements, the Hutterite communities have already begun to experience stigmatization by others in the surrounding communities,” Waldner wrote.

Waldner told the Free Press many colony leaders are upset about the situation and the letter was written on behalf of the broader Hutterite community.

“There’s lots of fears going because we’re isolated bjuy religious convictions and faiths, and people don’t understand us; now when the government says the ‘Hutterites’ now have COVID it basically makes us look like there’s something wrong,” he said. “People are shunning us and they think there’s something wrong with us.”

On Thursday, the province announced one new case of COVID-19 — a man in his 40s from the Interlake-Eastern health region. One person was in hospital in intensive care and the active caseload was 49.

Last week, media reports identified Hutterite communities as the locations of case clusters — a group COVID-19 cases that can be traced to the same source — that were inflating the active count in the province.

As new cases were reported, public health officials provided information as to whether the person was a member of a Hutterite community.

“If the government removes the Hutterite verbiage from their website and starts addressing us equally to everybody else, we’ll go away,” Waldner said.

Dr. Brent Roussin, the province’s chief provincial public health officer, said going forward new cases will be described as being part of a “cluster,” not a community.

“The majority of these cases we’re seeing are isolated clusters, or they’re related to travel or they’re related to known cases,” Roussin said. “Our advice is always be kind to each other, don’t stigmatize people, don’t assume things about people and let public health address this.”

Roussin said members of the public who visit Hutterite colonies for work or commerce should be assured public health officials would communicate any risk to Manitobans.

“They would know as soon as we thought that,” he said. “A lot of places where clusters are happening have put things into place and are very proactive to limit the impacts of that.”

The Hutterian Safety Council on Thursday confirmed in a statement that five of the more than 120 Hutterite communities in Manitoba are reporting cases.

The first was reported in a Hutterite community on July 13, the council said. While cases have been connected to travel to Alberta and Saskatchewan, it’s the position of the council that a direct link to a funeral held for three drowning victims in Alberta has not been established.

“Communities in Manitoba are increasingly coming to terms with the reality that, as disruptive as physical-distancing measures might be to our communal life, there are truths in our tradition that are even more significant: a reverence for life and the need to protect the vulnerable,” the statement said.

On Wednesday, 1,262 laboratory tests were performed, bringing the total number of tests performed in the province since early February to 79,546. The five-day test positivity rate was 0.92 per cent; public health officials said positivity rates reported earlier this week have been adjusted lower due revised data.

Following three days of record-setting demand for COVID-19 testing, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority has opened a pop-up testing site at Access Fort Garry (135 Plaza Dr.).

The site opened Thursday and will have operating hours of 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., seven days a week.

A temporary drive-thru testing site will open today in Russell at 426 Alexandria Ave. S. The temporary site will close July 25 and 26, and reopen from July 27 to July 31. Hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca

Hutterite COVID-19 discrimination letter