Ottawa health-care workers sign pro-Palestinian petition aimed at hospital CEOs

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Almost 400 health-care workers have signed an open letter taking Ottawa hospital CEOs to task for withdrawing from Capital Pride events.

“As health-care workers at CHEO, TOH, and in the Ottawa area, we recognize that advocacy is a core tenet and duty of our roles” said the open letter, which was posted online Monday, only days after CHEO and The Ottawa Hospital announced they were withdrawing citing safety and inclusivity and the Jewish Federation of Ottawa said it could not support an event that “marginalizes Jewish 2SLGBTQ+ individuals and the broader Jewish community.”

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The Royal and Hôpital Montfort later announced they were also dropping out of official participation.

“We have watching in horror as Gaza’s health-care system has been decimated, besieged and blocked from receiving medical supplies,” said the open letter, which had attracted 374 signatures by Friday afternoon.

“Then to witness the CEOs of the largest hospitals in the nation’s capital dehumanize Palestinians in such an overt, grievously public manner — while also managing to cause immense harm to 2SLGBTQIA+ people in the process — has sent shockwaves through our communities.”

The effort to post the open letter came together “organically and swiftly,” said Dr. Angela Caron, a clinical psychologist in private practice who volunteers with Ottawa Health-care Professionals For Palestine to help get access to medical care and mental health services for newly-arrived families and children from Gaza.

When the hospitals’ decisions to withdraw were announced, many in the health-care community felt a sense of disbelief and betrayal, Caron said.

“At the same time, we felt great concern for the Palestinian, Arab and also 2SLGBTQIA+ peoples within our care,” she said.

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“This is for the community to know there’s a group of health-care providers who say, ‘These hospitals don’t speak for us,’” said Dr. Yipeng Ge, a primary-care physician.

Ge, then a University of Ottawa medical resident, was suspended in November 2023 over pro-Palestinian social media posts, but was later reinstated.

Ge said Friday he was disappointed that Ottawa’s hospitals had not spoken out about attacks on health care in Gaza.

“This is when they choose to break their silence? They have not said anything meaningful and this is when they choose to make their stand?” Ge said.

The open letter asks for an apology from the hospital CEOs.

“We implore these CEOs to have the self-reflective abilities to recognize that their actions are unacceptable, and unrepresentative of our community, and that they have weaponized their publicly funded power to cause further harm to profoundly marginalized people.”

Both The Ottawa Hospital and CHEO declined to comment Friday, instead pointing to their original statements.

“Whatever our different opinions about the ‘why’ behind these events, in a health-care environment and a workplace, we must remain focused on our one shared mission: caring for kids and families,” CHEO president and CEO Alex Munter said in a memo to staff on the morning of Aug. 16.

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“Please remember that this means, when we are at CHEO, or when we are associating ourselves with CHEO in the broader community, we are all expected to uphold CHEO’s values, in particular that everyone belongs and that we provide safe and supportive spaces for all.”

The signatories to the open letter included physicians, nurses, social workers, researchers and mental health workers. The online petition remained open on Friday. The plan is to present a printed version to hospital CEOs.

The main goal is not to get the hospitals to change their positions, Ge said.

“They have shown their colours already. This is how we practise solidarity.”

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