Editor’s note: This story has been updated from a previous version to reflect the status of the human rights complaint and that the province is recommending the complaint be dismissed.
When Jessica Bleasdale heard New Brunswick was removing COVID-19 public safety restrictions across the province, including in schools, she leaped into action for her young son River.
River, 12, is in Grade 7 and has both neurodevelopmental and gastrointestinal issues. It is something he and his family know makes him more vulnerable to contracting COVID-19 and the complications that can arise from infection.
It made her nervous to send him to school — and nervous about almost all the things a parent would be with an immunocompromised child.
So, she filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission in New Brunswick, against chief medical officer of health Dr. Jennifer Russell, Health Minister Dorothy Shephard, Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Dominic Cardy, and Premier Blaine Higgs.
The complaint alleged that the removal of masking within schools, among other protective measures, was against the human rights of disabled people, including Bleasdale’s son, River.
The province recommended that the complaint be dismissed without merit, but Bleasdale says she plans to fight the decision if that happens. She would have two weeks to do so, and then the Human Rights Commission would investigate and make a final decision.
“I am asking for your support in protecting the human rights of my child by allowing for an inclusive school environment that protects and accommodates the learning and health needs of my son and other children in New Brunswick with disabilities by ensuring masking protection and COVID-19 isolation requirements for New Brunswick schools,” the complaint said.
Bleasdale included both medical documentation of her son’s disability diagnosis alongside resources that supported the fact that COVID-19 is harmful both in the short term and long-term for people with disabilities.
“Not having masks in schools and indoor spaces is problematic,” Bleasdale said in an interview on Tuesday. “We’re just asking that while the pandemic is raging (that) there are measures in place to protect those with disabilities and vulnerable citizens.”
She said any impact to River’s cognitive ability will only worsen his condition, putting him even further behind his peers. She said there is a collective responsibility required to keep COVID-19 at bay.
“That’s what we do as a society and that’s the job of our government and of Public Health,” she said. “To protect public health. It’s not called individual health department – it’s called public health.”
Bleasdale said her one goal with the complaint is to protect the health and wellness of her child with disabilities.
She calls herself an accidental advocate.
‘Should be dismissed without merit’
The reasoning behind the province’s response shocked Bleasdale.
“The respondents submit that the complainant has failed to demonstrate how the neurodevelopmental and gastrointestinal disability, which River is alleged to suffer from, put him at risk of further complications and learning deficits in the event of contracting COVID-19,” the response letter said, signed by provincial lawyer Karine Arsenault.
“There is no confirmed and/or scientific expert evidence supporting these allegations,” it went on to say.
It ends by saying that Bleasedale’s claim of discrimination is not supported by the relevant facts.
“Therefore, the complaint should be dismissed as being without merit.”
The Department of Justice and Public Safety declined to comment when asked questions by Global News because the case is still active.
“The department does not comment on matters that are currently before the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission,” said spokesperson Geoffrey Downey.
Some of the science
The Canadian Medical Association Journal says of a sample of 1,279 admissions to hospitals for COVID-19, 22.3 per cent had a disability.
“We found that patients with a disability were more likely to die than those without a disability,” the research article said in its results section.
It also said more people with a disability had longer hospital stays and had more re-admissions but lower ICU admissions.
“Patients with a disability who were admitted to hospital with COVID-19 had longer stays and elevated readmission risk than those without disabilities.”
Health Canada also points to the fact people with disabilities are at higher risk than those without.
“Some people with disabilities may be at higher risk of getting severe COVID-19 disease because of their age, vaccination status, the presence of one or more underlying medical conditions and or from being immunocompromised,” Health Canada’s website said.
Still, Bleasdale feels her son and his need for greater protection are being ignored.
“My son does not deserve to be one of those statistics,” she said. “My premier deserves to know my son’s name is River and he is a child with disabilities and COVID will harm his long-term wellness and I’m asking my premier to care. I’m asking Dr. Russell to care. Recommendations aren’t working, we tried that.”
The long-term impact
Shelley Petit, chair of the New Brunswick Council of Persons with Disabilities, said she believed Bleasdale was acting as a good mother advocating for her son.
She said the government has ignored the fact that people with disabilities have worse outcomes after contracting coronavirus.
“If he does catch it, he’ll likely end up with symptoms of long-COVID, which our province also tends to ignore,” she said. “We know that (getting COVID) is going to affect him for the rest of his life. He’s 12.”
She said River’s case is particularly critical because schools are inherently risky due to the current spread of the virus.
Petit said if he’s kept home, he suffers again, from not being able to access proper educational services.
“He cannot catch this,” she said. “This will have long-lasting detrimental effects on his health and it’s just so unfortunate because their decision is affecting his life in so many ways.”
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