I am told that we are preparing to slowly get back to normal. That fills me with dread.
I remember normal.
Normal was when Ontario had its highest ever GDP per capita, but at least 350,000 people used food banks and social assistance rates were so low that those considered too sick to work were living in poverty.
Normal meant a business model where many jobs were precarious, had no pension or benefits, and the provincial government thought that $15 an hour and paid sick days were an unreasonable burden for employers. It was where young adults earned less than they did 40 years ago and GTA immigrants had not had a pay increase for 35 years.
Normal was a real estate market so out of control that the average family could not afford to buy a Toronto condo. It was when the majority of long-term care homes were private and for-profit, and the provincial government had scaled back inspections.
It was when Ontario was the second-lowest spender on health in Canada and our health services were cut back so far that people were dying in hallways. Health service workers could not have a cost of living increase and public health was to be cut by 10 per cent provincially and 20 per cent in Toronto.
Normal was when we spent 30 per cent less on mental health than recommended, leaving services for people with serious mental illness underfunded. It was when the target of ending homelessness by 2025 had been shelved.
Normal was the problem.
It allowed government to put industry’s interests ahead of the people. It made it acceptable to know the cost of everything and the value of nothing. It was bad for our health.
It increased the rates of chronic disease and slowed our gains in life expectancy. It led to 20 years difference in life span between rich and poor in some cities. It led to Indigenous and racial disparities in health, social care and policing. It left workers with fewer protections and produced epidemics of loneliness and mental health problems.
It left us more vulnerable to COVID-19.
It left families overcrowded and unable to physically distance. It left personal support workers underpaid, undervalued and resigning in droves and our long-term care homes understaffed and vulnerable. It allowed COVID-19 to prey on our elders.
It left us with so little hospital capacity that we had to develop new, poorer-quality alternatives. It may decrease COVID-19 survival rates.
It left our public health system weaker, demoralized, and with the lowest rates of COVID-19 testing in Canada.
It led to people with serious mental illness swelling the numbers of homeless, or living in shared rooms separated only by a curtain, and it led to homeless shelters resembling refugee camps with just 2.5 feet between beds. It led to COVID-19 outbreaks.
I do not want to go back to that normal. It was wrong, and it will delay our recovery and have a huge economic impact. The truth is it was not normal at all and it reversed the gains we have made over the last 40 years.
We need a new normal.
A new normal where we put people first – not say we will and then do the opposite. A new normal which aims to increase affordability, equity and inclusion. A new normal where people thrive, rather than just survive.
This means we need: good jobs; employment rights and wages which ensure that people thrive; a revitalized benefits system based on a universal basic income which ensures that we never again allow people to live in government-sponsored poverty; and a housing strategy that makes homes affordable.
We need to: right-size our health and social services sector; look at how British Columbia is improving standards for long-term care homes; and reconsider the shelter system and find homes for the homeless.
We need to do this to honour the people who have died because of COVID-19, those who will die because they do not receive proper care, and the families who have not been able to properly grieve. We need to honour the essential workers who have put themselves and their families at risk, the employers who have lost their livelihood, the people who have lost their jobs and the students who have had their education disrupted.
If we just go back to normal we are disrespecting these sacrifices, we are ignoring what COVID-19 has taught us, and we are leaving ourselves vulnerable to the next pandemic.
This article originally appeared on the Wellesley Institute website.
Dr. Kwame McKenzie is CEO of the Wellesley Institute. He is an international expert on the social causes of mental illness, suicide and the development of effective, equitable health systems.
