The Manitoba government is planning to prevent those from using jails to detain people who have communicable diseases that pose risk to others.
A bill before the Legislature will now give the provincial cabinet the power to spell specific sites for custody such as hospitals and other health care facilities.
Health Minister Uzoma Asgwara says that people are important to behave as patients and do not have to be imprisoned.
The Public Health Act currently allows someone to be detained at various types of facilities if they fail to follow a communicable disease order or if they are exposed to a viral and highly communicable disease.
Get weekly health news
Get the latest medical news and health information given to you every Sunday.
The proposed change follows a CBC report last year, about a woman from a remote fly-in community, a remote fly-in community, who spent one month custody after not taking continuous medicines for tuberculosis.
Geraldin Mason told the CBC that she was going to the community nursing station and took her medicine in front of a health care worker, but did not always reach the nursing station before closing.
Premier Wab Cneue promised at that time to change the rules.
If this becomes a law, the bill will also need a provincial court judge to approve the detention order sought by the health authorities. The law currently allows approval from justice of peace.
Asgwara said on Wednesday, “People should not be kept in jail to get health care.”
“Health Care Physicians … are the best deployed to ensure that the correct steps are taken not only to ensure that the patient gets the right care at the right place, but also to ensure that the environment and the general public are also safe.”
& 2025 Canadian press copy
