Rotten swines

As of yesterday, the provincial government in Quebec has thrown our school, and many others in the North, into turmoil. In light of the extinction event that is H1N1, a snap decision has been made to remove all pregnant staff from the workplace in Northern communities, with immediate effect. We have three pregnant staff at our school, coincidentally all female, all of whom were due to go on their respective maternity leaves after Christmas, but following yesterday's decree from Quebec City, all of them are now persona non grata within the school building. When you consider that one of the 'swine flu three' is our principal, this plunges the school into even greater chaos, especially because, due to the school's small size, we have no vice-principal to pick up the reins.

At the time of writing it even looks as though the staff in question are to be forcefully repatriated to the south on Monday, although this isn't yet certain. Our principal and her husband rent out their home in the south whilst they're working here, so goodness knows what they're going to do if they have to return home at such short notice. Mangers and inns, anyone?

This whole situation seems to have been brought about by events in Manitoba earlier this week, when a number of aboriginal reserves were sent flu-readiness medical packs that contained a number of body bags. There was outrage in these communities, with claims that the government were not treating the flu properly there and were expecting numerous fatalities as a result, and this outrage was exacerbated by accusations of cultural insensitivity, as preparing for death in such a way goes against the beliefs of the First Nations in question.

Despite governmental apologies and explanations that these medical packs contain body bags as standard, whether they are delivered to Toronto, Ottawa or Wasagamack, the controversy remains, and Quebec's proclamation on Friday seemed to come as a knee-jerk reaction to all the fuss. The (mis) treatment of aboriginal communities in Canada is a hugely sensitive issue, both politically and morally, but the irony here is that the forcible removal of teachers who are willing to stay is not only going to impact on the lives of the teachers themselves but also on the lives of the populations of the aboriginal communities in which they work.

We shall no doubt learn more about the whole situation on Monday so until then, watch this space; who knows, in a few days maybe Melanie won't be the only Principal in the family!