Articles about Dr. Ngola keep being published. Here are just a few examples:
https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1790924867949
It is nice to see colleagues across the country supporting Dr. Ngola. Bambi is happy for him to feel moved by the letter, as he described. She wishes him the best in his practice in Québec, even if she would not trust him to treat her own parents (had they been living where he is now practising). She may perhaps become his patient herself but, sorry, she would not recommend him to her parents, given his “irresponsible behaviour”, to use the words of our Premier.
Having said that, why are physicians from other jurisdictions interfering with our own province by demanding a public inquiry? Health is a provincial matter in our country. So, give us a break and let our province manage the pandemic as it has been doing relatively well since last March. New Brunswickers must have been generally satisfied, like Bambi, to give their current government their confidence for a second mandate with a majority.
As for the outburst of angry online comments Dr. Ngola has received, although unfortunate, it is part of normal human behaviour in the context of a pandemic when we are afraid or frustrated (ie., a lockdown that had to be extended, 40 people infected, and eventually 2 deaths). Did anyone ask the citizens of Campbellton how they feel?
A few people may have sadly exaggerated ☹. This is unacceptable. However, is it fair to insinuate or call the people of Campbellton (or Restigouche or NB, by extension) racist?
Indeed, as reported above, according to the Mayor of Campbellton, some of the people who may have commented online do not even live in Campbellton.
Similarly, many of the journalists rushing to judge New Brunswickers as being racist have never visited our province. Same for those 1500 physicians demanding a public inquiry as well.
Of note, the latest article above published in the National Post AND in several other media (in the same exact format) is filed by Mr. Sidhartha Banerjee and is “produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship”:
https://www.facebook.com/journalismproject/facebook-canadian-press-news-fellowship
As per the link above, this is a one-year fellowship program, worth $1 million, that “will hire eight journalists to cover pressing issues in local communities across Canada… “Focusing on bringing more coverage to Canada’s regions, fellows will report on pressing issues in local communities, including the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on communities and tackling racial injustice”.
So, “tackling racial injustice” is a “pressing local issue” then? Bambi would have thought that truly LOCAL pressing subjects would be stemming from the top priorities of so-called local communities. Instead, they are once again being imposed on us to prove ideologies like “racial injustice” or “systemic racism” or whatever label we are supposed to swallow like “anti-blackness” or “too much whiteness”.
Why are we politicizing this story to that extent?
First, we insisted on apologies from our Premier who did not do anything wrong. Luckily, he did not fall into the trap of unnecessary apologies. Indeed, this politician seems to be pragmatic and fact focused (even if he is far from being perfect. No one is in life and surely not in politics).
Second, we are now increasing the pressure by demanding a public inquiry of how the case was handled.
Third, we seem to be changing the story or the narrative in the media? Or was there more to this story than what we know, as citizens?
In either case, why don’t we keep it to what it should have remained in the first place: a LOCAL story. After all, it is the case of a surely competent physician in Campbellton who unfortunately behaved unwisely in the middle of a pandemic.
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Earlier posts related to this story:
