This past Tuesday, a couple dozen demonstrators gathered in the chilly rain outside of Au Chateau, the senior’s home in Sturgeon Falls. The protest, organized in part by Rejean Venne, was designed to put pressure on Au Chateau board members to alter the home’s visitation policy. The board was meeting the following day.
That day has come and come, and during its meeting on Wednesday at noon, the board decided to uphold the visitation policy as is, without revisions.
The policy requires visitors to have been vaccinated against Covid-19, and this is what demonstrators wanted changed. There was a motion on the table during the board’s meeting to “remove vaccination status from the visitation policy,” Venn explained, but the motion was defeated. It was close, too, with three for and three against, but the decision was made to uphold the policy.
See: Prepare for protesters, Au Chateau board
“Unvaccinated caregivers, visitors, staff students, support staff and volunteers are not permitted to enter the long-term care home,” Au Chateau’s policy outlines. “Some exceptions may apply such as a medical exception and emergency situations (a family member visiting during the end-of-life stages of a family member- but must remain in the room with the resident).”
The home noted that it will alter its policy “as required, when advised by the Ministry.” This past December, four days after Christmas, Au Chateau announced a facility-wide Covid outbreak, and limited access to caregivers only. The home’s visitation policy emphasized that these “safety precautions are carried out by long-term care homes to protect the most vulnerable population.”
The board’s decision to leave the policy as is did not satisfy those who gathered outside the home on Tuesday evening. “I believe this decision will inevitably lead to more peaceful demonstrations,” Venne said.
David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
