Looking Back at Thanksgiving 2021

Two years ago, Thanksgiving gave us the most shameful headlines of the pandemic and the most draconian segregation laws.

Ontario’s top doctor encouraged those who invited the unvaccinated to make them eat outside like dogs. BC’s top top doctor encouraged people to skip the invite all together. But Alberta actually made it illegal for unvaccinated people to gather for Thanksgiving 2021 (even with their own kind…)

It’s still very hard to fathom what society became just two years ago. In October of 2021, the majority of the population had gotten the COVID therapeutic shots, but “normal life” was not back as promised by the politicians and “experts”. So, these actors needed a scapegoat for the continued rise of COVID and the lack of normalcy. Blaming the “unvaccinated” was an easy solution. But how far the media and politicians took this was truly shameful. Across the country, the mainstream media would cherry pick experts who would promote their narrative that the unvaccinated should be segregated. Health leaders stubbornly refusing to accept that COVID was here to stay made up unprecedented rules and laws.

A week before the 2021 festivities, Global News would lead their newscast by encouraging their viewers to strongly consider distancing themselves from their loved-ones who made a different health choice. In their online article, the first paragraph read.

“experts say choosing not to invite your unvaccinated relatives is the safer, smarter and more ethical option”

The piece by now fired journalist Rachel Gilmore really emphasized ethics. They stressed that “having that awkward conversation with your unvaccinated relative or friend is actually the most ethical thing you can do.”.

The largest newspaper in the US went even further with their headline.

The New York Times led their reporting with an even bolder and historically embarrassing statement:

“the risk of celebrating with unvaccinated friends and relatives just isn’t worth it”.

CBC News would make the best effort to turn Canadians against the unvaccinated when they claimed without any data or evidence that: "Just one unvaccinated family member can put a bunch of people at risk at the gathering”.

CBC quoted Ontario’s Top Doctor, Kieran Moore at the time warning that if there is “mixing of vaccinated and unvaccinated people, precautions should be taken”.

He stressed that if everyone has taken the therapeutics, masks can be taken off. But if uncle Bob made a different health choice, wear a mask around him or better yet consider making him outside like a dog.

“If it's a mixed population of vaccinated and non-vaccinated have the occasion outdoors” - Dr. Moore, Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health

In BC, the experts were even worse. They skipped the advice. The top doctor in that province all but made it illegal to invite unvaccinated family members.

While you can still stuff your turkey this Thanksgiving, B.C.’s top doctor is urging you not to stuff your home with unvaccinated guests.

In Alberta they took away the need for awkward conversations when a few weeks before Thanksgiving, they simply made it illegal to invite the dreaded unvaccinated.

That’s not an exaggeration. An often underreported story of this pandemic is that in Alberta, Canada the unvaccinated were prohibited from gathering with anyone (not even their own kind…) for several months in 2021.

Health experts and politicians essentially condemned at least a million Albertans to solitary confinement for several months.

By September and October of 2021 it was already clear that the COVID vaccines didn’t prevent transmission and were a personal protective tool to lessen your symptoms. So the experts and leaders crossed a line by encouraging Canadians treat each other differently based on health factors.

So this Thanksgiving, invite the unvaccinated. Welcome them in. Don’t treat anyone differently because of their health choice. And try not to let politicians or the media divide our society like this ever again.

Rejean Venne is a regular newsletter providing insight and analysis on Canadian issues. Please consider becoming a subscriber.