Legislation will ban incarceration under Health Act after Manitoba woman with TB jailed

Kristin Annable · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 12, 2025 7:32 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 minutes ago

The Manitoba authorities has introduced authorities to further guarantee a idiosyncratic with a communicable illness similar tuberculosis can't beryllium detained successful a jailhouse for nationalist wellness reasons.

Geraldine Mason, a 36-year-old from God's Lake First Nation, spent a period successful jailhouse aft she was detained for tuberculosis attraction nether the Public Health Act. 

"Folks should not beryllium enactment successful jailhouse to person wellness care," Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said Wednesday.

"And I privation Geraldine Mason and others to cognize that we are sincerely atrocious that this happened to them."

The details of the measure were released Wednesday aft it was archetypal introduced past week by the NDP government.

It comes aft CBC reported Mason was arrested nether the Public Health Act connected Oct. 27 of past twelvemonth and was ordered by a judicial justness of the bid to walk 3 months down bars.

Under existing provincial legislation, a aesculapian serviceman of wellness tin use to a court to apprehend anyone they judge is simply a menace to nationalist health. 

In Mason's case, a aesculapian serviceman said she wasn't consistently taking the medicine needed to cure her tuberculosis, an infectious illness that tin beryllium fatal if not treated, according to an apprehension bid obtained by CBC News. 

There was nary nationalist proceeding and Mason did not person a lawyer contiguous erstwhile the detention bid was made.

Under the caller legislation, immoderate detention bid would person to beryllium heard by a provincial tribunal justice astatine a nationalist hearing.

Leif Jensen, a ineligible assistance lawyer who works astatine the University of Manitoba's assemblage instrumentality centre and was Mason's lawyer, welcomes the change.

"Where liberty is astatine issue, erstwhile we're putting idiosyncratic successful detention, whether it's successful a infirmary oregon jailhouse oregon adjacent successful their ain location … having the maximum magnitude of procedural fairness is important, and a provincial tribunal justness tin supply that," Jensen said.

He said portion the authorities is simply a measurement successful the close direction, he's waiting to work each the caller regulations to afloat recognize the interaction of the changes. 

But he's blessed to spot the interaction Mason's communicative had.

"I inactive don't truly recognize however that could person happened — however she could person been detained successful a situation alternatively of successful a hospital," said Jensen.

"It was truthful evident that what happened to her should not person happened."

Legislation takes directive step further: minister

After CBC published Mason's communicative successful December, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew instantly ordered a directive to forestall akin situations.

"I said, 'Get maine an bid ensuring that cipher is ever jailed for having tuberculosis again,'" Kinew said connected Dec. 2.

The directive, signed by Dr. Brent Roussin, Manitoba's main provincial nationalist wellness officer, said that if a idiosyncratic indispensable beryllium detained to support nationalist health, they indispensable beryllium sent to a wellness facility.

The caller bill, which amends the Public Health Act, takes that directive a measurement further, the wellness curate said.

"This authorities is indispensable successful bid to guarantee that nary 1 is placed successful jailhouse to person wellness care," said Asagwara.

"We know that by mode of law, we request to marque definite that we instrumentality a public-health attack to this issue."

Asagwara said the signifier of incarcerating radical for wellness reasons has gone connected for excessively agelong and has disproportionately affected Indigenous people.  

"That is simply a shameful portion of our history, and we mean to support that signifier successful our history," they said.