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PoP BC:

Protect Our Province

Physicians, nurses, health scientists, health policy specialists and community advocates working together to advocate for evidence-based health policies in BC.

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Open Letter: Asking for Removal of Dr. Daly as VCH CMOH and VP Public Health
Protect our Province BC along with several other medical professionals, scientists, and academics are extremely concerned about misinformation spread by Dr. Patricia Daly, Chief Medical Officer of Health for Vancouver Coastal Health.

“WHN is in agreement with the scientific statements in this letter that challenge the misinformation that has been provided to the public.” 

~ Yaneer Bar-Yam, Professor and President, New England Complex Systems Institute, Co-Founder World Health Network


Latest News from POP BC

Four healthcare workers dressed in white lab coats. All four are wearing white earloop respirators and have stethoscopes draped over their shoulders. Standing in a row from left to right: a Black man with short black hair and glasses, a taller white man with dark brown hair in behind the other three, a white woman in the front of the group with dark brown hair and gold hoop earrings, and a white woman with long black hair behind the woman in front.
This is the first time I have ever written a letter to my MLA. As a constituent who is a healthcare professional, a parent, and a recent cancer survivor, I feel compelled to reach out after the removal of mask mandates in BC hospitals, and I ask you, as my elected representative, to hear and, I hope, understand how serious this issue is, and how urgently change is needed in our provincial government’s pandemic management strategy.
Our health officer has previously advocated for kindness. But as someone with a disability (long Covid), I need you to know that resting under this rubric of “personal choice”, many of us who are disabled actually experience this framing of the matter as a personal choice, rather, as your government’s complete and abject disregard of the disabled and elderly, for how else are we to understand why our lives and health don’t matter?
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Now is not the time to remove indoor masks protections in spaces where vulnerable British Columbians seek medical care. No one should come to the hospital for one condition and leave with a COVID-19 infection. Or, not leave the hospital, and die from Covid? A recent leak from the Victorian Health Department, Australia suggested a 10% or more mortality for patients who acquired COVID-19 in hospital between January and October 2022.

Latest POP BC Briefings

Image shows a large COVID viral particle (dark pink colour) being pulled by a tiny human with a tight rope, along a hill. Grey clouds in the background with the hill depicted in black. Logo of PoP BC is in the lower left corner.
“If we had an epidemic of people with broken limbs and we saw people in plasters and crutches, it would be more evident. But there is a lot of disability that is happening, which is a hidden disability often, which is why we need to talk about it more, for people to understand what the consequences are. And that will help to make better decisions.” – Lynette
The standard PoP BC mountain background with the PoP logo and the text:
“If we had an epidemic of people with broken limbs and we saw people in plasters and crutches, it would be more evident. But there is a lot of disability that is happening, which is a hidden disability often, which is why we need to talk about it more, for people to understand what the consequences are. And that will help to make better decisions.” – Lynette
Text in red across the top saying
Date: Wednesday, March 1 2023 at 2:00 PM PST A conversation with Protect Our Province BC doctors about Paxlovid and access to this useful Covid medication in BC Join Dr. Susan Kuo and Dr. Lyne Filiatrault of Protect Our Province BC on Wednesday, March 1, 2023, 2 pm, for a conversation about Paxlovid.  BC is… Continue reading Mar 1, 2023: Paxlovid: Why Should You Care?

ACTION: Download or print a PoP BC poster on how to hold inclusive events in your community (translations available!)

PoP BC’s mission is to provide evidence-based public health guidance in an effort to collectively reduce the spread of COVID-19. You can support our efforts and contribute to our mission by helping us get the word out.


In BC, there is an ongoing attempt to dismiss the severity of COVID-19 and to pressure people to ‘get back to normal’. But the virus is still circulating (the current version is the most infectious yet) and people are still getting sick. At the same time, we all want to see each other and enjoy our lives – how do we do that without excluding people who are still taking precautions to avoid getting COVID (or giving it to others)?


PoP BC is happy to share these posters on how to hold inclusive events, available in the following languages: Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), English, Filipino, French, Korean, Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu, and Vietnamese.


These graphics are designed for sharing, whether by email, on social media, or by printing and distributing in your local area or your workplace. Click on the button below to find PDFs and images of how to host events that don’t exclude vulnerable members of your community.



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