Groupthink among politicians, media, and experts led to severe harm to vulnerable groups, including children, report finds
A new report from the Frontier Centre for Public Policy accuses Canadian authorities of abandoning established emergency management principles during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to widespread harm and a devastating loss of public trust.
The report, “When COVID-19 Claims of ‘Revisionism’ and ‘Misinformation’ are Themselves Misinformed”, argues that officials used terms like “misinformation” and “revisionism” to silence criticism of lockdowns, school closures, and mask mandates. This approach, the authors say, stifled debate, prevented authorities from learning from their mistakes, and contributed to policy failures that will have long-term consequences.
 Terms like “misinformation” and “revisionism” were used to silence criticism of COVID-19 policies. |
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The report, written by Dr. Ari R. Joffe, Pooya Kazemi, Dr. Roy Eappen, and Dr. Chris Milburn, contends that pandemic policies should have been guided by a multidisciplinary approach that balanced virus control with social, economic, and long-term health considerations. Instead, governments focused narrowly on restrictive measures, disregarding the well-established emergency management framework that prioritizes preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery.
The authors argue that the consequences of this failure have been severe. They highlight a surge in mental health crises, learning loss among students, economic hardship, and deteriorating access to healthcare as direct results of prolonged lockdowns and restrictive policies. Vulnerable groups, including children and low-income families, suffered the most. On a global scale, the report notes that pandemic measures exacerbated poverty, disrupted childhood vaccinations, and increased rates of violence and inequality.
The report is also highly critical of how governments dismissed alternative viewpoints. It cites the backlash against the Great Barrington Declaration—which called for focused protection of vulnerable populations instead of blanket lockdowns—as a clear example of how decision-makers suppressed debate rather than engaging with opposing perspectives. This refusal to consider alternative strategies, the authors say, reinforced groupthink and led to policy missteps that could have been avoided.
According to the report, authorities ignored critical data that should have informed policy adjustments. Studies questioning the effectiveness of community masking and highlighting the role of natural immunity were often dismissed outright rather than being incorporated into a more adaptive response. The authors argue that had decision-makers adhered to standard emergency management protocols, similar to those used in natural disasters, the pandemic response would have been more balanced and effective.
The report makes three key recommendations to prevent similar failures in future public health crises:
First, it calls for an end to the weaponization of the term “misinformation” to shut down debate, urging governments to embrace transparent, evidence-based policymaking that adjusts to new information.
Second, it demands a return to emergency management principles, ensuring public health responses involve diverse expertise, prioritize transparency, and conduct regular cost-benefit analyses.
Finally, the authors call for an independent review of Canada’s pandemic policies, arguing that accountability is essential to restoring public confidence in public health institutions.
The report also warns against centralized global control over public health decisions, citing ongoing World Health Organization negotiations that could make it easier to impose international lockdowns. The authors argue that a top-down approach would strip local governments of the flexibility needed to tailor responses to their unique populations, resulting in ineffective, one-size-fits-all mandates.
The authors conclude with a blunt assessment: unless Canada learns from the mistakes of the COVID-19 response, the country risks repeating them in future crises. They argue that transparency, flexibility, and accountability must be non-negotiable in public health policymaking to ensure that future responses are more effective and balanced.
| News Desk
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