A former New Brunswick doctor is suing the province and the RCMP after he was accused of being “patient zero” in a COVID-19 outbreak last year in Campbellton for failing to self-isolate after an out-of-province trip.
Last Friday, the Crown dropped a charge under New Brunswick’s Emergency Measures Act against Dr. Jean-Robert Ngola but he sought an apology from Premier Blaine Higgs within a week.
Joel Etienne, one of Ngola’s lawyers, calls this a case of anti-black racism and legal action will proceed since no apology has been received.
“As far as we are concerned, the Crown withdrew the charges against Jean-Robert Ngola because they had no case at all. It’s not that they had a bad case, they had no case.”
Etienne claims every effort was made to ignore the traditional rules in this case.
“It was all upside down. It was not the doctor that was not following the rules, it was the New Brunswick authorities and the RCMP that were not following the rules.”
During a pandemic briefing in May 2020, Higgs didn’t provide a name but noted how an irresponsible health care worker caused a COVID-19 outbreak in Campbellton.
Dr. Ngola, a Congolese Canadian, later relocated to Quebec after receiving racial slurs and death threats and even required police protection.
The lawsuit not only seeks an apology but financial compensation, a form of restorative justice and an independent investigation to ensure a case like this never happens again.
