Coronavirus Conspiracies in Canada
Given the free flow of information experienced by people living in Canada, it’s foreseeable that facts and misinformation are often confused with one another by the scientifically illiterate sector of the public. Trafficking conspiracy theories can be a relatively harmless hobby (extraterrestrials walking among us, for example). But sometimes the perpetuation of a conspiracy can be a clear and present danger to public health. In the case of SARS-CoV-2, coronavirus conspiracies in Quebec and the rest of Canada can promote an agenda of misery and death.
Emigrating to a nation like Canada brings the hope of living in a place where science and rational thought are valued. Yet public attitude here towards the virus brings up serious concerns and shatters any illusions a scientifically literate immigrant might have had about Quebec / Canada. Results from the first phase of a survey conducted by Carleton University in Ottawa made international headlines that Canadians can’t be proud of:
- 46% of respondents believed at least 1 of the 4 conspiracy theories addressed in the survey
- 26% believed SARS-CoV-2 was engineered as a bioweapon in a Chinese lab and released into the general population
- 11% believed COVID-19 is not a serious illness but is being spread to cover up harmful health effects associated with exposure to 5G wireless technology
- 23% believed Mr Trump’s miracle drug hydroxychloroquine is effective in treating patients infected with SARS-CoV-2
- Not at all surprisingly, spending more time every day on social media platforms was positively associated with believing the discredited conspiracy theories
Two thousand Canadian residents were surveyed from May 5–8, and data were weighted with census data to match age, gender, educational attainment and region. Respondents from Atlantic Canada were consistently less likely to believe the conspiracy theories than respondents from elsewhere in Canada—so a big thank you to the fine people of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador!
Conspiracy theorists think they’re privy to top secret info that us regular folk somehow aren’t, which coincidently makes them superior to everybody else because they “know” something we don’t.
5G SARS-CoV-2
Right-wing extremists have propagated conspiracy theories about 5G networks being linked to the current pandemic. (While this line of thinking is clearly for people who also believe in leprechauns, there are plenty of legitimate or potentially valid reasons to dislike 5G). The whole sordid affair has become so ridiculous that the WHO needed to actually post grade-school level science knowledge on their website: “Viruses cannot travel on radio waves / mobile networks”.
A young newlywed couple [photos below] is allegedly responsible for setting seven cellphone towers ablaze in early May north of Montreal: three towers in Laval and one each in Saint-Jérôme, Blainville, Piedmont, and Prévost. Ironically for these young arsonists who loved their social media accounts [and presumably their cell phones], they didn’t first check to see if the towers they torched had 5G capability. Described as “a beauty queen and a bad rapper”, the couple is now deprived of their cell phones for the foreseeable future (and the wife’s stint as a queen is likely over).
Abundant coronavirus conspiracies in Quebec
According to our sources on the ground in the Montreal area and among Québécois social media accounts, there’s a genuinely troubling acceptance of the idea that SARS-CoV-2 / COVID-19 is some kind of hoax. For those of us in the scientific community who have emigrated to Canada, ignorance and apathy are quite sad to hear about or witness firsthand.
Overheard outside a Canadian Tire in LaSalle, soon after Legault announced in mid-May that Quebec would be giving 1 million masks to Montreal :
I’m not wearing a mask—this isn’t China” [what’s more, strangers who heard her opinion agreed with her]
Q: a disease of the mind
Thanks to the psychologically distressed disinformation cult QAnon (and the social media corporations who enabled them to rise to infamy), the level of disinformation about the virus is now an epidemic of its own. Unsurprisingly, QAnon Facebook groups grew 120% in March, right as Americans were being more formally introduced to the pandemic (and either accepting it as real or dismissing it). If you have the stomach for staring madness straight in the face, you can read this primer on Q that exposed their brainless garbage a full three years ago, before they went mainstream.
Since the Q cult worships the leader of the larger cult colloquially known as Cult 45, a reasonable person could assume that QAnon wouldn’t much appeal to Canadians, who are not directly ruled by Mr Trump. Yet on September 12, Montrealers witnessed that outside the CBC / Radio-Canada building on René-Lévesque Boulevard “a stage was set up, behind which two flags bore the logo of QAnon”. Yes, the mind disease of QAnon is right here in Montreal. How foolish was I to think that I’d be leaving that cult behind upon moving to Canada?
How to counteract the chaos of ignorance?
Each falsehood can create enormous chaos. Ironically, the Internet can make people less informed through falsity. Since the world wide web is reliably the source of conspiracy theories in the 21st century, public health agencies around the globe have launched initiatives to fight misinformation and disinformation in this realm. But as we know, you can only lead a horse to water. Evidence-based sites devoted to public health are basically the last source of information that crackpots will consult.
In Asian nations you can appeal to your countrymen with a sense of social responsibility, which works far more effectively than in a nation like the “United” States where pathological individualism rules the land in 2020. China reminds their public that scientific expertise will solve this problem, not the spreading of rumors. South Korea educates their public with concrete examples of how conspiracy theories in other nations only worsened the crisis in those places.
Government justifies itself during a plague
Due to widespread scientific illiteracy coupled with the relative inaction of tech companies, government action against misinformation and disinformation is appropriate recourse. Singapore and South Korea are model nations in this regard. Singapore’s Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) has some teeth to it, not exempting the largest tech entities from shrugging off responsibility for misinformation and disinformation.
Montrealers can find reasonably clear information via links on Quebec’s main coronavirus webpage, their Santé Montréal main page devoted to the virus, and (for some purposes) the city’s own coronavirus main page. One effort for francophones that specifically promotes facts over feelings is Le Détecteur de rumeurs (Rumor Detector). Only written in French, it’s the Bureau de la coopération universitaire partnering with Agence Science-Presse to dispel fake news.
Avoid and report snake oil salesmen
If you have information regarding health products claiming to treat, prevent or cure COVID-19, please snitch on these criminals by reporting them to Health Canada at this link. The people who prey on your neighbors by selling them coronavirus snake oils are little better than corner drug dealers selling heroin to children. Providing a false sense of security about a highly contagious pandemic virus only helps to further spread misery, suffering, and death. We all need to help one another in eliminating misinformation and insidious coronavirus conspiracies in Quebec.
If you are interested in taking a natural approach to prevention, check out our page on Eating Against Coronavirus.