Governments: Work together and lead us out of this crisis
Helplessness, frustration and fear for the future — the dark first anniversary of COVID-19. Like so many Canadians, in the past few days I have been trying to cast my mind back to the onset of the pandemic, a global crisis that will surely be remembered as a watershed moment in early 21st-century history.
It has been a year but it feels like 10. I recall that early last March I had just returned from Washington, where I had been attending a conference with my son, only to be met with panicked phone calls regarding our possible exposure to a conference participant from Toronto, who had tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. This was the moment when I first began to grasp the far-reaching implications of this global pandemic and our lack of preparedness for a crisis of this magnitude.
In a few short weeks, new words became part of our collective vocabulary: flattening the curve; social distancing; personal protective equipment. Our daily realities suddenly included selfisolation, quarantine and mandatory lockdowns. While thankfully recent positive news around vaccine delivery is providing a distant light at the end of the tunnel, I continue to be struck by a lingering concern: What will be the long-term fallout for our youngest generation? What will this mean for Canada’s youth?
On March 13, 2020, a Friday, students and teachers prepared for an extended March break of three weeks. No one could have predicted schools would be locked for the next six months.
Throughout the past year, the implications for students have been wideranging. High school seniors missed out on important milestones such as prom and commencement, and preparation for post-secondary learning was severely interrupted.
Elementary students accustomed to interactive lessons and time spent playing outside were suddenly forced to spend hours at home in front of a screen trying to focus on work, especially challenging for children with special learning needs who require one-on-one attention.
Regardless of age, Ontario’s students have been profoundly affected by the pandemic and we do not yet have a full understanding of the developmental fallout.
The consequences of the drastic shift in educating Ontario’s youth has also had major implications for teachers and parents. Teachers would go on to spend the rest of the school year learning how to plan lessons using technology some of their students did not have, teaching on virtual platforms they themselves had never used, all the while attempting to care for their own families under increasingly challenging conditions.
Parents found themselves juggling responsibilities of career, caregiving and educating, as the demands of their own jobs jostled with overseeing math and language lessons. Parents were also forced to grapple with childhood staples such as extracurricular sports, summer camp, play dates and even birthday parties being suddenly cancelled or moved online, a reality that is still ongoing.
It was a challenging start to online learning and, for many, things have not gotten easier. In my role at Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, I have witnessed many of these challenges firsthand. I’ve sat in on FSWC student workshops that were interrupted by pets jumping into Zoom screens and crying toddlers. I also recently sat in on a virtual workshop where the classroom teacher was simultaneously watching the lesson and rocking a newborn in his arms.
These moments have given me enormous appreciation for both our students’ resiliency and the oft-overlooked contributions of teachers and parents in caring for our youth in these incredibly challenging times.
Just this past week, I was immensely relieved to learn more and more Canadians are going to be getting their first COVID-19 vaccines sooner than later, each shot bringing us one step closer to a “new normal.” However, what this “new normal” will look like remains to be seen.
Over the past year, COVID-19 has had a profound impact on our daily lives, and we shouldn’t underestimate the lingering impact it will have for all of us in the years ahead, especially for our youth. As we grapple with the one-year mark of this virus, I have a message for our government leaders at all levels: Please work together and lead us out of this now.
a Toronto-based freelance contributing columnist for the Star,