Province, RCMP deny doctor's allegations of racism, 'political scapegoating'
CBC
The New Brunswick government and the RCMP are denying allegations of discrimination, "political scapegoating" and withholding evidence levelled by a former Campbellton doctor.
Dr. Jean-Robert Ngola, 52, filed the lawsuit against the RCMP, the provincial government, as well as Facebook, in January 2022.
In it, he says he faced racism and threats after he was accused in 2020 of breaking COVID-19 rules by failing to isolate and of being the source of a deadly outbreak.
After many months of motions and court appearances, the province and RCMP filed their statements of defence earlier this year.
In its filing, the federal attorney general, speaking on behalf of the RCMP, explicitly denied that the RCMP was biased against Ngola, that it withheld evidence, that it was serving the political interests of the province or that it breached Ngola's Charter rights.
The province denied all allegations of breaching Ngola's Charter rights or "scapegoating" him to get ahead in the election held that fall.
In May, Ngola was labelled by some as "patient zero" after he tested positive for COVID-19. In early May 2020 he drove across the border to Quebec and did not isolate upon his return. He later claimed the province's rules were unclear.
During a May 27 news conference on the province's response to the pandemic, Premier Blaine Higgs said a medical professional had travelled to Quebec for personal reasons.
Higgs never referred to Ngola by name but blamed what was then a cluster of COVID-19 cases in the Campbellton region and a resurgence of the coronavirus in the province on the "irresponsible individual" who returned to work at the Campbellton Regional Hospital for two weeks.
The outbreak claimed two lives, infected dozens and forced that part of New Brunswick back into a more restrictive phase of recovery.
Ngola's lawyers argue that Higgs, acting as an agent of the province, "knew or ought to have known" that the public could identify Ngola based on those details and Ngola's identity which "had already been illegally leaked to the public via Facebook/social media prior to the press conference."
Ngola's lawyers also allege that the province's actions "were calculated for political advancement" by the premier.
"By pinning the increase in COVID-19 cases on Dr. Ngola, the Defendants RCMP and [the province] shifted the blame for their management of COVID-19 to him," the suit says.
In the statement of defence, the province says Higgs did not know Ngola's name, gender, age, race or occupation when he spoke at that news conference.
