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By Derek Craddock

TWO YEARS OF COVID

The pandemic has brought out the worst in people says survey on two-year anniversary of pandemic

Mar 11, 2022 | 1:48 PM

A new survey has painted a picture of how the past two years of COVID-19 has affected Canadians mentally and emotionally.

Friday marks two years since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Saskatchewan’s first cases of the virus were confirmed the following day and less than a week later, a State of Emergency was declared.

What started as a simple task to “bend the curve” turned into back-and-forth restrictions, vaccine mandates, passports, mandatory masks, and other public health measures that only recently have been lifted in many provinces.

Last month, a convoy of truck drivers protesting federal mandates and other restrictions on Parliament Hill prompted the government to invoke the Emergencies Act to quell the demonstrations. That convoy brought with it a large following as well as those firmly opposed to their message.

The debate over following the science or fighting for freedom appeared to grow larger over the last several months.

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How did Canadians go from coming together to pushing themselves further away from each other?

That was the biggest question that came from a survey from the Angus Reid Institute as they polled many Canadians on how they feel, two years into the COVID-19 pandemic.

Research Director with Angus Reid, Dave Korzinski said at the beginning of the pandemic, many in Saskatchewan were on a more supportive level.

“If you look at the opinions of either Prime Minister Trudeau or Premier Scott Moe in Saskatchewan, overwhelmingly people were saying, ‘you know, the political leaders are doing a great job. Our medical system is really doing well keeping up with the pandemic.”

Fast forward to March 10, 2022, when the survey was released, and the numbers are telling a different story.

“Saskatchewan residents are among the lowest level in the country,” said Korzinski. “Only 15 per cent saying that they think that the last two years has brought out the best in people, whereas 85 per cent think that it’s actually brought out the worst in people.”

(AngusReid.org)

He compared that to the numbers in Quebec and Atlantic Canada which were at 27 and 28 per cent respectively when asked if the pandemic brought out the best in people. Alberta had the lowest score at 10 per cent.

“That was one of the biggest kind of broad takeaways for us was just the fact that people have become a lot more cynical about the country,” Korzinski said.

But according to Tiffany Olson, a Clinical Therapist with Turquoise Tree Counselling in Prince Albert, there are some questions she felt were missing from the report.

“How many people are feeling hopeful or hopeful for change? I have questions kind of around, is it a people issue? Is it a media issue? How do we choose our perspective about the pandemic?”

She goes on to say that recognizing and struggling with this division has been a good thing, as it’s led many people to seek therapy during the pandemic. However, she believes those people that feel deeply divided are those not seeking help.

While the Angus Reid report did present a negative view of Canadians in the past couple of years, Olson said some good did come from the pandemic.

“What the pandemic has done is it’s forced us to slow down and spend time with family and be less busy and more connected to our immediate social (circle). Also looking at kind of the priorities where I’ve seen people prioritize things very differently because we also got quite robotical in the busyness of life. So, I can’t say it’s all bad, even though the report suggests that. I would actually have to say, I haven’t seen that it’s been all bad as a therapist.”

When it comes to the road ahead and whether these numbers could improve, Korzinski was hopeful but added that the pandemic is not the only thing weighing heavily on Canadians right now.

“What we’ve seen now though, is that that level of optimism has really been hurt by the economic situation and the inflation that we’re seeing that is really starting to hit low-income households. A lot of people around Saskatchewan have a budget that is just kind of set from month to month. Retired individuals or people living on lower incomes. That’s really starting to be eroded. So, It’s hard to have that level of optimism when we seem to be going from one crisis into another.”

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derek.craddock@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @pa_craddock