WIIKWEMKOONG—The horrific stories of those trapped within Canada’s long-term care homes during the recent global pandemic may have been swept away by the fickle winds of public attention, but the ‘COVID in the House of Old: Stories from a National Humanitarian Crisis’ project captures those stories in an innovative project that is as captivating as its story is terrifying. For many residential school survivors living in residential care facilities, the isolation from family and the greater community brought back memories of their experiences at the schools.
But ‘COVID in the House of Old’ is not some historical retelling of ancient wrongs by faceless villains inhabiting a bygone era. These stories are so recent that the flowers on the graves of those whose deaths form the subject matter relayed through the project’s audio presentations have barely had time to wilt. This exhibit/project, produced and curated by York University Professor Emeritus Megan Davies, relays a Canadian tragedy so terrible we can hardly bear to glance back over our shoulders—and one that may yet confront our nation once more in the coming months should we dare to drop our vigilance.
The tale of the ‘COVID in the House of Old’ begins on March 5, 2020 when a nurse working at North Vancouver’s Lynn Valley Care Centre tested positive for COVID-19. Three days later a resident in the centre died, then over the course of the next eight weeks, 20 more. This was to be the leading edge of a tsunami of mortality that in just six months saw 7,609 residents lose their lives. The carnage propelled Canada to the very top of an infamous pedestal.
“More than 82 percent of Canada’s first-wave deaths were residents of care facilities,” shares Professor Davies. “That makes our country the grim reaper par excellence among the nations of the Global North.” That’s right. Canada holds the infamous “honour” of being number one amongst its peers in failing to protect some of the most vulnerable of its population—parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and, yes, brothers, sisters and children too, as not all of the residents in long-term care facilities are made up of the elderly—just the vulnerable.
Professor Davies readily admits that realization hits home hard for her, and it is what led her to apply for the funding to conduct the research and collation of stories that eventually formed the basis of COVID in the House of Old.
Professor Davies has spent much of her career chronicling life inside Canadian long-term care homes and is the author of ‘Into the House of Old: A History of Residential Care in British Columbia.’ The intimate knowledge of life in our residential elders informs her work.
“Canada let our elders down,” she said. “More Canadians in care died than anywhere else globally. We are wearing it, whether we like to remember it or even if we didn’t know. I didn’t want to do just another research project.” Professor Davies said that work has already been done. “We know what needs to be done, she said, “that work has been done.”
“I thought, what I want to do is create a travelling exhibit and take it, not to art galleries, but out to the broadest public, places where people go, like libraries.”
Using the art of storytelling to bring the reality home to ordinary people is especially appropriate when it comes to Indigenous communities, where storytelling remains a strong cultural norm. “Storytelling is such an effect tool,” she said. “I can see how the people here (in Wiikwemkoong) understand the importance of a story.”
The stories are told in the form of audio presentations delivered through headphones while the listener sits in one of eight chairs decorated with mementoes indicative of the speaker and their loved ones.
‘COVID in the House of Old’ was installed at the Amikook Elder’s Centre from September 19 to 22 and at the Wiikwemkoong Nursing Home from September 22 to 26. Although the exhibit has now travelled on, its stories remain accessible online at COVIDintheHouseofOld.ca. The site also contains a wealth of information in the form of podcasts and other resources.
‘COVID in the House of Old’ was made possible by a generous Jack and Doris Shadbolt Fellowship in the Humanities from Simon Fraser University. York University has also provided valuable support, funding a social media creator and the costs of creating a chair to represent the Wikwemikong Nursing Home.
