VANCOUVER—It’s there as a whisper for some of us — that inner rebellious voice asking the unspoken question when authority demands compliance.

And, as Canada’s chief public health officer told citizens Friday that no one should travel outside the country unless they have to, out of concern over the growing COVID-19 pandemic, that unspoken question was on many people’s minds.

“What if I want to anyway?”

Friday’s announcement was the first national call against international travel, after British Columbia’s health minister advised the same Thursday and said people returning from travels should stay at home for 14 days.

The timing is poor to say the least, for many Canadians who have already booked spring break holidays, and others who travel frequently for work and fear losing their jobs if they stay at home for weeks to self-isolate.

But the truth is, government officials have the power to force citizens to comply with quarantine and self-isolation policies during a health crisis.

“Under the Public Health Act … We have quite broad powers to compel people to take action, to be assessed by a clinician, to have testing done and get treatment in some cases or be isolated,” said Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s top provincial health officer.

“We don’t need to declare an emergency to do a lot of what we can do under the Public Health Act,” Henry added.

This includes potentially forcing people to leave their homes and enter a specially designated quarantine health facility.

While similar provisions exist across the country’s provinces and territories, Henry told the Star that officials tend to tread carefully so their actions don’t erode public trust.

“We’ve been very careful to protect people’s privacy so people are confident they can come to us for the health care they need to deal with the disease and not be subjected to (stigmatizing) behaviours … It’s a balance but we want to make sure they have trust in the the public health system,” she said.

B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix also assured Thursday that the province’s travel guidelines are currently voluntary.

“That’s not our jurisdiction to be at the border and stop people from going. But it is our expectation that should people go to the United States and there is something so important that they feel they have to go, that they think it would be important enough to choose to self isolate when they come back,” he told reporters.

It’s unclear if other provinces will adopt a similar approach, since under the Constitution, health care is a provincial responsibility and the federal government would need to assert a state of national emergency to pass legislation in the area.

However, across the country, Canadian physicians must report both confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus to the Public Health Agency of Canada within 24 hours.

Patient confidentiality does not apply since doctors keeping coronavirus cases a secret could put other lives in danger.

Given the possible restrictions, will Canadians with mild cases of coronavirus choose to avoid seeing a doctor in order to go about their daily lives as they please?

Most coronavirus cases do not require hospitalization and patients can recover at home, but that might not be flexible enough for gig economy and non-unionized workers who are at higher risk of losing wages or even their jobs if they can’t work.

Mass quarantines of large groups hasn’t happened in Canada yet, but a York University sociologist says looking at levels of public trust toward the government can predict how people could respond to mandatory quarantine orders.

“If you have doubts about the government, or don’t have trust in the health system, you might not want to deal with authorities at all, even if you’re sick (with the coronavirus). We could see that become very common,” Cary Wu told the Star.

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When China imposed a massive quarantine of twelve cities near the epicentre of Wuhan on January 24, most of the 35 million people who were affected obeyed.

China’s authoritarian system and ubiquitous police surveillance may have been a factor, but high public trust in the government could also have been a factor.

According to the latest World Values survey, more than 85 per cent of Chinese citizens have a “great deal” of confidence in their government. In Canada in 2013, only 39 per cent said the same.

In democracies, people “tend to be more individualistic and more critical,” says Wu, who has recently received funding to study the role public trust plays in global efforts to stop the coronavirus.

However, according to more detailed Statistics Canada data, the average Canadian tends to have more trust in local municipal- and provincial-level governments than the national government.

During a pandemic, it is advantageous for Canada to have a federal political system, says Stewart Prest, a Simon Fraser University political scientist.

“The authorities responsible for making most decisions are closer to the areas being affected, and given that COVID-19 challenges vary significantly province to province, this allows for a more tailored approach.

“If the federal government were to step in to take charge, we could end up with a one-size-fits-all approach that might not work everywhere,” Prest said.

And how might Canada’s leaders inspire higher public trust so more people voluntarily comply with guidelines issued to fight coronavirus?

Communicate.

“There are just so many questions Canadians have and the federal government has the power to communicate in a way provinces don’t,” Prest said.

“They can make clear what the response is across the country and what’s being asked of Canadians and why. Keep the updates flowing regularly.”

Joanna Chiu is a Vancouver-based reporter covering both Canada-China relations and current affairs on the West Coast for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @joannachiu

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