Manitoba to no longer have jail as an option for people with communicable diseases

The province introduced amendments to the Public Health Act prohibiting people from being jailed if they’re deemed a threat to public health.

WINNIPEG — The Manitoba government is planning to stop using jails to detain people who have communicable diseases that pose a risk to others.

A bill now before the legislature would give the provincial cabinet the power to spell out specific sites for detention such as hospitals and other health-care facilities.

Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara says it’s important to treat people as patients and not put them in jail.

The Public Health Act currently allows someone to be detained at a wide variety of facilities if they fail to comply with a communicable disease order or if they are exposed to a virulent and highly communicable disease.

The proposed change follows a CBC report last year about a woman from God’s Lake First Nation, a remote fly-in community, who spent a month in custody after not consistently taking medication for tuberculosis.

Geraldine Mason told the CBC she was supposed to go to the community nursing station and take her medication in front of a health-care worker, but did not always get to the nursing station before it closed.

Premier Wab Kinew promised at the time to change the rules.

If it becomes law, the bill would also require a provincial court judge to approve a detention order sought by health officials. The law currently allows for approval from a justice of the peace.

“Folks should not be put in jail to receive health care,” Asagwara said Wednesday.

“Health-care practitioners ... are best positioned to ensure that the right steps are taken to not only make sure that patient gets the right care at the right place at the right time, but to also make sure that the surroundings and the general public are also safe.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 12, 2025.

Steve Lambert, The Canadian Press