Marches in Lockstep

On March 5, 2020, television broadcasts across the country flashed disturbing images of seniors locked down at Lynn Valley Care Centre, the North Vancouver facility that became an early face of the COVID‑19 pandemic. Here was British Columbia’s first case of community transmission and a warning that the virus would soon rip through nursing homes. The initial Canadian death was also recorded at Lynn Valley, during a two-month outbreak that infected fifty-two residents and twenty-six staff members and claimed twenty lives. Within a year, the novel coronavirus would kill more than 22,000 Canadians, the majority of whom were older and living in residential facilities.

The Lynn Valley ordeal shattered our complacency and shifted the focus of Canadian media coverage away from lockdowns in China and passengers trapped on cruise ships. But it did not lead to in‑depth reporting about the...