Katherine Grzejszczak’s termination has profound implications for all health and public sector workers in Canada, these physicians say
Dr. Daniel Rosenbaum, Dr. Suzanne Shoush, and Dr. Amina Jabbar
In late June, Katherine Grzejszczak, a CUPE Ontario board member and paramedic of 15 years with York Region Paramedic Services, was fired from her job for writing a Facebook comment in support of an anti-war rally. In her comment, she condemned Israel for deliberately killing civilians and health-care workers, and for committing genocide in Gaza.
Grzejszczak’s statements were made on her personal account, and she was terminated less than 48 hours later. The process through which she was fired remains unclear, though reports suggest that Vaughan’s municipal politicians, including Mayor Steven Del Duca, pressured York Region Paramedic Services to dismiss her, despite her much needed life-saving skills.
Grzejszczak’s termination has profound implications for all health and public sector workers in Canada. While there have been many instances of health workers facing discipline or harassment for opposing the genocide in Gaza, this appears to be the first instance of a unionized health worker terminated for doing the same.
Grzejszczak’s case marks yet another example of anti-Palestinian racism in the health sector, demonstrating that speaking plainly about Israel’s crimes can come with steep professional and personal costs.
As health-care workers, we are bound by a code of ethics and professional oaths to protect health, preserve life, and dedicate our work to humanitarian goals – no matter how inconvenient to our comfort. As a first responder, Grzejszczak, too, is guided by these ethics. We are compelled to speak out against the horrors inflicted by Israel on the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
Paramedics and first responders in Gaza have been at particular risk from Israeli violence since the war on Gaza began. This reality was crystallized in March, when the murdered bodies of 15 emergency responders were found in a mass grave. Video recovered from the cellphone of one of the dead responders provided proof that they were killed and buried, along with their ambulances, by Israeli forces.
The head of the United Nations (UN) Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Gaza posted publicly, “They were killed in their uniforms. Driving their clearly marked vehicles. Wearing their gloves. On their way to save lives. This should never have happened.”
The systematic destruction of Gaza’s health-care system by Israel has been extensively documented by the UN, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), and other aid groups. Nearly every hospital in Gaza has been destroyed. Furthermore, more than 1,400 health-care workers – more than two per day since Oct. 7, 2023 – have been killed, with many more abducted and tortured.
The destruction of Gaza’s hospitals, clinics, and health-care workforce will contribute to countless indirect deaths for years to come, especially given the catastrophic and totally preventable stage 5 famine that has been intentionally inflicted on the people of Gaza.
The termination of Katherine Grzejszczak’s employment on the basis of her expressing political views has been criticized by the Centre for Free Expression as a violation of fundamental rights. Her dismissal is rightly being challenged by her union, CUPE. Thousands of supporters have written to York Region Paramedics Services to demand her immediate reinstatement, a call we echo.
At their annual meeting in June, the British Medical Association (BMA), the professional association and trade union representing all doctors in the United Kingdom, affirmed “the right of health-care professionals and medical students to criticize states, governments, or institutions for actions that contravene international law.”
Prior to this, in December 2023, the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada (IPAC) put forth a statement against Intimidation and Harassment of Medical Learners for speaking out, expressing alarm that our colleagues are facing discipline for “making space to acknowledge the pain and suffering of civilians in Gaza and denouncing violence, crimes against humanity, or genocide”. IPAC urged “all medical associations and institutions to create a safe space where medical learners and physicians can express their concern for human life without fear.”
Our professional associations must follow IPAC and BMA’s lead and support the rights of their members to speak out against the ongoing genocide in Gaza, just as Katherine Grzejszczak has done. We owe it to Grzejszczak and to our health worker colleagues in Gaza to continue to raise our voices in solidarity.
Dr. Daniel Rosenbaum is a psychiatrist in Toronto. Dr. Suzanne Shoush is a First Nations/Black (St’atl’imx and Sudanese) physician, mother, and advocate based in Toronto. Dr. Amina Jabbar is a geriatrician in Toronto and Mississauga.
Friends of Katherine 