Todd Doherty calls for more protection for healthcare workers and first responders

Cariboo-Prince George MP Todd Doherty tabled a bill in the House of Commons this morning (Thursday).

The bill calls on the Federal Government to amend the criminal code when it comes to assaults against healthcare professionals and first responders.

“We are seeing an increasing amount of violence against our healthcare professionals, whether it’s a nurse or a doctor, or our first responders, paramedics that are just doing their job, and the message today is violence is not in the job description,” said Doherty.

The MP explained the bill would amend the criminal code, requiring the court to consider an assault on a health care professional or first responder to be an aggravating circumstance for sentencing purposes.

Doherty noted they have been meeting with nurse’s unions and first responders across Canada and they heard ‘loud and clear’ that more needed to be done to ‘protect the frontline workers who protect us.’

-With files from George Henderson, My Cariboo Now.