More Dr. Bonnie Henry Please

Imagine if someone rang your doorbell on March 1st 2020 and announced that before the end of the month most of the schools, restaurants, and tourist attractions throughout the world will be closed. What if they went on to say that in three weeks’ time you’ll no longer be able to travel, professional sports will be canceled and late-night television hosts will be broadcasting from their bedrooms.

Crazy, right? Unimaginable. We’re living in a time where what’s normal is being redefined, around the globe, in a space of a few months. This is a generation-defining moment - a juncture where we might look back and say “that’s when everything changed.” 

The long-term tremors COVID-19 unleashes into the world are equally as impossible to imagine as the worldwide quarantine was a mere few months ago. They may be dire and frightful or heartening and exalting. Likely they’ll be both. For sure the outcomes will be profoundly impacted by the people we entrust to lead us through this crisis.

We’re navigating this unprecedented turbulence from within our individual cocoons while experiencing a media onslaught of contradictory, confusing, and sometimes terrifying information. More than ever we need non-partisan leaders we can trust to do what is everyone’s best interest. We need people at the forefront of this crisis who can impart honest updates with intelligence, compassion, and wisdom. 

Many of us have found that with Dr. Bonnie Henry, British Columbia’s soft-spoken provincial health officer who’s daily public announcements are delivered with honesty, precision, clarity, and empathy.  Dr. Bonnie Henry has quickly become a beloved hero in households throughout Canada. She even has a fan club.

People adore her because she has a unique ability to make them feel calm while delivering news of illness and death and asking for unprecedented community sacrifice. She’s exactly what the world needs more of right now - honest leaders who deliver vital information candidly minus the overheated and divisive rhetoric. 

So, we’re celebrating Dr. Bonnie Henry to thank her for being a role model. We’re honoring her because we need more people like her to stand up and be heard and help guide us through these dire times.

We’re dedicating a Little Gem block to her because we hope to do whatever we can to raise her profile, in the hopes she might inspire other political leaders to rise above the fray.  Because, no matter our personal politics, or traditional voting habits, this is a time when we need to demand the very best from our leaders. 

We hope everyone helps us celebrate Dr. Bonnie and that we find the will to do as she says and be kind, be calm and be safe. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this Little Gem will be donated to Islanders Working Against Violence - an organization in our community doing wonderful and important work.

XO Cedar Mountaineers