Health Canada warnings should be issued in more languages: social agency

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Health Canada is issuing a warning about illegal pesticide use after the deaths of two Alberta children whose mom was trying to get rid of bedbugs this week.

But a local social agency for immigrants is calling for change; it wants future alerts to be issued in several languages — not just in English and French.

Queenie Choo with SUCCESS says her office doesn’t have the staff to translate every warning. She thinks if Health Canada and other federal agencies want to get their messages across, they should release it in more languages.

“It has to be understood by the communities where, perhaps, English or French is not their first language. They’ve got to reach out to many people as possible.”

“I think we have to look at the current situation and certainly, this incident is very, very unfortunate. When we’re unable to reach out to people who need to understand [a warning] in the language that they would be able to understand the situation better. If it’s possible or feasible, I think that would be beneficial to the community to reach out to the population otherwise they would be in danger,” adds Choo.

The national warning is about using unregistered products to fight bedbugs. It comes after two children, an eight-month-old girl and her two-year-old brother, died at their home in Alberta after inhaling insecticide brought back from Pakistan.

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