Joanne Schnurr, CTV Ottawa
Another Canadian diplomat has been identified with mysterious health problems after being posted to Cuba. That brings the total to 14. And government sources indicate there are children among them.
As a precaution, the government will cut in half the number of Canadians working in Havana but the embassy will remain open.
It's a continuing mystery: what's causing dozens of Canadian and American embassy workers or their family members in Cuba to fall ill with symptoms similar to concussions.
An Ottawa specialist in brain injuries has been tasked to assess our diplomats and to help them rebuild their lives back at home.
With its never-ending beaches and turquoise waters, Cuba should be a coveted posting for Canadian embassy staff. But that's changed since last year when both Canadian and American diplomats and their families started developing mysterious illnesses that seemed to affect their brain.
Today, government officials, speaking on background, said another Canadian has now fallen ill. That brings to the total to 14, including 5 children. After arriving this summer, the diplomat reported symptoms on December 29th that included nausea, dizziness, headaches and trouble concentrating; symptoms that have plagued many others who have sought help from Dr. Shawn Marshall at The Ottawa Hospital Rehabilitation Centre.
‘I'd say I’ve seen upwards of 8 or 9 people,” says Dr. Marshall.
Dr. Marshall is a specialist in brain injury rehab and says normally, there's a known cause for the injury but not in this case.
“We don't have good evidence of there being injury to the brain yet,” he says, “I think they're investigating for it and may be able to find some abnormality.”
There's been a lot of finger-pointing as to what or who is behind this.
And while those government sources say they "have not be able to determine any cause, neither are we able to determine what the mechanism or agency was behind that cause. We have no evidence that would indicate that it is linked to any government or situation."
Government sources say RCMP are investigating and that they're cooperating with the Cuban government, which Cuba acknowledged last month.
"Canada has cooperated with us, it has refused to use the term 'attack,” said Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, the Director for United States Affairs (of Cuban Foreign Ministry), “In Cuba, we don't believe there has been attack.”
But there has been injury; Dr. Marshall says his patients are improving, though gradually.
“The patients I’ve seen in follow up have gone on a course of improvement,” says Dr. Marshall, “I wouldn't say that all have recovered. It’s a long journey for them and I think that's what we see with people with persistent problems following a brain injury.”
For now, the Canadian embassy in Havana will operate with 8 staff down from 16. But full consular services will still be available to Canadians in Cuba.