[4] The system, which eventually fell under the Centre for Emergency Preparedness and Response in the PHAC,[6] detected early signs of the 2009 swine flu pandemic in Mexico, Zika in West Africa, H5N1 in Iran, MERS and Ebola.
[5][4] A July 2020 investigation by The Globe and Mail revealed that Canada's Federal Government effectively shutdown GPHIN in May 2019, ultimately preventing the system from providing an early warning of COVID-19.
"[2] Internal PHAC emails obtained by The Globe indicate that Sally Thornton, vice-president of the Health Security Infrastructure Branch, and Jim Harris, director-general of the Centre for Emergency Preparedness and Response, oversaw the decision that curtailed alerts.
[10] In September 2020, Canada's Health Minister Patty Hajdu ordered an independent federal review to look into both the shutdown of the system along with allegations that some scientist's voices were marginalized.
[12][13] Canada's Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam announced her support of the review,[14] while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued blame to funding cuts made prior to 2015 by the previous Conservative government under Stephen Harper.
[9] In September 2020 Brigitte Diogo replaced Sally Thornton as vice-president of the Health Security Infrastructure Branch, the bureaucratic division overseeing GPHIN among other operations.