Loss of trust will doom military, lawyer for CAF members says
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“Being forced to take this into my body by a superior officer was like being raped over a desk at basic training all over again.”
This quote from a female member of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) was provided to the National Citizens’ Inquiry (NCI) at the April 26th hearing by Catherine Christianson, a lawyer representing hundreds of members of CAF in their efforts to obtain justice in their fight against Covid-19 policies.
Some of the CAF members Christianson represents refused the Covid shot and have been released or disciplined; others took the vaccine and are suffering disastrous side effects.
“These are previously healthy men and women, now facing medical emergencies and injuries that have left them disabled for life,” Christianson told the Inquiry.
During the pandemic, unvaccinated members of the CAF who did not receive exemptions or accommodations for the Covid-19 vaccine faced serious consequences for their careers.
“Additionally, a Canadian Armed Forces member’s unvaccinated status may have additional consequential career implications, including loss of opportunities contributing to promotion, which are outside of Canadian Armed Forces control,” a Department of National Defence (DND) spokesperson told True North in 2021.
“Examples may include the inability to attend career courses, deployments, domestic and international exercises, and OUTCAN (outside-of-Canada) postings owing to domestic and international travel restrictions and other nations’ entry requirements.”
DND defended the mandate, claiming, “Members of the CAF have a duty to maintain their operational readiness and preserve their ability to serve Canadians at home and support our Allies and partners abroad.”
In addition to the men and women who have left the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) since 2020, morale of the remaining soldiers has been decimated by the leadership’s insistence on compliance with the Covid-19 regime.
“Setting up these men and women to be guinea pigs for an experimental medical treatment, and then hiding the damage from it would be a war crime if it was done to prisoners of war,” pointed out Christianson, who founded the Legal Action Center, through which she currently represents 360 military men and women. “There are thousands more,” she noted.
Whether or not soldiers who have been willing to lay down their lives for Canada will continue to wish to serve a chain of command they no longer trust is the fallout from their treatment of members during Covid.
“The members and veterans who voiced concerns about a mandated COVID-19 vaccination program are an outstanding group of people. They’re highly decorated. They’re exceptionally trained and experienced, and they have a moral code that has withstood the ultimate test of ‘just following orders’ mentality that was supposed to die after World War Two. They are the finest Canada has to offer, and they’ve been sacrificed on a political altar.”
Christianson questions whether Canada’s military can recover from the current atmosphere of distrust.
“The chain of command can order troops into situations potentially fatal, or have life changing risks. That is without question,” Christianson explained to Commissioners.
“Documentation shows that military leadership were very aware it could not be done, and no doubt understood the risks of a medical treatment decimating the entire Canadian military if something went wrong,” Catherine Christianson told the National Citizens’ Inquiry.
“When trust is gone, there is no military. Canada sits defenceless.”
The NCI’s purpose is to listen, to learn, and to recommend by asking questions such as: “What went right? What went wrong? How can Canadians and our governments better react to national crises in the future in a manner that balances the interests of all members of our society?”
Testimonials have also been provided to the Inquiry in Truro, Toronto, Winnipeg and Saskatoon, and Red Deer. Examples include funeral directors who refused to keep family members separated from their loved ones despite government limits on attendance; health and safety professionals who watched every rule of workplace safety get decimated by employers; and police officers who refused to implement martial law when politicians called for it.
Further hearings are being scheduled for Victoria, Vancouver, Quebec, and Ottawa. The hearings (from 9 am to 5 pm local time in each city) will be broadcast live on the National Citizens’ Inquiry website.
