Monday, October 7, 2024
Government of Canada image from 2021.
NewsTrucking

Vax mandate like no other

This article originally appeared in Blacklock’s Reporter. Used with permission.

The Department of Transport rated its vaccine mandate “aggressive” and “unique in the world,” says a 2021 memo. The in-house document obtained by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms contradicts public claims the mandate “followed the recommendations of public health experts.”

“For the system to operate efficiently for the majority and handle all the exceptional circumstances, keep exemptions to strict vaccine mandates simple to avoid complexity and costly administrative burden for operators and travelers,” said the document A Vaccine Mandate For The Transportation Sector.

The transport department said it must act “quickly and aggressively,” noting the policy “would make Canada unique in the world in terms of strict vaccine mandates for domestic travel.” Denying public services to Canadians who declined to show proof of vaccination “would lead to some awkward cases of sympathetic or vulnerable Canadians denied travel,” said Vaccine Mandate.

Cabinet at the time claimed its mandate was recommended by scientists. “We followed the recommendations of public health experts, doctors and scientists,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters September 26, 2022.

The Public Health Agency of Canada never recommended vaccine mandates. The transport department document made no mention of any recommendation. “The vast majority of unvaccinated Canadians would not be able to travel,” it said.

 
Dr. Richard Schabas, a retired public health physician who served as Chief Medical Officer of Ontario (1987-1997), spoke to the Citizens’ Hearing in June, 2022 on Canada’s response to COVID-19. He outlined his extensive academic and professional background, one with extensive and lengthy experience in medical panels and public health bodies. On Canada’s response to COVID-19, Schabas stated, “I have looked on in horror” at what has been done in the name of public health. Click the white arrow at left to view video.

The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms has challenged the mandates as unlawful. The Federal Court of Appeal last November 9 dismissed the challenge as irrelevant since the mandates expired in 2022.

“The federal government can impose these same travel restrictions on Canadians again without notice,” the Centre said in a statement. It asked that the Supreme Court of Canada hear a final appeal.

Records show the vaccine mandates were repealed only weeks after in-house Privy Council polling showed they were unpopular and divisive. “Some felt they had lost their sense of trust in the federal government,” said a pollsters’ report dated May 16, 2022. Cabinet announced suspension of the travelers’ mandate June 14.

“All participants were of the view vaccine requirements had been largely harmful, believing they had been divisive, ineffective and unfairly targeted those who had made the personal decision to not get vaccinated,” said the report Continuous Qualitative Data Collection Of Canadians Views.

Vaccine mandates “represented overreach on the part of the federal government and unfairly infringed upon those who made the personal choice to not get vaccinated for Covid-19,” said Canadians Views. “As a result of this some felt they had lost their sense of trust in the federal government.”