BC removes COVID-19 "state of emergency" measures.
On Friday, July 26, 2024, Dr. Bonnie Henry, the Provincial Health Officer of BC, announced that the "state of emergency" and vaccine mandates associated with that order were cancelled - and that, specifically, the mandate that health care workers be jabbed for COVID-19 would no longer be in effect. Bonnie and her NDP partner-in-health, Minister of Health Adrian Dix, have "followed the science" and have determined that it is now "safe" to remove these public health measures.
Many people in BC are celebrating this news. Small town mayors hope this will help to prevent ER closures in their community hospitals. Many fired health care workers are eager to return to work. Is it all over? Can CSSEM now stop fighting for medical freedom? See our president's response below.
The CSSEM response - Dr. Ben Turner, President
The Society notes, with mixed impressions, the long-delayed abolition of British Columbia's unscientific and unethical COVID vaccine mandate for hospital-based workers. While this news is welcome, it is far too early for celebration for several reasons:
A. It is not clear that fired health care workers will be rehired.
1. The Provincial Health Officer has no direct influence on hiring ... only the ability to invoke mandates that slammed the door on a large group of people during a several-years-long declared "emergency". Hiring is done by the health authorities. It costs her nothing to say that displaced workers are welcome to apply for their jobs again ... she doesn't have the authority to give the jobs back even if she wanted to.
2. It gets much worse for displaced HCW's. A three year absence from relevant work is a nearly insurmountable obstacle to being rehired or maintaining a professional license. Those who have been working in other jurisdictions without a vaxx mandate (almost everywhere else in the world at this point) can account for this time BUT those who chose to stay in BC (for family reasons, for example) may never work in their fields of expertise ever again (unless further measures are introduced to mitigate this problem).
B. The government announced a new provincial registry of private health information for hospital workers.
1. The Health Minister tried to pass this off as just a "streamlining" of existing data collection already undertaken by the various health authorities. This is, of course, far from the truth. There is a world of difference between having one's health information held by an employer versus being held by the government. While the former is commonplace in the medical field (though due for a critical review in my opinion), we know of no precedent for the latter.
2. This brings into focus the question of ANY automatic collection of personal health information. The ethics here are simple: no one should have your health information without your consent. Consent can be reasonably assumed for people who are directly involved in providing medical care, but not for everyone else or for any other purpose.
C. Legislation on the fly.
1. During the last 4 years, It was the practice in many places to speak as if one could "legislate by press conference". Although the 'emergency' that appeared to justify this approach is now suddenly over, this approach has not changed. Minister Dix said that he would be bringing a regulation to Cabinet "after work has been done"; this regulation would require the reporting of vaccination status. In the very next sentence, he announced - without any legal instrument - that reporting requirements would come into effect on that same day. This is not how laws should be made in any country with the basic of respect for the law itself.​
2. While the vaccination mandate was patently against the available science on the day that it was imposed, it has become more anti-science during every one of the 33 months that have passed since that day. BC is one of the very last jurisdictions in the world to bow to this scientific reality - and that 'bow' looks much more like the politically-motivated and grudging 'nod' of a sore loser. Our work at CSSEM on behalf of health care workers in BC in far from over. History shows us that once a government takes freedoms away it is very difficult to get them back. We will update this site as more information becomes available.
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Benjamin Turner, MD, MA, FRCSC, CSSEM President
We are in this together ... for ALL health care workers.
THANK YOU! We are so very thankful for our members, our families, our friends and ALL of our supporters. CSSEM will follow SCIENCE and ETHICS and will do our best to NEVER compromise the TRUST that has been bestowed upon us.
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JUDICIAL REVIEW SUMMARY: Big loss ... small victory.
The Judicial Review decision was handed down on May 10, 2024. The judge was asked to review the REASONABLENESS of the PHO (Bonnie Henry) orders from October 2023 which continued to impose a PUBLIC HEALTH STATE OF EMERGENCY in BC (due to COVID-19) and REQUIRE COVID-19 VACCINATION for health care workers who work in government-funded health care facilities.
We are EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED, while not really surprised, that Judge Coval chose to DEFER to Dr. Henry's authority to make these public health orders using the information that she was provided ("the record").
REMARKABLY ... the SCIENCE concerning COVID-19 infection AND transmission must be DIFFERENT in British Columbia as ALL OTHER JURISDICTIONS IN NORTH AMERICA have welcomed their unvaxxed health care workers back MONTHS AGO!!!
CSSEM has voted to APPEAL the J R decision!
It is important to hold judges accountable when they make poor decisions. The judiciary in BC appear to be TOO DEFERENTIAL to the government - in our case, to the PHO (Bonnie Henry) and the Minister of Health (Adrian Dix). We are able to achieve a SMALL VICTORY, however ... as the judge ruled that the PHO should reconsider the vaxx mandates that still apply to health care workers who WORK REMOTELY and do not interact directly with other health care workers OR patients. The judge agreed that SCIENCE demonstrates that COVID-19 cannot be transmitted through a phone or computer screen! Anyways ... the judge ruled that Bonnie Henry had the authority to make and enforce these vaxx mandates based on the information that was available to her in October 2023 (referred to as "the record"). The judge did not challenge government lawyers who presented "the record" that contained mostly biased assessments of COVID-19 risks prepared by PHO deputies. We believe that Judge Coval is WRONG, and that SCIENCE IS RIGHT! We are going to APPELATE COURT to argue this before 3 senior judges. We will have to raise a bit more money to cover court costs for the J R and the appeal as we expect that the court will likely assign the costs to CSSEM.
BC Arbitration Decision in Favour of Unvaxxed Employees!
Suzanne Anton, QC
Suzanne Anton, a former British Columbia attorney general, believed the recent Purolator arbitration case that ruled in favour of unvaccinated workers was to be a “game changer” that could have wiped out vaccine mandates for health care workers in the province. Unfortunately, our PHO believes that health care settings are different compared to other employment settings because of the vulnerable patients who must attend there ... BUT THE SCIENCE SHOWS THAT UNVAXXED HCW's DO NOT TRANSMIT THE VIRUS TO OTHERS ANY MORE THAN THEIR VAXXED COLLEAGUES! We don't even test for COVID hardly at all anymore ... and advise our vaxxed health care workers to return to work after only a few days if they get COVID.
View the Purolator full arbitration report here. Nicholas Glass, the arbitrator of the "BC Vaccination Grievances" initiated by Teamsters Local No. 31 vs Purolator Canada, has ruled that Purolator's extension of the COVID-19 vaccine mandates for its workers past June 2022 was unreasonable.
Suzanne Anton: "We need to change the way decisions are made about our health. Too much power is invested in an unelected official." Click to read the full article in VANOUVER IS AWESOME, August 8, 2023.
A victory for Dr. Hoffe leading up to CPSBC hearing.
Dr. Charles Hoffe is a good friend of CSSEM. He bravely stood up against the harms to his patients caused by the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. His disciplinary hearing with the College of Physicians & Surgeons of BC was set to begin on March 4, 2024 - but this has now been adjourned to the fall as a result of a late CPSBC application for 'judicial notice' concerning several facts related to the COVID-19 pandemic response. The review panel, very fortunately, did not accept several of these points of fact (for example, the statement that approval of a vaccine by Health Canada indicates with scientific certainly that the produce is "safe and effective") so Dr. Hoffe's defense will be able to argue that he was right and justified in his statements. Charles is accused of spreading "misinformation" concerning the COVID-19 pandemic and the public health response. Dr. Hoffe is being represented by his excellent lawyer, Lee Turner, and has an emerging army of medical experts set to defend him - including the FLCCC's own Dr. Pierre Kory! Have a peek at the 4-part series below.