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COVID-19

Court hearing for Canadian denied EI benefits because of vax status

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From the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms

The Justice Centre announces that Thursday, November 2, 2023, the Federal Court of Appeal will hear the constitutional challenge of Robin Francis, who lost his job and was then denied Employment Insurance benefits after refusing to take the Covid vaccine based on his religious beliefs. 

The hearing will take place in-person at the Federal Court of Appeal in Toronto, Courtroom 7C, located at 180 Queen Street West, Suite 200. The hearing can also be attended via Zoom by registering here.

Dr. Francis, a father of four and a PhD engineer, had been employed at a health centre in Ontario. Throughout 2020 and 2021, Dr. Francis worked remotely. His employer had not expressed dissatisfaction with his performance, and he was considered a diligent and hardworking employee with an exceptional attendance record. Nevertheless, on September 3, 2021, Dr. Francis was informed that his employer would require all employees to show proof of being vaccinated for Covid or to provide documentation for a medical or human rights exemption. 

Dr. Francis applied for a religious exemption, but, on October 5, 2021, his employer summarily denied his request for an exemption. On October 22, 2021, Dr. Francis was fired for not taking the Covid vaccine, despite the fact that Dr. Francis’ decision was based on his religious convictions. 

When Dr. Francis applied for EI benefits, the Employment Insurance Commission denied his request, stating in a letter on January 11, 2022, that he had lost his employment as a result of his “misconduct.”  Dr. Francis sought reconsideration, but, on March 3, 2022, the Commission confirmed its decision. 

Dr. Francis appeal to the Social Security Tribunal–General Division, which dismissed his appeal on July 26, 2022. He then appealed to the Appeal Division, which issued a decision on February 17, 2023, rejecting his appeal. 

On March 22, 2023, Dr. Francis filed a Notice of Application in the Federal Court of Appeal, challenging the denial of his request for EI Benefits.

Many other Canadians have been denied EI benefits on the basis that their choice to not get vaccinated constituted “misconduct.” In 2021, (then) Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough stated that Canadians who did not receive the Covid vaccine could be justifiably terminated and denied access to EI.

Counsel for Dr. Francis, James Manson, stated, “In my view, the Tribunal’s decision in this case is deeply concerning. In most cases, employee ‘misconduct’ (as contemplated by federal legislation) can and should result in an employee losing their entitlement to Employment Insurance benefits. This case is different, however. Our view is that an employee’s unwillingness to comply with any workplace policy that violates their fundamental Charter rights cannot qualify as ‘misconduct,’ particularly in the free and democratic society of Canada, where an enormous value is rightly placed on the rights and freedoms of the individual.”

Mr. Manson continued, “In this case, the Tribunal appears to be saying that no matter what an employer’s workplace policy requires (even if it requires an employee to do something that violates his or her Charter rights), failure to abide by that policy means that the employee must also lose their EI benefits if they are terminated by their employer. That is far too draconian a result. It simply does not accurately reflect the state of the law in Canada on this issue, and I am confident that the Federal Court of Appeal will agree. This case could potentially set a significant precedent for many other Canadians denied EI benefits on account of their personal decision not to take the Covid vaccine.”

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COVID-19

Maxime Bernier slams Freedom Convoy leaders’ guilty verdict, calls Canada’s justice system ‘corrupt’

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From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

The leader of the People’s Party of Canada says Tamara Lich and Chris Barber were victims of a ‘political witch hunt.’

The leader of the People’s Party of Canada (PPC) ripped Thursday’s federal court ruling that found Freedom Convoy leaders Tamara Lich and Chris Barber guilty of mischief, saying the court siding with the government amounted to a “political witch hunt.”

“It is disheartening to learn that two of the heroes of the Freedom Convoy, @LichTamara and @ChrisBarber1975, have been found guilty of mischief in the longest and one of the costliest trials in Canadian history,” Maxime Bernier wrote Thursday on X.

“This clearly was a political witch hunt.”

Bernier added that in his view the reality is that Canada’s justice system is “corrupt.”

“Trudeau and his ministers who illegally invoked the Emergencies Act and violated basic rights will go unpunished,” he noted.

“Our justice system is corrupt to the bones.”

On Thursday, Justice Heather Perkins-McVey, the federal judge overseeing the mischief trial, delivered her verdict, finding both Lich and Barber guilty of mischief.

Perkins-McVey seemed to agree with the Crown’s case that Lich and Barber’s influence on the Freedom Convoy constituted public mischief but did dismiss the Crown’s Carter Application accusing Lich and Barber of conspiracy outright.

Lich and Barber both faced six charges each, those being charges of mischief, obstruction, intimidation, and counseling others to commit mischief and intimidation. After the court reconvened Thursday afternoon, Lich was acquitted of four of her six charges, with the fifth charge, counseling to commit mischief, being stayed by the judge.

As for sentencing, the court will reconvene on April 16 at 1:30 p.m. EST, at which time it will say when a date and time for sentencing will be held.

Lich and Barber both face a possible 10-year prison sentence. LifeSiteNews has reported extensively on their trial.

The Lich and Barber trial concluded in September 2024, more than a year after it began. It was only originally scheduled to last 16 days.

Lich and Barber were arrested on February 17, 2022, in Ottawa for their roles in leading the popular Freedom Convoy protest against COVID mandates. During COVID, Canadians were subjected to vaccine mandates, mask mandates, extensive lockdowns and even the closure of churches.

Despite the peaceful nature of the protest, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government invoked the Emergencies Act to clear out protesters, an action a federal judge has since said was “not justified.” During the clear-out, an elderly lady was trampled by a police horse and many who donated to the cause had their bank accounts frozen.

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COVID-19

Trump’s new NIH head fires top Fauci allies and COVID shot promoters, including Fauci’s wife

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From LifeSiteNews

By Doug Mainwaring

“During the pandemic Fauci’s bioethicist wife, Christine Grady, offered nurses a choice: Get vaccinated, or lose your job,” noted The COVID-19 History Project on X. “Yesterday, she was offered a choice: Transfer to an office in Alaska, or lose your job. What’s fair is fair. Everyone deserves a choice,” explained the COVID watchdog account.

On day one of his new job as head of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Dr. Jay Bhattacharya removed four powerful agency heads, including Dr. Anthony Fauci’s wife, Christine Grady, and others associated with the questionable handling of the COVID-19 shots.

Grady, who had served as chief of the agency’s Department of Bioethics, and other longtime Fauci allies in top posts at the NIH involved in the development and distribution of the untested COVID shots produced by Big Pharma were offered jobs in Alaska and other remote locales far away from the NIH’s sprawling Bethesda, Maryland, complex just outside Washington, D.C.

The purge came amid massive layoffs in health-related agencies under the umbrella of Health and Human Services (HHS), now headed by the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement’s founder, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has long questioned vaccine safety and American medicine’s focus on treating disease rather than preventing it.

A total of about 20,000 personnel – mostly bureaucrats – or about 25 percent of the HHS workforce have been or will be handed pink slips amid Kennedy’s realignment of the agency.

MAHA critics were quick to call Tuesday’s axing of Fauci confederates as “one of the darkest days in modern scientific history” fueled by Kennedy’s desire to exact revenge on Fauci’s former trusted associates who represent the antithesis of the MAHA movement.

However, the revamping of the federal government’s side of the health industry is no more harsh than the treatment meted out by those formerly in control who, at best, suppressed, and worst, punished those who questioned their iron grip on health-industry regulations and standards.

For years, Kennedy’s critics have dismissed his quest to revamp healthcare and his questioning of the efficacy of the COVID-19 mRNA jabs as anti-science, labeling him as an “anti-vaxxer” in order to suppress his messaging.

Dr. Francis Collins – whom Bhattacharya replaced as head of NIH – in an October 2020 email to Fauci condemned Bhattacharya as a “fringe epidemiologist” because he had co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration, which criticized harmful COVID lockdown policies.

“During the pandemic Fauci’s bioethicist wife, Christine Grady, offered nurses a choice: Get vaccinated, or lose your job,” noted The COVID-19 History Project on X.

“Yesterday, she was offered a choice: Transfer to an office in Alaska, or lose your job. What’s fair is fair. Everyone deserves a choice,” explained the COVID watchdog account.

“We spend 4X more than Italy on healthcare — and live 7 years less. Dead last in cancer rates. This isn’t science — it’s a system profiting off sick kids,” explained Calley Means, RFK Jr. HHS advisor during an interview with Laura Ingraham following the NIH firings.

“Firing the people who oversaw this? That’s step one,” declared Means.

Other NIH officials who were offered reassignments were Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, who succeeded Fauci as head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Dr. Clifford Lane, a close Fauci ally who served as deputy director for clinical research at NIAID, and Dr. Emily Erbelding, NIAID’s microbiology and infectious diseases director.

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