On this episode of In Focus with Melanie Risdon, we take a close look at a new bill with the potential to give BC’s Health minister the power to impose a COVID-19 vaccine requirement on all health practitioners across the province as a condition of their licensing..Tune in Thursday, Dec. 1 @ 7 p.m. MST for the full discussion. .Joining in on the discussion is Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) lawyer, Charlene Le Beau, Dr. Robert Johnson, a dentist in Salmon Arm, BC, and Dr. Joshua Nordine, a Kelowna family physician. Nordine is also responsible for organizing the Hire Back Our Heroes campaign — a group of healthcare professionals championing for the BC government to rehire all medical practitioners who were terminated over the COVID-19 vaccine mandates..Bill 36 moved quickly through its first and second reading with its third reading on November 24. When enacted, dentists, dietitians, occupational therapists, opticians, optometrists, physical therapists, psychologists, chiropractors, massage therapists, naturopathic physicians, acupuncturists, and traditional Chinese medicine practitioners will not be able to work unless they are up to date with any vaccine the government deems necessary..The bill, which is nearly 200 pages, was tabled by BC Premier David Eby’s NDP government in late October. The public was told the bill is simply a replacement of the Health Professional Act from 1996. According to the Government’s website, the bill is said to "prioritize protection of the public and to facilitate good governance by regulators," and "streamlines the process for designating new health professions and occupations." .The bill will also see BC amalgamate 15 existing regulatory colleges to six. It will also create a new oversight body entitled the “Office of the Superintendent of Health Profession and Occupation Oversight.”.Under the new bill, health professionals will be required to apply for a license or permit as a condition of practicing in their respective fields, showing their competency and qualifications, and whether they are up to date on education and training requirements — similar to past expectations. However, the updated bill will also require practitioners to show their competency is ”not unduly impaired by a health condition,” which John Carpay, president and founder of the JCCF, called an “odd provision" in an opinion piece published on Tuesday by the Western Standard. .READ MORE: CARPAY: BC moves towards mandatory vaccination of all health care providers.After careful review of the bill, all applicants will need to be in compliance with the bylaws, which Carpay said aren’t written yet, but the bill stipulates one of the bylaws must address “mandatory vaccination, required under an enactment other than the bylaws, against transmissible illnesses.”.This will, in effect, empower the provincial health minister to compel health practitioners to mandatory vaccination requirements, and although the word COVID-19 is not mentioned in the bill, the health minister could, with the powers granted through Bill 36, make COVID-19 vaccines, the annual flu shot, and other vaccines for transmissible illnesses a requirement in order to be licensed to practice in BC..Carpay said three things seem apparent to him, with respect to a person’s Charter right to bodily autonomy and freedom of conscience:.“First, the BC Legislature is, knowingly or unknowingly, poised to give enormous unilateral power to the Health minister to impose a sweeping COVID (or any other) vaccine mandate on all health professionals as a condition of licensing. Non-compliance would result in loss of professional standing, meaning that health care professionals cannot treat their patients, and cannot earn a living,” he wrote. .“Second, Bill 36 is another predictable end-run around the democratic process. Citizens’ representatives cannot review or debate bylaws and regulations which do not exist yet, yet the minister of Health and the college registrars can dramatically override citizens’ constitutional rights to bodily autonomy. This is not democracy, but rather the rule of bureaucracy and ministerial fiat.”.“Third, the small sub-group of doctors, nurses, chiropractors and other health practitioners in BC who have opposed lockdowns, and who have vocally and bravely raised an alarm about the safety and efficacy of the COVID shots, are squarely targeted by Bill 36. If the purpose of Bill 36 was to silence unwanted opposition through cancelling their professional standing, it could hardly be concocted better.”.Essentially, this will be the first legislation in Canada to facilitate forced vaccinations of all healthcare workers, not just an 'informal' mandate by the CMOH..Carpay said he encourages all BC residents to contact their elected MLA to share their thoughts on the matter.
