A labour board has ruled a federal agency breached the Charter of Rights and Freedoms when they disregarded employees’ appeals for religious exemptions from vaccine mandates.The National Research Council was cited for twice dismissing pleas from Christian staff who objected to the source of cells used in the production of COVID-19 shots, per Blacklock’s Reporter. Being placed on leave without pay because of a sincerely held religious belief interferes with freedom of religion in a way that is more than trivial or insubstantial,” wrote Patricia Harewood, adjudicator with the Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board. “I find it is a significant interference.”.Harewood ruled in two cases that employees’ religious freedoms were breached. She ordered the Research Council to negotiate terms of settlement. The board has “over 350 cases like these ones,” wrote Harewood.In one case, a churchgoing Catholic meteorologist was suspended without pay despite protesting that vaccines manufactured by Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca were developed from fetal cell lines.The woman swore in an affidavit she was upset the Pope endorsed vaccination and told her supervisor “she would rather die than receive it.”“My personal religious beliefs prevent me from being able to take the COVID-19 vaccines because, in one way or another, they all employ cell lines derived from aborted children and my personal religious conviction compels me to abstain from any cooperation, direct or indirect, in abortion, which I view as the killing of innocents,” said the affidavit..Public health officers have acknowledged use of fetal cell lines in vaccine production.“Viruses need to be grown in cells and human cells are often better than animal cells at supporting the growth of human viruses,” the Public Health Association of British Columbia said in an earlier statement.“What are fetal cell lines? Fetal cell lines are cells that are grown in a laboratory. They descend from cells taken from fetuses aborted in the 1970s and 1980s.”.In the second case, a churchgoing Pentecostal IT analyst also refused to comply with the vaccine mandate on religious grounds.“I am a follower of Jesus Christ,” he wrote in an affidavit.“He is head of the church.”“I have not had any vaccines since becoming a Christian over 20 years ago,” wrote the IT analyst.“I trust God to protect me. I believe he created me and my immune system.”“Vaccines have been developed and tested using fetal cell lines. Abortion kills babies and using their tissue for medical research, no matter how far removed, violates God’s command against killing.”.The labour board in both cases cited a landmark 2004 Supreme Court ruling Syndicat Northcrest v. Amselem that religious freedoms must be broadly interpreted.“The state is in no position to be, nor should it become, the arbiter of religious dogma,” wrote the Court.“Sincerity of belief simply implies an honesty of belief and the Court’s role is to ensure a presently asserted belief is in good faith, neither fictitious nor capricious.”Whether an individual’s convictions were consistent or literal was irrelevant, judges said.Treasury Board documents earlier tabled in Parliament showed a high proportion of employees’ requests for religious exemptions under the vaccine mandate were denied. Of 2,042 federal employees who claimed a spiritual exemption only 540 were approved, 26%.
A labour board has ruled a federal agency breached the Charter of Rights and Freedoms when they disregarded employees’ appeals for religious exemptions from vaccine mandates.The National Research Council was cited for twice dismissing pleas from Christian staff who objected to the source of cells used in the production of COVID-19 shots, per Blacklock’s Reporter. Being placed on leave without pay because of a sincerely held religious belief interferes with freedom of religion in a way that is more than trivial or insubstantial,” wrote Patricia Harewood, adjudicator with the Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board. “I find it is a significant interference.”.Harewood ruled in two cases that employees’ religious freedoms were breached. She ordered the Research Council to negotiate terms of settlement. The board has “over 350 cases like these ones,” wrote Harewood.In one case, a churchgoing Catholic meteorologist was suspended without pay despite protesting that vaccines manufactured by Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca were developed from fetal cell lines.The woman swore in an affidavit she was upset the Pope endorsed vaccination and told her supervisor “she would rather die than receive it.”“My personal religious beliefs prevent me from being able to take the COVID-19 vaccines because, in one way or another, they all employ cell lines derived from aborted children and my personal religious conviction compels me to abstain from any cooperation, direct or indirect, in abortion, which I view as the killing of innocents,” said the affidavit..Public health officers have acknowledged use of fetal cell lines in vaccine production.“Viruses need to be grown in cells and human cells are often better than animal cells at supporting the growth of human viruses,” the Public Health Association of British Columbia said in an earlier statement.“What are fetal cell lines? Fetal cell lines are cells that are grown in a laboratory. They descend from cells taken from fetuses aborted in the 1970s and 1980s.”.In the second case, a churchgoing Pentecostal IT analyst also refused to comply with the vaccine mandate on religious grounds.“I am a follower of Jesus Christ,” he wrote in an affidavit.“He is head of the church.”“I have not had any vaccines since becoming a Christian over 20 years ago,” wrote the IT analyst.“I trust God to protect me. I believe he created me and my immune system.”“Vaccines have been developed and tested using fetal cell lines. Abortion kills babies and using their tissue for medical research, no matter how far removed, violates God’s command against killing.”.The labour board in both cases cited a landmark 2004 Supreme Court ruling Syndicat Northcrest v. Amselem that religious freedoms must be broadly interpreted.“The state is in no position to be, nor should it become, the arbiter of religious dogma,” wrote the Court.“Sincerity of belief simply implies an honesty of belief and the Court’s role is to ensure a presently asserted belief is in good faith, neither fictitious nor capricious.”Whether an individual’s convictions were consistent or literal was irrelevant, judges said.Treasury Board documents earlier tabled in Parliament showed a high proportion of employees’ requests for religious exemptions under the vaccine mandate were denied. Of 2,042 federal employees who claimed a spiritual exemption only 540 were approved, 26%.
