PEJOVIC: 'Courting' the winds of change

Allison Pejovic is a Calgary-based constitutional lawyer for Charter Advocates Canada, which is funded by the Justice Centre for Constitutional FreedomsWho could have guessed that 2024 would be the year that the long-awaited political winds of change would finally blow into Canada? Having sued governments over lockdowns, vaccine mandates, and for the God-given freedoms of Canadians for four years, their arrival means I can finally exhale.In 2021 I opposed unscientific church closures before a Manitoba court in the Gateway Bible case, pleading to protect the constitutional right to worship, to gather outdoors and in homes. One of our key experts in the case, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, world-renowned epidemiologist and eminent Stanford professor of medicine and health economics, wrote two expert reports which slashed the validity of the province’s public health response. He criticized the lockdown approach as harmful and instead recommended “focused protection” of the elderly and immunocompromised. This approach was set out in “The Great Barrington Declaration” which he co-authored, and at the time it was supported by over 30,000 medical practitioners and more than 10,000 medical and public health scientists. Unfortunately, the court deferred to the government’s lockdown approach. It found that Dr. Bhattacharya’s preferred approaches to the public health crisis “are opinions and prescriptions that fall outside the mainstream consensus,” despite the devastating effects that the lockdowns had on Manitobans and the rest of the world where they were similarly employed. Collective prayer was apparently too dangerous, while:movies full of actors continued to be filmed indoors in Manitoba; people gathered indoors at Costco and in university classes; and the Winnipeg Jets were permitted to practise and play. A similar constitutional legal challenge was heard and dismissed in Alberta (but was successful on non-constitutional grounds). In the Ingram case, the court accused Dr. Bhattacharya of giving evidence to advance a “personal agenda.” Dr. Bhattacharya was, by that time, no stranger to public censure, having been investigated and silenced by his own university, censored by the US government, and labelled a “fringe epidemiologist” by Francis Collins, then director of the National Institutes of Health, for co-authoring The Great Barrington Declaration.Fast forward to today, and Dr. Bhattacharya has been nominated to lead the most powerful public health research agency in the United States. That’s right, that brilliant academic superstar who followed the science, asked the right questions, and who refused to be bullied into silence, is about to serve as Director of the U.S. National Institute of Health. Courage has its rewards after all. Hearing that news, alone, alleviated some of the agonizing disbelief I experienced while witnessing at ringside, the disastrous public health policies being enforced since 2020. Sanity appeared restored because this is a man, I can personally attest, who is trustworthy and full of integrity. His attention to detail, critical thinking, and scientific and medical research inspires confidence, to say the least. Should another pandemic arise, I have full faith in his ability to navigate through it without causing devastating societal harms. His guidance as head of the NIH should affect how our federal and provincial leaders respond to a future public health crisis.My relief didn’t end with Dr. Bhattcharya’s nomination. With Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s appointment to the position of Secretary of Health and Human Services, and his commitment to Make America Healthy Again, a spotlight is about to be shone upon the food and pharmaceutical industries.“Now wait just a minute,” you may say, “Kennedy is an ‘anti-vaxxer’ which immediately discredits him and you for even uttering his name.” Actually, if you take the time to listen to his message, he sounds pretty sensible. He advocates for safe pharmaceuticals and for food made without toxic chemicals. That sounds pretty logical, and maybe even — dare I say — a good thing?If you watch his interviews, you might just notice that he is a walking encyclopedia of facts and scientific studies on these topics, and appears to care deeply about the health of the American people. What’s wrong with looking under the cover of these industries to see if they are indeed, producing high quality products that are safe for people? The process of science, of course, is asking questions, not insisting that the answers are already known.Since our relationship with the U.S. is so close, such a high profile look at these giant industries will have enormous benefit to Canada. If Kennedy discovers real problems, it ought to put pressure on our Canadian health and food agencies to take a closer and more public look at these industries too.Canadians were fired from their jobs, kicked out of colleges and universities, banned from flying, gyms, and restaurants and publicly vilified by Prime Minister Trudeau for refusing to take novel mRNA Covid vaccines. Given that the mRNA platform is increasingly used in treatments and vaccines, it is clearly in the public interest to critically examine its safety profile. It is time to bring public confidence back to our health institutions.I have led a legal battle for the past three years against the federal government on behalf of clients including Peoples’ Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier and former Premier of Newfoundland Brian Peckford, who were prohibited from flying across the country or overseas because they chose not to take the COVID-19 vaccine. We argued that this travel mandate was tyrannical, just like the use of police horses against peaceful protesters, and the orders to freeze bank accounts of Canadians who participated in or donated to the freedom convoy. .But change is afoot at the federal level here in Canada too. The winds of change that blew in from the U.S. in November blew straight into Ottawa like a hurricane. Mere days after President-Elect Donald Trump threatened steep tariffs on Canadian goods, our Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland resigned, and our Prime Minister remains for now as the captain of a sinking ship.As I reflect on the events of 2024, I am no longer holding my breath. Some may argue that elections don’t actually result in real change, but I am hopeful.I look forward to real leadership and new direction in public health from Bhattacharya and RFK Jr., and the pressure their reforms will put upon our health institutions here at home. I watch with curiosity and anticipation as the winds of change hopefully ensure that the dark era of freedom-trampling’s next breath is its last.Allison Pejovic is a Calgary-based constitutional lawyer for Charter Advocates Canada, which is funded by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms.

PEJOVIC: 'Courting' the winds of change

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