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Canadian judge orders Purolator to compensate employees fired for refusing COVID shot

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By Clare Marie Merkowsky

On January 30, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bradford Smith ruled that shipping giant Purolator must compensate employees it fired for refusing to take the COVID shot, in accordance with a Labor Arbitrator’s decision in December 2023.

A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has upheld a labor arbitrator’s decision that Purolator employees fired for refusing the COVID shot must be compensated.  

On January 30, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bradford Smith ruled that shipping giant Purolator must compensate employees it fired for refusing to take the COVID shot, in accordance with a Labor Arbitrator‘s decision in December 2023. 

“I find there was no procedural unfairness to Purolator,” Smith wrote in his ruling.  

Beginning September 15, 2021, Purolator, like many Canadian companies around that time, mandated that its workers get the COVID shot to continue working. Workers were given until December 25, 2021, to comply, with the full policy coming into force on January 10, 2022.   

However, last December an arbitrator ruled that Purolator’s vaccine mandate was reasonable only until June 30, 2022, when evidence sufficiently proved that the COVID vaccine did not prevent transmission of the COVID virus. 

“[The arbitrator] determined that the balancing of interests was not fixed in time, but something which could change as circumstances changed,” wrote Smith.  

“He found that as of the end of June 2022, circumstances had indeed changed, such that the [vaccination policy], although reasonable when it was implemented, was no longer reasonable after that date,” he continued.  

Regardless of this development, Purolator kept the mandate in place until June 2023, barring unvaccinated employees from working.  

As a result, Arbitrator Nicholas Glass ruled that Purolator must give compensation to its hourly employees who did not get the COVID shots, which included the lost benefits and wages they would have earned between July 1, 2022, and May 1, 2023.    

Purolator had also been ordered to give compensation to owner-operators beginning from the first date they lost income.   

Following this decision, Purolator took the case to the B.C. Supreme Court, only to have the ruling upheld by Smith.   

“The Arbitrator clearly proceeded on the basis that employees’ personal autonomy and bodily integrity interests were engaged, and it was reasonable for him to do so,” reads the decision.  

“I find the Decision is transparent, intelligible and justified, and thus reasonable,” wrote Smith. 

The favorable ruling for the Purolator workers is one of the latest positive outcomes for Canadians who lost income, or their jobs outright, for choosing not to get the COVID shots.   

In October 2023, LifeSiteNews reported on how a Canadian arbitrator in Saskatchewan ruled in favor of two oil refinery workers who were discriminated against at their workplace for not complying with COVID dictates.  

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COVID-19

Canadian Health Department funds study to determine effects of COVID lockdowns on children

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By Anthony Murdoch

The commissioned study will assess the impact on kids’ mental well-being of COVID lockdowns and ‘remote’ school classes that banned outdoor play and in-person learning.

Canada’s Department of Health has commissioned research to study the impact of outdoor play on kids’ mental well-being in light of COVID lockdowns and “remote” school classes that, for a time, banned outdoor play and in-person learning throughout most of the nation. 

In a notice to consultants titled “Systematic Literature Reviews And Meta Analyses Supporting Two Projects On Children’s Health And Covid-19,” the Department of Health admitted that “Exposure to green space has been consistently associated with protective effects on children’s physical and mental health.”

A final report, which is due in 2026, will provide “Health Canada with a comprehensive assessment of current evidence, identify key knowledge gaps and inform surveillance and policy planning for future pandemics and other public health emergencies.”

Bruce Squires, president of McMaster Children’s Hospital of Hamilton, Ontario, noted in 2022 that “Canada’s children and youth have borne the brunt” of COVID lockdowns.

From about March 2020 to mid-2022, most of Canada was under various COVID-19 mandates and lockdowns, including mask mandates, at the local, provincial, and federal levels. Schools were shut down, parks were closed, and most kids’ sports were cancelled. 

Mandatory facemask polices were common in Canada and all over the world for years during the COVID crisis despite over 170 studies showing they were not effective in stopping the spread of COVID and were, in fact, harmful, especially to children.

In October 2021, then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced unprecedented COVID-19 jab mandates for all federal workers and those in the transportation sector, saying the un-jabbed would no longer be able to travel by air, boat, or train, both domestically and internationally.

As reported by LifeSiteNews, a new report released by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) raised alarm bells over the “harms caused” by COVID-19 lockdowns and injections imposed by various levels of government as well as a rise in unexplained deaths and bloated COVID-19 death statistics.

Indeed, a recent study showed that COVID masking policies left children less able to differentiate people’s emotions behind facial expressions.

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COVID-19

Ontario student appeals ruling that dismissed religious objection to abortion-tainted COVID shot

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From LifeSiteNews

By Clare Marie Merkowsky

An Ontario Tech University student is seeking judicial review after the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario ruled his beliefs did not qualify as protected ‘creed.’

An Ontario university student who was punished for refusing the COVID shot is contesting a tribunal ruling that rejected his religious objection to the vaccine.

In a November 28 press release, the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) announced that a judicial review has been filed on behalf of former Ontario Tech University student Philip Anisimov after his religious objection to the COVID vaccine was dismissed by an Ontario court.

“Mr. Anisimov’s objection to the Covid vaccine was deeply rooted in his religious commitment to live according to biblical precepts,” Constitutional lawyer Hatim Kheir declared. “He hopes the Divisional Court will clarify that his religious objection was protected by the Human Rights Code and entitled to protection.”

In 2021, Ontario mandated that all students in the province show proof of vaccination unless they had an exemption or agreed to attend a COVID jab education session boasting about the shots. The third option was not available at Ontario Tech University, as schools could choose whether or not they would offer such a program to students.

Anisimov had requested an exemption from the experimental, abortion-tainted COVID shots on religious grounds but was denied and deregistered from his courses.

He was then forced to spend an entire extra year to complete his studies. According to his lawyers, Ontario Tech University’s decision to not approve his COVID jab exemption request “not only disrupted his career plans but also violated his right to be free from discrimination on the basis of religion, as protected by the Ontario Human Rights Code.”

The university’s refusal to honor his exemption prompted Anisimov to take legal action in April with help of the JCCF. However, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario rejected his religious objection, arguing that it was not protected as a “creed” under the Ontario Human Rights Code.

Now, Anisimov is appealing the ruling, hoping that his case will serve as a precedent for justice for students who were discriminated against for refusing the abortion-tainted vaccine.

“My hope is that this case helps set an important precedent and encourages Canadians to reflect on the direction our society is taking,” he explained. “My trust is that God does all things for the good of those who love Him, who are called by His purposes.”

Beyond health concerns, many Canadians, especially Catholics, opposed the vaccines on moral grounds because of their link to fetal cell lines derived from the tissue of aborted babies.

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