COVID-19
Canada is replacing healthcare staff who’ve refused the COVID jab with foreign workers
From LifeSiteNews
While hospitals remain understaffed, many provinces still refuse to allow unvaccinated staff return to work.
Canada is bringing in record numbers of foreign healthcare workers while unvaccinated staff remain barred from work in many provinces.
According to information obtained June 25 by CBC News, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has allowed 4,336 temporary healthcare workers to enter Canada in 2023, as hospitals remain understaffed amid ongoing COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
“It’s unreasonable that some provinces are still blocking unvaccinated nurses from working,” an Ontario nurse told LifeSiteNews under the condition of anonymity.
“But it’s even more shocking that the Canadian government would rather bring in foreign workers than drop a vaccine mandate for Canadian staff, especially with so much evidence now that the COVID shots are not effective in preventing transmission,” she continued.
According to government data, the number of foreign healthcare workers skyrocketed from 447 in 2018 to 4,336 in 2023. Healthcare workers now make up about two percent of the total temporary foreign worker positions that were approved in 2023.
In 2023, the Trudeau government approved 2,514 foreign nurse aides, orderlies and patient service associates to work in Canada, compared with 16 in 2018.
Similarly, Canadian nurses and doctors are being replaced with foreign workers. In 2023, 612 nursing positions for foreign workers were approved, up from 65 in 2018.
Additionally, 216 family doctor positions were approved in 2023 compared with 72 in 2018.
In Canada, hospitals must first prove that there is no one already in Canada who can take the position before being eligible to ask for a foreign worker.
However, this causes many to question how Canada could lose so many healthcare staff between 2018 and 2023 that they had to bring in nearly 10 times the number of foreign workers.
Where are Canadian healthcare workers?
A recent Health Canada memo revealed that a shortage of 90,000 doctors, nurses and other frontline healthcare workers has caused a “health worker crisis” in Canada.
Similarly, wait times to receive care in most provinces have gone up dramatically in recent years, with the national average now at 27.7 weeks.
However, while hospitals remain understaffed, many provinces still refuse to allow unvaccinated staff return to work.
Ontario, in particular, has been criticized for exacerbating its healthcare worker shortage by levying COVID vaccine mandates as a condition of employment.
According to recently released figures, Ontario will need 33,200 more nurses and 50,853 more personal support workers by 2032 to fill the healthcare workers shortage – figures the Doug Ford government had asked the Information and Privacy Commissioner to keep secret.
While the official number of nurses and other workers relieved of their duties for refusing to take the experimental injections remains uncertain, Raphael Gomez, director of the Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Relations at the University of Toronto, told CTV News that as many as 10 percent of nurses in the province either quit or retired early as a result of the mandates.
Similarly, British Columbia’s top court recently ruled that healthcare workers can still be mandated to receive the experimental COVID injections as a condition of employment, meaning hundreds of healthcare workers still cannot work as hospitals remain understaffed.
Despite the recent ruling, hundreds of British Columbia healthcare workers are still suing provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry over a mandate that prevents them from working.
However, those who dare to speak out against the dangers of the COVID vaccine are punished even more severely than those who quietly refused the shot.
In April, LifeSiteNews reported that Canadian nurse Kristen Nagle was found guilty of violating Ontario’s COVID rules for participating in an anti-lockdown rally and speaking out against COVID mandates.
While her fine was massively reduced, she was still placed under a two-year probation, which she said is designed to stop her from “speaking out or going against public health measures.”
Similarly, Ontario pro-freedom Dr. Mark Trozzi recently announced he plans to appeal the stripping of his medical license for criticizing the mainstream narrative around the COVID-19 “pandemic” and the associated vaccines.
From LifeSiteNews
A judge ruled that the Ontario Court of Justice is already ‘satisfied’ with Chris Barber’s sentence and taking away his very livelihood would be ‘disproportionate.’
A Canadian judge has dismissed a demand from Canadian government lawyers to seize Freedom Convoy leader Chris Barber’s “Big Red” semi-truck.
On Friday, Ontario Court of Justice Judge Heather Perkins-McVey denied the Crown’s application seeking to forfeit Barber’s truck.
She ruled that the court is already “satisfied” with Barber’s sentence and taking away his very livelihood would be “disproportionate.”
“This truck is my livelihood,” said Barber in a press release sent to LifeSiteNews.
“Trying to permanently seize it for peacefully protesting was wrong, and I’m relieved the court refused to allow that to happen,” he added.
Criminal defense lawyer Marwa Racha Younes was welcoming of the ruling as well, stating, “We find it was the right decision in the circumstances and are happy with the outcome.”
John Carpay, president of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), said the decision is “good news for all Canadians who cherish their Charter freedom to assemble peacefully.”
READ: Freedom Convoy protester appeals after judge dismissed challenge to frozen bank accounts
“Asset forfeiture is an extraordinary power, and it must not be used to punish Canadians for participating in peaceful protest,” he added in the press release.
As reported recently by LifeSiteNews, the Canadian government claimed that Barber’s truck is an “offence-related property” relating to his involvement in the 2022 protests against Canada’s COVID mandates.
At this time, the court ruling ends any forfeiture proceedings for the time being, however Barber will continue to try and appeal his criminal conviction and house arrest sentence.
Barber’s truck, a 2004 Kenworth long-haul he uses for business, was a focal point in the 2022 protests. He drove it to Ottawa, where it was parked for an extended period of time, but he complied when officials asked him to move it.
On October 7, 2025, after a long trial, Ontario Court Justice Perkins-McVey sentenced Barber and Tamara Lich, the other Freedom Convoy leader, to 18 months’ house arrest. They had been declared guilty of mischief for their roles as leaders of the 2022 protest against COVID mandates, and as social media influencers.
Lich and Barber have filed appeals of their own against their house arrest sentences, arguing that the trial judge did not correctly apply the law on their mischief charges.
Government lawyers for the Crown have filed an appeal of the acquittals of Lich and Barber on intimidation charges.
The pair’s convictions came after a nearly two-year trial despite the nonviolent nature of the popular movement.
From LifeSiteNews
Protestor Evan Blackman’s legal team argues Trudeau’s Emergencies Act-based bank account freezes were punitive state action tied directly to protest participation.
A Freedom Convoy protester whose bank accounts were frozen by the Canadian government says a judge erred after his ruling did not consider the fact that the funds were frozen under the Emergencies Act, as grounds for a stay of proceedings.
In a press release sent out earlier this week, the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) said that Freedom Convoy protestor Evan Blackman will challenge a court ruling in his criminal case via an appeal with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
“This case raises serious questions about how peaceful protest is treated in Canada and about the lasting consequences of the federal government’s unlawful use of the Emergencies Act,” noted constitutional lawyer Chris Fleury. “The freezing of protestors’ bank accounts was part of a coordinated effort to suppress dissent, and courts ought to be willing to scrutinize that conduct.”
Blackman was arrested on February 18, 2022, during the police crackdown on Freedom Convoy protests against COVID restrictions, which was authorized by the Emergencies Act (EA). The EA was put in place by former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government, which claimed the protests were violent, despite no evidence that this was the case.
Blackman’s three bank accounts with TD Bank were frozen due to his participation in the Freedom Convoy, following a directive ordered by Trudeau.
As reported by LifeSiteNews, in November of this year, Blackman was convicted at his retrial even though he had been acquitted at his original trial. In 2023, Blackman’s “mischief” and “obstructing police” charges were dismissed by a judge due to lack of evidence and the “poor memory of a cop regarding key details of the alleged criminal offences.”
His retrial resulted in Blackman getting a conditional discharge along with 12 months’ probation and 122 hours of community service, along with a $200 victim fine surcharge.
After this, Blackman’s application for a stay of proceedings was dismissed by the court. He had hoped to have his stay of proceedings, under section 24(1) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, allowed. However, the judge ruled that the freezing of his bank accounts was legally not related to his arrest, and because of this, the stay of proceedings lacked standing.
The JCCF disagreed with this ruling, noting, it “stands in contrast to a Federal Court decision finding that the government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act was unreasonable and violated Canadians’ Charter rights, including those targeted by the financial measures used against Freedom Convoy protestors.”
As of press time, a hearing date has not been scheduled.
In 2024, Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley ruled that Trudeau was “not justified” in invoking the Emergencies Act.
In early 2022, the Freedom Convoy saw thousands of Canadians from coast to coast come to Ottawa to demand an end to COVID mandates in all forms. Despite the peaceful nature of the protest, Trudeau’s federal government enacted the EA in mid-February.
After the protesters were cleared out, which was achieved through the freezing of bank accounts of those involved without a court order as well as the physical removal and arrest of demonstrators, Trudeau revoked the EA on February 23, 2022.
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