‘Pandemic Panic’ shortlisted for prestigious Donner Prize

News release from the Canadian Constitution Foundation

The Canadian Constitution Foundation is thrilled to announce that Pandemic Panic: How Canadian Government Responses to COVID-19 Changed Civil Liberties Forever by CCF Executive Director Joanna Baron and CCF Litigation Director Christine Van Geyn is shortlisted for the prestigious Donner Prize.

Pandemic Panic, which made the best-seller lists on the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star and Amazon.ca, presents a critical and comprehensive assessment of the impact of the pandemic on civil liberties.

“This book is a record of what happened to our rights during the pandemic, from a perspective that civil liberties matter,” said Baron. “The response of many people to the pandemic has been to forget a lot of things – strange, irrational and also oppressive things – that the government did.”

“We are so honoured to be recognized as a shortlisted book for the prestigious Donner Prize,” CCF Litigation Director and Pandemic Panic co-author Christine Van Geyn said. “We are thrilled with the positive critical reception that Pandemic Panic received and want to congratulate the authors of all the other shortlisted books.”

“Pandemic Panic is a crucial record of the civil liberties impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had in Canada, and the only one of its kind,” Van Geyn added. “We want to thank the Donner Prize for this honour, and thank all of our thousands of supporters across Canada who bought the book.”

The book was published in November by Optimum Publishing International. It features a foreword by Preston Manning.

“If we forget history, it will repeat itself and the government can violate our rights with impunity. Reading this book will help to ensure those violations do not happen again, or if governments attempt them, there will be an informed citizenry to push back,” remarked Van Geyn.

Readers will learn what went wrong during the pandemic from the nuanced perspective of constitutional experts – when government reactions were over the top, and when the courts failed to correct government overreach. The book presents a balanced perspective, which allows readers to come to their own conclusions.

The Donner Prize recognizes the best public policy thinking, writing and research by a Canadian.

The Donner Prize is meant to encourage an open exchange of ideas and to provide a springboard for authors who may not necessarily be well-known, but who can make an original and meaningful contribution to policy discourse.

Up Next

Sorry, Justin. Social Media Won’t Give You A Mulroney Epitaph

Don't Miss

Poilievre chastises Trudeau for dealing with inflation like a ‘pyromaniac promising to fight a fire’

Todayville

Todayville is a digital media and technology company. We profile unique stories and events in our community. Register and promote your community event for free.

Follow Author

‘Far too serious for such uninformed, careless journalism’: Complaint filed against Globe and Mail article challenging Alberta’s gender surgery law

Automotive / 3 hours ago

Federal government should swiftly axe foolish EV mandate

International / 4 hours ago

No more shoes off: Trump ends TSA’s decades-old rule

COVID-19

FDA requires new warning on mRNA COVID shots due to heart damage in young men

Published on July 7, 2025

Todayville

From LifeSiteNews

By Doug Mainwaring

Pfizer and Moderna’s mRNA COVID shots must now include warnings that they cause ‘extremely high risk’ of heart inflammation and irreversible damage in males up to age 24.

The Trump administration’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it will now require updated safety warnings on mRNA COVID-19 shots to include the “extremely high risk” of myocarditis/pericarditis and the likelihood of long-term, irreversible heart damage for teen boys and young men up to age 24.

The required safety updates apply to Comirnaty, the mRNA COVID shot manufactured by Pfizer Inc., and Spikevax, the mRNA COVID shot manufactured ModernaTX, Inc.

According to a press release, the FDA now requires each of those manufacturers to update the warning about the risks of myocarditis and pericarditis to include information about:

the estimated unadjusted incidence of myocarditis and/or pericarditis following administration of the 2023-2024 Formula of mRNA COVID-19 shots and
the results of a study that collected information on cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (cardiac MRI) in people who developed myocarditis after receiving an mRNA COVID-19 injection.

The FDA has also required the manufacturers to describe the new safety information in the adverse reactions section of the prescribing information and in the information for recipients and caregivers.

Additionally, the fact sheets for healthcare providers and for recipients and caregivers for Moderna COVID-19 shot and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 shot, which are authorized for emergency use in individuals 6 months through 11 years of age, have also been updated to include the new safety information in alignment with the Comirnaty and Spikevax prescribing information and information for recipients and caregivers.

In a video published on social media, Dr. Vinay Prasad, director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation & Research Chief Medical and Scientific Officer, explained the alarming reasons for the warning updates.

While heart problems arose in approximately 8 out of 1 million persons ages 6 months to 64 years following reception of the cited shots, that number more than triples to 27 per million for males ages 12 to 24.

Prasad noted that multiple studies have arrived at similar findings.

COVID-19

Court compels RCMP and TD Bank to hand over records related to freezing of peaceful protestor’s bank accounts

Published on July 4, 2025

Todayville

The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms announces that a judge of the Ontario Court of Justice has ordered the RCMP and TD Bank to produce records relating to the freezing of Mr. Evan Blackman’s bank accounts during the 2022 Freedom Convoy protest.

Mr. Blackman was arrested in downtown Ottawa on February 18, 2022, during the federal government’s unprecedented use of the Emergencies Act. He was charged with mischief and obstruction, but he was acquitted of these charges at trial in October 2023.

However, the Crown appealed Mr. Blackman’s acquittal in 2024, and a new trial is scheduled to begin on August 14, 2025.

Mr. Blackman is seeking the records concerning the freezing of his bank accounts to support an application under the Charter at his upcoming retrial.

His lawyers plan to argue that the freezing of his bank accounts was a serious violation of his rights, and are asking the court to stay the case accordingly.

“The freezing of Mr. Blackman’s bank accounts was an extreme overreach on the part of the police and the federal government,” says constitutional lawyer Chris Fleury.

“These records will hopefully reveal exactly how and why Mr. Blackman’s accounts were frozen,” he says.

Mr. Blackman agreed, saying, “I’m delighted that we will finally get records that may reveal why my bank accounts were frozen.”

This ruling marks a significant step in what is believed to be the first criminal case in Canada involving a proposed Charter application based on the freezing of personal bank accounts under the Emergencies Act.