Strong and Free
Strong and Free
National Citizens Inquiry, federal employee strike, and breaking adverse event reporting update
Rounding the Earth
The following article serves as the show notes for the video presentation of the same name released through the Rounding the News series, presented by Rounding the Earth. It is provided to allow RTE listeners to verify my sources and conduct their own due diligence, and is intended as a supplement to the video. As such, I highly encourage readers of this Substack to watch the full episode and support Rounding the Earth, whose founder Mathew Crawford has provided me the platform and resources to conduct this important work. Thank you, Rounding the Earth!
Federal employees strike continues to shut down Canada
Employees of the Government of Canada remain on strike, effectively shutting down aspects of the country in the process.
On April 7, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) announced that its membership of Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) employees “voted overwhelmingly in favour of taking strike action on behalf of 35,000 workers represented by the Union of Taxation Employees and the Public Service Alliance of Canada.”1 They were joined on April 12 by a second group called the Treasury Board.2
As has been widely noted, the choice to go on strike at this exact moment makes life very difficult for Canadians, given that the deadline to file federal income tax was May 1. For whatever reason, calls to extend the deadline for this year have been entirely dismissed.3 While the Treasury Board staff managed to strike a deal with the government on May 1, the CRA employees were not included and remain on strike.4 As a result, according to Global News:5
[UTE national president Marc Brière] told reporters Wednesday it's been a rough couple of weeks for taxpayers and those who help them file, and the effects of the strike would be long-lasting.
"[They] went through a hell of a time. And I think that some people are late. So there's an impact, and there'll be a big backlog," he said.
"There's already a backlog, but if [the strike] doesn't get resolved, it's going to be a tremendous backlog at the CRA."
The demands set out by PSAC in their strike action began with a 13.5% raise in order to match inflation, as well as “the flexibility to work remotely, the reduction of the government’s use of outside contractors and the implementation of seniority rules in the event of layoffs.”6
Aside from the very real difficulties caused to Canadian citizens by the mere act of the CRA going on strike, the PSAC has celebrated picketers actions to “shut down” critical infrastructure across the country completely unrelated to taxation. In one such thread discussing their various “escalated” strike actions, PSAC boasted that they had shut down the Ports of Vancouver, Montréal and Saint John’s, “blockaded the Treasury Board office in Ottawa and other strategic locations from coast to coast.”7
While the right to go on strike is fundamental to liberal democracy, many incredulous onlookers have pointed out the utter hypocrisy highlighted by this particular action as compared to the violent response to the Freedom Convoy 2022 protest in Ottawa, and related protests across Canada.
Realistically, the takeaway message here is not that the CRA employees on strike are crossing a line. Rather, this serves as a reminder that such actions to disrupt the status quo of the day-to-day of government operations is not at all unexpected in a strike action like this. Let this serve as an opportunity to revisit the unlawful and authoritarian response to the Freedom Convoy protest once again, and remind those around us of the absurdity highlighted by the drastic contrast in institutional treatment of the two.
On the other hand, one can’t help but wonder if there are details not far below the surface that may shed light on matters.
PSAC is partnered with the Canadian Labour Congress and the Association of Public Service Alliance Retirees.8 As it turns out, the CLC is a partner on an initiative called Faster Together, which describes itself as “a voluntary effort of a wide variety of people working together to promote Covid-19 vaccine acceptance and help speed a recovery from this pandemic.”9
Other partners of this COVID-19 vaccine promotion initiative are employers from across Canada. This includes the country’s universities, labour unions, trade associations, sports teams, cities, towns, district municipalities, banks, insurance companies, you name it. Facebook, TikTok and Twitter are all there. The biotechnology industry is well-represented by their own industry association, BIOTECanada, as well as the Pfizer and/or Moderna-funded 19 to Zero, Bioscience Association Manitoba and Life Sciences British Columbia.
Maybe I’m overestimating the impact of the pharmaceutical lobby in an extended network like this. On the other hand, perhaps it is not so surprising after all that one of these groups of federally-regulated employees received better treatment than the other.
National Citizens Inquiry in Vancouver
From Tuesday to Thursday this week, the National Citizens Inquiry (NCI) made its stop in Langley, British Columbia for the Vancouver arm of the tour.
For those unaware, the NCI is a non-governmental, citizen-run and self-funded investigation into Canada’s handling of the declared COVID-19 pandemic, hearing testimony from hundreds of professionals and everyday citizens.
I was personally able to attend Days 1 and 3, hearing firsthand some of the most impressive and impactful stories and presentations that have come out of the last three years.
Some of you may recall that in June 2022, I was invited to participate in an event titled A Citizens’ Hearing in Toronto, Ontario. My flight left Vancouver mere hours after the federal restriction on travel for citizens deemed to be “unvaccinated” was suspended.10
In my role as Secretary, I had the honour of sitting beside Preston Manning, Susan Natsheh and David Ross, who served as the panel for A Citizens’ Hearing. My specific job was to take notes, which I frantically did while listening to the in-person and online testimonies. My fingers have never hurt so much, but it was well worth it.
For those who follow
, you may have seen James Corbett’s recent interview with NCI spokesperson Michelle Leduc Catlin. The thumbnail for the video (part of Corbett’s Solutions Watch series) features the NCI in the top two quadrants, and A Citizens’ Hearing in the bottom two. I was proud and ecstatic to see myself in the thumbnail, as it felt like a surefire sign my contributions to this cause have been valuable and valued. And as a Corbett Report community member myself, it was very exciting to be acknowledged even in this passive way. Thank you, James.
This was the first opportunity I had to meet in real life people who had become good friends over the internet since mid-2021, and just as notably, to place myself right in front of people who had suffered the physical consequences of the all-too-common adverse events from the various COVID-19 vaccines they were coerced into taking. It was no longer a matter of numbers as reported by my friends at OpenVAERS and Welcometheeagle88 — it was a matter of eye contact with people who may never return to their former selves.
Of course, the complete inverse is also true. Through their suffering, it was clear to me that these everyday people had become extraordinary by refusing to go gently into that good night. Truthfully, I imagine they always were extraordinary, and it was through this tragic and avoidable suffering that they demonstrated to themselves how powerful they really are. These are victims in one sense, but so too are they the heroes of this story.
So what, then? As A Citizens’ Hearing completed and a Next Steps Task Force went about planning what would become the National Citizens Inquiry, it became clear that no one opportunity to share stories would successfully cement them into history. As newly-minted celebrities like Steve Kirsch, Jessica Rose, Robert Malone, and established names like Jordan Peterson and James Corbett stepped into the spotlight for their NCI testimonies, many others would inevitably not be selected to testify for a second time. It is primarily a matter of logistics; there are only so many hours in a week, and a limited wealth with which to rent conference rooms and audio/visual teams. In some cases, I imaging someone’s story is not deemed “sensational” enough to advance the larger agenda of shocking our friends, family and neighbours to attention. These are reasonable choices that have to be made, and the result will be that some names are lost to time as the rest of the world moves on.
I can’t stop that. But one way I thought I might be able to help minimize this effect is by translating the testimonies presented at A Citizens’ Hearing into a written format which could be more easily handed to friends, family and elected officials who otherwise might decline to visit a website. Furthermore, as I learned from Sonya Anderson and Liza Chan of the Canadian Covid Care Alliance, a book can be submitted to Library and Archives Canada to be included in the nation’s official record.
The official report from A Citizens’ Hearing is now available for all in digital form (for free) as well as in paperback, hardcover and eBook format through Amazon. I know that many people take issue with Amazon, as do I. The reason we went this route is that it was likely the only way we could have physical copies printed without asking for a significant down payment from the Canadian Covid Care Alliance, who had already dispensed tens of thousands of dollars to set up the event in the first place. Amazon allows us to offer the book through “print-on-demand” — a service which does not yet seem to have a more “independent” alternative. There was talk of reaching out to Children’s Health Defense to ask if they would publish the book for us, and perhaps it’s not too late to explore that option, if they’ll have us.
But for now, we’ve accomplished at least part of our mission. Susan Natsheh and David Ross suggested I present the report as evidence for the NCI’s own record, which I did. Here is my entire testimony from Thursday, May 4th, clipped and uploaded by my friend Gabriel at
.Unfortunately, time remains a restriction on us all, and I failed in my attempt to read the names of the brave Canadians who provided testimony at A Citizens’ Hearing. I am proud to share them with you now.
Chief Hugh Akogi
Dean Allison, MP
Beau Bedard
Kayla Bishop
Myriam Bohemier
Louis Browne
Shawn Buckley
Colin Carrie, MP
Dr. Francis Christian
April Crocker
Max Daigle
Arlene Datto
Gail Davidson
Annabelle Edge
Keren Epstein-Gilboa
Ryan Gassner
Jenn Gilbert and Jesse
Richard Girgis
Leighton Grey
Maria Gutschi
Lyndie Hall
Dan Hartman
Greg Hill
Dr. York Hsiang
Brook Jackson
Kayla Jones
James Kitchen
Karen Kobel
Brian Krienke
Janina Krienke
Henry Lu
Officer Andrew MacGillivray
Scarlett Martyn
Deanna McLeod
Dr. Chris Milburn
Nicole Minnikin
Tanya Minnikin
Sergio Molina
Kelly-Sue Oberle
Dr. Eric Payne
Dr. Steven Pelech
Beverly Perley
Dr. Patrick Phillips
Gordon Polevoy
Dr. Julie Ponesse
Sam Presvelos
Marjaleena Repo
Padre Harold Ristau
Allen Rouben
Dr. Richard Schabas
Chris Schaefer
David Shaw
Josh Shulman
Leslie Smith
Irvin Studin
Susan van der Rassle
Audrey Vanderhoek
Steve VanLeeuwen
Hayley Weinrauch
Jaiden Weinrauch
Nadine Wilson, MLA
Dr. Chong Wong
All of their individual testimonies can be found at https://citizenshearing.ca/.
Adverse Event Reporting in Canada: a smoking gun
I’d like to turn your attention to the testimony of Dr. Patrick Phillips of Ontario, Canada. As summarized in his presentation at A Citizen’s Inquiry in June 2022 and reiterated during his National Citizen Inquiry testimony, Dr. Phillips has had his medical license suspended on the truly egregious grounds of… doing his job.
Leaving aside the equally important discussions around his ability as a physician to treat patients with Health Canada-approved, highly safe, and by most accounts, highly effective medications, and his right to advocate on behalf of his patients’ right to choose not to wear a face covering, I want to focus on the fact that Dr. Phillips has been sanctioned for reporting adverse events experienced by his patients following receipt of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Quoting from the Citizens’ Hearing book:11
“Phillips testified that there are major issues with Canada’s current vaccine reporting system. He has observed many adverse events coming through his emergency department, including patient profiles that include:
facial numbness that lasted for 8 days;
left arm weakness, not able to work and frequently dropping things;
abdominal pain and vomiting, heart palpitations;
large rash over entire arm and growing;
arm numbness and weakness with fatigue, could not work. Stroke and other causes were ruled out;
progression in dementia, no longer talking and had to be hospitalized;
severe fever and arm weakness, hospitalized 2 days later;
severe vertigo and tinnitus, impairing ability to drive.
Dr. Phillips reported all of these cases to public health, which he must do under the law. After the first five submissions, Ontario’s public health officer sent him a letter. The letter, dated April 27, 2021, read: “For your information, all five of the cases do not meet reported criteria for adverse events following immunization (AEFI).” Phillips was surprised that all five were rejected. The PHO then gave him access to a document that went over the criteria for reporting AEFIs.
The single-page document listed anaesthesia and paraesthesia, both of which have to occur within 15 days of the injection or is disqualified. If a patient faints and has an injury, it only counts if it occurs within 30 minutes of taking the shot. This is very limited, and is in stark contrast to Health Canada regulations. They have much broader definitions of adverse events that doctors are obliged to report in order to be able to maintain safety in pharmaceutical products.” …
Phillips reiterated in a Tweet on December 20, 2022 that his medical license was suspended “in part for reporting adverse reactions to the Covid vaccines.”12 But don't feel obligated to take his word for it. As reported by CBC News on May 3, 2022:13
In a statement to CBC News, a spokesperson for the college said that its Investigations, Complaints and Reports Committee (ICRC) ordered Phillips be handed an interim suspension order.
The committee said Phillips was allegedly "incompetent in relation to his patient care and reporting adverse events following immunization."
Dr. Phillips is far from the only doctor who faced retribution for reporting suspected COVID-19 vaccine injuries. There are also doctors who presumably have successfully reported adverse events following immunization (AEFI), given the fact that official sources happily admit some people have indeed been injured. Here is a snapshot from the Government of Canada claiming that as of March 3, 2023, there were 54,569 adverse events reported with 10,685 described as “serious.”14
But as is now well known and plain to see, this number represents only a fraction of the true number of adverse events suffered by COVID-19 vaccine recipients — including the most serious injuries.
While the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) in the United States allows anybody to file a report (assuming they can navigate the clunky and challenging system), Canadians have not been granted such an opportunity throughout the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. This is absurd on its face, but there are a few things that have just come to light that should truly shock anybody with any ounce of conscience and intellect.
It turns out that all the way up until the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines in Canada, consumers could, in fact, file their own adverse event reports directly with the Government of Canada.
The above screenshot was taken from a September 20, 2020 archived version of a Government of Canada web portal, titled “Report a side effect to a vaccine: consumers.”15 At that time, it had last been updated on December 30, 2019.
Note the specific language: “Everyone who witnesses or experiences a side effect (adverse reaction) following immunization is strongly encouraged to report it. You may ask your health care provider (doctor, health care provider, pharmacist) to help you.” Redundancy in language aside, it’s clear that all suspected adverse events following a vaccine are expected to be reported. Furthermore, consumers could seek assistance from a health care professional, but were certainly able to attempt the process on their own. The “Report a side effect” button would take consumers through an online form, with a backup paper option available as well, complete with free postage.
Then, the COVID-19 vaccine rollout came. On December 1, 2020, the page was changed dramatically.
The ability for consumers to file a report was removed entirely along with the option for anybody to file online.16 Now, the page read “Ask your health care provider” to “complete an adverse events following immunization (AEFI) form” and “submit it on your behalf to your local public health unit,” a process exclusively available by mail.
A handy chart was also added, clarifying that the sick or injured vaccine recipient had no direct way to report their adverse event. Their initial report was to be made to their healthcare practitioner, who would then decide whether or not to send it on to the relevant local public health unit. At that point, the unit could themselves choose to either reject or carry the report on to the ambiguous “Federal/Provincial/Territorial Immunization Authorities”, who would serve as the final decision-maker on if the report met the criteria to give to the Public Health Agency of Canada.
I must emphasize that at each of these steps, reports were subject to rejection regardless of what the decision maker at the previous level chose. With no less than four barriers, how could anyone doubt that a significant number of legitimate reports were lost in this arbitrary, bureaucratic nightmare? Furthermore, does anyone believe there were ever a meaningful number of illegitimate reports filed?
And thus, Canadians were left without a way to report their injuries suffered after receiving what was supposed to be a “safe and effective” vaccine against a disease that they were supposed to be at risk from.
Of course, as Deanna McLeod presented during her NCI testimony, the data produced in the Phase III clinical trial for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine demonstrated that the product caused exceedingly more harm than good, a reality which
and have shown was covered up through what can only be interpreted as fraudulent practices.
I’m afraid it gets worse.
A colleague of mine, with whom I work on projects related to Freedom of Information and legal actions, was the first in my circles to draw attention to the fact that the ability for individuals to file an adverse event report was removed immediately prior to the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. She brought a number of questions to the Government of Canada, seeking documentation relating to the decision.
The government is required to provide a response to FOI requests in Canada within 30 days. This deadline can be extended by written notification to up to 60 days, and far too many cases, this extension is repeated over and over again. In this case, my colleague simply stopped hearing back. On February 28, 2023, she informed the government that she intended to pursue the disclosure of the requested documents through another process involving Members of Parliament, whose governing rules made it very likely to succeed on a much quicker timeline than the FOI process was likely to allow at this point.
But when she returned to the webpage once more to share it with a Member of Parliament, my colleague was shocked to find it had changed again, and in dramatic fashion.
Back was the button that allowed for direct, online reporting to Health Canada.17 Individuals no longer need to go through a healthcare provider, either. The graph was also updated to really clarify how easy it is to report adverse events:
Vaccine recipients were now able to submit reports to three separate places: the Public Health Agency of Canada via their healthcare provider, the vaccine manufacturer (Pfizer, Moderna, Novavax, etc.) or directly to Health Canada. Interestingly, an additional reporting source titled “hospitals” was added, entirely separately from the similar “Health care provider (HCP)” box.
Speaking of which, notice another small note that was added: “In many provinces and Territories HCPs must report by law”. Exactly like Patrick Phillips did, and was sanctioned for.
The nail in the coffin is that this page was last updated on February 28, 2023 — the same day my colleague informed the government she would be continuing her pursuit through another avenue.
All of this said, it becomes very difficult to care about the following headline, which would have been tremendous news about two years ago. Now, I can’t help but feel this is a completely useless, irrelevant waste of breath from the corrupt, captured enterprise that is the World Health Organization.
There remains much work to do.
Workers at Canada Revenue Agency provide overwhelming strike mandate. (2023, April 7). Public Service Alliance of Canada. http://archive.today/2023.04.07-230330/https://psacunion.ca/workers-canada-revenue-agency-provide-overwhelming
More federal public service union members vote for strike mandate. (2023, April 12). CBC News. http://archive.today/2023.04.19-124213/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/psac-federal-public-servant-strike-vote-2023-1.6807733
MacInnis, J. (2023, May 1). Monday marks tax filing deadline as 35,000 CRA workers remain on strike. CTV News Atlantic. https://web.archive.org/web/20230501223618/https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/monday-marks-tax-filing-deadline-as-35-000-cra-workers-remain-on-strike-1.6379031
Scherer, S., Paperny, A. M., & Paperny, A. M. (2023, May 1). Canada lands May Day deal to end strike by federal workers. Reuters. http://archive.today/2023.05.01-124946/https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canada-public-workers-reach-contract-agreement-with-federal-govt-ending-strike-2023-05-01/
Pritchard, T. (2023, May 3). No deal yet between striking CRA workers, federal government. CBC News. https://web.archive.org/web/20230503214659/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/cra-strike-update-ottawa-may-3-1.6830824
Lee-Young, J. (2023, April 30). PSAC strike: Negotiations continue as federal government tables final offer. Vancouver Sun. https://web.archive.org/web/20230503215005/https://vancouversun.com/news/psac-strike-negotiations-continue-as-federal-government-tables-final-offer
PSAC-AFPC [@psac_afpc]. (2023, April 24). “We shut down the Port of Montreal and downtown boulevards, the Port of Vancouver and the Port of Saint John’s; we blockaded the Treasury Board office in Ottawa and other strategic locations from coast to coast.” [Tweet]. Twitter. http://archive.today/2023.04.25-235145/https://twitter.com/psac_afpc/status/1650676241165369344
Our Partners. Public Service Alliance of Canada. Retrieved May 3, 2023, from http://archive.today/2023.05.03-221405/https://psacunion.ca/our-partners
Home. Faster Together. Retrieved November 29, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20221129144335/https://fastertogether.ca/
Scherer, S. (2022, June 14). Canada to suspend vaccine mandates for domestic travel, civil service. Reuters. http://archive.today/2022.06.14-140030/https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/canada-suspend-vaccine-mandates-domestic-travel-civil-service-2022-06-14/
Sturgess, L. (2023). A Citizens’ Hearing: Examining Canada’s Covid Response. Canadian Covid Care Alliance, 91–94. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/sk3d5
Patrick Phillips, MD [@DrPPhillipsMD]. (2022, December 20). “I lost my medical license in Ontario, Canada in part for reporting adverse reactions to the Covid vaccines. I was charged with professional misconduct and incompetence for every report I submitted” [Tweet]. Twitter. http://archive.today/2022.12.20-223329/https://twitter.com/DrPPhillipsMD/status/1605251834473480192
Stranges, C. (2022, May 3). Ontario College of Physicians suspends rural family doctor for “inappropriate” COVID-19 treatments, advice. CBC News. http://archive.today/2022.05.10-084243/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/patrick-phillips-suspended-1.6440227
Public Health Agency of Canada. (2023, March 3). COVID-19 vaccine safety: Weekly report on adverse effects following immunization. Government of Canada. https://health-infobase.canada.ca/covid-19/vaccine-safety/
Public Health Agency of Canada. (2019, December 30). Report a side effect to a vaccine: consumers. Government of Canada. http://archive.today/2020.09.20-152607/https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-health-products/medeffect-canada/adverse-reaction-reporting/vaccine/consumer.html
Public Health Agency of Canada. (2020, December 1). Report a side effect to a vaccine: consumers. Government of Canada. http://archive.today/2020.12.27-183130/https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-health-products/medeffect-canada/adverse-reaction-reporting/vaccine/consumer.html
Public Health Agency of Canada. (2023, February 28). Report a side effect to a vaccine: Consumers. Government of Canada. http://archive.today/2023.05.01-234821/https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-health-products/medeffect-canada/adverse-reaction-reporting/vaccine/consumer.html
Worker strikes are always great news' the machine can't function without us.. hats off to all the citizen activists & journalists like you Liam who share the news corp presstitutes spin or omit! <3