Расследование Эллисона: канадский депутат Дин Эллисон запускает слушания по делам пострадавших от COVID-вакцин

NEWS: Canadian Member of Parliament Dean Allison (Niagara, Ontario) launches "Allison Inquiry" for the COVID-19 Vaccine Injured

Источник: https://makisw.substack.com/p/news-canadian-member-of-parliament

Thank you very much for being here today. Over the past several years, Canadians experienced the pandemic in very different ways. Many families lost loved ones to COVID-19. We had many frontline healthcare workers, and our first responders carried an enormous burden. And I want to thank all our first responders and our frontline healthcare workers for all the work that you do every single day. But there was also Canadians who suffered Serious adverse events following vaccinations who feel their stories have not been adequately heard. Every Canadian deserves to be treated with dignity, respect and compassion. When people come forward with concerns about their health, our first response should never be dismissal. It should be listening. The individuals sharing their experiences through projects such as the Allison Inquiry are not statistics. They are our mothers, our fathers, our sons, our daughters, our friends and our neighbours.

Their experiences deserve to be documented, examined and understood. Good public policy depends upon public trust. Trust is strengthened when governments and institutions are willing to ask difficult questions from the evidence, wherever it leads, and acknowledge when people have been harmed. My position is simple. Compassion for those who suffered from COVID-19 and compassion for those who were injured following the vaccination and a commitment to transparency, accountability and giving people a chance to share their stories and to be heard. Canadians should never be afraid to tell their stories and government should never be afraid to listen. Today I want to highlight two reasons why these stories matter and why Canada needs a more thorough examination of its pandemic response. First, we can't ignore the experience of Canadians who were injured following the vaccination. The government recognizes this, even the Liberals recognize this, and federal reporting through the public health has said that there have been over 58,000 adverse events reported in Canada, including more than 11,000 classified as serious.

The Federal Vaccine Injury Support Program had received more than 3,500 claims. More than 3,000 of those claims were deemed admissible for review and so the government acknowledged that people had been injured and yet only over 250 people have been compensated. Those numbers alone tell the story on just how slow and unfair the process has been. Many individuals tell us they have struggled to be heard, struggled to navigate the system and struggle to obtain answers. There are legitimate questions about whether the support program is delivering the assistance efficiently. According to the report by the Globe and Mail last year, more than $54 million was provided to Oxarrow, the company administering the Vaccine Injury Support Program, with more than $36 million being spent on administration. That's two-thirds spent on administration, while only a fraction of the claims have resulted in compensation.

Whether one supports or opposes government pandemic policies, I believe Canadians agree on one principle. If people have been harmed, they deserve compensation, support, transparency, and timely assistance. Second, Canada has increasingly become an outlier among democratic nations when it comes to reviewing what happened during the pandemic. More than 30 democratic countries have launched significant COVID inquiries, including public commissions, parliamentary investigations, and independent national reviews. These include countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Norway, Italy, France, and the United States. Many G7 countries and many Commonwealth countries have recognized an event of this magnitude deserves careful examination. These reviews have looked at government decision-making, lockdowns, mandates, policies, vaccine policies, economic impacts, public health preparedness, and civil liberties concerns.

They have not undertaken these inquiries because they all had the answers. They undertook them because their citizens deserve answers. Yet here in Canada, one of the most significant events in modern national history has never been examined through a comprehensive national public inquiry with the level of transparency and independence that many Canadians believe is necessary. That said, we're not proposing the national inquiry today. What we are proposing is something more immediate and accessible, tell their stories and ensure that their voices are heard. As I've traveled across the country, and as my colleagues have traveled across the country, we have heard countless stories from Canadians. People have come to my office. People have written letters. They've sent emails. Some lost loved ones through COVID-19. Some people lost businesses. Some struggled with isolation and mental health challenges.

Others experienced severe adverse reactions following the vaccination. What they all have in common is a desire to be heard. That is why this conversation matters. This is not about relegating every decision or re-litigating every decision that was made during an unprecedented crisis. This is not about assigning blame. It's about learning. It's about listening. It's about ensuring that when the next public health emergency arrives, Canada is better prepared because we have the courage to examine what happened honestly and openly. Canadians deserve transparency. Canadians deserve accountability. And above all, Canadians deserve to know that their experiences matter. The stories that we will hear in September are a reminder that behind every statistic is an actual human being. Their voices deserve to be heard, many have suffered in silence, and their country should be willing to listen. My call to action is if you've been injured or someone you know has been injured, we'd love to hear your stories.

I'd ask you to go to allisoninquiry.com and fill out the forms and then hopefully we can get a chance to hear your stories.

My name is Sean Buckley and I'm a lawyer that is volunteering. with the COVID Testimony Association, which is a not-for-profit that was set up to help manage this inquiry. This inquiry is meant to be a nonpartisan inquiry. If it was set up by the Conservative Party or the Liberal Party or the NDP or the Bloc, It would be difficult for other MPs to participate. So this is rather unique as the COVID Testimony Association is citizen run. It's a volunteer organization so I will be participating, Theresa here who will be speaking next, are participating as volunteers to partner with MPs so that MPs from all stripes of all parties feel free to come and listen to Canadians because that's all that's happening here. and the motivation is is quite something I was involved in another citizen inquiry the national citizen inquiry which is in 2003 listen to vaccine injured persons and I remember there was a volunteer named Christine and she was getting quite involved and I asked her I said Christine why are you helping why are you volunteering and Her body language, she just froze.

She got this pain looked on her face and she just froze. And I knew that she was volunteering because somebody close to her had been injured by a COVID-19 vaccine. I was now just waiting to hear who it was. And she explained that her husband died after taking the shot, her best friend died after taking the shot, and a teenage son of another very good friend died after taking the shot. We've all had this type of experience for me early on once we started this down this road it was in my neighborhood myocarditis so that the teenager that did my yard work couldn't do my yard work anymore because of myocarditis a neighbor a couple doors down in early 30s myocarditis another neighbor down the block severely bedridden and sick for a long period of time And now it just seems I'm surrounded by people that are getting cancer. In fact, one of the persons that I'm hoping will help in a very significant way with this inquiry, I'm hoping that we'll be far enough down the cancer journey to be able to participate.

And everyone I speak to, we all have this experience, are aware of people. And so this is something that we need to address. Now what's interesting is, Even in arriving here today to do this press conference, I've learned that this is a topic that almost seems to be forbidden. MP Dean Allison last year indicated, I'd like to actually just listen to Canadians sharing their stories in a more formal way. Every MP is having this experience in an informal way. where Canadians are coming to them and wanting to talk about vaccine injury. And we spoke to several MPs, and it's interesting, they'd ask questions like, is it okay? Am I going to get into trouble? How is Parliament going to react? How are parties going to react? their stories before a panel of MPs and senators are also invited to participate. and it it's kind of got me thinking we've gone through this experience where decisions were made to try and get as many people vaccinated as possible and this inquiry is not here to question any of that at all but there was pressure and we experienced that pressure but that pressure is no longer here there we should be free to to speak now and I I wonder if what's happened is is we'd internalized that pressure that was there before and now we need some something to give us permission to speak again so it's certainly I've learned that our lawmakers need permission to speak again and I anticipate that the MPs and senators that participate in this inquiry which is just to listen to ordinary Canadians sharing their journey that it's going to be something that will be freeing for all of us again this is Nonpartisan, this is just to create an opportunity for Canadians to share their stories.

The Allison Inquiry is not to make any findings. It's not here to grind an axe. It's so that our elected representatives and our appointed senators have an opportunity to listen to you Canadians. and you know as as MP Dean Allison spoke earlier in this press conference I mean there are numbers we know that a lot of us have been injured by the COVID-19 vaccines and it just raises the question can we not accept that we're here today that many of us are injured and we need to hear their stories and we need to privilege them you know when we were doing the national citizens inquiry There were a couple of themes that came out that are troubling, but they need to be addressed and they need to be spoken about. And one was people that were vaccine-insured really felt like they had taken one for the team. And I think we need to understand and appreciate that a large number of Canadians were volunteering to take the COVID-19 vaccine to protect the rest of us.

So they were doing something to protect us, and now that they're injured, we have a responsibility, A, to recognize that they were injured, to listen to their stories, but we also have a tremendous responsibility to care for them. so, you know, first, you know, they were doing this to protect others, they were taking one for the team, but their experience many of them their experience with the medical community was is that there was a reluctance to accept that they were actually injured by the vaccine some of them even described what what most of us would describe as gaslighting like there's almost this refusal in the medical system to accept that they were vaccine injured now we're all the same doesn't matter where we're just common citizens whether we're Elected Members of Parliament, whether we're healthcare providers, we all had this experience where there was pressure on us not to question.

And it's reasonable to assume that the medical community has also internalized that pressure because they're there to help us and they're under tremendous strain. And we're hoping that having ordinary Canadians sharing their stories at the Allison Inquiry will also assist the medical community in giving them permission to speak because here's the ethical problem that we have and you know we basically have a commandment to love each other like we love ourselves and when it comes to here we are in 2026 when it comes to those of us that have been injured by the vaccine love includes listening to their stories giving them a safe place for them to understand that you know they they haven't lost their mind they're not alone we are going to listen to them but loving them also includes then those that are vaccine injured acknowledging that they're vaccine injured so that they can be treated properly not oh it's something else because there are protocols there are treatments and we do a disservice by not having this conversation by not focusing our care on those who have taken one for the team.

We do them a disservice by not having this conversation. So we view this as a real opportunity. This is just an opportunity for Canadians to come together to share their stories in an open, nonpartisan environment. And so we are inviting all Canadians, we're inviting those that are vaccine-injured to apply to become witnesses so you can go to alisoninquiry.com you can also go to covidtestimony.com you will find us apply to be a witness if you know somebody who's injured encourage them to apply to be a witness we are calling on all members of parliament and senators to contact dean allison and apply to participate in this inquiry it will change you you're already listening and thank you you're already listening to the stories of Canadians who are vaccine injured we know you're listening this gives you another forum to do it in a more formal way we're inviting you to join us we're inviting the public We're inviting the public to participate in this.

You know, for the vaccine injured that want to have a voice, that want to be heard and acknowledged, it's meaningful if there are people that listen. And so we're inviting you. The Allison Inquiry is going to be heard on September 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th from a committee room on Parliament Hill. It will be broadcast live. And we're inviting all of Canadians to participate in what we anticipate is going to be a healing journey for the nation and a beginning for us to be free to basically have a conversation about something that we need to have a conversation about. Not in a judging way, but just listening to each other's stories so that together we can decide how to best move forward.

Hello, my name is Theresa Buckley and I'm a volunteer. And I just want to share with you just a little story about my daughter-in-law and when I spoke with her about what it was that Sean and I were doing with MP Dean Allison. I told her about a yoga instructor that I had. Her name was Drew Taylor. She testified at the National Citizens Inquiry as well. Drew Taylor was a power yoga instructor. She was the strongest woman I'd ever known. She could do amazing things. She was so strong, mother of two, 32 years old, happily married. She took one COVID-19 vaccine and within an hour she was in the hospital and she remained there for quite a while. She finally started to get better. And she was released. And for her reasons, she got a second shot. The details behind that are her story, they're not mine. she now needs a walker, she has pots, and she faints about 30 times a day. I think it's time that Canadians listen.

I think it's time for people like Drew Taylor to have a voice and I think they need to be heard. When I was sharing this with my daughter-in-law, I told her about Drew's story and what my daughter-in-law told me was, I just don't understand why no one's talking about it. Why is everyone quiet? Why is everyone silent? It's kind of hard to sit in that silence. So today we're not going to do that anymore. It's time. Canadians are suffering from sea to sea. And it's time to hear from them. So I just want to thank you. Thank you Dean for being courageous. and courage is infectious please go to our website alisoninquiry.com sign up to be a witness and we look forward to listening to you the time is now thank you

So if there's any questions, we'll now take questions.

You've been a backbencher for a little while now and- 22 years. Yes, exactly, since the Harper years. In today's leadership, do you have Pierre Polyev's blessing to be doing this?

Oh, absolutely. I've talked to Pierre about this. I've talked to Caucus about it. You know, the amazing thing is that every single Member of Parliament, and I have talked to some Liberals, has heard these same stories. So, I think if you ask Pierre, he would tell you that he's out and about working very hard, and I know that he hears these stories all the time. So, absolutely, I think this is something that, at the end of the day, All MPs here in their offices or when they're out and about. So, absolutely.

Question for Sean. You mentioned that this inquiry and the project you're hosting is going to be non-partisan in nature. And while you may have an argument there on the people that will be engaging you, but at the political level, we're looking for a response from Parliament Hill. Can you imagine if there's any opportunity to cross partisan affiliate, given the fact that the Conservative Caucus was the only one that had MPs ward vaccinated in the lead up and conclusion of the 2021 election?

Well, you know, I think that, you know, there was a division before unvaccinated and unvaccinated, but I think we need to transcend that now, because the reality is, is we all had actually a very similar experience. we just believe different things and you know I will be generalizing now but I think we have to understand that people are people and we act the same and so you know just to very generalize you know the vaccinated and again I appreciate there be different degrees but the vaccinated many of them honestly believed that there was a dangerous pathogen that posed a lethal threat to them and people that they loved but there was a solution there was this vaccine if only the unvaccinated would take it because there was this belief that if the unvaccinated didn't that they they would pose a threat both to them and their family well you can see how that would create fear and then even hatred and division well let's generalize about the unvaccinated because you'll see that the experience is literally identical So the unvaccinated, and again I'm generalizing, but many of them honestly believed that the vaccine posed a lethal threat to both them and their family.

Well, no problem, you don't have to take a vaccine in Canada if you don't want to, except that there was all this pressure, which was largely backed up by the vaccinated. And so you can see how it creates fear. and how it would create even anger and hatred. And so we've all had this experience which was surprisingly similar but the difference is what we believed, what the facts were. And again, people are people. The one thing we learned at the National Citizens' Inquiry is if we listen to each other's stories we can come together. Because we're all just trying to do what's best for ourselves and our families based on what we believed. And so let's get back now to the political question that you had. I'm just saying I'm hoping that we can transcend. It's 2026 and we have to come together. We've all gone through an experience and regardless of where we were on the narrative, it was very traumatic for most of us.

I think this whole nation needs to do some healing and part of that is recognizing that many of those that took one for the team are injured and we need to listen to them and we need to basically help them as much as possible. And the first step there is listening. So the COVID Testimony Association, for the volunteers that we've already approached, I can honestly say I don't know the political affiliation of any of them. I don't belong to any party, haven't for a long time. Theresa doesn't belong to any party, hasn't for a long time. We're basically apolitical, and we are not going to be selecting volunteers based on any political affiliation. We are going to be calling on the public to help fund this, so we'll be doing public fundraising. We're not taking any donations from any political party. and it's going to be the CTA that's going to be taking applications having volunteers vet applications we're seeking we're going to be seeking volunteer doctors to kind of vet the applicants because we're wanting to rule out any other explanations so that those persons that we have come and testify um it's you know it's a legitimate conclusion that their injuries are caused by the vaccine all of that will will there be zero regard at all to any political party so I can appreciate that within Parliament we have an adversarial government system.

It's a system that we've inherited for who forms the government, how legislation is passed. But this is an inquiry just to listen. If you go to the website, the Ellison Inquiry, and look at the terms of reference, this inquiry is actually banned from making any findings of fact. It's banned from forming any conclusion. It is simply limited. to listening to the stories of accident seeing injured Canadians and that is something that every MP from every party is already doing and we truly are trying to structure this in such a way so that it's open to everyone and it's not political and understand that that privileges those Canadians that are going to be applying to testify because for them this isn't a political process for this Canadians that have been hurt For those Canadians that are suffering, or we may call family members of people that have died or are suffering, for them this isn't a political issue.

This is just we've had this experience, they're injured, they want to be listened to, they want to be taken care of. It's as simple as that. So we're truly hoping that this will be one of those issues that can transcend party politics.

Can you speak about terms of reference? From whom do those terms of reference come? Where are you getting the sort of authority So,

and again, you know, authority is a, it's an interesting word to use in the question, because all that's happening is, is that, you know, Member of Parliament Dean Ellison has stepped forward and said, I'm already listening to people, surely to goodness it's okay for me to listen to them in a formal way, and to invite other MPs to listen to them in a formal way. So we basically got together and drafted terms of reference, which are available on the website, deliberately to prohibit us, you know, and I say us, it's going to be the panel members, those MPs and Senators that apply to Dean Allison to participate in the inquiry, they're prohibited from drawing conclusions. They're just there to listen to the voices of Canadians sharing their stories. And, you know, when you think about it, we're only having witnesses for four days. That's not enough time. to get evidence to draw any conclusions in any event.

We're just viewing this as a beginning opportunity for us to start having the conversation that we need to have. So as far as when we're talking about authority, there's no authority in this inquiry. It's just an invitation for MPs to join Dean Allison in listening to Canadians

Drawing conclusions. Do you expect, though, I'm just trying to understand what we're trying to achieve. Is it four days of listening and then hopefully there's a next step or is there a conclusion that you expect will come of it?

You're asking a super important question because this is a beginning. And so what we put in the rules is that and the terms of reference. The panel members are permitted, they're not required, but they're permitted to refer questions to Parliament. So it may be that after this experience, those MPs that have listened may want to ask questions of Parliament. And we don't know what those may be, but it could be as simple as, you know, we think that you should look into this. This truly is just meant to be a non-threatening preliminary listening to Canadians and then we'll see what comes out of it but we're not we're not there's no there's no kind of preconceived idea of what will happen we just see that there's a need to have an open dialogue so MPs are already doing this in their offices but Canadians need to understand that that they're being listened to because MPs tell us like I mean they are all getting basically asked by Canadians to listen to their stories.

There is a need for a dialogue, but that's all this is. It's very preliminary, and it's very preliminary deliberately, just so that we're basically giving ourselves permission to hear for the first time. Where that leads, we're going to have to see.

Thank you. Thanks for coming.