Constitutional challenge of vaccine card filed by 2 B.C. women
Two British Columbia women who say doctors advised them against getting COVID-19 vaccines have filed a constitutional challenge of the province's vaccine passport.
A petition filed in B.C. Supreme Court says 39-year-old Sarah Webb, who lives in Alberta and B.C., developed an adverse reaction from her first dose of a vaccine in May and ended up in the emergency department of a Calgary hospital six days later.
The court document says Webb's symptoms included fatigue, heart arrhythmias, severe pain and a rash on her arm. It says she received antibiotics but developed further complications the next day and went to another hospital, where a doctor told her she should not get a second vaccine shot.
The petition filed against the attorney general and the Ministry of Health says Leigh Anne Eliason of Maple Ridge, B.C., was told by her doctor that she should not get a COVID-19 vaccine because of the risk of side-effects due to her medical history.
The Attorney General's Ministry responded to a request for comment from both ministries and said the government has not been served in regard to the petition.
“The province and the provincial health officer fully respect British Columbians' constitutional rights and freedoms,” it said in an emailed statement.
“We are taking the steps necessary to address and mitigate the effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on all British Columbians. As the issue of proof of vaccination may be before the courts, we are not in a position to comment further.”
The petition says both women's physicians have written exemption letters citing their physical disabilities.
However, it says each of the doctors raised concerns that neither the government nor any provincial medical associations had provided guidelines on how to write such a letter or what information should be included.
“There is no evidence to suggest that the attorney general of British Columbia or the (Health Ministry) have considered individuals like the petitioners in making the vaccine card announcement or in crafting the vaccine card orders,” says the petition, which was filed on Sept. 23.
B.C. residents without proof of vaccination are prohibited from certain activities like dining in restaurants and entering movie theatres and gyms. That deprives the petitioners of their charter rights, the petition says.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has said anyone who chooses not to be vaccinated has options including ordering takeout from restaurants and watching movies and sports at home because her order is aimed at reducing transmission of the virus from anyone who may be infected.
Robert Hawkes, a lawyer who represents both women, said Friday that his clients don't know each other, neither is an “anti-vaxxer” and at least in Eliason's case, her husband and two children have been vaccinated.
“It creates a real hardship,” Hawkes said of cases when one person in a family can't get vaccinated and is cut off from accessing services, travelling or faces the prospect of losing their job because of vaccine mandates in the workplace.
“My frustration is that you do have pretty-far-out-there anti-vaxxers and pretty-far-out-there anti-maskers. And whenever you have someone who isn't in that group and raises any kind of an issue at all, they get lumped into that group,” he said from Calgary.
Hawkes said his office was in the process of serving the two B.C. ministries with court documents.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 15, 2021.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.