By Rebel News | Created at 2024-11-21 22:55:55 | Updated at 2024-11-27 21:28:21
5 days ago
A federal court judge has tossed a lawsuit by former military veterans, who sought damages over draconian pandemic mandates.
A court challenge against the military’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates was previously heard in Edmonton’s Federal Court on September 19, with live updates from Rebel News for the case initially filed in June 2023.
Over the summer, the federal government applied to stay the suit, owing to “vexatious language” and unsupported allegations of abuse.
Associate Judge Catherine Coughlan ruled on November 13 that “such broad and unfocused assertions do not rise to the level of exceptional circumstances.” She proceeded to strike down the case.
Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland announces new vaccine mandate for federal public servants. Federal employees have until October 29th to get the jab or be forced to take leave without pay.
This INCLUDES those working from home.
In October 2021, General Wayne Eyre, then-Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), issued a Directive for mandatory COVID-19 vaccination. Exemptions were only available when Charter rights were violated, and were very limited in scope to medical risk, religious beliefs, or unlawful discrimination.
The suit, which lists 330 current and former members as Plaintiffs, alleged the mandate violated four sections of the Charter and sought $1.3 million each in damages along with a declaration asserting that the novel shots violated Charter rights.
“This is not about COVID-19, this is about a corrupt chain of command that thinks they are untouchable and above the law,” Catherine Christensen, of the Valour Legal Action Centre, previously told the National Post.
Christensen, who represented each Plaintiff, said her clients faced threats, with additional consequences including no parental leave, no pensionable benefits, and the loss of promotions.
— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) November 20, 2021Judge Coughlan said the suit was “replete with vexatious language” and “bald assertions of bad faith.”
“The only indications of bad faith are found when the pleadings baldly assert that, among other claims, Canada failed to carry out safety and efficacy testing for the vaccines,” she wrote.
“For example, various COVID-19 vaccines are labelled an ‘experimental gene therapy’ and ‘biologics,’ without any basis for these statements established,” the Edmonton-based judge clarified. “The COVID-19 pandemic is also referred to as an ‘emergency’ without any basis indicated for the use of the quotation marks.”
She ruled in favour of the federal government and ordered the plaintiffs to collectively pay them $5,040 in court costs.
The vaccine injuries from the COVID-19 mRNA shots amounted to 85% of all adverse reactions to vaccines by military personnel, with 313 general adverse reactions reported.https://t.co/s3YxzVnMC0
— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) February 3, 2023As of 2023, only CAF members required to maintain “operational readiness” must receive two COVID-19 injections.
Of those veterans who refused the jab beforehand, some 299 members lost their jobs, and another 108 left when the mandate was lifted. One such case is Dallas Alexander Flamand, a former sniper with the elite JTF2 special operations unit.
Due to a history of concussions, Flamand was reluctant to get the jab. However, his superiors ‘bullied’ and ‘threatened’ him for remaining unvaccinated. “I was told by my chain of command, by our sergeant major, that he wanted me out of our troop by the end of the week, which was a very drastic response. I'd never seen anything like it in the 16 years I served,” the former sniper told CTV News.
59-year-old decorated military veteran had his $5, 750 COVID-related fine stayed by the Crown.https://t.co/Dbudatxaic
— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) July 6, 2023Associate Judge Coughlan denounced claims of Charter violations, stating the plaintiffs were devoid of “material facts” or “evidence” to prove the allegations beyond a reasonable doubt.
On freedom of religion, she found 174 plaintiffs sought a religious exemption, but only one allegedly received an accommodation. The person in question was a practicing “Pansexual Pagan.”
“None of the Plaintiffs identify how a religious belief was infringed or interfered with in a non-trivial manner by the Directives,” Coughlan decided.
Over nine in ten (91%) military personnel voluntarily received two doses at the time the mandate was implemented.
Keean Bexte caught up with Conservative MP Bob Benzen to ask him about his report revealing that Canadian Armed Forces members potentially brought COVID-19 back to the country after participating in the World Military Games held in Wuhan, China.https://t.co/PjQdzLHefA
— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) January 16, 2021“It's dangerous in the military to have legal orders disobeyed,” Eyre said then. “It's a very slippery slope.”
Section 126 of the National Defence Act indicates that refusing vaccinations is tantamount to disobeying a direct order from a superior officer.
“Failure to comply with the directives could result in CAF members facing administrative and remedial measures, including release,” Coughlan wrote, noting roughly 120 of the plaintiffs remain active members.
Alex Dhaliwal
Calgary Based Journalist
Alex Dhaliwal is a Political Science graduate from the University of Calgary. He has actively written on relevant Canadian issues with several prominent interviews under his belt.
