To the Editor,
Last week West Nipissing once again quietly made itself an outlier in Canada and the rest of the world. After being the first municipality in Canada to openly vote in support of closing outdoor ice rinks, toboggan hills and snowmobile trails in 2021 this municipality seems to be the only one who wants to keep unnecessary vaccine policies in place.
As almost every country in the world is doing away with unnecessary vaccine policies and as every other level of government in Canada has abandoned these types of rules, West Nipissing is sticking to theirs.
A group of concerned citizens submitted a signed petition to the West Nipissing Council asking that our municipality finally scrap its punitive vaccine policy along with every other organization in Canada. Despite the fact that the mayor along with four other councillors voted in favour of revoking this policy, the council could not get 2/3rds support to reopen discussion of this policy within its first year. This means that this municipality will likely be the last one to discriminate based on vaccination status when it finally reopens these discussions in six months from now.
This policy which not only affects staff but volunteers, and councillors, requires everyone to have all recommended doses. This means at least three doses for the average adult and up to five doses for some groups. As of July 17, only 50 per cent of Ontarians have chosen to take a third dose (source: Public Health Ontario) which leaves half of the population currently barred from volunteering for any municipal events, committees or programs. It means half of the population cannot attend council meetings in-person and might prevent many from running in the much-needed upcoming municipal contest. It means half of the population cannot apply for some of the most stable and well paying jobs in a small Northern Ontario town.
Even prior to this council adopting this policy in January 2021, the real-world data was showing no correlation in spread of the virus based on vaccination status (source: Public Health Ontario). This fact was clearly demonstrated in a public presentation to this council by prominent West Nipissing resident Dave Lewington right before they unanimously voted to start firing staff based on their health choice.
The most recent statistics across Canada continue to solidify this fact. The vaccines may offer personal protection but they do not prevent the spread of the virus. We have known for months that this is the case. Nearly everyone has someone in their family who has contracted COVID since Omicron became dominant. Vaccinated or unvaccinated alike. The per capita number in Ontario and across Canada shows no difference in cases based on vaccination statuses.
Our community leaders can still advocate that all should take any and all COVID therapeutics but we are far past the point where we need to restrict people based on their health choices.
In the past month across Canada, dozens of lawsuits have been launched against municipalities and public sector organizations regarding vaccine-based employment policies. Only time will tell if these lawsuits prove successful or not. But one fact is certain. Millions of taxpayer money will inevitably be used to defend these claims. One could argue that organizations could legitimately fire someone with a COVID vaccination policy for health and safety reasons in the Fall of 2021. But in the summer or fall of 2022, this case seems like an easy win for any victim who may still be out of work based on these types of policies.
I have asked my city councillors on multiple occasions their rationale for maintaining these policies. Not once has a councillor provided any scientific justification for it. Which leaves me with the assumption that their only reasoning is based on stubbornness and a refusal to accept their mistake. This is the same case that afflicts the federal Liberals in their stubborn clinging to separate rules for unvaccinated travellers. Revoking these policies and rules when our country has multiple times more active cases and hospitalizations related to COVID than it did at this point in 2021 (when we did not have any vaccine mandates whatsoever) requires a level of acknowledgment that these policies did not work (source: PHAC).
I hope council can finally end this terrible discriminatory policy for the sake of our much-needed taxpayer funds being put at risk with unnecessary lawsuits. But above all else I hope they can for the sake of mending divisions in my community.
Rejean Venne
