Ontario ramps up its “mandatory” vaccination mantra
The province of Ontario has added three more vaccines to the “required”
list for students in primary or secondary school. On July 1, 2014,
pertussis, chickenpox and meningococcal vaccines were added to the
"prescribed program of immunization" of "designated diseases". This is
in addition to already existing vaccine requirements which include
tetanus, diphtheria, measles, mumps and rubella vaccines. The
vaccine schedule that is now prescribed by the Immunization of School
Pupils Act can be found here.
Ontario’s Immunization of School Pupils Act
(ISPA) is the legal instrument enabling health officials to intrude
into the public and private school systems to scrutinize the vaccine
status of all children ages 4 to 17. The stated purpose of the Act
is to “increase the protection of the health of children against the
diseases that are designated diseases under this Act. R.S.O. 1990,
c. I.1, s. 2”.
The Act does NOT give health officials license to coerce parents or
students into compliance with vaccine demands nor to insinuate that
vaccination is compulsory. While the Act provides health officials
the legal parameters to scrutinize vaccine records and even to suspend
students who have not completed the prescribed course of vaccines or
produced up-to-date vaccine records, the Act also provides a legal
remedy for those who choose not to vaccinate their children.
Since 1984, ISPA has guaranteed the right of Ontario families with
school age children to be exempted from any or all vaccines for reasons
of conscience or sincerely held belief, for religious reasons, and for
medical reasons. This has NOT changed. Legal exemptions to
vaccination as specified in the Act remain intact and valid.
Vaccination of school age children is NOT mandatory in Ontario nor
anywhere else in Canada. Because, the constitutional rights set
out in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
guarantees every individual the fundamental right to freedom of
conscience and religion, the Immunization of School Pupils Act is
required to include these freedoms in its vaccine exemption clauses to
protect the individual’s right to be exempted from vaccination.
Close scrutiny of the Immunization of School Pupils Act (ISPA) confirms
that the word “mandatory” or “compulsory” does NOT appear anywhere in
the wording of the Act. Despite this, Ministry of Health disinformation
posters use inflammatory and coercive language stating that these
vaccines are now “mandatory”.
As confirmed by Health Canada in the Canadian National Report on Immunization in 1997, “immunization
is not mandatory in Canada; it cannot be made mandatory because of the
Canadian Constitution……legislation and regulations must not be
interpreted to imply compulsory immunization.”
We encourage all parents concerned about this issue to familiarize
themselves with the Act and the vaccine exemption clauses embedded in
it. Reading through the Act, you’ll find that your legal
exemption rights are still in place, and that you do have the right to
refuse any or all vaccines for your children.
The Ontario Day Nurseries Act also provides legal exemption from vaccines for younger children in daycare.
Despite the absence of a mandatory vaccination law, this government handout “School Immunization Checklist" states that “For your children to attend school in Ontario, they need to be immunized against the following infectious diseases:” To add emphasis to the lie, the words, "New mandatory immunizations"
are circled in red. The availability of exemptions is obscurely
included in tiny print at the very bottom of the poster and directs
people to health units rather than providing links to the
Immunization of School Pupils Act (ISPA), and the legal exemptions forms
that are available online at the Ontario government website.
This poster from Halton Region public health proclaims that “Menactra will be mandatory like the diphtheria, tetanus and polio vaccines”.
Menactra® is a polysaccharide meningitis vaccine containing sero-groups
A,C,Y and W-135. It does not include sero-group B, the most common type of meningitis in Canada which is responsible
for 80 percent of cases in babies under one year of age, 67 percent of
1-4 year olds and 62 percent of cases in teens aged 15-19.
And this poster from public health in the Waterloo region states that “Mandatory Immunizations Are Changing”.
By failing to inform the public that vaccination of school children is
governed by the legal parameters of the Act, that legal exemptions from
vaccination are embedded in the Act, and by stating that vaccination for
school entry is “mandatory”, the posters misinform and mislead.
The disinformation in the posters contravenes Ontario’s Health Care
Consent Act which stipulates the following elements for consent to medical treatment “the
consent must be informed”, “the consent must be given voluntarily” and
“the consent must not be obtained through misrepresentation or fraud”.
By implying that the law has changed and that these vaccines are now
“mandatory”, health officials misrepresent the letter of the law in
order to manipulate public compliance with their goal of maximum vaccine
coverage. Use of the word "mandatory" in these posters is a
deceptive and coercive tactic designed to make people erroneously
believe that they have no choice other than to comply with government
vaccine demands or their children will be excluded from school.
Government approved vaccine notices stating that vaccination is
”mandatory" while excluding information about the legal vaccine
exemptions available to every student under ISPA deprive people of their
right to Informed Consent as stipulated in the Health
Care Consent Act and contravenes Canadian Charter guarantees.
When a provincial ministry of health misrepresents the parameters of the
law in order to influence public acceptance of its programs, what else
can one call this but coercive and fraudulent? Justifiably, there
is rising public concern that the individual’s right to voluntary
informed consent is being eroded.
Our concerns presented to the Ontario Ministry of Health over the years have been ignored. Our legal letter
sent in 1999 clearly outlined the issues. Other letters followed this
one. We have compiled a thick dossier of media articles that fail to
inform the public of legal vaccine exemptions. Two years ago, we lodged a
complaint with the Ontario Ombudsman about the ongoing stream of
misinformation routinely issued to the public by health officials.
The Ombudsman's office suggested that VRAN have a conversation with the
Ministry of Health staff. VRAN did have this conversation in
February 2014, unfortunately none of our concerns have been addressed to
date.
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