Ontario resident writes MPP Hoskins and Colle about proposed vaccine education sessions

January 9, 2016
Dr. Eric Hoskins
Minister of Health & Long-Term Care
10th Floor, Hepburn Block
80 Grosvenor St.
Toronto, ON M7A 2C4
Dear Dr. Hoskins,
I am writing to express my deep and growing concern over legislation proposed by the Liberal government to mandate ‘education sessions’ for parents choosing to file an exemption rather than vaccinate their children. This law would be a huge step backward as Canada moves forward, finally, after 10 years of heavy repression of democracy.
In 1984 Ontario was forced to bring its Immunization of School Pupils Act into alignment with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms which guarantees the individual’s right to freedom of religion and conscience, and the legal right to security of the person. The insertion of a personal belief exemption clause sent a strong signal across the country of the futility of attempting ‘mandatory’ vaccination legislation in other provinces because such an attempt would be nullified by the legal and human rights protections we are guaranteed in the Canadian Charter.
In 2016 we still have a Charter, Dr Hoskins. Politicians and health officials across Canada should understand very clearly that any legislation threatening people’s right to refuse unwanted drugs and medical procedures like vaccination would immediately be challenged under the Canadian Charter. Nevertheless the Liberal government of Ontario, a group I have proudly supported, are attempting to undermine our freedom to make informed choices.
The profit-making interests of the pharmaceutical industry expressly conflict with individual rights and the medical ethic of ‘first do no harm’. The well-paid representatives of this industry present you, the legislator, with only industry-supported studies, and likely sell you on the idea that this is about health care, not profits. As the cost of producing new drugs gets higher, pharmaceutical companies are turning their considerable marketing efforts especially to that old standby, childhood vaccines. You know as a physician that herd immunity is a theory not a fact, and interestingly, as the pharmaceutical industry has become more aggressive in its marketing of vaccines in the last decades, the minimum percentage of immunized population required for so-called immunity has risen higher and higher. Furthermore, the theory does not include vaccine failure, viral shedding following vaccination, adverse vaccine reactions, vaccine injured children who can no longer be immunized and the immunocompromised. Whether herd immunity is even possible under such conditions remains highly debatable, and is therefore absolutely not worth the risk of mandating a medical procedure with a proven track record of injuring and killing people, even if it has done some people good.
For me, this is a defining issue of human rights. Modern medicine and some of our vaccines have been marvellously helpful. Don’t insult my intelligence. No one has the right to mandate any kind of health care, surgery, medicine, vaccination or choice of food I put into my body or my children’s bodies as their parent. The proposed legislation is pure harassment, leading to the next step of government intrusion and trampling of citizen’s rights. It’s the same playbook used by the pharmaceutical industry in California recently to achieve their goals, and it smells of special-interest lobbying.
Dr. Hoskins, I greatly admire the way you have handled many of the issues presented to you as our Health Minister. I am counting on you to protect our fundamental rights to freedom of choice for our bodies, and my right to informed consent. If the government wishes to educate citizens on the benefits of vaccination, then by all means host some education sessions for all those interested. Forcing citizens to attend a one-sided presentation on any issue whatsoever in order to exercise their Canadian Charter rights is nothing more than fascist propaganda, and we may as well live in North Korea.
Respectfully,

 
January 9, 2016
Mr Mike Colle, MPP
2882 Dufferin St
Toronto, ON M6B 3S6
Dear Mr. Colle,
I am writing to express my deep and growing concern over legislation proposed by the Liberal government to mandate ‘education sessions’ for parents choosing to file an exemption rather than vaccinate their children. This law would be a huge step backward as Canada moves forward, finally, after 10 years of repression of democracy.
In 1984 Ontario was forced to bring its Immunization of School Pupils Act into alignment with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms which guarantees the individual’s right to freedom of religion and conscience, and the legal right to security of the person. The insertion of a personal belief exemption clause sent a strong signal across the country of the futility of attempting ‘mandatory’ vaccination legislation in other provinces because such an attempt would be nullified by the legal and human rights protections we are guaranteed in the Canadian Charter.
In 2016 we still have a Charter, Mr Colle. Politicians and health officials across Canada should understand very clearly that any legislation threatening people’s right to refuse unwanted drugs and medical procedures like vaccination would immediately be challenged under the Canadian Charter. Nevertheless the Liberal government of Ontario, a group I have supported and voted for, are attempting to undermine our freedom to make informed choices.
For me, this is a defining issue of human rights. Modern medicine and some of our vaccines have been marvellously helpful. Don’t insult my intelligence. No one has the right to mandate any kind of health care, surgery, medicine, vaccination or choice of food I put into my body or my children’s bodies as their parent. The proposed legislation is harassment, leading to the next step of government intrusion and trampling of citizen’s rights. It’s the same plan used by the pharmaceutical industry in California recently to achieve their goals, and it smells of special interest lobbying.
Mr Colle, I have voted for you in every election since I became eligible to vote. I am counting on you to protect our fundamental rights to freedom of choice for our bodies, and my right to informed consent. If the government wishes to educate citizens on the benefits of vaccination, then by all means host some education sessions for all those interested. Forcing citizens to attend a one-sided presentation on any issue whatsoever in order to exercise their Canadian Charter rights is nothing more than fascist propaganda, and we may as well live in North Korea.
Respectfully,