Edmonton police mandated COVID-19 vaccines despite recognized harms, government documents show

The Canadian Press / Jason Franson

The Edmonton Police Service's (EPS) top brass had concerns that vaccines for COVID-19 could cause "serious" injury, and mandated them for officers and employees anyway, according to a report.

EPS employees were discouraged from raising questions of safety and some faced severe consequences for refusing to take the vaccine. The recent report compiled government documents released under an access-to-information request which show that some members are now on long or short-term disability due to vaccine-related injuries.

“There are allegations that some deaths may be related to the COVID pandemic response. Not just the vaccines,” the report’s author, Natasha Gonek, told the Western Standard.

“There have been hospitalizations for cardiac injuries. There are people off work because they can no longer meet the fitness requirements. There’s been quite a bit of myocarditis. Skin issues, allergy issues, immune response.”

“Many employees say they are constantly sick now … These were healthy people.”

The report states that it “does not appear the employer is tracking any of this information” related to medical issues after vaccination.

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The independent report, initiated at the behest of numerous EPS employees, draws from interviews and an extensive collection of documents totalling thousands of pages, acquired through Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (FOIP) requests.

It recommends, ultimately, that criminal investigations be launched.

The report also accuses the EPS of continuing to suppress and delay transparency to this day, despite "injury, illness and alleged death" to employees having increased.

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"In discussions with EPS employees, they confirmed vaccine adverse events for themselves and co-workers. These ranged from people taking a week off for immediate illness from the vaccine, people off on leave or accommodated for disability from adverse reactions, new medical conditions, hospitalizations and alleged deaths," the document reads.

“There was never informed, freely given consent for the pandemic measures in the workplace. After lengthy discussions with EPS employees, they confirm that any submission or compliance with the protocol was done under duress, the threat of job loss, the threat of career advancement or disciplinary charges. Examples were made of the few members that stood firm in not providing information,” the report continues.

The FOIP disclosure states that 165 employees were given short-term disability due to COVID-19, though it is not clear which were due to illness-related complications or due to the added strain that COVID-19-related health measures had. 

“However, the FOIP final letter did provide information that there have been paid short- and long-term disability for vaccine-related conditions. Employees confirmed there were also accommodations in the workplace for vaccine-injured co-workers," Gonek said. 

In the spring of 2023, over 20 sworn members submitted statements detailing vaccine injuries and adverse events to The Edmonton Police Association (EPA) President Sgt. Curtis Hoople.

After no help was found through EPS channels, employees decided to gather information on their own and approached Gonek for help.

Gonek was a regulatory investigator for the College of Registered Nurses but was let go after she refused to disclose her private medical information during the COVID era. Gonek submitted freedom-of-information requests to obtain COVID-19-related decisions, information, communication, and documentation from EPS.

She sent her report to the Alberta government and some federal MPs. She received thousands of FOIP documents — 5,421 pages in November 2023 and 3,296 pages in December, the Western Standard reports.

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“There’s still a large chunk missing. We’re waiting on the privacy commissioner to review. Their omissions speak volumes because they are omissions from May 2021 through to the end of December 2021.”

“That’s when they would have been discussing the mandatory disclosures, mandatory vaccines, all of that outflow, as well as people who may have been vaccine injured," she told the Standard.

"Recommendation for a criminal investigation with public oversight by an independent team must be initiated to review the information, evidence, communications and the actions of EPS leadership and professionals within the organization," the document states.