B.C. Supreme Court hears vaccine passport challenge

On Tuesday, Victoria’s Supreme Court of British Columbia heard day one of an important challenge for medical freedom in the province.

The petition was a judicial hearing and challenge to the constitutional validity of public health’s vaccine passport orders was brought on by The Democracy Fund, with the help of the Rebel News supporters who generously donated at FightVaccinePassports.com.

Counsellors Robert Hawkes and William Katz from JSS Barristers suited up for the challenge, representing three plaintiffs who were segregated from parts of society due to not being medically able to take a COVID-19 vaccine.

Two of the plaintiffs, William Prendiville and Dawn Slykhuis, were healthy and active individuals with no underlying health conditions — until getting an adverse reaction to Pfizer’s COVID-19 shot.

Prendiville, a man in his late 20's who suffered from pericarditis after taking the jab, was the only plaintiff to eventually receive a paper exemption signed by Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry.

However, the three month wait to get such an invention was short lived, given the uncomfortable interactions he had using it and the time spent trying to convince those who viewed the letter that it was legitimate.

While both Slykhius and Leigh Eliason, the third plaintiff, had physicians who advised them not to take the COVID-19 vaccine, neither were granted an exemption from the province.

Slykhius, an active yoga instructor, had taken a Pfizer COVID-19 and soon began to experience adverse reactions, including pain in her head and numbness in one of her hands along with disruption to her menstrual cycle.

Eliason, meanwhile, suffers from rare illnesses that made it too risky for her to be injected with the novel COVID-19 injection. Eliason’s family physician, Dr. Kevin Sclater, even signed a sworn affidavit that included a statement about how complicated the government made it for physicians to know how to help patients apply for exemptions that didn't fall into the reasons the government listed in their guidelines.

Dr. Slcater also touched on how it is intimidating for doctors to write COVID-19 vaccine exemptions, due to potentially being punished by the province's College of Physicians and Surgeons. At least one B.C. family doctor, Stephen Malthouse, has had his licence suspended after writing vaccine exemptions. Dr. Bonnie Henry has publicly stated that doctors writing exemptions outside of her guidelines could be committing fraud.

Click here to see direct quotes from the morning and here for quotes from the afternoon of day 1 in court, including words from Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson, who presided over the case.

This hearing, which ended on Wednesday, is just one of four challenges against B.C’s vaccine card orders.

The first challenge took place April 19 and 20 and was brought forward by the Canadian Constitution Foundation. The third case will be heard May 13 at Victoria's Supreme Court, and is brought on by a self-represented B.C. man named Jeremey Maddock.

The fourth is being brought forward by the Canadian Society for the Advancement of Science in Public Policy and will be heard on May 18-20.

Chief Justice Hinkson will be presiding over all four cases.

Watch above to see what Eliason, who made the journey from Maple Ridge B.C. to attend the hearing in person, had to say about day 1 in court. A full report on day two in court, and an interview with Mr. Maddock, is coming soon on Rebel News.

Special thanks to all of those who generously donated to help make this fight possible at no cost to the plaintiffs. This is just one of many vaccine and freedom-related cases we’ve partnered with The Democracy Fund to take on, so please continue to make charitable donations at FightVaccinePassports.com.