By Rick Thomas

The Canadian Society for Advancement of Science in Public Policy, otherwise known as CSASPP, had its week-long certification hearing April 24-28 in BC Supreme Court in Vancouver. This was the second half of the hearing. The first half was in December before the Christmas Holidays kicked the can down the road.

Bonnie Henry’s trio of lawyers were given over three days to counter the lawsuit. The lead lawyer, Ms. Lapper, (pronouns included) began her opening remarks by stating the obvious, that the lawsuit is a “monster of complexity.” Both the plaintiff and defendant legal teams submitted a combined 30 binders of case law and affidavits to supplement their arguments.

To summarise the necessity for this lawsuit, we can share from CSASPP’s website:

“As you are undoubtedly aware, British Columbians were in an unprecedented situation. The COVID-19 measures took their toll on businesses, individuals, and the public treasury. The measures appeared to be incrementally draconian. An astronomically low infection fatality ratio (IFR); testing kits producing false positives for a goat, papaya and a kiwi; dubious exercise of executive powers; the mysterious near disappearance of the common seasonal flu; or an overall lack of an adequate evidential foundation is increasingly being questioned by legal scholars, private citizens, small business owners and their patrons, physicians, nurses, the scientists that sold the tests, infectious disease epidemiologists and academics, pharmacists, community leaders, public officials, places of public worship, and civil liberty advocacy groups. Further, the evidence of harm as a result of these measures in Canada and similar in the United States is overwhelming.”

The lawsuit is both a constitutional challenge and a civil class action lawsuit. It is challenging the legitimacy of the health measures and the Emergency Act, claiming there was not a sufficient emergency to justify shutting down the whole province, and by extension, the whole country (and planet.) According to CSASPP website: “CSASPP’s approach engages the very premise of an alleged emergency. Without an emergency, there can be no basis for extraordinary executive powers, including everything that required or benefited from one.”

The second aspect of the suit claims that a class of citizens were negatively affected by the pandemic. There was a charter breach of Sect 2, Sect 7 and Sect 15, and Canadian citizens were deprived of the right to travel, the right to gain a livelihood, the right to assembly, the right to worship, and the right to freedom of speech. If there is a class affected negatively, then a remedy is in order.

In order for a class action to proceed, it needs to be certified by the court. This does not, however, determine the merit of the allegations. To certify a class-action lawsuit, a judge must determine whether it has five components needed to continue:

a cause of action

a class of two or more people

common issues to be argued

a representative plaintiff

a determination that a class action is more appropriate than individual claims

CSASPP itself is no ordinary organisation. Headed by a software engineer, Kip Warner is an Indo-Canadian. Branding itself as a pro-science society in the midst of government and media non-science is refreshing. The society takes no dues and the executive team takes no salary. It is 100% grassroots and funded almost entirely through a Gofundme campaign. The lawyer working on the case, Polina Furtula, said outside the courthouse, “It’s so nice to have supporters. It’s almost unprecedented.”

Unprecedented is also the word used by Justice Crerar in his closing remarks to describe the lawsuit. The style of the lawsuit has never been attempted before: a dual class-action lawsuit and a constitutional challenge.

The premise of the lawsuit, that a class of BC residents, has been impacted by the government and health care mandates, would seem a no-brainer. A brief stroll through the Downtown Eastside should confirm that something is rotten in the state of British Columbia.

Escalating homelessness, fuelled by unemployment, lockdowns, and the resulting cost-of-living crisis is a direct result of government mismanagement. The opioid crisis in the DTES was already at an all-time high the year preceding the pandemic.

Alcohol consumption in BC hit an all-time high as well. According to a University of Victoria study: During the first year of the pandemic, British Columbians over the age of 14 drank the equivalent of 547 cans of beer, or 104 bottles of wine, per person. Government liquor stores increased their hours of business during the pandemic, making it easier to get booze. Economic crises, such as the 2008 financial crisis, greatly exacerbates alcohol abuse.

The cruise ships that dock here in Vancouver are the bread and butter of local tourism and when the ships were cancelled, the whole industry tanked. In addition, on a cultural level, the music and entertainment business was cancelled, resulting in a still-struggling industry. Venues were shut down and music schools closed. Musicians who rely on income from live performance are self-employed, and cannot apply for unemployment insurance.

Furthermore, the PHO’s mandate that banned singing, dancing, church gatherings, weddings, and concerts destroyed the province’s music and arts sectors.

On a broader national spectrum, Canada’s Assaulted Women’s Helpline fielded 20,334 calls between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, 2020, compared to 12,352 over the same period the previous year, according to Yvonne Harding, manager of resource development at the organisation. Locking people up in their homes, forced unemployment and social isolation created a domestic health pandemic that the government and health authorities chose to ignore.

Across the province, in October of 2021, nearly 6,000 healthcare workers were fired or suspended without pay for refusing to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Forced vaccination of an experimental medical product is an egregious violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights.

Around 1,800 of them were long-term care or acute care workers who were suspended without pay on Oct. 12 and had two weeks to get their first dose before their employment was terminated. They have now been laid off without any kind of severance. This is also a serious violation of workers’ rights.

The staffing shortages at hospitals have resulted in numerous emergency room closures over the last year, prompting 37 BC mayors to host a conference call with Health czar Adrian Dix, to demand the mandates be lifted for unvaccinated workers. Adrian Dix said this option is not on the table. How can this be in the interest of public health?

CSASPP and concerned British Columbians, will have to wait for Justice Crerar’s ruling. He commented in his concluding remarks that it is a complicated case, and it will take time to sort through the 30 binders of case law that were submitted. The lawsuit is indeed a monster of complexity, but all of this was brought on by the PHO and the government, who were given too much power. Three years have passed. It is now time for them to face the music, and be held accountable for the tremendous harm that has been done to the citizens of British Columbia.

Originally published at www.freepolitik.com