For years, vaccine-injured Canadians have described being ignored, gaslit, and left to navigate serious illness with little help or compensation. Their questions extend beyond their own medical care: Who knew about the risks? How were reports of injury investigated? And who is responsible for helping them now?
Other countries have opened their pandemic decisions to public scrutiny. According to the Allison Inquiry’s organizers, more than 30 democracies have held some form of inquiry into their pandemic response. Though those proceedings have differed in scope and conclusions, Canada has yet to hold a national public inquiry of any sort.
Conservative MP Dean Allison decided Canadians should not have to keep waiting.
With lawyer Shawn Buckley as inquiry counsel and a volunteer team behind him, Allison organized four days of hearings on Parliament Hill focused on COVID-19 vaccine injuries. More than 1,400 people applied to testify. From September 8 to 11, roughly 50 witnesses took the oath, including injured Canadians, bereaved families, physicians, and researchers.
The hearings had limited powers. They could not compel witnesses or subpoena records, and their terms prohibited findings of fact or conclusions. Even within those limits, witnesses could explain publicly what had happened to them and what they wanted investigated.
Health Canada did not testify.
CBC published a report on the final afternoon. Global News aired a segment two days after the hearings closed. The testimony itself deserves attention: families describing lives upended, physicians recounting their attempts to report injuries, and researchers questioning how those reports were handled.
IMA readers will recognize several participants, including Senior Fellow Dr. Jessica Rose, Senator Ron Johnson, and Dr. James Thorp. Below are eight witnesses and excerpts from their testimony. For those seeking help with symptoms after vaccination, IMA’s free post-vaccine treatment guide offers a resource to discuss with a treating clinician.
Hellbound and Down 