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Premier Danielle Smith’s office is declining to provide an update more than one month after she suggested she would seek a “second medical opinion” in a controversial vaccine case. Read More
Premier Danielle Smith’s office is declining to provide an update more than one month after she suggested she would seek a “second medical opinion” in a controversial vaccine case.
“I’ve been pretty clear that we do not want to see discrimination against anybody on the basis of their booster status or their vaccination status,” Smith told reporters. “And I’m hopeful that the business community and other entities operating in this province have heard that message and will make sure to bring their policies into alignment with that objective.”
But when asked last week whether the premier did in fact seek a second opinion, what that opinion entailed, or whether she has decided to take any action in the case, Smith’s office declined to comment.
Lewis, who is terminally ill, sued Alberta Health Services in 2021 after her doctors told her she would need a COVID vaccination in order to maintain her place on the transplant list. A court-ordered publication ban has been placed on the identity of the organ Lewis requires, in order to protect the identities of her treatment team.
Lewis is up to date on her other vaccinations, but has refused the COVID vaccine because she believes she is being coerced into taking an “experimental” drug.
Court of King’s Bench Justice Paul Belzil shot down Lewis’s initial court challenge in July, saying there is no evidence the COVID vaccine requirement — intended to reduce mortality in patients whose immune systems are suppressed — was a government policy that should be subject to charter scrutiny.
Belzil said subjecting the judgment of trained medical professionals to such scrutiny would lead to a system of “medical chaos” with “endless judicial review of clinical treatment decisions.”
In November, the Alberta Court of Appeal upheld Belzil’s decision, saying it was not persuaded the court should interfere “with generalized medical judgments or individualized clinical assessments involving Ms. Lewis’ standard of care.”
Representing Lewis in court is the anti-mandate Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, whose president, John Carpay, was recently criminally charged with attempting to obstruct justice after admitting he hired a private investigator to follow a Manitoba judge. Chief Justice Glenn Joyal was hearing a case involving a group of Manitoba churches represented by the justice centre who were challenging COVID-19 public health orders.
The JCCF said it intends to appeal the Lewis decision to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Source: EdmontonJournal
