BY PAMELA FAYERMAN
The rebuttal to a civil lawsuit filed against Dr. Bonnie Henry and the B.C. government denies that public health orders during the pandemic have deprived citizens of their rights and freedoms.
In the response filed in the Supreme Court of B.C., government lawyers Jacqueline Hughes, Gareth Morley, Caily DiPuma and Emily Lapper say the plaintiffs’ pursuit of a class-action lawsuit should fail because it lacks the facts and legal basis to support such a cause of action.
The government documents were filed in response to the lawsuit spearheaded by Kip Warner and a non-profit group calling itself the Canadian Society for the Advancement of Science and Public Policy. They allege that COVID is no worse than seasonal influenza and that Henry and the government have misrepresented the severity of COVID-19. Public health orders have thus been unjustified, they allege. A news report by Penny Daflos of CTV Vancouver at the beginning of the year showed that B.C. had recorded more deaths from COVID-19 than 10 years of flu.
The government says all public health orders brought into effect by Henry, the provincial health officer, have been intended to prevent and contain the transmission of COVID-19 cases. Without such measures, COVID-19 would spread “exponentially.”
Without providing any specifics about COVID-19 relative to influenza, the government states COVID-19 “can be spread by people who do not have symptoms. It has a higher transmissibility rate compared to influenza. It is highly transmissible prior to symptom onset and has a higher infection fatality rate.”
The acknowledgment in the government’s response that COVID-19 can be spread by people without symptoms is noteworthy since B.C. officials have long been averse to COVID testing – both rapid tests and PCR – for those without symptoms. As health minister Adrian Dix has said: “We test what we need to test, we test symptomatic people in B.C.” Henry has repeated many times that testing resources should be reserved for those with symptoms.
The response to the lawsuit also denies the allegation that COVID tests produce too many false positives as alleged.
The government response says that over the course of the pandemic, the scientific community and public health officials have learned that the likelihood of transmission of COVID-19 is greater when people are interacting in communal settings (like events and celebrations) rather than in transactional settings (stores); in close proximity to each other; in crowded or indoor settings; and when speaking, singing, chanting or engaging in “excited expression.”
“The overriding concern is to ensure that public health act orders prevent and contain the transmission of COVID, based on the best available scientific evidence and epidemiological data at the time the particular order is issued.”
Another overriding concern is to ensure orders “protect the most vulnerable members of society while minimizing social disruption.”
The plaintiffs are seeking to have the court certify the lawsuit as a class action but the government contends that the matter is not suitable for such a proceeding.
The plaintiffs’ Go Fund Me campaign to finance the litigation has to date raised less than $40,000 from 236 donors, far short of the $100,000 target.
Read the lawsuit here.
pamela@medicinematters.ca
RELATED STORY ABOUT A FORMER PREMIER WHO’S CONTRIBUTED MONEY TO THE LEGAL ACTION AGAINST THE BC GOVERNMENT:
Lawsuit against Dr. Henry and BC government makes for strange allies. Including a former premier.
It is a shame so much time and energy has to be wasted on the libertarian style piffle wiffle about rights and liberties. In the face of a global pandemic, those rights no longer exist. Covid doesnt care about them
Covid doesn’t care if you’re in a restaurant, in a mall or in a hospital. That’s why when the untrained public wears masks everywhere (using completely wrong technique, and of course encouraged by the government), our numbers never go down. Well until vaccinations come around and that yearly pattern of general illness decreasing as warm weather arrives. Actually, double and triple the numbers after the mask laws are mandated. Go check it out with the numbers the government gives you themselves. Covid doesn’t care. Take off the stupid dirty disgusting masks that are the exact same thing as dirty kleenexes. Mmmmm what a great way to contain a virus, bring your one kleenex around with you allllll day long, and get it nice and moist too! Yummy!! Oh and take it on and off, and don’t throw it out now! I can understand why the public (and politicians) may not get it, as they are untrained, but Bonnie… SHAME ON YOU. Do you even know how many people I’ve had to beg to NOT put their mask(s) back on after they’ve fallen on the ground? Shame shame shame shame shame oh wait, but those people are mandated to put the masks back on because it’s law to have to have one on your face. Mandating public health laws to help people’s health???
And Covid doesn’t care if you’ve gotten 0,1,2,3,4,5 … Covid shots either!
Piffle wiggle is hardly a phrase that should be used describing anything to do with our rights and freedoms!
Governments around the world have been selectively releasing data about Covid 19 that serves their narrative.
Proven Science about mask wearing, social distancing, lock downs etc… is not apart of the governments protocol when making these decisions and they have caused an irreversible negative effect on countless amounts of people and they need to be held accountable for their actions.
Thousands of men and woman have made incredible sacrifices in times of war to protect our rights & Freedoms and this is definitely a time when we need people taking action and stepping up for all of us!
thank you so much for this lawsuit, i will contribute monthly as i get paid
“One thing you can’t hide, is when you’re crippled inside!” Remember that song? Those who push the rogue agenda about COVID are not going to be able to outrun the numbers. The numbers of deaths related to the toxic jab are going to bury you. Also, the fact that you incentivized hospitals to record almost everything as a covid death is also going to bury you. We have wihistleblower testimony now coming from healthcare workers and even coroners! The COVID virus has never been isolated. It was built by Crisper and contains many deadly pathogens. You suppressed the best-known cures for it! HCQ and Ivermectin are wonderful treatments. You did this to sell vaccines. Shame on you. You will pay with everything for these crimes.
Well said and the truth will come out eventually. It is sad that it takes less than 20% of the population to realize that something sinister is going on. Those who knowingly are part of this great deception will have their judgement.
At my Doctors request I went to get a Covid test, I made my appointment and went in. when I arrived and was let in, they the nurses or whoever advised me, that because I was standing there I was considered positive for Covid, and that after the test I was to quarantine for 5 days till I got a negative. To this I refused to be tested, I had no symptoms anyway. What I took away from this encounter is, when they say on the TV media that there are 750 new cases of Covid 19, what they are really saying is 750 people willfully went in to get tested and now are the 750 new cases of Covid pronounced Positive by some clerk doing paper work without getting really tested. Bonnie Henry is behind this facade, make believe Covid pandemic better known as a Scamdemic. Who are these people and what society do they belong to, are they Secretive.
I was part of the rally on September 1 on the lawn at the legislature in Victoria , BC There was a brief shot of the rally on the news CTV and Chek news We were said to be misinformed and crude and rowdy It was not that way at all healthcare workers were in the crowd and the event was carried out peacefully. Of course there was a few individuals that were boisterous and that’s par for any event and of course they were filmed
My company has put out the mandate and consequences will be enforced soon How convenient my skills were thru this whole “pandemic” and now I’m being let go !? We struggled with constant staffing shortages , long hours, time off was a no as there wasn’t enough staff to cover shifts (I work in a care home) I’m not against vaccinations, however I believe that everyone should have a choice in their personal health and not have it forced upon them and threatened with job loss ,restrictions on events, flying, dinning etc. Losing more healthcare workers really isn’t a solution to an industry that was already struggling with staffing issues
Holding strong, awaiting an end to this chaotic disaster.
I will be surprisd should this ibe Certified as a Class Action..or anything. I find it frivolous and vexatious.
I can’t wait for their experts and scientists and drug company officials. Should they not raise about another 400,000 they won’t be presenting experts. Anxious to find out and learn all their secret intel CSASPP has…..
I’m a retired engineer and have been watching the world’s covid response with a great deal of interest over the past year and a half. I’ve not been convinced by some of my friends who think this is a plandemic, or that this is some sort of plot orchestrated by the elite. However, there is no doubt in my mind that this disease is serious and needs a public health response. What bothers me is the increasing politicization and resulting societal polarization, evident even in comments on this website. Let’s continue a reasonable discussion with attention to areas that are troublesome:
1. Vaccine passports in BC are an unprecedented use of technology that can easily be turned into a social credit system. I don’t have one, but understand that it has to be validated every time it’s used, like a credit card, but in this case to enter a restaurant.. Why such a big hammer for a small nail?
2. Who are the spreaders? We are constantly being bombarded with the phrase that the unvaccinated are driving the disease. I don’t dispute that that there are more unvaccinated people in the hospitals. The vaccines are quite effective in keeping people out of the hospitals. However, if you look for it, you will find information that vaccinated people get the virus and spread it. Which way is it? Why are the unvaccinated being marginalized and fired from their jobs based on a questionable understanding of who’s spreading?
3. This is a disease of old people (including me). The latest stats from BC show an uptick of cases in young kids (since school started), but no increase in serious symptoms as measured by hospitalizations and death. Why are we masking the kids? It is proven that high CO2 levels in classrooms reduce focus and learning ability, and the latest building codes require certain levels of outdoor air introduction to classrooms to keep CO2 down. Now we are getting the kids to re-breathe their own CO2? Why are we vaccinating teens and considering vaccinating the younger kids, with a product that has been around for only a year and a half, and whose long terms effects are not known? Covid-19 is not a significant disease for kids, so why are they being treated or restricted?
I wish people would put aside their anger and hatred and think about what’s going on.
Restricting unvaccinated people from restaurants has a 2-fold purpose, very craftily thought out. First, the measure is punitive as opposed to health related. Restaurants have been set up now with distanced tables, screened areas, and strict protocols. there is no more threat of disease transmission from a person who is not vaccinated than one who is. Second, the whole passport issue is, indeed, something that will grow into a social credit tool. Kudos to those brave small business owners who are doing their best to resist this segregation.
GoFundMe Update:
Raised $141,713
Surpassing the expected $100, 000
Of course the people violating our rights & freedoms are gonna say they’re not violating our rights & freedoms. What a joke. SMH