This decision sets the stage for a full constitutional case to be argued in B.C. Supreme Court the week of May 16, 2022
After deferring her decision for a week, a B.C. Supreme Court judge has refused to grant an injunction preventing the government from firing suspended public servants for not providing proof of COVID vaccination.
Justice Carol J. Ross dismissed a petition on Friday brought forward by four non-union B.C. public servants to temporarily pause their imminent terminations. The group had requested the injunction to keep from being fired before their constitutional case against the province’s vaccine mandate could be heard in May.
The decision comes not only as vaccine passports have been dropped in every other province, but also as unvaccinated public workers are being welcomed back to workplaces across Canada. The city of Victoria – where Friday’s court decision was made – also announced last week that it was lifting its vaccine mandate and inviting suspended municipal employees back to work.
The original four petitioners include Philip Davidson, Karine Bordua, Zoran Boskovic and Clinton Chevrier. At least five others have since been added.
The not-for-profit society BCPS Employees for Freedom – which says it represents 500 members including union and non-union personnel both vaccinated and unvaccinated – released a statement after the decision.
“While we are disappointed with today’s ruling, which now removes any legal impediment for the BC Public Service to terminate employees for cause and deny them severance pay and Employment Insurance, we look forward to the full constitutional case to be argued in B.C. Supreme Court the week of May 16, 2022, against this heavy-handed mandate.”
Umar Sheikh, a lawyer for the petitioners, also issued a brief statement, saying, “(w)e look forward to bringing forward this very important constitutional case and seeking full damages for our clients.”
The decision comes as B.C. government workers continue to be terminated after being forced onto unpaid leave in November for not complying with the province’s vaccination mandate. HR Policy 25 – which effectively made two COVID shots a retroactive condition of hire – was established almost a month after the vaccination requirement was announced.
The policy was put into law by the Horgan government on the evening of Nov. 19 – a Friday, and only three days before it forced workers onto unpaid leave the following Monday. The order allows noncompliant employees to be fired “with cause” – a designation traditionally reserved for the severest professional offences, offering no entitlement to severance, employment insurance and other benefits.
The mandate is expected to be in place until “public health concerns regarding COVID are reduced to a level, prescribed by government, to enable workplaces to operate without COVID-related restrictions.”
According to court documents, the petitioners say the policy fundamentally altered their contracts “without proper notice or agreement or their consent, in order to terminate them without any sort of due process or procedural fairness, for just cause.”
As one employment law firm puts it, “a termination for cause is considered the capital punishment of employment law. It should be reserved for the worst aspects of workplace misconduct – think dishonesty, insubordination, assault or theft. Just cause for dismissal is considered punishment for the worst offenders.”
B.C. continues to uphold one of the severest vaccination policies in the world for its employees, offering no testing alternatives. The last province to announce its timeline for dropping COVID restrictions, it is also the only province with a vaccine passport still in place.
The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms has also brought legal action against the province over the vaccine mandate, and will represent several healthcare workers who have already lost their jobs.
The B.C. health ministry revealed last month that it had terminated thousands of healthcare workers, even as the system continues to experience crippling staff shortages. Health Minister Adrian Dix has admitted that one week in January saw 27,937 shifts unfilled, while on Feb. 3, a newborn child died at Lions Gate Hospital after staffing issues saw a potentially life-saving procedure delayed.
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That’s right. As the accompanying photo depicts, Justice is Blind.
I don’t know if it applies in this particular case, but, when it comes to judges and courts we have to appreciate, as some people I know do, that they are appointed, and usually unlearned, and, frequently, unskilled, in the area of jurisprudence; so-called.
Meaning: they really don’t know what they are doing until challenged with a question or argument or case and then must go and look through a whole bunch of books to try and find an answer. Which, often they cannot and thus they default to a recess, delay, adjournment for awhile, set aside, continuance, blah, blah, blah.
Yes, of course, this is their fail-safe default so as not to look like a complete idiot in the face of the public and especially the media.
‘Don’t worry little one, we got your back’. Yeah right.
Listen up folks, if you have not read the “Notwithstanding Clause” of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms of Canada then you don’t know: YOU HAVE NO RIGHTS!
What semblance of rights you might have had were probably extinguished by a Secret Order of the Privy Council quite recently. That’s right, the people who control our freak PM, have suspended all Charter Right(s)(?) indefinitely.
Welcome to the Soviet Socialist Republic of Canada.
With apologies to Putin.
“Vladimir, we know you are trying hard. Keep trying harder.”
P.S. The above applies to every resident in Canada. Notwithstanding that the Provinces of Canada are separate entities who may, at any time, leave the Confederation, establish their own laws, armies, banks, etc. However, those involved in such thinking, never mind behavior, are likely to have their lease on life terminated early.
Beware of Stobor.