City of Powell River councillors were urged to make this a model community regarding COVID-19 mandate compliance.
Michelle Riddle appeared before the November 2 committee of the whole to outline her concerns about coronavirus mandates.
“I’m a team lead for the Canada Health Alliance, and this is an organization of thousands of health-care professionals who are wanting to bring forward solid evidence that can help us move away from this stagnant place where we are sitting right now,” said Riddle. “These mandates are not safe, nor are they effective. I’m going to give you some information to help support you to do the right thing to help this community move forward, not only as a free community, but one that is a model for others.”
Riddle said the first mandate she’d like to discuss is the mask mandate. She said she was recruited to teach at Vancouver Island University (VIU) and one of the courses she teaches is universal precautions and infection control. With that, she needs to teach proper masking to control spread of infection, she said.
“I was terminated in the second week of September because I read off a box,” said Riddle.
She handed the mask box to councillor Jim Palm, who read the warnings, which indicated the masks were not designed for use as protection against biohazards, such as bacteria and viruses.
“Why do we have a mandate to wear things that don’t protect us against the transmission of viruses?” asked Riddle. “They are not helpful and there are extensive amounts of science to show us that.
“I lost one of my jobs because I gave facts to my students on a course that I taught for many years, in the same way I taught it for many years, but it doesn’t meet the mandate.”
In a request for a response to Riddle’s comments, the Peak reached out to VIU and received the following comment from external communications advisor Jenn McGarrigle: “We are unable to comment on personnel matters due to privacy considerations. VIU and all of its employees are required to comply with any and all BC public health orders related to post-secondary institutions.”
At the committee meeting, Riddle then commented on vaccines and vaccine mandates.
“I can’t get a shot, even if I wanted to get a shot,” said Riddle. “As soon as these shots came out, I received a letter from St. Paul’s Hospital for myself and my children because we are at risk for myocarditis, which is an inflammation of the heart, which could kill us. This is one of the known side effects of these shots.
“I am about to lose my entire licence to practice now because my exemption is not being accepted. My choice that I’m being given to practice as an occupational therapist, which I’ve done for almost 30 years, is to choose to take a shot that has a 30 per cent or more chance of killing me, or, to get fired.”
Councillor Rob Southcott said he was a health-care provider for 32 years. He said when COVID-19 started, he took it seriously because he was working in Vancouver during the SARS outbreak in 2003, and he wanted to see what was happening.
“In my view, right now, we’re at a point where data is entirely mixed up and confused, and some probably is right,” said Southcott. “Some is probably completely wrong and there is a huge amount between those two extremes. What we know is growing very quickly. To use science as an argument point is powerless in my view. Data can be manipulated so badly that I can’t analyze what I trust or not.”
Riddle said this could be a model community.
“The City of Powell River is promoting vaccines with the vaccine clinic in the recreation complex, it’s promoting it through advertising, through things like the masking sign on the door,” she added. “These can all be removed. I want all of you to be on the right side of the law.
“My goal here is to invite every one of you to stand up and do the right thing. We need to stop these mandates now and you have the opportunity to do that.”
Councillor Cindy Elliott said she thought it was heartbreaking that Riddle would lose her job over a situation that is untenable. She said, however, the idea that the city government has a jurisdictional way of making changes to the law is not correct.
“The City of Powell River cannot be tied up in not following orders,” said Elliott. “We need to, as a community, be supportive of one another. I don’t agree with every order that comes out. I think the government could do better to give fair representation to all of the various statistics and facts rather than focusing and narrowing in.”
Committee chair councillor George Doubt said he read the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Constitution Act. He said in the first paragraph it stated the rights are not absolute, but they can be limited by various acts of law.
“What I would suggest is if you disagree with those regulations, the provincial government and provincial health officer are a better place to go to get those changed,” said Doubt. “What I’m doing as a municipal councillor is supporting those regulations that have been put in place, I think legally and appropriately, by higher levels of government, and trying to keep the community safe.”
Mayor Dave Formosa said the issue is pitting family members against each other, friends against friends and it breaks his heart.
“Thanks for coming and sharing your thoughts,” said Formosa. “It is a free country and a democracy, and we’re allowed to speak our own will.”
